its sober magnificence

'On August 14, 1457, Fust and Schoffer issued the Psalms. The volume was printed on vellum. The type, printed in red and black, is noble and fits handsomely on the page. Each psalm, as the printers boasted in a note at the end, is 'adorned with the beauty of large initial letters'; the lacy design of these letters, ornamented with flowers and small animals and printed in red and blue, is masterly. Fust and Schoffer's Psalms is the oldest signed and dated book printed in Europe that has survived. In its sober magnificence it is also one of the most beautiful.'

'Eugene F. Rice, Jr, The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460'1559, 1970.