Glossary of Latin Terms in Early Prints
aedes : shop, printing establishement (In aedibus Aldi, et Andreae soceri = [Printed] in the shop of Aldo [Manuzio] and of his father-in-law Andrea [Torresani])
angulus : corner (Ex officina Gulielmi Young, bibliopolae, no. 52 Secunda-Platea, angulo Castaneae-Plateae, M.DCC.XCIII = From the shop of William Young, bookseller, 52 Second Street, on the corner of Castanea Street, 1793)
annus : year (Apud Io. Heruagium, mense Martio anno 1537 = At the shop of Johann Herwagen, in the month of March, the year 1537; anno Domini 1550 = In the year of our Lord 1550, i.e., A.D. 1550 or 1550 C.E.)
apud : at the shop of (Apud Paulum Manutium = at the shop of Paulo Manuzio)
architypographia : head/main printing office/shop (Ex architypographia Plantiniana = From the main Plantin printing office)
bibliopola : bookseller (Ex officina Gulielmi Young, bibliopolae, no. 52 Secunda-Platea, angulo Castaneae-Plateae, M.DCC.XCIII = From the shop of William Young, bookseller, 52 Second Street, on the corner of Castanea Street, 1793)
castigator : proofreader (Elaboratum est hoc Germaniae opus, typis Thomae Anshelmi castigatoreq[ue] authore ipso = This work was completed in Germany, with the type of Thomas Anshelmus, and with the author himself as proofreader)
castigatus : corrected, proofread (Impressum est & castigatum in aedibus Ascensianis = printed and proofread in the Ascensian shop)
collegit/conlegit : collected, compiled, often in the phrase collegit et edidit, “compiled and edited.”
cura : care (often means “edited by”) (Cura et sumptibus Societatis Literatae = By the care and expense of the Literary Society)
emissio : edition (tertia emissio = third edition; secundam & castigatiorem emissionem = second and more correct edition)
emissum : published (Expletum est hoc opusculum & ex officina emissum in Parisiorum academia = This little work was completed and published from the printshop in the Parisian academy)
exarare, exarata, exaratum, exarantur : to print, printed (lit. “ploughed up”) (Gallica lingua, & deinde Latina exarata = Printed in French, and then in Latin; Evangelia characteribus Syriacis exarata = The Gospels printed with Syriac type)
excudebat, excudebant, excudebatur, excudebantur, excusa, excusae, excusum : printed, was printed (Excudebat atque venebat Timotheus Green MDCCLI = Timothy Green printed and sold [this book] in 1751; Excudebatur Salmanticae in officina Andreae à Portonarijs = [This book] was printed in the shop of Andreas à Portonariis; Excusum Moguntiae = Printed at Mainz; Excusae Argentinae = Printed at Strasbourg)
excusor : printer (Apud Antonium Bladum Pontificis Maximi excusorem = In the office of Antonius Bladus, printer of the Pope)
filius : son (Ex Officina Plantiniana, apud viduam & filios Ioannis Moreti = From the Plantin printing establishment, in the shop of the widow and sons of Joannes Moretus; Sumptibus Matthei Rieger et filiorum = At the expense of Matthew Rieger and his sons)
frater : brother (Apud Balthasarem et Ioannem Moretos fratres = At the shop of Balthasar and Joannes Moretus, brothers)
haeredes, heredes : heirs (Typis Ioannis Saurii, impensis heredum Petri Fischeri, M.D.IC. = [Printed] with the type of Joannes Saur, at the expense of the heirs of Peter Fischer, 1599)
impensa : expense (Impensis Mathaei Carey = At the expense of Matthew Carey)
impressum est : was printed (Impressum est hoc opusculum per Ion. Antonium & fratres de Sabio = This little work was printed by Giovanni Antonio da Sabbio and his brothers)
imprimebat : printed (Imprimebat Johannes Steinman = Johannes Steinman printed [this book])
impressor : printer (timidi committere praelo non impressores audebant = the frightened printers did not dare to commit [the book] to the press)
insigne : sign (Apud Martinum Iuuenem, via S. Ioannis Laterranensis, ad insigne Serpentis = At the shop of Martin Le Jeune, Rue Sainct Jean de Latran, at the sign of the serpent; Apud Ioan. Bellerum, sub insigni Falconis = At the shop of Jean Beller, under the sign of the Falcon)
mensis : month (Apud Io. Heruagium, mense Martio anno 1537 = At the shop of Johann Herwagen, in the month of March, the year 1537)
officina : shop, printing establishment (Ex officina Gulielmi Young, bibliopolae, no. 52 Secunda-Platea, angulo Castaneae-Plateae, M.DCC.XCIII = From the shop of William Young, bookseller, 52 Second Street, on the corner of Castanea Street, 1793; In officina Sylvani Otmari = [Printed] in the shop of Silvan Otmar)
per : by/through (Typis Academicis, per Leopoldum Berger = [Printed] with the types belonging to the Academy, by Leopold Berger)
platea : street (Ex officina Gulielmi Young, bibliopolae, no. 52 Secunda-Platea, angulo Castaneae-Plateae, M.DCC.XCIII = From the shop of William Young, bookseller, 52 Second Street, on the corner of Castanea Street, 1793)
prostat (venalis), prostant (venales) : for sale (Prostat venalis apud T. Payne et filium = For sale at the shop of T. Payne and Son; Vaenales prostant ex officina Henr. Knox = For sale at the office of Henry Knox)
praelum, prelum, praelo, prelo : press (praelo Sheldoniano paratur = prepared at the Sheldonian press; timidi committere praelo non impressores audebant = the frightened printers did not dare to commit [the book] to the press)
recusa : printed (Recusa Augustae Vindelicorum = Printed at Augsburg)
reimpressa : reprinted (Reimpressa Pragae = reprinted at Prague)
scutum : shield (i.e., sign) (Apud Ioannem Petit-Pas, via Iacobaea, sub scuto Venetiarum = At the shop of Jean Petit-Pas, Rue St. Jacques, under the sign of the Venetians)
socius : associate, partner (Apud Ioannem Variscum & socios = In the shop of Giovanni Varisco and his partners)
signum : sign (Apud Michaëlem de Roigny, in via Iacobæa, sub signo Quatuor Elementorum = At the shop of Michel de Roigny, Rue St. Jacques, under the sign of the Four Elements)
successores : successors (Excudebant haeredes & successores Andreae Anderson = The heirs and successors of Andreas Anderson printed [this book])
sumptus : expense (Sumptibus H. Maynardi = [Published] at the expense of H. Maynard)
typographia, typographeus : printing office/shop (Ex Typographia Apostolica Vaticana = From the Apostolic Vatican Printing Office; E typographeo Clarendoniano = At the Clarendon Press)
typographus : printer (Excudebat Joan. Hayes, celeberrimae Academiae typographus = John Hayes, printer to the most famous Academy, printed [this book])
typus : type (E typis Thomae & Samuelis Green = [Printed] from the type of Thomas and Samuel Green)
venundatur, venundantur : sold (Venundatur Parisiis in vico divi Iacobi sub Lilio Aureo = Sold in Paris in the Rue St. Jacques under the [sign of] the Golden Lily)
via : street (Apud Martinum Iuuenem, via S. Ioannis Laterranensis, ad insigne Serpentis = At the shop of Martin Le Jeune, Rue Sainct Jean de Latran, at the sign of the serpent)
vidua : widow (Ex Officina Plantiniana, apud viduam & filios Ioannis Moreti = From the Plantin establishement, in the shop of the widow and sons of Joannes Moretus)
a.f., aq., aquaf., aquaforti, aquaforti fecit ‘made with strong water’. Aquafortis is the Latin for nitric acid, so this was the conventional term to mean ‘etched’. It was commonly used by a craftsman etching someone else’s image.
Appresso ‘At the house of’ (Italian).
Apud The Latin for appresso.
aq: tinta, aquatinta Used of the person who achieved on the plate the tonal aquatint areas in the image – usually, but not always, the person responsible for the whole plate.
cael., caelavit ‘engraved’. Used on engravings until the seventeenth century, and a reliable indication that the image was indeed engraved.
de1., delt., delin., delineavit ‘drew’. Used of the artist from whose drawing the craftsman prepared the printing surface. Compare pinx.
dessine ‘drawn’. See del. eng., engd., engraved Used mainly on line engravings, which combine etching with engraving, but sometimes even on aquatints which are unlikely to contain any engraved lines. Unlike the equivalent sc., this was not much borrowed by the wood engravers of the nineteenth century and so is at least a fairly reliable indication of an intaglio print.
engraved on stone Up to the mid-1820s this could mean merely drawn on stone for a conventional lithograph, but thereafter it is likely to indicate a stone engraving.
exc., exct., excudit, excudebat, ‘struck out’ or ‘made’. Conventionally used of the publisher of a print, but can also be found referring to the man who more literally ‘made’ it, in the sense of creating the printing surface, where someone else is credited as the publisher.
f., fec., feet., fecit, fac., faciebat ‘made’ or ‘did’. Widely but vaguely used on prints. It can be found on lithographs as well as on every type of intaglio print. It is most often used where the originator of the image has also created the printing surface, but this is far from invariable. Can also be used of a specific task – for example aquatinta fecit, meaning ‘aquatinted’, where another craftsman is credited with etching the outline.
formis (owner of the forms) used often on the Malta maps by Pietro de Nobili.
gez., gezeichnet ‘drawn’. See del.
gravé ‘engraved’. See eng. for normal meaning; but also sometimes used in France on lithographs.
imp., impressit ‘printed’. Almost exclusively used of the rolling press and so an indication of an intaglio print; but see also imp. lith.
imp. lith. The lithographer’s version of the intaglio printer’s imp., meaning printed on a lithographic press.
inc., incidebat, incidit ‘incised’. Used of an engraver, and a more reliable indication than sc. that the print is indeed an engraving.
in., inv., invt., invenit, inventor ‘invented’ or ‘inventor’. Used of the original artist whose image is being reproduced.
lith., litho., lithog. [etc.] An unreliable term, which can refer either to the person who created the image on the stone or to the person who printed it from the stone.
on stone by Used of the artist or craftsman who drew the image on the stone for a lithograph.
ph. sc., photosculpsit ‘photo-engraved’. Occasionally used in the late nineteenth century of the craftsman or firm responsible for the complex task of creating a process plate or block.
pinx., pinxt., pinxit, ping., pingebat ‘painted’. Used of the artist whose original painting the print reproduces. If a draughts man is also credited (see del.), he will have copied the painting to provide the more portable image from which the print was actually made.
restituit to signify retouching or restoring the plate. Lafreri, for instance, uses this term
sc., sculp., sculpsit, sculpt., sculpebat ‘carved’. The most unreliable of all terms on a print. Originally used for pure engravings, it was continued on line engravings which were usually more etched than engraved. It was adopted, almost invariably in the shortest form of sc., by wood engravers in the nineteenth century; and since these were the craftsmen who later took on the production of line blocks and halftone blocks, the commercial successors of the wood engraving, the term can still be found on these process prints into the early twentieth century, in three-colour work as well as monochrome. Such blocks were admittedly finished with the graver, but by then that was the only element of ‘carving’ which remained. At another extreme the term was sometimes used to indicate genuine carving, and prints reproducing Renaissance sculpture can be found which boast ‘Michelangelo sc.’.
Appresso ‘At the house of’ (Italian).
Apud The Latin for Appresso.
Chez The French version; often in the form se vend chez.
Divulgavit Published.
Excudit, ex., excud. Published; the most common term.
Ex officina From the workshop.
Ex typis ‘From the printing house; often used in Italy.
Formis At the press (Latin) where the printer is also the publisher.
Gedruckt zu Printed by (German). Normally found on German woodcuts.
Per Through.
Sumptibus At the expense of; used of a patron or a publisher.
h/t to Robert Maxwell at the Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, and the Malta Map Society