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
Among the 200 odd books which Richard Pynson printed between 1493 and
1527, we find six Marks (besides variants), of which five are very
similar, and of these we give two examples, the smaller being one of the
earliest, in which it will be noticed that the drawing is much inferior
to the larger example; the sixth Mark is a singular one, consisting of a
large upright parallelogram surrounded by a single stout line, within
which are the scroll, supporters, shield and cypher, crest, helmet and
mantling, and the Virgin and St. Catherine, and in many other
particulars differing from the other five examples. Robert Redman, who,
after quarrelling with Richard Pynson, and apparently succeeding him in
business, employed a device almost identical with that which Pynson most
frequently used, and to which therefore we need not further refer. In
chronological sequence the next English printer who employed a device is
Julian Notary, who was printing books for about twenty years subsequent
to 1498, first at Westminster, then near Temple Bar, and finally in St.
Paul’s Churchyard. He had two devices (of which there are a very few
variations), of which we give the more important. The other has only one
stout black line, and not two, and it has also the Latinized form of the
name--Julianus Notarius. About two dozen different works of this printer
are known to bibliographers. In connection with Notary, we may here
conveniently refer to an interesting, but admittedly inconclusive
article which appears in _The Library_, i., pp. 102-5, by Mr. E. Gordon
Duff, in which that able bibliographer publishes the discovery of two
books which would point to the existence of an unrecorded English
printer of the fifteenth century. One of these has the title of
“Questiones Alberti de modis significandi,” and the other, of which only
a fragment is known to exist, is a Sarum “Horæ,” which is dated 1497. In
the colophons of neither does the name of the printer transpire, but his
Mark is given in both--in the former book in black, and in the latter in
red. This mark is identical with Notary’s, with this important
exception, that, whereas in Notary’s device his name occurs in the lower
half of the device, in these the lower half is occupied by the initials
I. H., and the upper half by the initials I N B, the I N being in the
form of a monogram, and not distinct. In 1498 this same block was used
on the title-page of the Sarum “Missal,” printed by Notary, who altered
it to suit his own requirements. We cannot follow Mr. Gordon Duff in his
conjectures as to the probability of who this unknown printer may have
been, but the matter is one of great bibliographical interest. William
Faques, who was the King’s Printer, and who is known to have issued
seven books between 1499 and 1508, had only one Mark, which is totally
different from those of any of his predecessors, as may be seen from the
example given on page 16, where will also be found references to the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account