thoritative work upon this intermediary between publisher
and reader. The earliest catalogue so far known was printed at Mainz by
Peter Schoeffer in 1469. It was a catalogue of books for sale by himself
or his agent, and consisted of a single sheet, probably intended to be
used as a poster. It is in abbreviated Latin, and comprises the titles of
twenty-one books, being headed--

'Volentes sibi comparare infrascriptos libros magna cum
diligentia correctos, ac in huiusmodi littera moguntie impressos,
bene continuatos, veniant ad locum habitationis infrascriptum.'

and at the foot is printed in large type--

'HEC EST LITTERA PSALTERII'

--a specimen of the type with which the Psalter mentioned in the list was
printed. Beneath this would be written the name of the place where the
books could be obtained, this being the case with the only copy of this
advertisement that has come down to us, Schoeffer's traveller having
written at the foot, 'Venditor librorum repertibilis est in hospicio
dicto zum willden mann'--'the bookseller is to be found at the sign of
the Wild Man.'

Caxton adopted the same expedient with regard to his _Sarum Ordinale_.
This advertisement, which is in English, is as follows:

'If it plese ony man spirituel or temporal to bye ony pyes of two
and thre comemoracions of salisburi use enpryntid after the forme
of this present lettre whiche ben wel and truly correct, late hym
come to Westmonester in to the almonesrye at the reed pale and he
shal haue them good chepe.'

At the foot of this was printed 'Supplico stet cedula'--Please don't tear
down the bill. The 'pyes' of this advertisement (the English form of the
Latin _Pica_) were the guides by which one might learn the proper
combinations of collects and prayers for Saints' days, at certain epochs,
according to the Salisbury Ritual. The 'reed pale,' or red pale, was the
heraldic sign which Caxton adopted for his printing-house.[58]

Other printers soon followed Schoeffer's example; notably Johan Mentelin
of Strasbourg. But these were mere lists of books, sometimes eulogies of
an individual work, printed for the most part by one particular press and
issued by the actual printer. In 1480 Anton Koberger of Nuernberg issued
a catalogue of the books which he had for sale, twenty-two in all, though
not all of them were printed by himself. Koberger was perhaps the most
important printer and publisher of the fift