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HISTORY OF PRINTING.
copy of its elder brotheT the Mentz Donatut, of wnich scarcely a fragment, a ci git, remains to bless the eyes and empty the pockets of the curious and keen collector?"
The viceroy's volume was speedily followed by others in tolerable succession; but these are almost wholly unknown to gratify the taste of the curious in such matters.
1550. Simon Colinsus, or De Counes, in- dependently of his preeminence as an early typographer, is entitled to our notice on account of his affinity to the family of the Stephenses. La Caille and. Peignotsay, thathe first practised the art of printing at Meaux, and executed there an impression of Jocobi Fabri Commen- taria in quartuor Evangelia, 1521, in folio ; and that in the same year he also printed at Paris a work in folio. Having mamed the widow of Henry Stephens, he continued to send forth various impressions of more or less importance from the same office, probably till the year 1524. But in the course or that year it appears he changed his establishment ; and according to Panzer, his new office was distinguished by the sign of the Golden Sun. Colines went far be- yond his predecessor (Henry Stephens) to estab- lish his claim to the character of a learned printer ; for though he necessarily rendered his press subservient to the literature of the times, and consequently gave birth to various works which are now consigned to oblivion ; yet when left to the exercise of his own choice, he evinced a degree of taste and judgment, strikingly supe- rior to those of his cotemporaries. His very numerous impressions of the best Latin classics, and the equal novel and surprising beauty of their execution, are decisive proofs of such supe- riority. They are generally executed on a uni- form and convenient plan ; the gi'eater part of an octavo form ; yet all with regard to type and arrangement, so legible, and so agreeable to the eye, that scholars of any age may peruse them with pleasure. By such services, this judicious
Srinter evidently contributed in a most important eg^ree to the advantage of the university of Paris ; and gave an example to Robert Stephens in particular, which must have had a powerful in- fluence in forming the taste of that young and afterwards eminently distinguished typographer, and in awakening the zeal which he so remark- ably evinced for the dissemination of classical literature. Simon de Colines appears to have f^ven to France the first example of the use of italic type. He procured for himself a species of italic, larger, bolder, and fullerthan that of Aldus Manutius, and used it solely in many of his im- pressions; namely, in several Latin prose works, and in all the Latin poets printed by him, (his Virgiliut of 1626 excepted, which isroman type) also in the few works which he gave in nis native tongue. Maittaire doubts whether Colines used the italic type before Uie year 1528 ; and prefers the characters of Colines to those of Aldus Manutius: observing, however, that he some- times employed an itiuic of an inferiordescription. In the eyes of all admirers of early typography.
are the beautiful and rare impressions of Colines in the Greek character ; which in no less than the roman, he has left convincing evidences of that original and enterprising genius, which prompted him as an artist to aim at a d^ree of excellence, before entirely unknown in France. Bibliographers have been long accustomed to limit the number of Colines's Greek impressions to five distinct works only ; but, says Mr. Gres- well, the number may be extended to no less than fourteen, including his repeated editions of Euclid, and several books of a grammatical des- cription. Of the beauty and fine proportion of these Greek impressions, an adequate idea can be formed only from the inspection of copies which have been well preserved, and have escaped the too frequent mutilations of the binder's knife ; which remark may with equal propriety be ap- plied to the impressions of other early artists. The press of Colines was much occupied by works relating to the Lutheran controversy, which in his time excited great commotions m the university of Paris. Being a Hbraire jure he was employed to print the iecreta or acts of the Sorbonne. Maittaire distinguishes several folio impressions of Colines, as highly magnifi- cent; and also commends the taste which he displayed in decorating his impressions with ap- propriate engravings ; in the titles especially.
The most frequent imigne or mark used by Colines, was the bold fig^ureof Time, with whicd many of his impressions are decorated. Mait- taire thinks that he borrowed this insigne from a cotemporary printer, Regnaud Chaudiere, whose family certainly used a similar mark and motto ; but perhaps they may rather be said to have inherited it ftom Simon de Colines. These printers were in some instances professionally connected. Regnaud Chaudiere moreover re- ceived in marriage the daughter and only child of Colines : Claude Chaudiere, the issue of that marriage, exercised the same profession and be- came his heir ; and, he had, says la Caille, for his mark, the figure of Time, with this motto, Virtut tola aciem retundit islam. Colinee may be presumed to have printed no less than five hundred distinct editions. The last mentioned by Maittaire is Nov. Tettamentum Latina,form. min. 1550. apud haredes Simonit Colituei.
The following are brief notices of some of the early Parisian Greek printers who flourished about this period : —
Pierre Vidouve of Vemeuil. This early Parisian Greek typographer was considered as a person of learning and eminence. He executed lor Gilles de Gourmont a singularly curious im- pression of Aristophanes, in the year 1528 ; and in 1638, he executed for Jean Petit and Denis Lecuyer, the work of Guillaume Postel, intitled Linguarum XII. eharacterihus diffenntium M- phabetum. Sec. La Caille says, " this was the first book printed in oriental character ; which, how- ever, says Mr. Greswell, as far as relates to the Hebrew, is an incorrect assertion. The mark of Pierre VidouvA was a figure of Fortune ; with the words, Par rit fortuna labori.
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