Early Female Printers in the Goold Collection

Huw Sandaver

Technical Services Librarian, Mannix Library

 

During the course of the creation of the Goold Collection in 2017, I came across three previously uncatalogued items of unusual aesthetic. All three are hand pressed items, published in Paris, ranging from the mid 16th to the late 17th century. I imagine that the items had landed in the “too hard basket” for so long because of the unique nature of the publications meant a giant headache for those tasked with the formal identification and description of the items.

The three publications were in some way concealing the true identity of the printers and, as it turns out, the three items represent emergent feminism in the publishing industry, a particular phenomenon in France, as the guild system in place there allowed women to take over and run businesses after their husband’s death.

The mystery of Saint Ambrose

The main challenge with the Goold collection lies mostly in the verification of provenance and linkage to Goold himself. The first item, Saint Ambrose’s Opera quatenus in hunc usque diem ubi ubi extare noscuntur omnia & eadem ad collationem exemplarium antiquitatis recognita, etc., although unrepresented on the handwritten inventory, was unquestionably Goold’s with his signature and “Archbishop’s Library Melbourne” scrawled over the title page.

The first striking thing about the book is the unusual woodcut depicting a printer in his workshop, framed in the centre of the title page, which undoubtedly would have had some appeal to Goold as a book collector.

All is not as it seems, however, as the printers’ device is the mark of the printer Josse Bade, who was already dead by the time the work was printed in 1549. The title page states that the printer is in fact Jean de Roigny. The first theory I had about this strange discrepancy was that de Roigny had simply appropriated Bade’s mark in order to increase the prestige of his own print shop by association with a famous printer. In order to verify the theory, I consulted Jean de la Caille’s early catalogue entitled Histoire de l’imprimerie et de la librairie : où l’on voit son origine & son progrés, jusqu’en 1689 / Divise’e en deux livres , which revealed that Roigny had married Jeanne Bade, Josse Bade’s daughter, and rather than create his own mark, was printing in association with his wife’s name rather than his own. Women involved in printing either as printers’ wives or daughters tended to become highly educated and would have been involved in the business of printing, even if unacknowledged.

This was not the end of the mystery, however, as part way through the work, before volume two begins, another large printers’ device appears, taking up the entire page of the work, with elaborately italicised text stating “Printed by Charlotte Guillard”.

Charlotte Guillard (1485?-1557) was one of the most well-known of the French female printers, and one of the few who actually printed under her own name. While not much is known about Guillard’s early life, she wasn’t born into the printing industry. Her first husband was the printer Berthold Rembolt, whose device involved two lions holding a shield under a resplendent sun.

Rembolt must have held his wife in high esteem because Guillard is one of the only female printers of the hand press era to have had a portrait engraved (on the lower right of the woodcut below).

Interestingly, Guillard appears taller and more powerful than her frail looking husband, even though she kneels behind him, peering over his head.

When Rembolt died in 1518, Guillard took over his business and operated under her own name for a period of time before marrying the bookseller Claude Chevallon. Chevallon basically appropriated the lion/sun motif that he had acquired through marriage (although there are two alternate versions featuring horses rather than lions).

After 1537, when Chevallon died, Guillard began printing again under her own name, finally merging her two husbands’ devices into something completely new, and much more pictorially ambitious. The two male devices, while interesting images, are extremely flat looking. Guillard’s amalgamation, as seen in Goold’s Saint Ambrose work, is a much more sophisticated image with a kind of proto-baroque trompe l’oeil effect of looking through a window. Guillard’s device frames her two past husband’s devices with something completely new and three dimensional

Goold (or anyone who owned the book) may not have even noticed the woodcuts, given the relative fine condition of the paper that Guillard’s devices appear, comparative to the title page, which have been much more exposed to the elements. Guillard, in fact, went to court with another other female printer, Yolande Bonhomme, to attempt to improve the quality of the paper supply in Paris. They argued that the paper quality was better controlled if they were able to buy it directly from the paper mill, rather than the (apparently unreliable) papermakers in Paris. They lost the case, and this most likely explains why the work in Goold’s collection is in relatively poor condition compared to other works in his hand pressed collection.

Guillard was a well-known and prestigious printer, why would she hide her device inside the work? Furthermore, the work is edited by Erasmus who had used Josse Bade as a preferred publisher, but after a dispute chose Claude Chevallon. This may be why Guillard’s device retains the initials C C as seen in the centre of the image. Guillard was known to have worked with other female printers (Yolande Bonhomme, in particular), so perhaps Guillard was working with Jeanne Bade, even though de Roigny’s name appears as the printer. Whatever Jean de Roigny’s or Jeanne Bade’s involvement, it appears to have been very limited or non-existent, as Guillard’s beautiful, signed floriated initials woodcuts appear all the way through the text, not just after the leaf where her device appears.

Furthermore, the colophon and print register which appears in volume one, at the end of the preliminary gatherings states yet again that Charlotte Guillard is the printer, this time dating the printing as 1550, while the title page states 1549.

In examining the typography we can see that Roigny’s title page and Guillard’s colophon are printed with exactly the same type. One explanation for this is the typographer Claude Garamont, who had worked with Claude Chevallon and Charlotte Guillard in their workshop known as the Soleil d’Or in the 1530’s. After becoming a printer in his own right in 1545 Garamont invented a type (now known as Garamond) that Roigny had invested in and clearly had the rights to use. The examples show however, that Garamont’s type and the type ultimately used in the Goold St Ambrose work is subtly different to the type that Roigny actually invested in:

Garamont (1545)

Roigny? (1549?)

Guillard (1550)

So Roigny (or Jeanne Bade) and Guillard certainly had a strong association and quite possibly a business relationship but all of the type work in the Goold St Ambrose text appears to be entirely Guillard’s.

The possibly false title page, then, appears to be an academic joke, and given that the location of Guillard’s shop was next to the University of Paris (Shown as the Sorbonne on the map below), the joke probably would have been understood by her clientele, which were mainly academics, students and monks.

In fact, it wasn’t the first time de Roigny’s name appears on an Erasmian text printed by Guillard. A Greek New Testament published in 1543 also bares Roigny’s name and his shop was located very close to Guillard’s, then perhaps Guillard tended to work with Jeanne Bade, as an associate on some texts.

Guillard made a significant contribution to the Renaissance tradition of translating Greek texts into Latin, which were scarce after the fall of the Roman empire. Working with the translator Godefroi Tilmann, a Carthusian monk, Guillard published the first editions in France of the writings of Justin Martyr and Proclus of Constantinople.

Guillard’s Greek type is seen throughout the Goold St Ambrose text, and her work was known for its accuracy.

The work in Goold’s collection contains two woodcuts (one now slightly damaged woodcut on the final page) featuring the work of Tilmann, depicting a Carthusian monk in prayer framed by quotations in Greek and Latin.

In both woodcuts, out of the monks mouth appears to be a swirling writing scroll, presumably a symbol of words being directly delivered from God in the first woodcut

andChristonthecrossinthesecond.Thisis aninterestingmetaphorforthewriting and book production process, which is something that may well have appealed to Goold as a bibliophile. Whatever the meaning of the final woodcut, Guillard was certainly an ambitious woman, with a degree of sophistication that surpassed her two husbands and a reputation for fine printing that persists to this day.

The Sign of Saint Peter

The second challenging item was also unquestionably Goold’s (and also bares John Fitzpatrick’s signature. Fitzpatrick was a close colleague of Goold’s who shared a taste in Baroque art and antiquarian books. The title page of R.P. Cornelii Cornelii a Lapide, è Soc. Iesu, in Academia Louaniensi Sacrae Scripturae professoris, In Pentateuchum Mosis commentaria, printed red and black states that the work was “printed by the widow of Pierre Chevalier”. La Caille fails to mention her at all in his Histoire but he does talk glowingly of Chevalier himself, stating that his edition of Florimond de Raemond’s Histoire generale du progrez et decadence de l’heresie moderne. was an extremely fine work. La Caille also tells us that Chevalier’s printer’s device is that of a knight rushing through a fire to save a city.

and that André Chevalier (the second named printer in Goold’s work) was Pierre’s son. The book itself is revealed to have been printed by a mother-son partnership, but I was no closer to finding out the identity of Chevalier’s widow.

The second point of call for discovering just who Chevalier’s widow was is Augustin Martin Lottin’s Catalogue chronologique des libraires et des libraires-imprimeurs de Paris who merely tells us that Chevalier was active around 1607. Finally, after consulting Philippe Renouard’s Imprimeurs parisiens, libraires, fondeurs de caractères et correcteurs d’imprimerie it is revealed that Chevalier’s second wife was called Élisabeth Macé who was the daughter

of the printer Charles Macé. Growing up as the daughter of a printer must have meant that Élisabeth was herself highly educated. There was also a precedent in the family. Charles Macé’s wife, Isabeau Morel succeeded him and became a printer herself, which is confirmed in Lottin’s work. Having seen her own mother become a printer naturally Élisabeth took over Chevalier’s business when he died in 1628. While she didn’t print under her own name, she made a radical change to Chevalier’s old printer’s device of the knight leaping through flames.

Unusually for a printer’s device, it is signed by the engraver Leonard Gaultier, known for his heavily symbolic and almost ridiculously detailed and dense engravings which attempted to visually depict Aristotlelian philosophy

Gaultier’s new printer’s device engraved for Macé is dated 1629, a year after Chevalier’s death. While still depicting the same motif, the device has a much more baroque sense of movement and drama. Poor Pierre’s initials have been shifted to a broken column, a common graveyard motif, and the background is peppered with buildings that look rather deliberately like phallic symbols. Even the gallant knight’s horse is anatomically correct! This is no old flat, medieval looking printer’s device. Even if Macé was unwilling to use her own name as a printer, the new device has a definite impact, which is almost cartoonishly baroque in nature. Given Goold’s penchant for baroque imagery, and architecture this must have piqued his interest.

Macé must have been an astute businesswoman, who, unlike many printers actually very precisely locates her shop in the colophon of the book, stating “Sumptibus viduae Petri Cheualier, via Iacobaea sub signo Diui Petri propre Maturinensis” or very roughly “at the expense of the widow of Pierre Chevalier, Rue Saint-Jaques under the sign of Saint Peter, next to the Maturins”. Luckily there is a near contemporary map that can be consulted, Benedit de Vassallieu’s Portrait de la Ville from 1609.

From the map it’s clear that anyone walking past Notre Dame to go to the University would have passed by Macé’s shop, which was also located directly next to the Trinitarian monastery, the monks being likely customers. Furthermore, the work itself seems to have been published to capitalise on the recent death of the author. Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide died in 1637, the same year that that the book was published. Macé obviously had a strong business acumen and was incredibly well educated. Macé herself quite possibly engraved a woodcut seen early in the work.

Although the head-piece uses the monogram P C, the work was printed nine years after Pierre Chevalier’s death. Macé went to the trouble of commissioning a distinctly new device, it seems likely that she also had all new woodcut decorations created. While she was not willing to put her own name to the printings, signing it as P C probably means that it is the work of Macé. Engraved vignettes are not usually signed, so clearly the monogram’s presence was a kind of statement in itself. Again the imagery looks strangely sexualised, as is a further decorative cul-de-lampe, signed with the cipher IL (probably Leonard Gaultier again, who was known to use many different letter combinations as ciphers, although this isn’t a listed one).

The ancient roman pagan looking imagery, being a baroque motif must have appealed to Goold on some level, and in this case is quite mannered in style, making the work one of the most intensely baroque looking of the Goold book collection now housed in Mannix Library.

The Widow’s Syndicate

The third challenging item Dn. Guillelmi Estij S. Theologiæ Doctoris et Professoris Primarij, et Academiæ Duacensis Cancellarij, In quatuor libros Sententiarum commentaria… was again published by a widow. This time the “widow of Georges Josse” sits at the head of a larger collective group of publishers, one being Jean de la Caille himself, although mysteriously, in volume one of the text, la Caille’s name has been pasted over with the name of Pierre de Launay. De Launay was actually a bookbinder at the time of publication, although he appears to have been self-taught, and then forced to become a bookseller in 1686, after a separate bookbinder’s guild was created.

Since la Caille himself was involved in the production of the book, he has elucidated quite a bit of information about the people involved in the production of the book, although only really a passing reference to “veuve de Georges Josse”. At the end of la Caille’s book we start to see listings of Syndicates, which became important in France after the monarchy passed laws regulating the print trade starting in the early 17th century. La Caille tells us that Georges Josse’s wife was Denise de Heuqueville and that his daughter Marguerite married Charles Angot.

The work, then is a round-a-bout mother/daughter partnership in producing the text.

The printer’s device seen on the title page, featuring two mythological figures holding a compass immediately takes on new meaning.

On the left of the device we see the monogram of Georges Josse and on the right we see the monogram of Charles Angot. Having the monograms flanked by two mythological women, seems a rather pointed reference to the main producers of the item, since de Launay was probably the binder. Not much is known about Edme Couterot, except that his mother, Marie le Clerc was a printer printing under the name of “Veuve de Denis Moreau”.

Unfortunately la Caille doesn’t include any details on Denise de Heuqueville herself, but she seems to have exerted a heavy influence on her son-in-law. A year before the publication of Goold’s text, in 1679, we see Charles Angot at the head of a syndicate almost entirely made up of widows.

No less than thirty-eight widows were members of the syndicate in 1679. It seems, then that Angot’s syndicate acted like an early trade union and was set up to protect the widows from the harsh regulation of the French monarchy, which could have easily shut down small shops, claiming that no “master” printer was producing the works.

The appeal to Goold may well have been in the woodcuts that depict exploration, probably of the “new world” of South America, which he probably felt an affinity with having come to Australia.

The Symposium: A Baroque Bishop in Colonial Australia

A Baroque Bishop in Colonial Australia

The Cultural Patronage of Bishop James Goold (1812 – 1886)

Symposium: February 14-16, 2018

To be held at The University of Melbourne and the University of Divinity (East Melbourne), this international conference is part of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project examining the patronage of Melbourne’s first Catholic Archbishop James Goold. Investigating Goold’s contribution to the cultural environment of colonial Melbourne, the project’s three themes will be investigated and contexualised over three days. Sessions will be devoted to the Archbishop’s important Baroque painting collection, his colonial library and his patronage of the British architect William Wilkinson Wardell, and its imprint on the built environment of Melbourne. Papers will be presented by members of the ARC project research team as well as experts from around the world in the fields of theology, art history, architecture and history as well as conservators and architects.

The Full Conference Program is available here and there are several pages where you can register for the individual keynotes and conference at the following links:

The Full Symposium

Klaus Kruger Keynote

Colin Barr Keynote

Peter Cunich Keynote

We hope to see you there.

Top Image: Portrait of James Goold, c. 1850-5, oil on canvas. By permission of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea Archives

The Creation of the Goold Special Collection at Mannix Library.

Kerrie Burn, Library Manager, Mannix Library

University of Divinity

Part Two. Identifying Books from Goold’s Library

There are a number of ways that Mannix Library has identified books that previously belonged to James Alipius Goold’s personal library. The various identifying markings that indicate prior Goold ownership are mostly located on the title page of each book. These have been summarised in a document produced by Mannix Library that also includes an image of each example. The most common ways of identifying items include:

• Imprint of the insignia of the Bishop or Archbishop of Melbourne (Figure 1)
• Variations of Goold’s handwritten signature (e.g. J.A. Goold, or James Alipius Goold) (Figures 2, 3)
• Handwritten note indicating item owned by Bishop or Archbishop of Melbourne, often with a date corresponding to Goold’s period of office (Figure 4)

In an attempt to identify all items that may have once belonged to Goold, Mannix Library has systematically checked all items in its collection published prior to his death in 1886 for evidence of Goold ownership. Initially items from the Rare Books and Early Imprint Collections were inspected. Reports were then produced of all items in the library’s Reference, Main and Stacks collections published prior to 1887, and these items were also individually examined. As library staff became familiar with the “look” of a Goold book, a number of additional items were also discovered among previously uncatalogued materials.

In addition to checking for marks of Goold ownership suspected Goold items were also checked against the inventory of Goold’s library that was compiled in the mid-1860s. Not all items which include Goold’s signature or imprint were also listed in this inventory. It is assumed that these items may have been later additions to Goold’s library, and added to his collection sometime between when the inventory was created and his death in 1886. There are also some items that are included in the inventory but which do not include any of the usual marks of Goold ownership. Instead of Goold’s signature some of these items bear the signature of one of Goold’s colleagues or close associates. Examples of this include John Fitzpatrick (or the initials JFP) (1810-1890), Patrick Bonaventure Geoghegann (1805-1864), and John Ignatius Bleasdale (1822-1884). Bleasdale was one of Goold’s private secretaries. Geoghegan was Goold’s vicar-general for a time and went on to be appointed bishop of Adelaide. Fitzpatrick was Goold’s right hand man for 38 years and administrator at St Patrick’s Cathedral from 1858-1879. Some books added to the Goold Collection include both Goold’s imprint as well as the signature of one of his associates on the same item.

Reflections on St Cecilia and the “Maestro del Capitolo”

Dr Callum Reid, University of Melbourne

Revd Kevin McGovern, St Cecilia’s Catholic Church

In St Cecilia’s Catholic Church, Glen Iris, parishioners would be familiar with a large oil-on-canvas suitably representing the eponymous patroness of musicians, St Cecilia at her Organ (Figure 1). Elegantly dressed, she gazes out at the viewer, with fingers rested on the ornate baroque organ. Reminiscent of some known examples in style and composition (for example Dolci (Figure 2), Grammatica(Figure 3)), the painting appeared on first inspection to be a unique, seventeenth-century representation of the martyr, an analysis put forward by NGV restorers and Sotheby’s valuers earlier in the century.

Bearing all the hallmarks of a work that Archbishop James Goold would have collected, the verso of the canvas reveals only a small amount of information with regards to its provenance, or indeed an attribution.

The most critical avenue of investigation was an investigation of other early representations of St Cecilia, which has led to the discovery of a very similar work in Cagliari Cathedral, Sardinia. Held in the ‘aula capitolare’, the painting (Figure 4) is attributed to an unknown seventeenth-century painter called “Maestro del Capitolo” who completed a number of works in the same space. The attribution, along with the handful of works from the unknown artist’s oeuvre, is published in Maria Grazia Scano in Pittura e Scultura del ‘ 600 e del ‘700 (1991).

It has a similar composition, with the addition of a young angel working the bellows of the organ behind. The faces are quite different and unlike Goold’s St Cecilia, the keyboard of the organ in the Sardinian painting has the correct sequence of notes. In any case it doesn’t seem like the Glen Iris version of St Cecilia is a traditional reproductive copy of the other.

Interestingly, the canvases in Cagliari and Glen Iris are almost identical in size (173 x 123), irrespective of the fact that the Sardinian version has a significantly extended composition. This could perhaps indicate that the works were both intended for the same space. Perhaps the work collected by Goold was an earlier preparatory work, or a slightly later idea for a similar space, using the ‘aula capitolare’ as a reference point? Another notable feature is the correction of the keyboard in the Cagliari St Cecilia.

More investigation of the painting’s provenance should hopefully yield more details of its journey from Sardinia into the packing crates for Bishop Goold. Upon its reported purchase in Rome around the time of the first Vatican Council (1869-70) Goold first gifted the work to Catholic Parish of Brighton. It was displayed at St Finbar’s Church (Figure 5) when Goold’s successor Archbishop Thomas Joseph Carr visited in 1904. Rather than having “a beautiful large oil painting of St Cecilia lost on the side wall of the sanctuary,” Archbishop Carr oversaw its relocation to a position above the mantelpiece in the presbytery dining room where it remained until 1935.

Father Bernard O’Connor had been the foundation Parish Priest of St Cecilia’s since 26 April 1946. At some point, he learned of the existence of St Cecilia at her Organ, from his colleague the former Parish Priest of Brighton, Father Patrick Joseph (‘Paddy’) Gibbons. The painting moved to St Cecilia’s, Glen Iris in the late 1950s, where it has since remained.

The Creation of the Goold Special Collection at Mannix Library.

Kerrie Burn, Library Manager, Mannix Library

University of Divinity

Part One. Discovering Goold at Mannix Library

If you had asked me in early 2016 whether Mannix Library had any books that previously belonged to Archbishop James Goold, my answer would have been “perhaps?” The reality was that we had no way of knowing at the time. No information indicating Goold provenance had ever been included in any library catalogue records. Involvement with the ARC-funded project A Baroque Archbishop in Colonial Australia: James Alipius Goold, 1812-1886 has therefore acted as a catalyst for the library to identify all items in its collection that were originally part of Goold’s personal library. The unexpectedly large number of Goold books identified at Mannix library has influenced its decision to create a separate Goold Special Collection.

The origins of Mannix Library’s collection date back to 1923 when a library was founded as part of Corpus Christi College, the provincial seminary for the Catholic dioceses of Victoria and Tasmania. The seminary and the library were located at various times in Werribee, Glen Waverley and Clayton. When Catholic Theological College (CTC) was established in 1972, library services were also extended to CTC staff and students. In 1999 the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne assumed responsibility for the funding of the library. This coincided with the library being renamed the Daniel Mannix Library and its relocation from Clayton to its current site in East Melbourne.

The discovery of Goold Books at Mannix Library supports earlier reports and anecdotal testimony that theological books from the Archbishop’s home next to St Patrick’s Cathedral (known as “the Palace”), went to the seminary library in the early 1970s. The Corpus Christi Seminary campuses at Werribee (1923-1972) (for philosophy studies) and Glen Waverley (1960-1972) (for theology studies) were being wound down around the same time as the Palace was demolished, and so Mannix Library may have received books with Goold provenance from all three of these locations. A 1962 Corpus Christi Seminary publication that refers to the theology library at Glen Waverley notes, “Many notable benefactions have come to the bookshelves. From the Archbishop’s library at St Patricks Cathedral His Grace sent a number of valuable works, some bearing Archbishop Goold’s signature.” The new Corpus Christi College seminary and library located in Clayton opened in 1973, the year that the 40^th International Eucharistic Congress was held in Melbourne. A later College publication from 1984 refers to the librarian making inroads on the ‘Raheen’ collection, and mentions the Cardinal Knox bequest encartoned along the east wall. Cardinal James Knox (1914-1983) was Archbishop from April 1967 to July 1974. The historic 19^th century Raheen mansion in Kew was the official residence of several Archbishops of Melbourne from 1917-81, most notably Archbishop Daniel Mannix, who was Archbishop from May 1917-November 1963. It seems likely that some Goold books would have found their way to the shelves of the Archbishop’s Library at Raheen. When Raheen was sold in 1981 these books may then have gone to the seminary library in Clayton and eventually found their way to Mannix Library in East Melbourne.

The Goold Project initially began when Chief Investigator Jaynie Anderson received a grant from the Arts Faculty at the University of Melbourne. This grant enabled Jaynie to commission research to identify Goold books held by the Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission archives. Researcher Paola Colleoni was employed by the project and after her work at the archives she came to Mannix Library in early 2016 to determine whether any Goold books might also be held by the Melbourne Archdiocesan library. Initially all books in the library’s Rare and Early Imprint collections were examined for evidence of Goold’s signature, and to see if any items were listed on an inventory of Goold’s library that had been compiled in the mid-1860s. Since this initial research was completed, many additional Goold books have been identified by Mannix Library staff from other areas of the collection.

This initial work at Mannix Library came at an opportune time. Library staffing levels had been increased in 2016 making it possible to commence the large task of sorting and cataloguing material located in the library’s large compactus storage area. This project was well overdue; many older items had never been unpacked from the boxes they arrived in when the College and library relocated to East Melbourne from Clayton in 1999. In early 2016 Mannix Library also commissioned a preservation report on the rare material held in the compactus. As a result of this report many rarer items (including the Goold Collection) were subsequently relocated to a separate lockable section of the compactus and fragile material was rehoused in appropriate archival quality storage boxes. All items in the Goold Collection are now housed together in the same area of the compactus apart from 4 very large items that are held in the Library manager’s office. As part of the sorting process the library has also identified many items that belonged to other former Archbishops of Melbourne, in particular Daniel Mannix, but also Thomas Carr, Justin Simonds and James Knox. As a result, in addition to the creation of the Goold Collection, the library has also created a second separate special collection known as the Archbishops’ Library.

Both of these collections have grown steadily since the project commenced as new items have continued to be identified by library staff. As items are catalogued, records are being enhanced with added notes and provenance information. This information is also included in records uploaded to Libraries Australia, which has increased the discoverability of the Goold books held by Mannix Library. A spread-sheet has also been created by library staff which contains all items in the Goold Collection. This includes fields for language, general notes, contents notes, Cited in (e.g. Goold Library Inventory or English Short Title Catalogue), provenance, identifying markings, and binding (e.g. calf, cloth, paper, vellum). The spread sheet also includes library call number, making it possible to analyse the library’s Goold collection according to Dewey subject area, giving an indication of the diversity of Goold’s library collection. Once all of the Goold books held by the Mannix Library and the Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission archives have been identified, it would be interesting to determine the percentage of items that had been located from the 1866 inventory, and which items remain unaccounted for.

The number of bibliographic records in the Goold Collection at Mannix Library currently stands at 136. Because many are multivolume works, this 136 equates to a total of 602 discrete items. We anticipate that there may still be a few items yet to be discovered.

The Library of Archbishop Goold at the Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission

Paola Colleoni, University of Melbourne

During the research carried out at the Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission archives more than one hundred boxes were opened in order to uncover the hundreds of books they contained. The main objective of the project was to list the books that constituted the library of the first catholic archbishop of Melbourne, James Alipius Goold (1812-1886)^[1]. Even if only a remnant of the archbishop’s collection is currently stored at the diocesan archives, more than 400 volumes were recognised to have been part of Goold’s library.

Every book was carefully examined, the purpose being looking for inscriptions, flyleaves or bookplates that could give important clues about both archbishop Goold’s patterns of acquisition and the intellectual scope of his library. During his life Goold lent some of his books and, after his death, the library suffered over the years. However, thanks to an accurate library inventory compiled in the second half of 1860s, it was possible to compare the volumes found in the archives with the ones reported to be part of Goold’s library. Because the inventory lists only the books acquired before 1866, and the archbishop died in 1886, it was possible to identify which of his books were purchased later on in his life.

Even if only a part of Goold’s collection is stored in the Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission archives, the volumes analysed show the archbishop’s wide interests. In fact, together with a majority of religious publications, there are books from almost every field of knowledge: from educational to language studies, from mathematics to architecture, and from geography to history. Arguably, Goold’s classical studies played a major role in orienting his collection and taste, but still, what remains of his library proves an interest well beyond what might be assumed to be usual for a missionary bishop.

Goold spent many years working to improve Catholic schools^[2] and his passion for education is well represented by many of the volumes found in the diocesan archives. Goold owned several copies of De L’education (Paris, 1861) and De la haute éducation intellectuelle (Orléans, 1857) both written by the bishop of Orleans Félix Dupanloup, one of the most eminent educationist of the time^[3]. In addition, also other volumes, such as The philosophy of education, or, the principles and practice of teaching (London, 1857), survive today among Goold’s books to show the perseverance of a man who devoted so many energies to fight against ‘godless compulsory education’^[4].

Goold himself received a classic education among the Augustinian order in Rome and Perugia. Divinity studies were combined with mathematics, philosophy, literature and classical languages, such as Latin and Old Greek^[5]. All these subjects are still traceable today among the books that survive in the diocesan archives: Goold’s collection contained volumes such as Fundamental philosophy (NewYork, 1858), Principia calculi differentials et integrals itemque calculi differientiarum finitarum (Rome, 1845) and The poetical works of Lord Byron complete in one volume (London, 1846). Altogether, these volumes testify that Goold was an eager collector with interests in different fields. His eclecticism, combined with his knowledge of languages, made it possible for him to expand his library with volumes written not only in English and Latin, but also in Italian, French, Greek and German.

Noteworthy is the fact that archbishop Goold owned various dictionaries and language textbooks, probably used to read the most difficult passages of books written in foreign languages. Although the majority of his collection is composed by English publications, and few volumes are translations, a vast section of the library includes books in their original language. Just to mention a few, Goold read Angelo Mai’s works in both Italian and Latin, while for what concerns French he had books from Pascal, La Fontaine and Molière. In the diocesan archives, there was also one book written in German’s gothic font: Adventspredigten von Antonio Vieira dem Apostel Brasiliens (Weissenburg, 1840).

We can imagine that Goold had good language skills thanks to his studies, and that he was capable to read foreign languages without struggle, especially Latin and Italian. Nevertheless, he actively collected grammar textbooks and bilingual dictionaries. These were probably useful to the bishop to grasp the meaning of every word and understand the complex language structures used by the authors. Therefore, it can be argued that Goold was a passionate language student. With respect to this, in the archives still survive: A dictionary of latin quotations, proverbs, maxims and mottos, classical and Mediaeval including law terms and phrases with a selection of greek quotations (London, 1860); Dictionary of the English and Italian languages which is prefixed an Italian and English grammar (London, 1839); Nuovo metodo sulla grammatica francese ridotta a XXXIV lezioni (Rome, 1826); Dictionnaire général Français-Anglais […] (Paris, 1771); Vocabolario Italiano-Latino, ad uso delle regie scuole di Torino (Bassano, 1844); Fraseologia bibblica, ovvero dizionario latino italiano della sacra bibbia volgata […] (Venice, 1773) and Lexicon Graeco-Latinum et Latino-Graecum (Rome, 1832). It should be noted that the latter is signed by Goold and dated 1866 on the title page. Thus, the archbishop was willing to maintain a good proficiency in the languages he learned even at an advanced age.

Remarkably, also English monolingual dictionaries and handbooks found their place on Goold’s library shelves. While The Imperial dictionary of English Language (London, 1844) is a quite ordinary possession, other volumes reveal Goold’s interest in various aspects of linguistics. Some examples are a Hand-book of the English Language (London, 1858), a copy of The oldest English texts (London, 1885) and A dictionary of the English Language […] (London, 1735), in which ‘words are deduced from their originals’ and a history of the language as well as an English grammar are included. All these publications show how Goold was keen on etymology, grammar, language history and its evolution. Another volume, A critical pronouncing dictionary and expositor of the English language […] (London,1833) is particularly notable among the collection because of its particular focus on phonology. In fact, together with giving detailed instruction concerning pronunciation, this dictionary supplies the reader with information about the influence of Greek and Latin accents on English inflection, and, in addition, it provides ‘rules to be observed by the natives of Scotland, Ireland and London, for avoiding their respective peculiarities’. Thanks to an inscription on the first page, we know that this volume was a present Goold received in Perugia in the 1830s and thus it can be argued, that after leaving Ireland, Goold was willing to polish his pronunciation and eliminate his accent.

While the majority of the volumes are religious texts, mostly written in Latin, English or Italian, one of the most conspicuous section of Goold’s library is composed by history books. A series that encompasses both categories is the Tavole Cronologiche Critiche della storia della Chiesa Universale illustrate con argomenti d’archeologia e di geografia (Venice and Rome, 1856-1867), a beautiful publication (of which the bishop owned twelve volumes) that exploited the recently developed technique of chromolithography.

Because of his origins, a majority of the archbishop’s history books deals with Ireland, whereas, as Australia was part of the British Empire at the time, the second largest section of history books deals with England. For what concerns the latter, Goold owned, among others, Cassel’s illustrated history of England (London, circa 1870), a series in nine volumes enriched by over 2000 illustrations. Conversely, among the numerous rediscovered volumes about Irish history, it’s worth mentioning Picturesque Ireland, a literary and artistic delineation of the natural scenery, remarkable places, historical antiquities, public buildings, ancient abbeys, towers, castles, and other romantic and attractive features of Ireland […] (New York, 1884), an edition including 33 colour maps, 29 steel-engraved plates and numerous wood-engraved text illustrations.

Goold was also interested in general history, as shown by the presence of the Atlas to Alison’s history of Europe […] (London, date unknown), that contained over 90 hand-coloured maps and plans. The bishop owned volumes discussing specific events, such as The Torrent of the French Revolutions; or, a Guide to the reading of the history of France from 1789 to 1873 […] (Melbourne, 1873) and The Russo-Turkish war: including an account of the rise and decline of the Ottoman power and the history of the Eastern question (London, date unknown). A further mention is necessary for the history books dealing with Italy: both mediaeval and ancient roman history are well represented by the Storia della Lega lombarda (Rome, 1886) and Pompeii. Its history, buildings and antiquities; an account of the destruction of the city, with a full description of the remains, and of the recent excavations, and also an itinerary for visitors (London, 1875).

The Pompeii publication can also be read as a significant clue to picture Goold’s fascination for antiquities and arts. Together with two volumes of A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (London, 1876-1880) Goold’s library contained Knight’s dictionary of Arts, commerce and manufactures (London 1850?); A manual of Roman antiquities (Glasgow, 1851) and Peruvian antiquities (New York, 1855). As a further proof, the recent discovery of Piranesi’s prints among Goold’s collection, as well as the entry “Opera del Piranesi – 28 folio – Paris – 1784” registered in his library inventory, confirm that the archbishop was a sophisticated collector driven by a fine intellect in his purchases.

It can be argued that Goold’s interest for arts was not an end in itself, inasmuch as the construction of the Roman Catholic cathedral of St Patrick’s commenced in the 1850s involved the bishop directly. With respect to this, it can be supposed that the presence in Goold’s library of many volumes regarding architecture and decoration displays not only the bishop’s passion for arts, but also his commitment in supervising the works. For instance, The arts connected with architecture illustrated by examples in Central Italy from the 13th to the 15th century […] (London, 1858) contains examples of stained glass, fresco ornament, marble and enamel inlay and wood inlay in 41 chromolithographed plates. The Prolusiones architectionicæ; or, essays on subjects connected with Grecian and Roman architecture (London, 1837) was written by the architect and archaeologist William Wilkins and includes 16 plates. The Modern building and architecture: a series of working drawings and practical designs […] (Edinburgh, date unknown) presents ‘numerous examples from the Paris and Havre International Exhibitions, with papers on technical subjects’ and is ‘richly illustrated with wood engravings’ for a total of 52 plates. Finally, Goold owned A treatise on Chancel screens and rood lofts, their antiquity, use, and symbolic signification. Illustrated with figures […] written by A. Welby N. Pugin, the master of Gothic revival^[6]. All these publications may had been useful to Goold not only as a source of inspiration, but also for the technical informations on building construction and engineering. Furthermore, Essays on cathedrals by various writers (London, 1872), that, among others, contains chapters dealing with the work of cathedral canons, the education of choristers, cathedral schools and the architecture of cathedrals in England, displays how passionate the bishop was about the construction of St Patrick’s cathedral.

Together with architecture books, a large number of imposing volumes is constituted by atlases containing maps of the regions of the world. In 1837, a twenty-five years old Goold accepted to leave Europe as a volunteer for the religious mission in Australia, a country were settlement had started only at the end of 18th century and whose large sections of the inland were not even mapped yet. This suggests that he was inclined to travel the world and expand his knowledge. Additionally it can be assumed that being a bishop in a young country stimulated his curiosity for geographical discoveries, as confirmed by the presence of several volumes, such as A history of the discovery and exploration of Australia […] (London, 1865) and Atlas, containing maps of Australasia […] (London, 1863). The latter publication in particular, not only contains accounts of the latest geographical discoveries, but also datas about ‘the settlement in different Provinces’ and it shows ‘the progress of its population; social, pastoral, agricultural, mineral, commercial & financial state’.

Furthermore, three volumes, respectively Atlas of Australia with all the gold regions – a series of maps from the latest authorities (Edinburgh, date unknown), Silurian -The history of the oldest fossiliferous rocks and their foundations with a brief sketch of the distribution of gold over the earth (London, 1859) and The gold fields in Victoria in 1862 (Melbourne, 1863) indicate that the bishop was engaged in learning about the development of his colony and about the gold rush^[7], a phenomena that rapidly transformed both his city and his diocese. It’s also worth to notice the presence of A geographical and astronomical atlas containing ancient and modern maps, with a solar system and two hemispheres, prefaced by new problems on maps and a copious table of latitudes and longitudes […], that perhaps suggests the bishop interest in knowing how to determine his position when he was traveling. In fact, on the first page of one of his books, Goold, probably traveling at that moment, accurately recorded his position off Cape Howe pointing out both latitude and longitude’s coordinates^[8].

A further proof of the bishop interest in geography and traveling is the presence in the collection of the two volumes of The picturesque world […] (Boston 1878-1879) that contain ‘one thousand illustrations on wood and steel of picturesque views from all parts of the world comprising mountain, lake and river scenery, parks, palaces, cathedrals, churches, castles, abbeys, and other views selected from the most noted and interesting parts of the world’. These volumes, together with others, such as Recollections of Mexico (New York, 1846), Voyage pittoresque et historique de l’Espagne (Paris, date unknown) and India and its native Princes – Travels in central India […] containing 317 illustrations and 6 maps (London, 1876), highlight the bishop’s outstanding curiosity and his desire of discovering the most remote and exotic areas of the planet.

Many of the library’s volumes were embellished with engravings and drawings, as demonstrated by Raccolta delle migliori chiese di Roma e suburbane espresse in tavole disegnate e incise e corredate da cenni storici e descrittivi (Rome, 1855), The Chapel of St. Anthony the Eremite at Murthly Perthshire […] (London 1850) and Collezione dei monumenti sepolcrali del cimitero di Bologna (Bologna, 1827). These representations may have been sources of inspiration and may have had a practical use. However, it has to be noticed that Goold owned a large number of books enriched with images probably collected for aesthetic purposes, few examples being The pictorial edition of the works of Shakespeare (London, date unknown) and the already mentioned Picturesque Ireland and The picturesque world. Furthermore, the two tomes of La Sainte Bible, traduction nouvelle selon la vulgate (Tours, 1866), that contain a total of 228 illustrations engraved after drawings by the French artist Gustave Doré, demonstrate Goold’s taste for refined printed editions.

As Goold settled in such a faraway land as Australia was at the time, arguably, he tried to keep a connection with the old continent through his library. Many of the history books he owned show his deep interest for European matters. Moreover, the presence in the library of Byron, Wordsworth and Shelley’s poetry and the works of Shakespeare and Dickens, alongside the mention in the library inventory of Dante’s Divina Commedia and Manzoni’s Promessi Sposi, suggest that the bishop was passionate about both English and Italian literature^[9]. These volumes, together with many others, such as the aforementioned Dupanloup’s works, indicate that Goold was constantly following the evolution of ideas and the new cultural trends of European society.

Even if only a remnant of the archbishop’s library is currently stored at the Melbourne Diocese Historical Commission archives, the preliminary results of the research suggest that Goold was an eager collector with a wide range of interests. The large number of pictorial editions, the several publications concerning architecture, education and language highlight the fact that the archbishop was an erudite man with refined taste. Thanks to his connections to Rome and his visits to Europe, he kept track of the historical events and the cultural trends that were transforming the continent. A detailed analysis of what survives today of Goold’s diverse library will cast new light on his engagement in translating European intellectual and theological ideas to the distinct context of colonial Australia.

^[1] Goold was born in Cork, Ireland in 1812. He was ordained in 1835 after studying with the Augustinian both in Ireland and Italy. In 1838 he moved to Australia for missionary work and in 1848 he was consecrated bishop of Melbourne, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1874, while in Rome for the First Vatican Council, Goold was made archbishop of Melbourne.

^[2] J. R. J. Grigsby, Goold, James Alipius (1812–1886), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, 1972.

^[3] Félix Dupanloup, ordinated bishop of Orléans in 1849, was one of the most prominent figures of catholicism both in France and Europe during the second half of the 19th century. See M. Fanny Trench, Felix Dupanloup: bishop of Orleans, London: G. Masters, 1890.

^[4] J. R. J. Grigsby, 1972

^[5] While Latin was still largely used as ecclesiastical language in Goold times and therefore the presence in the library of the Biblia sacra (Rome, 1768) in Latin is no surprise, it is interesting to note that the bishop also owned H KAINH ΔIAΘHKH (Oxford, 1863): the Greek New testament.

^[6] Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin was a catholic convert architect and designer active in the first half of 19th century. His greatest accomplishment is the design of the interiors of Westminster’s Palace in London. See, M. Aldridge-P. Atterbury (ed.), A.W.N. Pugin: master of Gothic revival, Exhibition catalogue, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.

^[7] The Victorian gold rush started in 1851, and between 1851 and 1858 the population of Victoria grew from 88,850 to 463,165. Roman Catholics in Melbourne increased from 5,361 to 19,449.

^[8] The book in question, found in the diocesan archives, is Regole ed osservazioni della lingua toscana […] (Bassano, 1802).

^[9] Byron, Shakespeare and Dickens’ volumes were found in the diocesan archives. The other volumes are recorded in the library inventory compiled in the second half of 1860s: The poetical works of Wordsworth (London 1854), Shelley’s philosophical poem Queen Mab (London, 1854), Dante’s Divina commedia (two editions are registered, one published in Paris in 1846, the other in Florence in 1827) and Manzoni’s I Promessi Sposi (Florence, 1845).

What do Roman custom’s stamps signify on Archbishop Goold’s Baroque paintings?

Professor Jaynie Anderson OSI FAHA

On 5 July 2016, I received an email from Aleksandra Janiszewska, curator of Mediaeval and Early Modern Art at the National Gallery of Warsaw, headed Inquiry from Warsaw/Dogana di Roma:

Dear Professor Jaynie Anderson,

I am a curator in the National Museum in Warsaw. I have read your most interesting article about the Jacques Stella’s Jesus in the Temple found by his parents in the April Burlington Magazine. What was most interesting for me was the information about the Roman custom stamp (Dogana di Roma) that the painting bears on the mount. I am just researching on the painting in our collection that bears the same mark on the back of its panel. I would be most grateful if you could help me in further researching on those Roman stamps. Any literature concerning them would be of great help for me.  I am specializing in Netherlandish art and Italian field is sometimes a foreign territory for me.

I replied,

I have tried to find out from the Vatican about the stamp and whether you can date it, but with no success so far.  But I have had very little time in Rome but shall be there next year to search in the archive of deportation of paintings. Might it be a painting from the collection of Cardinal Fesch?

Aleksandra then discovered that the painting in the National Gallery of Warsaw was in the sale catalogue of the collection of Cardinal Fesch:

It appears from my search in the inventory of Fesch collection from 1841 that our painting was indeed a part of it! The measurements are practically the same, not counting few centimetres difference in height which I will consult with the painting – I may have wrong calculation.  Therefore. it would be possible that our painting was bought at the auction after cardinal’s death and transferred somewhere abroad, most preferably to Russia. I have a gap between ca 1845 and ca 1890 when it was bought by Jan Popławski in Petersburg. That gives at least one generation of owners missing. Thanks to your advice I’ve searched for the catalogue by George the painter from 1845 and indeed inside there is a longer description of our painting, attributed there to Michiel Coxie. That is truly very fortunate!

The painting had previously been among the anonymous works, a sixteenth century work representing the Vision of Araceli (Figure 1)

My article on Jacques Stella’s Altarpiece in April in the Burlington Magazine (download here), 2016, received some considerable attention and attracted correspondence and articles, of which the article by Luke Slattery in the Saturday Paper  is an example.

Research continues on the provenances of the Goold pictures and his relationship with Napoleon’s uncle, Cardinal Fesch, and the significance of the Roman Customs Stamp (Figure 2). We would like to know of any other paintings in the world that have this custom’s stamp.

Reintroducing Archbishop James Alipius Goold

Rev Dr. Max Vodola, University of Divinity

In 1997, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne, celebrated its centenary. The diocese had come a long way since 1847 when the Augustinian priest, James Alipius Goold (Figure 1), arrived in Melbourne and became its first Catholic bishop (1812-86). At that time, Melbourne was a provincial town and Goold was enthroned in his cathedral church, St Francis’. In less than a decade, the city of Melbourne and the colony of Victoria were greatly transformed by the gold rush. Goold was faced with increased demands for churches and schools, priests and religious, to keep up with the growing needs of the colony. St Francis’ in Lonsdale St quickly outgrew its capacity and Goold dreamed big dreams for a splendid new cathedral on Eastern Hill to match the increased status and dignity of Melbourne as a major international metropolis.

The foundation stone for St Patrick’s Cathedral was laid in 1858 and Goold secured the services of the brilliant architect William Wardell. The pile of bluestone slowly grew in size on Eastern Hill, not without drama and controversy over design issues, labour shortages and costs blowouts. Goold died in 1886 and it was for his successor, Archbishop Thomas Joseph Carr, to officially bless and open the near-completed cathedral in 1897. Carr’s successor, Daniel Mannix, made the daring decision in post-depression Melbourne to complete the spires of the cathedral in the late 1930s. Much of the cathedral remained unchanged until the internal reordering mandated by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

By 1997 a major internal and external refurbishment was demanded in order to celebrate the cathedral’s centenary and to launch its next century of life. In order to draw attention to the cathedral’s history and value its rich cultural patrimony, a series of exhibitions were planned as an off-shoot of the major fundraising work of the Cathedral Centenary Committee. The work of arranging, supervising and directing the exhibitions was placed in the capable hands of the late Fr John Patrick Rogan (1941-2000). St Patrick’s Cathedral had no greater friend.

John Rogan (Figure 2) was born in Melbourne in 1941. He was educated by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in Thornbury and then by the Christian Brothers at St Thomas’ Clifton Hill and Parade College, East Melbourne. John studied law at Melbourne University and practiced for ten years. It was during this time that he developed an interest in fine arts and became involved with the National Trust. John’s next career was with Kozminsky’s in Bourke St where he was business manager for ten years. He came to know the world of jewellery, paintings and antiques and became a respected contact across the nation and a natural ‘go to’ person. In 1975, he published Antiques in Australia from Private Collections.

In 1986, John embarked on the third and most significant phase of his life when he entered Corpus Christi College, Clayton, to begin his studies for the priesthood. He was given the choice to either study in Melbourne or attend the ‘late vocations’ seminary in Sydney. John chose to stay in Melbourne, to the eternal gratitude of his friends and colleagues. John gave himself enthusiastically to his studies, his pastoral work and student life in the college. It was during this time that John helped form the ‘Friends of Corpus Christi College Library’ and became a member of the Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission. John became greatly interested in the history of the diocese and its extraordinary cultural patrimony. Continue reading “Reintroducing Archbishop James Alipius Goold” →