The Aldine family come at the head of the Venetian printers, not only in the extreme beauty of their typographical work, but also in the matter of Marks. The first (and rarest) production of the founder of the dynasty, Aldus Manutius, 1494–1515, was “Musæi Opusculum de Herone & Leandro,” 1494, a small quarto, and his life’s work as a printer is seen in about 126 editions which are known to have been issued by him. “I have made a vow,” writes Aldus, in his preface to the “Greek Grammar” of Lascaris, “to devote my life to the public service, and God is my witness that such is my most ardent desire. To a life of ease and quiet I have preferred one of restless labour. Man is not born for pleasure, which is unworthy of the truly generous mind, but for honourable labour. Let us leave to the vile herd the existence of the brutes. Cato has compared the life of man to the tool of iron: use it well, it shines, cease to use it and it rusts.” It was not until 1502 that Aldus adopted a Mark, the well-known anchor, and this appears for the first time in “Le Terze Rime di Dante” (1502), which, being a duodecimo, is the first edition of Dante in portable form. This Mark, and one or two others with very slight alterations which naturally occurred in the process of being re-engraved, was used up to the year 1546. In 1515 the original Aldus died, and as his son Paolo or Paulus was only three years of age, Andrea Torresano, a distinguished printer of Asola, into whose possession the “plant” of Jenson had passed in 1481, and whose daughter married the first Aldus, carried on the business of his deceased son-in-law, the imprint running, “In ædibus Aldi et Andreæ Asulani soceri.” In 1540 Paulus Manutius took over the entire charge of the business founded by his father. The Anchor, known as the “Ancora grassa,” which he used from 1540 to 1546, is more carefully engraved but less characteristic than that of his father; whilst that which he used from 1546 to 1554 was usually but not invariably surrounded by the decorative square indicated in the accompanying reproduction; then he again modified his Mark, or more particularly its border. Paulus Manutius died in April 1574. Aldus “the younger,” 1574–98, the son of Paulus and the last representative of the house, also used the anchor, the effect of which is to a great extent destroyed by the elaborate coat-of-arms granted to the family by the Emperor Maximilian. Aldus “the younger,” was a precocious scholar, of the pedant type, and under him the traditions of the family rapidly fell. He married into the eminent Giunta family of printers, and died at the age of 49. The famous Mark of the anchor had been suggested by the reverse of the beautiful silver medal of Vespasian, a specimen of which had been presented to Aldus by his friend Cardinal Bembo, the eminent printer, adding the Augustan motto, “Festina lente.” The Mark of the dolphin anchor was used by many other printers in Italy, France, Holland (Martens, Erasmus’ printer, among the number), whilst the “Britannia” of Camden, 1586, printed by Newbery, bearing this distinctive Mark, which was likewise employed by Pickering in the early part of the century; and, as will be seen from the next chapter, is still employed by more than one printer.
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| ANDREA TORRESANO. |
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| THE ALDINE ANCHOR, 1502–15. | THE ALDINE ANCHOR, 1546–54. |
The Giunta or Junta family, members of which were printing at Florence and Venice from 1480 to 1598, may be conveniently referred to here. One of the earliest books in which the founder of the family, Filippo, used a Mark, is “Apuleii Metamorphoseos,” Florence, 1512; our example, which is identical with that in Apuleius, is taken from Ὀππιανου Ἁλιευτικων (Oppiani de natura seu venatione piscium), Florence, 1515, which was edited by Musurus. From a typographical and artistic point of view the books of Lucantonio Junta (or Zonta) are infinitely superior to those of Filippo. He was both printer and engraver, and many of the illustrations which appear in the books he printed were executed by him. His Mark appeared as early as 1495 in red at the end of an edition of Livy which he appears to have executed for Philippus Pincius, Venice, and again in red, this time on the title-page, in another edition of the same author, done for Bartholomeus de Zanis de Portesio, Venice, 1511. Each of these productions contained a large number of beautiful woodcuts. Early in the sixteenth century those “vero honesti viri” (as they modestly described themselves), Jacobi and Francisci, were printing at Florence (“et sociorum eius”), the accompanying mark being taken from a commentary on Thomas Aquinas, 1531. It will be noticed that in the three marks of different members of the family the fleur-de-lys appears. Among the Venetian printers of the beginning of the sixteenth century Johannes de Sabio et Fratres may be mentioned, if only on account of their Mark which is given herewith. Its explanation is certainly not obvious; and Bigmore and Wyman’s suggestion that it is a punning device is not a correct one, whilst the statement that the cabbage is of the “Savoy” variety is also erroneous, for this variety has scarcely any stalks; for “Brasica” we should read “Brassica.” In 1534, “M. Iwan Antonio de Nicolini de Sabio” printed “Alas espesas de M. Zuan Batista Pedreçan,” a rare and beautiful edition with woodcuts, and, in small folio, of “Primaleon” in Spanish; and in 1535 Stephano da Sabio issued a translation of “La Conquesta del Peru,” etc., of Francesco de Xeres.
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| THE ALDINE ANCHOR, 1555–74. | THE ALDINE ANCHOR, 1575–81. |
Although not the first printer either at Cremona, where he started in 1492, or at Brescia, where he was printing from 1492 to 1502, Bernardino de Missintis deserves mention among the typographers of the fifteenth century. So far as regards the latter place, the Mark of Giammaria Rizzardi, who was established in this city during the latter half of the last century, is one of the most distinct, and was probably designed by Turbini. Bonino de Boninis of Ragusa, was printing at Venice, 1478–1480, at Verona, 1481–3, and afterwards removed to Brescia, where he was printing until about 1491. The earliest known book printed at Modena (or Mutine) is an edition of Virgil, executed by Johannes Vurster de Campidonâ, 1475; but one of the best known printers of this city is Dominico Rocociolo, or Richizola, 1481–1504, who was in partnership with Antonio Miscomini, 1487–89.