Typographorum Emblemata

Melinda Simon

European Printers’ and Publishers’ Marks in the Eighteenth Century. The Three C’s: Conformity, Continuity and Change

Having researched sourcebooks dealing with printers’ and publishers’ marks, one can come to the conclusion that none of those cover the eighteenth century, but they only process the previous centuries (their closing years are usually 1600 or 1700). The few books that integrate this period present only a negligible number of devices from the eighteenth century. Examining for example the work of Robert Laurent-Vibert and Marius Audin I can confidentially say that it features merely 65 printers’ marks dating from the eighteenth century (i. e. 26%), while 74% of the presented devices date back to the seventeenth century. ...