but we do know when they were destroyed. Two books, published by Peter
Van Os of Zwoll, in Holland, in 1488 and 1489, contain seventy-seven
engravings on wood which were certainly cut from the blocks that had
been used to print the original edition of the _Bible of the Poor_.
To get the little cuts he needed to illustrate texts of movable type,
Van Os must have partly destroyed the original blocks. In this act of
destruction, we have a fact and a date which give a clue to the origin
of the book. Copies of the first edition in folio form must have been
printed before 1488. At this date, and perhaps for some time before,
the blocks in folio form had no mercantile value; there was no longer
any demand for the book in the neighborhood in which it had been made.
That the country in which this first edition was printed and sold was
Holland, seems probable when we find that the blocks were used for the
last time, and in a mutilated form, in a town of Holland. This opinion
is strengthened by the facts that the _Bible of the Poor_ in folio
form was then, and afterward, a salable book in Germany and in other
countries, but it was not subsequently reprinted in the Netherlands
in any form. The Dutch and Flemish architectural features in the
designs, and the legends which attribute the work to Dutch engravers
and printers, are of themselves unsatisfactory evidences of the origin
of the book; but they cannot be entirely overlooked. They lead to the
conclusion that the book was printed in [p208] Holland, but they do
not fix the date of printing, which may have been as early as the year
1425, or as late as 1450.[110]
The illustration on the following page is a fac-simile, but reduced in
size, of the first page of the edition published in the year 1470, at
Nordlingen, by Walther and Hurning. The panel in the centre of this
fac-simile represents the Annunciation; on the left is the Temptation
of Eve; on the right is Gideon with the Fleece. The busts at the top
are those of Isaiah and David; at the foot, Hezekiah and Jeremiah.
This edition, like the one previously noticed, was printed in rusty
brown ink upon one side of the paper. The adherence of the printers
to a rough method of printing seems strange when we consider that
typographic books, printed with black ink and on both sides of the
paper, were then known and sold in every part of civilized Europe.
Walther and Hurning were, probably, printers of cards and images who
tried to compete with typography.[111] Incompetent to practise the new
art, and unable to make fine books, they made a German translation
of the _Bible of the Poor_, and tried to sell it to German people.
The Nordlingen edition is an obvious imitation of the Latin edition
previously described, but it is a very feeble imitation. The designer
was incompetent to his task, and the engraver was clumsy. The
workmanship of this book is one of many [p210] evidences which might
be offered to prove that coarseness of engraving in undated block-books
is by no means proof of their greater age. The facts point the other
way. The block-books which contain engravings of high merit are, as
a rule, the oldest; those made in the third or fourth quarter of the
fifteenth century show decided decline in skill. Mean as this book
is, it does not fully show the degradation that printing subsequently
suffered from the hands of unskillful engravers.
[Illustration: First Page of the Bible of the Poor as made by Walther
and Hurning of Nordlingen, 1470.
The size of this print, in the original, is 7 by 10-1/8 American inches.
[From Heineken.]]
THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN.
This is the name of an early block-book almost as famous as the _Bible
of the Poor_, and of which there are at least six distinct xylographic
editions. Some of them have fifty, and others have forty-eight
leaves, printed upon one side only of the leaf. The dissimilarities
in the designs and the engraving of these editions are decided and
unmistakable: they are, no doubt, impressions from different suites of
blocks, and each edition may be regarded as the work of a different
printer.
As a literary production, the _Apocalypse_ has small merit. It is
not, as might be supposed, the text or an abridgment of the _Book
of Revelation_. It is, in fact, only a book of pictures, and these
pictures in many points border very closely on the ridiculous. One
cannot shut his eyes to the ludicrous points, but neither can he
overlook the fact that the designs of the book are not the work of an
ignorant artist. Rudely as they have been cut, and badly as they were
printed, there is strong character in the faces, and much artistic
skill in the grouping of the figures. The designs are vigorous, but
they are unlike the works of Van Eyck, or of the German artists of
the period. There is nothing in the costumes or architecture which
can be rated as decidedly German or Dutch. Chatto says the designs
were probably intended to represent Mahomet as the Antichrist of the
_Book of Revelation_, and that they may have been made by an exiled
Byzantine artist who had been driven out of Constantinople after the
taking of that city by the Turks in 1453. But this conjecture is not
[p211] approved by careful bibliographers. It is generally supposed
that the designs are of an earlier period. Maittaire, who says that it
is the oldest[112] of all block-books, calls attention to the singular
simplicity of the engraving, which is in almost plain outline. In this
particular the _Apocalypse_ is much inferior to the _Bible of the
Poor_, for we see no attempt to give appearance of roundness to the
limbs by curved shading lines, nor are there proper marks to indicate
the shadows and folds in a dress. But the ruder workmanship of the
engraver is more clearly shown in the letters. It may be that they
were badly drawn upon the block, but it is plain that the engraver has
frequently broken connecting lines. Bad presswork and bad ink have
materially aggravated the fault; as printed, the lines of the engraver
appear thicker than they were cut.
Each page has two illustrations with explanatory legends. Some of these
illustrations represent the visions of St. John, but the designer has
drawn them with the same disregard of time and place which may be
noticed in the wood-cuts of the _Bible of the Poor._ The architecture
is that of Germany in the fourteenth century; the men wear breeches and
coats, conical, flat-topped and broad-brimmed hats; the soldiers are in
chain or in plate armor, with the helmets and battle-axes of the middle
ages. Nor do the improprieties stop here: many of the illustrations
represent events in the life of the apostle which the artist did not
find in the _New Testament._
The illustration on page 213, which is a reduced copy of the first page
in one edition of the _Apocalypse_, seems to have been derived from the
fabulous life of St. John, supposed to have been written by Abdias,
bishop of Babylon. Drusiana, a [p212] married lady of Ephesus, and one
of the many converts of St. John, is an important personage in this
fabulous life and in the illustration annexed. In the upper picture,
St. John is represented as preaching to a magnate, whose robe or mantle
is held by two attendants. Drusiana stands behind them. This picture is
described in the legend:
‹f›Conversi ab idolis per predicacionem beati Johannis Drusiana et
cetera.‹/f›
Through the preaching of St. John, I have turned from idols Drusiana
and others.
In the lower picture, St. John is represented as baptizing Drusiana in
the Christian temple of Ephesus. Drusiana is judiciously abbreviated
to suit the size of the baptismal font. Six armed men are before the
barred door, endeavoring, by violence, to gain entrance, or to witness
the ceremony. The picture is explained by the words:
‹f›Sts Johannes baptisans Drusiana.‹/f›
‹f›Cultores ydolorum explorantes facta ejus.‹/f›
St. John baptizing Drusiana.
The worshipers of idols watching his [St. John’s] proceedings.
The edition of the _Apocalypse_ named by Heineken as the first was
planned by a practical book-maker, and was made up in sections of eight
double leaves. The first and last pages of each section were probably
engraved together on one block. They were certainly printed together by
the following plan:
1—16 3—14 5—12 7—10
2—15 4—13 6—11 8—9
Page 1 was engraved on the right, and page 16 on the left end of the
block. Page 2 was on the left, and 15 on the right. This alternation
was maintained on all sheets of the section.[113] The printed sheets,
1, 3, 5 and 7 were folded with the printed work on the inside; while
sheets 2, 4, 6 and 8 were folded with the printed work on the outside.
When the sheets were properly collected, two printed pages faced each
other, and were followed by two pages of blanks. This method of making
[p214] up the book must have given the printer and the binder a great
deal of trouble, but it was an efficient method, and the only one that
should have been employed.
[Illustration: Fac-simile of the First Page of the Apocalypse.
Engraving in the original print is 7-7/8 by 10-1/3 American inches.
[From Heineken.]]
In most editions of the book, the ink is of the same rusty brown color
that has been observed in the _Bible of the Poor_. In some copies it is
almost gray; in others, nearly black. The first edition has engravings
of the greatest merit, but it is badly printed. The paper-mark is a
bunch of grapes, similar in design to that of a print in the collection
of M. Weigel, entitled _The Adoration of the Three Kings_, which,
it is claimed, was printed about the year 1425. But paper-marks are
misleading evidences. We do not certainly know the date nor the country
in which any edition of the book was printed. German bibliographers
say that it was printed in Southern Germany; Dutch bibliographers say
that it was printed in the Netherlands, probably by Coster of Haarlem;
but all evidences that have been adduced to establish a certain date
for the earlier editions of the book, or to prove that they were done
at any time or by any printer, are unsatisfactory. Some copies of the
book are interleaved with manuscript explanations, which are sometimes
in the Dutch, and sometimes in the German language. The greater part
of the copies have been found in Germany, and it is the opinion of the
most eminent bibliographers that the first edition of the book, and
most of the editions, were printed in Germany.
The catalogue of the library of Dr. Kloss contains the following note
under the specification of a ragged copy of the _Apocalypse_: “At the
end of this volume is a short note, written by Pope Martin V, who
occupied the papal chair from 1417 to 1431.” This indirect attestation
to the age of the book has never been considered as trustworthy.
Another copy of the book, known as the Spencer copy, is bound up with a
copy of the _Bible of the Poor_, and has on the binding an inscription
to this effect: “Bound in the year of our Lord 1467 by me, John
Reichenbach, in Gyllingen.” The inscription is undoubtedly authentic.
[p215]
Dibdin[114] alludes to an English clergyman who said that he was once
the owner of one copy each of the _Apocalypse_, the _Bible of the
Poor_, and the _Ars Moriendi_, all bound in one volume, on the cover of
which was stamped an inscription certifying that “this volume was bound
for the curate of the church in 142—.” The last figure the clergyman
had forgotten, but he was sure that the book was in its original
binding, and that it must have been bound, and consequently printed,
before 1430. The testimony is unsatisfactory.
THE CANTICLES.
This is a block-book[115] of sixteen pages, of small folio size. It is
one of the few block-books which may be unhesitatingly pronounced as
of Netherlandish origin. In general appearance it closely resembles
the books previously noticed. The impressions are in brown ink, and on
one side of the sheet; there are two illustrations on each page, and
the two printed pages face each other; the explanations of the designs
are in Latin, and are engraved in scrolls that surround the figures.
According to some bibliographers, there are three editions of the book;
according to others, the trifling variations which have been seized
upon to justify the existence of a second and a third edition are only
alterations or repairs that have been sustained by the original block.
One edition contains at the head of the first page an engraved line, in
the low Dutch or Flemish language, which may be translated thus: “This
is the Prefiguration of Mary, the Mother of God, which, in Latin, is
called _The Canticles_.” Explanatory titles in block-books, and even
in the earlier typographic books, are unusual. For this reason the
genuineness of the inscription has been challenged, but it has been
generally accepted as a true part of the original block. [p216]
The illustration opposite is the fac-simile, reduced in size, of the
first page of the _Canticles_. The design is imperfectly explained by
the legends in the engraving.
‹f›Osculetur me osculo oris sui; quia Let him kiss me with the
meliora sunt ubera tua vino.‹/f› kisses of his mouth, for thy
love is better than wine.
‹f›Veni in hortum meum, soror mea sponsa I am come into my garden, my
messui myrrham meum cum aromatibus sister, my spouse: I have
meis.‹/f› gathered my myrrh with my
spice.
‹f›Caput tuum ut Carmelus; collum tuum Thine head is like Carmel;
sicut turris eburnea.‹/f› thy neck is like a tower of
ivory.
‹f›Nigra sum, sed formosa, filiæ I am black but comely, O ye
Jerusalem, sicut tabernacula cedar, daughters of Jerusalem; As
sicut pelles Solomonis.‹/f› the tents of Kedar, as the
curtains of Solomon.
The agriculturists of the upper illustration are in monastic habits:
some are cutting and threshing grain; one is pounding the grain in a
mortar and another is grinding it in a hand mill. In the open little
house before the monk with a pestle, is a desk with two books. In this
combination of agricultural work with the emblem or suggestion of
study, Harzen sees an illustration of the daily work of the Brethren of
the Life-in-Common, to whom he attributes the engraving and printing
of this book. The brethren of this order were eminent as students and
copyists of books, and had some distinction in the last quarter of the
fifteenth century as printers, but their connection with this book
cannot be established.[116]
[Illustration: Fac-simile of the First Page of the Canticles.
Engraving in the original print is 7-1/4 by 10-1/2 American inches.
[From Heineken.]]
The words at the top of one of the cuts are not the only Dutch feature
in the book: the style of design is that of the Netherlandish school
of art. The blocks have been drawn and engraved with much more care
than those of the _Apocalypse_, or the _Bible of the Poor_. There is
more of grace in the attitudes and draperies of the female figures of
the _Canticles_, and less of that gross and unimaginative treatment of
sacred personages which borders both on the ludicrous and the profane.
But [p218] the designer of the book presents the oriental love story
to his readers with Dutch accessories. The bride of the Song of Solomon
wanders about the streets of a city supposed to be Jerusalem, but
the dwellings have high-peaked roofs, Dutch gables, and overhanging
upper stories; she is assaulted by an armed and helmeted cavalier who
carries on his shield the heraldic black eagle of some unknown German
potentate; the pope, two cardinals and a bishop, with drawn swords in
their hands and shields on their arms, look with great composure over
Gothic battlements on the assault below. Writers who are skilled in
heraldry say that there is a peculiar significance in the presentation
of the devices and the arms on shields which are found in many places
in the book. Some German authors see in these devices the arms of the
German Empire, of Wittemburg and of minor German principalities. Those
who believe that the book was printed in the Netherlands, see in the
shields the arms of Burgundy, of Alsace, and of Flemish towns and
cities. From these trivial evidences, the conclusion has been drawn by
one class of partisans that the designer must have been a German, and,
by another class, that he must have been a Hollander.[117] [p219]
The engraved letters of this book are much more legible than those of
the _Apocalypse_ or the _Bible of the Poor_. The Dutch final _t_ is
frequently introduced. The paper-marks most frequently observed are the
unicorn, the bull’s head, and the letter P; but no information of value
can be derived from the paper-marks, and but little from the designs
and engravings.
Although we do not know whether the _Canticles_ was printed in the
second or third quarter of the fifteenth century, it may be admitted
that it was printed in the Netherlands. We see the last trace of the
blocks in the hands of the same printer who destroyed the engravings of
the _Bible of the Poor_. A book, bearing the imprint of Peter Van Os,
of Zwoll, 1494, has for its frontispiece the upper half of the first
plate.
THE STORY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN.
This is the bibliographic title[118] of a block-book which may be
offered as a proper specimen of the popular religious literature of the
fifteenth century. Sotheby mentions four distinct editions of the work.
The one that has been most frequently described (whether first or last,
is not known) consists of sixteen leaves, with four illustrations on
each leaf, and a brief explanatory text in Latin. The designs have no
artistic merit; the engraving is coarse, and evidently the work of a
novice; the letters are legible, but they betray great inexperience in
the use of the graver, and they do not, in any feature, resemble those
of the block-books previously described. Some of them have mannerisms
like those of Gutenberg’s Bible. It is possible that the letters of
one edition of the book are those of movable types, or that they were
engraved on wood from a transfer taken from an impression of movable
types. In all editions the letters have German peculiarities, but
there is no edition which has the appearance of a first experiment in
[p220] printing. It is probable that all the editions were printed in
Germany, and after the invention of typography.
The edition from which the annexed illustration was taken was roughly
printed on one side of the paper, but in a very black ink. In other
editions, which were printed from entirely different blocks, differing
both in the size of the block and in the positions of the figures, the
ink is of the customary rusty brown. The copy in black is supposed to
have been printed on a press, and at a later date.
The object of the book is to show the reasonableness of the story of
the Incarnation, and to defend the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
The bad taste of the author is more signally shown in the text than
in the pictures. Arguments in support of the dogma are wrested from
sacred history and heathen mythology, and the writings of the fathers
of the church. The book is a curious compend of piety and unconscious
irreverence, of high scholarship and gross stupidity, as will be more
clearly shown by the following translation of the legends that explain
the pictures on the opposite page.
_Temple of Venus, with a man _A man gazing at water that
gazing at a lamp._ If the reflects the moon._ If
light at the temple of Venus Seleucus in Persia finds
cannot be extinguished, why [reflected] light from
should not the Virgin generate the moon, why should not
without the seed of Venus? the Virgin, pregnant by a
_Augustine de Civitate Dei_, beautiful star, generate?
XXI, 7. _Augustine de Civitate Dei_,
XX, 6.
_Two Human Figures and a _Two men sawing a stone on
Statue._ If a human being can which appear two human heads._
be changed into stone, why, by If man can be painted on
divine power, should not the stone by the power of heaven,
Virgin generate? _Albertus de why should not the Virgin
Minoralium_, I, _in generate by the assistance of
fine_. the Holy Spirit? _Albertus
de Minoralium_, II, I.
[Illustration: Fac-simile of a page of the Story of the Blessed Virgin.
Engraving in the original print is 7-3/8 by 10-1/2 American inches.
[From Heineken.]]
The book begins with representations of St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St.
Gregory and St. Augustine. St. Ambrose, who is duly quoted from his
_Hexameron_, book II, chapter 41, assigns reasons for the Immaculate
Conception, by illogical reference to a bird without a mate. St.
Augustine, who is represented as seated at a table, reading from his
work, _De Mirabilibus_, book III, chapter 12, asserts the Immaculate
Conception because many animals are produced without mating. St.
Jerome and [p222] St. Gregory expound the same doctrine. Fifty-four
illustrations follow, each explained by a proposition that enunciates
with great formality some of the marvels of natural science. We are
told of bees without fathers, of birds impregnated by the bill, of
geese born from trees, of asbestos that burns forever, of pearls made
fruitful by the dew, of the phœnix restored by fire, and of many other
absurdities. The authorities cited seem to have been selected with
a truly catholic spirit: we find among them Valerius Maximus, Peter
Comestor, Terence, Boethius, Job, Livy, and Isidore.
One edition of this work contains an imprint in sprawling and almost
unreadable characters, which bibliographers interpret as the letters
F. W. 1470. The letters F. W. were no doubt the initials of Frederich
Walther of Nordlingen.
The quality of the science taught in this _History of the Blessed
Virgin_ enables us to form a just idea of the real value of the
scholastic philosophy then regarded as the perfection of wisdom. The
silly speculations set forth in the book were the husks upon which a
devout people were fed.
AN EXERCISE ON THE LORD’S PRAYER.
This is the translated title of a thin block-book of ten leaves, which
was intended to explain the Lord’s Prayer by illustration. The blocks
are printed in brown ink on one side of the paper. The _Exercise_ is in
the popular form of dialogue.
In the illustration No. 1, the monk _Frater_ begs the angel _Oratio_
to teach him the Lord’s Prayer. And these are the lessons that are
taught:
2. _Our Father who art in Heaven._ Christ, the Monk, and the Angel
kneel.
3. _Hallowed be thy name._ The Monk, the Angel, Christ, and the Church
represented by a female figure, are kneeling. On the right the Virgin
and Holy Child.
4. _Thy kingdom come._ A representation of Purgatory: in the upper
part, the wicked surrounded by flames; in the lower part, Jews and
Pagans in the fiery lake.
5. _Thy will be done._ The Almighty in the clouds, and before him the
Angel and the Monk kneeling. On the right, a good Christian and an
Angel. In the centre, two bad men who are rejecting the Eucharist. In
the foreground, the Jews and Pagans throw down the cup and are pouring
out its contents.
_Scroll in No. 5._ Frater and Oratio kneeling before God. ‹f›Fiat
voluntas tua sicut in cœlo et in terra.‹/f› Let Thy will be done in
Heaven as on earth. . . . _The Angel to the right._ ‹f›Qui stat videat
ne cadat.‹/f› Let him who may stand take heed lest he fall . . . _The
Good Christian._ [p223] ‹f›Gratia Dei sum id quod sum.‹/f› Thanks to
God that I am what I am. . . . _The Jews._ ‹f›Quis est Jesus filius
fabri?‹/f› Who is Jesus but the son of the carpenter? _The Pagans._
‹f›Quis noster dominus est?‹/f› Who is our Lord? . . . . _The Bad
Christians._ ‹f›Ducamus in bonis dies nostros.‹/f› We guide ourselves
to salvation.
6. _Give us this day our daily bread._ In the centre, three loaves
of bread on a table, around which is Charity, robed as a queen, with
three other figures. On one side the Monk and Angel kneeling; on the
other, a Knight in armor.
7. _Forgive us our trespasses._ Christ standing on the altar, the
blood pouring from his side in a basin, from which several persons
fill their cups.
8. _Lead us not into temptation._ The disobedient, proud, gluttonous
and avaricious surround a table. Death carries away the foremost.
9. _Deliver us from evil._ A representation of Hell. The disobedient
man in the power of the Devil. The damned making supplication to the
Almighty.
10. _Amen._ A view of Paradise, with the happiness of the blessed.
[p224]
[Illustration: Fac-simile of the Fifth Illustration of the Exercise on
the Lord’s Prayer.