An Essay on Colophons, with Specimens and TranslationsPollard, Alfred W. (Alfred William)
History
An Essay on Colophons, with Specimens and Translations
Pollard, Alfred W. (Alfred William)
Books -- History -- 1450-1600; Colophons; Incunabula -- Bibliography
The end of this very useful ordinary exposition of the Codex
of Justinian the German, printed in the flourishing University
of Naples by the most expert and renowned Sixtus Riessinger,
a German, who, amid his obstacles, flourishes, thrives, and
wins renown, nor thinks that traitors, malignants, and shifty
rogues will accomplish more for the glory of Eternal God and
the welfare of the country of King Ferdinand. And although it
appears unadorned by red printing, yet it is clearly set forth
with decisions and single points of the civil and heavenly
laws, so that a reader by studying it may be able to become
very learned. Moreover, it is free from errors, for it has
been faithfully corrected with the utmost watchfulness and
toil by Francesco Tuppo of Naples, the least among the three
hundred students of that so renowned interpreter of both codes,
Antonius de Alexandro. He and his trusty partner, Sixtus, at
their own cost have taken up this noble and lucid exposition
and have brought it successfully to an end on the twenty-first
day of February, 1474.
One would like to hear something more about the traitors, malignants, and
shifty rogues (perfidos, maliuolos ac versutos) against whom the colophon
declaims; but I have failed to discover any other references to them. The
phrase “cum fido sodali,” used of Tuppo’s relations to Riessinger, raises
the question as to whether any real partnership existed between them. In
the colophons to three other books their names appear conjointly; three
more of later date (1480-89), of which Riessinger appears to have been
the actual printer, are stated to have been printed by Tuppo. The point
is of some little interest as possibly throwing some light on the vext
question of who were the “fidelissimi Germani” who printed Tuppo’s Aesop
in 1485, and also in the same year the account of the process of King
Ferdinand against his rebellious nobles. As to this Mr. Proctor wavered
between the claims of Johann Tresser and Martin of Amsterdam on the one
hand, and “Matthias of Olmutz and his German workmen” on the other. (See
his Index, p. 450, and “CCC Notable Books,” pp. 107 _sq._) But Riessinger
also was a German, and from his relations both to Tuppo and to the king
(of whom he calls himself, in the “Super feudis” of Andreas de Ysernia
in 1477, the “devotus atque fidelis servus”) seems to have some claim
to consideration. The phrase “fidelissimi Germani” is in itself a very
curious one, as it leaves us wondering whether they were “fidelissimi”
in the abstract, or to one another, or to the king. If to one another,
we may find a parallel in the frequency with which John of Cologne and
Manthen of Gerretzem proclaim their loyalty to each other. Thus in their
first dated book, the Sallust of 23d March, 1474, we find them writing:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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