The English provincial printers, stationers and bookbinders to 1557Duff, E. Gordon (Edward Gordon)
History
The English provincial printers, stationers and bookbinders to 1557
Duff, E. Gordon (Edward Gordon)
Book industries and trade -- Great Britain; Printing -- Great Britain -- History
The two border side-pieces, each containing three small scenes in
canopied compartments relating to the Last Judgment, evidently
form part of a set for use in a _Book of Hours_. These identical
border-pieces have not been found used elsewhere, but are evidently
copied from, and resemble in every detail, two of a set used in a _Book
of Hours_ printed at Kirchheim. Very little, however, can be deduced
from similarity of design, for printers copied designs which pleased
them from any source, and often with such extraordinary accuracy as to
require very careful scrutiny to distinguish the copy from the original.
This is the rarest of all Siberch’s books, for only one copy is known,
now in the Bodleian. It formerly belonged to John Selden and went with
the rest of his books to Oxford by bequest in 1659.
Of the next book four copies are known. It consists of a translation
of Lucian’s πὲρι διψάδων by Henry Bullock, and a reissue of the
latter’s Oration. On the title-page Siberch uses for the first
time his ornamental border with the Royal arms at the base. A very
curious statement, that this border is the first specimen of English
copperplate engraving, has found its way into a number of books.
Its earliest appearance seems to be in Herbert’s _Typographical
Antiquities_, where a so-called facsimile is given. Now this facsimile
itself is a very roughly-executed metal engraving, and from the text it
is clear that Herbert made his description from this rough engraving
and not from the book itself. The proof of this is clear. The engraver
has added a rough facsimile of the two-lined colophon, immediately
below the border, and Herbert, assuming it to be part of the
title-page, has so described it in his text. The most cursory glance
would show this border to be a woodcut, but the old statement goes on
being repeated.
The fourth book, Baldwin’s _Sermo de altaris sacramento_ was issued in
the summer, probably August, of 1521. In this is found for the first
time the smaller device of the Royal arms. Eight copies of the book are
known, two being in the University Library while another has lately
been discovered in the library of Magdalene College. One of those in
the University Library, which it is suggested may be an early copy sent
to Nicholas West, bishop of Ely, to whom the book is dedicated, shows
some variations from the ordinary copies. It is clear that it is an
early issue, since the border is without a small break noticeable in
other copies, and the first word of the title-page, Reverendissimi, has
been misprinted Reverndissimi, a mistake almost immediately noticed and
corrected. In this book, for the first time, Siberch begins to use one
of his ornamental capitals, a fine six-line S.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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