1455 Book printing was soon used in the service of politics and propaganda. The first politically printed propaganda publication was the Turkish calendar. This calendar is said to have been printed around 1455 and to have been developed by Johannes Gutenberg. The first known New Year’s wish printed on this calendar is called “Eyn gut nuwe Jar”.
In 1456, the forty-two language Latin Bible with movable, cast type was printed and completed. The Bible the earliest printed in form basically consists of 2 volumes, the New Testament and the Old Testament. About 180 editions were printed at that time, today there are still 48 copies, twelve printed on parchment and thirty-six on paper. london print documents
1458 About 2 years later, in 1458, the first book printed in 3 colours is known, it contains the oldest imprint of European book printing. For the first time in a surviving copy, the Mainz Psalter has a printer’s mark printed in red. Printing errors also existed at that time, so it happens that on the last page of the Mainz Psalter from 1457, spalmorum is written instead of psalmorum. Johann Mentelin, deceased in Strasbourg.
1467 The loss of monopoly in 1467 Italy was the country in which German book printers introduced J. Gutenberg’s invention, so it was also the first country in which German printers lost their monopoly.
1470 This year can be considered the year of periodical printing. The printing of broadsheet calendars, which increased steadily year after year, began as early as the 15th century with the book printer G. Zainer in Augsburg, Germany. In Germany, too, the story of the first large-scale entrepreneur A. Koberger in the field of printing, book trade and publishing began in 1470. In Nuremberg as a printer, he employed far more than one hundred typesetters, printers and bookbinders. The catalogue printed by his company contains more than two hundred printed works. Koberg’s successors did not succeed in continuing the business successfully, so all operations were closed by 1533 at the latest. The Cologne printer A. Therhoernen used printed sheet numbers in 1470. Already known from the time of the manuscripts was page counting, which means, equal numbering per 2 facing pages. The actual page counting (pagination) in books, however, only became established at the beginning of the 16th century. This pagination was intended to serve order, as were the custodes, which served to support the signatures. This type was also first adopted in book printing in 1470 in the printed edition of the works of a Roman historian.
3.1 From the appearance of the first printed works
In 1471 the first printed Bible appeared in Venice in Italian. In 1472 the first technical book appeared, a work on military affairs already written in manuscript and widely distributed. The first paediatric book written or printed in German was published by the Augsburg physician B. Metlinger. Presumably in 1473, the first printed “Pestbuch” booklet of the order appeared, this printed work was also the first print of the Ulm physician H. Steinhöwel as a contemporary, in the early period primarily “old and proven” was printed, prints of living authors were rare. In 1974, the early printer A. Rusch wrote a manual on worship customs, the Antiqua into book printing on German soil. The first printed dictionary in 2 living languages appeared in 1477, in the then economic metropolis of Venice. This Italian-German dictionary was printed by the German printer A. von Rottweil.
3.2 First printers and their places of activity
“De oratore” was the first book printed in Italy. Ulrich Zell, who probably learned printing from J. Fust and P. Schöffer, settled in Cologne/Germany in 1464 and founded a printing press, his first printing appeared one year later. The first printed bilingual Bible was published by the printer Mentelin in the same century in 66. Despite many translation errors, it remained the oldest print in standard text of all German Bibles before Luther. In the same year, the first printed book advertisement was published by H. Eggestein in Strasbourg. Rome’s first printer was Ulrich Hahn, who printed the earliest woodcut book in Italy in 1467. The first technical book, the printer is unknown, was printed in Pilsen a year later. The first printer in Augsburg was G. Zainer, whose first print appeared in 1468. In the same year, Gutenberg’s old companion introduced book printing in Basel. From about 1469 J. Sensenschmidt (Nuremberg) printed theological and legal works. A. Zarotto was the first printer of Milan, who started his book production in 1470. In the same year, the German printers K. Sweynheim and A. Pannartz /Rome, introduced the practice of entering the price and edition size of each book in book advertisements. In Belgium, Aalst was the first place of printing, there J.von Paderborn started his printing activity in 1472, after he had learned in Venice and printed for a short time in Strasbourg/France, according to research. In Lüdeck/North Germany, first printer L. Brandis began printing books in 1472. One year later, Erfurt also got its first printer with J. Fogel. In the same year, the first printer in Lyon was G. Le Roy, who printed there until 1488.
