1 00:00:19,170 --> 00:00:25,620 Good afternoon and welcome to this second 20-20 Lyle lecture. 2 00:00:25,620 --> 00:00:33,550 Today, we will be discussing the life cycles of writing books and I will explain what that means in a moment. 3 00:00:33,550 --> 00:00:41,820 For the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, we have more or less detailed national bibliographies of writing books from England, 4 00:00:41,820 --> 00:00:51,330 Ambrose Hill, 1931, Germany, Spain, Portugal to some extent, and Italy mainly for the 16th century. 5 00:00:51,330 --> 00:01:00,780 We also have catalogues of various collections covering all Western Europe and mostly put together by private individuals, 6 00:01:00,780 --> 00:01:04,770 but later required by public institutions. In France. 7 00:01:04,770 --> 00:01:17,610 We mainly have to catalogue's by an antiquarian bookseller on the HISHEM, published respectively in 1992 and just a few months ago, 8 00:01:17,610 --> 00:01:27,030 which cover different areas but mainly, mainly French material with about 100 items up to the early 19th century. 9 00:01:27,030 --> 00:01:36,630 In both cases, the biographies of writing books are mostly done and presented in the same way as for other books, 10 00:01:36,630 --> 00:01:45,120 which works fine for the basic identification of first and subsequent editions based on conspicuous changes in title pages. 11 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:52,470 Pagination signatures or dates printed in various places within the volumes. 12 00:01:52,470 --> 00:02:03,660 But as I mentioned on Tuesday, writing books are mostly not produced and marketed in the same way as letterpress books, but rather as images. 13 00:02:03,660 --> 00:02:10,500 And some differences between copies can only be observed by methods closer to the study of prints. 14 00:02:10,500 --> 00:02:18,600 That ambiguity is also reflected in collections. Libraries treat them mostly as books and museums as prints. 15 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,110 In the BNF they are in the view of technician. 16 00:02:22,110 --> 00:02:30,990 They'll defrost. They are almost evenly split between the two relevant departments, which probably has consequences on on my corpus to sets. 17 00:02:30,990 --> 00:02:39,130 Library catalogues are now much easier to access through international online portals, much more so than those of museums. 18 00:02:39,130 --> 00:02:50,100 I can't exclude that. I've missed a number of items in the print collections of museums embarking on a catalogue of French writing 19 00:02:50,100 --> 00:03:00,180 books from the mid 16th century to 1815 without being a bibliographer or a book historian in the first place. 20 00:03:00,180 --> 00:03:10,950 I have only gradually become aware of many issues that reflect the peculiar nature of writing books and accordingly had to adapt to my method. 21 00:03:10,950 --> 00:03:15,180 I will start with a few conclusions I have been able to draw from directs 22 00:03:15,180 --> 00:03:20,820 observation before returning very briefly to principles of cataloguing as such. 23 00:03:20,820 --> 00:03:26,100 Those conclusions can be summarised as notions precisely on the long and sometimes 24 00:03:26,100 --> 00:03:32,610 curious life cycles of writing books from their creation to their current resting places. 25 00:03:32,610 --> 00:03:38,730 The lessons I have learnt by examining French writing books also apply to those of other nations naturally, 26 00:03:38,730 --> 00:03:46,230 and I hope they might be of some interest to scholars in other fields. 27 00:03:46,230 --> 00:03:53,700 Only an extremely limited number of writing masters ever produced writing models in print. 28 00:03:53,700 --> 00:03:58,140 Few felt the need to do so, and few could afford the expense. 29 00:03:58,140 --> 00:04:03,840 Those who did were mostly leading figures in the Corporation of Parisian writing 30 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:11,610 masters established in fifteen seventy or for some of the royal secretaries, 31 00:04:11,610 --> 00:04:17,550 teaching was normally done with handwritten models and some writing masters. 32 00:04:17,550 --> 00:04:30,450 Tell us of the tricks played by some of their colleagues based on the difficulty of telling print and original apart for their customers. 33 00:04:30,450 --> 00:04:36,690 When the originals were still darker than they are now, before the ink faded, 34 00:04:36,690 --> 00:04:42,420 the similarity must have been much greater between the originals and reproductions. 35 00:04:42,420 --> 00:04:51,210 And so some masters were accused of presenting their customers with engravings instead of the original handwriting. 36 00:04:51,210 --> 00:05:04,410 We have cases such as that of Louis DPF why in sixteen nineteen whose whose models were confiscated in Oleo because he was accused of using prints. 37 00:05:04,410 --> 00:05:10,260 It seems they were actually originals because they were handed back to him after a moment. 38 00:05:10,260 --> 00:05:17,430 In sixteen forty four, we have another master, Pyar Mohle, who we will meet again soon. 39 00:05:17,430 --> 00:05:21,470 Published in. Or public to sold off the key. 40 00:05:21,470 --> 00:05:30,410 We fenice it, hopefully the comment comments only. This book is in large part about the tricks of dishonest writing. 41 00:05:30,410 --> 00:05:41,580 Masters is rutile. To circulate is often very useful for anyone who has a child that he would like to send to writing master. 42 00:05:41,580 --> 00:05:50,530 An essential aspect of the history of writing books is the history of reproduction techniques, 43 00:05:50,530 --> 00:06:00,470 and I will give you a brief outline of the chronology of those means of reproducing handwriting. 44 00:06:00,470 --> 00:06:08,790 The first writing books that we can call the writing book published in Italy in 15 14. 45 00:06:08,790 --> 00:06:13,500 The Tory Kate Patika by Sigils, Mondo Fanti, Venice, 46 00:06:13,500 --> 00:06:24,670 15 14 contains diagrams for Gothic texts and Roman capitals, but only blanks for Chancery cursives. 47 00:06:24,670 --> 00:06:35,730 So you have the instructions. He must have planned to have illustrations too, but could not find a wood block cut able to produce them. 48 00:06:35,730 --> 00:06:43,050 All subsequent writing books published in Italy were published from writing books for a few decades, 49 00:06:43,050 --> 00:06:50,900 starting with the vehicle Redivision, Tinos, Mordo, Mauduit, regular these cumulated. 50 00:06:50,900 --> 00:06:57,900 That of course you etc. dated 15 22 and all the way to. 51 00:06:57,900 --> 00:07:08,080 All right, this to driven Francesco Quraishi, who published this, implied in 50, 60 and other books later. 52 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,790 And this is all the more striking since Grace. 53 00:07:11,790 --> 00:07:22,180 She was the inventor of a new script, a new kind of Italian cursive that was much finer written with a sharper quill. 54 00:07:22,180 --> 00:07:32,590 And here we are reaching the limits of what you can do with reproductions in woodblocks. 55 00:07:32,590 --> 00:07:36,340 In Germany, we have this early example. 56 00:07:36,340 --> 00:07:47,920 This earliest example printed fifty nineteen for your Hanoi deafer of Nuremberg, which was essentially, it seems, a hand out for his own students. 57 00:07:47,920 --> 00:08:00,520 You can admire how the extremely high quality of the reproduction. That is typical of the extremely high level of German block cutters. 58 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:17,560 At the time. In a subsequent publication, no duffer experimented with a bold innovation, which was the use of etching. 59 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:31,300 So copperplate printing. In this case, he wrote the text directly, it seems onto the plate, then print. 60 00:08:31,300 --> 00:08:37,670 So the right way round then printed it, obviously in reverse. 61 00:08:37,670 --> 00:08:51,420 Then pressed the resulting print onto another sheet so that he produced both negative and positive copies of the same example. 62 00:08:51,420 --> 00:09:05,830 And both were included in many copies. You can see here the negative reverse image with the plate impressed into the paper. 63 00:09:05,830 --> 00:09:10,980 Then this is what you get when it is, it is pressed again. 64 00:09:10,980 --> 00:09:19,730 And the plate mark is gone. But mostly after that interesting experiment would probably very difficult, technically. 65 00:09:19,730 --> 00:09:36,190 And German masters reverted to continued using woodcuts until the end of the 16th century with examples of extreme virtuosity as in this page. 66 00:09:36,190 --> 00:09:47,640 These pages from or vis I know you fundamental. Published in fifteen sixty 62. 67 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:59,200 In the low countries, the earliest printed writing book in 15 40 was by Goude Marcato, famous essentially as a map maker. 68 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:08,420 Here again we find. A reproduction using woodcuts. 69 00:10:08,420 --> 00:10:15,740 Here's a page spread from inside. And here again. 70 00:10:15,740 --> 00:10:26,000 Woodcuts we used until until 15 69, where we find this extraordinary book by Clear Mount Maultsby from Brussels. 71 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:33,860 Young master who is who has been up to now credited with producing the first writing book. 72 00:10:33,860 --> 00:10:39,440 Engraved using a burin on copper plates. 73 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,910 Here's a page from inside where you can see the extremely high quality of the reproduction. 74 00:10:43,910 --> 00:10:54,430 Much finer than anything you could hope to do with a in woodcuts. 75 00:10:54,430 --> 00:11:06,720 Peter is credited with this innovation because no one has looked at another marsters books for that question, for that issue, 76 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:18,380 which is a more secretary to King Charles the ninth, whose first book was produced in 15 61 and is this alphabet. 77 00:11:18,380 --> 00:11:27,030 And I've also wanted it on DVR 62 with pretty high quality. 78 00:11:27,030 --> 00:11:34,830 Woodcuts for the very complex and often very cursive scripts that are typical of French writing masters. 79 00:11:34,830 --> 00:11:41,640 Here we have a letter, Minyard, which you might look at from closer up here. 80 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:48,400 You can quite clearly see the grain of the wood. So this is typically woodcut. 81 00:11:48,400 --> 00:12:01,200 And those blocks remained in use for much longer than we might have thought, because very recently a new copy of this book came out, 82 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:09,570 was acquired by a small local library in the north of France, which bears the surprising date, 16 13. 83 00:12:09,570 --> 00:12:16,130 We find the woodblock still in pretty good shape at that date. 84 00:12:16,130 --> 00:12:30,200 But the the role of PR more in the adoption of engraving handwriting on copper plates has been totally overlooked. 85 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:39,080 Here is his Alphabeat. Your soft. Do let this copy is from the 15 73 edition. 86 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:46,990 But the earliest edition is 50 and 60 615 67 and so predates by Short-time. 87 00:12:46,990 --> 00:12:58,790 The publication of Kliment Beauty. Here again, the. We see the typical complex and cursive French scripts. 88 00:12:58,790 --> 00:13:03,620 Very well rendered by by the engraver. 89 00:13:03,620 --> 00:13:10,190 Not quite as precisely and delicately as we will see in later examples. 90 00:13:10,190 --> 00:13:19,190 But surely it was much easier to work in this medium than to produce that kind of writing in woodblocks again as a close up, 91 00:13:19,190 --> 00:13:26,630 because he the plate has not been perfectly wiped. And so there are traces of ink smearing the handwriting. 92 00:13:26,630 --> 00:13:30,590 And here's the last plate in the French section of Ammos book, 93 00:13:30,590 --> 00:13:42,620 which gives you an idea of how cursive French handwriting could become not only in everyday life, but also as a formal model. 94 00:13:42,620 --> 00:13:51,440 This is the only such such cursive plate in any French book I know before the end of the 18th century. 95 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:57,200 And it shows that cursive city, when it reaches that level, is not only carelessness. 96 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:04,580 It was actually an ideal that the professional should strive for. 97 00:14:04,580 --> 00:14:13,910 The engraving was probably done by one Felipe Dolfi, Philip Dolfi, who was an engraver, 98 00:14:13,910 --> 00:14:21,050 also famous for making scientific instruments, of which you have an example here, including calligraphy. 99 00:14:21,050 --> 00:14:24,920 And it was also a business associate of ammos. 100 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:31,820 In other editorial and typographic ventures, the spread of copperplate engraving from that date on, 101 00:14:31,820 --> 00:14:43,290 especially for maps and writing, was largely connected to German and Flemish artists travelling south. 102 00:14:43,290 --> 00:14:49,520 And we find them engraving writing books in the south of France and in Italy. 103 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:53,570 The first Italian writing books engraved in copper. 104 00:14:53,570 --> 00:15:08,960 Was this book by Jewel Antonio Kilani, 15, 71 percent bloody, et cetera, which for some time was believed to be the first writing book in copperplate, 105 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:15,980 but then was replaced by Pele and now by by the advantages, 106 00:15:15,980 --> 00:15:25,220 the advantages of the Burin were actually disputed by Kureshi against Kilani in defence of his own woodblocks. 107 00:15:25,220 --> 00:15:29,890 But still, Italians did switch to the new technique. 108 00:15:29,890 --> 00:15:40,010 The burin remained in use for handwriting, the reproduction of handwriting until the early 19th century. 109 00:15:40,010 --> 00:15:43,450 Then we find a new technique being used. 110 00:15:43,450 --> 00:15:56,870 The recently invented technique of lithography, which around 1815 is used for the first time in a few modest writing books of this kind, 111 00:15:56,870 --> 00:16:03,860 which are essentially a new editorial zahoor that is more modest schoolbooks instead 112 00:16:03,860 --> 00:16:12,640 of the grander writing books of the masters of the old of the Assad regime. 113 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:23,270 And until the mid 19th century, you find both copperplate engraving and lithograph used. 114 00:16:23,270 --> 00:16:35,720 For writing books. So how was it done reproducing handwriting, using copperplate? 115 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:46,580 There's an excellent article on the topic by Amy Worthing called Calligraphic Inscriptions on Dutch Mannerist Print's 1992, 116 00:16:46,580 --> 00:16:49,400 which tells us much on the topic. 117 00:16:49,400 --> 00:17:00,090 The explicit sources we might use are later the first explanations we have on the process, our English late 17th century. 118 00:17:00,090 --> 00:17:06,410 Then there are others in the 18th and the process essentially uses ungoverned ink. 119 00:17:06,410 --> 00:17:11,120 You write on paper with ink that contains contains no gum Arabic. 120 00:17:11,120 --> 00:17:19,940 Then you press your writing on two white wax that has been applied to the copperplate. 121 00:17:19,940 --> 00:17:31,120 Then you have your image in reverse, which you can follow and engrave so as to have your reproduction. 122 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:42,410 So despite the later date of these explanations, it is very plausible that the same process was already applied in the later 16th century engraving. 123 00:17:42,410 --> 00:17:46,820 Having your book engraved required quite an investment in copper. 124 00:17:46,820 --> 00:17:51,200 You needed to buy the copper first and labour. 125 00:17:51,200 --> 00:18:04,640 We have a few scraps of evidence on the on the expense in sixteen twenty nine ninety five plates by Guillaume Luganda, who are already 30 years old. 126 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:14,720 They had been engraved in fifteen ninety nine, were sold for 390 leever in 16 48. 127 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:25,260 An inventory of the plates produced by Bob Bedau by Louis Barbato. 128 00:18:25,260 --> 00:18:41,640 We will also meet later on plates that had just been made and that were twice as large as those of Luganda were valued at 10 Leveritt each. 129 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:49,020 Much suspicion has been expressed against the excessive perfection of the Burin and its supposedly 130 00:18:49,020 --> 00:18:57,150 nefarious influence on the perception of good handwriting and even its development in the 18th century. 131 00:18:57,150 --> 00:19:06,150 Calligraphers had to defend their art against the idea that their hands were made to look better by the engraver in 1714, the engraver, 132 00:19:06,150 --> 00:19:17,130 George Becan, himself acknowledged publicly that good handwriting was more beautiful than any engraved reproduction in the 20th century. 133 00:19:17,130 --> 00:19:25,110 After the revival of calligraphy in the form essentially of broadening calligraphy, 134 00:19:25,110 --> 00:19:31,050 we see the rise of the term copperplate applied to what was previously known as English 135 00:19:31,050 --> 00:19:40,050 round hand that the English hand English script typical of the 18th and 19th centuries. 136 00:19:40,050 --> 00:19:50,730 Copperplate being in this case clearly pejorative. It means calligraphy perverted by the influence of the engraver. 137 00:19:50,730 --> 00:19:57,210 But in fact, as Amy Worthen proves quite, quite convincingly. 138 00:19:57,210 --> 00:20:04,890 The Burin is suddenly able to produce very thin strokes, which is what is usually mentioned in this context. 139 00:20:04,890 --> 00:20:15,540 But thick strokes of the pen are much more difficult to engrave and require very dense crosshatching to obtain perfect blacks. 140 00:20:15,540 --> 00:20:22,560 This is a book Sixteen Thirty One prayer book engraved by Pyar Moore, who I mentioned earlier. 141 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:37,820 This is a close up where you can see, I hope, the crosshatching inside the thicker parts of these letters in a few cases. 142 00:20:37,820 --> 00:20:45,890 In the 18th century, at least, we are able to compare the original with its direct reproduction with the engraving. 143 00:20:45,890 --> 00:20:52,310 The manuscripts have often lost much of their former impact because the ink has faded. 144 00:20:52,310 --> 00:21:01,220 But even so, it is possible to see how subtle and delicate the quill could be compared to a common burin only. 145 00:21:01,220 --> 00:21:07,820 Yes. Here's the original from close up and reproduction. 146 00:21:07,820 --> 00:21:17,640 Only the very best engravers. We're able to make the lines sing like a great Masters original. 147 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:26,550 Writing masters themselves were extremely fastidious about engraving for their reputation would depend on it. 148 00:21:26,550 --> 00:21:37,770 Some, like Louis Barbe Adore in sixteen forty nine, even specified they have avoided publishing anything before finding a good enough artist. 149 00:21:37,770 --> 00:21:46,470 And even then, yes, sorry, this is another one. The original on the right and the reproduction on the left. 150 00:21:46,470 --> 00:21:51,730 Which also raises the question to what extent could a engraver, 151 00:21:51,730 --> 00:22:03,420 could engraver modify the model and try to make it better either on his own initiative or in agreement with the master? 152 00:22:03,420 --> 00:22:08,940 And you can see there are some slight differences here, as in the final L a visual note here, 153 00:22:08,940 --> 00:22:22,030 for instance, which is rather more refined in the engraving than in the the original. 154 00:22:22,030 --> 00:22:28,810 Even then, yes, even when the writing master had found the perfect the perfect engraver. 155 00:22:28,810 --> 00:22:38,500 There were difficulties. There were arguments over artistic property in a robe in fifteen, twenty will go the carpet. 156 00:22:38,500 --> 00:22:45,430 Who had cut a Régis or Petina obtained a copyright in that book but could not get the blocks 157 00:22:45,430 --> 00:22:53,170 back and so cut his own and publish them again under another title is out of this great story. 158 00:22:53,170 --> 00:22:57,640 Fifteen twenty five. Fifteen ninety nine. There is an interesting case, 159 00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:10,480 very well documented between Guillaume Luganda and his engraver Seamon freesias who went to court as the Parliament to the 160 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:21,100 Parliament of Paris ruled in favour of Luganda as the main principal author of the of the plates included in his book, 161 00:23:21,100 --> 00:23:33,520 but also ruled that he could keep them for a period of ten years and they then should hand them over to freesias. 162 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:38,290 Which again, you never did, in part because in the meantime, 163 00:23:38,290 --> 00:23:43,210 freesias had begun to produce his own calligraphy at first and then gone back home 164 00:23:43,210 --> 00:23:50,270 to the low countries where he also worked for the greatest Dutch writing masters. 165 00:23:50,270 --> 00:23:54,220 Yeah. A few pages from Logan Yael's book. 166 00:23:54,220 --> 00:23:59,770 A book? It's a book in three parts that Dick know. Gadhafi. Gadhafi in a candy Gadhafi. 167 00:23:59,770 --> 00:24:03,920 Which is the first use of the word calligraphy for a title in French. 168 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:11,980 The techno Gadhafi being French handwriting. He's like Gadhafi, Italian and like calligraphy Greek. 169 00:24:11,980 --> 00:24:24,110 Here are a few pages in the French style with a close up of phrases work a page of abbreviations in the French style. 170 00:24:24,110 --> 00:24:28,000 Also extremely delicately done. 171 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:39,090 The page in the Italian style example of the late Cossey like vaunt and a close up, brilliant engraving by by Seaman Freesias. 172 00:24:39,090 --> 00:24:49,930 And a page in Greek. And in this case, we are able to compare it directly with the same text copied in a manuscript by Luke Enu himself. 173 00:24:49,930 --> 00:24:55,500 We could dwell on this for some time, examining the differences, 174 00:24:55,500 --> 00:25:03,840 the delicacy and the softness of the of the strokes in the original and the way they rendered very delicately, 175 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:10,750 but slightly more partially in the in the engraving. 176 00:25:10,750 --> 00:25:16,750 And this is an example of freesias work in the low countries. 177 00:25:16,750 --> 00:25:23,530 Once he went back for a young Vandevelde, the greatest master of the time. 178 00:25:23,530 --> 00:25:29,590 And in the same book, here is an interesting page that is clearly the sign that London, 179 00:25:29,590 --> 00:25:34,450 Velda wanted to honour his engraver by including this plate with this absolutely 180 00:25:34,450 --> 00:25:41,950 splendid illustration of the quill and the quill writing the name freesias. 181 00:25:41,950 --> 00:25:51,250 The interesting thing here, amongst other, are the amongst others being that phrase, this is written not by Burin, but by a quill. 182 00:25:51,250 --> 00:25:58,450 So Fizziness himself qualifies as a calligrapher. 183 00:25:58,450 --> 00:26:06,910 The books themselves sometimes bear traces of those conflicts between the master and his engraver in ways that offer precious, 184 00:26:06,910 --> 00:26:11,740 bibliographical evidence as to relative dates. This is just one example. 185 00:26:11,740 --> 00:26:16,120 As a consequence of the conflict between, again, you and freesias, 186 00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:21,610 you see the signature of freesias on the title page in the first state of that 187 00:26:21,610 --> 00:26:30,680 engraving of that plate and later removed by suddenly by decision of Luganda himself. 188 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:42,620 There are other cases. There's another early 17th. French master called Morehouse's was the home D who was active at Avignon. 189 00:26:42,620 --> 00:26:46,790 His plates were engraved by a local man called DeJohn Birth. 190 00:26:46,790 --> 00:26:54,680 You can see the name here at the bottom of the plate. The year Berzon birth having unit, here's a close up. 191 00:26:54,680 --> 00:27:09,110 And in subsequent. Printing's, the name is blocked out and removed from certain plates where it was. 192 00:27:09,110 --> 00:27:19,840 Visible in the corner of the plates and then suddenly disappears. You can see traces of the name here on. 193 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:31,810 Some masters found that the only solution to have their way was to engrave their own wax Pyar More Hope. 194 00:27:31,810 --> 00:27:34,630 I mentioned earlier, is an early example. 195 00:27:34,630 --> 00:27:43,990 In the 16 twenties and sixteen thirties, you can see him learning calligraphy and engraving at the same time and gradually becoming better at both. 196 00:27:43,990 --> 00:27:50,340 Here's one in sixteen twenty six. And here is one of the plates inside the book. 197 00:27:50,340 --> 00:27:58,060 Barnbougle, the also engraved was also the first calligrapher engraver to produce brilliant 198 00:27:58,060 --> 00:28:04,060 little prayer books like the one we saw earlier with the one with the crosshatching. 199 00:28:04,060 --> 00:28:10,930 After more, we find Sunil, the most brilliant calligrapher and engraver of the late 17th century, 200 00:28:10,930 --> 00:28:18,100 who engraved dozens of books of his own and a couple for other people. 201 00:28:18,100 --> 00:28:25,870 In this case, you can see look at the full page on the right and the detail of the script. 202 00:28:25,870 --> 00:28:31,450 No. No engraved handwriting was ever finer than that in France. 203 00:28:31,450 --> 00:28:36,820 And so Noah's reputation continued for centuries. 204 00:28:36,820 --> 00:28:45,520 He also taught his daughter the art of calligraphy and engraving, and after his death, she produced her own books. 205 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:52,180 Just a few. The printing process and the role of block cut as an engravers are essential 206 00:28:52,180 --> 00:28:57,310 aspects of the chronology of writing books and of the development of a market. 207 00:28:57,310 --> 00:29:06,610 A sudden outburst of writing books by various masters at times coincides with the availability of an exceptional engraver. 208 00:29:06,610 --> 00:29:10,610 That was the case with Simon Freesias. In 16, Simon Friz. 209 00:29:10,610 --> 00:29:17,530 Yes, in sixteen hundred around sixteen hundred worked not only for Luganda but also for various competitors of his. 210 00:29:17,530 --> 00:29:24,400 And later, in the mid 17th century, the case of a Haubegger called Ye, 211 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:32,970 who engraved amongst others this book by Barbados that we will look at in further detail later on. 212 00:29:32,970 --> 00:29:37,300 Hoback called Year, who is mainly an engraver of maps that have. 213 00:29:37,300 --> 00:29:44,890 That's how he became known and was spotted by the Paris writing masters and produced a great number of 214 00:29:44,890 --> 00:29:53,470 books within a few years for Paris writing Masters from the 17th century and more clearly in the 18th. 215 00:29:53,470 --> 00:30:01,650 We see the rise of engravers actually specialising in lecturing as a distinct profession. 216 00:30:01,650 --> 00:30:10,330 Again, there is the obvious connexion here between calligraphy and mapmaking. 217 00:30:10,330 --> 00:30:14,590 And in the production of maps themselves, 218 00:30:14,590 --> 00:30:25,390 we find a division of labour between engravers specialising in lettering and other engravers who do the rest of the map or all the geography. 219 00:30:25,390 --> 00:30:33,250 In some cases, they are distinguished by signatures that say so in so scoop's it on one side and Scripps it on the other, 220 00:30:33,250 --> 00:30:44,770 which has caused some confusion. With scholars believing that grips it meant the name of the calligrapher who had made 221 00:30:44,770 --> 00:30:51,010 the original that was then rendered by the engraver for the whole map would in fact, 222 00:30:51,010 --> 00:31:01,510 both signatures are for engravers, one doing the writing, one doing the rest in the 18th century. 223 00:31:01,510 --> 00:31:11,760 Yes, we can. Yes, sorry. Here are a few plates by Bach by called Year for Barbados. 224 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:17,620 Here in a large format here and a much smaller format in a more elementary book. 225 00:31:17,620 --> 00:31:21,850 And here are a few plates by famous lettering. 226 00:31:21,850 --> 00:31:28,420 Engraver called Chilidog used to behave in the late 17th in the 18th century. 227 00:31:28,420 --> 00:31:36,280 Here's a map by Betty. And here are the other kinds of work that such an artist could be asked to produce, 228 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:44,210 titled Pages for Prestige Publications of Artistic Reproductions in this case. 229 00:31:44,210 --> 00:31:49,300 They also produced his own calligraphy books. 230 00:31:49,300 --> 00:32:02,830 Was it in such demand that he was also asked to produce to engrave writing books for an Italian writing master in Turin? 231 00:32:02,830 --> 00:32:11,770 And you can see in this case, looking at the Italian book, that he not only executed copies of something he was provided with, 232 00:32:11,770 --> 00:32:18,520 but also exerted quite an obvious influence on the end product itself, 233 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:29,320 which is in pure French style and very much similar to his own way of one hundred, also writing books printed during the Revolution and first empire. 234 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:36,820 Most were engraved by a handful of engravers like d'Avignon or D Zombo. 235 00:32:36,820 --> 00:32:44,290 John do need an engraver of maps for the Napoleonic Army or the Bow Blay family, 236 00:32:44,290 --> 00:32:51,400 father, sons and daughter daughter Sophie, who is also in demand for musical scores. 237 00:32:51,400 --> 00:33:01,210 All in all, publication was based on potentially complex relationships involving up to four individuals, depending on the technology. 238 00:33:01,210 --> 00:33:12,850 The author writing Master, an artist or sometimes several, the publisher, printer, print seller with frequent overlap between these three roles. 239 00:33:12,850 --> 00:33:18,040 The author of Sometimes Being Also The Artist and very often his own publisher. 240 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:27,790 Plus a fourth person, a different printer for any type setting that was needed in the 16th century. 241 00:33:27,790 --> 00:33:33,550 As long as wood blocks were used. Writing books were marketed essentially through printers. 242 00:33:33,550 --> 00:33:41,710 Publishers of books because they were the ones who had the printing presses as soon as copperplate engraving was adopted. 243 00:33:41,710 --> 00:33:44,520 Authors tended to become their own publishers. 244 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:52,960 A copperplate Pless press is clearly more affordable and easier to work at home and a printing press in sixteen hundred. 245 00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:59,660 We know that Jarda Bug Höss spent eight it to have one installed for him. 246 00:33:59,660 --> 00:34:03,850 The technical and economic independence thus acquired may have been part of 247 00:34:03,850 --> 00:34:09,610 the reason for the preference shown by writing Marsters for the new medium. 248 00:34:09,610 --> 00:34:17,410 Even when the author was self published after he died, the plates were often acquired by a print seller who would exploit them further, 249 00:34:17,410 --> 00:34:22,840 immediately inscribing his own imprint at the bottom of the title page. 250 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:28,660 And I have already mentioned the sale of the plates by Uma again to a publisher. 251 00:34:28,660 --> 00:34:34,480 The plates would then follow the same fate as the rest of that. Print sellers work prints at a stock. 252 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:45,630 Sorry was sometimes handed down with the family business or acquired by competitors for sometimes a century or more. 253 00:34:45,630 --> 00:34:56,970 There are fundamental differences between books and prints, letterpress books, when a better press book is out of print. 254 00:34:56,970 --> 00:35:06,600 It needs to be entirely reset before it is reprinted, whereas prints are kept as they are and can be reprinted as often as you like. 255 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:16,500 You can produce at least hundreds of copies, some say thousands, if the plates are used carefully enough. 256 00:35:16,500 --> 00:35:24,270 This is true both of wood woodblocks. We've seen the late impression of animals, wood blocks and of copper plates. 257 00:35:24,270 --> 00:35:33,010 The consequences of this are not always fully realised by bibliographies or booksellers making catalogues. 258 00:35:33,010 --> 00:35:45,590 The biography makes distinctions between. Editions, every time a book is reset, at least in large part issues where very little is reset, 259 00:35:45,590 --> 00:35:55,670 usually just the title page says to market an old book is something new and more subtly different states within editions or issues. 260 00:35:55,670 --> 00:36:02,810 Considering that in pre-industrial publishing, printing, every copy potentially has something different. 261 00:36:02,810 --> 00:36:10,340 Even a correction on a single word, prints practically are print on demand. 262 00:36:10,340 --> 00:36:18,470 In modern terms, if you have a press, it's no use keeping vast quantities of ready printed material inscribed. 263 00:36:18,470 --> 00:36:22,610 Date only informs us of the date of the first printing. 264 00:36:22,610 --> 00:36:25,390 But there is no chronological limit. 265 00:36:25,390 --> 00:36:33,230 A 100 year old plate could still be reprinted for a collector who were who walked into the shop and asked for a copy. 266 00:36:33,230 --> 00:36:41,630 When you have both type and plates in the same book, the pages of type are set all at once. 267 00:36:41,630 --> 00:36:51,680 And that is where the printer comes in and he provides the print seller with letter press pages. 268 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:58,880 When the author publisher runs out, he has them reprinted usually later. 269 00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:02,900 A print seller with large quantities of material to manage might be less careful 270 00:37:02,900 --> 00:37:07,580 and just continue selling the plates alone and drop the letter press apart. 271 00:37:07,580 --> 00:37:15,620 So the book, the writing book containing both plates and letter press is a Highbridge object, 272 00:37:15,620 --> 00:37:25,040 which is part the result of continuous production and part the result of discontinuous production over the generations. 273 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:31,520 These stocks of important print sellers absorbed thousands of plates from their predecessors. 274 00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:37,610 Miraculously, we have catalogues of available prints for some of the most important shops, 275 00:37:37,610 --> 00:37:51,050 such as those of Jubei in 1797 wrong in age, you know, three Bassett in 1822, plus the final sale of the plates of Rome in 1846. 276 00:37:51,050 --> 00:37:56,930 These lists contain dozens of references to writing books, some dating back over a century, 277 00:37:56,930 --> 00:38:02,770 including many titles of which no copies have yet to come to light. 278 00:38:02,770 --> 00:38:10,230 Over time, writing books were not only preserved and reprinted, but also modified accidentally or intentionally, 279 00:38:10,230 --> 00:38:16,390 with plates sometimes added or lost or eliminated, replaced with another. 280 00:38:16,390 --> 00:38:27,570 The plates could essentially become warned. Woodcuts cracked and lost fragments until they became unusable and thrown into the fire. 281 00:38:27,570 --> 00:38:41,670 Copper plates could, when they'd become too too worn, be reinforced with a burin or simply with acid. 282 00:38:41,670 --> 00:38:50,460 The title page was often changed with a new imprint. Imprint's could change up to three or four times in a century. 283 00:38:50,460 --> 00:39:01,500 Even names the names of writing masters could be changed either on the tape, on the title page or in single plates inside the book. 284 00:39:01,500 --> 00:39:06,240 Old plates were sometimes re attributed to a greater master to make them more saleable 285 00:39:06,240 --> 00:39:11,820 or to a younger master who was interested in having his own writing book published. 286 00:39:11,820 --> 00:39:15,870 But too lazy or incompetent to produce one. 287 00:39:15,870 --> 00:39:22,950 And so just recycles plates from an older book by a great master and slapped his name on it. 288 00:39:22,950 --> 00:39:28,340 This is a book that says hookey. 289 00:39:28,340 --> 00:39:34,360 Does it keep your home, etc. He sha Juden. 290 00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:42,460 In fact, everything in this book is not by Charlottes, by a Hocine, you're in the whole who are working two generations earlier. 291 00:39:42,460 --> 00:39:49,100 So it wasn't quite up to date either in style, but the style hadn't changed that much during the 18th century. 292 00:39:49,100 --> 00:39:59,110 So it was still something he could get away with. The marketing of writing books also happened in different forms. 293 00:39:59,110 --> 00:40:06,100 You could buy whole sets or sometimes subsets and different combinations of plates. 294 00:40:06,100 --> 00:40:16,720 The imprint is sometimes repeated on single plates, on specific plates that could be of interest to a customer even sold on their own, 295 00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:22,100 such as a plate on cutting your quill or full page alphabets. 296 00:40:22,100 --> 00:40:29,520 And so it's quite clear in these cases that people could just walk in and ask for an alphabet or or a plate of instructions. 297 00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:35,850 In a late 18th century print seller named Kippy is an interesting case. 298 00:40:35,850 --> 00:40:48,190 He created three variant sets for several titles, sets called ABC a being the full collection be set with fewer plates and see even more reduced. 299 00:40:48,190 --> 00:40:53,290 Different title pages were produced specifying the set you are buying and the price. 300 00:40:53,290 --> 00:40:56,230 That is what we also see on this same plate. 301 00:40:56,230 --> 00:41:10,290 You have be one at the top, so set to be plate one and the price at the bottom three pounds, three leever and twelve sukh twelve shillings. 302 00:41:10,290 --> 00:41:18,060 And so each plate within the book had numbers potentially in three corners. 303 00:41:18,060 --> 00:41:23,970 And so plate a plate number. A six might be also numbered. 304 00:41:23,970 --> 00:41:32,460 B four. And C, three being the fourth in the subset named B on Pippy's. 305 00:41:32,460 --> 00:41:37,710 Production was just generally mediocre in quality. But he certainly had a sense for business. 306 00:41:37,710 --> 00:41:42,690 And he was particularly unscrupulous with reac tribulations. As we see in this case. 307 00:41:42,690 --> 00:41:44,880 The chronology of publication is, of course, 308 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:52,530 the main bibliographical challenge and catalogues are often exceedingly vague or incorrect on printing dates, 309 00:41:52,530 --> 00:41:58,170 dates on title pages, not always present and not always reliable. 310 00:41:58,170 --> 00:42:06,930 The date 15 22 printed in Low Petina by Righi, has been the subject of much debate in the 16th century. 311 00:42:06,930 --> 00:42:18,950 Discrepancies between Title Page and Colla often sometimes appear, for example, in a more fifteen sixty six sixty seven. 312 00:42:18,950 --> 00:42:25,920 The title page says 66 and the coffin 67 because the title page was engraved earlier, 313 00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:31,230 probably towards the end of 15th 66 and the colour font later on. 314 00:42:31,230 --> 00:42:38,820 In some cases you have updates on the Beauchesne in the first printing book published in England in fifteen 315 00:42:38,820 --> 00:42:47,700 seventy has a date that was set in type within the title woodblock and then reset for new editions. 316 00:42:47,700 --> 00:42:57,630 But the last plate which you see here always says 15 70 and the Dominie Me Lezzy Moquin Jin Daisy Mosaic to add Jaisalmer. 317 00:42:57,630 --> 00:43:02,820 You see, for a long time, the first edition was believed to be 15 71. 318 00:43:02,820 --> 00:43:14,940 Despite this last plate, that was before three copies were identified with the date 15 70 actually in the title page. 319 00:43:14,940 --> 00:43:20,310 And the three known copies are actually from three different editions. 320 00:43:20,310 --> 00:43:26,610 So there were many reprint things of this book as soon as it was published. 321 00:43:26,610 --> 00:43:32,070 Here you see a title page with the date 50 and 70 here. 322 00:43:32,070 --> 00:43:43,230 And here is a title page. The two title pages here from the copy in the Bodleian one with the date fifteen eighty five, but with the same imprint. 323 00:43:43,230 --> 00:43:53,280 Compare this one to my 12 year before the plates were taken over by the Woodblocks were taken over by another publisher. 324 00:43:53,280 --> 00:44:00,480 And here in sixteen 02 you have the imprint of Richard Field where the original 325 00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:07,560 imprint that was part of the woodblock has been replaced by letterpress. 326 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:13,710 In many cases, dates occur only in the plates somewhere within the text. 327 00:44:13,710 --> 00:44:19,110 They are usually assumed to be close to the date of publication, but can sometimes span several years. 328 00:44:19,110 --> 00:44:29,880 You can have different dates in the same book, whether they correspond to the handwriting more probably to the original examples or to the engraving. 329 00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:33,780 In the late 18th and early 19th century, especially, 330 00:44:33,780 --> 00:44:42,270 many writing books end with examples of dated account sheets that are clearly used as a means of discreetly dating the book. 331 00:44:42,270 --> 00:44:46,320 This is at the last plate in the book and contains two dates eight, you know, six and eight. 332 00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:51,750 You know, seven is a vast number of books, have no dates at all. 333 00:44:51,750 --> 00:45:00,390 And this seems to be intentional as a way of making them always new, especially in the 18th and 19th century. 334 00:45:00,390 --> 00:45:06,510 And so in those cases especially, we need to turn to other sources of information. 335 00:45:06,510 --> 00:45:14,940 In many cases, we have we are able to find data about the authors, the engravers, the occasional deadly katee, 336 00:45:14,940 --> 00:45:23,340 essentially data that helps date the original publication but doesn't tell you much about subsequent printings. 337 00:45:23,340 --> 00:45:32,580 In that case, you need to turn to information about the print sellers, the print sellers, together with the death dates of authors, 338 00:45:32,580 --> 00:45:41,580 which is usually the moment when the plates are passed on from the author's family to to a print seller. 339 00:45:41,580 --> 00:45:46,950 For authors, which number? Almost 100 in my catalogue. 340 00:45:46,950 --> 00:45:56,950 Until now, we essentially had. A few sources, the Register of Parisian Masters from 15, 70 to 1774. 341 00:45:56,950 --> 00:46:06,070 In the late copy, some biographical notes published in the 18th century by Charlotte Basle, a leading writing master himself, 342 00:46:06,070 --> 00:46:14,810 but nothing like the information we have on English masters, thanks to William Massie's Origin and Progress of Letters 1763. 343 00:46:14,810 --> 00:46:27,400 And most importantly, we have a 19th century compilation of data cold by a collectors on Pierre Bouchard from the books themselves. 344 00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:39,250 I have searched for further information in archives, almanacs, commercial address, books, etc. with, I must say, and hoped for results. 345 00:46:39,250 --> 00:46:47,940 And a student of mine, Celia Korban, has also done important archival research, specifically on 17th century masters. 346 00:46:47,940 --> 00:46:55,860 For some 200 engravers, to wit, who often were no more than just a last name. 347 00:46:55,860 --> 00:47:03,000 I have been able to ascertain at least first names except for three that still escapement and plenty of dates. 348 00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:10,200 So that has helped a lot to refine the dating of many of these books. 349 00:47:10,200 --> 00:47:15,270 Daddy Ts are few and their names generally shine in the dark. 350 00:47:15,270 --> 00:47:20,710 Relatively to identify, but some have been more elusive, such as Budweiser, 351 00:47:20,710 --> 00:47:28,560 Miller and look who received the early Monday Kittu of Pure Hindoo in eighteen eleven. 352 00:47:28,560 --> 00:47:36,150 She is now happily identified. I'm happy to say, as to her very obscure teacher and admirer. 353 00:47:36,150 --> 00:47:38,740 I know this young man. 354 00:47:38,740 --> 00:47:47,370 I was able to track him down, essentially thanks to the advertisements for calligraphy lessons that he published in various newspapers of Genoa, 355 00:47:47,370 --> 00:47:51,630 Milan and Venice in the early 80s. Eighteen tens. 356 00:47:51,630 --> 00:47:57,110 Just like a mediaeval itinerant writing master. 357 00:47:57,110 --> 00:48:07,400 As the subsequent printings, information on authors and print sellers lives needs to be complemented mainly by the material examination, 358 00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:17,690 of course, of the paper itself and especially watermarks. There is nothing new here at first sight compared to the study of other books, 359 00:48:17,690 --> 00:48:26,780 except that the watermarks of writing books can tell us whether all copies were actually printed together or over a period of time. 360 00:48:26,780 --> 00:48:32,990 In many cases, there is more than what one watermark in a volume which has raised suspicions of 361 00:48:32,990 --> 00:48:39,590 hybrid copies put together maybe by later collectors from several imperfect copies. 362 00:48:39,590 --> 00:48:45,800 That does happen, of course. The different copies can also share the same combination of watermarks. 363 00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:53,550 So that is how they must have been originally. If the leaves were not printed and put together immediately as volumes, 364 00:48:53,550 --> 00:49:01,070 and especially if anyone could walk in and buy single leaves so that some stacks ran out before others, 365 00:49:01,070 --> 00:49:11,150 they printshop would naturally have had stacks of leads printed on paper from different stock that were then assembled as volumes. 366 00:49:11,150 --> 00:49:21,830 Finally, during the revolution and the first empire, very rapid changes of all sorts in the social context offer plenty of clues to dates. 367 00:49:21,830 --> 00:49:30,490 Within a couple of years, changes in addresses. There were two different systems for Paris street numbers during the revolution, 368 00:49:30,490 --> 00:49:34,610 or one during the revolution, and one the beginning of the first empire. 369 00:49:34,610 --> 00:49:45,780 Changes in the names of institutions or societies mentioned on title pages as affiliations of the authors who were often professors in Parisian, 370 00:49:45,780 --> 00:49:55,670 Lissie's and the choice of texts. When you have declared strongly the other limb, you know more or less where you are in time. 371 00:49:55,670 --> 00:50:04,040 The occasional dedications to Bonaparte or Napoleon or just the political tone have examples. 372 00:50:04,040 --> 00:50:12,920 Military or police documents under Napoleon, praise for good King Henry, the 4th after 1815 and so on. 373 00:50:12,920 --> 00:50:24,280 Particularly telling is the suppression of any reference to the monarchy after 1792, including censorship enforced on pre-existing plates. 374 00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:30,230 An exciting find based on that parameter is an item I acquired recently after reading. 375 00:50:30,230 --> 00:50:33,590 It's rather perplexing description in a catalogue. 376 00:50:33,590 --> 00:50:44,420 It is actually a copy of the most important late 17th century writing book Laugh Dickey Paris 16 80 by John Batiste Ali, 377 00:50:44,420 --> 00:50:49,460 of which you see an example of the first edition here. 378 00:50:49,460 --> 00:50:57,190 John Batiste, Ali, as you see, made to. But to look where your defrosts this is the abbreviation for. 379 00:50:57,190 --> 00:51:04,930 Please believe me. This unique item has the one I have acquired. 380 00:51:04,930 --> 00:51:10,210 It has met, but like hyperbolic defaults, which came as a surprise. 381 00:51:10,210 --> 00:51:18,460 This unique item proves that the book was still being reprinted some 120 years later. 382 00:51:18,460 --> 00:51:24,040 There is no imprint in the copperplate has been cut. The low part has been removed. 383 00:51:24,040 --> 00:51:28,660 But sure enough, the plates appear in the 1797 catalogue of Zubair. 384 00:51:28,660 --> 00:51:34,650 So he was responsible for the publication. 385 00:51:34,650 --> 00:51:42,210 Just a couple of particularly messy cases, sort of straight, but I've said before in more theoretical terms, 386 00:51:42,210 --> 00:51:52,440 reconstructed from multiple copies in sixteen forty seven, Louis Barbados obtained a privilege for writing book larger than any before. 387 00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:56,990 It's a imply no double folia Lisicki Yoffie last year. 388 00:51:56,990 --> 00:52:10,170 Dalyan best Dhanda etc. engraving. It took some time to be called Who was in Charge and it was first published. 389 00:52:10,170 --> 00:52:17,970 It seems in sixteen forty nine. In the following years, Barbados inserted a few plates from a smaller book of his lip. 390 00:52:17,970 --> 00:52:27,810 Dickie two. Then in sixteen fifty five he added a lengthy introduction with a letter press titled Page Titti de la Dickie, 391 00:52:27,810 --> 00:52:33,300 which is what you see here that was sold either separately from the plates or together. 392 00:52:33,300 --> 00:52:37,530 Presumably if you already had the plates from previous printing, you could buy this alone. 393 00:52:37,530 --> 00:52:44,970 The title page of the whole wants band together could be either Lasic Two or twenty, 394 00:52:44,970 --> 00:52:50,110 and they appear under both titles and catalogues in sixteen fifty seven. 395 00:52:50,110 --> 00:52:56,040 Barbados had a provisional page added with his latest Royal Privilege page containing only the privilege. 396 00:52:56,040 --> 00:53:04,230 Then he removed that and had the last page of the treaty reset instead as a way of replacing the original privilege, 397 00:53:04,230 --> 00:53:08,670 which was still in that sixteen forty seven with the new one. 398 00:53:08,670 --> 00:53:19,290 Then he ran out of copies of the treaty, but continued printing the plates for some time, I believe, without even bothering to reset the title page. 399 00:53:19,290 --> 00:53:29,610 It is a key to then he ran out of dedication plates, dedication pages sorry that oppressed, which he did not reprint since the deadly Katee had died. 400 00:53:29,610 --> 00:53:38,130 In the meantime, anyway, and then he too died. The remaining copies were issued were reissued by a prominent print seller. 401 00:53:38,130 --> 00:53:47,490 Nikola Long grew up with the title page and preface reset in his own name with the publicity at the end of the preface. 402 00:53:47,490 --> 00:53:58,560 After a long Lloyd died, Pierre Dovi, another Princella reissued his remaining copies Just pay pasting his own name on top of long drawers 403 00:53:58,560 --> 00:54:08,440 before resetting the title and preface one more time in some copies that label label with the name. 404 00:54:08,440 --> 00:54:14,430 Delivery is now gone, but traces of it remain on top of Niccola long. 405 00:54:14,430 --> 00:54:19,260 And that is what you see here in the Bodleian copy of that book. 406 00:54:19,260 --> 00:54:30,060 The letter press titled changed slightly every time it was reset, becoming more modern in spelling and style and slightly condensed, 407 00:54:30,060 --> 00:54:35,700 but always undated, except in sixteen forty nine and sixteen fifty nine. 408 00:54:35,700 --> 00:54:45,870 The smaller plates were printed either one or two per leaf, constantly changing the total number of leaves for the same number of plates. 409 00:54:45,870 --> 00:54:53,370 As a result, the bibliography of one of the most famous writing books of the 17th century is in a state of chaos. 410 00:54:53,370 --> 00:55:01,050 Copies are usually described by comparison with a convenient mid 20th century facsimile of a copy that is kept at our how. 411 00:55:01,050 --> 00:55:08,640 In Switzerland, the facsimile gives the publication date as sixteen forty seven based on the privilege. 412 00:55:08,640 --> 00:55:13,210 But as I have said, this is the date of no documented edition. 413 00:55:13,210 --> 00:55:20,860 The copy reproduced in this facsimile is actually of the last state, but one with the name Piaffe Dovi pasted on top of Niccolò. 414 00:55:20,860 --> 00:55:25,650 A long line like this one, a state that is datable to seventeen oh seven. 415 00:55:25,650 --> 00:55:33,210 So 60 years later than the date that is indicated by the facsimile. 416 00:55:33,210 --> 00:55:37,890 In addition, the AHA copy has the smaller plates printed to to leave. 417 00:55:37,890 --> 00:55:40,470 But the assembly was produced. 418 00:55:40,470 --> 00:55:50,790 Separating those plates to make them look nicer one on each leaf so that no indication of how many plates are missing in any given copy. 419 00:55:50,790 --> 00:55:55,080 By comparison with the fixed, amedee can be correct. 420 00:55:55,080 --> 00:56:03,660 Based on most of the approximately 50 located copies, it is now possible to distinguish some 15 different editions, 421 00:56:03,660 --> 00:56:13,590 issues and states of this book and to date them pretty firmly, often within a few years, over a period that covers eight decades and even more. 422 00:56:13,590 --> 00:56:21,660 Complex case, possibly, as that of the nouveau past predicted to published in 1731 by Sebastiao Weli that 423 00:56:21,660 --> 00:56:28,380 eventually became combined with his 1764 Fidele that the blued allowed the clear. 424 00:56:28,380 --> 00:56:33,690 I prefer not to try and explain this one in detail or we would be here all night. 425 00:56:33,690 --> 00:56:39,990 Suffice. To say that throughout the transmogrification, as of that book over four decades, 426 00:56:39,990 --> 00:56:44,670 it retained the same title page, the one you see here with the date 1731. 427 00:56:44,670 --> 00:56:49,260 So never believe those dates on title pages, 428 00:56:49,260 --> 00:56:58,710 which says that either they had made a vast provision of title pages to begin with or his book sold very slowly. 429 00:56:58,710 --> 00:57:09,210 The second interesting feature in a while is Works is the portrait that appears in the Fidelity Blue from 1767, the year in which he died. 430 00:57:09,210 --> 00:57:18,720 This must have been the publisher's mistake. The portrait does not actually show the author, but his son or no. 431 00:57:18,720 --> 00:57:30,970 Sebastiao is also a calligrapher, and because of that portrait, there has been much confusion ever since between the father and the son. 432 00:57:30,970 --> 00:57:37,510 Lastly, another leading master of the 18th century, Höss, one equal IBG. 433 00:57:37,510 --> 00:57:42,760 In 1770, he first published his demand that the key to your mother. 434 00:57:42,760 --> 00:57:48,220 In 23 plates, 23 leaves some 25 years later. 435 00:57:48,220 --> 00:57:58,060 He started reprinting the same plates under the title Look Hot Off the Cliff, together with a few works by other famous masters. 436 00:57:58,060 --> 00:58:06,880 The total being thirty plates this time, then even replaced his own signature in three plates with those of Hocine Yolanda Wullie, 437 00:58:06,880 --> 00:58:12,160 two masters whom he worshipped so passing off his own work as theirs. 438 00:58:12,160 --> 00:58:16,480 The plates were completely reordered and renumbered for the new book. 439 00:58:16,480 --> 00:58:25,960 Yet at the same time, he continued publishing the original twenty three plates under the original title and in the original order. 440 00:58:25,960 --> 00:58:33,700 So that later copies of Liz actually more published after the Gonta, which only two are known in American collections, 441 00:58:33,700 --> 00:58:41,320 are catalogued as jumbled and lacking seven leaves when in fact they are absolutely perfect. 442 00:58:41,320 --> 00:58:48,130 Once the books had left the print shop, observable traces of their existence, 443 00:58:48,130 --> 00:58:54,400 such as X, Libras or bindings are not very different from those of any other book. 444 00:58:54,400 --> 00:59:00,040 An X library sometimes tell us they belonged to a child or to a writing master bindings. 445 00:59:00,040 --> 00:59:04,120 Tell us how carefully or how carelessly they were kept. 446 00:59:04,120 --> 00:59:12,670 Ink stains tell us that they were used. But relatively few copies actually contain writing exercises. 447 00:59:12,670 --> 00:59:18,390 The transmission of all those books. 448 00:59:18,390 --> 00:59:30,320 The way in which they were handed down to us rests in large part on a small number of private collectors whose names should be remembered. 449 00:59:30,320 --> 00:59:35,160 The first such collector was Michelle de Mahola, who was a print collector in general. 450 00:59:35,160 --> 00:59:45,240 Died 16 81 after having collected 120000 prints which were required for the Royal Library and 16 67 and 451 00:59:45,240 --> 00:59:51,660 were the first brick in what is now the Department of Prints of the Bibliotheque National Divorce. 452 00:59:51,660 --> 00:59:55,890 And he then went on to put together a second collection. 453 00:59:55,890 --> 01:00:06,640 This is one spread from the large volumes assembled by the muckle in which you see the pages of a Libra. 454 01:00:06,640 --> 01:00:13,680 Remember the stability, not all cut up and pasted onto these large sheets of paper, 455 01:00:13,680 --> 01:00:18,420 large pages, which is which can be a problem when you're interested in watermarks. 456 01:00:18,420 --> 01:00:27,090 You can't see through them. The same method was used by famous English collector Samuel Peeps, famous for other reasons. 457 01:00:27,090 --> 01:00:32,760 Also died, 70 No3 said You're not allowed to photograph any books in the library. 458 01:00:32,760 --> 01:00:39,930 Here's a nice picture of the building itself, which, as you all know, is maudlin. 459 01:00:39,930 --> 01:00:48,570 Cambridge in the 18th century. We have probably many collectors, both of manuscripts and of printed writing books. 460 01:00:48,570 --> 01:00:50,460 Difficult to trace. 461 01:00:50,460 --> 01:01:02,070 Mainly, it seems, writing masters themselves, which raises the question concerning the very latest printings of older writing books. 462 01:01:02,070 --> 01:01:08,370 Were they reprinted for collectors rather than for people who wanted who needed instruction in handwriting? 463 01:01:08,370 --> 01:01:16,290 That is, I think, very plausible. Later, collectors. 464 01:01:16,290 --> 01:01:22,800 Later, collectors included important writing masters of the 18th century calligraphy, 465 01:01:22,800 --> 01:01:30,000 teachers of the 19th century and many private collectors of the 20th century, 466 01:01:30,000 --> 01:01:42,240 notably American, and most of these collections have ended up in private in public libraries where they are now the main resource. 467 01:01:42,240 --> 01:01:50,140 We have to study the whole field of early modern calligraphy. 468 01:01:50,140 --> 01:01:58,190 The total corpus, just to give you an idea of the extent of the catalogue. 469 01:01:58,190 --> 01:02:01,970 Numbers, approximately 600 titles. 470 01:02:01,970 --> 01:02:09,210 That is six hundred different French writing books up to 1815. 471 01:02:09,210 --> 01:02:16,450 12 hundred editions, issues or various states, meaning an average two for each title. 472 01:02:16,450 --> 01:02:24,160 Three hundred and two thousand copies either currently located or described in former collections, 473 01:02:24,160 --> 01:02:28,540 including 100, 100 titles, more or less mentioned in the past. 474 01:02:28,540 --> 01:02:33,040 Essentially in print sellers catalogues, but with no physical copies ever mentioned. 475 01:02:33,040 --> 01:02:41,320 After that, the survival rate based on those figures is an average of less than four. 476 01:02:41,320 --> 01:02:45,880 Less than three sorry copies per edition issue or state. 477 01:02:45,880 --> 01:02:50,830 The maximum for one title is around 50 copies for a look at year. 478 01:02:50,830 --> 01:03:00,070 And for Barbados. Notably this being also a consequence of the size and thickness of these books. 479 01:03:00,070 --> 01:03:03,460 That meant they were more often bound of many books. 480 01:03:03,460 --> 01:03:16,650 We have only one or two copies and statistically. By way of consequence, many more must have disappeared entirely without ever being mentioned. 481 01:03:16,650 --> 01:03:26,940 So the only way of sorting out dates and states is a copy by copy plate by plate comparison, together with a survey of watermarks. 482 01:03:26,940 --> 01:03:35,130 Few catalogues have been produced using that method as systematically as I think it should be. 483 01:03:35,130 --> 01:03:41,010 The exemplary catalogue of the Hoefer collection by David Becker does not mention all that information, 484 01:03:41,010 --> 01:03:48,450 but is based on notes by David Becker that do bindings and provenance are an important 485 01:03:48,450 --> 01:03:55,110 aspect that help piece together older collections when there are no other traces, 486 01:03:55,110 --> 01:03:57,270 no Libras in particular. 487 01:03:57,270 --> 01:04:08,210 Part of the game is deciding whether to or more whether to more or less similar descriptions in two catalogues are actually maybe of the same copy. 488 01:04:08,210 --> 01:04:14,760 And I have made some 900 such identifications deciding that two descriptions fit the same book. 489 01:04:14,760 --> 01:04:22,530 In some cases, multiple descriptions of a rare book over a century or more all boil down to a single copy. 490 01:04:22,530 --> 01:04:33,300 So it is not only about the provenance of known items, but about understanding how many have survived and how many had not yet located. 491 01:04:33,300 --> 01:04:37,650 Still, maybe you have a chance of reappearing and worth looking out for. 492 01:04:37,650 --> 01:04:46,920 Without that tedious part of the work, I would have some 4000 copies listed instead of 3000. 493 01:04:46,920 --> 01:04:50,490 Just as a final note, we plan to have the catalogue online, 494 01:04:50,490 --> 01:04:56,490 possibly by the end of next year in the form of a detailed database and a reduced version is 495 01:04:56,490 --> 01:05:06,600 short title catalogue should be printed as part of an exhibition catalogue for a show to be held. 496 01:05:06,600 --> 01:05:13,230 At the end of next year into bigger ticket Mazzarino. That was all for today. 497 01:05:13,230 --> 01:05:16,800 Thank you for listening. And see you again next Tuesday. 498 01:05:16,800 --> 01:05:19,657 Thank you.