There is no necessity, however, of describing the marks in detail,
for, with the exception of two or three American examples, they were
all taken from Mr. William Roberts’s _Printers’ Marks_ (London,
1893), in which they are illustrated and explained. Those thought
best adapted for decorative effect were chosen throughout, although
the marks of as many of the better known printers as possible were
included. Occasionally a border or a motto was omitted, but in the
main Mr. Roberts’s engravings were pretty exactly copied. In the West
Corridor the marks are mostly those of German printers; in the South
Corridor, French; in the East Corridor, Italian and Spanish; in the
North Corridor, English and Scottish and American.[7]
=Mr. Hinton Perry’s Bas-Reliefs.=--Mr. Perry’s bas-reliefs, at the
west end of the north and south vaults, have already been referred
to. They are four in number, and measure three feet eight inches from
one side to another. Taken as a series they represent what may be
called, for lack of a better title, _Ancient Prophetic Inspiration_.
The chief figure in each is a sibyl or priestess--Greek, Roman,
Persian, Scandinavian--in the act of delivering the prophetic
warnings which have been revealed to her in the rapture of a divine
frenzy. She is regarded as the mouthpiece of the god, and therefore
as the fountain of religion, wisdom, literature, art, and success
in war--all of which are typified, in one panel or another, in the
figures of her auditors.
[Illustration: PRINTERS’ MARKS.--CAXTON, TORY, LOTTER.]
Beginning in the South Corridor, the first panel shows the Cumæan
or Roman Sibyl. She is represented, in accordance with the ancient
histories, as an old and withered hag, whose inspiration comes from
an infernal, rather than a celestial source. Two figures, as in
all the panels, complete Mr. Perry’s group, one male and the other
female. The first is clad in the splendid armor of a Roman general;
the woman is nude, and stands for Roman Art and Literature. At her
feet is a box of manuscripts, and she takes in one hand an end of the
long scroll (representing one of the Sibylline Books, so famous in
Roman history) which the Priestess holds in her lap. The panel on the
other side of the arch represents a Scandinavian Vala or Wise Woman,
with streaming hair and a wolf-skin over her head and shoulders.
She typifies, in her bold gesture and excited gaze, the barbaric
inspiration of the Northern nations. To the left is the figure of a
Norse warrior, and to the right a naked woman lies stretched upon the
ground, personifying the vigorous life and fecundity of genius of the
North.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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