Bindings with the device or name of a publisher or printer stamped on their covers, so-called “publisher’s bindings,” are generally assumed to have been made for display in the publisher’s own bookshop, to advertise the business, or for sale to customers who preferred to buy their books ready bound.¹ In 1994, Georges Colin listed four such bindings decorated with the gilt device of the Lyonese printer Sébastien Gryphe.² Additional bindings are identified here, and it is hoped that this augmented list will facilitate a fresh investigation, bring other bindings to light, and perhaps dispel lingering speculation, that these bindings could just as well have been made for the publisher’s personal library, or for donation by him, or for some other non-commercial purpose.³ The more specimens we know, the better we will be able to explain their meaning.

Sébastien Gryphe was born at Reutlingen in Swabia about 1492, the son the Michael Greyff, a local printer. He is supposed to have worked for his father, afterwards in Basel, then in Venice, before being called to Lyon in the mid-1520s by the Grande compagnie des libraires. By 1528, he had set up on his own as a libraire-imprimeur, adopting in that year the device of a gryphon (a pun on his surname). Baudrier reproduces ten different versions of the mark in which the mythological creature (a symbol of diligence) is shown with outstretched wings, looking backward, attached by one foot to an ashar (a worked stone, symbol of constancy), from which a winged orb (globe of fortune) is suspended. Sébastien also employed as a printer’s mark two versions of a gryphon passant and two of a gryphon statant.⁴ These devices were usually accompanied by the Ciceronian motto Virtute duce, comite fortuna (With virtue as a guide, luck as a companion). Sébastien’s brother, François, and his nephew (or cousin), Jean, established respectively in Paris (1534-1545) and in Venice (1544-1557), utilised devices similar to those employed in the Lyon shop.⁵ After Sébastien’s death (7 September 1556), the firm was managed until 1561 by his widow, Francoise Miraillet, and thereafter by his son, Antoine (d. 1599). Baudrier reproduces thirteen of Antoine’s marks, variations on two of Sébastien’s devices, accompanied either by the Ciceronian motto, or his own name.⁶

By convention, the value of a book declined sharply with its age. “Show bindings,” which allowed prospective buyers to skim a particular edition, most likely were placed on new inventory, both in-house productions, and books published by others, and the dates of printing and of binding probably are concurrent. Books in small formats appear to have been favoured for binding, perhaps because they are difficult to examine unless in a sewn structure. The bindings decorated with the Gryphe device contain books published by Sébastien between 1550 and 1555, books published by his heirs in 1560, five books (in four bindings) by other publishers (nos. I-A-1, I-A-4, II-6), and one empty binding (no. I-C-1). It thus appears that for some reason the practice of having copies bound with a device began late and ceased after a few years. The books in List I below are sextodecimos, except for one in octavo format - a probable remboîtage (I-A-4). The documents recovered by Baudrier do not indicate that Sébastien Gryphe employed a binder on his premises. According to Rondot, who does not cite the evidence, Sébastien employed a wood engraver with the given name “Antoine,” and this Antoine produced the metal tools used to decorate these bindings.⁷

Three different stamps are found on the bindings, designated by Georges Colin as type “A. Fer à la pierre plate, aux petits côtés égaux”; type “B. Fer à la pierre moins plate, le petit côté à droite”; and type “C. Fer à la pierre plate, le petit côté à gauche”:

Details of Type A (no. I-A-5) - Type B  (no. I-B-1) - Type C (no. I-C-1)

Details of Type D (no. III-1) - Type E (no. III-8)

Excluded from Georges Colin’s list of Sébastien Gryphe’s trade bindings is one covering a quarto printed at Basel, in 1536, ornamented by a gilt stamp of a gryphon, but without the ashlar, or the winged globe (no. III-7).⁸ It had been reported by Ilse Schunke, in 1938, as a publisher’s binding of Sébastien Gryphe, but Colin considered this device to be “un emblème assez répandu, étranger à l’officine lyonnaise.”⁹ In 1962, Schunke encountered a sextodecimo printed at Lyon in 1556 in a binding with a similar device (no. III-4), and dismissed it, as having nothing to do with Sébastien Gryphe.¹⁰ However, the stamps on these bindings approximate two of Sébastien’s printer’s devices (Baudrier 6 and 9, typically used at the end of a book, not on its title-page). Similar bindings have since come to light, two of which contain books published by Sébastien Gryphe (an octavo and a sextodecimo, dated 1550, 1553, nos. III-2, 3), another a Lyonese edition by Guillaume Rouillé (published a year or two after Sébastien Gryphe’s death), and an octavo printed at Basel in 1549.

i. bindings decorated with stamps a – b – c

A. Fer à la pierre plate, aux petits côtés égaux (Colin)

(I-A-1) Baldassarre Castiglione, Il cortegiano del conte Baldessar Castiglione, revisto per Lodovico Dolce sopra l’esemplare del proprio auttore, e nel margine annotato (Lyon: Guillaume Rouillé, 1562)

provenance
● Léon Gruel (1841-1923), exlibris
● Librairie Laurent Coulet, Catalogue 21 (Paris 1998), item 32 (FF 15,000; illustrated; “Il provient de la bibliothèque de Léon Gruel et porte son ex-libris”)

literature
Léon Gruel, Manuel historique et bibliographique de l’amateur de reliures, Deuxième partie (Paris 1905), p.89 (“La petite est sur un livre italien: Il Cortegiano del conte Baldessar Castiglione. In Lyonne [sic] 1562”, [footnote] “Collection Léon Gruel” [link])
Colin, op. cit., p.97 no. A2


(I-A-2) Marcus Tullius Cicero, M. Tullii Ciceronis orationum tomus primus (Lyon: Heirs of Sébastien Gryphe, 1560)

provenance
● unidentified owner, inscription “d. Joan Dani” (opac)
● Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, Pal. 03072 (opac pelle di vitello; sui piatti cornice a tre filetti impressi a secco, specchio con filetto impresso a secco e fregio (marca di Gryphius) impressa in oro; sul dorso quattro nervature; cucitura su doppi nervi; tagli impressi in oro e cesellati [link]; image source [link])

literature
Federico Macchi, “Legature e marche tipografiche” in Misinta 49 (2018), pp.103-106 (p.106 Figs. 4-5)


(I-A-3) Desiderius Erasmus, Apophthegmatum ex optimis utriusque linguae scriptoribus, libri octo (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1555)

provenance
● Munich, Jesuit college of St Michael, inscription “Collegij monacensi” on title-page
● Hartung & Hartung, Auktion 77: Wertvolle Bücher, Manuskripte, Autographen, Munich, 2-4 November 1994, lot 218 (“Kalbsldr. d. Zt. mit etwas Rücken- u. Deckel-verg., zisel. Goldschn. … Der hübsche Einbd. (die 5 Rückenfelder mit gold-gepr. Blüte, die Deckel mit goldgepr. Eckfleurons u. Gryphius-Signet als Mittelstück) leicht berieben”)
● Jörg Schäfer, Zurich - bought in sale (DM 110)


(I-A-4) Martin Luther, Exposition de l’histoire des dix lépreux prinse du dixseptiesme de Sainct Luc où est amplement traicté de la confession auriculaire, et comme on peut user d’allegories en la saincte Escripture translatée de latin en françois ([Geneva: Jean Gérard], 1539), bound with Noël Béda [Antoine Marcourt], La Confession et raison de la foy de maistre Noël Beda ([Geneva: Jean Michel, ca 1542])

provenance
● Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, D2-15956-15957 (opac Rel. en chèvre à la marque de Sébastien Gryphe frappée problement en argent, XVIe s., entièrement restaurée [link])

literature
Brun, op. cit., p.64
Colin, op. cit., p.97 no. A1 (“Les plats anciens, en chèvre, sont remontés dans une reliure neuve”)


(I-A-5) Juan Luis Vives, Excitationes animi in Deum, Ioan. Lodovico Vive autore. Quarum catalogum sequens continet pagella (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1550)

provenance
● F. Gillet, inscription
● Augustin Saddet, inscription
● André Girodon, exlibris
● Coutau-Bégarie & Associés, Livres Anciens & Modernes, Paris, 15 February 2019, lot 54 (“Exemplaire réglé à l’encre rouge dans une reliure à la marque du griffon de Sébastien Gryphe répétée sur les deux plats … Deux ex-libris manuscrits plus ou moins contemporains de F. Gillet, Augustin Saddet. Ex-libris cachet estampé aux plats. De la bibliothèque du prêtre lyonnais André Girodon (ex-libris étiquette).” [image source, link])
● Antiquariat Jürgen Dinter, Cologne (online, 14 November 2020; €480; “a rare example of a binding with the publisher’s signet stamped on both covers” [link])

B. Fer à la pierre moins plate, le petit côte à droite (Colin)

(I-B-1) Diodorus Siculus, Bibliothecae historicae libri XVII (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1552)

provenance
● Vidus Menutius, inscription (McKittrick)
● Joseph Baer & Co., Frankfurt am Main; their Catalogue 740: Bucheinbände, Bookbindings historical and decorative (Frankfurt am Main 1925), item 178 & Pl. 20 [link]; Catalogue 750: One thousand fine & valuable books, manuscripts, drawings, prints and autograph letters (Frankfurt am Main 1929), item 252 & Pl. 26 [link]; Katalog 751: Gesamtausgaben der Weltliteratur (Frankurt am Main 1929), item 335 [link] Catalogue 765: Pressendrucke (Frankfurt am Main [1930?]), item 324 & Tafel V [link]; Catalogue 770: Bucheinbände, Bookbindings, Livres dans de riches reliures (Frankfurt am Main [1931?]), item 105 & Pl. 20 [link]
● Charles Louis Fière (1863/1864-1937)
● Edouard Girard & Georges Andrieux, Bibliothèque Ch.-Louis Fière: bibliophile dauphinois, précieux livres anciens, Deuxième vente, Paris, 14-17 June 1937, lot 293 (“Exemplaire dans sa reliure originale exécutée dans l’atelier de Sébastien Gryphe et portant la marque de cet imprimeur dorée sur chaque plat. Ces reliures sont de plus extrême rareté et l’on n’en connait que deux exemplaires décrits par L. Gruel dans son Manuel de l’amateur de reliure (II, p.89), avec des marques d’ailleurs différentes” [link])
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 3110) [link]
● Bruce McKittrick, Catalogue 54 (Narberth, PA 2009), [pp.14-15; no item number] ($15,000; “gilt device of Sébastien Gryphe in the center (tool measures 32 x 20 mm.) … 16th-century signature of Vidus Menutius. J. Baer, Kat. 770 (1930) 105 & Taf. XX (this copy)” [link])

literature
Brun, op. cit., p.63 (incorrectly as “dans le catalogue Rosenthal 770, no. 150 et pl. XX”)
Schunke, op. cit. 1938, p.106 (citing Baer Catalogue 750)
Colin, op. cit., p.97 no. B1

C. Fer à la pierre plate, le petit côte à gauche (Colin)

(I-C-1) Empty binding (blank leaves)

provenance
● Léon Gruel (1841-1923), exlibris (Ader: “avec ex-libris et note de sa main collée sur le second feuillet”)
● Philippe et Jean-Paul Couturier & Pierre Chrétien, Beaux livres anciens, Paris, 27-28 November 1967, lot 242
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 250) [result in Le Livre et L’Estampe 53-54 (1968), p.122: “No. 242. Livre de papier blanc; in 12, veau brun avec la marque de Sébastien Gryphe. Manuel II, p.89; 250 FF”]
● Ader Nordmann & Éric Busser, Beaux livres anciens & modernes, Paris, 10 November 2015, lot 29 (“In-16, veau brun, double cadre de filets à froid, fer doré et azuré aux angles et marque au griffon dorée au centre sur les plats … Cet exemplaire recouvre des feuillets blancs placés par Léon Gruel à qui l’exemplaire a appartenu et qu’il cite dans son Manuel historique et Bibliographique de l’Amateur de reliures, seconde partie, page 89, en reproduisant la marque figurant sur les plats … Provenance: Léon Gruel, avec ex-libris et note de sa main collée sur le second feuillet” [illustrated, link; catalogue, link])

literature
Exposition universelle de 1889 (Paris, France), Catalogue général officiel: Exposition rétrospective du travail et des sciences anthropologiques, Section II. Arts libéraux (Paris 1889), pp.53, 62 (“Types de reliures anciennes. Vitrine No. 123 … Reliure exécutée par Sébastien Gryphe, Lyon 1529-1550. (Collection Léon Gruel)” [link])
Léon Gruel, Manuel historique et bibliographique de l’amateur de reliures, Deuxième partie (Paris 1905), p.89 [link])
Colin, op. cit., p.98 no. C1 (“Léon Gruel, dans son Manuel, reproduit par dessin cette marque qui ressemble à celle, gravée sur bois, répertoriée par Silvestre (486)”)

ii. undetermined bindings

(II-1) Biblia - NT, Testamenti novi, editio vulgata (Lyon: Heirs of Sébastien Gryphe, 1560)

provenance
● E.P. Goldschmidt & Co., London; their Catalogue 161: Two hundred books (London 1981), item 31 ($3000; “bound in contemporary dark brown calf, decorated in gilt with the mark of the publisher. … All such bindings are notoriously rare and we have traced altogether six bindings with the mark of Gryphius.”)


(II-2) Marcus Tullius Cicero, M. Tullii Ciceronis Orationum tomus primus (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1551)

provenance
● Alfred Maria Fortunatus von Oberndorff (1870-1963)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the collection of valuable printed books, manuscripts and fine bindings, the property of Count A. Oberndorf, London, 6 July 1955, lot 50 (part lot; “4 vol., italic letter, contemporary Lyonese calf, borders and panels formed by treble fillets in blind, with the device of Seb. Gryphius (a griffin) in gilt in the centre of each cover and gilt leaves at the outer corners of the panels, gilt and gauffered edges, backs defective”) [RBH NARWHALE-50]
● Arthur Rau, Paris - bought in sale (£11)


(II-3) Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philosophicorum tomus II (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1551)

provenance
● Alfred Maria Fortunatus von Oberndorff (1870-1963)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the collection of valuable printed books, manuscripts and fine bindings, the property of Count A. Oberndorf, London, 6 July 1955, lot 50 (part lot; “4 vol., italic letter, contemporary Lyonese calf, borders and panels formed by treble fillets in blind, with the device of Seb. Gryphius (a griffin) in gilt in the centre of each cover and gilt leaves at the outer corners of the panels, gilt and gauffered edges, backs defective”) [RBH NARWHALE-50]
● Arthur Rau - bought in sale (£11)
● Lathrop C. Harper, New York; their Catalogue [number and title unknown; entered in Rare Book Hub as “220a” dated 1975], item 107 ($425; “Philosophicorum tomus II (without vol. 1)”, “original brown calf, two frames of triple blind fillets on sides, gilt fleurons at angles of inner frame, Gryphius’ mark (a griffon rampant) stamped in gilt in centre of both covers, spine with six bands, a gilt rosette in each compartment”) [RBH 220a-107]


(II-4) Marcus Tullius Cicero, Orationum M.T. Ciceronis, volumen III (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1555)

provenance
● Alfred Maria Fortunatus von Oberndorff (1870-1963)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the collection of valuable printed books, manuscripts and fine bindings, the property of Count A. Oberndorf, London, 6 July 1955, lot 50 (part lot; “4 vol., italic letter, contemporary Lyonese calf, borders and panels formed by treble fillets in blind, with the device of Seb. Gryphius (a griffin) in gilt in the centre of each cover and gilt leaves at the outer corners of the panels, gilt and gauffered edges, backs defective … The exact status of these 16th Century bindings with a printer's device is still in doubt, but it is probable that they were intended as booksellers’, rather than publishers’, bindings.”) [RBH NARWHALE-50]
● Arthur Rau - bought in sale (£11)
● Bernard Rosenthal, New York; their Catalogue 18: Manuscripts, printed books 11th century to c. 1700 (New York 1966), item 60 ($60; “A rare example of a printer’s device used as a binder’s tool: Gryphius’s publisher’s binding consists of brown calf (panels measure 5 x 3 inches), each cover with blind-tooled triple fillet border and gilt corner fleurons. In the center is the large gilt tool of the Griffon, the device used by Gryphius in his books”)


(II-5) Marcus Tullius Cicero, Rhetoricum ad C. Herennium libri quatuor (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1555)

provenance
● Maggs Bros, London; their Catalogue 970: Ancient, mediaeval and modern, no. 13 (London 1976), item 25 (£50; “A Lyonese publisher’s binding of the mid 16th-century … Contemporary French calf gilt, with gilt stamp of a griffin in centre of covers (rebacked) … With gilt device of Sebastian Gryphe on covers”) [RBH 970-25]
● Diana Parikian, Waterstock, Oxford; their Catalogue 39: Continental books 1500-1800 (Waterstock, Oxford [1983]), item 19 (£775; “Contemporary French brown calf gilt; sides with single gilt fillet, central gilt gryphon device of the publisher. Sympathetically rebacked”)

iii. bindings ornamented by a gryphon

D. Walking to viewer’s right (passant sinister)

(III-1) Bible - OT - Psalms, Pseaumes de David, Proverbes de Salomon. Le Ecclésiaste, Cantique des Cantiques, Livre de Sapience, Ecclésiastique: le tout traduit de l’Ebreu en latin & en françoys & reduit par versetz, respondant l’une version à l’autre (Lyon: Guillaume Rouille, 1558)

provenance
● Dr H. Mignon, exlibris
● Librairie Le Feu Follet, Paris (“Reliure en plein veau brun, double filet estampé à froid en encadrement des plats, triple filet estampé à froid sur les plats avec fleurons d’angle dorés, marque au griffon doré au centre des plats, dos à quatre nerfs orné à froid et au petit fer dans les caissons, toutes tranches dorées et guillochées, reliure de l’époque, probablement des ateliers d’Antoine Gryphe. Ex-libris Dr. H. Mignon.” [image source, link])


(III-2) Guillaume Bude, Gulielmi Budaei Parisiensis, Consiliarii regii supplicumque libellorum in regia magistri, De asse et partibus ejus libri V. Ab ipso autore novissimè et recogniti et locupletati (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1550)

provenance
● Marcus Fugger (1529-1597) (?)
● Fürstlich Oettingen-Wallerstein’sche Bibliothek, Harburg
● Sotheby’s, Fine Continental books and manuscripts, science and medicine, London, 5 December 1991, lot 132 (part lot; “contemporary French calf gilt, small fleurons at corners, gryphen in centre, Bude de Asse gilt-lettered on upper cover”) [RBH Monster-132]
● Diana Parikian, Waterstock, Oxford - bought in sale (£3600); their Catalogue 56: Continental Books 1500-1800 (London [1993]), item 15 (£3000; illustrated; “In its first binding of contemporary calf, blind triple rules forming a panel with large gilt fleurons at outer angles: the publisher’s device of a griffin gilt-stamped in the centre of both covers, author and title above: spine with a single rosette tool gilt in the compartments … the present binding bears an unusual version of his device in which the griffin faces right and is half-rearing up on its hind legs”)
● Edward Bayntun Coward for George Bayntun, Bath; their Catalogue 8 (Bath [1998?]), item 12 (£3000)
● T. Kimball Brooker, purchased from the above, 1999 [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2253; to be offered by Sotheby’s in 2024-2025]


(III-3) Marcus Tullius Cicero, M.T. Cic. Epistolarum, ut vocant, familiarium libri XVI. Denuo, collatis non paucis venerandae fidei exemplaribus, quam accuratissime castigati (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1553)

provenance
● Albert Ehrman (1890-1969)
● Oxford, Bodleian Library, Broxb. 12.8 (opac Gryphon on covers possibly indicates a binding by S. Gryphius (printer of the same book), but Gryphius’ device has also a book and globe [link]; Flickr database, image [link])


(III-4) Leonhart Fuchs, De componendorum miscendorumque medicamentorum ratione libri quatuor (Lyon: Antoine Vincent, 1556)

provenance
● Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Stamp.Pal.VI.133 [link]

literature
Schunke, op. cit. 1938, I, p.186 (“… der Greifenstempel, der in diesem Fall nicht als das Signet des Gryphius aufzufassen ist, sondern ein modisch allgemein verbreitetes Motiv wiedergibt. Er ist auf dem palatinischen Band VI 133 für einen Lyoneser Druck des Anton Vincentius verwendet worden”)
Ilse Schunke, Die Einbände der Palatina in der Vatikanischer Bibliothek (Città del Vaticano 1962), I, p.761 no. VI. 133 (“Braunes Kalbleder gold. Steigender Greif r + v”) & Taf. 136


(III-5) Herodianus, Herodianu historion biblia e. Herodiani de imperatorum Romanorum praeclarè gestis libri VIII. Graeci & Latini postremum nunc recognitione diligentiori castigati (Basel: Heinrich Petri, [1549])

provenance
● Diana Parikian, Waterstock, Oxford; their Catalogue 39: Continental books 1500-1800 (Waterstock, Oxford [1983]), item 20 (£900; “contemporary French brown calf, gilt, blindruled triple fillets forming panel with large gilt fleurons at outer corners of inner frame, central gilt device of a gryphon”)


(III-6) Homerus, Odysseae Homeri Libri XXIIII nuper a Simone Lemnio Emporico Rheto Curiensi, Heroico Latino carmine facti, & a mendis quibusdam priorum translationum repurgati; Accessit et Batrachomyomachia Homeri ab eodem secundum Graecum Hexametro Latinitate donata (Basel: Johann Oporinus, 1549)

provenance
● Antoine de Loueuse, seigneur de Cronevelt et de Méricourt (d. 1586), supralibros
● Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque de l’Agglomération du Pays, Inv. 2574 (opac veau blond, double encadrement de triples filets, fleurons d’angle dorés sur le cadre intérieur, griffon doré au centre des plats encadre de l’inscription ‘Antonius Loueuses Attreba 1553’, titre inscrit à l’encre sur la tranche de gouttière, filets sur les coupes, dos à 5 nerfs, doubles filets en pieds de nerfs, filets sur les coiffes, pets fers dorés au centre des caissons, titre rapporté sur veau blond [link])

literature
Rémy Cordonnier, De cuir et d’or: les reliures armoriées de la bibliothèque d’agglomération du Pays de Saint-Omer (Saint-Omer 2017), no. 52 [image source, link]

E. Walking to viewer’s left (passant dexter)

(III-7) Jacob Ziegler, Sphaerae atque astrorum coelestium ratio, natura, & motus: ad totius mundi fabricationis cognitionem fundamenta ([Basel:] Johann Walder, 1536)

provenance
● Melchior Goldast von Haiminsfeld (1587/1588-1635)
● Bremen, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, BS 0512 olim III. 1.b.3 (Colin)

literature
Schunke, op. cit. 1938, p.106 (“In Bremen endlich fand sich in der Bücherei des Melchior Goldast ein Einband mit einem nach links [my emphasis] ausschreitenden Greifen, der dem Signet am Schluß einiger später Gryphiusdrucke nachgeschnitten ist.” [cites in footnote 1553 Gryphe edition of Erasmus, Adagiorum epitome, which has on its last page Baudrier’s mark no. 6; link, link)
Colin, op. cit., p.78 (“un griffon, sans cube ni globe ailé est un emblème assez répandu, étranger à l’officine lyonnaise; c’est le cas entre autres d’un griffon signalé par Ilse Schunke”)


(III-8) unidentified book

provenance
● Unlocated

literature
Jean Toulet, “L’école lyonnaise de reliure” in Le siècle d’or de l’imprimerie lyonnaise (Paris 1972) pp.131-158 (p.142 & Fig. 134)