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
aforesaid Missal to the year 1491, the date of his death.
[Illustration: WILLIAM CAXTON.]
[Illustration: THE ST. ALBANS PRINTER.]
Wynkyn de Worde, a native of Lorraine, who was with Caxton at Bruges or
Cologne, carried on the business of his master at Westminster until
1499, when he removed to the sign of the Golden Sun, Fleet Street,
London. He had nine Marks, the earliest of which is often described as
one of Caxton’s, from the genuine example of which, as we have already
stated, it differs in being smaller, with a different border, and in
having a flourish inserted above and below the letters. The second is an
elongated variation of No. 1, with the name Wynkyn de Worde on a narrow
white space beneath the device. The next four devices are more or less
elaborations upon that of which we give a reproduction; the seventh is
the Sagittarius device in black with white characters: between the
sagittarii is seen the sun and flaming stars, and below the initials
“W C” in Roman letters, with the name Wynkyn de Worde at the foot; the
eighth is a picturesque Mark copied from one belonging to Froben, with
the omission of part of the background; it consists of a semicircular
arch, supported by short-wreathed pillars, with foliated capitals,
plinths and bases: on the top of each is a boy habited like a soldier,
with a spear and shield bending forwards; a large cartouche German
shield is supported by three boys. The ninth Mark of this printer was a
large and handsome one, being a royal and heraldic device which Wynkyn
de Worde used as a frontispiece to the Acts of Parliament, in the form
of an upright parallelogram which encloses a species of arched panel or
doorway, formed of three lines, imitating clustered columns and Gothic
mouldings, and two large square shields, that on the left charged with
three fleurs-de-lys for France, and the other bearing France and England
quarterly, each of which is surmounted by a crown. For a very minute
description of these Marks, and their variations, the reader is referred
to Johnson’s “Typographia,” and Bigmore and Wyman’s “Bibliography of
Printing,” the former of whom enumerates 410 books which issued from
this press.
[Illustration: WYNKYN DE WORDE.
wynkyn de worde
W C]
[Illustration: R. PYNSON.
Rychard Pynson]
[Illustration: R. PYNSON.
R
Richard Pynson]
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