those skilled in German heraldry to the remarkable charge in the first
shield, which appears something like a cray-fish. The sixth, “two trouts
hauriant and addorsed,” is one of the quarterings of the house of
Wirtemberg as lords of Mompelgard. The seventh is charged with three
crowns, the arms of the city of Cologne. The charge of the eighth I take
to be three cinquefoils, which are one of the quarterings of the family
of Aremberg. The cross-keys in the ninth are the arms of the city of
Ratisbon.
The four following shields occur in the lower division of folio 15. They
are borne by men in armour standing by the side of a bed. On a scroll is
the following inscription, from the 7th and 8th verses of the third
chapter of Solomon’s Song. “_En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta fortes
ambiunt, omnes tenentes gladios_:” in our Bible: “Behold his bed, which
is Solomon’s; three score valiant men are about it . . . . . they all
hold swords.”
The first three of the shields on the following page I shall leave to be
assigned by others. The fourth, which is charged with a rose, was the
arms of Hagenau, a town in Alsace.
[Illustration]
As so little is known respecting the country where, and the precise time
when, the principal block-books appeared,--of which the History of the
Virgin is one,--I think every particular, however trifling, which may be
likely to afford even a gleam of light, deserving of notice. It is for
this reason that I have given the different shields contained in this
and the preceding pages; not in the belief that I have made any
important discovery, or established any considerable facts; but with the
desire of directing to this subject the attention of others, whose
further inquiries and comparisons may perhaps establish such a perfect
identity between the arms of a particular district, and those contained
in the volume, as may determine the probable locality of the place where
it was executed. The coincidences which I have noticed were not sought
for. Happening to be turning over Sebastian Munster’s Cosmography when a
copy of the History of the Virgin was before me, I observed that the two
fish in the arms of the Counts of Wirtemberg,[II-50] and those in the
15th folio of the History, were the same. The other instances of
correspondence were also discovered without search, from having
occasionally, in tracing the progress of wood engraving, to refer to
Merian’s Topographia.
[Footnote II-50: Those arms are to be seen in Sebastiana Munsteri
Cosmographia, cap. De Regione Wirtenbergensi, p. 592. Folio,
Basiliæ, apud Henrichum Petri, 1554.]
Considering the thickness of the paper on which the block-books are
printed,--if I may apply this term to them,--and the thin-bodied ink
which has been used. I am at a loss to conceive how the early
wood-engravers have contrived to take off their impressions so
correctly; for in all the block-books which I have seen, where friction
has evidently been the means employed to obtain the impression, I have
only noticed two subjects in which the lines appeared double in
consequence of the shifting of the paper. From the want of body in the
ink, which appears in the Apocalypse to have been little more than
water-colour, it is not likely the paper could be used in a damp state,
otherwise the ink would run or spread; and, even if this difficulty did
not exist, the paper in a damp state could not have borne the excessive
rubbing which it appears to have received in order to obtain the
impression.[II-51] Even with such printer’s ink as is used in the
present day,--which being tenacious, renders the paper in taking an
impression by means of friction much less liable to slip or shift,--it
would be difficult to obtain clear impressions on thick paper from
blocks the size of those which form each page of the Apocalypse, or the
History of the Virgin.
[Footnote II-51: The backs of many of the old wood-cuts which have
been taken by means of friction, still appear bright in
consequence of the rubbing which the paper has sustained in order
to obtain the impression. They would not have this appearance if
the paper had been used in a damp state.]
Mr. Ottley, however, states that no less than two pages of the History
of the Virgin have been engraved on the same block. His observations on
this subject are as follows: “Upon first viewing this work, I was of
opinion that each of the designs contained in it was engraved upon a
separate block of wood: but, upon a more careful examination, I have
discovered that the contents of each two pages--that is, four
subjects--were engraved on the same block. The number of wooden blocks,
therefore, from which the whole was printed, was only eight. This is
proved in the first two pages of the copy before me;[II-52] where, near
the bottom of the two upper subjects, the block appears to have been
broken in two, in a horizontal direction,--after it was engraved,--and
joined together again; although not with such exactness but that the
traces of the operation clearly show themselves. The traces of a similar
accident are still more apparent in the last block, containing the Nos.
29, 30, 31, 32. The whole work was, therefore, printed on eight sheets
of paper from the same number of engraved blocks, the first four
subjects being printed from the same block upon the same sheet,--and so
on with the rest; and, indeed, in Lord Spencer’s copy, each sheet, being
mounted upon a guard, distinctly shows itself entire.”[II-53]
[Footnote II-52: This must have been a copy of that which Heineken
calls the second edition; no such appearances of a fracture or
joining are to be seen in the first.]
[Footnote II-53: Inquiry, p. 142.]
The appearance of a corresponding fracture in two adjacent pages would
certainly render it likely that both were engraved on the same block;
though I should like to have an opportunity of satisfying myself by
inspection whether such appearances are really occasioned by a fracture
or not; for it is rather singular that such appearances should be
observable on the _first_ and the _last_ blocks only. I always
reluctantly speculate, except on something like sufficient grounds; but
as I have not seen a copy of the edition to which Mr. Ottley refers,
I beg to ask if the traces of supposed fracture in the last two pages do
not correspond with those in the first two? and if so, would it not be
equally reasonable to infer that eight subjects instead of four were
engraved on the same block? A block containing only two pages would be
about seventeen inches by ten, allowing for inner margins; and to obtain
clear impressions from it by means of friction, on dry thick paper, and
with mere water-colour ink, would be a task of such difficulty that I
cannot conceive how it could be performed. No traces of points by which
the paper might be kept steady on the block are perceptible; and I
unhesitatingly assert that no wood-engraver of the present day could by
means of friction take clear impressions from such a block on equally
thick paper, and using mere distemper instead of printer’s ink. As the
impressions in the History of the Virgin have unquestionably been taken
by means of friction, it is evident to me that if the blocks were of the
size that Mr. Ottley supposes, the old wood-engravers, who did not use a
press, must have resorted to some contrivance to keep the paper steady,
with which we are now unacquainted.
Heineken describes an edition of the Apocalypse consisting of
forty-eight leaves, with cuts on one side only, which, when bound, form
a volume of three “_gatherings_,” or collections, each containing
sixteen leaves. Each of these gatherings is formed by eight folio sheets
folded in the middle, and placed one within the other, so that the cuts
are worked off in the following manner: On the outer sheet of the
gathering, forming the first and the sixteenth leaf, the first and the
sixteenth cuts are impressed, so that when the sheet is folded they face
each other, and the first and the last pages are left blank. In a
similar manner the 2nd and 15th; the 3d and 14th; the 4th and 13th; the
5th and 12th; the 6th and 11th; the 7th and 10th, and the 8th and 9th,
are, each pair respectively, impressed on the same side of the same
sheet. These sheets when folded for binding are then placed in such a
manner that the first is opposite the second; the third opposite the
fourth, and so on throughout the whole sixteen. Being arranged in this
manner, two cuts and two blank pages occur alternately. The reason for
this mode of arrangement was, that the blank pages might be pasted
together, and the cuts thus appear as if one were impressed on the back
of another. A familiar illustration of this mode of folding, adopted by
the early wood-engravers before they were accustomed to impress their
cuts on both sides of a leaf, is afforded by forming a sheet of paper
into a little book of sixteen leaves, and numbering the second and third
pages 1 and 2, leaving two pages blank; then numbering the fifth and
sixth 3 and 4, and so to No. 16, which will stand opposite to No. 15,
and have its back, forming the outer page of the gathering, unimpressed.
Of all the block-books, that which is now commonly called “BIBLIA
PAUPERUM,”--the Bible of the Poor,--is most frequently referred to as a
specimen of that kind of printing from wood-blocks which preceded
typography, or printing by means of moveable characters or types. This
title, however, has given rise to an error which certain learned
bibliographers have without the least examination adopted, and have
afterwards given to the public considerably enlarged, at least, if not
corrected.[II-54] It has been gravely stated that this book, whose text
is in abbreviated Latin, was printed for the use of the _poor_ in an age
when even the _rich_ could scarcely read their own language. Manuscripts
of the Bible were certainly at that period both scarce and costly, and
not many individuals even of high rank were possessed of a copy; but to
conclude that the first editions of the so-called “Biblia Pauperum” were
engraved and printed for the use of the poor, appears to be about as
legitimate an inference as to conclude that, in the present day, the
reprints of the Roxburghe club were published for the benefit of the
poor who could not afford to purchase the original editions. That a
merchant or a wealthy trader might occasionally become the purchaser of
“Biblia Pauperum,” I am willing to admit,--though I am of opinion that
the book was never expressly intended for the laity;--but that it should
be printed for the use of the poor, I cannot bring myself to believe. If
the poor of Germany in the fifteenth century had the means of purchasing
such books, and were capable of reading them, I can only say that they
must have had more money to spare than their descendants, and have been
more learned than most of the rich people throughout Europe in the
present day. If the accounts which we have of the state of knowledge
about 1450 be correct, the monk or friar who could read and expound such
a work must have been esteemed as a person of considerable literary
attainments.
[Footnote II-54: “It is a manual or kind of Catechism of the
Bible,” says the Rev. T. H. Horne, “for the use of young persons
and of the common people, whence it derives its name _Biblia
Pauperum_,--_the Bible of the Poor_,--who were thus enabled to
acquire, at a comparatively low price, an imperfect knowledge of
some of the events recorded in the Scripture.”--Introduction to
the Critical Study of the Scriptures, vol. ii. p. 224-5. The young
and the poor must have been comparatively learned at that period
to be able to read cramped Latin, when many a priest could
scarcely spell his breviary.]
The name “Biblia Pauperum” was unknown to Schelhorn and Schœpflin, and
was not adopted by Meerman. Schelhorn, who was the first that published
a fac-simile of one of the pages engraved on wood, gives it no
distinctive name; but merely describes it as “a book which contained in
text and figures certain histories and prophecies of the Old Testament,
which, in the author’s judgment, were figurative of Christ, and of the
works performed by him for the salvation of mankind.”[II-55] Schœpflin
calls it, “Vaticinia Veteris Testamenti de Christo;”[II-56]--“Prophecies
of the Old Testament concerning Christ;” but neither this title, nor the
description of Schelhorn, is sufficiently comprehensive; for the book
contains not only prophecies and typical figures from the Old Testament,
but also passages and subjects selected from the New. The title which
Meerman gives to it is more accurately descriptive of the contents:
“Figuræ typicæ Veteris atque antitypicæ Novi Testamenti, seu Historia
Jesu Christi in figuris;” that is, “Typical figures of the Old Testament
and antitypical of the New, or the History of Jesus Christ pictorially
represented.”[II-57]
[Footnote II-55: J. G. Schelhorn, Amœnitates Literariæ, tom. iv.
p. 297. 8vo. Francofurt. & Lips. 1730. Lichtenberger, Initia
Typographica, p. 4, says erroneously, that Schelhorn’s fac-simile
was engraved on copper. It is on wood, as Schelhorn himself states
at p. 296.]
[Footnote II-56: J. D. Schœpflin, Vindiciæ Typographicæ, p. 7,
4to. Argentorati, 1760.]
[Footnote II-57: Ger. Meerman, Origines Typographicæ, P. 1,
p. 241. 4to. Hagæ Comit. 1765.]
Heineken appears to have been the first who gave to this book the name
“Biblia Pauperum,” as it was in his opinion the most appropriate; “the
figures being executed for the purpose of giving a knowledge of the
Bible to those who could not afford to purchase a manuscript copy of the
Scriptures.”[II-58] This reason for the name is not, however, a good
one: for, according to his own statement, the only copy which he ever
saw with the title or inscription “Biblia Pauperum,” was a manuscript on
vellum of the fourteenth century, in which the figures were drawn and
coloured by hand.[II-59] Meerman, however, though without adopting the
title, had previously noticed the same manuscript, which in his opinion
was as old as the twelfth or thirteenth century. As the word “Pauperum”
formed part of the title of the book long before presumed cheap copies
were printed from wood-blocks for the use of the poor, it could not be
peculiarly appropriate as the title of an illumined manuscript on
vellum, which the poor could as little afford to purchase as they could
a manuscript copy of the Bible. In whatever manner the term “poor”
became connected with the book, it is clear that the name “Biblia
Pauperum” was not given to it in consequence of its being printed at a
cheap rate for circulation among poor people. It is not indeed likely
that its ancient title ever was “Biblia Pauperum;” while, on the
contrary, there seems every reason to believe that Heineken had copied
an abridged title and thus given currency to an error.
[Footnote II-58: Idée Générale, p. 292, note.]
[Footnote II-59: Camus, speaking of one of those manuscripts
compared with the block-book, observes: “Ce dernier abrégé
méritoit bien le nom de BIBLIA PAUPERUM, par comparison aux
tableaux complets de la Bible que je viens d’indiquer. Des
ouvrages tels que les tableaux complets ne pouvoient être que
BIBLIA DIVITUM.”--Notice d’un Livre imprimé à Bamberg en 1462,
p. 12, note. 4to. Paris, 1800.]
Heineken says that he observed the inscription, “Incipit Biblia
Pauperum,” in a manuscript in the library at Wolfenbuttel, written on
vellum in a Gothic character, which appeared to be of the fourteenth
century. The figures, which were badly designed, were coloured in
distemper, and the explanatory text was in Latin rhyme. It is surprising
that neither Heineken nor any other bibliographer should have suspected
that a word was wanting in the above supposed title, more especially as
the word wanting might have been so readily suggested by another work so
much resembling the pretended “Biblia Pauperum” that the one has
frequently been confounded with the other.[II-60] In the proemium of
this other work, which is no other than the “Speculum Salvationis,” the
writer expressly states that he has compiled it “propter pauperes
predicatores,”--for _poor_ preachers.
+Predictu’ p’hemiu’ hujus libri de conte’tis compilavi,
Et p’pter paup’es p’dicatores hoc apponere curavi;
Qui si forte nequieru’t totum librum sibi co’p’are,
Possu’t ex ipso p’hemio, si sciu’t p’dicare.+
This preface of contents, stating what this book’s about,
For the sake of all _poor preachers_ I have fairly written out;
If the purchase of the book entire should be above their reach,
This preface yet may serve them, if they know but how to preach.
[Footnote II-60: “Entre ces abrégés [de la Bible] on remarque le
SPECULUM HUMANÆ SALVATIONIS et le BIBLIA PAUPERUM. Ces deux
ouvrages ont beaucoup d’affinité entre eux pour le volume, le
choix des histoires, les moralités, la composition des tableaux.
Ils existent en manuscrits dans plusieurs bibliothèques.”--Camus,
Notice d’un Livre, &c. p. 12.]
That the other book might be called “Biblia Pauperum _Predicatorum_,” in
consequence of its general use by mendicant preachers, I can readily
believe; and no doubt the omission of the word “predicatorum” in the
inscription copied by Heineken has given rise to the popular error, that
the pretended “Biblia Pauperum” was a kind of cheap pictorial Bible,
especially intended for the use of the poor. It is, in fact, a series of
“skeleton sermons” ornamented with wood-cuts to warm the preacher’s
imagination, and stored with texts to assist his memory. In speaking of
this book in future, I shall always refer to it as the “Biblia Pauperum
Predicatorum,”--“the Poor Preachers’ Bible;” for the continuance of its
former title only tends, in my opinion, to disseminate an error.
Nyerup, who in 1784 published an “Account of such books as were read in
schools in Denmark prior to the Reformation,”[II-61] objected to the
title “Biblia Pauperum,” as he had seen portions of a manuscript copy in
which the drawings were richly coloured. The title which he preferred
was BIBLIA TYPICO-HARMONICA. In this objection, however, Camus does not
concur: “It is not from the embellishments of a single copy,” he
observes, “that we ought to judge of the current price of a book; and,
besides, we must not forget to take into consideration the other motives
which might suggest the title, ‘Bible of the Poor,’ for we have proofs
that other abridgments of greater extent were called ‘Poor men’s books.’
Such is the ‘Biblia Pauperum’ of St. Bonaventure, consisting of extracts
for the use of _preachers_, and the ‘Dictionarius Pauperum.’ Of the last
the title is explained in the book itself: ‘Incipit summula omnibus
_verbi divini seminatoribus pernecessaria_.’” It is surprising that
Camus did not perceive that the very titles which he cites militate
against the opinion of the “Biblia” being intended for the use of poor
_men_. St. Bonaventure’s work, and the Dictionary, which he refers to as
instances of “Poor men’s books,” both bear on the very face of them a
refutation of his opinion, for in the works themselves it is distinctly
stated that they were compiled, not “ad usum pauperum _hominum_;” but
“ad usum pauperum _predicatorum_, et _verbi divini seminatorum_:” not
for the use of “poor _men_,” but for “poor _preachers_ and _teachers of
the divine word_.” Camus has unwittingly supplied a club to batter his
own argument to pieces.
[Footnote II-61: “Librorum qui ante Reformationem in scholis Daniæ
legebantur, Notitia. Hafniæ, 1784;” referred to by Camus, Notice
d’un Livre, &c. p. 10.]
Of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum,” there are, according to Heineken,
five different editions with the text in Latin. Four of them contain
each forty leaves, printed on one side only from wood-blocks by means of
friction, and which differ from each other in so trifling a degree, that
it is not unlikely that three of them are from the same set of blocks.
The other edition,--the fifth described by Heineken--contains fifty
leaves, printed in a similar manner, but apparently with the figures
designed by a different artist. Besides the above, there are two
different editions, also from wood-blocks, with the text in German: one
with the date 1470; and the other, 1471 or 1475, for the last numeral
appears as like a 1 as a 5. There are also two editions, one Latin, and
the other German, with the text printed from moveable types by Albert
Pfister, at Bamberg, about 1462.
Without pretending to decide on the priority of the first five
editions,--as I have not been able to perceive any sufficient marks from
which the order in which they were published might be ascertained,--I
shall here give a brief account of a copy of that edition which Heineken
ranks as the third. It is in the King’s Library at the British Museum,
and was formerly in the collection of Monsieur Gaignat, at whose sale it
was bought for George III.
It is a small folio of forty leaves, impressed on one side only, in
order that the blank pages might be pasted together, so that two of the
printed sides would thus form only one leaf. The order of the first
twenty pages is indicated by the letters of the alphabet, from +a+ to
+v+, and of the second twenty by the same letters, having as a
distinguishing mark a point both before and after them, thus: +. a .+ In
that which Heineken considers the first edition, the letters +n+, +o+,
+r+, +s+, of the second alphabet, making pages 33, 34, 37, and 38, want
those two distinguishing points, which, according to him, are to be
found in each of the other three Latin editions of forty pages each. Mr.
Ottley has, however, observed that Earl Spencer’s copy wants the
points,--on each side of the letters +n+, +o+, +r+, +s+, of the second
alphabet,--thus agreeing with that which Heineken calls the first
edition, while in all other respects it answers the description which
that writer gives of the presumed second. Mr. Ottley says, that Heineken
errs in asserting that the want of those points on each side of the said
letters is a distinction exclusively belonging to the first edition,
since the edition called by him the second is likewise without
them.[II-62] In fact, the variations noticed by Heineken are not only
insufficient to enable a person to judge of the priority of the
editions, but they are such as might with the greatest ease be
introduced into a block after a certain number of copies had been taken
off. Those which he considers as distinguishing marks might easily be
broken away by the burnisher or rubber, and replaced by the insertion of
other pieces, differing in a slight degree. From the trifling variations
noticed by Heineken[II-63] in the first three editions, it is not
unlikely that they were all taken from the same blocks. Each of the
triangular ornaments in which he has observed a difference, might easily
be re-inserted in the event of its being injured in taking an
impression. The tiara of Moses, in page 35, letter +. p .+ would be
peculiarly liable to accident in taking an impression by friction, and I
am disposed to think that a part of it has been broken off, and that in
repairing it a trifling alteration has been made in the ornament on its
top. Heineken, noticing the alteration, has considered it as a criterion
of two different editions, while in all probability it only marks a
trifling variety in copies taken from the same blocks.
[Footnote II-62: Inquiry, vol. i. p. 129.]
[Footnote II-63: Idée Générale, p. 307, 308.]
On each page are four portraits,--two at the top, and two at the
bottom,--intended for the prophets, and other holy men, whose writings
are cited in the text. The middle part of the page between each pair of
portraits consists of three compartments, each of which is occupied with
a subject from the Old or the New Testament. In the 14th page, however,
letter +o+, two of the compartments--that in the centre, and the
adjoining one to the right--are both occupied by the same subject,
Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. The greatest portion of the explanatory
text is at the top on each side of the uppermost portraits; and on each
side of those below there is a Leonine, or rhyming Latin, verse.
A similar verse underneath those portraits forms the concluding line of
each page. Texts of Scripture, and moral or explanatory sentences,
having reference to the subjects in the three compartments, also appear
on scrolls. The following cut, which is a reduced copy of the 14th page,
letter +k+, will afford a better idea of the arrangement of the
subjects, and of the explanatory texts, than any lengthened description.
The whole of this subject--both text and figures--appears intended to
inculcate the necessity of restraining appetite. The inscription to the
right, at the top, contains a reference to the 3rd chapter of Genesis,
wherein there is to be found an account of the temptation and fall of
Adam and Eve, who were induced by the Serpent to taste the forbidden
fruit. This temptation of our first parents through the medium of the
palate, was, as may be gathered from the same inscription, figurative of
the temptation of Christ after his fasting forty days in the wilderness,
when the Devil came to him and said, “If thou be the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread.”
[Illustration]
In the inscription to the left, reference is made to the 25th chapter of
Genesis, as containing an account of Esau, who, in consequence of his
unrestrained appetite, sold his birth-right for a mess of pottage.
In the compartments in the middle of the page, are three illustrations
of the preceding text. In the centre is seen the pattern to
imitate,--Christ resisting the temptation of the Devil; and on each side
the examples to deter,--Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit; and
hungry Esau receiving the mess of pottage from Jacob.
Underneath the two half-length figures at the top, is inscribed “David
34,” and “Ysaie xxix.”[II-64] The numerals are probably intended to
indicate the chapters in the Psalms, and in the Prophecies of Isaiah,
where the inscriptions on the adjacent scrolls are to be found. On
similar scrolls, towards the bottom of the page, are references to the
7th chapter of the 2nd book of Kings, and to the 16th chapter of Job.
The two half-length figures are most likely intended for the writers of
those sacred books. The likenesses of the prophets and holy persons,
thus introduced at the top and bottom of each page, are, as Schelhorn
has observed,[II-65] purely imaginary; for the same character is seldom
seen twice with the same face. As most of the supposed figurative
descriptions of Christ and his ministry are to be found in the Psalms,
and in the Prophecies of Isaiah, the portraits of David and the
last-named prophet are those which most frequently occur; and the
designer seems to have been determined that neither the king nor the
prophet should ever appear twice with the same likeness.
[Footnote II-64: The passages referred to are probably the 8th,
9th, and 10th verses of the xxxivth Psalm; and the 8th verse of
the xxixth chapter of Isaiah.]
[Footnote II-65: “Has autem icones ex sola sculptoris imaginatione
et arbitrio fluxisse vel inde liquet, quod idem scriptor sacer in
diversis foliis diversa plerumque et alia facie delineatus
sistatur, sicuti, v. g. Esaias ac David, sæpius obvii, Protei
instar, varias induerunt in hoc opere formas.”--Amœnitates
Literariæ, tom. iv. p. 297.]
The rhyming verses are as follows. That to the right, underneath the
subject of Adam and Eve:
Serpens vicit, Adam vetitam sibi sugerat escam.
The other, on the opposite side, underneath Jacob and Esau:
Lentis ob ardorem proprium male perdit honorem.
And the third, at the bottom of the page, underneath the two portraits:
Christum temptavit Sathanas ut eum superaret.
The following cuts are fac-similes, the size of the originals, of each
of the compartments of the page referred to, and of which a reduced copy
has been already given.
The first contains the representation of David and Isaiah, and the
characters which follow the name of the former I consider to be intended
for 34. They are the only instances in the volume of the use of Arabic,
or rather Spanish numerals. The letter +k+, at the foot, is the
“signature,” as a printer would term it, indicating the order of the
page. On each side of it are portions of scrolls containing
inscriptions, of which some of the letters are seen.
The next cut represents Satan tempting Christ by offering him stones to
be converted into bread.
In the distance are seen the high mountain, to the top of which Christ
was taken up by the Devil, and the temple from whose pinnacle Christ was
tempted to cast himself down. The figure of Christ in this compartment
is not devoid of sober dignity; nor is Satan deficient in diabolical
ugliness; but, though clawed and horned proper, he wants the usual
appendage of a tail. The deficiency is, however, in some degree
compensated by giving to his hip the likeness of a fiendish face. In two
or three other old wood engravings I have noticed a repulsive face
indicated in a similar manner on the hip of the Devil. A person well
acquainted with the superstitions of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries may perhaps be able to give a reason for this. It may be
intended to show that Satan, who is ever going about seeking whom he may
devour, can see both before and behind.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
The cut on the following page (90), which forms the compartment to the
right, represents Adam and Eve, each with an apple: and the state in
which Eve appears to be, is in accordance with an opinion maintained by
several of the schoolmen of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The
tree of knowledge is without fruit, and the serpent, with a human face,
is seen twined round its stem. The form of the tree and the shape of the
leaves are almost precisely the same as those of the olive-trees in the
Apocalypse, uprooted by Antichrist. The character of the designs,
however, in the two books is almost as different as the manner of the
engraving. In the Apocalypse there is no attempt at shading, while in
the book under consideration it is introduced in every page, though
merely by courses of single lines, as may be perceived in the drapery of
Christ in the preceding cut, and in the trunk of the tree and in the
serpent in the cut subjoined. In this cut the figure of Adam cannot be
considered as a specimen of manly beauty; his face is that of a man who
is past his prime, and his attitude is very like that of one of the
splay-footed boors of Teniers. In point of personal beauty Eve appears
to be a partner worthy of her husband; and though from her action she
seems conscious that she is naked, yet her expression and figure are
extremely unlike the graceful timidity and beautiful proportions of the
Medicean Venus. The face of the serpent displays neither malignity nor
fiendish cunning; but, on the contrary, is marked with an expression not
unlike that of a Bavarian broom-girl. This manner of representing the
temptation of our first parents appears to have been conventional among
the early German Formschneiders; for I have seen several old wood-cuts
of this subject, in which the figures were almost precisely the same.
Notwithstanding the bad drawing and the coarse engraving of the
following cut, many of the same subject, executed in Germany between
1470 and 1510, are yet worse.
[Illustration]
In the opposite cut, which forms the compartment to the left, Esau, who
is distinguished by his bow and quiver, is seen receiving a bowl of
pottage from his brother Jacob. At the far side of the apartment is seen
a “kail-pot,” suspended from a “crook,” with something like a ham and a
gammon of bacon hanging against the wall. This subject is treated in a
style which is thoroughly Dutch. Isaac’s family appear to have been
lodged in a tolerably comfortable house, with a stock of provisions near
the chimney nook; and his two sons are very like some of the figures in
the pictures of Teniers, more especially about the legs.
[Illustration]
The following cut, a copy of that which is the lowest in the page,
represents the two prophets or inspired penmen, to whom reference is
made on the two scrolls whose ends may be perceived towards the lower
corners of each arch. The words underneath the figures are a portion of
the last rhyming verse quoted at page 87. It is from a difference in the
triangular ornament, above the pillar separating the two figures, though
not in this identical page, that Heineken chiefly decides on three of
the editions of this book; though nothing could be more easy than to
introduce another ornament of a similar kind, in the event of the
original either being damaged in printing or intentionally effaced. In
some of the earliest wood-blocks which remain undestroyed by the rough
handling of time there are evident traces of several letters having been
broken away, and of the injury being afterwards remedied by the
introduction of a new piece of wood, on which the letters wanting were
re-engraved.
[Illustration]
The ink with which the cuts in the “Poor Preachers’ Bible” have been
printed, is evidently a kind of distemper of the colour of bistre,
lighter than in the History of the Virgin, and darker than in the
Apocalypse. In many of the cuts certain portions of the lines appear
surcharged with ink,--sometimes giving to the whole page rather a
blotched appearance,--while other portions seem scarcely to have
received any.[II-66] This appearance is undoubtedly in consequence of
the light-bodied ink having, from its want of tenacity, accumulated on
the block where the line was thickest, or where two lines met, leaving
the thinner portions adjacent with scarce any colouring at all. The
block must, in my opinion, have been charged with such ink by means of
something like a brush, and not by means of a ball. In some parts of the
cuts--more especially where there is the greatest portion of text--small
white spaces may be perceived, as if a graver had been run through the
lines. On first noticing this appearance, I was inclined to think that
it was owing to the spreading of the hairs of the brush in inking,
whereby certain parts might have been left untouched. The same kind of
break in the lines may be observed, however, in some of the impressions
of the old wood-cuts published by Becker and Derschau,[II-67] and which
are worked off by means of a press, and with common printer’s ink. In
these it is certainly owing to minute furrows in the grain of the wood;
and I am now of opinion that the same cause has occasioned a similar
appearance in the cuts of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum.” Mr.
Ottley, speaking of the impressions in Earl Spencer’s copy, makes the
following remarks: “In many instances they have a sort of horizontally
striped and confused appearance, which leads me to suppose that they
were taken from engravings executed on some kind of wood of a coarse
grain.”[II-68] This correspondence between Earl Spencer’s copy and that
in the King’s Library at the British Museum tends to confirm my opinion
that there are not so many editions of the book as Heineken,--from
certain accidental variations,--has been induced to suppose.
[Footnote II-66: Schelhorn has noticed a similar appearance in the
old block-book entitled “Ars Memorandi:” “Videas hic nonnunquam
literas atramento confluenti deformatas, ventremque illarum, alias
album et vacuum, atramentaria macula repletum.” Amœnitat. Liter.
tom. i. p. 7.]
[Footnote II-67: This collection of wood engravings from old
blocks was published in three parts, large folio, at Gotha in
1808, 1810, and 1816, under the following title: “Holzschnitte
alter Deutscher Meister in den Original-Platten gesammelt von Hans
Albrecht Von Derschau: Als ein Beytrag zur Kunstgeschichte
herausgegeben, und mit einer Abhandlung über die Holzschneidekunst
und deren Schicksale begleitet von Rudolph Zacharias Becker.” The
collector has frequently mistaken rudeness of design, and
coarseness of execution, for proofs of antiquity.]
[Footnote II-68: Inquiry, vol. i. p. 130.]
The manner in which the cuts are engraved, and the attempts at something
like effect in the shading and composition, induce me to think that this
book is not so old as either the Apocalypse or the History of the
Virgin. That it appeared before 1428, as has been inferred from the date
which the Rev. Mr. Horne fancied that he had seen on the ancient
binding, I cannot induce myself to believe. It is more likely to have
been executed at some time between 1440 and 1460; and I am inclined to
think that it is the production of a Dutch or Flemish, rather than a
German artist.
A work, from which the engraved “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” is little
more than an abstract, appears to have been known in France and Germany
long before block-printing was introduced. Of such a work there were two
manuscript copies in the National Library at Paris; the one complete,
and the other--which, with a few exceptions, had been copied from the
first--imperfect. The work consisted of a brief summary of the Bible,
arranged in the following manner. One or two phrases in Latin and in
French formed, as it were, the text; and each text was followed by a
moral reflection, also in Latin and in French. Each article, which thus
consisted of two parts, was illustrated by two drawings, one of which
related to the historical fact, and the other to the moral deduced from
it. The perfect copy consisted of four hundred and twenty-two pages, on
each of which there were eight drawings, so that the number contained in
the whole volume was upwards of five thousand. In some of the single
drawings, which were about two and one-third inches wide, by three and
one-third inches high, Camus counted not less than thirty heads.[II-69]
[Footnote II-69: Notice d’un Livre, &c. p. 11.]
In a copy of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” from wood-blocks,
Heineken observed written: “S. ANSGARIUS est autor hujus libri,”--St.
Ansgarius is the author of this book. St. Ansgarius, who was a native of
France, and a monk of the celebrated Abbey of Corbey, was sent into
Lower Saxony, and other places in the north, for the purpose of
reclaiming the people from paganism. He was appointed the first bishop
of Hamburg in 831, and in 844 Bishop of Bremen, where he died in
864.[II-70] From a passage cited by Heineken from Ornhielm’s
Ecclesiastical History of Sweden and Gothland, it appears that Ansgarius
was reputed to have compiled a similar book;[II-71] and Heineken
observes that it might be from this passage that the “Biblia Pauperum
Predicatorum” was ascribed to the Bishop of Hamburg.
[Footnote II-70: Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 319.]
[Footnote II-71: Ornhielm’s book was printed in 4to. at Stockholm,
1689. The passage referred to is as follows: “Quos _per numeros et
signa_ conscripsisse cum [Ansgarium] libros Rembertus memorat
indigitatos _pigmentorum_ vocabulo, eos continuisse, palam est,
quasdam aut e divinarum literarum, aut pie doctorum patrum
scriptis, pericopas et sententias.”]
In the cloisters of the cathedral at Bremen, Heineken saw two
bas-reliefs sculptured on stone, of which the figures, of a moderate
size, were precisely the same as those in two of the pages--the first
and eighth--of the German “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum.” The
inscriptions, which were in Latin, were the same as in block-book. He
thinks it very probable that the other arches of the cloisters were
formerly ornamented in the same manner with the remainder of the
subjects, but that the sculptures had been destroyed in the disturbances
which had occurred in Bremen. Though he by no means pretends that the
cuts were engraved in the time of Ansgarius, he thinks it not impossible
that the sculptures might be executed at that period according to the
bishop’s directions. This last passage is one of the most silly that
occurs in Heineken’s book.[II-72] It is just about as likely that the
cuts in the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” were engraved in the time of
Ansgarius, as that the bas-reliefs in the cloisters of the cathedral of
Bremen should have been sculptured under his direction.
[Footnote II-72: “Ces conjectures sont foibles; elles ont été
attaquées par Erasme Nyerup dans un écrit publié à Copenhague en
1784. . . . . Nyerup donne à penser que Heinecke a reconnu
lui-même, dans la suite, la foiblesse de ses conjectures.”--Camus,
Notice d’un Livre, &c. p. 9.]
The book usually called the “Speculum Humanæ Salvationis,”[II-73]--the
Mirror of Human Salvation,--which is ascribed by Hadrian Junius to
Lawrence Coster, has been more frequently the subject of discussion
among bibliographers and writers who have treated of the origin of
printing, than any other work. A great proportion, however, of what has
been written on the subject consists of groundless speculation; and the
facts elicited, compared with the conjectures propounded, are as “two
grains of wheat to a bushel of chaff.” It would be a waste of time to
recite at length the various opinions that have been entertained with
respect to the date of this book, the manner in which the text was
printed, and the printer’s name. The statements and the theories put
forth by Junius and Meerman in Coster’s favour, so far as the execution
of the Speculum is concerned, are decidedly contradicted by the book
itself. Without, therefore, recapitulating arguments which are
contradicted by established facts, I shall endeavour to give a correct
account of the work, leaving those who choose to compare it, and
reconcile it if they can, with the following assertions made by Coster’s
advocates: 1. that the Speculum was first printed by him in Dutch with
wooden types; 2. that while engraving a Latin edition on blocks of wood
he discovered the art of printing with moveable letters; 3. that the
Latin edition, in which the text is partly from moveable types and
partly from wood-blocks, was printed by Coster’s heirs and successors,
their moveable types having been stolen by John Gutemberg before the
whole of the text was set up.
[Footnote II-73: It is sometimes named “Speculum Figuratum;” and
Junius in his account of Coster’s invention calls it “Speculum
Nostræ Salutis.”]
The Speculum which has been the subject of so much discussion is of a
small folio size, and without date or printer’s name. There are four
editions of it known to bibliographers, all containing the same cuts;
two of those editions are in Latin, and two in Dutch. In the Latin
editions the work consists of sixty-three leaves, five of which are
occupied by an introduction or prologue, and on the other fifty-eight
are printed the cuts and explanatory text. The Dutch editions, though
containing the same number of cuts as the Latin, consist of only
sixty-two leaves each, as the preface occupies only four. In all those
editions the leaves are printed on one side only. Besides the four
editions above noticed, which have been ascribed to Coster and have
excited so much controversy, there are two or three others in which the
cuts are more coarsely engraved, and probably executed, at a later
period, in Germany. There is also a quarto edition of the Speculum,
printed in 1483, at Culemburg, by John Veldener, and ornamented with the
identical cuts of the folio editions ascribed to Coster and his heirs.
The four controverted editions of the Speculum may be considered as
holding a middle place between block-books,--which are wholly executed,
both text and cuts, by the wood-engraver,--and books printed with
moveable types: for in three of the editions the cuts are printed by
means of friction with a rubber or burnisher, in the manner of the
History of the Virgin, and other block-books, while the text, set in
moveable type, has been worked off by means of a press; and in a fourth
edition, in which the cuts are taken in the same manner as in the
former, twenty pages of the text are printed from wood-blocks by means
of friction, while the remainder are printed in the same manner as the
whole of the text in the three other editions; that is, from moveable
metal types, and by means of a press.
There are fifty-eight cuts in the Speculum, each of which is divided
into two compartments by a slender column in the middle. In all the
editions the cuts are placed as head-pieces at the top of each page,
having underneath them, in two columns, the explanatory text. Under each
compartment the title of the subject, in Latin, is engraved on the
block.
The following reduced copy of the first cut will give an idea of their
form, as every subject has pillars at the side, and is surmounted by an
arch in the same style.
[Illustration]
The style of engraving in those cuts is similar to those of the Poor
Preachers’ Bible. The former are, however, on the whole executed with
greater delicacy, and contain more work. The shadows and folds of the
drapery in the first forty-eight cuts are indicated by short parallel
lines, which are mostly horizontal. In the forty-ninth and subsequent
cuts, as has been noticed by Mr. Ottley, a change in the mode of
indicating the shades and the folds in the draperies is perceptible; for
the short parallel lines, instead of being horizontal as in the former,
are mostly slanting. Heineken observes, that to the forty-eighth cut
inclusive, the chapters in the printed work are conformable with the old
Latin manuscripts; and as a perceptible change in the execution
commences with the forty-ninth, it is not unlikely that the cuts were
engraved by two different persons. The two following cuts are
fac-similes of the compartments of the first, of which a reduced copy
has been previously given.
[Illustration]
In the above cut, its title, “Casus Luciferi,”--the Fall of Lucifer,--is
engraved at the bottom; and the subject represented is Satan and the
rebellious angels driven out of heaven, as typical of man’s disobedience
and fall. The following are the first two lines of the column of text
underneath the cut in the Latin editions:
+Inchoatur speculum humanae salvacionis
In quo patet casus hominis et modus repactionis.+
Which may be translated into English thus:
In the Mirror of Salvation here is represented plain
The fall of man, and by what means he made his peace again.
The following is the right-hand compartment of the same cut. The title
of this subject, as in all the others, is engraved at the bottom; the
contracted words when written in full are, “Deus creavit hominem ad
ymaginem et similitudinem suam,”--God created man after his own image
and likeness.
[Illustration]
The first two lines of the text in the column underneath this cut are,
+Mulier autem in paradiso est formata
De costis viri dormienti est parata.+
That is, in English rhyme of similar measure,
The woman was in Paradise for man an help meet made,
From Adam’s rib created as he asleep was laid.
The cuts in all the editions are printed in light brown or sepia colour
which has been mixed with water, and readily yields to moisture. The
impressions have evidently been taken by means of friction, as the back
of the paper immediately behind is smooth and shining from the action of
the rubber or burnisher, while on the lower part of the page at the back
of the text, which has been printed with moveable types, there is no
such appearance. In the second Latin edition, in which the explanatory
text to twenty of the cuts[II-74] has been printed from engraved
wood-blocks by means of friction, the reverse of those twenty pages
presents the same smooth appearance as the reverse of the cuts. In those
twenty pages of text from engraved wood-blocks the ink is
lighter-coloured than in the remainder of the book which is printed from
moveable types, though much darker than that of the cuts. It is,
therefore, evident that the two impressions,--the one from the block
containing the cut, and the other from the block containing the
text,--have been taken separately. In the pages printed from moveable
types, the ink, which has evidently been compounded with oil, is
full-bodied, and of a dark brown colour, approaching nearly to black. In
the other three editions, one Latin and two Dutch, in which the text is
entirely from moveable types, the ink is also full-bodied and nearly jet
black, forming a strong contrast with the faint colour of the cuts.
[Footnote II-74: The cuts which have the text printed from
wood-blocks are Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16,
17, 21, 22, 26, 27, 46, and 55.--Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 444.]
The plan of the Speculum is almost the same as that of the Poor
Preachers’ Bible, and is equally as well entitled as the latter to be
called “A History typical and anti-typical of the Old and New
Testament.” Several of the subjects in the two books are treated nearly
in the same manner, though in no single instance, so far as my
observation goes, is the design precisely the same in both. In several
of the cuts of the Speculum, in the same manner as in the Poor
Preachers’ Bible, one compartment contains the supposed type or
prefiguration, and the other its fulfilment; for instance: at No. 17 the
appearance of the Lord to Moses in the burning bush is typical of the
Annunciation; at No. 23 the brazen bath in the temple of Solomon is
typical of baptism; at No. 31 the manna provided for the children of
Israel in the Desert is typical of the Lord’s Supper; at No. 45 the
Crucifixion is represented in one compartment, and in the other is
Tubal-Cain, the inventor of iron-work, and consequently of the nails
with which Christ was fixed to the cross; and at No. 53 the descent of
Christ to Hades, and the liberation of the patriarchs and fathers, is
typified by the escape of the children of Israel from Egypt.
Though most of the subjects are from the Bible or the Apocrypha, yet
there are two or three which the designer has borrowed from profane
history: such as Semiramis contemplating the hanging gardens of Babylon;
the Sibyl and Augustus; and Codrus king of Athens incurring death in
order to secure victory to his people.
The Speculum Salvationis, as printed in the editions previously noticed,
is only a portion of a larger work with the same title, and ornamented
with similar designs, which had been known long before in manuscript.
Heineken says, at page 478 of his Idée Générale, that the oldest copy he
ever saw was in the Imperial Library at Vienna; and, at page 468, he
observes that it appeared to belong to the twelfth century.
The manuscript work, when complete, consisted of forty-five chapters in
rhyming Latin, to which was prefixed an introduction containing a list
of them. Each of the first forty-two chapters contained four subjects,
the first of which was the principal, and the other three illustrative
of it. To each of these chapters were two drawings, every one of which,
as in the printed copies of the work, consisted of two compartments. The
last three chapters contained each eight subjects, and each subject was
ornamented with a design.[II-75] The whole number of separate
illustrations in the work was thus one hundred and ninety-two. The
printed folio editions contain only fifty-eight cuts, or one hundred and
sixteen separate illustrations.
[Footnote II-75: Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 474.]
Though the Speculum from the time of the publication of Junius’s
work[II-76] had been confidently claimed for Coster, yet no writer,
either for or against him, appears to have particularly directed his
attention to the manner in which the work was executed before Fournier,
who in 1758, in a dissertation on the Origin and Progress of the Art of
Wood-engraving,[II-77] first published some particulars respecting the
work in question, which induced Meerman and Heineken to speculate on the
priority of the different editions. Mr. Ottley, however, has proved, in
a manner which carries with it the certainty of mathematical
demonstration, that the conjectures of both the latter writers
respecting the priority of the editions of the Speculum are absolutely
erroneous. To elicit the truth does not, with respect to this work, seem
to have been the object of those two writers. Both had espoused theories
on its origin without much inquiry with respect to facts, and each
presumed that edition to be the first which seemed most likely to
support his own speculations.
[Footnote II-76: The “Batavia” or Junius, in which the name of
Lawrence Coster first appears as a printer, was published in
1588.]
[Footnote II-77: Dissertation sur l’Origine et les Progrès de
l’Art de Graver en Bois. Par M. Fournier le Jeune, 8vo. Paris,
1758.]
Heineken, who assumed that the work was of German origin, insisted that
the _first_ edition was that in which the text is printed partly from
moveable types and partly from letters engraved on wood-blocks, and that
the Dutch editions were executed subsequently in the Low Countries. The
Latin edition with the text entirely printed from moveable types he is
pleased to denominate the second, and to assert, contrary to the
evidence which the work itself affords, that the type resembles that of
Faust and Scheffer, and that the cuts in this _second_ Latin edition, as
he erroneously calls it, are coarser and not so sharp as those in the
Latin edition which he supposes to be the first.
Fournier’s discoveries with respect to the execution of the Speculum
seem to have produced a complete change as to its origin in the opinions
of Meerman; who, in 1757, the year before Fournier’s dissertation was
printed, had expressed his belief, in a letter to his friend Wagenaar,
that what was alleged in favour of Coster being the inventor of printing
was mere gratuitous assertion; that the text of the Speculum was
probably printed after the cuts, and subsequent to 1470; that there was
not a single document, nor an iota of evidence, to show that Coster ever
used moveable types; and lastly, that the Latin was prior to the Dutch
edition of the Speculum, as was apparent from the Latin names engraved
at the foot of the cuts, which certainly would have been in Dutch had
the cuts been originally destined for a Dutch edition.[II-78] In the
teeth of his own previous opinions, having apparently gained a new light
from Fournier’s discoveries, Meerman, in his Origines Typographicæ,
printed in 1765, endeavours to prove that the Dutch edition was the
first, and that it was printed with moveable wooden types by Coster. The
Latin edition in which the text is printed partly from moveable types
and partly from wood-blocks he supposes to have been printed by Coster’s
heirs after his decease, thus endeavouring to give credibility to the
story of Coster having died of grief on account of his types being
stolen, and to encourage the supposition that his heirs in this edition
supplied the loss by having engraved on blocks of wood those pages which
were not already printed.
[Footnote II-78: A French translation of Meerman’s letter, which
was originally written in Dutch, is given by Santander in his
Dictionnaire Bibliographique, tom. i. pp. 14-18, 8vo. Bruxelles,
1805.]
Fournier’s discoveries relative to the manner in which the Speculum was
executed were: 1st, that the cuts and the text had been printed at
separate times, and that the former had been printed by means of
friction; 2d, that a portion of the text in one of the Latin editions
had been printed from engraved wood-blocks.[II-79] Fournier, who was a
type-founder and wood-engraver, imagined that the moveable types with
which the Speculum was printed were of wood. He also asserted that Faust
and Scheffer’s Psalter and an early edition of the Bible were printed
with moveable wooden types. Such assertions are best answered by a
simple negative, leaving the person who puts them forth to make out a
probable case.
[Footnote II-79: Dissertation, pp. 29-32. The many mistakes which
Fournier commits in his Dissertation, excite a suspicion that he
was either superficially acquainted with his subject, or extremely
careless. He published two or three other small works on the
subject of engraving and printing,--after the manner of
“Supplements to an Appendix,”--the principal of which is entitled
“De l’Origine et des Productions de l’Imprimerie primitive en
taille de bois; avec une refutation des préjugés plus ou moins
accredités sur cet art; pour servir de suite à la Dissertation sur
l’Origine de l’Art de graver en bois. Paris, 1759.”]
The fact having been established that in one of the editions of the
Speculum a part of the text was printed from wood-blocks, while the
whole of the text in the other three was printed from moveable types,
Heineken, without diligently comparing the editions with each other in
order to obtain further evidence, decides in favour of that edition
being the first in which part of the text is printed from wood-blocks.
His reasons for supposing this to be the first edition, though specious
in appearance, are at variance with the facts which have since been
incontrovertibly established by Mr. Ottley, whose scrutinizing
examination of the different editions has clearly shown the futility of
all former speculations respecting their priority. The argument of
Heineken is to this effect: “It is improbable that a printer who had
printed an edition wholly with moveable types should afterwards have
recourse to an engraver to cut for him on blocks of wood a portion of
the text for a second edition; and it is equally improbable that a
wood-engraver who had discovered the art of printing with moveable
types, and had used them to print the entire text of the first edition,
should, to a certain extent, abandon his invention in a second by
printing a portion of the text from engraved blocks of wood.” The
following is the order in which he arranges the different editions:
1. The Latin edition in which part of the text is printed from
wood-blocks.
2. The Latin edition in which the text is entirely printed from
moveable types.
3. The Dutch edition with the text printed wholly from moveable
types, supposed by Meerman to be the _first edition_ of all.[II-80]
4. The Dutch edition with the text printed wholly from moveable
types, and which differs only from the preceding one in having
the two pages of text under cuts No. 45 and 56 printed in a type
different from the rest of the book.
[Footnote II-80: Heineken seems inclined to consider this as the
second Dutch edition; and he only mentions it as the first Dutch
edition because it is called so by Meerman.--Idée Gén. pp. 453,
454.]
The preceding arrangement--including Meerman’s opinion respecting the
priority of the Dutch edition--rests entirely on conjecture, and is
almost diametrically contradicted in every instance by the evidence
afforded by the books themselves; for through the comparisons and
investigations of Mr. Ottley it is proved, to an absolute certainty,
that the Latin edition supposed by Heineken to be the second is the
_earliest of all_; that the edition No. 4, called the second Dutch, is
the next in order to the actual first Latin; and that the two editions,
No. 1 and No. 3, respectively proclaimed by Heineken and Meerman as the
earliest, have been printed subsequently to the other two.[II-81] Which
of the pretended _first_ editions was in reality the _last_, has not
been satisfactorily determined; though there seems reason to believe
that it was the Latin one which has part of the text printed from
wood-blocks.
[Footnote II-81: Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of
Engraving, pp. 205-217. Though differing from Mr. Ottley in the
conclusions which he draws from the facts elicited by him
respecting the priority of the editions of the Speculum, I bear a
willing testimony to the value of his discoveries on this subject,
which may rank among the most interesting that have resulted from
bibliographical research.]
It is well known to every person acquainted with the practice of
wood-engraving, that portions of single lines in such cuts as those of
the Speculum are often broken out of the block in the process of
printing. If two books, therefore, containing the same wood-cuts, but
evidently printed at different times, though without a date, should be
submitted to the examination of a person acquainted with the above fact
and bearing it in mind, he would doubtless declare that the copy in
which the cuts were most perfect was first printed, and that the other
in which parts of the cuts appeared broken away was of a later date. If,
on comparing other copies of the same editions he should find the same
variations, the impression on his mind as to the priority of the
editions would amount to absolute certainty. The identity of the cuts in
all the four editions of the Speculum being unquestionable, and as
certain minute fractures in the lines of some of them, as if small
portions of the block had been broken out in printing, had been
previously noticed by Fournier and Heineken, Mr. Ottley conceived the
idea of comparing the respective cuts in the different editions, with a
view of ascertaining the order in which they were printed. He first
compared two copies of the edition called the _first Latin_ with a copy
of that called the _second Dutch_, and finding, that, in several of the
cuts of the former, parts of lines were wanting which in the latter were
perfect, he concluded that the miscalled _second Dutch_ edition was in
fact of an earlier date than the pretended _first Latin_ edition of
Heineken. In further comparing the above editions with the supposed
_second Latin_ edition of Heineken and the supposed _first Dutch_
edition of Meerman, he found that the cuts in the miscalled second Latin
edition were the most perfect of all; and that the cuts in Heineken’s
first Latin and Meerman’s first Dutch editions contained more broken
lines than the edition named by those authors the _second Dutch_. The
conclusion which he arrived at from those facts was irresistible,
namely, that the earliest edition of all was that called by Heineken the
second Latin; and that the edition called the second Dutch was the next
in order. As the cuts in the copies examined of the pretended _first_
Latin and Dutch editions contained similar fractures, it could not be
determined with certainty which was actually the _last_.
As it is undoubted that the cuts of all the editions have been printed
separately from the text, it has been objected that Mr. Ottley’s
examination has only ascertained the order in which the cuts have been
printed, but by no means decided the priority of the editions of the
entire book. All the cuts, it has been objected, might have been taken
by the engraver before the text was printed in a single edition, and it
might thus happen that the book first printed with text might contain
the last, and consequently the most imperfect cuts. This exception,
which is founded on a very improbable presumption, will be best answered
by the following facts established on a comparison of the two Latin, and
which, I believe, have not been previously noticed:--On closely
comparing those pages which are printed with moveable types in the true
second edition with the corresponding pages in that edition which is
properly the first, it was evident from the different spelling of many
of the words, and the different length of the lines, that they had been
printed at different times: but on comparing, however, those pages which
are printed in the second edition from engraved wood-blocks with the
corresponding pages, from moveable type, in the first edition, I found
the spelling and the length of the lines to be the same. The page
printed from the wood-block was, in short, a fac-simile of the
corresponding page printed from moveable types. So completely did they
correspond, that I have no doubt that an impression of the page printed
from moveable types had been “transferred,”[II-82] as engravers say, to
the block. In the last cut[II-83] of the first edition I noticed a
scroll which was quite black, as if meant to contain an inscription
which the artist had neglected to engrave; and in the second edition I
perceived that the black was cut away, thus having the part intended for
the inscription white. Another proof, in addition to those adduced by
Mr. Ottley of that Latin edition being truly the first in which the
whole of the text is printed from moveable types.
[Footnote II-82: Wood-engravers of the present day are accustomed
to transfer an old impression from a cut or a page of letter-press
to a block in the following manner. They first moisten the back of
the paper on which the cut or letter-press is printed with a
mixture of concentrated potash and essence of lavender in equal
quantities, which causes the ink to separate readily from the
paper; next, when the paper is nearly dry, the cut or page is
placed above a prepared block, and by moderate pressure the ink
comes off from the paper, and leaves an impression upon the wood.]
[Footnote II-83: The subject is Daniel explaining to Belshazzar
the writing on the wall.]
Though there can no longer be a doubt in the mind of any impartial
person of that Latin edition, in which part of the text is printed from
engraved wood-blocks, and the rest from moveable types, being later than
the other; yet the establishment of this fact suggests a question, as to
the cause of part of the text of this second Latin edition being printed
from wood-blocks, which cannot perhaps be very satisfactorily answered.
All writers previous to Mr. Ottley, who had noticed that the text was
printed partly from moveable types and partly from wood-blocks, decided,
without hesitation, that this edition was the first; and each,
accordingly as he espoused the cause of Gutemberg or Coster, proceeded
to theorise on this assumed fact. As their arguments were founded in
error, it cannot be a matter of surprise that their conclusions should
be inconsistent with truth. The fact of this edition being subsequent to
that in which the text is printed wholly from moveable types has been
questioned on two grounds: 1st. The improbability that the person who
had printed the text of a former edition entirely from moveable types
should in a later edition have recourse to the more tedious operation of
engraving part of the text on wood-blocks. 2d. Supposing that the owner
of the cuts had determined in a later edition to engrave the text on
blocks of wood, it is difficult to conceive what could be his reason for
abandoning his plan, after twenty pages of the text were engraved, and
printing the remainder with moveable types.
Before attempting to answer those objections, I think it necessary to
observe that the existence of a positive fact can never be affected by
any arguments which are grounded on the difficulty of accounting for it.
Objections, however specious, can never alter the immutable character of
truth, though they may affect opinions, and excite doubts in the minds
of persons who have not an opportunity of examining and judging for
themselves.
With respect to the first objection, it is to be remembered that in all
the editions, the text, whether from wood-blocks or moveable types, has
been printed separately from the cuts; consequently the cuts of the
first edition might be printed by a wood-engraver, and the text set up
and printed by another person who possessed moveable types. The engraver
of the cuts might not be possessed of any moveable types when the text
of the first edition was printed; and, as it is a well-known fact that
wood-engravers continued to execute entire pages of text for upwards of
thirty years after the establishment of printing with moveable types, it
is not unlikely that he might attempt to engrave the text of a second
edition and print the book solely for his own advantage. This
supposition is to a certain extent corroborated by the fact of the
twenty pages of engraved text in the second Latin edition being
fac-similes of the twenty corresponding pages of text from moveable
types in the first.
To the second objection every day’s experience suggests a ready answer;
for scarcely anything is more common than for a person to attempt a work
which he finds it difficult to complete, and, after making some progress
in it, to require the aid of a kindred art, and abandon his original
plan.
As the first edition of the Speculum was printed subsequent to the
discovery of the art of printing with moveable types, and as it was
probably printed in the Low Countries, where the typographic art was
first introduced about 1472, I can discover no reason for believing that
the work was executed before that period. Santander, who was so well
acquainted with the progress of typography in Belgium and Holland, is of
opinion that the Speculum is not of an earlier date than 1480. In 1483
John Veldener printed at Culemburg a quarto edition of the Speculum, in
which the cuts are the same as in the earlier folios. In order to adapt
the cuts to this smaller edition Veldener had sawn each block in two,
through the centre pillar which forms a separation between the two
compartments in each of the original engravings. Veldener’s quarto
edition, which has the text printed on both sides of the paper from
moveable types, contains twelve more cuts than the older editions, but
designed and executed in the same style.[II-84] If Lawrence Coster had
been the inventor of printing with moveable types, and if any one folio
edition of the Speculum had been executed by him, we cannot suppose that
Veldener, who was himself a wood-engraver, as well as a printer, would
have been ignorant of those facts. He, however, printed two editions of
the Fasciculus Temporum,--one at Louvain in 1476, and the other at
Utrecht in 1480,--a work which contains a short notice of the art of
printing being discovered at Mentz, but not a syllable concerning its
discovery at Harlem by Lawrence Coster. The researches of Coster’s
advocates have clearly established one important fact, though an
unfortunate one for their argument; namely, that the Custos or Warden of
St. Bavon’s was not known as a printer to one of his contemporaries. The
citizens of Harlem, however, have still something to console themselves
with: though Coster may not be the inventor of printing, there can be
little doubt of Junius, or his editor, being the discoverer of Coster,--
“Est quoddam prodire tenus, si non datur ultra.”
[Footnote II-84: Heineken gives an account of those twelve
additional cuts at page 463 of his Idée Générale. It appears that
Veldener also published in the same year another edition of the
Speculum, also in quarto, containing the same cuts as the older
folios, but without the twelve above mentioned.]
There is in the Print Room of the British Museum a small volume of
wood-cuts, which has not hitherto been described by any bibliographer,
nor by any writer who has treated on the origin and progress of wood
engraving. It appears to have been unknown to Heineken, Breitkopf, Von
Murr, and Meerman; and it is not mentioned, that I am aware of, either
by Dr. Dibdin or Mr. Douce, although it certainly was submitted to the
inspection of the latter. It formerly belonged to the late Sir George
Beaumont, by whom it was bequeathed to the Museum; but where he obtained
it I have not been able to learn. It consists of an alphabet of large
capital letters, formed of figures arranged in various attitudes; and
from the general character of the designs, the style of the engraving,
and the kind of paper on which the impressions have been taken, it
evidently belongs to the same period as the Poor Preachers’ Bible. There
is only one cut on each leaf, the back being left blank as in most of
the block-books, and the impressions have been taken by means of
friction. The paper at the back of each cut has a shining appearance
when held towards the light, in consequence of the rubbing which it has
received; and in some it appears as if it had been blacked with
charcoal, in the same manner that some parts of the cartoons were
blacked which have been pricked through by the tapestry worker. The ink
is merely a distemper or water-colour, which will partly wash out by the
application of hot water, and its colour is a kind of sepia. Each leaf,
which is about six inches high, by three and six-eighths wide, consists
of a separate piece of paper, and is pasted, at the inner margin, on to
a slip either of paper or parchment, through which the stitching of the
cover passes. Whether the paper has been cut in this manner before or
after that the impressions were taken, I am unable to determine.[II-85]
[Footnote II-85: The following is a reduced copy of the
paper-mark, which appears to be a kind of anchor with a small
cross springing from a ball or knob at the junction of the arms
with the shank. It bears a considerable degree of resemblance to
the mark given at page 62, from an edition of the Apocalypse. An
anchor is to be found as a paper-mark in editions of the
Apocalypse, and of the Poor Preachers’ Bible. According to
Santander, a similar paper-mark is to be found in books printed at
Cologne, Louvain, and Utrecht, from about 1470 to 1480.
[Illustration]]
The greater part of the letter A is torn out, and in that which remains
there are pin-marks, as if it had been traced by being pricked through.
The letters S, T, and V are also wanting. The following is a brief
description of the letters which remain. The letter B is composed of
five figures, one with a pipe and tabor, another who supports him,
a dwarf, an old man kneeling, and an old woman with a staff.
C, a youthful figure rending open the jaws of a lion, with two grotesque
heads like those of satyrs. D, a man on horseback, and a monk astride on
a fiendish-looking monster. E, two grotesque heads, a figure holding the
horn of one of them, and another figure stretching out a piece of cloth.
F, a tall figure blowing a trumpet, and a youth beating a tabor, with an
animal like a dog at their feet.[II-86] G, David with Goliath’s head,
and a figure stooping, who appears to kiss a flagellum. H, a figure
opening the jaws of a dragon. I, a tall man embracing a woman.
K, a female with a wreath, a youth kneeling, an old man on his knees,
and a young man with his heels uppermost. [Engraved as a specimen at
page 109.] L, a man with a long sword, as if about to pierce a figure
reclining. [Engraved as a specimen at page 110.] M, two figures, each
mounted on a kind of monster; between them, an old man. N, a man with a
sword, another mounted on the tail of a fish. O, formed of four
grotesque heads. P, two figures with clubs. Q, formed of three grotesque
heads, similar to those in O. R, a tall, upright figure, another with
something like a club in his hand; a third, with his heels up, blowing a
horn. X, composed of four figures, one of which has two bells, and
another has one; on the shoulder of the upper figure to the right a
squirrel may be perceived. Y, a figure with something like a hairy skin
on his shoulder; another thrusting a sword through the head of an
animal. Z, three figures; an old man about to draw a dagger, a youth
lying down, and another who appears as if flying. [Engraved as a
specimen at page 111.] The last cut is the ornamental flower, of which a
copy is given at page 113.
[Footnote II-86: The initial F, at the commencement of this
chapter, is a reduced copy of the letter here described.]
In the same case with those interesting, and probably unique specimens
of early wood engraving, there is a letter relating to them, dated 27th
May, 1819, from Mr. Samuel Lysons to Sir George Beaumont, from which the
following is an extract: “I return herewith your curious volume of
ancient cuts. I showed it yesterday to Mr. Douce, who agrees with me
that it is a great curiosity. He thinks that the blocks were executed at
Harlem, and are some of the earliest productions of that place. He has
in his possession most of the letters executed in copper, but very
inferior to the original cuts. Before you return from the Continent I
shall probably be able to ascertain something further respecting them.”
What might be Mr. Douce’s reasons for supposing that those cuts were
executed at Harlem I cannot tell; though I am inclined to think that he
had no better foundation for his opinion than his faith in Junius,
Meerman, and other advocates of Lawrence Coster, who unhesitatingly
ascribe every early block-book to the spurious “Officina Laurentiana.”
In the manuscript catalogue in the Print Room of the British Museum the
volume is thus described by Mr. Ottley: “Alphabet of initial letters
composed of grotesque figures, wood engravings of the middle of the
fifteenth century, apparently the work of a Dutch or Flemish artist; the
impressions taken off by friction in the manner of the early
block-books. . . . I perceive the word ‘_London_’ in small characters
written upon the blade of a sword in one of the cuts, [the letter L,]
and I suspect they were engraved in England.”
[Illustration]
As to whether these cuts were engraved in England or no I shall not
venture to give an opinion. I am, however, satisfied that they were
neither designed nor engraved by the artists who designed and engraved
the cuts in the Apocalypse, the History of the Virgin, and the Poor
Preachers’ Bible. With respect to drawing, expression, and engraving,
the cuts of the Alphabet are decidedly superior to those of every
block-book, and generally to all wood engravings executed previous to
1500, with the exception of such as are by Albert Durer, and those
contained in the Hypnerotomachia, an Italian rhapsody, with wood-cuts
supposed to have been designed by Raffaele or Andrea Mantegna, and
printed by Aldus at Venice, 1499. Although the cuts of the Alphabet may
not have been engraved in England, it is, however, certain that the
volume had been at rather an early period in the possession of an
Englishman. The cover consists of a double fold of thick parchment, on
the inside of which, between the folds, there is written in large old
English characters what I take to be the name “Edwardus Lowes.” On the
blank side of the last leaf there is a sketch of a letter commencing
“Right reverent and wershipfull masters and frynds; In the moste
loweliste maner that I canne or may, I here recomende me, duely glade to
her of yor good prosperitye and welth.” The writing, as I have been
informed, is of the period of Henry VIII; and on the slips of paper and
parchment to which the inner margins of the leaves are pasted are
portions of English manuscripts, which are probably of the same date.
There can, however, be little doubt that the leaves have been mounted,
and the volume covered, about a hundred years subsequent to the
engraving of the cuts.
[Illustration]
I agree with Mr. Ottley in thinking that those cuts were engraved about
the middle of the fifteenth century, but I can perceive nothing in them
to induce me to suppose they were the work of a Dutch artist; and I am
as little inclined to ascribe them to a German. The style of the drawing
is not unlike what we see in illuminated French manuscripts of the
middle of the fifteenth century; and as the only two engraved words
which occur in the volume are French, I am rather inclined to suppose
that the artist who made the drawings was a native of France. The
costume of the female to whom the words are addressed appears to be
French; and the action of the lover kneeling seems almost characteristic
of that nation. No Dutchman certainly ever addressed his mistress with
such an air. He holds what appears to be a ring as gracefully as a
modern Frenchman holds a snuff-box, and upon the scroll before him are
engraved a heart, and the words which he may be supposed to utter, “_Mon
Ame_.” At page 109, is a fac-simile of the cut referred to, the letter
K, of the size of the original, and printed in the same kind of colour.
[Illustration]
Upon the sword-blade in the original cut of the following letter, L,
there is written in small characters, as Mr. Ottley has observed, the
word “_London_;” and in the white space on the right, or upper side, of
the figure lying down, there appears written in the same hand the name
“_Bethemsted_.” In this name the letter B is not unlike a W; and I have
heard it conjectured that the name might be that of John Wethamstede,
abbot of St. Alban’s, who was a great lover of books, and who died in
1440. This conjecture, however, will not hold good, for the letter is
certainly intended for a B; and in the cut of the letter B there is
written “_R. Beths._,” which is in all probability intended for an
abbreviation of the name, “_Bethemsted_,” which occurs in another part
of the book. The ink with which these names are written is nearly of the
same colour as that of the cuts. The characters appear to be of an
earlier date than those on the reverse of the last leaf.
[Illustration]
The cut at page 111, is that of the letter Z, which stands the wrong way
in consequence of its not having been drawn reversed upon the block. The
subject might at first sight be supposed to represent the angel staying
Abraham when about to sacrifice Isaac; but on examining the cut more
closely it will be perceived that the figure which might be mistaken for
an angel is without wings, and appears to be in the act of supplicating
the old man, who with his left hand holds him by the hair.
The opposite cut, which is the last in the book, is an ornamental flower
designed with great freedom and spirit, and surpassing everything of the
kind executed on wood in the fifteenth century. I speak not of the style
of engraving, which, though effective, is coarse; but of the taste
displayed in the drawing. The colour of the cuts on pages 109, 110, 111,
from the late Sir George Beaumont’s book, will give the reader, who has
not had an opportunity of examining the originals, some idea of the
colour in which the cuts of the Apocalypse, the History of the Virgin,
the Poor Preachers’ Bible, and the Speculum, are printed; which in all
of them is a kind of sepia, in some inclining more to a yellow, and in
others more to a brown.
In the volume under consideration we may clearly perceive that the art
of wood engraving had made considerable progress at the time the cuts
were executed. Although there are no attempts at cross-hatching, which
was introduced about 1486, yet the shadows are generally well indicated,
either by thickening the line, or by courses of short parallel lines,
marking the folds of the drapery, or giving the appearance of rotundity
to the figures. The expression of the heads displays considerable
talent, and the wood-engraver who at the present time could design and
execute such a series of figures, would be entitled to no small degree
of commendation. Comparing those cuts with such as are to be seen in
books typographically executed between 1461[II-87] and 1490, it is
surprising that the art of wood engraving should have so materially
declined when employed by printers for the illustration of their books.
The best of the cuts printed with letter-press in the period referred to
are decidedly inferior to the best of the early block-books.
[Footnote II-87: The first book with moveable types and wood-cuts
both printed by means of the press is the Fables printed at
Bamberg, by Albert Pfister, “Am Sant Valentinus tag,” 1461.]
As it would occupy too much space, and would be beyond the scope of the
present treatise to enter into a detail of the contents of all the
block-books noticed by Heineken, I shall give a brief description of
that named “Ars Memorandi,” and conclude the chapter with a list of such
others as are chiefly referred to by bibliographers.
The “ARS MEMORANDI” is considered by Schelhorn[II-88] and by Dr. Dibdin
as one of the earliest block-books, and in their opinion I concur.
Heineken, however,--who states that the style is almost the same as in
the figures of the Apocalypse,--thinks that it is of later date than the
Poor Preachers’ Bible and the History of the Virgin. It is of a quarto
size, and consists of fifteen cuts, with the same number of separate
pages of text also cut on wood, and printed on one side of each leaf
only by means of friction.[II-89] At the foot of each page of text is a
letter of the alphabet, commencing with +a+, indicating the order in
which they are to follow each other. In every cut an animal is
represented,--an eagle, an angel, an ox, or a lion,--emblematic of the
Evangelist whose Gospel is to be impressed on the memory. Each of the
animals is represented standing upright, and marked with various signs
expressive of the contents of the different chapters. To the Gospel of
St. John, with which the book commences, three cuts with as many pages
of text are allotted. St. Matthew has five cuts, and five pages of text.
St. Mark three cuts and three pages of text; and St. Luke four cuts and
four pages of text.[II-90]
[Footnote II-88: “Nostrum vero libellum, cujus gratia hæc præfati
sumus, intrepide, si non primum artis inventæ fœtum, certe inter
primos fuisse asseveramus.”--Amœnitates Literariæ, tom. i. p. 4.]
[Footnote II-89: Heineken had seen two editions of this book, and
he gives fac-similes of their titles, which are evidently from
different blocks. The title at full length is as follows: “_Ars
memorandi notabilis per figuras Ewangelistarum hic ex post
descriptam quam diligens lector diligenter legat et practiset per
signa localia ut in practica experitur_.”--“En horridum et
incomtum dicendi genus, Priscianumque misere vapulantem!” exclaims
Schelhorn.]
[Footnote II-90: Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 394.]
“It is worthy of observation,” says J. C. Von Aretin, in his Essay on
the earliest Results of the Invention of Printing, “that this book,
which the most intelligent bibliographers consider to be one of the
earliest of its kind, should be devoted to the improvement of the
memory, which, though divested of much of its former importance by the
invention of writing, was to be rendered of still less consequence by
the introduction of printing.”[II-91]
[Footnote II-91: Über die frühesten universal historischen Folgen
der Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst, von J. Christ. Freyherrn Von
Aretin, S. 18. 4to. Munich, 1808.]
The first cut is intended to express figuratively the first six chapters
of St. John’s Gospel. The upright eagle is the emblem of the saint, and
the numerals are the references to the chapters. The contents of the
first chapter are represented by the dove perched on the eagle’s head,
and the two faces,--one of an old, the other of a young man,--probably
intended for those of Moses and Christ.[II-92] The lute on the breast of
the eagle, with something like three bells[II-93] suspended from it,
indicate the contents of the second chapter, and are supposed by
Schelhorn to refer to the marriage of Cana. The numeral 3, in
Schelhorn’s opinion, relates to “nonnihil apertum et prosectum circa
ventrem,” which he thinks may be intended as a reference to the words of
Nicodemus: “Nunquid homo senex potest in ventrem matris suæ iterum
introire et renasci?” Between the feet of the eagle is a water-bucket
surmounted by a sort of coronet or crown, intended to represent the
principal events narrated in the 4th chapter, which are Christ’s talking
with the woman of Samaria at the well, and his healing the son of a
nobleman at Capernaum. The 5th chapter is indicated by a fish above the
eagle’s right wing, which is intended to bring to mind the pool of
Bethesda. The principal event related in the 6th chapter, Christ feeding
the multitude, is indicated by the two fishes and five small loaves
above the eagle’s left wing. The cross within a circle, above the
fishes, is emblematic of the consecrated wafer in the Lord’s supper, as
celebrated by the church of Rome.[II-94]
[Footnote II-92: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and
truth came by Jesus Christ.”--St. John’s Gospel, chap. i. v. 17.]
[Footnote II-93: “Forte tamen ea, quæ tintinnabulis haud videntur
dissimilia, nummulariorum loculos et pecuniæ receptacula
referunt.”--Schelhorn, Amœnit. Liter. tom. i. p. 10.]
[Illustration]
The above reduced copy of the cut will afford some idea of the manner in
which the memory is to be assisted in recollecting the first six
chapters of St. John. Those who wish to know more respecting this
curious book are referred to Schelhorn’s Amœnitates Literariæ, tom. i.
pp. 1-17; Heineken, Idée Générale, pp. 394, 395; and to Dr. Dibdin’s
Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. i. p. 4, where a copy is given of the
first cut relating to the Gospel of St. Matthew.
[Footnote II-94: The following are the contents of the first page,
descriptive of the cut: “Evangelium Johannis habet viginti unum
capittula. Primum. In principio erat verbum de eternitate verbi et
de trinitate. Secundum capittulum. Nupcie facte sunt in Chana
Galilee et qualiter Christus subvertit mensas nummulariorum.
Tertium capittulum. Erat antem homo ex Phariseis Nycodemus nomine.
Quartum capittulum. Qualiter Ihesus peciit a muliere Samaritana
bibere circum puteum Jacob et de regulo. Quintum capittulum. De
probatica piscina ubi dixit Ihesus infirmo Tolle grabatum tuum &
vade. Sextum capittulum. De refectione ex quinque panibus & duobus
piscibus Et de ewkaristia.”--Schelhorn, Amœnit. Lit. tom.
i. p. 9.]
Block-books containing both text and figures were executed long after
the introduction of typography, or printing by means of moveable types;
but the cuts in such works are decidedly inferior to those executed at
an earlier period. The book entitled “Die Kunst Cyromantia,”[II-95]
which consists chiefly of text, is printed from wood-blocks on both
sides of each leaf by means of a press. At the conclusion of the title
is the date 1448; but this is generally considered to refer to the
period when the book was written, and not the time when it was engraved.
On the last page is the name: “+jorg schapff zu augspurg+.” If this
George Schapff was a wood-engraver of Augsburg, the style of the cuts in
the book sufficiently declares that he must have been one of the very
lowest class. More wretched cuts were never chiselled out by a printer’s
apprentice as a head-piece to a half-penny ballad.
[Footnote II-95: This work on Palmistry was composed in German by
a Doctor Hartlieb, as is expressed at the beginning: “Das
nachgeschriben buch von der hand hätt zu teutsch gemacht Doctor
Hartlieb.” Specimens of the first and the last pages, and of one
of the cuts, are given in Heineken’s Idée Générale, plates 27 and
28.]
Of the block-book entitled “Ars Moriendi,” Heineken enumerates no less
than seven editions, of which one is printed on both sides of the
leaves, and by means of a press. Besides these he mentions another
edition, impressed on one side of the paper only, in which appear the
following name and date: “+Hans eporer, 1473, hat diss puch pruffmo
er+.”[II-96]
[Footnote II-96: I am of opinion that this is the same person who
executed the cuts for a German edition of the Poor Preachers’
Bible in 1475. His name does not appear; but on a shield of arms
there is a spur, which may be intended as a rebus of the name; in
the same manner as Albert Durer’s surname appears in his coat of
arms, a pair of doors,--_Durer_, or, as his father’s name was
sometimes spelled, _Thurer_.]
Of the book named in German “+Der Entkrist+”--Antichrist--printed from
wood-blocks, Heineken mentions two editions. In that which he considers
the first, containing thirty-nine cuts, each leaf is printed on one side
only by means of friction; in the other, which contains thirty-eight
cuts, is the “brief-maler’s” or wood-engraver’s name: “+Der jung hanss
priffmaler hat das puch zu nurenberg, 1472+.”
At Nuremberg, in the collection of a physician of the name of Treu,
Heineken noticed a small volume in quarto, consisting of thirty-two
wood-cuts of Bible subjects, underneath each of which were fifteen
verses in German, engraved on the same block. Each leaf was printed on
one side only, and the impressions, which were in pale ink, had been
taken by means of friction.
The early wood-engravers, besides books of cuts, executed others
consisting of text only, of which several portions are preserved in
public libraries in Germany,[II-97] France, and Holland; and although it
is certain that block-books continued to be engraved and printed several
years after the invention of typography, there can be little doubt that
editions of the grammatical primer called the “Donatus,” from the name
of its supposed compiler, were printed from wood-blocks previous to the
earliest essays of Gutemberg to print with moveable types. It is indeed
asserted that Gutemberg himself engraved, or caused to be engraved on
wood, a “Donatus” before his grand invention was perfected.
[Footnote II-97: Aretin says that in the Royal Library at Munich
there are about forty books and about a hundred single leaves
printed from engraved wood-blocks.--Über die Folgen, &c. S. 6.]
In the Royal Library at Paris are preserved the two old blocks of a
“Donatus” which are mentioned by Heineken at page 257 of his Idée
Générale. They are both of a quarto form; but as the one contains twenty
lines and the other only sixteen, and as there is a perceptible
difference in the size of the letters, it is probable that they were
engraved for different editions.[II-98] Those blocks were purchased in
Germany by a Monsieur Faucault, and after passing through the hands of
three other book-collectors they came into the possession of the Duke de
la Vallière, at whose sale they were sold for two hundred and thirty
livres. In De Bure’s catalogue of the La Vallière library, impressions
are given from the original blocks. The letters in both those blocks,
though differing in size, are of the same proportions and form; and
Heineken and Fischer consider that they bear a great resemblance to the
characters of Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter, printed with moveable types
in 1457, although the latter are considerably larger.
[Footnote II-98: Meerman had an old block of a Donatus, which was
obtained from the collection of a M. Hubert of Basle, and which
appeared to belong to the same edition as that containing sixteen
lines in the Royal Library at Paris.--Heineken, Idée Générale,
p. 258.]
The art of wood engraving, having advanced from a single figure with
merely a name cut underneath it, to the impression of entire pages of
text, was now to undergo a change. Moveable letters formed of metal, and
wedged together within an iron frame, were to supersede the engraved
page; and impressions, instead of being taken by the slow and tedious
process of friction, were now to be obtained by the speedy and powerful
action of the press. If the art of wood engraving suffered a temporary
decline for a few years after the general introduction of typography, it
was only to revive again under the protecting influence of the PRESS; by
means of which its productions were to be multiplied a hundred fold,
and, instead of being confined to a few towns, were to be disseminated
throughout every part of Europe.