n.
Book printed before 1501.
The date, though convenient, is arbitrary and unconnected to any development in the printing art. The term was probably first applied to early printing in general 0441; 1650. The total number of editions produced by 15th-century European presses is generally estimated at above 35,000, excluding ephemeral literature (e.g., single sheets, ballads, and devotional tracts) that is now lost or exists only in fragments in places such as binding linings.