• JOHANNES BALBUS. CATHOLICON. Mainz: [Konrad Humery & Peter Schoeffer, third impression], “1460” [ca. 1473]

Collections:
  • Incunabula at Princeton
  • In Principio
  • Collections Donated to Princeton University Library
  • Catholicon Press grouping
  • The Scheide Library
  • Treasures of Rare Book Division
Curatorial Note:
  • The first impression of the Catholicon in 1460 was printed on a paper stock known to have been in use that year; it was used also in printing Johann Mentelin’s Latin Bible of not after 1460. Not long after Gutenberg’s death, about 1469, a second impression was printed by reassembling the stored two-line strips into type-pages. The work must have been done in the shop of Peter Schoeffer, who included the Catholicon in his broadside publisher’s list datable to about 1470. The paper for this second impression was supplied from a Basel paper mill, whose paper with the same watermark appears in other printing of 1469. This third and last impression was printed on two paper stocks found in heavy use by German printers in various editions of ca. 1472-1473. By this time the two-line strips show distinct signs of wear by comparison with the first impression of thirteen years earlier. Again, the printing is likely to have been done in the shop of Peter Schoeffer, at that time the only printing shop in Mainz.
Bookseller:
  • Lathrop C. Harper, Inc
Author:
  • Balbi, Giovanni, d. 1298
Provenance:
  • WHS copy is Michael Wodhull's copy, acquired 10/21/27 from Harper.
Former owner:
  • Wodhull, Michael, 1740-1816
Creator:
  • Balbi, Giovanni, d. 1298
Binder:
  • Payne, Roger, 1739-1797
Language:
  • Latin
Call number:
  • 53.7
Extent:
  • 373 leaves ; 39.3 x 27.6 cm.
Format:
  • Book
Type:
  • Dictionaries
  • Grammar
Description:
  • This catalogue record is derived in large part from a record for a microfilm.
  • Three issues can be distinguished with identical typesetting: a) printed on vellum or Bull's Head paper; b) on Galliziani paper; c) on Tower & Crown paper. This has given rise to the theory that issue a) was printed in 1460, issue b) in 1469 and issue c) about 1472; see P. Needham, in BSA 76 (1982) pp.395-456 and the articles "zur Catholicon-Forschung" in Wolfenbütteler Notizen zur Buchgeschichte 13 (1988) pp.105-232.
Publisher:
  • Mainz : [Printer of the 1460 Catholicon (Johann Gutenberg)], "1460" [3rd impression, ca. 1472-1473].
Subject:
  • Latin language—Dictionaries—Early works to 1500
  • Latin language—Grammar—Early works to 1500
Title sort:
  • Catholicon.
Binding note:
  • WHS copy is bound by Roger Payne.
References:
  • HC 2254*; Pell 1702; DeR(M) 90; Polain(B) 456 (describing 4 vellum leaves only); IDL 610; IGI 1154; IBE 684; IBP 730; Ohly-Sack 352; Voull(Trier) 919; Sallander 1597, 1597 bis; Coll(S) 137; Madsen 487; Oates 47; Rhodes(Oxford Colleges) 245; Sheppard 90; Pr 146; BMC I 39; BSB-Ink B-8; GW 3182; Stillwell, M.B.: Gutenberg and the Catholicon of 1460 (published by Edmond Byrne Hackett, New York, 1936, to accompany the distribution of leaves from an incomplete paper copy); Fac: Farnborough, 1971.
  • Stillwell B19.
  • Goff B-20.
Printer:
  • Gutenberg, Johann, 1397?-1468
Created:
  • 1460-01-01T00:00:00Z
Date:
  • 1460
Identifier:
  • ark:/88435/9s161b238
Location:
  • WHS 53.7
Edm rights:
  • No Known Copyright
Range label:
  • Logical
View in catalog: