The First Call for Press Censorship: Niccolò Perotti, Giovanni Andrea Bussi, Antonio Moreto, and the Editing of Pliny's Natural History<sup>*</sup>
John Monfasani
In 1478, twenty-three years after Johann Gutenberg printed the 42- line Bible in Mainz, town fathers of Cologne engaged “the first censorship trial on record” as they sued to stop distribution a book which challenged their authority. The next year Pope Sixtus IV inaugurated papal legislation press by authorizing University police virtually every aspect new industry. These actions 1478 and 1479 are earliest known instances censorship. They also reflect political, moral, religious concerns would henceforth dominate But far I can tell, call for had actually occurred nearly decade earlier, absolutely nothing at all do with religion, morals, or politics.
Renaissance Quarterly