The Catholicon Press Revisited: The Evidence of Nailheads

Date: 29 July 2025
Time: 5:30 p.m. ET
Location: Princeton University (East Pyne 010) or Zoom
Lecturer: Paul Needham - Retired Scheide Librarian at Princeton University & RBS Faculty Member

You are invited to attend this lecture in person or virtually via Zoom. Register for the livestream here.
(RSVPs to attend in person are not required.)

The Catholicon, whose colophon states that it was printed in Mainz, 1460, has been the subject of controversy for more than fifty years. Paul Needham argues that it was printed from thin two-line stereotypes, used for three typographically identical impressions, dating to 1460, 1469, and 1472–73. Others maintain that it was printed directly from movable types, like all other incunables; that the colophon date is wrong; and that all copies were printed in 1469. Needham, working with Eric White, has recently discovered new evidence which strongly supports the stereotype hypothesis.