Heirs of Gutenberg

The creation of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz set the stage for the production of printed books throughout the 15th century, in major cities throughout Europe. With Gutenberg’s adoption of printing technology starting from about 1450, there was a rapid increase in the popularity of printed books. Between 1450 and 1501, some 30,000 different editions of incunabula were printed, and illuminated manuscripts became commissioned works, generally created for royalty and other wealthy individuals. Mainz was soon eclipsed as a center for printing, with the majority of incunabula coming out of either Venice or Paris.

Map of Europe showing the first centers of printing that emerged at in the latter half of the 15th century. The size of each circle represents the number of incunable books published in that location in the first decade of its printing operation and thus the relative importance of that location to the spread of book publishing in Europe.

City of God

1473 edition of St. Augustine's De Civitate Dei (The City of God), from the presses of Johannes Fust and Peter Schoëffer, Mainz

Special Collections holds one volume with a direct connection to Gutenberg’s first printing press, a 1473 edition of St. Augustine’s the City of God.

This volume is a second edition in Latin, printed by Johannes Fust and Peter Schoëffer, the successors of Gutenberg in Mainz. The typefaces are the same which were used to print the 1462 edition of the Bible. The text was popular in the 15th century and was published in multiple incunable editions. Approximately 500 copies of the work were printed. According to the Incunabula Short Title Catalogue at the British Library (updated as of 2017), only 81 copies are held in institutions worldwide.

This edition is extensively rubricated in red and blue, with book numbers and illuminated capitals on each page. It includes an unidentified family crest of a former owner, as well as the shields of Peter Schoeffer’s printer’s signet, a reworking of the family emblem of the Fusts.

St. Augustine (354–430) wrote De Civitate Dei later in his life, approximately 413–426. The work is often considered one of the formative texts of Western Christianity. It is a foundational work of Western Christian thought, and can be seen as an effort to explain the goals of history and respond to allegations that Christianity brought about the decline of Rome, soon after the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410. The dialogue engages fundamental theological questions such as suffering, the existence of evil, and the victory of Good over Evil.

This volume was given to Marquette in 1999, as a gift of Rose Mary (Sullivan) and Frank Matusinec. The Matusinecs were former Milwaukee Public School teachers and are Marquette alums. In celebration of Marquette’s one millionth volume, they underwrote the funds to purchase the book from the Whitefish Bay Public Library, where it had been donated in 1957 by Mrs. Sidney C. Fraser, in memory of her husband.

Example of embellished capitals and rubrication in The City of God.

An unidentified family crest of one of the former owners of The City of God. The work passed through many hands between the printers' workshop and its final home at Marquette. It was not uncommon for owners to add their marks to the volume during their ownership. This practice frequently allows scholars to determine provenance and to date the ownership of the book in question. These records can be used to authenticate a book, to assign a geographic location to a copy, or to tie the work to a collector's library.