Jan van Doesborch en The dialoges of creatures moralysed

Abstract

This article revisits the discussion whether The dialoges of creatures moralysed, the English translation of the Dialogus creaturarum, was printed and published by the early sixteenth-century Antwerp publishers-printers Marten de Keyser or Jan van Doesborch. This investigation presents a more complete picture of the publishing repertoire of Van Doesborch for the English market and increases our knowledge about the relations between publishers in Antwerp in the first half of the sixteenth century. After reconsidering the attributions to De Keyser and Van Doesborch I will bring up arguments in favour of their colleague Willem Vorsterman as publisher of The dialoges of creatures moralysed. By 1530/31 Vorsterman had access to part of the printing material of Jan van Doesborch as well as to a Bastarde letter type – probably cut by De Keyser – that is the same as the one used in The dialoges of creatures.