Paris: Thielman Kerver for Francis Birckman, ‘venduntur Londoniis apud bibliopolas in cimiterio sancti Pauli’, 1511

The decorations in this book attest the internationalism of colour printing in the early English book trade. The book was printed in Paris by a German printer (Thielman Kerver, fl.1497-d.1524/25), for a German publisher living in London (Francis Birckman (fl. 1504-1529), for English market (‘to be sold in London at the “bibliopolis” in Saint Paul’s Churchyard’).

Zooming in the photograph reveals much about the colour printing technique. The registration is precise; the overlap of red and black branches creates an alternating pattern out of identical matrices. The overlap indicates that the colours were printed from two formes (bodies of type) in two runs through the press, first in red and then in black. The faint red lines a few millimetres from the edges of the ornament must indicate the edge of holes cut into a frisket sheet. The conception of interdependent matrices (with visual elements that are complete only if all matrices are printed) was traditionally celebrated as a great breakthrough in later ‘fine art’ single-sheet prints, such as Italian chiaroscuro woodcuts, but these elements demonstrate that book printers had long conceived of printed colour as integral to visual elements.

SSS.15.20, title page