[330] Revue universelle des Arts, September, 1857 (vol. v, no. 6, p. 513).
[332] In an imperfect copy of this book, on parchment, which I have seen at the shop of M. Potier, and which is illuminated, the artist has erased Tory's mark, for what purpose I have no idea.
[333] It seems that the Parliament proposed at first to prohibit the publication of this book; but evidently it did not persist in its opposition, for, besides the four quarto editions, I have seen four others in octavo, which, however, are without interest for us. See Brunet's Manuel du Libraire, under 'Gringoire.'
[334] This deplorable practice of removing the text from engravings, which was once rigourously followed in the Cabinet des Estampes at the Bibliothèque Nationale, injured the collection materially. There are many pieces of which neither the origin nor the meaning is known, because of the removal of the legends which formerly accompanied them.
[335] Number 3.
Number 9.
Number 10.
[336] On March 4, 1858, at the Lassus sale, I saw a complete set of the Labours of Hercules, without the verses.
[337] The earliest book in which I have seen it, excluding the Thesaurus latinæ linguæ of 1536, and the Dictionarium Latino-Gallicum of 1538, which was a sequel to the first, and in which it was necessarily used (I saw these two books at M. Didot's), is a quarto pamphlet, published in 1537, on the occasion of the discussions between François I and Charles V, entitled: Exemplaria litterarum, etc.
[338] Later, Estienne had other floriated letters engraved at Tory's establishment, carried on by his widow. But the G was not then chosen to receive the artist's mark. See infra, under 1551.
[339] [These letters and friezes appear in the Works of Justin Martyr printed by Estienne in 1541, from which they are reproduced for this volume—some of the letters on pp. 190 and 191, and the friezes at the beginning of the Printers' Preface, and of the three sections of the Iconography.]
[340] Papillon, who saw Woeiriot everywhere, says on page 509 of the additions to his first volume: 'Champ fleury is filled with woodcuts by Woeiriot,—among others several capital letters with nude human figures for their limbs, and several vignettes about three inches by two and a half, simply in outline, with the cross of Lorraine in every corner.' As a matter of fact there are very few Lorraine crosses on the engravings of Champ fleury.
[341] [Reproduced on the title-page of the present volume.]
[344] See supra, p. 1. Neither this engraving nor those last mentioned are found in the octavo edition of Champ fleury.
[346] In the octavo edition it was found to be impossible to have the two parts face each other, so that Apollo's chariot is cut in two.
[349] This cut does not appear in the octavo edition. It is reproduced on p. 21, supra [where it is said to be on 43 recto].
[350] [One of these is reproduced on this page.]
[352] [Reproduced on the following page.]
[354] This alphabet, which Tory used in several of the books printed by him, as I have already stated, was replaced by a different one in the octavo edition of Champ fleury.
[358] Lutetiæ, sumptibus Ægidii Gormontii, studio Joannis Cheradami, labore et industria Petri Vidovœi.
[359] This engraving was used later as a model for a magnificent plate placed at the beginning of the Tableaux des arts libéraux de Christophe de Savigny, published in 1587, in folio, by Jean and François de Gourmont, sons of Gilles. See my Les Estienne, p. 63, note.
[361] Not all of the engravings are signed; but, as I have not been able to inspect the volume, which was a part of the Boorluut library of Noortdonck, sold at Ghent in April, 1858, I am obliged to resort to the words of the compiler of the catalogue of that sale, my confrère M. Vander-Meersch, who has kindly furnished me since with some more detailed information (albeit less complete than I could have wished), after the volume was sent to England. M. Boorluut had paid 1 franc 50 centimes for the volume, which was sold to a London bookseller, Mr. Toovey, on April 19, 1858, for 270 francs. I wrote to him asking for details concerning it; but, in accordance with the not over-courteous English custom, he did not choose to tell me for whom he had purchased the book, so that I have been unable to obtain more ample information.
[362] I am not informed whether these cuts appear in Hore Marie Virginis ad usum Sarum, 1532, or in The Prymer of Salisbury, 1534, both of which were printed at the same establishment.
[366] See what I have had to say of this book, pp. 128-129, supra; also, p. 218, infra, under the Hours of 1541, where we find these same borders, called 'à la moderne,' together with the plates of the Hours of 1529, described on p. 125, supra; which leads me to think that these same plates appeared in the octavo edition now under consideration. See also no. 1 of the year 1536 (p. 208, infra), which is a sort of link between the editions of 1531 and 1541.
[368] Revue Universelle des Arts, Sept. 1857 (vol. v, no. 3, p. 517).
[369] I saw this volume at M. Potier's book-shop in 1865; it is a 16mo, illustrated with a large number of fascinating engravings which would assuredly do much honour to Tory. I freely admit that François Gryphe was a pupil of our artist, but that is all. I do not understand why M. Renouvier attributes to Tory a small plate of no interest, when the privileges expressly attribute all the engravings to Gryphe.
[370] Brunet, Manuel du Libraire, 5th edition, vol. v, col. 1660, no. 328. The line engravings are doubtless those of the 16mo Hours of 1529 (see p. 125 supra). As for the borders, which M. Brunet does not mention, I imagine that they are the same that I spoke of on p. 128. But see no. III, under the year 1541 (infra, p. 218).
[371] Thesaurus antiquitatum romanarum, etc., a J. C. Grævio; folio, Utrecht, 1697. M. Olivier Barbier, sub-manager of the Bibliothèque Nationale, owns the copy of the original edition which was used for this reprint. It contains not only the additions that were made, but also directions, in Dutch, concerning the size of the copper-plates, etc.
[372] See vol. vi, col. 562.
[373] Another edition of this book was published by the same printers and with the same woodcuts, in 1545.
[374] Sometimes, too, the colourist has substituted for the printed date that at which he did his work. I have seen several cases of such substitution.
[375] Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal.
[377] The title-page of this rare volume reads: Missale ecclesie Parisiensis denuo ab aliquot ejusdem ecclesie canonicis ac doctoribus theologis ad id a reverendiss. do. Joan. de Bellayo ... delegatis.... Then follows Merlin's mark, signed with the Lorraine cross. In addition to 8 preliminary leaves this volume contains: Calendarium temporale, signatures a to v; Sanctorale, A to M; Commun., A to E, gothic; etc. The first page of the text is in a border which has the Eternal Father at the top, four popes at the sides, and at the foot the mark of the widow Iolande Bonhomme, with the unicorns. The volume was probably published about 1540.
[378] See p. 204, supra. A copy of this frieze—a slavish imitation—in which even the Lorraine cross is reproduced, appears in a Flemish Bible, folio, printed at Antwerp in 1556 (Bibliothèque Nationale).
[379] Annales des Estienne, 3d edition, p. 49.
[380] The cross is not very distinct on the copies of 1540, but, strangely enough, it is perfectly clear on those of 1546.—These engravings, like the frieze on the title-page, have been copied by other printers. Such copies may be found in a Bible published at Lyon in 1550, by Sébastien Honorat, and in another published in 1554 by Jean de Tournes. We find them also in a Bible published at Paris in 1586 by Sébastien Nivelle and Gabriel Buon, etc., etc.
[381] See concerning this book, the Revue des Sociétés Savantes, vol. v, pp. 624 ff. The author's name was Milles. Some information concerning him is given in the Revue.
[383] I have seen it bound with a book of Hours published by Kerver in 1556: M. Portalis's copy.
[384] It has since been sold at auction.
[387] Renouvier, Des Types, etc., 16th century, p. 168.
[388] The Bibliophile Français (April 15, 1865) mentions an edition of this book, with the date of 1557. I regret that I was not aware of it before the above paragraph was printed, as I should have cited that edition in preference to that of 1575. However, it is unimportant, as the two editions are identical except in the order of the plates, which differs slightly.
[389] Neither the edition of 1557 nor that of 1575 was known to M. Choulant, who published a curious monograph concerning works with anatomical figures. (Geschichte ... der anatomischen abbildung; quarto, Leipzig, 1852.)
[390] These explanations are printed, in movable type, in cartouches inserted for that purpose. The type is different in all four of the editions known to me.
[392] I have seen this engraving in a fragment of a book of Hours, printed in Roman type at a date which I cannot fix although it was contemporaneous. This fragment consists of signatures Aa and Bb (a half-signature), that is, 12 leaves, numbered 185 to 196. Signature Aa begins (folio 185) with a title-page printed in red, in these words: 'Die dominica ad vesperas. Psalmus.' The engraving in question is below them. The last page of Bb ends with the word 'finis,' which proves that the book had but 25 signatures.
[393] Or, better, Purgatory. In an octavo collection at the Bibliothèque Mazarine, there is a little book entitled: 'Le Purgatoire prouvé par la parole de Dieu' (octavo; Paris, Denis Basset, 1600), in which this engraving, signed with the Lorraine cross, appears twice; it represents a nude man standing in the flames, with this legend in a scroll: 'Constitvas mihi tenrvs' (tempvs?) 'in qvo recorderis mei.'
[394] Such is my opinion; but I am bound to say that M. Achille Devéria, formerly Conservator of the Department of Engravings, was of the opposite opinion. According to him the unsigned engravings were copies of the others. It seems to me that the dates of printing confirm my theory. For we find the unsigned engravings in an edition of 1522; so that we must refer those with the cross to an earlier date; but this seems hardly probable, since Louis Royer (to whom they are attributed, as we shall see, because he was the first to use them) succeeded Jean de Brie, who did not die until about 1522.
[395] Manuel du Libraire, 5th edition, vol. v, col. 1672, no. 366 bis.
[397] [Jean Cousin was born in 1501, and died at Sens about 1590.]
[398] Renouvier, Des Types, etc., Seizième siècle, p. 162.
[400] That is, having immediate reference to the bearer's name.
[401] [Reproduced on the opposite page.]
[403] Bibliothèque Nationale.
[404] The copies in Sertenas's name bear a very curious mark, which is reproduced in M. Silvestre's book, nos. 221 and 714.
[407] This portrait was engraved on copper, in 1556, by Woeiriot, printed separately, and pasted on the recto of the second leaf of Le Duaren's works, printed at Lyon in 1558 by Guillaume Rouille, in folio; on some copies Woeiriot's engraving of Le Duaren's portrait is replaced by the one engraved by Georges Ghisy, called the Mantuan. See Robert-Dumesnil, Peintre-graveur français, vol. vii, p. 109, no. 282.
[408] See, too, the article on Le Duaren in the Biographie Universelle.
[410] These letters had already appeared in a book published by Robert Estienne in 1549.
[411] This frieze in 1561 came into the possession of the second Robert Estienne, who used it in a book entitled: Ordonnances de M. le duc de Bouillon pour le règlement de la justice de ses terres. Small folio, 1568.
[413] Bibliothèque Nationale.
[415] [The author forgets that he has listed two engravings on folio 59, one on each side of the leaf.]
[416] Bibliothèque Nationale.
[417] [The inscription would seem to prove, on the contrary, that the engraving was made] two years earlier, or in 1551.
[418] Vol. ii, folios 936 recto, 948 verso, and 994 recto. This work of Thevet's must not be confounded with that geographer's Cosmographie du Levant, the fruit of an earlier journey, two editions of which had been published at Lyon, in 1554 and 1556, by Jean de Tournes, in quarto, with engravings in the text.
[419] See the details of this voyage of Thevet given by M. Ferdinand Denis in a letter printed at the beginning of a work by M. Demersay, entitled: Études économiques sur l'Amérique; 8vo, 1851.
[420] We shall see in the next paragraph that a reprint of it was issued in April, 1558.
[422] This sign was retained by Thomas Perier, Charles's son. See Silvestre, Marques Typographiques, no. 386.
[423] Péché [sin].
[424] I have previously had occasion to comment upon the extraordinary custom that formerly prevailed in the Cabinet des Estampes of removing from engravings, etc., every sort of extraneous matter. It is impossible to measure the extent to which this custom has impaired the value of the collection. Unfortunately it is followed by most collectors of prints, who sometimes destroy a very valuable and unique volume for no other purpose than to preserve an engraving unaccompanied by text.
[425] We find some features of it in the frieze engraved by Tory for the Bible published by Robert Estienne in 1532. See p. 202, supra.
[426] This collection was sold in January, 1846, and the plate in question was purchased, for about 2000 francs, for M. Cambacérès, Grand Master of Ceremonies in the Imperial household, who now owns it [1857]. This is what M. Baron says of it in his sale catalogue, no. 445: 'This important piece, in the most perfect preservation, merits the attention of collectors by virtue of its value and its rarity.' There is a copy also in the Cabinet of Geneva.
[427] According to the catalogue quoted in the last note, the reverse of the plate also is embellished with arabesques.
[428] Brother of the first-named Jean.
[430] And not August 20, as it has sometimes been printed.
[431] The 'Avis au lecteur' is by him.
[432] [According to the list there are 11.]
[433] [According to the list only 14.]
[435] See infra, § III, 'Le Coq.'