Welcome to the second blog post on the art of the printer’s mark. Let’s begin with a refresher on what a printer’s mark, or device, is – a printer’s device refers to an identifying mark which can be found inside a book, either on the title page, the colophon, or occasionally at the end of a book. Typically this mark consists of a combination of images and texts, both decorative and practical. Printing houses depended on this mark as their brand, more so than bindings, since in previous centuries it wasn’t unusual for a book to be rebound multiple times over the course of its life. Below we’ll explore more on the artistry and symbolism of these devices, the creative talents of individual craft makers, and also give attention to these often tiny but significant aspects of past printing culture.
Beginning close to home, the Cuala Press was a renowned Irish private press which was established, with the help of others, in 1908 by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats. The press was part of a larger female-dominated arts and crafts movement which famously produced beautifully hand-crafted books, cards and eye-catching prints and helped to pave the way for an appreciation of the art of printing and the various skills surrounding it. The devices and pressmarks which can be found dotted throughout the handcrafted Cuala Press books truly are miniature works of art. With commissioned designs from artists such as Jack B. Yeats and Edmund Dulac, the artworks are both innovative and eye-catching.
‘Lone Tree in Landscape’ printer’s device. 4.S.16/25
There is no doubt that Elizabeth Corbet Yeats was a woman of many talents. Pictured above is a printer’s device designed by Elizabeth. The device is of a lone, tilting tree which appears to have witnessed some blustery Irish weather throughout the years. Set in a rural landscape, the lonely tree stands boldly against the backdrop of mountains and roaming pastures. Upon closer inspection, we see a subtle signature (EC.Y.) precisely placed amongst the dry stone wall. Elizabeth’s device feels both familiar and other-worldly and evokes a sense of the allurement of the rural Irish landscape. Her device was consistently used over the remaining history of the Cuala Press, in fond memory of its founder.
Unicorn woodcut device, designed by Edmund Dulac for the Cuala Press. Rake.023
Another delightful device from the Cuala Press is a device by the hands of Edmund Dulac. Dulac was a skilled French-British illustrator and stamp designer, famed for illustrating the Bronte sisters’ novels (Dulac illustrated Jane Eyre at the age of 22!) amongst many others. Dulac and William Butler Yeats had a life-long friendship and this device was originally commissioned by Yeats to accompany some of his writings. The leaping unicorn, set in a rectangular frame, has a certain wildness about it. A sense of movement is created by the unicorn’s windswept mane and the expertly cut diagonal and curved lines. The addition of a shining star, placed underneath the tip of the unicorn’s horn, further adds to the fairy tale motif. It’s interesting to note that throughout the history of the Cuala Press a total of four unicorn devices, each created by a different artist, were used.
Lorenzo Pasquato’s dragon device (left) 29.X.6. Dragon fresco, by Giovanni Miretto, Palazzo della Ragione, Padua (right).
Next stop on our printers’ devices tour, Italia (the northern Italian city of Padua, to be exact)! Famed for its rich architectural and art history, it comes as no surprise that literary and printing culture was flourishing here too. A very prolific printer and publisher at the time was Lorenzo Pasquato (1523 – c. 1603). Pasquato of Padua, as he was otherwise known, was active in both Padua and Venice (and in-between) throughout the 16th century up until his death in the early 17th century.
In many instances, Pasquato’s printer’s device features a dog. However this striking woodcut device of a dragon, discovered within a vellum binding dating from 1565, also bears his name. It’s possible that this device is from the early stages of Pasquato’s long and successful career. The engulfing flames, appearing bold against the light hue of the handmade paper, frame the serpentine-like creature. Its beak-like mouth and protruding spine hint at the creatures’ mightiness and to the mythological tales surrounding it. Similarities can be drawn from a fresco (painted by Giovanni Miretto and his assistants in c. 1400) which can still be admired today in the Palazzo della Ragione, in Padua.
Printer’s device of the Accademia della Crusca. 34.F.2/3
Remaining in Italy, heading slightly south to the city of Lucca, this intriguing mark is the device of the oldest linguistics academy in the world. The Accademia della Crusca, or ‘the Academy of the Bran’, was founded in Florence in 1583 and has since been distinguished by its efforts to maintain the purity of the Italian language. Crusca, which means ‘bran’ in Italian, alludes to the metaphor that the Academy’s work is comparable to winnowing. This device, pictured above, depicts an old fashioned sifter or sieve which was once used to separate bran from wheat. Within the floating banner lies the Academy’s motto ‘Il più bel fior ne coglie‘ (‘She gathers the fairest flower’). This is a famous line by the early Renaissance poet Francesco Petrarca and helps to reinforce the meaning which lies behind the mark. This combination of textual and visual makes the Academy’s goal—that is to strain out corrupt structures and words from the Italian language—very clear to the reader.
Printer’s device from the first printed work on peat extraction. 30.C.20
Our final stop of the tour is the city of Groningen, in the Netherlands. Above is the title page from the oldest printed work on the subject of peat extraction, which was printed and published in Groningen in 1658. The text is in Latin and this copy held within our collections was originally part of the Museum of Irish Industry‘s print collection. Written by Martin Schoock and printed by  Johannis Cölleni, it is presented in a handsome red binding. The title page features a woodcut printer’s device with the initials I (or J).C. and a Latin motto, ‘Multiplicando prosum‘, which directly translates to ‘by multiplying the pros’. Within the highly ornate frame, embellished with fruits and foliage, we see a man (dressed very well considering the nature of the work) harvesting the peat or turf. His stern expression suggests that he’s hard at work. The surrounding rural landscape, featuring harvesting tools and a variety of trees, further signifies the subject matter which lies beyond the title page.
To wrap-up this whirlwind of a journey, here’s a particularly fitting excerpt from the prospectus of ‘In the Seven Woods’ by William Butler Yeats (the first book to be published by the Cuala Press) which may serve as a poignant reminder to continue to celebrate and revive the many facets of the art of the book crafting:
‘Though many books are printed in Ireland, book printing as an art has been little practised here since the eighteenth century, the Press has been founded in the hope of reviving this beautiful Craft.’
This blog post was written by Rachel Daly, Library Assistant, UCD Special Collections.
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Further reading/resources:
Delightful Devices: the art of the printer’s mark (part 1)
Pressmarks and devices used at the Dun Emer Press and the Cuala Press (69.B.58/16)