Chapter 13

Fromthe facts which have been produced in the preceding chapter, there cannot be a doubt that the principle on which wood engraving is founded,—that of taking impressions on paper or parchment, with ink, from prominent lines,—was known and practised in attesting documents in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Towards the end of the fourteenth, or about the beginning of the fifteenth century, there is reason to believe that this principle was adopted by the German card-makers for the purpose of marking the outlines of the figures on their cards, which they afterwards coloured by means of a stencil.II.1The period at which the game of cards was first known in Europe, as well as the people by whom they were invented, has been very learnedly, though not very satisfactorily discussed. Bullet has claimed the invention for the French, and Heineken for the Germans; while other writers have maintained that the game was known in Italy earlier than in any other part of Europe, and that it was introduced from the East.From a passage discovered by M. Van Praet, in an old manuscript copy of the romance ofRenard le Contrefait, it appears that cards were known in France about 1340, although Bullet was of opinion that they41were invented in that country about 1376. At whatever period the game was introduced, it appears to have been commonly known in France and Spain towards the latter part of the fourteenth century. John I., King of Castile, by an edict issued in 1387, prohibited the game of cards; and in 1397, the Provost of Paris, by an ordonnance, forbid all working people to play at tennis, bowls, dice,cards, or nine-pins, on working days. From a passage in the Chronicle of Petit-Jehan de Saintré, written previous to 1380, it would appear that the game of cards at that period was in disrepute. Saintré had been one of the pages of Charles V. of France; and on his being appointed, on account of his good conduct, to the situation of carver to the king, the squire who had charge of the pages, lectured some of them on the impropriety of their behaviour; such as playing at dice and cards, keeping bad company, and haunting taverns and cabarets, those not being the courses by which they might hope to arrive at the honourable post of “ecuyer tranchant,” to which their companion, Saintré, had been raised.In an account-book of Charles Poupart, treasurer to Charles VI. of France, there is an entry, made about 1393, of “fifty-six sols of Paris, given to Jacquemin Gringonneur, painter, for three packs of cards, gilt and coloured, and of different sorts, for the diversion of his majesty.” From this passage the learned Jesuit Menestrier, who was not aware of cards being mentioned by any earlier writer, concluded that they were then invented by Gringonneur to amuse the king, who, in consequence of acoup de soleil, had been attacked with delirium, which had subsided into an almost continual depression of spirits. There, however, can be no doubt that cards were known in France at least fifty years before; though, from their being so seldom noticed previous to 1380, it appears likely that the game was but little played until after that period. Whether the figures on the cards supplied for the king’s amusement were drawn and coloured by the hand, or whether the outlines were impressed from wood-blocks, and coloured by means of a stencil, it is impossible to ascertain; though it has been conjectured that, from the smallness of the sum paid for them, they were of the latter description. That cards were cheap in 1397, however they might be manufactured, may be presumed from the fact of their being then in the hands of the working people.To whatever nation the invention of cards is owing, it appears that the Germans were the first who practised card-making as a trade. In 1418 the name of a “Kartenmacher”—card-maker—occurs in the burgess-book of the city of Augsburg; and in an old rate-book of the city of Nuremburg, under the year 1433, we find “Ell. Kartenmacherin;” that is, Ell.—probably for Elizabeth—the card-maker. In the same book, under the year 1435, the name of “Eliz. Kartenmacherin,” probably42the same person, is to be found; and in 1438 there occurs the name “Margret Kartenmalerin”—Margaret the card-painter. It thus appears that the earliest card-makers who are mentioned as living at Nuremberg were females; and it is worthy of note that the Germans seem to have called cards “Karten” before they gave them the name of “Briefe.” Heineken, however, considers that they were first known in Germany by the latter name; for, as he claimed the invention for his countrymen, he was unwilling to admit that the name should be borrowed either from Italy or France. He has not, however, produced anything like proof in support of his opinion, which is contradicted by the negative evidence of history.II.2The nameBriefe, which the Germans give to cards, also signifies letters [epistolæ]. The meaning of the word, however, is rather more general than the French termlettres, or the Latinepistolæwhich he gives as its synonyms, for it is also applied in the sense in which we sometimes use the word “paper.” For instance, “ein Brief Stecknadeln, ein Brief Tabak,” are literally translated by the words “apaperof pins, apaperof tobacco;” in which sense the word “Brief” would, in Latin, be more correctly rendered by the termchartathanepistola. As it is in a similar sense—cognate with “paper,” as used in the two preceding examples—that “Briefe” is applied to cards, I am inclined to consider it as a translation of the Latinchartaæ, the Italiancarte, or the Frenchcartes, and hence to conclude that the invention of cards does not belong to the people of Germany, who appear to have received cards, both “name and thing,” from another nation, and after some time to have given them a name in their own language.In the town-books of Nuremberg, the termFormschneider—figure-cutter,—the name appropriated to engravers on wood, first occurs in 1449;II.3and as it is found in subsequent years mentioned in the same page with “Kartenmaler,” it seems reasonable to conclude that in 1449, and probably earlier, the business of the wood-engraver proper, and that of the card-maker, were distinct. The primary meaning of the wordformorformais almost precisely the same in most of the European languages.43It has erroneously been explained, in its relation to wood engraving, as signifying amould, whereas it simply means a shape or figure. The model of wood which the carpenter makes for the metal-founder is properly aform, and from it the latter prepares his mould in the sand. The wordform, however, in course of time declined from its primary signification, and came to be used as expressive both of a model and a mould. The termFormschneider, which was originally used to distinguish the professed engraver of figures from the mere engraver and colourer of cards, is still used in Germany to denote what we term a wood-engraver.About the time that the termFormschneiderfirst occurs we findBriefmalersmentioned, and at a later periodBriefdruckers—card-printers; and, though there evidently was a distinction between the two professions, yet we find that between 1470 and 1500 theBriefmalersnot only engraved figures occasionally, but also printed books. TheFormschneidersand theBriefmalers, however, continued to form but one guild or fellowship till long after the art of wood-engraving had made rapid strides towards perfection, under the superintendence of such masters as Durer, Burgmair, and Holbein, in the same manner as the barbers and surgeons in our own country continued to form but one company, though the “chirurgeon had long ceased to trim beards and cut hair, and the barber had given up bleeding and purging to devote himself more exclusively to the ornamental branch of his original profession.” “KartenmacherandKartenmaler” says Von Murr, “orBriefmaler, as they were afterwards called [1473], were known in Germany eighty years previous to the invention of book-printing. The Kartenmacher was originally a Formschneider, though, after the practice of cutting figures of saints and of sacred subjects was introduced, a distinction began to be established between the two professions.”The German card-makers of Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Ulm, it is stated, sent large quantities of cards into Italy; and it was probably against those foreign manufacturers that the fellowship of painters at Venice obtained an order in 1441 from the magistracy, declaring that no foreign manufactured cards, or printed coloured figures, should be brought into the city, under the penalty of forfeiting such articles, and of being fined xxx liv. xii soldi. This order was made in consequence of a petition presented by the Venetian painters, wherein they set forth that “the art and mystery of card-making and of printing figures, which were practised in Venice, had fallen into total decay through the great quantity of foreign playing-cards and coloured printed figures, which were brought into the city.”II.4It is hence evident that the art both of the German44Kartenmacherand of theFormschneiderwas practised in Venice in 1441; and, as it is then mentioned as being in decay, it no doubt was practised there some time previously.Heineken, in his “Neue Nachrichten,” gives an extract from a MS. chronicle of the city of Ulm, completed in 1474, to the following effect: “Playing-cards were sentbarrelwise[that is, in small casks] into Italy, Sicily, and also over sea, and exchanged for spices and other wares. From this we may judge of the number of card-makers who resided here.” The preceding passage occurs in the index, under the head, “Business of card-making.” Heineken also gives the passage in his “Idée Générale,” p. 245; but from the French translation, which he there gives, it appears that he had misunderstood the word “leglenweiss”—barrelwise—which he renders “en ballots.” In his “Neue Nachrichten,” however, he inserts the explanation between parentheses, (“das ist, in kleinen Fässern”)—i. e. in small casks; which Mr. Singer renders “hogsheads,” and Mr. Ottley, though he gives the original in a note, “large bales.” The word “lägel,” a barrel, is obsolete in Germany, but its diminutive, “leglin,”—as if “lägelen”—is still used in Scotland for the name of the ewe-milker’skit.Some writers have been of opinion that the art of wood-engraving was derived from the practice of the ancient caligraphists and illuminators of manuscripts, who sometimes formed their large capital letters by means of a stencil or of a wooden stamp. That large capitals were formed in such a manner previous to the year 1400 there can be little doubt; and it has been thought that stencils and stamps were used not only for the formation of capital letters, but also for the impression of a whole volume. Ihre, in a dissertation on the Gospels of Ulphilas,II.5which are supposed to be as old as the fifth century, has asserted that the silver letters of the text on a purple ground were impressed by means of heated iron stamps. This, however, is denied by the learned compilers of the “Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique,” who had seen other volumes of a similar kind, the silver letters of which were evidently formed with a pen. A modern Italian author, D. Vincenzo Requeno, has published a tractII.6to prove that many supposed manuscripts from the tenth to the fourteenth century, instead of being written with a pen, were actually impressed by means of stamps. It is, however, extremely45probable that he is mistaken; for if his pretended discoveries were true, this art of stamping must have been very generally practised; and if so, it surely would have been mentioned by some contemporary writers. Signor Requeno’s examination, I am inclined to suspect, has not been sufficiently precise; for he seems to have been too willing to find what he sought. In almost every collection that he examined, a pair of fine compasses being the test which he employed, he discovered voluminous works on vellum, hitherto supposed to be manuscript, but which according to his measurement were certainly executed by means of a stamp.It has been conjectured that the art of wood-engraving was employed on sacred subjects, such as the figures of saints and holy persons, before it was applied to the multiplication of those “books of Satan,” playing-cards. It however is not unlikely that it was first employed in the manufacture of cards; and that the monks, availing themselves of the same principle, shortly afterwards employed the art of wood-engraving for the purpose of circulating the figures of saints; thus endeavouring to supply a remedy for the evil, and extracting from the serpent a cure for his bite.Wood-cuts of sacred subjects were known to the common people of Suabia, and the adjacent districts, by the name ofHelgenorHelglein, a corruption of Heiligen, saints;—a word which in course of time they used to signify prints—estampes—generally.II.7In France the same kind of cuts, probably stencil-coloured, were called “dominos,”—the affinity of which name with the German Helgen is obvious. The word “domino” was subsequently used as a name for coloured or marbled paper generally, and the makers of such paper, as well as the engravers and colourers of wood-cuts, were called “dominotiers.”II.8As might,à priori, be concluded, supposing the Germans to have been the first who applied wood-engraving to card-making, the earliest wood-cuts have been discovered, and in the greatest abundance, in that district where we first hear of the business of a card-maker and a wood-engraver. From a convent, situated within fifty miles of the city of Augsberg, where, in 1418, the first mention of a Kartenmacher occurs, has been obtained the earliest wood-cut known,—the St. Christopher, now in the possession of Earl Spencer, with the date 1423. That this was the first cut of the kind we have no reason to suppose; but though others executed in a similar manner are known, to not one of them, upon anything like probable grounds, can a higher degree of antiquity be46assigned. From 1423, therefore, as from a known epoch, the practice of wood engraving, as applied to pictorial representations, may be dated.see textThe first person who published an account of this most interesting wood-cut was Heineken, who had inspected a greater number of old wood-cuts and block-books than any other person, and whose unwearied perseverance in searching after, and general accuracy in describing such early specimens of the art of wood-engraving, are beyond all praise. He found it pasted on the inside of the right-hand cover of a manuscript volume in the library of the convent of Buxheim, near Memmingen in Suabia. The manuscript, entitledLaus VirginisII.9and finished in 1417,47was left to the convent by Anna, canoness of Buchaw, who was living in 1427; but who probably died previous to 1435. The above reduced copy conveys a pretty good idea of the composition and style of engraving of the original cut, which is of a folio size, being eleven and a quarter inches high, and eight inches and one-eighth wide.II.10The original affords a specimen of the combined talents of the Formschneider or wood-engraver, and the Briefmaler or card-colourer. The engraved portions, such as are here represented, have been taken off in dark colouring matter similar to printers’ ink, after which the impression appears to have been coloured by means of a stencil. As the back of the cut cannot be seen, in consequence of its being pasted on the cover of the volume, it cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty whether the impression has been taken by means of a press, orrubbed offfrom the block by means of a burnisher or rubber, in a manner similar to that in which wood-engravers of the present day take their proofs.This cut is much better designed than the generality of those which we find in books typographically executed from 1462, the date of the Bamberg Fables, to 1493, when the often-cited Nuremberg Chronicle was printed. Amongst the many coarse cuts which “illustrate” the latter, and which are announced in the book itselfII.11as having been “got up” under the superintendence of Michael Wolgemuth, Albert Durer’s master, and William Pleydenwurff, both “most skilful in the art of painting,” I cannot find a single subject which either for spirit or feeling can be compared to the St. Christopher. In fact, the figure of the saint, and that of the youthful Christ whom he bears on his shoulders, are, with the exception of the extremities, designed in such a style, that they would scarcely discredit Albert Durer himself.To the left of the engraving the artist has introduced, with a noble disregard of perspective,II.12what Bewick would have called a “bit of Nature.” In the foreground a figure is seen driving an ass loaded with48a sack towards a water-mill; while by a steep path a figure, perhaps intended for the miller, is seen carrying a full sack from the back-door of the mill towards a cottage. To the right is seen a hermit—known by the bell over the entrance of his dwelling—holding a large lantern to direct St. Christopher as he crosses the stream. The two verses at the foot of the cut,Cristofori faciem die quacunque tueris,Illa nempe die morte mala non morieris,may be translated as follows:Each day that thou the likeness of St. Christopher shalt see,That day no frightful form of death shall make an end of thee.They allude to a popular superstition, common at that period in all Catholic countries, which induced people to believe that the day on which they should see a figure or image of St. Christopher, they should not meet with a violent death, nor die without confession.II.13To this popular superstition Erasmus alludes in his “Praise of Folly;” and it is not unlikely, that to his faith in this article of belief, the squire, in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” wore“A Christofre on his brest, of silver shene.”The date “Millesimo ccccoxxotercio”—1423—which is seen at the right-hand corner, at the foot of the impression, most undoubtedly designates the year in which the engraving was made.The engraving, though coarse, is executed in a bold and free manner; and the folds of the drapery are marked in a style which would do credit to a proficient. The whole subject, though expressed by means of few lines, is not executed in the very simplest style of art. In the draperies a diminution and a thickening of the lines, where necessary to the effect, may be observed; and the shades are indicated by means of parallel lines both perpendicular, oblique, and curved, as may be seen in the saint’s robe and mantle. In many of the wood-cuts executed between 1462 and 1500, the figures are expressed, and the drapery indicated, by simple lines of one undeviating degree of thickness, without the slightest attempt at shading by means of parallel lines running in a direction different to those marking the folds of the drapery or the outlines of the figure. If mere rudeness of design, and simplicity in the mode of execution, were to be considered as the sole tests of antiquity in wood-engravings, upwards of a hundred, positively known to have been executed between 1470 and 1500, might be produced as affording intrinsic evidence of their having been executed at a period antecedent to the date of the St. Christopher.49In the Royal Library at Paris there is an impression of St. Christopher with the youthful Christ, which was supposed to be a duplicate of that in the possession of Earl Spencer. On comparing them, however, “it was quite evident,” says Dr. Dibdin, “at the first glance, as M. Du Chesne admitted, that they were impressions taken fromdifferent blocks. The question therefore was, after a good deal of pertinacious argument on both sides—which of the two impressions was the more ancient? Undoubtedly it was that of Lord Spencer.” At first Dr. Dibdin thought that the French impression was a copy of Earl Spencer’s, and that it might be as old as the year 1460; but, from a note added in the second edition of his tour, he seems to have received a new light. He there says: “The reasons upon which this conclusion [that the French cut was a copy of a later date] was founded, are stated at length in the preceding edition of this work: since which, I very strongly incline to the supposition that the Paris impression is aproof—of one of thecheatsofDe Murr.”II.14On the inside of the first cover or “board” of the Laus Virginis, the volume which contains the St. Christopher, there is also pasted a wood engraving of the Annunciation, of a similar size to the above-named cut, and impressed on the same kind of paper. As they are both worked off in the same kind of dark-coloured ink, and as they evidently have been coloured in the same manner, by means of a stencil, there can be little doubt of their being executed about the same time. From the left-hand corner of the Annunciation the figure of the Almighty has been torn out. The Holy Ghost, who appears descending from the Father upon the Virgin in the material form of a dove, could not well be torn out without greatly disfiguring the cut. An idea may be formed of the original from the following reduced copy.see textRespecting these cuts, which in all probability were engraved by some one of the Formschneiders of Augsburg, Ulm, or Nuremberg,II.1550P. Krismer, who was librarian of the convent of Buxheim, and who showed the volume in which they are pasted to Heineken, writes to Von Murr to the following effect: “It will not be superfluous if I here point out a mark, by which, in my opinion, old wood engravings may with certainty be distinguished from those of a later period. It is this: In the oldest wood-cuts only do we perceive that the engraver [Formschneider] has frequently omitted certain parts, leaving them to be afterwards filled up by the card-colourer [Briefmaler]. In the St. Christopher there is no such deficiency, although there is in the other cut which is pasted on the inside of the fore covering of the same volume, and which, I doubt not, was executed at the same time as the former. It represents the salutation of the Virgin by the angel Gabriel, or, as it is also called, the Annunciation; and, from the omission of the colours, the upper part51of the body of the kneeling Virgin appears naked, except where it is covered with her mantle. Her inner dress had been left to be added by the pencil of the card-colourer. In another wood-cut of the same kind, representing St. Jerome doing penance before a small crucifix placed on a hill, we see with surprise that the saint, together with the instruments of penance, which are lying near him, and a whole forest beside, are suspended in the air without anything to support them, as the whole of the ground had been left to be inserted with the pencil. Nothing of this kind is to be seen in more recent wood-cuts, when the art had made greater progress. What the early wood-engravers could not readily effect with the graver, they performed with the pencil,—for the most part in a very coarse and careless manner,—as they were at the same time both wood-engravers and card-colourers.”II.16Besides the St. Christopher and the Annunciation, there is another old wood-cut in the collection of Earl Spencer which appears to belong to the same period, and which has in all probability been engraved by a German artist, as all who can read the German inscription above the figure would reasonably infer. Before making any remarks on this engraving, I shall first lay before the reader a reduced copy.The figure writing is that of St. Bridget of Sweden, who was born in 1302 and died in 1373. From the representation of the Virgin with the infant Christ in her arms we may suppose that the artist intended to show the pious widow writing an account of her visions or revelations, in which she was often favoured with the blessed Virgin’s appearance. The pilgrim’s hat, staff, and scrip may allude to her pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which she was induced to make in consequence of a vision. The letters S. P. Q. R. in a shield, are no doubt intended to denote the place, Rome, where she saw the vision, and where she died. The lion, the arms of Sweden, and the crown at her feet, are most likely intended to denote that she was a princess of the blood royal of that kingdom. The words above the figure of the saint are a brief invocation in the German language, “O Brigita bit Got für uns!” “O Bridget, pray to God for us!” At the foot of the desk at which St. Bridget is writing are the lettersM. I. Chrs., an abbreviation probably of Mater Jesu Christi, or if German, Mutter Iesus Christus.II.17see textFrom the appearance of the back of this cut, as if it had been rubbed52smooth with a burnisher or rubber, there can be little doubt of the impression having been taken by means of friction. The colouring matter of the engraving is much lighter than in the St. Christopher and the Annunciation, and is like distemper or water-colour; while that of the latter cuts appears, as has been already observed, more like printer’s ink. It is coarsely coloured, and apparently by the hand, unassisted with the stencil. The face and hands are of a flesh colour. Her gown, as well as the pilgrim’s hat and scrip, are of a dark grey; her veil, which she wears hoodwise, is partly black and partly white; and the wimple which she wears round her neck is also white. The bench and desk, the pilgrim’s staff, the letters S. P. Q. R., the lion, the crown, and the nimbus53surrounding the head of St. Bridget and that of the Virgin, are yellow. The ground is green, and the whole cut is surrounded with a border of a shining mulberry or lake colour.Mr. Ottley, having at the very outset of his Inquiry adopted Papillon’s story of the Cunio, is compelled, for consistency’s sake, in the subsequent portion of his work, when speaking of early wood engravings such as the above, to consider them, not as the earliest known specimens of the art, but merely as wood engravings such as were produced upwards of a hundred and thirty years after the amiable and accomplished Cunio, a mere boy and a girl, had in Italy produced a set of wood engravings, one of which was so well composed that Le Brun might be suspected of having borrowed from it the design of one of his most complicated pictures. In his desire, in support of his theory, to refer the oldest wood-cuts to Italy, Mr. Ottley asks: “What if these two prints [the St. Christopher and the Annunciation] should prove to be, not the productions of Germany, but rather of Venice, or of some district of the territory then under the dominion of that republic?”His principal reasons for the preceding conjecture, are the ancient use of the wordstampide—“printed”—in the Venetian decree against the introduction of foreign playing-cards in 1441; and the resemblance which the Annunciation bears to the style of the early Italian schools. Now, with respect to the first of these reasons, it is founded on the assumption that both those impressions have been obtained by means of a press of some kind or other,—a fact which remains yet to be proved; for until the backs of both shall have been examined, and the mark of the burnisher or rubber found wanting, no person’s mere opinion, however confidently declared, can be decisive of the question. It also remains to be proved that the wordstampide, which occurs in the Venetian decree, was employed there to signify “printed with a press.” For it is certain that the low Latin wordstampare, with its cognates in the different languages of Europe, was used at that period to denoteimpressiongenerally. But even supposing that “stampide” signifies “printed” in the modern acceptation of the word, and that the two impressions in question were obtained by means of a press; the argument in favour of their being Italian would gain nothing, unless we assume that theforeignprinted cards and figures, which were forbid to be imported into Venice, were produced either within the territory of that state or in Italy; for the wordstampide—“printed,” is applied to them as well as those manufactured within the city. Now we know that the German card-makers used to send great quantities of cards to Venice about the period when the decree was made, while we have no evidence of any Italian cities manufacturing cards for exportation in 1441; it is therefore most likely that if the Venetians were acquainted with the use54of the press in taking impressions from wood-blocks, the Germans were so too, and for these more probable reasons, admitting the cuts in question to have been printed by means of a press:—First, the fact of those wood-cuts being discovered in Germany in the very district where we first hear of wood-engravers; and secondly, that if the Venetian wood-engravers were acquainted with the use of the press in taking impressions while the Germans were not, it is very unlikely that the latter would be able to undersell the Venetians in their own city. Until something like a probable reason shall be given for supposing the cuts in question to be productions “of Venice, or some other district of the territory then under the dominion of that republic,” I shall continue to believe that they were executed in the district in which they were discovered, and which has supplied to the collections of amateurs so many old wood engravings of a similar kind. No wood engravings executed in Italy, are known of a date earlier than those contained in the “Meditationes Johannis de Turre-cremata,” printed at Rome 1467,—and printed, be it observed, by a German, Ulrick Hahn. The circular wood engravings in the British Museum,II.18which Mr. Ottley says are indisputably Italian, and of the old dry taste of the fifteenth century, can scarcely be referred to an earlier period than 1500, and my own opinion is that they are not older than 1510. The manner in which they are engraved is that which we find prevalent in Italian wood-cuts executed between 1500 and 1520.With respect to the resemblance which the Annunciation bears to the style of the early Italian school,—I beg to observe that it equally resembles many of the productions of contemporary “schools” of England and France, as displayed in many of the drawings contained in old illuminated manuscripts. It would be no difficult matter to point out in many old German engravings attitudes at least as graceful as the Virgin’s; and as to her drapery, which is said to be “wholly unlike the angular sharpness, the stiffness and the flutter of the ancient German school,” I beg to observe that those peculiarities are not of so frequent occurrence in the works of German artists, whether sculptors, painters, or wood-engravers, who lived before 1450, as in the works of those who lived after that period. Angular sharpness and flutter in the draperies are not so characteristic of early German art generally, as of German art towards the end of the fifteenth, and in the early part of the sixteenth century.55Even the St. Bridget, which he considers to be of a date not later than the close of the fourteenth century,II.19Mr. Ottley, with a German inscription before his eyes, is inclined to give to an artist of the Low Countries; and he kindly directs the attention of Coster’s partisans to the shield of arms—probably intended for those of Sweden—at the right-hand corner of the cut. Meerman had discovered a seal, having in the centre a shield charged with a lion rampant—the bearing of the noble family of Brederode—a label of three points, and the mark of illegitimacy—a bend sinister, and surrounded by the inscription, “S[igillum] Lowrens Janssoen,” which with him was sufficient evidence of its being the identical seal of Laurence, the Coster or churchwarden of Harlem.II.20We thus perceive on what grounds the right of Germany to three of the oldest wood-cuts known is questioned; and upon what traits of resemblance they are ascribed to Italy and the Low Countries. By adopting Mr. Ottley’s mode of reasoning, it might be shown with equal probability that a very considerable number of early wood engravings—whether printed in books or separately—hitherto believed to be German, were really executed in Italy.An old wood engraving of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, of a quarto size, with a short prayer underneath, and the date 1437, apparently from the same block, was preserved in the monastery of St. Blaze, in the Black Forest on the confines of Suabia;II.21and another, with the date 1443 inserted in manuscript, was pasted in a volume belonging to the library of the monastery of Buxheim. The latter is thus described by Von Murr: “Through the kindness of the celebrated librarian, Krismer, whom I have so often mentioned, I am enabled to give an account of an illuminated wood-cut, which at the latest must have been engraved in 1443. It is pasted on the inside of the cover of a volume which contains ‘Nicolai DunkelspülII.22Sermonum Partem Hyemalem.’ It is of quarto56size, being seven and a half inches high, and five and a quarter wide, and is inclosed within a border of a single line. It is much soiled, as we perceive in the figures on cards which have been impressed by means of a rubber. The style in which it is executed is like that of no other wood-cut which I have ever seen. The cut itself represents three different subjects, the upper part of it being divided into two compartments, each three inches square, and separated from each other by means of a broad perpendicular line. In that to the right is seen St. Dorothy sitting in a garden, with the youthful Christ presenting flowers to her, of which she has her lap full. Before her stands a small hand-basket,—also full of flowers,—such as the ladies of Franconia and Suabia were accustomed to carry in former times. In the left compartment is seen St. Alexius, lying at the foot of a flight of steps, upon which a man is standing and emptying the contents of a pot upon the saint.II.23Between these compartments there appears in manuscript the date ‘anno d’ni 1443.’ Both the ink and the characters correspond with those of the volume. This date indicates the time when the writer had finished the book and got it bound, as is more clearly proved by a memorandum at the conclusion. In the year 1483, before it came into the possession of the monastery of Buxheim, it belonged to Brother Jacobus Matzenberger, of the order of the Holy Ghost, and curate of the church of the Virgin Mary in Memmingen. The whole of the lower part of the cut is occupied with Christ bearing his cross, at the moment that he meets with his mother, whom one of the executioners appears to be driving away. Simon of Cyrene is seen assisting Christ to carry the cross. The engraving is executed in a very coarse manner.”II.24In the Royal Library at Paris there is an ancient wood-cut of St. Bernardin, who is represented on a terrace, the pavement of which consists of alternate squares of yellow, red, and green. In his right hand the saint holds something resembling the consecrated wafer or host, in the midst of which is inscribed the name of Christ; and in his left a kind of oblong casket, on which are the words “Vide, lege, dulce nomen.” Upon a scroll above the head of the saint is engraved the sentence, “Ihesus semper sit in ore meo,” and behind him, on a black label, is his name in yellow letters, “Sanct’ Bernard’.” The cut is surrounded by a border of foliage, with the emblems of the four Evangelists at the four corners, and57at the foot are the five following lines, with the date, impressed from prominent lines:—O . splendor . pudicitie . zelator . paupertatis . amator. innocentie . cultor . virginitatis .lustracors . apientie. protector . veritatis . thronum . fulgidum . eterne . majestatis . paranobis . additum . divine . pietatis . amen. (1454)This rare cut was communicated to Jansen by M. Vanpraet, the well-known bibliographer and keeper of the Royal Library.II.25“Having visited in my last tour,” says Heineken, after describing the St. Christopher, “a great many convents in Franconia, Suabia, Bavaria, and in the Austrian states, I everywhere discovered in their libraries many of those kinds of figures, engraved on wood, and pasted either at the beginning or the end of old volumes of the fifteenth century. I have indeed obtained several of them. These facts, taken altogether, have confirmed me in my opinion that the next step of the engraver in wood, after playing-cards, was to engrave figures of saints, which, being distributed and lost among the laity, were in part preserved by the monks, who pasted them in the earliest printed books with which they furnished their libraries.”II.26A great many wood-cuts of devotional subjects, of a period probably anterior to the invention of book-printing by Gutenberg, have been discovered in Germany. They are all executed in a rude style, and many of them are coloured. It is not unlikely that the most of these woodcuts were executed at the instance of the monks for distribution among the common people as helps to devotion; and that each monastery, which might thus avail itself of the aid of wood engraving in the work of piety, would cause to be engraved the figure of its patron saint. The practice, in fact, of distributing such figures at monasteries and shrines to those who visit them, is not yet extinct on the Continent. In Belgium it is still continued, and, I believe, also in Germany, France, and Italy. The figures, however, are not generally impressions from wood-blocks, but are for the most part wholly executed by means of stencils. One of the latter class, representing the shrine of “Notre Dame de Hal,”—coloured in the most wretched taste with brick-dust red and shining green,—is58now lying before me. It was given to a gentleman who visited Halle, near Brussels, in 1829. It is nearly of the same size as many of the old devotional wood-cuts of Germany, being about four inches high, by two and three-quarters wide.II.27The next step in the progress of wood engraving, subsequent to the production of single cuts, such as the St. Christopher, the Annunciation, and the St. Bridget, in each of which letters are sparingly introduced, was the application of the art to the production of those works which are known to bibliographers by the name ofBLOCK-BOOKS: the most celebrated of which are the Apocalypsis, seu Historia Sancti Johannis; the Historia Virginis ex Cantico Canticorum; and the Biblia Pauperum. The first is a history, pictorial and literal, of the life and revelations of St. John the Evangelist, derived in part from the traditions of the church, but chiefly from the book of Revelations. The second is a similar history of the Virgin, as it is supposed to be typified in the Songs of Solomon; and the third consists of subjects representing some of the most important passages in the Old and New Testament, with texts either explaining the subject, or enforcing the example of duty which it may afford. With the above, the Speculum Humanæ Salvationis is usually, though improperly, classed, as the whole of the text, in that which is most certainly the first edition, is printed from movable metal types. In the others the explanatory matter is engraved on wood, on the same block with the subject to which it refers.All the above books have been claimed by Meerman and other Dutch writers for their countryman, Laurence Coster: and although no date, either impressed or manuscript, has been discovered in any one copy from which the period of its execution might be ascertained,II.28yet such appears to have been the clearness of the intuitive light which guided those authors, that they have assigned to each work the precise year in which it appeared. According to Seiz, the History of the Old and New Testament, otherwise called the Biblia Pauperum, appeared in 1432; the History of the Virgin in 1433; the Apocalypse in 1434; and the Speculum in 1439. For such assertions, however, he has not the slightest ground. That the three first might appear at some period between 1430 and 1450, is not unlikely;II.29but that the Speculum—the text of which59in the first edition was printed from metal types—should be printed before 1460, is in the highest degree improbable.Upon extremely slight grounds it has been conjectured that the Biblia Pauperum, the Apocalypse, and the Ars Moriendi,—another block-book,—were engraved before the year 1430. The Rev. T. H. Horne, “a gentleman long and well known for his familiar acquaintance with books printed abroad,” says Dr. Dibdin, “had a copy of each of the three books above mentioned, bound in one volume, upon the cover of which the following words were stamped: Hic liber relegatus fuit per Plebanum. ecclesie”—with the date, according to the best of the Rev. Mr. Horne’s recollection, 142(8). As he had broken up the volume, and had parted with the contents, he gave the above information on the strength of his memory alone. He was, however, confident that “the binding was the ancient legitimate one, and that the treatises had not been subsequently introduced into it, and that the date was 142 odd; but positively anterior to 1430.”II.30In such a case as this, however, mere recollection cannot be admitted as decisive of the fact, more especially when we know the many instances in which mistakes have been committed in reading the numerals in ancient dates. At page 88 of his Inquiry, Mr. Ottley, catching at every straw that may help to support his theory of wood engraving having been practised by the Cunio and others in the fourteenth century, refers to a print which a Monsieur Thierry professed to have seen at Lyons, inscribed “Schoting of Nuremberg,” with the date 1384; and at p. 256 he alludes to it again in the following words: “The date 1384 on the wood-cut preserved at Lyons, said to have been executed at Nuremberg, appears, I know not why, to have been suspected.” It has been more than suspected; for, on examination, it has been found to be 1584. Paul Von Stettin published an account of a Biblia Pauperum, the date of which he supposed to be 1414; but which, when closely examined, was found to be 1474: and Baron Von Hupsch, of Cologne, published in 1787 an account of some wood-cuts which he supposed to have been executed in 1420; but which, in the opinion of Breitkopf, were part of the cuts of a Biblia Pauperum, in which it was probably intended to give the60explanations in moveable types underneath the cuts, and probably of a later date than 1470.II.31It is surprising that the Rev. Mr. Horne, who is no incurious observer of books, but an author who has written largely on Bibliography, should not have carefully copied so remarkable a date, or communicated it to a friend, when it might have been confirmed by a careful examination of the binding; and still more surprising is it that such binding should have been destroyed. From the very fact of his not having paid more particular attention to this most important date, and from his having permitted the evidence of it to be destroyed, the Rev. Mr. Horne seems to be an incompetent witness. Who would think of calling a person to prove from recollection the date of an old and important deed, who, when he had it in his possession, was so little aware of its value as to throw it away? The three books in question, when covered by such a binding, would surely be much greater than when bound in any other manner. Such a volume must have been unique; and, if the date on the binding were correct, it must have been admitted as decisive of a fact interesting to every bibliographer in Europe. It is not even mentioned in what kind of numerals the date was expressed, whether in Roman or Arabic. If the numerals had been Arabic, we might very reasonably suppose that the Rev. Mr. Horne had mistaken a seven for a two, and that, instead of “142 odd,” the correct date was “147 odd.” In Arabic numerals, such as were used about the middle of the fifteenth century, the seven may very easily be mistaken for a two.The earliest ancient binding known, on which a date is impressed, is, I believe, that described by Laire.II.32It is that of a copy of “Sancti Hieronymi Epistolæ;” and the words, in the same manner as that of the binding of which the Rev. Mr. Horne had so accurate a recollection, were “stamped at the extremity of the binding, towards the edge of the squares.” It is only necessary to cite the words impressed on one of the boards, which were as follows:“Illigatus est Anno Domini 1469Per me JohannemRichenbach CapellanumIn Gyslingen.”II.33The numerals of the date it is to be observed were Arabic. In the library of Dr. Kloss of Frankfort, sold in London by Sotheby and Son in 1835, were two volumes, “St. Augustini de Civitat. Dei, Libri xxii.611469,” and “St. Augustini Confessiones” of the same date; both of which were bound by “Johannes Capellanus in Gyslingen,” and who in the same manner had impressed his name on the covers with the date 1470. Both volumes had belonged to “Dominus Georgius Ruch de Gamundia.”II.34That the volume formerly in the Rev. Mr. Horne’s possession was bound by the curate of Geisslingen I by no means pretend to say, though I am firmly of opinion that it was bound subsequent to 1470, and that the character which he supposed to be a two was in reality a different figure. It is worthy of remark that it appears to have been bound by the “Plebanus” of some church, a word which is nearly synonymous with “Capellanus.”II.35As it does not come within the plan of the present volume to give a catalogue of all the subjects contained in the block-books to which it may be necessary to refer as illustrating the progress of wood engraving, I shall confine myself to a general notice of the manner in which the cuts are executed, with occasional observations on the designs, and such remarks as may be likely to explain any peculiarity of appearance, or to enable the reader to form a distinct idea of the subject referred to.At whatever period the Apocalypse, the History of the Virgin, and the Biblia Pauperum may have been executed, the former has the appearance of being the earliest; and in the absence of everything like proof upon the point, and as the style in which it is engraved is certainly more simple than that of the other two, it seems entitled to be first noticed in tracing the progress of the art.Of the Apocalypse,—or “Historia Sancti Johannis Evangelistæ ejusque Visiones Apocalypticæ,” as it is mostly termed by bibliographers, for the book itself has no title,—Heineken mentions no less than six editions, the earliest of which he considers to be that described by him at page 367 of his “Idée Générale d’une Collection complète d’Estampes.” He, however, declares that the marks by which he has assigned to each edition its comparative antiquity are not infallible. It is indeed very evident that the marks which he assumed as characteristic of the relative order of the different editions were merely arbitrary, and could by no means be admitted as of the slightest consequence in enabling any62person to form a correct opinion on the subject. He notices two editions as the first and second, and immediately after he mentions a circumstance which might almost entitle the third to take precedence of them both; and that which he saw last he thinks the oldest of all. The designs of the second edition described by him, he says, are by another master than those of the first, although the artist has adhered to the same subjects and the same ideas. The third, according to his observations, differs from the first and second, both in the subjects and the descriptive text. The fourth edition is from the same blocks as the third; the only difference between them being, that the fourth is without the letters in alphabetical order which indicate the succession of the cuts. The fifth differed from the third or fourth only in the text and the directing letters, as the designs were the same; the only variations that could be observed being extremely trifling. After having described five editions of the book, he decides that a sixth, which he saw after the others, ought to be considered the earliest of all.II.36In all the copies which he had seen, the impressions had been taken by means of a rubber, in such a manner that each leaf contained only one engraving; the other side, which commonly bore the marks of the rubber, being without a cut. The impressions when collected into a volume faced each other, so that the first and last pages were blank.The edition of the Apocalypse to which I shall now refer is that described by Heineken, at page 364, as the fifth; and the copy is that mentioned by him, at page 367, as then being in the collection of M. de Gaignat, and as wanting two cuts, Nos. 36 and 37. It is at present in the King’s Library at the British Museum.It is a thin folio in modern red morocco binding, and has, when perfect, consisted of fifty wood engravings, with their explanatory text also cut in wood, generally within an oblong border of a single line, within thefieldof the engraving, and not added underneath, as in the Speculum Salvationis, nor in detached compartments, both above and below, as in the Biblia Pauperum. The paper, which is somewhat of a cream colour, is stout, with rather a coarse surface, and such as we find the most ancient books printed on. As each leaf has been pasted down on another of modern paper, in order to preserve it, the marks of the rubber at the back of each impression, as described by Heineken, cannot be seen.see textThe annexed outline is a reduced copy of a paper-mark, which may be perceived on some of the leaves. It is very like that numbered “vii.” at p. 224, vol. i. of Mr. Ottley’s Inquiry, and which he says occurs in the edition called the first Latin of the Speculum Salvationis. It is nearly the same as that which is to be seen in Earl Spencer’s “Historia Virginis;” and Santander63states that he has noticed a similar mark in books printed at Cologne by Ulric Zell, and Bart. de Unkel; at Louvain by John Veldener and Conrad Braen; and in books printed at Utrecht by Nic. Ketelaer and Gerard de Leempt.The size of the largest cuts, as defined by the plain lines which form the border, is about ten and five-eighths inches high, by seven and six-eighths inches wide; of the smallest, ten and two-eighths inches high, by seven and three-eighths wide.II.37The order in which they are to be placed in binding is indicated by a letter of the alphabet, which serves the same purpose as our modern signatures,—engraved in a conspicuous part of the cut. For instance, the first two, which, as well as the others, might either face each other or be pasted back to back, are each marked with the lettera; the two next with the letterb, and so on through the alphabet. As the alphabet—which has the i the same as the j, the v the same as the u, and has not the w—became exhausted at the forty-sixth cut, the forty-seventh and forty-eighth are marked with a character which was used to represent the words “et cetera;” and the forty-ninth and fiftieth with the terminal abbreviation of the letters “us.” In the copy described by Heineken, he observed that the directing lettersmandnwere wanting in the twenty-fourth and twenty-sixth cuts, and in the copy under consideration they are also omitted. The m, however, appears to have been engraved, though for some reason or other not to have been inked in taking an impression; for on a careful examination of this cut,—without being aware at the time of Heineken having noticed the omission,—I thought that I could very plainly discern the indention of the letter above one of the angels in the upper compartment of the print.Of the forty-eight cutsII.38contained in the Museum copy, the greater number are divided by a horizontal line, nearly in the middle, and thus each consists of two compartments; of the remainder, each is occupied by a single subject, which fills the whole page. In some, the explanatory text consists only of two or three lines; and in others it occupies so64large a space, that if it were set up in moderately sized type, it would be sufficient to fill a duodecimo page. The characters are different from those in the History of the Virgin and the Biblia Pauperum, and are smaller than those of the former, and generally larger and more distinctly cut than those of the latter; and although, as well as in the two last-named books, the words are much abbreviated, yet they are more easy to be made out than the text of either of the others. The impressions on the whole are better taken than those of the Biblia Pauperum, though in lighter-coloured ink, something like a greyish sepia, and apparently of a thinner body. It does not appear to have contained any oil, and is more like distemper or water-colour than printer’s ink. From the manner in which the lines are indented in the paper, in several of the cuts, it is evident that they must either have been subjected to a considerable degree of pressure or have been very hard rubbed.Although some of the figures bear a considerable degree of likeness to others of the same kind in the Biblia Pauperum, I cannot think that the designs for both books were made by the same person. The figures in the different works which most resemble each other are those of saints and angels, whose form and expression have been represented according to a conventional standard, to which most of the artists of the period conformed, in the same manner as in representing the Almighty and Christ, whether they were painters, glass-stainers, carvers, or wood-engravers. In many of the figures the drapery is broken into easy and natural folds by means of single lines; and if this were admitted as a ground for assigning the cut of the Annunciation to Italy, with much greater reason might the Apocalypse be ascribed to the same country.Without venturing to give an opinion whether the cuts were engraved in Germany, Holland, or in the Low Countries, the drawing of many of the figures appears to correspond with the idea that I have formed of the style of Greek art, such as it was in the early part of the fifteenth century. St. John was the favourite apostle of the Greeks, as St. Peter was of the church of Rome; and as the Revelations were more especially addressed to the churches of Greece, they were more generally read in that country than in Western Europe. Artists mostly copy, in the heads which they draw, the general expression of the countryII.39to which they belong, and where they have received their first impressions; and in the Apocalypse the character of several of the heads appears to be decidedly Grecian. The general representation, too, of several visions would seem to have been suggested by a Greek who was familiar with that portion of the New Testament which was so generally perused in his native land, and whose annunciations and figurative prophecies were, in the early65part of the fifteenth century, commonly supposed by his countrymen to relate to the Turks, who at that time were triumphing over the cross. With them Mahomet was the Antichrist of the Revelations, and his followers the people bearing the mark of the beast, who were to persecute, and for a time to hold in bondage, the members of the church of Christ. As many Greeks, both artists and scholars, were driven from their country by the oppression of the Turks several years before the taking of Constantinople in 1453, I am induced to think that to a Greek we owe the designs of this edition of the Apocalypse. In the lower division of the twenty-third cut,m, representing the fight of Michael and his angels with the dragon, the following shields are borne by two of the heavenly host.see textThecrescent, as is well known, was one of the badges of Constantinople long previous to its capture by the Turks. The sort of cross in the other shield is very like that in the arms of the knights of St. Constantine, a military order which is said to have been founded at Constantinople by the Emperor Isaac Angelus Comnenus, in 1190. The above coincidences, though trifling, tend to support the opinion that the designs were made by a Greek artist. It is, however, possible, that the badges on the shields may have been suggested by the mere fancy of the designer, and that they may equally resemble the heraldic bearings of some order or of some individuals of Western Europe.Though some of the designs are very indifferent, yet there are others which display considerable ability, and several of the single figures are decidedly superior to any that are contained in the other block-books. They are drawn with greater vigour and feeling; and though the designs of the Biblia Pauperum show a greater knowledge of the mechanism of art, yet the best of them, in point of expression and emphatic marking of character, are inferior to the best in the Apocalypse.With respect to the engraving, the cuts are executed in the simplest manner, as there is not the least attempt at shading, by means of cross lines or hatchings, to be perceived in any one of the designs. The most difficult part of the engraver’s task, supposing the drawings to have been made by another person, would be the cutting of the letters, which in several of the subjects must have occupied a considerable portion of66time, and have required no small degree of care. The following is a reduced copy of the first cut.see textIn the upper portion of the subject, St. John is seen addressing four persons, three men and a woman; and the text at the top informs us of the success of his ministry: “Conversi ab idolis, per predicationem beati Johannis, Drusiana et ceteri.”—“By the preaching of St. John, Drusiana and others are withdrawn from their idols.” The lettera, a little above the saint’s outstretched hand, indicates that the cut is the first of the series. In the lower compartment St. John is seen baptizing Drusiana, who, as she stands naked in the font, is of very small size compared with the saint. The situation in which Drusiana is placed might be alleged in support of their peculiar tenets, either by the Baptists, who advocate immersion as the proper mode of administering the rite, or by those who consider sprinkling as sufficient; but in each case with a difficulty which it would not be easy to explain: for if Drusiana were to be baptized by immersion, the font is too small to allow her to be dipped overhead; and67if the rite were to be administered by mere sprinkling, why is she standing naked in the font? To the right of the cut are several figures, two of whom are provided with axes, who seem wishful to break open the door of the chapel in which St. John and his proselyte are seen. The inscription above their heads lets us know that they are—“Cultores ydolorum explorantes facta ejus;”—“Worshippers of idols watching the saint’s proceedings.”The following cut is a copy of the eighteenth of the Apocalypse, which is illustrative of theXIth andXIIIth chapters of Revelations. The upper portion represents the execution of the two witnesses of the Lord, who are in the tablet named Enoch and Helyas, by the command of the beast which ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, and which is Antichrist. He is seen issuing his commands for the execution of the witnesses; and the face of the executioner who has just used his sword, and who is looking towards him with an expression of brutal exultation, might have served Albert Durer for that of the mocker in his cut of Christ crowned with thorns.see text68The inscription to the right, is the 7th verse of theXIth chapter, with the names of Enoch and Helyas inserted as those of the two witnesses: “Cum finierunt Enoch et Helyas testimonium suum, bestia quæ ascendit de abisso faciet contra eos bellum, et vincet eos et occidet illos.” In our translation the verse is rendered thus: “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill them.”The tablet to the left contains the following inscription: “Et jacebunt corpora eorum in plateis, et non sinent poni in monumentis.” It is formed of two passages, in the 8th and 9th verses of theXIth chapter of Revelations, which are thus rendered in our version of the Bible: “And their dead bodies shall lie in the street, . . . and they of the people . . . shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.”In the lower compartment Antichrist is seen working his miracles, uprooting the two olive trees, typical of the two witnesses whom he had caused to be slain.II.40Two of his followers are seen kneeling as if worshipping him, while more to the left are the supporters of the true faith delivered into the hands of executioners. The design is illustrative of the XIIIth chapter of Revelations. The following is the inscription above the figure of Antichrist:—“Hic facit Antichristus miracula sua, et credentes in ipsum honorat, et incredentes variis interficit pœnis.”—“Here Antichrist is performing his miracles, honouring those who believe in him, and putting the incredulous to death by various punishments.” The leaves of the trees which Antichrist has miraculously uprooted are extremely like those of the tree of life engraved in one of the cuts of the Biblia Pauperum, and of which a copy will be found in a subsequent page.In several of the cuts, the typical expressions which occur in the texts are explained. Thus, in cut eighth, we are informed that “Stolæ albæ animarum gloriam designant.”—“The white vestments denote the glory of departed souls.” In the lower compartment of the same cut, the “cæli recessio”—“the opening of the heavens”—is explained to be the communication of the Bible to the Gentiles. In the lower compartment of the ninth cut, “much incense” is said to signify the precepts of the Gospel; the “censers,” the hearts of the Apostles; and the “golden altar,” the Church.The next block-book which demands notice is that named “Historia seu Providentia Virginis Mariæ, ex Cantico Canticorum:” that is, “The History or Prefiguration of the Virgin Mary, from the Song of Songs.” It is of small-folio size, and consists of sixteen leaves, printed on one side only by means of friction; and the ink is of a dark brown, approaching nearly to black. Each impressed page contains two subjects,69one above the other; the total number of subjects in the book is, consequently, thirty-two.Of this book, according to the observations of Heineken, there are two editions; which, from variations noticed by him in the explanatory text, are evidently from different blocks; but, as the designs are precisely the same, it is certain that the one has been copied from the other.II.41That which he considers to be the first edition, has, in his opinion, been engraved in Germany; the other, he thinks, was a copy of the original, executed by some engraver in Holland. The principal ground on which he determines the priority of the editions is, that in the one the text is much more correctly given than in the other; and he thence concludes that the most correct would be the second. In this opinion I concur; not that his rule will universally hold good, but that in this case the conclusion which he has drawn seems the most probable. The designs, it is admitted, are precisely the same; and as the cuts of the one would in all probability be engraved from tracings or transfers of the other, it is not likely that we should find such a difference in the text of the two editions if that of the first were correct. A wood-engraver—on this point I speak from experience—would be much more likely to commit literal errors in copying manuscript, than to deviate in cutting a fac-simile from a correct impression. Had the text of the first edition been correct,—considering that the designs of the one edition are exact copies of those of the other,—it is probable that the text of both would have been more nearly alike. But as there are several errors in the text of the first edition, it is most likely that many of them would be discovered and corrected by the person at whose instance the designs were copied for the second. Diametrically opposite to this conclusion is that of Mr. Ottley, who argues as follows:II.42“Heineken endeavours to draw another argument in favour of the originality of the edition possessed by Pertusati, Verdussen, and the Bodleian library, from the various errors, in that edition, in the Latin inscriptions on the scrolls; which, he says, are corrected in the other edition. But it is evident that this circumstance makes in favour of an opposite conclusion. The artist who originally invented the work must have been well acquainted with Latin, since it is, in fact, no other than an union of many of the most beautiful verses of the Book of Canticles, with a series of designs illustrative of the divine mysteries supposed to be revealed in that sacred poem; and, consequently, we have reason to consider that edition the original in which the inscriptions are given with the most correctness; and to ascribe the gross blunders in the other to the ignorance of some ordinary wood-engraver by whom the work was copied.” Even granting the assumption that the70engraver of the edition, supposed by Mr. Ottley to be the first, was well acquainted with Latin, and that he who engraved the presumed second did not understand a word of that language, yet it by no means follows that the latter could not make a correct tracing of the engraved text lying before him. Because a draughtsman is unacquainted with a language, it would certainly be most erroneous to infer that he would be incapable of copying the characters correctly. Besides, though it does not benefit his argument a whit, it is surely assuming too much to assert that the artist who made the designs also selected the texts, and that hemusthave been well acquainted with Latin; and that he who executed Mr. Ottley’s presumed second edition was some ignorant ordinary wood-engraver. Did the artists who executed the fac-similes in Mr. Ottley’s work, or in Dr. Dibdin’s “Bibliotheca Spenceriana,” understand the abbreviated Latin which in many instances they had to engrave; and did they in consequence of their ignorance of that language copy incorrectly the original texts and sentences which were before them?In a copy which Heineken considers to be of the second edition, belonging to the city of Harlem, that writer observed the following inscription, from a wood block, impressed, as I understand him, at the top of the first cut. “Dit is die voersinicheit va Marie der mod . godes . en is gehete in lath.Cāti.” This inscription—which Heineken says is “en langue Flamande, ou plûtôt en Plât-Alemand”—may be expressed in English as follows: “This is the prefiguration of Mary the mother of God, and is in Latin named the Canticles.” Heineken expresses no doubt of this inscription being genuine, though he makes use of it as an argument in support of his opinion, that the copy in which it occurs was one of later edition; “for it is well known,” he observes, “that the earliest editions of printed books are without titles, and more especially those of block-books.” As this inscription, however, has been found in the Harlem copy only, I am inclined to agree with Mr. Ottley in considering it as a silly fraud devised by some of the compatriots of Coster for the purpose of establishing a fact which it is, in reality, much better calculated tooverthrow.II.43

Fromthe facts which have been produced in the preceding chapter, there cannot be a doubt that the principle on which wood engraving is founded,—that of taking impressions on paper or parchment, with ink, from prominent lines,—was known and practised in attesting documents in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Towards the end of the fourteenth, or about the beginning of the fifteenth century, there is reason to believe that this principle was adopted by the German card-makers for the purpose of marking the outlines of the figures on their cards, which they afterwards coloured by means of a stencil.II.1

The period at which the game of cards was first known in Europe, as well as the people by whom they were invented, has been very learnedly, though not very satisfactorily discussed. Bullet has claimed the invention for the French, and Heineken for the Germans; while other writers have maintained that the game was known in Italy earlier than in any other part of Europe, and that it was introduced from the East.

From a passage discovered by M. Van Praet, in an old manuscript copy of the romance ofRenard le Contrefait, it appears that cards were known in France about 1340, although Bullet was of opinion that they41were invented in that country about 1376. At whatever period the game was introduced, it appears to have been commonly known in France and Spain towards the latter part of the fourteenth century. John I., King of Castile, by an edict issued in 1387, prohibited the game of cards; and in 1397, the Provost of Paris, by an ordonnance, forbid all working people to play at tennis, bowls, dice,cards, or nine-pins, on working days. From a passage in the Chronicle of Petit-Jehan de Saintré, written previous to 1380, it would appear that the game of cards at that period was in disrepute. Saintré had been one of the pages of Charles V. of France; and on his being appointed, on account of his good conduct, to the situation of carver to the king, the squire who had charge of the pages, lectured some of them on the impropriety of their behaviour; such as playing at dice and cards, keeping bad company, and haunting taverns and cabarets, those not being the courses by which they might hope to arrive at the honourable post of “ecuyer tranchant,” to which their companion, Saintré, had been raised.

In an account-book of Charles Poupart, treasurer to Charles VI. of France, there is an entry, made about 1393, of “fifty-six sols of Paris, given to Jacquemin Gringonneur, painter, for three packs of cards, gilt and coloured, and of different sorts, for the diversion of his majesty.” From this passage the learned Jesuit Menestrier, who was not aware of cards being mentioned by any earlier writer, concluded that they were then invented by Gringonneur to amuse the king, who, in consequence of acoup de soleil, had been attacked with delirium, which had subsided into an almost continual depression of spirits. There, however, can be no doubt that cards were known in France at least fifty years before; though, from their being so seldom noticed previous to 1380, it appears likely that the game was but little played until after that period. Whether the figures on the cards supplied for the king’s amusement were drawn and coloured by the hand, or whether the outlines were impressed from wood-blocks, and coloured by means of a stencil, it is impossible to ascertain; though it has been conjectured that, from the smallness of the sum paid for them, they were of the latter description. That cards were cheap in 1397, however they might be manufactured, may be presumed from the fact of their being then in the hands of the working people.

To whatever nation the invention of cards is owing, it appears that the Germans were the first who practised card-making as a trade. In 1418 the name of a “Kartenmacher”—card-maker—occurs in the burgess-book of the city of Augsburg; and in an old rate-book of the city of Nuremburg, under the year 1433, we find “Ell. Kartenmacherin;” that is, Ell.—probably for Elizabeth—the card-maker. In the same book, under the year 1435, the name of “Eliz. Kartenmacherin,” probably42the same person, is to be found; and in 1438 there occurs the name “Margret Kartenmalerin”—Margaret the card-painter. It thus appears that the earliest card-makers who are mentioned as living at Nuremberg were females; and it is worthy of note that the Germans seem to have called cards “Karten” before they gave them the name of “Briefe.” Heineken, however, considers that they were first known in Germany by the latter name; for, as he claimed the invention for his countrymen, he was unwilling to admit that the name should be borrowed either from Italy or France. He has not, however, produced anything like proof in support of his opinion, which is contradicted by the negative evidence of history.II.2

The nameBriefe, which the Germans give to cards, also signifies letters [epistolæ]. The meaning of the word, however, is rather more general than the French termlettres, or the Latinepistolæwhich he gives as its synonyms, for it is also applied in the sense in which we sometimes use the word “paper.” For instance, “ein Brief Stecknadeln, ein Brief Tabak,” are literally translated by the words “apaperof pins, apaperof tobacco;” in which sense the word “Brief” would, in Latin, be more correctly rendered by the termchartathanepistola. As it is in a similar sense—cognate with “paper,” as used in the two preceding examples—that “Briefe” is applied to cards, I am inclined to consider it as a translation of the Latinchartaæ, the Italiancarte, or the Frenchcartes, and hence to conclude that the invention of cards does not belong to the people of Germany, who appear to have received cards, both “name and thing,” from another nation, and after some time to have given them a name in their own language.

In the town-books of Nuremberg, the termFormschneider—figure-cutter,—the name appropriated to engravers on wood, first occurs in 1449;II.3and as it is found in subsequent years mentioned in the same page with “Kartenmaler,” it seems reasonable to conclude that in 1449, and probably earlier, the business of the wood-engraver proper, and that of the card-maker, were distinct. The primary meaning of the wordformorformais almost precisely the same in most of the European languages.43It has erroneously been explained, in its relation to wood engraving, as signifying amould, whereas it simply means a shape or figure. The model of wood which the carpenter makes for the metal-founder is properly aform, and from it the latter prepares his mould in the sand. The wordform, however, in course of time declined from its primary signification, and came to be used as expressive both of a model and a mould. The termFormschneider, which was originally used to distinguish the professed engraver of figures from the mere engraver and colourer of cards, is still used in Germany to denote what we term a wood-engraver.

About the time that the termFormschneiderfirst occurs we findBriefmalersmentioned, and at a later periodBriefdruckers—card-printers; and, though there evidently was a distinction between the two professions, yet we find that between 1470 and 1500 theBriefmalersnot only engraved figures occasionally, but also printed books. TheFormschneidersand theBriefmalers, however, continued to form but one guild or fellowship till long after the art of wood-engraving had made rapid strides towards perfection, under the superintendence of such masters as Durer, Burgmair, and Holbein, in the same manner as the barbers and surgeons in our own country continued to form but one company, though the “chirurgeon had long ceased to trim beards and cut hair, and the barber had given up bleeding and purging to devote himself more exclusively to the ornamental branch of his original profession.” “KartenmacherandKartenmaler” says Von Murr, “orBriefmaler, as they were afterwards called [1473], were known in Germany eighty years previous to the invention of book-printing. The Kartenmacher was originally a Formschneider, though, after the practice of cutting figures of saints and of sacred subjects was introduced, a distinction began to be established between the two professions.”

The German card-makers of Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Ulm, it is stated, sent large quantities of cards into Italy; and it was probably against those foreign manufacturers that the fellowship of painters at Venice obtained an order in 1441 from the magistracy, declaring that no foreign manufactured cards, or printed coloured figures, should be brought into the city, under the penalty of forfeiting such articles, and of being fined xxx liv. xii soldi. This order was made in consequence of a petition presented by the Venetian painters, wherein they set forth that “the art and mystery of card-making and of printing figures, which were practised in Venice, had fallen into total decay through the great quantity of foreign playing-cards and coloured printed figures, which were brought into the city.”II.4It is hence evident that the art both of the German44Kartenmacherand of theFormschneiderwas practised in Venice in 1441; and, as it is then mentioned as being in decay, it no doubt was practised there some time previously.

Heineken, in his “Neue Nachrichten,” gives an extract from a MS. chronicle of the city of Ulm, completed in 1474, to the following effect: “Playing-cards were sentbarrelwise[that is, in small casks] into Italy, Sicily, and also over sea, and exchanged for spices and other wares. From this we may judge of the number of card-makers who resided here.” The preceding passage occurs in the index, under the head, “Business of card-making.” Heineken also gives the passage in his “Idée Générale,” p. 245; but from the French translation, which he there gives, it appears that he had misunderstood the word “leglenweiss”—barrelwise—which he renders “en ballots.” In his “Neue Nachrichten,” however, he inserts the explanation between parentheses, (“das ist, in kleinen Fässern”)—i. e. in small casks; which Mr. Singer renders “hogsheads,” and Mr. Ottley, though he gives the original in a note, “large bales.” The word “lägel,” a barrel, is obsolete in Germany, but its diminutive, “leglin,”—as if “lägelen”—is still used in Scotland for the name of the ewe-milker’skit.

Some writers have been of opinion that the art of wood-engraving was derived from the practice of the ancient caligraphists and illuminators of manuscripts, who sometimes formed their large capital letters by means of a stencil or of a wooden stamp. That large capitals were formed in such a manner previous to the year 1400 there can be little doubt; and it has been thought that stencils and stamps were used not only for the formation of capital letters, but also for the impression of a whole volume. Ihre, in a dissertation on the Gospels of Ulphilas,II.5which are supposed to be as old as the fifth century, has asserted that the silver letters of the text on a purple ground were impressed by means of heated iron stamps. This, however, is denied by the learned compilers of the “Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique,” who had seen other volumes of a similar kind, the silver letters of which were evidently formed with a pen. A modern Italian author, D. Vincenzo Requeno, has published a tractII.6to prove that many supposed manuscripts from the tenth to the fourteenth century, instead of being written with a pen, were actually impressed by means of stamps. It is, however, extremely45probable that he is mistaken; for if his pretended discoveries were true, this art of stamping must have been very generally practised; and if so, it surely would have been mentioned by some contemporary writers. Signor Requeno’s examination, I am inclined to suspect, has not been sufficiently precise; for he seems to have been too willing to find what he sought. In almost every collection that he examined, a pair of fine compasses being the test which he employed, he discovered voluminous works on vellum, hitherto supposed to be manuscript, but which according to his measurement were certainly executed by means of a stamp.

It has been conjectured that the art of wood-engraving was employed on sacred subjects, such as the figures of saints and holy persons, before it was applied to the multiplication of those “books of Satan,” playing-cards. It however is not unlikely that it was first employed in the manufacture of cards; and that the monks, availing themselves of the same principle, shortly afterwards employed the art of wood-engraving for the purpose of circulating the figures of saints; thus endeavouring to supply a remedy for the evil, and extracting from the serpent a cure for his bite.

Wood-cuts of sacred subjects were known to the common people of Suabia, and the adjacent districts, by the name ofHelgenorHelglein, a corruption of Heiligen, saints;—a word which in course of time they used to signify prints—estampes—generally.II.7In France the same kind of cuts, probably stencil-coloured, were called “dominos,”—the affinity of which name with the German Helgen is obvious. The word “domino” was subsequently used as a name for coloured or marbled paper generally, and the makers of such paper, as well as the engravers and colourers of wood-cuts, were called “dominotiers.”II.8

As might,à priori, be concluded, supposing the Germans to have been the first who applied wood-engraving to card-making, the earliest wood-cuts have been discovered, and in the greatest abundance, in that district where we first hear of the business of a card-maker and a wood-engraver. From a convent, situated within fifty miles of the city of Augsberg, where, in 1418, the first mention of a Kartenmacher occurs, has been obtained the earliest wood-cut known,—the St. Christopher, now in the possession of Earl Spencer, with the date 1423. That this was the first cut of the kind we have no reason to suppose; but though others executed in a similar manner are known, to not one of them, upon anything like probable grounds, can a higher degree of antiquity be46assigned. From 1423, therefore, as from a known epoch, the practice of wood engraving, as applied to pictorial representations, may be dated.

see text

The first person who published an account of this most interesting wood-cut was Heineken, who had inspected a greater number of old wood-cuts and block-books than any other person, and whose unwearied perseverance in searching after, and general accuracy in describing such early specimens of the art of wood-engraving, are beyond all praise. He found it pasted on the inside of the right-hand cover of a manuscript volume in the library of the convent of Buxheim, near Memmingen in Suabia. The manuscript, entitledLaus VirginisII.9and finished in 1417,47was left to the convent by Anna, canoness of Buchaw, who was living in 1427; but who probably died previous to 1435. The above reduced copy conveys a pretty good idea of the composition and style of engraving of the original cut, which is of a folio size, being eleven and a quarter inches high, and eight inches and one-eighth wide.II.10

The original affords a specimen of the combined talents of the Formschneider or wood-engraver, and the Briefmaler or card-colourer. The engraved portions, such as are here represented, have been taken off in dark colouring matter similar to printers’ ink, after which the impression appears to have been coloured by means of a stencil. As the back of the cut cannot be seen, in consequence of its being pasted on the cover of the volume, it cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty whether the impression has been taken by means of a press, orrubbed offfrom the block by means of a burnisher or rubber, in a manner similar to that in which wood-engravers of the present day take their proofs.

This cut is much better designed than the generality of those which we find in books typographically executed from 1462, the date of the Bamberg Fables, to 1493, when the often-cited Nuremberg Chronicle was printed. Amongst the many coarse cuts which “illustrate” the latter, and which are announced in the book itselfII.11as having been “got up” under the superintendence of Michael Wolgemuth, Albert Durer’s master, and William Pleydenwurff, both “most skilful in the art of painting,” I cannot find a single subject which either for spirit or feeling can be compared to the St. Christopher. In fact, the figure of the saint, and that of the youthful Christ whom he bears on his shoulders, are, with the exception of the extremities, designed in such a style, that they would scarcely discredit Albert Durer himself.

To the left of the engraving the artist has introduced, with a noble disregard of perspective,II.12what Bewick would have called a “bit of Nature.” In the foreground a figure is seen driving an ass loaded with48a sack towards a water-mill; while by a steep path a figure, perhaps intended for the miller, is seen carrying a full sack from the back-door of the mill towards a cottage. To the right is seen a hermit—known by the bell over the entrance of his dwelling—holding a large lantern to direct St. Christopher as he crosses the stream. The two verses at the foot of the cut,

Cristofori faciem die quacunque tueris,Illa nempe die morte mala non morieris,

Cristofori faciem die quacunque tueris,

Illa nempe die morte mala non morieris,

may be translated as follows:

Each day that thou the likeness of St. Christopher shalt see,That day no frightful form of death shall make an end of thee.

Each day that thou the likeness of St. Christopher shalt see,

That day no frightful form of death shall make an end of thee.

They allude to a popular superstition, common at that period in all Catholic countries, which induced people to believe that the day on which they should see a figure or image of St. Christopher, they should not meet with a violent death, nor die without confession.II.13To this popular superstition Erasmus alludes in his “Praise of Folly;” and it is not unlikely, that to his faith in this article of belief, the squire, in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” wore

“A Christofre on his brest, of silver shene.”

The date “Millesimo ccccoxxotercio”—1423—which is seen at the right-hand corner, at the foot of the impression, most undoubtedly designates the year in which the engraving was made.

The engraving, though coarse, is executed in a bold and free manner; and the folds of the drapery are marked in a style which would do credit to a proficient. The whole subject, though expressed by means of few lines, is not executed in the very simplest style of art. In the draperies a diminution and a thickening of the lines, where necessary to the effect, may be observed; and the shades are indicated by means of parallel lines both perpendicular, oblique, and curved, as may be seen in the saint’s robe and mantle. In many of the wood-cuts executed between 1462 and 1500, the figures are expressed, and the drapery indicated, by simple lines of one undeviating degree of thickness, without the slightest attempt at shading by means of parallel lines running in a direction different to those marking the folds of the drapery or the outlines of the figure. If mere rudeness of design, and simplicity in the mode of execution, were to be considered as the sole tests of antiquity in wood-engravings, upwards of a hundred, positively known to have been executed between 1470 and 1500, might be produced as affording intrinsic evidence of their having been executed at a period antecedent to the date of the St. Christopher.

In the Royal Library at Paris there is an impression of St. Christopher with the youthful Christ, which was supposed to be a duplicate of that in the possession of Earl Spencer. On comparing them, however, “it was quite evident,” says Dr. Dibdin, “at the first glance, as M. Du Chesne admitted, that they were impressions taken fromdifferent blocks. The question therefore was, after a good deal of pertinacious argument on both sides—which of the two impressions was the more ancient? Undoubtedly it was that of Lord Spencer.” At first Dr. Dibdin thought that the French impression was a copy of Earl Spencer’s, and that it might be as old as the year 1460; but, from a note added in the second edition of his tour, he seems to have received a new light. He there says: “The reasons upon which this conclusion [that the French cut was a copy of a later date] was founded, are stated at length in the preceding edition of this work: since which, I very strongly incline to the supposition that the Paris impression is aproof—of one of thecheatsofDe Murr.”II.14

On the inside of the first cover or “board” of the Laus Virginis, the volume which contains the St. Christopher, there is also pasted a wood engraving of the Annunciation, of a similar size to the above-named cut, and impressed on the same kind of paper. As they are both worked off in the same kind of dark-coloured ink, and as they evidently have been coloured in the same manner, by means of a stencil, there can be little doubt of their being executed about the same time. From the left-hand corner of the Annunciation the figure of the Almighty has been torn out. The Holy Ghost, who appears descending from the Father upon the Virgin in the material form of a dove, could not well be torn out without greatly disfiguring the cut. An idea may be formed of the original from the following reduced copy.

see text

Respecting these cuts, which in all probability were engraved by some one of the Formschneiders of Augsburg, Ulm, or Nuremberg,II.1550P. Krismer, who was librarian of the convent of Buxheim, and who showed the volume in which they are pasted to Heineken, writes to Von Murr to the following effect: “It will not be superfluous if I here point out a mark, by which, in my opinion, old wood engravings may with certainty be distinguished from those of a later period. It is this: In the oldest wood-cuts only do we perceive that the engraver [Formschneider] has frequently omitted certain parts, leaving them to be afterwards filled up by the card-colourer [Briefmaler]. In the St. Christopher there is no such deficiency, although there is in the other cut which is pasted on the inside of the fore covering of the same volume, and which, I doubt not, was executed at the same time as the former. It represents the salutation of the Virgin by the angel Gabriel, or, as it is also called, the Annunciation; and, from the omission of the colours, the upper part51of the body of the kneeling Virgin appears naked, except where it is covered with her mantle. Her inner dress had been left to be added by the pencil of the card-colourer. In another wood-cut of the same kind, representing St. Jerome doing penance before a small crucifix placed on a hill, we see with surprise that the saint, together with the instruments of penance, which are lying near him, and a whole forest beside, are suspended in the air without anything to support them, as the whole of the ground had been left to be inserted with the pencil. Nothing of this kind is to be seen in more recent wood-cuts, when the art had made greater progress. What the early wood-engravers could not readily effect with the graver, they performed with the pencil,—for the most part in a very coarse and careless manner,—as they were at the same time both wood-engravers and card-colourers.”II.16

Besides the St. Christopher and the Annunciation, there is another old wood-cut in the collection of Earl Spencer which appears to belong to the same period, and which has in all probability been engraved by a German artist, as all who can read the German inscription above the figure would reasonably infer. Before making any remarks on this engraving, I shall first lay before the reader a reduced copy.

The figure writing is that of St. Bridget of Sweden, who was born in 1302 and died in 1373. From the representation of the Virgin with the infant Christ in her arms we may suppose that the artist intended to show the pious widow writing an account of her visions or revelations, in which she was often favoured with the blessed Virgin’s appearance. The pilgrim’s hat, staff, and scrip may allude to her pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which she was induced to make in consequence of a vision. The letters S. P. Q. R. in a shield, are no doubt intended to denote the place, Rome, where she saw the vision, and where she died. The lion, the arms of Sweden, and the crown at her feet, are most likely intended to denote that she was a princess of the blood royal of that kingdom. The words above the figure of the saint are a brief invocation in the German language, “O Brigita bit Got für uns!” “O Bridget, pray to God for us!” At the foot of the desk at which St. Bridget is writing are the lettersM. I. Chrs., an abbreviation probably of Mater Jesu Christi, or if German, Mutter Iesus Christus.II.17

see text

From the appearance of the back of this cut, as if it had been rubbed52smooth with a burnisher or rubber, there can be little doubt of the impression having been taken by means of friction. The colouring matter of the engraving is much lighter than in the St. Christopher and the Annunciation, and is like distemper or water-colour; while that of the latter cuts appears, as has been already observed, more like printer’s ink. It is coarsely coloured, and apparently by the hand, unassisted with the stencil. The face and hands are of a flesh colour. Her gown, as well as the pilgrim’s hat and scrip, are of a dark grey; her veil, which she wears hoodwise, is partly black and partly white; and the wimple which she wears round her neck is also white. The bench and desk, the pilgrim’s staff, the letters S. P. Q. R., the lion, the crown, and the nimbus53surrounding the head of St. Bridget and that of the Virgin, are yellow. The ground is green, and the whole cut is surrounded with a border of a shining mulberry or lake colour.

Mr. Ottley, having at the very outset of his Inquiry adopted Papillon’s story of the Cunio, is compelled, for consistency’s sake, in the subsequent portion of his work, when speaking of early wood engravings such as the above, to consider them, not as the earliest known specimens of the art, but merely as wood engravings such as were produced upwards of a hundred and thirty years after the amiable and accomplished Cunio, a mere boy and a girl, had in Italy produced a set of wood engravings, one of which was so well composed that Le Brun might be suspected of having borrowed from it the design of one of his most complicated pictures. In his desire, in support of his theory, to refer the oldest wood-cuts to Italy, Mr. Ottley asks: “What if these two prints [the St. Christopher and the Annunciation] should prove to be, not the productions of Germany, but rather of Venice, or of some district of the territory then under the dominion of that republic?”

His principal reasons for the preceding conjecture, are the ancient use of the wordstampide—“printed”—in the Venetian decree against the introduction of foreign playing-cards in 1441; and the resemblance which the Annunciation bears to the style of the early Italian schools. Now, with respect to the first of these reasons, it is founded on the assumption that both those impressions have been obtained by means of a press of some kind or other,—a fact which remains yet to be proved; for until the backs of both shall have been examined, and the mark of the burnisher or rubber found wanting, no person’s mere opinion, however confidently declared, can be decisive of the question. It also remains to be proved that the wordstampide, which occurs in the Venetian decree, was employed there to signify “printed with a press.” For it is certain that the low Latin wordstampare, with its cognates in the different languages of Europe, was used at that period to denoteimpressiongenerally. But even supposing that “stampide” signifies “printed” in the modern acceptation of the word, and that the two impressions in question were obtained by means of a press; the argument in favour of their being Italian would gain nothing, unless we assume that theforeignprinted cards and figures, which were forbid to be imported into Venice, were produced either within the territory of that state or in Italy; for the wordstampide—“printed,” is applied to them as well as those manufactured within the city. Now we know that the German card-makers used to send great quantities of cards to Venice about the period when the decree was made, while we have no evidence of any Italian cities manufacturing cards for exportation in 1441; it is therefore most likely that if the Venetians were acquainted with the use54of the press in taking impressions from wood-blocks, the Germans were so too, and for these more probable reasons, admitting the cuts in question to have been printed by means of a press:—First, the fact of those wood-cuts being discovered in Germany in the very district where we first hear of wood-engravers; and secondly, that if the Venetian wood-engravers were acquainted with the use of the press in taking impressions while the Germans were not, it is very unlikely that the latter would be able to undersell the Venetians in their own city. Until something like a probable reason shall be given for supposing the cuts in question to be productions “of Venice, or some other district of the territory then under the dominion of that republic,” I shall continue to believe that they were executed in the district in which they were discovered, and which has supplied to the collections of amateurs so many old wood engravings of a similar kind. No wood engravings executed in Italy, are known of a date earlier than those contained in the “Meditationes Johannis de Turre-cremata,” printed at Rome 1467,—and printed, be it observed, by a German, Ulrick Hahn. The circular wood engravings in the British Museum,II.18which Mr. Ottley says are indisputably Italian, and of the old dry taste of the fifteenth century, can scarcely be referred to an earlier period than 1500, and my own opinion is that they are not older than 1510. The manner in which they are engraved is that which we find prevalent in Italian wood-cuts executed between 1500 and 1520.

With respect to the resemblance which the Annunciation bears to the style of the early Italian school,—I beg to observe that it equally resembles many of the productions of contemporary “schools” of England and France, as displayed in many of the drawings contained in old illuminated manuscripts. It would be no difficult matter to point out in many old German engravings attitudes at least as graceful as the Virgin’s; and as to her drapery, which is said to be “wholly unlike the angular sharpness, the stiffness and the flutter of the ancient German school,” I beg to observe that those peculiarities are not of so frequent occurrence in the works of German artists, whether sculptors, painters, or wood-engravers, who lived before 1450, as in the works of those who lived after that period. Angular sharpness and flutter in the draperies are not so characteristic of early German art generally, as of German art towards the end of the fifteenth, and in the early part of the sixteenth century.

Even the St. Bridget, which he considers to be of a date not later than the close of the fourteenth century,II.19Mr. Ottley, with a German inscription before his eyes, is inclined to give to an artist of the Low Countries; and he kindly directs the attention of Coster’s partisans to the shield of arms—probably intended for those of Sweden—at the right-hand corner of the cut. Meerman had discovered a seal, having in the centre a shield charged with a lion rampant—the bearing of the noble family of Brederode—a label of three points, and the mark of illegitimacy—a bend sinister, and surrounded by the inscription, “S[igillum] Lowrens Janssoen,” which with him was sufficient evidence of its being the identical seal of Laurence, the Coster or churchwarden of Harlem.II.20

We thus perceive on what grounds the right of Germany to three of the oldest wood-cuts known is questioned; and upon what traits of resemblance they are ascribed to Italy and the Low Countries. By adopting Mr. Ottley’s mode of reasoning, it might be shown with equal probability that a very considerable number of early wood engravings—whether printed in books or separately—hitherto believed to be German, were really executed in Italy.

An old wood engraving of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, of a quarto size, with a short prayer underneath, and the date 1437, apparently from the same block, was preserved in the monastery of St. Blaze, in the Black Forest on the confines of Suabia;II.21and another, with the date 1443 inserted in manuscript, was pasted in a volume belonging to the library of the monastery of Buxheim. The latter is thus described by Von Murr: “Through the kindness of the celebrated librarian, Krismer, whom I have so often mentioned, I am enabled to give an account of an illuminated wood-cut, which at the latest must have been engraved in 1443. It is pasted on the inside of the cover of a volume which contains ‘Nicolai DunkelspülII.22Sermonum Partem Hyemalem.’ It is of quarto56size, being seven and a half inches high, and five and a quarter wide, and is inclosed within a border of a single line. It is much soiled, as we perceive in the figures on cards which have been impressed by means of a rubber. The style in which it is executed is like that of no other wood-cut which I have ever seen. The cut itself represents three different subjects, the upper part of it being divided into two compartments, each three inches square, and separated from each other by means of a broad perpendicular line. In that to the right is seen St. Dorothy sitting in a garden, with the youthful Christ presenting flowers to her, of which she has her lap full. Before her stands a small hand-basket,—also full of flowers,—such as the ladies of Franconia and Suabia were accustomed to carry in former times. In the left compartment is seen St. Alexius, lying at the foot of a flight of steps, upon which a man is standing and emptying the contents of a pot upon the saint.II.23Between these compartments there appears in manuscript the date ‘anno d’ni 1443.’ Both the ink and the characters correspond with those of the volume. This date indicates the time when the writer had finished the book and got it bound, as is more clearly proved by a memorandum at the conclusion. In the year 1483, before it came into the possession of the monastery of Buxheim, it belonged to Brother Jacobus Matzenberger, of the order of the Holy Ghost, and curate of the church of the Virgin Mary in Memmingen. The whole of the lower part of the cut is occupied with Christ bearing his cross, at the moment that he meets with his mother, whom one of the executioners appears to be driving away. Simon of Cyrene is seen assisting Christ to carry the cross. The engraving is executed in a very coarse manner.”II.24

In the Royal Library at Paris there is an ancient wood-cut of St. Bernardin, who is represented on a terrace, the pavement of which consists of alternate squares of yellow, red, and green. In his right hand the saint holds something resembling the consecrated wafer or host, in the midst of which is inscribed the name of Christ; and in his left a kind of oblong casket, on which are the words “Vide, lege, dulce nomen.” Upon a scroll above the head of the saint is engraved the sentence, “Ihesus semper sit in ore meo,” and behind him, on a black label, is his name in yellow letters, “Sanct’ Bernard’.” The cut is surrounded by a border of foliage, with the emblems of the four Evangelists at the four corners, and57at the foot are the five following lines, with the date, impressed from prominent lines:—

O . splendor . pudicitie . zelator . paupertatis . amator. innocentie . cultor . virginitatis .lustracors . apientie. protector . veritatis . thronum . fulgidum . eterne . majestatis . paranobis . additum . divine . pietatis . amen. (1454)

O . splendor . pudicitie . zelator . paupertatis . a

mator. innocentie . cultor . virginitatis .lustra

cors . apientie. protector . veritatis . thro

num . fulgidum . eterne . majestatis . para

nobis . additum . divine . pietatis . amen. (1454)

This rare cut was communicated to Jansen by M. Vanpraet, the well-known bibliographer and keeper of the Royal Library.II.25

“Having visited in my last tour,” says Heineken, after describing the St. Christopher, “a great many convents in Franconia, Suabia, Bavaria, and in the Austrian states, I everywhere discovered in their libraries many of those kinds of figures, engraved on wood, and pasted either at the beginning or the end of old volumes of the fifteenth century. I have indeed obtained several of them. These facts, taken altogether, have confirmed me in my opinion that the next step of the engraver in wood, after playing-cards, was to engrave figures of saints, which, being distributed and lost among the laity, were in part preserved by the monks, who pasted them in the earliest printed books with which they furnished their libraries.”II.26

A great many wood-cuts of devotional subjects, of a period probably anterior to the invention of book-printing by Gutenberg, have been discovered in Germany. They are all executed in a rude style, and many of them are coloured. It is not unlikely that the most of these woodcuts were executed at the instance of the monks for distribution among the common people as helps to devotion; and that each monastery, which might thus avail itself of the aid of wood engraving in the work of piety, would cause to be engraved the figure of its patron saint. The practice, in fact, of distributing such figures at monasteries and shrines to those who visit them, is not yet extinct on the Continent. In Belgium it is still continued, and, I believe, also in Germany, France, and Italy. The figures, however, are not generally impressions from wood-blocks, but are for the most part wholly executed by means of stencils. One of the latter class, representing the shrine of “Notre Dame de Hal,”—coloured in the most wretched taste with brick-dust red and shining green,—is58now lying before me. It was given to a gentleman who visited Halle, near Brussels, in 1829. It is nearly of the same size as many of the old devotional wood-cuts of Germany, being about four inches high, by two and three-quarters wide.II.27

The next step in the progress of wood engraving, subsequent to the production of single cuts, such as the St. Christopher, the Annunciation, and the St. Bridget, in each of which letters are sparingly introduced, was the application of the art to the production of those works which are known to bibliographers by the name ofBLOCK-BOOKS: the most celebrated of which are the Apocalypsis, seu Historia Sancti Johannis; the Historia Virginis ex Cantico Canticorum; and the Biblia Pauperum. The first is a history, pictorial and literal, of the life and revelations of St. John the Evangelist, derived in part from the traditions of the church, but chiefly from the book of Revelations. The second is a similar history of the Virgin, as it is supposed to be typified in the Songs of Solomon; and the third consists of subjects representing some of the most important passages in the Old and New Testament, with texts either explaining the subject, or enforcing the example of duty which it may afford. With the above, the Speculum Humanæ Salvationis is usually, though improperly, classed, as the whole of the text, in that which is most certainly the first edition, is printed from movable metal types. In the others the explanatory matter is engraved on wood, on the same block with the subject to which it refers.

All the above books have been claimed by Meerman and other Dutch writers for their countryman, Laurence Coster: and although no date, either impressed or manuscript, has been discovered in any one copy from which the period of its execution might be ascertained,II.28yet such appears to have been the clearness of the intuitive light which guided those authors, that they have assigned to each work the precise year in which it appeared. According to Seiz, the History of the Old and New Testament, otherwise called the Biblia Pauperum, appeared in 1432; the History of the Virgin in 1433; the Apocalypse in 1434; and the Speculum in 1439. For such assertions, however, he has not the slightest ground. That the three first might appear at some period between 1430 and 1450, is not unlikely;II.29but that the Speculum—the text of which59in the first edition was printed from metal types—should be printed before 1460, is in the highest degree improbable.

Upon extremely slight grounds it has been conjectured that the Biblia Pauperum, the Apocalypse, and the Ars Moriendi,—another block-book,—were engraved before the year 1430. The Rev. T. H. Horne, “a gentleman long and well known for his familiar acquaintance with books printed abroad,” says Dr. Dibdin, “had a copy of each of the three books above mentioned, bound in one volume, upon the cover of which the following words were stamped: Hic liber relegatus fuit per Plebanum. ecclesie”—with the date, according to the best of the Rev. Mr. Horne’s recollection, 142(8). As he had broken up the volume, and had parted with the contents, he gave the above information on the strength of his memory alone. He was, however, confident that “the binding was the ancient legitimate one, and that the treatises had not been subsequently introduced into it, and that the date was 142 odd; but positively anterior to 1430.”II.30

In such a case as this, however, mere recollection cannot be admitted as decisive of the fact, more especially when we know the many instances in which mistakes have been committed in reading the numerals in ancient dates. At page 88 of his Inquiry, Mr. Ottley, catching at every straw that may help to support his theory of wood engraving having been practised by the Cunio and others in the fourteenth century, refers to a print which a Monsieur Thierry professed to have seen at Lyons, inscribed “Schoting of Nuremberg,” with the date 1384; and at p. 256 he alludes to it again in the following words: “The date 1384 on the wood-cut preserved at Lyons, said to have been executed at Nuremberg, appears, I know not why, to have been suspected.” It has been more than suspected; for, on examination, it has been found to be 1584. Paul Von Stettin published an account of a Biblia Pauperum, the date of which he supposed to be 1414; but which, when closely examined, was found to be 1474: and Baron Von Hupsch, of Cologne, published in 1787 an account of some wood-cuts which he supposed to have been executed in 1420; but which, in the opinion of Breitkopf, were part of the cuts of a Biblia Pauperum, in which it was probably intended to give the60explanations in moveable types underneath the cuts, and probably of a later date than 1470.II.31

It is surprising that the Rev. Mr. Horne, who is no incurious observer of books, but an author who has written largely on Bibliography, should not have carefully copied so remarkable a date, or communicated it to a friend, when it might have been confirmed by a careful examination of the binding; and still more surprising is it that such binding should have been destroyed. From the very fact of his not having paid more particular attention to this most important date, and from his having permitted the evidence of it to be destroyed, the Rev. Mr. Horne seems to be an incompetent witness. Who would think of calling a person to prove from recollection the date of an old and important deed, who, when he had it in his possession, was so little aware of its value as to throw it away? The three books in question, when covered by such a binding, would surely be much greater than when bound in any other manner. Such a volume must have been unique; and, if the date on the binding were correct, it must have been admitted as decisive of a fact interesting to every bibliographer in Europe. It is not even mentioned in what kind of numerals the date was expressed, whether in Roman or Arabic. If the numerals had been Arabic, we might very reasonably suppose that the Rev. Mr. Horne had mistaken a seven for a two, and that, instead of “142 odd,” the correct date was “147 odd.” In Arabic numerals, such as were used about the middle of the fifteenth century, the seven may very easily be mistaken for a two.

The earliest ancient binding known, on which a date is impressed, is, I believe, that described by Laire.II.32It is that of a copy of “Sancti Hieronymi Epistolæ;” and the words, in the same manner as that of the binding of which the Rev. Mr. Horne had so accurate a recollection, were “stamped at the extremity of the binding, towards the edge of the squares.” It is only necessary to cite the words impressed on one of the boards, which were as follows:

“Illigatus est Anno Domini 1469Per me JohannemRichenbach CapellanumIn Gyslingen.”II.33

The numerals of the date it is to be observed were Arabic. In the library of Dr. Kloss of Frankfort, sold in London by Sotheby and Son in 1835, were two volumes, “St. Augustini de Civitat. Dei, Libri xxii.611469,” and “St. Augustini Confessiones” of the same date; both of which were bound by “Johannes Capellanus in Gyslingen,” and who in the same manner had impressed his name on the covers with the date 1470. Both volumes had belonged to “Dominus Georgius Ruch de Gamundia.”II.34That the volume formerly in the Rev. Mr. Horne’s possession was bound by the curate of Geisslingen I by no means pretend to say, though I am firmly of opinion that it was bound subsequent to 1470, and that the character which he supposed to be a two was in reality a different figure. It is worthy of remark that it appears to have been bound by the “Plebanus” of some church, a word which is nearly synonymous with “Capellanus.”II.35

As it does not come within the plan of the present volume to give a catalogue of all the subjects contained in the block-books to which it may be necessary to refer as illustrating the progress of wood engraving, I shall confine myself to a general notice of the manner in which the cuts are executed, with occasional observations on the designs, and such remarks as may be likely to explain any peculiarity of appearance, or to enable the reader to form a distinct idea of the subject referred to.

At whatever period the Apocalypse, the History of the Virgin, and the Biblia Pauperum may have been executed, the former has the appearance of being the earliest; and in the absence of everything like proof upon the point, and as the style in which it is engraved is certainly more simple than that of the other two, it seems entitled to be first noticed in tracing the progress of the art.

Of the Apocalypse,—or “Historia Sancti Johannis Evangelistæ ejusque Visiones Apocalypticæ,” as it is mostly termed by bibliographers, for the book itself has no title,—Heineken mentions no less than six editions, the earliest of which he considers to be that described by him at page 367 of his “Idée Générale d’une Collection complète d’Estampes.” He, however, declares that the marks by which he has assigned to each edition its comparative antiquity are not infallible. It is indeed very evident that the marks which he assumed as characteristic of the relative order of the different editions were merely arbitrary, and could by no means be admitted as of the slightest consequence in enabling any62person to form a correct opinion on the subject. He notices two editions as the first and second, and immediately after he mentions a circumstance which might almost entitle the third to take precedence of them both; and that which he saw last he thinks the oldest of all. The designs of the second edition described by him, he says, are by another master than those of the first, although the artist has adhered to the same subjects and the same ideas. The third, according to his observations, differs from the first and second, both in the subjects and the descriptive text. The fourth edition is from the same blocks as the third; the only difference between them being, that the fourth is without the letters in alphabetical order which indicate the succession of the cuts. The fifth differed from the third or fourth only in the text and the directing letters, as the designs were the same; the only variations that could be observed being extremely trifling. After having described five editions of the book, he decides that a sixth, which he saw after the others, ought to be considered the earliest of all.II.36In all the copies which he had seen, the impressions had been taken by means of a rubber, in such a manner that each leaf contained only one engraving; the other side, which commonly bore the marks of the rubber, being without a cut. The impressions when collected into a volume faced each other, so that the first and last pages were blank.

The edition of the Apocalypse to which I shall now refer is that described by Heineken, at page 364, as the fifth; and the copy is that mentioned by him, at page 367, as then being in the collection of M. de Gaignat, and as wanting two cuts, Nos. 36 and 37. It is at present in the King’s Library at the British Museum.

It is a thin folio in modern red morocco binding, and has, when perfect, consisted of fifty wood engravings, with their explanatory text also cut in wood, generally within an oblong border of a single line, within thefieldof the engraving, and not added underneath, as in the Speculum Salvationis, nor in detached compartments, both above and below, as in the Biblia Pauperum. The paper, which is somewhat of a cream colour, is stout, with rather a coarse surface, and such as we find the most ancient books printed on. As each leaf has been pasted down on another of modern paper, in order to preserve it, the marks of the rubber at the back of each impression, as described by Heineken, cannot be seen.see textThe annexed outline is a reduced copy of a paper-mark, which may be perceived on some of the leaves. It is very like that numbered “vii.” at p. 224, vol. i. of Mr. Ottley’s Inquiry, and which he says occurs in the edition called the first Latin of the Speculum Salvationis. It is nearly the same as that which is to be seen in Earl Spencer’s “Historia Virginis;” and Santander63states that he has noticed a similar mark in books printed at Cologne by Ulric Zell, and Bart. de Unkel; at Louvain by John Veldener and Conrad Braen; and in books printed at Utrecht by Nic. Ketelaer and Gerard de Leempt.

The size of the largest cuts, as defined by the plain lines which form the border, is about ten and five-eighths inches high, by seven and six-eighths inches wide; of the smallest, ten and two-eighths inches high, by seven and three-eighths wide.II.37The order in which they are to be placed in binding is indicated by a letter of the alphabet, which serves the same purpose as our modern signatures,—engraved in a conspicuous part of the cut. For instance, the first two, which, as well as the others, might either face each other or be pasted back to back, are each marked with the lettera; the two next with the letterb, and so on through the alphabet. As the alphabet—which has the i the same as the j, the v the same as the u, and has not the w—became exhausted at the forty-sixth cut, the forty-seventh and forty-eighth are marked with a character which was used to represent the words “et cetera;” and the forty-ninth and fiftieth with the terminal abbreviation of the letters “us.” In the copy described by Heineken, he observed that the directing lettersmandnwere wanting in the twenty-fourth and twenty-sixth cuts, and in the copy under consideration they are also omitted. The m, however, appears to have been engraved, though for some reason or other not to have been inked in taking an impression; for on a careful examination of this cut,—without being aware at the time of Heineken having noticed the omission,—I thought that I could very plainly discern the indention of the letter above one of the angels in the upper compartment of the print.

Of the forty-eight cutsII.38contained in the Museum copy, the greater number are divided by a horizontal line, nearly in the middle, and thus each consists of two compartments; of the remainder, each is occupied by a single subject, which fills the whole page. In some, the explanatory text consists only of two or three lines; and in others it occupies so64large a space, that if it were set up in moderately sized type, it would be sufficient to fill a duodecimo page. The characters are different from those in the History of the Virgin and the Biblia Pauperum, and are smaller than those of the former, and generally larger and more distinctly cut than those of the latter; and although, as well as in the two last-named books, the words are much abbreviated, yet they are more easy to be made out than the text of either of the others. The impressions on the whole are better taken than those of the Biblia Pauperum, though in lighter-coloured ink, something like a greyish sepia, and apparently of a thinner body. It does not appear to have contained any oil, and is more like distemper or water-colour than printer’s ink. From the manner in which the lines are indented in the paper, in several of the cuts, it is evident that they must either have been subjected to a considerable degree of pressure or have been very hard rubbed.

Although some of the figures bear a considerable degree of likeness to others of the same kind in the Biblia Pauperum, I cannot think that the designs for both books were made by the same person. The figures in the different works which most resemble each other are those of saints and angels, whose form and expression have been represented according to a conventional standard, to which most of the artists of the period conformed, in the same manner as in representing the Almighty and Christ, whether they were painters, glass-stainers, carvers, or wood-engravers. In many of the figures the drapery is broken into easy and natural folds by means of single lines; and if this were admitted as a ground for assigning the cut of the Annunciation to Italy, with much greater reason might the Apocalypse be ascribed to the same country.

Without venturing to give an opinion whether the cuts were engraved in Germany, Holland, or in the Low Countries, the drawing of many of the figures appears to correspond with the idea that I have formed of the style of Greek art, such as it was in the early part of the fifteenth century. St. John was the favourite apostle of the Greeks, as St. Peter was of the church of Rome; and as the Revelations were more especially addressed to the churches of Greece, they were more generally read in that country than in Western Europe. Artists mostly copy, in the heads which they draw, the general expression of the countryII.39to which they belong, and where they have received their first impressions; and in the Apocalypse the character of several of the heads appears to be decidedly Grecian. The general representation, too, of several visions would seem to have been suggested by a Greek who was familiar with that portion of the New Testament which was so generally perused in his native land, and whose annunciations and figurative prophecies were, in the early65part of the fifteenth century, commonly supposed by his countrymen to relate to the Turks, who at that time were triumphing over the cross. With them Mahomet was the Antichrist of the Revelations, and his followers the people bearing the mark of the beast, who were to persecute, and for a time to hold in bondage, the members of the church of Christ. As many Greeks, both artists and scholars, were driven from their country by the oppression of the Turks several years before the taking of Constantinople in 1453, I am induced to think that to a Greek we owe the designs of this edition of the Apocalypse. In the lower division of the twenty-third cut,m, representing the fight of Michael and his angels with the dragon, the following shields are borne by two of the heavenly host.

see text

Thecrescent, as is well known, was one of the badges of Constantinople long previous to its capture by the Turks. The sort of cross in the other shield is very like that in the arms of the knights of St. Constantine, a military order which is said to have been founded at Constantinople by the Emperor Isaac Angelus Comnenus, in 1190. The above coincidences, though trifling, tend to support the opinion that the designs were made by a Greek artist. It is, however, possible, that the badges on the shields may have been suggested by the mere fancy of the designer, and that they may equally resemble the heraldic bearings of some order or of some individuals of Western Europe.

Though some of the designs are very indifferent, yet there are others which display considerable ability, and several of the single figures are decidedly superior to any that are contained in the other block-books. They are drawn with greater vigour and feeling; and though the designs of the Biblia Pauperum show a greater knowledge of the mechanism of art, yet the best of them, in point of expression and emphatic marking of character, are inferior to the best in the Apocalypse.

With respect to the engraving, the cuts are executed in the simplest manner, as there is not the least attempt at shading, by means of cross lines or hatchings, to be perceived in any one of the designs. The most difficult part of the engraver’s task, supposing the drawings to have been made by another person, would be the cutting of the letters, which in several of the subjects must have occupied a considerable portion of66time, and have required no small degree of care. The following is a reduced copy of the first cut.

see text

In the upper portion of the subject, St. John is seen addressing four persons, three men and a woman; and the text at the top informs us of the success of his ministry: “Conversi ab idolis, per predicationem beati Johannis, Drusiana et ceteri.”—“By the preaching of St. John, Drusiana and others are withdrawn from their idols.” The lettera, a little above the saint’s outstretched hand, indicates that the cut is the first of the series. In the lower compartment St. John is seen baptizing Drusiana, who, as she stands naked in the font, is of very small size compared with the saint. The situation in which Drusiana is placed might be alleged in support of their peculiar tenets, either by the Baptists, who advocate immersion as the proper mode of administering the rite, or by those who consider sprinkling as sufficient; but in each case with a difficulty which it would not be easy to explain: for if Drusiana were to be baptized by immersion, the font is too small to allow her to be dipped overhead; and67if the rite were to be administered by mere sprinkling, why is she standing naked in the font? To the right of the cut are several figures, two of whom are provided with axes, who seem wishful to break open the door of the chapel in which St. John and his proselyte are seen. The inscription above their heads lets us know that they are—“Cultores ydolorum explorantes facta ejus;”—“Worshippers of idols watching the saint’s proceedings.”

The following cut is a copy of the eighteenth of the Apocalypse, which is illustrative of theXIth andXIIIth chapters of Revelations. The upper portion represents the execution of the two witnesses of the Lord, who are in the tablet named Enoch and Helyas, by the command of the beast which ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, and which is Antichrist. He is seen issuing his commands for the execution of the witnesses; and the face of the executioner who has just used his sword, and who is looking towards him with an expression of brutal exultation, might have served Albert Durer for that of the mocker in his cut of Christ crowned with thorns.

see text

The inscription to the right, is the 7th verse of theXIth chapter, with the names of Enoch and Helyas inserted as those of the two witnesses: “Cum finierunt Enoch et Helyas testimonium suum, bestia quæ ascendit de abisso faciet contra eos bellum, et vincet eos et occidet illos.” In our translation the verse is rendered thus: “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill them.”

The tablet to the left contains the following inscription: “Et jacebunt corpora eorum in plateis, et non sinent poni in monumentis.” It is formed of two passages, in the 8th and 9th verses of theXIth chapter of Revelations, which are thus rendered in our version of the Bible: “And their dead bodies shall lie in the street, . . . and they of the people . . . shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.”

In the lower compartment Antichrist is seen working his miracles, uprooting the two olive trees, typical of the two witnesses whom he had caused to be slain.II.40Two of his followers are seen kneeling as if worshipping him, while more to the left are the supporters of the true faith delivered into the hands of executioners. The design is illustrative of the XIIIth chapter of Revelations. The following is the inscription above the figure of Antichrist:—“Hic facit Antichristus miracula sua, et credentes in ipsum honorat, et incredentes variis interficit pœnis.”—“Here Antichrist is performing his miracles, honouring those who believe in him, and putting the incredulous to death by various punishments.” The leaves of the trees which Antichrist has miraculously uprooted are extremely like those of the tree of life engraved in one of the cuts of the Biblia Pauperum, and of which a copy will be found in a subsequent page.

In several of the cuts, the typical expressions which occur in the texts are explained. Thus, in cut eighth, we are informed that “Stolæ albæ animarum gloriam designant.”—“The white vestments denote the glory of departed souls.” In the lower compartment of the same cut, the “cæli recessio”—“the opening of the heavens”—is explained to be the communication of the Bible to the Gentiles. In the lower compartment of the ninth cut, “much incense” is said to signify the precepts of the Gospel; the “censers,” the hearts of the Apostles; and the “golden altar,” the Church.

The next block-book which demands notice is that named “Historia seu Providentia Virginis Mariæ, ex Cantico Canticorum:” that is, “The History or Prefiguration of the Virgin Mary, from the Song of Songs.” It is of small-folio size, and consists of sixteen leaves, printed on one side only by means of friction; and the ink is of a dark brown, approaching nearly to black. Each impressed page contains two subjects,69one above the other; the total number of subjects in the book is, consequently, thirty-two.

Of this book, according to the observations of Heineken, there are two editions; which, from variations noticed by him in the explanatory text, are evidently from different blocks; but, as the designs are precisely the same, it is certain that the one has been copied from the other.II.41That which he considers to be the first edition, has, in his opinion, been engraved in Germany; the other, he thinks, was a copy of the original, executed by some engraver in Holland. The principal ground on which he determines the priority of the editions is, that in the one the text is much more correctly given than in the other; and he thence concludes that the most correct would be the second. In this opinion I concur; not that his rule will universally hold good, but that in this case the conclusion which he has drawn seems the most probable. The designs, it is admitted, are precisely the same; and as the cuts of the one would in all probability be engraved from tracings or transfers of the other, it is not likely that we should find such a difference in the text of the two editions if that of the first were correct. A wood-engraver—on this point I speak from experience—would be much more likely to commit literal errors in copying manuscript, than to deviate in cutting a fac-simile from a correct impression. Had the text of the first edition been correct,—considering that the designs of the one edition are exact copies of those of the other,—it is probable that the text of both would have been more nearly alike. But as there are several errors in the text of the first edition, it is most likely that many of them would be discovered and corrected by the person at whose instance the designs were copied for the second. Diametrically opposite to this conclusion is that of Mr. Ottley, who argues as follows:II.42“Heineken endeavours to draw another argument in favour of the originality of the edition possessed by Pertusati, Verdussen, and the Bodleian library, from the various errors, in that edition, in the Latin inscriptions on the scrolls; which, he says, are corrected in the other edition. But it is evident that this circumstance makes in favour of an opposite conclusion. The artist who originally invented the work must have been well acquainted with Latin, since it is, in fact, no other than an union of many of the most beautiful verses of the Book of Canticles, with a series of designs illustrative of the divine mysteries supposed to be revealed in that sacred poem; and, consequently, we have reason to consider that edition the original in which the inscriptions are given with the most correctness; and to ascribe the gross blunders in the other to the ignorance of some ordinary wood-engraver by whom the work was copied.” Even granting the assumption that the70engraver of the edition, supposed by Mr. Ottley to be the first, was well acquainted with Latin, and that he who engraved the presumed second did not understand a word of that language, yet it by no means follows that the latter could not make a correct tracing of the engraved text lying before him. Because a draughtsman is unacquainted with a language, it would certainly be most erroneous to infer that he would be incapable of copying the characters correctly. Besides, though it does not benefit his argument a whit, it is surely assuming too much to assert that the artist who made the designs also selected the texts, and that hemusthave been well acquainted with Latin; and that he who executed Mr. Ottley’s presumed second edition was some ignorant ordinary wood-engraver. Did the artists who executed the fac-similes in Mr. Ottley’s work, or in Dr. Dibdin’s “Bibliotheca Spenceriana,” understand the abbreviated Latin which in many instances they had to engrave; and did they in consequence of their ignorance of that language copy incorrectly the original texts and sentences which were before them?

In a copy which Heineken considers to be of the second edition, belonging to the city of Harlem, that writer observed the following inscription, from a wood block, impressed, as I understand him, at the top of the first cut. “Dit is die voersinicheit va Marie der mod . godes . en is gehete in lath.Cāti.” This inscription—which Heineken says is “en langue Flamande, ou plûtôt en Plât-Alemand”—may be expressed in English as follows: “This is the prefiguration of Mary the mother of God, and is in Latin named the Canticles.” Heineken expresses no doubt of this inscription being genuine, though he makes use of it as an argument in support of his opinion, that the copy in which it occurs was one of later edition; “for it is well known,” he observes, “that the earliest editions of printed books are without titles, and more especially those of block-books.” As this inscription, however, has been found in the Harlem copy only, I am inclined to agree with Mr. Ottley in considering it as a silly fraud devised by some of the compatriots of Coster for the purpose of establishing a fact which it is, in reality, much better calculated tooverthrow.II.43

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