the INTRODUCTION and PERFECTION of the ART of PRINTING in ITALY.

If Italy cannot boast of being the inventress of the art of printing, she has, however, the glory of having been the first to receive it and bring it to perfection, after the attempts made at Strasburg and Mentz. But the exact time of the introduction of printing among the Italians, is not so clear as that of its origin and progress in Germany; for which there are two principal reasons.

I. The facility with which the earliest Italian dates, anterior to Lactantius, 1465, were judged to be false; the learned having fixed as certain and indubitable canons, 1st. That printing was not practised out of Mentz till after the year 1462; and 2d. That the first who brought such an excellent gift to Italy, were Sweynheim and Pannartz. We have seen that the first of these two canons is set aside by the unanimous consent of the contemporary writers of the fifteenth century, and proved to be the invention of John Schaffer, too easily credited by the mo derns. We shall see, in the following article, that the second is equally contrary to the testimonies of the Italian writers, and to documents of the fifteenth century.

II. The other reason is, that the early printers of Italy began to give the first specimens of their art without affixing the date of the impression, of

which fact an account will be given at the conclusion of this article. Hence, it will be impossible to place the time of the introduction of printing in Italy, in any satisfactory light, unless the truth of the dates of the first Italian books be well established.

DEFENCE of the DECOR PUELLArum.

DECOR PUELLARUM; Zoe Honore di le Donzelle &c. anno a Christi Incarnatione M.CCCCLXI. Per Magistrum Nicolaum Jenson feliciter impressum est. Some say it is in small 4to. but the work is in 8vo. This is, without doubt, the most celebrated of all the Italian editions. There is no bibliographer of any merit, that has not spoken of it ; and it has been the subject of many particular dissertations. During the space of three centuries, it was looked upon as the first fruits of the press in Italy, and the commencement of Italian typography; and the merit of Jenson, who printed it, has been of course extolled, as the worthy introducer of the art into Italy, and of perfecting the same by the invention of the beautiful Venetian character. . But modern critics, within these forty years, would persuade us that it is an imposture of the saine Jenson, who having wickedly antedated the work ten years, acquired to himself from the credulous world so much honour; and yet, strange to tell, this neither raised the envy nor jealousy of the emulators in the art! This fraud of Jenson's is said to be so well prov

ed, that it is no longer lawful to think of defending it. I, however, after having had the courage and patience to examine quietly what has been written upon this subject, think, that from the highly reputed opinion of so many learned men, whom I venerate as my superiors, an appeal may yet be made; and in this I am confirmed by the opinion of Crevenna and Tiraboschi, two of the most accu rate scholars of the present day.

In this appeal I shall propose for the consideration of the intelligent, a summary of the arguments for and against the date of the Decor Puellarum, 1461, not merely to enlighten others, but to learn from the reception of it by the public, whether it be proper to lay before them Memoirs of the first Italian printers, and a defence of the first editions of Upper Italy, prior to the date of the Lactantius, 1465, which, by similar conjectures, many have endeavoured also to falsify.

PROOFS that the DATE of the DECOR PUELLARUM, 1461, is Genuine.

Facts are proved true or false by the proofs of fact. What can be more extravagant than wishing to deny by ratiocination, what is a real positive fact? The proofs of fact are often called in to demonstrate speculative truths, but speculations are never resorted to as the proofs of facts.

First Proof. The date 1461 is a certain fact. Many copies of this work still exist, and are suffi

ciently known, and all bear the same date. Now the date of a book is the speaking proof of the time, the place, and the artist. Dates should be considered as authentic documents, of whose truth, in general, it is not lawful to doubt. To deny these dates by conjectures or arguments, which may be equivocal, would be to confound the most certain proofs of genuine history. Nothing but certain and evident facts contrary to those proofs, can deprive them of the just claim they have upon the public faith..

Second Proof. This date is a fact, not private but public; which it was impossible for Jenson to have kept secret from the emulators of this art. This date is such, as highly interests the honour of all the first printers of Italy: is it then credible, that had it been forged, and produced by Jenson alone, ten years afterwards, as is pretended, that no one of those who were able to lay claim to the glory of having printed in Venice before him, either out of sincerity, jealousy or envy, should not have expressly denied it, declaring to the public and to posterity the imposture? No one has done so, therefore there is reason to believe, that none of Jenson's rivals doubted the truth of this date. Their silence in this respect, is a proof that there was no reason to call it in question.

Third Proof. Modern critics, by denying the date 1461, lay the blame of imposture, not upon one, but upon many, not to say all the contemporary authors, who assert, that Jenson was

the first that printed books in Italy, and that he printed in Venice under the Doge Mulipiero, whose office expired in the beginning of the year 1462. A short essay, does not permit long and learned details, two, however, cannot be omitted, as they are too decisive, and till now have not been well considered, or placed in their true light..

Marin Sanudo, a Venetian nobleman, in his Lives of the Doges of Venice, published by the celebrated Muratori, and extolled as one of the most critical and accurate works of the fifteenth century; which accuracy is evinced by the distinct memorials concerning printing which he has therein transmitted, agreeing perfectly with the dates of the earliest books since discovered. It is easy to observe, that he speaks of this fact according to the dates, which he himself had seen. He places the invention of printing in Germany in the year 1459;, although it was only in the year 1458 or 1459 that the new discovery was divulged by, the servants of Gutenberg, which afterwards broke up the Fausto-Gutenbergian society, and was the means of exporting the invention from Germany. This is attested by contemporary writers; and in this year he places the second book with a date, but the first with moveable cast metal types, (Durandi Rationale Divin. Offic. 1459) probably brought in the same year to Venice by Jenson, as a testimony of the new invention.

Samudo places afterwards the introduction of the