On folios 101 verso and 102 recto are certain astronomical figures, unsigned, which I dare not attribute to Tory; but I do not hesitate to attribute to him a large engraving on folio 182 verso. It represents Jesus in an aureole of flame. Below him is the sea; above him the Father Everlasting, blessing with the right hand, and holding in his left hand the globe surmounted by a cross. He is uttering these words which we read in a scroll: 'Hic est filius meus dilectus in quo mihi bene complacui.' This engraving, including its border, is .210 metre in height by .137 wide.
On the last page is a subscription in these words: MELDIS, IMPENSIS SIMONIS COLINAEI ANNO SALVTIS HVMANAE M. D. XXII. MENSE IVNIO.
Who printed this book? Not Simon de Colines, as La Caille said, and as Maittaire and Panzer have repeated after him, for the subscription means simply that the printing was done at his expense. One can understand, in truth, that Simon de Colines, who had at the time an extensive typographical establishment at Paris in full blast, could not leave that city to print a book at Meaux. Nor was it a local printer, for no other contemporary printing at Meaux is known; moreover, the mechanical execution of this volume, and the engravings with which it is embellished, prove that it did not come from a wretched provincial workshop.
In my opinion there is but one way of explaining this typographical enigma. It is this: Guillaume Briçonnet (second of the name), having been appointed Bishop of Meaux in 1518, took with him to that town his friend Lefèvre d'Etaples, to whom he entrusted the administration of his diocese. Etaples employed his leisure in writing various religious works, among others the Commentaries on the Gospels, which were finished in 1521. Wishing to have this bulky volume, which was of capital importance to him, printed under his own eyes, and being unable to leave Meaux, where he was detained by his duties, Lefèvre simply imported from Paris a portion of Simon de Colines's printing-office, with a small staff.[323] In this way he could not only superintend the printing of his book, but also lend a hand at need, after the example of many another scholar of that time who did not scorn to practise the printing art.
What I have said is a mere hypothesis, it is true; but this hypothesis is surrounded by circumstances which give it a powerful appearance of truth. In addition to what I have said above, I will say that the types of Lefèvre d'Etaples' book are the same as those used in an octavo printed at Paris by Simon de Colines in 1523,—a book which I have already cited and which I now have before me. It is entitled: 'Joannis Brucherii Trecensis Adagiorum ... ex Erasmicis chiliadibus excerptorum Epitome.' The title-page has a border signed with the Lorraine cross. More than that, the first ornamental letter in Etaples' book, which is an A on a criblé background, is also the first letter of the book of Johannes Brucherius; whence we see that the typographical material sent to Meaux returned to Paris immediately after Etaples' book was printed.
Doubtless that is why we have only one book dated at Meaux at that period; it might be, however, that advantage was taken of the momentary existence of this printing-office at Meaux to set up some trifling work, in 1521 or 1522; but that would not in any wise modify my conclusion.
II. Tory engraved also, at about the same time, for a printer at Troyes named Jean Lecoq, the title-page, in the shape of a border, of a 'Gradual'[324] of the Cistercian Order—a very large and handsome folio, printed at Troyes in 1521. This engraving is in the criblé style, with the double cross in white at the foot, on the right. At about the same time he engraved in the same style Jean Lecoq's mark, which appears at the end of the volume, and of which a reproduction may be seen in M. Silvestre's book, no. 875.
As this Gradual is very rare (only one copy of it is known to exist, which I have seen in M. Tross's collection) and very beautiful, I think it well to describe it. It is almost needless to say that it is printed in gothic type.
First of all, above the title there is a line printed in black:—