Cabinet 14: "Passé-partout" Initials
"Passé-partout" initials, those encased in a decorative frame, were a baroque creation (Bellaire). Frames were created as either woodcuts, engravings, or from an arrangement of fleurons. When a frame was composed, a space was left in the middle for the initial letter to be inserted. According to Bellaire the framed initials were "introduced for reasons of economy" - the same frame could be printed repeatedly, only the initial letter needed to be changed. These frames are referred to as 'factotums' (Plomer) for their ability to be reused.
On display are just five examples of passé-partout initials. Clement's Clementis ad Corinthios and Richard Savage's The wanderer are good examples of inhabited frames. Johann Friedrich Joachim's Neu-erofnetes represents a delicately designed frame. A combination of bold lines and floral detail create the ornate frame of Description des principaux, while the frame for Marci Tullii Ciceronis opera is composed from an arrangement of fleurons.
"Fleuron" are decorative printer's devices.
Johann Friedrich Joachim, Neu-erofnetes Groschen-Cabinet. Leipzig : In der Grossischen Handlung, 1749-1769. DeBeer Gb 1750 J
Richard Savage, The wanderer: a poem. In five canto's. London : printed for J. Walthoe, 1729. DeBeer Eb 1729 S
Description des principaux ouvrages de peinture et sculpture, actuellement existans dans les eglises, couvens, & lieux publics de la ville d'Anvers, donne au jour pour l'utilite des voyageurs. A Anvers : Chez Gerard Berbie ..., [1768?]. DeBeer Lb 1768 D
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Marci Tullii Ciceronis opera quae supersunt, omnia : cum asconio & scholiaste vetri, notis integris P. Victorii..., & selectis P. Manutii ... qui aliquam Ciceronis operum partem animadversionibus illustraverunt. Amstelaedami : Apud Rod. & Gerh. Wetstenios, 1724. Shoults Lb 1724 C
Clement, Clementis ad Corinthios epistola prior : ex laceris reliquijs vetustissimi exemplaris Bibliothecæ¦ Regiæ, eruit, lacunas explevit, latine vertit, & notis brevioribus illustravit [transcribed and translated by Patrick Young]. Oxonii : excudebat Iohannes Lichfield Academiæ Typographus, 1633. Shoults Eb 1633 C