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Tag Archives: Basel

On Jon’s Desk: Erasmus and Holbein, a 17th Century Printer’s Ill-executed Gift to Us

09 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by Jonathan Bingham in On Jon's Desk

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Tags

1532, 1676, Aldus Manutius, Ambrosias Holbein, Anne Boleyn, Basel, Desiderius Erasmus, Hans Herbster, Hans Holbein, Henry VIII, In Praise of Folly, Jerome Froben, Johann Froben, Johann Rudolf Genath, Jon Bingham, Moriae Encomium, Morias Enkomion, Oliver Cromwell, Oswald Myconius, Stultitiae Laus, Thomas More, Typis Genathianis

Morias Enomion 1676 Frontis Piece

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image of Page containing quoted text.

 

Encomium igitur audietis non Herculis, neque Solonis, sed meum ipsius, hoc est, Stultitiae. Iam vero non huius facio sapientes istos, qui stultissimum & insolentissimum esse praedicant, si quis ipse laudibus se ferat. Sit sane quàm volent stultum, modo decorum esse fateantur. Quid enim magis quadrat, quàm ut ipsa Moria suarum laudum sit buccinatrix, & aute heauten aule? Quis enim me melius exprimat quam ipsa me? Nisi si cui forte notior sim, quam egomet sum mihi.

 

“Prepare therefore to be entertained with a panegyric, yet not upon Hercules, Solon, or any other grandee, but on myself, that is, upon Folly. And here I value not their censure that pretend it is foppish and affected for any person to praise himself. Yet let it be as silly as they please, if they will but allow it needful. And indeed what is more befitting than that Folly should be the trumpet of her own praise, and dance after her own pipe? For who can set me forth better than myself? Or who can pretend to be so well acquainted with my condition?”

– Erasmus, In Praise of Folly

Morias Enkomion 1676 Title Page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: Morias Enkomion. Stultitiae laus. Des. Erasmi Rot. Declamatio, Cum commentariis Ger. Listrii & figuris Jo. Holbenii.

Author: Desiderius Erasmus (ca. 1466-1536)

Printed: Basileae (Basel, Switzerland): Typis Genathianis, 1676

Call Number: PA8512 1676

Engraved portrait of Erasmus from 1676 Morias Enkomion.

Catholic priest and Renaissance humanist, Desiderius Erasmus was critical of the Roman Catholic Church but did not join the protestant movement, preferring to reform the church from within. He spent time at the publishing house of Aldus Manutius in Venice, acting as scholarly editor for the Aldine press’s famous publications of the classics. When he moved to Basel, Switzerland to avoid academic hostility in France, he developed a long-lasting friendship with Johann Froben, one of the great scholar-printers of the humanist movement.

 

Title page of 1532 Froben edition.Erasmus’ writings were best-sellers in their day. They accounted for an estimated 20 percent of all book sales in the 1530s. His best known work is Moriae encomium (In Praise of Folly), a critique of European society and the Roman Catholic Church. Erasmus’ Moriae encomium was first printed by Gilles de Gourmant in Paris, ca. 1511. Erasmus was unhappy with this badly edited version and soon another, dated, edition appeared, again in Paris. Erasmus continued to develop his “Moria,” adding to the text in subsequent printings. The second Froben edition (Basel, 1516) presented the “Moria” in its most complete state to date and formed the basis for all subsequent editions. The 1532 edition, printed by Jerome Froben (son of Johann) and Nicolaus Episcopius, contains the last revisions made by Erasmus, designed, he said, “to polish the style.” He added a number of notes to the commentary, “most of which are concerned with Folly as a dramatis persona or with defending the theological precision and orthodoxy of the work.” The J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections holds a copy of this edition in the Rare Books Department.

In 1515 two young journeymen painters, Hans and Ambrosias Holbein, moved from Augsburg to Basel, where they were apprenticed to the painter Hans Herbster. The brothers worked as wood- and metalcut designers for printers. Soon after the Holbein brothers began work in Basel, the preacher and theologian Oswald Myconius invited them to add pen drawings to the margins of his second edition copy of Erasmus’ Moriae encomium. These manuscript illustrations became known for their wit and humanism. Hans Holbein went on to become a famous portraitist.

Engraved portrait of Hans Hoblein from 1676 Morias Enkomion. Holbein painted portraits of Erasmus (starting in 1523) and it was these which first brought him international acclaim. In 1526 Holbein decided to travel to England. Erasmus recommended him to his friend Thomas More. This launched Holbein’s career in King Henry VIII’s court. Holbein painted a portrait of Thomas More and became involved in humanist circles in England. After the downfall of Thomas More and Anne Boleyn, both of whom had employed him (and later lost their heads), Holbein distanced himself from the humanist circles that had allowed him his initial success in England. He began working under the patronage of Thomas Cromwell and became “the King’s Painter,” producing several portraits of the King and others in Henry’s inner circle. Scholars today recognize his work for its masterful blending of symbolism, allusion, and paradox.

In 1676 the printer Johann Rudolf Genath (Typis Genathianis) published the edition featured here of Erasmus’ Moriae encomium, which for the first time included Holbein’s illustrations. The illustrations in this edition are of particular interest. It is noteworthy that Holbein’s manuscript illustrations in the 1532 edition were kept and then brought forward for use in this edition. An artist named Caspar Merian produced the engravings. In addition to the eighty-one illustrations this edition contains engraved full page portraits of Erasmus, Holbein, and Holbein’s father, who was also a renowned painter. This edition also contains Lister’s Commentaries, a biography of Holbein, and a catalog listing of the artist’s works.

Engraved portrait of Holbein's father from 1676 Morias Enkomion.The printing of the engraved illustrations presents an intriguing periphery to the story of Holbein’s illustrations joining with Erasmus’ Moriae encomium. By 1676 the printing process had progressed considerably (two centuries had passed since the advent of printing in Europe) and mistakes made in combining text and illustrations at this point can only be chalked up as poor printing. In this edition of Moriae encomium we see a wonderfully terrible job of incorporating the two that we cannot help but find fascinating. It appears that the typesetter and the engraver suffered from a lack of communication. In some instances not enough space was left in the printing of the text to fit the illustration. The printer, using his creative problem solving skills, rectified the situation by turning the ill-fitting illustrations on their sides. Some are poorly inked. Then there is the mix up of the illustrations on pages 133 and 137. In the Rare Books copy the correct image has been laid in over the incorrect illustration. This tactic is fairly common in books from the early printing period.

Morias Enkomion - Illustration Turned SidewaysMorias Enkomion - Illustration Turned Sideways - 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morias Enkomion - page 133Morias Enkomion - page 137

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This 1676 edition of Erasmus’ famous work is a mash-up of intriguing elements that culminate into something special. The combination of famous authorship with illustrations from a highly regarded artist, who in many ways gained fame as a result of his interactions with the text at an early stage in his career, produces a historically noteworthy piece. There is an irony in the presentation of Holbein’s illustrations in this edition because they are from a master, but administered with a complete lack of printing mastery. Nevertheless, we should be very glad that Genath gave them to us despite his execution.

Morias Enkomion - page 149 - woman at loomFold Out Illustration from Morias Enkomion 1676.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Contributed by Jon Bingham, Rare Books Curator

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Book of the Week — Opera

25 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Africa, Archbishop of Canterbury, Asia Minor, astrology, astronomy, atonement, Basel, calendars, Caucasus, celestial motion, Christian, Cur Deus Homo, cycles, De imagine mundi, Easter, Egypt, Egyptians, equinox, Europe, geography, God, Gothic type, Greeks, Hebrews, India, islands, Johann Amerbach, Jupiter, lunar, marginalia, Mesopotamia, Monologion, moon, Nuremberg, oceans, Palestine, Parthia, Proslogion, Roman type, Romans, Saint Anselm, seas, solar, solstice, St Augustine, sun, Syria, theology, Thomas More, tides, time, University of Utah, vellum, water, zodiac

TitlepageIndexSpreadSpread1Spread2

“…let my mind meditate upon it; let my tongue speak of it. Let my heart love it; let my mouth talk of it. Let my soul hunger for it; let my flesh thirst for it; let my whole being desire it…”

OPERA
Saint Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (ca. 1033-1109)
Basel: Johann Amerbach, not after 1497
Second, enlarged edition

The first edition of the collected works of St Anselm was printed in Nuremberg in 1491. After St Augustine and Thomas More, St Anselm was one of the most widely read of Christian theological writers in western Europe. His influence was far-reaching. This collection includes his three most famous works: the Cur Deus Homo, a treatise on the atonement; the Proslogion, which contains his argument for the existence of God; and the Monologion. The last thirty pages of this volume is a two-part geographical astronomical/astrological compendium, “De imagine mundi,” dating from about 1100, containing chapters on India, Parthia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Europe, Africa and sections on islands and water (seas, oceans, tides). There are a few articles on the zodiac, and more on astronomy. Anselm describes celestial motions of the sun, moon and Jupiter, with reference to the solar and lunar cycles and the importance of their measurement for calculating time. Anselm notes different divisions of time as reckoned by the ancient Hebrews, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. He addresses various calendars and the cycles and divisions on which they were based. He notes the practical importance of their use for calculating astronomical events such as the equinox and solstice, and the sacred importance of calculating Easter. Printer Johann Amerbach (ca. 1440-1513) was the first printer of Basel to use a Roman type as well as Gothic. Printed in two columns of fifty lines each in Gothic type. University of Utah copy bound in 18th century vellum over boards; brown stain on cover. An early ownership inscription is inked out, and a stamp erased from the title-page. Some contemporary marginalia.

 

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Your Dissertation Here !

10 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Aldus Manutius, Basel, Bible, Byzantine, Cambridge, England, English, Erasmus, Froben, German, Greek, John Colet, Latin, Latin Vulgate, Martin Luther, New Testament, Nikolaus Gergel, Roman Catholic Church, Thomas More (1478-1535), University of Utah, Venice, Western European, William Tyndale

frontispiece

NOUUM TESTAMENTUM GRAECE
Argentorati : Apud Vuolfium Cephalaeum, 1524
BS1965 1524

First edition, first printing in octavo of the Erasmus New Testament in Greek. This edition, in its compact format, was much more affordable than Froben’s earlier editions, two facts that arguably gave Erasmus’ translation greater societal impact. The text closely follows the Nikolaus Gergel edition of 1521, the second edition of the Erasmus Greek New Testament.

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) took monastic vows at the age of twenty-five. An independent scholar, he spent time at Cambridge where he befriended John Colet (1467-1519) and Thomas More (1478-1535) during a time of great stress in the English Church. He spent three years in Venice working as an editor in the publishing house of Aldus Manutius (1449-1515). He later worked with printer Johannes Froben (1460-1527) in Basel.

Vvovlivs spreadBioE Toy Arioy Eyar spread

While in England, Erasmus began a systematic examination of available manuscript copies of the New Testament. His resulting Greek New Testament, with Latin in parallel column, was first published by Froben in 1516. The 1516 Greek-Latin New Testament was used as a primary source for Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament into German (1522), and for William Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament into English (1526).

Although Erasmus was criticized by later scholars for not having used all available manuscript copies of the Greek New Testament and for not using Byzantine copies, his translation is noted as the first Western European attempt to find a truer translation of the New Testament than that of the fourth century Latin Vulgate, the translation used almost exclusively by the Roman Catholic Church. The translation re-introduced the study of Greek biblical manuscripts and other Greek works on the Bible into Western Europe.

Page3 Page28

Only ten copies of this edition and printing are listed in WorldCat. University of Utah copy has extensive marginalia in multiple contemporary or just post-contemporary hands (possibly four) throughout.

 

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Book of the week – Historia mvndi

22 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Tags

Basel, Basilae, Erasmus, Frobeniana, German, Hans Holbein, Historia Mvndi, Johannes Froben, manuscript leaves, medicine, natural history, pastedowns, Pliny, Venice


HISTORIA MVNDI
C. Plinii Secvndi
Basilae: in officina Frobeniana, 1530
QH41 P74

First printed in Venice in 1469, this is an account of medicine and natural history; in effect, an ancient encyclopedia of science. This edition came from the press of Johannes Froben (1460-1527), a German printer who established himself at Basel. Froben became famous for printing scholarly texts, in part because Erasmus edited many of Froben’s publications. Froben also employed the as yet unknown Hans Holbein as a designer. University of Utah copy binding pastedowns are manuscript leaves.

 

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A Donation Makes Poly Poly’s

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by rarebooks in Donations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

agriculture, alphabet, Amsterdam, anatomy, Antonio Blado, Antwerp, architecture, astrology, astronomy, Barbara Chavira, Basel, Bible, Bonaventura Elzevir, bookbinders, booksellers, celibacy, censored, Christianity, Christopher Plantin, commerce, creation, Daniel Elzevir, Elizabeth Isengrin, England, English, engraved, Ethiopian Church, Europe, expurgated, fable, festivals, French, frontispiece, German, God, Greek, Hebrew, heresy, hunting, Index of Forbidden Books, indulgences, initials, Italian, italic, Judaism, King Arthur, Latin, law, Leonhart Fuchs, libraries, Louis Elzevir, Lucovico Arrighi, Lyons, magic, Martin Luther, mathematics, medicine, Michael Isengrin, minerology, monks, music, navigation, paganism, painting, pharmacology, physics, Polydore Vergil, Pope Gregory XIII, priest, printer, printing, Protestant, Rare Books Division, Reformation, religion, Roman, Roman Catholic Church, Rome, Salt Lake City Public Library, Shakespeare, Spanish, sports, theater, Thomas Guarin, Tournai, trade, typography, Utrecht, vellum, vignettes, weaponry, winemaking, writing

The Salt Lake City Public Library donated a sixteenth century book to the Rare Books Division, thanks to the well-trained eye of City Library staffer Barbara Chavira. Barbara worked part-time in the Rare Books Division for many years. Her passion for the art of books, in all forms and over the centuries, brought us this important and welcome addition to the rare book collections. Thank you, Barbara ! Thank you, City Library !

PA8585-V4-D4-1576-a4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POLYDORI VIRGILII VRBINATIS DE RERVM INVENTORIBVS…
Romae, apud haeredes antonij, Bladij, Impressores Camerales: Anno. M.D. LXXVI (1576)

Polydore Vergil (ca. 1470-1555), an Italian priest, spent much of his life in England. He is recognized for his history of England, a work that Shakespeare is known to have used as one of his sources. Vergil used critical analysis in his narration of historical events. His thesis that King Arthur was little more than fable, for instance, shocked contemporary readers.

It is his second published work, however, for which he was best known in his time. First printed in 1499, De rerum inventoribus (On Discovery), was a work unlike anything that had been published before. An inventory of historical “firsts,” it combined a wide array of subjects in an attempt to determine which individual or culture first invented things such as the alphabet, astronomy, magic, printing, libraries, hunting, festivals, writing, painting, weaponry and religion. Vergil culled much of his work from a wide range of ancient and contemporary writers. He focused on the genius of man in the origin or invention of all things – heretical thinking at the time.

In Book I he investigated the creation of the world, the origin of religion, the origin of the concepts of “god” and the word “God.” He suggested that much of Christianity had been adapted from Judaism or Roman paganism. Books II and III were studies of a wide-range of topics, mostly concerning the practical and mechanical arts including anatomy, astrology, law, medicine, commerce, mathematics, mineralogy, music, pharmacology, physics, trade, agriculture, architecture, sports, theater, navigation, and winemaking. The work was translated into French in 1521, German in 1537, English in 1546, and Spanish in 1551.

In 1521, more than two decades after he wrote the first three books, and at the dawn of Martin Luther’s protestant reformation, Vergil added five more books concentrating on Christianity. Vergil reworked his discussion of Christianity in deference to the Roman Catholic Church, which objected to Vergil’s reference to religion as a matter of scientific investigation. In spite of this concession, Vergil anticipated the scientific approach to religion that would become the norm a century later. The intended salve to the church failed when Vergil criticized monks, priestly celibacy, and indulgences. In 1564 the work was declared heretical and all editions were added to the Index of Forbidden Books. However, the work was so popular that two censored editions were printed after the ban.

This 1576 expurgated edition was sanctioned by Pope Gregory XIII in its front matter.

PA8585-V4-D4-1576-a2

PA8585-V4-D4-1570-CaGlorius

It is significant that this edition was printed by the heirs of Antonio Blado’s shop.

PA8585-V4-D4-1576-titlepage

PA8585-V4-D4-1576-regestvm

Blado worked in Rome from 1515 to 1567 as a printer in the service of the papacy. He was well-known for his scholarly works in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; and a 1549 document in Ethiopic type for the Ethiopian Church. Blado is also known for his use of an early italic type created by Ludovico Arrighi. The Rare Books Division holds five books printed by Antonio Blado.

This 1576 edition of Vergil joins an edition from 1570 and another from 1671, already in the rare book collections.

PA8585-V4-D4-1570-titlepagePA8585-V4-D4-1570-colophon

POLYDORI VERGILII VRBINATIS, DE RERUM INVENTORIBUS…
Polydore Vergil (1470? – 1555)
Basilea: 1570

Printer Thomas Guarin (1529-1592) was born in Tournai. He worked in Lyons as a bookseller, but by 1557 was in Basel, where he married Elizabeth Isengrin, the daughter of a printer. Guarin took over his father-in-law’s small press at Michael Isengrin’s death. Michael Isengrin had printed one of the many editions of De rerum inventoribus to be published in Vergil’s lifetime. Each of these editions contained significant variations. Isengrin printed Leonhart Fuchs’s sumptuous De Historia stirpivm. Along with the reprint of classical works, Guarin issued several editions of the Bible, published in both Latin and German, and one in Spanish. His printer’s device was a palm tree.

PA8585-V4-D4-1570-printersdevice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PA8585-V4-D4-1671-frontispiece

POLYDORI VERGILII URBINATIS, DE INVENTORIBUS RERUM…
Polydore Vergil (1470?-1555)
Amstelodami: apud Danielem Elzebirius, 1671

Daniel Elzevir came from a distinguished family of booksellers, bookbinders, printers and publishers. Louis Elzevir (1546-1617), a Protestant émigré, began the business in Antwerp in about 1565, after he left a job with Christopher Plantin’s print shop. The Elzevir enterprise became one of Europe’s largest printing houses. Louis’s sons expanded the business with branches in The Hague, Utrecht, and Amsterdam. The Amsterdam branch was established in 1638 by Louis III. His partner was Daniel Elzevir, son of Bonaventura Elzevir, son of Louis. Daniel continued the family reputation for fine typography and design work. This edition of De Rerum inventoribus also contains another of Vergil’s works, Prodigiis, written in 1526 but not printed until 1531. The engraved frontispiece for this edition includes the invention of printing as one of its main themes. Numerous carved initials and vignettes. Bound in contemporary vellum.

Shakespeare is coming! The First Folio will arrive at the City Library in October.

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Book of the Week – Quadragesimale Nouum…de filio prodigo

23 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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antiquarian, Augsburg, Basel, bookbinding, bookplates, books, bookshop, Charles Darwin, Gothic, Johannes Meder, John William Willis-Bund (1843-1928), Michael Furter, Michael Wenssler, New Testament, printer's device, printshop, Prodigal Son, Robert Chambers (1802-1871), Sebastian Brandt, sermons, The University of Utah, theology, type, Wales, woodcuts


Quadragesimale Nouum…de filio prodigo…
Johannes Meder
Basel: Michael Furter, 1494
Editio princips
BX1756 M43 Q4 1494

Johannes Meder’s collection of fifty sermons on the New Testament story of the Prodigal Son is introduced by his close friend Sebastian Brandt. In Brandt’s verse, the Prodigal Son and his guardian angel discuss whoring, gaming, cruelty to the poor and other disturbing issues of the time. Meder wrote, “One must know first the illness, which one intends to heal.” The subject must have been quite compelling – a second edition was printed by Michael Wenssler, also of Basel, in 1497.

Born in Augsburg, Michael Furter (d. 1516/17) was in Basel by 1483, when he bought a house there. He began printing at least at early as 1489. He added bookbinding and then accounting to his trades after his printshop ran into financial difficulties. Furter printed mostly grammars and theology. Although he was financially unsuccessful as a printer, his fairly large number of books were known for their beautiful woodcut ornamentation and illustrations. This work contains eighteen full-page woodcuts. Gothic type, printer’s device.

The University of Utah copy was once owned by Robert Chambers (1802-1871). Chambers anonymously published Vestiges, a Victorian-era best-seller that posited a theory of evolution before Charles Darwin published his ground-breaking thesis. Chambers and Darwin were correspondents.

Chambers and his brother began their careers as publishers and authors when they set up an antiquarian bookshop using their father’s own collection of books. This copy was also part of the library of John William Willis-Bund (1843-1928), a writer on the history of the church in Wales. Evidence of this provenance is the bookplates of both of these men attached within the book.

alluNeedSingleLine

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Book of the Week – De la Lingua che si Parla & Scriue in Firenza…

31 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Tags

Antwerp, Arnoldus Arlenius, Basel, Bologna, Cosimo, Duke Cosimo I, Duke of Florence, Dutch, Filipo Giunta, Florence, France, Germany, Greek, Italian, Italy, Ivie J. and Jeanne M. Nielson, Latin, Lorenzo Torrentinus, Lyon, Netherlands, Pierfrancesco Giambullari, printer, printing, Torrentino, type foundry, typographic, Venice

Giambullari, De la Lingua…, 1551, Title Page
Giambullari, De la Lingua…, 1551, Portrait
Giambullari, De la Lingua…, 1551

De la Lingua che si Parla & Scriue in Firenza…
Pierfrancesco Giambullari (1495-1555)
Firenze: Torrentino, 1551

Printer Lorenzo Torrentinus (1499-1563) was a Dutch-Italian humanist and printer for Cosimo, Duke of Florence. He was born in the Netherlands into a wealthy family. After his studies, he began working for printers and booksellers in Antwerp, Basel, Lyon, Venice and Bologna. There, he worked as a bookseller with Arnoldus Arlenius, a well-known and well-respected Greek scholar. They imported books in Greek and Latin from France and Germany, selling them throughout Italy. They also acted as liaisons between authors and printers.

After the death of Filippo Giunta, the great Florentian pressman, printing in Florence deteriorated from an art to a trade. Duke Cosimo I brought Torrentino to Florence to improve the quality of printing in his city. In 1577 Torrentino opened his own press in Florence. He produced nearly two hundred and seventy-five editions. His work was of high quality and his reputation and business flourished. In 1562 he became director of a type foundry. His press was managed by his sons. His careful and artful typographic skills enabled him to contribute to the development of Italian languages. Like the best printers of the era, Torrentino carried equally the roles of editor, translator and commentator.

University of Utah copy gift of Ivie J. and Jeanne M. Nielson.

alluNeedSingleLine

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