Note 368 — XXV

The Bishop of Angers in 1470 paid 40 crowns of gold for a copy of the Bible of 1462. The Catholicon of Gutenberg sold for 41 crowns of gold in 1465. A copy of Mansion’s edition of the Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, brought 40 crowns in 1481. A missal was sold in 1481 for 18 gold florins. Bernard notes a sale in which a printed copy brought a higher price than a manuscript. A copy on vellum of the Summary of St. Thomas by Schœffer, was sold at Paris for 15 crowns of gold. A manuscript of similar size was sold for 10 crowns. It is difficult to form just conclusions from these prices, for the bindings of the books have not been described. Hallam says that the florin was worth about four francs of present money, equivalent, perhaps, to twenty-four in commodities, and that the crown was worth rather more. Another estimate allows to the money of the fifteenth century eight times its present purchasing power.