Vérard’s Editions of Tristan

Abstract

Vérard’s Editions of Tristan Mary Beth Winn (bio) Anthoine Vérard’s four editions of the prose Tristan illuminate publication practices from 1489 (the editio princeps) through the first decades of the sixteenth century. (MBW) Anthoine Vérard was a major figure in the French book trade from 1485 to 1512. During that time, he issued more than 300 editions, almost all of which are illustrated with woodcuts or metalcuts.1 Considered the father of the French illustrated book,2 Vérard is best known for his deluxe volumes, printed on vellum with the woodcuts overpainted in color, often with new miniatures more closely related to the text. Since the miniatures were executed by some of the best artists of the day, the printed copies rival manuscripts of the same period in both their visual splendor and their uniqueness. Vérard profited from the medieval tradition of patronage by offering these deluxe copies to kings and nobility while at the same time selling the paper copies in one of his shops in Paris. He even asserted a kind of ‘authorship’ of his printed books by inserting prologues addressed to his patron and signed in his own name or with his private mark.3 Vérard was not himself a printer, but a publisherbookseller or ‘libraire.’ He employed a dozen different printers, whose names sometimes appear in these editions, alongside the mention that the edition was printed ‘for’ Anthoine Vérard. His printer’s device is renowned, but since he continued to personalize his books through manuscript techniques as well as to produce manuscripts themselves, he also employed a painted version of the device: a heart bearing the initials AVR held by two eagles. Vérard published many romances, but Tristan was the first as well as the most popular, if we judge by the number of editions. Vérard issued four4 editions of Tristan, compared with two each of Lancelot and Merlin.5 His earliest edition of Tristan dates from September 30, 1489; printed by Jean Le Bourgeois of Rouen, it constitutes the editio princeps of the prose romance. Less than a year earlier, on November 24, 1488, Le Bourgeois had issued the first edition of Lancelot.6 It is not surprising therefore to find him collaborating with Vérard on the Tristan edition. Since some copies bear only the name and device of Le Bourgeois while others indicate that they were printed pour Vérard, it appears that the Parisian libraire subsidized only part of the print [End Page 47] run.7 Was it the printer or the publisher who proposed the edition, or was it a joint venture? The text is an abridged version of the prose Tristan, but even the abridged version is long, and the cost of production surely caused printers to hesitate about undertaking such a text. Vérard, however, was an enterprising publisher with an exceptionally acute sense of the market for books. He undoubtedly saw the edition of Lancelot that Le Bourgeois and Jean Du Pré had published jointly in 1488. Perhaps as a result, he commissioned Le Bourgeois to print the edition of Tristan, allowing him to sell some copies in his own shop. The publication must have been successful, for Vérard issued three subsequent editions, but without identifying the printers. This first edition was, moreover, copied by all the later editions, well into the sixteenth century, although each edition differs somewhat from the others in text layout and illustration. The differences among the editions as well as the distinguishing elements of individual copies, particularly of the second edition, are the focus of this study because they allow us to learn more not only about Vérard’s own practices but also about the French book trade from 1489 to 1506. The Editio Princeps The first edition of Tristan is folio size (approximately 11 x 8 inches or 320 x 220 mm) and printed in two columns, generally of forty-three lines to the page, in a large bastarda type.8 It is divided into two volumes of 188 and 148 leaves respectively for a total of 336 leaves. Each volume has a table of chapters, the text...