seem the offspring of mere caprice, is in reality an emblematical representation of Nemesis, and may be classically illustrated by a reference to the epigram of Xenocrates:—
Warn'd by the goddess, with her square and rein,
Measure thy actions, and thy tongue restrain.
The hand and compasses of Christopher Plantin, with his motto Labor et Constantia, include a moral not less useful. The same thing may be said of the fine image of time, conspicuous in the impressions of Simon Colinæus; and in Robert Stephen's choice of the apostolic emblem of the olive tree, with its broken and insititious branches, and his motto Noli altum sapere, sed time, Maittaire discerns an evidence of the humility and christian piety which characterized that distinguished typographer.
There is a work extant, by Orlandi, intitled Notizia delle Marche degli Antichi e moderni Impressori; but the author of L'Histoire de l'Imprimerie before cited, gives no favourable account of it. He says these notices are very ill executed: that even the names are given in a mutilated and unintelligible manner; and that in the explanation of the marks of printers, the author frequently falls into ludicrous errors, of which the following instance is given. In the two storks, the motto of Cramoisy, of which the younger is represented bearing food to the parent bird, which even children might understand to be an appropriate emblem of filial piety and affection, this author discovers a battle of cranes in the air, without having paid the smallest attention to the motto; Honora Patrem tuum, and Matrem tuam, ut longævus sis super terram; and to other emblems of kindred signification, with which the angular points of the insigne are furnished. He refers to pages 237 and 242 of this inaccurate work.
Besides the symbols already enumerated, the following were used by some of the ancient foreign printers:—The anchor is the mark of Rephelengius at Leyden; the arion denotes a book printed by Oporinus at Basil: the caduceus, or pegasus, by the Wechelius's at Paris and Frankfort; the fountain, by Vascosan at Paris; the sphere, by Janson, or Bleau, at Amsterdam; the lily, by the Juntas at Venice, Florence, Lyons, and Rome; the mulberry-tree, by Morel, at Paris; the olive-tree, by the Elzevirs at Amsterdam and Leyden; the truth, by the Commelins at Heidelberg and Paris; the saturn, by Colinæus; the printing-press, by Badius, Ascensius, &c.
Such marks or rebuses of the early English printers, as are deserving of notice, will be given with the sketches of their lives.
On the subject of marks it may be proper to add, that the earliest bookbinders, a race of men who at these times probably considered their vocation of no mean importance, affected also to distinguish themselves by devices of a similar nature. Very rude and singular designs cut on blocks of wood, and impressed upon the exterior superfices of the volume, are sometimes found on well preserved specimens of ancient binding; to which the names or initials of the ingenious artist are annexed; whence it evidently appears that ornament was not the sole motive for using them. For various and singular specimens of this nature, it may suffice to refer the reader to those libraries which abound in early printed books, and to the cabinets of diligent and curious collectors.
In the public libraries of the continent, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, &c. many early specimens of binding, richly studded with gems, ornamented with silver and gold, still exist, and in the less pretending ones of the monasteries, the oaken boards of the fourteenth century covered with vellum, are found attached to a great number of the books, and still in a good state of preservation. In the libraries of Germany are particularly rich in bindings of almost every age and description. In the Imperial library of Vienna, an early specimen exists on a fine Evangelisterium. The binding is of the time of Frederic III. The ornaments consist of a lion's head in the centre of the board, surrounded by golden rays, and having a lion's head in each corner of the square. An arabesque border surrounds the whole, giving an effect both splendid and tasteful.[1] In the public libraries of Ausburgh, Stuttgart, Landshut, and some others, specimens, clothed in every variety of material, are preserved.
1504, July 11. In the British museum there is a very curious book of indentures which was made between Henry VII. and the abbot and convent of St. Peter's, Westminster, for the celebration of certain masses, &c. to be performed in Henry VII.'s chapel, then intended to be built. It is indeed a most noble and curious book; the cover is of crimson Genoese velvet, edged with crimson silk and gold thread, and with tassels of the same material at each corner. The inside is lined with crimson damask; on each side of the cover are five bosses, made of silver, wrought and gilt; those in the middle have the arms and supporters of the king, with his crown and supporters of silver, gilt and enamelled; in the others, at each corner, are so many portcullises, also gilt and enamelled. It is fastened by two hasps, made of silver, and splendidly enamelled with the red rose of the house of Lancaster. The counterpart of these indentures, bound and decorated in all respects like the original, is preserved in the Record office in the chapter house, at Westminster.—Horne.
From the wardrobe accounts of Edward IV. and Henry VII. there can be no doubt that both these sovereigns, by their purchasing books abroad, by their encouragement of printing, and the splendour of the binding of their books, pro-
- ↑ Those who are desirous of knowing more of the early history of bookbinding are referred to the following works: — Dibdin's Bibliographical Tour, and Bibliographical Decameron; Fritch's Dissertation on Bookbinders; Warton's History of English Poetry; Wardrobe accounts of our early sovereigns; Horne's Introduction to Bibliography; Hartshorne's Book Rarities of Cambridge; Gentleman's Magazine; Papers on the Dark Ages, id the British Magazine, vol. 10; Arnett's Books of the Ancients, &c.
