Section II Printed Books Illustrated With Engravings by Tory or His Pupils
1515
There appeared for the first time, in the books of Hours published by Simon Vostre about 1515, three engravings which are clearly distinguishable in method of execution from those previously used by the same bookseller, to which the three new ones were thereafter added.
Thenceforth Vostre’s Hours contained three varieties of engraving: (1) The old gothic woodcuts (among which must be reckoned the Dance of Death with dotted background), which figure in the editions issued by that bookseller even in the fifteenth century; (2) Two large drawings in the Renaissance style, which appear in his editions of 1507 and which may be attributed to Jean Perreal, Tory’s teacher; (3) The three in question, which do not appear earlier than 1514 or 1515. These engravings are: (I) The Adoration of the Shepherds, signed with the letter G in a gothic shield; (II) The Adoration of the Magi; (III) The Circumcision; the last two signed with this monogram:. The G is still inclined to the gothic, but the second letter is altogether roman. In my judgement, this monogram should be translated by the words, ‘Godofredus faciebat,’ or ‘fecit.’ It is true that the ascription of these engravings to Tory has been contested; but Jules Renouvier, whose taste was so unerring, and who cannot be accused of infatuation for Tory, did not hesitate to adopt my hypothesis. ‘In the last of Vostre’s Hours,’ he says, in the pamphlet that he published concerning that bookseller, ‘we see, besides the plates executed in the old French manner, which have not disappeared as yet, other plates in the Italian and German manners, subjects treated in an altogether novel style: the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Adoration of the Kings, and the Circumcision, are composed of small figures in a large ground; the design has recovered all its delicacy, in its clearly drawn forms, and the cutting is done with no less diversity than care. Here, luckily,’ continues Renouvier, ‘a monogram enables us to attribute the engravings to their author. It is a G alone, or enclosing an F, subscribed on a shield or in a cartouche hanging from a branch. They have been claimed for Geofroy Tory, and with good reason, for the manner in which these plates are executed accords with what we know of that excellent artist.’
It is, perhaps, to these engravings, so successfully executed, that we should ascribe the partiality that Tory afterwards displayed for books of Hours, of which, as we have seen, he put forth several editions, in diverse formats, and with a large number of engravings on wood done by himself.
1516-1518
Here is to be placed Tory’s second journey to Rome,319 from which he returned more Italian than ever, in respect to art.
1519-1520
Under this date, which was when Tory was working at the manuscripts I have described above, I shall place, albeit somewhat conjecturally, two small engravings on wood, signed with the letters G T, which appear in a publication of M. Varlot entitled: ‘Illustration de l’ancienne imprimerie troyenne’ (4to, 1850). They are numbers 84 and 131, the first in the criblé style, the second in the style of the Renaissance. My ascription of them to Tory is based upon the facts that they are of his time, as we may infer from the one in the criblé style, and that the initials G T are entirely consistent with that period of the life of our artist, who sometimes signed his name in full, Geofroy Tory, as witness his Hours of 1524.
The first of these engravings, number 84, represents a Descent from the Cross. The letters G T are at the foot of the plate, and are some distance apart.320 In the same collection there is another engraving of the same series, but not signed—number 78. It represents a bishop blessing a sick man who lies entirely nude before him. These two are 48 millimetres wide by 62 high.
Number 131 represents a scene from Terence. The letters G T are side by side at the foot of the plate, which is 33 millimetres high by 55 wide. In the same collection, numbers 132 and 133, are two other woodcuts of the same series, but not signed. Lastly, in an edition of Æsop, published recently at Troyes, by the printer Baudot, we find a woodcut which probably had the same origin, and found its way into this volume by chance. These four engravings are evidently from an edition of Terence in a small format; I have been unable to find it.
1520-1521
I shall place under this date a title-page, in octavo, forming a border, engraved for Simon de Colines, and bearing his mark and his initials. This printer, who succeeded in 1520 Henri Estienne, the first of the name, whose widow he married, wished to mark his printings in some special way, and to that end applied to Tory, who was a friend of the family. Tory engraved the title-page in question, in the criblé style, then much in vogue; and on it are seen rabbits, or conils, which is believed to be an allusion to the name of Colines.321 Tory’s mark appears in white, at the foot of the engraving, to the right. I have seen this engraving in an Epitome of the ‘Adages’ of Erasmus, in Latin, printed by Simon de Colines, in 1523, in octavo, under this title: ‘Johannis Brucherii Trecensis Adagiorum ad studiosæ juventutis utilitatem ex Erasmicis chiliadibus excerptorum epitome.’ It was probably Tory, too, who engraved Colines’s large mark with the rabbits (Silvestre, no. 79), which is in the same style, and which appears in the Hours of 1524; but it does not bear the double cross. Tory also engraved for Colines two other marks in a very different style (Silvestre, nos. 80 and 329), and a multitude of borders and illustrations for his books.
Colines certainly employed Tory more than any other printer did, as we shall see in the sequel. This fact leads me to believe that Lottin is mistaken in bestowing upon Colines the title of engraver of letters, attributing to him doubtless the engraving of the graceful italics that he used in works written in verse; I am convinced that those letters are the work of Tory. I will call attention, however, to the fact that the capitals that go with these italics are roman, and may belong to the roman letters which Simon de Colines had from Henri Estienne. But the font is enriched with some white two-line letters, of a charming design, which are certainly Tory’s, as are the floriated letters used by Colines and his stepson Robert Estienne.
1521-1522
I. Tory engraved also for Simon de Colines a magnificent title-page intended for a very rare work, which, for that reason, I think that I ought to describe in detail (after one of the copies in the Bibliothèque Nationale), for its existence has been doubted.322
The book is entitled: ‘Commentarii initiatorii in quatuor Evangelia,’ etc., with no author’s name on the title-page; but it was written by Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples, as we shall see in a moment. It is a folio, of 6 unnumbered preliminary leaves, and of 377 numbered leaves, making 192 sheets, divided into 50 folds of 4 sheets each, except the first, which has only 3. The signatures go from a to ddd consecutively. The text of the Gospels is set in large type (great primer), the notes in smaller type (pica), in which there are some very handsome Greek characters, with accents, which were still a novelty at that time.
The title is in a wide border, engraved on wood, decorated with the symbols of the four evangelists, beneath which are printed passages from their works. This border, which is signed with the Lorraine cross at the foot, on the right side, is.225 metre high by.166 wide.
On the second preliminary leaf the author’s preface begins, under this heading: ‘Jacobi Fabri Stapulensis ad Christianos lectores in sequens opus Præfatio.’ It ends on the fourth preliminary leaf, with the date, ‘Meldis, anno M. D. XXI.’ Then follows a concordance of the four Gospels, in the form of tablets closed at top and bottom by unsigned engravings.
The Gospel according to St. Matthew, which opens the book, begins with a superb ornamented L, on a criblé background,.058 metre in height by.055 in width. The Gospel according to St. Mark, which opens on leaf 115 (erroneously printed 215), begins with an I of the same style and dimensions. The Gospel according to St. Luke begins on folio 175 verso, with an F like the two preceding letters. The Gospel according to St. John begins on folio 259, with the I that has already done duty in the Gospel of St. Mark. These letters, which are altogether in the style of those afterwards engraved by Tory for Robert Estienne, seem to me to be fairly attributable to him, although unsigned.
In the balance of the book we find a large number of other letters ornamented in the criblé style, but of smaller size, which cannot be Tory’s.
On folios 101 verso and 102 recto are certain astronomical figures, unsigned, which I dare not attribute to Tory; but I do not hesitate to attribute to him a large engraving on folio 182 verso. It represents Jesus in an aureole of flame. Below him is the sea; above him the Father Everlasting, blessing with the right hand, and holding in his left hand the globe surmounted by a cross. He is uttering these words which we read in a scroll: ‘Hic est filius meus dilectus in quo mihi bene complacui.’ This engraving, including its border, is.210 metre in height by.137 wide.
On the last page is a subscription in these words: MELDIS, IMPENSIS SIMONIS COLINAEI ANNO SALVTIS HVMANAE M. D. XXII. MENSE IVNIO.
Who printed this book? Not Simon de Colines, as La Caille said, and as Maittaire and Panzer have repeated after him, for the subscription means simply that the printing was done at his expense. One can understand, in truth, that Simon de Colines, who had at the time an extensive typographical establishment at Paris in full blast, could not leave that city to print a book at Meaux. Nor was it a local printer, for no other contemporary printing at Meaux is known; moreover, the mechanical execution of this volume, and the engravings with which it is embellished, prove that it did not come from a wretched provincial workshop.
In my opinion there is but one way of explaining this typographical enigma. It is this: Guillaume Briçonnet (second of the name), having been appointed Bishop of Meaux in 1518, took with him to that town his friend Lefèvre d’Etaples, to whom he entrusted the administration of his diocese. Etaples employed his leisure in writing various religious works, among others the Commentaries on the Gospels, which were finished in 1521. Wishing to have this bulky volume, which was of capital importance to him, printed under his own eyes, and being unable to leave Meaux, where he was detained by his duties, Lefèvre simply imported from Paris a portion of Simon de Colines’s printing-office, with a small staff.323 In this way he could not only superintend the printing of his book, but also lend a hand at need, after the example of many another scholar of that time who did not scorn to practise the printing art.
What I have said is a mere hypothesis, it is true; but this hypothesis is surrounded by circumstances which give it a powerful appearance of truth. In addition to what I have said above, I will say that the types of Lefèvre d’Etaples’ book are the same as those used in an octavo printed at Paris by Simon de Colines in 1523,—a book which I have already cited and which I now have before me. It is entitled: ‘Joannis Brucherii Trecensis Adagiorum... ex Erasmicis chiliadibus excerptorum Epitome.’ The title-page has a border signed with the Lorraine cross. More than that, the first ornamental letter in Etaples’ book, which is an A on a criblé background, is also the first letter of the book of Johannes Brucherius; whence we see that the typographical material sent to Meaux returned to Paris immediately after Etaples’ book was printed.
Doubtless that is why we have only one book dated at Meaux at that period; it might be, however, that advantage was taken of the momentary existence of this printing-office at Meaux to set up some trifling work, in 1521 or 1522; but that would not in any wise modify my conclusion.
II. Tory engraved also, at about the same time, for a printer at Troyes named Jean Lecoq, the title-page, in the shape of a border, of a ‘Gradual’324 of the Cistercian Order—a very large and handsome folio, printed at Troyes in 1521. This engraving is in the criblé style, with the double cross in white at the foot, on the right. At about the same time he engraved in the same style Jean Lecoq’s mark, which appears at the end of the volume, and of which a reproduction may be seen in M. Silvestre’s book, no. 875.
As this Gradual is very rare (only one copy of it is known to exist, which I have seen in M. Tross’s collection) and very beautiful, I think it well to describe it. It is almost needless to say that it is printed in gothic type.
First of all, above the title there is a line printed in black:—
Jesus ✥ Maria Bernard
(It is well known that St. Bernard was the founder of the Cistercian Order.) Then, in red (I complete the abbreviated words):—
‘Graduale ad usum Cisterciensis ordinis: secundum capituli generalis venerabilium patrum ejusdem ordinis diffinitionem in sequenti paginas declarata: noviter per quendam Clarevallensem monachum ad debitam formam utiliter redactum. Et Johannis Lecoq impressoris Trecis commorantis solertia diligenter impressum. Anno Domini Millesimo quingentesimo vicesimo primo.’ (Here Lecoq’s large mark: Silvestre, no. 877.) ‘Cum privilegio.’
The volume is made up of 2 preliminary leaves, for the title, etc., and 252 pages of text, divided as follows: First part, without pagination, of 18 signatures (a to s) of 4 sheets each, except the last, which has only 2,—in all, 140 leaves. Second part, folios 1 to 112, having 14 signatures (A to O) of 4 sheets—in all, 112 leaves.
The paper is very strong and fine. It is one of the earliest books printed with music in France, and it reflects great credit on the presses of Troyes, and especially upon Jean Lecoq, first of the name. Names of places and persons are consistently printed with capitals. The work is illustrated with a few engravings; but its most remarkable feature is the ornamental initials and uncial letters with which it is embellished.
At the end, by way of colophon, are these words:—
‘Explicit Graduale secundum usum ordinis Cisterciensis, Trecis impressum
Per Johannem Lecoq, Anno Domini Millesimo quingentesimo vigesimo primo Die sexta mensis Martii. Laus Deo.’
Here Lecoq’s mark with the Lorraine cross in white.
This volume came from the ancient monastery of Oliva, near Dantzig.
1522
I. We may place under this date two other frontispieces signed with the Lorraine cross. The first is a large engraving divided into four compartments, and representing armies in battle array, with cannon. The two upper compartments are connected by the shield of France, surmounted by a crown and encircled by the order of Saint-Michel, from which branches of rose-bushes depend on either side. In each compartment there is a cartouche. Tory’s mark is at the foot of the lower left-hand compartment, in which the banner of France is seen waving. This engraving appears in the ‘Rozier historial de France,’ a folio printed in gothic type, at Paris, for François Regnault, February 10, 1522, before Easter; that is to say, 1523 new style. In the cartouches the following words are printed in red, in gothic type: ‘Bataille ronde,’ ‘Bataille de pointe,’ ‘Bataille de feu,’ ‘Bataille de fourche.’325 It appears in another edition of the same book, printed in 1528 for the same bookseller; also, in a translation of Cæsar’s ‘Commentaries,’ printed by Pierre Vidoue, in 1531, for the booksellers Poncet Le Preux and Galiot du Pré. This translation is a folio volume divided into two parts, the first translated by Étienne Delaigue, called Beauvoys, the second by Robert Gaguin. The plate in question is at the end of the first part, folio 95 verso. The whole book is printed in black, both text and engraving. I am indebted for my knowledge of the engraving to M. Robert-Dumesnil fils.
II. The second engraving, in the form of a border (folio size), representing a number of grotesque and licentious subjects, appears in an edition of the ‘Histoire du saint Graal,’ published by Philippe le Noir, sworn bookseller and binder to the University of Paris, on October 24, 1523. The bookseller’s initials are in the compartment at the top of the border.326
In this book, as well as in those last described, there are other engravings; but they are not the work of Tory, to whom only the important pieces were assigned. These other engravings had, doubtless, appeared elsewhere.
As for the engraving executed by Tory (which reappears in many other works printed by Philippe le Noir), it is a copy of a plate engraved by Urs Graf, dated 1519, and used by Pierre Vidoue, printer at Paris,327 particularly in a Virgil of 1529, folio, which is now in the Bibliothèque Mazarine. The four principal subjects of this engraving, placed at the four corners of the border, represent: (1) Men lighting torches at a woman’s posterior; (2) A woman carrying off a man in a basket328; (3) The death of Pyramus and Thisbe; (4) The judgement of Paris.
1523
While working for others, Tory busied himself with a long series of engravings intended for books of Hours to be published by himself.329
‘It is upon turning over these plates,’ says M. Renouvier,330 ‘that one appreciates to the full his style—rich, diversified and immeasurably clever in ornamentation, distorted out of proportion, diabolic in the drawing of faces, descending too often to downright awkwardness in the carriage of the head and to a habit of bellying out draperies; and, finally, overweighted by a sort of heaviness in the forms. The artist’s greatest facility is shown in the arrangement of his figures, and in the decoration of his porticoes. Whatever he may say, it would seem that what he studied at Rome with the best results were the baths of Titus and the arabesques of Giovanni da Udino.’
1524-1525
We have seen that Tory had been in the habit for some time of signing his engravings with a double cross; but this had not yet become an invariable signature. For instance, about 1524 he often used a monogram in which his name and surname—or, to use the terms of the present day his Christian name [prénom] and his family name [nom de famille]—both appear. It consists of a capital G, enclosing a smaller S, with the double cross above. This means, in my opinion, that Tory was the engraver only (‘Godofredus Torinus sculpsit’), in distinction from the cross alone, which means that Tory both drew and engraved the pieces on which it appears. In fact, we find in most of those signed with the monogram a roughness of aspect which is not characteristic of Tory’s usual style.
However that may be, here is a list of the pieces known to me on which this monogram appears.
I. LE BLAZON DES HERETIQUES.
Quarto of 14 leaves, in gothic type, printed by Philippe Le Noir, ‘sworn binder to the University of Paris,’ with a privilege from the court of the Parliament of Paris, dated December 21, 1524. This is a satirical production, in verse, attributed to Pierre Gringoire, otherwise called Vaudemont, at the head of which appears the figure, or effigy, of the ‘heretic,’ signed with the monogram in question. The description of the effigy is as follows:
En gibeciere on luy voit ratz avoir,
Qui sont rongeans et serpens detestables
En son giron faisant mords diffamables.
De son sian sort ung aspre feu vollant,
Qui cueur et corps et livres est bruslant.331
This very rare work was reprinted at Chartres, in 1832, under the auspices of M. Hérisson, the librarian of that city. The reprint contains a facsimile of the engraving.
II. HEURES DE NOSTRE DAME, TRANSLATEES EN FRANCOYS ET MISES EN RITHME PAR PIERRE GRINGOIRE, DIT VAUDEMONT, PAR LE COMMANDEMENT DE... MADAME REGNEE DE BOURBON, DUCHESSE DE LORRAINE, etc.
A quarto, in gothic type, undated, but containing a table of Easter-Days beginning with 1524, and a privilege dated October 10, 1525.
This book, which was published by the bookseller Jean Petit, contains 13 large engravings, a list of which follows:—
1. The Annunciation.
2. Adam and Eve.
3. The Cross.
4. The Holy Ghost.
5. The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles.
6. David praying for Zion, threatened with the divine thunderbolts.
7. The Virgin and the Child Jesus.
8. A Family at Table (Pentecost?).
9. Eight Naked Children Praying; the Holy Trinity in the Heavens.
10. The Manna.
11. David’s Penance.
12. The Triumph of Death.
13. Jesus receiving the Crown of Thorns and the Reed.
Only the last of these bears the monogram that I have described332; but the other engravings, being in the same style, should all be attributed to Tory. We might perhaps also attribute to him the six analogous engravings which appear in the same author’s ‘Chants royaux’ (printed at the same time and usually bound with the Hours), but not one of which is signed. They represent:—
1. The Synagogue: Jesus in the background, entering a pillar.
2. The Prodigal Son: Jesus in the background, curing a woman.
3. Hunters: Jesus in the background, curing one possessed of devils.
4. The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes.
5. Entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem.
6. The Crowning with Thorns.
These two books have been reprinted several times. I know of four quarto editions of the Hours.333 The first is the one I have just described. It contains some other engravings, in an entirely different style from Tory’s, which appear also in other books of Hours of older date. The second has a table of Easter-Days beginning with 1528, and a privilege dated November 15, 1527. In other respects it is similar to the earlier one. The third has a table of Easter-Days beginning with 1534. It is like the last except in one point: in place of the final engraving there is a different one, signed in the same way, representing Job at prayer before his burning house, and his neighbours reviling him. This engraving proves that Tory must have engraved a longer series from which the printer took this one at random, being unable at the moment to find the one that he required. The fourth has a calendar beginning with 1540. It is like the second, except for the privilege, which is dated November, 1525, doubtless by mistake. These four editions are all in the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal.
III. HISTOIRE... DE LA... GLORIEUSE VICTOIRE OBTENUE CONTRE LES SEDUITZ ET ABUSEZ LUTHERIENS MESCREANZ DU PAYS DAULSAYS... PAR... ANTHOINE... DUC DE CALABRE..., PAR NICOLE VOLCYR (otherwise called Volkire) DE SEROUVILLE, etc.
Small folio, in gothic type, without date of printing, but with a privilege dated January 12, 1526 (1527 new style), issued by Jean de la Barre, ‘garde de la prévôté’ of Paris. The battle took place in 1525.
Volcyr’s work contains seven engravings, but only the last two, at the beginning of the last two books, are signed. We may, however, I think, attribute to Tory the one at the head of the first book also. A description of these engravings follows:—
1. Frontispiece representing Faith: a helmeted woman trampling upon the dragon.
2. The author, seated, writing his book.
3. A large plate representing a warrior (the Duke of Calabria?) amidst his men, waving his sword.
4. A bishop praying.
5. The author offering his book to the prince. A fine plate on which are several scattered letters, the meaning of which I am unable to conceive.
6. A large plate representing the attack on the town of Saverne. At the top is the word ‘Saberna.’
7. A large plate representing the vision of the Passion. Jesus at prayer, a halo about his head; facing him, angels presenting the Cross; behind him, other angels bearing the post to which he was bound; all about him, the instruments of his torture. This plate is altogether in the manner of those in the following work.
IV. THE LABOURS OF HERCULES.
Twelve large plates, folio, owned by the Bibliothèque Nationale. Each of them was formerly accompanied by a number and by a quatrain in French explaining the subject; unfortunately these have been removed from most of the plates,334 and it is impossible for me to-day to place them with full assurance in the order in which they belong. However, that given below seems to me most natural. The three which retain their numbers are marked by an asterisk.
1. The Nemean Lion.
2. The Lernean Hydra.
*3. Cerberus.
4. Antæus.
5. Archelaus.
6. Hippodamia.
7. Geryon.
8. The Pillars of Hercules.
*9.The Cretan Bull.
*10. The Erymanthian Boar.
11. Cacus.
12. Hercules at the Stake.
All of these engravings are signed:
We give here, as specimens, three of the quatrains accompanying the engravings; they are the only ones preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale. They may very well be the work of Gringoire, like the verses of the ‘Blazon des Hérétiques,’ of the same date.
Number 3
Il braue les enffers (chose à luy tresaisee),
Et le chien Cerberus, aux trois chefz surmontant;
Il va les Infernaux main à main combattant,
Pour mettre en liberté son bon amy Thesee.
Number 9
Les furieux Thaureaux (choses esmerveillables)
De ses deux bras nerveux Il maitrise aisement,
Et leur faict faire Ioug desoubs luy forcement
Encor qu’on estimat qu’ils fussent indomptables.
Number 10
Ung sanglier escumeux à la grand’ dent pointue,
Qui hommes, vignes et bleds degatoient enragé,
Et par qui l’vniuers estoit endommagé,
Seul, par sa hardiesse, Il acreuante et tue.335
The orthography of these verses proves that they were printed in the seventeenth century336; but the very appearance of the verses, and the condition of the plates, which are already worm-eaten, are sufficient to justify one in assigning to the latter a very much earlier date than to the former. So that I can do no better than to refer them to the year 1525, when we find Tory using the same monogram.
Tory seems to have attempted in these plates to imitate Mantegna, whose work he may have studied in Italy; but he had the good sense to abandon this manner, which was not his own; or perhaps we should say that he did no more than follow designs which were supplied to him.
This is what M. Renouvier has to say on this subject:—
‘The plates signed with a G surmounted by the Lorraine cross are of more importance. The Labours of Hercules, in twelve plates, are the work of no commonplace artist. The drawing assumes a masterly, even a rough, character, seeking effects in the play of muscles and of facial expression in imitation of Mantegna and Albrecht Dürer; the cutting follows up the effect of the burin. Bartsch mentioned them among the old German masters, and the monogrammatists wavered between Jean Schoorel, Georges Scharfenberg, Giuseppe Scolari, etc.; their French origin was not suspected until some proofs were found on which the engravings were accompanied by French quatrains. Then, when the same mark was found on a plate used as a frontispiece to Pierre Gringoire’s “Blazon des Hérétiques” (1524), and on several vignettes in the Hours rendered into verse, by the same poet, it was attempted to make a wood-engraver of Gringoire, who was a Lorrainer, herald-at-arms to Duc René II, and likely enough to display the cross of Lorraine over his initial. This much is certain: that the mark consisting of a G with the cross of Lorraine is found also on the plates of a Lorraine book—“Duc Anthoine’s Victory over the Lutherans”—published by his secretary Volcyr, who paid the expenses of the publication, “being unable to find any bookseller who was willing to undertake it, as well because of the portraits and cuts of the illustrations as of the printing hereof,” and caused it to be issued, not in Lorraine, but in Paris, by Galliot Dupré, in 1526. It is to be noticed that this bookseller’s mark, which represents a galliot, also has a Lorraine cross surmounting his cipher. Now, the attribution of these plates to Geofroy Tory is based upon some very ingenious comparisons of marks; the style of the engravings places no insurmountable obstacle in the way of such attribution, but it must be admitted that the engraver was led very far astray from his earlier works by his imitation of the German manner. It is possible, because French engraving, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, was pulled in four directions at once, so to speak, by national habit, by Flemish taste, by German mania, and by Italian charm. M. Bernard would give the fullest sanction to this second attribution if he could find any evidence of a journey of Tory’s to Alsace or Lorraine of a later date than his journey to Italy; the importation of woodcuts from those provinces, then a common occurrence, would indeed suffice, so far as the common herd of our engravers is concerned, to explain this alteration in their manner. I will mention in a moment an example, also out of Lorraine, which must certainly have been known to Tory. Whatever the fact may be, the Labours of Hercules deserve an honourable place among the first attempts on a large scale of French engraving, beside the plates of Jean Duvet. The British Museum, like our Cabinet des Estampes, has acquired a set of them. Two of the plates in the latter set have the quatrains which are lacking in the corresponding ones in the Paris set; these are, the fifth: “The sly Archelaus ’gainst Hercules doth contend”; and the seventh: “The mighty Geryon, despicable tyrant,” etc.’
1526
I. I have said that the floriated letters of Simon de Colines and Robert Estienne were engraved by Geofroy Tory. I cannot furnish material proof of the fact with regard to those of Colines; but I am about to produce incontestable evidence with regard to Estienne’s. A letter in one of his alphabets is signed with the Lorraine cross, and that letter is the G, the initial of Tory’s own name, or, as we say to-day, his first name (prénom). It is as if he had written ‘Geofroy Tory’ in full. But in this case, in opposition to what we find in the preceding engravings, the cross, instead of being above the G, is below it, and hidden as much as possible in order not to injure the design of the ‘antique letter.’ This circumstance proves not only that Tory was the engraver of Robert Estienne’s floriated letters, but also that the double cross was that artist’s mark.
Is it not, in truth, a striking fact that Tory chose the letter G to place his mark upon? He was not withheld by the consideration that that letter, not being in very common use, especially at the beginning of words, appeared rather infrequently in books.337 As always, logic prevailed with him over every other consideration. Let us see how far it carried him.
Later, he engraved a Greek alphabet, in the same style, for Robert Estienne; as he could not put his mark on the gamma, which bears no resemblance to the G, he put it on no letter, but on one of the friezes executed to accompany those beautiful floriated letters.338 See the frieze in question at the beginning of the second volume of the Works of Eusebius, three volumes, folio, 1544.339
II. Besides these two alphabets of capital letters, Tory engraved for Robert Estienne about the same time, six different marks for his typographical sign, the ‘Olive-Tree,’ of which a description will be found later on, in section 3.
III. Tory also engraved, about the same time, for Simon de Colines, a border in the criblé style, at the foot of which is a sun which certain centaurs, incited thereto by women, are trying to seize. (Silvestre, no. 523). This border is probably of 1526, when Colines turned over to Robert Estienne his father’s establishment and set up for himself at the ‘Soleil d’Or,’ opposite the Collège de Beauvais. It appears, to my knowledge, in two octavo volumes of 1529: ‘Compendium Grammaticæ græcæ Jacobi Ceporini,’ and ‘Liber de opificio Dei.’
1526-1528
This whole period was, in all probability, absorbed by the labour of engraving and editing ‘Champ fleury.’ For one of the first engravings in that book is dated 1526, and it was finished early in 1529. Although the majority of these engravings are not signed, they must all belong to Tory, at all events so far as the designs are concerned.340 I cannot attempt to enumerate them all here, for there are more than five hundred, counting as one each of the letters in the various alphabets; but I propose to mention the more important ones. For historical information concerning the book, I refer the reader back to what I have said thereon in the first and second parts of this volume.
The title-page is enclosed in a very pleasing border,341 and it has moreover an engraving of the Pot Cassé reversed.342 On the verso are the arms of France.343
Folio 1 of text: the letter L, which I have already reproduced.344
Folio 3 verso: the Gallic Hercules. This engraving, dated 1526, and signed with the Lorraine cross, represents Hercules holding his club in one hand and a bow in the other. He is followed by divers persons of all conditions, fastened by the ear to a chain that issues from the hero’s mouth. This is an allusion to the power of eloquence over the French. The strength of the Gallic Hercules lies not in his arms but in his mouth.345
Folio 9 verso: cut of the lisflambe, a species of lily; it is the swamp iris, called to-day the iris flambe.
Here the first book ends.
The second contains thirty-seven geometrical figures, which it would be no less difficult than unprofitable to describe. They are, for the most part, representations of different letters. At the end of this book is the ‘Triumph of Apollo and the Muses,’ ‘to show that they who have knowledge of goodly letters have the advantage over the ignorant.’ This engraving, which is in two parts,346 both signed with the Lorraine cross (folios 29 verso and 30 recto), represents Apollo in a chariot, escorted by the Muses, Liberal Arts, etc., and followed by Bacchus, Ceres and Venus as prisoners.347
On the very last page (folio 30 recto) is an engraving of the lisflambe surmounted by an A made up of three I’s.348
The third book has, in the first place, twenty-eight engravings of Roman letters. The twenty-ninth represents a gothic S (folio 42 verso). The thirtieth is a representation of the Pot Cassé, signed with the Lorraine cross (folio 43 verso).349
Next come thirty-eight other cuts of letters, and two curious drawings of the letter Y (folio 63 recto and verso).350 Then two ordinary copies of the letter Z, and an allegory based on the shape of that letter (folio 65).351
On folio 65 verso is a representation of various punctuation marks.
Folios 68 verso and 69 recto: a Hebrew alphabet of forty letters or symbols.
Folio 71 recto: the Greek alphabet of twenty-four letters and three accents.352
Folio 72 recto: the Latin alphabet353 of twenty-three letters, with three punctuation marks, and the Greek abbreviation of the name of Jesus.
Folio 74 recto: the alphabet of cadeaulx letters, consisting of twenty-three letters and one mark.
Folio 74 verso: the alphabet of letters de forme, consisting of twenty-nine letters or symbols, with two lines of text added.
Folio 75 recto: the alphabet of bastardes letters, consisting of twenty-eight letters or symbols, followed by two lines of text.
Folio 75 verso: the alphabet of tourneures letters, consisting of twenty-three letters.
Folio 76 recto: the alphabet of Persian, Arabic, African, Turkish and Tartar letters, thirty in all.
Folio 76 verso: the alphabet of Chaldæan letters, consisting of twenty-three.
Folio 77 recto: the alphabet of goffes letters, otherwise called imperiales and bullatiques, twenty-three in number.
Folio 77 verso: the alphabet of fantastic letters, to the number of twenty-three.
Folio 78 recto: the alphabet of utopiques and voluntaires letters, to the number of twenty-three.
Folio 78 verso: an alphabet of floriated letters used in the course of the book, twenty-three in number.354
Folio 79 recto: a series of ciphers or intertwined letters, to the number of ten.
Folio 80 recto, and last: a border of graceful design,355 in which occur Tory’s mottoes: ‘Menti bonæ Deus occurrit’; ‘Sic ut, vel ut’; ‘Omnis tandem marcescit flos.’ And in the centre is the Pot Cassé, unsigned, although it seems to be the same cut that appears on folio 43 verso, with the cross removed.
1527
I. NOTABLES ENSEIGNEMENS, ADAGES ET PROVERBES, FAICTZ ET COMPOSÉS PAR PIERRE GRINGOIRE, DIT VAULDEMONT.
Octavo, in gothic type, of 68 leaves; for sale by Galliot du Pré; printed by Simon du Boys, February 1, 1527 (1528 new style).
On the verso of the second leaf is a wood-engraving with the Lorraine cross at the right. It represents Gringoire offering his book to the king, who is seated. In the background, a garden with a bee-hive and bees flying about it. (Bibliothèque Nationale.)
II. LES HYMNES COMMUNES DE L’ANNEE: TRANSLATEZ DE LATIN EN FRANÇOIS EN RITHME, PAR NICOLAS MAUROY LE JEUNE, DE TROYES, avec privilege du roy pour trois ans. (Mark of Jean Lecoq.) On les vend à Troyes es hostels de Nicolas Mauroy, etc.
The privilege is of 1527. Small folio, in gothic type, printed in red and black; signatures A to T.
This volume, which I saw in 1858, at M. Techener’s, contains a large number of engravings in the criblé style, and others in the modern style; but only three of them are signed; these are:—
1. A Last Supper, criblé.
2. A Last Supper, ‘à la moderne.’
3. The Virgin, seated, holding the Child Jesus (folio 89 verso).
This book may give us the date of the other signed engravings found at Troyes, which were published by M. Varlot in his ‘Illustration de l’imprimerie troyenne’ (Troyes, 1850, folio).
III. HOURS OF THE VIRGIN, in Latin, published by Tory, but printed by Simon de Colines; octavo.356
IV. HOURS OF THE VIRGIN, in Latin, published by Tory, but printed by Simon Dubois; quarto.357
1528
I. ARISTOPHANES.
In 1528 Pierre Vidoue printed, at the expense of Gilles de Gourmont, nine comedies of Aristophanes, in Greek, which were published separately, in quarto form, under the editorship of Jean Cheradam.358 All of these have a frontispiece engraved by Tory, of which a description follows. At the foot, under the words ‘Egidivs Gormontivs’ in large letters, is a shield with the Gourmont arms (three roses in chief and a crescent in point), supported by two winged stags with ducal coronets about their necks, the crest being a helmet above which is a St. Michael holding a naked sword.359 At the left, a Greek inscription; at the right, an inscription in Hebrew. The two uprights represent the wise men offering their gifts to the Child Jesus lying on his mother’s knees. At the top is a shield with three crowns in chief (this was the sign of Gilles de Gourmont, as may be seen on the title-page of ‘Champ fleury’), and tears in the field. This shield has for supporters, on the right a lion, on the left a griffin, and for crest a helmet surmounted by a fan-shaped ornament. On either side is an angel with wings holding a shield; that on the left enclosing an E, that on the right a G, the initials of Gilles de Gourmont’s name in Latin (Egidius Gourmontius). The Lorraine cross is at the foot of the border, on the left.360
II. ENCHIRIDION PRECLARE ECCLESIE SARUM, DEVOTISSIMIS PRECATIONIBUS AC VENUSTISSIMIS IMAGINIBUS, ET IIS QUIDEM NON PAUCIS REFERTUM. (Here the mark of Thielman Kerver—two unicorns holding a shield au Gril, with the T. K., and, beneath, the full name, Thielman Kerver.) Parisiis ex officina librarie vidue spectabilis viri Thielmanni.
Small octavo, Paris, 1528, with engravings signed with the Lorraine cross.361 Printed in red and black, in gothic type. There are 31 signatures of 8 leaves,—a to z, and A to G (signatures x and y have only four leaves each). In all there are 232 numbered leaves, plus 4 leaves of index not numbered.
The volume begins with the title-page, followed by a calendar, the whole occupying 13 leaves, after which comes the text. It contains 54 engraved plates, 12 of which are in the calendar, and a large number of initial letters representing sacred subjects. Beneath each plate is a quatrain in English.
The 12 plates in the calendar represent allegorical subjects. They are enclosed in oval borders, and are 71 millimetres by 55. Consequently they are all out of proportion to the size of the book, which is 84 millimetres by 48. It is evident therefore that they were not made for it. At the foot of each, in the border, is the name of the month. The engraving for the month of February represents a school; that for March, a hunt; that for April, a gentleman and lady, walking in the country, arm in arm; that for July, a domestic interior. The last is the only one of these engravings that I have seen, and that only in a copy. The Lorraine cross may be seen at the foot.
Here follows a list of the other engravings of this priceless volume, of which only a single copy is known to exist. It is to be observed that the pages on which they appear are not numbered, as the cuts occupy the whole space.
1. The Trinity.
2. The Annunciation.
3. The Visitation.
4. Jesus arrested by the Jews.
5. Nativity of Jesus.
6. Jesus before Pilate.
7. The Annunciation to the Shepherds.
8. The Crowning with Thorns.
9. The Adoration of the Magi.
10. The Bearing of the Cross.
11. The Circumcision.
12. Jesus on the Cross.
13. The Flight into Egypt.
14. The Descent from the Cross.
15. The Coronation of the Virgin.
16. The Placing in the Tomb.
17. David and Bathsheba.
18. David and Joab.
19 to 23. The Story of David.
24. Dance of the Dead.
25. Three Men on Horseback in a Forest.
26. Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise.
27. Adam and Eve condemned to labour.
28. The Creation of Man.
29. Six Men praying before a Bier.
30. Birth and Death.
31. Purgatory.
32. Extreme Unction.
33. Job.
34. A Woman, seated, surrounded by the Virgin, the Evil One, and a Man bearing the World.
35. The Trinity (same as no. 1).
36. Jesus in Limbo.
37. The Resurrection.
38. Jesus appearing to His Mother.
39. Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalen.
40. Jesus at Emmaus.
41. The Incredulity of St. Thomas.
42. The Ascent of the Virgin.362
1529
I. Encomium Trium Mariarum, etc., JOANNIS BERTAUDI.
Quarto, Paris, Josse Bade, 1529.
The Bibliothèque Mazarine has two copies of this priceless volume, one on paper, the other on vellum, which differ slightly in respect to the title-page. The one on vellum reads: ‘Encomium Joannis Bertaudi Petragorici Turrisalbæ in ducatu Engolismensi alumni, de cultu trium Mariarum adversus Lutheranos, cum missa solemniore et officio canonico earundem, auspiciis augustissimæ principis Joannæ, Aurelianensis, Gyveriensium dominæ ac comitis de Barcq.’ This is followed by a large plate signed with the Lorraine cross, and representing the three Maries, etc. There is no publisher’s name; nothing but Josse Bade’s mark at the end of the book.
The title-page of the copy on paper reads: ‘Encomium trium Mariarum cum earumdem cultus defensione adversus Lutheranos, solemnique missa et officio canonico, in quibus omnibus desideres nihil, emissum opera et industria Joannis Bertaudi Petragorici, utriusque juris licentiati, Turrisque Albæ in ducatu Engolismensi alumni, auspiciis augustissimæ principis Joannæ Aurelianensis, Gyveriensium dominæ ac comitis de Barcq.’ Then follows Josse Bade’s mark: ‘Prelum Ascensianum,’ taking the place of the engraving of the three Maries. And below, ‘Venundatur Jodoco Badio et Galeoto a Pratis.’
This difference is explained by the fact that the copies on vellum were not intended for sale, so that no bookseller’s name was placed on them, and, furthermore, they were embellished with the cut of the three Maries.
This volume contains three short productions by Jean Bertaud, all directed to the same end—the defence of the worship of the three Maries.
They are entitled:
(1) Encomium trium Mariarum. (2) Officium trium filiarum beatæ Annæ. (3) De cognatione sacerrimi Joannis Baptistæ.
There are some twenty engravings, but none of them are signed except that of the three Maries. And, as Josse Bade was an old printer, who had no known relations with Tory, we may assume that these engravings are not by our artist. At most, we may attribute to him the shield of Orléans, at page 4 of the first work.
II. HOURS OF THE VIRGIN (sixteenmo), in Latin, published by Tory, for himself.363
III. LA TABLE DE L’ANCIEN PHILOSOPHE CEBES.
Two small volumes, octavo, with a border for each page. The double cross appears on some, not all, of these borders.364
IV. ÆDILOQUIUM... Item: EPITAPHIA SEPTEM DE AMORUM ALIQUOT PASSIONIBUS, etc.
Octavo, Simon de Colines, 1530.
This little book is enriched by eight engravings: a frontispiece borrowed from the octavo Hours of 1527, and seven small subjects corresponding to the seven epitaphs. The latter are certainly Tory’s, although not signed. They are:—
1. Two hearts pierced by an arrow.
2. Two hearts in a circle.
3. Two hearts bound together by cords.
4. Two hearts in a boat.
5. A pig sniffing at two hearts.
6. Two hearts, a distaff, etc.
7. Two hearts being kicked by a horse.
See, for other details, what I have said of this book on pages 92 and 93.
1530-1531
Queen Eléonore’s CORONATION and ENTRÉE, and the EPITAPHS of the Queen-Mother, Louise de Savoie:—three quarto brochures, of which I have spoken on pages 130 to 134; a description of the engravings follows.
I. THE CONSECRATION AND CORONATION OF THE QUEEN; three sheets, quarto.
On the first page, a border, with the word ‘Salus’ at the foot; the privilege is on the verso. The text begins on the second leaf, with the letter L reproduced on page 1. On the last page is another border, with the word ‘Salus,’ and the date of printing, March 16, 1530, old style.
II. ENTRÉE OF THE QUEEN; six sheets, quarto.
On the first page the same border as on the first page of the Hours of 1524-25; the privilege is on the verso. On page A ij recto, another border and an ornamental letter R, after the style of the L in the work last described. A iiij recto, another border. B iij recto, a border, with the motto ‘non plus’ at the top. B viij verso, another border, with the word ‘Salus’ at the foot; this is identical with that of the last page of the ‘Coronation.’ E viij recto, another border. F i verso, a lovely drawing of a ‘present made to the queen, of two candlesticks.’ On the last page the border of the last page of ‘Champ fleury,’ and the date of the printing, Tuesday, May 9, 1531.
III. EPITAPHS OF LOUISE DE SAVOIE; two sheets and a half.
First page, the border of the frontispiece of the Hours of 1524-25, with the Pot Cassé of the first page of ‘Champ fleury.’ Last page, the border of the last page of ‘Champ fleury’ and the Pot Cassé of the first page; also the date of printing, October 17, 1531. In all three we find the decorated letters of ‘Champ fleury.’
These three brochures, bound together in a small volume, are in the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal. The borders used in them reappear later as frames for the engravings of a book of Hours, quarto, printed in roman type, in red and black, of which I know neither date nor place of printing nor name of printer, as I have seen nothing except a few leaves of the book, preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale, with the works of Tory.
1531
I. Book of Hours, quarto, printed by Tory for himself.365
Ii. Book of Hours, octavo, with arabesques of flowers, insects, animals, etc., as in the quarto Hours of 1527.366
III. TERENTIANUS MAURUS, DE LITERIS, etc. NICOLAO BRISSÆO... COMMENTATORE.
Quarto, Simon de Colines, 1531.
This book is dedicated to Guillaume Petit, Bishop of Senlis, whose arms, with the Lorraine cross, appear on the verso of leaf 8 of the front matter. The motto is: ‘Utinam novissima providerent.’
IV. CLAUDII GALENI PERGAMENI DE ANATOMICIS ADMINISTRATIONIBUS LIBRI NOVEM, JOANNE GUNTERIO ANDERNACO, MEDICO, INTERPRETE.—Parisiis, apud Simonem Colinæum, 1531.
Large folio, with an engraved frontispiece having the Lorraine cross at the foot, on the left.
The frontispiece represents several different subjects. At the top is Jesus healing the leper; at the foot, doctors dissecting a dead body and lecturing to a numerous audience; at the sides, full-length portraits of the most celebrated physicians of antiquity; in the centre of the plate is a scroll bearing the Latin title transcribed above. This frontispiece was, doubtless, used with others of the works of Galen.
Simon de Colines also published, in 1536, an edition of the works of Galen, under the supervision of the same editor (folio of 172 pages), and embellished with five beautiful floriated letters engraved by Tory. In it we find also, at the head of the epistle to the reader, an ornamental S surmounted by a coat of arms,—a charming design, but not signed.
1532
LATIN BIBLE of 1532; folio; Robert Estienne.
The title-page is decorated with a frieze signed with the Lorraine cross, bearing the word ‘Biblia’ in large letters. It is a scroll surrounded by vines, with the brazen serpent at the left, and Jesus on the Cross at the right.
1533
The BON MESNAGER of Pierre des Crescens, printed by Nicolas Cousteau for Galliot Dupré. Folio, 1533. The frontispiece, representing Dupré presenting the book to François I, is signed with the Lorraine cross.
Inasmuch as Tory died in 1533, it will, perhaps, seem that I ought to stop here in this enumeration. But as many engravings executed by his own hand were not printed until later, and, moreover, as those signed with the Lorraine cross alone came from his establishment, which was managed by his wife after his death, I have thought best to pursue my investigations concerning the engravings with the Lorraine cross to the end.
1534
I. SERMONES IUDOCI CLICHTOVEI NEOPORTUEN. DOCTORIS THEOLOGI ET CARNOTEN. CANONICI.
Folio, Paris, Thielman Kerver’s widow, 1534. The privilege is dated 1534. (Bibliothèque S.-Geneviève, and Bibliothèque Mazarine.)
The Latin title which I have transcribed is engraved in great gothic letters, arranged in the shape of a cul-de-lampe, and terminated by a small black heart-shaped ornament (not unlike those used by Simon de Colines), in which is the Lorraine cross. This circumstance leads me to believe that Tory engraved this title-page in gothic letters; a most interesting fact if true, for they are probably the only letters in that style that he ever engraved, after those on folios 42 verso, 74, etc. of ‘Champ fleury’; and it is all the more strange because the rest of the book is printed in roman type. It may be that there was another edition in gothic type.
However, this volume contains many other engravings signed with the Lorraine cross, and others which, although unsigned, seem to be Tory’s.
Folio 1, following the title, a large T, adorned with fleurs-de-lis, on a background strewn with the same flowers.
Folio 5 verso, a large ornamental P, representing the Eternal Father.
Folio 19, the Virgin in a halo of fire, with the Child Jesus (signed).
Folio 21, Jesus among the Apostles, holding a saw (signed).
Folio 43, Moses receiving the Tables (signed).
Folio 63 verso, the Ark in the form of a church (signed).
Folio 77, the Annunciation, in an oval border (octavo).
Folio 88, Birth of Jesus (small octavo).
Folio 135, the Resurrection (signed).
Folio 148, the Ascension (signed).
Folio 154 verso, the Virgin among the Apostles (small octavo).
Folio 157 verso, the Trinity (signed).
Folio 161, Easter (signed).
Folio 221, Birth of the Virgin. She is in her mother’s womb, holding the Child Jesus (octavo).
Folio 325, Jesus tempted by the Devil (octavo).
The octavo engravings appear in several other books printed by the Kervers.
II. PAULI BELMISSERI PONTREMULANI, ARTIUM ET MEDICINÆ DOCTORIS, EQUITIS, ET POETÆ LAUREATI, OPERA POETICA.
Quarto, of 108 numbered, plus 4 preliminary unnumbered leaves.
Printed in 1534, but with no name of printer or bookseller. On the first page is a quarto plate, representing the author crowned with laurel, standing between François I and Clement VII. Beneath these three personages are their respective arms, and above their heads their names: Franciscus, Paulus, Clemens. The Lorraine cross is at the foot, on the left. The same plate appears on the last page.
1535
LES TROYS PREMIERS LIVRES DE L’HISTOIRE DE DIODORE SICILIEN, TRANSLATEZ DE LATIN EN FRANÇOYS, PAR ANT. MACAULT.... On les vent a Paris, en la rue de la Juifverie, devant la Magdaleine, à l’enseigne du Pot Cassé....367
Quarto, 1535. This book is embellished with a magnificent frontispiece representing Macault presenting his book to François I. Although unsigned, it is certainly Tory’s.
‘His chef-d’œuvre,’ says M. Renouvier,368 ’is, perhaps, the frontispiece of Macault’s “Diodorus,” in which we see François I seated in a chair with a back carved with fleurs-de-lis, at table with his children, his monkey, his greyhound, and his courtiers, while Macault reads his book to him. This engraving, the authorship of which is unquestionable, does not bear the Lorraine cross; the master published without that mark many another work which M. Bernard, in his scrupulous exactitude, has chosen not to mention. As some compensation for the works which I have denied to Tory, I may be allowed the pleasure of mentioning here one which M. Bernard has not attributed to him: “Les Fables d’Esopes mises en rithme françois,” by Gilles Corrozet (Paris, Denys Janot, 1542). As the copy that I saw is not complete, it may be that the Lorraine cross might have been found somewhere in the book; but, in any event, that would not change the conviction based upon examination of the plates. The small engravings, with the first four lines of the fables, are set in borders decorated with pilasters and pediments in the master’s style, and illustrated at the base with tiny drawings of amorous subjects, treated with his somewhat heavy-handed delicacy.
‘There came from Tory’s establishment, in the later years, many engravings of blended types which can be attributed to none but pupils, or even apprentices; analysis will always be impossible; when we have cast a light upon the head of a school, we must leave the tail to languish in the shadow. I will mention here, however, one pupil of Geofroy Tory, whom M. Bernard does not mention, namely, François Gryphe, brother of Sébastien Gryphe of Lyon. He engraved and printed, in 1539, a New Testament which, as very rarely happens, mentions the engraver of the plates on the title-page as well as in the privileges from the King and the Parliament which stand at the beginning and end of the book respectively. “Novum testamentum illustratum insignium rerum simulacris, cum ad veritatem historiæ, tum ad venustatem, singulari artificio expressis.” (Here the mark of the griffin.) “Excudebat Fran. Gryphius, AN. MDXXXIX.” And in the privilege: “Francoys Gryphius, bookseller, printer and tradesman, commorant in Paris... prayed that he be permitted to cause to be printed and sold the New Testament, illustrated by him.”
‘The volume is a small octavo; the Lorraine cross does not appear, but there is a letter L engraved by Tory, and a series of small plates executed with a delicacy instinct with firmness, in accordance with types, attitudes and rules which can belong to no other school than his.’369
1536
I. HORÆ IN LAUDEM BEATISSIME VIRGINIS MARIÆ AD USUM ROTHOMAGENSEM. PARISIIS, AD INSIGNE VASIS EFFRACTI, 1536.
Small octavo, roman type, line engravings.370
Ii. Lazarii Bayfii Annotationes, etc.
Quarto, Robert Estienne, 1536.
Charles Estienne, brother of the printer, who seems to have been the editor of this book, informs us, in a brief preface, that the drawings scattered through it were taken by him from ancient monuments, and especially from marbles still extant at Rome. Several of the plates bear the Lorraine cross, Robert Estienne’s mark, on the title-page; also the engraving on page 19 of ‘De re navali’ (repeated on page 168), and those on pages 4, 44 and 64 of ‘De re vestiaria’. All the other engravings, although not signed, probably came from Tory’s workshop. This book was reprinted by Robert Estienne, in 1549, in the same form. Here is a summarized list of the engravings contained in it: In the first part, ‘De re navali,’ are some twenty representations of antique vessels, biremes, triremes, etc., of which one is signed; in the second part, ‘De re vestiaria,’ three are signed: (1) a woman; (2) a man; (3) a soldier; in the third part, ‘De vasculis,’ are eight or ten representations of vases, etc., not signed.
All these engravings were reproduced on copper in a reprint of Baïf’s work, published in Grævius’s great collection called the ‘Treasure of Antiquities,’371 and, strangely enough, the artist has left the Lorraine cross on the first.372 This mark appears again in column 1100 of the same volume, in an analogous work by another author. The same engraving was reëngraved on copper, with the cross, for the edition of Grævius’s ‘Thesaurus,’ published at Venice in 1732, after the edition of Utrecht. This later edition was like the earlier one, and the engraving in question appears in the same volume and same column. So that we have an engraving on copper, with the Lorraine cross, executed in the eighteenth century!
1536-1540
I. HORÆ IN LAUDEM BEATISSIMÆ VIRGINIS MARIÆ, AD USUM ROMANUM.—Parisiis, apud Simonem Colinæum, 1543.
Large quarto of 44 sheets, in 22 signatures of 2 sheets, encartées, A to Y. On the verso of the title-page is a table of Easter-Days from 1543 to 1566; then comes the calendar, which fills the next six sheets. There are in the text fourteen large engravings, with a special border:—
1. St. John writing his Gospel (which begins on the following leaf). He is gazing at the Virgin, who appears to him in the sky, holding the Child Jesus.
2. Jesus betrayed by Judas.
3. The Salutation, with this device in French: ‘Fait ce que tu vouras avoir fait quant tu moras.’ [‘Do what thou wouldst have done when thou diest.’]
4. The Visitation (signed).
5. The Birth of Jesus.
6. The Annunciation to the Shepherds (with the date 1537).
7. The Adoration of the Magi (signed).
8. The Circumcision (signed).
9. The Flight into Egypt.
10. The Death of Mary (signed).
11. Jesus on the Cross (signed).
12. The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles (signed).
13. The Penance of David (signed).
14. Jesus restoring Lazarus to life.
All the pages are enclosed in borders, but the latter are of two sorts:—
1. Eight complete borders, that is to say, thirty-two compartments, in simple line-engraving as in the Hours of 1524-1525. A single one of these eight is signed; but they are all by the same artist. They bear the dates of 1536, 1537, 1539, in little scrolls of the sort to which Tory was so much addicted. These dates preclude our attributing these engravings to himself, but they evidently came from his establishment which was then conducted by his widow. One of these borders appears in a book published in 1542: ‘Rodolphi Agricolæ... de inventione dialectica, libri III,’ etc. 4to, Paris, Simon de Colines.
2. There are also eight complete borders, or thirty-two compartments, engraved in black in an entirely different style, alternating with those engraved in line. [Four of them are reproduced in this volume, on the pages bearing the Author’s Preface.] They are in niello, are neither signed nor dated, and I doubt whether they came from Tory’s workshop, although we shall see that he engraved some similar ones for Jean de Tournes. In any event their inclusion in this book, side by side with the borders and drawings engraved in line, seems to me in wretched taste which would have disgusted our artist.
We find also in this book some beautiful ornamental letters in the criblé style, which may be Tory’s.
The book was reprinted in 1549, in the same form, by Renaud and Claude Chaudière, successors to Simon de Colines.
II. In the same year 1543, Simon de Colines published another book of Hours, octavo, which seems to be a smaller edition of the one I have just described. Like that one, it is composed of 22 signatures, A to Y.
The title-page reads: HORÆ IN LAUDEM DEI AC BEATISSIMÆ VIRGINIS MARIÆ AD USUM ROMANUM, UNA CUM CALENDARIO RECENS [sic] EMENDATO. This within a portico-shaped border, at the top of which is the name Simon de Colines. At the foot of the page: ‘Parisiis, apud Simonem Colinæum.—1543.’
As in the quarto Hours of the same date the borders of the text pages are arabesques of two styles, some in line and the others in black; and the drawings, to the number of 13, are set in a special border. Some of these borders bear the date 1537, and one of them has the name Simon de Colines in full, which proves that the engravings were executed for him. A list of the drawings follows; only one of them is signed, but all seem to be the work of Tory.
1. St. John writing his Gospel (signed).
2. Calvary.
3. The Salutation.
4. The Visitation.
5. The Nativity.
6. The Annunciation to the Shepherds.
7. The Adoration of the Magi.
8. The Presentation.
9. The Flight into Egypt.
10. The Coronation of the Virgin.
11. Pentecost.
12. Bathsheba at the Bath.
13. Job on the Dunghill.
The only copy of this book that I know of formerly belonged to the late M. Renouvier, of Montpellier, who showed it to me in 1858. It lacks ten leaves immediately following the title-page, which leaves undoubtedly contained the calendar.
1537
I. LES ANGOISSES ET REMEDES DAMOUR DU TRAVERSEUR EN SON ADOLESCENCE (Jean Bouchet).
Quarto, gothic type, printed at Poitiers, January 8, 1536 (1537, new style), by Jean and Engilbert de Marnef. The privilege is dated November 15, 1536.
There are two woodcuts signed with the Lorraine cross: the printers’ mark, on the first page; and, at the end of the preliminary pages, an engraving representing a man in a long robe engaged in writing; facing him and below him are four persons, also in robes, from whom he is apparently deriving his inspiration. Near these latter, at the left, is a woman holding a light.373
II. LE JUGEMENT POETIC DE L’HONNEUR FEMININ... PAR LE TRAVERSEUR (Jean Bouchet).
At the end are these words: ‘Imprimé à Poictiers le premier d’avril M. D. XXXVIII, par Jean et Engilbert de Marnef, freres.’ This volume, which is arranged like that last described, contains eleven engravings, five of which are signed with the double cross.
Folio A 5 verso. A large plate representing the author presenting his book to François I. The King is seated on his throne and surrounded by his court. (Signed at the left.)
Folio B 1 recto. A meeting of the Parliament of Paris. (Signed at the right.)
Folio B 4 recto. Fame announcing the demise of Louise de Savoie, mother of François I. (Signed at the left.)
Folio B 7 recto. Mercury on his way to the field of Truth; below, Charon in his boat. (Not signed.)
Folio C 1 verso. The field of Truth. Four persons, of whom three are seated in a sort of thicket; and above them, a château. (Signed in the centre.)
Folio C 7 verso. The deceased (Louise de Savoie), her head encircled by a wreath and holding in her right hand a bunch of flowers. (Signed at the right.)
Folio D 3 recto. Fortune holding a wheel in one hand, and a standard in the other. (Not signed.)
Folio D 6 verso. Repetition of C 7.
Folio E 5 verso. Mercury, with the caduceus in his hand, speaking to a man in a robe, and pointing out a palace to him. (Not signed.)
Folio E 7 recto. A large hall adorned with statues. (Not signed.)
Folio L 8 verso. A winged personage, wrapped in a cloak, and having eyes in his hands and feet. (Not signed.)
At the end of the volume the mark of the Marnefs. (Signed.)
1538
MISSAL OF PARIS, 1539; folio. The Lorraine cross on two large folio plates, one of which, dated 1538, represents God the Father seated on his throne, his head surrounded by a halo; he is dressed like the Pope; over his head, a triangular pediment. The other, not dated, represents Christ on the Cross; the Blessed Virgin and St. John are standing at his sides, and this inscription is printed in a semicircle over the cross: ‘Absit michi gloriari nisi in crvce D[omi]ni n[ost]ri Jesvs Christi.’
These two subjects, which are often found in collections, sometimes on paper and sometimes on vellum, sometimes black and sometimes coloured (the mark and the date very often disappear under the colours374), were first printed, so far as my knowledge goes, in the Missal of Paris, published in 1539 by Thielman Kerver’s widow. There follows a description of this priceless volume, of which I know but one copy in Paris.375 It is entitled: ‘Missale ad usum Ecclesiæ Parisiensis, noviter impressum, et emendatum per deputatos a reverendissimo domino Johanne de Bellayo, Parisiensi episcopo,’ etc. Then comes Thielman Kerver’s usual mark, and below: ‘Prostat Parisiis in vico divi Jacobi, apud Iolandam Bonhomme, vidue spectati viri Thielmanni Kerver, ad signum Unicornis, ubi et excusum fuit, anno Domini M. D. XXXIX.’
This work makes a large folio volume, printed in red and black, in gothic type, with a large number of unsigned engravings in the text. These engravings are of three sorts,—(1) floriated letters on a black ground; (2) small drawings of the same size, but of a very graceful renaissance type; (3) drawings of octavo size, which were commonly used by Thielman Kerver’s widow in the books of Hours published by her, and of which I have already had occasion to speak.376
The two large drawings signed with the Lorraine cross face each other in signature V, in the second part of the book, where the pagination is discontinued. They have been reprinted several times in other editions of the same book. I will mention particularly the edition, undated, published in the name of Guillaume Merlin, bookseller, a copy of which is in the Bibliothèque Mazarine377; that of 1543, at the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève; that of 1559 (all published by Iolande Bonhomme or her son Jacques Kerver); and lastly a Missal of Cluny, of which I shall speak later.
Although these books are printed on paper, the plates in question are always printed on vellum in editions of the sixteenth century; but this precaution was neglected in later centuries.
1538-1540
Latin Bible in two folio volumes, bearing the dates 1538, 1539, 1540. Paris, Robert Estienne. The word ‘Biblia’ appears on the title-page in a scroll signed with the Lorraine cross, of which I have already had occasion to speak, under the date of 1532, and which appears in others of Robert Estienne’s books.378 The second title follows: ‘Hebræa, chaldæa, græca et latina nomina... restituta cum latina interpretatione.’ This has led some bibliographers to assume, erroneously, that the book was a polyglot affair. It is printed throughout in Latin; there are simply a few Hebrew words in the dissertation to which the second title in question applies, and which is printed in the second volume, with a title-page of its own, dated 1538. The New Testament, also in the second volume, is dated 1539, not 1540, as M. Renouard mistakenly says.379 The Bible alone, that is to say, the first volume and the beginning of the second, bears the date 1540. In each part we find Robert Estienne’s large mark, signed with the Lorraine cross. The first volume contains also eighteen magnificent engravings representing the Tabernacle of Moses, Solomon’s Temple, etc., executed under the direction of François Vatable, Royal Professor of Hebrew Literature. The Lorraine cross appears on the large plate of the camp of the Israelites, on folio 35; but I dare not upon this evidence alone attribute all the other engravings to Tory.380 In any event the floriated letters used in the book are certainly Tory’s, for we find the designs mentioned by him in his ‘Champ fleury.’ It is a fact worth noting that these letters seem to have been cast, or, at least, reproduced by stereotyping, for they are often repeated on the same page, without the slightest change in the design.
The Bibliothèque Nationale has a superb copy of this book on vellum, with the arms of François I. It was reprinted in the same shape by Robert Estienne in 1546, and by his son Henri in 1565. In this last edition, printed at Geneva, we no longer find the two small drawings which appear, with the frieze, on the title-page of the edition of 1532. (See p. 204, supra.) The frieze in this later form appears in other books of the Estiennes. I have seen it in a folio Xenophon printed for Fugger.
1540-1548
AMADIS DE GAULE, French translation by Nic. de Herberay, Seigneur des Essarts, for the first eight books; first edition printed between 1540 and 1548, by Denis Janot, for the booksellers, Vincent Sertenas, Estienne Groullau, and Jean Longis. Folio, with engravings.
I have seen only two of these engravings signed with the Lorraine cross, but several others seem to have come from the same workshop. The great majority of them, however, are of another make. The two that are signed are: (1) Book II, chap. 2, a large plate representing a sort of temple. A man armed cap-à-pie under a portico. At the right are shields hanging upon posts; at the left, a man kneeling on the ground, holding a naked sword in the air with his right hand, and another hand grasping it. This represents a scene from the ‘Île Ferme.’ (2) Book VI, chap. 56, a small plate representing four persons on horseback near a château in front of which stands an armed man. This cut does not seem to have any connection with the subject, and may well have been taken from another older work.
There is a copy of this book on vellum in the Bibliothèque Nationale.
1541
I. PRAXIS CRIMINIS PERSEQUENDI, ELEGANTIBUS ALIQUOT FIGURIS ILLUSTRATA, JOANNE MILLÆO... AUCTORE.
Folio; Paris, Simon de Colines, 1541. Some copies have on the title-page only the names of the brothers Arnould and Charles les Angeliers. (Bibliothèque Nationale.)
There are in this book thirteen large folio cuts, besides the frontispiece. A single one, the seventh, is signed, but all are by the same hand. Following is a description of them, or, rather, a brief list; for a description would lead us into too minute details:381—
1. Several men slain in divers ways, on a public square where there is a large crucifix.
2. Examination of the bodies of the wounded lying in a room.
3. Examination of the witnesses.
4. The accused summoned by public outcry.
5. Arrest of the accused.
6. Examination of the accused.
7. Confrontation of the witnesses with the accused (signed).
8. Ratification of decree of pardon.
9. Torture by water.
10. Torture by the boots.
11. Torture by compressing the wrists.
12. Condemnation of the guilty.
13. Execution of the guilty.
There is at the Bibliothèque Nationale a magnificent copy of this book on vellum, with the arms of France in miniature on the verso of the title-page.
II. THE FIRST VOLUME OF THE CATHOLIQUES ŒUVRES ET ACTES DES APOSTRES, by Simon de Greban; followed by the MYSTERE DE L’APOCALYPSE, by Louis Choquet. Printed for Arnould and Charles les Angeliers, May 27, 1541. ‘On les vend en la grand salle du Palais, par Arnould et Charles les Angeliers freres.’ Folio; Paris, 1541.
This work is embellished with engravings, of which only one is signed with the Lorraine cross. This one, which is on folio I recto of the Acts of the Apostles, represents the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles. It is enclosed in a border, of octavo size, and belongs to a series of engravings for a book of Hours published by Guillaume Merlin in 1548.382 The engraver’s mark is in a small circle at the left of the foot of the border. Beside it is an angel holding two shields in which are the letters G. M. (Guillaume Merlin). The frontispiece of the Acts of the Apostles has a border in which is the date 1537. The same border surrounds the frontispiece of the Mystery of the Apocalypse, but there it is without the date. This last-named portion of the volume contains 13 engravings and a border, in Tory’s style, but without the Lorraine cross. One of them bears the letters P. R. There is a copy at the Bibliothèque Nationale.
III. HOURS OF THE VIRGIN, octavo, in roman type, but with the borders ‘à la moderne’ described on page 128, supra.
This book, printed by Olivier Mallard in 1541, was copied doubtless from the edition made by Tory about 1531, which I have been unable to examine. Mallard’s edition, of which I have seen a copy on vellum, belonging to M. Émilien Cabuchet, the painter, and another on paper, consists of twenty-three octavo signatures, A to Y. The title-page reads; HORÆ IN LAUDEM BEATISSIM. VIRGINIS MARIÆ, AD USUM ROMANUM. (Here the Pot Cassé.) Parisiis, apud Oliverium Mallardum, sub signo Vasis Effracti, 1541. The last page, on which is printed a curious ‘prescription against the plague,’ ends thus: ‘Excudebat Parisiis Oliverius Mallard, bibliopola regius, sub signo Vasis Effracti.’...
In this edition there are 16 different borders; each leaf has the same border on both recto and verso. There are also 16 of the engravings of the sixteenmo Hours of 1529, those not reproduced being nos. 1, 19 and 21 of that edition.
The word ‘Rom.’ printed on the first page of each signature leads me to believe that Mallard published at the same time, in the same format, an edition of Hours ’ad usum Parisianum,’ but I have found no trace of such an edition.
After Olivier Mallard’s death, which occurred, as I have said heretofore, in 1542, his typographical outfit seems to have been acquired by Thielman Kerver II (son of the first Thielman and Iolande Bonhomme, who lived, as did his father before him, on Rue Saint-Jacques); for he published in 1550 a book of Hours similar to that printed in 1541 by Mallard. It contains the same borders and the same drawings, but in a different arrangement. The borders have been lengthened by means of a most ungraceful addition to the side-pieces; as for the drawings in two parts, no pains has been taken to place the parts facing each other, so that their meaning would be uncertain if we had no other editions of the engravings. In fine, this book is very imperfect. It consists of twenty-two and a half signatures, A to Y. The title-page reads thus:—
HORÆ IN LAUDEM BEATISSIMÆ VIRGINIS MARIÆ AD USUM ROMANUM. (Here the mark of Thielman Kerver, with the Lorraine cross.) ‘Parisiis, apud Thielmannum Kerver, vico sancti Jacobi, sub signo Cratis. M.D.L.’ The book closes with the curious ‘prescription’ found in Olivier Mallard’s edition of 1541, which is in these words: ‘Approbatissima medicina contra pestem.—Recipe quantum potes de amaritudine mentis contra peccata commissa, cum vera cordis contritione, potius libram quam unciam. Hæc misceantur cum aqua lacrymarum, et facies vomitum per puram confessionem. Deinde sumas illud sacratiss. electuarium corporis Christi, et tutus eris a peste.’
The book is printed in red and black. I have seen a copy on paper at M. Potier’s bookshop. There is an imperfect copy at the Bibliothèque Mazarine, and a perfect one at Sainte-Geneviève.
About the same time there was published a small duodecimo volume of four signatures, in French, with the same borders. It begins thus: ‘Here follows the method of receiving the blessed sacrament devoutly.’ It is like the book last-described except that it is printed in only one colour, and that it is a little longer and wider.383 To lengthen the borders, sections have been added to them. It is most peculiar that a duodecimo volume should be larger than an octavo, but the fact is unquestionable: formats were already beginning to increase in size. Near the end of the book is a little treatise with this heading: ‘Here follows a devout meditation as to the manner in which thou shouldst ordain and arrange the whole day,’ etc. And after that: ‘The life of Madame Sainte-Marguerite, with prayer to be said for women pregnant and in travail.’
This book is in the Bibliothèque Mazarine, in the same collection as the last. It contains four small engravings, of which only one seems to me to belong to Tory: it is the Christ on the Cross, which appears in the quarto Hours of 1542, now to be described.
1542
I. Hours, according to the Roman use, quarto, in Latin, published by Olivier Mallard in 1542. This rare volume, of which I know only one copy, belonging to M. Aerts, of Metz,384 who himself kindly brought it to me at Paris, is a reproduction of the Hours printed by Tory in 1531; the type, however, is smaller. It consists of nineteen signatures of two quarto sheets encartées, signatures A to T. The title-page reads: HORAE IN LAUDEM BEATISS. VIRGINIS MARIÆ AD USUM ROMANUM. OFFICIUM TRIPLEX.—Parrhisiis, apud Oliverium Mallard, impressorem Regium. The rest is as in the edition of 1531. On the last page: ‘Parrhisiis, ex officina Oliverii Mallard, Regii impressoris, Ad insigna Vasis Effracti. Anno salu. M. D. XLII. Mense Augusti.’ Then come the two lines:—
‘Effracti, lector, subeas insignia vasis,
gregios flores ut tibi habere queis.’
The table of Easter-Days, on the verso of the title-page, goes from 1542 to 1571; then comes the calendar, in which the order of the edition of 1531 has been followed in the arrangement of the borders, although the type, being smaller, would have permitted the more regular arrangement of the edition of 1524-25.
The book is printed in two colours, except signatures B, C, and D, which are in black only—a most unusual state of things. The engravings are the same as those of the edition of 1531, but the floriated letters are different. The Passion, which begins on folio B 3 verso, is enriched by the small Christ on the Cross which we find in the Hours of 1529, but without the four additional subjects (bees, etc.), which there accompany it.385 It is probable that some accident happened to the plate, and that only the Christ was saved. We find also in this volume, at the foot of the border, the crowned C of Queen Claude of France, who had then been dead about fifteen years.
The Lorraine cross, which had disappeared from several of the larger engravings as early as the edition of 1531, appears on almost none of them in that of 1542. For example, it has been expunged from the Birth of Jesus and the Circumcision. The only ones which retain it are the Visitation, the Crucifixion, and the Descent of the Holy Ghost. It remains on the borders also.
Signature E begins with a leaf the recto of which is blank, while on the verso is the angel of the Annunciation, as in the edition of 1531. The large plate, the Triumph of the Virgin Mary, is also included in this edition.
II. HORE BEATE MARIE VIRGINIS AD USUM FRATRUM PREDICATORUM ORDINIS SANCTI DOMINICI: FIGURIS UTRIUSQUE TESTAMENTI AC PERVENUSTIS IMAGINIBUS ET IIS QUIDEM NON PAUCIS, PASSIM DECORATE, ATQUE OFFICIO CONCEPTIONS IMMACULE VIRGINIS ET OFFICIO SANCTI DOMINICI IN ALIIS ORARIIS ACTENUS IMPRESSUS NEQUAQUE INSERTIS AD AUCTE. (Here the figure of St. Dominic holding an open book in his left hand, and in the right a staff with the cross at the end. At his feet lies a dog. The Lorraine cross is at the left.) Venundantur Parisiis, in edibus vidue spectabilis viri Thielmanni Kerver, in vico divi Jacobi, sub signo Unicornis, ubi et impresse.
—M.D. XLII.’
Octavo; signatures A to X, and a to c: in all, 26 forms. The title-page engraving reappears on leaf R 4 verso. The others are not signed.
III. HEURES À L’USAGE DE TOUL: AU LONG SANS REQUERIR.
Octavo of 156 unpaged leaves. Calendar from 1541 to 1564. At the bottom of the last page are the words: ‘Imprimé à Troyes chez Jean Lecoq.’ Gothic type, printed in red and black.
The only copy of this book that I have seen is in the Bibliothèque Publique of Besançon. It has 30 engravings, including the printer’s mark, which is on the title-page. The mark and three other engravings of the first series are signed with the Lorraine cross. A list of all the engravings follows:—
First series,.06 mm. by.043 mm.
1. Printer’s mark (signed).
2. Jesus in the Garden of Olives (signed).
3. Annunciation of the Virgin.
4. The Visitation.
5. The Nativity.
6. Adoration of the Shepherds.
7. Adoration of the Magi.
8. The Presentation in the Temple.
9. Massacre of the Innocents.
10. Death of the Virgin (signed).
11. The Crucifix.
12. Pentecost.
13. Bathsheba at the Bath (signed).
14. Resurrection of Lazarus.
15. Vision of St. Gregory.
Second series,.034 mm. by.022 mm.
1. The Trinity.
2. Death piercing with a Spear the Great Men of Earth.
3. St. Anne.
4. All Saints.
5. Ecce Homo.
6. The Virgin.
7. The Beheading of St. John Baptist.
8. St. Sebastian.
9. St. Nicholas.
10. St. Martin.
11. St. Catherine.
12. St. Barbara.
13. Our Lady of Pity.
14. Virgo Gloriosa.
15. Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows.
IV. DYALOGUE INSTRUCTOIRE DES CHRESTIENS EN LA FOY, ESPERANCE ET AMOUR DE DIEU COMPOSÉ PAR FRERE PIERRE DORÉ, DOCTEUR EN THEOLOGIE.... Imprimé nouvellement par Denys Janot, demourant en la rue Neufve Nostre Dame, à l’enseigne Sainct Jehan Baptiste, pres Saincte Geneviefve des Ardens.
Sixteenmo, 1542. On the verso of the title-page is an engraving signed with the Lorraine cross. It represents the Virgin standing on a crescent, holding the child Jesus in her arms, and surrounded by a halo. (Bibliothèque Nationale.)
1543-1544
SOMMAIRE DE CHRONIQUES, CONTENANS LES VIES, GESTES ET CAS FORTUITZ DE TOUS LES EMPEREURS D’EUROPE, etc. By J. B. Egnatius, translated by G. Tory.386
There were several other editions of these chronicles. M. Hippolyte Boyer mentions one of 1541, in his ‘Histoire des Imprimeurs et Libraires de Bourges’ (8vo, Bourges, 1854), p. 27; Antoine du Verdier, another, of 1543, in his Bibliothèque françoise. This much is certain—that M. Renouvier owned a copy, with illustrations, dated 1544. It is an octavo, ‘for sale by Charles l’Angelier, in the “grand’salle du Palais.”’ It contains 112 leaves (signatures A to O), plus 4 unnumbered leaves. The engravings are of two sorts: the first represents an emperor on horseback, carrying a battle-axe; there is no mark, but it is engraved with much delicacy and distinguished by the little cartouches of which Tory was so fond; this figure is reproduced several times. The others are busts of emperors, roughly engraved, which cannot be Tory’s. It may be noted that the edition published by Tory in 1530 contains no engravings.
1545
DE DISSECTIONE PARTIUM CORPORIS HUMANI, etc. By Charles Estienne. Folio, Simon de Colines, 1545.
There are in this book about sixty large anatomical plates. Five are signed with the Lorraine cross—folios 149, 150, 151, 154, 155. The last four bear also the name of Jollat, with the dates 1530, 1531, 1532. Here is what M. Renouvier has to say on the subject: ‘Simon de Colines... employed another wood-engraver of some note, Mercure Jollat, to whom Papillon attributed almost all of our gothic books of Hours. He should be reckoned only among the engravers of an altogether modernized manner. His name is written Iollat, the first letter in the zodiacal sign of Mercury, followed by the dates 1530, 1531, and 1532, and accompanied by the Lorraine cross, on four plates of Charles Estienne’s book on the dissection of the human body, representing the cadaver in its skin and the cadaver with the skin removed. The drawing of the figures has been attributed, even by Brulliot, to Woeiriot; but it is really the work of the surgeon Estienne Rivière, who is named on the title-page and in the preface as the painter of the bones, ligaments, and all the anatomical details. His initials, S. R., appear on a tablet hanging from the branches of a tree in the first plate. The engraving, which varies considerably, would seem to be the work of different hands, or, at least, to have come from an establishment which practised diverse styles and which sometimes put forth work done by apprentices. The workmanship of the plates with Jollat’s mark seemed to me more monotonous—not unskilful although less picturesque. I am not now passing upon their scientific merit, but upon their picturesque interest simply.’387
The inscription of Jollat’s name on plates marked with the Lorraine cross seems, at first glance, quite hard to explain, especially with the general opinion concerning the former of these artists, based on Papillon’s statements. But as the story of Jollat’s work as an engraver still remains to be told, I think I may safely say that he simply designed the plates that bear his name in Charles Estienne’s book, and that they were engraved by Tory, or, at least, in his workshop. We have seen, in fact, that Tory was Simon de Colines’ favourite engraver. To be sure, M. Renouvier seems to be of opinion that all the plates were designed by Estienne Rivière, whence he concludes that the engraving is by Jollat; but this is a mistaken opinion, based on a sentence in the preface. Rivière, who was a friend of Charles Estienne, may have designed the majority of the plates in Charles Estienne’s book, and yet not have designed all of them. Those signed Jollat evidently belong to that artist, who seems to have designed a number of them before the work was placed in Rivière’s hands.
I am confirmed in my belief that Jollat was the designer of the plates in question by the fact that his name is always accompanied by the dates, and that those dates are not those of the engraving, which I propose to prove. There are only five plates signed with Jollat’s name and with the Lorraine cross in the Latin edition of Charles Estienne’s book, published by Simon de Colines in 1545. In the following year the same printer issued a French edition of this work, under the title, ‘La Dissection des parties du corps humain’ (folio, 1546), in which we find two additional plates so marked and dated 1532. Why did not these plates appear in the first edition, if they were engraved by Jollat?
But here is another fact even more conclusive. In 1575 the bookseller Jacques Kerver published a volume of engravings without text, entitled ‘Les Figures et portraicts des parties du corps humain’ (folio), in which we find not only the seven engravings with the cross, of the edition of 1546, but three others, also bearing Jollat’s mark and the Lorraine cross, and dated 1533. Evidently these plates appeared in some earlier edition, unknown to me,388 for it was not Kerver who had them engraved; he simply made use of the woodcuts of which he had become the owner. But why did they not appear in the edition of 1546? That is a matter easily explained.
Charles Estienne informs us in the preface to his book that the printing was well advanced in 1539, but that it was interrupted by a lawsuit. We give his own words in the French edition of 1546: ‘All of which things were well-nigh finished in the year 1539, and almost so far as the middle of the third book printed, when, by reason of a suit that was begun, we were forced (to your great discontent, methinks) to lay aside this work and to desist from the completion thereof; for so long that in the mean time it has been possible for many others to invent new ideas touching this matter, and to make use at their will of many sheets filled with our writings; for it was not possible for the printer so closely to safeguard his book, so long suppressed, that some persons curious to learn of novel things might not take away some sheets, still uncorrected, and send them into Germany.’
Now let us see what was the cause of this suit. Charles Estienne does not inform us, but it has been disclosed by M. Ambroise Didot, in his ‘Essai sur la Gravure.’ The famous Vésale had published at Venice, in 1538, through the printer B. Vitalis, a treatise on anatomy, embellished with numerous plates, which was copied in several places, and notably in Paris, despite the privilege granted by the Republic. Later, wishing to issue a new and improved edition of his book, Vésale applied to Oporin, professor of Greek, and printer at Basle, to whom he sent his plates, which had been engraved at Venice by Calcar, a pupil of Titian. In 1543 Oporin finished printing this new edition, for which the author had, no doubt, obtained privileges from various sovereigns, especially from the King of France. This seems to be proved by the suit instituted against Charles Estienne. That is why the latter could not publish, in his edition of 1545, all the plates which he had had made, and which appeared only at intervals as the date of Vésale’s privilege was left behind. As we have seen, he gives it to be understood in his preface that it was he who was robbed in Germany.
As this is a favourable opportunity, I will say a few words concerning Jacques Kerver’s publication, of which I have never seen any mention,389 but which is of great interest to us. It is a folio volume, containing 61 large plates besides a considerable number of small ones. There is no other text than the explanations printed on the plates,390 and a brief note to the reader, which begins thus: ‘Friend reader, seeing that medicine is not at all essential to preserve the health and to banish all diseases, which often, on slight occasion, assail us, and that anatomy, or the description of the parts of the human body, mainly serves us therein, I have determined not to fail to exhibit them to you here.’ We give a description of those plates in the book which are of interest to us.
Plates which appear only in Kerver’s volume.
1. The human body in its relation to the signs of the zodiac (folio A 2 verso). This bears Jollat’s name, the date 1533, and the Lorraine cross.
2 and 3. The human body in its relation to the seven planets (folio A 3 recto and verso). These two bear the same marks as the preceding.
Plates which appear in the edition of 1546.
4. Skeleton seen from the left side (folio 11 of the edition of 1546, and A 3 verso of that of 1575). Jollat’s name, the Lorraine cross, no date.
5. Skeleton seen from the right side (folio 11, 1546, folio A 5 verso, 1575). Jollat’s name, the date 1532, and the Lorraine cross.
Plates which appear in all three editions.
6. Man flayed, front view (folio 149, 1545; folio 151, 1546; folio B 2 recto, 1575). The cross alone.
7. Man flayed, right side (folio 150, 1545; folio 152, 1546; folio B 2 verso, 1575). Jollat’s name, the date 1532, and the Lorraine cross.
8. Man flayed, rear view (folio 151, 1545; folio 153, 1546; folio B 3 recto, 1575). The same marks as in the last case.
9. Man in his skin, front view (folio 154, 1545; folio 160, 1546; folio B 3 verso, 1575). The same marks as in the last case.
10. Man in his skin, rear view (folio 155, 1545; folio 161, 1546; folio B 5 recto, 1575). The same marks, with the date 1531.
Many others of the plates may belong to Tory, but as they are not marked, I shall not speak of them here.
Something analogous to what I have just described took place with reference to the engravings of Tory’s Hours. Having become the property of the Kervers, as we have seen,391 they were used by them for a long while. We shall mention later the octavo Hours published by Thielman II in 1550, 1552, and 1556, in which he utilized the woodcuts of the edition published by Olivier Mallard in 1541. His son Jacques did better than that: in 1574 he published a large octavo edition of the Hours of the Virgin, in which he used the woodcuts of the quarto editions issued by Tory himself in 1524 and 1527. As the crosses were removed in almost every instance, one might have some right to deny their source, were not the books published by Tory a half century before, at our hand to demonstrate it. Jacques Kerver’s book being rare, and of a date subsequent to the period covered by my work, it seems to me that it may be well to give a bibliographical description of it, from the copy owned by M. Chedeau, which M. Potier, bookseller, has kindly furnished me.
‘Officium beatæ Mariæ Virginis nuper reformatum et Pii V, pont. max., jussu editum.—Apud Jacobum Kerver, via Jacobea, sub insigni Unicornis.—1574.’ Large octavo, with illustrations from the quarto edition published by Tory in 1524-1525, surrounded by borders taken from Tory’s quarto edition of 1527, but reduced in size, mutilated, transposed, etc.
Here is a list of the plates:—
1. The Annunciation (two plates).
2. The Salutation.
3. The Nativity.
4. The Adoration of the Shepherds.
5. The Adoration of the Magi.
6. The Circumcision.
7. The Flight into Egypt.
8. The Coronation of the Virgin.
These eight plates are repeated three times. Then come:—
9. The Triumph of Death.
10. David’s Penance.
11. Jesus on the Cross.
12. Pentecost.
Number 8 is taken from the quarto Hours of 1527; but all the others are in the Hours of 1524-1525. Numbers 2 and 12 still bear the Lorraine cross.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Kervers printed also the quarto Hours (1531) which I mentioned on page 201, and in which we find the borders of the Hours of 1524-1525, and the porticoes of the opuscula of 1530-1531. The plates are not signed and cannot be Tory’s, but as a list of them may assist in the discovery of this edition, I will mention here those which are at the Bibliothèque Nationale:—
1. The Annunciation.
2. The Conception.
3. The Visitation.
4. The Nativity.
5. The Circumcision.
6. The Resurrection.
7. The Descent of the Holy Ghost.
8. All Saints.
9. The Trinity.
1547
We place under this date three books of Hours which introduce us to certain engravings signed with the Lorraine cross accompanied by initials. 1547 is not the exact date of the engravings to which we refer, for we shall see that they are of earlier execution; but their first appearance is so uncertain that we are forced to fall back upon the definite date supplied by the books in question.
I. HOURS ACCORDING TO THE USE OF TOUL.
Octavo. On the first page: ‘The present hours according to the use of Tou [sic], in full, sans requerir, newly printed at Paris.’ (Here the mark of François Regnault.) ‘For sale in Paris, Rue Saint Jacques, at the sign of the Elephant, opposite the Mathurins, by Françoys Regnault’s widow.’
On the verso is a table of Easter-Days for thirteen years, beginning in 1547. Next comes a calendar, with engravings and verses (some in Latin, some in French), the ‘Jours moralisez,’ divers moral and religious axioms, in verse and in prose, and, lastly, the four Gospels of the Passion, in Latin. All these form the first part, with a special series of signatures, aa to ee. It is more than likely that this first part, which has no application to any particular diocese, is printed, in the same form, in the Hours which Veuve Regnault probably printed for other churches about the same time. In signatures cc and ee there is an engraving representing Jesus on the Cross, signed with the letters I, L, B and the Lorraine cross, which appears in several other publications of the same period.
The second part of the book comprises the Hours properly so-called, according to the ritual of the church of Toul. This part is made up of eight signatures, a to h, the word Tou being printed on the first page of each sheet.
The volume contains a hundred leaves in all. In addition to the bookseller’s mark and the engraving signed with the Lorraine cross, there are 55 large woodcuts, most of which are signed with the initials I, M (without the cross), a few small engravings, and a large number of letters in grisaille, but no borders.
With a copy of these Hours, which I have seen, was bound the following work:—
‘The fifteen effusions of the blood of our Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ, by Barbe Regnault, Rue Saint Jacques, at the sign of the Elephant, opposite the Mathurins.’ Eight leaves in two octavo folds, enriched with fifteen pretty woodcuts, interspersed through the text, and marked, like the one mentioned above, which is one of them, with the letters I, L, B and the Lorraine cross.
This little volume is undated, but it is known that Barbe Regnault succeeded her mother, Madeleine Boursette, widow of François Regnault, who was carrying on the business as late as 1555. So that the engravings with the initials I, L, B might be of later date than that; but we have seen that one of them had already appeared in the first part of the book; therefore they are of earlier date than 1547.
Here is a list of these engravings, which are the same ones mentioned by M. Robert-Dumesnil under date of 1599:—
1. The Circumcision.
2. Jesus in the Garden of Olives.
3. The Apprehension of Jesus.
4. Jesus Beaten with Rods.
5. Jesus before Pontius Pilate.
6. Jesus King of the Jews.
7. Jesus Bearing his Cross.
8. Jesus Stripped of his Clothing.
9. Jesus on the Cross.
10. Same subject (without initials).
11. Same subject (again without initials).
12. Same subject (with initials and without the cross).
13. Erection of the Cross.
14. Jesus between the two Thieves.
15. Same subject (without cross or initials).
All of these are 4½ centimetres high and 5 wide.
The ‘Fifteen Effusions’ was reprinted frequently during the sixteenth century, in different formats and in different type, but with the same engravings, and almost always without date, because it was added to other books. I have, however, seen one copy in large type, dated 1584 (Bibliothèque Nationale). These same engravings appear, with many others, in a work entitled ‘Abrégé des Méditations de la vie de Jésus-Christ’; octavo, Paris, Guillaume Chaudière, 1599.
II. HORE BEATE MARIE VIRGINIS AD USUM PARISIENSEM, TOTALITER AD LONGUM, CUM MULTIS ORATIONIBUS ET HISTORIIS, NOVITER IMPRESSE ET EMENDATE. (Here the Triumph of the Virgin, an old engraving with criblé background, with legends in gothic type, which figures in all the Hours of this period.) ‘On les vend a Paris, en la rue Sainct Jacques, par la veufve Jehan de Brie, a l’enseigne de la Lymace, pres Sainct Yves.’
On the verso of the title, ‘a calendar for XI years,’ beginning with 1548. Each month has its engraving, and the usual illustration is placed within a circle; they are not signed.
Printed in red and black, in large gothic type, the work consists of 8 preliminary leaves and 16 folios of text, signatures A to Q, with the letters Pa (Paris). The folios do not begin until signature B, and run without a break to the end of signature Q. On the last page of this signature are these words: ‘These present hours according to the use of Paris, with several noble eulogies of Our Lady, have been printed by Veufve Jehan de Brye [sic], living on rue sainct Jacques, at the sign of the Snail, near Sainct Yves.—M. D. XLVIII.’
Then follow 12 leaves of appendix, ending with a figure of the Virgin, over which are the words ‘Nostre Dame de Lorette,’ in roman capitals. At the foot of the page: ‘Ave Sanctissima Maria,’ etc. (5 lines in gothic type).
This curious volume is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale.
Besides the 12 small engravings of the calendar, there are several other small subjects, also unsigned, and 13 large ones with the letters L, R, and the double cross. These latter, which measure 10 centimetres in height and 7 in width, are as follows:—
1. St. John writing his Gospel.
2. The Annunciation.
3. The Visitation.
4. The Crucifixion.
5. The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles (with the initials, but without the cross).
6. The Birth of Jesus.
7. The Annunciation to the Shepherds.
8. The Adoration of the Magi.
9. The Circumcision.
10. The Coronation of the Virgin.
11. The Penance of David. He is saying to the Father Eternal these words, which are written in a scroll: ‘I who have sinned.’392
12. The Last Judgement.393
13. Notre-Dame de Lorette.
As I have said heretofore (supra, p. 149), the first twelve of these are improved copies of other, unsigned engravings, belonging to Thielman Kerver I, which appear in many books published by him or by his widow, Iolande Bonhomme, at least as early as 1522,394 and which we find again in the Paris missal published by their son Jacques in 1559.
M. Brunet395 suggests a very plausible theory, to the effect that the engravings signed L. R. were executed by Louis Royer, who was in fact the first to use them, in a book of Hours entitled: ‘Horæ beatæ Mariæ ad usum Rom.’; duodecimo, gothic type, with the mark of Jean de Brie, and the following words at the foot: ‘Parisiis, impressum in vico Jacobi per Claudium Chevallon, impensis Ludovici Royer, librarii Parisiensis, in eodem vico commorante, ad insigne vulgariter dictum la Lymace.’
The book is not dated; but we see, on the one hand, that it was printed by Claude Chevallon, who died in 1542, and, on the other hand, that Louis Royer, at whose expense it was printed, had succeeded Jean de Brie at the sign of the Snail. Now, the latter died about 1522; so that it was between 1522 and 1542 that this book saw the light, and that the engravings with the letters L. R. first appeared.
We know nothing of this Louis Royer, whom Lottin does not mention. Nor do we know any more of Jean de Brie’s widow, who seems to have succeeded Louis Royer. And, as if everything in this matter were fated to remain obscure, we find other octavo Hours according to the use of Rome, in French gothic type, undated, but with a calendar from 1568 to 1578, printed with the same woodcuts, and for sale ‘at Paris, on Rue Saint Jacques, at the sign of the Snail’; with no other details. In the book we have described we find also:—
1. The Virgin and the Child Jesus (signed with the letters L. R. and the cross).
2. Jesus betrayed by Judas (same marks).
3. Jesus bearing his Cross (same marks).
4. Jesus on the Cross (same marks).
5. Jesus in the Tomb (same marks).
6. The Resurrection (same marks).
7. The Flight into Egypt (same marks).
8. Job (unsigned).
9. Jesus at Emmaüs (unsigned).
III. HEURES EN FRANÇOYS A L’USAIGE DE ROME, NOUVELLEMENT IMPRIMÉES À PARIS POUR GUILLAUME MERLIN. M. D. XLVIII.
Octavo, gothic type; printed in red and black. This book, which I saw at the sale of M. Chedeau’s library, is illustrated with engravings, most of them signed with the Lorraine cross, to which the initials G. M. are sometimes added. They are 8 centimetres high by 55 millimetres wide. The list follows:—
1. Saint John writing his Gospel (unsigned).
2. The Annunciation (unsigned).
3. The Visitation (signed with the Lorraine cross and the initials G. M.).
4. The Nativity (signed with the Lorraine cross only).
5. The Annunciation to the Shepherds (the cross only).
6. The Adoration of the Magi (the cross only).
7. The Circumcision (the cross only).
8. The Flight into Egypt (unsigned).
9. The Coronation of the Virgin (the cross only).
10. The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles (signed with the letters G. M. and the Lorraine cross in a small circle).
11. Jesus on the Cross (the cross only).
12. Bathsheba (the cross only).
13. Job (the cross only).
We think that we can safely attribute the designing of these engravings to Guillaume Merlin, the publisher of this book of Hours. They must, at all events, be much earlier than 1548, for we have already seen one of them (no. 10) in a book of 1541 (supra, p. 217).
Guillaume Merlin also published about 1559 a book of Hours embellished with engravings signed with the Lorraine cross. It is entitled: ‘Heures à l’usage de Romme’ [sic], and is undated, but has a calendar from 1559 to 1570. It is a small octavo, printed in gothic characters, in red and black. At the end are the words: ‘Printed by Jean Bridier.’
We find in this volume, which was in M. Chedeau’s library, 12 engravings representing the twelve months of the year. Three of them are signed with the Lorraine cross, namely, January, May and December. The others have no mark. They are 10 centimetres high by 7 wide. On folio 62 verso is the Virgin holding the Child Jesus. She is within an aureole of flames, with her feet on a crescent.
1548
THEODORI BEZÆ VEZELII POEMATA. Paris, Conrad Bade, 1548.
Octavo of 100 pages printed in italic type. This is the first edition of this book and contains a portrait of Théodore de Bèze signed with the Lorraine cross. It is the oldest portrait that we know. Below it are the following verses, alluding to a laurel wreath which Théodore has in his hand:—
Vos docti docta præcingite tempora lauro:
Mi satis est illam uel tetigisse manu.
The inscription ‘An. 29,’ at the top of the portrait, indicates that it was engraved in the same year that the book was printed; for Théodore de Bèze, born at Vezelay June 24, 1519, completed his twenty-ninth year in 1548, the date of the dedicatory epistle of this book, which the author addressed to his teacher, Melchior Volmar. ‘Vale. Lutetiæ, VII. cal. Iul. qui dies est mihi natalis.’ The mark of Conrad Bade, also signed with the Lorraine cross, is on the first page of this book, which was finished on July 15, 1548. ‘Lutetiæ, Roberto Stephano, regio typographo, et sibi, Conradus Badius excudebat, idibus Julii M. D. XLVIII.’ It was shortly after, in this same year, that Théodore de Bèze, on recovering from a severe illness, withdrew to Geneva, and abjured ‘the papacy, as he had sworn to God to do at the age of sixteen.’ The portrait has been reproduced on copper; there is a copy of the reproduction in the collection of Tory’s work at the Bibliothèque Nationale.
1549
I. PAULI IOVII NOVOCOMENSIS VITÆ DUODECIM VICECOMITUM MEDIOLANIPRINCIPUM.—EX BIBLIOTHECA REGIA.—LUTETIÆ. EX OFFICINA ROB. STEPHANI, TYPOGRAPHI REGII. M. D. XLIX.
Quarto of 199 pages. Paris, 1549. This book is a faithful copy of the manuscript of the same work, preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale.396 It is embellished with beautiful letters in grisaille with criblé background, and with portraits of the ten dukes of Milan who figure in the manuscript. These portraits, all marked with the Lorraine cross, are faithful reproductions of those in the manuscript, but on a smaller scale. Following is a list of the portraits, taken by Paulus Jovius from originals which existed in his day and of which he gives, in each case, the place where it may be found:—
1. Otho archiepiscopus.
2. Matthæus magnus.
3. Galeacius primus.
4. Actius.
5. Luchinus.
6. Joannes archiepiscopus.
7. Galeacius secundus.
8. Barnabas.
9. Joannes Galeacius primus.
10. Philippus.
There is a French translation of this book, printed in 1552 by Charles Estienne (Robert was then in exile at Geneva), with the same plates. As for the Latin version, it was reprinted several times, in different places, with engravings on copper copied from those of Robert Estienne’s edition.
II. ENTRÉE DE HENRI II À PARIS.
Quarto; Paris, Jacques Roffet, called ‘Le Faulcheur,’ 1549.
This book, of 38 leaves, consists of two parts: the ‘Entrée du roi,’ of 28 leaves, and the ‘Entrée de la reine,’ in which the pagination is repeated, but with different signatures. The privilege, dated Chantilly the last day of March, 1548 (1549 new style), grants to Roffet the sole right to have printed and to offer for sale during one year ‘the treatise which is to be written concerning the recent, joyful entrée,’ etc.
There were two editions of this book, or, at all events, there are some copies with additions to the second part—after folio 34. There are also copies with the imprint of Jean Dallier. A list of the engravings follows:
1. A portico, above which we see Hercules holding, bound together by the ears (by means of a chain issuing from his mouth and representing eloquence), a wood-chopper, a soldier, a priest, and a noble (folio 4). I can find no mark on this piece, but it is a reproduction of the Gallic Hercules of ‘Champ fleury.’
2. A fountain (folio 5 verso).
3. A triumphal arch surmounted by the arms of France (folio 9).
4. An obelisk on a rhinoceros (folio 11). The cross is under the left foot of the rhinoceros.
5. A peristyle with pillars (folio 13).
6. A triumphal arch surmounted by three nude men, one of whom holds a standard (folio 15).
7. A large vaulted hall, on the ceiling of which are H’s and D’s (folio 16). The cross is in a portico at the left.
8. A mounted man, armed (folio 19). The cross is in the horse’s harness, on the breastplate, a little below his mouth.
9. A triumphal arch, with two pillars (one on each side) surmounted by a man on horseback (folio 38). The cross is on the left-hand pillar.
10. A portico with two openings, separated by a pillar against which rests the statue of a woman standing on books (folio 39 verso).
11. A large plate, representing the façade of a palace with three porticos (folio 40).
Of these eleven plates only four are signed; but all of them must have come from Tory’s workshop, for the style is the same. The absence of the signature may be explained by the haste with which the engravings were executed in order that they might appear at the opportune moment.
I cannot refrain from quoting M. Renouvier’s remarks on the engravings in this book, which, for lack of information, he attributed to Jean Cousin.
‘I will, however, mention in this place the “Entrée de Henri II à Paris” in 1549, because it is the chef-d’œuvre of French wood-engraving, and because I know of no one to whom it can with more reason be attributed than to the Sénonais master.397 If he did not work for the court, he may very well have been employed upon works for the city. Those which were executed to commemorate the coronation of Queen Catherine de Medici are of a manner of composition and a style that belong only to him. The Gallic Hercules, made in the likeness of the late King François I, with the four estates of the realm chained to his mouth; the fountain surmounted by statues of the Seine, the Marne, and Good Fortune; the triumphal arch bearing a Typhis, whose face strongly resembles that of the “rex triumphans”; and, lastly, the figure of Lutetia nova Pandora “clad as a nymph, with her hair falling over her shoulders and drawn about her face, kneeling on one knee with wondrous grace”; and all the other details which the artist painted, as happening in the streets through which the procession passed, and which he included by way of narrative, are in the refined manner of the French school. The drawing is pure and full of delicacy, and the engraving so skilfully handled that one cannot believe it to be by a different hand. It would seem that none but a sculptor could, within such narrow limits, have set in relief those interesting faces, designed those graceful figures, and arranged those draperies; and that sculptor—who could it have been if not the author of the mausoleum of Admiral Chabot, the French artist who best represented the two sides of art,—detail and strength, compression and grandeur, gothicism and the Renaissance?’398
While agreeing with M. Renouvier that these plates were drawn by Jean Cousin, we may well, it seems to me, attribute the engraving of them to Tory’s workshop.
III. HORÆ IN LAUDEM BEATISSIMÆ VIRGINIS MARIÆ, AD USUM ROMANUM. (Here a small mark of the printer Chaudière, representing Time, with this device, printed from type, occupying three sides of the engraving: ‘Hanc aciem | sola | retvndit virtvs.’) ‘Parisiis, ex officina Reginaldi Calderii et Claudii ejus filii.’ 1549.
Large quarto, divided into signatures of two sheets, a to y (the k, probably because that letter was lacking in the font used, is represented by an l and a z joined together), or 22 signatures of 8 leaves, making 176 leaves; printed in red and black.
This volume corresponds in all respects with the one issued by Simon de Colines in 1543 399; but the Chaudières (Simon de Colines’s successors) have removed a French inscription which appeared below the third plate (the Angelic Salutation) in the edition of 1543; and they have removed all the dates inscribed in the borders of that edition. These dates are: 1536, which appeared in large figures in a cartouche at the foot of the border of folio b 4 of the edition of 1543; 1537, in a cartouche at the foot of the sixth plate (the Annunciation to the Shepherds); and 1539, in two small cartouches at the top of the border of folio a 2; so that all the cartouches are empty in this edition of 1549.
I know of only two copies of this edition, one belonging to M. Kühnholtz, the learned librarian of the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier, the other offered for sale at Claudin’s bookshop in 1860. This last copy, in a state of perfect preservation, is still in its original binding, with S’s barré, and small tortoises (tortues) in wreaths of olive. These are the allusive400 arms of the Tourteron family near Attigny. There is also, on one of the fly-leaves at the front of the book, a large tortoise coloured from life, on a red ground, in a green olive wreath; and at the four corners a monogram of an I and two G’s, the initials of the original owner’s baptismal names. The volume afterwards belonged to J.-F. Corel du Clos, priest and canon, who wrote his name on the title-page and pasted his arms, engraved on copper, in an empty space at the foot of folio h 3 verso. Du Clos seems to have parted with it to the Cordeliers of Rheims, in whose library it remained doubtless until the Revolution.
IV. PREMIER VOLUME DES ANTIQUITÉS DE LA GAULE BELGIQUE, ROYAUME DE FRANCE, AUSTRASIE ET LORRAINE... PAR M. RICHARD DE WASSEBOURG, ARCHIDIACRE DE L’ÉGLISE DE VERDUN... ACHEVÉ D’IMPRIMER LE 13 NOVEMBRE 1549.
A large folio of more than 600 leaves, printed at Paris by François Girault. The privilege, in the name of Sertenas, bookseller, is dated October 1, 1549. It was issued evidently while the printing was in progress, for it is impossible that the volume was made in a month and a half.
On the first page is the fine frontispiece of the Dream of Poliphilus, above which is the mark of Jacques Kerver. There is but one way to explain this fact, and that is to assume that Kerver was the printer of the book. It may be that there are copies in his name. In that case he may have furnished the border, which was left in all the copies.
On the second leaf is the representation of the ‘Ymage de nostre Dame de Verdun,’ with the Lorraine cross. The Virgin, seated, has in her right hand a flower, and in the left the Child Jesus, holding in his left hand the globe surmounted by a cross. The Virgin’s feet rest on a winged dragon. Below her is a man kneeling, with his coat-of-arms before him. Presumably it is the author of the book.
After folio cccli, which concludes the first volume, comes the second volume, the pagination of which follows on. The title-page of this volume, while it is set in the border of the Poliphilus, differs slightly from that of the first. It reads thus: ‘Second volume des antiquités de la Gaule Belgique et de plusieurs principautez contenues en icelle, extraites soubs les vies des evesques de Verdun, par M. Richard de Wassebourg.... On les vend à Paris, en la gallerie du Palais, par Vincent Sertenas, libraire audit lieu. Et aussi, se vend en la cité de Verdun.’ On the verso is the engraving described above. The Lorraine cross is under the dragon’s tail.
V. GERARD D’EUPHRATE.
Folio, roman type, Paris, Estienne Groulleau, 1549. There are copies also with the imprint of Longis, and others with that of Sertenas.
This volume contains numerous engravings, large and small; but only 31 of them are different, many being repeated once, twice, or thrice. Three are signed with the Lorraine cross, as follows:—
Folios 5 verso, 64 verso, 89 verso, and 183. Vessels manned by soldiers. A woman stands near the shield of him who seems to be in command.401
Folio 46. A knight armed cap-à-pie standing in the recess of a portico. His right foot is hidden by a sort of altar whereon are the names of Madanil, Bruneo, Agradiis, and Amadis.402
Folio 48. Bird’s-eye view of a château which has been besieged, at whose gate stands a warrior accompanied by a horse and a dog; he is parleying with the keeper of the gate, who stands at the top of the entrance tower. This last plate is a superb folio.
1550
I. HORÆ IN LAUDEM, etc.
Hours of the Virgin according to the use of Rome, in Greek and Latin.
Small sixteenmo, Paris, Jean de Roigny, 1550. Printed in red and black. One of the engravings, on leaf 113, representing the Sacrifice of David, is signed with the Lorraine cross. The others are not signed, but are absolutely in the same style; they are: the Annunciation, folio 38 (repeated on 105), and the Resurrection of Lazarus, folio 133.[3]
II. BREVIARIUM AD RITUM DIOCESIS EDUENSIS.—Parisiis, apud Iolandam Bonhomme, viduam Thielmani Kerver, in via Jacobea, sub Unicorni.
Small octavo, 1550. On the first page are the arms of Cardinal Hippolyte d’Este, Bishop of Autun, signed with the Lorraine cross.403
III. L’HISTOIRE DE PRIMALEON DE GRECE, etc.
Translated by Vernassal. Folio, Paris, 1550.
This fine volume, printed by Pasquier Letellier for the bookseller Vincent Sertenas, for whom Tory had engraved a mark, contains fifty engravings in the text. A single one is signed with the Lorraine cross: it is found on folio 137 verso, and represents a lion fawning upon a woman who sits beside a fountain.
There are copies of this book in the names of other booksellers—Étienne Groulleau, Jean Longis, etc.; but the privilege is in the name of Sertenas.404 At the end of the volume is a note to the reader by Letellier. ‘Dear reader,’ he says, ‘if you have noticed, on reading this book, the common orthography changed in some words, even as to the double letter, which is not pronounced according to the true French method, think not that that is of my doing, but that it accords with the earnest recommendation of the author.’
IV. MISSALE SECUNDUM USUM CELEBRIS MONASTERII CLUNIACENSIS, etc. Here the vignette described below, followed by this imprint: ‘Prostat Parisiis, apud Iolandam Bonhomme, in via Jacobea, sub Unicorni, ubi et impressum est.
—Anno D. M. CCCCC. L.’
This missal is embellished, on the title-page, with a cut signed with the Lorraine cross, and representing Saint Peter and Saint Paul, patron saints of the Abbey of Cluny. This cut appears in other parts of the book, where we find also the two large cuts hitherto described (page 214) as included in the Missal of Paris, of 1539, published by order of Jean de Bellay. We find also a Saint John Baptist, with the Paschal Lamb under his left arm, and pointing to it with his right hand. This cut, which is signed in two different places, is on folio 49 of the second part. It is of quarto size.
The book is in two parts, paged separately. The two large engravings are on folios 116 and 117 of the first part. At the end of the Missal proper, which is followed by a few other leaves, are these words: ‘Ex officina chalcographica matrone clarissime Iolande Bonhomme, vidue industrii viri Thielmanni Kerver, Parisiis, in via Jacobea, sub Unicorni, anno D. millesimo quingentesimo quinquagesimo, idib. septembris.’
There are several copies of this book in the Bibliothèque Nationale. In two of them the miniaturists have substituted for the date 1538, printed on one of the large cuts, the dates on which they coloured it—1559 and 1567, respectively. It is well to call attention to such details as these, which may give rise to mistakes.
We also find in the Cluny Missal the unsigned drawings to which I have previously referred 405 and which are in the Paris Missals of 1539 and 1559.
V. HEURES DE NOSTRE DAME À L’USAIGE DE ROMME [sic], EN LATIN ET EN FRANÇOYS, NOUVELLEMENT IMPRIMÉES À PARIS. (Here a vignette representing the Virgin under a portico; at the foot the letters F. R., initials of François Regnault, deceased husband of Madeleine Boursette.) ‘A Paris, par Magdaleine Boursette, à l’enseigne de l’Elephant, à la rue Sainct Jacques.’
On the verso of the title-page a table of Easter-Days from 1550 to 1566.
Sixteenmo, in signatures of 8 leaves. The work is in two parts; the first has 168 numbered leaves, signatures A to X; the second part has only 32 leaves, signatures A to D. Roman type, double columns, printed in red and black. On the recto of folio 168 of the first part, at the foot, are these words: ‘Parisiis excudebat Stephanus Mesviere in ædibus Vindocimis, ex adverso collegii Becodiani.—1550.’ And on the last leaf of the second part: ‘Cy finent ces presentes Heures a l’usaige de Romme, en latin et en françoys, nouvellement imprimées à Paris, par Estienne Mesviere, demourant a l’hostel de Vendosmes, devant le college de Boncourd.—M. D. L.’
This precious book, of which I know of but one copy, owned by M. Silvestre, author of ‘Les Marques Typographiques,’ contains many engravings. The principal ones are:
| Folio | 5 recto, Saint John writing his Gospel (signed). |
| 12 recto, Jesus at prayer in the Garden of Olives. | |
| 33 recto, The Angelic Salutation (signed). | |
| 47 verso, The Visitation (signed). | |
| 56 verso, The Nativity of Jesus (signed). | |
| 60 recto, The Annunciation to the Shepherds (signed). | |
| 63 verso, The Adoration of the Magi (signed). | |
| 67 recto, The Presentation in the Temple (signed). | |
| 70 verso, The Flight into Egypt (signed). | |
| 77 recto, The Coronation of the Virgin. | |
| 89 recto, Jesus on the Cross. | |
| 93 verso, The Descent of the Holy Ghost (signed). | |
| 97 verso, The Penance of David (signed). | |
| 109 verso, Job on the Dunghill. | |
| 168 verso, Death (signed). |
VI. HORÆ IN LAUDEM BEATISSIME VIRGINIS MARIE AD USUM ROMANUM.—Parisiis, apud Thielmannum Kerver. M. D. L.
On the verso of the last leaf: ‘Excudebat Parisiis, Thielmannus Kerver, in vico sancti Iacobi, sub signo Cratis.—M. D. L.’
Small octavo of 172 unnumbered leaves; signatures A to X of 8 leaves and Y of 4. Roman type, printed in red and black, with the small borders with birds, etc., used by Mallard in his Hours of 1541.406
1551
I. DE SACRIS ECCLESIÆ MINISTERIIS AC BEN[E]FICIIS LIBRI VIII... AUTHORE FRANCISCO DUARENO JURECONSULTO ET ORDINARIO JURIS CIVILIS DOCTORE IN CIVITATE BITURIG[I].—Lutetiæ, ex typographia Matthæi Davidis, via Amygdalina, ad Veritatis insigne.—1551.
Quarto of 338 leaves, plus one unnumbered leaf, on which are the words: ‘Parisiis, excudebat Matthæus David, prid. calend. nov. [October 31] 1551.
On the title-page is David’s mark, with the Lorraine cross. On the verso, a portrait of Le Duaren, in the shape of a medallion, also signed with the Lorraine cross. Encircling it, the legend: ‘francisc. dvarenvs. jvrisc.407
The work opens with an epistle to Marguerite, Duchesse de Berry, and sister of François I. This letter, dated Paris, the Ides of June, 1550, is more properly a dedication, for in it Le Duaren mentions the death of Marguerite, which took place in 1549. He tells us, further, in the title of this epistle, that it was written before his return to Bourges, which he had been obliged to leave in 1547, as the result of a love-affair (‘antequam Lutetia Parisiorum Avaricum Biturigum migrasset’).408
II. CICERO’S WORKS (in Latin), published by Charles Estienne, from 1551 to 1555, in four folio volumes, usually bound in two.
This important work is embellished with a frieze engraved for Robert Estienne, and signed with the Lorraine cross,—a frieze which appears in the second volume of the works of Eusebius of 1544.409 We also find therein several floriated letters signed with the Lorraine cross.410 These are the E, the O, and the S of the medium alphabet,—for there are three alphabets of different sizes, all three formed by Renaissance arabesques. The largest is the one used in the folio Eusebius of 1544, which, consequently, was engraved for Robert Estienne; but it has no signature. The medium alphabet was, doubtless, engraved for Charles Estienne in this same year 1551, in which he began to conduct a printing-office. I cannot say whether any other letters of this medium alphabet bore the Lorraine cross, for they do not all appear in the book, but I am sure that the G has none. Of course, after Tory died, the artists employed in the establishment carried on by his widow had no reason to select the G rather than another letter.
I give some details concerning this valuable edition, of which M. Didot owned a copy annotated by Henri Estienne. The text of the first volume, printed in 1551, as stated in an imprint at the end (dated the 3d of the Nones of September), exhibits one of the letters mentioned above—the S (on folios 56 and 298). This volume received later a large title-page dated 1555, and a dedication, to the Cardinal de Lorraine, also dated 1555 (the 6th of the Kalends of March), on which we find the frieze of the Eusebius of 1544, signed, and bearing on a medallion Fame distributing wreaths.411 The text of the second volume, also of 1551, as I discovered from an incomplete copy in the library at Montbrison (it has no final imprint, but on the title-page some one has added III by hand to the original numerals M. D. LI, so that it might correspond with the other copies), contains the three floriated letters signed with the Lorraine cross (folios 47, 122, 230, 313, 388, 398); we find also, on the title-page, dated 1554, Charles Estienne’s small mark described later.412 The text of the third volume was probably printed in 1552, but it has no final imprint. The title-page is dated 1555; it has the small mark with the Lorraine cross. The fourth bears on the title-page the date 1554, but it was not finished until 1555, as is shown by the final imprint (3d of the Kalends of March, 1555); the vignette of the title-page is unlike that in the second and third volumes, although of the same size, and has not the cross. The work did not appear until 1555, as is shown by the date on the title-page of the first volume, on which there is another larger mark, also without the cross.413
1552
I. HEURES PARIS [sic], CONTENANT PLUSIEURS ORAISONS DEVOTES, EN FRANÇOIS ET EN LATIN ET CONFESSION GENERALE. (Here the mark of Thielman Kerver, with the Lorraine cross.) Imprimé à Paris par Thielman Kerver, demourant rue Sainct Jaques, à l’enseigne du Gril.—1552.
Duodecimo, red and black; signatures A to O. Tory’s small border with decorations of birds. Plates of the Hours of 1541.414
II. TESTAMENTUM NOVUM.—ADDITIS PICTURIS IN EVANGELIA ET APOCALYPSIM, QUIBUS MIRACULA ET VISIONES ELEGANTISSIME EXPRIMUNTUR. (Mark of Madeleine Boursette, widow of François Regnault; Silvestre, no. 396.) ‘Parisiis. Apud viduam Francisci Regnault, via Jacobæa.—1552.’
At the end of the volume: ‘Parisiis. Excudebat Stephanus Mesviere, in ædibus Vindocimis, ex adverso collegii Becodiani.’—1552.
Thirty-twomo; 45 signatures (a to z, A to Y) of eight leaves each, or 360 leaves in all. Only the first 350 are numbered; the last 10, containing the index, are without folios. Printed in very small roman type.
This book contains 120 engravings inserted in the text, and serving thus ‘to illustrate,’ as we should say to-day, or ‘to express,’ as the publisher says on the title-page, the Gospels and the Apocalypse. Those relating to the Apocalypse, 22 in number, are of earlier date than the others, and by another hand. Of those which illustrate the Gospels, many are signed with the double cross. Although several of them relate to subjects previously treated in the octavo Hours of 1527 and the sixteenmo Hours of 1529, the engravings, while they are of nearly the same size, are different none the less. A list of their titles follows:—
| Folio | 2 recto, St. Matthew writing his Gospel. |
| 3 verso, Adoration of the Magi. | |
| 4 verso, The Flight into Egypt (signed). | |
| 5 recto, Massacre of the Innocents (signed). | |
| 5 verso, Baptism of Jesus. | |
| 6 verso, Jesus carried up into a Mountain (signed). | |
| 8 recto, Jesus bids Simon and Andrew to follow Him (signed). | |
| 12 recto, Jesus curing the Paralytic. | |
| 13 verso, Jesus expelling the Money-changers from the Temple (signed). | |
| 16 verso, St. John in Prison (signed). | |
| 18 recto, The Apostles pardoned by Jesus. | |
| 20 recto, Parable of the Sower. | |
| 26 verso, Jesus teaching. | |
| 27 verso, Jesus driving out the Devils (signed). | |
| 30 recto, The Mother and Brothers of Jesus (signed). | |
| 31 recto, Jesus and the Ass. | |
| 31 verso, Jesus entering Jerusalem. | |
| 32 recto, Jesus cursing the Fig-tree. | |
| 33 recto, Parable of the Reapers (signed). | |
| 33 verso, The Vine-Dresser slaying the only Son. | |
| 36 recto, Jesus likens Himself to the Hen. | |
| 37 recto, Jesus arguing with the Doctors (signed). | |
| 39 recto, Parable of the Virgins (signed). | |
| 41 verso, The Lord’s Supper. | |
| 47 verso, St. Mark writing his Gospel. | |
| 50 recto, The Apostles pardoned by Jesus (as on p. 18). | |
| 52 verso, One does not hide the Light under a Bushel (signed). | |
| 53 recto, Jesus expelling the Devils, which enter into the Swine (signed). | |
| 56 recto, St. John’s head borne by Herodias. | |
| 57 verso, Jesus walking on the Water (signed). | |
| 59 recto, The deaf and dumb Man (signed). | |
| 59 verso, The Miracle of the Loaves. | |
| 60 verso, Jesus curing a blind Man (signed). | |
| 63 verso, Jesus blessing the little Children. | |
| 69 verso, The Magdalen pouring Spices. | |
| 75 verso, St. Luke writing his Gospel. | |
| 77 recto, The Annunciation (signed). | |
| 77 verso, The Visitation (signed). | |
| 79 recto, The Nativity (signed). | |
| 79 verso, The Annunciation to the Shepherds (signed). | |
| 80 verso, The Circumcision (signed). | |
| 81 verso, Jesus among the Doctors (signed). | |
| 82 recto, St. John Baptist preaching (signed). | |
| 83 recto, The Tree not bringing forth Fruits. | |
| 84 verso, Jesus explaining the Writings in the Temple (signed). | |
| 85 verso, Cure of Simon’s Mother-in-law (signed). | |
| 87 recto, Cure of the Paralytic (signed). | |
| 88 verso, Jesus effecting Cures. | |
| 90 recto, Jesus curing the Widow’s Son (signed). | |
| 97 recto, Jesus sends his Apostles forth to preach the Gospel. | |
| 98 recto, Jesus discoursing to his Disciples. | |
| 98 verso, Parable of the Good Samaritan (signed). | |
| 100 verso, Jesus instructing a Woman (signed). | |
| 101 recto, Jesus dining with a Pharisee (signed). | |
| 107 verso, Return of the Prodigal Son. | |
| 108 verso, The Rich Man in Flames and Lazarus in Abraham’s Bosom. | |
| 110 recto, Cure of the ten Lepers (signed). | |
| 111 verso, The Shepherd and the Pharisee. | |
| 112 recto, The Parable of the Camel. | |
| 112 verso, Nicodemus on the Tree. | |
| 118 recto, The Lord’s Supper (as on p. 41). | |
| 118 verso, Jesus in the Garden of Olives. | |
| 122 verso, The Disciples at Emmaus. | |
| 124 recto, The Ascension. | |
| 125 verso, St. John writing his Gospel. | |
| 126 verso, The Trinity. | |
| 128 recto, The Marriage at Cana. | |
| 128 verso, Jesus expelling the Money-Changers. | |
| 131 recto, The Woman of Samaria. | |
| 132 verso, Jesus curing the Son of a Wood-sawyer (signed). | |
| 133 verso, The Pool (signed). | |
| 134 recto, Jesus answering the Doctors (signed). | |
| 135 verso, same as on p. 59.415 | |
| 137 recto, The Withered Hand. | |
| 140 recto, The Woman taken in Adultery (signed). | |
| 142 recto, Jesus leaving the Temple. | |
| 142 verso, Jesus curing the blind Man. | |
| 145 recto, Jesus in flight. | |
| 146 verso, Resurrection of Lazarus (signed). | |
| 147 verso, The Priests deliberating as to putting Jesus to Death (signed). | |
| 150 verso, The Lord’s Supper (as on pp. 41 and 118). | |
| 155 verso, St. Peter cutting off Malthus’s Ear. | |
| 156 recto, Jesus before Caiaphas. | |
| 157 verso, Jesus before Pontius Pilate. | |
| 158 recto, The Scourging. | |
| 158 verso, The Crown of Thorns. | |
| 159 recto, Jesus beneath the Cross. | |
| 159 verso, Jesus Crucified. | |
| 160 verso, Jesus Entombed. | |
| 161 verso, The Women going to the Tomb. | |
| 162 recto, The Women announcing the Resurrection to the Disciples (signed). | |
| 162 verso, The Magdalen takes Jesus for the Gardener. | |
| 163 recto, The Ascension (signed). | |
| 312 verso, St. John writing. | |
| 321 verso, St. John receiving the Revelation. | |
| 323 recto, Alpha and Omega. | |
| 326 verso, A Throne erected in Heaven. |
Then follow the engravings of the Apocalypse, impossible to describe, and in an entirely different manner. At the end of the book is an engraving of the Christ on the Cross, surrounded by rays of light.
III. LE PREMIER LIVRE DE LA CHRONIQUE DU TRES VAILLANT ET REDOUTÉ DOM FLORES DE GRECE. Folio, Jean Longis, 1552.
There are many engravings in this book, but only one of them is signed with the Lorraine cross. That one is on folio 90 verso, and represents soldiers before a tower. It is reproduced in ‘L’Histoire paladine,’ folio, Étienne Groulleau, 1555, on folio 56 verso.
1553
Ronsard’s ‘LES AMOURS’ annotated by Marc-Antoine Muret.
Octavo, printed by Maurice de la Porte’s widow, 1553.416 This edition of ‘Les Amours’ is embellished with a portrait of Muret, signed with the Lorraine cross, and bearing the inscription ‘An. XXV,’ which proves that it was engraved that same year, for Muret was born in 1526.417 This portrait reappears, but without the inscription, in several other editions of Ronsard. I will mention particularly the quarto edition of his works, issued in 1567 by Gabriel Buon, successor to Maurice de la Porte’s widow, and the folio issued in 1623 by Nicolas Buon, Gabriel’s son.
1554
LES OBSERVATIONS DE PLUSIEURS SINGULARITEZ ET CHOSES MEMORABLES TROUVÉES EN GRECE. By Pierre Belon. Quarto, Paris, 1554.
There were two editions of this book, printed by Benoît Prevost, for Gilles Corrozet and Guillaume Cavellat, respectively, in 1553 and 1554. The copies in Corrozet’s name bear his mark, signed with the Lorraine cross. There is a portrait of Belon signed with the cross at the end of the front matter in the edition of 1554. I have not seen it in any copy of the edition of 1553, which leads me to think that it had not then been engraved. And, in effect, the fact that the portrait attributes to Belon the age of thirty-six years seems to show that it was not drawn until 1554, as Belon is supposed to have been born in 1518. However that may be, the portrait appeared afterward in several other books by the same author, and particularly in his ‘Histoire de la nature des oiseaux,’ folio, 1555.
1555
HISTOIRE DE LA NATURE DES OISEAUX. By Pierre Belon. Folio, Paris, G. Corrozet, 1555.
In this book we find, in addition to the portrait of Belon, seven cuts of birds, signed with the Lorraine cross. They are: the osprey, folio 96; the sea-gull, 169; the bustard, 238; the pullet, 252; the loriot, 295; the woodpecker, 304; the sparrow-hawk, 376. Some of the other engravings in the volume are signed with a white cross on a black ground.
1556
I. LES SINGULARITEZ DE LA FRANCE ANTARCTIQUE, AUTREMENT NOMMÉE AMERIQUE, ET DE PLUSIEURS TERRES ET ISLES DECOUVERTES DE NOSTRE TEMPS. Par F. André Thevet, natif d’Angoulesme.—A Paris, chez les héritiers de Maurice de la Porte, au clos Bruneau, à l’enseigne S. Claude.—1558.
This rare and curious volume is a quarto of 8 preliminary leaves, 166 leaves of text, and 2 of index unnumbered,—in all, 46 signatures. The privilege, which is printed on the verso of the title-page, is dated Saint-Germain-en-Laye, December 18, 1556. In the dedication, addressed to the Cardinal of Sens, Jean Bertrand, first Keeper of the Seals of France, Thevet says that the country described by him maybe called the fourth part of the world, ‘for that no one has as yet made explorations there, all geographers thinking that the world is limited to that which the ancients have described to us.’
There are 41 engravings in the text, not including borders, floriated letters, and Jean Bertrand’s arms on the title-page. Of the 41, only seven are signed with the double cross; four of these represent scenes in the life of the American savage,—they are on folios 6 verso, 31 recto, 47 verso, and 151 recto; a fifth represents an extraordinary bird called pa (45 recto); and the other two, plants,—the pineapple (89 verso), and the cassava (113 verso). The last three appear in André Thevet’s ‘Cosmographie Universelle,’ published in 1575, in two volumes, folio.418 The others also appear in that work, but reëngraved on a larger scale, and without signature.
The seven engravings signed with the double cross cannot have been executed prior to 1556. For Thevet set out for the New World on November 4, 1555,419 and remained there four months. So that it was not until the early months of 1556, at the earliest, that the engravings could have been executed. But, as the book did not appear until the beginning of 1558,420 it may be that they were still in process of execution in 1557.
In the same year with the publication of Thevet’s ‘Singularités,’ an octavo edition appeared at Antwerp, with the imprint of Christophe Plantin, and a privilege from the King of Spain, dated Brussels, April 20, 1558. The haste with which this reprint was prepared shows the interest with which the book was regarded. The woodcuts of the Antwerp edition are nothing more than wretched copies of those in the Paris edition. We find among them, however, in chapters 56, 58, 67, and 74, cuts of animals bearing the cipher of Jost Amman.
II. HORÆ IN LAUDEM BEATISSIMÆ VIRGINIS MARIÆ AD USUM ROMANUM. (Here the mark of T. Kerver, without the cross.) Parisiis, apud Thielman Kerver, in via sancti Jacobi, sub signo Cratis.
Duodecimo, 1556. Signatures A to M, and A to C vi. Border decorated with birds, with the small engravings of 1529. M. Niel owns a copy of this book bound with Tory’s toolings. It has the Pot Cassé on the edges. Another copy, belonging to M. Portalis, is bound with the prayers (in French) described on page 219.
1557
I. LES FIGURES ET PORTRAICTS DES PARTIES DU CORPS HUMAIN.—A Paris, par Jaques Kerver, rue S. Jaques, aux deux cochetz.—1557.
Folio, containing 61 large anatomical plates, several of which are signed with the Lorraine cross, and dated 1531, 1532, or 1533. This collection was reprinted in the same form, by the same publisher, in 1575.421
II. LES QUATRE LIVRES D’ALBERT DURER, PEINTRE ET GEOMETRIEN EXCELLENT, DE LA PROPORTION DES PARTIES ET POURTRAITZ DES CORPS HUMAINS, TRADUITS PAR LOYS MEIGRET, LIONNOIS, DE LANGUE LATINE EN FRANÇOISE.
Folio; Paris, chez Charles Perier, at the sign of the Bellerophon,422 1557.
In the same year Perier published an edition of Durer’s work in Latin, similar in every respect to the French edition. It is entitled ‘De Symetria partium humanorum corporum.’ I am unable to say which was printed first.
1559
PSALTERIUM DAVIDICUM GRÆCOLATINUM.... Parisiis, apud Ægidium Gorbinum, sub insigne Spei, prope collegium Cameracense.—1559.
On the last leaf: ‘Parisiis, excudebat Benedictus Prævotius, ad Stellam Auream, via Frumentello.’
Twenty-fourmo of 278 numbered leaves of text, and 20 unnumbered preliminary leaves; printed in red and black.
This little volume, printed in Greek and Latin, two columns on a page, was called to my attention by M. Lornier, barrister, of Rouen. Opposite the first page of text is a small engraving, signed with the Lorraine cross, representing the penance of David. David is on his knees, with a book before him and his harp at his right hand; he is gazing at God the Father, who is seen in the sky blessing him. Doubtless this engraving appears in other books of earlier date. It is 73 millimetres high by 55 wide.
Engravings of Uncertain Date
I. FIGURE DE L’ANCIENNE ET DE LA NOUVELLE ALLIANCE.
A large plate, 35 centimetres in width by 27 in height, divided into two parts by a tree at the foot of which is Man, thus placed on the boundary of the two worlds. The tree bears only withered branches on the left side (the old alliance), whereas, on the right (the new alliance), it is green and flourishing.
In the compartment at the left we see Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Eve is offering Adam the apple. Beneath them is the word ‘peche.’423 Lower still is a skeleton on a bier, with the words ‘la mort’ beneath. Above the Garden is Mount Sinai, whereon Moses is receiving the tables of the law; beneath, on the right, the ‘terrestrial Jerusalem,’ wherein are devout persons being devoured by serpents, with the serpent of brass in the midst, and above it the words, ‘Similitvde de la ivstification.’ Moses appears on the right; at the left, and a little lower, Hagar and Ishmael; lower still, the prophet pointing out to Man Jesus on the Cross at the right.
In the compartment at the right we see God standing on the terrestrial globe, with the words, ‘Iervsalem celeste’; above, ‘Mont Sion,’ on which stands a woman’s figure, with the words ‘La Grace’ over her head. An angel bearing a cross descends from Heaven (where are the words, ‘Emmanvel Diev avec novs’) amid rays of light which fall upon the woman. Lower, at the left, is another angel announcing the birth of Christ to the shepherds. Near by, at the right, the Christ on the Cross, with the words, ‘nostre ivstice,’ and the Paschal Lamb, with the words, ‘nostre innocence’; below, Jesus coming forth from the tomb, with the words, ‘nostre victoire’; still lower, at the left, St. John Baptist pointing out to Man the Christ on the Cross; the Forerunner is indicated by the words, ‘Lenseignevr de Christ,’ in a cartouche; above St. John are Sarah and Isaac.
In each of the compartments is a number of figures which apparently correspond to some vanished text.424 There are eight in the one at the right and nine in the other. ‘Man’ is marked with a zero. I am unable to give the origin of this plate, which is in the Cabinet des Estampes in the Bibliothèque Nationale, and was for a long time attributed to Jean Cousin. It was M. Devéria who removed it from that artist’s work and placed it with Tory’s, whose double cross it bears, at the left, below the cartouche containing the words ‘Lenseignevr de Christ.’ I believe that it belongs in some large folio Bible; for I have seen the subject treated in a more or less summary fashion425 on the title-pages of several Bibles, in French and other languages. I will mention particularly the following, all of which are in the Bibliothèque Nationale. (1) A French Bible, printed at Antwerp in 1530, by Martin l’Empereur; (2) A Bible in old Saxon, printed at Lubeck in 1533 by Ludowich Dietz (the same woodcuts reappear in an edition in Danish, issued by the same printer, at Copenhagen, in 1550); (3) A Bible in Latin, from the text of Erasmus, published in 1543 or 1544, with two engravings by Cranach; (4) A Bible in Flemish, printed at Antwerp in 1556. I will mention also Luther’s Latin Commentaries (‘enarrationes’) on the Bible, printed at Nuremberg in 1555, with an engraving on the title-page dated 1552.
Whatever its source, this drawing was reproduced in 1562, on a large enamelled plate in tinted grisaille, attributed to Pierre Rexmond, enameller, at Limoges. The sketch for this plate was published in 1843, after a copy in the collection of M. Baron, in the volume entitled ‘Meubles et Armes du moyen âge,’ a large quarto, published by Hauser, dealer in prints on Boulevard des Italiens.426 It is no. 127 in the collection. In this drawing the groups are arranged in chronological order, the circular form of the plate making it impossible to retain the arrangement of the engraving. But the various subjects and their respective inscriptions are identical, save for the errors in orthography with which the Limousin artist has besprinkled the latter. The two Jerusalems are separated by two trees, which, starting at the outer border of the plate, formed of Renaissance arabesques, join their heads at the centre, where there is a medallion containing the face of Marguerite de Valois, sister of François I.427
This subject has been treated also in a cameo now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, but in a very summary fashion because of the small size of the piece, which is only 57 millimetres in width by 72 in height. All the essential details of the engraving are reproduced. A description of this interesting cameo will be found under no. 317, in the ‘Notice du Cabinet des médailles,’ published by M. Chabouillet, one of the conservators of that priceless collection. It has been reproduced, too, in the collection of ‘Mémoires de la Société des antiquaires de Morinie,’ and the curious feature of the business is that the engraver has taken for his mark the arms of the city of Saint-Omer, which are the Lorraine cross.
II. RECUEIL DES ROIS DE FRANCE, LEURS COURONNE ET MAISON, ENSEMBLE LES RENGS DES GRANDS DE FRANCE, par Jean du Tillet, sieur de la Bussiere, protonotaire et secretaire du roy, greffier de son parlement.—Plus, une chronique abrégée contenant tout ce qui est advenu... entre les roys et princes... estrangers, par M. Jean du Tillet, évêque de Maux.428
Folio; one volume in two parts, Paris, J. du Puys, 1580.
This volume is an exact reproduction of the manuscript preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale, which I have already described.429 Although dedicated to Charles IX, the book was prepared for publication at a much earlier date. In fact, the author tells us, in the dedicatory epistle, that he had presented a copy to Henri II; indeed, it seems that he had it prepared for printing at the insistence of the King and Queen, who had promised ‘to take care of the expenses.’ This fact explains why almost all the portraits of the kings of France, from Clovis to François I, are signed with the Lorraine cross. These portraits are copied from the miniatures of the manuscript, but are on a smaller scale; furthermore they are in oval instead of square borders.
Du Tillet died in 1570, before he was able to carry out his project of printing this work. On August 10, 1578,430 his heirs obtained a license to publish their ‘late father’s’ work, which finally appeared in 1580; in fact, one part is dated 1579. They made use of the woodcuts bearing the Lorraine cross. Jean du Puys, the publisher,431 added to the book some portraits which are not in the manuscript (among others those of Henri II and Charles IX), and which consequently do not bear Tory’s mark.
Following is a complete list of the portraits contained in this volume, with indication of those not in the manuscript and of those signed with the Lorraine cross.
| Folio | 16, Clovis (signed). |
| 18, Childebert; added. | |
| 19, Clotaire I (signed). | |
| 23, Sigebert (signed). | |
| 24, Chilperic and Fredegonde (signed). | |
| 28, Dagobert; added. | |
| 30, Clovis, son of Dagobert; added. | |
| 31, Clotaire III. | |
| 32, Childeric II; added. | |
| 35, Dagobert II; added. | |
| 41, Carloman I; added. | |
| 42, Charlemagne. | |
| 44, Louis le Debonnaire; modified. | |
| 48, Charles le Chauve (signed). | |
| 53, Charles le Simple. | |
| 54, Raoul (signed). | |
| 56, Louis d’Outre Mer. | |
| 58, Lothaire (signed). | |
| 75, Philippe I. | |
| 76, Louis le Gros. | |
| 92, Louis le Jeune. | |
| 94, Philippe-Auguste (signed). | |
| 101, Louis, père de Saint Louis (signed). | |
| 109, Charles II; added. | |
| 112, Saint Louis. | |
| 121, Philippe III; added. | |
| 133, Philippe le Bel (signed). | |
| 134, Louis le Hutin. | |
| 136, Philippe le Long. | |
| 137, Charles le Bel (signed). | |
| 138, Philippe de Valois. | |
| 140, Jean. | |
| 157, Charles V. | |
| 160, Charles VI. | |
| 164, Louis XI. | |
| 165, Charles VIII (signed). | |
| 166, Louis XII (signed); modified. | |
| 167, François I (signed); modified. | |
| 168, Henri II and Catherine de Médicis; added. | |
| 169, François II; added. | |
| 169, Charles IX; added. |
It will be seen that there are, in all, 10 432 portraits added to those found in the manuscript. For the other princes mentioned in the work, whose features it was impossible to present, empty frames are printed. Naturally, none of the portraits added to du Tillet’s book by the editor are marked with the Lorraine cross, and of the other 31, there are only 15 433 on which it is found.
These cuts were reproduced in a great many later editions of du Tillet’s work, both folio and quarto. I will mention particularly those of 1586, 1587, 1602, 1607, and 1608.
The volume contains also many engravings of shields and seals.
III. LA CONFÉRENCE ACCORDÉE ENTRE LES PREDICATEURS CATHOLIQUES DE L’ORDRE DES CAPUCINS ET LES MINISTRES DE GENEVE.
Octavo; Paris, Denis Binet, near Porte S. Michel, 1598.
IV. LES THESES QUI ONT ESTÉ AFFIGÉES DANS LA VILLE DE GENEVE.
Octavo; Paris, Denis Binet, near Porte S. Michel, 1598.
On the title-pages of these two volumes, both of which are in the Bibliothèque Nationale, there is a woodcut signed with the Lorraine cross, representing a cross with the crown of thorns, set in a border of the size of a five-franc piece. It was undoubtedly engraved long before 1598.
V. ILLUSTRATION DE L’ANCIENNE IMPRIMERIE TROYENNE.
Quarto, Troyes, 1850 and 1859. The first fascicle of this book, which consists of a collection of old woodcuts gathered by M. Varlot in the printing-offices of Troyes, contains two signed with the Lorraine cross. They are nos. 50 and 188. The first represents the Coronation of the Virgin; we may join with it a piece in the same manner representing the Visitation, no. 51 in the same collection; and no. 5 (the Virgin holding the Child Jesus) of the fascicle published in 1859. These cuts, which are in format a small folio, doubtless formed part of a series of engravings relating to the Virgin and intended for a book of Hours.
MM. Alexis Socard and Alexandre Assier, in their work entitled ‘Livres liturgiques du diocèse de Troyes’ (8vo, 1863), also give, on page 79, an old Troyes woodcut, small folio, signed with the double cross, representing the Descent of the Holy Ghost on the Virgin and the Apostles. It is 135 millimetres high by 60 in width.
No. 188 of M. Varlot’s fascicle, which is only one inch high by two wide, represents a harvest. It was undoubtedly one of a series of engravings illustrative of the twelve months. MM. Socard and Assier saw it in a book of Hours printed at Troyes in 1583, by Jean du Ruan, who seems to have inherited a portion of the woodcuts of Jean Le Coq, printer, of the same city. We find also in M. Varlot’s collection two woodcuts marked with the letters G. T., which may have been Geofroy Tory’s earlier mark, before he had adopted a special symbol. These two are no. 84, in the criblé style, and no. 131, in the Renaissance style.434
On account of the worn state of these cuts it is impossible to say whether they are originals or copies. It is not impossible, however, that they were executed by Tory for the printer Nicole Paris, or rather for Jean Le Coq, whose mark he engraved also.435
VI. Not only at Paris and Troyes do we find woodcuts with the Lorraine cross; we find them also at Orléans, at Chartres, at Poitiers, and even at Lyon, although the last-named city had a most flourishing school of engraving of its own; witness the illustrations of the Bible after Holbein,436 published by Jean Frellon, in 1547, and those of Salomon Bernard, published by the de Tournes after 1553. But the works executed by Tory for Simon de Colines, Robert Estienne, and the rest, had so spread his name abroad, that there was not a printer of taste in France who did not seek the honour of obtaining some work of our artist. In this way Jean de Tournes, first of the name, who was unquestionably one of the most famous printers of Lyon, had engraved by Tory, or by his widow, borders and pictures in considerable numbers; unfortunately we find very few of them signed, whether because Tory’s mark was afterward removed from the others, or because he omitted to place it upon them, in accordance with the wish of Jean de Tournes; for in those days printers were very desirous to appropriate the engravings that they ordered, especially at Lyon, where, nominally at least, no other engraver was known than Salomon Bernard; moreover, it is well to note that that artist, none of whose work is signed, is known only because his name was afterward published by the printers, in the very interest of their publications.
However, I propose to give a list of the pieces signed with the Lorraine cross which I have seen in books published by the de Tournes, that is, by Jean I and Jean II, his son; for it is impossible, in default of any sort of a catalogue, for me to decide what ones are attributable to each of them. As a matter of fact, I should be justified in confining myself to the second, if he had not himself said that he used woodcuts belonging to his father. And, in truth, although we know of no books published by the latter with engravings, except his edition of Petrarch of 1545 (reprinted in 1547), and his book of Chiromancy and Physiognomy, also of 1545, octavo, everything seems to indicate that those marked with the Lorraine cross were made for Jean I, who died about 1550.
The first book that I shall mention is an octavo volume, without title, described thus by M. Didot in his ‘Essai sur la Gravure,’ col. 235; ‘Pamphlet without title, printed on one side only, with this imprint on page 1: “A Lion, Ian de Tournes, 1551.” The border, composed of arabesques in white on a black ground, has at the foot the Lorraine cross. Twenty-two of these engravings represent scenes from the theatre of the ancients; the ninth bears the Lorraine cross.’ This pamphlet was reprinted in 1556, as we shall see in a moment.
The second book that I shall mention is an octavo volume, without date, entitled: ‘Thesaurus amicorum,’ which is in the Bibliothèque Nationale. It contains three series of borders: (1) Borders with arabesques in black on a white ground (one of them is signed with a very small Lorraine cross); (2) Borders with arabesques in white on a black ground (one of these also is signed with a small white cross); (3) Borders with grotesque subjects, licentious and otherwise. These last, none of which are signed, represent figures analogous to those that are found in the ‘Songes drolatiques’ attributed to Rabelais, and seem to be modelled upon them.
In the first part of the book, the borders, 32 in number, are empty437; in the second part, they enclose medallions of famous characters of ancient times, with mottoes in all sorts of languages. There are 96 of these portraits. They were reproduced, with many others, in a book printed in 1559, under the title, ‘Insignium aliquot virorum icones’ (octavo).438 In the dedication, to G. Tuffano, ‘gymnasiarchæ Nemausensi,’ Jean de Tournes, second of the name, the printer of the book, informs us that he undertook it in order to utilize the woodcuts left by his father. ‘Cum pater jamdudum haberet hasce icones inutiles ne omnino perirent, hæc pauca, quæ huic opusculo insunt, ex variis auctoribus accumulavi....’ In this book the medallions number one hundred and forty-three; none are signed, but they are altogether in Tory’s manner.
These same medallions, as well as the borders of the ‘Thesaurus amicorum,’ have been used in a multitude of other publications, which are known to us only through detached fragments. I will mention particularly eight leaves preserved in the Cabinet des Estampes, printed on one side only, having a border with a portrait on each page.[439] Also, four leaves without borders, on each of which two portraits are printed, side by side.440
As for the borders, they appear again,—first, in the edition of Marot’s Psalms, published by Jean de Tournes in 1557, in octavo; and second, with less impropriety, in the various editions, both in French and in Italian, of Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses,’ issued by the same printer.
Jean de Tournes published also, in 1556, a small octavo volume of specimens of his woodcuts, printed on one side only. This volume, which is well known to collectors, and which may be found in the Cabinet des Estampes, has on the first page these words alone: ‘A Lion, Ian de Tournes, M.D.LVI.’441 This page has a border of white arabesques on a black ground, in which the Lorraine cross is perfectly visible, at the foot. There are 22 engravings representing scenes from the theatre of the ancients.
The ninth bears the Lorraine cross. In the midst of this series, on leaf 21, is a piece which does not belong to the series; it represents a dog lying on a cushion.442 After this series come various engravings which we find in Maurice de Seve’s ‘Saulsaye’ (octavo, Lyon, 1547), in Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses,’ and the ‘Hymnes du Temps’ of Guillaume Gueroult, which were printed subsequently; then 11 plates bearing two figures facing each other, taken from a work on Chiromancy and Physiognomy, by Indagine (octavo, Lyon, 1549); 5 engravings from the edition of Petrarch issued by the first Jean in 1545; and 9 small miscellaneous subjects.443 The Cabinet des Estampes also contains one leaf of a folio specimen of the woodcuts of the de Tournes, in which we find again the plates of the Petrarch. It lacks, however, the Lac d’Amour, which is on folio 5 of the collection we are describing, and is altogether in the manner of the seven epitaphs published by Tory in 1530.444
I will not enumerate here the other books with engravings, of later date, published by the second Jean de Tournes, because there is nothing to justify me in attributing them to Tory’s workshop; but one may conclude from what I have said heretofore, that many engravings of the printers of Lyon, hitherto attributed to Salomon Bernard, called Le Petit Bernard, came from Tory’s establishment. Indeed, we may well wish that Le Petit Bernard might be relieved of the enormous mass of engravings which have been attributed to him for lack of information concerning them, but which render uncertain the attribution of those which most certainly belong to him.445
Our list includes only engravings on wood; but I have no doubt that Tory engraved also on metal, and not alone letters, which we should naturally expect from Garamond’s master, but plates as well. Now that the eyes of collectors are about to be opened, I should not be surprised if some one should discover one marked with his cross.446 To forward such discovery I will insert the estimate of Tory’s draughtsmanship formed by M. Renouvier, who is so competent a judge of such matters.
‘The plates of “Champ fleury,” the first of which is dated 1526, have an Italian after-taste, which manifests itself by the correctness of the figures, and by their costumes; but the delicacy of expression, the fineness of line, distinguish them clearly from the Venetian vignettes. The vignettes of the Hours published between 1524 and 1543, varying in execution, always delicate and with little shading, exhibit a degree of taste which the Parmesan School sometimes achieves; but by the delicacy of their execution they deserve the praise bestowed upon them by Dibdin. Even if the figures are slightly confused in their attitudes and in their draperies, or defective at some of the extremities, still, the spirited drawing of the heads, and the arrangement of the scenes, amid charming architectural designs, or in very restricted fields, show that our engravers of vignettes lost nothing of their talent in passing from gothic to italic letters, and, despite the name of the latter, it is certain that Italy never produced any like them. Simplicity took the place of Gothic goguenarderie; their expression is in the most refined French sentiment of the period.447
‘I seem to recognize Geofroy Tory’s style in the “Tableau de Cèbes,” published by Denis Janot and Gilles Corrozet in 1543, the vignettes of which are often attributed to Jean Cousin. As for Tory’s drawing, I should recognize it through several layers of wood, by the delicately drawn heads, the slender figures, the split extremities, to say nothing of the floriated letters and the borders, in which the Italian grotesques are mingled with natural vegetations, and in which he has often engraved his name, his Pot Cassé and his mottoes. In Tory’s vignettes there are doubtless qualities that are more subtle than great, but they are our qualities.’