Although Reinhard, or Renatus, Beck was only in business for about
eleven years, 1511-1522, he had several Marks, which differed chiefly in
their extraneous ornament, as will be seen from the accompanying
examples. Two books, _sine nota_, which Mr. Quaritch assigns to Beck’s
press, of the date 1490, are remarkable for the large number of woodcuts
which they contain, relating principally to plants, animals, gardening
operations, rural architecture, so that the Mark of “ein wilder Mann” is
so far in keeping with the nature of his publications. Fourteen or
fifteen Marks, several of which are only variations of one type, have
been identified as having been used by Wolfgang Köpfel (whose surname
sometimes appears in its Greek translation of Cephalæus) between 1522
and 1554: the most remarkable, of which we give a reproduction, appears
to have been used very rarely, notably in “Zehn Sermones” of Luther,
1523; a much commoner type is the smaller example, which appeared in
various books issued between 1526-1554. Georg Ullricher von Andlau,
1529-36, confined himself to one type (see p. 1), that of the Cornucopia
or Horn of Plenty, of which there are seven variants. The more elaborate
of the two Marks of Matthias Biener, or Apiarius, 1533-36, appears in
Oecolampadius’ “Commentarius” on the Prophet Ezekiel, 1534, and is an
evident pun on the printer’s surname. Several of the dozen Marks used by
Craft Müller, or Crato Mylius, 1536-62, are exceedingly bold and
picturesque, although, with the exception of the Ceres, they are all
variants of the leonine type: the Ceres was apparently used only in his
first book, “Auslegung oder Postilla des heil. Zmaragdi,” 1536.
[Illustration: WOLFGANG KÖPFEL.
ESTAS HYEMS
PROPE LONGE
MORS ET VITA]
[Illustration: WOLFGANG KÖPFEL.]
[Illustration: CRAFT MÜLLER (CRATO MYLIUS).