Vatican_, which was written by Angelo Rocca, and [p257] published at
Rome in 1591. Rocca says that this statement is in the handwriting of
Mariangelus Accursius, who affixed his name to it. On this page it
is not necessary to point out the many errors of Accursius about the
origin of the invention at Mentz; it is enough to show that he believed
that the _Donatus_ was printed in Holland before types were made in
Germany. It is not known, however, whether he acquired this information
from the _Cologne Chronicle_ or from another source.
Joseph Justus Scaliger, an eminent scholar of the sixteenth century,
says that printing was invented in Holland, and that the first
block-book with text was a breviary or manual of devotion. It seems
that this book was like the _Horarium_, of which a fac-simile will be
shown on an advanced page.
Printing was invented at Dordrecht, by engraving on blocks, and the
letters were run together as in writing. My grandmother had a psalter
printed after this fashion with a cover two fingers thick. Inside of
this cover was a little recess in which was placed a little crucifix
of silver. The first book that was printed was a breviary or manual,
and one would have thought that it had been written by hand. It
belonged to the grandmother of Julius Cæsar Scaliger. A little dog
destroyed it, much to his vexation, for the letters were conjoined,
and had been printed from a block of wood, upon which the letters were
so engraved that they could be used for this book and for no other.
Afterward was invented a method of using the letters separately.
This record is of interest for its specification of Dordrecht
in Holland as the birthplace of block-books, but it does not
give any date, nor the name of the first printer. As it has not
been corroborated by the testimony of any other chronicler, it
is now regarded by the historians of typography as imperfect
evidence—incorrect, probably, in its assertion of the priority of
the breviary, but trustworthy so far as it shows that this learned
antiquarian had some really valuable evidences concerning a very early
practice of block-printing in Holland.
Sweinheym and Pannartz, the German printers, who introduced typography
in Rome, and published more books than they could sell, in the year
1472 petitioned Pope Sixtus IV [p258] for relief. In the catalogue
accompanying their petition they describe this _Donatus_ as the
“Donatus for Boys, from which we have taken the beginning of printing.”
Their language is not clear, for it may be interpreted as the first
book printed by Sweinheym and Pannartz, or as the first book made by
the art of printing.
[Illustration: Fac-simile of part of a Block of the Donatus in the
National Library at Paris.
[From Lacroix.]]
The National Library at Paris has two very old xylographic blocks[130]
of this book, which some bibliographers suppose were made about the
middle of the fifteenth century. The letters on these blocks were more
carefully drawn and sharply engraved than the letters of any known
block-book. The wood is worm-eaten, but the letters are neat and clear,
and do not show any evidences of wear from impression.
One of these blocks has been attributed to John Gutenberg, for its
letters resemble those of the _Mazarin Bible_. It [p259] has been
conjectured that this block may have been one of Gutenberg’s earlier
experiments in printing. Apart from the similarity of the characters,
there is no warrant for this conjecture. This similarity is entirely
insufficient as evidence; it is not even proof of age. The block was
probably engraved during the last quarter of the fifteenth century.
[Illustration: Fac-simile of the Fragment of an early Donatus.
[From Koning.]]
Koning, author of a treatise on early printing in Holland, has given
in his book the fac-simile, which is here copied, of a fragment of a
leaf from a xylographic _Donatus_. It was taken from the cover of a
book printed by Gerard Leeu, of Antwerp, in 1490. Koning says that
the fashion of the letters in this book is like that of letters in
the manuscripts of Holland during the fifteenth century, and that
they closely resemble the engraved letters of one edition of the
_Ars Moriendi_. Holtrop gives a fac-simile of the entire page of a
xylographic _Donatus_ with similar letters, which he claims as a piece
of early Dutch printing.
The arrangement of words in Koning’s fac-simile of this fragment cannot
be passed by without notice. The words are more readable than those
of many block-books, but I have reset a small portion in modern type,
that they might be more clearly contrasted with the modern method of
composition. The words that do not appear in the mutilated fragment
given by Koning are restored from the perfect copy of Holtrop.
THE OLD METHOD.
‹f›Lego legis legit. & plr legim’‹/f›
‹f›legitis legu’t Ptito ipfco legeba’‹/f›
‹f›legebas legebat, & plrlegebam’‹/f›
‹f›legebatis legeba’t‹/f›
THE MODERN METHOD.
Present Tense. Imperfect Tense.
_Singular._ _Plural._ _Singular._ _Plural._
Lego, Legimus, Legebam, Legebamus
Legis, Legitis, Legebas, Legebatis,
Legit, Legunt, Legebat, Legebant. [p260]
This fac-simile gives an imperfect notion of the abbreviations, the
blackness and obscurity of a page of the _Donatus_, but it is a fair
specimen of the forbidding appearance of all the printed work of the
fifteenth century. The illustration of the modern method of arranging
the same letters shows the superior perspicuity of modern types and
of modern typographic method. Not every reader of this age has a just
idea of the extent of his obligation to what may be called the minor
improvements of typography. It may be safely said that many men owe
much of their scholastic knowledge to the systematic arrangement and
the inviting appearance of modern types and books. The school-boy who
glances over this fac-simile will quickly see the depth of the quagmire
from which he has been delivered by the invention of types.
[Illustration: Fac-simile of an early Dutch Horarium.
[From Koning.]]
To support his theory that this fragment of the _Donatus_ is but a part
of one of the many copies of the book which were printed in Holland
before the invention of typography, Koning submits the fac-simile of a
page from an old _Horarium_, or manual of devotion, which was copied by
him from the original block. He says that this block once belonged to
Adrien Rooman, a Haarlem printer of the seventeenth century, who had
received it from one of the descendants of Coster. That Coster engraved
or printed this block is highly improbable, but it is, without doubt, a
[p261] very old piece of engraving. It can be fairly attributed to the
fifteenth century, but no good evidence has been adduced to show that
it was made before the invention of types. The block is practically
worn out: the letters have been so flattened by impression that many of
them are illegible.
It must here be noticed that the letters of this _Horarium_ do not
interlock, as they do in many of the block-books. A ruled line drawn
between the printed lines will show only a few and unimportant
interferences of letters. This evenness in lining, which is properly
regarded as one of the peculiarities of typography, seems out of place
in an early block-book. But it is not confined to the _Horarium_.
There are copies of the xylographic _Donatus_ that closely resemble
typographic editions of the same period. They agree, line with line,
page with page, and almost letter for letter, with the typographic
model. That these xylographic copies were made from the engraved
transfers of some typographic model is proved not only by the
uniformity and parallelism of the letters, but by the square outline to
the right of every page. These peculiarities are never produced in the
workmanship of men who draw letters on a block.
It is not strange that the block-book printers should have imitated the
work and the mannerisms of the typographers. It was easier to transfer
the letters than to draw them; easier to cut the letters for a book
of twenty or thirty pages than to cut the punches, make the moulds,
and cast and compose the types. The blocks having been engraved, the
block-printer had the superior advantage. His blocks, like modern
stereotype plates, were always ready for use. He could print a large
or small edition at pleasure. And what was of much more importance,
he could print more legibly from his smooth plates of wood than the
amateur typographer could from his uneven surface of lead.
The significance of the fact that letters were engraved by
block-printers after typographic models will be more plainly seen when
we examine the editions of the _Speculum Salutis_, [p262] a book which
has been claimed by Dutch historians as the first production of the
newly invented art of typography.
The irregular manner in which all the early xylographers drew and
engraved letters on the block is fairly shown in this fac-simile of
the imprint of Conrad Dinckmut, of Ulm, who affixed it to a _Donatus_
printed by him in 1480. It will be seen that parallel lines ruled
between the printed lines would interfere with almost every ascending
or descending letter.
[Illustration: Reduced Fac-simile of the Imprint of Conrad Dinckmut.
[From De la Borde.]]
The _Donatus_ clearly shows the retrogressive tendencies of the
teachers of that age. It was originally written for scholars who spoke
in Latin, and who, when the book was first placed in their hands, knew
the meaning of almost every word. In the fifteenth century Latin was
a dead language, but the book that had been written a thousand years
before received no modification adapting it to the capacities of the
German or Dutch boys, to whom Latin was as strange as Chinese.[131]
The [p263] rules and the explanations, as well as the text, were in
Latin. The boy who began to study the book was compelled to translate
the words and rules before he knew the simplest elements of the
language. The difficulty of the task will be understood if we imagine
an American boy beginning the study of German, not with a German
grammar in which the explanations are in English, but with the grammar
that is now used in the schools of Germany. We find no trace of any
other school-book in the form of a block-book. There was no other
book of equal popularity. To the scholar of the middle ages there was
no science that could be compared with Latin; there was no knowledge
like that of the words of the dead language. Words were held of more
value than facts. The teachers of the fifteenth century clung to this
obsolete book, and compelled their pupils to go through the same barren
course of study that had been used in the fifth century. In this fixed
purpose we see something more than the force of habit: there was a
general unwillingness to make the acquisition of knowledge in any way
attractive.
The limitations of xylography are plainly set forth in this review of
the more famous block-books. During the first half of the fifteenth
century, labor was cheap, skill in engraving was not rare, paper was in
abundant supply, the art of block-printing was known all over civilized
Europe, and there was a growing demand for printed work, but this rude
art of block-printing was limited to the production of pictures. It was
never applied to the production of books of size or merit. The _Wonders
of Rome_, with its text of one hundred and sixty-eight pages, is its
most ambitious attempt; but large as this work may seem when it is put
in contrast with other block-books, it is really insignificant when
compared with the works of the first typographers.
[p264]
XIV
The Speculum Salutis, or the Mirror of Salvation.
Its Popularity as a Manuscript Book . . . Made for Mendicant Friars
. . . Description of the Text . . . Fac-similes of Wood-cuts on First
and Last Pages . . . Its Curious Theology . . . Four Editions of the
Book . . . Their Peculiarities . . . Twenty Engraved Pages in one
Edition . . . Strange Blemishes . . . Opinions of Bibliographers
concerning the Date and Printer . . . Text of the Book Printed from
Types . . . Fac-simile of the Types . . . Different Bodies of Types
in Different Editions . . . Engraved Pages were Transferred from
Types . . . Book Printed in Four Kinds of Ink . . . By Two Methods of
Impression . . . Types and Cuts could not be Printed together . . .
Opinions about the Quality of the Presswork . . . Strange Faults of
Presswork . . . All Editions were Printed in Holland . . . Wood-cuts
used for the last time by Veldener in 1483 . . . Not Probable that
Veldener Printed the Earlier Editions . . . Veldener did not use the
Types . . . The Speculum is the Work of an Unknown Printer.
* * * * *
Everything about the book is uncertain. It may be that the book was
printed from engraved blocks. There are persons who say that it was
engraved; there is a librarian who says that it was written by hand.
. . . . I submitted the book to a type-founder, to an engraver, and to
a printer, who decided that the book was printed with movable metal
types that had been cast in a mould.
_André Chevillier._
* * * * *
The _Speculum Salutis_[132] was popular as a manuscript for at least
two centuries before the invention of typography. Heineken describes
a copy in the imperial library of Vienna, which he attributes to the
twelfth century. He says, such was the popularity of the work with the
Benedictines that almost every monastery possessed a copy of it. Of the
four manuscript copies owned by the British Museum, one is supposed to
have been written in the thirteenth century, another copy is in the
Flemish writing of the fifteenth century. The printed [p265] book
contains forty-five chapters of barbarous Latin rhymes, the literary
merit of which is clearly enough set before us in Chatto’s faithful
translation of four lines of the preface:
‹f›Predictum prohemium huius libri de contentis compilaui‹/f›
‹f›Et propter pauperes predicatores hoc apponere curaui‹/f›
‹f›Qui si forte nequierunt totum libri sibi comparare‹/f›
‹f›Possunt ex ipso prohemio si sciunt historias predicare.‹/f›
This preface of contents, stating what this book’s about,
For the sake of all poor preachers I have fairly written out.
If the purchase of the book entire should be above their reach,
This preface yet may serve them, if they know but how to preach.[133]
In many features, the _Speculum_ resembles the _Bible of the Poor_. As
the designs are in the same style, and as the engravings show the same
mannerisms, it has been supposed that both books were made by the same
printer; but this conjecture is opposed by many facts and probabilities.
The illustration at the beginning of this chapter is a fac-simile of
the upper part of the first pictorial page. In the compartment to the
right may be seen the Fall of Lucifer. The rebellious angels having
been transformed into devils, and by swords and spears thrust over the
battlements of Heaven, are falling into the jaws of Hell, which is
here represented, in the conventional style of medieval designers, as
the mouth of a hideous monster filled with forks of flame. In the next
compartment is the Creation of Eve in the garden of Eden. Here we see
that the designer has modified the biblical narrative to suit his own
notions: Eve is not formed from the rib of Adam, but is emerging from
his side. At the bottom of this picture is this legend in abbreviated
Latin, God created man after his own image and likeness. [p267]
[Illustration: Fac-simile of the Upper Part of the First Pictorial
Page of the Speculum Salutis.
[From Heineken.]]
An illustration on the last page of the book represents the Parable
of the Ten Virgins, to which is added the legend, The Kingdom of
Heaven is likened unto Ten Virgins. The five foolish virgins are sadly
descending into the mouth of the monster that represents Hell. Another
illustration represents the prophet Daniel interpreting the writing on
the wall.
Hessel’s free translation of a large portion of the preface is really
needed to show the theological teachings of the book.
[Illustration: Fac-simile of the Upper Part of the Last Page of the
Speculum Salutis.
[From Heineken.]]
This is the preface of the _Spieghel onser behoudenisse_, which will
teach many people righteousness, and to shine as the stars in eternal
eternities. It is for this reason that I have thought of compiling,
as an instruction for many, this book, from which those who read
it will give and receive instruction. I presume that nothing is in
this life more useful to a man than to acknowledge his Creator, his
condition, his own being. Scholars may learn this from the Scriptures,
and the layman shall be taught by the books of the laymen, that is
by the pictures. Wherefore I have thought fit, with the help of
God, to compile this book for laymen to the glory of God, and as an
instruction for the unlearned, in order that it may be a lesson both
to clerks and to laymen. It will be sufficient to explain the matter
briefly. I mean first to show the fall of Lucifer and the angels. Then
the fall of our first parents and their posterity. Thereupon, how God
delivered us by his assuming flesh, and with what figures he whilom
prefigured this assuming. It is to be observed that many histories are
given in this work, which could not be explained from word to word,
for a teacher does not want to explain more of the histories than he
thinks necessary for their meaning. And in order that this may be seen
better and clearer, I give this parable. . . . . There was an abbey,
in which stood a large oak, which, on account of the narrowness and
smallness of the town, they were compelled to cut down. When it was
cut down, the workmen came together, and each of them chose whatever
he thought would suit his trade. The smith cut off the undermost
block, which he thought suitable for a forge; the shoemaker took
the bark for making leather; the swineherd, the acorns for feeding
pigs; the carpenter, the straight wood for a roof; the shipwright,
the crooked wood; the miller digs the roots up, as they are fit, on
account of their solidity, for the mill; the baker uses the thin twigs
for his oven; the sexton of the church, the leaves for decorating the
church at festivals; the butler, the branches for barrels and mugs;
the cook, the chips for the kitchen. . . . . Just now, as here every
one chose his liking from the hewn tree, so they do with Holy Writ.
The same method has been followed regarding the histories which will
be explained. Every teacher collects from them what he thinks proper
and useful. I shall follow the same way with regard to this work,
leaving out altogether some part of the histories, that it may not
offend those who will hear and read it. Let us also observe that Holy
Writ is like soft wax, which assumes the shape of all forms impressed
upon it. Does, for instance, the stamp contain a lion? the soft wax
will contain the same; and if it bears an ear, the soft wax will
bear the same figure. So one thing signifies, sometimes the Devil,
and sometimes Christ. However, we ought not to be astonished at this
manner of the Scriptures, for divers significations may be ascribed to
the divers performances of a thing or a person. When David, the king,
committed both adultery and [p269] man-slaughter, he represented
not Christ but the Devil. And when he loved his enemies, and did them
good, he bore within him the figure of Christ and not of the Devil.
. . . . This is why I have noticed these remarkable things here, for
I thought it useful to those who study the Holy Scriptures, that they
should not judge me, if they happened to find such things in this
book, for the manner of translation and exposition is so. O good
Jesus, give me works and a Christian devotion which may please thee.
* * * * *
Equally curious is the explanation of the marriage of the mother
of God with Joseph. It appears from this, that it was not thought
superfluous to justify a fact somewhat strange in regard to the
doctrine of the supernatural incarnation of the second person of
the Godhead. The author of the _Speculum_ assigns eight reasons for
this marriage. The first was, that Mary should not be suspected of
unchastity; the second, that she might want the help of a man during
her travels as well as elsewhere; the third, that the Devil might
not become aware of the incarnation of Christ; the fourth, that
Mary could have a witness of her purity; the fifth, that God wished
that his mother should be married; the sixth, to prove the sanctity
of marriage; the seventh, to prove that marriage is no impediment
to blessing; the last, that married people should not despair of
their salvation. Catholicism had already brought the world to the
possibility of that despair. Van der Linde, _Haarlem Legend of the
Invention of Printing_, p. 4.
The _Speculum_ was printed at different times and places during the
fifteenth century,[134] but the copies of greatest value are those
which belong to four correlated editions—two in Latin, and two in
Dutch—all without date, name, or place of printer. In these four
editions the illustrations are obviously impressions from the same
blocks; but each edition exhibits some new peculiarity in the shape
or disposition of the letters. Those who favor the theory of an
invention of typography in Holland maintain that these letters are
the impressions of the first movable types, and that the curious
workmanship of the book marks the development of printing at the great
turning-point in its progress when it was passing from xylography
to typography. As important conclusions have been drawn from the
peculiarities of each edition, it is necessary that they should be
described with precision. The order in which the four editions were
actually printed is not certainly known. Six eminent bibliographers
have arranged them in as many different orders. The order assigned
to them here [p270] is purely conjectural, but it is based on the
supposition that that should be the first edition in which the
wood-cuts show the sharpest lines, and that the last in which the types
and wood-cuts show the strongest marks of wear.
The _First Edition_ is in Latin. Each copy of the book is made up
of sixty-three leaves of small folio printed upon one side of the
paper, but with printed pages facing each other, after the style of
the block-books. The space occupied by the printed page is about
7-3/4 inches wide, and 10-1/4 inches high. The preface, in rhyme, is
composed in broad measure, and occupies five pages. The fifty-eight
pages of text that follow are also in rhyme; but they are made up
with two columns to the page. At the top of each page is an engraving
on wood, containing, on one block, two distinct designs, separated
from each other by the pillar of an architectural frame-work. At the
bottom of each design, and engraved upon the same block, is a line in
Latin, which explains the design, and which serves as the text for
the verses underneath. The letters of the preface and the text are
impressions from Pointed Gothic types of the Flemish style. Every line
of verse begins with a capital letter. The only mark of punctuation
is the period, but it is rarely used. The book is without title,
paging-figures, signatures, or catch-words. The wood-cuts are in brown,
and the types in black ink. The brown ink is a water color which can
be partially effaced by rubbing with a moist sponge; the black ink
is an oil color, for it has stained the paper with the pale greenish
tinge of badly prepared oil. As the back of every printed wood-cut is
smooth and shining, while the back of every type-printed page is rough
and deeply indented, it is obvious that the types of the text were
not only printed with a different ink, but by a separate impression,
and, perhaps, by a process different from that employed in printing
the pictures. The two pages that appear on the same sheet were printed
together, as may be inferred from their irregularities; if one page is
out of register, or out of square, its mated page is out of register to
the same degree. The engravings were printed [p271] before the types,
as is clearly proved by the discovery that on some pages the types
slightly overlap the cuts.[135]
The _Second Edition_ is in Latin, and is like the first, with this odd
exception: twenty pages of the text are printed from engraved blocks of
wood. These xylographic pages are distributed in irregular order, as if
by accident, as will be shown by the italic figures, which represent
these pages, in the following table.