[*] We sometimes fear that Dr. Dibden's commendation of an overcharged back has produced a bad effect. It should be borne in mind that, when the doctor wrote, calf was the prevailing material employed in binding, and that of a light colour.
It remains to urge that particular attention be paid to the lettering of books being their right titles, as the contrary will present to the judicious an effect the most disagreeable, and may be the cause of producing dissatisfaction with the whole of the binding in the mind of the owner; and also to avoid the contrast which the different shade or colour of new lettering-pieces will give to some bindings.
As it is requisite that the workman should form an idea of the style and design to be executed on the volume before he prepares it for gilding, we will proceed to point out the peculiarities of some of the most prominent styles and of the tools required to produce them. We hope to convey a faithful idea of the latter with the aid of the tools and ornaments executed expressly for this work by Gaskill, Copper & Fry, bookbinders' tool-cutters, Philadelphia, who have secured for themselves, by their taste and skill, an enviable reputation as artists. Plate I. contains an illustration of the species of ornament termed
THE ALDINE STYLE,
Which derives its name from a noted printer named Aldus Manutius, a Roman by birth, who was born in the year 1446 or 1447. His Christian name, Aldus, was a contraction of Theobaldus; and to this surname he sometimes added the appellation of Pius, or Bassianus, or Romanus. The first of these appellatives was assumed by Aldus from his having been the tutor of Albertus Pius, a prince of the noble house of Carpi; and the second was derived from the birthplace of the printer—namely, Bassian, a small town in the Duchy of Lermonetta.
Aldus is supposed to have taken up his residence at Venice, as the favourite city wherein to mature his plans, about the year 1488; and about 1494-95 he there put forth the first production of his press. He introduced Roman types of a neater cut than had previously been in use, and invented that beautiful letter which is now known as Italic, though, in the first instance, it was termed Venetian, from Manutius being a resident of Venice when he brought it to perfection; but, not long after, it was dedicated to the State of Italy, to prevent any dispute that might arise from other nations claiming a priority, as was the case concerning the first inventor of printing.
Prior to the time of Aldus, the only points used in punctuation were the comma, colon, and full-point or period; but he invented the semicolon, gave a better shape to the comma, and connected the punctuation by assigning to the various points more proper places. About the period of his marriage, (in 1500,) he invented a mode of imposing a work in such a manner that two languages might be interleaved and bound together, or separately, at the option of the purchaser; and, about the same date, he printed the first leaf, in folio, of a proposed edition of the Bible in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages; so that he has the honour of having first suggested the plan of a Polyglott Bible. However, the plan failed of being then carried into effect. Printing different languages in opposite columns was not accomplished till 1530.
The mind of Aldus was entirely engaged in the care of his printing-house; for, as soon as he had ordered his other necessary affairs, he shut himself up in his study, where he employed himself in revising his Greek and Latin MSS., reading the letters which he received from the learned out of all parts of the world, and writing answers to them. To prevent interruption by impertinent visits, he caused the following inscription to be placed over his door:—"Whoever you are, Aldus earnestly entreats you to despatch your business as soon as possible, and then depart: unless you come hither, like another Hercules, to lend him some friendly assistance; for here will be work sufficient to employ you and as many as enter this place."
The mark or device which Aldus—who died in 1515—made use of to distinguish works issued from his press was an anchor, round which a dolphin seemed to twist. It must be familiar to every amateur,—Mr. Pickering, the London publisher, having adopted the Aldine anchor as his device. To attempt any description of the Aldine class of tools would be superfluous after so fair a specimen in the illustration. It will be perceived they are entirely free from shading, and, consequently, much more effective for that description of work for which they are generally used,—viz., blind tooling. Both tools and patterns are much lighter and more ornamental than the old Monastic school, of which the Aldine in some degree partook.