Two of the Nardi initials, the P and the C, are to be met with in
a quarto volume, ‘C Plinio de li homini illustri in lingua senese
traducto et brevemente commentato,’ which is printed in the _Inclyta
& Excelsa citta di Sena_ by that accurate man Symeone di Nicolao
Carrolaro Senese, 1506. The mark is different in some details, although
practically the same as in the Dathus.
The _Vespertinæ lectiones_ of Marcellus Beringhuccius has the H and
some others. The printer’s name varies again, being given as ‘Impressum
per Calistrum Symeonis Senen. Ad instantiam Ioannis Alixandri Libraio
1511.’ The title is surrounded by a border of oak leaves and acorns. On
the verso of the first page the dedication to Cosmo de Medici begins
with the handsome H, and is followed on the next page by an interesting
cut representing the burial of Christ. The text on the verso of this
page begins with the L. The second part of the book, ‘For the comfort
of those who wish to live well, etc.,’ begins with the historiated N,
‘Impresso in Siena per Calisto Francese di Simeone Bindi, 1541. Ad
instantiam d’Giovanni di Alisandro Libraio.’
Another volume of _Vespertinæ lectiones_ of the same author was
published in 1539, the printer’s name being given in the same way, and
the same bookseller being mentioned. It has the N and the D, as well as
a new I, mentioned above. The book, published on the 5th of March, has
a title-page with a border of foliated branches that spring below from
a common trunk and meet together above. The lower third is occupied
by the Siennese wolf and children, with a town in the distance. Two
tracts of Marcus Antonius Belarmatus on legal subjects were published
by Symeon Nicolai in 1539, with the same ornamental border. In one
of them the only large initial is the N. In the other, the title is
printed in black, and the D and the Q of the white variety complete its
ornamentation. The last book chronologically in which we have met with
the Nardi initials is a _Life_ by Feo Belcari of Beato Columbini da
Siena, ‘fondatore del ordine di poveri giesuati.’
Like so many of the Venetian ornaments, the borders and initials of
Fossombrone are mostly with a black ground, but this is _criblé_ in a
special manner.
The most important book of this town, where printing was introduced in
1513 by Ottaviano dei Petrucci, is a treatise by Paul de Middelburg
with beautiful borders and initials, _On the right way of celebrating
Easter, and the day of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ_, a work of
great rarity and filled with singular researches for fixing Easter Day,
and the date of the death of our Saviour.
The initials have branching ornaments, and children playing with one
another, one holding up a mask, or with birds. One of them can be seen
in Butsch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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