| CONRAD BAUMGARTEN. |
Several of the Marks of the early printers of Leipzig, into which printing was introduced in 1480, are of great interest and possess quite a character of their own. One of the earliest, for example, is that of Melchior Lotter, who issued a large number of books from 1491 to 1536. The word “Lotter” is equivalent to “vagabond” in English, and the Mark herewith consists of an emblem of a mendicant in a half-suppliant posture. Melchior Lotter junior was printing at Wittenberg from 1520 to 1524, where he printed anonymously the first edition of Luther’s Bible, with illustrations by Lucas Cranach, 1522, which an enthusiastic bibliopole has described as “one of the great works of the world.” Valentin Schumann, 1502–34 (and probably much later), is another eminent Leipzig printer, being the first to attempt printing in Hebrew characters in a Hebrew grammar, 1520. The initials L D on his Mark are taken to signify “Lipsiensis Demander” or Damander, a rude Latinization of Schumann which he sometimes used. Sufficiently quaint also is the Mark of Jacobus Thanner, 1501–21, which forms the initial to the present chapter. By 1500 printing had reached to Olmütz, where Conrad Baumgarten was issuing until 1502 works chiefly levelled against the Church of Rome; from 1503 to 1505 the same printer had established himself in Breslau, which he again changed for Frankfort-am-Oder, 1507–14, removing again in the latter year to Leipzig. The W on one of the shields of his Mark is the initial of Wratislau, the Polish name of Breslau, and the female saint on the other shows the arms of the town. It appears to be uncertain whether printing was introduced into Frankfort-am-Main in 1511 or 1530; but the only Mark which we need quote is that of Johann Feyrabendt, whose chief interest to posterity lies in the fact that he printed Jost Ammon’s “Künstliche wohlgerissene neu Figuren von allerley Jagtkunst,” 1592: his Mark is emblematical of Fame, winged, blowing a German horn, and enclosed in a cartouche. Andreas Wechel was printing at Frankfort from 1573 to 1581, his Mark being the well-known one of the Pegasus. Although Jacob Stadelberger, Heidelberg, was not by any means an eminent printer, his Mark is well worthy of note: it consists of three shields, the right of which bears the arms of Bavaria, the left a lion rampant, the arms of Heidelberg, and that of the middle is supposed to represent the arms of Zurich.
| J. FEYRABEND. | L. GUERBIN. |
JACOB STADELBERGER.
Adam Steinschawer is said to be the printer of the first book issued at Geneva, in 1479; soon after him came Guerbin, 1482, whose Mark we give after Bouchot. From about 1537 to 1554 Jehan Girard, or Gerard, was busy printing books here; the Mark herewith comes from one of Calvin’s books, 1545, the Latin motto being anglicized thus: “I came not to send peace, but a sword,” a very proper motto indeed for such an author. Girard used three other Marks of this type. The position of Geneva in literature is French rather than German, and this also holds good with regard to its typographical annals. The accompanying Mark of Jean Rivery, Geneva, 1556–64, is distinct of its kind, and is the smaller of the two examples used by this printer; in the larger one, the same motto appears, but in roman type, not italic; there are also only two trees, both nearly leafless; the hand holding an axe occurs in both examples. Many French printers, for various reasons, and at different times, “retired” to Geneva, as, for example, the Estiennes; the Marks of several Franco-Genevan printers therefore will be found dealt with in the previous chapter. Although printing appears to have been introduced into Zurich in 1508, books executed at this place prior to 1523 are excessively rare. Christopherus Froschover, 1523–48, was by far the most eminent and prolific of the early Zurich printers; to him has been attributed the production of the first English Bible. His Mark is a punning one, Frosch being German for “frog;” it is emblematical of a gigantic frog ridden by a child under a tree, the “larger growth” being surrounded by several of the normal size. Of other Swiss printers whose Marks we reproduce, but to whom we can make no further reference, are Nicolas Brylinger, Basle, 1536–65 (the accompanying example is taken from the title-page of “Pantalonis Henrici, Prosopographiæ Heroum atque illustrium Virorum totius Germaniæ,” 1565, a folio of three volumes, full of fancifully drawn portraits, the same portrait being often used for several men), and F. Le Preux, of Lausanne, Morges, and Berne.
| JEHAN GIRARD. | J. RIVERY. [Full text] |
