fine books
TRANSCRIPT
F I N E BOOK S
ALFRED W . POLLARD
METHUEN CO. LTD.
3 6 E S S E X S T R E E T W .C .
L O N D O N
S IR EDWARD MAUNDE THOMPSON , G .C . B .
D IRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM
1888-1909
PR E F AC E
contribut ion to the Connoz’
sseur’
s Library shou ld beent it l ed to the modest prai se of being “ superior to
the rest of i ts author’s book-makings , s i nce i t has beenten years on the stocks and much of i t has been wri ttentwo or three t imes over, ei ther because the wri ter
’s own
i nformat ion had i ncreased or to take account of thesuccessfu l researches of others . Yet i n the end defeati n one mai n po i n t has to be acknowledged . The bookwas begun with a confident determi nat ion to cover thewho l e ground
,from the begi nn ings of pr i n t i ng and
pr i n ted book-i l l ustrat ion down to our own day,and i n
the case of pri nt i ng the survey has been carried through,
however sketch i ly . But the corresponding survey of
book-i l l ustrat ion ends , with rather obvious marks ofcompress ion and fat igue
,about 1780,
l eavi ng the story of a
hundred and th i rty years of very i nterest i ng pictu rework unto ld . Pioneeri ng i s always so exci t i ng thatrecogn i t ion of the imposs ib i l i ty of carryi ng out the fu l lplan of the book with in the l imi ts ei ther of the presentvol ume or of the author’s work i ng l i fe was not madewithout s i ncere regret . The subject
,however
,of the
abandoned chapter was not on ly very large , but verymiscel laneous
,and the survey for i t would have had to
i ncl ude at l east three other countries (France , Germany ,and the Un i ted S tates) bes ides our own . To one sect ion ,moreover
,that of i l l ustrat ions i n co lour
,a separate
vol ume of th i s series has al ready been devoted The
IF the mere taking of trouble ensured good work
,th i s
F I N E B O O K S
author wou ld , therefore , fai n conso l e h imsel f wi th thehope that i n one or more other vo l umes a competentaccount may be given by some other hand of the woodengravi ngs
,etch i ngs
,stee l-engravi ngs
,and l i thographs
,
with which books have been decorated s i nce 1780 . Thepoorness of paper and prin t wi th which these moderni l l ustrated books have too often been hand icapped hascaused co l lectors to take l i tt l e i nterest i n them—it evensuggested the unworthy excuse for the fai l u re to wri tethe miss i ng chapter that these are not real ly F ine B ooks
,
but on ly books with fine p i ctures i n them,and so are
outs ide our subj ect . But both students and co l lectorshave the i r dut ies as wel l as thei r del ights
,and i n view
of the h igh art i st i c val ue of qu ite a large proport ion of
these modern i l lustrat ions,the preservat ion of clean and
uncropped cop i es of the books i n wh ich they occur andthe tribute of carefu l catalogu ing and descript ion are
certai n ly thei r due .
Whi le the des i red completeness has not been attai nedthe ground here covered i s s t i l l very wide
,and for the
book as a who l e no more can be claimed than that i t i sa compi lat ion from the best sources—a l i st of these wi l lbe found i n the B ib l iography—contro l led by some personal knowledge
,the amount of which natu ral ly varies
very much from chapter to chapter . The obl igat ionsi ncurred i n wri t i ng i t have thus been great , and a sad
number of these are to fel low-workers and friendsProctor
,John Macfar lane
,W . H . Al lnutt , Konrad
Burger,Dr. Lippmann
,Anato l e C laud in , and the Pri nce
d’
E ssling—who have d ied whi l e the book has been i n
progress . Among those st i l l happi ly al ive acknowledgment must special ly be made to S ir S idney Co lvi n forhelp received from his masterly i ntroduct ion to the greatmonograph on E arly E ngravers and E flgmm
'
ng E ng
P R E F A C E
[and publ i shed by the Trustees of the Bri t i sh Museum to
Mr . A . M . H ind for use made of the l i s t of engraversand thei r works i n the same book ; to Mr . Campbel lDodgson for cl ippings i nto the weal th of i n format ion i nh i s Cafa/ogne of German ana
’ F lelnz'
s/i Wooa’eia
‘
s in Me
Prini Room of Me B riiisnM usenna (Vo l s . I and I I) ; toMr . Gordon Duff for help derived from hi s three seriesof Sandars Lectures on Engl i sh Pri nt i ng
,and to Mr .
Evans for i n format ion obtai ned from his AmericanB ibliograp/iy . Among other obl igat ions the ch ief i s tothe wri ters (notably Mr . H . R . Plomer) of numerouspapers contributed to the Transaei‘ions of the B ibl iographical Society and to Tne Library,
and these are
acknowledged wi th special p l easure .
A . W. P .
C O N T E N T S
CHAPTER I . COLLECTORS AND COLLECTINGI I . BLOCK-BOOKS
I I I . THE INVENTION OF PRINTING—HOLLAND
THE INVENTION OF PRINTING—MA INZ(DTHER. I NCUNABULA .
THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRINT INGEARLY GERMAN AND DUTCH ILLUSTRATED iBOOKs
VI I I . EARLY ITAL IAN ILLUSTRATED BOOKSIX . EARLY FRENCH AND S PAN ISH ILLUS
TRATED fiBOOKs
X . LATER FORE IGN BOOKSX I . FORE IGN ILLUSTRATED BOOKS OF
THE 16TH CENTURYX I I . PRINTING IN ENGLAND (1476
X I I I . ENGLISH BOOKS PRINTED ELSE\NHERE THAN AT LONDON
X IV . ENGL ISH WOODCUT ILLUSTRAT IONS .
XV . ENGRAVED ILLUSTRAT IONSXVI . MODERN FINE PRINTING .
B IBLIOGRAPHYINDEX
123
L I ST O F PLAT E S
I . Deucalion and Pyrrha repeopling the world. FromO vid’
s M etamorpnoses, Paris, 1767 F ron tzsp ieeeTO FACE PAG E
I I . An author (Caxton ? ) presenting a book to Margare tof Burgundy . Fifteenth century engraving inserted inthe Chatsworth copy of the Reeayell of Me H istoryes of
(From the plate made for the B ibliographical Society’s editionofMr. Seymour De Ricci
’s Census of Caxtons.)
The Bona I nspiratio angeli contra vanam gloriam.
From a smaller version of the Ars M oriena’i. B lock
book from the Lower Rhine , e. 1465
Leaf 3a of a fragment of the Doctrinale of Ale xanderGallus. One ofthe so-called Costeriana
”
B eginning, with printed capital, ofthe Rationale DiuinornmOfi ieiornm of Gulielmus Duranti. Mainz
,Fust and
Schoeffer, 14 59
Leaf 7b of the first b ook printed at Cologne , Cicero, De
Ofi ezflzs Ulrich Zel, not later than 1466
The space left in the sixth line from the foot stands for thewords ao osien taz
‘z’
one, which the printer apparently could not
read in his manuscript. The word naeat at the end was insertedto show that the space in the last line was acc idental and thatnoth ing had been omitted.
Leaf 4 1a of Cicero’
s R/zetoriea, Venice ,
Nicolas Jenson ,
1470,showing spaces left for a Chapter heading and
capitalV I I I . Part of leaf 4a, with woodcut
,from the Gese/zie/zt von
dem seligen Kina’ Symon of Tuberinus. Augsburg ,
Gt'
I nther Zainer,about 147 5
Woodcuts of Saracens and Syrians from Breidenbach’
s
Sanctae Peregrinationis in montem Syon a tone in montemS inai descriptio. Mainz
,Erhard Reuwich
, 1486
Woodcut on leaf 1b of the Eg loga Taeoa’a/i. Leipz ig ,
Conrad Kachelofen, 1489
Page (sig. H 8 verso) from the PsalteriumB eatae M ariae
Virg inis of Nitschewitz , showing the Emperor Frederic k and his son Max imilian . From a press at the
Cistercian Monastery at Zinna, e. 149 3
F I N E B O O K S
The Harrowing of Hell, with te x t, from leaf 4a Of the
B elz'
al ofJacobus de Theramo . Haarlem,B ellaert, 1484 .
(Siz e of the original, 71” x
X I I I . Woodcut of the B etrayal. From leaf I 4h of the M ea’i
tatione sopra la Passione a'el N ostro S ignore attributed
to S. Bonaventura. Venice, Geronimo di Sancti, 1487 .
(Siz e oforiginal, x 5}
X IV. Woodcut, De Atheniensibus petentibus regem, illustratingFab le x x ii. in the Aesop printed at Naples, by FrancescoTuppo ,
148 5
Woodcut of Lorenz o Giustiniano preceded by a crucifer,from his Del/a oz
’
i‘
a relzlgz'
osa . Venice,1494
XVI . Page with woodcut of the Procession to Calvary , fromthe M ea
’itaz‘ione sopra la Passione a
’
el N ostro Signoreattributed to S . B onaventura. Florence , Ant . Miscomini, e. 149 5
XV I I . Titlepage ofLa Festa a’i San Giovanni. Florence
,Bart. di
Libri, e. 149 5
XV I I I . Leaf 5a,with woodcut ofDeath seiz ing an Archb ishop and
a Che valier, from the Danse M acabre. Paris, Gui Mar
chant, 149 1. (Siz e oforiginal x 63;X IX . Leaf z a, with woodcut of Adam and Eve
, from a B iole
en Franeoys. Paris , Antoine Vérard,about 1505 . (Siz e
oforiginal, 9g" x 7
Page (sig. C 6 verso), with woodcut of the Massacre ofthe
Innocents, from the Grana’es H eares. Paris, AntoineVérard, about 1490. (Siz e of original, 7g
” x 3g”
)
XX I . Page (sig. U 7 verso ) from the edition of Terence, printed
by J . Trechsel at Lyon ,1493
XX I I . Titlepage from the Improoratio Aleorani of Ricoldus.
Seville , Stanislaus Polonus, 1500XX I I I . Hroswitha presenting her plays to the EmperorOtto I , leaf
4b of the Opera H rosoite. Nuremberg , Sodalitas Celtica,1501
XX IV. Titlepage of Jornandes D e reoas Gotnoram. Augsburg,15 15
XXV. Page (leaf246b ) ofa M issale Romanum, printed at Venice
by Gregorius de Gregoriis, 15 18XXV I . Title-cut from Les a
’ix premiers livres a’e I
’
l lz'
aa'e
d’
H ome‘
re, Prince a’
es poetes, tradnietz en vers Franpois,
par M . Hugues Salel. Paris, Jehan Loys for Vincent
Sertenas, 154 5
L I S T O F P L A T E S
XXV I I . Page from the F ifteen Oes. Westminster, Cax ton ,
about 1490XXVI I I . First page of te x t from the fi rst edition (left in
complete) of Tyndale’
s N ew Testamen t. Cologne,1525
XX IX . Part of sig. K 5 recto , with woodcut ofChrist raisingthe Centurion’
s Daughter, from the SpeculumVitae C/zristi of S . Bonaventura. Westminster
,
W . Cax ton , about 1488XXX . Titlepage of B ishop Fisher’s Funeral Sermon on
Henry V I I . London,W . de Worde
,1509
XXX I . Woodcut of the translator presenting his book to theDuke of Norfolk , from Ale xander Barclay’s ver
sion of Sallust’
s jugnrt/za . London , R. Pynson ,
about 1520XXX I I . Portrait of the Author
,from John Heywood’
s
Tire Spider and tne Flie. London , T . Powell, 15 56
XXX I I I . Woodcut of Queen Eliz ab eth hawking,from
Turb erville’
s T/ze B ooke of Fan/conrie, 157 5
XXX IV. Engraving of Christ in a mandorla from B e ttini’
s
M on te Santo a’
i Dio. Florence , Nicolaus Laurentii,477 . (Siz e of original, 10
” xXXXV. Last page of preface , giving the arms of the B ishop
of Wurz burg ,from the Wilrz burg Agenda.
Wurz burg, G. Keyser, 1482
XXXV I . Titlepage of the D ialogas of Amadeus Berrutus.
Rome , Gabriel ofB ologna,15 17
XXXV I I . Engraved portrait of the Author by Theodore de
Bry after J . J . Boissard, from the Emolenzata of
Denis Le B ey. Frankfort, De Bry, 1596
XXXV I I I . Page 22 from the H ierogb/p/zikes of the Life of M an
by Quarles, the engraving byW . Marshall, London ,
163 8
XXX IX . Page , with engraving after Eisen, from Dorat
’
s
Les Baisers, La Haye e t se vend aParis, Lambert,
1770
XL. Engraving by W . W. Rylands after Samuel Wale ,fromWalton’
s CompleatAngler. London,T. Hope ,
1760
F I N E B O O K S
CHAPTER I
COLLECTORS AND COLLECT ING
ROM the stray notes wh ich have come down to usabout the bibl ioph i l es of the later Roman Empi rei t i s evident that book-co l lect i ng i n those days had
at l east some modern features . Owing to the abundanceof educated s lave-labour books were very cheap , almostas cheap as they are now ,
and book-co l l ectors cou ld busythemselves about refinements not un l ike those i n wh ichthei r successors are now i nterested . But i n the M iddleAges books were by no means cheap , and unti l qu i te thec lose of the fourteenth century there were few l ibrar i es i nwhich they cou ld be read . Princes and other very weal thybook-buyers took pleasure i n possess ing finely wri tten andi l l uminated manuscr ipts
,but the ru l i ng ideal s were mai n ly
l i terary and scho last i c,the aim (the qu i te r ight and exce l
l ent aim) bei ng to have the best books i n as many sub
jects as poss ibl e . After pr i nt i ng had been i nvented thesame ideal s cont i nued i n force , the on ly d i fference bei ngthat they could now be carri ed out on a larger scal e .Libraries l ike those formed i n the s ixteenth century byArchbi shop C ranmer and Lords Arundel and Lumley
,or
that gathered i n France by the h i stor ian De Thou , wereessent ial ly students’ l ibraries
,and the books themselves
and the catalogues of them were often class ified so as to
show what books had been acqu i red i n all the d i fferentdepartments ofhuman knowledge . Even in the s ixteenthcentury
,when these l i terary ideal s were dominant
,we find
F I N E B O O K S
some examples of another k i nd . I n Jean Gro l ier, for
instance,we find the book-lover playing the part , too
seldom assumed,of the d i scr im inat ing patron of contem
porary pri nt i ng and bookbind i ng . Instead of co l lect i ngmore O ld books than he cou ld find t ime to read , Gro l ierbought the best of h i s own day,
but of these sometimesas many as four or fi ve cop ies of the same work that hemight have no d ifficu l ty 1n find ing one for a friend
,and
whatever book he bought he had bound and decoratedwi th s imple good taste in Ven ice or at home In France .
I t wou ld be an excel lent th i ng i f more of our modernco l lectors , i n stead of taking up ant iquar ian hobbies
,were
content to fo l low Grolier’
s example . Books always lookbest when clad i n jackets of thei r own t ime
,and th i s in
the future wi l l apply to the books of the twent ieth centuryas much as to anyothers . Moreover
,there i s more actual
b i nd i ng tal ent avai lable i n England j ust now than at anyprevious t ime
,and i t i s much to be des i red that modern
Groliers wou ld give i t scope , not i n pu l l i ng about oldbooks
,but i n b i nd ing beauti fu l ly those of our own day.
Grol i er found a modest imitator i n England i n the
person of Thomas Wotton,but wi th some at l east of the
El izabethan book-lovers the havoc wrought i n the O l dlibrari es by the commiss ioners of Henry VI I I and
Edward VI provoked an ant iquar ian react ion which ledthem to devo te all the i r energies to co l lect i ng, from the
unworthy hands i nto which they had fal l en,such treasures
of Engl i sh l i terary and book ish art as st i l l remai ned .
Putt i ng as ide John Leland who worked (to what extentand wi th what success i s not qu i te cl ear) for Hen ry VI I I ,Matthew Parker
,Archbi shop of Canterbury , was the
earl iest of these antiquar i es,to the great benefi t of the
l ibrari es ofLambeth Palace andofCorpus Chri st i Co l l ege,Cambridge
,though as to how he came by h i s books per
haps the less said the better . Parker was soon fo l lowedby Sir Robert Cotton , whose success i n gatheri ng booksand documents i l l ustrat i ng Engl i sh h istory was so greatthat h i s l ibrary was sequestered andvery nearly al together
C O L L E C T O R S AN D C O L L E C T I N G
taken from him , on the plea that i t contai ned state paperswhich no subject had a right to possess . Owing to thecare lessness and brutal i ty of the previous generat ion ,Cotton
’s Opportun i t ies were as great as h i s zeal i n makinguse of them
,and at the cost of h i s fortune he lai d the
foundat ions ofa nat ional l ibrary . Humbler men imi tatedh im without being able to secure the same permanencefor thei r co l lect ions , more especial ly Humphrey Dyson , anotary , who seems to have acqu ired early pri nted booksand proclamat ions , with the same zeal wh i ch Cottondevoted to manuscripts . Many of hi s treasures passedinto the hands of Richard Smith
,the Secondary of the
Pou l try Compter , but at h i s sal e they were scatteredbeyond recal l
,and the un i ty ofone of the most i nterest i ng
of Engl i sh co l lect ions was thus unk ind ly destroyed .
Both these men,and some others of whom even less i s
known,worked with a publ i c aim
,and al ready S ir
Thomas Bodley had gone a step further by found inganew the Un ivers i ty Library at Oxford on l i nes wh ich atonce gave i t a nat ional importance . This i t preservedand developed for over a centu ry and a hal f
,and has
never s i nce lost,though no nat ional help
,unfortunately
,
has ever been given i t,save the right al ready conceded
by the S tat ioners ’ Company, of claiming a copy of anynew Engl ish book offered for sal e .Bodley’s munifi cent donat ion marked an epoch i n the
h istory Of Engl i sh book-co l lect i ng because i ts tendencywas to make private book-co l lect i ng of the k ind wh ichwas then admi red i ncongruous and even absurd . Whenthere were no publ i c l ibraries open to scho lars , for a greatman to mai ntai n a splend id l ibrary i n h i s own house andal low students to read i n i t was worthy of Ari stot le’sp eyaAcN/ uxog, the man who does everyth i ng on a scal e thatbefits h i s d ign i ty . But i n proport ion as publ i c co l lect ionsof books and fac i l i t ies for obtai n i ng access to them are
i ncreased,the preservat ion of a l ibrary on a large scal e
i n a private house,where none Of the i nmates have any
des i re to use i t,becomes an easy and j ust ifiable object of
F I N E B O O K S
sat i re . A man without l i terary i nst i ncts who i nher i ts afine l ibrary i s i ndeed in a parlous state
,for i f he keeps it
he i s as a dog i n the manger, and i f he sel l s i t he i s he l dup to opprobrium .
That cons iderat ions of th i s k i nd were beginn ing tohave weight i s shown by the rap id i ty with which duri ngthe seventeenth and eighteenth centuries one privateco l lect ion after another dri fted i nto publ i c ownersh ip .
I n some cases there were i ntermed iate stages . ThusArchbishop Usher’s books were not bequeathed to Tri n i tyCo l lege , Dubl i n , but were purchased for i t by the subscript ions of the so ld iers ofC romwel l ’s army i n I reland . The
manuscripts of S ir S imeon d’
Ewes remai ned i n thepossess ion of hi s fami ly for nearly a century
,were then
purchased by Harley,and came to the Bri t i sh Museum
with Harley’s co l lect ion . S tillingfleet’
s manuscripts werei n the same temporary ownersh ip ; hi s pri nted books cameto Dubl i n through the publ i c sp i ri t ofArchb ishop Marsh .
So agai n B i shop Moore’s books were purchased for theUn ivers i ty Library at Cambridge by George I . Thuseven when a co l l ector was not i nsp i red by
,or cou ld not
afford to i ndu lge , publ i c mot ives , respect for h i s memoryor des i re to benefi t an i nst i tut ion often brought h i s booksto a safe haven . But more often the munifi cence waspersonal and d i rect . For some cause not qu i te easy tosee the flow of benefact ions to Engl i sh l ibraries hasdwi nd led sad ly of late years
,
1so that journal i s ts wi th
short memories wri te of gi fts and bequests to Ameri canl ibraries as i f they were unprecedented . Even of lateyears
,however
,the foundat ion of the John Rylands
Library, C hancel lor Chri st i e
’s gi fts and bequest to theVictoria Un ivers i ty
,the Sandars l egacy to the Un ivers i ty
Library,Cambridge
,and Mr . Alfred Huth
’
s bequest tothe Bri t i sh Museum of any fifty books i t might chooseto select from his fine co l lect ion
,show that the stream
i s not qu i te dri ed up,whi le for nearly two centuries
1 Even Mr. Carnegie will only help to found new libraries, not to make oldones more efficient.
C O L L E C T O R S AN D C O L L E C T I N G
and a hal f from the foundat ion of the Bodle ian i t ranwith splend id freedom . Thus Archbi shop Wi l l iams gavenoble gi fts ofbooks to S . John’s Co l l ege , Cambridge , andto the Chapter House Library at Westminster Abbey ;Selden
’
s books enri ched the Bodleian ; Laud was a
generous benefactor al i ke to the Bodleian , to S . John’
sCo l lege
,Oxford
,and to the l ibrary of Lambeth Palace ;
S ir Kenelm D igby gave both to Bod ley and to HarvardRalph Sheldon benefited the Heralds
’
Co l lege ; Pepys
(through h i s nephew) bequeathed h i s co l lect ion to Magdal ene Co l l ege
,Cambridge ; Archb ishop Marsh founded a
l ibrary at Dubl i n ; Richard Rawl i nson gave h i s manuscripts to the Bodleian , and Harley arranged that h i sshould be Offered to the nat ion .
The example of the men who bought under thei nfluence of an i n tention to bestow thei r books on some
publ i c i nst i tut ion natural ly affected others,and was
respons ible for a good deal of rather haphazard co l l ect i ngi n the eighteenth century . The private modern l ibrarywas often confused wi th the antiquarian co l lect ion
,and
the antiquarian co l lect ion i tsel f was seldom dominated byany central i dea. Yet co l l ectors who devoted themselvesto one subject and knew thoroughly wel l what they wereaim ing at were al ready coming into exi stence
,and these
al so,when thei r work was done
,were i nspi red by an
honourable ambit ion to preserve i t i ntact,and so the
l ibraries were once more enriched . Thus Garri ck,guided
by h i s profess ional i n terest,devoted h imsel f to early p lays ,
and bequeathed h i s co l l ect ion to the Bri t i sh Museum .
Malone bought the books which were usefu l to h im as
a student of El izabethan l i terature , mo re especial ly of
Shakespeare,and bequeathed them to the Bod leian , whi le
Capel l l eft h i s s im i lar co l lect ion to Trin i ty Co l l ege,
Cambridge . The l ibrary of Natu ral H i story booksbrought together by Sir Joseph Banks and bequeathedby him to the B ri t i sh Museum I S another example ofwel ldefined co l l ect i ng , though of a d i fferent sort . Amongmen who were not themselves special i sts the vogue lay In
5
F I N E B O O K S
the d i rect ion of first ed i t ions of the Greek and Lat inc lass i cs and of a few I tal ian and Engl i sh authors of
special meri t , together wi th books i l l ustrat ing the h istoryofprinting down to about the year 1480 or 1485 . Theear ly class i cs seem to have been the i nd ispensable e lementI n any co l lect ion of the first rank
,and they appear wi th
monotonous regulari ty i n the l ibraries ofGeorge I I I , ofthe Rev . C layton Mordaunt Cracherode
,and ofThomas
Grenvi l l e, which all three passed to the Bri t i sh Museum ;i n the Spencer Co l lect ion , now i n the John RylandsLibrary
,Manchester ; and i n the S underland Library
,
so l d at auct ion i n 188 1—3 . When these prizes weresecured the co l l ector seems to have fel t h imsel f free tofo l low his i nd ividual taste i n supplementary purchases ,and the Grenvi l le Library i s a fine proof of the broaderi nterests of i ts possessor . Two notable co l l ectors ,Heber
,the last of the great book-gluttons
,andWil l iam
Henry M i l ler,founder of the famous C hrist i e-Mi l l er
Library at Bri twel l,cut themselves free from the cu l t ofthe
ea’itioprinceps, the latter (desp i te a taste formodern Lat in
verse) devot i ng h imsel f to Engl i sh poetry, whi le Heberadded to th i s the l i teratures ofFrance
,I taly
,and Spai n .
Despi te the except ions we have mentioned,i n almost
all of the co l lect ions of the early years of the n i neteenthcentury two d i fferent ideal s were combined the student ’si deal of the best books i n the best ed i t ions
,and the
ant iquary’s ideal of the books by which the h i story of
pr i nt i ng and i ts k i ndred arts cou ld be most vivid ly i l l ustrated. The combinat ion i s st i l l common
,for one of
aBeckett’s comic h istories (though I am not prepared to
assert that th i s i s a “ best book ”
) st i l l figures as the fi rstentry i n many sal e catalogues which contai n al so i neunabu la assured ly not bought for thei r l i terary i nterest .I t i s more easy to defend such a medley on the ground ofsent iment than of logic . Whoever uses books has reasonto be gratefu l to the men who i nvented or d i ffused the artof pri nting , andmay be i nterested In learn ing someth ingabout them . Yet it can hard ly be den ied that to col lect
6
F I N E B O O K S
quanti ty . S ir S idney Lee’s Census of the extant copies
of the Fi rst Fo l io Shakespeare , a comparat ively commonbook
,but of supreme i nterest for i ts associat ions , i s a
stri k i ng example of the zeal wi th wh ich every d i scoverablecopy Of a val uable book i s now hunted down . Thosewhose bus i ness i t i s to gather such i nformat ion can te l li n the case of dozens of books of much less importanceexact ly how many copies have been d i scovered and in
whose possession they remai n . But In the case ofa bookof l i tt l e i nterest the most that can be said i s that i t i s“ undescribed
,
”and i t may be
“ undescr ibed not i n theleast because i t i s real ly rare
,but because no bibl iographer
has t roubled h imsel f to make a note of i t . Were somereal po i n t of i n terest d i scovered i n i t the chances are thatthe attent ion thus attracted would speed i ly bri ng to l ightother copies
,as i n the case of the schoo l magaz i ne to
which M r . Kipl i ng was found to have contributed . Ofth i s the firs t set catalogued so ld for over £100 ,
with theresu l t that so many others were unearthed that the pr i cespeed i ly sank to l ess than as many sh i l l i ngs .Granted
,however
,that i t cou ld be proved that a du l l
book 15 not merely undescribed , but abso l utely , what so fewworks are
,un ique
,i n what waydoes th i s make i t of i n terest
to the co l l ector ? A great l ibrary might buy i t for a trifleout ofcompass ion
,or under the idea that i ts regi strat ion i n
a catalogue might help to piece out a genealogy , or that i tmight count as another un i t i n stat i st i cs (a poor reason),or j ust i fy i ts purchase i n some other haphazard way. Butcons iderat ions of th i s k i nd , such as they are , cannot affectpr ivate co l lectors . A real ly du l l book i s mere ly a nu i sance
,
andwhether on ly one copy of i t,or many
, can be proved toexi st
,nobody wants i t . I f th i s be so we are j ust ified i n
saying that,al though as soon as a book i s found des i rable
for any other reason i ts rar i ty becomes of paramountimportance i n determin i ng i ts pr i ce
,Rari ty by i tse l f i s of
no i nterest to co l lectors .The attract iveness bestowed by Age cannot be treated
qu i te so summari ly,because al though the same l i ne of
8
C O L L E C T O R S AN D C O L L E C T I N G
argument can be fo l lowed,i t has to be helped out by an
explanat ion ari s i ng from a part i cu lar case . No co l l ectorwou ld val ue a du l l sermon pri nted i n 1800 any h igherthan a du l l sermon pr i nted i n 1900 ,
and i f wego back two
centuries i nstead of one,i n the case of a boo pri nted i n
London i ts val ue i s none the greater for the extra hundredyears . I f, however, the sermon chanced to have been
pri nted i n 1700 i n some provincial town , i ts age wou ldd ist i nctly be an element ofval ue . Down to 1693 pri nt i ngwas on ly permitted i n London
,Oxford
,Cambridge , and
(after the outbreak of the C ivi l War1
) at York . Whenthe restrai n ing Act was dropped i n 1693 pri nt i ng madei ts way,
not very rap id ly, i n to one provincial town afteranother . Hence a dul l sermon with a provi ncial impri ntmay be dear to the heart of some local ant iquary as thefi rst-fru i t of the press i n h i s neighbourhood .
I f we go back another s ixty years from 1700 we reachanother typographi c zone, as we may cal l i t , with i n wh ichsome s l ight i nterest attaches to all examples of Engl i shpri nt i ng
,for the end of the year 1640 i s the l imit of the
special catalogues of early books publ i shed by the B ri t i shMuseum
,the Cambr idge Un ivers i ty Library
,and the John
Rylands Library,Manchester . The first and last of these
have i ndexes of pri nters ; i n the second the primaryarrangement i s typograph ical . Thus all books which areold enough to have been pri nted before the end of 1640
are thereby i nvested with some s l ight i nterest so le ly as
products of Engl i sh presses . When we get back to before1600 we are i n the period covered by the d i fferent ed i t ionsof the Typograpnicat
'
Antiquities Of Joseph Ames .When we go back another hundred years we are with i nthe fi fteenth centu ry ; pri nt i ng has been i ntroduced i ntoEngland for less than twenty-fi ve years , and the smal lestfragment of a book from one of the early presses at
work at Westminster,Oxford
, S t . Albans , or the C i ty of
London,i s esteemed as of i nterest and importance .
During the CivilWaritselfpresseswere also set up temporarily at Newcastleon~Tyne, at Shrewsbury, and perhaps elsewhere .
F I N E B O O K S
Thus i f we go far enough back Age does add to
the i n terest of a book,but on ly by br i nging i t under
another i nfluence , that the i nterest ofan Engl i sh fifteenthcen tu ry book i s due to i ts importance i n the h i story of
pr i nt i ng and not to i ts ant iqu i ty bei ng eas i ly demonstratedby the fact that a contemporary unadorned manuscript ofthe same work wi l l probably have on ly a fract ion of theval ue of the pri nted ed i t ion . There are , of course , othercases i n wh ich age may be sai d to have some secondaryi nfluence
,as in the case of books deal i ng wi th social
customs,bal lads and the l ike . But here i t i s st i l l more
evident that the soc ial or l i terary i nterest i s the primarycons iderat ion , and that th i s cannot be created , though i t i sgreat ly enhanced
,by Age .
Having thus to the best of our abi l i ty abated thepride both of Age and Rari ty
,we come back to our
origi nal quest ion as to what are the qual i t i es and associat ions which give books val ue i n the eyes of a co l l ector.
The on ly good qual i t i es which a book can possess i ni ts own right are those of strength and beauty of form .
Everyth i ng el se about i t i s i nherent i n no s i ngle ed i t ion,
though associat ion Of ideas may give greater d ign i ty toone ed i t ion than to another . Type
,paper
,i nk
,presswork
,
the arrangement of the page , and al so (though not qu i tei n the same way or to the same extent) the i l l ustrat ions ,are all part and parce l of the book i tsel f
,andmay be com
bined,at l east so bookmen bel i eve , i n a real ly beaut i fu l
un i ty . No doubt as to th i s s tudents run some ri sk of
los i ng thei r sense of proport ion . I mysel f am consc ious ,for i nstance
,that I have looked at so many fi fteenth cen
tu ry woodcuts,as compared wi th other works of art , that
I d i s ti nctly overrate them . Mr. Robert Proctor,who
knew more about fi fteenth century books than any otherman has ever known
,or i s ever l i kely to know, once said
to me i n all seriousness , that he d id not th ink he had everseen an ugly one . Al lowing, however, for th i s veryhuman tendency to set up our own esoteric standard
,there
yet remai n s a more general ly recogn iz able beauty of form
C O L L E C T O R S AN D C O L L E C T I N G
which some books possess i n a h igher degree than others ,and to co l lect such beauti fu l books i ndependent ly of anyo ther ki nd of attract ion wou ld be no unworthy pursu it .As a matter of fact , bookmen are more i ncl i ned to makebeauty of form a secondary cons iderat ion to which , as toage and rar i ty , they pay attent ion , but wi thout adopt ingi t as the bas i s of thei r co l lect ion .
As a secondary cons iderat ion the attent ion co l lectors
pay to beauty can hard ly be exaggerated i n respect to theco nd i t ion of copies
,the rat io of an unusual ly good to an
unusual ly bad copy of the same book,even i f the bad copy
have no l eaves actual ly wanti ng,bei ng often as ten to
one . The unusual ly bad copy, i ndeed , wou ld often haveno sel l i ng val ue at all were it not that i t may be usefu l tostudents and so win a purchaser at a smal l pr i ce . Theco l lector shou ld leave i t severe ly alone
, part ly becausesuch “ work ing copies are the rightfu l perqui s i te of
poor scho lars,part ly because
,as he presumably buys
books for h i s pleasure,he defeats h i s own object i f,
except i n the case of the very rarest,he buys Copies at
which he cannot look without regrett i ng that thei r headl i nes are cut offor the paper rotten through bad clean ing.
M r. Frederick Locker recorded i n h is catalogue that h i sCopy ofBlake
’
s Songs of I nnocence ana’of E xperience had
been cut down by a previous owner to the d imens ions ofthe old covers of a wash i ng-book . I th i nk i t was h i sch ival ry
,h i s piety toward B lake’s memory,
that i nducedh im to rescue i t from this d i shonour . Had he boughtsuch a poor copy s imply because i t was cheap
,he would
have fal len far below his standard as a co l lector .Putt i ng on one s ide beauty of form
,the i nterest of
books i n the eyes of a co l lector l i es i n thei r assoc iat ions ,h i stori cal
,personal
,or purely l i terary . For reasons
touched on al ready but wh ich we may now cons idermore ful ly
,among h i stori cal associat ions those connected
with the hi story of pri nt i ng fi l l a very large place . Aswe have sai d before , the i nvent ion of an art by whichbooks were so great ly cheapened and mult ipl ied was an
F I N E B O O K S
event of almost un ique importance i n the social h i storyof Europe
,and everyth i ng which throws l ight on the first
d i scovery, on the manner i n wh ich i t was carried from one
country and c i ty to another, and on the methods and l ivesof the early pri nters
,i s of i n terest
,and i n i ts degree
and measure,of importance . Moreover
,j ust as foxes are
hunted because they show such good sport,so these early
books are co l lected because the study of them combi nesi n a s i ngular degree the charms of scient ific and h i storicald i scovery,
with all sorts of l i terary, social , and humans ide-i n terests . The claim which Henry Bradshaw put
forward that ant iquarian b ib l iography must be stud iedscien t ifical ly has been perverted by the unwi se i nto the
assert ion that b ib l iography i s a S cience , or as they are
somet imes p leased to put i t,an Exact S cience
,t i l l sens ib le
peop l e are wearied of the s i l ly phrase . But the claimi tsel f i s abso l utely true
,and the gi fts wh ich enabled
Mr . Proctor to class i fy,exact ly or approximately
,any
fragment of early pri nt i ng accord i ng to i ts country ,place
, pri nter, and date , i f emp loyed on any other fieldof sc ien tific i nqu i ry wou ld eas i ly have gai ned h im a
Fel lowship of the Royal Society , bes ides the Europeanrecogn i t ion whi ch
,i n h i s own smal l field
,was al ready his
before he d ied .
A large proport ion of early pri nted books are withoutany i nd icat ion whatever of thei r place of origin , pri nter,or date . The dates are obscured by the qu i ckness or
s lowness of i nd ividual pri nters i n adopt i ng various im
provements—sheet-numberi ng, l eaf-numberi ng , pri ntedcapital s
,titlepages, methods of imposition
,etc .—which
thus become uncertai n and delus ive landmarks . The
place of origi n i s obscured by the exi stence of almostident i cal types i n d i fferent c i t i es and even i n d i fferentcountries . A fort iori the ident i ty of the i nd ividual pri ntermaybaffle research from types being transferred or Copiedi n all but one or two letters of the fount , which thus become the so l e means ofd i fferent iat i ng them . As helps thebibl iographer has
,i n the first place, such a c lass ificat ion of
C O L L E CT O R S AN D C O L L E C T I N G
the two or three thousand fifteenth century types as he i sable to carry i n h i s head . This , i n proport ion to i t s com
pleteness, enables h im to narrow down the field to be investigated. Some smal l typographical pecu l iari ty , the wayi n which the i l l uminator or rubr i cator has fi l led the blankspaces
,the note which by good fortune he may have
appended i n th i s or some other known copy saying whenhe fin ished h i s work
,s imi lar notes by early purchasers
which occas ional ly give the date of the i r bargai n,these
and other po i nts may all help forward the happy momentof final ident ificat ion . Such a hunt as th i s may soundalarmingly d i fficu l t
,as i f i t were all over fi ve-barred gates
and i nconven iently hedged d i tches . But facs imi les ando ther aid s have been great ly mul t ipl ied of late years ;many a book can be run down and the ident ificat ionverified i n a few minutes , and the poss ib i l i ty of hunt i ngsuccessfu l ly i n one’s own l ibrary presupposes the purchaseof many books givi ng fu l l i n format ion as to thei r origin .
These,whi le offeri ng the means of i dent i fyi ng other
books,wi l l themselves rai se no quest ions
,so that the
co l lector’s l i fe need not be unceas i ngly strenuous .The s ide-i n terests of these Old books are very vari ed .
Many of them,at l east to eyes trai ned to perce ive i t
,are
ofgreat beauty. Others , al though the hal f century duri ngwhich pri nt ing was i n i ts i n fancy produced few masterpieces of l i terature
,have real l i terary i nterest . More than
any other s i ngle event the i nvent ion of pri nt i ng hurri edon the trans i t ion from the med ieval wor ld to the modern
,
but whi le many pri nters i n I taly nearly ru i ned themselvesby the z eal wi th which they helped forward the class i calrenai ssance
,all over Europe the medieval books which
were st i l l read were seized on for the press,so that In the
books pri nted between 1470 and 1490 we are presentedwi th a conspectus or summary of medieval l i terature .Caxton printed the works of Chaucer and Gower andprose renderi ngs of the old romances . The I tal ian presseswere busy wi th Boccaccio
,Petrarch
,and Dante . The
enormous s ize of the great Specul um or Encyclopaed ia of
13
F I N E B O O K S
Vincent de B eauvai s d id not deter the printers of Franceand Germany , and the ponderous tomes ofmedieval theology and law seem to have found a ready market . Aboveall
,the h ighest sk i l l avai lable i n the best equ ipped work
shops was employed almost ceaseless ly i n the product ionof beaut i fu l and Often magn ificent ed i t ions of the servi cebooks of the Church for the use both of priests and lai ty
,
and i t i s hard ly poss ib l e to dabble much i n old bookswithout acqu i ri ng an i nterest i n l i turgio logy .
Owing to th i s fact,that the early presses were so largely
occupi ed wi th pri nt i ng the works of the previous threecenturi es
,there i s comparat ively l i tt l e human i nterest in
i ncunabu la on thei r l i terary s ide . I nstead of authors wehave most ly to deal wi th ed i tors
,an assert ive and depre
ciatory race , always vaunt i ng thei r own accuracy and z ealand i ns i st i ng on the i ncred ib le b lunders by wh ich previoused i t ions had been deformed past recogn i t ion . We rece ive
,
however,no smal l compensat ion i n the personal detai l s
wh ich many of the early pri nters give us about themselves .Titlepages, though they occu r at haphazard i n a few booksof the early sevent ies (and there i s one st i l l earl ier example),d id not become common t i l l about 1490 ,
and even twenty
years later we find many books st i l l wi thout them . The
i n format ion wh ich we now expect to find on a t i t l epagewas given i n a paragraph
,most ly at the end of the book
,
to which bibl iographers have agreed to give the nameco lophon ,
” from o oqsa’
w, the Greek for a fin i sh ingstroke .” As we have al ready noted
,i n many books no
i n format ion of th i s k i nd i s given,but when pri nters
,or
thei r proof readers or ed i tors,took the trouble to wri te a
co lophon at all,they had no reason to confine themselves
to the severe brevi ty and s impl i c i ty of statement wh ichmarks the modern t i t lepage . I t was i n co lophons thated i tors cast stones at the i r predecessors
,or demanded
sympathy for the severi ty of thei r own labours , and i t i si n co lophons that we find the express ions of the pri nter’spi ety and pride
,h i s complai nts of h i s troubles wi th h i s
workmen and r ival s,h i s pleas for encouragement
,and
F I N E B O O K S
probably true of h imsel f, to rate i t too h igh ly . As i s thecase with the more ambit ious art i sts in o i l s of the sameperiods , wherever there was any demand for book-i l l ustrators a local schoo l wi th strongly marked character i st ics atonce appears . The work of the Augsburg cutters can beto ld at a glance from that executed at S trassburg
,and the
styles predominant at Ven ice and Florence , at Mi lan andNaples are all abso l utely d ist i nct . With one or two exceptions we know noth i ng , unt i l after 15 00 ,
of the menwho des igned or cut these i l l ustrat ions
,and (except i n the
case of those of the Low Countri es) hard ly any attempthas been made , or seems poss ible , to subd ivide the workdone i n any given local i ty so as to group i t under ind ividual masters . Otherwi se the problems of fi fteenthcentury book-i l l ustrat ions are much l ike the problems ofthe types wi th which they harmon ize so wel l
,and the
co l l ecto r can ei ther devote h imsel f to represent i ng as fu l lyas poss ib le the work done i n any s ingle d istrict , or rangeat large over the Cont i nent (as regards fi fteenth centuryi l l ustrat ions England may almost be left out of account)and co l l ect a few good specimens of each schoo l .I t has been made a cause of complai n t recent ly
agai nst b ibl iographers that they know more of the workdone at any i n s ign ificant fifteenth century press than of
the h i story ofpri nt i ng at any subsequent t ime . I t Is noteasy to coerce men i nto taking up any sect ions ofa sub
ject beyond those i n which they are i n terested,and the
supposed cu lpri ts have at l east th i s much j ustificat ion forthei r neglect of the later work that very l i tt l e of it repaysexamination . Unti l 1465 , save for some poss ib le Dutchexperiments
,Germany enjoyed the monopo ly ofpri nt i ng.
From 1465 to about 15 30 she shared the primacy i n i twi th I taly
,though duri ng most of th i s period I taly was
s l ight ly ahead from 15 30 to about 15 70 France was fari n advance of the rest of Europe after 15 70 there was ahigher techn ical l evel i n the Low Countries than el sewhere
,and Plant i n and the E lz evirs gai ned i nd ividual
reputat ions . But there was very l i tt l e good taste even i n16
C O L L E C T O R S AN D C O L L E C T I N G
the Low Countries , and from a typographical s tandpo i n tthe seventeenth century i s a Sahara with hard ly anyoases . From th is wi lderness the eighteenth century ,under the gu idance of France and England
,t imid ly fel t
i ts way back to a k ind of trim neatness,but the pos i t ive
experiments of Baskervi l l e and the Didots , and in I talyof Bodon i , were not very exci t i ng
,and at presen t are
qu i te out of fash ion . I n the n i neteenth century the workof the W hittinghams i n England deserves more atten t ionfrom co l lectors than i t has rece ived
,and throughout the
who l e period anyone work ing on h i stori cal l i nes , with thedes i re to i l l ustrate the vici ss i tudes of the art of pri n t ingand not merely i ts successes , has an ample field . But forpos i t ive excel lence
,after the period of
“origins
,the
French books of the midd le of the s ixteenth centu ryoffer almost the on ly hunt i ng ground i n wh ich the fast idious co l l ector i s l i kely to find an attract ive quarry
,and
i t i s no use to try to te l l any other tal e .Of the later book i l l ustrat ions a somewhat better
account may be given . Owing to the steady deteriorat ionofpaper and presswork
,which was the real cause of the
typographical decl i ne,woodcuts by the end of the s ix
teenth century had gone qu i te out of fash ion,the O ld
s imple styl e having been lost and no pri nter being ableto do j ust ice to the finer work on which des igners ins i sted . But copper engravings throve i n Germany and
the Low Countries,and when the fash ion of engraved
front ispi eces and t i t les took root i n England i n the lastyears of the century i t was pursued with cons iderablesuccess for a couple of generat ions
,whi le i n the eigh
teenth century the French lit/res avignettes attai ned an
extraord inary bri l l iancy and elegance,and Gravelot and
other French engravers bestowed some of thei r sk i l l onEngl i sh books .The use ofwood
,now worked wi th the graver and no
longer with the kn i fe, was revived I n England by Bewick
about 1784 ,and was pursued wi th varying success for
over a century,great techn i cal sk i l l and
,at least i n the
2
F I N E B O O K S
s ixt i es,very fine des ign being marred by the poverty
and often the tawdriness of its typographical setting .
Despi te these d rawbacks,the co l l ecto rs who are bestow
ing attent ion on all th i s wood-engraved work of the n i neteenth century wi l l probably reap thei r reward .
When wood engravi ng was ki l led a few years ago bythe extraord i nary perfect ion attai ned
,at a much smal ler
cost , by the process b lock , i ts fate was shared by the l i neengraved i l lustrat ions which had appeared fi tfullythroughout the century
,and had l i ngered on i n the
beaut i fu l work of C . H . Jeens , who d ied i n 18 79 ,and i n
the use ofold plates . As the wood engravi ng was ki l ledby the hal f-tone block , so the l i ne engravi ng d i sappearedbefore the photogravure , and the co lour processes now
bei ng rapid ly perfected threaten to reduce all black and
white i l l ustrat ions to un importance . I n so far,however
,
as the new processes necess i tate the use ofheavi ly loadedpapers as a cond i t ion of thei r being even to l erably wellpri nted
,the least ant iquarian of co l lectors may be for
given for neglect i ng the books i l l ustrated by them . Someof them can on ly be preserved by every plate bei ngbacked wi th sound paper
,and a hundred years hence of
all th i s i l l ustrated work,much of i t real ly beaut i fu l
,wh ich
i s now being produced i n such quant i t i es,very l i tt l e wi l l
remai n . The modern Groliers whom we tried to cal lforth at the begi nn i ng of th i s chapter wi l l need to be
experts both i n paper and i n l eather i f they are to l eavebeh ind them any permanent record of thei r good taste .
But th i s i s on ly a crowning proof of how urgent ly theyare needed .
I t wou ld be pleasant to glance br i efly at some of themore l i terary cons iderat ions which bri ng books wi th i nthe co l l ector’s scope . But the scheme of th i s seriesrestri cts the subj ect of the present vo l ume to bookswhich are prized ei ther for thei r typographical beauty ,thei r p lace i n the h i story Of pri nt i ng , or the charm of
thei r i l l ustrat ions . Thi s i s i n i tsel f so large a field thatno more pages must be wasted on i ntroducing i t .
18
C HAPTE R I I
BLOCK-BOOKS
HE co l lector of the t ime of George I I I , whoseheart was set on Typographical Ant iqu i t ies , and
who was ambit ious enough to wish to begi n at thebeginn i ng
,must have hungered after a block book .
Even I n the days of Bagford,at the very outset of the
e ighteenth century,i nterest had been aroused i n the
block-pri nted ed i t ions of the SpeculumH umanae Salaationzs
,so that Bagford h imsel f travel led from Amster
dam to Haarlem on purpose to see a Copy of one of theDutch ed i t ions
,and set an Engl i sh wood-cutter to work
,
wi th very poor success , to manufacture a bogus specimenof i t , wherewi th
“to obl ige the curious . Thi s
,with a
s imi lar imi tat ion of a page i n the B iblia Pauperunz, wasi ntended to i l l u strate the H istory of Pri nti ng whichBagford had the temeri ty to p lan , al though such of h i ssmal ler d i ssertat ions as have been preserved show con
el us ively that he was qu i te i ncapable of carrying i t out .
The i nterest thus early shown i n block-books sprangfrom an ent i rely reasonable , but probably i ncorrect , V i ewof the part wh ich they had p layed i n the developmentof pri nt i ng wi th movable type . I t was known thatwoodcuts wi thout letterpress were pri nted i n Germanyqu ite early i n the fi fteenth century
,the cut of S . C hri s
topher, fo rmerly 1n the Spencer Co l l ect ion , now i n theJohn Rylands Library
,beari ng the date On the
other hand, pri nt i ng with movable type was practi sed at
Mai nz i n the fi ft ies,and about 146 1 Albrecht Pfi ster
publ i shed at Bamberg several books with woodcut i l l us1 The authenticity ofa still earlier date, 14 18 , on a cut of the B lessed Virgin
at Brussels is disputed.
F I N E B O O K S
trations and pri nted letterpress . I n the logical o rderof development noth i ng could be more reasonable thanthe sequence :
i . VV'
oodcut pictures .
i i . Woodcut p i ctures and woodcut text .i i i . W oodcut p i ctures and text pri nted from
movable type .Facts
,however , do not always arrange themselves wi th
the neatness which commends i tsel f to an a prior i h i storian , and the most recent students of block-books areunable to d i scover sufficient j ust ificat ion for the earlydates which thei r predecessors ass igned to them . Onthe old theory
,i n order to put i t i n front of the i nvent ion
of pri nt ing with movable types,the B iblia Pauperum,
which appears to be the o ldest of the block-books,was
placed about 143 0 or 1440 ,and the Ars M oriena
’i and
the other ch i ef specimens Of block-pr i n t ing were all supposed to have been produced before 1460 , the mai n periodofblock-pri nt i ng thus co i ncid ing with the i nterval betweenthe S . Chri stopher of 1423 and Pfi ster
’
s act iv i ty at Bamberg about 146 1. Pos i t ive evidence i n favour of th i schrono logy there was none . I t rested so l e ly on the idea
,
at which bibl iographers had j umped , that the block-bookswere necessary steps towards the i nvent ion ofpri nt i ng
,
as they have often been cal led , and on what seemed theimprobabi l i ty that any one
,when the art of print i ng wi th
movable type had once been i nvented,wou ld have
troubled h imsel f laborious ly to cut letterpress on wood .
So far from block-pri nt i ng bei ng unable to co-exi stwi th prin t i ng from movable type
,i t was not t i l l nearly a
century after pri nti ng had been i nvented that b lock-booksfinal ly ceased to be produced . The example general lyquoted as the latest 1 i s the Opera nova contemplativa
per ognifea’el cnristiano lagnate tratta a
’e te fi gure a
’el
testamento neccnio: le guale fi gure sonno nerifi cate nel tes
1 The Lioro a’i M Giovanbattista Palatino, printed at Rome in 15 48 , is
spoken of byMr. Campbell Dodgson as a“ belated specimen of a b lock-book .
But this was a writing-book , and hardly counts.
B L O C K -B O O K S
lamento nuo'oo . As i ts t1tle impl ies,th i s
,curious ly enough
,
i s an adaptat ion of the B iblia Pauperum,which was thus
the last,as i t may have been the fi rst
,of the block-books .
I t i s undated,but has the name of i ts publ i sher , Giovann i
Andrea Vavassore,who worked at Ven ice about I 5 30 .
The Opera not/a con templativa was from one po i n tof view a mere survival
,but Vavassore i s not l i kely to
have produced i t so le ly to cause twent ieth century ant i
quaries surprise . He must have had a bus iness reasonfor havi ng recoui se to block-pri n ti ng
,nor i s that reason
very hard to find . From the frequency with which theearly pri nters changed and recast the i r types
,and the
short i nterval s at which popular books pri nted withtypes were set up afresh
,i t i s cl ear ( I ) that the type
metal 1 employed was much softer and l ess durable thanthat now i n use
,and that on ly smal l impress ions ’ could
be taken from the same sett i ng up ; (2) that on ly a smal lamount of type was cast at a time
,and that type was
qu ickly d istributed and used agai n,never kept stand ing
on the chance that another ed i t ion would be wanted .
Now when we come to the i l l ustrat ions i n pri nted books,
we find the same woodblocks used for five or s ix success ive ed i t ions
,and then
,i n many cases
,enjoying a second
lease of l i fe as job-blocks , used at haphazard by i nferiorpri nters . I t i s c lear
,therefore
,that whi le i t was a much
more d ifficu l t and laborious bus i ness to cu t the l etterpress of a book on blocks ofwood than to set i t up withmovable types , when the blocks were once made muchmore work could be got out of them . I n a word
,i n the
case of a smal l book for which there was a steadydemand , a pri nter might be tempted to have i t cut as a
1 Numerous references in colophons show that the metal mostly used was
brass, e . g. Primus in Aa’riacaformis impressit aenis Vroe liaros Spira genitus ole
and the use ofChalcographi as a name for printers. But there areone or two references to prin ting stanneis typ is,
”with types oftin .
2 Of the first book printed at Ve nice only 100 copies were struck Off, but thenumber was trebled in the case of its immediate successors. At Rome Sweynheym and Pannartz mostly printed 27 5 copies, only in a few instances as many as3 00 . But at the end of the century Pynson was printing at least 600 Copies of
large b ooks and as many as 1000 ofsmall ones.
F I N E B O O K S
block-book for the same reasons as might cause a modern
publ i sher to have i t stereotyped . The labou r of cutt i ngthe letterpress on wood was much greater than that nowi nvo lved i n stereotyp ing , and the resu l t c lumsier . Hencei t was on ly to short books i ntended for unexact i ng purchasers that the process was app l ied and with two or
three except ions i t was used on ly for i l l ustrated bookswith a smal l amount of text . But with i n th i s restrictedfield i t had i ts own commercial poss ib i l i t ies
,and there
i s thus noth i ng surpri s i ng i n i ts coexi stence with pri nti ng from movable type .
When the theory that b lock-books were S teps towardsthe I nvent ion ofPri nt i ng i s thus Opposed by the rivaltheory that they were forerunners of stereotyped plates
,
we are l eft free to cons ider,uncoerced by supposed neces
s i t ies,such evidence as exi sts as to the dates of the
specimens of block-pri n t i ng st i l l extant . Putt i ng as idethe late I tal ian b lock-book as a mere survival
,we find
two1 broad ly d ist i ngu i shed groups
,one earl i er
,the dates
of members of which can on ly be conj ectured,the other
later,several ofwhich can on ly be defin i te ly connected
with the years 1470 to 1473 . The character i st i cs of theearl ier group are that they are pr i n ted (1) with a waterybrown i nk ; (2) always on one s ide of the paper on ly ;(3 ) without mechan i cal pressure ;
2
(4) two consecut ive
pages at a t ime,so that they cannot be arranged in
qu i res,but must be fo lded and st i tched separate ly , and
the book thus formed " begi ns and ends with a blank
1 A very small third group , earlier than either of these , consists of woodcutswith manuscript text. The most important of these is a German B iolia Pau
perum quite distinct from those started in the Netherlands.
2 Some early woodcuts were printed by pressing the block down on the paper
by hand for the early b lock-books, however, the usual method seems to havebeen to press the paper on to the face of the block byrubbing it on the back witha burnisher. The paper was thus quite as strongly indented as if passed througha press, but the impression is usually less even . The friction on the back of the
paper often gives it a polished appearance . As long as this method continued
in use it was, ofcourse, impossible to print on both sides of the paper.
3 I t is possible that the earliest specimens ofblock-printing were in tended not
to be bound in books but to be pasted on walls. I n the case of the B iolia
22
F I N E B O O K S
qu i te a fai r impress ion . The fact that one i ssue of a
block book can be pos i t ively ass igned to 1470 or 1473 ,
thus does not of i tse l f forb id an earl ier 1ssue being placedas far back 111 the fi fteenth century as any one may pleaseto propose . On the other hand
,when a printed book
was a popular success ed i t ions succeeded each other withgreat rap id i ty , and one centre of pri nt i ng vied wi thanother i n produci ng Copies of i t . The ch ief reason forthe current d is i ncl i nat ion to assume a date earl ier than145 0 or 1460 for any extant block book i s the totalabsence of any evidence demand ing i t . I f such evidencewere forthcoming,
there would be no i nheren t impossib ility to set against i t . But i n the absence of suchevidence twenty years seems an ample t ime to al low forthe vogue of the block-books
,and (despi te the neatness
of the a priori theory of development ment ioned at the
beginn i ng of th i s chapter) th i s fi ts i n better wi th theh istory both ofpri nt i ng and ofbook-i l l ustrat ion than anylonger period .
The fi rst attempt to describe the extant block-bookswas made by Carl Hei nrich von H einecken i n 177 1, i nh i s l a’ae ge
’
ne’
rale cl’
une collection ct’
estampes . Thi s he ldthe field unt i l the publ i cat ion i n 18 5 8 of Samuel LeghSotheby
’s Principia Typograp/zica t/ze oloc/e-booles issuea’
in H ollana’
,F lana
’ers ana
’Germany,
a’uring tne fi fteent/i
century,a pai nstaking and wel l i l l ustrated work i n th ree
fo l io vo l umes . The most recent and probably the finalt reatment of the subj ect i s that by Dr. W . L . S chreiber ,i n Vol. IV of h i s M anuel a
’e l
’
Amateur a’e la Granure
sur oois et sur metal an xv‘siecle
,publ i shed i n 1902
(facs im i l es i n Vo l s . VI I and VI I I , 18 95 Dr.
S chreiber enumerates no fewer than th i rty-three worksas exist i ng i n the form of block-books , the number ofextant i ssues and ed i t ions of them amount ing to overone hundred . Here i t must suffice to offer brief notes onsome of the more important .
B L O C K -B O O K S
B I B LIA PAUPERUM
A seri es of forty compos i te pictures , the central compartment i n each represent i ng a scene from the l i fe of
Chri st,whi le on each s ide of i t i s an Old Testament
type,and above and below are i n each case two hal f
fi gures ofprophets . The explanatory letterpress i s giveni n the two upper corners and al so on scro l l s . S chreiberd i st i ngu i shes ten i ssues and ed i t ions
,i n add i t ion to an
ear l i er German one of a l ess e laborate des ign and withmanuscript text
,which belongs to a d i fferent tradi t ion .
The earl ier of these ten ed i t ions appear to have beenmade In the Netherlands . An ed i t ion with German textwas publ i shed with the co lophon
,
“ Friederi ch wal therMau ler z u Nord l i ngen vnd Hans Hurning habent d i sbuch mitt ei nender gemacht
,and a second i ssue of th i s
(without the co lophon) i s dated 1470 . I n the fo l lowingyear another ed i t ion , with Copied cuts
,was pri nted with
the device ofHans Spoerer .
ARS MORI END I
Twenty-four leaves,two contai n i ng a preface , and the
remai n ing twenty-two eleven pictures and eleven pagesof explanatory letterpress faci ng them ,
showing thetemptat ions to which the dying are exposed , an
b
d thegood inspi rat ions by which they may be res i sted , and
,
last ly,the final agony . The early ed i t ions are ascribed
to the Netherlands or d istri ct of the Rh i ne ; the later toGermany . There are al so ed i t ions with German text ,one of them signed hanns Sporer, and dated 1473 .
A set of engravings on copper by the Master E . S .
(copied by the Master of S . E rasmus) may be ei therim itat ions or the origi nal s of the earl i est of these Ars
M oriena’i des igns . (See Lionel Gust
’s The M aster E . S .
and the Ars M oriena’i.) The des igns were imitated i n
numerous pri nted ed i t ions i n various countries . I naddi t ion to a copy of the ed i t ion usual ly regarded as the
F I N E B O O K S
earl iest extant,the B r i t i sh Museum possesses one with
the same characteri st i cs,but of a much smal l er s ize
(the blocks measuri ng 13 7 by 100 mm . i nstead of 226 byand from th i s
,as much less known
,a page i s here
given as an i l l ustrat ion .
CANTI CA CANTI CORUM
S ixteen leaves , each contai n i ng two woodcuts , i l l ustrating the Song of Songs as a parable of the B lessedVi rgi n . Produced i n the Netherlands .
APOCALYPSI S SAN OT] [OHANN I S
Fi fty leaves,or i n some ed it ions forty—e ight , showing
scenes from the l i fe of S . John and i l l ustrat ions of theApocalypse
,most ly wi th two pictures on each leaf.
The early ed i t ions are ass igned to the Netherlands,the
later to Germany . A copy of the ed i t ion regarded as
the fourth,lately so l d by Herr Ludwig Rosenthal
,bears
a manuscript note,most probably as to the wr i ter
,j ust
poss ib ly as to the book,enteri ng the househo l d of the
Landgrave Hei nri ch ofHesse i n 1463 .
SPE CULUM H UMANAE SALUATl ON I S
S cenes from B ib l e h i story , arranged in pai rs , with i narch i tectural borders
,with explanatory text beneath . No
complete xylographi c,or block-pri nted
,ed i t ion i s known
,
but twenty leaves pri nted from blocks are found i n con
j unct ion wi th forty-four leaves pri nted from type , and
have not unreasonably been held to prove the previousproduct ion of a complete block-pr i nted ed i t ion now lost .I n l i ke manner
,the fact that two d i fferent types are
used i n d i fferent parts of a Dutch pri nted ed i t ion hasencouraged Dr. Hessel s to bel i eve that th i s “ mixeded i t ion shou ld be regarded as provi ng the product ion of
two complete ed i t ions , one i n each type . On th i s theorywe have (1) a hypothet i cal Lat i n b lock-pri nted ed i t ion ;
26
I I I . ARS MORI END I , BLOCKBOOK, c .
F I N E B O O K S
nomical i n format ion , and a figure of the human bodywith notes of the s igns of the zodiac by which i t wasi nfluenced . Composed by the famous astronomer
,
Johann Mul ler,and so l d by Hans B riefftruck
,probably
Hans Spoerer,about 1474
—5 ,
at Nuremberg and el sewhere .
jOHANN HARTLI E B . D I E K UN ST CH I ROJl/[AN TIA
Forty-four figures of hands , with a t i t l epage and pageof text and a pri n ted wrapper . Early Issues are pri ntedon one s ide of the paper on ly
,later on both . The pri nter
appears to have been Jorg S chaff, of Augsburg , and thedate of i ssue about The date 1448 found i n thebook 15 that of compos it ion , and i t probably ci rcu lated 1nmanuscript for many years before being pri nted .
M I RAB I LIA ROMAE
A German gu ide-book for vi s i to rs to Rome . Ninetytwo l eaves
, pri nted with black i nk on both s ides of theleaf, with on ly a few i l l ustrat ions . I t was perhaps fi rstpubl i shed to meet the rush of German p i lgrims to Romeat the Jubi lee of Pope S ixtus IV
,1475 . The blocks
were probably cut i n Germany , and the pri nt i ng done atRome . Some of the ornaments are sai d to have beenused i n type-pri nted ed i t ions by S tephan Plannck. Thi ssuggests that the book may have been publ i shed by h i spredecessor
,Ulr i ch Han .
I n add i t ion to these b lock-books of Low Country andGerman origin
,mention must al so be made of a very
curious I tal ian one , a Passio a’
omini nostrijesu Christi ,fu l ly described by the Pri nce d’
E ssling . The copy of th i sat B erl i n contai n s e ighteen leaves
,and was probably
executed at Ven ice about the midd le of the fi fteenthcentury . Some of the blocks were subsequent ly used
(after a scro l l at the foot had been cut off) for an ed i t ionof the D enote M editatione sopra la Passione a
’el N ostro
28
B L O C K -B O O K S
S ignore (attributed to S . Bonaventura), publ i shed at
Ven ice i n 148 7 by Jeron imo d i Sanct i e Cornel io suo
Compagno ,and a page from thi s i s reproduced as a
fronti sp iece to our chapter on I tal ian I l l ustrated Books .Ment ion has al ready been made of the Opera nova
contemplativa ,an adaptat ion of the B iblia Pauperum,
pri nted as a block-book at Ven ice about 15 30 .
The on ly extant French b lock-book , i f i t can becal led one , i s that of the
“ Nine Worth ies (Les N eufPreux). Thi s consi sts of three sheets , the first showingthree heathen worth ies—Hector , Alexander , and J u l iusCaesar ; the second , three from the Old TestamentJoshua
,David
,and Judas Maccabaeus ; the th i rd , three
from medieval romance—Arthur,Charlemagne
,and
Godfrey of Bou logne . Under each pi cture are s ix l i nesofverse . These three trip le woodcuts , with the woodcuttext
,are ass igned to about 145 5 .
No Engl i sh block-book has yet been d i scovered,nor
i s i t i n the least l ike ly that one ever exi sted,though there
are a few s i ngle woodcuts .
B lock-books possess two permanent attract ions i nadd i t ion to thei r supposed h i stori cal importance i n thedevelopment of the i nvent ion of pri nt i ng on which doubti s now cast—the attract ion of popu lar l i terature and theattract ion of the i l l ustrated book . As we have seen
,i t
wou ld not have been worth any one’s wh i le to cause a
block-book to be laborious ly engraved,or cut
,un less
a large and speedy sal e cou ld be expected for i t . Themost famous block-books are nearly all of a rel igiouscharacter , and they prove a widespread des i re for s implei nstruct ion as to the i nc idents of the l i fe of Chri s t andthe events i n the Old Testament h i story which wereregarded as pre fi gurements of them
,as to the d ign i ty of
the B lessed Vi rgi n and the doctri ne of the Vi rgi n B i rth ,as to the end of the world and the coming of Anti chri st ,and as to the spi ri tual dangers and temptat ions of thedying and the means by which they might be res i sted .
F I N E B O O K S
As early specimens of book-i l l ustrat ion the val ue of theblock books varies very g .reat ly The majori ty of themare more curious than beaut i fu l , but the pictures of theCantica Ganticorum, the Speculum H umanae Salua
tionis,and the Ars M oriena
’i have all very great meri t .
The tal l,s lender figures i n the Song of Songs have a
charm as great as any Dutch book-i l l ustrat ions of thefi fteenth century ; the cuts of the Speculum are fu l l ofvigour , whi le the serene d ign i ty of the scenes i n the Ars
M oriencli i l l ustrat i ng the I nsp i rat ions of the Good Angeli s as impress ive as the grotesque force used i n dep i ct i ngthe d iabo l i c suggest ions . I f we must grant , as theweight Ofauthori ty now bids us
,that these woodcuts are
copies from the copper engravings of the Master E . S . , i tcan hard ly be d i sputed that the woodcutter was the
better art i st of the two .
The block-books are a strik ing example of the d i fficu l tyof gleaming where the earl ier co l l ectors have reaped , ad i fficul ty to which we shal l often have to cal l attent ion .
They vary great ly i n pos i t ive rari ty . Of the B ibliaPauperum and Ars M oriena
’i,which i n thei r d i fferen t
i ssues and ed i t ions enjoyed the longest l i fe and earlyattracted attent ion
,Dr. S chreiber (i f I have counted
rightly) was able to enumerate i n the one case as manyas eighty-th ree copies—many of them ,
i t i s true,mere
fragments—in the other s ixty-one . Of the Apocalypsefi fty
-seven copies were known to h im,of the Speculum
twenty-n i ne , of the An tichrist th i rteen,of the D efeu
sorium twelve,and of the M irabilia Romae s ix . But of
these 26 1 cop i es and fragments no fewer than 223 are
recorded as being locked up i n publ i c l ibrari es and
museums,the ownersh ip of th i rteen was doubtfu l , and
on ly twenty-fi ve are defin i tely regi stered as bei ng i n thehands of private co l l ectors , viz . of the Apocalypse, eightcop ies or fragments ; of the B iblia Pauperum,
six,of the
Speculum and Ars M ori,
ena’i four each ; of the D efeu
sorium,two ; and of the Ganlica Canticorum, one . The
ch ief owners known to Dr. S chreiber were the Earl of
B L O C K -B O O K S
Pembroke , Baron Edmond de Rothsch i ld , and MajorHo l ford
,to whom must now be added Mr . Pierpont
Morgan and Mr . Perri ns . No doubt the Copies i n publ i ci nst i tut ions are much more eas i ly enumerated than thosei n private hands
,and probably most of the untraced Copies
are owned by co l lectors . But when al lowance has beenmade for th i s , i t remai ns obvious that th i s i s no fieldwhere an easy harvest can be reaped , and that the averageco l lector may th i nk h imsel f lucky i f he obtai ns one or twos i ngle leaves . The last great Opportun i ty of acqu i ri ngsuch treasures was at the sal e i n 18 72 of the wonderfu lco l lect ion formed by T . O . W eigel,
lat which the B ri t i sh
Museum bought a very fine copy of the first ed i t ion of
the Ars M oriena’i,the fi rst ed i t ion
,dated 1470 ,
of theB iblia Pauperum,
i n German , a block-book i l lustrat ingthe vi rtues of the hymn Salve Regina , and the compass ion of the B lessed Vi rgin , pr i n ted at Regensburgabout 1470 ,
bes ides fragments and woodcut s i ngle sheets .The foundat ion of the Museum co l l ect ion of block-bookshad been laid by George I I I , added to by Mr . Grenvi l l e ,and compl eted by a series of purchases from 183 8 to th i sfinal hau l of 18 72,
s i nce when there have been few oppor
tunities for new acqu i s i t ions . I t i s now qu ite adequatefor purposes of study , though not so ri ch as that of theB ibl iotheque Nationale at Pari s .
1 Since thiswaswritten the interesting collection formed byDr. Schreiber himself has b een dispersed.
CHAPTER I I I
THE INVENT ION OF PR INT ING—HOLLAND
P to the year 1465 on ly one firm of pri ntersevi nced any appreciat ion of the uses o f advert i sement . I n 145 7 Johann Fust and Peter S choeffer,
of Mai nz,set thei r names at the end of the l i turgical
Psal ter which they were i ssu ing from thei r press , and
stated al so the date of i ts complet ion ,“ I n vigi l ia
Assumpcionis”
on the vigi l of the feast of the Assumpt ion
,i . .e August 14th . Save i n the case of a few um
important books th i s preference for publ ic i ty remai nedthe sett led pract i ce of the fi rm unt i l Peter Schoeffer
’
s
death early i n the s ixteenth century,and later st i l l when
i t was i n the hands of h i s son Johann . With otherpri nters at fi rst the tendency was all the other way.
Albrecht Pfi ster placed h i s name i n one or two of thehandfu l of popu lar i l lustrated books which he pri ntedat Bamberg about 146 1. NO other book before 1465contai n s i ts pri n ter’s name
,and both at S trassburg
and at Base l the pract ice of publ i sh i ng anonymous lyconti nued i n fash ion throughout the
’sevent ies —inS trassburg , i ndeed , for the best part of another decade .
Whi le pri nt i ng cont i nued mai n ly anonymous chroniclers took no note of i t
,but i n the ten years which
began i n 1465 the progress of the art was rapid and
tri umphant . Pri nters,most ly Germans , i nvaded the
ch ief cit ies of Europe , and boasted i n thei r booksof having been the fi rst to practi se i t i n th i s p lace or
that . Curios i ty as to the beginn ings of the i nvent ionwas thus aroused
,and from 1470 onwards we meet wi th
numerous attempts,not always accurate
,to sat i sfy i t .
The earl i est of these attempts i s i n a l etter from Gui l laume
I NVE NT I O N O F P R I NT I NG—HOLLAND
Fichet,a Professor at the Sorbonne
,who was mai n ly
respons ibl e for bringing the fi rst pri nters to Pari s,to hi s
friend Robert Gaguin . Thi s i s contai ned i n one copyof the second Pari s book , the Orthographia of Gas
parinus Barz iz ius,pri nted i n 1470 ,
Fichet having a
fondness for giving i nd ividual i ty to special copies byadd i t ions of th i s k i nd . I n th i s letter he speaks of thegreat l ight which he th i nks learn i ng wi l l rece ive from thenew kind Of bookmen whom Germany
,l ike another
Trojan Horse , has poured forth .
Ferunt enim illic , haut procul a ciuitate Maguncia, Ioannem
quendam fuisse t ui cognomen bonemontano, qui primus omniumimpressoriam artem excogitauerit , qua non calamo (ut prisci
quidem illi) neque penna (ut nos fi ngimus) sed aereis litteris librifi nguntur, e t quidem expedite , polite e t pulchre . Dignus sanehic nir fuit quem omnes musae , omnes artes, omnesque corumlinguze qui libris delectantur, diuinis laudibus ornent, c oque magis
dis deabusque anteponant , quo propius ac presentius litteris
ipsis ac studiosis hominibus suffragium tulit. Si quidem dei
fi cantur Liber e t alma Ceres, ille quippe dona Liei inuenit
poculaque inuen tis acheloia miscuit nuis, haec chaoniam pinguiglandem mutauit arista. Atque (ut poeta
.
utamur altero)prima Ceres unco glebam dimouit aratro
, prima dedit frugesalimenta mitia terris. At bonemontanus ille , longe gratiora
diuinioraque inuenit , quippe”qui litteras eiusmodi exculpsit ,
quibus quidquid dici, aut cogitari potest, propediem scribi ac
transcribi 8: posteritatis mandari memorize possit .
The good Fichet i s absurd ly rhetori cal,but here i n
1470 i s a qu i te c lear statement that accord i ng to report ,there (i.e . i n Germany), not far from the ci ty of Mai nz
,
a certai n John,surnamed Gutenberg,
. fi rst of all menthought out the pri nt i ng art
,by wh ich books are
fash ioned not with a reed or pen,but with letters of
brass,and thus deserved better of mankind than ei ther
1 Dr. Hessels supposes that this phrase indicates the Monastery of Sain t
Victor, outside Mainz , with which Gutenberg was connec ted, and that the
report,”therefore, can b e traced to Gutenb erg himself. I f so, we have the very
important fact that Gutenberg himself claimed to be the inventor.
3
F I N E B O O K S
Bacchus or Ceres , s i nce by h i s i nvent ion whatever canbe sai d or thought can forthwith be wri tten and transcribed and handed down to posteri ty .
Four years later i n h i s cont inuat ion of the ChronicaSummorum Pontifi cum
,begun by Riccobaldus, Joannes
Ph i l ipp i de Lignamine , the phys i cian of Pope S ixtus IV ,
who had set up a press of h i s own at Rome,wrote as
one of the events of the pontifi cate of Pius I I (145 8how Jakob Gutenberg
,a nat ive of S trassburg, and a
certai n other whose name was Fust , bei ng ski l l ed i n
pri nt i ng l etters on parchment wi th metal forms , are
known each ofthem to be turn i ng out three hundred sheetsa day at Mai nz
,a ci ty of Germany
,and Johann Mentelin
al so,at S trassburg
,a ci ty of the same province
,bei ng
ski l l ed i n the same craft,i s known to be pri nt i ng dai ly
the same number of sheets .
” 1 A l i tt le later De Lignaminerecords the arrival at Rome ofSweynheym andPannartz
,
and al so of Ulri ch Han,and cred i ts them al so with
pri n t i ng three hundred sheets a day. Other referencesfo l low i n later books wi thout add ing to our knowledge
,
save by provi ng the widespread recogn i t ion in the fi fteenthcentury that pri nt i ng was i nvented at Mai nz ; but thereis noth ing special ly to detai n us unt i l the publ i cat ionby Johann Koelhoff i n 1499 of the Co logne Chron i cleD ie Cronica van a
’er hilliger S tat Coellen —in w h ich
occurs a famous passage about pri n t i ng,which may be
trans lated or paraphrased as fo l lows
Thi s right worthy art was i nvented fi rst of all i nGermany
,at Mai nz
,on the Rh ine . And that i s a great
honour to the German nat ion that such i ngen ious men
1 I acobus cognomen to Gutenbergo : patria Argentinus , quidam alter cui
nomen Fustus,imprimendarum litterarum in membranis cum metallicis formis
periti, trecentas cartas quisque eorum per diem facere innotescunt apudMaguntiam Germanic ciuitatem. I ohannes quoque Mentelinus nuncupatus apud
Argentinam eiusdem prouincie ciuitatem : ac in eodem artifi cio peritus totidemcartas per diem imprimere agnoscitur. . Conradus Suueynem : ac Arnoldus
pannarcz Vdalricus Gallus parte ex alia Teuthones librarii insignes Romamuenien tes primi imprimendorum librorum artem in I taliam introduxere trecentas
cartas per d1em Imprimentes.
34
I NVE NT I ON OF PR I NT I N G—HOLLAND
are found there . Thi s happened i n the year ofour Lord1440 ,
and from that t ime unt i l 145 0 the art and all
that pertai n s to i t was i nvest igated , and i n 145 0 , whichwas a Go l den Year
,men began to pri nt , and the fi rst
book that was pri nted was the B ib le i n Lat i n , and th iswas pri n ted wi th a l etter as large as that now used i nmissal s .
“ Although th i s art was i nvented at Mai nz , as far as
regards the manner i n whi ch i t i s now common ly used,
yet the fi rst pre fi guration (Vurbyldung) was i nventedi n Ho l land from the Donatuses which were pri ntedthere before that t ime . And from and out of these theaforesaid art took i ts beginn ing , and was i nvented i n a
manner much more masterly and subtler than th i s,and
the longer i t lasted the more fu l l ofart i t became .“ A certai n Omnibonus wrote i n the preface to a
Q u inti l ian , and al so i n other books , that a Wal loon fromFrance
,cal l ed N ico laus J enson , was the first i nventor
of th i s masterly artm a notorious l i e,for there are men
st i l l al ive who bear wi tness that books were pri ntedat Ven ice before the aforesaid N ico laus Jenson camethere
,and began to cut and make ready hi s letter . But
the first i nvento r of pri nt i ng was a Burgher at Mai nz,
and was born at S trassburg, and cal led Yunker JohannGutenberg .
From Mai nz the art came first ofall to Co logne , afterthat to S trassburg
,and after that to Ven ice . The begin
n i ng and progress of the art were to ld me by word of
mouth by the Worsh ipfu l Master U l ri ch Zel l of Hanau ,
pri nter at Co logne i n th i s present year 1499 ,through
whom the art came to Co logne . ” 1
1 I tem dese hoichwyrdige kunst vursz is vonden aller eyrst in Duytschlant
tzo Men tz amRijne . I nd dat is der duytschscher nacion eyn groisse eirlicheit dat
sulche synrijche mynschen syn dae tz o vynden . I nd dat is geschiet by den1a1ren vns b eren
,anno domini. MCCCCxl. ind van der z ijt an his men schreue .
1. wart vndersoicht die kunst ind wat dair zo gehoirt. I nd in den iairen vh s heren
do men schreyff. MCCCCl. do was eyn gulden iair, do began men tzo druckenind was (lat eyrste boich dat men druckde die Bybel zo latijn , ind wart gedrucktmit eynre groner schrifft . as is die schriflt dae men nu Mysseboicher mit druckt.
I tem w1ewail die kunst is vonden tz o Mentz , als vursz vp die w1jse , als dart
F I N E B O O K S
Zel l , or h i s i nterviewer,ignores the books printed
anonymous ly at S trassburg by Mentelin and Eggeste i n
,and al so the handfu l pri nted by Albrecht Pfi ster
at Bamberg ; he al so i s m is led by Gutenberg’s long
res idence at S trassburg i nto cal l i ng h im a nat ive of
that c i ty ; i n other respects,so far as we are able
to check th i s account i t i s qu i te accurate . I t te l l sus emphat i cal ly that th i s right worthy art was i nvented fi rst of all i n Germany
,at Mai nz
,on the Rh i ne
and agai n,that “ the fi rst i nventor of pri nt i ng was a
Burgher at Mai nz named Junker Johannbut between these two unqual ified statements i s Sandwiched a reference to a pre fi guration which took shape inHo l land i n D onatuses
,pri n ted there before the Mai nz
presses were at work , and much less masterly and subtl ethan the books which they produced . He connects no
name with th i s “ Vorb i ldung,
”and
,unhappi ly
,he gives
no c l ue as to how i t foreshadowed,and was yet d i st i nct
from,the real i nvent ion .
S ixty-n ine years 1 after the appearance of th i s carefu l lybalanced statement
,the facts as to Dutch “
pre fi gura
t ions ” which had i nsp i red i t moved a Dutch chron ic ler,
nu gemeynlich gebruicht wirt , so is doch die eyrste vurbyldung vonden in Hollant
vyss den Donaten , die dae selfl'
st vur der tz ijt gedruckt syn . I nd van ind vyssden is genommen dat begynne der vursz kunst . ind is vill meysterlicher indsub tilicher vonden dan die selue manier was, vnd ye langer ye mere kunstlicherwurden .
I tem eyare genant Omnebonum der schrijfft in eynre vurrede vp dat boichQuintilianus genoempt . vnd ouch in anderen meir boicher, dat eyn Wale vyssVranckrijch , genant Nicolaus genson haue alre eyrst dese meysterliche kunstvonden, met dat is ofl
'
enbairlich gelogen . want Sij syn noch jm leuen die dat
getz uigen dat men boicher druckte tz o Venedige ee der vursz Nicolaus gensondar quame , dair he began schrifft z o snijden vnd b ereyden . M er der eyrste
vynder der druckerye is gewest eyn Burger tz o Mentz . ind was geboren van Straisz
burch . ind hiesch joncker Johan Gudenburch . I tem van Mentz is die vursakunst komen alre eyrst tz o Coellen . Dairnae tzo Straisburch ,
ind dairnae tzo
Venedige . Dat b egynne ind vortganck der vursz kunst hait myrmuntlich vertz elt
d’
Eirsame man MeysterVlrich tz ell van Hanauwe . boich drucker z o Coellen nochzertz ijt . anno . MCCCCxcix. durch den die kunst vursz is z o Coellen komen .
1 The first trace of the legend is in a reference to Coster as having “ broughtthe first prin t into the world in 1446
”in a manuscript pedigree of the Coster
family compiled about 15 5 9 .
I NVENT I ON OF PR I NT I NG—HOLLAND
Hadrianus Jun ius,i n compi l i ng h i s B atavia (not publ i shed
t i l l to wri te the wel l-known passage as to the invent ion of pri nt i ng
,which has been summarized as fo l lows
There lived, about 1440 , at Haarlem, in the market-placeopposite the Town Hall
, in a respectab le house stil l in existence,
a man named Lourens Jansz oon Coster, i. e . Laurence , son of
John Coster. The family name was derived from the hereditaryoffi ce of Sacristan
,or Coster of the Church—a post both honour
ab le and lucrative . The town archives give evidence of this, hisname appearing therein many times, and in the Town Hal l arepreserved his seal and signature to various documents. To thisman be longs the honour of inventing Printing ,
an honour of
which he was unjustly robbed, and which afterwards was ascribedto another. The said Laurence Coster, one day after dinner,took a walk in the wood near Haarlem. While there , to amusehimse lf, he b egan to cut letters out of some b eech-bark . The
idea struck him to ink some of these letters and use them as
stamps. This he did to amuse his grandchildren , cutting them In
reverse . H e thus formed two or three sentences on paper.The idea germinated,
and soon with the help of his son in law,
and by using a thick ink,he b egan to print whole pages, and to
add lines of print to the b lock-books, the text of which was the
most diffi cult part to engrave . Junius had seen such a book ,
cal led Spieghel anz er B ehoua’enisse . I t should have b een said
that Coster was descended from the nob le house of Brederode ,
and that his son-ih -law was also of nob le descent. Coster’s fi rstefforts were of course very rude ,
and to hide the impression of
the letters on the back they pasted the leaves, which had one
side not printed, together. H is letters at fi rst were made of lead,
which he afterwards changed for tin . Upon his death these letterswere me lted down and made into wine- ,pots which at the timethat Junius wrote were stil l preserved in the house of GerritThomasz oon, the grandson of Coster. Pub lic curiosity was
greatly excited by Coster s discovery, and he gained much pro fi tfrom his new process. H is trade , indeed, so increased that hewas ob liged to employ several workmen , one ofwhom was named
John. Some say this was John Faust, afterwards a partner withGutenberg , and others say he was Gutenberg
’
s brother. Thisman when he had learnt the art in all its branches, took the
opportunity one Christmas eve ,when all good people are accus
tomed to attend Church, to break into the rooms used for printing,
37
F I N E B O O K S
and to pack up and steal all the tools and appliances which hismaster, with so much care and ingenuity, had made . He wentoff by Amsterdam and Co logne to Mainz , where he at once
opened a workshop and reaped rich fruit from this theft, producingseveral printed books. The accuracy of this story was attestedby a respectab le bookbinder, of great age but c lear memory,named Corne lis who had b een a fe l low-servant with the culpritin the house of Coster, and indeed had occupied the same bedfor several months, and who could never talk of such baseness
without shedding tears and cursing the thief.
Written nearly a hundred and th i rty years after thesupposed events wh ich i t narrates
,th i s story i s damned
by i ts ci rcumstant ial i ty . I t i s thus that legends grow,
and i t i s not d ifficu l t to imagine Haarlem bookmen picki ng up ideas out of co lophons i n old books and ask i ngthe “ respectable bookbi nder of great age whether i twas not thus and thus that th i ngs happened . Many ofthe detai l s of the story are demonstrably fal se ; i ts one
strong po i n t i s the bookbinder, Cornel i s , for a binder of
th i s name i s sai d to have been employed as early as 1474and as late as 15 14 to bind the account-books ofHaarlemCathedral
,and i n the two years named
,and al so i n 1476 ,
to have strengthened h i s b i nd i ngs by past i ng i ns ide themfragments of D onatuses pri nted on vel lum in the typeof the Speculum H umanae Saluationis. The fragmenti n the account-book for 1474 i s rubri cated , and must thusei ther have been so ld or prepared for sel l i ng , i. e . i t i s notpr i n ter’s waste
,
” but may have been bought by Cornel i sfor l i n i ng h i s covers i n the ord i nary wayof trade . But wehave here a poss ib le l i nk between Zel l’s story of earlyDutch Donatuses and the story of J un ius aboutCoster and h i s servant Cornel i s
,s i nce we find frag
ments of a D onatus i n the possess ion of th i s part i cu larman .
There were plenty of such Donatuses i n exi stence i nthe Netherlands about 1470 . I n 188 7 Dr. Hessel s
,i n
h i s H aarlem the B irthplace of Printing ,not M entz
,
enumerated fragments of twenty d i fferent ed i t ions,pri nted
3 8
can be dated . There i s 1
shou ld not be later .As to the place or plac
pri n ted,there i s no evidenc
been al ready sai d , the wloose ly connected wi th tb t
Speculum H umanae Sal;
Veldener, a wanderi ng prini ntroduced i n to an ed i t ioni n Dutch two woodcuts , eat
of the double pictures i n tlwhen at Kui lenbu rg ,
he piSpeculum i t se l f (Du tch V t
large number of the origin '
i n to halves , so as to fi t afar as we know) used t i
Utrecht,i t i s supposed th ;
Obtai ned them . I f the b ltth i s may have been the platof the Speculum were 15 5 1of any evidence wh ich the \favour of any other placcd i sc ip les attri buted the whSpeculum,
Donatus,Doctr
or“not after
,147 1
—1474 .
i nd icated that th i s attribu
He fel t “ compel led to l eanhe phrased i t
,i. e . the pres ;
the blocks of the Speculmof ev idence i n favour of I
suffic ient ly sens i t ive and b (th rown into one wi l l sufficehave been better
,i n the pi
grai n had been d is regardedass ign these books and fragxAs it i s , B radshaw
’s at tr i b1been repeated wi thout any e
v i s ional character,even wit
why some of them
1 these books weree ight . But
, as has
can be c lose ly or
d i n ed i t ions of theind i n 148 1 Janwo rk i ng at Utrecht
,
n istles and Gospels1 was a hal f of one1. Two years later
,
1arto ed i t ion of thewh ich he used a
it blocks , all cut upAs Veldener (as
m blocks fi rst at
Utrecht that heDr sal e at Utrecht
,
the earl i e r ed i t ionstis
,i n the absence
ng to recogn ize in{radshaw and hi sf ed i t ions of theto Utrecht , about ,w h imse l f c l early
pu re ly provi s ional .oks at Utrecht , sonat Veldener foundonstituted a grai n
and i f a balance i ss are empty , a grai ni t down . I t would
riter'
s Opi n ion , i f theo attempt made to
any part i cu lar place .
them to Utrecht hason i t s ent i re ly proment ion of th i s at
I NVENT I ON O F P R J T I NG—H OLLAND
all, and perhaps wi th a cc ain humorous enjoymentof the chance of prej ud i c i ng 1e c laims of Haar lem byan unusual ly r igorous appli . t ion of the ru les as to
bib l iograph i cal evidence .I n the eyes of Dr. Hesse , on the other hand , the
legend narrated by Jun i u s o zrs a su ffic ient reason forassign i ng all these books to I aarlem
,and to Lourens
Jansz oon Coster as the i r prin r . Dr. Hesse l s was eveni l l-advi sed enough to po i n t on that
,as there are twen ty
ed i t ions of Donatus i n th i s gr up of types,we have on ly
to al low an i n terval of a year nd a hal f between each totake back the earl i es t very clue to 1440 ,
the trad i t ionaldate of the i nvent ion ofprintig. Th i s is perfect ly true,but as no reason can be asigned for fixi ng on th i spart icu lar i n terval the val ue of such a cal cu lat ion i svery s l ight .One resu l t of all th i s con '
oversy i s that the who leseries of books and fragment have been dubbed “
Cos
teriana,
”
and the conven ience of having a general namefor them i s so great that i t hs been general ly adopted
,
even by those who have no elief i n the theory whi chi t impl ies . Al l that i s knc rn of Lou rens Jansz oonCoster i s that he res ided at I arlem from 1436 to 1483 ,
and that contemporary refer ces show him to havebeen a chand ler and innkec er, without making anyment ion of h i s havi ng added r i n t ing to h i s o ther occu
pations.
I t i s d ifficu l t to claim more r the story to ld by J un iusthan that i t represen ts an unk own quant i ty of fact wi thvar ious l egendary add i t ions . t i s d ifficu l t to d i sm i ssi t as l ess than a l egend whic must have had some element of fact as i t s bas i s . I n far as it goes beyond thestatements of the Co logne Ch ni c le
,i t i s supported on ly
by the evidence that Coster an the venerable bookbi nderCornel i s ex i sted
,and that the atter bound the account
books of Haarl em Cathed ral But no i nd i scret ion of
Hadrianus J un ius wri t i ng i n 568 can affect the cred i tof the statements made In the ) logne C hron ic l e I n 1499
F I N E B O O K S
can be dated . There i s no reason why some of themshould not be later .As to the p lace or places at which these books were
pri nted,there i s no evidence of any weight . But , as has
been al ready sai d , the who l e series can be closely or
loosely connected wi th the types used i n ed i t ions of theSpeculum H umanae Saluationis
,and i n 148 1 Jan
Veldener,a wanderi ng pri nter
,whi le work ing at Utrecht
,
i n troduced i n to an ed i t ion of the Epist les and Gospel si n Dutch two woodcuts
,each of which was a half of one
of the double pictures i n the Speculum. Two years later ,when at Kui lenburg
,he pr i nted a quarto ed i t ion of the
Speculum i tsel f (Dutch vers ion), i n wh ich he used a
large number of the origi nal Speculum blocks , all cut upi nto halves
,so as to fi t a smal l page . As Veldener (as
far as we know) used the Speculum blocks fi rst at
Utrecht,i t i s supposed that i t was at Utrecht that he
obtai ned them . I f the b locks were for sal e at Utrecht,
th i s may have been the place at which the earl i er ed i t ionsof the Speculum were i ssued , and thus , i n the absenceof any evidence whi ch they were wi l l i ng to recogn ize i nfavour of any other place
,Henry Bradshaw and h i s
d i sciples attributed the who l e series of ed i t ions of theSpeculum,
Donatus,Doctrinale
,etc . , to Utrecht , about
,
or“not after
,
”
147 1—1474 . Bradshaw himsel f c learly
i nd icated that th i s attribut ion was purely provi s ional .He fel t “ compel led to l eave ” the books at Utrecht , sohe phrased i t , i.e . the presumpt ion that Veldener foundthe blocks of the Speculum there const i tuted a grai nof evidence i n favour of Utrecht ; and i f a balance i ssufficient ly sens i t ive and both scales are empty
,a grai n
th rown i nto one wi l l suffice to weigh i t down . I t wouldhave been better
,i n the present wri ter
’s opi n ion , i f thegrai n had been d i sregarded
,and no attempt made to
ass ign these books and fragments to any part i cu lar place .As i t i s , Bradshaw
’s attribut ion of them to Utrecht hasbeen repeated wi thout any emphas i s on i ts ent i re ly provis ional character
,even without any mention of th i s at
I NVENT I ON OF PR I NT I NG—HOLLAND
all,
and perhaps wi th a certai n humorous enjoymentof the chance of prej udi ci ng the claims of Haarlem byan unusual ly rigorous app l i cat ion of the ru les as to
bibl iograph ical evidence .I n the eyes of Dr. Hessel s
,on the other hand , the
legend narrated by Jun ius offers a sufficient reason forass ign i ng all these books to Haarl em ,
and to LourensJansz oon Coster as thei r pri nter . Dr. Hessel s was eveni l l-advi sed enough to po i n t out that , as there are twentyed it ions of Donatus i n th i s group of types , we have on lyto al low an i nterval of a year and a hal f between each totake back the earl i est very close to 1440 ,
the trad it ionaldate of the i nvent ion ofpri nt i ng . This i s perfectly true,but as no reason can be ass igned for fixi ng on th i spart icu lar i nterval the val ue of such a cal cu lat ion i svery s l ight .One resu l t of all th i s controversy i s that the whol e
series of books and fragments have been dubbed “Cos
teriana,
”
and the conven ience of having a general namefor them i s so great that i t has been general ly adopted ,even by those who have no bel i ef i n the theory whichi t impl ies . Al l that i s known of Lourens Jansz oonCoster i s that he res ided at Haarlem from 1436 to 1483 ,and that contemporary references show him to havebeen a chand ler and i n nkeeper
,without making any
ment ion of h i s havi ng added pri n ti ng to h is other occu
pations.
I t i s d i fficu l t to claim more for the story to ld by Jun iusthan that i t represents an unknown quanti ty of fact wi thvarious legendary addi t ions . I t i s d ifficu l t to d ismissi t as l ess than a l egend which must have had some element of fact as i ts bas i s . I n so far as i t goes beyond thestatements of the Co logne Chron icl e
,i t i s supported on ly
by the evidence that Coster and the venerable bookbi nderCornel i s exi sted
,and that the latter bound the account
books of Haarlem Cathedral . But no i nd i scret ion of
Hadrianus Jun ius wri t i ng i n 15 68 can affect the cred i tof the statements made i n the Co logne C hron icl e i n 1499
F I N E B O O K S
on the author i ty ofUlri ch Zel l , andwe have now to ment ion an important piece of ev idence i n favour of Zel l ’saccuracy . Thi s is the entry i n the d iaries of Jean deRobert
,Abbot of Sai n t Aubert , Cambrai , of the pur
chase in 1446 and agai n i n 145 1 of a copy of theDoctrinale of Alexander Gal l us , jete
’
en moule,a phrase
which,whi le far from sat i sfactory as a descript ion of a
book pri nted from movable type , cannot poss ib ly refer toed i t ions pr i n ted from woodblocks , even i f these existed .
The Doctrinale,which was i n verse , was a l ess popu lar
schoo l-book than the Donatus . I t i s s ign ificant thatamong the so-cal l ed Costeriana there are eight ed i t ionsof the one agai nst twenty of the other . Where the
Doctrinale was used we may be sure that the Donatus
wou ld be used al so,and i n greater numbers
,so that th i s
ment ion of a mou ld-casted Doctrinale as purchasedas ear ly as 1446 i s a real confirmat ion of Zel l
’s assert ion .
We have no suffic ient ground for bel ievi ng that any of
the fragments,ei ther of the one book or the other
,now
i n existence were produced as early as th i s . I t i s of thenature of schoo l-books to be destroyed , and every improvement i n the process of product ion wou ld help todrive the ear l i er experiments out of exi stence . Buttaking Zel l ’s statement and the entri es i n the Abbot’sd iaries together
,i t seems imposs ib le to deny that there
i s evidence of some k i nd of pri nt i ng bei ng pract i sed i nHo l land not long after 1440 .
An ingen ious theory as to the form wh ich these prefi gurements may have taken has lately been suggested ,viz . that the earl i est types may have cons isted s imply offlat pieces of metal
,without any shanks to them
,and
that they were set up by bei ng glued upon wood orst i ff paper i n the order requ i red . They wou ld thus bemovable
,but with a very low degree of movabi l i ty
,so
that we can eas i ly understand why short books l ike theDonatus and Doctrinale were cont inual ly repri nted without anyattempt being made to produce a large work suchas the B ibl e . I t i s cu rious , however , that i n the descrip
I NVENT I O N O F P R I NT I NG—HOLLAND
t ion ofa ciripagus by Pau lus Paulirinus, ofPrag , wehave a reference to a Bible having been pri nted at
Bamberg “ super lamel las,
a phrase which might verywel l refer to types of th i s k ind
,though the sentence i s
usual ly explai ned as referri ng to ei ther the Lat i n or
German ed i t ion of the B iblia Pauperum i ssued byAlbrecht Pfi ster. I th i nk i t j ust poss ibl e mysel f thatthe reference i s real ly to the Lat i n B ible known as theThi rty-s ix Line B ible
,which seems certai n ly to have been
so ld,i f not pri nted , at Bamberg a l i tt l e before 1460 ,
and
that Paulirinus,havi ng seen books pri nted “ super
lamel las , supposed (wrongly) that th i s was pri nted i n thatway. But the statement that i t was pri nted i n four weeksi s agai nst th i s .Whether the Dutch “ Vorb i ldung of the Art of
Pri nt i ng subsequent ly i nvented at Mai nz took the formof experiments wi th shankless types , or fe l l short of thefu l ly developed art i n some o ther way,
does not great lyconcern the co l l ector . I t i s i n the h ighest degree improbable that the claim put forward on behal f of theso-cal led Costeriana wi l l ever be deci s ively proved ord isproved . They are l ikely to remai n as perpetual pretenders
,and as such wi l l always retai n a certai n i nterest ,
and a specimen of them always be a des i rable addi t ionto any co l lect ion which aims at i l l ustrat i ng the h i storyof the i nvent ion of pr i n t ing. Such a specimen wi l l notbe easy to procure
,because many of the extant fragments
have been found i n publ i c l ibraries,more especial ly the
Royal Library at the Hague , and have never left thei rfi rst homes . On the other hand
,the number of frag
ments known has been cons iderably i ncreased by newfinds . Thus there i s no reason to regard a specimen asunattai nable .
1 Et tempore mei Pamb ergae quidam scripsit in tegrum Bibliam super
lamellas, et in quatuor septimanis totam Bibliam super pargameno sub tili
presignavit scriptura.
CHAPTER IV
THE INVENT ION OF PR INT ING—MAINZ
O contrast could be much greater than thatbetween the so-cal led Costeriana and the incunabu la pri nted at Mai nz . Annual ly as a smal l
boy I u sed to be taken to the C rystal Palace , and there arecogn ized part of the programme i n each vis i t was to
spend hal f an hour i n so l emn ly pedal l i ng backwards andforwards on a semici rcu lar track on a mach i ne mi scal l eda velocipede . Perhaps these cl umsy toys real ly const ituted a defin i te stage i n the i nvent ion and perfect ion of
the modern bicycl e . On the other hand , whatever maybe the h i storical facts
,there i s no reason i n the natu re
of th ings why the modern bi cycl e shou ld not have beeni nvented qu i te i ndependent ly of them . The re lat ivepos i t ions of Ho l land and Germany as regards the invent ion of pri nt i ng are very analogous to those of the old
velocipede and the b i cycle . Even i f i t cou ld be proveddeci s ively that some Dutch fragment of a D onatus was
earl ier than any experiment made at Mai nz or S trassburg
,i t was at Mai nz that the poss ib i l i ty was fi rst
demonstrated of producing by pri n t books as beaut i fu las any wri tten by the scribes , and i t was from Germany,not from Ho l land
,that pri nters carr ied the art which they
had proved to be pract i cable to all parts of Europe , includ ing Ho l land i tsel f.I n the development of the art of pri nt i ng at Mai n z
three men had a share,though the preci se part wh ich
each of them p layed i s matter of conj ecture rather thanknowledge . The fi rs t of the three was Johann Gutenberg ,the Johannes Bonemontanus whom Fichet , as early as
1470 ,acclaimed as the fi rst of all men to th i nk out the44
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v . M A I NZ , FU S’I‘ AND SCHOEPFE R , 1459
DU RA N T I . R AT I O N ALE OF F I C IORUM ( Ia)
I N V E N T I O N O F P R I N T I N G—M A I N Z
pri nt i ng art,whom the popular verd ict has recognized
as the i nventor, and whom patriot i c German bib l io
graphers del ight to i nvest wi th every vi rtue thatdi st i ngu i shes themselves .Gutenberg
’
s real name was Gansfleisch,Gutenberg
bei ng an add i t ion to h is mother’ s surname 1 which heassumed for reasons not known to us . He was bornabout 1400 ,
and j ust when he attai ned manhood h i s fami ly,
which belonged to the patri c ian party at Mai nz,was
ban ished and sought refuge at S trassburg. At S trassburgGutenberg remai ned t i l l about 1446 ,
and legal and mun ic ipal records , so far as we can t rust to thei r authent i c i ty
,
Offer us some tantal iz i ng gl impses of h i s career there .
When the town clerk of S trassburg came to Mai nz theexi le caused h im to be arrested for a debt due to hi sfami ly
,and the matter had to be arranged to avo id a
quarre l between the two c i t ies . On the other hand,
Gutenberg was h imsel f cal led to account for unpai ddut ies on wine
,and was sued for a breach of promise of
marriage . I n 143 7 he was the defendant i n a much morei nterest i ng trial . He had admitted two partners to workan i nvent ion with h im ,
and on one of these partners dyi ngh i s brother claimed , unsuccessfu l ly , to take h i s place i n thepartnersh ip . The use of the words “
presse ,” “ forme
,
and trucken i n connect ion wi th th i s i nvent ion leaves i thard ly open to doubt that i t was concerned wi th someki nd of pri nt i ng , and loans which Gutenberg negot iatedi n 1441 and 1442 were presumably rai sed for the development of th i s . About the middle of the decade hereturned to Mai nz and there al so borrowed money
,pre
sumab ly agai n for the same obj ect .At th i s po i n t we are confronted with five fragmentary
pieces of pri nt i ng , all but one of them on ly recent lyd iscovered . The latest of these
,accord i ng to German
b ibl iographers , i s a fragment ofan astronomical Cal endari n German verse for an unspecified year , which might be
1 H ermaiden name was ElsaWyrich , but she lived at the H of zumGutenbergat Mainz , and the name Gutenb erg thus came into the family .
F I N E B O O K S
1429 ,1448 , or 1467 , but does not exact ly fi t any of them ;
the earl ies t i s part of a l eaf of a Sibyllenbuch (original lyknown as Das Weltgericht , because the text of th i s fragment deal s wi th the Last J udgment). Between these twoare placed fragments of three ed i t ions ofDonatus
,De octo
partibus orationis,two found recent ly i n copies of an
ed i t ion of H erolt’
s Sermones a’o tempore et sanctis pri ntedat S trassburg 1 by Mart i n Flach i n 1488 and now at
Berl i n,the th i rd one of the minor treasures of the B ibl io
theque Nat ional e at Pari s , where i t has lai n for over acentury . Grant ing that the Cal endar was pri nted for usei n 1448 (i t has been argued
,on the other hand
,that i ts
ment ion of movable fest ival s was i n tended to be on lyapproximate), and that the other four pieces can be provedby typograph ical evidence to have preceded i t
,we may
suppose the Sibyllenbuch to have been pri nted by Gutenberg short ly after h i s return to Mai nz
,i.e . about 1445 , or
short ly before th i s at S trassburg .
Soon after the supposed date of the Cal endar thesecond of the three protagon i sts i n the development ofpri nt i ng at Mai nz comes on the scene . This was JohannFust
,a go ldsmi th
,who i n or about August
,145 0 ,
l en tGutenberg eight hundred gu i lders to enable h im to pri n tbooks
,h imsel f
,nominal ly or t ru ly
,borrowing the money
from another cap ital i st , and thereby gai n i ng the r ight toCharge i n terest on i t wi thout breaking the canon law . Byabout December
,145 2,
the loan was exhausted,and Fust
made a fresh advance of the same amount . The i nnerh i story of the next four years i s h id from us
,and the
und i sputed facts wh ich belong to them have consequent lybeen i nterpreted i n every variety of way that humaningenu i ty can devise . These facts are that
(1) Pri nt i ng was conti nued wi th the fount of type usedfor the Calendar attributed to 1448 ,
fragments of morethan a dozen d i fferent ed i t ions of Donatus pri nted wi th i t
1 I t will be noted that this connection with Strassburg offers just a grain of
evidence in favour of the D onatuses having b een printed there rather than at
Main z
I N V E N T I O N O F P R I N T I N G—M A I N Z
being st i l l extant,al so a prognost i cat ion , M anung toia
’cler
a’ie Darleen
, pri nted i n December , 145 4 ,a Bul l of Pope
Cal ixtus “ widder d ie Turcken of 145 6 ,a medical Cal
endar for 145 6, and an undated Cisianus, another work ofan astronomical character .
(i i) When the pardoners employed by the proctorgeneral of the King of Cyprus came to Mai nz i n theautumn of 145 4 to rai se money by means of a papalI ndu lgence
,val id t i l l 3 0 Apri l of the fo l lowing year
,
they were able to subst i tute two typographi cal ly d i st i ncted i t ions for the manuscript Cop i es which they had previously used , the text of each of these I ndulgences beingpri nted in a separate fount of beaut i fu l ly clear smal l type
,
whi le a larger type was used for a few words . I n one of
these I ndulgences the larger type belongs , with somedi fferences
,to the same fount as the books named i n our
last paragraph . This I ndu lgence has th i rty-one l i nes,and
four i ssues of i t have been d i st i ngu ished , three of themdated 145 4 (the earl iest of these bei ng the earl i es t datedpiece of pri nt i ng) and the fourth 145 5 . I n the otherI ndu lgence there are on ly th i rty l i nes
,the large type i s
neater,and three i ssues have been d i st i ngu i shed
,one
dated 145 4 , the other two 145 5 .
(i i i) I n November , 145 5 , an action brought by Fust torecover the 1600 gu i lders wh ich he had l en t Gutenberg
,
with the arrears of i n terest , reached i ts final s tage . I nth i s su i t the th i rd of the Mai nz protagon i sts
,Peter
Schoeffer, was a witness on the s ide ofFust , and we hearal so
,as servants of Gutenberg
,of Hein ri ch Keffer and
Bertolf von Hanau,who mayapparent ly be ident ified wi th
pri nters who worked subsequent ly at Nuremberg and
Base l . The document which has come down to us and i snow preserved at the Un ivers i ty Library at Gott i ngen i sthat reco rd ing the oath taken by Fust
,as the successfu l
plai nt i ff, i n order to obtai n j udgment for the amount ofhi s claim .
(iv) I n August , 145 6 ,Hein rich C remer , vicar of the
co l l egiate church at Mai nz,recorded h i s comp let ion of
47
F I N E B O O K S
the rubri cat ion and bind ing ofa magn ificent pri nted B ib lei n two vo l umes , now preserved i n the B ibl iothequeNationale at Pari s , the type of which used to be thoughtident i cal wi th the larger type of the th i rty-l i ne I ndu lgencement ioned above , but i s now cons idered to be on ly closelys imi lar .
For th i s last undoubted date of rubricat ion,August
,
145 6 ,German b ib l iographers have lately subst i tuted a
reference to a manuscript date , 145 3 ,i n another copy of
th i s pri nted B ibl e , now preserved i n the BuchgewerbeMuseum at Leipz ig
,formerly owned by a wel l-known
German co l l ector of the last century,Herr Klemm .
Wh i l e,however
,th i s date appears to have been wri tten at
a period approximat i ng to that of the product ion of the
book,i ts re levance as evidence of the date of pri nt i ng i s
h igh ly d i sputable,more especial ly as there appear to be
s igns of erasure near i t . I ts owner,Herr Klemm
,.pre
served a d iscreet s i lence as to i ts exi stence,and it is
certai n ly not obl igatory at present to accept i t as val i devidence .I n a work wh ich does not pretend to the d ign i ty of a
h istory of pri nt i ng i t i s imposs ib le to d i scuss,or even to
enumerate,the d ifferent theori es as to the events of the
years 145 3—6 ,which have been formulated to account
for these facts . The ed i t ion of the B i b le of whichHeinri ch C remer rubri cated the copy now at Pari s i s sofine a book and so great a landmark i n typograph icalh i story , that the des i re to regard i t as the product ion of
the man who i s cred i ted with the i nvention of pr i n ting ,Johann Gutenberg , eas i ly becomes i rres i st ib le . To refuseto cal l i t the Gutenberg B ib le may,
i ndeed,appear almost
pedanti c , though i ts old name,the “ Mazari ne B ible ,
”
which i t gai ned from the acc ident of the copy in theMazari ne Library at Pari s bei ng the first to attractattent ion
,st i l l survives
,and it is al so known among
bibl iographers as the Forty-two Line B ible ,’
a’
safe uncon
troversial t i t le based on the number of l i nes i n most of i tsco l umns . Whoever pri nted i t appears to have been
48
F I N E B O O K S
bus iness . The invento r who lacks organ izi ng power andwhose i nvent ion never thrives t i l l i t has passed i nto otherhands i s no unfami l iar figure , and such a concept ion of
Gutenberg perhaps accords better with the known facts ofh i s career than that of a l ivi ng i ncarnat ion of hero i smand bus i ness abi l i ty such as h i s German eulogists love todep i ct . Accord i ng to a theory developed by the presentwri ter i n an art i c le i n The Library for January
,1907
(Second S eries , Vol. VI I I), though no origi nal i ty i s c laimedfor i t , the key to the s i tuat ion l i es i n the assert ion
1 madeon behal f of Peter S choeffer that h i s sk i l l i n engravinghad enabled h im to attai n resu l ts den ied to the two Johns
,
Johann Gutenberg and Johann Fust .Accord ing to th i s theory
,i t was Schoefferwho engraved
the two founts of smal l type used i n the two sets of I ndulgences of 145 4
—5 , and thus demonstrated that the
new art cou ld be app l i ed to produce every k ind of bookand document wh ich had previously ci rcu lated i n manuscript . Fust gave h im h i s daughter Chri st i na i n marriage
,
and Johann S choeffer, the offspri ng of the al l iance,d i s
tinctly tel l s u s that th i s was i n reward for hi s servi ces .From the fi rst
,or almost the fi rst
,the fi rm adopted a
po l i cy of advert i sement wh ich other pri nters were s low to
im i tate,the partners givi ng thei r names i n thei r earl iest
co lophons and making no secret of the fact that they wereus i ng an adinuentio artifi ciosa imprimendi ac caracteri
zand i wh ich enabled them to d i spense with the pen . I n1460 ,
i n the Catholicon of that year,the work of an
anonymous pri nter to which we shal l have to recur (seep . 5 1say) , the i nvent ion i s d i st i nct ly claimed forMai nz
,and
from 1467 th i s claim was taken over by Peter Schoeffer,
who i n the co lophons of h i s subsequent books agai n andagai n ce lebrated Mai nz as the c i ty s ingled out by d ivi nefavour to give the art to the world . The fact that forn early forty years (1460—99) these statements remai nedu nchal lenged
,and passed i nto the contemporary h i story
1 I n the verses byMagister Franciscus in the justinian of 1468 , subsequentlytwice reprinted.
50
I N V E N T I O N O F P R I N T I N G—M A I N Z
of the t ime,i s the strongest evidence i n favour of the
substantial i nvent ion of the art at Mai nz that can be conceived. A single reference i n 1499
1to pre fi gurations of
a humbler ki nd i n Donatuses pri nted i n Ho l land and the
presentat ion of a rival theory i n 15 68 cannot deprive of
its due weight the evidence that during all the years whenthe facts were eas i ly ascertai nable j udgment i n favour ofMai nz was al lowed to go by defau l t . But the Fust andS choeffer co lophons te l l us mo re than th is , for whi le theymake no mention of Gutenberg they never claim thei nvention of pri nt i ng as thei r own ach ievement . I t i sc lear that Fust cou ld no t c laim th i s h imsel f, and whi le hewas al ive h is son-in-law d id not th i nk fi t to put forward
,
or al low to be put forward , any claim on h i s own behal f.I t was on ly i n 1468 ,
when both Gutenberg and Fust weredead
,that Schoeffer
’
s corrector,
or reader,Magi ster
Franci scus, was permitted to assert on h i s behal f
,i n the
justinian of that year,that though two Johns had the
better i n the race he,l i ke h i s namesake S . Peter
,had
entered first i nto the sepu lchre , i.e . the i nner mysteries ofpri n t i ng . The claim
,thus i rreverent ly put forward , i s
deprived of much of i ts weight by the moment at whichi t was made ; nevertheless i t can hard ly have been baseless .
The des i re to cred i t Gutenberg with some real ly handsome and important piece ofpri n t i ng has caused hi s nameto be connected with two o ther large fo l ios
,a Lat i n B ibl e
,
of th i rty s ix l i nes to a co l umn,pri nted in a variety of the
type used for the Sibyllenbuch and the Kalena’ar of
1448 ,and a Lat i n D i ct ionary known by the name
Catholicon, the work of a th i rteenth century wri ter,
Joannes Balbus,of Genoa. The type of the Thi rty-s ix
Line B ible passed i nto the hands of Albrecht Pfi ster,of
Bamberg,who pri nted a number of popular German
books with i t i n 146 1 and 1462. There is considerableevidence , moreover , that a large number of copies of theB ible i tsel f were so ld at Bamberg about 1460 . The
1 I n the Cologne Chronicle . See supra , p . 3 4 .
F I N E B O O K S
greater part of the text appears to have been set up froma copy of the Forty-two Line B ible . W here
,when
,and by
whom it was pri nted we can on lyguess , but the place wasmore probably Bamberg than Mai nz
,and as the type i s
bel ieved to have been origi nal ly Gutenberg’s
,and there i s
evidence that Pfi ster, when he began pri nt i ng the popu larbooks of 146 1
—2,was qu i te i nexperienced
,Gutenberg has
certai n ly a better claim to have pri nted th i s vo l ume thananyone else who can be suggested . The Thi rty—s ix Li neB ible i s a much rarer book than the Forty-two Line
,but
copies are known to exi st at the Bri t i sh Museum ,John
Rylands Library , B ibl iotheque Nat ionale , and MuséeP lant in
,and at Grei fswald
,Jena
,Leipzig, S tuttgart ,
Vienna,and W olfenbiittel. A copy i s al so said to be i n
private hands i n Great Bri tai n , but has not been registered .
None has been so ld i n recen t t imes . Bes ides the morecomplete copies ment ioned above , various fragments havebeen preserved and some of these are on vel lum . Thevel lum fragment of l eaf 204 now i n the Bri t i sh Museumwas at one t ime used as a book-cover .The Catholicon i s pri nted i n a smal l type
,not very
clean ly cut . I t was i ssued wi thout pri nter’s name
,but
wi th a long co lophon , which has been trans lated :
By the he lp of the Most H igh,at Whose wil l the tongues of
infants b ecome e loquent, and who oft-times reveals to the lowlythat which He hides from the wise , this nob le book Catholicon ,
in
the year of the Lord’
s Incarnation 1460 , in the bounteous c ity of
Mainz of the renowned German nation , which the c lemency of
God has deigned with so lofty a light of genius and free gift toprefer and render illustrious above all other nations of the earth
,
without he lp of reed,stilus, or pen ,
but by the wondrous agreement, proportion and harmony of punches and types has beenprinted and brought to an end.
Upon th i s fo l low four Lat i n verses i n honour of theHo ly Tri n i ty and the Vi rgi n Mary and the words Deo
Gracias .” We can imagine an i nventor who,despi te
h i s i nvent ion,remai ned profound ly unsuccessfu l
,wri t i ng
I N V E N T I O N O F P R I N T I N G—M A I N Z
the Open ing wo rds of th i s co lophon , and i t i s not easy tosee thei r appropriateness to anyone e l se . I t i s thus h igh lyprobable that Gutenberg set up th i s book and refused tofo l low Fust and Schoeffer i n thei r advert i s i ng ways . Hemay even have had a special reason for th i s , foramon theforty-one copies regi stered (almost all i n great l ibraries twogroups may be d ist i ngu ished , one embracing the cop ieson vel lum and the majori ty of the paper cop i es , the otherthe rest of the paper copies . The groups are d i st i ngu i shedby various d i fferences
,of which the most important i s
that i n the one case the workmen used four and i n theother two p i n s to keep the paper i n i ts place whi le bei ngpri nted . An attract ive exp lanat ion of all th i s would bethat wh i le Gutenberg set up the book and was al lowed to
pri nt for h imsel f a certai n number of copies , there was a
ri cher partner i n the enterpri se whose pressmen pu l led thegreater part of the ed i t ion . But Dr. Zedler
,who has
brought together all the avai lable i nformat ion about thebook in h i s monograph Das M ainz er Catholicon ,
has a
d i fferent explanat ion .
I n the same type as the Catholicon are two smal l t ractsof l i tt l e i nterest
,the Summa a
’e articulis fi a
’ei of Thomas
Aqu inas , and the D ialogus ofMatthaeus de C racovia ; al soan I ndulgence of Pope Pius I I . I n 1467 the type i sfound i n the hands of Heinrich B echtermiinz e at E ltvil
,
who d ied whi l e pri n t i ng a vocabu lary. Thi s was com
pleted by h i s brother N icho las , who al so pri nted threelater ed i t ions of i t .
During the years wh ich precede 145 7 , Johann Fustand Peter Schoeffer, the one a go ldsmith
,the o ther a
clerk i n minor orders of the d iocese ofMai nz,are i nvo lved
i n the obscuri ty and uncertai n ty wh ich surround Gutenberg’s career . Reasons have been offered for bel ievi ngthat i t was Schoeffer who des igned the smal l neat typesused i n the Mai nz I ndulgences of 145 4—5 , and that hewi th h is ski l l and Fust with h i s money pushed the Fortytwo Line B ib le to a successfu l complet ion . I f theypri nted th i s
,they no doubt pri nted al so a l i tu rgical psal ter
S3
F I N E B O O K S
i n the same type , of which a fragment IS preserved at theB ibl io theque Nat ional e at Pari s . But we do not touchfi rm ground unti l we come to the famous Psal ter of 145 7 ,the co lophon of which leaves us i n no doubt as to i tstypographical authorsh ip . Thi s runs :
Presens psalmorum1
codex venustate capitalium decoratus
Rubricationibusque suffi cien ter distinctus Adinuentione artifi ciosa
imprimendi ac carac teriz andi absque calami ulla exaracione sic
effi giatus, E t ad euseb iam de i industrie est consummatus, Perlohannem fust c iuemmagun tinum,
E t Pe trum Schoffer de Gernsz
heim Anno dominiMillesimo . cccc . lvij. In vigilia Assumpcionis .
The present book of the Psalms, decorated with beautifulcapitals and suffi ciently marked out with rubrics, has been thusfashioned by an ingenious invention of printing and stampingwithout any ploughing of a pen ,
And to the worship of God has
been diligentlybrought to completion by J ohann Fust, a citiz en ofMainz
,and Peter Schoeffer ofGernsheim,
in the year of the Lord,
14 5 7 , on the vigil of the Assumption .
Thus i n the Psal ter of 145 7 we have the fi rst examp l eof a book info rming us when and by whom it was manufactured ; i t al so i l l ustrates i n a very remarkable way thedeterm ination of the new partners to produce a vo l umewh ich shou ld fu l ly r ival the best shop-made manuscripts .
The effort to pri n t rubri cs had al ready been made i n theForty-two Line B ible
,but the red pri n ti ng was abandoned
in that i n stance as too troublesome . Now i t was revivedwith complete success
,and with the pri nted rubri cs came
al so pri nted cap i tal s or i n i t ial l etters i n two co lours , redand blue
,and several d i fferent s izes . A good d iscuss ion
of the manner i n wh ich these were pri n ted wi l l be foundi n the Catalogue of the M anuscripts ana
’Prin tea
’E oohs
exhibitea’at the H istorical M usic Loan E xhibition (18 86)
by Mr . W . H . J . VVeale . I n an art i cl e i n the fi rst vo l umeofB ibliographica Mr . Russel l Mart i neau showed that partof the ed i tion was pri n ted twice . When Mr . Mart i neauwrote n i ne Cop i es were known , all on vel lum ,
viz . (1) five1 Misprinted spalmorum.
I N V E N T I O N O F P R I N T I N G—M A I N Z
of an i ssue of 143 l eaves contai n i ng the Psalms and
Canticles on ly , these bei ng at the Bri t i sh Museum ,Royal
Library Windsor,John Rylands Library
,. Bibl iotheque
Nat ional e Pari s,and Royal Library Darmstadt ; (i i) four
ofan i ssue of 175 l eaves , contai n i ng al so the Vigi l s of theDead
,these bei ng at the B ibl iotheque Nat ional e Pari s ,
Univers i ty Library Berl i n,Royal Library Dresden , and
Imperial Library Vienna. To these must now be addeda copy of the larger Issue , wanti ng five leaves
,presented In
1465 by Rene d’Anjou to the Franci scans ofLa Baumette
l es-Angiers and now i n the mun icipal l ibrary at Angers .The d i stribut ion of the Psalms in th i s 145 7 ed i t ion i sthat of the general “ Roman use
,but blank spaces were
left for the i nsert ion of the characteri st i c d i fferences of theuse of any part i cu lar d iocese .Two years later (29 August , 145 9) Fust and Schoefferproduced another Psal ter
,i n the same types and with the
same capital s,with twenty-three i nstead of twenty l i nes
to a page . Thi s was stated i n the co lophon to have beenpri nted “
ad laudem dei ac honorem sanct i Jacobi,
”and
was thus apparent ly commiss ioned by the Bened i ct i nemonastery of S . James at Mai nz . I ts arrangement i sthat general ly i n use at the t ime i n German monasteries .Thirteen cop i es of th i s ed i tion are preserved , all on
vel lum,viz . four i n England (Brit i sh Museum ,
Bod le ian,
John Rylands Library,and the Earl ofLeicester’s l ibrary
at Ho lkham), two at Pari s,one at the Hague
,five i n
Germany,and one i n Mr. Morgan ’s co l lect ion at New
York . Thi s last was bought by Mr . Quaritch at the sal eof the l ibrary of S ir John Thoro ld for£495 0 .
Between the product ion of these two Psal ters Fustand Schoeffer pri nted i n the same types on twelve leavesof vel lum the Canon of the Mass on ly
,obvious ly that i t
might be bought by churches which owned M issal s otherwise in good cond i t ion
,but wi th these much-fi ngered
l eaves bad ly worn . The un ique Copy of th i s ed i t ion of
the Canon was d i scovered at the Bod leian Library in a
Mai nz M issal of 1493 and ident ified by Mr . Gordon5 5
F I N E B O O K S
Duff I t i s described by Mr . Duff i n h i s E arly Printea’
B oo/es,and by Dr. Fal k and Herr Wal lau i n Part I I I of
the Publ icat ions of the Gutenberg Gesel l schaft,with
facs im i les of ten pages .I n October
,145 9 ,
Fust and Schoeffer took an important step forward by pri nt i ng i n smal l type theRationale D iuinorum Ofi ciorum of Gulielmus Durant i ,a large work explai n i ng the mean ing of the variousservices of the Church and the ceremon ies used i n them .
The text i s pri nted i n double co l umns with s ixty-threel i nes i n each co l umn
,and the type measures 9 1 mm .
to twenty l i nes . A copy at Mun ich i s pri nted part ly on
paper , part ly on vel lum . Al l the other forty-two Cop i esdescribed by Mr . De Ricci are ent i rely on vel lum . Thebook has al so one large and two smal ler capi tal s pri ntedi n two co lours
,and the fi rst of these has been reproduced
as a front i spiece to th i s chapter,together wi th a p i ece of
the neat smal l type wh ich,by demonstrat i ng the poss i
b ility of cheap print ing , set up a real landmark .
I n 1460 Fust and Schoeffer gave another proof of
thei r sk i l l i n thei r ed i t ion of the Constitutions of PopeC lement ‘V with the commentary of Joannes Andreae .
The text of the Const i tut ions i s pr inted i n two co l umnsi n the centre of each page i n a type measuri ng 118 mm .
to twenty l i nes,with the commentary comp l ete ly sur
round ing i t i n the 9 1 type used I n the Duranti. Head ingsand co lophon are pri nted i n red
,and the general effect 15
extremely ri ch and handsome . Al l the fourteen Copiesknown to Mr . De Ricc i are pri nted on vel lum .
I n 146 1 pri nt i ng was put to a new use by the publ i cat ion of a series of eight placards (one i n two ed i t ions)relat ive to the struggle between the rival archbi shops ofMai nz— a papal bu l l depos i ng D iether von I senburg , theEmperor
’s confirmat ion of th i s,papal briefs as to the
elect ion of Ado l f von Nassau,a pet i t ion of D iether
’s tothe Pope
,and the man i festos of the two archbi shops .
Al l these,and al so a bul l of the same year as to a
crusade agai nst the Turks,are pri nted i n the neat 9 1 type ,
56
F I N E B O O K S
copy of that of 1462. The C lement ine Const i tut ions of1460 were repri nted , and s imi lar ed i t ions were i ssued of
the I nsti tutes and Codex of Just i n ian,Decretal s of Pope
Gregory IX,etc . For h i s miscel laneous books Schoeffer
seems rather to have fo l lowed the lead of other pri ntersat S trassburg and Rome than to have set new fash ionsh imsel f. I n 1483 he pri n ted a Bres lau M issal
,and th i s
was fo l lowed by two repri nts and ed i t ions for the useof C racow
,Meissen
,Gnesen , and Mai nz i tsel f. He al so
pri nted the H ortus Sanitatis i n 148 5 , and i n 1490 the fi rstof several Psal ters i n the styl e of the ed i t ions of 145 7 and
145 9 . I n 15 03 he was succeeded by h i s son Johann .
About 1476- 80 a few un important books were i ssuedat Mai nz by an anonymous pri nter known as the “ Pri nterof the Darmstadt Prognost i cat ion
,from the fact that the
fi rst Copy of the Prognost i cat ion i n quest ion to attractnot i ce was that i n the Darmstadt l ibrary . The books ofth i s press attai ned undeserved notoriety from the forgeddates i nserted i n many of them about 1800
,i n order to
connect them with Gutenberg .
The work of three other pri n ters,Johann Neumeister ,
E rhard Reuwich,and Jacob Meidenbach i s ch iefly im
portant i n the h i story of book-i l l ustrat ion,and wi l l be
found ment ioned i n Chapter VI I . The only other Mai n zpri nter i n the fi fteenth century was Peter von Friedberg ,who i s ch iefly notable as having pri nted a l i tt l e series ofworks by Johannes Trithemius (Tritheim orTri ttenheim),the erud i te Abbot of Spanheim.
After about 1472 Mai nz was eas i ly surpassed as a
centre ofpri nt i ng by S trassburg,Co logne , Augsburg , and
Nuremberg . But i f no book had been pri nted there afterthe sack of the c i ty ten years earl ier
,i ts fame as long as
civi l izat ion lasts wou ld st i l l be imperi shable .
CHAPTER V
OTHER INCUNABULA
N August , 1462,the struggle between i ts rival Arch
bi shops led to Mai nz being sacked . Very l i tt le morepri n ti ng was done there unti l 1465 , and we need not
doubt the tradi t ion that journeymen trai ned by Gutenberg and Fust and Schoeffer, find ing no work for themat Mai nz
,carried such experience as they had gai ned to
o ther towns and countries,where they appear , after a few
years spent i n manufacturi ng presses and types,i n all
the glory of prototypographers .
But even before 1462 two o ther c i t ies possessed theart—Bamberg and S trassburg . At Bamberg i t waspracti sed poss ib ly by Gutenberg
,who may have pri nted
there the Thi rty-s ix Line Bible about 145 7 , certai n ly byAlbrecht Pfi ster
,who i s found i n possess ion of the type
of th i s B ible,and may h imsel f have had Copies for sal e .
The books he h imsel f pri nted at Bamberg are n ine i nnumber ,
1and three or four bound vo l umes seem to have
preserved all the remnants of them that we possess , andall of these have found thei r way to publ i c l ibraries .The large and stately fo l ios produced by the early
S trassburg pri nters have natu ral ly res i sted the ravagesof t ime better than the Bamberg popu lar books .
1 Two editions of Boner’s E delstein , both illustrated with over a hundredwoodcuts, one dated 14 th February , 1461 (copy at Wolfenbuttel), the otherundated (Royal Library , Berlin ) D ie H istorz] vonjoseph, D anielisjudith, H ester,
dated in rhyming verse 1462“nat lang nach Sand Walpurgentag
”
(RylandsLibrary and Bibliotheque Nationale) ; the B elial seu Consolatio peccatorum of
Jacobus de Theramo (Rylands and Germanisches Museum, Nuremberg) ; two
issues of a German B iblia Pauperum with thirty-four woodcuts (both at the
Bibliotheque Nationale, the first also at Rylands andWolfenb iittel) the same workin Latin (Rylands) ; lastly two editions of a poem called Rechtstreit ales M eme/zen
mit den: Torte (both atWolfenbuttel, the second also at the Bibliothéque Nationale).
F I N E B O O K S
C ertai n ly c lumsier than the contemporary Mai nz books ,they yet have a d ign i ty and character of the i r own whichcommand respect . The fi rst S trassburg pri nter
,Johann
Mentelin ,was at work there i n or before 1460 ,
and was
helped duri ng h i s l i fe and succeeded after h is death
(1477) by h i s son-in-law ,Ado l f Rusch
, who never put h i sname to a book
,and most of whose impress ions pass
under the name of the R-pri nter,from the pecu l iar
form of that letter found i n one of h i s types . Mentelin
h imsel f d id not place h i s name at the end of a book t i l lhe had been at work more than a dozen years ; Heinri chEggestein , who began work about 1464 ,
was equal lyret icent
,and throughout the ’sevent ies and
’e ight ies a
large proport ion of the books pri nted at S trassburg wereanonymous . Heinri ch Knob lochtz er, who started about1476 ,
combines some of the charm of the earl i er pri nterswi th greater l i terary i nterest and the attract ion of i l l ustrations and ornamental capi tal s and borders . Of h imwe shal l have to speak i n a later chapter . But after148 5 the bu lk of S trassburg pri nt i ng was du l l and
commercial .I n the fifteenth century Base l was not yet
,as i t became
i n 15 0 1, a member of the Swiss Confederacy, and typographical ly i ts re lat ions wi th Mai nz
,S trassburg
,Nurem
berg and other German towns were very close . I n whatyear prin t i ng began there i s not known . There i s no datedbook from a Base l press unt i l as late as 1474 ,
but the dateofpurchase , 1468 , i n a book (S . Gregory’s M oralia injob),pri nted by Bertho l d Ruppel
,of Hanau
,takes us back s ix
years , and i t i s poss ib le that Ruppel was at work evenbefore th i s . He i s ident ified with reasonable certai n tywith one of the servants of Gutenberg mentioned i n connection with the lawsu i t ended i n 145 5 , and he pri ntedLat i n B ibles and other large works such as appeal ed tothe ambit ion of the German prototypographers .
The second and more i nteresting Base l pri nter,Michael W enssler
,seems to have taken S choeffer as h i s
model,and repri n ted many ofSchoeffer
’
s ed i t ions,fo l low
60
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V I.COLOGN E
,U LR ICH ZE L L , 1465
—66
C I C E RO . D E o r-‘ rrc u s (7b)
F I N E B O O K S
of the o rigi n of pri nt i ng to the compi ler of the Co logneChron i cle publ i shed i n 1499 , and was st i l l al ive as lateas 15 07 .
Zel l’
s earl iest rival at Co logne was Arno ld therH oernen
,who pri nted from 1470 to 1482. He may very
l ikely have been sel f-taught,for h i s early wo rk i s very
uneven,but he developed i nto an excel lent craftsman .
He i s the fi rst notable example of a pri nter gett i ng i ntotouch with a contemporary author, and regularly pri nt i ngall h i s works
,the author i n th i s case bei ng Werner Ro le
winck,a Carthus ian of Co logne
,who wrote sermons and
h istori cal works,i nclud i ng the F asciculus Temporum,
an
epi tome of h istory,which found much favour all over
Europe . Ther Hoernen used to be cred i ted with thehonour of having pri n ted the fi rst book wi th a t i t lepage
,
the Sermo aa’
populum preclz'
cabilis [n festo presentacionis B eatissime M arie semper virginis of 1470 .
S choeffer,however
,had preceded h im by some seven
years by devot i ng a separate page to the t i t l e of eachof h i s ed i t ions of a Bul l of Pius I I (see p . and as
nei ther pri nter cont inued the pract i ce these i so lated ihstances must be taken as accidental . I n the same book
,
ther Hoernen for the fi rst t ime p laced pri nted numberson the leaves
,but th i s improvement al so was not fo l lowed
up . The th i rd Co logne typographer,Johann Koelhoff the
E lder was the fi rst (i n 1472) to place pri nted“ s igna
tu res on the qu i res of a book,so as to show the binder
the order i n which they were to be arranged . H ithertothe qu i res had been marked by hand
,and th i s improve
ment was not suffered to drop for a t ime l i ke the others ,but qu i ck ly spread all over Europe .
At Augsburg G11nther Zainer completed h is fi rstbook
,an ed i t ion of the Lat i n Med i tat ions on the Li fe
ofC hrist taken from the works ofS . Bonaventura,on the
13 th March,1468 . Though he fo l lowed th i s wi th three
heavy books which had found favour at Mai nz and
S trassburg , Zainer had the wisdom to stri ke out a l i nefor h imsel f. Augsburg had long been the ch ief centre of
62
O T H E R I N C U N A B U L A
the craftsmen who cut and printed the woodcuts of sai n ts,
for which there seems to have been a large sal e i nGermany
,and al so the pictures used for playing-cards .
The cutters were at fi rst i ncl i ned to regard the idea of
book-i l l ustrat ions wi th susp i cion , as l i kely to i nterferewi th thei r exist i ng bus i ness . I t was decided
,however
,
by the local Abbot ofSS . Ulrich and Afra,an eccles iast i c
wi th typographical tastes , that i l l ustrated books might bepri nted so long as members of the woodcutters ’ gui ldwere employed i n making the blocks . W i th th i s as a
work i ng agreement,i l lustrated books great ly prospered
at Augsburg , not on ly Gt‘
Inther Zainer,but Johann
B'
amler and Anton Sorg (a very pro l ific pri nter),turn ing them out with much success throughout the’sevent ies .At Nuremberg pri nt i ng was i n troduced i n 1470 by
Johan Sensenschmidt , who for a sho rt t ime had as h is
partner Hei nri ch Kefer, ofMai nz,another ofGutenberg’s
servants . Much more important,however
,was the fi rm
of Anton Koberger, who began work the next year , andspeed i ly developed the largest bus i ness of any pri nter i nGermany . Koberger was able to deal successfu l ly i n allthe heavy books
,which after 1480 other fi rms found i t
wiser to l eave alone,and seems to have employed Ado l f
Rusch at S trassburg and perhaps other pri nters e lsewhere ,to prin t for h im . He al so pri n ted towards the endof the century some very notable i l l ustrated books .
Next to Koberger, Friedrich Creussner,who started
i n 1473 ,had the largest bus i ness i n Nuremberg , and
Geo rg S tuchs made h imsel f a reputat ion as a missalpri nter
,a special department from which Koberger held
aloof.At Speier , after two anonymous fi rms had worked i n
147 1 and 1472 without much success , Peter Drach (1477)developed an important bus i ness . At U lm JohannZainer
,a kinsman of Gunther Zainer
,of Augsburg ,
began i n 1473 by pri nt i ng i l l ustrated books , which weresubsequent ly taken up In the ’eight ies by Leonhard
6 3
F I N E B O O K S
Ho l l e, Conrad Dinckmut , and Johann Reger
,whi le
Zainer h imsel f became a miscel laneous pri n ter . AtLubeck Lucas Brand i s produced a un iversal h i sto rycal led the Rua
’imen tum N ouitiorum i n 1475 and a
fine josephus , importan t l i tu rgical work bei ng subsequent ly done by Bartho lomaeus Ghotan
,Matthaeus
Brandiss and S tephan Arndes, s imi lar work bei ng al so
produced at Magdeburg part ly by some of these Lubeck
pri nters . Fine l i tu rgical work was al so done at VVi’
jrz
burg by Georg Reyser, who may previous ly have pri ntedanonymous ly at Speier
,and who started h i s k i nsman
M ichel i n a s imi lar bus i ness at Eichstatt . At Leipzig ,where Marcus Brand i s pri nted one or two books i n 148 1,and the fo l lowing years
,a sudden development took p lace
about 1490 ,and a flood of smal l educat ional works was
poured out by some hal f a dozen pri nters,of whom
Conrad Kache lofen and Mart i n Landsberg were the mos tpro l ific . Presses were al so set up i n numerous o ther
p laces , so that by the end of the century at l east fi ftyGerman ci t ies
,towns and vi l lages had seen a pri nter
at work . I n many of these the art took no root,and i n
some the pri n ter was on ly employed for a short t imeto prin t one or more books for a part icu lar purpose . Butthe total output of i ncunabu la in Germany was verylarge
,and l eavi ng out of count the fugi t ive s i ngle sheets
,
the scanty remnants of which can bear no re lat ion tothe thousands which must have been produced
,out of
about d i fferent books and ed i t ions pri nted i n thefifteenth century regi stered as extant at the t ime of
wri t ing probably nearly a th i rd were produced i nGermany . I f
,as i s l i kely , a large proport ion of the
eleven thousand undescribed i ncunabu la (among which ,however
,there must be many dup l i cates and trip l i cates)
reported to have been d i scovered by the agents of the
German Royal Commiss ion for a General Catalogue ofI ncunabu la are German
,th i s rough est imate must be
largely i ncreased,and i t may be proved that Germany
was as pro l ific as I taly i tsel f.64
F I N E B O O K S
M ea’itationes a
’e vita Christi ofCard i nal Turrecremata on
the last day of the same year,and Mr . Proctor (after the
publ i cat ion of h i s I na’ex) ass igned to Han’s press and to
an even earl ier date than the M ea’itationes a bu lky ed i t ion
of the Ep i st les of S . Jerome,which must certai n ly have
taken a year to pri nt .The career of Sweynheym and Pannartz i n partner
sh ip at Rome lasted but l i tt l e over s ix years,thei r latest
book bearing the date 3 1 December , 1473 . Already i nMarch
,1472,
they were i n d ifficu l t ies,and pri nted a letter
to Pope S ixtus IV beggi ng for some pecun iary aid.
They had pri nted , they said , no fewer thanvo l umes
,and gave a l i st of the d i fferent books and of the
numbers pri nted of each . Four of these ed i t ions were of3 00 copies , the rest of 275 ,
and we can see from the l i stthat there had been three ed i t ions of the Lactan tius andDe Ciuitate D ei and two each of C i cero
’s EpistulaeF amiliares
,De Oratore
,and Opera Philosophica ,
and
al so of Virgi l,so that cl early some of thei r books had
shown a profi t . But the l i st i s ent i re ly made up ofLat i nc lass i cs
, profane”
and theo logical,and by March
,1472,
pri n t i ng had been i ntroduced i nto at l east ten otherI tal ian ci t i es (Ven ice , Fo l igno ,
Trevi,Ferrara
,Mi lan
,
Florence,Trevi so
,Bo logna
,Naples
,and Savigl iano),
and I n most,i f not all of these
,the one idea of the fi rst
pri nters was to produce as many Lat i n class ics as poss ible ,as though no other firm i n I taly were do i ng the sameth i ng . Unable to obtai n help from the Pope , Sweynheym and Pannartz d isso lved partnersh ip , the formerdevot i ng h imsel f to engraving maps for an ed i t ion of
Pto l emy’s Geographi ,a which he d id not l ive to see (i t
was pri nted by Arno ld Bucki ng i n wh i le Pannartzresumed bus i ness on a somewhat smal l er scale on h i s ownaccount , and d ied In 1476 .
At Ven ice,the fi rst pri nter
,Johann of Speier
,seems
to have had some forebod ing of what might happen , andthoughtfu l ly protected h imsel f agai nst competition byprocuring from the Senate an exclus ive pr ivi l ege for
66
O T H E R I N C U N A B U L A
print i ng at Venice duri ng the space of five years . Thismight seriously have retarded the development of thepress at Ven ice . Johann
,however
,after pri nt i ng two
ed i tions of C i cero’s Epistulae aa’
familiares and Pl i ny’s
H istoria naturalis i n 1469 ,was carried off by death
wh i le work ing on h i s fourth book,S . August i ne’s De
Ciuitate Dei,i n 1470 ,
and h is bro ther Wendel i n, or
Vindelinus,who took over the bus i ness
,had no privi lege
to protect h im from compet i t ion .
I n 1470 ,the way thus being left c lear , a Frenchman ,
Nico las J enson,set up the second press i n Ven ice
,and
by the beauty ofh is fine Roman type speed i ly attai ned areputat ion which has lasted to th i s day. Another finepri nter
,Chri stopher Valdarfer, produced h i s fi rst book i n
the same year . I n 147 1 three o ther firms (an I tal ianpriest
,C lemente of Padua,
and two Germans,Adam of
Ammergau and Franz Renner of Hei lbronn) beganpubl i sh ing
,and i n 1472 yet seven more (three Germans
and four I tal ians). But the pace was imposs ib le , and byth is t ime men were rapid ly fal l i ng out . As we haveseen
,Sweynheym and Pannartz
,after the i r i neffectual
attempt to obtai n a subs idy from the Pope , d i sso lved thei rpartnersh ip at Rome after 1473 ,
and Ulri ch Han i n 147 1
had taken a moneyed partner, wi th whose aid heweathered the storm . At Ven ice Wendel i n
,after pro
ducing th i rty-one books i n the previous two years , reducedh i s output to s ix i n 1473 ,
and soon after seems to haveceased to work for himsel f. Jenson
’s numbers sankfrom twenty—eight i n 147 1
—2 to s ix i n 1473—4 . Valdarfer
gave up after 147 1, and i s subsequent ly found at Mi lan .
Other Venet ian pri n ters al so dropped out,and on ly two
new firms began work i n 1473 .
At Florence after the first pri n ter Bernardo Cenniniand h i s sons had produced a Virgi l i n 147 1, and JohannPetri of Mai nz Boccaccio ’s Philocolo and Petrarch ’sTrionfi i n 1472,
pri nt i ng ceased for some years . Pressesstarted at Fo l igno
,Trevi
,and Savigl iano came to a speedy
end . At Trevi so,where Gerardus Lisa had publ ished
67
F I N E B O O K S
four books i n 147 1, there was , accord i ng to Mr . Procto r ,a gap from December m that year t i l l the same month m1474 ,
though Dr. Copinger quotes one book each for thei nterven i ng years . On ly one book was publ i shed at
Ferrara i n 1473 . What happened at Naples i s hard tosay,s i nce S ixtus Riessinger, the fi rst pri nter there
,i ssued
many books wi thout dates . At Bo logna trade seems tohave been stat ionary . At M i lan , where both Anton iusLarotus i n 147 1 and Phi l ippus de Lavagna i n 1472 had
begun wi th extreme caution,there was heal thy progress ,
and these two fi rms conti nued i ssu i ng ed i t ions of theclass i cs
,and with the great fal l i ng offof compet i t ion may
have found i t profi table to do so . But of the real i ty of
the cri s i s i n the I tal ian book trade i n 1472—3 ,
al thoughl i tt le i s sai d of i t i n h i stories of pri nt i ng
,there can be no
doubt . When i t was over there were symptoms of a
s im i lar over-product ion of some of the great l egal commentaries . But th i s danger was avo ided . There was a
steady i ncrease i n the range of the l i teratu re publ i shed ,and the bourgeo i s book-buyer was remembered as wel l asthe ari stocrat i c student . Soon there came a great extens ion
,not on ly of the home but of the fore ign market
,and
I taly sett led down to supp ly the world with books , a taskfor which Ven ice
,both from its geograph ical pos i t ion and
i ts wel l-establ i shed commercial re lat ions,was pecu l iarly
fitted . But i t i s the books pri nted before 1474 that formthe real I tal ian incunabu la. I n the subsequent workwi th i n the l im its of the fi fteenth century Rome took no
very important part . Ulrich Han cont i nued to pri n t t i l l1478 . Joannes Ph i l ipp i de Lignamine , Papal Phys ic ianand nat ive ofS i c i ly , produced some except ional ly interesti ng books between 1470 and 1476 , and again i n 148 1
—4 ,
and Georg Lauer,who worked from 1470 to 148 1, and
completed an ed i t ion ofS . Jerome’s Letters,left unfin ished
by Pannartz at the t ime of hi s death,showed himsel f a
good craftsman . The later pri nters,especial ly S tephan
Plannck and Euchar i us S i lber , had some good types , butproduced few notable books
,the bu lk of the Roman out
68
AB U L A
) e long to the minorucat1on , and are far
uch more interest ingcorrespond rough lyHere al so the fi rst1 which Johann of
.vn to Engl i sh col
ited th ree books at
1474 , but by thesved to Louvain ,
a
do i ng exce l l ent andif the century . At
Jan Veldener,
hust led h im away'
er,was not ru i ned
,
1 and Kui lenbu rg ,
o lard Mans ion andto Engl i sh bookI r Wil l iam B ladesu ite c lear which of
i sh books wereTroy and The
on returned toat Westst i n the
Choses, and
Recuyell, or,ch Boccacc ioof 1476 ,
are
ight from484 ,
Mans ionoutput of h i sks and two i n
mon Li fe , whoed numer
F I N E B O O K S
i ncunabu la were produced,most ly by i ts earl iest pri nter ,
Anton ius Zarotus , and two Germans,Leonhard Pachel
and Ulrich Scin z enz eler. Ferrara seems to have beenable to support on ly one press at a t ime , and at Florencei t was some years before print i ng flouri shed
,but i n the
last quarter of the century many i nterest i ng books werepri nted there
,bo th learned and vernacu lar
,as to the i l lus
trations i n wh ich much wi l l have to be said later on .
Some of the early Trevi so books from the press ofGerardLisa are d i st i nct ly pretty . Bo logna produced about threehundred i ncunabu la. Nap l es probably not so many
,but
ofmuch better qual i ty . Altogether wel l over ten thousandI tal ian i ncunabu la must st i l l be extant
,and these were
produced at no fewer than seventy d i fferent places,though
many of these were of no typograph ical importance , andon ly find thei r way i n to h i stories ofpri nt i ng from havingshe l tered a wanderi ng pri nter for a few weeks as he wason hi s way from one large town to another .I n France al so the earl iest books were addressed to
students of the class i cs , though they were produced on a
much more l imi ted scal e . There the first pri nters , threeGermans , had been i nvi ted to set up thei r presses at Pari si n the Sorbonne by two of i ts professors , Gui l laumeFichet and Jean H eynlin ,
of S te i n,better known i n h i s
own day as Johannes de Lapide . Between the summerof 1470 and the autumn of 1472 eighteen works were
pri n ted at the Sorbonne , most ly of the ki nd which wou ldbe of use to i ts students . Among them was Sal lust
,
three works of C i cero,Virgi l ’s Buco l i cs and Georgics
,
the Sat i res of Juvenal and Pers ius,Terence
,some text
books,the SpeculumH umanae Vitae of Bishop Roderi c
ofZamora,and the Orat ions of Fichet
’
s patron , Card i nalBessarion . I n August
,1472,
the Card i nal arr ived i nFrance on a fru i t less m i ss ion to rouse the king to a
crusade agai nst the Turks . He was rebuffed and orderedto l eave France . Fichet accompan ied h im
,and never
returned to Pari s . As early as the previous MarchH eynlin seems to have been cal led away
,and now the
70
F I N E B O O K S
produced more than three-fourths of the three thousandi ncunabu la
,which at a rough guess may be attributed to
French presses,the share of Pari s being about twice as
great as that of Lyon . Accord i ng to the stereotypedphrase
,prin t i ng was i ntroduced i nto no fewer than
th i rty-seven other French towns duri ng the fi fteenthcentury
,but as a ru le the pri nters were but b i rds of
passage,and i t was on ly at Po i t i ers (1479) and Rouen
(148 7) that i t took root and flouri shed cont i nuously,though on but a smal l scal e . I n o ther towns the struggleto mai n tai n a press conti nued for several years , as at
Tou louse,or was abandoned after the fu lfi lment of a
s ingle commiss ion .
I n Ho l land the fi rst books which bear the name ofthei r pri n ter and date and p lace of impri n t are thoseproduced at Utrecht by Nico laus Ketelaer and Gerardus
Leempt , who began work i n 1473 . I t i s to l erably certai n,
however,that some of the so-cal l ed “
Costeriana (seeChap . I I) preceded th i s date , and they are at l east as
l i ke ly to have been pri nted at Haarl em as at Utrecht,
there being no deci s ive evidence i n favour of ei ther place .No namable pri nter appears at Haarlem unt i l the endof 1483 ,
when Jacob B ellaert set up a short-l ived pressthere . For some seven years (1477—84) excel lent workwas done at Gouda by Gerard Leeu
,who then moved to
Antwerp . At Del ft , where a fine B ible was pri ntedby Jacob Jacobsz oen and Mauricius Yemantsz oen i n1477 , pri nt i ng was kept up cont inuous ly by Jacobsz oen ,
Chri st ian Snellaert,and Hendrik Eckert t i l l the end of
the century,though there seems to have been on ly work
enough for one fi rm at a t ime . At Zwo l le,Pieter van Os
,
who began work i n 1479 ,was able to mai n tai n h imsel f
,
with a brief i nterval about 148 2,t i l l past the magic date
15 00 . Last ly,at Deventer, where Richardus Pafraet
started i n the same year, an output was speed i ly attai nedgreater than i n any other Dutch town
,and for the latter
years of the century a rival fi rm,that of Jacobus de
B reda shared Pafraet’
s prosperi ty. The great majori ty
O T H E R I N C U N A B U L A
of the Deventer books , however, belong to the minorl i terature of eccles iast i c i sm and educat ion , and are far
from exci ti ng .
The begi nn ings ofpri nti ng are much more i nterest i ngi n the Southern Netherlands , which correspond roughlyto what we now cal l Belgium . Here al so the fi rs t
pos i t ive date i s 1473 ,the year i n wh ich Johann of
Paderborn i n Westphal ia,best known to Engl i sh col
l ecto rs as John ofWestphal ia, pri nted three books at
Alost . A fourth fo l lowed i n May, 1474 ,but by the
fo l lowing December John had removed to Louvai n,a
Univers i ty town,where he remai ned do i ng excel len t and
abundant work t i l l nearly the end of the century . AtLouvai n he had found another pri nter , Jan Veldener
,
al ready i n the field,and seems to have hust led h im away
not very honourably. Veldener, however, was not ru i ned,
but i s subsequent ly found at Utrecht and Kui lenburg,
and agai n for a short t ime at Louvai n .
At Bruges the fi rst pri nters were Colard Mans ion andWil l iam Caxton
,names wel l known to Engl ish book
lovers,though not all the labours of Mr . Wi l l iam Blades
and Mr. Gordon Duff have made i t qu i te cl ear which of
the two was the leader . Only two Engl i sh books were
pri nted , the Recuyell of the H istories of Troy and The
Game ana’Play of the Chess
,when Caxton retu rned to
England and set up h i s presses i n the Almon ry at Westminster. Whether he had any pecun iary i nterest i n theFrench Recueil and the Quatre D ernie
‘
res Choses,and
whether pri nt i ngs at Bruges began with the Recuyell, or,as Mr . Proctor contended , with the French BoccaccioDe la ruine a
’es nobles hommes et femmes of 1476 ,
are
po i n ts of controversy . From 1477 t i l l h i s fl ight fromBruges to avo id arrest for debt i n 1484 ,
Mans ionworked stead i ly by h imsel f
,and the total output of hi s
press amounts to twenty-fi ve French works and two i nLat i n .
At Brussel s the Brothers of the Common Li fe,who
worked al so as pri nters i n other p laces , publ i shed numer
F I N E B O O K S
ous popu lar Lat i n works between 1476 and 148 7 , aboutwh ich t ime thei r press seems to have stopped . But theremoval of Gerard Leen
’
s bus i ness from Gouda to
Antwerp i n 1484 soon gave that town a typographicalimportance which (except for a few years at the end of
the century) i t long mai ntai ned .
The true i ncunabu la of the Netherlands are,of course
,
the Costeriana. Whatever V i ew we may take of thei rdate and bi rthplace
,they were undoubted ly home pro
ducts,with a strongly marked i nd ividual i ty . Ketelaer
and Leempt , however , at Utrecht , Veldener at Louvai nand el sewhere
,Caxton and Mans ion at Bruges
,were real
p ioneers . I n a sense th i s i s true al so of John ofWestphal ia and Gerard Leeu
,notably of the former
,who had
l earn t h i s art i n I taly and by the type which he hadbrought thence rai sed the standard of pri nt ing i n h i snew home . I t i s , i ndeed , almost exclus ively at Deventerthat we get the du l l commercial work which has noth i ng
prim i t ive or i nd ividual about i t,and thus
,perhaps
because thei r grand total i s so much smal l er than i n thecase of Germany
,I taly
,or even France
,the special in
terest of i ncunabu la attaches to rather a high proport ionof the early books of the Netherlands .I f th i s be true of the Netherlands
,i t i s even truer of
the two countries wi th which we have st i l l to deal i n th i srapid survey
, Spai n and England . Of Span i sh i ncunabu laabout seven hundred are now regi stered ; ofEngl i sh , threehundred i s a fai r ly l iberal est imate of the grand totals t i l l extant . Withi n the l imi ts of the fifteenth centurynei ther country reached the purely mechan i cal stage of
book production to which so many German and I tal ianbooks belong after about 148 5 . I n England
,i ndeed
,
th i s stage was hard ly reached unti l the general downfal l of good pri nt i ng towards the end of the s ixteenthcen tury .
The fi rst book pri nted i n Spai n was a th i n vo l ume of
poems i n honour of the B lessed Vi rgi n,wri tten by
Bernardo Fenollar and others on the occas ion of a con
74
F I N E B O O K S
though to what i t shou ld be corrected cannot pos i t ivelybe shown .
1
At Salamanca pri nt i ng was i ntroduced as early as
148 1, and conti nued more act ively after 1492, mai n ly forthe product ion of educat ional wo rks . At Burgos Friedri ch B ie l
, who had been trai ned under M ichael W enssler
at Basel,began pri n t i ng i n 148 5 ,
and a nat ive of the
p lace , J uan de Burgos , brought out h i s fi rst book i n1490 ,
both of these firms do i ng excel lent work . Altogether , twenty—four towns and p laces i n Spai n posses sedpresses duri ng the fi fteenth century
,but i n many cases
on ly for a short t ime .The outl i ne of the story of prin t i ng i n England
duri ng the fi fteenth century may be very qu ick ly sketched ,fu l ler treatment being reserved for a later chapter . AtMichaelmas
,1476 , Caxton rented premises i n the Almonry
from the Abbot ofWestminster,and here he stayed t i l l
h i s death i n 149 1, pri nt i ng, as far as we know,about a
hundred books and documents . I n 1478 a press was setup at Oxford
,presumably by Theodori c Rood ofCo logne ,
whose name,however
,does not appear i n any book unti l
148 1. By 148 5 Rood had been jo i ned by an Engl i shstat ioner
,Thomas Hunte
,but i n 1486 or the fo l lowing
year the press was closed after pri nt i ng,as far as we know,
only seventeen books .The few books printed at Oxford were all more or l ess
scho last i c ln character,and s ix out of eight works pri nted
by Caxton’
s second r ival (apparent ly a friend ly one), theSchoo lmaster-Pri nter at S t . Albans , belonged to the sameclass
,h is two more popu lar books bei ng Caxton
’
s
Chronicles of E ngland,with a new append ix , and the
famous B oo/e of S t . Albans. Of these eight works , theearl i est beari ng a date was i ssued i n 1480,
the latest i n1486 .
1 I n its colophon the book is said to have been “a docto viro B ertolommeo
Mates condltus et per P . Johannem Matoses Christi ministrum presbiterumquecastigatus et emendatus sub impensis Guillermi ros et mira arte impressa per
Johannem Gherlino alamanum.
”Gherlinc is only heard ofagain in 1494 , and then
not at Barcelona.
O T H E R I N C U N A B U L A
A more formidable competi tor to Caxton than ei therthe Oxford or the S t . Albans pri nter began work i n theC i ty of London i n 1480 . Thi s was John Lettou
,i.e .
John the Li thuan ian,who
,as Mr. Gordon Duff notes
,
used type ident i cal save i n a s ingle l etter wi th a fountused at Rome i n 1478 by Johann Bu l le of Bremen .
Letton appears to have been financed i n the fi rst i nstanceby a Londoner
,Wil l iam Wi lcock . I n 148 2 he wasjoined
by Wi l l iam Machlinia (presumably a nat ive of Mal i nes),and after five law books had been pri nted i n partnersh ip ,Lettou dropped out
,and Machlinia conti nued work ing
byh imsel f, poss ibly unti l as late as 1490 or 149 1, when h i sstock seems to have been taken over by Richard Pynson ,
a Norman,from Rouen . On Caxton
’
s death i n 149 1 hi sbus i ness passed into the hands of h i s foreman
,Wynkyn
de W orde,a nat ive of Lorrai ne . The on ly o ther press
started i n the fi fteenth century was that of Ju lyanNotary, who worked at first with two partners
,I .B . and
I .H . Of these I .B . was certai n ly Jean Barb ier,and I .H .
probably Jean Huvi n of Rouen . W e have no i n format ion as to the nat ional i ty ofNotary , but i f, as seems probable
,he was a Frenchman
,pri nt i ng i n England for some
twenty years after Caxton’
5 death was who l ly 1n the handsof fore igners .
Meagre and bare of detai l s as i s th i s sketch of thebegi nn i ngs of pri nt i ng i n the ch ief countries of Europe ,it should yet suffice to prove that the purely arbi trarydate 15 00 and the s lang word incunabula
,used to i nvest
all fifteenth century impress ions with a mysti c val ue,are
mislead ing nu i sances . By the t ime that pri nt i ng reachedEngland it was begi nn i ng to pass i nto i ts commercialstage i n Germany and I taly . I n both of these countries
,
and i n a less degree i n France,scores and hundreds of
books were pri nted duri ng the last fi fteen years of thecentury wh ich have l i tt le more connection wi th the invent ion ofpri nt i ng
, or the story of i ts d i ffus ion , than Engl i shor Span ish books a century later . From the po i n t ofview
77
F I N E B O O K S
of the h i story of l i terature and thought there i s much tobe gai ned from the co l lect ion 1n large l ibraries ofall bookspri nted before 15 0 1. From the po int of view of the h i story of pri n ti ng every decade of book-product ion has i tsi n terest
,and the decade 1490 to 15 00 among the rest .
I nc idental ly i t may be no ted that i n respect of book-i l l ustration th i s part i cu lar decade i n I taly i s one of except ionali nterest . But books of the th i rd generat ion of Germanor I tal ian pri nters , men l ike Flach , for i nstance , at S trassburg
,or Plannck at Rome
,should not be co l l ected under
the idea that they are i n any true sense of the word i ncunabu la.
What const i tutes a true i ncunable canno t be definedi n a sentence . We must cons ider the country or c i ty aswel l as the book
,the i nd ividual man as wel l as the art of
which he was perhaps a belated exponent . The samepiece of pri nti ng may have much more val ue and i nteresti f we can prove that i t was produced i n one place ratherthan another . After the publ i cat ion of h i s [h a’ex
,Mr .
Proctor sat i sfied h imsel f that some anonymous books i nroman type which he had classed as the work of an un
identified press at Nap l es were real ly among the earl ies tspec imens of Palmart
’
s typography i n Spai n , and one
does not need to be a Span iard to appreciate the distinct ion thus added to them . I f sent iment i s to count foranyth i ng we must admi t the i n terest of the first books
pri nted i n any country whi ch possesses an important h istory and l i teratu re—if on ly because we may l egi t imate lybe cu rious to know on what books a pri nter
,with all the
extant l i teratu re to choose from,ventured h i s capi tal as
l ike ly i n that part i cu lar country and t ime to bri ng h imthe qu ickest and most profi table return . That the fi rstlarge book i n Germany was a Bible
,the first books i n
I taly Lat i n class ics , the fi rst produced for the Engl ishmarket one that we must cal l an h i stori cal romance , cannotbe regarded as merely i nsign ificant . Norare the d i fferencesi n the types and appearance of the page un important , forthese al so help to i l l ustrate nat ional characteri st i cs .
78
F I N E B O O K S
mentary of Serviu s on Vi rgi l needs no added attract ionand yet how much i ts charm i s enhanced by i ts pri ntersaddresses to the reader . Here i s the second of themrough ly Engl i shed :
To the Reader. Bernardino Gennini, by universal allowance a
most exce llent go ldsmith , and Domenico his son,a youth ofvery
good ab ility, have been the printers. Pie tro , son of the aforesaidBernardo
,has acted as corrector, and has made a co l lation with
many very ancient copies. H is fi rst anxiety was that nothing byanother band should be ascrib ed to Servius , that nothing whichvery old Copies showed to be the work of Honoratus should becut down or omitted. Since it pleases many readers to insertGre ek words with their own hand,
and in their own fashion , and
these in ancient codices are very few, and the accents are verydiffi cult to mark ln printing he determined that spaces should beleft for the purpose . But since nothing ofman
’
s making is perfec t, it must needs b e accounted enough if these books (as weearnestly hope ) are found exceptionally correct. The work wasfi nished at F lorence on October 5 , 147 2.
I t i s impossib le to read a co lophon such as th i s with
put feel i ng ourselves ln the very atmosphere of the pri n t
1ng house , with the various members of the pri n ter’s
fami ly at work around us . Blank spaces are found i nmany early books where Greek quo tat ions occurred i n themanuscripts from which they were prin ted . But i t wasnot every pri n ter who took so much trouble as Cennini
to j ust i fy the omiss ion .
As many as twenty-one years later,when pri n t i ng i n
the great towns was becoming merely mechan ical,we find
the same personal note i n a l i tt l e grammar-book pri ntedat Acqu i . Here the co lophon tel l s US ’
The Doctrinale ofA lexander of Villedieu (God be praised !)comes to a happy end. I t has been printed amid enough inconveniences, since ofseveral things b e longing to this art the printer,in making a beginning with it , could obtain no proper Supply,owing to the plague raging at Genoa, Asti and elsewhere . Now
this same work has been corrected by the prior Venturinus, a dis
O T H E R I N C U N A B U L A
tinguished grammarian , and that so diligently that whereas previously the Doctrinale in many places seemed by the fault ofbookse llers too little corrected,
now by the application of his careand diligence it wil l reach men
’
s hands in the most correct formpossib le . After this date books will b e printed in type ofanotherkind
,and e legantly,
l trow for both artifi cers and a suffi ciency of
other things of which hitherto the putter forth has been in needhe now possesses by the gift of God, Who disposes all thingsaccording to the judgement of H is will .
Late as he appeared and smal l as was the town at whichhe produced h i s one book—h i s hopes and promises as toothers seem to have come to naught—th i s man had thetrue pioneer sp i r i t , and deserves to be remembered for i t .Of a d i fferent k i nd
,but no l ess
,i s the i nterest i n what
i s perhaps my own favouri te co lophon , that record i ng thedeath ofGerard Leeu at Antwerp
,whi le engaged ln pri nt
1ng an ed i t ion of The Chromeles qf E ngland for theEngl i sh market .
H ere ben endyd the Cronycles of the Reame of Englond, withtheir apperteignaunces. Enprentyd in the Duchy of Braband inthe towne ofAndewarpe In the yere of our Lord M . cccc .xciij.Bymaistir Gerard de leew a man of grete wysedom in all manerof kunnyng : whych nowe is come from lyfe unto the deth, whichis grete harme for many [a] poure man . On whos sowle God
almyghty for hys hygh grace haue mercy. Amen .
Leeu had been k i l led acc idental ly by one of h i s workmen in the course ofa d ispute , and th i s test imon ial to h imi n the co lophon
,which reads as i f the compos i tor had
s l ipped i t i n of h i s own accord,i s very gracious and
touch ing i n i ts s impl i c i ty .
Just as the possess ion ofa personal colophon bri ngs abook with i n a ci rcle of i nterest to which i t otherwi se wou ldnot have approached
,so we may j ust ly val ue a p i ece of
print i ng all the more i f i t chances,through any accident ,
to throw l ight on the pri nter’s methods . I have fel t a.
pecu l iar affect ion for an ed i t ion of Val erius Maximus,
pri nted by Schoeffer i n 147 1, ever s i nce I d iscovered that6 8 1
F I N E B O O K S
a change i n the form of the punctuat ion at certai n po i ntsof the book makes i t poss ible to work out the number ofpresses on which i t was being pr i nted , the order i n whichthe sheets were bei ng set up , and how qu ick ly the type ofthe worked pages was d i stributed . The s lowness of thepresswork i n the s imple form ofpress at first used obl igedthe pri nters to keep several presses , sometimes as many ass ix
,occup i ed with d i fferent sect ions of the same book , and
the trouble they were given to make the end ofone sect ionjo i n neat ly to the beginn i ng ofthe next has left many traces .Any book which thus lets us i nto the secrets of the ear lypr i nt i ng offices possesses i n a very h igh degree the charmwhich should attach to an i ncunable
,i f that hard ly used
word i s to retai n , as i t shou ld , any reference to the infancy of pri nt i ng . But more wi l l be said as to th i s aspectof early books i n our next chapter .
F I N E B O O K S
books to shake off the i nfluence ofmanuscript and establ i sh thei r own trad i t ions . The earl i est books had no
t i t l epage , no head-t i t l e , no runn i ng t i t le,no paginat ion ,
and no pri nted chapter-headi ngs , al so no pri nted i n i t ial s ori l l ustrat ions
,blank spaces being left often for the one and
occas ional ly for the other to be supp l ied by hand . Atthe t ime when pri nt i ng was i nvented the book trade i nmany large ci t i es had attai ned a h igh degree of organ izat ion , so that the work of the cal l igrapher or scribe wasclearly d i st i ngu i shed from that of the luminer or i l l uminator
,and even from that of the rubricator (rubri sher).
Take,for i nstance
,th i s Bury S t . Edmunds bi l l of 1467
for a Psal ter, preserved among the Paston Letters
For viijhole vynets, prise the vyne t xijd
I tem for xxjdemi-vyne ts prise the demi-vyne tt
Item for Psalmes letters xv° and di the prise of
Item for p’
ms letters lxiijc
prise of c . jcl
I tem for wrytynge of a quare and demi .
the quayr xxd
I tem for wrytenge of a calenderItem for iijquayres of velym, prise the quayr xx
d
Item for notynge of v quayres and ijleves, prise of
the quayr viijd
I tem for capital drawynge iij°anddi the prise
I tem for fi oryshynge of capytallis, vI tem for byndynge of the boke
I t i s poss ib le that the work i n th i s case was all doneby one man
,though i t i s equal ly poss ible that several
were engaged on i t , under the d i rect ion of a masterscrivener
,but i n e i ther case the fact that vignettes and
demi-vignettes, psal ter letters (i.e . the smal l red letters
at the beginn i ng of each verse of a psalm,sometimes
cal led versal s), the mysterious“
p’ms l etters (poss ib ly
the dabs of co lour bestowed on smal l i n i t ial s), the wri t i ng84
T H E D E V E L O P M E N T O F P R I N T I N G
of the text , the wri t i ng of the calendar, the mus ical notat ion
,and the drawing and flouri sh i ng the capital s , were
all charged separately , at so much a piece or so much ahundred
,shows how d ist i nct each Operat ion was kept .
Part ly,no doubt
,from po l i cy
,so as not to rouse the wrath
of more than one i ndustry at a t ime , part ly to save themselves trouble and expense
,the earl iest pr i n ters
,with few
except ions,set themselves to supplant on ly the cal l i
grapher,and so l d thei r books with all the blanks and
spaces,which the most modest or perfunctory scr ibe cou ld
have left to be fi l l ed by h i s k i ndred craftsmen .
N0 better start i ng-po i n t for a typographical co l l ect ioncould be des i red than fine copies of two wel l-pri ntedbooks i n which the pri n ter has confined h imsel f severelyto reproduci ng the text
,l eavi ng all headings
,capi tal s ,
and ornaments to be suppl ied by hand . I n one (as i nthe page from a book ofJenson’s
,which forms the i l lustra
t ion to th i s chapter,Plate VI I ) the b lanks shou ld remai n
blanks (as more especial ly i n ear ly books pri n ted i n I talythey often d id remai n), i n the other they shou ld havebeen fi l led i n wi th red i nk or co lours by a rubr icator .
The owner of two such vo l umes i s real ly as much at thefountai n-head as the possessor of the Mainz I ndulgencesof 145 4, or any st i l l earl i er document that may yet befound .
1 Thi s i s the logical begi nn i ng,and the logi c of
h istory i s qu i te as i n terest i ng as the chrono logy .
From the start i ng-po i n t of the book of which theprinter pr i nted noth ing but the text the co l lector can
advance i n many d i fferent d i rect ions . There was no
regular and unbroken progress i n the development of themodern form of book
,nor does i t matter great ly that the
examples of any part i cu lar improvement should be ei therabso l utely or nearly the earl iest . The mai n th i ng 15 thatthey shou ld be good i l lustrat ions of the spec ial feature
I t will b e so much the better if the collector can add to thema copy ofoneof the early books printed at Rome (the German ones are too rare) in which therestill survives the text of the rubrics, printed not in their appropriate places, but ona separate leaf or quire for the guidance of the rubricator.
F I N E B O O K S
for wh ich they are acqu i red . The problem how to d i spense with the aid of a rubricator had to be faced bycountless pri nters i n many d i fferent towns
,for rubricat i ng
by hand must have added very cons iderably to the cost ofa book . The obvious th i ng to do was to pri nt i n red all
the headings , chapter-numbers , etc . , which the rubricatorused to add i n that co lour . But th i s was both expens iveand troublesome , as i t i nvo lved two pri nt ings and the
p lacing of the paper i n exact ly the same pos i t ion i n thepress i n each . Caxton and one or two other earlypri nters tri ed to avo id th i s double pri nt i ng and d ifficu l tyof regi strat ion by putt i ng on both red and black i nk at
the same t ime—very probably,where they came close
together,they were rubbed on wi th a fi nger
—but th i s sooften resu l ted i n smudges and l i nes hal f of one co lour
,
hal f of another,that i t was soon abandoned . Double
pri nt i ng was most ly soon abandoned al so ,except by the
most expert men . I t was t ri ed and abandoned by thepr i n ter of the Forty-two Line B ible
,though subsequent ly
Fust and Schoeffer complete ly mastered i t . Between1472 and 1474 i t was tri ed and abandoned by almostevery pri nter i n S trassburg . The d ifficu l ty was general ly1 overcome by subst i tut ing, for red i nk used with typeof the same size or face as the text , type of a larger s izeor heavier face
,which could be pri nted i n black i nk with
the text and yet stand out sufficient ly clearly from it tocatch the eye .The need for th i s d i fferent iat ion accelerated the ten
dency to reduce the s ize of types , which was doubt less i nthe first p lace d i ctated by a des i re for economy . Theearl ier German text-types for o rd i nary books very commonly measure about 6 mm . a l i ne . To enable smal ld i fferences to be shown they are quoted i n the B r i t i shMuseum Catalogue of I ncunabula by the measurements
1 By Jenson and many early printers in I taly , and by Husner and a few
others in Germany , the majuscules of the founts used in the text were massedtogether in headings with admirable effect . But for a time the heavy headingtypes carried all before them.
F I N E B O O K S
hard ly be sai d to exist,the variet ies of handwri t i ng are
endless,and there are strongly marked d i fferences be
tween those Of one country and another . I n the fifteenthcentury
,when there was l ess i ntercommunicat ion between
d istant countries,the d i fferences were even greater . As
to th i s , however , i t i s poss ib le to make some d ist i nct ions .The un i fying effect Of the Church i s seen i n the smal l errange of variat ions i n the books for l i turgical use
,and
the fe l lowsh ip Of scho lars exerci sed at least some influence i n the same d i rect ion . I n I taly
,the home of ancient
learn ing,the ari stocrat i c bookhand was the fine round
minuscu les wh ich had been evo lved,by a conscious
antiquarian revival,from the bookhand Of the twel fth
centu ry,i tsel f a revival Of the Carlovi ngian bookhand
of the eighth and n inth . Sweynheym andPannartz,bei ng
Germans,fai l ed i n the fi rst instance to real i ze the hope
lessness Of seek i ng scho larly favour with any other k i ndof character , and thei r Subiaco books are pri nted i n a
l ight and pleas i ng goth i c much admi red by W i l l iamMorri s
,and used by Mr . S t . John Hornby for h i s splen
d id Ashendene Dante . When they started afresh at
Rome i n 1467 they gave up thei r go th i c fount and usedinstead a fine roman character not i ceable for i ts use Ofthe long f at the end of words
,a pecu l iari ty Often found
in I tal ian manuscripts Of th i s period . The early pri ntersat Ven ice made no fal se start
,but all used roman
characters from the outset,Venetian goth i c type making
i ts fi rst appearance i n 1472. That goth ic type was usedat all i n I taly was due part ly to the d i fficu l ty found i ncutt i ng very smal l roman type , so that goth ic was usedfor economy
,part ly to the advantages Of the heavy goth i c
face when a cont rast was needed between text and commentary .
I n Germany roman types were tried by Ado l f Rusch
(the R-pri nter) at S trassburg about 1464 ,and by both
Gunther Zainer at Augsburg and Johann Zainer at Ulm ,
but met wi th no favour unt i l i n the last years Of thecentury they were rei ntroduced for the books wri tten or
88
T H E D E V E L O P M E N T O F P R I N T I N G
edi ted by Brant,Locher , VVimpheling ,
Peter S chott , andthe other harb ingers of the new learn i ng . I n the Netherlands John ofWestphal ia started with a round but ratherth i n roman type brought from I taly . I n France thescho larly i deal s of the patrons of the fi rst Pari s presswere reflected i n the use for the books pri nted at the Sorbonne of a beauti fu l roman type
,on ly i nj ured by the
excess ive prominence of the seri fs . I n Spai n al so thefirst books
,those pri nted at Val ent ia by Lambert Pal
mart,were i n roman ; but i n both countries goth i c types
long commanded the favour of the general reader, whi lei n England thei r supremacy was unchal l enged for a th i rdof a century , no book ent i re ly i n roman type appeari ngunt i l 15 08 .
As regards the aesthet i c val ue of the d i fferent romantypes i n use duri ng the fi fteenth century
,the superiori ty
of the I tal ian i s so marked that,with the except ion of
the fi rst French type , the rest , from thi s po i n t of view ,
may be neglected . Almost all the roman types used i nI taly unt i l late i n the ’sevent ies are e i ther beaut i fu l orat least
'
interesting ,and i t i s remarkable that some of the
most beaut i fu l are found i n smal l places l ike Cagl i ,Mondovi
,Viterbo
,and Aqui la
,or i n the hands ofObscure
pri nters,such as the sel f-taught priest C l emente ofPadua,
who worked at Veni ce i n 147 1. The pre-eminence OfJenson’s fount i s i nd isputable
,though he Often d id i t
i nj ust i ce by h i s poor presswork . But those used byJohn and Wendel i n of Speier, and at a later dateby Anton io Miscomini
,were al so good
,as al so were
several of the founts used at Rome and Mi lan . AtNaples and Bo logna
,on the other hand
,some qui te early
roman founts are curious ly hard and heavy.
After about 1480 roman types i n I taly enter on a
second stage . They no longer have the appearance of
bei ng founded d i rect ly on handwrit ing . Doubtless thetypecutters were so used to thei r work that they no
longer needed model s,but des igned new types accord ing
to thei r own ideas . Natural ly the letters are more un i89
F I N E B O O K S
form and regu lar than 1n the earl ier founts,but natural ly
al so they have less charm,and the ord i nary close-set
Venet ian type of the end of the century i s s i ngu larlydul l . Even the large roman type used by Aldus to pri n tthe Hyfi h erotomaeh z
'
a Polt z'
lz'
i s no real except ion,as
the letters are narrow for thei r height . A far finer founti s the large text type used by the S i lbers at Rome , onboth s ides of 15 00 . Thi s i s wel l proport ioned and beautifully round , and i t i s surpri s i ng that i t has not yet beenimi tated by any modern typecutter.
W hen we pass from roman to goth i c types there i sa bewi lderi ng field from which to choose . Here agai ndu l l commercial i sm gai ned the upper hand about 1480 ,
and towards the end of the century an ugly upright texttype of 80 mm . to twenty l i nes
,with a fantast i c head l i n e
type of twice i ts s ize,or a l i tt l e more
,found i ts way all
over Germany . But types wi th a twenty-l i ne measurementranging round 120 mm . ,
such as those of Peter Schoefferor the Pri nter of Henri cus Ariminensis
,are Often extra
ord i nari ly handsome . Both of Schoeffer’
s earl ier smal ltypes and the smal l type of Ulri ch Zel l at Co logne areengagingly neat
,and at the oppos i te end there i s the
magn ificently round goth i c used by U lri ch Han at Rome .Most of the finest goth i c types were used for Lat i n
books of law and theo logy,the pecu l iar appropr iateness
of roman type be ing considered to be confined to worksappeal i ng to class ical scho lars . I n Germany , for sometime
,not much d i st i nct ion was observed , but there was
a tendency i n class i cal books to use an f and long Istart i ng from the leve l of the l i ne
,whereas i n most ver
macu lar books the tai l s of these letters came below thel i ne
,givi ng a strangely d i fferent appearance to the type .
I n the ’n i net ies a d i st i nct ively curs ive type cal l ed S chwabacher
,usual ly measuri ng 93 mm . to twenty l i nes , makes
i ts appearance all over Germany . I n I taly , both at
Naples and by U l ri ch Han at Rome , a very smal l texttype
,which i s certai n ly cu rs ive i n i ts affin i t i es
,was used
at the very outset,but found no favour . The typical
90
F I N E B O O K S
Iohannem Mentelin artis impressorie magistrum famosissimum.
Anno a partu virginis salutifero m1llesimo quadringentesimoseptuagesimo sexto . die men5 1s nouembris sexta.
Desp i te a few i nstances of th i s k ind,however , i t i s
certai n that the majori ty of pri nters who omitted to pri ntco lophons to the i r books . d id so
,not i n the expectat ion
that they wou ld be suppl ied by hand,but i n imi tat ion
of the manuscript books to which they were accustomed,
i n which i t i s d i st i nct ly except ional to find any ment ionof the name of the scribe . But the men who took a
pride i n thei r new art,and who thought that thei r work
was good enough to bri ng mo re custom to thei r pressi f the i r name were associated with i t
,took the Oppos i te
course,and so co lophons from 145 7 onwards are common
i n the best books,and may perhaps be found i n about
40 per cent of the i ncunables that have come down tous . By the men who were sk i l fu l i n us i ng red i nk theywere often thus pri nted
,and whether in red or i n black
,
they frequently had appended to them the pri nter’s markor device , which gave a very decorat ive fin i sh to thebook .
Nowadays,when we have been accustomed all our
l ives to the luxury of titlepages, i t may wel l seem to usmerely perverse to h ide the t i t l e of a book , the name ofthe author
,and i n format ion as to where
,when
,and by
whom it was pri nted i n a closely set paragraph at the endof the book . But i f we th i nk for a moment of how themanuscript books to which the early pri nters were accustomed had been produced we shal l see that i t was themost natu ral th i ng i n the world . A scribe wou ld takeh i s qu i re Of paper or vel l um ,
and i f he were a h igh-classscribe
,mindfu l of the need of keeping h i s text clean , he
wou ld leave h i s fi rst leaf blank and begin at the top of
h i s second . But here he wou ld begi n to wr i te straightaway
,sometimes with the fi rst words of h i s text
,some
times wi th a prel imi nary paragraph,which may be cal led
the lacz'
fi z’
t,from the important word i n i t . I n th i s
paragraph he wou ld give e i ther the name of hi s book92
T H E D E V E L O P M E N T O F P R I N T I N G
or,almost as common ly,
the name of the first sect ionof i t
,i ntroduci ng the t i t l e on ly i ncidental ly .
Incipit Racionale diuinorum offi ciorum.
I ncipiunt Constitutiones Clementis pape V una cum apparatu
Ioannis Andree .
Marci Tullii Ciceronis Arpinatis consulisque Romani ac
oratorum maximi Ad M . Tullium Ciceronem fi liumsuum Offi ciorum liber incipit.
Incipit epistola sancti H ieronimi ad Paulinum presbiterumde omnibus diuine historie libris.
That i t d id not occur to h im to devote h i s blank pageto a d i sp layed t i t le Of the book he was copyi ng was dueto the fact that every med ieval manuscript was the d i rectdescendant
,through many or few stages
,of the author’s
own origi nal d raft,and that th i s was the most pretent ious
way and l east natu ral i n which any autho r cou ld begi nto write a book . So the scribes imi tated the author i nh i s normal begi nn i ng , and the early pri nters imitated thescribes
,and because an autho r was more i ncl i ned to
re l ieve h i s feel i ngs at the end of a book than to expressthem vo l ubly at the beginn ing , i t was on ly when booksmul t ipl ied so great ly that purchasers wanted to see at
a glance what was the name of the book at which theywere looki ng that titlepages superseded co lophons . Theproof of th i s explanat ion being the true one i s that t i t lepages become common j ust about the t ime (1480 to 1490)that book-product ion was begi nn ing to be d ivided upbetween publ i shers and pri nters
,and that the publ i sher
very qu ickly claimed them for hi s own .
The earl iest titlepages, those of the Mai nz B at ea
a’eatseh a
’es bat st Pz
'
as [I Rolewinck'
s Sermonfor the Feast of the Presentat ion (Co logne : Arno ld therHoernen
,the F lores Sancti Aagastz
'
m’
(Co logne ,and the Ka/eh a
’am
'
am of Joannes de Monteregio
and i ts I tal ian trans lat ion (Ven ice : Ratdolt and partnerswere all more or l ess of the nature of sports .
When titlepages came to stay, a year or two later than9 3
F I N E B O O K S
the last of these precu rsors , they everywhere took theform of label s
,a s ingle sentence contai n i ng the short t i t l e
of the book,pri nted sometimes in large
,sometimes i n
smal l type,but with no other i n format ion . The label
t i t l e,bei ng usual ly pri nted h igh up on the page
,l eft two
th i rds,or thereabouts , blank beneath i t , and th i s space
was soon fi l l ed,sometimes by a pictorial woodcut
,some
times by a mark or device,which at fi rst might be ei ther
that of the pri n ter or publ i sher , but gradual ly came tobe much more Often the publ i sher’s . The short t i t l e anddevi ce taken together fi l led the page suffic i en t ly fordecorat ive purposes , but they left room for a further
paragraph of type to be added i f des i red , and the advantage of fi l l i ng th i s wi th the name and address of the firmfrom whom the book might be obtai ned was so Obviousthat the “ impri nt
,as i t i s rather loosely cal led
,soon
made i ts appearance and gradual ly became recognized as
an essent ial part of the t i t l epage . When pri nters and
publ i shers lost pride i n thei r work and ceased to care todecorate thei r titlepages with p i ctures or devices
,the
t i t le was d i splayed i n a series of s i ngle l i nes and madeto straggle down the page t i l l i t came nearly low enoughto meet the impri n t .I f we go back to the habi ts of the scribes i t i s easy to
understand another po i n t i n the early h istory Of books,
thei r make-up i n to qu i res and the mark i ng of these qu i resby s ignatures and catchwords . The word gaaz
’
re or gaz'
ee
i s a shortened form of the Lat i n qaatemz'
o,the name
devised for four sheets of paper fo lded down the middleso as to form eight leaves . A gatheri ng of five sheetsmaking ten leaves was cal l ed a gaz
’
ntemz’
oa,and th i s
,
though i t has yielded no modern word,was for genera
t ions such a popu lar form that gaz’
atemz’
oaes was somet imes used as a general express ion for manuscripts .Gatheri ngs of three sheets
,making s ix leaves
,were cal led
temz'
ones ; gatheri ngs of two sheets , making four leaves ,a’aemz
’
oaes . A few,but on ly a few
,books exi st—nearly
all of those wh ich I have seen are ei ther block-books or94
the last of these prec 1form of labe l s , a sin
fle
of the book ,pri n te
smal l type , bu t wi th 1
t i t l e , bei ng usual ly prii 1
th i rds , or thereabouts , l :was soon fi l l ed , some ti 1t imes by a mark orde1that of the pr i n te r or
be much more o ften thdevi ce taken togethe 1
decorat ive pu rpo ses ,1
paragraph of type to l 1
tage Of fi l l i ng th i s witl I1from whom the book i .that the impr i n t
,11 1
made i t s appearance man essen t ial part of tpubl i shers lo st pr ide 11
decorate the i r titlepa;t i t l e was d i splayed i nto s traggle down the 1to meet the impr i n tI f we go back to th
u nders tand ano ther p<the i r make Up i n to qui1by s ignatures and cute !i s a sho rtened form 1
devi sed for fou r sheet .so as to form eight itmak i ng te n leaves 11.
though i t has yi e ldedt ion s such a popu lar 1t imes u sed as a ger
Gathe r i ngs of th ree sh{en im/res , gatheri ngs(inert/zones . A fe11 b1
all of those wh ich I h
94
ey everywhere took theconta1n1ng the short t itlein large
,sometimes i n
informat ion . The labelup on the e
,l eft two
neath i t , an th i s space
pic tor ial woodcut , some1 at fi rst m ight be ei ther
dual ly came toshort t i t le and
he page suffic i ently forleft room for a furtherdes i red,
and the advanand add res s of the firm
ob ta ined was so obviousthe r loose cal l ed
,soon
tlly became recogniz ed as
ge . pri n ters and1k and ceased to care to
p ictu res or dev ices,the
f s ingle l i nes and madecame nearly low enough
)f the sc r ibes i t i s easy toe ea r l h i story of books ,1e marhin of these qu iresThe 11
'
Ordgguaire or quire
Lat in qua/emit) , the name1er fo lded down the middlegather i ng of five sheets
I a quintemiofl,and th1s ,
de rn word , was for generatat qm
'
uferuiones was someit ression for manuscnpts.
agi ng s ix l eaves , were cal ledshee ts , mak i ng four leaves ,
1’
a few ,books exi st—nearly
en are e i ther block-books or
T H E D E V E L O PM E N'
I O F P R I N T I N G
thi n fo l ios of poe try of the re ig Of Char l es I l—whi chare made up i n s ingle sheets at placed one within the
other , but fo l lowing consecut ive But the system of
gatheri ng from two to fi ve or m '
e sheets together intoqu ires was pract ical ly un iversal th before and after thei nvent ion of ri n t i ng , and th i s r the exce l lent reasonthat it reduced
)
the quan t i ty of St i ng necessary in binding a book , and reduced al so 1e ri sk of the sew ingcutt i ng th rough the pape r or llum
,as i t wou ld be
very l ikely to do i f there were 1ly a s ingle thicknessto res i st i t .When the scribe had arrange h i s qu i re or gather i ng
he wrote first page by page on r the leaves on the lefthand unt i l he came to the midd of the qu i re , when heproceeded to wr i te page by page 11 all the l eaves on the
r ight hand . Thus i n a qu i re of 1ur sheet s the left hal fof the first sheet wou ld be le 1
, pages 1 and 2,
and the r ight hal f wou ld be :af 8,pages 15 and
16, so that the same sheet for1 .d the beginn i ng and
end of the qu i re . I n the ear l s t pri nted books the
quires were pr i n ted page by pagt :xactly as the quiies of
a manuscri pt had been wri t ten . ut early i n the'
sevent ies (Peter Schoeffer can be pro1 l to have ado pted thepract ice between 147 1 and S epten :r
,1474) the advantage
was perce ived of pr i n t i ng both th pages on the upper orlower s ide of a sheet at the sam t ime , i. e . i n a quatern ion
,page 16 together wi th ge 1. As soon as
a pri nter had l earn t to pri n t two ) lio pages together , itbecame easy to pri n t fou r quartt 3ages , or e ight octavopages
, or s ixteen sextodec imo pa es . I n each case theamount of type to be pri n ted at a m“would be approx1mately the same . I t thus ceaset
F I N E B O O K S
a s ingle screw,and when the pressman had pu l led the
l ever one way to bri ng the platen down on the type,he
had to push the lever back agai n i n order to rai se theplaten and release the paper . Thus i n o rder to pri n ta large book qu ick ly four or s i x sets Of pressmen had to
work on i t at once,each at a d i fferent press . To avo i d
mistakes,therefore
,the practi ce was to al lot one sect ion
of the book to each press . Thus i f a book were calculated to run to 288 l eaves
,s ix presses might begi n s imul
taneously at l eaves 1, 49 , 97 , 145 , 193 , and 24 1. What
more Often happened was that e i ther to fo l low the naturalsect ions of the book
,or because some of the pri nters
were engaged on o ther tasks and not ready to begin at
once , the sect ions were of much less regu lar lengths , andwe can sometimes prove that the fi rs t press was far ad
vanced i n i ts sect ion before the fifth and s ixth had begun .
Now i n all these cases,un less they were repri nt i ng an
earl i er book,page for page
,i t i s obvious that some n ice
cal cu lat ions wou ld be needed to make each sect ion endwi th the end of a qu i re so as to be able to jo i n on withthe begi nn ing of the qu i re contai n i ng the next sect ionwi thout any gap or crowding. Hence the strik i ngi rregu lari t i es i n the make-up of many early books .I nstead ofa book being pri nted m a success ion ofqu intern ions or a success ion of quatern ions we have many a
make-up which can on ly be expressed by a cruel ly mathematical formula
,such as th i s
,which represents the qu i ri ng
of the Forty-two Line B ib le .
a kw“ 1mxo
o-z z 9 A-F G4: aa—nn
00 pp qq rr-z z AA—CC DD FF GG
HHH ‘ I I ‘ °
I n th i s the i ndex-l etter shows the number of l eaves i nthe qu i re
,a-i being a short way of stat i ng that each Of
the n i ne qu i res a b c d e f g h i has ten leaves i n i t .I n the tenth qu i re (k) there i s an extra l eaf, and agai n i nthe th i rteenth (n) the pri nter found that he had too muchcopy for s ix leaves and not enough for eight
,and
96
F I N E B O O K S
I t wi l l be great ly to the advantage of book-buyers tobear these proport ions i n mind , i n o rder to measure howmuch a book Offered to them has been cut down
,and al so
to be able to i nstruct thei r b inders as to how to reducethe absurd margi ns of some modern “ Large Papercopies to more art i st i c d imens ions . Whether i t i s legitimate further to reduce the margi ns of an old book wh ichhas al ready been mangled by a bi nder i n order to get the
proport ions better balanced i s a n ice quest ion of taste .
I f a two-i nch lower margi n has been halved and a one
i nch upper margi n left i ntact,i f the upper margi n i s
reduced,the book wi l l become a pleasant “ wo rk i ng
copy i nstead of an Obvious ly mangled large one,and
the co l lector must sett le i n h i s own conscience whetherth i s be a suffic ient j ust ificat ion for sn ipping off a cent imetre of O ld paper .Exactly why the proport ions here lai d down
,with
thei r l im its of variat ion,are right for books cannot eas i ly
be set forth . I t i s eas iest to see i n the case of the re lat ionbetween the i nner and outer margi ns . As Wi l l iam Morr i swas never t i red of i ns i st i ng
,the un i t i n a book i s
,not a
s i ngl e page,but the two pages which can be seen at the
same t ime . The two i nner margi ns separate the twotype-pages by a s i ngl e band ofwhi te
,which
,i f each inner
margi n were as large as the outer , wou ld become insufferably conspi cuous . As for the proport ions between thelower and upper margins
,the explanat ion may l i e i n the
angle at which we habitual ly read books,or by the need
for l eaving room for the reader to ho ld the book i n h i shands . But whether i t be a matter of i nherent rightnessor merely of long-establ i shed convent ion , the pleasure ofhandl i ng a book with correct margi ns i s very great
,and
a co l lector who secures an uncut copy of even a poorlypri nted book of the period when margins were unders tood
,wi l l find that it presents qu i te a pleas i ng and
d ign ified appearance . And so i n regard to other po i n ts,
any book wh ich i l lustrates the relat ions of the earlypri nters to the scribes , the d ifficu l t ies whi ch they experi
9 8
T H E D E V E L O P M E N T O F P R I N T I N G
enced i n the ir work and the exped ients by which they weresurmounted deserves
,whatever i ts date or present pri ce ,
to be reckoned as a real i ncunable , and the co l l ector whogets together a few dozen books of th i s k ind wi l l havefar better sport for hi s outlay than he who i s t ied downtoo rigorously by chrono logy .
CHAPTER VI I
EARLY GERMAN AND DUTCH ILLUSTRATED BOOKS
HE natu ral method of i l l ustrat i ng a book pri ntedwi th type i s by means of des igns cut i n re l ief
,
which can be locked up i n the forme with the type,
so that text and i l l ustrat ions are pri nted together by a
s ingle impression‘without any special preparat ion of the
paper . So long as the des ign to be pri nted stands outclearly on the block i t matters noth ing whether i t be cut onwood or on soft metal . Even as between the des ign cutby hand and the process l i ne-block which has as i ts bas i sa photograph taken d i rect from a pen drawing
,the d i ffer
ence can hard ly be said to be one of better and worse .
We lose the i nd ividual i ty of the wood-cutter or woodengraver
,but we are brought i nto closer touch wi th the
i nd ividual i ty of the art i st,and whether we gai n or lose
depends on the abi l i ty of the art i st to d i spense with a
sk i l led i nterpreter . The one requ i s i te for success i s thate i ther the art i st
,or an i n terpreter for h im
,shou ld recog
n ize the l im i ts wi th i n wh ich h i s work can be effect ive .
The reproduct ions of the art i st’s des igns wi l l be looked at,
not i n i so lat ion,but as part ofan ensemble made up of two
pages pri nted i n a type which , perhaps with a l i tt l e trouble ,can be ascertai ned beforehand , and they wi l l be pri ntednot as proofs on a special press by a special workman on
paper chosen so l e ly to su i t them ,but wi th average sk i l l
1 Dr. Schreiber, in the introduction to Tome V of his Manuel dc l’amatear de
la gravare sar boz'
s on W sz'
eele, dealing with German book-illustrations, shows
that some little diffi culty was found at first in effecting this. I n Boner’sE delstein (Bamberg, probab ly the first illustrated book printed in Germany ,the cuts were printed after the text. I n Zainer
’
s H ez'
lzgenleben , the first illustratedbook printed at Augsburg , the cuts must have been printed first
,as part of the text
is sometimes prin ted over them.
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VI I I . AUG SB U RG , G . ZAINER,
F I N E B O O K S
i l l ustrated by untrai ned wood-cutters . I n Germany and
the Low Countries few,i fany, qu i te untrai ned wood-cutters
were employed,and th i s i s true al so ofPari s and Florence .
But at Lyon and other provincial towns i n France (theAbbevi l l e cutters
,who probably came from Pari s
,are
stri k i ngly good), i n a few books pri nted at Rome and
Ven ice,here and there i n Spai n , and i n one or two of
Caxton’
s and several of Wynkyn de Worde’s books i nEngland
,the cutt i ng i s so bad that
,though i t i s poss ible
sometimes to see that exce l len t des igns underl ie i t,the
effect i s e i ther lud icrous or repel l ent . Only fanat i cs cou ldadmi re such p i ctures as we find i n the ear ly LyonneseQuatre fi ls d
’
Aymon but about i n theOt asoala of Phi l ippus de Barberiis pri nted by Joannesde Lignamine (Rome , i n a large number of the cutsofthe Malermi Bible of 1490 (Ven ice , G . Ragazzo for L . A .
Giunta,
i n Los a’oz e trabajos a
’e Emules (Zamora,
i n Caxton’
sAesofi or i nWynkyn de Wo rde’s M onte
a’
Arthnr Books such as these (the MalermiB ib l e i s on a d i fferent foot i ng from the rest owing to thewonderfu l excel lence of the good cuts) may be bought ascurios i t ies , or for the l ight they throw on the state of thebook trade when such work cou ld be put on the market
,
but no art i st i c mer i t can be claimed for them .
I n Germany good work began early , because , to supplythe demand for playing-cards and p i ctures ofsai nts , schoo l sof wood-cutters had grown up
,more especial ly at Augs
burg and at Ulm . Block-books al so had come into exi stence i n the d i stri ct of the lower Rhine
,and these
,which
i n thei r ear l i est forms can hard ly be later than 1460,
must be d ivided between the Low Countri es andGermanyand prove the exi stence of competent workmen . Theearl iest type-pri n ted books which possess i l l ustrat ions arethe l i tt l e handfu l pri nted by Albrecht Pfi ster at Bambergi n and about 1461, described i n Chapter V ,
but i t was at
Augsburg i n the early sevent ies that book-i l lustrat ionfi rst flouri shed . As has been ment ioned i n Chapter V ,
trade d ifficu l t ies at fi rst stood i n the way,but by the
102
E A R LY G E R M A N I L L U S T RAT I O N S
arbi trat ion of Melch ior S tanheim,abbot of the local
monastery of SS . Ulrich and Afra,these were sett led on
the sens ible bas i s that pri nters might have as manyi l l ustrat ions i n the i r books as they chose to provide , butthat they must be des igned and cut by Augsburg craftsmen . The series seems to have begun wi th some to lerablygood co l umn-cuts to an ed i t ion ofthe Lives ofthe Sai n ts i nGerman
,ofwhich the first part was i ssued i n October
,147 1,
and the second i n Apri l,1472. I n Das gala
’z'
n spiel of
a Domin ican wri ter,I ngo ld
,fin ished on 1 August of the
latter year,we find for the fi rst t ime real power of
characterizat ion . Lovers ofwoodcuts owe some grat i tudeto the med ieval tri ck of attach i ng ed i fying d iscourses tomatters of everyday in terest and amusement
,for whereas
the ed i fying d i scourses themselves could hard ly carryi l lustrat ions
,hunti ng
,chess
,or
,as here
,seven games
which cou ld be l i kened to the seven dead ly s i ns,gave
Opportun i t i es for showing p i ctu res by which the naturalman wou ld be attracted . Another important book of th i syear
, on ly known to me i n Bamler’
s plagiari sm of i t,was
the fi rst ed i t ion of the B elz'
al,the amaz ing book which
tel l s the s tory ofChri s t being summoned for the trespasscommitted i n harrowing Hel l .I n 1473 the heavy goth i c type which Zainer used i n
these i l l ustrated books was put at the d isposal of theAbbot of SS . U lri ch and Afra and used to pri nt a
Speenlnm H nmanae Salaatz'
onz'
s,to wh ich was added a
summary i n verse by Frater Johannes,an i nmate of hi s
monastery . Thi s book was i l l ustrated by 176 d i fferen tcuts ofBibl i cal subjects
,ofvarying degrees ofmeri t . I n
the same year,and agai n i n 1474 ,
Zainer pri nted an
i l l ustrated Plenam'
am,i.e . the Ep i st l es and Gospel s for
the round of the Church’s year . I n or short ly after 1475he pri nted and i l l ustrated a narrat ive of great contem
porary i nterest , the story , wri tten by one Tuberinus, of a
ch i ld named S imon , who was supposed to have been s lai nby the J ews out of hatred of the Chri st ian fai th and des i reto taste Chri st ian flesh . The tal e appears to contai n
F I N E B O O K S
i n ternal evidence of i ts untruth , and the unhappy Jewswho were cruel ly executed had much better claims to beregarded as martyrs than das susses Ki nd ’
S imon . Butsome of the p i ctures are qu i te an imated
,especial ly one
(see P late VI I I) of the h i red k idnapper begu i l i ng the ch i ldthrough the streets and then deft ly hurrying h im i nto thehouse ofdoom with a touch of h i s knee .
I n 1475 or 1476, and agai n wi th the date 1477 , Zainer
produced ed i t ions of the German B ible i n large fo l io,
i l l ustrated wi th great p ictor ial capi tal s at the beginn ingof each book . But h i s greatest ach ievement was i n an
undated book ofth i s period , the SpeculumH amanae Vitaeof Rodericus Bishop of Zamora
,i n the German trans
lat ion ofHeinri ch S teinhowel. I f th i s M i rror of Man ’sLi fe had been wr i tten by aman with h i s eyes open i nsteadof by a vapid rhetori cian i t shou ld have been one of themost val uable documents for the social l i fe Of the fifteenthcentury
,s i nce i t professes to contrast the advantages
and evi l s of every rank and occupat ion of l i fe,from the
Pope and the Emperor down to craftsmen and labourers .There i s but l i tt l e joy to be gai ned from its text , but theAugsburg art i st has atoned formany l i terary shortcomingsby hi s vivid and charming pictures of scenes from thesocial l i fe ofh i s day,
though i t i s not to be supposed thatGerman judges took bribes qu i te so open ly as he i s pleasedto represent . I n add i t ion to fi fty
-four woodcuts of th i sk i nd
,there i s a large genealogical t ree of the House of
Hapsburg , which i s a tri umph ofdeco rat ive arrangement .Two other early Augsburg pri nters devoted themselves
to i l l ustrated work,Johann Bamler and Anton Sorg .
The former at fi rst contented h imsel f wi th pre fi xing a
fu l l-page front i sp iece to h i s books , as i n the Summa of
Johannes Friburgensis and D ie oier anel z'
zoanz zg
goldenen H anfen ,both of 1472,
and agai n i n the pi cture ofS . Gregory and Peter the Deacon i n the D ialogues of theformer prin ted for the monastery of SS . Ulrich and Afra
,
and that of the dying Empress i n the H iston'
e non a’en
sieben weisen M eistem ofthe fo l lowing year . I n the B elial
F I N E B O O K S
thal ’5 Das Conciliambach geschehen z a Costence
i l lu strated with forty-four larger cuts,all in the first n inety
l eaves,and 115 8 coats of arms of the various digni
taries present at the Counci l . The larger cuts showthe kn ight ing of the B urgermeister of Constance
,
process ions , a tournament , and the martyrdom of Huss
(despi te h i s safe conduct) and the scatteri ng of h i s ashesover a field . The later Augsburg i l lustrated books ,i ssued by the elder S choensperger, Johann S chobsser,Peter Berger
,and Hans S chauer
,though they mai ntai n a
respectable level of craftsmansh ip , have less i nterest andi nd ividual i ty than these earl i er ones . One Augsburgpri nter
,Erhard Ratdolt
,who had made h imse l f a reputa
t ion by ten years’ work at Ven ice (1476 short ly afterh i s return i ssued a notable i l l ustrated book
,the Chronica
H angaroram of Thwrocz . H is mai n bus i ness was theproduct ion ofmissal s and other service books
,i n some of
which he made exper iments i n co lour-pri nt i ng .
At the neighbouring ci ty ofU lm,where al so the wood
cutters had long been at work,i l l ustrated books began to
be i ssued m 1473 by Johann Zainer, no doubt a k in smanof Gunther Zainer of Augsburg . H is ch ief books are (1)Lat i n and German ed i t ions of Boccaccio
’s D e claris
malieribas (1473 )) with a fi ne borderpiece of Adam and
Eve and numerous spi r i ted l i tt l e p ictures wh ich,though
primi t ive both i n concept ion and execut ion,are fu l l of l i fe
,
and (2) an Aesop which was repri n ted at Augsburg and
copied el sewhere i nGermany,andal so i n France
,theNether
lands,andEngland . From 1478 onwards he seems to have
been i n conti nual financial t rouble . Hewas apparent ly able ,however
, to find funds to i ssue two rather notable booksabout 1490 ,
the Prognosticatio of Lichtenberger , and a
Toten tanz . The blocks of both of these passed to
Meidenbach at Mai nz .Most of the forty books of a later pri n ter
,Con rad
Dinckmut (148 2 have i l lustrat ions . His Seelenzoarz
garten (1483 ) appears at fi rst s ight to be a most l iberal lydecorated book
,crowded with fu l l-page cuts
,but Of i ts 13 3
106
E A R LY G E R M A N I L L U S T RAT I O N S
i l lu strat ions on ly seventeen are d i fferent , one , representi ngthe tortures of the damned , being used as many as th i rtyseven t imes
,a deplorable waste of good paper
,which the
pri nter had the good sense to reduce i n a later ed i t ion .
Dinckmut’
s most famous book i s a German ed i t ion oftheE anachas of Terence ain maisterliche vnd wolgesetz teComed ia z elesen vud z ehOren lust ig und kurtzwylig ,
d ieder Hochgelert vnd gross Mai ster und Poet Therencius
gar subt i l l mi t grosser Kunnst und hochem Flyss gesetzthat .
” This has twenty-eight near ly fu l l-page cuts i n wh ichthe characters are wel l drawn , the sett i ng for the mostpart showing the streets ofa medieval town . A Chronih
,
by Thomas Lirer, i ssued about the same time , was begunto be i l l ustrated on a generous scal e wi th eighteen fu l l-pagecuts i n the fi rst twenty-eight leaves , but was hast i ly fin ishedoffwith on ly three more cuts i n the remai n i ng th i rty-s ix .
Theyare l ess carefu l ly executed than those oftheE anachas,
but show more var i ety,and are on the who l e very
pleas ing .
Another Ulm pri nter, who began work i n 1482,
Leonhard Ho l l,pr i n ted i n that year a magn ificent ed i t ion
of Pto lemy’s Cosmographia ,with woodcut maps (one
s igned I nsculptum est per I ohanne Schn i tzer de Armszheim )and fine capital s . The first of these
,a pictorial N
,
shows the ed i tor,Nicolaus Germanns
,present i ng h i s book
to the Pope .Of later U lm books by far the most important are
two by Gulielmus Caoursin,publ i shed by Johann Reger
i n 1496 ,and both concerned wi th the Kn ights ofS t . John
of Jerusalem at Rhodes . One vo l ume gives thei r S tabilimenta or Const i tut ion
,the other Obsiclionis arbis Rhoa
’iae
a’escrifi tio, an i l l ustrated h i story of thei r defence of thei ri s land agai nst the Turks and thei r subsequent deal ingswith the i nfidel , who at one t ime were so complai sant asto present them with no l ess val uable a re l i c than the armof thei r patron , which was du ly honoured with process ionsand sermons . Altogether the two books contai n fi fty-s ixfu l l-page pi ctures , rather rough ly cut , but fu l l of vigour
F I N E B O O K S
and bri nging the course of the s iege and the character ofthe wi ld Turk ish horsemen very vivid ly before the reader .Wil l iam Morri s was even tempted to conjecture that thedes igns may have been made by Erhard Reuwich ,
thei l l ustrator of the Mai nz B reidenbach
,ofwh ich we shal l
soon have to speak .
At Nuremberg book-i l l ustrat ion begins wi th the Ars
et moa’ns contemfi latiaae vitae, s ix leaves ofwhich partakeof the nature of a block-book . I n or about 1474 JohannMul l er of Kon igsberg (whose variant names , JohannesRegiomontanus , Johannes de Monteregio ,
have trappedmore b ibl iographers i n to i ncons istencies than those of
any o ther fi fteenth century author) i ssued cal endars ando ther works wi th astronomical d iagrams
,and prefixed
to h i s ed i t ion of the Philalethes of Maffeus Vegius a
woodcut (for which Dr. S chreiber suspects an I tal ianorigi n) showing Philalethes i n rags and Truth with no
other cloth ing than a pai r of very smal l wi ngs . I nJune
,1475 , S ensenschmidt and Frisner i l l ustrated thei r
fo l io ed i t ion of Just i n ian ’s Coa’ex,with ten charm i ng
l i tt le co l umn-cuts ; the fo l lowing month Sensenschmidtproduced a H eiligenleben ,
with more than 25 0 i l lustrat ions
,which
,accord ing to Dr. S chreiber
,are very note
worthy as they stand,and wou ld have been more so had
not the wood-cutter been hurried i n to omitt i ng the backgrounds in the later cuts
,those to the Pars aestiualis .
”
S ensenschmidt al so pri nted an undated German B iblewi th pictorial capital s .I n 1477 Creussner i ssued the travel s of Marco Po lo
with a woodcut of the travel ler , and about the same t imeLat i n and German ed i t ions of the tract of Tuberinus on
the supposed fate suffered by Das Kind S imon at thehand of the J ews .I n 148 1 Anton Koberger publ i shed h i s fi rst i l l ustrated
book,Postilla sat er B ibliam of Nicolaus de Lyra
,with
forty-three woodcuts,which were imi tated not on ly at
Co logne , but at Ven ice , though thei r i nterest i s not verygreat . I n h i s German B ible of 1483 he h imsel f was
F I N E B O O K S
taken up agai n about 1489 by Johann von Amerbach , Lienhart Ysenhut , and Michael Furter, the wo rk of the twolatter bei ng mai n ly im i tat ive . Johann Froben
,who
began work about th is t ime,was too l earned a publ i sher
to concern h imsel f wi th woodcuts , cateri ng ch iefly forstudents of the Un ivers i ty. One of the professors , however
,at the Un ivers i ty was far from shar i ng th i s in
d i fference to p i ctures . Born at S trassburg , S ebast ianB rant was educated at Basel
,and i t was whi le ho ld i ng
there the Professorsh ip of Laws that he ensured the
popu lari ty of h is N arrenschifi'
(1494) by equipping i twi th 115 admirable i l lustrat ions . The origi nal ed i t ionfrom the press of Johann Bergmann von Olpe was published i n February
,and before the end of the year Peter
Wagner at Nuremberg, Greyff at Reutl ingen
,S choen
sperger at Augsburg had all pi rated i t wi th copies of
the Basel cuts . When the Lat i n trans lat ion by Brant’s
friend,Jakob Locher
,was publ i shed by Bergmann i n
1497 , the success of the book became European , and
probably no other i l l ustrated work of the fifteenthcentury i s so wel l known .
Probably i n the same year as the [Varrenschzjr
was
first i ssued,Bergmann pri nted for B rant h i s [n laaa
’em
<gloriosae virginis M ariae,with s ixteen woodcuts by the
same hand . I n 1495 Brant suppl ied h im wi th two worksi n honour of the Emperor Maxim i l ian
, one celebrat i ngthe al l iance with Pope Alexander VI , i l l ustrated wi thcoats of arms
,the other the Origo honoram regain , with
two woodcuts , i n wh ich the Emperor i s shown rece ivinga sword from heaven . Brant was now i n h igh favourwith Maximi l ian
,and hi s appo i n tment as a Synd ic and
Imperial C hancel lor at S trassburg led to h i s return and
a consequent notable qu icken i ng of book-i l l ustrat ion i nh i s nat ive c i ty .
At S trassburg Johann Mentelin had used woodcutsfor d iagrams in an undated ed i t ion of the E tymologiae of S . I s idore
,pri nted about 1473 ,
but the fi rstproducer of books picto rial ly i l l ustrated was Hein ri ch
E A R LY G E R M A N I L L U S T RAT I O N S
Knoblochtz er, who worked from 1476 to 1484 ,and i ssued
over th i rty books wi th woodcuts . Most of these wereCop ies from other men ’s work
,e .g . h i s B elial andM ela
sina from Bamler’
s,h is Philalethes from the Nuremberg
ed i t ion of Johann Mul ler,h is Aesofi and H istoric a
’er
S igismanda from Johann Zainer’
s,hi s Leben a
’er heiligen
a’rei Konigen probably from an anonymous ed i t ion byJohann Priiss. Early i n h i s career i n 1477 he i ssuedtwo books on the great subject of the hour
,the death
of C harles the Bo ld , Peter H agenbach ana’a’er B argan
a’ische [( rieg and the B arganclerhrieg of Erhard Tusch
,
i n both of wh ich he used eight woodcuts , most of themdevoted to i ncidents of the Duke’s i l l-fated campaign .
An anonymous ed i t ion of the E aryalas ana’Lacretia of
Aeneas Sylvius (Pope Pius I I) has n ineteen cuts , whichwere apparently commiss ioned by Knob lochtz er
,but he
d id not secure the services of a sufficient ly ski l l ed woodcutter . I t shou ld be said , however, that h i s
“ hi storiated ”
or pictorial capital s are apparent ly origi nal and most lyood.gTo Johann Pruss at S trassburg are now ass igned
ed it ions i n H igh and Low German of the Lives of theFathers and of Ant ichr i st
,which Mr . Proctor, though he
had a shrewd susp ic ion of thei r origi n , l eft float i ng aboutamong the German adespota. The cuts to the formerreach the average of early work ; those to the Antichrist
vary great ly,that of Anti chri st preach ing before a queen
bei ng extraord inari ly successfu l as a presentat ion of a
type of coarse sp i r i tual effrontery . The acknowledgedwork of Pruss i ncl udes ed i t ions of the travel s ofM ana
’e
m'
lle,of the D irectoriam H amanae Vitae
,and of the
F lores M asicae of Hugo Reutlingensis, with a ratherfamous cut showing how mus ical notes are produced bythe wind
,by a water wheel
,by tapping stones
,and
hammeri ng on an anvi l . Pruss al so pri nted severali l l ustrated ed i t ions of the H ortas Sanitatis
Far more pro l ific than e i ther of the forego i ng S trassburg pri nters was Johann Reinhard ofGriiningen , usual ly
F I N E B O O K S
cal led Grtininger after h i s birthplace . S ett ing n
press i n 1483 ,he began book-i l l u st rat ion two ear 1
wi th a German B i b l e wi th woodcuts Copied mmi n the Low German B i b l es pri n ted at Co logne an SC
i n 1483 at Nu remberg by Koberger. Some minorfo l lowed , and i n 149 1 he i ssued the An tidotan
'
as A a
of Nico laus de Sal i ceto , wi th rathe r rude bo rders tpage and a woodcut of the Assumpt ion . This
, how
l i ke some of h i s earl i e r i l l u st rated books ,
been'
a commiss ion ,and i n a repri n t of 1493 the d r
t ions d i sappear . I t was no t u nt i l 1496 ,under
fluence of S ebast ian Brant , that he undertoo
important o rigi nal i l l u st rated wo rk on his own a 1
I n that year he produced h i s fi rst i l lust rated c las t
comed ies of Te rence (Term/ins cum direclon'
o), 1
large woodcut of a theat re and e ighty-seven narroof the d ramat i s pe rsonae , o r of scenery . used 61
t ime i n 15 0 d i ffe ren t combi nat ion s . C ri t ica l ly exaithe cuts are rathe r unpleas i ng ,
and were regarded 1t ime as l i ke ly to provoke m i rth o the rw ise than bpress i ng the humo rous i nten t of the
playwrigh
another ed i t ion and a Ge rman t rans at ion S11
decorated appeared i n 1499 ,and G run inger is u 1
the same plan a H orace (edi ted by Locher) in 41,and the D e coaso/atitmo philosoplu
'
ae of Boe th115 0 1. H i s fu l l st rength wa s re se rved for the V:the fo l lowing year , wh ich was supe ri n tended byand i s crowded wi th wo nderfu l pictu res . in 1111
the very eve of the Renai s sance Virgi l is thormedievaliz ed. B es ides these c las s ics. G run ingermany o ther i l l u s t rated ed i t ion s , mino r works bymed ical treat i ses by B runschwig. an EmugdicnL t
’
gdlldd S . Kat/rcrimu’ i n Latm and also in Ge
ed i t ions of the H ort /( lax Am’
mo e , the romance 0
S chapler, etc ., i n the fi fteenth centu ry
. and in thteenth a suffi c i ent number of i l l u s trated books tl11s to tal u p to ab out 15 0 edi t ions .
The se may bto fo rm a schoo l by themse lves
.d i st ingu i shed
F I N E B O O K S
cal led Grun i nger after h i s b i rthp lace . Sett ing up h i s
press i n 1483 ,he began book i l l ustrat ion two years later
wi th a German B ible wi th woodcuts copied from thosei n the Low German B ibles pri nted at Co logne and usedi n 1483 at Nuremberg by Koberger. Some minor booksfo l lowed
,and i n 149 1 he i ssued theAntidotariasAn z
’
maeof Nico laus de Sal i ceto ,
with rather rude borders to each
page and a woodcut of the Assumpt ion . Thi s,however
,
l i ke some of hi s earl i er i l l ustrated books,appears to have
been'
a commiss ion,and i n a repri nt of 1493 the decora
t ions d isappear . I t was not unt i l 1496, under the influence of Sebast ian Brant , that he undertook anyimportant origi nal i l l ustrated work on hi s own account .I n that year he produced h is fi rst i l l ustrated class i c
,the
comedies of Terence (Terentias cam directorio), with a
large woodcut of a theatre and eighty-seven narrow cutsof the dramat i s personae
,or of scenery
,used fi ve at a
t ime i n 15 0 d i fferen t combinat ions . C ri t i cal ly examined,
the cuts are rather unpleas i ng,and were regarded at the
t ime as l i ke ly to provoke mi rth otherwi se than by express i ng the humorous i ntent of the playwright , butanother ed i t ion and a German trans lat ion s imi larlydecorated appeared i n 1499 ,
and Grun inger i ssued on
the same p lan a H orace (ed i ted by Locher) i n 1498 ,and the D e consolatione philosophiae of Boeth ius in
15 0 1. His fu l l strength was reserved for the Virgil ofthe fo l lowing year
,which was superi ntended by Brant ,
and i s crowded wi th wonderfu l pi ctures,i n which on
the very eve of the Renai ssance Vi rgi l i s thorough lymedievaliz ed. Bes ides these classi cs , Grun inger pri ntedmany other i l lustrated ed i t ions
,minor works by Brant ,
medical treat i ses by Brunschwig,an E vangelhenbach a
Legenda 5 . 1( atherinae in Lat i n and al so in German,
ed i t ions of the H ortalas Animae,the romance of Hug
S chapler, etc . , i n the fi fteenth century,and i n the s ix
teenth a sufficient number of i l l ustrated books to bri ngh i s total up to about 15 0 ed i t ions . These may be saidto form a schoo l by themse lves
,d i st i ngu i shed by a
E A R LY G E R M A N I L L U S T RAT I O N S
certai n ri chness of effect partly due to heavy cutt i ng ,but wi th less power of characteri zat ion and fewer gleamsof beauty than are to be found i n the best work of o thertowns
,the figures being often unp l eas i ng and notably
l ean i n the legs . Mart i n S cott , Hupfuff, and Kist lerwere other S trassburg pri n ters of the fi fteenth centurywho al so used i l lustrat ions .At Co logne book-i l l ustrat ion began i n 1474 wi th
ed i t ions of the F ascicalas Temporam ofWerner Ro l ewinck
,from the presses of ther Hoernen and Nico laus
Gotz . But wi th the notable except ion of two greatB ibles i ssued by Hein ri ch Quentell, i l l ustrated booksbefore 1490 are nei ther important nor numerous . Eveni n 1490 the ed i t ion of the H istoria Septem SapientamofJohannes de Hauteselve
,i ssued by the elder Koelhoff,
was adorned wi th cuts obtai ned from Gerard Leeu at
Antwerp . Quentell i ssued a few stock cuts i n one bookafter another
,and Johann Landen
,Mart i n von Werden
(i f he be right ly ident ified with the pri nter“ Retro
and Cornel i s von Zierickz ee all used a fewcuts
,some of the latter’s having a curious ly I tal ian
appearance . But the on ly important i l lustrated book ,other than the B ibles
,i s the Co logne Chron i cle , i ssued
(not to h i s profi t , s i nce he was impri soned for i t) by theyounger Koelhoff in 1499 ,
with armorial cuts and a fewp ictures of ki ngs and queens somewhat too frequent lyrepeated . Quentell
’
s Bibles i n H igh and Low Germanare i n curious contrast to all th i s work . They are
i l l ustrated wi th 125 large oblong p i ctures , fi rmly i frather coarsely cut
,and fu l l of story-tel l i ng power
,
several success ive i ncidents being sometimes broughti nto the same picture i n true med ieval fash ion . The
book was imi tated at Nuremberg and el sewhere,and
the i l lustrators of the Venet ian Malermi Bible of 1490 ,
and even Hans Ho lbei n h imsel f,d id not d isdai n to take
i deas from it .At Ltibeck a finely decorated ed i t ion of the Radi
mentam N ovicioram,a un iversal h i sto ry,
was i ssued by8
F I N E B O O K S
Lucas Brand i s as early as 1475 ,with some good pictorial
capital s, and p i ctures beginn ing wi th the C reat ion and
coming down to the l i fe of Christ . I n 1484 we come toa Levena
’
5 . jeronimi, pri nted by Bartho lomaeus Ghotanand i l l ustrated by an anonymous art i st whose work can
be traced duri ng the next ten years i n other books ofGhotan
’
s, i n several very i n terest i ng ed it ions by theun iden t ified “ Poppy-Pri nter (so cal l ed from his mark),i nclud i ng aDoa
’ena
’antz ( 1489 and [mitatio Christi,
B ergitten Ofi enbaringe Reynhe a’e V05
Schahspil, etc . , and i n the splend id Low German B iblepri nted i n 1494 by S tephan Arndes , with cuts wh ichimprove on those i n the Co logne ed i t ions .At Mai nz
,which led the way so energet ical ly i n
typography,book-i l l ustrat ion i s not represented at all
unt i l 1479 ,and then almost acc idental ly i n the M edita
tiones of Card inal Turrecremata,pri nted by Johann
Neumeister “ciuem Moguntinensem,
with th i rty-fourcurious metal-cuts imitat i ng on a smal ler scal e thewoodcuts i n the ed i t ions pri nted at Rome by U lri chHan . Two years later these metal-cuts were used byNeumeister at Albi
,and they are subsequent ly found
at Lyon . That th i s book was printed at Mai nz wasmade pract i cal ly certai n by the type appeari ng subse
quently i n the possess ion of Peter von Friedberg,but
that the cuts were executed at Mainz seemed to meimprobable unt i l the publ i cat ion of Dr. S chreiber
’
s workon German i l l ustrated books acquai n ted me wi th theexi stence of an Agena
’a M ogantinensis of 29 June ,
1480 ,al so attr ibuted to Neumeister’
s press , wi th a metalcut of S . Mart i n and the beggar, and the arms not on lyofArchbishop D i ether and the province of Mai nz , but ofCanon Bernhard von Breidenbach , of whom we shal lsoon hear agai n . The Agenda and i ts metal-cuts are
thus firmly fixed as executed at Mai nz,and the metal-cuts
of the M ea’itationes must therefore be regarded as Mai nz
work al so .
I n 1486 Mai nz atoned for her long delay i n taking up114
THE OBERLIN MUSICAL UNIONFounded 1860
MAURICE KESSLER , Conductor
presents
H AN D E L’
S
T H E M E S S I AH
ASSISTED BY
HELENA STM SSBURGER, soprano
M IRIAM BERG,contralto
WALTER HUFFM AN,tenor
DANIEL HARRIS, bass
LEO HOLDEN, organist
THE CONSERVATORY ORCHESTRA
FINNEY MEMORIAL CHAPEL
Sunday, December 8 , 1940, at p . m.
OVERTURETENOR REC ITATIVE—Comfort ye mypeopleTENOR ARIA—Ev ’ry valley shall be exaltedCHORUS—And the Glory ofthe LordBASS REC ITATIVE—Thus said the LordBASS ARIA—But who mayabide the dayofHis coming?ALTO REC ITATIVE—Behold, a virgin shall conceiveALTO ARIA AND CHORUS—O thou that tellest good tidings
BASS REC ITATIVE—For behold, darkness shall cover the earthBASS ARIA—The people that walked in darknessCHORUS—Forunto us a child is born
PASTORAL SYMPHONYSOPRANO REC ITATIVE—There were shepherds abiding in the fi eld
CHORUS—Glory to GodSOPRANO ARIA—Rejoice greatly, O daughterofZionALTO REC ITATIVE —Then shall the eyes of the blindbe openedALTO ARIA -He shall feedHisflock like a shepherdSOPRAN O ARIA—Come unto Him
CHORUS—Behold the Lamb ofGodCHORUS—Surely He hath borne ourgriefsCHORUS—Andwith His stripeswe are healedCHORUS—All we like sheep have gone astrayTENOR REC ITATIVE —Thyrebuke hath broken His heartTENOR AR IA —Beholdand see if there be anysorrowBASS ARIA—Whydo the nations so furiously rage together?CHORUS—HallelujahSOPRANO AR IA—I know thatmyRedeemer livethCHORUS—Since byman came deathBAss REC ITATIVE—Behold, I tell you amysteryBASS ARIA—The trumpet shall soundCHORUS—Worthy is the Lamb that was slainCHORUS—Amen
(Since 1743 it has been customary for the audience to
stand during the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus. )
F I N E B O O K S
Lucas Brand i s as early as 1475 ,with some good pictorial
capital s,and pictures beginn ing wi th the C reat ion and
coming down to the l i fe of Chri st . I n 1484 we come toa Levond S . jeronimi, prin ted by Bartho lomaeus Ghotanand i l l ustrated by an anonymous art i st whose work can
be traced duri ng the next ten years i n other books ofGhotan
’
s , i n several very i n terest i ng ed i t ions by theun identified “ Poppy-Pri nter (so cal led from his mark),i ncl ud i ng aDodendante (1489 and Imitatio Christi,B ergitten Openbaringe Reynhe de V05
Schahsjfi il, etc . , and i n the splend id Low German B ible
pri nted i n 1494 by S tephan Arndes, with cuts wh ichimprove on those i n the Co logne ed i t ions .At Mai nz
,which l ed the way so energetical ly i n
typography,book-i l l ustrat ion i s not represented at all
unt i l 1479 ,and then almost accidental ly i n the M edita
tiones of Card i nal Turrecremata,pri nted by Johann
Neumei ster “ciuem Moguntinensem,
with th i rty-fourcurious metal-cuts im itat i ng on a smal ler scal e thewoodcuts i n the ed i t ions pri nted at Rome by U l richHan . Two years later these metal-cuts were used byNeumeister at Albi
,and they are subsequent ly found
at Lyon . That th i s book was printed at Mai nz wasmade pract i cal ly certai n by the type appeari ng subse
quently i n the possess ion of Peter von Friedberg,but
that the cuts were executed at Mai nz seemed to meimprobable unt i l the publ i cat ion of Dr. S chreiber
’
s workon German i l l ustrated books acquai n ted me wi th theexi stence of an Agenda M ogantinensis of 29 June ,1480 ,
al so attr ibuted to Neumeister’
s press , with a metalcu t of S . Mart i n and the beggar
,and the arms not on ly
ofArchbishop D i ether and the province of Mai nz , but ofCanon Bernhard von Breidenbach , of whom we shal lsoon hear agai n . The Agenda and i ts metal-cuts are
thus firmly fixed as executed at Mai nz,and the metal-cuts
of the M editationes must therefore be regarded as Mai nzwork al so .
I n 1486 Mai nz atoned for her long delay in taking up114
IX . M A I NZ , E RHA RD REU \VIC H ,
F I N E B O O K S
sh ip of the ear l iest i l l ustrated books i nto a region of
conscious art .
Natural ly craftsmansh ip was not ext i ngu i shed by thearrival of a s i ngle art i st . We find i t at work again i nthe charming and l i tt l e known cut to a Leipz ig ed i t ion ofthe Eclogues of Theodulus
,pri n ted i n 149 1, which the
del ight of recent d i scovery tempts me to show here (seePlate X), and at Mai nz i tse l f i n the s imple cuts to theH ortas Sanitatis , pri nted by Meidenbach
,al so i n 149 1,
though here agai n there i s an advance,as i nstead ofp lants
and an imal s drawn out of the i l l ustrator’s head merely fordecorat ive effect we find i n many of the cuts fai r ly carefu lcop ies made from the l i fe .
I n Conrad Botho’
s Cronechen der .Sassen,pri nted by
S choeffer the fo l lowing year,most of the armorial i l l ustra
t ions and pictures of the foundat ion of towns are merelydecorat ively treated
,but i n one cut i n wh ich a rather
wi ld-looking Charlemagne wi th lean legs i s shown seatedi n a chai r of state surmounted by an eagle
,an i do l
crushed under h i s feet,the des igner has given free play
to h i s imagi nat ion .
The transi t ion to di fferent ideal s of i l l ustrat ion thus begun at Mai nz was carried on at Nuremberg , where M ichae lW olgemut i l l ustrated two important works , the Schatzbehalter i n 149 1 and the famous N aremherg Chronicle
i n 1493 , th i s latter wi th the help of h i s stepson , Wilhe lmPleydenwurff, and no doubt al so of several i n ferio rdes igners . The Schatz behalter, of which the text i sascribed to S tephanus Fridelinus
,aNurembergFranci scan ,
i s one of several examples of a too ambit ious scheme ofdecorat ion perforce abandoned for lack e i ther of t ime orofmoney . I n the fi rst hal f there are n inety-two d i fferentfu l l-page woodcuts
,most ly i l lustrat i ng S cripture h i story,
but i n some cases al l egori cal ; i n the second hal f thenumber i s no more than two . The pictures executedbefore the scheme was thus cut down vary great ly i nqual i ty
,from the fine des ign of Chri st kneel ing befo re
the throne of the Father and po i nt ing to the emblems116
E A R LY G E R M A N I L L U S T RAT I O N S
of the Pass ion , which prepares us for the work wh ichDurer , who was then be ing trai ned i nW olgemut
’
s stud io,
was soon to execute,down to the amus ing but un i nsp i red
craftsmansh ip of the picture of So lomon and a select ionof h i s wives banquet i ng . For the Liber Chronicaram of
Hartman Schedel plans had been much more carefu l lyworked out than for the Schatz behalter, and by studyingeconomy a seemingly profuse system of i l l ustrat ion wasmai ntai ned to the end . The industry of Mr . SydneyC ockerel l has evo lved for us the exact figures as to thei l l ustrat ion of th i s book . Real l iberal i ty i s shown i nthe large
,double-page topographical cuts of twenty-s ix
d i fferent c i t ies,for many of which sketches must have
been special ly obtai ned,and not one of these i s used a
second t ime but twenty-two other large cuts of c i t ies andcountries were made to serve for s ixty-n ine d i fferentsubjects
,and when we come to figures of emperors
,
kings,and popes we find n inety-s ix blocks used 5 98
t imes,or on an average hal f a dozen t imes ap i ece . Mr .
Cockerel l ’s grand total s are 1809 pictures pri nted from645 d i fferent b locks , so that the repet i t ions number no
fewer than 1164 . Both i n the des igns and thei r execut ionthere i s great i nequal i ty
,but no s i ngle pi cture can com
pare wi th that ofChrist knee l i ng before the Father i n theSchatz behalter
,and both books
,fine as thei r best work i s
,
must be regarded rather as the crown ofGerman med ievalc raftsmansh ip i n book-bu i ld ing than as belonging to the
pe riod of sel f-conscious art i st i c aim which i s heralded bythe Mai nz B reidenbach but real ly begi ns wi th Durer.With th i s Nuremberg work we may perhaps c lass
that I n the one book pri nted at the C i stercian monasteryat Z inna
,near Magdeburg
,the PsalteriamB eataeM ariae
Ve '
znzs of Hermann N1tschew1tz the most ri ch ly decorated German book of the fi fteenth century
,executed i n
honour of the Emperor Frederick and h i s son Maximi l ian , who i n the page here shown (Plate X I) are bothrepresented .
Primi t ive Dutch and Flemi sh book-i l l ustrat ions when
F I N E B O O K S
compared with German ones exh ibi t j ust the generall i keness and specific d i fferences which we might expecti n the work of such near neighbours . The Low Countrywood-cutters are on the who l e mo re decorat ive than theGermans
,they were more i nfluenced by the work of the
engravers on copper, and they were attracted by d i fferenttypes of the human figure , the faces and bod ies of themen and women they drew bei ng often long and th i n
,
and often al so showing a s l ight ly fantast i c touch rare lyfound i n German work . Unfortunate ly
,these Low
Country i l lustrated books are even rarer than the Germanones
,far fewer of them have found the i r way to England ,
and no attempt has been made to reproduce a real lyrepresentat ive select ion of them in facs im i le . I n 1884 SirW . M . Conway , as the resu l t of pro longed stud ies on theCont i nent
,wrote an excel lent account of these i l l ustrat ions
and the makers of them under the t i t le,The Woodcatters
of the N etherlands in the F ifteenth Centary,which was
unhappi ly al lowed to appear wi thout any facs imi les toelucidate the text . Thus the study of these Low Countryi l l ustrated books i s st i l l d ifficu l t .I n the product ion of the early block-books (see Chapter
I I) the Low Countri es had played a pri nc ipal part , andwe meet agai n with traces of them in later i l lu stratedbooks
,cuts from the B iblia Paaperam bei ng used by
Peter van Os at Zwo l l e i n h i s Episteln ende E vangelien
of 5 January , 148 7 , and one from the Canticam Canti
coram i n h i s ed i t ion ofMauberne’
s RosetamE xercitioramSpiritaaliam i n 1494 . Two cut—up p i eces from the blockbook Specalam H amanae Salaationis were used byVeldener i n h i s Episteln ende E vangelien completed at
Utrecht 19 Apri l , 148 1, and all the old blocks,each
d ivided i n two,i n a new ed it ion of the Sfi ecalam pri nted
at Kui lenburg 27 S eptember , 1483 ,with twelve new
cuts added to them . S irW . M . Conway has al so shownthat a set of s ixty-four cuts used i n a B oec van derH oate
or Legend of the Ho ly C ross,i ssued by Veldener at
Kui lenburg earl ier i n 1483 (on 6 March), must have118
f Cnnpmhhbttsvtodtgfi t ibgmanmariam1111110111 i’
ndi’
ciumqw’
a
lm'
nlhaaeainmme etpmmelias ti urgent; gmtétfill'
ert15g1;mam a; crime termite.
X I . Z IN NA . M ONASTER I U M C I STERC IEN SE, 0 1493
F I N E B O O K S
special ly des igned cuts (most ly about four i nches bytwo), and Leeu s l iberal i ty was rewarded by the book
pass i ng through n ine ed i t ions , s ix i n Lat i n and threei n Dutch
,i n e leven years . The fi rst page i s decorated wi th
a picture of the Sun and Moon,a large capi tal
,and an
o rnamental border of fo l iage , but the meri t of the bookl ies I n the s imp l e ski l l wi th which the craftsman , work ingent i rely 1n outl i ne , has reproduced the humour of the text .To the same hand are attr ibuted ten cuts for Leeu’
s
vernacu lar Gesta Romanoram (3 0 Apri l , four foran undated H istoria Septem Sat ientam,
and four others,
of the Four Last Things,which
,to our puzzlement ,
appear fi rst i n a French ed i t ion pri nted by Arend deKeysere at Audenarde
,and then (23 August , 1482) i n
a Dutch one of Leeu’
s . I n the previous month he hadbrought out a L iden ende t assie ons H eeren wi th th i rtytwo quarto cuts
,part of a set of s ixty-eight made for
ed i t ions of the D enote Ghetiden or Dutch vers ion of theH orae
,the fi rst of which (un less a Gouda one has
peri shed) appeared after h i s removal to Antwerp . Duri ngthe fo l lowing n ine years he made good use ofh i s old blocks .For hi s Dutch Aesot ofOctober
,148 5 ,
and Lat i n ed i t ionofSeptember
,1486 ,
he used cuts copied from the o rigi nalU lm and Augsburg set . These he bought from Knoblochtz er of S trassburg and so l d to Koelhoff of Co logne .I n 148 7 he i ssued an i l l ustrated Reynard the F ox
,ofwhich
on ly a fragment survives,and the p l easant romance of
Paris and Vi,
enne with twenty-fi ve fai rly successfu l cuts ,with the help of which five ed i t ions were so ld
,the fi rst 1n
French,the next three i n Dutch
,and the last (23 J une ,
1492) i n Engl i sh . Accord i ng to S ir W . M . Conwaythese Paris and Vienne cuts were the work of a Haarlemcraftsman
,who from 1483 to 1486 had worked for Jacob
B ellaert,whose press was i n t imately connected wi th
Leeu’
,s type and cuts pass i ng freely from one to the
o ther . B ellaert had begun by us ing some of Leeu’
s
Pass ion cuts for a Liden ons H eeren,but seems soon to
have d i scovered h i s Haarlem wood-cutter,with whose aid
E A R LY D U T C H I L L U S T RAT I O N S
he produced (15 February , 1484)Der Sonderen troest,The
S i nners’ Trust
,a Dutch vers ion of that remarkable work
the B elial or Consolatio peccatoram of Jacobus deTheramo ,
ofwhich the Augsburg ed i t ion has al ready beenmentioned . This begins wi th a fu l l fo l io-page cut combin ing i n one panorama the -Fal l of Angel s and ofAdamand Eve
,the Flood
,the Egypt ians overtaken i n the Red
Sea,and the Bapt i sm of Christ . S ix of the o ther cuts
fi l l hal f-pages and show the Harrowing of Hel l (herereproduced , Plate X I I), Devi l s i n consu l tat ion , Satankneel i ng before the Lord
,the Last J udgment
,Ascens ion
and Descent of the Ho ly Sp i r i t . The remai n i ng hal f
page pictu res are all compos i te,made up of d i fferent
combinat ions of eight centre-p i eces and seventeen s idep ieces . The centre-p i eces for the most part represent thed i fferent j udges before whom the trial s are heard
,the
s ide-pieces the messengers and part ies to the su i t . Thecombinat ions are occas ional ly a l i tt l e c lumsy
,but far l ess
so than i n the S trassburg books pri nted by Griiningeri n wh ich the same labour-saving device was adopted , andi n excel lence ofdes ign and del icacy of cutt i ng th i s DutchB elial ranks h igh among i l lustrated i ncunabu la.
Later i n 1484 (25 October) B ellaert i ssued a B oech desGolden Throens with four-co l umn cuts
,often repeated , of
an Elder in struct i ng a maiden ; i n May,1485 ,
Le Fevre’s
jason ,and a l i tt l e earl ier than th i s an undated ed i t ion of
the same author’s Recaeil des histoires de Troie
,both i n
Dutch and both profusely i l lustrated ; on C hri stmas Evei n the same year a Dutch D e fi rofi rietatibas reram
,and
i n 1486 vers ions of Pierre Michault’
s D octrinal,i n wh ich
a dreamer i s shown the schoo l s of vi rtue and of vice,and
of Gui l laume de Deguilleville’
s Pe’
le’
rinage de la vie
hamaine, the med ieval prototype of Bunyan
’s Pilgrim’
s
Progress . The D o fi roprietatibas i s the on ly one of thesebooks of 148 5
—6 that I have seen,and i ts fu l l-page cuts
are notable both for the i r own sake and as having beenwidely copi ed , al though they i l l ustrate on ly eleven of then i neteen books .
F I N E B O O K S
No other Low Country pri nter showed anyth i ng l ikethe enterpri se of Leeu and Bellaert i n commiss ion inglong sets of origi nal woodcuts from competent craftsmen
,
but several fine i l l ustrated books were produced by otherfi rms . Beginn i ng i n 1484 Peter van Os pri nted numerousi l l ustrated books at Zwo l l e , few ofwhich attai n excel lence .Yet one of the earl i est of them
,the Sermons ofS . Bernard ,
has a fronti spiece of the Vi rgi n and Ch i ld and the Sai n tgaz i ng at them wh ich i s unequal led by any o ther s i nglecut i n the Low Country book i n i ts large pictorial effect .At Gouda
,i n 1486 ,
Gottfried van Os issued the ChevalierDelibe
’
re’
of Ol ivier de la Marche,with s ixteen large
cuts,i n which the autho r’s minute i nstruct ions for each
p i cture are fai th fu l ly carried out with extraord i naryfreedom and spi r i t
,though the ambit ious des igns are
more su i table to frescoes than to book-i l l ustrat ions .About the end of the century the book was repri n ted at
S ch iedam with the same cuts,from which facs im i l es
were made i n 1898 by Dr. Lippmann and publ i shed bythe B ibl iograph ical Society .
At Louvai n in 148 7 Egid ius van der Heerstraten
i ssued the D e praeclaris malieribas of Boccaccio withcopies of the cuts of the U lm ed i t ion of great i nterestfor the d i fferences i n hand l i ng reveal ed when the twoare compared . A l i tt le later than th i s another Louvai npr i n ter
,Ludovicus de Ravescot
,publ i shed the De anno
die et feria Dominicae Passionis of Petrus de Rivo ,
with a t i t l e-cut of the author kneel i ng before the Virgi nand Chi ld , and three-large cuts of the Last S upper,C rucifixion
,and Resurrect ion , somewhat i n the temper of
the i l l ustrat ions i n the Co logne B ib les,but wi th character
istic Low Country touches . Last ly , ment ion must bemade of the clumsy out l i ne cuts i n the B ruges ed i t ion ofOvid ’s M etamorphoses, i ssued i n 1484 by Caxton
’
s partnerColard Mans ion . Mans ion certai n ly , and poss ibly Caxtonal so
,were among the ear ly experimenters wi th copperplate
i l l ustrat ion,but the story of these wi l l be to l d i n
Chapter XV .
122
F I N E B O O K S
overe ightywoodcuts ofweapons and implements ofwar,i nclud i ng a gal ley which looks more picturesque than seaworthy
,chariots
,and mangonel s
,all wel l drawn and wel l
cut,but a l i tt l e spo i l t by paper and presswork much less
good than was usual at th i s t ime . Eleven years laterLat i n and I tal ian ed i t ions wi th pract i cal ly the same cutswere pri nted
,al so at Verona
,by B oninus de B oninis .
The on ly o ther early Veronese book with i l l ustrat ions i san I tal ian vers ion of one of the med ieval co l lect ions offables wh ich sought shel ter under the name of Aesop .
This,which has some spi ri ted cuts
,was pri nted by
Giovann i Alvi se i n 1479 .
At Napl es , S ixtus Riessinger pri nted Boccaccio’s
Libro di F lorio et di B ianz efi ore chiamato F ilicolo i n1478 , and al so (without date) an I tal ian vers ion of Ovid
’sH eroides
,both wi th numerous cuts
,some of them by no
means devo i d of charm . I n 148 5 an i l l ustrated Aesopwas produced at the expense of a book-lovi ng j uri st
,
Francesco Tuppo ,probably from the press of certai n
fi delissimi German i . The cuts i n th i s,which are hard
and heavy but of cons iderable meri t (see Plate X IV), mayposs ibly be due to a mixture of I tal ian and German influences
,but are more probably the work of a Span i sh
wood-cutter . A picture of an astronomer engaged on
h i s cal cu lat ions found i n the Arte di Astrologia of
Granollachs,probably al so pri nted i n 148 5 , may be from
the same hand . I n the Aesop each p icture i s placed i nan arch i tec tural frame
,i n the upper sect ions of which
there are representat ions sometimes of Hercu les and a
l ion,sometimes of h i s wrest le wi th Antaeus , sometimes
of a batt le of mounted pygmies . The fi rst page of textal so has a fine decorat ive border , the des ign bei ng i nwh ite on a black ground .
At Florence an ornamental capi tal i n a Psalter
pri nted i n 1489 i s the earl iest woodcut i n any extantdated book . But engravi ngs on copper had been em
p loyed as early as 1477 for three pi ctures i n B ettini’
s
M on te Santo di D io,and i n 148 1 for n i neteen i n aD ioina
124
EA RLY I TA L I A N I L L U ST RAT I O N S
Commedia ; as to these someth i ng wi l l be said i nChapter XV .
Two books pri nted at Mi lan i n 1479 contai n i l l ustrat ions
,the Sammala dijfi aczfi ca conscientia of Fra Pacifi co
d i Novara,being ornamented with three engravings ; two
of the degrees of consangui n i ty and the th i rd of a crownbeari ng the names of the vi rtues of the Madonna
,whi l e
the B reaiariam totias jaris canonici of Pao lo Attavanti
pri nted by Pachel and Scinz enz eler has a l i tt l e woodcut,
which purports to be a portrai t of the author .I n Ven ice book-i l l ustrat ion appears to have begun i n
the office not of a printer,but of an i l l uminator . Qu i te
a number of books pri nted by various fi rms duri ng the
years 1470 to 1472 have a woodcut groundwork to thei ri l l umi nated borders
,and i n the Spencer copy of the
I tal ian B i ble (Malermi’s trans lat ion), pri nted i n 147 1
by Adam of Ammergau ,the s ix m in iatures of the
C reat ion , with which the blanks left on leaves 11 and
12 are fi l led,have i n the same way rough woodcuts
beneath thei r co louri ng.
1 The workshop m which these decorated borders and m in iatures were suppl ied seems to haveclosed or given up the practi ce i n 1473 ,
and unti l ErhardRatdolt and h i s partners Loslein andMal er began publ i shi ng i n 1476, no more woodcuts were produced at Ven ice .
The work of the new firm was decorat ive rather than
p i ctorial , cons i st i ng mai n ly of the fine borders and cap i tall etters wi th which they ornamented thei r Calendars (1476 ,
1477 , and thei r Appian ,Gesta Petri M ocenici of
Corio lanus Cepio andD e sita orbis ofD ionys iusPeriegetes,all i n 1477 , Arte di ben morire of the fo l lowing year, andE aclid of 1482 . With the except ion of the earl ierCal endars
,where the borders to the t i t lepage (the fi rst
so decorated) are of flower-vases , these consi st of high lyconvent ional i zed fo l iage (jasmine ? vine , oak, etc . ) or
1 I n the masterly work of the Prince d’
Essling on Les times afi guresthe discovery of this interesting fact is inadverten tly ascribed to Mr. Guppy , thepresent librarian of the John Rylands Library . I t was made by his predecessor,Mr. Gordon Duff
,a note by whom on the subject was quoted in my I talian B oo/e
]llastratz'
ons (p . published in 1894 .
F I N E B O O K S
strapwork , some of them unequal l ed i n thei r own kindunt i l Wi l l iam Morri s combined the same sk i l l wi th a
much bo lder and ri cher treatment of h i s material . I l l ustration properly so cal led begins with Georg Walch
’
s
ed i t ion (1479) of the F ascicalas Temporam,a chrono
logical epi tome by Werner Rolewinck of Co logne . Thishas a quai n t l i tt l e vi ew of the Piazza of San Marco and
other p i ctu res , which Ratdolt,not at all handsomely
,
proceeded to copy the next year . I n 148 1 Ratdolt
adorned the Tractatas deActionibas ofBapti sta de SanctoBlas io with rather a gracefu l l i tt l e figure of a womanho ld i ng the stem of a t ree . I n 1482 he produced an
ed i t ion of the Poeticon Astronomicon of Hyginus wi thsome figures of the p lanets wh ich , rude as they were
,
served as model s for many subsequent ed i t ions . I n thesame year the Oratoriae artis epitomata of JacobusPublicius was ornamented with some figures i nclud ing achessboard
,cut i n wh ite on black
,des igned to ass i s t the
memory .
I n the later years of h IS stay at Ven ice,Ratdolt seems
to have lost i nterest i n book-decorat ion , but the populari tyof woodcuts steadi ly i ncreased throughout the ’eight ies
,
and by the end of the decade was i n fu l l t ide . I n 1484B ernardinus B enalius gave some rough i l l ustrat ions tothe F ioretti of Sai n t Franci s ; i n 1486 Pietro C remonesebestowed a formal but qu i te i nterest i ng decorated t i t l e
page ou the Doctrinale of Alexander Gal l us,wi th the
t i t l e i n scribed i n a cartouche,above which ri se an urn
and lamps . I n the same year we have i n the Sago/ementam Chronicaram pri nted by B ernardinus B enalius a
few cuts of some size translated”
i n to an I tal ian stylefrom those on the same subject i n Quentell
’
s Co logneB ib le (c . al so a l i tt l e view of Ven ice copied i nreverse from the F ascicalas Temporam. The Supplementam Chronicaramwas re-i s sued several t imes (the author,Jacobus Phi l ippus B ergomensis , bri ngi ng the statementofh is age up to date i n each ed i t ion which he revi sed), andchanges were constant ly made i n the cuts . I n 1486 al so
126
APOLoovs
Inge lafabulaprefentc lauita 86 It coflumc qualcamino ft adc (q uirep 85 qualc fe adc fugirc .LibominidcAétmc chc crano in Iiberta 8C loro
daperfefc faca no lc lcgidcfi dcrofidc bautteRedifpiaccndolc la loro
F I N E B O O K S
as showing that from the t ime ofErhard Ratdolt onwardsbook-i l l ustrat ions are found wi th some frequency at
Ven ice,a fact for which
,unt i l the Pri nce publ i shed the
resu l ts of h i s unwearyi ng researches , there was very l i tt l eevidence avai lable .
The event of 1490 was the publ i cat ion by Lucanton ioGiunta ofan ed i t ion of Nicco lo Malermi’s I tal ian vers ionofthe B ible , i l lustrated with 3 84 cuts , manyofthem charming
,measuri ng about three i nches by two . The success of
th i s set a fash ion , and several important fo l io books i ndouble co l umns s imi larly i l l ustrated appeared during thenext few years
,a Vite diSanctiPadre i n 149 1, Boccaccio
’sD ecamerone , Masuccio
’
s N ovellino,and a Legendario
trans lated from the Lat i n of Jacobus de Voragine i n1492,
a r ival I tal ian B ible and an I tal ian Livy i n 1493 ,
a M organte M aggiore i n 1494 , and an I tal ian Terencei n 1497 ,
whi le i n quarto we have a M iracoli de laM adonna Vita de la Verg ine and Trabisonda
[storiata Gaerrino M eschino and severalothers . I n some of these books cuts are found s ignedwith F
,i n others wi th N
,i n others wi th i or ia ; i n the
Malermi B ible and some o ther books we sometimes findthe s ignatu re b or .b . Such s ignatu res
,which at one
t ime aroused keen controversy,are now bel ieved to have
belonged not to the des igner , but to the workshop of the
wood-cutters by whom the b locks were cut . I n the caseof the Malermi Bibl e of 1490 workmen of very varyingsk i l l were employed , some of the i l lustrat ions to theGospel s bei ng empt i ed of all del ight by the rudenessof thei r cutt i ng . Where the des igner and the cutter areboth at thei r best the resu l t i s near ly perfect of i ts k i nd
,
and i t i s curious to th i nk that some of these dai nty l i tt leblocks were imitated from the large , heavy woodcutsi n the Co logne B ibles pri nted by Quentell some ten yearsearl ier . I n the rival B ible of 1493 the best cuts are not
so good , nor the worst so bad as i n the origi nal ed i t ionof 1490 . I n the o ther books (I have not seen the Masuccio)the cutt i ng i s agai n more even , but the des igns , though
128
E A R L Y I T A L I A N I L L U S T R A T I O N S
often charming and sometimes amusing , are seldom as
good as the best i n the B ible . Most of these bookshave one or more larger cuts used at the beginn i ngof the text or of sect ions of i t , and these are always good .
Two ed i t ions ofDante’s D ivina Commedia,both pub
lished i n 149 1, one by B ernardinus B enalius and MatheoCodeca i n March
,the other by Pietro C remonese i n No
vember, must be grouped with the books j ust ment ioned ,as they are al so i l lustrated wi th smal l cuts (though thosei n the November ed i t ion are a good deal larger than theusual co l umn-cuts), and these are s igned i n some caseswi th the letter .b . which appears i n the Malermi B ibleof 1490 . Neither des igner has tr iumphed over themonotonous effect produced by the cont inual reappearance of the figures of Dante and h i s gu ide
,and the l i tt l e
cuts i n the March ed i t ion are far from impress ive . Onthe other hand i t has a good fronti spiece
,i n which
,after
the medieval habi t , the successive i ncidents of the firstcanto of the I nferno are all crowded i nto the samepicture .Popu lar as were the l i tt l e v ignettes
,they were far
from exhaust i ng the energies of the Venet ian i l lustratorsof th i s decade . At the Oppos i te po l e from them are thefour ful l-page pictures i n the 1493 and later ed i t ions of
the F ascicolo de M edicina of Joannes Ketham. Theserepresent a phys ician lecturi ng
,a consu l tat ion
,a d i s
section,and a vi s i t of a doctor to an i n fect ious pat ient ,
whom he views by the l ight of two flambeaux held bypages
,whi le he smel l s h i s pouncet
-.box This picture
(i n the foreground ofwhich sits a cat,afterwards cut out
to reduce the s ize of the block) i s perhaps the finest ofthe four , but that of the D i ssect ion has the i nterest ofbeing pri nted i n several co lours . Erhard Ratdolt hadmade some experiments i n co lour-pri nt i ng 1n the astronomical books which he prin ted at Ven ice
,and at Augsburg
completed the crucifixion cut i n some of h i s missal s
part ly by pri nted co lours , part ly by hand . I n 1490 a
Venetian pri nter,Johann Herzog
,had i l l ustrated the
9 I ZQ
F I N E B O O K S
D e H eredibas of Johannes C ri spus de Montibus witha genealogical t ree growing out of a recumbent humanfigure
, and had pri nted th i s i n brown , green , and red .
But the d i ssect ion i n the F ascicolo di M edicina was themost e laborate of the Venet ian experiments i n co lourpri nt i ng and apparent ly al so the last .W i th the i l l ustrat ions to the Ketham may be men
tioned for i ts large pictorial effect , though it comes in a
quarto,the fine cut of the autho r i n the Doctrina della
vita monastica of San Lorenzo Giust i n iano,
fi rstpatriarch of Ven ice . The figure of San Lorenzo as hewalks wi th a book under h i s arm and a hand held upi n bened ict ion i s imitated from that i n a picture byGenti le B el l i n i , but he i s here shown (Plate XV) precededby a charming l i tt le cruci fer
,whose ch i ld i sh face enhances
by contrast the austerer ben ign i ty of the sai n t .However good the large i l lustrat ions i n Venet ian
books,the meri ts of them are rather those of s i ngle pri nts
than of real ly appropriate bookwork . The l i tt le co l umncuts
,on the o ther hand
,are almost playfu l i n thei r
minuteness,and even when most successfu l produce the
effect of a del ightfu l border or tai lp iece wi thout qu i teattai n i ng to the fu l l poss ib i l i t i es of book-i l l ustrat ion .
The feveri sh product ion of these co l umn-cuts began tos lacken
,though i t d id not cease
,i n 1493 ,
and about thatdate a few charming fu l l-page pictures are found at thebegi nn i ng and end of various smal l quartos . From thetreatment of the man ’s hai r and beard i t i s c lear that thedel ightfu l front i sp iece to the F ioretti della B iblia of 1493
(Prince d’
E ssling ,I,16 1) was the work of the i l l ustrato r
of the second Malermi Bible from which the smal l cutsi n the text are taken . The three cuts to the F iorettiof S . Franci s , completed 11 J une i n the same year
,
that of the Chome l’
angelo amaestra l’
anima of PietroDamian i
,dated i n the fo l lowing November
,ofan undated
M onte de la Oratione, and agai n of the D e la confessioneof S . Bernard i no of S i ena
,all i n the same style
,form
a group of s i ngu lar beauty (see Pri nce d’
Essling , I , 284130
XV . VEN I CE , ANONYM OU S PRE SS , 1494
F I N E B O O K S
Fi rst Fo l io Shakespeare , and thus i ts meri ts havebecome known to all lovers of O ld books . I t i s im
press ive , moreover , from i ts s ize and the profus ion of
its 168 i l l ustrat ions of var ious s izes,whi le the extra
ord inary variety of these and the excel lence of thei rcutt i ng are further po i n ts i n i ts favour . The i n i t ialletters of the success ive chapters form the sentencePOLIAM FRATER FRANC ISCUS COLVMNA PERAMAVI T
,and
th i s wi th the co lophon ass ign i ng the completion of thebook to May
-Day, 1467 , at Trevi so ,reveal s the author
as Francesco Co lonna,a Domin ican
,who had taught
rhetori c at Trevi so and Padua,and i n 1499 ,
when h i sbook was pri nted , was st i l l al ive and an i nmate of theconvent of SS . Giovann i and Pao lo at Ven ice . The
Po l ia whom he so great ly loved has been ident ified withLucret ia Lel io
,daughter ofa j uri sconsu l t at Trevi so .
The story of the Hypnerotomachia ,or S tri fe ofLove
i n a Dream ,as i ts Engl i sh translator cal l ed i t
,i s great ly
i nfluenced by the Renai ssance i nterest i n antique arch itectu re and art which i s evident i n so many of i tsi l l ustrat ions . Polifi lo
’
s dreams are fu l l,as the preface
wri ter says,of
“ mo l te cose ant iquar i e d igne di memor1atutto quel lo
.
l u i d i ce hauere visto d i puncto i n punctoper propri i uocabuli el lo descriue cum elegante st i lo
,
pyramidi, obelisce , ru i ne maxime d i edifi cii, la d i fferent iad i columne
,la sua mensura
,gl i capi te l l i
,base
,epistyli,
etc . etc . But he i s brought al so to the palace of QueenE leuterylida, and whi le there wi tnesses the tri umphsor fest ival s of Eu ropa
,Leda
,Danae
,Bacchus
,Vertum
nus,and Pomona
,which prov ide several attract ive
subj ects for the i l lustrator . The second part of the booki s somewhat l ess purely antiquar ian . Lucrezia Lel iohad entered a convent after be ing attacked by the plaguewh ich vis i ted Trevi so from 1464 to 1466, and so hereal so Po l ia i s made to take refuge i n the temple of D iana,whence
,however
,she i s d riven on account of the V i s i ts
of Polifi lo,with whom ,
by the aid of Venus,she i s
u l t imately un ited .
132
E A R L Y I T A L I A N I L L U S T R A T I O N S
One other po i n t to be ment ioned i s that many of thefu l l-page Venet ian i l l ustrat ions , both i n quartos and
fo l ios , have quas i-arch i tectural borders to them ,the foot
p i ece being sometimes fi l led wi th ch i ldren rid i ng griffi nsor other grotesques
,whi le schoo l-books were o ften made
more attract ive to young readers by a border i n whi ch a
master i s flogging a boy duly horsed for the purpose onthe back of a schoo l fe l low . I n two of the most gracefu lofVenetian borders
,those to the H erodotas of 1494 (and
al so i n the 1497 ed i t ion of S . Jerome’s Ep i st les) and
Johann Mul ler’s epi tome of Pto l emy’
s Almagest (ofthe des ign i s p i cked out i n wh ite on a black
ground .
A few Florent i ne woodcut i l l ustrat ions have bordersof the k i nd j ust mentioned i n which the des ign standsout i n wh i te on a black ground . I n one of these bordersthere are rather ugly candelabra at the s ides
,at the top
two lovers faci ng each other i n a c irc le supported byCupids
,at the foot a sh ield supported by boys stand ing
on the backs of couchant stags . Another has mermenat the top, a sh ield wi th i n a wreath supported by eaglesat the foot
,and floral ornaments and armour at the s ides .
I n a th i rd on ei ther s ide of the sh ie ld i n the footpieceboys are t i l t i ng at each other mounted on boars . I n a
fourth are shown sai nts and some of the emblems of thePass ion , supported by angel s . But as a ru le , whi lenearly all Florent i ne woodcuts have borders these are
on ly from an eighth to three-sixteenths ~ of an i nch i ndepth , and the pattern on them i s a l eaf or flower orsome convent ional des ign of the s imp lest poss ib le k i nd .
A very few cuts have on ly a ru le round them ,one of the
largest a trip l e ru le . A rude cut of the C rucifixion i sfound i n Francesco d i D i no
’s 1490 ed i t ion of Cavalca’
s
Specchio di Croce surrounded by a rope-work bordertwo-fi fths ofan i nch deep
,and th i s border , part ly broken
away , al so surrounds a real ly beauti ful P ieta (Chri ststanding i n a tomb
,His cross beh i nd H im ,
His handsupheld by angel s) in Miscomini
’
s 1492 ed it ion of
I 3 3
F I N E B O O K S
Savonaro la’s Trattato dell’
Umilta. When the same
publ i sher used D i no’
s C rucifixion cut,al so i n 1492, for
Savonaro la’
s Tractato dell’
Amore di Gesa,he left i t
without e i ther border or ru le round i t,the on ly i nstance
of a Florent i ne cut so treated i n the fifteenth century .
Dr. Pau l Kristeller, whose r i ch ly i l lustrated monographon E arly F lorentine Woodcats (Kegan Paul , 1897) i s thestandard work on the subject
,suggests with much
p laus ib i l i ty that these two cuts , of the C rucifixion and
the P ieta,were original ly made for earl ier books now lost
,
and belong to an o l der schoo l ofwood-cutt i ng,more aki n
to that wh ich produced the few extant Florent i ne s i ngl e
prin ts .
The earl i est work of the new schoo l of i l l ustrat ion i sthe magn ificent cut of the Vi rgi n i n a mandorla appeari ng to S . Jacopone da Tod i as he kneel s i n prayer . This ,surrounded by the triple ru le al ready mentioned
,i s
prefixed to an ed i t ion of Jacopone’
s Lande pri nted byFrancesco Buonacorsi and dated 28 S eptember
,1490 .
Apparent ly the earl i est dated cut with a typical Florent i ne border i s that to the Lanare ofGranollachs pri ntedby Lor. Morgiani and Giovann i da Magonza i n September
,149 1. I t measures more than 6 i nches by 4 , and
i s copied,and transfi gured i n the process , from the heavy
cut i n a Naples ed i t ion of 148 5 . Two months later thesame firm i ssued the Soliloqaii of S . Augusti ne wi th an
extraord i nari ly fine t i t le-cut of the sai n t (the same pictu red id duty i n 1493 for S . Anton ino) wri t ing at a desk i nh i s cel l . This has a border
,but wi th a white ground
i nstead of a black . On 1 January,149 1
-2,st i l l from the
same fi rm,we have surely the prett i est Ari thmeti c ever
pr i n ted,that of Fi l ippo Calandri
,with del ightfu l l i tt l e
p ictures and border pieces,cut i n s imple out l i ne
,i n
the Venet ian rather than the Floren t i ne manner . On20 March
,Morgiani and h i s partner produced a new
ed i t ion of B ettini’
s M onte Santo di D io with the threecopperplates of 148 1
“
(see Chapter XV) sk i l fu l ly trans latedi nto du ly bordered woodcuts
,the fi rst two fi l l i ng a fo l io
134
F I N E B O O K S
pai nted the Massacre of the I nnocents,as an episode i n
Gh i rlandajo’s al tarpi ece at the I nnocent i
,that he must
have been one of the more famous pai nter’s apprent i cesi n the years 148 1
-5 , and subsequent ly helped h im with
al tarp i eces at Lucca and at the Accademia at Florence ,and pai n ted a fresco for the church of S . Frediano at
Lucca and numerous fronts to the cassoni or ornamentalchests
,which were at th i s period the most decorat ive
art i c les of Florent i ne furn i ture . As a minor pai n terBarto lommeo d i G iovann i 1 i s pronounced by Mr . Berenson to have been i ncapable of produc ing on the scal e ofl i fe a figure that can support i nspect ion i n predel le andcassone-fronts he i s “ feeb le
,i f v ivacious , and scarce ly
more than pleasant,
” yet wi th no authent icated work tobu i ld on except the predel l e i n the I nnocent i , Mr .Berenson does not hes i tate to assert that “ i n Florencebetween 1490 and 15 00 few apparent ly
,i f any,
i l l ustratedbooks were publ i shed without woodcuts forwhich Alunnod i Domen ico ‘ furn i shed the des igns
,and on the strength
of th i s assumpt ion bestows on h im the prai se,amp ly
deserved by the Florent i ne schoo l as a who l e , that he wasa book-i l l ustrator
,charming as few in vi s ion and
i n terpretat ion,with scarce ly a rival for dai nt i ness and
refinement of arrangement,spac i ng and d i stribut ion of
black and white . Mr . B erenson ’
s theories obl ige h imto cred i t Barto lommeo with having copied at l east fromFi l ippo Lippi , Bott i cel l i , and Piero d i Cos imo
,as wel l
as from Ghi rlandajo,and push the l i cence accorded
to conno i sseursh ip”
to i ts extreme l imi t . As I haveal ready acknowledged el sewhere , 11 i f any one man i s to becred i ted with the who le , or nearly the who le of theFlorent i ne book-i l l ustrat ions of th i s decade
,a minor
art i s t used to pai n t i ng predel le and cassone-fronts wouldbe the right k i nd of man for the task , but on the very
1 Mr. Berenson prefers to call him “Alunno di Domenico, Ghirlandajo’
s
pupfl.
2 Introduction to the Roxburghe Club edition (presen ted by Mr. DysonPerrins) of the Epz
’
stole et E vangelii of 14 9 5 .
136
E A R L Y I T A L I A N I L L U S T R A T I O N S
scanty evidence at present avai lable I am personal ly morei ncl i ned to attribute such un i ty as can be traced i n theseFlorent i ne cuts to the i r having all come from one largewood-cutter
’s shOp, without attempti ng to trace them backto a s i ngle des igner .I n the year 1492,
when the form of the Florent i newoodcuts had become fai rly fixed
, Savonaro la was cal ledto the death-bed of Lorenzo the Magn ificent , on ly to
refuse h im abso l ut ion . H is Amore di Gesaand Trattatodell
’
Umiltawere printed i n June of that year by M iscomin i
,each decorated w1th a s i ngle cut . Duri ng the s ix
years end ing with h i s execut ion i n May,1498 , some
twenty-three d i fferent tracts from his pen , i l l ustratedwi th one or more woodcuts , were pri nted at Florence ,most of them in several d i fferent ed i t ions . I n the D e
S implicitate Christianae vitae (1496) a friar i s shownwri t i ng i n h i s cel l ; i n other cuts we see a friar preachi ng
, or vis i t i ng the convent of the Murate”
or Reclusesof Florence , or talk i ng wi th seven Florent i nes under atree
,but i n no case has any attempt been made at por
traiture . This i s true al so of the Compendio di Revela
tione i n which there are some charming cutsshowing Savonaro la escorted by four ho ly women repre
sent i ng S imp l i c i ty , Prayer , Pat i ence , and Fai th , on an
embassy to the B lessed Vi rgin . I n the fi rst of thesethey meet the devi l att i red as a hermit ; i n the secondthey arrive at the gate of the celest ial c i ty ofwhich thewal l i s crowded with sai nts and angel s ; i n the th i rd theyare ushered forth by S . Peter . A tract by Domen icoB enivieni i n defence ofSavonaro la, bes ides a cut of theusual s i ze represent i ng B enivieni argu ing with h i s opponents
,has a fu l l-p age one of the river of blood flowing
from Chri st’s wounds and s i nners cleans i ng themselvesi n i t and mark i ng the i r foreheads with the s ign of thecross . One of the finest cuts i n the Savonaro la seriesrepresents a ci ti zen of Florence i n prayer before a crucifi x.
But almost all of them are good .
Bes ides the Savonaro la tracts the miscel laneous rel i
F I N E B O O K S
gious treat i ses i l l ustrated wi th one or more woodcuts arevery numerous . I n some cases outs ide model s were st i l lsought . One of the most important of these books i s theM editatione sopra la Passione attributed to S . Bonaven
tu ra,of which two undated ed i t ions were i ssued
,one
with eight cuts,the other wi th twelve
,three of the add i
tional cuts i n the second ed i t ion—the Entry i nto J erusalem
, Chri st before P i late , and Process ion to Calvary(see Plate XV I) —bei ng except ional ly fine . The earl ierdes igner probably had the Venet ian ed i t ion of 1489before h im
,but used i t qu i te freely . Two of the three
cuts i n the 1494 Florent i ne ed i t ion of the L ibro dellicommandamenti di D io of Marco del Monte S . Mariaare improved copies of those i n the Venet ian ed i t ion of
1486 . The th i rd cut , which appears al so i n the sameauthor’s Tabala della Salate (al so of represent i ngthe Monte del la Pieta
,i s copied on a reduced scal e from
a large copper engravi ng attr ibuted to Baccio Bald i n i ,ofwhich an example i s i n the Pri nt Room of the Bri t i shMuseum . Of the th i rty-four cuts i n Card i nal Capranica
’
s
Arte del benmorire,eleven are im i tated from the wel l
k nown series i n the German block books .For the Rappresentaz ioni or miracle
-
plays i n honourof various saints original i ty was more imperat ive
,and
numerous cuts were des igned,on ly a few ofwhich have
come down to us i n ed i t ions of the fi fteenth century,most
bei ng known as they survive i n repri nts of the secondhal f ofthe s ixteenth . Our example (Plate XVI I) i s from an
undated ed i t ion ofLa F esta di San Giovanni, i n wh ich ,as on many other titlepages, an angel i s shown abovethe t i tl e-cut as the speaker of the Pro logue . Purelysecu lar l i teratu re i n the shape of N ovel/e was no doubtplent i fu l
,despi te the i nfluence of Savonaro la,
but mostof i t has peri shed , thumbed to p i eces by too eagerreaders . A vo l ume ofN ovelle at the Un ivers i ty Library ,Erlangen
,i s i l lustrated wi th del ightfu l cuts , and others
survive here and there i n d i fferent l ibraries . Of more
preten t ious quartos Angelo Politiano’
s La Giostra di
13 8
{ wameamcomeammo fvgfi ompomlactou ét éodw.
fdcdndoctoalm nu a lumo p diabono fullegno dellacrooe fi tdiquellecoteche accadetono pcrlama.
Apoi the lb ebbono taro dileggiato ilucmronodelleproprieucihmente:Otapparecchiata lacrocealtafecondo ilmaeflro delle (ententie tre flaturedhuomo ( 6 quello rrauetl
'
o'
mo lto pOderofoimportab non cfl
'
endomomadalt htniapietadeuedendol
'
o[am aibclinato infino arena:6! the no fi poreuamouere ( 6 atuna ghelagtttorono icol
lo appoggIataalle nc palle. Erloma nfueto agnelloinclinando loinfpinato cap
o clqualemainon pore lcuareda
quellah oracheglifume alaeoréadifptnehumilméte lapre(cdicendo : Vieniame0 a crediuinaigiamille annipaffan‘
dalmto padrefeame ordinata. Vieniame o croce amabileidameirentatte
'
anniinqudto inédo ( 6 grandefatichafi t (a
doredellamortecerchata:Vieniameuicton’
adello inferno
XV I , FLORENCE , M I SCOMIN I , c .
F I N E B O O K S
Florence i n the last decade of the fi fteenth century . AtFerrara
,after a fine cut of S . George and a much ruder
one of S . Maurelius i n a Legenda of the latter sai n t
pri nted i n 1489 ,no i l l ustrat ion appeared unt i l 1493 ,
whenthe Compilatio ofAlfraganus was adorned with a pictureof the astronomer instructing a d iminut ive hermit . Afterth i s
,i n 1496 we have a fine cut of the Vi rgi n and Chi ld
i n the D e ingenais adolescentiam moribas,and i n 1497
two important fo l io books,both from the press of Lorenzo
Ross i,the D e claris malieribas of Jacobus Phi l ippus
B ergomensis (29 Apri l) and the Epist les of S . Jerome
(12 October). The former of these i s d i st i nct ly nat ivework
,with the except ion of an arch i tectural border
,
decorated ch iefly with t atti and griffi ns , etc .
,which i s
thoroughly Venet ian i n s tyle,and was used agai n i n the
S . Jerome . There are two large i l l ustrat ions,one show
ing the author present i ng h i s book to the Queen of
Hungary and Bohemia, the o ther contai n i ng eight scenesfrom the l i fe of the B lessed Vi rgi n . Fi fty-s ix cuts i nthe text are made to serve as portrai ts of 172 d i fferentwomen
,and under the strai n of such repet i t ion in
dividuality perforce d isappears . But at the end of thebook are seven cuts of I tal ian lad ies of the fifteenthcentury : Bona of Lombardy
,B ianca Maria of Mi lan
,
Cather i ne Countess of Frej us and Imo la,Leono ra
Duchess of Ferrara,Bianca M irandula
,Genebria S fo rza,
and Damisella Trivulz ia,and these
,some of them fai r
,
some rather forb idd i ng,appear all to be genu ine portrai ts .
The cutt i ng i s most ly rather st i ff and heavy (DamisellaTrivulz ia i s except ional ly tenderly treated), and muchuse i s made of black grounds .I n contrast to those i n the D e claris malieribas
,the
cuts i n the E fi istalae ofS . J erome are d i st i nct ly Venet iani n style . As one of the two arch i tectural borders i s dated1493 , i t i s poss ibl e that the book was at first i n tendedto be i ssued at Veni ce
,but was transferred to Ferrara
1 There were two issues or editions ofthis book in 148 9 , one ofwhich is saidto have only the cut of S. Maurelius.
140
E A R L Y I T A L I A N I L L U S T R A T I O N S
when Venetian i nterest i n smal l co l umn-cuts was foundto be on the wane . I t possesses i n all over 160 of
these,those i l l ustrat i ng conventual l i fe i n the second part
of the book being much the most i nterest i ng.
At Mi lan the Theorica M asicae of Franch i no Gafori,pri nted i n 1492 by Phi l ippus Mantegatius, has a t i t le-cutofa man playi ng the organ
,and four coarsely cut pictures ,
together occupyi ng a page,showing primit ive musical
experiments . Four years later the same autho r’s PracticaM asicae was i ssued by another pri nter
,Gui l laume Le
S ignerre , with a t i t l e-cut i l lustrat i ng the d i fferent measuresand the Muses and s igns of the Zodiac to which theybelong
,and with two fine woodcut borders surround ing
the open ing pages of Books I and I I I , and I I and IV .
I n 1498 Le S ignerre produced two much more profuselyi l lustrated books
,the Specchio dell
’
Anima of LudovicusB esalii and an Aesop ,
some of the cuts of the formerbeing used agai n i n 1499 i n the Tesoro Sfi iritaale of
Johannes Petrus de Ferrariis. After th i s he migrated toSal uzzo
,and i n 15 03 produced there a fine ed i t ion of the
D e Veritate Contritionis of Vivaldus, with a fronti sp i ece of S . Jerome i n the desert . At Modena i n 1490
Domin icus Rocociola pri nted aLegenda SanctoramTriamRegain , with a rather pleas i ng cut of thei r Adorat ion of
the Ho ly Chi ld ; and two years later , at the same p lace ,the Prognosticatio of Johann Lichtenberger
,printed by
Pierre Maufer,was i l l ustrated with three fu l l-page quarto
cu ts and forty-two hal f-page ones,carefu l d i rect ions for
each picture being suppl ied i n the text , but the cutsbei ng model led on those i n the German ed i t ions at Ulmand Mai nz . At Aqu i la i n 1493 an Aesop was produced ,copi ed from the Naples ed i t ion of 148 5 . At Pavia i n15 05 the Sanctaariam of Jacobus Gualla was i l l ustratedwith seventy woodcuts and some excel lent i n i t ial s . AtSal uzzo i n 15 08 another work by Vivaldus
, pri nted byJacobus de C ircis and S ixtus de Somachis, was decoratedwi th three large woodcuts of very except ional meri t : aportrai t of the Marqu is Ludovico I I (almost too strik ing
14 1
F I N E B O O K S
for a book-i l l ustrat ion) , a picture of S . Thomas Aqu inasi n h i s cel l
,and another of S . Lou is of France . The
treat i se of Pau lus de Middelburgo on the date of Easter ,pri nted by Petruzz i at Fossombrone i n 15 13 ,
contai nssome very fine borders
,and the Decachordam Chris
tianam of Marcus Vigerius, pri nted at Fano i n 15 07 byH ieronymus Soncinus , has ten cuts by Florio Vavassore ,
surrounded wi th good arabesque borders . To mult ip lyi so lated examples such as these wou ld turn our text i ntoa catalogue . Here and there special care was taken overthe decorat ion of a book , and worthy resu lts produced .
But throughout I taly the best period of i l l ustrat ion hadcome to an end when the s ixteenth century was on ly a
few years old.
F I N E B O O K S
of a man i s ri s i ng up to a vis ion of the Pere Eternel,seen with H is angel s agai nst the background of a skyfu l l of stars . The l i tt le figure i s the priest’s soul
,and
the cut (often confused wi th pi ctures of the Mass of
S . Gregory,in which the Host i s seen as a figure of
Chri st) i l l ustrates the Open i ng words of the i ntroit : Adte levavi an imam meam . I n the same M issal are a
number of smal ler cuts wh ich look as i f they had been
prepared for a Horae , andmay i ndeed have been used forone now enti rely lost . The “ Ad te levavi cut reappearsi n many of the later M issal s of Du Pré
,and sub
sequent ly ofWo l fgang Hopyl. Du Pré’s first secu larbook to be i l lustrated was an ed i t ion of Boccacc io’s D e
la raine des nobles hommes,completed 26 February
,
1483—4 ,and of pecu l iar i n terest to Engl i sh bookmen
because the woodcuts were acqu i red by Richard Pynson ,
and used i n h i s ed i t ion,of Lydgate
’
s F alles of Princes,an Engl i sh verse-rendering of the same work . They arewel l des igned and clearly cut
,i f rather hard
,and t i l l
the i r French origi n was d i scovered were j ust ly prai sedas some of the very best Engl i sh woodcuts of thefi fteenth century . Only a few weeks later J ean B onhomme (12 May,
1484) i ssued Mai stre Jacques M i l let’sL
’
s tozre de la destraction de Troye la Grant , i l l ustratedwith a number of cuts rather neater and fi rmer
,but of
much the same ki nd , and poss ib ly from the same workshop . They passed almost at once i nto the possess ionof Vérard
,and cuts from the series i l l ustrat i ng batt les ,
land ings,counci l s
,aud iences
,and other romanti c common
p laces are found i n h i s Ve’
gece of 1488 and Les Commeataires [ales Cesar of about the same date (see Macfar
lane’s An toine Ve'
rard,cuts vi—ix). A new ed i t ion of
Mi l let’s book was pri nted by Jean Driard for Vérard
8 May,1498 . Two of the best of the cuts are those of
the lamentat ion over the dead body of Hector and thesacrifice of Po lyxena on the tomb of Achi l l es . Theon ly other i l l ustrated book publ i shed by Jean Bon
homme was h i s ed i t ion of the Livre des raraalx fi roafi tz
E A R L Y F R E N C H I L L U S T R A T I O N S
da labear des champs, a French vers ion of C rescentius,with a fronti sp iece of the translator present i ng h i s bookto Charles VI I (15 October, Meanwhi l e , a newpubl i sher of i l l ustrated books had ari sen , Guyot Marchant ,who i n September, 1485 , i ssued a Danse macabre whichwent through several ed i t ions . I ts grim fantast i c p ictures
(executed with unusual Ski l l and del i cacy , see Plate XVI I I)of Death as a gri nn i ng skeleton claim ing h i s prey fromevery class of society seem to have become qu ick lypopular, and addi t ional cuts were made for later ed i t ions ,i ncl ud ing one i n Lat i n (15 October , i n wh ich theDance i s cal l ed Chorea ab eximio macabro versibas ale
manicis edita . A Danse macabre des femmes fo l lowed(2 May,
but the figures i n th i s are most ly lessgood
,as are those of a th i rd part (the Debate between
Sou l and Body, and other p ieces), despi te the vivac i tywi th which they represent the tortures of the damned .
Akin to the Danse M acabre i s the Compost et Kalendrier
des B ergers (al so of a medley of weather-lore,
ru les for heal th,and moral and rel igious instruct ion
,
l iberal ly i l l ustrated wi th cuts of shepherds , of Moses,
Chri st and the Apost l es,and of the tortures of the
damned . This i n i ts turn was fo l lowed,i n 1496, by a
s im i lar book for the Shepherdesses , of which a newed it ion appeared i n 1499 ,
with added pastoral cuts , someofwhich have unusual charm . Besides Guyot Marchant
,
Pierre Levet began book-i l l ustrat ion i n 1485 ,but most of
h i s work was done forVérard. His earl iest venture,an
E xposition de la salatation ange‘ligae, has a cut of the
Annunciat ion , the shading i n which suggests that he mayhave imported a cutter from Lyon .
I n 1486 Jean Du Pré was very busy . At Pari s hecompleted i n June a Vie a’es anciens Sainta Peres
,with a
large cut of S . Jerome wri t i ng i n a stal l and the ho lyfathers pass i ng before h im ,
al so numerous very neatco l umn-cuts and capi tal letters . Meanwhi le
,at Abbe
vi l l e Du Pré was help i ng Pierre Gerard to produce oneof the finest French books of the fi fteenth century
,the
10 145
F I N E B O O K S
magnificent edi t ion ofS . August i ne’s Cite
’
de D iea . Earlyi n 1486 Gerard had al ready pri nted there an ed i t ion ofLasomme rarale
,but th i s had on ly a s i ngle woodcut
,and
i t was probably mai n ly i n connect ion with the i l lustrat ionsthat he now en l i sted the help of Du Pré . I n the firstvo l ume of the Cite
'
de D iea (fin ished 24 November , 1486)there are eleven woodcuts , i n the second (fin i shed 12 Apri l ,1486
—7) twelve , i.e . a woodcut at the begi nn i ng of each of
the twenty-two books and a fronti sp iece of S . Augusti newri t i ng
,and the trans lator
,Raou l de Preules
,present i ng
h is book to the King ofFrance . The subjects and generaldes ign of the cuts correspond with greater or l ess c loseness to those i n Royal MS . 14 D . 1 at the Bri t i sh Museum(Books I -X I on ly), so that the same origi nal was probably fo l lowed by both . One of the most effect ive p i cturesi s that to Book X IV,
which shows a man seated i n a
tree,offered a crown by an angel and a money-chest by
a devi l,whi le Death i s sawing the tree asunder
,and two
dragons wai t at i ts foot . Another shows S . August i newri t i ng
,whi le five devi l s play with h i s books , and an
angel protects h i s m itre . The cutti ng throughout i s excellent
,and the p ictures
,though sometimes fantast i c , are
very effect ively drawn . There can be l i tt l e doubt thatthey were the work of Pari s craftsmen . As for PierreGerard,
i n 148 7 he pri nted by h imsel f, st i l l at Abbevi l l e ,an ed i t ion of Le Triomphe des N eaf Preax,
with ratherch i ld i sh ly convent ional cuts of the legendary heroes , butfor Bertrand Du Guesclin a portrai t which at least fai thfu l ly reproduces h i s bu l let head . We find Du Préforming a s imi lar al l iance two years later wi th Jean LeBourgeo i s of Rouen
,for whom he compl eted at Pari s the
second vo lume of a Roman des Chevaliers de la Table
ronde, 16 S eptember, 1488 , whi le Le Bourgeo i s was st i l ls truggl ing at Rouen with Vol. I
,which u l t imate ly got
fin ished 24 November. This has some large cuts of theFeast at the Round Table
,etc . I n 1489 Du Pré produced
a Legende dore’
e,a compan ion vo l ume to h i s Vie des
Saintz Pe‘
res of 1486 . But by th i s t ime he was al ready146
F I N E B O O K S
uncommon ly happens that the same cut i s used agai n andagai n i n the same book ,
”
and gave as an extreme instanceof th i s the repet i t ion no fewer than twenty t imes of thesame cut i n the M erlin of 1498 .
1 He po i n ted out,more
over,that some far-fetched plea i s nearly always needed
to j ust i fy the presence ofa cut i n any but the work i t wasdes igned for.
“For i nstance
,i n thejosephas of 1492 the
spo l iat ion of a country i s represented by the burial of awoman , the death of Samson by a p i cture of the Temple ,and the Sacrifice of I saac helps the reader to conceive theexecution ofa mal efactor
,whi le a mention of the sea bri ngs
out a cut of Noah’s Ark . However crowded a book may
be wi th cuts,i f the cuts are most ly i rre levant i t cannot
tru ly be said to be i l l ustrated,and the number ofVérard’
s
books which a rigorous appl i cat ion of th i s pri nciple wou ldcondemn is very large . An explanat ion of at l east someof these i ncongru i t ies may be found i n Vérard
’
s earlytrai n i ng as an i l l uminator
,and h i s habi t of prepari ng
special copi es on vel lum for Charl es VI I I of France,
Henry VI I of England,the Comte d
’
Angouleme , and
other royal and noble patrons . A woodcut i n i tsel f qu i tei nappropriate to the text might save an i l l umi nator sometrouble by suggest i ng the groupi ng of the figures i n a
picture,and a cut of Saturn devouri ng hi s ch i ldren was
actual ly used i n th is way i n one of the Henry VI I booksi n the Bri t i sh Museum as a ground p lan for an i l l uminat ion of a Ho ly Fami ly . I f King Henry ever held thati l l umi nat ion up to the l ight he would have had no diffi
cu l ty i n seei ng the scythe of Chronos and the l imbs of ach i ld pro trud ing from Saturn ’s mouth
,but I have never
seen a paper copy of th i s book , and can on ly wonderwhether the same cut was al lowed to appear i n i t .
Vérard’
s earl i est book was the trans lat ion of Boc
caccio’
s D ecamerone by Laurent du Premierfai t,com
pleted 22 November,148 5 , and i l l ustrated with a s i ngle
1 SO in the [main Saetonne ct Salaste of 1490 , fi ve cuts of battle-scenes, all
borrowed from the M er o’
es H istoires, printed by Lerouge in 14 8 8 , are made to doduty sixty-four times.
148
E A R L Y F R E N C H I L L U S T R A T I O N S
cut of the author wri ti ng i n an al cove looking out on
a garden where the storytel lers are seen seated . Aned i t ion of Les dits morann des philosophes of Gui l laumede Tignonvi l l e (Caxton
’
s D icts and Sayings of the Philo
sophers) fo l lowed i n Apri l , 1486 ,and the Livre des
raraalx fi roafi tz , translated from Crescentius, with a fewsmal l cuts
,not so good as those i n the ed i t ion just i ssued
by Jean Bonhomme , i n the fo l lowing Ju ly . His fi rst important i l l ustrated book was the Cent noavelles noavelles
of Chri stmas Eve,1486 ,
with two large cuts,very al i ke
i n style,of an author present i ng h i s book to a king
,and
forty co l umn-cuts,most of them used several t imes
,occa
sionallywith mut i lat ions i ntended to erase featu res unsu i table to the later stories . The next important book was a
Chevalier Delibe’
re’
of8 August,1488 ,
with some excel lentcuts wh ich reappear frequent ly 1n later books . Pass i ngover many i nferior books , we come i n 1492 to a real ly fineone
,contai n i ng four separate treat i ses . (1) Art de bien
mourir,i l l ustrated wi th Copies of the old German block
book ; (2) Traito’
des fi eines d’
enfer (otherwise known as
L’Azgaillon de crainte divine), with grotesque but strik i ngcuts of the tortures of the damned ; (3 ) Advenement deantichrist and fifteen Tokens of Judgment
,very poorly
i l l ustrated compared with the o ther parts of the book ;and (4) L
’Art de bien vivre,copiously decorated wi th
scenes from Bible h istory,an oblong set
,i l l ustrat i ng the
Adorat ion of the Vi rgi n and Chi ld,the Lord’s Prayer,
Commandments,Apost les
,etc . a very fine set of cuts
i l l ustrat i ng the Sacraments .I n June
,1493 ,
Vérard publ i shed i n three large fo l iovo l umes
,pri nted for him by Jean Morand
,Les Cronioaes
de F rance,with pi ctu res of a coronat ion , royal entry i nto
a town , a king s itt i ng i n j udgment , etc . etc . , the cutt i ngbeing on ly ofaverage del icacy
,but good enough to do jus
t i ce to the vigour of some of the des igns . From thispo i nt onwards h i s i nterest seems more and more to havecentred i n hi s i l luminated Copies
,and almost all the
later Vérard i l l ustrat ions i n M . C laudi n’5 great work are
F I N E B O O K S
taken from these . Along , however, with many old cutsi n h i s undated B ible historie’e there are two very fine onesspecial ly made for the work , one of Adam and Eve i nEden
,a round cut placed , below the roots of a tree , i n a
square of black , from which i t stands out with extraord inary vividness (see Plate X IX), and a picture of theTrin i ty and the four evangel i sts . I n an undated Terenceen francois , pri nted about 15 00 ,
Vérard avai l ed h imsel fof an i dea al ready explo i ted by Grun inger and some of
the Low Country i l lustrators,the use of blocks made up
of five or s ix pieces used i n d i fferent combinat ions,so as
to give an effect of great variety at very smal l expense .
Many of the i nd ividual b locks , though the figures are not
at all Terent ian,are very charming
,and a few of them
were freely Copied for the Engl i sh market,where they
may be traced for over a century . About the same t imeas th i s Vérard publ i shed a Livre des Ordonnances de la
Prevoste'
des M archans et E schevinage de la Ville de
Paris,with numerous smal l i l l ustrat ions ofd ifferent crafts
and a most i n terest i ng picture of the court of the Prevostéwith i ts j udges and official s . After the fi rst few years ofthe s ixteenth centu ry Vérard seems to have rel ied morethan ever on h i s stock of old cuts
,and does not seem to
have produced any notable new books .A few books pri nted or publ i shed by less pro l ific fi rms
remai n to be not i ced before we speak of the Horae wh ichform so important a sect ion among Pari s i l l ustrated booksas to requ i re separate treatment . One ofVérard
’
s pri nterswas Pierre Le Rouge , a member ofa fami ly which workedal so at Chabl i s and at Troyes . I n Ju ly
,1488 ,
and February,
1488—9 ,Le Rouge pri nted “ pour Vincent Commin
Marchand l ibrai re ” La mer des histoires i n two great fo l ioswi th large cuts of the k i nd Vérard subsequent ly used i nh i s Chroniqaes de F rance
,and on the t i t lepage a par
ticularly fine capi tal L . Phi l ippe Pigouchet , mai n ly a
pri nter of Horae,produced i n 1499 for h i s usual pub
lisher, S imon Vostre , a charmingly i l l ustrated ed i t ion ofadu l l poem
,Le Chasteaa de Labear
,attr ibuted to the play
F I N E B O O K S
dated Horae by Du Pré i n the Bodleian,and a th i rd
,
with Caillaut’
s mark at the end , i n the B ibl iothequeNat ional e . The cuts i n all three are del ightfu l ly s impleand naive
,and those i n the Bod le ian Du Pré ed i t ion
show real ly del i cate work . The group,which compri sed
other ed i t ions on ly known from fragments , seems to becont inued by two dated respect ively 10 May,
1488 , and
4 February , 1488—9 ,each measuri ng about 5 3 x 3 3 i nches ,
the i l l ustrat ions i n wh ich are d ist i nct ly stated to havebeen cut on copper (les vignettes de ces presentes hearesimprimees en cayvre). The i l lustrat ions especial ly re
ferred to are the borderpieces, which are of great importance as contai n i ng the earl iest examples of a series ofsmal l Horae cuts cont inued from page to page
,i n th i s
case depict i ng i ncidents i n the l i fe of C hrist and thei r
pre fi gurements, on the plan of the old block-book B ibliaPaafi eram. Last ly , i n 1490,
we have a Du Pré Horae,
with very fine cuts and with some of the miscel laneousborderpieces of the ed i t ions j ust ment ioned
,which i s of
except ional i n terest i n the h i story of French book-i l l u stration and pri nt i ng
,s i nce the cuts and borders i n i t are
pri nted i n d i fferent co lours , fai n t red , blue and green , twoco lours (laid on the same block and pri nted at the samet ime) usual ly appeari ng together . The Bri t i sh Museumpossesses one of two known copies of th i s Horae
,and
the late Pri nce d’
Essling bought the other.I n the Horae of the group we have been describ i ng
the subjects of the larger cuts became fai r ly wel l sett led,
i n accordance with the normal contents of the prayerbook . For the Kal endar there i s the figure of a manwith an i nd icat ion of the parts of h is body pres ided overby the d i fferent planets : for the sequence of the Gospel sof the Pass ion , sometimes a C rucifixion
,somet imes a
picture of S . John ; for the Hours of the B lessed Vi rgi n ,the Annunciat ion
,Vis i tat ion
,Nat ivi ty
,Shepherds
,Magi ,
C i rcumcis ion , Massacre of the I nnocents or Fl ight i ntoEgypt , and Assumpt ion of the B lessed Vi rgi n ; for theHours of the C ross
,a C rucifixion ; for the Hours of the
E A R L Y F R E NC H I L L U S T R A T I O N S
Ho ly Spi ri t , His Descent at Pentecost ; for the Pen itential Psalms , David
’s fal l (Bathsheba bath ing or thedeath of Uriah) or repentance ; for the Office of the Dead ,e i ther a Funeral
, D ives and Lazarus , or the three Gal lantsand three Skeletons (les trois vifs et trois morts) ; for theSuffrages , smal l p i ctures of various sai nts . Any ed i t ionmight have one or more add it ional cuts wi th less usualsubj ects , but those named occur i n almost all.Pass i ng on
,we come now to Vérard
’
s countermove toDu Pré ’s group
,Horae measuring 6 i nches or a l i tt l e
under by about 3 3 . Edi t ions of these were i ssued i nApri l
,1488
-9 ,
and i n January,February
,and Apri l of
the fo l lowing year . The last of these , completed 10 Apri l ,1489
-90 ,I wrongly described
,i n an art ic le i n Vol. I I I of
B ibliographica ,as having a t i t l epage beari ng the words
Les fi gares de la B ible . I t has such a t i t lepage i n thecopy i n the Bri t i sh Museum
,but I have now woke up to
the fact that i t i s a modern fabricat ion , added ei ther byan artfu l booksel ler or an art less owner . I n these Horaethe borders are made up of four pieces
,one of which
extends along most of the outer and lower margi ns , andshows chi ldren wrestl i ng wi th each other
,or playing wi th
hobbies or go-carts . On 10 Ju ly,1493 , these are found
i n a Horae i ssued by Laurens Ph i l ippe . Vérard cou ldthe better afford to part wi th them
,s i nce i n August ,
1490 ,perhaps ear l i er
,he had subst i tuted much larger
borders , the subjects i n which seem imitated from thoseof Du Pré’s metal-cuts
,the pri nted page now measu ri ng
about 8 x 5 i nches , and thus wi nn ing for them the t i t l eGrandes Heures
,by which they are general ly known
(see Plate XX). The large cuts , of which , though not
all appear i n every ed i t ion,there seems to have been
seventeen , i l l ustrate the fo l lowing subj ect
1. Prayer to the Virgin ; 2. Anatomical Man ; 3 . A chalicethe circumference ofwhich represents the measurement of Christ
’
s
wound ; 4 . Fal l of Ange ls ; 5 . Creation of Eve and Fall ;6 . Controversy in heaven between Mercy, Justice , Peace , and
Reason, and Annunciation ; 7 . Reconciliation of J oseph and
15 3
F I N E B O O K S
Mary, and Visitation ; 8 . Nativity and Adoration by the Shepherds ; 9 . Ange ls and Shepherds, Shepherds dancing ; 10 . Magi ;11. Circumcision ; 12. Massacre of Innocents ; 13 . Coronation of
the Virgin ; 14 . David’
s choice of punishments ; 15 . H earse ina Chance l ; 16 . Invention of the Cross ; 17 . Pentecost.
The cutt ing i s good and the pi ctures are both quai n tand decorat ive , thei r larger s ize enabl i ng them to avo idthe overcrowding which had damaged the effect of theearl i er sets . These cuts cont i nued i n use t i l l 1498 ,
successive ed i t ions i n May,
Ju ly,and October of that year ,
from the press of Jean Po i tevi n , showing the i r gradualrep lacement by Copies of Phi l ippe Pigouchet
’
s second set .Thi s famous pri nter-i l l ustrator was certai n ly pri nt i ng
as early as 1488 , though Mr. Proctor i n h i s“ I ndex
makes the Horae for the use of Pari s,fin i shed 1 Decem
ber,149 1, h i s ear l i est book . Although not h i s earl i est
book , I s t i l l bel ieve that th i s was Pigouchet’
s earl i estBook of Hours
,and regret that M . C laud in
,whi le rej ect
i ng supposed ed i t ions of 1486 and 148 7 , should haveaccepted as authent i c one of 16 S eptember , 1488 , said tohave very rude and archai c cuts
,whi le own ing that he
cou ld not t race a copy . Unti l the book can be producedI shal l cont i nue to bel i eve that th i s ed i t ion of 16 September
,1488 ,
i s a ghost begotten of a double cr ime , a booksel ler
’
s man ipu lat ion of the date of one of Pigouchet’
s
best-known ed i t ions,that of “ le xvi iour de S eptembre
Lan Mi l cccc . iiii.xx et xvi i i,by omitt i ng the x i n
xvi i i,and a b ib l iographer
’
s endeavour to make th i simaginary ed i t ion of 16 S eptember, 1488 , more cred ibleby assuming—and assert i ng—that i ts cuts were rude andarchai c because over three years earl ier than any authen
ticated Horae from Pigouchet’
s press . His ed i t ion of
1 December,149 1, was pri nted part ly for sale by h imsel f,
part ly for de Marnef,who subsequently owned the
blocks . Bes ides the usual i l lustrat ions for the Hours , i thas pictures of S . John wri t i ng and of the Betrayal forthe Gospel s of the Pass ion
,of David
’s cho i ce of pun ishments for the Pen i tent ial Psalms
,and of Les tro i s vi fs et
154
F I N E B O O K S
were s lavish ly cop ied i n ed i t ions pri nted for Vérard.
From 1497 , moreover, he had to face serious competi t ionfrom Thielman Kerver, who i ssued closely s imi lar ed i t ionswith pictures and borders by cutters l i tt l e
,i f at all
,i n ferior
e i ther i n techn ical sk i l l or charm . On 5 Apri l , 15 03 ,Jean
Pychore and Remy de Laistre completed an ed i t ion,i n
which Pigouchet probably had a hand,with three very large
cuts of the Annunciat ion , Nat ivi ty , and Adorat ion by theMagi
,and eight smal ler ones surrounded by arch i tectural
framework,represent i ng S . John before the Lat i n Gate
,
the C rucifixion,the Emperor Octavian and the S ibyl , the
Massacre of the I nnocents,Descent of the Ho ly Sp i r i t ,
Death of the Vi rgi n,and Rai s i ng of Lazarus , some of
them Showing strong traces of the i nfluence of Dtirer.
From th is po i n t onwards the Renai s sance sp i r i t becamei ncreas i ngly powerfu l i n these prayer books
,and whi le
i n almost all thei r advances to meet i t the work of Pigouchet h imsel f
,and of Thielman Kerver
,cont i nues i nterest
i ng (though the mixture of old and new styles i n thei red i t ions 15 often confus i ng), i n the numerous ed i t ionspoured forth by Germai n and Gi l let Hardouyn , many ofthem pri nted for them by Gui l laume Anabat , and agai ni n those pri n ted by Nico las H igman for Gui l laumeEustace
,the cuts are very i nferior
,so that they look best
when most heavi ly i l l uminated . I n a few ed it ions published by the Hardouyns spaces appear to have beenleft for the i l l uminator to work unaided . I n most of
these late ed i t ions on ly the pages with cuts have borders ,and these of the nature of picture frames , as contrastedwi th the old h istoriated borders .I n 15 25 Geoffroi Tory , a nat ive of Bourges (born
about who at th i s period of h i s l i fe was at oncea Ski l led des igner
,a scho lar, and a pri nter, completed
a Horae which,though somewhat th i n and unsat i s fyi ng
compared with the ri cher and more pictorial work of
Pigouchet at h is best , far surpassed any ed i t ion producedat Pari s for the previous twenty years . Part of theed i t ion was taken up by the great publ i sher of the day,
156
E A R L Y F R E N C H I L L U S T R A T I O N S
S imon Co l i nes , and whi le the body of the book was on lyprinted once , d i fferences i n the titlepages and co lophonsand In the arrangement of the almanac and privi legeconst i tute al together three d i fferent i ssues . Whereas thebest earl i er ed i t ions had been pri nted i n goth ic letter th i si s i n roman
,and both the borders and the twelve i l l us
trations aim at the l ightness and grace necessary to matchthe l ighter type . The vase-l ike des igns of the borders aremean ingless
,but the pictures
,despi te the long faces and
somewhat angular figures,have a pecu l iar charm . They
were used again,with some add it ions
,i n a Horae com
pleted 20 October, 15 3 1. An ed i t ion of 1 October,15 27 ,
described by Tory’s ch ief b iographer,Auguste Bernard
,
as pri nted,chez S imon de Co l i nes en caracteres romai n s
avec des vignettes de meme genre , mai s beaucoup p l uspet i tes
,I have never seen . Three weeks later Tory
printed i n goth i c letter a Pari s Horae wi th borders of
bi rds and fru i ts and flowers rather i n the style of someof the Flemish manuscripts . I n February, 15 29 , he produced a much smal ler Horae i n roman type withoutborders
,but wi th some very del i cate l i tt l e cuts , used
agai n by Ol ivier Mal lard,who married h i s widow , i n
15 42. Tory appears to have d ied i n 15 3 3 ,and attribu
t ions of later work to him on the ground of i ts beingmarked with a “ cross of Lorrai ne (i. e . a cross wi th twotransverse strokes) shou ld be received wi th caut ion ,un less the cuts are found i n books by Tory
’s widow or
her second husband . I t i s not qu ite clear that the crossi s not the mark of a wood-cutter rather than a des igner
,
and i f i t real ly marks the des igner we must bel ieve that i twas used by others bes ide Tory
,so various i s the work
on which i t i s found .
I l lustrated books were pub l i shed at Lyon somewhatearl ier than at Pari s
,and i n po i n t of numbers , i f the
compari son be confined to secu lar books wi th sets of cutsespecial ly appropriated to them ,
the provincial c i ty probably equal l ed
,ii i t d id not surpass , the metropo l i s . But
i f i t must be reckoned to the cred i t of Lyon that i t had157
F I N E B O O K S
no Anto i ne Vérard,reckless i n h i s use of unsu i table
stock cuts,i t must be noted , on the other hand
,that
strik i ngly good i l l ustrat ions are rare and bad onesnumerous . I nasmuch as Lyon , before i t welcomed theart of pri nt i ng , had establ i shed some reputat ion for themanufacture of p laying-cards , the number of rude and
bad ly cut i l l ustrat ions i s i ndeed surpri s i ngly large . Thefi rst Lyonnese pri nter to use pictorial woodcuts i n a
dated book was Mart i n Huss,who i ssued a M iroir de
la Redemp tion ,27 August , 1478 ,
with the aid of blocks
previous ly used (1476) by Bernard Richel at Basel ; cutsof surgical i nstruments appeared i n the fo l lowing March
,
1478—9 ,i n the Chirargia of Guido de Cauliaco pri nted
for Barth . Buyer by Nico laus Ph i l i pp i and MarcusReinhart
,and the same pri nters’ undated Legende dore
’
e
with very rude pictures i s probably contemporaneouswi th th i s . The earl iest woodcut of any art i st i c i nterestand of Lyonnese origi n i s a picture
,occupying a fo l io
page,of the B lessed Virgi n
,with the Ho ly Chi ld i n her
arms,stand ing i n front of a curtai n . This i s found i n
the H istoire da Chevalier Oben oai voaloist acafi lir levoiage de 5 . Patrix
,pr i nted by Leroyabout 1480,
ofwhichthe on ly known copy i s at the Bri t i sh Museum .
After 1480 all the fi rms we have named cont i nued toi s sue i l l ustrated books of varyi ng meri t . On 3 0 September
,1483 ,
Leroy completed a Livre des E neydes withcuts wh ich are often grotesque
,though sometimes neat
and sometimes givi ng evidence of a vigour of des ign toogreat for the wood-cutter’s sk i l l . I n 1485 he found a
Lyonnese cutter able to copy for h im the Pari s cuts ofJean Bonhomme ’s ed i t ion of the D estraction do Troye la
Grant qu i te competent ly , though i n a much heavier style .
I n May, 1486 ,he pri nted a Livre des Sainctz Anges
with a figure of Chris t i n a mandorla (perhaps suggestedby the engraving of the same subject i n B ettini’s M onte
Santo di D io), and th i s , despi te a certai n cl umsiness i nthe face
,i s qu i te good . I n the same year
,i n an ed i t ion
ofF ierabras,Leroy went back to cuts of i ncred ible rude
F I N E B O O K S
Whi le the pictor ial work of the Lyonnese presses wasthus largely imi tat ive , at l east two very important bookswere first i l l ustrated there . The earl ier of these was theRoman de la Rose
,of which the first pri nted ed i t ion ,
decorated with eighty-s ix cuts most ly smal l and rudelyexecuted
,but wh ich at l east have the meri t of intelli
gently fo l lowing the text , i s now attributed to the press ofOrtuin and S chenck at Lyon about These primit ive pictures were qu i ck ly copied by a cutter of somewhatgreater sk i l l but much less i nte l l igence
,who
“ improved”
the original des igns without troubl i ng to understandthem . Thi s new set of cuts was used twice at Lyon
,
by Jean Syber (about 148 5 ) and by Leroy (aboutand was then acqu i red (less one of the two larger cuts)by Jean Du Pré of Pari s
,who i s sued an ed i t ion about
1494 . About 1497 , and agai n a few years later,new
ed i t ions were i ssued i n wh ich most of the same cutsreappear
,Jean Pet i t havi ng a share i n both ed i t ions and
Vérard i n the fi rst,despite the fact that he had i ssued
a rival ed i t ion abou tThe other famous Lyonnese i l l ustrated book was an
annotated ed i t ion of Terence“ with pictures prefixed to
every scene pri n ted i n 1493 by Johann Trechsel. Thi shas a curious fu l l-page picture at the begi nn i ng
,givi ng
the art i st’s idea of a Roman theatre,with a box for the
aed i les at the s ide and a ground floor label led Fo rn i ces .
”
The text i s i l lustrated by 15 0 hal f-page cuts , a l i tt le hard ,but wi th abundance of l i fe (see Plate XX I). Thesecertai n ly i nfluenced the S trassburg ed i t ion of Grun inger
and through Gruninger’
s that publ i shed at Pari s
1 I t has also b een attributed to Jean Croquet at Geneva, but there is onlya typographical argument for this ascription , whereas on the side of Lyon ,
in
addition to (rather weaker) typographical arguments, we have to reckon withLyonnese paper, the similarity of the illustrations to those of a cutter employedbyMartin Huss
,and the fac t that the book was copied in two editions undoub tedly
Lyonnese. See F. W. Bourdillon’
s The E arly E ditions of the Roman de to Rose
(1906)2 Only a few of the cuts in this were specially designed for it, all the later
ones b eing taken from stock in Vérard’
s most haphazard fashion .
160
E A R L Y S P A N I S H I L L U S T R A T I O N S
by Vérard about 15 00 ,and to an even greater extent the
i l lustrated ed i t ions i ssued at Ven ice .How eagerly Lyonnese publ i shers looked out for
books to im i tate may be seen from the rival Lyonneserenderi ngs of Breidenbach
’
s Peregrinationes and Brant’sN arrenschifi Of the Bre idenbach
,Michel Topie and
Jac . de Herrnberg i ssued i n November,1480 ,
an adaptat ion by Nico las Le Huen with Copi es on copperplate ofthe maps and on wood of the smal ler p i ctures , both verywel l executed . Rather over a year later
,i n February
,
1490 ,a translat ion by “ frere iehan de Hers i n
”
was
publ i shed by Jacques Mai l let wi th the origi nal Mai nzblocks . As for the Ship of Foo l s
,Jacques Sacou, the
lead ing publ i sher at the end of the centu ry , i ssued an
ed i t ion of Locher’s Lat in vers ion wi th close copies of theBase l cuts i n J une
,1498 ,
and i n the fo l lowing August aFrench ed i t ion was publ i shed by Gui l laume Balsarin withcuts so hast i ly executed that i n many cases all the background has been omitted .
A few i l lustrated i ncunabula were i ssued at Chambery
,and i so lated books elsewhere
,but wi th the excep
t ion of Lyon and Abbevi l l e no French provinc ial townproduced any notable work . I n Spai n the fine goth ictypes and frequent use of woodcut capi tal s give a verydecorat ive appearance to most of the i ncunabu la, butpi ctorial i l lustrat ions are rare , and of the few sets of cutsknown to us several are borrowed or copied from Frenchor German ed i t ions . The earl iest Span i sh i l l ustratedbook known to me is a F ascicalas Temfi oram,
pri ntedby Bart . Segura and Alfonsus de Portu at S evi l le i n 1480 ,
with a dozen metal-cuts of the usual stock subjects ; theearl iest with origi nal i l l ustrat ions
,the Marqu i s ofVi l lena’s
Trabajos de H ercales,pri nted by Anton io de Centenera
at Zamora, 15 January , 1483 ,
with eleven extraord inari lyrude cuts of the hero’s adventures . I n 1484 and
148 5 an un ident ified pri nter at Huete produced ed it ionsof the Copilacion de Leyes of D iaz de Montalvo , withsome striking metal-cut pi ctorial capi tal s , i l l ustrat ing
11 161
F I N E B O O K S
the subjects of the success ive books . I n one copy of
the 1484 ed i t ion I have seen a very fine fu l l-page cut ,but cou ld not sat i sfy mysel f as to whether th i s belongedto the book , or was an i nsert ion . An ed i t ion of Mar
torell’
s romance,ent i t led Tirant lo blanch
, pri nted at
Valent ia i n 1490 by Nic . Spindeler, has a decorat ivemetal-cut border to the fi rst page of text , and duri ng thefo l lowing decade i l l ustrated books become fai r ly numerous .At Saragossa Pau l Hurus i ssued i n 149 1 a Span ishvers ion of the Specalam hamanae vitae of Rodericus
Zamorensis,with cuts copied from the Augsburg ed i t ion
,
another i n 1494 of Boccacc io’s D e claris M alieribas,
with seventy-two cuts,cop i ed from the ed i t ions pri n ted
by Johann Zainer at Ulm,and four from some other
source , another i n 1498 of Breidenbach’
s Peregrinatio,and other books
,not known to me personal ly , but wh ich
from the ir t i t l es almost certai n ly contai n copies of fore igncuts . I n 15 00 ,
when h i s press had been taken over bythree partners
, Coci , Hutz , andAppentegger, there i ssuedfrom it an Ofi cia gaotidiana ,
o rnamented wi th some fi ftypictures and many hundreds offine capital s .At Barcelona several i l l ustrated books were pri nted by
Juan Rosenbach,one of the earl iest of them
,the Carcel
d’Amor of D iego de San Pedro having s ixteen
origi nal cuts , characteri st i cal ly Span i sh i n tone and showing good craftsmansh ip . I n or about the same yearFriedrich B ie l of Base l (usual ly quoted as Fadriquede Bas i lea
,or Fadrique Aleman) headed an ed i t ion of
the Passion de Christo with a stri k i ng metal-cut ofChri ststand i ng upright i n the tomb , watched by the B . Virgi nand S . John . For h i s Span i sh Aesofi of 1496 hepresumably Cop i ed the German cuts , and he certai n lydid so for hi s E xemplario con tra enganos of 1498 , the116 cuts of which are all careless cop ies of those i nPruss
’
s ed i t ion of the D irectoriam hamanae vitae . Evenwhen i n (or about) the next year he was i ssu i ng the fi rsted i t ion of the Celestina or Tragicomedia de Calisto yM elibea
,he cou ld not do so without German model s
,
162
XX I I . SEV I L LE , STAN I SLAU S POLONUS , 1500
F I N E B O O K S
as i n those of other countri es , because of the Span ishfondness for fi l l i ng the t i t lepage wi th an elaborate coatofarms . But nearly all thei r early bookwork i s strongand effect ive
,and the pri nter who placed a cut on a t i t le
page nearly always secured a good one . I s i t too muchto hope that Dr. Conrad Haeb ler
,who has al ready done
such admi rable work i n reco rd ing Span i sh i ncunabu laand pri nt i ng facs imi les of thei r types
,wi l l some day
complete h i s task by publ i sh i ng a S im i lar vo l ume of
facs im i les of Span i sh cuts ?
CHAPTER X
LATER FORE I GN BOOKS
NE of the ch ief charms of the books of the fifteenthcentury i s that they are so un l ike those of our
own day. I n the first year of i ts successor a
great step was taken towards the i r modern izat ion by the
product ion of the fi rst of the Ald i ne octavos,and the
process went on very rap id ly . I n the early days ofpri nti ng all the standard works of the previous three centuriesthat could by any poss ib i l i ty be cons idered al ive were puton the press . By 15 00 men were th i nk ing of new th i ngs .New edi t ions of many of the old re l igious and d idact i ctreat i ses , the O ld poems and romances , conti nued to bepri nted
,though most ly i n a form which suggests that
they were now i ntended for a lower class of readers , butthe new publ i shers wou ld have l i tt l e to do with them .
S cho larsh ip,which t i l l now had been almost confined to
I taly,spread rap id ly to all the ch ief countries of Europe
,
and amid the devastat ion which constant war soon broughtupon I taly, was l ucky i n being able to find new homes .With the new l iterary ideal s came new forms for books ,and new methods of hous i ng them . Before 15 00 severalpubl i shers had found i t worth thei r wh i le to pri n t ed i t ionsi n five huge vo l umes of the Sfi ecalamofVincent de Beauvai s
,each vo l ume measuring eighteen i nches by th i rteen
and weigh ing perhaps a dozen pounds,though paper
i n those days was not yet made of c lay . These greatvo l umes had been cased i n th ick wooden boards , coveredwi th stout leather and protected with bosses or centrepi eces and corner-pieces of metal . They were not in
tended to stand on shelves l ike modern books,but were
laid on thei r s ides,s i ngly
,on Shelves and desks , and from
165
F I N E B O O K S
p i ctu res whi ch have come down to us we can see thatthe l ibrary furn i ture of the day included a variety of
read ing-stands with the most wonderfu l of screws . Themen for whom Aldus catered wanted books which theycou ld put i n thei r pockets and thei r saddlebags
,and i t
was not long before the publ i shers of Pari s and Lyonoutd id Aldus i n the smal l ness and neatness of thei red i t ions . Of course large books cont i nued to be i ssued .
The Comt latensian Polyglott wi l l not eas i ly be got ei theri nto a pocket or a sadd lebag , but i t i s a good deal smal lerthan the Specalam ofVincent de Beauvai s
,and
,. speaking
general ly,smal l fo l ios took the place of large fo l ios
,
and octavos the place of quartos,and i n a l i tt l e t ime the
octavos themselves were threatened by the st i l l smal l ersextodecimos . There i s
,i ndeed
,no stop t i l l i n the
seventeenth century we come to the t i ny E lz evirs,which
remai ned the last word i n book-product ion unt i l thed iamond ed i t ions of D idot and Pickeri ng .
Aldus Manutius,who led the revo l ut ion , has often
been wrongly prai sed . He can hard ly be cal led a greatpri nter . He burdened Greek scho larsh ip for three centuries with a thoroughly bad style i n Greek types , and thecurs ive subst i tute which he provided for the fine romanfounts for which I taly had been famou
’
s almost drovethem from the field . Both the Greek type and thei tal i cs were the outcome of confused th i nk i ng . Theywere based upon styles of handwrit i ng wh ich Aldus andhis scho larly friends doubtless found more exped i t iousthan the formal book-hands wh ich had previous ly beeni n use . Qu ickness i n wri t i ng i s an excel lent th ing . Butampi ng type takes j ust as long to set up as an uprightone
,and abso l ute ly noth i ng i s gai ned by the subst i tution
of an im i tat ion of a qu icker hand for the im itat ion of a
s low er one .
Aldus had begun publ i sh ing at Ven ice early i n 14951
with an ed i t ion of the Greek grammar of Lascaris,an
earl ier ed i t ion of which,i ssued at Milan i n 1476 ,
had1 He was born at Bassiano in the Papal States in 14 5 0 .
F I N E B O O K S
series of s im i lar ed i t ions . Aldus had powerfu l supportersi n these ventures
,among them being Jean Gro l i er
,the
famous b ib l ioph i le , who for many years was res ident i nI taly as Treasurer of the Duchy of Milan . Despi te th i sencouragement he d id not find pri nt i ng very profi table ,part ly , no doubt , on account of the wars i n wh ich Ven icewas at th i s t ime engaged .
On the death of Aldus i n 15 15 h i s bus i ness was forsome time carried on by h i s father-in-law
,Andrea de
Torresani, an excel lent pri n ter , but with l i tt l e of Aldus’s
scho larsh ip . I n 15 3 3 ,at the age of twenty-one
,Pau lus
Manut ius,the youngest son of Aldus
,took over the
management of the fi rm,and p roved himsel f an even
finer scho lar than h i s father . Financial ly he was no mo resuccessfu l
,and when he was made pr i n ter to the Pope the
anxiety of carryi ng on bus i ness at Rome as wel l as at
Ven ice on ly added to h i s d ifficu l t ies . On h is death i n15 74 h i s son
,Aldus Manut ius the younger
,succeeded
h im and worked t i l l 15 97 , but wi thout add ing anyth i ngto the reputat ion of the firm
,perhaps because he had
been pushed on premature ly i n h is boyhood,as i s wi t
messed by h is compi lat ion ofa vo l ume of elegant extractsat the age of n ine .The fami ly of pri nters and publ i shers wh ich came
nearest to r ival l i ng the fame of the Ald i i n I taly duri ngthe s ixteenth century was that of the Giunta. Spri ngi ngo rigi nal ly from Florence , members of i t worked for somet ime s imul taneous ly at Florence and Ven ice
,and Lucan
ton io G i unta, the earl iest member of i t to r i se i nto note ,was al ready one of the foremost publ i shers at Ven ice i nthe clos i ng years of the fi fteenth century
,and subsequent ly
pri nted for h imsel f i nstead of always employi ng othermen to pri n t for h im . The Special i ty of th i s Venet ianfi rm was at fi rst i l l ustrated books of all kinds
,afterwards
the product ion of large and magn ificent missal s and otherservice books of the Roman Church
,and these they con
tinued to publ i sh unt i l nearly the end of the s ixteenthcentu ry .
168
L A T E R F O R E I G N B O O K S
At Florence,Fi l ippo Giunta competed with Aldus of
Ven ice i n pri n ti ng pretty l i tt l e ed i t ions of the class ics , h i scompeti t ion sometimes taking the form of unscrupulousimitat ion .
At Rome,Euchariu s S i lber and hi s successor Mar
cellus were the ch ief pri nters from 15 00 to 15 16 . Al i tt l e later the B lad i took thei r place
,and under the
auspices of the Counci l of the Propaganda of the Fai tha press was set up for pri nt i ng in Syriac
,Armenian , and
o ther Oriental languages . The output al so of the pressesi n o ther I tal ian ci t ies was st i l l cons iderable . Neverthe
l ess,from the same causes wh ich produced her po l i t ical
decay I taly rap id ly ceased to be the head-quarters of
European pri nt i ng , yield i ng th i s honour to Franceabout the end of the fi rst quarter of the century
,and
by some th i rty or forty years later becoming qu ite un
i nfluential .To the German pri nt i ng trade
,al so
,the s ixteenth cen
tury brought a notable decl i ne of reputat ion . I n i ts fi rsttwo decades Johann Schoeffer (son ofPeter) produced somefine books at Mai nz ; at S trassburg Griininger pouredforth i l l ustrated books
,and Johann Knob louch and
Matth ias S chiirer were both pro l ific . The importance ofCo logne d imin i shed , though the sons of Heinrich Quente l l had a good bus iness . Augsburg
,on the other hand ,
came to the front , the elder and younger S choensperger,Johann and S i lvanus Otmar , Erhard Oglin ,
Johann M i l ler ,and the fi rm of S igi smund Grim and Marcus Wirsungall do i ng important work . At Nuremberg the ch iefpri nt i ng houses were those of Hieronymus HOlz el,Johann W eissenburger, and Fr i edrich Peypus . Leipzigand Hagenau both great ly i ncreased thei r output , and
w i th the advent of Luther,Wittenberg soon became
an important publ i sh i ng centre . Luther’s act ivi ty alone
wou ld have sufficed to make the fortunes ofany publ i sherhad i t not been for the fact that as each pamphlet fromhis pen was produced at Wittenberg by Hans Lufft , orsome other authori zed pri nter
,it was prompt ly p i rated m
169
F I N E B O O K S
other c i t ies,often wi th the retent ion of the origi nal im
pri n t . Many of these Luther tracts had ornamentalborders
,and
,as wi l l be narrated i n another chapter , the
German book-i l l ustrat ions of th i s period were often veryfinely des igned
,but the paper used , even i n important
books,was poor compared to that found i n German
i ncunabu la,and the presswork too often careless . These
defects are found i ntens ified i n almost all the Germanbooks publ i shed after th i s date
,and German pri nt i ng
soon lost all i ts techn ical excel lence,though the output of
i ts presses cont i nued to be large,and the great annual
fai r at Frankfort duri ng the course of the S ixteenthcentury became the most important event i n the booktrade of Northern Europe .
A l itt l e before Germany gave hersel f up to theo logicalstri fe
,the conj unct ion at Basel of the great pri nter Johann
Froben and the great scho lar Erasmus temporari ly rai sedthat c i ty to importance as an i n te l lectual centre . Frobenhad begun pri n t i ng at Base l i n 149 1, but unt i l he formedh i s friendsh ip with Erasmus i n 15 13 publ i shed on ly a
few ed it ions of the B ible,some of the papal Decretal s
,
the works of S . Ambrose,and a few other books of no
special i nterest . From 15 13 onwards h i s output increased rapid ly both i n quant i ty and importance
,so that
by the t ime of h i s death i n 15 27 he had pri n ted over threehundred books
,i nclud i ng almost all the works ofErasmus
and many books i n Greek . Duri ng thi s per iod , al so,
border-p ieces and i n i t ial s were des igned for h im by thetwo Ho lbe i ns (Hans and Ambros ius) and other sk i l fu lart i sts , and he was ent i t led to rank as the greatestpri n ter-publ i sher In Europe i n success ion to Aldus .After h i s death i n 15 27 the supremacy of Europeanpri nt i ng rested for the next generat ion i nd i sputably withFrance .
Duri ng the fi fteenth century pri n t i ng i n France haddeveloped almost ent i rely on i ts own l i nes . Vernacu larbooks of every descript ion had poured from the pressesof Pari s and Lyon
,and many of them had been charm
F I N E B O O K S
so th is dup l i cat ion , j ust before the death of Froben,of
the bus i ness of Henri Est ienne wi th the two firms of
Robert Est ienne and S imon de Co l i nes material ly aidedthe r ival ry ofPari s . Greek pri nt i ng , which by th i s t imehad become essent ial to a pri nter
’s reputat ion for scho larsh ip
,had at last begun there with the publ icat ion of a
Greek Grammar i n 15 07 , and had i ncreased somewhat ,though not very rapid ly . I n 15 3 9 Franco i s I appo i n tedRobert Est ienne royal pri nter for Lat i n and Hebrew
,
and Conrad Neobar, a German from the d iocese of
Co logne,h i s pri nter for Greek . I t was soon after th i s
that p lans were formed for the pri nt i ng of Greek textsfrom manuscripts i n the royal l ibrary , and the preparat ion for th i s purpose of a special fount of Greek type .
Neobar d ied from overwork the fo l lowing year,and the
office of royal pri nter i n Greek was added : to RobertEstienne
’
s o ther honours,and with i t the supervi s ion of
the new Greek type . For th i s Angelus Vergetius, a
celebrated Greek cal l igrapher,had probably al ready made
the drawings,
and the cutt i ng of the punches wasentrusted to C laude Garamond . By 15 44 a fount of
great primer had been comp leted and a book pri nted i ni t
,the Praefi aratio E aangelica of Euseb ius . A smal l er
type,of the s ize known as pica
,was next put i n hand
,
and a pocket Greek Testament i n sextodec imo pri ntedwi th i t i n 15 46 . Last ly , a th i rd fount , larger than ei therof the o thers
,was produced and used for the text of a
fo l io Greek Testament i n 15 5 0 ,the other two founts
appearing i n the prefatory matter and notes . Theseroyal Greek types became very famous and served as a
model to all des igners ofGreek characters for nearly twocenturies . Techn ical ly
,i ndeed
,they are as good as they
cou ld be,showing a great advance i n clearness and
d ign i ty upon those of Aldus,from which neverthe
l ess they i nheri ted the fatal defect of bei ng based on
the handwri t i ng of contemporary Greek scho lars , instead of on the book-hand of a nobler per iod of Greekwr1t1ng .
172
L A T E R F O R E I G N B O O K S
Whi le the name ofRobert Est ienne i s thus connectedwith these royal Greek types he was himsel f d i st i nctly aLat i n i st
,and h i s own personal contribut ion to scho lar
sh ip was a Lat i n D i ct ionary (Thesaaras Lingaae Latinae)publ i shed i n 15 3 2,
which remai ned a standard work fortwo centuries . He publ i shed , too ,
as d id al so S imon deCo l i nes
,many very pretty l i tt l e ed i t ions of Lat i n class ics
i n sextodecimo,some in i tal i cs
, others i n roman type ,thus carryi ng a step further the tri umphant march of thesmal l book
,which Aldus had on ly taken as far as octavos .
S imon de Co l i nes , whi le shari ng i n work of th i s k ind,
d id not neglect other classes of l i terature,and
,as has
al ready been noted , jo i ned with Geoffroi Tory , anotherscho lar-pri nter
,who was al so a scho lar-art i st
,i n produc
i ng some remarkable ed i t ions of the Hours of the B lessedVi rgin .
Thi s scho lar-art i st, Geoffroi Tory , was a nat ive of
Bourges,who had been a professo r at several of the
Pari s co l leges and was at one t ime proof-reader to HenriEst ienne . His career as a pri nter began i n 15 22 and
ended wi th h i s death i n 15 3 3 , after wh ich h i s bus iness was carried on by Ol ivier Mal lard
,who marr ied
h i s widow . Tory pri nted a few scho larly books and
wrote and publ i shed a curious work,to which he
gave the name Champfleary,on the right forms and
proport ions of the letters of the alphabet . I t i s , however
,by h i s Books of Hours that he i s now ch iefly
remembered .
Whi le all th i s good work was go i ng on i n Pari s thepri nters at Lyon were no l ess busy . At the beginn i ngof the century Aldus had been j ust ly annoyed at theclever counterfei ts of h i s i tal i c octavos which were puton the market at Lyon . But i n Sebast ian Gryphius (aGerman
,born i n 149 1 at Reutl ingen) Lyon became pos
sessed of a pri nter who had no need to im itate evenAldus . After pri nt i ng one or two works i n the fou r preced ing years h i s press got i nto fu l l swi ng i n 15 28 and
,
by the t ime of h i s death i n 15 5 6 he had i ssued veryI 7 3
F I N E B O O K S
nearly a thousand d i fferent ed i t ions,most ly i n Lat i n
,and
many of them i n the dai n ty format i n sextodecimo whichEst ienne and de Co l i nes were us i ng i n Pari s . I n 15 3 4the luck less Et ienne Do l et
,soon to be burnt as a heret i c
,
arrived at Lyon , and with some friend ly help fromGryphius pri nted between 15 3 8 and 15 44 some seventyed i t ions . I n 15 46 Jean de Tournes , who had been a
journeyman i n the office of Gryphius,started bus i ness
for h imsel f,and soon proved a worthy rival to hi s master .
Meanwhi le excel l en t popu lar work was bei ng done byo ther pri nters , such as Franco i s J uste
,C laude Nourry,
Mace Bonhomme,and Gui l laume Rovi l l e . From the
old Lyonnese fi rm of Trechsel proceeded i n 15 3 8 two
books i l lustrated by Ho lbei n (the Dance of Death and
H istoriaram Veteris Testamenti [cones,see p . and
numerous other Lyonnese books were charmingly i l lustrated and al so
,i t may be added , charmingly bound , a
very pretty style of trade b i nd i ngs being j ust then i nvogue .
Agai nst the pretty b ind i ngs and vignettes and the
popu lar books to which they were appl ied l i tt l e or no
oppos i t ion was rai sed , and they cont i nued to be i ssuedt i l l the taste for them d ied out about 15 80 . But agai n stall the scho larly work of the French presses the leadersof the Church took up an att i tude ofun relent i ng host i l i ty.
Foremost i n th i s oppos i t ion,regretfu l that thei r pre
decessors had i n troduced pri nt ing i nto France,were the
theo logians of the Sorbonne , who forbade the study of
Hebrew as dangerous and l i kely to lead to heresy , andlooked with eyes almost as unfriend ly on that of Greek .
I n 15 46 (just after the i n iqu i tous campaign agai nst theVaudo i s) Etienne Do let was hanged on a charge of
athei sm,and his body cut down and burnt amid a p i l e
of h i s books . I n 15 5 0 ,desp i te his pos i t ion as a royal
pri nter, Robert Est i enne , who had j ust completed h is finefo l io ed i t ion of the Greek Testament
, was obl iged to
seek safety by flyi ng to Geneva,and a generat ion later
J ean de Tournes the younger,of Lyon
,was obl iged
174
F I N E B O O K S
to ru i n ing h imsel f that the Span i sh Government grantedh im special pr ivi leges for the product ion of servi ce-booksby way of compensat ion . The sack of Antwerp by theSpan iards i n 15 76 was another heavy financial b low
,and
for a t ime Plant i n removed to Leyden,and al so for a
t ime kept a branch bus i ness at Pari s . But he u l t imate lyreturned to Antwerp
,and hi s premises remai ned i n the
possess ion of the descendants of one of h i s sons-in-law,
Joannes Moretu s,unt i l they were purchased i n 18 77 for
as the Musée Plant i n .
After Plant i n ’s death the branch bus iness wh ich hehad left at Leyden was carr i ed on by another of his
sons-in-law,Franci scus Raphelengius, who printed some
pretty l i tt l e ed i t ions of the class ics and other goodbooks . Plant i n’s own work as a pri nter was cost ly and
pretent ious rather than beaut i fu l,and the bad style of
h i s ornaments and i n i t ial s exerc i sed a powerfu l i nfluencefor evi l on the pri nters of the ensu ing century .
The ment ion of Planti n ’s Antwerp Po lyglott mayremind us that the fi rst Po lyglott ed i t ion of the B iblehad been pri n ted between 15 14 and 15 18 at Alcala
,in
Spai n , under the auspi ces of Card i nal X imenes . The
Lat i n name of Alcala bei ng Complutum,th i s ed i t ion is
general ly quoted as the Complutens ian Po lyglott . Amongthe notable featu res i n i t i s the use of a s i ngu lar ly fi neGreek type i n the New Testament . Abso l ute ly d i fferentfrom the Ald i ne andall the other Greek types im i tat ing therapid handwri t i ng of the Greek scho lars of the s ixteenthcentury
,th i s was based on the book-hand used i n some
early manuscript,poss ib ly the one which the Pope had
l ent from the Vat i can to aid Card inal X imenes informi ng hi s text . I t was on th i s Greek type that M r .Robert Procto r
,shortly before h i s death , based h i s own
fount of Greek,supplyi ng the maj uscu les wh ich (with
a s ingle except ion) are want i ng i n the o rigi nal and
making other improvements,but keeping close ly to h i s
model and thus producing by far the finest Greek typeever cast . Thi s has been used to pri nt notable ed i t ions
176
L A T E R F O R E I G N B O O K S
of the Oresteia and Odyssey,the former at the Ch i swick ,
the latter at the C larendon Press .Save for the Complutens ian Po lyglott there 13 noth ing
strik ing to record of the Span i sh printing of the s ixteenthcentury , which retai ned its mass ive and archai c character for some decades , and then became as dul l and
und i st i ngu i shed as the pri nt ing of all the rest of Europetended to be towards the end of the century . Theenthus iasm wi th which the new art had at first beenrece ived had d ied out . Printers were no longer lodgedi n palaces , monasteries , and co l l eges Church and S tate
,
which had at fi rst fostered and protected them,were now
j ealous and suspicious , even act ively host i l e . Thrivi ngmembers of other occupat ions and profess ions had at one
t ime taken to the craft . A l i tt l e later great scho lars hadbeen wi l l i ng to give thei r help and advice , andat l east a fewpri nters had themselves been men of l earn i ng . Al l th i shad passed orwas pass i ng Pri nt i ng had sunk to the levelof a mere craft
,and a craft i n wh ich the hours appear
to have been cruel ly long and work uncertai n and badlypaid . I n the eighteenth century the Dutch journeymenwere certai n ly better pai d than our own
,and i t may be
that i t was through better pay that they d id better worki n the seventeenth century al so . I t seems certai n
,more
over,that the improvements in the construct ion of
pri nt i ng presses which were i ntroduced i n that centuryorigi nated i n Ho l land . The primacy of the Dutch i sproved by the large amount of Dutch type imported i ntoEngland
,and i ndeed the Dutch books of the seventeenth
century are neater and i n better taste than those of othercountries . I t was i n Ho l land al so that there worked theon ly firm of pri nters of th i s period who made themselvesany abid ing reputat ion . The founder of th i s firm
,Loui s
E lzevi r,was a booksel ler and bookbi nder at Leyden
,
where,i n 15 8 3 ,
he began pri nt i ng on h i s own account,
and i ssued between that year and h i s death i n 16 17 overa hundred d i fferent books of no very special note . No
fewer than five of h i s seven sons carried on hi s bus i ness,
F I N E B O O K S
and the d i fferent combinat ions of these and of thei rsuccessors i n d i fferent towns are not a l i tt l e bewi lderi ng .
Bonaventura Elzevi r wi th h i s nephew Abraham issuedpretty l i tt l e ed i t ions of the class i cs i n very smal l type i n12mo and 16mo , ofwhich the most famous are the GreekTestament of 1624 and 163 3 ,
the Vi rgi l,Terence
,Livy
,
Taci tus,Pl i ny
,and Caesar of 163 4—6, and a s imi lar series
of French h i stori cal and po l i t i cal works and Frenchand I tal ian class i cs . After the deaths of Abraham and
Bonaventura i n 165 2 the bus iness was carri ed on bythei r respect ive sons Jean and Dan ie l , who i ssued famoused i t ions of the [mitatio Christi and the Psal ter . Meanwh i le Lou i s Elzevi r (another grandson of the founder)had been work i ng at Amsterdam
,and i n 165 4 was jo i ned
there by Dan ie l,the new partnersh ip produci ng some fine
fo l io ed i t ions . Other members of the fami ly went onwo rk i ng at Utrecht andLeyden unt i l as late as 17 12,
so thati ts who l e typograph ical career extended over a hundred andth i rty years . But i t i s on ly the l i tt l e c lass i cal ed i t ions
,
and a French cookery book cal led Le Pastissier F rancois,that are at all famous
,and the fame of these (the l i tt l e
class i cs bei ng troublesome to read and having more thana fai r share of mispri nts , though ed ited by DavidH einsius) probably rests on a misconcept ion . Thesesmal l c lass i cal ed i t ions were the last word for two centu riesi n that development of the Smal l Book which we haveal ready traced i n the Ald i ne ed i t ions at Ven ice
,those
ofDe Co l i nes and Robert Est ienne ofPari s,ofS ebast ian
Gryph ius at Lyons,and of the successors of Planti n at
Antwerp . Now the smal l books of the Elz evirs wereproduced at a very important period i n the h i story of
bookbi nd ing,and when we hear of large sums havi ng
been paid for an Elzevi r i t wi l l most ly turn out that theexcel lence of i ts b i nd ing has had a good deal to do withthe pri ce . The cookery book i s an except ion , the val ueof th i s
,though often enhanced by a fine bi nd i ng
,bei ng
yet cons iderable,even i n a shabby jacket . But the
i nterest i n th i s case i s due to the ant iquarian inst i ncts178
CHAPTER X I
FORE I GN ILLUSTRATED BOOKS OF THE
S IXTEENTH CENTURY
S we have al ready said , the charm of the woodcutp ictures i n i ncunabu la l i es i n thei r s impl ici ty,
i nthei r rude story-te l l i ng power , often very forc ib le
and d i rect,i n the val iant effort
,sometimes curiously
successfu l i n cuts otherwise contempt ibly poor,to give
character and express ion to the human face,and as regards
form i n the harmony between the woodcuts and the paperand type ofthe books i n wh ich they appear . I n the booki l lustrat ions of the s ixteenth century the art i st i s morel earned
,more se l f-conscious
,and h i s des ign i s i nterpreted
with far greater sk i l l by the better trai ned wood-cuttersof hi s day. More pai n s are taken wi th accessori es
,and
often perhaps for th i s reason the cut does not tel l i ts storyso qu ick ly as of old. I t i s now a work of art whichdemands study
,no longer a s ignpost explai n i ng i tsel f
however rapid ly the l eaf i s turned . Last ly,the art i st seems
seldom to have thought of the form of the book i n wh ichh i s work was to appear
,ofthe type wi th which the text was
to be pri nted , or even of how the wood-cutter was to
i nterpret h i s des ign . Book-i l lustrat ion , which had offeredto the humble makers of playi ng-cards and pictures ofsai nts new scope for thei r sk i l l , became to the art i sts ofthe s ixteenth century a l ight ly val ued method of earn i nga l i tt l e money from the booksel lers, thei r better workbeing reserved for s i ngl e des igns
,or i n some cases for
the copperplates which at fi rst they executed,as wel l as
drew,themselves . Thus the book—co l lector i s conscious ,
on the one hand , that less pai n s have been taken to pleaseh im
,and on the other that he i s separat i ng by h i s hobby180
L A T E R F O R E I G N I L L U S T R A T I O N S
one sect ion ofan art i s t’s work from the rest,i n connect ion
with which i t ought to be stud ied . He may even be i nsome doubt as to where h i s province ends , s i nce many of
the i l l ustrated books of the s ixteenth centu ry,al though
they possess a t i t l epage and are made up i n qu i res,are
essent ial ly not books at all,the letterpress being confined
to explanat ions of the woodcuts pri nted ei ther below themor fac ing them on the Oppos i te pages . The bibl iographerh imse l f
,i t maybe added , feel s somewhat ofan i n truder i n
th i s field,which properly belongs to the student of art ,
al though i n so far as art i s enshri ned i n books and thusbrought with i n the provi nce of the book-co l lector
,bibl io
graphy cannot refuse to deal wi th i t .Although we have taken off our caps i n pass i ng to
Erhard Reuwich and Michael Wolgemut for thei radmi rable work , the one i n the Mai nz B reidenbach
,the
other i n the Schatz behalter and N aremberg Chronicle, i ti s Albrecht Dilrer who must be regarded as the inaugurator of the second period of German book-i l l ustrat ions .Duri ng h i s Wanderjahre Dtirer had produced at Baselfor an ed i t ion of S . Jerome
’s Ep i st les , pri nted byNicolaus Kesler i n 1492 (repri nted a rude woodcutof the sai n t extract i ng a thorn from his l ion ’s foot .Durer
’s important bookwork begi ns i n 1498 , when h i s
fifteen magn ificen t woodcuts i l l ustrat i ng the Apocalypse
(which i nfluenced all later treatments of th i s theme) werei ssued twice over at Nuremberg
,i n one ed i t ion wi th
German t i t le and text,i n the o ther wi th Lat i n . S tated i n
thei r -co lophons to have been “ pri nted by Albrecht Dtirer,
pai nter,
” ne i ther ed i t ion bears the name ofa profess ionalpri nter . The types used i n each case were those of
Anton Koberger, Dtirer’
s godfather,and the effect of the
art i st’
s personal superi ntendence , which the co lophonsattest , i s seen i n the excel lence of the presswork . Thefo l lowing year Koberger publ i shed an i l l ustrated ed i t ionof the Rene/ationes Sanctae B irgittae (German repri nt i n
and Dtirer has been supposed to have helped i nth i s , but the theory i s now d i scred i ted . I n 15 0 1 he
18 1
F I N E B O O K S
probably contributed two woodcuts to an ed i t ion of thecomedies of H roswitha,
a tenth century nun of the Bened iet i ne Abbey at Gandersheim . Conrad C el tes hadunearthed these comedies some years previous ly i n a
Rat i sbon l ibrary , and they were now pri nted under h i sed i torsh ip for the Sodalitas Celtica at Nuremberg . Thei l l ustrat ions to the comed ies themselves
,which vie i n
heavi ness wi th thei r subjects , are attributed by Mr .Campbel l Dodgson to Wo l fgang Traut .1 One of the cutsass igned to Dt
'
irer represents C el tes offeri ng the bookto Frederick I I I , Elector of Saxony ; the other showsH roswitha hersel f present i ng her plays to the EmperorOtto I (see Plate XX I I I). I n 15 02 Durer des ignedanother cut of a presentat ion and an i l l ustrat ion of
Phi losophy (both very feebly rendered by the cutter) forthe Qaataor libri Amoram of Ce l tes . I n 15 11 theLat i n Apocalypse was repri nted , and three other sets ofwoodcuts by Dtirer appeared i n book form
,i n each case
with Lat i n text by Bened i ctus Chelidonius . One of
these commemorated i n twenty des igns the l i fe Of theB lessed Vi rgi n (Epitome in D iaae Parthenices M arie
H istoriamabAlbertoDareroN oricot erF igarasdigestamcam versibas annexis Chelidonii), the other two thePass ion of Chri st
,the Great Pass ion (Passio domin i
nostrijosa ex hieronymo Padaano,Dominico M ancino
,
Sedalio et B aftista M antaano fi erfratrem Chelidoniamcollecta cam fi garis A lberti Dareri N orici Pictoris
,i n
fo l io) i n twelve large woodcuts , the Li tt l e Pass ion (PassioChristi abAlberto DarerN orembergensi ejigiata ca
"
varijgeneris carminibas F ratris B enedicti Chelidonij M aso
phili, i n quarto) i n th i rty-seven smal l er ones . After th i sDiirer was caught up by the Emperor Maximi l ian and
set to work on some of the various ambit ious proj ects fori l l ustrat i ng h i s re ign
,as to which more wi l l be sai d later .
H is later bookwork i ncludes a C rucifixion and S . Wil l i
1 Mr. Dodgson also ascribes to Traut the illustrations in the Legend a’es
heylzgen vatters Francisci (Nuremberg , and some of the cuts in the
Yheaerdanh
HO O KS
11 bed"11° ) Q TS previous]Rat isbon library, r no t
y In'
a
a mon g“? (0 , the 1
c. Pfln ed under his
1llustrauons to 1h 1
bu s iness w lth tl
15 11 theApocah p‘e 1 ml. and three other sets of111-dam by h urt-11; 11 book form, i n each casewith text l :us Chelidonius. One oftha t commemt raI tv designs the l ife of the"la id V1 '111 (I r.
flu /m am11 Ah 1 deepert umsdigestam( mu M OO0“ mm air), the other two thePas sion of Lhn st 1
mos/n [o n n l n
.W a lm ( f b‘
afl: 11
fi lm]in “ t h e Iar 11s. the Li ttle Pass ion (Passio
( b rush 05 ”617;m s mm u n
lb. 111 quarto 111 1m smaller ones
. After thisfi tter was t aught the Emperor.
Max1m1han and
wt to h url: on son various amb It1ous p1ll11s tra11n 1111 net; 1 Much moremll be
V'
ll'
Hts later 11mm] e s a Cruci fi xion and S . 1 1
Hr (W u i n:
b .“ c um “ 1 “I
LA T E R F O R E I G N I . L U S T RAT I O N S
bal d for an E i ch statt M i ssal Vuremberg ,H . Hol z e l ,
some large des igns for e E t/z'
c/ze vnderrz’
c/zt z u
befesz‘
zgn o’er S teffi Eek/05 5 m!fla ke” (Nuremberg ,
I and h i s own book on the roportion of the HumanBody, which was i s sued both i German and in a Lat intrans lat ion by Camerarius.
S everal borders and i l l u stra ons former ly ascr i bed toDurer are now attr ibuted to ie of h i s pupi l s , HansSpringinklee , who l ived i n Di
’
n r’
s house at Nuremberg,
where he worked from about 5 13 to 15 22. Most of
Springinklee’
s bookwork was c me for Anton Koberger,who publ i shed some of i t at Quremberg ,
wh i le somewas sent to the Lyon pri n ters , e i n , Sacou ,
and Mar ion,
who were i n Koberger’
s emplrment . A border of h i sdes ign beari ng the arms of I libaldus Pirckheimer i sfound i n several works w ch Pirckheimer ed i ted
(15 13 I n a H oriu/us An 'me,pr i n ted by J . C l e in
for Koberger at Lyon,
I 5 16 ,f;y cuts are by Springin
klee . The H arm/usAm’
mae v s as popu lar in Germanyas the i l l u strated H ome in I anee and England . I n
I 5 17 another ed i t ion appeared i th Erhard S chon as its
ch ief i l l u strator,and on ly a fe '
of Springinklee’
s cuts .The next year Springinklee pr luced a new set of cuts ,and S chon
’s work was l ess sed . Springinklee and
S chon were al so associated in ‘ble i l lustrat ions pr intedfor Koberger by Sacon at L} n , and to Springinklee
are now ass igned two fu l l-page voodcuts in an EichstattM i ssal (H . Hol ze l
,Nurember and a border to
the Reuelatz’
anes (F . I ypus , Nuremberg , I
formerly ascribed to Diirer. A woodcut of JohannTritheim present i ng h i s P04rmfi /zz
’
a to Maximi l ian,
former ly att r ibuted to Ho l be in 5 havi ng been pr i n ted atBase l (Adam Petri , I i s no al so placed to the cred i tof Springinklee , who ,
moreove worked for the Weiss
kum’
g and the art ist ic commemorat ions of h iHans
i l l ustrator
F I N E B O O K S
Frankfurt am Mai n , which began i n 15 3 3 . But he belonged to the Nuremberg schoo l , had worked for ten or
twelve years for Merckel, Peypus, Petreius and othe1Nuremberg firms
,and has had the honour of having
some of hi s s i ngle cuts attributed to Durer . H is mostimportant books for Egenolph were the s /z
'
scke H z
’
s
tor/ zen,a series of smal l i l l ustrat ions to the B ible
,first
pri nted i n I 5 3 3 ,which went through many ed it ions i n
German and Lat i n , and another series i l l ustrat i ng theApocalypse , of which the first ed i t ion appeared i n 15 39 ,
the texts of the Lat i n H z'
sz‘orz
’
ae and al so to the Apocalypsecuts being Suppl ied by Georgius Aemilius . A set of
medal l ion portrai ts of Roman emperors by h im al soappeared i n several German and Lat i n chron icles published by Egenolph .
Between the Nuremberg book-i l l ustrators and thoseof Augsburg
,to whom we must now tu rn
,a connect i ng
l i nk may be found i n the person of Hans LeonhardSchaufelein
,born about 1480 ,
soon after h is father,a
Nord l i ngen woo l merchant,had sett l ed at Nuremberg .
He worked under Diirer,and h i s earl i est book-i l l ustra
t ions were made for Dr. Ulri ch Pi nder,the owner of
a private press at Nuremberg . S everal un s igned cuts i nD er ea ch/05 5m gar
/ i 62765 7 0senkmm‘
z M awe (Pi nder ,and th i rty out of th i rty-four large cuts in a
Speculum Passionis (Pi nder , I are ascribed to
Schaufelein,h i s associate i n each book being Hans
Baldung . About 15 10 Schaufelein removed to Augsburg ,and
,despite h i s return to h i s paternal home at Nord l i ngen
where he took up h i s c i t izensh ip i n 15 15 , he worked forthe ch ief Augsburg publ i shers for the rest of h i s l i fe ,though between 15 23 and 15 3 1 noth i ng i s known as to
what he was do i ng .
Among the earl ier Augsburg books with i l l ustrat ionsattributed to Schaufelein are Tengler’s D er % 6 % Layemp z
'
ege/ Henricus Suso ’
s D er Seusse
H ez'
Zz'
geflZebefl Geiler’
s Sekzfi'
der Pem'
fem‘z
and the Hysforz'
med wufldeybezr/z'
ck legendKai/zarz'
ne won
184
F I N E B O O K S
be doubted caused that sel f-celebrat i ng monarch to withho ld from publ i cat ion , and much more largely (15 14—16)on the Wez
’
sskzzizzg,which was fi rst pri nted , from the
origi nal b locks,at Vienna i n 1775 ; and he was the ch ief
worker (15 16—18) on the woodcuts for the TriumphalProcess ion of Maximi l ian pri nted by order of the Archduke Ferd inand i n 15 26 . Whi le these imperial commiss ions were in progress Burgkmair des igned a fewti t le—cuts for Johann M i l ler
,notably the very fine one
(see Plate XX IV) to the D e rebels COMM /umofJornandesshowing kings Alewinus and Athanaricus i n con
versat ion,and subsequent ly worked for Grimm and
W i rsung and for H . S te i ner,al though not nearly to the
extent wh ich was at one t ime supposed,as most of the
i l l ustrat ions suppl ied to these firms with which he usedto be cred i ted are now ass igned to Hans Weid i tz .Jorg Breu
,who was born and d ied (15 3 7) some hal f
dozen years later than Burgkmair, l ike h im i l l ustratedM issal s for Ratdolt and contributed Pass ion-cuts to
Mann’s Leiden H is most important p iece of
bookwork was the redrawing of the cuts i n Anton Sorg’
s
ed i t ion of Reichenthal’
s Comz’
lz’
uméuch for a repri n t byS te i ner i n 15 3 6 . I l l ustrat ions by h im al so occur i n a
M eluszmz and German vers ions of Boccaccio ’s D e
elm/2'
s mulz’
em’
bus and D e Casz’
bus [Hush / {um fairer/um
i ssued after h i s death by the same fi rm . Leonhard Beckcontributed largely to the i l l ustrat ion of Maxim i l ian’sl i terary ventures
,especial ly the Tfi euem’
ané,Wezssfeumg,
and Sai nts of the House of Austria (publ i shed at somedate between 15 22 and
We come now to Hans Weid i tz , the immense extens ion of whose work by the attri but ions of recent yearscan on ly be compared to Mr . Procto r
’s rai s i ng of Bartolommeo de’ Libri from one of the smal l es t to one of themost pro l ific of Florent i ne pri nters . Only two or threeAugsburg woodcuts beari ng h i s i n i t ial s are known
,whi le
scores and even hundreds are now ass igned to h im,most
ofwhich had previous ly been cred i ted to Burgkmair.
186
L A T E R F O R E I G N I L L U S T R A T I O N S
Weid i tz began bookwork i n or before 15 18 ,i n wh ich
year he contributed a t i t le-cut to the N emo ofUlri ch vonHutten
,whi le i n 15 19 he made twelve i l l ustrat ions to
the same author’s account of Maximi l ian’
s quarre l wi ththe Venet ians . I n 15 18 he had begun work i ng for thefirm of Grimm and Wirsung
,and th i s
,with a few com
miss ions from other Augsburg publ i shers , kept h im busyt i l l about 15 23 ,
when he h imsel f moved to S trassburg ,whence h i s fami ly had come
,whi le i n the same year
Grimm and Wirsung gave up bus i ness and so ld thei rb locks to S te i ner . These i ncluded not on ly many t i t leborders byWeidi tz , twenty i l l ustrat ions to two comed iesof Plautus and a set of cuts to the D euoiz
'
ssime medz'
z‘a
times de vimef fi assz'
one and another to a German Celestina
,all publ i shed i n 15 20 ,
but a series of
some 260 masterly i l l ustrat ions to a German vers ion of
Petrarch ’s D e remedz'
is w‘m’
usqueforfmme . S te i ner usedsome of these cuts i n a C i cero De Qfi ez
’
z’
s of 15 3 1, whichhas i n add i t ion s ixty-seven important cuts byWeid itz ,presumably of the same period
,and al so i n a jusz
‘
z'
flus
of the same year,but the work for which they were
special ly des igned d id not appear unt i l a year later .Needless to say,
select ions from both the Petrarch and
the C i cero sets appear i n later work .
After removing to S trassburg,Weid i tz copied some
Wittenberg B ible cuts and al so Ho lbei n ’s Apocalypse setfor Knoblauch i n 15 24 . I n 15 3 0 he i l l ustrated for
J . Schott the H erde r/ {um ofB runfels,which went through
several ed i t ions both i n Lat i n and German,and for th i s
comparat ively humble work was prai sed by name i n bothed i t ions , so that unt i l 1904 i t was on ly as the i l l ustratorof the Herbal that he was known . Many of h i s Augsburgwoodcuts subsequent ly passed to that pers i stent purchaserofold blocks
, Chri st ian Egenolph of Frankfort .Before pass i ng away from the Nuremberg and Augs
burg book-i l l ustrators,i t seems necessary to descr i be
briefly, but i n a more connected form,the l i terary and
art1stic enterpri ses of the Emperor Maximi l ian,to which187
F I N E B O O K S
so many i ncidental al l us ions have been made . TheEmperor 5 first attempt to glori fy h imsel f and h i s l i neagetook the form ofa Genealogyforwhich several antiquaries—Mennel
,Sunthaim,
Tritheim,and S tabius —made re
searches . Burgkmair made des igns of some n i netyancestors and thei r herald i c coats i n 15 09 11
,and the
wood blocks were cut . I t was apparent ly i ntended topri n t them 111 15 12 but the who l e proj ect was abandoned
,
and the work i s now on ly known from a few sets of
proofs , no one ofwhich i s qu i te comp lete .After th i s fai l u re Maxim i l ian planned a Triumphal
Arch and Process ion,the programme for the Arch bei ng
drawn up by S tab ius,that of the Process ion by Tre i tz
saurwein . The p lan of the Arch was largely worked outby Durer
,with help from Springinklee , Traut , and
Altdorfer,whose des igns were carried out i n 192 wood
blocks cut by H ieronymus Andrea and h i s ass i stants .
When the impress ions from these are put together theymake a des ign measuri ng nearly twelve feet by ten . I nthe centre i s the Gate ofHonour
,to the left and right the
gates ofPrai se and Nobi l i ty . Above the mai n gate r i sesa tower on which are d i splayed the Emperor’s ancestorsand thei r arms
,above the other gates a series of i ncidents
ofMaximi l ian’s l i fe,surmounted by busts of h i s imperial
predecessors and of contemporary pri nces . This waspri nted in 15 17
—18 at Nuremberg,and in 15 26
—8 and
I 5 5 9 at Vienna. On the Process ion or Triumph,Durer
,
Springinklee , Schaufelein ,B urgkmair, and Beck were all
engaged . The 13 8 blocks compos i ng i t were cut byAndrea and Jost de Negker i n 15 16
—18,and i t was
pri nted by order of the Archduke Ferd i nand m 15 26 . ATriumphal Car des igned by Durer i n 15 18 ,
i n connect ionwi th the same proj ect , was publ i shed i n eight sheets i n15 22.
A seri es of representat ions of Sai n ts of the House ofHapsburg had been p lanned soon after the abandonmentof the Genealogy
,and assumed shape i n 15 14 . From
drawings now attributed to Leonhard Beck,123 wood
18 8
F I N E B O O K S
lucem editae . Thei r m inute and rather n iggl i ng stylerenders the bad pri nt i ng which they have most ly rece ivedpecu l iarly destruct ive to them . Another Rat i sbon art i st
,
Michael Ostendorfer, i l l ustrated a few books publ i shed atRat i sbon i tsel f, and o thers pri nted at I ngo l stadt .At Wittenberg
,from a l i tt l e before 15 20 ,
the i nfluenceof Mart i n Luther made i tse l f as much fel t as that ofMaximi l ian at Augsburg and Nuremberg . Hither
,i n
15 05 , had come a Francon ian art i st,Lucas C ranach
,who
had al ready i l l ustrated some missal s forVV'
interburger of
Vienna. Numerous pictures of sai n ts,which he drew
for the Wittenberg H ei/zlgtkiimsbiiek of 15 09 , are subse
quent ly found d i spersed i n other works,such as the
H 07’ftt/tt5 Animae. A few ti t le-cuts on tracts by Lutherand others are ass igned to h im
,but a great mass ofbook
work , i nclud i ng numerous fine borders,found in Witten
berg books of the Luther period , whi le showing abundanttraces of the elder C ranach
’s i nfluence,i s yet c learly not
by h im . I t has recent ly been ass igned , with some probab ility,
to h i s eldest son , Hans . His younger son ,Lucas
C ranach I I , al so suppl i ed a few borders and i l l ustrat ionsto the Wittenberg booksel lers . Georg Lemberger al so
produced borders for titlepages and some Bible cuts,and
two other Wittenberg B ible-i l l ustrators of th i s schoo lwere Erhard Al tdorfer , brother of Albrecht , whose bestbookwork i s found i n a fine Dan ish B ib le pri n ted at
Copenhagen i n 15 5 0 ,and Hans B rosamer
,B ibles
, or
parts of the B ible , with whose cuts appeared both at
Wittenberg and at Frankfort .At S trassburg , Hans Baldung Grien , whose work
shows the i nfluence of Durer , i l l ustrated the Graflatapfel
(15 10) and other works by Gei ler of Kai sersberg,the
H ortalas Animae pri nted by Flach etc . JohannWachtlin
,who had contributed a Resurrect ion to a set of
Pass ion cuts publ i shed by Knoblauch i n 15 06 ,i l l ustrated
a Leben Christi for the same pri nter i n 15 08 . We findh i s work agai n i n the F eldbiick o
’er Wima’arz flei ofHans
von Gersdorff, pri nted by S chott i n 15 17 . The work of
I 90
L A T E R F O R E I G N I L L U S T R A T I O N S
Hans Weid itz for S trassburg publ i shers has al ready beenment ioned . I t was here al so that Urs Graf worked forsome l i tt le t ime for Knoblauch , to whose Pass ion set of1507 he contributed , and o ther publ i shers . I n 15 09 he i sfound at Basel , where two years later he became a c i t izen ,supplyi ng n i nety-fi ve l i tt l e woodcuts to an ed i t ion of thePostilla of Guillermus
,and al so des ign i ng t i t le borders .
As a centre of pri nt i ng Basel was now rapid ly i ncreas i ngi n importance
,and when Erasmus al l i ed h imsel f wi th the
foremost Base l pri nter , Johann Froben , for a t ime thec i ty succeeded
,i n po i n t ofqual i ty though not ofquant i ty
,
to the typographical supremacy which Ven ice was fastlos i ng . S cho larly works such as approved themselves toErasmus and Froben offered
,of course , very l i tt le scope
for book-i l l ustrat ion properly so cal led , but the des i re forbeauty found vent , not on ly wi th them ,
but wi th the otherBasel pri nters of the day,
Valenti n C urio,Johann Bebe]
,
Adam Petri,Andreas Cratander
,etc .
,i n elaborate borders
to titlepages, headpieces and tai lpieces , ornamental cap i tal sand trade devices . The arrival of Hans Ho lbei n (bornat Augsburg i n 1497) at Basel i n 15 16 on h i s VVanderjahre suppl ied a deco rato r ofa sk i l l al together outsh in ingthat . shown i n the rather tasteless arch i tectural work
,
varied with groups of ch i ldren,produced by Urs Graf
,
though Ho lbei n h imsel f was content to begin i n th i sstyle . I n h i s most characteri st i c work the footpieceof the border i l l ustrates some class i cal scene
,Mutius
S caevo la and Po rsenna,the death of C l eopatra
,or
Q u intus Curt i us leap i ng i nto the abyss ; l es s common lya scriptural one
,such as the death of John the Bapt i st .
The most e laborate of h i s titlepages was that to theTabala of C ebes i n wh ich l i tt l e ch i ldren crowdthrough the gate of l i fe to meet all the varied fortuneswhich l i fe brings . Del ightfu l humour i s shown i n an
often used headpiece and tai lp i ece , showing vi l lagerschas i ng a fox and return ing home dancing . Duri ng15 17 and the fo l lowing year
,when Hans Ho lbe i n was
absent from Basel,hi s brother Ambros ius worked there
19 1
F I N E B O O K S
on the same l i nes,and decorated , among other books
,
More’s Utopia .
After h i s return to Basel i n 15 19 ,Hans Ho lbei n re
mai ned at work there unt i l 15 26 ,and i t was during th i s
period that h i s book-i l l ustrat ions , properly so cal led , wereexecuted
,i nclud ing those to the Apocalypse and h is two
most famous p ieces of bookwork,h i s Dance of D eath
and H istoriamm Veteris Testamenti [cenes,both of
which were first publ i shed i n 15 3 8 at Lyon by Melch iorand Gaspar Trechsel. These (with perhaps some except ions) and many of h i s other des igns
1 were cut i n wood byHans Lutz elburger who s igned a Ho lbe i n t i t l epage to a
German New Testament pri nted by Thomas Wo l ff i n15 23 ,
and who,i f right ly ident ified wi th the Hans Form
schneider wi th whose widow the Trechsels were i ncorrespondence i n 15 26 and 15 27 , must have d ied aboutthe t ime that Ho lbe i n left Basel . Pen cop i es , moreover,of some of the cuts of the Dance of D ent/i are preservedat the Berl i n Museum ,
and one of these i s dated 15 27 , so
that there can be no quest ion that the origi nal s belong toth i s period of Ho lbe i n’s l i fe , and the Bri t i sh Museumpossesses a set ofproofs of forty out of the origi nal seri esof forty-one
,pri nted on four sheets
,ten on a sheet. I t
has been conjectured that the occupat ions of some of thegreat personages whom Death i s depicted as se iz i ng mayhave been considered as coming under the offence of
scafla’aliim magnate ?” and so have caused the long
delay before the b locks were used,but as th i s explanat ion
does not apply to the i l lustrat ions to the Old Testamenti t seems i nadequate . As publ i shed i n 15 3 8 by theTrechsels the cuts are accompan ied by French quatrai n sfrom the pen of Gi l les Corroz et and other appropriatematter
,and have prefixed to them a t i t l epage read ing
Les Simulaelzifes 6 “ H istoriees F aces de [a M ort, oute r/it
elegamme’
t fi eurtmietes que artifi eie/temeii t imaginees .
1 Including perhaps the four sets ofdecorative capitals attributed to Holbein ,one ornamental, the others representing a Dance of Peasants, Children , and a
Dance ofDeath .
F I N E B O O K S
Germany . I nterest i ng,moreover
,as th i s German work i s
i n i tsel f,i t i s made yet more so by the fact that a suffic ient
proport ion of i t i s s igned to enable conno i sseurs to
pursue thei r pleasant task of d istributi ng the uns ignedcuts among the avai lable art i sts . Less i ntri ns i cal ly good ,and with very few fac i l i t ies for playing th i s fasci nat i nggame
,the book-i l l ustrat ions of other countries have been
comparat ively l i tt l e stud ied . I n I taly the new centurybrought some evi l days to the book trade . Pri nt i ng i tse l fceased for a t ime at Brescia ; at Florence publ i shers formany years re l i ed ch iefly on the i r old stock of cuts ; atMi lan , at Ferrara and Pavia a l i tt le new work was done .
At Ven ice the th i n de l i cate out l i ne cuts of the last decadeof the fi fteenth century ceased to be produced any longer ,though the old blocks somet imes reappear . More oftenthe old des igns were ei ther s imply copied or im i tated i nthe more heavi ly shaded style wh ich was now coming intovogue . The i nterest of some of th i s shaded work i si ncreased by the occas ional appearance on i t ofa s ignature .
Thus i n the M issale Romannin of 3 0 Ju ly, 15 06 ,pub
lished by S tagninus, some of the cuts i n th i s shaded stylebear the same s ignature
,
“ ia,
”
as appears on the outl i ne worki n the Ovid of1497 . Wo rk done by ia i s al so sometimesfound copied by another cutter cal l i ng h imsel f VGO ,
whose name i s al so found on some copies of French Horaecuts i n a Ven ice Horae of 15 13 .
S ignatures wh ich occur with some frequency between15 15 and 15 29 are the z .a. ,
z .A.,and LA. used by Zoan
Andrea,i.e . Johannes Andreas Vavassore . This Zoan
Andrea was an ass iduous copyi st . Early i n h i s career
(15 15—16) we find h im imitat i ng Durer’
s large i l l ustrat ionsto the Apocalypse ; i n 15 17 h i s t i t le-cut for the D e moderegendi ofAnton io Cornaz ano im i tates that ofB urgkmairon the 15 15 D e rebns Gotham/fi n of Jornandes . I n 15 20
he prefixed to a Livy printed by G i unta an exce l lentportrai t model led
,as the Pri nce d’
Essling has shown , ona scu lpture set up at Padua to the memory ei ther of theh i stor ian himsel f or of one of h is descendants ; i n
XXV . VEN ICE . GREG . D E GREGORI IS , 15 18
M I S SA LE R OMA N UM (246b) . THE A SCE N S IO N
F I N E B O O K S
the ear ly years of the century i s a rather coarse development of the characteri st i c Florent i ne manner of thefifteenth century . The cuts are as a ru le cons iderablylarger than the Florent i ne ones
,and the ornamental
borders which surround them are much deeper . As i nmany of the Florent i ne cuts
,more use i s made of black
spaces than was usual at Ven ice,but the cutt ing as a ru le
is coarse , and there i s none of the charm of the bestFlorent i ne work . Woodcuts ln th i s style are found mostfrequent ly on the titlepages of popu lar books i n smal lquarto
,publ i shed by the Sessas, who apparent ly d id not
see the i r way to commiss ion ing more than a s i nglei l l ustrat ion to each book . But the i nfluence of the styleaffected the pi ctures i n a few works of larger s ize—fori nstance
,the 15 03 ed i t ion of the Cnifonim Cnifonicanni n
of Bergomensis, and the wel l-known picture ofa cho i r i nthe Practice M nsices ofGafori
Desp ite h i s connect ion with the Hyfi neifotomacnimwhich
,however
,was printed on commiss ion , Aldus con
cerned h imsel f l i tt l e wi th book-i l l ustrat ions , and i f themi serable cuts which he put i n to h i s ed i t ion ofH ero and
Leanden of Musaeus are fai r Specimens of what hethought sufficient ly good when left to h imsel f, he waswel l advised i n ho ld i ng aloof from them . Nevertheless ,the popu lari ty which he gai ned for the smal l octavoswh ich he i ntroduced i n 15 0 1 was an important factor i nthe development of book-i l l ustrat ion i n the s ixteenthcentury . Although Aldus d id not i l l ustrate them h imsel f
,it was imposs ib le that the l ight ly pri nted handy
books which he i ntroduced shou ld remai n permanent lyun i l l ustrated
,and when i tal i c type was oust i ng roman
and smal l books taking the place of large , the introduct ion of smal l er i l l ustrat ions
,depend i ng for thei r effect on
the del icacy of thei r cutt i ng, became inevi table . I f wetake any popu lar book of the century, such as the Sonettiof Petrarch
,and note the i l l ustrat ions i n success ive
ed i t ions,we shal l find them gett i ng smal ler and smal ler
and more and more l ight ly cut and l ight ly pri nted , i n196
L A T E R F O R E I G N I L L U S T R A T I O N S
order to match better with the th i n i tal i c types . The newstyle i s seen at i ts best i n the books of 15 40
-60,the
Petrarch of 15 44 pr i nted by Gabriel G io l i to , Boccaccio’s
Decamerone pri nted by Valgrisi i n 15 5 2,Ovid ’s M etawar
fi noses by Gio l i to i n 15 5 3 . Final ly,book-i l l ustrat ion
peters out at Ven ice i n p i ctorial capi tal s , which take as
thei r subjects anyheroes ofGreek and Roman h istory andmytho logy whose names begi n with the requ i red letter , onthe pri nciple of the nursery al phabet i n which A was an
Archer who shot at a frog,B was a Butcherwho had a great
dog .
”
To an age which , not otherwise to i ts loss , neglectsthe study of Lempriere
’
s C lass i cal D i ct ionary,many of
these puzzle i n i t ial s are bafflingly obscure,rel i eved on ly
by a recurr i ng Q ,which i n almost all alphabets depi cts
Q u i ntus Curt i us leaping i nto the chasm at Rome . Somes imi lar sets of Old Testament subjects are much eas ier .Books decorated with capi tal s of th i s k i nd are found as
late as the end of the seventeenth century . I so latedi n i t ial s des igned on th i s plan are found al so i n othercountries
,but outs ide I taly i t i s on ly seldom that we
come across anyth i ng approach i ng a set .As to French book-i l l ustrat ions of the s ixteenth
century,a competent h i storian should have much to
say,but the present wri ter has made no detai l ed study of
them,and i n the absence of any monograph to steal
from must be content wi th record i ng general impress ions,
on ly here and there made precise by references to bookswhich he has examined . Farmore than those ofGermanyor Venice
,French publ i shers of the s ixteenth century
rel ied on the great stock of woodcuts wh ich had comei nto exi stence duri ng the decades 148 1- 15 00 . That theyd id so may be regarded as some compensat ion for theexcept ional rari ty of most of the more i nterest i ng Frenchi ncunabula. We have spoken d isrespectfu l ly of the l i tt l edevot ional books pri nted about 15 00 with an old Horaecut on the back of the t i t l epage or at the end
,but i n the
popu lar books pri nted by the Leno i rs and other publishers as late as 15 30 ,
and even later,cuts wi l l be found
I 97
F I N E B O O K S
from Mi l let ’s D estruction de Troie and other i ncunabu lanow qu ite unobtai nable , and i t i s even poss ible at t imesfrom salvage of th i s k i nd to deduce the former exi stenceof fifteenth century ed i t ions of which no copy can now
be found .
After about 1503 the French Horae decl ine rapid lyi n beauty and i n terest , but many fine missal s were i ssuedby Wo l fgang Hopyl and other fi rms
,some with one
or more strik i ng pictures , almost all with admi rablecapital s .Among non-l i turgi cal books i t i s d ifficu l t to find
any class for which new i l l ustrat ions were made at all
free ly . S everal books of C hron i cles by Monstrelet,
Robert Gaguin ,and others have one or more cuts at
the beginn i ng which may have been made for them ,
e .g . a fo l io cut of S . Den i s and S . Remy, with sh ieldsof arms found i n the Compendium snper F rancornm
gestis by Robert Gaguin (th i s , however, dates back toa double cut of S . Lou i s blessed by the Pope
and confront i ng the Turks (found i n Gaguin’
s SommaireH istoria/ de F rance
,c . 15 23 ,
and el sewhere), anotherdouble cut ofC lovis bapt ized and i n batt le (Gaguin
’
s M er
des Chronicqnes, 15 36 ,but much earl ier), a sp i r i ted batt le
scene (Victoire a’n Roy contre les Ve
’
nitiens, etc .But wherever we find i l l ustrat ions i n the text , there weare sure to l ight on a medley of old cuts (e .g . i n Les
grands chronicgnes de F rance,15 14 , Gaguin
’
s Cnron
i,
cgnes 15 16 ,and the Roz ier nzstorial, and i t wi l l
be odds that M i l l et’s Destruction de Troie wi l l be foundcontribut i ng i ts woodcuts of the Trojan War as i l l ustrat ions of French h i story . When an origi nal cut of th i speriod can be found
,i t seldom has the charm of the best
work of the last five years of the fi fteenth century,but
i s usual ly qu ite good ; there i s , for i nstance , a qu itesuccessfu l metal cu t wi th crib l é background ofJ ust i n ian 1nCounci l i n an ed i t ion of h i s laws pri n ted by Bocard forPet i t i n 15 16, and some of the l i turgical cuts are admirable . There i s thus no reason to impute the fal l i ng off
198
F I N E B O O K S
I t i s evident that French publ i shers were waking up tonew poss ib i l i t ies and send ing thei r art i sts to foreignmodel s
,as a Perceforest pri nted for Gi l les Gourmont in
15 3 1 and a M eliadus de Leonnoys for Den i s Janot i n15 3 2,
have both of them elaborate t i t l e borders i n thestyle wh ich the Ho lbei ns had made popu lar at Base l .The latter i s s igned .F .
,a s ignature found i n several
later books i n the new style . I n 15 34 we find W echel
i ssu i ng a Va/tnrins with neat adaptat ions of the old
Verona i l l ustrat ions . Doubtless there were many otheri nterest i ng books
,wi th cuts origi nal or cop i ed of th i s
decade,but the on ly one of which I have a note i s the
L’
ainant mat traicte de sa mye (trans lated from theSpan ish of D iego de San Pedro) , pr i n ted by Den i s Janotfor V . Sertenas m 15 39 , i n wh ich the t i t l e i s enclosed m a
del icate ly cut border,the footpiece of which shows the
lovers i n a garden . Not long after th i s Janot pri nted(without putt i ng h i s name or a date) La toncne N aifne
goar espronner Lain) ; and [e F latenr of Anto i ne DuSaix
,i n wh ich the ru les enclos i ng the t i t l e cut i nto a
pretty oval des ign of flowers and ribbons . I n 15 40 wefind the new style fu l ly establ i shed i n the H ecatongrapnieCest a
‘
dire [es descrifi tions de cent fi gnres <9“ nystoires, a
book of emblems , by Gi l les Corroz et , pr i nted by Den i sJanot , which I on ly know in the th i rd ed i t ion
,that of
15 43 . Here we find l i tt le vignettes,much smal ler than
those i n the MalermiB ible,with a head l i ne over them and
a quatrai n i n i tal i cs beneath,the who l e enclosed i n an
ornamental frame . The l i tt le cuts have the fau l ts inevi table i n emblems
,and some of them are poorly cut ,
but the best of them are not on ly wonderfu l ly del i cate , butshow a sense ofmovement and a sk i l l i n the man ipu lat ionofdrapery never reached ln the fi fteenth century.
I n 15 43 appeared,agai n from the press ofDen i s Janot
,
imprimeur du Roy en langue franco i se ,’
another emblembook
,Le Tao/ear; de Cebes de Thebes, ancien fi ni/osofi ne <9
“
disczfi /e.
de Socrate . anqnet est paincte de ses conteurs,[a
nraye image do la vie namaine,8 “
onelte noye l’
noniin e
L A T E R F O R E I G N I L L U S T R A T I O N S
a’oit e/ire
, fi onr fi ernenir a nertn <9” fi erfaicte science .
Premierenie‘
t escrifi t en Grec é” maintenan t exfi ose en
Byrne F rancoyse . The French rhymester was agai n theauthor of the H ecatongrapnie, and the impri nt ,
“ A Pari sOn les uend en la grand [sic]sal le du Palai s en la bout iquede Gi l les Corroz et , shows that he not only wrote theverses and perhaps i nspi red the i l l ustrat ions
,but so l d the
books as wel l .I n 15 45 we find th i s same style of des ign and cutt i ng
on a larger scal e i n Les dix premiers livres a’e l
’
l /iaa’e
a”H oinere
,Prince des Poetes
,tradnictz en ners F rancois,
fi ar M . H ngnes Satel, and pri nted by I ehan Loys forVincent Sertenas. The cuts are i n two s izes
,the smal l er
be ing surrounded wi th Toryesque borders . I t i s d ifficu l tto pass any j udgment other than one of prai se on suchdel icate work . Nevertheless
,j ust as the fanfare style of
bind ing used by Nico las Eve . with i ts profuse repet i t ion ofsmal l too l s
,i s much more effect ive on a smal l book cover
than on a large,so here we maywel l feel that some bo l der
and clearer des ign wou ld be better su i ted to the i l l ustrat ionof a fo l io . I n the t i t le-cut here shown (Plate XXVI) arather larger style i s attempted with good resu l ts .The year after the Homer there appeared at Par i s from
the press of Jacques Kerver a French translat ion of theHypnerotoinacnia by Jean Mart i n . This i s one of themost i nterest i ng cases of the rehand l i ng of woodcuts
,the
arrangement of the origi nal des igns being closely fo l lowed ,whi le the tone i s completely changed by the subst i tut ionof the tal l rather th i n figures wh ich had become fash ionable in French woodcuts for the short and rather plumpones of the Venet ian ed i t ion
,and by s imi lar changes in
the treatment of landscape .I n the second hal f of the century at Pari s excel lent
woodcut portrai ts,most ly i n an oval frame , are sometimes
found on titlepages, and i n o ther cases decorat ion i ssuppl ied by a neat ly cut device . Where i l lustrat ions areneeded for the exp lanat ion of works on hunt ing or anyo ther subj ects they are most ly wel l drawn and cut . But
20 1
F I N E B O O K S
the use of woodcuts i n books of imaginat ive l i teratu rebecame more and more rare .
At Lyon,as at Pari s
,at the beginn i ng of the century
the store of fifteenth century cuts was freely drawn on forpopular ed i t ions . Cons iderable i nfluence
,however
,was
exerc i sed at fi rst by I tal ian model s,afterwards by Ger
many,so that wh i l e i n the early s ixteenth century Lat i n
B ibles the cuts are most ly copied from Giunta’
s MalermiB ible
,these were gradual ly superseded by German cuts
,
which Anton Koberger suppl ied to the Lyonnese pri nterswho worked for h im . Whi le i n I taly the smal l octavospopu larized by Aldus cont i nued to ho ld thei r own
,i n
France,from about 15 30 ,
ed i t ions i n 3 2° came rap id ly i nto
fash ion,and about the midd le of the century these were
especial ly the vogue at Lyon , the publ i shers o ften cas i ngthem i n very gay l i tt l e t rade bi nd i ngs sometimes stampedi n go ld
,but often wi th pai n ted i nterlacements . The
publ i cat ion by the Trechsels i n 15 3 8 of the two Ho lbeinbooks
,the Dance of D eath and i l l ustrat ions to the Old
Testament,must have given an impetus to picture-making
at Lyon,but th i s was at first ch iefly vi s ib le i n i l lustrated
B ib les and New Testaments . Gi l les Corroz et , who hadwr i tten the verses for both the Ho lbei n books , cont i nuedh i s career
,as we have seen
,at Pari s . The most typical
Lyonnese i l l ustrated books were the rival ed i t ions of
Ovid’s M etamorphoses i n French , one pr i n ted by Macé
Bonhomme in 15 5 6, with borders to every page and l i tt lecuts measur i ng about I % i n . by 2
,and a s imi lar ed i t ion
(re i ssued i n Dutch and I tal ian) of the next year from the
press of Jean de Tournes , the borders and l i tt l e p icturesi n wh ich are attributed to B ernard Salomon . I n 15 5 7De Tournes i ssued al so the Der/ises H e
’
roiqnes of C laudeParad i n
,and he was al so the publ i sher of a Calendrier
H istorial,a memorandum book charm ingly decorated
with cuts of the seasons .Part ly owing to rel igious troubles the book trade at
Lyon soon after th i s rapid ly decl i ned,but the French
style was carr i ed on for a wh i le at Antwerp by C hri s
CHAPTER X I I
PR INT I NG IN ENGLAND ( 1476
OMETH ING has already been wri tten about theearl iest Engl i sh books on the scal e to which theyare ent i t led i n a rapid survey of European incuna
bula. We may now cons ider them more i n detai l as befi ts a book wri tten i n Engl i sh .
Wil l iam Caxton,a Kent i shman , born about 1420 ,
had
been brought up as a mercer i n the ci ty of London , andthe relat ions between the Engl ish wooltraders and theclothmakers of Flanders be i ng very i nt imate , he had,
as he tel l s us h imsel f,passed th i rty years of hi s l i fe
(i n round numbers the years from twenty years of age tofifty)
“for the most part i n B rabant
,Flanders
,Ho l land ,
and Zealand .
”Duri ng the last few years of th i s t ime he
had held the important pos i t ion of Governor of the Engl i sh merchants at Bruges , but about 1469 he surrenderedth i s i n order to become secretary to Edward IV’
s s i ster,
Margaret,wife of C harles the Bo ld , Duke of Burgundy .
Some years before th i s,Raou l Lefevre
,chaplai n to the
Duke’s predecessor,had compi led an ep i tome of the h is
tories of Troy,Le Recnei/ des histoires de Troye, and i n
March,
1469 , Caxton amused h imsel f by beginn i ng to
translate th i s i nto Engl i sh . D i ssat i sfied with the resu l the laid i t on one s ide
,but was bidden by h i s patroness
,
the Duchess, to cont i nue h i s work . Thi s he fin i shed on
19 September, 147 1, whi le stayi ng at Co logne . Accord i ngto a d i st i nct statement by Wynkyn de Worde
,whom (at
least as early as 1480) he employed as h i s foreman,Cax
ton pri nted at Co logne “ h imself to avaunce” the fi rst
Lat i n ed i t ion of the De Proprietatihns Rernrn,a k ind of
1For English provincial printing after 15 00 see Chapter XI I I .
P R I N T I N G I N E N G LA N D (1476-15 8 0)
encyclopaed ia on the propert ies of th i ngs , by an Engl i shfriar of the th i rteenth century named Bartho lomew . Now
the first ed i t ion of th i s work i s undoubted ly one pri ntedat Co logne about 147 1 or 1472 at an anonymous presswh ich Bradshaw cal l ed that of the pr i nter of the 1473ed i t ion of the D ialogi decein Anctorni n, and Mr . Proctor ,l ess happi ly, that of the pr i nter of the F lores Sancti
Augustini, an undated book i n the same type . The D e
Proprietatibns Rernin i s certai n ly s l ight ly earl ier thanei ther of these
,and there are some typograph ical d i ffer
ences which suggest that between the complet ion of theone book and the beginn ing of the other two the pressmay have changed masters . The D e Profi rietatihnsi s by far the largest book of the who l e group
,and bei ng
by,or cred i ted to
,an Engl i sh author, i t i s h igh ly prob
able that the wel l-to-do ex-Governor of the Engl i shmerchants became temporari ly a member of the fi rm for
i ts product ion and shared i n the venture . Th i s i s thenatural mean ing ofWynkyn de Worde’s statement thatCaxton was the first prynter of th i s boke ,
”and i s qu i te
as l ikely to be true as the suppos i t ion that he took parti n pr i nt i ng i t as a k ind ofamateur journeyman to advanceh imsel f i n the art . I t may be noted , moreover , that thebooks of th i s anonymous press belong to the less ad
vanced schoo l ofpri nt i ng at Co logne,a schoo l techn ical ly
several years beh i nd that of Ulrich Zel l , and th i s takesthe force out of the obj ect ion rai sed by Wi l l iam Blades
,
that i f Caxton had l earnt pr i n t i ng at Co logne,he must
have pri nted better when he made h i s start .Caxton does not seem to have fo l lowed up thi s be
ginn i ng at all qu ick ly,and i t was not t i l l pri nt i ng had
been brought much nearer to Bruges by the start i ng of
presses at Alost i n 1473 and at Louvai n i n 1474 that hewas st i rred to action . The fi rst pri nter at Louvai n wasJan Veldener
, who worked there from 1474 to 1477 , and
Mr . Gordon Duff conjectures that Caxton may have re
ceived some help from him . There i s no doubt , however ,that h i s partner at Bruges was Colard Mans ion
,a sk i l l ed205
F I N E B O O K S
cal l igrapher, who conti nued pri nt ing there t i l l 1484, whenhe fled from the town
,l eavi ng h i s rent unpaid . Caxton
’
s
own account i n the Recuyell of the H istories of Trove
of how he came to start i s that
for as moche as in the wrytyng of the same my penne is worn ,
myn hande wery and not stedfast, myn eyen dimmed with ouermoche lokyng on the whit paper and also b ecause I hauepromysid to dyuerce gentilmen and to my frendes to adresse to
hem as hastily as I myght this sayd book . Therfore I hauepractysed 81: lerned at my grete charge and dispence to ordeyne
this saide book in prynte after the maner 81 forme as ye mayhere see .
There i s noth i ng here to encourage the idea which M r .
Proctor seems to have entertai ned that Colard Mans ionhad al ready begun work on h is own account
,and that
Caxton obtai ned h i s help for h i s Engl i sh books . I tseems more l ikely that i t was Caxton who made the start ,and that the first two books pri nted at B ruges were bothi n Engl ish
,the fi rst bei ng the Recuyell, and the second
The Game and Pleye of the Ghesse,a trans lat ion of a
moral t reat i se i n which the funct ions of the chessmenwere used as texts for sermon iz i ng
,wri tten i n Lat i n by
Jacobus de Cessolis. After th i s a new type was cut andanother d idact i c book
,Les Quatre D erennieres Choses
,a
treat i se of the Four Last Th i ngs (Death , Judgment , Hel l ,and Heaven) pri n ted i n i t i n French . These three books
probably appeared i n 1475 and the ear ly months of 1476 .
By th i s t ime Char l es the Bo ld was pick i ng a quarre l wi ththe Swiss
,and h i s d i sastrous defeat at Mo rat on 21 June
,
1476 , must have powerfu l ly qu ickened the des i re wi thwhich we may reasonably cred i t Caxton , ofbeing the first .pr i nter i n h i s nat ive land . He made arrangements torent a shop i n the Sanctuary at Westminster from thefo l lowing Michaelmas and departed for England
,taking
wi th h im the newer of the two types and l eavi ng theo lder one to Colard Mans ion
,who pri nted with i t the
origi nal French of Lefevre’
s Recueil des histoires de
Troye, and the same author’s Les F ais et prouesses da206
F I N E B O O K S
types (i ncl ud i ng that l eft beh i nd at Bruges). More thantwenty of these books he had translated h imsel f
,and to
others he contributed i n terest i ng pro logues or epi logues .Whi le many pri nters on the Cont i nent eas i ly surpassedh im i n typograph ical sk i l l , few publ i shed more bookswhich can st i l l be read wi th pleasure , and h i s prefacesand ep i logues show a real love of good l i terature (especial ly of Chaucer) and abundant good sense
,ki nd l iness
,
and humour. Caxton d ied i n 149 1 whi le engaged on
trans lat i ng i nto Engl i sh the Lat i n Lives of the Fathers,
and the account-books of the churchwardens of S . Mar
garet’
s,Westmi nster
,show that he was buried i n i ts
churchyard,four torches bei ng suppl ied at a cost of two
sh i l l i ngs and S ixpence,and another S ixpence bei ng charged
for the bel l .During Caxton
’
s l i fet ime on ly one other Engl i shmanset up a press
,an anonymous schoo lmaster at S t . Albans
,
who began work i n 1480 (poss ib ly i n 1479 ) and pri ntedt i l l 1486 , produci ng first s ix scho last i c books and thentwo Engl i sh ones . He appears to have borrowed sometype from Caxton , so that i t was presumably wi th thelatter’s goodwi l l that he repri n ted h i s vers ion of theChronicles of E ngland,
add ing thereto an append ix en
t i t l ed F ractus Tencfi ornin ,or Fru its ofTime . I t i s from
Wynkyn de Worde’s repri nt of th i s ed i t ion i n 1497 thatwe obtai n our on ly knowledge of the pr i nter
,for we are
there to ld that i t was “ compi led i n a booke and al soenprynted by one sometyme scolemayster of saynt Albons ,on whose sou le God haue mercy . His other popu larbook was that famous trio of treat i ses Of H anhyng and
H nntyng and also of Cootarnonris , common ly known as
the B oole of S t . Albans . The second treat i se , which i si n metre
,ends wi th the words “ Expl i ci t Dam J u lyan
Barnes i n her boke of huntyng ,and th i s i s the on ly
bas i s for the popu lar attribut ion of all three treat i ses toa hypothet i cal J u l iana Bernes or Berners
,who i s sup
posed to have been the daughter of Sir James Berners(executed i n and Prioress of the Nunnery of 8 op
208
P R I N T I N G I N E N G L A N D (1476—15 8 0 )
wel l,a dependency of S t . Albans , of which the l i st of
prio resses has conven ient ly peri shed .
1
Between 1478 and 1486 or’
8 7 , some seventeen bookswere prin ted at Oxford by Theodori c Rood of C o logne
,
who towards the end of h i s career was i n partnersh ipwi th an Engl i sh booksel ler named Thomas Hunte . Theearl iest of h is books
,
2all of which are i n Lat i n
,was an
Expos i t ion on the Apost les’ C reed wrongly attributed toS . Jerome . By the accidental omiss ion of an X th i s i sdated MCCCCLXV I I I , i.e . 1468 ,
but such mispri nts arecommon i n early books , and no one now mai ntai ns thati t was pri nted unti l ten years later . Among the otherbooks pri nted at Oxfo rd we may note an ed i t ion of
C i cero’s Pro M ilone,the spurious Letters ofPhalari s , and
a very large fo l io,Lyndewode
’
s Provincial Constitutions
of the Engl i sh Church . That the Oxford press came toan end
_
so soon and that none was started at Cambridgeduri ng the fifteenth centurymaybe attributed to a statuteof Richard I I I
’
s permitt i ng the free importat ion ofbooksi nto England . Although th i s measure was amply just ifiedby the i nterests of l earn ing
,i t made i t practical ly im
poss ible for any scho last i c press to mai n tai n i tse l f i n thel im i ted Engl i sh market agai n st the competi t ion of thefine ed i t ions which could be imported from I taly .
Caxton’
s press was at Westminster,which i n the
fi fteenth century was much more sharp ly d ist i ngu ishedfor busi ness purposes from the ci ty of London than i t i s
1 A fourth treatise , that on Fishing with an Angle , is often included in the
attribution with even less reason . This was first printed byWynkyn de Worde in
1496 , with the following curious explanation of its b eing tacked on to the B ook ofSt. Albans : “And for by cause this present treatyse sholde not come to the
bondys of eche ydle persone whyche wolde desire it yfit were enpryntedallone byit self put in a lytyll paunflet, therfore I haue compyled it in a greter volume of
dyuerse bokys concernynge to gentyll nob le men ,to the entent that the forsayd
ydle persones whyche sholde haue but lytyll mesure in the sayd dysporte of
fyshynge sholde not by this meane utterly destroye it.”2 Two points may b e noted about Rood : (i) he does not put his name in his
earliest books, and as there is a change of type in his signed work , it is possib le ,though unlikely , that the books in type 1 are from another press ; (ii) he is not to
be identified, as was once proposed, with a certain Theodoricus of Cologne , latelyproved byDr Voullieme to b e Theodoricus Molner, a stepson of ther Hoernen .
F I N E B O O K S
now . The fi rst press set up with i n the ci ty i tsel f wasthat of John Letton , whose su rname shows h im to havebeen a nat ive ofLithuan ia
,which i n Caxton ’
s t ime,as i n
Chaucer’s
,was known i n England as Lettowe . Mr .
Gordon Duff th i nks that John Lettou must have learntto prin t at Rome and brought h is punches with h im to
England,as the type wi th which he started to pri nt here
i s i nd i st i ngu i shable from one used by a smal l pri nter atRome , who bore the curious ly Engl ish name John Bul l e ,though he came from Bremen . Lettou pri nted an I ndulgence i n 1480 ,
and al so a commentary on the Meta
phys i cs of Ari stot l e , a curiously learned work for a c i typress
,but wh ich he was commiss ioned to pri n t by a
certai n Wi l l iam W ilcocks , for whom the next year hepri nted al so a commentary on the Psalms .
After 1482 Lettou was jo i ned by Wi l l iam of Mechl i n,
or Mal i nes,i n Belgium
,usual ly known by the Lat i n
name of h i s bi rthplace,Machlinia. Lettou and Mach
l i n ia pri nted five law books together,and then Lettou
d isappears and Machlinia i n 1483 started work i ng byh imsel f
,at fi rst at a house near the bridge over the Fleet
,
where he pri nted eight books , and then i n Ho lborn,
where he pri nted fourteen . W hen work i ng by h imsel fhe pri nted in add i t ion to law books some works of a
more popu lar character, a Book of Hours , the Revelation
to a M onh of Sfeculuin Christiani (a devotional work i nterspersed with Engl i sh verse), theChronicles of E ngland,
and several ed i t ions of “A l itt let reat i se agai nst the Pest i l ence by a certai n B i shopCanutus of Aarhus . One of these ed i t ions was the fi rstEngl i sh book which has a t i t lepage . I t i s pri nted i n twol i nes
,and reads
“ A pass i ng gode lityll boke necessaryebehouefull agenst the Pestilens .
The exact date at which Machlinia d ied,or gave up work ,
i s not known . He was pri nt i ng i n 1486 ,but h i s books
after that are undated . We may take 1490 or a l i tt l e1 The place
-name here is an early misreading for Eynsham.
F I N E B O O K S
cerned he showed h imsel f a mere tradesman,se ldom
pri nt i ng an expens ive book un less Caxton’
s experiencehad shown i t to be saleable . For two apparent exceptionsto th i s lack of enterpri se there were special reasons . Thefi rst
,a translat ion of the Lives of the F athers
,he was
almost bound i n honour to take up , s i nce Caxton hadcompleted i t on h i s death—bed . The second book
,a real ly
fine ed i t ion (i ssued about 149 5 ) of Trevisa’
s vers ion of
the D e Profrietatibus Reruin,was al so ,
as we have seen,
connected with Caxton,who
,De Worde tel l s us
,had
acted as“ the fyrst prynter of th i s boke I n lat i n tongue
at Coleyn himsel f to avaunce . De Worde’s ed i t ion i si tsel f notable as bei ng the fi rst book pri nted on Engl i shpaper
,the manufacturer bei ng John Tate of Hertford .
I n I 5 00 De Worde moved from Caxton’
s house at
Westminster to the s ign of the Sun i n Fleet S treet, per
haps for the greater protect ion offered by the ci ty againstattacks by ant i-al ien mobs . I n 15 08 he was appo i n ted
pri n ter to the Countess of Richmond and Derby,mother
of Henry VI I,a very old lady
,who d ied the fo l lowing
year . De Wo rde h imsel f must have been a very old manat h i s death towards the end of I 5 3 4 or early i n January,I 5 3 5 ,
as he had by that t ime been at work i n England forbetween fi fty and s ixty years . Towards the end of h i sl i fe he seems to have had some of h i s books pri nted forh im by John Skot
,and Robert Copland was al so em
p loyed i n h i s bus i ness .The output of Richard Pynson was on ly about
hal f that of Wynkyn de Wo rde,and h i s taxable pro
perty amounted to on ly £60 agai nst over £200 at
which De Worde was assessed . Nevertheless the factthat for the last twenty—two years of hi s l i fe (15 08—30)he was the King’s Pri nter helped to procure h im a fewimportant books , and al so kept h i s workmansh ip at a
considerably h igher standard . As al ready mentioned , heprobably came to England about 1490 and took overMachlinia
’
s stock,employing Gu i l laume Le Talleur of
Rouen to pri n t two law books for h im wh i le h i s own
P R I N T I N G I N E N G LA N D ( 14 76—15 8 0)
type was bei ng made . He probably began work wi tha fine ed i t ion of Chaucer
’s Canterbury Tales, but h i s fi rstdated book i s an ugly l i tt l e ed i t ion of the Doctrinale of
Alexander Gal l us,i ssued In November, 1492. A copy of
th i s was unearthed a few years ago i n the l ibrary of
Appleby Grammar Schoo l , and to secure the fi rst datedbook pri nted by Pynson the Bri t i sh Museum had to payover £300 for i t . I n 1494 Pynson brought out Lydgate
’
s
poem on the F alles of Princes,translated from the Lat i n
ofBoccaccio ,i l l ustrat i ng i t wi th woodcuts borrowed from
Jean Du Pré ’s French ed i t ion of the same book .
1 I n1495 he pri nted a Terence . Up to the close of thefi fteenth century he had pri n ted about e ighty-eight booksknown to Mr . Gordon Duff, agai n st the 110 pri nted byWynkyn de Wo rde . I n 15 00 he moved from the pari shof S . C lement Dane
’s,outs ide Temple Bar
,to the s ign
of S . George , at the corner of Chancery Lane and FleetS treet
,the change bri nging him i ns ide the ci ty wal l s .
Among the best of the books pri nted by him after th i s areAlexander Barclay’s Ship of F ools a trans lat ionof Sebast ian Brant
'
s N arrenschifi”
; Fabyan’s Chronicle
Barclay’s translat ion of Sal l ust (aboutHenry V I I I
’
s Assertio Set tern Sacrainentorurn
and Lord Berners ’ t rans lat ion of Froissart’
s Chronicles
(15 22 He al so pri nted some fi ne servi ce—books,
notably a Sarum M issal , cal led after Card i nal Morton whofavoured i t the Morton M issal M r . Duff con
jectures that i n the Lat i n books he pri nted from 15 18
onwards Pynson was aided by Thomas Berthelet . 2
Ju l ian Notary’
s bus i ness was on a far smal l er scal ethan those ofWynkyn de Worde and Pynson , for l essthan fifty books are known to have been pri nted by h im .
1 This and the D ives and Pauper of 1493 (which , until the discovery of theD octrinale
,was reckoned Pynson
’
s first dated book) and several other ofhis earliesteditions were published partly at the expense of a merchan t named John Rushe ,who took six hundred copies of the D ives and the B occaccio at 4 5 . apiece . See
Two Lawsuits ofRichard Pynson , byH . R . Plomer, in The Library,second series,
Vol. X.
See The Library, second series, Vol. VI I I , pp . 298 soy.
F I N E B O O K S
He began work i n London about 1496 i n partnersh ipwith J ean Barbi er and another pri nter or booksel lerwhose i n i t ial s were I . H .
,probably J ean Huvin of Rouen .
I n 1498 I . H . had left the fi rm and Notary and Barb ierwere at Westminster . I n 15 00 , l i ke De Worde and
Pynson ,he changed houses
,movi ng to j ust outs ide
Temple Bar, poss ibly to Pynson
’
s old house,giving h i s
new premises the s ign of the Three Kings . At a laterdate he had al so a bookstal l i n S . Pau l ’s Churchyard
,
and u l t imately moved h i s pri nt i ng office i nto the ci ty.
Notary’s books were of much the same ki nd as De
Worde’s—the Go lden Legend
,the Chron i cles ofEngland
,
the S hepherds’
Cal endar,S ermons
,Lives of the Sai nts ,
etc . He has the d i st i nct ion ofhavi ng pri nted the smal l es tEngl i sh i ncunable of which any trace has come down tous
,an ed i t ion of the Hours of the Blessed Vi rgi n ,
fin i shed i n Apri l , 15 00 ,measuring on ly an i nch by an
i nch and a hal f. He seems to have ceased pri nt i ng about15 20 ,
but was al ive i n 15 23 .
Summing up the work of these pri nters who wereact ive before 15 00 , we may note that Caxton pri nted 100
books and ed i t ions that have come down to us ; De
Worde 110 before I 5 00 ,about 800 al together ; Pynson 88
before 15 00 ,nearly 400 al together ; Notary about 8
before 15 00 ,and 48 al together ; Letton and Machlinia
about 30 ,Oxford 17 , S t . Albans 8 . Thus the total
number ofEngl i sh i ncunabu la at present known i s about360 ,but Pynson andWynkyn de Worde were both large
pri n ters i n the s ixteenth century .
As we have seen,Pynson became King
’s Pri nter i nI 5 08 . He had been preceded i n that office by Wi l l iamFaques, who l i ke h imsel f was a Norman , andwas the firs tto ho l d the t i t l e . He was worthy of the d ist i nct ion
,for
though he on ly printed eight books and documents thathave come down to us
,h i s work was very good . His
dated books belong to the year 15 04 ,when he pri nted a
proclamat ion agai n st cl ipped money , with a fine i n i t ial Hand some neat woodcuts of co i n s ; al so a beaut i fu l l i tt l e
F I N E B O O K S
Between 15 18 and 15 24 Henry Popwel l pri nted a few
popu lar books at the s ign of the Tri n i ty i n S . Pau l’s
C hurchyard ; for the rest of hi s l i fe he appears to havebeen on ly a stat ioner . John Skot , who pri nted at fourd i fferen t addresses i n the ci ty of London between 15 21
and I 5 3 7 , worked part ly for De Worde, part ly on h i s own
account,pri nt i ng upwards of th i rty books for h imsel f, a
few of them legal,the rest popu lar Engl i sh books .
Two pri nters began to i ssue books i n I 5 23 . RobertBankes
,who turned out a few popu lar books i n h i s fi rst
s ix years , was then s i lent for a t ime , and reappears i n therel igious controvers ies of 15 3 9—42, and Robert Redman ,who seems to have fo l lowed i n Pynson
’
s footsteps bothi n S . C lement
’s W i thout Temp le Bar and at the s ign ofthe George . I n h i s office of Royal Pri nter Pynson wassucceeded by Thomas Berthelet
,or Bart let
,who had prob
ably worked with h im for upwards of ten years befo restart i ng on h i s own account i n Fleet S treet at the s ignof Lucrece i n 15 28 . We know of al together about 400pieces of pri nt i ng from his press
,but a large proport ion
of these cons i sts of ed i t ions of the S tatutes and Pro
clamations . For the Proclamat ions some of Berthelet’
s
bi l l s survive,and we learn that he charged a penny
a p i ece for them ,and imported h i s paper from Genoa.
With hi s official pri nt i ng must be reckoned h i s ed i t ionsof the N ecessary D octrine of a Christian M an
,i ssued
wi th the royal sanct ion on 29 May,15 43 . I n o rder
to produce sufficient cop ies of th i s he pr i n ted i t s imu ltaneously eight t imes over
,all eight ed i t ions beari ng the
same date . Of the books which he pri nted on h i s ownaccount the place of honour must be given to h i s handsome ed i t ion of Gower’s Confessio Amantis i n an
excel l ent b lack letter type i n I 5 3 2,and the various works
of S ir John El iot,all ofwhich came from his press .
On the access ion of Edward VI Berthelet ceased to beRoyal Pri nter
,the post being given to Grafton . Berthelet
d ied i n S eptember , 15 5 5 ,l eavi ng cons iderable property .
He was buried as an Esqu i re wi th pen non and coat armour216
P R I N T I N G I N E N G LA N D (1476- 15 8 0)
and four dozen scutcheons , and all the craft of pri nters ,stat ioners , and booksel lers fo l lowed h im to h i s grave .Richard Grafton
,who succeeded B erthelet as Royal
Pri nter,had a very chequered career . He was origi nal ly
a member of the Grocers’ Company , and, i n conj unct ionwith Edward Whitchurch and Anthony Marler of theHaberdashers’ Company, superi ntended the pri nt i ng of
the Engl i sh B ible of 15 3 7 , probably at Antwerp,and
that of I 5 39 by Franco i s Regnau l t at Pari s . WhenB ible-pri nt i ng was permitted i n England Grafton and
Whitchurch shared between them the pri nt i ng of the s ixed i t ions of the Great B ible duri ng 15 40 and 15 41. Butwhen C romwel l
,Earl of Essex
,the ch ief promoter of
Bible-pri nt i ng,was beheaded
,Grafton was h imsel f im
pri soned . I n I 5 44 , on the other hand , he andWhitchurchobtai ned an exclus ive patent for pri nt i ng Primers , andbefore Henry V I I I ’s death Grafton was appo i nted pri nterto the Pri nce ofWal es . Thus when Edward becameki ng Grafton d i splaced Berthelet as Royal Pri nter
,and
henceforth had t ime for l i tt le save official work . Fiveed it ions of the Homi l ies and seven of I nj unct ions
,all
dated 3 1 Ju ly , 15 47 , were i ssued from his presses ; i n15 48 he publ i shed Hal l e
’
s Union of Lancaster and Yorh
and several ed i t ions of the Order of Communion and
S tatutes ; i n I 5 49 came two Bibles and five ed i t ions ofthe fi rst Prayer Book of Edward VI ; i n 15 5 0 a repri ntof Hal l e and an ed i t ion of Marbeck
’
s Book of CommonPrayer noted ; i n 15 5 1 V
Vilson’
s Rule of Reason ; i n 15 5 2
s ix ed i t ions of the second Prayer Book of Edward VI,
and more S tatutes . Proclamat ion-work , of course , wenton stead i ly th roughout the re ign
,and on Edward
’
s deathGrafton pri nted the enormous ly long document by whichthe adherents ofLady Jane Grey tried to j ust i fy her claimto the C rown . He did h i s work very handsomely
,but
on the tri umph of Mary,though he impart ial ly pri nted
a proclamat ion for her n i ne days after Queen Jane’s
,
he natural ly lost h i s post and might eas i ly have lost h i shead al so . For the rest of h i s l i fe he was mai n ly occu
217
F I N E B O O K S
p i ed i n wri t i ng h i s chron i cle . But he printed a Bookof Common Prayer i n 15 5 9 , and (accord ing to Herbert)a B ib l e i n 15 66 . He died i n 15 73 .
Whi le Grafton was the King’s pri nter for Engl i shbooks
,the post of Royal Pri nter i n Lat i n
,Greek
,and
Hebrew had been conferred i n I 5 47 on Reginald or
Reyner W o l fe . Wo l fe,who had come to England from
Gelderland,was at first a booksel ler
,and was employed
by various d i st ingu i shed persons as a l etter-carrier between England and Germany . W hen he set up as
a pri nter i n 15 42,with type wh ich he seems to have
obtai ned from a re lat ive at Frankfort,he was employed
by the great ant iquary,John Leland
,and by John Cheke ,
Professor of Greek at Cambr idge , for whom he pri ntedi n 15 43 two Homi l ies of S . Chrysostom in Greek and
Lat i n,th i s bei ng the first Greek work pri n ted i n England .
Duri ng Edward V I ’s reign he does not seem to havebeen given much to do i n Lat i n
,Greek
,or Hebrew , but
pri nted C rammer’s D efence of the Sacrament andAnswer
unto a Crafty Cavillation . After keeping qu iet duri ngMary’s re ign he enjoyed the patronage of El izabeth andArchbi shop Parker
,and l ived , l ike Grafton , t i l l I 5 73 .
Though he never worked on a large scal e,Wo l fe cer
tainly rai sed the standard of pri nt i ng i n England . I nJohn Day i t i s p leasant to come to a nat ive Engl i shmanwho d id equal ly good work
,and that i n a larger way of
bus iness . Day was a Suffo l k man ,born i n 15 22 at
Dunwich,a town over which the sea now ro l l s . He began
pri nt i ng i n partnersh ip wi th Wi l l iam Seres as early -asI 5 46 ,
but,save some fai r ly good ed i t ions of the B ible ,
produced noth i ng of importance duri ng th i s period . H isfi rst fine book
,publ i shed i n 15 5 9 ,
i s The CosmographicallGlasse
,a work on surveyi ng , by Wi l l iam Cunn ingham .
Thi s has a woodcut al lego ri cal border to the t i t lepage ,a fine portrai t of Cunn ingham ,
a map of Norwich , andsome good herald i c and pictorial cap i tal s . I ts text i s
pri nted throughout i n large i tal i cs . The book thus brokeaway enti rely from the old black-letter trad it ions of
218
F I N E B O O K S
of Pleasure , Tusser’
s F ive H undreth Points of Good
usbandry ,the works of Sir Thomas More i n 145 8
fo l io pages,Gerard Legh
’
s Accedens of Armoury,
numerous ed i t ions of Guevara’s D iall of Princes,as
translated by S ir Thomas North , and a vers ion of
C i cero’s D e Ofi ciis
,by Nicho las Grimald. I n I 5 73
Tottell peti t ioned unsuccessfu l ly for a monopo ly ofpapermaking i n England for th i rty years , i n order to encourageh im to start a paper-mi l l . He l ived t i l l I 5 93 .
Henry Denham (15 64 Henry Bynneman (15 66and Thomas Vautrollier (15 66 and the latter’s
successor,Richard Field , were the best pri nters of the
rest of the century . Denham was an old apprent i ce ofTottell
’
s,who gave h im some important books to pri n t
for him . Herbert remarks of h im :“ He was an exceed
i ng neat pri nter,and the fi rst who used the semico lon
wi th propriety .
” Among hi s more notable books wereGrafton
’s Chronicle (for Tottell and Toy,ed i t ions
of the Olynth iac orat ions of Demosthenes i n Engl i sh
(15 70) and Lat i n An Alvearie or quadrufi le dictionarie con taining foure sundrie tongues, namelie
,
E nglish Lati,
ne Greehe,and F rench
,wi th a pleas i ng
ti t lepage showing the royal arms and a beeh iveThomas Bentley’s The M onument of M atrons .
‘
contain
ing senen senerall Lamps of Virginitie , a work i n prai seof piety and Q ueen El izabeth Hunnis
’
s Senen
Sobs of a Sorrowfull Sou/efor Sinne , a metri cal vers ionof the pen i tent ial psalms and the second ed i t ionof Ho linshed ’
5 Chronicles
Henry Bynneman ,though not soh igh In Archbi shop
Parker’s favour as John Day,was yet recommended by
h im to Burghley In I 5 69 ,and deserved h i s patronage by
much good work . He pri nted an Engl i sh vers ion of
Epi ctetus , Dr. Caius’
s D e Antiguitate Cantabrigiensis
A cademia a handsome book wi th the text i ni tal i cs
,accord i ng to the fash ion of the day,
Van derNoodt
’
s Theatre of Voluftuous Worldlings a
Lat i n text of Vi rgi l bel i eved to be the fi rst pri n ted i n220
P R I N T I N G I N E N G LA N D ( 14 76- 15 8 0 )
England the H istoria B revis ofThomasWalsingham a handsome fo l io
,several books by Gasco igne
and Turbervi l l e,the first ed i t ion ofHo l i nshed’5 Chronicles
(15 77 , publ i shed by John Harri son), and a few books i nGreek .
Thomas Vautrollier, a French refugee , set up a pressat Blackfriars
,at which be pri nted several ed i t ions of the
Prayer Book i n Lat i n (Liber Precum Publicarum in
E cclesia Anglicana), and of the New Testament i nBeza’s Lat i n vers ion
,for which latter he was granted a
ten years’
privi lege i n 15 74 . I n I 5 79 he pri nted two verynotable works , Fenton
’s translat ion of the H i story of
Guicciardini and Sir Thomas North’s Plutarch ,the latter
bei ng one of the handsomest of El izabethan books . I n15 80 and agai n i n 15 84 he went to Edinburgh , pri nt i ngseveral books there i n 15 84 and I 5 8 5 . His second vi s i ti s said to have been due to t rouble which came upon h imfor pri nt ing the Sfaccio della B estia Triomphante of
Giordano Bruno . H is press at Blackfriars cont i nuedto work duri ng hi s absence . H is daughter Jakin marriedRichard Field
,who succeeded to h i s house and bus iness
i n I 5 88 ,and conti nued hi s excel len t trad i t ions .
A company of stat ioners had exi sted i n London s i nce1403 ,
and i n 15 5 7 th i s was reconst i tuted and granted a
Royal Charter . The obj ect of the C rown was to securegreater contro l over pri nt i ng , so that no inconven ientcri t i c i sms on matters of C hurch or S tate might beal lowed to appear . The object of the lead ing pri ntersand booksel lers
,who formed the court of the company
,
was to d imi n i sh compet i t ion,both i l legi t imate and legiti
mate . Both obj ects were to a very cons iderable degreeattai ned . The quarter of a century which fo l lowed thegrant of a charter wi tnessed a great improvement i n theEngl i sh standard of book product ion . Up to th i s t imei t seems probable that few Engl i sh prin ters , who had not
the royal patronage,had found thei r craft profi table .
Caxton no doubt d id very wel l for h imsel f—as he ri ch lydeserved . He enjoyed the favou r of success ive k i ngs ,
F I N E B O O K S
and received good support from other quarters . We mayguess
,moreover, that both as trans lator and publ i sher he
kept h i s finger on the pul se of wel l-to-do book-buyers toan extent to wh ich there i s no paral le l for the next twocenturies . No one el se i n England possessed th i s sk i l l
,
and certai n ly no one el se enjoyed Caxton’
s success . TheAct of Richard I I I perm itt i ng unrestricted importat ionof books quickly ki l led the presses at Oxford and S t .
Albans,which cou ld not compete w i th the publ icat ions of
the learned pri nters of I taly,France
,and Switzerland .
Unti l more than hal f-way th rough the reign of El izabeththe un i ted output of books from Oxford and Cambridgeamounted to less than a couple of score . For more thantwenty years after Caxton
’
s death there was no undoubtedEngl i shman as a master pri nter . Mr . Gordon Duff haslate ly publ i shed 1 the assessments of some of the ch iefstat ioners and pri nters from the Lay Subs idy Ro l l s of
15 23—4 . By far the h ighest of them i s the £307 at
which was assessed John Taverner , a stat ioner who i s on lyo therwi se known as having bound some books for theRoyal Chapel, and who was wise enough not to medd lewi th pr i n t i ng . Wynkyn de Wo rde
,most commerc ial of
pri nters , was assessed at £20 1 115 . I d . a pract i cal ly unknown stat ioner named Neale at £100 ; Pynson ,
who
was Royal Pri nter and d id real ly good work,at £60 ;
three other stat ioners , one of whom pri nted (Henry Pepwel l), at £40 apiece ; Ju lyan Notary at £3 6 65 . 8d. ;
o ther pri n ters at £ 0o (Robert Redman), £6 13 s . 4d.
(John Rastell), and £4 (Robert Wyer) . I t i s to lerablyclear that there was abso l utely no i nducement to an
Engl i sh stat ioner to take up pri n ti ng . I n 15 3 4 HenryVI I I repealed the Act of 1484 , on the plea that nativepri n ti ng was now so good that there was l ess need to
import books from abroad,the King
’
s real reason,no
doubt,bei ng to make i t eas ier to check the importat ion of
heret i cal works . Mr . Duff has wri tten of the King’sact ion :
1 I n The Library, second series, Vol. IX, pp. 25 7-8 1.
CHAPTER X I I I
ENGLISH BOOKS PR INTED ELSEW HERE THANAT LONDON
URING the fi fteenth century presses were set upi n more than fi fty p laces i n Germany , i n morethan seventy i n I taly
,i n nearly forty i n France
,
i n more than twenty i n the Netherlands , i n twentyfour i n Spai n , i n on ly three (counti ng London and
Westminster as one) i n England . I n London and
Westminster over 3 3 0 books are known to have been
pri nted ; i n Oxford and S t . Albans on ly twenty-fi ve . The
reason for th i s pauci ty of provi ncial pri nt ing in Englandmust be found by the soc ial h i storian . The beginn i ng of
the s ixteenth century brought no change i n the facts .For th i rty years from March
,148 7 , there was no pri n t i ng
press at Oxford . I n December,15 17 , a Lat i n commentary
on the Posterior Analyt i cs of Ar i stot l e appeared wi th theimpri n t “ Academia Oxon ic
,and i n four subsequent
books , printed i n 15 18 , the pri n ter of th i s gave h i s nameas Johannes Scolar. A fragment of a s ixth book haslate ly been found at the B ri t i sh Museum . I n 15 19Scolar
’
s place was taken by Caro lus Kyrforth ,who
prin ted a Comfotus, or smal l ari thmet i c book . A prognostication by Jaspar Laet may have been pri nted apparent ly ei ther by S colar or Kyrforth . After the appearanceof these eight books there was no more pri nt i ng at Oxfo rdunt i l a press was started there i n I 5 8 5 by Joseph Barnes ,under the auspi ces of the Un ivers i ty . The last book of
the Schoo lmaster-pri nter appeared at S t . Albans i n 1486 ,
and after th i s there was no more print i ng there unt i l 15 3 4 .
I n that year,at the request of Abbo t Catton
,a pri nter
named John H ertfort,or Herford
,printed there The
224
ENGL I S H P ROV I NC I AL P R I NT I NG
glorious lyfe andpassion of what Alba”. Robert Cattonwas succeeded as abbot by Richard S tevenage , and i n theyears 15 36—8 three rel igious books were pri nted for himby H ertfort
,who al so pri nted an Ari thmet i c and two other
books on h i s own account,making seven books i n all.
Then,i n October
,15 3 9 ,
John Hertfort fel l u nder susp icionof having pri nted a l i tt l e book of detestable heres ies ,
”
and the Abbot had to send h im to London . The abbeyi tsel f was suppressed by the Ki ng the same year , and
H ertfort,deprived of h i s patron
,had no i nducement to
return . He i s’
next heard ofas pri nt i ng i n London i n 15 44 .
At York a D z’
recforz'
um was pri nted by Hugo Goes ,and there i s a seventeenth century reference to a Donamsminor andAcademe from his press . Three smal l booksare al so known to have been pri nted by Ursyn Mylner i n15 14 and 15 16 . Previous to th i s
,i n or about 15 07 , an
Exposz'
fz'
o fi ymnommez‘
segumtz’
amm for use at York hadbeen pri nted at Rouen by Pierre Vio lette for a stat ionernamed Gerard Freez (al so known as Gerard Wandsforth),who d ied i n 15 10 . This Gerard Freez had a brotherFrederick , who i s described not on ly as a bookbinder andstat ioner
,but as a pri nter
,andmay therefore have pr i nted
books which have per i shed without leavi ng any tracebeh ind them . But the on ly extant York books of the s ixteenth century are the D z
’
recz‘
om’
umof 15 07 , two smal l service-books of 15 13 , and a l i tt l e grammat i cal work i n 15 16 .
After th i s there was no more pri nt i ng i n York unt i l 1642.
At Cambridge a stat ioner named john Laer, ofS iberch,
i.e . S iegburg , near Co logne , sett led , i n or about 15 20 ,and
acted as publ i sher to an ed i t ion of Croke’
s [niroducz‘z’
ones
in Rudz'
mem‘
a w ca,pri nted at Co logne by Eucharius
Cervicornus. After th i s,i n 15 21 and 15 22, S iberch h im
sel f pri nted n ine smal l books at Cambridge , the first ofthem bei ng a Lat i n speech by Henry Bul lock addressed
1 Mr. Duff is no doub t right in his suggestion that this is A very declaration
of fl u bond andfree ivy/1ofman t/ze obedyerzre of t/ze gospel! and w/zat t/ze gospell'
meanetfz, of which a copy , with colophon , “ Printed at Saint Albans, is in the
Spencer Collection at the John Rylands Library . This increases Hertfort’
s total
to eight
F I N E B O O K S
to Cardinal Wo l sey . Among the other books was a
D ialogue of Lucian ’s (mp2dtwddwv), for which Siberch hadto use some Greek type , and a work on l etter-wri t i ng (De
conscrz'
bendz’
s efi z’
slolz’
s) by Erasmus , with whom he seemsto have been on friend ly terms . After 15 22 no more bookswere pri nted at Cambridge unti l 15 83 .
At Tavi stock i n 15 25 a monk named Thomas Richard
pri nted a t rans lat ion ofB oethius’
s D e Como/afz'
one Phi/o
sopkz'
ae for “ the ryght worschypfulesquyerMayster RobertLangdon . Nine years later
,i n 15 3 4 ,
the same presspri nted the Siaz‘m‘
es concern ing the Devonsh i re S tannaries or Tin M ines . These are the on ly two early booksknown to have been pri nted at Tavistock .
At Abingdon i n 15 28 , John Scolar, presumably thesame man who had previous ly worked a few mi les offatOxford
,pri nted a Portiforium or Breviary for the use of
the monastery . No other early book i s known to havebeen pri n ted there .From 15 3 9 ,
when John H ertfort was summoned fromS t . Albans
,to the end ofthe reign ofHenry VI I I
,we know
ofno provincial pri nt i ng i n England . But on the access ion ofEdward VI the extreme Pro testants who had fledfrom England to the Netherlands
,Germany
,and Switzer
land,came flock ing back
,and some of them seem to have
stopped at I pswich . Two,or perhaps three pri nters , all
i n the Protestant i nterest,worked there i n the first few
months of the new reign . The fi rst of these , AnthonyScoloker
,pri nted seven books at I pswich i n 15 47 and
15 48 , and then went on to London . The second , JohnOverton
,brought over with h im from Wesel the text of
Bishop Bal e’s Lat i n'
b ibliographyofthe I l l ustrious WritersofBri tai n
,pri nted there by Theodoricus Plateanus, other
wise Dirick van der S traten , and may or may not havepri nted at I pswich two add it ional sheets
,which he dated
there 3 1 Ju ly , The th i rd pri nter,John Oswen ,
1 Mr. Duff plausibly suggests that Overton ’
s name in the colophon was
merely a device for surmounting the restric tions on the circulation in England of
booksp rmted abroad.
E NGL I S H B C NTE D AB ROAD
Derience i n printin 1d black,and the more
i l l u strat ions wn ,7 had at the i r d i spo sal .
after 1470 a S“
B rev iary was pr in tedCo logne . 1xton employed George
of Par i s , to pr i n t a I issal (and probably a
for him i n 148 7 , ar Johann Hamman or
pri nted a Sarum M issa m 1494 as far away as
e Par i s prin s and publ i shers hadofall Eu rop by the i r pretty ed i t ion sB l essed Vi r 11
,they competed wi th
gl i sh market Early in the sixteen thHopyl pr i ed some magn ificental so an A‘ phoner and Legenda ,
e ed i t ions of , yndewood’
s Constitu
issals,and P mers were al so poured
egnault , and in lesserarls firms
,and Mart in
iters p l ied th same trade at Rouen ,
Remunde , Endhoven,was busy
ledominance the foreign ed i t ionsin England may be105 Sarum serv ice
15 40 in t e possess ion of the
ted at Base l,
one
lve at Antwerp , as
on ly twenty-four in
d many of the
pr inted for the
Countr ies, the i rbut more oftenEngl ish explanaw attempts were
“ks in compet i t ion.ost formidab le of
at Antwerp,who,
'
0portion has not been
F I N E B O O K S
view i n the fact that dur i ng E l izabeth’s reign there wasvery l i tt l e secret pr i nt i ng , though there had probablybeen a good deal under Mary The three E l izabethansecret presses which have been chron i cl ed were
(11) A Puri tan press wh ich pr i n ted various tracts onChurch government , wri tten by Thomas Cartwright .These were pri nted secretly i n 15 72 and 15 73 ,
fi rst atWandsworth , afterwards at Hempstead , near SaffronWalden , i n Essex . The press was se ized i n August
,
15 73 , arid the type handed to Henry Bynneman ,who
,
the next year , used i t to repri n t Cartwright’s attack
,
i nterpo lat i ng Whitgi ft’5 repl ies ln larger type .
(2) A Jesu i t press wh ich printed for Edmund Campionand Robert Parsons i n 15 80 and 15 8 1, fi rst at Greenstreet House i n East Ham
,afterwards at S tonor Park ,
near Hen ley . The press was managed by S tephenB rinckley,
who was u l t imately captured and impri sonedfor nearly two years .
(3 ) The Puri tan travel l i ng press , from which i ssuedthe famous Mart i n Marprelate tracts i n 15 88 and 15 89 .
Some of these were pri n ted i n East Mo lesey,i n Surrey ;
others i n the house ofS ir Richard Knightley at Fawsley ,near Daventry
,others i n that of Roger Wigston of
Wo l ston Priory, between Coventry and Rugby . The
ch ief pr i nter of them was Robert Waldegrave , who
eventual ly fled first to La Rochel l e , where he may havepri n ted one of the tracts , and then to Edinburgh , wherehe became a pr i n ter of some importance .Whi le there was thus very l i tt le secret pr i n t i ng in
England,exi led Protestants , Catho l i cs , and Noncon
formists all i n turn made frequent recourse to foreignpresses
,and apparent ly succeeded i n c i rcu lat i ng thei r
books i n England . Rel igious repress ion , however,though the ch ief
,was not the on ly cause ofEngl i sh books
bei ng pr i n ted abroad . From a very ear ly t ime the
superior ski l l of foreign pri nters had procured them manycommiss ions to pr i n t service-books for the Engl i shmarket
,al ike on account of thei r greater accuracy
,thei r
228
F I N E B O O K S
after pr i nt i ng three entertai n i ng books The H isioi'y ofjason , Knight Paris and the F air Vienne
,and the
D ialogue of Salomon and M aroolfi hns) , embarked on a
more important work,The Chronicles of E ngland,
and
might have serious ly i nj ured the home trade had he notmet h i s death i n a quarrel wi th a workman whi l e theChronicles were st i l l on the press .1
Soon after 15 00 another Antwerp pri nter,Adriaen von
B erghen ,i n add i t ion to Ho l t’s Lao Faeroe/am
,publ i shed
the commonplace book of a London merchant wh ich
passes under the name of Arnold’
s Chronicle,and i s
famous as contai n ing the ear l i est text of the N aihz ozon
M aid. A l itt le later st i l l , Jan van Doesborch was at workat the same place
,and between 15 05 and 15 30 produced
at l east eighteen popu lar Engl i sh books,i nclud i ng Tyli
H owleglas, Ving zhas the M agi ,cian Rohzn H ood
,and an
account of recent d i scover i es ent i tled,
“ Of the new landesand of the people found by the messengers of the kyngeof portyngale named Emanuel .
”
Doesborch’
s books are poor ly pri nted and i l lustrated,
but h i s texts are not not i ceab ly worse than those i n con
temporary ed i t ions pub l i shed in England . The reversei s the case wi th two Engl i sh books produced (1503 ) bythe famous Pari s pub l i sher , Anto i ne Vérard,
The traille
of god lynyng and good deying and The Kalendayr ofShyfi fi ars . These have the i l l ustrat ions which book-loversprize so h igh ly i n the Kalendnier des B ergers and 14 7 4 de
bien vim/e ei de hien mom/in,but the trans lat ions seem to
have been made by a S cot , on ly less i l l equ ipped i n S cott i shthan i n French . I n a th i rd translat ion
,from Pierre
Gringore’
s Chaslean de Lahean,Vérard was more fortu
nate,for the Casiell of Lahoan was rendered i nto (for that
unpoet i cal period) very passable verse by AlexanderBarclay . Vérard, however , had no cause to congratu lateh imsel f
,forboth Pynson andDeWorde repr i n ted Barc lay’s
trans lat ion wi th copies of the woodcuts,and the other two
1The colophon to the Chronicle: which commemorates Leeu has already b eenquoted (p .
230
ENGL I S H B OOKS P R I NTED AB ROAD
books i n new translat ions,so that i n future he left the
secu lar Engl i sh market alone .I t may be supposed that the Act of 15 3 4 , restrict i ng
the importat ion of foreign books i n to England,final ly put
an end to competi t ion of the k i nd wh ich Leeu , Vérard,
and Doesborch had attempted . But i so lated Engl i shbooks have cont i nued to appear abroad down to our own
day, and form a miscel laneous , but curious and i n terest i ngappend ix i n the great vo l ume of the Engl i sh book trade .
From 15 25 onwards,however
,unt i l nearly the end of the
seventeenth century,compared wi th the masses of theolo
gical books al ternately by Protestant and Roman Catho l i cEngl i sh exi les
,pri nted i n the Low Countries
,Germany,
Swi tzerland , and France , the output of secu lar work s i nksi nto insignifi cance . The stream begins with Tyndale
’
s
New Testament, of which a few sheets were pr i n ted at
Co logne (see Plate XXVI I I ), two ed i t ions at Worms,and
hal f a dozen or more at Antwerp before i t was suffered toappear i n England .
The first Engl i sh B ible i s be l i eved to have beenpr i n ted (15 3 5 ) by Chri stopher Froschauer at Zuri ch
,the
second (15 3 7) at Antwerp , the th i rd (15 39) was begun at
Pari s and completed i n England . Bes ides their '
New
Testaments,Tyndal e and George Joy publ i shed a good
many controvers ial works at Antwerp . I n the nextgenerat ion the ci ty became one of the strongho lds of theRoman i s t exi les after the access ion of El izabeth
,and
Hans de Laet,John Fouler
,W illemSylvius , andG i l l i s van
D i est the younger were frequent ly cal l ed on i n 15 64—6 to
provide paper and pri n t for S tapleton , Hard ing , Wil l iamRastell
,and the other antagon i sts of Bishop Jewel .
I n 15 28 and the fo l lowing year books by Tyndal e ,Roy, and Fr i th appeared purport i ng to be pri nted by“ Hans Luft at Malborowe i n the land of Hesse . Alater book with th i s impri n t has been shown by M r .
Sayle to have been pri nted at Antwerp ; whether theseearl ier works were real ly produced at Marburg
,or, as
has been conjectured,at Co logne
,or agai n at Hamburg , i s
23 1
F I N E B O O K S
st i l l uncertai n . I n the ’fort ies and’
fi fties Chri stopherFroschauer pri nted several Engl i sh Protestant books atZur ich , i ncl ud ing A fayihfall admonyoion of a centen
irewe fi asior and fi ropheie sent unto the gee/wanes
,trans
lated from Luther’s Waz nnnge , with the p l eas i ng impri n t
“at Grenewych by Conrade Freeman i n the month of
may 15 5 4 . I n the ’
fi fties, agai n , Jean C respi n and o therGeneva pri nters worked for John Knox , and the GenevaNew Testament was produced there in 15 5 8 and the B iblei n 15 60 . I n the ’s ixt ies
,as we have seen , many treat i ses
attack i ng B ishop Jewel were i ssued at Antwerp , o thersappeared at Louvai n
,and about the same time at
Emden,G . van der Erven was pr i n t i ng for exi led Puri tans
some of thei r d iatribes agai ns t the Popi sh aparrell (i.e .
the su rpl i ce) which E l izabeth prescribed for the Engl i shChurch .
I n 15 74 we encounter at Amsterdam a curious groupof n ine l i tt l e books “ trans lated out ofBase-Almayne i n toEngl i sh
,i n which Hendrik Niclas preached the doctri nes
of the “ Fami ly of Love .” From that t ime onwards a
good deal of theo logical l i terature on the Protestant s idewas publ i shed by Amsterdam presses . Richard S ch i ldersat Middelburg was al so an extens ive publ i sher of th i sclass ofbook . Presses at Leyden and Dort made s imi larcontr ibut ions
,but on a smal ler scal e . On the Roman
Catho l i c s ide the head-quarters ofpropagand ist l i terature ,as we have seen
,were at first at Antwerp and Louvai n , at
both of which places John Fou ler had presses . I n the’eight ies the existence of the Engl i sh co l lege at Rheimscaused several Catho l i c books to be pri n ted there , notablythe translat ion of the New Testament which was made lnthe co l l ege i tsel f. For l i ke reasons much Catho l i c l i terature was publ i shed from 1602 onwards at S t . Omer , andfrom 1604 onwards at Douai . Books of the same class ,though in smal l er numbers
,appeared al so at Pari s and
Rouen .
I nd ividual ly the books from the presses we have beennaming, both on the Roman i st and the Pur i tan s ide, are
232
F I N E B O O K S
notes one on the ed i t ion of Archbishop Parker’s De
An tignitate E cclesiae B ritannieae pri nted for him byJohn Day,
i n all probabi l i ty at Lambeth Palace,where a
smal l staff ofbook-fash ioners worked under the archiepiscopal eye . Eton i s a good deal farther
“out of bounds
than Lambeth,but the employment of the Kings Pri nter ,
John Norton,and a ded icat ion to the King saved S ir
Henry Savi l e from any i n terference when he started prin ti ng h i s fine ed i t ion of the works ofS . John Chrysostom inthe origi nal Greek . The eight fo l io vo l umes ofwhich th i scons ists are dated from 16 10 to 16 13 ,
and i n these and
the two fo l lowing years five other Greek books werepri nted under Savile’s supervi s ion . After th i s h i s typewas presented to the Un ivers i ty ofOxford
,where a fai r ly
flouri sh ing press had been at work s i nce 15 85 .
That pri nt i ng at Oxford made a new start i n 15 8 5 wasdue no doubt to the example of Cambridge , which twoyears earl ier had at last acted on a patent for pri nt i nggranted by Henry VI I I i n 15 34 , the year, i t wi l l beremembered
,i n which restri ct ions were placed on the
importat ion of foreign books on account of the proficiencyi n the art to which Engl i shmen were supposed to haveattai ned . I n the i nterim Pri nters to the Un ivers i ty seemto have been appo i nted
,but i t was not t i l l 15 83 that a
press was set up , whereupon , as soon as a s i ngle book hadbeen pri nted
,i t was prompt ly seized by the S tat ioners’
Company ofLondon as an i n fri ngement of the monopo lygranted by thei r charter . Although the B i shop of
London seems to have backed up the S tat ioners,Lord
Burgh ley (the Chancel lor of the Un ivers i ty) and the
Master of the Ro l l s secured the recogn i t ion of the rightsof the Un ivers i ty . Forty years later they were agai nattacked by the S tat ioners , and the Privy Counci l forbadethe Cambridge pri nter to pri n t B ibles , Prayer Books ,Psal ters
,Grammars
,or Books of Common Law
,but
i n 1628 the j udges pronounced strongly i n favour of thefu l l r ights of the Un ivers i ty
,and the next year these were
recogn ized with some mod ificat ions by the Privy Counci l .
E NGL I S H PROV I NC I AL P R I NT I N G
Up to th i s t ime there had been three pri nters , ThomasThomas John Legate (15 88 and Cantre l lLegge (1606 the Un ivers i ty Library possess i ng (i n1902) 3 4 books and documents pri nted by the fi rst
,108
by the second,and 5 5 by the th i rd , or a total of 197 for a
period of forty-s ix years . From 1628 to 163 9 the majori tyofCambridge books bear no i nd ividual names on them , buthave usual ly the impri n t
“Cantabrigize ,
ex Academiaeceleberrimae typographeo . But Thomas and John Buckand Roger Dan iel
,i n various combi nat ions
,were respon
s ib le for a good many publ i cat ions .Whi le Burghley was Chancel lor of Cambridge
,
Dud ley,Earl of Leicester, held the Oxford Chance l lor
sh ip,and doubtless fe l t that
,charter or no charter
,i t
concerned h i s honour to see that h i s Un ivers i ty shouldbe al lowed all the privi leges possessed by the other .Under h i s auspi ces a press was started late i n 15 84 or
early i n 15 8 5 by Joseph Barnes , an Oxford booksel ler,to whom the Un ivers i ty lent £100 to enable h im to pro
cure the necessary equ ipment , and on Leicester’s vi s i t i ngthe Univers i ty on 11 January
,15 8 5 , a Carmen gratula
torinm i n four e legiac coup lets was presented to h im ,
pri nted on an octavo leaf at the new press . The fi rstbook to appear was a SpeculumM oralinm Qnaestionnmin nniaersamE thicen Aristotelia by John Case , a formerfel low of S . John s , with a ded icat ion to Leicester by theauthor and another by the pri nter . I n the latter the promise was made “
ea so l um ex hi s praelis i n lucemvenient que sapientum calculis approbentur 6
“ Sybi l l efoliis s int veriora,
but the remai n ing publ i cat ions of theyear were a po lemical t reat i se by Thomas B illson
,two
issues of a Protestant adaptat ion of the B oohe ofChristian exercise appertaining to Resolution by RobertPersons
,the Jesu i t
,and two sermons . I n 1586 no fewer
than seventeen books were pri nted (a number not agai nattai ned for several years), and among them was an ed it ion of s ix homi l ies of S . Chrysostom
,
“
primi t iaetypographi nostri i n graecis literis prel i . After th i s the
23 5
F I N E B O O K S
press sett l ed down to an average product ion of from eightto a dozen books a year , i nc lud i ng a fai r number of
c lass i cal texts and trans lat ions , with now and then a
vo l ume ofverse wh ich bri ngs i t i nto connect ion wi th thestream of El izabethan l i terature . .
Among the more interesting books wh ich i t produced , ment ion may be madeofthe Sin e [dillia ofTheocri tus poems byNicho lasBreton and Thomas Churchyard Richard deBury’s Philohihlon the M icrocosmns of JohnDavies of Hereford Captai n John Smith’s M agof Virginia ,
with a description of the Conntreyand Burton’s Anatomy of M elancholy I n the’twent ies of the seventeenth century the average annualoutput was st i l l on ly 14 ; i n the
’th irt i es,under the foster
i ng care of Laud,it had ri sen as h igh as 25 . I n 1641
i t was but 19 . Then,on the outbreak of the C ivi l War,
the King came to Oxford,and under the stress of official
publ i cat ions and royal i st controversy the numbers shotup to about 147 i n 1642,
fo l lowed by 119 i n 1643 , about100 i n 1644 , and 60 i n 1645 . Then they become normalagai n
,and i n 1649 under the Parl iamentary regime s i nk
as low as seven . These stat i st ics are taken from thevarious works of Mr . Fal coner Madan
,mentioned in our
bib l iography , and from the same source we learn thatunt i l the n i neteenth century the annual average of product ion
,cal cu lated by periods of ten years
,never exceeded
thi rty-two .
S im i lar causes to those wh i ch brought about the sudden i ncrease in the Oxford output i n 1642 l ed to theestabl i shment of presses at Newcast le and York . I n163 9 , when Charles I marched agai nst the S cots , h i s headquarters were at Newcast le , and the Royal Pr i nter
,
Robert Barker,
1 prin ted there a sermon by the B i shopof Durham
,the Lawes and Ordinances of Warre, and
some proclamat ions . I n March , 1642, agai n Barker was
1 Rob ert Barker himself was imprisoned for debt in the King’s Bench atLondon in 163 5 , and died there in 1646. What is here written applies to his
deputy, who may have b een his son of the same name .
236
F I N E B O O K S
H orrid and B loody M assacre in I reland on a s i ngle leaf,
but al so a handsome fo l io ,The Academy of Armory,
for
Randal l Ho lme,who rewarded h im for any ri sk he may
have run by devis i ng for him a fancy coat . Nevertheless,
despi te the change ofGovernment , the Act of Parl iamentrestri ct i ng pri nting to London
,Oxford , Cambridge , and
York was not al lowed to expi re t i l l 1695 . A press wasset up at Bri sto l the same year . Plymouth and Shrewsbury fo l lowed i n 1696, Exeter i n 1698 ,
and Norwich i n170 1, the fi rst provincial newspaper , The N orwich Post
,
dat i ng from S eptember in that year . By 175 0 aboutseventy-fi ve provi ncial towns possessed presses
,ci t ies
and smal l country places start i ng them at haphazard,not
at all i n the order of thei r importance . The dates forsome of the ch ief are as fo l lows (all on the authori ty ofMr . Al l nutt) : 1708 , Newcast l e-upon-Tyne ; 1709 ,
W or
cester ; 17 10 ,Nott i ngham ; 17 11, Chester ; 1712,
Liverpoo l ; 1715 , Sal i sbury ; 17 16 ,
~ B irmingham ; 17 17 ,Canterbury ; 17 18 , I pswich , Leeds , and Taunton ; 1719 ,
Manchester and Derby ; 1720 ,Northampton 1721,
Coventry and Hereford ; 1723 ,Reading ; 173 1, Bath ;
173 7 , Sheffield ; 1745 , S tratford-on-Avon ; 1748 , Portsmonth .
As a s ide-consequence of the laps i ng of the Licens i ngAct i n 1695 , i t became poss ib le for any private person tobuy a pri n t i ng press
,h i re a journeyman pr i n ter , and start
pri nt i ng any books b e pleased . S everal private presseswere thus set up duri ng the second hal f of the eighteenthcentury
,the most famous of them being that of Horace
Walpo le at S trawberry H i l l,near Twickenham . Walpo l e
started i n 175 7 by pri nt i ng two of the Odes of h i s friendGray
,and at i n terval s duri ng the next twenty-seven years
pri nted several of h is own works,and a few other books
,
of which an ed i t ion of Grammont’
s M émoi'
res was themost important . Walpo l e’s examp l e was fo l lowed byGeorge Al lan
,MP . for Durham ,
and Franci s B lome fi eld,
the h i storian ofNorfo l k al so i n the n i neteenth century byThomas Johnes
,who pri nted h i s trans lat ion of Fro i ssart
23 8
P R I NT I NG I N S COTLAND
i n four large quarto vo l umes at h i s own house at Hafodi n Card igansh i re in 1803
—5 ,
and fo l lowed them up witha Jo i nvi l l e in 1807 and a Monstrelet i n 18 10 . Between18 13 and 18 23 Sir Egerton Brydges caused a number ofi nterest i ng l i terary repri nts to be i ssued for h im ln l im i teded i t ions from a press i n or near h is house at Lee Prioryi n Kent . The work of both these presses
,l ike that of
Walpo l e’s,was perhaps equal to the best commercial
pri nt i ng of i ts day, but was not superior to i t,and
perhaps the same may be sai d of the few repri ntsmanufactured , i n st i l l more j ealous ly l im ited ed i t ions ,by E . V . Utterson between 1840 and 1843 at B eldornie
House,Ryde . S ir Thomas Ph i l l ipps , who pri nted
numerous antiquarian documents between 1822 and
1862 at Middle H i l l i n Worcestersh i re,and between
1862 and 18 72 at C hel tenham,set even less store by
typographical beauty and accuracy . The other privatepresses of the first hal f of the n i neteenth century are not
more i nterest i ng, though that of Gaetano Po l idori at
Park Vi l lage East , near Regent’s Park
,1840
-5 0 ,
has
become famous as havi ng pri nted Gabriel Rossett i ’s SirH ugh the H eron i n 1843 , and Chri st i na Rossett i
’s fi rstvo l ume of verse four years later
,Po l idori be ing the
grandfather of the young authors on thei r .mother’s
s ide .
Pass i ng north of the Tweed,where the most formid
able compet i tors of the London pri nters now abide,we
find the first S cott i sh press at work at Edinburgh i n15 08 . I n September of the previous year AndrewMyllar, a booksel ler who had gai ned some experience ofprint i ng at Rouen
,and Wal ter Chapman
,a merchant
,
had been granted leave to import a press , ch iefly thatthey might pri nt an Aberdeen Breviary,
which du lyappeared ln 15 09 10 . The books which anti cipated it
m 15 08 were a number of th i n quartos , The M aying or
D isport of Chaucer,dated 4 Apri l , the Kn ightly Tale
of Golagros and Gawane,dated 8 Apri l
,the Porteous
of N oblenes,
“ trans lated out of franche i n scott i s be239
F I N E B O O K S
Maistir Andrew Cadiou , dated 20 Apri l,and eight
undated p i eces , three of them by Dunbar (The GoldynTarge The F lyting of Dunbar and K ennedy,
and the
Twa M arrit Women and the Wedo,with other poems),
the others bei ng the B allad of Lord B arnard S tewart ,Orpheus and E urydice, the B uhe of Gude Counsale, SirEglamoure of Artoys, and A Cost of Robyn H ode . Al lthese have survived (some of them much mut i lated) i na s i ngle vo l ume , and i t i s at the reader’s pleasure todecide whether they represen t the harvest of somecarefu l person who bought up all Chapman and Myllar
’
s
fugi t ive p ieces , or are merely the remnants of a muchlarger output . The Aberdeen B reviary , which theprin ters were encouraged to produce by protect ionagainst the importation of Sarum books from Englandor abroad , i s real ly handsomely pri nted in black and
red . At the end of one of the four or fi ve copies of i tnow known i s an addendum
,the Ofi cium Compassionis
B eatae Virginis (commemorated on the Wednesday i nHo ly Week), which bears the co lophon
“ ImpressumEdinburgi per Johannem S tory nomine mandatoKaro l i S tule
,which S cott i sh b ibl iographers ass ign to
about 15 20 . A fragment of a B ooh of the H owlat maybelong to the same period . Thus al though S cott i shwr i ters
,such as John Vaus and Hector Boece of Aber
deen,had to send thei r books to France to be pr i nted
,i t
i s poss ibl e that presses were at work in Edinburgh or
elsewhere i n S cot land , ofwhich noth ing i s now known .
The next pri nter of whom we have certai n i nformat ion i s Thomas Davidson , who in February , 15 4 1produced a handsome ed i t ion of The N ew Actis and
Constitutionis of Parliamentmaid be theRycht E xcellentPrince [ames the E ift . Thi s was h i s on ly dated book ,but he i ssued al so a fi ne ed i t ion of The hystory and
cronihlis of Scotland, trans lated by“ Johne B el lenden
,
Archdene of Murray,chanon of Ros,
” from the Lat i nof Hector Boece
,and some smal l er works .
The next Scott i sh printer i s John Scot,whom the
240
F I N E B O O K S
at S t i rl i ng , and the next two years at S t . Andrews . LikeS cot
,he found pri nt i ng peri lous wo rk , h i s i ntermiss ion
after the beginn i ng of 15 74 bei ng due to impri sonment .Thomas Bassandyne , who had previous ly publ i shed
books at Edinburgh , began print i ng there i n 15 72. He
produced but ten (extant) books and documents i n all,
but h is name is famous from its connect ion with the fi rstS cott i sh B ible , ofwhich he produced the New Testament i n15 76 ,
the Old Testament bei ng added,and the who le i ssued
by h is successor,Alexander Arbuthnot
,i n 15 79 . Besides
the B ible,on ly five books were pri nted by Arbuthnot .
Between 15 74 and 15 80 twenty-s ix were produced byJohn Ross
,and on h i s death Henry C harteri s
,a book
sel ler,took over h i s material
,and by the t ime of hi s
death i n 15 99 had pri nted forty more . But the bestEdi nburgh work towards the end of the century was
produced by two craftsmen from England,Thomas
Vautrollier, who produced ten books i n 15 84-6
,and
Robert Waldegrave (15 90 who had to flee fromEngland for his share in the Marprelate tracts , and
during h is th i rteen years i n Edinburgh i ssued 119 books .
When Joseph Ames was des i rous of obtai n i ngi nformat ion about early pri nt ing i n I reland he app l i edto a Dr. Rutty
,of Dubl i n (apparently a Q uaker), who
cou ld on ly furn i sh the name of a s i ngle book pri ntedthere before 1600 ,
th i s bei ng an ed i t ion of the Book of
Common Prayer , which states that i t i s“ Impri nted by
Humphrey Powel l,pri nter to the Kynges Maiesti, i n h i s
H ighnesse realme of I reland dwellyng i n the citie of
Dubl i n i n the greate toure by the C rane . Cum Privi legioad imprimendum so l um . Anno Domin i MDL I . Weknow from the records of the Engl i sh Privy Counci l thatHumphrey Powel l , an i n conspi cuous Engl i sh pri nter ,was granted £20 ln Ju ly
,15 5 0 ,
“ towards h i s setting upi n I reland
,
”
and th i s Prayer Book was doubt less the firstfru i ts ofh i s press . Powel l remai ned i n Dubl i n for fi fteenyears
,but the on ly other products of h i s press st i l l i n
existence are two proclamat ions,one i ssued i n 15 61
P R I NT I NG I N I RELAND
agai n st Shane O’
Neill, the other i n 15 64 agai nst theO
’
Connors , and A B rofo D eclaration of certein Princi
pallArticles of Religion ,a quarto of e ight leaves set out
by order ofS ir Henry S idney i n 15 66 .
I n 15 7 1 John O’
Kearney,Treasurer of S t . Patri ck ’s
,
was presented with a fount of I ri sh type by Queen El izabeth
,and a Catech i sm by him and a broadside poem on
the Last J udgment,by Phi l ip ,
son of Conn Crosach,
both i n I ri sh type , are st i l l extant . But there seems to beno trustworthy i nformat ion as to where they were pri nted
,
though i t was probably at Dubl i n .
An Almanac,givi ng the longitude and lat i tude for
Dubl i n,for the year 15 8 7 , appears to have been pri nted at
London . But i n 15 95 Wil l iam Kearney pri nted a Proclamat ion agai nst the Earl of Tyrone and hi s adherents i nI re land i n the Cathedrall Church of the B lessed Tri n i t ie
,
Dub l i n .
We reach cont i nuous fi rm ground i n 1600 whenJohn Francke , or Franckton (as he cal l ed h imsel f i n 1602
and thenceforward), pri nted one or more proclamat ions atDubl i n . I n 1604 Franckton was appo i nted Kings Pri nterfor I re land
,and he cont i nued at work t i l l 1618 ,
when heass igned h i s patent to Fel ix Kyngston ,
Matthew Lownes,
and Thomas Downes . Some four-and-twenty proclamat ions and upwards ofa dozen books and pamphlets fromhis press are extant
,some of them i n I ri sh type . I n
1620 the office ofPrinter-General for I reland was grantedfor a period of twenty-one years to Kingston , Lownes , andDownes
,all of them members of the London S tat ioners ’
Company,and the usual impri n t on the books they i ssued
i s that of the Company (1620-3 3 ) or Society (163 3-42) ofS tat ioners . They seem to have appo i n ted an agent orfactor to look after thei r i nterests
,and the last of these
factors,Wil l iam Bladen
,about 1642 took over the
business .The earl iest al l us ion to books pri n ted i n what after
wards became the Un i ted S tates ofAmeri ca occurs i n thed iary of John Winthrop
,Governor ofMassachusetts Bay,
243
F I N E B O O K S
for March , 163 9 : A print ing house was begun at Cambridge by one S tephen Daye
,at the charge ofMr . Glover
,
who d ied on sea h itherward . The fi rst th ing which waspri nted was the freemon
’
s Oath the next was an almanacmade for New England by Mr . Wil l iam Pierce
,mari ner
the next was the Psalms newly tu rned i nto metre .
” TheMr . Glover here mentioned was the Rev . Joseph Glover,rector of Sutton i n Surrey from 1628 to 1636 , who ,
afterco l lect i ng funds for the benefi t of Harvard Co l lege at
Cambridge,Mass ,
sai led wi th h i s fami ly from Englandi n the summer of 163 8 , but d ied on the way. His widow
(El izabeth Glover), short ly after her arrival , married theRev . Henry Dunster , the fi rst Pres ident of Harvard
,and
thus,as had happened i n Pari s
,the fi rst press i n America
was set up i n a co l l ege under cleri cal auspices . S tephenDay,
the pri nter whom Glover had brought from England
,i s natu ral ly supposed to have been a descendant of
John Day,the great El izabethan pri nter , but of th i s there
i s no evidence . He obtai ned some grants of land i n cons iderat ion of hi s services to the co lony
,but d id not great ly
thrive,and i n 1648 ,
or early i n 1649 ,was superseded by
Samuel Green . Of the specimens of h i s press ment ionedby Governor Winthrop the Oath of a F reeman and the
A lmanac have peri shed utterly . Of the BayPsal ter, or
the “ New England Vers ion of the Psalms,
”
as i t wassubsequent ly cal led
,at least el even cop i es are known to
be extant,ofwhich five are stated to be perfect}l I t i s a
smal l octavo of 148 l eaves , d isfigured by numerous mi spri nts
,but wi th passable presswork . The trans lat ion was
made by the Massachusetts clergy,who prefixed to i t
“ A discourse declari ng not on ly the lawfullnes but al sothe necess i ty of the heaven ly ord i nance of s i ngingS criptu re Psalmes i n the C hurches ofGod.
” I ts t i t l epagebears the name nei ther ofpri nter nor ofplace , but merely
1 The assertion byMr. Charles Evans (American B iblzography, p . 3 ) that oneof these , “
the Crowninshield copy , was privately sold by Henry Stevens to the
British Museumfor£ 15 7 ros. despite its apparen t precision ,is an exasperating
error.
F I N E B O O K S
15 . 6 ,a t reat i se on J ust ifi cat ion by Fai t
seems to have begu n to bu sy h imse l fCo rporat ion i n England fo r the PrGospe l amongst the I nd ians i n New 1
poration for the I nd ian s , as i t i s eas
second press was sen t over to enableundertaken
,and a Primer by John El
to the I nd ians ) was pri n ted i n 165 4 ,
Genes i s and Matthew the next year,
I nd ian language , all th ree now known 0
The same dest ruct ion has befal l en an 1
some of the Psalms ment ioned as havi165 8 ,
but of ano the r I nd ian book 0
Abraham Peirson’
s Son/e helps for thethem how to improve their na tural re
true God,and the true Christian Re
have been preserved,
one i n the IN
Library,the o the r at the B ri t i sh M
ed i t ion,dated the next year
,i s al so
though i t has escaped the no t i ce ofM r .
Iof the latest American B ibl iography .
Co rpo rat ion for the I nd ians had senpri n ter
,Marmaduke Johnson
,to aid ( 3
Unfortunate ly ,despi te the fact that h
i n England,Johnson fl i rted wi th G ree
th i s conduct,reprehen s i ble anywhere
brought down on h im fines ofJ£20 a
deportat ion , whi ch ,however
,was no t ca
son'
s i n i t ial s appears i n conj u nct io nB riry
‘Catechism con tain ing the doctri
John Norton,teache r of the C hu rch at l
i n 1660 ,and the two men
'
s names inI nd ian New Testament of 166 1 and ti
of 1663 . Of the New Testament i t isa thousand , or perhaps fi fteen hundpri nted , of wh ich fi ve hund red wereand fo rty of these sent to England . Iwere pri nted of the Old Testament is
246
of
\ ln ( 4
PR I IT I NG I N AM E R I CA
of the complete nible some fo rty copies are st i l l extanti n no fewer tha eight var iant states produced by thepresence or abse .e of the I nd ian and Engl i sh titlepages,the ded icat ion
,wh i le of the New Testament about
hal f as many cop :s may be known .
Du ri ng the ogress of the I nd ian B ible Green hadcon t i nued h i s E gl i sh pri n t i ng on h i s other press
,and
had produced non other th i ngs Propositions con
cerning the sub] t o B aptism co l l ected by the BostonSynod
,and beaing the imprin t
“ Pri n ted by S . .G for
Hezek iah Vshe at Boston i n New EnglandPri n t i ng at Bostn i tse l f does not appear to have begununt i l 1675 ,
when ahn Foster,a Harvard graduate
,was en
tru sted with the 1anagement of a press , and duri ng thatand the s ix foll'
ving years pri n ted there a number of
books by I ncrea : Mather and o ther m i n i sters,as wel l as
some almanacs . On hi s death in 168 1 the press wasentrusted to Sa ue l Sewal l
,who
,however
,abandoned i t
i n 168 4 . Mean n i l e,Samuel G reen had cont i nued to
pri nt at Cambr ge , and hi s so n ,S amuel Green j un ior
,
i s found wo rk i n by ass ignment of S ewal l and for otherBoston booksel'rs . I n 1690 h i s brother Bartho lomewGreen succeede h im
,and remai ned the ch ief pr i n te r at
Boston t i l l h i s .ith i n 173 2.
At Philadel; ia,wi th i n th ree years of i t s foundat ion
in 168 3 ,a Kat a
’arium Pennsil'zwniense ,
or America’
s
M essinger be .
f and [sic] ahnanach for the year ofgrace 1686
,by ‘
1muel Atk i n s , was i s sued with the im
pri n t , Pri nted nd so ld by Wi l l iam B radford , so ld al soby the Autho r z-d H . Murrey i n Ph i ladelph ia and Ph i l i pRichard s i n Ne Yo rk
,168 5 ,
and i n the same year therewas publ i shed ) nymously Thomas Budd s Good Orderestablished in nnsilz'ania 6 ' N ew jersey in Americabeing a true a 1nut of the country ,
with its produceand commoditi there made . I n 1686 B radford pri n tedAn
.
Ep istle fr 2john B urnyeat to F riends in Pensil
vania andA eral E fi istle greenforth by thepeople ofthe Lord cal/e ) uahers ,
i n 168 7 Wil l iam Penn’s The
F I N E B O O K S
15 . 6,a treat i se on Just ificat ion by Fai th , and then Green
seems to have begun to busy h imsel f with work for theCorporat ion i n England for the Propagat ion of theGospel amongst the I nd ians i n New England , or Cor
poration for the I nd ians , as i t i s eas ier to cal l i t . Asecond press was sent over to enable th i s work to beundertaken
,and a Primer by John El iot (
“ the Apost l eto the I nd ians was pri nted i n 165 4 ,
and the Books ofGenesi s and Matthew the next year
,all three i n the
I nd ian language , all three now known on ly from records .
The same destruct ion has befal l en an I nd ian vers ion of
some of the Psalms ment ioned as having been pri nted m165 8 ,
but of another I nd ian book of the same year,
Abraham Peirson’
s Some helps for the [ndi ,ans shewing
them how to improve their natural reason to hnow the
true God,and the true Christian Religion ,
two i ssueshave been preserved
,one i n the New Yo rk Publ i c
Library,the other at the Bri t i sh Museum . Another
ed i t ion,dated the next year
,i s al so at the Museum
,
though i t has escaped the not i ce ofMr . Evans,the autho r
of the latest Ameri can B ib l iography . By th i s t ime theCorporat ion for the I nd ians had sent over a sk i l l edpri nter
,Marmaduke Johnson
,to aid Green i n h i s work .
Unfortunate ly , desp i te the fact that he had left a wifei n England
,Johnson fl i rted with Green
’
s daughter,and
th i s conduct , reprehens ib le anywhere,i n New England
brought down on h im fines of J£20 and a sentence of
deportat ion,which
,however
,was not carried out . John
son ’s i n i t ial s appears i n conj unct ion wi th Green ’s i n AB rief Catechism containing the doctrine of Godlines, byJohn Norton
,teacher of the C hurch at Boston
, publ i shedi n 1660
,and the two men ’s names i n fu l l are i n the
I nd ian New Testament of 166 1 and the comp lete B ibleof 1663 . Of the New Testament i t i s conj ectured thata thousand
, or perhaps fi fteen hundred copies,were
pri nted , of which fi ve hundred were bound separate ly ,and forty of these sent to England . How many cop i eswere pri nted of the Old Testament i s not known , but
246
F I N E B O O K S
excellen t privilege of liberty and fi rofi erty being the birthright of the free-born subjects of E ngland ; i n 1688 a
co l l ect ion includ i ng Bohme ’s The Temfle of hVisdom,
Wither’s Abuses S trifi t and Whifi t , and Bacon’s E ssays,
ed i ted by Dan iel Leeds . I n 1689 Bradford began wo rki ng for George Kei th , and th ree years later he was im
pri soned for pri nt i ng Kei th’s Appeal from the Twenty
E ightjudges to the Sfi irit of Truth and truejudgemen tin allfaithful F riends called Qua/eers . I n consequenceof th i s persecut ion Bradford left Ph i ladelph ia the nextyear and set up h is press at New York . Rein ier Jansenand Jacob Taylor are subsequent ly ment ioned as pri ntersat Phi ladelph ia,
and i n 17 12 Andrew Bradford , son of
Wil l iam,came from New York and worked there unt i l
h i s death i n 1742. From 1723 he had as a compet i torSamuel Keimer, and i t was i n Keimer
’
s office that Benjamin Frank l i n began pri nt i ng i n Ph i ladelph ia. H ised i t ion of a t rans lat ion of C i cero’s Cato M ajor on Old
Age , by J . Logan ofPhi ladelph ia,i s sai d to have been the
fi rst renderi ng of a class i c publ i shed i n Ameri ca.
Meanwhi le,Wil l iam Bradford had set up h is press i n
New York i n 1693 ,and obtai ned the appo i n tment of
Government Pri nter . H is earl iest product ions there werea number of official Acts and Proclamat ions
,on which he
placed the impri nt,
“ Printed and So ld by Wi l l iam Bradford
,Printer to King W i l l iam and Q ueen Mary
,at the
C i ty of New York . I n 1700 he was apparent ly employed to pri n t an anonymous answer to I ncrease Mather
’
sOrder of the Gospel, and a heated controversy arose as towhether the refusal of Bartho lomew Green to pri n t i t atBoston was due to excess ive awe of the Pres ident ofHarvard or to a more prai seworthy obj ect ion to anonymous attacks . Bradford remai ned New York
’s on ly
pri n ter unt i l 1726, when Johann Peter Zenger set up a
press whi ch became notable for the bo ldness wi th wh ichi t attacked the provincial government . Such attacks werenot regarded with much to l erat ion
,nor i ndeed was the
press even under official regu lat ion great ly beloved by248
PR I NT I NG I N AM E R I CA
authori ty . I n 167 1 S ir Wil l iam Berkeley,Governo r of
Virgin ia,i n an o ffic ial document remarked .
“ I thankGod we have not free schoo l s nor pri nt i ng ; and I hopewe shal l not have these hundred years . For learn inghas brought d i sobed ience and heresy and sects i nto theworld ; and pri nt ing has d ivu lged them and l ibel s agai n stthe government . God keep us from both . Eleven yearslater (21February , 1682) there i s an entry i n the Vi rgi n ianrecords : John Buckner cal led before the L(1 C u lpeperand h i s counci l for print i ng the laws of 1680
,without h i s
excel lency’s l i cense,and he and the pri nter o rdered to
enter into bond 1n £100 not to pri n t anyth ing hereafter ,unt i l h i s maj esty’s p l easure shal l be known .
” As a resu l tthere was no more pri nt i ng i n Vi rgi n ia t i l l about 1729 ,
nor are anyother towns than those here ment ioned knownto have possessed presses duri ng the seventeenth century ,the period with i n wh ich Ameri can books may claim thed ign i ty of i ncunabula.
CHAPTER X IV
ENGL ISH WOODCUT ILLUSTRAT IONS
FEW i l l umi nated manuscripts of Engl i sh workmansh ip and a few wi th i l lustrat ions i n outl i nehave come down to us from the fifteenth century
,
but amid the weary wars wi th France and the st i l l wearierstruggles of York i sts and Lancastrians
,the art i st i c spi ri t
which had been so prominent i n England i n the th i rteenthand fourteenth centuries seems to have d ied out al together . Unti l the re ign of Q ueen El izabeth , or perhapswe Shou ld rather say unti l the advent of John Day,
fewEngl i sh books were i l lustrated
,and of these few qu i te a
large proport ion borrowed or cop i ed thei r p ictures fromforeign origi nal s . Nevertheless
,Engl ish i l l ustrated books
are right ly sought after by Engl i sh co l lectors , and thoughwe maywish that they were better , we must give the bestaccount of them we can .
AS we shal l see i n a later chapter , there i s some probabi l i ty that an engraving on copper was special ly preparedfor the first book pri nted by Caxton , The Recuyell of the
H istories of Troye . For the present,however
,we must
concern ourselves on ly with i l lustrat ions on wood,or on
soft metal cu t i n rel ief after the manner ofwood,a d i ffer
ence of more i nterest to the techn ical s tudent than to
book-lovers . The fi rst Engl i sh books thus i l l ustratedappear i n or about 148 1, the year i n wh ich Jean Du Prébegan the use of cuts i n Pari s . England was thus fai rlywel l to the front i n po i n t of t ime ; i t i s the qual i ty whichi s to seek . The first of these i l l ustrated books was probably an undated ed i t ion of the M irrour of the World
,a
translat ion of a French vers ion of a Lat i n Speculum or
Imago mundi. Bes ides some woodcut d iagrams copied250
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XX IX . WE ST M I N STE R , CAXTON , c .
F I N E B O O K S
pi lgrims,each decked wi th a huge stri ng of prayi ng
beads and mounted on a most ungai n ly horse,i s grotesque
i n i ts cumu lat ion of cl ums i ness,though when we find
that the mi l ler real ly has got a kind of bagpipe , werecogn ize that the i l lustrator had at l east read h i s text .Apparent ly Caxton h imsel f real i zed that these Engl i sh
made woodcuts were a fai l u re , for the on ly two importanti l l ustrated books which he i ssued after th i s , the SpeculumVitae Christi, pri nted about 1488 (see Plate XX IX) , andthe F ifteen Oes of a year or two later
,both seem to be
decorated wi th cuts of Flemish o rigi n . The F ifteen Oes(a co l lect ion of fifteen prayers
,each begi nn i ng wi th
though I have cal l ed i t important,i s so mai n ly as proving
that Caxton must have pri nted a Ho rae of the samemeasurements (of which i t may, i ndeed , have formeda part), i l l ustrated wi th a set of very spi ri ted woodcuts
,
undoubted ly imported from Flanders and subsequent lyfound i n the possess ion of Wynkyn de Worde . Thatthe cuts i n the Speculum Vitae Christi are al so Flemishi s a degree less certai n
,but on ly a degree . Some of these
were used agai n i n the Royal B ooh ,the Doctrinal of
Sapience , and the B ooh of D ivers Ghostly M atters . Butthe seven books which we have named are the on ly onesfor which Caxton troubled to procure sets of cuts
,and of
these seven sets,as we have seen
,one was certai n ly and
another probably imported,one certai n ly and another
probably copied,and on ly three are of Engl i sh origi n
,
and these the rudest and clumsiest .Whi le our ch i ef nat ive pri nter made th is poor record
h i s contemporaries d id no better . Lettou and Machlinia
used no woodcuts wh ich have come down to us savea smal l border
,which passed i n to the possess ion of
Pynson for use at Oxford two sets of cuts were importedfrom the Low Countries
,one which M r . Gordon Duff th i nks
was origi nal ly des igned for a Legenda Aurea,the other
cl early meant for a Horae . These were used together i nthe Oxford ed i t ion ofMirk’s Liber F estivalis
,and the cut
of the author of the LegendaAurea (Jacobus de Voragine)
E N G L I S H WO O D C U T I L L U S T RAT I O N S
i s u sed for Lyndewood i n an ed i t ion of hi s Constitutions .
At S t . Albans some poor l i tt l e cuts were used i n theChronicles of E ngland,
but from the po i n t of view of
i l l ustrat ion the anonymous schoo lmaster-pri nter i s ch ieflymemorable for having printed some cuts of coat-armouri n the Book of S t . Albans ”
(The B ohe of H auhyng ,
H un tyng and also of Cote-armuris) i n co lours .
Wynkyn de Worde i nheri ted Caxton’
s stock of woodcuts
,and early i n h i s career used some of them agai n i n
repri nts of the Golden Legend and Speculum Vitae
Christi,and i n h i s larger Horae used the fu l l set of cuts
which,whi le i n Caxton’
s hands,i s on ly known from those
wh ich appear i n the F ifteen Oes. About 1492 he purchased some ornamental cap i tal s (Caxton had on ly useda s ingle rather gracefu l rust i c A) and one or more cutsfrom Govaert van Os of Gouda. I n h i s 1494 ed i t ion of
Wal ter Hylton’s Scala Perfectionis (the first book i n
which he put h i s name) he used a woodblock cons i st i ngof a picture of Chri s t suckled by H is mother wi th a longwoodcut i nscript ion , part of which reads “
Sit dulcenomen domin i nostri ihesu chri st i et nomen genitricisvi rgi n i s marie benedictum
,the who l e surrounded by
a gracefu l floral border . I n 1495 came H igden’s Poly
chronicon with a few woodcut musi cal notes,the
“ hystorye of the deuoute and right renommed lyues
o f ho ly faders lyuynge i n deserte”
(usual ly quoted as theVitas Patrum), with one large cut used Six t imes andforty smal l ones used as 15 5 , and about the same timea handsome ed i t ion of Bartho lomaeus Anglicus
’
s D e
profi rietatibus rerum,with large cuts (two-th i rds of the
fo l io page) prefixed to each of the twenty-two books,
apparent ly copied part ly from those i n a Dutch ed i t ion
pri n ted at Haarlem i n 148 5 , part ly from the i l l ustrat ions
(themselves not origi nal) i n a French ed i t ion pri nted at
Lyon,of which Caxton
,who fin i shed the trans lat ion on
h i s death—bed , had made use . I n 1496 ,i n repri nt i ng the
B ooh of St . Aibans DeWorde added a treat i se on F ishingwith an angle, to which he prefixed a cut ofa happy angler
25 3
F I N E B O O K S
hau l i ng up a fish which wi l l soon be placed in a wel l-fi lledtub which stands bes ide h im on the bank . This i s qu i tegood prim i t ive work and was sufficient ly appreciated tobe used for numerous later ed i t ions , but soon after th i sDe Wo rde emp loyed a cutter who served h im very bad ly ,mangl i ng crue l ly a set of rather ambi t ious des igns forthe M orte d
’
Arthur of 1498 (several of them used agai n i nthe Recuyell of and al so some s ingle cuts used i nd i fferent books . For the next hal f-dozen years De Worderel ied almost exclus ively on old cuts
,but at last found
a competent craftsman who enabled h im to bri ng out i nJanuary
,15 05
—6,an Engl i sh vers ion of the Art de bien
vivre ci de bien mourir with qu i te neat reduct ions of the
p i ctures i n Vérard’
s ed i t ion of 1492. I t was ,no doubt
,
the same workman who copied i n 15 06 the VérardPigouchet cuts i n Pierre Gringore
’
s Chasteaa de Labeur
as trans lated by Alexander Barclay,but from the frequent
omiss ion of backgrounds i t i s obvious that i n these hewas hurri ed
,and they are by no means so good as those
i n the 15 05 ed i t ion by Pynson with which De Worde wasenvious ly hasten ing to compete . The Calendar ofShefi herds was another trans lat ion from the French ,i l l ustrated wi th copies of French cuts
,whi le i n the prose
Shifi of F ools,translated by Henry W atson from a
French vers ion of the German N arrenschif ofSebast ianBrant
,Basel o rigi nal s were reproduced probably from
intermed iate cop ies . But when i n 15 09 Henry V I I d ied ,De Wo rde for once seems to have let h i s craftsman doa bi t of origi nal work for a t i t le-cut to a funeral sermonby B ishop Fisher . I n th i s (see Plate XXX) the b i shop i sshown preach i ng i n a wooden pu lp i t , immed iately belowwhich i s the hearse covered by a gorgeous pal l on whichl i es an effigy of the dead ki ng
,whi le beyond the hearse
stands a crowd of courtiers . I t i s evident that perspect ivewas not the art i st ’s strong po i n t , as the pavement seemscl imbing up the wal l and the Shape of the hearse i s qu i tei ndetermi nate
,but the general effect of the cut i s neat
and pleas i ng . That i t i s an Engl i sh cut i s certai n . A
mbtsfetmontolompngemas1011111911111116911111111:abebmllrbpttbeottayttttsoulemttbmtpnotMubonbptbttpgbtnuetenbetabet tagob 3! 11111111011013 0101111111011101111bepugeptettntot1111111001111111111111:muteapageEntry ofMaritimertmotottt logoegob as fetmottmas1111119111111at the[pttpallreq
'
tnttof?ryghtmellent111111111111ahatgatett 1110011:111110the[armnoblemute111111alumnaeomptbemonbeaab laerbp.
xxx. LONDON , v v m; WORDE , 1509
F I N E B O O K S
moreover,i s made to carry a bow as i f
,i n stead ofhavi ng
h i s mi nd set on Ari stot le , he were of the lusty sort thatloved to get ven i son where they shou ld not . Roundmost of the cuts there i s a heavy edge of black
,as i f
from an untrimmed block,which does not improve the i r
appearance . Altogether they are poor work , and i t wasdoubtless h i s recogn it ion of th i s that caused Pynson i nfuture to re ly so largely on the purchase or im itat ion Offoreign blocks . For h i s ed i t ion of Lydgate
’
s F alles ofPrinces , a verse renderi ng OfBoccaccio
’s D e easz'
bus illus
trz’
zzm w’
mmm,i ssued i n 1494 , he procured the wood
cuts made for the fine French ed i t ion (D e [a mine degflab/es lzommes), pri nted at Pari s by Jean Du Pr é i n1483 . Before I 5 00 he brought out an Aesop
,Copyi ng as
usual the German cuts . I n 15 05 he pri nted AlexanderBarclay
’s vers ion of Pierre Gringore’
s Chasteaa du
Labemf with cuts closely and fai rly sk i l fu l ly copied fromthose i n the Pigouchet-Vérard ed i t ions . I n 15 06 hewent further and procured from V érard the blocks for anew ed i t ion of the Kalendar of Shepherds , which , however
,he caused to be retrans lated
,with sundry remarks
on the extraord inary Engl i sh of the vers ion publ i shed byVérard. I n I 5 09 he produced i n a fine fol io Barclay’sfree rendering of Brant s N areemekzfi ; i l l ustrat i ng th i sEngl i sh of F ools with 117 cuts copied from theorigi nal s . I n 15 18 he procured from Froben someborder-pieces for smal l quartos
,one showing ln the foot
piece a boy carried on the shou lders of h i s fel lows,
another an e lephant,a th i rd Mutius Scaevola and
Porsenna ,
I f Pynson had deal t largely i n i l lu strated books theborrowings and copyings here reci ted might seem insign ificant . He publ i shed
,however
,very l i tt l e Engl i sh
work wh ich can be set agai nst them , and even of the cutswhich pass for Engl i sh the nat ive origi n i s not alwayssure . I shou ld be sorry to pledge myse l f
,for i nstance , as
to the provenance Of some neat but rather characterlesscolumn-cuts i n h i s ed i t ion Of the Speculum Vz
'me 6717 2192?256
E N G L I S H WO O D C U T I LL U S T RAT I O N S
(fifteenth century). The t i t le-cut to the Tma’netz
’
on and
M arz’
age of Me Pm'
neesse (Katheri ne), pri nted i n 15 0 1, i salmost certai n ly Engl i sh i n i ts heavi ness and lack ofcharm
,but despi te the fact that they must have been pro
duced i n London we can hard ly say as much of the twofar prett ier pictu res wh ich adorn the Carmen of PetrusCarmelianus on the treaty of marriage between thefuture C harles V and the Pri ncess Mary I n thefirst of these the ambassadors are bei ng received byHenry V I I
,i n the second by the Pri ncess who i s attended
by her maids,and the latter i s perhaps the fi rst Engl i sh
book-i l l ustrat ion with any touch of grace . Unlucki lythere i s a hal f Span i sh
,hal f Low-Country look about i t
,
which suggests that some member of the ambassadors ’
su i te with an art i st i c turn may at least have suppl ied thedes ign , so that one hes i tates to claim i t too vigorously asEngl i sh work . W e may be more confident about theone good cut (the rest are a scratch lot) i n the I 5 13ed i t ion of Lydgate
’
s Tne nysz‘ory sege and dysfmeez
’
an
of Troy . I n th i s Henry V i s shown seated i n a largeroom
,with h i s su i te
,whi le Lydgate i n h i s b lack hab it as
a Bened ict i ne presents h im with h i s book . There i s ageneral resemblance between th i s and another good pieceofwork
,the picture i n Alexander Barclay’s trans lat ion of
Sallust’
s jngnm‘na (undated) Of th i s other black monk
offeri ng h i s book to the Duke of Norfolk (see PlateXXX I). Probably both were from the same hand . I tmay be noted that the cut of Barclay was used agai n i nthe MyM/onr of good manem eonfeyn zng tne wen‘
nes
cal/ed cam’
ynal/ eonefi y/ecz’zn [afzn by Don/zynzeé eM aneyn ,
of which he was the i ndustrious trans lator . I n Pynson’s
I 5 16 ed i t ion ofFabyan’s Cnron ze/e
,bes ides some insig
nifi cant column cuts ofki ngs and some decorat ive herald icwork
,there i s an excel lent pictu re Of a d isembarkat ion .
I n other books we find cuts of a schoolmaster wi th h i spupi l s
,of an author
,of a woman saint (S . Bridget
,though
used also for S . W erburga), etc .Towards the end of h i s career i n the col lect ion of
257
F I N E B O O K S
Chaucer’s works (15 26) and repri nt ofLydgate’
s F alles ofPrinces Pynson drew on hi s stock ofmiscel laneousblocks rather than al low works with which i l lustrat ionshad become associated to go forth undecorated .
1 Butwi th h i s purchase of the border-pieces from Froben i n15 18 , i t wou ld seem that he more or l ess defin itely turnedh i s back on pictorial i l lustrat ion . Mr . Gordon Duff hasshown that a change comes over the character Of hi sbooks about th i s t ime
,and has suggested that duri ng the
latter years of h i s l i fe h is bus iness was to some extent i nthe hands of Thomas Berthelet
,who succeeded h im as
King’
s Pri nter . Berthelet h imsel f i n the course Of h i slong and prosperous career eschewed i l lustrat ionsal together
,whi le he took some troub le to get good
capi tal s and had a few ornamental borders . I t i s thushardly too much to say that from 15 18 for some fortyyears
,unt i l i n 15 5 9 John Day publ ished Cunn ingham
’sCosmograpniea/ZGlasse , book-i l l ustrat ion i n England canon ly be found lurk i ng here and there i n holes and corners .I n 15 26 Peter Treveris i ssued the Greie H erbal withnumerous botan i cal figures ; i n 15 29 John Rastell pri ntedh i s own Pastime of Peop/ewith huge , sem i-grotesque cutsof Engl i sh k ings ; a few of Robert . C opland’s books anda few OfRobertW yer’s have rough cuts of no importance .
But when we th i nk of Pynson’
s ed i t ion Of Lord Berners’
F roissart of B erthelet’
s of Gower’s ConfessioAman z‘
is,
of Godfray’
s Cnaneer,and ofGrafton ’s ed i t ion of Hal le
’
sChronic/e
,al l i l lustratable books and al l un i l l ustrated ,
i t i s evident that educated book-buyers,wearied Of rude ly
hacked blocks,often wi th no relevance to the book i n
wh ich they were found,had told the pri nters that they
might save the space occupied by these decorat ions , andthat the reign Of the primi t ive woodcut i n Eng l i sh books ,i f i t can be said ever to have reigned
,was at an end .
1 H e had apparently returned the blocks borrowed from Du Pré for the
Falles of Princes, as none of them is used in 15 27 , although one or two are copied.
I have not met wi th all the Chauce r i l lustrations, and it is possible that a few of
these are new
F I N E B O O K S
(15 42) and Grafton owing to h im the magn ificent t i t lepage to the Great B ibles m which C ranmer and C romwel l
,
with a host ofother worth ies , are seen d i stribut i ng B ib lesunder the superi ntendence ofHenry V I I I . After the fal lof C romwel l h i s armorial beari ngs were cut out of theblock
,a piece of petty brutal i ty on a leve l w i th that wh ich
compel led owners of Prayer Books and Golden Legendsto deface them by scratch i ng out the word “ pope and asmuch as they cou ld Of the service for the day of thatcertai n ly rather quest ionabl e sai nt
,Thomas aBecket .
I n 15 48 we come across a defin ite ly i l l ustrated book ,Cranmer
’
s Catechism,publ ished by W al ter Lynne
,with
a del i cately cut t i t l epage1 showi ng figures of Just i ce,
Prudence,and V i ctory
,and al so the royal arms
,and i n the
text numerous smal l B ibl i cal p i ctures,two of which
are s igned “ Hans Holbei n,wh i le others have been
rash ly attributed to Bernard Salomon . I n 15 56 we findHeywood ’s Sfi ia
’er ana
’lne F ly i l l ustrated not on ly wi th
various woodcuts of spiders’ webs,but wi th a portrai t of
the author st i ff and ungain ly enough i n al l conscience,but
carrying with i t an impress ion of lank veraci ty (see PlateXXX I I). About th i s t ime , moreover, W i l l iam Coplandwas issu i ng fol io and quarto ed i t ions Of some of the poemsand romances wh ich had pleased the readers of the fi rstquarter of the century
,and some of these had the old
cuts i n them . I t i s evi dent that i l l ustrat ions would havecome back i n any case—book-buyers can never abstai nfrom them for l ong together . But i t i s on ly fai r toconnect th i s return with the name ofJohn Day,
who madea strenuous effort
,which on ly j ust fai led of success
,to
bri ng up book-i l l ustration to the h igh level at which hewas aiming i n pri nt i ng . Day had i ssued a few booksduri ng the reign ofEdward V I
,notably a B ible with an
excel len t p i ctorial cap i tal showing the promoter of theed i t ion
,Edmund Becke
,present i ng a copy of i t to the
King . As a staunch Protestant he had been i n somedanger under Queen Mary , but w i th the access ion Of
1 Used again the same year in a treat ise by R ichard Bonner.260
E N G L I S H W O O D C U T I LLU S T RAT I O N S
El izabeth he came qu ick ly to the front , thanks to thehelp of Archbishop Parker
,and the ed i t ion Of Tne
Cosmograpnicall Glasse OfW i l l iam Cunn ingham ,which
he i ssued i n 15 5 9 ,i s thus
,as we have al ready suggested
,
a real landmark i n Engl i sh book-product ion . I n addi t ionto i ts fine types
,th i s book i s notable for i ts woodcut
d iagrams and pictorial capi tal s,ornamental t i t l epage
,large
map Of Norwich and,most important of al l
,a strong and
vigorous portrai t of the author,h i s right hand on a globe
,
a D ioscoria’es with a d iagram of a rose lyi ng open beforeh im
,and a wooded landscape bei ng seen i n the d istance .
The whole i s enclosed i n an oval frame,round wh ich
runs a Greek motto cut i n maj uscu les,H MEI
‘AAH
EYAAIMONIH OYAENI <I>60NEIN (“ the great happiness i s to
envy no with the author’s age,
”AZTA
’
I‘
I S 28 atthe foot . The portrai t measures about 6 i nches by 45 andoccupies the whole fo l io page . I t i s on ly too probablethat i t was the work not of a nat ive Engl i shman
,but of
some Dutch refugee , but here at last i n an Engl i sh bookwas a piece of l ivi ng portrai ture adequately cut on wood
,
and with better l uck i t shou ld have been the fi rst of along series . John Day h imsel f d id h i s best to promote afashion by pre fi xing a smal l portrai t Of Becon to thatauthor
’
s Pomana’er of Prayer, 15 6 1, and havi ng a muchlarger one of h imsel f cut the next year
,
“/ETATI S SWE
xxxx,as the i nscript ion tel l s us , adding also h i s motto ,
L IEFE I S DEATHE AND DEATH I S L IEFE the spel l i ng i nwh ich suggests a Dutch art i st
,though Dutch spel l i ng
about th i s t ime was so rampant i n England that we mayhope agai nst hope that th i s was Engl i sh work . The ovalportrai t i s surrounded wi th strap-work ornament
,another
fash ion of the day,and at the foot of th i s are the i n i t ial s
I . D . On one i nterpretat ion these wou ld lead us tobel ieve not on ly that the work i s Engl i sh , but that Dayhimsel f was the cutter . But bi nd i ngs from hi s shop aresometimes s igned I . D . P . (Ioannes Day pegit), and wemust hes i tate before attribut i ng to h im personal ski l l noton ly i n pri nti ng
,but i n b i nd i ng and wood-cutt i ng as wel l .
261
P I N E B O O K S
The portrai t i tsel f i s taken s ide-face and shows a croppedhead
,keen eye
,and long beard , the neck bei ng ent i re ly
concealed by a h igh coat-col lar wi th i n wh ich i s a ruff.The ground to the front Of the face i s al l i n deep shadow
,
that at the back of the head i s l eft wh ite , a s imple con
t rast wh ich perhaps makes the general effect morebri l l iant . Day used th i s portrai t as a devi ce i n some ofh i s largest fol io books—for i nstance , h i s three-volumeedi t ion of B econ
’
s works (15 60—4) and Foxe’s B ook of
M artyrs
The fu l l t i t l e of the B ook of M artyrs , which we havenow reached
,i s Actes andM onuments of these latter and
fi erilloas dayes, tonc/i ing matters of tke Cknrck,wkerein
ar comfi rekended and described the great fi ersecntions andkorrible troubles
,tkat nave bene wroagkt andpractised by
tke Pomiske Prelates,especially in tb is Realmof E ngland
and Scotlande,from tke yeare of our Lorde a tkoasande
anto tke tyme no'
zoe fi resent . I t bears an elaborate t i t l epage showing Protestants and C athol ics preach i ng
,Pro
testants bei ng burnt at the stake contrasted wi th Cathol icsOfferi ng the sacrifice of the Mass
,and final ly the Pro
testant martyrs upl i fted i n heaven,whi le the Cathol i c
persecutors are packed Off to hel l . The text i s veryuneven ly i l l ustrated
,but the total number Of woodcuts
even i n the fi rst ed i t ion (15 63 ) i s very cons iderable , andas many new pictures were added i n the secondthe book was certai n ly the most l iberal ly i l l ustrated wi thcuts special ly made for i t which had yet been producedi n England . One or two of the smal ler cuts
,mostly the
head of a martyr prayi ng amid the flames,are used
several t imes ; of the larger cuts on ly a very few arerepeated
,and
,cons ideri ng the monotonous subject of the
book,i t i s obvious that some trouble must have been
taken to secure variety i n the i l l ustrat ions . A few ofthese occupy a whole page
,that i l lustrat i ng the Pro
testant legend of the poi son ing of King John by a fanat i cmonk bei ng d ivided i nto compartments
,whi le others
showing some of the more important martyrdoms are262
F I N E B O O K S
saw the i ssue of the fi rst ed i t ion of one of John Day’smost famous ventures
,A B ooke of Christian Prayers,
collected out of the ancient writers and best learned in
our time,worthy to be read with an earnest mind of all
Christians,in these dangerous and troublesome daies ,
that
Godfor Christes sake will yet still be mercifull on to vs .
From the presence on the back of the t i t l epage of a veryst i ff portrai t of the Queen knee l i ng i n prayer (rather l ikea des ign for a monumental brass), th i s i s usual ly quotedas Queen E liz abeth
’
s Prayer B ook. I t was repri nted i n15 78 (perhaps al so earl i er), 15 8 1, and 15 90 ,
and the latered i t ions
,the on ly ones I have seen
,ascribe the compi la
t ion to R . D .,i.e . Richard Day,
John Day’s c lergyman
son . The book i s i n appearance a k i nd Of ProtestantHorae
,having borders to every page d ivided i nto com
partments as i n the Pari s ed i t ions , showing scenes fromthe l i fe of Chri st
,the cardi nal vi rtues and the i r oppos i tes
,
the works of chari ty,and a Dance of Death . Compared
wi th the best,or even the second best
,Of the Horae of
Pigouchet or Kerver, the book looks cold and colourless ,but the rari ty Of the early ed i t ions shows that i t musthave been very popu lar .
The on ly other book i ssued by Day with borders toevery page was the (suppos i t i t ious) Certaine selectprayersgathered out of S . Augustines M editations
,which he
calleth his selfe—talks with God,which went through
several ed i t ions,of which the fi rst i s dated 15 74 . Th is
i s a much less pretent ious book,the borders bei ng de
corative i nstead of pictorial,but i t makes rather a pretty
l i tt l e octavo . Another 15 69 book which has cuts i s theed i t ion of Grafton ’s Chronicle Of that year
,pri nted by
Henry Denham,but as the cuts look l ike a job lot
,
poss ib ly of German origi n,and are on ly p laced at the
begi nn ings of sect ions i n the short fi rst book,whi le al l
the h i story from 1066 onwards i s l eft un i l lustrated,th i s
speaks rather of decadence than progress .I n 15 8 1, towards the c lose of h i s career
,Day was
employed to pri nt J ohn Derri ck’s Image of I reland
,
264
E N GL I S H W O O D C U T I LL U S T RAT I O N S
giving an account of S i r Hen ry S idney’s campaign
against the I ri sh wood-karnes . I n some few copiesth i s work i s i l l ustrated with e ight very large woodcuts ,the most ambi t ious i n some respects that had ever beenattempted i n England . The first four are wretched lycu t ; the last four , showing S i r Henry
’
s battl e wi th therebel s and h i s triumphal return
,are both wel l des igned
and wel l executed .
Meanwhi le,other pri nters and publ i shers had produced
a few more i l lustrated books i n the ’seventies . Thus i n15 75 Henry Bynneman had pri nted Turberville
’
s B ooke
of F aulconrie for C hri stopher Barker . The numerousexcel len t i l l ustrat ions of hawks (and probably those Ofdogs al so) are taken from French books , but there i sa fai rly vigorous p icture of Q ueen E l izabeth hawkingattended by her su i te
,badged
,back and front
,with large
Tudor roses,and th i s (see Plate XXX I I I ) looks l ike
Engl i sh work . I n a much later ed i t ion—that of 16 11it i s curious to note that the portrai t of the Queen wascut out and one of James I subst i tuted .
I n 15 76 a rather forb idd ing woodcut portrai t of GeorgeGascoigne was pri nted (by R . Smith) i n that worthy
’sS teele Glas . I n 15 77 came a very important work , thefamous Chronicle , begun on a vast scal e by ReynerW ol feand completed for England
,Scot land
,and I re land by
Raphael Hol i nshed,now publ i shed by John Harri son the
elder . Th i s has the appearance of being much more profusely i l l ustrated than the B ook of M artyrs or any otherEngl i sh fol io
,but as the cuts of batt l es
,r iots
,execut ions
,
etc .,which form the staple i l l ustrat ions
,are freely re
peated,the profus ion i s far l ess than i t seems . The cuts
,
moreover,are much smal ler than those i n Foxe
’
s M artyrs .
As a ru le they are vigorous ly des igned and fai rly wel l cut ,and i f i t had come fi fty years earl i er the book wou ld havebeen fu l l of promise . But , as far as pi ctorial cuts i nimportant books are concerned
,we are neari ng the end .
I n 15 79 H . S ingleton publ i shed Spenser’
s ShepheardesCalender with a smal l cut Of no great meri t at the head
265
F I N E B O O K S
of each “aeglogue , and i n the same year Vautrollier
i l l ustrated North ’s Plutarch with i ns ign ificant l i tt le bustswh ich derive importance on ly from the large ornamentalframes
,stretch ing across the fol io page
,i n wh ich they are
set . W oodcuts d id not cease to be used after th i s date .
They wi l l be found i n herbal s (but these were main lyforeign blocks), mi l i tary works , and al l books for wh ichd iagrams were needed . They cont i nued fash ionable forsome t ime for the arch i tectural or other forms Of bordersto titlepages, some of them very graceful , as , for instance
,that to the early fol io ed i t ions of S idney’sArcadia ;
al so for the coats of arms of the great men to whombooks were ded icated . They are found also at haphazardi n the s ixpenny and fourpenny quartos of plays andromances
,and many of the Old blocks gradual ly dri fted
i nto the hands of the pri nters of bal lads and chapbooks,
and appear i n i ncongruous surroundings after a centuryof service . But I cannot mysel f cal l to mind any important Engl i sh book after 15 80 for which a publ i sherthought i t worth h i s wh i l e to commiss ion a new set ofimagi nat ive p i ctures cut on wood
,and that means that
woodcut i l lustrat ion as a vi tal force i n the making of
books had ceased to exi st . They needed good paper andcarefu l presswork
,and al l over Europe paper and press
work were rap id ly deteriorat i ng . They cost money,and
book-buyers apparent ly d id not care enough for them tomake them a good i nvestment . The ri s i ng popu lari ty Ofcopper engravings for book-i l l ustrat ion on the Cont i nen tprobab ly i nfluenced the j udgment Of Engl i sh booklovers
,and al though
,as we shal l see
,copper engraving
was for many years very spari ngly used i n England savefor portrai ts
,front i spieces
,and titlepages, woodcuts went
clean out Of fash ion for some two centuries .
F I N E B O O K S
sies,the owner’s conscience may be perturbed wi th doubts
as to whether these may lawfu l ly be torn out . I f thereare no flimsies, the leaf oppos i te a plate often shows aset-Off from i t and i s sometimes special ly badly foxed .
Moreover,not being an i ntegral part of the book
,the
plate presents problems to publ i shers and binders wh ichare too Often left unsolved . I t ought to be pri nted onpaper sufficient ly wide to al low of a flap or turn-over
,
so that the leaf can be placed i n the qu i re and properlysewn . But the flap thus left i s not pretty
,and un less
very th i n may cause the book to gape . Thus too oftenthe plate i s on ly glued or pasted i nto i ts place , with theresu l t that i t eas i ly comes loose . Hence misplacements ,imperfect ions
,and consequent woe .
I t i s the charm of the earl ier books i l l ustrated withi nci sed engravi ngs that the impress ions are pu l led on thesame paper as the rest of the book , very Often on pagesbeari ng letterpress
,and almost always
,even when they
chance to occupy a whole page,the back of which i s l eft
b lank,as part of the qu i re or gatheri ng . The price
,how
ever,which had to be paid for these advantages was a
heavy one,the trouble not merely of double pri nt i ng
,as
i n the case of a sheet pri nted i n red and black , but Ofdouble pri n t i ng i n two d i fferent k i nds
,one bei ng from
a rai sed surface,the other from an i nci sed . I t i s clear
that th i s trouble was found very serious,as both at Rome
and Florence i n I taly,at Bruges i n the Low Countri es ,
at VViirz burg and E ichstatt i n Germany , and at Lyon i nFrance
,the experiment was tried i ndependent ly and i n
every case abandoned after one or two books had beenthus ornamented .
At Rome,after the fai lure of h i s pri nt i ng partnersh ip
wi th Pannartz,Conrad Sweynheym betook h imsel f to
engraving maps to i l l ustrate an ed i t ion of Ptolemy’
sCosmographia ,
and th i s was brought out after h is deathby Arnold B uckinck
,10 October
,1478 . Th i rteen
months earl i er N icolaus Laurentii,of Bres lau
,had pub
lished at Florence the M onte Santo di D io Of Anton io268
E N G R AV E D I L L U S T R A T I O N S
Bett i n i,with two fu l l-page engravings and one smal ler
one . The first of these shows the ladder of Prayer andthe Sacraments up which
,by the vi rtues which form i ts
success ive rungs,a cassocked youth i s preparing to cl imb
to heaven,where C hri st stands i n a mandorla supported
by angel s . The second plate i s given up ent i re ly toa representation of Chri st i n a mandorla , both drawingand engravi ng bei ng excel lent , and the l i tt l e angel s whoare lovi ngly uphold i ng the frame being real ly del ightfu l
(see Plate XXX IV). The th i rd pi cture,printed on a
page with text,i s smal ler than these and represents the
pains Of hel l .When a second ed i t ion Of the M onte Santo di D io
was needed i n 149 1 the copperplates were replaced bywoodcuts
,a fact which may remind us that not on ly the
trouble of pri nt i ng,but the smal l number of impress ions
which could be taken from copperplates,must have been
a formidable Obj ect ion to thei r use i n bookwork . Butat the t ime the fi rst ed i t ion may wel l have been regardedas a success . I f so
,i t was an un lucky one
,as N icolaus
Laurentii was thereby encouraged to undertake a muchmore ambit ious venture
,an annotated D ioina Commedia
with s imi lar i l l ustrat ions,and th i s
,which appeared i n
148 1, can on ly be looked on as a fai lure . No space wasleft at the head of the fi rst canto
,and the engraving was
pri nted on the lower margin,where i t I S often found
cruel ly cropped . I n subsequent cantos spaces were somet imes left
,somet imes not
,but after the second the
engravings are general ly founded pri nted on separates l ips and pasted into thei r places
,and m no copy do they
extend beyond canto xix . They used to be ass igned toBott icel l i
,but the d iscovery Of h i s real des igns to the
D ioina Commedia has shown that these of 148 1were on lys l ight ly i nfluenced by them .
I n Germany the on ly copper engravings found i nfifteenth century books are the coats of arms of theB ishops and Chapters ofWurzburg and Eichstatt in thebooks pri nted for them at these places by Georg and
269
F I N E B O O K S
Michel Reyser respect ively . I n order more eas i ly topersuade the clergy of these d ioceses to buy properlyrevised service-books to replace thei r tattered and i ncorrectmanuscript cop ies
,the Bishops attached certai n indul
gences to thei r purchase , and as a proof that the rec i talof these was not a mere advert i s i ng tri ck of the pri nterpermitted h im to pri n t thei r arms at the foot of thenoti ce . These arms , most charmingly and del i cate lyengraved
,are found i n the W iirz burg Missal s of 148 1
(thi s I have not seen) and 1484 , and the Agenda of 1482
(see P late XXXV), and no doubt al so i n other early service-books pri nted by Georg Reyser. The Eichstatt booksof h is k insmen M ichel are s imi larly adorned—for i nstance
,
the Statuta Synodalia Eystettensia of 1484 ,though
nei ther the des ign nor the engravi ng i s so good . I n howmany edi t ions by the Reysers these engraved arms appeared I cannot say , as the books are al l Of great rari ty ;but by 1495 , i f not earl i er , they had been abandoned , fori n the Wurzburg M issale Speciale of that year we findthe del i cate engravi ng replaced by a woodcut copy of
nearly four t imes the s ize and less than a fourth of thecharm .
The on ly French book of the fi fteenth century knownto me as possess i ng copper engravings i s a very beauti fu lone
,the vers ion of Breidenbach’
s Peregrinatio ad TerramSanctam,
by Frere N icole le Huen,pri nted at Lyon by
M ichel Topie and Jacob H eremberck i n 1488 ,and adorned
with numerous excel len t capi tal s . I n th i s al l the cuts i nthe text of the Mainz ed i t ions are fai rly wel l copied onwood
,but the large fold ing plans Of Ven ice and other
ci t ies on the pi lgrims ’ route are admi rably reproduced oncopper wi th a great i ncrease i n the del i cacy Of thei r l i nes .W e come now to a book beari ng an earl i er date than
any Of those al ready mentioned,but not ent i t l ed to i ts fu l l
pride of place because i t i s doubtfu l to what extent theengravi ngs connected wi th i t can be reckoned an i ntegralpart of i t . Th is i s the French vers ion of Boccaccio
’
sD e casibus illustrium wirorum (
“Des cas des nobles
111115
1116009 111011136111113 191rapfi1njngnimb emzaretfl>aniiciuitate
‘
nra.b crb fi 55111110Ofi i11101110[111femnoo'iDmca3 1111113 119 .
xxxv. WURZ BURG , G . REYSER, 1 32
F I N E B O O K S
made at any t ime between 1476 and 1483 ,when they were
clearly used as model s by Jean Du Pr é for h i s Pari sed i t ion
,the wood-blocks for which
,as we have seen
,were
subsequent ly sold or l en t to Pynson . The variat ions i nthe number Of spaces i n d i fferent copies may qu i te aswel l be due to a mixing Ofqu i res as to success ive en largements Of the plan , and the fact that more copies of theengravings have survived apart from than with the bookdraws attention once more to the d iffi cu l ty found i n pri nting these i nci sed plates to accompany letterpress pri ntedfrom type stand i ng i n re l i ef.
There i s st i l l one more engraving connected with anearly pri nted book to be cons idered
,and though the con
nection i s not fu l ly establ i shed , the facts that the book i nquest ion was the fi rst from Caxton
’
s press,and that the
engravi ng may poss ib ly contai n h i s portrai t,i nvi te a fu l l
d i scuss ion of i ts claims . The plate (see Fronti spiece toChapter I , Plate I I) represents an author on one kneepresent i ng a book to a lady who i s attended by fi ve maidsof-honour
,whi le as many pages may be seen stand i ng i n
various page-l i ke att i tudes about the room . A canopyabove a chai r of state bears the i n i t ial s CM and themotto B ien en aoeingne, and i t i s thus clear that the ladyrepresents Margaret Duchess of Burgundy
,and that the
Offeri ng Of a book which i t depicts must have taken placeafter her marriage wi th Charles the Bold
, 3 Ju ly, 1468 ,and before the latter’s death at Nancy
, 5 January , 1477 .
Duri ng the greater part of th i s t ime Caxton was i n theservice Of the Duchess ; the donor of the book i s repre
sented as a layman,and a layman not of noble b i rth
,
s i nce there i s no feather i n h i s cap ; he appears al so to beapproach i ng middle-age . Al l these poi nts would be correcti f the donor were i ntended for Caxton
,and as we know
from his own statement that before h i s Recuyell of the
histories of Troy was pri nted he had presented a copyof i t (i n manuscript) to the Duchess , probably i n or soonafter 147 1, unt i l some more plaus ib le orig i nal i s proposedthe ident ificat ion of the donor wi th our fi rst pri nter must
E N G R AV E D I L L U S T R A T I O N S
remain at least probable . Unfortunate ly, al though theun ique copy of the engraving i s at present i n the DukeOf Devonsh i re’s copy of the Recuyell, i t i s certai n thati t i s an i nsert ion
,not an origi nal part of the book
,and
beyond a h igh probabi l i ty that it has occupied i ts presentpos ition s ince the book was bound for the Duke ofRoxburghe some time before h i s sale i n 18 12
,noth ing i s
known as to how i t came there . A real ly amazing pointi s that al though the connect ion of th i s part i cu lar Copywith El izabeth , queen of Edward IV ,
caused i t to beshown at the Caxton Exh ib i t ion
,unt i l the appearance
of Mr . Montagu Peartree ’s art ic le i n the B urling ton
M agaz ine for August , 1905 , no noti ce had ever been paidto the engraving . Analogy with the B occaccio suggeststhat Caxton had the plate made before he real ized thed ifficu l t ies of impress ion
,and that some pri nts were
separately struck from i t and one of these pasted i ns idethe bi ndi ng of the Devonsh i re copy
,whence i t was re
moved to i ts present pos i t ion when the book was rebound .
I t should be noted that the style of the engraving i s qu i teun l ike that of the B occaccio pri nts
,and suggests that
Caxton procured i t from a Dutch rather than a Brugesengraver , poss ib ly with the aid of Veldener
,from whom
,
or with whose help,accord i ng to Mr . Duff’s suggestion
,
he procured h i s fi rst type .For over a quarter of a century after the engraving
of the plans i n the Lyon B reidenbach pri nters seem tohave held aloof al together from copperplates . I n 15 14 wefind four engraved plans
,of on ly s l ight art i st i c i n terest ,
pri nted as plates i n a topograph i cal work on N ola byAmbrogius Leo
,the printer bei ng Joannes Ruben s
(Giovann i Ross i) Of Ven ice . Three years later , i n 15 17 ,a real ly charming pri nt i s found (set rather askew l n theMuseum copy) on the t i t lepage of a th i n quarto pri ntedat Rome
,for my knowledge of wh ich I am indebted to
my friend,Mr . A . M . H ind . The book i s a D ialogus,
composed by the Right Reverend Amadeus B errutus,Governor of the C i ty Of Rome
,on the weighty and st i l l
18 273
F I N E B O O K S
di sputable question as to whether one should go onwri t i ng to a friend who makes no reply
,
1 and the plateshows the four speakers , Amadeus h imsel f, Austeritas,Amicit ia
,and Amor
,stand ing i n a field or garden outs ide
a bu i ld i ng . The figures,especial ly that of Austeritas
,
are charming ly drawn (see Plate XXXV I ) ; the tone ofthel i tt l e pi cture i s del ightfu l
,and i t i s enclosed i n a leafy
border,which reproduces i n the subt ler grace of engraved
work the effect of the l i tt l e black and whi te frames wh ichsurround the Florent i ne woodcuts of the fi fteenth century .
W i th the D ialogus of B ishop B errutus copper engravi ngs as book-i l l ustrat ions came to an end
,as far as I
know,for a period of some forty years . I make th i s
statement thus blankly i n the hope that i t may provokecon trad ict ion
,and at least some sporad i c i n stances be
adduced . But I have hunted through descript ions of al lthe books most l i ke ly to be i l l ustrated—Bibles
,Horae
,
ed i t ions of Petrarch ’s Trionfi and Ariosto ’
s Orlando
F urioso and books Of emblems,and outs ide England
(the necess i ty of the except ion i s almost humorous) Ihave l ighted on noth ing .
W e may,perhaps
,t race the revival of engraved i l l us
trations to the i nfluence of H ieronymus or Jerome C ock ,an Antwerp engraver
,who i n May
,15 5 1, i ssued a series
Of plates from the des igns ofF . Faber,ent i t led Praecipua
aliquot Pomanae antiguitatis ruinarummonimenta,with
out any letterpress save the name of the subject engravedon each plate . Cock fol lowed th i s up i n 15 5 6 with twelveengravings from the des igns of Mart i n van Veen i l lustrating the vi ctories of Charles V ,
which are al socelebrated i n verses i n French and Span i sh . He issuedal so various other series of B ibl i cal and ant iquarianplates
,which do not concern us
,and i n 15 5 9 a set of
th i rty-two i l l ustrat i ng the funeral of Charles V . Forth is
,aided by a subs idy
,Chri stopher Plant i n acted as
publ i sher,and we thus get a connect ion establ i shed
1 “ I n quo p rec ipue tractat : An amico sepe ad scribendum prouocato ut
scribat non respondent1 sit amplius scrib endum.
”
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XXXV I . ROME , GABR I EL OF BOLOGNA, 15 17
F I N E B O O K S
number of plates was twenty-eight . Some of these wereused agai n i n P lant i n ’s B ible of 15 83 ,
and Raphelengius ,
i n to whose possess ion the whole set passed i n 15 90 ,used
s ixteen of them three years later to i l lustrate the Anti
quitatesjudaicae of Arias Montanus .For h i s M issal s and Breviaries as for h i s Horae
Plant i n somet imes used woodcuts,sometimes copper
plates . For hi s ed i t ions of the works of S . August i neand S . Jerome (15 77) he caused real ly fine portrai t front i spieces to be engraved by J . Sadeler from the des igns ofC ri sp i n van den Broeck . As regards h i s mi scel laneoussecu lar books he was by no means given to superfluousi l lustrat ions
,and
,as we have seen
,cont i nued to use
woodcuts contemporaneous ly with plates . Probably h i searl i est secu lar engravings (publ i shed i n 15 66 , but prepared some years earl i er) are the anatomical d iagramsi n imi tat ion of those i n the Roman ed it ion of Valverde
mentioned below,to wh ich he prefixed a better front i s
piece than that ofhi s model . I n 15 74 he produced a finebook of portrai ts of phys i cians and phi losophers
,[cones
veterum aliquot ac recentium medicorum fi hilosofi horumgue , i n s ixty-eight plates , with letterpress by J . Sambucus. The next year he i ssued another i l l ustrated book
,
the D e rerum usu et abusu of Bernardus Furmerius,
shari ng the expense of i t wi th Ph . Gal lus,a print
—sel ler,
for whom later on he publ i shed several books on commiss ion . From 15 78 onwards he pri nted for Ortel ius ,the great cosmographer . I n 15 82 he pub l i shed thePegasides of Y . B . Houwaert
,i n 15 84 Waghenaer
’
s
Sjfi z'
eghel der Z eevaerdt,and other i l l ustrated books fol
lowed . But none of them ,l i tt le i ndeed that Plant i n ever
produced,now exci te much des i re on the part of col lectors .
Of what took place i n other countries and ci t ies i n theabsence of even tentat ive l i sts of the books pri nted after15 3 5 anywhere except i n England i t i s d ifficu l t to say .
I n 15 60 an anatomical book translated from the Span i shof Juan de Valverde was pub l i shed at Rome wi th en
graved diagrams of some art i st i c meri t and a rather276
E N G R AV E D I L L U S T R A T I O N S
poorly executed front i sp iece . I n 15 66 i n Venet iaappresso Rampaz etto ,
a very fine book of impresas,or
emblematical personal badges,made i ts appearance under
the t i t l e Le Imprese [llustre con esposition z et discorsi
del SW J eronimo Ruscelli,dedicated “
al seren iss imo et
sempre fel ic i ss imo re catol ico Fi l ippo d’
Austria. Thi shas over a hundred engraved [mfi rese of three s izes
,
double-page for the Emperor (s igned G . P . F . fu l l-pagersfor k i ngs and other pri ncely personages
,hal f-pagers for
ord i nary folk (i f any owner of an imfi resa may be thusdes ignated), and al l these are pri nted wi th letterpressbeneath
,or on the back of them
,and very wel l pri nted
too . I n another book ofImprese,publ i shed i n th i s same
year 15 66, the text , cons i st i ng of sonnets by LodovicoDolce
,as wel l as the pictures
,i s engraved , or rather etched .
Thi s i s the [mfi rese di diuersi princifi i, duchi, signori ,etc .
,di B atta Pittoni Pittore Vicentino. I t exi sts i n
a bewi lderi ng variety of states , partly due to repri nt i ng ,part ly apparent ly to the des i re to ded i cate i t to severa ld i fferent people , one of the Bri t i sh Museum copies bei ngded icated by Pi tton i to the Earl ofArundel and havinga pri nted ded i catory letter and plate of hi s devi ce preced ing that of the Emperor h imsel f.Another noteworthy Venet ian book
,with engraved
i l l ustrat ions,which I have come across i s an Orlando
F urioso of 15 84 ,appresso Francesco de Francesch i
Senese e compagn i,i ts engraved t i t lepage beari ng the
i nformat ion that i t has been “nuouamente adornato d i
figure d i rame da Gi rolamo Porro,
” a l i tt l e-knownM i lanese engraver
,who had rei ssued Pittoni
’
s Impresei n 15 78 . The i l l ustrat ions are far too crowded with i ncident to be successfu l
,and thei r un i ty i s often sacrificed
to the old med ieval pract i ce of making a s ingle des igni l lustrate several d i fferent moments of the narrat ive .
Thei r execut ion i s al so very unequal . Nevertheless,they
are of i nterest to Engl i sh col lectors s i nce , as we shal lsee
,they served as model s for the plates i n S i r John
Harington’
s vers ion of the Orlando i n 15 9 1. Al l of27 7
F I N E B O O K S
them are fu l l-pagers,with text on the back
,and the
pri nter was al so compl iant enough to pri nt at the headof each canto an engraved cartouche with i n wh ich i si n serted a type-pri nted Argomento .
Of s ixteenth century engraved book-i l l ustrat ion s i nFrance I have no personal knowledge . I n Germany,as might be expected
,they flouri shed ch iefly at Frankfort
,
which i n the last th i rd of the century had,as we have
seen,become a great centre for book-i l l ustrat ion . Jost
Amman,who was largely respons ib le for i ts development
i n th i s respect,i l l ustrated a few books wi th copper en
gravi ngs , al though he main ly favoured wood . But i t i s '
the work of the De Brys,Theodor de Bry and h i s two
sons Johann I srae l and Johann Theodor,which i s of
conspi cuous importance for our present purpose , for i twas they who origi nated and mai n ly carr ied out thegreatest i l l ustrated work of the s ixteenth century
,that
known to col lectors as the Grands et fi etits voyages. Th isnot very happy name has noth i ng to do with the lengthof the voyages described , but is derived from the fact thatthe origi nal seri es wh ich i s concerned wi th Ameri ca andthe W est I nd ies i s some two inches tal ler (fourteen ascompared with twelve) than a subsequent series deal i ngwith the East I nd ies . For the idea of such a col lect ionof voyages Theodor de Bry was i ndebted to RichardHakluyt
,whose famous book The Princifi allN am
’
gations,Voiages, and D iscoveries of the E nglish N ation
, pub
lished i n 15 89 ,was i n preparat ion when De Bry was i n
England, where he worked i n 15 8 7
—8 . The fi rs t volume,
moreover,was i l l ustrated wi th engravings by De Bry
after some of the extraord i nari ly i nterest i ng water-colourdrawings made by an Engl i shman
,John W h i te
,i n
Vi rg i n ia , and now preserved i n the Bri t i sh Museum .
1
Thi s fi rst part was publ i shed i n Lat i n at Frankfort byJ . W echel i n 15 90 and a second ed i t ion fol lowed the same
1 They were bought to accompany the fi ne set of De Bry col lected by Mr.
Grenvi lle , but have since been transferred to the Departmen t of Pr ints and
Drawings.
27 8
F I N E B O O K S
the l i nes Musica mortales divosque Oblectat et ornatand “
Cum Cerere et Baccho Veneri solemnia fi unt,
” areespecial ly fine and the “ emblems themselves morepleas ing than usual .I n 15 95 there was pri nted , agai n with Lat i n and
German text,a N oua Alphabeti ejictio, historizs ad
singulas literas correspondentibus . Themotif1s throughout scriptural . Thus for A Adam and Eve s i t on thecrossbar on each s ide of the letter
,the serpent rests on
i ts peak amid the fol iage of the Tree of Knowledge . I nB Abel
,i n C Cai n i s perched on a conven ient part of the
letter,and so on ,
whi le from one letter after another,
fish,bi rds
,fru i t , flowers
,and anyth i ng el se which came
i nto the des igner’s head hang dangl i ng on cords fromevery poss ib le poi nt . Noth ing cou ld be more mean ingless or l ower i n the scale of des ign
,yet the bri l l iancy of
the execut ion carries i t off.The year after th i s had appeared Theodor de Bry
engraved a series of emblems conce ived by Den i s LeBey de Bat i l ly and drawn by J . J . Boissard. The des ignsthemselves are poor enough
,but the book has a pretty
arch i tectural t i t l epage,and th i s i s fol lowed by a portrai t
of Le Bey set i n an ornamental border of bees,flowers
,
horses,and other i ncongru i t i es
,portrai t and border al ike
engraved with the most bri l l iant del i cacy (see PlateXXXV I I). I n the fol lowing year , agai n , 15 97 , the twoyounger De Brys i l l ustrated with l i ne engravi ngs theActa M echmeti Saracenorum princifi is, and (at the endof these) the Vaticinia Severi et Leonis as to the fateof the Turks
,also the David of Arias Montanus . The
plates are fai rly i nterest i ng,but i n techn ical execut ion
fal l far below those of thei r father .Turn i ng now to England , we find engraving i n use
surpri s i ngly early i n some figures of unborn babies i nThe B irth of M ankind trans lated from the Lat i n of
Roesslin by Richard JOnas and pri nted i n 15 40 byThomas Raynold
,a phys ic ian
,who five years later i ssued
a new ed i t i on revised by h imsel f,agai n with engravi ngs .
280
E N G R AV E D I L L U S T R A T I O N S
I n 15 45 there appeared a much more important med icalwork
,a Compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio pro
fessedly by Thomas Gemi nus , a Flemish su rgeon andengraver attached to the Engl i sh Court . I n real i ty th i swas a rather shameless adaptat ion of the D e F abrica
H umani Corporis of Vesal ius (Basel , with en
gravings copied by Geminus from the woodcuts of h i sorigi nal . For us i ts ch ief i nterest l ies i n an elaborateengraved t i t lepage showing the royal arms surroundedby a weal th of arch i tectural and strapwork ornament i nthe style , i f not actual ly the work , of Peter Cock ofAlost ,as has been shown byS ir S idney Colvi n i n the i nvaluablei ntroduction to h i s E arly E ngravings and E ngravers in
E ngland I n 15 5 3 an Engl i sh trans lation of theanatomy was publ i shed by Nicholas Hyll, and i n asecond ed i t ion of th i s
,pri nted i n 15 5 9 ,
a rather heavyand st i ff portrai t of El izabeth replaces the royal arms
,
which were burn i shed out to make room for i t . Geminussubsequent ly produced a much larger portrai t of the
Queen , set i n an arch i tectural frame studded with emb lematical figures
,and a royal proclamation forbidd ing
unauthorized Paynters,Pri nters
,and Gravers ” to
medd le wi th so great a subject seems to have been provoked by h i s hand iwork .
I n 15 63 John Shute for h i s work on The F irst andChiefGroundes ofArchitecture produced four amateuri shengravings to i l l ustrate four of the five orders
,a wood
cut bei ng cons idered good enough for the fi fth . I n 15 68
we find the fi rst ed i t ion of the B ishops ’ ” B ible adornedwi th an engraved t i t l epage i n the centre of which
,i n an
oval,i s a not unpleas ing portrai t of the Queen , hold ing
sceptre and orb,set i n a mass of strapwork
,amid which
are seated Chari ty and Fai th with the royal arms betweenthem
,whi le below the portrai t a l ion and dragon support
a cartouche enclos i ng a text . Bes ides th i s t i t l epage ,attributed by S i r S idney C olvi n to Franciscus Hogenberg
,before the book of Joshua there i s an engraved
portrai t of Leicester,whi le the “ Blessed i s the man
28 1
F I N E B O O K S
of the fi rst Psalm i s heralded by another engraved portrai t wh ich shows Lord Burghley hold i ng i n front of hima great B . I n 15 73 Remigius Hogenberg , brother of
Franciscus,engraved after a picture by John Lyne a st i ff
but rather impress ive portrai t of Archbi shop Parker,
prefixed to some cop ies Of h i s D e Antiquitate E cclesiae
B ritanniae . The year before th i s the second ed i t ion ofthe B i shops’ B ible had been enriched wi th a decorat iveengraved map of the Holy Land
,and i n 15 74 Arch
bi shop Parker employed John Lyne to engrave for theD e Antiquitate Academiae Cantabrzgiensis ofDr. Caius
(pri nted by Day) a plate of the arms of the col leges ,a plan of the Un ivers i ty school s
,and a large map of the
town . I n 15 79 there appeared a work which had occupied the i ntermed iate five years
,a series of maps of
England from the drawings of Christopher Saxton,en
graved by August i ne Ryther (l i ke Saxton a nat ive of
Leeds), Remig iu s Hogenberg and others , and with a finefront i sp iece showing the Queen seated i n state beneathan archi tectural canopy , which S i r S i dney Colvi n th i nksmay perhaps be the work of Ryther . Ryther was subsequently concerned with other maps
,i nc l ud i ng the series
i l lustrat i ng the defeat of the Armada (E xfi editionisH isfi anorum in Angliam vera descrifi tio), and othercartographers got to work who hard ly concern us here .
Two long engraved rol l s , the first by Marcus Gheraerts ,
represent i ng a process ion of the Knights of the Garterthe second by Theodor de Bry
,from the des igns
of Thomas Lant,the funeral of S ir Ph i l ip S idney
al though most safely preserved when bound i n bookform
,can hard ly be reckoned as books . Yet over the
latter I must stop to confess a dreadfu l s i n of my youth ,when I j umped to the conclus ion that the portrai t on thefi rst page stood for S idney h imsel f, whereas i t real lyrepresents the too sel f-advert is i ng Lant . That i t appearsi n the sky
,above the B lack Pi nnace wh ich bore home
S i dney’
s body,and i tse l f bears the suggest ive motto
God createth,Man imitateth ,
V i rtue flourisheth ,Death
282
F I N E B O O K S
Although,as we shal l see
,from th is t ime forward
a great number of Engl i sh books contai n engraved work,
those which can be said to be i l l ustrated duri ng the nexts ixty years are few enough
,a study of Mr . A . M . Hind ’s
very usefu l List of the Works of N ative and F oreign
Line—E ngravers in E ngland from H enry VI ]! to the
Commo nwealth ,
1 tempt i ng me to place the number atabout a score . The year after the Orlando F urioso cameanother curious treat i se by Hugh Broughton
,not pri nted
wi th type,but graven i n brasse by J . H .
,whom Si r
S idney Colvi n ident ifies with Jodocus Hondius,a Fleming
who l ived i n England from about 15 80 to 15 94 , and mayhave done the plates i n the Concent of Scripture andsome at least of those i n the Orlando. S ix years later
(15 98) we find Lomaz z o’
s Tracte containing the artes ofcurious Paintinge with an emblemat ical t i t l epage andth i rteen plates by Richard Haydock
,the trans lator
,fou r
of the plates bei ng adapted from Durer’
s book on Proport ion
,and al l of them showing very s l ight sk i l l i n
engravi ng. I n 1602 came S i r W i l l iam Segar’s H onour,
M ilitary and Civil, with eight plates showi ng variousd i st i ngu ished persons
,Engl i sh and foreign
,weari ng the
robes and i ns ign ia of the Garter,the Golden Fleece
,
S . Michael,etc . Three of the plates are s igned by
W i l l iam Rogers,the most d i st i ngu i shed of the Engl i sh
E l izabethan engravers,and the others are probably h i s
al so . Most of them are very d ign ified and effect ive i nthe bri l l i ant ly pri nted “ fi rst states i n wh ich they aresomet imes found
,but ord i nary Copies wi th on ly the
s“ econd states ” are as a ru le d isappoint i ng.
The begi nn i ng of the reign of James I was d i rectlyrespons ible for one ambi t ious engraved publ icat ion
,
Stephen Harri son ’s The Archs of Triumph erected in
honor of the H igh and mighty prince james, the fi rst
of that name king of E ng land and the sixt of Scotland,
at hisM aiesties E ntrance andfi assage through hisH onor
1 Contr ibuted to the work by Sir Sidney Colvin , E arly E ngravers and E n
graving in E ngland, already quoted.
E N G R AV E D I L L U S T R A T I O N S
able City 8 “ Chamber of London vpon the 15 th day ofmarch 1603 [1604] I nvented and published by S tephenH arrison joyner andArchitect and graven by WilliamK ip . Here an engraved t i t lepage , with dangl i ng ornaments i n the style of the De Bry alphabet , is fol lowedby seven plates of the seven arches
,the most notable of
which (a pi ty i t was not preserved) was crowned wi th amost i nterest i ng model of Jacobean London
,to wh ich
the engraver has done admi rable j ust i ce .
I n 1608 came Robert Glover’s N obilitas politica et
civilis re-ed i ted two years later by T . Mi l les as theCatalogue of H onour
,with engraved i l lustrat ions (i n the
text) of the robes of the various degrees of nobi l i ty,
attributed by S i r S idney Colvi n to Remold E lstracke,the
son of a Flemish refugee,and also two plates represent i ng
the King i n a chai r of state and i n Parl iament . After th i swe come to two works i l lustrated by an Engl i sh engraverof some note
,W i l l iam Hole
,Tom Coryat
’s Cruditieswith a t i t lepage recal l i ng various i nc idents of h i s
travel s (i nclud ing h i s bei ng s i ck at sea) and five plates
(or i n some copies , s ix), and Drayton’
s Polyolbion (16 12,
re i ssued i n 1613 with the portrai t p late i n a d i fferentstate), with a poor emblemat ic t i t l e , a portrai t of Pri nceHenry wield i ng a lance
,and eighteen decorat ive maps
ofEngland . I n 16 15 we come to a real ly wel l-i l l ustratedbook
,the Relation of a journey,
by George Sandys,
whose narrat ive of travel i n Turkey , Egypt , and theHoly Land
,and parts of I taly
,i s accompan ied wi th
l i tt le del i cately engraved landscapes and bi ts of arch itecture
,etc .
,by Franci s Delaram . The work of the
decade i s brought to a close with two pri nt-sel l ing ventures
,the B asiliwlogia of 16 18 and H erwologia of 1620 .
The former of these works describes i tsel f as bei ng thetrue and l ively effi gies of al l our Engl ish Kings from theConquest unt i l l th i s present : with thei r several]Coats ofArmes
,Impreses and Devi ses . And a briefe C hronologie
of thei r l ives and deaths . Elegant ly graven in copper .Printed for H . Hol land and are to be sold by Comp .[ton]
28 5
F I N E B O O K S
Hol land over agai nst the Exchange . The fu l l set ofplates numbers th i rty-two , i nclud i ng eight addi t ions tothe scheme of the book , represent i ng the B lack Pri nce ,John of Gaunt , Anne Boleyn , a second vers ion of El izabeth
,Mary Queen of Scots , Anne of Denmark
,Prince
Henry,and Pri nce Charles . Fourteen of the plates
,
mostly the earl ier ones,are s igned by E lstracke
,and
S imon Passe and Franci s Delaram each contributed four .I t need hard ly be said that they are of very varyi ngdegrees of authent i c i ty as wel l as meri t . Several of thelater plates are found i n more than one state .
W i th the second of the two ventures Henry Hol landwas al so concerned , but the expenses of the book wereshared by C ri spi n Passe and an Arnhem booksel l ernamed Jansen . I ts t i t l e reads : “ Herwologia Angl ica :hoc est clarissimorum et doctissimorum al iquot Anglorum qu i floruerunt ab anno C ri st i MD . usque adpresentem annum MDCXX .
” I t i s i n two volumes,
the fi rst contai n i ng th i rty-seven plates,the second th i rty .
Two of these represen t respect ively Queen El izabeth’s
tomb and the hearse of Henry Pri nce of W ales . Al l therest are portrai ts of the notabl e personages of the re ignsof Henry V I I I and h i s successors
,some of them based
on drawings by Holbei n , the majori ty on earl i er pri nts ,and al l engraved by W i l l iam Passe (younger brother ofS imon) and h i s s i ster Magdalena .
The next decade was far from product ive of worksi l lustrated wi th more than an engraved t i t l epage and aportrai t
,but i n 163 0 appeared Captai n John Smith ’s
True Travels with several i l lustrat ions , one of them byMart i n Droeshout ; i n 163 4
—5 came W i ther
’s Emblems,
with plates by W i l l iam Marshal l,and i n 163 5 Thomas
Heywood’s H ierarchie of the B lessed Angels, wi th anengraved t i t l e by Thomas Cccill and plates represent i ngthe several orders
,Seraph im
,Cherubim
,and Thrones
bei ng entrusted to John Payne,Dominat ions to Marshal l
,
Powers and Pri ncipal i t i es to Glover,V i rtues to Droeshout
,
etc . Some of the plates record the name of the patron286
H‘
I B R O G L I PH. VL
xxxvm. LONDON , J . MARRIOT, 1638
F I N E B O O K S
(16 11 another to Brow ’ne s B ri"
tann ia s Pastorals,
and much less happy ones to Drayton ’s Polyolbionand the Works ofBen Jonson
The best known titlepages engraved by Renold
E lstracke are those to Rale igh’s H istory of the World
(16 14) and the Workes of the M ost H igh and M ightiePrincejames the latter a good piece of work whichwhen faced
,as i t shou ld be
,by the portrai t of the k ing by
S imon van de Passe,makes the most decorat ive open i ng
to any Engl i sh book of th i s period . Passe h imsel f wasrespons ib le for the very imaginat ive engraved t i t le toBacon
’
s N ovum Organum a sea on which sh ipsare sai l i ng and ri s i ng out of i t two pi l lars wi th the inscript ion : “ Mult i pertransibunt et augeb itur scient ia
(Many shal l run to and fro , and knowledge shal l bei ncreased). Hi s son W i l l iam ,
bes ides h i s work on theH erwologia ,
al ready ment ioned,engraved a compl i cated
t i t l e for Chapman’s vers ion of The B atrachomyomachia
or Batt le of the Frogs and M ice,humorous ly cal led The
Crowne of all H ome/ s Worckes.
After 1620 the old arch i tectural and symbol ical t i t l epages began to be replaced by t i t l es i n compartments
,i n
wh ich a central cartouche i s surrounded by l i tt le squares,
each represent i ng some i ncident of the book . Portrai tsof the author remai ned much in request
,and nearly a
hundred of these were done byW i l l iam Marshal l , whowas employed al so on about as many engraved titlepages.
As has been noted,h i s work was strangely uneven
,and
he fu l ly deserved the scorn poured on h im by M i l ton forthe wretched cari cature of the poet prefixed to the Poemsof 1645 . Yet Marshal l cou ld at t imes do a good plate
,
as,for i nstance
,that i n Quarles
’
s H ieroglyphikes al readymentioned
,a portrai t of Bacon prefixed to the 1640
Oxford ed i t ion of h i s Advancement of Learning and thecharming front i sp iece to B rathwait ’s Arcadian Princess.
Marshal l at h i s worst fel l on ly a l i tt l e below the work of
Thomas C ross ; at h i s best he rival l ed or excel led thegood work of Thomas Cecill and George Glover .
288
E N G R AV E D I L L U S T R A T I O N S
After C romwel l’
5 strong hand had given Englandsome kind ofsett led government the book market revived
,
and some ambi t ious ly i l lustrated books were soon beingpubl i shed . The too versat i l e John Ogi lby , danci ngmaster
,poet
,and publ i sher
,appeared early i n the field
,hi s
vers ion of the Fables of Aesop,
“ adorned wi th scu lpture,
bei ng pri nted by T . W arren for A . C rook i n 165 1. The
next year came B enlowe’
s Theofi hila ,or Loves Sacrifi ce
,
a mysti cal poem,some copies of which have as many as
th i rty-s ix p lates by various hands,with much more
etch ing than engraving i n them . I n 165 4 Ogi lby produced hi s trans lat ion ofV i rgi l
,a great fol io wi th plates
ded icated to noble patrons by Pierre Lombart . Ogilby’
s
otherimportant ventures were the large Odyssey of 1665 ,and the Aesop’s F ables of the same year
,with plates by
Hol lar,D . Stoop , and F . Barlow ,
and two portrai ts of thetrans lator engraved respect ively by Pierre Lambert andW . Faithorne . Faithorne embel l i shed other books of th i speriod
,e .g . the Poems of the “ Match less Orinda ”
with portrai ts,and publ i shers who could not afford to pay
Faithorne employed R .W h ite . The presence ofa portrai tby W hi te i n a copy of the fi rst ed i t ion of Bunyan
’sPilgrim
’
s Progress, to which i t was very far i ndeed fromcertai n that i t real ly belonged
,
1 has once made the booksel l for over£1400 ,
but save for the sake of completenessh i s hand iwork i s not great ly prized by col lectors
,nor i s
there any Engl i sh i l lustrated book of th i s period after theRestorat ion which 18 much sought after for the sake of i tsplates
,al though those of Ogi lby
’s Virg il were su ffic ient lywel l thought of to be used again for Dryden ’
5 vers ion in1697Meanwhi l e
,books wi th i l l ustrat ions en taille douce
were bei ng i ssued ln some numbers both at Pari s and atAmsterdam . I n the former ci ty Francoi s Chauveau
(16 13 i n the latter Jan and Casper Luyken are
1 This was an early proof of the portrait which is found in a sl ightlydifi
'
erent state in Copies of the th ird edit ion , and seemed to b e an insertion inthe first edit ion rather than an integral part of it .
F I N E B O O K S
cred i ted by Mr . Hind (A Short H istory of E ngravingandE tching ,
1908) with having produced“ hosts of smal l
and undist i ngui shed plates,and these damni ng epithets
explai n how i t i s that even patriot i c French col lectors l ikeEugene Pai l l et and Henri B éraldi thought i t wi se toleave the i l l ustrated books of the seventeenth centuryseverely alone .
W e meet the fi rst advance guard of the bri l l iant Frencheighteenth century school of book-i l l ustrat ion i n 17 18 ,
when a pretty l i tt l e ed i t ion of Les Amours de Dafi hm’
s
et Chloe’
(as trans lated by B ishop Amyot from the Greek ofLongus) made i ts appearance wi th twenty-eight platesby Benoi t Audran
,after the des igns of no less a person
than the Regent of France,and du ly label led and dated
“ Ph i l ippus i n . et pinx . 17 14 . The plates vary verymuch i n charm
,but that wi th the underl i ne Chloe’ sauve
Daphnispar le son de sa flute certai n ly possesses i t , andone of the double-plates i n the book
,Daphnis fi rend ses
oyseaux pendant l’
Hyveryour voir Chloe, i s real ly pretty .
W e find no other book to vie wi th th i s unt i l we come toa much larger and more pretent ious one
,the works of
Mol iere i n s ix volumes,royal quarto , publ i shed i n 173 4 .
Th i s was i l l ustrated with th i rty-three plates,i n the mix
ture of etch ing and engravi ng characteri st i c of the Frenchschool of the day
,by Lauren t Cars
,after penci l d rawings
by Francoi s Boucher , and by nearly two hundred vignettes and tai lp ieces (not al l d i fferent) after Boucher andothers by Cars and Francoi s Joullain . Another ed i t ionof th i s i n four volumes wi th Boucher
’s des igns reproducedon a smal ler scale was pub l i shed i n 174 1 and repri n tedthree t imes with i n the decade .
After the Mol iere,books and ed i t ions which col lectors
take count of come much more qu i ckly . There was aned i t ion of Montesqu ieu ’s Le Temfi le de Guide i n 1742
(impri nt : Londres), a Virgil i n 1743 with plates byCoch i n , engraved by Coch i n pere , the Contes of La Fontai ne (Amsterdam ,
1743-5 ) al so i l l ustrated by Coch in ,
Guer’s M oeurs et usages des Tarcs,with plates after
290
F I N E B O O K S
throughout del ightfu l and the plates are bri l l iant lyengraved
,but the lubrici ty of E i sen ’s des igns i s weari
some i n the fi rst volume and d isgust i ng i n the second,
and possessors of the book are not to be envied . I t i s tobe regretted that the next book we have to not i ce
,the
Contes M oraux of Marmontel (3 vol s . , has veryl i tt l e charm to support i ts moral i ty
,the plates after
Gravelot bei ng poor,whi le the head and tai lp ieces
,or
rather the subst i tu tes for them,are wretched . A much
better book than ei ther of these last i s the ed i t ion i nFrench and Lat i n of Ovid’s M etamorphoses i n fourquarto volumes (1767 with plates after Boucher
,
Eisen,Gravelot
,and Moreau
,and headpieces by Choffard
at the beginn i ng of each book . The impri nt,A Pari s
,
chez Leclerc, Quai des August i ns , avec approbat ion et
privi lege du Roi,
” prepares us to find that the des ignershave kept thei r l i cence wi th i n bounds
,and many of the
p lates have a combined humour and charm which arevery attract ive . I f I had to choose a s ingle plate to showGravelot at h i s best
,I doubt i f prolonged search would
find any success more complete than that of the i l l ustrat ion to Book I
,xi .
,Deucalion et Pyrrha refi euplant la
Terre,suivant l
’
Oracle de Themis (see the front i spieceto th i s volume , Plate I), and though Eisen was a muchbetter art i st than Gravelot
,h i s Afi ollon gardant les
troufi eaux d’
Admet , dans les campagnes de M essene
(I I , x .) i s certai n ly one ofh i s prett i est p ieces .Duri ng the next few years i l l ustrated books became
the fash ion,so that i n 1772 Caz otte wrote Le diable
amoureux,nouvelle d
’
E sfi agne, with the fal se impri n tNaples (Pari s , Lej ay) and s ix uns igned plates , said tobe by Moreau after Marillier
,on purpose to rid icu le the
craze for putt i ng i l l ustrations i n to every book . I n 1768
the i ndefat igable Gravelot had i l l ustrated an edi t ion of
the works of Vol tai re,publ i shed at Geneva
, w i th fortyfour des igns . I n 1769 Les Saisons
,a poem by Sai nt
Lambert,was publ i shed at Amsterdam
,with des igns by
Gravelot and Le Prince and fleurons by Choffard. I n292
E N G R AV E D I L L U S T R A T I O N S
the same year there was publ i shed at Pari s Meun ier de
Queslon’
s Les Graces , with an engraved t i t l e by Moreau ,a fronti spiece after Boucher
,and five plates after Moreau .
I n 1770 came Vol tai re’s H enriade with ten plates and
ten vignettes after E isen , and more h ighly esteemed eventhan th is
,Dorat
’
s Les B aisers (La Haye et Pari s), witha front i sp iece and plate and forty-fou r head and tai lp ieces
,al l (save two) after Ei sen , not eas i ly surpassed i n
the i r own luxurious styl e (see P late XXX IX). I n 177 1
Gravelot,more i ndefat igable than ever
,suppl ied des igns
for twenty plates'
and numerous head and tai lp ieces foran ed i t ion of Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata ,
and washonoured
,as Eisen had been i n the Fermiers-G én é raux
ed i t ion of La Fontai ne ’s Con tes,by hi s portrai t bei ng
prefixed to the second volume . I n 1772 a new ed i t ionof Montesqu ieu ’s Le Temple de Gnide
,i n wh ich the
text was engraved throughout , was i l lustrated with des igns by E isen
,bri l l iant ly i nterpreted by Le Mire
,and
Imbert ’s Le jugement de Paris was i l lustrated byMoreau
,withfleurons by Choffard. I n 1773 L e Temple
de Guide was versifi ed by Colardeau,and i l l ustrated by
Monnet,and select ions from Anacreon
,Sappho
,B ion
,
and Moschus by E isen,whi le Moreau and others i l l us
trated the Chansons of Laborde i n four volumes and theworks of Mol iere i n s ix . After th i s the pace s lackened
,
and we need no longer cl i ng to the methods of theannal i st . Moreau i l l ustrated Saint Lambert’s Les
Saisons and Fromageot’s Annales du regne de M arie
Therese (both i n Marmontel’
s Les I ncas theseventy-volume Vol tai re (1784 Paul et Virginie
and many other works,l ivi ng on to i l l ustrate Goethe’s
Werther i n 1809 ; other books were adorned by Marillier,
Coch i n,Dupless i s , B ertaux
,Desrais
,Sai n t Q uent i n ,
Fragonard,Gerard
,and Le Barbier
,and the fash ion sur
vived the Revolution and l i ngered on t i l l about 1820 .
We must go back now to England , where at the endof the seventeenth century the requ i rements of booki l l ustrat ion were neglected
,partly because of the growing
293
F I N E B O O K S
taste for a neat s impl i ci ty i n books , part ly because thech ief Engl i sh engravers al l devoted themselves to mezzot i n t . A few foreigners came over to supply thei r place
,
and M ichael Burghers,of Amsterdam , i l l ustrated the
fourth ed i t ion of Paradise Lost , a state ly fol io , i n 1688,
with plates wh ich enjoyed a long l i fe and were al soimi tated for smal ler ed i t ions . Burghers al so i l lustratedthe Oxford almanacs
,and suppl ied front i sp ieces to the
B ibles and other large books issued by the Un ivers i tyPress up to about 1720 . Another Dutchman who cameto England not much later (i n about 1690) was M ichae lVan der Gucht
,who worked for the booksel lers
,as h i s
ch i ldren d id after h im . How low book-i l lu strat ion hadfal len i n England at the beginn i ng of the eighteenth century may be seen by a glance at the wretched plates whichdis fi gure Rowe
’
s Shakespeare i n 1709 , the first ed i t ion onwhich an ed i tor and an i l lustrator were al lowed to workthe i r wi l l s . The year after th i s Lou i s Du Guernier cameto England
,and was soon engaged i n the not too
patriot ic task of help ing C laude Du Bosc to i l l ustratethe vi ctories of Marlborough . I n 17 14 he and Du Boscwere less pai nfu l ly
,though not very successfu l ly,
employed i n maki ng plates for Pope’s Rape of the Lock.
Du Bosc subsequent ly worked on the Religious Cere
monies of all N ations an Engl ish ed i t ion of abook of Bernard Picart
’
s,and on plates for Rapi n ’s
H istory of E ngland but he was far from bei nga great engraver . I t i s a sat i sfact ion that the plates tothe fi rst ed i t ion of Robinson Crusoe (17 19) were engravedby two Engl i shmen
,and not very bad ly . Thei r names
are given as “C lark and Pi ne
,
” the C l ark being presumably John C lark (1688 who engraved somewri t i ng-books
,and the Pi ne
,John Pine (1690 who
im itated some designs by Bernard Picart to the bookof Jonah i n 1720 ,
and may have been a pupi l of h i s atAmsterdam .
I t shou ld,perhaps
,have been mentioned that two
years before Crusoe an Engl i sh engraver,John Sturt
294
F I N E B O O K S
taste . The second volume fol lowed i n 173 7 , and i n 175 3the first of an i l lustrated Virgil which Pi ne d id not l iveto complete .Bes ides h i s work on Hammer
’
s Shakespeare,Francis
Hayman des igned i l l ustrat ions to Moore’s F ables of the
F emale Sex which were wel l engraved,some of
them by Charles Grignion ,a pupi l of Gravelot
’
s,born i n
England but of fore ign parentage . Haymanalso i l lustrated the Sfi ectator Newton ’s M ilton
(1749 and later on,with the aid of Grignion ,
Smollett’
s Don Quixote and Baskervi l l e’s ed it ionof Congreve’s Poems The plates to the earl iered i t ion of Don Quixote , that of 173 8 ,
had been ch ieflyengraved by Gerard van der Gucht after Vanderbank
,
but two are by Hogarth .
Samuel W al e (d ied a pupi l of Hayman,was
also an i l l ustrator,and i n 1760 suppl i ed S i r John Hawki ns
wi th fourteen drawings for h i s ed i t ion ofW al ton ’sAngler.
These were engraved by the luck less W . W . Rylands ,who was hanged for forgery i n 178 3 ,
and the W al ton thusproduced i s one of the prett i est and least affected of thei l lustrated books of i ts day (see Plate XL). W ale alsodrew des igns for W i lk ie’s F ables (1768) and Goldsmith
’sTraveller He al so worked for the magazi neswhich about the midd le of the century made rather afeature of engravi ngs
,often as headpieces to musi c . A
few of the i solated books may be named,thus Paltock’
s
Peter Wilkins (175 0) was i l l ustrated very wel l by Lou i sPeter B oitard
,who had previously contributed numerous
plates to Spence’s Polymetis, and i n 175 1 suppl i ed afront i sp iece to each of the s ix books of the Scribleriadby R . O . Cambridge . Another book whi ch , l ike PeterWilkins
,was concerned wi th fl ight
,Lunardi
’
sAccount ofthe fi rst aerial voyage in E ngland has a portrai t ofthe author by Bartolozz i and two plates . For Baskervi l l e
’
s ed i t ion of the Orlando F urioso (Birm ingham ,1773 )
recourse was had to plates by De Launay,after Moreau
and E isen .
296
CHAPTER XV I
MODERN F INE PR I NT ING
FTER the Restorat ion,pri nt i ng and the book trade
general ly i n England became defin i te ly modern i nthei r character
,and the pri nter practi cal ly d i s
appears from view,hi s work
,with here and there an
except ion,as i n the case of Robert Foulis or John
Baskervi l l e,bei ng al together h idden beh i nd that of the
publ i sher,so that i t i s of H erringman and Bernard
Lintott and Dodsley that we hear , not of Newcomb andRoycroft .Notwi thstand i ng th i s decl i ne i n the pri nter’s import
ance,there was a steady improvement i n Engl i sh pri nt i ng .
As an art i t had ceased at th i s t ime to exist . I f a publisher wished to make a book beauti fu l he put i n plates .
I f he wanted to make i t more beaut i fu l he put i n more orlarger plates . I f he wanted to make i t a real tri umph ofbeauty he engraved the whole book
,l etterpress and al l
,as
i n the case of Sturt’s Prayer Books and Pine’s H orace .
That a pri nter by the select ion and arrangement of type ,by good presswork and the use of pretty capi tals andtai lp ieces
,cou ld make a book charming to eye and hand
,
without any help from an i l l ustrator—such an idea as th i shad nearly peri shed . There was l i tt l e loss i n th i s
,s i nce
i f any art i st i c work had been attempted i t wou ld assured lyhave been bad
,whereas the c raftsmen
,when set to do
qu i te plai n work,gradual ly learnt to do i t i n a more
workman l ike way . I n th i s they were helped by certai nimprovements ln pri nt i ng which rendered the task ofthe pressman less laborious . I n the midd le of the seventeenth century W i l l iam Blaew
,of Amsterdam
,i nvented
an improved press,fabri cated n i ne of these new fash ioned
297
F I N E B O O K S
presses,set them al l on a row in h i s Print i ng House and
cal led each Press by the name of one of the Muses .C l early B laew was an enthus iast . His chron icl er , JosephMoxon
,was a fai rly good Engl i sh pri nter
,and hi s descrip
t ion of the equ ipment of a print ing house i n the secondpart of h is M echanick E xercises (1683 ) contai ns muchi nformat ion st i l l i n terest i ng . W e gather from Moxonthat B laew’s improvements were s lowly copied i n England
,and we know that the Engl i sh pri nters st i l l
cont i nued to buy the i r best founts from Hol land . Thuswhen B ishop Fel l , about 1670 ,
was equipping the Un iversity Press at Oxford with better type , he employed anagent i n Hol land to purchase founts for h im . Engl i shfounts of which we have any reason to be proud datefrom the appearance about 17 16 of W i l l i am C aslon , whoestabl i shed a fi rm of type founders wh ich has enjoyed along and deserved ly prosperous career .
The next move came from the north . Robert Foulis
(the name was origi nal ly spel t Faulls), born i n 1707 , theson of a Glasgow mal tster
,had been origi nal ly appren
t i ced to a barber . He was,however
,a man of book i sh
tastes,and
,when al ready over th i rty years of age , was
advised to set up i n bus i ness as a printer and booksel ler .W i th h i s brother Andrew
,five years younger than h imsel f
and educated for the min i stry,he went on a book-buying
tou r on the Cont i nent,and on h i s return started book
sel l i ng i n 174 1, and pri nted i n that year Dr. W i l l i amLeechman
’
s Temper,Character
,and Duty of a M inister
of the Gospel, and four other books , i nclud i ng a Phaedrusand a volume of C i cero . I n March , 1743 ,
he wasappoi nted Pri nter to the Un ivers i ty of Glasgow
,and h i s
ed i t ion of D emetrius Phalerus de E locutione i n Greekand Lat i n was the fi rst example of Greek pri nt i ng produced at Glasgow . A H orace which was hung up i nproof i n the Un ivers i ty
,with the offer of a reward for
every mispri n t detected (i n spi te of wh ich s ix remai ned),fol lowed in 1744 ,
an I liad i n 1747 , an ed i t ion ofH ardyknute i n 1748 ,
and a Cicero i n 1749 . I n 175 0 as many298
F I N E B O O K S
a quarto ed i t ion of Virgil which attracted considerablenot i ce . The meri t of Baskervi l l e
’s type i s i ts d i st i nctness ; i ts fau l t i s the reappearance i n a s l ight ly d i fferentform of the old heresy of Aldus
,that what IS good
,or i s
thought to be good,i n penmansh ip must necessari ly be
good i n type . I n im itation of the W ri t i ng-MastersBaskervi l l e del ighted i n mak ing h i s upstrokes very th i nand h i s downstrokes th ick
,and hi s seri fs— that i s
,al l the
l i tt l e fin i sh ing strokes of the letters— sharp and fine . I ti s probab le that h i s i deal s were i nfluenced i n th i s direct ion by books l ike P i ne’s H orace (173 3 i n wh ich
,as
al ready noted,the l etterpress as wel l as the i l l ustrat ions
and ornament i s engraved throughout . These contrastsof l ight and heavy l i nes wou ld natural ly please an en
graver ; but they have no advantage when transferred totype
,oh ly making the page appear rest l ess and spotty .
Contemporary op in ion i n England was no more than lukewarm ln thei r favour . The Virgil procured Baskervi l l e acommiss ion from the Un ivers i ty of Oxford to cut a Greekfount
,but th i s was general ly condemned , though i t had
the meri t of bei ng free from contract ions . Edi t ions ofM i l ton ’s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained (1 andother class ics
,were more successful
,and Baskervi l l e was
appoi nted pri nter to the Un ivers i ty of Cambridge for ten
years ; but h i s profits were smal l , and when he d ied i n1775 , i n defau l t of an adequate Engl i sh offer, h i s typeswere sold to a French society for ,5 3 700 ,
and used i n pri nti ng a famous ed i t ion of the works of Voltai re (178 5The most consp icuous exponent of Baskervi l l e’s
methods was an I tal ian,Giovann i Batt i sta Bodon i
,born
i n Piedmont i n 1740 . Bodon i sett led at Parma,and i t
was at Parma that he d id most of h i s pri nt i ng. Evenmore notably than Baskervi l l e
,he tri ed to give to the
pages which he pri nted the bri l l i ancy of a fine engravi ng .
He used good black i nk (which is to h i s cred i t), exaggerated the d i fferences between h is th i ck strokes and hi sth i n
,and left wide spaces between h i s l i nes so as to let
the elegance of h i s type stand out as bri l l iant ly as poss ible
M O D E R N F I N E P R I N T I N G
against the wh ite paper . The j udgment of the best modernpri nters i s agai nst these vivid contrasts and m favour of amore closely set page , the two pages wh ich face each otherbeing regarded as an art i st i c whole which shou ld not becut i nto strips by a series ofbroad whi te spaces . Bodon i
’
5
books,which used to be h igh ly esteemed , are now per
haps undu ly neglected,for h i s work i n i ts own way , whether
he used roman type,i tal i cs
,or Greek
,i s very good
,and
h i s ed i t ions of Virgil, H omer,and the Imitatio Christi
are very strik i ng books,though bu i l t on wrong l i nes .
Bodon i d ied at Padua i n 18 13 .
W h i l e the names of Caslon , the brothers Foulis, andBaskervi l l e i n Great Bri tai n
,and of Bodon i i n I taly
,
stand out from amid thei r cOntemporaries, the premierplace ln French book-product ion was occupied by membersof the D i dot fami ly . The fi rst of these was FrangoisD idot (1689 h i s e ldest son
,Francoi s Ambroi se
(173 0 was a fine pri nter ; h i s younger son , Pierre
(1 -95 ) was also a typefounder and papermaker . I n the
th i rd generat ion P ierre’s son Henri (1765 - 18 5 2) wasfamous for h i s m icroscopi c type
,whi le P i erre I I (1760
the eldest son of Francoi s Ambroi se and nephewof Pierre I
,pri nted some fine ed i t ions of Lat i n and
French class i cs at the press at the Louvre ; and h i sbrother F i rmi n D idot (1764—1836) won renown both asa typefounder and engraver
,and also as a pri nter and
improver of the art of stereotyp ing , bes ides bei ng adeputy and wri ter of traged ies . I n the fourth generat ion
,the two sons of Firmin D i dot , Ambroi se (1790
18 76) and Hyaci nthe , carried on the fami ly trad i t ions .
I ncidental ly,Ambroi se wrote some valuable treat i ses on
wood-engraving and amassed an enormous l ibrary , which ,when sold at auct ion i n 1882—4 , real ized nearly 120 000 .
W i th the names of Bodon i and the Didots we may l i nkthat of the German publ i sher and pri nter Georg Joach imGoeschen
,grandfather of the late V i scount Goschen .
He was born i n 175 2,d ied i n 1828
, and worked thegreater part of h i s l i fe at Leipzig . He brought out
301
F I N E B O O K S
pretty i l l ustrated ed i t ions,made experiments wi th Greek
types,much on the same l i nes as Bodon i
,and devoted
h i s l i fe to the improvement of pri nt i ng and bookmaki ngand the spread of good l i terature
,enjoyi ng the friendsh ip
of Sch i l l er and other emi nent German wri ters .
Coming back to England , we may note the beg i nn i ngof the Chi swick Press i n 1789 ,
the year of the FrenchRevolut ion . CharlesW hi tt i ngham was then on ly twentytwo (he had been born at Coventry i n and for h i sfirst years as h i s own master he was content to pri nt handb i l l s and do any other jobbing work that he could get .He began i ssu i ng i l lustrated books i n 1797 , and after at ime the care he took i n making ready wood-blocks (theuse of which had been revived by Bewick) for pri nt i nggained h im a special reputat ion . From about 18 11 to h i sdeath i n 1840 he left one branch of h i s bus i ness i n theci ty under the charge of a partner
,whi l e he h imsel f l ived
and worked at Ch i swick,whence the name the C h i swi ck
Press by wh ich the fi rm i s st i l l best known .
His nephew,Charles W hi tt i ngham the younger
,was
born i n 1795 ,was apprent iced to h i s uncle i n 18 10 and
worked wi th h im unti l 1828 . Then he set up for h imsel fat Tooks Court off Chancery Lane
,and came rapid ly to
the front,l argely from the work which he d id for W i l l iam
Pickeri ng , a wel l-known publ isher of those days .On hi s uncle’s death i n 1840 the youngerW h i tt i ngham
inheri ted the Chi swick bus i ness al so . Four years afterth i s
,i n 1844 ,
he led the way i n the revival of old-facedtypes . The examples of Baskervi l le at home and ofBodon i and other pri nters abroad had not been withouteffect on Engl i sh pri nt i ng . Bri l l iancy had been soughtat al l costs
,and i n the attempt to combi ne economy with
i t the height of l etters had been i ncreased and the i rbreadth d imin i shed so that
,whi le they looked larger
,
more of them cou ld be crowded i nto a l i ne . The youngerW h i tt i ngham had the good taste to see that the rounder ,more even ly t i nted type , which Cas lon had made beforethese i nfluences had come i nto play
,was much pleasanter
F I N E B O O K S
land i ncluded Frederi ck Locker , Robert Bridges , Aust i nDobson
,Andrew Lang
,Edmund Gosse
,John Addington
Symonds , Lewi s Carrol , W . Hen ley,and Margaret
W oods . Each poet was rewarded by a Copy i n whichh i s name was pri nted on the t i t l epage
,and the Garland
soon came to be regarded as a very des i rab le possess ion .
Mr . Dan iel subsequent ly pri nted numerous l i tt l e books byi nterest i ng writers (Robert Bridges , W al ter Pater, CanonD ixon
,and others), and wh i l e nei ther h i s types nor h i s
presswork were except ional ly good,succeeded i n i nvest i ng
them al l wi th a charming appropriateness wh ich givesthem a special p lace of thei r own i n the affect ions of
book-lovers .Another venture i n wh ich a h igh l i terary standard was
combi ned with much care for typography was The
H obby-H orse
,a quarterly magazi ne ed i ted by Herbert
P . Home and Selwyn Image between 1886 and 1892,
after wh ich i t appeared fi tfully and fl i ckered out . The
change i n the type , the sett ing i t close i nstead of spaced ,and the new in i t ial s and tai lp ieces wh ich may be noted atthe begi nn i ng of Vol. I I I const i tuted a landmarki n the h i story of modern pri nt i ng of an importances im i lar to that of the return to old-faced type i n LadyhVilloughby
’
s D iary . The progress of the movement canbe fol l owed (i) i n the catalogue of the Exhib i t ion of Artsand C rafts Exh ib i t ion Society
,held at the New Gal lery
i n the autumn of 1888,wi th an art ic l e on pri nt i ng by Mr .
EmeryW alker ; (i i) 1n three books byW i l l iam Morri s , viz .The H ouse of the Wot/ings , The Roots of the M ountains
and the Gunnlaug Saga ,pri nted under the superinten
dence of the author and Mr . W alker at the Ch i swickPress i n 1889 and 1890 . I n 189 1W i l l i am Morri s gavean immense impetus to the revival of fine pri nt i ng bysett i ng up a press at No . 16 Upper Mal l
,Hammersmi th
,
c lose to h i s own res idence,Kelmscott House . “ I t was
the essence of my undertak i ng,he wrote subsequent ly
,
“ to produce books which i t wou ld be a pleasure to lookupon as pieces of pri nt i ng and arrangement of type
,
’’ and
M O D E R N F I N E P R I N T I N G
no one wi l l be i ncl i ned to deny that the Kelmscott Pressbooks fu lfi l th i s aim . The goth ic type , whether i n i tslarger or smal ler s ize (the Troy type des igned for thereprin t of Caxton ’
s Recuyell of the H istories of Troy ,
and the Chaucer type des igned for the great Chaucer), wi l lhold i ts own agai nst any goth i c type of the fifteenthcentury . The Golden type (des igned for the repri n tof Caxton
’
s Golden Legend) cannot be prai sed as h igh lyas th i s . “ By inst i nct rather than by conscious th i nkingi t over
,Morri s confessed
,
“ I began by gett i ng mysel f afount of Roman type
,and i t i s no unfai r cri tic i sm of i t
to say that i t betrays the hand of a man whose naturalexpress ion was i n goth ic letter forc ing roman into yi e ldi ng some of the characteri st i c goth i c charm . The Golden
Legend wou ld have been a far finer book i f i t had beenpri nted i n the Chaucer type
,and the Shel ley
,Keats
,
Herrick and other books which Morri s pri nted i n i t toplease F . S . El l i s or other friends cannot stand the test ofcomparison wi th The Wood B eyond the World and theother romances wh ich he pri nted ent i rely to please h imsel f. But whether he used h i s roman or h i s goth ic typethe exqu i s i te craftsmansh ip which he put i nto al l hisbooks enabled Morri s to attai n h i s aim
,and h is wonder
fu l borders and capi tal s crown them with the del ightwh ich th i s k ing of des igners took i n h i s work . No otherpri nter s ince pri nt i ng began has ever produced such a
series of books as the fi fty-three wh ich poured from theKelmscott Press duri ng those wonderfu l seven years
,and
no book that has ever been pri nted can be compared forri chness of effect wi th the Chaucer wh ich was the crowning ach ievement of the Press .Morri s’s example brought i nto the field a host of com
petitors and plagiari sts and a few workers i n the sameSpi ri t . By his s ide th roughout h i s venture had stood Mr .Emery W alker
,who had no smal l part i n start ing the.
whole movement,whose help and advice for more than
twenty years have been freely at the service ofany one whohas shown any i ncl i nat ion to do good work , and who ,
305
F I N E B O O K S
whenever good work has been ach ieved , wi l l almost alwaysbe found to have lent a hand i n i t . After Morri s ’s deathMr . W alker j oi ned with Mr . Cobden Sanderson i n producing the Doves Press books , pri nted , al l of them ,
in as ingle type
,but that type a fine adaptat ion of J enson ’s and
hand led with a sk i l l to which Jenson not on ly neverattai ned but never aspi red . The fi rst book pri nted i n i twas the Agricola of Taci tus
,and th i s and Mr . Mackail
’
s
l ecture on Morri s and other early books are entire lywithout decorat ion . W oodcut capi tal s and borders , it wasthought
,had reached thei r h ighest poss ib le excel lence
under the hand ofW i l l iam Morri s,and s ince not progress
but retrogress ion wou ld be the certai n resu l t of any freshexperiments
,decorat ion of th i s sort must be abandoned .
The reason i ng was perhaps not ent i rely cogent , s i nce thedecorat ion appropriate to the Doves type would hard lyenter i nto any d i rect competi t ion with Morri s’s goth icdes igns . Later on
,however
,i t was more than j ust ified
by the use i n the Paradise Lost,the B ib le
,and most
subsequent books (these later ones i ssued by Mr . Sanderson alone) of very s imple red capi tal s , which l ightup the pages on which they occur wi th charmingeffect .S imi lar capi tal s on a less bold scale
,some i n gold
,
others i n red,others i n blue
,are a conspi cuous feature i n
the masterpieces of the Ashendene Press belonging toMr . St . John Hornby . Th i s was started by Mr . Hornbyat h i s house i n Ashendene , Herts , i n 1894 , and was forsome time worked by Mr . Hornby h imsel f and h i s s i sterswith
,as at l east one colophon gratefu l ly acknowledges ,
“ some l i tt l e help of C i ce ly Barclay,who subsequent ly
,
under a d i fferent surname,appears as a jo in t proprietor .
The early books—thejournals of Joseph Hornby ,M edita
tions of Marcus Aurel i us,Prologue to the Canterbury
Tales,etc—are not conspi cuous ly good
,but i n 1902,
i n atype founded on that used by Sweynheym and Pannartzat Subiaco
,Mr . and Mrs . Hornby produced the fi rst
vol ume of an i l l u strated D ivina Commedia which cannot
F I N E B O O K S
though i t cannot compare wi th h i s for d ign i ty or ri chnessof effect . I n a later type
,cal led the Kinge
’
s Fount fromi ts use i n an ed i t ion of The K inges Quair Mr .Ricketts
’
s good gen ius deserted h im ,for the mixture of
maj uscu le and m inuscu le forms i s most unpleas ing .
The Eragny books pri n ted by Esther and LucienP issarro on thei r press at Epping
,Bedford Park
,and the
Brook,Ch i swick , were at first (1894—1903 ,
Nos . 1—16)pri nted by Mr . Ricketts’s permiss ion i n the Vale type .
I n June,1903 , a
“ Brook fount des igned by Mr . Pissarro was completed
,and A B riefAccount of the O
of the E ragny Press printed i n i t . Mr . Pissarro’
s booksare ch iefly notable for the i r woodcuts
,which are of very
varyi ng meri t .I n the Un i ted States
,i n add i t ion to some merely
impudent plagiar i sms,several exce l l en t efforts after im
proved pri nting were i nspi red by the Engl i sh movementof which Morri s was the most prom inent figure . Mr .C larke Conwel l at the El ston Press
,Pelham Road
,New
Rochel l e,New York
,pri nted very wel l
,both i n roman
and black letter,h i s ed i t ion of the Tale of Gamelyn (190 1)
i n the latter type bei ng a charming l i tt l e book . Mr .Berkeley Upd ike of the Merrymount Press
,Boston
,and
Mr . Bruce Rogers duri ng h i s connect ion with the Rivers ide Press
,Boston
,have al so both done excel len t work
,
which i s too l i tt l e known i n th i s country . The art i st i cpri nt i ng which Mr . Rogers d id wh i le worki ng for theRivers ide Press i s especial ly notable because of the ri chvariety oftypes and styles i n which excel lence was attai ned .
SELECT B I BL IOGRAPHY
GENERAL WORKS
FERGUSON, J . Some Aspects of B ibliography. Edinburgh , 1900 .
PEDD IE, R . A. AList of B ibliographicalB ooks published since thefoundation of the
B ibliographical Society in 1893 (B ib. Soc. Transactions, vol. x.
, pp . 23 5
London,19 10 .
B IGMORE andWYMAN . AB ibliography ofPrinting. With notes and i l lustrations,2 vo ls. London , 18 80 .
REED, T . B . A List of B ooks and Papers on Printers and Prin ting under the
Coun tries and Towns to which they refer. (B ibl iograph ical Soc iety. ) London ,
18 95 .
B IBL IOG RAPH I CAL Socrarv. Transactions. London ,18 93 , e tc .
ED INBURGH B IBL IOGRAPH I CAL SOCIETY . Transactions. Edinburgh , 18 96, etc .
Le B ibliographe M oderne. Par is, 18 97 , etc .
B ibliographica. 3 vols. London , 18 9 5—7 .
Cen trallblatt fi ir B ibliothekswesen . Leipzig, 18 8 8, e tc .
The Library. London, 18 8 9 , etc .
Zeitschrzfljitr B ucherfreunde. B ielefe ld, 18 9 7 , etc .
B RUNET, J . C . D ictionnaire de Ge
’
ographie ancienne et modernc a I’usage da
libraire et de l’amateur de livre. Par un B ibliophile. Paris, 18 70 .
With notes on the introduction of printing into the p laces named.
CRANE, W . Of the D ecorative I llustration of B ooks Old andNew. Second edition .
London ,190 1.
DUFF, E . G. E arlyPrintedB ooks. (B ooks about B ooks. ) London , 18 9 3 . 8vo .
HUMPHREYS,H . N . M asterpieces of the E arly Prin ters and E ngravers Ser ies of
facsimi les from rare and curious books, remarkab le for i l lustrat ive devices,beauti ful borders, decorative in it ials, p r inters’ marks, and e laborate titlepages.
Fol. London ,18 70 .
KRISTELLER, P. Kupferstich und H olzschnitt in vier jahrhunderten . 410.
Berl in,1905 .
F I N E B O O K S
LANG, A. The Library . Wi th a chapter on modern Engl ish i l lustrated books byAust in Dobson ,
London , 188 1.
Second edition . London ,18 92.
LIPPMANN,F . D ruckschmften des xv. bis xviii. jahrhunderts in getreuen N ach
bildungen herausgegeben von der D irection der Reichsdruckerei un ter I ll itwir
kung von D r. F . Lippmann andD r. R . D ohme. Fol. B erl in , 18 8 4—7 .
MORGAN , J . P. Catalogue of E arly Printed B ooksfrom the libraries of WilliamM orris, Richard B ennett
,etc.
, now forming portion of the library of j. P.
M organ . [By S. Aldrich , E . G. Duff, A. W. Pol lard, R . Proctor.] 3 vols.
Large 410. London , 190 7 .
With many facsim i les .ROUVEYRE, E. Connaissances nécessaires d nu bibliophile. I O vols. Par is
,1899 .
I .
-COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING
ELTON, C . I . and M . A. The Great B ook Collectors. London, 18 93 .
FLETCHE R,W. Y . English B ook
-Collectors. London ,1902.
QUAR I TCH , B . Contributions towards a D ictionary of E nglish B ook Collectors.
London , 18 92—9 .
DAVENPORT, C . E nglish H eraldic B ook-S tamps. London, 1909 .
With biographical notes .GU IGARD, J . Nouvel Armorial du B ibliophile. Guide de l
’amateur des livres
armom’
e’
s. 2 tom. Par is, 18 90 .
With biographical notices of many French col lectors.
B ook Prices Current. London ,18 93 , e tc .
American B ook Prices Curren t. New York, 18 9 5 , etc .
L IV INGSTON,L . S. Auction Prices of B ooks. 1886—1904 . 4 vols. New York,
190 5 .
LAWLER, J . B ook Auctions in E ngland in the Seventeenth Century . London ,
1898 .
ROBERTS,W. Catalogues of E nglish B ook Sales. London , 1900 .
Rare B ooks and their Prices. London , 1896 .
WHEATLEY,H . B . Prices of B ooks : An inquiry into the changes in the pri ce of
books which have occurred in England at different periods. London , 18 98 .
B RUNET, J . C . M anuel du libraire et de l
’amateur de livres, contenant 1
‘nu
nouveau dictionnaire bibliographigue, etc . Cinquieme Edit ion . 6 vo ls. Paris,18 60-5 .
GRAESSE , J . G. T . Trisor de livres rares et pre’
cieux ou N ouveau D ictionnaire
bibliographioue. 7 vols. Dresde, 18 5 9—69 .
These two books mark the c lose of the fash ion ofGeneral Co l lecting.
F I N E B O O K S
DZIAs o,C . lVas wissen wir von demLeben und der Person joh. Gutenbergs ?
[18 9 5-1Gutenbergsfruheste D ru ckerpraxis auf Grund einer Vergleichung des 42
z eitigen und 3 6—z eilgen B ibel. (Sammlung, No. 18 90 .
H ESSELS , J . H . Gutenberg : Was H e the I nventor of Printing ? London ,18 8 2.
The So-called Gutenberg D oc uments. (Repr inted fromTheLibrary . ) London ,19 12.
V.—OTHER INCUNABULA
PANZER, G . W. Annales Typographici ab artis inventce origine ad annum MD .
(ad annumMDXXXVI ) . 11 vols. 4 to. Norimbergae, 179 3—180 3 .
HA IN,L . Repertorium B ibliographicum,
in guo libri omnes ab arte typographica
inven ta usque ad annumMD . typis expressi ordine alphabetico vel simpliciter
enumerantur vel adcuratius recensen tur. Stuttgartiae et Tubingae, 18 26 .
I ndices uberrimi operé C. B urger . Lipsiae, 18 9 1.
COPINGER , W. A. Supp lemen t to H ain’
s RepertoriumB ibliographicum. (Index byKonrad Burger. ) 3 vols. London , 18 9 5
—190 2 .
RE I CHL ING,D . Appendices ad H ainii Copingeri Repertorium B ibliographicum.
Additiones et emendationes. 7 pt . Monachii, 190 5—1 I .
PELLECHET,M . L . C . Catalogue ge
’
ne’
ral des I ncunables des bibliothegues publiques
de France. [Continued by M . L. Polain .] Vo ls. i.—i i i . Par is, 18 9 7, etc .
PROCTOR , R. An I ndex to the E arly Prin ted B ooks in the B ritish .M'
useum,with
notes of those in the B odleian Library, Oxford. 2 vols. London , 18 98 .
BR IT ISH MUSEUM . Catalogue of B ooks Printed in the F ifteenth Century,now in
the B ritish M useum. Vols. i—i i . [B lock-books and Ge rmany, Mainz-Trier.]410. London , 1908 , etc .
PROV IDENCE, R. I . ANNMARY BROWN MEMOR IAL. Catalogue of B ooks mostlyfrom the Presses of the First Printers, showing the progress of printing withmovable metal lypes through the second halfof the Fifteen th Cen tury. Col lectedbyRush C . Hawk ins. Catalogued by A. W. Po l lard. 410 . Oxford, 19 10 .
BURGER , K . M onumenta Germaniae et I taliae typographica . D eutsche und
italienische I nkunabeln in getreuen N achbildungen . Parts 1—8 . Fol. B erl in ,189 2, etc .
GESELLSCHAFT FUR TYPENKUNDE DES I 5 . JAHRHUNDERTS . Wro’
fi n tlichungen .
Fol. Uppsala,1907 , etc .
TYPE FACS IM ILE SOCIETY . Publications. (1900—4 edited by R . Proctor ;1904—8 by G. Dunn .) 4 to. Oxford, 1900 , etc .
WOOLLEY PHOTOGRAPHS . Woolley Photographs. Photographs of fi fteenth centurytypes of the exact size of the originals, designed to supplementpublished examples,with references to Robert Proctor
’s I ndex of B ooks in the B ritish M useum and
B odleian Library . [Edited by George Dunn ,with a l ist of the 5 00 photo
graphs] Fol. Wool ley, 18 99—190 5 .
3 12
S E L E C T B I B L I O G R A P H YHAERLER , K . Typenrepertorium der l/Viegendrucke. 3 vols. Le ipzig , 1905 , etc .
8v0 .
Th is supplies the measurement and some guide to the characteristic s of every recorded fi fteenthcentury type, with he lps to the identi fi cation of the printers of unsigned books by means of thedifferent forms of M , Qu, etc .
B ERNARD, A. J . D e l
’
Origine et des D ibuts de l’lmprimerie en E urope. 2 vo ls.
Par is, 18 5 3 .
Valuable for its numerous references to notes and dates in individual copies .H AWK INS , RUSH C . Titles of the First B ooksfrom the E arliest Presses established
in difi'
erent Cities, Towns, and Monasteries in E urope, before the end of the
F ifteenth Cen tury. With brief notes upon theirprinters. 4 to. New York ,18 84 .
CLAUD IN, A. H istoire de l’imprimen
'
e en France. Vols. i.-i i i . 4to . Paris, 1900 , etc .
TH IERRY-POUX, O. Premiers monumen ts de l’imprimerie en France au xz/ siecle.
[40 sheets of facsimi les ] Fol. Par is,18 90 .
HOLTROP, J . W . M onuments typographioues des Pays
-B as au quinzieme siecle.
[13 0 plates of facsimi les] Fol. La Haye,18 68 .
CAMPBELL, M . F . A. G. Annales de la Typographie Ne’
erlandaise ou xit siecle.
(With four supplements. ) La Haye , 18 74 (18 78FUMAGALLI , G. Lexicon typographicum J taliae. D ictionnaire ge
’
ographioue
d’
l taliepour servir a l’histoire de l
’
imprimerie dans cepays. Florence , 1905 .
HAEBLER, K . B ibliografi a iberica del szglo 15 . La Haya, 1904 .
The Early Prin ters of Spain and Portugal. [B ib l iog . Soc . I l lust . Mono
graphs, 4to. London ,18 9 7 .
Typographic ibe’
rigue du xv‘
siecle. Rep roduction en fac-simile’
de tous les
caracteres Otpographigues employe’
s en E spagne et en Portugal jusou a 15 00.
F01. La Haye, 1902.
VI .—THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PR INTED BOOKPOLLARD
, A. W. An E ssay on Colophons. With spec imens and translations,by A. W. Pol lard, and an introduct ion by R . Garnett (Caxton C lub ).Ch icago, 1905 .
Last Words on the H istory of the Titlepage. 4 to. London, 18 90 .
ROBERTS,W. Printers
’M arks AChapter in the H istory of Typography. London,
18 93 .
BUCHERMARKEN . D ie B uchermarken oder B uchdrucker und Verlegerzeichen . 4 to .
Strassburg, 18 9 2, etc .
1. E lsassische B uchermarken bisAnfang des 18 . jahrhunderts. H erausgeg. von
P. H e itz, 189 2.
2. D ie I talienischen B uchdrucker und Verlegerzeichen bis 15 25 . H erausgeg.
von P. Kristeller, 18 93 .
F I N E B O O K S
3 . D ie B asler B uchermarken bisAn/ang des I 7 . jahrhunderts. H erausgeg. von
P. H e itz,18 9 5 .
4 . D ie FrankfurterD rucker und Verlegerzeichen bisAnfang des 17 . jahrhunderts.
H erausgeg. von P. H e itz , 1896.
5 . Spanische und Portugiesische B ucherzeichen des xv. und xvi. jahrhunderts.
H erausgeg. Yon . K . K . Haebler, 18 98 .
6. K'
o'
lner B uchermarken bis z umAnfang des xvii. jahrhunderts. H erausgeg.
von’
Dr. Zaretzky, 1898 .
7 . Genfer B uchdrucker,und Verlegerzeichen von xv. xvi. und xvii. jahrhundert .
Von P. H ei tz, 1908 .
SILVESTRE , L. C . M arques typographioues, ou recueil des monogrammes des
libraires et imprimeurs en France, depuis l’in troduction de l
’imprimeriejusou
’
d
la fi n du xv‘
siecle. Par is,18 5 3
—67 .
JENN INGS , O. E arly Woodcut I nitials. London , 1908 .
VI I . —EARLY GERMAN AND DUTCH ILLUSTRATED BOOKSDODGSON , C . Catalogue of early German and F lemish woodcuts preserved in the
D epartment of Prints and D rawings in the B ritish M useum. Vols. i. -i i .London , 1903 , 19 11.
MUTHER , R. D ie deutsche B ucherillustration der Gothik undFruhrenaissance (14602 Bde . 4 to. Miinchen, 18 84 .
SCHRE I BER,W. L . Catalogue des incunables d fi gures imprime
’
s en Allemagne, en
Suisse en Autriche-I fongrie et en Scandinavie, avec des notes critiques et biblio
graphig'ues. (M anuel de l
’amateur de la gravure sur bois et sur me
’
tal au
xv‘
siecle, tom. 5 Le ipzig, 19 10 .
COCKERELL, S. C . Some German Woodcuts of the Fifteenth Century. 4to.
Hammersmith, 18 9 7 .
CONWAY, SirW. M . The Woodcutters of the N etherlands in the F ifteenth Century.
Camb ridge , 18 84 .
VI I I .—EARLY ITAL IAN ILLUSTRATED BOOKS
L IPPMAN N , F . The Art of Wood-E ngraving in I taly in the F ifteen th Century.
London , 18 8 8 .
POLLARD, A. W. I talian B ook-I llustrations, chiefly of the Fifteenth Century.
(Portfol io monographs, London ,18 94 .
KR I STELLER, P. E arlyFlorentine Woodcuts. With an annotated l ist of Florentinei llustrated books. London , 189 7 .
ESSL ING , PR INCE D’. Les [Vissels imprime’
s d Venise de 1481 a1600 . D escrip tion ,
illustration , bibliographie. Ouvrage orne’
de planches sur cuivre et de 25 0
gravures. F01. Par is, 18 94 .
—Etudes sur l’
art de la gravure sur bois d Venise. Les livres 81fi gures ve’
nitzens
de la fi n du 15”siecle et du commencemen t du 165 . Fol. Par is, 190 7 , etc .
3 14
F I N E B O O K S
H AZL ITT,W. C . Collections and N otes. Three series with supplements. London ,
18 76—8 9 .
A General I ndex to H az litt’
s H andbook and his B ibliographical Collections,1867—18 89 . ByG. T . Gray . London ,
18 93 .
BR IT I SH MUSEUM . Catalogue of B ooks in the Library of the B ritish Museumprinted
in E ngland, Scotland, and I reland, and of B ooks in E nglish prin ted abroad, to
the year 1640 . [Main ly byG . W. Ecc les.] 3 vols. London ,18 8 4 .
DUF F,E . G. Catalogue of B ooks in thejohn Rylands Library,
M anchester, prin ted
in E ngland, Scotland, and I reland, and of B ooks in E nglish prin ted abroad to
the end of theyear 1640. 4to. Mancheste r, 18 9 5 .
SAYLE, C . E . E arlyE nglish Printed B ooks in the University Library, Cambridge,
1475—1640. Camb ridge , 1900-7 .
The books are arranged under the printers .AMES , J . Typographical Antiquities : B eing an h istorical account of pr inting in
England ; wi th some memoirs of our ant ient p r inte rs, and a register of thebooks pr inted by them,
14 7 1—1600 . With an appendix concern ing p rinting in
Scotland and I re land to the same t ime . 4to . London ,1749 .
Considerably augmented. ByW. H erbert. 3 vo ls. 4 to. London,178 5—9 0 .
Greatly en larged, with copious Notes and Engravings by T . F. Dibdin .
Vols. i.—iv. 4 to . London , 18 10—19 .
DUFF , E . G. E nglish Prin ting on Vellum to the end of 1600. (B ibl iographicalSoc iety of Lancash ire . ) 4 to . Aberdeen ,
1902.
A Century of the E nglish B ook Trade : Short notices ofallPrinters, Stationers,Bookbinders, and others connected with it , 14 5 7—15 5 7 . 4to. B ibl iograph icalSoc iety
,London, 1905 .
The Printers, Stationers, and B ookbinders of Westminster and London, 1476
15 3 5 . (Sandars Lectures.) Cambr idge, 18 96 .
E arly E nglish Prin ting : A ser ies of facsimi les of all the types used in
England during the fi fteen th cen tury . Fol. London ,18 96.
(and others.) H andlists of E nglish Printers, 15 01—15 5 7 . Parts 1-3 . 4 to.
B ibl iograph ical Soc iety, London ,1896, etc .
AR BER,E . A Transcrip t of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London ,
15 5 4-1640. 5 vo ls. 4 to . London , 18 75
—94 .
B LADES, W. The Life and Typography of William Caxton . 2 vols. 4to .
London , 18 61—3 .
B iography and Typography of Caxton . London ,18 8 2.
DUFF, E . G. William Caxton . (Caxton C lub of Ch icago.) 4 to . Ch icago, 1905 .
R ICCI , SEYMOUR DE. A Census of Caxtons. (B ibl iographical Soc iety , I l lust.Monographs
,London, 1909 .
PLOMER , H . R . A Short H istory of E nglish Printing , 1476-1898 . (EnglishBookman’
s Library. ) London , 1900 .
REED,T . B . I I istory of the Old E nglish Letter Foundries. 4to . London , 18 8 7 .
3 16
S E L E C T B I B L I O G R A P H Y
XI I I .—EARLY PRINTING IN ENGLISH OUTSIDE LONDON
ALLNUTT, W. H . E nglishProvincialPresses. (Bibliographica, Parts 5 London ,189 5 .
DUF F,E . G. The E nglish Provincial Prin ters, Stationers, and B ookbinders to
15 5 7 . (Sandars Lectures. ) Cambridge , 19 12.
BOWES,R. ACatalogue of B ooks Printed at or relating to the University,
Town and
Coungt of Cambridge, 15 21—1893 . Camb ridge , 1894 .
MADAN , F. L. Oxford Books.Vol. 1. The E arly Oxford Press : A Bibli
ography of Print ing and Pub l ish ing at Oxford 1468—1640 .
Vol. 2. Oxford Literature, 145 0—1640, and 1641—165 0. Oxford, 18 9 5 ,19 12.
A Chart of Oxford Printing, 1468-1900 . With notes and i llustrations.
4to. Oxford, 1903 .
A B rief Account of the Universily Press at Oxford. With i llustrations,
together with a chart ofOxford pr int ing. 4to . Oxford, 1908 .
DAV IES, R . A M emoir of the York Press. With notices ofAuthors, Pr inters, andStat ioners in the 16th
,17th, and 18 th centuries. Westminster,
DOBSON,A. H orace Walpole : AAlemoir. With an Appendix ofBooks Pr inted at
the Strawberry H i l l Press. New York, 18 93 .
ALD IS , H . G. A List of B ooks Printed in Scotland before 1700, including those
Printedfurth of the realmfor Scottish B ooksellers. With b rief notes on the
Pr inters and Stationers. 4 to . Edinburgh B ibl iographical Soc iety , Edinburgh, 1904 .
D I CKSON , R. ,andEDMOND, T . P. Annals of Scottish Printing from the I ntroduction
of theArt in 15 07 to the beginning of the 17 th Century. 4to . Camb ridge, 18 90 .
DIx, E . R . MCC . AList of I rish Towns and Dates of E arliest Prin ting in each.
Second edition . Dublin , 1909 .
The E arliest D ublin Printing. With l ist of books, etc . , p r inted in Dubl inpr ior to 1601. Dub l in
,190 1.
GILBERT, SIR J . T . I rish B ibliography . Two papers. With an introduc tion ,
notes, and appendices by E . R . McC . Dix. Dub l in , 1904 .
WATK INS, G. T. B ibliography ofPrinting in America : Books
, etc . ,relating to the
history ofp rint ing in the New World. Boston , 1906 .
EVANS , C . American B ibliography. AChronological Dict ionary of all books,pamphlets, and periodical publ ications prin ted in the Un ited States from 163 9
to 18 20 . 4to . Ch icago, 1903 , etc .
THOMAS , J . The H istory of Prin ting in America . With a B iography of Printers,etc . Second edition . 2 vols. Albany
,18 74 .
RODEN, R. F. The Cambridge Press, 163 8—1692 : Ah istory of the first p r intingpress in Engl ish Amer ica, together wi th a b ib liograph ical l ist of the issues.
New York, 19 0 5 .
F I N E B O O K S
XIV.—ENGLISH WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS
CHATTO and J ACKSON . A Treatise on WoodE ngravings : H istorical andPrac tical .Second edit ion . London
,1861.
LINTON , W . J . The Alasters of Wood-E ngraving . Fol io . London ,18 8 9 .
XV.—ENGRAVED BOOKS—ILLUSTRATIONS
H IND,A. M . A Short H istory of E ngraving and E tchingfor the use of Collectors
and Students. With ful l b ibl iography, c lassified l ist, and index of engravers.
Second edition ,revised. London ,
19 11 .
COLV IN, SIR S. E arlyE ngraving and E ngravers in E ngland, 15 45—1695 . Fol.
B ritish Museum. London, 190 5 .
H IND, A. M . List of the Works ofN ative and Foreign Line-E ngravers in E ngland
from fi fenry VI I I to the Commonwealth. B r i tish Museum. London , 1905 .
Reprinted from Sir S. Co lvin’s work.
COHEN , H . Guide de l’
amateur de livres a gravure du 15" siecle, 6‘e’
dition,aug
mentiepar Seymour de Ricci. Par is, 19 12.
LEV INE, J . B ibliography of the 18 th Century Art and I llustrated B ooks.
London , 18 98 .
BERALD I , J . H . E stampes et livres, 1872—1892. 4 to . Paris, 18 9 2.
A catalogue of the Compi ler’s own co l lection of French i l lustrated books.
XVI .—MODERN FINE PR INTING
STRAUS , R., and DENT, R . K. john B askerville : AM emoir. 4 to . Camb ridge ,
190 7 .
GOSCHEN , VISCOUNT. The Life and Times of Georg joachim Goeschen,Publisher
and Printer ofLeipzig, 1252—1828 . 2 vo ls. London , 1903 .
WERELET, E . Etudes bibliographiques sur la famille des D idot, imprimeurs, etc. ,
1713—1864 . (Extrait de l’Histoire du Livre en France . ) Paris
,1864 .
WARREN , A. The Charles Whittinghams, Prin ters. (Grol ier C lub .) New York,18 96.
MO RR IS , W. A Note by I/VilliamM orris on his Aims in Founding the Kelmscott
Press. With a short description of the Press by S. C . Cockere l l, and an
annotated l ist of the books pr inted thereat. Hammersmith, 18 98 .
R I CKETTS . A B ibliography of the B ooks issued by H acon andRicketts. (The ValePress. ) London ,
1904 .
STEELE,R . The Revival of Pm
'
nting . London,19 12.
F I N E B O O K S
Barto lommeo di Giovann i , Mr. B erenson
’
s attribut ion ofFlorent ine woodcuts to, 13 6
Bartolozzi , F .
,portrait ofLunardi, 296
Basel p rint ing, 60 , 170, book-i l lustra
t ion ,109 , 19 1 sq .
Basiliologia engravings, 28 5Baske rvi lle , John , B irmingham pr inter,
299 sq .
Bassandyne,Thomas, Edinburgh p rinter,24 2
Bateman , Stephen , i l lustrated books by,263
B ay Psalter, first book p r inted in NorthAmer ica, 244 sq .
B eck, Leonhard, il lustrator, 18 6, 18 8 sq.
Beham, Hans Sebald, i l lustrator, 18 3B e lgium, early p rinting, 73B elial siue Consolatio peccatorum. See
Theramo, Jac . de
B ellaert ,]acob , i l lustrated books, 120 sq .
Be ll in i , Gent ile, woodcut after, 13 0B enlowes, E .
,Theophila, 28 9
B erenson ,B ernhard, attr ibutes all
early Florent ine cuts to Alunno diDomen ico ,” 13 5
B erghen ,Adriaen von , English books
prin ted by, 23 0B ergomensis, Jac . Phil his Supp le
mentumCronicarum, 126 D e claris
mulieribus, 140Berkeley, Sir Wi l l iam, on free schools
and pr inting, 249Berrutus, Amadeus, engraving in his
D ialogus, 273B erthelet, Thomas, connection with
Pynson , 213 , 25 8 Royal Pr inter,
Bett in i , Ant . , i l lustrated editions of hisM onte Santo di D io, 124 , 268 sq .
B ible , Engl ish , early edit ions, 217 , 23 1sq. ,
260,28 1 ; French B ible historie'e,
15 0 German , i l lustrated edit ionsof, 108 , 112
,113 , 114 ; Indian
(Narraganset), 246 sq . I tal ian ,
i llustrated editions of, 125 , 128 ;Latin, the 4 2-l ine , 47 sqq. , 96 the
3 6-l ine
, 5 1 sq .,8 3 ; of 1462, 5 7 ; of
14 72. 5 7 Polyglott, 175 , 176, 275 ;Scott ish , 24 2
B iblia Pauperum,b lock-book, 25 , 118 ;
its plan imi tated in Horae borders,15 2, 15 5
320
B iel , Fried , i llustrated books, 162B inneman . See BynnemanB i rmingham, Baskervi l le’
s p ress at, 299B irth of M ankind, first English book
with engravings, 280B laden , William, Dublin pr inter, 24 3B ladi , p r inters at Rome , 169B laew, Will iam, improves pr int ing-p ress,
29 7B lock-books, 19—3 1, 118Blomefield
,Franc is, p rivate p ress, 23 8
Boccacc io, Giov., D e Casibus I llustrium
virorum,144 , 15 9 , 186, 213 , 25 6,
25 8 note, 270 ; D e clarismulieribus,106, 122
,162, 18 6 ; D ecamerone
,
29 1
Bodle ian Library, effect ofits foundat ionon pr ivate book-co llec ting, 3
Bodon i , Giovann i Battista, p r inter at
Parma, 3 00B oec von der Houte.
HolyBoitard, Peter, i l lustrator, 296Bonaven tura, S. , i l lustrat ions to his
D evote M editatione, 123 , 125 , 13 8
Bonhomme, Jean , his i llustrated books,I 44 , I SS
Book-i l lustration ,natural method of,
100 ; in GermanyandH ol land, 10222
,18 1—94 ; in Italy, 123—42, 194—6 ;
in France and Spain , 143—64 , 19 7
202 inEngland, 250—66 engraved,267—96
Borderpieces, stamped by i lluminators,125 ; Venetian , 125 , 13 3 ; Florent ine, 13 3 othe r Ital ian ,
140 , 14 2 ;Span ish
,162 Basel , 19 1 London ,
25 2, 25 6, 25 8 sq. ,266
Boston ,Mass
, ear ly pr inting ,modern , 308
Boucher , Frangois, i l lustrator, 290B radford, Andrew,
pr inte r at Philadelph ia
,248
Will iam, first pr inter at Phi ladelph ia,24 7 ; and at New York
,248
B radshaw, H en ry , his c laim for bibl iography
,12 ; on the pr in ter of the
Speculum, 40
B randis, Lucas, first Lubeck p r inter,B rant , Sebast ian , connected with book
i l lustrat ion,
110 , 112, 161,
213 ,
See C ross, the
247 3
I N D E X
B rass, types made of, 212 note
B reidenbach, Bernhard von, his arms ona Mainz Agenda, 114 his Peregri
natio in M ontem Syon, 115 , 161,
Brinckley, Stephen , Jesuit p rinter, 228B ristol pr in ting, 23 7 sq .
B ri tish Museum, bequests to,
block-books in , 3 1
Brosamer, Hans, B ib les i l lustrated by,190
B roughton , H ugh , plates in his Concentof Scrip ture, 28 3
B ruges early p rint ing, 73 , 122
,205 sq. ;
engravings in books p r inted at,270—3
B russels ear ly p rint ing, 73B rydges, Sir Egerton , pr ivate p ress, 23 9Buckner , John , Vi rgin ia p rinter, 249Bulkley , Stephen , pr inte r at York, 23 7Bul le , John , pr inter at Rome , Lettou’
s
relat ion wi th , 210Bunyan , John , portrai t in Pilgrim’
s Pro
gress, 28 9Burghers, M ichael , engrave r, 294Burgkmair, Hans
, i l lustrator, 18 5 sq .,
4—6 ;
18 8 sq.
Burgundy, Margaret Duchess of. SeeMargaret
Bynneman , H enry,London p rinter,
Cagl i , good roman type, 8 9Calendar of Shepherds, French edit ions,
14 5 ; Engl ish , 25 4, 25 6Cambr idge , p r inting at, 225 , 23 4 sq . , 3 00
Camb ridge , Mass , p r inting at, 244 sq .,
3 08
Canon M issae,Mainz edi tion of, 5 5
Cruc ifixion woodcut to , 109 , 129Can terbury, pr int ing at, 227Canterbury Tales. See ChaucerCanticum Canticorum
,block-book, 26
,
118
Caoursin , Gulielmus, woodcuts in booksby, ro 7
Capel l , Edward, bequeaths his Shakespeare books to Trim. Col l . ,Camb . , 5
Capitals, pictorial and heraldic , 69, 104 ,197, 25 9 w
Carmelianus, Petrus,pictures I n his
Carmen,25 7
Cartwright, Thomas, his tracts p rintedat a sec ret press, 228
Caslon, Wi l l iam, typefounder, 29 8Catholicon
, possibly printed by Gutenberg , 5 2
Caxton, Will iam,204 , 208 press at
B ruges, 73 , 205 sq. atWestminster,76, 20 7 sq . ; method of pr int ing inred, 8 6 ; i llustrated books, 25 0
-2 ;
possib le engraved po rt rait of, 272 sq .
Caz otte , J ., his Le diable amoureux,
292
Cecill, Thomas, engraver, 28 6Gennin i , Bernardo, first pr inter at
Florence , 67 ; colophon ofhis Virgil,80
Cervicornus, Euchar ius, pr inter at C0logne, 225
Chapman ,Walter, p rinter at Edinburgh,
23 9Charter is, H en ry , p r inter at Edinburgh,
242
Chaucer , Geoffrey , early editions,20 7 ,
Chauveau,Frangois, engraver, 28 9
Chess, Game and Play of the, 20 5 , 25 1Chester, pr int ing at, 23 7 , etc .
Chiromantia, block-book, 28
Choffard, P. P. ,fleurons by, 29 1 sq .
Christian Prayers, B ook of (QueenE l izabeth’
s Prayer Book), 264Christopher , S. , early woodcut of, 119Ciripagus, mean ing of the word, 43C ivi l War, its effec ts on Oxford p rint ing,
23 6
C lark, John , engraver, 294C lassics, fi rst editions Of the, 6C laudin , Anatole, his[listoire de l’Impri
merie en France, 143C lement V, 1460 edition of his Consti
tutiones, 5 6
C lemente of Padua, sel f-taught p rinterat Ven ice , 67 , 8 9
Coch in , C . ,Par is engraver, 290 sq .
Cock, H ieron, Antwerp engraver, 274Peter, Alost engraver, 28 1
Cockson ,Thomas
,London engraver,
28 3Col ines, Simon , his H orae
,15 7 ; rela
t ions with the Estiennes, 17 1 i llustrated books, 19 9
Col lec tors and Col lecting, 1—18 , 8 3Cologne , pr inting at , 6 1, 169 , 205 , 225 ,
23 1 book-i llustration at,113
F I N E B O O K S
Cologne Chronicle, its story of the invent ion ofpr int ing , 3 4
Colonna, Francesco .
machia PoliphiliCo lophons, 14 spec imens
80 sq. in manuscript , 9 1Colour-prin ting in incunabula, 129 sq . ,
25 3Columna, Aegidius, his Regimien to de los
principes, 163Colvin , Sir Sidney , hisE arly engravings
quoted, 28 1, 3 00
Complutensian Po lyglott . See AlcalaConstance , D as Conciliumbuch, i l lus
trated edit ions of,106
,186
Conway , Sir M ., his Woodcutters of the
N etherlands
Conwel l , C larke , American p r inter, 3 08Copland, Robert, London pr inter, 215 ,
25 8
Will iam, London pr inter, 215 , 260Cornel is, the bookbinder, of Haarlem,
3 7 ST , 4 1
Corroz et , Gi l les, his verses to Ho lbe in ’
s
cuts, 192 other i l lustrated books
by,200 sq .
Coryat , Thomas, Crudities, 28 5Coste r , Lourens, legend ofhis inventing
p rin ting, 3 7 sqq .
Costeriana,”
group Of books SO cal led,3 9
-4 11 72
Cotton ,Sir Robert, his col lec tions, 2
C ranach , Lucas, his book-work atWi ttenberg , 190
C remer, H e inrich , copy of42-l ine B iblerub r icated by, 4 7 sq .
Creussner, F .,Nuremberg p r in ter, 63 ,
108
Cromwel l , Thomas, Earl of, arms on t itleofGreat B ible , 260
Croquet , Jean , of Geneva, first editionof Roman de la Rose attr ibuted to ,
See Afypneroto
quoted,
160 note
C ross, the H oly, block-book histo ry of,118
Cunn ingham, William, his Cosmo
graphicall Glasse, 218 , 26 1
Dal les, Jean , Lyonnese wood-cutter , 15 9Dan ie l , Rev. C . H . O.
, pr ivate p ress, 3 03Danse M acabre
,i l lustrat ions to ,
14 5 , 15 1
Dante Al ighieri , i llustrated edit ions of
D ivina Commedia, 129 , 269 , 3 06 sq .
Darmstadt Prognosticat ion , pr inter of
the, forged dates in his books, 5 8Davidson , Thomas, Edinburgh pr inter,
240 sq .
Day, John , London pr inter, 218 sq. ,
23 4 ; i l lustrated books, 260 sq .
Matthew,p rinter at Camb r idge,
Mass , 24 5Stephen , first prin ter in NorthAmerica
,244
De Bry, fami ly of engravers, 278—8 0 ,
28 2
Defemoriuminviolatae castitatis VirginisM ariae, b lock-book, 127
Defoe , Dan ie l , plates to Robinson Crusoe,294
De laram,Franc is
,engraver, 28 5 sq.
Delft , early p r inting at, 72Denham
,H enry , London p rinter, 220
Derr ick, John ,Image of I reland, 264
Deven ter, early pr inting at, 7 2, 74
d’
Ewes,Sir Simeon , fate of his manu
scripts, 4D ialogus Creaturum, woodcuts in , 119D ictes or Sayengis of the Philosophers
Caxton’
s,20 7
D idot, fami ly ofp r inters at Par is, 3 0 1Digb y , Sir Kene lmD igby , b enefac tions
to l ib raries, 5Din ckmut
, Conrad, i l lustrated books,106 sq.
Doesb org, Jan van ,
p rinted by, 23 0Dolet, E tienne , p rin ter at Lyon ,
174Donatus, Aelius, early editions of his
D e octo partibus orationis, 3 5 , 3 6,
Douay,Engl ish Cathol ic books pr inted
at, 23 2
Dorat, C . J .,Les B aisers
,293
Doves Press, 3 06Downes, Thomas, Engl ish booksel ler,
patentee for I r ish pr int ing, 24 3Drach, Pe te r, Spe ier pr in ter, 63Drayton , M ichae l , Polyolbion, 28 5Dub l in , early p r inting at
,24 2 sq.
Du Bosc , C laude , engraver, 294Dudley , Ear l of Le icester, encourages
Oxford p rinting, 23 5Duff
,E . G .
, on woodcuts in 14 7 1 B ib le ,125 note on B erthelet and Pynson ,
213 ; on free trade in books, 223 ; ona book p rinted at St. Albans, 225
Engl ish books
F I N E B O O K S
Prezzi , B ishop , Quatriregio, i l lustratededitions, 13 9
Froben , Johann ,scholarl y pr inter at
Base l, 170 ; his bookd ecorations,19 1
Front, the M ind ofthe, 28 7Froschauer, Chr istopher, Zurich p r inter,
his English books, 23 1 sq .
Fust, Johann ,deal ings wi th Gutenberg,
46 sqq. books pr inted by , 5 3 sq ., 86
Gafori, Francesco, i llustrations to his
music-books, 14 1, 196
Gaguin ,Robert, i l lustrations to his
chron ic les, 198Game and Pley of the Chesse, 206Garamond, C laude, French Royal Greek
types cut by, 172Garland ofRachel
, 3 03Garr ick, David, his col lect ion ofplays, 5Ge i ler, Johann , of Kaisersberg , i l lustra
t ions to his books, 18 5 , 190
Geminus, Thomas, engraved work, 28 1Geneva, English books printed at
,23 2
Gérard, Pierre , fi rst p r inter at Abbevi l le,145
Germany , print ing in , 44—64 , 169 sq . ,
224 book-i l lustrat ion ,102—17 ,
18 1—94Giunta, famil y of p rinters at Florence
and Ven ice , 128 , 168 sq . ,195
G iustin iano, Loren zo, portrait of, 13 0Glasgow , fi ne p r int ing at, 298Glover, Rev. Joseph , benefactor ofHar
vard Col lege , 244Goes, Hugo
,York p r inter , 225
Goeschen , Georg Joach im,p r inter at
Le ipzig, 3 0 1Golden Legend, Caxton
’
s editions, 207 ,25 1
Gothic type , 8 8 , 90 sq.
Gouda, pr inting and i l lustrat ion , 72, 119 ,122
Graf, Urs, book-decorat ions by , 19 1Grafton , R ichard, Royal Pr inter, 217,
25 9 his Chronicle, 264Gravelot , H .
, engraver at Paris, 291 sqq . ,
and London ,295
Greek p r inting in I taly , 167 , 3 0 1 in
France, 171 sqq . ; in Spain ,176 ; in
England, 176, 218,226
,23 4, 300 ,
3 07
324
Green , Bartholomew, pr inter at Boston,Mass.
,24 7 sq .
Samue l , pr inter at Cambr idge, Mass. ,
24 5 5MGregorii, Giov. andGreg . dei, pr inters at
Ven ice,69 , 19 5
Grenewych by Conrade Freeman ,spur ious imp r int , 23 2
Grenvi l le, Thomas, charac ter of his collection ,
6
Grien ,Hans Baldung, i l lustrator , 190
Grignion , Charles, engraver, 296Gringore, Pierre , Chasteau de Labeur,
15 0 sq . ; Engl ish edi tions, 23 0 sq. ,
25 4Grol ier, Jean , example as a book-buyer,
2 supportsAldus, 168Grun inger, Johann , of Strassburg, i llus
trated books, 111 sq .
Gryph ius, Sebast ian , Lyon printer, 173Gutenberg, Johann , c laims to the inven
t ion of pr int ing, 3 3—6, 44 sqq .
books he may have pr inted, 5 1 sq.
Haarlem,its c laims to be the birthplace
ofpr in ting, 3 7 sqq . , 72
Hakluyt,R ichard, Voyages, 278
Hamman , Johann . See H erzogHan
, U lr ich, ear ly pr inter at Rome, 65 ,67 sq .
,types, 90 ; p r inted the first
Ital ian i l lustrated book, 123Hardouyn , Germain and Gilles, their
H orae,15 6
Har ington , Sir John , on the plates inhis Orlando Furioso, 28 3
Harr ison , Stephen , Archs of Triumph,28 4
Hartlieb , Johann ,block-book of D ie
K'
unst Chiromantia, 28Harvard College, pr int ing at, 244 sq.
Haydock, R ichard, engraver, 284Hayman ,
Franc is, i l lustrator, 296H eber, R ichard, charac ter ofhis col lee
t ion , 6
H empstead (Essex), secret p rinting at,
228
H en ry V, woodcut of Lydgate offer ingbook to, 25 7
H en ry VI I , books decorated by Vérardfor, 148 woodcut of his funeral ,25 4
Henry VI I I “ protects Engl ish booktrade, 222, 234
I N D E X
H eroologia engravings, 28 5Hertfort or H erford, John, p rinter at
St .Albans and London , 224 sq .
Herzog, Johann , pr ints SarumM issal atVen ice, 229
Hessels, Dr.,his theor ies on the inven
t ion ofp r inting, 3 8 sqq .
H eynlyn , Jean , super in tends first Parisp ress
, 70
Heywood, Thomas, woodcut of, 260 ;engravings to his H ierarchie of theB lessedAngels, 286
Higman , Nicolas, H orae, 15 6
H ind, A. M . , quoted, 284 , 290
Hobby-Horse, exper iments in p rint ingm, 3 04
Hogarth, Wil l iam,
29 5 sq.
Hogenberg, Franc iscus and Remigius,engravers, 28 1 sq.
Holbein , Ambrosius, book-decorat ions,19 1
Hans, book-decorat ions and i l lustrations, 19 1 sq.
,25 9 sq.
H ole , William, engraver, 28 5 , 28 7Hol inshed, Raphael , Chronicle, 265Hol land, c laims to the invent ion of
p rint ing, 3 2—4 3 ; pr inting in , 72 ;book-i l lustrat ions, 119-22
Hol land, H . , pr int-se l ler, 28 5Hol lar, Wenceslaus, engraver, 28 7Homer, the Florentine, 167 in French ,
201 Chapman’s, 28 7 Ogilby
’s
Odyssey, 28 7 ; Proctor’s, 3 07Hondius, Jodocus, engraver, 283 sq .
Hopyl, Wolfgang, M issals by,
198 ,229
Horace, Pine’s ed.,29 5 sq.
, 3 00 ; Foulis,298
H orae, Paris editions,Plantin’
s, 27 5Hornb y, C . St. John, pr ivate p ress, 8 8 ,
book-i l lustrat ions,
I 5 1“
7r 264 ;
306
H roswitha, i l lustrations to herComedies,18 2
Hunte, Thomas, Oxford stationer,partner in Rood’
s press, 76 , 209Hurning, Hans. See Walther, F and
Hans B urningHurus, Paul , i l lustrated books, 162Huss, Martin, i l lustrated books, 15 8Huvin
,Jean , p robable partner (I . H .) of
Jul. Notary, 214
Hylton, Walter, Scala perfectionis, DeWorde’s cd.
,25 3
I Iypnerotomachia Poliphili, 90, 13 1 sq.
French version of, 20 1
Kearney, William,Dublin printer, 243
Ke fer, or Keffer, H einrich, servant of
Gutenberg , 4 7, 63Keimer, Samuel , pr inter at Ph i ladelphia,
248
Keith, George , his Appeal from the
Twen ty-eightjudges, 248Kerver, Thielmann , H orae, 15 6
Ketham Johannes, Fascicolo diM edicina,
i l lustrated, 129K ip ling, R. , contr ibution to a school
magaz ine, 8Knoblochtz er, H . , Strassburg p rinter ,
60 i l lustrated books, 111Kobe], Jakob , p rinter at Oppenheim,
I 9 3Koberger, Anton , largest Nuremberg
p rinter, 63 ; i llustrated books, 108 ,183
i , ia.
,woodcuts signed, 128
I .D . ,woodcut signed, 15 9
Imprese, engravings of, 27 7Inc ipits of books, quoted, 9 3Incunabula, study of, 12 sq . ; the word
misleading , 7 7 ; po ints of, 78 sq.
Indulgences, printed at Mainz , 4 7Ipswich
,printing at, 226
I reland, pr inting in , 242 sq.
I tal ic type, 9 1, 218I taly , pr inting in , 65—70 , 165
—9 , 224 ;
book-i l lustration in , 123-42
James I , works and portrait , 28 8Janot , Denis, p rinter of French i llus
trated books, 200Jenson , Nicolas, printer at Venice,
67. 8 5Jesui t press 228
Jewel , B ishop , books against , pr inted at
Antwerp and Louvain ,23 2
Johnes,Thomas, pr ivate press, 23 8
Johnson , Marmaduke , printer at Cambridge, Mass. ,
246
Junius, Hadr ianus, his story of Coster ,.
37W'
.
Justinian , In Council , metal-cut of, 19 8
F I N E B O O K S
Koelhoff, Johann , father and
prin ters at Cologne , 113Kyngston , Fel ix, Engl ish booksel ler ,
patentee for I r ish pr int ing, 24 3Kyrforth, Samue l , Oxford p r in ter, 224
son ,
Laer , John , ofSib erch . See Siberch
La Fontaine , Jean ,i l lustrated editions of
his Fables and Contes, 290 sq .
Laing , David, on the B ruges D es cas
des nob/es hommes, 27 1La Marche , Ol ivie r de , i l lustrations to
his Chevalier D e’
libére, 122
,14 7 ,
Lamb eth Palace , p r in ting at,23 4
Lan t,Thomas, engraver, 28 2
La Rochel le, Marprelate tract pr intedat, 228
Laud, Archb ishop ,l ibraries, 5
Lauer, Georg, early pr inter at Rome, 68Le B ey, Den is, his Emblems, 28 0Leeu ,
Gerard, pr inter at Gouda and
Antwerp , 72 ; colophon recordinghis death quoted, 8 1 sells cuts toKoelhoff, 113 , 120 ; his i llustratedbooks, 119 sq . English booksp rin ted by, 229 sq.
Legate , John , Cambridge p rinter, 23 5Legge , Cantre ll , Camb r idge prin ter, 23 5Le Huen , Nico le, his adaptat ion of
B reidenbach,161
, 270
Leipzig p r int ing, 64 , 169 book-i llustrat ions, 116
Lekpreuit, Rob ert, Scottish pr inter, 24 1Lemb erger, Georg, book-work at Witten
b erg, 190
Le Rouge , Pierre, p rin ts forVérard, 15 0Leroy, Gu i l . , fi rst pr inter at Lyon , 7 1
i l lustrated books, 15 8 sq.
Le Signerre , Gu i l . , i l lustrated books,14 1
Le Tal leut , Gui l . , p rinter at Rouen,p r in ts for Pynson ,
211 sq .
Lettou, John , first p rinter in the C ity ofLondon , 7 7 , 210 , 25 2
Leyden ,p r int ing at
,176, 17 7
Lignamine , Joh . Ph il . de , On the inven
tion ofprinting, 3 4 his own p ress,68
Lirer, Thomas, Chronik, i l lustrated cd. ,
10 7
326
b enefactions to
Lisa, Gerard, first pr inter at Treviso,67 sq . , 70
Locatellus, Bonetus, Ven ice prin ter, 69Locker-Lampson
,F .
,his copy ofB lake’
s
SongsofI nnocence andE xperience, 11London , p r inting in the C i ty of, 7 7Longus, D aphnis et Chloe, 290Louvain , early pr int ing at , 73 ; book-i l lus
tration ,122 ; Engl ish books, 23 2
Lownes, Matthew,Engl ish booksel ler,
paten tee for I rish p r int ing, 243Lub eck early p rin t ing, 64 book-i l lus
tration at , 1 13 sq .
Lucrece, B erthelet ’s device of, 25 9Lutz elburger, Hans
,H olbe in ’
s woodcutte r, 19 2
Luyken, Jan and Casper , engravers, 28 9Lydgate, John ,
woodcut of,25 7 . For
his Falles of Pryncis, see Boccacc io,D e casibus
Lyne, John, engraver, 28 2Lyon ,
p r int ing at, 7 1, 17 1, 173 sq . ;i llustration ,
15 7-61, 20 2
Macfarlane , John ,monograph on
Antoine Vérard, 14 7Machlinia, Will iam,
p rin ter at London,
Madan , Falconer, on Oxford pr inting,23 6
Magdeburg ear ly p rinting, 64Mainz, p r int ing as a p rac tical art in
ventedat , 44 5 8 book-i l lustrat ion ,
114 sq.
Malborow in the land of H esse , doubtful imp r int
,23 1
Malermi B ib le. See B ible, Ital ianMalone , E .
, bequeaths books to the
Bodleian , 5Mansion , Colard, B ruges pr in ter, 72,
sq .
,271 sq .
Manut ius, Aldus, his work, 166—8 largeroman type , 90 ; italic octavos, 9 1,1 I fi tpnerotomachia, 13 1 sq . ;Lyonnese coun terfe itsofhisoctavos,I 7Sthe younger, 168
Paulus, 168Marchan t, Gui., i l lustrated books, 14 5Margaret Duchess ofBurgundy, Caxton ’
s
patron ,204 , 272
Duchess of Richmond, woodcut of
her funeral, 25 5
F I N E B O O K S
Overton , John , at Ipswich, 226Ovid, i llustrat ions to his M etamorphoses,
29 2
Oxford, p rint ing at, 76,234 sqq .
,25 2: 302 5 9 °
209 , 224 ,
Pac in i , Piero and B ernardo, publ ishersofi l lustrated booksat Florence , 13 9
Paderborn ,Johann . See Westphal ia,
John of
Palmart, Lambert, first p r inter in Spain,
Pape r, made at H ertford, 212 Tottell
seeks a monopoly formaking, 220Paris, p rinting in , 70 sqq. , 17 1 sqq.
book-i l lustration, 143—5 6, 19 7—20 1,28 9
-9 3
Parker, Archbishop , his efforts to rescueold books, 2 patron ofJohn Day,219 and of Bynneman ,
220 ; his
D e Antiquitate B rit. E ccl. perhapspr inted at Lambeth, 219 , 234engraved portrait, 28 2
Parma, Baske rvi l le’s p ress at, 3 00Passe fami ly , engravers, 28 6, 28 8Passio domini nostri jesu Christi,
Venetian block-book, 28,123
Paulirinus, Paul inus, on the word ciripagus, 4 3
Pavia, book-i l lustration at, 14 1
Peartree, Montagu, artic le on possibleportrai t ofCaxton , 273
Pepwell, H en ry , London p rinter, 216Pepys, S. , b equest ofhis books, 5Petrarca, F i l lustrated edi tions of his
Trionfi , 127 , 13 9Petri , Johann , early p rinter at F lorence,
67Pfi ster, Alb recht, p rinter of i l lustrated
books at Bamberg , 19 , 3 2, 5 1, 5 9Phi ladelphia, fi rst p rinting at, 24 7Philippe , Regent of France , engraved
i l lustrat ions to Longus, 290Phi l l ipps, Sir Thomas, p r ivate p rint ing
bY’ 23 9Pigouchet, Philippe , p rints Le Chasteau
de Labeur, 15 0 his H orae, 15 4Pinder, U l rich, p rivate p ress at Nurem
berg, 184Pine, John , engrave r, 294 sqq .
Plantin , Christopher, p r inte r at Antwerp , 17 5 sq. woodcut i l lustration , 202 sq. engraved, 274 sqq.
328
Plateanus, Theodoricus (Dirick van der
Straten), p rinter at Wesel , 226Plates, troublesarising fromin books, 267Pleydenwurff, Wilhe lm, book-i l lustra
tions by, 116Po itiers, early p rint ing at , 72Po l idor i , Gae tano, his p rivate p ress, 23 9Pope, e rasure of the word, 260Popish apparel , Pur itan tracts against ,
23 2
Poppy-p rinter ofLubeck , 114P0110, Girolamo , engraves plates for
Orlando Furioso, 277 , 28 3Powel l , Humphrey, Engl ish p rinter in
Dublin,242
Pr inting , changes in the p rimacy of, 16 ,169 , 170 , 177 inven tion of, 3 2
-5 8 ;
early p rogressof, invariouscountries,5 9-8 2 its technical development,
8 3—99 in the sixteenth century ,
165—79 ; in England, 204
-23 ; in
the p rovinces of England, 224-8 ,
23 3—8 on theCont inent forthe Eng
l ishmarke t, 229—3 3 p r ivate , 23 8 sq .
in Scotland, 23 9 sqq. ; in I re land,242 sq . in the Engl ish coloniesin Amer ica, 24 3 sqq .
Pr ivate p resses in England, 23 8 sq . ,
3 03 5 49 °
Proctor, Robert, found beauty in all
incunabula, 10 , 3 9 c lassification of
them,12 ; Greek type, 176, 3 07
Provinc ial p rinting in England, 9 , 76,208 sq. , 224
—7 , 234-8Pruss, Johann , of Strassburg , i l lustrated
books, 111, 162
Psalms, the New Eng land version of
the, 244 sq .
Psalte r, Latin , of 14 5 7 , 5 4 , 8 3 ; of 145 9 ,5 5 cost ofw r iting and i l luminat inga manusc r ip t, 84
Ptolemy, Cosmographia (or Geographia),i llustrated editions of, 66, 10 7
Pynson , R .,number of copies in his
editions, 21 work as a p rinter,211, 212 sq. ,
222 book-i llustrations, 25 5—9
Quarles, Franc is, I fi'
eroglyphikes of the
Life ofMan , 28 7
Quentell, H e inr ich, of Co logne, his
i l lustrated books, 113 ; his B iblecuts copied, 112, 114 , 126 , 128
I N D E X
Quinterniones, a name formanuscr ipts,94
Qui re , origin of the word, 94Quir ing in old books, 94 sqq. col lect ion
by , 96 sq .
R-p r inter, the , ofStrassburg , 60Rappresen taz ioni, i l lustrated Floren tine
edit ions, 13 8Rar ity , effect on value ofbooks, 7 sq .
Rastell, John ,lawyer-pr inter, 215 , 222
,
25 8
Wil l iam,p r inted Engl ish plays, 215
Ratdolt, Erhard, early p rinter at Ven ice,69 t itlepage to his Calendar, 93 ;his decorative work at Ven ice,125 sq . ; at Augsburg, 106 ; colourpr int ing by , 129
Rawl inson, R ichard, gives manuscr iptsto the Bodle ian , 5
Raynold, Thomas, his ed. of the B irth
of [MankindRecuyell of the .Histories of Troye, 206,
25 4 engraving in Chatsworth copyofCaxton
’
s, 272
Redman , Robert, Pynson’s successor,
Red printing, di fficulty of, 8 6, 228 sq .
colophons in , 9 2Regiomontanus. See Mul le rReinhard, Johann . See Grun ingerRetza, Fran . de , block-book of his
D ryifnsorium,27
Reuwich , Erhard, i l lustrator Of Breidenbach’
s Peregrinatio, 108 , 115 sq .
Reyser, Georg, first Wiirz burg printer,64 , 269 sq .
M ichel , first Eichstatt pr inter, 64 ,269 sq .
Rheims, Engl ish Cathol ic books p rintedat, 23 2
R ichard I I I , Statute permitt ing freeimportat ion ofbooks into England,
R ichard, Thomas, pr inter at Tavistock,226
R ichel , B ernhard, early printer at Basel,his i l lustrated books, 109 , 15 8
R icketts, Charles, the Vale Press books,30 7
Rodericus Zamorensis, i l lustrated edi
t ions of his Speculum H umanaeVitae
,104 , 15 9 , 162
Rodlich, H ieronymus, his i llustratedbooks, 193
Rogers, Bruce , fi ne printer, 3 08Will iam, engraver, 284 , 28 7
Rolewinck, We rner, all his books prin tedby ther H oernen, 62 Ven iceedit ions ofhisFasciculus Temporum,
126 ; Sevi l le cd. ,16 1
Roman de la Rose, ear ly editions of, 160
Roman type, 8 8—90Rome, pr int ing at , 65 , 167 book
i l lustration at,123 , 268 , 273 , 276
Rome under the Castle of St . Angelo,spur ious impr int, 23 3
Rood, Theodoricus, printer at Oxford, 76Ross, John ,
Edinburgh p rinter, 24 2Rouen early pr inting, 72, 146 ; Engl ish
books, 225 , 229Ruppel , B ertho ld, of Hanau, Base l
p rinter, 4 7 , 60Rusce l li , J erononimo , his Imprese, 27 7Rusch, Adol f, the R-prin ter, 60
roman type used by , 8 8Rylands, W . H . , engraver , 296Ryther, Augustine, engraver, 28 2
Saint Albans, p rint ing at, 76, 208,
224 ST , 25 3Saint Andrews, pr inting at, 24 1Saint Ome r, Engl ish Catholic books
pr inted at,23 2
Saluzzo , book-i l lustrat ion at,14 1
Sanct is, H ieronymusde , wood-cutter andpr inter at Ven ice
,127
Sanderson,Cobden ,
fi ne pr inting by, 3 06Sandys, George , Relation of a journey,
28 5Santritter, Johann , i l lustrator and pr inter
at Ven ice , 127Saragossa, early pr int ing at
, 7 5 i l lustration ,
162
Sarum serv ice-books mostly p r intedab road, 229 theirimportation in toScotland forbidden , 240
Savonarola,Gi rolamo , i l lustrated edi tionsOf his tracts, 13 3 sq . ,
13 7Savi le , SirH enry , his p ress at Eton, 23 4Saxton , Christopher, maps by, 28 2Sayle, C . , his catalogue of Engl ish
books in Cambridge Un iversi tyL ib rary, 23 3
Schatz behalter. See Stephan
F I N E B O O K S
Schaufelein ,Hans Leonhard, book-i l lus
trations by, 18 4 , 18 8 sq.
Schedel, Hartmann ,his Liber Chroni
carum,117
Sch i lders, R ichard,Engl ish books
p rin ted by, 23 2 sq .
Schoeffer, Johann ,pr inter at Mainz , 5 8 ,
169Peter
,a witness on the side of Fust,
4 7 ; his share in the invention of
p rint ing, 5 0 sq . ; books p r inted byhim
, 5 3—8 hismethod ofp r in ting,
8 1—6 , 9 5 ; his type , 90Schon , E rhard, i l lustrations by, 18 3
Schre iber, W hisM anuel de l’Amateur
,
quoted, 24 , 100 note , 114 ; his
b lock-books, 3 1Schwabacher type , 90Scolar, Johannes, printer at Oxford,
224 ; and at Ab ingdon , 226Scoloker, Anthony , p rinter at Ipswich
and London , 226
Scot, John , Scott ish printer, 240 sq.
Sco tland, p r inting in ,23 9
—4 2
Secret pr int ing in E l izab eth’
s re ign ,228
Segar , Sir W. ,H onour
,M ilitary and
Civil, 284Selden , W. ,
his b ooks go to the
Bodle ian , 5Sensenschmidt, Johann ,
fi rst pr in ter atNuremberg, 63 his i l lustratedb ooks, 10 8
Sessa, fami ly ofprin te rs, i l lustratedbooks,196
Sevi l le , early p r in t ing at, 7 5 i l lustra
Hon , 161, 163Shakespeare , First Fol io ,
8 i l lustrationsto ,
294 SeeShrewsbury , pr inting at , 23 7 sq .
Sib erch , John Laer of, first Camb r idgepr in ter , 225
Sibyllenbuch , early Mainz fragment of, 4 6Sidney , Sir Ph i l ip , t itle-border to 15 98
ed. ofhis Arcadia , 266 engravingO f his funeral , 28 2
Siemen ,illustratedbookspublishedat, 19 3
Signatures of art ists or wood-cut ters inI tal ian books, 128 , 194 ; in Germanbooks, 194 ; in French books, 15 7 ,I S9
Signatures (typograph ic), fi rst used byJob . Koelhoff, 62 the ir origin ,
94 example ofcol lation by , 96
Si lb er, Eucharius, pr inte r at Rome, 169Simon ,
“ das susses kind,
” woodcuts of
his h istory,103 , 108
Smal l b ooks, 214 ; stages in their popularity, 166, 173 , 178
Smith , R ichard, book-co llecto r, 3Solempne , Antony de , Dutch p rinter at
Norwich , 23 3Sorbonne
,first Par is p ress at the , 70 ;
roman type used at,8 9 ; persecu
t ion of p rinters by its theo logians,I 74
Sorg, An ton , of Augsburg, i l lustratedbooks, 10 5
Spaces left b lank for headings and
capi tals,8 5 for i l lustrat ions
,143
Spain , early pr in ting in , 74—6
, 176 sq . ,
224 ; book-i llustrat ion ,161—4
Span ish Armada, engravings Of, 28 2Speculum H umanae Saluationis partly
b lock-p r inted, 26, 3 9 ; fate of the
b locks, 40 ,
118 Augsburg ed.
of, 103 Basel ed. of (in Ge rman),10 9 , 15 0 ; French ed. at Lyons
,15 8
SpeculumH umanae Vitae. See Roderi
cus ZamorensisSpeculum Vitae Christi, Caxton
’
s edit ion ,
25 2 sq .
Spe ier , early pr int ing at, 63Johann of, first p rin ter at Ven ice,66 sq . , 8 9Wende l in of, successor of Johann ,
6 7 , 8 9Spense r , Edmund, woodcuts to his
Shepheardes Calender, 265Spindeler, Nic .
,i l lustrated books, 162 sq .
Spoerer , Hans, b lock-books pr intedby, 25
Springinklee , Hans, i l lustrator , 18 3 , 18 8Stagninus, B ernardinus, his i l lustrated
service-books, 19 5Stanheim,
Melchior, arb itrator on booki l lustrat ing, 63 , 103
Stationers’Company, 221 sq. ,227 , 23 3 sq.
Steele , Rob ert, on Engl ish books pr intedab road, 23 3
Stephan ,P.
, Schatz behalter, 116
Steyner, Hans,i llustrated books by ,
Stillingfleet, Archbishop , fate of his
l ibrary, 4
Stoffler, H ans,mathematical works by ,
curiously decorated, 18 9
F I N E B O O K S
Viterbo, good roman type , 8 9Voltai re , edition of his works p r inted
wi th Baskervi l le’5 type , 3 00Vostre , Simon , books pr inted by Pigou
chet for, 15 0 , 15 4 sqq.
Wachtlin ,Johann ,
i l lustrator, 190
Waldegrave , Robert , p r ints Marprelatetrac ts
,228 . See p r ints at Edin
burgh, 24 2Wale, Samue l , i l lustrator , 296Walker, Emery , expert in pr in ting , 3 04 sqq.
Walpole , H orace , pr ivate press, 23 8Walther, F . , andHans Hurning, p r inters
of a B iblia Pauperum,25
Wal ton ,Izaak, i l lustrat ions to hisAngler,
296
Wandsforth , Gerard. See Freez
Wandsworth , sec ret p ress at , 228We iditz, Hans
,il lustrator, 18 6 sq.
Wenssler, M ichael , Base l p r in te r, 60 sq .
Wese l , Bale’s Catalogus p rinted there ,226
Westphal ia, John of, early printer at
Alost and Louvain , 73 ; used romantype, 89 his woodcut portrai t, 119
Wh ite, John ,his drawings ofVirgin ia,
278
Robert .,engraver, 289
Whitt ingham, Char les (unc le and
nephew), p rinters, 3 02 sq .
Wilcocks, William,gave commissions to
Wynkyn de Worde, 210Wi l l iams, Archb ishop , gi fts Of books
by, 5Wi lson , J . D . , on Engl ish books p r inted
abroad, 23 3Winthrop, John ,
al lusion to printing atCamb ridge , Mass.
, 24 3Wittenberg , pr int ing at, 169 ; i l lustra
t ions, 190
Wo l fe, Reyner, Royal painter,Wolgemut, M ichael , book-i l lustrator,
116
Woodcuts, early , the ir charm and distinc tiveness
,15
Worde , Wynkyn de, on Caxton’
s printingthe D e proprietatibus, 214 sq. ; on
the St . Alban’
s p rin ter,208 on
Fishing with an Angle, 209 note
his work as a pr inter, 211 sq . ; his
assessmen t,222 book-i l lustrations,
25 3 sq .
Wurzburg, early pr int ing at , 64M issals, engravings in ,
270
Wyer, Rob ert , London pr inter, 222
Ximenes, Cardinal, Polyglott B ible , 176
York, pr inting at, 225 , 23 6 sqq.
z .a.,z .A.
, woodcuts signed, 194Zainer, Gunther, first Augsburg p rinter,
62 sq . ; used roman type, 8 8 ; hisi llustrated books, 103Johann , first Ulm p rinter, 63 ; usedroman type, 8 8 ; hisillustratedbooks,‘I 06
Zarotus, Anton ius, first p rinter at M ilan,68
, 70
Zel l , U lr ich , his story ofthe invent ion Ofp rint ing, 3 5 the first printer at
Co logne , 61Zenger , Joh. Peter, New York
248
Zinna, the Psalterium B . VI II . priat
,117
Zoan Andrea. See Vavassore, 194Zur ich
,Engl ish books printed at
Zwol le early ptration s at, 122