YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

242 SUSAN LEWIS HAMMOND
the production time and distribution cycle for the anthologies. The earliest transaction
for Musica divina, for example, dates from 6 June 1583 for two volumes; on 3
November 1583 two copies of Harmonia celeste were transferred from Jean Bellère
to the Officina Plantiniana. 50 The most intriguing transaction is a sale of six volumes
of Melodia olympica on 3 December 1590, a year earlier than the date that appears
on the title page. 51 Perhaps Phalèse promised the anthologies in advance of their completion.
More likely, the anthology was completed near the end of 1590 and, rather
than marketing the volume with a year-old date, Phalèse printed a title page to reflect
the distribution period of 1591.
The account books suggest that Phalèse reprinted the collections as a strategy
to both meet existing demand and build new consumer interest in his publications.
Phalèse’s 1623 reprint of Musica divina both satisfied demand (five copies of the
volume were transferred to the Officina Plantiniana that year) and offered a promotional
opportunity to create further interest in both this volume and the series as a
whole. 52 The reprinting of Harmonia celeste in 1628 resulted in the sale of four volumes
of both this anthology and Musica divina to the Officina Plantiniana that year. 53
Further, in 1634, the year of the last reprint of Musica divina, multiple sets of all four
anthologies were supplied to the firm by Phalèse’s daughter, Maria, after a period of
fading interest in the repertory. 54 Within the context of a declining market for madrigal
50 For Musica divina, see Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Libraires d’Anvers D, 1577–1580 [1582–
1590], Arch. 41, fol. 126; and the corresponding entry in Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Journal
1583, Arch. 61, fol. 70v. For Harmonia celeste, see Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Libraires
d’Anvers D, 1577–1580 [1582–1590], Arch. 41, fol. 146; and Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus,
Journal 1583, Arch. 61, fol. 143r.
51 Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 112, Libraires d’Anvers DD, 1590–1602, fol. 54; cf. Antwerp,
Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 67, Journal 1590, fol. 137r. This transaction is listed in an account
for Phalèse, though Bellère continued to sell Phalèse editions to the Plantin firm in the 1590s.
52 The transaction dates from 22 April 1623 (Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 114, Grand livre
d’Anvers FF, 1615–1629, fol. 167; and Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 230, Journal 1623,
fol. 77v). The sale of two more volumes of Musica divina appears in the Grand livre on 9 July 1623
(Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 114, Grand livre d’Anvers FF, 1615–1629, fol. 167).
53 The sales date from 15 September 1628 (Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 114, Grand livre
d’Anvers FF, 1615–1629, fol. 279; and Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 235, Journal 1628,
fol. 131v).
54 The sale dates from 20 September 1634 and includes mainly sacred volumes in addition to Balletti di
Giacomo Gastoldi (two copies), Madrigali a 4. voci (two copies), four Concertti musicale, four each
of Musica divina and Harmonia celeste (editions unspecified), two each of Symphonia angelica and
Melodia olympica, and two Trionfi di dori (Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 738, Libraires
d’Anvers HH, 1629–1639, fol. 217). On the management of the firm under Phalèse’s heirs (his daughters),
see H. VANHULST, Magdalena en Maria, de erfgenamen van Petrus II Phalesius, in Museum
Plantin-Moretus en Stedelijk Prentenkabinet ed., Antwerpse Muziekdrukken. Vocale en instrumentale
polyfonie (16de–18de eeuw), Antwerp, 1996, pp. 33–35; H. VANHULST, De Antwerpse muziekuitgaven
van Petrus II Phalesius en zijn erfgenamen (1582–1674), in Musica antiqua, 10/2 (1993), pp.
57–62; and A. GOOVAERTS, Historie et bibliographie de la typographie musicale dans les Pays-Bas,
Antwerp, 1880, pp. 88–114.