The windows in the Reference Room section of the original (1930) wing of the James D. Hoskins were decorated with etchings of printers’ marks. The seals of the State of Tennessee and the University of Tennessee were the printers’ marks of their publications and were directly over the reference desk.
The first window south of the reference desk bore the mark of Fust and Schoeffer—two shields with printer’s rules on them, hanging from a branch, one of which has three stars. This is the earliest known mark, having first appeared on the Psalter issued April 14, 1457. Schoeffer introduced the use of color in printing, spacing with leads between lines, and the use of marginal notes. With the Fust and Schoeffer mark appears the device of another fifteenth-century German printer, Gunther Zainer (a wild man holding a shield on which is a lion rampant). In 1473 Zainer printed a book that had printed headlines, chapter headings, paragraph marks, and large and small initial letters.
In the window north of the desk are two marks from France: fifteenth-century French printer Sebastianus Gryphius (the griffin) and sixteenth-century French printers the Estiennes (a man plucking olives, with the motto Noli altum sapere). Robert, whose name appears on the window, was the first of the family to use the olive tree. The second window south of the desk shows the mark of Venetian printer Nicholas Jensen, the first to use Roman type. The sphere and double cross symbolized the world and its Christian rulers. At Jensen’s death, his press passed from one printer to another, finally coming to Aldus Manutius, who was to make himself famous by his introduction of italic type, which was a copy of the handwriting of Petrarch. His mark, the anchor and dolphin, has been used by many printers. It was suggested to Aldus by the design on a coin of Vespasian. The anchor represents stability and the dolphin, grace in execution.
Holland is represented in the third window by the marks of Bellaert (the griffin with the arms of Haarlem above it) and Plantin (hand from the clouds guiding a compass and the motto By Labor and Constancy). Plantin was famous both as poet and publisher and was the first printer to make extensive use of copper plates. Two French printers, Verard and Tory, are represented in the fourth window. Geoffrey Troy was royal printer to Francis I. The broken jar of his mark was inspired by the death of his daughter. Vernard (the arms of France, crowned, flanked with angels, a heart with initials, birds, and flowers) was known for using the same illustration again in a different book—whether it was appropriate or not.
The symbol of William Caxton, who printed the first book in England in the English language, occupies the south window. The other design in that window is that of the Oxford Press, founded in 1585. The first window on the west brings the history of printing to the time of construction of the library, with the design of the University Press of Sewanee (1904) and the Kingsport Press (1922). The second window on the west shows the monogram of Du Pre, a French painter of the fifteenth-century, and the mark of Raldolt, the most famous printer of Augsberg.