or of a folded leaf? It is clear, from these premises, that the present copies were never before described: for they are printed upon single leaves, without any mark of original folding; and the material is not vellum, but parchment; as the former would have been too delicate for the purpose. That Breitkopf, and a great number of bibliographers, should entertain doubts upon the authenticity of these instruments (according to Lambinet), may be natural enough, from the suspicious circumstance of an erasure, which was visible in the copy described by Schelhorn and Meerman; but no well-versed bibliographical antiquary-on an inspection of the sound, unadulterated condition of THESE COPIES-without erasure or alterations-would add to the number of such sceptics. In regard to the character of the type with which the text is printed, it is unlike any with which I am acquainted; and those writers who assimilate it to that of the Durandus and Catholicon, afford at least decisive evidence of a very dull eye in matters of typographical investigation. Upon the whole, the noble Owner of this Collection may rejoice in the acquisition of one of the most precious instruments in existence, corroborative of so early a use of metal types.

In the preceding pages the reader has been presented with an account of some of the earliest attempts at WOODEN BLOCK PRINTING. He has also witnessed, in the same pages, specimens of cuts, of a various nature, which cannot fail to interest every lover of the history of ANCIENT DESIGN AND ENGRAVING. These cuts were, in all probability, executed before the first authenticated efforts of the pencil of Masaccio, or of the gravers of Finiguerra,* Schoen, Mecheln, and Wohlgemuth; and have escaped the critical attention of most writers upon the art of engraving, and especially of our own writers.

As connected with the HISTORY OF PRINTING, these wooden-block productions have justly been considered of inestimable value in the cabinets of the curious. They were probably the first rude efforts

The name of ZANI has been mentioned, at page xliii, as connected with that of FINIGUERRA. One of the most elegant and interesting works, upon the subject of ancient engraving, is that by Zani, entitled Materiali per servire Alla Storia dell' Origine e de' Progressi dell' Incisione in Rame e in Legno, &c. Parma, 1802, 8vo. It is adorned with a beautiful copper-plate, being a fac-simile of an engraving from a Par, executed by Maso Finiguerra between the years 1450 and 1460. The manner in which Zani describes his discovery of this treasure, shews at once his enthusiasm and good fortune.

1

which suggested, to the inquisitive minds of COSTER, GUTENberg, and FUST, those ideas of typographical improvement which might unite beauty with facility of execution. In the volumes produced by the two last-mentioned artists, sufficient evidence is given of the great superiority of their works over those of their predecessors.

Still, to the typographical antiquary and tasteful collector, the possession of such specimens, as have just been described, must become a desideratum in proportion to the daily increasing difficulties of obtaining them; and to the pleasure derived from contemplating the first rude outlines of an art, which so quickly attained to nearly all the perfection of which it was capable.

Latin Bibles.

7. BIBLIA LATINA VULGATA. Supposed to have been printed by Gutenberg, at Mentz, between years 1450 and 1455. Folio. 2 vols.

the

FIRST EDITION OF THE BIBLE; and probably the first work printed with metal types. It has not been without considerable research that this point has been established in my own mind, as the reader may perceive on consulting the subjoined note;* having deemed it more advisable to refer the curious in typographical history to the authorities therein stated, than to interrupt the course of bibliographical description in the present place. If any subsequent research should lead to a discovery more decisive respecting the period of printing this extraordinary work, the public shall be made acquainted with it; as it has not been from a blind attachment to any particular hypothesis that the foregoing conclusion is drawn.

This is commonly called the MAZARINE BIBLE, on account of de Bure

See a disquisition by the author of the present work in the viiith. Number of the Classical Journal, published by J. A. Valpy; where the following authorities are chronologically arranged and examined. The Cologne Chronicle: Trithemius: Andrea Schottus: Scriverius: Boxhorn: Lipenius: Chevillier: Uffenbach: T. Sincerus: Marchand: Schwarz: the Abbé Sellier: Mylius: Biblioth. Berlin: Freytag: Clement: Fournier: de Bure: Cat. de Gaignat: Heinecken: Masch and Boerner: Wurdtwein: the Abbé Laire: Lambinet: Daunou: La Serna Santander: Jansen: and Lichtenberger. Yet I may here remark that Mittarelli, from arguments which do not satisfy me as being clear or conclusive, disbelieves the existence of any Bible before that of 1462; which he conceives was begun in 1450. This is an overstrained conjecture indeed. Bibl. Cod. MSS. &c. S. Michael, Venet. 1779. fol. App. col. 59-78. In regard to Schwarz, a farther examination of his Doc. de