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An Unknown Civilite-Type by Philippe Danfrie (1561)

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An Unknown Civilite-Type by Philippe Danfrie (1561) An Unknown Civilite-type by Philippe Danfrie (1561) By H. D. L. VERVLIET N the history of the art of punchcutting, the sixteenth century played a Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/library/article/s5-XXIX/1/111/963617 by guest on 29 September 2021 prominent part. It built upon the outstanding heritage of the fifteenth Icentury, exemplified by such first-rate craftsmen as Johann Gutenberg, Peter SchoefFer the Elder, and Nicholas Jenson. The contribution of the sixteenth century may be illustrated by the names of Peter SchoefFer the Younger, Francesco GrifFo da Bologna, Simon de Colines, Claude Garamond, Robert Granjon, Guillaume Leb6. The type- faces which they designed and cut enjoyed a longer life in the following centuries than those cut by their illustrious predecessors. This was due firstly to the outstanding quality of their work, and secondly to a complex of cultural, social, and economic factors which, during the Ancien RJgime, were greatly opposed to innovations if they endangered existing situations and products. In die field of typography, the French sixteenth century left its mark upon the next centuries, and this not only in France. The entire western world bought—or imitated, if buying was impracticable—the types of cutters such as Garamond or Granjon. In fart, a study of French sixteenth- century typographic design lays the foundation for any substantial study of this subject. A study of this kind can be approached in many ways. It is, however, essential that in its first stage the centre of interest should not be the users (i.e. the printers) but the originators (i.e. the type designers or the type-faces themselves.) Following this kind of reasoning Harry Carter and the present writer1 took up the study of a peculiar, and now completely abandoned, type-face, namely 'Civilite". The formal history of this gothic cursive began in 1557/8 when Robert Granjon, a punchcutter from Paris, engraved die first of eight Civilite" type-faces known to us. For background information about the creation and early years of this new face—truly a typographical tribute to French mid-sixteenth-century Gallicanism—we refer to the study mentioned above. One of the surprising results of this study was its indication of the impor- tance in diis field of Philippe Danfrie, an almost unknown contemporary of Granjon. The study by Carter-Vervliet credited him widi no less than seven Civilite'-types, diree of which were attributed to him on documentary evidence, and the remaining four on the basis of stylistic analysis.2 Danfrie's first Civilitfe were developed in 1558, at approximately the same time as 1 H. Carter and H. D. L. Vervliet, Civility-types, Oxford, 1966. 1 Civilitf-types, pp. 58-66. ii2 An Unknown Civility-type by Philippe Danfrie (1561) Granjon's first specimens. Part of the scepticism concerning Granjon's primacy may be well founded since the history of the first Civilite" has so far been written in the light of extant sources, which almost all happen to originate from Granjon. In 1558, i.e. in the second year of the history of Civilit6 (provided that we accept that Granjon's only book of 1557 is not antedated), Philippe Danfrie was a tiro of 22. Granjon was somewhere about 45 years of age; he was a mature craftsman, renowned for his successful creation of a splendid series of italics, and for his constant co-operation with Jean de Tournes, the Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/library/article/s5-XXIX/1/111/963617 by guest on 29 September 2021 foremost printer of that period in France. Granjon's subsequent contacts with Christopher Plantin and Pope Gregory XIII ensured him of a lasting place in the typographical history of Europe.3 Philippe Danfrie is better known as a metal-worker than as a punchcutter. Carter-Vervliet (p. 24) summarize the knowledge on him as follows: He made astronomical and mathematical instruments and book-binders' tools. In 1582 he was appointed 'Graveur gfne'ral des monnaies de France', and at the rime of his death in 1606 he was 'Valet de Chambre' to Henri IV.4 In a document of 1561, when he was some 25 years old, he was described as 'graveur en l'impri- meric'.s The inventory of die Le B6 typefoundry (c. 1598) attributed to Danfrie a 'Lettre fran<;oise de Parengon' and a 'Musique des airs 160', for which the foundry had matrices, and a 'Lettre fran^oise St. Augustin', for which it had the punches.6 Two of Danfrie's types, imitating the 'lettre francoise* at a later stage or develop- ment, were made for a book that he wrote and published in 1597 on a kind of theodolite that he invented.7 Prima facie, three Civilite^ dating from 1558 and one from 1561 should be credited to him. This intense activity in a domain where Granjon claimed legal protection8 may well cause some astonishment. So does the fact that until about 1597 Danfrie, notwithstanding his evident abilities, apparently ceased all production in this field. And his belated return to typography in 1597 was obviously caused by passing impulse. If the extent of Danfrie's efforts during the initial years of the Civilite" aroused some surprise, it now even becomes evident that he has hitherto been underestimated. For in fact the new Civilite'-type which is shown here is totally unknown. It was published in an edition of the works of 1 H. D. L. Vervliet,'Robert Granjon 1 Rome, 1578-1589. Notes preiiminaires a une hiaoire de la typographic romaine a la fin du xvT aide', Bulletin de VInstitut historique beige a Rome, 38 (1967), pp. 177-231- • F. Maierolle, Les MidaXleurs fianfms du XV siicle au milieu du xvni', Paris, 1902, i, lxxviii-boori. Documents 308-34. • Paris, Archives nat., S. 904, fol. 183. So also in 1565:^ Pichon and G. Vicaire, op. cit., p. 60. 6 S. Morison, L'lnvenUdre de lafonderie Le Be', Paris, 1959, pp. 31, 33, 2$. Foumier le Jeune said the music was cut for Nicolas Duchemin: Trmti historique et critique sur Forigine et lei progrts des caraeteres defonte pour f'impression de la musique, Bcme and Paris, 176$, p. 5. 7 P. Danfrie, Declaration de Vusage du graphomcttrc, Paris, 1597. • H. de La Fontaine-Verwey, 'Les dibuts de la protection des caractires typographiqua au xvi* siecle', Gutenberg Jahrbuth, 1965, pp. 34-34. An Unknown Civility-type by Philippe Danfrie (1561) 113 A IE AN D'AVRAT 1IMOSIN. U (Hu>> Ctxa* fohfwutt:( moy*'biuiy ViWaf ^CpoCty '. iZiZ.at tu (tne66 auteut tg cf poemf T Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/library/article/s5-XXIX/1/111/963617 by guest on 29 September 2021 uf if tfity n {oneu s'uy Carfj 3auj> ganiw, auf if yCiutf- ffuttout, o t^Uf c ftrmtt a ^>iiu; Si&fiat /$itnt>loni ci6 id <mf auoi* tt4 •G**^ gnan'utrf mt 3a CMOUJI e-ettf coron;^ 3*- j»ri«. n"? (« umtt Z*4 Cor<», efjam fat Cf foeff fficy Sc- f*uf. KEPAS AMAA0EIAZ. Marc-Claude de Buttet,' a French poet who lived from c. 1530 to 1586. From its imprint it is clear that it was printed in Paris, 1561, by Michel F&endat.10 This printer is known to have been an associate of Granjon's during the years 1549-51. Yet the partnership was dissolved in 1551, and apparently in no amicable fashion. We are not acquainted with any document which explains the origin of this unknown Civilite", nor with any later book where it occurs. It is definitely not in Granjon's style. On the contrary it shows strong affinities to ' Marc-Claude de Buttet, Le Premier Livre des vers de Marc-Claude de Buttet, . auquel a esti ajoutt" U second, ensemble VAmdlthde, Parij, M Ffaendat, 1561. BN Paris: Res Ye 1873. 10 Ph. Renonard, Repertoire des imprimeurs parisiens, librairies, fondeurs de caractfres et correcteurs d'imprimerie, Paris, 1965, p. 151. ii4 Art Unknown Civility-type by Philippe Danfrie (1561) that group of Civilitis attributed to Danfrie. The fairly pointed lower-case design and the form of the capitals, i.e. the letters A, C, E, P, Q, S, strongly recall the design of the St Augustin and Hamon's Petite Augustine, both by Danfrie. We are aware of the fact that usually any resemblance of style is not considered as a decisive argument. However, in the context of the history of first .years of Civilite'-type—say between 1557 and 1561—the conclusion seems inevitable that the Civilite" shown here is Danfrie's eighth. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/library/article/s5-XXIX/1/111/963617 by guest on 29 September 2021 Antwerp.
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