Italian printers' devices are very decorative and interesting, and may now be studied in Dr. Paul Kristeller's 'Die italienischen Buchdrucker- und Verlegerzeichen,' which gives nearly a complete collection of those in use before 1525, to the number of between three and four hundred. In the great majority of devices the ground is black, with a simple design, mostly including a circle and a cross, outlined in white. The mark of Bazalerius de Bazaleriis of Bologna and Reggio, taken from a copy of the Epistolae of Philelphus, printed by him in 1489, shows this class of design in almost its
simplest form. In that of Stephanus Guillireti, who printed at Rome from 1506 to 1524, we have the addition of a shield (the arms on which, unluckily, have not been identified) and floral sprays. These floral sprays become the chief feature in the design of Franciscus de Mazalis of Reggio, who printed from 1493 to 1504; though the initials, circle, and cross of the simpler devices are all retained. An even more beautiful example of this
class of mark was used by Egmont and Barrevelt, the printers of the Sarum Missal, who added to its attractiveness by the use of red ink, instead of black. Red ink also adds immensely to the effect of the well-known mark of Nikolaos Blastos, which occurs in a copy of the Commentary of Simplicius upon Aristotle, printed by Zacharias Kaliergos at Venice in 1499. The delicate tracery of this design is unsurpassed by any work of the time. The mark of Nicolaus Gorgonzola, who printed at Milan from 1504 to 1533, in its floral ornaments, is very similar in style to those of Mazalis and Egmont, but, as in the mark of Blastos, the cross and circle
have disappeared, and the name is set out in full, instead of by its initials.
Purely ornamental designs, of the styles illustrated in these five examples, form the majority among Italian devices, but more pictorial ones were by no means unknown. One of the best of these was that used by 'Simon de Gabiis dictus Bevilaqua,' who printed at Venice from 1485 to about 1512. Another good device is that of Ser Piero di Pacini of Pescia, the publisher of so many of the Florentine illustrated books. This consists of a crowned dolphin on a black ground, with sometimes a smaller device of a bird, placed on each side of it.