A PRINTERS' SUN DIAL BEING A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAL RECENTLY PLACED IN THE GARDEN OF THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS GARDEN CITY NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO MCMXIII JOHN HENKf NASH J A PRINTERS' SUN DIAL EXLIBRIS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA r/S JOHN HENRY NASH LIBRARY SAN FRANCISCO <8> PRESENTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ROBERT GORDON SPROUL. PRESIDENT. MR.ANDMRS.MILTON S.RAY CECILY, VIRGINIA AND ROSALYN RAY AND THE RAY OIL BURNER COMPANY THE DIAL IN ITS "CEDAR ROOM' A PRINTERS' SUN DIAL BEING A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAL RECENTLY PLACED IN THE GARDEN OF THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS .. GARDEN CITY NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO MCMX I II UBRAM SCHOOL GIFT TO THAT FAIR ART WHICH DOTH ALLOW MAN*S MIND TO FIX ITS THOUGHT UPON THE VIRGIN PAGE AND SO TRANSMIT ITSELF FROM AGE TO AGE 570 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL ' cedar room ' jjjT the southerly end of | the garden of the Coun- try Life Press, where the path which leads down from the Italian Pool enters a special ' there has recently been placed a Sun Dial. It was about February, 1910, that a representative of Messrs. Doubleday, Page & Company called upon the writer and expressed their desire that a table be designed bearing the marks of early printers, around which the employees might assemble at the noon hour, and, as they rested and refreshed themselves, gain a little of the inspira- A PRINTERS SUN DIAL tion of the early craftsmen through the contemplation of their marks. It was finally decided that this table should be made in the form of a Sun Dial to be placed in the garden. In casting about for a central feature for the Dial nothing seemed so fitting as an open book; and of books there seemed to be but one to be desired above all others the Bible of Forty- two Lines, printed by Gutenberg at Mainz in 1455; a book preeminent not only because the " Book of Books/' but by reason of its being the first printed book, and one, which, after nearly half a thousand years, with its noble type, ample margins and bril- liant black ink, stands out as one of the best, if not the best example of bookmaking in existence to-day. The writer had the good fortune of seeing a vellum copy of this great book (to turn the leaves of which is at once an inspiration and an aspiration), in the library of the late Robert Hoe many years ago, and the recollection of it remained clear and distinct. A PRINTERS SUN DIAL In due time, the desire to reproduce from this particular copy of the Bible was expressed to a fellow member of The Grolier Club, Major Emory S. Turner, of the Anderson Auction Co. and permission was granted to photo- graph the Bible while the Hoe Library was being catalogued for the sale, and so, negatives were made. These prov- ing unsatisfactory, a second and third set were made. It was found, how- ever, after many attempts, that none of the negatives were susceptible of successful enlargement. In the meantime, the sale had been held and the Bible had passed into the hands of Mr. Henry E. Huntington, at a price much greater than had ever before been paid for a printed book $50,000. A print of the design of the Dial was therefore sent to Mr. Hunt- ington, together with a letter setting forth the dilemma, and asking per- mission to re-photograph the Bible. Mr. Huntington kindly acceded to the request, and on a day in June, 1911, the precious volume was taken to the A PRINTERS SUN DIAL roof of the Metropolitan Club of New York, where, with the kindly assistance of Mr. Huntington, the large size negatives were made from which the Bible plate resulted, and by means of which many who may never have an opportunity of seeing this noble book, may see a faithful reproduction of it in brass, even to the illumination in the exact size of the original. The form of the Dial is that of a 4 1 -degree ellipse, 651x78! inches. This form, as well as the unusually large size was determined by the dimensions of the Bible, which lies open at the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Job, that great chapter in which he speaks of the immortality of the soul, the twenty-third verse of which, in the English translation, reads: "Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!" Above, and at the sides of the Bible, are twelve hour-spaces bearing the marks of twelve of the early printers, so disposed, that at noon, the shadow rests full across the centre of the Bible, 10 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL and passes first over the earliest of all printers' marks that of Fust and Schoeffen Below the Bible, in the lower section of the oval, appears the inscription: O measure of time! Thou merest mite within the endless providence of God May thy unerring finger ever point To those who printed first the written word. The Dial was planned to cover only the first century of the Art of Printing (1455-1555) from Gutenberg to Plan- tin: Gutenberg, who used no mark, being represented by his famous Bible. The marks selected were chosen as being the first to appear in each of the several countries into which the art of Printing made its way at a very early date, or because of the distinguished place attained by the printer, -either by reason of exceptional skill as a printer, or because of some other suc- cessful achievement. Thus, Fust and Schoeffer's was the first German mark; that of Hans & Paul Hums was the 1 1 A PRINTERS' SUN DIAL first to appear in Spain; Caxton's was the first English mark; and Ger- ing's mark was chosen because he was the first printer to set up a press in Paris. Italy, having been the first country to welcome the new art, has three representatives: Jenson, the first to use Roman types; Aldus, the first to use Italic types; and Bernardinus de Vitalibus, who ranked well with his contemporaries. England also has two representatives besides Caxton; Wynkyn de Worde, his successor, and the St. Albans Printer. The Netherlands is accorded two represen- tatives; Thierry Martens and Plantin. And France, besides Gering and Rem- bolt, is represented by Guillaume le Rouge. Owing to the variation in the size as well as the character of the marks, they were so arranged as to secure a harmonious and well balanced design, the chronological order being disre- garded except as to the first and last. The date given is the earliest authen- tic date of each printer. 12 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL Counting from the noon hour, the marks are arranged in the following order: I. FUST & SCHOEFFER, 1457 Fust & Schoeffer were the succes- sors of Gutenberg and printers of the "Psalter of 1457." This book, at least as rare as the Bible of Forty-two Lines, is the first book in which a printer's mark appeared, and the first book bearing a printed date. The type of the book is a Gothic of a fine, heavy face resembling the type of the Bible of Forty-two Lines, but con- siderably larger, as was necessary in Psalters when half a dozen singers shared the same book. The rubrics are printed in red, not painted by hand. The large handsome initials are printed in blue and red. This was the first book to be so printed, and the "registration" of the colors is very accurate, notwithstanding the fact 13 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL that the impressions were made on dampened paper. The perfection of type and press- work of this book are due to the great skill of Schoeffer, who was an engraver before becoming associated with Fust. His son Johann asserts that Schoeffer received his wife, Christina Fust, in marriage as a reward for his "adin- ventiones." No doubt this refers to the types cut by Schoeffer, one theory being that the types for both editions of the Indulgences which were instrumental in bringing on the Reformation were cut by him. II. BERNARDINUS DE VITALIBUS, 1494 This device is more decorative and more carefully engraved than most of the marks of the time. It was taken from an edition of Caesar's Commen- 14 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL taries, printed at Venice in 1517 from Roman types (similar to those used by Jenson). This is one of the early books in which the first line on the title page is in very large type. The early books, as a rule, resembled the manuscript books, in that they were without title pages. III. HANS & PAUL HURUS, 1488 This mark has the distinction of being the first Spanish printer's mark. The brothers Hurus were associated together in Saragossa from 1488 un- til 1490, and it was in an edition of the "Royal Ordinances of Castille/' printed by them in Saragossa in 1490, that the mark first appeared. Printing had been introduced into Spain (at Valencia), at an earlier date, says W. Roberts, editor of "The Book- 15 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL worm/' " The earliest printers being Alfonso Fernandez de Cordova and Lambert Palomar (or Palmart) a Ger- man, whose names, however, do not appear on any publication (according to Cotton) antecedent to 1478." As far as can be learned from a careful search they had no mark. iv. ALDUS, 1494 Not only as printer, but as editor and publisher, Aldus Manutius stands preeminent among Italian printers. His works are to be found in innum- erable libraries to-day, and his mark of the anchor and dolphin, known throughout the world, has been adopted in varying form by many printers, from his own time to the present day. Pickering used with 16 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL it the legend, "Aldi Anglus Discip." The latest adaptation of this mark is that used by Messrs. Doubleday, Page & Co. Aldus's attainments were such that he gained the friendship of the ablest scholars of his time, who aided him in his work; and he also numbered among his friends Jean Grolier one of the greatest patrons of printing and binding. It was shortly before 1500 that, realizing the need for less expensive books, Aldus determined to reduce their size. This necessitated the cut- ting of smaller types, and in making this change in the form of his books, he determined to use a different form of letter. The model for this new and distinctive style of type, which in time came to be known as Italic, was found in the inclined and beautifully formed characters of the handwriting of the poet Petrarch. Although Aldus began printing in 1494, his mark was not adopted until 1 502. Many authorities claim that the A PRINTERS SUN DIAL mark first appeared in the "Statius" of 1502, the imprint of which reads: VENETIIS IN AEDIBUS ALDE MENDE AV GUSTO M DII Aldus died in 1515, in comparative poverty. Mr. De Vinne says of him, " he had the money-getting but not the money-keeping faculty. Whether he sold folios at high price or octavos at low price, the result was the same. Di- rectly or indirectly, he gave to the book buyer quite as much as he received/' On the death of Aldus, " as his son Paulus was only three years of age, Andrea Torresano, a distinguished printer of Asola, into whose possession the 'plant' of Jenson passed in 1481, and whose daughter married the first Aldus, carried on the business. In 1 540 Paulus Manutius took over the entire charge of the business founded by his father/' Paulus Manutius died in 1574, and was succeeded by his son, known as "Aldus the younger/' "In Aldus Manutius the Younger ended a family, the honor of literature 18 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL and typography, whose fame cannot die so long as a single one of the volumes printed by them during a whole century continue to exist/' v. JENSON, 1471 One of the most noted of the Vene- tian printers, and the first to use Ro- man types was Nicolas Jenson. Of the Jenson mark, Mr. Ferd. Ongania an authority, says: "The first typographic mark appeared in the editions made in 1481, by a typo- graphic society established in Venice during the later years of the life of Jenson (who died in September 11480) under the direction of John of Cologne: It had for its chief printer, Jean Her- bort de Seligenstadt. Jenson was a member and his name figured in the colophons even after his death/' 19 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL The Jenson mark, a sphere surmoun- ted by a double cross, which has been interpreted to symbolize the world and its Christian rulership, was often used throughout Italy subsequent to its adoption by him. The writer has, in fact, found upward of seventy varia- tions of the Jenson mark which were used in Italy between 1481 and 1525 in many cases the initials of the printer appearing within the circle. The double cross is also found in some Spanish, French and other marks. vi. CAXTON, 1477 William Caxton, the first and great- est of the English printers exercised his art at Westminster, 1477-1490- He was born about 1422, was appren- ticed to a merchant and afterward went to Bruges. A PRINTERS SUN DIAL From a little volume entitled "The Story of Books/' by Gertrude Burford Rawlings, 1 quote: "Where Caxton gained his knowledge of printing is a matter of dispute. Mr. Blades holds that he was taught by Colard Man- sion, the first printer of Bruges, others that he learned at Cologne/' The first book printed by Caxton, probably at Bruges, is "The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye," about 1475, and it is the first book printed in the English language, and was fol- lowed by "Ye Game and Playe of Chesse/' now thought to have been printed at Bruges. Caxton returned to England about 1476 and set up a press at West- minster. Again I quote from the "Story of Books" "It has been asserted that he worked in the scriptorium, but it is not known that Westminster ever had a scriptorium. Others have thought that he printed in some other part of the Abbey. His office, how- ever, was situated in the Almonry 21 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL in the Abbey Precincts, and was called the Red Pale, but it is now impossible to identify the place where it stood. "In 1477 Caxton produced 'The Dictes or Sayengis of the Philos- ophers/ the first book, so far as is known, ever printed in England. " Speaking of his boldness in under- taking the work, he refers to the 'symplenes and vnperfightness that I had in both langages, that is to wete in frenshe and in englissh, for in france was I neuer, and was born and lerned myn englissh in kente in the weeld where 1 doubte not is spoken as brode and rude englissh as is in ony place of england/" Although Caxton began to print at Westminster in 1477, it was not until some years later that he used a mark. Some authorities state that it first appeared in 1487. Roberts, however, claims that it was first used about Christmas 1489, in the second folio edition of the Sarum "Ordinale," in which it appeared close to the be- ginning of the volume, but in subse- 22 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL . quent books it is found at the end. The exact meaning of the monogram in Caxton's mark is not known, but it is generally believed to stand for W. C. 74. Blades believes that it refers to the date of printing of " The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye" - the first product of Caxton's typo- graphical skill. VII. WYNKYN DE WORDE, 149! On the death of Caxton in 1491, Wynkyn de Worde, a native of Hol- land and for a long time Caxton's assistant, succeeded him and continued to print at Westminster, and from his presses came many books which were noted for their typographical excel- lence. De Worde printed among other works an edition of the "Golden A PRINTERS SUN DIAL Legend" the vellum edition of which printed by William Morris is one of the noblest examples of nineteenth century printing. VIII. THE ST. ALBANS PRINTER, 1480 In his most interesting introduc- tion to "The Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle. From the Book of St. Albans/' Mr. William Loring Andrews writes: "the earliest printed Treatise in English on fishing with an Angle, is ascribed unhesitatingly by Sir John Hawkins, the best known of Walton- ian editors and commentators, to a fair lady, Dame Juliana Berners, Bernes or Barnes, Prioress in the middle of the fifteenth century, of the Nunnery of Sopwell near St. Albans, a lady of noble family and celebrated for her beauty, wit, and learning, as 24 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL befits a heroine of mediaeval story/' It is the printing of the "Book of St. Albans" which has made famous its printer, who is referred to by Wynkyn de Worde as a "Schoolmaster of St. Alban." The first edition containing treatises on Hawking, Hunting and Coat-Armor was printed at St. Albans in 1486. The second edition, printed by Wynkyn de Worde at Westminster in 1496, contained, also, 'The Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle/' IX. THIERRY MARTENS, 1474 Martens, referred to as Erasmus's printer appears first as having been associated with John of Paderborn, in Alost, a town near Brussels in 1473. He set up his first press in Alost in 1474, and continued to print there for about two years. In 1477 he 25 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL went to Spain where the earliest royal decree known to exist regarding the art of printing in Europe, was issued for his benefit by Ferdinand and Isa- bella, under date of December 25, 1477. By this trip to Spain, Martens be- came one of the founders of the early Spanish press. About ten years later, however, he is back in Alost where he set up his second press in 1487. In 1493 he set up a press in Antwerp, and in 1498 set up his fourth and last press at Louvain. The mark of Mar- tens (a double anchor) has seemingly never been imitated. X. GUILLAUME LE ROUGE, 1489 Probably the son of Pierre le Rouge, Guillaume le Rouge, not unnaturally practised the same art. His first press was at Chablis, where in 1489, 26 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL ne printed " Les Expositions des Evan- giles en Fran^ais/' from a copy of which the mark was reproduced. Three years later, he printed at Troyes, and finally established himself at Paris. XI. GERING & REMBOLT, 1470 The first book printed in Paris was printed by Ulrich Gering, Michel Fri- burger and Martin Krantz, three Ger- mans who had been brought to Paris from Mainz by Jean Heinlin de La Pierre and Guillaume Fichet, two pro- fessors of the Sorbonne, where the first press was set up. A second press was set up at the "Soleil d'Or" in 1473. Gering was left alone in 1477. In 1494 he formed a partnership with Bertold Rembolt and it was during this partnership (which continued 27 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL until 1509), that they used the mark which had formerly been used by Rembolt alone. The mark was re- produced from a copy of " Missale ad usum Ecclesiae Parisiensis" printed by Gering and Rembolt in 1497, for Simon Vostre, a noted fifteenth cen- tury publisher in Paris. xn. PLANTIN, 1555 Closing the century we come to Christopher Plantin who began his work in Antwerp in 1555. Plantin is justly esteemed one of the greatest of the early printers. He was great in his conceptions; great in his work and great in being the only one of the early printers, whose " office " with its matrices and molds, and types, and its woodcuts, and copperplates, and presses, continued in his family in an 28 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL unbroken line of descent for more than a quarter-thousand years, and now, as a museum, stands as one of the greatest attractions of Antwerp. Plantin planned and produced the Polyglot Bible a great folio in eight volumes printed in Hebrew, Chaldaic, Greek, and Latin in fine, double- column pages. Although brought to the verge of ruin by this great project, the monopoly of the printing of the service books and Bibles for the use of the Roman Church in Spain and its dependencies, in time restored his for- tunes, and maintained the fortunes of his successors for many years. That Plantin understood all the difficulties of his art and the qualities of mind and heart needed for its suc- cessful practice is evidenced by the motto on his mark "Labore et Con- stantia." That he had a fine philos- ophy of life and was a poet as well, is proven by his sonnet "The Happiness of this World" a copy of which in French, printed from the original type, on Plantin's press, was presented to 29 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL the writer by Mr. F. N. Doubleday, on his return from a trip to Amsterdam in 1911, during which he visited the Plantin Museum. THE CONSTRUCTION The pedestal of the Dial, designed by Mr. John H. Petit, the architect of the Country Life Press, is of con- crete, carried three and a half feet below the surface of the ground, so as to be below the frost line. The rim of the dial is of brass, cast by the John Williams Company, Inc. To those who have never seen brass in process of casting, it is difficult to describe the wonderful beauty and yet delicacy of the colors which fairly stream from the melting-pot as the molten metal is poured into the mold. A recollection of it is retained by the writer, however, in the form of two gleaming knops of brass broken from the tops of the "risers" in the mold in which that section of the rim which bears the words "The World's Work" was cast. Within the rim of brass an iron bottom 3 A PRINTERS SUN DIAL is securely fastened, and, by means of "lugs" this iron bottom is anchored into the pedestal so that the Dial from its face to the bottom of the pedestal is one solid construction. The face of the Dial is of cement with inlays of brass; each fastened by "lugs" and screws to the iron bottom of the rim, over which there is a layer of rough cement three inches in thick- ness faced with white cement, in which the brasses are inserted; these brasses were made by the engraving depart- ment of the Country Life Press. The lettering of the Bible is filled in with a composition said, by Mr. de Kosenko, of the Sterling Bronze Co., to be the same as that used in the memorial brasses in Westminster Abbey, and burnt in, and also burnt a second time after the retouches were made upon the capitals. It is hoped that those who come to view this Dial may come but to view and not to harm, that the Bible which A PRINTERS SUN DIAL lies open upon its face may remain through the years to come, as it ever has been since the invention of the Art of Printing an open book for the edification of the people, and the greatest of forces for the regenera- tion of the world. WALTER GILLISS. . 9 1966