Abel L’Angelier (fl. 1572-1609)
‘Sacrum pingue dabo nec macrum sacrificabo’
or
‘I will offer a fat sacrifice and not a thin one.’
Blaise de Vigenère, Traicté des chiffres, ou secretes manieres descrire: par Blaise de Vigenere, Bourbonnois (Paris, 1587), title page device of Abel L‘Angelier.
Abel L’Angelier or Abel Angelerius (fl. 1572-1609), was the son of the bookseller Arnoul L’Angelier (fl. 1536-57) and his wife Girarde Roffet, and a grandson of a bookbinder established in Paris. Appointed ‘libraire juré’ of the University from 1572 to 1609, he was replaced by Sébastien Cramoisy (1585-1669) on 30 January 1610. As Silvestre notes, Abel used eight variations of a device which was a play on his name, for as the above medallion demonstrates, it depicted the ‘Sacrifice of Abraham’.[1] This could also be read as an oblique reference to the sacrifices in Genesis 4 of Abel and Cain, where Abel sacrificed an animal to God, while his brother Cain only offered fruit. L’Angelier used the same incident as the source for his motto.
L’Angelier was a syndic of the community in 1595 and 1596 and his shop was at the following address: ‘Ad primam columnam Palatii regii’ or ‘Au premier pilier de la grant salle du Palais’. His firm was therefore not located in Rue Saint-Jacques, Rue Saint-Jean-de-Latran or Rue Mont-Saint-Hilaire, i.e. the area known as the ‘Latin Quarter’ near the university, but on the Ile de la Cité, on the outskirts of the Palais, a centre for magistrates and lawyers. This impacted his readership who were not the usual students, professors, clerics and monks. He also lived in the Marché Neuf de l’Herberie, but left during the unrest of 1591 and settled in Melun. He died in 1610 and was succeeded by his widow, Françoise de Louvain (c. 1540-1620), who had previously been married to the bookseller Pierre Du Pré (fl. 1562-71). Françoise de Louvain maintained the shop until 1615.[2]
L’Angelier was a member of a company of printers and booksellers called ‘La Compagnie de la Grand ’Navire’ (1582-1644).[3] This company was set up to publish the works of the Church Fathers and its device was that of a ship (no doubt a reference to the ship of the church). From 1585 to 1589, the ship bore on its masts the initials I.D.P. (Jacques Du Puys (d. 1589?)), S.N. (Sébastien Nivelle (1523/25-1603)), M.S. (Michel I Sonnius (fl. 1564-88)) and B.D.P. (Baptiste or Jean-Baptiste Du Puys (d. 1594)). Le Navire appeared again in 1599, with initials of new members: Abel L’Angelier, Barthélemy Macé (d. 1617), Ambroise Drouart (1548-1608) and Michel I Sonnius’ sons: Michel II (1564?-1630), Laurent (1570-1628), and Jean (fl. 1600-37). L’Angelier took a leading role in the company, which had been disbanded during the troubles and had just been reconstituted.[4]
L’Angelier collected, selected and republished successful publications of his predecessors at the Palais: Estienne Groulleau (d. c. 1563), Vincent Sertenas (d. 1562), Jean Longis (d. c. 1562), and his uncle Charles L’Angelier (d. 1563), during the first ten or twelve years of his activity, between 1574 and 1585.[5] Works from all over Europe were on sale at the Palais. In 1584, L’Angelier distributed Pierre de Brach’s Italian translations, Aminte. Fable bocagere. Plus l’Olimpe, printed in Bordeaux by Simon de Millanges (1540/41-1623), and in 1587 he was responsible for part of the edition of François de Foix’s Le Pimandre, of which one hundred and forty copies were reserved for Lyon and Paris. Between 1574 and 1610, L’Angelier published around four hundred and fifty titles and he also experimented with some innovations: with the help of skilled translators such as Pierre de Larivey (c. 1540-1619) and Gabriel Chappuys (1546-1613/14), he promoted editions in Italian.
Blaise de Vigenère, Traicté des chiffres, ou secretes manieres descrire : par Blaise de Vigenere, Bourbonnois (Paris, 1587), fols 30v and [95]r.
In the same year as his edition of Le Pimandre, L’Angelier produced the second edition of Blaise de Vigenère’s Traité des chiffres. The first edition had been printed the year before, in 1586. Blaise de Vigenère (1523-96), was an alchemist, astrologer and diplomat from Auvergne who, along with Jacques Amyot (1513-93), was one of the great translators of the reign of Henri III (1551-89). This is one of the most original works of the author and remains one of the fundamental texts on cryptography, the science of secret writing, in the sixteenth century. It is decorated with 6 foldout plates and 4 tables. Among them is a double-page woodcut figure and a curious woodcut plate depicting the sky. L’Angelier made a good choice with Blaise de Vigenère. He had already published first editions of Vigenère’s translations in 1584, and would do so again in 1597 and 1599, and had long held exclusive rights to Vigenère’s unpublished writings. Before devoting himself to an almost complete edition of Vigenère’s works, he obtained the transfer of Vigenère’s privileges in 1584 for the translation of Caesar’s life, Les Commentaires des guerres de la Gaule. Mis en François par Blaise de Vigenere and L’histoire de la conqueste de Constantinople of Geoffroi de Villehardouin (d. c. 1212).
Jean Bonnefons, Imitations tirées du Latin de J. Bonnefons. Avec autres amours et mesanges poetiques de l’inuention de l’autheur (Paris, 1588), fol. 26r.
Jean Balsamo and Michel Simonin comment on L’Angelier’s commercial strategy as follows: ‘He invited members of the Court, in particular those of the Chambre des Comptes and the Cour des Aides, to publish their scholarly works or the results of their literary leisure’.[6] One such was Jean Bonnefons (1554-1614), whose Pancharis and its translation by Gilles Durant de La Bergerie (1554-1614/15), proved to be a popular work, being reprinted several times. The original edition of Pancharis, and the Imitations du Latin were printed in 1587 by Thomas Brumen (1532-88). Both works were reprinted in 1588 by L’Angelier and Worth owned a copy of the 1588 edition. Bonnefons was from Clermont, and had a career as lieutenant-general of Bar sur Seine. His Latin poetry caused contemporaries to compare him to Catullus, and he had some success in his day. His translator, Gilles Durant de La Bergerie was a lawyer in the Parliament of Paris. He also was known to be a poet and was chosen to be the translator of Bonnefons’ 32 erotic poems.
In their study of the output of L’Angelier and his wife, Françoise de Louvain, Balsamo and Simonin point to the methodologies of the pair: It was during these years, 1584-1587, that L’Angelier discovered new authors and published well-known writers such as Etienne Du Tronchet (c. 1510-c. 1585), Guillaume de Saluste Du Bartas (1544-90) and Michel de Montaigne (1533-92). Moreover, L’Angelier created a series that turned into a publishing success: the Premier volume de la Bibliothèque du sieur de La Croix Du Maine of François Grudé de La Croix du Maine (1552-92). He then began to compile collections that were easily identifiable by their subject, mostly literature or educational works (i.e., on how to be a gentleman). He was the official publisher of the Italian-speaking circles of the court and published his first titles in Italian as early as 1584 – plays performed at princely entertainments.[7]
These successful series and commissions encouraged risk-taking, making it possible to publish more ambitious works requiring large sums of money. However, the civil and political crises in France between 1589 and 1593 seriously impacted the Parisian book trade. As a result, L’Angelier published only fifteen titles and these were mainly in small editions. In addition, he was trying to keep control of his various bookshops in Paris, Melun and Tours. Jean Balsamo and Michel Simonin explain the difficulties posed by the troubles, especially in terms of communication problems between Paris and Lyon. On top of this, he needed to defend his editions against counterfeits that multiplied, especially in Lyon.[8]
The year 1594 was, however, a positive one for L’Angelier’s bookshop. There was no longer a need for sacrifices, business was getting back to normal. His bookshop was experiencing a revival and L’Angelier decided to sell and publish more law books while continuing to sell best-sellers such as Vigenère’s translations. This period demonstrates his ability to innovate while simultaneously remain attentive to his core customers and authors. The following years, especially between 1600 and 1610 were favourable for the L’Angelier firm and proved that all Abel’s sacrifices has not been in vain. Abel L’Angelier was one of the last great booksellers in the Palais de l’Ile de la cité.[9]
Sources
Balsamo, Jean, ‘Abel L’Angelier et ses dames : Les Dames des Roches, Madeleine de L’Aubespine, Marie Le Gendre, Marie de Gournay’, in Dominique de Courcelles & Carmen Val Julián (eds), Des femmes et des livres: France et Espagne, XIVe-XVIIe siècle (Paris, 1999), pp 117-36.
Balsamo, Jean, & Michel Simonin, Abel L’Angelier & Françoise de Louvain (1574-1620): Suivi du catalogue des ouvrages publiés par Abel L’Angelier (1574-1610) et La veuve L’Angelier (1610-1620) (Geneva, 2002).
Renouard, Philippe, Jeanne Veyrin-Forrer & Brigitte 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, […] 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).
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[1] Silvestre, Louis-Catherine, Marques typographiques ou Recueil des monogrammes, chiffres, […] 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° 203, 299, 703, 1124, 1171.
[2] Renouard, Philippe, Jeanne Veyrin-Forrer & Brigitte 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 91, 133.
[3] Ibid. Renouard et al., say that the name ‘Compagnie de la Grand ‘Navire’ was only used in the seventeenth century.
[4] Renouard et al. (eds), Répertoire des imprimeurs parisiens, pp 91, 136, 402.
[5] Balsamo, Jean, ‘Abel L’Angelier et ses dames : Les Dames des Roches, Madeleine de L’Aubespine, Marie Le Gendre, Marie de Gournay’, in Dominique de Courcelles & Carmen Val Julián (eds), Des femmes et des livres: France et Espagne, XIVe-XVIIe siècle (Paris, 1999), pp 117-136.
[6] Balsamo, Jean, & Michel Simonin, Abel L’Angelier & Françoise de Louvain (1574-1620): Suivi du catalogue des ouvrages publiés par Abel L’Angelier (1574-1610) et La veuve L’Angelier (1610-1620) (Paris, 2002), p. 65.
[7] Ibid., p. 64.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid, p. 66.