Josse Badius (1462-1535)

‘Aere meret Badius laudem auctorum arte legentum’
or
‘Badius deserves praise of authors for the art of reading’.

The scholar who chose the pencil to teach,
and the press to spread.

Horace, Q. Horatii Flacci Opera cum quatuor commentariis, Acronis, Porphyrionis, Antonii Mancinelli, Iodoci Badii, anno. M.D. XXIX repositis. Cunq[ue] adnotationibus Matthaei Bonfinis, & Aldi Manutii a Philologo recognitis, suisq[ue] locis insertis, & ad finem ex integro restitutis. Praemissoq[ue] & aucto indice (Paris, 1529), title page.

This ornamental title page, a regular feature of the work of the printer Josse Badius, draws the reader’s eye to the centre of the page: to his printer’s device. Like a real perspective, it plunges the reader into the heart of a printer’s workshop, into a moment of action where two workshop companions operate the press and a composer composes the next page near the fonts. This ‘mise en abyme’ in the workshop, though not a wholly accurate depiction of a contemporary press, is a simple and effective illustration of his business. The press itself is prominently labelled ‘Prelum Ascensianum’, the name of his workshop in Paris.

Josse Badius – Badius Ascensius, Jodocus in Latin and Bade in French, was probably born in Assche, Brabant. After completing his studies in the humanities at the College of Ghent, he took courses in Greek and Latin literature at the universities of Ferrara and Mantua in Italy, where he stayed for several years, probably from 1480 to 1488. This enabled him to meet, for example, Angelo Poliziano (1454-94), Aldus Manutius (1449/50-1515) and Mantuanus Baptista (1447-1516), and to see the progress of humanism in the Italian peninsula. Afterwards, from 1488 to 1498, he taught Latin language and literature in Valencia and Lyon. It was in the latter city that, while teaching Latin, he became proof-reader for Johannes Trechsel (fl. 15th century), a printer originally from Germany. He married the latter’s daughter and had two sons who were valuable collaborators (the first was a proof-reader in his office until his death in 1526, and the second, Conrad (d. 1562), went to Geneva to open a branch); and six daughters, four of whom married leading printers in Paris: Michel de Vascosan (d. c. 1577), Jean de Roigny (fl. 1529-66), Robert I Estienne (1503?-59) and Jacques du Puys (d. 1589?).^[1]

In 1492, in his father-in-law’s workshop in Lyon, he printed his first book. As a commercial publisher, he published personal works, classics and contemporary works during this period. In a city with a so-called ‘scholarly’ publishing market like Lyon, this was a fairly standard sample. During the first decades of printing in France, Badius played the role of printer and publisher at the service of the humanist world, bringing with him knowledge and know-how from Italy, which found a perfect echo in Lyon. In the sixteenth century, Lyon had very close economic and commercial links with Italy. However, as Lebel notes, ‘shortly after the death of his father-in-law, Badius moved to Paris, first to Rue des Carmes, then to Rue Saint-Jacques, and it was in this publishing house, known as ‘Praelum Ascensianum’, that no fewer than 708 editions were printed between 1503 and 1535’.^[2]

At the height of his fame, Badius sought the honour of the coveted title of ‘University Printer’. He received it in 1507 and therefore held the title of ‘imprimeur et libraire-juré’ (printer and bookseller of the university). In 1521, he was commissioned by the University of Paris to publish Determinatio theologicę Facultatis Parisieñ super Doctrina Lutheriana hactenus per eam visa and faithfully printed this famous condemnation of Martin Luther (1483-1546). At the same time, his colleagues were forbidden to reprint or sell it. Instead of the French signature ‘Josse Bade’, which he used only five times in his lifetime, he preferred the Latin version ‘Jodocus’, to which he usually added the adjective ‘Ascensius’. This was either a reference to the Van Asche family of Ghent or to the town of Assche, near Brussels, where he was born.

After several changes of address, he settled in 1507 ‘In vico divi jacobi sub tribus Luciis’ or ‘In via regia ad divum jacobum, supra aedem D. Benedictii, e regione Craticula, sub tribus Lupis seu Luciis aquatilibus’, in the Rue Saint Jacques, at the Trois-Brochets, opposite the Maison du Gril. Then, in 1510, he moved to the sign of the ‘Salamandre’ in the same street. And finally, in 1527: ‘En lhostel de maistre Josse Badius demeurant en la rue Sainct Jacques empres la Fleur de Lis’, in the house of Renard-qui-ferre, where he was succeeded by his son-in-law, Michel de Vascosan, under the sign of La Fontaine. Silvestre points out that these indications of origin are in fact rare in Badius’s books, especially after 1512, when he provided practically only one address: ‘In aedibus Ascensianis’ or one of his printer’ device.^[3]

Badius left behind a monumental oeuvre that includes some fifteen volumes of biography and history, education and morality, philosophy and theology, 34 grammar treatises, 72 commentaries on Latin authors and texts, and 103 Latin poems.^[4] The most important of the poetical works date from 1497, 1501 and 1505, which account for 40, 31 and 44 verses respectively. He was responsible for 226 prefaces, 775 ancient and contemporary texts, and an extensive correspondence with the most prestigious humanists of his time, scholars such as Erasmus (d. 1536), Guillaume Budé (1468-1540), Jacques Toussain (1499?-1547) – whose relative, Edmée Tousan (d. 1541?), is also represented in Worth’s collection – and Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples (d. 1536). Badius’ editions are divided into three categories: those of his own works, those of contemporary authors, and those of Greek and Latin authors of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Priscianus, Prisciani Cesariensis  Institutiones grāmatice: adiectis nuper praetermissis, Libello de xii. carminibus. De accentibus. De ponderibus & mensuris. De praeexercitamentis rhetorices. De versibus comicis. De metris Terentianis. De declinationibus. De situ orbis. Cum indice … (Paris, 1516), fol. Iv.

His texts are remarkable for their typographical execution, their correct and regular printing, as can be seen in the image above from the Institutiones grāmatice, written by Priscianus in the sixth century. The use of Gothic characters is frequent, especially in religious works, and particularly for the title page, but the Roman font is still the preferred style of the printer, who juggles sizes according to the importance of the words and illustration on the page. Badius highlighted important treatises, for example on comedy or tragedy, history or the art of writing letters. These treatises, often reprinted, had a considerable influence on theatre, biography and history, on the correspondence of contemporary writers and on the imitation of Cicero’s style by many humanists. Many of them are also accompanied by notes, commentaries and prefaces. Most of the volumes published between 1492 and 1535 are in folio or quarto formats. Very few are in octavo, a smaller format that included short treatises on morals and theology, sermons, a few books on medicine, collections of poems by contemporary authors and even annotated classics by writers such as Horace (65-8 B.C.), Juvenal (d. 128) and Ovid (43 B.C.-17/18 A.D.).

The most productive year for the press was undoubtedly 1519, when 39 separate editions were published. The poorest year, with only one edition, was 1525, due to the political crisis in France. 1504 and 1535 were also two years of low production, when 7 and 6 editions respectively came out of the ‘Praelum Ascensianum’ in the Rue Saint-Jacques. Maurice Lebel outlines Badius’ production per decade as follows: from 1503 to 1512, 212; from 1514 to 1524, 264; from 1525 to 1535, 180. A total of 700 editions, to which must be added those published between 1492 and 1502, and also grammatical editions and some books not precisely dated but bearing the print mark of the Badius press. Thus, Badius was responsible for a total of 775 publications between 1492 and 1535.[5]

Basius’ output includes only four French translations: L’Histoire de Thucydide Athenien, de la guerre, qui fut entre les Peloponnesiens et Atheniens (1527); L’Histoire des successeurs de Alexandre le Grand extraicte de Diodore Sicilien et quelque peu des vies escriptes par Plutharque (1530) by Claude de Seyssel (1450?-1520); La Vie de monseigneur sainct Hierosme (1529) by Louis Lasseré (d. 1546); and Vie de Jésus-Christ (translated in 1502), originally written by Ludolf von Sachsen (c. 1300-77/78). Besides the rarity of printed French texts, the rarity of printed Greek texts is also noticeable. Strangely enough, it was only in 1520 that Badius, at the express request of Budé and Erasmus, who had complained about the lack of Greek texts, brought a Greek font from Germany, which enabled him to print in that language. Germany was ahead of France in this respect. Martin Luther had already introduced Greek into the university there. In the same year, 1520, Badius printed a collection of Greek and Latin letters by Guillaume Budé, using the same elegant font that Erasmus had used for the New Testament published in Basel. The extreme scarcity of printed Greek texts contrasts sharply with the publication of a very large number of Latin translations of Greek texts: it can even be said that this was the golden age of Latin translations of Greek works. At this time, and especially before 1520, at least in France, Greek was still much less well known than Latin, despite the efforts of Guillaume Budé and Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples to establish it. In Germany and England, Italy, Flanders and Holland, and even in Switzerland, it was much more widespread.

It is true that Guillaume Budé, with the help of Erasmus, Jacques Toussain and Germain de Brie (1490?-1538), worked hard to restore it in France, though not without encountering strong opposition from the Sorbonne. In any case, Josse Badius printed a very large number of Greek texts in Latin translation, from Homer to Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260-c. 340). He printed Latin translations of the works of Herodotus (c. 485-424 B.C.) and Thucydides (b. c. 460 B.C.), Plato (428/7-348/7 B.C.) and Theocritus (fl. 3^th century B.C.), Polybius (c. 200-after 118 B.C.) and Diodorus of Sicily (c. 90-c. 20 B.C.), Origen (b. between 183 and 186), Eusebius, Bishop of Emesa (c. 300-c. 359) and St Basil the Great (c. 329-379). He also published partial Latin translations of some of these authors and his best-selling authors were Roman authors: Macrobius (2), Seneca (2), Valerius Flaccus (3), Livy (3), Cicero (4), Lucan (4), Aulus Gellius (4), Quintilian (6), Ausonius (7), Juvenal (17), Valerius Maximus (20), Persius (21), Horace (24), Sallust (25), Virgil (27), Boethius (29), Ovid (35) and Terence (49).[6] These Latin translations were very popular in the sixteenth century and were often reprinted. There were also countless impressions and reprints of speeches and treatises on philosophy, especially from 1527 to 1534. Ciceronianism was in vogue among scholars.

 Paul the Deacon, Pauli diaconi ecclesiae Aquilegiensis … De origine et gestis regum Longobardorú libri. VI. Cum indice et argumentis (Paris, 1514), printed by Josse Badius and sold by Jean I Petit, title page with preface by Badius on verso.

Badius’ motto rarely appears (‘Aere meret Badius laudem auctorum arte legentum’ or ‘Badius deserves the praise of authors for the art of reading’), but the phrase suggests that Badius was particularly skilled at reading and understanding the works of other authors. Certainly his prefaces were widely praised for their quality and we can see glimpses of this in his preface to De origine et gestis regum Longobardorum. This preface demonstrates both Badius’ skill and methods. First and foremost comes his dedication to Guillaume Petit (d. 1536), future Bishop of Troyes, confessor of King Louis XII (1462-1515) and later of François I (1494-1547), a great hunter of manuscripts and keeper of the Royal Library at Blois, who is reverently introduced by Badius as follows: ‘Jodocus Badius Ascensius respectfully greets Guillaume Petit, reverend father of the Sacred Institute of Preachers, eminent teacher of divine wisdom and wise confessor to the royal court.’ Guillaume Petit is warmly thanked for finding, correcting and editing the manuscript and for establishing contact with Badius and the bookseller Jean I Petit (fl. 1492-1530), who had already been pursuing a programme of specialised publications of ancient historiographers for some time.

Next comes a potted history of the genesis of the work, Badius eagerly demonstrating his knowledge of the author, Paul the Deacon (c. 720-799?), as well as later commentators such as Marcus Antonius Sabellico (1436?-1506). Paul the Deacon was a Benedictine, tutor to the Lombard heir and an eminent writer and historiographer. From 782 to 786 he was at the court of Charlemagne, where he worked actively on the Carolingian reform. His ‘History of the Lombards’, written in remarkably correct Latin, goes from Scandinavian origins to the death of the greatest of the Lombard kings, Liutprand (d. 744), while mixing myth and reality.^[7] Badius’ short preface thus reflects his erudition: his reference to Paul the Deacon’s hymn in honour of St John the Baptist ‘That thy servants may, with relaxed strings, make a harmonious sound’ is a case in point. This hymn is known to be the origin of modern musical notation, using the first syllables of each verse to represent musical notes. For Badius, it was an important detail, tucked in the middle of a rigorous summary – a perfect example of the printer’s many talents.

In addition, as a former teacher of the humanities, Badius was a born educator and a committed humanist. His enthusiasm for the revival of ancient literature was inseparable from his love of contemporary literature, and he worked to spread the teaching of both. For him, there was no great chasm between the past and the present, between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. He was interested in both antiquity and modernity – and that was his strength. This deep conviction explains the determination with which he edited and re-edited, annotated and commented on texts, selected pieces, selections, treatises on grammar, education and morals. He honoured the Latin fonts and participated in the introduction of Greek. He was always thinking of students and education. As the director and owner of the most important publishing house of his time in Paris, he was fully aware of his role and influence in his environment. He showed the following generations of printers, booksellers and publishers that it was possible to be the director of one of the largest printing houses of the sixteenth century and at the same time be an extremely rigorous and committed scholar.

Sources

Bougard, François, ‘Entre Latins et Grecs : émulation et rivalité autour de l’Empire, vii^e-x^e siècle’, Rives méditerranéennes, 58 (2019), 65-77.

Hermand-Schebat, Laure, ‘Le commentaire de Josse Bade aux comédies de Térence’, Exercices de rhétorique, 10 (2017).

Lebel, Maurice, ‘Josse Bade, éditeur et préfacier (1462-1535)’, Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme, 5, no. 2 (1981), 63-71.

Renouard, Philippe, Bibliographie des impressions et des oeuvres de Josse Badius Ascensius, imprimeur et humaniste, 1462-1535, 3v. (Paris, 1908).

Renouard, Philippe, Jeanne Veyrin-Forrer & Birgitte Moreau (eds), Répertoire des imprimeurs parisiens: libraires, fondeurs de caractères et correcteurs d’imprimerie: depuis l’introduction de l’imprimerie à Paris (1470) jusqu’à la fin du seizième siècle … (Paris, 1965).

Silvestre, Louis-Catherine, Marques typographiques ou Recueil des monogrammes, chiffres, enseignes, emblèmes, devises, rébus et fleurons des libraires et imprimeurs qui ont exercé en France, depuis l’introduction de l’Imprimerie en 1470, jusqu’à la fin du seizième siècle: à ces marques sont jointes celles des Libraires et Imprimeurs qui pendant la même période ont publié, hors de France, des livres en langue française, 2v. (Paris, 1853-67).

_____

^[1] Renouard, Philippe, Jeanne Veyrin-Forrer & Birgitte Moreau (eds), Répertoire des imprimeurs parisiens: libraires, fondeurs de caractères et correcteurs d’imprimerie: depuis l’introduction de l’imprimerie à Paris (1470) jusqu’à la fin du seizième siècle … (Paris, 1965), pp 13-14 ; 135.

^[2] Lebel, Maurice, ‘Josse Bade, éditeur et préfacier (1462-1535)’, Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme, 5, no. 2 (1981), 63.

^[3] Silvestre, Louis-Catherine, Marques typographiques ou Recueil des monogrammes, chiffres, enseignes, emblèmes, devises, rébus et fleurons des libraires et imprimeurs qui ont exercé en France, depuis l’introduction de l’Imprimerie en 1470, jusqu’à la fin du seizième siècle : à ces marques sont jointes celles des Libraires et Imprimeurs qui pendant la même période ont publié, hors de France, des livres en langue française, 2v. (Paris, 1853-67), printer’s devices n^o: 7, 468, 774.

^[4] Lebel, ‘Josse Bade’, 64.

[5] Ibid., 65.

[6] Lebel, ‘Josse Bade’, 66.

^[7] Bougard, François, ‘Entre Latins et Grecs : émulation et rivalité autour de l’Empire, vii^e-x^e siècle’, Rives méditerranéennes, 58 (2019), 65-77.