A printer's mark, device,

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often use ...

or insignia is a

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

that was used as a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

by early

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer ( fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * Jame ...

s starting in the 15th century. The first printer's mark is found in the 1457

Mainz Psalter The ''Mainz Psalter'' was the second major book printed with movable type in the West; the first was the Gutenberg Bible. It is a psalter commissioned by the Mainz archbishop in 1457. The Psalter introduced several innovations: it was the f ...

Johann Fust Johann Fust or Faust (c. 1400 – October 30, 1466) was an early German printer. Family background Fust was born to burgher family of Mainz, traceable back to the early thirteenth century. Members of the family held many civil and religiou ...

and

Peter Schöffer Peter Schöffer or Petrus Schoeffer (c. 1425 – c. 1503) was an early German printer, who studied in Paris and worked as a manuscript copyist in 1451 before apprenticing with Johannes Gutenberg and joining Johann Fust, a goldsmith, lawyer, and m ...

. One of the most well-known old printer's marks is the

dolphin and anchor ''Festina lente'' () or ''speûde bradéōs'' (, ) is a classical adage and oxymoron meaning "make haste slowly" (sometimes rendered in English as "more haste, less speed"). It has been adopted as a motto numerous times, particularly by the e ...

, first used by the

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

printer

Aldus Manutius Aldus Pius Manutius (; it, Aldo Pio Manuzio; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preserv ...

as his mark in 1502. The database Printers' Devices of the Ancient Book Section of the Library of the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat de Barcelona, UB; ; es, link=no, Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, in Spain. With 63,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities i ...

, was launched in October 1998. The

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

libraries also provide digital access to printers' devices and include The

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

devices that have appeared on the cover of their publication ''

The Library Quarterly ''The Library Quarterly'' is a quarterly double-anonymous peer-reviewed academic journal covering library science, including historical, sociological, statistical, bibliographical, managerial, psychological, and educational aspects of the field. I ...

''.

La Paga de los Soldados William Faulkner

Printers' devices have been incorporated in American library buildings, as a reflection of the British Arts and Crafts Movement.Karen Nipps, "Printers' Devices as Decorative Elements in Library Architecture." ''The Library Quarterly'' 83 (July 2013): 271-278.

References

External links

*
Roberts, W. (1893). Printer's marks: a chapter in the history of typography. London; New York: George Bell & Sons. Project Gutenberg Ebook #25663 Released Jun 1, 2008.

Printers' marks
from digitized rare books at the

Linda Hall Library The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...

Base de Typographie de la Renaissance
a database of circa 1100 marks and thousands of other printed ornaments * Signa vides. Researching and recording printers‘ devices. Papers presented on 17-18 March 2015 at the CERL Workshop, hosted by the National Library of Austria, Vienna, ed. by M. Scheibe / A. Wolkenhauer, London 2015 (CERL Studies

* Typographorum emblemata. The Printer’s Mark in the Context of Early Modern Culture, ed by :de:Anja Wolkenhauer, Anja Wolkenhauer and Bernhard F. Scholz, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/ NY 2018 (Schriftmedien 4) , an international handbook and bibliography. {{DEFAULTSORT:Printer's Mark Book design

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

Trademarks

See also

References

External links