There are few phases of typography open to the charge of being
neglected. An unquestionable exception occurs, however, in relation to
Printers’ Marks. This subject is in many respects one of the most
interesting in connection with the early printers, who, using devices at
first purely as trade marks for the protection of their books against
the pirate, soon began to discern their ornamental value, and,
consequently, employed the best available artists to design them. Many
of these examples are of the greatest bibliographical and general
interest, as well as of considerable value in supplementing an important
class of illustrations to the printed books, and showing the origin of
several typical classes of Book-plates (Ex-Libris). The present Handbook
has been written with a view to supplying a readable but accurate
account of this neglected chapter in the history of art and
bibliography; and it appeals with equal force to the artist or
collector. Only one book on the subject, Berjeau’s “Early Dutch, German,
and English Printers’ Marks,” has appeared in this country, and this,
besides being out of print and expensive, is destitute of descriptive
letterpress. The principle which determined the selection of the
illustrations is of a threefold character: first, the importance of the
printer; secondly, the artistic value or interest of the Mark itself;
and thirdly, the geographical importance of the city or town in which
the Mark first appeared.
Since the text of this book was printed, however, two additions have
been made to the literature of its subject: Dr. Paul Kristeller’s “Die
Italienischen Buchdrucker- und Verlegerzeichen, bis 1525,” a very
handsome work, worthy to rank with the “Elsässische Büchermarken bis
Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts” of Herr Paul Heitz and Dr. Karl A. Barack
(to whom I am indebted for much valuable information as well as for
nearly thirty illustrations in the chapter on German Printers’ Marks);
and Mr. Alfred Pollard’s “Early Illustrated Books,” an admirable volume
which, however, only deals incidentally with the Printer’s Mark as a
side issue in the history of the decoration and illustration of books in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Mr. Pollard reproduces seven
blocks from Dr. Kristeller’s monograph on the Devices of the Italian
Printers. In reference to the statement on p. 116 of this volume that
the Mark of Bade “is the earliest picture of a printing press,” Mr.
Pollard refers to an unique copy of an edition of the “Danse Macabre”
printed anonymously at Lyons in February, 1499, eight years earlier,
which contains cuts of the shops of a printer and a bookseller.
That this volume has considerably exceeded its intended limit must be my
excuse for not including, with a very few exceptions, any modern
examples from the Continent. Nearly every French printer and publisher
of any note indulges in the luxury of a Mark of some sort, and an
interesting volume might be written concerning modern continental
examples. The practice of using a Printer’s Mark is an extremely
commendable one, not merely as a relic of antiquity, but from an
æsthetic point of view. Nearly every tradesman of importance in this
country has some sort of trade mark; but most printers agree in
regarding it as a wholly unnecessary superfluity. As the few exceptions
indicated in the last chapter prove that the fashion has an artistic as
well as a utilitarian side, I hope that it will again become more
general as time goes on.
As regards my authorities: I have freely availed myself of nearly all
the works named in the “Bibliography” at the end, besides such
invaluable works as Brunet’s “Manual,” Mr. Quaritch’s Catalogues, and
the monographs on the various printers, Plantin, Elzevir, Aldus, and the
rest. From Messrs. Dickson and Edmonds’ “Annals of Scottish Printing”
I have obtained not only some useful information regarding the Printer’s
Mark in Scotland, but, through the courtesy of Messrs. Macmillan and
Bowes of Cambridge, the loan of several blocks from the foregoing work,
as well as that of John Siberch, the first Cambridge printer. I have
also to thank M. Martinus Nijhoff, of the Hague, Herr Karl
W. Hiersemann, of Leipzig, Herr J. H. Ed. Heitz, Strassburg, Mr. Elliot
Stock, Mr. Robert Hilton, Editor of the “British Printer,” and the
Editor of the “American Bookmaker,” for the loan either of blocks or of
original examples of Printers’ Marks; and Mr. C. T. Jacobi for several
useful works on typography. Mr. G. P. Johnston, of Edinburgh, kindly
lent me the reduced facsimile on p. 252, which arrived too late to be
included in its proper place. The publishers whose Marks are included in
the chapter on “Modern Examples” are also thanked for the courtesy and
readiness with which they placed electros at my disposal.
The original idea of this book is due to my friend, Mr. Gleeson White,
the general editor of the series in which it appears; but my thanks are
especially due to Mr. G. R. Dennis for the great care with which he has
gone through the whole work.