I. HORÆ IN LAUDEM BEATISSIMÆ VIRGINIS MARIÆ, AD USUM ROMANUM.—Parisiis, apud Simonem Colinæum, 1543.
Large quarto of 44 sheets, in 22 signatures of 2 sheets, encartées, A to Y. On the verso of the title-page is a table of Easter-Days from 1543 to 1566; then comes the calendar, which fills the next six sheets. There are in the text fourteen large engravings, with a special border:—
1. St. John writing his Gospel (which begins on the following leaf). He is gazing at the Virgin, who appears to him in the sky, holding the Child Jesus.
2. Jesus betrayed by Judas.
3. The Salutation, with this device in French: 'Fait ce que tu vouras avoir fait quant tu moras.' ['Do what thou wouldst have done when thou diest.']
4. The Visitation (signed).
5. The Birth of Jesus.
6. The Annunciation to the Shepherds (with the date 1537).
7. The Adoration of the Magi (signed).
8. The Circumcision (signed).
9. The Flight into Egypt.
10. The Death of Mary (signed).
11. Jesus on the Cross (signed).
12. The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles (signed).
13. The Penance of David (signed).
14. Jesus restoring Lazarus to life.
All the pages are enclosed in borders, but the latter are of two sorts:—
1. Eight complete borders, that is to say, thirty-two compartments, in simple line-engraving as in the Hours of 1524-1525. A single one of these eight is signed; but they are all by the same artist. They bear the dates of 1536, 1537, 1539, in little scrolls of the sort to which Tory was so much addicted. These dates preclude our attributing these engravings to himself, but they evidently came from his establishment which was then conducted by his widow. One of these borders appears in a book published in 1542: 'Rodolphi Agricolæ ... de inventione dialectica, libri III,' etc. 4to, Paris, Simon de Colines.
2. There are also eight complete borders, or thirty-two compartments, engraved in black in an entirely different style, alternating with those engraved in line. [Four of them are reproduced in this volume, on the pages bearing the Author's Preface.] They are in niello, are neither signed nor dated, and I doubt whether they came from Tory's workshop, although we shall see that he engraved some similar ones for Jean de Tournes. In any event their inclusion in this book, side by side with the borders and drawings engraved in line, seems to me in wretched taste which would have disgusted our artist.
We find also in this book some beautiful ornamental letters in the criblé style, which may be Tory's.
The book was reprinted in 1549, in the same form, by Renaud and Claude Chaudière, successors to Simon de Colines.
II. In the same year 1543, Simon de Colines published another book of Hours, octavo, which seems to be a smaller edition of the one I have just described. Like that one, it is composed of 22 signatures, A to Y.
The title-page reads: HORÆ IN LAUDEM DEI AC BEATISSIMÆ VIRGINIS MARIÆ AD USUM ROMANUM, UNA CUM CALENDARIO RECENS [sic] EMENDATO. This within a portico-shaped border, at the top of which is the name Simon de Colines. At the foot of the page: 'Parisiis, apud Simonem Colinæum.—1543.'
As in the quarto Hours of the same date the borders of the text pages are arabesques of two styles, some in line and the others in black; and the drawings, to the number of 13, are set in a special border. Some of these borders bear the date 1537, and one of them has the name Simon de Colines in full, which proves that the engravings were executed for him. A list of the drawings follows; only one of them is signed, but all seem to be the work of Tory.
The only copy of this book that I know of formerly belonged to the late M. Renouvier, of Montpellier, who showed it to me in 1858. It lacks ten leaves immediately following the title-page, which leaves undoubtedly contained the calendar.
1537
I. LES ANGOISSES ET REMEDES DAMOUR DU TRAVERSEUR EN SON ADOLESCENCE (Jean Bouchet).
Quarto, gothic type, printed at Poitiers, January 8, 1536 (1537, new style), by Jean and Engilbert de Marnef. The privilege is dated November 15, 1536.
There are two woodcuts signed with the Lorraine cross: the printers' mark, on the first page; and, at the end of the preliminary pages, an engraving representing a man in a long robe engaged in writing; facing him and below him are four persons, also in robes, from whom he is apparently deriving his inspiration. Near these latter, at the left, is a woman holding a light.[373]
II. LE JUGEMENT POETIC DE L'HONNEUR FEMININ ... PAR LE TRAVERSEUR (Jean Bouchet).
At the end are these words: 'Imprimé à Poictiers le premier d'avril M. D. XXXVIII, par Jean et Engilbert de Marnef, freres.' This volume, which is arranged like that last described, contains eleven engravings, five of which are signed with the double cross.
Folio A 5 verso. A large plate representing the author presenting his book to François I. The King is seated on his throne and surrounded by his court. (Signed at the left.)
Folio B 1 recto. A meeting of the Parliament of Paris. (Signed at the right.)
Folio B 4 recto. Fame announcing the demise of Louise de Savoie, mother of François I. (Signed at the left.)
Folio B 7 recto. Mercury on his way to the field of Truth; below, Charon in his boat. (Not signed.)
Folio C 1 verso. The field of Truth. Four persons, of whom three are seated in a sort of thicket; and above them, a château. (Signed in the centre.)
Folio C 7 verso. The deceased (Louise de Savoie), her head encircled by a wreath and holding in her right hand a bunch of flowers. (Signed at the right.)
Folio D 3 recto. Fortune holding a wheel in one hand, and a standard in the other. (Not signed.)
Folio D 6 verso. Repetition of C 7.
Folio E 5 verso. Mercury, with the caduceus in his hand, speaking to a man in a robe, and pointing out a palace to him. (Not signed.)
Folio E 7 recto. A large hall adorned with statues. (Not signed.)
Folio L 8 verso. A winged personage, wrapped in a cloak, and having eyes in his hands and feet. (Not signed.)
At the end of the volume the mark of the Marnefs. (Signed.)
1538
MISSAL OF PARIS, 1539; folio. The Lorraine cross on two large folio plates, one of which, dated 1538, represents God the Father seated on his throne, his head surrounded by a halo; he is dressed like the Pope; over his head, a triangular pediment. The other, not dated, represents Christ on the Cross; the Blessed Virgin and St. John are standing at his sides, and this inscription is printed in a semicircle over the cross: 'Absit michi gloriari nisi in crvce D[omi]ni n[ost]ri Jesvs Christi.'
These two subjects, which are often found in collections, sometimes on paper and sometimes on vellum, sometimes black and sometimes coloured (the mark and the date very often disappear under the colours[374]), were first printed, so far as my knowledge goes, in the Missal of Paris, published in 1539 by Thielman Kerver's widow. There follows a description of this priceless volume, of which I know but one copy in Paris.[375] It is entitled: 'Missale ad usum Ecclesiæ Parisiensis, noviter impressum, et emendatum per deputatos a reverendissimo domino Johanne de Bellayo, Parisiensi episcopo,' etc. Then comes Thielman Kerver's usual mark, and below: 'Prostat Parisiis in vico divi Jacobi, apud Iolandam Bonhomme, vidue spectati viri Thielmanni Kerver, ad signum Unicornis, ubi et excusum fuit, anno Domini M. D. XXXIX.'
This work makes a large folio volume, printed in red and black, in gothic type, with a large number of unsigned engravings in the text. These engravings are of three sorts,—(1) floriated letters on a black ground; (2) small drawings of the same size, but of a very graceful renaissance type; (3) drawings of octavo size, which were commonly used by Thielman Kerver's widow in the books of Hours published by her, and of which I have already had occasion to speak.[376]
The two large drawings signed with the Lorraine cross face each other in signature V, in the second part of the book, where the pagination is discontinued. They have been reprinted several times in other editions of the same book. I will mention particularly the edition, undated, published in the name of Guillaume Merlin, bookseller, a copy of which is in the Bibliothèque Mazarine[377]; that of 1543, at the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève; that of 1559 (all published by Iolande Bonhomme or her son Jacques Kerver); and lastly a Missal of Cluny, of which I shall speak later.
Although these books are printed on paper, the plates in question are always printed on vellum in editions of the sixteenth century; but this precaution was neglected in later centuries.
1538-1540
Latin Bible in two folio volumes, bearing the dates 1538, 1539, 1540. Paris, Robert Estienne. The word 'Biblia' appears on the title-page in a scroll signed with the Lorraine cross, of which I have already had occasion to speak, under the date of 1532, and which appears in others of Robert Estienne's books.[378] The second title follows: 'Hebræa, chaldæa, græca et latina nomina ... restituta cum latina interpretatione.' This has led some bibliographers to assume, erroneously, that the book was a polyglot affair. It is printed throughout in Latin; there are simply a few Hebrew words in the dissertation to which the second title in question applies, and which is printed in the second volume, with a title-page of its own, dated 1538. The New Testament, also in the second volume, is dated 1539, not 1540, as M. Renouard mistakenly says.[379] The Bible alone, that is to say, the first volume and the beginning of the second, bears the date 1540. In each part we find Robert Estienne's large mark, signed with the Lorraine cross. The first volume contains also eighteen magnificent engravings representing the Tabernacle of Moses, Solomon's Temple, etc., executed under the direction of François Vatable, Royal Professor of Hebrew Literature. The Lorraine cross appears on the large plate of the camp of the Israelites, on folio 35; but I dare not upon this evidence alone attribute all the other engravings to Tory.[380] In any event the floriated letters used in the book are certainly Tory's, for we find the designs mentioned by him in his 'Champ fleury.' It is a fact worth noting that these letters seem to have been cast, or, at least, reproduced by stereotyping, for they are often repeated on the same page, without the slightest change in the design.
The Bibliothèque Nationale has a superb copy of this book on vellum, with the arms of François I. It was reprinted in the same shape by Robert Estienne in 1546, and by his son Henri in 1565. In this last edition, printed at Geneva, we no longer find the two small drawings which appear, with the frieze, on the title-page of the edition of 1532. (See p. 204, supra.) The frieze in this later form appears in other books of the Estiennes. I have seen it in a folio Xenophon printed for Fugger.
1540-1548
AMADIS DE GAULE, French translation by Nic. de Herberay, Seigneur des Essarts, for the first eight books; first edition printed between 1540 and 1548, by Denis Janot, for the booksellers, Vincent Sertenas, Estienne Groullau, and Jean Longis. Folio, with engravings.
I have seen only two of these engravings signed with the Lorraine cross, but several others seem to have come from the same workshop. The great majority of them, however, are of another make. The two that are signed are: (1) Book II, chap. 2, a large plate representing a sort of temple. A man armed cap-à-pie under a portico. At the right are shields hanging upon posts; at the left, a man kneeling on the ground, holding a naked sword in the air with his right hand, and another hand grasping it. This represents a scene from the 'Île Ferme.' (2) Book VI, chap. 56, a small plate representing four persons on horseback near a château in front of which stands an armed man. This cut does not seem to have any connection with the subject, and may well have been taken from another older work.
There is a copy of this book on vellum in the Bibliothèque Nationale.
1541
I. PRAXIS CRIMINIS PERSEQUENDI, ELEGANTIBUS ALIQUOT FIGURIS ILLUSTRATA, JOANNE MILLÆO ... AUCTORE.
Folio; Paris, Simon de Colines, 1541. Some copies have on the title-page only the names of the brothers Arnould and Charles les Angeliers. (Bibliothèque Nationale.)
There are in this book thirteen large folio cuts, besides the frontispiece. A single one, the seventh, is signed, but all are by the same hand. Following is a description of them, or, rather, a brief list; for a description would lead us into too minute details:[381]—
There is at the Bibliothèque Nationale a magnificent copy of this book on vellum, with the arms of France in miniature on the verso of the title-page.
II. THE FIRST VOLUME OF THE CATHOLIQUES ŒUVRES ET ACTES DES APOSTRES, by Simon de Greban; followed by the MYSTERE DE L'APOCALYPSE, by Louis Choquet. Printed for Arnould and Charles les Angeliers, May 27, 1541. 'On les vend en la grand salle du Palais, par Arnould et Charles les Angeliers freres.' Folio; Paris, 1541.
This work is embellished with engravings, of which only one is signed with the Lorraine cross. This one, which is on folio I recto of the Acts of the Apostles, represents the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles. It is enclosed in a border, of octavo size, and belongs to a series of engravings for a book of Hours published by Guillaume Merlin in 1548.[382] The engraver's mark is in a small circle at the left of the foot of the border. Beside it is an angel holding two shields in which are the letters G. M. (Guillaume Merlin). The frontispiece of the Acts of the Apostles has a border in which is the date 1537. The same border surrounds the frontispiece of the Mystery of the Apocalypse, but there it is without the date. This last-named portion of the volume contains 13 engravings and a border, in Tory's style, but without the Lorraine cross. One of them bears the letters P. R. There is a copy at the Bibliothèque Nationale.
III. HOURS OF THE VIRGIN, octavo, in roman type, but with the borders 'à la moderne' described on page 128, supra.
This book, printed by Olivier Mallard in 1541, was copied doubtless from the edition made by Tory about 1531, which I have been unable to examine. Mallard's edition, of which I have seen a copy on vellum, belonging to M. Émilien Cabuchet, the painter, and another on paper, consists of twenty-three octavo signatures, A to Y. The title-page reads; HORÆ IN LAUDEM BEATISSIM. VIRGINIS MARIÆ, AD USUM ROMANUM. (Here the Pot Cassé.) Parisiis, apud Oliverium Mallardum, sub signo Vasis Effracti, 1541. The last page, on which is printed a curious 'prescription against the plague,' ends thus: 'Excudebat Parisiis Oliverius Mallard, bibliopola regius, sub signo Vasis Effracti.'...
In this edition there are 16 different borders; each leaf has the same border on both recto and verso. There are also 16 of the engravings of the sixteenmo Hours of 1529, those not reproduced being nos. 1, 19 and 21 of that edition.
The word 'Rom.' printed on the first page of each signature leads me to believe that Mallard published at the same time, in the same format, an edition of Hours 'ad usum Parisianum,' but I have found no trace of such an edition.
After Olivier Mallard's death, which occurred, as I have said heretofore, in 1542, his typographical outfit seems to have been acquired by Thielman Kerver II (son of the first Thielman and Iolande Bonhomme, who lived, as did his father before him, on Rue Saint-Jacques); for he published in 1550 a book of Hours similar to that printed in 1541 by Mallard. It contains the same borders and the same drawings, but in a different arrangement. The borders have been lengthened by means of a most ungraceful addition to the side-pieces; as for the drawings in two parts, no pains has been taken to place the parts facing each other, so that their meaning would be uncertain if we had no other editions of the engravings. In fine, this book is very imperfect. It consists of twenty-two and a half signatures, A to Y. The title-page reads thus:—
HORÆ IN LAUDEM BEATISSIMÆ VIRGINIS MARIÆ AD USUM ROMANUM. (Here the mark of Thielman Kerver, with the Lorraine cross.) 'Parisiis, apud Thielmannum Kerver, vico sancti Jacobi, sub signo Cratis. M.D.L.' The book closes with the curious 'prescription' found in Olivier Mallard's edition of 1541, which is in these words: 'Approbatissima medicina contra pestem.—Recipe quantum potes de amaritudine mentis contra peccata commissa, cum vera cordis contritione, potius libram quam unciam. Hæc misceantur cum aqua lacrymarum, et facies vomitum per puram confessionem. Deinde sumas illud sacratiss. electuarium corporis Christi, et tutus eris a peste.'
The book is printed in red and black. I have seen a copy on paper at M. Potier's bookshop. There is an imperfect copy at the Bibliothèque Mazarine, and a perfect one at Sainte-Geneviève.
About the same time there was published a small duodecimo volume of four signatures, in French, with the same borders. It begins thus: 'Here follows the method of receiving the blessed sacrament devoutly.' It is like the book last-described except that it is printed in only one colour, and that it is a little longer and wider.[383] To lengthen the borders, sections have been added to them. It is most peculiar that a duodecimo volume should be larger than an octavo, but the fact is unquestionable: formats were already beginning to increase in size. Near the end of the book is a little treatise with this heading: 'Here follows a devout meditation as to the manner in which thou shouldst ordain and arrange the whole day,' etc. And after that: 'The life of Madame Sainte-Marguerite, with prayer to be said for women pregnant and in travail.'
This book is in the Bibliothèque Mazarine, in the same collection as the last. It contains four small engravings, of which only one seems to me to belong to Tory: it is the Christ on the Cross, which appears in the quarto Hours of 1542, now to be described.
1542
I. Hours, according to the Roman use, quarto, in Latin, published by Olivier Mallard in 1542. This rare volume, of which I know only one copy, belonging to M. Aerts, of Metz,[384] who himself kindly brought it to me at Paris, is a reproduction of the Hours printed by Tory in 1531; the type, however, is smaller. It consists of nineteen signatures of two quarto sheets encartées, signatures A to T. The title-page reads: HORAE IN LAUDEM BEATISS. VIRGINIS MARIÆ AD USUM ROMANUM. OFFICIUM TRIPLEX.—Parrhisiis, apud Oliverium Mallard, impressorem Regium. The rest is as in the edition of 1531. On the last page: 'Parrhisiis, ex officina Oliverii Mallard, Regii impressoris, Ad insigna Vasis Effracti. Anno salu. M. D. XLII. Mense Augusti.' Then come the two lines:—
The table of Easter-Days, on the verso of the title-page, goes from 1542 to 1571; then comes the calendar, in which the order of the edition of 1531 has been followed in the arrangement of the borders, although the type, being smaller, would have permitted the more regular arrangement of the edition of 1524-25.
The book is printed in two colours, except signatures B, C, and D, which are in black only—a most unusual state of things. The engravings are the same as those of the edition of 1531, but the floriated letters are different. The Passion, which begins on folio B 3 verso, is enriched by the small Christ on the Cross which we find in the Hours of 1529, but without the four additional subjects (bees, etc.), which there accompany it.[385] It is probable that some accident happened to the plate, and that only the Christ was saved. We find also in this volume, at the foot of the border, the crowned C of Queen Claude of France, who had then been dead about fifteen years.
The Lorraine cross, which had disappeared from several of the larger engravings as early as the edition of 1531, appears on almost none of them in that of 1542. For example, it has been expunged from the Birth of Jesus and the Circumcision. The only ones which retain it are the Visitation, the Crucifixion, and the Descent of the Holy Ghost. It remains on the borders also.
Signature E begins with a leaf the recto of which is blank, while on the verso is the angel of the Annunciation, as in the edition of 1531. The large plate, the Triumph of the Virgin Mary, is also included in this edition.
II. HORE BEATE MARIE VIRGINIS AD USUM FRATRUM PREDICATORUM ORDINIS SANCTI DOMINICI: FIGURIS UTRIUSQUE TESTAMENTI AC PERVENUSTIS IMAGINIBUS ET IIS QUIDEM NON PAUCIS, PASSIM DECORATE, ATQUE OFFICIO CONCEPTIONS IMMACULE VIRGINIS ET OFFICIO SANCTI DOMINICI IN ALIIS ORARIIS ACTENUS IMPRESSUS NEQUAQUE INSERTIS AD AUCTE. (Here the figure of St. Dominic holding an open book in his left hand, and in the right a staff with the cross at the end. At his feet lies a dog. The Lorraine cross is at the left.) Venundantur Parisiis, in edibus vidue spectabilis viri Thielmanni Kerver, in vico divi Jacobi, sub signo Unicornis, ubi et impresse.—M.D. XLII.'
Octavo; signatures A to X, and a to c: in all, 26 forms. The title-page engraving reappears on leaf R 4 verso. The others are not signed.
III. HEURES À L'USAGE DE TOUL: AU LONG SANS REQUERIR.
Octavo of 156 unpaged leaves. Calendar from 1541 to 1564. At the bottom of the last page are the words: 'Imprimé à Troyes chez Jean Lecoq.' Gothic type, printed in red and black.
The only copy of this book that I have seen is in the Bibliothèque Publique of Besançon. It has 30 engravings, including the printer's mark, which is on the title-page. The mark and three other engravings of the first series are signed with the Lorraine cross. A list of all the engravings follows:—
IV. DYALOGUE INSTRUCTOIRE DES CHRESTIENS EN LA FOY, ESPERANCE ET AMOUR DE DIEU COMPOSÉ PAR FRERE PIERRE DORÉ, DOCTEUR EN THEOLOGIE.... Imprimé nouvellement par Denys Janot, demourant en la rue Neufve Nostre Dame, à l'enseigne Sainct Jehan Baptiste, pres Saincte Geneviefve des Ardens.
Sixteenmo, 1542. On the verso of the title-page is an engraving signed with the Lorraine cross. It represents the Virgin standing on a crescent, holding the child Jesus in her arms, and surrounded by a halo. (Bibliothèque Nationale.)
1543-1544
SOMMAIRE DE CHRONIQUES, CONTENANS LES VIES, GESTES ET CAS FORTUITZ DE TOUS LES EMPEREURS D'EUROPE, etc. By J. B. Egnatius, translated by G. Tory.[386]
There were several other editions of these chronicles. M. Hippolyte Boyer mentions one of 1541, in his 'Histoire des Imprimeurs et Libraires de Bourges' (8vo, Bourges, 1854), p. 27; Antoine du Verdier, another, of 1543, in his Bibliothèque françoise. This much is certain—that M. Renouvier owned a copy, with illustrations, dated 1544. It is an octavo, 'for sale by Charles l'Angelier, in the "grand'salle du Palais."' It contains 112 leaves (signatures A to O), plus 4 unnumbered leaves. The engravings are of two sorts: the first represents an emperor on horseback, carrying a battle-axe; there is no mark, but it is engraved with much delicacy and distinguished by the little cartouches of which Tory was so fond; this figure is reproduced several times. The others are busts of emperors, roughly engraved, which cannot be Tory's. It may be noted that the edition published by Tory in 1530 contains no engravings.
1545
DE DISSECTIONE PARTIUM CORPORIS HUMANI, etc. By Charles Estienne. Folio, Simon de Colines, 1545.
There are in this book about sixty large anatomical plates. Five are signed with the Lorraine cross—folios 149, 150, 151, 154, 155. The last four bear also the name of Jollat, with the dates 1530, 1531, 1532. Here is what M. Renouvier has to say on the subject: 'Simon de Colines ... employed another wood-engraver of some note, Mercure Jollat, to whom Papillon attributed almost all of our gothic books of Hours. He should be reckoned only among the engravers of an altogether modernized manner. His name is written Iollat, the first letter in the zodiacal sign of Mercury, followed by the dates 1530, 1531, and 1532, and accompanied by the Lorraine cross, on four plates of Charles Estienne's book on the dissection of the human body, representing the cadaver in its skin and the cadaver with the skin removed. The drawing of the figures has been attributed, even by Brulliot, to Woeiriot; but it is really the work of the surgeon Estienne Rivière, who is named on the title-page and in the preface as the painter of the bones, ligaments, and all the anatomical details. His initials, S. R., appear on a tablet hanging from the branches of a tree in the first plate. The engraving, which varies considerably, would seem to be the work of different hands, or, at least, to have come from an establishment which practised diverse styles and which sometimes put forth work done by apprentices. The workmanship of the plates with Jollat's mark seemed to me more monotonous—not unskilful although less picturesque. I am not now passing upon their scientific merit, but upon their picturesque interest simply.'[387]
The inscription of Jollat's name on plates marked with the Lorraine cross seems, at first glance, quite hard to explain, especially with the general opinion concerning the former of these artists, based on Papillon's statements. But as the story of Jollat's work as an engraver still remains to be told, I think I may safely say that he simply designed the plates that bear his name in Charles Estienne's book, and that they were engraved by Tory, or, at least, in his workshop. We have seen, in fact, that Tory was Simon de Colines' favourite engraver. To be sure, M. Renouvier seems to be of opinion that all the plates were designed by Estienne Rivière, whence he concludes that the engraving is by Jollat; but this is a mistaken opinion, based on a sentence in the preface. Rivière, who was a friend of Charles Estienne, may have designed the majority of the plates in Charles Estienne's book, and yet not have designed all of them. Those signed Jollat evidently belong to that artist, who seems to have designed a number of them before the work was placed in Rivière's hands.
I am confirmed in my belief that Jollat was the designer of the plates in question by the fact that his name is always accompanied by the dates, and that those dates are not those of the engraving, which I propose to prove. There are only five plates signed with Jollat's name and with the Lorraine cross in the Latin edition of Charles Estienne's book, published by Simon de Colines in 1545. In the following year the same printer issued a French edition of this work, under the title, 'La Dissection des parties du corps humain' (folio, 1546), in which we find two additional plates so marked and dated 1532. Why did not these plates appear in the first edition, if they were engraved by Jollat?
But here is another fact even more conclusive. In 1575 the bookseller Jacques Kerver published a volume of engravings without text, entitled 'Les Figures et portraicts des parties du corps humain' (folio), in which we find not only the seven engravings with the cross, of the edition of 1546, but three others, also bearing Jollat's mark and the Lorraine cross, and dated 1533. Evidently these plates appeared in some earlier edition, unknown to me,[388] for it was not Kerver who had them engraved; he simply made use of the woodcuts of which he had become the owner. But why did they not appear in the edition of 1546? That is a matter easily explained.
Charles Estienne informs us in the preface to his book that the printing was well advanced in 1539, but that it was interrupted by a lawsuit. We give his own words in the French edition of 1546: 'All of which things were well-nigh finished in the year 1539, and almost so far as the middle of the third book printed, when, by reason of a suit that was begun, we were forced (to your great discontent, methinks) to lay aside this work and to desist from the completion thereof; for so long that in the mean time it has been possible for many others to invent new ideas touching this matter, and to make use at their will of many sheets filled with our writings; for it was not possible for the printer so closely to safeguard his book, so long suppressed, that some persons curious to learn of novel things might not take away some sheets, still uncorrected, and send them into Germany.'
Now let us see what was the cause of this suit. Charles Estienne does not inform us, but it has been disclosed by M. Ambroise Didot, in his 'Essai sur la Gravure.' The famous Vésale had published at Venice, in 1538, through the printer B. Vitalis, a treatise on anatomy, embellished with numerous plates, which was copied in several places, and notably in Paris, despite the privilege granted by the Republic. Later, wishing to issue a new and improved edition of his book, Vésale applied to Oporin, professor of Greek, and printer at Basle, to whom he sent his plates, which had been engraved at Venice by Calcar, a pupil of Titian. In 1543 Oporin finished printing this new edition, for which the author had, no doubt, obtained privileges from various sovereigns, especially from the King of France. This seems to be proved by the suit instituted against Charles Estienne. That is why the latter could not publish, in his edition of 1545, all the plates which he had had made, and which appeared only at intervals as the date of Vésale's privilege was left behind. As we have seen, he gives it to be understood in his preface that it was he who was robbed in Germany.
As this is a favourable opportunity, I will say a few words concerning Jacques Kerver's publication, of which I have never seen any mention,[389] but which is of great interest to us. It is a folio volume, containing 61 large plates besides a considerable number of small ones. There is no other text than the explanations printed on the plates,[390] and a brief note to the reader, which begins thus: 'Friend reader, seeing that medicine is not at all essential to preserve the health and to banish all diseases, which often, on slight occasion, assail us, and that anatomy, or the description of the parts of the human body, mainly serves us therein, I have determined not to fail to exhibit them to you here.' We give a description of those plates in the book which are of interest to us.
Plates which appear only in Kerver's volume.
1. The human body in its relation to the signs of the zodiac (folio A 2 verso). This bears Jollat's name, the date 1533, and the Lorraine cross.
2 and 3. The human body in its relation to the seven planets (folio A 3 recto and verso). These two bear the same marks as the preceding.
Plates which appear in the edition of 1546.
4. Skeleton seen from the left side (folio 11 of the edition of 1546, and A 3 verso of that of 1575). Jollat's name, the Lorraine cross, no date.
5. Skeleton seen from the right side (folio 11, 1546, folio A 5 verso, 1575). Jollat's name, the date 1532, and the Lorraine cross.
Plates which appear in all three editions.
6. Man flayed, front view (folio 149, 1545; folio 151, 1546; folio B 2 recto, 1575). The cross alone.
7. Man flayed, right side (folio 150, 1545; folio 152, 1546; folio B 2 verso, 1575). Jollat's name, the date 1532, and the Lorraine cross.
8. Man flayed, rear view (folio 151, 1545; folio 153, 1546; folio B 3 recto, 1575). The same marks as in the last case.
9. Man in his skin, front view (folio 154, 1545; folio 160, 1546; folio B 3 verso, 1575). The same marks as in the last case.
10. Man in his skin, rear view (folio 155, 1545; folio 161, 1546; folio B 5 recto, 1575). The same marks, with the date 1531.
Many others of the plates may belong to Tory, but as they are not marked, I shall not speak of them here.
Something analogous to what I have just described took place with reference to the engravings of Tory's Hours. Having become the property of the Kervers, as we have seen,[391] they were used by them for a long while. We shall mention later the octavo Hours published by Thielman II in 1550, 1552, and 1556, in which he utilized the woodcuts of the edition published by Olivier Mallard in 1541. His son Jacques did better than that: in 1574 he published a large octavo edition of the Hours of the Virgin, in which he used the woodcuts of the quarto editions issued by Tory himself in 1524 and 1527. As the crosses were removed in almost every instance, one might have some right to deny their source, were not the books published by Tory a half century before, at our hand to demonstrate it. Jacques Kerver's book being rare, and of a date subsequent to the period covered by my work, it seems to me that it may be well to give a bibliographical description of it, from the copy owned by M. Chedeau, which M. Potier, bookseller, has kindly furnished me.
'Officium beatæ Mariæ Virginis nuper reformatum et Pii V, pont. max., jussu editum.—Apud Jacobum Kerver, via Jacobea, sub insigni Unicornis.—1574.' Large octavo, with illustrations from the quarto edition published by Tory in 1524-1525, surrounded by borders taken from Tory's quarto edition of 1527, but reduced in size, mutilated, transposed, etc.
Here is a list of the plates:—
Number 8 is taken from the quarto Hours of 1527; but all the others are in the Hours of 1524-1525. Numbers 2 and 12 still bear the Lorraine cross.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Kervers printed also the quarto Hours (1531) which I mentioned on page 201, and in which we find the borders of the Hours of 1524-1525, and the porticoes of the opuscula of 1530-1531. The plates are not signed and cannot be Tory's, but as a list of them may assist in the discovery of this edition, I will mention here those which are at the Bibliothèque Nationale:—
1547
We place under this date three books of Hours which introduce us to certain engravings signed with the Lorraine cross accompanied by initials. 1547 is not the exact date of the engravings to which we refer, for we shall see that they are of earlier execution; but their first appearance is so uncertain that we are forced to fall back upon the definite date supplied by the books in question.
I. HOURS ACCORDING TO THE USE OF TOUL.
Octavo. On the first page: 'The present hours according to the use of Tou [sic], in full, sans requerir, newly printed at Paris.' (Here the mark of François Regnault.) 'For sale in Paris, Rue Saint Jacques, at the sign of the Elephant, opposite the Mathurins, by Françoys Regnault's widow.'
On the verso is a table of Easter-Days for thirteen years, beginning in 1547. Next comes a calendar, with engravings and verses (some in Latin, some in French), the 'Jours moralisez,' divers moral and religious axioms, in verse and in prose, and, lastly, the four Gospels of the Passion, in Latin. All these form the first part, with a special series of signatures, aa to ee. It is more than likely that this first part, which has no application to any particular diocese, is printed, in the same form, in the Hours which Veuve Regnault probably printed for other churches about the same time. In signatures cc and ee there is an engraving representing Jesus on the Cross, signed with the letters I, L, B and the Lorraine cross, which appears in several other publications of the same period.
The second part of the book comprises the Hours properly so-called, according to the ritual of the church of Toul. This part is made up of eight signatures, a to h, the word Tou being printed on the first page of each sheet.
The volume contains a hundred leaves in all. In addition to the bookseller's mark and the engraving signed with the Lorraine cross, there are 55 large woodcuts, most of which are signed with the initials I, M (without the cross), a few small engravings, and a large number of letters in grisaille, but no borders.
With a copy of these Hours, which I have seen, was bound the following work:—
'The fifteen effusions of the blood of our Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ, by Barbe Regnault, Rue Saint Jacques, at the sign of the Elephant, opposite the Mathurins.' Eight leaves in two octavo folds, enriched with fifteen pretty woodcuts, interspersed through the text, and marked, like the one mentioned above, which is one of them, with the letters I, L, B and the Lorraine cross.
This little volume is undated, but it is known that Barbe Regnault succeeded her mother, Madeleine Boursette, widow of François Regnault, who was carrying on the business as late as 1555. So that the engravings with the initials I, L, B might be of later date than that; but we have seen that one of them had already appeared in the first part of the book; therefore they are of earlier date than 1547.
Here is a list of these engravings, which are the same ones mentioned by M. Robert-Dumesnil under date of 1599:—
All of these are 4½ centimetres high and 5 wide.
The 'Fifteen Effusions' was reprinted frequently during the sixteenth century, in different formats and in different type, but with the same engravings, and almost always without date, because it was added to other books. I have, however, seen one copy in large type, dated 1584 (Bibliothèque Nationale). These same engravings appear, with many others, in a work entitled 'Abrégé des Méditations de la vie de Jésus-Christ'; octavo, Paris, Guillaume Chaudière, 1599.
II. HORE BEATE MARIE VIRGINIS AD USUM PARISIENSEM, TOTALITER AD LONGUM, CUM MULTIS ORATIONIBUS ET HISTORIIS, NOVITER IMPRESSE ET EMENDATE. (Here the Triumph of the Virgin, an old engraving with criblé background, with legends in gothic type, which figures in all the Hours of this period.) 'On les vend a Paris, en la rue Sainct Jacques, par la veufve Jehan de Brie, a l'enseigne de la Lymace, pres Sainct Yves.'
On the verso of the title, 'a calendar for XI years,' beginning with 1548. Each month has its engraving, and the usual illustration is placed within a circle; they are not signed.
Printed in red and black, in large gothic type, the work consists of 8 preliminary leaves and 16 folios of text, signatures A to Q, with the letters Pa (Paris). The folios do not begin until signature B, and run without a break to the end of signature Q. On the last page of this signature are these words: 'These present hours according to the use of Paris, with several noble eulogies of Our Lady, have been printed by Veufve Jehan de Brye [sic], living on rue sainct Jacques, at the sign of the Snail, near Sainct Yves.—M. D. XLVIII.'
Then follow 12 leaves of appendix, ending with a figure of the Virgin, over which are the words 'Nostre Dame de Lorette,' in roman capitals. At the foot of the page: 'Ave Sanctissima Maria,' etc. (5 lines in gothic type).
This curious volume is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale.
Besides the 12 small engravings of the calendar, there are several other small subjects, also unsigned, and 13 large ones with the letters L, R, and the double cross. These latter, which measure 10 centimetres in height and 7 in width, are as follows:—
1. St. John writing his Gospel.
2. The Annunciation.
3. The Visitation.
4. The Crucifixion.
5. The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles (with the initials, but without the cross).
6. The Birth of Jesus.
7. The Annunciation to the Shepherds.
8. The Adoration of the Magi.
9. The Circumcision.
10. The Coronation of the Virgin.
11. The Penance of David. He is saying to the Father Eternal these words, which are written in a scroll: 'I who have sinned.'[392]
12. The Last Judgement.[393]
13. Notre-Dame de Lorette.
As I have said heretofore (supra, p. 149), the first twelve of these are improved copies of other, unsigned engravings, belonging to Thielman Kerver I, which appear in many books published by him or by his widow, Iolande Bonhomme, at least as early as 1522,[394] and which we find again in the Paris missal published by their son Jacques in 1559.
M. Brunet[395] suggests a very plausible theory, to the effect that the engravings signed L. R. were executed by Louis Royer, who was in fact the first to use them, in a book of Hours entitled: 'Horæ beatæ Mariæ ad usum Rom.'; duodecimo, gothic type, with the mark of Jean de Brie, and the following words at the foot: 'Parisiis, impressum in vico Jacobi per Claudium Chevallon, impensis Ludovici Royer, librarii Parisiensis, in eodem vico commorante, ad insigne vulgariter dictum la Lymace.'
The book is not dated; but we see, on the one hand, that it was printed by Claude Chevallon, who died in 1542, and, on the other hand, that Louis Royer, at whose expense it was printed, had succeeded Jean de Brie at the sign of the Snail. Now, the latter died about 1522; so that it was between 1522 and 1542 that this book saw the light, and that the engravings with the letters L. R. first appeared.
We know nothing of this Louis Royer, whom Lottin does not mention. Nor do we know any more of Jean de Brie's widow, who seems to have succeeded Louis Royer. And, as if everything in this matter were fated to remain obscure, we find other octavo Hours according to the use of Rome, in French gothic type, undated, but with a calendar from 1568 to 1578, printed with the same woodcuts, and for sale 'at Paris, on Rue Saint Jacques, at the sign of the Snail'; with no other details. In the book we have described we find also:—
1. The Virgin and the Child Jesus (signed with the letters L. R. and the cross).
2. Jesus betrayed by Judas (same marks).
3. Jesus bearing his Cross (same marks).
4. Jesus on the Cross (same marks).
5. Jesus in the Tomb (same marks).
6. The Resurrection (same marks).
7. The Flight into Egypt (same marks).
8. Job (unsigned).
9. Jesus at Emmaüs (unsigned).
III. HEURES EN FRANÇOYS A L'USAIGE DE ROME, NOUVELLEMENT IMPRIMÉES À PARIS POUR GUILLAUME MERLIN. M. D. XLVIII.
Octavo, gothic type; printed in red and black. This book, which I saw at the sale of M. Chedeau's library, is illustrated with engravings, most of them signed with the Lorraine cross, to which the initials G. M. are sometimes added. They are 8 centimetres high by 55 millimetres wide. The list follows:—
1. Saint John writing his Gospel (unsigned).
2. The Annunciation (unsigned).
3. The Visitation (signed with the Lorraine cross and the initials G. M.).
4. The Nativity (signed with the Lorraine cross only).
5. The Annunciation to the Shepherds (the cross only).
6. The Adoration of the Magi (the cross only).
7. The Circumcision (the cross only).
8. The Flight into Egypt (unsigned).
9. The Coronation of the Virgin (the cross only).
10. The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles (signed with the letters G. M. and the Lorraine cross in a small circle).
11. Jesus on the Cross (the cross only).
12. Bathsheba (the cross only).
13. Job (the cross only).
We think that we can safely attribute the designing of these engravings to Guillaume Merlin, the publisher of this book of Hours. They must, at all events, be much earlier than 1548, for we have already seen one of them (no. 10) in a book of 1541 (supra, p. 217).
Guillaume Merlin also published about 1559 a book of Hours embellished with engravings signed with the Lorraine cross. It is entitled: 'Heures à l'usage de Romme' [sic], and is undated, but has a calendar from 1559 to 1570. It is a small octavo, printed in gothic characters, in red and black. At the end are the words: 'Printed by Jean Bridier.'
We find in this volume, which was in M. Chedeau's library, 12 engravings representing the twelve months of the year. Three of them are signed with the Lorraine cross, namely, January, May and December. The others have no mark. They are 10 centimetres high by 7 wide. On folio 62 verso is the Virgin holding the Child Jesus. She is within an aureole of flames, with her feet on a crescent.
1548
THEODORI BEZÆ VEZELII POEMATA. Paris, Conrad Bade, 1548.
Octavo of 100 pages printed in italic type. This is the first edition of this book and contains a portrait of Théodore de Bèze signed with the Lorraine cross. It is the oldest portrait that we know. Below it are the following verses, alluding to a laurel wreath which Théodore has in his hand:—