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
By the end of 1472 the three companions had issued thirty works,
apparently without indulging in the luxury of a Mark, but their patrons
separating they had to leave the Sorbonne. Their new quarters were at
the sign of the “Soleil d’Or” in the Rue St. Jacques--the Paternoster
Row of Paris. Here they remained until 1477, when Gering was the sole
proprietor. He was joined in 1480 by George Mainyal, and in 1494 by
Bertholt Rembolt, and died in August, 1510. Within thirty years of the
introduction of printing into Paris, there were nearly ninety printers,
who issued nearly 800 works between 1470 and 1500. Rembolt, who
succeeded Gering and preserved the sign of his office, was one of the
earliest, if not the first to adopt a Mark, of which indeed he used four
more or less distinct examples. We reproduce one of the rarest; his best
known is a highly decorative picture, and has a shield (carrying a cross
with the initials B. R. in the lower half of the circle which envelopes
the foot of the cross) suspended from a vine tree and supported by two
lions. Of this Mark there are at least two sizes; another of his Marks
consisted of an enlarged form of the cross to which we have referred.
[Illustration: B. REMBOLT.
BERCHTOLDVS R]
After Rembolt, the interest of the Printer’s Mark in France diverges
into a number of directions. The most prolific printer was, perhaps,
Antoine Vérard, who, dying in 1530, issued books continuously for about
forty-five years: he was also a calligrapher, an illuminator, and a
bookseller; his Books of Hours led the way for the beautiful productions
of Simon Vostre, whilst his chief “line” consisted of romances, of which
there are over a hundred printed on vellum and ornamented with beautiful
miniatures. He had two Marks, one of which, consisting simply of the two
letters A. V., is accompanied by the lines:
“Pour proquer la grand’ miséricorde,
A tous pescheurs faire grâce et pardon,
Antoine Vérard humblement te recorde.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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