Chapter 7

The Estienne or Etienne family is probably the most important and interesting of the sixteenth century printers of Paris. Silvestre reproduces twenty Marks which one or other of the Estiennes employed, and a description of these might very well form a distinct chapter. But a condensed review of the family as a whole must suffice. Henry, the first of the name and chief of the family, was born at Paris about 1470; he started in 1502 a printing and bookselling business in the Rue du Clos-Bruneau, near the _Ecoles de Droit_; he adopted the device, “Plus olei quam vini”; and twenty-eight works are catalogued as having been printed by him. He died in 1521, leaving a widow and three children--François, Robert, and Charles. François I. continued the profession in company with Simon De Colines, who had been associated with his father, and who married the widow of Henry: his Mark is given as an initial to this chapter. Robert I., the second son of Henry, was born in 1503, and is probably more generally known as a Greek, Latin, and Hebrew scholar than as a printer. For several years he, like his brother, was associated with De Colines; he married Pétronille, daughter of Badius “Ascensius,” and was a Protestant; in 1526 he established a printing-press in the Rue St. Jean-de-Beauvois at the sign of the Olive. His editions of the Greek and Latin classics were enriched with useful notes, and promises of reward were offered to those who pointed out mistakes. He used the types of his father and De Colines until about 1532, when he obtained a more elegant fount with which he printed his beautiful Latin Bible. In 1552 he retired to Geneva, when he printed, with his brother-in-law, the New Testament in French. He established here another printing-press, and issued a number of good books, which usually carried the motto: “Oliva Roberti Stephani.” His Marks are at least ten in number, of which seven are variations of the Olive device, and three (in as many sizes) of the serpent on a rod intertwined with a branch of a climbing plant. With the exception of François the other members of the family used the Olive mark, sometimes however altering the motto, and adding in some instances an overhead decoration of a hand issuing from the clouds and holding a sickle or reaping hook. He died in 1559. The third son of the founder, Charles, after receiving his diplomas as a doctor of medicine, travelled in Germany and Italy, returning to Paris in 1553, and started in business as a printer. Among the ninety-two works which he printed, special mention may be made of the “Dictionarium historicum ac poeticum, omnia gentium, hominum, locorum,” etc., Paris, 1553, reprinted at Geneva in 1556, at Oxford in 1671, and London, 1686. He possessed the opposite attributes of being the best printer and of having the worst temper of the family, and he alienated himself from all his friends and relations; he was confined in the Chatelet in Paris, and died there after two years in 1564. Henry II., son of Robert I., was born in Paris in 1528; after leaving college he travelled on the continent and visited England. He returned to Paris in 1552, when his father was leaving for Geneva. In 1554 he started a printing-press; in 1566 he published a translation of Herodotus by Valla, revised and corrected, defending, in the preface, the Father of History against the reproach of credulity. Charles, brother of Robert I., established a printing-press in 1551, and died crippled with debts in 1564. Robert II., second son of Robert I., was born in 1530, and, refusing to adopt the new religion, was disinherited by his father; he started a printing-press on his own account when his father retired to Geneva, and issued forty-eight books, some of which possessed the mark of the Olive; he was the royal printer in 1561, and died in 1575. François II., third son of Robert I., printed in Geneva from about 1562 to 1582. Robert III., elder son of Robert II., died in 1629. Paul, son of Henry II., was born in 1566, and, after a brilliant scholastic career, travelled on the continent, and started a printing-press at Geneva in 1599, where he issued twenty-six editions of the classics which were particularly notable for their correctness and notes. He died in 1627, and his son Antoine, born 1594, established himself at twenty-six years of age as a printer in Paris, reverted to Roman Catholicism, was appointed printer to the king and to the clergy, dying at the Hotel Dieu in 1674. The number of editions which this celebrated family, starting in 1502 and finishing in 1673, issued, reaches the very large number of 1590, thus classified: theology, 239; jurisprudence, 79; science and arts, 152; belles lettres, 823; and history, 297. Of the eleven members of this family, one died in exile, five in misery, one in a debtor’s prison, and two in the hospital--“Lecteur, que vous faut-il de plus?”

Although in France, as elsewhere, we have to look to the printers of the fifteenth century for originality and decorative beauty, some exceedingly interesting Marks occur in the sixteenth, and are well worth studying. We have only space for the enumeration of a few of the more important. Of these, Pierre Vidoue comes well in the first rank. He was one of the most distinguished of the early Parisian Greek typographers, besides being a person of learning and eminence, and was issuing books up to the year 1544; his edition of Aristophanes, 1582, published by Gilles De Gourmont, is described as “a singularly curious impression,” whilst ten years later he printed Guillaume Postel’s “Linguarum XII. characteribus differentium Alphabetum,” which is described by La Caille as the “first book printed in oriental character,” a statement, however, which is incorrect so far as relates to the Hebrew. He had at least three Marks, all more or less similar, in one of which, however, the motto “ardentes juvo,” is supplemented by “par sit fortuna labori.” Of the six Roffets who were printing or publishing books in Paris during the sixteenth century, the most notable is perhaps Pierre, whose name frequently occurs in the bookbinding accounts of Francis I.; of their seven Marks, nearly all more or less of the same “rustic” character, the most decorative is that of Jacques (see p. 30). In their separate ways, the Marks of Mathurin Breuille, 1562-83 (p. 33), and Louis Cyaneus, 1529-46, each possesses a pleasing originality, the latter of which is inscribed with the motto “Tecum Habita.” The two Wéchels, André and Chrestien, were among the most eminent of the sixteenth century Parisian printers, and between them employed over a dozen marks. All those of André were variations of one type, namely, two hands holding a caduceus between two horns of plenty surmounted by Pegasus. This had also been used by Chrestien, of whose other Mark a reproduction is here given, and of which there were several variations. Regnault Chaudière’s shop was in the Rue St. Jacques, at the sign of “L’homme Sauvage,” which he adopted for his Mark: this he appears to have changed for one emblematical of Time when he took his son into partnership, and which, Maittaire thinks, he may have borrowed of Simon De Colines, whose daughter (and only child) he married. We give the largest of the examples used by Guillaume Chaudière, 1564-98 on p. 28. Sébastien Nivelle, who was working during the latter half of the sixteenth century until the third year of the seventeenth century, is a very interesting figure in the typographical annals of Paris. He was, at the time of his death at the age of eighty years, the _doyen_ of the trade. His books were, for the most part, beautifully printed. His shop was in the Rue St. Jacques at the sign of the Two Storks, which he adopted for his exceedingly beautiful Mark, the four medallions representing scenes of filial piety. His daughter was the mother of Sébastien Cramoisy, “typographus regius,” who inherited the establishment of his grandfather. Of the somewhat crudely drawn Mark--an evident pun on his surname--used in or about 1504, by Guillaume Du Puys, the sign of the shop being the Samaritan, a much more decorative example was used, in various sizes, by Jacques Du Puys (p. 10), who was a bookseller, 1549-91, rather than a printer. Equally fine in another way is the tripartite example, given on page 130, used by Guillaume Merlin in partnership with Guillaume Desboys and Sébastien Nivelle, in 1559, and also with the latter in 1571. The Mark is the interpretation of the four lines:

“Veniet tempus meissionis. Non oderis laboriosa opera. Homo nascitur ad laborem, Vade, piger, ad formicam.”

On the opposite page we reproduce the Mark Nivelle used for the books which he produced alone.

After Paris, the next most important town in France, so far as printers and their Marks are concerned, is Lyons. The first book printed in this city is presumed to be “Cardinalis Lotharii Tractatus quinque,” “Lugduni, Bartholomæus Buyerius,” 1473 (in quarto). The same printer also published the first French translation of the Bible, by Julian Macho and Pierre Ferget, which was executed between 1473 and 1474, from which date the art of printing in Lyons increased by leaps and bounds. Panzer notices over 250 works executed (by nearly forty printers) here during the quarter of a century which followed. The most notable among these is perhaps Josse Bade, to whom we have already referred. The former of the two “honestes homes Michelet topie de pymont: & Iaques heremberck dalemaigne,” possessed a Mark which may be regarded as one of the earliest, if not actually the first, employed at Lyons. Topie and Heremberk printed the first edition of the “Chronique Scandaleuse,” about 1488, and Breydenbach’s “Voyage à Jerusalem,” of about the same period--the latter of which contains the first examples of copper-plate engraving in France, the panorama of Venice alone being sixty-four inches in length. Contemporary with these, Johannes or Jehan Treschel deserves notice not only as an eminent printer, but also as the father-in-law of one still more eminent--Bade. Treschel’s illustrated edition of Terence, 1493, is described as forming “the most striking and artistic work of illustration produced by the early French school.” The most generally known of all the Lyonese printers is Etienne Dolet, who, born at Orleans in 1509, distinguished himself not only as a printer, but as a Latin scholar, a poet, and an orator; he was burnt as an atheist in August, 1546. Dolet, as Mr. Chancellor Christie tells us in his exhaustive monograph, adopted a Mark and motto which are to be found in all or nearly all the productions of his press. The Mark and the motto are equally allusive: the former is an axe of the kind known as _doloire_, held in a hand which is issuing out of a cloud. Below is a portion of a trunk of a tree; it is usually surrounded by the motto, “Scabra et impolita ad amussim dolo atque perfolia”; it is often also surrounded by an ornamental woodcut border, as in the accompanying illustration; and in some cases the words “scabra dolo” are printed on the axe.

Two contemporary Lyonese firms of printers, the De Tournes and De la Portes, appear to have rivalled one another in the number of their Marks. Jean De Tournes, 1542-50, himself had no less than eleven Marks, several of which are exceedingly graceful, one of the largest and best of which represents a sower, and serves as an excellent pendant to the reaper of Jacques Roffet, both of which appear in our first chapter. The seven or eight members of the De la Porte family used at least half a score Marks between them. The family, beginning with Aymé De la Porte in the last decade of the fifteenth century, and ending with Sibylle De la Porte, were in business first as printers, then as booksellers, for just a century; and the punning device apparently originated, not with the first member of the family, but with Jehan, who started a business in Paris about 1508, and in his Mark the shield bears a castellated doorway; the picture of the biblical Samson carrying off the gates was apparently first used by Hugues De la Porte, who was a bookseller at Lyons from 1530; this was superseded for the more pictorial and considerably smaller example, here given, when he entered into partnership with Antoine Vincent about 1559. Although the Du Prés were Parisian printers, Jehan of that family issued several books at Lyons during the last few years of the fifteenth century, and one of his three Marks is given on p. 108. Sébastien Gryphe, or Gryphius, who printed and published a large number of works during the second quarter of the sixteenth century, was also extravagant in the way of Marks, of which there are at least eight, all, however, of one common type--the Griffin, sometimes quite without any sort of decorative attributes or motto, and sometimes as in the example here given.

So far as regards the French cities and towns, we have only space to refer briefly to a few of the more important. After Paris and Lyons, Toulouse was one of the earliest places in France in which a printing-press was set up. Although not the first, Jacques Colomies was one of the first, as he was one of the most prolific of the early printers of Toulouse, working from 1530 to 1572. Printing was established at Caen in 1480; but Pierre Chandelier, whose punning Mark we give, did not start work until eighty years after its first introduction. A punning device (p. 7), also is that of Jehan Lecoq, who was printing at Troyes from about 1509 to 1530. The only Rouen printer to whom we shall refer is Martin Morin, who appears to have been at work here as a printer from about 1484 to 1518, and of his Marks we give one example; another is formed of a large initial M, decorated with a variety of grotesque heads, with the surname Morin on the two central strokes of the letter.

[Decoration]

PRINTERS’ MARKS OF GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND.

Although the early history of the Printer’s Mark in Germany is neither extensive in variety nor startling in surprises, there are still very many features of general interest. And if the Printer’s Mark, as we have already seen, had its origin in Mainz, its development is certainly due to the Strassburg craftsmen. As no other city in Germany can show such a varied collection of beautiful Marks, examples of the Strasburg printers will preponderate in this chapter. It is now generally accepted that the art of printing was carried on in Strassburg (Argentina, Argent-oratum), either in 1459 or 1460, by Johan Mentelin, who appears to have continued in the business until 1476; and about six years after he had started, Heinrich Eggestein commenced, and continued until about 1478. Accepting the arrangement of Herr Paul Heitz and Dr. Karl August Barack in their very elaborate “Elsässische Büchermarken bis Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts,” the first Strasburg printer to use a Mark was Johann Grüninger, who, after working at Basel for a year or two, took up his residence in Strassburg at the end of 1482. One of his first Marks appeared in Brant’s “Narrenschiff,” 1494, and of this our example is an elaboration. By the year 1525 he employed no less than five distinct examples, the last of which, in Ptolemæus, “Geographicæ Enarrationes,” 1525, differs completely from all the others, the single letter G occupying the centre of the masonic compass and rule. Grüninger, it may be noted, was the printer of “Cosmographie Introductio,” 1509; the second edition of the famous book in which the name America was proposed and used for the first time. He is further noted for the number of misprints which occur in the books issued by him. The last book which bears his imprint is apparently “Geberi philosophi ac alchimistæ maximi, de Alchimia, libri tres,” March, 1529. Martin Schott’s distinct device is found in at least three books of the date 1498, including Matheolus’ “Ars memorativa,” and was used by him until 1517. It was also used by his son, Johann Schott, about 1541, the same printer using seven or eight other Marks, all more or less distinct, at different periods. The first book bearing Martin Schott’s name is dated 1491, and he continued printing until 1499; while his son was in business from 1500 to 1545. Equally distinct is the accompanying example--one of several--used by Johann Knoblouch, which is found in the majority of the books printed by him from about 1521 to 1526, notably several works by Erasmus (_e.g._ “Moriæ Encomium,” 1522, and the “Novum Testamentum,” 1523). The father started in 1497, and was succeeded by his son, who continued the business until 1558. The Mark, it may be mentioned, is a somewhat atrocious pun on the owner’s name, which is the German for “garlic,” with the seed pods of which the figure emblematically representing Ignorance ascending from darkness into light is encircled; this Mark is generally surrounded by mottoes in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin.

Although Reinhard, or Renatus, Beck was only in business for about eleven years, 1511-1522, he had several Marks, which differed chiefly in their extraneous ornament, as will be seen from the accompanying examples. Two books, _sine nota_, which Mr. Quaritch assigns to Beck’s press, of the date 1490, are remarkable for the large number of woodcuts which they contain, relating principally to plants, animals, gardening operations, rural architecture, so that the Mark of “ein wilder Mann” is so far in keeping with the nature of his publications. Fourteen or fifteen Marks, several of which are only variations of one type, have been identified as having been used by Wolfgang Köpfel (whose surname sometimes appears in its Greek translation of Cephalæus) between 1522 and 1554: the most remarkable, of which we give a reproduction, appears to have been used very rarely, notably in “Zehn Sermones” of Luther, 1523; a much commoner type is the smaller example, which appeared in various books issued between 1526-1554. Georg Ullricher von Andlau, 1529-36, confined himself to one type (see p. 1), that of the Cornucopia or Horn of Plenty, of which there are seven variants. The more elaborate of the two Marks of Matthias Biener, or Apiarius, 1533-36, appears in Oecolampadius’ “Commentarius” on the Prophet Ezekiel, 1534, and is an evident pun on the printer’s surname. Several of the dozen Marks used by Craft Müller, or Crato Mylius, 1536-62, are exceedingly bold and picturesque, although, with the exception of the Ceres, they are all variants of the leonine type: the Ceres was apparently used only in his first book, “Auslegung oder Postilla des heil. Zmaragdi,” 1536.

Wendelin Rihel was the founder of one of the longest-lived dynasties of Strassburg printers, who were issuing books from 1535 to 1639; their eighteen Marks have all the same subject, a winged figure of Sophrosyne, holding in one hand a rule, and in the other a bridle and halter. Of Thiebold Berger, who appears to have been in business from 1551-1584, very little is known, either of his books or his personality; his Mark is, however, pretty, and unique, so far as Strassburg is concerned. Lazarus Zetzner and his successors, whose works date from 1586 to 1648, and whose Marks number nearly thirty, all variants of the example here given: it is a bust of Minerva supported on a short square pedestal, on which is inscribed the words “Scientia immutabilis.” This family printed a large number of works, from a Lutheran Bible to Aretini’s “Historiæ Florentinæ.” As an example of a rare and distinct Mark we give one of two employed by Conrad Scher, 1603-31, which was subsequently used by Johannes Reppius, also of Strassburg. Curiosity is the only feature of the solitary example of David Hauth, 1635.

But of all the Strassburg printers, there can be no doubt that, from a strictly pictorial point of view, the Marks of Johann Reinhold Dulssecker, 1696-1737, are by far the most beautiful. Indeed, in many respects they are the most charming examples to be found among the devices of any time or country. In some instances they partake much more of the character of a vignette than a tradesman’s mark. His earliest device is composed of his monogram; and his first decorative Mark is the very beautiful little picture of an English garden, in the central pathway of which occurs his initials. This Mark appears to have been used in only one book, “M. Fabii Quinctiliani Declamationes ... ex recensione Ulrici Obrechti,” 1698. A type of Mark very frequently used by him occurs in Schilter’s “Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum,” 1702, with his motto of “Dominus providebit,” and of this Mark we give an excessively rare variant on p. 47. He had eleven Marks, his list includes books of all kinds, in Latin, German, and French.