[288] [On this subject M. Renouvier says (Des Types et des Manières des Maîtres Graveurs, xvie siècle, 1854, p. 167): 'We cannot attribute it [the double cross] to Geoffroy Tory exclusively, for we find it on many woodcuts which cannot be his.']
[289] This should cause no surprise: the idea of property, in respect to artistic productions, is altogether modern. The first engravers signed almost nothing; it was not until the sixteenth century that they marked their works with special emblems, and even then it was not so much with the object of assuring themselves a monopoly in them, as with that of making themselves known to persons who might require their services for other works. Little by little this species of advertisement became an effective muniment of title,—in the natural order of things. It was the same with works of the mind. Not until quite a late period were scholars and other men of letters able to derive any profit from their works. In the early days of printing, even, a printer who proposed to reprint a book did not consider himself bound to obtain the author's consent. From the moment that he made his book public, it was regarded as a treasure belonging to society at large.
[290] Hours in quarto in the Bibliothèque Nationale (Brunet, Manuel de Libraire, 5th ed. vol. v, col. 1623, no. 197). There is also an edition of 1525 (ibid., no. 198), and one much later, but lacking the first and last leaves. M. Silvestre owns an octavo edition of 1530.
[291] Des Types, etc., xvie siecle, p. [167], note.
[292] MM. A. Devéria, Robert-Dumesnil, and J. Renouvier have all died since the first edition of this book.
[293] See Brunet, Manuel de Libraire, 5th edition, article Cosmographia.
[294] Beaupré, Notice bibliographique sur les livres liturgiques des diocèses de Toul et de Verdun, 8vo, 1843, p. 16.
[295] Infra, § 2; 1521-1522 (p. 175).
[296] Manuel, etc., 5th edition, vol. ii, col. 1186.
[297] Essai sur la gravure sur bois, col. 147 and 150.