1645

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Source:

Title: Traicté des manieres de grauer en taille douce sur l’airin par le moyen des eaux fortes & des vernix durs & mols: ensemble de la façon d’en imprimer les planches & d’en construire la presse & autres choses concernans lesdits arts / par A. Bosse.
Author: Abraham Bosse
Publisher: Abraham Bosse
Printer: l’imprimerie de Pierre Des Hayes
Illustrator: Abraham Bosse
Engraver: Abraham Bosse
Location: Paris
Year: 1645
Links: [Scan 1], [Scan 2], [Scan 3]. [USTC].

Comments:

A second edition was published in 1701. This is made available by the Royal Academy with higher resolution scans of the figures: figure 11, figure 12, figure 13, figure 14, figure 15, figure 16. Roger Gaskell: ‘this 1701 edition uses the same plates of presses as the 1645 edition.’

A third edition appeared in 1745 with the original plates from 1645 with re-engraved plate numbers, plus several additional plates nos. 14, 15, 17, 18, 19 of presses the new press design and its details. A fourth edition, using the same plates, is dated 1758 but was actually published in 1773. The same plates are used as in the 1745 edition. The plates might have been used by Charles Antoine-Jombert in a compilation, but I have not been able to find this yet.

A German translation of this 1645 edition was published in 1652 (reprinted in 1669 and 1689) by Georg Andreas Böckler, entitled: Radier-Büchlein, handelt von der Etzkunst […] zum Andernmahl […] in Teutscher Sprach herauss gegeben. A new translation from the 1645 French edition was printed in 1719 Abraham Bossens gründliche Anweisung zur Radier- und Etz-Kunst. [See Stijnman, 2012, 042.17 ]. Subsequent editions in 1743, 1745-6, 1761, and 1766. A new German translation from the 1745 French edition was printed in 1745 [See Stijnman, 2012, 042.25], and reprinted in 1765, 1772, 1795-6.

A Dutch translation of this 1645 edition was published in 1662 in by Jacob van Meurs: Tractaet in wat manieren men op root koper snijden ofte etzen zal.

An English translation of this 1645 edition was published in 1662 by William Faithorne: The art of graveing, and etching, wherein is exprest the true way of graueing in copper. The six illustrations shown above do not appear in this 1662 edition. Copies of the 1645 french edition appear in the 1702 edition.

A Portuguese translation of this 1645 edition was published in 1801 by José Joaquim Viegas Menezes: Tratado da gravura a agua forte, : e a buril, e em maneira negra com o modo de construir as prensas modernas, e de imprimir em talho doce.

Technique:

Engraved.

Publications

Bain, Iain (1988) ‘Handpress and Rolling-press.’ Journal of the Printing Historical Society no. 25 (autumn), pp. 2–8.

Lilien, Otto M. & Claus W. Gerhardt, (1978) Geschichte der Druckverfahren, Teil III; (Bibliothek des Buchwesens; vol. 5). Stuttgart: Hiersemann. (page 260, figure 32.).

Meier, Henri (1941d) ‘The Origin of the Printing and Roller Press.’ Print Collector’s Quarterly, volume 28, no. 4 (Dec.), pp. 496-527. (Page 512 and 515).

Gaskell, Roger (2004) ‘Printing house and engraving shop. A mysterious collaboration.’ Book Collector, 53, pp 213-54.

Join-Lambert, Sophie & Préaud, Maxime (2004) Abraham Bosse: Savant Graveur, 1604-1676. Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Cat. 204. [Link]. Cats 205 (for the book) and 215–220 (plates 11–16 show the printing press).

Stijnman, Ad (2012) Engraving and Etching 1400-2000: A History of the Development of Manual Intaglio Printmaking Process, London: Archetype; Houten: Hes & De Graaf.

Wolf, Hans Jürgen (1974) Geschichte der Druckpressen: ein illustriertes Handbuch mit einer ausfürhlichen Zeittafel. Frankfurt am Main: Interprint.(Page 228). (2nd edition 1981: Frankfurt a.M.: Deutscher Fachverlag.)

Wolf, Hans Jürgen (1990) Geschichte der graphischen Verfahren: Papier, Satz, Druck, Farbe, Photographie, soziales: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Technik. Dornstadt: Historia. ISBN-13: 978-3980025744]. (Page 703).