Nicolas Jenson - Published Works

Published Works

The Manual Of Linotype Typography, Published 1923 by Linotype Company

A hardcover book containing 256 pages of type specimens and typographic recommendations. From the introduction: "This "Manual of Linotype Typography" places before . . . printers pages based on the best typographic standards of today, presented with the greatest possible variety in order to promote versatility, and accompanied by explanatory remarks. Thus the composing-room force has opportunity to copy something really good and do it with understanding." This page in the Manual shows Linotype's version of Jenson's type. Beautifully preserved production printed in black, green, and vermillion with a tipped-in frontis illustration and decorated endpapers.

Caesar, Julius. Works, 1471. Printed, in venice by Nicolas Jenson, 1471

Nicolas Jenson printed one of the earliest and most beautiful editions of Caesar. We note here especially the remarkable clarity and simplicity of the printer's Roman typeface, which drew its inspiration from etchings on Roman monuments. On this opening page we are also treated to a wonderful illuminated initial and border.

VK 405, Bible in Latin, Nicolas Jenson, Venice, 1479

The Bible was written by forty different human authors over a 1500-year period. While the original Autographs were "perfect", the process of hand copying resulted in derivations from the original texts. Of the French printers of the era from Nicolas Jenson came nearly a hundred of the finest books produced in the fifteenth century. This is the first Bible to be issued from Jenson’s press, of this Latin Bible, issued in 1479, Pope Sixtus IV conferred upon him the honorary title of Count Palatine.

Pliny, Natural History, 1476. Printed in Venice by Nicolas Jenson. 1,025 copies (1,000 paper, 25 vellum).

The Pliny text was printed as a partnership venture between Jenson and the Strozzi family, who backed the venture financially. It is a vernacular text, with translation by Cristoforo Landino. "The Pliny text was printed (in a font closely simulating the modern humanist handwriting in which the manuscript of the work might have been written) with wide margins, without initial capital letters at the beginning of chapters, and with its titles isolated in a sea of blank paper on the frontspiece, crying out for illustration and decoration."

• The Manual Of Linotype Typography, Published 1923

• VK 405, Bible in Latin, Nicholas Jenson, Venice, 1479

• Julius Caesar Works, printer Nicolas Jenson, 1471

• Pliny's Natural History, printer Nicolas Jenson, 1476