Rhode Island Republican

The Devil and Dr. Faustus.

In the infancy of printing, John Fust, or Faustus, a citizen of Mentz, and one of the earliest printers, had the policy to conceal his art ; and to this policy we are indebted for the tradition of "The Devil and Dr. Faustus" handed down to the present times. Fust, in partnership with Peter Schoefer, having, in 1462, printed off a considerable number of copies of the bible to supersede those which were commonly sold in manuscript, undertook the sale of them at Paris where the art of printing was then unknown. At first he sold his copies for as high a sum as 500 or 600 crowns, the prices usually demanded by the scribes. Afterwards he lowered his price to 300 crowns, which created universal astonishment; but when he produced copies as they were wanted, and lowered the price to thirty crowns, all Paris was agitated. The uniformity of the copies increased the wonder ; information was given into the police against him as a magician ; his lodgings were searched ; and a great number of copies being found, they were seized; the red ink with which they were embellished, was said to be his blood ; it was seriously adjudged that he was in league with the devil ; and if he had not fled, most probably he would have shared the fate of those whom ignorant and superstitious judges condemned in those days for witchcraft.