B. REMBOLT.

By the end of 1472 the three companions had issued thirty works, apparently without indulging in the luxury of a Mark, but their patrons separating they had to leave the Sorbonne. Their new quarters were at the sign of the “Soleil d’Or” in the Rue St. Jacques—the Paternoster Row of Paris. Here they remained until 1477, when Gering was the sole proprietor. He was joined in 1480 by George Mainyal, and in 1494 by Bertholt Rembolt, and died in August, 1510. Within thirty years of the introduction of printing into Paris, there were nearly ninety printers, who issued nearly 800 works between 1470 and 1500. Rembolt, who succeeded Gering and preserved the sign of his office, was one of the earliest, if not the first to adopt a Mark, of which indeed he used four more or less distinct examples. We reproduce one of the rarest; his best known is a highly decorative picture, and has a shield (carrying a cross with the initials B. R. in the lower half of the circle which envelopes the foot of the cross) suspended from a vine tree and supported by two lions. Of this Mark there are at least two sizes; another of his Marks consisted of an enlarged form of the cross to which we have referred.

After Rembolt, the interest of the Printer’s Mark in France diverges into a number of directions. The most prolific printer was, perhaps, Antoine Vérard, who, dying in 1530, issued books continuously for about forty-five years: he was also a calligrapher, an illuminator, and a bookseller; his Books of Hours led the way for the beautiful productions of Simon Vostre, whilst his chief “line” consisted of romances, of which there are over a hundred printed on vellum and ornamented with beautiful miniatures. He had two Marks, one of which, consisting simply of the two letters A. V., is accompanied by the lines:

“Pour proquer la grand’ miséricorde,

A tous pescheurs faire grâce et pardon,

Antoine Vérard humblement te recorde.”

SIMON VOSTRE.
PIERRE REGNAULT.
GUY MARCHANT.

Of the second we give an example on [p. 21]. Among his publications may be mentioned “L’Art de bien Mourir,” 1492, which Gilles Couteau and J. Menard printed for him, whilst the punning Mark of the former is reproduced in our first chapter ([p. 4]). François Regnault, who printed a large number of books during the first half of the sixteenth century, had six Marks, chiefly variations on the one here given. He usually placed at the bottom of his books: “Parissis, ex officinâ honesti viri Francissi Regnault”; the accompanying reduced facsimile of one of his title-pages indicates the prominent position allotted at this early period to the printer’s Mark. A very remarkable and elaborate Mark of this family of printers was that of Pierre Regnault, who was putting forth books during nearly the whole of the first half of the sixteenth century. The Marchant family existed in Paris as printers for over 300 years (1481–1789). The first of the line, Guy, or Guyot, who printed books for Jehan Petit, Geoffrey De Marnef, and others, had as Mark four variations of the chant gaillard represented by two notes, sol, la, with one faith represented by two hands joined, in allusion to the words, “Sola fides sufficit,” taken from the hymn, “Pange lingua.” Beneath his Mark he placed the figures of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, patrons of the leather-dressers who prepared the leather for the binder, in which capacity Marchant acted on several occasions for Francis I. As was the case with his contemporaries, Marchant’s earliest books possessed no mark, and one of the first of the publications in which it appeared was the “Compost et Calendrier des Bergiers,” 1496. The De Marnef family also make a big show in the annals of French typography, particularly in the way of Marks, the various members using, between 1481 and 1554, nearly thirty examples, including duplicates, several of which were designed by Geoffrey Tory. Nearly all these Marks had the subject of the Pelican feeding her young as a centre piece. Jerome, however, used a Griffin among his several other examples, of which the two finest of the whole series are those numbered 746 and 812 in Silvestre, and are the work of Jean Cousin at his best. The founder of the family, Geoffrey, used the accompanying device in two sizes. The Janot family, of which the founder, Denys, was the most celebrated, were issuing books in Paris from the end of the fifteenth to the middle of the eighteenth century, and the more noticeable of their Marks contained the device: “Amor Dei omnia vincit—amour partout, tout par amour, partout amour, en tout bien” (see [p. 15]). The Macé family, which makes a good show with eleven Marks, was also a long-lived one of over 200 years, many of the members residing at Caen, Rennes, and Rouen, besides Paris. The same may be said to some extent of the Dupré or Du Pré family, 1486–1775; the two first, Jean or Jehan and Galliot, were the most celebrated. Of the dozen Marks employed by this family, the most original, it being the evident pun on his name, has a Galiote, at the head of the mast of which is the motto, “Vogue la Guallee,” or sometimes “Vogue la Gualee” (see [p. 5]). Jehan Du Pré the Lyons printer, used the accompanying Mark formed of his initials. The first as well as the most noted member of the Le Rouge family of printers was Pierre, who resided at Chablis, Troyes, and Paris, and who was the first to take the title of “Libraire-Imprimeur du Roi,” ceded to him by Charles VIII., and used in “La Mer des Histoires,” 1488. Appropriately enough, Michel Le Noir, whose motto we have already quoted, may be here referred to. He issued a large number of books, the most notable, perhaps, being “Le Roman de la Rose,” 1513. He was succeeded by his son Philippe in 1514, one of whose most noticeable publications was “Le Blazon des Hérétiques” (a satirical piece attributed to Pierre Gringoire), the figure or effigy at the head is signed with the monogram of G. Tory. The five Marks of father and son differed only in minor details, and the above example of Philippe will sufficiently indicate the character of the others. Philippe Pigouchet, who was an engraver as well as a bookseller and printer, contented himself apparently with one Mark. He is distinguished for the extreme care with which he turned out his books, particularly the Books of Hours which he undertook to produce in partnership with Simon Vostre; some of his works are freely copied by the publishers of to-day, and might with advantage be even more generally utilized than they are, for they possess all the attributes of beautiful books. Thielman Kerver, a German, was another printer who worked for Simon Vostre, one of his most important productions being a “Breviarium ad usum Ecclesiæ Parisiensis,” 1500, in red and black. His shop was on the Pont St. Michel, at the sign of the Unicorn, which, as will be seen, he adopted as his Mark, and of which there are two, which differ from one another only in minor details. Of Simon Vostre himself, a whole book might be compiled. From about 1488 to 1528 he devoted himself exclusively to the publishing of books, and employed all the best printers: it was by his energy combined with Pigouchet’s technical skill that the two produced, in April, 1488, the “Heures à l’Usaige de Rome,” an octavo finely decorated with ornaments and figures; the experiment was a complete success. It is generally assumed that the engraving was done in relief on metal, as the line in it is very fine, the background stippled, and the borders without scratches: wood could not have resisted the force of the impression, the reliefs would have been crushed, the borders rubbed and badly adjusted. The artistic connection of Pigouchet and Vostre lasted for eighteen years, and with them book production in France may be said to have attained its highest point. By the year 1520 Vostre had published more than 300 editions of the “Hours” for the use of different cities; he had two Marks, of which we give the larger example on [p. 103].