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Constructed letters and illuminatedtexts: Regiomontanus, Leon Battista

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Citation Feld, M. D. 1980. Constructed letters and illuminated texts:Regiomontanus, Leon Battista Alberti, and the origins of the Romantype. Harvard Library Bulletin XXVIII (4), October 1980: 357-379.

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Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XXVIII, Number 4(October 1980)

Co11structed Letters a11d Illun1i11ated Texts: Regio111ontanust Leon Battista

Alberti, and the Origins of Roman Type* A1. JJ. Feld

I

1\iOXG THE INCUNABULA in the Pierpont i\1organ Library 1s a copy of the De orntore of Cicero, prjn ted in 146 5 at Suhiaco, Italy, by Conrad S,veynheyrn and Arnold Pannartz. This particu]ar book is ren1arkable both in \Vhat it represents and

in itself. It js part of ,vhat is perhaps the first edition printed in ltaly.1

The characters in ,vhich it is printed represent the earliest kno\vn ex-an1ple of roman type. The copy in question js an especial1y handsome piece of ,vork. 1,.he paper and the press,vork are in a remarkably fine state of preservation, and the initial letters for each of the three books into ,vhich the De oratore is divided nre hand illuminated in elegant fashion.

It is not 1nrrcly· the carcfu] ,vork1n'rtnship of t1~csc three illurninatcd initials that is striking. Their effect is heightened by the fact that their O\VO particular forn1 is remarkably apposite to the roma.n type they serve to introduce (FIG. 1). In contrast to the illun1inated initials fo11nd in other co1npar:1ble books of this period, they give the in1prcs-siun of having been consciously respon~ivc to the typographic-al inno~ vations of their specific time and p]ace.

The motif 1 the ,vhite vines so characteristic of the illuminated ini-tials in early humanist manuscripts~ is not in itself llnique. It is its co1n-bination ,vith the carefully proportioned letters that n1crits our atten.-

The research on which this paper is based ,vas nlade possible by a grant from the L11Jrarfrm::/ Rese~rch Fnnd of Han·ard University. The anthor would like to o.cknow]edge his indebtedness to the staff of the Pierpont P-.1organ and Houghton Ji brar j cs. An c arl i er draft '\\~:as s l1 b1ni ttc d as a course rcq u ire rncnt for L .S. 500, A <l-\·an cc d I11dcpcndcnt Sludy 1 Sinunons Collcg~ S-.::houl of LilJrary Sclcnc.:c.

1 There is docu1nenrnry evjdence, hut no J,,'.:110\,·n copy, of "'cln earlier work by the. same pr j n. ters~ the Don~ tu s Pro p11e ru Ih. Sec Cn tal o g11 e of Books 1 ]'rhJ f. c d in t 1Je XV th Century N O'W in t/Je Rritish ,Huu·1nn1 Part 1 V ( ]...on don, x916 ), p. vii ff.

357


Hnr•vard Libr11ry Bttlletin

tion. 1""his corn bination \Vas to be repeated. The ,v hitc v fr1c n1otif and the particul~r shape and proportions of the letters appear again in sets of ,voodblock initials used by the printers S\vtynhcy1n and Pannartz jn Rome ca. 1470 (F1G. z), by Regiornonta.nust also kno,vn ns Johannes lvluellcr of I(onigsbcrg'.I jn Nurcn1bcrg in 1474 (D'rc. 3), and by Erhard R-atdolt in \ 7 cnicc in 1478 (FIGr 4).

There js nothing i1n1ncd1atcJy· ,vorth)T of co1nmcnt in this last ob-servation. \~'loodblock jnitials did notl obviously, spring out of the thin ajr, Thc)r rnust have been 1nodcllcd on sorncthingt and there is no ]ikclicr candidate · for such a model than the 1Huminatcd initjals ,v hich had appeared in car]ier manuscripts and in the earliest prjnced books. It is highly likely that the first ,voodblock initia]s ,vere made from the stencils of illuminatorsi an.d even jn the selfsan1e \Vorkshop~

,,lha.t is 1nost interesting about this family of initia]s, ho,veyer, is the fact that ,vhilc the ,vhitc vine motif dates hack to the early years of the guattroccnto, the letters themselves belong to :l particular species ,vhuse earliest instance cnn be prcciscl 1r :1ssigncd to the year 1463. They are unn1istakablc cxan1plcs of the letter form l{no,vn as ~'constructed'' letters, that is to sa)r, letters 1nade in accordance ,vjth gcoJ11etrjc rules and pr j n c i p les ( F 1 G. 5) ..

The study of the cultural sjgnificancc of constructed letters js sti11 in its jnfancy·. Pioneer contributions have been 1na.dc by such cn1inent scholars as I\1Ii1lard I\1eiss and Giovanni l\.fardcrstcig.~ Both interpret the practice of f orn1ing letters in accord~ncc ,vjth strict geometrical proportions as a nlanife.c;tation of the don11nant Rcnaissnncc i1npulsc to ref or1n all n1odcs of thought and expression jn accordance ,-vith the prac-tices and principles of ancient Ron1e. This in1pu]sc focused on nvo aspects of c1assical culture, its surviving montunents and inscriptions~ ~nd its authentic texts.

Donald J\-1. Anderson! Tlie Art of H7riue;1 Forn1I: 1~be T/Jeor:y (?.rJd Prerctice of Crrlligr,1pby (1\1e,v y· ork, 1969), pp. r 25-133. A lph~hcts of constrnctcd letters h::tve also been rcf~rred to a~ ' 1cpigJ-aph1 c::-~lpl1:-'Lhets~' - ~cc Luda A. Ci:ipponi, HA Frag-1nen.rnry Treatise on Eplgr:lphic: Alphah~ts hy Fr-a Gioco11do da ,~ cron~,'7 J~e1wis~ !e111re Quartcrlj', XXX 11 ( 1979) i l 8-39.

3 1\1.iJlard /\·kiss, Audre11 Af antegni1 tts 1il1u11hurtor ( G] uckstadt-1-J·.Hnhurg, r957) idcnl, HTov1ards a l\1orc Con1prd1crish·c llcnaiss-ance Paleograpl,yt Tbe 1-'nhi!er's Choice.a Problf!nls in t be lutcrpretmiou of Renaistanc~ Arr (N cvt" York~ 1976) ! pp. 151~175T

4 Gio\"an[1i l\1arderstdg, ciLeone Battista 1\JIJerti e la rinascita del carflttcr,c lRpi-d:irio rornano ncl Quattrocento.," lt~1lfo. Afedioei-•f!le e l....1n1:1nistica, JI ( r959), 2 8 5-307T


I I I ,

I -'

Constructed Letters and lll111ni11ated Texts 3 59

. . .. - ··· .... . . . - . . . . ... .. . . -:

' ... ....

: I

•. • r -~,-···· tti ff·

, p~me

'gi I '

tt1 0 ~~lo:ii' . 1 •. o~~dli _ ~hi fnftW rcqmr ., t p·r~rJ. fludia'.t'efurnd

·11 («tffurit arbitrarcr!(I m· '. ~: . bi~orri~1 occirpa tio de fUr

It)-r q~~rdi~il.\~nu:~i 1. · -~·rwo;e.:rum uant n1 (. -:. _ #~~s ¥ rraqw,n,~sf

· ! ~: ;fmi•ttj.o~_ntpJeftia:i~ f ,· t:!~9; -"~ npbis mpimr

d~ms dl: ~adt:~s arris q, b~idas ~ttr n d" ql_ l't«ll m:ipain 1Rmrliation~ difi mils i nirdJii rt.y. omhiii o~ne p~ fOf u1att:i obie-c

~~r: dcpulft in no!· i ~~I:afp~tfflcus TC! l14~iisno(m.s:~ijcum i

I , • I ' . • , ·L. _..,.....l .. ..-.-..~-ti ........ ....,~ ... _...._. ...

- TT r ......

Omt pdtr( feqLtC n1dlu

I gcc1f ..:1doh n1f d r

Arl (cia.

.______...._,. .. . I s r•

U~t

Ct due Af

-~ -t~:l"'C _:.:1 ~ilJ ~b ~..: ~=~=:_:... _ .. _::::t -~ ..... _:U ..... u is

[4]

I)pi:u I

tct11 t dcpci . ll 10 :H l11C p tuorp i'n rt-it nara 1

3d p•c - - '

FIG, J.. Cicero, De o ratore (Subiaco: S\\' e yn heyn1 :and Pan n artz1 1 46;) . By-permis.siort of the I'ierpo1it A1organ Library~

FJG, 1. Suetonius, Y'itae Caerann11 (Rome: S,veynheym and Pa11r1artz, ca. 1470-71 ). FIG. 3-, l\·:1 an iliu s As tro110111 i ca ( J\'t' ur-cmb erg! Regi onl on tanus., ca. 14 74).

FIG, 4. Appian, Rontn nae histo r iae (Ven.ice! R ar:::do lt, r 4 77 )-


Harvard Library Bulletin

• I

t

FtG. , . Luca Pa cioli, Divint1 propo rt lone ( Venicet 1509). Houghton Library.


Coustr11cted Letters and lllu,ninated Texts- 3 6 1

Tl1c theory of constructed letters \Vas based on an effort to reconcile these nvo sources; namely to analyse and recreate the surviving n1on-umcntal inscriptions of Republican nnd l1nperial Rome in terms of the gco1nctric canons of c1assical architccturci particularly as exemplified in a treatise ,vrittcn some,vhat before 2 7 B.C.,. the De arcbitectura of \litruvius. Constructed letters must not only· have that authentic ,,;Ro1nan" Jook, they n1ust be cap'.cl,hle of description in tern1s of the p2ra1neters and divisions of the t,vo l1asic gconlctric forn1si the square and the circ]e.

The uniqueness in this respect of the series of initials descrjbed above is borne out if one takes the trouble to con1pare them ,vith roughly con tcn1porary illuminated and ,voodhlock initials, such as are, for ex-an1ple, to he found in Lan1berto Donati's. census of the ,voodblock borders used in early \ 1 enetian prjnting. 6 The ,vhitc vjnc motif is quite con1n1on in this latter groupt but ,vjth that the rcscmh]ancc ceases. The a]most aggressive displa.)7 of srrjct ratios bet,veen the con1ponents of individual letters and the ctnphaticaHy fixed rc]ation-ship ,vith their encompassing space that charactcrjzcs the S,vcynhcyn1 and P2nnartz-llegion1ontanus-Ratdolt initials is no,vhcre else ployed.

This fami1Jr of constructed ,voodblock initia]s c~n thus be assigned to a particular tin1e and place. "\1\T c can assu1nc ,vith reasonable assur-ance that they ,vere devjsed at or in the vicinity of Rome sometime be-t\vccn 1465, the date of the S,veynheym and Pannart~ De oratore, and 147 0-7 1, the date of the Svteynheym and Pannartz ,voodb]ock Suetonius. They \vere then s-on1eho,v .transmitted to Nuremberg and employed by the printer, mathematician, and astronon1er Regiornon-tanus in a series of editions in I 474. Close copies of them appear in \Ten ice ,,rhcrc Erhard llatdolt made use of them in 147 8 .. After this point they -are inflated into the genera} and son1e,vhat debased cur-rency of hook decoration. The nexus of affiliation hchvccn these three printers is easi]y exp]ained .. S,veynheym and Pannartz,. as 1 have e]se-\vhcre demonstrated., operated in aH prohahility under the patronage of Cardinal Bcssarion. c llegiomontan us, role as a protcgc., companion, and

!'i L-ambcrto ·Donati., ~i1 Fcegi xi1ogrnfici stampati a mano negPincun~buli italfa.ni," La llihliofiliat LXXI\T ( 1972 )1 157-164. 303-3,2 7~ and LXX\i ( I 971) 1 125-r 74.

6 J\-1. D. l1~chl1 ~'Renaissance Humanism and Some Ear1y Printers' Choice. of Te>:tst unpnblmshcd n1anuscript. TI1i~ the1nc j~ to be developed at Jcngth jn a book in prog~ r<.:ss: Printing and H1mw.niHJ1 in Renais-sance Italy: Au Es.sa,1:· on s!Je Re'"'i.Jiva! of the-Pagan Godr~


Harvard IJbrary Bulletin agent of Cnrdinal Bcssarion is ,vcll docutncntcd. 7 Ratdolt .see1ns to have regarded hin1sclf as the heir to the prjntjng program of Rcgio ... n1 on tan us. :e

The gen cal ogy of cl 1 c id ca of constructed le ttcrs is so n1c,v hat 1n ore complicated. lvlil1ard l\1eiss believes that -Andre::t l\1antegna ,vas the orjginntor of the concept? Giovanni l\1ardersteig assjgns that role to Leon Battista AJherti. 10 '"fhese t\VO llenaissancc artists 2nd 2ntiqnar~ ians :;it any rate ,vere associated in 111~n1y projccts 1 particularly at the courts of the d~Este in F'errara and of the Gonzaga in l\1antua.11

Their particular n] pha bets ,-vcrc at no titne systen1~tically described. ,, 1hat ,ve hrrve of thcn1 is derived by later scholars fro1n letters painted and inscribed jn their p:tin tings and architectural proj ccts. The first kno"'n systc1nstic::tli)7 de.c;;cribed constructed alphabet is to be found in a treatise ,vritten jn 1463 by-one Felice Feliciano., a friend of l\1an-tegna. The next recorded instance of this genre is a book printed in Parn1a about 1 480 by one Damiano da JVloiHe,12 ,vho belonged to a local f~n1i]y of i1lun1inators and of ,vhom virtuaHy nothing else js kno,vn. Follo,ving this \Vas the highly influential Divinfl proportione of Luca Pacioli (\!en ice, I 5 09) . Paciolii a protcge of P1cro del1a Francesca~ ,vas <J. friend of J .. eonardo and, n1ost significantly, amanuensis to AJbcrti durjng the l2st t\vo years of the latterJs Jjfc.1~

External evidence points to Alberti }}S the most Jikely source for these car1)7 Rotnan constructed Jcttcrs. Y1/e kno,v that as a n1cn1bcr of the J)npal Chancery he ,vas resident in Rome at this tin1e, viz .. 1465-r 4 70. He d edicatcd one of his books to Giovanni Andrea Bossi,. the editor of S,vcynhcym and Pannartz"s texts_·u Rc.giornontanust in his

7 Errn;;t Zinner1 Leben 11nd l Vfrl.'eil des Jo!xun1es Al iillcr 'i.'On Konigsberg gerumnt Regio111ont11uus (i\·I iinchcn, 1938) 1 passi111; also Paul La\\Tl'Cnce Rosc-1 Tbe Italian Rena iss an re of Af t1t l;e111"1tic s: Stud 1 er on H 1o;ztr ni st i and At ,'l t hentn ti cians fr 011 l P etrar c IJ to G,1lileo ( Gene\Tet 197 5 ), pp. 91)-1 I 7·

s GilL~rt RT Redgr~ve, Erhard 1?..atdolt and bis JVork at V'enice (London, 1894-). l\1c:iss, A11drea A1nntep;,1n (note 3 3bove) 1 p. 72 ff.

10 i\•1 =i rd en~te i g~ op. cit. (note 4 a!Jo v e), pas ri n I. 11 i\•I. J\1uraro 1 HJ''14lntcgna e Alberti," Convegno jnrernazionale di studj su] Rina-

scimento, \ 11 (Florence., etc., 196l): ..t1rte., pcnsicro e cul turn a Aft1n1ova n.el prin1a Rinas.chuento in rrrpJ1orto con la Torcana c run il V cneto (F]orence, 1965}, pp. 103-r r!..

1=== Anderson~ op. cit+ (note :2 a Love)) pp. r 26--12 S-. 10 Art. "Pacio]lt Dictio11nry of Stient ifi c Biography (1','evt Yorki 1974), X, 269-

2 71. 1 -t Leon Battista A 1 L erti, On I'« in thlg and On Sculpture; T be Lat in Texts of De


C,011str11ct ed Let tars and I IJ·1oniuatcd T e:rts

correspondence~ testifies to his admiration for Alberti and to the inter-ests he shared "'Ii.vi th hin1.1~ A]bcrti hin1sclf, in his trca tjsc on crypto-gn1phy, De cou1po11deudir cifris, ,vritt-cn in 1466, provides us ,vith ,vhar is, I believe, the :first reference to prir:i,ting 1n Italian ]iterature.10

From it ,ve can infer that he visited S,vcynheym and Pannartz during their Su birrco period ( ciL 1465-6 8) and o bscrvcd thcrn at "\Vork.

Alberti., ho\ve\'er, ,vas not the desjgner of the Ron1an ,voodblock initials. A con1parison of his initials ,vith those of S,vcynhcy1n and Pannartz-Rcgion1ontanus n1akes this clear. As ,ve run through the assctn b]cd corpus of early constructed a]pha bcts 1 his (Fie. 6), that of F c1icjano (Fu~. 7), of fvlantcgna (FJG. 8) 1 and of d a i\1oiHc (F1G. 9), it is obvjous that the n1ost Jikely candidate for this honor is Damiano da i\-'loiIJe. A side-by-side comparison of individual letters seems to n1e not only convinc1ngt but a]so one in ,vhich the fc,v anon1a]ies~ nnn1ely· D and !VI3 can be casil)r accounted for on rational technical grounds ( I~ I Gs I 9- I O) • l 'i

This b)7 no n1eans rules out the scmin-a.l role of l~eon Batcjsra Alberti. l\-iciss has cogently :1rgued that the ur~trcatisc of Felice FcHcjano repre-sents the sorne,vhat botched cff ort of a "Dr~ "\'-7atson"-like con1pnnion to capture the idea~ that his 1norc gifted friend, 1\1lantegna~ expounded in conversation and jn practice hut ,vas too busy to set do,vn in syste-tnatic forn1. The re]ationship hcnveen Alberti and da l\Joillc may have been son1c,vhat sin1iJar. They· cou]d have met during one of AibertiJs nun1crous sojourns in the Po \Talley, and A]berti 1nay have brought hin1 hack to Ron1e ~s a protege and assistant. There he ,vorked out in systematic fashion this particu]ar aspect of the rnaster'.ts n1ultif::1cctcd genius. Upon A]herti~s death in 147 2, d:t j\Jloi11c n1~y have returned to Parma to contjnuc his career in his native city. There he printed :1.

pattern book of the Jetter forms he had ,vorkcd out durjng his 1norc :id~ venturous youth.

f,ictura and De rtatua, -cdin.:J ,i.·ith trr.:nsbtions~ introducdon :.lnd notes; by Cecil Gray-son (London> 1971 )~ p. 11 S'.

1:, J o~n G11dol, Leon Battjsta Alberti: Universal A!m1 of t/Je Enrly l~enaissnncc ( Chit.:ago1 l 969) ! p. r95 fl.

16 Fir.st printed in Italian t111nsladun in Opuscoli 11wrnli di T~eon lfotista A lbcrti~ Gentil-huon10 Firentino1 tradouj~ & pa rte corrctti d:1 ill. Co.siuw IlartoE ( \ 7 enir.c:) 1568), pp. 200--2.01.

1 j The splayed ]egs of th~ ,.vooduiock Af I and the shortened radius nf the ,;.vood-blocl.: D arise fn)ln the technical necessity of keeping the Jines a\vay fron1 the very edge+


Harvard Libraf'y Bulletin

Fro. 6. Leon Battista Al L eni, f xorn j\ 1 ardersteig, op, tit, ( note 4).


'

Constructed I.Jetters and lll1n11h1r1ted Texts

' . . ' • I

I

. ' . I ' -.;;;;;;;;;;;;::;iiii-ii!I

.. ,i

Fie. 7. Felice Felicfano, ca. 1400---1463 (Rome~ Bibliotcca Varicana, Vat. lat. 6S51) from l\-1.ciss, The Painter's Chojce (note 3)~


Ilar11.urrd Library Bulletin

l1rG. 8. l\·faritegml) Initials (Alhi, Bibliothcquc. Rochcgudt\ i\1S. 4) from J\:leiss, A ndTea AJantegna (note , ) .


Co11s-tructed Letters a11q lllun1i11ated Texts 3 67

Frn. 9. D a n1iano ca l\1 oill o. from The Al G y lusx A 1 pba bet ( note 18) .

: :-----:.•~"I.~,:-:i . .

f , - I

r,;~~ J· ">,.";)i ./'!. ..... ' ,' ., ·~ IJ.-~· ~/ ;).-"--::<_). 1 I ~~....;;;...;;;.; ~-"""""'--"-~ - ~-4~J

FIG~ 1 o. Sweynhcyn1 and Pannartz - Regiomonta.nus 1:V oodblock Jnitfals, ca· 14 70--74.


368 Hnr1Vnrd JJibrar1y Rullethz Thjs Ars nlpbabetic1nn ,vas prjnted b)7 da l\1oille about 1480. It

appears to have escaped al1 notice u t~ti l it ,vas rediscovered son1cti1nc in the ear1y 192os.18 It may, ho,vevcr, have 1uld some impact on its conten1poraricsa The 1'1lunich Stmnsbibliothck contains a n1anuscript alphabet ,vhich~ to judge fro1n the direct cotnparison of facsimiles (F1c. 11) ~nd ,vith the prestigious concurrence of Dr. Giovanni l\1ardcrsteig, a pp ears to be n direct Jnd accurate copy of the da 1\1oil1c tf C1l ti SC. 19

This n1anuscrjpr, dated ca. 1482., is in the hand and fron1 the collcc~ tion of the. Nuren1bcrg hu1nanist, physiciant and bibliophile, 1-I-art-rnann Schede], n1ost generally kno,vn as the author of the Nure111-berg Cbro11icle.2r. But ho,v accurntc is this dating? It is based only on the assumption that the rnnnuscript 1nnst have been copied from the booki ,vhich itself ,vas printed in 1480. The letters the1nsclvcs arc dcn1onstra. b]y I tali an in origin. A German n1an11script of Schedcl's lifetime 1nustt therefore., have an Italian source ..

But is this source necessarily the prjntcd book of 1480? There is also the possibility· that the book and the 111anuscript ha-ve a common source. Some 'of the lcno\Vn particulars of Schcdcrs Jife lend them-scJves to this hypothesis. ,,re kno\v that the Schedel family ,vas part of the circle of Nuren1berg patricians ,vho ,velcon1ed and supported the scientific and prjntjng activities of Regiomontanus during the latter's brief sojourn in that city·.21 Hart1nann Schcdcl himself ,vas in Ron1e jn 14 71 "\\'hi]c there, he must hnvc vjsitcd the shop of S\vcynheym and Pannart"l in the Cnmpo dc'Fiori As evidence of this \ve have Schedel,s 111anuscript price list of the t\ 1{elve books availub]c at th2t time and in that place+22

It seen1s highly unlikely that Rcgiornontanus ,vas in llomc at that time. Fron1 his journal of astronon1ical nbservations 1 ,ve kno\v that

. sometime af tcr 1 5 l\1arch 14 7 1 he left Budapest and the court of Matthias Corvinlls and that by 6 June 1471 he ,vas settled in 1\Turem-bcrg! hardly enough ti1ne for the hu1nanist in transit to go to Rome and

18 Dan1iano da i\-loll[c:, The Af o,-lu.;s-Alpbabet: A Ne-1ul::,· Discovered Treatis~ on Cl,usic Letter Dt:sign, Jntroduction by Stanley J\1orisoa (P~ris! 19:17 ).

u, J\,tardcrsteig, op. clt. ( note 4 abovt ), p. 305. 20 Adrian \Vilson, Tbe Aftt}ii11g of the ],lurenzbe-rg C/Jronicle (Am~terdam 1 1976). 21 'l..inn1:r ! op. cir. ( nol'C 7 a l.J o,Te), p. 119 ff. 22 G:ahrielc Paolo Carosii Subiaco I'introduzione ddltt stmn/M in Italia (J\1:ilan1

1972) i iHusr. 24.


Constructed Letters and lllu111inr1ted Texts

I I I • ' • I

• I : •

! I

! ' : '

I • •

...... -. - ........ ----------

F10~ r,. Ha.rtn1ann Schedc:l, Ms. Alphabet~ ca. 148.2 {MUnchen Staat.sbH,Bothek, am. 961).


37° l-larvard Library Bulletin

vjsit his patron, Cardinal Bessarion.23 But he ,1{ouldt given the fact that the move to Nuremberg ,vas the product of ripened negotiations., have had time to enlploy an agent to visit his Ro1nan f ricnds and in tcllcctnal co-,vorkers in order to acquire the ncccssar)7 printing cquipn1ent. This Ron1an agent ,vould also :1ccount for Rcgion1ontanus" roman type-faces, ,vhich bear a striking rcsen1blance to those a1rea<ly employed by S,vcynhcyn1 and J>annartz, and for his acq uistion of a set of ,vood-b]ock initials ,vhich appear to be prcc1scl)r the ones used by S,vcyn heym and Pannartz.

I shall even go so far as to argue that these ,voodblocks ,vere in fact n1ade for Ilcgio1nontanus, and that the actual circunistances of their use by· S,veynhcy1n and Pannarrz in late 1470 or ear]y 1471 can be ad-duced 3S evidence for the presence of such an agent in llon1e at that tin1e. The facts arc as f ollOl\'S: the ,vhite vine pattern ,voodblock jnitiais arc used hy· S\veynheyn1 and Pannartz in only one edition~ the Vitae Caesrrru,n of Suetonius issued ]ate jn 1470, 2nd not even con-sistcnt]y there.. The initjaJs ha,1 c been used in the cxemp]ars of that edition in the Pierpont 1\1organ Librar)\ the Princeton University Library, 2nd in ]ihrarjcs in Florence~ Naples, and llornc~ They arc not used in a copy once o,vncd by I-I. P. J{raus (cat. 1 2 6, no. 3 3), in the Brjtish Library copy,2·1 nor, -according to l..ramherto Don:iti, in other copies of that edition found in Jtaly·.~5 The John lly1ands Uni-vcrsit)7 Library of l\1anchester h~s t\vo copicsJ one ,vith, and one ,vithou t. They are never again used in Ron1c 1 not even in S,veyn heym and Pannartz\i 17 Scptc1nhcr 147 z reissue of Suetoni\1~. In the case of R egi o n1 on tan us, h O-\ v evcr,. th cs c part i cu 1 ar ini t i2 Is~ id en ti ca I do, vn to the number 3nd pattern of background dots~ are to he found in, so far as I can n1ake out, every kno\vn copy of the five c]assical and neo-classica] Latin texts he printed in the course of his brjef typographic:1l career (FIGS. 1 2, 1 3).

';,•lhnt I believe happened js this. Regiomontanus had- the ,vood-b]ocks cut in llo1nc by da 1\1oi1lc according to proportions established by A]bcrti. Rcgiomontanus then had S,veynheym and Pannartz, ,vho ,vere a]so supplying l1i1n ,vith type-faces, instructed to make a trial n1n using these very ,vnodblocks for the initials, other,vise hand-

23 Zinner, op. cit. ( note 7 al.Jove)~ p. 1 ~4-2·1 Caurlof{ue (note 1 3bove)~ Part IV, p. 11. A census of the sun·iving copies of

thh: edition \Vouhl Le useful. Q.-; Domldi 0/), cit. (note 5 above)~ LXX\i, l Jl~


Co11structed la1etters nud llhnninated :t'exts 371

.nee.I ex.B recer .c6m1 muh

· · _.gent f~i:~ a~no .aP_atr1buf1n p.!

. . . .. ---:- r I "" ,r, .. : 1 • • '. 1 •

• 'I .., • r I 'I I 'I , ._,

• ... • 'I .

c-~:Saetonu I . .

Ochonirim • r l ' -. ' . ·.

A101 . ·fc1m1 Ern Ro

·.gra, uer-c ) t, =~2~==;=5=· :!J_. grd(

g~nere p~ec[aro :· inu~rc1z-u·

Fm. 1 :i. F roJn S,vcyn hey n1 and Pa nnartz E<l i tiu n of Su cton i us, JTitae Caesarun1, ca. 1470--71 .

. ·osIS IOANNES DE • - • • r •

iru,;~~==~q .......... ~,...,,,;::;~ 0 ft~ t1· ftris fo!

'I • • I I

plm'1S ----'-' · tis ill ur

q,quor mur: r

\ T.i iUatis .t JAi1 }~ ~!:£FU,~,; - -r~ : ! M l#i~J d ~_1:11

}_-s. .... ~~-· ·-:.::-~ii} ~e1nUl 1

b~1m clticnh"nciatis. Mibi autem • ..; .... of ........... r..,, ... r,, ...... f-- ;"11,1'\l 1 '!'I ...-n-n rl ('lolt('I, ...._.

Fm. 13. From Books Printed by Rcgiornontanus in Nurc1nbcrgJ ca, 14 74. (P frorn Regiomontanus, Disputationer, j\,t fron1 J,·I:aniliu.s1 Astrono11lica).


372 I-larvard LibrnT)' Bulletin painted., in nn edition they then had in press. T·he agent of Regiomon-tanus, satisfied \Vith the dc1nonstration! accepted the ,voodb]ocks and sl1ipped them off to Nurcn1bcrg, ,vhcrc they \Vere put to more con-sistent use.

Ho,v does Hartmann Schcdcl fit into this? l~c ,vas fron1 Nurem-berg and ,vas a mem ucr of the circle of pa. tricia.n fa1nilics (inc1uding, particularly., his uncle I-Icrn1ann Schedel) ,vhich invited llegiomon-tanus to Nuremberg and \vhicl1 supported his scientific and humanist projects ,vhile he ,vas there. 1\-lorcovcr, I-Iartn1ann Schcdel, in all likeli-hood~ vjsited the Roman printing cstabiisluncnt of S,veynhcyrn and Panr~artz ca. 1470~7 r. His n1anuscrjpt price Jist of their hooks has as its last entry the Catena aurea of Thomas Aquinas, an edition <lated 7 Dccen1bcr 1470. It does not include the J1itae Caesartnn of Suetonius .. 2u Frain cjrcu111stantjal evidence, ho,vevcr,. ,ve kno\v that the 1att~r n1ust have been prjnted son1etime bet,veen 1 5 September 1470 and 15 lvlarch 1471. lt \vas, therefore, presumably in press at the time of Schedel's hypothetjcal visit to S,veynheym and Pannartz, and, gjven its imperial subj cct \ v as an j deal vehicle for a trial run of constructed ,v o od b I oc k jnitials. At the same time and on the san1e hypothetical 1nission, ,vith an introduction fro n1 ll e g j o 111 on tan us to A] bert i or son1 e other n1cm b er of the latter's circle, Schcdc] \Vas put in touch \Vjth the ,vor ks hop of Da1niano da l\-1oille, ,vhcrc he s:t\V the comn1issioncd ,voodh1ock ini-rja]s, and in the proces~ made himseJf a copy of the pattern book em-ployed in this project .. Son1etirne about 1476 Hartmann Schcdcl re-turned to Nuremberg ,vhcrc he 11chicvcd pron1incncc a.s a physician and as a p~tron of both hu1nanis1n and printing .

.. fo summarize \vhat has been said of the ivJ.organ Library 146 5 De orntore and of the ,vood block initials employed in some but not all copies of the S,vcynhcyn1 and Pannartz ca~ 1470-7 1 impression of Suctoniust J7 itae Caesarun1 and consistently throughout all the I..,utin books printed by Regiomontanus in Nuren1berg ca. r 474: examination and comparjson supports the assumption that all of the initials in ques-tion are constructed letters and that thC)7 have a comr11on 5ource. Given ,Yhat ,vc kno,v about the history of constructed letters,. this source must have been associated ,vith the cjrclc of Leon Battjsta Alberti~ and active in llo1nc ca. 1465-147 r. An cxan1ination of the letters t~1crnselves supports the be]ief th at the ,voodblocks used by

~° Cntalogue (note I above)i Pa.rt IV 1 pp~ 11-11.


Coustructed Letters nnd lll1nniuated Te:rts 373

S,veynhcy1n and Pannartz in Rome in 1471 and hy Rcgion1ontanus in Nuremberg in 1474 arc physically one and the same. IIartmann Schedcl's docun1entcd interests~ family connections, and itincniry n1ake hin1 a plausible candidate for the agent "'ho oversa,v the execution of these \Voodblock initials in Rome and their subsequent trial and ship-1nent to Nuremberg. The existence of a manuscript "constructed al-phabet'' in the hand of Hartmann Schcdel and similar in form to one printed in Parn1a ca. 1480 by the illun1inator Damiano da i\1oillc, both cxpoun ding the basic proportions of the i]lumin ated -and ,vood block initials discussed above~ is an additional support for these hypotheses.

II It ~eems ~ppropriate that these particular ,voodhlock initials ,vere de-

signed expressly for Region1ontanus, surely the 1nost distinguished h urn an i st n1 at h cn1 a tic i a n-:1.s tron o 111 er ever to manage a pr in ting press. The underlying ideas, ho,vever, did not belong to him alone. As prjnrer and scho]ar, Rcgion1ontanus ,vas an ::1ctivc participant in a. closely· knit and self-consciously radicnl cu1turnl movement. The principles gov-erning selection of his specific forn1s and texts ,vere directly related to the beliefs -and objectives he shared ,vith his patron, Cardinal Bcssarion'I and ,vith f cllo,v n1en1bers of the lattcr~s entourage~ 1~'hat they h1d in common \Vas the vision of a neo~Platonic rational cosmos1 one in \Vhich uU things \Vere governed by and achieved their particular perfection in terms of divine mathen1atica.l proportions. 27

The constructed letters con1n1issioncd and en1plo)red by Rcgio-montanus ,vcrc graphic evidence of such a con1prehensive ,vor]d scheme. The Jetter forn1s ,vhich 1nost cff cctivcly conveyed the ,vjs-don1 of the ancients and the message of the l1cavens ,vcrc governed by the very principles detern1intng the authenticity and values of the conveyed texts. Printing ,vas thus integrated into the humanistic discipline ,vhich 1nadc n1an, literally as ,vell as in every other senset the 'ine1.1surer of all t11jngs. His 1ncasuring \Vas the key to the under-.standing both of the \Vorld about hin1 and of the body of classical lit-erature in ,vhich it ,vas 1nost fully and n1ost intelligently-dcscrjbcd. 1t ,vas the principle -according to ,vhich the perceived -and the ideal~ the physical and the rationa], ,vcrc to be harmonized.

1 ... h ese letters ,v hi ch carri cd the n1 css-a gc of t l 1 c prod u c ti vc recon cilia-21 Feld, op. cit+ (note 6 abcnre).


374 Harvard Library 11111/etin

tion of the squr1rc and the circ]c ,vcrc only part of an ~rchitectonic order ,vhich, starting \Vith the 1nunan body., cornprchcndcd all the creations of arts and science and ultj1nately· reflected the struc-n1rc of the heavens thcrnsclvcs. The basic ideas in question represented di,~ersc jntc] lee tu-a I strains '" hich happened to con verge in early fif-tccnth-ccn tury· Florence. There the discovery of the historical -and cultural uniqueness of ancient Rome associated \Vjth such names as Lconnrdo Bruni~ Poggio TiraccjoJjnii Bn111cl1cschi, Donatello~ nnd Al~ bcrti, through the occasion of the council of Florence ( 1438-39), re-ceived further sti1nulation and enrichment in the presence of Pletho and Bes sari on, a post 1 cs of Platonic ti m el e ssn ess The ,r i tr u v ian no ti on of n1an as the basjc 1ncasuring and n1easurab]e princip]c \Vns reinforced by· the deeper P]~tonic mythoJogy of a divinely 1neasurcd •Jnd con-structed universe.~~ Alberti had the personal n1ission of f orrnulating and conveying this 111essagc in 1nodcrn f or1n. Through him, jn his chosen t,vin n1odcs of n1athcn1aljcal perspective and archaeo1ogic-a] an tiquarianisn1~ fr ,vas tr~1ns1nitted to painters of the Floren tine Quat-trocen to. io Fron1 that point on the strtam broadened to jnc]ude such figures a:; Leonardo da \ 7inci (F·1c. 14), Luca Pncioli (F1G+ 5 )~ l~ran-cescu di Giorgio (F1G, 1 5), Albrecht Diircr (FIG. 16), and Geoffroy Tory (Fu~. 17) .. ..

Tf Alberti can be said to embody the Ron1an edge of this moven1ent 1

,vith it~-cn1 phasis on the practical and the physical~ the Greek jrnpulsc to,vards the theoretical and the jdeal is represented by Rcgion1ont~nus. }\long ,vjth his tcachcI (~ corg Pe~rbach he ,v-as the instigator of a pro-grarn tu ref orrn the corpus of cclcstia1 o hscrva rjon.~. I-Jere precise n1(:rr-suremcn t ,vas cs~en tial, rrnd the Ron1ans 1vere notabJy· dc.ficicn t jn higher n1nthernatics. Under the direct ~ti111u]us of llcss~1r1on~ Regio-n1on tanus learned Greek 2nd applied the principles of the ~ncjent 11111 th ctn :1. ti ci :l ns~ no t}l b 1 y· A re I 1 in 1 ed es, Apo I Joni us~ and Diop hall tu s J

to a 11101-c exact description of the heavens. 30

li~or Rcgiornontanus, astrononl) 7 , properly taughtt ,vas the science that separated m~n fro111 the anin1~Js and brought hirn nearer to God'"

~s G~orgc H oln1cs~ The Florentine EnligJ.,te-n111ent,, 1400-50 (Ne"' York! 1969 ) .. jkr.~fin1.

:m John ,vMtci ~r be Birt/:J and Rcbirtb of I'ictodal SpC1.ce (Ne\v York 1 19p ), p. r Z I.

ao Rose, op. cit. (note 7 auo\·e )., p. 98". Region1ontaru.1s t=tlso been credited v,•ith th c i L1 rent inn of l l 1 c Ji rst :scientific i L l strum en t of th c Ren 'il i.;s:l n cc~ ll as t ro lab c he 3TI'J. d c for C:";1rdtn::1J lh~ss3rion. See Derck J. de S. Price, '~1·1H~ l 1~frst Scientjfic I11stru1ncnt of the Rctrniss-ancc/' I' hysis! 1 { 1959) ! 26-30~


I I I

\ \

.....

\ .

-II

\ \

\

Constructed Letters a11d l lhnninated T e:rts

,, ....

~~=--- -•-- - -• -"7'" _ _____,._....__• .... A~ -- • - - -• -• - - • - fe . -·

--- f

j

\1 L 1 r I

I ... .

L--- -- -- ..... __ , .. - -

-,J-·· ":Ji • "'/~

- '

I -.;• ,_.

14-1

:..Iu> .f 1)~1· i

, r -. -..r· .,

-... • - • I

__..,.,, __ ......,__,...........L_ ___ • - ' • - j

h- ,L.-11!.1,

.'T-•--i: ....f

FlG. 14. Leonardo, Figure after V'"itruvius-1 from Andre. Chastel, The Genius of Leo'llardo da Vinci (New Yorl(~ [961 ).

375

• i

..

J

I •

\ 1

)

f'


I-/ arvard Library Bulletin

. . I ..

..

FIG. 15. Francesco di Giorgio, T-rattoto (Florcncc 1 Bibl. Naz. 1 i\1S II.I. 14 l ).,

from Henry l'\1illon, '~The Architectural TJ1eory of Francesco di Giorgio,,' Art Dulletint XL ( ! 958)1 2j7-261.

Frc. 16. Dilreri front his On t/Je Just Sb~1pi12g of LetteTS (New York,. 1965 ). FlG. 17~ Geoffroy Toryt from his Cbm-np Fleury (Neiv York 1 1967).


Constructed Letters aud l Jl1nuinated 'J. 377 1."'he proper teaching of astronomy., therefore, is the ]ink th-at joins his sci en ti fie jo terests to his prjnting progra1n. If this celestial pedagogy ,vas to thrive, it \Vas essential that the fundan1ental anctent and n1odern ,vor ks be readily :available, and that the basic Greek texts be accurately translated jnro hu1nanistically sound Latin. Having himself mastered Greek and as an accornplishcd humanist, Rcgion1ontanus ,vas uniquely capable of carryjng out hoth these aims. His prjnting program is ex-plicit on this pojnL One book, perh~ps the first1 the 11ractatus contra Cre111011CT1sia, demolishes in detail the co111petence of rival translators and con1n1cntators. 1-Ic then ,vent on to edit his o\vn basic ,vorks of astrono1nical observation, as ,vcll as the Tbeoricae 11 ovae planetannn of his master Pcurbach -a.nd the locur c!nssicur of Latin and EieHenistic astronomical lore~ the Astrouo'lnica of i\-1ani]ius. The direct or super-vised transla.tion of the relevant Greek mathc1natica1 texts ,vou]d have shortly follo,ved1 but for his sudden departure fron1 Nurcn1bcrg and untimely death.

l-Iov1cver logical it may seen1 in retrospect, the decision of Regio-montanus to beco1nc a professional printer stilJ requires explanation4 He ,vas, -after all, one of the rnost distinguished scho]ars of his age) nnd printing, at a time \vhcn such distinctions ,vent beyond n1crc no1ncn-clature, ,vas a n1echanical trade. 1 .. herc ,vas no precedent for sucll be-havior, -and ,ve have to ,vait t,venty-fivc years to find soincthing analo-gousl though not quite the s11111c1 in Aldus l\1anutius.31 The setting up of a press in Nuremberg can be explained on the ha.sis of the papal anti-PJatonic reaction ,vhich had since 1467 n1adc Raine incre~singly in-hospitable for Ressarion and h1s assocjates~B2 But ,vhy should this have led to Ilcgion1ontanus' personal jnvoJvement in the printing trade? Gern1any ,vas hardly lacking in skilled practitioners; indeed, almost ~.11 of the Italian prjntcrs of that ti111c ,vcrc of Teutonic origin. And as for Nurc1nhcrg 1 Anthonius l(ohcrgcr, the very model of an cntcr-prisjng and innov~tivc printcrJ ,vas "itlready 1n business there.

Rcgio1nontanus' choice of this ne\V and so1nc,vh::1t decl~sse profes-sion n1ust, I bclic\Tc, he :ina]ysed not oniy in terms of his printing pro-gram, hut 1nore spccifical1y in terms of his choice of roman type, ,vhich he ,v.is the first German printer to use in systcn1atic fashion. Like those

31 T'hc p ra ct i cc'!: 1 tnan:i. gc rntnt of the Al dine Press 111a y v c1·y ,vc 11 ha\' e r(;.Ste d in the h:tnlh of Aldns"t otiginr-i.1 p~rtner r1.n.d e,Tcntual f athcr-in-la\\\ Antlrc3 Totresani; see ~1ardn Lowry 1 The Tflorid of Aldus A!antuiur: Busi'lll?H rmd Scbol~rsbip in Renoissm1ce Venice ( Oxford! 1979) 1 p. 76 ff.

:n Feld~ op. cit. (note 6 at.ave).


H nrvard Li brrrry Bu! I etbr of S,vey11hcyn1 and Pannartz, his cypc~faces appear to be n1odcllcd, to the best of sornc 1natdx n1aker's ability, after son1e hun1anistic script. Type and text ,vere so inti111atc]y associated that thcjr union could not be entrusted to a hand unfan1iliar \Vjth the basic principles governing both. In all of Germany·, Rcgion1ontanus ,vas the only· n1an \Vho could n1cct his o,vn stringcn t ref_]u1re111ents.

It is difficult if not jrnposslble to place ourselves in the frame of ,nind of the Italian humanists confronted by the technique of printing. This imJlOrted invention ,vas so thoroughly ~nd in1mediately 8cccptcd and assinlilated th3t the itnpression of novelty ,vas over,vhchncd :lnd for-gotten. It 111ight1 ho,vever, be useful to rernen1bcr that jn the first de.scrjption \VC have, that of Alberti in his treatise De cifris, ca. 1466,, printjng and cryptogrrrphy or, to he yet 1norc spccjfic, n1ovablc type :1nd the cipher ,vhccl -are casuall)r affiliated; printing, that is to say, js treated 2s an ahernative method for extracting the hidden n1eaning of a text.c'.3

As has alread)r been noted, it is not difficult to assume that Alberti ,vas fan1iliar \vith the ,vork of S\veynhcy1n and Pannnrtz fron1 the earliest phases of their I t'8.lian operations. I-.Je djd after aH dedicate one of hjs ,vorks to Giovanni Andreas Bussi, the editort fron1 l 468 on, of S\\rcynheym and Pann~rtz's c]assical texts~ De cif ris itsc]f \Vas dedi-. . catcd to Bishop Leonardo Dati, hc~d of the Chancery·, and, on the evidence of his autograph inscription 1 the purcl1ascr in K ovc1nbcr 1467 of these prjnters' De civitate Dei1 Subjnco~ 1 2 June 1467 .34 lly 1467, therefore~ it is pla11sible to assu1ne that printing \Vas kno,vn and -accepted in the n1ost enlightened Ron1an intellectual spheres.

But ,vhat \Vere the tern1s of its acceptance~ particularly a1nong its earliest sponsors, the advanced hu,nanists of BcsssrionJs circle? It seems to n1e not f ar~fetched to hypothesize that the ron1an type-face jrn-mediately and \yithout 3ll)T precedent adopted by the first printers jn Italy ,vas a guarantee of the orthographical and phiio]ogical corrcct-

33 Ilanulj, op. tit. (note r 6 ~bovc )., p~ ioo. It is ,vorth noting iri this context that Hartn1ant1 Schcdcl had the n1~rn1s1'...'.tLpt -alph~llet described above Lou nd \\'ith his tr~n-scrjption of the dedicatory epistle of Lascarjs to h[s cnitio:1 of the Ant /Jologia Grae ca I'Jcmudca (Florence, 1494). L~sc~ris ad\'ocates the cxdusi·vr use of fopiJary l:apitals in Greek ~nd L~tin printing ~s essential for rcstorjng thn philological, historical, and ac.sthcdc purity· of the tcxL AJl other Jetter fonns represent a barbarhin increment. Sec E1n:i.nncle Casan1assin1a1 hJ..cttere A ntichct Gluenberg }nhrbucb, 19641 pp. 13-i6 (p. 22.).

34 Carosi., op. cit~ ( note 2? aLo\Te ), illu.~t~ i 1.


Constructed IJetters (Jnd llltnninated Te.xts 379

ncss of the Such clai111s ,vcre co111n1on t1n1ong the proponents of hun1anistic script. dliabct/' Guarino da~ \ 1 crona, the teacher of Dussi, had ,vrittcn 1 H i\il acrobiun1, ut audio, litteris an tiqnis, fide]em e1ncnd2tum ... ~, ~a Antique (i.e. hun1ani~t or ron1an) letters ,vcre tl,crcf ore both a guarantee of the guthcnticity of a classic text nnd a key to the dcciphcrn1cnt of its true meaning~ To tran~cribe a 1nanu-script fron1 n1edieval tu hun1anist characters ,vas in itself an act of en1cndation~ the first step in a progran1 of philological reform. "\~1ithin the techn ic~ l 1in1itations of ear1y type-castjng,, the exact proportions ,vorkcd out hy A]berti and ·l\1antcgna could not, of course~ be achieved+ They could1 ho,vever, be regarded as an approxin1ation~ a clain1 ,vhich could jn no ,vay be n1adc for their black-Jetter counterparts. \\'ith the device of ti constructed" ,vood block initials such clain1s \V(TC 1nndc, ns it v;,rere, heraldic. ~r he texts ,vere ''ilh1n1i11ated'' ,vith the recaptured 1ight of ~ncicnt ,visdorn. The rational ordering of the universe, rhc real secret of tl1c ~ncic11ts, \Vas prcscn te<l in per.(;p;cu ous f orn1~

H.on1an type and the printing progran1s ,vith ,v hich it is c:loseJy as-sociated can thus be regarded as an integral part of the Renaissance h u n1an is1n '" hich gave 11s linear pcrspccti vc~ proportioned a rchi tccturc, and the en1pjrica? 111easurcmcnt of nstronomical phcnorncna. The type-[ nccs :first used in !ta lian printing \Vere not sicnp1 y p:trt of a copying .systcn1~ They ,vere rather a direct n1anif cs ration of the principles ,vhich, in the 1nost ad vanccd circles., ,vcrc thong ht to n1otivate the texts 1nost ,vorthy of preservation and distr1bn tion. Ron1an J etters ,vere in thc1nscl vcs evidence of an a 11-pervasivc undcrl ying rational order. It ,vas the guest for th is order that j ustificd the study of ancient Ji tera-tu re and n1adc printjng itse]f ,vorthy of cnl1ghtcncd patronage.. 'fhe 1\.JcL.uhanite forn1u]a of the mediun1 being the 1ncssnge may ho]d in son1e cases~ per haps those ,vhere the mess~1gc js not ,vorth the effort of repetition. l t scar<.:cly ho]ds for the phcno1ncna discussed here. It ,vas the n1essage of the RcnRissancc that fashioned the 1nedia of its prcscn tation. The special gen ins of the period 1nay be. found in the fact that the 1ness~ge and the tninds that forn1t1lated it ,vcrc so po,vcr-ft1l as to fuse rtll into a systein sc.cn1ing]y coherent~ yet so co1nplcx that the e]ucidation of all its details and connections forever evades us.

i:. HHe has. a i,·L1c-t"obius, a~ I hear, in antique l~ttcrs, fiithfu} 1 emclldcd .. ~H

( Rc•nigio s~bbadini~ ed., EpiHolario di Guarino V crone re-, l [\r en ice, 19151- J 57). For a 1norc dct',:l,ilcd discussion, Em::1nuclc: C;1s:.tn1assima, 1LLittcrac Gothica~_,11 La Biblio{ilfa, LX] l ( l 960 ), 109-143.


CONTR[BUTORS TO THIS ISSUE D AK IEL AA Ros-is ,, ic tor S. 1~ ho1n n:s Professor of Eng Hs h :1. n d An1 crican Li tcra-turc at Harvard; his books include A1cn of Good Hope: A Sto1-y of A1nerican Pro gi-essives ( l 95 1), lVriters on tbe Le{ t: Episodes in A1uericau Literary Co1n-11nu1ir111 ( 1961) 1 and T/Je U11rim-itte11 lVar: A111erican l-Vriters and tbe Civil JVar ( 1973).

J\{. D~ Fv.J.D, Reference Librarjan in the I Jttaucr l..iLrary at Harvard, .is the author of Tbe-Structure of l 7 ioleuce: Anned Forces as Social Systen1s ( 1977) and of :a numbcr of artic]cs, inc]udjng "The Early Evo]ution of the Authori-tative Text'' in the January 1 978 IiARVARD L1BnAnY BuLLE'nh".

To1TH E!ii.1 E RsON W F.BS'ff R Gt: F..GG ( l\ 1 rs. \;V ard L Gregg) is a n1cn1h er of the Radcliff c Cb:ss of 1931. She edited One First Love ... The Leticts of Ellen 1..-ouisa Tucker to Ralp/J W nld o E1J1er:rou, ·wh.ich ,vas. published by the Harvard University Press in 1962~

Li:o ]\ 1. KA 1s ER I Prof cssor of Classi ca 1 Stu di cs at Loyo La Uni vcrsi ty of Cru cago, is the author of many articles, including contributions to se\Ten previous issues of the IluLLETJK.

DA v Ill J. N ORDLOH is Asso CJ ate Professor of English at India nri University. Hjs dissertation at Indiana ( 1969) ,vas ~, ;_\ Crjcjcal Edition of ,v. D. 1-Io,veJls" J' ears of Aly Y' outll' and he is one of the editors of the Selected Edition of Ho,vells thnt is being published by the India.na Uni,·crsity Press.

E. ,~,_ P1rcHER is a 1nc1nbcr of the Dcparnnent of English of the U niver~ity of A]berra. 1-:lis publications inc]ude several contributjons to Tbe Librnry and his dissertation, at Leeds .. ,vns '~A Studv of Short Prose Ficuon PubHshed in Britain in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Ccntur.ies, "'ith a Catalogue of Talcs in Seventy-Five Rcprcs-cntativc Co]Icctions, 178;-1820. 11

i\11:RlON !VI. SEALTSj Jn., is Henry A. Pochm~nn P1ofessor of English. at the U n1-vcrsjty of \~lisconsin; 0~1e of his hooks] A.1 elville's Rending ( 1966) ,vas orig-inally serialized in the Bu1.1.F.T(N andi n1orc rc:ccntly, he has contributed to the January 1978 and July l 979 issues.

ALAN SEABURGi Curator of 1\-1:inuscripts at the Andover-Han .. •arJ Thcologica] Lil >n1.ry t ":ras-Archivist of the Unitarian U nj versa] ist A 5SO c i at ion before co1n-i n g to his prcscn t position at f-Iarvard in l 9 7 o. I-I is arti cl c, , .. Son1 c Unitarian M-anuscripts at Andover-H2rvard, 1] appeared in the January 197 8 BuLT.tT1N ..

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Constructed letters and illuminated texts: Regiomontanus ...

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