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PREFACE iii

INDEX 511

THE EARLIER PRINTED BOOKS.

THE EARLIER PRINTED BOOKS.

THE EARLY PRINTER-PUBLISHERS OF FRANCE.

It was in 1462 that the first examples of printed books were seen in Paris. In that year, Fust brought from Mayence a supply of his folio Bible, copies of which he was able to sell for fifty crowns. The usual price for manuscripts of this compass had been from four to five hundred crowns. It seems probable that there was little or no foundation for the stories that were, later, told of Fust's being harshly treated as a magician, on the ground that the volumes he was offering for sale could not have been produced by human hands, or without the aid of the powers of evil. There was a manifest improbability in the idea that Satan would interest himself in securing a wider circulation for the holy Scriptures, unless possibly he had taken occasion to inject into falsified texts some heretical or pernicious doctrine. It is probable also that, by the time of Fust's arrival, more or less information must already have reached Paris about the new art, and that, while it was still regarded as mysterious and wonderful, it was recognised as a human invention that had in other cities already been applied to practical uses.

In this edict, Louis speaks with great appreciation and admiration of the printing art, "the discovery of which appears to be rather divine than human." He congratulates his kingdom that in the development of this art "France takes precedence of all other realms." A year later, the King put on record his opinion that dramatic productions and representations should be left free from any restrictions. In 1512, the King writes to the University requesting the Faculty to examine a book which the Council of Pisa had condemned as heretical. In place, however, of demanding or suggesting that measures of severity should be taken against the writer of the book, the King proposed that the professors should have the book gone over chapter by chapter and should put into form a refutation of any of its conclusions which seemed to them to be contrary to the truth.

The second Press established in Paris was that of Caesaris and Stoll, who began work for themselves in 1473. They were both students of the University but they found it desirable to carry on their business outside of the University limits. The demand in Paris, both within and without the University, for printed books, increased very rapidly, and before the close of the century the trade in books far exceeded that of any city in Europe. For a number of years, however, a very large proportion of this demand was supplied from the presses of Mayence, Strasburg, Venice, Milan, Cologne, and Bruges.

After Paris, Lyons was the city of France in which the art of printing secured the earliest introduction and the most rapid development. The printer-publishers of Lyons showed themselves "enterprising" in more ways than one. They were free from the immediate supervision and control of the authorities of the University of Paris, and, as the history of the Paris Press shows, the difficulties placed in the way of publishing undertakings by the bigoted and ignorant censorship of the theologians, must have more than offset the advantages usually to be secured in the production of scholarly publications, through the facilities of the University collections and the editorial service rendered by the University members.

In the matter of political censorship, Lyons was, of course, in form at least, subject to the same regulations that controlled the presses of Paris. It was, however, evidently much more difficult to exercise any strict and continuous supervision over the printers of the provinces than over those of the capital, and in politics, therefore, as well as in theology, the publishers of Lyons enjoyed a greater freedom of action. "The freedom of action," of which their Paris competitors made the sharpest criticism and the most reiterated complaints, was shown in the practice of the Lyons competitors, of promptly appropriating for their own profit and reproducing, with more or less closeness of imitation, such of the Paris publications as they found available for the markets within their reach. The "privileges" issued by the Crown and the special authorisations given by the University appear to have availed but little to repress this appropriating enterprise on the part of the publishers of Lyons.

The enterprise of these early Lyons publishers was manifested also in another and more legitimate direction. They gave attention to the production of books in light literature, such as popular romances, legends, folk-songs, etc., printed, of course, in the vernacular, at a time when the printers of Paris and, for that matter, the printers of nearly all the other book-manufacturing cities of Europe were devoting their presses exclusively to theology and to the classics. Other cities the printers of which interested themselves in light literature were Bruges and London, the records of which are referred to in another chapter.

In 1507, a Greek Press was established in Paris by Giles Gourmont. The Press was under the general supervision of the University, but the immediate responsibility for the undertaking rested with Francis Tissard. Tissard was a French scholar, who, having studied in Padua and Bologna, had become imbued with an earnest zeal for the development of classical scholarship in France. He had secured instruction in Greek from a certain Demetrius Spartiata, and it was his special object to establish in the University of Paris the study of Greek language and literature, and to bring the cost of Greek books within the means of the poorer instructors and students. The few scholars in France who had heretofore been interested in Greek books had been obliged to incur the expense of securing these from Milan or from Venice.

The subsequent interest taken by Francis in the work of the University and in the foundation of the Royal Library at Fontainebleau was doubtless due to the influence of Budaeus, and it was in his power so to educate the King as to enable the latter to realise the value and importance to the kingdom of the work that was being done by the printer-publisher, and to be ready to further this work with the royal protection, with privileges, and at times with direct financial aid.

At this stage in the history of book-production, the "producers," the men who brought into existence the current literature of the time, and who, having planned and initiated the undertakings, taken the risks, met the outlay, and provided the labour , claimed the ownership of the works produced, were the publishers. The literature with which the publishing of printed books was entered upon was comprised, with a few rare exceptions, of editions of old-time classics, prepared to meet the requirements of the scholars of the day. It was for this class of publications that were secured the first "protections" and "privileges," and the labour of extracting such privileges from the rulers first of one State and then of another, until a sufficient territory to provide a market for the work had, at least in form, been protected, fell of course upon the publishers.

These "privileges" were for but brief and varying terms, and often the territory covered by any one privilege was very inconsiderable; while it was further the case that the penalties for infringement were absurdly inadequate, and could but rarely be enforced. The protection afforded to property rights was, therefore, for the most part unsatisfactory enough, but it was the best that in the existing state of public opinion could be secured. The system of privileges marked an epoch in the history of human relations and in the development of the recognition of human rights, and it constituted, of course, the beginning of the later system of copyright law.

The printer-publishers of the first century of printing who, in the face of this complex series of difficulties, responsibilities, and requirements, succeeded in creating a business and in producing for their own generation and for posterity long lists of costly and scholarly editions of the great books of their world, may fairly be called men of achievement.

I have already noted for Italy the achievements of Aldus Manutius and his successors, and I propose in later chapters to give some description of the work of the Kobergers in Nuremberg, of Froben in Basel, of the House of Plantin in Antwerp, of Caxton in Bruges and in London, and of the Elzevirs in Leyden and Amsterdam.

For France, after the foregoing brief references to the undertakings of the earliest printers, some special mention is fairly due to the famous family of the Estiennes or Stephani, the members of which took rank not only with the great publishers but with the distinguished scholars of their time, while they are also to be commemorated as having, in troublous times, shown themselves to be strong-hearted men, possessing the courage of their convictions. No other family, excepting possibly that of the Elzevirs, was for so many generations engaged in the business of printing and publishing, while the work of the Stephani was carried on under exceptional difficulties, commercial, literary, theological, and political. The editorial responsibility in preparing for the press the scholarly publications of later publishers was for the most part confided to professors or other scholarly associates, but it was the case that the books issued by the Stephani were, with a few exceptions, edited and supervised by the publishers themselves, nearly all the members of the family being men of scholarly training, while one or two took rank with the most learned men of their generation. No publisher, except Aldus of Venice, has ever contributed to the issues of his press as much original scholarly work as is to be found in the books bearing the imprint of Robert Stephanus.

Henry Estienne associated with his imprint the arms of the University, but he had no exclusive control of such use, as these same arms appear on the title-pages of the publications of one or two of his contemporaries. He appears to have been one of the first of Paris printers to assume a personal responsibility for the typographical accuracy of his texts, and in securing the services of competent scholars as correctors for his Press, he made a practice of adding their names to the title-pages or to the colophons of their editions. This served at once to secure for them the credit of good work and to fix the responsibility for work that did not stand the test of later criticism. Greswell mentions that the celebrated scholar Beatus Rhenanus was at one time discharged by Henry from the post of press corrector, because he had permitted certain errors or oversights to remain in the printed text as passed by him. Henry took the ground that the publishing imprint should stand as a voucher or guarantee for trustworthy work and that every typographical error constituted a stain upon his character as a publisher.

Henry died about 1520. The work of his Press was at the outset continued by Colines, who married his widow. Colines gave special attention to the production of impressions of the best Latin classics, and was the first of Paris printers to adopt for these the italic type and the more convenient cabinet or sixteenmo form which had been first utilised by Aldus. Robert Estienne, the most famous printer of his name, owed to his step-father his typographical education, and it must have been largely due also to the influence of Colines that the taste of the young Robert was from the beginning directed to the dissemination of classical literature.

As has been previously pointed out, up to the year 1507, the University of Paris was practically destitute of texts for the study of Greek, although for nearly twenty years, in the universities of Italy, Greek lecturers had found a large support for their work, and although, since 1495, the presses of Aldus in Venice had been busied in the production of carefully edited and well printed editions of the Greek classics. While it is probable that there was no serious difficulty in securing in Paris at this time copies of the issues of the Venetian Press, it would appear that the knowledge of Greek in the University and the interest in acquiring such knowledge prior to 1510 had been very inconsiderable.

Without undertaking to give in detail the list of the printer-publishers who are recorded by Maittaire and Greswell as having rendered honourable service during this period in the production in Paris of scholarly Latin and Greek texts, I will proceed at once to the record of Robert Estienne, whose work was of first importance for France and for Europe, and who is to be ranked with the great printer-publishers of the world.

The following list of works, selected from among the more important of the publications issued by the second Estienne during the succeeding fifteen years, will serve to give an impression of the character of his undertakings. For the titles in this list I am indebted to Greswell.

"Dictionarium seu Latinae Linguae Thesaurus." This work was not completed in 1528, but during this year and the two years following, its preparation was in progress. Robert's part in the undertaking was by no means restricted to the planning, the printing, and the publishing. Not having succeeded in securing the services of a competent editor, he finally decided himself to attempt the task of the compilation and the editing. Having secured from scholarly friends a favourable opinion on the first few sheets prepared for the press, he was encouraged to persevere, and applied himself to the task day and night for more than two years, during which he had also on his hands the responsibilities of his printing and publishing business. The work was adopted at once by the University of Paris, and, superseding the existing Latin dictionaries , it remained for many years the standard authority on its subject, as well as a monument to the learning and industry of a representative publisher.

"Horatii ars poetica." 4to.

"Plinii epistolae." The edition of 1529 had apparently lasted for four years.

"Dictionnaire Fran?ois-Latin."

"Ciceronis Epistolae."

"Parisiis ex officina Roberti Stephani, Typographi Regii, MDXL. cum privilegio Regis." Folio.

In 1540, on the death of Neobarius, the first who had received the title of "Printer in Greek to the King," this distinction also was conferred upon Estienne. The official recognition and approval given by the Crown to his undertakings could not, however, save these from the censure and indignant opposition of the divines, and they did what they could to check and to discourage his publications. Robert was brought into special jeopardy and trouble through an impression of the Decalogue executed in large characters, and printed in the form of a hanging map for affixing to the walls of chambers and school-rooms. Such an undertaking seems to our present understanding innocent enough, whether considered from a Romanist or from a Protestant point of view, but in this publication of the Ten Commandments, the divines appear to have discovered little less mischief than in all the heresies of Luther. Robert relates that the orthodox censors caused a counter impression of the Decalogue to be prepared by one Johannes Andreas, in which the first two commandments were combined into one, omitting the prohibition of making and worshipping images, and the tenth commandment was divided into two in order to make up the denary number.

During this year, Estienne goes on to say, there were instituted against him on the part of the Sorbonne, various rigorous proceedings. His house was frequently searched for heretical works, and in order to avoid being arrested, he was not infrequently compelled to absent himself from home and to betake himself for safety to the King's Court. This description of a publisher taking refuge at Court in order to protect himself against the violence of officials who were the King's censors, throws a curious light on both the strength and the weakness of the Crown. With all the authority of the kingdom at his command, Francis was evidently unable to put any restriction upon the operations of the ecclesiastical censors, who in their dogmatic and unruly zeal were doing what was in their power to throw the influence of the University against the literary development of France and of Europe. On the other hand, the Doctors of the Sorbonne, although backed by the authority of Rome, were not strong enough, at least for a number of years, to put a stop to the publication in Catholic Paris of works stigmatised by them as dangerously heretical.

In 1541, undismayed by the dissatisfaction and continued threats of the Sorbonne, Robert put forth a Latin Pentateuch, entitled "Libri Moysi quinque cum annotationibus," etc., in folio, and as a companion volume, a "Novum Testamentum Latine, cum brevibus annotationibus," in octavo. This last was sharply attacked on the ground that the editor had expressed himself objectionably on the subjects of purgatory and confession.

"Moschopuli de Ratione Examinandae Orationis Libellus, Graece." 4to. This was a grammatical work for the instruction of youth, now first printed.

Impressions of "Juvenal, Persius, Valerius Maximus, Lucian, and Terence."

A sixth edition of the Latin Bible, with a text more pure and more accurate than had been secured in any of the previous issues. This was the second of Robert's Latin Bibles which escaped censure.

"Ciceronis Epistolae."

In this year , Robert had occasion to publish various monographs presenting the funeral sermons, and describing the obsequies.

"Dictionnaire Fran?ois-Latin." Folio.

"Virgilii Opera."

"Horatii poemata, scholiis et argumentis ab H. Stephano illustrata."

"Rudimenta fidei Christianae, Graece, nunc primum in lucem edita." Maittaire explains that this is Calvin's Catechism translated into Greek by the printer's son Henry. The omission of any reference to Calvin was doubtless due to the desire to avoid arousing fresh indignation at the Sorbonne. It is difficult to understand, however, how a volume of this character could in any case have escaped the vigilance of the censors.

"Sententiae Veterum Poetarum per G. Majorem in locos communes digestae. Antonii Mancinelli de Poetica virtute libellus. Index sententiarum," etc. 8vo.

"Commentarius puerorum de quotidiano sermone, Maturino Corderio, auctore." 8vo. Cordier was one of the small group of contemporary authors with whose work Robert's imprint is associated. He was a schoolmaster of Paris, but having adopted the reformed faith, he withdrew to Geneva.

"Dionis Nicaei Rerum Romanarum Epitome, Graece, auctore Joan. Xiphilino; ex Bibl. regia, ac. off. R. Stephani, Typogr. regii, regiis typis." 4to. "Eadem Latine, Gulielmo Blanco Albiensi interprete." 4to.

Du Verdier expresses the opinion "that the Lutheran heresy, and the controversies to which it gave rise, conspired greatly to the development of literature." The advocates of the Reformation showed themselves to be persons of great intellectual ability and profound research in sacred and classical literature, of which they made in their writings a great use. The severe ridicule that they brought upon the ignorance and barbarism of their opponents finally aroused the Catholic doctors to similar scholarly researches, and to call in the aid of erudition, which they had previously imagined to be some species of heresy.

I have given the account of this contest with some detail because it was the first case in France that had come to a formal trial, in which publications were charged with heresy, and because also the animus shown by the ecclesiastics of the Sorbonne emphasised the divergence of the University from the interests of literature and of critical scholarship, and foreshadowed the transfer of literary and publishing activity from Paris to Switzerland, Germany, and the Low Countries. In 1548, King Henry was intent on passing the Alps, and began his expedition from Troyes. The absence of the Court, and the necessity, in connection with his contest with the Sorbonne, of pursuing its movements, gave occasion to Robert to visit Lyons, and in this journey he is supposed to have performed the task of subdividing into verses the chapters of the New Testament. A great part of this labour he is said to have performed on horseback. The invention, if it may be so described, proved a convenience and found general acceptation, and has been followed in all later editions of the Testament.

While Estienne had thus far been able to secure a successful result in each one of his several contests with the Sorbonne, these contests had been for him not only anxious and troublesome in themselves, but seriously hampering to his business undertakings. It had also been made clear to him that the new monarch could not be depended upon for any such intelligent understanding of literary and scholarly requirements as had been shown by King Francis, and that his policy in the control of the royal Press, or in the assertion of the authority of the Crown over final censorship of publication, was certain to vacillate from month to month according to the personal, political, or ecclesiastical influences that might for the moment be brought to bear.

It was manifestly impossible to carry on with any sufficient assurance as to the future a publishing business involving the planning of large undertakings, unless some consistent and intelligent policy of censorship could be depended upon. The enmity of the Sorbonne appeared to be persistent and irremediable. The irritable suspicions of the divines concerning the heretical character of texts printed in Greek could hardly be removed as long as these divines remained ignorant of Greek. As Robert was not prepared, under the behests of such ignorant censorship, to discontinue his scholarly publishing undertakings, there remained for him no resource but to abandon Paris, and to transfer his business to some city where the censorship would be either less rigorous or more intelligent.

The removal of the business to Geneva took place early in 1552. The Swiss capital, while at the time a town of but moderate population, presented certain special advantages, which could at the time have been found in no other city out of France, for carrying on a publishing business of the character of Robert's. The sharp contests of the Reformation, turning as they did largely upon intellectual issues, such as the history of the Church, and the exegesis of the Scriptures and of the writings of the Fathers, had developed no little intellectual activity throughout Europe. Geneva had become the most important centre for the production of the dogmatic and controversial literature of the Protestants, or at least of the Calvinists. Its University, which dated from 1368, and had been reorganised by Calvin in 1539, was already a place of resort for students and scholars from all parts of Europe who were interested in the doctrines of the Reformers, or who were attracted by the commanding personality of Calvin, while the Swiss printers had established channels of distribution for their books not only through Germany and the Low Countries, but even in far off England. The distribution in France of the publications from Geneva, even for books of accepted orthodoxy, was very much restricted and hampered by the regulations of the University, which had been framed for the purpose of keeping the sale of the books in France in the hands of the French dealers. Heretical works, under which were classed all the writings of the Protestants, were, of course, prohibited altogether. It was not possible, however, through any amount of restriction or prohibition, to prevent the Geneva printers from making sale of their works across the easily reached frontiers, and in fact the forbidden French territory formed a most important part of their market.

Robert had found it necessary, in order to gain time to prepare for his escape, to temporise with his censors, and to go through the form of submitting to their authority. Their indignation when they found that he had given them the slip was very keen, and according to Beza, the divines went to the point of burning him in effigy. At the time of Estienne's arrival in Geneva, Switzerland had become a place of refuge for Protestant heretics from various parts of Europe, and the exiles were chiefly attracted either to Zurich, as the headquarters of the followers of Zwingli, or to Geneva, as the home of Calvin. A little later, the groups in those cities from Italy, France, and South Germany were added to by a number of divines and scholars from England, whence they had been driven by the persecution under Queen Mary. Among the sojourners from Italy were Lelius and Faustus Socinus from Siena, whose name afterwards gave a designation to the group of Arians known as Socinians. The nephew was, later, active in diffusing Socinianism in Poland, where, however, it failed to secure any lasting foundation. The inscription on his tomb, in Warsaw, is said to read as follows:

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