Pressmarks

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Peter Brubach – Frankfurt
1544
woodcut
(Janus Head)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Peter Brubach – Frankfurt
1562
woodcut and letterpress
(Janus Head)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Gabriel Cotier – Lyon
1562
woodcut
(Mercury)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Andreas Cratander – Basel
ca. 1525
woodcut
(Fortuna)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Nicolaus Episcopus – Basel
1564
woodcut and letterpress
(Stork, Sceptre, Hand, Cloud)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Sigmund Feyerabend – Frankfurt
1572
woodcut and letterpress
(Fame)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Sigmund Feyerabend – Frankfurt
ca. 1580
woodcut
(Fame)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Johann Froben – Basel
1518
woodcut
(Caduceus)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous Printmaker
Colophon with Pressmark of Lucantonio Giunti – Venice
1495
woodcut and letterpress
(Fleur de Lys)
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Sebastian Gryphius – Lyon
1532
woodcut and letterpress
(Griffin)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Vincent Le Sueur
Pressmark of Henri Albert Gosse – Geneva
1746
woodcut and letterpress
(Allegorical Scenes)
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Jiří Melantrich – Prague
1564
woodcut and letterpress
(Coat of Arms)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Erhard Ratdolt – Augsburg
ca. 1485-90
color woodblock print and letterpress
(Mercury with Caduceus)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Giovanni Rossi – Bologna
1564
woodcut and letterpress
(Mercury on Globe)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Johannes Schott – Strasbourg
1512
woodcut and letterpress
(Dagger with Monogram)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Anonymous Printmaker
Pressmark of Adriaan Vlacq –The Hague
1657
woodcut and letterpress
(Phoenix)
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna

Unhappy Christmas Tree

An old woman believes that her Christmas tree wants to get married.
Her caretaker says:
–No, it's just a tree. See? Come here! Feel it!
The old woman feels a branch.
–Oh, you're right, it is a tree.
But the old woman is still worried.
–But inside . . . inside, there is a woman who wants to come out and get married.
The old woman will not be convinced she is wrong. She sits for an hour staring at the tree.
After an hour, the caretaker says:
–Come on, don't worry. It's only a tree.
–But it's so sad, it's so sad for her . . . With those little things all over her . . . Are they little men?
–No, don't worry, they're not little men. Those are your ornaments. You've had them for years. Every year we take them out and hang them on the tree.
–But they're hurting her! They're pinching her! She just wants to come out and get married. 

– Lydia Davis, from Our Strangers: Stories (2023)

author's note: "The style and sensibility of "Unhappy Christmas Tree" benefit from the influence of Russell Edson, whose works have been excellent examples, over the years, of the very short and, sometimes, boldly absurd story."