1506:
Jodocus Badius Ascensius | Josse Bade

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Source:

Title: ‘Hecuba et Iphigenia’.
Author: Euripides
Translator: Desiderius Erasmus
Printer: ex officina Josse Bade
Illustrator: -
Engraver: -
Location: Paris
Year: 1506
Links: [Scan 1], [USTC].

Jodocus Badius Ascensius used three marks that showed a printing press during his career. The earliest one in 1506-1507, a second one in 1520, and a third one in 1521. Philippe Renouard (1969) describes the three marks on page 19 and 20.

Madan (1895), page 226-7: ‘All three represent a printer in the act of taking an impression, standing on the right, and behind him an assistant with ink-balls, while on the left is a compositor at work. In the first we see a straight bar, apparently detachable, and a platen of very small size compared with the bed on which it comes down. ... There is also a handle and apparatus for running the form in and out. The title 'Prelū Ascensianū' in one line is on the press, and a monogram between ‘I’, and ‘B’ at foot.’

Abraham Horodisch (1974), page 185: ‘In seiner frühesten Druckermarke (Abb. 37) - zuerst 1507 erschienen - nimmt die Presse mit der Inschrift Prelu[m] Asce[n]sianu[m] den zentralen Platz ein, .... Unter der Presse das Monogramm iVAb, aufgelöst Jodocus Van Asche Badius. Bemerkt sei, daß die Worte Prelum Ascensianum in dieser - wie auch in seinen folgenden Marken - nicht in Holz geschnitten sind, sondern in das dafür im Holzstock freigebliebene Feld typographisch eingesetzt sind. Diese Marke benutzt er 13 Jahre lang.’

Nigel Roche (2000), page 15: ‘A variant mark, used by Badius, in which the same wood block as B has the inscription ‘Prelū Ascēsianū’ rather than ‘Prelū Ascensianū’; the block was pierced for this type to be dropped in.’

Technique

Woodcut

Publications

Abraham Horodisch (1974)‘Buch und Buchdruckpresse im Druckersignet des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts.’ Philobiblon. Jahrgang XVIII, Heft 3, September 1974. page 186. Abb 37.

Falconer Madan (1895) ‘Early representations of the printing-Press with especial reference to that by Stradanus.’, Bibliographica. Volume 1, page 226-227. (Illustration #2*).

Alan May (2015) ‘Albrecht Dürer’s drawing of a printing press: a reconsideration.’ Journal of the Printing Historical Society, New series, 22. figure 3, pp 64.

Philippe Renouard (1928) Les marques typographiques parisiennnes des XVe et XVIe siècles. Paris: Champion. figure 22. [Scan]

Philippe Renouard (1969) Imprimeurs & Libraries Parisiens du XVIe siècle, Tome Deuxième: Baaleu-Banville. Paris: Champion. [Link]

Nigel Roche (2000) The iconography of the printing office to 1700. Unpublished MA thesis. Library and Information Studies, University College London. (Illustration B1).

Louis-Catherine Silvestre (1853) Marques typographiques, volume 1, page 5, no 7. [link].