cit_00016
Aventinus, Johannes (i.e. Turmair, Johann Georg):
Wie die Truckerey erfunden ist worden.
Text |
Eben auch obgenanntes jars [1450] ist erfunden worden die Truckerey zu Meintz / von einem genañt Hans |
Translation |
In the year mentioned above [1450] the printing press was also invented in Mainz by a certain Hans Faust. He spent two years with this, with the help of his companion Peter Schäfer from Garenßheim, to whom he gave his own daughter Christina in marriage. The two of them kept this art secret for a long time, nobody was allowed to watch, and made all journeymen and servants swear an oath to such work and art that they were not allowed to tell anyone or teach it. However, after ten years, the Schäfer's servant revealed this art and brought it to light publicly, Hans Gutenberg from Strasbourg in Germany. His compatriots Ulrich Han and Sixt Reiß first brought it to Welschland and Rome, so it became so well known in our times that there is no place where it is not known. Latin, Greek and Hebrew are printed. This made the books affordable. While one prints a book in a day, it would take another a year to write it. Peter Schäfer, the grandson of the aforementioned Faust, the inventor of this art, now prints in Mainz and Strasbourg. This art would not have been invented if the ancient books had not been lost. People no longer want to write in monasteries. It was there that the books that held up the school were previously written. |
Author |
Aventinus, Johannes (i.e. Turmair, Johann Georg) |
Reference |
Aventinus, Johannes (i.e. Turmair, Johann Georg): Johannis Auentini Des Hochgelerten weitberümbten Beyerischen Geschichtschreibers Chronica (1580), p. 422r |
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