# The Mainz Psalter > Johann Fust and Peter Schoffer - 14 August 1457 (colophon date) > Canonical HTML: https://iconotheca.com/artworks/fust-and-schoffer/mainz-psalter-1457-royal-collection/ > Published by Servola Systems GmbH. Last verified: 2026-08-25 ## Tombstone - **Artist:** Johann Fust and Peter Schoffer - **Date:** 14 August 1457 (colophon date) - **Medium:** Letterpress printing in black, red and (in the large initials) blue ink on vellum; manuscript square musical notation added by hand after printing - **Dimensions:** 323 x 438 x 75 mm as bound (short-issue folio, Royal Collection copy) - **Object type:** Printed book - **Period:** German, fifteenth century (Mainz, incunable period) - **Current location:** Royal Collection, Royal Library, Windsor Castle - **Attribution:** accepted ## Summary Printed at Mainz on 14 August 1457 by Johann Fust and Peter Schoffer, this Psalter is the second substantial book printed in Europe with movable type, following Gutenberg's 42-line Bible by about two years, and it is the first printed book to name its printers, place and date in a colophon, and the first to carry initials printed in color rather than painted by hand. It exists because of a rupture: in November 1455 Fust successfully sued Gutenberg over unpaid loans, and the workshop that produced this book two years later was staffed in large part by Gutenberg's own former chief assistant, Peter Schoffer, who married Fust's daughter and testified against his old master in the same lawsuit that made the new partnership possible.Ten copies of the 1457 edition survive, all on vellum, and this is one of the six short-issue copies made for general use rather than the four long-issue copies produced specifically for the diocese of Mainz. The Royal Collection's copy has a documented chain from the Monastery of St Ursula in Hildesheim, through the collector Friedrich Wilhelm von Duve and the University of Gottingen, to its presentation to King George III in 1800, and it has remained in the Royal Library at Windsor since, bound in purple velvet with the King's monogram. Its own two centuries in royal hands have been quiet: no exhibition drama, no near-loss, nothing beyond a well-kept book doing exactly what a royal library is for. ## Provenance Every link carries a grade. `documented` means a cited source supports it, `disputed` means the identification is argued but not established, `unknown` means we have no owner for that span and have not bridged it. - **1457** The press of Johann Fust and Peter Schoffer, Mainz `[documented]` (printing) This short-issue copy was printed at Mainz and completed, per the printed colophon, on 14 August 1457. - **-1758** Unrecorded, then the Monastery of St Ursula, Hildesheim `[unknown]` (gap) No owner is documented for roughly three centuries after printing. The book's earliest documented owner is the Monastery of St Ursula in Hildesheim; how or when the convent acquired it is not stated in the sources consulted. - **1758-1782** Friedrich Wilhelm von Duve (1707-1785) `[documented]` (purchase) Bought from the Monastery of St Ursula, Hildesheim, in 1758. - **1782-1800** University of Gottingen `[documented]` (acquisition) Acquired from von Duve's collection in 1782. - **1800-present** The Royal Collection (King George III and successors) `[documented]` (gift) Presented to King George III by the University of Gottingen in 1800; the university received 400 pounds in reimbursement in 1817. Held in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, within the Royal Collection since, as RCIN 1071478. ## Open questions - How much of the Psalter's type and two-color initial technique represents work Gutenberg had already developed before the 1455 judgment, carried over with his workshop, versus genuine independent development by Fust and Schoffer in under two years. The Helmasperger Instrument records the money judgment but does not itemize the type or equipment that changed hands, and this record could not verify a settled scholarly consensus from sources it could directly examine. - The exact mechanical sequence used to print the two-color initials in clean register has not been fully reconstructed step by step in the literature consulted for this record. - Whether this specific copy was ever exhibited, loaned, or placed at any documented risk between its presentation to George III in 1800 and today; no such record turned up in the sources consulted. - How and when the Monastery of St Ursula in Hildesheim, the copy's earliest documented owner, itself acquired the book; nothing is recorded for the roughly three centuries between printing in 1457 and the monastery's 1758 sale. - Whether a paper copy of the 1457 Psalter was ever printed alongside the vellum copies; none survive and the sources consulted do not establish whether one ever existed. ## Sources - [1] Wikipedia, 'Mainz Psalter', for the colophon text and translation, the printing technique, the census of surviving copies, and the long and short issues. Tertiary source; flagged for replacement with the relevant incunabula catalogue (ISTC) entry and published bibliographical scholarship. - [2] Wikipedia, 'Johann Fust', for Fust's biography, the loans to Gutenberg, the 1455 lawsuit, his death in 1466, and the witchcraft legend (treated by the article itself with appropriate caution). Tertiary source; flagged for replacement with a scholarly biography of Fust. - [3] Wikipedia, 'Peter Schoffer', for Schoffer's training, his role in Gutenberg's workshop, his testimony in the 1455 suit, his marriage to Christina Fust, and his later career and descendants. Tertiary source; flagged for replacement with scholarly printing-history literature. - [4] Google Arts and Culture, 'Mainz Psalter, Mainz: Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer (printers)', mirroring the Royal Collection Trust's own catalogue record, for the provenance chain, binding description, and dimensions of the Royal Collection's copy. The Royal Collection Trust's own website (rct.uk) returned an access error (HTTP 403) to direct automated fetch during this research; this mirror of the same catalogue text is the source actually consulted, and an editor should confirm directly against rct.uk/collection/1071478 when possible. - [5] Osterreichische UNESCO-Kommission, 'Mainz Psalter' (Austrian National Library copy, Memory of the World Register), for the printing significance, colophon function, and confirmation that the exact steps of the two-color initial technique are not fully reconstructed. - [6] Bridwell Library Special Collections Exhibitions, 'Gutenberg, Fust, and Schoeffer', Peter Schoeffer: Printer of Mainz, for the Helmasperger Instrument, confirmation that the document does not itemize the equipment or type that passed to Fust, and the subsequent Fust-Schoeffer partnership. - [7] Wikimedia Commons, File:1457 Mainz Psalter.jpg, extmetadata (LicenseShortName: Public domain), for licence verification of the lead image. - [8] Wikimedia Commons, File:The Mainz Psalter, 1457.jpg, for the binding image and its description of the 18th-century bookbinding and George III monogram. - [9] Wikimedia Commons, File:Mainz - Johann Fust & Peter Schoeffer (printers) - Mainz Psalter - Google Art Project.jpg, for the high-resolution scan of the Royal Collection copy. - [10] Wikimedia Commons, File:Init001.jpg, for the printed initial B illustrating the two-color technique; source copy not identified in the file metadata. - [11] Wikimedia Commons, File:Mainz psalter detail.jpg, for the initial detail illustrating the printing technique; source copy not identified in the file metadata. - [12] Wikimedia Commons, File:Mainz psalter (Fust and Schoeffer).jpg, Bodleian Library copy of the 1459 second edition, used as comparanda and explicitly captioned as not the object described in this record. - [13] Wikimedia Commons, File:Jean Fust ou Fauste, PA08079.jpg, an imagined portrait of Johann Fust by Louis Boudan, used for context and explicitly captioned as not a contemporary likeness. - [14] Wikimedia Commons, File:Fust und Schoffer.png, the Fust and Schoffer printer's device, used for context and explicitly captioned as not appearing in the 1457 Psalter per the file's own description. --- Images on this record are public domain or CC0 and are hosted by us. 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