Banners In the Walter Royal Davis Library

The ornate symbols reproduced on the banners that hang in the main gallery of Davis Library are called printers' or publishers' devices. They have been used from the advent of printing with moveable type in the fifteenth century until the present. Devices were introduced to distinguish the production of a particular printer and served, at first, purely as trademarks to protect books from illegal printing. It was not uncommon for the marks to pass from one printer to another, often with only slight modifications, as for instance, the orb and cross, which appears in countless devices. In the sixteenth century, printing and publishing began to evolve into independent businesses, and in most cases the publisher retained the trademark. After 1700, the use of printers' devices virtually ceased. It was only at the end of the nineteenth century, with the revival of fine printing by private presses and specialized publishers, that the printers' mark reappeared.

These banners display the devices of presses represented in the Library's Rare Book Collection, and are hung in chronological order, according to the date of each press' founding. To learn more about any of the banners, select the corresponding image below.