{{Short description|Symbol used as a trademark by printers}} [[Image:Dome_of_the_Rock,_1546.jpg|thumb|150px|The Temple in Jerusalem depicted as the Dome of the Rock on the printer's mark of Marco Antonio Giustiniani, Venice 1545–52]]
A '''printer's mark''', device, emblem or insignia is a symbol that was used as a trademark by early printers starting in the 15th century. A more nuanced definition is provided by McKerrow (see below): {{Blockquote | text = that any picture, design, or ornament (not being an initial letter) found on a title-page, final leaf, or in any other conspicuous place in a book, and having an obvious reference to the sign at which the printer or publisher of the book carried on business, or to the name of either of them, or including the arms or crest of either of them, is—whatever its origin—that printer's or publisher's device. |sign=Ronald B. McKerrow|source=Printers' and Publishers' Devices}}
The first printer's mark is found in the 1457 Mainz Psalter by Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer.<ref>{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=William|title=Printers' Marks, by|year=1893|publisher=London: George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden, & New York.|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25663}}</ref> One of the most well-known old printer's marks is the dolphin and anchor, first used by the Venetian printer Aldus Manutius as his mark in 1502.<ref>{{citation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4WwdMJKXzhEC&pg=PA66 |title=The book: the life story of a technology |author=Nicole Howard |chapter=Printer's Devices|year=2005 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=9780313330285 }}</ref>
thumb|150px|left|Example page from McKerrow's Printers' & Publishers' DevicesThe standard reference is ''Printers' & Publishers' Devices'' by Ronald B. McKerrow, published by The Bibliographical Society in 1913 as number 16 in their series of illustrated monographs. It has a detailed Introduction and illustrations of 428 devices printed in their original sizes. Originally printed by the Chiswick Press, it was reprinted in 1949.
The Library of the University of Barcelona launched a database of Printers' Devices in the ancient book section in October 1998.<ref>University of Barcelona. "Printer's Devices" https://marques.crai.ub.edu/en/printers/devices {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053802/http://www.bib.ub.edu/fileadmin/impressors/home_eng.htm |date=2013-09-21 }}</ref> The University of Florida libraries also provide digital access to printers' devices and include The University of Chicago devices that have appeared on the cover of their publication ''The Library Quarterly''.<ref>University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/rarebook/devices/device.htm</ref> thumb|100px|Printer's mark in use in the modern era Printers' devices have been incorporated in American library buildings, reflecting the British Arts and Crafts Movement.<ref>Karen Nipps, "Printers' Devices as Decorative Elements in Library Architecture." ''The Library Quarterly'' 83 (July 2013): 271-278.</ref>
From 1931 to 2012, Library Quarterly featured 328 printers' marks with an article on the history of each mark.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=History of the Book, Printers’ Marks, and Library Quarterly |journal=The Library Quarterly |publisher=University of Chicago Press |last=Kettnich |first=Karen |date=October 2015 |volume=85 |issue=4 |page=345 |last2=Jaeger |first2=Paul T. |last3=Gorham |first3=Ursula |last4=Taylor |first4=Natalie Green |doi=10.1086/682736}}</ref>
==See also== * Bookplate * Colophon * Factory mark * Merchant's mark * Union label
==References== {{reflist}}
==Publications== * Havens, E., Tabb, W., & Sheridan Libraries. (2015). ''Renaissance printers' devices : essays on the early art of printing & the King Memorial Windows of Johns Hopkins University''. Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.
==External links== {{Commons category|Printer's marks}} * {{Cite journal |last=Patton |first=Maggie |title=The Printer's Mark |url=https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/printers-mark |journal=Openbook |date=11 July 2022 |issue=Autumn 2022 |pages=76–77}} * [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25663/25663-h/25663-h.htm Roberts, W. (1893). Printer's marks: a chapter in the history of typography. London; New York: George Bell & Sons. Project Gutenberg Ebook #25663 Released Jun 1, 2008.] * [http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/search/searchterm/printers%2527%20marks/field/all/mode/exact/conn/and/order/nosort/ad/asc Printers' marks] from digitized rare books at the Linda Hall Library *[http://www.bvh.univ-tours.fr/batyr/beta/ Base de Typographie de la Renaissance], a database of circa 1100 marks and thousands of other printed ornaments *[https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/richardson/lqcovers.htm Index of ''The Library Quarterly'' covers, 1931 to date] * Signa vides. Researching and recording printers' devices. Papers presented on 17–18 March 2015 at the CERL Workshop, hosted by the National Library of Austria, Vienna, ed. by M. Scheibe / A. Wolkenhauer, London 2015 (CERL Studies) [https://www.cerl.org/_media/publications/cerl_papers/cerl_papers_xiii.pdf] * Typographorum emblemata. The Printer's Mark in the Context of Early Modern Culture, ed by Anja Wolkenhauer and Bernhard F. Scholz, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/ NY 2018 (Schriftmedien 4) {{ISBN|978-3-11-043919-9}}, an international handbook and bibliography. {{Book structure}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Printer's Mark}} Category:Book design Mark Category:Trademarks