Catholicon (religious dictionary)
Encyclopedia
The Summa grammaticalis quae vocatur Catholicon, or Catholicon (from the Greek Καθολικόν, universal), was a Latin encyclopedia / dictionary which found wide use throughout Christendom
. It was created by John Balbi (Johannes Januensis de Balbis), of Genoa
, a Dominican
who finished the work on March 7, 1286.
The Catholicon is a Latin
dictionary
, which was compiled by Johannes Balbus and served in the late Middle Ages to interpret the Bible "correctly". The educated citizen could gather from it the substantial knowledge of his time. From 1286 to the late 15th century it was available mainly in manuscripts held by monastic libraries.
The Catholicon was printed in three editions, which, on the basis of the types of paper, in each case can be assigned to the years 1460, 1469 and 1472. The typesetting of these three editions is similar. For the explanation of this phenomenon the historian of printing Lotte Hellinga puts forward the thesis that the Catholicon was printed in the same year, but on three different presses by three different printers, who cooperated in a joint venture. Paul Needham
does not accept this and he presents the revolutionary opinion, that the Catholicon was printed by means of plates or stereotypes, thus by firm printing forms created from the original typesetting. Thus this form of printing would be three centuries before its "official" invention. The correct attribution of the Catholicon to its printers is one of the knotty problems of incunabula research.
The colophon of the book (in Latin) refers to the technology used: "With the help of the Most High ... this noble book Catholicon has been printed and accomplished without the help of reed, stylus or pen but by the wondrous agreement, proportion and harmony of punches and types, in the year of our Lord's incarnation 1460 in the noble city of Mainz of the renowned German nation ...". S. H. Steinberg in his book Five Hundred Years of Printing (1955) makes these observations "the type is about a third smaller than that of the 42-line Bible; it is considerably more economical and thus marks an important step towards varying as well as cheapening book-production by the careful choice of type"; "the book contains a colophon which it is difficult to believe to have been written by anybody but the inventor of printing himself".
A summary of the problem is to be found in (only in German): Andreas Venzke: Johannes Gutenberg – Der Erfinder des Buchdrucks und seine Zeit. Piper-Verlag, Munich, 2000
Christendom
Christendom, or the Christian world, has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Christians, adherents of Christianity...
. It was created by John Balbi (Johannes Januensis de Balbis), of Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, a Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
who finished the work on March 7, 1286.
- It should be distinguished from a later Latin-Breton-French dictionaryCatholicon (trilingual dictionary)Catholicon is a Breton-French-Latin dictionary. It is the first Breton dictionary and also the first French dictionary. It contains six thousand entries and was compiled in 1464 by the Breton priest Jehan Lagadeuc and printed in 1499 in Tréguier...
compiled in 1464 by a priest of Tréguier called Jehan Lagadeuc which was published 5 November 1499 (the first printed French dictionary and the first ever trilingual dictionary).
The Catholicon is a Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
, which was compiled by Johannes Balbus and served in the late Middle Ages to interpret the Bible "correctly". The educated citizen could gather from it the substantial knowledge of his time. From 1286 to the late 15th century it was available mainly in manuscripts held by monastic libraries.
Editio princeps
The Catholicon was one of the first books to be printed, using the new printing technology of Johannes Gutenberg in 1460; it is unclear who did the printing though Gutenberg himself was once regarded as the printer responsible. It was printed with a newly cut Gothic Antiqua, a small but easily readable, still gothically influenced, printing type, using sixty-six lines of forty letters in each column.The Catholicon was printed in three editions, which, on the basis of the types of paper, in each case can be assigned to the years 1460, 1469 and 1472. The typesetting of these three editions is similar. For the explanation of this phenomenon the historian of printing Lotte Hellinga puts forward the thesis that the Catholicon was printed in the same year, but on three different presses by three different printers, who cooperated in a joint venture. Paul Needham
Paul Needham
Paul Needham is a former English professional footballer who played as a full back. He made than 50 appearances in The Football League for Chester.-Playing career:...
does not accept this and he presents the revolutionary opinion, that the Catholicon was printed by means of plates or stereotypes, thus by firm printing forms created from the original typesetting. Thus this form of printing would be three centuries before its "official" invention. The correct attribution of the Catholicon to its printers is one of the knotty problems of incunabula research.
The colophon of the book (in Latin) refers to the technology used: "With the help of the Most High ... this noble book Catholicon has been printed and accomplished without the help of reed, stylus or pen but by the wondrous agreement, proportion and harmony of punches and types, in the year of our Lord's incarnation 1460 in the noble city of Mainz of the renowned German nation ...". S. H. Steinberg in his book Five Hundred Years of Printing (1955) makes these observations "the type is about a third smaller than that of the 42-line Bible; it is considerably more economical and thus marks an important step towards varying as well as cheapening book-production by the careful choice of type"; "the book contains a colophon which it is difficult to believe to have been written by anybody but the inventor of printing himself".
A summary of the problem is to be found in (only in German): Andreas Venzke: Johannes Gutenberg – Der Erfinder des Buchdrucks und seine Zeit. Piper-Verlag, Munich, 2000
Further reading
- Joannes Balbus (1460) Catholicon. Farnborough: Gregg, 1971 ISBN 0576722405 (facsimile reprint)
- Lotte Hellinga: "Das Mainzer Catholicon und Gutenbergs Nachlaß. Neudatierung und Auswirkungen." In: Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens, 40, 1993; pp. 395-416
- Paul Needham: "Johann Gutenberg and the Catholicon Press." In: The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, 76, 1982; pp. 395-565
- Gutenberg - Aventur und Kunst. Vom Geheimunternehmen zur ersten Medienrevolution. Mainz: Stadt Mainz, 2000.
- Gottfried Zedler: Das Mainzer Catholicon. Mainz: Verlag der Gutenberg-Gesellschaft, 1905