Colard Mansion (or Colart, before 1440 – after May 1484) was a 15th-century Flemish scribe and printer who worked together with

William Caxton William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...

. He is known as the first printer of a book with copper

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

s, and as the printer of the first books in English and French.

Biography

Colard Mansion was a central figure in the early printing industry in

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

. He was active as early as 1454 as a bookseller, and was also active as a

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

, translator and contractor for

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

s, which meant entering into contracts with the clients, and organizing and sub-contracting the elements such as scribing, decorating and binding. From 1474 until 1476 he worked together with the early English printer

, and he continued the company on his own afterwards. Caxton probably learned the art of printing from Mansion, and it was from Mansion's press that the first books printed in English (''

Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye ''Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye'' or ''Recueil des Histoires de Troye'' (1464) is a translation by William Caxton of a French courtly romance written by Raoul Lefèvre, chaplain to Philip III, Duke of Burgundy. It was the first book printed ...

'') and French came. He moved to the Burg, the commercial heart of Bruges at the time, in 1478. Mansion suffered heavily under the economic crisis in Bruges in the 1480s, and only one work was printed after the death of

Mary of Burgundy Mary of Burgundy (; ; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled the Burgundian lands, comprising the Duchy of Burgundy, Duchy and Free County of Burgundy, County of Burgundy a ...

in 1482. Nothing is known with certainty about his life after 1484, although he may have moved to

Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained it ...

Work

Mansion sold

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

s to the aristocracy, and luxurious

incunabula An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside (printing), broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentiall ...

to the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

, but he was one of the first to also publish smaller and cheaper books of only twenty to thirty pages, mainly in French. Nowadays, 25 editions of incunabula by Mansion alone are known, making him the most prolific of Bruges' early printers. Only two of these are in Latin, all others are in French, many of them first editions. Customers of Mansion include Charles de Croÿ, prince of Chimay, and Marie, the widow of

Louis de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol Louis de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, of Brienne, de Ligny, and Conversano (1418 – 19 December 1475) belonged to the Ligny branch of the House of Luxemburg and was Constable of France. Life Saint-Pol was the eldest son of Peter of Luxembo ...

. Mansion has been called the first printer of luxury books. He collaborated with major manuscript illuminators, such as the Master of the Dresden Prayer Book, who were fast losing work to printing, or copyists of their work. In fact only two of his books are illustrated, the influential ''Ovide Moralisé'' with

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

s, and a French translation of

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was s ...

's ''

De Casibus Virorum Illustrium ''De casibus virorum illustrium'' (''On the Fates of Famous Men'') is a work of 56 biographies in Latin prose composed by the Florentine poet Giovanni Boccaccio of Certaldo in the form of moral stories of the falls of famous people, similar to ...

'', the first book to be illustrated with

s, some of which have been claimed to be the work of the Dresden Prayer Book Master and other identified illuminators in the circle of the Master of Anthony of Burgundy. As intaglio prints, the nine engravings had to be printed separately from the relief text and then pasted in, and only three copies are known with the engravings. More copies are known without the engravings, several of which contain illuminations instead. It has been suggested that this was Mansion's original intention (other incunabula left spaces for manual illustration), but that this hybrid product did not attract the wealthy buyers of illuminations, so the engravings were an afterthought, aimed at a less exclusive market. Mansion is also known as the translator of at least five texts from Latin to French, including ''Le dialogue des créatures'', printed by Dutch Gerard Leeu in 1482.

Known works

*1467: ''Romuleon'' (

Benvenuto Rambaldi da Imola Benvenuto Rambaldi da Imola, or simply and perhaps more accurately Benvenuto da Imola (; 1330 – 1388), was an Italian scholar and historian, a lecturer at Bologna. He is now best known for his commentary on Dante's ''Divine Comedy.'' Life ' ...

, translated by

Jean Miélot Jean Miélot, also Jehan, (born Gueschard, Picardy, died 1472) was an author, translator, manuscript illuminator, scribe and priest, who served as secretary to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy from 1449 to Philip's death in 1467, and then to his ...

, dedicated to

Philip the Good Philip III the Good (; ; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) ruled as Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death in 1467. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged. During his reign, ...

Arlima
archives du littérature du moyen-age *1472 or later: ''Penitence d'Adam'' ('' Testament of Adam'') (manuscript), dedicated to Louis de Gruuthuse *1474-1475: ''

'', together with William Caxton and Johann Veldener *1475: ''The Game and Playe of Chesse'', together with Caxton (who translated it from the French version), based on a work by

Jacobus de Cessolis Jacobus de Cessolis (; c. 1250 – c. 1322) was an Italian author of the most famous morality book on chess in the Middle Ages. In the second half of the 13th century, Jacobus de Cessolis, a Dominican friar in Cessole (Asti district, Piemonte, N ...

*1476: ''Le Jardin de dévotion'' by Petrus de Alliaco, Mansion's first book as an independent publisher *1476: ''De cas de nobles hommes et femmes'' (''

'') by

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so ...

, translated into French by Laurent Premierfait, was the first book to be illustrated with

s, probably made by Marc le Bongeteur. *1476: ''Controversie de Noblesse'' by Buonaccorso da Montemagno (or Surse de Pistoye), translated into French by Jean Miélot *1476-1477: an anonymous French

prediction A prediction (Latin ''præ-'', "before," and ''dictum'', "something said") or forecast is a statement about a future event or about future data. Predictions are often, but not always, based upon experience or knowledge of forecasters. There ...

text *1477: ''La consolation de la philosophie'' by

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...

*1477: ''Estrif de Fortune et de Vertu'' (anonymous) *1477: ''Traité de l’espere'', French translation of the ''Tractatus de Origine, Natura, Jure et Mutationibus Monetarum'' by

Nicole Oresme Nicole Oresme (; ; 1 January 1325 – 11 July 1382), also known as Nicolas Oresme, Nicholas Oresme, or Nicolas d'Oresme, was a French philosopher of the later Middle Ages. He wrote influential works on economics, mathematics, physics, astrology, ...

in 26 chapters *1479: '' Le quadriloque invectif'' by Alain Chartier *1479: ''La somme rurale'' by Jean Boutillier *1479: ''Opera : De caelesti hyerarchia. De ecclesiastica hyerarchia. De divinis nominibus. De mystica theologia. Epistolae'', a complete edition in Latin of the works of

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (or Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite) was a Greek author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the ''Corpus Areopagiticum'' ...

, translated by Ambrosio Traversari *1480: ''Art de bien mourir'' (anonymous) *1480?: Guillaume Caoursin, ''Rhodiae Obsidionis descriptio'' *before June 1481: ''Valere Maxime'' (life of Saint Hubert), dedicated to Philippe de Hornes *1482: ''Dyalogue des creatures'', translated by Mansion from the Latin ''Dialogus creaturarum'' *1484: ''Ovide moralisé'', first edition of

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

'', illustrated with woodcuts, rearranged and partly rewritten by Mansion himself, published in May 1484. It is his last known work, and it has been speculated that the expensive book bankrupted the company. This book was reprinted as the ''Bible des poëtes'' (Poets' Bible) at least four times in Paris between 1493 and 1531. Afterwards, a purer version (with all allegorical additions by Mansion removed, but keeping his translations) under the title ''Grand Olympe des histoires poëtiques du Prince de poësie Ovide Naso en sa Metamorphose'' was published repeatedly between 1532 and 1570. *Unknown date: **the '' Distichs of Cato'' **''Les Evangiles des quenouilles'' (anonymous, circa 1480) **''La doctrine de bien vivre en ce monde'' (also called ''Donat espirituel'') by

Jean Gerson Jean Charlier de Gerson (13 December 1363 – 12 July 1429) was a French scholar, educator, reformer, and poet, Chancellor of the University of Paris, a guiding light of the conciliar movement and one of the most prominent theologians at the Cou ...

**''La Danse des aveugles'' by Pierre Michault, secretary of

Charles the Bold Charles Martin (10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), called the Bold, was the last duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois-Burgundy, ruling from 1467 to 1477. He was the only surviving legitimate son of Philip the Good and his third wife, ...

**''Invectives contre la secte de Vauderie'' **''Adevineaux amoureux'' (anonymous). Incunabula by Mansion are scattered throughout collections mainly in Western Europe. The largest such collection is in Paris, and the 16 copies of 10 different titles in the Bruges Public Library form the second-biggest collection.Mansion collection of the Bruges library (Openbare Bibliotheek Brugge)
/ref>

Notes

Sources

*T Kren & S McKendrick (eds), ''Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe'', Getty Museum/Royal Academy of Arts, 2003,
Biography at Historische Bronnen Brugge
Last accessed at September 27, 2007

Last accessed at September 27, 2007 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mansion, Colard 15th-century births 15th-century deaths Printers of incunabula French calligraphers Medieval European scribes Flemish printers Businesspeople from Bruges Burgundian Netherlands businesspeople