The most famous, as he was one of the earliest, if not actually the
first, printers of Nuremberg, or Nürnberg, Anthony Koberger, does not
appear to have used a Mark. Indeed, the Printers’ Marks of Nürnberg
generally do not make anything like so good a show as those of Cologne
and other large German cities. The earliest Mark of all is probably that
of Wilhelm Moritz Endter’s daughter, which represents a rocky landscape,
with a town in the background lighted by the sun. Endter’s books, it may
be mentioned, are excessively rare. A much better known printer of this
place is Johann Weissenburger, who started here in 1503, and continued
until 1513, when he removed to Landshut, and remained there until 1531.
He used the accompanying Mark at both places,--the precise signification
of the letters H H on one side of the globe is not known. Mr. Quaritch
describes a book of Jacobus Locher, published by this printer in 1506,
which is remarkable as containing a number of woodcuts “which, in their
style and spirit, draw the book into close connexion with the ‘Ship of
Fools.’”
[Illustration: J. WEISSENBURGER.]
[Illustration: MELCHIOR LOTTER.