PARATE XTUAL INTERACTION BETWEEN POETS AND BOOK PRODUCERS he use of title pages, a development that gradually emerged after the invention of the printing press and took hold in France more than elsewhere at the end of the fifteenth century, initially had the practi­ cal function of protecting the first page of the text (Hirsch, Labarre). Since the title page constituted readers' or potential bookowners' first contact with a work, however, it also came to play an important role in establishing their relationship with the book and with those engaged in textual pro­ duction. A crucial component of the paratext, which organizes the book's relationship with its public, the title page embodies one of the most socialized dimensions of literary practice.' Because it ultimately served as a tool for different forms of advertisement, moreover, the title page came to symbolize the capitalistic nature of printing. Many people stood to profit from the publicity it potentially provided and from the distortions that could and did occur. But the title page as well as the colophon also shed light on the rela­ tionship between the author and the book producer. For as Genette im­ plies, the publisher constitutes part of the book's public, which encom­ passes not just the sum of its readers but also those who participate in the diffusionof books (Seuils, 72). Moreover, just as authors are guaran­ tors (auctors) of their texts, so are publishers the potential guarantors of the authors they present (46). Although Genette, who focuses on mod­ ern works for the most part, portrays the relationship between author 1. See Genette, Seuils, 18, who elsewhere claims that the title page and colophon are the ancestors of what he calls the modern peritext (34, 62-63). While Genette makes the dis­ tinction between the peritexte, information surrounding the text, and the epitexte, infor­ mation outside the book, both of which make up the para text (10-1 1), I am using the term "paratext" to refer to book-related material physically surrounding the literary text, and "extratext" to refer to relevant information beyond the limits of the book. Poets, Pa trons, and Printers and publisher as positive and generally unproblematic, in that they share the same goals in the production of the para text, this was not nec­ essarily so during the early years of print. The paratext was not only a site of transaction between author and reader, as Genette says (8), but also a space that offeredinsight into the dynamics between author and publisher. I will argue in the following pages that innovations involving the title page and colophon during the transition from manuscript to print were related to key transactions between writers and publishers. In particu­ lar, I suggest that the association between book producers and authors of works reproduced in manuscript form gave rise not only to new kinds of extra textual interaction between these agents with the advent of print but also to modifications in para textual features. Coinciding with the in­ creasingly defensive posture of French writers by the early sixteenth century, these developments resulted in the enhancement and cultiva­ tion of the author's image. Examining the title pages and colophons of writings by Jean Molinet, Andre de la Vigne, and Pierre Gringore in light of Jean Lemaire's early paratexts, I will probe the changing relationship between vernacularpoets and publishers. In some cases, such as Mali­ net's Te mple de Mars, the text acquired an importance and identity apart from the writer, as publishers who appropriated it essentially altered the poet's original intent through false title-page publicity. Molinet's later works and those of his contemporaries confirm, however, that as au­ thors participated directly in the publication process, the advertisement of their identity became a more integral part of title pages and colo­ phons. Focus on the author also emerged as a major component of other paratextual features, such as illustrations (Chapter 3 below), and of the text itself (Chapters 4-5). In other words, the image of the contemporary vernacular writer, in both its literal and metaphoric sense, gained prom­ inence and visibility with the advent of print, a development that coin­ cided with authors' increasing collaboration with or challenge to book producers and with their growing authority over their audience. The publication history of Molinet's Te mple de Mars, his most repro­ duced work, illustrates these book-production developments in franca­ phone Europe after the introduction of the printing press. A study of the eight manuscripts and twelve printed editions of the Te mple de Mars shows that the most striking aspect of this transitional period is the co­ existence and mutual influence of both systems of reproduction, manu­ script and print. Neither fifteenth-century manuscript anthologies nor printed editions of the Te mple de Mars identify the author paratextually, in contrast to surviving sixteenth-century manuscripts, which promote Molinet in various ways. Moreover, a study of the imprints of the Te mple { 62 } Paratextual Interaction de Mars reinforces my claim that Jean Lemaire's paratextual presence in the first edition of his Te mple d'honneur et de vertus (published 1504) was not necessarily a common development for vernacular authors during the early decades of printing. It appears that new, vernacular authors had little chance of seeing their names appear on the title pages of the first editions of their works, unless they had already established another kind of reputation, such as a religious affiliation.The names of such au­ thors, however, were likely to be featured on title pages of later editions, presumably after their earlier volumes had proved to be good profitmakers.2 As with the works of his contemporaries, most of Molinet's writings were originally destined for manuscript reproduction. This relates to the novelty of printed vernacular texts during his lifetime-Molinet began to write poetry before printing even reached France or Burgundy, where he lived-and to the relative financialstability he enjoyed as the official historiographer for the Burgundian court.3 In fact, Molinet probably of­ fered the Te mple de Mars to his patron, Charles the Bold, sometime after September 13, 1475 · The work, a call for peace presented allegorically as a visit by the wounded narrator to the Te mple of Mars, may have cele­ brated the Truce of Soleuvre, signed by the Burgundian duke and King Louis XI on that date! In Molinet's poetic tour de force the narrator praises Truce and Peace, decries the horrors and evils of War, and calls for a renunciation of Mars. Subsequently, the Te mple de Mars appeared in 2. An examination of Tchemerzine's work corroborates the observation that the au­ thorship of books written by living vernacular writers did not appear on the title page in many cases. See, for example, the first three known editions (1486-90)of Guillaume Alex­ is's Blason de fa ulses amours (the title page of the fourth edition [Paris: Lambert, 1493] is miss­ ing), his Declamation ... sur l'Evangile (Paris: Levet & Alisset, 1485), and his Debat de l'homme et de Ia fe mme (Lyons: Mareschal & Chaussard, ca. 1490; Paris: Trepperel, 1493), as well as Verard's 1499-1505 edition and subsequent versions of Alexis's Pa ssetemps des deux Alecis freres (Rouen: Le Forestier, n.d.). The title page of Jean Bouchet's works written up to 1512 does not advertise his name. See also the many editions of Olivier de Ia Marche's Chevalier delibt!reand Pa rement et triumphe des dames as well as Martial d' Auvergne's L'amant rendu cordelier (1490), Louenges (1492), Matines (ca. 1492), and Arrets d'Amour (15o8). The name of Olivier Maillard always appeared on the title page of his works, in part because it was always featured in the title (e.g., Laconf ession de Frere Olivier Maillard [Paris, 1481]; Ser­ mons de adventuris Oliveri Maillard [Paris, 1497]). The fact that he was a well-known religious figure may well explain his greater prominence on title pages. For similar reasons, the name of Octavien de Saint-Gelais, archbishop of Angouleme, likewise appeared on the ti­ tle pages of his works, most of which were printed after his death in 1502. 3· See Chapters 3 and 5 below for evidence that Molinet's need of financialbacking to­ ward the end of his career probably led to his decision to supervise the printing of his works. 4· Without suggesting that the work commemorated this event, as I believe, Picot and Stein, 13, uncover a veiled reference to this event in the text. See Comilliat, Couleurs, 66o- 75• for an excellent analysis of this work. Poets, Pa trons, and Printers numerous anthologies and single editions, attesting to its popularity. Probably it was the poem's lack of historical specifics that facilitated its widespread adaptation. In three fifteenth-century manuscript anthologies in which it exists, the Te mple de Mars appears with poems by Molinet's most celebrated pre­ decessors and contemporaries, such as Alain Chartier and Georges Chastellain.5 Whereas the presence of Molinet's poems in these collec­ tions reveals that his works were popular, these manuscript anthologies fostered at the same time a certain anonymity, for the author of the Te m­ ple de Mars is not advertised anywhere. The lack of title pages, where one might expect to find the author's name, in manuscripts (Vezin, 41) ex­ plains in part Molinet's absence. Ye t, even on the folio on which the poem appears in the differentanthologies, the reader discovers only its title (Figure 2.1).6 Thus, the Te mple de Mars figures in these surviving fifteenth-century manuscripts as an anonymous work, at least until the very last words of the poem, which contain Molinet's metaphoric sig­ nature (my emphasis): "Pour Dieu, excuses rna simplesse, /S'il est ob­ scur, trouble ou brunet: I Chascun n'a pas son malin net" (For God, ex­ cuse my simplemindedness, if it is dark, obscure, or somber: everyone does not have his mill clean).' Perhaps the author and his poems were so well known in the milieus in which they circulated that it was not nec­ essary to announce or publicize his name.