Geofroy Tory
Painter and Engraver
9781465634023
118 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
BERNARD'S monograph on Tory was first published in 1857, when M. Bernard was already a recognized authority on the history of typography. In 1865, after an interval devoted largely to a search for further information concerning Tory, and for probable examples of his work as an artist, a second edition of the book appeared, enlarged by more than one-half, arranged more systematically, and embellished with several additional engravings of designs which are, in the author's opinion, attributable to Tory. The Iconography, which forms the third part of this revised edition, did not appear as such in the first edition, although a small part of the material it contains may be found scattered through that edition. It now occupies more space than the Biography and Bibliography combined. The new arrangement necessitated more or less repetition where, as in many instances, the same book is referred to by M. Bernard in more than one section of his work; and this repetition sometimes reveals discrepancies between the different descriptions. Where such discrepancies have been discovered by him the translator has endeavoured to correct them, generally, in the absence of an opportunity to inspect the volume in question, assuming that the description in the bibliographical section is more likely to be trustworthy; in a number of cases, however, inspection of title-pages themselves, or of reproductions thereof, has enabled him to correct numerous minor errors in transcription. The kindness of the late Mr. Amor L. Hollingsworth, in lending his fine copy of the first edition of 'Champ fleury,' made it possible to collate therewith M. Bernard's numerous extracts from that rare and interesting book, and to ensure entire accuracy with respect to them. As M. Bernard writes certain printers' names in different ways, the translator has assumed that the names are printed differently in different books, and has not attempted to make them uniform. Such names are Dubois (Du Bois),Lecoq (Le Coq), Galliot (Galiot). The few notes supplied by the translator are inserted in square brackets. The translations of Tory's various Latin effusions, including the complete text of the little brochure called forth by the death of his daughter Agnes, were made by Mr. J. W. H. Walden of Cambridge. The Latin originals will be found at the end of the book, in Appendix X. Since such authorities as M. Bernard and M. Renouvier differ as to the ascription to Tory of many of the designs mentioned in this work, it seemed the wiser course to choose for illustration only such subjects as are described by the author, without questioning the soundness of his reasoning or the infallibility of his deductions. The only exception is the beautiful design reproduced on the first page of the Index. This is taken from Robert Estienne's folio New Testament(in Greek) of 1550, where, with two other similar decorations, it occurs in conjunction with the friezes and floriated Greek letters reproduced elsewhere in this volume. They are unsigned, but all are indubitably from the same hand. Although they are not mentioned by M. Bernard, it seems incredible that he should never have seen them. The printer of this volume has had more than ordinary good fortune in literally stumbling upon most of the designs here reproduced. The pressure of other work has prohibited systematic research, and the originals of these illustrations were nearly all discovered while he was engaged upon other matters. Many were found in the Harvard Library, some in the reference library of the Riverside Press, some in auction rooms, and some in booksellers' catalogues. The only exception is the series of borders from the Hours of 1524-25, which were expressly photographed from the copy in the library of the British Museum.
