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
Privileges were obtainable not only by publishers in Venice itself, but
also by those in the towns under Venetian rule, and the two following
examples are taken respectively from a Quadragesimale printed by Angelus
Britannicus at Brescia in 1497, and a Martianus Capella printed by
Henricus de Sancto Urso at Vicenza in 1499.
Explicit quadragesimale quod dicitur lima vitiorum. Diuino huic
operi Angelus Britannicus ciuis Brixianus optimo fauente deo:
eiusque genetrice Maria: finem optatum imposuit: cuius fidem
solertiamque principes veneti charipendentes: ne quis alius
opus ipsum infra sex annos imprimat: aut impressum vendat in
ditione sua: preter ipsius angeli nutum: Senatusconsulto pena
promulgata cauerunt: anno domini M.cccc.lxxxxvii. die xviii
Aprilis.
Here ends the Quadragesimal which is called the File of Vices.
To this divine work by the favor of God the Most High, and
of his Mother Mary, the desired end has been put by Angelo
Britannico, a citizen of Brescia, whose loyalty and skill the
Venetian princes held so dear that by a decree of the Senate
and by the promulgation of a penalty they gave warning that
no one else should print this work within six years, or sell
it, if printed elsewhere, in their dominion, against the will
of the said Angelo. In the year of the Lord 1497, on the
eighteenth day of April.
Martiani Capellae Liber finit: Impressus Vicentiae Anno Salutis
M.cccc.xcix. xvii Kalendas Ianuarias per Henricum de Sancto
Vrso. Cum gratia et priuilegio decem annorum: ne imprimatur
neque cum commentariis: neque sine: & cetera: quae in ipso
priuilegio continentur. Laus deo & beatae Virgini.
Here ends the book of Martianus Capella, printed at Vicenza in
the year of salvation 1499, on December 16th, by Henricus de
Sancto Urso. With a grace and privilege for ten years, that it
be not printed either with commentaries or without, and the
other particulars which are contained in the privilege itself.
Praise be to God and the Blessed Virgin.
As publishers went on applying for these privileges, it is to be
presumed that they found them profitable; but they were certainly
sometimes contravened, and the fines do not appear to have been enforced.
Nevertheless they soon spread beyond the Venetian dominions. Thus in
1496, for instance, we find Scinzenzeler obtaining one at Milan, and
warning other booksellers, with effusive friendliness, not to incur these
dreadful penalties by ignorant piracy.
Famosissimi iureconsulti Francisci Curtii ex proprio
exemplari exceptum Consiliorum volumen primum per Iohannem
Vinzalium Turrianum summa cum diligentia reuisum, ac
Ulderici Scinzenzeler artificio operoso impressum Mediolani
M.cccc.lxxxxvi die xx Decembris.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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