ROUSE ILLUM. 14
SIMON VOSTRE, PRINTER’S EMBLEM. PARIS, 1496

Simon Vostre (fl. 1486-1518) printed and published in Paris at the sign of St. John the Evangelist on the rue Neuve Notre Dame, the “new street” leading to the great cathedral cut through in 1164 by Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, who began the cathedral’s construction. The rue Neuve served as the center of the commercial book trade from its beginnings through the appearance of print. Simon’s wife Geneviève le Pelletier came from a family which is recorded in the Paris book trade since 1368, and Vostre’s shop on the rue Neuve had belonged to her book-binder father Jean le Pelletier.

This leaf bearing Vostre’s printer’s device comes from a Book of Hours printed on parchment and hand-colored for Vostre in 1496 by Philippe Pigouchet on the rue de la Harpe. It reflects the continuity of Parisian book production from script to print, and the close family and neighborhood networks which formed the dynamics of the trade.

R.H. & M.A. Rouse Illum. 14