#Bembo

[skeletorz]

[uwmspeccoll]

It’s Fine Press Friday! 

This week, in honor of Ramadan, we’re taking a peek at a 1958 Limited Editions Club (LEC) publication of The Koran: Selected Suras from our collection. This modern, handsomely bound and illustrated collection of texts from the Qu‘ran was translated into English by Australian American scholar of Asian studies Arthur Jeffery (1892-1959), and features decorations in grayed blue and red ink from Italian American printmaker, illustrator, and author Valenti Angelo (1897-1982). The title page and the page opposite the opening sura were also hand-illuminated in gold by Angelo. The text, which features Bembo type and Civilité headings, is printed in black ink on custom made tan Arak paper from Curtis Paper Company, a paper mill in Newark, Delaware known for its manufacture of high-quality rag papers using 19th-century Fourdrinier machinery. The work was printed by Abraham Colish (1882–1963, otherwise known as A. Colish) and bound in cloth covered boards which were hand stamped with decorations in blue, red, and gold. It was released in an edition of 1500 copies, all of which were signed by the illustrator.  

رمضان مبارك (Ramadan Mubarak) 

Find more materials related to the Quran (including original manuscripts and alternate translations in Latin, French, and German) in UWM’s Special Collections 

View more Fine Press Friday posts 

View another Ramadan post 

View more Bembo and Civilité posts 

View more Valenti Angelo posts 

View more A. Colish posts 

View more Limited Editions Club posts 

-- Ana, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[rhianna]

Bembo-Visconti-tarot-arcanum-10-wheel of fortune.jpg

Summaryedit

Description

English: A major arcana card in Visconti Sforza tarot deck, beautifully drawn in the mid XVth century by Italian artist Bonifacio Bembo for the Visconti and Sforza dukes of Milan. Four cards (out of seventy-eight) are lost from the deck (the fifteenth and sixteenth major arcana—respectively the Devil and the Tower—, the Knight of Coins, and the Three of Swords), thus seventy-four cards remain.Datemid XVth centurySourceThe card images were scanned by David Madore and published on the internet in 2003-09. They are scans of a fac simile version printed by AGMüller in Switzerland, though US Games Systems also seems to be somehow part of the editing process, which David bought in 2003-08 from an online store (broken link).AuthorBonifacio Bembo (1420–1480) Alternative names

Bembo, BonifazioDescriptionItalian painter and illuminatorDate of birth/death1420 after 1477Location of birth/deathBresciaMilanWork period1447–1477Work location

Milan

[miss-floral-thief]

lol

[duardius]

that explains it

set in bembo—vide ‹bembismo›.

[gabrielleguy]

[koredzas]

Bembo Bonifacio - Saint Francis Receives the Stigmata. Detail. 1460

[machiavellli]

Your honor, I’m a 16th century girly in a 9-12th century exam.

[asteria-of-the-stars]

“What has delighted me most is a manuscript collection (preserved in the Ambrosian library), containing love-letters and verses of Lucretia de Borgia, and Cardinal Bembo; and a lock of her hair - so long - and fair and beautiful - and the letters so pretty and so loving that it makes one wretched not to have been born sooner to have at least seen her.”

- Lord Byron to Augusta Leigh, from Milan, October 15 1816.

[lesser-known-composers]

Antonia Bembo (c. 1640 – c. 1720) - Trio Sonata in D Major: I ·

La Donna Musicale

[scarefox]

(x)

[skeletorz]

[uwmspeccoll]

It’s Fine Press Friday!

Special Collections just keeps on giving. Every time I find a book with amazing original prints I think for sure its the last, but there are more! 

This week we bring you Roxana, The Fortunate Mistress, by English writer Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) with woodcuts by Austrian printmaker, Bernd Kroeber (B.1942), printed in 1976 at The Stinehour Press in Lunenburg, Vermont for the members of The Limited Editions Club in an edition of 2000 copies signed by the artist. It was first printed for Thomas Warner at the Black-Boy in Paternoster Row, London in 1724. 

Bernd Kroeber cut twelve full page two-color woodcuts and fourteen smaller black-and-white woodcuts to illustrate this text. The prints embrace the grain of the wood blocks and the expressive cuts and figures seem to reference back to German Expressionist printmakers, like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. 

Roxana could be considered a proto-feminist character, as she raises concerns over sexual freedom and women’s right to own their own estate. Roxana is quoted saying “the Marriage Contract is...nothing but giving up Liberty, Estate, Authority, and everything, to the Man.” 

Book designer Adrian Wilson (1923-1988) designed this book using Bembo type and larger sizes of Bembo and Goudy Ornate for display lines. Wilson also designed the crossed-sword heart motif. The paper was specially made for this edition by Monadnock Mill in Bennington, New Hampshire and the book was bound by Tapley-Rutter Company of Moonachie, New Jersey. 

For the colophon, a print of characters reading Roxana. Too Funny!

View more Limited Edition Club posts.

View more Fine Press Friday posts.

-- Teddy, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[rhianna]

Location:Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts (MRMSS)

*Call Number:MS M.0630.12

*Record ID:332029

*Accession Number:MS M.630.12

*Name:Pierpont Morgan Library. Manuscript. M.630.12.

*Title:Death (Skeleton).

Created:Milan, Italy, ca. 1450-1480

Related Records:Related RecordsFULL TITLEAUTHOR/CREATORDATESVisconti-Sforza Tarot Cards.Pierpont Morgan Library. Manuscript. M.630.1-35.1445-1485

Description:1 miniature, full-page : painting on board.

Summary:Tarot Card: Death -- Skeleton (Personification of death), with cloth tied around forehead, holds sticks in both hands.

Manuscript Record:Related RecordsFULL TITLEDATESAUTHOR/CREATORVisconti-Sforza Tarot Cards.1445-1485Pierpont Morgan Library. Manuscript. M.630.1-35.

Genres:Miniatures (Illuminations)--Italy--Milan--15th century. Miniatures (Illuminations)--Gothic--Italy--Milan--15th century. Tarot card. Cardboard.

Notes:Artist: attributed variously to Bonifacio Bembo and Francesco Zavattari. School: Italian, Lombardy, Milan. Style: Gothic. Description based on record created by Index of Christian Art, Princeton University.

Associated Names:Bembo, Bonifacio, illuminator. Zavattari, Francesco, active 1414-1453, illuminator.

Formatted Place:Italy--Milan, production place.

Cite as:Pierpont Morgan Library. MS M.630.12.

Subjects:Tarot cards--Italy--Milan--Illustrations. 1445-1485. Tarot Card--Death. Personification--Death.

In Note:Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards (MS M.630.1-35)

Dept./Collection:Dept. of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts

[unabashedqueenfury]

Reign 2013-2017

Toby Finn Regbo as Francis Valois

Io, che già vago e sciolto avea pensato

Viver quest'anni, e sì di ghiaccio armarme

Che fiamma non potesse omai scaldarme,

Avampo tutto e son preso e legato.

(Pietro Bembo, from "Io, che già vago e sciolto avea pensato", Rime, I, XVI Century)

[duardius]

ockham’s razor[s]

set in monotype bembo—vide ‹bembismo›.