Of Time, Space & Title Pages
The title page’s developments, trends and the International market before 1700.
Contents
Page
Introduction 3
Books, trade and politics – a background 4
Literature 8
Research methods 12
The study
The first title pages 14
Title pages in their infancy 15
The title page gains merit 16
The increase of information - 1500 17
Decoration and aesthetics 19
Creating a title page culture 21
The turn of the century 24
The start of a new century - 1600 26
The fragmentation of cultures 29
Authors and translators 31
The closure of the 17th century - 1700 32
Conclusion 34
Figures 35
Research criteria 54
Of Time, Space and Title Pages
“The first three pages of a book represent an announcement for what is to come. the title page will always be on the third page. It must have at least the title of the book, and the names of the author and the publisher. Additional matter may include a sub-title, a printer’s logo or a graphic image.”1
That is what a 21st century typographical handbook has to say about the title page. The modern title page is a carefully constructed part of a book which is created along strict guidelines. Students of typography are instructed to uphold these rules because the title page is a fixed introduction to the text a book contains. The early printed book, or incunabula, did not have a title page. Early printers used their presses to create printed books instead of handwritten ones and thus tried to make them identical to the expected design of handwritten books. Manuscripts did not have title pages, so the incunabula did not either. After the first title pages had spread throughout Europe, their design did not remain static. Printers created their own designs without such static rules like today. This thesis examined the developments of title page design from the moment they were invented to the start of the 18th century. It’s main question is: do title pages show trends in their development before 1700 and does this have an effect on the international book market and production?
Before delving into the research itself, a framework is created in which’s light the title pages
themselves and their developments can be seen. Economic, political and international events will be examined from the 250 years the research spans. Added to this is the literature review which
examines the research done before on the history of the book and the title page. Finally the research itself is explained and it’s results are displayed in a chronological order.
1 Michael Mitchell and Susan Wightman, Book Typography: a Designer’s Manual, (Marlborough, Libanus Press, 2005), p. 164.
Books, trade and politics – a background
16th century commerce was conducted mainly over water. Without the road system modern day Europe possesses, cargo was transported along the waterways of Europe. While overland routes were used as well, waterways made transporting goods easier, safer and quicker. Traders could navigate a river with one ship full of cargo in relative safety; waterways were so important for defence, trade and controlling a territory that they were well maintained and protected. Land routes on the other hand had far more trouble with highwaymen and trading parties often used wagons or donkeys which were much slower than a barge on an unpaved ground. The German market was connected to the west of Europe through the Rhine and over this route it traded with the Low Countries, France and England.
In Germany itself there were many small towns which possessed a printing press and besides selling locally, most large traders used the book fairs that were held all over Germany to obtain and sell their books. While foreign cities like Paris and Antwerp possessed a far larger amount of printers and produced much more than any of the German printing cities, the book fairs in Germany had the same role as a focal point like the large cities abroad and traders could flock there to do business.2 To the large book fair of Frankfurt for instance came dealers from all over Europe which a list of a
contemporary testifies:
“…auss Hispanien, Auss Lothringen, Italien, Auss Niderlanden, und Frankreich, Auss Sophoy und Polen dessgleich: aus Brabant, Auss Hungarn und Engeland“3
The main trading centres of Northern Europe however, were the cities of Antwerp and Cologne. These cities were large trading cities on the crossroads of trade routes and countries. They were also large consumer cities themselves having large trade communities which were literate and universities to sell Latin books to.4
It all started however with the creation of the first printed book. Gutenberg did not invent printing, his main invention was the movable type that could be set in a way to create the page when combined with the printing press. After a page was produced, the letters could be taken out of the frame and re-used, producing another page. This combination of a press, which had already existed for the production of other products, and individual letters was what created the new stage in book production. During the middle ages book production was mainly a monastic affair. A few writers operated in the city and created works for the rich population of Europe while the monasteries focussed on liturgical material used during worship or other church affairs. After the invention of the printing press, some monasteries tried to start their own presses to supply themselves and nearby religious institutes with theological books. However, eventually it seemed more logical and much easier to order the necessary works with the local printer.5 With the supplies he had for his business and the necessary skill, he could produce books faster, cheaper and with more accuracy.
2 John D. Fudge, Commerce and Print in the Early Reformation, (Leiden, Brill, 2007), p. 27-8.
3 James Westfall Thompson, The Frankfort Book Fair, (Chicago, 1911, reprint: New York, Burt Franklin, 1968), p. 79.
4 Ibid. p. 31-2.
5 Falk Eisermann, ‘A Golden Age? Monastic Printing Houses in the Fifteenth Century’, pp. 37-68 in Benito Rial Costas ed., Print Culture and Peripheries in Early Modern Europe, (Leiden, Brill, 2013), p. 66.
This study examines the four cities of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Paris and Venice. While they are now in four different, well defined countries, much happened during the 250 years this study spans
regarding politics and economy. These will be looked at shortly to establish some background.
France
The French book market obtained stability quickly. By the mid-16th century printer migration had become rare while half a century before printers had more in common with migratory birds. The book trade hade developed into a stable market where printers could operate in stability and comfort. This state existed not only in the large cities, but also in the provinces.6 During the late 16th century however, the French Wars of Religion destroyed some cities and caused much panic. France’s economy was greatly upset by these events, including the book trade. The two main printing cities of France; Paris and Lyon, played a large role in the religious fighting because of their mainly Catholic population and many printers were economically ruined or displaced.7 Not only the physical fighting had an impact on the French printers, many used their printers to print material to support their side. Rulers also used the printing presses to aid them in their fighting, not necessarily to the delight of the printer in question. Printer Louis Rabier for instance was offered a printing workshop if he moved to Montauban. The king of Navarre quickly seized on the printer and pressed him to print his tracts. The king himself was very involved with the printing and personally made suggestions regarding the output.8 After the wars stability returned to the French market. During the 17th century the now independent Dutch Republic gained peace and stability. The economic prosperity there influenced the French book trade and the production of religious works in the Southern Netherlands was a way for French traders to circumvent the strict French censorship.9 The great surge in economic ventures in the Netherlands did not pose a large competition for printers in France, but it did affect its southern neighbour in terms of book design.
Italy
Italy is the country where printing took off. The new books were taken up by the humanists who used them to spread their ideas in a new and more accessible way. Early printers during the mobility years of printing often moved to Italy to practice their trade. Printers experimented with the possibilities of their presses: the output and capabilities, although it often lead to bankruptcy and migration. Venice was the epicentre of this new printing trade but new print shops sprang up all over Italy during the 15th century to supply the country with books. The leading surge of Italy in the book trade lasted until about 1515, from then on the Italian book did not change much in typography.10 Venice had a name for quality, but in the early 16th century they were matched in that regard by Paris which regained stability after the French Religious Wars. Venice’s output during the 15th century had surpassed that of all other cities in Europe. The city’s production was so large that their books reached every corner of Europe and between 1469 and 1500 there operated the staggering amount of 233 printers at
6 Malcolm Walsby, ‘Printer Mobility in Sixteenth-Century France’, pp. 249-270 in Benito Rial Costas ed., Print
Culture and Peripheries in Early Modern Europe, (Leiden, Brill, 2013), p. 249.
7 Ibid., p. 253. 8 Ibid., p. 258-9.
9 Henri-Jean Martin and Roger Chartier eds., Histoire de l’édition française, Tome I: le livre conquérant, (Paris, Promodis, 1982), p. 400.
10 Alfred Forbes Johnson, Die Buchdruckerkunst Italiens im Sechzehnten Jahrhundert, (Hellerau, Demeter-Verlag, 1928), p. 9.
various times.11 The early 16th century however resulted in chaos for Italy. Unlike modern Italy, the country was not a single entity and consisted of various city states. During the first three decades of the 16th century there were multiple invasions of France and Venice itself lost a war against the League of Cambrai.12 Rome was sacked in 1527 and the Italian economy in general took some heavy hits. The position Venice had occupied in the European book market during the 15th century was something it lost and never regained. The Venetian book however kept its character and even though it followed the continental trends the Venetian book continued to be easily identifiable during the next centuries.
Belgium
The modern division of Belgium and the Netherlands was not as definite in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries as it is now. To say that the division is wholly artificial however is not true either. During the middle ages the Northern and Southern Netherlands did have cultural differences and there
definitely existed language variations that would surprise the modern Dutch speaker, but the real break came in the form of the Dutch Revolt. The Revolt had as direct result that many printers moved from Antwerp,, the main printing city in the South, to Amsterdam, capital of the North, and until the 1570s not a large printing city. The fighting around Antwerp as well as religious aspects prompted many printers to try their luck north, but the real push factor came when Antwerp was destroyed by the Spanish army in 1585. Printers moved north en masse to avoid any further danger and because many did not have much left. During the earlier 16th century Antwerp had developed into the richest trading city of Northern Europe and the book industry flourished. Influenced mainly by the Italian book producers instead of those from Germany, Antwerp’s book trade benefitted from the nearby university as much as Venice had done in Italy.13 The religious war that started during the 16th century was initially a positive development for the book trade since it was mainly fought with pamphlets and tracts which brought large orders to the printers of Antwerp. The war however destroyed most of the trade in the Southern Netherlands and Antwerp’s leading trade position was never recovered. The typographical developments that had occurred before the city’s fall were brought north and mixed there with the local features of the Northern Dutch book creating a book culture that was a blend of features from all over the Dutch Republic.14
The Netherlands
The book trade in the Northern Netherlands had a slow start. The country was on the periphery during the 15th century and although the first printing press settled in Utrecht the same year that one was established in modern Belgium, the lack of a large economic centre halted the trade’s expansion. Not until the provinces of the Northern Netherlands decided to break away from Spain did the economy and the book production in particular pick up. The influx of tradesmen from Antwerp, the large trading city of the North, and the city’s demise made it possible for Amsterdam to grow and establish its dominance. The growth of the Northern Netherlands as an area of trade and
independent traders not only increased the area’s accessibility and status, it also increased the population’s literacy. Traders had to have a rudimentary knowledge of arithmetic’s and the ability to
11 Andrew Pettegree, The Book in the Rennaissance, (Yale University Press, London, 2010), p. 66. 12 Ibid.
13 J.G.C.A. Briels, Zuidnederlandse boekdrukkers en boekverkopers in de Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden
omstreeks 1570-1630, (Nieuwkoop, B. de Graaf, 1974), p. 3.
read to maintain their business and to buy and sell. How large this increase in literacy was is uncertain, but it did have an effect on the local book production which in turn influenced the entire book production of the Netherlands. Until the fall of Antwerp, the book production in the Northern Netherlands remained scattered and production was generally small scale.15 After the fall of Antwerp the city’s output reduced to 25% of that of the Low Countries and many of its printers moved to Rotterdam, Delft, Leiden and mainly Amsterdam.16 The international trade of which Amsterdam was the focal point during the late 16th and 17th century also included books. Not only did the printers of Amsterdam print Latin books for international sales, but books were also printed in Greek, Hebrew, French, German, English, Spanish, Italian, Scandinavian, Russian, Hungarian and Aramaic.17
15 Pettegree, the Book in the Renaissance, p. 122. 16 Ibid., p. 218.
17 P.G. Hoftijzer and O.S. Lankhorst, Drukkers, boekverkopers en lezers in de Republiek; een historiografisch en
The Literature
The study of the history of het book is a study that ranks among the oldest of scholarly disciplines that are around today. Early observers were mainly collectors however and approached the book’s history from their own angle. The modern discipline of book history has its foundation in the 19th century when for the first time the history of books became systematically researched. Book history is generally studied in one of two methods: the book in the context of society, and the history of the individual parts of the book. When the book is studied as a part of society, the book is looked at as a single item and not a composition of features that make up a book. Mostly it is studied what impact the book had on society throughout history and how books were used to incite change or convey ideas. The history of the book’s components has a more traditional and older background. The old collectors liked to know what kind of binding, paper or type a book used so that they could place it in categories and estimate its value. This led to an earlier insight in the history of the components of the book than the history of the book as a unit.
This study’s subject; title pages, has not been studied to a large extend and even that is an overstatement. Unlike other elements like a book’s binding, paper, ink or printer’s marks, the title page has not been an old field of study within that of the book. A large explanation for that is that title pages did not have to convey the truth per se, and this made collectors look at other means of valuing their ware.
The first scholarly study of the title page by itself was initiated by Alfred W. Pollard. Pollard was a bibliographer with the department of early printed books at the British library and a founder of the Bibliographic society.18 He edited a series on the history of the book during the last decade of the 19th century of which he himself wrote a volume on illustrated books. Pollard then went on to write the unpretentiously named ’Last words on the title page’. Like many of his countrymen after him, Pollard studied the English book more because he himself was English than because of the importance of the English book production for the early printed book. Following Pollard’s interests, the book discussed title page decorations and in the spirit of his time, Pollard sees the developments of the title page as an evolution which increases in quality over time.19 Ten years later Pollard wrote a short work on the colophon of the early printed books. His main conclusion was that colophons were mostly a feature of the Latin book instead of the vernacular all around Europe. The reason according Pollard was that there was a Europe wide disregard for the vernacular book by printers and only Latin books created respect for the printer.20 A fellow book historian who wrote a book in Pollard’s book history series was E. Gordon Duff. His work was simply named ‘Early Printed Books’ and examines the development of the first printing houses per country and town.21 This type of study would be typical of the later cultural studies of the book which are in nearly all cases limited to a geographical region instead of a cultural or linguistic one.
On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, printer and print historian Theodore Low de Vinne was writing copious articles on the history and practice of printing. Just after the turn of the century he wrote a practical series meant to instruct students and inform printers. According to de Vinne, all
18 Alfred W. Pollard in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography at
http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.uba.uva.nl:2048/view/article/35557 (29-05-2014). 19 Alfred W. Pollard, Last Words on the Title Page, (London, Chiswick Press, 1891). 20 Alfred W. Pollard, An essay on Colophons, (New York, Burt Franklin, 1905).
printers had to know the history of printing before practicing it themselves. His book as well as his articles concentrate on comparing the historical with the modern and sees the title page as a marginal part of the book, saying “title pages may seem too trifling a subject for many pages”22. However, like Pollard, de Vinne looked at the historical title page from a modern perspective and uses the ‘modern’ title page to explain the past. This led to claims that early title pages omitted the printer’s name and that printers changed the place of their advertising information from the colophon to the title page because they did not like what the colophon offered.23
While it were only Pollard and de Vinne to write directly on the title page around the turn of the century, they left a legacy of precedence for the next generation of scholars to write about and in the 1930s people did just that. But first the developments in Germany. The writing style in German scholarly works about book history from the early 20th century is quite different than those of the English speaking world. Reinhold Bammes wrote a short book on the title page and its origin. Because of the small size, Bammes takes large leaps through history. His book, like de Vinne’s was also meant as a manual for printers. The book is a point by point explanation of changes and features of the title page throughout the centuries and concludes that every age has its own rules for title page design, but Bammes does not delve deeper into these rules. He does conclude for the modern printer that title pages ‘now’ have their roots in the old title pages but now use new techniques.24 One World War and two decades later the scholarly interest in the title page continues.
In Germany Moriz Sondheim wrote his book ‘Das Titelblatt’ in 1927. Like the title, the book is short, but straightforward and like his predecessor he makes use of points to explain his theories and conclusions. Sondheim’s book is written more like the scholarly book we know today and does not use modern title page as the starting point for the study of the incunabula title page. He concludes that the advertising for the printer on the title page is a direct result of the increase in competition for printers.25 Gerhard Kießling, writing in 1930, also looks at the advertising element of the title page. In his book ‘Die Anfänge des Titelblattes’ he looks at the influence of the German woodcut period between 1470 and 1540. During this time the German woodcuts had great influence over Europe and were not surpassed by foreign cuts in style and skill. He concludes that after this period the title page became more stylistic and that the rise of the German woodcut was mainly because the title page was the only advertising space for printers.26 Albert Kolb, writing a more general work on the history of the book in 1931, estimates that the title page received its ‘modern form’ around 1520. It modelled itself after pamphlets in style during the 16th century because they too were advertising features of the book. Kolb divides the title page in Latin and vernacular works like Pollard and according to him, the Latin title page turned into an eloquent Humanistic page while the vernacular title page remained basic and low brow.27 The German scholarly community thus focussed on the advertising properties of the title page during this era and looked at the German influence which mainly concluded in the woodcut industry that existed there during the 16th century.
22 Theodore Low de Vinne, A treatise on title-pages, (New York, The Century Co., 1904). 23 Ibid.
24 Reinhold Bammes, Der Titelsatz, seine Entwicklung, und seine Grundsätze, (Leipzig, Verlag des Deutschen Buchgewerbevereins, 1911).
25 Moriz Sondheim, Das Titelblat, (Mainz, Gutenberg-Gesellschaft, 1927).
26 Dr. Gerhard Kießling, Die Anfänge des Titelblates, (Leipzig, Verlag des Deutschen Holzschnitts, 1930). 27 Dr. Albert Kolb, Die Ausbreitung der Druckkunst, im 16. Jahrhundert, (Mainz, Verlag der Gutenberg-Gesellschaft, 1931).
The English speaking scholars meanwhile also wrote more on the title page during the early 30s. Alfred Forbes Johnson for example used the title page as a guide for anyone interested. Continuing on the printer’s guides of de Vinne and Bammes, Johnson created ‘One hundred title pages’ which showed exactly what was promised in the title with a short introduction on the title page itself. Like his predecessors from the turn of the century, Johnson uses the contemporary title page as his reference and questions why the title page was not invented sooner because it had so many benefits. He follows by praising the 16th century German woodcut border, but denouncing those same printers quickly for alienating themselves within Europe through the continuous use of the Gothic letter. In Johnson’s opinion, the title page had its aesthetic height during the 16th century and this feature of it declined during the 17th. Like his German colleagues Johnson focusses on the decorative elements of the title page and describes these during the late 26th century when, according to him, the fleuron was a popular embellishment in the Netherlands and the fully engraved title page rose to great popularity.28 In another book published only a year later, Jones focussed on the decorative features of the title page like his German colleagues. His book on the German Renaissance borders was a short introduction with many examples and concludes that the borders most popular period only spanned 25 to 30 years; from the early 16th century until 1540. Johnson looked at the creation of these borders in Germany and concludes that they were influenced by Italian renaissance art and that the cities of Cologne and Basel were so popular for their creations because they were close to trade routes which brought them into contact with this art.29
E. Miriam Lone wrote a thematic work on book history in 1930. While this premise was unconventional, it was mostly a list of firsts in the history of the book and lacks any theory and analysis. The firsts are arranged per country and besides this veiled division, Lone was apparently an avid fan of Pollard and quotes from his work quite often.30 Another field within the study of book history is that of the study of printer’s devices. Hugh William Davies, writing in 1935 looks at the device in the early period of the printed book. Like some of his contemporaries he also denounces the aesthetic qualities of the 17th century title page and that of the gothic type. Davies notes that the use of early devices was mainly concentrated in France and that Italian devices were, like their title pages, much simpler and less forced in smaller printed works.31
The scholarly interest in title pages then waned until the 1960s and resurfaced again after another world war with a different outlook. Curt F. Bühler, again, used his contemporary title page as his reference point. In his book about the invention and development of the fifteenth century book, Bühler talks about the omission of title pages in manuscripts and early printed books.32 Although Bühler does not write much more about the title page, his book is quite detailed about the development of the book itself. Alexander Nesbitt joined Alfred Johnson in editing a book which relied on the illustrations of title pages. In his ‘200 decorative title pages’ he arranged 200 title pages into 3 historical groups with short introductions. While the illustrative aspect was bigger than the scientific analysis, the introductions do give conclusions about the categories they herald. In the chapter about the woodcut title, Nesbitt concludes that the era of the woodcut title ends in 1550
28 Alfred Forbes Johnson, One Hundred Title Pages, 1500-1800, (London, John Lane, the Bodley Head Ltd., 1928).
29 Alfred Forbes Johnson, German Renaissance Title-Borders, (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1929). 30 E. Miriam Lone, Some Noteworthy Firsts in Europe during the Fifteenth Century, (New York, Lanthop C. Harper, 1930).
31 Hugh William Davies, Devices of the Early Printers, 1457-1560, (London, Grafton & Co., 1935). 32 Curt F. Bühler, The Fifteenth-Century Book, (Philadelphia, University of Philadelphia Press, 1960).
“When all book ornament began to degenerate into a meaningless and disorderly overloading of the page with stock cuts and odd collections of much-used decorative material.”33 In his opinion the 17th century title page declined in quality, but the 18th century saw the “next great surge” of book design. Rudolph Hirsh, publishing an article completely dedicated to the title page in the Gutenberg
Jahrbuch, is the first to also publish his own quantitative study.34 Hirsch examined many title pages from French Incunabula and looked for advertising properties. He used the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendruch to extract title pages which fitted his study and looks at them per printer. In his introductory text however, Hirsch goes back to Pollard and tries to explain the late development of the title page to modern eyes. Another book that mainly looked at the decorative elements on the title page is ‘The comely Frontispiece’ by Margery Corbett and Ronald Lightbown. Like some of the previous books, the majority of its pages are occupied by images of title pages which are preceded by a general introduction about the title page itself. This book is the first to point out the international links of the decorated title page. According to Corbett and Lightbown, there occurred a rapid diffusion in the design of engraved title pages due to the flourishing trade of books and the migration of engravers.35 They also describe these developments as a now overlooked significance of the title page.
Another kind of work from this era is that of M.A. Becker Moelands. The book ‘De Juridische
titelprent in de 17e eeuw’ was not written from the viewpoint of book and art history, but from that of the study of the history of Law.36 Before the book delves into the analysing of the engraved title pages of 17th century dutch lawbooks, it starts off with a general history of the title page.
Unfortunately, the book has its references in the works of de Vinne from 80 years before and does not use any of the more contemporary views on the history of the book. It therefore claims such as that the title page was created as a decorative element only and later introduced advertising properties.
Between 1985 and 2000 the written history of the title page again becomes less interesting to write about. In 2000 however, Margaret M. Smith writes an analytical and modern scholarly work on the early title page alone.37 Unlike previous works on the title page which mainly wrote about the decorative elements, Smith writes about the title page as a whole and its elements individually. The book analyses the early title page as a part of the book as well as within society and looks at it in an international setting without using the modern title page as a point of origin for any conclusions. In 2010 Andrew Pettegree wrote his book about the book in the Renaissance which also crosses the language and country lines to study the development of the book in Europe while keeping in mind trade, trade routes and migration.38 While not actually devoting much text to the title page, Pettegree integrates the study of the title page in the study of the book in Europe and approaches it from a modern scholarly perspective. Unlike Alfred Pollard’s title prophecy however, the last word on the title page has not yet been said.
33 Alexander Nesbitt, ed., 200 Decorative Title-Pages, (New York, Dover Publications, 1964).
34 Rudolph Hirsch, ‘Title Pages in French Incunables, 1486-1500’, Gutenberg Jahrbuch, 1978, pp. 63-66. 35 Margery Corbett and Ronald Lightbown, The comely Frontispiece, (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979). 36 M.A. Becker-Moelands, De Juridische titelprent in de 17e eeuw: Het hof van Holland, (Muiderberg, Coutinho,
1985).
37 Margaret M. Smith, The Title-Page its Early Development 1460-1510, (London, Oak Knoll Press, 2000). 38 Pettegree, The Book in the Renaissance.
Research Methods
Research Format
The ideal study would have dealt with the investigation of all books produced with a title page since the invention of the printing press. Unfortunately this modus operandi would extend this study past its length and time boundaries. The study was however designed to identify developments and trends in the design of the title page. A reduction in the amount of books participating in the study would therefore not be detrimental to the quality of it.
By creating boundaries for this study it was decided to limit the study from the invention of the title page in printed books to 1700. This upper boundary was established to not let the study grow too large and because by the end of the 17th century, title pages were beginning to grow more static in their design. This still left a very large time period of around 250 years to be investigated. To make the study feasible to conduct in the limited timespan available, it was decided to examine one book every five years. The same considerations had to be made regarding the geographic spread. Because ideally the study would have taken books from all printing cities of Europe during this time, four cities, important as printing capitals, were chosen. These cities were Amsterdam, Antwerp , Paris and Venice. The final consideration to make was the difference in Latin and vernacular books printed throughout Europe. Because these books showed such differences and Latin was used besides the local language in all cities which were to be examined, it was decided to investigate a title page in both Latin and the local language from each city every five years.
Research Design
The study itself was conducted at the University Library in Amsterdam. The collection available there made it possible to conduct the study without much traveling and in good working conditions. By examining some title pages I created a spreadsheet with measurable features of title pages. During the course of the investigation this list was amended when new features showed up. The list itself was divided in eight sections. The first was a control measurement which recorded the book’s title, author, printer etc. It was recorded in order to be able to find title pages back and to sort them. Then followed the general information of the title page such as the city and date as recorded on the title page and the language. The third section recorded the numerical data of the page such as the percentage of the page that was covered by text and the number of words and fonts. Next followed the information on the title page regarding the typography, lay-out and single statements. Examples are the use of consequent typography, design of the text space and the inclusion of statements of privilege. Then next section included the information regarding the book’s author followed by that regarding the printer. This last section also included information about the printer’s device. The seventh section was dedicated to the use of borders and their contents and the last part of questions looked at illustrations, decorations and non-book-informative additions such as fleurons and quotes. All examined title pages had their features carefully recorded in the spreadsheet and a photograph was taken for when a title page needed to be re-examined or for visual explanation in this report. All the gathered data was then used to create a number of graphs to illustrate and better analyse the
development of title pages over time in certain areas or with certain elements. Some are shown to visually complement certain explained trends.
Data analysis
The final stage of this study was the analysis of the gathered data. The data was analysed in both thematic and chronological fashion. This data was then added together to produce this report of which the corpus is written in chronological order to illustrate the developments in the best way.
The research
What is a title page? In modern books a title page is largely taken for granted. Of course, an author’s work is contained in the middle as the text, but part of the entity that is the books is the title page. The title page heralds the text, saying it is there, what this book contains and often also indicated what kind of text it is that follows. This is the history of that title page.
Title pages did not always exist and only came about after the invention of the printing press. While early printed books did not try to alter in appearance from hand written manuscripts, gradually differences emerged, both intended and unintended. The development of the book away from the traditional manuscript also included the addition of the title page.
The title page is, if you remove the cover, the first page that uses text. It introduced the main body of the book, the contents people generally buy the book for. Although modern books often also include a French title page which only shows the shortened title or an illustration, the title page is the first full page that a reader encounters when opening the book. Title pages were however not created like the title pages of today and went through a large amount of changes and developments: a process that is still ongoing even today.
the following study looks at and tries to catalogue the developments of the title page from its
inception until 1700. It also puts the developments of the title page in a wider perspective of Europe’s economic and political changes during this period. The development of the title page illustrates the developments of the international and regional book markets and acts as evidence for its existence and changes.
The first title pages
The first title pages began to appear in books around 1470. These pages did not have much in common with what we now call a title page and looked more like French titles in appearance. The first title pages did share the basic purpose of modern title pages; to identify the text that follows. Alfred Pollard’s idea was that the title page had an identical purpose as the manuscript’s incipit; to introduce the text. He therefore was puzzled about why it took so long for the title page to develop:
“Even when books were written instead of printed it is surprising that it should never have been invented, but the monks were presumably economical, and refused to devote a whole leaf of good paper or parchment to information which could be given in three or four lines.”39
The incipit of the manuscript and early incunabula period however, was not identical to the title page and there lies the explanation for its inception. The incipit was a way to introduce the start of the text, a manner of starting the first page that made absolutely clear that the text was about to begin. Scribes in the middle ages did not have a reason to include their name, the date or the place of the workshop it was produced in. Since the book would most likely be used at the monastery it was produced in and often was the only copy available in a library, none of the information portrayed today on a title page was essential to appear in most manuscripts. In fact, the title page as we know it today has more in common with the explicit or colophon that appeared at the end of the early
printed book. The earliest explicit to name the producer was the Kreuzzugsbulle des Papstes Pius II by Fust and Schöffer of Mainz.40 This book was the first known example of an explicit which named the printer and the date of production. It also bears the first surviving printer’s mark.41
The invention of printing on a large scale created a need to identify a text from the outside. There are two possibilities that could have separately or together created this need. For owners of books before the invention of the printing press, it was relatively easy to know which work was contained in which cover. Even if a text was unbound, the cost and effort of creating manuscripts was so high that a collection in most cases was limited. When books became easier to obtain (although not necessarily cheaper), users required a means of identifying a text without having to read the first page.
A similar, but more pressing need developed with the printers of books. Some historians propose that the title page developed because printers added a protective sheet to their finished, but yet unbound leaves. These leaves obscured the first page and made it harder to identify a book, thus requiring an identifying text on the cover. Even if this was not the case, having to read the first page of the book in order to identify it did cost more time than having just the title on the first page. All these
explanations could easily be separate or collectively responsible for the invention of the title page. The title page therefore was not the same as an incipit. The latter starts the text while the former identifies it. Title pages do therefore not start with incipit, not even when title pages were a novelty and the incipit was generally the first part of the book that a reader saw.
Title pages in their infancy
The first title pages just did what they were supposed to do: they identified the text. This meant that the first title pages just consisted of a few lines which gave the title or a short description of the contents of the book. The sentences were written without any thought for the lay-out of the page, and set in one font only. An indication that they were not invented for advertising purposes. Some works included woodcut illustrations which did or did not have anything to do with the contents of the book. These early title pages did not contain any other information. Some of the books made use of the colophon where the information of the printer or writer was stored. Not until later did this information move to the title page.
Latin books in Venice were the first to increase the use of space on the title page. Although no other kind of information was added, the descriptions of the text increased and sometimes joined the title on the title page. The development of illustrations on the title page was more a northern fashion in this period. Venetian and Parisian printers rarely used this addition, instead relying on text. Book from Antwerp however, mainly used illustrations in Dutch books, and not in those written in Latin. As can be seen from the example of Antwerp, the title pages reflected a difference between vernacular and Latin books right from their inception.42 Like modern ‘intellectual’ and ‘popular’ books, the books intended for the general public contained more visual elements. This did not depend on the printer though. Most printers did not specialize in either vernacular or Latin books and printed both. Often printers not just printed in the local language and Latin, but also other language for instance
vernacular languages for large ethnic groups in the vicinity, classical works in Greek and books in the
40 Sondheim, Das Titelblat, p.4.
41 Hirsch, ‘Title Pages in French incunables’, p. 63.
language of neighbouring countries. Generally printers did have their own way of creating a title page and using certain materials to do this. The differences between printers from one city however were small compared to the differences between vernacular and Latin books from that city, and between cities in general.
The earliest title pages had a very basic lay out. They consisted of one font and one font size.43 Any decoration they contained besides the illustration were along the traditions of manuscript
manufacturing. Generally these consisted of paragraph signs which could be either printed in the same font and size as the text, or were hand decorated in colour. Paragraph signs had for centuries indicated a new paragraph or section of any other size. To use them to indicate the start of the title was therefore not a departure of traditional typography. Another continuation of manuscript practices was the use of abbreviations. When writing a text by hand the use of well know
abbreviations could save both time and paper or parchment which were both costly aspects of book production. The introduction of the printing press with its individual letters however did not benefit as much from the saved space and in the printing process the use of abbreviations did not save time. Gradually the use of shortened words and letters would die out, but in early title pages these can still be seen quite frequently and in all kinds of works. In this aspect, like decoration, the title page did not depart from any of the conventional typographical rules that printers observed and users were accustomed to.
The title page gains merit
Between 1480 and 1500 the title page did not change much in appearance. It did however became part of the book instead of being just a wrapper for the loose pages.
Small changes to the page indicate this shift in legitimacy for the title page, although there is no particular trend present with the inclusion of one item on the title page in contrast to the earlier title pages. Many printers are experimenting with what can be included on the page. Instead of just printing the title or a description on the page in a singular type and font size, the title page around the change of the century sees an increase in words and font sizes used, although not consequently. Some printers move their devices, which had been in use quite quickly after the invention of the press, from the colophon to the title page. This development, although not directly taken over by most printers, is one of the first uses of the title page as an advertising place. There is
experimentation with lay-out; some printers print their title page text symmetrically on the page. Others experiment with the addition of small decorations like stars and dots. There are books where the title page not only indicates the title of the work that lies inside, but also the author of the text. Although none of these small, experimental features of the title page catch on directly in a
widespread manner, the fact that they were there indicates a large change in perspective of the title page itself. When printers added any of these features they invested more time, effort and ink to the page they previously saw as a convenient addition only. The experimentation indicates that the title page had by 1500 earned its place as a part of the book even though its contents were not yet bound by any rules of expectation. A growing interest by the printers in the possibilities is shown by its early exploitation. The addition of decorative features could attract buyers, just like a well-crafted image on the cover does today.
The realization of printers that the market of book production had changed from a bespoke trade to a market of supply and demand where advertisement is key, is evident from the experimentation they performed with the contents of the title page.
The increase of information
The first quarter of the 16th century shows a departure from the carefree experimentation from the century before. It also divides Europe’s printing cities and starts developments that will later show imitation trends.
During this age the Roman letter started to be used in general publications. The first printed use of the Roman font was by Nicolas Jenson in Venice, in the 1470s.44 It is no wonder therefore that the popularity of that letter started in Venice and from there slowly spread northwards. According to Andrew Pettigree;
“The majority of the classical texts discovered in the Renaissance were in the new Carolingian script. Humanists, wrongly thinking this represented original Roman handwriting, imitated it and in due course it became the model for the Roman type that gradually superseded the Gothic script of the late Middle Ages.”45
The origin of the Roman letter with the Humanists made it a very popular letter in Humanist works. The letter first became an indicator for humanist works, but as the popularity of the movement grew, any new scholarly work would use the Roman type to indicate its innovative and scholarly nature. The start of this trend can be seen in the use of it on early 16th century title pages. In Venice, nearly all Latin, and therefore intellectual, books were set in Roman type. Italian books from the same city also show title pages set in the traditional Gothic, or a mixture with Roman. In Paris, the first looked at city north of Venice, shows a cautious use of Roman in Latin books, but none in books written in French. The same can be seen for title pages in Antwerp while those in Amsterdam are all set in Gothic. Because the Roman type was used in Italian works from Venice, it cannot be said that it solely belonged to the intellectual, Latin works. While it might have been invented by the Humanists, Roman letters were new, interesting and quickly used in other works in Venice. The use of it in Latin books from Paris and Antwerp however says less about the academic nature perceived by some as a feature of the letter, but more about the international market that existed in books written in the universal European language at the time; Latin.
The experimental phase that marked the start of the legitimization of the title page in the late 15th century did not stop there, it only grew bolder. The start of the 16th century only saw a larger increase of words, fonts and information portrayed on the title page. Instead of singular experimentation however, smaller trend emerged during this period. Some of these lasted longer and became set features, others were only short-lived trends. As with the Roman typeface, many of these features started in Venice and slowly made their way to other countries over the course of years or decades. One of the longer lasting features introduced in the first quarter of the 16th century was the addition of the author to the title page. Although there had been some experimenting with this feature before, this time the addition of the author would prove permanent. Initially authors became part of the title and as embedded authors the title became entwined with their names. Not only the author’s name was used on the title page, but the addition of the author’s profession or place of origin quickly
44 Pettegree, The Book in the Rennaissance, p. 57. 45 Ibid. p. 7.
followed. Interestingly while many trend in this period originated in Venice and slowly spread
northwards, printers in Amsterdam were quick to add the author’s credentials to the title page, using the feature as a marketing tool of peeking the potential buyer’s interest.
Printer’s devices during this period moved to the title page for good not only in Latin books, but also in Parisian and Venetian vernacular works. Works in those two cities, and especially in Venice show a larger similarity between Latin and local language books while in Antwerp Dutch books stayed close to the now traditional title with an illustration. The book trade in Venice and Paris was larger in general and these cities were also closer to the epicentre of scholarly innovation. People here had a closer link between vernacular books and Latin works while those living in Antwerp and desiring cutting edge work wanted either Venetian prints or works that looked similar. Works in Dutch, the local language were not meant to be scholarly, or at least not for intellectual elite. It was therefore not a necessity to follow the latest fashion from the south, on the contrary, the more traditional lay-out, like the Gothic typeface was what people were accustomed to and these would sell.
Unlike the author, other additions experimented with in the early decades of the 16th century were less long lived. Some works put the entire table of contents on the title page46, continuing the fusion of the title page with the work, going further than it being the announcer of it. We now call them tables of contents, but that name implies that a book is one work; a collection of the contents intended to be combined. Manuscripts often also consisted of various volumes, but these could easily be removed or added to a work. Margaret Smith indicates that the early title pages often were printed lists of the contents, without any other information about them. These lists however did make the volume less amendable to removing or adding parts. This association makes these types of title pages true title pages too. The title page is part of a single entity which cannot be amended easily like manuscripts. As Margaret Smith puts it:
“This raises the point that there is a difference between the title to a text and the title to a physical volume that bears the text. The difference between text and book may seem obvious, but the two seem to have become conflated in modern usage.”47
A mainly southern trend was the introduction of the decorated first letter of a title page.48 While abbreviations of words and the use of paragraph signs had not waned with the invention of the mass printed book, the decorated letter was a feature of the manuscript. Venetian and especially Parisian printers however, re-introduced this feature as a woodcut to title pages.
Another feature that was not new, but re-introduced in the first quarter of the 16th century was the border. Medieval manuscripts often included well-crafted borders on their first page, but this feature did not make the initial transition to the title page. Experimental borders did not have to enclose the entire page and with the use of a set of woodcut blocks a full or part border could be constructed. The design of these borders however, remained traditional. Most depicted humans, flora, fauna and mythological being, just like those in manuscripts had done.49
46 For an example of a title page with a table of contents, see figure 3. 47Smith, The Title-Page, p. 101-2.
48 For an example for a decorative first letter on a title page, see figure 4. 49 For an example of an early 16th century border-title page, see figures 3 and 5.
A final feature of the early 16th century book was the rise of marketing features on the title page.50 While many features were introduced in Venice and made their way north, the amount of sale-enhancing text in northern cities like Amsterdam and Antwerp was higher if compared to the amount of text in general. While the vernacular works in of Amsterdam for example still used the traditional format of the title and an illustration, they did add a sentence to indicate where the work could be purchased. Venetian works however emphasized on decoration. Although the first edition numbers can be seen in the south, this testifies more to the amount of book production than to the interest in marketing in that area. Not only Amsterdam saw the introduction of sales information during the first quarter of the 16th century. Paris too printed this information on the title pages produced there and went even further to include the addresses of printers. It is interesting to note that this information was only included in French books and not in their Latin equivalents. Venice still set the tone for Latin works, presenting a highly decorated title page which was low on the amount of unnecessary information.
Decoration and aesthetics
Between 1525 and 1550 the title pages of Europe generally ended their sporadic experimentation and any new features introduced in this period were modifications of previous features, or
continuations of older experimental features. Because the title page had existed for 50 years in some areas, by the start of the second quarter of the 16th century, the title page itself was a fully integrated feature of a book.
The roman type, which was cautiously introduced in Paris before and widely used in its birthplace Venice, gained popularity abroad. Venetian books now nearly all used the roman type, the easy forms and clarity of the letters had won over the city’s reading public and printers. In Paris too did the roman type drive away its predecessor in all types of books. Looking northwards however, the roman type had only penetrated the Latin prints of Antwerp while the Dutch language works of northern cities like Antwerp and Amsterdam remained completely set in black letter. The second quarter of the 16th century increased the differences between northern and southern publications. Although Renaissance influences began to show in the regions above the Alps, traditional gothic influences remained strong, especially in non-scientific works.
Between 1525 and 1550 the international and regional markets for books began to grow larger in southern European cities. Two features of the title page show testament to that. Firstly printers began to include the city of origin on the title page. This feature often coincided with the inclusion of more and more detailed information about the printer.51 The addition of the place of origin on the title page was a marketing tool of the printer. Not only could a potential customer now find his place of business, even visitors from beyond the city walls or even the country’s boundaries could find him. Secondly the addition of dates became more popular. It is interesting to see that the inclusion of dates on the title page was quickly adapted all over Europe while other features took much longer to feature in other regions. The city of Venice was the first and in this era the most prolific in adding the production year to their books. Most of these were portrayed in roman numerals and only a few in Arabic numbers. The printers of Paris also used dates in the majority of books although they
preferred Arabic numbers Latin works and Roman numerals in French books. The Arabic numbers and
50 For an example of a title page with a marketing statement, see figure 6. 51 For an example where a printer uses a title print to self-market, see figure 7.
their system became known in Europe during the 15th century, and scientists from Italy increasingly used it in their endeavours. It is therefore interesting that Venetian printers favoured the roman numeral when printing the date on title pages, even on Latin books. Less surprising is the preferred use of roman numerals in the northern cities which indicates the excellence of the international trade, but a more conservative printing culture.
Another pan-European feature was the lay-out of the title page. Did the title page before often look like a collection of features, now it increasingly gained shared aesthetic values all over Europe. The large majority of works printed in all cities which were looked at during this period, were set
symmetrically on the page. Of the remaining pages, even if some features were arranged lopsided, at least part of the title page remained symmetrical. A new trend in the lay-out of title pages also began to emerge during this period. The moulding of title page information in a half diamond shape. As with many other trends that begin to emerge, there had been some experimenting with this feature. There is however a difference between the earlier designs and the feature that now appeared. Older designs often tried to incorporate all information on a page in this design, while the newer model mostly divided the title page in multiple half diamonds, or only arranged the title in such a fashion. While modern titles would not be susceptible to this treatment, the early 16th century title increased in length because of the addition of subtitles. Subtitles of this era were not just a short elaboration on the title, but often contained a summary of the text, the author which by now was a regular feature on the title page, and other information about the book or the author or even other people involved with the work in some fashion.
What were its origins and what does the half-diamond design entail? According to Margaret Smith:
“[…]the lines may be centred around an axis, with the lines of decreasing length forming a triangle on its apex. […]This arrangement can be directly related to a scribal and later a printer’s layout commonly used for colophons, and it forms one of the many links between the title-page and the colophon.”52
As with many of the content related features of the title page, the half diamond design has migrated in the printed book from the colophon to the title page. First named as such by Theodore Low DeVinne in ‘The Practice of Typography’53, the half diamond indention (as DeVinne called it formally) already began to appear on the earliest title pages when the label-title was cut into two lines. It became a very popular design during the second quarter of the 16th century when most of the information of the title page was included in the subtitle and it all could be moulded into a single half diamond shape. While this type of title page format’s popularity waned towards the end of the 16th century, the use of the half diamond indentation as the design for part of the page remained popular for at least another century. In most cases the title and subtitle; the top part of the title page, was arranged in a half diamond fashion while the rest of the information was arranged in other formations. A far lesser popular arrangement was the full diamond shape. In that fashion the title page was arranged starting with a short line length, increasing it and then symmetrically decreasing it again to conclude in a diamond shape. This form sometimes occurred during the experimental phase around 1500 but did not catch on or return during later eras with singular exceptions.54
52 Smith, The Title-Page, p. 60.
53 Theodore Low DeVinne, The practice of typography: correct composition, (Oswald, New York, 1921), p. 189-91, in Smith, The Title-Page, p.60.
By this time the right to print was in most cities regulated. The feature of the statement of privilege, which entitles the printer to producing the work for a period of time, starts to appear on title pages. The addition of authors and printers on the title page as well as authorities in the statement of privilege all increased the number of people mentioned on the title page. But, on some pages, especially in Venice and Paris, the number of people mention numbers even more. Influential people to which a work was dedicated, people involved with the work, translators and classical authors were all included to increase the status and hopefully the revenue of a work.
One feature that had been experimented with in the decades before gained increasing popularity between 1525 and 1550 was the title page border. Experimentation had been great with this feature, ranging from borders which covered illustrations only, to constructed borders created from multiple woodblocks. In this feature too, the northern printers of Amsterdam continued their conservative trend in title page design. In Paris and Venice however, the title page border was the feature to have in vernacular printing. These borders were now intended to be used as title page borders instead of haphazardly constructed edges, and the results were no experiments. Single blocks with elaborate designs were commissioned purposefully for the title page. Earlier experimentation had re-used general decorative border woodblocks. This was the height of the title page border however, never more would the feature gain such popularity in Venice and Paris.
The second quarter of the 16th century’s most important feature for the design of title pages was the heralding of the printed book as a separate entity from the manuscript. Although the Dutch language books from Antwerp and Amsterdam continued their conservative contents practices, for Antwerp’s Latin works and books produced in Paris and Venice it was the last quarter in which the medieval practices of abbreviations, hand decorated initials and paragraph signs were used. These features had always been part of the written script in the form of the codex, but now the printing press was no longer easily compatible and they were discarded. Even in Amsterdam and in the Dutch works from Antwerp the features were occurring less often and within another few decades they would die out there too.
Other decorative features came in their place. The fleuron gained popularity as a simple but stylish decorative item even though some printers did not get that memo and used them in abundance. Mottos, quotes and even poems were used to experiment with the decorative possibilities that a title page offered. And these features could not only be seen in the more progressive south of Europe. Antwerp and Amsterdam experimented with the addition with piteous, but decorative biblical quotes on the title page.
Finally the increasing of information on the title page which had begun at the start of the century, now began to add some marketing elements. The weight of it lay in Paris. Parisian printers began to grow in number and in order to gain the upper hand and to promote their work these printers added their name to the tittle page instead of the colophon. Here a distinct regional culture begins .Where Venetian printers thought it enough to add their name to the title page, their Parisian counterparts started actively promoting their workshops. They started adding their address; the road they were situated on or their descriptive location. They included their shop’s signs to advertise their
businesses. Locals would have had enough with the latter, but the inclusion of the full address of a printer would also bring traveling businessmen to the shop. Finally printers started to add a vendor’s
statement on the title page indicating where a book could be bought. While Venetian printers did not include these, Parisians did so often, indicating a market where production and sale were separated.
Creating a title page culture
The third quarter of the 16th century saw a change in dynamics regarding title pages. While before there could be said that in broad lines Venice set the tone which was taken over by other cities. This dynamic started to change in the second half of the 16th century. It all started with a new vogue in Venice. The city had never been overly fond of adding as many features as possible to the title page, now the growth stopped completely. Since the title page’s conception, printers had generally increased its contents. From adding illustrations to tables of contents, the title page grew. Although this growth was more pronounced in northern cities like Antwerp, it was also true for Venice. This trend in Venice ended in the third quarter of the 16th century. Although the Venetian title page did not reduce its contents, there was no longer a growth either.
The Venetian title page also standardized. Where title pages from Antwerp or Amsterdam had individual designs depending on language and printer, the Venetian title page generally conformed to a standardized layout. This Venetian model can be seen in Latin books from Paris too. The Parisian printers however, did not copy it without thought, but adapted it to fit the standards of Paris. The Venetian, Latin title page was entirely set in Roman fonts. It included the date of production in roman numerals and included a standardized form of the city’s name in Latin: Venetiis. Title pages were symmetrically and most had the upper part of the page arranged in a half diamond shape. Most included a statement of privilege and had the author mentioned on the title page, mostly embedded in the title. If the author was not embedded, it gave room to use some clever marketing by praising the author in mentioning his profession, title or place of origin. In books of which the subject was about a city, local affair or regional concern, it gave the text extra weight if the author himself came from that city or had some connection to it. Furthermore the Venetian Latin title page included a printer’s device and, most iconic, a single horizontal line at the bottom of the page underneath which the printer’s name was mentioned without any other information. This last feature was not yet uniformly present on all title pages, but soon it would be an essential part of the Venetian title page. Other information like the print number or an indication that the work contains an index or
illustrations could be added to this format, but all the examined books from this era consist of this basic format.55
The Italian title pages from Venice show a lot of similarities those of the Latin books produced there. But Venetian printers created different styles of pages for different languages, indicating that the two markets did not have the same readers, but the fact that they did show a lot of similarities shows that by this era Venice was still the leading city of printing; they did not copy other trends, but set one for themselves. Venetian additions to the title page were copied in other cities while Venetian printers did not copy any of the additions of other cities on their own pages or even used their formats. This had a two-fold cause: for the past century, Venice had played a leading role in the Renaissance and was a leading city on all fronts in Europe: from technological advances to philosophy. As a printer to have grown up in such a city the culture that existed there would have given the air that all things
from Venice had a leading role in the world and if they were superior, why not take a leading position in printing design? On the other hand Venice had created a distinct printing culture in the past century and by now it was the expectation of the audience that title pages looked, along broad lines, like they did. To all of a sudden use designs that were modelled after those of say Antwerp in general publications, would not have appealed to the audience in Venice itself and abroad.
Unlike their Venetian counterparts, Parisian printers did not prefer symmetrical simplicity. The French works produced in that city in some ways even showed more similarities to Venetian works than Parisian Latin books; a great difference from before. The Parisian printing market had matured and established its own culture. The city’s use of the full address of printers on the title page only grew stronger in both French and Latin publications. Where before the practice was mainly limited to French books, the third quarter of the 16th century witnesses Paris growing as an independent printing city and creating its own printing culture where the use of the printer’s full address is a part of the title page. And these addresses did not just extend to the printer’s name and street. In an age where there were many people without the ability to read, visual signs were key elements in giving directions and shop identification. Addresses therefore also included the contents of the company signs or general directions such as ‘besides the church’, or ‘near that bridge’.56
Another way in which the two language prints of Paris had grown towards each other instead of towards similar language books in other cities, was the use of dates on the title page. Where before not all French works included a date on the title page, now they did and like Latin books there was an equal use of roman and Arabic numerals in portraying the date.
A great contrast to the developments of Paris is Antwerp. Where the two kinds of language publications have grown towards each other in Paris, Antwerp does not show a development of a local printing culture and shows a sharp divide between title pages of Latin and Dutch books. Like the decades before, Latin books from the southern Netherlands follow the design of other, imported Latin books, while the Dutch works use a more traditional line of design. The Latin title page of Antwerp however, is not mostly based on Parisian design. Instead, it shows more similarities with the Venetian title page with which it had closer ties. It is set in a roman font with a year in roman
numerals. The majority includes a half diamond design of the upper half of the page and the printer is included on the title page, but without any address details. Antwerp’s Latin title page is not a direct copy however, they include more small decorative objects like fleurons and floral representations, and include decorative elements like quotes and illustrations.
The Dutch title pages from Antwerp however are a blend of traditional and popular elements from Latin works. The horizontal line, again, is quickly taken over here, and the half diamond design is popular here too. The half diamond layout makes it easier to create symmetrical designs, and that is what dominates these title pages. The majority of the works are set in a mixture of roman and gothic fonts, an interesting way to make them look comforting conservative and interestingly modern. However, the title pages from Antwerp include features that cities like Venice and Paris have already left behind them such as fully illustrated title page borders, fleurons and paragraph signs. Other features have been taken from the French title pages, making the title pages from Antwerp a blend from those two distinct cultures to the south. The majority of Dutch title pages from Antwerp included addresses of the printers that produced them. Although some included road or location
