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There is hardly room for doubt that the business on which Gutenberg was engaged, and for which money was advanced him, was printing. There is a certain ambiguity about some of the expressions, but the greater part of the account is too clear and straightforward to allow of any doubt.ssss1 It may safely be said that before 1439 Gutenberg was at work at Strasburg, experimenting on and perfecting the art of printing.

ssss1 A very careful literal and unabridged translation will be found in Hessels’ Gutenberg, pp. 34-57. The text used is Laborde’s with some corrections, and Schœpflin’s readings when they vary are given in notes. It should be noted that Mr. Hessels implies that the account of this trial is a forgery, or at any rate unreliable; but his negative and partial reasoning cannot stand against the evidence brought forward by many trustworthy authorities.

The next document which relates to him as a printer is the lawsuit of 1455, the original transcript of which was recently found at Göttingen. This was brought against him by Fust to recover a loan of 800 guilders. In this lawsuit mention is made of two of Gutenberg’s servants, Heinrich Keffer, afterwards a printer at Nuremberg, and Bertolf von Hanau, supposed to be the same as Bertold Ruppel, the first printer at Basle. Peter Schœffer also appears as a witness. We learn from this suit that somewhere about August 1450, Fust advanced the amount of 800 guilders, and about December 1452 a like amount; but these loans were advanced in the first instance by Fust towards assisting a work of which the method was understood, and we are therefore justified in considering that by that time Gutenberg had mastered the principles of the art of printing.