Printers’ Ornaments
July 19, 2010
Today BibliOdyssey tweeted a link to their collection of printers’ ornaments on flickr.
I haven’t had a chance to check that they are all ornaments (useful bits of illustrations unconnected with the text, used as a filler, commonly on title pages and chapter heads and ends) as opposed to devices (marks, usually in the colophon at the end of an early printed book, that were associated with a particular printer / publisher), but they are a fine selection, worth flagging up.
Soon I’ll be updating my notes for Historical Bibliography, which I teach in the Autum term, and seeing these reminds me how unfairly most of last year’s students felt printers’ ornaments are dealt with in creating quasi-facsimiles. From Esdaile:
“The ornament (a printer’s flower, to be distinguished from a device) is mentioned in brackets.” (p.267) and exemplifies “[Ornament]” (p.264).
Gaskell goes further and gives the dimensions: “[woodcut vignette ornament, 33 x 78 mm.]” (p.325), which is what I advise students to do in their practical assessment.
However, some students last year felt quite disgruntled at ignoring the content of some attractive woodcuts along the way. I’m sure they’d be pleased to know that someone, at least, is collecting them as things of beauty to be shared through the power of social media (flickr).
I’m fairly sure they are all printers ornaments rather than devices (although it can get confusing if there’s only a single motif at or towards the end of a book). There are no head and tail pieces just for simplicity’s sake more than anything.
They were collected over a couple of years I guess as a consequence of scanning new uploads for illustrated books rather than being a specific target in and of themselves (at least at the beginning — after a while I began thinking they were unique and esoteric artistic elements).
If you or anyone does note a ringer among them please let me know and I’ll make a note of it. Cheers.
Thanks. They all look like ornaments to me – I just thought I had better cover my back in case any of my eagle-eyed students spotted a device in amongst them.
They’re a really nice selection – thanks for sharing them!
Anne