34
Printers Marks.
par t of the sixteen th. Sometimes there is only one Unicorn on the mark, at o thers there is a pair. Le Pet it Laurens, Paris, was using it contem poraneou sly with the first Thie lman Kerve r, and possibly t he one copied the other. Sénant, Vivian, Kées, and Pierre Gadoul, Chapelet, and Chavercher, were other P aris printe rs who used the same idea in their marks before the middle of the sixtee nth century. It was long a fav ourite subject with the Rouen printers, one of the earliest in that city to use it being J. Richard, whose design is particularly original, inasmuch as the shield is suppor ted on one side by a Unicorn, and on the other by a female, possibly inten ded to repre sent a saint, an idea which was appa rentl y copied by Symon Vincent, Lyons ; th e Unicorn was also use d in t he marks of L. Martin and G. Boulle, both of Lyons ; and also in the very rough but original design employed by PL Hesk er, Antwerp, 1496 ; whilst for its quaint originality a special reference may be made to the Mark of Francois Pluby, Paris, of the latter part of the sixtee nth century, for in th is. a Unicorn is repres ented as chasing an old man. Th e origin of the Unicorn Mark is ess en tially Dutch. Th e editions of the Printer, “ à la licorne,” Deft, 1488-94, are well known to stude nts of early printing. Th e earliest book in which this mark is found is the “ Dyalogus der Creature n ” (“ Dialogu s Cre atu raru m”) issued at that city in November, 1488. Henri Eck ert de Plombergh and Chr. Snellaert, both of Delf, used a Unicorn in their Marks during the latte r years of the fifteenth century.