An Essay on Colophons, with Specimens and Translations :: VI COLOPHONS OF AUTHORS AND EDITORS

VI COLOPHONS OF AUTHORS AND EDITORS

Booksellers are a much more learned body than they used to be, but few readers of second-hand catalogues can have failed to meet with ascriptions of dates for the printing of books long anterior to the invention of the art, on the ground of colophons which they know at once to have been written by the authors. Where only a few years separate the dates of composition and publication the mistake is easily made and not always easily detected. The retention of the author’s original colophon is, however, common enough for cataloguers to be prepared for it; and there are plenty of cases in which a book possesses two quite distinct colophons, the first by the author, the second by the printer or publisher. Thus, to take a simple example from a famous book, we find at the end of the text of the “Hypnerotomachia” the author’s colophon:

Taruisii cum decorissimis Poliae amore lorulis distineretur misellus Poliphilus. M.cccc.lxvii. Kalendis Maii.

At Treviso, while the wretched Polifilo was confined by love of Polia with glittering nets. May 1, 1467.

That of the printer is thirty-two years later:

Venetiis mense Decembri M I D in aedibus Aldi Manutii, accuratissime.

At Venice, in the month of December, 1499, in the house of Aldo Manuzio, with very great accuracy.

A more interesting instance of a double colophon occurs in an equally famous book, the “Morte d’Arthur” of Sir Thomas Malory. In this Malory writes:

Here is the end of the booke of Kyng Arthur and of his noble Knyghtes of the Round Table, that when they were hole togyders there was euer an C and xl, and here is the ende of the deth of Arthur. I praye you all Ientyl men and Ientyl wymmen that redeth this book of Arthur and his knyghtes from the begynnyng to the endyng, praye for me whyle I am on lyue that God sende me good delyuerance, and whan I am deed I praye you all praye for my soule. For this book was ended the ix yere of the reygne of Kyng Edward the fourth, by Syr Thomas Maleore Knyght. As Ihesu helpe hym for hys grete myght, as he is the seruaunt of Ihesu bothe day and nyght.

This colophon was written between Malory’s outlawry in 1468 and his death on March 14, 1471, and its request for the reader’s prayers for his “delyuerance” and for the repose of his soul after death is made all the more pathetic when we remember the author’s declaration that by sickness “al welthe is birafte” from a prisoner (Book ix, ch. 37). Caxton’s preface as editor, printer, and publisher, on the other hand, is purely businesslike, and gives us no more information about the author.

¶ Thus endyth thys noble and joyous book entytled Le Morte D’Arthur. Notwythstondyng it treateth of the byrth, lyf and actes of the sayd Kyng Arthur, of his noble knyghtes of the Rounde Table, theyr meruayllous enquestes and aduentures, thacheuyng of the Sangreal, & in thende the dolorous deth & departyng out of thys world of them al. Whiche book was reduced into englysshe by Syr Thomas Malory Knyght as afore is sayd, and by me deuyded in to xxi bookes, chapytred and enprynted, and fynysshed in thabbey westmestre the last day of Iuyl the yere of our Lord Mcccclxxxv.

¶ Caxton me fieri fecit.

Despite outlawry, sickness, and probably imprisonment, Malory finished his book. In the troublous days of the fifteenth century war and disease must often have proved sad interruptions to authors, and in his “Repetitio de verborum significatione” (Hain 11679) Georgius Natta is evidently as proud of having triumphed over these hindrances as of his official position. Thus he writes:

Reliquum est Deo summo gratias agere quo auctor huic operi, iam bis armis et pestilentia Pisis intermisso, Georgius Natta, iuris utriusque doctor, ciuis Astensis ac illustrissimi et excellentissimi Marchionis Montisferrati consiliarius, multis additis et priori ordine in aliquibus mutato, extremam manum imposuit anno dominice natiuitatis Millesimo.cccc.lxxxii, quo tempore pro memorabili Guilielmo Montisferrati Marchione ac ducali capitaneo generali Mediolani oratorem agebat apud illustrissimum Io. Galeam Mariam Sfortiam uicecomitem Ducem sextum, Ludouico patruo mira integritate gubernante, quippe qui Mediolanensium res iam tunc adeo gnauiter ampliabat et oranti Italie pacem adeo largiter elargiebatur ut nec superior etas optabiliorem habuerit nec nostra uiderit prestantiorem. Profecto mira res quod diuinus ille preses Marti pariter et Minerue satisfaceret.

Impressum Papie per Christoforum de Canibus Anno a natiuitate domini. M.cccc.lxxxxii. die xv septembris.

Georgius Natta. Repetitiones. Pavia: C. de Canibus, 1492.

It remains to give thanks to the Most High God, by whose grace the author, Georgius Natta, doctor of both laws, a citizen of Asti and councillor of the most illustrious and most excellent Marquis of Monferrat, to this work, which had been twice interrupted by war and plague at Pisa, with many additions and some changes in the former arrangement, put the finishing touch in the year of the Lord’s nativity 1482, at which time, on behalf of the memorable Guglielmo, Marquis of Monferrat, and ducal captain-general, he was acting as ambassador at Milan, at the court of the most illustrious Viscount Giovanni Galea Maria Sforza, sixth duke, whose uncle Lodovico was governing with wondrous uprightness, inasmuch as he was already so skilfully enlarging the fortunes of the Milanese, and so liberally imparting peace to Italy which craved it, that neither did any earlier age present a more enviable person nor did our own behold one of greater excellence. Wonderful indeed was it that that heroic ruler gave their due alike to Mars and to Minerva.

Printed at Pavia by Cristoforo degli Cani in the year from the Lord’s nativity 1492, on the fifteenth day of September.

Less contented with his lot, Henricus Bruno, in his lectures “Super Institutionibus” published at Louvain, after writing the formal colophon takes up his pen anew to give eloquent expression to the woes of the professional man who devotes his leisure not to rest but to literature.

Ad laudem et honorem summi ac omnipotentis deique marie matris sue intacte Explicit Henricus de piro super Institutionibus Per Egidium van der Heerstraten in alma Louaniensi uniuersitate Impressus duodecima die Nouembris. Nouissime domini et fratres dilectissimi reminiscite queso ac tacite in animis vestris cogitate quantis laboribus quantisque capitis vexationibus Ego Henricus Brunonis alias de Piro de Colonia inter legum dectores [sic] minimus hoc opusculum ex scriptis aliorum pro vestris beniuolenciis atque augmentatione huius nouelli studii Louaniensis expleuerim Qui singulis diebus post lectionem fftorum mihi a publico deputatam in continenti hoc opus quasi intollerabili onere assumpsi. Quare fratres humanissimi si quicquid erroris vel dignum correctionis inueneritis oro, rogo atque obtestor vestros immortales animos vt illud benigne non mordaciter, caritatis zelo non liuoris aculeo, corrigendum ac emendandum curetis. Ad laudem summi dei qui viuit et regnat in secula benedictus. Amen.

Henricus Bruno. Super Institutionibus. Louvain: Aeg. van der Heerstraten [1488?].

To the praise and honor of the Most High and Almighty God and of Mary his Virgin Mother there comes to an end Henricus de Piro on the Institutions, printed by Egidius van der Heerstraten in the bounteous University of Louvain, on the twelfth day of November. Lastly, masters and most beloved brothers, remember, I pray you, and silently in your minds consider with how great toils and how great harassments of the head I, Henricus, the son of Bruno, otherwise Henricus de Piro of Cologne, the least among the doctors and readers of the law, have completed this little work out of the writings of other men for your profiting and for the advancement of this new university of Louvain. Now I, day by day, after lecturing on the Pandects according to the terms of my public appointment, forthwith took up this work, though intolerably burdensome. Wherefore, my most courteous brethren, if you find any trace of error or anything worthy of correction, I request, pray, and entreat you, by your immortal souls, that you see to its correction and amendment in a kindly rather than a biting spirit, with the zeal of love rather than the spur of envy. To the praise of the Most High God, who lives and reigns, blessed to all ages. Amen.

Even as late as 1580 an author, a musician this time, used the colophon to pour out the griefs of which nowadays we disburden ourselves in prefaces. It is thus that, in his “Cantiones seu Harmoniae sacrae quas vulgo Moteta vocant,” Johann von Cleve took advantage of the tradition of the colophon to bespeak the sympathy of students and amateurs of music for his troubles in bringing out his book:

Sub calce operis, Musicae studiosos & amatores admonere, operae pretium visum est hoc Motetorum opus, primo Philippo Vlhardo, ciui et Typographo Augustano, ad imprimendum esse delegatum, qui ob aduersam corporis valetudinem (vt fieri solet) aequo morosior, saepe nostram intentionem non est assecutus, meque opus ipsum, praetermissis quibusdam mutetis (quae tamen breui, vita comite & Deo fauente, in lucem prodibunt) abbreuiare coegit, praesertim cum idem Typographus, opere nondum finito, diem suum clauserit extremum: ac deinceps idem opus Andreae Reinheckel, ad finem deducendum, sit commissum. Quare si quid, quod curiosum turbare posset occurrerit, Musici (oro) animam ferunt aequiore. Valete. Anno Domini M.D.lxxx. Mense Ianuario.

As I come to the end of my task it seems worth while to inform students and amateurs of music that this collection of Motets was in the first place entrusted to Philip Ulhard, citizen and printer of Augsburg, to be printed, and that he (as often happens), being made unreasonably capricious by bodily ill-health, often did not carry out our intention, and compelled me, by leaving out some motets (which, however, if life bears me company and God helps, will shortly be published), to abridge the work, and more especially as the same printer, when the work was not yet finished, came to an end of his days, and thereupon the said work was entrusted to Andreas Reinheckel to be completed, if anything, therefore, is found which might disturb a connoisseur, I pray musicians to bear it with equanimity. Farewell. In the year of the Lord 1580, in the month of January.

An earlier author, Bonetus de Latis, when he came to the end of his “Annulus astronomicus siue de utilitate astrologiae” (Rome, Andreas Freitag, c. 1496; Hain 9926), dedicated to the Pope, had no complaints to make of his printer or of working after office hours, but used the colophon to ask for lenient criticism of any flaws in his Jewish Latin.

Hec sunt, Beatissime Pater, Anuli astronomici puncta peregregia una mecum ad S. tue pedes humillime oblata que positis superciliis hilari uultu, ut spes fovet, recipias. Nec mirum si grammatice methas qui hebreus sum latinitatis expers nonnunquam excesserim. Nolens utile per inutile viciari malui S. T. rosulas uili quam urticas loliumue in preciosa offerre sportula: ut que ad S. T. totiusque reipublice commodum omniumque rerum Opificis laudem utilia comperta sunt ob connexiones verborum enormes non obmitterentur, summa verum auctoritate tua interposita a cunctis patule agnoscerentur.

Parce precor rudibus que sunt errata latine:

Lex hebraea mihi est: lingua latina minus.

These notable points of the Astronomical Ring are most humbly offered, most blessed Father, together with myself, at the feet of your Holiness. May you lay aside all disdain and receive them, as hope encourages, with a joyful countenance. Nor is it any wonder if a Hebrew such as I am, with no scholarship in Latin, should sometimes have overstepped the bounds of grammar. In my unwillingness that the useful should be made of no effect by the useless, I preferred to offer to your Holiness rosebuds in a cheap basket rather than nettles or tares in a precious one, so that such useful discoveries as have been made for the advantage of your Holiness and of the whole state, and to the praise of the Artificer of all things, should not be passed over on account of unusual collocations of words, but by the interposition of your authority should be plainly recognized by all.

Be lenient, you who find some Latin flaw:

Not Latin I profess, but Hebrew law.

Jacobus Bergomensis, when he finishes his “Supplementum Chronicarum,” can boast proudly of promises performed, and gives not only the dates of its completion and printing, but his own age.

Hic igitur terminum ponam Supplementi historiarum: quam [sic] me promisi cum omni veritate traditurum. Nisus autem sum sine errore successiones regum principum et actus eorum: ac virorum in disciplinis excellentium et origines religionum: sicut ex libris hystoricorum descriptio continet. Hoc enim in exordio huius operis me facere compromisi. Perfectum autem per me opus fuit anno salutis nostre 1483. 3º Kalendas Iulii in ciuitate Bergomi: mihi vero a natiuitate quadragesimo nono. Impressum autem hoc opus in inclita Venetiarum ciuitate: per Bernardinum de Benaliis bergomensem eodem anno. die 23º Augusti.

Here, then, I will make an end of the Supplement of Histories, which I promised that I would relate with all truth. Now I have tried to set down without mistake the successions of kings and princes, and the activities of them and of the men who excelled in studies, and the origins of religions as they are embraced in the description taken from the books of the historians. For in the introduction of this work I pledged myself to do this. The work has been finished by me in the year of our salvation 1483, on June 29th, in the city of Bergamo, and as regards myself in the forty-ninth year from my birth. Now this book was printed in the renowned city of Venice by Bernardino dei Benali of Bergamo on August 23d of the same year.

When the “Supplementum Chronicarum” was reprinted in 1485-86, Bergomensis duly altered his statement as to his age to fifty-one and fifty-two. In the 1490 edition the author’s colophon still reads:

Perfectum autem est et denuo castigatum atque auctum per me opus fuit Idibus Octobris: anno a Natali Christiano M.cccc.lxxxvi, in ciuitate nostra Bergomi: mihi vero a natiuitate quinquagesimo secundo.

That of the printer, on the other hand, is duly brought up to date:

Impressum autem Venetiis per Bernardum Rizum de Nouaria anno a Natiuitate domini M.cccc.lxxxx. die decimo quinto Madii, regnante inclito duce Augustino Barbadico.

It is thus evident that with this and later editions Bergomensis, though he lived to be eighty-six, did not concern himself.

An author’s colophon must often have been omitted by the scribe or printer who was copying his book precisely because a double colophon seemed confusing, and the scribe or printer wished to have his own say. Nicolaus de Auximo in his Supplement to the Summa of Pisanella ingeniously forestalled any such tampering by linking his remarks to his exposition of the word “Zelus,” the last which he had to explain. After quoting from the Psalms the text “Zelus domus tue comedit me,” “The zeal of thy house has eaten me up,” he proceeds:

et hic zelus me fratrem Nicolaum de Ausmo, ordinis minorum indignum pro aliquali simpliciorum subsidio ad huius supplementi compilationem quod struente domino nostro Iesu Cristo, excepta tabula capitulorum et abbreuiaturarum et rubricarum expletum est apud nostrum locum prope Mediolanum sancte Marie de Angelis nuncupatum, et uulgariter Sancti Angeli, M.cccc.xliiii, nouembris xxviii, die Sabbati ante aduentum, hora quasi sexta. Et omnia quae in eo ac ceteris opusculis per me compilatis compilandisue incaute seu minus perite posita continentur peritiorum et praesertim sacrosancte ecclesie submitto correctioni, et cetera.

And this zeal hath urged me, Nicholas of Osimo, an unworthy brother of the order of Friars Minor, to the compilation, for some aid of more simple men, of this Supplement, which by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, save for the table of chapters and abbreviations and rubrics, has been completed at our abode near Milan, called Saint Mary of the Angels, and vulgarly Sant Angelo, in 1444, on November 28, the Saturday before Advent, at about the sixth hour. And both in it and in the other works which either have been or are to be compiled by me, all things which are found stated incautiously or unskilfully I submit to the correction of the better skilled and especially of the Holy Church, etc.

The submission of a book, more particularly a theological one, to the correction of the learned and the church was of course “common form” while the Roman dominion was undisputed, and many colophons containing such phrases could be collected. We must pass on now, however, from authors to editors, taking William Caxton, by the way, as an editor and translator who put so much of himself into his work that he deserves honorary rank among authors. That he was his own printer and publisher as well has certainly rather hindered the appreciation of his literary merits, but gives to his colophons, prologues, and epilogues a special flavor of their own. As to which of these opportunities of talking to his readers he should use, Caxton seems to have cared little; but even if we confine ourselves fairly strictly to colophons properly so called, there is no difficulty in finding interesting examples, as, for instance, this from his “Godefroy of Boloyne”:

Thus endeth this book Intitled the laste siege and conqueste of Iherusalem with many other historyes therin comprysed, Fyrst of Eracles and of the meseases of the cristen men in the holy lande, And of their releef & conquest of Iherusalem, and how Godeffroy of Boloyne was fyrst kyng of the latyns in that royamme, & of his deth, translated & reduced out of frensshe in to Englysshe by me symple persone Wylliam Caxton to thende that euery cristen man may be the better encoraged tenterprise warre for the defense of Christendom, and to recouer the sayd Cyte of Iherusalem in whiche oure blessyd sauyour Ihesu Criste suffred deth for al mankynde, and roose fro deth to lyf, And fro the same holy londe ascended in to heuen. And also that Cristen peple one vnyed in a veray peas myght empryse to goo theder in pylgremage with strong honde for to expelle the sarasyns and turkes out of the same, that our lord myght be ther seruyd & worshipped of his chosen cristen peple in that holy & blessed londe in which he was Incarnate and blissyd it with the presence of his blessyd body whyles he was here in erthe emonge vs, by whiche conquest we myght deserue after this present short and transitorye lyf the celestial lyf to dwelle in heuen eternally in ioye without ende Amen. Which book I presente vnto the mooste Cristen kynge, kynge Edward the fourth, humbly besechyng his hyenes to take no displesyr at me so presumyng. Whiche book I began in Marche the xii daye and fynysshyd the vii day of Juyn, the yere of our lord M.cccc.lxxxi, & the xxi yere of the regne of our sayd souerayn lord kyng Edward the fourth, & in this maner sette in forme and enprynted the xx day of nouembre the yere a forsayd in thabbay of Westmester, by the said Wylliam Caxton.

Here, it will have been noticed, Caxton runs epilogue, colophon, and dedication all into one after his own happy and unpretentious fashion. Our next example is from a book which had indeed a royal patron in France, but in England was brought out at the request of an unnamed London merchant, though its name, “The Royal Book,” has probably had something to do with its high pecuniary value among Caxton’s productions. This colophon runs:

This book was compyled and made atte requeste of Kyng Phelyp of Fraunce, in the yere of thyncarnacyon of our lord M.cc.lxxix, and translated or reduced out of frensshe in to englysshe by me Wyllyam Caxton, atte requeste of a worshipful marchaunt and mercer of London, whyche instauntly requyred me to reduce it for the wele of alle them that shal rede or here it, as for a specyal book to knowe al vyces and braunches of them, and also al vertues by whiche wel vnderstonden and seen may dyrecte a persone to euerlastyng blysse, whyche book is callyd in frensshe le liure Royal, that is to say the ryal book, or a book for a kyng. For the holy scrypture calleth euery man a kyng whiche wysely and parfytly can gouerne and dyrecte hymselfe after vertu, and this book sheweth and enseygneth it so subtylly, so shortly, so perceuyngly and so parfyghtly that for the short comprehencion of the noble clergye and of the right grete substaunce which is comprysed therin It may and ought to be called wel by ryghte and quycke reason aboue al other bookes in frensshe or in englysshe, the book ryal or the book for a kyng, and also bycause that it was made and ordeyned atte request of that ryght noble kyng Phelyp le bele kynge of Fraunce ought it to be called Ryall, as tofore is sayd, whiche translacyon or reducyng oute of frensshe in to englysshe was achyeued, fynysshed and accomplysshed the xiii day of Septembre in the yere of thyncarnacyon of our lord M.cccc.lxxxiiii And in the second yere of the Regne of Kyng Rychard the thyrd.

Our third Caxton colophon belongs to another book which had no royal or princely patron, only Master William Daubeney, keeper of the jewels. There are certainly, however, no lack of kings in the colophon to “Charles the Great”; for Caxton, who had good reason to be attached to the House of York, alludes very ceremoniously to “his late master Edward IV,” while chronology compels him to name also both Richard III and Henry VII, though in neither case does he bestow any complimentary epithets.

And by cause I Wylliam Caxton was desyred & requyred by a good and synguler frende of myn, Maister Wylliam Daubeney, one of the tresorers of the Iewellys of the noble & moost crysten kyng our naturel and souerayn lord late of noble memorye kyng Edward the fourth, on whos soule Ihesu haue mercy, to reduce al these sayd hystoryes in to our englysshe tongue, I haue put me in deuoyr to translate thys sayd book as ye here tofore may se, al a long and playn, prayeng alle them that shall rede see or here it to pardon me of thys symple & rude translacyon and reducyng, bysechyng theym that shal fynde faute to correcte it, & in so doyng they shal deserue thankynges and I shal praye god for them, who brynge them and me after this short and transytorye lyf to euerlastyng blysse Amen. The whyche werke was fynysshed in the reducyng of hit in to englysshe the xviii day of Iuyn the second yere of kyng Rychard the thyrd, And the yere of our lord M.cccc.lxxxv. And enprynted the fyrst day of decembre the same yere of our lord & the fyrst yere of kyng Harry the seuenth.

Explicit per William Caxton.

The double dating which the worthy translator and printer gives so calmly has here a special interest as (unless indeed he began setting up the translation before it was finished) it shows that he was able to print a book of considerable size between June 18th and December 1st, and also because between these two dates Bosworth Field was lost and won, and the English throne had passed to a new king, on whom Caxton was perhaps at first inclined to look with rather critical eyes. If this was so, however, Henry VII found a sure way to conciliate him, for in the “Fayts of Arms” of Christine de Pisan we find that the translation and printing of the book were undertaken at the king’s request, and there is now no lack of honorific epithets attached to the mention of him.

Thus endeth this boke whiche Cristyne of Pyse made and drewe out of the boke named Vegecius de Re Militari and out of th’ Arbre of Bataylles wyth many other thynges sett in to the same requisite to werre and batailles. Whiche boke beyng in Frenshe was delyuered to me William Caxton by the most crysten kynge and redoubted prynce my natural and souerayn lord kyng Henry the VII, kyng of Englond and of Fraunce in his palais of Westmestre the xxiii day of Ianyuere the iiii yere of his regne and desired and wylled me to translate this said boke and reduce it in to our English and natural tonge, and to put it in enprynte to thende that euery gentylman born to armes and all manere men of werre, captayns, souldiours, vytayllers and all other, shold haue knowlege how they ought to behaue theym in the fayttes of warre and of bataylles, and so delyuered me the said book thenne, my lord th’ Erle of Oxenford awayting on his said grace, Whyche volume conteynyng four bokes I receyued of his said grace and according to his desire, whiche to me I repute a comandement, and verili glad to obeye, and after the lityl connyng that God hath lente me I haue endeuoyrd me to the vtterest of my power to fulfylle and accomplisshe his desire and comaundement, as wel to reduce it in to englyshe as to put it in enprinte, to thende that it may come to the sight and knowlege of euery gentylman and man of warre. And for certayn in myn oppinyon it is as necessary a boke and as requisite as ony may be for euery estate hye and lowe that entende to the fayttes of werre, whether it be in bataylles, sieges, rescowse, and all other fayttes, subtyltees and remedyes for meschieues. Whiche translacyon was finysshed the viii day of Iuyll the sayd yere and enprynted the xiiii day of Iuyll next folowyng and ful fynyshyd. Thenne syth I haue obeyed his most dredeful comaundement I humbly byseche his most exellent and bounteuous hyenes to pardone me of this symple and rude translacion, where in be no curyous ne gaye termes of rethoryk, but I hope to almighti God that it shal be entendyble and vnderstanden to euery man and also that it shal not moche varye in sentence fro the copye receyued of my said souerayn lord. And where as I haue erryd or made defaulte I beseche them that fynde suche to correcte it and so dooyng I shal praye for them, and yf ther be ony thyng therin to his pleasir I am glad and thinke my labour wel enployed for to haue the name to be one of the litel seruantes to the hiest and most cristen kyng and prince of the world, whom I byseche almyghty God to preserue kepe and contynue in his noble and most redoubted enterpryses, as wel in Bretayn, Flaundres and other placis, that he may haue victorie, honour and renommee to his perpetual glorye. For I haue not herd ne redde that ony prynce hath subdued his subgettis with lasse hurte &c and also holpen his neighbours and frendis out of this londe, In whyche hye enterprises I byseche almyghty God that he may remayne alleway vyctoryous And dayly encreace fro vertu to vertue, and fro better to better to his laude & honour in this present lyf, that after thys short and transitorye lyf he may atteyne to euerlastyng lyf in heuen, whiche God graunte to hym and to alle his lyege peple Amen.

Passing now from authors and semi-authors (if we may invent such a class to do honor to Caxton) to editors of a more ordinary stamp, we shall find that they, or the printers who hired them, in their anxiety to magnify their achievements, have frequent recourse to the opportunities offered by colophons. For unflinching and pretentious self-advertisement the palm, as far as my experience reaches, must be given to Bartolommeo Cepolla, who collected and edited the “consilia,” or counsel’s opinions, of Paulus de Castro, a celebrated jurist:

Si quis rerum omnium naturas inspexerit: vnamquamque non minus suo ordine quam partibus constare facile intelliget. Nec qui pro construendis edibus structori materiam parat sed qui pro consummati operis expeditione dispositam artificiose connectit domum edificare perhibetur: eique iure optimo architecti dum taxat nomen indidimus. Nemo namque sane mentis plineturgos aut cementarios edificatores merito nuncupabit, hi licet coctilia ac reliquia pro ceteris conglutinandis particulis administrent: hominem neque progenuisse naturam iudicaremus si hominis crura vertebris vero ac inguinibus caput et humeros addidisset, quando quidem et si nullius portiuncule integritate caruisset solius tamen situs incongruitate monstruosa res non rationis particeps animal diceretur. Cum itaque clarissimi ac excellentissimi iureconsulti Pauli Castrensis dilapsa undique neque in unum corpus redacta consilia cernerentur non ea fuisse edita seu composita dici posse videbant[ur], ac deperiisse potius tantum opus tamque elegantissimum quam in lucem peruenisse merito arbitraretur, communi studentium utilitati parens, quibus maxima pro eorum beniuolentia summisque in eum benemeritis seipsum debere fatetur, insignis eques et comes ac iuris ciuilis et pontificii interpres famosissimus Bartholomeus Cepolla Veronensis, aduocatus consistorialis, in florentissimo gymnasio Patauino ordinariam iuris ciuilis de mane publice legens, singula queque ab eo clarissimo uiro hinc inde consulta colligere elaborauit: fieri etiam unum reintegratum volumen (quod merito Repertorium Pauli Castrensis appellamus) ad faciliorem doctrinam capescendam curauit ac omnibus eius professionis imposterum accomodatum patere studuit. Idque impressoria arte Nurnberge de mense Octobris M.cccc.lxxxv Indictione tercia: per Anthonium Koburger actum est et diligentia completum.

Any one who has examined the natures of things in general will easily understand that each of them is the result quite as much of its arrangement as of its parts. Nor is he who makes ready the material for the mason to construct a dwelling considered to be the builder of the house, but rather he who skilfully combines the material available for the furtherance of the complete work, and by the best right it is only to this man that we have given the name of architect. For no one in his right mind will entitle tilers and bricklayers builders, although they furnish the bricks and what else is wanted for cementing together the other parts, nor should we judge nature to have given birth to a man if a man’s legs had been added to his vertebrÆ and a head and shoulders to his middle, since although every portion were there in its entirety, yet merely from the incongruity of their position the result would be called a monstrosity, not an animal partaking of reason. So when of the most famous and excellent counsellor Paulus Castrensis the Opinions were perceived to have been scattered abroad and not brought together into one body, it seemed impossible to speak of them as having been edited or compiled, and it might justly be thought that this great and most elegant work had rather utterly perished than been brought to the light of day. Obeying therefore the convenience of students, to whom he acknowledges himself indebted for their great good will and many services to him, a noble knight and count and very renowned exponent alike of civil and papal law, Bartholomeus Cepolla of Verona, an advocate of the consistorial court, who lectures publicly of a morning in the most flourishing University of Padua on the ordinary course of civil law, has taken the pains to gather from all sides all the individual opinions given by that most distinguished man, and has arranged, in order that his teaching may more easily be understood, for the publication of a single renovated volume, which we rightly call the Repertory of Paulus Castrensis, and has made it his care that this should be available in future for all of his profession, and this by the printer’s art has been finished and diligently completed at Nuremberg in October, 1485, the third indiction, by Anton Koburger.

A more normal example of the custom of blaming previous printers and editors—and it must be owned that the accusations hurled at them are, as a rule, much better justified than the vituperator’s assertions of his own superiority—may be taken from another law-book, a lecture or commentary by Petrus de Ancharano, printed and, as he asserts, edited by Benedictus Hectoris at Bologna.

Petrus de Ancharano. Repetitio. Bologna: Jo. Jac. de Benedictis for Benedictus Hectoris, 1493.

Opus pene diuinum celeberrimi vtriusque censure interpretis d. Petri de Ancharano in materia statutorum super caput canonum statuta de constitutionibus, quod prius Rome tum Bononie Impressum fuerat, adeo corruptum atque inemendatum fuerat vitio scriptorum et impressorum incuria vt vix tanti viri opus obtenebratum foret: nunc vero per Benedictum Hectoris librarium prius magna arte castigatum, demum originali proprio reperto enucleatius emendatum, editum est, quo si vera fateri licet et multa frustra addita detraxit et maiora detracta addidit impressitque fideliter in eadem ciuitate Bononie. Anno Domini M.cccc.lxxxxiij. tertio nonas Augusti.

The little less than divine work of the most famous interpreter of both codes, Dom. Petrus de Ancharano, in the matter of the statutes, on the chapter “Canonum statuta de constitutionibus,” which first at Rome, afterwards at Bologna, had been printed, by the fault of copyists and the carelessness of the printers, so corruptly and with so little correction that the work of so great a man was hardly shadowed out, now, on the other hand, by Benedictus Hectoris, stationer, has first with great skill been corrected and then by the discovery of the author’s original more purely emended, and so published, whereby, if truth may be told, he has both removed many vain additions and has added more things that had been removed, and has faithfully printed it in the same city of Bologna in the year of the Lord 1493, on August 3d.

Legal works are usually crabbed reading in themselves, and in the fifteenth century were made infinitely more so by the multiplicity of contractions used in printing them. It might seem natural, therefore, that there should be a special difficulty in obtaining correctness in these texts. But, as a matter of fact, to whatever department of knowledge we turn, we shall still find the fifteenth-century editor exclaiming against the wickedness of his predecessors. Thus, if we go to divinity, we may find as loud complaints as any law lecturer could formulate in the colophon to the Hagenau edition of Gabriel Biel’s sermon on the Lord’s Passion.

Dominice passionis trium partium notabilium sermo preclarus domini Gabrielis Biel supranotati. Qui olim negligenter: ex mendoso exemplari: et sub falso titulo impressus, postea emendatus ex originali et per prefatum Florentium diel diligenter revisus: in laudem altissimi innovatus clariusque interstinctus atque emendatus: non modo in sententiarum quarundam defectibus: verum etiam in orthographia. Et in imperiali opido hagenau impressus.

The excellent sermon of the above-mentioned Dom Gabriel Biel on the three noteworthy parts of the Lord’s Passion, which formerly was carelessly printed from a faulty copy and under a wrong title, afterwards corrected from the original and diligently revised by the aforesaid Florentinus Diel, unto the glory of the Most High has been renovated, more clearly divided, and emended, not only in the defects of certain sentences but also in the spelling, and printed in the imperial town of Hagenau.

To print a book (i) carelessly, (ii) from a faulty copy, and (iii) under a wrong title was really reprehensible, yet after all this detraction there is something quite pleasing in coming across a colophon like that to S. Augustine’s Exposition on the Psalms, in which Johann von Amerbach of Basel, instead of vilifying his predecessors, is content to appeal to the judgment of experts in matters of editing and textual criticism.

Post exactam diligentemque emendationem. Auctore deo: perfectum est insigne atque preclarum hoc opus explanationis psalmorum: Diui ac magni doctoris Augustini. Opus reuera maiori commendatione se dignum exhibens legentibus, quam quibusvis verbis explicari possit: vt ex prefatione et prologo ipsius evidenter colligi potest. Quanto vero studio et accuratione castigatum: emendatum: et ordinatum sit: hi iudicent qui illud aliis similibus sibi: siue manuscriptis: siue ere impressis litteris contulerint. Consummatum Basilee per magistrum Ioannem de Amerbach Anno Domini M.cccc.lxxxix.

After exact and diligent revision, by the help of God, this renowned and excellent work has been completed, the Explanation of the Psalms of the divine and great doctor Augustine, a work in very truth approving itself to its readers as worthy of greater praise than can be unfolded in any words, as can plainly be gathered from its preface and prologue. But with how much study and accuracy it has been corrected, emended, and set in order, let those judge who have compared it with other texts like itself, whether in manuscript or in brass-printed letters. Finished at Basel by Master Johann von Amerbach A.D. 1489.

Perhaps even more cheering than this pleasant and reasonable self-confidence is the mild shadow of an oath, a simple “Hercule,” with which Heinrich Quentell asseverates that his edition of the De Veritate of S. Thomas Aquinas truly rejoices in the true title of truth! We may note also the little arrangement by which the printer contrived to bring his work to an end on the very day of the saint’s festival.

Diui Thome aquinatis doctoris angelici illuminatissimi summa de veritate, per theozophie professorem eximium, Magistrum Theodericum de Susteren, insignis conuentus Coloniensis ordinis fratrum Predicatorum regentem profundissimum, denuo peruigili studio in luculentam erecta consonantiam, adeo hercule vt vere vero veritatis titulo gaudeat. Impressa Agrippine opera atque impensis prouidi viri Henrici Quentell, ciuis eiusdem. Anno salutis humane nonagesimonono supra millesimum quadringentesimum Ipso die celebritatis autoris cursu felici ad finem vsque perducta.

The Summa de Veritate (Epitome of Truth) of St. Thomas Aquinas, the angelic and most illuminate doctor, by the distinguished professor of divine learning Theoderic of Susteren, a regent deeply versed of the famous Cologne Convent of the order of Preaching Friars, newly by assiduous study restored to a fruitful harmony, so by Hercules that it truly rejoices in the true title of Truth, and printed at Cologne by the efforts and at the expense of the prudent Heinrich Quentell, citizen of the same, in the year of man’s salvation 1499, has been brought with favorable course even unto completion on the very festival of its author.

In all these books editors could have had no difficulties to deal with save those which arise when texts are copied and recopied with the inevitable introduction of small errors at every stage, and perhaps some even more dangerous attempts to correct those already made. But in one class of printing, that of liturgical books, in which absolute accuracy of text and punctuation was of supreme importance, the need for careful supervision was really very great,—so much so, indeed, that the great bulk of liturgical printing was entrusted to firms who made a specialty of it. It is not surprising, therefore, to find some special insistence on the editorial virtues of a missal-printer; and the colophon to the Salzburg Missal printed by Georg Stuchs at Nuremberg in 1498 is interesting for its detailed account of the system of punctuation.

Missale et de tempore et de sanctis non modo secundum notulam metropolitane ecclesie Salisburgensis ordinatum, verum etiam haud exigua opera adhibita, tum in quottis foliorum locandis, tum in remissionis discreto numero tam circa quamlibet lectionem vel prophetalem vel apostolicam quam circa quodlibet euangelium alio in loco plenarie locatum, situando reuisum. Deinde autem per cola et comata distinctum. Simplici puncto in collectis secretis complendis lectionibus epistolis et euangeliis locato colum indicante, gemino uero puncto coma significante: sed in introitu graduali alleluia sequentiis offertoris et communione puncto simplici locato mediam distinctionem que comatis appellatione venit presentante, gemino autem puncto subdistinctionem que colum nuncupatur signante. Demum uero in officina Georii [sic] StÖchs ex Sulczpach, ciuis Nurnbergensis, expensa Ioannis Ryman impressum. Idibus Augusti anni ab incarnatione Messye nonagesimi octaui supra millesimum quadragintesimum: finit.

A missal both for the seasons and saints’ days, not only arranged according to the order of the metropolitan church of Salzburg, but also revised with no small pains, both in setting down the numbers of the leaves and in assigning a distinctly numbered reference for every lesson, whether taken from the books of the Prophets or of the Apostles, and also for every gospel placed elsewhere in its full form: Distinguished, moreover, by colons and commas: in the Collects, Secrets, Post Communions, Lessons, Epistles and Gospels, the placing of a single point denoting a colon, a double point signifying a comma; but in the Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Sequences, Offertory and Communion the placing of a single point indicating the middle distinction which goes by the name of a comma, the double point the subdistinction which is called a colon. Now at last printed in the workshop of Georg Stuchs of Sulzbach, citizen of Nuremberg, at the expense of Johann Ryman, and completed on the 13th August of the year from the Messiah’s incarnation 1498.

In a Roman missal printed by G. Arrivabenus & P. de Paganinis at Venice in 1484 the colophon alludes to the common practice of correcting the text of a printed missal by hand, sometimes to bring it up to date, but also for the elimination of the printer’s errors. In this case the printers make bold to say that their text is so correct that any one who tampers with it rashly is as likely to turn right into wrong as wrong into right.

Roman Missal. Venice: G. Arriuabenus and P. de Paganinis, 1484.

Explicit missale secundum morem romane ecclesie, summa cum diligentia et fideli studio purgatum ab his erroribus quibus uel ignorantia uel incuria librariorum adductis communis abusus inualuit. Quocirca quicunque legerit obsecratum uelim ne adhibeat manum precipitem ad corrigendam uel potius corrumpendam libri rectitudinem magno partam labore, sed multiplicato sincero examine postmodum exequatur quicquid recta ratio et spiritus veritatis ingesserit. Ad laudem omnipotentis dei et sanctissime uirginis matris eius, totiusque curie celestis. Impressum Venetiis arte et impensis Georgii de Riuabenis Mantuani et Paganini de Paganinis Brixiani sociorum: sub Inclyto duce Ioanne Mocenico, quinto kalendas octobris. M.cccclxxxiiii. Amen.

Here ends the Missal according to the custom of the Roman Church, with the utmost diligence and faithful study purged from the errors with which, introduced by the ignorance and carelessness of copyists, the common perversion became established. Wherefore I would pray whoever reads it not to lay hasty hands to the correction, or rather corruption, of the accuracy of the book, which was obtained only by great labor; but let him examine it again and again with a single heart and thereafter carry out whatever right reason and the spirit of truth suggest. To the praise of Almighty God and of the most holy Virgin his Mother, and of all the court of heaven. Printed at Venice by the skill and at the charges of Georgio di Arrivabene of Mantua and Paganino dei Paganini of Brescia, partners, under the renowned doge Giovanni Mocenigo, 27 September, 1484. Amen.

Somewhat in the same spirit as the boast of the Venetian missal-printers, we find Koberger declaring—let us hope, after consulting ecclesiastical authorities—that his edition of the Revelations of S. Bridget is so complete that if any one produces additional revelations they may be dismissed as spurious.

Finit diuinum volumen omnium celestium Reuelationum preelecte sponse christi sancte Birgitte de regno Suetie. A religiosis patribus originalis monasterii sanctarum Marie et Brigitte in Watzstenis, prematuro studio et exquisita diligentia, in hos suprascriptos numerum et ordinem accuratius comportatum. Et si forte alique alie reuelationes, sicut repertum est, beate Brigitte per errorem aut temerarie a quoque quomodolibet ascribantur, preter has que in hoc presenti volumine aut in vita seu legenda sancte Birgitte maiori continentur, tanquam false et erronee decernentur.

Insuper iam alterato per Anthonium Koberger ciuem Nurembergensem impresse finiunt. Anno domini M.ccccc. xxi. mensis Septembris. Laus omnipotenti deo. Amen.

Here ends the divine volume of all the heavenly Revelations of the preËlect spouse of Christ, Saint Bridget of the kingdom of Sweden. The religious fathers of the original monastery of Saints Mary and Bridget in Wadstena, by most mature study and extraordinary diligence, have reduced them more accurately to the above number and arrangement. And if haply, as has been found the case, other revelations are through error or carelessness by any one or in any manner ascribed to the blessed Bridget besides those contained in this present volume or in the larger Life or Legend of Saint Bridget, they shall be treated as false and erroneous.

Printed now for the second time by Anton Koberger, citizen of Nuremberg, and brought to an end on September 21st, A.D. 1500. Praise be to Almighty God. Amen.

Of the views of the editors of classical texts we have already had some specimens in some of the early Venetian colophons. That of Filippo da Lavagna to his edition of the Epistolae Familiares of Cicero (Milan, 1472) is, however, of considerable interest, and tells us, moreover, the number of copies printed, besides conveying a stray hint to the students of the day that the production of further editions of the same excellence would depend on the liberality of their support.

Cicero. Epistolae Familiares. Milan: Lavagna, 1472.

Epistolarum Familiarium M. Tull. Cic. multa uolumina in diuersis Italiae locis hac noua impressorum arte transcripta sunt, que si ut plurima numero ita etiam studio satis correcta essent nouo hoc labore non fuisset opus. Sed tanto errorum numero confunduntur ut non modo littere pro litteris et pro uerbis uerba perturbatissime inuoluta, uerum etiam epistole in epistolas, libri in libros, sic inueniantur confusi, ne tam doctorum diligentia ad communem utilitatem confecta quam auarissimorum hominum cupiditate lucri gratia festinando conuoluta contorta contaminataque manifeste uideantur. Que cum audirem ex uiris cum doctissimis tum etiam prudentissimis ego Philippus Lauagna, ciuis Mediolanensis, ut pro uirili mea aliqua ex parte meis ciuibus prodessem, nactus exemplar correctissimum, studio diligentissimo hominum doctrina prestantium, trecenta uolumina exscribenda curaui, opera adhibita ut singule pagine antea quam imprimerentur ab aliquo doctorum perlecte essent et castigate: quem ego laborem nisi profudisse uidebor pleraque in futurum accuratissime ut transcribantur laborabo non minori publice quam mee utilitatis ratione seruata.

Barbara cum Marci uerbis admixta legebas:

Hunc lege quod verum est hoc Ciceronis opus.

Virgo decus coeli Christi sanctissime mater

Laus tibi cum nato sit sine fine tuo.

M.cccc.lxxii. viii kal. Apriles.

Of the Familiar Letters of M. Tullius Cicero many volumes have been copied in different places of Italy by this new art of the printers, and if these, as they are many in number, were also zealously and sufficiently corrected, there had been no need for this new work. But they are confused by so many errors that not only are letters and words substituted for one another in a most disorderly tangle, but also whole epistles and books are found so confused with others that the result plainly appears not so much a compilation by the diligence of learned men for the common profit, as some tangled and contorted mass of corruptions produced by the greed of the avaricious by hurrying for the sake of gain. This when, by the report of most learned and also prudent men, I, Philip Lavagna, a citizen of Milan, understood, in the hope of doing a man’s part in benefiting in some respect my fellow-citizens, I obtained by the most diligent zeal a very correct copy with the help of distinguished scholars, and made it my business to have 300 volumes written out, attention being paid that each page, before it was printed off, should be read over and corrected by one of the doctors. And unless I shall find that I have wasted this labor, I will make it my business that many other texts for the future shall be most accurately copied, the interests of the public being as carefully preserved as my own.

With Tully’s words once phrases rude were twined:

Here uncorrupted Cicero you shall find.

Glory of heaven, Christ’s mother, holiest maid,

Ever to thee, with him, all praise be paid.

25 March, 1472.

Even better than this, however, is the colophon to the Brescia Lucretius, in which we see the editor dismayed at first by the obvious defects of his copy, but resolving at length to print it on the ground that his inability to find any other was the best proof of its rarity.

Titi Lucretii Cari finis. Lucretii unicum meas in manus cum pervenisset exemplar de eo imprimendo hesitaui: quod erat difficile unico de exemplo quae librarii essent praeterita negligentia illa corrigere. Verum ubi alterum perquisitum exemplar adinuenire non potui, hac ipsa motus difficultate unico etiam de exemplari volui librum quam maxime rarum communem multis facere studiosis: siquidem facilius erit pauca loca uel aliunde altero exemplari extricato uel suo studio castigare et diligentia: quam integro carere uolumine. Presertim cum a fabulis quae uacuas (ut inquit poeta) delectant mentes remotus Lucretius noster de rerum natura questiones tractet acutissimas tanto ingenii acumine tantoque lepore uerborum ut omnes qui illum secuti poete sunt: eum ita suis in descriptionibus imitentur, et Virgilius presertim, poetarum princeps, ut ipsis cum uerbis tria interdum et amplius metra suscipiant. Thoma Ferando auctore.

The end of Titus Lucretius Carus. When a single copy of Lucretius came into my hands I hesitated as to printing it, because it was difficult from a single copy to correct the slips due to the carelessness of the copyist. But when by diligent search I could find no second copy, moved by this very difficulty I was minded even from a single copy to make a book of the greatest rarity common to many scholars, since it will be easier to correct a few places, either by a second copy unearthed from another quarter or by one’s own study and diligence, than to lack a whole volume. Especially since, far removed from the fables which (as the poet says) delight empty minds, our Lucretius handles the keenest questions concerning the nature of things with so much intellectual acumen and verbal elegance that all the poets who have followed him imitate him so in their descriptions, more especially Virgil, the prince of poets, that with his very words they sometimes make three lines and more. Thomas Ferrandus.

The name of Lucretius seldom appears in any of the medieval catalogues, and the number of manuscripts of his “De Rerum Natura” now extant is so small that his first printer’s plea may well be received. Even in comparatively modern books, indeed, a satisfactory text was not always to be obtained for the asking. Chaucer has had no more devout lover than William Caxton, and yet when Caxton printed the “Canterbury Tales” he only succeeded in obtaining a manuscript of the worst class to work from, and when a friend offered him a better text for his second edition the improvement was very slight. In the same way we find the anonymous Florentine editor of two tracts of Domenico Cavalca (we cannot be wrong in assuming that the same editor worked on both) apologizing for the bad text from which he printed the first few pages of the “Frutti della Lingua,” and telling how in the case of the “Specchio di Croce” he had to collate a number of copies in order to replace them by a good printed edition.

(i) Frutti della Lingua.

Impresso in Firenze con somma diligentia emendato e correcto, excepto alcuni fogli del principio di decto tractato: e tale defecto non da nostra inaduertentia, ma da una copia o uero exemplo tutto corropto e falsificato, impresso per lo adrieto in firenze per un altro non diligente impressore procedette. Onde noi cio conoscendo, inuestigando altra copia emendatissima, secondo quella, quanto ledebole forze del nostro ingegno ci hanno porto, habbiamo imposto emendato fine al presente tractato.

Printed in Florence, emended and corrected with the greatest diligence, except for some leaves of the beginning of the said tract, and such defect not through our inadvertence, but from a copy or example wholly corrupt and falsified, printed heretofore in Florence by another printer by no means diligent. Whence we, on learning this, sought out another copy of the greatest correctness, according to which, to the best of the poor powers of our mind, we have put a revised ending to the present tract.

(ii) Specchio di Croce.

Impresso in Firenze con somma diligentia correcti: nella quale correptione non poco habbiamo insudato & affatichatoci: concio sia che di moltissime copie, o vero exempli di questa utile operetta, parte scripti in penna e parte impressi, nessuno nhabbiamo trouato correcto, ma tutti aequalmente incorrecti. Onde noi (benche insufficienti) con quel poco sapere che la natura ci ha porto, habbiamo transcorrendo di molti corropti facto uno quasi correpto: Si che preghiamo li lectori di questa operetta da noi impressa se in epsa alcuna scorreptione troueranno, non ci debbino biasimare, se di quella non pocha faticha che spesa ci habbiamo laudare non ci vorranno: Solo in dio regna perfectione.

Printed in Florence, corrected with the utmost diligence: in the which correction we have sweated and wearied ourselves more than a little; whereas of very many copies or examples of the said useful booklet, some written with pen, some printed, we have found not one correct, but all equally incorrect. Whence we (though ill equipped), with such little skill as nature has given us, have by much revision made out of many corrupt copies one which may be taken as correct. So that we pray the readers of this booklet printed by us, if they shall find any incorrectness in it, not to reproach us therefor, if they will not praise us for the great trouble which we have expended. Perfection reigns only in God.

No doubt the early printers and the editors whom they employed made the most of all these difficulties; yet they must have been real enough, so that, despite the affected language in which it is phrased, the colophon of Nicolas Kessler of Basel to his edition of the “Homeliarius Doctorum” may well command our sympathy.

Homiliae. Basel: N. Kessler, 1498.

Preclarum Omeliarum opus plurimorum sanctorum aliorumue famosissimorum doctorum super euangeliis de tempore et sanctis, quibusdam eorundem adiunctis sermonibus, Tam verborum ornatu limatum, tamque sententiarum grauitate vbertateque sparsim plantatum, in mercuriali Nicolai Kessler officina Basilee impressum (Imperante illustrissimo Maximiliano rege Romanorum inuictissimo). Non igitur in factorem liuoris tractus aculeo theonino dente correctionis insanias, Sed potius beneficii non ingratus ad exhibita donaria discretionis oculos adhibeas columbinos. Anno incarnationis dominice millesimo quadringentesimo nonagesimo octauo decimo Nonas Augusti. Finit feliciter.

An excellent book of Homilies of many saints and other most famous teachers on the Gospels of the Seasons and the Saints, with certain of their sermons added, polished with verbal ornament and with weighty and fruitful sayings scattered all over it: printed in the mercurial workshop of Nicolas Kessler at Basel (the most illustrious Maximilian the Unconquered, King of the Romans, being Emperor). Do not therefore, impelled by the sting of malice, rage against the compiler with the small satirist’s fang of correction; but rather, not ungrateful for a benefit, turn to the offerings before you the dovelike eyes of discretion. In the year of the Lord’s incarnation 1498, on the tenth of the Nones of August, happily finished.

It is to be feared that the pay of a fifteenth-century “corrector,” when he was paid at all, was far from princely. It is pleasant, therefore, to find that at least one printer, the veteran Ulrich Zell, was so genuinely grateful to a friendly priest who had helped him in seeing Harderwyck’s “Commentaries on Logic” through the press as to make most handsome acknowledgment in his colophon and in verses added to it.

Commentarii in quatuor libros noue logice processum burse Laurentiane famosissimi Agrippinensis Colonie gymnasii continentes per honorabilem virum artium magistrum necnon sacre theologie licentiatum Gerardum Herdarwiccensem actu in eodem regentem, ex diuersis et potissimum Magni Alberti comentarius collecti, et per Udalricum Zell prope Lyskirchen impressoria artis in sancta Coloniensi ciuitate protomagistrum fabre characterizati. Anno virginalis partu Millesimo quadragintesimo super nonagesimum quarto in profesto Conuersionis euangelice tube Pauli Apostoli ad finem optatum sunt perducti, de quo sit deo uni et trino laus honor et gloria per infinita seculorum secula. Amen. Ex quo in hoc tomorum stromateo opere non paruo adiumento mihi fuit honorabilis dominus diue memorie Iacobus Amsfordensis, artium liberalium et sacrarum litterarum professor dum vitam in humanis ageret profundissimus, Ecclesie sancti Iohannis Baptiste pastor, mihi ut frater amicissimus, decreui in calce horum titulum sepulcralem, trito sermone epitaphium appellatum, quem prestantissimus et generosus dominus Rodolphus Langius, vir omnium litterarum laude cumulatissimus, ecclesie Monasteriensis Canonicus, in eundem defunctum, precibus amicorum impulsus, exornauit subjungere, ut dum hunc quos ab errore salutari exhortatione reuocauerit legerint apud altissimum pro anima eius vitificum sacrificium offerant.

The notes on the four books of the new logic containing the process of the Laurentian bursary of the most famous school of Cologne, by an honorable man, master of arts and licentiate of sacred theology, Gerard of Harderwyck, president at that function, brought together from divers notes and specially from those of Albertus Magnus, and by Ulrich Zell, near the Lyskirche, chief practiser of the printer’s art in the holy city of Cologne, skilfully set in type, in the year of the Virgin Birth 1494, on the eve of the Conversion of the Gospel-trumpet, the Apostle Paul, have been brought to their wished-for end, for which to God the One and Three let there be praise, honor, and glory through infinite ages of ages. Amen. And because in this laying down of volumes I received no small help from an honorable master of sacred memory, Jakob of Amsfort, while he lived among men a most profound professor of liberal arts and sacred literature, minister of the church of Saint John Baptist, and to me as a most friendly brother, I determined to subjoin at the end of all this a sepulchral inscription, commonly called an epitaph, which the most excellent and well-born Dom. Rudolph Lange, a man of great distinction in every kind of literature, canon of the monastic church, urged by the prayers of friends, furnished in honor of the dead, that while those whom by his wholesome exhortation he recalled from error read this, they may offer before the Most High the life-giving sacrifice for his soul.

And the Epitaph duly follows, though it need not be quoted here.

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