The first book that I shall mention is an octavo volume, without title, described thus by M. Didot in his 'Essai sur la Gravure,' col. 235; 'Pamphlet without title, printed on one side only, with this imprint on page 1: "A Lion, Ian de Tournes, 1551." The border, composed of arabesques in white on a black ground, has at the foot the Lorraine cross. Twenty-two of these engravings represent scenes from the theatre of the ancients; the ninth bears the Lorraine cross.' This pamphlet was reprinted in 1556, as we shall see in a moment.
The second book that I shall mention is an octavo volume, without date, entitled: 'Thesaurus amicorum,' which is in the Bibliothèque Nationale. It contains three series of borders: (1) Borders with arabesques in black on a white ground (one of them is signed with a very small Lorraine cross); (2) Borders with arabesques in white on a black ground (one of these also is signed with a small white cross); (3) Borders with grotesque subjects, licentious and otherwise. These last, none of which are signed, represent figures analogous to those that are found in the 'Songes drolatiques' attributed to Rabelais, and seem to be modelled upon them.
In the first part of the book, the borders, 32 in number, are empty[437]; in the second part, they enclose medallions of famous characters of ancient times, with mottoes in all sorts of languages. There are 96 of these portraits. They were reproduced, with many others, in a book printed in 1559, under the title, 'Insignium aliquot virorum icones' (octavo).[438] In the dedication, to G. Tuffano, 'gymnasiarchæ Nemausensi,' Jean de Tournes, second of the name, the printer of the book, informs us that he undertook it in order to utilize the woodcuts left by his father. 'Cum pater jamdudum haberet hasce icones inutiles ne omnino perirent, hæc pauca, quæ huic opusculo insunt, ex variis auctoribus accumulavi....' In this book the medallions number one hundred and forty-three; none are signed, but they are altogether in Tory's manner.
These same medallions, as well as the borders of the 'Thesaurus amicorum,' have been used in a multitude of other publications, which are known to us only through detached fragments. I will mention particularly eight leaves preserved in the Cabinet des Estampes, printed on one side only, having a border with a portrait on each page.[439] Also, four leaves without borders, on each of which two portraits are printed, side by side.[440]