The Printed Book: Its History, Illustration and Adornment: From the Days of Gutenberg to the Present TimeBouchot, Henri
History
The Printed Book: Its History, Illustration and Adornment: From the Days of Gutenberg to the Present Time
Bouchot, Henri
Bookbinding -- History; Books; Books -- History; Illustration of books; Printing -- History
The movement inaugurated by the Sorbonne was promptly followed. German
workmen opened their shops nearly everywhere in France; then the French
themselves scattered. At Lyons in 1472 a Frenchman was established, the
same at Angers, Caen, Metz, Troyes, Besançon, and Salins. But in the
central provinces we find Henry Mayer at Toulouse, John Neumeister at
Albi; in the east Metlinger at Dijon; and Michael Wensler, of Basle, at
Macon, among others, about 1493.
We have now arrived at an epoch of greater efforts. The Lyons printers
used ornamental letters, from which were developed engravings in the
Book. Since the block books illustration had been neglected, as the
means were wanting to distribute the plates here and there in the forme;
Schoeffer still employed initial letters in wood very like vignettes.
John Fust was now dead, but Peter Schoeffer continued to print without
intermission.
If we search for the precise epoch in which illustration appeared in the
history of the Book, we shall perhaps have to go back to the time of
Albert Pfister, printer of Bamberg, who issued in 1461 an edition of the
"Fables of Ulrich Bohner" with a hundred and one figures on wood. This
may be said to be the unconscious combination of xylography with
typography, a kind of transformation of old elements to new things
without other importance; art had no place in this adaptation.
Up to this time Germany had not, in its school of painters or
miniaturists, men capable of giving a personal impulse to ornament. In
the German editions of the block books the influence of Van Eyck had
made itself felt very sensibly, and the Flemish had preserved their
supremacy on this point; on the other hand, the German printers who went
to seek their fortune in Italy fell into the middle of a circle
admirably prepared to receive them and to communicate their ideas to
them. It is believed that the first book printed in Italy with woodcuts
in the text and with an ascertained date is the work of a German
established at Rome, Ulrich Hahn, in 1467. An account in the _Annuaire
du Bibliophile_, which, being without citation of authority, we quote
for what it is worth, relates that Ulrich Hahn was established as a
printer at Vienna about 1462, but was driven thence by the publication
of a pamphlet against the burgomaster of the city, and was attracted to
Rome by Torquemada, who confided to him the impression of his work the
_Meditationes_. Hahn was an engraver, as were also most of his
_confrères_ at that time--that is, he cut in relief designs to be
intercalated in the text--and Passavant relates that the designs of the
_Meditationes_ were from compositions of Fra Angelico, who died in 1455.
Be that as it may, the book, the printing of which was finished on St.
Sylvester's Day, 1467, is the first known with engravings, and only
three copies of it exist: one at Vienna, one at Nuremberg, and one in
Lord Spencer's library; it is composed in Gothic type in folio.
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