to him; but I agree with Mr. Hessels that they may with equal probability be assigned to Nicholas Bechtermüntze, who is known to have printed at Eltvill, near Mentz, at least as early as 1467, in which year one of his books is dated. The type is generally described as that of the Catholicon of 1460, a book usually assumed to be Gutenberg's; but here again the evidence is too vague to amount to proof.
The introduction of printing into England is, next after its invention in Germany, the most interesting event to us. Here again, however, difficulties beset us at every step. Where and from whom did Caxton learn his art? What was the first book he printed? What was the first book printed in England? Strange to say, all these questions have had varying answers assigned to them.
I cannot attempt here to discuss any one of them. But for the information of the readers of this catalogue, I will endeavour to state as briefly as possible the answers which seem justified by the most recent investigations, merely premising that I derive most, if not all, my information on the subject from Mr. Blades's[1] exhaustive treatise.
Caxton learnt his art from Colard Mansion, one of whose books, the "Somme Rurale," was in the Loan Collection. He printed at Bruges, under the patronage of the Duchess of Burgundy, the sister of our King Edward IV. The first book Caxton printed was probably the "Recuyell of the Histories of Troye," 1474. The first book he printed in England was probably the "Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers," 1477, although the honour is often given to the "Game and Play of the Chesse, morlised," 1474–5. A copy of the former book, but of a later edition, was in the Loan Collection, as well as a copy of the Chess-book.
The whole question as to the first book printed in England was much complicated by the discovery two centuries ago of a book printed at Oxford, with the date 1468; it is entitled, "Sancti Jeronomi in Symbolo," but the date is certainly a misprint for 1478. Caxton himself was guilty of a similar error in his edition of Gower's "Confessio Amantis," a copy of which is in the Lambeth Library, and three copies, two of them imperfect and wanting the page in which the misprint
- ↑ The Life and Typography of William Caxton, 2 vols., 1863. I should mention that the date assigned to the Chess-book is that of its translation, and that it was probably not printed before 1476.
