20. AN INDULGENCE OF 1480

TOLLENTIS, Lucas de (1428-1491). Litterae Indulgentiarum anni jubilaei causa 1480. Vellum broadside. [Mainz: Peter Schoeffer, before 22 March] 1480.

Schoeffer was one of several printers who published this letter of indulgence, authored by the Bishop of Sebenico (Croatia), which could be bought for the remission of sin in the Jubilee Year of 1480. This copy was purchased and filled out by hand at Kirn, Germany, on 17 April 1480; unfortunately, the name of the purchaser has been erased. The only other surviving copy, now at Frankfurt am Main, was inscribed on 22 March 1480. Here, the bottom edge is folded up and pierced with old string used to attach the issuer’s official seal, which is not preserved.

The large initial L came from the supply used in the 1462 Bible, and the initial M came from the 1457 Psalter font. However, the most interesting typographical features of this indulgence are the three headings in larger letters. These were printed with the 25-year-old type left over from the 42-Line Bible, which came into Schoeffer’s possession at an unknown date between 1455 and 1480. Although Schoeffer (alone) signed one of several undated edition of the Donatus grammar printed in the 42-Line Bible type and the Psalter initials, there is no solid evidence that Gutenberg lost the type to Fust and Schoeffer in the lawsuit of 1455. Thus, it remains possible that Gutenberg retained it for his own Donatus editions between 1455 and his death in 1468.

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