II. Editorial tricks

Lorenzo Gambara, Rerum sacrarum liber... – Anvers: Christophe Plantin, 1577. In-4.

The poems of Italian priest Lorenzo Gambara, protégé of cardinals Farnese and Granvelle, were published, without illustrations, in Rome in 1577. That same year, Plantin republished them in Antwerp, accompanied by 55 etchings. Executed in Italy – perhaps by the Roman Bernardino Passari who signed the decoration on the title page – they were printed in Antwerp by Jacques van der Hoeven, intaglio printer regularly hired by Plantin.

   Van der Hoeven had previously produced intaglio illustrations but more often in burin, financed by commissioners or by the authors. It is possible that the execution of copper plates benefited from the patronage of Cardinal Farnese or Cardinal Caraffa, whose arms appear on the title page.

   The intaglio, which permits finer details and richer nuances, was more expensive than wood engraving because its printrun required a particular press, different from the typographic press already used to print the text. The adjustment of the two successive printruns on the same sheet was sometimes difficult, as shown here by several instances of overlapping.

Mazarine: 4° 10701 2^e ex

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