DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7597#0251
218
SPECULUM HUMANAE SALVATIONIS. [,
tise given at the end of the first volume of Lambinet, is a corrective
of that writer's over confidence) observes (p. 421) that " the Spe-
" culum Salutis, executed in part with wooden blocks, and partly
" with cast type, is, perhaps, anterior to the year 1460;" adding,
however, (doubtless because he saw that the characters were those
of the Low Countries, and not of Germany) that, " if, as Heineken
" supposes, it was printed by one of the workmen of Gutenberg
*t or Fust, there is little reason to believe that that workman was
" established at Mentz."
Now, if in conformity to the opinions of these writers, we should
place the third edition of the Speculum (the first Latin) about
1455, and if it be, at the same time, admitted as probable, that an
average period of a little more than seven years intervened between
each two editions,—the first edition of the book must, according to
such a calculation, have been printed about the year 1440—Avhich is
all that the writers on the side of Harlem contend for.
But as, on the one hand, it would be unfair to encumber the
cause of Lawrence Coster with all the absurdities which his zealous,
but indiscreet friends have insisted upon in his behalf; so, on the
other, it would be injustice to Gutenberg, were we to take advan-
tage, to his detriment, of an opinion hazarded, perhaps incautiously,
by one or more of the advocates of his claims.
It will, therefore, be proper for us to inquire how far the internal
evidence of the four early editions of the Speculum (which, from
the general conformity of their execution—the paper on which they
are printed—the resemblance of the type in all of them, and the
identity of that type, in three—there can be little doubt were
printed at the same press) may justify the two following con-
clusions—1st, that they were printed in Holland; and, 2dly, that
they are of higher antiquity than any of the books printed in that
country by those printers Avho are commonly said to have first in-
troduced printing into Holland, and are known to have established
themselves in different towns of that country, and other parts of
the Low Countries, after the year 1472. For if these two points
SPECULUM HUMANAE SALVATIONIS. [,
tise given at the end of the first volume of Lambinet, is a corrective
of that writer's over confidence) observes (p. 421) that " the Spe-
" culum Salutis, executed in part with wooden blocks, and partly
" with cast type, is, perhaps, anterior to the year 1460;" adding,
however, (doubtless because he saw that the characters were those
of the Low Countries, and not of Germany) that, " if, as Heineken
" supposes, it was printed by one of the workmen of Gutenberg
*t or Fust, there is little reason to believe that that workman was
" established at Mentz."
Now, if in conformity to the opinions of these writers, we should
place the third edition of the Speculum (the first Latin) about
1455, and if it be, at the same time, admitted as probable, that an
average period of a little more than seven years intervened between
each two editions,—the first edition of the book must, according to
such a calculation, have been printed about the year 1440—Avhich is
all that the writers on the side of Harlem contend for.
But as, on the one hand, it would be unfair to encumber the
cause of Lawrence Coster with all the absurdities which his zealous,
but indiscreet friends have insisted upon in his behalf; so, on the
other, it would be injustice to Gutenberg, were we to take advan-
tage, to his detriment, of an opinion hazarded, perhaps incautiously,
by one or more of the advocates of his claims.
It will, therefore, be proper for us to inquire how far the internal
evidence of the four early editions of the Speculum (which, from
the general conformity of their execution—the paper on which they
are printed—the resemblance of the type in all of them, and the
identity of that type, in three—there can be little doubt were
printed at the same press) may justify the two following con-
clusions—1st, that they were printed in Holland; and, 2dly, that
they are of higher antiquity than any of the books printed in that
country by those printers Avho are commonly said to have first in-
troduced printing into Holland, and are known to have established
themselves in different towns of that country, and other parts of
the Low Countries, after the year 1472. For if these two points