Printing was introduced into Milan (Mediolanum) in 1469 or in the year
following, and from the numerous presses established in this city before
the end of the fifteenth century very many beautiful books were issued.
Gian Giacomo di Legnano and his brothers, whose highly decorative Mark
we reproduce, were working in this city from 1503-33; one of their most
interesting books is a Latin translation of the first edition (Vicenza,
1507) of the “Paesi novamente retrovati, et Novo Mondo da Alberico
Vesputio Florentino intitulato.” Bologna was also a busy printing centre
from 1470 onwards; but it must suffice us to give the monograms of three
of the more noteworthy, namely, Hercules Nanni, 1492-4; Giovanni Antonio
de Benedetti (or Johannes Antonius Platonides de Benedictis), 1499, and
Justinian de Ruberia, 1495-9 (see p. 25).
[Illustration: GIAN GIACOMO DI LEGNANO.
IHS
IO IACOMO E FRAT D LEGNANO
IHS
IOL IOL]
[Illustration: GIAMMARIA RIZZARDI.
Non solum nobis
Cagnoni sculp]
The Printers’ Marks of Spain (including Portugal) need not detain us
long. They cannot in any case be described as other than archaic, and
they are for the most part striking on account of the coarseness of
their design. A few examples are given in Fray Francisco Mendez’s
“Tipografica Española,” of which the first and only volume appeared at
Madrid in 1796; and of which a second edition, corrected and enlarged by
Dionisio Hidalgo, was published at the same city in 1861. As the latter
writer clearly points out “los del siglo XV., y aun hasta la mitad del
XVI. los mas eran estranjeros, como lo demuestran sus nombres y
apellidos, y algunos lo declaran espresamente en sus notas y escudos.”
These “estranjeros” were almost without exception Germans.
Valencia (or Valentia Edetanorum) was the first place in Spain into
which the art of printing was introduced; the earliest printers being
Alfonso Fernandez de Cordova and Lambert Palomar (or Palmart) a German,
whose names however do not appear on any publication (according to
Cotton) antecedent to the year 1478. Although not the earliest of the
Seville printers the four “alemanes, y compañeros,” Paulo de Colonia,
Juan Pegnicer de Nuremberga, Magno y Thomas, their composite Mark is one
of the first which appears on books printed in Spain. It is of the cross
type, with two circles, one within another, the smaller divided into
four compartments, each of which encircles the initials of the four
printers, “P” (the lower part of which is continued so as to form an
“L”), “I M T.” Among other books which they printed is the “Vidas de los
Varones ilustres de Plutarco.” In 1495, Paulo de Colonia appears to have
left the partnership, for the Mark appeared with its inner circle
divided into three compartments in which the initials “I M” and “T” only
appear. This firm continued printing at Seville until the commencement
of the sixteenth century. Federico de Basilea (or, as his name appears
in the imprints of his books, Fadrique Aleman de Basilea) was busy
printing books at Burgos from the end of the fourteenth to the second
decade of the fifteenth century; his Mark, a cross resting on a V-shaped
ground, is a poor one, the motto being “sine causa nihil.” “En mushos
libros de los que imprimió puso su escudo,” observes Mendez; this
printer possesses an historic interest from the fact that he issued the
first edition the unabridged “Chronicle of the Cid,” 1512--“Cronica del
Famoso Cauallero Cid Ruy Diez Campeador,” a book of the greatest rarity.
One of the early printers of Barcelona, Pedro Miguel, had a Mark, also
of the cross type, the circle surrounding the bottom of which is divided
into three compartments, in two of which occur his initials “P M.”
[Illustration: JUAN ROSEMBACH.]
[Illustration: V. FERNANDEZ.]
One of the most noteworthy names in the early annals of Spanish printing
is that of Juan de Rosembach de Haydellerich, who printed books in
Barcelona, 1493-8, and again at the beginning of the sixteenth century;
in Perpignan, 1500; in Tarragona, 1490, and in Montserrat. In 1499 he
printed at Tarragona the famous “Missal de aquel Arzobispado,” which
Mendez declares to be “muy recomendable por varias circumstancias.” At
Barcelona he printed in 1526 an edition of the “Oficias de Cicero.” The
Marks of this printer vary considerably, but the example here reproduced
may be regarded as a representative one. Of the early Lisbon printers,
Valentin Fernandez “de la Provincia de Moravia” was probably the first
to use a Mark (here reproduced), one of his publications being the
“Glosa sobre las Coplas” of Jorge Manrique, 1501.
[Illustration:
1. ZACHARIAS KALLIERGOS.
2. J. A. DE LEGNANO.
3. J. DE VINGLE, OF PICARDY.
4. M. HUGUNT.]
[Illustration:
A good book is a true friend
a wise author a public benefactor.
1726]