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'Green Man' image in Fama Fraternitatis & della Porta
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Paul Ferguson
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 Posted: Mon Apr 22nd, 2013 02:32 pm
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The attached images are found in a) the 1615 Cassel edition of the Fama Fraternitatis and b) the 1591 Johannes Wolfius edition of Giambattista della Porta's De furtivis Literarum Notis. Can anyone shed any light on these images? They seem to be part of the 'Green Man' tradition, but note the rings on the moustache.

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Paul Ferguson
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 Posted: Mon Apr 22nd, 2013 02:32 pm
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Image from the Wolfius.

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Rafal T. Prinke
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 Posted: Mon Apr 22nd, 2013 05:48 pm
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I am greatly interested in this and another ornament, both of which are often found in the same books. They also appear in the first edition (1604) of Sendivogius, the one on the title page is attached here.  I do not think it has any particular "hidden meaning" -- both look like plain ornaments. My interest in them is to identify the printer of the Sendivogius book which is traditionally said to have been published in Prague but neither the place nor the printer is named in the book itself. I was quite excited when I discovered that the Le Preux family in Geneve and Losanne used the same image on the title pages of many (but not all) books published by them. But then I discovered the same in other prints so my temporary conclusion is that it was not a printer signet but rather ornament being part of a font set. Thus the solution should be sought among font-cutters (which I never pesued). Obviously, font material may have been sold or inherited so it will not be easy to trace.



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Rafal T. Prinke
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 Posted: Mon Apr 22nd, 2013 05:51 pm
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And here is the "Green man" ornament which appears inside the same first edition of Sendivogius, just filling up empty space between chapters.

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Rafal T. Prinke
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 Posted: Mon Apr 22nd, 2013 05:58 pm
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And also a Jean Le Preux publication with the "Green Man" (but this is not typical, he and Franciscus most often used the other image on the title page).

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Rafal T. Prinke
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 Posted: Mon Apr 22nd, 2013 06:13 pm
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Typical use is this book by Theodore Beze. Interesingly, the same Le Preux published Bernard Penot's _De denari_ -- but without the ornaments in question.

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Paul Ferguson
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 Posted: Mon Apr 22nd, 2013 09:27 pm
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Hi Rafal,

Very interesting - thanks.

So we have the 'Green Man' in the following books in chronological order:

1591 - DE FURTIVIS LITERARUM NOTIS - Della Porta - Johannes Wolfius - London

1599 - TRAITE DE L'EGLISE - De Mornay - Jean Le Preux - Geneva

1604 - DE LAPIDE PHILOSOPHORUM TRACTATUS DUODECIM - Sendivogius - ? - Prague(?)

1615 [sic] - FAMA FRATERNITATIS - Anon. - Wilhelm Wessell - Cassel

Sorry to be a bore, but do you know of any other instances of this emblem in any other books of this period?

Last edited on Mon Apr 22nd, 2013 09:47 pm by Paul Ferguson
Rafal T. Prinke
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 Posted: Mon Apr 22nd, 2013 10:45 pm
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Hi Paul,

Here is another one -- a political pamphlet with no author or printer.

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Paul Ferguson
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 Posted: Tue Apr 23rd, 2013 10:16 am
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Thanks.

According to David Gentleman (Design in Miniature, p. 28) the Green Man is found as a printer's device in Augsburg as early as 1477, but he does not specify the book.

Ronald Millar founded the Company of the Green Man to study this image. I will contact them to see if they can shed any light:

http://freespace.virgin.net/polter.geist/greenman.htm
Rafal T. Prinke
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 Posted: Wed Apr 24th, 2013 10:57 am
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Very interesting! I have checked Carlos Gilly's _Cimelia_ and there are three Rosicrucian replies which have the same ornament on the title pages. Two are without place or printer's name, and one published by Palthenius in Frankfurt.

Paul Ferguson
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 Posted: Wed Apr 24th, 2013 01:19 pm
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Rafal T. Prinke wrote:
Very interesting! I have checked Carlos Gilly's _Cimelia_ and there are three Rosicrucian replies which have the same ornament on the title pages. Two are without place or printer's name, and one published by Palthenius in Frankfurt.


Yes, here's the 1612 Haselmayr (scroll down):

http://tinyurl.com/acy3xmv
Paul Ferguson
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 Posted: Thu Apr 25th, 2013 01:59 pm
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Apparently Schramm's 23-volume "Der Bilderschmuck der Frühdrucke" is the standard reference for the early German woodcuts to be found in books.

The individual volumes actually seem quite affordable in paperback:

http://www.abebooks.fr/search/sortby/3/an/Schramm+/tn/+Bilderschmuck

I also found a Dutch theological Green Man device here:

http://www.forumrarebooks.com/Pamphlet-Dutch-Voorlooper-over-adriani-smoutii.html
Paul Ferguson
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 Posted: Sun Apr 28th, 2013 11:19 am
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Paul Ferguson wrote:
Thanks.

According to David Gentleman (Design in Miniature, p. 28) the Green Man is found as a printer's device in Augsburg as early as 1477, but he does not specify the book.

Ronald Millar founded the Company of the Green Man to study this image. I will contact them to see if they can shed any light:

http://freespace.virgin.net/polter.geist/greenman.htm


The image will be in the next e-newsletter of the Company of the Green Man (June) to see if any of their 400 members can shed any light on it.

The Company's Photostream is here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecompanyofthegreenman
Paul Ferguson
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 Posted: Sun Apr 28th, 2013 05:06 pm
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I can't look at this title-page from the 1575 edition of Diophantus of Alexandria without feeling there are certain resonances with the two images from the Sendivogius.

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Paul Ferguson
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 Posted: Sun Apr 28th, 2013 05:08 pm
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Here is the full page.

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