The Book: Its History and DevelopmentDavenport, Cyril
History
The Book: Its History and Development
Davenport, Cyril
Bookbinding; Books; Books -- History; Printing -- History
John Sturt, who engraved numbers of book frontispieces, also produced a
Book of Common Prayer, engraved throughout on silver, in 1717. He also
engraved many of John Ayres’ calligraphic works. Abroad, especially in
France and Germany, small books have been engraved, in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, by P. Moreau, F. Mazot, Druet, and others,
but none of them are as important as the English. Music books are
engraved, and so are numbers of calligraphic books of small interest.
The first line engravings illustrating any book appear in Bettini’s
“Monte Santo di Deo,” printed in 1477. They are said to be after
designs by Botticelli. Some of the prints are full page and others are
printed on the same paper as the text. They are not very good. The same
kind of illustration appears in Dante’s “Divina Commedia,” printed in
1481. Some of these prints are, however, pasted in, but a few are on
the same paper as the text.
The great excellence of Italian book illustrators on wood seems to
have eclipsed all other kinds. Italian line engravers have excelled in
large plates, but in books there is little of this kind of work that
is at all good. Examples of small work of the kind were done in the
eighteenth century by Grandi, Schedl, Pomarade, I. Frey, and C. Gregori.
In English books line engravings do not appear until 1521, when an
edition of Galen published at Cambridge possesses an engraved border.
Raynald’s “Byrthe of Mankind,” published in 1540, has engraved plates.
From this time engravings appear at intervals until towards the end of
the sixteenth century, when frontispieces and portraits, always printed
on separate paper and inserted as extra leaves, became common.
In the seventeenth century the same style prevailed, engraved portraits
and frontispieces, but gradually small pictures came into use. The
plates are often signed, and we find the name of Renold Elstrack, who
worked also in the preceding century, Marshall, Hole, Cecil, Grover,
and others of less merit.
In the eighteenth century native engravers seem to have given way to
foreigners, and the same thing happened during the early nineteenth
century. We find many beautiful engravings in English books signed
by Du Bosc, Grignion, Scotin, De Launay, and others. Later, in the
nineteenth century, our English line engravers rallied, and we owe much
beautiful work to them. Many of their names are widely known, and their
work will be more highly appreciated as time goes on, especially as
this small line engraving is practically a lost art.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account