Nicolas Jenson's 1472 edition of Pliny's Natural history is generally considered one of the highest achievements of printing during the Renaissance. It is not just a question of the type design, but of the overall layout of the type on the page. The characteristics of Jenson's roman font were its immense readability and clarity. Taken individually there are imperfections, but it is the overall effect that must be considered, and his roman font, though frequently copied and modified, has never been equalled. His reputation was great in his own time, and remains so today.
Jenson's type was said to be a transcript of a particularly fine Humanist manuscript hand. He was able to translate the manuscript hand with its delicate flourishes into the rigid type-metal, to blend horizontal strokes and curves with ascenders, and serifs that in appearance are exactly right. In the late 19th century William Morris based some of his types for the Kelmscott Press on Jenson's roman type, as did T.J. Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker with the Doves Press, culminating in the Doves Press Bible.
Though a Frenchman, Jenson established himself in Venice, having learnt the new craft of printing from moveable type in Germany. His roman type appeared for the first time, under his imprint, in 1470, in De Praeparatione Evangelica by Eusebius. The Pliny is a printed book, but the initial letters for new paragraphs had only guide letters printed, with space left for elegant illuminated letters to be added by hand, if the purchaser could afford this luxury.
"Jenson's roman fount has exerted such an influence on later typographers that it has become enshrined as an ideal form of clarity, beyond the touch of time." Lowry, Martin Nicolas Jenson and the rise of Venetian publishing in Renaissance Europe page 76.
Jenson's Pliny is the earliest example of printing incunabula in the State Library's collections.
Caius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder) was born in late 23AD (or possibly early 24AD) in Como in northern Italy. Much of what we know about him is to be found in either snippets in his Natural history or through the Letters of Pliny the Younger, his nephew and adopted son. Pliny followed the usual service lines for a man of the Equestrian class in ancient Rome, serving in the army and public administration.
Throughout this service to the Empire, Pliny maintained a reputation for his integrity. He also continuously gathered together the information that resulted in his Natural history: not a moment of time was wasted - he was read to during meals, and when he travelled; he was read to when he went to the baths. He took notes continually.
Pliny's Natural history is an encyclopedia of the world as it was known in the first century AD. It included chapters on geography, astronomy and meteorology, anthropology, animals and plants including the medicinal uses of them, metal and stones, including gemstones and amber, agriculture, silviculture and viticulture.
His immense curiosity for the natural world led him to examine the curious cloud formation building over the Bay of Naples on 24 August 79AD. He put out to sea to examine it, and then subsequently went ashore to rescue a friend. He assiduously took notes all the while, but escape from the shore became impossible, and Pliny the Elder died asphyxiated by the dense fumes emitted by the erupting volcano, Vesuvius.
His Natural history survived and during the Renaissance gained immense popularity. During the first 50 years of printing from moveable type in Europe, no less than 15 editions were published. A further 43 editions were published in the 16th century. Pliny scrupulously recorded the sources of his information and while today much that is in it may be discounted as false information, it does truly depict the world as it was known in 77AD. The Natural history stood as a great depository of knowledge for some 1600 years and was only slowly supplanted by the new enquiring minds of the 17th century and beyond.
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