Geofroy Tory

“ After this, and knowing as we do the relations between Geofroy Tory and the Estienne family, it will not be deemed extraordinary that I attribute to our artist the italic letters of Simon de Colines, engraved about 1525, and the roman and italic letters of Robert Estienne, engraved a little later.
But Tory not only engraved letters, that is to say, punches on steel, as some authors have stated: he signalized himself above all by his engravings on wood, and he illustrated almost all the books of his time, which fact is almost wholly unknown. ”

“ I write these two names as our artist himself wrote them; but it is a well-known fact that the orthography of proper names in the sixteenth century was very uncertain. As to the family name especially, Geofroy's ancestors and descendants wrote it indifferently Toury, Tory, and Thory; but Geofroy never varied: he always wrote Tory in French, Torinus in Latin (which should, strictly speaking, be translated Torin) . See further, on this subject, Appendix A.
[10] Champ fleury, fol. 1 verso: 'Combiem [sic] que ie soye de petitz & humbles parēs, & aussi que ie soye pouure de biens caduques.' ”

“ Give your [66] attention to them, I beg, good reader, so that I may not, as Plautus enigmatically observes in the 'Miles,' throw dust in your eyes. Farewell.
In addition to the pieces which Tory here mentions, there are many others in this volume of miscellanies. [208] It contains also several pieces of verse by Tory himself. Here is one which will give an idea of his literary tastes:—
Dialogue by Geofroy Tory, in which the City of Bourges is described in the rôle of a speaking character. ”

“ The world is very old, and it changes little. If Tory were living in our day, it may be that he would use even darker colours; for, after all, he was appreciated in his own time, and perhaps he would die of hunger to-day. As we see, he was not fond of cooling his heels in the antechambers of the great, and lived peacefully in his own house; but honour came there to seek him. ”

“ In both respects the honour is due to Geofroy Tory. In truth, in his 'Champ fleury,'—which was not published until 1529, it is true, although begun in 1523, the license to print being dated September 5, 1526,—Tory proposed to introduce the accent, the apostrophe, and the cedilla into the French language; he did more than that; for, having become a printer, he was the first to introduce those signs into typography. They appeared for the first time in the last of the four editions of the 'Adolescence Clementine' (by Clement Marot) , all four of which he published. ”

“ Pour te imiter, ce bourgeon ne meprise,
Raisin sera, sil a temps de meurer [mûrir] .
[34]
In London, Leonard Coxe, alluding to the grammar published shortly after by his compatriot Palsgrave, exclaims: 'Learned Geofroy, he has fulfilled the wish so often expressed in thy "Champ fleury," for here we have the French language taught thoroughly, by virtue of rules duly authorized.' [132]
Tory probably received the title of king's printer in 1530, but I do not find that he assumed it earlier than 1531, and, failing documentary evidence, I cannot accredit him with it at an earlier date. ”

“ LA MOUCHE DE LUCIAN, ET LA MANIERE DE PARLER ET SE TAIRE [de Volaterran] . [Pot Cassé, no. 6.] LA MOUSCHE EST TRANSLATEE DE GREC ET DE LATIN EN LANGAIGE FRANÇOIS. LA MANIERE DE PARLER ET SE TAIRE EST TRANSLATEE SEULLEMENT DE LATIN EN FRANÇOIS. Le tout par maistre Geofroy Tory de Bourges, imprimeur du Roy et libraire juré en l'université de Paris.—On les vend a Paris devant l'eglise de la Magdeleine, a l'enseigne du Pot Cassé.
[100]
Eight octavo leaves, without date of printing or license. This pamphlet was undoubtedly printed by Tory himself, subsequent to February 22, 1533 ”

“ Tory was not content with giving us his symbol in 'Champ fleury': he engraved on the first page of that book, that is to say, in the place of honour, what would be called to-day the blazonry of his artistic acquirements,—in other words, a collection of all the tools that he used. Unfortunately, he did not feel called upon, as in the case of his mark, to supply an explanation, deeming the matter clear enough; whereas, in our day it has become rather difficult, because of the changes that have taken place in the customs of artists, to state the exact use of some of the tools. ”

“ Failing family papers, I made fruitless efforts to fix the relationship between the Toubeaus and Tory. Finding it impossible to reach any certain result, I have abandoned this search, which has no bearing upon the history of our illustrious typographer. The Toubeaus alone are interested in the solution of the question; I leave to them the task of proving their kinship. ”

“ COSMOGRAPHIA PII PAPÆ IN ASIÆ ET EUROPÆ ELEGANTI DESCRIPTIONE, etc. Paris, Henri Estienne [1509] .
Quarto, of 152 leaves of text, preceded by 12 unnumbered leaves and a folio cut representing the ancient world. On the second preliminary leaf is Tory's dedicatory epistle to Germain de Gannay, thus conceived:
To the reverend Father and Lord in Christ, Germain de Gannay, bishop-elect of Cahors, Geofroy Tory of Bourges proffers most humble greeting. ”

“ The honour of revivifying the art of engraving in France belongs to Tory alone, bestriding two centuries, the fifteenth and sixteenth; indeed, some of his productions are pure gothic. This I propose to demonstrate in the third part of my book, after I have, in the first part, narrated the general facts of our artist's life, in which we may observe also the development of a revolution in the matter of philology; for Tory was a devoted partisan of the classic tongues before he became one of the sturdiest champions of the French language. ”

“ Thus Tory, at his death, was able to flatter himself that he had contributed materially to the improvement of his mother tongue, which he loved so well. He died, as I have said, in 1533, and not in 1550, as is erroneously stated in a poetical epitaph composed nearly a century after our printer's death, by his compatriot, Nicolas Catherinot, at the request and from the notes of Jean Toubeau, himself a printer of Bourges, and a descendant of Tory, through his mother. ”

“ I have no purpose to claim the Lorraine cross for Tory alone. He was not its inventor, nor did it die with him; but there is a distinction to be made between an emblem employed in a general way, and one employed as the special mark of an artist. Not only do I not claim for Tory the Lorraine cross surmounting a circle, which appears on the mark of the Lorraine printer, Gauthier Lud, [293] in 1507, but I exclude the Lorraine cross surmounting a large gothic G, found on the title-page of a folio Missal according to the use of the church of Toul, printed at Paris by Wolfgang Hopyl, in 1508. ”

“ See also, 'Ædiloquium,' Antoninus, Berosus Babilonensis, Cebes, 'Champ fleury,' 'Economic Xenophon,' Egnasio, Eleonora of Austria, Hours of 1524-25, 1527, 1529, 1531, Leo Baptista Albertus, Louise de Savoie, Lucian, Marot (Clement) , Pope Pius II, Plutarch ('Politics') , Pomponius Mela, Pot Cassé, Quintilian, Guillaume de Ricke, Valerius Probus, Volaterran. Tory, Jean, father of Geofroy, 289, 290. Tory, Madame Geofroy. See Le Hullin, Perrette. Tory, Philippe, mother of Geofroy, 289, 290. Toubeau, Jean, 43, 44, 290-291. Tournes, Jean de, 211, 258, 259, 260, 261 and note 4. ”

“ BEROSUS BABILONENSIS, DE HIS QUÆ PRÆCESSERUNT INUNDATIONEM TERRARUM; ITEM MYRSILUS, DE ORIGINE TURRENORUM, etc.
Quarto, Paris, 1510; with the small mark of the Marnefs (the Pelican) , [197] with the letters E. I. G.
This work, which was printed by J. Marchand, at the expense of Geofroy de Marnef, bookseller and publisher, was prepared for the press by Geofroy Tory, who placed at the beginning the following letter:—
To the most distinguished Philibert Babou, Geofroy Tory of Bourges, heartiest greeting. ”

“ The Adoration of the Shepherds, signed with the letter G in a gothic shield; (II) The Adoration of the Magi; (III) The Circumcision; the last two signed with this monogram: . The G is still inclined to the gothic, but the second letter is altogether roman. In my judgement, this monogram should be translated by the words, 'Godofredus faciebat,' or 'fecit.' It is true that the ascription of these engravings to Tory has been contested; but Jules Renouvier, whose taste was so unerring, and who cannot be accused of infatuation for Tory, did not hesitate to adopt my hypothesis. ”

“ We know how little was thought of family names in the old days. As late as the sixteenth century it was no uncommon thing to see [143] persons designated by their baptismal names alone, or, at most, with the name of their native place added. We have seen [276] that the famous painter Jean Perreal, Tory's master and friend, was little known except by the name of Jean de Paris. Tory himself is called Godefroy the Berrichon (Godofredus Biturix) in some verses which his friend Gérard de Vercel composed in his praise in 1512. ”

“ That so much has come to hand in so haphazard a way is but an additional proof of Tory's industry and versatility. There seems to be almost no limit to the work which may fairly be credited to him, and M. Bernard hardly exaggerated when he said that there was scarcely an illustrated volume of any importance issued in Paris during the first half of the XVI th century in which the artist of the Lorraine cross did not have a hand. ”

“ Once master of the first rudiments of grammar, Tory perfected himself by following the curriculum of the university, where, as we learn from himself, he had for his teacher a Fleming named Guillaume de [2] Ricke, otherwise called 'le Riche' in French and 'Dives' in Latin; and for a fellow disciple under this Ghent-born master, a certain Herverus de Berna, from Saint-Amand, who afterward wrote a panegyric of the Comtes de Nevers. [11]
Tory then went, to finish his literary education, to Italy, whither he betook himself early in the sixteenth century. ”

“ It would be difficult to carry further the love of artistic harmony. Neither the borders nor the illustrations bear Tory's mark, and I doubt whether they are his. Perhaps the design was Perreal's and the engraving by one of the artists employed by Tory, who must then have had an organized workshop, if we may judge from the number of works which he produced about that time.
Dibdin speaks enthusiastically of this edition of the Hours, in his 'Bibliographical Decameron'; he even reproduces four of the large cuts by which it is illustrated. ”

“ I believe that we should also attribute to him the admirable miniatures [275] that have come down to us of the painter known by the name of 'Godefroy.' If, indeed, we compare the engravings in Tory's books with the designs of that painter, we readily recognize a similarity of execution which seems to establish the identity of the two men. ”

“ These publications did not prevent our artist from giving his attention to literature. While he was overlooking the impression of his Hours and his 'Champ fleury,' he was preparing various works to which we shall have occasion to refer hereafter. Generally speaking, they are translations intended to enrich the French tongue; for Tory did not lose sight of his patriotic purpose. ”

“ The sign of the Pot Cassé, which Kerver did not need, was adopted by a bookseller of Chartres, named Richard Cotereau, who seems also to have bought some of Tory's woodcuts representing that mark. In fact I have seen one, which I have never seen on any of Tory's books, in a book printed in Paris for Cotereau by Nicolas Chrestien; it is: 'Le Coustumier de la baronnye, chastellenie, terre et seigneurie de Chasteauneuf en Tymerays'; octavo, 1557. ”

“ The 'avis au lecteur,' also written by Tory, is signed, according to his custom, with the word CIVIS. In the following year, in collaboration with a compatriot and fellow pupil, Herverus de Berna, Tory published a short Latin poem on the Passion, written by his former teacher, Guillaume de Ricke. In this wise he acquitted his debt of gratitude. [22] Shortly after, Tory published for the Marnef brothers an edition of Berosus, who was then much in vogue, thanks to the fabrications of Annius of Viterbo. ”

“ The first is a translation of the first three books of Diodorus Siculus, by Antoine Macault. This superb manuscript, which was in the library of M. Firmin Didot père in 1810, is to-day buried in one of the private libraries of England. A description will be found on pp. 166-168. It is true that there is nothing about it to suggest Tory, but the style of the painting and of the engraving (the book was printed by Tory's widow in 1535) leaves no doubt as to his authorship. ”

“ Nor must we lose sight of the fact that Tory was from Bourges, that is to say, from the same province as Jacques Thiboust, Seigneur de Quantilly, 'friend of books, and distinguished penman,' who was Jean Salomon's Mæcenas. ”

“ The judgement of Paris.
1523
While working for others, Tory busied himself with a long series of engravings intended for books of Hours to be published by himself. [329]
'It is upon turning over these plates,' says M. Renouvier, [330] 'that one appreciates to the full his style—rich, diversified and immeasurably clever in ornamentation, distorted out of proportion, diabolic in the drawing of faces, descending too often to downright awkwardness in the carriage of the head and to a habit of bellying out draperies; and, finally, overweighted by a sort of heaviness in the forms. ”

“ As we know, the sixteenth century did not lack great geniuses, [15] who set the French language in order and brought it to a great degree of perfection. Indeed, some most expressive words, the disuse of which Tory deplored, [63] reappeared. For instance, 'affaissé' and 'tourbillonner,' which in his time had been replaced by periphrases, returned into use; many others deserve the same honour and perhaps will receive it some day.
The second book of 'Champ fleury' is, I apprehend, only a paradox; but that paradox is maintained by arguments so ingenious, that one lacks courage to condemn it. ”