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[Illustration:
WILLIAM BLAKE. W. J. LINTON.
DEATH’S DOOR.]
A TREATISE
on
WOOD ENGRAVING
+Historical and Practical+
with Upwards of Three Hundred Illustrations
Engraved on Wood
BY JOHN JACKSON.
THE HISTORICAL PORTION BY W. A. CHATTO.
+Second Edition+
with a New Chapter
on the Artists of the Present Day
BY HENRY G. BOHN
And 145 Additional Wood Engravings.
LONDON
Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden.
M.DCCC.LXI.
[Illustration:
Richard Clay / Breads Hill / Sola Lux Mihi Laus / London]
NOTICE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The former edition of this History of Wood Engraving having become
extremely scarce and commercially valuable, the publisher was glad to
obtain the copyright and wood-blocks from Mr. Mason Jackson, son of the
late Mr. Jackson, original proprietor of the work, with the view of
reprinting it.
It will be seen by the two distinct prefaces which accompanied the
former edition, and are here reprinted, that there was some existing
schism between the joint producers at the time of first publication. Mr.
Jackson, the engraver, paymaster, and proprietor, conceived that he had
a right to do what he liked with his own; while Mr. Chatto, his literary
coadjutor, very naturally felt that he was entitled to some recognition
on the title-page of what he had so successfully performed. On the book
making its appearance without Mr. Chatto’s name on the title-page, and
with certain suppressions in his preface to which he had not given
consent, a virulent controversy ensued, which was embodied in a pamphlet
termed “a third preface,” and afterwards carried on in the _Athenæum_ of
August and September, 1839. As this preface has nothing in it but the
outpourings of a quarrel which can now interest no one, I do not
republish any part of it; and looking back on the controversy after the
lapse of twenty years, I cannot help feeling that Mr. Chatto had
reasonable ground for complaining that his name was omitted, although I
think Mr. Jackson had full right to determine what the book should be
called, seeing that it was his own exclusive speculation. It is not for
me to change a title now so firmly established, but I will do Mr. Chatto
the civility to introduce his name on it, without concerning myself with
the question of what he did or did not do, or what Mr. Jackson
contributed beyond his practical remarks and anxious superintendence.
Although I have the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with Mr. Chatto,
and communicated to him my intention of republishing the work,
I declined letting him see it through the press; resolving to stand
wholly responsible for any alterations or improvements I might choose to
make. On the other hand, I have been quite as chary of letting even the
shade of Mr. Jackson raise a new commotion--I say the shade, because,
having his own copy full of manuscript remarks, it was at my option to
use them; but I have adopted nothing from this source save a few
palpable amendments. What additions have been made are entirely my own,
and have arisen from a desire to increase the number of illustrations
where I thought them previously deficient and had the means of supplying
them. With the insertion of these additional illustrations, which it
appears amount to seventy-five, it became necessary to describe them,
and this has occasioned the introduction of perhaps a hundred or two
lines, which are distributed in the form of notes or paragraphs
throughout the volume. For the chief of these additions the critical
examiner is referred to the following pages: 321, 322, 340, 352, 374,
428, 468, 477, 480, 493, 530, 531, 532, 539, 540, 541, 542, 543, 545,
546, 547, 548, 617, 639. The chapter on the artists of the present day
is entirely new, and was not contemplated, as may be gathered from the
remarks at pages 549 and 597, until the book was on the eve of
publication. It contains upwards of seventy high class wood engravings,
and gives a fair specimen of the talents of some of our most
distinguished artists. Getting that supplementary matter together and
into shape, was not so light and sudden a task as I meant it to be; but
now it is done I feel that it was right to do it, and I can only hope
that my unpretending labours will be deemed a step in the right
direction. Should I retain my health, strength, and means, I purpose, at
no very distant period, to follow up the present volume with one perhaps
as large, giving a more complete series of Examples of the artists of
the day, as well those of France and Germany as of England.
In conclusion, I think it due to Mr. Clay to acknowledge the attention
and skill which he has exercised in “bringing up” the numerous and
somewhat difficult cuts to the agreeable face they now present. A good
engraving without good printing is like a diamond without its polish.
HENRY G. BOHN.
_January 4th, 1861._
MR. JACKSON’S PREFACE.
I feel it my duty to submit to the public a few remarks, introductory to
the Preface, which bears the signature of Mr. Chatto.
As my attention has been more readily directed to matters connected with
my own profession than any other, it is not surprising that I should
find almost a total absence of practical knowledge in all English
authors who have written the early history of wood engraving. From the
first occasion on which my attention was directed to the subject, to the
present time, I have had frequent occasion to regret, that the early
history and practice of the art were not to be found in any book in the
English language. In the most expensive works of this description the
process itself is not even correctly described, so that the
reader--supposing him to be unacquainted with the subject--is obliged to
follow the author in comparative darkness. It has not been without
reason I have come to the conclusion, that, if the _practice_, as well
as the _history_ of wood engraving, were _better understood_, we should
not have so many speculative opinions put forth by almost all writers on
the subject, taking on trust what has been previously written, without
giving themselves the trouble to examine and form an opinion of their
own. Both with a view to amuse and improve myself as a wood engraver,
I had long been in the habit of studying such productions of the old
masters as came within my reach, and could not help noting the simple
mistakes that many authors made in consequence of their knowing nothing
of the practice. The farther I prosecuted the inquiry, the more
interesting it became; every additional piece of information
strengthening my first opinion, that, “if the _practice_, as well as the
_history_ of wood engraving, were _better understood_,” we should not
have so many erroneous statements respecting both the history and
capabilities of the art. At length, I determined upon engraving at my
leisure hours a fac-simile of anything I thought worth preserving. For
some time I continued to pursue this course, reading such English
authors as have written on the origin and early history of wood
engraving, and making memoranda, without proposing to myself any
particular plan. It was not until I had proceeded thus far that I
stopped to consider whether the information I had gleaned could not be
applied to some specific purpose. My plan, at this time, was to give a
short introductory history to precede the practice of the art, which I
proposed should form the principal feature in the Work. At this period,
I was fortunate in procuring the able assistance of Mr. W. A. Chatto,
with whom I have examined every work that called for the exercise of
practical knowledge. This naturally anticipated much that had been
reserved for the practice, and has, in some degree, extended the
historical portion beyond what I had originally contemplated; although,
I trust, the reader will have no occasion to regret such a deviation
from the original plan, or that it has not been _written_ by myself. The
number and variety of the subjects it has been found necessary to
introduce, rendered it a task of some difficulty to preserve the
characteristics of each individual master, varying as they do in the
style of execution. It only remains for me to add, that, although I had
the hardihood to venture upon such an undertaking, it was not without a
hope that the history of the art, with an account of the practice,
illustrated with numerous wood engravings, would be looked upon with
indulgence from one who only professed to give a fac-simile of whatever
appeared worthy of notice, with opinions founded on a practical
knowledge of the art.
JOHN JACKSON.
LONDON, _December 15th, 1838_.
MR. CHATTO’S PREFACE.
Though several English authors have, in modern times, written on the
origin and early history of wood engraving, yet no one has hitherto
given, in a distinct work, a connected account of its progress from the
earliest period to the present time; and no one, however confidently he
may have expressed his opinion on the subject, appears to have thought
it necessary to make himself acquainted with the practice of the art.
The antiquity and early history of wood engraving appear to have been
considered as themes which allowed of great scope for speculation, and
required no practical knowledge of the art. It is from this cause that
we find so many erroneous statements in almost every modern dissertation
on wood engraving. Had the writers ever thought of appealing to a person
practically acquainted with the art, whose early productions they
professed to give some account of, their conjectures might, in many
instances, have been spared; and had they, in matters requiring
research, taken the pains to examine and judge for themselves, instead
of adopting the opinions of others, they would have discovered that a
considerable portion of what they thus took on trust, was not in
accordance with facts.
As the antiquity and early history of wood engraving form a considerable
portion of two expensive works which profess to give some account of the
art, it has been thought that such a work as the present, combining the
history with the practice of the art, and with numerous cuts
illustrative of its progress, decline, and revival, might not be
unfavourably received.
In the first chapter an attempt is made to trace the principle of wood
engraving from the earliest authentic period; and to prove, by a
continuous series of facts, that the art, when first applied to the
impression of pictorial subjects on paper, about the beginning of the
fifteenth century, was not so much an original invention, as the
extension of a principle which had long been known and practically
applied.
The second chapter contains an account of the progress of the art as
exemplified in the earliest known single cuts, and in the block-books
which preceded the invention of typography. In this chapter there is
also an account of the Speculum Salvationis, which has been ascribed to
Laurence Coster by Hadrian Junius, Scriverius, Meerman, and others, and
which has frequently been described as an early block-book executed
previous to 1440. A close examination of two Latin editions of the book
has, however, convinced me, that in the earliest the text is entirely
printed from movable types, and that in the other--supposed by Meerman
to be the earliest, and to afford proofs of the progress of Coster’s
invention--those portions of the text which are printed from wood-blocks
have been copied from the corresponding portions of the earlier edition
with the text printed entirely from movable types. Fournier was the
first who discovered that one of the Latin editions was printed partly
from types, and partly from wood-blocks; and the credit of showing, from
certain imperfections in the cuts, that this edition was subsequent to
the other with the text printed entirely from types, is due to the late
Mr. Ottley.
As typography, or printing from movable types, was unquestionably
suggested by the earliest block-books with the text engraved on wood,
the third chapter is devoted to an examination of the claims of
Gutemberg and Coster to the honour of this invention. In the
investigation of the evidence which has been produced in the behalf of
each, the writer has endeavoured to divest his mind of all bias, and to
decide according to facts, without reference to the opinions of either
party. He has had no theory to support; and has neither a partiality for
Mentz, nor a dislike to Harlem. It perhaps may not be unnecessary to
mention here, that the cuts of arms from the History of the Virgin,
given at pages 75, 76, and 77, were engraved before the writer had seen
Koning’s work on the Invention of Printing, Harlem, 1816, where they are
also copied, and several of them assigned to Hannau, Burgundy, Brabant,
Utrecht, and Leyden, and to certain Flemish noblemen, whose names are
not mentioned. It is not improbable that, like the two rash Knights in
the fable, we may have seen the shields on opposite sides;--the bearings
may be common to states and families, both of Germany and the
Netherlands.
The fourth chapter contains an account of wood engraving in connexion
with the press, from the establishment of typography to the latter end
of the fifteenth century. The fifth chapter comprehends the period in
which Albert Durer flourished,--that is, from about 1498 to 1528. The
sixth contains a notice of the principal wood-cuts designed by Holbein,
with an account of the extension and improvement of the art in the
sixteenth century, and of its subsequent decline. In the seventh chapter
the history of the art is brought down from the commencement of the
eighteenth century to the present time.
The eighth chapter contains an account of the practice of the art, with
remarks on metallic relief engraving, and the best mode of printing
wood-cuts. As no detailed account of the practice of wood engraving has
hitherto been published in England, it is presumed that the information
afforded by this part of the Work will not only be interesting to
amateurs of the art, but useful to those who are professionally
connected with it.
It is but justice to Mr. Jackson to add, that the Work was commenced by
him at his sole risk; that most of the subjects are of his selection;
and that nearly all of them were engraved, and that a great part of the
Work was written, before he thought of applying to a publisher. The
credit of commencing the Work, and of illustrating it so profusely,
regardless of expense, is unquestionably due to him.
W. A. CHATTO.
LONDON, _December 5th, 1838_.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
[Transcriber’s Note:
The word “ditto”--written out--was printed as shown.]
CHAPTER I.
ANTIQUITY OF ENGRAVING, 1-39.
Page
Initial letter A,-- an ancient Greek _scriving_ on a tablet
of wood, drawn by W. Harvey 1
View of a rolling-press, on wood and on copper, showing the
difference between a woodcut and a copper-plate engraving
when both are printed in the same manner 4
Back and front view of an ancient Egyptian brick-stamp 6
Copy of an impression on a Babylonian brick 7
Roman stamp, in relief 8
Roman stamps, in intaglio 10
Monogram of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths 13
Monogram of Charlemagne 14
Gothic marks and monograms 15
Characters on Gothic coins 16
Mark of an Italian notary, 1236 16
Marks of German notaries, 1345-1521 17
English Merchants’-marks of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries 18
Tail-piece, illustrative of the antiquity of engraving,--
Babylonian brick, Roman earthenware, Roman stamp, and a
roll with the mark of the German Emperor Otho in the
corner 39
CHAPTER II.
PROGRESS OF WOOD ENGRAVING, 40-117.
Initial letter F, from an old book containing an alphabet of
similar letters, engraved on wood, formerly belonging to
Sir George Beaumont 40
St. Christopher, with the date 1423, from a cut in the
possession of Earl Spencer 46
The Annunciation, from a cut probably of the same period, in
the possession of Earl Spencer 50
St. Bridget, from an old cut in the possession of Earl
Spencer 52
Shields from the Apocalypse, or History of St. John, an old
block-book 65
St. John preaching to the infidels, and baptizing Drusiana,
from the same book 66
The death of the Two Witnesses, and the miracles of
Antichrist, from the same book 67
Group from the History of the Virgin, an old block-book 71
Copy of a page of the same book 72
Figures and a shield of arms, from the same book 75
Shields of arms, from the same book 76-78
Copy of the first page of the Poor Preachers’ Bible, an old
block-book 86
Heads from the same book 88
Christ tempted, a fac-simile of one of the compartments in
the first page of the same book 89
Adam and Eve eating of the forbidden fruit, from the same
book 90
Esau selling his birthright, ditto 91
Heads ditto 92
First cut in the Speculum Salvationis, which has generally,
but erroneously, been described as a block-book, as the
text in the first edition is printed with types 96
Fall of Lucifer, a fac-simile of one of the compartments of
the preceding 97
The Creation of Eve, a fac-simile of the second compartment
of the same 98
Paper-mark in the Alphabet of large letters composed of
figures, formerly belonging to Sir George Beaumont 107
Letter K, from the same book 109
Letter L, ditto 110
Letter Z, ditto 111
Flowered ornament, ditto 112
Cuts from the Ars Memorandi, an old block-book 115
CHAPTER III.
THE INVENTION OF TYPOGRAPHY, 118-163.
Initial letter B, from a manuscript life of St. Birinus, of
the twelfth century 118
Tail piece-portraits of Gutemberg, Faust, and Scheffer 163
CHAPTER IV.
WOOD ENGRAVING IN CONNEXION WITH THE PRESS, 164-229.
Initial letter C, from Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter 164
Apes, from a book of Fables printed at Bamberg by Albert
Pfister, 1461 171
Heads, from an edition of the Poor Preachers’ Bible, printed
by Pfister 177
Christ and his Disciples, from the same 177
Joseph making himself known to his Brethren, from the same 178
The Prodigal Son’s return, from the same 178
The Creation of Animals, from Meditationes Joannis de
Turrecremata, printed at Rome, 1467 185
A bomb-shell and a man shooting from a kind of hand-gun,
from Valturius de Re Militari, printed at Verona, 1472 188
A man shooting from a cross-bow, from the same 189
The Knight, from Caxton’s Book of Chess, about 1476 193
The Bishop’s pawn, from the same 194
Two figures-- Music, from Caxton’s Mirrour of the World,
1480 196
Frontispiece to Breydenbach’s Travels, printed at Mentz,
1486 207
Syrian Christians, from the same 209
Old Woman with a basket of eggs on her head, from the Hortus
Sanitatis, printed at Mentz, 1491 211
Head of Paris, from the book usually called the Nuremberg
Chronicle, printed at Nuremberg, 1493 212
Creation of Eve, from the same 215
The same subject from the Poor Preachers’ Bible 216
The difficult Labour of Alcmena, from an Italian translation
of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, 1497 217
Mars, Venus, and Mercury, from Poliphili Hypnerotomachia,
printed at Venice, 1499 221
Cupid brought by Mercury before Jove, from the same 222
Cupid and his Victims, from the same 222
Bacchus, from the same 223
Cupid, from the same 224
A Vase, from the same 224
Cat and Mouse, from a supposed old wood-cut printed in
Derschau’s Collection, 1808-1816 226
Man in armour on horseback, from a wood-cut, formerly used
by Mr. George Angus of Newcastle 228
Tail-piece-- the press of Jodocus Badius Ascensianus, from
the title-page of a book printed by him about 1498 229
CHAPTER V.
WOOD ENGRAVING IN THE TIME OF ALBERT DURER, 230-323.
Initial letter M, from an edition of Ovid’s Tristia, printed
at Venice by J. de Cireto, 1499 230
Peasants dancing and regaling, from Heures a l’Usaige de
Chartres, printed at Paris by Simon Vostre about 1502. The
first of these cuts occurs in a similar work-- Heures a
l’Usaige de Rome-- printed by Simon Vostre in 1497 233
The woman clothed with the sun, from Albert Durer’s
illustrations of the Apocalypse, 1498 240
The Virgin and Infant Christ, from Albert Durer’s
illustrations of the History of the Virgin, 1511 243
The Birth of the Virgin, from the same work 244
St. Joseph at work as a carpenter, with the Virgin rocking
the Infant Christ in a cradle, from the same 246
Christ mocked, from Durer’s illustrations of Christ’s
Passion, about 1511 247
The Last Supper, from the same 248
Christ bearing his Cross, from the same 249
The Descent to Hades, from the same 250
Caricature, probably of Luther 268
Albert Durer’s Coat-of-arms 271
His portrait, from a cut drawn by himself, 1527, the year
preceding that of his death 272
Holy Family, from a cut designed by Lucas Cranach 277
Samson and Delilah, from a cut designed by Hans Burgmair 279
Aristotle and his wife, from a cut designed by Hans
Burgmair 280
Sir Theurdank killing a bear, from the Adventures of Sir
Theurdank, 1517 284
The punishment of Sir Theurdank’s enemies, from the same
work 285
A figure on horseback, from the Triumphs of Maximilian 294
Another, from the same work 295
Ditto, ditto 296
Ditto, ditto 297
Ditto, ditto 298
Ditto, ditto 299
Three knights with banners, from the same work 301
Elephant and Indians, from the same 302
Camp followers, probably designed by Albert Durer, from the
same 303
Horses and Car, from the same 305
Jael and Sisera, from a cut designed by Lucas van Leyden 309
Cut printed at Antwerp by Willem de Figursnider, probably
copied from a cut designed by Urse Graff 312
Three small cuts from Sigismund Fanti’s Triompho di Fortuna,
printed at Venice, 1527 316
Fortuna di Africo, an emblem of the South wind, from the
same work 316
Michael Angelo at work on a piece of sculpture, from the
same 317
Head of Nero, from a work on Medals, printed at Strasburg,
1525 320
Cut of Saint Bridget, about 1500, from Dr. Dibdin’s
Bibliomania 321
Ditto of her Revelations 322
Tail-piece-- a full length of Maximilian I. Emperor of
Germany, from his Triumphs 323
CHAPTER VI.
FURTHER PROGRESS AND DECLINE OF WOOD ENGRAVING, 324-445.
Initial letter T, from a book printed at Paris by Robert
Stephens, 1537 324
Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit, from a cut designed
by Hans Holbein in the Dance of Death, first printed at
Lyons in 1538 339
Death’s Coat of Arms, from the same work 340
The Old Man, from the same 341
The Duchess, from the same 342
The Child, from the same 343
The Waggoner, from Holbein’s Dance of Death 344
Child with a shield and dart, from the same 345
Children with the emblems of a triumph, from the same 346
Holbein’s Alphabet of the Dance of Death 352
Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, from a cut designed by
Holbein in his Bible-prints, Lyons, 1539 368
The Fool, from the same work 369
The sheath of a dagger, intended as a design for a chaser 374
Portrait of Sir Thomas Wyatt from a cut designed by Holbein
in Leland’s Næniæ, 1542 379
Prayer, from a cut designed by Holbein in Archbishop
Cranmer’s Catechism, 1548 380
Christ casting out Devils, from another cut by Holbein, in
the same work 381
The Creation, from the same work 382
The Crucifixion, from the same 382
Christ’s Agony, from the same 382
Genealogical Tree, from an edition of the New Testament,
printed at Zurich by Froschover, 1554 383
St. Luke, from Tindale’s Translation of the New Testament,
1534 384
St James, from the same 384
Death on the Pale Horse, from the same 384
Cain killing Abel, from Coverdale’s Translation of the Old
and New Testament, 1535 386
Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, from the same 387
The Two Spies, from the same 387
St. Matthew, from the same 388
St. John the Baptist, from the same 388
St. Paul writing, from the same 388
Frontispiece to Marcolini’s Sorti, Venice, 1540, by Joseph
Porta Garfagninus, after a Study by Raffaele for the
School of Athens 390
Punitione, from the same work 392
Matrimony, from the same 392
Cards, from the same 393
Truth saved by Time, from the same 393
The Labour of Alcmena, from Dolce’s Transformationi, Venice,
1553 394
Monogram, from Palatino’s Treatise on Writing, Rome, 1561 396
Hieroglyphic Sonnet, from the same work 396
Portraits of Petrarch and Laura, from Petrarch’s Sonetti,
Lyons, 1547 400
Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise, from Quadrins
Historiques de la Bible, Lyons, 1550-1560 401
Christ tempted by Satan, from Figures du Nouveau Testament,
Lyons, 1553-1570 402
Briefmaler, from a book of Trades and Professions,
Frankfort, 1564-1574 410
Formschneider, from the same 411
The Goose Tree, from Sebastian Munster’s Cosmography, Basle,
1550-1554 414
William Tell about to shoot at the apple on his son’s head,
from the same 416
Portrait of Dr. William Cuningham, from his Cosmographical
Glass, London, 1559 424
Four initial letters, from the same work 425, 426, 427
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, from the Books of Christian
Prayers printed by John Daye, 1569 428
Large initial letter, from Fox’s Acts and Monuments, 1576 429
Initial letter, from a work printed by Giolito at Venice,
about 1550 430
Two Cats, from an edition of Dante, printed at Venice, 1578 431
Emblem of Water, from a chiaro-scuro by Henry Goltzius,
about 1590 433
Caricature of the Laocoon, after a cut designed by Titian 435
The Good Householder, from a cut printed at London, 1607 437
Virgin and Christ, from a cut designed by Rubens, and
engraved by Christopher Jegher 438
The Infant Christ and John the Baptist, from a cut designed
by Rubens, and engraved by Christopher Jegher 439
Jael and Sisera, from a cut designed by Henry Goltzius, and
engraved by C. Van Sichem 440
Tail-piece, from an old cut on the title-page of the first
known edition of Robin Hood’s Garland, 1670 445
CHAPTER VII.
REVIVAL OF WOOD ENGRAVING, 446-548.
Initial letter A, from a French book, 1698 446
Fox and Goat, from a copper-plate by S. Le Clerc, about
1694 450
The same subject from Croxall’s Æsop’s Fables, 1722 450
The same subject from Bewick’s Fables, 1818-1823 451
English wood-cut with the mark F. H., London, 1724 453
Adam naming the animals, copy of a cut by Papillon, 1734 460
The Pedagogue, from the Ship of Fools, Pynson, 1509 468
The Poet’s Fall, from Two Odes in ridicule of Gray and
Mason, London, 1760 470
Initial letters, T. and B., composed by J. Jackson from
tail-pieces in Bewick’s History of British Birds 471
The house in which Bewick was born, drawn by J. Jackson 472
The Parsonage at Ovingham, drawn by George Balmer 473
Fac-simile of a diagram engraved by Bewick in Hutton’s
Mensuration, 1768-1770 475
The Old Hound, a fac-simile of a cut by Bewick, 1775 476
Original cut of the Old Hound 477
Cuts copied by Bewick from Der Weiss Kunig, and
illustrations of Ovid’s Metamorphoses by Virgilium Solis 483
Boys and Ass, after Bewick 485
Old Man and Horse, ditto 486
Child and young Horse, ditto 487
Ewe and Lamb 488
Old Man and young Wife, ditto 488
Common Duck, ditto 493
Partridge, ditto 495
Woodcock, ditto 496
The drunken Miller, ditto 499
The Snow Man, ditto 499
Old Man and Cat, ditto 500
Crow and Lamb, Bewick’s original cut to the Fable of the
Eagle 503
The World turned upside down, after Bewick 504
Cuts commemorative of the decease of Bewick’s father and
mother, from his Fables, 1818-1823 506
Bewick’s Workshop, drawn by George Balmer 508
Portrait of Bewick 510
View of Bewick’s Burial-place 511
Funeral, View of Ovingham Church, drawn by J. Jackson 512
The sad Historian, from a cut by John Bewick, in Poems by
Goldsmith and Parnell, 1795 515
Fac-simile of a cut by John Bewick, from Blossoms of
Morality 516
Copy of a cut engraved by C. Nesbit, from a drawing by
R. Johnson 518
View of a monument erected to the memory of R. Johnson,
against the south wall of Ovingham Church 518
Copy of a view of St. Nicholas Church, engraved by
C. Nesbit, from a drawing by R. Johnson 519
Copy of the cut for the Diploma of the Highland Society,
engraved by L. Clennell, from a drawing by Benjamin West 523
Bird and Flowers, engraved by L. Clennell, when insane 526
Seven Engravings by William Harvey, from Dr. Henderson’s
History of Wines 530
Milton, designed by W. Harvey, engraved by John Thompson 531
Three Illustrations by W. Harvey, engraved by S. Williams,
Orrin Smith, and C. Gray 532
Cut from the Children in the Wood, drawn by W. Harvey, and
engraved by J. Thompson 533
Cut from the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, drawn by
W. Harvey, and engraved by C. Nesbit 534
Copy of a part of the Cave of Despair, engraved by
R. Branston, from a drawing by J. Thurston 535
Three cuts engraved by Robert Branston, after designs by
Thurston, for an edition of Select Fables, in rivalry of
Bewick 537
Bird, engraved by Robert Branston 538
Pistill Cain, in North Wales, drawn and engraved by Hugh
Hughes 539
Moel Famau, ditto, ditto 539
Wrexham Church, ditto, ditto 540
Pwll Carodoc, ditto, ditto 540
Salmon, Group of Fish, and Chub, engraved by John Thompson 541
Pike, by Robert Branston 542
Eel, by H. White 542
Illustration from Hudibras, engraved by John Thompson 543
Hogarth’s Rake’s Progress, engraved by John Thompson 544
The Temptation, engraved by John Jackson, after John Martin 545
The Judgment of Adam and Eve, engraved by F. W. Branston,
after ditto 545
The Assuaging of the Waters, engraved by E. Landells, after
ditto 546
The Deluge, engraved by W. H. Powis, after ditto 546
The Tower of Babel engraved by Thomas Williams, after ditto 547
The Angel announcing the Nativity, engraved by W. T. Green,
after ditto 547
Tail piece-- Vignette, engraved by W. T. Green, after
W. Harvey 548
CHAPTER VIII.
ARTISTS AND ENGRAVERS ON WOOD OF THE PRESENT DAY, 549-560.
The Sierra Morena, engraved by James Cooper, after Percival
Skelton 550
The Banks the Nith, engraved by ditto, after Birket Foster 551
The Twa Dogs, engraved by ditto, after Harrison Weir 551
To Auld Mare Maggie, engraved by ditto, after ditto 552
The Poetry of Nature, engraved by J. Greenaway, after
Harrison Weir 553
From Bloomfield’s Farmer’s Boy, engraved by W. Wright, after
ditto 554
From Campbell’s Pleasures of Hope, engraved by J. Greenaway,
after ditto 554
From the same, by the same 555
Wild Flowers, engraved by E. Evans, after Birket Foster 556
From Lays of the Holy Land, engraved by W. J. Palmer, after
Birket Foster 557
From Longfellow’s Evangeline, engraved by H. Vizetelly,
after ditto 558
From Moore’s Lalla Rookh, engraved by Dalziel, after John
Tenniel 559
Death of Sforza, from Barry Cornwall, engraved by Dalziel,
after ditto 560
Sforza, ditto, ditto 560
Antony and Cleopatra, engraved by Dalziel Brothers, after
John Gilbert 561*
The Florentine Party, from Barry Cornwall, engraved by
Dalziel Brothers, after Thomas Dalziel 562*
Prince Arthur and Hubert de Bourg, engraved by Kirchner,
after John Gilbert 563*
From Maxwell’s Life of the Duke of Wellington, designed by
John Gilbert 563*
The Demon Lover, designed by John Gilbert, engraved by W. A.
Folkard 564*
From Longfellow’s Hiawatha, engraved by W. L. Thomas, after
G. H. Thomas 565*
From the same, engraved by Horace Harral, after G. H.
Thomas 566*
From the same, engraved by Dalziel Brothers, after ditto 566*
John Anderson my Jo, from Burns’ Poems, engraved by
E. Evans, after ditto 567*
Vignette from Hiawatha, engraved by E. Evans, after ditto 567*
From Tennyson’s Princess, engraved by W. Thomas, after
D. Maclise 568*
From Bürger’s Leonora, engraved by J. Thompson, after
Maclise 569*
From Childe Harold, engraved by J. W. Whimper, after
Percival Skelton 569*
From Marryat’s Poor Jack, engraved by H. Vizetelly, after
Clarkson Stanfield 570*
Christmas in the olden time, engraved by H. Vizetelly, after
Birket Foster 571*
Two illustrations from Thomson’s Seasons, designed and
engraved by Sam Williams. 572*
Eagles, Stags, and Wolves, engraved by George Pearson, after
John Wolf 573*
Hare Hawking, engraved by George Pearson, after John Wolf 574*
Falls of Niagara, engraved by George Pearson 574*
From Sandford and Merton, engraved by Measom, after
H. Anelay 575*
From Longfellow’s Miles Standish, engraved by Thomas Bolton,
after John Absolon 576*
Flaxman’s ‘Deliver us from Evil,’ a specimen of Mr. Thomas
Bolton’s new process of photographing on wood 577*
From Montalva’s Fairy Tales, engraved by John Swain, after
R. Doyle 578*
From ‘Brown, Jones, and Robinson,’ engraved by John Swain,
after Doyle 579*
From Uncle Tom’s Cabin, engraved by Orrin Smith, after John
Leech 580*
From Mr. Leech’s Tour in Ireland, engraved by John Swain,
after John Leech 581*
From ‘Moral Emblems of all Ages,’ engraved by H. Leighton,
after John Leighton 582*
Two subjects from the Illustrated Southey’s Life of Nelson,
engraved by H. Harral, after E. Duncan 583*
North porch of St. Maria Maggiore, drawn and engraved by
Orlando Jewitt 584*
Shrine in Bayeux Cathedral, by Orlando Jewitt 585*
Hearse of Margaret Countess of Warwick and other specimens
from Regius Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament, by
Orlando Jewitt 586*
Brick Tracery, St. Stephen’s Church, Tangermunde, Prussia,
by ditto 587*
The Nut Brown Maid, engraved by J. Williams, after
T. Creswick 588*
Vignette from Bohn’s Illustrated Edition of Walton’s Angler,
by M. Jackson, after T. Creswick 589*
Paul preaching at Athens, engraved by W. J. Linton, after
John Martin 590*
Vignette from the Book of British Ballads, engraved by
ditto, after R. McIan 590*
From Milton’s L’Allegro, engraved by ditto, after
Stonehouse 591*
From the same, engraved by ditto, after J. C. Horsley 591*
Ancient Gambols, drawn and engraved by F. W. Fairholt 592*
Vignette from the Illustrated Edition of Robin Hood, by
ditto 592*
Two illustrations from Dr. Mantell’s Works, engraved by
James Lee, after Joseph Dinkel 593*
From Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, engraved by H. Harral,
after E. H. Wehnert 594*
Three illustrations drawn and engraved by George Cruikshank,
from ‘Three Courses and a Dessert’ 595*
Two illustrations by ditto from the Universal Songster 596*
Three illustrations from the Pictorial Grammar, by
Crowquill 597*
Vignette from the Book of British Ballads by Kenny Meadows 597*
CHAPTER IX.
THE PRACTICE OF WOOD ENGRAVING, 561-652.
Initial letter P, showing a wood engraver at work, with his
lamp and globe, drawn by R. W. Buss 561
Diagram, showing a block warped 566
Cut showing the appearance of a plug-hole in the engraving,
drawn by J. Jackson 570
Diagrams illustrative of the mode of repairing a block by
plugging 570
Cut showing a plug re-engraved 571
Diagram showing the mode of pulling the string over the
corner of the block 572
The shade for the eyes, and screen for the mouth and nose 574
Engraver’s lamp, glass, globe, and sand-bag 575
Graver 576
Diagram of gravers 576
Diagrams of tint-tools, &c. 577
Diagrams of gouges, chisels, &c. 578
Gravers 579
Cuts showing the manner of holding the graver 579, 580
Examples of tints 581, 582, 583, 584
Examples of curved lines and tints 585, 586
Cuts illustrative of the mode of cutting a white outline 588
Outline engraving previous to its being blocked out-- the
monument to the memory of two children in Lichfield
Cathedral by Sir F. Chantrey 589
The same subject finished 590
Outline engraving, after a design by Flaxman for a snuff-box
for George IV. 590
Cut after a pen-and-ink sketch by Sir David Wilkie for his
picture of the Rabbit on the Wall 591
Figures from a sketch by George Morland 592
Group from Sir David Wilkie’s Rent Day 593
Figure of a boy from Hogarth’s Noon, one of the engravings
of his Four Parts of the Day 594
A Hog, after an etching by Rembrandt 595
Dray-horse, drawn by James Ward, R.A. 596
Jacob blessing the Children of Joseph, after Rembrandt 597
Two cuts-- View of a Road-side Inn-- showing the advantage
of cutting the tint before the other parts of a subject
are engraved 598
Head, from an etching by Rembrandt 599
Impression from a cast of part of the Death of Dentatus,
engraved by W. Harvey 601
Christ and the Woman at the Well, from an etching by
Rembrandt 602
The Flight into Egypt, from an etching by Rembrandt 605
Sea-piece, drawn by George Balmer 606
Sea-piece, moonlight, drawn by George Balmer 606
Landscape, evening, drawn by George Balmer 607
Impression from a cast of part of the Death of Dentatus,
engraved by W. Harvey 609
View of Rouen Cathedral, drawn by William Prior 611
Map of England and Wales, with the part of the names
engraved on wood, and part inserted in type 612
Group from Sir David Wilkie’s Village Festival 614
Natural _Vignette_, and an old ornamented capital from a
manuscript of the thirteenth century 616
Specimens of ornamental capitals, chiefly taken from Shaw’s
Alphabets 617
Impressions from a surface with the figures in relief--
subject, the Crown-piece of George IV. 618
Impressions from a surface with the figures in intaglio--
same subject 619
Shepherd’s Dog, drawn by W. Harvey 620
Egret, drawn by W. Harvey 621
Winter-piece, with an ass and her foal, drawn by J. Jackson 622
Salmon-Trout, with a view of Bywell-Lock, drawn by
J. Jackson 623
Boy and Pony, drawn by J. Jackson 624
Heifer, drawn by W. Harvey 624
Descent from the Cross, after an etching by Rembrandt--
impression when the block is merely lowered previous to
engraving the subject 626
Descent from the Cross-- impression from the finished cut 627
Copies of an ancient bust in the British Museum-- No. 1
printed from a wood-cut, and No. 2 from a cast 637
Block reduced from a Lithograph by the new Electro-printing
Block process 639
Horse and Ass, drawn by J. Jackson-- improperly printed 641
Same subject, properly printed 642
Landscape, drawn by George Balmer-- improperly printed 644
Same subject, properly printed 644
Tail-piece, drawn by C. Jacques 652
ON
WOOD ENGRAVING.
CHAPTER I.
ANTIQUITY OF ENGRAVING.
Engraving -- The Word Explained -- The Art Defined -- Distinction
Between Engraving on Copper and on Wood -- Early Practice of the Art
of Impressing Characters by Means of Stamps Instanced in Babylonian
Bricks; Fragments of Egyptian and Etruscan Earthenware; Roman Lamps,
Tiles, and Amphoræ -- The Cauterium or Brand -- Principle of
Stencilling Known to the Romans -- Royal Signatures thus Affixed --
Practice of Stamping Monograms on Documents in the Middle Ages --
Notarial Stamps -- Merchants’-Marks -- Coins, Seals, and Sepulchral
Brasses -- Examination of Mr. Ottley’s Opinions Concerning the
Origin of the Art of Wood Engraving in Europe, and its Early
Practice by Two Wonderful Children, the Cunio.
As few persons know, even amongst those who profess to be admirers of
the art of Wood Engraving, by what means its effects, as seen in books
and single impressions, are produced, and as a yet smaller number
understand in what manner it specifically differs in its procedure from
the art of engraving on copper or steel, it appears necessary, before
entering into any historic detail of its progress, to premise a few
observations explanatory of the word ENGRAVING in its general
acceptation, and more particularly descriptive of that branch of the art
which several persons call Xylography; but which is as clearly
expressed, and much more generally understood, by the term WOOD
ENGRAVING.
The primary meaning of the verb “to engrave” is defined by Dr. Johnson,
“to picture by incisions in any matter;” and he derives it from the
French “_engraver_.” The great lexicographer is not, however, quite
correct in his derivation; for the French do not use the verb “engraver”
in the sense of “to engrave,” but to signify a ship or a boat being
embedded in sand or mud so that she cannot float. The French synonym of
the English verb “to engrave,” is “graver;” and its root is to be found
in the Greek γράφω (_grapho_, I cut), which, with its compound ἐπιγράφω,
according to Martorelli, as cited by Von Murr,[I-1] is always used by
Homer to express cutting, incision, or wounding; but never to express
writing by the superficial tracing of characters with a reed or pen.
From the circumstance of laws, in the early ages of Grecian history,
being cut or engraved on wood, the word γράφω came to be used in the
sense of, “I sanction, or I pass a law;” and when, in the progress of
society and the improvement of art, letters, instead of being cut on
wood, were indented by means of a skewer-shaped instrument (stylus) on
wax spread on tablets of wood or ivory, or written by means of a pen or
reed on papyrus or on parchment, the word γράφω, which in its primitive
meaning signified “to cut,” became expressive of writing generally.
[Footnote I-1: C. G. Von Murr, in his Journal zur Kunstgeschichte,
2 Theil, S. 253, referring to Martorelli, De Regia Theca
Calamaria.]
From γράφω is derived the Latin _scribo_,[I-2] “I write;” and it is
worthy of observation, that “_to scrive_,”--most probably from
_scribo_,--signifies, in our own language, to cut numerals or other
characters on timber with a tool called a _scrive_: the word thus
passing, as it were, through a circle of various meanings and in
different languages, and at last returning to its original
signification.
[Footnote I-2: If this etymology be correct, the English Scrivener
and French _Greffier_ may be related by descent as well as
professionally; both words being thus referable to the same
origin, the Greek γράφω. The modern _Writer_ in the Scottish
courts of law performs the duties both of Scrivener and Greffier,
with whose name his own is synonymous.]
Under the general term SCULPTURE--the root of which is to be found in
the Latin verb _sculpo_, “I cut”--have been classed copper-plate
engraving, wood engraving, gem engraving, and carving, as well as the
art of the statuary or figure-cutter in marble, to which art the word
_sculpture_ is now more strictly applied, each of those arts requiring
in its process the act of _cutting_ of one kind or other. In the German
language, which seldom borrows its terms of art from other languages,
the various modes of cutting in sculpture, in copper-plate engraving,
and in engraving on wood, are indicated in the name expressive of the
operator or artist. The sculptor is named a _Bildhauer_, from _Bild_, a
statue, and _hauen_, to hew, indicating the operation of cutting with a
mallet and chisel; the copper-plate engraver is called a
_Kupfer-stecher_, from _Kupfer_, copper, and _stechen_, to dig or cut
with the point; and the wood engraver is a _Holzschneider_, from _Holz_,
wood, and _schneiden_, to cut with the edge.
It is to be observed, that though both the copper-plate engraver and the
wood engraver may be said to _cut_ in a certain sense, as well as the
sculptor and the carver, they have to execute their work
_reversed_,--that is, contrary to the manner in which impressions from
their plates or blocks are seen; and that in copying a painting or a
drawing, it requires to be reversely transferred,--a disadvantage under
which the sculptor and the carver do not labour, as they copy their
models or subjects _direct_.
ENGRAVING, as the word is at the present time popularly used, and
considered in its relation to the pictorial art, may be defined to
be--“The art of representing objects on metallic substances, or on wood,
expressed by lines and points produced by means of corrosion, incision,
or excision, for the purpose of their being impressed on paper by means
of ink or other colouring matter.”
The impressions obtained from engraved _plates_ of metal or from
_blocks_ of wood are commonly called engravings, and sometimes prints.
Formerly the word _cuts_[I-3] was applied indiscriminately to
impressions, either from metal or wood; but at present it is more
strictly confined to the productions of the wood engraver. Impressions
from copper-plates only are properly called _plates_; though it is not
unusual for persons who profess to review productions of art, to speak
of a book containing, perhaps, a number of indifferent woodcuts, as
“a work embellished with a profusion of the _most charming plates_ on
wood;” thus affording to every one who is in the least acquainted with
the art at once a specimen of their taste and their knowledge.
[Footnote I-3: Towards the close of the seventeenth century we
find books “adorned with _sculptures_ by a curious hand;” about
1730 we find them “ornamented with _cuts_;” at present they are
“illustrated with _engravings_.”]
Independent of the difference of the material on which copper-plate
engraving and wood engraving are executed, the grand distinction between
the two arts is, that the engraver on copper corrodes by means of
aqua-fortis, or cuts out with the burin or dry-point, the lines,
stipplings, and hatchings from which his impression is to be produced;
while, on the contrary, the wood engraver effects his purpose by cutting
away those parts which are to appear white or colourless, thus leaving
the lines which produce the impression prominent.
In printing from a copper or steel plate, which is previously warmed by
being placed above a charcoal fire, the ink or colouring matter is
rubbed into the lines or incisions by means of a kind of ball formed of
woollen cloth; and when the lines are thus sufficiently charged with
ink, the surface of the plate is first wiped with a piece of rag, and is
then further cleaned and smoothed by the fleshy part of the palm of the
hand, slightly touched with whitening, being once or twice passed rather
quickly and lightly over it. The plate thus prepared is covered with the
paper intended to receive the engraving, and is subjected to the action
of the rolling or copper-plate printer’s press; and the impression is
obtained by the paper being pressed _into_ the inked incisions.
As the lines of an engraved block of wood are prominent or in relief,
while those of a copper-plate are, as has been previously explained,
_intagliate_ or hollowed, the mode of taking an impression from the
former is precisely the reverse of that which has just been described.
The usual mode of taking impressions from an engraved block of wood is
by means of the printing-press, either from the block separately, or
wedged up in a _chase_ with types. The block is inked by being beat with
a roller on the surface, in the same manner as type; and the paper being
turned over upon it from the _tympan_, it is then run in under the
_platen_; which being acted on by the lever, presses the paper _on to_
the raised lines of the block, and thus produces the impression.
Impressions from wood are thus obtained by the _on-pression_ of the
paper against the raised or prominent lines; while impressions from
copper-plates are obtained by the _in-pression_ of the paper into
hollowed ones. In consequence of this difference in the process, the
inked lines impressed on paper from a copper-plate appear prominent when
viewed direct; while the lines communicated from an engraved wood-block
are indented in the front of the impression, and appear raised at the
back.
[Illustration: PRINTED FROM A WOOD-BLOCK.]
[Illustration: PRINTED FROM A COPPER-PLATE.]
The above impressions--the one from a wood-block, and the other from an
etched copper-plate--will perhaps render what has been already said,
explanatory of the difference between copper-plate printing from
hollowed lines, and _surface printing_ by means of the common press from
prominent lines, still more intelligible. The subject is a
representation of the copper-plate or rolling press.
Both the preceding impressions are produced in the same manner by means
of the common printing-press. One is from wood; the other, where the
white lines are seen on a black ground, is from copper;--the hollowed
lines, which in copper-plate printing yield the impression, receiving no
ink from the printer’s balls or rollers; while the surface, which in
copper-plate printing is wiped clean after the lines are filled with
ink, is perfectly covered with it. It is, therefore, evident, that if
this etching were printed in the same manner as other copper-plates, the
impression would be a fac-simile of the one from wood. It has been
judged necessary to be thus minute in explaining the difference between
copper-plate and wood engraving, as the difference in the mode of
obtaining impressions does not appear to have been previously pointed
out with sufficient precision.
As it does not come within the scope of the present work to inquire into
the origin of sculpture generally, I shall not here venture to give an
opinion whether the art was invented by ADAM or his good angel RAZIEL,
or whether it was introduced at a subsequent period by TUBAL-CAIN, NOAH,
TRISMEGISTUS, ZOROASTER, or MOSES. Those who feel interested in such
remote speculations will find the “authorities” in the second chapter of
Evelyn’s “Sculptura.”
Without, therefore, inquiring when or by whom the art of engraving for
the purpose of producing impressions was invented, I shall endeavour to
show that such an art, however rude, was known at a very early period;
and that it continued to be practised in Europe, though to a very
limited extent, from an age anterior to the birth of Christ, to the year
1400. In the fifteenth century, its principles appear to have been more
generally applied;--first, to the simple cutting of figures on wood for
the purpose of being impressed on paper; next, to cutting figures and
explanatory text on the same block, and then entire pages of text
without figures, till the “ARS GRAPHICA ET IMPRESSORIA” attained its
perfection in the discovery of PRINTING by means of movable fusile
types.[I-4]
[Footnote I-4: Astle on the Origin and Progress of Writing,
p. 215, 2nd edit.]
At a very early period stamps of wood, having hieroglyphic characters
engraved on them, were used in Egypt for the purpose of producing
impressions on bricks, and on other articles made of clay. This fact,
which might have been inferred from the ancient bricks and fragments of
earthenware containing characters evidently communicated by means of a
stamp, has been established by the discovery of several of those wooden
stamps, of undoubted antiquity, in the tombs at Thebes, Meroe, and other
places. The following cuts represent the face and the back of one of the
most perfect of those stamps, which was found in a tomb at Thebes, and
has recently been brought to this country by Edward William Lane,
Esq.[I-5]
[Footnote I-5: Author of “An Account of the Manners and Customs of
the Modern Egyptians, written in Egypt during the years 1833, ’34,
and ’35.”]
[Illustration]
The original stamp is made of the same kind of wood as the mummy chests,
and has an arched handle at the back, cut out of the same piece of wood
as the face. It is of an oblong figure, with the ends rounded off; five
inches long, two inches and a quarter broad, and half an inch thick. The
hieroglyphic characters on its face are rudely cut in _intaglio_, so
that their impression on clay would be in relief; and if printed in the
same manner as the preceding copy, would present the same
appearance,--that is, the characters which are cut into the wood, would
appear white on a black ground. The phonetic power of the hieroglyphics
on the face of the stamp may be represented respectively by the
letters, A, M, N, F, T, P, T, H, M; and the vowels being supplied, as in
reading Hebrew without points, we have the words, “Amonophtep,
Thmei-mai,”--“Amonoph, beloved of truth.”[I-6] The name is supposed to
be that of Amonoph or Amenoph the First, the second king of the
eighteenth dynasty, who, according to the best authorities, was
contemporary with Moses, and reigned in Egypt previous to the departure
of the Israelites. There are two ancient Egyptian bricks in the British
Museum on which the impression of a similar stamp is quite distinct; and
there are also several articles of burnt clay, of an elongated conical
figure, and about nine inches long, which have their broader extremities
impressed with hieroglyphics in a similar manner. There is also in the
same collection a wooden stamp, of a larger size than that belonging to
Mr. Lane, but not in so perfect a condition. Several ancient Etruscan
terra-cottas and fragments of earthenware have been discovered, on which
there are alphabetic characters, evidently impressed from a stamp, which
was probably of wood. In the time of Pliny terra-cottas thus impressed
were called Typi.
[Footnote I-6: On a mummy in the royal collection at Paris, the
six first characters of this stamp occur. Champollion reads them,
“Amenoftep,” or “Amonaftep.” He supposes the name to be that of
Amonoph the First; and says that it signifies “approuvé par
Ammon.”--Précis du Système Hiéroglyphique. Planches et
Explication, p. 20, No. 161.]
[Illustration]
In the British Museum are several bricks which have been found on the
site of ancient Babylon. They are larger than our bricks, and somewhat
different in form, being about twelve inches square and three inches
thick. They appear to have been made of a kind of muddy clay with which
portions of chopped straw have been mixed to cause it to bind; and their
general appearance and colour, which is like that of a common brick
before it is burnt, plainly enough indicate that they have not been
hardened by fire, but by exposure to the sun. About the middle of their
broadest surface, they are impressed with certain characters which have
evidently been indented when the brick was in a soft state. The
characters are indented,--that is, they are such as would be produced by
pressing a wood-block with raised lines upon a mass of soft clay; and
were such a block printed on paper in the usual manner of wood-cuts, the
impression would be similar to the preceding one, which has been copied,
on a reduced scale, from one of the bricks above noticed. The characters
have been variously described as cuneiform or wedge-shaped,
arrow-headed, javelin-headed, or nail-headed; but their meaning has not
hitherto been deciphered.
Amphoræ, lamps, tiles, and various domestic utensils, formed of clay,
and of Roman workmanship, are found impressed with letters, which in
some cases are supposed to denote the potter’s name, and in others the
contents of the vessel, or the name of the owner. On the tiles,--of
which there are specimens in the British Museum,--the letters are
commonly inscribed in a circle, and appear raised; thus showing that the
stamp had been hollowed, or engraved in intaglio, in a manner similar to
a wooden butter-print. In a book entitled “Ælia Lælia Crispis non nata
resurgens,” by C. C. Malvasia, 4to. Bologna, 1683, are several
engravings on wood of such tiles, found in the neighbourhood of Rome,
and communicated to the author by Fabretti, who, in the seventh chapter
of his own work,[I-7] has given some account of the “figlinarum
signa,”--the stamps of the ancient potters and tile-makers.
[Footnote I-7: Inscriptionum Explicatio, fol. Romæ, 1699.]
The stamp from which the following cut has been copied is preserved in
the British Museum. It is of brass, and the letters are in relief and
reversed; so that if it were inked from a printer’s ball and stamped on
paper, an impression would be produced precisely the same as that which
is here given.
[Illustration:
LAR]
It would be difficult now to ascertain why this stamp should be marked
with the word LAR, which signifies a household god, or the image of the
supposed tutelary genius of a house; but, without much stretch of
imagination, we may easily conceive how appropriate such an inscription
would be impressed on an amphora or large wine-vessel, sealed and set
apart on the birth of an heir, and to be kept sacred--inviolate as the
household gods--till the young Roman assumed the “toga virilis,” or
arrived at years of maturity. That vessels containing wine were kept for
many years, we learn from Horace and Petronius;[I-8]
[Footnote I-8: “O nata mecum consule Manlio!” says Horace,
addressing an amphora of wine as old as himself; and Petronius
mentions some choice Falernian which had attained the ripe age of
a hundred: “Statim allatæ sunt amphoræ vitreæ diligenter gypsatæ,
quarum in cervicibus pittacia erant affixa, cum hoc titulo:
_Falernum Opimianum annorum centum_.” _Pittacia_ were small
labels--schedulæ breves--attached to the necks of wine-vessels,
and on which were marked the name and age of the wine.]
----Prome reconditum,
Lyde, strenua, Cæcubum,
Munitæque adhibe vim sapientiæ.
Inclinare meridiem
Sentis: ac veluti stet volucris dies,
Parcis deripere horreo
Cessantem Bibuli Consulis amphoram.
_Carmin._ lib. III. xxviii.
“Quickly produce, Lyde, the hoarded Cæcuban, and make an attack
upon wisdom, ever on her guard. You perceive the noontide is on its
decline; and yet, as if the fleeting day stood still, you delay to
bring out of the store-house the loitering cask, (that bears its
date) from the Consul Bibulus.”--_Smart’s Translation._
Mr. Ottley, in his “Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of
Engraving,” pages 57 and 58, makes a distinction between _impression_
where the characters impressed are produced by “_a change of
form_”--meaning where they are either indented in the substance
impressed, or raised upon it in relief--and _impression_ where the
characters are produced by _colour_; and requires evidence that the
ancients ever used stamps “charged with ink or some other tint, for the
purpose of stamping paper, parchment, or other substances, little or not
at all capable of indentation.”
It certainly would be very difficult, if not impossible, to produce a
piece of paper, parchment, or cloth of the age of the Romans impressed
with letters in ink or other colouring matter; but the existence of such
stamps as the preceding,--and there are others in the British Museum of
the same kind, containing more letters and of a smaller size,--renders
it very probable that they were used for the purpose of marking cloth,
paper, and similar substances, with ink, as well as for being impressed
in wax or clay.
Von Murr, in an article in his Journal, on the Art of Wood Engraving,
gives a copy from a similar bronze stamp, in Praun’s Museum, with the
inscription “GALLIANI,” which he considers as most distinctly proving
that the Romans had nearly arrived at the arts of wood engraving and
book printing. He adds: “Letters cut on wood they certainly had, and
very likely grotesques and figures also, the hint of which their artists
might readily obtain from the coloured stuffs which were frequently
presented by Indian ambassadors to the emperors.”[I-9]
[Footnote I-9: Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, 2 Theil, S. 81. By
grotesque--“Laubwerk”--ornamental foliage is here
meant;--_grot_-esque, bower-work,--not caricatures.]
At page 90 of Singer’s “Researches into the History of Playing-Cards”
are impressions copied from stamps similar to the preceding; which
stamps the author considers as affording “examples of such a near
approach to the art of printing as first practised, that it is truly
extraordinary there is no remaining evidence of its having been
exercised by them;--unless we suppose that they were acquainted with it,
and did not choose to adopt it from reasons of state policy.” It is just
as extraordinary that the Greek who employed the expansive force of
steam in the Ælopile to blow the fire did not invent Newcomen’s
engine;--unless, indeed, we suppose that the construction of such an
engine was perfectly known at Syracuse, but that the government there
did not choose to adopt it from motives of “state policy.” It was not,
however, a reason of “state policy” which caused the Roman cavalry to
ride without stirrups, or the windows of the palace of Augustus to
remain unglazed.
The following impressions are also copied from two other brass stamps,
preserved in the collection of Roman antiquities in the British Museum.
[Illustration:
OVIRILLIO]
[Illustration:
FLSCLADIOU]
As the letters in the originals are hollowed or cut into the metal, they
would, if impressed on clay or soft wax, appear raised or in relief; and
if inked and impressed on paper or on white cloth, they would present
the same appearance that they do here--white on a black ground. Not
being able to explain the letters on these stamps, further than that the
first may be the dative case of a proper name Ovirillius, and indicate
that property so marked belonged to such a person, I leave them, as
Francis Moore, physician, leaves the hieroglyphic in his Almanack,--“to
time and the curious to construe.”
Lambinet, in his “Recherches sur l’Origine de l’Imprimerie,” gives an
account of two stone stamps of the form of small tablets, the letters of
which were cut in _intaglio_ and reverse, similar to the two of which
impressions are above given. They were found in 1808, near the village
of Nais, in the department of the Meuse; and as the letters, being in
reverse, could not be made out, the owner of the tablets sent them to
the Celtic Society of Paris, where M. Dulaure, to whose examination they
were submitted, was of opinion that they were a kind of matrices or
hollow stamps, intended to be applied to soft substances or such as were
in a state of fusion. He thought they were stamps for vessels containing
medical compositions; and if his reading of one of the inscriptions be
correct, the practice of stamping the name of a quack and the nature of
his remedy, in relief on the side of an ointment-pot or a bottle, is of
high antiquity. The letters
Q. JUN. TAURI. ANODY.
NUM. AD OMN. LIPP.
M. Dulaure explains thus: _Quinti Junii Tauridi anodynum ad omnes
lippas_;[I-10] an inscription which is almost literally rendered by the
title of a specific still known in the neighbourhood of
Newcastle-on-Tyne, “_Dr. Dud’s lotion, good for sore eyes_.”
[Footnote I-10: M. Dulaure’s latinity is bad. “_Lippas_” certainly
is not the word. His translation is, “Remède anodin de Quintus
Junius Tauridus, pour _tous les maux_ d’yeux.” Other stone stamps,
supposed to have been used by oculists to mark the vessels
containing their medicaments, were discovered and explained long
before M. Dulaure published his interpretation. See “WALCHII
Antiquitates Medicæ Selectæ, Jenæ, 1772,” Num. 1 and 2, referred
to by Von Murr.]
Besides such stamps as have already been described, the ancients used
brands, both figured and lettered, with which, when heated, they marked
their horses, sheep, and cattle, as well as criminals, captives, and
refractory or runaway slaves.
The Athenians, according to Suidas, marked their Samian captives with
the figure of an owl; while Athenians captured by the Samians were
marked with the figure of a galley, and by the Syracusans with the
figure of a horse. The husbandman at his leisure time, as we are
informed by Virgil, in the first book of the Georgics,
“Aut pecori signa, aut numeros impressit acervis;”
and from the third book we learn that the operation was performed by
branding:
“Continuoque notas et nomina gentis _inurunt_.”[I-11]
[Footnote I-11: HERMANNUS HUGO, De prima Origine Scribendi, cap.
xix. De Notis Servilibus, et cap. xx. De Notis pecudum. A further
account of the ancient _stigmata_, and of the manner in which
slaves were marked, is to be found in PIGNORIUS, De Servis.]
* * *
Such brands as those above noticed, commonly known by the name of
_cauteria_ or _stigmata_, were also used for similar purposes during the
middle ages; and the practice, which has not been very long obsolete, of
burning homicides in the hand, and vagabonds and “sturdy beggars” on the
breast, face, or shoulder, affords an example of the employment of the
brand in the criminal jurisprudence of our own country. By the 1st
Edward VI. cap. 3, it was enacted, that whosoever, man or woman, not
being lame or impotent, nor so aged or diseased that he or she could not
work, should be convicted of loitering or idle wandering by the
highway-side, or in the streets, like a servant wanting a master, or a
beggar, he or she was to be marked with a hot iron on the breast with
the letter V [for Vagabond], and adjudged to the person bringing him or
her before a justice to be his slave for two years; and if such adjudged
slave should run away, he or she, upon being taken and convicted, was to
be marked on the forehead, or on the ball of the cheek, with the letter
S [for Slave], and adjudged to be the said master’s slave for ever. By
the 1st of James I. cap. 7, it was also enacted, that such as were to be
deemed “rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars” by the 39th of Elizabeth,
cap. 4, being convicted at the sessions and found to be incorrigible,
were to be branded in the left shoulder with a hot iron, of the breadth
of an English shilling, marked with a great Roman R [for Rogue]; such
branding upon the shoulder to be so thoroughly burned and set upon the
skin and flesh, that the said letter R should be seen and remain for a
perpetual mark upon such rogue during the remainder of his life.[I-12]
[Footnote I-12: History of the Poor Laws, 8vo. 1764, by Richard
Burn, LL.D., who in his observations on such punishments says: “It
is affecting to humanity to observe the various methods that have
been invented for the _punishment_ of vagrants; none of all which
wrought the desired effect . . . . . . This part of our history
looks like the history of the savages in America. Almost all
severities have been exercised against vagrants, except
scalping.”]
From a passage in Quintilian we learn that the Romans were acquainted
with the method of _tracing_ letters, by means of a piece of thin wood
in which the characters were pierced or cut through, on a principle
similar to that on which the present art of _stencilling_ is founded. He
is speaking of teaching boys to write, and the passage referred to may
be thus translated: “When the boy shall have entered upon
_joining-hand_, it will be useful for him to have a _copy-head_ of wood
in which the letters are well cut, that through its furrows, as it were,
he may trace the characters with his _style_. He will not thus be liable
to make slips as on the wax [alone], for he will be confined by the
boundary of the letters, and neither will he be able to deviate from his
text. By thus more rapidly and frequently following a definite outline,
his hand will become _set_, without his requiring any assistance from
the master to guide it.”[I-13]
[Footnote I-13: “Quum puer jam ductus sequi cœperit, non inutile
erit, litteras tabellæ quam optime insculpi, ut per illos, velut
sulcos, ducatur stylus. Nam neque errabit, quemadmodum in ceris,
continebitur enim utrimque marginibus, neque extra præscriptum
poterit egredi; et celerius ac sæpius sequendo certa vestigia
firmabit articulos, neque egebit adjutorio manum suam, manu
superimposita, regentis.” Quintiliani Instit. Orator., lib.
i. cap. I.]
A thin stencil-plate of copper, having the following letters _cut out_
of it,
DN CONSTAN
TIO AVG SEM
PER VICTORI
was received, together with some rare coins, from Italy by Tristan,
author of “Commentaires Historiques, Paris, 1657,” who gave a copy of it
at page 68 of the third volume of that work. The letters thus formed,
“ex nulla materia,”[I-14] might be traced on paper by means of a pen, or
with a small brush, charged with body-colour, as stencillers _slap-dash_
rooms through their pasteboard patterns, or dipped in ink in the same
manner as many shopkeepers now, through similar thin copper-plates, mark
the prices of their wares, or their own name and address on the paper in
which such wares are wrapped.
[Footnote I-14: Prosper Marchand, at page 9 of his “Histoire de
l’Imprimerie,” gives the following title of a book in 8vo. which
was wholly, both text and figures, executed in this manner, _percé
au jour_, in vellum: “Liber Passionis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi,
cum figuris et characteribus _ex nulla materia_ compositis.” He
states that in 1640 it was in the collection of Albert Henry,
Prince de Ligne, and quotes a description of it from Anton.
Sanderi Bibliotheca Belgica Manuscripta, parte ii. p. 1.]
[Illustration]
In the sixth century it appears, from Procopius, that the Emperor
Justin I. made use of a tablet of wood pierced or cut in a similar
manner, through which he traced in red ink, the imperial colour, his
signature, consisting of the first four letters of his name. It is also
stated that Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths, the contemporary of
Justin, used after the same manner to sign the first four letters of his
name through a plate of gold;[I-15] and in Peringskiold’s edition of the
Life of Theodoric, the annexed is given as the monogram[I-16] of that
monarch. The authenticity of this account has, however, been questioned,
as Cochlæus, who died in 1552, cites no ancient authority for the fact.
[Footnote I-15: “Rex Theodoricus inliteratus erat, et sic obruto
sensu ut in decem annos regni sui quatuor literas subscriptionis
edicti sui discere nullatenus potuisset. De qua re laminam auream
jussit interrasilem tieri quatuor literas regis habentem, unde ut
si subscribere voluisset, posita lamina super chartam, per eam
pennam duceret et subscriptio ejus tantum videretur.”--Vita
Theodorici Regis Ostrogothorum et Italiæ, autore Joanne Cochlæo;
cum additamentis Joannis Peringskiold, 4to. Stockholmiæ, 1699,
p. 199.]
[Footnote I-16: A monogram, properly, consists of all, or the
principal letters of a name, combined in such a manner that the
whole appear but as one _character_; a portion of one letter being
understood to represent another, two being united to form a third,
and so on.]
[Illustration]
It has been asserted by Mabillon, (Diplom. lib. ii. cap. 10,) that
Charlemagne first introduced the practice of signing documents with a
monogram, either traced with a pen by means of a thin tablet of gold,
ivory, or wood, or impressed with an inked stamp, having the characters
in relief, in a manner similar to that in which letters are stamped at
the Post-office.[I-17] Ducange, however, states that this mode of
signing documents is of greater antiquity, and he gives a copy of the
monogram of the Pope Adrian I. who was elected to the see of Rome in
774, and died in 795. The annexed monogram of Charlemagne has been
copied from Peringskiold, “Annotationes in Vitam Theodorici,” p. 584; it
is also given in Ducange’s Glossary, and in the “Nouveau Traité de
Diplomatique.”
[Footnote I-17: Mabillon’s opinion is founded on the following
passage in the Life of Charlemagne, by his secretary Eginhard:
“_Ut scilicet imperitiam hanc [scribendi] honesto ritu suppleret,
monogrammatis usum loco proprii signi invexit_.”]
The monogram, either stencilled or stamped, consisted of a combination
of the letters of the person’s name, a fanciful character, or the figure
of a cross,[I-18] accompanied with a peculiar kind of flourish, called
by French writers on diplomatics _parafe_ or _ruche_. This mode of
signing appears to have been common in most nations of Europe during the
ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries; and it was practised by nobles and
the higher orders of the clergy, as well as by kings. It continued to be
used by the kings of France to the time of Philip III. and by the
Spanish monarchs to a much later period. It also appears to have been
adopted by some of the Saxon kings of England; and the authors of the
“Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique” say that they had seen similar marks
produced by a stamp of William the Conqueror, when Duke of Normandy. We
have had a recent instance of the use of the _stampilla_, as it is
called by diplomatists, in affixing the royal signature. During the
illness of George IV. in 1830, a silver stamp, containing a fac-simile
of the king’s sign-manual, was executed by Wyon, which was stamped on
documents requiring the royal signature, by commissioners, in his
Majesty’s presence. A similar stamp was used during the last illness of
Henry VIII. for the purpose of affixing the royal signature. The king’s
warrant empowering commissioners to use the stamp may be seen in Rymer’s
Fœdera, vol. xv. p. 101, anno 1546. It is believed that the warrant
which sent the poet Surrey to the scaffold was signed with this stamp,
and not with Henry’s own hand.
[Footnote I-18: “Triplex cruces exarandi modus: 1. penna sive
calamo; 2. lamina interrasili; 3. stampilla sive typo anaglyptico.
Laminæ interrasiles ex auro aliove metallo, vel ex ebore etiam
confectæ sunt, atque ita perforatæ, ut hiatus, pro re nata,
crucium cet. speciem præ se ferrent, per quos velut sulcos,
calamus sive penna ducebatur. Stampillæ vero ita sculptæ sunt, ut
figuræ superficiem eminerent, quæ deinde atramento tinctæ sunt,
chartæque impressæ.”--Gatterer, Elementa Artis Diplomaticæ, § 264,
De Staurologia.]
In Sempère’s “History of the Cortes of Spain,” several examples are
given of the use of fanciful monograms in that country at an early
period, and which were probably introduced by its Gothic invaders. That
such marks were stamped is almost certain; for the first, which is that
of Gundisalvo Tellez, affixed to a charter of the date of 840, is the
same as the “sign” which was affixed by his widow, Flamula, when she
granted certain property to the abbot and monks of Cardeña for the good
of her deceased husband’s soul. The second, which is of the date of 886,
was used both by the abbot Ovecus, and Peter his nephew; and the third
was used by all the four children of one Ordoño, as their “sign” to a
charter of donation executed in 1018. The fourth mark is a Runic cypher,
copied from an ancient Icelandic manuscript, and given by Peringskiold
in his “Annotations on the Life of Theodoric:” it is not given here as
being from a stencil or a stamp, but that it may be compared with the
apparently Gothic monograms used in Spain.
[Illustration]
“In their inscriptions, and in the rubrics of their books,” says a
writer in the Edinburgh Review[I-19] “the Spanish Goths, like the Romans
of the Lower Empire, were fond of using combined capitals--of
_monogrammatising_. This mode of writing is now common in Spain, on the
sign-boards and on the shop-fronts, where it has retained its place in
defiance of the canons of the council [of Leon], The Goths, however,
retained a truly _Gothic_ custom in their writings. The Spanish Goth
sometimes subscribed his name; or he drew a _monogram_ like the Roman
emperors, or the sign of the _cross_ like the Saxon; but not
unfrequently he affixed strange and fanciful marks to the deed or
charter, bearing a close resemblance to the Runic or magical knots of
which so many have been engraved by Peringskiold, and other northern
antiquaries.”
[Footnote I-19: No. lxi. p. 108, where the preceding Gothic marks,
with the explanation of them, are given.]
To the tenth or the eleventh century are also to be referred certain
small silver coins--“something between counters and money,” as is
observed by Pinkerton--which are impressed, on one side only, with a
kind of Runic monogram. They are formed of very thin pieces of silver;
and it has been supposed that the impression was produced from wooden
dies. They are known to collectors as “_nummi bracteati_”--tinsel money;
and Pinkerton, mistaking the Runic character for the Christian cross,
says that “most of them are ecclesiastic.” He is perhaps nearer the
truth when he adds that they “belong to the tenth century, and are
commonly found in Germany, and the northern kingdoms of Sweden and
Denmark.”[I-20] The four following copies from the original coins in the
Brennerian collection are given by Peringskiold, in his “Annotations on
the Life of Theodoric,” previously referred to. The characters on the
three first he reads as the letters EIR, OIR, and AIR, respectively, and
considers them to be intended to represent the name of Eric the
Victorious. The characters on the fourth he reads as EIM, and applies
them to Emund Annosus, the nephew of Eric the Victorious, who succeeded
to the Sueo-Gothic throne in 1051; about which time, through the
influence of the monks, the ancient Runic characters were exchanged for
Roman.
[Footnote I-20: Essay on Medals, pp. 144, 145. Edit. 1784.]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: NICOLAUS FERENTERIUS, 1236]
The notaries of succeeding times, who on their admission were required
to use a distinctive sign or notarial mark in witnessing an instrument,
continued occasionally to employ the stencil in affixing their “sign;”
although their use of the stamp for that purpose appears to have been
more general. In some of those marks or stamps the name of the notary
does not appear, and in others a small space is left in order that it
might afterwards be inserted with a pen. The annexed monogram was the
official mark of an Italian notary, Nicolaus Ferenterius, who lived in
1236.[I-21]
[Footnote I-21: It it given by Gatterer in his “Elementa Artis
Diplomaticæ,” p. 166; [4to. Gottingæ, 1765;] who refers to
Muratori, Antiquit. Italiæ Medii Ævi, t. vi. p. 9.]
The three following cuts represent impressions of German notarial
stamps. The first is that of Jacobus Arnaldus, 1345; the second that of
Johannes Meynersen, 1435; and the third that of Johannes Calvis,
1521.[I-22]
[Footnote I-22: These stamps are copied from “D. E. Baringii
Clavis Diplomatica,” 4to. Hanoveræ, 1754. There is a work
expressly treating of the use of the Diplomatic Stamp--J. C.
C. Oelrichs de Stampilla Diplomatica, folio, Wismariæ, 1762, which
I have not been able to obtain a sight of.]
[Illustration: JACOBUS ARNALDUS, 1345.]
[Illustration: JOHANNES MEYNERSEN, 1435.]
[Illustration: JOHANNES CALVIS, 1521.]
Many of the merchants’-marks of our own country, which so frequently
appear on stained glass windows, monumental brasses, and tombstones in
the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, bear a considerable
likeness to the ancient Runic monograms, from which it is not unlikely
that they were originally derived. The English trader was accustomed to
place his mark as his “sign” in his shop-front in the same manner as the
Spaniard did his monogram: if he was a wool-stapler, he stamped it on
his packs; or if a fish-curer, it was branded on the end of his casks.
If he built himself a new house, his mark was frequently placed between
his initials over the principal door-way, or over the fireplace of the
hall; if he made a gift to a church or a chapel, his mark was emblazoned
on the windows beside the knight’s or the nobleman’s shield of arms; and
when he died, his mark was cut upon his tomb. Of the following
merchants’-marks, the first is that of Adam de Walsokne, who died in
1349; the second that of Edmund Pepyr, who died in 1483; those two marks
are from their tombs in St. Margaret’s, Lynn; and the third is from a
window in the same church.[I-23]
[Footnote I-23: The marks here given are copied from Mackarel’s
History of King’s Lynn, 8vo. 1737. In the same book there are
upwards of thirty more of a similar kind, from the middle of the
fourteenth century to the latter end of the seventeenth. Perhaps
no two counties in the kingdom afford so many examples of
merchants’-marks and monumental brasses as Norfolk and Suffolk.]
[Illustration]
In Pierce Ploughman’s Creed, written after the death of Wickliffe, which
happened in 1384, and consequently more modern than many of Chaucer’s
poems, merchants’-marks are thus mentioned in the description of a
window of a Dominican convent:
“Wide windows y-wrought, y-written full thick,
Shining with shapen shields, to shewen about,
With _marks of merchants_, y-meddled between,
Mo than twenty and two, twice y-numbered.[I-24]”
[Footnote I-24: “_Y-meddled_ is mixed; the marks of merchants are
put in opposition to the ‘shapen shields,’ because merchants had
no coats of arms.”--Specimens of the Early English Poets, by
George Ellis, Esq. vol. i. p. 163. Edit. 1811.]
Having thus endeavoured to prove by a continuous chain of evidence that
the principle of producing impressions from raised lines was known, and
practised, at a very early period; and that it was applied for the
purpose of impressing letters and other characters on paper, though
perhaps confined to signatures only, long previous to 1423,--which is
the earliest date that has been discovered on a wood-cut, in the modern
sense of the word, impressed on paper, and accompanied with explanatory
words cut on the same block;[I-25] and having shown that the principle
of stencilling--the manner in which the above-named cut is
coloured[I-26]--was also known in the middle ages; it appears requisite,
next to briefly notice the contemporary existence of the cognate arts of
die-sinking, seal-cutting, and engraving on brass, and afterwards to
examine the grounds of certain speculations on the introduction and
early practice of wood-engraving and block-printing in Europe.
[Footnote I-25: “Till lately this was the earliest dated evidence
of block printing known; but there has just been discovered at
Malines, and now deposited at Brussels, a woodcut of similar
character, but assumed to be Dutch or Flemish, dated MCCCCXVIII.;
and though there seems no reason to doubt the genuineness of the
cut, it is currently asserted that the date bears evidence of
having been tampered with.”--Extract from Bohn’s Lecture on
Printing.]
[Footnote I-26: The woodcut referred to is that of St.
Christopher, discovered by Heineken, pasted within the cover of a
book in the Monastery of Buxheim, near Memmingen, in Suabia. It is
of a folio size, and is coloured by means of stencils; a practice
which appears to have been adopted at an early part of the
fifteenth century by the German Formschneiders and Briefmalers,
literally, figure-cutters and cardpainters, to colour their cuts
and their cards. The St. Christopher is now in Earl Spencer’s
library. (See a reduced copy of it at p. 46).]
Concerning the first invention of stamping letters and figures upon
coins, and the name of the inventor, it is fruitless to inquire, as the
origin of the art is lost in the remoteness of antiquity. “Leaving these
uncertainties,” says Pinkerton, in his Essay on Medals, “we know from
respectable authorities that the first money coined in Greece was that
struck in the island of Ægina, by Phidon king of Argos. His reign is
fixed by the Arundelian marbles to an era correspondent to the 885th
year before Christ; but whether he derived this art from Lydia or any
other source we are not told.” About three hundred years before the
birth of Christ, the art of coining, so far as relates to the beauty of
the heads impressed, appears to have attained its perfection in
Greece;--we may indeed say its perfection generally, for the specimens
which were then produced in that country remain unsurpassed by modern
art. Under the Roman emperors the art never seems to have attained so
high a degree of perfection as it did in Greece; though several of the
coins of Hadrian, probably executed by Greek artists, display great
beauty of design and execution. The art of coining, with the rest of the
ornamental arts, declined with the empire; and, on its final subversion
in Italy, the coins of its rulers were scarcely superior to those which
were subsequently minted in England, Germany, and France, during the
darkest period of the middle ages.
The art of coining money, however rude in design and imperfect in its
mode of stamping the impression, which was by repeated blows with a
hammer, was practised from the twelfth to the sixteenth century in a
greater number of places than at present; for many of the more powerful
bishops and nobles assumed or extorted the right of coining money as
well as the king; and in our own country the archbishops of Canterbury
and York, and the bishop of Durham, exercised the right of coinage till
the Reformation; and local mints for coining the king’s money were
occasionally fixed at Norwich, Chester, York, St. Edmundsbury,
Newcastle-on-Tyne, and other places. Independent of those establishments
for the coining of _money_, almost every abbey struck its own _jettons_
or counters; which were thin pieces of copper, commonly impressed with a
pious legend, and used in _casting up accounts_, but which the general
introduction of the numerals now in use, and an improved system of
arithmetic, have rendered unnecessary. As such mints were at least as
numerous in France and Germany as in our own country, Scheffer, the
partner of Faust, when he conceived the idea of casting letters from
matrices formed by punches, would have little difficulty in finding a
workman to assist him in carrying his plans into execution. “The art of
impressing legends on coins,” says Astle in his Account of the Origin
and Progress of writing, “is nothing more than the art of printing on
medals.” That the art of casting letters in relief, though not
separately, and most likely from a mould of sand, was known to the
Romans, is evident from the names of the emperors Domitian and Hadrian
on some pigs of lead in the British Museum; and that it was practised
during the middle and succeeding ages, we have ample testimony from the
inscriptions on our ancient bells.[I-27]
[Footnote I-27: The small and thick brass coins, struck by Grecian
cities under the Roman emperors, and known to collectors as
“colonial Greek,” appear to have been cast, and moulds for such a
purpose have been discovered in our own country.]
In the century immediately preceding 1423, the date of the wood-cut of
St. Christopher, the use of seals, for the purpose of authenticating
documents by their impression on wax, was general throughout Europe;
kings, nobles, bishops, abbots, and all who “came of _gentle_ blood,”
with corporations, lay and clerical, all had seals. They were mostly of
brass, for the art of engraving on precious stones does not appear to
have been at that time revived, with the letters and device cut or cast
in hollow--_en creux_--on the face of the seal, in order that the
impression might appear raised. The workmanship of many of those seals,
and more especially of some of the conventional ones, where figures of
saints and a view of the abbey are introduced, displays no mean degree
of skill. Looking on such specimens of the graver’s art, and bearing in
mind the character of many of the drawings which are to be seen in the
missals and other manuscripts of the fourteenth century and of the early
part of the fifteenth, we need no longer be surprised that the cuts of
the earliest block-books should be so well executed.
The art of engraving on copper and other metals, though not with the
intention of taking impressions on paper, is of great antiquity. In the
late Mr. Salt’s collection of Egyptian antiquities there was a small
axe, probably a model, the head of which was formed of sheet-copper, and
was tied, or rather bandaged, to the helve with slips of cloth. There
were certain characters engraved upon the head in such a manner that if
it were inked and submitted to the action of the rolling-press,
impressions would be obtained as from a modern copper-plate. The axe,
with other models of a carpenter’s tools, also of copper, was found in a
tomb in Egypt, where it must have been deposited at a very early period.
That the ancient Greeks and Romans were accustomed to engrave on copper
and other metals in a similar manner, is evident from engraved pateræ
and other ornamental works executed by people of those nations. Though
no ancient writer makes mention of the art of engraving being employed
for the purpose of producing impressions on paper, yet it has been
conjectured by De Pauw, from a passage in Pliny,[I-28] that such an art
was invented by Varro for the purpose of multiplying the portraits of
eminent men. “No Greek,” says De Pauw, speaking of engraving, “has the
least right to claim this invention, which belongs exclusively to Varro,
as is expressed by Pliny in no equivocal terms, when he calls this
method _inventum Varronis_. Engraved plates were employed which gave the
profile and the principal traits of the figures, to which the
appropriate colours and the shadows were afterwards added with the
pencil. A woman, originally of Cyzica, but then settled in Italy,
excelled all others in the talent of illumining such kind of prints,
which were inserted by Varro in a large work of his entitled
‘_Imagines_’ or ‘_Hebdomades_,’ which was enriched with seven hundred
portraits of distinguished men, copied from their statues and busts. The
necessity of exactly repeating each portrait or figure in every copy of
the work suggested the idea of multiplying them without much cost, and
thus gave birth to an art till then unknown.”[I-29] The grounds,
however, of this conjecture are extremely slight, and will not without
additional support sustain the superstructure which De Pauw--an
“ingenious” guesser, but a superficial inquirer--has so plausibly
raised. A prop for this theory has been sought for by men of greater
research than the original propounder, but hitherto without success.
[Footnote I-28: “That a strong passion for portraits formerly
existed, is attested both by Atticus, the friend of Cicero, who
wrote a work on this subject, and by M. Varro, who conceived the
very liberal idea of inserting by some means or other, in his
numerous volumes, the portraits of seven hundred individuals; as
he could not bear the idea that all traces of their features
should be lost, or that the lapse of centuries should get the
better of mankind.”--Pliny’s Natural History, Book XXXV. chap.
2.--(Bohn’s Ed. vol. vi. p. 226. M. Deville is of opinion that
these portraits were made in relief upon plates of metal, perhaps
bronze, and coloured with minium, a red tint much esteemed by the
Romans).]
[Footnote I-29: See De Pauw, Recherches Philosophiques sur les
Grecs, t. ii. p. 100. The subject is discussed in Meusel’s “Neue
Miscellaneen von artistischen Inhalts,” part xii. p. 380-387, in
an article, “Sind wirklich die Römer die Erfinder der
Kupferstecherkunst?--Were the Romans truly the inventors of
copper-plate engraving?”--by A. Rode. Böttiger, one of the most
learned and intelligent of all German writers on the fine arts,
and Fea, the editor of Winkleman’s History of Art, do not admit De
Pauw’s conjecture, but decide the question in the negative.]
About the year 1300 we have evidence of monumental brasses, with large
figures engraved on them, being fixed on tombs in this country; and it
is not unlikely that they were known both here and on the Continent at
an earlier period. The best specimens known in this country are such as
were in all probability executed previous to 1400. In the succeeding
century the figures and ornamental work generally appear to be designed
in a worse taste and more carelessly executed; and in the age of Queen
Elizabeth the art, such as it was, appears to have reached the lowest
point of degradation, the monumental brasses of that reign being
generally the worst which are to be met with.
The figures on several of the more ancient brasses are well drawn, and
the folds of the drapery in the dresses of the females are, as a painter
would say, “well cast;” and the faces occasionally display a
considerable degree of correct and elevated expression. Many of the
figures are of the size of life, marked with a hold outline well
ploughed into the brass, and having the features, armour, and drapery
indicated by single lines of greater or less strength as might be
required. Attempts at shading are also occasionally to be met with; the
effect being produced by means of lines obliquely crossing each other in
the manner of cross-hatchings. Whether impressions were ever taken or
not from such early brasses by the artists who executed them, it is
perhaps now impossible to ascertain; but that they might do so is beyond
a doubt, for it is now a common practice, and two immense volumes of
impressions taken from monumental brasses, for the late Craven Ord,
Esq., are preserved in the print-room of the British Museum.
One of the finest monumental brasses known in this country is that of
Robert Braunche and his two wives, in St. Margaret’s Church, Lynn, where
it appears to have been placed about the year 1364. Braunche, and his
two wives, one on each side of him, are represented standing, of the
size of life. Above the figures are representations of five small niches
surmounted by canopies in the florid Gothic style. In the centre niche
is the figure of the Deity holding apparently the infant Christ in his
arms. In each of the niches adjoining the centre one is an angel
swinging a censer; and in the exterior niches are angels playing on
musical instruments. At the sides are figures of saints, and at the foot
there is a representation of a feast, where persons are seen seated at
table, others playing on musical instruments, while a figure kneeling
presents a peacock. The length of this brass is eight feet eleven
inches, and its breadth five feet two inches. It is supposed to have
been executed in Flanders, with which country at that period the town of
Lynn was closely connected in the way of trade.[I-30]
[Footnote I-30: An excellent representation of this celebrated
monument is given in Cotman’s “Engravings from the most remarkable
Sepulchral Brasses in Norfolk,” folio, 1819 (republished with
considerable additions in 2 vols. folio, 1839).]
It has frequently been asserted that the art of wood engraving in Europe
was derived from the Chinese; by whom, it is also said, that the art was
practised in the reign of the renowned emperor Wu-Wang, who flourished
1120 years before the birth of Christ. As both these statements seem to
rest on equal authorities, I attach to each an equal degree of
credibility; that is, by believing neither. As Mr. Ottley has expressed
an opinion in favour of the Chinese origin of the art,--though without
adopting the tale of its being practised in the reign of Wu-Wang, which
he shows has been taken by the wrong end,--I shall here take the liberty
of examining the tenability of his arguments.
At page 8, in the first chapter of his work, Mr. Ottley cautiously says
that the “art of printing from engraved blocks of wood appears to be of
very high antiquity amongst the Chinese;” and at page 9, after citing Du
Halde, as informing us that the art of printing was not discovered until
about fifty years before the Christian era, he rather inconsistently
observes: “So says Father Du Halde, whose authority I give without any
comment, as the defence of Chinese chronology makes no part of the
present undertaking.” Unless Mr. Ottley is satisfied of the correctness
of the chronology, he can by no means cite Du Halde’s account as
evidence of the very high antiquity of printing in China; which in every
other part of his book he speaks of as a well-established fact, and yet
refers to no other authority than Du Halde, who relies on the
correctness of that Chinese chronology with the defence of which Mr.
Ottley will have nothing to do.
It is also worthy of remark, that in the same chapter he corrects two
writers, Papillon and Jansen, for erroneously applying a passage in Du
Halde as proving that the art of printing was known in the reign of
Wu-Wang,--he who flourished Ante Christum 1120; whereas the said passage
was not alleged “by Du Halde to prove the antiquity of printing amongst
the Chinese, but solely in reference to their ink.” The passage, as
translated by Mr. Ottley, is as follows: “As the stone Me” (a word
signifying ink in the Chinese language), “which is used to blacken the
_engraved_ characters, can never become white; so a heart blackened by
vices will always retain its blackness.” The engraved characters were
not inked, it appears, for the purpose of taking impressions, as Messrs.
Papillon and Jansen have erroneously inferred. “It is possible,”
according to Mr. Ottley, “that the ink might be used by the Chinese at a
very early period to blacken, and thereby render more easily legible,
the characters of engraved inscriptions.”[I-31] The _possibility_ of
this may be granted certainly; but at the same time we must admit that
it is equally _possible_ that the engraved characters were blackened
with ink for the purpose of being printed, if they were of wood; or
that, if cut in copper or other metal, they were filled with a black
composition which would harden or _set_ in the lines,--as an ingenious
inquirer might infer from ink being represented by the _stone_ ME; and
thus it is _possible_ that something very like “niello,” or the filling
of letters on brass doorplates with black wax, was known to the Chinese
in the reign of Wu-Wang, who flourished in the year before our Lord,
1120. The one conjecture is as good as the other, and both good for
nothing, until we have better assurance than is afforded by Du Halde,
that engraved characters blackened with ink--for whatever purpose--were
known by the Chinese in the reign of Wu-Wang.[I-32]
[Footnote I-31: At page 7, Mr. Ottley, borrowing from Du Halde,
has erroneously stated that the delicate nature of their paper
would not permit the use of a press. He must have forgot, for he
cannot but have known, that impressions on the finest India paper
had been frequently taken from wood-blocks by means of the common
printing-press many years previous to 1816, the date of the
publication of his book. I have never seen Chinese paper that
would bear printing by hand, which would not also bear the action
of the press, if printed without being wet in the same manner as
common paper.]
[Footnote I-32: It would appear that Chinese annalists themselves
were not agreed as to the period when printing by the hand from
wood-blocks was first practised in that country. “Nicholas
Trigaltius, a member of our order,” writes Herman Hugo, “who has
recently returned from China, gives the following information
respecting printing, which he professes to have carefully
extracted from the annals of the Chinese themselves. ‘_Typography
is of somewhat earlier date in China than in Europe, for it is
certain that it was practised in that country about five centuries
ago. Others assert that it was practised in China at a period
prior to the Christian era._’”--Hermannus Hugo, De Prima Origine
Scribendi, p. 211. Antwerpiæ, 1617.]
Although so little is positively known of the ancient history of “the
great out-lying empire of China,” as it is called by Sir William Jones,
yet it has been most confidently referred to as affording authentic
evidence of the high degree of the civilization and knowledge of the
Chinese at a period when Europe was dark with the gloom of barbarism and
ignorance. Their early history has been generally found, when
opportunity has been afforded of impartially examining it, to be a mere
tissue of absurd legends; compared to which, the history of the
settlement of King Brute in Britain is authentic. With astronomy as a
science they are scarcely acquainted; and their specimens of the fine
arts display little more than representations of objects executed not
unfrequently with minute accuracy, but without a knowledge of the most
simple elements of correct design, and without the slightest pretensions
to art, according to our standard.
One of the two Mahometan travellers who visited China in the ninth
century, expressly states that the Chinese were unacquainted with the
sciences; and as neither of them takes any notice of printing, the
mariner’s compass, or gunpowder, it seems but reasonable to conclude
that the Chinese were unacquainted with those inventions at that
period.[I-33]
[Footnote I-33: The pretensions of the Chinese to excellence in
science are ably exposed by the learned Abbé Renaudot in a
disquisition “Sur les sciences des Chinois,” appended to his
translation, from the Arabic, entitled “Anciennes Relations des
Indes et de la Chine, de deux Voyageurs Mahométans, qui y allèrent
dans le neuvième siècle.”--8vo. Paris, 1718.]
Mr. Ottley, at pages 51 and 52 of his work, gives a brief account of the
early commerce of Venice with the East, for the purpose of showing in
what manner a knowledge of the art of printing in China might be
obtained by the Venetians. He says: “They succeeded, likewise, in
establishing a direct traffic with Persia, Tartary, China, and Japan;
sending, for that purpose, several of their most respectable citizens,
and largely providing them with every requisite.” He cites an Italian
author for this account, but he observes a prudent silence as to the
period when the Venetians first established a _direct traffic_ with
China and Japan; though there is little doubt that Bettinelli, the
authority referred to, alludes to the expedition of the two brothers
Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, and of Marco Polo, the son of Niccolo, who in
1271 or 1272 left Venice on an expedition to the court of the Tartar
emperor Kublai-Khan, which had been previously visited by the two
brothers at some period between 1254 and 1269.[I-34] After having
visited Tartary and China, the two brothers and Marco returned to Venice
in 1295. Mr. Ottley, however, does not refer to the travels of the Polos
for the purpose of showing that Marco, who at a subsequent period wrote
an account of his travels, might introduce a knowledge of the Chinese
art of printing into Europe: he cites them that his readers may suppose
that a direct intercourse between Venice and China had been established
long before; and that the art of engraving wood-blocks, and taking
impressions from them, had been thus derived from the latter country,
and had been practised in Venice long before the return of the
travellers in 1295.
[Footnote I-34: See the Travels of Marco Polo. (In Bohn’s Antiq.
Library).]
It is necessary here to observe that the invention of the mariner’s
compass, and of gunpowder and cannon, have been ascribed to the Chinese
as well as the invention of wood engraving and block-printing; and it
has been conjectured that _very probably_ Marco Polo communicated to his
countrymen, and through them to the rest of Europe, a knowledge of those
arts. Marco Polo, however, does not in the account which he wrote of his
travels once allude to gunpowder, cannon, or to the art of printing as
being known in China;[I-35] nor does he once mention the compass as
being used on board of the Chinese vessel in which he sailed from the
coast of China to the Persian Gulf. “Nothing is more common,” says a
writer in the Quarterly Review, “than to find it repeated from book to
book, that gunpowder and the mariner’s compass were first brought from
China by Marco Polo, though there can be very little doubt that both
were known in Europe some time before his return.”--“That Marco Polo,”
says the same writer, “would have mentioned the mariner’s compass, if it
had been in use in China, we think highly probable; and his silence
respecting gunpowder may be considered as at least a negative proof that
this also was unknown to the Chinese in the time of Kublai-Khan.”[I-36]
In a manner widely different from this does Mr. Ottley reason,
respecting the cause of Marco Polo not having mentioned printing as an
art practised by the Chinese. He accounts for the traveller’s silence as
follows: “Marco Polo, it may be said, did not notice this art [of
engraving on wood and block-printing] in the account which he left us of
the marvels he had witnessed in China. The answer to this objection is
obvious: it was no marvel; it had no novelty to recommend it; it was
practised, as we have seen, at Ravenna, in 1285, and had perhaps been
practised a century earlier in Venice. His mention of it, therefore, was
not called for, and he preferred instructing his countrymen in matters
with which they were not hitherto acquainted.” This “obvious” answer,
rather unfortunately, will equally apply to the question, “Why did not
Marco Polo mention cannon as being used by the Chinese, who, as we are
informed, had discovered such formidable engines of war long before the
period of his visit?”
[Footnote I-35: It has been conjectured that the following
passages in the travels of Marco Polo might suggest the idea of
block-printing, and consequently wood engraving: “Gradatim
reliquos belli duces in digniorem ponit statum, donatque illis
aurea et argentea vasa, tabulas, privilegia atque immunitatem. Et
hæc quidem privilegia tabulis vel bracteis per sculpturas
imprimuntur.” “Moneta magni Cham non fit de auro vel argento, aut
alio metallo, sed corticem accipiunt medium ab arbore mori, et
hunc consolidant, atque in particular varias et rotundas, magnas
et parvas, scindunt, atque regale imprimunt signum.”--M. Pauli
Veneti Itiner. lib. ii. capp. vii. & xxi. The mention of paper
money impressed with the royal stamp also occurs in the Eastern
History of Haython, an Armenian, whose work was written in 1307,
in Latin, and has been printed several times, of which the last
edition is by And. Müller, Colon. 1671, 4to.]
[Footnote I-36: An article on Marsden’s “Translation of the
Travels of Marco Polo,” in the Quarterly Review, No. xli. May,
1819, from p. 191 to 195, contains some curious particulars
respecting the early use of the mariner’s compass, and of
gunpowder and cannon in Europe.]
That the art of engraving wood-blocks and of taking impressions from
them was introduced into Europe from China, I can see no sufficient
reason to believe. Looking at the frequent practice in Europe, from the
twelfth to the fifteenth century, of impressing inked stamps on paper,
I can perceive nothing in the earliest specimens of wood engraving but
the same principles applied on a larger scale. When I am once satisfied
that a man had built a small boat, I feel no surprise on learning that
his grandson had built a larger; and made in it a longer voyage than his
ancestor ever ventured on, who merely used his slight skiff to ferry
himself across a river.
In the first volume of Papillon’s “Traité de la Gravure en Bois,” there
is an account of certain old wood engravings which he professes to have
seen, and which, according to their engraved explanatory title, were
executed by two notable young people, Alexander Alberic Cunio, _knight_,
and Isabella Cunio, his twin sister, and finished by them when they were
only sixteen years old, at the time when Honorius IV. was pope; that is,
at some period between the years 1285 and 1287. This story has been
adopted by Mr. Ottley, and by Zani, an Italian, who give it the benefit
of their support. Mr. Singer, in his “Researches into the History of
Playing Cards,” grants the truth-like appearance of Papillon’s tale; and
the writer of the article “Wood-engraving” in the Encyclopedia
Metropolitana considers it as authentic. It is, however, treated with
contempt by Heineken, Huber, and Bartsch, whose knowledge of the origin
and progress of engraving is at least equal to that of the four writers
previously named.
The manner in which Papillon recovered his memoranda of the works of the
Cunio is remarkable. In consequence of those curious notes being mislaid
for upwards of thirty-five years, the sole record of the productions of
those “ingenious and amiable twins” was very nearly lost to the world.
The _three sheets of letter-paper_ on which he had written an account of
certain old volumes of wood engravings,--that containing the cuts
executed by the Cunio being one of the number,--he had lost for upwards
of thirty-five years. For long he had only a confused idea of those
sheets, though he had often searched for them in vain, when he was
writing his first essay on wood engraving, which was printed about 1737,
but never published. At length he accidentally found them, on
All-Saints’ Day, 1758, rolled up in a bundle of specimens of
paper-hangings which had been executed by his father. The finding of
those three sheets afforded him the greater pleasure, as from them he
discovered, by means of a pope’s name, an epoch of engraving figures and
letters on wood for the purpose of being printed, which was certainly
much earlier than _any_ at that period known in Europe, and at the same
time a history relative to this subject equally curious and interesting.
He says that he had so completely forgotten all this,--though he had so
often recollected to search for his memoranda,--that he did not deign to
take the least notice of it in his previously printed history of the
art. The following is a faithful abstract of Papillon’s account of his
discovery of those early specimens of wood engraving. The title-page, as
given by him in French from Monsieur De Greder’s _vivâ voce_ translation
of the original,--which was “en mauvais Latin ou ancien Italien
Gothique, avec beaucoup d’abréviations,”--is translated without
abridgment, as are also his own descriptions of the cuts.
“When young, being engaged with my father in going almost every day to
hang rooms with our papers, I was, some time in 1719 or 1720, at the
village of Bagneux, near Mont Rouge, at a Monsieur De Greder’s, a Swiss
captain, who had a pretty house there. After I had papered a small room
for him, he ordered me to cover the shelves of his library with paper in
imitation of mosaic. One day after dinner he surprised me reading a
book, which occasioned him to show me some very old ones which he had
borrowed of one of his friends, a Swiss officer,[I-37] that he might
examine them at his leisure. We talked about the figures which they
contained, and of the antiquity of wood engraving; and what follows is a
description of those ancient books as I wrote it before him, and as he
was so kind as to explain and dictate to me.
[Footnote I-37: A Monsieur Spirchtvel, as Papillon informs us.
Tom. i. p. 92.]
“In a _cartouch_[I-38] or frontispiece,--of fanciful and Gothic
ornaments, though pleasing enough,--nine inches wide, and six inches
high, having at the top the arms, doubtless, of Cunio, the following
words are coarsely engraved on the same block, in bad Latin, or ancient
Gothic Italian with many abbreviations.
[Footnote I-38: _Cartouch._ “This word is used to denote those
fantastic ornaments which were formerly introduced in decorating
the wainscots of rooms; and frequently served the purpose of
frames, surrounding inscriptions, small paintings, or other
devices. These _cartouches_ were much in vogue in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries for the frontispieces of books of
prints; and indeed _Callot_ and _Della Bella_ etched many entire
sets of small subjects surrounded by similar ornaments. From the
irregularity of their forms, the terms tablet shield, or panel,
would be but ill expressive of their character.”--Ottley’s
Inquiry, vol. i. p. 12.]
“‘THE CHIVALROUS DEEDS, in figures, of the great and magnanimous
Macedonian king, the courageous and valiant Alexander, dedicated,
presented, and humbly offered to the most holy father, Pope Honorius IV.
the glory and stay of the Church, and to our illustrious and generous
father and mother, by us Alexander Alberic Cunio, knight, and Isabella
Cunio, twin brother and sister; first reduced, imagined, and attempted
to be executed in relief with a little knife, on blocks of wood, joined
and smoothed by this learned and beloved sister, continued and finished
together at Ravenna, after eight pictures of our designing, painted six
times the size here represented; cut, explained in verse, and thus
marked on paper to multiply the number, and to enable us to present them
as a token of friendship and affection to our relations and friends.
This was done and finished, the age of each being only sixteen years
complete.’”
After having given the translation of the title-page, Papillon thus
continues the narrative in his own person: “This _cartouch_ [or
ornamented title-page] is surrounded by a coarse line, the tenth of an
inch broad, forming a square. A few slight lines, which are irregularly
executed and without precision, form the shading of the ornaments. The
impression, in the same manner as the rest of the cuts, has been taken
in Indian blue, rather pale, and in distemper, apparently by the hand
being passed frequently over the paper laid upon the block, as
card-makers are accustomed to impress their addresses and the envelopes
of their cards. The hollow parts of the block, not being sufficiently
cut away in several places, and having received the ink, have smeared
the paper, which is rather brown; a circumstance which has caused the
following words to be written in the margin underneath, that the fault
might be remedied. They are in Gothic Italian, which M. de Greder had
considerable difficulty in making out, and certainly written by the hand
either of the Chevalier Cunio or his sister, on this first
proof--evidently from a block--such as are here translated.”
“‘_It is necessary to cut away the ground of the blocks more, that the
paper may not touch it in taking impressions._’”
“Following this frontispiece, and of the same size, are the subjects of
the eight pictures, engraved on wood, surrounded by a similar line
forming a square, and also with the shadows formed of slight lines. At
the foot of each of those engravings, between the border-line and
another, about a finger’s breadth distant, are four Latin verses
engraved on the block, poetically explaining the subject, the title of
which is placed at the head. In all, the impression is similar to that
of the frontispiece, and rather grey or cloudy, as if the paper had not
been moistened. The figures, tolerably designed, though in a semi-gothic
taste, are well enough characterized and draped; and we may perceive
from them that the arts of design were then beginning gradually to
resume their vigour in Italy. At the feet of the principal figures their
names are engraved, such as Alexander, Philip, _Darius_, Campaspe, and
others.”
“SUBJECT 1.--Alexander mounted on Bucephalus, which he has tamed. On a
stone are these words: _Isabel. Cunio pinx. & scalp._”
“SUBJECT 2.--Passage of the Granicus. Near the trunk of a tree these
words are engraved: _Alex. Alb. Cunio Equ. pinx. Isabel Cunio scalp._”
“SUBJECT 3.--Alexander cutting the Gordian knot. On the pedestal of a
column are these words: _Alexan. Albe. Cunio Equ. pinx. & scalp._ This
block is not so well engraved as the two preceding.”
“SUBJECT 4.--Alexander in the tent of Darius. This subject is one of the
best composed and engraved of the whole set. Upon the end of a piece of
cloth are these words: _Isabel. Cunio pinxit & scalp._”
“SUBJECT 5.--Alexander generously presents his mistress Campaspe to
Apelles who was painting her. The figure of this beauty is very
agreeable. The painter seems transported with joy at his good fortune.
On the floor, on a kind of antique tablet, are these words: _Alex. Alb.
Cunio Eques, pinx. & scalp._”
“SUBJECT 6.--The famous battle of Arbela. Upon a small hillock are these
words: _Alex. Alb. Equ. & Isabel. pictor. and scalp._ For composition,
design, and engraving, this subject is also one of the best.”
“SUBJECT 7.--Porus, vanquished, is brought before Alexander. This
subject is so much the more beautiful and remarkable, as it is composed
nearly in the same manner as that of the famous Le Brun; it would seem
that he had copied this print. Both Alexander and Porus have a grand and
magnanimous air. On a stone near a bush are engraved these words:
_Isabel. Cunio pinx. & scalp._”
“SUBJECT 8 AND LAST.--The glory and grand triumph of Alexander on
entering Babylon. This piece, which is well enough composed, has been
executed, as well as the sixth, by the brother and sister conjointly, as
is testified by these characters engraved at the bottom of a wall:
_Alex. Alb. Equ. et Isabel. Cunio, pictor. & scalp._ At the top of this
impression, a piece about three inches long and one inch broad has been
torn off.”
However singular the above account of the works of those “amiable twins”
may seem, no less surprising is the history of their birth, parentage,
and education; which, taken in conjunction with the early development of
their talents as displayed in such an art, in the choice of such a
subject, and at such a period, is scarcely to be surpassed in interest
by any narrative which gives piquancy to the pages of the Wonderful
Magazine.
Upon the blank leaf adjoining the last engraving were the following
words, badly written in old Swiss characters, and scarcely legible in
consequence of their having been written with pale ink. “Of course
Papillon could not read Swiss,” says Mr. Ottley, “M. de Greder,
therefore, translated them for him into French.”--“This precious volume
was given to my grandfather Jan. Jacq. Turine, a native of Berne, by the
illustrious Count Cunio, chief magistrate of Imola, who honoured him
with his generous friendship. Above all my books I prize this the
highest on account of the quarter from whence it came into our family,
and on account of the knowledge, the valour, the beauty, and the noble
and generous desire which those amiable twins Cunio had to gratify their
relations and friends. Here ensues their singular and curious history as
I have heard it many a time from my venerable father, and which I have
caused to be more correctly written than I could do it myself.”
Though Papillon’s long-lost manuscript, containing the whole account of
the works of the Cunio and notices of other old books of engravings,
consisted of only three sheets of letter-paper, yet the history alone of
the learned, beautiful, and amiable twins, which Turine the grandson
caused to be written out as he had heard it from his father, occupies in
Papillon’s book four long octavo pages of thirty-eight lines each. To
assume that his long-lost manuscript consisted of brief notes which he
afterwards wrote out at length from memory, would at once destroy any
validity that his account might be supposed to possess; for he states
that he had lost those papers for upwards of thirty five years, and had
entirely forgotten their contents.
Without troubling myself to transcribe the whole of this choice morsel
of French Romance concerning the history of the “amiable twins”
Cunio,--the surprising beauty, talents, and accomplishments of the
maiden,--the early death of herself and her lover,--the heroism of the
youthful knight, Alexander Alberic Cunio, displayed when only fourteen
years old,--I shall give a brief abstract of some of the passages which
seem most important to the present inquiry.[I-39]
[Footnote I-39: Readers of French romances will find the tale of
the Cunio at p. 89, tom. i. of Papillon’s “Traité de la Gravure en
Bois,” or at p. 17, vol. i. of Mr. Ottley’s “History of
Engraving.”]
From this narrative,--which Papillon informs us was written in a much
better hand, though also in Swiss characters, and with much blacker ink
than Turine the grandson’s own memorandum,--we obtain the following
particulars: The Count de Cunio, father of the twins, was married to
their mother, a noble maiden of Verona and a relation of Pope Honorius
IV. without the knowledge of their parents, who, on discovering what had
happened, caused the marriage to be annulled, and the priest by whom it
was celebrated to be banished. The divorced wife, dreading the anger of
her own father, sought an asylum with one of her aunts, under whose roof
she was brought to bed of twins. Though the elder Cunio had compelled
his son to espouse another wife, he yet allowed him to educate the
twins, who were most affectionately received and cherished by their
father’s new wife. The children made astonishing progress in the
sciences, more especially the girl Isabella, who at thirteen years of
age was regarded as a prodigy; for she understood, and wrote with
correctness, the Latin language; she composed excellent verses,
understood geometry, was acquainted with music, could play on several
instruments, and had begun to design and to paint with correctness,
taste, and delicacy. Her brother Alberic, of a beauty as ravishing as
his sister’s, and one of the most charming youths in Italy, at the age
of fourteen could manage the great horse, and understood the practice of
arms and all other exercises befitting a young man of quality. He also
understood Latin, and could paint well.
The troubles in Italy having caused the Count Cunio to take up arms, his
son, young Alexander Alberic, accompanied him to the field to make his
first campaign. Though not more than fourteen years old, he was
entrusted with the command of a squadron of twenty-five horse, with
which, as his first essay in war, he attacked and put to flight near two
hundred of the enemy. His courage having carried him too far, he was
surrounded by the fugitives, from whom, however, he fought himself clear
without any further injury than a wound in his left arm. His father, who
had hastened to his succour, found him returning with the enemy’s
banner, which he had wrapped about his wound. Delighted at the valour
displayed by his son, the Count Cunio knighted him on the spot. The
young man then asked permission to visit his mother, which was readily
granted by the count, who was pleased to have this opportunity of
testifying the love and esteem he still retained towards that noble and
afflicted lady, who continued to reside with her aunt; of which he
certainly would have given her more convincing proofs, now that his
father was dead, by re-establishing their marriage and publicly
espousing her, if he had not been in duty bound to cherish the wife whom
he had been compelled to marry, and who had now borne him a large
family.
After Alexander Alberic had visited his mother, he returned home, and
shortly after began, together with his sister Isabella, to design and
work upon the pictures of the achievements of Alexander. He then made a
second campaign with his father, after which he continued to employ
himself on the pictures in conjunction with Isabella, who attempted in
reduce them and engrave them on wood. After the engravings were
finished, and copies had been printed and given to Pope Honorius, and
their relations and friends, Alexander Alberic proceeded again to join
the army, accompanied by Pandulphio, a young nobleman, who was in love
with the charming Isabella. This was his last campaign, for he was
killed in the presence of his friend, who was dangerously wounded in
defending him. He was slain when not more than nineteen; and his sister
was so affected by his death that she resolved never to marry, and died
when she was scarcely twenty. The death of this lovely and learned young
lady was followed by that of her lover, who had fondly hoped that she
would make him happy. The mother of those amiable twins was not long in
following them to the grave, being unable to survive the loss of her
children. The Countess de Cunio took seriously ill at the loss of
Isabella, but fortunately recovered; and it was only the count’s
grandeur of soul that saved him from falling sick also.
Some years after this, Count Cunio gave the copy of the achievements of
Alexander, in its present binding, to the grandfather of the person who
caused this account to be written. The binding, according to Papillon’s
description of it, was, for the period, little less remarkable than the
contents. “This ancient and Gothic binding,” as Papillon’s note is
translated by Mr. Ottley. “is made of thin tablets of wood, covered with
leather, and _ornamented with flowered compartments, which appear simply
stamped and marked with an iron a little warmed, without any gilding_.”
It is remarkable that this singular volume should afford not only
specimens of wood engraving, earlier by upwards of a hundred and thirty
years than any which are hitherto known, but that the binding, of the
same period as the engravings, should also be such as is rarely, if
ever, to be met with till upwards of one hundred and fifty years after
the wonderful twins were dead.
As this volume is no longer to be found, as no mention is made of such a
work by any old writer, and as another copy has not been discovered in
any of the libraries of Italy, nor the least trace of one ever having
been there, the evidence of its ever having existed rests solely on the
account given of it by Papillon. Before saying a word respecting the
credit to be attached to this witness, or the props with which Zani and
Ottley endeavour to support his testimony, I shall attempt to show that
the account affords internal evidence of its own falsehood.
Before noticing the description of the subjects, I shall state a few
objections to the account of the twins as written out by order of the
youngest Turine, the grandson of Jan. Jacq. Turine, who received the
volume from Count Cunio himself, the father of the twins, a few years
after their death, which could not well happen later than 1291; as Pope
Honorius, to whom their work was dedicated when they were sixteen years
old, died in 1287, and Isabella Cunio, who survived her brother, died
when she was not more than twenty. Supposing that Count Cunio gave the
volume to his friend, J. J. Turine, a native of Berne, in 1300, and that
the grandson of the latter caused the history of the twins to be written
out eighty years afterwards,--and we cannot fairly assume that it was
written later, if indeed so late,--we have thus 1380 as the date of the
account written “in old Swiss characters, in a better hand, and with
much blacker ink,” than the owner’s own memorandum of the manner in
which the volume came into his family, and his reasons for prizing it so
highly. The probable date of the pretended Swiss history of the Cunio,
Papillon’s advocates carefully keep out of sight; for what impartial
person could believe that a Swiss of the fourteenth century could give
utterance to the sentimental fustian which forms so considerable a
portion of the account? Of the young knight Cunio he knows every
movement; he is acquainted with his visit to his repudiated mother; he
knows in which arm he was wounded; the number of men that he lost, when
with only five-and-twenty he routed two hundred; the name of Isabella’s
lover; the illness and happy recovery of Count Cunio’s wife, and can
tell the cause why the count himself did not fall sick.
To any person who reflects on the doctrine of the church of Rome in the
article of marriage, it certainly must appear strange that the parents
of the Count Cunio and his first wife, the mother of the twins, should
have had the power of dissolving the marriage and of banishing the
priest by whom it was solemnized; and still more singular it is that the
Count Cunio, whom we must suppose to have been a good Catholic, should
speak, after his father’s death, of re-establishing his marriage with
his first wife and of publicly espousing her; and that he should make
such a communication to her through the medium of her son, who, as well
as his sister, must have been declared illegitimate by the very fact of
their mother’s divorce. It is also strange that this piece of family
history should come to the knowledge of the grandson of Jan. Jacq.
Turine. The Count Cunio’s second marriage surely must have been
canonically legal, if the first were not; and if so, it would not be a
sense of duty alone to his second wife that would prevent him divorcing
her and re-marrying the first. On such subjects the church was to be
consulted; and to such playing fast-and-loose with the sacrament of
marriage the church said “NO.” Taking these circumstances into
consideration, I can come to no other conclusion than that, on this
point, the writer of the history of the Cunio did not speak truth; and
that the paper containing such history, even if it could be produced, is
not genuine, as every other part of it which has the slightest bearing
on the point at issue, is equally, if not more, improbable.
With respect to the cuts pretended to be executed by the twins
themselves, I shall waive any objections which might be urged on the
ground of it being unlikely that they should be executed by a boy and a
girl so young. Supposing that the twins were as learned and accomplished
as they are represented, still it would be a very surprising
circumstance that, in the thirteenth century, they should have executed
a series of wood engravings of the actions of Alexander the Great as an
appropriate present to the pope; and that the composition of one of
those subjects, No. 7, should so closely resemble one of Le Brun’s--an
artist remarkable for the complication of his designs--that it would
seem he had copied this very print. Something like the reverse of this
is more probable; that the description of the pretended work of the
Cunio was suggested by the designs of Le Brun.[I-40] The execution of a
set of designs, in the thirteenth century, illustrating the actions of
Alexander in the manner described by Papillon, would be a rarity indeed
even if not engraved on wood; but that a series of wood engravings, and
not a saint in one of them, should be executed by a boy and a girl, and
presented to a _pope_, in 1286, is scarcely short of miraculous. The
twins must have been well read in Quintus Curtius. Though we are
informed that both were skilled in the Latin language, yet it plainly
appears on two occasions, when we might suppose that they would be least
liable to trip, that their Latinity is questionable. The sixth and the
eighth subjects, which were accomplished by their joint efforts, are
described as being marked: _Alex. Alb. Equ. et Isabel, Cunio pictor. et
scalp._
“Thus painters _did not_ write their names at Co.”
[Footnote I-40: Of Le Brun’s five subjects illustrative of the
actions of Alexander the Great, four of them are precisely the
same as four of those said to be executed by the Cunio:
1. Alexander passing the Granicus; 2. the battle of Arbela; 3. the
reception of Porus by Alexander; 4. Alexander’s triumphant entry
into Babylon. There certainly has been some copying here; but it
is more likely that Papillon or his informant had seen Le Brun’s
paintings, than that Le Brun had seen the original wood engravings
executed by the Cunio.]
Why do not the advocates of those early specimens of wood engraving in
Italy point out to their readers that these two children were the first
who ever affixed the words _pinx. et scalp._ to a woodcut? I challenge
any believer in Papillon to point out a wood engraving on which the
words _pinxit_ and _scalpsit_, the first after the painter’s name, and
the second after the engraver’s, appear previous to 1580. This apparent
copying--and by a person ignorant of Latin too--of the formula of a
later period, is of itself sufficient to excite a suspicion of forgery;
and, coupled with the improbable circumstances above related, it
irresistibly compels me to conclude that the whole account is a mere
fiction.
With respect to the credibility of Papillon, the sole evidence upon
which the history of the wonderful twins rests, I shall have occasion to
say very few words. That he was credulous, and excessively vain of what
he considered his discoveries in the history of wood engraving, is
admitted by those who profess to believe him. He appears also from an
early age to have been subject to mental hallucination; and in 1759, the
year after he found his papers containing the account of the Cunio, he
had a fit of decided insanity which rendered it necessary to convey him
to a mad-house, where by copious bleeding he soon recovered his
senses.[I-41] To those interested in the controversy I leave to decide
how far the unsupported testimony of such a person, and in such a case,
ought to be relied on. How easily he might be deceived on a subject
relating to the early history of his art, it is not difficult to
comprehend; and even allowing him to be sincere in the belief of what he
related, he was a person very likely to occasionally deceive both
himself and others.[I-42]
[Footnote I-41: From the age of sixteen, cruel and secret
annoyances interrupted his studies; shortly after his marriage, in
1723, his absent manner was a source of uneasiness to his wife;
and in 1759 he fairly lost his senses. See Papillon, Traité de la
Gravure en Bois, 8vo. 1766, Preface, p. xi.; & p. 335, tom. i. et
Supplement, p. 39.]
[Footnote I-42: It is worthy of remark that Papillon, when
questioned by Heineken, who called on him in Paris after the
publication of his work, respecting the account of the Cunio, did
not produce his three sheets of original memoranda. He might thus
have afforded a proof of his own good faith, by producing the
manuscript written by him in 1720 from the dictation of Captain de
Greder.]
Papillon’s insanity had been previously adverted to by Heineken; and
this writer’s remarks have produced the following correction from Mr.
Ottley: “Heineken takes some pains to show that poor Papillon was not in
his right mind; and, amongst his other arguments, quotes a passage from
his book, t. i. p. 335, in which he says, ‘_Par un accident et une
fatalité commune à plusieurs graveurs, aussi bien qu’à moi, Le Fevre est
devenu aliéné d’esprit_:’ as if a little pleasantry of expression, such
as the French writers, especially, have ever felt themselves at full
liberty to indulge in, could really constitute fit grounds for a statute
of lunacy.”[I-43] Had Mr. Ottley, instead of confidently correcting
Heineken when the latter had stated nothing but the fact, turned to the
cited page of Papillon’s volume, he would there have found that Papillon
was indulging in no “little pleasantry of expression,” but was seriously
relating a melancholy fact of two brother artists losing their senses
about the same time as himself; and had he ever read the supplement, or
third volume, of Papillon’s work, he would have seen, at p. 39, the
account which Papillon himself gives of his own insanity.
[Footnote I-43: Inquiry into the Early History of Engraving, vol.
i. p. 23.]
Having disposed of the story as told by Papillon, it remains now to
notice “the learning and deep research” with which it has been supported
by Zani, and some of the arguments which have been alleged in its favour
by Mr. Ottley.
In the first place, Zani has discovered that a family of the name of
Cunio, in which the name of Alberico more than once occurs, actually
resided in the neighbourhood of Ravenna at the very period mentioned in
the title-page to the cuts by the Cunio, and in the history written in
old Swiss characters. Upon this, and other similar pieces of evidence,
Mr. Ottley remarks as follows: “Now both these cities [Ravenna and
Imola] are in the vicinity of Faenza, where the family, or a branch of
it, is spoken of by writers of undoubted credit in the twelfth, the
thirteenth, and the fourteenth centuries. These circumstances,
therefore, far from furnishing any just motive of additional doubt, form
together such a phalanx of corroborative evidence in support of the
story, as, in my opinion, those who would impeach the truth of
Papillon’s statement can never break through.” “_Argal_,” Rowley’s poems
are genuine, because such a person as “Maistre William Canynge” lived at
Bristol at the period when he is mentioned by the pseudo Rowley. Zani,
however, unfortunately for his own argument, let us know that the names
and residence of the family of the Cunio might be obtained from
“Tonduzzi’s History of Faenza,” printed in 1675. Whether this book
appeared in French, or not, previous to the publication of Papillon’s
works, I have not been able to learn; but a Swiss captain, who could
read “old Gothic Italian,” would certainly find little difficulty in
picking a couple of names out of a modern Italian volume.
The reasoning faculties of Signor Zani appear to have been very
imperfectly developed, for he cites the following as a case in point;
and Mr. Ottley, who gives it in his text, seems to concur in its
applicability. He is noticing the objections which have been made to
Papillon’s account, on the ground of no previous author mentioning the
existence of such a work, and that no person subsequently had ever seen
a copy. Zani’s argument, as given by Mr. Ottley,[I-44] is as follows:
“He, however, who should reason in this manner, might, upon the same
grounds, deny the loss of many manuscripts, and even of printed books,
which, according to the testimony of credible authors, have become a
prey to the flames, or have perished during the anarchy of revolutions,
or the distresses occasioned by wars. The learned part of my readers
will not require examples. Nevertheless, let him who wants such
conviction search throughout all the libraries of Europe for the work
entitled ‘Meditationes Reverendissimi patris Domini Johannis de
Turre-cremata,’ printed at Rome by Ulrich Hahn, in 1467, and he will
presently be informed by the learned librarians, that of that edition
there exists but one copy, which is preserved in the library of
Nuremberg. This book is, therefore, unique.[I-45] Now let us suppose
that, by some accident, this book should perish; could our descendants
on that account deny that it ever had existed?” And this is a
corroborative argument in support of the truth of Papillon’s tale! The
comment, however, is worthy of the text. It is to be observed that
Ulrich Hahn’s edition of Turre-cremata appeared ten years after Faust
and Scheffer’s Psalter, of the date 1457, was printed; and that the
existence of several hundred volumes printed before 1467 proves that the
art of printing was then practised to a considerable extent. That Ulrich
Hahn was a printer at Rome in 1468 and subsequent years is proved by
many copies of works which proceeded from his press; and the existence
of the identical “unique” copy, referred to by Zani, is vouched for by
upwards of fifty learned men who have seen it; and, what is more,
mentioned the place where it was preserved, so that, if a person were
sceptical, he might satisfy himself by the evidence of his own senses.
But who, except Papillon, has ever seen the engravings of the Cunio,
executed upwards of a hundred and thirty years prior to the earliest
authentic specimen of the art, and who has ever mentioned the place
where they were to be seen? Had any person of equal credibility with
Papillon described a volume printed at Rome in 1285, the date of the
pretended wood-cuts of the Cunio, the case would then have been in
point, and the decision of every person in the slightest degree
acquainted with the subject, and not rendered blind to simple truth by
the vivid brightness of his own speculations, would be inevitably the
same; that is, the evidence in both cases would not be relied on.
[Footnote I-44: History of Engraving, vol. i. p. 28.]
[Footnote I-45: Three copies of this supposed unique book have
long been known to bibliographers; one in the public library of
Nuremberg, another in the Imperial library of Vienna, and the
third in Lord Spenser’s library.]
“It is possible,” says Zani, “that at this moment I may be blinded by
partiality to my own nation; but I would almost assert, that _to deny
the testimony of the French writer, would be like denying the existence
of light on a fine sun-shiny day_.” His mental optics must have been of
a peculiar character, and it can be no longer doubtful that he
“Had lights where better eyes are blind,
As pigs are said to see the wind.”
Mr. Ottley’s own arguments in support of Papillon’s story are scarcely
of a higher character than those which he has adopted from Zani. At page
40, in answer to an objection founded on the silence of all authorities,
not merely respecting the particular work of the Cunio, but of the
frequent practice of such an art, and the fact of no contemporary
specimens being known, he writes as follows: “We cannot safely argue
from the silence of contemporaneous authorities, that the art of
engraving on wood was not practised in Europe in those early times;
however, such silence may be an argument that it was not an art in high
repute. Nor is our ignorance of such records a sufficient proof of their
non-existence.” The proof of such a negative would be certainly
difficult; but, according to this mode of argument, there is no modern
invention which might not also be mentioned in “certain ancient
undiscovered records.” In the general business of life, that rule of
evidence is a good one which declares “_de non-apparentibus et
non-existentibus eadem est ratio_;” and until it shall be a maxim in
logic that “we ought readily to believe that to be true which we cannot
prove to have been impossible,” Mr. Ottley’s solution of the difficulty
does not seem likely to obtain general credence.
At page 41, speaking of the probability of wood-engraving, for the
purpose of taking impressions, being practised at an earlier period than
has been generally supposed, Mr. Ottley expresses himself as follows:
“Nor is it any proof or strong argument against the antiquity of such a
practice, that authentic specimens of wood-engraving of those early
times are not now to be found. They were, it may be supposed, for the
most part, detached pieces, whose merits, as works of art, were not such
as to render their preservation at all probable. They were the toys of
the day; and, after having served the temporary purpose for which they
were manufactured, were, no doubt, swept away to make room for others of
newer fashion.” He thus requires those who entertain an opinion contrary
to his own to prove a negative; while he assumes the point in dispute as
most clearly established in his own favour.
If such wood engravings--“the toys of the day”--had been known in the
thirteenth, or even the fourteenth century, is it not likely that some
mention would be made of them in the writings of some one of the
minstrels of the period to whom we are indebted for so many minute
particulars illustrative of the state of society at the period referred
to? Not the slightest allusion to anything of the kind has hitherto been
noticed in their writings. Respecting such “toys” Boccaccio is silent,
and our countryman Chaucer says not a word. Of wood-cuts not the least
mention is made in Petrarch; and Richard de Bury, bishop of Durham, who
lived in the reign of Edward III., in his curious Essay on the Love of
Books, says not a syllable of wood-cuts, either as toys, or as
illustrations of devotional or historical subjects. Upon this question,
affirmed by Papillon, and maintained as true by Zani and Ottley,
contemporary authorities are silent; and not one solitary fact bearing
distinctly upon the point has been alleged in support of Papillon’s
narrative.
[Illustration]