Heineken, who appears to have had more knowledge than taste on the subject of art, declares the History of the Virgin to be “the most Gothic of all the block-books; that it is different from them both in the style of the designs and of the engraving; and that the figures are very like the ancient sculptures in the churches of Germany.” If by the term “Gothic” he means rude and tasteless, I differ with him entirely; for, though there be great sameness in the subjects, yet the figures, generally, are more gracefully designed than those of any other block-book71that I have seen. Compared with them, those of the Biblia Pauperum and the Speculum might be termed “Gothic” indeed.see textThe above group,—from that which Heineken considers the first edition,—in which the figures are of the size of the originals, is taken from the seventh subject in Mr. Ottley’s enumeration;II.44that is, from the upper portion of the fourth cut.The text is the 14th verse of the 1st chapter of the Song of Solomon: “Botrus cipri dilectus meus inter vineas enngadi;” which in our Bible is translated: “My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi.” In every cut the female figures are almost precisely the same, and the drapery and the expression scarcely vary. From the easy and graceful attitudes of his female figures, as well as from the72manner in which they are clothed, the artist may be considered as the Stothard of his day.see textThe two preceding subjects are impressed on the second leaf, in the order in which they are here represented, forming Nos. 3 and 4 in Mr. Ottley’s enumeration. They are reduced copies from the originals in the first edition, and afford a correct idea of a complete page.II.45On the scroll to the left, in the upper subject, the words are intended for—“Trahe me, post te curremus in odore unguentorum tuorum.” They are to be found in the 4th and 3rd verses of the 1st chapter of the Song of Solomon. In our Bible the phrases are translated as follows: “Draw me, we will run after thee, . . . [in] the savour of thy good ointments.”73In the scroll to the right, the inscription is from the 14th verse of theIInd chapter: “Sonet vox tua in auribus meis, vox enim tua dulcis et facies tua decora:” which is thus rendered in our Bible: “Let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.”On the scroll to the left, in the lower compartment, is the following inscription, from verse 10th, chapterIInd: “En dilectus meus loquitur mihi, Surge, propera, amica mea:” in our Bible translated thus: “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” The inscription on the scroll to the right is from 1st verse of chapterIVth: “Quam pulchra es amica mea, quam pulchra es! Oculi tui columbarum, absque eo quod intrinsecus latet.” The translation of this passage in our Bible does not correspond with that of the Vulgate in the last clause: “Behold thou art fair, my love; behold thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyeswithin thy locks.”The style in which the cuts of the History of the Virgin are engraved indicates a more advanced state of art than those in the Apocalypse. The field of each cut is altogether better filled, and the subjects contain more of what an engraver would term “work;” and shadowing, which is represented by courses of single lines, is also introduced. The back-grounds are better put in, and throughout the whole book may be observed several indications of a perception of natural beauty; such as the occasional introduction of trees, flowers, and animals. A vine-stock, with its trellis, is happily and tastefully introduced at folio 4 and folio 10; and at folio 12 a goat and two sheep, drawn and engraved with considerable ability, are perceived in the background. Several other instances of a similar kind might be pointed out as proofs that the artist, whoever he might be, was no unworthy precursor of Albert Durer.From a fancied delicacy in the engraving of the cuts of the History of the Virgin, Dr. Dibdin was led to conjecture that they were the “production of some metallic substance, and not struck off from wooden blocks.”II.46This speculation is the result of a total ignorance of the practical part of wood engraving, and of the capabilities of the art; and the very process which is suggested involves a greater difficulty than that which is sought to be removed. But, in fact, so far from the engravings being executed with a delicacy unattainable on wood, there is nothing in them—so far as the mere cutting of fancied delicate lines is concerned—which a mere apprentice of the present day, using very ordinary tools, would not execute as well, either on pear-tree, apple-tree, or beech, the kinds of wood on which the earliest engravings are supposed to have been made. Working on box, there is scarcely a line in all the series which a skilful wood-engraver could not split. In a similar manner Mr. John74Landseer conjectured from the frequent occurrence of cross-hatching in the wood engravings of the sixteenth century, that they, instead of being cut on wood, had in reality been executed on type-metal; although, as is known to every wood-engraver, the execution of such hatchings on type-metal would be more difficult than on wood. When, in refutation of his opinion, he was shown impressions from such presumed blocks or plates of type-metal, which from certain marks in the impressions had been evidently worm-eaten, he—in the genuine style of an “ingenious disputant” who could“Confute the exciseman and puzzle thevicar,—”abandoned type-metal, and fortified his “stubbornopinion behindvegetable puttiesor pastes that are capable of being hardened—or any substance that is capable of beingworm-eaten.”II.47Such “commenta opinionum”—the mere figments of conjecture—only deserve notice in consequence of their extravagance.The History of the Virgin, in the same manner as every other ancient block-book, has been claimed for Coster by those who ascribe to him the invention both of wood engraving and printing with moveable types; but if even the churchwarden of St. Bavon’s in Harlem ever had handled a graver, or made a design, or if he was even the cause of wood-cuts being engraved by others,—every one of which assertions I very much doubt,—I should yet feel strongly inclined to believe that the work in question was the production of an artist residing either in Suabia or Alsace.Scarcely any person who has had an opportunity of examining the works of Martin Schön, or Schöngauer,—one of the earliest German copper-plate engravers,—who is said to have died in 1486, can fail, on looking over the designs in the History of the Virgin, to notice the resemblance which many of his female figures bear to those in the above-named work. The similarity is too striking to have been accidental. I am inclined to believe that Martin Schön must have studied—and diligently too—the subjects contained in the History, or that he had received his professional education in a school which might possibly be founded by the artist who designed and engraved the wood-cuts in question, or under a master who had thoroughly adopted their style.Martin Schön was a native of Colmar in Alsace, where he was born about 1453, but was a descendant of a family, probably of artists, which originally belonged to Augsburg. Heineken and Von Murr both bear testimony,II.48though indirectly, to the resemblance which his works bear to the designs in the History of the Virgin. The former states that the figures in the History are very like the ancient sculptures in the churches75of Germany, and Von Murr asserts that such sculptures were probably Martin Schön’s models.In two or three of the designs in the History of the Virgin several shields of arms are introduced, either borne by figures, or suspended from a wall. As the heraldic emblems on such shields were not likely to be entirely suggested by the mere fancy of the artist, I think that most of them will be found to belong to Germany rather than to Holland; and the charge on one of them,—two fish back to back, which is rather remarkable, and by no means common, is one of the quarterings of the former Counts of Wirtemberg, the very district in which I am inclined to think the work was executed. I moreover fancy that in one of the cuts I can perceive an allusion to the Council of Basle, which in 1439 elected Amadeus of Savoy as Pope, under the title of Felix V, in opposition to Eugene IV. In order to afford those who are better acquainted with the subject an opportunity of judging for themselves, and of making further discoveries which may support my opinions if well-founded, or which may correct them if erroneous, I shall give copies of all the shields of arms which occur in the book. The following cut of four figures—a pope, two cardinals, and a bishop—occurs in the upper compartment of the nineteenth folio. The shield charged with a black eagle also occurs in the same compartment.see textThe preceding figures are seen looking over the battlements of a house in which the Virgin, typical of the Church, is seen in bed. On a scroll is inscribed the following sentence, from the Song of Solomon, chap. iii. v. 2: “Surgam et circumibo civitatem; per vicos et plateas queram quem diligit anima mea:” which is thus translated in our Bible: “I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth.” In the same design, the Virgin, with her three attendants, are seen in a street, where two men on horseback76appear taking away her mantle. One of the men bears upon his shield the figure of a black eagle, the same as that which appears underneath the wood-cut above given. Upon a scroll is this inscription, from Solomon’s Song, chapterV.verse 7: “Percusserunt et vulneraverunt me, tulerunt pallium meum custodes murorum.” In our Bible the entire verse is thus translated: “The watchmen that went about the city found me; they smote me, they wounded me: the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.”As the incidents in the life of the Virgin, described in the Canticles, were assumed by commentators to be typical of the history of the Church, I am inclined to think that the above cut may contain an allusion to the disputes between Pope Eugene IV. and the Council assembled at Basle in 1439. The passage in the first inscription, “I will seek him whom my soul loveth,” might be very appropriately applied to a council which professed to represent the Church, and which had chosen for itself a new head. The second inscription would be equally descriptive of the treatment which, in the opinion of the same council, the Church had received from Eugene IV, whom they declared to be deposed, because “he was a disturber of the peace and union of the Church; a schismatic and a heretic; guilty of simony; perjured and incorrigible.” On the shield borne by the figure of a pope wearing a triple crown, is a fleur-de-lis; but whether or no this flower formed part of the armorial distinctions of Amadeus Duke of Savoy, whom the council chose for their new pope, I have not been able to ascertain. The lion borne by the second figure, a cardinal, is too general a cognizance to be assigned to any particular state or city. The charge on the shield borne by the third figure, also a cardinal, I cannot make out. The cross-keys on the bishop’s shield are the arms of the city of Ratisbon.The following shields are borne by angels, who appear above the battlements of a wall in the lower compartment of folio 4, forming the eighth subject in Mr. Ottley’s enumeration.see textOn these I have nothing to remarkfurtherthan that the double-headed eagle is the arms of the German empire. The other three I leave to be deciphered by others. The second, with an indented chief, and something like a rose in the field, will be found, I am inclined to think, to be the arms of some town or city in Wirtemberg or Alsace. I give the three inscriptions here, not that they are likely to throw any light on the subject, but because the third has not hitherto been deciphered. They are77all from the IVth chapter of the Song of Solomon. The first is from verse 12: “Ortus conclusus est soror, mea sposa; ortus conclusus, fons signatus:” in our translation of the Bible: “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.” The second is from verse 15: “Fons ortorum, puteus aquarum vivencium quæ fluunt impetu de Lybano:” in our Bible: “A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.” The third is from verse 16: “Surge Aquilo; veni Auster, perfla ortum et fluant aromata illius:” in our Bible: “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.”see textIn the upper division of folio 15, which is the twenty-ninth subject in Mr. Ottley’s enumeration, the above shields occur. They are suspended on the walls of a tower, which is represented by an inscription as “the armoury whereon hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.”II.49On the first four I shall make no remark beyond calling the attention of those skilled in German heraldry to the remarkable charge in the first shield, which appears something like a cray-fish. The sixth, “two trouts hauriant and addorsed,” is one of the quarterings of the house of Wirtemberg as lords of Mompelgard. The seventh is charged with three crowns, the arms of the city of Cologne. The charge of the eighth I take to be three cinquefoils, which are one of the quarterings of the family of Aremberg. The cross-keys in the ninth are the arms of the city of Ratisbon.The four following shields occur in the lower division of folio 15. They are borne by men in armour standing by the side of a bed. On a scroll is the following inscription, from the 7th and 8th verses of the third chapter of Solomon’s Song. “En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta fortes ambiunt, omnes tenentes gladios:” in our Bible: “Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s; three score valiant men are about it . . . . . they all hold swords.”The first three of the shields on the following page I shall leave to be78assigned by others. The fourth, which is charged with a rose, was the arms of Hagenau, a town in Alsace.see textAs so little is known respecting the country where, and the precise time when, the principal block-books appeared,—of which the History of the Virgin is one,—I think every particular, however trifling, which may be likely to afford even a gleam of light, deserving of notice. It is for this reason that I have given the different shields contained in this and the preceding pages; not in the belief that I have made anyimportantdiscovery, or established any considerable facts; but with the desire of directing to this subject the attention of others, whose further inquiries and comparisons may perhaps establish such a perfect identity between the arms of a particular district, and those contained in the volume, as may determine the probable locality of the place where it was executed. The coincidences which I have noticed were not sought for. Happening to be turning over Sebastian Munster’s Cosmography when a copy of the History of the Virgin was before me, I observed that the two fish in the arms of the Counts of Wirtemberg,II.50and those in the 15th folio of the History, were the same. The other instances of correspondence were also discovered without search, from having occasionally, in tracing the progress of wood engraving, to refer to Merian’s Topographia.Considering the thickness of the paper on which the block-books are printed,—if I may apply this term to them,—and the thin-bodied ink which has been used. I am at a loss to conceive how the early wood-engravers have contrived to take off their impressions so correctly; for in all the block-books which I have seen, where friction has evidently been the means employed to obtain the impression, I have only noticed two subjects in which the lines appeared double in consequence of the shifting of the paper. From the want of body in the ink, which appears in the Apocalypse to have been little more than water-colour, it is not likely the paper could be used in a damp state, otherwise the ink would run or spread; and, even if this difficulty did not exist, the paper in a damp state could not have borne the excessive rubbing which it appears to have received in order to obtain the impression.II.51Even with79such printer’s ink as is used in the present day,—which being tenacious, renders the paper in taking an impression by means of friction much less liable to slip or shift,—it would be difficult to obtain clear impressions on thick paper from blocks the size of those which form each page of the Apocalypse, or the History of the Virgin.Mr. Ottley, however, states that no less than two pages of the History of the Virgin have been engraved on the same block. His observations on this subject are as follows: “Upon first viewing this work, I was of opinion that each of the designs contained in it was engraved upon a separate block of wood: but, upon a more careful examination, I have discovered that the contents of each two pages—that is, four subjects—were engraved on the same block. The number of wooden blocks, therefore, from which the whole was printed, was only eight. This is proved in the first two pages of the copy before me;II.52where, near the bottom of the two upper subjects, the block appears to have been broken in two, in a horizontal direction,—after it was engraved,—and joined together again; although not with such exactness but that the traces of the operation clearly show themselves. The traces of a similar accident are still more apparent in the last block, containing the Nos. 29, 30, 31, 32. The whole work was, therefore, printed on eight sheets of paper from the same number of engraved blocks, the first four subjects being printed from the same block upon the same sheet,—and so on with the rest; and, indeed, in Lord Spencer’s copy, each sheet, being mounted upon a guard, distinctly shows itself entire.”II.53The appearance of a corresponding fracture in two adjacent pages would certainly render it likely that both were engraved on the same block; though I should like to have an opportunity of satisfying myself by inspection whether such appearances are really occasioned by a fracture or not; for it is rather singular that such appearances should be observable on thefirstand thelastblocks only. I always reluctantly speculate, except on something like sufficient grounds; but as I have not seen a copy of the edition to which Mr. Ottley refers, I beg to ask if the traces of supposed fracture in the last two pages do not correspond with those in the first two? and if so, would it not be equally reasonable to infer that eight subjects instead of four were engraved on the same block? A block containing only two pages would be about seventeen inches by ten, allowing for inner margins; and to obtain clear impressions from it by means of friction, on dry thick paper, and with mere water-colour80ink, would be a task of such difficulty that I cannot conceive how it could be performed. No traces of points by which the paper might be kept steady on the block are perceptible; and I unhesitatingly assert that no wood-engraver of the present day could by means of friction take clear impressions from such a block on equally thick paper, and using mere distemper instead of printer’s ink. As the impressions in the History of the Virgin have unquestionably been taken by means of friction, it is evident to me that if the blocks were of the size that Mr. Ottley supposes, the old wood-engravers, who did not use a press, must have resorted to some contrivance to keep the paper steady, with which we are now unacquainted.Heineken describes an edition of the Apocalypse consisting of forty-eight leaves, with cuts on one side only, which, when bound, form a volume of three “gatherings,” or collections, each containing sixteen leaves. Each of these gatherings is formed by eight folio sheets folded in the middle, and placed one within the other, so that the cuts are worked off in the following manner: On the outer sheet of the gathering, forming the first and the sixteenth leaf, the first and the sixteenth cuts are impressed, so that when the sheet is folded they face each other, and the first and the last pages are left blank. In a similar manner the 2nd and 15th; the 3d and 14th; the 4th and 13th; the 5th and 12th; the 6th and 11th; the 7th and 10th, and the 8th and 9th, are, each pair respectively, impressed on the same side of the same sheet. These sheets when folded for binding are then placed in such a manner that the first is opposite the second; the third opposite the fourth, and so on throughout the whole sixteen. Being arranged in this manner, two cuts and two blank pages occur alternately. The reason for this mode of arrangement was, that the blank pages might be pasted together, and the cuts thus appear as if one were impressed on the back of another. A familiar illustration of this mode of folding, adopted by the early wood-engravers before they were accustomed to impress their cuts on both sides of a leaf, is afforded by forming a sheet of paper into a little book of sixteen leaves, and numbering the second and third pages 1 and 2, leaving two pages blank; then numbering the fifth and sixth 3 and 4, and so to No. 16, which will stand opposite to No. 15, and have its back, forming the outer page of the gathering, unimpressed.Of all the block-books, that which is now commonly called “Biblia Pauperum,”—the Bible of the Poor,—is most frequently referred to as a specimen of that kind of printing from wood-blocks which preceded typography, or printing by means of moveable characters or types. This title, however, has given rise to an error which certain learned bibliographers have without the least examination adopted, and have afterwards given to the public considerably enlarged, at least, if not81corrected.II.54It has been gravely stated that this book, whose text is in abbreviated Latin, was printed for the use of thepoorin an age when even therichcould scarcely read their own language. Manuscripts of the Bible were certainly at that period both scarce and costly, and not many individuals even of high rank were possessed of a copy; but to conclude that the first editions of the so-called “Biblia Pauperum” were engraved and printed for the use of the poor, appears to be about as legitimate an inference as to conclude that, in the present day, the reprints of the Roxburghe club were published for the benefit of the poor who could not afford to purchase the original editions. That a merchant or a wealthy trader might occasionally become the purchaser of “Biblia Pauperum,” I am willing to admit,—though I am of opinion that the book was never expressly intended for the laity;—but that it should be printed for the use of the poor, I cannot bring myself to believe. If the poor of Germany in the fifteenth century had the means of purchasing such books, and were capable of reading them, I can only say that they must have had more money to spare than their descendants, and have been more learned than most of the rich people throughout Europe in the present day. If the accounts which we have of the state of knowledge about 1450 be correct, the monk or friar who could read and expound such a work must have been esteemed as a person of considerable literary attainments.The name “Biblia Pauperum” was unknown to Schelhorn and Schœpflin, and was not adopted by Meerman. Schelhorn, who was the first that published a fac-simile of one of the pages engraved on wood, gives it no distinctive name; but merely describes it as “a book which contained in text and figures certain histories and prophecies of the Old Testament, which, in the author’s judgment, were figurative of Christ, and of the works performed by him for the salvation of mankind.”II.55Schœpflin calls it, “Vaticinia Veteris Testamenti de Christo;”II.56—“Prophecies of the Old Testament concerning Christ;” but neither this title, nor the description of Schelhorn, is sufficiently comprehensive; for the book contains not only prophecies and typical figures from the Old Testament, but also passages and subjects selected from the New.82The title which Meerman gives to it is more accurately descriptive of the contents: “Figuræ typicæ Veteris atque antitypicæ Novi Testamenti, seu Historia Jesu Christi in figuris;” that is, “Typical figures of the Old Testament and antitypical of the New, or the History of Jesus Christ pictorially represented.”II.57Heineken appears to have been the first who gave to this book the name “Biblia Pauperum,” as it was in his opinion the most appropriate; “the figures being executed for the purpose of giving a knowledge of the Bible to those who could not afford to purchase a manuscript copy of the Scriptures.”II.58This reason for the name is not, however, a good one: for, according to his own statement, the only copy which he ever saw with the title or inscription “Biblia Pauperum,” was a manuscript on vellum of the fourteenth century, in which the figures were drawn and coloured by hand.II.59Meerman, however, though without adopting the title, had previously noticed the same manuscript, which in his opinion was as old as the twelfth or thirteenth century. As the word “Pauperum” formed part of the title of the book long before presumed cheap copies were printed from wood-blocks for the use of the poor, it could not be peculiarly appropriate as the title of an illumined manuscript on vellum, which the poor could as little afford to purchase as they could a manuscript copy of the Bible. In whatever manner the term “poor” became connected with the book, it is clear that the name “Biblia Pauperum” was not given to it in consequence of its being printed at a cheap rate for circulation among poor people. It is not indeed likely that its ancient title ever was “Biblia Pauperum;” while, on the contrary, there seems every reason to believe that Heineken had copied an abridged title and thus given currency to an error.Heineken says that he observed the inscription, “Incipit Biblia Pauperum,” in a manuscript in the library at Wolfenbuttel, written on vellum in a Gothic character, which appeared to be of the fourteenth century. The figures, which were badly designed, were coloured in distemper, and the explanatory text was in Latin rhyme. It is surprising that neither Heineken nor any other bibliographer should have suspected that a word was wanting in the above supposed title, more especially as the word wanting might have been so readily suggested by another work so much resembling the pretended “Biblia Pauperum” that the one has83frequently been confounded with the other.II.60In the proemium of this other work, which is no other than the “Speculum Salvationis,” the writer expressly states that he has compiled it “propter pauperes predicatores,”—forpoorpreachers.Predictu’ p’hemiu’ hujus libri de conte’tis compilavi,Et p’pter paup’es p’dicatores hoc apponere curavi;Qui si forte nequieru’t totum librum sibi co’p’are,Possu’t ex ipso p’hemio, si sciu’t p’dicare.This preface of contents, stating what this book’s about,For the sake of allpoor preachersI have fairly written out;If the purchase of the book entire should be above their reach,This preface yet may serve them, if they know but how to preach.That the other book might be called “Biblia PauperumPredicatorum,” in consequence of its general use by mendicant preachers, I can readily believe; and no doubt the omission of the word “predicatorum” in the inscription copied by Heineken has given rise to the popular error, that the pretended “Biblia Pauperum” was a kind of cheap pictorial Bible, especially intended for the use of the poor. It is, in fact, a series of “skeleton sermons” ornamented with wood-cuts to warm the preacher’s imagination, and stored with texts to assist his memory. In speaking of this book in future, I shall always refer to it as the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum,”—“the Poor Preachers’ Bible;” for the continuance of its former title only tends, in my opinion, to disseminate an error.Nyerup, who in 1784 published an “Account of such books as were read in schools in Denmark prior to the Reformation,”II.61objected to the title “Biblia Pauperum,” as he had seen portions of a manuscript copy in which the drawings were richly coloured. The title which he preferred wasBiblia Typico-Harmonica. In this objection, however, Camus does not concur: “It is not from the embellishments of a single copy,” he observes, “that we ought to judge of the current price of a book; and, besides, we must not forget to take into consideration the other motives which might suggest the title, ‘Bible of the Poor,’ for we have proofs that other abridgments of greater extent were called ‘Poor men’s books.’ Such is the ‘Biblia Pauperum’ of St. Bonaventure, consisting of extracts for the use ofpreachers, and the ‘Dictionarius Pauperum.’ Of the last the title is explained in the book itself: ‘Incipit summula omnibusverbi divini seminatoribus pernecessaria.’” It is surprising that Camus did84not perceive that the very titles which he cites militate against the opinion of the “Biblia” being intended for the use of poormen. St. Bonaventure’s work, and the Dictionary, which he refers to as instances of “Poor men’s books,” both bear on the very face of them a refutation of his opinion, for in the works themselves it is distinctly stated that they were compiled, not “ad usum pauperumhominum;” but “ad usum pauperumpredicatorum, etverbi divini seminatorum:” not for the use of “poormen,” but for “poorpreachersandteachers of the divine word.” Camus has unwittingly supplied a club to batter his own argument to pieces.Of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum,” there are, according to Heineken, five different editions with the text in Latin. Four of them contain each forty leaves, printed on one side only from wood-blocks by means of friction, and which differ from each other in so trifling a degree, that it is not unlikely that three of them are from the same set of blocks. The other edition,—the fifth described by Heineken—contains fifty leaves, printed in a similar manner, but apparently with the figures designed by a different artist. Besides the above, there are two different editions, also from wood-blocks, with the text in German: one with the date 1470; and the other, 1471 or 1475, for the last numeral appears as like a 1 as a 5. There are also two editions, one Latin, and the other German, with the text printed from moveable types by Albert Pfister, at Bamberg, about 1462.Without pretending to decide on the priority of the first five editions,—as I have not been able to perceive any sufficient marks from which the order in which they were published might be ascertained,—I shall here give a brief account of a copy of that edition which Heineken ranks as the third. It is in the King’s Library at the British Museum, and was formerly in the collection of Monsieur Gaignat, at whose sale it was bought for George III.It is a small folio of forty leaves, impressed on one side only, in order that the blank pages might be pasted together, so that two of the printed sides would thus form only one leaf. The order of the first twenty pages is indicated by the letters of the alphabet, fromatov, and of the second twenty by the same letters, having as a distinguishing mark a point both before and after them, thus:. a .In that which Heineken considers the first edition, the lettersn,o,r,s,of the second alphabet, making pages 33, 34, 37, and 38, want those two distinguishing points, which, according to him, are to be found in each of the other three Latin editions of forty pages each. Mr. Ottley has, however, observed that Earl Spencer’s copy wants the points,—on each side of the lettersn,o,r,s,of the second alphabet,—thus agreeing with that which Heineken calls the first edition, while in all other respects it answers the description which that writer85gives of the presumed second. Mr. Ottley says, that Heineken errs in asserting that the want of those points on each side of the said letters is a distinction exclusively belonging to the first edition, since the edition called by him the second is likewise without them.II.62In fact, the variations noticed by Heineken are not only insufficient to enable a person to judge of the priority of the editions, but they are such as might with the greatest ease be introduced into a block after a certain number of copies had been taken off. Those which he considers as distinguishing marks might easily be broken away by the burnisher or rubber, and replaced by the insertion of other pieces, differing in a slight degree. From the trifling variations noticed by HeinekenII.63in the first three editions, it is not unlikely that they were all taken from the same blocks. Each of the triangular ornaments in which he has observed a difference, might easily be re-inserted in the event of its being injured in taking an impression. The tiara of Moses, in page 35, letter. p .would be peculiarly liable to accident in taking an impression by friction, and I am disposed to think that a part of it has been broken off, and that in repairing it a trifling alteration has been made in the ornament on its top. Heineken, noticing the alteration, has considered it as a criterion of two different editions, while in all probability it only marks a trifling variety in copies taken from the same blocks.On each page are four portraits,—two at the top, and two at the bottom,—intended for the prophets, and other holy men, whose writings are cited in the text. The middle part of the page between each pair of portraits consists of three compartments, each of which is occupied with a subject from the Old or the New Testament. In the 14th page, however, lettero, two of the compartments—that in the centre, and the adjoining one to the right—are both occupied by the same subject, Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. The greatest portion of the explanatory text is at the top on each side of the uppermost portraits; and on each side of those below there is a Leonine, or rhyming Latin, verse. A similar verse underneath those portraits forms the concluding line of each page. Texts of Scripture, and moral or explanatory sentences, having reference to the subjects in the three compartments, also appear on scrolls. The following cut, which is a reduced copy of the 14th page, letterk, will afford a better idea of the arrangement of the subjects, and of the explanatory texts, than any lengthened description.The whole of this subject—both text and figures—appears intended to inculcate the necessity of restraining appetite. The inscription to the right, at the top, contains a reference to the 3rd chapter of Genesis, wherein there is to be found an account of the temptation and fall of86Adam and Eve, who were induced by the Serpent to taste the forbidden fruit. This temptation of our first parents through the medium of the palate, was, as may be gathered from the same inscription, figurative of the temptation of Christ after his fasting forty days in the wilderness, when the Devil came to him and said, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”see textIn the inscription to the left, reference is made to the 25th chapter of Genesis, as containing an account of Esau, who, in consequence of his unrestrained appetite, sold his birth-right for a mess of pottage.In the compartments in the middle of the page, are three illustrations of the preceding text. In the centre is seen the pattern to imitate,—Christ resisting the temptation of the Devil; and on each side the examples to deter,—Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit; and hungry Esau receiving the mess of pottage from Jacob.87Underneath the two half-length figures at the top, is inscribed “David 34,” and “Ysaie xxix.”II.64The numerals are probably intended to indicate the chapters in the Psalms, and in the Prophecies of Isaiah, where the inscriptions on the adjacent scrolls are to be found. On similar scrolls, towards the bottom of the page, are references to the 7th chapter of the 2nd book of Kings, and to the 16th chapter of Job. The two half-length figures are most likely intended for the writers of those sacred books. The likenesses of the prophets and holy persons, thus introduced at the top and bottom of each page, are, as Schelhorn has observed,II.65purely imaginary; for the same character is seldom seen twice with the same face. As most of the supposed figurative descriptions of Christ and his ministry are to be found in the Psalms, and in the Prophecies of Isaiah, the portraits of David and the last-named prophet are those which most frequently occur; and the designer seems to have been determined that neither the king nor the prophet should ever appear twice with the same likeness.The rhyming verses are as follows. That to the right, underneath the subject of Adam and Eve:Serpens vicit, Adam vetitam sibi sugerat escam.The other, on the opposite side, underneath Jacob and Esau:Lentis ob ardorem proprium male perdit honorem.And the third, at the bottom of the page, underneath the two portraits:Christum temptavit Sathanas ut eum superaret.The following cuts are fac-similes, the size of the originals, of each of the compartments of the page referred to, and of which a reduced copy has been already given.The first contains the representation of David and Isaiah, and the characters which follow the name of the former I consider to be intended for 34. They are the only instances in the volume of the use of Arabic, or rather Spanish numerals. The letterk, at the foot, is the “signature,” as a printer would term it, indicating the order of the page. On each side of it are portions of scrolls containing inscriptions, of which some of the letters are seen.see textThe next cut represents Satan tempting Christ by offering him stones to be converted into bread.88In the distance are seen the high mountain, to the top of which Christ was taken up by the Devil, and the temple from whose pinnacle Christ was tempted to cast himself down. The figure of Christ in this compartment is not devoid of sober dignity; nor is Satan deficient in diabolical ugliness; but, though clawed and horned proper, he wants the usual appendage of a tail. The deficiency is, however, in some degree compensated by giving to his hip the likeness of a fiendish face. In two or three other old wood engravings I have noticed a repulsive face indicated in a similar manner on the hip of the Devil. A person well acquainted with the superstitions of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries may perhaps be able to give a reason for this. It may be intended to show that Satan, who is ever going about seeking whom he may devour, can see both before and behind.see textThe cut on the following page (90), which forms the compartment to the right, represents Adam and Eve, each with an apple: and the state in which Eve appears to be, is in accordance with an opinion maintained by several of the schoolmen of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The tree of knowledge is without fruit, and the serpent, with a human face, is seen twined round its stem. The form of the tree and the shape of the leaves are almost precisely the same as those of the olive-trees in the Apocalypse, uprooted by Antichrist. The character of the designs, however, in the two books is almost as different as the manner of the engraving. In the Apocalypse there is no attempt at shading, while in89the book under consideration it is introduced in every page, though merely by courses of single lines, as may be perceived in the drapery of Christ in the preceding cut, and in the trunk of the tree and in the serpent in the cut subjoined. In this cut the figure of Adam cannot be considered as a specimen of manly beauty; his face is that of a man who is past his prime, and his attitude is very like that of one of the splay-footed boors of Teniers. In point of personal beauty Eve appears to be a partner worthy of her husband; and though from her action she seems conscious that she is naked, yet her expression and figure are extremely unlike the graceful timidity and beautiful proportions of the Medicean Venus. The face of the serpent displays neither malignity nor fiendish cunning; but, on the contrary, is marked with an expression not unlike that of a Bavarian broom-girl. This manner of representing the temptation of our first parents appears to have been conventional90among the early German Formschneiders; for I have seen several old wood-cuts of this subject, in which the figures were almost precisely the same. Notwithstanding the bad drawing and the coarse engraving of the following cut, many of the same subject, executed in Germany between 1470 and 1510, are yet worse.see textIn the opposite cut, which forms the compartment to the left, Esau, who is distinguished by his bow and quiver, is seen receiving a bowl of pottage from his brother Jacob. At the far side of the apartment is seen a “kail-pot,” suspended from a “crook,” with something like a ham and a gammon of bacon hanging against the wall. This subject is treated in a style which is thoroughly Dutch. Isaac’s family appear to91have been lodged in a tolerably comfortable house, with a stock of provisions near the chimney nook; and his two sons are very like some of the figures in the pictures of Teniers, more especially about the legs.see textThe following cut, a copy of that which is the lowest in the page, represents the two prophets or inspired penmen, to whom reference is made on the two scrolls whose ends may be perceived towards the lower corners of each arch. The words underneath the figures are a portion of the last rhyming verse quoted at page 87. It is from a difference in the triangular ornament, above the pillar separating the two figures, though not in this identical page, that Heineken chiefly decides on three of the editions of this book; though nothing could be more easy than to92introduce another ornament of a similar kind, in the event of the original either being damaged in printing or intentionally effaced. In some of the earliest wood-blocks which remain undestroyed by the rough handling of time there are evident traces of several letters having been broken away, and of the injury being afterwards remedied by the introduction of a new piece of wood, on which the letters wanting were re-engraved.see textThe ink with which the cuts in the “Poor Preachers’ Bible” have been printed, is evidently a kind of distemper of the colour of bistre, lighter than in the History of the Virgin, and darker than in the Apocalypse. In many of the cuts certain portions of the lines appear surcharged with ink,—sometimes giving to the whole page rather a blotched appearance,—while other portions seem scarcely to have received any.II.66This appearance is undoubtedly in consequence of the light-bodied ink having, from its want of tenacity, accumulated on the block where the line was thickest, or where two lines met, leaving the thinner portions adjacent with scarce any colouring at all. The block must, in my opinion, have been charged with such ink by means of something like a brush, and not by means of a ball. In some parts of the cuts—more especially where there is the greatest portion of text—small93white spaces may be perceived, as if a graver had been run through the lines. On first noticing this appearance, I was inclined to think that it was owing to the spreading of the hairs of the brush in inking, whereby certain parts might have been left untouched. The same kind of break in the lines may be observed, however, in some of the impressions of the old wood-cuts published by Becker and Derschau,II.67and which are worked off by means of a press, and with common printer’s ink. In these it is certainly owing to minute furrows in the grain of the wood; and I am now of opinion that the same cause has occasioned a similar appearance in the cuts of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum.” Mr. Ottley, speaking of the impressions in Earl Spencer’s copy, makes the following remarks: “In many instances they have a sort of horizontally striped and confused appearance, which leads me to suppose that they were taken from engravings executed on some kind of wood of a coarse grain.”II.68This correspondence between Earl Spencer’s copy and that in the King’s Library at the British Museum tends to confirm my opinion that there are not so many editions of the book as Heineken,—from certain accidental variations,—has been induced to suppose.The manner in which the cuts are engraved, and the attempts at something like effect in the shading and composition, induce me to think that this book is not so old as either theApocalypseor the History of the Virgin. That it appeared before 1428, as has been inferred from the date which the Rev. Mr. Horne fancied that he had seen on the ancient binding, I cannot induce myself to believe. It is more likely to have been executed at some time between 1440 and 1460; and I am inclined to think that it is the production of a Dutch or Flemish, rather than a German artist.A work, from which the engraved “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” is little more than an abstract, appears to have been known in France and Germany long before block-printing was introduced. Of such a work there were two manuscript copies in the National Library at Paris; the one complete, and the other—which, with a few exceptions, had been copied from the first—imperfect. The work consisted of a brief summary of the Bible, arranged in the following manner. One or two phrases in Latin and in French formed, as it were, the text; and each text was followed by a moral reflection, also in Latin and in French. Each94article, which thus consisted of two parts, was illustrated by two drawings, one of which related to the historical fact, and the other to the moral deduced from it. The perfect copy consisted of four hundred and twenty-two pages, on each of which there were eight drawings, so that the number contained in the whole volume was upwards of five thousand. In some of the single drawings, which were about two and one-third inches wide, by three and one-third inches high, Camus counted not less than thirty heads.II.69In a copy of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” from wood-blocks, Heineken observed written: “S. Ansgariusest autor hujus libri,”—St. Ansgarius is the author of this book. St. Ansgarius, who was a native of France, and a monk of the celebrated Abbey of Corbey, was sent into Lower Saxony, and other places in the north, for the purpose of reclaiming the people from paganism. He was appointed the first bishop of Hamburg in 831, and in 844 Bishop of Bremen, where he died in 864.II.70From a passage cited by Heineken from Ornhielm’s Ecclesiastical History of Sweden and Gothland, it appears that Ansgarius was reputed to have compiled a similar book;II.71and Heineken observes that it might be from this passage that the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” was ascribed to the Bishop of Hamburg.In the cloisters of the cathedral at Bremen, Heineken saw two bas-reliefs sculptured on stone, of which the figures, of a moderate size, were precisely the same as those in two of the pages—the first and eighth—of the German “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum.” The inscriptions, which were in Latin, were the same as in block-book. He thinks it very probable that the other arches of the cloisters were formerly ornamented in the same manner with the remainder of the subjects, but that the sculptures had been destroyed in the disturbances which had occurred in Bremen. Though he by no means pretends that the cuts were engraved in the time of Ansgarius, he thinks it not impossible that the sculptures might be executed at that period according to the bishop’s directions. This last passage is one of the most silly that occurs in Heineken’s book.II.72It is just about as likely that the cuts in the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” were engraved in the time of Ansgarius, as that the bas-reliefs in the cloisters of the cathedral of Bremen should have been sculptured under his direction.95The book usually called the “Speculum Humanæ Salvationis,”II.73—the Mirror of Human Salvation,—which is ascribed by Hadrian Junius to Lawrence Coster, has been more frequently the subject of discussion among bibliographers and writers who have treated of the origin of printing, than any other work. A great proportion, however, of what has been written on the subject consists of groundless speculation; and the facts elicited, compared with the conjectures propounded, are as “two grains of wheat to a bushel of chaff.” It would be a waste of time to recite at length the various opinions that have been entertained with respect to the date of this book, the manner in which the text was printed, and the printer’s name. The statements and the theories put forth by Junius and Meerman in Coster’s favour, so far as the execution of the Speculum is concerned, are decidedly contradicted by the book itself. Without, therefore, recapitulating arguments which are contradicted by established facts, I shall endeavour to give a correct account of the work, leaving those who choose to compare it, and reconcile it if they can, with the following assertions made by Coster’s advocates: 1. that the Speculum was first printed by him in Dutch with wooden types; 2. that while engraving a Latin edition on blocks of wood he discovered the art of printing with moveable letters; 3. that the Latin edition, in which the text is partly from moveable types and partly from wood-blocks, was printed by Coster’s heirs and successors, their moveable types having been stolen by John Gutemberg before the whole of the text was set up.The Speculum which has been the subject of so much discussion is of a small folio size, and without date or printer’s name. There are four editions of it known to bibliographers, all containing the same cuts; two of those editions are in Latin, and two in Dutch. In the Latin editions the work consists of sixty-three leaves, five of which are occupied by an introduction or prologue, and on the other fifty-eight are printed the cuts and explanatory text. The Dutch editions, though containing the same number of cuts as the Latin, consist of only sixty-two leaves each, as the preface occupies only four. In all those editions the leaves are printed on one side only. Besides the four editions above noticed, which have been ascribed to Coster and have excited so much controversy, there are two or three others in which the cuts are more coarsely engraved, and probably executed, at a later period, in Germany. There is also a quarto edition of the Speculum, printed in 1483, at Culemburg, by John Veldener, and ornamented with the identical cuts of the folio editions ascribed to Coster and his heirs.The four controverted editions of the Speculum may be considered as holding a middle place between block-books,—which are wholly executed,96both text and cuts, by the wood-engraver,—and books printed with moveable types: for in three of the editions the cuts are printed by means of friction with a rubber or burnisher, in the manner of the History of the Virgin, and other block-books, while the text, set in moveable type, has been worked off by means of a press; and in a fourth edition, in which the cuts are taken in the same manner as in the former, twenty pages of the text are printed from wood-blocks by means of friction, while the remainder are printed in the same manner as the whole of the text in the three other editions; that is, from moveable metal types, and by means of a press.There are fifty-eight cuts in the Speculum, each of which is divided into two compartments by a slender column in the middle. In all the editions the cuts are placed as head-pieces at the top of each page, having underneath them, in two columns, the explanatory text. Under each compartment the title of the subject, in Latin, is engraved on the block.The following reduced copy of the first cut will give an idea of their form, as every subject has pillars at the side, and is surmounted by an arch in the same style.see textThe style of engraving in those cuts is similar to those of the Poor Preachers’ Bible. The former are, however, on the whole executed with greater delicacy, and contain more work. The shadows and folds of the drapery in the first forty-eight cuts are indicated by short parallel lines, which are mostly horizontal. In the forty-ninth and subsequent cuts, as has been noticed by Mr. Ottley, a change in the mode of indicating the shades and the folds in the draperies is perceptible; for the short parallel lines, instead of being horizontal as in the former, are mostly slanting. Heineken observes, that to the forty-eighth cut inclusive, the chapters in the printed work are conformable with the old Latin manuscripts; and97as a perceptible change in the execution commences with the forty-ninth, it is not unlikely that the cuts were engraved by two different persons. The two following cuts are fac-similes of the compartments of the first, of which a reduced copy has been previously given.see textIn the above cut, its title, “Casus Luciferi,”—the Fall of Lucifer,—is engraved at the bottom; and the subject represented is Satan and the rebellious angels driven out of heaven, as typical of man’s disobedience and fall. The following are the first two lines of the column of text underneath the cut in the Latin editions:
Heineken, who appears to have had more knowledge than taste on the subject of art, declares the History of the Virgin to be “the most Gothic of all the block-books; that it is different from them both in the style of the designs and of the engraving; and that the figures are very like the ancient sculptures in the churches of Germany.” If by the term “Gothic” he means rude and tasteless, I differ with him entirely; for, though there be great sameness in the subjects, yet the figures, generally, are more gracefully designed than those of any other block-book71that I have seen. Compared with them, those of the Biblia Pauperum and the Speculum might be termed “Gothic” indeed.
see text
The above group,—from that which Heineken considers the first edition,—in which the figures are of the size of the originals, is taken from the seventh subject in Mr. Ottley’s enumeration;II.44that is, from the upper portion of the fourth cut.
The text is the 14th verse of the 1st chapter of the Song of Solomon: “Botrus cipri dilectus meus inter vineas enngadi;” which in our Bible is translated: “My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi.” In every cut the female figures are almost precisely the same, and the drapery and the expression scarcely vary. From the easy and graceful attitudes of his female figures, as well as from the72manner in which they are clothed, the artist may be considered as the Stothard of his day.
see text
The two preceding subjects are impressed on the second leaf, in the order in which they are here represented, forming Nos. 3 and 4 in Mr. Ottley’s enumeration. They are reduced copies from the originals in the first edition, and afford a correct idea of a complete page.II.45
On the scroll to the left, in the upper subject, the words are intended for—“Trahe me, post te curremus in odore unguentorum tuorum.” They are to be found in the 4th and 3rd verses of the 1st chapter of the Song of Solomon. In our Bible the phrases are translated as follows: “Draw me, we will run after thee, . . . [in] the savour of thy good ointments.”73In the scroll to the right, the inscription is from the 14th verse of theIInd chapter: “Sonet vox tua in auribus meis, vox enim tua dulcis et facies tua decora:” which is thus rendered in our Bible: “Let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.”
On the scroll to the left, in the lower compartment, is the following inscription, from verse 10th, chapterIInd: “En dilectus meus loquitur mihi, Surge, propera, amica mea:” in our Bible translated thus: “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” The inscription on the scroll to the right is from 1st verse of chapterIVth: “Quam pulchra es amica mea, quam pulchra es! Oculi tui columbarum, absque eo quod intrinsecus latet.” The translation of this passage in our Bible does not correspond with that of the Vulgate in the last clause: “Behold thou art fair, my love; behold thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyeswithin thy locks.”
The style in which the cuts of the History of the Virgin are engraved indicates a more advanced state of art than those in the Apocalypse. The field of each cut is altogether better filled, and the subjects contain more of what an engraver would term “work;” and shadowing, which is represented by courses of single lines, is also introduced. The back-grounds are better put in, and throughout the whole book may be observed several indications of a perception of natural beauty; such as the occasional introduction of trees, flowers, and animals. A vine-stock, with its trellis, is happily and tastefully introduced at folio 4 and folio 10; and at folio 12 a goat and two sheep, drawn and engraved with considerable ability, are perceived in the background. Several other instances of a similar kind might be pointed out as proofs that the artist, whoever he might be, was no unworthy precursor of Albert Durer.
From a fancied delicacy in the engraving of the cuts of the History of the Virgin, Dr. Dibdin was led to conjecture that they were the “production of some metallic substance, and not struck off from wooden blocks.”II.46This speculation is the result of a total ignorance of the practical part of wood engraving, and of the capabilities of the art; and the very process which is suggested involves a greater difficulty than that which is sought to be removed. But, in fact, so far from the engravings being executed with a delicacy unattainable on wood, there is nothing in them—so far as the mere cutting of fancied delicate lines is concerned—which a mere apprentice of the present day, using very ordinary tools, would not execute as well, either on pear-tree, apple-tree, or beech, the kinds of wood on which the earliest engravings are supposed to have been made. Working on box, there is scarcely a line in all the series which a skilful wood-engraver could not split. In a similar manner Mr. John74Landseer conjectured from the frequent occurrence of cross-hatching in the wood engravings of the sixteenth century, that they, instead of being cut on wood, had in reality been executed on type-metal; although, as is known to every wood-engraver, the execution of such hatchings on type-metal would be more difficult than on wood. When, in refutation of his opinion, he was shown impressions from such presumed blocks or plates of type-metal, which from certain marks in the impressions had been evidently worm-eaten, he—in the genuine style of an “ingenious disputant” who could
“Confute the exciseman and puzzle thevicar,—”
abandoned type-metal, and fortified his “stubbornopinion behindvegetable puttiesor pastes that are capable of being hardened—or any substance that is capable of beingworm-eaten.”II.47Such “commenta opinionum”—the mere figments of conjecture—only deserve notice in consequence of their extravagance.
The History of the Virgin, in the same manner as every other ancient block-book, has been claimed for Coster by those who ascribe to him the invention both of wood engraving and printing with moveable types; but if even the churchwarden of St. Bavon’s in Harlem ever had handled a graver, or made a design, or if he was even the cause of wood-cuts being engraved by others,—every one of which assertions I very much doubt,—I should yet feel strongly inclined to believe that the work in question was the production of an artist residing either in Suabia or Alsace.
Scarcely any person who has had an opportunity of examining the works of Martin Schön, or Schöngauer,—one of the earliest German copper-plate engravers,—who is said to have died in 1486, can fail, on looking over the designs in the History of the Virgin, to notice the resemblance which many of his female figures bear to those in the above-named work. The similarity is too striking to have been accidental. I am inclined to believe that Martin Schön must have studied—and diligently too—the subjects contained in the History, or that he had received his professional education in a school which might possibly be founded by the artist who designed and engraved the wood-cuts in question, or under a master who had thoroughly adopted their style.
Martin Schön was a native of Colmar in Alsace, where he was born about 1453, but was a descendant of a family, probably of artists, which originally belonged to Augsburg. Heineken and Von Murr both bear testimony,II.48though indirectly, to the resemblance which his works bear to the designs in the History of the Virgin. The former states that the figures in the History are very like the ancient sculptures in the churches75of Germany, and Von Murr asserts that such sculptures were probably Martin Schön’s models.
In two or three of the designs in the History of the Virgin several shields of arms are introduced, either borne by figures, or suspended from a wall. As the heraldic emblems on such shields were not likely to be entirely suggested by the mere fancy of the artist, I think that most of them will be found to belong to Germany rather than to Holland; and the charge on one of them,—two fish back to back, which is rather remarkable, and by no means common, is one of the quarterings of the former Counts of Wirtemberg, the very district in which I am inclined to think the work was executed. I moreover fancy that in one of the cuts I can perceive an allusion to the Council of Basle, which in 1439 elected Amadeus of Savoy as Pope, under the title of Felix V, in opposition to Eugene IV. In order to afford those who are better acquainted with the subject an opportunity of judging for themselves, and of making further discoveries which may support my opinions if well-founded, or which may correct them if erroneous, I shall give copies of all the shields of arms which occur in the book. The following cut of four figures—a pope, two cardinals, and a bishop—occurs in the upper compartment of the nineteenth folio. The shield charged with a black eagle also occurs in the same compartment.
see text
The preceding figures are seen looking over the battlements of a house in which the Virgin, typical of the Church, is seen in bed. On a scroll is inscribed the following sentence, from the Song of Solomon, chap. iii. v. 2: “Surgam et circumibo civitatem; per vicos et plateas queram quem diligit anima mea:” which is thus translated in our Bible: “I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth.” In the same design, the Virgin, with her three attendants, are seen in a street, where two men on horseback76appear taking away her mantle. One of the men bears upon his shield the figure of a black eagle, the same as that which appears underneath the wood-cut above given. Upon a scroll is this inscription, from Solomon’s Song, chapterV.verse 7: “Percusserunt et vulneraverunt me, tulerunt pallium meum custodes murorum.” In our Bible the entire verse is thus translated: “The watchmen that went about the city found me; they smote me, they wounded me: the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.”
As the incidents in the life of the Virgin, described in the Canticles, were assumed by commentators to be typical of the history of the Church, I am inclined to think that the above cut may contain an allusion to the disputes between Pope Eugene IV. and the Council assembled at Basle in 1439. The passage in the first inscription, “I will seek him whom my soul loveth,” might be very appropriately applied to a council which professed to represent the Church, and which had chosen for itself a new head. The second inscription would be equally descriptive of the treatment which, in the opinion of the same council, the Church had received from Eugene IV, whom they declared to be deposed, because “he was a disturber of the peace and union of the Church; a schismatic and a heretic; guilty of simony; perjured and incorrigible.” On the shield borne by the figure of a pope wearing a triple crown, is a fleur-de-lis; but whether or no this flower formed part of the armorial distinctions of Amadeus Duke of Savoy, whom the council chose for their new pope, I have not been able to ascertain. The lion borne by the second figure, a cardinal, is too general a cognizance to be assigned to any particular state or city. The charge on the shield borne by the third figure, also a cardinal, I cannot make out. The cross-keys on the bishop’s shield are the arms of the city of Ratisbon.
The following shields are borne by angels, who appear above the battlements of a wall in the lower compartment of folio 4, forming the eighth subject in Mr. Ottley’s enumeration.
see text
On these I have nothing to remarkfurtherthan that the double-headed eagle is the arms of the German empire. The other three I leave to be deciphered by others. The second, with an indented chief, and something like a rose in the field, will be found, I am inclined to think, to be the arms of some town or city in Wirtemberg or Alsace. I give the three inscriptions here, not that they are likely to throw any light on the subject, but because the third has not hitherto been deciphered. They are77all from the IVth chapter of the Song of Solomon. The first is from verse 12: “Ortus conclusus est soror, mea sposa; ortus conclusus, fons signatus:” in our translation of the Bible: “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.” The second is from verse 15: “Fons ortorum, puteus aquarum vivencium quæ fluunt impetu de Lybano:” in our Bible: “A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.” The third is from verse 16: “Surge Aquilo; veni Auster, perfla ortum et fluant aromata illius:” in our Bible: “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.”
see text
In the upper division of folio 15, which is the twenty-ninth subject in Mr. Ottley’s enumeration, the above shields occur. They are suspended on the walls of a tower, which is represented by an inscription as “the armoury whereon hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.”II.49
On the first four I shall make no remark beyond calling the attention of those skilled in German heraldry to the remarkable charge in the first shield, which appears something like a cray-fish. The sixth, “two trouts hauriant and addorsed,” is one of the quarterings of the house of Wirtemberg as lords of Mompelgard. The seventh is charged with three crowns, the arms of the city of Cologne. The charge of the eighth I take to be three cinquefoils, which are one of the quarterings of the family of Aremberg. The cross-keys in the ninth are the arms of the city of Ratisbon.
The four following shields occur in the lower division of folio 15. They are borne by men in armour standing by the side of a bed. On a scroll is the following inscription, from the 7th and 8th verses of the third chapter of Solomon’s Song. “En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta fortes ambiunt, omnes tenentes gladios:” in our Bible: “Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s; three score valiant men are about it . . . . . they all hold swords.”
The first three of the shields on the following page I shall leave to be78assigned by others. The fourth, which is charged with a rose, was the arms of Hagenau, a town in Alsace.
see text
As so little is known respecting the country where, and the precise time when, the principal block-books appeared,—of which the History of the Virgin is one,—I think every particular, however trifling, which may be likely to afford even a gleam of light, deserving of notice. It is for this reason that I have given the different shields contained in this and the preceding pages; not in the belief that I have made anyimportantdiscovery, or established any considerable facts; but with the desire of directing to this subject the attention of others, whose further inquiries and comparisons may perhaps establish such a perfect identity between the arms of a particular district, and those contained in the volume, as may determine the probable locality of the place where it was executed. The coincidences which I have noticed were not sought for. Happening to be turning over Sebastian Munster’s Cosmography when a copy of the History of the Virgin was before me, I observed that the two fish in the arms of the Counts of Wirtemberg,II.50and those in the 15th folio of the History, were the same. The other instances of correspondence were also discovered without search, from having occasionally, in tracing the progress of wood engraving, to refer to Merian’s Topographia.
Considering the thickness of the paper on which the block-books are printed,—if I may apply this term to them,—and the thin-bodied ink which has been used. I am at a loss to conceive how the early wood-engravers have contrived to take off their impressions so correctly; for in all the block-books which I have seen, where friction has evidently been the means employed to obtain the impression, I have only noticed two subjects in which the lines appeared double in consequence of the shifting of the paper. From the want of body in the ink, which appears in the Apocalypse to have been little more than water-colour, it is not likely the paper could be used in a damp state, otherwise the ink would run or spread; and, even if this difficulty did not exist, the paper in a damp state could not have borne the excessive rubbing which it appears to have received in order to obtain the impression.II.51Even with79such printer’s ink as is used in the present day,—which being tenacious, renders the paper in taking an impression by means of friction much less liable to slip or shift,—it would be difficult to obtain clear impressions on thick paper from blocks the size of those which form each page of the Apocalypse, or the History of the Virgin.
Mr. Ottley, however, states that no less than two pages of the History of the Virgin have been engraved on the same block. His observations on this subject are as follows: “Upon first viewing this work, I was of opinion that each of the designs contained in it was engraved upon a separate block of wood: but, upon a more careful examination, I have discovered that the contents of each two pages—that is, four subjects—were engraved on the same block. The number of wooden blocks, therefore, from which the whole was printed, was only eight. This is proved in the first two pages of the copy before me;II.52where, near the bottom of the two upper subjects, the block appears to have been broken in two, in a horizontal direction,—after it was engraved,—and joined together again; although not with such exactness but that the traces of the operation clearly show themselves. The traces of a similar accident are still more apparent in the last block, containing the Nos. 29, 30, 31, 32. The whole work was, therefore, printed on eight sheets of paper from the same number of engraved blocks, the first four subjects being printed from the same block upon the same sheet,—and so on with the rest; and, indeed, in Lord Spencer’s copy, each sheet, being mounted upon a guard, distinctly shows itself entire.”II.53
The appearance of a corresponding fracture in two adjacent pages would certainly render it likely that both were engraved on the same block; though I should like to have an opportunity of satisfying myself by inspection whether such appearances are really occasioned by a fracture or not; for it is rather singular that such appearances should be observable on thefirstand thelastblocks only. I always reluctantly speculate, except on something like sufficient grounds; but as I have not seen a copy of the edition to which Mr. Ottley refers, I beg to ask if the traces of supposed fracture in the last two pages do not correspond with those in the first two? and if so, would it not be equally reasonable to infer that eight subjects instead of four were engraved on the same block? A block containing only two pages would be about seventeen inches by ten, allowing for inner margins; and to obtain clear impressions from it by means of friction, on dry thick paper, and with mere water-colour80ink, would be a task of such difficulty that I cannot conceive how it could be performed. No traces of points by which the paper might be kept steady on the block are perceptible; and I unhesitatingly assert that no wood-engraver of the present day could by means of friction take clear impressions from such a block on equally thick paper, and using mere distemper instead of printer’s ink. As the impressions in the History of the Virgin have unquestionably been taken by means of friction, it is evident to me that if the blocks were of the size that Mr. Ottley supposes, the old wood-engravers, who did not use a press, must have resorted to some contrivance to keep the paper steady, with which we are now unacquainted.
Heineken describes an edition of the Apocalypse consisting of forty-eight leaves, with cuts on one side only, which, when bound, form a volume of three “gatherings,” or collections, each containing sixteen leaves. Each of these gatherings is formed by eight folio sheets folded in the middle, and placed one within the other, so that the cuts are worked off in the following manner: On the outer sheet of the gathering, forming the first and the sixteenth leaf, the first and the sixteenth cuts are impressed, so that when the sheet is folded they face each other, and the first and the last pages are left blank. In a similar manner the 2nd and 15th; the 3d and 14th; the 4th and 13th; the 5th and 12th; the 6th and 11th; the 7th and 10th, and the 8th and 9th, are, each pair respectively, impressed on the same side of the same sheet. These sheets when folded for binding are then placed in such a manner that the first is opposite the second; the third opposite the fourth, and so on throughout the whole sixteen. Being arranged in this manner, two cuts and two blank pages occur alternately. The reason for this mode of arrangement was, that the blank pages might be pasted together, and the cuts thus appear as if one were impressed on the back of another. A familiar illustration of this mode of folding, adopted by the early wood-engravers before they were accustomed to impress their cuts on both sides of a leaf, is afforded by forming a sheet of paper into a little book of sixteen leaves, and numbering the second and third pages 1 and 2, leaving two pages blank; then numbering the fifth and sixth 3 and 4, and so to No. 16, which will stand opposite to No. 15, and have its back, forming the outer page of the gathering, unimpressed.
Of all the block-books, that which is now commonly called “Biblia Pauperum,”—the Bible of the Poor,—is most frequently referred to as a specimen of that kind of printing from wood-blocks which preceded typography, or printing by means of moveable characters or types. This title, however, has given rise to an error which certain learned bibliographers have without the least examination adopted, and have afterwards given to the public considerably enlarged, at least, if not81corrected.II.54It has been gravely stated that this book, whose text is in abbreviated Latin, was printed for the use of thepoorin an age when even therichcould scarcely read their own language. Manuscripts of the Bible were certainly at that period both scarce and costly, and not many individuals even of high rank were possessed of a copy; but to conclude that the first editions of the so-called “Biblia Pauperum” were engraved and printed for the use of the poor, appears to be about as legitimate an inference as to conclude that, in the present day, the reprints of the Roxburghe club were published for the benefit of the poor who could not afford to purchase the original editions. That a merchant or a wealthy trader might occasionally become the purchaser of “Biblia Pauperum,” I am willing to admit,—though I am of opinion that the book was never expressly intended for the laity;—but that it should be printed for the use of the poor, I cannot bring myself to believe. If the poor of Germany in the fifteenth century had the means of purchasing such books, and were capable of reading them, I can only say that they must have had more money to spare than their descendants, and have been more learned than most of the rich people throughout Europe in the present day. If the accounts which we have of the state of knowledge about 1450 be correct, the monk or friar who could read and expound such a work must have been esteemed as a person of considerable literary attainments.
The name “Biblia Pauperum” was unknown to Schelhorn and Schœpflin, and was not adopted by Meerman. Schelhorn, who was the first that published a fac-simile of one of the pages engraved on wood, gives it no distinctive name; but merely describes it as “a book which contained in text and figures certain histories and prophecies of the Old Testament, which, in the author’s judgment, were figurative of Christ, and of the works performed by him for the salvation of mankind.”II.55Schœpflin calls it, “Vaticinia Veteris Testamenti de Christo;”II.56—“Prophecies of the Old Testament concerning Christ;” but neither this title, nor the description of Schelhorn, is sufficiently comprehensive; for the book contains not only prophecies and typical figures from the Old Testament, but also passages and subjects selected from the New.82The title which Meerman gives to it is more accurately descriptive of the contents: “Figuræ typicæ Veteris atque antitypicæ Novi Testamenti, seu Historia Jesu Christi in figuris;” that is, “Typical figures of the Old Testament and antitypical of the New, or the History of Jesus Christ pictorially represented.”II.57
Heineken appears to have been the first who gave to this book the name “Biblia Pauperum,” as it was in his opinion the most appropriate; “the figures being executed for the purpose of giving a knowledge of the Bible to those who could not afford to purchase a manuscript copy of the Scriptures.”II.58This reason for the name is not, however, a good one: for, according to his own statement, the only copy which he ever saw with the title or inscription “Biblia Pauperum,” was a manuscript on vellum of the fourteenth century, in which the figures were drawn and coloured by hand.II.59Meerman, however, though without adopting the title, had previously noticed the same manuscript, which in his opinion was as old as the twelfth or thirteenth century. As the word “Pauperum” formed part of the title of the book long before presumed cheap copies were printed from wood-blocks for the use of the poor, it could not be peculiarly appropriate as the title of an illumined manuscript on vellum, which the poor could as little afford to purchase as they could a manuscript copy of the Bible. In whatever manner the term “poor” became connected with the book, it is clear that the name “Biblia Pauperum” was not given to it in consequence of its being printed at a cheap rate for circulation among poor people. It is not indeed likely that its ancient title ever was “Biblia Pauperum;” while, on the contrary, there seems every reason to believe that Heineken had copied an abridged title and thus given currency to an error.
Heineken says that he observed the inscription, “Incipit Biblia Pauperum,” in a manuscript in the library at Wolfenbuttel, written on vellum in a Gothic character, which appeared to be of the fourteenth century. The figures, which were badly designed, were coloured in distemper, and the explanatory text was in Latin rhyme. It is surprising that neither Heineken nor any other bibliographer should have suspected that a word was wanting in the above supposed title, more especially as the word wanting might have been so readily suggested by another work so much resembling the pretended “Biblia Pauperum” that the one has83frequently been confounded with the other.II.60In the proemium of this other work, which is no other than the “Speculum Salvationis,” the writer expressly states that he has compiled it “propter pauperes predicatores,”—forpoorpreachers.
Predictu’ p’hemiu’ hujus libri de conte’tis compilavi,Et p’pter paup’es p’dicatores hoc apponere curavi;Qui si forte nequieru’t totum librum sibi co’p’are,Possu’t ex ipso p’hemio, si sciu’t p’dicare.
Predictu’ p’hemiu’ hujus libri de conte’tis compilavi,
Et p’pter paup’es p’dicatores hoc apponere curavi;
Qui si forte nequieru’t totum librum sibi co’p’are,
Possu’t ex ipso p’hemio, si sciu’t p’dicare.
This preface of contents, stating what this book’s about,For the sake of allpoor preachersI have fairly written out;If the purchase of the book entire should be above their reach,This preface yet may serve them, if they know but how to preach.
This preface of contents, stating what this book’s about,
For the sake of allpoor preachersI have fairly written out;
If the purchase of the book entire should be above their reach,
This preface yet may serve them, if they know but how to preach.
That the other book might be called “Biblia PauperumPredicatorum,” in consequence of its general use by mendicant preachers, I can readily believe; and no doubt the omission of the word “predicatorum” in the inscription copied by Heineken has given rise to the popular error, that the pretended “Biblia Pauperum” was a kind of cheap pictorial Bible, especially intended for the use of the poor. It is, in fact, a series of “skeleton sermons” ornamented with wood-cuts to warm the preacher’s imagination, and stored with texts to assist his memory. In speaking of this book in future, I shall always refer to it as the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum,”—“the Poor Preachers’ Bible;” for the continuance of its former title only tends, in my opinion, to disseminate an error.
Nyerup, who in 1784 published an “Account of such books as were read in schools in Denmark prior to the Reformation,”II.61objected to the title “Biblia Pauperum,” as he had seen portions of a manuscript copy in which the drawings were richly coloured. The title which he preferred wasBiblia Typico-Harmonica. In this objection, however, Camus does not concur: “It is not from the embellishments of a single copy,” he observes, “that we ought to judge of the current price of a book; and, besides, we must not forget to take into consideration the other motives which might suggest the title, ‘Bible of the Poor,’ for we have proofs that other abridgments of greater extent were called ‘Poor men’s books.’ Such is the ‘Biblia Pauperum’ of St. Bonaventure, consisting of extracts for the use ofpreachers, and the ‘Dictionarius Pauperum.’ Of the last the title is explained in the book itself: ‘Incipit summula omnibusverbi divini seminatoribus pernecessaria.’” It is surprising that Camus did84not perceive that the very titles which he cites militate against the opinion of the “Biblia” being intended for the use of poormen. St. Bonaventure’s work, and the Dictionary, which he refers to as instances of “Poor men’s books,” both bear on the very face of them a refutation of his opinion, for in the works themselves it is distinctly stated that they were compiled, not “ad usum pauperumhominum;” but “ad usum pauperumpredicatorum, etverbi divini seminatorum:” not for the use of “poormen,” but for “poorpreachersandteachers of the divine word.” Camus has unwittingly supplied a club to batter his own argument to pieces.
Of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum,” there are, according to Heineken, five different editions with the text in Latin. Four of them contain each forty leaves, printed on one side only from wood-blocks by means of friction, and which differ from each other in so trifling a degree, that it is not unlikely that three of them are from the same set of blocks. The other edition,—the fifth described by Heineken—contains fifty leaves, printed in a similar manner, but apparently with the figures designed by a different artist. Besides the above, there are two different editions, also from wood-blocks, with the text in German: one with the date 1470; and the other, 1471 or 1475, for the last numeral appears as like a 1 as a 5. There are also two editions, one Latin, and the other German, with the text printed from moveable types by Albert Pfister, at Bamberg, about 1462.
Without pretending to decide on the priority of the first five editions,—as I have not been able to perceive any sufficient marks from which the order in which they were published might be ascertained,—I shall here give a brief account of a copy of that edition which Heineken ranks as the third. It is in the King’s Library at the British Museum, and was formerly in the collection of Monsieur Gaignat, at whose sale it was bought for George III.
It is a small folio of forty leaves, impressed on one side only, in order that the blank pages might be pasted together, so that two of the printed sides would thus form only one leaf. The order of the first twenty pages is indicated by the letters of the alphabet, fromatov, and of the second twenty by the same letters, having as a distinguishing mark a point both before and after them, thus:. a .In that which Heineken considers the first edition, the lettersn,o,r,s,of the second alphabet, making pages 33, 34, 37, and 38, want those two distinguishing points, which, according to him, are to be found in each of the other three Latin editions of forty pages each. Mr. Ottley has, however, observed that Earl Spencer’s copy wants the points,—on each side of the lettersn,o,r,s,of the second alphabet,—thus agreeing with that which Heineken calls the first edition, while in all other respects it answers the description which that writer85gives of the presumed second. Mr. Ottley says, that Heineken errs in asserting that the want of those points on each side of the said letters is a distinction exclusively belonging to the first edition, since the edition called by him the second is likewise without them.II.62In fact, the variations noticed by Heineken are not only insufficient to enable a person to judge of the priority of the editions, but they are such as might with the greatest ease be introduced into a block after a certain number of copies had been taken off. Those which he considers as distinguishing marks might easily be broken away by the burnisher or rubber, and replaced by the insertion of other pieces, differing in a slight degree. From the trifling variations noticed by HeinekenII.63in the first three editions, it is not unlikely that they were all taken from the same blocks. Each of the triangular ornaments in which he has observed a difference, might easily be re-inserted in the event of its being injured in taking an impression. The tiara of Moses, in page 35, letter. p .would be peculiarly liable to accident in taking an impression by friction, and I am disposed to think that a part of it has been broken off, and that in repairing it a trifling alteration has been made in the ornament on its top. Heineken, noticing the alteration, has considered it as a criterion of two different editions, while in all probability it only marks a trifling variety in copies taken from the same blocks.
On each page are four portraits,—two at the top, and two at the bottom,—intended for the prophets, and other holy men, whose writings are cited in the text. The middle part of the page between each pair of portraits consists of three compartments, each of which is occupied with a subject from the Old or the New Testament. In the 14th page, however, lettero, two of the compartments—that in the centre, and the adjoining one to the right—are both occupied by the same subject, Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. The greatest portion of the explanatory text is at the top on each side of the uppermost portraits; and on each side of those below there is a Leonine, or rhyming Latin, verse. A similar verse underneath those portraits forms the concluding line of each page. Texts of Scripture, and moral or explanatory sentences, having reference to the subjects in the three compartments, also appear on scrolls. The following cut, which is a reduced copy of the 14th page, letterk, will afford a better idea of the arrangement of the subjects, and of the explanatory texts, than any lengthened description.
The whole of this subject—both text and figures—appears intended to inculcate the necessity of restraining appetite. The inscription to the right, at the top, contains a reference to the 3rd chapter of Genesis, wherein there is to be found an account of the temptation and fall of86Adam and Eve, who were induced by the Serpent to taste the forbidden fruit. This temptation of our first parents through the medium of the palate, was, as may be gathered from the same inscription, figurative of the temptation of Christ after his fasting forty days in the wilderness, when the Devil came to him and said, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”
see text
In the inscription to the left, reference is made to the 25th chapter of Genesis, as containing an account of Esau, who, in consequence of his unrestrained appetite, sold his birth-right for a mess of pottage.
In the compartments in the middle of the page, are three illustrations of the preceding text. In the centre is seen the pattern to imitate,—Christ resisting the temptation of the Devil; and on each side the examples to deter,—Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit; and hungry Esau receiving the mess of pottage from Jacob.
Underneath the two half-length figures at the top, is inscribed “David 34,” and “Ysaie xxix.”II.64The numerals are probably intended to indicate the chapters in the Psalms, and in the Prophecies of Isaiah, where the inscriptions on the adjacent scrolls are to be found. On similar scrolls, towards the bottom of the page, are references to the 7th chapter of the 2nd book of Kings, and to the 16th chapter of Job. The two half-length figures are most likely intended for the writers of those sacred books. The likenesses of the prophets and holy persons, thus introduced at the top and bottom of each page, are, as Schelhorn has observed,II.65purely imaginary; for the same character is seldom seen twice with the same face. As most of the supposed figurative descriptions of Christ and his ministry are to be found in the Psalms, and in the Prophecies of Isaiah, the portraits of David and the last-named prophet are those which most frequently occur; and the designer seems to have been determined that neither the king nor the prophet should ever appear twice with the same likeness.
The rhyming verses are as follows. That to the right, underneath the subject of Adam and Eve:
Serpens vicit, Adam vetitam sibi sugerat escam.
The other, on the opposite side, underneath Jacob and Esau:
Lentis ob ardorem proprium male perdit honorem.
And the third, at the bottom of the page, underneath the two portraits:
Christum temptavit Sathanas ut eum superaret.
The following cuts are fac-similes, the size of the originals, of each of the compartments of the page referred to, and of which a reduced copy has been already given.
The first contains the representation of David and Isaiah, and the characters which follow the name of the former I consider to be intended for 34. They are the only instances in the volume of the use of Arabic, or rather Spanish numerals. The letterk, at the foot, is the “signature,” as a printer would term it, indicating the order of the page. On each side of it are portions of scrolls containing inscriptions, of which some of the letters are seen.
see text
The next cut represents Satan tempting Christ by offering him stones to be converted into bread.
In the distance are seen the high mountain, to the top of which Christ was taken up by the Devil, and the temple from whose pinnacle Christ was tempted to cast himself down. The figure of Christ in this compartment is not devoid of sober dignity; nor is Satan deficient in diabolical ugliness; but, though clawed and horned proper, he wants the usual appendage of a tail. The deficiency is, however, in some degree compensated by giving to his hip the likeness of a fiendish face. In two or three other old wood engravings I have noticed a repulsive face indicated in a similar manner on the hip of the Devil. A person well acquainted with the superstitions of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries may perhaps be able to give a reason for this. It may be intended to show that Satan, who is ever going about seeking whom he may devour, can see both before and behind.
see text
The cut on the following page (90), which forms the compartment to the right, represents Adam and Eve, each with an apple: and the state in which Eve appears to be, is in accordance with an opinion maintained by several of the schoolmen of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The tree of knowledge is without fruit, and the serpent, with a human face, is seen twined round its stem. The form of the tree and the shape of the leaves are almost precisely the same as those of the olive-trees in the Apocalypse, uprooted by Antichrist. The character of the designs, however, in the two books is almost as different as the manner of the engraving. In the Apocalypse there is no attempt at shading, while in89the book under consideration it is introduced in every page, though merely by courses of single lines, as may be perceived in the drapery of Christ in the preceding cut, and in the trunk of the tree and in the serpent in the cut subjoined. In this cut the figure of Adam cannot be considered as a specimen of manly beauty; his face is that of a man who is past his prime, and his attitude is very like that of one of the splay-footed boors of Teniers. In point of personal beauty Eve appears to be a partner worthy of her husband; and though from her action she seems conscious that she is naked, yet her expression and figure are extremely unlike the graceful timidity and beautiful proportions of the Medicean Venus. The face of the serpent displays neither malignity nor fiendish cunning; but, on the contrary, is marked with an expression not unlike that of a Bavarian broom-girl. This manner of representing the temptation of our first parents appears to have been conventional90among the early German Formschneiders; for I have seen several old wood-cuts of this subject, in which the figures were almost precisely the same. Notwithstanding the bad drawing and the coarse engraving of the following cut, many of the same subject, executed in Germany between 1470 and 1510, are yet worse.
see text
In the opposite cut, which forms the compartment to the left, Esau, who is distinguished by his bow and quiver, is seen receiving a bowl of pottage from his brother Jacob. At the far side of the apartment is seen a “kail-pot,” suspended from a “crook,” with something like a ham and a gammon of bacon hanging against the wall. This subject is treated in a style which is thoroughly Dutch. Isaac’s family appear to91have been lodged in a tolerably comfortable house, with a stock of provisions near the chimney nook; and his two sons are very like some of the figures in the pictures of Teniers, more especially about the legs.
see text
The following cut, a copy of that which is the lowest in the page, represents the two prophets or inspired penmen, to whom reference is made on the two scrolls whose ends may be perceived towards the lower corners of each arch. The words underneath the figures are a portion of the last rhyming verse quoted at page 87. It is from a difference in the triangular ornament, above the pillar separating the two figures, though not in this identical page, that Heineken chiefly decides on three of the editions of this book; though nothing could be more easy than to92introduce another ornament of a similar kind, in the event of the original either being damaged in printing or intentionally effaced. In some of the earliest wood-blocks which remain undestroyed by the rough handling of time there are evident traces of several letters having been broken away, and of the injury being afterwards remedied by the introduction of a new piece of wood, on which the letters wanting were re-engraved.
see text
The ink with which the cuts in the “Poor Preachers’ Bible” have been printed, is evidently a kind of distemper of the colour of bistre, lighter than in the History of the Virgin, and darker than in the Apocalypse. In many of the cuts certain portions of the lines appear surcharged with ink,—sometimes giving to the whole page rather a blotched appearance,—while other portions seem scarcely to have received any.II.66This appearance is undoubtedly in consequence of the light-bodied ink having, from its want of tenacity, accumulated on the block where the line was thickest, or where two lines met, leaving the thinner portions adjacent with scarce any colouring at all. The block must, in my opinion, have been charged with such ink by means of something like a brush, and not by means of a ball. In some parts of the cuts—more especially where there is the greatest portion of text—small93white spaces may be perceived, as if a graver had been run through the lines. On first noticing this appearance, I was inclined to think that it was owing to the spreading of the hairs of the brush in inking, whereby certain parts might have been left untouched. The same kind of break in the lines may be observed, however, in some of the impressions of the old wood-cuts published by Becker and Derschau,II.67and which are worked off by means of a press, and with common printer’s ink. In these it is certainly owing to minute furrows in the grain of the wood; and I am now of opinion that the same cause has occasioned a similar appearance in the cuts of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum.” Mr. Ottley, speaking of the impressions in Earl Spencer’s copy, makes the following remarks: “In many instances they have a sort of horizontally striped and confused appearance, which leads me to suppose that they were taken from engravings executed on some kind of wood of a coarse grain.”II.68This correspondence between Earl Spencer’s copy and that in the King’s Library at the British Museum tends to confirm my opinion that there are not so many editions of the book as Heineken,—from certain accidental variations,—has been induced to suppose.
The manner in which the cuts are engraved, and the attempts at something like effect in the shading and composition, induce me to think that this book is not so old as either theApocalypseor the History of the Virgin. That it appeared before 1428, as has been inferred from the date which the Rev. Mr. Horne fancied that he had seen on the ancient binding, I cannot induce myself to believe. It is more likely to have been executed at some time between 1440 and 1460; and I am inclined to think that it is the production of a Dutch or Flemish, rather than a German artist.
A work, from which the engraved “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” is little more than an abstract, appears to have been known in France and Germany long before block-printing was introduced. Of such a work there were two manuscript copies in the National Library at Paris; the one complete, and the other—which, with a few exceptions, had been copied from the first—imperfect. The work consisted of a brief summary of the Bible, arranged in the following manner. One or two phrases in Latin and in French formed, as it were, the text; and each text was followed by a moral reflection, also in Latin and in French. Each94article, which thus consisted of two parts, was illustrated by two drawings, one of which related to the historical fact, and the other to the moral deduced from it. The perfect copy consisted of four hundred and twenty-two pages, on each of which there were eight drawings, so that the number contained in the whole volume was upwards of five thousand. In some of the single drawings, which were about two and one-third inches wide, by three and one-third inches high, Camus counted not less than thirty heads.II.69
In a copy of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” from wood-blocks, Heineken observed written: “S. Ansgariusest autor hujus libri,”—St. Ansgarius is the author of this book. St. Ansgarius, who was a native of France, and a monk of the celebrated Abbey of Corbey, was sent into Lower Saxony, and other places in the north, for the purpose of reclaiming the people from paganism. He was appointed the first bishop of Hamburg in 831, and in 844 Bishop of Bremen, where he died in 864.II.70From a passage cited by Heineken from Ornhielm’s Ecclesiastical History of Sweden and Gothland, it appears that Ansgarius was reputed to have compiled a similar book;II.71and Heineken observes that it might be from this passage that the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” was ascribed to the Bishop of Hamburg.
In the cloisters of the cathedral at Bremen, Heineken saw two bas-reliefs sculptured on stone, of which the figures, of a moderate size, were precisely the same as those in two of the pages—the first and eighth—of the German “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum.” The inscriptions, which were in Latin, were the same as in block-book. He thinks it very probable that the other arches of the cloisters were formerly ornamented in the same manner with the remainder of the subjects, but that the sculptures had been destroyed in the disturbances which had occurred in Bremen. Though he by no means pretends that the cuts were engraved in the time of Ansgarius, he thinks it not impossible that the sculptures might be executed at that period according to the bishop’s directions. This last passage is one of the most silly that occurs in Heineken’s book.II.72It is just about as likely that the cuts in the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” were engraved in the time of Ansgarius, as that the bas-reliefs in the cloisters of the cathedral of Bremen should have been sculptured under his direction.
The book usually called the “Speculum Humanæ Salvationis,”II.73—the Mirror of Human Salvation,—which is ascribed by Hadrian Junius to Lawrence Coster, has been more frequently the subject of discussion among bibliographers and writers who have treated of the origin of printing, than any other work. A great proportion, however, of what has been written on the subject consists of groundless speculation; and the facts elicited, compared with the conjectures propounded, are as “two grains of wheat to a bushel of chaff.” It would be a waste of time to recite at length the various opinions that have been entertained with respect to the date of this book, the manner in which the text was printed, and the printer’s name. The statements and the theories put forth by Junius and Meerman in Coster’s favour, so far as the execution of the Speculum is concerned, are decidedly contradicted by the book itself. Without, therefore, recapitulating arguments which are contradicted by established facts, I shall endeavour to give a correct account of the work, leaving those who choose to compare it, and reconcile it if they can, with the following assertions made by Coster’s advocates: 1. that the Speculum was first printed by him in Dutch with wooden types; 2. that while engraving a Latin edition on blocks of wood he discovered the art of printing with moveable letters; 3. that the Latin edition, in which the text is partly from moveable types and partly from wood-blocks, was printed by Coster’s heirs and successors, their moveable types having been stolen by John Gutemberg before the whole of the text was set up.
The Speculum which has been the subject of so much discussion is of a small folio size, and without date or printer’s name. There are four editions of it known to bibliographers, all containing the same cuts; two of those editions are in Latin, and two in Dutch. In the Latin editions the work consists of sixty-three leaves, five of which are occupied by an introduction or prologue, and on the other fifty-eight are printed the cuts and explanatory text. The Dutch editions, though containing the same number of cuts as the Latin, consist of only sixty-two leaves each, as the preface occupies only four. In all those editions the leaves are printed on one side only. Besides the four editions above noticed, which have been ascribed to Coster and have excited so much controversy, there are two or three others in which the cuts are more coarsely engraved, and probably executed, at a later period, in Germany. There is also a quarto edition of the Speculum, printed in 1483, at Culemburg, by John Veldener, and ornamented with the identical cuts of the folio editions ascribed to Coster and his heirs.
The four controverted editions of the Speculum may be considered as holding a middle place between block-books,—which are wholly executed,96both text and cuts, by the wood-engraver,—and books printed with moveable types: for in three of the editions the cuts are printed by means of friction with a rubber or burnisher, in the manner of the History of the Virgin, and other block-books, while the text, set in moveable type, has been worked off by means of a press; and in a fourth edition, in which the cuts are taken in the same manner as in the former, twenty pages of the text are printed from wood-blocks by means of friction, while the remainder are printed in the same manner as the whole of the text in the three other editions; that is, from moveable metal types, and by means of a press.
There are fifty-eight cuts in the Speculum, each of which is divided into two compartments by a slender column in the middle. In all the editions the cuts are placed as head-pieces at the top of each page, having underneath them, in two columns, the explanatory text. Under each compartment the title of the subject, in Latin, is engraved on the block.
The following reduced copy of the first cut will give an idea of their form, as every subject has pillars at the side, and is surmounted by an arch in the same style.
see text
The style of engraving in those cuts is similar to those of the Poor Preachers’ Bible. The former are, however, on the whole executed with greater delicacy, and contain more work. The shadows and folds of the drapery in the first forty-eight cuts are indicated by short parallel lines, which are mostly horizontal. In the forty-ninth and subsequent cuts, as has been noticed by Mr. Ottley, a change in the mode of indicating the shades and the folds in the draperies is perceptible; for the short parallel lines, instead of being horizontal as in the former, are mostly slanting. Heineken observes, that to the forty-eighth cut inclusive, the chapters in the printed work are conformable with the old Latin manuscripts; and97as a perceptible change in the execution commences with the forty-ninth, it is not unlikely that the cuts were engraved by two different persons. The two following cuts are fac-similes of the compartments of the first, of which a reduced copy has been previously given.
see text
In the above cut, its title, “Casus Luciferi,”—the Fall of Lucifer,—is engraved at the bottom; and the subject represented is Satan and the rebellious angels driven out of heaven, as typical of man’s disobedience and fall. The following are the first two lines of the column of text underneath the cut in the Latin editions: