Printers' Marks: A Chapter in the History of Typography — John Shaqi
Printers' Marks: A Chapter in the History of TypographyRoberts, W. (William)
History
Printers' Marks: A Chapter in the History of Typography
Roberts, W. (William)
Printers' marks
Perhaps the greatest number of all are those in which the printer
proclaims his faith to God and his loyalty to his king. One of the early
Paris printers enjoins us--in verse--not only to honour the king and the
court, but claims our salutations for the University; and almost
precisely the same sentiment finds expression in the Mark of
J. Alexandre, another early printer of Paris. Robinet or Robert Macé,
Rouen, proclaims “Ung dieu, ung roy, ung foy, ung loy,” and the same
idea expressed in identical words is not uncommonly met with in
Printers’ Marks. Of a more definitely religious nature are those, for
example, of P. de Sartières, Bourges, “Tout se passe fors dieu”; of
J. Lambert, “A espoir en dieu”; of Prigent Calvarin, “Deum time,
pauperes sustine, finem respice”; and several from the Psalms, such as
that of C. Nourry, called Le Prince, “Cor contritum et humiliatum deus
non despicies”; of P. De Saincte-Lucie, also called Le Prince, “Oculi
mei semper ad dominum”; and of J. Temporal (all three Lyons printers),
“Tangit montes et fumigant,” in which the design is quite in keeping
with the motto; in one case at least, S. Nivelle, one of the
commandments is made use of, “Honora patrem tuum, et matrem tuam, ut sis
longævus super terram.” Here, too, we may include the mottoes of
B. Rigaud, “A foy entiere cœur volant”; S. De Colines, “Eripiam et
glorificabo eum”; and of Benoist Bounyn, Lyons, “Labores manum tuarum
quia manducabis beatus es et bene tibi erit.” Whilst as a few
illustrations of a general character we may quote Geoffrey Tory’s
exceedingly brief “Non plus,” which was contemporaneously used also by
Olivier Mallard; J. Longis, “Nihil in charitate violentia”; Denys Janot,
“Tout par amour, amour par tout, par tout amour, en tout bien”; the
French rendering of a very old proverb in the mottoes of B. Aubri and
D. Roce, “A l’aventure tout vient a point qui peut attendre”; J. Bignon,
“Repos sans fin, sans fin repos”; the motto used conjointly by
M. Fézandat and R. Granjon, “Ne la mort, ne le venin”; and the motto of
Etienne Dolet, “Scabra et impolita ad amussim dolo, atque perfolio.”
Among the mottoes of early English printers, the most notable, partly
for its dual source, and as one of our earliest examples, is that of
William Faques; one sentence, “Melius est modicum justo super divitias
peccatorum multas,” is taken from Psalm xxxvii. verse 16; and the
second, “Melior est patiens viro forti, et qui dominat,” comes from
Proverbs xvi., verse 32. The motto of Richard Grafton has already been
quoted; that of John Reynes was “Redemptoris mundi arma”; and John
Wolfe, “Vbique floret.”
[Illustration: DENYS JANOT.
PARTOVT AMOVR
AMOR DEI OMNIA VINCIT
AMOVR PARTOVT
TOVT PAR AMOVR.
DENIS IANOT.
EN TOVT BIEN.]
[Illustration: WILLIAM FAQUES.
Melius est modicum iusto super divitias p[ecca]torum multas.
MELIOR EST PATIENS VIRO FORTI ET QVI DOMINAT
Guillam.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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