Giovanni Balbi was an Italian grammarian and theologian of the 13th century. Not much is known of his life but according to tradition, in 1272, at a mature age, he gave away all of his wealth to the poor of Genoa and entered the Dominican Order of mendicant friars. He died in 1298.
Balbi wrote a number of books, the most important of which was one known as the Catholicon, which he completed on 7 March 1286. The title Catholicon might suggest to us today that it was a religious work but the word “catholic” derives from the Greek word Καθολικον meaning “universal”, and in this sense the title means “The universal book.”
The Catholicon is a massive Latin dictionary and encyclopaedia. It was one of the most important works in medieval lexicography and was widely used by writers throughout Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries. Many manuscript copies of it were made and twenty-four separate editions of it were printed between the years 1460 and 1500.
THE MAINZ CATHOLICON OF 1460
The large potential demand for the Catholicon meant that it was chosen as one of the first books to be printed in Europe. The Mainz edition of 1460 is (or was) generally believed to have been printed by Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of the revolutionary new technology of printing. The Catholicon also has (or had) the distinction of being the first secular (non-religious) book of substantial size to be printed. (Figure 1)
Gutenberg’s involvement in the printing of this book, and the actual date of its production, has been the subject of serious debate. In its colophon at the end of the text, the Catholicon was the first book to name its place of printing (Mainz, in Germany) and it also contains the first detailed reference to the invention of printing with moveable type. It is dated 1460 but the name of the person who actually printed it is, frustratingly, not given. (Figure 2)
The book’s colophon reads (in translation):
“With the help of the Omnipotent God, at Whose very nod the tongues of infants are made eloquent, and Who often reveals to the humble what He withholds from the wise – this excellent book, Catholicon, has been printed in the goodly city of Mainz, in the glorious German nation (which, by the Grace of God, the Almighty has deigned to prefer and exalt above other nations of the earth by gracious gift and so lofty a light of genius), and it has been brought to completion in the year of our Lord’s incarnation, 1460 – not by means of reed, stylus, or quill, but with the miraculous and harmonious concurrence of punches and types cast in moulds. Hence to Thee, O Holy Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, let praise and honour be given Thee, Three Persons in One God, Holy Trinity. To the single glory of the Church let universal praise be given for this book, and let all tongues laud the Blessed Virgin Mary, henceforth, and forevermore. TO GOD BE THE THANKS.”
GUTENBERG’S GENIUS…?
The debate over the origins of the book has arisen because there are three distinct issues of this first edition of the Catholicon. All three issues have virtually identical typesetting and the same colophon dated 1460, but they are printed on different paper stocks. The known dates of use of the different paper stocks appears to discount the possibility that the three issues were printed simultaneously. The first issue, printed on paper with a bull’s head watermark, or on vellum, is dated to 1460. The second issue, on paper watermarked with the emblem of the Galliziani family, papermakers in Basel, can be dated to about 1469. The third issue, on paper with tower or crown watermarks, can be dated to about 1472.
One theory, based on the typesetting of the Catholicon and the evidence of the different paper stocks, is that Gutenberg printed the book not with normal moveable metal type, composed letter by letter, but with full lines called “slugs”. These solid two-line slugs of cast type fused together complete lines of text and, after the original printing in 1460, were stored away in anticipation of future demand and then used again to print more copies on the later paper stocks in 1469 and 1472. (Figure 3)
If this theory is correct, then Gutenberg did not just invent printing with moveable metal type, he also invented an early form of stereotyping or linotype setting to allow future reprinting without the time and expense of resetting the text.
…OR SOMETHING ELSE?
However, an alternative theory based on other evidence, is that the three different issues were printed at the same time, but not before 1469. They were printed in three separate print shops using their own paper stocks (hence the difference between the issues), the lines composed not of two-line slugs but of moveable type having been tied together in pairs of lines.
If this theory is correct, it means that Gutenberg, who died in 1468, could not have printed the Catholicon. The printer was perhaps, instead, Gutenberg’s former colleague Peter Schoeffer.
The debate continues as to when the first edition of the Catholicon was printed, by whom, and how.
The John Rylands Library copy of the Catholicon is the first issue on paper. It is one of three copies which were owned at different times by George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834), when he was assembling his magnificent collection of early printed books. He sold the other two, somewhat imperfect, copies as duplicates.
Its catalogue record can be viewed here. It has been fully digitized and is available to view on Luna: vol. 1, vol. 2.