Woodcut printer's device of Govaert Bac of Antwerp
Woodcut printer's device of Govaert Bac of Antwerp. Cf. Bac's entry in M. Harman, Printer's and Publisher's Devices in Incunabula in the University of Illinois Library (Urbana, Ill., 1983):
The "bird cage" in this device is Bac's housemark, his address being "int vogelhuys." It is the device of his predecessor at this shop, Matthias van der Goes. Bac changed the initial, M, of Van der Goes, to his own initials, g b, and added his own mark, the good-luck symbol, 4, double-crossed and surmounted by a swastika. The shield bears the arms of the city of Antwerp, the two severed hands issuing from the central tower allegedly being derived from the practice of punishing pirates by cutting off their hands and throwing them into the Schelle. This is the third of several versions of this device, which was first used in 1496.
Established form: Bac, Govaert
Penn Libraries call number: GC5 Si116 505p
Woodcut printer's device of Govaert Bac of Antwerp
Woodcut printer's device of Govaert Bac of Antwerp. Cf. Bac's entry in M. Harman, Printer's and Publisher's Devices in Incunabula in the University of Illinois Library (Urbana, Ill., 1983):
The "bird cage" in this device is Bac's housemark, his address being "int vogelhuys." It is the device of his predecessor at this shop, Matthias van der Goes. Bac changed the initial, M, of Van der Goes, to his own initials, g b, and added his own mark, the good-luck symbol, 4, double-crossed and surmounted by a swastika. The shield bears the arms of the city of Antwerp, the two severed hands issuing from the central tower allegedly being derived from the practice of punishing pirates by cutting off their hands and throwing them into the Schelle. This is the third of several versions of this device, which was first used in 1496.
Established form: Bac, Govaert
Penn Libraries call number: GC5 Si116 505p