I. Renaissance typography

Marcus Tullius Cicero. Quatro elegantissimas y gravissimas orationes… contra Catilina. – Anvers: Christophe Plantin, 1557. In-8.

Recognising the expansion of the Spanish-language book market in Antwerp and the Low Countries in the 1550s, Plantin published the first Spanish translation of Cicero’s Catilinarian Orations. He endeavoured to apply typographical design then in use: the lines of the title, extended by the device and address, formed a stemmed drinking-glass known as a ‘Roemer’ or ‘Rummer’. The title is preceded by a single-vine leaf fleuron, a motif common in printings of roman or italic type since the beginning of the sixteenth century.

   Before adopting the compass as device, Plantin had employed this fleuron until 1557, which referred to the labour of the wine-grower, vine shoots and the Lord’s vineyards.

Cultura Fonds: CS 118