[Illustration: C. SNELLAERT.]
Among other possible and impossible monsters and subjects of profane
history, the Griffin, the Mermaid, the Phœnix, Arion and Hermes has each
had its Mark or Marks. In the case of the first named, which, according
to Sir Thomas Browne, in his “Vulgar Errors,” is emblematical of
watchfulness, courage, perseverance, and rapidity of execution, it is
not surprising that the Gryphius family, from the evident pun on their
surname, should have considered it as in their particular preserves. As
may be imagined, it does not make a pretty device, although under the
circumstances its employment is perhaps permissible. Sebastien Gryphius,
Lyons, and his brother François, Paris, who were of German parentage,
employed the Griffin in about a dozen variations during the first half
of the sixteenth century. The Griffin, however, was utilized by Poncet
Le Preux, Paris, some years before the Gryphius family came into
notoriety, and it was employed contemporaneously with this by B. Aubri,
Paris. The Mermaid makes a prettier picture than the Griffin, but its
appearance on Printers’ Marks is an equally fantastic vagary of the
imagination. In one of the earliest Marks on which it occurs, that of
C. Fradin, Lyons, 1505, the shield is supported on one side by a
Mermaid, and on the other by a fully-armed knight; half a century after,
B. Macé, Caen, had a very clever little Mark in which the Mermaid is not
only in her proper element, but holding an anchor in one hand, and
combing her hair with the other. During the second quarter of the
sixteenth century, the idea was, with variations, used by G. Le Bret,
Paris, and J. De Junte, Lyons, as well as by John Rastell, London, 1528,
whose shop was at the sign of the Mermaid.
To summarize a few of the less popular designs, it will suffice to give
a short list of the vignettes or marks used by the old printers of Paris
(except where otherwise stated), alphabetically arranged according to
subjects: _Abraham_, Pacard; an _anchor_, Christopher Rapheleng, Leyden,
Chouet and Pierre Aubert, Geneva; two _anchors_ crosswise, Thierry
Martens, Antwerp, and Nicholas le Rich; one or more _angels_, Legnano,
Milan; Henaud and Abel L’Angelier, and Dominic Farri, Venice; _Arion_,
Oporinus or Herlist, Brylinger, Louis le Roi, and Pernet, Basle, and
Chouet, Geneva; a _Basilisk_ and the four elements, Rogny;
_Bellerophon_, the brothers Arnoul and Charles Angeliers; Guillaume
Eustace, and Perier, and Bonel, Venice; a _Bull_ with the sign Taurus
and the Zodiac, Nicholas Bevilacqua, Turin; a _Cat_ with a mouse in her
mouth, Melchior Sessa and Pietro Nicolini, de Sabio, Venice; two
_Doves_, Jacques Quesnel; an _Eagle_, Balthazar Bellers, Antwerp,
Bladius, Rome, G. Rouille or Roville, Lyons, and the same design--with
the motto “Renovabitur ut aquilæ juventus mea”--occurs in the books
published in the early years of the seventeenth century by Nicolini,
Rabani, Renneri and Co., Venice; the personification of _Fortune_,
Bertier, J. Denis (an elaborate and clever design in which a youth is
represented climbing the tree of Fortune), and Adrian le Roy and Robert
Ballard, Berde and Rigaud, Lyons, and Giovanni and Andrea Zennaro,
Venice; a _Fountain_, M. Vascosan, the second Frederic Morel (with a
Greek motto importing that the fountain of wisdom flows in books), and
Cratander, Basle; a _Heart_, Sebastian Huré and his son-in-law Corbon;
_Hercules_, with the motto, “Virtus non territa monstris,” Vitré, Le
Maire, Leyden; a _Lion_ rampant, Arry; a lion rampant crowned on a red
ground, Gunther Zainer; a lion led by the hand, Jacques Creigher; a lion
supporting a column, Mylius, Strassburg, and a lion with a hour glass,
Henric Petri, Basle; a _Magpie_, Jean Benat or Bienne; this bird also
occurs among Robert Estienne’s Marks, and the same subject, with a
serpent twining round a branch was used (according to Horne), by
Frederic Morel; _Mercury_, alone or with other classic deities, David
Douceur, Biaggio, Lyons; Jean Rossy, Bologne; Verdust, Antwerp, and
Hervagius, Basle; a _Pelican_, N. De Guinguant, S. Nivelle, Girault and
De Marnef, C. and F. Franceschini, Venice; Mamarelli, Ferrara; F. Heger,
Leyden; E. Barricat, Lyons; and Martin Nuyts and his successor who
carried on business under the same name, Antwerp; a _Phœnix_, Michael
Joli, Wyon, Douay; Leffen, Leyden; Martinelli, Rome; and Giolito,
Venice; a _Salamander_, Zenaro, Venice; St. Crespin and Senneton, Lyons;
Duversin and Rossi, Rome; a _Stork_, Nivelle and Cramoisy; _St. George
and the Dragon_, Michel de Hamont, Brussels; a _Swan_, Blanchet; whilst
a swan and a soldier formed the Mark of Peter de Cæsaris and John Stoll,
two German printers who were among the earliest to practise the art in
Paris.
[Illustration: JOHN RASTELL.