FIFTEENTH CENTURy.
166
editioos of Ciceto, see Beloe's Anecdotet of Lite- nimt, Tol. 4.
1478. Printing introduced into the following cities and towns m this year : —
Cosenza, by Octavius Salamonius de Manfre- donia.
Colle, by Joannes Allemanus de Medembliok.
Chablis, by Pierre de Rouge.
Eichstett (Neustad) Michuel Reyser.
Geneva, A Steinschawer, de Schuinfordia.
Oxford, Theodoric Rood.
Pavia, by Francis de St. Petao.
Prague, printer's name not known.
Honast. Sorten., printer's name not known.
1478. Tke Morale Prouerles of Chrittyne (of Pyie) Enprinted by Caxton. In feuenr the eMe season. Folio.
This is a translation by earl Rivers, from a French work, intituled, Les Proverbes Moraux tt la Prudence par Christine de Pisan fille de M. Thomas de Pisan, autrement die de Bologne.* It is a small poem, consisting of about 200 lines, and begins thus : —
The Morale Prouerhes of Cristyne.
ne grate Tertas of onie elders notable, Ofto to rememhre is thing prolUmHe, Aa h^>p7 hons U, wtaere dwelleth pnadeneek For where the is, ralson is In presence, &c.
The poem ends with the following homely
couplets: —
There is nootfaing so ricbe I yon ensenr As the sendee of god onre cresteor. Utle avallleth good temple to see Par him, that wole not the oontraire flee. Thoogfa tlint llie deetb to ns be lamentable Hit to remembre Is thing moost connenaUe : Thende dooth shewe eoery werk as hit is ; Woo may be be that to God endeth mys.
Explicit.
To these succeed the following stanzas by
Caxton: —
Of ttuee sayyngea Cristyne was the auctresse, Whlche in makyn haddc sache intelligence, Tliat therof she was mtrenr and maisbesae j Hin werkes testifle thexperlence ; In Freossh langnai^ was writen this sentence. And thus engUshed doth hit reherse Antoin WidenyUe, theile Rynera.
Oo thon Util qnayer and reoonunannd me Unto the gocxl grace of my special lorde llierle Ryueiis, for I have einprinted the At his commandement, following cory worde His copye, as his secretarie can record. At Westmestre, of Feoerer the zx day. And of kyng Edward the xril yere vraye.
Bmprinted by Caxton In Feuerer the colde season.
- " The fUr aothoress of the original work," says M. De
La Ibmnoye, " was born at Bologna (la Orassej in the
year 1364. At five years of age she was taken to Paris to
nvewtth her bther, who was Grand Judiciary Astrologer)
aad who, on acconnt of his celebrity, had been invited by
Charles V., snmamed the Wise, to be near his person at
eonit. Christina, in her fifteenth year, was married to
Stephen Castel, a yonng gentleman of Pioardy ; who died
at the age of thirty-four, A.D. 1389, and left her a widow
with two sons and one daaghter. Having received as
good a literary education as the times could afford, she
commenced antboress at the age of thlrty.five, and seems
to have entiiasiastically devoted herself to all sorts of
compositlona, whether in prose or verse: so much so, that,
in her book of VUmu, she mentions that she had already
composed fifteen volumes."
The Moral Proverbs aie in rhyme, and the Book of Prudence in prose. It is considered a very rare book, and ts sometimes bound with the Dictes, jrc.
1479. Tractatus brevis and tUilit de Oriyinali Peceato. Editus a Fratre Mgidio Rmuato, Ordinis Fratrum Heremitarum Sancti Atifiu*' tinto Impresses and fhntus Oxonie, a NatitaU Domini.
This book is a very great rarity, represented to be the first that was printed at Ox/ord, in a catalogue of the first printed books at the end of Pancirolltts; but it may be the second or third. That title above, Uiken from the colo- phon, at the end, is printed with red ink ; and there is nothing more of that colour throughout the book, than a little dash of an ornament at the beginning of the first letter. The work is divided into six chapters ; but the first letter of every chapter is left out, which should be a capital. It is printed on a good thick paper, with a short, strong, legible letter, much like the German cast; has signatures at bottom, which I think is somewhat earlier than Caxton had them ; but no words of direction there, or numbers of the pages at top. Moreover, Theo. Rood used several marks uid letters of abbre- viation, and several combined letters ; few stops, and they commonly ill shapen points.
1479. Bretianan Parisieme. — This is the earliest impression pertaining to the ecclesias- tical ritual that occurs in the annals of the Pa- risian press. Missals, breviaries, heures, &c. are soon found amongst its most frei^uent pro- ductions. In such works the Gothic typography generally appears in all the splendour of rude magnificence. The exquisite glossiness of the inks, the striking contrast of the red and black, the boldness and magnitude of the letter, the ornamented capitals, the profusion of wood cuts which generally ornament the margins, and many quaint verses and devices, and wonderful notices of pardons expressed in the rubrics, con- stitute such books singular objects of modern curiosity. In fact, says Mr. Cresswell, many of the earliest productions of our English press can be satisfactorily illustrated only by a com- parison with the cotemporary history of French typography. However numerous the impres- sions of these rituals and religious manuals were, well preserved printed specimens are not very frequent at present. Many highly orna- mented missals in manuscript are indeed extant, and often present themselves to the notice of the curious, having perhaps been preserved more carefully than printed copies.
Printing in red and black was more especially appropriated to psalters, breviaries, and other works relating to the ecclesiastical ritual. This mixture of red and black, which gives a cheer- ful and pleasing variety to the page, is found in the Psalterium of Mentz, 1467, and the Ratio- nale Divinonan Officiorum of 1459 ; at the end of which we read this subscription, Prasens Co- dex venuslate Capitalium <itconi(tu, Rubrica- tionibusque suffictenter distinctus, 4rc" Gering
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