As to their claim of having _invented_ the art of printing, we shall have something to say hereafter.
The Aztecs (in Mexico, before the Spanish discovery and conquest,) extensively employed a picture-writing, as a means of recording events, during a period not exceeding two centuries before that epoch. They had the art of manufacturing materials as a basis of such writing, from the _Agave_ or American aloe, and from cotton, in the form of a very fine cloth. They also used prepared skins for the same purpose, the best specimens of which are pronounced to be more beautiful than the finest vellum. Their manuscripts were sometimes done up in rolls or scrolls, and frequently on tablets, in the form of a folding-screen. Their inks appear to have been coloring matters in watery solutions.
The oldest Phoenician ink-writing of which any specimen has been preserved, dates no later than the second century before Christ, and may be much older.
A fac-simile of a portion of it will be found among our illustrations, explained by notes referring to each by its number.
Greek manuscripts in ink (on papyrus), of the third century before Christ, are in existence. We give specimens of the oldest known,—one written in Egypt, 260 B.C., being an order from Dioscorides, an officer of the government of Ptolemy Philadelphus, to another named Dorion. The translation of the words is “Dioscorides to Dorion, greeting. Of the letter to Dorion the copy is subjoined.” * * * We add other specimens, of the same and later periods.
Of Latin writing with ink, the earliest we can find is the palimpsest of Cicero’s book, “De Republica,” which had been partly effaced to make room for a copy of Augustin’s commentary on the Psalms. It is believed by the learned that the original manuscript was executed at least as early as the second or third century of the Christian era. The restoration of this manuscript, and the discovery of this long-lost and earnestly sought classic gem, were the work of Cardinal Mai, as before mentioned. The original words are TETERRIMUS ET EX HAC VEL——, and are written in two columns on the page, while the later writing runs completely across the page.
Of the earliest writing executed in France, after that country received its name from those who conquered it, we give a specimen from the beginning of a charter of King Dagobert I, executed A.D. 628. The words are—“QUOTIESCUMQUE PETITIONIBUS”—“However many times to petitions,” &c. It is a confirmation of a partition of property between two heirs. The monogrammatic autograph of the Great Karl, (in modern times called Charlemagne,) we present also as an object of interest. A.D. 800.