Fust

Fust or Johann Faust (c. 1400-1466), German moneylender and printer, born in Mainz. Between 1450 and 1452 Fust lent about 1,600 guldens to the printer Johann Gutenberg, with which Gutenberg was supposed to make “tools” (that is, movable type) for his press, which he had adapted from his winepress. Failing to recover his money, Fust brought suit against Gutenberg, claiming the then-secret machinery of the press against the debt. The disposal of the disputed machinery is unclear, but Fust seems to have obtained much of Gutenberg's printing equipment, as he subsequently published books in his own house, in partnership with his son-in-law Peter Schöffer. The psalter they printed on August 14, 1457, a folio of 350 pages, is the first printed book with a date and with a complete colophon, or identifying device of the printer. Fust and Schöffer also printed, in 1462, a Latin Bible, and, in 1465, De Officiis (On Moral Obligations) by Marcus Tullius Cicero. This quarto of 88 leaves was the first printed edition of a Latin classic and contained the first printed Greek characters.