Printers' Marks Part 10

VIGILATE QVIA NESCITIS DIEM NEQVE HORAM EXPERGISCERE G I]

[Decoration]

PRINTERS' MARKS IN ITALY AND SPAIN.[1]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A. FRITAG.

A F]

The _incunabula_ of Italy offer very little interest so far as regards the Marks of their printers, and the adoption of these devices did not become at all general until the early years of the sixteenth century.

Conrad Sweynheim and Arnold Pannartz, who were the first to introduce printing from Germany into Italy, first at the monastery of Subiaco, near Rome, in 1465, and to that city in 1467, appear to have had no Mark; and the same may be said of several of their successors. We give the earliest Roman example with which we are acquainted, namely, that of Sixtus Riessinger, and George Herolt, a German, who printed in partnership at Rome in 1481 and 1483. One of the books produced by this partnership was the "Tractatus sollemnis et utilis," etc., which contains "full-page figures of the Sybils, fine initials, and an interlaced border to the first page of text, all executed in wood engraving." The next Roman typographers who used a Mark were, like Herolt, "Almanos" or Germans, for as such Johann Besicken (1484-1506) and Martens of Amsterdam describe themselves in the colophon of "Mirabilia Romae," a 24mo. of 63 leaves, 1500. This work contains ten woodcuts, of which that on "the reverse of leaf 36 has at the bottom the words 'Mar' and 'De Amstdam' in black letters on white scrolls, and 'ER'

immediately beneath the latter, in white letters on a black ground, showing that Martin of Amsterdam, one of the printers, was also the engraver. On the woodcut on the reverse of leaf 25 also, there is a shield with the initials of both printers, 'I' and 'M' interlaced, in both large and small letters." Andreas Fritag de Argentina (or Stra.s.sburg), 1492-96, is another early Roman printer who used a Mark.

The four foregoing Marks are given on the authority of J. J. Audiffredi, "Catalogus ... Romanorum Editionum saeculi XVI.," 1783. Among the early sixteenth century printers of Rome, one of the most distinguished was Zacharias Kalliergos of Crete, 1509-23, who had started printing at Venice in 1499, and of whom Beloe has given an interesting account in the fifth volume of his "Anecdotes of Literature." A miniature of his device is given at the end of this chapter.

[Footnote 1: The reader will find on page 25 a series of thirty reduced reproductions of Marks used for the most part by the Italian printers. These are given after Orlandi ("Origine e Progressi della Stampa," 1722) and Horne ("Introduction to the Study of Bibliography," 1814), but several of the names are open to question from the fact that the former author has given no account either of the places at which they worked, or of the books which they printed.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SIXTUS RIESSINGER.

S R D A]

[Ill.u.s.tration: J. BESICKEN.

I B I M]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THIERRY MARTENS.

DE AMST[ER]DAM T A M]

Printing was introduced into Venice by Johannes de Spira in 1469, and, as showing the extent to which it was quickly carried, Panzer reckons that up to the end of the fifteenth century, no fewer than 189 printers had established themselves here, and had issued close upon 3,000 works.

From 1469 to 1480, over sixty master printers were found within the precincts of the city. The first of the superb series of early printed books produced here is the folio edition of Cicero, "Epistolae ad Familiares," 1469, although the honour of being the most magnificent production appears to be equally divided between the Livy and the Virgil, 1470, executed by John of Spira's brother and successor Vindelinus. So far as we know, neither of the two brothers, nor Nicolas Jenson, 1470-88, many of whose beautiful books rivalled the De Spiras', used a Mark.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ERHARDUS RATDOLT.

Erhardi Ratdolt foelicia conspice signa.

Testata artificem qua valet ipse manum.]

Erhardus Ratdolt may be regarded as one of the earliest, if not actually the first Venetian printer to adopt a Mark. From 1476 to 1478 he was in partnership with Bernardus Pictor and Petrus Loslein de Langencen, but from the latter year to 1485 he was exercising the art alone. (It is not altogether foreign to our subject to mention that this firm printed the "Calendar" of John de Monteregio, 1476, which has the first ornamental t.i.tle known.) In 1487, Ratdolt was at Augsburg, and perhaps his claims as a printer are German rather than Venetian, but as his best work was executed during his sojourn in Venice, it will be more convenient to include him in the present chapter. Like so many others of the early printers, he regarded his own performances with no little self-complacency, for in his colophons he describes himself, "Vir solertissimus, imprimendi arte nominatissimus, artis impressoriae magister apprime famosus, perpolitus opifex, vir sub orbe notus," and so forth. To him is attributed the credit of having invented ink of a golden colour; and he was the first to employ the "flourishes," ("literae florentes") or initial letters formed of floral scrolls and ornaments borrowed from the Italian ma.n.u.scripts, and sometimes printed in red and sometimes in black. Joannes and Gregorius de Gregoriis, 1480-1516, and Gregorius alone, 1516-28, make a very good show in the way of printed books, one of the most notable being the first quarto edition of Boccaccio, 1516, and another the "Deutsch Romisch Brevier," 1518, which is printed in black and red Gothic letter with numerous full-page woodcuts and borders. Contemporary with these two brothers and also famous as a prolific printer comes Ottaviano Scotto, "Civis Modoeti?sis," 1480-1500, and his heirs, 1500-31, of whose Mark we give an exact reproduction. Baptista de Tortis, 1481-1514, also issued a number of interesting books, more particularly folio editions of the cla.s.sics, copies of which are still frequently met with, and of whose Mark we give a reduced example on p. 25; and the same may be said of Bernardinus Stagninus, 1483-1536. The Mark, also, of Bernardinus de Vitalibus, 1494-1500, is sufficiently distinct to justify a reduced example. Bartholomeus de Zanis, 1486-1500, was not only a prolific printer on his own account, but also for Scotto, to whom reference is made above. The Marks, on a greatly reduced scale of Dionysius Bertochus, 1480; of Laurentius Rubeus de Valentia, 1482; of Nicholas de Francfordia, 1473-1500; and of Peregrino de Pasqualibus, 1483-94, who was for a short time in partnership with Dionysius de Bertochus, are all interesting as more or less distinct variations of one common type (see p. 25). Of Petrus Liechtenstein, 1497-1522, who describes himself as "Coloniensis," and whose very fine Mark in red and black forms the frontispiece to the present volume, it will be only necessary to refer to one of his books, the "Biblij Czeska," 1506, which is the first edition for the use of the Hussites. Of this exceedingly rare edition, only about four copies are known. It is remarkable in not having been suppressed by the Church, for one example of its numerous woodcuts (which are coloured) at once betrays its character, viz., the engraving to the sixth chapter of the Apocalypse, in which the Pope appears lying in h.e.l.l. As ill.u.s.trative of some of the more elaborate and pictorial Marks which one finds in the books of the Venetian printers during the sixteenth century, we give a couple of very distinct examples, the first being one of the Marks of the Sessa family, whose works date from 1501 to 1588; and the second example distinguishing the books of the brothers Paulum and Antonium Meietos, who were printing books in 1570.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OTTAVIANO SCOTTO.

O S M]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MELCHIOR SESSA.

DISSIMILIVM IN FIDA SOTIETAS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: P. AND A. MEIETOS.

NON COMEDETIS FRVGES MENDACII]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FIRST ALDINE ANCHOR.

ALDVS]

The Aldine family come at the head of the Venetian printers, not only in the extreme beauty of their typographical work, but also in the matter of Marks. The first (and rarest) production of the founder of the dynasty, Aldus Manutius, 1494-1515, was "Musaei Opusculum de Herone & Leandro," 1494, a small quarto, and his life's work as a printer is seen in about 126 editions which are known to have been issued by him.

"I have made a vow," writes Aldus, in his preface to the "Greek Grammar"

of Lascaris, "to devote my life to the public service, and G.o.d is my witness that such is my most ardent desire. To a life of ease and quiet I have preferred one of restless labour. Man is not born for pleasure, which is unworthy of the truly generous mind, but for honourable labour.

Let us leave to the vile herd the existence of the brutes. Cato has compared the life of man to the tool of iron: use it well, it shines, cease to use it and it rusts." It was not until 1502 that Aldus adopted a Mark, the well-known anchor, and this appears for the first time in "Le Terze Rime di Dante" (1502), which, being a duodecimo, is the first edition of Dante in portable form. This Mark, and one or two others with very slight alterations which naturally occurred in the process of being re-engraved, was used up to the year 1546. In 1515 the original Aldus died, and as his son Paolo or Paulus was only three years of age, Andrea Torresano, a distinguished printer of Asola, into whose possession the "plant" of Jenson had pa.s.sed in 1481, and whose daughter married the first Aldus, carried on the business of his deceased son-in-law, the imprint running, "In aedibus Aldi et Andreae Asulani soceri." In 1540 Paulus Manutius took over the entire charge of the business founded by his father. The Anchor, known as the "Ancora gra.s.sa," which he used from 1540 to 1546, is more carefully engraved but less characteristic than that of his father; whilst that which he used from 1546 to 1554 was usually but not invariably surrounded by the decorative square indicated in the accompanying reproduction; then he again modified his Mark, or more particularly its border. Paulus Manutius died in April 1574. Aldus "the younger," 1574-98, the son of Paulus and the last representative of the house, also used the anchor, the effect of which is to a great extent destroyed by the elaborate coat-of-arms granted to the family by the Emperor Maximilian. Aldus "the younger," was a precocious scholar, of the pedant type, and under him the traditions of the family rapidly fell. He married into the eminent Giunta family of printers, and died at the age of 49. The famous Mark of the anchor had been suggested by the reverse of the beautiful silver medal of Vespasian, a specimen of which had been presented to Aldus by his friend Cardinal Bembo, the eminent printer, adding the Augustan motto, "Festina lente." The Mark of the dolphin anchor was used by many other printers in Italy, France, Holland (Martens, Erasmus' printer, among the number), whilst the "Britannia" of Camden, 1586, printed by Newbery, bearing this distinctive Mark, which was likewise employed by Pickering in the early part of the century; and, as will be seen from the next chapter, is still employed by more than one printer.

[Ill.u.s.trations: ANDREA TORRESANO.

FEDERICVS TORESANVS

A T]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ALDINE ANCHOR, 1502-15.

ALDVS]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ALDINE ANCHOR, 1546-54.

ALDI FILII]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ALDINE ANCHOR, 1555-74.

ALDVS]

The Giunta or Junta family, members of which were printing at Florence and Venice from 1480 to 1598, may be conveniently referred to here. One of the earliest books in which the founder of the family, Filippo, used a Mark, is "Apuleii Metamorphoseos," Florence, 1512; our example, which is identical with that in Apuleius, is taken from ?pp?a??? ???e?t????

(Oppiani de natura seu venatione piscium), Florence, 1515, which was edited by Musurus. From a typographical and artistic point of view the books of Lucantonio Junta (or Zonta) are infinitely superior to those of Filippo. He was both printer and engraver, and many of the ill.u.s.trations which appear in the books he printed were executed by him. His Mark appeared as early as 1495 in red at the end of an edition of Livy which he appears to have executed for Philippus Pincius, Venice, and again in red, this time on the t.i.tle-page, in another edition of the same author, done for Bartholomeus de Zanis de Portesio, Venice, 1511. Each of these productions contained a large number of beautiful woodcuts. Early in the sixteenth century those "vero honesti viri" (as they modestly described themselves), Jacobi and Francisci, were printing at Florence ("et sociorum eius"), the accompanying mark being taken from a commentary on Thomas Aquinas, 1531. It will be noticed that in the three marks of different members of the family the _fleur-de-lys_ appears. Among the Venetian printers of the beginning of the sixteenth century Johannes de Sabio et Fratres may be mentioned, if only on account of their Mark which is given herewith. Its explanation is certainly not obvious; and Bigmore and Wyman's suggestion that it is a punning device is not a correct one, whilst the statement that the cabbage is of the "Savoy"

variety is also erroneous, for this variety has scarcely any stalks; for "Brasica" we should read "Bra.s.sica." In 1534, "M. Iwan Antonio de Nicolini de Sabio" printed "Alas espesas de M. Zuan Batista Pedrecan,"

a rare and beautiful edition with woodcuts, and, in small folio, of "Primaleon" in Spanish; and in 1535 Stephano da Sabio issued a translation of "La Conquesta del Peru," etc., of Francesco de Xeres.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ALDINE ANCHOR, 1575-81.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: P. GIUNTA.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: L. GIUNTA.

L A]

[Ill.u.s.tration: F. DE GIUNTA.

I F]