Part 1
_IN QUEST OF THE PERFECT BOOK_
A book is a portion of the eternal mind caught in its progress through the world stamped in an instant, and preserved for eternity.--_Lord Houghton_ (1809-1885)
IN QUEST OF THE PERFECT BOOK
REMINISCENCES & REFLECTIONS OF A BOOKMAN
WILLIAM DANA ORCUTT
PUBLISHED · MCMXXVI · BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY
Copyright, 1926, _by_ Little, Brown and Company · _All rights reserved_
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Printed in the United States of America Published September, 1926
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Reprinted October, 1926 Reprinted November, 1926
THE AUTHOR is indebted to the _Atlantic Monthly_ for permission to reprint as the first chapter of this volume an essay which originally appeared in that magazine; to the _Christian Science Monitor_ for permission to use, in quite different form, certain material which has been drawn upon in literary editorials written by him for its columns; to Alban Dobson, _Esq._, G. Bernard Shaw, _Esq._, Henry James, _Esq._, _Mrs._ Anne Cobden-Sanderson, and others, for permission to print personal letters and photographs.
_To_ ITALY That great Country whose Master-Spirits in Art, Typography, and Literature have contributed most toward THE PERFECT BOOK this Volume is Dedicated
FOREWORD TO THE THIRD EDITION
Years ago, I prepared what seemed to me a splendid Foreword to my first novel, and was much chagrined when I was urged to leave it out. At the time, the comment that came with the advice seemed a bit brutal: “A Foreword is an admission on the part of an author that he has failed to tell his story, or is an insult to the intelligence of his readers.” Since then my own feelings have come in such complete accord that the request of my publishers for a Foreword to this Third Edition comes as a surprise. But, after all, this is not my story, but the story of the Book, so, as recorder, I must recognize my responsibility. I have claimed that this story was Romance, but since writing it, Romance has allied itself to Drama, for the Gutenberg Bible, a copy of which sold in February for a record price of $120,000, in September achieved the stupendous value of $305,000! Surely the Book has come into its own!
After devoting a lifetime to printing as an art, I have naturally been gratified to discover that so large and friendly an army of readers exists to whom books mean something more than paper and type and binders’ boards. To many of my readers, the ideas advanced in this volume apparently have been novel, but appealing: “I have been over the books in my library,” writes one, “and find many that now take on new significance.” Another says, “I feel that I have missed much, all these years, in not knowing how fascinating the story of the Book itself really is.” Then there are those who are good enough to say that the story of my adventures has helped to place the art of printing where it rightfully belongs.
Some of my reviewers and some correspondents seem seriously to think that I believe the Quest to be ended. Think of the tragedy of having so alluring an adventure become an accomplished fact,--even granting that it were possible! Where is the Perfect Book to be found? In the words of the author or in the heart of the reader? In the design of a type or in the skill of the typographer or the binder? In the charm of the paper or in the beauty of the illumination or illustration? It must, of course, be in the harmonious combination of all of these, but the words of an author which find a place in one reader’s heart fail to interest another; the design of a type that is appropriate to one book is not equally expressive in all.
The word _perfection_ has no place in our language except as an incentive. To search for it is an absorbing adventure, for it quickens our senses to perceive much that would otherwise be lost. If perfection could become commonplace, the Quest would end,--and God pity the world! Until then each of us will define the Perfect Book in his own words, each of us will seek it in his own way.
A writer _may_ be born who combines the wisdom of Solomon, the power of analysis of Henry James, the understanding of Plato, the philosophy of Emerson, and the style of Montaigne. This manuscript _may_ be transformed into a book by a printer who can look beyond his cases of type, and interpret what Aldus, and Jenson, and Etienne, and Plantin saw, with the artistic temperament of William Morris and the restraint of Cobden-Sanderson. There _may_ be a binding that represents the apotheosis of Italian, French, and English elegance. A reader _may_ be developed through the evolution of the ages competent to appreciate the contents and the physical _format_ of such a volume, “for what we really seek is a comparison of experiences.”
Until then the Quest will continue, going constantly onward and upward. Its lure will keep us from slipping back upon false satisfaction and a placid but--shall I say?--a dangerous contemplation of the humanistic idyll.
_William Dana Orcutt_
CONTENTS
I. IN QUEST OF THE PERFECT BOOK 1 Gutenberg Aldus Manutius Guido Biagi Ceriani Pope Pius XI Sir Sidney Colvin
II. THE KINGDOM OF BOOKS 35 Eugene Field John Wilson Mary Baker Eddy Bernard Shaw
III. FRIENDS THROUGH TYPE 73 Horace Fletcher Henry James William James Theodore Roosevelt T. J. Cobden-Sanderson
IV. THE LURE OF ILLUMINATION 109 Byzantine Psalter Lindisfarne Gospels Alcuin Bible Golden Gospels of St. Médard Psalter of St. Louis Queen Mary’s Psalter Bedford Book of Hours Grimani Breviary Antiquities of the Jews Hours of Francesco d’Antonio Hours of Anne of Brittany
V. FRIENDS THROUGH THE PEN 151 Maurice Hewlett Austin Dobson Richard Garnett Mark Twain Charles Eliot Norton William Dean Howells
VI. TRIUMPHS OF TYPOGRAPHY 191 The Beginnings. Germany--The _Gutenberg Bible_ Supremacy of Italy Nicolas Jenson: Augustinus: _De Civitate Dei_ Aldus Manutius: _Hypnerotomachia Poliphili_ Supremacy of France Robert Étienne: The _Royal Greeks_ Supremacy of the Netherlands Christophe Plantin: The _Biblia Polyglotta_ The Elzevirs: _Terence_ Supremacy of England John Baskerville: _Virgil_ Supremacy of France (second) The Didots: _Racine_ Supremacy of England (second) William Morris: The _Kelmscott Chaucer_ Cobden-Sanderson: The _Doves Bible_
VII. THE SPELL of the LAURENZIANA 271
INDEX 301
ILLUSTRATIONS
English Illumination, 14th Century. From _Queen Mary’s Psalter_, Brit. Mus. Royal MS. 2B vii (in colors and gold) _Frontis._
John Gutenberg. From Engraving by Alphonse Descaves. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris page 6
Aldus Manutius. From Engraving at the British Museum 10
_Dott. Comm._ Guido Biagi. Seated at one of the _plutei_ in the Laurenziana Library, Florence (1906) 14
Hand-written Humanistic Characters. From Sinibaldi’s _Virgil_, 1485. Laurenziana Library, Florence 16
Specimen Page of proposed Edition of Dante. To be printed by Bertieri, of Milan, in Humanistic Type 19
Jenson’s Roman Type. From Cicero: _Rhetorica_, Venice, 1470 22
Emery Walker’s Doves Type. From _Paradise Regained_, London, 1905 23
Autograph Letter from Charles Eliot Norton 31
Illuminated Page of Petrarch’s _Triumphs_. Set in Humanistic Type designed by the Author 32
Autograph Page of Eugene Field Manuscript. From _Second Book of Verse_, New York, 1892 39
Autograph Verse in Field’s own Copy of _Trumpet and Drum_ 41
John Wilson in 1891. Master-Printer 42
Page of Horace Fletcher Manuscript 77
Giambattista Bodoni. From Engraving at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 78
The Bodoni Letter compared with the Didot Letter 81
Horace Fletcher in 1915 82
Autograph Letter from Henry James to Horace Fletcher 87
Mirror Title. From Augustinus: _Opera._ 1485. Laurenziana Library, Florence 94
T. J. Cobden-Sanderson. From Etching by Alphonse Legros, 1893 96
Carved Ivory Binding, Jeweled with Rubies and Turquoises. From _Psalter_ (12th Century). Brit. Mus. Eger. MS. 1139 112
Byzantine Illumination (11th Century). _Psalter_ in Greek. Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 19352 118
Celtic Illumination (8th Century). _Lindisfarne Gospels._ Brit. Mus. Cotton MS. Nero D. iv 124
Carolingian Handwriting (9th Century). _Alcuin Bible._ Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 10546 126
Carolingian Illumination (9th Century). _Golden Gospels of St. Médard._ Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 8850 128
Gothic Illumination (13th Century). Miniature Page from the _Psalter of St. Louis_. Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 10525 130
Gothic Illumination (13th Century). Text Page from the _Psalter of St. Louis_. Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 10525 132
English Illumination (14th Century). _Queen Mary’s Psalter._ Brit. Mus. Royal MS. 2B. vii 134
French Illumination (15th Century). _Bedford Book of Hours._ Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 18850 136
French Renaissance Illumination (15th Century). _Antiquities of the Jews._ Bibl. Nat. MS. Français 247 138
Flemish Illumination (15th Century). Miniature Page from the _Grimani Breviary_. Bibl. S. Marco, Venice 142
Flemish Illumination (15th Century). Text Page from the _Grimani Breviary_. Bibl. S. Marco, Venice 144
Italian Illumination (15th Century). _Book of Hours_, by Francesco d’Antonio. R. Lau. Bibl. Ashb. 1874 146
French Illumination (16th Century). Miniature from _Hours of Anne of Brittany_. Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 9474 148
French Illumination (16th Century). Text Page from _Hours of Anne of Brittany_. Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 9474 150
Order for Payment of 1050 _livres tournois_ to Jean Bourdichon for the _Hours of Anne of Brittany_, 1508 152
Autograph Letter from Maurice Hewlett 161
Autograph Poem by Austin Dobson 167
Mark Twain. At the Villa di Quarto, Florence, 1904. From a Snap-shot 170
Autograph Letter from Mark Twain. With Snap-shot of Villa di Quarto 172
Autograph Letter from William Dean Howells 185
Part of a Page from the Vellum Copy of the _Gutenberg Bible_. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 195
Rubricator’s Mark at end of First Volume of a Defective Copy of the _Gutenberg Bible_, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 196
Rubricator’s Mark at end of Second Volume of a Defective Copy of the _Gutenberg Bible_, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 197
Gutenberg, Fust, Coster, Aldus Manutius, Froben. From Engraving by Jacob Houbraken (1698-1780) 198
John Fust. From an Old Engraving 199
Device and _Explicit_ of Nicolas Jenson 203
Jenson’s Gothic Type. From Augustinus: _De Civitate Dei_, Venice, 1475 205
Device of Aldus Manutius 208
Grolier in the Printing Office of Aldus. After Painting by François Flameng. Through Courtesy the Grolier Club, New York City 208
Text Page from Aldus’ _Hypnerotomachia Poliphili_, Venice, 1499 211
Illustrated Page from Aldus’ _Hypnerotomachia Poliphili_, Venice, 1499 212
Grolier Binding. Castiglione: Cortegiano. Aldine Press, 1518. Laurenziana Library, Florence 212
Grolier Binding. Capella: _L’Anthropologia._ Aldine Press, 1533. Laurenziana Library, Florence 214
Robert Étienne. From Engraving by Étienne Johandier Desrochers (c. 1661-1741) 217
Title Page showing Étienne’s _Royal Greeks_, Paris, 1550 220
Text Page Showing Étienne’s Roman Face 222
Text Page showing Étienne’s _Royal Greeks_, from _Novum Jesu Christi D. N. Testamentum_, Paris, 1550 222
Christophe Plantin. From Engraving by Edme de Boulonois (c. 1550) 225
Title Page of Plantin’s _Biblia Polyglotta_, Antwerp, 1568 228
Page of Preface of Plantin’s _Biblia Polyglotta_, Antwerp, 1568 229
Text Pages of Plantin’s _Biblia Polyglotta_, Antwerp, 1568 230
Second Page of Plantin’s _Biblia Polyglotta_, Antwerp, 1568 232
Device of Christophe Plantin 236
Title Page of Elzevir’s _Terence_, Leyden, 1635 241
Text Pages of Elzevir’s _Terence_, Leyden, 1635 242
John Baskerville 244
Title Page of Baskerville’s _Virgil_, Birmingham, 1757 247
Text Page of Baskerville’s _Virgil_, Birmingham, 1757 249
Engraving from Didot’s _Racine_, Paris, 1801. By Prud’hon 253
Title Page of Didot’s _Racine_, Paris, 1801 253
Opening Page of Didot’s _Racine_, Paris, 1801 255
Text Page of Didot’s _Racine_, Paris, 1801 256
Firmin Didot. From Engraving by Pierre Gustave Eugène Staal (1817-1882) 256
William Morris. From Portrait by G. F. Watts, R. A., in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Painted in 1880 258
Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Bart. From a Photograph at the British Museum 260
Text Page of _Kelmscott Chaucer_, 1896 262
Title Page of _Doves Bible_, London, 1905 265
Text Page of _Doves Bible_, London, 1905 267
The _Sala Michelangiolo_, in the Laurenziana Library, Florence 276
_Dott. Comm._ Guido Biagi, in 1924 278
Vestibule of the Laurenziana Library, Florence 280
Miniature Page from the _Biblia Amiatina_, R. Lau. Bibl. Cod. Amiatinus I 288
Antonio Magliabecchi 293
Library Slips used by George Eliot while working on _Romola_ in Magliabecchian Library, Florence 296
I
IN QUEST OF THE PERFECT BOOK
“Here is a fine volume,” a friend remarked, handing me a copy of _The Ideal Book_, written and printed by Cobden-Sanderson at the Doves Press.
“It is,” I assented readily, turning the leaves, and enjoying the composite beauty of the careful typography, and the perfect impression upon the soft, handmade paper with the satisfaction one always feels when face to face with a work of art. “Have you read it?”
“Why--no,” he answered. “I picked it up in London, and they told me it was a rare volume. You don’t necessarily read rare books, do you?”
My friend is a cultivated man, and his attitude toward his latest acquisition irritated me; yet after thirty years of similar disappointments I should not have been surprised. How few, even among those interested in books, recognize the fine, artistic touches that constitute the difference between the commonplace and the distinguished! The volume under discussion was written by an authority foremost in the art of bookmaking; its producer was one of the few great master-printers and binders in the history of the world; yet the only significance it possessed to its owner was the fact that some one in whom he had confidence had told him it was rare! Being rare, he coveted the treasure, and acquired it with no greater understanding than if it had been a piece of Chinese jade.
“What makes you think this is a fine book?” I inquired, deliberately changing the approach.
He laughed consciously. “It cost me nine guineas--and I like the looks of it.”
Restraint was required not to say something that might have affected our friendship unpleasantly, and friendship is a precious thing.
“Do something for me,” I asked quietly. “That is a short book. Read it through, even though it is rare, and then let us continue this conversation we have just begun.”
A few days later he invited me to dine with him at his club. “I asked you here,” he said, “because I don’t want any one, even my family, to hear what I am going to admit to you. I have read that book, and I’d rather not know what you thought of my consummate ignorance of what really enters into the building of a well-made volume--the choice of type, the use of decoration, the arrangement of margins. Why, bookmaking is an art! Perhaps I should have known that, but I never stopped to think about it.”
One does have to stop and think about a well-made book in order to comprehend the difference between printing that is merely printing and that which is based upon art in its broadest sense and upon centuries of precedent. It does require more than a gleam of intelligence to grasp the idea that the basis of every volume ought to be the thought expressed by the writer; that the type, the illustrations, the decorations, the paper, the binding, simply combine to form the vehicle to convey that expression to the reader. When, however, this fact is once absorbed, one cannot fail to understand that if these various parts, which compositely comprise the whole, fail to harmonize with the subject and with each other, then the vehicle does not perform its full and proper function.
I wondered afterward if I had not been a bit too superior in my attitude toward my friend. As a matter of fact, printing as an art has returned to its own only within the last quarter-century. Looking back to 1891, when I began to serve my apprenticeship under John Wilson at the old University Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the broadness of the profession that I was adopting as my life’s work had not as yet unfolded its unlimited possibilities. At that time the three great American printers were John Wilson, Theodore L. De Vinne, and Henry O. Houghton. The volumes produced under their supervision were perfect examples of the best bookmaking of the period, yet no one of these three men looked upon printing as an art. It was William Morris who in modern times first joined these two words together by the publication of his magnificent Kelmscott volumes. Such type, such decorations, such presswork, such sheer, composite beauty!
This was in 1895. Morris, in one leap, became the most famous printer in the world. Every one tried to produce similar volumes, and the resulting productions, made without appreciating the significance of decoration combined with type, were about as bad as they could be. I doubt if, at the present moment, there exists a single one of these sham Kelmscotts made in America that the printer or the publisher cares to have recalled to him.
When the first flair of Morris’ popularity passed away, and his volumes were judged on the basis of real bookmaking, they were classified as marvelously beautiful _objets d’art_ rather than books--composites of Burne-Jones, the designer, and William Morris, the decorator-printer, co-workers in sister arts; but from the very beginning Morris’ innovations showed the world that printing still belonged among the fine arts. The Kelmscott books awoke in me an overwhelming desire to put myself into the volumes I produced. I realized that no man can give of himself beyond what he possesses, and that to make my ambition worth accomplishing I must absorb and make a part of myself the beauty of the ancient manuscripts and the early printed books. This led me to take up an exhaustive study of the history of printing.
Until then Gutenberg’s name, in my mind, had been preëminent. As I proceeded, however, I came to know that he was not really the “inventor” of printing, as I had always thought him to be; that he was the one who first foresaw the wonderful power of movable types as a material expression of the thought of man, rather than the creator of anything previously unknown. I discovered that the Greeks and the Romans had printed from stamps centuries earlier, and that the Chinese and the Koreans had cut individual characters in metal.
I well remember the thrill I experienced when I first realized--and at the time thought my discovery was original!--that, had the Chinese or the Saracens possessed Gutenberg’s wit to join these letters together into words, the art of printing must have found its way to Constantinople, which would have thus become the center of culture and learning in the fifteenth century.
* * * * *
From this point on, my quest seemed a part of an Arabian Nights’ tale. Cautiously opening a door, I would find myself in a room containing treasures of absorbing interest. From this room there were doors leading in different directions into other rooms even more richly filled; and thus onward, with seemingly no end, to the fascinating rewards that came through effort and perseverance.