Fust, John

, a goldsmith of Mentz, was one of the three artists considered as the inventors of printing, the two others being Guttemberg and Scheeffer. It is not, however, certain, that he did more than supply money to Guttemberg, who had made attempts with moveable metal types at Strasburg, before he removed to Mentz, in 1444. But it has been strongly argued, that Laurence | Koster, at Harlaem, had first conceived the art of cutting wooden blocks for this purpose in 1430, which he immediately improved, by substituting separate wooden types. Schaetfer undoubtedly invented the method of casting the metal types, in 1452. The first printed book with a date, is said to have been a Psalter, published at Mentz in 1457; the next, perhaps, is “Durandi Rationale divinorum Officiorum,” by Fust and Schaeffer in 1459. The “Catholicon” followed in 1460. There are, however, some books without dates, which are supposed to be still older. Fust was at Paris in 1466, and it is imagined that he died there of the plague, which then raged in that capital. ¹