One of the most famous imprint-devices is that adopted by the Society of Printers of Venice in 1481 (Example [531]), about the time of the death of Nicholas Jenson, who is supposed to have originated the design. Various explanations have been given of the significance of this device, the most reasonable being that the globe and cross refers to the millennium, when, according to prophecy, God shall reign upon earth. The globe-and-cross symbol was frequently embellished with supplementary characters having other religious significance. The mark of Androw Myllar (Example [535]) contains a figure 4, which denoted the Supreme Being. People of antiquity frequently composed the name of the Deity in four letters. The globe in the Venetian device probably represented the earth, altho the fact that the earth was round was not common knowledge in the early days. The theory, however, was accepted by the educated priest and layman long before Columbus sailed, as he thought, for India.
The double-cross in the Roman church today is associated with the authority of an archbishop, and as a decorative form of the cross, extends back many centuries. The ornamental double-cross pictured in this connection was once the property of St. Waudru of Belgium, who died in 670. The double cross or Lorraine cross was used by Geofroy Tory as a small mark on his wood engravings (see lower left corner of the Tory mark in Example [536]).
EXAMPLE 536
Devices used by notable printers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
EXAMPLE 537
A colophon-imprint by D. B. Updike, from “Petrarch and His Masters,” 1907
EXAMPLE 538
The Lion of St. Mark appropriately adapted by Bruce Rogers to a book on Venetian life
