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diff --git a/42719-0.txt b/42719-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d47535c --- /dev/null +++ b/42719-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,29491 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Treatise on Wood Engraving, by +John Jackson and William Andrew Chatto and Henry G. Bohn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Treatise on Wood Engraving + Historical and Practical + +Author: John Jackson + William Andrew Chatto + Henry G. Bohn + +Release Date: May 16, 2013 [EBook #42719] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON WOOD ENGRAVING *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Charlene Taylor, +Google Books and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian +Libraries) + + + + + + +[This e-text includes a few characters that require UTF-8 (Unicode) +file encoding. Except for œ, they occur only in quoted material. All +are rare: + + œ (oe ligature) + ſ (long s) + αβγδ (Greek) + āīō (letters with overlines and similar diacritics) + +If any of these characters do not display properly--in particular, +if a diacritic does not appear directly above its letter--or if the +apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, +make sure your text reader’s “character set” or “file encoding” is set +to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change the default font. +As a last resort, use the Latin-1 version of the file instead. + +Footnotes have been numbered continuously within each chapter. Monograms +and similar symbols are shown in the text with [[double brackets]]. + +There is no table of contents, but the List of Illustrations gives the +same information.] + + + + + [Illustration: + WILLIAM BLAKE. W. J. LINTON. + DEATH’S DOOR.] + + + + + A TREATISE + + on + + WOOD ENGRAVING + + +Historical and Practical+ + + with Upwards of Three Hundred Illustrations + Engraved on Wood + + BY JOHN JACKSON. + + THE HISTORICAL PORTION BY W. A. CHATTO. + + +Second Edition+ + + with a New Chapter + on the Artists of the Present Day + + BY HENRY G. BOHN + + And 145 Additional Wood Engravings. + + LONDON + Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. + M.DCCC.LXI. + + + + + [Illustration: + Richard Clay / Breads Hill / Sola Lux Mihi Laus / London] + + + + +NOTICE TO THE SECOND EDITION. + + +The former edition of this History of Wood Engraving having become +extremely scarce and commercially valuable, the publisher was glad to +obtain the copyright and wood-blocks from Mr. Mason Jackson, son of the +late Mr. Jackson, original proprietor of the work, with the view of +reprinting it. + +It will be seen by the two distinct prefaces which accompanied the +former edition, and are here reprinted, that there was some existing +schism between the joint producers at the time of first publication. Mr. +Jackson, the engraver, paymaster, and proprietor, conceived that he had +a right to do what he liked with his own; while Mr. Chatto, his literary +coadjutor, very naturally felt that he was entitled to some recognition +on the title-page of what he had so successfully performed. On the book +making its appearance without Mr. Chatto’s name on the title-page, and +with certain suppressions in his preface to which he had not given +consent, a virulent controversy ensued, which was embodied in a pamphlet +termed “a third preface,” and afterwards carried on in the _Athenæum_ of +August and September, 1839. As this preface has nothing in it but the +outpourings of a quarrel which can now interest no one, I do not +republish any part of it; and looking back on the controversy after the +lapse of twenty years, I cannot help feeling that Mr. Chatto had +reasonable ground for complaining that his name was omitted, although I +think Mr. Jackson had full right to determine what the book should be +called, seeing that it was his own exclusive speculation. It is not for +me to change a title now so firmly established, but I will do Mr. Chatto +the civility to introduce his name on it, without concerning myself with +the question of what he did or did not do, or what Mr. Jackson +contributed beyond his practical remarks and anxious superintendence. + +Although I have the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with Mr. Chatto, +and communicated to him my intention of republishing the work, +I declined letting him see it through the press; resolving to stand +wholly responsible for any alterations or improvements I might choose to +make. On the other hand, I have been quite as chary of letting even the +shade of Mr. Jackson raise a new commotion--I say the shade, because, +having his own copy full of manuscript remarks, it was at my option to +use them; but I have adopted nothing from this source save a few +palpable amendments. What additions have been made are entirely my own, +and have arisen from a desire to increase the number of illustrations +where I thought them previously deficient and had the means of supplying +them. With the insertion of these additional illustrations, which it +appears amount to seventy-five, it became necessary to describe them, +and this has occasioned the introduction of perhaps a hundred or two +lines, which are distributed in the form of notes or paragraphs +throughout the volume. For the chief of these additions the critical +examiner is referred to the following pages: 321, 322, 340, 352, 374, +428, 468, 477, 480, 493, 530, 531, 532, 539, 540, 541, 542, 543, 545, +546, 547, 548, 617, 639. The chapter on the artists of the present day +is entirely new, and was not contemplated, as may be gathered from the +remarks at pages 549 and 597, until the book was on the eve of +publication. It contains upwards of seventy high class wood engravings, +and gives a fair specimen of the talents of some of our most +distinguished artists. Getting that supplementary matter together and +into shape, was not so light and sudden a task as I meant it to be; but +now it is done I feel that it was right to do it, and I can only hope +that my unpretending labours will be deemed a step in the right +direction. Should I retain my health, strength, and means, I purpose, at +no very distant period, to follow up the present volume with one perhaps +as large, giving a more complete series of Examples of the artists of +the day, as well those of France and Germany as of England. + +In conclusion, I think it due to Mr. Clay to acknowledge the attention +and skill which he has exercised in “bringing up” the numerous and +somewhat difficult cuts to the agreeable face they now present. A good +engraving without good printing is like a diamond without its polish. + + HENRY G. BOHN. + + _January 4th, 1861._ + + + + +MR. JACKSON’S PREFACE. + + +I feel it my duty to submit to the public a few remarks, introductory to +the Preface, which bears the signature of Mr. Chatto. + +As my attention has been more readily directed to matters connected with +my own profession than any other, it is not surprising that I should +find almost a total absence of practical knowledge in all English +authors who have written the early history of wood engraving. From the +first occasion on which my attention was directed to the subject, to the +present time, I have had frequent occasion to regret, that the early +history and practice of the art were not to be found in any book in the +English language. In the most expensive works of this description the +process itself is not even correctly described, so that the +reader--supposing him to be unacquainted with the subject--is obliged to +follow the author in comparative darkness. It has not been without +reason I have come to the conclusion, that, if the _practice_, as well +as the _history_ of wood engraving, were _better understood_, we should +not have so many speculative opinions put forth by almost all writers on +the subject, taking on trust what has been previously written, without +giving themselves the trouble to examine and form an opinion of their +own. Both with a view to amuse and improve myself as a wood engraver, +I had long been in the habit of studying such productions of the old +masters as came within my reach, and could not help noting the simple +mistakes that many authors made in consequence of their knowing nothing +of the practice. The farther I prosecuted the inquiry, the more +interesting it became; every additional piece of information +strengthening my first opinion, that, “if the _practice_, as well as the +_history_ of wood engraving, were _better understood_,” we should not +have so many erroneous statements respecting both the history and +capabilities of the art. At length, I determined upon engraving at my +leisure hours a fac-simile of anything I thought worth preserving. For +some time I continued to pursue this course, reading such English +authors as have written on the origin and early history of wood +engraving, and making memoranda, without proposing to myself any +particular plan. It was not until I had proceeded thus far that I +stopped to consider whether the information I had gleaned could not be +applied to some specific purpose. My plan, at this time, was to give a +short introductory history to precede the practice of the art, which I +proposed should form the principal feature in the Work. At this period, +I was fortunate in procuring the able assistance of Mr. W. A. Chatto, +with whom I have examined every work that called for the exercise of +practical knowledge. This naturally anticipated much that had been +reserved for the practice, and has, in some degree, extended the +historical portion beyond what I had originally contemplated; although, +I trust, the reader will have no occasion to regret such a deviation +from the original plan, or that it has not been _written_ by myself. The +number and variety of the subjects it has been found necessary to +introduce, rendered it a task of some difficulty to preserve the +characteristics of each individual master, varying as they do in the +style of execution. It only remains for me to add, that, although I had +the hardihood to venture upon such an undertaking, it was not without a +hope that the history of the art, with an account of the practice, +illustrated with numerous wood engravings, would be looked upon with +indulgence from one who only professed to give a fac-simile of whatever +appeared worthy of notice, with opinions founded on a practical +knowledge of the art. + + JOHN JACKSON. + + LONDON, _December 15th, 1838_. + + + + +MR. CHATTO’S PREFACE. + + +Though several English authors have, in modern times, written on the +origin and early history of wood engraving, yet no one has hitherto +given, in a distinct work, a connected account of its progress from the +earliest period to the present time; and no one, however confidently he +may have expressed his opinion on the subject, appears to have thought +it necessary to make himself acquainted with the practice of the art. +The antiquity and early history of wood engraving appear to have been +considered as themes which allowed of great scope for speculation, and +required no practical knowledge of the art. It is from this cause that +we find so many erroneous statements in almost every modern dissertation +on wood engraving. Had the writers ever thought of appealing to a person +practically acquainted with the art, whose early productions they +professed to give some account of, their conjectures might, in many +instances, have been spared; and had they, in matters requiring +research, taken the pains to examine and judge for themselves, instead +of adopting the opinions of others, they would have discovered that a +considerable portion of what they thus took on trust, was not in +accordance with facts. + +As the antiquity and early history of wood engraving form a considerable +portion of two expensive works which profess to give some account of the +art, it has been thought that such a work as the present, combining the +history with the practice of the art, and with numerous cuts +illustrative of its progress, decline, and revival, might not be +unfavourably received. + +In the first chapter an attempt is made to trace the principle of wood +engraving from the earliest authentic period; and to prove, by a +continuous series of facts, that the art, when first applied to the +impression of pictorial subjects on paper, about the beginning of the +fifteenth century, was not so much an original invention, as the +extension of a principle which had long been known and practically +applied. + +The second chapter contains an account of the progress of the art as +exemplified in the earliest known single cuts, and in the block-books +which preceded the invention of typography. In this chapter there is +also an account of the Speculum Salvationis, which has been ascribed to +Laurence Coster by Hadrian Junius, Scriverius, Meerman, and others, and +which has frequently been described as an early block-book executed +previous to 1440. A close examination of two Latin editions of the book +has, however, convinced me, that in the earliest the text is entirely +printed from movable types, and that in the other--supposed by Meerman +to be the earliest, and to afford proofs of the progress of Coster’s +invention--those portions of the text which are printed from wood-blocks +have been copied from the corresponding portions of the earlier edition +with the text printed entirely from movable types. Fournier was the +first who discovered that one of the Latin editions was printed partly +from types, and partly from wood-blocks; and the credit of showing, from +certain imperfections in the cuts, that this edition was subsequent to +the other with the text printed entirely from types, is due to the late +Mr. Ottley. + +As typography, or printing from movable types, was unquestionably +suggested by the earliest block-books with the text engraved on wood, +the third chapter is devoted to an examination of the claims of +Gutemberg and Coster to the honour of this invention. In the +investigation of the evidence which has been produced in the behalf of +each, the writer has endeavoured to divest his mind of all bias, and to +decide according to facts, without reference to the opinions of either +party. He has had no theory to support; and has neither a partiality for +Mentz, nor a dislike to Harlem. It perhaps may not be unnecessary to +mention here, that the cuts of arms from the History of the Virgin, +given at pages 75, 76, and 77, were engraved before the writer had seen +Koning’s work on the Invention of Printing, Harlem, 1816, where they are +also copied, and several of them assigned to Hannau, Burgundy, Brabant, +Utrecht, and Leyden, and to certain Flemish noblemen, whose names are +not mentioned. It is not improbable that, like the two rash Knights in +the fable, we may have seen the shields on opposite sides;--the bearings +may be common to states and families, both of Germany and the +Netherlands. + +The fourth chapter contains an account of wood engraving in connexion +with the press, from the establishment of typography to the latter end +of the fifteenth century. The fifth chapter comprehends the period in +which Albert Durer flourished,--that is, from about 1498 to 1528. The +sixth contains a notice of the principal wood-cuts designed by Holbein, +with an account of the extension and improvement of the art in the +sixteenth century, and of its subsequent decline. In the seventh chapter +the history of the art is brought down from the commencement of the +eighteenth century to the present time. + +The eighth chapter contains an account of the practice of the art, with +remarks on metallic relief engraving, and the best mode of printing +wood-cuts. As no detailed account of the practice of wood engraving has +hitherto been published in England, it is presumed that the information +afforded by this part of the Work will not only be interesting to +amateurs of the art, but useful to those who are professionally +connected with it. + +It is but justice to Mr. Jackson to add, that the Work was commenced by +him at his sole risk; that most of the subjects are of his selection; +and that nearly all of them were engraved, and that a great part of the +Work was written, before he thought of applying to a publisher. The +credit of commencing the Work, and of illustrating it so profusely, +regardless of expense, is unquestionably due to him. + + W. A. CHATTO. + + LONDON, _December 5th, 1838_. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + [Transcriber’s Note: + The word “ditto”--written out--was printed as shown.] + + + CHAPTER I. + ANTIQUITY OF ENGRAVING, 1-39. + + Page + Initial letter A,-- an ancient Greek _scriving_ on a tablet + of wood, drawn by W. Harvey 1 + View of a rolling-press, on wood and on copper, showing the + difference between a woodcut and a copper-plate engraving + when both are printed in the same manner 4 + Back and front view of an ancient Egyptian brick-stamp 6 + Copy of an impression on a Babylonian brick 7 + Roman stamp, in relief 8 + Roman stamps, in intaglio 10 + Monogram of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths 13 + Monogram of Charlemagne 14 + Gothic marks and monograms 15 + Characters on Gothic coins 16 + Mark of an Italian notary, 1236 16 + Marks of German notaries, 1345-1521 17 + English Merchants’-marks of the fourteenth and fifteenth + centuries 18 + Tail-piece, illustrative of the antiquity of engraving,-- + Babylonian brick, Roman earthenware, Roman stamp, and a + roll with the mark of the German Emperor Otho in the + corner 39 + + + CHAPTER II. + PROGRESS OF WOOD ENGRAVING, 40-117. + + Initial letter F, from an old book containing an alphabet of + similar letters, engraved on wood, formerly belonging to + Sir George Beaumont 40 + St. Christopher, with the date 1423, from a cut in the + possession of Earl Spencer 46 + The Annunciation, from a cut probably of the same period, in + the possession of Earl Spencer 50 + St. Bridget, from an old cut in the possession of Earl + Spencer 52 + Shields from the Apocalypse, or History of St. John, an old + block-book 65 + St. John preaching to the infidels, and baptizing Drusiana, + from the same book 66 + The death of the Two Witnesses, and the miracles of + Antichrist, from the same book 67 + Group from the History of the Virgin, an old block-book 71 + Copy of a page of the same book 72 + Figures and a shield of arms, from the same book 75 + Shields of arms, from the same book 76-78 + Copy of the first page of the Poor Preachers’ Bible, an old + block-book 86 + Heads from the same book 88 + Christ tempted, a fac-simile of one of the compartments in + the first page of the same book 89 + Adam and Eve eating of the forbidden fruit, from the same + book 90 + Esau selling his birthright, ditto 91 + Heads ditto 92 + First cut in the Speculum Salvationis, which has generally, + but erroneously, been described as a block-book, as the + text in the first edition is printed with types 96 + Fall of Lucifer, a fac-simile of one of the compartments of + the preceding 97 + The Creation of Eve, a fac-simile of the second compartment + of the same 98 + Paper-mark in the Alphabet of large letters composed of + figures, formerly belonging to Sir George Beaumont 107 + Letter K, from the same book 109 + Letter L, ditto 110 + Letter Z, ditto 111 + Flowered ornament, ditto 112 + Cuts from the Ars Memorandi, an old block-book 115 + + + CHAPTER III. + THE INVENTION OF TYPOGRAPHY, 118-163. + + Initial letter B, from a manuscript life of St. Birinus, of + the twelfth century 118 + Tail piece-portraits of Gutemberg, Faust, and Scheffer 163 + + + CHAPTER IV. + WOOD ENGRAVING IN CONNEXION WITH THE PRESS, 164-229. + + Initial letter C, from Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter 164 + Apes, from a book of Fables printed at Bamberg by Albert + Pfister, 1461 171 + Heads, from an edition of the Poor Preachers’ Bible, printed + by Pfister 177 + Christ and his Disciples, from the same 177 + Joseph making himself known to his Brethren, from the same 178 + The Prodigal Son’s return, from the same 178 + The Creation of Animals, from Meditationes Joannis de + Turrecremata, printed at Rome, 1467 185 + A bomb-shell and a man shooting from a kind of hand-gun, + from Valturius de Re Militari, printed at Verona, 1472 188 + A man shooting from a cross-bow, from the same 189 + The Knight, from Caxton’s Book of Chess, about 1476 193 + The Bishop’s pawn, from the same 194 + Two figures-- Music, from Caxton’s Mirrour of the World, + 1480 196 + Frontispiece to Breydenbach’s Travels, printed at Mentz, + 1486 207 + Syrian Christians, from the same 209 + Old Woman with a basket of eggs on her head, from the Hortus + Sanitatis, printed at Mentz, 1491 211 + Head of Paris, from the book usually called the Nuremberg + Chronicle, printed at Nuremberg, 1493 212 + Creation of Eve, from the same 215 + The same subject from the Poor Preachers’ Bible 216 + The difficult Labour of Alcmena, from an Italian translation + of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, 1497 217 + Mars, Venus, and Mercury, from Poliphili Hypnerotomachia, + printed at Venice, 1499 221 + Cupid brought by Mercury before Jove, from the same 222 + Cupid and his Victims, from the same 222 + Bacchus, from the same 223 + Cupid, from the same 224 + A Vase, from the same 224 + Cat and Mouse, from a supposed old wood-cut printed in + Derschau’s Collection, 1808-1816 226 + Man in armour on horseback, from a wood-cut, formerly used + by Mr. George Angus of Newcastle 228 + Tail-piece-- the press of Jodocus Badius Ascensianus, from + the title-page of a book printed by him about 1498 229 + + + CHAPTER V. + WOOD ENGRAVING IN THE TIME OF ALBERT DURER, 230-323. + + Initial letter M, from an edition of Ovid’s Tristia, printed + at Venice by J. de Cireto, 1499 230 + Peasants dancing and regaling, from Heures a l’Usaige de + Chartres, printed at Paris by Simon Vostre about 1502. The + first of these cuts occurs in a similar work-- Heures a + l’Usaige de Rome-- printed by Simon Vostre in 1497 233 + The woman clothed with the sun, from Albert Durer’s + illustrations of the Apocalypse, 1498 240 + The Virgin and Infant Christ, from Albert Durer’s + illustrations of the History of the Virgin, 1511 243 + The Birth of the Virgin, from the same work 244 + St. Joseph at work as a carpenter, with the Virgin rocking + the Infant Christ in a cradle, from the same 246 + Christ mocked, from Durer’s illustrations of Christ’s + Passion, about 1511 247 + The Last Supper, from the same 248 + Christ bearing his Cross, from the same 249 + The Descent to Hades, from the same 250 + Caricature, probably of Luther 268 + Albert Durer’s Coat-of-arms 271 + His portrait, from a cut drawn by himself, 1527, the year + preceding that of his death 272 + Holy Family, from a cut designed by Lucas Cranach 277 + Samson and Delilah, from a cut designed by Hans Burgmair 279 + Aristotle and his wife, from a cut designed by Hans + Burgmair 280 + Sir Theurdank killing a bear, from the Adventures of Sir + Theurdank, 1517 284 + The punishment of Sir Theurdank’s enemies, from the same + work 285 + A figure on horseback, from the Triumphs of Maximilian 294 + Another, from the same work 295 + Ditto, ditto 296 + Ditto, ditto 297 + Ditto, ditto 298 + Ditto, ditto 299 + Three knights with banners, from the same work 301 + Elephant and Indians, from the same 302 + Camp followers, probably designed by Albert Durer, from the + same 303 + Horses and Car, from the same 305 + Jael and Sisera, from a cut designed by Lucas van Leyden 309 + Cut printed at Antwerp by Willem de Figursnider, probably + copied from a cut designed by Urse Graff 312 + Three small cuts from Sigismund Fanti’s Triompho di Fortuna, + printed at Venice, 1527 316 + Fortuna di Africo, an emblem of the South wind, from the + same work 316 + Michael Angelo at work on a piece of sculpture, from the + same 317 + Head of Nero, from a work on Medals, printed at Strasburg, + 1525 320 + Cut of Saint Bridget, about 1500, from Dr. Dibdin’s + Bibliomania 321 + Ditto of her Revelations 322 + Tail-piece-- a full length of Maximilian I. Emperor of + Germany, from his Triumphs 323 + + + CHAPTER VI. + FURTHER PROGRESS AND DECLINE OF WOOD ENGRAVING, 324-445. + + Initial letter T, from a book printed at Paris by Robert + Stephens, 1537 324 + Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit, from a cut designed + by Hans Holbein in the Dance of Death, first printed at + Lyons in 1538 339 + Death’s Coat of Arms, from the same work 340 + The Old Man, from the same 341 + The Duchess, from the same 342 + The Child, from the same 343 + The Waggoner, from Holbein’s Dance of Death 344 + Child with a shield and dart, from the same 345 + Children with the emblems of a triumph, from the same 346 + Holbein’s Alphabet of the Dance of Death 352 + Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, from a cut designed by + Holbein in his Bible-prints, Lyons, 1539 368 + The Fool, from the same work 369 + The sheath of a dagger, intended as a design for a chaser 374 + Portrait of Sir Thomas Wyatt from a cut designed by Holbein + in Leland’s Næniæ, 1542 379 + Prayer, from a cut designed by Holbein in Archbishop + Cranmer’s Catechism, 1548 380 + Christ casting out Devils, from another cut by Holbein, in + the same work 381 + The Creation, from the same work 382 + The Crucifixion, from the same 382 + Christ’s Agony, from the same 382 + Genealogical Tree, from an edition of the New Testament, + printed at Zurich by Froschover, 1554 383 + St. Luke, from Tindale’s Translation of the New Testament, + 1534 384 + St James, from the same 384 + Death on the Pale Horse, from the same 384 + Cain killing Abel, from Coverdale’s Translation of the Old + and New Testament, 1535 386 + Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, from the same 387 + The Two Spies, from the same 387 + St. Matthew, from the same 388 + St. John the Baptist, from the same 388 + St. Paul writing, from the same 388 + Frontispiece to Marcolini’s Sorti, Venice, 1540, by Joseph + Porta Garfagninus, after a Study by Raffaele for the + School of Athens 390 + Punitione, from the same work 392 + Matrimony, from the same 392 + Cards, from the same 393 + Truth saved by Time, from the same 393 + The Labour of Alcmena, from Dolce’s Transformationi, Venice, + 1553 394 + Monogram, from Palatino’s Treatise on Writing, Rome, 1561 396 + Hieroglyphic Sonnet, from the same work 396 + Portraits of Petrarch and Laura, from Petrarch’s Sonetti, + Lyons, 1547 400 + Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise, from Quadrins + Historiques de la Bible, Lyons, 1550-1560 401 + Christ tempted by Satan, from Figures du Nouveau Testament, + Lyons, 1553-1570 402 + Briefmaler, from a book of Trades and Professions, + Frankfort, 1564-1574 410 + Formschneider, from the same 411 + The Goose Tree, from Sebastian Munster’s Cosmography, Basle, + 1550-1554 414 + William Tell about to shoot at the apple on his son’s head, + from the same 416 + Portrait of Dr. William Cuningham, from his Cosmographical + Glass, London, 1559 424 + Four initial letters, from the same work 425, 426, 427 + Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, from the Books of Christian + Prayers printed by John Daye, 1569 428 + Large initial letter, from Fox’s Acts and Monuments, 1576 429 + Initial letter, from a work printed by Giolito at Venice, + about 1550 430 + Two Cats, from an edition of Dante, printed at Venice, 1578 431 + Emblem of Water, from a chiaro-scuro by Henry Goltzius, + about 1590 433 + Caricature of the Laocoon, after a cut designed by Titian 435 + The Good Householder, from a cut printed at London, 1607 437 + Virgin and Christ, from a cut designed by Rubens, and + engraved by Christopher Jegher 438 + The Infant Christ and John the Baptist, from a cut designed + by Rubens, and engraved by Christopher Jegher 439 + Jael and Sisera, from a cut designed by Henry Goltzius, and + engraved by C. Van Sichem 440 + Tail-piece, from an old cut on the title-page of the first + known edition of Robin Hood’s Garland, 1670 445 + + + CHAPTER VII. + REVIVAL OF WOOD ENGRAVING, 446-548. + + Initial letter A, from a French book, 1698 446 + Fox and Goat, from a copper-plate by S. Le Clerc, about + 1694 450 + The same subject from Croxall’s Æsop’s Fables, 1722 450 + The same subject from Bewick’s Fables, 1818-1823 451 + English wood-cut with the mark F. H., London, 1724 453 + Adam naming the animals, copy of a cut by Papillon, 1734 460 + The Pedagogue, from the Ship of Fools, Pynson, 1509 468 + The Poet’s Fall, from Two Odes in ridicule of Gray and + Mason, London, 1760 470 + Initial letters, T. and B., composed by J. Jackson from + tail-pieces in Bewick’s History of British Birds 471 + The house in which Bewick was born, drawn by J. Jackson 472 + The Parsonage at Ovingham, drawn by George Balmer 473 + Fac-simile of a diagram engraved by Bewick in Hutton’s + Mensuration, 1768-1770 475 + The Old Hound, a fac-simile of a cut by Bewick, 1775 476 + Original cut of the Old Hound 477 + Cuts copied by Bewick from Der Weiss Kunig, and + illustrations of Ovid’s Metamorphoses by Virgilium Solis 483 + Boys and Ass, after Bewick 485 + Old Man and Horse, ditto 486 + Child and young Horse, ditto 487 + Ewe and Lamb 488 + Old Man and young Wife, ditto 488 + Common Duck, ditto 493 + Partridge, ditto 495 + Woodcock, ditto 496 + The drunken Miller, ditto 499 + The Snow Man, ditto 499 + Old Man and Cat, ditto 500 + Crow and Lamb, Bewick’s original cut to the Fable of the + Eagle 503 + The World turned upside down, after Bewick 504 + Cuts commemorative of the decease of Bewick’s father and + mother, from his Fables, 1818-1823 506 + Bewick’s Workshop, drawn by George Balmer 508 + Portrait of Bewick 510 + View of Bewick’s Burial-place 511 + Funeral, View of Ovingham Church, drawn by J. Jackson 512 + The sad Historian, from a cut by John Bewick, in Poems by + Goldsmith and Parnell, 1795 515 + Fac-simile of a cut by John Bewick, from Blossoms of + Morality 516 + Copy of a cut engraved by C. Nesbit, from a drawing by + R. Johnson 518 + View of a monument erected to the memory of R. Johnson, + against the south wall of Ovingham Church 518 + Copy of a view of St. Nicholas Church, engraved by + C. Nesbit, from a drawing by R. Johnson 519 + Copy of the cut for the Diploma of the Highland Society, + engraved by L. Clennell, from a drawing by Benjamin West 523 + Bird and Flowers, engraved by L. Clennell, when insane 526 + Seven Engravings by William Harvey, from Dr. Henderson’s + History of Wines 530 + Milton, designed by W. Harvey, engraved by John Thompson 531 + Three Illustrations by W. Harvey, engraved by S. Williams, + Orrin Smith, and C. Gray 532 + Cut from the Children in the Wood, drawn by W. Harvey, and + engraved by J. Thompson 533 + Cut from the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, drawn by + W. Harvey, and engraved by C. Nesbit 534 + Copy of a part of the Cave of Despair, engraved by + R. Branston, from a drawing by J. Thurston 535 + Three cuts engraved by Robert Branston, after designs by + Thurston, for an edition of Select Fables, in rivalry of + Bewick 537 + Bird, engraved by Robert Branston 538 + Pistill Cain, in North Wales, drawn and engraved by Hugh + Hughes 539 + Moel Famau, ditto, ditto 539 + Wrexham Church, ditto, ditto 540 + Pwll Carodoc, ditto, ditto 540 + Salmon, Group of Fish, and Chub, engraved by John Thompson 541 + Pike, by Robert Branston 542 + Eel, by H. White 542 + Illustration from Hudibras, engraved by John Thompson 543 + Hogarth’s Rake’s Progress, engraved by John Thompson 544 + The Temptation, engraved by John Jackson, after John Martin 545 + The Judgment of Adam and Eve, engraved by F. W. Branston, + after ditto 545 + The Assuaging of the Waters, engraved by E. Landells, after + ditto 546 + The Deluge, engraved by W. H. Powis, after ditto 546 + The Tower of Babel engraved by Thomas Williams, after ditto 547 + The Angel announcing the Nativity, engraved by W. T. Green, + after ditto 547 + Tail piece-- Vignette, engraved by W. T. Green, after + W. Harvey 548 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + ARTISTS AND ENGRAVERS ON WOOD OF THE PRESENT DAY, 549-560. + + The Sierra Morena, engraved by James Cooper, after Percival + Skelton 550 + The Banks the Nith, engraved by ditto, after Birket Foster 551 + The Twa Dogs, engraved by ditto, after Harrison Weir 551 + To Auld Mare Maggie, engraved by ditto, after ditto 552 + The Poetry of Nature, engraved by J. Greenaway, after + Harrison Weir 553 + From Bloomfield’s Farmer’s Boy, engraved by W. Wright, after + ditto 554 + From Campbell’s Pleasures of Hope, engraved by J. Greenaway, + after ditto 554 + From the same, by the same 555 + Wild Flowers, engraved by E. Evans, after Birket Foster 556 + From Lays of the Holy Land, engraved by W. J. Palmer, after + Birket Foster 557 + From Longfellow’s Evangeline, engraved by H. Vizetelly, + after ditto 558 + From Moore’s Lalla Rookh, engraved by Dalziel, after John + Tenniel 559 + Death of Sforza, from Barry Cornwall, engraved by Dalziel, + after ditto 560 + Sforza, ditto, ditto 560 + Antony and Cleopatra, engraved by Dalziel Brothers, after + John Gilbert 561* + The Florentine Party, from Barry Cornwall, engraved by + Dalziel Brothers, after Thomas Dalziel 562* + Prince Arthur and Hubert de Bourg, engraved by Kirchner, + after John Gilbert 563* + From Maxwell’s Life of the Duke of Wellington, designed by + John Gilbert 563* + The Demon Lover, designed by John Gilbert, engraved by W. A. + Folkard 564* + From Longfellow’s Hiawatha, engraved by W. L. Thomas, after + G. H. Thomas 565* + From the same, engraved by Horace Harral, after G. H. + Thomas 566* + From the same, engraved by Dalziel Brothers, after ditto 566* + John Anderson my Jo, from Burns’ Poems, engraved by + E. Evans, after ditto 567* + Vignette from Hiawatha, engraved by E. Evans, after ditto 567* + From Tennyson’s Princess, engraved by W. Thomas, after + D. Maclise 568* + From Bürger’s Leonora, engraved by J. Thompson, after + Maclise 569* + From Childe Harold, engraved by J. W. Whimper, after + Percival Skelton 569* + From Marryat’s Poor Jack, engraved by H. Vizetelly, after + Clarkson Stanfield 570* + Christmas in the olden time, engraved by H. Vizetelly, after + Birket Foster 571* + Two illustrations from Thomson’s Seasons, designed and + engraved by Sam Williams. 572* + Eagles, Stags, and Wolves, engraved by George Pearson, after + John Wolf 573* + Hare Hawking, engraved by George Pearson, after John Wolf 574* + Falls of Niagara, engraved by George Pearson 574* + From Sandford and Merton, engraved by Measom, after + H. Anelay 575* + From Longfellow’s Miles Standish, engraved by Thomas Bolton, + after John Absolon 576* + Flaxman’s ‘Deliver us from Evil,’ a specimen of Mr. Thomas + Bolton’s new process of photographing on wood 577* + From Montalva’s Fairy Tales, engraved by John Swain, after + R. Doyle 578* + From ‘Brown, Jones, and Robinson,’ engraved by John Swain, + after Doyle 579* + From Uncle Tom’s Cabin, engraved by Orrin Smith, after John + Leech 580* + From Mr. Leech’s Tour in Ireland, engraved by John Swain, + after John Leech 581* + From ‘Moral Emblems of all Ages,’ engraved by H. Leighton, + after John Leighton 582* + Two subjects from the Illustrated Southey’s Life of Nelson, + engraved by H. Harral, after E. Duncan 583* + North porch of St. Maria Maggiore, drawn and engraved by + Orlando Jewitt 584* + Shrine in Bayeux Cathedral, by Orlando Jewitt 585* + Hearse of Margaret Countess of Warwick and other specimens + from Regius Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament, by + Orlando Jewitt 586* + Brick Tracery, St. Stephen’s Church, Tangermunde, Prussia, + by ditto 587* + The Nut Brown Maid, engraved by J. Williams, after + T. Creswick 588* + Vignette from Bohn’s Illustrated Edition of Walton’s Angler, + by M. Jackson, after T. Creswick 589* + Paul preaching at Athens, engraved by W. J. Linton, after + John Martin 590* + Vignette from the Book of British Ballads, engraved by + ditto, after R. McIan 590* + From Milton’s L’Allegro, engraved by ditto, after + Stonehouse 591* + From the same, engraved by ditto, after J. C. Horsley 591* + Ancient Gambols, drawn and engraved by F. W. Fairholt 592* + Vignette from the Illustrated Edition of Robin Hood, by + ditto 592* + Two illustrations from Dr. Mantell’s Works, engraved by + James Lee, after Joseph Dinkel 593* + From Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, engraved by H. Harral, + after E. H. Wehnert 594* + Three illustrations drawn and engraved by George Cruikshank, + from ‘Three Courses and a Dessert’ 595* + Two illustrations by ditto from the Universal Songster 596* + Three illustrations from the Pictorial Grammar, by + Crowquill 597* + Vignette from the Book of British Ballads by Kenny Meadows 597* + + + CHAPTER IX. + THE PRACTICE OF WOOD ENGRAVING, 561-652. + + Initial letter P, showing a wood engraver at work, with his + lamp and globe, drawn by R. W. Buss 561 + Diagram, showing a block warped 566 + Cut showing the appearance of a plug-hole in the engraving, + drawn by J. Jackson 570 + Diagrams illustrative of the mode of repairing a block by + plugging 570 + Cut showing a plug re-engraved 571 + Diagram showing the mode of pulling the string over the + corner of the block 572 + The shade for the eyes, and screen for the mouth and nose 574 + Engraver’s lamp, glass, globe, and sand-bag 575 + Graver 576 + Diagram of gravers 576 + Diagrams of tint-tools, &c. 577 + Diagrams of gouges, chisels, &c. 578 + Gravers 579 + Cuts showing the manner of holding the graver 579, 580 + Examples of tints 581, 582, 583, 584 + Examples of curved lines and tints 585, 586 + Cuts illustrative of the mode of cutting a white outline 588 + Outline engraving previous to its being blocked out-- the + monument to the memory of two children in Lichfield + Cathedral by Sir F. Chantrey 589 + The same subject finished 590 + Outline engraving, after a design by Flaxman for a snuff-box + for George IV. 590 + Cut after a pen-and-ink sketch by Sir David Wilkie for his + picture of the Rabbit on the Wall 591 + Figures from a sketch by George Morland 592 + Group from Sir David Wilkie’s Rent Day 593 + Figure of a boy from Hogarth’s Noon, one of the engravings + of his Four Parts of the Day 594 + A Hog, after an etching by Rembrandt 595 + Dray-horse, drawn by James Ward, R.A. 596 + Jacob blessing the Children of Joseph, after Rembrandt 597 + Two cuts-- View of a Road-side Inn-- showing the advantage + of cutting the tint before the other parts of a subject + are engraved 598 + Head, from an etching by Rembrandt 599 + Impression from a cast of part of the Death of Dentatus, + engraved by W. Harvey 601 + Christ and the Woman at the Well, from an etching by + Rembrandt 602 + The Flight into Egypt, from an etching by Rembrandt 605 + Sea-piece, drawn by George Balmer 606 + Sea-piece, moonlight, drawn by George Balmer 606 + Landscape, evening, drawn by George Balmer 607 + Impression from a cast of part of the Death of Dentatus, + engraved by W. Harvey 609 + View of Rouen Cathedral, drawn by William Prior 611 + Map of England and Wales, with the part of the names + engraved on wood, and part inserted in type 612 + Group from Sir David Wilkie’s Village Festival 614 + Natural _Vignette_, and an old ornamented capital from a + manuscript of the thirteenth century 616 + Specimens of ornamental capitals, chiefly taken from Shaw’s + Alphabets 617 + Impressions from a surface with the figures in relief-- + subject, the Crown-piece of George IV. 618 + Impressions from a surface with the figures in intaglio-- + same subject 619 + Shepherd’s Dog, drawn by W. Harvey 620 + Egret, drawn by W. Harvey 621 + Winter-piece, with an ass and her foal, drawn by J. Jackson 622 + Salmon-Trout, with a view of Bywell-Lock, drawn by + J. Jackson 623 + Boy and Pony, drawn by J. Jackson 624 + Heifer, drawn by W. Harvey 624 + Descent from the Cross, after an etching by Rembrandt-- + impression when the block is merely lowered previous to + engraving the subject 626 + Descent from the Cross-- impression from the finished cut 627 + Copies of an ancient bust in the British Museum-- No. 1 + printed from a wood-cut, and No. 2 from a cast 637 + Block reduced from a Lithograph by the new Electro-printing + Block process 639 + Horse and Ass, drawn by J. Jackson-- improperly printed 641 + Same subject, properly printed 642 + Landscape, drawn by George Balmer-- improperly printed 644 + Same subject, properly printed 644 + Tail-piece, drawn by C. Jacques 652 + + + + + ON + + WOOD ENGRAVING. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ANTIQUITY OF ENGRAVING. + + Engraving -- The Word Explained -- The Art Defined -- Distinction + Between Engraving on Copper and on Wood -- Early Practice of the Art + of Impressing Characters by Means of Stamps Instanced in Babylonian + Bricks; Fragments of Egyptian and Etruscan Earthenware; Roman Lamps, + Tiles, and Amphoræ -- The Cauterium or Brand -- Principle of + Stencilling Known to the Romans -- Royal Signatures thus Affixed -- + Practice of Stamping Monograms on Documents in the Middle Ages -- + Notarial Stamps -- Merchants’-Marks -- Coins, Seals, and Sepulchral + Brasses -- Examination of Mr. Ottley’s Opinions Concerning the + Origin of the Art of Wood Engraving in Europe, and its Early + Practice by Two Wonderful Children, the Cunio. + + +As few persons know, even amongst those who profess to be admirers of +the art of Wood Engraving, by what means its effects, as seen in books +and single impressions, are produced, and as a yet smaller number +understand in what manner it specifically differs in its procedure from +the art of engraving on copper or steel, it appears necessary, before +entering into any historic detail of its progress, to premise a few +observations explanatory of the word ENGRAVING in its general +acceptation, and more particularly descriptive of that branch of the art +which several persons call Xylography; but which is as clearly +expressed, and much more generally understood, by the term WOOD +ENGRAVING. + +The primary meaning of the verb “to engrave” is defined by Dr. Johnson, +“to picture by incisions in any matter;” and he derives it from the +French “_engraver_.” The great lexicographer is not, however, quite +correct in his derivation; for the French do not use the verb “engraver” +in the sense of “to engrave,” but to signify a ship or a boat being +embedded in sand or mud so that she cannot float. The French synonym of +the English verb “to engrave,” is “graver;” and its root is to be found +in the Greek γράφω (_grapho_, I cut), which, with its compound ἐπιγράφω, +according to Martorelli, as cited by Von Murr,[I-1] is always used by +Homer to express cutting, incision, or wounding; but never to express +writing by the superficial tracing of characters with a reed or pen. +From the circumstance of laws, in the early ages of Grecian history, +being cut or engraved on wood, the word γράφω came to be used in the +sense of, “I sanction, or I pass a law;” and when, in the progress of +society and the improvement of art, letters, instead of being cut on +wood, were indented by means of a skewer-shaped instrument (stylus) on +wax spread on tablets of wood or ivory, or written by means of a pen or +reed on papyrus or on parchment, the word γράφω, which in its primitive +meaning signified “to cut,” became expressive of writing generally. + + [Footnote I-1: C. G. Von Murr, in his Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, + 2 Theil, S. 253, referring to Martorelli, De Regia Theca + Calamaria.] + +From γράφω is derived the Latin _scribo_,[I-2] “I write;” and it is +worthy of observation, that “_to scrive_,”--most probably from +_scribo_,--signifies, in our own language, to cut numerals or other +characters on timber with a tool called a _scrive_: the word thus +passing, as it were, through a circle of various meanings and in +different languages, and at last returning to its original +signification. + + [Footnote I-2: If this etymology be correct, the English Scrivener + and French _Greffier_ may be related by descent as well as + professionally; both words being thus referable to the same + origin, the Greek γράφω. The modern _Writer_ in the Scottish + courts of law performs the duties both of Scrivener and Greffier, + with whose name his own is synonymous.] + +Under the general term SCULPTURE--the root of which is to be found in +the Latin verb _sculpo_, “I cut”--have been classed copper-plate +engraving, wood engraving, gem engraving, and carving, as well as the +art of the statuary or figure-cutter in marble, to which art the word +_sculpture_ is now more strictly applied, each of those arts requiring +in its process the act of _cutting_ of one kind or other. In the German +language, which seldom borrows its terms of art from other languages, +the various modes of cutting in sculpture, in copper-plate engraving, +and in engraving on wood, are indicated in the name expressive of the +operator or artist. The sculptor is named a _Bildhauer_, from _Bild_, a +statue, and _hauen_, to hew, indicating the operation of cutting with a +mallet and chisel; the copper-plate engraver is called a +_Kupfer-stecher_, from _Kupfer_, copper, and _stechen_, to dig or cut +with the point; and the wood engraver is a _Holzschneider_, from _Holz_, +wood, and _schneiden_, to cut with the edge. + +It is to be observed, that though both the copper-plate engraver and the +wood engraver may be said to _cut_ in a certain sense, as well as the +sculptor and the carver, they have to execute their work +_reversed_,--that is, contrary to the manner in which impressions from +their plates or blocks are seen; and that in copying a painting or a +drawing, it requires to be reversely transferred,--a disadvantage under +which the sculptor and the carver do not labour, as they copy their +models or subjects _direct_. + +ENGRAVING, as the word is at the present time popularly used, and +considered in its relation to the pictorial art, may be defined to +be--“The art of representing objects on metallic substances, or on wood, +expressed by lines and points produced by means of corrosion, incision, +or excision, for the purpose of their being impressed on paper by means +of ink or other colouring matter.” + +The impressions obtained from engraved _plates_ of metal or from +_blocks_ of wood are commonly called engravings, and sometimes prints. +Formerly the word _cuts_[I-3] was applied indiscriminately to +impressions, either from metal or wood; but at present it is more +strictly confined to the productions of the wood engraver. Impressions +from copper-plates only are properly called _plates_; though it is not +unusual for persons who profess to review productions of art, to speak +of a book containing, perhaps, a number of indifferent woodcuts, as +“a work embellished with a profusion of the _most charming plates_ on +wood;” thus affording to every one who is in the least acquainted with +the art at once a specimen of their taste and their knowledge. + + [Footnote I-3: Towards the close of the seventeenth century we + find books “adorned with _sculptures_ by a curious hand;” about + 1730 we find them “ornamented with _cuts_;” at present they are + “illustrated with _engravings_.”] + +Independent of the difference of the material on which copper-plate +engraving and wood engraving are executed, the grand distinction between +the two arts is, that the engraver on copper corrodes by means of +aqua-fortis, or cuts out with the burin or dry-point, the lines, +stipplings, and hatchings from which his impression is to be produced; +while, on the contrary, the wood engraver effects his purpose by cutting +away those parts which are to appear white or colourless, thus leaving +the lines which produce the impression prominent. + +In printing from a copper or steel plate, which is previously warmed by +being placed above a charcoal fire, the ink or colouring matter is +rubbed into the lines or incisions by means of a kind of ball formed of +woollen cloth; and when the lines are thus sufficiently charged with +ink, the surface of the plate is first wiped with a piece of rag, and is +then further cleaned and smoothed by the fleshy part of the palm of the +hand, slightly touched with whitening, being once or twice passed rather +quickly and lightly over it. The plate thus prepared is covered with the +paper intended to receive the engraving, and is subjected to the action +of the rolling or copper-plate printer’s press; and the impression is +obtained by the paper being pressed _into_ the inked incisions. + +As the lines of an engraved block of wood are prominent or in relief, +while those of a copper-plate are, as has been previously explained, +_intagliate_ or hollowed, the mode of taking an impression from the +former is precisely the reverse of that which has just been described. +The usual mode of taking impressions from an engraved block of wood is +by means of the printing-press, either from the block separately, or +wedged up in a _chase_ with types. The block is inked by being beat with +a roller on the surface, in the same manner as type; and the paper being +turned over upon it from the _tympan_, it is then run in under the +_platen_; which being acted on by the lever, presses the paper _on to_ +the raised lines of the block, and thus produces the impression. +Impressions from wood are thus obtained by the _on-pression_ of the +paper against the raised or prominent lines; while impressions from +copper-plates are obtained by the _in-pression_ of the paper into +hollowed ones. In consequence of this difference in the process, the +inked lines impressed on paper from a copper-plate appear prominent when +viewed direct; while the lines communicated from an engraved wood-block +are indented in the front of the impression, and appear raised at the +back. + + [Illustration: PRINTED FROM A WOOD-BLOCK.] + + [Illustration: PRINTED FROM A COPPER-PLATE.] + +The above impressions--the one from a wood-block, and the other from an +etched copper-plate--will perhaps render what has been already said, +explanatory of the difference between copper-plate printing from +hollowed lines, and _surface printing_ by means of the common press from +prominent lines, still more intelligible. The subject is a +representation of the copper-plate or rolling press. + +Both the preceding impressions are produced in the same manner by means +of the common printing-press. One is from wood; the other, where the +white lines are seen on a black ground, is from copper;--the hollowed +lines, which in copper-plate printing yield the impression, receiving no +ink from the printer’s balls or rollers; while the surface, which in +copper-plate printing is wiped clean after the lines are filled with +ink, is perfectly covered with it. It is, therefore, evident, that if +this etching were printed in the same manner as other copper-plates, the +impression would be a fac-simile of the one from wood. It has been +judged necessary to be thus minute in explaining the difference between +copper-plate and wood engraving, as the difference in the mode of +obtaining impressions does not appear to have been previously pointed +out with sufficient precision. + +As it does not come within the scope of the present work to inquire into +the origin of sculpture generally, I shall not here venture to give an +opinion whether the art was invented by ADAM or his good angel RAZIEL, +or whether it was introduced at a subsequent period by TUBAL-CAIN, NOAH, +TRISMEGISTUS, ZOROASTER, or MOSES. Those who feel interested in such +remote speculations will find the “authorities” in the second chapter of +Evelyn’s “Sculptura.” + +Without, therefore, inquiring when or by whom the art of engraving for +the purpose of producing impressions was invented, I shall endeavour to +show that such an art, however rude, was known at a very early period; +and that it continued to be practised in Europe, though to a very +limited extent, from an age anterior to the birth of Christ, to the year +1400. In the fifteenth century, its principles appear to have been more +generally applied;--first, to the simple cutting of figures on wood for +the purpose of being impressed on paper; next, to cutting figures and +explanatory text on the same block, and then entire pages of text +without figures, till the “ARS GRAPHICA ET IMPRESSORIA” attained its +perfection in the discovery of PRINTING by means of movable fusile +types.[I-4] + + [Footnote I-4: Astle on the Origin and Progress of Writing, + p. 215, 2nd edit.] + +At a very early period stamps of wood, having hieroglyphic characters +engraved on them, were used in Egypt for the purpose of producing +impressions on bricks, and on other articles made of clay. This fact, +which might have been inferred from the ancient bricks and fragments of +earthenware containing characters evidently communicated by means of a +stamp, has been established by the discovery of several of those wooden +stamps, of undoubted antiquity, in the tombs at Thebes, Meroe, and other +places. The following cuts represent the face and the back of one of the +most perfect of those stamps, which was found in a tomb at Thebes, and +has recently been brought to this country by Edward William Lane, +Esq.[I-5] + + [Footnote I-5: Author of “An Account of the Manners and Customs of + the Modern Egyptians, written in Egypt during the years 1833, ’34, + and ’35.”] + + [Illustration] + +The original stamp is made of the same kind of wood as the mummy chests, +and has an arched handle at the back, cut out of the same piece of wood +as the face. It is of an oblong figure, with the ends rounded off; five +inches long, two inches and a quarter broad, and half an inch thick. The +hieroglyphic characters on its face are rudely cut in _intaglio_, so +that their impression on clay would be in relief; and if printed in the +same manner as the preceding copy, would present the same +appearance,--that is, the characters which are cut into the wood, would +appear white on a black ground. The phonetic power of the hieroglyphics +on the face of the stamp may be represented respectively by the +letters, A, M, N, F, T, P, T, H, M; and the vowels being supplied, as in +reading Hebrew without points, we have the words, “Amonophtep, +Thmei-mai,”--“Amonoph, beloved of truth.”[I-6] The name is supposed to +be that of Amonoph or Amenoph the First, the second king of the +eighteenth dynasty, who, according to the best authorities, was +contemporary with Moses, and reigned in Egypt previous to the departure +of the Israelites. There are two ancient Egyptian bricks in the British +Museum on which the impression of a similar stamp is quite distinct; and +there are also several articles of burnt clay, of an elongated conical +figure, and about nine inches long, which have their broader extremities +impressed with hieroglyphics in a similar manner. There is also in the +same collection a wooden stamp, of a larger size than that belonging to +Mr. Lane, but not in so perfect a condition. Several ancient Etruscan +terra-cottas and fragments of earthenware have been discovered, on which +there are alphabetic characters, evidently impressed from a stamp, which +was probably of wood. In the time of Pliny terra-cottas thus impressed +were called Typi. + + [Footnote I-6: On a mummy in the royal collection at Paris, the + six first characters of this stamp occur. Champollion reads them, + “Amenoftep,” or “Amonaftep.” He supposes the name to be that of + Amonoph the First; and says that it signifies “approuvé par + Ammon.”--Précis du Système Hiéroglyphique. Planches et + Explication, p. 20, No. 161.] + + [Illustration] + +In the British Museum are several bricks which have been found on the +site of ancient Babylon. They are larger than our bricks, and somewhat +different in form, being about twelve inches square and three inches +thick. They appear to have been made of a kind of muddy clay with which +portions of chopped straw have been mixed to cause it to bind; and their +general appearance and colour, which is like that of a common brick +before it is burnt, plainly enough indicate that they have not been +hardened by fire, but by exposure to the sun. About the middle of their +broadest surface, they are impressed with certain characters which have +evidently been indented when the brick was in a soft state. The +characters are indented,--that is, they are such as would be produced by +pressing a wood-block with raised lines upon a mass of soft clay; and +were such a block printed on paper in the usual manner of wood-cuts, the +impression would be similar to the preceding one, which has been copied, +on a reduced scale, from one of the bricks above noticed. The characters +have been variously described as cuneiform or wedge-shaped, +arrow-headed, javelin-headed, or nail-headed; but their meaning has not +hitherto been deciphered. + +Amphoræ, lamps, tiles, and various domestic utensils, formed of clay, +and of Roman workmanship, are found impressed with letters, which in +some cases are supposed to denote the potter’s name, and in others the +contents of the vessel, or the name of the owner. On the tiles,--of +which there are specimens in the British Museum,--the letters are +commonly inscribed in a circle, and appear raised; thus showing that the +stamp had been hollowed, or engraved in intaglio, in a manner similar to +a wooden butter-print. In a book entitled “Ælia Lælia Crispis non nata +resurgens,” by C. C. Malvasia, 4to. Bologna, 1683, are several +engravings on wood of such tiles, found in the neighbourhood of Rome, +and communicated to the author by Fabretti, who, in the seventh chapter +of his own work,[I-7] has given some account of the “figlinarum +signa,”--the stamps of the ancient potters and tile-makers. + + [Footnote I-7: Inscriptionum Explicatio, fol. Romæ, 1699.] + +The stamp from which the following cut has been copied is preserved in +the British Museum. It is of brass, and the letters are in relief and +reversed; so that if it were inked from a printer’s ball and stamped on +paper, an impression would be produced precisely the same as that which +is here given. + + [Illustration: + LAR] + +It would be difficult now to ascertain why this stamp should be marked +with the word LAR, which signifies a household god, or the image of the +supposed tutelary genius of a house; but, without much stretch of +imagination, we may easily conceive how appropriate such an inscription +would be impressed on an amphora or large wine-vessel, sealed and set +apart on the birth of an heir, and to be kept sacred--inviolate as the +household gods--till the young Roman assumed the “toga virilis,” or +arrived at years of maturity. That vessels containing wine were kept for +many years, we learn from Horace and Petronius;[I-8] + + [Footnote I-8: “O nata mecum consule Manlio!” says Horace, + addressing an amphora of wine as old as himself; and Petronius + mentions some choice Falernian which had attained the ripe age of + a hundred: “Statim allatæ sunt amphoræ vitreæ diligenter gypsatæ, + quarum in cervicibus pittacia erant affixa, cum hoc titulo: + _Falernum Opimianum annorum centum_.” _Pittacia_ were small + labels--schedulæ breves--attached to the necks of wine-vessels, + and on which were marked the name and age of the wine.] + + ----Prome reconditum, + Lyde, strenua, Cæcubum, + Munitæque adhibe vim sapientiæ. + Inclinare meridiem + Sentis: ac veluti stet volucris dies, + Parcis deripere horreo + Cessantem Bibuli Consulis amphoram. + + _Carmin._ lib. III. xxviii. + + “Quickly produce, Lyde, the hoarded Cæcuban, and make an attack + upon wisdom, ever on her guard. You perceive the noontide is on its + decline; and yet, as if the fleeting day stood still, you delay to + bring out of the store-house the loitering cask, (that bears its + date) from the Consul Bibulus.”--_Smart’s Translation._ + +Mr. Ottley, in his “Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of +Engraving,” pages 57 and 58, makes a distinction between _impression_ +where the characters impressed are produced by “_a change of +form_”--meaning where they are either indented in the substance +impressed, or raised upon it in relief--and _impression_ where the +characters are produced by _colour_; and requires evidence that the +ancients ever used stamps “charged with ink or some other tint, for the +purpose of stamping paper, parchment, or other substances, little or not +at all capable of indentation.” + +It certainly would be very difficult, if not impossible, to produce a +piece of paper, parchment, or cloth of the age of the Romans impressed +with letters in ink or other colouring matter; but the existence of such +stamps as the preceding,--and there are others in the British Museum of +the same kind, containing more letters and of a smaller size,--renders +it very probable that they were used for the purpose of marking cloth, +paper, and similar substances, with ink, as well as for being impressed +in wax or clay. + +Von Murr, in an article in his Journal, on the Art of Wood Engraving, +gives a copy from a similar bronze stamp, in Praun’s Museum, with the +inscription “GALLIANI,” which he considers as most distinctly proving +that the Romans had nearly arrived at the arts of wood engraving and +book printing. He adds: “Letters cut on wood they certainly had, and +very likely grotesques and figures also, the hint of which their artists +might readily obtain from the coloured stuffs which were frequently +presented by Indian ambassadors to the emperors.”[I-9] + + [Footnote I-9: Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, 2 Theil, S. 81. By + grotesque--“Laubwerk”--ornamental foliage is here + meant;--_grot_-esque, bower-work,--not caricatures.] + +At page 90 of Singer’s “Researches into the History of Playing-Cards” +are impressions copied from stamps similar to the preceding; which +stamps the author considers as affording “examples of such a near +approach to the art of printing as first practised, that it is truly +extraordinary there is no remaining evidence of its having been +exercised by them;--unless we suppose that they were acquainted with it, +and did not choose to adopt it from reasons of state policy.” It is just +as extraordinary that the Greek who employed the expansive force of +steam in the Ælopile to blow the fire did not invent Newcomen’s +engine;--unless, indeed, we suppose that the construction of such an +engine was perfectly known at Syracuse, but that the government there +did not choose to adopt it from motives of “state policy.” It was not, +however, a reason of “state policy” which caused the Roman cavalry to +ride without stirrups, or the windows of the palace of Augustus to +remain unglazed. + +The following impressions are also copied from two other brass stamps, +preserved in the collection of Roman antiquities in the British Museum. + + [Illustration: + OVIRILLIO] + + [Illustration: + FLSCLADIOU] + +As the letters in the originals are hollowed or cut into the metal, they +would, if impressed on clay or soft wax, appear raised or in relief; and +if inked and impressed on paper or on white cloth, they would present +the same appearance that they do here--white on a black ground. Not +being able to explain the letters on these stamps, further than that the +first may be the dative case of a proper name Ovirillius, and indicate +that property so marked belonged to such a person, I leave them, as +Francis Moore, physician, leaves the hieroglyphic in his Almanack,--“to +time and the curious to construe.” + +Lambinet, in his “Recherches sur l’Origine de l’Imprimerie,” gives an +account of two stone stamps of the form of small tablets, the letters of +which were cut in _intaglio_ and reverse, similar to the two of which +impressions are above given. They were found in 1808, near the village +of Nais, in the department of the Meuse; and as the letters, being in +reverse, could not be made out, the owner of the tablets sent them to +the Celtic Society of Paris, where M. Dulaure, to whose examination they +were submitted, was of opinion that they were a kind of matrices or +hollow stamps, intended to be applied to soft substances or such as were +in a state of fusion. He thought they were stamps for vessels containing +medical compositions; and if his reading of one of the inscriptions be +correct, the practice of stamping the name of a quack and the nature of +his remedy, in relief on the side of an ointment-pot or a bottle, is of +high antiquity. The letters + + Q. JUN. TAURI. ANODY. + NUM. AD OMN. LIPP. + +M. Dulaure explains thus: _Quinti Junii Tauridi anodynum ad omnes +lippas_;[I-10] an inscription which is almost literally rendered by the +title of a specific still known in the neighbourhood of +Newcastle-on-Tyne, “_Dr. Dud’s lotion, good for sore eyes_.” + + [Footnote I-10: M. Dulaure’s latinity is bad. “_Lippas_” certainly + is not the word. His translation is, “Remède anodin de Quintus + Junius Tauridus, pour _tous les maux_ d’yeux.” Other stone stamps, + supposed to have been used by oculists to mark the vessels + containing their medicaments, were discovered and explained long + before M. Dulaure published his interpretation. See “WALCHII + Antiquitates Medicæ Selectæ, Jenæ, 1772,” Num. 1 and 2, referred + to by Von Murr.] + +Besides such stamps as have already been described, the ancients used +brands, both figured and lettered, with which, when heated, they marked +their horses, sheep, and cattle, as well as criminals, captives, and +refractory or runaway slaves. + +The Athenians, according to Suidas, marked their Samian captives with +the figure of an owl; while Athenians captured by the Samians were +marked with the figure of a galley, and by the Syracusans with the +figure of a horse. The husbandman at his leisure time, as we are +informed by Virgil, in the first book of the Georgics, + + “Aut pecori signa, aut numeros impressit acervis;” + +and from the third book we learn that the operation was performed by +branding: + + “Continuoque notas et nomina gentis _inurunt_.”[I-11] + + [Footnote I-11: HERMANNUS HUGO, De prima Origine Scribendi, cap. + xix. De Notis Servilibus, et cap. xx. De Notis pecudum. A further + account of the ancient _stigmata_, and of the manner in which + slaves were marked, is to be found in PIGNORIUS, De Servis.] + + * * * + +Such brands as those above noticed, commonly known by the name of +_cauteria_ or _stigmata_, were also used for similar purposes during the +middle ages; and the practice, which has not been very long obsolete, of +burning homicides in the hand, and vagabonds and “sturdy beggars” on the +breast, face, or shoulder, affords an example of the employment of the +brand in the criminal jurisprudence of our own country. By the 1st +Edward VI. cap. 3, it was enacted, that whosoever, man or woman, not +being lame or impotent, nor so aged or diseased that he or she could not +work, should be convicted of loitering or idle wandering by the +highway-side, or in the streets, like a servant wanting a master, or a +beggar, he or she was to be marked with a hot iron on the breast with +the letter V [for Vagabond], and adjudged to the person bringing him or +her before a justice to be his slave for two years; and if such adjudged +slave should run away, he or she, upon being taken and convicted, was to +be marked on the forehead, or on the ball of the cheek, with the letter +S [for Slave], and adjudged to be the said master’s slave for ever. By +the 1st of James I. cap. 7, it was also enacted, that such as were to be +deemed “rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars” by the 39th of Elizabeth, +cap. 4, being convicted at the sessions and found to be incorrigible, +were to be branded in the left shoulder with a hot iron, of the breadth +of an English shilling, marked with a great Roman R [for Rogue]; such +branding upon the shoulder to be so thoroughly burned and set upon the +skin and flesh, that the said letter R should be seen and remain for a +perpetual mark upon such rogue during the remainder of his life.[I-12] + + [Footnote I-12: History of the Poor Laws, 8vo. 1764, by Richard + Burn, LL.D., who in his observations on such punishments says: “It + is affecting to humanity to observe the various methods that have + been invented for the _punishment_ of vagrants; none of all which + wrought the desired effect . . . . . . This part of our history + looks like the history of the savages in America. Almost all + severities have been exercised against vagrants, except + scalping.”] + +From a passage in Quintilian we learn that the Romans were acquainted +with the method of _tracing_ letters, by means of a piece of thin wood +in which the characters were pierced or cut through, on a principle +similar to that on which the present art of _stencilling_ is founded. He +is speaking of teaching boys to write, and the passage referred to may +be thus translated: “When the boy shall have entered upon +_joining-hand_, it will be useful for him to have a _copy-head_ of wood +in which the letters are well cut, that through its furrows, as it were, +he may trace the characters with his _style_. He will not thus be liable +to make slips as on the wax [alone], for he will be confined by the +boundary of the letters, and neither will he be able to deviate from his +text. By thus more rapidly and frequently following a definite outline, +his hand will become _set_, without his requiring any assistance from +the master to guide it.”[I-13] + + [Footnote I-13: “Quum puer jam ductus sequi cœperit, non inutile + erit, litteras tabellæ quam optime insculpi, ut per illos, velut + sulcos, ducatur stylus. Nam neque errabit, quemadmodum in ceris, + continebitur enim utrimque marginibus, neque extra præscriptum + poterit egredi; et celerius ac sæpius sequendo certa vestigia + firmabit articulos, neque egebit adjutorio manum suam, manu + superimposita, regentis.” Quintiliani Instit. Orator., lib. + i. cap. I.] + +A thin stencil-plate of copper, having the following letters _cut out_ +of it, + + DN CONSTAN + TIO AVG SEM + PER VICTORI + +was received, together with some rare coins, from Italy by Tristan, +author of “Commentaires Historiques, Paris, 1657,” who gave a copy of it +at page 68 of the third volume of that work. The letters thus formed, +“ex nulla materia,”[I-14] might be traced on paper by means of a pen, or +with a small brush, charged with body-colour, as stencillers _slap-dash_ +rooms through their pasteboard patterns, or dipped in ink in the same +manner as many shopkeepers now, through similar thin copper-plates, mark +the prices of their wares, or their own name and address on the paper in +which such wares are wrapped. + + [Footnote I-14: Prosper Marchand, at page 9 of his “Histoire de + l’Imprimerie,” gives the following title of a book in 8vo. which + was wholly, both text and figures, executed in this manner, _percé + au jour_, in vellum: “Liber Passionis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, + cum figuris et characteribus _ex nulla materia_ compositis.” He + states that in 1640 it was in the collection of Albert Henry, + Prince de Ligne, and quotes a description of it from Anton. + Sanderi Bibliotheca Belgica Manuscripta, parte ii. p. 1.] + + [Illustration] + +In the sixth century it appears, from Procopius, that the Emperor +Justin I. made use of a tablet of wood pierced or cut in a similar +manner, through which he traced in red ink, the imperial colour, his +signature, consisting of the first four letters of his name. It is also +stated that Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths, the contemporary of +Justin, used after the same manner to sign the first four letters of his +name through a plate of gold;[I-15] and in Peringskiold’s edition of the +Life of Theodoric, the annexed is given as the monogram[I-16] of that +monarch. The authenticity of this account has, however, been questioned, +as Cochlæus, who died in 1552, cites no ancient authority for the fact. + + [Footnote I-15: “Rex Theodoricus inliteratus erat, et sic obruto + sensu ut in decem annos regni sui quatuor literas subscriptionis + edicti sui discere nullatenus potuisset. De qua re laminam auream + jussit interrasilem tieri quatuor literas regis habentem, unde ut + si subscribere voluisset, posita lamina super chartam, per eam + pennam duceret et subscriptio ejus tantum videretur.”--Vita + Theodorici Regis Ostrogothorum et Italiæ, autore Joanne Cochlæo; + cum additamentis Joannis Peringskiold, 4to. Stockholmiæ, 1699, + p. 199.] + + [Footnote I-16: A monogram, properly, consists of all, or the + principal letters of a name, combined in such a manner that the + whole appear but as one _character_; a portion of one letter being + understood to represent another, two being united to form a third, + and so on.] + + [Illustration] + +It has been asserted by Mabillon, (Diplom. lib. ii. cap. 10,) that +Charlemagne first introduced the practice of signing documents with a +monogram, either traced with a pen by means of a thin tablet of gold, +ivory, or wood, or impressed with an inked stamp, having the characters +in relief, in a manner similar to that in which letters are stamped at +the Post-office.[I-17] Ducange, however, states that this mode of +signing documents is of greater antiquity, and he gives a copy of the +monogram of the Pope Adrian I. who was elected to the see of Rome in +774, and died in 795. The annexed monogram of Charlemagne has been +copied from Peringskiold, “Annotationes in Vitam Theodorici,” p. 584; it +is also given in Ducange’s Glossary, and in the “Nouveau Traité de +Diplomatique.” + + [Footnote I-17: Mabillon’s opinion is founded on the following + passage in the Life of Charlemagne, by his secretary Eginhard: + “_Ut scilicet imperitiam hanc [scribendi] honesto ritu suppleret, + monogrammatis usum loco proprii signi invexit_.”] + +The monogram, either stencilled or stamped, consisted of a combination +of the letters of the person’s name, a fanciful character, or the figure +of a cross,[I-18] accompanied with a peculiar kind of flourish, called +by French writers on diplomatics _parafe_ or _ruche_. This mode of +signing appears to have been common in most nations of Europe during the +ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries; and it was practised by nobles and +the higher orders of the clergy, as well as by kings. It continued to be +used by the kings of France to the time of Philip III. and by the +Spanish monarchs to a much later period. It also appears to have been +adopted by some of the Saxon kings of England; and the authors of the +“Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique” say that they had seen similar marks +produced by a stamp of William the Conqueror, when Duke of Normandy. We +have had a recent instance of the use of the _stampilla_, as it is +called by diplomatists, in affixing the royal signature. During the +illness of George IV. in 1830, a silver stamp, containing a fac-simile +of the king’s sign-manual, was executed by Wyon, which was stamped on +documents requiring the royal signature, by commissioners, in his +Majesty’s presence. A similar stamp was used during the last illness of +Henry VIII. for the purpose of affixing the royal signature. The king’s +warrant empowering commissioners to use the stamp may be seen in Rymer’s +Fœdera, vol. xv. p. 101, anno 1546. It is believed that the warrant +which sent the poet Surrey to the scaffold was signed with this stamp, +and not with Henry’s own hand. + + [Footnote I-18: “Triplex cruces exarandi modus: 1. penna sive + calamo; 2. lamina interrasili; 3. stampilla sive typo anaglyptico. + Laminæ interrasiles ex auro aliove metallo, vel ex ebore etiam + confectæ sunt, atque ita perforatæ, ut hiatus, pro re nata, + crucium cet. speciem præ se ferrent, per quos velut sulcos, + calamus sive penna ducebatur. Stampillæ vero ita sculptæ sunt, ut + figuræ superficiem eminerent, quæ deinde atramento tinctæ sunt, + chartæque impressæ.”--Gatterer, Elementa Artis Diplomaticæ, § 264, + De Staurologia.] + +In Sempère’s “History of the Cortes of Spain,” several examples are +given of the use of fanciful monograms in that country at an early +period, and which were probably introduced by its Gothic invaders. That +such marks were stamped is almost certain; for the first, which is that +of Gundisalvo Tellez, affixed to a charter of the date of 840, is the +same as the “sign” which was affixed by his widow, Flamula, when she +granted certain property to the abbot and monks of Cardeña for the good +of her deceased husband’s soul. The second, which is of the date of 886, +was used both by the abbot Ovecus, and Peter his nephew; and the third +was used by all the four children of one Ordoño, as their “sign” to a +charter of donation executed in 1018. The fourth mark is a Runic cypher, +copied from an ancient Icelandic manuscript, and given by Peringskiold +in his “Annotations on the Life of Theodoric:” it is not given here as +being from a stencil or a stamp, but that it may be compared with the +apparently Gothic monograms used in Spain. + + [Illustration] + +“In their inscriptions, and in the rubrics of their books,” says a +writer in the Edinburgh Review[I-19] “the Spanish Goths, like the Romans +of the Lower Empire, were fond of using combined capitals--of +_monogrammatising_. This mode of writing is now common in Spain, on the +sign-boards and on the shop-fronts, where it has retained its place in +defiance of the canons of the council [of Leon], The Goths, however, +retained a truly _Gothic_ custom in their writings. The Spanish Goth +sometimes subscribed his name; or he drew a _monogram_ like the Roman +emperors, or the sign of the _cross_ like the Saxon; but not +unfrequently he affixed strange and fanciful marks to the deed or +charter, bearing a close resemblance to the Runic or magical knots of +which so many have been engraved by Peringskiold, and other northern +antiquaries.” + + [Footnote I-19: No. lxi. p. 108, where the preceding Gothic marks, + with the explanation of them, are given.] + +To the tenth or the eleventh century are also to be referred certain +small silver coins--“something between counters and money,” as is +observed by Pinkerton--which are impressed, on one side only, with a +kind of Runic monogram. They are formed of very thin pieces of silver; +and it has been supposed that the impression was produced from wooden +dies. They are known to collectors as “_nummi bracteati_”--tinsel money; +and Pinkerton, mistaking the Runic character for the Christian cross, +says that “most of them are ecclesiastic.” He is perhaps nearer the +truth when he adds that they “belong to the tenth century, and are +commonly found in Germany, and the northern kingdoms of Sweden and +Denmark.”[I-20] The four following copies from the original coins in the +Brennerian collection are given by Peringskiold, in his “Annotations on +the Life of Theodoric,” previously referred to. The characters on the +three first he reads as the letters EIR, OIR, and AIR, respectively, and +considers them to be intended to represent the name of Eric the +Victorious. The characters on the fourth he reads as EIM, and applies +them to Emund Annosus, the nephew of Eric the Victorious, who succeeded +to the Sueo-Gothic throne in 1051; about which time, through the +influence of the monks, the ancient Runic characters were exchanged for +Roman. + + [Footnote I-20: Essay on Medals, pp. 144, 145. Edit. 1784.] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration: NICOLAUS FERENTERIUS, 1236] + +The notaries of succeeding times, who on their admission were required +to use a distinctive sign or notarial mark in witnessing an instrument, +continued occasionally to employ the stencil in affixing their “sign;” +although their use of the stamp for that purpose appears to have been +more general. In some of those marks or stamps the name of the notary +does not appear, and in others a small space is left in order that it +might afterwards be inserted with a pen. The annexed monogram was the +official mark of an Italian notary, Nicolaus Ferenterius, who lived in +1236.[I-21] + + [Footnote I-21: It it given by Gatterer in his “Elementa Artis + Diplomaticæ,” p. 166; [4to. Gottingæ, 1765;] who refers to + Muratori, Antiquit. Italiæ Medii Ævi, t. vi. p. 9.] + +The three following cuts represent impressions of German notarial +stamps. The first is that of Jacobus Arnaldus, 1345; the second that of +Johannes Meynersen, 1435; and the third that of Johannes Calvis, +1521.[I-22] + + [Footnote I-22: These stamps are copied from “D. E. Baringii + Clavis Diplomatica,” 4to. Hanoveræ, 1754. There is a work + expressly treating of the use of the Diplomatic Stamp--J. C. + C. Oelrichs de Stampilla Diplomatica, folio, Wismariæ, 1762, which + I have not been able to obtain a sight of.] + + [Illustration: JACOBUS ARNALDUS, 1345.] + + [Illustration: JOHANNES MEYNERSEN, 1435.] + + [Illustration: JOHANNES CALVIS, 1521.] + +Many of the merchants’-marks of our own country, which so frequently +appear on stained glass windows, monumental brasses, and tombstones in +the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, bear a considerable +likeness to the ancient Runic monograms, from which it is not unlikely +that they were originally derived. The English trader was accustomed to +place his mark as his “sign” in his shop-front in the same manner as the +Spaniard did his monogram: if he was a wool-stapler, he stamped it on +his packs; or if a fish-curer, it was branded on the end of his casks. +If he built himself a new house, his mark was frequently placed between +his initials over the principal door-way, or over the fireplace of the +hall; if he made a gift to a church or a chapel, his mark was emblazoned +on the windows beside the knight’s or the nobleman’s shield of arms; and +when he died, his mark was cut upon his tomb. Of the following +merchants’-marks, the first is that of Adam de Walsokne, who died in +1349; the second that of Edmund Pepyr, who died in 1483; those two marks +are from their tombs in St. Margaret’s, Lynn; and the third is from a +window in the same church.[I-23] + + [Footnote I-23: The marks here given are copied from Mackarel’s + History of King’s Lynn, 8vo. 1737. In the same book there are + upwards of thirty more of a similar kind, from the middle of the + fourteenth century to the latter end of the seventeenth. Perhaps + no two counties in the kingdom afford so many examples of + merchants’-marks and monumental brasses as Norfolk and Suffolk.] + + [Illustration] + +In Pierce Ploughman’s Creed, written after the death of Wickliffe, which +happened in 1384, and consequently more modern than many of Chaucer’s +poems, merchants’-marks are thus mentioned in the description of a +window of a Dominican convent: + + “Wide windows y-wrought, y-written full thick, + Shining with shapen shields, to shewen about, + With _marks of merchants_, y-meddled between, + Mo than twenty and two, twice y-numbered.[I-24]” + + [Footnote I-24: “_Y-meddled_ is mixed; the marks of merchants are + put in opposition to the ‘shapen shields,’ because merchants had + no coats of arms.”--Specimens of the Early English Poets, by + George Ellis, Esq. vol. i. p. 163. Edit. 1811.] + +Having thus endeavoured to prove by a continuous chain of evidence that +the principle of producing impressions from raised lines was known, and +practised, at a very early period; and that it was applied for the +purpose of impressing letters and other characters on paper, though +perhaps confined to signatures only, long previous to 1423,--which is +the earliest date that has been discovered on a wood-cut, in the modern +sense of the word, impressed on paper, and accompanied with explanatory +words cut on the same block;[I-25] and having shown that the principle +of stencilling--the manner in which the above-named cut is +coloured[I-26]--was also known in the middle ages; it appears requisite, +next to briefly notice the contemporary existence of the cognate arts of +die-sinking, seal-cutting, and engraving on brass, and afterwards to +examine the grounds of certain speculations on the introduction and +early practice of wood-engraving and block-printing in Europe. + + [Footnote I-25: “Till lately this was the earliest dated evidence + of block printing known; but there has just been discovered at + Malines, and now deposited at Brussels, a woodcut of similar + character, but assumed to be Dutch or Flemish, dated MCCCCXVIII.; + and though there seems no reason to doubt the genuineness of the + cut, it is currently asserted that the date bears evidence of + having been tampered with.”--Extract from Bohn’s Lecture on + Printing.] + + [Footnote I-26: The woodcut referred to is that of St. + Christopher, discovered by Heineken, pasted within the cover of a + book in the Monastery of Buxheim, near Memmingen, in Suabia. It is + of a folio size, and is coloured by means of stencils; a practice + which appears to have been adopted at an early part of the + fifteenth century by the German Formschneiders and Briefmalers, + literally, figure-cutters and cardpainters, to colour their cuts + and their cards. The St. Christopher is now in Earl Spencer’s + library. (See a reduced copy of it at p. 46).] + +Concerning the first invention of stamping letters and figures upon +coins, and the name of the inventor, it is fruitless to inquire, as the +origin of the art is lost in the remoteness of antiquity. “Leaving these +uncertainties,” says Pinkerton, in his Essay on Medals, “we know from +respectable authorities that the first money coined in Greece was that +struck in the island of Ægina, by Phidon king of Argos. His reign is +fixed by the Arundelian marbles to an era correspondent to the 885th +year before Christ; but whether he derived this art from Lydia or any +other source we are not told.” About three hundred years before the +birth of Christ, the art of coining, so far as relates to the beauty of +the heads impressed, appears to have attained its perfection in +Greece;--we may indeed say its perfection generally, for the specimens +which were then produced in that country remain unsurpassed by modern +art. Under the Roman emperors the art never seems to have attained so +high a degree of perfection as it did in Greece; though several of the +coins of Hadrian, probably executed by Greek artists, display great +beauty of design and execution. The art of coining, with the rest of the +ornamental arts, declined with the empire; and, on its final subversion +in Italy, the coins of its rulers were scarcely superior to those which +were subsequently minted in England, Germany, and France, during the +darkest period of the middle ages. + +The art of coining money, however rude in design and imperfect in its +mode of stamping the impression, which was by repeated blows with a +hammer, was practised from the twelfth to the sixteenth century in a +greater number of places than at present; for many of the more powerful +bishops and nobles assumed or extorted the right of coining money as +well as the king; and in our own country the archbishops of Canterbury +and York, and the bishop of Durham, exercised the right of coinage till +the Reformation; and local mints for coining the king’s money were +occasionally fixed at Norwich, Chester, York, St. Edmundsbury, +Newcastle-on-Tyne, and other places. Independent of those establishments +for the coining of _money_, almost every abbey struck its own _jettons_ +or counters; which were thin pieces of copper, commonly impressed with a +pious legend, and used in _casting up accounts_, but which the general +introduction of the numerals now in use, and an improved system of +arithmetic, have rendered unnecessary. As such mints were at least as +numerous in France and Germany as in our own country, Scheffer, the +partner of Faust, when he conceived the idea of casting letters from +matrices formed by punches, would have little difficulty in finding a +workman to assist him in carrying his plans into execution. “The art of +impressing legends on coins,” says Astle in his Account of the Origin +and Progress of writing, “is nothing more than the art of printing on +medals.” That the art of casting letters in relief, though not +separately, and most likely from a mould of sand, was known to the +Romans, is evident from the names of the emperors Domitian and Hadrian +on some pigs of lead in the British Museum; and that it was practised +during the middle and succeeding ages, we have ample testimony from the +inscriptions on our ancient bells.[I-27] + + [Footnote I-27: The small and thick brass coins, struck by Grecian + cities under the Roman emperors, and known to collectors as + “colonial Greek,” appear to have been cast, and moulds for such a + purpose have been discovered in our own country.] + +In the century immediately preceding 1423, the date of the wood-cut of +St. Christopher, the use of seals, for the purpose of authenticating +documents by their impression on wax, was general throughout Europe; +kings, nobles, bishops, abbots, and all who “came of _gentle_ blood,” +with corporations, lay and clerical, all had seals. They were mostly of +brass, for the art of engraving on precious stones does not appear to +have been at that time revived, with the letters and device cut or cast +in hollow--_en creux_--on the face of the seal, in order that the +impression might appear raised. The workmanship of many of those seals, +and more especially of some of the conventional ones, where figures of +saints and a view of the abbey are introduced, displays no mean degree +of skill. Looking on such specimens of the graver’s art, and bearing in +mind the character of many of the drawings which are to be seen in the +missals and other manuscripts of the fourteenth century and of the early +part of the fifteenth, we need no longer be surprised that the cuts of +the earliest block-books should be so well executed. + +The art of engraving on copper and other metals, though not with the +intention of taking impressions on paper, is of great antiquity. In the +late Mr. Salt’s collection of Egyptian antiquities there was a small +axe, probably a model, the head of which was formed of sheet-copper, and +was tied, or rather bandaged, to the helve with slips of cloth. There +were certain characters engraved upon the head in such a manner that if +it were inked and submitted to the action of the rolling-press, +impressions would be obtained as from a modern copper-plate. The axe, +with other models of a carpenter’s tools, also of copper, was found in a +tomb in Egypt, where it must have been deposited at a very early period. +That the ancient Greeks and Romans were accustomed to engrave on copper +and other metals in a similar manner, is evident from engraved pateræ +and other ornamental works executed by people of those nations. Though +no ancient writer makes mention of the art of engraving being employed +for the purpose of producing impressions on paper, yet it has been +conjectured by De Pauw, from a passage in Pliny,[I-28] that such an art +was invented by Varro for the purpose of multiplying the portraits of +eminent men. “No Greek,” says De Pauw, speaking of engraving, “has the +least right to claim this invention, which belongs exclusively to Varro, +as is expressed by Pliny in no equivocal terms, when he calls this +method _inventum Varronis_. Engraved plates were employed which gave the +profile and the principal traits of the figures, to which the +appropriate colours and the shadows were afterwards added with the +pencil. A woman, originally of Cyzica, but then settled in Italy, +excelled all others in the talent of illumining such kind of prints, +which were inserted by Varro in a large work of his entitled +‘_Imagines_’ or ‘_Hebdomades_,’ which was enriched with seven hundred +portraits of distinguished men, copied from their statues and busts. The +necessity of exactly repeating each portrait or figure in every copy of +the work suggested the idea of multiplying them without much cost, and +thus gave birth to an art till then unknown.”[I-29] The grounds, +however, of this conjecture are extremely slight, and will not without +additional support sustain the superstructure which De Pauw--an +“ingenious” guesser, but a superficial inquirer--has so plausibly +raised. A prop for this theory has been sought for by men of greater +research than the original propounder, but hitherto without success. + + [Footnote I-28: “That a strong passion for portraits formerly + existed, is attested both by Atticus, the friend of Cicero, who + wrote a work on this subject, and by M. Varro, who conceived the + very liberal idea of inserting by some means or other, in his + numerous volumes, the portraits of seven hundred individuals; as + he could not bear the idea that all traces of their features + should be lost, or that the lapse of centuries should get the + better of mankind.”--Pliny’s Natural History, Book XXXV. chap. + 2.--(Bohn’s Ed. vol. vi. p. 226. M. Deville is of opinion that + these portraits were made in relief upon plates of metal, perhaps + bronze, and coloured with minium, a red tint much esteemed by the + Romans).] + + [Footnote I-29: See De Pauw, Recherches Philosophiques sur les + Grecs, t. ii. p. 100. The subject is discussed in Meusel’s “Neue + Miscellaneen von artistischen Inhalts,” part xii. p. 380-387, in + an article, “Sind wirklich die Römer die Erfinder der + Kupferstecherkunst?--Were the Romans truly the inventors of + copper-plate engraving?”--by A. Rode. Böttiger, one of the most + learned and intelligent of all German writers on the fine arts, + and Fea, the editor of Winkleman’s History of Art, do not admit De + Pauw’s conjecture, but decide the question in the negative.] + +About the year 1300 we have evidence of monumental brasses, with large +figures engraved on them, being fixed on tombs in this country; and it +is not unlikely that they were known both here and on the Continent at +an earlier period. The best specimens known in this country are such as +were in all probability executed previous to 1400. In the succeeding +century the figures and ornamental work generally appear to be designed +in a worse taste and more carelessly executed; and in the age of Queen +Elizabeth the art, such as it was, appears to have reached the lowest +point of degradation, the monumental brasses of that reign being +generally the worst which are to be met with. + +The figures on several of the more ancient brasses are well drawn, and +the folds of the drapery in the dresses of the females are, as a painter +would say, “well cast;” and the faces occasionally display a +considerable degree of correct and elevated expression. Many of the +figures are of the size of life, marked with a hold outline well +ploughed into the brass, and having the features, armour, and drapery +indicated by single lines of greater or less strength as might be +required. Attempts at shading are also occasionally to be met with; the +effect being produced by means of lines obliquely crossing each other in +the manner of cross-hatchings. Whether impressions were ever taken or +not from such early brasses by the artists who executed them, it is +perhaps now impossible to ascertain; but that they might do so is beyond +a doubt, for it is now a common practice, and two immense volumes of +impressions taken from monumental brasses, for the late Craven Ord, +Esq., are preserved in the print-room of the British Museum. + +One of the finest monumental brasses known in this country is that of +Robert Braunche and his two wives, in St. Margaret’s Church, Lynn, where +it appears to have been placed about the year 1364. Braunche, and his +two wives, one on each side of him, are represented standing, of the +size of life. Above the figures are representations of five small niches +surmounted by canopies in the florid Gothic style. In the centre niche +is the figure of the Deity holding apparently the infant Christ in his +arms. In each of the niches adjoining the centre one is an angel +swinging a censer; and in the exterior niches are angels playing on +musical instruments. At the sides are figures of saints, and at the foot +there is a representation of a feast, where persons are seen seated at +table, others playing on musical instruments, while a figure kneeling +presents a peacock. The length of this brass is eight feet eleven +inches, and its breadth five feet two inches. It is supposed to have +been executed in Flanders, with which country at that period the town of +Lynn was closely connected in the way of trade.[I-30] + + [Footnote I-30: An excellent representation of this celebrated + monument is given in Cotman’s “Engravings from the most remarkable + Sepulchral Brasses in Norfolk,” folio, 1819 (republished with + considerable additions in 2 vols. folio, 1839).] + +It has frequently been asserted that the art of wood engraving in Europe +was derived from the Chinese; by whom, it is also said, that the art was +practised in the reign of the renowned emperor Wu-Wang, who flourished +1120 years before the birth of Christ. As both these statements seem to +rest on equal authorities, I attach to each an equal degree of +credibility; that is, by believing neither. As Mr. Ottley has expressed +an opinion in favour of the Chinese origin of the art,--though without +adopting the tale of its being practised in the reign of Wu-Wang, which +he shows has been taken by the wrong end,--I shall here take the liberty +of examining the tenability of his arguments. + +At page 8, in the first chapter of his work, Mr. Ottley cautiously says +that the “art of printing from engraved blocks of wood appears to be of +very high antiquity amongst the Chinese;” and at page 9, after citing Du +Halde, as informing us that the art of printing was not discovered until +about fifty years before the Christian era, he rather inconsistently +observes: “So says Father Du Halde, whose authority I give without any +comment, as the defence of Chinese chronology makes no part of the +present undertaking.” Unless Mr. Ottley is satisfied of the correctness +of the chronology, he can by no means cite Du Halde’s account as +evidence of the very high antiquity of printing in China; which in every +other part of his book he speaks of as a well-established fact, and yet +refers to no other authority than Du Halde, who relies on the +correctness of that Chinese chronology with the defence of which Mr. +Ottley will have nothing to do. + +It is also worthy of remark, that in the same chapter he corrects two +writers, Papillon and Jansen, for erroneously applying a passage in Du +Halde as proving that the art of printing was known in the reign of +Wu-Wang,--he who flourished Ante Christum 1120; whereas the said passage +was not alleged “by Du Halde to prove the antiquity of printing amongst +the Chinese, but solely in reference to their ink.” The passage, as +translated by Mr. Ottley, is as follows: “As the stone Me” (a word +signifying ink in the Chinese language), “which is used to blacken the +_engraved_ characters, can never become white; so a heart blackened by +vices will always retain its blackness.” The engraved characters were +not inked, it appears, for the purpose of taking impressions, as Messrs. +Papillon and Jansen have erroneously inferred. “It is possible,” +according to Mr. Ottley, “that the ink might be used by the Chinese at a +very early period to blacken, and thereby render more easily legible, +the characters of engraved inscriptions.”[I-31] The _possibility_ of +this may be granted certainly; but at the same time we must admit that +it is equally _possible_ that the engraved characters were blackened +with ink for the purpose of being printed, if they were of wood; or +that, if cut in copper or other metal, they were filled with a black +composition which would harden or _set_ in the lines,--as an ingenious +inquirer might infer from ink being represented by the _stone_ ME; and +thus it is _possible_ that something very like “niello,” or the filling +of letters on brass doorplates with black wax, was known to the Chinese +in the reign of Wu-Wang, who flourished in the year before our Lord, +1120. The one conjecture is as good as the other, and both good for +nothing, until we have better assurance than is afforded by Du Halde, +that engraved characters blackened with ink--for whatever purpose--were +known by the Chinese in the reign of Wu-Wang.[I-32] + + [Footnote I-31: At page 7, Mr. Ottley, borrowing from Du Halde, + has erroneously stated that the delicate nature of their paper + would not permit the use of a press. He must have forgot, for he + cannot but have known, that impressions on the finest India paper + had been frequently taken from wood-blocks by means of the common + printing-press many years previous to 1816, the date of the + publication of his book. I have never seen Chinese paper that + would bear printing by hand, which would not also bear the action + of the press, if printed without being wet in the same manner as + common paper.] + + [Footnote I-32: It would appear that Chinese annalists themselves + were not agreed as to the period when printing by the hand from + wood-blocks was first practised in that country. “Nicholas + Trigaltius, a member of our order,” writes Herman Hugo, “who has + recently returned from China, gives the following information + respecting printing, which he professes to have carefully + extracted from the annals of the Chinese themselves. ‘_Typography + is of somewhat earlier date in China than in Europe, for it is + certain that it was practised in that country about five centuries + ago. Others assert that it was practised in China at a period + prior to the Christian era._’”--Hermannus Hugo, De Prima Origine + Scribendi, p. 211. Antwerpiæ, 1617.] + +Although so little is positively known of the ancient history of “the +great out-lying empire of China,” as it is called by Sir William Jones, +yet it has been most confidently referred to as affording authentic +evidence of the high degree of the civilization and knowledge of the +Chinese at a period when Europe was dark with the gloom of barbarism and +ignorance. Their early history has been generally found, when +opportunity has been afforded of impartially examining it, to be a mere +tissue of absurd legends; compared to which, the history of the +settlement of King Brute in Britain is authentic. With astronomy as a +science they are scarcely acquainted; and their specimens of the fine +arts display little more than representations of objects executed not +unfrequently with minute accuracy, but without a knowledge of the most +simple elements of correct design, and without the slightest pretensions +to art, according to our standard. + +One of the two Mahometan travellers who visited China in the ninth +century, expressly states that the Chinese were unacquainted with the +sciences; and as neither of them takes any notice of printing, the +mariner’s compass, or gunpowder, it seems but reasonable to conclude +that the Chinese were unacquainted with those inventions at that +period.[I-33] + + [Footnote I-33: The pretensions of the Chinese to excellence in + science are ably exposed by the learned Abbé Renaudot in a + disquisition “Sur les sciences des Chinois,” appended to his + translation, from the Arabic, entitled “Anciennes Relations des + Indes et de la Chine, de deux Voyageurs Mahométans, qui y allèrent + dans le neuvième siècle.”--8vo. Paris, 1718.] + +Mr. Ottley, at pages 51 and 52 of his work, gives a brief account of the +early commerce of Venice with the East, for the purpose of showing in +what manner a knowledge of the art of printing in China might be +obtained by the Venetians. He says: “They succeeded, likewise, in +establishing a direct traffic with Persia, Tartary, China, and Japan; +sending, for that purpose, several of their most respectable citizens, +and largely providing them with every requisite.” He cites an Italian +author for this account, but he observes a prudent silence as to the +period when the Venetians first established a _direct traffic_ with +China and Japan; though there is little doubt that Bettinelli, the +authority referred to, alludes to the expedition of the two brothers +Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, and of Marco Polo, the son of Niccolo, who in +1271 or 1272 left Venice on an expedition to the court of the Tartar +emperor Kublai-Khan, which had been previously visited by the two +brothers at some period between 1254 and 1269.[I-34] After having +visited Tartary and China, the two brothers and Marco returned to Venice +in 1295. Mr. Ottley, however, does not refer to the travels of the Polos +for the purpose of showing that Marco, who at a subsequent period wrote +an account of his travels, might introduce a knowledge of the Chinese +art of printing into Europe: he cites them that his readers may suppose +that a direct intercourse between Venice and China had been established +long before; and that the art of engraving wood-blocks, and taking +impressions from them, had been thus derived from the latter country, +and had been practised in Venice long before the return of the +travellers in 1295. + + [Footnote I-34: See the Travels of Marco Polo. (In Bohn’s Antiq. + Library).] + +It is necessary here to observe that the invention of the mariner’s +compass, and of gunpowder and cannon, have been ascribed to the Chinese +as well as the invention of wood engraving and block-printing; and it +has been conjectured that _very probably_ Marco Polo communicated to his +countrymen, and through them to the rest of Europe, a knowledge of those +arts. Marco Polo, however, does not in the account which he wrote of his +travels once allude to gunpowder, cannon, or to the art of printing as +being known in China;[I-35] nor does he once mention the compass as +being used on board of the Chinese vessel in which he sailed from the +coast of China to the Persian Gulf. “Nothing is more common,” says a +writer in the Quarterly Review, “than to find it repeated from book to +book, that gunpowder and the mariner’s compass were first brought from +China by Marco Polo, though there can be very little doubt that both +were known in Europe some time before his return.”--“That Marco Polo,” +says the same writer, “would have mentioned the mariner’s compass, if it +had been in use in China, we think highly probable; and his silence +respecting gunpowder may be considered as at least a negative proof that +this also was unknown to the Chinese in the time of Kublai-Khan.”[I-36] +In a manner widely different from this does Mr. Ottley reason, +respecting the cause of Marco Polo not having mentioned printing as an +art practised by the Chinese. He accounts for the traveller’s silence as +follows: “Marco Polo, it may be said, did not notice this art [of +engraving on wood and block-printing] in the account which he left us of +the marvels he had witnessed in China. The answer to this objection is +obvious: it was no marvel; it had no novelty to recommend it; it was +practised, as we have seen, at Ravenna, in 1285, and had perhaps been +practised a century earlier in Venice. His mention of it, therefore, was +not called for, and he preferred instructing his countrymen in matters +with which they were not hitherto acquainted.” This “obvious” answer, +rather unfortunately, will equally apply to the question, “Why did not +Marco Polo mention cannon as being used by the Chinese, who, as we are +informed, had discovered such formidable engines of war long before the +period of his visit?” + + [Footnote I-35: It has been conjectured that the following + passages in the travels of Marco Polo might suggest the idea of + block-printing, and consequently wood engraving: “Gradatim + reliquos belli duces in digniorem ponit statum, donatque illis + aurea et argentea vasa, tabulas, privilegia atque immunitatem. Et + hæc quidem privilegia tabulis vel bracteis per sculpturas + imprimuntur.” “Moneta magni Cham non fit de auro vel argento, aut + alio metallo, sed corticem accipiunt medium ab arbore mori, et + hunc consolidant, atque in particular varias et rotundas, magnas + et parvas, scindunt, atque regale imprimunt signum.”--M. Pauli + Veneti Itiner. lib. ii. capp. vii. & xxi. The mention of paper + money impressed with the royal stamp also occurs in the Eastern + History of Haython, an Armenian, whose work was written in 1307, + in Latin, and has been printed several times, of which the last + edition is by And. Müller, Colon. 1671, 4to.] + + [Footnote I-36: An article on Marsden’s “Translation of the + Travels of Marco Polo,” in the Quarterly Review, No. xli. May, + 1819, from p. 191 to 195, contains some curious particulars + respecting the early use of the mariner’s compass, and of + gunpowder and cannon in Europe.] + +That the art of engraving wood-blocks and of taking impressions from +them was introduced into Europe from China, I can see no sufficient +reason to believe. Looking at the frequent practice in Europe, from the +twelfth to the fifteenth century, of impressing inked stamps on paper, +I can perceive nothing in the earliest specimens of wood engraving but +the same principles applied on a larger scale. When I am once satisfied +that a man had built a small boat, I feel no surprise on learning that +his grandson had built a larger; and made in it a longer voyage than his +ancestor ever ventured on, who merely used his slight skiff to ferry +himself across a river. + +In the first volume of Papillon’s “Traité de la Gravure en Bois,” there +is an account of certain old wood engravings which he professes to have +seen, and which, according to their engraved explanatory title, were +executed by two notable young people, Alexander Alberic Cunio, _knight_, +and Isabella Cunio, his twin sister, and finished by them when they were +only sixteen years old, at the time when Honorius IV. was pope; that is, +at some period between the years 1285 and 1287. This story has been +adopted by Mr. Ottley, and by Zani, an Italian, who give it the benefit +of their support. Mr. Singer, in his “Researches into the History of +Playing Cards,” grants the truth-like appearance of Papillon’s tale; and +the writer of the article “Wood-engraving” in the Encyclopedia +Metropolitana considers it as authentic. It is, however, treated with +contempt by Heineken, Huber, and Bartsch, whose knowledge of the origin +and progress of engraving is at least equal to that of the four writers +previously named. + +The manner in which Papillon recovered his memoranda of the works of the +Cunio is remarkable. In consequence of those curious notes being mislaid +for upwards of thirty-five years, the sole record of the productions of +those “ingenious and amiable twins” was very nearly lost to the world. +The _three sheets of letter-paper_ on which he had written an account of +certain old volumes of wood engravings,--that containing the cuts +executed by the Cunio being one of the number,--he had lost for upwards +of thirty-five years. For long he had only a confused idea of those +sheets, though he had often searched for them in vain, when he was +writing his first essay on wood engraving, which was printed about 1737, +but never published. At length he accidentally found them, on +All-Saints’ Day, 1758, rolled up in a bundle of specimens of +paper-hangings which had been executed by his father. The finding of +those three sheets afforded him the greater pleasure, as from them he +discovered, by means of a pope’s name, an epoch of engraving figures and +letters on wood for the purpose of being printed, which was certainly +much earlier than _any_ at that period known in Europe, and at the same +time a history relative to this subject equally curious and interesting. +He says that he had so completely forgotten all this,--though he had so +often recollected to search for his memoranda,--that he did not deign to +take the least notice of it in his previously printed history of the +art. The following is a faithful abstract of Papillon’s account of his +discovery of those early specimens of wood engraving. The title-page, as +given by him in French from Monsieur De Greder’s _vivâ voce_ translation +of the original,--which was “en mauvais Latin ou ancien Italien +Gothique, avec beaucoup d’abréviations,”--is translated without +abridgment, as are also his own descriptions of the cuts. + +“When young, being engaged with my father in going almost every day to +hang rooms with our papers, I was, some time in 1719 or 1720, at the +village of Bagneux, near Mont Rouge, at a Monsieur De Greder’s, a Swiss +captain, who had a pretty house there. After I had papered a small room +for him, he ordered me to cover the shelves of his library with paper in +imitation of mosaic. One day after dinner he surprised me reading a +book, which occasioned him to show me some very old ones which he had +borrowed of one of his friends, a Swiss officer,[I-37] that he might +examine them at his leisure. We talked about the figures which they +contained, and of the antiquity of wood engraving; and what follows is a +description of those ancient books as I wrote it before him, and as he +was so kind as to explain and dictate to me. + + [Footnote I-37: A Monsieur Spirchtvel, as Papillon informs us. + Tom. i. p. 92.] + +“In a _cartouch_[I-38] or frontispiece,--of fanciful and Gothic +ornaments, though pleasing enough,--nine inches wide, and six inches +high, having at the top the arms, doubtless, of Cunio, the following +words are coarsely engraved on the same block, in bad Latin, or ancient +Gothic Italian with many abbreviations. + + [Footnote I-38: _Cartouch._ “This word is used to denote those + fantastic ornaments which were formerly introduced in decorating + the wainscots of rooms; and frequently served the purpose of + frames, surrounding inscriptions, small paintings, or other + devices. These _cartouches_ were much in vogue in the sixteenth + and seventeenth centuries for the frontispieces of books of + prints; and indeed _Callot_ and _Della Bella_ etched many entire + sets of small subjects surrounded by similar ornaments. From the + irregularity of their forms, the terms tablet shield, or panel, + would be but ill expressive of their character.”--Ottley’s + Inquiry, vol. i. p. 12.] + +“‘THE CHIVALROUS DEEDS, in figures, of the great and magnanimous +Macedonian king, the courageous and valiant Alexander, dedicated, +presented, and humbly offered to the most holy father, Pope Honorius IV. +the glory and stay of the Church, and to our illustrious and generous +father and mother, by us Alexander Alberic Cunio, knight, and Isabella +Cunio, twin brother and sister; first reduced, imagined, and attempted +to be executed in relief with a little knife, on blocks of wood, joined +and smoothed by this learned and beloved sister, continued and finished +together at Ravenna, after eight pictures of our designing, painted six +times the size here represented; cut, explained in verse, and thus +marked on paper to multiply the number, and to enable us to present them +as a token of friendship and affection to our relations and friends. +This was done and finished, the age of each being only sixteen years +complete.’” + +After having given the translation of the title-page, Papillon thus +continues the narrative in his own person: “This _cartouch_ [or +ornamented title-page] is surrounded by a coarse line, the tenth of an +inch broad, forming a square. A few slight lines, which are irregularly +executed and without precision, form the shading of the ornaments. The +impression, in the same manner as the rest of the cuts, has been taken +in Indian blue, rather pale, and in distemper, apparently by the hand +being passed frequently over the paper laid upon the block, as +card-makers are accustomed to impress their addresses and the envelopes +of their cards. The hollow parts of the block, not being sufficiently +cut away in several places, and having received the ink, have smeared +the paper, which is rather brown; a circumstance which has caused the +following words to be written in the margin underneath, that the fault +might be remedied. They are in Gothic Italian, which M. de Greder had +considerable difficulty in making out, and certainly written by the hand +either of the Chevalier Cunio or his sister, on this first +proof--evidently from a block--such as are here translated.” + +“‘_It is necessary to cut away the ground of the blocks more, that the +paper may not touch it in taking impressions._’” + +“Following this frontispiece, and of the same size, are the subjects of +the eight pictures, engraved on wood, surrounded by a similar line +forming a square, and also with the shadows formed of slight lines. At +the foot of each of those engravings, between the border-line and +another, about a finger’s breadth distant, are four Latin verses +engraved on the block, poetically explaining the subject, the title of +which is placed at the head. In all, the impression is similar to that +of the frontispiece, and rather grey or cloudy, as if the paper had not +been moistened. The figures, tolerably designed, though in a semi-gothic +taste, are well enough characterized and draped; and we may perceive +from them that the arts of design were then beginning gradually to +resume their vigour in Italy. At the feet of the principal figures their +names are engraved, such as Alexander, Philip, _Darius_, Campaspe, and +others.” + +“SUBJECT 1.--Alexander mounted on Bucephalus, which he has tamed. On a +stone are these words: _Isabel. Cunio pinx. & scalp._” + +“SUBJECT 2.--Passage of the Granicus. Near the trunk of a tree these +words are engraved: _Alex. Alb. Cunio Equ. pinx. Isabel Cunio scalp._” + +“SUBJECT 3.--Alexander cutting the Gordian knot. On the pedestal of a +column are these words: _Alexan. Albe. Cunio Equ. pinx. & scalp._ This +block is not so well engraved as the two preceding.” + +“SUBJECT 4.--Alexander in the tent of Darius. This subject is one of the +best composed and engraved of the whole set. Upon the end of a piece of +cloth are these words: _Isabel. Cunio pinxit & scalp._” + +“SUBJECT 5.--Alexander generously presents his mistress Campaspe to +Apelles who was painting her. The figure of this beauty is very +agreeable. The painter seems transported with joy at his good fortune. +On the floor, on a kind of antique tablet, are these words: _Alex. Alb. +Cunio Eques, pinx. & scalp._” + +“SUBJECT 6.--The famous battle of Arbela. Upon a small hillock are these +words: _Alex. Alb. Equ. & Isabel. pictor. and scalp._ For composition, +design, and engraving, this subject is also one of the best.” + +“SUBJECT 7.--Porus, vanquished, is brought before Alexander. This +subject is so much the more beautiful and remarkable, as it is composed +nearly in the same manner as that of the famous Le Brun; it would seem +that he had copied this print. Both Alexander and Porus have a grand and +magnanimous air. On a stone near a bush are engraved these words: +_Isabel. Cunio pinx. & scalp._” + +“SUBJECT 8 AND LAST.--The glory and grand triumph of Alexander on +entering Babylon. This piece, which is well enough composed, has been +executed, as well as the sixth, by the brother and sister conjointly, as +is testified by these characters engraved at the bottom of a wall: +_Alex. Alb. Equ. et Isabel. Cunio, pictor. & scalp._ At the top of this +impression, a piece about three inches long and one inch broad has been +torn off.” + +However singular the above account of the works of those “amiable twins” +may seem, no less surprising is the history of their birth, parentage, +and education; which, taken in conjunction with the early development of +their talents as displayed in such an art, in the choice of such a +subject, and at such a period, is scarcely to be surpassed in interest +by any narrative which gives piquancy to the pages of the Wonderful +Magazine. + +Upon the blank leaf adjoining the last engraving were the following +words, badly written in old Swiss characters, and scarcely legible in +consequence of their having been written with pale ink. “Of course +Papillon could not read Swiss,” says Mr. Ottley, “M. de Greder, +therefore, translated them for him into French.”--“This precious volume +was given to my grandfather Jan. Jacq. Turine, a native of Berne, by the +illustrious Count Cunio, chief magistrate of Imola, who honoured him +with his generous friendship. Above all my books I prize this the +highest on account of the quarter from whence it came into our family, +and on account of the knowledge, the valour, the beauty, and the noble +and generous desire which those amiable twins Cunio had to gratify their +relations and friends. Here ensues their singular and curious history as +I have heard it many a time from my venerable father, and which I have +caused to be more correctly written than I could do it myself.” + +Though Papillon’s long-lost manuscript, containing the whole account of +the works of the Cunio and notices of other old books of engravings, +consisted of only three sheets of letter-paper, yet the history alone of +the learned, beautiful, and amiable twins, which Turine the grandson +caused to be written out as he had heard it from his father, occupies in +Papillon’s book four long octavo pages of thirty-eight lines each. To +assume that his long-lost manuscript consisted of brief notes which he +afterwards wrote out at length from memory, would at once destroy any +validity that his account might be supposed to possess; for he states +that he had lost those papers for upwards of thirty five years, and had +entirely forgotten their contents. + +Without troubling myself to transcribe the whole of this choice morsel +of French Romance concerning the history of the “amiable twins” +Cunio,--the surprising beauty, talents, and accomplishments of the +maiden,--the early death of herself and her lover,--the heroism of the +youthful knight, Alexander Alberic Cunio, displayed when only fourteen +years old,--I shall give a brief abstract of some of the passages which +seem most important to the present inquiry.[I-39] + + [Footnote I-39: Readers of French romances will find the tale of + the Cunio at p. 89, tom. i. of Papillon’s “Traité de la Gravure en + Bois,” or at p. 17, vol. i. of Mr. Ottley’s “History of + Engraving.”] + +From this narrative,--which Papillon informs us was written in a much +better hand, though also in Swiss characters, and with much blacker ink +than Turine the grandson’s own memorandum,--we obtain the following +particulars: The Count de Cunio, father of the twins, was married to +their mother, a noble maiden of Verona and a relation of Pope Honorius +IV. without the knowledge of their parents, who, on discovering what had +happened, caused the marriage to be annulled, and the priest by whom it +was celebrated to be banished. The divorced wife, dreading the anger of +her own father, sought an asylum with one of her aunts, under whose roof +she was brought to bed of twins. Though the elder Cunio had compelled +his son to espouse another wife, he yet allowed him to educate the +twins, who were most affectionately received and cherished by their +father’s new wife. The children made astonishing progress in the +sciences, more especially the girl Isabella, who at thirteen years of +age was regarded as a prodigy; for she understood, and wrote with +correctness, the Latin language; she composed excellent verses, +understood geometry, was acquainted with music, could play on several +instruments, and had begun to design and to paint with correctness, +taste, and delicacy. Her brother Alberic, of a beauty as ravishing as +his sister’s, and one of the most charming youths in Italy, at the age +of fourteen could manage the great horse, and understood the practice of +arms and all other exercises befitting a young man of quality. He also +understood Latin, and could paint well. + +The troubles in Italy having caused the Count Cunio to take up arms, his +son, young Alexander Alberic, accompanied him to the field to make his +first campaign. Though not more than fourteen years old, he was +entrusted with the command of a squadron of twenty-five horse, with +which, as his first essay in war, he attacked and put to flight near two +hundred of the enemy. His courage having carried him too far, he was +surrounded by the fugitives, from whom, however, he fought himself clear +without any further injury than a wound in his left arm. His father, who +had hastened to his succour, found him returning with the enemy’s +banner, which he had wrapped about his wound. Delighted at the valour +displayed by his son, the Count Cunio knighted him on the spot. The +young man then asked permission to visit his mother, which was readily +granted by the count, who was pleased to have this opportunity of +testifying the love and esteem he still retained towards that noble and +afflicted lady, who continued to reside with her aunt; of which he +certainly would have given her more convincing proofs, now that his +father was dead, by re-establishing their marriage and publicly +espousing her, if he had not been in duty bound to cherish the wife whom +he had been compelled to marry, and who had now borne him a large +family. + +After Alexander Alberic had visited his mother, he returned home, and +shortly after began, together with his sister Isabella, to design and +work upon the pictures of the achievements of Alexander. He then made a +second campaign with his father, after which he continued to employ +himself on the pictures in conjunction with Isabella, who attempted in +reduce them and engrave them on wood. After the engravings were +finished, and copies had been printed and given to Pope Honorius, and +their relations and friends, Alexander Alberic proceeded again to join +the army, accompanied by Pandulphio, a young nobleman, who was in love +with the charming Isabella. This was his last campaign, for he was +killed in the presence of his friend, who was dangerously wounded in +defending him. He was slain when not more than nineteen; and his sister +was so affected by his death that she resolved never to marry, and died +when she was scarcely twenty. The death of this lovely and learned young +lady was followed by that of her lover, who had fondly hoped that she +would make him happy. The mother of those amiable twins was not long in +following them to the grave, being unable to survive the loss of her +children. The Countess de Cunio took seriously ill at the loss of +Isabella, but fortunately recovered; and it was only the count’s +grandeur of soul that saved him from falling sick also. + +Some years after this, Count Cunio gave the copy of the achievements of +Alexander, in its present binding, to the grandfather of the person who +caused this account to be written. The binding, according to Papillon’s +description of it, was, for the period, little less remarkable than the +contents. “This ancient and Gothic binding,” as Papillon’s note is +translated by Mr. Ottley. “is made of thin tablets of wood, covered with +leather, and _ornamented with flowered compartments, which appear simply +stamped and marked with an iron a little warmed, without any gilding_.” +It is remarkable that this singular volume should afford not only +specimens of wood engraving, earlier by upwards of a hundred and thirty +years than any which are hitherto known, but that the binding, of the +same period as the engravings, should also be such as is rarely, if +ever, to be met with till upwards of one hundred and fifty years after +the wonderful twins were dead. + +As this volume is no longer to be found, as no mention is made of such a +work by any old writer, and as another copy has not been discovered in +any of the libraries of Italy, nor the least trace of one ever having +been there, the evidence of its ever having existed rests solely on the +account given of it by Papillon. Before saying a word respecting the +credit to be attached to this witness, or the props with which Zani and +Ottley endeavour to support his testimony, I shall attempt to show that +the account affords internal evidence of its own falsehood. + +Before noticing the description of the subjects, I shall state a few +objections to the account of the twins as written out by order of the +youngest Turine, the grandson of Jan. Jacq. Turine, who received the +volume from Count Cunio himself, the father of the twins, a few years +after their death, which could not well happen later than 1291; as Pope +Honorius, to whom their work was dedicated when they were sixteen years +old, died in 1287, and Isabella Cunio, who survived her brother, died +when she was not more than twenty. Supposing that Count Cunio gave the +volume to his friend, J. J. Turine, a native of Berne, in 1300, and that +the grandson of the latter caused the history of the twins to be written +out eighty years afterwards,--and we cannot fairly assume that it was +written later, if indeed so late,--we have thus 1380 as the date of the +account written “in old Swiss characters, in a better hand, and with +much blacker ink,” than the owner’s own memorandum of the manner in +which the volume came into his family, and his reasons for prizing it so +highly. The probable date of the pretended Swiss history of the Cunio, +Papillon’s advocates carefully keep out of sight; for what impartial +person could believe that a Swiss of the fourteenth century could give +utterance to the sentimental fustian which forms so considerable a +portion of the account? Of the young knight Cunio he knows every +movement; he is acquainted with his visit to his repudiated mother; he +knows in which arm he was wounded; the number of men that he lost, when +with only five-and-twenty he routed two hundred; the name of Isabella’s +lover; the illness and happy recovery of Count Cunio’s wife, and can +tell the cause why the count himself did not fall sick. + +To any person who reflects on the doctrine of the church of Rome in the +article of marriage, it certainly must appear strange that the parents +of the Count Cunio and his first wife, the mother of the twins, should +have had the power of dissolving the marriage and of banishing the +priest by whom it was solemnized; and still more singular it is that the +Count Cunio, whom we must suppose to have been a good Catholic, should +speak, after his father’s death, of re-establishing his marriage with +his first wife and of publicly espousing her; and that he should make +such a communication to her through the medium of her son, who, as well +as his sister, must have been declared illegitimate by the very fact of +their mother’s divorce. It is also strange that this piece of family +history should come to the knowledge of the grandson of Jan. Jacq. +Turine. The Count Cunio’s second marriage surely must have been +canonically legal, if the first were not; and if so, it would not be a +sense of duty alone to his second wife that would prevent him divorcing +her and re-marrying the first. On such subjects the church was to be +consulted; and to such playing fast-and-loose with the sacrament of +marriage the church said “NO.” Taking these circumstances into +consideration, I can come to no other conclusion than that, on this +point, the writer of the history of the Cunio did not speak truth; and +that the paper containing such history, even if it could be produced, is +not genuine, as every other part of it which has the slightest bearing +on the point at issue, is equally, if not more, improbable. + +With respect to the cuts pretended to be executed by the twins +themselves, I shall waive any objections which might be urged on the +ground of it being unlikely that they should be executed by a boy and a +girl so young. Supposing that the twins were as learned and accomplished +as they are represented, still it would be a very surprising +circumstance that, in the thirteenth century, they should have executed +a series of wood engravings of the actions of Alexander the Great as an +appropriate present to the pope; and that the composition of one of +those subjects, No. 7, should so closely resemble one of Le Brun’s--an +artist remarkable for the complication of his designs--that it would +seem he had copied this very print. Something like the reverse of this +is more probable; that the description of the pretended work of the +Cunio was suggested by the designs of Le Brun.[I-40] The execution of a +set of designs, in the thirteenth century, illustrating the actions of +Alexander in the manner described by Papillon, would be a rarity indeed +even if not engraved on wood; but that a series of wood engravings, and +not a saint in one of them, should be executed by a boy and a girl, and +presented to a _pope_, in 1286, is scarcely short of miraculous. The +twins must have been well read in Quintus Curtius. Though we are +informed that both were skilled in the Latin language, yet it plainly +appears on two occasions, when we might suppose that they would be least +liable to trip, that their Latinity is questionable. The sixth and the +eighth subjects, which were accomplished by their joint efforts, are +described as being marked: _Alex. Alb. Equ. et Isabel, Cunio pictor. et +scalp._ + + “Thus painters _did not_ write their names at Co.” + + [Footnote I-40: Of Le Brun’s five subjects illustrative of the + actions of Alexander the Great, four of them are precisely the + same as four of those said to be executed by the Cunio: + 1. Alexander passing the Granicus; 2. the battle of Arbela; 3. the + reception of Porus by Alexander; 4. Alexander’s triumphant entry + into Babylon. There certainly has been some copying here; but it + is more likely that Papillon or his informant had seen Le Brun’s + paintings, than that Le Brun had seen the original wood engravings + executed by the Cunio.] + +Why do not the advocates of those early specimens of wood engraving in +Italy point out to their readers that these two children were the first +who ever affixed the words _pinx. et scalp._ to a woodcut? I challenge +any believer in Papillon to point out a wood engraving on which the +words _pinxit_ and _scalpsit_, the first after the painter’s name, and +the second after the engraver’s, appear previous to 1580. This apparent +copying--and by a person ignorant of Latin too--of the formula of a +later period, is of itself sufficient to excite a suspicion of forgery; +and, coupled with the improbable circumstances above related, it +irresistibly compels me to conclude that the whole account is a mere +fiction. + +With respect to the credibility of Papillon, the sole evidence upon +which the history of the wonderful twins rests, I shall have occasion to +say very few words. That he was credulous, and excessively vain of what +he considered his discoveries in the history of wood engraving, is +admitted by those who profess to believe him. He appears also from an +early age to have been subject to mental hallucination; and in 1759, the +year after he found his papers containing the account of the Cunio, he +had a fit of decided insanity which rendered it necessary to convey him +to a mad-house, where by copious bleeding he soon recovered his +senses.[I-41] To those interested in the controversy I leave to decide +how far the unsupported testimony of such a person, and in such a case, +ought to be relied on. How easily he might be deceived on a subject +relating to the early history of his art, it is not difficult to +comprehend; and even allowing him to be sincere in the belief of what he +related, he was a person very likely to occasionally deceive both +himself and others.[I-42] + + [Footnote I-41: From the age of sixteen, cruel and secret + annoyances interrupted his studies; shortly after his marriage, in + 1723, his absent manner was a source of uneasiness to his wife; + and in 1759 he fairly lost his senses. See Papillon, Traité de la + Gravure en Bois, 8vo. 1766, Preface, p. xi.; & p. 335, tom. i. et + Supplement, p. 39.] + + [Footnote I-42: It is worthy of remark that Papillon, when + questioned by Heineken, who called on him in Paris after the + publication of his work, respecting the account of the Cunio, did + not produce his three sheets of original memoranda. He might thus + have afforded a proof of his own good faith, by producing the + manuscript written by him in 1720 from the dictation of Captain de + Greder.] + +Papillon’s insanity had been previously adverted to by Heineken; and +this writer’s remarks have produced the following correction from Mr. +Ottley: “Heineken takes some pains to show that poor Papillon was not in +his right mind; and, amongst his other arguments, quotes a passage from +his book, t. i. p. 335, in which he says, ‘_Par un accident et une +fatalité commune à plusieurs graveurs, aussi bien qu’à moi, Le Fevre est +devenu aliéné d’esprit_:’ as if a little pleasantry of expression, such +as the French writers, especially, have ever felt themselves at full +liberty to indulge in, could really constitute fit grounds for a statute +of lunacy.”[I-43] Had Mr. Ottley, instead of confidently correcting +Heineken when the latter had stated nothing but the fact, turned to the +cited page of Papillon’s volume, he would there have found that Papillon +was indulging in no “little pleasantry of expression,” but was seriously +relating a melancholy fact of two brother artists losing their senses +about the same time as himself; and had he ever read the supplement, or +third volume, of Papillon’s work, he would have seen, at p. 39, the +account which Papillon himself gives of his own insanity. + + [Footnote I-43: Inquiry into the Early History of Engraving, vol. + i. p. 23.] + +Having disposed of the story as told by Papillon, it remains now to +notice “the learning and deep research” with which it has been supported +by Zani, and some of the arguments which have been alleged in its favour +by Mr. Ottley. + +In the first place, Zani has discovered that a family of the name of +Cunio, in which the name of Alberico more than once occurs, actually +resided in the neighbourhood of Ravenna at the very period mentioned in +the title-page to the cuts by the Cunio, and in the history written in +old Swiss characters. Upon this, and other similar pieces of evidence, +Mr. Ottley remarks as follows: “Now both these cities [Ravenna and +Imola] are in the vicinity of Faenza, where the family, or a branch of +it, is spoken of by writers of undoubted credit in the twelfth, the +thirteenth, and the fourteenth centuries. These circumstances, +therefore, far from furnishing any just motive of additional doubt, form +together such a phalanx of corroborative evidence in support of the +story, as, in my opinion, those who would impeach the truth of +Papillon’s statement can never break through.” “_Argal_,” Rowley’s poems +are genuine, because such a person as “Maistre William Canynge” lived at +Bristol at the period when he is mentioned by the pseudo Rowley. Zani, +however, unfortunately for his own argument, let us know that the names +and residence of the family of the Cunio might be obtained from +“Tonduzzi’s History of Faenza,” printed in 1675. Whether this book +appeared in French, or not, previous to the publication of Papillon’s +works, I have not been able to learn; but a Swiss captain, who could +read “old Gothic Italian,” would certainly find little difficulty in +picking a couple of names out of a modern Italian volume. + +The reasoning faculties of Signor Zani appear to have been very +imperfectly developed, for he cites the following as a case in point; +and Mr. Ottley, who gives it in his text, seems to concur in its +applicability. He is noticing the objections which have been made to +Papillon’s account, on the ground of no previous author mentioning the +existence of such a work, and that no person subsequently had ever seen +a copy. Zani’s argument, as given by Mr. Ottley,[I-44] is as follows: +“He, however, who should reason in this manner, might, upon the same +grounds, deny the loss of many manuscripts, and even of printed books, +which, according to the testimony of credible authors, have become a +prey to the flames, or have perished during the anarchy of revolutions, +or the distresses occasioned by wars. The learned part of my readers +will not require examples. Nevertheless, let him who wants such +conviction search throughout all the libraries of Europe for the work +entitled ‘Meditationes Reverendissimi patris Domini Johannis de +Turre-cremata,’ printed at Rome by Ulrich Hahn, in 1467, and he will +presently be informed by the learned librarians, that of that edition +there exists but one copy, which is preserved in the library of +Nuremberg. This book is, therefore, unique.[I-45] Now let us suppose +that, by some accident, this book should perish; could our descendants +on that account deny that it ever had existed?” And this is a +corroborative argument in support of the truth of Papillon’s tale! The +comment, however, is worthy of the text. It is to be observed that +Ulrich Hahn’s edition of Turre-cremata appeared ten years after Faust +and Scheffer’s Psalter, of the date 1457, was printed; and that the +existence of several hundred volumes printed before 1467 proves that the +art of printing was then practised to a considerable extent. That Ulrich +Hahn was a printer at Rome in 1468 and subsequent years is proved by +many copies of works which proceeded from his press; and the existence +of the identical “unique” copy, referred to by Zani, is vouched for by +upwards of fifty learned men who have seen it; and, what is more, +mentioned the place where it was preserved, so that, if a person were +sceptical, he might satisfy himself by the evidence of his own senses. +But who, except Papillon, has ever seen the engravings of the Cunio, +executed upwards of a hundred and thirty years prior to the earliest +authentic specimen of the art, and who has ever mentioned the place +where they were to be seen? Had any person of equal credibility with +Papillon described a volume printed at Rome in 1285, the date of the +pretended wood-cuts of the Cunio, the case would then have been in +point, and the decision of every person in the slightest degree +acquainted with the subject, and not rendered blind to simple truth by +the vivid brightness of his own speculations, would be inevitably the +same; that is, the evidence in both cases would not be relied on. + + [Footnote I-44: History of Engraving, vol. i. p. 28.] + + [Footnote I-45: Three copies of this supposed unique book have + long been known to bibliographers; one in the public library of + Nuremberg, another in the Imperial library of Vienna, and the + third in Lord Spenser’s library.] + +“It is possible,” says Zani, “that at this moment I may be blinded by +partiality to my own nation; but I would almost assert, that _to deny +the testimony of the French writer, would be like denying the existence +of light on a fine sun-shiny day_.” His mental optics must have been of +a peculiar character, and it can be no longer doubtful that he + + “Had lights where better eyes are blind, + As pigs are said to see the wind.” + +Mr. Ottley’s own arguments in support of Papillon’s story are scarcely +of a higher character than those which he has adopted from Zani. At page +40, in answer to an objection founded on the silence of all authorities, +not merely respecting the particular work of the Cunio, but of the +frequent practice of such an art, and the fact of no contemporary +specimens being known, he writes as follows: “We cannot safely argue +from the silence of contemporaneous authorities, that the art of +engraving on wood was not practised in Europe in those early times; +however, such silence may be an argument that it was not an art in high +repute. Nor is our ignorance of such records a sufficient proof of their +non-existence.” The proof of such a negative would be certainly +difficult; but, according to this mode of argument, there is no modern +invention which might not also be mentioned in “certain ancient +undiscovered records.” In the general business of life, that rule of +evidence is a good one which declares “_de non-apparentibus et +non-existentibus eadem est ratio_;” and until it shall be a maxim in +logic that “we ought readily to believe that to be true which we cannot +prove to have been impossible,” Mr. Ottley’s solution of the difficulty +does not seem likely to obtain general credence. + +At page 41, speaking of the probability of wood-engraving, for the +purpose of taking impressions, being practised at an earlier period than +has been generally supposed, Mr. Ottley expresses himself as follows: +“Nor is it any proof or strong argument against the antiquity of such a +practice, that authentic specimens of wood-engraving of those early +times are not now to be found. They were, it may be supposed, for the +most part, detached pieces, whose merits, as works of art, were not such +as to render their preservation at all probable. They were the toys of +the day; and, after having served the temporary purpose for which they +were manufactured, were, no doubt, swept away to make room for others of +newer fashion.” He thus requires those who entertain an opinion contrary +to his own to prove a negative; while he assumes the point in dispute as +most clearly established in his own favour. + +If such wood engravings--“the toys of the day”--had been known in the +thirteenth, or even the fourteenth century, is it not likely that some +mention would be made of them in the writings of some one of the +minstrels of the period to whom we are indebted for so many minute +particulars illustrative of the state of society at the period referred +to? Not the slightest allusion to anything of the kind has hitherto been +noticed in their writings. Respecting such “toys” Boccaccio is silent, +and our countryman Chaucer says not a word. Of wood-cuts not the least +mention is made in Petrarch; and Richard de Bury, bishop of Durham, who +lived in the reign of Edward III., in his curious Essay on the Love of +Books, says not a syllable of wood-cuts, either as toys, or as +illustrations of devotional or historical subjects. Upon this question, +affirmed by Papillon, and maintained as true by Zani and Ottley, +contemporary authorities are silent; and not one solitary fact bearing +distinctly upon the point has been alleged in support of Papillon’s +narrative. + + [Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +PROGRESS OF WOOD ENGRAVING. + + Playing-Cards Printed from Wood-Blocks -- Early German + Wood-Engravers at Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Ulm -- Card-Makers and + Wood-Engravers in Venice in 1441 -- Figures of Saints Engraved on + Wood -- The St. Christopher, the Annunciation, and the St. Bridget + in the Collection of Earl Spencer, with Other Old Wood-Cuts + Described -- Block-Books -- The Apocalypse, the History of the + Virgin, and the Work Called Biblia Pauperum -- Speculum Salvationis + -- Figured Alphabet Formerly Belonging to Sir George Beaumont -- Ars + Memorandi, and Other Smaller Block-Books. + + +From the facts which have been produced in the preceding chapter, there +cannot be a doubt that the principle on which wood engraving is +founded,--that of taking impressions on paper or parchment, with ink, +from prominent lines,--was known and practised in attesting documents in +the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Towards the end of the +fourteenth, or about the beginning of the fifteenth century, there is +reason to believe that this principle was adopted by the German +card-makers for the purpose of marking the outlines of the figures on +their cards, which they afterwards coloured by means of a stencil.[II-1] + + [Footnote II-1: A stencil is a piece of pasteboard, or a thin + plate of metal, pierced with lines and figures, which are + communicated to paper, parchment, or linen, by passing a brush + charged with ink or colour over the stencil.] + +The period at which the game of cards was first known in Europe, as well +as the people by whom they were invented, has been very learnedly, +though not very satisfactorily discussed. Bullet has claimed the +invention for the French, and Heineken for the Germans; while other +writers have maintained that the game was known in Italy earlier than in +any other part of Europe, and that it was introduced from the East. + +From a passage discovered by M. Van Praet, in an old manuscript copy of +the romance of _Renard le Contrefait_, it appears that cards were known +in France about 1340, although Bullet was of opinion that they were +invented in that country about 1376. At whatever period the game was +introduced, it appears to have been commonly known in France and Spain +towards the latter part of the fourteenth century. John I., King of +Castile, by an edict issued in 1387, prohibited the game of cards; and +in 1397, the Provost of Paris, by an ordonnance, forbid all working +people to play at tennis, bowls, dice, _cards_, or nine-pins, on working +days. From a passage in the Chronicle of Petit-Jehan de Saintré, written +previous to 1380, it would appear that the game of cards at that period +was in disrepute. Saintré had been one of the pages of Charles V. of +France; and on his being appointed, on account of his good conduct, to +the situation of carver to the king, the squire who had charge of the +pages, lectured some of them on the impropriety of their behaviour; such +as playing at dice and cards, keeping bad company, and haunting taverns +and cabarets, those not being the courses by which they might hope to +arrive at the honourable post of “ecuyer tranchant,” to which their +companion, Saintré, had been raised. + +In an account-book of Charles Poupart, treasurer to Charles VI. of +France, there is an entry, made about 1393, of “fifty-six sols of Paris, +given to Jacquemin Gringonneur, painter, for three packs of cards, gilt +and coloured, and of different sorts, for the diversion of his majesty.” +From this passage the learned Jesuit Menestrier, who was not aware of +cards being mentioned by any earlier writer, concluded that they were +then invented by Gringonneur to amuse the king, who, in consequence of a +_coup de soleil_, had been attacked with delirium, which had subsided +into an almost continual depression of spirits. There, however, can be +no doubt that cards were known in France at least fifty years before; +though, from their being so seldom noticed previous to 1380, it appears +likely that the game was but little played until after that period. +Whether the figures on the cards supplied for the king’s amusement were +drawn and coloured by the hand, or whether the outlines were impressed +from wood-blocks, and coloured by means of a stencil, it is impossible +to ascertain; though it has been conjectured that, from the smallness of +the sum paid for them, they were of the latter description. That cards +were cheap in 1397, however they might be manufactured, may be presumed +from the fact of their being then in the hands of the working people. + +To whatever nation the invention of cards is owing, it appears that the +Germans were the first who practised card-making as a trade. In 1418 the +name of a “Kartenmacher”--card-maker--occurs in the burgess-book of the +city of Augsburg; and in an old rate-book of the city of Nuremburg, +under the year 1433, we find “_Ell. Kartenmacherin_;” that is, +Ell.--probably for Elizabeth--the card-maker. In the same book, under +the year 1435, the name of “_Eliz. Kartenmacherin_,” probably the same +person, is to be found; and in 1438 there occurs the name “Margret +Kartenmalerin”--Margaret the card-painter. It thus appears that the +earliest card-makers who are mentioned as living at Nuremberg were +females; and it is worthy of note that the Germans seem to have called +cards “_Karten_” before they gave them the name of “_Briefe_.” Heineken, +however, considers that they were first known in Germany by the latter +name; for, as he claimed the invention for his countrymen, he was +unwilling to admit that the name should be borrowed either from Italy or +France. He has not, however, produced anything like proof in support of +his opinion, which is contradicted by the negative evidence of +history.[II-2] + + [Footnote II-2: Cards--_Carten_--are mentioned in a book of + bye-laws of Nuremberg, between 1380 and 1384. They are included in + a list of games at which the burghers might indulge themselves, + provided they ventured only small sums. “Awzgenommen rennen mit + Pferder, Schiessen mit Armbrusten, _Carten_, Schofzagel, Pretspil, + und Kugeln, umb einen pfenink zwen zu vier poten.” That is: + “always excepting horse-racing, shooting with cross-bows, _cards_, + shovel-board, tric-trac, and bowls, at which a man may bet from + twopence to a groat.”--C. G. Von Murr, Journal zur Kunstsgesch. + 2 Theil, S. 99.] + +The name _Briefe_, which the Germans give to cards, also signifies +letters [epistolæ]. The meaning of the word, however, is rather more +general than the French term _lettres_, or the Latin _epistolæ_ which he +gives as its synonyms, for it is also applied in the sense in which we +sometimes use the word “paper.” For instance, “_ein Brief Stecknadeln, +ein Brief Tabak_,” are literally translated by the words “a _paper_ of +pins, a _paper_ of tobacco;” in which sense the word “_Brief_” would, in +Latin, be more correctly rendered by the term _charta_ than _epistola_. +As it is in a similar sense--cognate with “paper,” as used in the two +preceding examples--that “Briefe” is applied to cards, I am inclined to +consider it as a translation of the Latin _chartaæ_, the Italian +_carte_, or the French _cartes_, and hence to conclude that the +invention of cards does not belong to the people of Germany, who appear +to have received cards, both “name and thing,” from another nation, and +after some time to have given them a name in their own language. + +In the town-books of Nuremberg, the term _Formschneider_-- +figure-cutter,--the name appropriated to engravers on wood, first occurs +in 1449;[II-3] and as it is found in subsequent years mentioned in the +same page with “Kartenmaler,” it seems reasonable to conclude that in +1449, and probably earlier, the business of the wood-engraver proper, +and that of the card-maker, were distinct. The primary meaning of the +word _form_ or _forma_ is almost precisely the same in most of the +European languages. It has erroneously been explained, in its relation +to wood engraving, as signifying a _mould_, whereas it simply means a +shape or figure. The model of wood which the carpenter makes for the +metal-founder is properly a _form_, and from it the latter prepares his +mould in the sand. The word _form_, however, in course of time declined +from its primary signification, and came to be used as expressive both +of a model and a mould. The term _Formschneider_, which was originally +used to distinguish the professed engraver of figures from the mere +engraver and colourer of cards, is still used in Germany to denote what +we term a wood-engraver. + + [Footnote II-3: In the town-books of Nuremberg a Hans + _Formansneider_ occurs so early as 1397, which De Murr says is not + meant for “wood engraver,” but is to be read thus: _Hans Forman, + Schneider_; that is, “Ihon Forman, maister-fashionere,” or, in + modern phrase, “tailor.” The word “_Karter_” also occurs in the + same year, but it is meant for a carder, or wool-comber, and not + for a card-maker.--C. G. Von Murr, Journal, 2 Theil, S. 99.] + +About the time that the term _Formschneider_ first occurs we find +_Briefmalers_ mentioned, and at a later period _Briefdruckers_-- +card-printers; and, though there evidently was a distinction between +the two professions, yet we find that between 1470 and 1500 the +_Briefmalers_ not only engraved figures occasionally, but also printed +books. The _Formschneiders_ and the _Briefmalers_, however, continued +to form but one guild or fellowship till long after the art of +wood-engraving had made rapid strides towards perfection, under the +superintendence of such masters as Durer, Burgmair, and Holbein, in the +same manner as the barbers and surgeons in our own country continued to +form but one company, though the “chirurgeon had long ceased to trim +beards and cut hair, and the barber had given up bleeding and purging to +devote himself more exclusively to the ornamental branch of his original +profession.” “_Kartenmacher_ and _Kartenmaler_” says Von Murr, “or +_Briefmaler_, as they were afterwards called [1473], were known in +Germany eighty years previous to the invention of book-printing. The +Kartenmacher was originally a Formschneider, though, after the practice +of cutting figures of saints and of sacred subjects was introduced, +a distinction began to be established between the two professions.” + +The German card-makers of Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Ulm, it is stated, +sent large quantities of cards into Italy; and it was probably against +those foreign manufacturers that the fellowship of painters at Venice +obtained an order in 1441 from the magistracy, declaring that no foreign +manufactured cards, or printed coloured figures, should be brought into +the city, under the penalty of forfeiting such articles, and of being +fined xxx liv. xii soldi. This order was made in consequence of a +petition presented by the Venetian painters, wherein they set forth that +“the art and mystery of card-making and of printing figures, which were +practised in Venice, had fallen into total decay through the great +quantity of foreign playing-cards and coloured printed figures, which +were brought into the city.”[II-4] It is hence evident that the art both +of the German _Kartenmacher_ and of the _Formschneider_ was practised in +Venice in 1441; and, as it is then mentioned as being in decay, it no +doubt was practised there some time previously. + + [Footnote II-4: “Conscioscia che l’arte e mestier delle carte & + figure stampide, che se fano in Venesia è vegnudo a total + deffaction, e questo sia per la gran quantità de carte a zugar, + e fegure depente stampide, le qual vien fate de fuora de Venezia.” + The curious document in which the above passage occurs was + discovered by Temanza, an Italian architect, in an old book of + rules and orders belonging to the company of Venetian painters. + His discovery, communicated in a letter to Count Algarotti, + appeared in the Lettere Pittoriche, tom. v. p. 320, et sequent. + and has since been quoted by every writer who has written upon the + subject.] + +Heineken, in his “Neue Nachrichten,” gives an extract from a MS. +chronicle of the city of Ulm, completed in 1474, to the following +effect: “Playing-cards were sent _barrelwise_ [that is, in small casks] +into Italy, Sicily, and also over sea, and exchanged for spices and +other wares. From this we may judge of the number of card-makers who +resided here.” The preceding passage occurs in the index, under the +head, “Business of card-making.” Heineken also gives the passage in his +“Idée Générale,” p. 245; but from the French translation, which he there +gives, it appears that he had misunderstood the word “_leglenweiss_”-- +barrelwise--which he renders “en ballots.” In his “Neue Nachrichten,” +however, he inserts the explanation between parentheses, (“das ist, in +kleinen Fässern”)--i. e. in small casks; which Mr. Singer renders +“hogsheads,” and Mr. Ottley, though he gives the original in a note, +“large bales.” The word “lägel,” a barrel, is obsolete in Germany, but +its diminutive, “leglin,”--as if “lägelen”--is still used in Scotland +for the name of the ewe-milker’s _kit_. + +Some writers have been of opinion that the art of wood-engraving was +derived from the practice of the ancient caligraphists and illuminators +of manuscripts, who sometimes formed their large capital letters by +means of a stencil or of a wooden stamp. That large capitals were formed +in such a manner previous to the year 1400 there can be little doubt; +and it has been thought that stencils and stamps were used not only for +the formation of capital letters, but also for the impression of a whole +volume. Ihre, in a dissertation on the Gospels of Ulphilas,[II-5] which +are supposed to be as old as the fifth century, has asserted that the +silver letters of the text on a purple ground were impressed by means of +heated iron stamps. This, however, is denied by the learned compilers of +the “Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique,” who had seen other volumes of a +similar kind, the silver letters of which were evidently formed with a +pen. A modern Italian author, D. Vincenzo Requeno, has published a +tract[II-6] to prove that many supposed manuscripts from the tenth to +the fourteenth century, instead of being written with a pen, were +actually impressed by means of stamps. It is, however, extremely +probable that he is mistaken; for if his pretended discoveries were +true, this art of stamping must have been very generally practised; and +if so, it surely would have been mentioned by some contemporary writers. +Signor Requeno’s examination, I am inclined to suspect, has not been +sufficiently precise; for he seems to have been too willing to find what +he sought. In almost every collection that he examined, a pair of fine +compasses being the test which he employed, he discovered voluminous +works on vellum, hitherto supposed to be manuscript, but which according +to his measurement were certainly executed by means of a stamp. + + [Footnote II-5: This celebrated version, in the Mœso-Gothic + language, is preserved in the library of Upsal in Sweden.] + + [Footnote II-6: Osservazioni sulla Chirotipografia, ossia Antica + Arte di Stampare a mano. Opera di D. Vincenzo Requeno. Roma 1810, + 8vo.] + +It has been conjectured that the art of wood-engraving was employed on +sacred subjects, such as the figures of saints and holy persons, before +it was applied to the multiplication of those “books of Satan,” +playing-cards. It however is not unlikely that it was first employed in +the manufacture of cards; and that the monks, availing themselves of the +same principle, shortly afterwards employed the art of wood-engraving +for the purpose of circulating the figures of saints; thus endeavouring +to supply a remedy for the evil, and extracting from the serpent a cure +for his bite. + +Wood-cuts of sacred subjects were known to the common people of Suabia, +and the adjacent districts, by the name of _Helgen_ or _Helglein_, a +corruption of Heiligen, saints;--a word which in course of time they +used to signify prints--_estampes_--generally.[II-7] In France the same +kind of cuts, probably stencil-coloured, were called “dominos,”--the +affinity of which name with the German Helgen is obvious. The word +“domino” was subsequently used as a name for coloured or marbled paper +generally, and the makers of such paper, as well as the engravers and +colourers of wood-cuts, were called “dominotiers.”[II-8] + + [Footnote II-7: Fuseli, at p. 85 of Ottley’s Inquiry; and + Breitkopf, Versuch d. Ursprungs der Spielkarten Zu erforschen, + 2 Theil, S. 175.] + + [Footnote II-8: Fournier, Dissertation sur l’Origine et les + Progrès de l’Art de Graver en Bois, p. 79; and Papillon, Traité de + la Gravure en Bois, tom. i. p. 20, and Supplement, p. 80.] + +As might, _à priori_, be concluded, supposing the Germans to have been +the first who applied wood-engraving to card-making, the earliest +wood-cuts have been discovered, and in the greatest abundance, in that +district where we first hear of the business of a card-maker and a +wood-engraver. From a convent, situated within fifty miles of the city +of Augsberg, where, in 1418, the first mention of a Kartenmacher occurs, +has been obtained the earliest wood-cut known,--the St. Christopher, now +in the possession of Earl Spencer, with the date 1423. That this was the +first cut of the kind we have no reason to suppose; but though others +executed in a similar manner are known, to not one of them, upon +anything like probable grounds, can a higher degree of antiquity be +assigned. From 1423, therefore, as from a known epoch, the practice of +wood engraving, as applied to pictorial representations, may be dated. + + [Illustration] + +The first person who published an account of this most interesting +wood-cut was Heineken, who had inspected a greater number of old +wood-cuts and block-books than any other person, and whose unwearied +perseverance in searching after, and general accuracy in describing such +early specimens of the art of wood-engraving, are beyond all praise. He +found it pasted on the inside of the right-hand cover of a manuscript +volume in the library of the convent of Buxheim, near Memmingen in +Suabia. The manuscript, entitled LAUS VIRGINIS[II-9] and finished in +1417, was left to the convent by Anna, canoness of Buchaw, who was +living in 1427; but who probably died previous to 1435. The above +reduced copy conveys a pretty good idea of the composition and style of +engraving of the original cut, which is of a folio size, being eleven +and a quarter inches high, and eight inches and one-eighth wide.[II-10] + + [Footnote II-9: “Liber iste, _Laus Virginis_ intitulatus, continet + Lectiones Matutinales accommodatas Officio B. V. Mariæ per + singulos anni dies,” &c. At the beginning of the volume is the + following memorandum: “Istum librum legavit domna Anna filia domni + Stephani baronis de Gundelfingen, canonica in Büchow Aule bte. + Marie v’ginis in Buchshaim ord’is Cartusieñ prope Memingen + Augusten. dyoc.”--Von Murr, Journal, 2 Theil, S. 104-105.] + + [Footnote II-10: A fac-simile, of the size of the original, is + given in Von Murr’s Journal, vol. ii. p. 104, and in Ottley’s + Inquiry, vol. i. p. 90, both engraved on wood. There is an + imitation engraved on copper, in Jansen’s Essai sur l’Origine de + la Gravure, tom. i.] + +The original affords a specimen of the combined talents of the +Formschneider or wood-engraver, and the Briefmaler or card-colourer. The +engraved portions, such as are here represented, have been taken off in +dark colouring matter similar to printers’ ink, after which the +impression appears to have been coloured by means of a stencil. As the +back of the cut cannot be seen, in consequence of its being pasted on +the cover of the volume, it cannot be ascertained with any degree of +certainty whether the impression has been taken by means of a press, or +_rubbed off_ from the block by means of a burnisher or rubber, in a +manner similar to that in which wood-engravers of the present day take +their proofs. + +This cut is much better designed than the generality of those which we +find in books typographically executed from 1462, the date of the +Bamberg Fables, to 1493, when the often-cited Nuremberg Chronicle was +printed. Amongst the many coarse cuts which “illustrate” the latter, and +which are announced in the book itself[II-11] as having been “got up” +under the superintendence of Michael Wolgemuth, Albert Durer’s master, +and William Pleydenwurff, both “most skilful in the art of painting,” +I cannot find a single subject which either for spirit or feeling can be +compared to the St. Christopher. In fact, the figure of the saint, and +that of the youthful Christ whom he bears on his shoulders, are, with +the exception of the extremities, designed in such a style, that they +would scarcely discredit Albert Durer himself. + + [Footnote II-11: The following announcement appears in the + colophon of the Nuremberg Chronicle. “Ad intuitum autem et preces + providorum civium Sebaldi Schreyer et Sebastiani Romermaister hunc + librum Anthonius Koberger Nurembergiæ impressit. Adhibitis tamen + viris mathematicis pingendique arte peritissimis, Michaele + Wolgemut et Wilhelmo Pleydenwurff, quorum solerti accuratissimaque + animadversione tum civitatum tum illustrium virorum figuræ insertæ + sunt. Consummatum autem duodecima mensis Julii. Anno Salutis ñre + 1493.”] + +To the left of the engraving the artist has introduced, with a noble +disregard of perspective,[II-12] what Bewick would have called a “bit of +Nature.” In the foreground a figure is seen driving an ass loaded with a +sack towards a water-mill; while by a steep path a figure, perhaps +intended for the miller, is seen carrying a full sack from the back-door +of the mill towards a cottage. To the right is seen a hermit--known by +the bell over the entrance of his dwelling--holding a large lantern to +direct St. Christopher as he crosses the stream. The two verses at the +foot of the cut, + + Cristofori faciem die quacunque tueris, + Illa nempe die morte mala non morieris, + +may be translated as follows: + + Each day that thou the likeness of St. Christopher shalt see, + That day no frightful form of death shall make an end of thee. + + [Footnote II-12: As great a neglect of the rules of perspective + may be seen in several of the cuts in the famed edition of + Theurdanck, Nuremberg, 1517, which are supposed to have been + designed by Hans Burgmair, and engraved by Hans Schaufflein.] + +They allude to a popular superstition, common at that period in all +Catholic countries, which induced people to believe that the day on +which they should see a figure or image of St. Christopher, they should +not meet with a violent death, nor die without confession.[II-13] To +this popular superstition Erasmus alludes in his “Praise of Folly;” and +it is not unlikely, that to his faith in this article of belief, the +squire, in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” wore + + “A Christofre on his brest, of silver shene.” + + [Footnote II-13: See Brand’s Popular Antiquities, vol. i. pp. + 359-364.--Bohn’s edition.] + +The date “_Millesimo cccc^o xx^o tercio_”--1423--which is seen at the +right-hand corner, at the foot of the impression, most undoubtedly +designates the year in which the engraving was made. + +The engraving, though coarse, is executed in a bold and free manner; and +the folds of the drapery are marked in a style which would do credit to +a proficient. The whole subject, though expressed by means of few lines, +is not executed in the very simplest style of art. In the draperies a +diminution and a thickening of the lines, where necessary to the effect, +may be observed; and the shades are indicated by means of parallel lines +both perpendicular, oblique, and curved, as may be seen in the saint’s +robe and mantle. In many of the wood-cuts executed between 1462 and +1500, the figures are expressed, and the drapery indicated, by simple +lines of one undeviating degree of thickness, without the slightest +attempt at shading by means of parallel lines running in a direction +different to those marking the folds of the drapery or the outlines of +the figure. If mere rudeness of design, and simplicity in the mode of +execution, were to be considered as the sole tests of antiquity in +wood-engravings, upwards of a hundred, positively known to have been +executed between 1470 and 1500, might be produced as affording intrinsic +evidence of their having been executed at a period antecedent to the +date of the St. Christopher. + +In the Royal Library at Paris there is an impression of St. Christopher +with the youthful Christ, which was supposed to be a duplicate of that +in the possession of Earl Spencer. On comparing them, however, “it was +quite evident,” says Dr. Dibdin, “at the first glance, as M. Du Chesne +admitted, that they were impressions taken from _different blocks_. The +question therefore was, after a good deal of pertinacious argument on +both sides--which of the two impressions was the more ancient? +Undoubtedly it was that of Lord Spencer.” At first Dr. Dibdin thought +that the French impression was a copy of Earl Spencer’s, and that it +might be as old as the year 1460; but, from a note added in the second +edition of his tour, he seems to have received a new light. He there +says: “The reasons upon which this conclusion [that the French cut was a +copy of a later date] was founded, are stated at length in the preceding +edition of this work: since which, I very strongly incline to the +supposition that the Paris impression is a _proof_--of one of the +_cheats_ of DE MURR.”[II-14] + + [Footnote II-14: Bibliographical and Picturesque Tour, by the Rev. + T. F. Dibdin, D.D. p. 58, vol. ii. second edition, 1829. The De + Murr to whom Dr. Dibdin alludes, is C. G. Von Murr, editor of the + Journal of Arts and General Literature, published at Nuremberg in + 1775 and subsequent years. Von Murr was the first who published, + in the second volume of his journal, a _fac-simile_, engraved on + wood by Sebast. Roland, of the Buxheim St. Christopher, from a + tracing sent to him by P. Krismer, the librarian of the convent. + Von Murr, in his Memorabilia of the City of Nuremberg, mentions + that Breitkopf had seen a duplicate impression of the Buxheim St. + Christopher in the possession of M. De Birkenstock at Vienna.] + +On the inside of the first cover or “board” of the Laus Virginis, the +volume which contains the St. Christopher, there is also pasted a wood +engraving of the Annunciation, of a similar size to the above-named cut, +and impressed on the same kind of paper. As they are both worked off in +the same kind of dark-coloured ink, and as they evidently have been +coloured in the same manner, by means of a stencil, there can be little +doubt of their being executed about the same time. From the left-hand +corner of the Annunciation the figure of the Almighty has been torn out. +The Holy Ghost, who appears descending from the Father upon the Virgin +in the material form of a dove, could not well be torn out without +greatly disfiguring the cut. An idea may be formed of the original from +the following reduced copy. + + [Illustration] + +Respecting these cuts, which in all probability were engraved by some +one of the Formschneiders of Augsburg, Ulm, or Nuremberg,[II-15] +P. Krismer, who was librarian of the convent of Buxheim, and who showed +the volume in which they are pasted to Heineken, writes to Von Murr to +the following effect: “It will not be superfluous if I here point out a +mark, by which, in my opinion, old wood engravings may with certainty be +distinguished from those of a later period. It is this: In the oldest +wood-cuts only do we perceive that the engraver [Formschneider] has +frequently omitted certain parts, leaving them to be afterwards filled +up by the card-colourer [Briefmaler]. In the St. Christopher there is no +such deficiency, although there is in the other cut which is pasted on +the inside of the fore covering of the same volume, and which, I doubt +not, was executed at the same time as the former. It represents the +salutation of the Virgin by the angel Gabriel, or, as it is also called, +the Annunciation; and, from the omission of the colours, the upper part +of the body of the kneeling Virgin appears naked, except where it is +covered with her mantle. Her inner dress had been left to be added by +the pencil of the card-colourer. In another wood-cut of the same kind, +representing St. Jerome doing penance before a small crucifix placed on +a hill, we see with surprise that the saint, together with the +instruments of penance, which are lying near him, and a whole forest +beside, are suspended in the air without anything to support them, as +the whole of the ground had been left to be inserted with the pencil. +Nothing of this kind is to be seen in more recent wood-cuts, when the +art had made greater progress. What the early wood-engravers could not +readily effect with the graver, they performed with the pencil,--for the +most part in a very coarse and careless manner,--as they were at the +same time both wood-engravers and card-colourers.”[II-16] + + [Footnote II-15: There is every reason in the world to suppose + that this wood-cut was executed either in Nuremberg or Augsburg. + Buxheim is situated almost in the very heart of Suabia, the circle + in which we find the earliest wood engravers established. Buxheim + is about thirty English miles from Ulm, forty-four from Augsburg, + and one hundred and fifteen from Nuremberg. Von Murr does not + notice the pretensions of Ulm, which on his own grounds are + stronger than those of his native city, Nuremberg.] + + [Footnote II-16: Von Murr, Journal, 2 Theil, S. 105, 106.] + +Besides the St. Christopher and the Annunciation, there is another old +wood-cut in the collection of Earl Spencer which appears to belong to +the same period, and which has in all probability been engraved by a +German artist, as all who can read the German inscription above the +figure would reasonably infer. Before making any remarks on this +engraving, I shall first lay before the reader a reduced copy. + +The figure writing is that of St. Bridget of Sweden, who was born in +1302 and died in 1373. From the representation of the Virgin with the +infant Christ in her arms we may suppose that the artist intended to +show the pious widow writing an account of her visions or revelations, +in which she was often favoured with the blessed Virgin’s appearance. +The pilgrim’s hat, staff, and scrip may allude to her pilgrimage to +Jerusalem, which she was induced to make in consequence of a vision. The +letters S. P. Q. R. in a shield, are no doubt intended to denote the +place, Rome, where she saw the vision, and where she died. The lion, the +arms of Sweden, and the crown at her feet, are most likely intended to +denote that she was a princess of the blood royal of that kingdom. The +words above the figure of the saint are a brief invocation in the German +language, “_O Brigita bit Got für uns!_” “O Bridget, pray to God for +us!” At the foot of the desk at which St. Bridget is writing are the +letters M. I. CHRS., an abbreviation probably of Mater Jesu Christi, or +if German, Mutter Iesus Christus.[II-17] + + [Footnote II-17: St. Bridget was a favourite saint in Germany, + where many religious establishments of the rule of St. Saviour, + introduced by her, were founded. A folio volume, containing the + life, revelations, and legends of St. Bridget, was published by + A. Koberger, Nuremberg, 1502, with the following title: “Das puch + der Himlischen offenbarung der Heiligen wittiben Birgitte von dem + Kunigreich Schweden.”] + + [Illustration] + +From the appearance of the back of this cut, as if it had been rubbed +smooth with a burnisher or rubber, there can be little doubt of the +impression having been taken by means of friction. The colouring matter +of the engraving is much lighter than in the St. Christopher and the +Annunciation, and is like distemper or water-colour; while that of the +latter cuts appears, as has been already observed, more like printer’s +ink. It is coarsely coloured, and apparently by the hand, unassisted +with the stencil. The face and hands are of a flesh colour. Her gown, as +well as the pilgrim’s hat and scrip, are of a dark grey; her veil, which +she wears hoodwise, is partly black and partly white; and the wimple +which she wears round her neck is also white. The bench and desk, the +pilgrim’s staff, the letters S. P. Q. R., the lion, the crown, and the +nimbus surrounding the head of St. Bridget and that of the Virgin, are +yellow. The ground is green, and the whole cut is surrounded with a +border of a shining mulberry or lake colour. + +Mr. Ottley, having at the very outset of his Inquiry adopted Papillon’s +story of the Cunio, is compelled, for consistency’s sake, in the +subsequent portion of his work, when speaking of early wood engravings +such as the above, to consider them, not as the earliest known specimens +of the art, but merely as wood engravings such as were produced upwards +of a hundred and thirty years after the amiable and accomplished Cunio, +a mere boy and a girl, had in Italy produced a set of wood engravings, +one of which was so well composed that Le Brun might be suspected of +having borrowed from it the design of one of his most complicated +pictures. In his desire, in support of his theory, to refer the oldest +wood-cuts to Italy, Mr. Ottley asks: “What if these two prints [the St. +Christopher and the Annunciation] should prove to be, not the +productions of Germany, but rather of Venice, or of some district of the +territory then under the dominion of that republic?” + +His principal reasons for the preceding conjecture, are the ancient use +of the word _stampide_--“printed”--in the Venetian decree against the +introduction of foreign playing-cards in 1441; and the resemblance which +the Annunciation bears to the style of the early Italian schools. Now, +with respect to the first of these reasons, it is founded on the +assumption that both those impressions have been obtained by means of a +press of some kind or other,--a fact which remains yet to be proved; for +until the backs of both shall have been examined, and the mark of the +burnisher or rubber found wanting, no person’s mere opinion, however +confidently declared, can be decisive of the question. It also remains +to be proved that the word _stampide_, which occurs in the Venetian +decree, was employed there to signify “_printed with a press_.” For it +is certain that the low Latin word _stampare_, with its cognates in the +different languages of Europe, was used at that period to denote +_impression_ generally. But even supposing that “_stampide_” signifies +“printed” in the modern acceptation of the word, and that the two +impressions in question were obtained by means of a press; the argument +in favour of their being Italian would gain nothing, unless we assume +that the _foreign_ printed cards and figures, which were forbid to be +imported into Venice, were produced either within the territory of that +state or in Italy; for the word _stampide_--“_printed_,” is applied to +them as well as those manufactured within the city. Now we know that the +German card-makers used to send great quantities of cards to Venice +about the period when the decree was made, while we have no evidence of +any Italian cities manufacturing cards for exportation in 1441; it is +therefore most likely that if the Venetians were acquainted with the use +of the press in taking impressions from wood-blocks, the Germans were so +too, and for these more probable reasons, admitting the cuts in question +to have been printed by means of a press:--First, the fact of those +wood-cuts being discovered in Germany in the very district where we +first hear of wood-engravers; and secondly, that if the Venetian +wood-engravers were acquainted with the use of the press in taking +impressions while the Germans were not, it is very unlikely that the +latter would be able to undersell the Venetians in their own city. Until +something like a probable reason shall be given for supposing the cuts +in question to be productions “of Venice, or some other district of the +territory then under the dominion of that republic,” I shall continue to +believe that they were executed in the district in which they were +discovered, and which has supplied to the collections of amateurs so +many old wood engravings of a similar kind. No wood engravings executed +in Italy, are known of a date earlier than those contained in the +“Meditationes Johannis de Turre-cremata,” printed at Rome 1467,--and +printed, be it observed, by a German, Ulrick Hahn. The circular wood +engravings in the British Museum,[II-18] which Mr. Ottley says are +indisputably Italian, and of the old dry taste of the fifteenth century, +can scarcely be referred to an earlier period than 1500, and my own +opinion is that they are not older than 1510. The manner in which they +are engraved is that which we find prevalent in Italian wood-cuts +executed between 1500 and 1520. + + [Footnote II-18: Those cuts consist of illustrations of the New + Testament. There are ten of them, apparently a portion of a larger + series, in the British Museum; and they are marked in small + letters, a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. k. n. That which is marked + g. also contains the words “Opus Jacobi.” In this cut a specimen + of cross-hatching may be observed, which was certainly very little + practised--if at all--in Italy, before 1500.] + +With respect to the resemblance which the Annunciation bears to the +style of the early Italian school,--I beg to observe that it equally +resembles many of the productions of contemporary “schools” of England +and France, as displayed in many of the drawings contained in old +illuminated manuscripts. It would be no difficult matter to point out in +many old German engravings attitudes at least as graceful as the +Virgin’s; and as to her drapery, which is said to be “wholly unlike the +angular sharpness, the stiffness and the flutter of the ancient German +school,” I beg to observe that those peculiarities are not of so +frequent occurrence in the works of German artists, whether sculptors, +painters, or wood-engravers, who lived before 1450, as in the works of +those who lived after that period. Angular sharpness and flutter in the +draperies are not so characteristic of early German art generally, as of +German art towards the end of the fifteenth, and in the early part of +the sixteenth century. + +Even the St. Bridget, which he considers to be of a date not later than +the close of the fourteenth century,[II-19] Mr. Ottley, with a German +inscription before his eyes, is inclined to give to an artist of the Low +Countries; and he kindly directs the attention of Coster’s partisans to +the shield of arms--probably intended for those of Sweden--at the +right-hand corner of the cut. Meerman had discovered a seal, having in +the centre a shield charged with a lion rampant--the bearing of the +noble family of Brederode--a label of three points, and the mark of +illegitimacy--a bend sinister, and surrounded by the inscription, +“S[igillum] Lowrens Janssoen,” which with him was sufficient evidence of +its being the identical seal of Laurence, the Coster or churchwarden of +Harlem.[II-20] + + [Footnote II-19: Mr. Ottley’s reason for considering this cut to + be so old is, that “after that period [1400] an artist, who was + capable of designing so good a figure, could scarcely have been so + grossly ignorant of every effect of linear perspective, as was + evidently the case with the author of the performance before + us.”--Inquiry, p. 87. Offences, however, scarcely less gross + against the rules of linear perspective, are to be found in the + wood-cuts in the Adventures of Sir Theurdank, 1517, many of which + contain figures superior to that of St. Bridget. Errors in + perspective are indeed frequent in the designs of many of the most + eminent of Albert Durer’s contemporaries, although in other + respects the figures may be correctly drawn, and the general + composition good.] + + [Footnote II-20: An engraving of this seal is given in the first + volume of Meerman’s Origines Typographicæ.] + +We thus perceive on what grounds the right of Germany to three of the +oldest wood-cuts known is questioned; and upon what traits of +resemblance they are ascribed to Italy and the Low Countries. By +adopting Mr. Ottley’s mode of reasoning, it might be shown with equal +probability that a very considerable number of early wood +engravings--whether printed in books or separately--hitherto believed to +be German, were really executed in Italy. + +An old wood engraving of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, of a quarto +size, with a short prayer underneath, and the date 1437, apparently from +the same block, was preserved in the monastery of St. Blaze, in the +Black Forest on the confines of Suabia;[II-21] and another, with the +date 1443 inserted in manuscript, was pasted in a volume belonging to +the library of the monastery of Buxheim. The latter is thus described by +Von Murr: “Through the kindness of the celebrated librarian, Krismer, +whom I have so often mentioned, I am enabled to give an account of an +illuminated wood-cut, which at the latest must have been engraved in +1443. It is pasted on the inside of the cover of a volume which contains +‘_Nicolai Dunkelspül_[II-22] Sermonum Partem Hyemalem.’ It is of quarto +size, being seven and a half inches high, and five and a quarter wide, +and is inclosed within a border of a single line. It is much soiled, as +we perceive in the figures on cards which have been impressed by means +of a rubber. The style in which it is executed is like that of no other +wood-cut which I have ever seen. The cut itself represents three +different subjects, the upper part of it being divided into two +compartments, each three inches square, and separated from each other by +means of a broad perpendicular line. In that to the right is seen St. +Dorothy sitting in a garden, with the youthful Christ presenting flowers +to her, of which she has her lap full. Before her stands a small +hand-basket,--also full of flowers,--such as the ladies of Franconia and +Suabia were accustomed to carry in former times. In the left compartment +is seen St. Alexius, lying at the foot of a flight of steps, upon which +a man is standing and emptying the contents of a pot upon the +saint.[II-23] Between these compartments there appears in manuscript the +date ‘_anno d’ni 1443_.’ Both the ink and the characters correspond with +those of the volume. This date indicates the time when the writer had +finished the book and got it bound, as is more clearly proved by a +memorandum at the conclusion. In the year 1483, before it came into the +possession of the monastery of Buxheim, it belonged to Brother Jacobus +Matzenberger, of the order of the Holy Ghost, and curate of the church +of the Virgin Mary in Memmingen. The whole of the lower part of the cut +is occupied with Christ bearing his cross, at the moment that he meets +with his mother, whom one of the executioners appears to be driving +away. Simon of Cyrene is seen assisting Christ to carry the cross. The +engraving is executed in a very coarse manner.”[II-24] + + [Footnote II-21: Heineken, Neue Nachrichten von Künstlern und + Kunstsachen. Dresden und Leipzig, 1786, S. 143.] + + [Footnote II-22: In the Table des Matières to Jansen’s Essai sur + l’Origine de la Gravure, Paris, 1808, we find “Dünkelspül + (Nicolas) graveur Allemand en 1443.” After this specimen of + accuracy, it is rather surprising that we do not find St. Alexius + referred to also as “un graveur Allemand.”] + + [Footnote II-23: St. Alexius returning unknown to his father’s + house, as a poor pilgrim, was treated with great indignity by the + servants.] + + [Footnote II-24: Von Murr, Journal, 2 Theil, S. 113-115.] + +In the Royal Library at Paris there is an ancient wood-cut of St. +Bernardin, who is represented on a terrace, the pavement of which +consists of alternate squares of yellow, red, and green. In his right +hand the saint holds something resembling the consecrated wafer or host, +in the midst of which is inscribed the name of Christ; and in his left a +kind of oblong casket, on which are the words “_Vide, lege, dulce +nomen_.” Upon a scroll above the head of the saint is engraved the +sentence, “_Ihesus semper sit in ore meo_,” and behind him, on a black +label, is his name in yellow letters, “_Sanct’ Bernard’_.” The cut is +surrounded by a border of foliage, with the emblems of the four +Evangelists at the four corners, and at the foot are the five following +lines, with the date, impressed from prominent lines:-- + + _O . splendor . pudicitie . zelator . paupertatis . a + mator. innocentie . cultor . virginitatis . lustra + cors . apientie . protector . veritatis . thro + num . fulgidum . eterne . majestatis . para + nobis . additum . divine . pietatis . amen. (1454)_ + +This rare cut was communicated to Jansen by M. Vanpraet, the well-known +bibliographer and keeper of the Royal Library.[II-25] + + [Footnote II-25: Jansen, Essai sur l’Origine de la Gravure, tom. + i. p. 237. Jansen’s own authority on subjects connected with wood + engraving is undeserving of attention. He is a mere compiler, who + scarcely appears to have been able to distinguish a wood-cut from + a copper-plate engraving.] + +“Having visited in my last tour,” says Heineken, after describing the +St. Christopher, “a great many convents in Franconia, Suabia, Bavaria, +and in the Austrian states, I everywhere discovered in their libraries +many of those kinds of figures, engraved on wood, and pasted either at +the beginning or the end of old volumes of the fifteenth century. I have +indeed obtained several of them. These facts, taken altogether, have +confirmed me in my opinion that the next step of the engraver in wood, +after playing-cards, was to engrave figures of saints, which, being +distributed and lost among the laity, were in part preserved by the +monks, who pasted them in the earliest printed books with which they +furnished their libraries.”[II-26] + + [Footnote II-26: Idée Générale, p. 251. Hartman Schedel, the + compiler of the Nuremberg Chronicle, was accustomed to paste both + old wood-cuts and copper-plate engravings within the covers of his + books, many of which were preserved in the Library of the Elector + of Bavaria at Munich.--Idée Gén. p. 287; and Von Murr, Journal, + 2 Theil, S. 115.] + +A great many wood-cuts of devotional subjects, of a period probably +anterior to the invention of book-printing by Gutenberg, have been +discovered in Germany. They are all executed in a rude style, and many +of them are coloured. It is not unlikely that the most of these woodcuts +were executed at the instance of the monks for distribution among the +common people as helps to devotion; and that each monastery, which might +thus avail itself of the aid of wood engraving in the work of piety, +would cause to be engraved the figure of its patron saint. The practice, +in fact, of distributing such figures at monasteries and shrines to +those who visit them, is not yet extinct on the Continent. In Belgium it +is still continued, and, I believe, also in Germany, France, and Italy. +The figures, however, are not generally impressions from wood-blocks, +but are for the most part wholly executed by means of stencils. One of +the latter class, representing the shrine of “Notre Dame de +Hal,”--coloured in the most wretched taste with brick-dust red and +shining green,--is now lying before me. It was given to a gentleman who +visited Halle, near Brussels, in 1829. It is nearly of the same size as +many of the old devotional wood-cuts of Germany, being about four inches +high, by two and three-quarters wide.[II-27] + + [Footnote II-27: Heineken thus speaks of those old devotional + cuts: “On trouve dans la Bibliothèque de Wolfenbüttel de ces + sortes d’estampes, qui représentent différens sujets de l’histoire + sainte et de dévotion, avec du texte vis à vis de la figure, tout + gravé en bois. Ces pièces sont de la même grandeur que nos cartes + à jouer: elles portent 3 pouces de hauteur sur 2 pouces 6 lignes + de largeur.”--Idée Générale, p. 249.] + +The next step in the progress of wood engraving, subsequent to the +production of single cuts, such as the St. Christopher, the +Annunciation, and the St. Bridget, in each of which letters are +sparingly introduced, was the application of the art to the production +of those works which are known to bibliographers by the name of +BLOCK-BOOKS: the most celebrated of which are the Apocalypsis, seu +Historia Sancti Johannis; the Historia Virginis ex Cantico Canticorum; +and the Biblia Pauperum. The first is a history, pictorial and literal, +of the life and revelations of St. John the Evangelist, derived in part +from the traditions of the church, but chiefly from the book of +Revelations. The second is a similar history of the Virgin, as it is +supposed to be typified in the Songs of Solomon; and the third consists +of subjects representing some of the most important passages in the Old +and New Testament, with texts either explaining the subject, or +enforcing the example of duty which it may afford. With the above, the +Speculum Humanæ Salvationis is usually, though improperly, classed, as +the whole of the text, in that which is most certainly the first +edition, is printed from movable metal types. In the others the +explanatory matter is engraved on wood, on the same block with the +subject to which it refers. + +All the above books have been claimed by Meerman and other Dutch writers +for their countryman, Laurence Coster: and although no date, either +impressed or manuscript, has been discovered in any one copy from which +the period of its execution might be ascertained,[II-28] yet such +appears to have been the clearness of the intuitive light which guided +those authors, that they have assigned to each work the precise year in +which it appeared. According to Seiz, the History of the Old and New +Testament, otherwise called the Biblia Pauperum, appeared in 1432; the +History of the Virgin in 1433; the Apocalypse in 1434; and the Speculum +in 1439. For such assertions, however, he has not the slightest ground. +That the three first might appear at some period between 1430 and 1450, +is not unlikely;[II-29] but that the Speculum--_the text of which in the +first edition was printed from metal types_--should be printed before +1460, is in the highest degree improbable. + + [Footnote II-28: A copy of the Speculum belonging to the city of + Harlem had at the commencement, “_Ex Officina Laurentii Joannis + Costeri. Anno 1440_.” But this inscription had been inserted by a + modern hand--Idée Générale, p. 449.] + + [Footnote II-29: In the catalogue of Dr. Kloss’s Library, + No. 2024, is a “Historia et Apocalypsis Johannis Evangelistæ,” + imperfect, printed from wooden blocks. The following are the + observations of the editor or compiler of the catalogue: “At the + end of the volume is a short note, written by Pope Martin V., who + occupied the papal chair from 1417 to 1431. This appears to accord + with the edition described by Heineken at page 360, excepting in + the double _a_, No. 3 and 4.” If the note referred to were + genuine, and actually written in the book, a certain date would be + at once established. The information, however, comes in a + questionable shape, as the English _rédacteur’s_ power of + ascertaining who were the writers of ancient MS. notes appears + little short of miraculous.] + +Upon extremely slight grounds it has been conjectured that the Biblia +Pauperum, the Apocalypse, and the Ars Moriendi,--another +block-book,--were engraved before the year 1430. The Rev. T. H. Horne, +“a gentleman long and well known for his familiar acquaintance with +books printed abroad,” says Dr. Dibdin, “had a copy of each of the three +books above mentioned, bound in one volume, upon the cover of which the +following words were stamped: Hic liber relegatus fuit per Plebanum. +ecclesie”--with the date, according to the best of the Rev. Mr. Horne’s +recollection, 142(8). As he had broken up the volume, and had parted +with the contents, he gave the above information on the strength of his +memory alone. He was, however, confident that “the binding was the +ancient legitimate one, and that the treatises had not been subsequently +introduced into it, and that the date was 142 odd; but positively +anterior to 1430.”[II-30] + + [Footnote II-30: Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. i. p. 4, cited in + Ottley’s Inquiry, vol. i. p. 99.] + +In such a case as this, however, mere recollection cannot be admitted as +decisive of the fact, more especially when we know the many instances in +which mistakes have been committed in reading the numerals in ancient +dates. At page 88 of his Inquiry, Mr. Ottley, catching at every straw +that may help to support his theory of wood engraving having been +practised by the Cunio and others in the fourteenth century, refers to a +print which a Monsieur Thierry professed to have seen at Lyons, +inscribed “SCHOTING OF NUREMBERG,” with the date 1384; and at p. 256 he +alludes to it again in the following words: “The date 1384 on the +wood-cut preserved at Lyons, said to have been executed at Nuremberg, +appears, I know not why, to have been suspected.” It has been more than +suspected; for, on examination, it has been found to be 1584. Paul Von +Stettin published an account of a Biblia Pauperum, the date of which he +supposed to be 1414; but which, when closely examined, was found to be +1474: and Baron Von Hupsch, of Cologne, published in 1787 an account of +some wood-cuts which he supposed to have been executed in 1420; but +which, in the opinion of Breitkopf, were part of the cuts of a Biblia +Pauperum, in which it was probably intended to give the explanations in +moveable types underneath the cuts, and probably of a later date than +1470.[II-31] + + [Footnote II-31: Singer’s Researches into the History of + Playing-cards, p. 107.] + +It is surprising that the Rev. Mr. Horne, who is no incurious observer +of books, but an author who has written largely on Bibliography, should +not have carefully copied so remarkable a date, or communicated it to a +friend, when it might have been confirmed by a careful examination of +the binding; and still more surprising is it that such binding should +have been destroyed. From the very fact of his not having paid more +particular attention to this most important date, and from his having +permitted the evidence of it to be destroyed, the Rev. Mr. Horne seems +to be an incompetent witness. Who would think of calling a person to +prove from recollection the date of an old and important deed, who, when +he had it in his possession, was so little aware of its value as to +throw it away? The three books in question, when covered by such a +binding, would surely be much greater than when bound in any other +manner. Such a volume must have been unique; and, if the date on the +binding were correct, it must have been admitted as decisive of a fact +interesting to every bibliographer in Europe. It is not even mentioned +in what kind of numerals the date was expressed, whether in Roman or +Arabic. If the numerals had been Arabic, we might very reasonably +suppose that the Rev. Mr. Horne had mistaken a seven for a two, and +that, instead of “142 odd,” the correct date was “147 odd.” In Arabic +numerals, such as were used about the middle of the fifteenth century, +the seven may very easily be mistaken for a two. + +The earliest ancient binding known, on which a date is impressed, is, +I believe, that described by Laire.[II-32] It is that of a copy of +“Sancti Hieronymi Epistolæ;” and the words, in the same manner as that +of the binding of which the Rev. Mr. Horne had so accurate a +recollection, were “stamped at the extremity of the binding, towards the +edge of the squares.” It is only necessary to cite the words impressed +on one of the boards, which were as follows: + + “Illigatus est Anno Domini 1469 + Per me Johannem + Richenbach Capellanum + In Gyslingen.”[II-33] + + [Footnote II-32: Index Librorum ab inventa Typographia ad annum + 1500, No. 37.] + + [Footnote II-33: Mr. Bohn is in possession of a similarly bound + volume, namely, “Astexani de Ast, Scrutinium Scripturarum,” + printed by Mentelin, without date, but about 1468, on the pig-skin + covers of which is printed in bold black letter, _Per me + Rich-en-bach illigatus in Gysslingen 1470_.] + +The numerals of the date it is to be observed were Arabic. In the +library of Dr. Kloss of Frankfort, sold in London by Sotheby and Son in +1835, were two volumes, “St. Augustini de Civitat. Dei, Libri xxii. +1469,” and “St. Augustini Confessiones” of the same date; both of which +were bound by “Johannes Capellanus in Gyslingen,” and who in the same +manner had impressed his name on the covers with the date 1470. Both +volumes had belonged to “Dominus Georgius Ruch de Gamundia.”[II-34] That +the volume formerly in the Rev. Mr. Horne’s possession was bound by the +curate of Geisslingen I by no means pretend to say, though I am firmly +of opinion that it was bound subsequent to 1470, and that the character +which he supposed to be a two was in reality a different figure. It is +worthy of remark that it appears to have been bound by the “Plebanus” of +some church, a word which is nearly synonymous with “Capellanus.”[II-35] + + [Footnote II-34: “Catalogue of the Library of Dr. Kloss of + Frankfort,” Nos. 460 and 468. Geisslingen is about fifteen miles + north-west of Ulm in Suabia, and Gemund about twelve miles + northward of Geisslingen.] + + [Footnote II-35: Mr. Singer, at page 101 of his Researches into + the History of Playing-cards, speaks of “_one_ Plebanus of + Augsburg,” as if Plebanus were a proper name. It has nearly the + same meaning as our own word “Curate.” “PLEBANUS, Parœcus, Curio, + Sacerdos, qui _plebi_ præest; Italis, _Piovano_; Gallo-Belgis, + _Pleban_. Balbus in Catholico: ‘Plebanus, dominus plebis, + Presbyter, qui plebem regit.’--Plebanum vero maxime vocant in + ecclesiis cathedralibus seu collegiatis canonicum, cui plebis + earum jurisdictioni subditæ cura committitur.”--Du Cange, + Glossarium, in verbo “Plebanus.”] + +As it does not come within the plan of the present volume to give a +catalogue of all the subjects contained in the block-books to which it +may be necessary to refer as illustrating the progress of wood +engraving, I shall confine myself to a general notice of the manner in +which the cuts are executed, with occasional observations on the +designs, and such remarks as may be likely to explain any peculiarity of +appearance, or to enable the reader to form a distinct idea of the +subject referred to. + +At whatever period the Apocalypse, the History of the Virgin, and the +Biblia Pauperum may have been executed, the former has the appearance of +being the earliest; and in the absence of everything like proof upon the +point, and as the style in which it is engraved is certainly more simple +than that of the other two, it seems entitled to be first noticed in +tracing the progress of the art. + +Of the Apocalypse,--or “Historia Sancti Johannis Evangelistæ ejusque +Visiones Apocalypticæ,” as it is mostly termed by bibliographers, for +the book itself has no title,--Heineken mentions no less than six +editions, the earliest of which he considers to be that described by him +at page 367 of his “Idée Générale d’une Collection complète d’Estampes.” +He, however, declares that the marks by which he has assigned to each +edition its comparative antiquity are not infallible. It is indeed very +evident that the marks which he assumed as characteristic of the +relative order of the different editions were merely arbitrary, and +could by no means be admitted as of the slightest consequence in +enabling any person to form a correct opinion on the subject. He notices +two editions as the first and second, and immediately after he mentions +a circumstance which might almost entitle the third to take precedence +of them both; and that which he saw last he thinks the oldest of all. +The designs of the second edition described by him, he says, are by +another master than those of the first, although the artist has adhered +to the same subjects and the same ideas. The third, according to his +observations, differs from the first and second, both in the subjects +and the descriptive text. The fourth edition is from the same blocks as +the third; the only difference between them being, that the fourth is +without the letters in alphabetical order which indicate the succession +of the cuts. The fifth differed from the third or fourth only in the +text and the directing letters, as the designs were the same; the only +variations that could be observed being extremely trifling. After having +described five editions of the book, he decides that a sixth, which he +saw after the others, ought to be considered the earliest of all.[II-36] +In all the copies which he had seen, the impressions had been taken by +means of a rubber, in such a manner that each leaf contained only one +engraving; the other side, which commonly bore the marks of the rubber, +being without a cut. The impressions when collected into a volume faced +each other, so that the first and last pages were blank. + + [Footnote II-36: Idée Générale, pp. 334-370.] + +The edition of the Apocalypse to which I shall now refer is that +described by Heineken, at page 364, as the fifth; and the copy is that +mentioned by him, at page 367, as then being in the collection of M. de +Gaignat, and as wanting two cuts, Nos. 36 and 37. It is at present in +the King’s Library at the British Museum. + + [Illustration] + +It is a thin folio in modern red morocco binding, and has, when perfect, +consisted of fifty wood engravings, with their explanatory text also cut +in wood, generally within an oblong border of a single line, within the +_field_ of the engraving, and not added underneath, as in the Speculum +Salvationis, nor in detached compartments, both above and below, as in +the Biblia Pauperum. The paper, which is somewhat of a cream colour, is +stout, with rather a coarse surface, and such as we find the most +ancient books printed on. As each leaf has been pasted down on another +of modern paper, in order to preserve it, the marks of the rubber at the +back of each impression, as described by Heineken, cannot be seen. The +annexed outline is a reduced copy of a paper-mark, which may be +perceived on some of the leaves. It is very like that numbered “vii.” at +p. 224, vol. i. of Mr. Ottley’s Inquiry, and which he says occurs in the +edition called the first Latin of the Speculum Salvationis. It is nearly +the same as that which is to be seen in Earl Spencer’s “Historia +Virginis;” and Santander states that he has noticed a similar mark in +books printed at Cologne by Ulric Zell, and Bart. de Unkel; at Louvain +by John Veldener and Conrad Braen; and in books printed at Utrecht by +Nic. Ketelaer and Gerard de Leempt. + +The size of the largest cuts, as defined by the plain lines which form +the border, is about ten and five-eighths inches high, by seven and +six-eighths inches wide; of the smallest, ten and two-eighths inches +high, by seven and three-eighths wide.[II-37] The order in which they +are to be placed in binding is indicated by a letter of the alphabet, +which serves the same purpose as our modern signatures,--engraved in a +conspicuous part of the cut. For instance, the first two, which, as well +as the others, might either face each other or be pasted back to back, +are each marked with the letter +a+; the two next with the letter +b+, +and so on through the alphabet. As the alphabet--which has the i the +same as the j, the v the same as the u, and has not the w--became +exhausted at the forty-sixth cut, the forty-seventh and forty-eighth are +marked with a character which was used to represent the words “et +cetera;” and the forty-ninth and fiftieth with the terminal abbreviation +of the letters “us.” In the copy described by Heineken, he observed that +the directing letters +m+ and +n+ were wanting in the twenty-fourth and +twenty-sixth cuts, and in the copy under consideration they are also +omitted. The m, however, appears to have been engraved, though for some +reason or other not to have been inked in taking an impression; for on a +careful examination of this cut,--without being aware at the time of +Heineken having noticed the omission,--I thought that I could very +plainly discern the indention of the letter above one of the angels in +the upper compartment of the print. + + [Footnote II-37: In the copy of the Biblia Pauperum in the British + Museum, + Inches. Inches. + The largest cut is 10-4/8 high, and 7-5/8 wide. + The smallest -- 10-1/8 -- -- 7-5/8 -- + + In the Historia Virginis, also in the British Museum, + The largest cut is 10-3/8 high, and 7-2/8 wide. + The smallest -- 9-7/8 -- -- 6-7/8 --] + +Of the forty-eight cuts[II-38] contained in the Museum copy, the greater +number are divided by a horizontal line, nearly in the middle, and thus +each consists of two compartments; of the remainder, each is occupied by +a single subject, which fills the whole page. In some, the explanatory +text consists only of two or three lines; and in others it occupies so +large a space, that if it were set up in moderately sized type, it would +be sufficient to fill a duodecimo page. The characters are different +from those in the History of the Virgin and the Biblia Pauperum, and are +smaller than those of the former, and generally larger and more +distinctly cut than those of the latter; and although, as well as in the +two last-named books, the words are much abbreviated, yet they are more +easy to be made out than the text of either of the others. The +impressions on the whole are better taken than those of the Biblia +Pauperum, though in lighter-coloured ink, something like a greyish +sepia, and apparently of a thinner body. It does not appear to have +contained any oil, and is more like distemper or water-colour than +printer’s ink. From the manner in which the lines are indented in the +paper, in several of the cuts, it is evident that they must either have +been subjected to a considerable degree of pressure or have been very +hard rubbed. + + [Footnote II-38: The two which are wanting are those numbered 36 + and 37--that is, the second +s+, and the first +t+--in Heineken’s + collation. Although there is a memorandum at the commencement of + the book that those cuts are wanting, yet the person who has put + in the numbers, in manuscript, at the foot of each, has not + noticed the omission, but has continued the numbers consecutively, + marking that 36 which in a perfect copy is 38, and so on to the + rest. A reference to Heineken from those manuscript numbers + subsequent to the thirty-fifth cut would lead to error.] + +Although some of the figures bear a considerable degree of likeness to +others of the same kind in the Biblia Pauperum, I cannot think that the +designs for both books were made by the same person. The figures in the +different works which most resemble each other are those of saints and +angels, whose form and expression have been represented according to a +conventional standard, to which most of the artists of the period +conformed, in the same manner as in representing the Almighty and +Christ, whether they were painters, glass-stainers, carvers, or +wood-engravers. In many of the figures the drapery is broken into easy +and natural folds by means of single lines; and if this were admitted as +a ground for assigning the cut of the Annunciation to Italy, with much +greater reason might the Apocalypse be ascribed to the same country. + +Without venturing to give an opinion whether the cuts were engraved in +Germany, Holland, or in the Low Countries, the drawing of many of the +figures appears to correspond with the idea that I have formed of the +style of Greek art, such as it was in the early part of the fifteenth +century. St. John was the favourite apostle of the Greeks, as St. Peter +was of the church of Rome; and as the Revelations were more especially +addressed to the churches of Greece, they were more generally read in +that country than in Western Europe. Artists mostly copy, in the heads +which they draw, the general expression of the country[II-39] to which +they belong, and where they have received their first impressions; and +in the Apocalypse the character of several of the heads appears to be +decidedly Grecian. The general representation, too, of several visions +would seem to have been suggested by a Greek who was familiar with that +portion of the New Testament which was so generally perused in his +native land, and whose annunciations and figurative prophecies were, in +the early part of the fifteenth century, commonly supposed by his +countrymen to relate to the Turks, who at that time were triumphing over +the cross. With them Mahomet was the Antichrist of the Revelations, and +his followers the people bearing the mark of the beast, who were to +persecute, and for a time to hold in bondage, the members of the church +of Christ. As many Greeks, both artists and scholars, were driven from +their country by the oppression of the Turks several years before the +taking of Constantinople in 1453, I am induced to think that to a Greek +we owe the designs of this edition of the Apocalypse. In the lower +division of the twenty-third cut, _m_, representing the fight of Michael +and his angels with the dragon, the following shields are borne by two +of the heavenly host. + + [Footnote II-39: Witness Rembrandt, who never gets rid of the + Dutch character, no matter how elevated his subject may be.] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +The crescent, as is well known, was one of the badges of Constantinople +long previous to its capture by the Turks. The sort of cross in the +other shield is very like that in the arms of the knights of St. +Constantine, a military order which is said to have been founded at +Constantinople by the Emperor Isaac Angelus Comnenus, in 1190. The above +coincidences, though trifling, tend to support the opinion that the +designs were made by a Greek artist. It is, however, possible, that the +badges on the shields may have been suggested by the mere fancy of the +designer, and that they may equally resemble the heraldic bearings of +some order or of some individuals of Western Europe. + +Though some of the designs are very indifferent, yet there are others +which display considerable ability, and several of the single figures +are decidedly superior to any that are contained in the other +block-books. They are drawn with greater vigour and feeling; and though +the designs of the Biblia Pauperum show a greater knowledge of the +mechanism of art, yet the best of them, in point of expression and +emphatic marking of character, are inferior to the best in the +Apocalypse. + +With respect to the engraving, the cuts are executed in the simplest +manner, as there is not the least attempt at shading, by means of cross +lines or hatchings, to be perceived in any one of the designs. The most +difficult part of the engraver’s task, supposing the drawings to have +been made by another person, would be the cutting of the letters, which +in several of the subjects must have occupied a considerable portion of +time, and have required no small degree of care. The following is a +reduced copy of the first cut. + + [Illustration] + +In the upper portion of the subject, St. John is seen addressing four +persons, three men and a woman; and the text at the top informs us of +the success of his ministry: “_Conversi ab idolis, per predicationem +beati Johannis, Drusiana et ceteri._”--“By the preaching of St. John, +Drusiana and others are withdrawn from their idols.” The letter +a+, a +little above the saint’s outstretched hand, indicates that the cut is +the first of the series. In the lower compartment St. John is seen +baptizing Drusiana, who, as she stands naked in the font, is of very +small size compared with the saint. The situation in which Drusiana is +placed might be alleged in support of their peculiar tenets, either by +the Baptists, who advocate immersion as the proper mode of administering +the rite, or by those who consider sprinkling as sufficient; but in each +case with a difficulty which it would not be easy to explain: for if +Drusiana were to be baptized by immersion, the font is too small to +allow her to be dipped overhead; and if the rite were to be administered +by mere sprinkling, why is she standing naked in the font? To the right +of the cut are several figures, two of whom are provided with axes, who +seem wishful to break open the door of the chapel in which St. John and +his proselyte are seen. The inscription above their heads lets us know +that they are--“_Cultores ydolorum explorantes facta ejus_;”-- +“Worshippers of idols watching the saint’s proceedings.” + +The following cut is a copy of the eighteenth of the Apocalypse, which +is illustrative of the XIth and XIIIth chapters of Revelations. The +upper portion represents the execution of the two witnesses of the Lord, +who are in the tablet named Enoch and Helyas, by the command of the +beast which ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, and which is +Antichrist. He is seen issuing his commands for the execution of the +witnesses; and the face of the executioner who has just used his sword, +and who is looking towards him with an expression of brutal exultation, +might have served Albert Durer for that of the mocker in his cut of +Christ crowned with thorns. + + [Illustration] + +The inscription to the right, is the 7th verse of the XIth chapter, with +the names of Enoch and Helyas inserted as those of the two witnesses: +“_Cum finierunt Enoch et Helyas testimonium suum, bestia quæ ascendit de +abisso faciet contra eos bellum, et vincet eos et occidet illos_.” In +our translation the verse is rendered thus: “And when they shall have +finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless +pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill them.” + +The tablet to the left contains the following inscription: “_Et jacebunt +corpora eorum in plateis, et non sinent poni in monumentis_.” It is +formed of two passages, in the 8th and 9th verses of the XIth chapter of +Revelations, which are thus rendered in our version of the Bible: “And +their dead bodies shall lie in the street, . . . and they of the people +. . . shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.” + +In the lower compartment Antichrist is seen working his miracles, +uprooting the two olive trees, typical of the two witnesses whom he had +caused to be slain.[II-40] Two of his followers are seen kneeling as if +worshipping him, while more to the left are the supporters of the true +faith delivered into the hands of executioners. The design is +illustrative of the XIIIth chapter of Revelations. The following is the +inscription above the figure of Antichrist:--“_Hic facit Antichristus +miracula sua, et credentes in ipsum honorat, et incredentes variis +interficit pœnis_.”--“Here Antichrist is performing his miracles, +honouring those who believe in him, and putting the incredulous to death +by various punishments.” The leaves of the trees which Antichrist has +miraculously uprooted are extremely like those of the tree of life +engraved in one of the cuts of the Biblia Pauperum, and of which a copy +will be found in a subsequent page. + + [Footnote II-40: Revelations, chap. xi. verses 3d and 4th.] + +In several of the cuts, the typical expressions which occur in the texts +are explained. Thus, in cut eighth, we are informed that “_Stolæ albæ +animarum gloriam designant_.”--“The white vestments denote the glory of +departed souls.” In the lower compartment of the same cut, the “_cæli +recessio_”--“the opening of the heavens”--is explained to be the +communication of the Bible to the Gentiles. In the lower compartment of +the ninth cut, “much incense” is said to signify the precepts of the +Gospel; the “censers,” the hearts of the Apostles; and the “golden +altar,” the Church. + +The next block-book which demands notice is that named “Historia seu +Providentia Virginis Mariæ, ex Cantico Canticorum:” that is, “The +History or Prefiguration of the Virgin Mary, from the Song of Songs.” It +is of small-folio size, and consists of sixteen leaves, printed on one +side only by means of friction; and the ink is of a dark brown, +approaching nearly to black. Each impressed page contains two subjects, +one above the other; the total number of subjects in the book is, +consequently, thirty-two. + +Of this book, according to the observations of Heineken, there are two +editions; which, from variations noticed by him in the explanatory text, +are evidently from different blocks; but, as the designs are precisely +the same, it is certain that the one has been copied from the +other.[II-41] That which he considers to be the first edition, has, in +his opinion, been engraved in Germany; the other, he thinks, was a copy +of the original, executed by some engraver in Holland. The principal +ground on which he determines the priority of the editions is, that in +the one the text is much more correctly given than in the other; and he +thence concludes that the most correct would be the second. In this +opinion I concur; not that his rule will universally hold good, but that +in this case the conclusion which he has drawn seems the most probable. +The designs, it is admitted, are precisely the same; and as the cuts of +the one would in all probability be engraved from tracings or transfers +of the other, it is not likely that we should find such a difference in +the text of the two editions if that of the first were correct. +A wood-engraver--on this point I speak from experience--would be much +more likely to commit literal errors in copying manuscript, than to +deviate in cutting a fac-simile from a correct impression. Had the text +of the first edition been correct,--considering that the designs of the +one edition are exact copies of those of the other,--it is probable that +the text of both would have been more nearly alike. But as there are +several errors in the text of the first edition, it is most likely that +many of them would be discovered and corrected by the person at whose +instance the designs were copied for the second. Diametrically opposite +to this conclusion is that of Mr. Ottley, who argues as follows:[II-42] +“Heineken endeavours to draw another argument in favour of the +originality of the edition possessed by Pertusati, Verdussen, and the +Bodleian library, from the various errors, in that edition, in the Latin +inscriptions on the scrolls; which, he says, are corrected in the other +edition. But it is evident that this circumstance makes in favour of an +opposite conclusion. The artist who originally invented the work must +have been well acquainted with Latin, since it is, in fact, no other +than an union of many of the most beautiful verses of the Book of +Canticles, with a series of designs illustrative of the divine mysteries +supposed to be revealed in that sacred poem; and, consequently, we have +reason to consider that edition the original in which the inscriptions +are given with the most correctness; and to ascribe the gross blunders +in the other to the ignorance of some ordinary wood-engraver by whom the +work was copied.” Even granting the assumption that the engraver of the +edition, supposed by Mr. Ottley to be the first, was well acquainted +with Latin, and that he who engraved the presumed second did not +understand a word of that language, yet it by no means follows that the +latter could not make a correct tracing of the engraved text lying +before him. Because a draughtsman is unacquainted with a language, it +would certainly be most erroneous to infer that he would be incapable of +copying the characters correctly. Besides, though it does not benefit +his argument a whit, it is surely assuming too much to assert that the +artist who made the designs also selected the texts, and that he _must_ +have been well acquainted with Latin; and that he who executed Mr. +Ottley’s presumed second edition was some ignorant ordinary +wood-engraver. Did the artists who executed the fac-similes in Mr. +Ottley’s work, or in Dr. Dibdin’s “Bibliotheca Spenceriana,” understand +the abbreviated Latin which in many instances they had to engrave; and +did they in consequence of their ignorance of that language copy +incorrectly the original texts and sentences which were before them? + + [Footnote II-41: Idée Générale, p. 376.] + + [Footnote II-42: Inquiry, vol. i. p. 140.] + +In a copy which Heineken considers to be of the second edition, +belonging to the city of Harlem, that writer observed the following +inscription, from a wood block, impressed, as I understand him, at the +top of the first cut. “+Dit is die voersinicheit va Marie der mod . +godes . en is gehete in lath+ . _Cāti._” This inscription--which +Heineken says is “en langue Flamande, ou plûtôt en Plât-Alemand”--may be +expressed in English as follows: “This is the prefiguration of Mary the +mother of God, and is in Latin named the Canticles.” Heineken expresses +no doubt of this inscription being genuine, though he makes use of it as +an argument in support of his opinion, that the copy in which it occurs +was one of later edition; “for it is well known,” he observes, “that the +earliest editions of printed books are without titles, and more +especially those of block-books.” As this inscription, however, has been +found in the Harlem copy only, I am inclined to agree with Mr. Ottley in +considering it as a silly fraud devised by some of the compatriots of +Coster for the purpose of establishing a fact which it is, in reality, +much better calculated to overthrow.[II-43] + + [Footnote II-43: Inquiry, p. 140.] + +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-book that I have seen. Compared with them, those of the Biblia +Pauperum and the Speculum might be termed “Gothic” indeed. + + [Illustration] + +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-44] that +is, from the upper portion of the fourth cut. + + [Footnote II-44: Inquiry, p. 144, vol. i.] + +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 the manner in which they are clothed, the artist may be considered +as the Stothard of his day. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +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] + + [Footnote II-45: The copy from which the preceding specimens are + given was formerly the property of the Rev. C. M. Cracherode, by + whom it was left, with the rest of his valuable collection of + books, to the British Museum.] + +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.” In the scroll to the right, the inscription is from the 14th +verse of the IInd 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, chapter IInd: “_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 +chapter IVth: “_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’ eyes _within 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-46] This 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. John Landseer 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 the vicar,--” + +abandoned type-metal, and fortified his “_stubborn_ opinion behind +_vegetable putties_ or pastes that are capable of being hardened--or any +substance that is capable of being _worm-eaten_.”[II-47] Such “commenta +opinionum”--the mere figments of conjecture--only deserve notice in +consequence of their extravagance. + + [Footnote II-46: Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. i. p. 36. Mr. + Ottley cites the passage at p. 139, vol i. of his Inquiry, for the + purpose of expressing his dissent from the theory.] + + [Footnote II-47: Landseer’s Lectures on the Art of Engraving, pp. + 201-205, 8vo. London, 1807.] + +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-48] though 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 +churches of Germany, and Von Murr asserts that such sculptures were +probably Martin Schön’s models. + + [Footnote II-48: Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 374. Von Murr, + Journal, 2 Theil, S. 43.] + +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. + + [Illustration] + +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 horseback +appear 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, chapter V. 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. + + [Illustration] + +On these I have nothing to remark further than 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 +are all 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.” + + [Illustration] + +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] + + [Footnote II-49: Song of Solomon, chap. iv. verse 4.] + +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 be +assigned by others. The fourth, which is charged with a rose, was the +arms of Hagenau, a town in Alsace. + + [Illustration] + +As so little is known respecting the country where, and the precise time +when, the principal block-books appeared,--of which the History of the +Virgin is one,--I think every particular, however trifling, which may be +likely to afford even a gleam of light, deserving of notice. It is for +this reason that I have given the different shields contained in this +and the preceding pages; not in the belief that I have made any +important discovery, or established any considerable facts; but with the +desire of directing to this subject the attention of others, whose +further inquiries and comparisons may perhaps establish such a perfect +identity between the arms of a particular district, and those contained +in the volume, as may determine the probable locality of the place where +it was executed. The coincidences which I have noticed were not sought +for. Happening to be turning over Sebastian Munster’s Cosmography when a +copy of the History of the Virgin was before me, I observed that the two +fish in the arms of the Counts of Wirtemberg,[II-50] and those in the +15th folio of the History, were the same. The other instances of +correspondence were also discovered without search, from having +occasionally, in tracing the progress of wood engraving, to refer to +Merian’s Topographia. + + [Footnote II-50: Those arms are to be seen in Sebastiana Munsteri + Cosmographia, cap. De Regione Wirtenbergensi, p. 592. Folio, + Basiliæ, apud Henrichum Petri, 1554.] + +Considering the thickness of the paper on which the block-books are +printed,--if I may apply this term to them,--and the thin-bodied ink +which has been used. I am at a loss to conceive how the early +wood-engravers have contrived to take off their impressions so +correctly; for in all the block-books which I have seen, where friction +has evidently been the means employed to obtain the impression, I have +only noticed two subjects in which the lines appeared double in +consequence of the shifting of the paper. From the want of body in the +ink, which appears in the Apocalypse to have been little more than +water-colour, it is not likely the paper could be used in a damp state, +otherwise the ink would run or spread; and, even if this difficulty did +not exist, the paper in a damp state could not have borne the excessive +rubbing which it appears to have received in order to obtain the +impression.[II-51] Even with such printer’s ink as is used in the +present day,--which being tenacious, renders the paper in taking an +impression by means of friction much less liable to slip or shift,--it +would be difficult to obtain clear impressions on thick paper from +blocks the size of those which form each page of the Apocalypse, or the +History of the Virgin. + + [Footnote II-51: The backs of many of the old wood-cuts which have + been taken by means of friction, still appear bright in + consequence of the rubbing which the paper has sustained in order + to obtain the impression. They would not have this appearance if + the paper had been used in a damp state.] + +Mr. Ottley, however, states that no less than two pages of the History +of the Virgin have been engraved on the same block. His observations on +this subject are as follows: “Upon first viewing this work, I was of +opinion that each of the designs contained in it was engraved upon a +separate block of wood: but, upon a more careful examination, I have +discovered that the contents of each two pages--that is, four +subjects--were engraved on the same block. The number of wooden blocks, +therefore, from which the whole was printed, was only eight. This is +proved in the first two pages of the copy before me;[II-52] where, near +the bottom of the two upper subjects, the block appears to have been +broken in two, in a horizontal direction,--after it was engraved,--and +joined together again; although not with such exactness but that the +traces of the operation clearly show themselves. The traces of a similar +accident are still more apparent in the last block, containing the Nos. +29, 30, 31, 32. The whole work was, therefore, printed on eight sheets +of paper from the same number of engraved blocks, the first four +subjects being printed from the same block upon the same sheet,--and so +on with the rest; and, indeed, in Lord Spencer’s copy, each sheet, being +mounted upon a guard, distinctly shows itself entire.”[II-53] + + [Footnote II-52: This must have been a copy of that which Heineken + calls the second edition; no such appearances of a fracture or + joining are to be seen in the first.] + + [Footnote II-53: Inquiry, p. 142.] + +The appearance of a corresponding fracture in two adjacent pages would +certainly render it likely that both were engraved on the same block; +though I should like to have an opportunity of satisfying myself by +inspection whether such appearances are really occasioned by a fracture +or not; for it is rather singular that such appearances should be +observable on the _first_ and the _last_ blocks only. I always +reluctantly speculate, except on something like sufficient grounds; but +as I have not seen a copy of the edition to which Mr. Ottley refers, +I beg to ask if the traces of supposed fracture in the last two pages do +not correspond with those in the first two? and if so, would it not be +equally reasonable to infer that eight subjects instead of four were +engraved on the same block? A block containing only two pages would be +about seventeen inches by ten, allowing for inner margins; and to obtain +clear impressions from it by means of friction, on dry thick paper, and +with mere water-colour ink, would be a task of such difficulty that I +cannot conceive how it could be performed. No traces of points by which +the paper might be kept steady on the block are perceptible; and I +unhesitatingly assert that no wood-engraver of the present day could by +means of friction take clear impressions from such a block on equally +thick paper, and using mere distemper instead of printer’s ink. As the +impressions in the History of the Virgin have unquestionably been taken +by means of friction, it is evident to me that if the blocks were of the +size that Mr. Ottley supposes, the old wood-engravers, who did not use a +press, must have resorted to some contrivance to keep the paper steady, +with which we are now unacquainted. + +Heineken describes an edition of the Apocalypse consisting of +forty-eight leaves, with cuts on one side only, which, when bound, form +a volume of three “_gatherings_,” or collections, each containing +sixteen leaves. Each of these gatherings is formed by eight folio sheets +folded in the middle, and placed one within the other, so that the cuts +are worked off in the following manner: On the outer sheet of the +gathering, forming the first and the sixteenth leaf, the first and the +sixteenth cuts are impressed, so that when the sheet is folded they face +each other, and the first and the last pages are left blank. In a +similar manner the 2nd and 15th; the 3d and 14th; the 4th and 13th; the +5th and 12th; the 6th and 11th; the 7th and 10th, and the 8th and 9th, +are, each pair respectively, impressed on the same side of the same +sheet. These sheets when folded for binding are then placed in such a +manner that the first is opposite the second; the third opposite the +fourth, and so on throughout the whole sixteen. Being arranged in this +manner, two cuts and two blank pages occur alternately. The reason for +this mode of arrangement was, that the blank pages might be pasted +together, and the cuts thus appear as if one were impressed on the back +of another. A familiar illustration of this mode of folding, adopted by +the early wood-engravers before they were accustomed to impress their +cuts on both sides of a leaf, is afforded by forming a sheet of paper +into a little book of sixteen leaves, and numbering the second and third +pages 1 and 2, leaving two pages blank; then numbering the fifth and +sixth 3 and 4, and so to No. 16, which will stand opposite to No. 15, +and have its back, forming the outer page of the gathering, unimpressed. + +Of all the block-books, that which is now commonly called “BIBLIA +PAUPERUM,”--the Bible of the Poor,--is most frequently referred to as a +specimen of that kind of printing from wood-blocks which preceded +typography, or printing by means of moveable characters or types. This +title, however, has given rise to an error which certain learned +bibliographers have without the least examination adopted, and have +afterwards given to the public considerably enlarged, at least, if not +corrected.[II-54] It has been gravely stated that this book, whose text +is in abbreviated Latin, was printed for the use of the _poor_ in an age +when even the _rich_ could scarcely read their own language. Manuscripts +of the Bible were certainly at that period both scarce and costly, and +not many individuals even of high rank were possessed of a copy; but to +conclude that the first editions of the so-called “Biblia Pauperum” were +engraved and printed for the use of the poor, appears to be about as +legitimate an inference as to conclude that, in the present day, the +reprints of the Roxburghe club were published for the benefit of the +poor who could not afford to purchase the original editions. That a +merchant or a wealthy trader might occasionally become the purchaser of +“Biblia Pauperum,” I am willing to admit,--though I am of opinion that +the book was never expressly intended for the laity;--but that it should +be printed for the use of the poor, I cannot bring myself to believe. If +the poor of Germany in the fifteenth century had the means of purchasing +such books, and were capable of reading them, I can only say that they +must have had more money to spare than their descendants, and have been +more learned than most of the rich people throughout Europe in the +present day. If the accounts which we have of the state of knowledge +about 1450 be correct, the monk or friar who could read and expound such +a work must have been esteemed as a person of considerable literary +attainments. + + [Footnote II-54: “It is a manual or kind of Catechism of the + Bible,” says the Rev. T. H. Horne, “for the use of young persons + and of the common people, whence it derives its name _Biblia + Pauperum_,--_the Bible of the Poor_,--who were thus enabled to + acquire, at a comparatively low price, an imperfect knowledge of + some of the events recorded in the Scripture.”--Introduction to + the Critical Study of the Scriptures, vol. ii. p. 224-5. The young + and the poor must have been comparatively learned at that period + to be able to read cramped Latin, when many a priest could + scarcely spell his breviary.] + +The name “Biblia Pauperum” was unknown to Schelhorn and Schœpflin, and +was not adopted by Meerman. Schelhorn, who was the first that published +a fac-simile of one of the pages engraved on wood, gives it no +distinctive name; but merely describes it as “a book which contained in +text and figures certain histories and prophecies of the Old Testament, +which, in the author’s judgment, were figurative of Christ, and of the +works performed by him for the salvation of mankind.”[II-55] Schœpflin +calls it, “Vaticinia Veteris Testamenti de Christo;”[II-56]--“Prophecies +of the Old Testament concerning Christ;” but neither this title, nor the +description of Schelhorn, is sufficiently comprehensive; for the book +contains not only prophecies and typical figures from the Old Testament, +but also passages and subjects selected from the New. The title which +Meerman gives to it is more accurately descriptive of the contents: +“Figuræ typicæ Veteris atque antitypicæ Novi Testamenti, seu Historia +Jesu Christi in figuris;” that is, “Typical figures of the Old Testament +and antitypical of the New, or the History of Jesus Christ pictorially +represented.”[II-57] + + [Footnote II-55: J. G. Schelhorn, Amœnitates Literariæ, tom. iv. + p. 297. 8vo. Francofurt. & Lips. 1730. Lichtenberger, Initia + Typographica, p. 4, says erroneously, that Schelhorn’s fac-simile + was engraved on copper. It is on wood, as Schelhorn himself states + at p. 296.] + + [Footnote II-56: J. D. Schœpflin, Vindiciæ Typographicæ, p. 7, + 4to. Argentorati, 1760.] + + [Footnote II-57: Ger. Meerman, Origines Typographicæ, P. 1, + p. 241. 4to. Hagæ Comit. 1765.] + +Heineken appears to have been the first who gave to this book the name +“Biblia Pauperum,” as it was in his opinion the most appropriate; “the +figures being executed for the purpose of giving a knowledge of the +Bible to those who could not afford to purchase a manuscript copy of the +Scriptures.”[II-58] This reason for the name is not, however, a good +one: for, according to his own statement, the only copy which he ever +saw with the title or inscription “Biblia Pauperum,” was a manuscript on +vellum of the fourteenth century, in which the figures were drawn and +coloured by hand.[II-59] Meerman, however, though without adopting the +title, had previously noticed the same manuscript, which in his opinion +was as old as the twelfth or thirteenth century. As the word “Pauperum” +formed part of the title of the book long before presumed cheap copies +were printed from wood-blocks for the use of the poor, it could not be +peculiarly appropriate as the title of an illumined manuscript on +vellum, which the poor could as little afford to purchase as they could +a manuscript copy of the Bible. In whatever manner the term “poor” +became connected with the book, it is clear that the name “Biblia +Pauperum” was not given to it in consequence of its being printed at a +cheap rate for circulation among poor people. It is not indeed likely +that its ancient title ever was “Biblia Pauperum;” while, on the +contrary, there seems every reason to believe that Heineken had copied +an abridged title and thus given currency to an error. + + [Footnote II-58: Idée Générale, p. 292, note.] + + [Footnote II-59: Camus, speaking of one of those manuscripts + compared with the block-book, observes: “Ce dernier abrégé + méritoit bien le nom de BIBLIA PAUPERUM, par comparison aux + tableaux complets de la Bible que je viens d’indiquer. Des + ouvrages tels que les tableaux complets ne pouvoient être que + BIBLIA DIVITUM.”--Notice d’un Livre imprimé à Bamberg en 1462, + p. 12, note. 4to. Paris, 1800.] + +Heineken says that he observed the inscription, “Incipit Biblia +Pauperum,” in a manuscript in the library at Wolfenbuttel, written on +vellum in a Gothic character, which appeared to be of the fourteenth +century. The figures, which were badly designed, were coloured in +distemper, and the explanatory text was in Latin rhyme. It is surprising +that neither Heineken nor any other bibliographer should have suspected +that a word was wanting in the above supposed title, more especially as +the word wanting might have been so readily suggested by another work so +much resembling the pretended “Biblia Pauperum” that the one has +frequently been confounded with the other.[II-60] In the proemium of +this other work, which is no other than the “Speculum Salvationis,” the +writer expressly states that he has compiled it “propter pauperes +predicatores,”--for _poor_ preachers. + + +Predictu’ p’hemiu’ hujus libri de conte’tis compilavi, + Et p’pter paup’es p’dicatores hoc apponere curavi; + Qui si forte nequieru’t totum librum sibi co’p’are, + Possu’t ex ipso p’hemio, si sciu’t p’dicare.+ + + This preface of contents, stating what this book’s about, + For the sake of all _poor preachers_ I have fairly written out; + If the purchase of the book entire should be above their reach, + This preface yet may serve them, if they know but how to preach. + + [Footnote II-60: “Entre ces abrégés [de la Bible] on remarque le + SPECULUM HUMANÆ SALVATIONIS et le BIBLIA PAUPERUM. Ces deux + ouvrages ont beaucoup d’affinité entre eux pour le volume, le + choix des histoires, les moralités, la composition des tableaux. + Ils existent en manuscrits dans plusieurs bibliothèques.”--Camus, + Notice d’un Livre, &c. p. 12.] + +That the other book might be called “Biblia Pauperum _Predicatorum_,” in +consequence of its general use by mendicant preachers, I can readily +believe; and no doubt the omission of the word “predicatorum” in the +inscription copied by Heineken has given rise to the popular error, that +the pretended “Biblia Pauperum” was a kind of cheap pictorial Bible, +especially intended for the use of the poor. It is, in fact, a series of +“skeleton sermons” ornamented with wood-cuts to warm the preacher’s +imagination, and stored with texts to assist his memory. In speaking of +this book in future, I shall always refer to it as the “Biblia Pauperum +Predicatorum,”--“the Poor Preachers’ Bible;” for the continuance of its +former title only tends, in my opinion, to disseminate an error. + +Nyerup, who in 1784 published an “Account of such books as were read in +schools in Denmark prior to the Reformation,”[II-61] objected to the +title “Biblia Pauperum,” as he had seen portions of a manuscript copy in +which the drawings were richly coloured. The title which he preferred +was BIBLIA TYPICO-HARMONICA. In this objection, however, Camus does not +concur: “It is not from the embellishments of a single copy,” he +observes, “that we ought to judge of the current price of a book; and, +besides, we must not forget to take into consideration the other motives +which might suggest the title, ‘Bible of the Poor,’ for we have proofs +that other abridgments of greater extent were called ‘Poor men’s books.’ +Such is the ‘Biblia Pauperum’ of St. Bonaventure, consisting of extracts +for the use of _preachers_, and the ‘Dictionarius Pauperum.’ Of the last +the title is explained in the book itself: ‘Incipit summula omnibus +_verbi divini seminatoribus pernecessaria_.’” It is surprising that +Camus did not perceive that the very titles which he cites militate +against the opinion of the “Biblia” being intended for the use of poor +_men_. St. Bonaventure’s work, and the Dictionary, which he refers to as +instances of “Poor men’s books,” both bear on the very face of them a +refutation of his opinion, for in the works themselves it is distinctly +stated that they were compiled, not “ad usum pauperum _hominum_;” but +“ad usum pauperum _predicatorum_, et _verbi divini seminatorum_:” not +for the use of “poor _men_,” but for “poor _preachers_ and _teachers of +the divine word_.” Camus has unwittingly supplied a club to batter his +own argument to pieces. + + [Footnote II-61: “Librorum qui ante Reformationem in scholis Daniæ + legebantur, Notitia. Hafniæ, 1784;” referred to by Camus, Notice + d’un Livre, &c. p. 10.] + +Of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum,” there are, according to Heineken, +five different editions with the text in Latin. Four of them contain +each forty leaves, printed on one side only from wood-blocks by means of +friction, and which differ from each other in so trifling a degree, that +it is not unlikely that three of them are from the same set of blocks. +The other edition,--the fifth described by Heineken--contains fifty +leaves, printed in a similar manner, but apparently with the figures +designed by a different artist. Besides the above, there are two +different editions, also from wood-blocks, with the text in German: one +with the date 1470; and the other, 1471 or 1475, for the last numeral +appears as like a 1 as a 5. There are also two editions, one Latin, and +the other German, with the text printed from moveable types by Albert +Pfister, at Bamberg, about 1462. + +Without pretending to decide on the priority of the first five +editions,--as I have not been able to perceive any sufficient marks from +which the order in which they were published might be ascertained,--I +shall here give a brief account of a copy of that edition which Heineken +ranks as the third. It is in the King’s Library at the British Museum, +and was formerly in the collection of Monsieur Gaignat, at whose sale it +was bought for George III. + +It is a small folio of forty leaves, impressed on one side only, in +order that the blank pages might be pasted together, so that two of the +printed sides would thus form only one leaf. The order of the first +twenty pages is indicated by the letters of the alphabet, from +a+ to ++v+, and of the second twenty by the same letters, having as a +distinguishing mark a point both before and after them, thus: +. a .+ In +that which Heineken considers the first edition, the letters +n+, +o+, ++r+, +s+, of the second alphabet, making pages 33, 34, 37, and 38, want +those two distinguishing points, which, according to him, are to be +found in each of the other three Latin editions of forty pages each. Mr. +Ottley has, however, observed that Earl Spencer’s copy wants the +points,--on each side of the letters +n+, +o+, +r+, +s+, of the second +alphabet,--thus agreeing with that which Heineken calls the first +edition, while in all other respects it answers the description which +that writer gives of the presumed second. Mr. Ottley says, that Heineken +errs in asserting that the want of those points on each side of the said +letters is a distinction exclusively belonging to the first edition, +since the edition called by him the second is likewise without +them.[II-62] In fact, the variations noticed by Heineken are not only +insufficient to enable a person to judge of the priority of the +editions, but they are such as might with the greatest ease be +introduced into a block after a certain number of copies had been taken +off. Those which he considers as distinguishing marks might easily be +broken away by the burnisher or rubber, and replaced by the insertion of +other pieces, differing in a slight degree. From the trifling variations +noticed by Heineken[II-63] in the first three editions, it is not +unlikely that they were all taken from the same blocks. Each of the +triangular ornaments in which he has observed a difference, might easily +be re-inserted in the event of its being injured in taking an +impression. The tiara of Moses, in page 35, letter +. p .+ would be +peculiarly liable to accident in taking an impression by friction, and I +am disposed to think that a part of it has been broken off, and that in +repairing it a trifling alteration has been made in the ornament on its +top. Heineken, noticing the alteration, has considered it as a criterion +of two different editions, while in all probability it only marks a +trifling variety in copies taken from the same blocks. + + [Footnote II-62: Inquiry, vol. i. p. 129.] + + [Footnote II-63: Idée Générale, p. 307, 308.] + +On each page are four portraits,--two at the top, and two at the +bottom,--intended for the prophets, and other holy men, whose writings +are cited in the text. The middle part of the page between each pair of +portraits consists of three compartments, each of which is occupied with +a subject from the Old or the New Testament. In the 14th page, however, +letter +o+, two of the compartments--that in the centre, and the +adjoining one to the right--are both occupied by the same subject, +Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. The greatest portion of the explanatory +text is at the top on each side of the uppermost portraits; and on each +side of those below there is a Leonine, or rhyming Latin, verse. +A similar verse underneath those portraits forms the concluding line of +each page. Texts of Scripture, and moral or explanatory sentences, +having reference to the subjects in the three compartments, also appear +on scrolls. The following cut, which is a reduced copy of the 14th page, +letter +k+, will afford a better idea of the arrangement of the +subjects, and of the explanatory texts, than any lengthened description. + +The whole of this subject--both text and figures--appears intended to +inculcate the necessity of restraining appetite. The inscription to the +right, at the top, contains a reference to the 3rd chapter of Genesis, +wherein there is to be found an account of the temptation and fall of +Adam and Eve, who were induced by the Serpent to taste the forbidden +fruit. This temptation of our first parents through the medium of the +palate, was, as may be gathered from the same inscription, figurative of +the temptation of Christ after his fasting forty days in the wilderness, +when the Devil came to him and said, “If thou be the Son of God, command +that these stones be made bread.” + + [Illustration] + +In the inscription to the left, reference is made to the 25th chapter of +Genesis, as containing an account of Esau, who, in consequence of his +unrestrained appetite, sold his birth-right for a mess of pottage. + +In the compartments in the middle of the page, are three illustrations +of the preceding text. In the centre is seen the pattern to +imitate,--Christ resisting the temptation of the Devil; and on each side +the examples to deter,--Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit; and +hungry Esau receiving the mess of pottage from Jacob. + +Underneath the two half-length figures at the top, is inscribed “David +34,” and “Ysaie xxix.”[II-64] The numerals are probably intended to +indicate the chapters in the Psalms, and in the Prophecies of Isaiah, +where the inscriptions on the adjacent scrolls are to be found. On +similar scrolls, towards the bottom of the page, are references to the +7th chapter of the 2nd book of Kings, and to the 16th chapter of Job. +The two half-length figures are most likely intended for the writers of +those sacred books. The likenesses of the prophets and holy persons, +thus introduced at the top and bottom of each page, are, as Schelhorn +has observed,[II-65] purely imaginary; for the same character is seldom +seen twice with the same face. As most of the supposed figurative +descriptions of Christ and his ministry are to be found in the Psalms, +and in the Prophecies of Isaiah, the portraits of David and the +last-named prophet are those which most frequently occur; and the +designer seems to have been determined that neither the king nor the +prophet should ever appear twice with the same likeness. + + [Footnote II-64: The passages referred to are probably the 8th, + 9th, and 10th verses of the xxxivth Psalm; and the 8th verse of + the xxixth chapter of Isaiah.] + + [Footnote II-65: “Has autem icones ex sola sculptoris imaginatione + et arbitrio fluxisse vel inde liquet, quod idem scriptor sacer in + diversis foliis diversa plerumque et alia facie delineatus + sistatur, sicuti, v. g. Esaias ac David, sæpius obvii, Protei + instar, varias induerunt in hoc opere formas.”--Amœnitates + Literariæ, tom. iv. p. 297.] + +The rhyming verses are as follows. That to the right, underneath the +subject of Adam and Eve: + + Serpens vicit, Adam vetitam sibi sugerat escam. + +The other, on the opposite side, underneath Jacob and Esau: + + Lentis ob ardorem proprium male perdit honorem. + +And the third, at the bottom of the page, underneath the two portraits: + + Christum temptavit Sathanas ut eum superaret. + +The following cuts are fac-similes, the size of the originals, of each +of the compartments of the page referred to, and of which a reduced copy +has been already given. + +The first contains the representation of David and Isaiah, and the +characters which follow the name of the former I consider to be intended +for 34. They are the only instances in the volume of the use of Arabic, +or rather Spanish numerals. The letter +k+, at the foot, is the +“signature,” as a printer would term it, indicating the order of the +page. On each side of it are portions of scrolls containing +inscriptions, of which some of the letters are seen. + +The next cut represents Satan tempting Christ by offering him stones to +be converted into bread. + +In the distance are seen the high mountain, to the top of which Christ +was taken up by the Devil, and the temple from whose pinnacle Christ was +tempted to cast himself down. The figure of Christ in this compartment +is not devoid of sober dignity; nor is Satan deficient in diabolical +ugliness; but, though clawed and horned proper, he wants the usual +appendage of a tail. The deficiency is, however, in some degree +compensated by giving to his hip the likeness of a fiendish face. In two +or three other old wood engravings I have noticed a repulsive face +indicated in a similar manner on the hip of the Devil. A person well +acquainted with the superstitions of the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries may perhaps be able to give a reason for this. It may be +intended to show that Satan, who is ever going about seeking whom he may +devour, can see both before and behind. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +The cut on the following page (90), which forms the compartment to the +right, represents Adam and Eve, each with an apple: and the state in +which Eve appears to be, is in accordance with an opinion maintained by +several of the schoolmen of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The +tree of knowledge is without fruit, and the serpent, with a human face, +is seen twined round its stem. The form of the tree and the shape of the +leaves are almost precisely the same as those of the olive-trees in the +Apocalypse, uprooted by Antichrist. The character of the designs, +however, in the two books is almost as different as the manner of the +engraving. In the Apocalypse there is no attempt at shading, while in +the book under consideration it is introduced in every page, though +merely by courses of single lines, as may be perceived in the drapery of +Christ in the preceding cut, and in the trunk of the tree and in the +serpent in the cut subjoined. In this cut the figure of Adam cannot be +considered as a specimen of manly beauty; his face is that of a man who +is past his prime, and his attitude is very like that of one of the +splay-footed boors of Teniers. In point of personal beauty Eve appears +to be a partner worthy of her husband; and though from her action she +seems conscious that she is naked, yet her expression and figure are +extremely unlike the graceful timidity and beautiful proportions of the +Medicean Venus. The face of the serpent displays neither malignity nor +fiendish cunning; but, on the contrary, is marked with an expression not +unlike that of a Bavarian broom-girl. This manner of representing the +temptation of our first parents appears to have been conventional among +the early German Formschneiders; for I have seen several old wood-cuts +of this subject, in which the figures were almost precisely the same. +Notwithstanding the bad drawing and the coarse engraving of the +following cut, many of the same subject, executed in Germany between +1470 and 1510, are yet worse. + + [Illustration] + +In the opposite cut, which forms the compartment to the left, Esau, who +is distinguished by his bow and quiver, is seen receiving a bowl of +pottage from his brother Jacob. At the far side of the apartment is seen +a “kail-pot,” suspended from a “crook,” with something like a ham and a +gammon of bacon hanging against the wall. This subject is treated in a +style which is thoroughly Dutch. Isaac’s family appear to have been +lodged in a tolerably comfortable house, with a stock of provisions near +the chimney nook; and his two sons are very like some of the figures in +the pictures of Teniers, more especially about the legs. + + [Illustration] + +The following cut, a copy of that which is the lowest in the page, +represents the two prophets or inspired penmen, to whom reference is +made on the two scrolls whose ends may be perceived towards the lower +corners of each arch. The words underneath the figures are a portion of +the last rhyming verse quoted at page 87. It is from a difference in the +triangular ornament, above the pillar separating the two figures, though +not in this identical page, that Heineken chiefly decides on three of +the editions of this book; though nothing could be more easy than to +introduce another ornament of a similar kind, in the event of the +original either being damaged in printing or intentionally effaced. In +some of the earliest wood-blocks which remain undestroyed by the rough +handling of time there are evident traces of several letters having been +broken away, and of the injury being afterwards remedied by the +introduction of a new piece of wood, on which the letters wanting were +re-engraved. + + [Illustration] + +The ink with which the cuts in the “Poor Preachers’ Bible” have been +printed, is evidently a kind of distemper of the colour of bistre, +lighter than in the History of the Virgin, and darker than in the +Apocalypse. In many of the cuts certain portions of the lines appear +surcharged with ink,--sometimes giving to the whole page rather a +blotched appearance,--while other portions seem scarcely to have +received any.[II-66] This appearance is undoubtedly in consequence of +the light-bodied ink having, from its want of tenacity, accumulated on +the block where the line was thickest, or where two lines met, leaving +the thinner portions adjacent with scarce any colouring at all. The +block must, in my opinion, have been charged with such ink by means of +something like a brush, and not by means of a ball. In some parts of the +cuts--more especially where there is the greatest portion of text--small +white spaces may be perceived, as if a graver had been run through the +lines. On first noticing this appearance, I was inclined to think that +it was owing to the spreading of the hairs of the brush in inking, +whereby certain parts might have been left untouched. The same kind of +break in the lines may be observed, however, in some of the impressions +of the old wood-cuts published by Becker and Derschau,[II-67] and which +are worked off by means of a press, and with common printer’s ink. In +these it is certainly owing to minute furrows in the grain of the wood; +and I am now of opinion that the same cause has occasioned a similar +appearance in the cuts of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum.” Mr. +Ottley, speaking of the impressions in Earl Spencer’s copy, makes the +following remarks: “In many instances they have a sort of horizontally +striped and confused appearance, which leads me to suppose that they +were taken from engravings executed on some kind of wood of a coarse +grain.”[II-68] This correspondence between Earl Spencer’s copy and that +in the King’s Library at the British Museum tends to confirm my opinion +that there are not so many editions of the book as Heineken,--from +certain accidental variations,--has been induced to suppose. + + [Footnote II-66: Schelhorn has noticed a similar appearance in the + old block-book entitled “Ars Memorandi:” “Videas hic nonnunquam + literas atramento confluenti deformatas, ventremque illarum, alias + album et vacuum, atramentaria macula repletum.” Amœnitat. Liter. + tom. i. p. 7.] + + [Footnote II-67: This collection of wood engravings from old + blocks was published in three parts, large folio, at Gotha in + 1808, 1810, and 1816, under the following title: “Holzschnitte + alter Deutscher Meister in den Original-Platten gesammelt von Hans + Albrecht Von Derschau: Als ein Beytrag zur Kunstgeschichte + herausgegeben, und mit einer Abhandlung über die Holzschneidekunst + und deren Schicksale begleitet von Rudolph Zacharias Becker.” The + collector has frequently mistaken rudeness of design, and + coarseness of execution, for proofs of antiquity.] + + [Footnote II-68: Inquiry, vol. i. p. 130.] + +The manner in which the cuts are engraved, and the attempts at something +like effect in the shading and composition, induce me to think that this +book is not so old as either the Apocalypse or the History of the +Virgin. That it appeared before 1428, as has been inferred from the date +which the Rev. Mr. Horne fancied that he had seen on the ancient +binding, I cannot induce myself to believe. It is more likely to have +been executed at some time between 1440 and 1460; and I am inclined to +think that it is the production of a Dutch or Flemish, rather than a +German artist. + +A work, from which the engraved “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” is little +more than an abstract, appears to have been known in France and Germany +long before block-printing was introduced. Of such a work there were two +manuscript copies in the National Library at Paris; the one complete, +and the other--which, with a few exceptions, had been copied from the +first--imperfect. The work consisted of a brief summary of the Bible, +arranged in the following manner. One or two phrases in Latin and in +French formed, as it were, the text; and each text was followed by a +moral reflection, also in Latin and in French. Each article, which thus +consisted of two parts, was illustrated by two drawings, one of which +related to the historical fact, and the other to the moral deduced from +it. The perfect copy consisted of four hundred and twenty-two pages, on +each of which there were eight drawings, so that the number contained in +the whole volume was upwards of five thousand. In some of the single +drawings, which were about two and one-third inches wide, by three and +one-third inches high, Camus counted not less than thirty heads.[II-69] + + [Footnote II-69: Notice d’un Livre, &c. p. 11.] + +In a copy of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” from wood-blocks, +Heineken observed written: “S. ANSGARIUS est autor hujus libri,”--St. +Ansgarius is the author of this book. St. Ansgarius, who was a native of +France, and a monk of the celebrated Abbey of Corbey, was sent into +Lower Saxony, and other places in the north, for the purpose of +reclaiming the people from paganism. He was appointed the first bishop +of Hamburg in 831, and in 844 Bishop of Bremen, where he died in +864.[II-70] From a passage cited by Heineken from Ornhielm’s +Ecclesiastical History of Sweden and Gothland, it appears that Ansgarius +was reputed to have compiled a similar book;[II-71] and Heineken +observes that it might be from this passage that the “Biblia Pauperum +Predicatorum” was ascribed to the Bishop of Hamburg. + + [Footnote II-70: Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 319.] + + [Footnote II-71: Ornhielm’s book was printed in 4to. at Stockholm, + 1689. The passage referred to is as follows: “Quos _per numeros et + signa_ conscripsisse cum [Ansgarium] libros Rembertus memorat + indigitatos _pigmentorum_ vocabulo, eos continuisse, palam est, + quasdam aut e divinarum literarum, aut pie doctorum patrum + scriptis, pericopas et sententias.”] + +In the cloisters of the cathedral at Bremen, Heineken saw two +bas-reliefs sculptured on stone, of which the figures, of a moderate +size, were precisely the same as those in two of the pages--the first +and eighth--of the German “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum.” The +inscriptions, which were in Latin, were the same as in block-book. He +thinks it very probable that the other arches of the cloisters were +formerly ornamented in the same manner with the remainder of the +subjects, but that the sculptures had been destroyed in the disturbances +which had occurred in Bremen. Though he by no means pretends that the +cuts were engraved in the time of Ansgarius, he thinks it not impossible +that the sculptures might be executed at that period according to the +bishop’s directions. This last passage is one of the most silly that +occurs in Heineken’s book.[II-72] It is just about as likely that the +cuts in the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” were engraved in the time of +Ansgarius, as that the bas-reliefs in the cloisters of the cathedral of +Bremen should have been sculptured under his direction. + + [Footnote II-72: “Ces conjectures sont foibles; elles ont été + attaquées par Erasme Nyerup dans un écrit publié à Copenhague en + 1784. . . . . Nyerup donne à penser que Heinecke a reconnu + lui-même, dans la suite, la foiblesse de ses conjectures.”--Camus, + Notice d’un Livre, &c. p. 9.] + +The book usually called the “Speculum Humanæ Salvationis,”[II-73]--the +Mirror of Human Salvation,--which is ascribed by Hadrian Junius to +Lawrence Coster, has been more frequently the subject of discussion +among bibliographers and writers who have treated of the origin of +printing, than any other work. A great proportion, however, of what has +been written on the subject consists of groundless speculation; and the +facts elicited, compared with the conjectures propounded, are as “two +grains of wheat to a bushel of chaff.” It would be a waste of time to +recite at length the various opinions that have been entertained with +respect to the date of this book, the manner in which the text was +printed, and the printer’s name. The statements and the theories put +forth by Junius and Meerman in Coster’s favour, so far as the execution +of the Speculum is concerned, are decidedly contradicted by the book +itself. Without, therefore, recapitulating arguments which are +contradicted by established facts, I shall endeavour to give a correct +account of the work, leaving those who choose to compare it, and +reconcile it if they can, with the following assertions made by Coster’s +advocates: 1. that the Speculum was first printed by him in Dutch with +wooden types; 2. that while engraving a Latin edition on blocks of wood +he discovered the art of printing with moveable letters; 3. that the +Latin edition, in which the text is partly from moveable types and +partly from wood-blocks, was printed by Coster’s heirs and successors, +their moveable types having been stolen by John Gutemberg before the +whole of the text was set up. + + [Footnote II-73: It is sometimes named “Speculum Figuratum;” and + Junius in his account of Coster’s invention calls it “Speculum + Nostræ Salutis.”] + +The Speculum which has been the subject of so much discussion is of a +small folio size, and without date or printer’s name. There are four +editions of it known to bibliographers, all containing the same cuts; +two of those editions are in Latin, and two in Dutch. In the Latin +editions the work consists of sixty-three leaves, five of which are +occupied by an introduction or prologue, and on the other fifty-eight +are printed the cuts and explanatory text. The Dutch editions, though +containing the same number of cuts as the Latin, consist of only +sixty-two leaves each, as the preface occupies only four. In all those +editions the leaves are printed on one side only. Besides the four +editions above noticed, which have been ascribed to Coster and have +excited so much controversy, there are two or three others in which the +cuts are more coarsely engraved, and probably executed, at a later +period, in Germany. There is also a quarto edition of the Speculum, +printed in 1483, at Culemburg, by John Veldener, and ornamented with the +identical cuts of the folio editions ascribed to Coster and his heirs. + +The four controverted editions of the Speculum may be considered as +holding a middle place between block-books,--which are wholly executed, +both text and cuts, by the wood-engraver,--and books printed with +moveable types: for in three of the editions the cuts are printed by +means of friction with a rubber or burnisher, in the manner of the +History of the Virgin, and other block-books, while the text, set in +moveable type, has been worked off by means of a press; and in a fourth +edition, in which the cuts are taken in the same manner as in the +former, twenty pages of the text are printed from wood-blocks by means +of friction, while the remainder are printed in the same manner as the +whole of the text in the three other editions; that is, from moveable +metal types, and by means of a press. + +There are fifty-eight cuts in the Speculum, each of which is divided +into two compartments by a slender column in the middle. In all the +editions the cuts are placed as head-pieces at the top of each page, +having underneath them, in two columns, the explanatory text. Under each +compartment the title of the subject, in Latin, is engraved on the +block. + +The following reduced copy of the first cut will give an idea of their +form, as every subject has pillars at the side, and is surmounted by an +arch in the same style. + + [Illustration] + +The style of engraving in those cuts is similar to those of the Poor +Preachers’ Bible. The former are, however, on the whole executed with +greater delicacy, and contain more work. The shadows and folds of the +drapery in the first forty-eight cuts are indicated by short parallel +lines, which are mostly horizontal. In the forty-ninth and subsequent +cuts, as has been noticed by Mr. Ottley, a change in the mode of +indicating the shades and the folds in the draperies is perceptible; for +the short parallel lines, instead of being horizontal as in the former, +are mostly slanting. Heineken observes, that to the forty-eighth cut +inclusive, the chapters in the printed work are conformable with the old +Latin manuscripts; and as a perceptible change in the execution +commences with the forty-ninth, it is not unlikely that the cuts were +engraved by two different persons. The two following cuts are +fac-similes of the compartments of the first, of which a reduced copy +has been previously given. + + [Illustration] + +In the above cut, its title, “Casus Luciferi,”--the Fall of Lucifer,--is +engraved at the bottom; and the subject represented is Satan and the +rebellious angels driven out of heaven, as typical of man’s disobedience +and fall. The following are the first two lines of the column of text +underneath the cut in the Latin editions: + + +Inchoatur speculum humanae salvacionis + In quo patet casus hominis et modus repactionis.+ + +Which may be translated into English thus: + + In the Mirror of Salvation here is represented plain + The fall of man, and by what means he made his peace again. + +The following is the right-hand compartment of the same cut. The title +of this subject, as in all the others, is engraved at the bottom; the +contracted words when written in full are, “Deus creavit hominem ad +ymaginem et similitudinem suam,”--God created man after his own image +and likeness. + + [Illustration] + +The first two lines of the text in the column underneath this cut are, + + +Mulier autem in paradiso est formata + De costis viri dormienti est parata.+ + +That is, in English rhyme of similar measure, + + The woman was in Paradise for man an help meet made, + From Adam’s rib created as he asleep was laid. + +The cuts in all the editions are printed in light brown or sepia colour +which has been mixed with water, and readily yields to moisture. The +impressions have evidently been taken by means of friction, as the back +of the paper immediately behind is smooth and shining from the action of +the rubber or burnisher, while on the lower part of the page at the back +of the text, which has been printed with moveable types, there is no +such appearance. In the second Latin edition, in which the explanatory +text to twenty of the cuts[II-74] has been printed from engraved +wood-blocks by means of friction, the reverse of those twenty pages +presents the same smooth appearance as the reverse of the cuts. In those +twenty pages of text from engraved wood-blocks the ink is +lighter-coloured than in the remainder of the book which is printed from +moveable types, though much darker than that of the cuts. It is, +therefore, evident that the two impressions,--the one from the block +containing the cut, and the other from the block containing the +text,--have been taken separately. In the pages printed from moveable +types, the ink, which has evidently been compounded with oil, is +full-bodied, and of a dark brown colour, approaching nearly to black. In +the other three editions, one Latin and two Dutch, in which the text is +entirely from moveable types, the ink is also full-bodied and nearly jet +black, forming a strong contrast with the faint colour of the cuts. + + [Footnote II-74: The cuts which have the text printed from + wood-blocks are Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, + 17, 21, 22, 26, 27, 46, and 55.--Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 444.] + +The plan of the Speculum is almost the same as that of the Poor +Preachers’ Bible, and is equally as well entitled as the latter to be +called “A History typical and anti-typical of the Old and New +Testament.” Several of the subjects in the two books are treated nearly +in the same manner, though in no single instance, so far as my +observation goes, is the design precisely the same in both. In several +of the cuts of the Speculum, in the same manner as in the Poor +Preachers’ Bible, one compartment contains the supposed type or +prefiguration, and the other its fulfilment; for instance: at No. 17 the +appearance of the Lord to Moses in the burning bush is typical of the +Annunciation; at No. 23 the brazen bath in the temple of Solomon is +typical of baptism; at No. 31 the manna provided for the children of +Israel in the Desert is typical of the Lord’s Supper; at No. 45 the +Crucifixion is represented in one compartment, and in the other is +Tubal-Cain, the inventor of iron-work, and consequently of the nails +with which Christ was fixed to the cross; and at No. 53 the descent of +Christ to Hades, and the liberation of the patriarchs and fathers, is +typified by the escape of the children of Israel from Egypt. + +Though most of the subjects are from the Bible or the Apocrypha, yet +there are two or three which the designer has borrowed from profane +history: such as Semiramis contemplating the hanging gardens of Babylon; +the Sibyl and Augustus; and Codrus king of Athens incurring death in +order to secure victory to his people. + +The Speculum Salvationis, as printed in the editions previously noticed, +is only a portion of a larger work with the same title, and ornamented +with similar designs, which had been known long before in manuscript. +Heineken says, at page 478 of his Idée Générale, that the oldest copy he +ever saw was in the Imperial Library at Vienna; and, at page 468, he +observes that it appeared to belong to the twelfth century. + +The manuscript work, when complete, consisted of forty-five chapters in +rhyming Latin, to which was prefixed an introduction containing a list +of them. Each of the first forty-two chapters contained four subjects, +the first of which was the principal, and the other three illustrative +of it. To each of these chapters were two drawings, every one of which, +as in the printed copies of the work, consisted of two compartments. The +last three chapters contained each eight subjects, and each subject was +ornamented with a design.[II-75] The whole number of separate +illustrations in the work was thus one hundred and ninety-two. The +printed folio editions contain only fifty-eight cuts, or one hundred and +sixteen separate illustrations. + + [Footnote II-75: Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 474.] + +Though the Speculum from the time of the publication of Junius’s +work[II-76] had been confidently claimed for Coster, yet no writer, +either for or against him, appears to have particularly directed his +attention to the manner in which the work was executed before Fournier, +who in 1758, in a dissertation on the Origin and Progress of the Art of +Wood-engraving,[II-77] first published some particulars respecting the +work in question, which induced Meerman and Heineken to speculate on the +priority of the different editions. Mr. Ottley, however, has proved, in +a manner which carries with it the certainty of mathematical +demonstration, that the conjectures of both the latter writers +respecting the priority of the editions of the Speculum are absolutely +erroneous. To elicit the truth does not, with respect to this work, seem +to have been the object of those two writers. Both had espoused theories +on its origin without much inquiry with respect to facts, and each +presumed that edition to be the first which seemed most likely to +support his own speculations. + + [Footnote II-76: The “Batavia” or Junius, in which the name of + Lawrence Coster first appears as a printer, was published in + 1588.] + + [Footnote II-77: Dissertation sur l’Origine et les Progrès de + l’Art de Graver en Bois. Par M. Fournier le Jeune, 8vo. Paris, + 1758.] + +Heineken, who assumed that the work was of German origin, insisted that +the _first_ edition was that in which the text is printed partly from +moveable types and partly from letters engraved on wood-blocks, and that +the Dutch editions were executed subsequently in the Low Countries. The +Latin edition with the text entirely printed from moveable types he is +pleased to denominate the second, and to assert, contrary to the +evidence which the work itself affords, that the type resembles that of +Faust and Scheffer, and that the cuts in this _second_ Latin edition, as +he erroneously calls it, are coarser and not so sharp as those in the +Latin edition which he supposes to be the first. + +Fournier’s discoveries with respect to the execution of the Speculum +seem to have produced a complete change as to its origin in the opinions +of Meerman; who, in 1757, the year before Fournier’s dissertation was +printed, had expressed his belief, in a letter to his friend Wagenaar, +that what was alleged in favour of Coster being the inventor of printing +was mere gratuitous assertion; that the text of the Speculum was +probably printed after the cuts, and subsequent to 1470; that there was +not a single document, nor an iota of evidence, to show that Coster ever +used moveable types; and lastly, that the Latin was prior to the Dutch +edition of the Speculum, as was apparent from the Latin names engraved +at the foot of the cuts, which certainly would have been in Dutch had +the cuts been originally destined for a Dutch edition.[II-78] In the +teeth of his own previous opinions, having apparently gained a new light +from Fournier’s discoveries, Meerman, in his Origines Typographicæ, +printed in 1765, endeavours to prove that the Dutch edition was the +first, and that it was printed with moveable wooden types by Coster. The +Latin edition in which the text is printed partly from moveable types +and partly from wood-blocks he supposes to have been printed by Coster’s +heirs after his decease, thus endeavouring to give credibility to the +story of Coster having died of grief on account of his types being +stolen, and to encourage the supposition that his heirs in this edition +supplied the loss by having engraved on blocks of wood those pages which +were not already printed. + + [Footnote II-78: A French translation of Meerman’s letter, which + was originally written in Dutch, is given by Santander in his + Dictionnaire Bibliographique, tom. i. pp. 14-18, 8vo. Bruxelles, + 1805.] + +Fournier’s discoveries relative to the manner in which the Speculum was +executed were: 1st, that the cuts and the text had been printed at +separate times, and that the former had been printed by means of +friction; 2d, that a portion of the text in one of the Latin editions +had been printed from engraved wood-blocks.[II-79] Fournier, who was a +type-founder and wood-engraver, imagined that the moveable types with +which the Speculum was printed were of wood. He also asserted that Faust +and Scheffer’s Psalter and an early edition of the Bible were printed +with moveable wooden types. Such assertions are best answered by a +simple negative, leaving the person who puts them forth to make out a +probable case. + + [Footnote II-79: Dissertation, pp. 29-32. The many mistakes which + Fournier commits in his Dissertation, excite a suspicion that he + was either superficially acquainted with his subject, or extremely + careless. He published two or three other small works on the + subject of engraving and printing,--after the manner of + “Supplements to an Appendix,”--the principal of which is entitled + “De l’Origine et des Productions de l’Imprimerie primitive en + taille de bois; avec une refutation des préjugés plus ou moins + accredités sur cet art; pour servir de suite à la Dissertation sur + l’Origine de l’Art de graver en bois. Paris, 1759.”] + +The fact having been established that in one of the editions of the +Speculum a part of the text was printed from wood-blocks, while the +whole of the text in the other three was printed from moveable types, +Heineken, without diligently comparing the editions with each other in +order to obtain further evidence, decides in favour of that edition +being the first in which part of the text is printed from wood-blocks. +His reasons for supposing this to be the first edition, though specious +in appearance, are at variance with the facts which have since been +incontrovertibly established by Mr. Ottley, whose scrutinizing +examination of the different editions has clearly shown the futility of +all former speculations respecting their priority. The argument of +Heineken is to this effect: “It is improbable that a printer who had +printed an edition wholly with moveable types should afterwards have +recourse to an engraver to cut for him on blocks of wood a portion of +the text for a second edition; and it is equally improbable that a +wood-engraver who had discovered the art of printing with moveable +types, and had used them to print the entire text of the first edition, +should, to a certain extent, abandon his invention in a second by +printing a portion of the text from engraved blocks of wood.” The +following is the order in which he arranges the different editions: + + 1. The Latin edition in which part of the text is printed from + wood-blocks. + + 2. The Latin edition in which the text is entirely printed from + moveable types. + + 3. The Dutch edition with the text printed wholly from moveable + types, supposed by Meerman to be the _first edition_ of all.[II-80] + + 4. The Dutch edition with the text printed wholly from moveable + types, and which differs only from the preceding one in having + the two pages of text under cuts No. 45 and 56 printed in a type + different from the rest of the book. + + [Footnote II-80: Heineken seems inclined to consider this as the + second Dutch edition; and he only mentions it as the first Dutch + edition because it is called so by Meerman.--Idée Gén. pp. 453, + 454.] + +The preceding arrangement--including Meerman’s opinion respecting the +priority of the Dutch edition--rests entirely on conjecture, and is +almost diametrically contradicted in every instance by the evidence +afforded by the books themselves; for through the comparisons and +investigations of Mr. Ottley it is proved, to an absolute certainty, +that the Latin edition supposed by Heineken to be the second is the +_earliest of all_; that the edition No. 4, called the second Dutch, is +the next in order to the actual first Latin; and that the two editions, +No. 1 and No. 3, respectively proclaimed by Heineken and Meerman as the +earliest, have been printed subsequently to the other two.[II-81] Which +of the pretended _first_ editions was in reality the _last_, has not +been satisfactorily determined; though there seems reason to believe +that it was the Latin one which has part of the text printed from +wood-blocks. + + [Footnote II-81: Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of + Engraving, pp. 205-217. Though differing from Mr. Ottley in the + conclusions which he draws from the facts elicited by him + respecting the priority of the editions of the Speculum, I bear a + willing testimony to the value of his discoveries on this subject, + which may rank among the most interesting that have resulted from + bibliographical research.] + +It is well known to every person acquainted with the practice of +wood-engraving, that portions of single lines in such cuts as those of +the Speculum are often broken out of the block in the process of +printing. If two books, therefore, containing the same wood-cuts, but +evidently printed at different times, though without a date, should be +submitted to the examination of a person acquainted with the above fact +and bearing it in mind, he would doubtless declare that the copy in +which the cuts were most perfect was first printed, and that the other +in which parts of the cuts appeared broken away was of a later date. If, +on comparing other copies of the same editions he should find the same +variations, the impression on his mind as to the priority of the +editions would amount to absolute certainty. The identity of the cuts in +all the four editions of the Speculum being unquestionable, and as +certain minute fractures in the lines of some of them, as if small +portions of the block had been broken out in printing, had been +previously noticed by Fournier and Heineken, Mr. Ottley conceived the +idea of comparing the respective cuts in the different editions, with a +view of ascertaining the order in which they were printed. He first +compared two copies of the edition called the _first Latin_ with a copy +of that called the _second Dutch_, and finding, that, in several of the +cuts of the former, parts of lines were wanting which in the latter were +perfect, he concluded that the miscalled _second Dutch_ edition was in +fact of an earlier date than the pretended _first Latin_ edition of +Heineken. In further comparing the above editions with the supposed +_second Latin_ edition of Heineken and the supposed _first Dutch_ +edition of Meerman, he found that the cuts in the miscalled second Latin +edition were the most perfect of all; and that the cuts in Heineken’s +first Latin and Meerman’s first Dutch editions contained more broken +lines than the edition named by those authors the _second Dutch_. The +conclusion which he arrived at from those facts was irresistible, +namely, that the earliest edition of all was that called by Heineken the +second Latin; and that the edition called the second Dutch was the next +in order. As the cuts in the copies examined of the pretended _first_ +Latin and Dutch editions contained similar fractures, it could not be +determined with certainty which was actually the _last_. + +As it is undoubted that the cuts of all the editions have been printed +separately from the text, it has been objected that Mr. Ottley’s +examination has only ascertained the order in which the cuts have been +printed, but by no means decided the priority of the editions of the +entire book. All the cuts, it has been objected, might have been taken +by the engraver before the text was printed in a single edition, and it +might thus happen that the book first printed with text might contain +the last, and consequently the most imperfect cuts. This exception, +which is founded on a very improbable presumption, will be best answered +by the following facts established on a comparison of the two Latin, and +which, I believe, have not been previously noticed:--On closely +comparing those pages which are printed with moveable types in the true +second edition with the corresponding pages in that edition which is +properly the first, it was evident from the different spelling of many +of the words, and the different length of the lines, that they had been +printed at different times: but on comparing, however, those pages which +are printed in the second edition from engraved wood-blocks with the +corresponding pages, from moveable type, in the first edition, I found +the spelling and the length of the lines to be the same. The page +printed from the wood-block was, in short, a fac-simile of the +corresponding page printed from moveable types. So completely did they +correspond, that I have no doubt that an impression of the page printed +from moveable types had been “transferred,”[II-82] as engravers say, to +the block. In the last cut[II-83] of the first edition I noticed a +scroll which was quite black, as if meant to contain an inscription +which the artist had neglected to engrave; and in the second edition I +perceived that the black was cut away, thus having the part intended for +the inscription white. Another proof, in addition to those adduced by +Mr. Ottley of that Latin edition being truly the first in which the +whole of the text is printed from moveable types. + + [Footnote II-82: Wood-engravers of the present day are accustomed + to transfer an old impression from a cut or a page of letter-press + to a block in the following manner. They first moisten the back of + the paper on which the cut or letter-press is printed with a + mixture of concentrated potash and essence of lavender in equal + quantities, which causes the ink to separate readily from the + paper; next, when the paper is nearly dry, the cut or page is + placed above a prepared block, and by moderate pressure the ink + comes off from the paper, and leaves an impression upon the wood.] + + [Footnote II-83: The subject is Daniel explaining to Belshazzar + the writing on the wall.] + +Though there can no longer be a doubt in the mind of any impartial +person of that Latin edition, in which part of the text is printed from +engraved wood-blocks, and the rest from moveable types, being later than +the other; yet the establishment of this fact suggests a question, as to +the cause of part of the text of this second Latin edition being printed +from wood-blocks, which cannot perhaps be very satisfactorily answered. +All writers previous to Mr. Ottley, who had noticed that the text was +printed partly from moveable types and partly from wood-blocks, decided, +without hesitation, that this edition was the first; and each, +accordingly as he espoused the cause of Gutemberg or Coster, proceeded +to theorise on this assumed fact. As their arguments were founded in +error, it cannot be a matter of surprise that their conclusions should +be inconsistent with truth. The fact of this edition being subsequent to +that in which the text is printed wholly from moveable types has been +questioned on two grounds: 1st. The improbability that the person who +had printed the text of a former edition entirely from moveable types +should in a later edition have recourse to the more tedious operation of +engraving part of the text on wood-blocks. 2d. Supposing that the owner +of the cuts had determined in a later edition to engrave the text on +blocks of wood, it is difficult to conceive what could be his reason for +abandoning his plan, after twenty pages of the text were engraved, and +printing the remainder with moveable types. + +Before attempting to answer those objections, I think it necessary to +observe that the existence of a positive fact can never be affected by +any arguments which are grounded on the difficulty of accounting for it. +Objections, however specious, can never alter the immutable character of +truth, though they may affect opinions, and excite doubts in the minds +of persons who have not an opportunity of examining and judging for +themselves. + +With respect to the first objection, it is to be remembered that in all +the editions, the text, whether from wood-blocks or moveable types, has +been printed separately from the cuts; consequently the cuts of the +first edition might be printed by a wood-engraver, and the text set up +and printed by another person who possessed moveable types. The engraver +of the cuts might not be possessed of any moveable types when the text +of the first edition was printed; and, as it is a well-known fact that +wood-engravers continued to execute entire pages of text for upwards of +thirty years after the establishment of printing with moveable types, it +is not unlikely that he might attempt to engrave the text of a second +edition and print the book solely for his own advantage. This +supposition is to a certain extent corroborated by the fact of the +twenty pages of engraved text in the second Latin edition being +fac-similes of the twenty corresponding pages of text from moveable +types in the first. + +To the second objection every day’s experience suggests a ready answer; +for scarcely anything is more common than for a person to attempt a work +which he finds it difficult to complete, and, after making some progress +in it, to require the aid of a kindred art, and abandon his original +plan. + +As the first edition of the Speculum was printed subsequent to the +discovery of the art of printing with moveable types, and as it was +probably printed in the Low Countries, where the typographic art was +first introduced about 1472, I can discover no reason for believing that +the work was executed before that period. Santander, who was so well +acquainted with the progress of typography in Belgium and Holland, is of +opinion that the Speculum is not of an earlier date than 1480. In 1483 +John Veldener printed at Culemburg a quarto edition of the Speculum, in +which the cuts are the same as in the earlier folios. In order to adapt +the cuts to this smaller edition Veldener had sawn each block in two, +through the centre pillar which forms a separation between the two +compartments in each of the original engravings. Veldener’s quarto +edition, which has the text printed on both sides of the paper from +moveable types, contains twelve more cuts than the older editions, but +designed and executed in the same style.[II-84] If Lawrence Coster had +been the inventor of printing with moveable types, and if any one folio +edition of the Speculum had been executed by him, we cannot suppose that +Veldener, who was himself a wood-engraver, as well as a printer, would +have been ignorant of those facts. He, however, printed two editions of +the Fasciculus Temporum,--one at Louvain in 1476, and the other at +Utrecht in 1480,--a work which contains a short notice of the art of +printing being discovered at Mentz, but not a syllable concerning its +discovery at Harlem by Lawrence Coster. The researches of Coster’s +advocates have clearly established one important fact, though an +unfortunate one for their argument; namely, that the Custos or Warden of +St. Bavon’s was not known as a printer to one of his contemporaries. The +citizens of Harlem, however, have still something to console themselves +with: though Coster may not be the inventor of printing, there can be +little doubt of Junius, or his editor, being the discoverer of Coster,-- + + “Est quoddam prodire tenus, si non datur ultra.” + + [Footnote II-84: Heineken gives an account of those twelve + additional cuts at page 463 of his Idée Générale. It appears that + Veldener also published in the same year another edition of the + Speculum, also in quarto, containing the same cuts as the older + folios, but without the twelve above mentioned.] + +There is in the Print Room of the British Museum a small volume of +wood-cuts, which has not hitherto been described by any bibliographer, +nor by any writer who has treated on the origin and progress of wood +engraving. It appears to have been unknown to Heineken, Breitkopf, Von +Murr, and Meerman; and it is not mentioned, that I am aware of, either +by Dr. Dibdin or Mr. Douce, although it certainly was submitted to the +inspection of the latter. It formerly belonged to the late Sir George +Beaumont, by whom it was bequeathed to the Museum; but where he obtained +it I have not been able to learn. It consists of an alphabet of large +capital letters, formed of figures arranged in various attitudes; and +from the general character of the designs, the style of the engraving, +and the kind of paper on which the impressions have been taken, it +evidently belongs to the same period as the Poor Preachers’ Bible. There +is only one cut on each leaf, the back being left blank as in most of +the block-books, and the impressions have been taken by means of +friction. The paper at the back of each cut has a shining appearance +when held towards the light, in consequence of the rubbing which it has +received; and in some it appears as if it had been blacked with +charcoal, in the same manner that some parts of the cartoons were +blacked which have been pricked through by the tapestry worker. The ink +is merely a distemper or water-colour, which will partly wash out by the +application of hot water, and its colour is a kind of sepia. Each leaf, +which is about six inches high, by three and six-eighths wide, consists +of a separate piece of paper, and is pasted, at the inner margin, on to +a slip either of paper or parchment, through which the stitching of the +cover passes. Whether the paper has been cut in this manner before or +after that the impressions were taken, I am unable to determine.[II-85] + + [Footnote II-85: The following is a reduced copy of the + paper-mark, which appears to be a kind of anchor with a small + cross springing from a ball or knob at the junction of the arms + with the shank. It bears a considerable degree of resemblance to + the mark given at page 62, from an edition of the Apocalypse. An + anchor is to be found as a paper-mark in editions of the + Apocalypse, and of the Poor Preachers’ Bible. According to + Santander, a similar paper-mark is to be found in books printed at + Cologne, Louvain, and Utrecht, from about 1470 to 1480. + [Illustration]] + +The greater part of the letter A is torn out, and in that which remains +there are pin-marks, as if it had been traced by being pricked through. +The letters S, T, and V are also wanting. The following is a brief +description of the letters which remain. The letter B is composed of +five figures, one with a pipe and tabor, another who supports him, +a dwarf, an old man kneeling, and an old woman with a staff. +C, a youthful figure rending open the jaws of a lion, with two grotesque +heads like those of satyrs. D, a man on horseback, and a monk astride on +a fiendish-looking monster. E, two grotesque heads, a figure holding the +horn of one of them, and another figure stretching out a piece of cloth. +F, a tall figure blowing a trumpet, and a youth beating a tabor, with an +animal like a dog at their feet.[II-86] G, David with Goliath’s head, +and a figure stooping, who appears to kiss a flagellum. H, a figure +opening the jaws of a dragon. I, a tall man embracing a woman. +K, a female with a wreath, a youth kneeling, an old man on his knees, +and a young man with his heels uppermost. [Engraved as a specimen at +page 109.] L, a man with a long sword, as if about to pierce a figure +reclining. [Engraved as a specimen at page 110.] M, two figures, each +mounted on a kind of monster; between them, an old man. N, a man with a +sword, another mounted on the tail of a fish. O, formed of four +grotesque heads. P, two figures with clubs. Q, formed of three grotesque +heads, similar to those in O. R, a tall, upright figure, another with +something like a club in his hand; a third, with his heels up, blowing a +horn. X, composed of four figures, one of which has two bells, and +another has one; on the shoulder of the upper figure to the right a +squirrel may be perceived. Y, a figure with something like a hairy skin +on his shoulder; another thrusting a sword through the head of an +animal. Z, three figures; an old man about to draw a dagger, a youth +lying down, and another who appears as if flying. [Engraved as a +specimen at page 111.] The last cut is the ornamental flower, of which a +copy is given at page 113. + + [Footnote II-86: The initial F, at the commencement of this + chapter, is a reduced copy of the letter here described.] + +In the same case with those interesting, and probably unique specimens +of early wood engraving, there is a letter relating to them, dated 27th +May, 1819, from Mr. Samuel Lysons to Sir George Beaumont, from which the +following is an extract: “I return herewith your curious volume of +ancient cuts. I showed it yesterday to Mr. Douce, who agrees with me +that it is a great curiosity. He thinks that the blocks were executed at +Harlem, and are some of the earliest productions of that place. He has +in his possession most of the letters executed in copper, but very +inferior to the original cuts. Before you return from the Continent I +shall probably be able to ascertain something further respecting them.” +What might be Mr. Douce’s reasons for supposing that those cuts were +executed at Harlem I cannot tell; though I am inclined to think that he +had no better foundation for his opinion than his faith in Junius, +Meerman, and other advocates of Lawrence Coster, who unhesitatingly +ascribe every early block-book to the spurious “Officina Laurentiana.” + +In the manuscript catalogue in the Print Room of the British Museum the +volume is thus described by Mr. Ottley: “Alphabet of initial letters +composed of grotesque figures, wood engravings of the middle of the +fifteenth century, apparently the work of a Dutch or Flemish artist; the +impressions taken off by friction in the manner of the early +block-books. . . . I perceive the word ‘_London_’ in small characters +written upon the blade of a sword in one of the cuts, [the letter L,] +and I suspect they were engraved in England.” + + [Illustration] + +As to whether these cuts were engraved in England or no I shall not +venture to give an opinion. I am, however, satisfied that they were +neither designed nor engraved by the artists who designed and engraved +the cuts in the Apocalypse, the History of the Virgin, and the Poor +Preachers’ Bible. With respect to drawing, expression, and engraving, +the cuts of the Alphabet are decidedly superior to those of every +block-book, and generally to all wood engravings executed previous to +1500, with the exception of such as are by Albert Durer, and those +contained in the Hypnerotomachia, an Italian rhapsody, with wood-cuts +supposed to have been designed by Raffaele or Andrea Mantegna, and +printed by Aldus at Venice, 1499. Although the cuts of the Alphabet may +not have been engraved in England, it is, however, certain that the +volume had been at rather an early period in the possession of an +Englishman. The cover consists of a double fold of thick parchment, on +the inside of which, between the folds, there is written in large old +English characters what I take to be the name “Edwardus Lowes.” On the +blank side of the last leaf there is a sketch of a letter commencing +“Right reverent and wershipfull masters and frynds; In the moste +loweliste maner that I canne or may, I here recomende me, duely glade to +her of yor good prosperitye and welth.” The writing, as I have been +informed, is of the period of Henry VIII; and on the slips of paper and +parchment to which the inner margins of the leaves are pasted are +portions of English manuscripts, which are probably of the same date. +There can, however, be little doubt that the leaves have been mounted, +and the volume covered, about a hundred years subsequent to the +engraving of the cuts. + + [Illustration] + +I agree with Mr. Ottley in thinking that those cuts were engraved about +the middle of the fifteenth century, but I can perceive nothing in them +to induce me to suppose they were the work of a Dutch artist; and I am +as little inclined to ascribe them to a German. The style of the drawing +is not unlike what we see in illuminated French manuscripts of the +middle of the fifteenth century; and as the only two engraved words +which occur in the volume are French, I am rather inclined to suppose +that the artist who made the drawings was a native of France. The +costume of the female to whom the words are addressed appears to be +French; and the action of the lover kneeling seems almost characteristic +of that nation. No Dutchman certainly ever addressed his mistress with +such an air. He holds what appears to be a ring as gracefully as a +modern Frenchman holds a snuff-box, and upon the scroll before him are +engraved a heart, and the words which he may be supposed to utter, “_Mon +Ame_.” At page 109, is a fac-simile of the cut referred to, the letter +K, of the size of the original, and printed in the same kind of colour. + + [Illustration] + +Upon the sword-blade in the original cut of the following letter, L, +there is written in small characters, as Mr. Ottley has observed, the +word “_London_;” and in the white space on the right, or upper side, of +the figure lying down, there appears written in the same hand the name +“_Bethemsted_.” In this name the letter B is not unlike a W; and I have +heard it conjectured that the name might be that of John Wethamstede, +abbot of St. Alban’s, who was a great lover of books, and who died in +1440. This conjecture, however, will not hold good, for the letter is +certainly intended for a B; and in the cut of the letter B there is +written “_R. Beths._,” which is in all probability intended for an +abbreviation of the name, “_Bethemsted_,” which occurs in another part +of the book. The ink with which these names are written is nearly of the +same colour as that of the cuts. The characters appear to be of an +earlier date than those on the reverse of the last leaf. + + [Illustration] + +The cut at page 111, is that of the letter Z, which stands the wrong way +in consequence of its not having been drawn reversed upon the block. The +subject might at first sight be supposed to represent the angel staying +Abraham when about to sacrifice Isaac; but on examining the cut more +closely it will be perceived that the figure which might be mistaken for +an angel is without wings, and appears to be in the act of supplicating +the old man, who with his left hand holds him by the hair. + +The opposite cut, which is the last in the book, is an ornamental flower +designed with great freedom and spirit, and surpassing everything of the +kind executed on wood in the fifteenth century. I speak not of the style +of engraving, which, though effective, is coarse; but of the taste +displayed in the drawing. The colour of the cuts on pages 109, 110, 111, +from the late Sir George Beaumont’s book, will give the reader, who has +not had an opportunity of examining the originals, some idea of the +colour in which the cuts of the Apocalypse, the History of the Virgin, +the Poor Preachers’ Bible, and the Speculum, are printed; which in all +of them is a kind of sepia, in some inclining more to a yellow, and in +others more to a brown. + +In the volume under consideration we may clearly perceive that the art +of wood engraving had made considerable progress at the time the cuts +were executed. Although there are no attempts at cross-hatching, which +was introduced about 1486, yet the shadows are generally well indicated, +either by thickening the line, or by courses of short parallel lines, +marking the folds of the drapery, or giving the appearance of rotundity +to the figures. The expression of the heads displays considerable +talent, and the wood-engraver who at the present time could design and +execute such a series of figures, would be entitled to no small degree +of commendation. Comparing those cuts with such as are to be seen in +books typographically executed between 1461[II-87] and 1490, it is +surprising that the art of wood engraving should have so materially +declined when employed by printers for the illustration of their books. +The best of the cuts printed with letter-press in the period referred to +are decidedly inferior to the best of the early block-books. + + [Footnote II-87: The first book with moveable types and wood-cuts + both printed by means of the press is the Fables printed at + Bamberg, by Albert Pfister, “Am Sant Valentinus tag,” 1461.] + +As it would occupy too much space, and would be beyond the scope of the +present treatise to enter into a detail of the contents of all the +block-books noticed by Heineken, I shall give a brief description of +that named “Ars Memorandi,” and conclude the chapter with a list of such +others as are chiefly referred to by bibliographers. + +The “ARS MEMORANDI” is considered by Schelhorn[II-88] and by Dr. Dibdin +as one of the earliest block-books, and in their opinion I concur. +Heineken, however,--who states that the style is almost the same as in +the figures of the Apocalypse,--thinks that it is of later date than the +Poor Preachers’ Bible and the History of the Virgin. It is of a quarto +size, and consists of fifteen cuts, with the same number of separate +pages of text also cut on wood, and printed on one side of each leaf +only by means of friction.[II-89] At the foot of each page of text is a +letter of the alphabet, commencing with +a+, indicating the order in +which they are to follow each other. In every cut an animal is +represented,--an eagle, an angel, an ox, or a lion,--emblematic of the +Evangelist whose Gospel is to be impressed on the memory. Each of the +animals is represented standing upright, and marked with various signs +expressive of the contents of the different chapters. To the Gospel of +St. John, with which the book commences, three cuts with as many pages +of text are allotted. St. Matthew has five cuts, and five pages of text. +St. Mark three cuts and three pages of text; and St. Luke four cuts and +four pages of text.[II-90] + + [Footnote II-88: “Nostrum vero libellum, cujus gratia hæc præfati + sumus, intrepide, si non primum artis inventæ fœtum, certe inter + primos fuisse asseveramus.”--Amœnitates Literariæ, tom. i. p. 4.] + + [Footnote II-89: Heineken had seen two editions of this book, and + he gives fac-similes of their titles, which are evidently from + different blocks. The title at full length is as follows: “_Ars + memorandi notabilis per figuras Ewangelistarum hic ex post + descriptam quam diligens lector diligenter legat et practiset per + signa localia ut in practica experitur_.”--“En horridum et + incomtum dicendi genus, Priscianumque misere vapulantem!” exclaims + Schelhorn.] + + [Footnote II-90: Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 394.] + +“It is worthy of observation,” says J. C. Von Aretin, in his Essay on +the earliest Results of the Invention of Printing, “that this book, +which the most intelligent bibliographers consider to be one of the +earliest of its kind, should be devoted to the improvement of the +memory, which, though divested of much of its former importance by the +invention of writing, was to be rendered of still less consequence by +the introduction of printing.”[II-91] + + [Footnote II-91: Über die frühesten universal historischen Folgen + der Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst, von J. Christ. Freyherrn Von + Aretin, S. 18. 4to. Munich, 1808.] + +The first cut is intended to express figuratively the first six chapters +of St. John’s Gospel. The upright eagle is the emblem of the saint, and +the numerals are the references to the chapters. The contents of the +first chapter are represented by the dove perched on the eagle’s head, +and the two faces,--one of an old, the other of a young man,--probably +intended for those of Moses and Christ.[II-92] The lute on the breast of +the eagle, with something like three bells[II-93] suspended from it, +indicate the contents of the second chapter, and are supposed by +Schelhorn to refer to the marriage of Cana. The numeral 3, in +Schelhorn’s opinion, relates to “nonnihil apertum et prosectum circa +ventrem,” which he thinks may be intended as a reference to the words of +Nicodemus: “Nunquid homo senex potest in ventrem matris suæ iterum +introire et renasci?” Between the feet of the eagle is a water-bucket +surmounted by a sort of coronet or crown, intended to represent the +principal events narrated in the 4th chapter, which are Christ’s talking +with the woman of Samaria at the well, and his healing the son of a +nobleman at Capernaum. The 5th chapter is indicated by a fish above the +eagle’s right wing, which is intended to bring to mind the pool of +Bethesda. The principal event related in the 6th chapter, Christ feeding +the multitude, is indicated by the two fishes and five small loaves +above the eagle’s left wing. The cross within a circle, above the +fishes, is emblematic of the consecrated wafer in the Lord’s supper, as +celebrated by the church of Rome.[II-94] + + [Footnote II-92: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and + truth came by Jesus Christ.”--St. John’s Gospel, chap. i. v. 17.] + + [Footnote II-93: “Forte tamen ea, quæ tintinnabulis haud videntur + dissimilia, nummulariorum loculos et pecuniæ receptacula + referunt.”--Schelhorn, Amœnit. Liter. tom. i. p. 10.] + + [Illustration] + +The above reduced copy of the cut will afford some idea of the manner in +which the memory is to be assisted in recollecting the first six +chapters of St. John. Those who wish to know more respecting this +curious book are referred to Schelhorn’s Amœnitates Literariæ, tom. i. +pp. 1-17; Heineken, Idée Générale, pp. 394, 395; and to Dr. Dibdin’s +Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. i. p. 4, where a copy is given of the +first cut relating to the Gospel of St. Matthew. + + [Footnote II-94: The following are the contents of the first page, + descriptive of the cut: “Evangelium Johannis habet viginti unum + capittula. Primum. In principio erat verbum de eternitate verbi et + de trinitate. Secundum capittulum. Nupcie facte sunt in Chana + Galilee et qualiter Christus subvertit mensas nummulariorum. + Tertium capittulum. Erat antem homo ex Phariseis Nycodemus nomine. + Quartum capittulum. Qualiter Ihesus peciit a muliere Samaritana + bibere circum puteum Jacob et de regulo. Quintum capittulum. De + probatica piscina ubi dixit Ihesus infirmo Tolle grabatum tuum & + vade. Sextum capittulum. De refectione ex quinque panibus & duobus + piscibus Et de ewkaristia.”--Schelhorn, Amœnit. Lit. tom. + i. p. 9.] + +Block-books containing both text and figures were executed long after +the introduction of typography, or printing by means of moveable types; +but the cuts in such works are decidedly inferior to those executed at +an earlier period. The book entitled “Die Kunst Cyromantia,”[II-95] +which consists chiefly of text, is printed from wood-blocks on both +sides of each leaf by means of a press. At the conclusion of the title +is the date 1448; but this is generally considered to refer to the +period when the book was written, and not the time when it was engraved. +On the last page is the name: “+jorg schapff zu augspurg+.” If this +George Schapff was a wood-engraver of Augsburg, the style of the cuts in +the book sufficiently declares that he must have been one of the very +lowest class. More wretched cuts were never chiselled out by a printer’s +apprentice as a head-piece to a half-penny ballad. + + [Footnote II-95: This work on Palmistry was composed in German by + a Doctor Hartlieb, as is expressed at the beginning: “Das + nachgeschriben buch von der hand hätt zu teutsch gemacht Doctor + Hartlieb.” Specimens of the first and the last pages, and of one + of the cuts, are given in Heineken’s Idée Générale, plates 27 and + 28.] + +Of the block-book entitled “Ars Moriendi,” Heineken enumerates no less +than seven editions, of which one is printed on both sides of the +leaves, and by means of a press. Besides these he mentions another +edition, impressed on one side of the paper only, in which appear the +following name and date: “+Hans eporer, 1473, hat diss puch pruffmo +er+.”[II-96] + + [Footnote II-96: I am of opinion that this is the same person who + executed the cuts for a German edition of the Poor Preachers’ + Bible in 1475. His name does not appear; but on a shield of arms + there is a spur, which may be intended as a rebus of the name; in + the same manner as Albert Durer’s surname appears in his coat of + arms, a pair of doors,--_Durer_, or, as his father’s name was + sometimes spelled, _Thurer_.] + +Of the book named in German “+Der Entkrist+”--Antichrist--printed from +wood-blocks, Heineken mentions two editions. In that which he considers +the first, containing thirty-nine cuts, each leaf is printed on one side +only by means of friction; in the other, which contains thirty-eight +cuts, is the “brief-maler’s” or wood-engraver’s name: “+Der jung hanss +priffmaler hat das puch zu nurenberg, 1472+.” + +At Nuremberg, in the collection of a physician of the name of Treu, +Heineken noticed a small volume in quarto, consisting of thirty-two +wood-cuts of Bible subjects, underneath each of which were fifteen +verses in German, engraved on the same block. Each leaf was printed on +one side only, and the impressions, which were in pale ink, had been +taken by means of friction. + +The early wood-engravers, besides books of cuts, executed others +consisting of text only, of which several portions are preserved in +public libraries in Germany,[II-97] France, and Holland; and although it +is certain that block-books continued to be engraved and printed several +years after the invention of typography, there can be little doubt that +editions of the grammatical primer called the “Donatus,” from the name +of its supposed compiler, were printed from wood-blocks previous to the +earliest essays of Gutemberg to print with moveable types. It is indeed +asserted that Gutemberg himself engraved, or caused to be engraved on +wood, a “Donatus” before his grand invention was perfected. + + [Footnote II-97: Aretin says that in the Royal Library at Munich + there are about forty books and about a hundred single leaves + printed from engraved wood-blocks.--Über die Folgen, &c. S. 6.] + +In the Royal Library at Paris are preserved the two old blocks of a +“Donatus” which are mentioned by Heineken at page 257 of his Idée +Générale. They are both of a quarto form; but as the one contains twenty +lines and the other only sixteen, and as there is a perceptible +difference in the size of the letters, it is probable that they were +engraved for different editions.[II-98] Those blocks were purchased in +Germany by a Monsieur Faucault, and after passing through the hands of +three other book-collectors they came into the possession of the Duke de +la Vallière, at whose sale they were sold for two hundred and thirty +livres. In De Bure’s catalogue of the La Vallière library, impressions +are given from the original blocks. The letters in both those blocks, +though differing in size, are of the same proportions and form; and +Heineken and Fischer consider that they bear a great resemblance to the +characters of Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter, printed with moveable types +in 1457, although the latter are considerably larger. + + [Footnote II-98: Meerman had an old block of a Donatus, which was + obtained from the collection of a M. Hubert of Basle, and which + appeared to belong to the same edition as that containing sixteen + lines in the Royal Library at Paris.--Heineken, Idée Générale, + p. 258.] + +The art of wood engraving, having advanced from a single figure with +merely a name cut underneath it, to the impression of entire pages of +text, was now to undergo a change. Moveable letters formed of metal, and +wedged together within an iron frame, were to supersede the engraved +page; and impressions, instead of being taken by the slow and tedious +process of friction, were now to be obtained by the speedy and powerful +action of the press. If the art of wood engraving suffered a temporary +decline for a few years after the general introduction of typography, it +was only to revive again under the protecting influence of the PRESS; by +means of which its productions were to be multiplied a hundred fold, +and, instead of being confined to a few towns, were to be disseminated +throughout every part of Europe. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +INVENTION OF TYPOGRAPHY. + + The Discovery of Desroches. -- The Stamping of Lodewyc Van Vaelbeke. + -- Early “Prenters” of Antwerp and Bruges Not Typographers. -- + Cologne Chronicle. -- Donatuses Printed in Holland. -- Gutemberg’s + Birth and Family -- Progress of his Invention -- His Law-Suit with + the Drytzehns at Strasburg -- His Return to Mentz, and Partnership + with Faust -- Partnership Dissolved. -- Possibility of Printing with + Wooden Types Examined. -- Supposed Early Productions of Gutemberg + and Faust’s Press. -- Proofs of Gutemberg Having a Press of his Own. + -- The Vocabulary Printed at Elfeld. -- Gutemberg’s Death and + Epitaphs. -- Invention of Printing Claimed for Lawrence Coster. -- + The Account Given by Junius -- Contradicted, Altered, and Amended at + Will by Meerman, Koning, and Others. -- Works Pretended to be + Printed with Coster’s Types. -- The Horarium Discovered by + Enschedius. + + +Before proceeding to trace the progress of wood engraving in connexion +with typography, it appears necessary to give some account of the +invention of the latter art. In the following brief narrative of +Gutemberg’s life, I shall adhere to positive facts; and until evidence +equally good shall be produced in support of another’s claim to the +invention, I shall consider him as the father of typography. I shall +also give Hadrian Junius’s account of the invention of wood engraving, +block-printing, and typography by Lawrence Coster, with a few remarks on +its credibility. Some of the conjectures and assertions of Meerman, +Koning, and other advocates of Coster, will be briefly noticed, and +their inconsistency pointed out. To attempt to refute at length the +gratuitous assumptions of Coster’s advocates, and to enter into a detail +of all their groundless arguments, would be like proving a medal to be a +forgery by a long dissertation, when the modern fabricator has plainly +put his name in the legend. The best proof of the fallacy of Coster’s +claims to the honour of having discovered the art of printing with +moveable types is to be found in the arguments of those by whom they +have been supported. + +Meerman, with all his research, has not been able to produce a single +fact to prove that Lawrence Coster, or Lawrence Janszoon as he calls +him, ever printed a single book; and it is by no means certain that his +hero is the identical Lawrence Coster mentioned by Junius. In order to +suit his own theory he has questioned the accuracy of the statements of +Junius, and has thus weakened the very foundation of Coster’s claims. +The title of the custos of St. Bavon’s to the honour of being the +inventor of typography must rest upon the authenticity of the account +given by Junius; and how far this corresponds with established facts in +the history of wood engraving and typography I leave others to decide +for themselves. + +Among the many fancied discoveries of the real inventor of the art of +printing, that of Monsieur Desroches, a member of the Imperial Academy +of Sciences and Belles Lettres at Brussels, seems to require an especial +notice. In a paper printed in the transactions of that society,[III-1] +he endeavoured to prove, that the art of printing books was practised in +Flanders about the beginning of the fourteenth century; and one of the +principal grounds of his opinion was contained in an old chronicle of +Brabant, written, as is supposed, by one Nicholas le Clerk, [Clericus,] +secretary to the city of Antwerp. The chronicler, after having described +several remarkable events which happened during the government of John +II. Duke of Brabant, who died in 1312, adds the following lines: + + In dieser tyt sterf menschelyc + Die goede vedelare Lodewyc; + Die de beste was die voor dien + In de werelt ye was ghesien + Van makene ende metter hant; + Van Vaelbeke in Brabant + Alsoe was hy ghenant. + Hy was d’erste die vant + Van Stampien die manieren + Diemen noch hoert antieren. + + [Footnote III-1: Nouvelles Recherches sur l’origine de + l’Imprimerie, dans lesquelles on fait voir que la première idée + est due aux Brabançons. Par M. Desroches. Lu à la séance du 8 + Janvier, 1777.--Mémoires de l’Academie Impériale des Sciences et + Belles Lettres, tom. i. pp. 523-547. Edit 1780.] + +This curious record, which Monsieur Desroches considered as so plain a +proof of “die goede vedelare Lodewyc” being the inventor of printing, +may be translated in English as follows: + + This year the way of all flesh went + Ludwig, the fidler most excellent; + For handy-work a man of name; + From Vaelbeke in Brabant he came. + He was the first who did find out + The art of beating time, no doubt, + (Displaying thus his meikle skill,) + And fidlers all practise it still.[III-2] + + [Footnote III-2: The following is the French translation of + Monsieur Desroches: “En ces temps mourut de la mort commune à tous + les hommes, Louis _cet excellent faiseur d’instrumens de musique_, + le meilleur artist qu’on eut vû jusques-là dans l’univers, en fait + d’ouvrages mechaniques. Il étoit de Vaelbeke en Brabant, et il en + porta le nom. Il fut le premier qui inventa la manière d’imprimer, + qui est presentement en usage.” The reason of Monsieur Desroches + for his periphrasis of the simple word “vedelare”--fidler--is as + follows: “J’ai rendu _Vedelare_ par ‘faiseur d’instrumens de + musique.’ Le mot radical _est vedel_, violin: par consequent, + _Vedelare_ doit signifier celui qui en joue, ou qui en fait. Je me + suis determiné pour le dernier à cause des vers suivans, où il + n’est point question de jouer mais de faire. Si l’on préfère le + premier, je ne m’y opposerai pas; rien empêche que ce habile homme + n’ait été musicien.”--Mem. de l’Acad. de Brux. tom. i. p. 536.] + +The laughable mistake of Monsieur Desroches in supposing that fidler +Ludwig’s invention, of beating time by stamping with the foot, related +to the discovery of printing by means of the press, was pointed out in +1779 by Monsieur Ghesquiere in a letter printed in the Esprit des +Journaux.[III-3] In this letter Monsieur Ghesquiere shows that the +Flemish word “Stampien,” used by the chronicler in his account of the +invention of the “good fidler Ludwig,” had not a meaning similar to that +of the word “stampus” explained by Ducange, but that it properly +signified “met de voet kleppen,”--to stamp or beat with the feet. + + [Footnote III-3: Lettre de M. J. G[hesquiere] à M. l’Abbé + Turberville Needham, directeur de l’Academie Impériale et Royale + de Bruxelles.--Printed in l’Esprit des Journaux for June 1779, pp. + 232-260.] + +In support of his opinion of the antiquity of printing, Monsieur +Desroches refers to a manuscript in his possession, consisting of lives +of the saints and a chronicle written in the fourteenth century. At the +end of this manuscript was a catalogue of the books belonging to the +monastery of Wiblingen, the writing of which was much abbreviated, and +which appeared to him to be of the following century. Among other +entries in the catalogue was this: “(It.) dōicali īpv̄o līb^o ſtmp̄^to +ī bappiro nō s͞crpō.” On supplying the letters wanting Monsieur +Desroches says that we shall have the following words: “Item. +Dominicalia in parvo libro stampato in bappiro [papyro,] non scripto;” +that is, “Item. Dominicals [a form of prayer or portion of church +service] in a small book printed [or stamped] on paper, not written.” In +the abbreviated word ſtm̄p̄^to, he says that the letter m could not very +well be distinguished; but the doubt which might thus arise he considers +to be completely resolved by the words “_non scripto_,” and by the +following memorandum which occurs, in the same hand-writing, at the foot +of the page: “Anno Dñi 1340 viguit q̄ fēt stāpā Dñatos,”-- “In 1340 he +flourished who caused Donatuses to be printed.” If the catalogue were +really of the period supposed by Monsieur Desroches, the preceding +extracts would certainly prove that the art of printing or stamping +books, though not from moveable types, was practised in the fourteenth +century; but, as the date has not been ascertained, its contents cannot +be admitted as evidence on the point in dispute. Monsieur Ghesquiere is +inclined to think that the catalogue was not written before 1470; and, +as the compiler was evidently an ignorant person, he thinks that in the +note, “Anno Domini 1340 viguit qui fecit stampare Donatos,” he might +have written 1340 instead of 1440. + +Although it has been asserted that the wood-cut of St. Christopher with +the date 1423, and the wood-cut of the Annunciation--probably of the +same period--were printed by means of a press, yet I consider it +exceedingly doubtful if the press were employed to take impressions from +wood-blocks before Gutemberg used it in his earliest recorded attempts +to print with moveable types. I believe that in every one of the early +block-books, where opportunity has been afforded of examining the back +of each cut, unquestionable evidence has been discovered of their having +been _printed_, if I may here use the term, by means of friction. +Although there is no mention of a _press_ which might be used to take +impressions before the process between Gutemberg and the heirs of one of +his partners, in 1439, yet “Prenters” were certainly known in Antwerp +before his invention of printing with moveable types was brought to +perfection. Desroches in his Essay on the Invention of Printing gives an +extract from an order of the magistracy of Antwerp, in the year 1442, in +favour of the fellowship or guild of St. Luke, called also the Company +of Painters, which consisted of Painters, Statuaries, Stone-cutters, +Glass-makers, Illuminators, and “_Prenters_”. This fellowship was +doubtless similar to that of Venice, in whose favour a decree was made +by the magistracy of that city in 1441, and of which some account has +been given, at page 43, in the preceding chapter. There is evidence of a +similar fellowship existing at Bruges in 1454; and John Mentelin, who +afterwards established himself at Strasburg as a typographer or printer +proper, was admitted a member of the Painters’ Company of that city as a +“Chrysographus” or illuminator in 1447.[III-4] + + [Footnote III-4: Lichtenberger, Initia Typographica, § De + Prenteris ante inventam Typographiam, p. 140.--Lambinet, + Recherches sur l’Origine de l’Imprimerie, p. 115.] + +Whether the “Prenters” of Antwerp in 1442 were acquainted with the use +of the press, or not, is uncertain; but there can be little doubt of +their not being _Printers_, as the word is now generally understood; +that is, persons who printed books with moveable types. They were most +likely block-printers, and such as engraved and printed cards and images +of saints; and it would seem that typographers were not admitted members +of the society; for of all the early typographers of Antwerp the name of +one only, Mathias Van der Goes, appears in the books of the fellowship +of St. Luke; and he perhaps may have been admitted as a wood-engraver, +on account of the cuts in an herbal printed with his types, without +date, but probably between 1485 and 1490. + +Ghesquiere, who successfully refuted the opinion of Desroches that +typography was known at Antwerp in 1442, was himself induced to suppose +that it was practised at Bruges in 1445, and that printed books were +then neither very scarce nor very dear in that city.[III-5] In an old +manuscript journal or memorandum book of Jean-le-Robèrt, abbot of St. +Aubert in the diocese of Cambray, he observed an entry stating that the +said abbot had purchased at Bruges, in January 1446, a “_Doctrinale +gette en mole_” for the use of his nephew. The words “gette en mole” he +conceives to mean, “printed in type;” and he thinks that the Doctrinale +mentioned was the work which was subsequently printed at Geneva, in +1478, under the title of Le Doctrinal de Sapience, and at Westminster by +Caxton, in 1489, under the title of The Doctrinal of Sapyence. The Abbé +Mercier de St. Leger, who wrote a reply to the observations of +Ghesquiere, with greater probability supposes that the book was printed +from engraved wood-blocks, and that it was the “Doctrinale Alexandri +Galli,” a short grammatical treatise in monkish rhyme, which at that +period was almost as popular as the “Donatus,” and of which odd leaves, +printed on both sides, are still to be seen in libraries which are rich +in early specimens of printing. + + [Footnote III-5: Reflexions sur deux pièces relatives à l’Hist. de + l’Imprimerie. Nivelles, 1780.--Lambinet, Recherches, p. 394.] + +Although there is every reason to believe that the early Printers of +Antwerp and Bruges were not acquainted with the use of moveable types, +yet the mention of such persons at so early a period, and the notice of +the makers “of cards and printed figures” at Venice in 1441, +sufficiently declare that, though wood engraving might be first +established as a profession in Suabia, it was known, and practised to a +considerable extent, in other countries previous to 1450. + +The Cologne Chronicle, which was printed in 1499, has been most unfairly +quoted by the advocates of Coster in support of their assertions; and +the passage which appeared most to favour their argument they have +ascribed to Ulric Zell, the first person who established a press at +Cologne. A shrewd German,[III-6] however, has most clearly shown, from +the same chronicle, that the actual testimony of Ulric Zell is directly +in opposition to the claims advanced by the advocates of Coster. The +passage on which they rely is to the following effect: “Item: although +the art [of printing] as it is now commonly practised, was discovered at +Mentz, yet the first conception of it was discovered in Holland from the +Donatuses, which before that time were printed there.” This we are given +to understand by Meerman and Koning is the statement of Ulric Zell. +A little further on, however, the Chronicler, who in the above passage +appears to have been speaking in his own person from popular report, +thus proceeds: “But the first inventor of printing was a citizen of +Mentz, though born at Strasburg,[III-7] named John Gutemberg: Item: from +Mentz the above-named art first came to Cologne, afterwards to +Strasburg, and then to Venice. This account of the commencement and +progress of the said art was communicated to me by word of mouth by that +worthy person Master Ulric Zell of Hanau, at the present time [1499] +a printer in Cologne, through whom the said art was brought to Cologne.” +At this point the advocates of Coster stop, as the very next sentence +deprives them of any advantage which they might hope to gain from the +“impartial testimony of the Cologne Chronicle,” the compiler of which +proceeds as follows: “Item: there are certain _fanciful people_ who say +that books were printed before; but _this is not true_; for in no +country are books to be found printed before that time.”[III-8] + + [Footnote III-6: Friedrich Lehne, Einige Bemerkungen über das + Unternehmen der gelehrten Gesellschaft zu Harlem, ihrer Stadt die + Ehre der Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst zu ertrotzen, S. 24-26. + Zweite Ausgabe, Mainz. 1825.] + + [Footnote III-7: This is a mistake into which the compiler of the + chronicle printed at Rome, 1474, by Philippus de Lignamine, has + also fallen. Gutemberg was not a native of Strasburg, but of + Mentz.] + + [Footnote III-8: Mallinkrot appears to have been the first who + gave a translation of the entire passage in the Cologne Chronicle + which relates to the invention of printing. His version of the + last sentence is as follows: “Reperiuntur Scioli aliquot qui + dicant, dudum ante hæc tempora typorum ope libros excusos esse, + qui tamen et se et alios decipiunt; nullibi enim terrarum libri eo + tempore impressi reperiuntur.”--De Ortu et Progressu Artis + Typographicæ, p. 38. Colon. Agrippinæ, 1640.] + +That “Donatuses” and other small elementary books for the use of schools +were printed from wood-blocks previous to the invention of typography +there can be little doubt; and it is by no means unlikely that they +might be first printed in Holland or in Flanders. At any rate an opinion +seems to have been prevalent at an early period that the idea of +printing with moveable types was first derived from a “Donatus,”[III-9] +printed from wood-blocks. In the petition of Conrad Sweinheim and Arnold +Pannartz, two Germans, who first established a press at Rome, addressed +to Pope Sixtus IV. in 1472, stating the expense which they had incurred +in printing books, and praying for assistance, they mention amongst +other works printed by them, “DONATI pro puerulis, unde IMPRIMENDI +INITIUM sumpsimus;” that is: “Donatuses for boys, whence we have taken +the beginning of printing.” If this passage is to be understood as +referring to the origin of typography, and not to the first proofs of +their own press, it is the earliest and the best evidence on the point +which has been adduced; for it is very likely that both these printers +had acquired a knowledge of their art at Mentz in the very office where +it was first brought to perfection. + + [Footnote III-9: Angelus Rocca mentions having seen a “Donatus” on + parchment, at the commencement of which was written in the hand of + Mariangelus Accursius, who flourished about 1530: “Impressus est + autem hic _Donatus_ et _Confessionalia_ primùm omnium anno MCCCCL. + Admonitus certè fuit ex _Donato_ Hollandiæ, prius impresso in + tabula incisa.”--Bibliotheca Vaticana commentario illustrata, + 1591, cited by Prosper Marchand in his Hist. de l’Imprimerie, 2nde + Partie, p. 35. It is likely that Accursius derived his information + about a Donatus being printed in Holland from the Cologne + Chronicle.] + +About the year 1400, Henne, or John Gænsfleisch de Sulgeloch, called +also John Gutemberg zum Jungen, appears to have been born at Mentz. He +had two brothers; Conrad who died in 1424, and Friele who was living in +1459. He had also two sisters, Bertha and Hebele, who were both nuns of +St. Claire at Mentz. Gutemberg had an uncle by his father’s side, named +Friele, who had three sons, named John, Friele, and Pederman, who were +all living in 1459. + +Gutemberg was descended of an honourable family, and he himself is said +to have been by birth a knight.[III-10] It would appear that the family +had been possessed of considerable property. They had one house in Mentz +called zum Gænsfleisch, and another called zum Gudenberg, or Gutenberg, +which Wimpheling translates, “Domum boni montis.” The local name of +Sulgeloch, or Sorgenloch, was derived from the name of a village where +the family of Gænsfleisch had resided previous to their removing to +Mentz. It seems probable that the house zum Jungen at Mentz came into +the Gutembergs’ possession by inheritance. It was in this house, +according to the account of Trithemius, that the printing business was +carried on during his partnership with Faust.[III-11] + + [Footnote III-10: Schwartz observes that in the instrument drawn + up by the notary Ulric Helmasperger, Gutemberg is styled + “_Juncker_,” an honourable addition which was at that period + expressive of nobility.--Primaria quædam Documenta de Origine + Typographiæ, p. 20, 4to. Altorfii, 1740.] + + [Footnote III-11: “Morabatur autem prædictus Joannes Gutenberg + Moguntiæ in domo _zum Jungen_, quæ domus usque in præsentem diem + [1513] illius novæ Artis nomine noscitur insignita.”--Trithemii + Chronicum Spanhemiense, ad annum 1450.] + +When Gutemberg called himself der Junge, or junior, it was doubtless to +distinguish himself from Gænsfleisch _der Elter_, or senior, a name +which frequently occurs in the documents printed by Koehler. Meerman has +fixed upon the latter name for the purpose of giving to Gutemberg a +brother of the same christian name, and of making him the thief who +stole Coster’s types. He also avails himself of an error committed by +Wimpheling and others, who had supposed John Gutemberg and John +Gænsfleisch to be two different persons. In two deeds of sale, however, +of the date 1441 and 1442, entered in the Salic book of the church of +St. Thomas at Strasburg, he is thus expressly named: “_Joannes dictus +Gensfleisch alias nuncupatus Gutenberg de Moguncia, Argentinæ +commorans_;” that is, “John Gænsfleisch, otherwise named Gutemberg, of +Mentz, residing at Strasburg.”[III-12] Anthony à Wood, in his History of +the University of Oxford, calls him Tossanus; and Chevillier, in his +Origine de l’Imprimerie de Paris, Toussaints. Seiz[III-13] is within an +ace of making him a knight of the Golden Fleece. That he was a man of +property is proved by various documents; and those writers who have +described him as a person of mean origin, or as so poor as to be obliged +to labour as a common workman, are certainly wrong. + + [Footnote III-12: In the release which he grants to the town-clerk + of Mentz, in 1434, he describes himself as, “Johann Gensefleisch + der Junge, genant Gutemberg.”] + + [Footnote III-13: In “Het derde Jubeljaer der uitgevondene + Boekdrukkonst door Laurens Jansz Koster,” p. 71. Harlem, + 1740.--Oberlin, Essai d’Annales.] + +From a letter written by Gutemberg in 1424 to his sister Bertha it +appears that he was then residing at Strasburg; and it is also certain +that in 1430 he was not living at Mentz; for in an act of accommodation +between the nobility and burghers of that city, passed in that year with +the authority of the archbishop Conrad III., Gutemberg is mentioned +among the nobles “_die ytzund nit inlendig sint_”--“who are not at +present in the country.” In 1434 there is positive evidence of his +residing at Strasburg; for in that year he caused the town-clerk of +Mentz to be arrested for a sum of three hundred florins due to him from +the latter city, and he agreed to his release at the instance of the +magistrates of Strasburg within whose jurisdiction the arrest took +place.[III-14] In 1436 he entered into partnership with Andrew Drytzehn +and others; and there is every reason to believe that at this period he +was engaged in making experiments on the practicability of printing with +moveable types, and that the chief object of his engaging with those +persons was to obtain funds to enable him to perfect his invention. + + [Footnote III-14: The release is given in Schœpflin’s Vindiciæ + Typographicæ, Documentum I.] + +From 1436 to 1444 the name of Gutemberg appears among the +“_Constaflers_” or civic nobility of Strasburg. In 1437 he was summoned +before the ecclesiastical judge of that city at the suit of Anne of +Iron-Door,[III-15] for breach of promise of marriage. It would seem that +he afterwards fulfilled his promise, for in a tax-book of the city of +Strasburg, Anne Gutemberg is mentioned, after Gutemberg had returned to +Mentz, as paying the toll levied on wine. + + [Footnote III-15: “_Ennelin zu der Iserin Thure._” She was then + living at Strasburg, and was of an honourable family, originally + of Alsace.--Schœpflin. Vind. Typ. p. 17.] + +Andrew Drytzehn, one of Gutemberg’s partners, having died in 1438, his +brothers George and Nicholas instituted a process against Gutemberg to +compel him either to refund the money advanced by their brother, or to +admit them to take his place in the partnership. From the depositions of +the witnesses in this cause, which, together with the decision of the +judges, are given at length by Schœpflin, there can be little doubt that +one of the inventions which Gutemberg agreed to communicate to his +partners was an improvement in the art of printing, such as it was at +that period. + +The following particulars concerning the partnership of Gutemberg with +Andrew Drytzehn and others are derived from the recital of the case +contained in the decision of the judges. Some years before his death, +Andrew Drytzehn expressed a desire to learn one of Gutemberg’s arts, for +he appears to have been fond of trying new experiments, and the latter +acceding to his request taught him a method of polishing stones, by +which he gained considerable profit. Some time afterwards, Gutemberg, in +company with a person named John Riff, began to exercise a certain art +whose productions were in demand at the fair of Aix-la-Chapelle. Andrew +Drytzehn, hearing of this, begged that the new art might be explained to +him, promising at the same time to give whatever premium should be +required. Anthony Heilman also made a similar request for his brother +Andrew Heilman.[III-16] To both these applications Gutemberg assented, +agreeing to teach them the art; it being stipulated that the two new +partners were to receive a fourth part of the profits between them; that +Riff was to have another fourth; and that the remaining half should be +received by the inventor. It was also agreed that Gutemberg should +receive from each of the new partners the sum of eighty florins of gold +payable by a certain day, as a premium for communicating to them his +art. The great fair of Aix-la-Chapelle being deferred to another year, +Gutemberg’s two new partners requested that he would communicate to them +without reserve all his wonderful and rare inventions; to which he +assented on condition that to the former sum of one hundred and sixty +florins they should jointly advance two hundred and fifty more, of which +one hundred were to be paid immediately, and the then remaining +seventy-five florins due by each were to be paid at three instalments. +Of the hundred florins stipulated to be paid in ready money, Andrew +Heilman paid fifty, according to his engagement, while Andrew Drytzehn +only paid forty, leaving ten due. The term of the partnership for +carrying on the “wonderful art” was fixed at five years; and it was also +agreed that if any of the partners should die within that period, his +interest in the utensils and stock should become vested in the surviving +partners, who at the completion of the term were to pay to the heirs of +the deceased the sum of one hundred florins. Andrew Drytzehn having died +within the period, and when there remained a sum of eighty-five florins +unpaid by him, Gutemberg met the claim of his brothers by referring to +the articles of partnership, and insisted that from the sum of one +hundred florins which the surviving partners were bound to pay, the +eighty-five remaining unpaid by the deceased should be deducted. The +balance of fifteen florins thus remaining due from the partnership he +expressed his willingness to pay, although according to the terms of the +agreement it was not payable until the five years were expired, and +would thus not be strictly due for some years to come. The claim of +George Drytzehn to be admitted a partner, as the heir of his brother, he +opposed, on the ground of his being unacquainted with the obligations of +the partnership; and he also denied that Andrew Drytzehn had ever become +security for the payment of any sum for lead or other things purchased +on account of the business, except to Fridelin von Seckingen, and that +this sum (which was owing for lead) Gutemberg himself paid. The judges +having heard the allegations of both parties, and having examined the +agreement between Gutemberg and Andrew Drytzehn, decided that the +eighty-five florins which remained unpaid by the latter should be +deducted from the hundred which were to be repaid in the event of any +one of the partners dying; and that Gutemberg should pay the balance of +fifteen florins to George and Nicholas Drytzehn, and that when this sum +should be paid they should have no further claim on the +partnership.[III-17] + + [Footnote III-16: When Andrew Heilman was proposed as a partner, + Gutemberg observed that his friends would perhaps treat the + business into which he was about to embark as mere jugglery + [göckel werck], and object to his having anything to do with + it.--Schœpflin, Vind. Typ. Document. p. 10.] + + [Footnote III-17: This decision is dated “On the Eve of St. Lucia + and St. Otilia, [12th December,] 1439.”] + +From the depositions of some of the witnesses in this process, there can +scarcely be a doubt that the “wonderful art” which Gutemberg was +attempting to perfect was typography or printing with moveable types. +Fournier[III-18] thinks that Gutemberg’s attempts at printing, as may be +gathered from the evidence in this cause, were confined to printing from +wood-blocks; but such expressions of the witnesses as appear to relate +to printing do not favour this opinion. As Gutemberg lived near the +monastery of St. Arbogast, which was without the walls of the city, it +appears that the attempts to perfect his invention were carried on in +the house of his partner Andrew Drytzehn. Upon the death of the latter, +Gutemberg appears to have been particularly anxious that “four _pieces_” +which were in a “press” should be “distributed,”--making use of the very +word which is yet used in Germany to express the distribution or +separation of a form of types---so that no person should know what they +were. + + [Footnote III-18: Traité de l’origine et des productions de + l’Imprimerie primitive en taille de bois, Paris, 1758; et + Remarques sur un Ouvrage, &c. pour servir de suite au Traité, + Paris, 1762.] + +Hans Schultheis, a dealer in wood, and Ann his wife, depose to the +following effect: After the death of Andrew Drytzehn, Gutemberg’s +servant, Lawrence Beildeck, came to their house, and thus addressed +their relation Nicholas Drytzehn: “Your deceased brother Andrew had four +“pieces” placed under a press, and John Gutemberg requests that you will +take them out and lay them separately [or apart from each other] upon +the press so that no one may see what it is.”[III-19] + + [Footnote III-19: “Andres Dritzehn uwer bruder selige hat iiij + stücke undenan inn einer _pressen_ ligen, da hat uch Hanns + Gutemberg gebetten das ir die darusz nement ünd uff die presse + legent von einander so kan man nit gesehen was das + ist.”--Schœpflin, Vind. Typ. Document. p. 6.] + +Conrad Saspach states that one day Andrew Heilman, a partner of +Gutemberg’s, came to him in the Merchants’ Walk and said to him, +“Conrad, as Andrew Drytzehn is dead, and _as you made the press_ and +know all about it, go and take the _pieces_[III-20] out of the press and +separate [zerlege] them so that no person may know what they are.” This +witness intended to do as he was requested, but on making inquiry the +day after St. Stephen’s Day[III-21] he found that the work was removed. + + [Footnote III-20: “Nym die stücke usz der _pressen_ und _zerlege_ + sü von einander so weis nyemand was es ist:” literally: “Take the + pieces out of the press and distribute [or separate] them, so that + no man may know what it is.”--Schœpflin, Vind. Typ. Document. + p. 6. “The word _zerlegen_,” says Lichtenberger, Initia Typograph. + p. 11, “is used at the present day by printers to denote the + distribution of the types which the compositor has set up.” The + original word “stücke”--pieces--is always translated + “paginæ”--pages--by Schelhorn. Dr. Dibdin calls them “_forms_ kept + together by _two screws_ or press-_spindles_.”--Life of Caxton, in + his edition of Ames’s and Herbert’s Typ. Antiq. p. lxxxvii. note.] + + [Footnote III-21: St. Stephen’s Day is on 26th December. Andrew + Drytzehn, being very ill, confessed himself to Peter Eckhart on + Christmas-day, 1438, and it would seem that he died on the 27th.] + +Lawrence Beildeck, Gutemberg’s servant, deposes that after Andrew +Drytzehn’s death he was sent by his master to Nicholas Drytzehn to tell +him not to show the press which he had in his house to any person. +Beildeck also adds that he was desired by Gutemberg to go to the +presses, and to open [or undo] the press which was fastened with two +screws, so that the “pieces” [which were in it] should fall asunder. The +said “pieces” he was then to place in or upon the press, so that no +person might see or understand them. + +Anthony Heilman, the brother of one of Gutemberg’s partners, states that +he knew of Gutemberg having sent his servant shortly before Christmas +both to Andrew Heilman and Andrew Drytzehn to bring away all the “forms” +[formen] that they might be separated in his presence, as he found +several things in them of which he disapproved.[III-22] The same witness +also states that he was well aware of many people being wishful to see +the press, and that Gutemberg had desired that they should send some +person to prevent its being seen. + + [Footnote III-22: “Dirre gezuge hat ouch geseit das er wol wisse + das Gutenberg unlange vor Wihnahten sinen kneht sante zu den beden + Andresen, alle _formen_ zu holen, und würdent zur lossen das er + ess sehe, un jn joch ettliche formen ruwete.”--Schœpflin, Vind. + Typ. Document. p. 12. The separate letters, which are now called + “types,” were frequently called “formæ” by the early printers and + writers of the fifteenth century. They are thus named by Joh. and + Vindelin de Spire in 1469; by Franciscus Philelphus in 1470; by + Ludovicus Carbo in 1471; and by Phil. de Lignamine in + 1474.--Lichtenberger, Init. Typ. p. 11.] + +Hans Dünne, a goldsmith, deposed that about three years before, he had +done work for Gutemberg on account of printing alone to the amount of a +hundred florins.[III-23] + + [Footnote III-23: “Hanns Dünne der goltsmyt hat gesait, das er vor + dryen jaren oder daby Gutemberg by den hundert guldin verdienet + habe, alleine das zu dem _trucken_ gehöret”--Schœpflin, Vind. Typ. + Document. p. 13.] + +As Gutemberg evidently had kept his art as secret as possible, it is not +surprising that the notice of it by the preceding witnesses should not +be more explicit. Though it may be a matter of doubt whether his +invention was merely an improvement on block-printing, or an attempt to +print with moveable types, yet, bearing in mind that express mention is +made of a _press_ and of _printing_, and taking into consideration his +subsequent partnership with Faust, it is morally certain that +Gutemberg’s attention had been occupied with some new discovery relative +to printing at least three years previous to December 1439. + +If Gutemberg’s attempts when in partnership with Andrew Drytzehn and +others did not extend beyond block-printing, and if the four “pieces” +which were in the press are assumed to have been four engraved blocks, +it is evident that the mere unscrewing them from the “_chase_” or frame +in which they might be enclosed, would not in the least prevent persons +from knowing what they were; and it is difficult to conceive how the +undoing of the two screws would cause “the pieces” to fall asunder. If, +however, we suppose the four “pieces” to have been so many pages of +moveable types screwed together in a frame, it is easy to conceive the +effect of undoing the two screws which held it together. On this +hypothesis, Gutemberg’s instructions to his servant, and Anthony +Heilman’s request to Conrad Saspach, the maker of the press, that he +would take out the “pieces” and distribute them, are at once +intelligible. If Gutemberg’s attempts were confined to block-printing, +he could certainly have no claim to the discovery of a new art, unless +indeed we are to suppose that his invention consisted in the +introduction of the press for the purpose of taking impressions; but it +is apparent that his anxiety was not so much to prevent people seeing +the press as to keep them ignorant of the purpose for which it was +employed, and to conceal what was in it. + +The evidence of Hans Dünne the goldsmith, though very brief, is in +favour of the opinion that Gutemberg’s essays in printing were made with +moveable types of metal; and it also is corroborated by the fact of +_lead_ being one of the articles purchased on account of the +partnership. It is certain that goldsmiths were accustomed to engrave +letters and figures upon silver and other metals long before the art of +copper-plate printing was introduced; and Fournier not attending to the +distinction between simple engraving on metal and engraving on a plate +for the purpose of taking impressions on paper, has made a futile +objection to the argument of Bär,[III-24] who very naturally supposes +that the hundred florins which Hans Dünne received from Gutemberg for +work done on account of printing alone, might be on account of his +having cut the types, the formation of which by means of punches and +matrices was a subsequent improvement of Peter Scheffer. It is indeed +difficult to conceive in what manner a goldsmith could earn a hundred +florins for work done on account of printing, except in his capacity as +an engraver; and as I can see no reason to suppose that Hans Dünne was +an engraver on wood, I am inclined to think that he was employed by +Gutemberg to cut the letters on separate pieces of metal. + + [Footnote III-24: The words of Bär, who was almoner of the Swedish + chapel at Paris in 1761, are these: “Tout le monde sait que dans + ce temps les orfèvres exerçoient aussi l’art de la gravûre; et + nous concluons de-là que Guttemberg a commencé par des caractères + de bois, que de-là il a passé aux caractères de plomb.” On this + passage Fournier makes the following observations: “Tout le monde + sait au contraire que dans ce temps il n’y avoit pas un seul + graveur dans le genre dont vous parlez, et cela par une raison + bien simple: c’est que cet art de la gravûre n’a été inventé que + vingt-trois ans après ce que vous citez, c’est-à-dire en 1460, par + _Masso Piniguera_.”--Remarques, &c. p. 20. Bär mentioned no + particular kind of engraving; and the name of the Italian + goldsmith who is supposed to have been the first who discovered + the art of taking impressions from a plate on paper, was + Finiguerra, not Piniguera, as Fournier, with his usual inaccuracy, + spells it.] + +There is no evidence to show that Gutemberg succeeded in printing any +books at Strasburg with moveable types: and the most likely conclusion +seems to be that he did not. As the process between him and the +Drytzehns must have given a certain degree of publicity to his +invention, it might be expected that some notice would have been taken +of its first-fruits had he succeeded in making it available in +Strasburg. On the contrary, all the early writers in the least entitled +to credit, who have spoken of the invention of printing with moveable +types, agree in ascribing the honour to Mentz, after Gutemberg had +returned to that city and entered into partnership with Faust. Two +writers, however, whose learning and research are entitled to the +highest respect, are of a different opinion. “It has been doubted,” says +Professor Oberlin, “that Gutemberg ever printed books at Strasburg. It +is, nevertheless, probable that he did; for he had a press there in +1439, and continued to reside in that city for five years afterwards. He +might print several of those small tracts without date, in which the +inequality of the letters and rudeness of the workmanship indicate the +infancy of the art. Schœpflin thinks that he can identify some of them; +and the passages cited by him clearly show that printing had been +carried on there.”[III-25] It is, however, to be remarked that the +passages cited by Schœpflin, and referred to by Oberlin, by no means +show that the art of printing had been practised at Strasburg by +Gutemberg; nor do they clearly prove that it had been continuously +carried on there by his partners or others to the time of Mentelin, who +probably established himself there as a printer in 1466. + + [Footnote III-25: Essai d’Annales de la Vie de Jean Gutenberg, par + Jer. J. Oberlin. 8vo. Strasbourg, An ix. [1802.]] + +It has been stated that Gutemberg’s first essays in typography were made +with wooden types; and Daniel Specklin, an architect of Strasburg, who +died in 1589, professed to have seen some of them. According to his +account there was a hole pierced in each letter, and they were arranged +in lines by a string being passed through them. The lines thus formed +like a string of beads were afterwards collected into pages, and +submitted to the press. Particles and syllables of frequent occurrence +were not formed of separate letters, but were cut on single pieces of +wood. We are left to conjecture the size of those letters; but if they +were sufficiently large to allow of a hole being bored through them, and +to afterwards sustain the action of the press, they could not well be +less than the missal types with which Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter is +printed. It is however likely that Specklin had been mistaken; and that +he had supposed some old initial letters, large enough to admit of a +hole being bored through them without injury, to have been such as were +generally used in the infancy of the art. + +In 1441 and 1442, Gutemberg, who appears to have been always in want of +money, executed deeds of sale to the dean and chapter of the collegiate +church of St. Thomas at Strasburg, whereby he assigned to them certain +rents and profits in Mentz which he inherited from his uncle John +Leheymer, who had been a judge in that city. In 1443 and 1444 +Gutemberg’s name still appears in the rate or tax book of Strasburg; but +after the latter year it is no longer to be found. About 1445, it is +probable that he returned to Mentz, his native city, having apparently +been unsuccessful in his speculations at Strasburg. From this period to +1450 it is likely that he continued to employ himself in attempts to +perfect his invention of typography. In 1450 he entered into partnership +with John Faust, a goldsmith and native of Mentz, and it is from this +year that Trithemius dates the invention. In his Annales Hirsaugienses, +under the year 1450, he gives the following account of the first +establishment and early progress of the art. “About this time [1450], in +the city of Mentz upon the Rhine, in Germany, and not in Italy as some +have falsely stated, this wonderful and hitherto unheard of art of +printing was conceived and invented by John Gutemberg, a citizen of +Mentz. He had expended nearly all his substance on the invention; and +being greatly pressed for want of means, was about to abandon it in +despair, when, through the advice and with the money furnished by John +Faust, also a citizen of Mentz, he completed his undertaking. At first +they printed the vocabulary called the _Catholicon_, from letters cut on +blocks of wood. These letters however could not be used to print +anything else, as they were not separately moveable, but were cut on the +blocks as above stated. To this invention succeeded others more subtle, +and they afterwards invented a method of casting the shapes, named by +them _matrices_, of all the letters of the Roman alphabet, from which +they again cast letters of copper or tin, sufficient to bear any +pressure to which they might be subjected, and which they had formerly +cut by hand. As I have heard, nearly thirty years ago, from Peter +Scheffer, of Gernsheim, citizen of Mentz, who was son-in-law of the +first inventor, great difficulties attended the first establishment of +this art; for when they had commenced printing a Bible they found that +upwards of four thousand florins had been expended before they had +finished the third _quaternion_ [or quire of four sheets]. Peter +Scheffer, an ingenious and prudent man, at first the servant, and +afterwards, as has been already said, the son-in-law of John Faust, the +first inventor, discovered the more ready mode of casting the types, and +perfected the art as it is at present exercised. These three for some +time kept their method of printing a secret, till at length it was +divulged by some workmen whose assistance they could not do without. It +first passed to Strasburg, and gradually to other nations.”[III-26] + + [Footnote III-26: Trithemii Annales Hirsaugienses, tom. ii. ad + annum 1450. The original passage is printed in Prosper Marchand’s + Histoire de l’Imprimerie, 2nde Partie, p. 7.] + +As Trithemius finished the work which contains the preceding account in +1514, Marchand concludes that he must have received his information from +Scheffer about 1484, which would be within thirty-five years of +Gutemberg’s entering into a partnership with Faust. Although Trithemius +had his information from so excellent an authority, yet the account +which he has thus left is far from satisfactory. Schœpflin, amongst +other objections to its accuracy, remarks that Trithemius is wrong in +stating that the invention of moveable types was subsequent to +Gutemberg’s connexion with Faust, seeing that the former had previously +employed them at Strasburg; and he also observes that in the learned +abbot’s account there is no distinct mention made of moveable letters +cut by hand, but that we are led to infer that the improvement of +casting types from matrices immediately followed the printing of the +Catholicon from wood-blocks. The words of Trithemius on this point are +as follows: “Post hæc, inventis successerunt subtiliora, inveneruntque +modum fundendi formas omnium Latini alphabeti litterarum, quas ipsi +_matrices_ nominabant, ex quibus rursum æneos sive stanneos characteres +fundebant ad omnem pressuram sufficientes quos prius manibus +sculpebant.” From this passage it might be objected in opposition to the +opinion of Schœpflin:[III-27] 1. That the “subtiliora,”--more subtle +contrivances, mentioned _before_ the invention of casting moveable +letters, may relate to the cutting of such letters by hand. 2. That the +word “quos” is to be referred to the antecedent “æneos sive stanneos +characteres,”--letters of copper or tin,--and not to the “characteres in +tabulis ligneis scripti,”--letters engraved on wood-blocks,--which are +mentioned in a preceding sentence. The inconsistency of Trithemius in +ascribing the origin of the art to Gutemberg, and twice immediately +afterwards calling Scheffer the son-in-law of “the first inventor,” +Faust, is noticed by Schœpflin, and has been pointed out by several +other writers. + + [Footnote III-27: Vindiciæ Typographicæ, pp. 77, 78.] + +In 1455 the partnership between Gutemberg and Faust was dissolved at the +instance of the latter, who preferred a suit against his partner for the +recovery, with interest, of certain sums of money which he had advanced. +There is no mention of the time when the partnership commenced in the +sentence or award of the judge; but Schwartz infers, from the sum +claimed on account of interest, that it must have been in August 1449. +It is probable that his conclusion is very near the truth; for most of +the early writers who have mentioned the invention of printing at Mentz +by Gutemberg and Faust, agree in assigning the year 1450 as that in +which they began to practise the new art. It is conjectured by Santander +that Faust, who seems to have been a selfish character,[III-28] sought +an opportunity of quarrelling with Gutemberg as soon as Scheffer had +communicated to him his great improvement of forming the letters by +means of punches and matrices. + + [Footnote III-28: In the first work which issued from Faust and + Scheffer’s press, with a date and the printer’s names,--the + Psalter of 1457,--and in several others, Scheffer appears on an + equal footing with Faust. In the colophon of an edition of Cicero + de Officiis, 1465, Faust has inserted the following degrading + words: “Presens opus Joh. Fust Moguntinus civis . . . . arte + quadam perpulcra Petri manu _pueri mei_ feliciter effeci.” His + partner, to whose ingenuity he is chiefly indebted for his fame, + is here represented in the character of a menial. Peter Scheffer, + of Gernsheim, clerk, who perfected the art of printing, is now + degraded to “Peter, my _boy_” by whose hand--not by his + ingenuity--John Faust exercises a certain beautiful art.] + +The document containing the decision of the judges was drawn up by Ulric +Helmasperger, a notary, on 6th November, 1455, in the presence of Peter +Gernsheim [Scheffer], James Faust, the brother of John, Henry Keffer, +and others.[III-29] From the statement of Faust, as recited in this +instrument, it appears that he had first advanced to Gutemberg eight +hundred florins at the annual interest of six per cent., and afterwards +eight hundred florins more. Gutemberg having neglected to pay the +interest, there was owing by him a sum of two hundred and fifty florins +on account of the first eight hundred; and a further sum of one hundred +and forty on account of the second. In consequence of Gutemberg’s +neglecting to pay the interest, Faust states that he had incurred a +further expense of thirty-six florins from having to borrow money both +of Christians and Jews. For the capital advanced by him, and arrears of +interest, he claimed on the whole two thousand and twenty +florins.[III-30] + + [Footnote III-29: Henry Keffer was employed in Gutemberg and + Faust’s printing-office. He afterwards went to Nuremberg, where + his name appears as a printer, in 1473, in conjunction with John + Sensenschmid.--Primaria quædam Documenta de origine Typographiæ, + edente C. G. Schwartzio. 8vo. Altorfii, 1740.] + + [Footnote III-30: “Er [Johan Fust] denselben solt fürter under + Christen und Iudden hab müssen ussnemen, und davor sess und + dreyssig Gulden ungevärlich zu guter Rechnung zu Gesuch geben, das + sich also zusamen mit dem Hauptgeld ungevärlich trifft an + zvvytusend und zvvanzig Gulden.” Schwartz in an observation upon + this passage conceives the sum of 2,020 florins to be thus made + up: capital advanced, in two sums of 800 each, 1,600 florins: + interest 390; on account of compound interest, incurred by Faust, + 36; making in all 2,026. He thinks that 2,020 florins only were + claimed as a round sum; and that the second sum of 800 florins was + advanced in October 1452.--Primaria quædam Documenta, pp. 9-14.] + +In answer to these allegations Gutemberg replied: that the first eight +hundred florins which he received of Faust were advanced in order to +purchase utensils for printing, which were assigned to Faust as a +security for his money. It was agreed between them that Faust should +contribute three hundred florins annually for workmen’s wages and +house-rent, and for the purchase of parchment, paper, ink, and other +things.[III-31] It was also stipulated that in the event of any +disagreement arising between them, the printing materials assigned to +Faust as a security should become the property of Gutemberg on his +repaying the sum of eight hundred florins. This sum, however, which was +advanced for the completion of the work, Gutemberg did not think himself +bound to expend on book-work alone; and although it was expressed in +their agreement that he should pay six florins in the hundred for an +annual interest, yet Faust assured him that he would not accept of it, +as the eight hundred florins were not paid down at once, as by their +agreement they ought to have been. For the second sum of eight hundred +florins he was ready to render Faust an account. For interest or usury +he considered that he was not liable.[III-32] + + [Footnote III-31: “. . . . und das JOHANNES [FUST] ym ierlichen + 300 Gulden vor Kosten geben, und auch Gesinde Lone, Huss Zinss, + Vermet, Papier, Tinte, &c. verlegen solte.” Primaria qæedam Doc. + p. 10.] + + [Footnote III-32: “. . . . von den ubrigen 800 Gulden vvegen + begert er ym ein rechnung zu thun, so gestett er auch ym keins + Soldes noch Wuchers, und hofft ym im rechten darum nit pflichtigk + sin.” Primaria quædam Doc. p. 11.] + +The judges, having heard the statements of both parties, decided that +Gutemberg should repay Faust so much of the capital as had not been +expended in the business; and that on Faust’s producing witnesses, or +swearing that he had borrowed upon interest the sums advanced, Gutemberg +should pay him interest also, according to their agreement. Faust having +made oath that he had borrowed 1550 florins, which he paid over to +Gutemberg, to be employed by him for their common benefit, and that he +had paid yearly interest, and was still liable on account of the same, +the notary, Ulric Helmasperger, signed his attestation of the award on +6th November, 1455.[III-33] It would appear that Gutemberg not being +able to repay the money was obliged to relinquish the printing materials +to Faust. + + [Footnote III-33: Mercier, who is frequently referred to as an + authority on subjects connected with Bibliography, has, in his + supplement to Prosper Marchand’s Histoire de l’Imprimerie, + confounded this document with that containing an account of the + process between the Drytzehns and Gutemberg at Strasburg in 1439; + and Heineken, at p. 255 of his Idée Générale, has committed the + same mistake.] + +Salmuth, who alludes to the above document in his annotations upon +Pancirollus, has most singularly perverted its meaning, by representing +Gutemberg as the person who advanced the money, and Faust as the +ingenious inventor who was sued by his rich partner. “From this it +evidently appears,” says he, after making Gutemberg and Faust exchange +characters, “that Gutemberg was not the first who invented and practised +typography; but that some years after its invention he was admitted a +partner by John Faust, to whom he advanced money.” If for “Gutemberg” we +read “Faust,” and _vice versâ_, the account is correct. + +Whether Faust, who might be an engraver as well as a goldsmith, assisted +Gutemberg or not by engraving the types, does not appear. It is stated +that Gutemberg’s earliest productions at Mentz were an alphabet cut on +wood, and a Donatus executed in the same manner. Trithemius mentions a +“_Catholicon_” engraved on blocks of wood as one of the first books +printed by Gutemberg and Faust, and this Heineken thinks was the same as +the Donatus.[III-34] Whatever may have been the book which Trithemius +describes as a “Catholicon,” it certainly was not the “_Catholicon +Joannis Januensis_,” a large folio which appeared in 1460 without the +name or residence of the printer, but which is supposed to have been +printed by Gutemberg after the dissolution of his partnership with +Faust. + + [Footnote III-34: “Je crois, que ces tables [deux planches de bois + autrefois chez le Duc de la Valliere] sont du livre que le + Chroniqueur de Cologne appelle un _Donat_ et que _Trithem_ nomme + un _Catholicon_, (livre universel,) ce qu’on a confondu ensuite + avec le grand ouvrage intitulé _Catholicon Januensis_.”--Idée + Générale, p. 258.] + +It has been stated that previous to the introduction of metal types +Gutemberg and Faust used moveable types of wood; and Schœpflin speaks +confidently of such being used at Strasburg by Mentelin long after +Scheffer had introduced the improved method of forming metal types by +means of punches and matrices. On this subject, however, Schœpflin’s +opinion is of very little weight, for on whatever relates to the +practice of typography or wood engraving he was very slightly informed. +He fancies that all the books printed at Strasburg previous to the +appearance of _Vincentii Bellovacensis Speculum Historiale_ in 1473, +were printed with moveable types of wood. It is, however, doubtful if +ever a single book was printed in this manner. + +Willett in his Essay on Printing, published in the eleventh volume of +the Archæologia, not only says that no entire book was ever printed with +wooden types, but adds, “I venture to pronounce it impossible.” He has +pronounced rashly. Although it certainly would be a work of considerable +labour to cut a set of moveable letters of the size of what is called +Donatus type, and sufficient to print such a book, yet it is by no means +impossible. That such books as “_Eyn Manung der Cristenheit widder die +durken_,” of which a fac-simile is given by Aretin, and the first and +second Donatuses, of which specimens are given by Fischer, might be +printed from wooden types I am perfectly satisfied, though I am +decidedly of opinion that they were not. Marchand has doubted the +possibility of printing with wooden types, which he observes would be +apt to warp when wet for the purpose of cleaning; but it is to be +observed that they would not require to be cleaned before they were +used. + +Fournier, who was a letter-founder, and who occasionally practised wood +engraving, speaks positively of the Psalter first printed by Faust and +Scheffer in 1457, and again in 1459, being printed with wooden types; +and he expresses his conviction of the practicability of cutting and +printing with such types, provided that they were not of a smaller size +than Great Primer Roman. Meerman shows the possibility of using such +types; and Camus caused two lines of the Bible, supposed to have been +printed by Gutemberg, to be cut in separate letters on wood, and which +sustained the action of the press.[III-35] Lambinet says, it is certain +that Gutemberg cut moveable letters of wood, but he gives no authority +for the assertion; and I am of opinion that no unexceptionable testimony +on this point can be produced. The statements of Serarius and Paulus +Pater,[III-36] who profess to have seen such ancient wooden types at +Mentz, are entitled to as little credit as Daniel Specklin, who asserted +that he had seen such at Strasburg. They may have seen large initial +letters of wood with holes bored through, but scarcely any lower-case +letters which were ever used in printing any book. + + [Footnote III-35: Oberlin, Essai d’Annales de la Vie de + Gutenberg.] + + [Footnote III-36: “. . . . ligneos typos, ex buxi frutice, + perforatos in medio, ut zona colligari una jungique commode + possint, ex Fausti officina reliquos, Moguntiæ aliquando me + conspexisse memini.”--Paulus Pater, in Dissertatione de Typis + Literarum, &c. p, 10. 4to. Lipsiæ, 1710. Heineken, at p. 254 of + his Idée Gén., declares himself to be convinced that Gutemberg had + cut separate letters on wood, but he thinks that no person would + be able to cut a quantity sufficient to print whole sheets, and, + still less, large volumes as many pretend.] + +That experiments might be made by Gutemberg with wooden types I can +believe, though I have not been able to find any sufficient authority +for the fact. Of the possibility of cutting moveable types of a certain +size in wood, and of printing a book with them, I am convinced from +experiment; and could convince others, were it worth the expense, by +printing a fac-simile, from wooden types, of any page of any book which +is of an earlier date than 1462. But, though convinced of the +possibility of printing small works in letters of a certain size, with +wooden types, I have never seen any early specimens of typography which +contained positive and indisputable indications of having been printed +in that manner. It was, until of late, confidently asserted by persons +who pretended to have a competent knowledge of the subject, that the +text of the celebrated Adventures of Theurdank, printed in 1517, had +been engraved on wood-blocks, and their statement was generally +believed. There cannot, however, now be a doubt in the mind of any +person who examines the book, and who has the slightest knowledge of +wood engraving and printing, of the text being printed with metal types. + +During the partnership of Gutemberg and Faust it is likely that they +printed some works, though there is scarcely one which can be assigned +to them with any degree of certainty. One of the supposed earliest +productions of typography is a letter of indulgence conceded on the 12th +of August, 1451, by Pope Nicholas V, to Paulin Zappe, counsellor and +ambassador of John, King of Cyprus. It was to be in force for three +years from the 1st of May, 1452, and it granted indulgence to all +persons who within that period should contribute towards the defence of +Cyprus against the Turks. Four copies of this indulgence are known, +printed on vellum in the manner of a patent or brief. The characters are +of a larger size than those of the “Durandi Rationale,” 1459, or of the +Latin Bible printed by Faust and Scheffer in 1462. The following date +appears at the conclusion of one of the copies: “Datum _Erffurdie_ sub +anno Domini m cccc liiij, die vero _quinta decima_ mensis _novembris_.” +The words which are here printed in Italic, are in the original written +with a pen. A copy of the same indulgence discovered by Professor +Gebhardi is more complete. It has at the end, a “_Forma plenissimæ +absolutionis et remissionis in vita et in mortis articulo_,”--a form of +plenary absolution and remission in life and at the point of death. At +the conclusion is the following date, the words in Italics being +inserted with a pen: “Datum in _Luneborch_ anno Domini m cccc l +_quinto_, die vero _vicesima sexta_ mensis _Januarii_.” Heineken, who +saw this copy in the possession of Breitkopf, has observed that in the +original date, m cccc liiij, the last four characters had been effaced +and the word _quinto_ written with a pen; but yet in such a manner that +the numerals iiij might still be perceived. In two copies of this +indulgence in the possession of Earl Spencer, described by Dr. Dibdin in +the Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. i. p. 44, the final units (iiij) have +not had the word “quinto” overwritten, but have been formed with a pen +into the numeral V. In the catalogue of Dr. Kloss’s library, No. 1287, +it is stated that a fragment of a “Donatus” there described, consisting +of two leaves of parchment, is printed with the same type as the +Mazarine Bible; and it is added, on the authority of George Appleyard, +Esq., Earl Spencer’s librarian, that the “Littera Indulgentiæ” of Pope +Nicholas V, in his lordship’s possession, contains two lines printed +with the same type. Breitkopf had some doubts respecting this +instrument; but a writer in the Jena Literary Gazette is certainly wrong +in supposing that it had been ante-dated ten years. It was only to be in +force for three years; and Pope Nicholas V, by whom it was granted, died +on the 24th March, 1455.[III-37] Two words, UNIVERSIS and PAULINUS, +which are printed in capitals in the first two lines, are said to be of +the same type as those of a Bible of which Schelhorn has given a +specimen in his “Dissertation on an early Edition of the Bible,” Ulm, +1760. + + [Footnote III-37: Oberlin, Essai d’Annales de la Vie de + Gutenberg.] + +The next earliest specimen of typography with a date is the tract +entitled “_Eyn Manung der Cristenkeit widder die durken_,”--An Appeal to +Christendom against the Turks,--which has been alluded to at page 136. +A lithographic fac-simile of the whole of this tract, which consists of +nine printed pages of a quarto size, is given by Aretin at the end of +his “Essay on the earliest historical results of the invention of +Printing,” published at Munich in 1808. This “Appeal” is in German +rhyme, and it consists of exhortations, arranged under every month in +the manner of a calendar, addressed to the pope, the emperor, to kings, +princes, bishops, and free states, encouraging them to take up arms and +resist the Turks. The exhortation for January is addressed to Pope +Nicholas V, who died, as has been observed, in March 1455. Towards the +conclusion of the prologue is the date “_Als man zelet noch din’ geburt +offenbar m.cccc.lv. iar sieben wochen und iiii do by von nativitatis bis +esto michi_.” At the conclusion of the exhortation for December are the +following words: “Eyn gut selig nuwe Jar:” A happy new year! From these +circumstances Aretin is of opinion that the tract was printed towards +the end of 1454. M. Bernhart, however, one of the superintendents of the +Royal Library at Munich, of which Aretin was the principal director, has +questioned the accuracy of this date; and from certain allusions in the +exhortation for December, has endeavoured to show that the correct date +ought to be 1472.[III-38] + + [Footnote III-38: Dr. Dibdin, Bibliog. Tour, vol iii. p. 135, + second edition.] + +Fischer in looking over some old papers discovered a calendar of a folio +size, and printed on one side only, for 1457. The letters, according to +his description, resemble those of a Donatus, of which he has given +a specimen in the third part of his Typographic Rarities, and he +supposes that both the Donatus and the Calendar were printed by +Gutemberg.[III-39] It is, however, certain that the Donatus which +he ascribed to Gutemberg was printed by Peter Scheffer, and in all +probability after Faust’s death; and from the similarity of the type it +is likely that the Calendar was printed at the same office. Fischer, +having observed that the large ornamental capitals of this Donatus were +the same as those in the Psalter printed by Faust and Scheffer in 1457, +was led most erroneously to conclude that the large ornamental letters +of the Psalter, which were most likely of wood, had been cut by +Gutemberg. The discovery of a Donatus with Peter Scheffer’s imprint has +completely destroyed his conjectures, and invalidated the arguments +advanced by him in favour of the Mazarine Bible being printed by +Gutemberg alone. + + [Footnote III-39: Gotthelf Fischer, Notice du premier livre + imprimé avec date. 4to. Mayence, An xi. Typographisch. Seltenheit. + 6te. Lieferung, S. 25. 8vo. Nürnberg, 1804. When Fischer published + his account of the Calendar, Aretin had not discovered the tract + entitled “_Eyn Manung der Cristenheit widder die durken_.”] + +As Trithemius and the compiler of the Cologne Chronicle have mentioned a +Bible as one of the first books printed by Gutemberg and Faust, it has +been a fertile subject of discussion among bibliographers to ascertain +the identical edition to which the honour was to be awarded. It seems, +however, to be now generally admitted that the edition called the +Mazarine[III-40] is the best entitled to that distinction. In 1789 +Maugerard produced a copy of this edition to the Academy of Metz, +containing memoranda which seem clearly to prove that it was printed at +least as early as August 1456. As the partnership between Gutemberg and +Faust was only dissolved in November 1455, it is almost impossible that +such could have been printed by either of them separately in the space +of eight months; and as there seems no reason to believe that any other +typographical establishment existed at that period, it is most likely +that this was the identical edition alluded to by Trithemius as having +cost 4,000 florins before the partners, Gutemberg and Faust, had +finished the third quaternion, or quire of four sheets. + + [Footnote III-40: It is called the Mazarine Bible in consequence + of the first known copy being discovered in the library formed by + Cardinal Mazarine. Dr. Dibdin, in his Bibliographical Tour, vol. + ii. p. 191, mentions having seen not fewer than ten or twelve + copies of this edition, which he says must not be designated as + “of the very first degree of rarity.” An edition of the Bible, + supposed to have been printed at Bamberg by Albert Pfister about + 1461, is much more scarce.] + +The copy produced by Maugerard is printed on paper, and is now in the +Royal Library at Paris. It is bound in two volumes; and every complete +page consists of two columns, each containing forty-two lines. At the +conclusion of the first volume the person by whom it was +rubricated[III-41] and bound has written the following memorandum: “_Et +sic est finis prime partis biblie. Scr. Veteris testamenti. Illuminata +seu rubricata et illuminata p’ henricum Albeh alius Cremer anno dn’i +m.cccc.lvi festo Bartholomei apli--Deo gratias--alleluja._” At the end +of the second volume the same person has written the date in words at +length: “_Iste liber illuminatus, ligatus & completus est p’ henricum +Cremer vicariū ecclesie collegatur Sancti Stephani maguntini sub anno +D’ni millesimo quadringentesimo quinquagesimo sexto festo assumptionis +gloriose virginis Marie. Deo gracias alleluja._”[III-42] Fischer[III-43] +says that this last memorandum assigns “einen spätern tag”--a later +day--to the end of the rubricator’s work. In this he is mistaken; for +the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, when the _second_ volume was +finished, is on the 15th of August: while the feast of St. Bartholomew, +the day on which he finished the _first_, falls on August 24th. +Lambinet,[III-44] who doubts the genuineness of those inscriptions, +makes the circumstance of the second volume being finished nine days +before the first, a ground of objection. This seeming inconsistency +however can by no means be admitted as a proof of the inscriptions being +spurious. It is indeed more likely that the rubricator might actually +finish the second volume before the first, than that a modern forger, +intent to deceive, should not have been aware of the objection. + + [Footnote III-41: In most of the early printed books the capitals + were left to be inserted in red ink by the pen or pencil of the + “rubricator.”] + + [Footnote III-42: There are fac-simile tracings of those + memorandums, on separate slips of paper, in the copy of the + Mazarine Bible in the King’s Library at the British Museum; and + fac-simile engravings of them are given in the M’Carthy + Catalogue.] + + [Footnote III-43: Typograph. Seltenheit. S. 20, 3te. Lieferung.] + + [Footnote III-44: Recherches sur l’Origine de l’Imprimerie, + p. 135.] + +The genuineness of the inscriptions is, however, confirmed by other +evidence which no mere conjecture can invalidate. On the last leaf of +this Bible there is a memorandum written by Berthold de Steyna, vicar of +the parochial church of “Ville-Ostein,”[III-45] to the sacrist of which +the Bible belonged. The sum of this memorandum is that on St. George’s +day [23d April] 1457 there was chaunted, for the first time by the said +Berthold, the mass of the holy sacrament. In the Carthusian monastery +without the walls of Mentz, Schwartz[III-46] says that he saw a copy of +this edition, the last leaves of which were torn out; but that in an old +catalogue he perceived an entry stating that this Bible was presented to +the monastery by Gutemberg and Faust. If the memorandum in the catalogue +could be relied on as genuine, it would appear that this Bible had been +completed before the dissolution of Gutemberg and Faust’s partnership in +November 1455. + + [Footnote III-45: Oberlin says that “Ville-Ostein” lies near + Erfurth, and is in the diocese of Mentz.] + + [Footnote III-46: Index librorum sub incunabula typograph. + impressorum. 1739; cited by Fischer, Typograph. Seltenheit. S. 21, + 3te. Lieferung.] + +Although not a single work has been discovered with Gutemberg’s imprint, +yet there cannot be a doubt of his having established a press of his +own, and printed books at Mentz after the partnership between him and +Faust had been dissolved. In the chronicle printed by Philip de +Lignamine at Rome in 1474, it is expressly stated, under the year 1458, +that there were then two printers at Mentz skilful in printing on +parchment with metal types. The name of one was _Cutemberg_, and the +other Faust; and it was known that each of them could print three +hundred sheets in a day.[III-47] On St. Margaret’s day, 20th July, 1459, +Gutemberg, in conjunction with his brother Friele and his cousins John, +Friele, and Pederman, executed a deed in favour of the convent of St. +Clara at Mentz, in which his sister Hebele was a nun. In this document, +which is preserved among the archives of the university of Mentz, there +occurs a passage, “which makes it as clear,” says Fischer, who gives the +deed entire, “as the finest May-day noon, that Gutemberg had not only +printed books at that time, but that he intended to print more.” The +passage alluded to is to the following effect: “And with respect to the +books which I, the above-named John, have given the library of the said +convent, they shall remain for ever in the said library; and I, the +above-named John, will furthermore give to the library of the said +convent all such books required for pious uses and the service of +God,--whether for reading or singing, or for use according to the rules +of the order,--as I, the above-named John, have printed or shall +hereafter print.”[III-48] + + [Footnote III-47: Philippi de Lignamine Chronica Summorum + Pontificum Imperatorumque, anno 1474, Romæ impressa. A second + edition of this chronicle was printed at Rome in 1476 by + “Schurener de Bopardia.” In both editions Gutemberg is called + “Jacobus,”--James, and is said to be a native of Strasburg. Under + the same year John Mentelin is mentioned as a printer at + Strasburg.] + + [Footnote III-48: Fischer, Typograph. Seltenheit. S. 44, 1ste. + Lieferung. In this instrument Gutemberg describes himself as + “Henne Genssfleisch von Sulgeloch, genennt Gudinberg.”] + +That Gutemberg had a press of his own is further confirmed by a bond or +deed of obligation executed by Dr. Conrad Homery on the Friday after St. +Matthias’ day, 1468, wherein he acknowledges having received “certain +forms, letters, utensils, materials, and other things belonging to +printing,” left by John Gutemberg deceased; and he binds himself to the +archbishop Adolphus not to use them beyond the territory of Mentz, and +in the event of his selling them to give a preference to a person +belonging to that city. + +The words translated “certain forms, letters, utensils, materials, and +other things belonging to printing,” in the preceding paragraph, are in +the original enumerated as: “_etliche formen_, _buchstaben_, +_instrument_, _gezuge und anders zu truckwerck gehoerende_.” As there is +a distinction made between “formen” and “buchstaben,”--literally, +“forms” and “letters,”--Schwartz is inclined to think that by “formen” +engraved wood-blocks might be meant, and he adduces in favour of his +opinion the word “formen-schneider,” the old German name for a +wood-engraver. One or more pages of type when wedged into a rectangular +iron frame called a “chase,” and ready for the press, is termed a “form” +both by English and German printers; but Schwartz thinks that such were +not the “forms” mentioned in the document. As there appears to be a +distinction also between “_instrument_” and “_gezuge_,”--translated +utensils and materials,--he supposes that the latter word may be used to +signify the metal of which the types were formed. He observes that +German printers call their old worn-out types “_der Zeug_”--literally, +“stuff,” and that the mixed metal of which types are composed is also +known as “der Zeug, oder Metall.”[III-49] It is to be remembered that +the earliest printers were also their own letter-founders. + + [Footnote III-49: Primaria quædam Document. pp. 26-34.] + +The work called the Catholicon, compiled by Johannes de Balbis, +Januensis, a Dominican, which appeared in 1460 without the printer’s +name, has been ascribed to Gutemberg’s press by some of the most eminent +German bibliographers. It is a Latin dictionary and introduction to +grammar, and consists of three hundred and seventy-three leaves of large +folio size. Fischer and others are of opinion that a Vocabulary, printed +at Elfeld,--in Latin, Altavilla,--near Mentz, on 6th November, 1467, was +executed with the same types. At the end of this work, which is a quarto +of one hundred and sixty-five leaves, it is stated to have been begun by +Henry Bechtermuntze, and finished by his brother Nicholas, and Wigand +Spyess de Orthenberg.[III-50] A second edition of the same work, printed +by Nicholas Bechtermuntze, appeared in 1469. The following extract from +a letter written by Fischer to Professor Zapf in 1803, contains an +account of his researches respecting the Catholicon and Vocabulary: “The +frankness with which you retracted your former opinions respecting the +printer of the Catholicon of 1460, and agreed with me in assigning it to +Gutemberg, demands the respect of every unbiassed inquirer. I beg now +merely to mention to you a discovery that I have made which no longer +leaves it difficult to conceive how the Catholicon types should have +come into the hands of Bechtermuntze. From a monument which stands +before the high altar of the church of Elfeld it is evident that the +family of Sorgenloch, of which that of Gutemberg or Gænsfleisch was a +branch, was connected with the family of Bechtermuntze by marriage. The +types used by Bechtermuntze were not only similar to those formerly +belonging to Gutemberg, but were the very same, as I always maintained, +appealing to the principles of the type-founder’s art. They had come +into the possession of Bechtermuntze by inheritance, on the death of +Gutemberg, and hence Dr. Homery’s reclamation.”[III-51] + + [Footnote III-50: “. . . . per henricum bechtermuncze pie memorie + in altavilla est inchoatum. et demū sub anno dñi M.CCCCLXII. ipō + die Leonardi confessoris qui fuit quarta die mensis novembris + p. nycolaum bechtermūcze fratrem dicti Henrici et Wygandū Spyess + de orthenberg ē consummatū.” There is a copy of this edition in + the Royal Library at Paris.] + + [Footnote III-51: Typographisch. Seltenheit. S. 101, 5te. + Lieferung.] + +Zapf, to whom Fischer’s letter is addressed, had previously communicated +to Oberlin his opinion that the types of the Catholicon were the same as +those of an _Augustinus de Vita Christiana_, 4to, without date or +printer’s name, but having at the end the arms of Faust and Scheffer. In +his account, printed at Nuremberg, 1803, of an early edition of “Joannis +de Turre-cremata explanatio in Psalterium,” he acknowledged that he was +mistaken; thus agreeing with Schwartz, Meerman, Panzer, and Fischer, +that no book known to be printed by Faust and Scheffer is printed with +the same types as the Catholicon and the Vocabulary. + +Although there can be little doubt of the Catholicon and the Elfeld +Vocabulary being printed with the same types, and of the former being +printed by Gutemberg, yet it is far from certain that Bechtermuntze +inherited Gutemberg’s printing materials, even though he might be a +relation. It is as likely that Gutemberg might sell to the brothers a +portion of his materials and still retain enough for himself. If they +came into their possession by inheritance, which is not likely, +Gutemberg must have died some months previous to 4th November, 1467, the +day on which Nicholas Bechtermuntze and Wygand Spyess finished the +printing of the Vocabulary. If the materials had been purchased by +Bechtermuntze in Gutemberg’s lifetime, which seems to be the most +reasonable supposition, Conrad Homery could have no claim upon them on +account of money advanced to Gutemberg, and consequently the types and +printing materials which after his death came into Homery’s possession, +could not be those employed by the brothers Bechtermuntze in their +establishment at Elfeld.[III-52] + + [Footnote III-52: The two following works, without date or + printer’s name, are printed with the same types as the Catholicon, + and it is doubtful whether they were printed by Gutemberg, or by + other persons with his types. + 1. Matthei de Cracovia tractatus, seu dialogus racionis et + consciencie de sumpcione pabuli salutiferi corporis domini nostri + ihesu christi. 4to. foliis 22. + 2. Thome de Aquino summa de articulis fidei et ecclesie + sacramentis. 4to. foliis 13. + A declaration of Thierry von Isenburg, archbishop of Mayence, + offering to resign in favour of his opponent, Adolphus of Nassau, + printed in German and Latin in 1462, is ascribed to Gutemberg: it + is of quarto size and consists of four leaves.--Oberlin, Annales + de la Vie de Gutenberg.] + +By letters patent, dated at Elfeld on St. Anthony’s day, 1465, Adolphus, +archbishop and elector of Mentz, appointed Gutemberg one of his +courtiers, with the same allowance of clothing as the rest of the nobles +attending his court, with other privileges and exemptions. From this +period Fischer thinks that Gutemberg no longer occupied himself with +business as a printer, and that he transferred his printing materials to +Henry Bechtermuntze. “If Wimpheling’s account be true,” says Fischer, +“that Gutemberg became blind in his old age, we need no longer be +surprised that during his lifetime his types and utensils should come +into the possession of Bechtermuntze.” The exact period of Gutemberg’s +decease has not been ascertained, but in the bond or deed of obligation +executed by Doctor Conrad Homery the Friday after St. Matthias’s +day,[III-53] 1468, he is mentioned as being then dead. He was interred +at Mentz in the church of the Recollets, and the following epitaph was +composed by his relation, Adam Gelthaus:[III-54] + + “D. O. M. S. + +“Joanni Genszfleisch, artis impressoriæ repertori, de omni natione et +lingua optime merito, in nominis sui memoriam immortalem Adam Gelthaus +posuit. Ossa ejus in ecclesia D. Francisci Moguntina feliciter cubant.” + +From the last sentence it is probable that this epitaph was not placed +in the church wherein Gutemberg was interred. The following inscription +was composed by Ivo Wittich, professor of law and member of the imperial +chamber at Mentz: + +“Jo. Guttenbergensi, Moguntino, qui primus omnium literas ære +imprimendas invenit, hac arte de orbe toto bene merenti Ivo Witigisis +hoc saxum pro monimento posuit M.D.VII.” + + [Footnote III-53: St. Matthias’s Day is on 24th February.] + + [Footnote III-54: In the instrument dated 1434, wherein Gutemberg + agrees to release the town-clerk of Mentz, whom he had arrested, + mention is made of a relation of his, Ort Gelthus, living at + Oppenheim. Schœpflin, mistaking the word, has printed in his + Documenta, p. 4, “Artgeld huss,” which he translates “Artgeld + domo,” the house of Artgeld.] + +This inscription, according to Serarius, who professes to have seen it, +and who died in 1609, was placed in front of the school of law at Mentz. +This house had formerly belonged to Gutemberg, and was supposed to be +the same in which he first commenced printing at Mentz in conjunction +with Faust.[III-55] + + [Footnote III-55: Serarii Historia Mogunt. lib. 1. cap. xxxvii. + p. 159. Heineken, Nachrichten von Kunstlern und Kunst-Sachen, 2te. + Theil, S. 299.] + +From the documentary evidence cited in the preceding account of the life +of Gutemberg, it will be perceived that the art of printing with +moveable types was not perfected as soon as conceived, but that it was a +work of time. It is highly probable that Gutemberg was occupied with his +invention in 1436; and from the obscure manner in which his “admirable +discovery” is alluded to in the process between him and the Drytzehns in +1439, it does not seem likely that he had then proceeded beyond making +experiments. In 1449 or 1450, when the sum of 800 florins was advanced +by Faust, it appears not unreasonable to suppose that he had so far +improved his invention, as to render it practically available without +reference to Scheffer’s great improvement in casting the types from +matrices formed by punches, which was most likely discovered between +1452 and 1455.[III-56] About fourteen years must have elapsed before +Gutemberg was enabled to bring his invention into practice. The +difficulties which must have attended the first establishment of +typography could only have been surmounted by great ingenuity and +mechanical knowledge combined with unwearied perseverance. After the +mind had conceived the idea of using moveable types, those types, +whatever might be the material employed, were yet to be formed, and when +completed they were to be arranged in pages, divided by proper spaces, +and bound together in some manner which the ingenuity of the inventor +was to devise. Nor was his invention complete until he had contrived a +PRESS, by means of which numerous impressions from his types might be +perfectly and rapidly obtained. + + [Footnote III-56: In the colophon to “Trithemii Breviarium + historiarum de origine Regum et Gentis Francorum,” printed at + Mentz in 1515 by John Scheffer, son of Peter Scheffer and + Christina, the daughter of Faust, it is stated that the art of + printing was perfected in 1452, through the labour and ingenious + contrivances of Peter Scheffer of Gernsheim, and that Faust gave + him his daughter Christina in marriage as a reward.] + +Mr. Ottley, at page 285 of the first volume of his Researches, informs +us that “almost all great discoveries have been made by accident;” and +at page 196 of the same volume, when speaking of printing as the +invention of Lawrence Coster, he mentions it as an “art which had been +at first taken up as the amusement of a leisure hour, became improved, +and was practised by him as a profitable trade.” Let any unbiassed +person enter a printing-office; let him look at the single letters, let +him observe them formed into pages, and the pages wedged up in forms; +let him see a sheet printed from one of those forms by means of the +press; and when he has seen and considered all this, let him ask himself +if ever, since the world began, the amusement of an old man practised in +his hours of leisure was attended with such a result? “Very few great +discoveries,” says Lord Brougham, “have been made by chance and by +ignorant persons, much fewer than is generally supposed.--They are +generally made by persons of competent knowledge, and who are in search +of them.”[III-57] + + [Footnote III-57: On the Pleasures and Advantages of Science, + p. 160. Edit. 1831.] + +Having now given some account of the grounds on which Gutemberg’s claims +to the invention of typography are founded, it appears necessary to give +a brief summary, from the earliest authorities, of the pretensions of +Lawrence Coster not only to the same honour, but to something more; for +if the earliest account which we have of him be true, he was not only +the inventor of typography, but of block-printing also. + +The first mention of Holland in connexion with the invention of +typography occurs in the Cologne Chronicle, printed by John Kœlhoff in +1499, wherein it is said that the first idea of the art was suggested by +the Donatuses printed in Holland; it being however expressly stated in +the same work that the art of printing as then practised was invented at +Mentz. In a memorandum, which has been referred to at page 123, written +by Mariangelus Accursius, who flourished about 1530, the invention of +printing with metal types is erroneously ascribed to Faust; and it is +further added, that he derived the idea from a Donatus printed in +Holland from a wood-block. That a Donatus might be printed there from a +wood-block previous to the invention of typography is neither impossible +nor improbable; although I esteem the testimony of Accursius of very +little value. He was born and resided in Italy, and it is not unlikely, +as has been previously observed, that he might derive his information +from the Cologne Chronicle. + +John Van Zuyren, who died in 1594, is said to have written a book to +prove that typography was invented at Harlem; but it never was printed, +and the knowledge that we have of it is from certain fragments of it +preserved by Scriverius, a writer whose own uncorroborated testimony on +this subject is not entitled to the slightest credit. The substance of +Zuyren’s account is almost the same as that of Junius, except that he +does not mention the inventor’s name. The art according to him was +invented at Harlem, but that while yet in a rude and imperfect state it +was carried by a stranger to Mentz, and there brought to perfection. + +Theodore Coornhert, in the dedication of his Dutch translation of +Tully’s Offices to the magistrates of Harlem, printed in 1561, says that +he had frequently heard from respectable people that the art of printing +was invented at Harlem, and that the house where the inventor lived was +pointed out to him. He proceeds to relate that by the dishonesty of a +workman the art was carried to Mentz and there perfected. Though he says +that he was informed by certain respectable old men both of the +inventor’s name and family, yet, for some reason or other, he is careful +not to mention them. When he was informing the magistrates of Harlem of +their city being the nurse of so famous a discovery, it is rather +strange that he should not mention the parent’s name. From the +conclusion of his dedication we may guess why he should be led to +mention Harlem as the place where typography was invented. It appears +that he and certain friends of his, being inflamed with a patriotic +spirit, designed to establish a new printing-office at Harlem, “in +honour of their native city, to the profit of others, and for their own +accommodation, and yet without detriment to any person.” His claiming +the invention of printing for Harlem was a good advertisement for the +speculation. + +The next writer who mentions Harlem as the place where printing was +invented is Guicciardini, who in his Description of the Low Countries, +first printed at Antwerp in 1567, gives the report, without vouching for +its truth, as follows: “In this place, it appears, not only from the +general opinion of the inhabitants and other Hollanders, but from the +testimony of several writers and from other memoirs, that the art of +printing and impressing letters on paper such as is now practised, was +invented. The inventor dying before the art was perfected or had come +into repute, his servant, as they say, went to live at Mentz, where +making this new art known, he was joyfully received; and applying +himself diligently to so important a business, he brought it to +perfection and into general repute. Hence the report has spread abroad +and gained credit that the art of printing was first practised at Mentz. +What truth there may be in this relation, I am not able, nor do I wish, +to decide; contenting myself with mentioning the subject in a few words, +that I might not prejudice [by my silence the claims of] this +district.”[III-58] + + [Footnote III-58: Ludovico Guicciardini, Descrittione di tutti i + Paesi Bassi: folio, Anversa, 1581. The original passage is given + by Meerman. The original words _altre memorie_--translated in the + above extract “other memoirs”--are rendered by Mr. Ottley “other + records.” This may pass; but it scarcely can be believed that + Guicciardini consulted or personally knew of the existence of any + such records. Mr. Ottley also, to match his “records,” refers to + the relations of Coornhert, Zuyren, Guicciardini, and Junius as + “documents.”] + +It is evident that the above account is given from mere report. What +other writers had previously noticed the claims of Harlem, except +Coornhert and Zuyren, remain yet to be discovered. They appear to have +been unknown to Guicciardini’s contemporary, Junius, who was the first +to give a name to the Harlem inventor; a “local habitation” had already +been provided for him by Coornhert. + +The sole authority for one Lawrence Coster having invented +wood-engraving, block-printing, and typography, is Hadrian Junius, who +was born at Horn in North Holland, in 1511. He took up his abode at +Harlem in 1560. During his residence in that city he commenced his +Batavia,--the work in which the account of Coster first +appeared,--which, from the preface, would seem to have been finished in +January, 1575. He died the 16th June in the same year, and his book was +not published until 1588, twelve years after his decease.[III-59] In +this work, which is a topographical and historical account of Holland, +or more properly of the country included within the limits of ancient +Batavia, we find the first account of Lawrence Coster as the inventor of +typography. Almost every succeeding advocate of Coster’s pretensions has +taken the liberty of altering, amplifying, or contradicting the account +of Junius according as it might suit his own line of argument; but not +one of them has been able to produce a single solitary fact in +confirmation of it. Scriverius, Seiz, Meerman, and Koning are fertile in +their conjectures about the thief that stole Coster’s types, but they +are miserably barren in their proofs of his having had types to be +stolen. “If the variety of opinions,” observes Naude, speaking of +Coster’s invention, “may be taken as an indication of the falsehood of +any theory, it is impossible that this should be true”. Since Naude’s +time the number of Coster’s advocates has been increased by Seiz, +Meerman, and Koning;[III-60] who, if they have not been able to produce +any evidence of the existence of Lawrence Coster as a printer, have at +least been fertile in conjectures respecting the thief. They have not +strengthened but weakened the Costerian triumphal arch raised by Junius, +for they have all more or less knocked a piece of it away; and even +where they have pretended to make repairs, it has merely been “one nail +driving another out.” + + [Footnote III-59: Junius was a physician, and unquestionably a + learned man. He is the author of a nomenclator in Latin, Greek, + Dutch, and French. An edition, with the English synonyms, by John + Higins and Abraham Fleming, was printed at London in 1585. The + following passage concerning Junius occurs in Southey’s + Biographical Sketch of the Earl of Surrey in the “Select Works of + the British Poets from Chaucer to Jonson:” “Surrey is next found + distinguishing himself at the siege of Landrecy. At that siege + Bonner, who was afterwards so eminently infamous, invited Hadrian + Junius to England. When that distinguished scholar arrived, Bonner + wanted either the means, or more probably the heart, to assist + him; but Surrey took him into his family in the capacity of + physician, and gave him a pension of fifty angels.”] + + [Footnote III-60: Koning’s Dissertation on the Invention of + Printing, which was crowned by the Society of Sciences of Harlem, + was first printed at Harlem in the Dutch language in 1816. It was + afterwards abridged and translated into French with the + approbation, and under the revision, of the author. In 1817 he + published a first supplement; and a second appeared in 1820.] + +Junius’s account of Coster is supposed to have been written about 1568; +and in order to do justice to the claims of Harlem I shall here give a +faithful translation of the “document,”--according to Mr. Ottley,--upon +which they are founded. After alluding, in a preliminary rhetorical +flourish, to Truth being the daughter of Time, and to her being +concealed in a well, Junius thus proceeds to draw her out. + +“If he is the best witness, as Plutarch says, who, bound by no favour +and led by no partiality, freely and fearlessly speaks what he thinks, +my testimony may deservedly claim attention. I have no connexion through +kindred with the deceased, his heirs, or his posterity, and I expect on +this account neither favour nor reward. What I have done is performed +through a regard to the memory of the dead. I shall therefore relate +what I have heard from old and respectable persons who have held offices +in the city, and who seriously affirmed that they had heard what they +told from their elders, whose authority ought justly to entitle them to +credit.” + +About a hundred and twenty-eight years ago,[III-61] Lawrence John, +called the churchwarden or keeper,[III-62] from the profitable and +honourable office which his family held by hereditary right, dwelt in a +large house, which is yet standing entire, opposite the Royal Palace. +This is the person who now on the most sacred ground of right puts forth +his claims to the honour of having invented typography, an honour so +nefariously obtained and possessed by others. Walking in a neighbouring +wood, as citizens are accustomed to do after dinner and on holidays, he +began to cut letters of beech-bark, with which for amusement, the +letters being inverted as on a seal, he impressed short sentences on +paper for the children of his son-in-law. Having succeeded so well in +this, he began to think of more important undertakings, for he was a +shrewd and ingenious man; and, in conjunction with his son-in-law Thomas +Peter, he discovered a more glutinous and tenacious kind of ink, as he +found from experience that the ink in common use occasioned blots. This +Thomas Peter left four sons, all of whom were magistrates; and I mention +this that all may know that the art derived its origin from a +respectable and not from a mean family. He then printed whole figured +pages with the text added. Of this kind I have seen specimens executed +in the infancy of the art, being printed only on one side. This was a +book composed in our native language by an anonymous author, and +entitled _Speculum Nostræ Salutis_. In this we may observe that in the +first productions of the art--for no invention is immediately +perfected--the blank pages were pasted together, so that they might not +appear as a defect. He afterwards exchanged his beech types for leaden +ones, and subsequently he formed his types of tin, as being less +flexible and of greater durability. Of the remains of these types +certain old wine-vessels were cast, which are still preserved in the +house formerly the residence of Lawrence, which, as I have said, looks +into the market-place, and which was afterwards inhabited by his +great-grandson Gerard Thomas, a citizen of repute, who died an old man a +few years ago. + + [Footnote III-61: Reckoning from 1568, the period referred to + would be 1440.] + + [Footnote III-62: “Ædituus Custosve.” The word “Koster” in modern + Dutch is synonymous with the English “Sexton.”] + +“The new invention being well received, and a new and unheard-of +commodity finding on all sides purchasers, to the great profit of the +inventor, he became more devoted to the art, his business was increased, +and new workmen--the first cause of his misfortune--were employed. Among +them was one called John; but whether, as is suspected, he bore the +ominous surname of Faust,--_infaustus_[III-63] and unfaithful to his +master--or whether it were some other John, I shall not labour to prove, +as I do not wish to disturb the dead already enduring the pangs of +conscience for what they had done when living.[III-64] This person, who +was admitted under an oath to assist in printing, as soon as he thought +he had attained the art of joining the letters, a knowledge of the +fusile types, and other matters connected with the business, embracing +the convenient opportunity of Christmas Eve, when all persons are +accustomed to attend to their devotions, stole all the types and +conveyed away all the utensils which his master had contrived by his own +skill; and then leaving home with the thief, first went to Amsterdam, +then to Cologne, and lastly to Mentz, as his altar of refuge, where +being safely settled, beyond bowshot as they say, he might commence +business, and thence derive a rich profit from the things which he had +stolen. Within the space of a year from Christmas, 1442, it is certain +that there appeared printed with the types which Lawrence had used at +Harlem ‘_Alexandri Galli Doctrinale_,’ a grammar then in frequent use, +with ‘_Petri Hispani Tractatus_.’ + + [Footnote III-63: “Sive is (ut fert suspicio) Faustus fuerit + ominoso cognomine, hero suo infidus et infaustus.” The author here + indulges in an ominous pun. The Latinised name “_Faustus_,” + signifies lucky; the word “_infaustus_,” unlucky. The German name + Füst may be literally translated “Fist.” A clenched hand is the + crest of the family of Faust.] + + [Footnote III-64: This is an admirable instance of candour. + A charge is insinuated, and presumed to be a fact, and yet the + writer kindly forbears to bring forward proof, that he may not + disturb the dead. History has long since given the lie to the + insinuation of the thief having been Faust.] + +“The above is nearly what I have heard from old men worthy of credit who +had received the tradition as a shining torch transferred from hand to +hand, and I have heard the same related and affirmed by others. +I remember being told by Nicholas Galius, the instructor of my youth,--a +man of iron memory, and venerable from his long white hair,--that when a +boy he had often heard one Cornelius, a bookbinder, not less than eighty +years old (who had been an assistant in the same office), relate with +such excited feelings the whole transaction,--the occasion of the +invention, its progress, and perfection, as he had heard of them from +his master,--that as often as he came to the story of the robbery he +would burst into tears; and then the old man’s anger would be so roused +on account of the honour that had been lost through the theft, that he +appeared as if he could have hanged the thief had he been alive; and +then again he would vow perdition on his sacrilegious head, and curse +the nights that he had slept in the same bed with him, for the old man +had been his bedfellow for some months. This does not differ from the +words of Quirinus Talesius, who admitted to me that he had formerly +received nearly the same account from the mouth of the same +bookseller.”[III-65] + + [Footnote III-65: Hadriani Junii Batavia, p. 253, et sequent. + Edit. Ludg. Batavor. 1588.] + +As Junius died upwards of twelve years before his book was published, it +is doubtful whether the above account was actually written by him or +not. It may have been an interpolation of an editor or a bookseller +anxious for the honour of Harlem, and who might thus expect to gain +currency for the story by giving it to the world under the sanction of +Junius’s name. There was also another advantage attending this mode of +publication; for as the reputed writer was dead, he could not be called +on to answer the many objections which remain yet unexplained. + +The manner in which Coster, according to the preceding account, first +discovered the principle of obtaining impressions from separate letters +formed of the bark of the beech-tree requires no remark.[III-66] There +are, however, other parts of this narrative which more especially force +themselves on the attention as being at variance with reason as well as +fact. + + [Footnote III-66: Scriverius--whose book was printed in + 1628--thinking that there might be some objection raised to the + letters of beech-bark, thus, according to his own fancy, amends + the account of Cornelius as given by Junius: “Coster walking in + the wood picked up a small bough of a beech, or rather of an + oak-tree blown off by the wind; and after amusing himself with + cutting some letters on it, wrapped it up in paper, and afterwards + laid himself down to sleep. When he awoke, he perceived that the + paper, by a shower of rain or some accident having got moist, had + received an impression from these letters; which induced him to + pursue the accidental discovery.” This is more imaginative than + the account of Cornelius, but scarcely more probable.] + +Coster, we are informed, lived in a large house, and, at the time of his +engaging the workman who robbed him, he had brought the art to such +perfection that he derived from it a great profit; and in consequence of +the demand for the new commodity, which was eagerly sought after by +purchasers, he was obliged to increase his establishment and engage +assistants. It is therefore evident that the existence of such an art +must have been well known, although its details might be kept secret. +Coster, we are also informed, was of a respectable family; his +grand-children were men of authority in the city, and a great-grandson +of his died only a few years before Junius wrote, and yet not one of his +friends or descendants made any complaint of the loss which Coster had +sustained both in property and fame. Their apathy, however, was +compensated by the ardour of old Cornelius, who used to shed involuntary +tears whenever the theft was mentioned; and used to heap bitter curses +on the head of the thief as often as he thought of the glory of which +Coster and Harlem had been so villanously deprived. It is certainly very +singular that a person of respectability and authority should be robbed +of his materials and deprived of the honour of the invention, and yet +neither himself nor any one of his kindred publicly denounce the thief; +more especially as the place where he had established himself was known, +and where in conjunction with others he had the frontless audacity to +claim the honour of the invention. + +Of Lawrence Coster, his invention, and his loss, the world knew nothing +until he had been nearly a hundred and fifty years in his grave. The +presumed writer of the account which had to do justice to his memory had +been also twelve years dead when his book was published. His +information, which he received when he was a boy, was derived from an +old man who when a boy had heard it from another old man who lived with +Coster at the time of the robbery, and who had heard the account of the +invention from his master. Such is the list of the Harlem witnesses. If +Junius had produced any evidence on the authority of Coster’s +great-grandson that any of his predecessors--his father or his +grandfather--had carried on the business of a printer at Harlem, this +might in part have corroborated the narrative of Cornelius; but, though +subsequent advocates of the claims of Harlem have asserted that Coster’s +grand-children continued the printing business, no book or document has +been discovered to establish the fact. + +The account of Cornelius involves a contradiction which cannot be easily +explained away. If the thief stole the whole or greater part of Coster’s +printing materials,--types and press and all, as the narrative seems to +imply,--it is difficult to conceive how he could do so without being +discovered, even though the time chosen were Christmas Eve; for on an +occasion when all or most people were engaged at their devotions, the +fact of two persons being employed would in itself be a suspicious +circumstance: a tenant with a small stock of furniture who wished to +make a “moonlight flitting” would most likely be stopped if he attempted +to remove his goods on a Sunday night. As the dishonest workman had an +assistant, who is rather unaccountably called “_the_ thief,” it is +evident from this circumstance, as well as from the express words of the +narrative,[III-67] that the quantity of materials stolen must have been +considerable. If, on the contrary, the thief only carried away a portion +of the types and matrices, with a few other instruments,--“all that +could be moved without manifest danger of immediate detection,” to use +the words of Mr. Ottley,--what was there to prevent Coster from +continuing the business of printing? Did he give up the lucrative trade +which he had established, and disappoint his numerous customers, because +a dishonest workman had stolen a few of his types? But even if every +letter and matrice had been stolen,--though how likely this is to be +true I shall leave every one conversant with typography to decide,--was +the loss irreparable, and could this “shrewd and ingenious man” not +reconstruct the types and other printing materials which he had +originally contrived? + + [Footnote III-67: “Choragium omne typorum involat, instrumentorum + herilium ei artificio comparatorum suppelectilem convasat, deinde + _cum fure_ domo se proripit.”--H. Junii Batavia, p. 255.] + +If the business of Coster was continued uninterruptedly, and after his +death carried on by his grand-children, we might naturally expect that +some of the works which they printed could be produced, and that some +record of their having practised such an art at Harlem would be in +existence. The records of Harlem are however silent on the subject; no +mention is made by any contemporary author, nor in any contemporary +document, of Coster or his descendants as printers in that city; and no +book printed by them has been discovered except by persons who decide +upon the subject as if they were endowed with the faculty of intuitive +discrimination. If Coster’s business had been suspended in consequence +of the robbery, his customers, from all parts, who eagerly purchased the +“new commodity,” must have been aware of the circumstance; and to +suppose that it should not have been mentioned by some old writer, and +that the claims of Coster should have lain dormant for a century and a +half, exceeds my powers of belief. Where pretended truth can only be +perceived by closing the eyes of reason I am content to remain ignorant; +nor do I wish to trust myself to the unsafe bridge of conjecture--a +rotten plank without a hand-rail,-- + + “O’er which lame faith leads understanding blind.” + +If all Coster’s types had been stolen and he had not supplied himself +with new ones, it would be difficult to account for the wine vessels +which were cast from the old types; and if he or his heirs continued to +print subsequent to the robbery, all that his advocates had to complain +of was the theft. For since it must have been well known that he had +discovered and practised the art, at least ten years previous to its +known establishment at Mentz, and seventeen years before a book appeared +with the name of the printers claiming the honour of the invention, the +greatest injury which he received must have been from his fellow +citizens; who perversely and wilfully would not recollect his previous +discovery and do justice to his claims. Even supposing that a thief had +stolen the whole of Coster’s printing-materials, types, chases, and +presses, it by no means follows that he deprived of their memory not +only all the citizens of Harlem, but all Coster’s customers who came +from other places[III-68] to purchase the “new commodity” which his +press supplied. Such however must have been the consequences of the +robbery, if the narrative of Cornelius were true; for except himself no +person seems to have remembered Coster’s invention, or that either he or +his immediate descendants had ever printed a single book. + + [Footnote III-68: “. . . . . quum nova merx, nunquam antea visa, + emptores undique exciret cum huberrimo questu.”--Junii Batavia.] + +Notwithstanding the internal evidence of the improbability of +Cornelius’s account of Coster and his invention, its claims to +credibility are still further weakened by those persons who have shown +themselves most wishful to establish its truth. Lawrence Janszoon, whom +Meerman and others suppose to have been the person described by +Cornelius as the inventor of printing, appears to have been custos of +the church of St. Bavon at Harlem in the years 1423, 1426, 1432 and +1433. His death is placed by Meerman in 1440; and as, according to the +narrative of Cornelius, the types and other printing materials were +stolen on Christmas eve 1441, the inventor of typography must have been +in his grave at the time the robbery was committed. Cornelius must have +known of his master’s death, and yet in his account of the robbery he +makes no mention of Coster being dead at the time, nor of the business +being carried on by his descendants after his decease. It was at one +time supposed that Coster died of grief on the loss of his types, and on +account of the thief claiming the honour of the invention. But this it +seems is a mistake; he was dead according to Meerman at the time of the +robbery, and the business was carried on by his grandchildren. + +Koning has discovered that Cornelius the bookbinder died in 1522, aged +at least ninety years. Allowing him to have been ninety-two, this +assistant in Coster’s printing establishment, and who learnt the account +of the invention and improvement of the art from Coster himself, must +have been just ten years old when his master died; and yet upon the +improbable and uncorroborated testimony of this person are the claims of +Coster founded. + +Lehne, in his “Chronology of the Harlem fiction,”[III-69] thus remarks +on the authorities, Galius, and Talesius, referred to by Junius as +evidences of its truth. As Cornelius was upwards of eighty when he +related the story to Nicholas Galius, who was then a boy, this must have +happened about 1510. The boy Galius we will suppose to have been at that +time about fifteen years old: Junius was born in 1511, and we will +suppose that he was under the care of Nicholas Galius, the instructor of +his youth, until he was fifteen; that is, until 1526. In this year +Galius, the man venerable from his grey hairs, would be only thirty-six +years old, an age at which grey hairs are premature. Grey hairs are only +venerable in old age, and it is not usual to praise a young man’s +faculty of recollection in the style in which Junius lauds the “iron +memory” of his teacher. Talesius, as Koning states, was born in 1505, +and consequently six years older than Junius; and on the death of +Cornelius, in 1522, he would be seventeen, and Junius eleven years old. +Junius might in his eleventh year have heard the whole account from +Cornelius himself in the same manner as the latter when only ten must +have heard it from Coster; and it is remarkable that Galius who was so +well acquainted with Cornelius did not afford his pupil the opportunity. +We thus perceive that in the whole of this affair children and old men +play the principal parts, and both ages are proverbially addicted to +narratives which savour of the marvellous. + + [Footnote III-69: In “Einige Bemerkungen über das Unternehmen der + gelehrten Gesellschaft zu Harlem,” &c. S. 31.] + +Meerman, writing to his correspondent Wagenaar in 1757, expresses his +utter disbelief in the story of Coster being the inventor of typography, +which, he observes, was daily losing credit: whatever historical +evidence Seiz had brought forward in favour of Coster was gratuitously +assumed; in short, the whole story of the invention was a +fiction.[III-70] After the publication of Schœpflin’s Vindiciæ +Typographicæ in 1760, giving proofs of Gutemberg having been engaged in +1438 with some invention relating to _printing_, and in which a _press_ +was employed, Meerman appears to have received a new light; for in 1765 +he published his own work in support of the very story which he had +previously declared to be undeserving of credit. The mere change, +however, of a writer’s opinions cannot alter the immutable character of +truth; and the guesses and assumptions with which he may endeavour to +gloss a fiction can never give to it the solidity of fact. What he has +said of the work of Seiz in support of Coster’s claims may with equal +truth be applied to his own arguments in the same cause: “Whatever +historical evidence he has brought forward in favour of Coster has been +gratuitously assumed.” Meerman’s work, like the story which it was +written to support, “is daily losing credit.” It is a dangerous book for +an advocate of Coster to quote; for he has scarcely advanced an argument +in favour of Coster, and in proof of his stolen types being the +foundation of typography at Mentz, but what is contradicted by a +positive fact. + + [Footnote III-70: Santander has published a French translation of + this letter in his Dictionnaire Bibliographique, tom. i. pp. + 14-18.] + +In order to make the documentary evidence produced by Schœpflin in +favour of Gutemberg in some degree correspond with the story of +Cornelius, Junius’s authority, he has assumed that Gutemberg had an +elder brother also called John; and that he was known as Gænsfleisch +the elder, while his younger brother was called by way of +distinction Gutemberg. In support of this assumption he refers +to Wimpheling,[III-71] who in one place has called the inventor +Gænsfleisch, and in another Gutemberg; and he also supposes that the two +epitaphs which have been given at page 144, relate to two different +persons. The first, inscribed by Adam Gelthaus to the memory of John +_Gænsfleisch_, he concludes to have been intended for the elder brother. +The second, inscribed by Ivo Wittich to the memory of John _Gutemberg_, +he supposes to relate to the younger brother, and to have been erected +from a feeling of envy. The fact of Gutemberg being also named +Gænsfleisch in several contemporary documents, is not allowed to stand +in the way of Meerman’s hypothesis of the two “brother Johns,” which has +been supposed to be corroborated by the fact of a John Gænsfleisch the +Elder being actually the contemporary of John Gænsfleisch called also +Gutemberg. + + [Footnote III-71: Wimpheling, who was born at Sletstadt in 1451, + thus addresses the inventor of printing,--whose name, Gænsfleisch, + he Latinises “Ansicarus,”--in an epigram printed at the end of + “Memoriæ Marsilii ab Inghen,” 4to. 1499. + + “Felix _Ansicare_, per te Germania felix + Omnibus in terris præmia laudis habet. + Urbe Moguntina, divino fulte Joannes + Ingenio, primus imprimis ære notas. + Multum Relligio, multum tibi Græca sophia, + Et multum debet lingua Latina.” + + In his “Epitome Rerum Germanicarum,” 1502, he says that the art of + printing was discovered at Strasburg in 1440 by a native of that + city, who afterwards removing to Mentz there perfected the art. In + his “Episcoporum Argentinensium Catalogus,” 1508, he says that + printing was invented by a native of Strasburg, and that when the + inventor had joined some other persons engaged on the same + invention at Mentz, the art was there perfected by one John + Gænsfleisch, who was blind through age, in the house called + Gutemberg, in which, in 1508, the College of Justice held its + sittings. Wimpheling does not seem to have known that Gænsfleisch + was also called Gutemberg, and that his first attempts at printing + were made in Strasburg.] + +Having thus provided Gutemberg with an elder brother also named John, +Meerman proceeds to find him employment; for at the period of his +writing much light had been thrown on the early history of printing, and +no person in the least acquainted with the subject could believe that +Faust was the thief who stole Coster’s types, as had been insinuated by +Junius and affirmed by Boxhorn and Scriverius. Gænsfleisch the Elder is +accordingly sent by Meerman to Harlem, and there engaged as a workman in +Lawrence Coster’s printing office. It is needless to ask if there be any +proof of this: Meerman having introduced a new character into the Harlem +farce may claim the right of employing him as he pleases. As there is +evidence of Gutemberg, or Gænsfleisch the Younger, being engaged at +Strasburg about 1436 in some experiments connected with printing, and +mention being made in the same documents of the fair of Aix-la-Chapelle, +Meerman sends him there in 1435. From Aix-la-Chapelle, as the distance +is not very great, Meerman makes him pay a visit to his elder brother, +then working as a printer in Coster’s office at Harlem. He thus has an +opportunity of seeing Coster’s printing establishment, and of gaining +some information respecting the art, and hence his attempts at printing +at Strasburg in 1436. In 1441 he supposes that John Gænsfleisch the +Elder stole his master’s types, and printed with them, at Mentz, in +1442, “Alexandri Galli Doctrinale,” and “Petri Hispani Tractatus,” as +related by Junius. As this trumpery story rests solely on the conjecture +of the writer, it might be briefly dismissed for reconsideration when +the proofs should be produced; but as Heineken[III-72] has afforded the +means of showing its utter falsity, it may perhaps be worth while to +notice some of the facts produced by him respecting the family and +proceedings of Gutemberg. + + [Footnote III-72: Nachrichten von Kunstlern und Kunst-Sachen, 1te. + Theil, S. 286-293.] + +John Gænsfleisch the Elder, whom Meerman makes Gutemberg’s elder +brother, was descended from a branch of the numerous family of +Gænsfleisch, which was also known by the local names of zum Jungen, +Gutenberg or Gutemberg, and Sorgenloch. This person, whom Meerman +engages as a workman with Coster, was a man of property; and at the time +that we are given to understand he was residing at Harlem, we have +evidence of his being married and having children born to him at Mentz. +This objection, however, could easily be answered by the ingenuity of a +Dutch commentator, who, as he has made the husband a thief, would find +no difficulty in providing him with a suitable wife. He would also be +very likely to bring forward the presumed misconduct of the wife in +support of his hypothesis of the husband being a thief. John Gænsfleisch +the Elder was married to Ketgin, daughter of Nicholas Jostenhofer of +Schenkenberg, on the Thursday after St. Agnes’s day, 1437. In 1439 his +wife bore him a son named Michael; and in 1442 another son, who died in +infancy. In 1441 we have evidence of his residing at Mentz; for in that +year his relation Rudiger zum Landeck appeared before a judge to give +Gænsfleisch an acknowledgment of his having properly discharged his +duties as trustee, and of his having delivered up to the said Rudiger +the property left to him by his father and mother. + +That John Gænsfleisch the Elder printed “Alexandri Galli Doctrinale,” +and “Petri Hispani Tractatus,” at Mentz in 1442 with the types which he +had stolen from Coster, is as improbable as every other part of the +story. There is, in fact, not the slightest reason to believe that the +works in question were printed at Mentz in 1442, or that any book was +printed there with types until nearly eight years after that period. In +opposition, however, to a host of historical evidence we have the +assertion of Cornelius, who told the tale to Galius, who told it to +Junius, who told it to the world. + +Meerman’s web of sophistry and fiction having been brushed away by +Heineken, a modern advocate of Coster’s undertook to spin another, which +has also been swept down by a German critic. Jacobus Koning,[III-73] +town-clerk of Amsterdam, having learnt from a document printed by +Fischer, that Gutemberg had a brother named Friele, sends him to Harlem +to work with Coster, and makes him the thief who stole the types; thus +copying Meerman’s plot, and merely substituting Gutemberg’s known +brother for John Gænsfleisch the Elder. On this attempt of Koning’s to +make the old sieve hold water by plastering it with his own mud, +Lehne[III-74] makes the following remarks:-- + +“He gives up the name of John,--although it might be supposed that old +Cornelius would have known the name of his bedfellow better than +Koning,--and without hesitation charges Gutemberg’s brother with the +theft. In order to flatter the vain-glory of the Harlemers, poor Friele, +after he had been nearly four hundred years in his grave, is publicly +accused of robbery on no other ground than that Mynheer Koning had +occasion for a thief. It is, however, rather unfortunate for the credit +of the story that this Friele should have been the founder of one of the +first families in Mentz, of the order of knighthood, and possessed of +great property both in the city and the neighbourhood. Is it likely that +this person should have been engaged as a workman in the employment of +the Harlem churchwarden, and that he should have robbed him of his types +in order to convey them to his brother, who then lived at Strasburg, and +who had been engaged in his own invention at least three years before, +as is proved by the process between him and the Drytzehns published by +Schœpflin? From this specimen of insulting and unjust accusation on a +subject of literary inquiry, we may congratulate the city of Amsterdam +that Mynheer Koning is but a law-writer and not a judge, should he be +not more just as a man than as an author.” + + [Footnote III-73: In a Memoir on the Invention of Printing, which + was crowned by the Academy of Sciences at Harlem in 1816.] + + [Footnote III-74: Einige Bemerkungen, &c. S. 18, 19.] + +In a book of old accounts belonging to the city of Harlem, and extending +from April 1439 to April 1440, Koning having discovered at least nine +entries of expenses incurred on account of messengers despatched to the +Justice-Court of Amsterdam, he concludes that there must have been some +conference between the judges of Harlem and Amsterdam on the subject of +Coster’s robbery. There is not a word mentioned in the entries on what +account the messengers were despatched, but he decides that it must have +been on some business connected with this robbery, for the first +messenger was despatched on the last day of the Christmas holidays; and +the thief, according to the account of Junius, made choice of +Christmas-eve as the most likely opportunity for effecting his purpose. +To this most logical conclusion there happens to be an objection, which +however Mynheer Koning readily disposes of. The first messenger was +despatched on the last day of the Christmas holidays 1439, and the +accounts terminate in April 1440; but according to the narrative of +Cornelius the robbery was committed on Christmas-eve 1441. This trifling +discrepancy is however easily accounted for by the fact of the Dutch at +that period reckoning the commencement of the year from Easter, and by +supposing,--as the date is printed in numerals,--that Junius might have +written 1442, instead of 1441, as the time when the two books appeared +at Mentz printed with the stolen types, and within a year after the +robbery. Notwithstanding this _satisfactory_ explanation there still +remains a trifling error to be rectified, and it will doubtless give the +clear-headed advocate of Coster very little trouble. Admitting that the +accounts are for the year commencing at Easter 1440 and ending at Easter +1441, it is rather difficult to comprehend how they should contain any +notice of an event which happened at the Christmas following. The Harlem +scribe possibly might have the gift of seeing into futurity as clearly +as Mynheer Koning has the gift of seeing into the past. The arguments +derived from paper-marks which Koning has advanced in favour of Coster +are not worthy of serious notice. + +He has found, as Meerman did before him, that one Lawrence Janszoon was +living in Harlem between 1420 and 1436, and that his name occurs within +that period as custos or warden of St. Bavon’s church. As he is never +called “Coster,” a name acquired by the family, according to Junius, in +consequence of the office which they enjoyed by hereditary right, the +identity of Lawrence Janszoon and Lawrence Coster is by no means clearly +established; and even if it were, the sole evidence of his having been a +printer rests on the testimony of Cornelius, who was scarcely ten years +old when Lawrence Janszoon died. The correctness of Cornelius’s +narrative is questioned both by Meerman and Koning whenever his +statements do not accord with their theory, and yet they require others +to believe the most incredible of his assertions. They themselves throw +doubts on the evidence of their own witness, and yet require their +opponents to receive as true his deposition on the most important point +in dispute---that Coster invented typography previous to 1441,--a point +on which he is positively contradicted by more than twenty authors who +wrote previous to 1500; and negatively by the silence of Coster’s +contemporaries. Supposing that the account of Cornelius had been +published in 1488 instead of 1588, it would be of very little weight +unless corroborated by the testimony of others who must have been as +well aware of Coster’s invention as himself; for the silence of +contemporary writers on the subject of an important invention or +memorable event, will always be of greater negative authority than the +unsupported assertion of an individual who when an old man professes to +relate what he had heard and seen when a boy. If therefore the +uncorroborated testimony of Cornelius would be so little worth, even if +published in 1488, of what value can it be printed in 1588, in the name +of a person who was then dead, and who could not be called on to explain +the discrepancies of his part of the narrative? Whatever might be the +original value of Cornelius’s testimony, it is deteriorated by the +channel through which it descends to us. He told it to a boy, who, when +an old man, told it to another boy, who when nearly sixty years old +inserts it in a book which he is writing, but which is not printed until +twelve years after his death. + +It is singular how Mr. Ottley, who contends for the truth of Papillon’s +story of the Cunio, and who maintains that the art of engraving figures +and text upon wood was well known and practised previous to 1285, should +believe the account given by Cornelius of the origin of Coster’s +invention. If he does not believe this part of the account, with what +consistency can he require other people to give credit to the rest? With +respect to the origin and progress of the invention, Cornelius was as +likely to be correctly informed as he was with regard to the theft and +the establishment of printing at Mentz; if therefore Coster’s advocates +themselves establish the incorrectness of his testimony in the first +part of the story, they destroy the general credibility of his evidence. + +With respect to the fragments of “Alexandri Galli Doctrinale” and +“Catonis Disticha” which have been discovered, printed with the same, or +similar types as the Speculum Salvationis, no good argument can be +founded on them in support of Coster’s claims, although the facts which +they establish are decisive of the fallacy of Meerman’s assumptions. In +order to suit his own theory, he was pleased to assert that the first +edition of the Speculum was the only one of that book printed by Coster, +and that it was printed with wooden types. Mr. Ottley has, however, +shown that the edition which Meerman and others supposed to be the first +was in reality the second; and that the presumed second was +unquestionably the first, and that the text was throughout printed with +metal types by means of a press. It is thus the fate of all Coster’s +advocates that the last should always produce some fact directly +contradicting his predecessors’ speculations, but not one confirmatory +of the truth of the story on which all their arguments are based. +Meerman questions the accuracy of Cornelius as reported by Junius; +Meerman’s arguments are rejected by Koning; and Mr. Ottley, who espouses +the same cause, has from his diligent collation of two different +editions of the Speculum afforded a convincing proof that on a most +material point all his predecessors are wrong. His inquiries have +established beyond a doubt, that the text of the first edition of the +Speculum was printed wholly with metal types; and that in the second the +text was printed partly from metal types by means of a press, and partly +from wood-blocks by means of friction. The assertion that Coster printed +the first edition with wooden types, and that his grandsons and +successors printed the second edition with types of metal, is thus most +clearly refuted. As no printer’s name has been discovered in any of the +fragments referred to, it is uncertain where or when they were printed. +It however seems more likely that they were printed in Holland or the +Low Countries than in Germany. The presumption of their antiquity in +consequence of their rarity is not a good ground of argument. Of an +edition of a “Donatus,” printed by Sweinheim and Pannartz, between 1465 +and 1470, and consisting of three hundred copies, not one is known to +exist. From sundry fragments of a “Donatus,” embellished with the same +ornamented small capitals as are used in Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter, +Fischer was pleased to conjecture that the book had been printed by +Gutemberg and Faust previous to 1455. A copy, however, has been +discovered bearing the imprint of Scheffer, and printed, in all +probability, subsequent to 1467, as it is in this year that Scheffer’s +name first appears alone. The “Historia Alexandri Magni,” pretendedly +printed with wooden types, and ascribed by Meerman to Coster, was +printed by Ketelar and Leempt, who first established a printing-office +at Utrecht in 1473. + +John Enschedius, a letter-founder and printer of Harlem, and a strenuous +assertor of Coster’s pretensions, discovered a very curious specimen of +typography which he and others have supposed to be the identical “short +sentences” mentioned by Junius as having been printed by Coster for the +instruction of his grand-children. This unique specimen of typography +consists of eight small pages, each being about one inch and six-eighths +high, by one and five-eighths wide, printed on parchment and on both +sides. The contents are an alphabet; the Lord’s Prayer; the Creed; the +Ave Mary; and two short prayers, all in Latin. Meerman has given a +fac-simile of all the eight pages in the second volume of his “Origines +Typographicæ;”[III-75] and if this be correct, I am strongly inclined to +suspect that this singular “Horarium” is a modern forgery. The letters +are rudely formed, and the shape of some of the pages is irregular; but +the whole appears to me rather as an imitation of rudeness and a studied +irregularity, than as the first essay of an inventor. There are very few +contractions in the words; and though the letters are rudely formed, and +there are no points, yet I have seen no early specimen of typography +which is so easy to read. It is apparent that the printer, whoever he +might be, did not forget that the little manual was intended for +children. The letters I am positive could not be thus printed with types +formed of beech-bark; and I am further of opinion that they were not, +and could not be, printed with moveable types of wood. I am also certain +that, whatever might be the material of which the types were formed, +those letters could only be printed on parchment on both sides by means +of a press. The most strenuous of Coster’s advocates have not ventured +to assert that he was acquainted with the use of metal types in 1423, +the pretended date of his first printing short sentences for the use of +his grand-children, nor have any of them suggested that he used a press +for the purpose of obtaining impressions from his letters of beech-bark; +how then can it be pretended with any degree of consistency that this +“Horarium” agrees exactly with the description of Cornelius? It is said +that Enschedius discovered this singular specimen of typography pasted +in the cover of an old book. It is certainly such a one as he was most +wishful to find, and which he in his capacity of typefounder and printer +would find little difficulty in producing. I am firmly convinced that it +is neither printed with wooden types nor a specimen of early typography; +on the contrary, I suspect it to be a Dutch typographic essay on popular +credulity. + + [Footnote III-75: Enschedius published a fac-simile himself, with + the following title: “Afbeelding van ’t A. B. C. ’t Pater Noster, + Ave Maria, ’t Credo, en Ave Salus Mundi, door Laurens Janszoon, te + Haarlem, ten behoeven van zyne dochters Kinderen, met beweegbaare + Letteren gedrukt, en teffens aangeweesen de groote der Stukjes + pergament, zekerlyk ’t oudste overblyfsel der eerste Boekdrukkery, + ’t welk als zulk een eersteling der Konst bewaard word en berust + in de Boekery van _Joannes Enschedé_, Lettergieter en Boekdrukker + te Haarlem, 1768.--_A. J. Polak sculps. ex originali._”] + +Of all the works which have been claimed for Coster, his advocates have +not succeeded in making out his title to a single one; and the best +evidence of the fallacy of his claims is to be found in the writings of +those persons by whom they have been most confidently asserted. Having +no theory of my own to support, and having no predilection in favour of +Gutemberg, I was long inclined to think that there might be some +rational foundation for the claims which have been so confidently +advanced in favour of Harlem. An examination, however, of the presumed +proofs and arguments adduced by Coster’s advocates has convinced me that +the claims put forward on his behalf, as the inventor of typography, are +untenable. They have certainly discovered that a person of the name of +Lawrence Janszoon was living at Harlem between the years 1420 and 1440, +but they have not been able to show anything in proof of this person +ever having printed any book either from wood-blocks or with moveable +types. There is indeed reason to believe that at the period referred to +there were three persons of the name of Lawrence Janszoon,--or +Fitz-John, as the surname may be rendered;--but to which of them the +pretended invention is to be ascribed is a matter of doubt. At one time +we find the inventor described as an illegitimate scion of the noble +family of Brederode, which was descended from the ancient sovereigns of +Holland; at another he is said to have been called Coster in consequence +of the office of custos or warden of St. Bavon’s church being hereditary +in his family; and in a third account we find Lawrence Janszoon figuring +as a promoter of sedition and one of the leaders of a body of rioters. +The advocates for the claims of Harlem have brought forward every +Lawrence that they could find at that period whose father’s name was +John; as if the more they could produce the more conclusive would be the +_proof_ of one of them at least being the inventor of printing. As the +books which are ascribed to Coster furnish positive evidence of the +incorrectness of the story of Cornelius and of the comments of Meerman; +and as records, which are now matters of history, prove that neither +Gutemberg nor Faust stole any types from Coster or his descendants, the +next supporter of the claims of Harlem will have to begin _de novo_; and +lest the palm should be awarded to the wrong Lawrence Janszoon, he ought +first to ascertain which of them is really the hero of the old +bookbinder’s tale. + + [Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WOOD ENGRAVING IN CONNEXION WITH THE PRESS. + + Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter of 1457 -- Printing at Bamberg in 1461 + -- Books Containing Wood-Cuts Printed there by Albert Pfister -- + Opposition of the Wood Engravers of Augsburg to the Earliest + Printers Established in that City -- Travelling Printers -- + Wood-Cuts in “Meditationes Johannis De Turre-Cremata,” Rome, 1467; + and in “Valturius De Re Militari,” Verona, 1472 -- Wood-Cuts + Frequent in Books Printed at Augsburg Between 1474 and 1480 -- + Wood-Cuts in Books Printed by Caxton -- Maps Engraved on Wood, 1482 + -- Progress of Map Engraving -- Cross-Hatching -- Flowered Borders + -- Hortus Sanitatis -- Nuremberg Chronicle -- Wood Engraving in + Italy -- Poliphili Hypnerotomachia -- Decline of Block-Printing -- + Old Wood-Cuts in Derschau’s Collection. + + +Considering Gutemberg as the inventor of printing with moveable types; +that his first attempts were made at Strasburg about 1436; and that with +Faust’s money and Scheffer’s ingenuity the art was perfected at Mentz +about 1452, I shall now proceed to trace the progress of wood engraving +in its connexion with the press. + +In the first book which appeared with a date and the printers’ +names--the Psalter printed by Faust and Scheffer, at Mentz, in 1457--the +large initial letters, engraved on wood and printed in red and blue ink, +are the must beautiful specimens of this kind of ornament which the +united efforts of the wood-engraver and the pressman have produced. They +have been imitated in modern times, but not excelled. As they are the +first letters, in point of time, printed with two colours, so are they +likely to continue the first in point of excellence. + +Only seven copies of the Psalter of 1457 are known, and they are all +printed on vellum. Although they have all the same colophon, containing +the printers’ names and the date, yet no two copies exactly correspond. +A similar want of agreement is said to have been observed in different +copies of the Mazarine Bible, but which are, notwithstanding, of one and +the same edition. As such works would in the infancy of the art be a +long time in printing--more especially the Psalter, as, in consequence +of the large capitals being printed in two colours, each side of many of +the sheets would have to be printed thrice--it can be a matter of no +surprise that alterations and amendments should be made in the text +while the work was going through the press. In the Mazarine Bible, the +entire Book of Psalms, which contains a considerable number of red +letters, would have to pass four times through the press, including what +printers call the “reiteration.”[IV-1] + + [Footnote IV-1: By the common press only one side of a sheet can + be printed at once. The reiteration is the second printing of the + same sheet on the blank side. Thus in the Psalter of 1457 every + sheet containing letters of two colours on each side would have to + pass six times through the press. It was probably in consequence + of printing so much in red and black that the early printers used + to employ so many presses. Melchior de Stamham, abbot of St. Ulric + and St. Afra at Augsburg, and who established a printing-office + within that monastery, about 1472, bought five presses of John + Schüssler; a considerable number for what may be considered an + amateur establishment. He also had two others made by Sixtus + Saurloch.--Zapf, Annales Typographicæ Augustanæ, p. xxiv.] + +The largest of the ornamented capitals in the Psalter of 1457 is the +letter B, which stands at the commencement of the first psalm, “Beatus +vir.” The letters which are next in size are an A, a C, a D, an E, and a +P; and there are also others of a smaller size, similarly ornamented, +and printed in two colours in the same manner as the larger ones. +Although only two colours are used to each letter, yet when the same +letter is repeated a variety is introduced by alternating the colours: +for instance, the shape of the letter is in one page printed red, with +the ornamental portions blue; and in another the shape of the letter is +blue, and the ornamental portions red. It has been erroneously stated by +Papillon that the large letters at the beginning of each psalm are +printed in three colours, red, blue, and purple; and Lambinet has copied +the mistake. A second edition of this Psalter appeared in 1459; a third +in 1490; and a fourth in 1502, all in folio, like the first, and with +the same ornamented capitals. Heineken observes that in the edition of +1490 the large letters are printed in red and green instead of red and +blue. + +In consequence of those large letters being printed in two colours, two +blocks would necessarily be required for each; one for that portion of +the letter which is red, and another for that which is blue. In the +body, or shape, of the largest letter, the B at the beginning of the +first psalm, the mass of colour is relieved by certain figures being cut +out in the block, which appear white in the impression. On the stem of +the letter a dog like a greyhound is seen chasing a bird; and flowers +and ears of corn are represented on the curved portions. These figures +being white, or the colour of the vellum, give additional brightness to +the full-bodied red by which they are surrounded, and materially add to +the beauty and effect of the whole letter. + +In consequence of two blocks being required for each letter, the means +were afforded of printing any of them twice in the same sheet or the +same page with alternate colours; for while the body of the first was +printed in red from one block, the ornamental portion of the second +might be printed red at the same time from the other block. In the +second printing, with the blue colour, it would only be necessary to +transpose the blocks, and thus the two letters would be completed, +identical in shape and ornament, and differing only from the +corresponding portions being in the one letter printed red and in the +other blue. In the edition of 1459 the same ornamented letter is to be +found repeated on the same page; but of this I have only noticed one +instance; though there are several examples of the same letter being +printed twice in the same sheet. + +Although the engraving of the most highly ornamented and largest of +those letters cannot be considered as an extraordinary instance of +skill, even at that period, for many wood-cuts of an earlier date afford +proof of greater excellence, yet the artist by whom the blocks were +engraved must have had considerable practice. The whole of the +ornamental part, which would be the most difficult to execute, is +clearly and evenly cut, and in some places with great neatness and +delicacy. “This letter,” says Heineken, “is an authentic testimony that +the artists employed on such a work were persons trained up and +exercised in their profession. The art of wood engraving was no longer +in its cradle.” + +The name of the artist by whom those letters were engraved is unknown. +In Sebastian Munster’s Cosmography, book iii. chapter 159, John +Meydenbach is mentioned as being one of Gutemberg’s assistants; and an +anonymous writer in Serarius states the same fact. Heineken in noticing +these two passages writes to the following effect. “This Meydenbach is +doubtless the same person who proceeded with Gutemberg from Strasburg to +Mentz in 1444.[IV-2] It is probable that he was a wood engraver or an +illuminator, but this is not certain; and it is still more uncertain +that this person engraved the cuts in a book entitled _Apocalipsis cum +figuris_, printed at Strasburg in 1502, because these are copied from +the cuts in the Apocalypse engraved and printed by Albert Durer at +Nuremberg. Whether this copyist was the _Jacobus Meydenbach_ who printed +books at Mentz in 1491,[IV-3] or he was some other engraver, I have not +been able to determine.”[IV-4] + + [Footnote IV-2: Heineken in his Nachrichten, T. I. S. 108, also + states that Meydenbach came from Strasburg with Gutemberg. Oberlin + however observes, “Je ne sais où de Heinecke a trouvè que ce + Meydenbach est venu en 1444 avec Gutenberg à Mayence.” Heineken + says, “In der Nachricht von Strassburg findet man dass ein + gewisser Meydenbach 1444 nach Maynz gezogen,” and refers to + Fournier, p. 40. Dissert sur l’Orig. de l’Imprimerie primitive.] + + [Footnote IV-3: An edition of the Hortus Sanitatis with wood-cuts + was printed at Mentz, by _Jacobus Meydenbach_, in 1491.] + + [Footnote IV-4: Idée Générale, p. 286.] + +Although so little is positively known respecting John Meydenbach, +Gutemberg’s assistant, yet Von Murr thinks that there is reason to +suppose that he was the artist who engraved the large initial letters +for the Psalter of 1457. Fischer, who declares that there is no +sufficient grounds for this conjecture, confidently assumes, from false +premises, that those letters were engraved by Gutemberg, “a person +experienced in such work,” adds he, “as we are taught by his residence +at Strasburg.” From the account that we have of his residence and +pursuits at Strasburg, however, we are taught no such thing. We only +learn from it he was engaged in some invention which related to +printing. We learn that Conrad Saspach made him a press, and it is +conjectured that the goldsmith Hanns Dunne was employed to engrave his +letters; but there is not a word of his being an experienced wood +engraver, nor is there a well authenticated passage in any account of +his life from which it might be concluded that he ever engraved a single +letter. Fischer’s reasons for supposing that Gutemberg engraved the +large letters in Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter are, however, contradicted +by facts. Having seen a few leaves of a Donatus ornamented with the same +initial letters as the Psalter, he directly concluded that the former +was printed by Gutemberg and Faust prior to the dissolution of their +partnership; and not satisfied with this leap he takes another, and +arrives at the conclusion that they were engraved by Gutemberg, as +“_his_ modesty only could allow such works to appear without his name.” + +Although we have no information respecting the artist by whom those +letters were engraved, yet it is not unlikely that they were suggested, +if not actually drawn by Scheffer, who, from his profession of a scribe +or writer[IV-5] previous to his connexion with Faust, may be supposed to +have been well acquainted with the various kinds of flowered and +ornamented capitals with which manuscripts of that and preceding +centuries were embellished. It is not unusual to find manuscripts of the +early part of the fifteenth century embellished with capitals of two +colours, red and blue, in the same taste as in the Psalter; and there is +now lying before me a capital P, drawn on vellum in red and blue ink, in +a manuscript apparently of the date of 1430, which is so like the same +letter in the Psalter that the one might be supposed to have suggested +the other. + + [Footnote IV-5: Scheffer previous to his connexion with Faust was + a “clericus,”--not a _clerk_ as distinguished from a layman, but a + writer or scribe. A specimen of his “set-hand,” written at Paris + in 1449, is given by Schœpflin in his Vindiciæ Typographicæ. + Several of the earliest printers were writers or illuminators; + among whom may be mentioned John Mentelin of Strasburg, John + Baemler of Augsburg, Ulric Zell of Cologne, and Colard Mansion of + Bruges.] + +It was an object with Faust and Scheffer to recommend their +Psalter--probably the first work printed by them after Gutemberg +had been obliged to withdraw from the partnership--by the beauty +of its capitals and the sufficiency and distinctness of its +“rubrications;”[IV-6] and it is evident that they did not fail in the +attempt. The Psalter of 1457 is, with respect to ornamental printing, +their greatest work; for in no subsequent production of their press +does the typographic art appear to have reached a higher degree of +excellence. It may with truth be said that the art of printing--be +the inventor who he may--was perfected by Faust and Scheffer; for the +earliest known production of their press remains to the present day +unsurpassed as a specimen of skill in ornamental printing. + + [Footnote IV-6: This is intimated in the colophon, which, with the + contracted words written at length, is as follows: “Presens + Spalmorum codex venustate capitalium decoratus Rubricationibusque + sufficienter distinctus. Adinventione artificiosa imprimendi ac + caracterizandi absque calami ulla exaracione sic effigiatus. Et ad + eusebiam dei industrie est consummatus. Per Johannem Fust, Civem + maguntinum. Et Petrum Schoffer de Gernzheim, Anno domini + Millesimo. cccc. lvii. In vigilia Assumpcionis.” In the second + edition the mis-spelling, “Spalmorum” for “Psalmorum,” is + corrected.] + +A fac-simile of the large B at the commencement of the Psalter, printed +in colours the same as the original, is given in the first volume of +Dibdin’s Bibliotheca Spenceriana, and in Savage’s Hints on Decorative +Printing; but in neither of those works has the excellence of the +original letter been attained. In the Bibliotheca Spenceriana, although +the volume has been printed little more than twenty years, the red +colour in which the body of the letter is printed has assumed a coppery +hue, while in the original, executed nearly four hundred years ago, the +freshness and purity of the colours remain unimpaired. In Savage’s work, +though the letter and its ornaments are faithfully copied[IV-7] and +tolerably well printed, yet the colours are not equal to those of the +original. In the modern copy the blue is too faint; and the red, which +in the original is like well impasted paint, has not sufficient body, +but appears like a wash, through which in many places the white paper +may be seen. The whole letter compared with the original seems like a +water-colour copy compared with a painting in oil. + + [Footnote IV-7: It is to be observed that in Savage’s copy the + perpendicular flourishes are given horizontally, above and below + the letter, in order to save room. In a copy of the edition of + 1459, in the King’s Library, part of the lower flourish has not + been inked, as it would have interfered with the letter Q at the + commencement of the second psalm “_Quare fremuerunt gentes_.” + Traces of the flourish where not coloured may be observed + impressed in the vellum.] + +Although it has been generally supposed that the art of printing was +first carried from Mentz in 1462 when Faust and Scheffer’s sworn workmen +were dispersed[IV-8] on the capture of that city by the archbishop +Adolphus of Nassau, yet there can be no doubt that it was practised at +Bamberg before that period; for a book of fables printed at the latter +place by Albert Pfister is expressly dated on St. Valentine’s day, 1461; +and a history of Joseph, Daniel, Judith, and Esther was also printed by +Pfister at Bamberg in 1462, “+Nit lang nach sand walpurgen tag+,”--not +long after St. Walburg’s day.[IV-9] It is therefore certain that the art +was practised beyond Mentz previous to the capture of that city, which +was not taken until the eve of St. Simon and St. Jude; that is, on the +28th of October in 1462. As it is very probable that Pfister would have +to superintend the formation of his own types and the construction of +his own presses,--for none of his types are of the same fount as those +used by Gutemberg or by Faust and Scheffer,--we may presume that he +would be occupied for some considerable time in preparing his materials +and utensils before he could begin to print. As his first known work +with a date, containing a hundred and one wood-cuts, was finished on the +14th of February 1461, it is not unlikely that he might have begun to +make preparations three or four years before. Upon these grounds it +seems but reasonable to conclude with Aretin, that the art was carried +from Mentz by some of Gutemberg and Faust’s workmen on the dissolution +of their partnership in 1455; and that the date of the capture of +Mentz--when for a time all the male inhabitants capable of bearing arms +were compelled to leave the city by the captors--marks the period of its +more general diffusion. The occasion of the disaster to which Mentz was +exposed for nearly three years was a contest for the succession to the +archbishopric. Theodoric von Erpach having died in May 1459, a majority +of the chapter chose Thierry von Isenburg to succeed him, while another +party supported the pretensions of Adolphus of Nassau. An appeal having +been made to Rome, the election of Thierry was annulled, and Adolphus +was declared by the Pope to be the lawful archbishop of Mentz. Thierry, +being in possession and supported by the citizens, refused to resign, +until his rival, assisted by the forces of his adherents and relations, +succeeded in obtaining possession of the city.[IV-10] + + [Footnote IV-8: The following passage occurs in the colophon of + two works printed by John Scheffer at Mentz in 1515 and 1516; the + one being the “Trithemii Breviarium Historiæ Francorum,” and the + other “Breviarium Ecclesiæ Mindensis:” “Retinuerunt autem hi duo + jam prænominati, _Johannes Fust et Petrus Scheffer_, hanc artem in + secreto, (omnibus ministris et familiaribus eorum, ne illam quoquo + modo manifestarent, jure jurando adstrictis :) quæ tandem anno + Domini M.CCCC.LXII. per eosdem familiares in diversas terrarum + provincias divulgata, haud parvum sumpsit incrementum.”] + + [Footnote IV-9: St. Walburg’s day is on the 25th of February; + though her feast is also held both on the 1st of May and on the + 12th of October. The eve of her feast on the 1st of May is more + particularly celebrated; and it is then that the witches and + warlocks of Germany hold their annual meeting on the Brocken. St. + Walburg, though born of royal parents in Saxony, was yet educated + in England, at the convent of Wimborn in Dorsetshire, of which she + became afterwards abbess, and where she died in 779.] + + [Footnote IV-10: A mournful account of the expulsion of the + inhabitants and the plundering of the city is given by Trithemius + at page 30 of his “Res Gestæ Frederici Palatini,” published with + notes by Marquard Freher, at Heidelberg, 4to. 1603.] + +Until the discovery of Pfister’s book containing the four histories, +most bibliographers supposed that the date 1461, in the fables, related +to the composition of the work or the completion of the manuscript, and +not to the printing of the book. Saubert, who was the first to notice +it, in 1643, describes it as being printed, both text and figures, from +wood-blocks; and Meerman has adopted the same erroneous opinion. +Heineken was the first to describe it truly, as having the text printed +with moveable types, though he expresses himself doubtfully as to the +date, 1461, being that of the impression. + +As the discovery of Pfister’s tracts has thrown considerable light on +the progress of typography and wood engraving, I shall give an account +of the most important of them, as connected with those subjects; with a +brief notice of a few circumstances relative to the early connexion of +wood engraving with the press, and to the dispersion of the printers on +the capture of Mentz in 1462. + +The discovery of the history of Joseph, Daniel, Judith, and Esther, with +the date 1462, printed at Bamberg by Pfister, has established the fact +that the dates refer to the years in which the books were printed, and +not to the period when the works were composed or transcribed. An +account of the history above named, written by M. J. Steiner, pastor of +the church of St. Ulric at Augsburg, was first printed in Meusel’s +Historical and Literary Magazine in 1792; and a more ample description +of this and other tracts printed by Pfister was published by Camus in +1800,[IV-11] when the volume containing them, which was the identical +one that had been previously seen by Steiner, was deposited in the +National Library at Paris. + + [Footnote IV-11: Under the title of “Notice d’un Livre imprimé à + Bamberg en CIↃCCCCLXII. lue à l’Institut National, par Camus.” + 4to. Paris, An VII. [1800.]] + +The book of fables[IV-12] printed by Pfister at Bamberg in 1461 is a +small folio consisting of twenty-eight leaves, and containing +eighty-five fables in rhyme in the old German language. As those fables, +which are ascribed to one “Boner, dictus der Edelstein,” are known to +have been written previous to 1330, the words at the end of the +volume,--“Zu Bamberg dies Büchlein geendet ist,”--At Bamberg this book +is finished,--most certainly relate to the time when it was printed, and +not when it was written. It is therefore the earliest book printed with +moveable types which is illustrated with wood-cuts containing figures. +Not having an opportunity of seeing this extremely rare book,--of which +only one perfect copy is known,--I am unable to speak from personal +examination of the style in which its hundred and one cuts are engraved. +Heineken, however, has given a fac-simile of the first, and he says that +the others are of a similar kind. The following is a reduced copy of the +fac-simile given by Heineken, and which forms the head-piece to the +first fable. On the manner in which it is engraved I shall make no +remark, until I shall have produced some specimens of the cuts contained +in a “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum,” also printed by Pfister, and having +the text in the German language. + + [Footnote IV-12: The copy of those fables belonging to the + Wolfenbuttel Library, and which is the only one known, was taken + away by the French and placed in the National Library at Paris, + but was restored on the surrender of Paris in 1815.] + + [Illustration] + +The volume described by Camus contains three different works; and +although Pfister’s name, with the date 1462, appears in only one of +them, the “Four Histories,” yet, as the type is the same in all, there +can be no doubt of the other two being printed by the same person and +about the same period. The following particulars respecting its contents +are derived from the “Notice” of Camus. It is a small folio consisting +altogether of a hundred and one leaves of paper of good quality, +moderately thick and white, and in which the water-mark is an ox’s head. +The text is printed in a large type, called missal-type; and though the +characters are larger, and there is a trifling variation in three or +four of the capitals, yet they evidently appear to have been copied from +those of the Mazarine Bible. + +The first work is that which Heineken calls “une Allégorie sur la +Mort;”[IV-13] but this title does not give a just idea of its contents. +It is in fact a collection of accusations preferred against Death, with +his answers to them. The object is to show that such complaints are +unavailing, and that, instead of making them, people ought rather to +employ themselves in endeavouring to live well. In this tract, which +consists of twenty-four leaves, there are five wood-cuts, each occupying +an entire page. The first represents Death seated on a throne. Before +him there is a man with a child, who appears to accuse Death of having +deprived him of his wife, who is seen on a tomb wrapped in a +winding-sheet.--In the second cut, Death is also seen seated on a +throne, with the same person apparently complaining against him, while a +number of persons appear approaching sad and slow, to lay down the +ensigns of their dignity at his feet.--In the third cut there are two +figures of Death; one on foot mows down youths and maidens with a +scythe, while another, mounted, is seen chasing a number of figures on +horseback, at whom he at the same time discharges his arrows.--The +fourth cut consists of two parts, the one above the other. In the upper +part, Death appears seated on a throne, with a person before him in the +act of complaining, as in the first and second cuts. In the lower part, +to the left of the cut, is seen a convent, at the gate of which there +are two persons in religious habits; to the right a garden is +represented, in which are perceived a tree laden with fruit, a woman +crowning an infant, and another woman conversing with a young man. In +the space between the convent and the garden certain signs are engraved, +which Camus thinks are intended to represent various branches of +learning and science,--none of which can afford protection against +death,--as they are treated of in the chapter which precedes the cut. In +the fifth cut, Death and the Complainant are seen before Christ, who is +seated on a throne with an angel on each side of him, under a canopy +ornamented with stars. Although neither Heineken nor Camus give +specimens of those cuts, nor speak of the style in which they are +executed, it may be presumed that they are not superior either in design +or engraving to those contained in the other tracts. + + [Footnote IV-13: Idée Générale, p. 276. Dr. Dibdin in his + Bibliographical Tour says that this work “is entitled by Camus the + ALLEGORY OF DEATH.” This is a mistake; for Camus, who objects to + this title,--which was given to it by Heineken,--always refers to + the book under the title of “Les Plaintes contre la Mort.”] + +The text of the work is divided into thirty-four chapters, each of +which, except the first, is preceded by a summary; and their numbers are +printed in Roman characters. The initial letter of each chapter is red, +and appears to have been formed by means of a stencil. The first +chapter, which has neither title nor numeral, commences with the +Complainant’s recital of his injuries; in the second, Death defends +himself; in the third the Complainant resumes, in the fourth Death +replies; and in this manner the work proceeds, the Complainant and Death +speaking alternately through thirty-two chapters. In the thirty-third, +God decides between the parties; and after a few common-place +reflections and observations on the readiness of people to complain on +all occasions, sentence is pronounced in these words: “The Complainant +is condemned, and Death has gained the cause. Of right, the Life of +every man is due to Death; to Earth his Body, and to Us his Soul.” In +the thirty-fourth chapter, the Complainant, perceiving that he has lost +his suit, proceeds to pray to God on behalf of his deceased wife. In the +summary prefixed to the chapter the reader is informed that he is now +about to peruse a model of a prayer; and that the name of the +Complainant is expressed by the large red letters which are to be found +in the chapter. Accordingly, in the course of the chapter, six red +letters, besides the initial at the beginning, occur at the commencement +of so many different sentences. They are formed by means of a stencil, +while the letters at the commencement of other similar sentences are +printed black. Those red letters, including the initial at the beginning +of the chapter, occur in the following order, IHESANW. Whether the name +is expressed by them as they stand, or whether they are to be combined +in some other manner, Camus will not venture to decide.[IV-14] From the +prayer it appears that the name of the Complainant’s deceased wife was +Margaret. In this singular composition, which in the summary is declared +to be a model, the author, not forgetting the court language of his +native country, calls the Almighty “the Elector who determines the +choice of all Electors,” “Hoffmeister” of the court of Heaven, and +“Herzog” of the Heavenly host. The text is in the German language, such +as was spoken and written in the fifteenth century. + + [Footnote IV-14: “Outre la lettre initiale, on remarque, dans le + cours du chapitre, six lettres rouges non imprimées, mais peintes + à la plaque, qui commencent six phrases diverses. Les lettres + initiales des autres phrases du même chapitre sont imprimées en + noir. Les lettres rouges sont IHESANW. Doit-on les assembler dans + l’ordre où elles sont placées, ou bien doivent-elles recevoir un + autre arrangement? Je ne prends pas sur moi de le + décider.”--Camus, Notice, p. 6.] + +The German words “_Hoffmeister_” and “_Herzog_” appear extremely +ridiculous in Camus’s French translation,--“le Maître-d’hôtel de la cour +céleste,” and “le Grand-duc de l’armée céleste.” But this is clothing +ancient and dignified German in modern French frippery. The word +“Hoffmeister”--literally, “court-master or governor”--is used in modern +German in nearly the same sense as the English word “steward;” and the +governor or tutor of a young prince or nobleman is called by the same +name. The word “Herzog”--the “Grand-duc” of Camus--in its original +signification means the leader of a host or army. It is a German title +of honour which defines its original meaning, and is in modern language +synonymous with the English title “Duke.” The ancient German “Herzog” +was a leader of hosts; the modern French “Grand-duc” is a clean-shaved +gentleman in a court-dress, redolent of eau-de-Cologne, and bedizened +with stars and strings. The two words are characteristic of the two +languages. + +The second work in the volume is the Histories of Joseph, Daniel, +Judith, and Esther. It has no general frontispiece nor title; but each +separate history commences with the words: “Here begins the history of +. . . .” in German. Each history forms a separate gathering, and the +whole four are contained in sixty leaves, of which two, about the +middle, are blank, although there is no appearance of any deficiency in +the history. The text is accompanied with wood-cuts which are much less +than those in the “Complaints against Death,” each occupying only the +space of eleven lines in a page, which when full contains twenty-eight. +The number of the cuts is sixty-one; but there are only fifty-five +different subjects, four of them having been printed twice, and one +thrice. Camus gives a specimen of one of the cuts, which represents the +Jews of Bethuliah rejoicing and offering sacrifice on the return of +Judith after she had cut off the head of Holofernes. It is certainly a +very indifferent performance, both with respect to design and engraving; +and from Camus’s remarks on the artist’s ignorance and want of taste it +would appear that the others are no better. In one of them Haman is +decorated with the collar of an order from which a cross is suspended; +and in another Jacob is seen travelling to Egypt in a carriage[IV-15] +drawn by two horses, which are harnessed according to the manner of the +fifteenth century, and driven by a postilion seated on a saddle, and +with his feet in stirrups. All the cuts in the “Four Histories” are +coarsely coloured. + + [Footnote IV-15: Camus calls it a “voiture,” but I question if + such a carriage was known in 1462; and am inclined to think that + he has converted a kind of light waggon into a modern “voiture.” + A light sort of waggon, called by Stow a “Wherlicote,” was used in + England by the mother of Richard the Second in the manner of a + modern coach. I have noticed in an old wood-cut a light travelling + waggon, drawn by what is called a “unicorn team” of three horses; + that is, one as a “leader,” and two “wheelers,” with the driver + riding on the “near side” wheeler. This cut is in the Bagford + collection in the British Museum, and is one of a series of ninety + subjects from the Old and New Testament which have been cut out of + a book. A manuscript note in German states that they are by + Michael Wolgemuth, and printed in 1491. In no wood-cut executed + previous to 1500 have I seen a vehicle like a modern French + voiture.] + +It is this work which Camus, in his title-page, professes to give an +account of, although in his tract he describes the other two contained +in the same volume with no less minuteness. He especially announced a +notice of this work as “a book printed at Bamberg in 1462,” in +consequence of its being the most important in the volume; for it +contains not only the date and place, but also the printer’s name. In +the book of Fables, printed with the same types at Bamberg in 1461, +Pfister’s name does not appear. + +The text of the “Four Histories” ends at the fourth line on the recto of +the sixtieth leaf; and after a blank space equal to that of a line, +thirteen lines succeed, forming the colophon, and containing the place, +date, and printer’s name. Although those lines run continuously on, +occupying the full width of the page as in prose, yet they consist of +couplets in German rhyme. The end of each verse is marked with a point, +and the first word of the succeeding one begins with a capital. Camus +has given a fac-simile of those lines, that he might at once present his +readers with a specimen of the type and a copy of this colophon, so +interesting to bibliographers as establishing the important fact in the +history of printing, namely, that the art was practised beyond Mentz +prior to 1462. The following copy, though not a fac-simile, is printed +line for line from Camus. + + +Ein ittlich mensch von herzen gert . Das er wer weiss + und wol gelert . An meister un’ schrift das nit mag + sein . So kun’ wir all auch nit latein . Darauff han + ich ein teil gedacht . Und vier historii zu samen pra- + cht . Joseph daniel un’ auch judith . Und hester auch + mit gutem sith. die vier het got in seiner hut . Als er + noch ye de’ guten thut . Dar durch wir pessern unser + lebe’ . De’ puchlein ist sein ende gebe’ . Tʒu bambergh + in der selbe’ stat . Das albrecht pfister gedrucket hat + Do ma’ zalt tausent un’ vierhu’dert iar . Im zwei und + sechzigste’ das ist war . Nit lang nach sand walpur- + gen tag . Die uns wol gnad erberben mag . Frid un’ + das ewig lebe’ . Das wolle uns got alle’ gebe’ . Ame’.+ + +The following is a translation of the above, in English couplets of +similar rhythm and measure as the original: + + With heart’s desire each man doth seek + That he were wise and learned eke: + But books and teacher he doth need, + And all men cannot Latin read. + As on this subject oft I thought, + These hist’ries four I therefore wrote; + Of Joseph, Daniel, Judith too, + And Esther eke, with purpose true: + These four did God with bliss requite, + As he doth all who act upright. + That men may learn their lives to mend + This book at Bamberg here I end. + In the same city, as I’ve hinted, + It was by Albert Pfister printed, + In th’ year of grace, I tell you true, + A thousand four hundred and sixty-two; + Soon after good St. Walburg’s day, + Who well may aid us on our way, + And help us to eternal bliss: + God, of his mercy, grant us this. Amen. + +The third work contained in the volume described by Camus is an edition +of the “Poor Preachers’ Bible,” with the text in German, and printed on +both sides. The number of the leaves is eighteen, of which only +seventeen are printed; and as there is a “history” on each page, the +total number in the work is thirty-four, each of which is illustrated +with five cuts. The subjects of those cuts and their arrangement on the +page is not precisely the same as in the earlier Latin editions; and as +in the latter there are forty “histories,” six are wanting in the +Bamberg edition, namely: 1. Christ in the garden; 2. The soldiers +alarmed at the sepulchre; 3. The Last Judgment; 4. Hell; 5. The eternal +Father receiving the righteous into his bosom; and 6. The crowning of +the Saints. As the cuts illustrative of these subjects are the last in +the Latin editions, it is possible that the Bamberg copy described by +Camus might be defective; he, however, observes that there is no +appearance of any leaves being wanting.[IV-16] In each page of the +Bamberg edition the text is in two columns below the cuts, which are +arranged in the following manner in the upper part of the page: + + [Illustration: + +------------------------+ + | | + | 3 | + +--------------+ | | +--------------+ + | 1 | |Christ appearing to the | | 2 | + | | | | | | + | Busts. | | Apostles. | | Busts. | + | | | | | | + +--------------+ +------------------------+ +--------------+ + + +----------------------------+------+----------------------------+ + | | | | + | | | | + | | | | + | 4 | | | + | | | | + | | | | + | Joseph making himself | | The Prodigal Son’s return | + | | | | + | known to his brethern. | | to his father. | + | | | | + | | | | + | | | | + +----------------------------+------+----------------------------+] + +The following cuts are fac-similes of those given by Camus; and the +numbers underneath each relate to their position in the preceding +example of their arrangement. In No. 1 the heads are intended for David +and the author of the Book of Wisdom; in No. 2, for Isaiah and Ezekiel. + + [Illustration: No. 1.] + + [Illustration: No. 2.] + + [Footnote IV-16: The copy of the Bamberg edition in the + Wolfenbuttel Library, seen and described by Heineken, Idée + Générale, pp. 327-329, contained only twenty-six “histories,” or + general subjects.] + +The subject represented in the following cut, No. 3, forming the centre +piece at the top in the arrangement of the original page, is Christ +appearing to his disciples after his resurrection. The figure on the +right of Christ is intended for St. Peter, and that on his left for St. +John. I believe that in no wood-cut, ancient or modern, is Christ +represented with so uncomely an aspect and so clumsy a figure. + + [Illustration: No. 3.] + +The subject of No. 4 is Joseph making himself known to his brethren; +from Genesis, chapter XLV. + + [Illustration: No. 4.] + +In No. 5 the subject represented is the Prodigal Son received by his +father; from St. Luke, chapter XV. Camus says that the cuts given by him +were engraved on wood by Duplaa with the greatest exactitude from +tracings of the originals by Dubrena. + + [Illustration: No. 5.] + +Supposing that all the cuts in the four works, printed by Pfister and +described in the preceding pages, were designed in a similar taste and +executed in a similar manner to those of which specimens are given, the +persons by whom they were engraved--for it is not likely that they were +all engraved by one man--must have had very little knowledge of the art. +Looking merely at the manner in which they are engraved, without +reference to the wretched drawing of the figures and want of “feeling” +displayed in the general treatment of the subjects, a moderately apt +lad, at the present day, generally will cut as well by the time that he +has had a month or two’s practice. If those cuts were to be considered +as fair specimens of wood engraving in Germany in 1462, it would be +evident that the art was then declining; for none of the specimens that +I have seen of the cuts printed by Pfister can bear a comparison with +those contained in the early block-books, such as the Apocalypse, the +History of the Virgin, or the early editions of the Poor Preachers’ +Bible. To the cuts contained in the latter works they are decidedly +inferior, both with respect to design and engraving. Even the earliest +wood-cuts which are known,--for instance, the St. Christopher, the St. +Bridget, and the Annunciation, in Earl Spencer’s collection,--are +executed in a superior manner. + +It would, however, be unfair to conclude that the cuts which appear in +Pfister’s works were the best that were executed at that period. On the +contrary, it is probable that they are the productions of persons who in +their own age would be esteemed only as inferior artists. As the +progress of typography was regarded with jealousy by the early wood +engravers and block printers, who were apprehensive that it would ruin +their trade, and as previous to the establishment of printing they were +already formed into companies or fellowships, which were extremely +sensitive on the subject of their exclusive rights, it is not unlikely +that the earliest type-printers who adorned their books with wood-cuts +would be obliged to have them executed by a person who was not +professionally a wood engraver. It is only upon this supposition that we +can account for the fact of the wood-cuts in the earliest books printed +with type being so very inferior to those in the earliest block-books. +This supposition is corroborated by the account which we have of the +proceedings of the wood engravers of Augsburg shortly after +type-printing was first established in that city. In 1471 they opposed +Gunther Zainer’s[IV-17] admission to the privileges of a burgess, and +endeavoured to prevent him printing wood engravings in his books. +Melchior Stamham, however, abbot of St. Ulric and Afra, a warm promoter +of typography, interested himself on behalf of Zainer, and obtained an +order from the magistracy that he and John Schussler--another printer +whom the wood engravers had also objected to--should be allowed to +follow without interruption their art of printing. They were, however, +forbid to print initial letters from wood-blocks or to insert wood-cuts +in their books, as this would be an infringement on the privileges of +the fellowship of wood engravers. Subsequently the wood engravers came +to an understanding with Zainer, and agreed that he should print as many +initial letters and wood-cuts as he pleased, provided that they engraved +them.[IV-18] Whether Schussler came to the same agreement or not is +uncertain, as there is no book known to be printed by him of a later +date than 1472. It is probable that he is the person,--named John +_Schüssler_ in the memorandum printed by Zapf,--of whom Melchior de +Stamham in that year bought five presses for the printing-office which +he established in his convent of St. Ulric and St. Afra. To John Bämler, +who at the same time carried on the business of a printer at Augsburg, +no objection appears to have been made. As he was originally a +“calligraphus” or ornamental writer, it is probable that he was a member +of the wood engravers’ guild, and thus entitled to engrave and print his +own works without interruption. + + [Footnote IV-17: Gunther Zainer was a native of Reutlingen, in + Wirtemberg, and was the first printer in Germany who used Roman + characters,--in an edition of “Isidori Episcopi Hispalensis + Etymologia,” printed by him in 1472. He first began to print at + Augsburg in 1468. In 1472 he printed a German translation of the + book entitled “Belial,” with wood-cuts. A Latin edition of this + book was printed by Schussler in the same year. Von Murr says that + Schussler printed another edition of “Belial” in 1477; but this + would seem to be a mistake, for Veith asserts in his “Diatribe de + Origine et Incrementis Artis Typographicæ in urbe Augusta + Vindelica,” prefixed to Zapf’s “Annales,” that Schussler only + printed in the years 1470, 1471, and 1472.] + + [Footnote IV-18: Von Murr, Journal, 2 Theil, S. 144.--Zapf, + Buchdruckergeschichte von Augsburg, 1 Band.] + +As it is probable that the wood-cuts which appear in books printed +within the first thirty years from the establishment of typography at +Mentz were intended to be coloured, this may in some degree account for +the coarseness with which they are engraved; but as the wood-cuts in the +earlier block-books were also intended to be coloured in a similar +manner, the inferiority of the former can only be accounted for by +supposing that the best wood engravers declined to assist in promoting +what they would consider to be a rival art, and that the earlier +printers would generally be obliged to have their cuts engraved by +persons connected with their own establishments, and who had not by a +regular course of apprenticeship acquired a knowledge of the art. About +seventy or eighty years ago, and until a more recent period, many +country printers in England used themselves to engrave such rude +wood-cuts as they might occasionally want. A most extensive assortment +of such wood-cuts belonged to the printing-office of the late Mr. George +Angus of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who used them as head-pieces and general +illustrations to ballads and chap-books. A considerable number of them +were cut with a penknife, on pear-tree wood, by an apprentice named +Randell, who died about forty years ago. Persons who are fond of a +“rough harvest” of such modern-antiques are referred to the “Historical +Delights,” the “History of Ripon,” and other works published by Thomas +Gent at York about 1733. + +Notwithstanding the rudeness with which the cuts are engraved in the +four works printed by Pfister, yet from their number a considerable +portion of time must have been occupied in their execution. In the “Four +Histories” there are sixty-one cuts, which have been printed from +fifty-five blocks. In the “Fables” there are one hundred and one cuts; +in the “Complaints against Death,” five; and in the “Poor Preachers’ +Bible,” one hundred and seventy, reckoning each subject separately. +Supposing each cut in the _three_ last works was printed from a separate +block, the total number of blocks required for the _four_ would be three +hundred and thirty-one.[IV-19] Supposing that each cut on an average +contained as much work as that which is numbered 4 in the preceding +specimens--Joseph making himself known to his brethren--and supposing +that the artist drew the subjects himself, the execution of those three +hundred and thirty-one cuts would occupy one person for about two years +and a half, allowing him to work three hundred days in each year. It is +true that a modern wood engraver might finish more than three of such +cuts in a week, yet I question if any one of the profession would +complete the whole number, with his own hands, in less time than I have +specified. + + [Footnote IV-19: Lichtenberger, in his Initia Typographica, + referring to Sprenger’s History of Printing at Bamberg, says that, + besides those four, five other tracts are printed with Pfister’s + types, of which three contain wood-cuts. One of those three, + however, a “Poor Preachers’ Bible,” with the text in Latin, has + the same cuts as the “Poor Preachers’ Bible” with the text in + German. Only one of those other five works contains the place and + date.] + +From the similarity between Pfister’s types and those with which a Bible +without place or date is printed, several bibliographers have ascribed +the latter work to his press. This Bible, which in the Royal Library at +Paris is bound in three volumes folio, is the rarest of all editions of +the Scriptures printed in Latin. Schelhorn, who wrote a dissertation on +this edition, endeavoured to show that it was the first of the Bibles +printed at Mentz, and that it was partly printed by Gutemberg and Faust +previous to their separation, and finished by Faust and Scheffer in +1456.[IV-20] Lichtenberger, without expressly assenting to Schelhorn’s +opinion, is inclined to think that it was printed at Mentz, and by +Gutemberg. The reasons which he assigns, however, are not such as are +likely to gain assent without a previous willingness to believe. He +admits that Pfister’s types are similar to those of the Bible, though he +says that the former are somewhat ruder. + + [Footnote IV-20: De Antiquissima Latinorum Bibliorum editione + . . . . Jo. Georgii Schelhorn Diatribe. Ulmæ, 4to. 1760.] + +Camus considers that the tracts unquestionably printed by Pfister throw +considerable light on the question as to whom this Bible is to be +ascribed. There are two specimens of this Bible, the one given by Masch +in his Bibliotheca Sacra, and the other by Schelhorn, in a dissertation +prefixed to Quirini’s account of the principal works printed at Rome. +Camus, on comparing these specimens with the text of Pfister’s tracts, +immediately perceived the most perfect resemblance between the +characters; and on applying a tracing of the last thirteen lines of the +“Four Histories” to the corresponding letters in Schelhorn’s specimen, +he found that the characters exactly corresponded. This perfect identity +induced him to believe that the Bible described by Schelhorn was printed +with Pfister’s types. A correspondent in Meusel’s Magazine, No. VII. +1794, had previously advanced the same opinion; and he moreover thought +that the Bible had been printed previous to the Fables dated 1461, +because the characters of the Bible are cleaner, and appear as if they +had been impressed from newer types than those of the Fables.[IV-21] In +support of this opinion an extract is given, in the same magazine, from +a curious manuscript of the date of 1459, and preserved in the library +of Cracow. This manuscript is a kind of dictionary of arts and sciences, +composed by Paul of Prague, doctor of medicine and philosophy, who, in +his definition of the word “Libripagus,” gives a curious piece of +information to the following effect. The barbarous Latin of the original +passage, to which I shall have occasion to refer, will be found in the +subjoined note.[IV-22] “He is an artist who dexterously cuts figures, +letters, and whatever he pleases on plates of copper, of iron, of solid +blocks of wood, and other materials, that he may print upon paper, on a +wall, or on a clean board. He cuts whatever he pleases; and he proceeds +in this manner with respect to pictures. In my time somebody of Bamberg +cut the entire Bible upon plates; in four weeks he impressed the whole +Bible, thus sculptured, upon thin parchment.” + + [Footnote IV-21: Dr. Dibdin says that a copy of this Bible, which + formerly belonged to the Earl of Oxford, and is now in the Royal + Library at Paris, contains “an undoubted coeval MS. date, in red + ink, of 1461.”--Bibliog. Tour, vol. ii p. 108. Second edition.] + + [Footnote IV-22: “Libripagus est artifex sculpens subtiliter in + laminibus æreis, ferreis, ac ligneis solidi ligni, atque aliis, + imagines, scripturam et omne quodlibet, ut prius imprimat papyro + aut parieti aut asseri mundo. Scindit omne quod cupit, et est homo + faciens talia cum picturis; et tempore mei Bambergæ quidam + sculpsit integram bibliam super lamellas, et in quatuor septimanis + totam bibliam in pergameno subtili præsignavit sculpturam.”] + +Although I am of opinion that the weight of evidence is in favour of +Pfister being the printer of the Bible in question, yet I cannot think +that the arguments which have been adduced in his favour derive any +additional support from this passage. The writer, like many other +dictionary makers, both in ancient and modern times, has found it a more +difficult matter to give a clear account of a _thing_ than to find the +synonym of a _word_. But, notwithstanding his confused account, I think +that I can perceive in it the “disjecta membra” of an ancient +Formschneider and a Briefmaler, but no indication of a typographer. + +In a jargon worthy of the “Epistolæ obscurorum virorum” he describes an +artist, or rather an artizan, “sculpens subtiliter in laminibus[IV-23] +[laminis] æreis, ferreis, ac ligneis solidi ligni, atque aliis, +imagines, scripturam et omne quodlibet.” In this passage the business of +the “Formschneider” may be clearly enough distinguished: he cuts figures +and animals in plates of copper and iron;--but not in the manner of a +modern copper-plate engraver; but in the manner in which a stenciller +pierces his patterns. That this is the true meaning of the writer is +evident from the context, wherein he informs us of the artist’s object +in cutting such letters and figures, namely, “ut prius imprimat papyro +aut parieti aut asseri mundo,”--that he may print upon paper, on a wall, +or on a clean board. This is evidently descriptive of the practice of +stencilling, and proves, if the manuscript be authentic, that the old +“Briefmalers” were accustomed to “slapdash” walls as well as to engrave +and colour cards. In the distinction which is made of the “laminibus +ligneis _ligni solidi_,” it is probable that the writer meant to specify +the difference between cutting out letters and figures on thin plates of +metal, and cutting _upon_ blocks of solid wood. When he speaks of a +Bible being cut, at Bamberg, “super lamellas,” he most likely means a +“Poor Preachers’ Bible,” engraved on blocks of wood. An impression of a +hundred or more copies of such a work might easily enough be taken in a +month when the blocks were all ready engraved; but we cannot suppose +that the Bible ascribed to Pfister could be worked off in so short a +time. This Bible consists of eight hundred and seventy leaves; and to +print an edition of three hundred copies at the rate of three hundred +sheets a day would require four hundred and fifty days. About three +hundred copies of each work appears to have been the usual number which +Sweinheim and Pannartz and Ulric Hahn printed, on the establishment of +the art in Italy; and Philip de Lignamine in his chronicle mentions, +under the year 1458, that Gutemberg and Faust, at Mentz, and Mentelin at +Strasburg, printed three hundred sheets in a day.[IV-24] + + [Footnote IV-23: In 1793, a learned doctor of divinity of + Cambridge is said in a like manner to have broken Priscian’s head + with “_paginibus_.” An epigram on this “blunder_bus_” is to be + found in the “Gradus ad Cantabrigiam.”] + + [Footnote IV-24: Lichtenberger, Initia Typographica, p. 51.] + +Of Pfister nothing more is positively known than what the tracts printed +by him afford; namely, that he dwelt at Bamberg, and exercised the +business of a printer there in 1461 and 1462. He might indeed print +there both before and after those years, but of this we have no direct +evidence. From 1462 to 1481 no book is known to have been printed at +Bamberg. In the latter year, a press was established there by John +Sensenschmidt of Egra, who had previously, that is from 1470, printed +several works at Nuremberg. + +Panzer, alluding to Pfister as the printer only of the Fables and of the +tracts contained in the volume described by Camus, says that he can +scarcely believe that he had a fixed residence at Bamberg; and that +those tracts most likely proceeded from the press of a travelling +printer.[IV-25] Several of the early printers, who commenced on their +own account, on the dispersion of Faust and Scheffer’s workmen in 1462, +were accustomed to travel with their small stock of materials from one +place to another; sometimes finding employment in a monastery, and +sometimes taking up their temporary abode in a small town; removing to +another as soon as public curiosity was satisfied, and the demand for +the productions of their press began to decline. As they seldom put +their names, or that of the place, to the works which they printed, it +is extremely difficult to decide on the locality or the date of many old +books printed in Germany. It is very likely that they were their own +letter-founders, and that they themselves engraved such wood-cuts as +they might require. As their object was to gain money, it is not +unlikely that they might occasionally sell a portion of their types to +each other;[IV-26] or to a novice who wished to begin the business, or +to a learned abbot who might be desirous of establishing an amateur +press within the precinct of his monastery, where copies of the Facetiæ +of Poggius might be multiplied as well as the works of St. Augustine. +Although it has been asserted the monks regarded with jealousy the +progress of printing, as if it were likely to make knowledge too cheap, +and to interfere with a part of their business as transcribers of books, +such does not appear to have been the fact. In every country in Europe +we find them to have been the first to encourage and promote the new +art; and the annals of typography most clearly show that the greater +part of the books printed within the first thirty years from the time of +Gutemberg and Faust’s partnership were chiefly for the use of the monks +and the secular clergy. + + [Footnote IV-25: “Opuscula quæ typis mandavit typographus hic, + hactenus ignotus, ad litteraturam Teutonicam pertinent. Imprimis + Pfisterum hunc Bambergæ fixam habuisse sedem vix crediderim. + Videntur potius hi libri Teutonici monumenta transeuntis + typographi.”--Annal. Typogr. tom. i. p. 142, cited by Camus.] + + [Footnote IV-26: Breitkopf, Ueber Bibliographie, S. 25. 4to. + Leipzig, 1793.] + +From 1462 to 1467 there appears to have been no book printed containing +wood-cuts. In the latter year Ulric Hahn, a German, printed at Rome a +book entitled “Meditationes Johannis de Turrecremata,”[IV-27] which +contains wood-cuts engraved in simple outline in a coarse manner. The +work is in folio, and consists of thirty-four leaves of stout paper, on +which the water-mark is a hunter’s horn. The number of cuts is also +thirty-four; and the following--the creation of animals--is a reduced +copy of the first. + + [Footnote IV-27: The following is the title at length as it is + printed, in red letters, underneath the first cut: “Meditationes + Reverē dissimi patris dñi Johannis de turre cremata sacros͞ce + Romane eccl’ie cardinalis posite & depicte de ipsius mādato ī + eccl’ie ambitu Marie de Minerva. Rome.” The book is described in + Von Murr’s Memorabilia Bibliothecar. Publicar. Norimbergensium and + in Dibdin’s Ædes Althorpianæ, vol. ii. p. 273, with specimens of + the cuts.] + + [Illustration] + +The remainder of the cuts are executed in a similar style; and though +designed with more spirit than those contained in Pfister’s tracts, yet +it can scarcely be said that they are better engraved. The following is +an enumeration of the subjects. 1. The Creation, as above represented. +2. The Almighty speaking to Adam. 3. Eve taking the apple. (From No. 3 +the rest of the cuts are illustrative of the New Testament or of +Ecclesiastical History.) 4. The Annunciation. 5. The Nativity. +6. Circumcision of Christ. 7. Adoration of the Magi. 8. Simeon’s +Benediction. 9. The Flight into Egypt. 10. Christ disputing with the +Doctors in the Temple. 11. Christ baptized. 12. The Temptation in the +Wilderness. 13. The keys given to Peter. 14. The Transfiguration. +15. Christ washing the Apostles’ feet. 16. The Last Supper. 17. Christ +betrayed by Judas. 18. Christ led before the High Priest. 19. The +Crucifixion. 20. Mater Dolorosa. 21. The Descent into Hell. 22. The +Resurrection. 23. Christ appearing to his Disciples. 24. The Ascension. +25. The feast of Pentecost 26. The Host borne by a bishop. 27. The +mystery of the Trinity; Abraham sees three and adores one. 28. St. +Dominic extended like the “_Stam-Herr_” or first ancestor in a pedigree, +and sending forth numerous branches as Popes, Cardinals, and Saints. +29. Christ appearing to St. Sixtus. 30. The Assumption of the Virgin. +31. Christ seated amidst a choir of Angels. 32. Christ seated at the +Virgin’s right hand in the assembly of Saints. 33. The Office of Mass +for the Dead. 34. The Last Judgment. + +Zani says that those cuts were engraved by an Italian artist, but beyond +his assertion there is no authority for the fact. It is most likely that +they were cut by one of Hahn’s workmen, who could occasionally “turn his +hand” to wood-engraving and type-founding, as well as compose and work +at press; and it is most probable that Hahn’s workmen when he first +established a press in Rome were Germans, and not Italians. + +The second book printed in Italy with wood-cuts is the “Editio Princeps” +of the treatise of R. Valturius de Re Militari, which appeared at Verona +from the press of “Johannes de Verona,” son of Nicholas the surgeon, and +master of the art of printing.[IV-28] This work is dedicated by the +author to Sigismund Malatesta, lord of Rimini, who is styled in pompous +phrase, “Splendidissimum Arminensium Regem ac Imperatorem semper +invictum.” The work, however, must have been written several years +before it was printed, for Baluze transcribed from a MS. dated 1463 a +letter written in the name of Malatesta, and sent by the author with a +copy of his work to the Sultan Mahomet II. The bearer of this letter was +the painter Matteo Pasti, a friend of the author, who visited +Constantinople at the Sultan’s request in order that he might paint his +portrait. It is said that the cuts in this work were designed by Pasti; +and it is very probable that he might make the drawings in Malatesta’s +own copy, from which it is likely that the book was printed. As +Valturius has mentioned Pasti as being eminently skilful in the arts of +Painting, Sculpture, and _Engraving_,[IV-29] Maffei has +conjectured,--and Mr. Ottley adds, “with some appearance of +probability,”--that the cuts in question were executed by his hand. If +such were the fact, it only could be regretted that an artist so eminent +should have mis-spent his time in a manner so unworthy of his +reputation; for, allowing that a considerable degree of talent is +displayed in many of the designs, there is nothing in the engraving, as +they are mere outlines, but what might be cut by a novice. There is not, +however, the slightest reasonable ground to suppose that those +engravings were cut by Matteo Pasti, for I believe that he died before +printing was introduced into Italy; and it surely would be presuming +beyond the verge of probability to assert that they might be engraved in +anticipation of the art being introduced, and of the book being printed +at some time or other, when the blocks would be all ready engraved, +in a simple style of art indeed, but with a master’s hand. +A master-sculptor’s hand, however, is not very easily distinguished +in the mere rough-dressing of a block of sandstone, which any country +mason’s apprentice might do as well. It is very questionable if Matteo +Pasti was an engraver in the present sense of the word; the engraving +meant by Valturius was probably that of gold and silver vessels and +ornaments; but not the engraving of plates of copper or other metal +for the purpose of being printed. + + [Footnote IV-28: The following is a copy of the colophon: + “Johannes ex verona oriundus: Nicolai cyrurgie medici filius: + Artis impressorie magister: hunc de re militari librum + elegantissimum: litteris et figuratis signis sua in patria primus + impressit. An. MCCCCLXXII.”] + + [Footnote IV-29: “Valturius speaks of Pasti in one of his letters + as being eminently skilful in the arts of Painting, Sculpture, and + Engraving.”--Ottley, Inquiry, p. 257.] + +Several of those cuts occupy an entire folio page, though the greater +number are of smaller size. They chiefly represent warlike engines, +which display considerable mechanical skill on the part of the +contriver; modes of attack and defence both by land and water, with +various contrivances for passing a river which is not fordable, by means +of rafts, inflated bladders, and floating bridges. In some of them +inventions may be noticed which are generally ascribed to a later +period: such as a boat with paddle-wheels, which are put in motion by a +kind of crank; a gun with a stock, fired from the shoulder; and a +bomb-shell. It has frequently been asserted that hand-guns were first +introduced about the beginning of the sixteenth century, yet the figure +of one in the work of Valturius makes it evident that they were known +some time before. It is also likely that the drawing was made and the +description written at least ten years before the book was printed. It +has also been generally asserted that bomb-shells were first used by +Charles VIII. of France when besieging Naples in 1495. Valturius, +however, in treating of cannon, ascribes the invention to +Malatesta.[IV-30] Gibbon, in chapter lxviii. of his History of the +Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, notices this cut of a bomb-shell. +His reference is to the second edition of the work, in Italian, printed +also at Verona by Bonin de Bononis in 1483, with the same cuts as the +first edition in Latin.[IV-31] The two following cuts are fac-similes of +the bomb-shell and the hand-gun, as represented in the edition of 1472. +The figure armed with the gun,--a portion of a large cut,--is firing +from a kind of floating battery; and in the original two figures armed +with similar weapons are stationed immediately above him. + + [Footnote IV-30: “Inventum est quoque alterum machinæ hujusce tuum + Sigismonde Panpulfe [Malatesta]: qua pilæ æneæ tormentarii + pulveris plenæ cum fungi aridi fomite urientis emittuntur.”--We + hence learn that the first bomb-shells were made of copper, and + that the fuzee was a piece of a dried fungus. As the first edition + has neither numerals nor signatures, I cannot refer to the page in + which the above passage is to be found. It is, however, opposite + to the cut in which the bomb-shell appears, and that is about the + middle of the volume.] + + [Footnote IV-31: “Robert Valturio published at Verona, in 1483, + his twelve books de Re Militari, in which he first mentions the + use of bombs. By his patron Sigismond Malatesti, Prince of Rimini, + it had been addressed with a Latin epistle to Mahomet + II.”--Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. lxviii., note.] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +The following fac-simile of a cut representing a man shooting with a +cross-bow is the best in the book. The drawing of the figure is good, +and the attitude graceful and natural. The figure, indeed, is not only +the best in the work of Valturius, but is one of the best, so far as +respects the drawing, that is to be met with in any book printed in the +fifteenth century. + + [Illustration] + +The practice of introducing wood-cuts into printed books seems to have +been first generally adopted at Augsburg, where Gunther Zainer, in 1471, +printed a German translation of the “Legenda Sanctorum” with figures of +the saints coarsely engraved on wood. This, I believe, is the first +book, after Pfister’s tracts, printed in Germany with wood-cuts and +containing a date. In 1472 he printed a second volume of the same work, +and an edition of the book entitled “Belial,”[IV-32] both containing +wood-cuts. Several other works printed by him between 1471 and 1475 are +illustrated in a similar manner. Zainer’s example was followed at +Augsburg by his contemporaries John Bämler and John Schussler; and by +them, and Anthony Sorg, who first began to print there about 1475, more +books with wood-cuts were printed in that city previous to 1480 than at +any other place within the same period. In 1477 the first German Bible +with wood-cuts was printed by Sorg, who printed another edition with the +same cuts and initial letters in 1480. In 1483 he printed an account of +the Council of Constance held in 1431, with upwards of a thousand +wood-cuts of figures and of the arms of the principal persons both lay +and spiritual who attended the council. Upon this work Gebhard, in his +Genealogical History of the Heritable States of the German Empire, makes +the following observations:--“The first printed collection of arms is +that of 1483 in the History of the Council of Constance written by +Ulrich Reichenthal. To this council we are indebted accidentally for the +collection. From the thirteenth century it was customary to hang up the +shields of noble and honourable persons deceased in churches; and +subsequently the practice was introduced of painting them upon the +walls, or of placing them in the windows in stained glass. A similar +custom prevailed at the Council of Constance; for every person of +consideration who attended had his arms painted on the wall in front of +his chamber; and thus Reichenthal, who caused those arms to be copied +and engraved on wood, was enabled to give in his history the first +general collection of coat-armour which had appeared; as eminent persons +from all the Catholic states of Europe attended this council.”[IV-33] + + [Footnote IV-32: Von Murr says that the person who engraved the + cuts for this book also engraved the cuts in a German edition of + the Speculum without date, but printed at Augsburg, and dedicated + to John [von Giltingen] abbot of the monastery of St. Ulric and + St. Afra, who was chosen to that office in 1482. Heineken supposed + that the person to whom the book was dedicated was John von + Hohenstein, but he resigned the office of abbot in 1459; and the + book was certainly not printed at that period.--See Heineken, Idée + Gén. p. 466; and Von Murr, Journal, 2 Theil, S. 145.] + + [Footnote IV-33: L. A. Gebhard, Genealogische Geschichte, 1 Theil, + Vorrede, S. 11. Cited by Veith in his “Diatribe,” prefixed to + Zapf’s “Annales Typographiæ Augustanæ.”] + +The practice of introducing wood-cuts became in a few years general +throughout Germany. In 1473, John Zainer of Reutlingen, who is said to +have been the brother of Gunther, printed an edition of Boccacio’s work +“De mulieribus claris,” with wood-cuts, at Ulm. In 1474 the first +edition of Werner Rolewinck de Laer’s chronicle, entitled “Fasciculus +Temporum,” was printed with wood-cuts by Arnold Ther-Hoernen at Cologne; +and in 1476 an edition of the same work, also with wood-cuts, was +printed at Louvain by John Veldener, who previously had been a printer +at Cologne. In another edition of the same work printed by Veldener at +Utrecht in 1480, the first page is surrounded with a border of foliage +and flowers cut on wood; and another page, about the middle of the +volume, is ornamented in a similar manner. These are the earliest +instances of ornamental borders from wood-blocks which I have observed. +About the beginning of the sixteenth century title-pages surrounded with +ornamental borders are frequent. From the name of those borders, +_Rahmen_, the German wood engravers of that period are sometimes called +_Rahmenschneiders_. Prosper Marchand, in his “Dictionnaire Historique,” +tom. ii. p. 156, has stated that Erhard Ratdolt, a native of Augsburg, +who began to print at Venice about 1475, was the first printer who +introduced flowered initial letters, and vignettes--meaning by the +latter term wood-cuts; but his information is scarcely correct. +Wood-cuts--without reference to Pfister’s tracts, which were not known +when Marchand wrote--were introduced at Augsburg six years before +Ratdolt and his partners[IV-34] printed at Venice in 1476 the +“Calendarium Joannis Regiomontani,” the work to which Marchand alludes. +It may be true that he introduced a new kind of initial letters +ornamented with flowers in this work, but much more beautiful initial +letters had appeared long before in the Psalter, in the “Durandi +Rationale,” and the “Donatus” printed by Faust and Scheffer. The first +person who mentions Ratdolt as the inventor of “florentes litteræ,” so +named from the flowers with which they are intermixed, is Maittaire, in +his Annales Typographici, tom. i. part i. p. 53. + + [Footnote IV-34: The following colophon to an edition of Appian + informs us that his partners were Bernard the painter and Peter + Loslein, who also acted as corrector of the press: “Impressum est + hoc opus Venetiis per Bernardū pictorem & Erhardum ratdolt de + Augusta una cum Petro Loslein de Langenzen correctore ac socio. + Laus Deo. MCCCCLXXVII.”] + +In 1483 Veldener,[IV-35] as has been previously observed at page 106, +printed at Culemburg an edition in small quarto of the Speculum +Salvationis, with the same blocks as had been used in the earlier folio +editions, which are so confidently ascribed to Lawrence Coster. In +Veldener’s edition each of the large blocks, consisting of two +compartments, is sawn in two in order to adapt them to a smaller page. +A German translation of the Speculum, with wood-cuts, was printed at +Basle, in folio, in 1476; and Jansen says that the first book printed in +France with wood-cuts was an edition of the Speculum, at Lyons, in 1478; +and that the second was a translation of the book named “Belial,” +printed at the same place in 1482. + + [Footnote IV-35: Veldener at the conclusion of a book printed by + him in 1476, containing “_Epistolares quasdam formulas_,” thus + informs the reader of his name and qualifications: “Accipito huic + artifici nomen esse magistro Johanni Veldener, cui quidem certa + manu insculpendi, celandi, intorculandi, caracterandi adsit + industria; adde et figurandi et effigiendi.” That is, his name was + John Veldener; he could engrave, could work both at press and + case, and moreover he knew something of sculpture, and could paint + a little.] + +The first printed book in the English language that contains wood-cuts +is the second edition of Caxton’s “Game and Playe of the Chesse,” +a small folio, without date or place, but generally supposed to have +been printed about 1476.[IV-36] The first edition of the same work, +without cuts, was printed in 1474. On the blank leaves at the end of a +copy of the first edition in the King’s Library, at the British Museum, +there is written in a contemporary hand a list of the bannerets and +knights[IV-37] made at the battle of “Stooke by syde newerke apon trent +the xvi day of june the ii^de yer of harry the vii.” that is, in 1487. +In this battle Martin Swart was killed. He commanded the Flemings, who +were sent by the Duchess of Burgundy to assist Lambert Simnel. It was at +the request of the duchess, who was Edward the Fourth’s sister, that +Caxton translated the “Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye,” the first +book printed in the English language, and which appeared at Cologne in +1471 or 1472. + + [Footnote IV-36: Heineken, Idée Gén. p. 207, erroneously states + that the first book with wood-cuts printed in England was the + Golden Legend, by Caxton, in 1483. It is probable that the second + edition of the Game of Chess preceded it by seven years, and it + certainly was printed after the Mirror of the World.] + + [Footnote IV-37: The following are some of the names as they are + written: “S gilbert talbott . S John cheiny . S williā stoner . + Theis iij wer made byfore the bataile, and after the bataile were + made the same day : S^r. John of Arundell . Thomas Cooksey . John + forteskew . Edmond benyngfeld . james blount . ric . of Croffte . + Geofrey Stanley . ric . delaber . John mortymer . williā + troutbeke.” The above appear to have been created _Bannerets_, for + after them follows a list of “_Knyghtes_ made at the same + bataile.” It is likely that the owner of the volume was at the + battle, and that the names were written immediately after.] + +In Dr. Dibdin’s edition of Ames’s Typographical Antiquities there is a +“Description of the Pieces and Pawns” in the second edition of Caxton’s +Chess; which description is said to be illustrated with facsimile +wood-cuts. There are indeed fac-similes of some of the figures given, +but not of the wood-cuts generally; for in almost every cut given by Dr. +Dibdin the back-ground of the original is omitted. In the description of +the first fac-simile there is also an error: it is said to be “the +_first_ cut in the work,” while in fact it is the _second_. The +following I believe to be a correct list of these first fruits of +English wood-engraving. + +1. An executioner with an axe cutting to pieces, on a block, the limbs +of a man. On the head, which is lying on the ground, there is a crown. +Birds are seen seizing and flying away with portions of the limbs. There +are buildings in the distance, and three figures, one of whom is a king +with a crown and sceptre, appear looking on. 2. A figure sitting at a +table, with a chess-board before him, and holding one of the chess-men +in his hand. This is the cut which Dr. Dibdin says is the first in the +book. 3. A king and another person playing at chess. 4. The king at +chess, seated on a throne. 5. The king and queen. 6. The “alphyns,” now +called “bishops” in the game of chess, “in the maner of judges sittyng.” +7. The knight. 8. The “rook,” or castle, a figure on horseback wearing a +hood and holding a staff in his hand. From No. 9 to No. 15 inclusive, +the pawns are thus represented. 9. Labourers and workmen, the principal +figure representing the first pawn, with a spade in his right hand and a +cart-whip in his left. 10. The second pawn, a smith with his buttriss in +the string of his apron, and a hammer in his right hand. 11. The third +pawn, represented as a _clerk_, that is a writer or transcriber, in the +same sense as Peter Scheffer and Ulric Zell are styled _clerici_, with +his case of writing materials at his girdle, a pair of shears in one +hand, and a large knife in the other. The knife, which has a large +curved blade, appears more fit for a butcher’s chopper than to make or +mend pens. 12. The fourth pawn, a man with a pair of scales, and having +a purse at his girdle, representing “marchauntes or chaungers.” 13. The +fifth pawn, a figure seated on a chair, having in his right hand a book, +and in his left a sort of casket or box of ointments, representing a +physician, spicer, or apothecary. 14. The sixth pawn, an innkeeper, +receiving a guest. 15. The seventh pawn, a figure with a yard measure in +his right hand, a bunch of keys in his left, and an open purse at his +girdle, representing “customers and tolle gaderers.” 16. The eighth +pawn, a figure with a sort of badge on his breast near to his right +shoulder, after the manner of a nobleman’s retainer, and holding a pair +of dice in his left hand, representing dice-players, messengers, and +“currours,” that is “couriers.” In old authors the numerous idle +retainers of the nobility are frequently represented as gamblers, +swash-bucklers, and tavern-haunters. + +Although there are twenty-four impressions in the volume, yet there are +only sixteen subjects, as described above; the remaining eight being +repetitions of the cuts numbered 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10, with two +impressions of the cut No. 2, besides that towards the commencement. + + [Illustration] + +The above cut is a reduced copy of the knight, No. 7; and his character +is thus described: “The knyght ought to be maad al armed upon an hors in +suche wise that he have an helme on his heed and a spere in his right +hond, and coverid with his shelde, a swerde and a mace on his left syde +. clad with an halberke and plates tofore his breste . legge harnoys on +his legges . spores on his heelis, on hys handes hys gauntelettes . hys +hors wel broken and taught and apte to bataylle and coveryd with hys +armes. When the Knyghtes been maad they ben bayned or bathed . That is +the signe that they sholde lede a newe lyf and newe maners . also they +wake alle the nyght in prayers and orisons unto god that he wil geve hem +grace that they may gete that thyng that they may not gete by nature. +The kyng or prynce gyrdeth a boute them a swerde in signe that they +shold abyde and kepen hym of whom they taken their dispences and +dignyte.” + +The following cut of the sixth or bishop’s pawn, No. 14, “whiche is +lykened to taverners and vytayllers,” is thus described in Caxton’s own +words: “The sixte pawn whiche stondeth before the alphyn on the lyfte +syde is made in this forme . ffor hit is a man that hath the right hond +stretched out for to calle men, and holdeth in his left honde a loof of +breed and a cuppe of wyn . and on his gurdel hangyng a bondel of keyes, +and this resemblith the taverners hostelers and sellars of vytayl . and +these ought properly to be sette to fore the alphyn as to fore a juge, +for there sourdeth oft tymes amonge hem contencion noyse and stryf, +which behoveth to be determyned and trayted by the alphyn which is juge +of the kynge.” + + [Illustration] + +The next book containing wood-cuts printed by Caxton is the “Mirrour of +the World, or thymage of the same,” as he entitles it at the head of the +table of contents. It is a thin folio consisting of one hundred leaves; +and, in the Prologue, Caxton informs the reader that it “conteyneth in +all lxvii chapitres and xxvii figures, without which it may not lightly +be understāde.” He also says that he translated it from the French at +the “request, desire, coste, and dispense of the honourable and +worshipful man Hugh Bryce, alderman cytezeyn of London,” who intended to +present the same to William, Lord Hastings, chamberlain to Edward IV, +and lieutenant of the same for the town of Calais and the marches there. +On the last page he again mentions Hugh Bryce and Lord Hastings, and +says of his translation: “Whiche book I begun first to trāslate the +second day of Janyuer the yere of our lord M.cccc.lxxx. And fynysshed +the viii day of Marche the same yere, and the xxi yere of the reign of +the most crysten kynge, Kynge Edward the fourthe.”[IV-38] + + [Footnote IV-38: Edward IV. began to reign 4th March 1461; the + twenty-first year of his reign would consequently commence on 4th + March 1481; Caxton’s dates therefore do not agree, unless we + suppose that he reckoned the commencement of the year from 21st + March. If so, his date viii March 1480, and the xxi year of the + reign of Edward IV. would agree; and the year of Christ, according + to our present mode of reckoning, would be 1481. Dr. Dibdin + assigns to the Mirror the date 1481.--Typ. Ant. i. p. 100.] + +The “xxvii figures” mentioned by Caxton, without which the work might +not be easily understood, are chiefly diagrams explanatory of the +principles of astronomy and dialling; but besides those twenty-seven +cuts the book contains eleven more, which may be considered as +illustrative rather than explanatory. The following is a list of those +eleven cuts in the order in which they occur. They are less than the +cuts in the “Game of Chess;” the most of them not exceeding three inches +and a half by three.[IV-39] + + [Footnote IV-39: Fac-similes of six of those cuts are given in Dr. + Dibdin’s edition of Ames’s Typographical Antiquities, vol. + i. p. 110-112.] + +1. A school-master or “doctor,” gowned, and seated on a high-backed +chair, teaching four youths who are on their knees. 2. A person seated +on a low-backed chair, holding in his hand a kind of globe; astronomical +instruments on a table before him. 3. Christ, or the Godhead, holding in +his hand a ball and cross. 4. The creation of Eve, who appears coming +out of Adam’s side.--The next cuts are figurative of the “seven arts +liberal.” 5. Grammar. A teacher with a large birch-rod seated on a +chair, his four pupils before him on their knees. 6. Logic. Figure +bare-headed seated on a chair, and having before him a book on a kind of +reading-stand, which he appears expounding to his pupils who are +kneeling. 7. Rhetoric. An upright figure in a gown, to whom another, +kneeling, presents a paper, from which a seal is seen depending. +8. Arithmetic. A figure seated, and having before him a tablet inscribed +with numerical characters. 9. Geometry. A figure standing, with a pair +of compasses in his hand, with which he seems to be drawing diagrams on +a table. 10. Music. A female figure with a sheet of music in her hand, +singing, and a man playing on the English flute. 11. Astronomy. Figure +with a kind of quadrant in his hand, who seems to be taking an +observation.--An idea may be formed of the manner in which those cuts +are engraved from the fac-simile on the next page of No. 10, “Music.” + +There are wood-cuts in the Golden Legend, 1483; the Fables of Esop, +1484; Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and other books printed by Caxton; but +it is unnecessary either to enumerate them or to give specimens, as they +are all executed in the same rude manner as the cuts in the Book of +Chess and the Mirror of the World. In the Book of Hunting and Hawking +printed at St. Albans, 1486, there are rude wood-cuts; as also in a +second and enlarged edition of the same book printed by Wynkyn de Worde, +Caxton’s successor, at Westminster in 1496. The most considerable +wood-cut printed in England previous to 1500 is, so far as regards the +design, a representation of the Crucifixion at the end of the Golden +Legend printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1493.[IV-40] In this cut, neither +of the thieves on each side of Christ appears to be nailed to the cross. +The arms of the thief on the right of Christ hang behind, and are bound +to the transverse piece of the cross, which passes underneath his +shoulders. His feet are neither bound nor nailed to the cross. The feet +of the thief to the left of Christ are tied to the upright piece of the +cross, to which his hands are also bound, his shoulders resting upon the +top, and his face turned upward towards the sky. To the left is seen the +Virgin,--who has fallen down,--supported by St. John. In the back-ground +to the right, the artist, like several others of that period, has +represented Christ bearing his cross. + + [Illustration] + +Dr. Dibdin, at page 8 of the “Disquisition on the Early State of +Engraving and Ornamental Printing in Great Britain,” prefixed to Ames’s +and Herbert’s Typographical Antiquities, makes the following +observations on this cut: “The ‘Crucifixion’ at the end of the ‘Golden +Legend’ of 1493, which Wynkyn de Worde has so frequently subjoined to +his religious pieces, is, unquestionably, the effort of some ingenious +foreign artist. It is not very improbable that Rubens had a recollection +of one of the thieves, twisted, from convulsive agony, round the top of +the cross, when he executed his celebrated picture of the same +subject.”[IV-41] In De Worde’s cut, however, it is to be remarked that +the contorted attitude of both the thieves results rather from the +manner in which they are bound to the cross, than from the convulsions +of agony. + + [Footnote IV-40: A large flowered letter, a T, cut on wood, occurs + on the same page as the Crucifixion.] + + [Footnote IV-41: In a note upon this passage Dr. Dibdin gives the + following extract from Sir Joshua Reynolds. “To give animation to + this subject, Rubens has chosen the point of time when an + executioner is piercing the side of Christ, while another with a + bar of iron is breaking the limbs of one of the malefactors, who + in his convulsive agony, which his body admirably expresses, has + torn one of his feet from the tree to which it was nailed. The + expression in the action of the figure is wonderful.”] + +At page 7 of the same Disquisition it is said that the figures in the +Game of Chess, the Mirror of the World, and other works printed by +Caxton “are, in all probability, not the genuine productions of this +country; and may be traced to books of an earlier date printed abroad, +from which they were often borrowed without acknowledgment or the least +regard to the work in which they again appeared. Caxton, however, has +judiciously taken one of the prints from the ‘Biblia Pauperum’ to +introduce in his ‘Life of Christ.’ The cuts for his second edition of +‘Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales’ may perhaps safely be considered as the +genuine invention and execution of a British artist.” + +Although I am well aware that the printers of the fifteenth century were +accustomed to copy without acknowledgment the cuts which appeared in +each other’s books, and though I think it likely that Caxton might +occasionally resort to the same practice, yet I am decidedly of opinion +that the cuts in the “Game of Chess” and the “Mirror of the World” were +designed and engraved in this country. Caxton’s Game of Chess is +certainly the first book of the kind which appeared with wood-cuts in +any country; and I am further of opinion that in no book printed +previous to 1481 will the presumed originals of the eleven principal +cuts in the Mirror of the World be found. Before we are required to +believe that the cuts in those two books were copied from similar +designs by some foreign artist, we ought to be informed in what work +such originals are to be found. If there be any merit in a first design, +however rude, it is but just to assign it to him who first employs the +unknown artist and makes his productions known. Caxton’s claims to the +merit of “illustrating” the Game of Chess and the Mirror of the World +with wood-cuts from original designs, I conceive to be indisputable. + +Dr. Dibdin, in a long note at pages 33, 34, and 35 of the Typographical +Antiquities, gives a confused account of the earliest editions of books +on chess. He mentions as the first, a Latin edition--supposed by +Santander to be the work of Jacobus de Cessolis--in folio, printed about +the year 1473, by Ketelaer and Leempt. In this edition, however, there +are no cuts, and the date is only conjectural. He says that two editions +of the work of Jacobus de Cessolis on the Morality of Chess, in German +and Italian, with wood-cuts, were printed, without date, in the +fifteenth century, and he adds: “Whether Caxton borrowed the cuts in his +second edition from those in the 8vo. German edition without date, or +from this latter Italian one, I am not able to ascertain, having seen +neither.” He seems satisfied that Caxton had _borrowed_ the cuts in his +book of chess, though he is at a loss to discover the party who might +have them to _lend_. Had he even seen the two editions which he +mentions, he could not have known whether Caxton had borrowed his cuts +from them or not until he had ascertained that they were printed +previously to the English edition. There is a German edition of Jacobus +de Cessolis, in folio, with wood-cuts supposed to be printed in 1477, at +Augsburg, by Gunther Zainer, but both date and printer’s name are +conjectural. The first German edition of this work with wood-cuts, and +having a positive date, I believe to be that printed at Strasburg by +Henry Knoblochzer in 1483. Until a work on chess shall be produced of an +earlier date than that ascribed to Caxton’s, and containing similar +wood-cuts, I shall continue to believe that the wood-cuts in the second +English edition of the “Game and Playe of the Chesse” were both designed +and executed by an English artist; and I protest against bibliographers +going a-begging with wood-cuts found in old English books, and ascribing +them to foreign artists, before they have taken the slightest pains to +ascertain whether such cuts were executed in England or not. + +The wood-cuts in the Game of Chess and the Mirror of the World are +equally as good as the wood-cuts which are to be found in books printed +abroad about the same period. They are even decidedly better than those +in Anthony Sorg’s German Bible, Augsburg, 1480, or those in Veldener’s +edition of the Fasciculus Temporum, printed at Utrecht in the same year. + +It has been supposed that most of the wood-cuts which appear in books +printed by Caxton and De Worde were executed abroad; on the presumption +that there were at that period no professed wood engravers in England. +Although I am inclined to believe that within the fifteenth century +there were no persons in this country who practised wood engraving as a +distinct profession, yet it by no means follows from such an admission +that Caxton’s and De Worde’s cuts must have been engraved by foreign +artists. The manner in which they are executed is so coarse that they +might be cut by any person who could handle a graver. Looking at them +merely as specimens of wood engraving, they are not generally superior +to the practice-blocks cut by a modern wood-engraver’s apprentice within +the first month of his noviciate. I conceive that there would be no +greater difficulty in finding a person capable of engraving them than +there would be in finding the pieces of wood on which they were to be +executed. Persons who have noticed the embellishments in manuscripts, +the carving, the monuments, and the stained glass in churches, executed +in England about the time of Caxton, will scarcely suppose that there +were no artists in this country capable of making the designs for those +cuts. There is in fact reason to believe that in England in the +fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the walls of apartments, more +especially in taverns and hostelries, frequently contained paintings, +most probably in distemper, of subjects both from sacred and general +history. That paintings of sacred subjects were not unusual in churches +at those periods is well known. + +In most of the cuts which are to be found in books printed by Caxton, +the effect is produced by the simplest means. The outline of the figures +is coarse and hard, and the shades and folds of the draperies are +indicated by short parallel lines. Cross-hatchings occur in none of +them, though in one or two I have noticed a few angular dots picked out +of the black part of a cut in order that it might not appear like a mere +blot. The foliage of the trees is generally represented in a manner +similar to those in the background of the cut of the knight, of which a +copy is given at page 193. The oak leaves in a wood-cut[IV-42] at the +commencement of the preface to the Golden Legend, 1483, are an exception +to the general style of Caxton’s foliage; and represent what they are +intended for with tolerable accuracy. Having thus noticed some of the +earliest books with wood-engravings printed in England, I shall now +resume my account of the progress of the art on the Continent. + + [Footnote IV-42: A copy of this cut is given at p. 186, vol. i. of + Dr. Dibdin’s edition of the Typographical Antiquities.] + +In an edition of Ptolemy’s Cosmography, printed at Ulm in 1482 by +Leonard Holl, we have the first instance of maps engraved on wood. The +work is in folio, and the number of the maps is twenty-seven. In a +general map of the world the engraver has thus inserted his name at the +top: “Insculptum est per Johannē Schnitzer de Armssheim.”[IV-43] At the +corners of this map the winds are represented by heads with puffed-out +cheeks, very indifferently engraved. The work also contains ornamental +initial letters engraved on wood. In a large one, the letter at the +beginning of the volume, the translator is represented offering his book +to Pope Paul II. who occupied the see of Rome from 1464 to 1471. + + [Footnote IV-43: Arnsheim, which is probably the place intended, + is about twenty miles to the south-west of Mentz.] + +Each map occupies two folio pages, and is printed on the verso of one +page and the recto of the next, in such a manner that when the book is +open the adjacent pages seem as if printed from one block. What may be +considered as the skeleton of each map,--such as indications of rivers +and mountains,--is coarsely cut; but as the names of the places are also +engraved on wood, the execution of those thirty-seven maps must have +been a work of considerable labour. In 1486 another edition with the +same cuts was printed at Ulm by John Regen at the cost of Justus de +Albano of Venice. + +The idea of Leonard Holl’s Ptolemy was most likely suggested by an +edition of the same work printed at Rome in 1478 by Arnold Bukinck, the +successor of Conrad Sweinheim. In this edition the maps are printed from +plates of copper; and from the perfect similarity of the letters, as may +be observed in the names of places, there can be no doubt of their +having been stamped upon the plate by means of a punch in a manner +similar to that in which a bookbinder impresses the titles at the back +of a volume. It is absolutely impossible that such perfect uniformity in +the form of the letters could have been obtained, had they been +separately engraved on the plate by hand. Each single letter is as +perfectly like another of the same character,--the capital M for +instance,--as types cast by a letter-founder from the same mould. The +names of the places are all in capitals, but different sizes are used +for the names of countries and cities. The capitals at the margins +referring to the degrees of latitude are of very beautiful shape, and as +delicate as the capitals in modern hair-type. + +At the back of some of the maps in the copy in the King’s Library at the +British Museum, the paper appears as if it had received, when in a damp +state, an impression from linen cloth. As this appearance of threads +crossing each other does not proceed from the texture of the paper, but +is evidently the result of pressure, I am inclined to think that it has +been occasioned by a piece of linen being placed between the paper and +the roller when the impressions were taken. + +In the dedication of the work to the Pope it is stated that this edition +was prepared by Domitius Calderinus of Verona, who promised to collate +the Latin version with an ancient Greek manuscript; and that Conrad +Sweinheim, who was one of the first who introduced the art of printing +at Rome, undertook, with the assistance of “certain mathematical men,” +whom he taught, to “impress” the maps upon plates of copper. Sweinheim, +after having spent three years in preparing these plates, died before +they were finished; and Arnold Bukinck, a learned German printer, +completed the work, “that the emendations of Calderinus,--who also died +before the book was printed,--and the results of Sweinheim’s most +ingenious mechanical contrivances might not be lost to the learned +world.”[IV-44] + + [Footnote IV-44: “Magister vero Conradus Suueynheyn, Germanus, + a quo formandorum Romæ librorum ars primum profecta est, occasione + hinc sumpta posteritati consulens animum ad hanc doctrinam + capessendam applicuit. Subinde mathematicis adhibitis viris + quemadmodum tabulis eneis imprimerentur edocuit, triennioque in + hac cura consumpto diem obiit. In cujus vigilarum laborumque + partem non inferiori ingenio ac studio Arnoldus Buckinck e + Germania vir apprime eruditus ad imperfectum opus succedens, ne + Domitii Conradique obitu eorum vigiliæ emendationesque sine + testimonio perirent neve virorum eruditorum censuram fugerent + immensæ subtilitatis machinimenta, examussim ad unum + perfecit.”--Dedication to the Pope, of Ptolemy’s Cosmography, + Rome, 1478.] + +An edition of Ptolemy in folio, with the maps engraved on copper, was +printed at Bologna by Dominico de Lapis with the erroneous date +M.CCCC.LXII. This date is certainly wrong, for no work from the press of +this printer is known of an earlier date than 1477; and the editor of +this edition, Philip Beroaldus the elder, was only born in 1450, if not +in 1453. Supposing him to have been born in the former year, he would +only be twelve years old in 1462. Raidel, who in 1737 published a +dissertation on this edition, thinks that two numerals--XX--had +accidentally been omitted, and that the date ought to be 1482. Breitkopf +thinks that one X might be accidentally omitted in a date and pass +uncorrected, but not two. He rather thinks that the compositor had +placed an I instead of an L, and that the correct date ought to stand +thus: M CCCC L XLI--1491. I am however of opinion that no instance of +the Roman numerals, L XLI, being thus combined to express 91, can be +produced. It seems most probable that the date 1482 assigned by Raidel +is correct; although his opinion respecting the numerals--XX--being +accidentally omitted may be wrong. It is extremely difficult to account +for the erroneous dates of many books printed previous to 1500. Several +of those dates may have been accidentally wrong set by the compositor, +and overlooked by the corrector; but others are so obvious that it is +likely they were designedly introduced. The bibliographer who should +undertake to enquire what the printers’ reasons might be for falsifying +the dates of their books, would be as likely to arrive at the truth, as +he would be in an enquiry into the reason of their sometimes adding +their name, and sometimes omitting it. The execution of the maps in the +edition of De Lapis is much inferior to that of the maps begun by +Sweinheim, and finished by Bukinck in 1478. + +Bukinck’s edition of Ptolemy, 1478, is the second book which contains +impressions from copper-plates. Heineken, at page 233, refers to the +“Missale Herbipolense,” folio, 1481, as the first book printed in +Germany containing a specimen of copper-plate engraving. Dr. Dibdin, +however, in the 3rd volume of his Tour, page 306, mentions the same work +as having the date of 1479 in the prefatory admonition, and says that +the plate of a shield of arms--the only one in the volume--is noticed by +Bartsch in his “Peintre-Graveur,” vol. x. p. 57. The printer of the +edition of 1481 appears from Heineken to have been George Reyser. In the +“Modus Orandi secundum chorum Herbipolensem,” folio, printed by George +Reyser, “Herbipoli,” [at Wurtzburg,] 1485, there is on folio II. a +copper-plate engraving of the arms of Rudolph de Scherenberg, bishop of +that see. This plate is also described by Bartsch in his +“Peintre-Graveur,” vol. x. p. 156. The first book which appeared with +copper-plate engravings is intitled “Il Monte Sancto di Dio,” written by +Antonio Bettini, and printed at Florence in 1477 by Nicolo di Lorenzo +della Magna. As this book is of extreme rarity, I shall here give an +account of the plates from Mercier, who first called the attention of +bibliographers to it as being of an earlier date than the folio edition +of Dante, with copper-plate engravings, printed also by Nicolo Lorenzo +in 1481. This edition of Dante was generally supposed to be the first +book containing copper-plate engravings until Bettini’s work was +described by Mercier. + +The work called “Il Monte Sancto di Dio” is in quarto, and according to +Mercier there ought to be a quire or gathering of four leaves at the +commencement, containing a summary of the work, which is divided into +three parts, with a table of the chapters. On the reverse of the last of +those four leaves is the first plate, which occupies the whole page, and +“measures nine inches and seven-eighths in height, by seven inches in +width.”[IV-45] This plate represents the Holy Mountain, on the top of +which Christ is seen standing in the midst of adoring angels. A ladder +is placed against this mountain, to which it is fastened with iron +chains, and on each step is engraved the name of a virtue, for instance, +Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and others. A figure clothed in a long +robe, and who appears to be a monk, is seen mounting the ladder. His +eyes are directed towards a huge crucifix placed half way up the hill to +the right of the ladder, and from his mouth there proceeds a label +inscribed with these words: “_Tirami doppo ti_,”--“Draw me up after +thee.” Another figure is seen standing at the foot of the mountain, +looking towards the top, and uttering these words: “_Levavi oculos meos +in montes_,” &c. The second plate occurs at signature Iv[IV-46] after +the 115th chapter. It also represents Christ in his glory, surrounded by +angels. It is only four inches and five lines high, by six inches wide, +French measure. The third plate, which is the same size as the second, +occurs at signature Pvij, and represents a view of Hell according to the +description of Dante. Those plates, which for the period are well enough +designed and executed, especially the second, were most likely engraved +on copper; and they seem to be by the same hand as those in the edition +of Dante of 1481, from the press of Nicolo di Lorenzo, who also printed +the work of Bettini.[IV-47] A copy of “Il Monte Sancto di Dio” is in +Earl Spencer’s Library; and a description and specimens of the cuts are +given by Dr. Dibdin in the Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. iv. p. 30; and +by Mr. Ottley in the Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of +Engraving, vol. i. pp. 375-377. + + [Footnote IV-45: This is Mr. Ottley’s measurement, taken within + the black line which bounds the subject. The width as given by + Mercier does not accord with the above. He says that the plate + “a neuf pouces et demi de haut sur six de large.”] + + [Footnote IV-46: Mr. Ottley says, “on the reverse of signature N + viij.”] + + [Footnote IV-47: “Lettres de M. l’Abbé de St. L***, [St. Léger, + autrefois le pere Le Mercier, ancien Bibliothecaire de St. + Genevieve] à M. le Baron de H*** sur différentes Editions rares du + XV^e. Siécle,” p. 4-5. 8vo. Paris, 1783. A short biographic sketch + of the Abbé Mercier St. Léger, one of the most eminent French + Bibliographers of the last century, will be found in Dr. Dibdin’s + Tour, vol. ii. p. 180.] + +In the execution of the maps, the copper-plate engraver possesses a +decided advantage over the engraver on wood, owing to the greater +facility and clearness with which letters can be cut _in_ copper than +_on_ wood. In the engraving of letters on copper, the artist cuts the +form of the letter _into_ the plate, the character being thus in +_intaglio_; while in engraving on a block, the wood surrounding has to +be cut away, and the letter left in _relief_. On copper, using only the +graver,--for etching was not known in the fifteenth century,--as many +letters might be cut in one day as could be cut on wood in three. +Notwithstanding the disadvantage under which the ancient wood engravers +laboured in the execution of maps, they for many years contended with +the copper-plate printers for a share of this branch of business; and +the printers, at whose presses maps engraved on wood only could be +printed, were well inclined to support the wood engravers. In a folio +edition of Ptolemy, printed at Venice in 1511, by Jacobus Pentius de +Leucho, the outlines of the maps, with the indications of the mountains +and rivers, are cut on wood, and the names of the places are printed in +type, of different sizes, and with red and black ink. For instance, in +the map of Britain, which is more correct than any which had previously +appeared, the word “ALBION” is printed in large capitals, and the word +“GADINI” in small capitals, and both with red ink. The words “Curia” and +“Bremenium” are printed in small Roman characters, and with black ink. +The names of the rivers are also in small Roman, and in black ink. Such +of those maps as contain many names, are almost full of type. The double +borders surrounding them, within which the degrees of latitude are +marked, appear to have been formed of separate pieces of metal, in the +manner of wide double rules. At the head of several of the maps there +are figures of animals emblematic of the country. In the first map of +Africa there are two parrots; in the second an animal like a jackal, and +a non-descript; in the third, containing Egypt, a crocodile, and a +monstrous kind of fish like a dragon; and in the fourth, two parrots. In +the last, the “curious observer” will note a specimen of decorative +printing from two blocks of wood; for the beak, wing, and tail of one of +the parrots is printed in red. + +In the last map,--of Loraine,--in an edition of Ptolemy, in folio, +printed at Strasburg in 1513, by John Schott, the attempt to print in +colours, in the manner of chiaro-scuro wood engravings, is carried yet +further. The hills and woods are printed green; the indications of towns +and cities, and the names of the most considerable places, are red; +while the names of the smaller places are black. For this map, executed +in three colours, green, red, and black, there would be required two +wood engravings and two forms of type, each of which would have to be +separately printed. The arms which form a border to the map are printed +in their proper heraldic colours.[IV-48] The only other specimen of +armorial bearings printed in colours from wood-blocks, that I am aware +of, is Earl Spencer’s arms in the first part of Savage’s Hints on +Decorative Printing, which was published in 1818, upwards of three +hundred years after the first essay. + + [Footnote IV-48: I regret that I have not had an opportunity of + personally examining this map. There is a copy of Schott’s edition + in the British Museum; but all the maps, except one of the sphere, + are taken out. The above account of the map of Loraine is from + Breitkopf’s interesting essay “Ueber den Druck der Geographischen + Charten,” S. 7. 4to. Leipzig, 1777.] + +At a later period a new method was adopted by which the wood engraver +was spared the trouble of cutting the letters, while the printer was +enabled to obtain a perfect copy of each map by a single impression. The +mode in which this was effected was as follows. The indications of +mountains, rivers, cities, and villages were engraved on the wood as +before, and blank spaces were left for the names. Those spaces were +afterwards cut out by means of a chisel or drill, piercing quite through +the block: and the names of the places being inserted in type, the whole +constituted only one “form,” from which an impression both of the cut +and the letters could be obtained by its being passed once through the +press. Sebastian Munster’s Cosmography, folio, printed at Basle in 1554, +by Henry Petri, affords several examples of maps executed in this +manner. This may be considered as one of the last efforts of the old +wood engravers and printers to secure to themselves a share of the +business of map-engraving. Their endeavours, however, were unavailing; +for within twenty years of that date, this branch of art was almost +exclusively in the hands of the copper-plate engravers. From the date of +the maps of Ortelius, Antwerp, 1570, engraved on copper by Ægidius +Diest, maps engraved on wood are rarely to be seen. The practice of +engraving the outlines and rivers on wood, and then piercing the block +and inserting the names of the places in type has, however, lately been +revived; and where publishers are obliged either to print maps with the +type or to give none at all, this mode may answer very well, more +especially when the object is to give the relative position of a few of +the principal places, rather than a crowded list of names. Most of the +larger maps in the Penny Cyclopædia are executed in this manner. The +holes in the blocks are pierced with the greatest rapidity by gouges of +different sizes acting vertically, and put in motion by machinery +contrived by Mr. Edward Cowper, to whose great mechanical skill the art +of steam-printing chiefly owes its perfection. + +Having thus noticed consecutively the progress of map engraving, it may +not here be out of place to give a brief account of Breitkopf’s +experiment to print a map with separate pieces of metal in the manner of +type.[IV-49] Previous to 1776 some attempts had been made by a person +named Preusch, of Carlsruhe, to print maps by a process which he named +typometric, and who published an account of his plan, printed at the +press of Haass the Younger, of Basil. In 1776 Breitkopf sent a +communication to Busching’s Journal, containing some remarks on the +invention of Preusch, and stating that he had conceived a similar plan +upwards of twenty years previously, and that he had actually set up a +specimen and printed off a few copies, which he had given to his +friends. The veracity of this account having been questioned by an +illiberal critic, Breitkopf, in 1777, prefixed to his Essay on the +Printing of Maps a specimen composed of moveable pieces of metal in the +manner of types. He expressly declares that he considered his experiment +a failure; and that he only produced his specimen--a quarto map of the +country round Leipsic--in testimony of the truth of what he had +previously asserted, and to show that two persons might, independently +of each other, conceive an idea of the same invention, although they +might differ considerably in their mode of carrying it into effect. + + [Footnote IV-49: The following particulars respecting Breitkopf’s + invention are derived from his essay “Ueber den Druck der + Geographischen Charten,” previously referred to.] + +He was first led to think on the practicability of printing maps with +moveable pieces of metal by considering that when the letters are +omitted there remain but hills, rivers, and the indications of places; +and for these he was convinced that representations consisting of +moveable pieces of metal might be contrived. Having, however, made the +experiment, he felt satisfied that the appearance of such a map was +unpleasing to the eye, and that the invention was not likely to be +practically useful. Had it not been for the publication of Preusch, he +says that he never would have thought of mentioning his invention, +except as a mechanical experiment; and to show that the execution of +maps in such a manner was within the compass of the printer’s art. + +In the specimen which he gives, rivers are represented by minute +parallel lines, which are shorter or longer as the river contracts or +expands; and the junction of the separate pieces may be distinctly +perceived. For hills and trees there are distinct characters +representing those objects. Towns and large villages are distinguished +by a small church, and small villages by a small circle. Roads are +indicated by dotted parallel lines. For the title of the map large +capitals are used. The name of the city of LEIPSIC is in small capitals. +The names of towns and villages are in _Italic_; and of woods, rivers, +and hills, in Roman type. The general appearance of the map is +unpleasing to the eye. Breitkopf has displayed his ingenuity by +producing such a typographic curiosity, and his good sense in abandoning +his invention when he found that he could not render it useful. + +Mr. Ottley, at page 755 of the second volume of his Inquiry, makes the +following remarks on the subject of cross-hatching in wood +engravings:--“It appears anciently to have been the practice of those +masters who furnished designs for the wood engravers to work from, +carefully to avoid all cross-hatchings, which, it is probable, were +considered beyond the power of the Xylographist to represent. Wolgemuth +perceived that, though difficult, this was not impossible; and in the +cuts of the Nuremberg Chronicle, the execution of which, (besides +furnishing the designs,) he doubtless superintended, a successful +attempt was first made to imitate the bold hatchings of a pen-drawing, +crossing each other, as occasion prompted the designer, in various +directions: to him belongs the praise of having been the first who duly +appreciated the powers of this art.” + +Although it is true that cross-hatchings are not to be found in the +earliest wood engravings, yet Mr. Ottley is wrong in assigning this +material improvement in the art to Michael Wolgemuth; for cross-hatching +is introduced in the beautiful cut forming the frontispiece to the Latin +edition of Breydenbach’s Travels, folio, first printed at Mentz, by +Erhard Reuwich, in 1486,[IV-50] seven years before the Nuremberg +Chronicle appeared. The cut in the following page is a reduced but +accurate copy of Breydenbach’s frontispiece, which is not only the +finest wood engraving which had appeared up to that date, 1486, but is +in point of design and execution as superior to the best cuts in the +Nuremberg Chronicle, as the designs of Albert Durer are to the cuts in +the oldest editions of the “Poor Preachers’ Bible.” + + [Footnote IV-50: An edition of this work in German, with the same + cuts, was printed by Reuwich in 1488. Within ten years, at least + six different editions of this work were printed in Germany. It + was also translated into Low Dutch, and printed in Holland.] + + [Illustration: + Philippus de bicken miles] + +In this cut, cross-hatching may be observed in the drapery of the female +figure, in the upper part of the two shields on each side of her, in the +border at the top of the cut, and in other places. Whether the female +figure be intended as a personification of the city of Mentz, as is +sometimes seen in old books of the sixteenth century, or for St. +Catherine, whose shrine on Mount Sinai was visited by Breydenbach in his +travels, I shall not pretend to determine. The arms on her right are +Breydenbach’s own; on her left are the arms of John, Count of Solms and +Lord of Mintzenberg, and at the bottom of the cut those of Philip de +Bicken, knight, who were Breydenbach’s companions to the holy sepulchre +at Jerusalem and the shrine of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. St. +Catherine, it may be observed, was esteemed the patroness of learned +men, and her figure was frequently placed in libraries in Catholic +countries, in the same manner as the bust of Minerva in the libraries of +ancient Greece and Rome. The name of the artist by whom the frontispiece +to Breydenbach’s travels was executed is unknown; but I have no +hesitation in declaring him to be one of the best wood engravers of the +period. As this is the earliest wood-cut in which I have noticed +cross-hatching, I shall venture to ascribe the merit of the invention to +the unknown artist, whoever he may have been; and shall consider the +date 1486 as marking the period when a new style of wood engraving was +introduced. Wolgemuth, as associated with wood engraving, has too long +been decked out with borrowed plumes; and persons who knew little or +nothing either of the history or practice of the art, and who are misled +by writers on whose authority they rely, believe that Michael Wolgemuth +was not only one of the best wood engravers of his day, but that he was +the first who introduced a material improvement into the practice of the +art. This error becomes more firmly rooted when such persons come to be +informed that he was the master of Albert Durer, who is generally, but +erroneously, supposed to have been the best wood engraver of his day. +Albert Durer studied under Michael Wolgemuth as a painter, and not as a +wood engraver; and I consider it as extremely questionable if either of +them ever engraved a single block. There are many evidences in Germany +of Wolgemuth having been a tolerably good painter for the age and +country in which he lived; but there is not one of his having engraved +on wood. In the Nuremberg Chronicle he is represented as having, in +conjunction with William Pleydenwurf, superintended the execution of the +wood-cuts contained in that book. Those cuts, which are frequently +referred to as excellent specimens of old wood engraving, are in fact +the most tasteless and worthless things that are to be found in any +book, ancient or modern. It is a book, however, that is easy to be +obtained; and it serves as a land-mark to superficial enquirers who are +perpetually referring to it as containing wood-cuts designed, if not +engraved, by Albert Durer’s master,--and such, they conclude, must +necessarily possess a very high degree of excellence. + +Breydenbach was a canon of the cathedral church of Mentz, and he +dedicates the account of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land and visit to +Mount Sinai to Berthold, archbishop of that see. The frontispiece, +although most deserving of attention as a specimen of wood engraving, is +not the only cut in the book which is worthy of notice. Views are given, +engraved on wood, of the most remarkable places which he visited;--and +those of Venice, Corfu, Modon, and the country round Jerusalem, which +are of great length, are inserted in the book as “folding plates.” Each +of the above views is too large to have been engraved on one block. For +that of Venice, which is about five feet long, and ten inches high, +several blocks must have been required, from each of which impressions +would have to be taken singly, and afterwards pasted together, as is at +present done in such views as are too wide to be contained on one sheet. +Those views, with respect to the manner in which they are executed, are +superior to everything of the same kind which had previously appeared. +The work also contains smaller cuts printed with the type, which are not +generally remarkable for their execution, although some of them are +drawn and engraved in a free and spirited manner. The following cut is a +reduced copy of that which is prefixed to a chapter intitled “De +Surianis qui Ierosolimis et locis illis manentes etiam se asserunt esse +Christianos:”-- + + [Illustration] + +In a cut of animals there is a figure of a giraffe,[IV-51] named by +Breydenbach “seraffa,” of a unicorn, a salamander, a camel, and an +animal something like an oran-outang, except that it has a tail. Of the +last the traveller observes, “non constat de nomine.” Some account of +this book, with fac-similes of the cuts, will be found in Dibdin’s +Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol iii. pp. 216-228. In the copy there +described, belonging to Earl Spencer, the beautiful frontispiece was +wanting. + + [Footnote IV-51: This is probably the first figure of the giraffe + that was communicated to the “reading public” of Europe. Its + existence was afterwards denied by several naturalists; and it is + only within a comparatively recent period that the existence of + such an animal was clearly established.] + +Although a flowered border surrounding a whole page may be observed as +occurring twice in Veldener’s edition of the Fasciculus Temporum, +printed at Utrecht in 1480, yet I am inclined to think that the practice +of surrounding every page with an ornamental flowered border cut in +wood, was first introduced by the Parisian printers at a period somewhat +later. In 1488, an edition of the “Horæ in Laudem beatissimæ virginis +Mariæ,” in octavo, was printed at Paris by Anthony Verard, the text of +which is surrounded with ornamental borders. The practice thus +introduced was subsequently adopted by the printers of Germany and +Holland, more especially in the decoration of devotional works, such as +Horæ, Breviaries, and Psalters. Verard appears to have chiefly printed +works of devotion and love, for a greater number of Horæ and Romances +proceeded from his press than that of any other printer of his age. Most +of them contain wood-cuts, some of which, in books printed by him about +the beginning of the sixteenth century, are designed with considerable +taste and well engraved; while others, those for instance in “La Fleur +des Battailes,” 4to, 1505, are not superior to those in Caxton’s Chess: +it is, however, not unlikely that the cuts in “La Fleur des Battailes” +of this date had been used for an earlier edition.[IV-52] + + [Footnote IV-52: A good specimen of early French wood engraving + may be seen in the large cut forming a kind of frontispiece to the + “Roman du Roy Artus,” folio, printed at Rouen in 1488 by Jehan de + Bourgeois. This cut, which occupies the whole page, represents + King Arthur and his knights dining off the round table. A smaller + one occurs at the beginning of the second part, and both are + surrounded by ornamental borders.] + +The “Hortus Sanitatis,” folio, printed at Mentz in 1491 by Jacobus +Meydenbach, is frequently referred to by bibliographers; not so much on +account of the many wood-cuts which it contains, but as being supposed +in some degree to confirm a statement in Sebastian Munster’s +Cosmography, and in Serrarius, De Rebus Moguntinis, where a _John_ +Meydenbach is mentioned as being a partner with Gutemberg and Faust. Von +Murr, as has been previously noticed, supposed that this person was a +wood engraver; and Prosper Marchand,[IV-53] though without any +authority, calls _Jacobus_ Meydenbach his son or his relation. + + [Footnote IV-53: Hist. de l’Imprimerie, p. 49.] + +This work, which is a kind of Natural History, explaining the uses and +virtues of herbs, fowls, fish, quadrupeds, minerals, drugs, and spices, +contains a number of wood-cuts, many of which are curious, as containing +representations of natural objects, but none of which are remarkable for +their execution as wood engravings. On the opposite page is a fac-simile +of the cut which forms the head-piece to the chapter “De Ovis.” The +figure, which possesses considerable merit, represents an old woman +going to market with her basket of eggs. + +This is a fair specimen of the manner in which the cuts in the Hortus +Sanitatis are designed and executed. Among the most curious and best +designed are: the interior of an apothecary’s shop, on the reverse of +the first leaf; a monkey seated on the top of a fountain, in the chapter +on water; a butcher cutting up meat; a man selling cheese at a stall; +a woman milking a cow; and figures of the male and female mandrake. At +chapter 119, “De Pediculo,” a woman is represented brushing the head of +a boy with a peculiar kind of brush, which answers the purpose of a +small-toothed comb; and she appears to bestow her labour on no infertile +field, for each of her “sweepings,” which are seen lying on the floor, +would scarcely slip through the teeth of a garden rake. Meydenbach’s +edition has been supposed to be the first; and Linnæus, in the +Bibliotheca Botanica, has ascribed the work to one John Cuba, +a physician of Mentz; but other writers have doubted if this person were +really the author. The first edition of this work, under the title of +“Herbarus,” with a hundred and fifty wood-cuts, was printed at Mentz by +Peter Scheffer in 1484; and in 1485 he printed an enlarged edition in +German, containing three hundred and eighty cuts, under the title of +“Ortus Sanitatis oder Garten der Gesundheit.” Of the work printed by +Scheffer, Breydenbach is said to have been one of the compilers. Several +editions of the Hortus Sanitatis were subsequently printed, not only in +Germany, but in France, Holland, and Switzerland. + + [Illustration] + +Having previously expressed my opinion respecting the wood-cuts in the +Nuremberg Chronicle, there will be less occasion to give a detailed +account of the book and the rubbish it contains here: in speaking thus +it may perhaps be necessary to say that this character is meant to apply +to the wood-cuts and not to the literary portion of the work, which +Thomas Hearne, of black-letter memory, pronounces to be extremely +“pleasant, useful, and curious.” With the wood-cuts the Rev. Dr. Dibdin +appears to have been equally charmed. + +The work called the “Nuremberg Chronicle” is a folio, compiled by +Hartman Schedel, a physician of Nuremberg, and printed in that city by +Anthony Koburger in 1493. In the colophon it is stated that the views of +cities, and figures of eminent characters, were executed under the +superintendence of Michael Wolgemuth and William Pleydenwurff, +“mathematical men”[IV-54] and skilled in the art of painting. The total +number of impressions contained in the work exceeds two thousand, but +several of the cuts are repeated eight or ten times. The following +fac-simile will afford an idea of the style in which the portraits of +illustrious men contained in this often-cited chronicle are executed. + + [Footnote IV-54: The expression “adhibitis tamen viris + mathematicis” in the Nuremberg Chronicle, is evidently borrowed + from that,--“subinde mathematicis adhibitis viris,”--in the + dedication of Bukinck’s Ptolemy, 1478, to the Pope. “Mathematical + men,” in the present sense of the term, might be required to + construct the maps in the edition of Ptolemy, but scarcely to + design or engrave the vulgar figures and worthless views in the + Nuremberg Chronicle.] + + [Illustration] + +The above head, which the owner appears to be scratching with so much +earnestness, first occurs as that of Paris the lover of Helen; and it is +afterwards repeated as that of Thales, Anastasius, Odofredus, and the +poet Dante. In a like manner the economical printer has a stock-head for +kings and emperors; another for popes; a third for bishops; a fourth for +saints, and so on. Several cuts representing what might be supposed to +be particular events are in the same manner pressed into the general +service of the chronicler. + +The peculiarity of the cuts in the Nuremberg Chronicle is that they +generally contain more of what engravers term “colour” than any which +had previously appeared. Before proceeding, however, to make any further +observations on these cuts, I shall endeavour to explain what engravers +mean by the term “colour,” as applied to an impression taken with black +ink from a copper-plate or a wood-block. + +Though there is no “colour,” strictly speaking, in an engraving +consisting merely of black and white lines, yet the term is often +conventionally applied to an engraving which is supposed, from the +varied character of its lines and the contrast of light and shade, to +convey the idea of varied local colour as seen in a painting or a +water-colour drawing. For instance, an engraving is said to contain much +“colour” which appears clearly to indicate not only a variety of colour, +but also its different degrees of intensity in the several objects, and +which at the same time presents an effective combination of light and +shade. An engraver cannot certainly express the difference between green +and yellow, or red and orange, yet in engraving a figure, say that of a +cavalier by Vandyke, with brown leather boots, buff-coloured woollen +hose, doublet of red silk, and blue velvet cloak, a master of his art +will not only express a difference in the texture, but will also convey +an idea of the different parts of the dress being of different colours. +The Rent Day, engraved by Raimbach from a painting by Wilkie, and +Chelsea Pensioners hearing the Gazette of the Battle of Waterloo read, +engraved by Burnet from a picture by the same artist, may be instanced +as copper-plate engravings which contain much “colour.” + +Mr. Landseer, at pages 175, 176, of his Lectures on Engraving, makes the +following remarks on the term “colour,” as conventionally applied by +engravers in speaking of impressions from plates or from +wood-blocks:--“It is not uncommon among print-publishers, nor even +amongst engravers themselves, to hear the word COLOUR mistakenly +employed to signify _shade_; so that if they think an engraving too +dark, they say it has too much _colour_, too little colour if too +light--and so forth. The same ignorance which has hitherto reigned over +the pursuits of this Art, has here imposed its authority, and with the +same unfortunate success: I cannot however yield to it the same +submission, since it is not only a palpable misuse of a word, but would +lead to endless confusion when I come to explain to you my ideas of the +means the Art of engraving possesses of rendering local colour in the +abstract. Wherefore, whenever I may use the term _colour_, I mean it in +no other than its ordinary acceptation.” + +“By MIDDLE TINT, I understand and mean, ‘the medium between strong light +and strong shade.’--These are Mr. Gilpin’s words; and he adds, with a +propriety that confers value on the definition--‘the phrase is _not at +all_ expressive of colour.’” + +Whether we owe the term “colour,” as applied to engravings, to the +ignorance of printsellers or not, I shall not inquire; I only know that +a number of terms equally objectionable, if their primitive meaning be +considered, are used in speaking of the arts of painting and engraving +by persons who are certainly not ignorant. We have the words _high_ and +_deep_, which strictly relate to objects of lineal altitude or +profundity, applied to denote intensity of colour; and the very word +_intensity_, when thus applied, is only relative; the speaker being +unable to find a word directly expressive of his meaning, explains +himself by referring to some object or thing previously known, as, in +this instance, by reference to the _tension_ of a string or cord. The +word _tone_, which is so frequently used in speaking of pictures, is +derived from the sister art of music. I presume that none of these terms +were introduced into the nomenclature of painting and engraving by +ignorant persons, but that they were adopted from a necessity +originating from the very constitution of the human mind. It is well +known to every person who has paid any attention to the construction of +languages, that almost every abstract term is referable to, and derived +from, the name of some material object. The very word to “think,” +implying the exercise of our mental faculties, is probably an offset +from the substantive “thing.” + +It is also to be observed, that Mr. Landseer speaks as if the term +_colour_ was used by ignorant printsellers, and of course ignorant +engravers, to signify _shade_ only. It is, however, used by them to +signify that there is a considerable proportion of dark lines and +hatchings in an engraving, although such lines and hatchings are not +expressive of shade, but merely indicative of deep colours. Dark brown, +red, and purple, for instance, even when receiving direct rays of light, +would naturally contain much conventional “colour” in an engraving; and +so would a bay horse, a coal barge, or the trunk of an old oak tree, +when receiving the light in a similar manner; all would be represented +as comparatively dark, when contrasted with lighter coloured +objects,--for instance, with a blue sky, grass, or light green +foliage,--although not in shade. An engraving that appears too light, +compared with the painting from which it is copied, is said to want +“colour,” and the copper-plate engraver remedies the defect by +thickening the dark lines, or by adding cross lines and hatchings. As a +copper-plate engraver can always obtain more “colour,” he generally +keeps his work light in the first stage of a plate; on the contrary, +a wood engraver keeps his first proof dark, as he cannot afterwards +introduce more “colour,” or give to an object a greater depth of shade. +A wood engraver can make his lines thinner if they be too thick, and +thus cause his subject to appear lighter; but if he has made them too +fine at first, and more colour be wanted, it is not in his power to +remedy the defect. + +What Mr. Landseer’s ideas may be of the “means [which] the art of +engraving possesses of rendering local colour in the abstract,” I cannot +very well comprehend. I am aware of the lines used conventionally by +engravers to indicate heraldic colours in coat-armour; but I can see no +natural relation between perpendicular lines in an engraving and the red +colour of a soldier’s coat. I believe that no person could tell the +colour of the draperies in Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper from an +inspection of Raphael Morghen’s engraving of it. When Mr. Landseer says +that he will use the term “colour” in its “ordinary acceptation,” he +ought to have explained what the ordinary acceptation of the word meant +when applied to impressions from copper-plates which consist of nothing +but lines and interstices of black and white. + + [Illustration] + +In the second paragraph Mr. Landseer displays great inconsistency in +praising Mr. Gilpin for his definition of the word “tint,” which, when +applied to engravings, is as objectionable as the term “colour.” It +appears that Mr. Gilpin may employ a conventional term with “singular +propriety,” while printsellers and engravers who should use the same +liberty would be charged with ignorance. Is there such a thing as a +_tint_ in nature which is of no colour? Mr. Gilpin’s lauded definition +involves a contradiction even when the word is applied to engravings, in +which every “tint” is indicative of positive colour. That “medium +between strong light and strong shade,” and which is yet of no colour, +remains to be discovered. Mr. Gilpin has supplied us with the “word,” +but it appears that no definite idea is necessary to be attached to it. +Having thus endeavoured to give a little brightness to the “colour” of +“ignorant printsellers and engravers,” I shall resume my observations on +the cuts in the Nuremberg Chronicle, to the “colour” of which the +preceding digression is to be ascribed. + +The preceding cut, representing the Creation of Eve, is copied from one +of the best in the Nuremberg Chronicle, both with respect to design and +engraving. In this, compared with most other cuts previously executed, +much more colour will be perceived, which results from the closeness of +the single lines, as in the dark parts of the rock immediately behind +the figure of Eve; from the introduction of dark lines crossing each +other,--called “cross-hatching,”--as may be seen in the drapery of the +Divinity; and from the contrast of the shade thus produced with the +lighter parts of the cut. + + [Illustration] + +The subjoined cut, of the same subject, copied from the Poor Preachers’ +Bible,[IV-55] will, by comparison with the preceding, illustrate more +clearly than any verbal explanation the difference with respect to +colour between the wood-cuts in the old block-books and in most others +printed between 1462 and 1493, and those contained in the Nuremberg +Chronicle. In this cut there is no indication of colour; the shades in +the drapery which are expressed by hard parallel lines are all of equal +strength, or rather weakness; and the hair of Adam’s head and the +foliage of the tree are expressed nearly in the same manner. + + [Footnote IV-55: In the original, this cut, with one of Christ’s + side pierced by a soldier, and another of Moses striking the rock, + are intended to illustrate the mystery of the Sacrament of the + Lord’s Supper.] + +This manner of representing the creation of Eve appears to have been +general amongst the wood engravers of the fifteenth century, for the +same subject frequently occurs in old cuts executed previous to 1500. It +is frequently represented in the same manner in illuminated missals; and +in Flaxman’s Lectures on Sculpture a lithographic print is given, copied +from an ancient piece of sculpture in Wells Cathedral, where Eve is seen +thus proceeding from the side of Adam. In a picture by Raffaele the +creation of Eve is also represented in the same manner. + +In the wood-cuts which occur in Italian books printed previous to 1500 +the engravers have seldom attempted anything beyond a simple outline +with occasionally an indication of shade, or of colour, by means of +short parallel lines. The following is a fac-simile of a cut in +Bonsignore’s Italian prose translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, folio, +printed at Venice by the brothers De Lignano in 1497. It may serve at +once as a specimen of the other cuts contained in the work and of the +general style of engraving on wood in Italy for about ten years +preceding that period. + + [Illustration] + +The subject illustrated is the difficult labour of Alcmena through the +malign influence of Lucina, as related by Ovid in the IXth book of the +Metamorphoses, from verse 295 to 314. This would appear to have been +rather a favourite subject with designers, for it is again selected for +illustration in Ludovico Dolce’s Transformationi, a kind of paraphrase +of the Metamorphoses, 4to, printed at Venice by Gabriel Giolito in 1557; +and it is also represented in the illustrations to the Metamorphoses +designed by Virgil Solis, and printed at Frankfort, in oblong 4to, by +George Corvinus and Sigismund Feyrabent, in 1569.[IV-56] + + [Footnote IV-56: Mr. Ottley in speaking of an edition of the + Metamorphoses printed at Venice in 1509, with wood-cuts, mentions + one of them as representing the “Birth of Hercules,” which is + probably treated in a manner similar to those above noticed. Mr. + Ottley also states that he had discovered the artist to be + Benedetto Montagna, who also engraved on copper.--Inquiry, vol. ii + p. 576.] + +Of all the wood-cuts executed in Italy within the fifteenth century +there are none that can bear a comparison for elegance of design with +those contained in an Italian work entitled “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,” +a folio without printer’s name or place, but certainly printed at Venice +by Aldus in 1499. This “Contest between Imagination and Love, by a +general Lover,”--for such seems to be the import of the title,--is an +obscure medley of fable, history, antiquities, mathematics, and various +other matters, highly seasoned with erotic sketches[IV-57] suggested by +the prurient imagination of a monk,--for such the author was,--who, like +many others of his fraternity, in all ages, appears to have had “a _law_ +not to marry, and a _custom_ not to live chaste.” The language in which +this chaos of absurdities is composed is almost as varied as the +subjects. The ground-work is Italian, on which the author engrafts at +will whole phrases of Latin, with a number of words borrowed from the +Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldee. “Certain persons,” says Tiraboschi, +“who admire a work the more the less they understand it, have fancied +that they could perceive in the Hypnerotomachia a complete summary of +human knowledge.”[IV-58] + + [Footnote IV-57: Bibliographers and booksellers in their + catalogues specify with delight such copies as contain “la figura + rappresentante il Sacrifizio à Priapo bene conservata,” for in + some copies this choice subject is wanting, and in others + partially defaced.] + + [Footnote IV-58: Some account of the Hypnerotomachia and its + author is to be found in Prosper Marchand’s Dictionnaire + Historique.] + +The name of the author was Francis Colonna, who was born at Venice, and +at an early age became a monk of the order of St. Dominic. In 1467 he +professed Grammar and Classical Literature in the convent of his order +at Trevisa; and he afterwards became Professor of Theology at Padua, +where he commenced Doctor in 1473, a degree which, according to the rule +of his order, he could not assume until he was forty. At the time of his +death, which happened in 1527, he could not thus be less than +ninety-four years old. The true name of this amorous dreaming monk, and +the fictitious one of the woman with whom he was in love, are thus +expressed by combining, in the order in which they follow each other, +the initial letters of the several chapters: “POLIAM FRATER FRANSISCUS +COLUMNA PERAMAVIT.”[IV-59] If any reliance can be placed on the text and +the cuts as narrating and representing real incidents, we may gather +that the stream of love had not run smooth with father Francis any more +than with simple laymen. With respect to the true name of the mistress +of father Francis, biographers are not agreed. One says that her name +was Lucretia Maura; and another that her name was Ippolita, and that she +belonged to the noble family of Poli, of Trevisa, and that she was a nun +in that city. From the name Ippolita some authors thus derive the +fictitious name Polia: Ippolita; Polita; Polia. + + [Footnote IV-59: In the life of Colonna in the Biographie + Universelle, the last word is said to be “_adamavit_,” which is a + mistake. The word formed by the initial letters of the nine last + chapters is “_peramavit_,” as above.] + +A second edition, also from the Aldine press, appeared in 1545; and in +the following year a French translation was printed at Paris under the +following title: “Le Tableau des riches inventions couvertes du voile +des feintes amourouses qui sont representées dans le Songe de Poliphile, +devoilées des ombres du Songe, et subtilment exposées.” Of this +translation several editions were published; and in 1804 J. G. Legrand, +an architect of some repute in Paris, printed a kind of paraphrase of +the work, in two volumes 12mo, which, however, was not published until +after his death in 1807. In 1811 Bodoni reprinted the original work at +Parma in an elegant quarto volume. + +In the original work the wood-cuts with respect to design may rank among +the best that have appeared in Italy. The whole number in the volume is +one hundred and ninety-two; of which eighty-six relate to mythology and +ancient history; fifty-four represent processions and emblematic +figures: there are thirty-six architectural and ornamental subjects; and +sixteen vases and statues. Several writers have asserted that those cuts +were designed by Raffaele,[IV-60] while others with equal confidence, +though on no better grounds, have ascribed them to Andrea Mantegna. +Except from the resemblance which they are supposed to bear to the +acknowledged works of those artists, I am not aware that there is any +reason to suppose that they were designed by either of them. As +Raffaele, who was born in 1483, was only sixteen when the +Hypnerotomachia was printed, it is not likely that all, or even any of +those cuts were designed by him; as it is highly probable that all the +drawings would be finished at least twelve months before, and many of +them contain internal evidence of their not being the productions of a +youth of fifteen. That Andrea Mantegna might design them is possible; +but this certainly cannot be a sufficient reason for positively +asserting that he actually did. Mr. Ottley, at page 576, vol. ii, of his +Inquiry, asserts that they were designed by Benedetto Montagna, an +artist who flourished about the year 1500, and who is chiefly known as +an engraver on copper. The grounds on which Mr. Ottley forms his opinion +are not very clear, but if I understand him correctly they are as +follows: + + [Footnote IV-60: Heineken, in his catalogue of Raffaele’s works, + mentions the cuts in the Hypnerotomachia, but he says that it is + questionable whether he designed them all or only the eighty-six + mythological and historical subjects.--Nachrichten von Künstlern + und Kunst-Sachen, 2er Theil, S. 360. 8vo. Leipzig, 1769.] + +In the collection of the late Mr. Douce there were sixteen wood +engravings which had been cut out of a folio edition of Ovid’s +Metamorphoses, printed at Venice in 1509. All those engravings, except +two, were marked with the letters +ía+, which according to Mr. Ottley +are the initials of the engraver, Ioanne Andrea di Vavassori. Between +some of the cuts from the Ovid, and certain engravings executed by +Montagna, it seems that Mr. Ottley discovered a resemblance; and as he +thought that he perceived a perfect similarity between the sixteen cuts +from the Ovid and those contained in the Hypnerotomachia, he considers +that Benedetto Montagna is thus proved to have been the designer of the +cuts in the latter work. + +Not having seen the cuts in the edition of the Metamorphoses of 1509, +I cannot speak, from my own examination, of the resemblance between them +and those in the Hypnerotomachia; it, however, seems that Mr. Douce had +noticed the similarity as well as Mr. Ottley: but even admitting that +there is a perfect identity of style in the cuts of the above two works, +yet it by no means follows that, because a few of the cuts in the Ovid +resemble some copper-plate engravings executed by Benedetto Montagna, he +must have designed the cuts in the Hypnerotomachia. As the cuts in the +Ovid may, as Mr. Ottley himself remarks, have been used in an earlier +edition than that of 1509, it is not unlikely that they might appear +before Montagna’s copper-plates; and that the latter might copy the +designs of a greater artist than himself, and thus by his very +plagiarism acquire, according to Mr. Ottley’s train of reasoning, the +merit which may be justly due to another. If Benedetto Montagna be +really the designer of the cuts in the Hypnerotomachia, he has certainly +excelled himself, for they certainly display talent of a much higher +order than is to be perceived in his copper-plate engravings. Besides +the striking difference with respect to drawing between the wood-cuts in +Poliphilo[IV-61] and the engravings of Benedetto Montagna, two of the +cuts in the former work have a mark which never appears in any of that +artist’s known productions, which generally have either his name at +length or the letters B. M. In the third cut of Poliphilo, the +designer’s or engraver’s mark, a small b, may be perceived at the foot, +to the right; and the same mark is repeated in a cut at signature C. + + [Footnote IV-61: The author thus names his hero in his Italian + title: “_Poliphilo_ incomincia la sua hypnerotomachia ad + descrivere et l’hora et il tempo quando gli appar ve in somno, + &c.”] + +A London bookseller in his catalogue published in 1834, probably +speaking on Mr. Ottley’s hint that the cuts in the Ovid of 1509 might +have appeared in an earlier edition, thus describes Bonsignore’s Ovid, +a work in which the wood-cuts are of a very inferior description, and of +which a specimen is given in a preceding page: “Ovidii Metamorphoseos +Vulgare, con le Allegorie, [Venezia, 1497,] with numerous beautiful +wood-cuts, apparently by the artist who executed the Poliphilo, printed +by Aldus in 1499.” The wood-cuts in the Ovid of 1497 are as inferior to +those in Poliphilo as the commonest cuts in children’s school-books are +inferior to the beautiful wood-cuts in Rogers’s Pleasures of Memory, +printed in 1812, which were designed by Stothard and engraved by +Clennell. It is but fair to add, that the cuts used in the Ovid of 1497, +printed by the brothers De Lignano, cannot be the same as those in the +Ovid of 1509 referred to by Mr. Ottley; for though the subjects may be +nearly the same, the cuts in the latter edition are larger than those in +the former, and have besides an engraver’s mark which is not to be seen +in any of the cuts in the edition of 1497. + +The five following cuts are fac-similes traced line for line from the +originals in Poliphilo. In the first, Mercury is seen interfering to +save Cupid from the anger of Venus, who has been punishing him and +plucking the feathers from his wings. The cause of her anger is +explained by the figure of Mars behind the net in which he and Venus had +been inclosed by Vulcan. Love had been the cause of his mother’s +misfortune. + + [Illustration] + +In the following cut Cupid is represented as brought by Mercury before +Jove, who in the text, “in Athica lingua,” addresses the God of Love, as +“ΣΥΜΟΙΓΛΥΚΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΙΚΡΟΣ”--“at once sweet and bitter.” In the +inscription in the cut, “ΑΛΛΑ” is substituted for “ΚΑΙ.” + + [Illustration] + +In the next cut Cupid appears piercing the sky with a dart, and thus +causing a shower of gold to fall. The figures represent persons of all +conditions whom he has wounded, looking on with amazement. + + [Illustration] + +The three preceding cuts, in the original work, appear as compartments +from left to right on one block. They are here given separate for the +convenience of printing, as the page is not wide enough to allow of +their being placed as in the original folio. + + [Illustration] + +The subjoined cut is intended to represent Autumn, according to a +description of the figure in the text, where the author is speaking of +an altar to be erected to the four seasons. On one of the sides he +proposes that the following figure should be represented “with a jolly +countenance, crowned with vine leaves, holding in one hand a bunch of +grapes, and in the other a cornucopia, with an inscription: ‘MUSTULENTO +AUTUMNO S.’”[IV-62] The face of jolly Autumn is indeed like that of one +who loved new wine, and his body seems like an ample skin to keep the +liquor in;--Sir John Falstaff playing Bacchus ere he had grown old and +inordinately fat. + + [Footnote IV-62: The epithets applied to the different seasons as + represented on this votive altar are singularly beautiful and + appropriate: “Florido Veri; Flavæ Messi; Mustulento Autumno; Hyemi + Æoliæ, Sacrum.”] + +The following figure of Cupid is copied from the top of a fanciful +military standard described by the author; and on a kind of banner +beneath the figure is inscribed the word “ΔΟΡΙΚΤΗΤΟΙ”--“Gained in war.” + + [Illustration] + +The following is a specimen of one of the ornamental vases contained in +the work. It is not, like the five preceding cuts, of the same size as +the original, but is copied on a reduced scale. + + [Illustration] + +The simple style in which the cuts in the Hypnerotomachia are engraved, +continued to prevail, with certain modifications, in Italy for many +years after the method of cross-hatching became general in Germany; and +from 1500 to about 1530 the characteristic of most Italian wood-cuts is +the simple manner in which they are executed compared with the more +laboured productions of the German wood engravers. While the German +proceeds with considerable labour to obtain “colour,” or shade, by means +of cross-hatching, the Italian in the early part of the sixteenth +century endeavours to attain his object by easier means, such as leaving +his lines thicker in certain parts, and in others, indicating shade by +means of short slanting parallel lines. In the execution of flowered or +ornamented initial letters a decided difference may frequently be +noticed between the work of an Italian and a German artist. The German +mostly, with considerable trouble, cuts his flourishes, figures, and +flowers in relief, according to the general practice of wood engravers; +the Italian, on the contrary, often cuts them, with much greater ease, +in _intaglio_; and thus the form of the letter, and its ornaments, +appear, when printed, white upon a black ground.[IV-63] The letter C at +the commencement of the present chapter is an example of the German +style, with the ornamental parts in _relief_; the letter M at the +commencement of chapter V. is a specimen of the manner frequently +adopted by old Italian wood engravers, the form of the letter and the +ornamental foliage being cut in _intaglio_. At a subsequent period a +more elaborate manner of engraving began to prevail in Italy, and +cross-hatching was almost as generally employed to obtain depth of +colour and shade as in Germany. The wood-cuts which appear in works +printed at Venice between 1550 and 1570 are generally as good as most +German wood-cuts of the same period; and many of them, more especially +those in books printed by the Giolitos, are executed with a clearness +and delicacy which have seldom been surpassed. + + [Footnote IV-63: The letter M at the commencement of the next + chapter affords an example of this style of engraving.] + +Before concluding the present chapter, which is more especially devoted +to the consideration of wood engraving in the first period of its +connexion with typography, it may not be improper to take a brief glance +at the state of the art as practised by the Briefmalers and +Formschneiders of Germany, who were the first to introduce the practice +of block-printing, and who continued to exercise this branch of their +art for many years after typography had been generally established +throughout Europe. That the ancient wood engravers continued to practise +the art of block-printing till towards the close of the fifteenth +century, there can be little doubt. There is an edition of the Poor +Preachers’ Bible, with the date 1470, printed from wood-blocks, without +place or engraver’s name, but having at the end, as a mark, two shields, +on one of which is a squirrel, and on the other something like two +pilgrim’s staves crossed. Another edition of the same work, though not +from the same blocks, appeared in 1471. In this the engraver’s mark is +two shields, on one of which is a spur, probably a rebus for the name of +“Sporer;” in the same manner that a pair of folding-doors represented +the name “Thurer,” or “Durer.” An engraver of the name of Hans Sporer +printed an edition of the Ars Moriendi from wood-blocks in 1473; and in +the preceding year Young Hans, Briefmaler, of Nuremberg, printed an +edition of the Antichrist in the same manner.[IV-64] + + [Footnote IV-64: Von Murr says that “Young Hans” was + unquestionably the son of “Hans Formschneider,” whose name appears + in the town-books of Nuremberg from 1449 to 1490. He also thinks + that he might be the same person as Hans Sporer.--Journal, + 2 Theil, S. 140, 141.] + +It is probable that most of the single sheets and short tracts, printed +from wood-blocks, preserved in the libraries of Germany, were printed +between 1440 and 1480. Books consisting of two or more sheets printed +from wood-blocks are of rare occurrence with a date subsequent to 1480. +Although about that period the wood engravers appear to have resigned +the printing of books entirely to typographers, yet for several years +afterwards they continued to print broadsides from blocks of wood; and +until about 1500 they continued to compete with the press for the +printing of “Wand-Kalendars,” or sheet Almanacks to be hung up against a +wall. Several copies of such Almanacks, engraved between 1470 and 1500, +are preserved in libraries on the Continent that are rich in specimens +of early block-printing. But even this branch of their business the wood +engravers were at length obliged to abandon; and at the end of the +fifteenth century the practice of printing pages of text from engraved +wood-blocks may be considered as almost extinct in Germany. It probably +began with a single sheet, and with a single sheet it ended; and its +origin, perfection, decline, and extinction are comprised within a +century. 1430 may mark its origin; 1450 its perfection; 1460 the +commencement of its decline; and 1500 its fall. + +In an assemblage of wood engravings printed at Gotha between 1808 and +1816,[IV-65] from old blocks collected by the Baron Von Derschau, there +are several to which the editor, Zacharias Becker, assigns an earlier +date than the year 1500. It is not unlikely that two or three of those +in his oldest class, A, may have been executed previous to that period; +but there are others in which bad drawing and rude engraving have been +mistaken for indubitable proofs of antiquity. There are also two or +three in the same class which I strongly suspect to be modern forgeries. +It would appear from a circumstance mentioned in Dr. Dibdin’s +Bibliographical Tour,[IV-66] and referred to at page 236 of the present +work, that the Baron was a person from whose collection copper-plate +engravings of questionable date had proceeded as well as wood-blocks. +The following is a reduced copy of one of those suspicious blocks, but +which the editor considers to be of an earlier date than the St. +Christopher in the collection of Earl Spencer. I am however of opinion +that it is of comparatively modern manufacture. + + [Footnote IV-65: The title of this work is: “Holzschnitte alter + Deutscher Meister in den Original-Platten gesammelt von Hans + Albrecht Von Derschau. Als ein Beytrag zur Kunstgeschichte + herausgegeben, und mit einer Abhandlung über die Holzschneidekunst + begleitet, von Rudolph Zacharias Becker.” It is in large folio, + with the text in German and French. The first part was published + at Gotha in 1808; the second in 1810; and the third in 1816.] + + [Footnote IV-66: Vol. iii. p. 445, edit. 1829.] + + [Illustration] + +The inscription, intended for old German, at the bottom of the cut, is +literally as follows: “_Hiet uch, vor den Katczen dy vorn lecken unde +hinden kraiczen_”--that is: “Beware of the cats that lick before and +scratch behind.” It is rather singular that the editor--who describes +the subject as a cat which appears to teach her kitten “le Jeu de +Souris”--should not have informed his readers that more was meant by +this inscription than met the eye, and that it was in fact part of a +German proverb descriptive of a class of females who are particularly +dangerous to simple young men.[IV-67] Among the cuts supposed to have +been engraved previous to the year 1500, another is given which I +suspect also of being a forgery, and by the same person that engraved +the cat. The cut alluded to represents a woman sitting beside a young +man, whose purse she is seen picking while she appears to fondle him. +A hawk is seen behind the woman, and an ape behind the man. At one side +is a lily, above which are the words “+Ich wart+.” At the top of the cut +is an inscription,--which seems, like that in the cut of the cat, to be +in affectedly old German,--describing the young man as a prey for hawks +and a fool, and the woman as a flatterer, who will fawn upon him until +she has emptied his pouch. The subjects of those two cuts, though not +apparently, are, in reality, connected. In the first we are presented +with the warning, and in the latter with the example. Von Murr--whom Dr. +Dibdin suspects to have forged the French St. Christopher--describes in +his Journal impressions from those blocks as old wood-cuts in the +collection of Dr. Silberrad;[IV-68] and it is certainly very singular +that the identical blocks from which Dr. Silberrad’s scarce old wood +engravings were taken should afterwards happen to be discovered and come +into the possession of the Baron Von Derschau. + + [Footnote IV-67: “+Huren sind böse katzen die vornen lecken und + hinten kratzen.+”] + + [Footnote IV-68: Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, 2er Theil, S. 125, + 126.] + +In the same work there is a rude wood-cut of St. Catharine and three +other saints; and at the back of the block there is also engraved the +figure of a soldier. At the bottom of the cut of St. Catharine, the name +of the engraver, “+Jorg Glockendon+,” appears in old German characters. +As “Glockendon” or “Glockenton” was the name of a family of artists who +appear to have been settled at Nuremberg early in the fifteenth century, +Becker concludes that the cut in question was engraved prior to 1482, +and that this “Jorg Glockendon” was “the first wood engraver known by +name, and not John Schnitzer of Arnsheim,--who engraved the maps in +Leonard Holl’s Ptolemy, printed in the above year,--as Heineken and +others pretend.” That the cut was engraved previous to 1482 rests merely +on Becker’s conjecture; and a person who would assert that it was +engraved ten or fifteen years later, would perhaps be nearer the truth. +John Schnitzer, however, is not the first wood engraver known by name. +The name of Hans Sporer appears in the Ars Moriendi of 1473; and it is +not probable that Hartlieb’s Chiromantia, in which we find the name +“+Jorg Schapff zu Augspurg+,” was engraved subsequent to 1480. It would +appear that Becker did not consider “Hans Briefmaler,” who occurs as a +wood engraver between 1470 and 1480, as a person “known by name,” though +it is probable that he had no other surname than that which was derived +from his profession. + + [Illustration] + +Although Derschau’s collection contains a number of old cuts which are +well worth preserving, more especially among those executed in the +sixteenth century; yet it also contains a large portion of worthless +cuts, which are neither interesting from their subjects nor their +antiquity, and which throw no light on the progress of the art. There +are also not a few modern antiques which are only illustrative of the +credulity of the collector, who mistakes rudeness of execution for a +certain test of antiquity. According to this test the following cut +ought to be ascribed to the age of Caxton, and published with a long +commentary as an undoubted specimen of early English wood engraving. It +is however nothing more than an impression from a block engraved with a +pen-knife by a printer’s apprentice between 1770 and 1780. It was one of +the numerous cuts of a similar kind belonging to the late Mr. George +Angus of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who used them as head-pieces to chap-books +and broadside histories and ballads. + +Besides the smaller block-books, almanacks, and broadsides of text, +executed by wood engravers between 1460 and 1500, they also executed a +number of single cuts, some accompanied with a few sentences of text +also cut in wood, and others containing only figures. Many of the sacred +subjects were probably executed for convents in honour of a favourite +saint; while others were engraved by them on their own account for sale +among the poorer classes of the people, who had neither the means to +purchase, nor the ability to read, a large “picture-book” which +contained a considerable portion of explanatory text. In almost every +one of the works executed by the Briefmalers and Formschneiders +subsequent to the invention of typography, there is scarcely a single +cut to be found that possesses the least merit either in design or +execution. They appear generally to have been mere workmen, who could +draw and engrave figures on wood in a rude style, but who had not the +slightest pretensions to a knowledge of art. + +Having now brought the history of wood engraving to the end of the +fifteenth century, I shall here conclude the present chapter, without +expressly noticing such works of Albert Durer as were certainly engraved +on wood previous to the year 1500. The designs of this great promoter of +wood engraving mark an epoch in the progress of the art; and will, with +others of the same school, more appropriately form the subject of the +next chapter. + + [Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WOOD ENGRAVING IN THE TIME OF ALBERT DURER. + + Chiaro-Scuro Engraving on Wood -- A Copper-Plate by Mair Mistaken + for the First Chiaro-Scuro -- Dotted Backgrounds in Old Wood-Cuts -- + Albert Durer Probably Not a Wood-Engraver -- His Birth -- A Pupil of + Michael Wolgemuth -- His Travels -- Cuts of the Apocalypse Designed + by Him -- His Visit to Venice in 1506 -- The History of the Virgin + and Christ’s Passion Engraved on Wood from his Designs -- His + Triumphal Car and Triumphal Arch of the Emperor Maximilian -- His + Invention of Etching -- His Carving -- Visit to the Netherlands -- + His Death -- Wood-Cuts Designed by L. Cranach, H. Burgmair, and + H. Schæfflein -- The Adventures of Sir Theurdank -- The Wise King -- + The Triumphs of Maximilian -- Ugo Da Carpi -- Lucas Van Leyden -- + William De Figuersnider -- Ursgraff -- Cuts Designed by Unknown + Artists Between 1500 and 1528. + + +Most authors who have written on the history of engraving have +incidentally noticed the art of chiaro-scuro engraving on wood, which +began to be practised early in the sixteenth century.[V-1] The honour of +the invention has been claimed for Italy by Vasari and other Italian +writers, who seem to think that no improvement in the arts of design and +engraving can originate on this side of the Alps. According to their +account, chiaro-scuro engraving on wood was first introduced by Ugo da +Carpi, who executed several pieces in that manner from the designs of +Raffaele. But, though confident in their assertions, they are weak in +their proofs; for they can produce no chiaro-scuros by Ugo da Carpi, or +by any other Italian engraver, of an earlier date than 1518. The +engravings of Italian artists in this style are not numerous, previous +to 1530, and we can scarcely suppose that the earliest of them was +executed before 1515. That the art was known and practised in Germany +several years before this period there can be no doubt; for a +chiaro-scuro wood engraving, a Repose in Egypt, by Lucas Cranach, is +dated 1509; two others by Hans Baldung Grün are dated 1509 and 1510; and +a portrait, in the same style, by Hans Burgmair, is dated 1512. + + [Footnote V-1: Chiaro-scuros are executed by means of two or more + blocks, in imitation of a drawing in sepia, India ink, or any + other colour of two or more shades. The older chiaro-scuros are + seldom executed with more than three blocks; on the first of which + the general outline of the subject and the stronger shades were + engraved and printed in the usual manner; from the second the + lighter shades were communicated; and from the third a general + tint was printed over the impressions of the other two.] + +Some German writers, not satisfied with these proofs of the art being +practised in Germany before it was known in Italy, refer to an +engraving, dated 1499, by a German artist of the name of Mair, as one of +the earliest executed in this manner. This engraving, which is from a +copper-plate, cannot fairly be produced as evidence on the point in +dispute; for though it bears the appearance of a chiaro-scuro engraving, +yet it is not so in reality; for on a narrow inspection we may perceive +that the light touches have neither been preserved, nor afterwards +communicated by means of a block or a plate, but have been added with a +fine pencil after the impression was taken. It is, in fact, nothing more +than a copper-plate printed on dark-coloured paper, and afterwards +heightened with a kind of white and yellow body-colour. It is very +likely, however, that the subject was engraved and printed on a dark +ground with the express intention of the lights being subsequently added +by means of a pencil. The artist had questionless wished to produce an +imitation of a chiaro-scuro drawing; but he certainly did not effect his +purpose in the same manner as L. Cranach, H. Burgmair, or Ugo da Carpi, +whose chiaro-scuro engravings had the lights preserved, and required no +subsequent touching with the pencil to give to them that character. + +The subject of this engraving is the Nativity, and there is an +impression of it in the Print Room of the British Museum.[V-2] In the +foreground, about the middle of the print, is the Virgin seated with the +infant Jesus in her lap. At her feet is a cradle of wicker-work, and to +the left is an angel kneeling in adoration. On the same side, but +further distant, is Joseph leaning over a half door, holding a candle in +one hand and shading it with the other. In the background is the stable, +in which an ox and an ass are seen; and the directing star appears +shining in the sky. The print is eight inches high, and five inches and +three-eighths wide; at the top is the date 1499, and at the bottom the +engraver’s name, MAIR. It is printed in black ink on paper which +previous to receiving the impression had been tinted or stained a +brownish-green colour. The lights have neither been preserved in the +plate nor communicated by means of a second impression, but have been +laid on by the hand with a fine pencil. The rays of the star, and the +circles of light surrounding the head of the Virgin, and also that of +the infant, are of a pale yellow, and the colour from its chalky +appearance seems very like the touches of a crayon. The lights in the +draperies and in the architectural parts of the subject have been laid +on with a fine pencil guided by a steady hand. That the engraver +intended his work to be finished in this manner there can be little +doubt; and the impression referred to affords a proof of it; for +Joseph’s candle, though he shades it with his left hand, in reality +gives no light. The engraver had evidently intended that the light +should be added in positive body colour; but the person--perhaps the +engraver himself--whose business it was to add the finishing touches to +the impression, has neglected to light Joseph’s candle.[V-3] + + [Footnote V-2: This print is one of the valuable collection left + to the Museum by the Rev. C. M. Cracherode, and the following + remark in that gentleman’s writing is inserted on the opposite + page of the folio in which it is preserved: “The Presepe is a + plain proof that printing in chiaro-scuro was known before the + time of Ugo da Carpi, who is erroneously reputed the inventor of + this art at the beginning of the sixteenth century.” The print in + question is certainly not a proof of the art of engraving in + chiaro-scuro; and Mr. Ottley has added the following correction in + pencil: “But the white here is put on with a pencil, and not left + in printing, as it would have been if the tint had been added by a + wooden block after the copper-plate had been printed.”] + + [Footnote V-3: Bartsch describes this print in his + Peintre-Graveur, tom. vi. p. 364, No. 4; but he takes no notice of + Joseph holding a candle, nor of its wanting a light.] + +Towards the latter end of the fifteenth century,[V-4] a practice was +introduced by the German wood engravers of dotting the dark parts of +their subjects with white, more especially in cuts where the figures +were intended to appear light upon a dark ground; and about the +beginning of the sixteenth, this mode of “killing the black,” as it is +technically termed, was very generally prevalent among the French wood +engravers, who, as well as the Germans and Dutch, continued to practise +it till about 1520, when it was almost wholly superseded by +cross-hatching; a mode of producing shade which had been much practised +by the German engravers who worked from the drawings of Durer, Cranach, +and Burgmair, and which about that time seems to have been generally +adopted in all countries where the art had made any progress. The two +following cuts, which are from an edition of “Heures à l’Usaige de +Chartres,” printed at Paris by Simon Vostre, about 1502, are examples of +this mode of diminishing the effects of a ground which would otherwise +be entirely black. Books printed in France between 1500 and 1520 afford +the most numerous instances of dark backgrounds dotted with white. In +many cuts executed about the latter period the dots are of larger size +and more numerous in proportion to the black, and they evidently have +been produced by means of a lozenge-pointed tool, in imitation of +cross-hatching. + + [Footnote V-4: Some single cuts executed in this manner are + supposed to be at least as old as the year 1450. The earliest that + I have noticed in a book occur in a Life of Christ printed at + Cologne about 1485.] + +The greatest promoter of the art of wood engraving, towards the close of +the fifteenth and in the early part of the sixteenth century, was +unquestionably Albert Durer; not however, as is generally supposed, from +having himself engraved the numerous wood-cuts which bear his mark, but +from his having thought so well of the art as to have most of his +greatest works engraved on wood from drawings made on the block by +himself. Until within the last thirty years, most writers who have +written on the subject of art, have spoken of Albert Durer as a wood +engraver; and before proceeding to give any account of his life, or +specimens of some of the principal wood engravings which bear his mark, +it appears necessary to examine the grounds of this opinion. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +There are about two hundred subjects engraved on wood which are marked +with the initials of Albert Durer’s name; and the greater part of them, +though evidently designed by the hand of a master, are engraved in a +manner which certainly denotes no very great excellence. Of the +remainder, which are better engraved, it would be difficult to point out +one which displays execution so decidedly superior as to enable any +person to say positively that it must have been cut by Albert Durer +himself. The earliest engravings on wood with Durer’s mark are sixteen +cuts illustrative of the Apocalypse, first published in 1498; and +between that period and 1528, the year of his death, it is likely that +nearly all the others were executed. The cuts of the Apocalypse +generally are much superior to all wood engravings that had previously +appeared, both in design and execution; but if they be carefully +examined by any person conversant with the practice of the art, it will +be perceived that their superiority is not owing to any delicacy in the +lines which would render them difficult to engrave, but from the ability +of the person by whom they were drawn, and from his knowledge of the +capabilities of the art. Looking at the state of wood engraving at the +period when those cuts were published, I cannot think that the artist +who made the drawings would experience any difficulty in finding persons +capable of engraving them. In most of the wood-cuts supposed to have +been engraved by Albert Durer we find cross-hatching freely introduced; +the readiest mode of producing effect to an artist drawing on wood with +a pen or a black-lead pencil, but which to the wood engraver is attended +with considerable labour. Had Albert Durer engraved his own designs, +I am inclined to think that he would not have introduced cross-hatching +so frequently, but would have endeavoured to attain his object by means +which were easier of execution. What is termed “cross-hatching” in wood +engraving is nothing more than black lines crossing each other, for the +most part diagonally; and in _drawing_ on wood it is easier to produce a +shade by this means, than by thickening the lines; but in _engraving_ on +wood it is precisely the reverse; for it is easier to leave a thick line +than to cut out the interstices of lines crossing each other. Nothing is +more common than for persons who know little of the history of wood +engraving, and still less of the practice, to refer to the frequent +cross-hatching in the cuts supposed to have been engraved by Albert +Durer as a proof of their excellence: as if the talent of the artist +were chiefly displayed in such parts of the cuts as are in reality least +worthy of him, and which a mere workman might execute as well. In +opposition to this vulgar error I venture to assert, that there is not a +wood engraver in London of the least repute who cannot produce +_apprentices_ to cut fac-similes of any cross-hatching that is to be +found, not only in the wood engravings supposed to have been executed by +Albert Durer, but in those of any other master. The execution of +cross-hatching requires time, but very little talent; and a moderately +clever lad, with a steady hand and a lozenge-pointed tool, will cut in a +year a _square yard_ of such cross-hatching as is generally found in the +largest of the cuts supposed to have been engraved by Albert Durer. In +the works of Bewick, scarcely more than one trifling instance of +cross-hatching is to be found; and in the productions of all other +modern wood engravers who have made their own drawings, we find +cross-hatching sparingly introduced; while in almost every one of the +cuts designed by Durer, Cranach, Burgmair, and others who are known to +have been painters of eminence in their day, it is of frequent +occurrence. Had these masters engraved their own designs on wood, as has +been very generally supposed, they probably would have introduced much +less cross-hatching into their subjects; but as there is every reason to +believe that they only made the drawing on the wood, the engravings +which are ascribed to them abound in lines which are readily made with a +pen or a pencil, but which require considerable time to cut with a +graver. + +At the period that Durer published his illustrations of the Apocalypse, +few wood-cuts of much merit either in design or execution had appeared +in printed books; and the wood engravers of that age seem generally to +have been mere workmen, who only understood the mechanical branch of +their art, but who were utterly devoid of all knowledge of composition +or correct drawing; and there is also reason to believe that wood-cuts +at that period, and even for some time after, were not unfrequently +engraved by women.[V-5] As the names of those persons were probably not +known beyond the town in which they resided, it cannot be a matter of +surprise that neither their marks nor initials should be found on the +cuts which they engraved from the drawings of such artists as Albert +Durer. + + [Footnote V-5: In a folio of Albert Durer’s drawings in the Print + Room at the British Museum there is a portrait of “_Fronica, + Formschneiderin_,” with the date 1525. In 1433 we find a woman at + Nuremberg described as a card-maker: “_Eli. Kartenmacherin_.” It + is scarcely necessary to remind the reader that the earliest + German wood engravers were card-makers.--See chapter II. p. 41.] + +It perhaps may be objected, that as Albert Durer’s copper-plate +engravings contain only his mark, in the same manner as the wood +engravings, it might with equal reason be questioned if they were really +executed by himself. Notwithstanding the identity of the marks, there +is, however, a wide difference between the two cases. In the age of +Albert Durer most of the artists who engraved on copper were also +painters; and most of the copper-plate engravings which bear his mark +are such as none but an artist of great talent could execute. It would +require the abilities of a first-rate copper-plate engraver of the +present day to produce a fac-simile of his best copper-plates; while a +wood engraver of but moderate skill would be able to cut a fac-simile of +one of his best wood engravings after the subject was drawn for him on +the block. The best of Albert Durer’s copper-plates could only have been +engraved by a master; while the best of his wood-cuts might be engraved +by a working Formschneider who had acquired a practical knowledge of his +art by engraving, under the superintendence of Michael Wolgemuth and +William Pleydenwurff, the wood-cuts for the Nuremberg Chronicle. + +Von Murr, who was of opinion that Albert Durer engraved his own designs +on wood, gives a letter of Durer’s in the ninth volume of his Journal +which he thinks is decisive of the fact. The letter, which relates to a +wood engraving of a shield of arms, was written in 1511, and is to the +following effect: “Dear Michael Beheim, I return you the arms, and beg +that you will let it remain as it is. No one will make it better, as I +have done it according to art and with great care, as those who see it +and understand the matter will tell you. If the labels were thrown back +above the helmet, the volet would be covered.”[V-6] This letter, +however, is by no means decisive, for it is impossible to determine +whether the “arms” which the artist returned were a finished engraving +or merely a drawing on wood.[V-7] From one or two expressions it seems +most likely to have been a drawing only; for in a finished cut +alterations cannot very well be introduced; and it seems most probable +that Michael Beheim’s objections would be made to the drawing of the +arms before they were engraved, and not to the finished cut. But even +supposing it to have been the engraved block which Durer returned, this +is by no means a proof of his having engraved it himself, for he might +have engravers employed in his house in order that the designs which he +drew on the blocks might be executed under his own superintendence. The +Baron Derschau indeed told Dr. Dibdin that he was once in possession of +the _journal_ or day-book of Albert Durer, from which “it appeared that +he was in the habit of drawing upon the blocks, and that his men +performed the remaining operation of cutting away the wood.”[V-8] This +information, had it been communicated by a person whose veracity might +be depended on, would be decisive of the question; but the book +unfortunately “perished in the flames of a house in the neighbourhood of +one of the battles fought between Bonaparte and the Prussians;” and from +a little anecdote recorded by Dr. Dibdin the Baron appears to have been +a person whose word was not to be implicitly relied on.[V-9] + + [Footnote V-6: The following is Bartsch’s French version of this + letter, which is given in the original German in Von Murr’s + Journal, 9^er. Theil, S. 53. “Cher Michel Beheim. Je vous envoie + les armoiries, en vous priant de les laisser comme elles sont. + Personne d’ailleurs ne les corrigeroit en mieux, car je les ai + faites exprès et avec art; c’est pourquoi ceux qui s’y connoissent + et qui les verront vous en rendront bonne raison. Si l’on haussoit + les lambrequins du heaume, ils couvriroient le volet.”--Bartsch, + Peintre-Graveur, tom. vii. p. 27.] + + [Footnote V-7: In Durer’s Journal of his visit to the Netherlands + in 1520 there is the following passage: “Item hab dem von + Rogendorff sein Wappen auf Holz gerissen, dafür hat er mir + geschenckt vii. Ein Sammet.”--“Also I have drawn for Von + Rogendorff his arms on wood, for which he has presented me with + seven yards of velvet.”--Von Murr, Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, + 7^er. Theil, S. 76.] + + [Footnote V-8: Bibliographical Tour, vol. iii. p. 442, second + edition.] + + [Footnote V-9: The Baron was the collector of the wood-cuts + published with Becker’s explanations, referred to at page 226, + chapter IV. The anecdote alluded to will be found in Dr. Dibdin’s + Bibliographical Tour, vol. iii. pp. 445, 446. The Baron sold a + rare specimen of copper-plate engraving with the date M. CCCC. + XXX. to the Doctor, and it seems that he also sold _another_ + impression from the same plate to Mr. John Payne. There is no + doubt of their being gross forgeries; and it is not unlikely that + the plate was in the Baron’s possession.] + +Neudörffer, who in 1546 collected some particulars relative to the +history of the artists of Nuremberg, says that Jerome Resch, or Rösch, +engraved most of the cuts designed by Albert Durer. He also says that +Resch was one of the most skilful wood engravers of his day, and that he +particularly excelled in engraving letters on wood. This artist also +used to engrave dies for coining money, and had a printing establishment +of his own. He dwelt in the Broad Way at Nuremberg, with a back entrance +in Petticoat Lane;[V-10] and when he was employed in engraving the +Triumphal Car drawn by Albert Durer for the Emperor Maximilian, the +Emperor used to call almost every day to see the progress of the work; +and as he entered at Petticoat Lane, it became a by-word with the common +people: “The Emperor still often drives to Petticoat Lane.”[V-11] + + [Footnote V-10: “Dieser Hieronymus hat allhier im breiten Gassen + gewohnt, dessen Wohnung hinten ins Frauengässlein ging.”] + + [Footnote V-11: Neudörffer, quoted in Von Murr’s Journal, 2ter + Theil, S. 158, 159.] + +Although it is by no means unlikely that Albert Durer might engrave two +or three wood-cuts of his own designing, yet, after a careful +examination of most of those that bear his mark, I cannot find one which +is so decidedly superior to the rest as to induce an opinion of its +being engraved by himself; and I cannot for a moment believe that an +artist of his great talents, and who painted so many pictures, engraved +so many copper-plates, and made so many designs, could find time to +engrave even a small part of the many wood-cuts which have been supposed +to be executed by him, and which a common wood engraver might execute as +well. “If Durer himself had engraved on wood,” says Bartsch in the +seventh volume of his Peintre-Graveur, “it is most likely that among the +many particular accounts which we have of his different pursuits, and of +the various kind of works which he has left, the fact of his having +applied himself to wood engraving would certainly have been transmitted +in a manner no less explicit; but, far from finding the least trace of +it, everything that relates to this subject proves that he had never +employed himself in this kind of work. He is always described as a +painter, a designer, or an editor of works engraved on wood, but never +as a wood engraver.”[V-12] I also further agree with Bartsch, who thinks +that the wood-cuts which contain the marks of Lucas Cranach, Hans +Burgmair, and others who are known to have been painters of considerable +reputation in their day, were not engraved by those artists, but only +designed or drawn by them on the block. + + [Footnote V-12: At the end of the first edition of the cuts + illustrative of the Apocalypse, 1498, we find the words: “_Gedrukt + durch Albrecht Durer, Maler_,”--Printed by Albert Durer, painter; + and the same in Latin in the second edition, printed about 1510. + The passion of Christ and the History of the Virgin are + respectively said to have been “_effigiata_” and “_per figuras + digesta_”--“drawn” and “pictorially represented” by Albert Durer; + and the cuts of the Triumphal Car of the Emperor Maximilian are + described as being “_erfunden und geordnet_”--“invented and + arranged” by him.--Bartsch, Peintre-Graveur, tom. vii. p. 28.] + +Albert Durer was born at Nuremberg, on 20th May 1471. His father, whose +name was also Albert, was a goldsmith, and a native of Cola in Hungary. +His mother was a daughter of Jerome Haller, who was also a goldsmith, +and the master under whom the elder Durer had acquired a knowledge of +his art. Albert continued with his father till his sixteenth year, and +had, as he himself says, learned to execute beautiful works in the +goldsmith’s art, when he felt a great desire to become a painter. His +father on hearing of his wish to change his profession was much +displeased, as he considered that the time he had already spent in +endeavouring to acquire a knowledge of the art of a goldsmith was +entirely lost. He, however, assented to his son’s earnest request, and +placed him, on St. Andrew’s day, 1486, as a pupil under Michael +Wolgemuth for the term of three years, to learn the art of painting. On +the expiration of his “lehr-jahre,” or apprenticeship, in 1490, he left +his master, and, according to the custom of German artists of that +period, proceeded to travel for the purpose of gaining a further +knowledge of his profession. In what manner or in what places he was +chiefly employed during his “wander-jahre”[V-13] is not very well known; +but it is probable that his travels did not extend beyond Germany. In +the course of his peregrinations he visited Colmar, in 1492, where he +was kindly received by Caspar, Paul, and Louis, the brothers of Martin +Schongauer; but he did not see, either then or at any other period, that +celebrated engraver himself.[V-14] He returned to Nuremberg in the +spring of 1494; and shortly afterwards married Agnes, the daughter of +John Frey, a mechanist of considerable reputation of that city. This +match, which is said to have been made for him by his parents, proved to +be an unhappy one; for, though his wife possessed considerable personal +charms, she was a woman of a most wretched temper; and her incessant +urging him to continued exertion in order that she might obtain money, +is said to have embittered the life of the artist and eventually to have +hastened his death.[V-15] + + [Footnote V-13: The time that a German artist spends in travel + from the expiration of his apprenticeship to the period of his + settling as a master is called his “wander-jahre,”--his travelling + years. It is customary with many trades in Germany for the young + men to travel for a certain time on the termination of their + apprenticeship before they are admitted to the full privileges of + the company or fellowship.] + + [Footnote V-14: It has been stated, though erroneously, that + Albert Durer was a pupil of Martin Schongauer, or Schön, as the + surname was spelled by some writers, one of the most eminent + painters and copper-plate engravers of his day. It has been + generally supposed that he died in 1486; but, if an old memorandum + at the back of his portrait in the collection of Count de Fries + can be depended on, his death did not take place till the 2d of + February 1499. An account of this memorandum will be found in + Ottley’s Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of Engraving, + vol. ii. p. 640.] + + [Footnote V-15: On a passage, in which Durer alludes to his wife, + in one of his letters from Venice, 1506, to his friend Bilibald + Pirkheimer, Von Murr makes the following remark: “This Xantippe + must even at that time have vexed him much; and he was obliged to + drag on his life with her for twenty-two years longer, till she + fairly plagued him to death.”--Journal, 10er Theil, S. 32.] + +It has not been ascertained from whom Albert Durer learnt the art of +engraving on copper; for there seems but little reason to believe that +his master Michael Wolgemuth ever practised that branch of art, though +several copper-plates, marked with a W, have been ascribed to him by +some authors.[V-16] As most of the early copper-plate engravers were +also goldsmiths, it is probable that Durer might acquire some knowledge +of the former art during the time that he continued with his father; +and, as he was endowed with a versatile genius, it is not unlikely that +he owed his future improvement entirely to himself. The earliest date +that is to be found on his copper-plates is 1494. The subject in which +this date occurs represents a group of four naked women with a globe +suspended above them, in the manner of a lamp, on which are inscribed +the letters O. G. H. which have been supposed to signify the words +“O Gott helf!”--Help, O Lord!--as if the spectator on beholding the +naked beauties were exceedingly liable to fall into temptation.[V-17] + + [Footnote V-16: Bartsch is decidedly of opinion that Michael + Wolgemuth was not an engraver; and he ascribes all the plates + marked with a W, which others have supposed to be Wolgemuth’s, to + Wenceslaus of Olmutz, an artist of whom nothing is positively + known.] + + [Footnote V-17: This subject has also been engraved by Israel Von + Mecken, and by an artist supposed to be Wenceslaus of Olmutz. It + is probable that those artists have copied Durer’s engraving. On + the globe in Israel Von Mecken’s plate the letters are O. G. B.] + +The earliest wood engravings that contain Albert Durer’s mark are +sixteen subjects, of folio size, illustrative of the Apocalypse, which +were printed at Nuremberg, 1498. On the first leaf is the title in +German: “Die heimliche Offenbarung Johannes”--“The Revelation of +John;”--and on the back of the last cut but one is the imprint: +“Gedrücket zu Nurnbergk durch Albrecht Durer, maler, nach Christi geburt +M. CCCC. und darnach im xcviij. iar”--“Printed at Nuremberg by Albert +Durer, painter, in the year after the birth of Christ 1498.” The date of +those cuts marks an important epoch in the history of wood engraving. +From this time the boundaries of the art became enlarged; and wood +engravers, instead of being almost wholly occupied in executing designs +of the very lowest character, drawn without feeling, taste, or +knowledge, were now to be engaged in engraving subjects of general +interest, drawn, expressly for the purpose of being thus executed, by +some of the most celebrated artists of the age. Though several cuts of +the Apocalypse are faulty in drawing and extravagant in design, they are +on the whole much superior to any series of wood engravings that +preceded them; and their execution, though coarse, is free and bold. +They are not equal, in point of well-contrasted light and shade, to some +of Durer’s later designs on wood; but considering them as his first +essays in drawing on wood, they are not unworthy of his reputation. They +appear as if they had been drawn on the block with a pen and ink; and +though cross-hatching is to be found in all of them, this mode of +indicating a shade, or obtaining “colour,” is much less frequently +employed than in some of his later productions. The following is a +reduced copy of one of the cuts, No. 11, which is illustrative of the +twelfth chapter of Revelations, verses 1-4: “And there appeared a great +wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her +feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.----And there appeared +another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven +heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew +the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth; +and the dragon stood before the woman.” + + [Illustration] + +In 1502 a pirated edition of those cuts was published at Strasburg by +Jerome Greff, who describes himself as a painter of Frankfort. In 1511 +Durer published a second edition of the originals; and on the back of +the last cut but one is a caution addressed to the plagiary, informing +him of the Emperor’s order, prohibiting any one to copy the cuts or to +sell the spurious impressions within the limits of the German empire, +under the penalty of the confiscation of goods, and at the peril of +further punishment.[V-18] + + [Footnote V-18: This caution is in the original expressed in the + following indignant terms: “Heus, tu insidiator, ac alieni laboris + et ingenii surreptor, ne manus temerarias his nostris operibus + inicias cave. Scias enim a gloriosissimo Romanorum imperatore + Maximiliano nobis concessum esse ne quis suppositiciis formis has + imagines imprimere seu impressas per imperii limites vendere + audeat: q’ per contemptum seu avariciæ crimen secus feceris, post + bonorum confiscationem tibi maximum periculum subeundum esse + certissime scias.”] + +Though no other wood engravings with Durer’s mark are found with a date +till 1504, yet it is highly probable that several subjects of his +designing were engraved between 1498, the date of the Apocalypse, and +the above year; and it is also likely that he engraved several +copper-plates within this period; although, with the exception of that +of the four naked women, there are only four known which contain a date +earlier than 1505. About the commencement of 1506 Durer visited Venice, +where he remained till October in the same year. Eight letters which he +addressed to Bilibald Pirkheimer from Venice, are printed in the tenth +volume of Von Murr’s Journal. In the first letter, which is dated on the +day of the Three Kings of Cologne, 1506, he informs his friend that he +was employed to paint a picture for the German church at Venice, for +which he was to receive a hundred and ten Rhenish guilders,[V-19] and +that he expects to have it ready to place above the altar a month after +Easter. He expresses a hope that he will be enabled to repay out of this +money what he had borrowed of Pirkheimer. From this letter it seems +evident that Durer’s circumstances were not then in a very flourishing +state, and that he had to depend on his exertions for the means of +living. The comparatively trifling sums which he mentions as having sent +to his mother and his wife sufficiently declare that he had not left a +considerable sum at home. He also says, that should his wife want more +money, her father must assist her, and that he will honourably repay him +on his return. + + [Footnote V-19: Von Murr says that the subject of this picture was + the martyrdom of St. Bartholomew, the saint to whom the church was + dedicated; and that the painting afterwards came into the + possession of the Emperor Rudolf II. and was placed in his gallery + at Prague. It seems that Durer had taken some pictures with him to + Venice; for in his fifth letter he says that he has sold two for + twenty-four ducats, and exchanged three others for three rings, + valued also at twenty-four ducats.] + +In the second letter, after telling Pirkheimer that he has no other +friend but him on earth, he expresses a wish that he were in Venice to +enjoy the pleasant company that he has met with there. The following +passage, which occurs in this letter, is, perhaps, the most interesting +in the collection: “I have many good friends among the Italians, who +warn me not to eat or drink with their painters, of whom several are my +enemies, and copy my picture in the church and others of mine, wherever +they can find them; and yet they blame them, and say they are not +according to ancient art, and therefore not good. Giovanni Bellini[V-20] +however has praised me highly to several gentlemen, and wishes to have +something of my doing. He called on me himself, and requested that I +would paint a picture for him, for which he said he would pay me well. +People are all surprised that I should be so much thought of by a person +of his reputation. He is very old, but is still the best painter of them +all. The things which pleased me eleven years ago, please me no longer. +If I had not seen it myself I could not have believed it. You must also +know that there are many better painters within this city than Master +Jacob is without, although Anthony Kolb swears that there is not on +earth a better painter than Jacob.[V-21] The others laugh, and say if he +were good for anything he would live in Venice.” + + [Footnote V-20: In the Venetian dialect of that period Giovanni + Bellini was called Zan Belin; and Durer spells the name + “Sambellinus.” He was the master of Titian, and died in 1514, at + the age of ninety.--Von Murr, Journal, 10er Theil, S. 8.] + + [Footnote V-21: Von Murr says that he cannot discover what Jacob + is here meant. It would not be Jacob Walsch, as he died in 1500. + The person alluded to was certainly not an Italian.] + +The greater part of the other six letters are chiefly occupied with +accounts of his success in executing sundry little commissions with +which he had been entrusted by his friends, such as the purchase of a +finger-ring and two pieces of tapestry; to enquire after such Greek +books as had been recently published; and to get him some crane +feathers. The sixth and seventh letters are written in a vein of humour +which at the present time would be called gross. Von Murr illustrates +one passage by a quotation from Swift which is not remarkable for its +delicacy; and he also says that Durer’s eighth letter is written in the +humorous style of that writer. Those letters show that chastity was not +one of Bilibald Pirkheimer’s virtues; and that the learned counsellor of +the imperial city of Nuremberg was devoted “tam Veneri quam +Mercurio.”[V-22] + + [Footnote V-22: Bilibald Pirkheimer was a learned man, and a + person of great authority in the city of Nuremberg. He was also a + member of the Imperial Council, and was frequently employed in + negociations with neighbouring states. He published several works; + and among others a humorous essay entitled “Laus Podagræ”--The + Praise of the Gout. His memory is still held in great respect in + Germany as the friend of Albert Durer and Ulrich Hutten, two of + the most extraordinary men that Germany has produced. He died in + 1530, aged 60.] + +In the fourth letter Durer says that the painters were much opposed to +him; that they had thrice compelled him to go before the magistracy; and +that they had obliged him to give four florins to their society. In the +seventh letter, he writes as follows about the picture which he had +painted for the German church: “I have through it received great praise, +but little profit. I might well have gained two hundred ducats in the +same time, and all the while I laboured most diligently in order that I +might get home again. I have given all the painters a rubbing down who +said that I could engrave[V-23] well, but that in painting I knew not +how to manage my colours. Everybody here says they never saw colours +more beautiful.” In his last letter, which is dated, “at Venice, I know +not what day of the month, but about the fourteenth day after +Michaelmas, 1506,” he says that he will be ready to leave that city in +about ten days; that he intends to proceed to Bologna, and after staying +there about eight or ten days for the sake of learning some secrets in +perspective, to return home by way of Venice. He visited Bologna as he +intended; and was treated with great respect by the painters of that +city. After a brief stay at Bologna, he returned to Nuremberg; and there +is no evidence of his ever having visited Italy again. + + [Footnote V-23: The kind of engraving meant was copper-plate + engraving. Durer’s words are: “Ich hab awch dy Moler all gesthrilt + dy do sagten, Im _Stechen_ wer ich gut, aber im molen west ich nit + mit farben um zu gen.” The word “_Stechen_” applies to engraving + on copper; “Schneiden” to engraving on wood.--Von Murr, Journal, + 10er Theil, S. 28.] + + [Illustration] + +In 1511, the second of Durer’s large works engraved on wood appeared at +Nuremberg. It is generally entitled the History of the Virgin, and +consists of nineteen large cuts, each about eleven inches and three +quarters high, by eight inches and a quarter wide, with a vignette of +smaller size which ornaments the title-page.[V-24] Impressions are to be +found without any accompanying text, but the greater number have +explanatory verses printed from type at the back. The cut here +represented is a reduced copy of the vignette on the title-page. The +Virgin is seen seated on a crescent, giving suck to the infant Christ; +and her figure and that of the child are drawn with great feeling. Of +all Durer’s Madonnas, whether engraved on wood or copper, this, perhaps, +is one of the best. Her attitude is easy and natural, and happily +expressive of the character in which she is represented--that of a +nursing mother. The light and shade are well contrasted; and the folds +of her ample drapery, which Durer was fond of introducing whenever he +could, are arranged in a manner which materially contributes to the +effect of the engraving. + + [Footnote V-24: The title at length is as follows: “Epitome in + Divæ Parthenices Marie Historiam ab Alberto Durero Norico per + figuras digestam, cum versibus annexis Chelidonii.” Chelidonius, + who was a Benedictine monk of Nuremberg, also furnished the + descriptive text to the series of twelve cuts illustrative of + Christ’s Passion, of which specimens will be found between page + 246 and page 250.] + + [Illustration] + +The following cuts are reduced copies of two of the larger subjects of +the same work. That which is here given represents the birth of the +Virgin; and were it not for the angel who is seen swinging a censer at +the top of the room, it might be taken for the accouchement of a German +burgomaster’s wife in the year 1510. The interior is apparently that of +a house in Nuremberg of Durer’s own time, and the figures introduced are +doubtless faithful copies, both in costume and character, of such +females as were generally to be found in the house of a German tradesman +on such an occasion. From the number of cups and flagons that are seen, +we may be certain that the gossips did not want liquor; and that in +Durer’s age the female friends and attendants on a groaning woman were +accustomed to enjoy themselves on the birth of a child over a cheerful +cup. In the fore-ground an elderly female is perceived taking a draught, +without measure, from a flagon; while another, more in the distance and +farther to the right, appears to be drinking, from a cup, health to the +infant which a woman like a nurse holds in her arms. An elderly female, +sitting by the side of the bed, has dropped into a doze; but whether +from the effects of the liquor or long watching it would not be easy to +divine. On the opposite side of the bed a female figure presents a +caudle, with a spoon in it, to St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin, while +another is seen filling a goblet of wine. At the bottom of the cut is +Durer’s mark on a tablet. The original cut is not remarkable for the +excellence of its engraving, but it affords a striking example of the +little attention which Durer, in common with most other German painters +of that period, paid to propriety of costume in the treatment of such +subjects. The piece is Hebrew, of the age of Herod the Great; but the +scenery, dresses, and decorations are German, of the time of +Maximilian I. + +The second specimen of the large cuts of Durer’s Life of the Virgin, +given on the next page, represents the Sojourn of the Holy Family in +Egypt. In the fore-ground St. Joseph is seen working at his business as +a carpenter; while a number of little figures, like so many Cupids, are +busily employed in collecting the chips which he makes and in putting +them into a basket. Two little winged figures, of the same family as the +chip-collectors, are seen running hand-in-hand, a little more in the +distance to the left, and one of them holds in his hand a plaything like +those which are called “windmills” in England, and are cried about as +“toys for girls and boys,” and sold for a halfpenny each, or exchanged +for old pewter spoons, doctors’ bottles, or broken flint-glass. To the +right the Virgin, a matronly-looking figure, is seen sitting spinning, +and at the same time rocking with her foot the cradle in which the +infant Christ is asleep. Near the Virgin are St. Elizabeth and her young +son, the future Baptist. At the head of the cradle is an angel bending +as if in the act of adoration; while another, immediately behind St. +Elizabeth, holds a pot containing flowers. In the sky there is a +representation of the Deity, with the Holy Ghost in the shape of a dove. +The artist has not thought it necessary to mark the locality of the +scene by the introduction of pyramids and temples in the back-ground, +for the architectural parts of his subject, as well as the human +figures, have evidently been supplied by his own country, Durer’s mark +is at the bottom of the cut on the right. + + [Illustration] + +Christ’s Passion, consisting of a series of eleven large wood-cuts and a +vignette, designed by Albert Durer, appeared about the same time as his +History of the Virgin.[V-25] The descriptive matter was compiled by +Chelidonius; and, in the same manner as in the History of the Virgin, +a certain number of impressions were printed without any explanatory +text.[V-26] The large subjects are about fifteen inches and a half high, +by eleven inches and an eighth wide. The following cut is a reduced copy +of the vignette on the title-page. + + [Footnote V-25: The cuts of these two works appear to have been in + the hands of the engraver at the same time. Of those in the + History of the Virgin one is dated 1509; and two bear the date + 1510; and in the Passion of Christ four are dated 1510.] + + [Footnote V-26: The Latin title of the work is as follows: “Passio + Domini nostri Jesu, ex Hieronymo Paduano, Dominico Mancino, + Sedulio, et Baptista Mantuana, per fratrem Chelidonium collecta, + cum figuris Alberti Dureri Norici Pictoris.”] + + [Illustration] + +The subject is Christ mocked; but the artist has at the same time wished +to express in the figure of Christ the variety of his sufferings: the +Saviour prays as if in his agony on the mount; near him lies the +instrument of his flagellation; his hands and feet bear the marks of the +nails, and he appears seated on the covering of his sepulchre. The +soldier is kneeling and offering a reed as a sceptre to Christ, whom he +hails in derision as King of the Jews. + +The three following cuts are reduced copies of the same number in the +Passion of Christ. In the cut of the Last Supper, in the next page, +cross-hatching is freely introduced, though without contributing much to +the improvement of the engraving; and the same effect in the wall to the +right, in the groins of the roof, and in the floor under the table, +might be produced by much simpler means. No artist, I am persuaded, +would introduce such work in a design if he had to engrave it himself. +The same “colour” might be produced by single lines which could be +executed in a third of the time required to cut out the interstices of +the cross-hatchings. Durer’s mark is at the bottom of the cut, and the +date 1510 is perceived above it, on the frame of the table. + +The cut on page 249, from the Passion, Christ bearing his Cross, is +highly characteristic of Durer’s style; and the original is one of the +best of all the wood engravings which bear his mark. The characters +introduced are such as he was fondest of drawing; and most of the heads +and figures may be recognised in several other engravings either +executed by himself on copper or by others on wood from his designs. + + [Illustration] + +The figure which is seen holding a kind of halbert in his right hand is +a favourite with Durer, and is introduced, with trifling variations, in +at least half a dozen of his subjects; and the horseman with a kind of +turban on his head and a lance in his left hand occurs no less +frequently. St. Veronica, who is seen holding the “sudarium,” or holy +handkerchief, in the fore-ground to the left, is a type of his female +figures; the head of the executioner, who is seen urging Christ forward, +is nearly the same as that of the mocker in the preceding vignette; and +Simon the Cyrenian, who assists to bear the cross, appears to be the +twin-brother of St. Joseph in the Sojourn in Egypt. The figure of +Christ, bowed down with the weight of the cross, is well drawn, and his +face is strongly expressive of sorrow. Behind Simon the Cyrenian are the +Virgin and St. John; and under the gateway a man with a haggard visage +is perceived carrying a ladder with his head between the steps. The +artist’s mark is at the bottom of the cut. + + [Illustration] + +The subject of the cut on page 250, from Christ’s Passion, represents +the descent into hell and the liberation of the ancestors. The massive +gates of the abode of sin and death have been burst open, and the banner +of the cross waves triumphant. Among those who have already been +liberated from the pit of darkness are Eve, who has her back turned +towards the spectator, and Adam, who in his right hand holds an apple, +the symbol of his fall, and with his left supports a cross, the emblem +of his redemption. In the front is Christ aiding others of the ancestors +to ascend from the pit, to the great dismay of the demons whose realm is +invaded. A horrid monster, with a head like that of a boar surmounted +with a horn, aims a blow at the Redeemer with a kind of rude lance; +while another, a hideous compound of things that swim, and walk, and +fly, sounds a note of alarm to arouse his kindred fiends. On a stone, +above the entrance to the pit, is the date 1510; and Durer’s mark is +perceived on another stone immediately before the figure of Christ. This +cut, with the exception of the frequent cross-hatching, is designed more +in the style and spirit of the artist’s illustrations of the Apocalypse +than in the manner of the rest of the series to which it belongs. + + [Illustration] + +The preceding specimens of wood-cuts from Durer’s three great works, the +Apocalypse, the History of the Virgin, and Christ’s Passion, afford not +only an idea of the style of his drawing on wood, but also of the +progress made by the art of wood engraving from the time of his first +availing himself of its capabilities. In Durer’s designs on wood we +perceive not only more correct drawing and a greater knowledge of +composition, but also a much more effective combination of light and +shade, than are to be found in any wood-cuts executed before the date of +his earliest work, the Apocalypse, which appeared in 1498. One of the +peculiar advantages of wood engraving is the effect with which strong +shades can be represented; and of this Durer has generally availed +himself with the greatest skill. On comparing his works engraved on wood +with all those previously executed in the same manner, we shall find +that his figures are not only much better drawn and more skilfully +grouped, but that instead of sticking, in hard outline, against the +back-ground, they stand out with the natural appearance of rotundity. +The rules of perspective are more attentively observed; the back-grounds +better filled; and a number of subordinate objects introduced--such as +trees, herbage, flowers, animals, and children--which at once give a +pleasing variety to the subject and impart to it the stamp of truth. +Though the figures in many of his designs may not indeed be correct in +point of costume,--for though he diligently studied Nature, it was only +in her German dress,--yet their character and expression are generally +appropriate and natural. Though incapable of imparting to sacred +subjects the elevated character which is given to them by Raffaele, his +representations are perhaps no less like the originals than those of the +great Italian master. It is indeed highly probable that Albert Durer’s +German representatives of saints and apostles are more like the +originals than the more dignified ideal portraits of Raffaele. The +latter, from his knowledge of the antique, has frequently given to his +Jews a character and a costume borrowed from Grecian art of the age of +Phidias; while Albert Durer has given to them the features and invested +them in the costume of Germans of his own age. + +Shortly after the appearance of the large cuts illustrative of Christ’s +Passion, Durer published a series of thirty-seven of a smaller size, +also engraved on wood, which Mr. Ottley calls “The Fall of Man and his +Redemption through Christ,” but which Durer himself refers to under the +title of “The Little Passion.”[V-27] All the cuts of the Little Passion, +as well as seventeen of those of the Life of the Virgin and several +other pieces of Durer’s, were imitated on copper by Marc Antonio +Raimondi, the celebrated Italian engraver, who is said to have sold his +copies as the originals. Vasari, in his Life of Marc Antonio, says that +when Durer was informed of this imitation of his works, he was highly +incensed and he set out directly for Venice, and that on his arrival +there he complained of Marc Antonio’s proceedings to the government; but +could obtain no further redress than that in future Marc Antonio should +not put Durer’s mark to his engravings. + + [Footnote V-27: The Latin title of this work is “Passio Christi,” + and the explanatory verses are from the pen of Chelidonius. Durer, + in the Journal of his Visit to the Netherlands, twice mentions it + as “die Kleine Passion,” and each time with a distinction which + proves that he did not mean the Passion engraved by him on copper + and probably published in 1512. “Item Sebaldt Fischer hat mir zu + Antorff [Antwerp] abkaufft 16 _kleiner Passion_, pro 4 fl. Mehr 32 + grosser Bücher pro 8 fl. Mehr 6 gestochne Passion pro 3 + fl.”--“Darnach die drey Bücher unser Frauen Leben, Apocalypsin, + und den grossen Passion, darnach _den klein Passion_, und den + Passion in Kupffer.”--Albrecht Dürers Reisejournal, in Von Murr, + 7er Theil, S. 60 and 67. The size of the cuts of the Little + Passion is five inches high by three and seven-eighths wide. Four + impressions from the original blocks are given in Ottley’s + Inquiry, vol. ii. between page 730 and page 731.] + +Though it is by no means unlikely that Durer might apply to the Venetian +government to prevent the sale of spurious copies of his works within +the bounds of their jurisdiction, yet Vasari’s account of his personally +visiting that city for the purpose of making a complaint against Marc +Antonio, and of the government having forbid the latter to affix Durer’s +mark to his engravings in future, is certainly incorrect. The History of +the Virgin, the earliest of the two works which were almost entirely +copied by Marc Antonio, was not published before 1510, and there is not +the slightest evidence of Durer having re-visited Venice after his +return to Nuremberg about the latter end of 1506. Bartsch thinks that +Vasari’s account of Durer’s complaining to the Venetian government +against Marc Antonio is wholly unfounded; not only from the fact of +Durer not having visited Venice subsequent to 1506, but from the +improbability of his applying to a foreign state to prohibit a stranger +from copying his works. Mr. Ottley, however,--after observing that Marc +Antonio had affixed Durer’s mark to his copies of the seventeen cuts of +the Life of the Virgin and of some other single subjects, but had +omitted it in his copies of the cuts of the Little Passion,--thus +expresses his opinion with respect to the correctness of this part of +Vasari’s account: “That Durer, who enjoyed the especial protection of +the Emperor Maximilian, might be enabled through the imperial ambassador +at Venice to lay his complaints before the government, and to obtain the +prohibition before stated, may I think readily be imagined; and it +cannot be denied, that the circumstance of Marc Antonio’s having omitted +to affix the mark of Albert to the copies which he afterwards made of +the series of the ‘Life of Christ’ is strongly corroborative of the +general truth of the story.”[V-28] As two of the cuts in the Little +Passion, which Mr. Ottley here calls the “Life of Christ,” are dated +1510, and as, according to Mr. Ottley, Marc Antonio arrived at Rome in +the course of that year, it is difficult to conceive how the government +of Venice could have the power to prohibit a native of Bologna, living +in a state beyond their jurisdiction, from affixing Albert Durer’s mark +to such engravings as he might please to copy from the works of that +master. + + [Footnote V-28: Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of + Engraving, vol. ii. p. 782. The objections to the general truth of + Vasari’s story appear to be much stronger than the presumptions in + its favour. 1. The improbability of Albert Durer having visited + Venice subsequent to 1506; 2. The fact of Marc Antonio’s copies of + the cuts of the Little Passion _not_ containing Albert Durer’s + mark; and 3. The probability of Mark Antonio residing beyond the + jurisdiction of the Venetian government at the time of his + engraving them.] + +Among the more remarkable single subjects engraved on wood from Durer’s +designs, the following are most frequently referred to: God the Father +bearing up into heaven the dead body of Christ, with the date 1511; +a Rhinoceros, with the date 1515; a portrait of Ulrich Varnbuler, with +the date 1522; a large head of Christ crowned with thorns, without date; +and the Siege of a fortified town, with the date 1527. In the first of +the above-named cuts, God the Father wears a kind of tiara like that of +the Pope, and above the principal figure the Holy Ghost is seen hovering +in the form of a dove. On each side of the Deity and the dead Christ are +angels holding the cross, the pillar to which Christ was bound when he +was scourged, the crown of thorns, the sponge dipped in vinegar, and +other emblems of the Passion. At the foot are heads with puffed-out +cheeks intended to represent the winds. This cut is engraved in a +clearer and more delicate style than most of the other subjects designed +by Durer on wood. There are impressions of the Rhinoceros, and the +portrait of Varnbuler, printed in chiaro-scuro from three blocks; and +there are also other wood-cuts designed by Durer executed in the same +manner. The large head of Christ, which is engraved in a coarse though +spirited and effective manner, is placed by Bartsch among the doubtful +pieces ascribed to Durer; but Mr. Ottley says, “I am unwilling to deny +to Durer the credit of this admirable and boldly executed +production.”[V-29] The cut representing the siege of a fortified town is +twenty-eight inches and three-eighths wide, by eight inches and seven +eighths high. It has been engraved on two blocks, and afterwards pasted +together. A number of small figures are introduced, and a great extent +of country is shown in this cut, which is, however, deficient in effect; +and the little figures, though drawn with great spirit, want relief, +which causes many of them to appear as if they were riding or walking in +the air. The most solid-like part of the subject is the sky; there is no +ground for most of the figures to stand on; and those which are in the +distance are of the same size as those which are apparently a mile or +two nearer the spectator. There is nothing remarkable in the execution, +and the design adds nothing to Durer’s reputation. + + [Footnote V-29: There is a copy of this head, also engraved on + wood, of the size of the original, but without Durer’s, or any + other mark. Underneath an impression of the copy, in the Print + Room of the British Museum, there is written in a hand which + appears to be at least as old as the year 1550, “Dieser hat + [[HSB]]ehaim gerissen”--“H. S. Behaim drew this.” Hans Sebald + Behaim, a painter and designer on wood, was born at Nuremberg in + 1500, and was the pupil of his uncle, also named Behaim, a painter + and engraver of that city. The younger Behaim abandoned the arts + to become a tavern-keeper at Frankfort, where he died in 1550.] + +The great patron of wood engraving in the earlier part of the sixteenth +century was the Emperor Maximilian I, who,--besides originating the +three works, known by the titles of Sir Theurdank, the Wise King, and +the Triumphs of Maximilian, which he caused to be illustrated with +numerous wood engravings, chiefly from the designs of Hans Burgmair and +Hans Schaufflein,--employed Albert Durer to make the designs for two +other series of wood engravings, a Triumphal Car and a Triumphal Arch. + +The Triumphal _Car_, engraved by Jerome Resch from Durer’s drawings on +wood, is frequently confounded with the larger work called the Triumphs +of Maximilian, most of the designs of which were made by Hans Burgmair. +It is indeed generally asserted that all the designs for the latter work +were made by Hans Burgmair; but I think I shall be able to show, in a +subsequent notice of that work, that some of the cuts contained in the +edition published at Vienna and London in 1796 were, in all probability, +designed by Albert Durer. The Triumphal Car consists of eight separate +pieces, which, when joined together, form a continuous subject seven +feet four inches long; the height of the highest cut--that containing +the car--is eighteen inches from the base line to the upper part of the +canopy above the Emperor’s head. The Emperor is seen seated in a highly +ornamented car, attended by female figures, representing Justice, Truth, +Clemency, and other virtues, who hold towards him triumphal wreaths. One +of the two wheels which are seen is inscribed “Magnificentia,” and the +other “Dignitas;” the driver of the car is Reason,--“Ratio,”--and one of +the reins is marked “Nobilitas,” and the other “Potentia.” The car is +drawn by six pair of horses splendidly harnessed, and each horse is +attended by a female figure. The names of the females at the head of the +first pair from the car are “Providentia” and “Moderatio;” of the +second, “Alacritas” and “Opportunitas;” of the third, “Velocitas” and +“Firmitudo;” of the fourth, “Acrimonia” and “Virilitas;” of the fifth, +“Audacia” and “Magnanimitas;” and the attendants on the leaders are +“Experientia” and “Solertia.” Above each pair of horses there is a +portion of explanatory matter printed in letter-press; and in that above +the leading pair is a mandate from the Emperor Maximilian, dated +Inspruck, 1518, addressed to Bilibald Pirkheimer, who appears to have +suggested the subject; and in the same place is the name of the inventor +and designer, Albert Durer.[V-30] The first edition of those cuts +appeared at Nuremberg in 1522; and in some copies the text is in German, +and in others in Latin. A second edition, with the text in Latin only, +was printed at the same place in the following year. A third edition, +from the same blocks, was printed at Venice in 1588; and a fourth at +Amsterdam in 1609. The execution of this subject is not particularly +good, but the action of the horses is generally well represented, and +the drawing of some of the female figures attending them is extremely +spirited. Guido seems to have availed himself of some of the figures in +Durer’s Triumphal Car in his celebrated fresco of the Car of Apollo, +preceded by Aurora, and accompanied by the Hours. + + [Footnote V-30: In the edition with Latin inscriptions, 1523, are + the words, “Excogitatus et depictus est currus iste Nurembergæ, + impressus vero per Albertum Durer. Anno MDXXIII.” The Latin words + “excogitatus et depictus” are expressed by “gefunden und geordnet” + in the German inscriptions in the edition of 1522. A sketch by + Durer, for the Triumphal Car, is preserved in the Print Room in + the British Museum.] + +It is said that the same subject painted by Durer himself is still to be +seen on the walls of the Town-hall of Nuremberg; but how far this is +correct I am unable to positively say; for I know of no account of the +painting written by a person who appears to have been acquainted with +the subject engraved on wood. Dr. Dibdin, who visited the Town-hall of +Nuremberg in 1818, speaks of what he saw there in a most vague and +unsatisfactory manner, as if he did not know the Triumphal Car designed +by Durer from the larger work entitled the Triumphs of Maximilian. The +notice of the learned bibliographer, who professes to be a great admirer +of the works of Albert Durer, is as follows: “The great boast of the +collection [in the Town-hall of Nuremberg] are the Triumphs of +Maximilian executed by _Albert Durer_,--which, however, have by no means +escaped injury.”[V-31] It is from such careless observations as the +preceding that erroneous opinions respecting the Triumphal Car and the +Triumphs of Maximilian are continued and propagated, and that most +persons confound the two works; which is indeed not surprising, seeing +that Dr. Dibdin himself, who is considered to be an authority on such +matters, has afforded proof that he does not know one from the other. In +the same volume that contains the notice of the “Triumphs of Maximilian” +in the Town-hall of Nuremberg, Dr. Dibdin says that he saw the “ORIGINAL +PAINTINGS” from which the large wood blocks were taken for the +well-known work entitled the “_Triumphs of the Emperor Maximilian_,” in +large folio, in the Imperial Library at Vienna.[V-32] Such observations +are very much in the style of the countryman’s, who had seen _two_ +genuine skulls of Oliver Cromwell,--one at Oxford, and another in the +British Museum. Though I have not been able to ascertain satisfactorily +the subject of Durer’s painting in the Town-hall of Nuremberg, I am +inclined to think that it is the Triumphal _Car_ of Maximilian. In a +memorandum in the hand-writing of Nollekins, preserved with his copies +of Durer’s Triumphal Car and Triumphal Arch of Maximilian, in the Print +Room of the British Museum, it is said, though erroneously, that the +former is painted in the Town-hall of _Augsburg_ with the figures as +large as life. + + [Footnote V-31: Bibliographical Tour, vol. iii. p. 438. Edit. + 1829.] + + [Footnote V-32: Ibid. p. 330.] + +The Triumphal _Arch_ of the Emperor Maximilian, engraved on wood from +Durer’s designs, consists of ninety-two separate pieces, which, when +joined together, form one large composition about ten feet and a half +high by nine and a half wide, exclusive of the margins and five folio +sheets of explanatory matter by the projector of the design, John +Stabius, who styles himself the historiographer and poet of the Emperor, +and who says, at the commencement of his description, that this arch was +drawn “after the manner of those erected in honour of the Roman emperors +at Rome, some of which are destroyed and others still to be seen.” In +the arch of Maximilian are three gates or entrances; that in the centre +is named the Gate of Honour and Power; that to the left the Gate of +Fame; and that to the right the Gate of Nobility.[V-33] Above the middle +entrance is what Stabius calls the “grand tower,” surmounted with the +imperial crown, and containing an inscription in German to the memory of +Maximilian. Above and on each side of the gates or entrances, which are +of very small dimensions, are portraits of the Roman emperors from the +time of Julius Cæsar to that of Maximilian himself; there are also +portraits of his ancestors, and of kings and princes with whom he was +allied either by friendship or marriage; shields of arms illustrative of +his descent or of the extent of his sovereignty; with representations of +his most memorable actions, among which his adventures in the Tyrolean +Alps, when hunting the chamois, are not forgotten. Underneath each +subject illustrative of his own history are explanatory verses, in the +German language, engraved on wood; and the names of the kings and +emperors, as well as the inscriptions explanatory of other parts of the +subject, are also executed in the same manner. The whole subject is, in +fact, a kind of pictorial epitome of the history of the German empire; +representing the succession of the Roman emperors, and the more +remarkable events of Maximilian’s own reign; with illustrations of his +descent, possessions, and alliances. + + [Footnote V-33: The two last names are, in the first edition, + pasted over others which appear to have been “The Gate of Honour” + and “The Gate of Relationship, Friendship, and Alliance.” The last + name alludes to the emperor’s possessions as acquired by descent + or marriage, and to his power as strengthened by his friendly + alliances with neighbouring states.] + +At the time of Maximilian’s death, which happened in 1519, this great +work was not finished; and it is said that Durer himself did not live to +see it completed, as one small block remained to be engraved at the +period of his death, in 1528. At whatever time the work might be +finished, it certainly was commenced at least four years before the +Emperor’s death, for the date 1515 occurs in two places at the foot of +the subject. Though Durer’s mark is not to be found on any one of the +cuts, there can be little doubt of his having furnished the designs for +the whole. In the ninth volume of Von Murr’s Journal it is stated that +Durer received a hundred guilders a year from the Emperor,--probably on +account of this large work; and in the same volume there is a letter of +Durer’s addressed to a friend, requesting him to apply to the emperor on +account of arrears due to him. In this letter he says that he has made +many drawings besides the “_Tryumps_”[V-34] for the emperor; and as he +also thrice mentions Stabius, the inventor of the Triumphal Arch, there +can be little doubt but that this was the work to which he alludes. + + [Footnote V-34: “Item wist auch das Ich K. Mt. ausserhalb des + Tryumps sonst viel mancherley Fisyrung gemacht hab.”--“You must + also know that I have made many other drawings for the emperor + besides those of the Triumph.” The date of this letter is not + given, but Durer informs his friend that he had been already three + years employed for the emperor, and that if he had not exerted + himself the beautiful “work” would not have been so soon + completed. If this is to be understood of the Triumphal Arch, it + would seem that the designs at least were all finished before the + emperor’s death.--Von Murr, Journal, 9er Theil, S. 4.] + +As a work of art the best single subjects of the Triumphal Arch will not +bear a comparison with the best cuts in Durer’s Apocalypse, the History +of the Virgin, or Christ’s Passion; and there are several in which no +trace of his effective style of drawing on wood is to be found. Most of +the subjects illustrative of the emperor’s battles and adventures are in +particular meagre in point of drawing, and deficient in effect. The +whole composition indeed appears like the result of continued +application without much display of talent. The powers of Durer had been +evidently constrained to work out the conceptions of the historiographer +and poet, Stabius; and as the subjects were not the suggestions of the +artist’s own feelings, it cannot be a matter of surprise that we should +find in them so few traces of his genius. The engraving of the cuts is +clear, but not generally effective; and the execution of the whole, both +figures and letters, would occupy a single wood engraver not less than +four years; even allowing him to engrave more rapidly on pear-tree than +a modern wood engraver does on box; and supposing him to be a master of +his profession. + +From his varied talents and the excellence which he displayed in every +branch of art that he attempted, Albert Durer is entitled to rank with +the most extraordinary men of his age. As a painter he may be considered +as the father of the German school; while for his fidelity in copying +nature and the beauty of his colours he may bear a comparison with most +of the Italian artists of his own age. As an engraver on copper he +greatly excelled all who preceded him; and it is highly questionable if +any artist since his time, except Rembrandt, has painted so many good +pictures and engraved so many good copper-plates. But besides excelling +as an engraver on copper after the manner in which the art had been +previously practised, giving to his subjects a breadth of light and a +depth of shade which is not to be found in the productions of the +earlier masters, he further improved the art by the invention of +etching,[V-35] which enables the artist to work with greater freedom and +to give a variety and an effect to his subjects, more especially +landscapes, which are utterly unattainable by means of the graver alone. + + [Footnote V-35: In the process of etching the plate is first + covered with a resinous composition--called etching ground--on + which the lines intended to be _etched_, or bit into the plate, + are drawn through to the surface of the metal by means of a small + pointed tool called an etching needle, or an etching point. When + the drawing of the subject upon the etching ground is finished, + the plate is surrounded with a slightly raised border, or “wall,” + as it is technically termed, formed of rosin, bee’s-wax, and lard; + and, a corrosive liquid being poured upon the plate, the lines are + “bit” into the copper or steel. When the engraver thinks that the + lines are corroded to a sufficient depth, he pours off the liquid, + cleans the plate by means of turpentine, and proceeds to finish + his work with the graver and dry-point. According to the practice + of modern engravers, where several _tints_ are required, as is + most frequently the case, the process of “biting-in” is repeated; + the corrosive liquid being again poured on the plate to corrode + deeper the stronger lines, while the more delicate are “stopped + out,”--that is, covered with a kind of varnish that soon hardens, + to preserve them from further corrosion. Most of our best + engravers now use a diamond point in etching. _Nitrous_ acid is + used for “biting-in” on copper in the proportion of one part acid + to four parts water, and the mixture is considered to be better + after it has been once or twice used. Before using the acid it is + advisable to take the stopper out of the bottle for twenty-four + hours in order to allow a portion of the strength to evaporate. + During the process of biting-in a large copper-plate the fumes + which arise are so powerful as frequently to cause an unpleasant + stricture in the throat, and sometimes to bring on a spitting of + blood when they have been incautiously inhaled by the engraver. At + such times it is usual for the engraver to have near him some + powerful essence, generally hartshorn, in order to counteract the + effects of the noxious vapour. For biting-in on steel, _nitric_ + acid is used in the proportion of thirty drops to half a pint of + distilled water; and the mixture is never used for more than one + plate.--When a _copper_-plate is sufficiently bit-in, it is only + necessary to wash it with a little water previous to removing the + etching ground with turpentine; but, besides this, with a _steel_ + plate it is further necessary to set it on one of its edges + against a wall or other support, and to blow it with a pair of + small bellows till every particle of moisture in the lines is + perfectly evaporated. The plate is then rubbed with oil, otherwise + the lines would rust from the action of the atmosphere and the + plate be consequently spoiled. Previous to a steel plate being + laid aside for any length of time it ought to be warmed, and the + engraved surface rubbed carefully over with virgin wax so that it + may be completely covered, and every line filled. A piece of thick + paper the size of the plate, laid over the wax while it is yet + adhesive, will prove an additional safeguard. For this information + respecting the process of biting-in, the writer is indebted to an + eminent engraver, Mr. J. T. Wilmore.] + +There are two subjects by Albert Durer, dated 1512, which Bartsch thinks +were etched upon plates of iron, but which Mr. Ottley considers to have +been executed upon plates of a softer metal than copper, with the +dry-point. There are, however, two undoubted etchings by Durer with the +date 1515; two others executed in the same manner are dated 1516; and a +fifth, a landscape with a large cannon in the fore-ground to the left, +is dated 1518. There is another undoubted etching by Durer, representing +naked figures in a bath; but it contains neither his mark nor a date. +The three pieces which Mr. Ottley thinks were not etched, but executed +on some soft kind of metal with the dry-point, are: 1. The figure of +Christ, seen in front, standing, clothed with a mantle, having his hands +tied together, and on his head a crown of thorns; date 1512. 2. St. +Jerome seated amongst rocks, praying to a crucifix, with a book open +before him, and a lion below to the left; date 1512. 3. The Virgin, +seated with the infant Christ in her lap, and seen in front, with St. +Joseph behind her on the left, and on the right three other figures; +without mark or date.--One of the more common of Durer’s undoubted +etchings is that of a man mounted on a unicorn, and carrying off a naked +woman, with the date 1516. + +Albert Durer not only excelled as a painter, an engraver on copper, and +a designer on wood, but he also executed several pieces of sculpture +with surprising delicacy and natural expression of character. An +admirable specimen of his skill in this department of art is preserved +in the British Museum, to which institution it was bequeathed by the +late R. Payne Knight, Esq., by whom it was purchased at Brussels for +five hundred guineas upwards of forty years ago. This most exquisite +piece of sculpture is of small dimensions, being only seven and three +quarter inches high, by five and a half wide. It is executed in +hone-stone, of a cream colour, and is all of one piece, with the +exception of a dog and one or two books in front. The subject is the +naming of John the Baptist.[V-36] In front, to the right, is an old man +with a tablet inscribed with Hebrew characters; another old man is seen +immediately behind him, further to the right; and a younger man,--said +to be intended by the artist for a portrait of himself,--appears +entering the door of the apartment. An old woman with the child in her +arms is seated near the figure with the tablet; St. Elizabeth is +perceived lying in bed, on the more distant side of which a female +attendant is standing, and on the other, nearer to the spectator, an +elderly man is seen kneeling. It is supposed that the latter figure is +intended for Zacharias, and that the artist had represented him in the +act of making signs to Elizabeth with his hands. The figures in the +fore-ground are executed in high relief, and the character and +expression of the heads have perhaps never been surpassed in any work of +sculpture executed on the same scale. Durer’s mark is perceived on a +tablet at the foot of the bed, with the date 1510. This curious specimen +of Durer’s talents as a sculptor is carefully preserved in a frame with +a glass before it, and is in most perfect condition, with the exception +of the hands of Zacharias and of Elizabeth, some of the fingers of which +are broken off. + + [Footnote V-36: The account of the naming of John the Baptist will + be found in St. Luke’s Gospel, chap. i. verse 59-64.] + +Shortly after Whitsuntide, 1520, Durer set out from Nuremberg, +accompanied by his wife and her servant Susanna, on a visit to the +Netherlands; and as he took with him several copies of his principal +works, engravings on copper as well as on wood, and painted and drew a +number of portraits during his residence there, the journey appears to +have been taken as much with a view to business as pleasure. He kept a +journal from the time of his leaving Nuremberg till the period of his +reaching Cologne on his return, and from this curious record of the +artist’s travels the following particulars of his visit to the +Netherlands have been obtained.[V-37] + + [Footnote V-37: Durer’s Journal of his Travels is given by Von + Murr, 7er Theil, S. 55-98. The title which the Editor has prefixed + to it is, “Reisejournal Albrecht Dürer’s von seiner + Niederländischen Reise, 1520 und 1521. E. Bibliotheca Ebneriana.” + In the same volume, Von Murr gives some specimens of Durer’s + poetry. The first couplet which he made in 1509 is as follows: + + “Du aller Engel Spiegel und Erlöser der Welt, + Deine grosse Marter sey für mein Sünd ein Widergelt.” + + Thou mirror of all Angels and Redeemer of mankind, + Through thy martyrdom, for all my sins may I a ransom find. + + This couplet being ridiculed by Bilibald Pirkheimer, who said that + rhyming verses ought not to consist of more than eight syllables, + Durer wrote several others in a shorter measure, but with no + better success; for he says at the conclusion, that they did not + please the learned counsellor. With Durer’s rhymes there is an + epistle in verse from his friend Lazarus Sprengel, written to + dissuade him from attempting to become a poet. Durer’s verses want + “the right butter-woman’s trot to market,” and are sadly deficient + in rhythm when compared with the more regular clink of his + friend’s.] + +Durer proceeded from Nuremberg direct to Bamberg, where he presented to +the bishop a painting of the Virgin, with a copy of the Apocalypse and +the Life of the Virgin engraved on wood. The bishop invited Durer to his +table, and gave him a letter exempting his goods from toll, with three +others which were, most likely, letters of recommendation to persons of +influence in the Netherlands.[V-38] From Bamberg, Durer proceeded by way +of Eltman, Sweinfurth, and Frankfort to Mentz, and from the latter city +down the Rhine to Cologne. In this part of his journey he seems to have +met with little which he deemed worthy of remark: at Sweinfurth Dr. +Rebart made him a present of some wine; at Mentz, Peter Goldsmith’s +landlady presented him with two flasks of the same liquor; and when Veit +Varnbuler invited him to dinner there, the tavern-keeper would not +receive any payment, but insisted on being Durer’s host himself. At +Lohnstein, on the Rhine, between Boppart and Coblentz, the +toll-collector, who was well acquainted with Durer’s wife, presented him +with a can of wine, and expressed himself extremely glad to see him. + + [Footnote V-38: Subsequently, Durer mentions having delivered to + the Margrave John, at Brussels, a letter of recommendation + [Fürderbrief] from the Bishop of Bamberg.] + +From Cologne, Durer proceeded direct to Antwerp, where he took up his +abode in the house of “Jobst Planckfelt;” and on the evening of his +arrival[V-39] he was invited to a splendid supper by Bernard Stecher, an +agent of the Fuggers, the celebrated family of merchants of Nuremberg, +and the most wealthy in Germany. On St. Oswald’s day, Sunday, 5th +August, the Painters’ Company of Antwerp invited Durer, with his wife +and her maid,[V-40] to a grand entertainment in their hall, which was +ornamented in a splendid manner, and all the vessels on the table were +of silver. The wives of the painters were also present; and when Durer +was conducted to his seat at the table “all the company stood up on each +side, as if some great lord had been making his entrance.” Several +honourable persons, who had also been invited, bowed to him; and all +expressed their respect and their wishes to afford him pleasure. While +he was at table the messenger of the magistrates of Antwerp made his +appearance, and presented him in their name with four flaggons of wine, +saying, that the magistrates thus testified their respect and their +good-will towards him. Durer, as in duty bound, returned thanks, and +tendered to the magisterial body his humble service. After this little +affair was despatched, entered Peter the city carpenter _in propria +persona_, and presented Durer with two more flaggons of wine, and +complimented him with the offer of his services. After the party had +enjoyed themselves cheerfully till late in the night, they attended +Durer to his lodgings with torches in a most honourable manner, +expressing their good-will towards him, and their readiness to assist +him in whatever manner he might choose.--Shortly after this grand +Fellowship-feast, Durer was entertained by Quintin Matsys,--frequently +called the Blacksmith of Antwerp,--whose celebrated picture of the +Misers is now in the Royal Collection at Windsor. + + [Footnote V-39: As Durer was at Cologne about the 26th July, it is + probable that he would arrive at Antwerp about the last day of + that month.] + + [Footnote V-40: The maid, Susanna, seems to have been rather a + “humble friend” than a menial servant; for she is mentioned in + another part of the Journal as being entertained with Durer’s wife + at the house of “Tomasin Florianus,” whom Durer describes as + “_Romanus_, von Luca bürtig.”] + +On the Sunday after the Assumption,[V-41] Durer witnessed a grand +procession in honour of the Virgin, and the account which he has given +of it presents so curious a picture of the old religious pageantries +that it appears worthy of being translated without abridgement. “On the +Sunday after the Assumption of our Lady,” says the artist, “I saw the +grand procession from our Lady’s church at Antwerp, where all the +inhabitants of the city assembled, gentry as well as trades-people, +each, according to his rank, gayly dressed. Every class and fellowship +was distinguished by its proper badge; and large and valuable crosses +were borne before several of the crafts. There were also silver trumpets +of the old Frankish fashion; with German drums and fifes playing loudly. +I also saw in the street, marching after each other in rank, at a +certain distance, the Goldsmiths, the Painters, the Masons, the +Embroiderers, the Statuaries, the Cabinet-makers, the Carpenters, the +Sailors, the Fishermen, the Butchers, the Curriers, the Weavers, the +Bakers, the Tailors, the Shoemakers, and all kinds of craftsmen with +labourers engaged in producing the necessaries of life. In the same +manner came the Shopkeepers and Merchants with their assistants. After +these came the Shooters, with firelocks, bows, and cross-bows, some on +horseback and some on foot; and after them came the City Guard. These +were followed by persons of the higher classes and the magistrates, all +dressed in their proper habits; and after them came a gallant troop +arrayed in a noble and splendid manner. In this procession were a number +of females of a religious order who subsist by means of their labour, +all clothed in white from head to foot, and forming a very pleasing +sight. After them came a number of gallant persons and the canons of our +Lady’s church, with all the clergy and scholars, followed by a grand +display of characters. Twenty men carried the Virgin and Christ, most +richly adorned, to the honour of God. In this part of the procession +were a number of delightful things, represented in a splendid manner. +There were several waggons in which were representations of ships and +fortifications. Then came a troop of characters from the Prophets in +regular order, followed by others from the New Testament, such as the +Annunciation, the Wise Men of the East, riding on great camels and other +wonderful animals, and the Flight into Egypt, all very skilfully +appointed. Then came a great dragon, and St. Margaret, with the image of +the Virgin at her girdle, exceedingly beautiful; and last St. George and +his squire. In this troop rode a number of boys and girls very +handsomely arrayed in various costumes, representing so many saints. +This procession, from beginning to end, was upwards of two hours in +passing our house; and there were so many things to be seen, that I +could never describe them all even in a book.”[V-42] + + [Footnote V-41: The Assumption of the Virgin is celebrated in the + Roman Catholic Church on the 15th August.] + + [Footnote V-42: Albrecht Dürer’s Reisejournal, in Von Murr, 7er + Theil, S. 63-65.] + +Though Durer chiefly resided at Antwerp during his stay in the +Netherlands, he did not entirely confine himself to that city, but +occasionally visited other places. On the 2nd of September 1520, he left +Antwerp for Brussels, proceeding by way of Malines and Vilvorde. When at +Brussels, he saw a number of valuable curiosities which had been sent to +the Emperor from Mexico, among which he enumerates a golden sun, +a fathom broad, and a silver moon of the same size, with weapons, +armour, and dresses, and various other admirable things of great beauty +and cost. He says that their value was estimated at a hundred thousand +guilders; and that he never saw any thing that pleased him so much in +his life. Durer was evidently fond of seeing sights; he speaks with +delight of the fountains, the labyrinths, and the parks in the +neighbourhood of the Royal Palace, which he says were like Paradise; and +among the wonders which he saw at Brussels, he notices a large fish-bone +which was almost a fathom in circumference and weighed fifteen +“centner;”[V-43] a great bed that would hold fifty men; and a stone +which fell from the sky in a thunder-storm in presence of the Count of +Nassau. He also mentions having seen at Antwerp the bones of a giant who +had been eighteen feet high. Durer and his wife seem to have had a taste +for zoology: Herr Lazarus Von Ravenspurg complimented him with a monkey; +and “Signor Roderigo,” a Portuguese, presented his ill-tempered spouse +with a green parrot. + + [Footnote V-43: This “gross Fischpein” was probably part of the + back-bone of a whale.] + +When at Brussels, Durer painted the portrait of the celebrated Erasmus, +from whom, previous to leaving Antwerp, he had received as a present a +Spanish mantle and three portraits. He remained about a week at +Brussels, during which time he drew or painted seven portraits; and in +his Journal he makes the following memorandum: “Item, six persons whose +likenesses I have taken at Brussels, have not given me anything.” Among +those portraits was that of Bernard Van Orley, an eminent Flemish +painter who had studied under Raffaele, and who at that time held the +office of painter to the Archduchess Margaret, regent of the +Netherlands, and aunt of the Emperor Charles V. When at Brussels, Durer +bought for a stiver[V-44] two copies of the “Eulenspiegel,” a celebrated +engraving by Lucas Van Leyden, now of very great rarity. + + [Footnote V-44: The stiver was the twenty-fourth part of a guilder + or florin of gold, which was equal to about nine shillings English + money of the present time; the stiver would therefore be equal to + about four pence half-penny. About the same time, Durer sold a + copy of his Christ’s Passion, probably the large one, for twelve + stivers, and an impression of his copper-plate of Adam and Eve for + four stivers. Shortly after his first arrival at Antwerp, he sold + sixteen copies of the Little Passion for four guilders or florins; + and thirty-two copies of his larger works,--probably the + Apocalypse, the History of the Virgin, and the Great Passion,--for + eight florins, being at the rate of sixteen stivers for each copy. + He also sold six copies of the Passion engraved on copper at the + same price. He gave to his host a painting of the Virgin on + canvass to sell for two Rhenish florins. The sum that he received + for each portrait in pencil [the German is mit Kohlen, which is + literally charcoal], when the parties _did_ pay, appears to have + been a florin.] + +After remaining at Antwerp till the latter end of September, Durer +proceeded to Aix-la-Chapelle, where, on the 23rd of October, he +witnessed the coronation of the Emperor Charles V. He afterwards +proceeded to Cologne, where, on the Sunday after All Saints’ day, he saw +a grand banquet and dance given by the emperor, from whom, on the Monday +after Martinmas day, he received the appointment of court-painter to his +Imperial Majesty. When at Cologne, Durer bought a copy of the +“Condemnation of that good man, Martin Luther, for a white-penny.” This +Condemnation was probably a copy of the bull of excommunication issued +against Luther by Pope Leo X. on 20th June 1520. In a day or two after +receiving his appointment, Durer left Cologne and proceeded down the +Rhine, and visited Nimeguen. He then went to Bois-le-duc, where he was +entertained by Arnold de Beer, a painter of considerable reputation in +his day, and treated with great respect by the goldsmiths of the place. +On the Thursday after the Presentation of the Virgin,[V-45]--21st +November,--Durer again arrived at Antwerp. “In the seven weeks and +upwards that I was absent,” he writes in his Journal, “my wife and her +maid spent seven gold crowns. The first had her pocket cut off in St. +Mary’s church on St. Mary’s day; there were two guilders in it.” + + [Footnote V-45: In Von Murr the words are “Am Donnerstage nach + Marien Himmelfahrt,”--On the Thursday after the _Assumption_ of + the Virgin. But this is evidently incorrect, the feast of the + Assumption being kept on 15th August. The “Marien Opferung”--the + Presentation of the Virgin--which is commemorated on 21st + November, is evidently meant.] + +On the 3rd of December, Durer left Antwerp on a short journey through +Zealand, proceeding by way of Bergen-op-Zoom. In the Abbey at Middleburg +he saw the great picture of the Descent from the Cross by Mabeuse; of +which he remarks that “it is better painted than drawn.” When he was +about to land at Armuyden, a small town on the island of Walcheren, the +rope broke, and a violent wind arising, the boat which he was in was +driven out to sea. Some persons, however, at length came to their +assistance, and brought all the passengers safely ashore. On the Friday +after St. Lucia’s day he again returned to Antwerp, after having been +absent about twelve days. + +On Shrove Tuesday, 1521, the company of goldsmiths invited Durer and his +wife to a dinner, at which he was treated with great honour; and as this +was an early meal, he was enabled at night to attend a grand banquet to +which he was invited by one of the chief magistrates of Antwerp. On the +Monday after his entertainment by the goldsmiths he was invited to +another grand banquet which lasted two hours, and where he won, at some +kind of game, two guilders of Bernard of Castile. Both at this and at +the magistrates’ banquet there was masquerading. At another +entertainment given by Master Peter the Secretary, Durer and Erasmus +were present. He was not idle at this period of festivity, but drew +several portraits in pencil. He also made a drawing for “Tomasin,” and a +painting of St. Jerome for Roderigo of Portugal, who appears to have +been one of the most liberal of all Durer’s Antwerp friends. Besides the +little green parrot which he gave his wife, he also presented Durer with +one for himself; he also gave him a small cask of comfits, with various +other sweetmeats, and specimens of the sugar-cane. He also made him a +present of cocoa-nuts and of several other things; and shortly before +the painting was finished, Signor Roderigo gave him two large pieces of +Portuguese gold coin, each of which was worth ten ducats. + +On the Saturday after Easter, Durer visited Bruges, where he saw in St. +James’s church some beautiful paintings by Hubert Van Eyck and Hugo +Vander Goes; and in the Painters’ chapel, and in other churches, he saw +several by John Van Eyck; he also mentions having seen, in St. Mary’s +church, an image of the Virgin in alabaster by Michael Angelo. The guild +of painters invited him to a grand banquet in their hall. Two of the +magistrates, Jacob and Peter Mostaert, presented him with twelve +flaggons of wine; and on the conclusion of the entertainment, all the +company, amounting to sixty persons, accompanied him with torches to his +lodgings. He next visited Ghent, where the company of painters also +treated him with great respect. He there saw, in St. John’s church, the +celebrated picture of the Elders worshipping the Lamb, from the +Revelations, painted by John Van Eyck for Philip the Good, Duke of +Burgundy. Durer thus expresses his opinion of it: “This is a well +conceived and capital picture; the figures of Eve, the Virgin, and God +the Father, are, in particular, extremely good.” After being about a +week absent, he again returned to Antwerp, where he was shortly after +seized with an intermitting fever, which was accompanied with a violent +head-ache and great sense of weariness. This illness, however, does not +seem to have lasted very long; his fever commenced in the third week +after Easter, and on Rogation Sunday he attended the marriage feast of +“Meister Joachim,”--probably Joachim Patenier, a landscape painter whom +Durer mentions in an earlier part of his Journal. + +Durer was a man of strong religious feelings; and when Luther began to +preach in opposition to the church of Rome, he warmly espoused his +cause. The following passages from his Journal sufficiently demonstrate +the interest which he felt in the success of the great champion of the +Reformation. Luther on his return from Worms, where he had attended the +Diet under a safe-conduct granted by the Emperor Charles V, was waylaid, +on 4th May 1521, by a party of armed men, who caused him to descend from +the light waggon in which he was travelling, and to follow them into an +adjacent wood. His brother James, who was in the waggon with him, made +his escape on the first appearance of the horsemen. Luther having been +secured, the driver and others who were in the waggon were allowed to +pursue their journey without further hindrance. This secret apprehension +of Luther was, in reality, contrived by his friend and supporter, +Frederick, Elector of Saxony,[V-46] in order to withdraw him for a time +from the apprehended violence of his enemies, whose hatred towards him +had been more than ever inflamed by the bold and undisguised statement +of his opinions at Worms. Luther’s friends, being totally ignorant of +the elector’s design, generally supposed that the safe-conduct had been +disregarded by those whose duty it was to respect it, and that he had +been betrayed and delivered into the hands of his enemies. Durer, on +hearing of Luther’s apprehension, writes in his Journal as follows. + + [Footnote V-46: Luther’s safe-conduct from Worms to Wittenberg was + limited to twenty-one days, at the expiration of which he was + declared to be under the ban of the empire, or, in other words, an + outlaw, to whom no prince or free city of Germany was to afford a + refuge. Luther, previous to leaving Worms, was informed of the + elector’s intention of secretly apprehending him on the road and + conveying him to a place of safety. After getting into the wood, + Luther was mounted on horseback, and conveyed to Wartburg, + a castle belonging to the elector, where he continued to live + disguised as a knight--Junker Jörge--till March 1522. Luther was + accustomed to call the castle of Wartburg his Patmos.] + +“On the Friday after Whitsuntide, 1521, I heard a report at Antwerp, +that Martin Luther had been treacherously seized; for the herald of the +Emperor Charles, who attended him with a safe-conduct, and to whose +protection he was committed, on arriving at a lonely place near +Eisenach, said he durst proceed no further, and rode away. Immediately +ten horsemen made their appearance, and carried off the godly man thus +betrayed into their hands. He was indeed a man enlightened by the Holy +Ghost, and a follower of the true Christian faith. Whether he be yet +living, or whether his enemies have put him to death, I know not; yet +certainly what he has suffered has been for the sake of truth, and +because he has reprehended the abuses of unchristian papacy, which +strives to fetter Christian liberty with the incumbrance of human +ordinances, that we may be robbed of the price of our blood and sweat, +and shamefully plundered by idlers, while the sick and needy perish +through hunger. Above all, it is especially distressing to me to think +that God may yet allow us to remain under the blind doctrine which those +men called ‘the fathers’ have imagined and set forth, whereby the +precious word is either in many places falsely expounded or not at all +observed.”[V-47] + + [Footnote V-47: Durer, though an advocate of Luther, does not seem + to have withdrawn himself from the communion of the Church of + Rome. In his Journal, in 1521, he enters a sum of ten stivers + given to his confessor, and, subsequently, eight stivers given to + a monk who visited his wife when she was sick. The passage in + which the last item occurs is curious, and seems to prove that + female practitioners were then accustomed both to dispense and + administer medical preparations at Antwerp. “Meine Frau ward + krank,--der Apothekerinn für Klystiren gegeben 14 Stüber; dem + Mönch, der sie besuchte, 8 Stüber.”--Von Murr, Journal, 7er Theil, + S. 93.] + +After indulging in sundry pious invocations and reflections to the +extent of two or three pages, Durer thus proceeds to lament the supposed +death of Luther, and to invoke Erasmus to put his hand to the work from +which he believed that Luther had been removed. “And is Luther dead? Who +henceforth will so clearly explain to us the Gospel? Alas! what might he +not have written for us in ten or twenty years? Aid me, all pious +Christians, to bewail this man of heavenly mind, and to pray that God +may send us another as divinely enlightened. Where, O Erasmus, wilt thou +remain? Behold, now, how the tyranny of might and the power of darkness +prevail. Hear, thou champion of Christ! Ride forward, defend the truth, +and deserve the martyr’s crown, for thou art already an old man.[V-48] +I have heard from thy own mouth that thou hast allotted to thyself two +years yet of labour in which thou mightst still be able to produce +something good; employ these well for the benefit of the Gospel and the +true Christian faith: let then thy voice be heard, and so shall not the +see of Rome, the gates of Hell, as Christ saith, prevail against thee. +And though, like thy master, thou shouldst bear the scorn of the liars, +and even die a short time earlier than thou otherwise mightst, yet wilt +thou therefore pass earlier from death unto eternal life and be +glorified through Christ. If thou drinkest of the cup of which he drank, +so wilt thou reign with him and pronounce judgment on those who have +acted unrighteously.”[V-49] + + [Footnote V-48: This inducement for Erasmus to stand forth as a + candidate for the honour of martyrdom is, in the original, as + simple in expression as it is novel in conception: “Du bist doch + sonst ein altes Menniken.” Literally: For thou art already an old + _mannikin_. Erasmus, however, was not a spirit to be charmed to + enter such a circle by such an invocation. As he said of himself, + “his gift did not lie that way,” and he had as little taste for + martyrdom as he had for fish.--In one or two other passages in + Durer’s Journal there is an allusion to the diminutive stature of + Erasmus.] + + [Footnote V-49: Von Murr, Journal, 7er Theil, S. 88-93. In volume + X, p. 41, Von Murr gives from Peucer, the son-in-law of + Melancthon, the following anecdote: “Melancthon, when at + Nuremberg, on church and university affairs, was much in the + society of Pirkheimer; and Albert Durer, the painter, an + intelligent man, whose least merit, as Melancthon used to say, was + his art, was frequently one of the party. Between Pirkheimer and + Durer there were frequent disputes respecting the recent + [religious] contest, in which Durer, as he was a man of strong + mind, vigorously opposed Pirkheimer, and refuted his arguments as + if he had come prepared for the discussion. Pirkheimer growing + warm, for he was very irritable and much plagued with the gout, + would sometimes exclaim “Not so:--these things cannot be + _painted_.”--“And the arguments which you allege,” Durer would + reply, “can neither be correctly expressed nor + comprehended.”--Whatever might have been the particular points in + dispute between the two friends, Pirkheimer, as well as Durer, was + a supporter of the doctrines of Luther.”] + +About this time a large wood-cut, of which the following is a reduced +copy, was published; and though the satire which it contains will apply +equally to any monk who may be supposed to be an instrument of the +devil, it was probably directed against Luther in particular, as a +teacher of false doctrine through the inspiration of the father of lies. +In the cut the arch-enemy, as a bag-piper, is seen blowing into the ear +of a monk, whose head forms the “bag,” and by skilful fingering causing +the nose, elongated in the form of a “chanter,” to discourse sweet +music. The preaching friars of former times were no less celebrated for +their nasal melody than the “saints” in the days of Cromwell. A serious +portrait of Luther, probably engraved or drawn on wood by Hans Baldung +Grün, a pupil of Durer, was also published in 1521. It is printed in a +quarto tract, entitled, “Acta et Res gestæ D. Martini Lutheri in +Comitiis Principum Vuormaciæ, Anno MDXXI,” and also in a tract, written +by Luther himself in answer to Jerome Emser, without date, but probably +printed at Wittenberg about 1523. In this portrait, which bears +considerable resemblance to the head forming the bag of Satan’s pipe, +Luther appears as if meditating on a passage that he has just read in a +volume which he holds open; his head is surrounded with rays of glory; +and the Holy Ghost, in the form of a dove, appears as if about to settle +on his shaven crown. In an impression now before me, some one, +apparently a contemporary, who thought that Luther’s inspiration was +derived from another source, has with pen and ink transformed the dove +into one of those unclean things between bat and serpent, which are +supposed to be appropriate to the regions of darkness, and which are +generally to be seen in paintings and engravings of the temptation of +St. Anthony. + + [Illustration] + +A week after Corpus Christi day[V-50] Durer left Antwerp for Malines, +where the Archduchess Margaret, the aunt of the emperor Charles V, was +then residing. He took up his lodgings with Henry de Bles, a painter of +considerable reputation, called Civetta by the Italians, from the owl +which he painted as a mark in most of his pictures; and the painters and +statuaries, as at Antwerp and other places, invited him to an +entertainment and treated him with great respect. He waited on the +archduchess and showed her his portrait of the emperor, and would have +presented it to her, but she would by no means accept of it;--probably +because she could not well receive such a gift without making the artist +a suitable return, for it appears, from a subsequent passage in Durer’s +Journal, that she had no particular objection to receive other works of +art when they cost her nothing. + + [Footnote V-50: Corpus Christi day is a moveable festival, and is + celebrated on the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday.] + +In the course of a few days Durer returned to Antwerp, where he shortly +afterwards saw Lucas Van Leyden, the celebrated painter and engraver, +whose plates at that time were by many considered nearly equal to his +own. Durer’s brief notice of his talented contemporary is as follows: +“Received an invitation from Master Lucas, who engraves on copper. He is +a little man, and a native of Leyden in Holland.” Subsequently he +mentions having drawn Lucas’s portrait in crayons; and having exchanged +some of his own works to the value of eight florins for a complete set +of Lucas’s engravings. Durer in this part of his Journal, after +enumerating the portraits he had taken and the exchanges he had made +since his return from Malines to Antwerp, thus speaks of the manner in +which he was rewarded: “In all my transactions in the Netherlands--for +my paintings, drawings, and in disposing of my works--both with high and +low I have had the disadvantage. The Lady Margaret, especially, for all +that I have given her and done for her, has not made me the least +recompense.” + +Durer now began to make preparations for his return home. He engaged a +waggoner to take him and his wife to Cologne; he exchanged a portrait of +the emperor for some white English cloth; and, on 1st July, he borrowed +of Alexander Imhoff a hundred gold guilders to be repaid at Nuremberg; +another proof that Durer, though treated with great distinction in the +Low Countries, had not derived much pecuniary advantage during the +period of his residence there. On the 2nd July, when he was about to +leave Antwerp, the King of Denmark, Christian II, who had recently +arrived in Flanders, sent for him to take his portrait. He first drew +his majesty with black chalk--mit der Kohlen--and afterwards went with +him to Brussels, where he appears to have painted his portrait in oil +colours, and for which he received thirty florins. At Brussels, on the +Sunday before St. Margaret’s Day,[V-51] the King of Denmark gave a grand +banquet to the Emperor and the Archduchess Margaret, to which Durer had +the honour of being invited, and failed not to attend. On the following +Friday he left Brussels to return to Nuremberg, proceeding by way of +Aix-la-Chapelle to Cologne. + + [Footnote V-51: St. Margaret’s day is the 20th July.] + +Out of a variety of other matters which Durer has mentioned in his +Journal, the following--which could not be conveniently given in +chronological order in the preceding abstract--may not, perhaps, be +wholly uninteresting. He painted a portrait of one Nicholas, an +astronomer, who was in the service of the King of England, and who was +of great service to Durer on several occasions.[V-52] He gave one florin +and eight stivers for wood, but whether for drawing on, or for fuel, is +uncertain. He only mentions having made two drawings on wood during his +residence in the Low Countries, and both were of the arms of Von +Rogendorff, noticed at page 236. In one of those instances, he +distinctly says that he made the drawing, “_das man’s schneiden +mag_”--that it may be engraved. The word “_man’s_” clearly shows that it +was to be engraved by another person.--He mentions that since Raffaele’s +death his works are dispersed--“_verzogen_,”--and that one of that +master’s pupils, by name “Thomas Polonier,” had called on him and made +him a present of an antique ring. In a subsequent passage he calls this +person “Thomas Polonius,” and says that he had given him a set of his +works to be sent to Rome and exchanged for “_Raphaelische +Sache_”--things by Raffaele. + + [Footnote V-52: Durer says that this astronomer was a German, and + a native of Munich.] + +It has been said, though without sufficient authority, that Durer, weary +of a home where he was made miserable by his bad-tempered, avaricious +wife, left Nuremberg, and visited the Low Countries alone for the +purpose of avoiding her constant annoyance. There is, however, no +evidence of Durer’s visiting the Low Countries previous to 1520, when he +was accompanied by his wife; nor is there any authentic record of his +ever again visiting Flanders subsequent to the latter end of August +1521, when he left Brussels to return to Nuremberg. In 1522, Durer +published the first edition of the Triumphal Car of the Emperor +Maximilian, the designs for which had probably been made five or six +years before. One of the best portraits drawn by Durer on wood also +bears the date 1522. It is that of his friend Ulrich Varnbuler,[V-53]-- +mentioned at page 253,--and is of large size, being about seventeen +inches high by twelve and three-fourths wide. The head is full of +character, and the engraving is admirably executed. From 1522 to 1528, +the year of Durer’s death, he seems to have almost entirely given up the +practice of drawing on wood, as there are only three cuts with his mark +which contain a date between those years; they are his own arms dated +1523; his own portrait dated 1527; and the siege of a fortified city +previously noticed at page 253, also dated 1527. The following is a +reduced copy of the cut of Durer’s arms. The pair of _doors_ on the +shield--in German _Durer_ or _Thurer_--is a rebus of the artist’s name; +after the manner of the Lucys of our own country, who bore three +_luces_,[V-54] or pikes--fish, not weapons--argent, in their coat of +arms. + + [Footnote V-53: Ulrich Varnbuler was subsequently the chancellor + of the Emperor Ferdinand I. Durer mentions him in a letter + addressed to “Hernn Frey in Zurich,” and dated from Nuremberg on + the Sunday _after St. Andrew’s day_, 1523. With this letter Durer + sent to his correspondent a humorous sketch, in pen and ink, of + apes dancing, which in 1776 was still preserved in the Public + Library of Basle. The date of this letter proves the incorrectness + of Mr. Ottley’s statement, in page 723 of his Inquiry, where he + says that Durer did not return to Nuremberg from the Low Countries + “until _the middle of the year_ 1524.” Mr. Ottley is not more + correct when he says, at page 735, that the portrait of Varnbuler + is the “size of nature.”] + + [Footnote V-54: It is supposed that Shakspeare, in alluding to the + “dozen white luces” in Master Shallow’s coat of arms,--Merry Wives + of Windsor, Act I,--intended to ridicule Sir Thomas Lucy of + Charlecotte, Wiltshire, before whom he is said to have been + brought in his youth on a charge of deer-stealing.] + + [Illustration] + +The last of Durer’s engravings on copper is a portrait of Melancthon, +dated 1526, the year in which the meek and learned reformer visited +Nuremberg. The following is a reduced copy of his own portrait, perhaps +the last drawing that he made on wood. It is probably a good likeness of +the artist; at any rate it bears a great resemblance to the portrait +said to be intended for Durer’s own in his carving of the naming of St. +John, of which some account is given at page 259. The size of the +original is eleven inches and three-eighths high by ten inches wide. +According to Bartsch, the earliest impressions have not the arms and +mark, and are inscribed above the border at the top: “_Albrecht Durer’s +Conterfeyt_”--Albert Durer’s portrait. It would seem that the block had +been preserved for many years subsequent to the date, for I have now +before me an impression, on comparatively modern paper, from which it is +evident that at the time of its being taken, the block had been much +corroded by worms. + + [Illustration] + +It is probable that between 1522 and 1528 the treatises of which Durer +is the author were chiefly composed. Their Titles are An Essay on the +Fortification of Towns and Villages; Instructions for Measuring with the +Rule and Compass; and On the Proportions of the Human Body.[V-55] They +were all published at Nuremberg with illustrative wood-cuts; the first +in 1527, and the other two in 1528. It is to the latter work that +Hogarth alludes, in his Analysis of Beauty, when he speaks of Albert +Durer, Lamozzo, and others, having “puzzled mankind with a heap of +minute unnecessary divisions” in their rules for correctly drawing the +human figure. + + [Footnote V-55: Etliche Underricht zu Befestigung der Stett, + Schloss, und Flecken; Underweysung der Messung mit der Zirckel und + Richtscheyt; Bucher von Menschlicher Proportion. All in folio. + Those treatises were subsequently translated into Latin and + several times reprinted. The treatise on the Proportions of the + Human Body was also translated into French and printed at Paris in + 1557. A collection of Durer’s writings was published by J. Jansen, + 1604.] + +After a life of unremitted application,--as is sufficiently proved by +the number of his works as a painter, an engraver, and a designer on +wood,--Albert Durer died at Nuremberg on 6th April 1528, in the +fifty-seventh year of his age. His wife’s wretched temper had +unquestionably rendered the latter years of his life very unhappy, and +in her eagerness to obtain money she appears to have urged her husband +to what seems more like the heartless toil of a slave than an artist’s +exercise of his profession. It is said that her sitting-room was under +her husband’s studio, and that she was accustomed to give an admonitory +knock against the ceiling whenever she suspected that he was “not +getting forward with his work.” The following extracts from a letter, +written by Bilibald Pirkheimer shortly after Durer’s death, will show +that common fame has not greatly belied this heartless, selfish woman, +in ascribing, in a great measure, her husband’s death to the daily +vexation which she caused him, and to her urging him to continual +application in order that a greater sum might be secured to her on his +decease. The passages relating to Durer in Pirkheimer’s letter are to +the following effect.[V-56] + + [Footnote V-56: This letter is addressed to “Johann Tscherte,” an + architect residing at Vienna, the mutual friend of Pirkheimer and + Durer.--Von Murr, Journal, 10er Theil, S. 36.] + +“I have indeed lost in Albert one of the best friends I had on earth; +and nothing pains me more than the thought of his death having been so +melancholy, which, next to the will of Providence, I can ascribe to no +one but his wife, for she fretted him so much and tasked him so hard +that he departed sooner than he otherwise would. He was dried up like a +bundle of straw; durst never enjoy himself nor enter into company. This +bad woman, moreover, was anxious about that for which she had no +occasion to take heed,--she urged him to labour day and night solely +that he might earn money, even at the cost of his life, and leave it to +her; she was content to live despised, as she does still, provided +Albert might leave her six thousand guilders. But she cannot enjoy them: +the sum of the matter is, she alone has been the cause of his death. +I have often expostulated with her about her fretful, jealous conduct, +and warned her what the consequences would be, but have only met with +reproach. To the friends and sincere well-wishers of Albert she was sure +to be the enemy; while such conduct was to him a cause of exceeding +grief, and contributed to bring him to the grave. I have not seen her +since his death; she will have nothing to say to me, although I have on +many occasions rendered her great service. Whoever contradicts her, or +gives not way to her in all things, is sure to incur her enmity; I am, +therefore, better pleased that she should keep herself away. She and her +sister are not indeed women of loose character; but, on the contrary, +are, as I believe, of honest reputation and religious; one would, +however, rather have one of the other kind who otherwise conducts +herself in a pleasant manner, than a fretful, jealous, scolding +wife--however devout she may be--with whom a man can have no peace +either day or night. We must, however, leave the matter to the will of +God, who will be gracious and merciful to Albert, for his life was that +of a pious and righteous man. As he died like a good Christian, we may +have little doubt of his salvation. God grant us grace, and that in his +own good time we may happily follow Albert.” + +The popular error,--as I believe it to be,--that Albert Durer was an +engraver on wood, has not tended, in England, where his works as a +painter are but little known, to increase his reputation. Many persons +on looking over the wood engravings which bear his mark have thought but +meanly of their execution; and have concluded that his abilities as an +artist were much over-rated, on the supposition that his fame chiefly +rested on the presumed fact of his being the engraver of those works. +Certain writers, too, speaking of him as a painter and an engraver on +copper, have formed rather an unfavourable estimate of his talents, by +comparing his pictures with those of his great Italian contemporaries,-- +Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, and Raffaele,--and by judging of his +engravings with reference to the productions of modern art, in which the +freedom and effect of etching are combined with the precision and +clearness of lines produced by the burin. This, however, is judging the +artist by an unfair standard. Though he has not attained, nor indeed +attempted, that sublimity which seems to have been principally the aim +of the three great Italian masters above mentioned, he has produced much +that is beautiful, natural, and interesting; and which, though it may +not stand so high in the scale of art as the grand compositions of his +three great contemporaries, is no less necessary to its completion. The +field which he cultivated, though not yielding productions so noble or +splendid as theirs, was of greater extent and afforded greater variety. +If they have left us more sublime conceptions of past and future events, +Durer has transmitted to us more faithful pictures of the characters, +manners, and customs of his own times. Let those who are inclined to +depreciate his engravings on copper, as dry and meagre when compared +with the productions of modern engravers, consider the state in which he +found the art; and let them also recollect that he was not a mere +translator of another person’s ideas, but that he engraved his own +designs. Setting aside his merits as a painter, I am of opinion that no +artist of the present day has produced, from his own designs, three such +engravings as Durer’s Adam and Eve, St. Jerome seated in his chamber +writing, and the subject entitled Melancolia.[V-57] Let it also not be +forgotten that to Albert Durer we owe the discovery of etching; a branch +of the art which gives to modern engravers, more especially in +landscape, so great an advantage over the original inventor. Looking +impartially at the various works of Durer, and considering the period +and the country in which he lived, few, I think, will venture to deny +that he was one of the greatest artists of his age. The best proof +indeed of the solidity of his fame is afforded by the esteem in which +his works have been held for three centuries by nearly all persons who +have had opportunities of seeing them, except such as have, upon narrow +principles, formed an exclusive theory with respect to excellence in +art. With such authorities nothing can be beautiful or interesting that +is not _grand_; every country parish church should be built in the style +of a Grecian temple; our woods should grow nothing but oaks; a country +gentleman’s dove-cot should be a fac-simile of the lantern of +Demosthenes; the sign of the Angel at a country inn should be painted +by a Guido; and a picture representing the meeting of the British +Association for the Advancement of Science should be in the style of +Raffaele’s School of Athens. + + [Footnote V-57: Those three engravings are respectively numbered + 1, 60, and 67 in Bartsch’s list of Durer’s works in his + Peintre-Graveur, tom. vii. The Adam and Eve is nine inches and + three-fourths high by seven inches and a half wide,--date 1504; + St. Jerome, nine inches and five-eighths high by seven inches and + three-eighths wide,--date 1514; Melancolia, nine inches and + three-eighths high by seven inches and one fourth wide,--date + 1514.] + +Lucas Cranach, a painter of great repute in his day, like his +contemporary Durer has also been supposed to be the engraver of the +wood-cuts which bear his mark, but which, in all probability, were only +drawn by him on the block and executed by professional wood engravers. +The family name of this artist was Sunder, and he is also sometimes +called Muller or Maler--Painter--from his profession. He acquired the +name Cranach, or Von Cranach, from Cranach, a town in the territory of +Bamberg, where he was born in 1470. He enjoyed the patronage of the +electoral princes of Saxony, and one of the most frequent of his marks +is a shield of the arms of that family. Another of his marks is a shield +with two swords crossed; a third is a kind of dragon; and a fourth is +the initial letters of his name, L. C. Sometimes two or three of those +marks are to be found in one cut. There are four engravings on copper +with the mark [[LCZ]] which are generally ascribed to this artist. That +they are from his designs is very likely, but whether they were engraved +by himself or not is uncertain. One of them bears the date 1492, and it +is probable that they were all executed about the same period. Two of +those pieces were in the possession of Mr. Ottley, who says, “Perhaps +the two last characters of the mark may be intended for _Cr_.” It seems, +however, more likely that the last character is intended for the letter +which it most resembles--a Z, and that it denotes the German word +_zeichnet_--that is “_drew_;” in the same manner as later artists +occasionally subjoined the letter P or F to their names for _Pinxit_ or +_Fecit_, respectively as they might have painted the picture or engraved +the plate. + +One of the earliest chiaro-scuros, as has before been observed, printed +from three blocks, is from a design of Lucas Cranach. It is dated 1509, +nine years before the earliest chiaro-scuro with a date executed by Ugo +da Carpi, to whom Vasari and others have erroneously ascribed the +invention of this mode of imitating a drawing by impressions from two or +more wood-blocks. The subject, like that of the following specimen, is a +Repose in Egypt, but is treated in a different manner,--the Virgin being +represented giving suck to the infant Christ. + +The wood engravings that contain Cranach’s mark are not so numerous as +those which contain the mark of Albert Durer, and they are also +generally inferior to the latter both in effect and design. The +following reduced copy of a cut which contains three of Cranach’s four +marks will afford some idea of the style of his designs on wood. As a +specimen of his ability in this branch of art it is perhaps superior to +the greater part of his designs executed in the same manner. The subject +is described by Bartsch as a Repose in Egypt. The action of the youthful +angels who are dancing round the Virgin and the infant Christ is +certainly truly juvenile if not graceful. The two children seen up the +tree robbing an eagle’s nest are perhaps emblematic of the promised +peace of Christ’s kingdom and of the destruction of the power of Satan: +“No lion shall be there nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it +shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there.”[V-58] In +the right-hand corner at the top is the shield of the arms of Saxony; +and to the left, also at the top, is another of Cranach’s marks--a +shield with two swords crossed; in the right-hand corner at the bottom +is a third mark,--the figure of a kind of dragon with a ring in its +mouth. The size of the original cut is thirteen inches and one-fourth +high by nine inches and one-fourth wide. + + [Footnote V-58: Isaiah, chapter xxxv. verse 9.] + + [Illustration] + +Cranach was much esteemed in his own country as a painter, and several +of his pictures are still regarded with admiration. He was in great +favour with John Frederick, Elector of Saxony,[V-59] and at one period +of his life was one of the magistrates of Wittenberg. He died at Weimar, +on 16th October 1553, aged eighty-three. + + [Footnote V-59: One of the largest wood-cuts designed by Cranach + is a subject representing the baptism of some saint; and having on + one side a portrait of Frederick, Elector of Saxony, and on the + other a portrait of Luther. The block has consisted of three + pieces, and from the impressions it seems as if the parts + containing the portraits of the elector and Luther had been added + after the central part had been finished. The piece altogether is + comparatively worthless in design, and is very indifferently + engraved.] + +Another eminent painter who has been classed with Durer and Cranach as a +wood engraver is Hans Burgmair, who was born at Augsburg about 1473. The +mark of this artist is to be found on a great number of wood engravings, +but beyond this fact there is not the least reason to suppose that he +ever engraved a single block. To those who have described Burgmair as a +wood engraver from this circumstance only, a most satisfactory answer is +afforded by the fact that several of the original blocks of the Triumphs +of Maximilian, which contain Burgmair’s mark, have at the back the names +of the different engravers by whom they were executed. As we have here +positive evidence of cuts with Burgmair’s mark being engraved by other +persons, we cannot certainly conclude that any cut, from the mere fact +of its containing his mark, was actually engraved by himself. Next to +Albert Durer he was one of the best designers on wood of his age; and as +one of the early masters of the German school of painting he is +generally considered as entitled to rank next to the great painter of +Nuremberg. It has indeed been supposed that Burgmair was a pupil of +Durer; but for this opinion there seems to be no sufficient ground. It +is certain that he made many of the designs for the wood-cuts published +under the title of The Triumphs of Maximilian; and it is also probable +that he drew nearly all the cuts in the book entitled Der Weiss +Kunig--The Wise King, another work illustrative of the learning, wisdom, +and adventures of the Emperor Maximilian.[V-60] Before proceeding, +however, to give any account of those works, it seems advisable to give +two specimens from a different series of wood-cuts of his designing, and +to briefly notice two or three of the more remarkable single cuts that +bear his mark. + + [Footnote V-60: Burgmair also made the designs for a series of + saints, male and female, of the family of the emperor, which are + also engraved on wood. The original blocks, with the names of the + engravers written at the back, are still preserved, and are at + present in the Imperial Library at Vienna.] + +The cut on the opposite page is a reduced copy from a series designed by +Burgmair. The subject is Samson and Delilah, and is treated according to +the old German fashion, without the least regard to propriety of +costume. Samson is represented like a grisly old German baron of +Burgmair’s own time, with limbs certainly not indicating extraordinary +strength; and Delilah seems very deliberately engaged in cutting off his +hair. The wine flagon and fowl, to the left, would seem to indicate the +danger of yielding to sensual indulgence. The original cut is surrounded +by an ornamental border, and is four inches and five-eighths high by +three inches and five-eighths wide. Burgmair’s mark H. B. is at the +bottom of the cut, to the right. + + [Illustration] + +The cut on page 280 is also a reduced copy from one of the same series, +and is a proof that those who call the whole by the general title of +“Bible Prints” are not exactly correct in their nomenclature. The +somewhat humorous-looking personage, whom a lady is using as her pad, is +thus described in an inscription underneath the cut: “Aristotle, a +Greek, the son of Nicomachus. A disciple of Plato, and the master of +Alexander the Great.” Though Aristotle is said to have been extremely +fond of his wife Pythaïs, and to have paid her divine honours after her +death, there is no record, I believe, of her having amused herself with +riding on her husband’s back. The subject is probably intended to +illustrate the power of the fair sex over even the wisest of mortals, +and to show that philosophers themselves when under such influence +occasionally forget their character as teachers of men, and exhibit +themselves in situations which scarcely an ass might envy. The original +is surrounded by a border, and is four inches and five-eighths high by +three inches and five-eighths wide. + + [Illustration] + +There are several chiaro-scuros from wood-blocks with Burgmair’s mark. +One of the earliest is a portrait of “Joannes Paungartner,” from two +blocks, with the date 1512; another of St. George on horseback, from two +blocks, engraved by Jost or Josse de Negher, without date; a third +representing a young woman flying from Death, who is seen killing a +young man,--from three blocks, without date; and a fourth of the Emperor +Maximilian on horseback, from two blocks, with the date 1518. + +The best cuts of Burgmair’s designing, though drawn with great spirit +and freedom, are decidedly inferior to the best of the wood-cuts +designed by Albert Durer. Errors in perspective are frequent in the cuts +which bear his mark; his figures are not so varied nor their characters +so well indicated as Durer’s; and in their arrangement, or grouping, he +is also inferior to Durer, as well as in the art of giving effect to his +subjects by the skilful distribution of light and shade. The cuts in the +Wise King, nearly all of which are said to have been designed by him, +are, for the most part, very inferior productions both with respect to +engraving and design. His merits as a designer on wood are perhaps shown +to greater advantage in the Triumphs of Maximilian than in any other of +his works executed in this manner.--Some writers have asserted that +Burgmair died in 1517, but this is certainly incorrect; for there is a +portrait of him, with that of his wife on the same pannel, painted by +himself in 1529, when he was fifty-six years old. Underneath this +painting was a couplet to the following effect: + + Our likeness such as here you view;-- + The glass itself was not more true.[V-61] + + [Footnote V-61: + “Solche Gestalt unser baider was, + Im Spigel aber nix dan das!” + A small engraving in a slight manner appears to have been made of + the portraits of Burgmair and his wife by George Christopher + Kilian, an artist of Augsburg, about 1774.--Von Murr, Journal, + 4er Theil, S. 22.] + +Burgmair, like Cranach, lived till he was upwards of eighty; but it +would seem that he had given up drawing on wood for many years previous +to his death, for I am not aware of there being any wood-cuts designed +by him with a date subsequent to 1530. He died in 1559, aged eighty-six. + +Hans Schäufflein is another of those old German painters who are +generally supposed to have been also engravers on wood. Bartsch, +however, thinks that, like Durer, Cranach, and Burgmair, he only made +the designs for the wood-cuts which are ascribed to him, and that they +were engraved by other persons. Schäufflein was born at Nuremberg in +1483; and it is said that he was a pupil of Albert Durer. Subsequently +he removed to Nordlingen, a town in Suabia, about sixty miles to the +south-westward of Nuremberg, where he died in 1550. + +The wood-cuts in connexion with which Schäufllein’s name is most +frequently mentioned are the illustrations of the work usually called +the Adventures of Sir Theurdank,[V-62] an allegorical poem, in folio, +which is said to have been the joint composition of the Emperor +Maximilian and his private secretary Melchior Pfintzing, provost of the +church of St. Sebald at Nuremberg. Though Köhler, a German author, in an +Essay on Sir Theurdank,--De inclyto libro poetico Theurdank,--has highly +praised the poetical beauties of the work, they are certainly not such +as are likely to interest an English reader. “The versified allegory of +Sir Theurdank,” says Küttner,[V-63] “is deficient in true Epic beauty; +it has also nothing, as a poem, of the romantic descriptions of the +thirteenth century,--nothing of the delicate gallantry of the age of +chivalry and the troubadours. The machinery which sets all in action are +certain personifications of Envy, restless Curiosity, and Daring; these +induce the hero to undertake many perilous adventures, from which he +always escapes through Understanding and Virtue. Such is the groundwork +of the fable which Pfintzing constructs in order to extol, under +allegorical representations, the perils, adventures, and heroic deeds of +the emperor. Everything is described so figuratively as to amount to a +riddle; and the story proceeds with little connexion and without +animation. There are no striking descriptive passages, no Homeric +similes, and no episodes to allow the reader occasionally to rest; in +fact, nothing admirable, spirit-stirring, or great. The poem is indeed +rather moral than epic; Lucan’s Pharsalia partakes more of the epic +character than Pfintzing’s Theurdank. Pfintzing, however, surpasses the +Cyclic poets alluded to by Horace.”[V-64] + + [Footnote V-62: The original title of the work is: “Die + gevarlichkeiten und eins teils der Geschichten des loblichen + streytparen und hochberümbten Helds und Ritters Tewrdanckha.” That + is: The adventurous deeds and part of the history of the famous, + valiant, and highly-renowned hero Sir Theurdank. The name, + Theurdank, in the language of the period, would seem to imply a + person whose thoughts were only employed on noble and elevated + subjects. Goethe, who in his youth was fond of looking over old + books illustrated with wood-cuts, alludes to Sir Theurdank in his + admirable play of Götz von Berlichingen: “Geht! Geht!” says + Adelheid to Weislingen, “Erzählt das Mädchen die den Teurdanck + lesen, und sich so einen Mann wünschen.”--“Go! Go! Tell that to a + girl who reads Sir Theurdank, and wishes that she may have such a + husband.” In Sir Walter Scott’s faulty translation of this + play--under the name of _William_ Scott, 1799,--the passage is + rendered as follows: “Go! Go! Talk of that to some forsaken damsel + whose Corydon has proved forsworn.” In another passage where + Goethe makes Adelheid allude to the popular “Märchen,” or tale, of + Number-Nip, the point is completely lost in the translation: + “Entbinden nicht unsre Gesetze solchen Schwüren?--Macht das + Kindern weiss die den Rübezahl glauben.” Literally, “Do not our + laws release you from such oaths?--Tell that to children who + believe Number-Nip.” In Sir Walter Scott’s translation the passage + is thus most incorrectly rendered: “Such agreement is no more + binding than an unjust extorted oath. Every child knows what faith + is to be kept with robbers.” The name _Rübezahl_ is literally + translated by _Number-Neep_; Rübe is the German name for a + turnip,--Scoticè, a neep. The story is as well known in Germany as + that of Jack the Giant-Killer in England.] + + [Footnote V-63: Charaktere Teutscher Dichter und Prosaisten, + S. 71. Berlin, 1781.] + + [Footnote V-64: + + Nec sic incipies, ut scriptor cyclicus olim: + “Fortunam Priami cantabo, et nobile bellum:” + Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu? + Parturiunt montes; nascetur ridiculus mus. + Ars Poetica, v. 136-139. + + In a Greek epigram the Cyclic poets are thus noticed: + + Τοὺς κυκλίους τούτους τοὺς αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα λέγοντας + Μισῶ λωποδύτας ἀλλοτρίων ἐπέων.] + +The first edition of Sir Theurdank was printed by Hans Schönsperger the +elder, at Nuremberg in 1517; and in 1519 two editions appeared at +Augsburg from the press of the same printer. As Schönsperger’s +established printing-office was at the latter city and not at Nuremberg, +Panzer has supposed that the imprint of Nuremberg in the first edition +might have been introduced as a compliment to the nominal author, +Melchior Pfintzing, who then resided in that city. Two or three other +editions of Sir Theurdank, with the same cuts, appeared between 1519 and +1602; but Küttner, in his Characters of German poets and prose-writers, +says that in all those editions alterations have been made in the text. + +The character in which Sir Theurdank is printed is of great beauty and +much ornamented with flourishes. Several writers, and among others +Fournier, who was a type-founder and wood-engraver, have erroneously +described the text as having been engraved on blocks of wood. This very +superficial and incorrect writer also states that the cuts contained in +the volume are “chefs-d’œuvres de la gravure en bois.”[V-65] His opinion +with respect to the cuts is about as correct as his judgment respecting +the type; the most of them are in fact very ordinary productions, and +are neither remarkable for execution nor design. He also informs his +readers that he has discovered on some of those cuts an H and an S, +accompanied with a little shovel, and that they are the monogram of +_Hans Sebalde_, or Hans Schäufflein. By _Hans Sebalde_ he perhaps means +Hans Sebald Behaim, an artist born at Nuremberg in 1500, and who never +used the letters H and S, accompanied with a little shovel, as a +monogram. Fournier did not know that this mark is used exclusively by +Hans Schäufflein; and that the little shovel, or baker’s peel,--called +in old German, Schäufflein, or Scheuffleine,--is a rebus of his surname. +The careful examination of writers more deserving of credit has +completely proved that the text of the three earliest editions--those +only in which it was asserted to be from engraved wood-blocks--is +printed from moveable types of metal. Breitkopf[V-66] has observed, that +in the edition of 1517 the letter i, in the word _shickhet_, in the +second line following the eighty-fourth cut, is inverted; and Panzer and +Brunner have noticed several variations in the orthography of the second +and third editions when compared with the first. + + [Footnote V-65: Dissertation sur l’Origine et les Progres de l’Art + de Graver en Bois, p. 74. Paris, 1758.] + + [Footnote V-66: The kind of character in which the text of Sir + Theurdank is printed is called “Fractur” by German printers. “The + first work,” says Breitkopf, “which afforded an example of a + perfectly-shaped _Fractur_ for printing, was unquestionably the + Theurdank, printed at Nuremberg, 1517.”--Ueber Bibliographie und + Bibliophile, S. 8. 1793.--Neudörffer, a contemporary, who lived at + Nuremberg at the time when Sir Theurdank was first published, says + that the specimens for the types were written by Vincent Rockner, + the emperor’s court-secretary.--Von Murr, Journal, 2er Theil, + S. 159; and Lichtenberger, Initia Typographica, p. 194.] + +There are a hundred and eighteen wood-cuts in the Adventures of Sir +Theurdank, which are all supposed to have been designed, if not +engraved, by Hans Schäufflein, though his mark, [Symbol], occurs on not +more than five or six. From the general similarity of style I have, +however, no doubt that the designs were all made by the same person, and +I think it more likely that Schaufflein was the designer than the +engraver. The cut on page 284 is a reduced copy of that numbered 14 in +the first edition. The original is six inches and one-fourth high by +five inches and a half wide. In this cut, Sir Theurdank is seen, in the +dress of a hunter, encountering a huge bear; while to the right is +perceived one of his tempters, _Fürwittig_--restless Curiosity,--and to +the left, on horseback, Theurdank’s squire, Ernhold. The title of the +chapter, or fytte, to which this cut is prefixed is to the following +effect: “How Fürwittig led Sir Theurdank into a perilous encounter with +a she-bear.” The subject of the thirteenth chapter is his perilous +encounter with a stag, and in the fifteenth we are entertained with the +narration of one of his adventures when hunting the chamois. + + [Illustration] + +The opposite cut is a reduced copy of No. 111 in the Adventures of Sir +Theurdank. The title of the chapter to which this cut is prefixed is: +“How Unfalo [one of Theurdank’s tempters] was hung.” A monk at the foot +of the gallows appears to pray for the culprit just turned off; while +Ernold seems to be explaining to a group of spectators to the left the +reason of the execution. The cut illustrative of the 110th chapter +represents the beheading of “Fürwittig;” and in the 112th, “Neydelhart,” +the basest of Theurdank’s enemies, is seen receiving the reward of his +perfidy by being thrown into a moat. The two original cuts which have +been selected as specimens of the wood engravings in the Adventures of +Sir Theurdank, though not the best, are perhaps, in point of design and +execution, rather superior to two-thirds of those contained in the work. +The copies, though less in size, afford a tolerably correct idea of the +style of the originals, which no one who is acquainted with the best +wood-cuts engraved after the designs of Durer and Burgmair will assert +to be “chefs-d’œuvres” of the art of wood engraving. + + [Illustration] + +There are a number of wood-cuts which contain Hans Schäufflein’s mark, +though somewhat different from that which occurs in the Adventures of +Sir Theurdank; the S being linked with one of the upright lines of the +H, instead of being placed between them. When the letters are combined +in this manner, there are frequently two little shovels crossed, “in +saltire,” as a herald would say, instead of a single one as in Sir +Theurdank. The following mark, [Symbol], occurs on a series of wood-cuts +illustrative of Christ’s Passion, printed at Frankfort by C. Egenolf, +1542; on the cuts in a German almanack, Mentz, 1545, and 1547; and on +several single subjects executed about that period. This mark, it is +said, distinguishes the designs of Hans Schaufflein the younger. +Bartsch, however, observes, that “what Strutt has said about there being +two persons of this name, an elder and a younger, seems to be a mere +conjecture.” + +The book entitled Der Weiss Kunig--the Wise King--is another of the +works projected by the Emperor Maximilian in order to inform the world +of sundry matters concerning his father Frederick III, his own +education, warlike and perilous deeds, government, wooing, and wedding. +This work is in prose; and though Marx Treitzsaurwein, the emperor’s +secretary, is put forth as the author, there is little doubt of its +having been chiefly composed by Maximilian himself. About 1512 it +appears that the materials for this work were prepared by the emperor, +and that about 1514 they were entrusted to his secretary, +Treitzsaurwein, to be put in order. It would appear that before the work +was ready for the press Maximilian had died; and Charles V. was too much +occupied with other matters to pay much attention to the publication of +an enigmatical work, whose chief object was to celebrate the +accomplishments, knowledge, and adventures of his grandfather. The +obscurity of many passages in the emperor’s manuscript seems to have, in +a great measure, retarded the completion of the work. There is now in +the Imperial Library at Vienna a manuscript volume of queries respecting +the doubtful passages in the Weiss Kunig; and as each had ultimately to +be referred to the emperor, it would seem that, from the pressure of +more important business and his increased age, he had wanted leisure and +spirits to give the necessary explanations. In the sixteenth century, +Richard Strein, an eminent philologer, began a sort of commentary or +exposition of the more difficult passages in the Wise King; and +subsequently his remarks came into the hands of George Christopher von +Schallenberg, who, in 1631, had the good fortune to obtain at Vienna +impressions of most of the cuts which were intended by the emperor to +illustrate the work, together with several of the original drawings. +Treitzsaurwein’s manuscript, which for many years had been preserved at +Ambras in the Tyrol, having been transferred to the Imperial Library at +Vienna, and the original blocks having been discovered in the Jesuits’ +College at Gratz in Stiria, the text and cuts were printed together, for +the first time, in a folio volume, at Vienna in 1775.[V-67] + + [Footnote V-67: The title of the volume is “Der Weiss Kunig. Eine + Erzehlung von den Thaten Kaiser Maximilian des Ersten. Von Marx + Treitzsaurwein auf dessen Angeben zusammen getragen, nebst von + Hannsen Burgmair dazu verfertigten Holzschnitten. Herausgeben aus + dem Manuscripte der Kaiserl. Königl. Hofbibliothek. Wien, auf + Kosten Joseph Kurzböckens, 1775.”] + +It is probable that the greater part, if not all the cuts, were finished +previous to the emperor’s death; and impressions of them, very likely +taken shortly after the blocks were finished, were known to collectors +long before the publication of the book. The late Mr. Ottley had +seventy-seven of the series, apparently taken as proofs by means of a +press. The paper on which these cuts are impressed appears to have +consisted of fragments, on one side of which there had previously been +printed certain state papers of the Emperor Maximilian, dated 1514. They +were sold at the sale of the late Mr. Ottley’s engravings in 1838, and +are now in the Print Room of the British Museum. In the volume printed +at Vienna in 1775, there are two hundred and thirty-seven[V-68] large +cuts, of which number ninety-two contain Burgmair’s mark, H. B; one +contains Schaufflein’s mark; another the mark of Hans Springinklee; and +a third, a modern cut, is marked “F. F. S. V. 1775.” Besides the large +cuts, all of which are old except the last noticed, there are a few +worthless tail-pieces of modern execution, one of which, a nondescript +bird, has been copied by Bewick, and is to be found at page 144 of the +first edition of his Quadrupeds, 1790. + + [Footnote V-68: In the Imperial Library at Vienna there is a + series of old impressions of cuts intended for “Der Weiss Kunig,” + consisting of two hundred and fifty pieces; it would therefore + appear, supposing this set to be perfect, that there are fourteen + of the original blocks lost. Why a single modern cut has been + admitted into the book, and thirteen of the old impressions not + re-engraved, it perhaps would be difficult to give a satisfactory + reason.] + +The cuts in the Weiss Kunig, with respect to the style in which they are +designed, bear considerable resemblance to those in Sir Theurdank; and +from their execution it is evident that they have been cut by different +engravers; some of them being executed in a very superior manner, and +others affording proofs of their either being cut by a novice or a very +indifferent workman. It has been said that all those which contain the +mark of Hans Burgmair show a decided superiority in point of engraving; +but this assertion is not correct, for several of them may be classed +with the worst executed in the volume. The unequal manner in which the +cuts with Burgmair’s mark are executed is with me an additional reason +for believing that he only furnished the designs for professional wood +engravers to execute, and never engraved on wood himself. + +It seems unnecessary to give any specimens of the cuts in the Weiss +Kunig, as an idea of their style may be formed from those given at pages +284 and 285 from Sir Theurdank; and as other specimens of Burgmair’s +talents as a designer on wood will be given subsequently from the +Triumphs of Maximilian. The following abstract of the titles of a few of +the chapters may perhaps afford some idea of the work, while they prove +that the education of the emperor embraced a wide circle, forming almost +a perfect Cyclopædia. The first fifteen chapters give an account of the +marriage of the Old Wise King, Frederick III, the father of Maximilian, +with Elenora, daughter of Alphonso V, King of Portugal; his journey to +Rome and his coronation there by the pope; with the birth, and +christening of Maximilian, the Young Wise King. About thirty-five +chapters, from XV. to L., are chiefly occupied with an account of +Maximilian’s education. After learning to write, he is instructed in the +liberal arts; and after some time devoted to “Politik,” or King-craft, +he proceeds to the study of the _black-art_, a branch of knowledge which +the emperor subsequently held to be vain and ungodly. He then commences +the study of history, devotes some attention to medicine and law, and +learns the Italian and Bohemian languages. He then learns to paint; +studies the principles of architecture, and tries his hand at carpentry. +He next takes lessons in music; and about the same time acquires a +practical knowledge of the art of cookery:--the Wise King, we are +informed, was a person of nice taste in kitchen affairs, and had a +proper relish for savoury and well-cooked viands. To the accomplishment +of dancing he adds a knowledge of numismatics; and, after making himself +acquainted with the mode of working mines, he learns to shoot with the +hand-gun and the cross-bow. The chase, falconry, angling, and fowling +next occupy his attention; and about the same time he learns to fence, +to tilt, and to manage the great horse. His course of education appears +to have been wound up with practical lessons in the art of making +armour, in gunnery, and in fortification. From the fiftieth chapter to +the conclusion, the book is chiefly filled with accounts of the wars and +adventures of Maximilian, which are for the most part allegorically +detailed, and require the reader to be well versed in the true history +of the emperor to be able to unriddle them. Küttner says that, +notwithstanding its allegories and enigmatical allusions, the Weiss +Kunig is a work which displays much mind in the conception and +execution, and considerable force and elegance of language; and that it +chiefly wants a more orderly arrangement of the events. “Throughout the +whole,” he adds, “there are evidences of a searching genius, improved by +science and a knowledge of the affairs of the world.”[V-69] + + [Footnote V-69: Charaktere Teutscher Dichter und Prosaisten, + S. 70.] + +The series of wood-cuts called the Triumphs of Maximilian are, both with +respect to design and engraving, the best of all the works thus executed +by command of the emperor to convey to posterity a pictorial +representation of the splendour of his court, his victories, and the +extent of his possessions. This work appears to have been commenced +about the same time as the Weiss Kunig; and from the subject, +a triumphal procession, it was probably intended to be the last of the +series of wood-cuts by which he was desirous of disseminating an opinion +of his power and his fame. Of those works he only lived to see one +published,--the Adventures of Sir Theurdank; the Wise King, the +Triumphal Car, the Triumphal Arch, and the Triumphal Procession, appear +to have been all unfinished at the time of his decease in 1519. The +total number of cuts contained in the latter work, published under the +title of the Triumphs of Maximilian, in 1796, is one hundred and +thirty-five; but had the series been finished according to the original +drawings, now preserved in the Imperial Library at Vienna, the whole +number of the cuts would have been about two hundred and eighteen. Of +the hundred and thirty-five published there are about sixteen designed +in a style so different from the rest, that it is doubtful if they +belong to the same series; and this suspicion receives further +confirmation from the fact that the subjects of those sixteen doubtful +cuts are not to be found among the original designs. It would therefore +seem, that, unless some of the blocks have been lost or destroyed, +little more than one-half of the cuts intended for the Triumphal +Procession were finished when the emperor’s death put a stop to the +further progress of the work. It is almost certain, that none of the +cuts were engraved after the emperor’s death; for the date, commencing +with 1516, is written at the back of several of the original blocks, and +on no one is it later than 1519. + +The plan of the Triumphal Procession,--consisting of a description of +the characters to be introduced, the order in which they are to follow +each other, their arms, dress, and appointments,--appears to have been +dictated by the emperor to his secretary Treitzsaurwein, the nominal +author of the Weiss Kunig, in 1512. In this manuscript the subjects for +the rhyming inscriptions intended for the different banners and tablets +are also noted in prose. Another manuscript, in the handwriting of +Treitzsaurwein, and interlined by the emperor himself, contains the +inscriptions for the banners and tablets in verse; and a third +manuscript, written after the drawings were finished, contains a +description of the subjects,--though not so much in detail as the first, +and in some particulars slightly differing,--with all the inscriptions +in verse except eight. From those manuscripts, which are preserved in +the Imperial Library at Vienna, the descriptions in the edition of 1796 +have been transcribed. Most of the descriptions and verses were +previously given by Von Murr, in 1775, in the ninth volume of his +Journal. The edition of the Triumphal Procession published in 1796 also +contains a French translation of the descriptions, with numbers +referring to those printed at the right-hand corner of the cuts. The +numbers, however, of the description and the cut in very many instances +do not agree; and it would almost seem, from the manner in which the +text is printed, that the publishers did not wish to facilitate a +comparison between the description and the cut which they have numbered +as corresponding with it. The gross negligence of the publishers, or +their editor, in this respect materially detracts from the interest of +the work. To compare the descriptions with the cuts is not only a work +of some trouble, but it is also labour thrown away. Von Murr’s volume, +from its convenient size, is of much greater use in comparing the cuts +with the description than the text printed in the edition of 1796; and +though it contains no numbers for reference,--as no complete collection +of the cuts had then been printed,--it contains no misdirections: and it +is better to have no guide-posts than such as only lead the traveller +wrong. + +The original drawings for the Triumphal Procession,--or as the work is +usually called, the Triumphs of Maximilian,--are preserved in the +Imperial Library at Vienna. They are painted in water colours, on a +hundred and nine sheets of vellum, each thirty-four inches long by +twenty inches high, and containing two of the engraved subjects. Dr. +Dibdin, who saw the drawings in 1818, says that they are rather gaudily +executed, and that he prefers the engravings to the original +paintings.[V-70] Whether those paintings are the work of Hans Burgmair, +or not, appears to be uncertain. From the following extract from the +preface to the Triumphs of Maximilian, published in 1796, it is evident +that the writer did not think that the original drawings were executed +by that artist. “The engravings of this Triumph, far from being servile +copies of the paintings in miniature, differ from them entirely, so far +as regards the manner in which they are designed. Most all the groups +have a different form, and almost every figure a different attitude; +_consequently Hans Burgmair appears in his work in the character of +author [original designer], and so much the more, as he has in many +points surpassed his model_. But whatever may be the difference between +the engravings and the drawings on vellum, the subjects still so far +correspond that they may be recognised without the least difficulty. It +is, however, necessary to except eighteen of the engravings, in which +this correspondence would be sought for in vain. Those engravings are, +the twelve from No. 89 to 100, and the six from 130 to 135.” As the cuts +appear to have been intentionally wrong numbered, it is not easy to +determine from this reference which are actually the first twelve +alluded to, for in most of the copies which I have seen, the numerals +91, 92, and 93 occur twice,--though the subjects of the cuts are +different. In the copy now before me, I have to observe that there are +_sixteen_[V-71] cuts designed in a style so different from those which +contain Burgmair’s mark, that I am convinced they have not been drawn by +that artist. Without enquiring whether the subjects are to be found in +the paintings or not, I am satisfied that a considerable number of the +engravings, besides those sixteen, were not drawn on the wood by Hans +Burgmair. Both Breitkopf and Von Murr[V-72] have asserted that the +drawings for the Triumphs of Maximilian were made by Albert Durer, but +they do not say whether they mean the drawings on vellum, or the +drawings on the blocks. This assertion is, however, made without any +authority; and, whether they meant the drawings on vellum or the +drawings on the block, it is unquestionably incorrect. The drawings on +vellum are not by Durer, and of the whole hundred and thirty-five cuts +there are not more than five or six that can be supposed with any degree +of probability to have been of his designing. + + [Footnote V-70: Bibliographical Tour, vol iii. p. 330.] + + [Footnote V-71: The subjects of those sixteen cuts are chiefly the + statues of the emperor’s ancestors, with representations of + himself, and of his family alliances. Several of the carriages are + propelled by mechanical contrivances, which for laborious + ingenuity may vie with the machine for uncorking bottles in one of + the subjects of Hogarth’s Marriage à la Mode. In the copy before + me those engravings are numbered 89, 90, 91, 91, 92, 92, 93, 93, + 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 101, 102, 103.] + + [Footnote V-72: Breitkopf, Ueber Bibliographie und Bibliophile, + S. 4. Leipzig, 1793. Von Murr, Journal, 9er Theil, S. 1. At page + 255 I have said: “Though I have not been able to ascertain + satisfactorily the subject of Durer’s painting in the Town-hall of + Nuremberg, I am inclined to think that it is the Triumphal _Car_ + of Maximilian.” Since the sheet containing the above passage was + printed off I have ascertained that the subject _is_ the Triumphal + Car; and that it is described in Von Murr’s Nürnbergischen + Merkwürdigkeiten, S. 395.] + +Forty of the blocks from which the Triumphs of Maximilian are printed +were obtained from Ambras in the Tyrol, where they had probably been +preserved since the time of the emperor’s death; and the other +ninety-five were discovered in the Jesuits’ College at Gratz in Stiria. +The whole were brought to Vienna and deposited in the Imperial Library +in 1779. A few proofs had probably been taken when the blocks were +engraved; there are ninety of those old impressions in the Imperial +Library; Monsieur Mariette had ninety-seven; and Sandrart had seen a +hundred. The latter, in speaking of those impressions, expresses a +suspicion of the original blocks having been destroyed in a fire at +Augsburg; their subsequent discovery, however, at Ambras and Gratz, +shows that his suspicion was not well founded. On the discovery of those +blocks it was supposed that the remainder of the series, as described in +the manuscript, might also be still in existence; but after a diligent +search no more have been found. It is indeed highly probable that the +further progress of the work had been interrupted by Maximilian’s death, +and that if any more of the series were finished, the number must have +been few. About 1775, a few impressions were taken from the blocks +preserved at Ambras, and also from those at Gratz; but no collection of +the whole accompanied with text was ever printed until 1796, when an +edition in large folio was printed at Vienna by permission of the +Austrian government, and with the name of J. Edwards, then a bookseller +in Pall-Mall, on the title-page, as the London publisher. It is much to +be regretted that greater pains were not taken to afford the reader +every information that could be obtained with respect to the cuts; and +it says very little for the English publisher’s patriotism that the +translation of the original German descriptions should be in +French;--but perhaps there might be a reason for this, for, where no +precise meaning is to be conveyed, French is certainly much better than +English. From the fact of several of the subjects not being contained in +the original drawings, and from the great difference in the style of +many of the cuts, it is by no means certain that they were all intended +for the same work. There can, however, be little doubt of their all +having been designed for a triumphal procession intended to celebrate +the fame of Maximilian. + +The original blocks, now preserved in the Imperial Library at Vienna, +are all of pear-tree, and several of them are partially worm-eaten. At +the back of those blocks are written or engraved seventeen names and +initials, which are supposed, with great probability, to be those of +the engravers by whom they were executed. At the back of No. 18, which +represents five musicians in a car, there is written, “Der kert an +die Elland,--hat _Wilhelm geschnitten_:” that is, “This follows the +Elks.--Engraved by William.” In the preceding cut, No. 17, are +the two elks which draw the car, and on one of the traces is Hans +Burgmair’s mark. At the back of No. 20 is written, “_Jobst putavit, +14 Aprilis 1517. Die gehert an die bifel, und die bifel halt Jos +geschnitten._”[V-73] This inscription Mr. Ottley, at page 756, volume +ii. of his Inquiry, expounds as follows: “Josse putavit (perhaps for +_punctavit_), the 14th of April, 1517. This block joins to that which +represents the Buffaloes.” This translation is substantially correct; +but it is exceedingly doubtful if _putavit_ was written in mistake for +_punctavit_. The proposed substitution indeed seems very like explaining +an _ignotum per ignotius_. The verb _punctare_ is never, that I am aware +of, used by any writer, either classical or modern, to express the idea +of engraving on wood. A German, however, who was but imperfectly +acquainted with Latin, would not be unlikely to translate the German +verb _schneiden_, which signifies _to cut_ generally, by the Latin +_putare_, which is specially applied to the lopping or pruning of trees. +I have heard it conjectured that _putavit_ might have been used in the +sense of _imaginavit_, as if Jobst were the designer; but there can be +little doubt of its being here intended to express the cutting of the +wood-engraver; for Burgmair’s mark is to be found both on this cut and +on the preceding one of the two buffaloes, No. 19; and it cannot for a +moment be supposed that he was a mere workman employed to execute the +designs of another person. Were such a supposition granted, it would +follow that the wood-engraver of that period--at least so far as regards +the work in question--was considered as a much superior person to +him who drew the designs; that the _workman_, in fact, was to be +commemorated, but the _artist_ forgotten; a conclusion which is +diametrically opposed to fact, for so little were the mere +wood-engravers of that period esteemed, that we only incidentally become +acquainted with their names; and from their not putting their marks or +initials to the cuts which they engraved has arisen the popular error +that Durer, Cranach, Burgmair, and others, who are known to have been +painters of great repute in their day, were wood-engravers and executed +themselves the wood-cuts which bear their marks. + + [Footnote V-73: _Jobst_ and _Jos_, in this inscription, are + probably intended for the name of the same person. For the name + Jobst, Jost, Josse, or Jos--for it is thus variously spelled--we + have no equivalent in English. It is not unusual in Germany as a + baptismal name--it can scarcely be called _Christian_--and is + Latinized, I believe, under the more lengthy form of _Jodocus_.] + +The following are the names and initial letters at the back of the +blocks. 1. Jerome André, called also Jerome Resch, or Rösch, the +engraver of the Triumphal Arch designed by Albert Durer. 2. Jan de Bonn. +3. Cornelius. 4. Hans Frank. 5. Saint German. 6. Wilhelm. 7. Corneille +Liefrink. 8. Wilhelm Liefrink. 9. Alexis Lindt. 10. Josse de Negker. On +several of the blocks Negker is styled, “engraver on wood, at Augsburg.” +11. Vincent Pfarkecher. 12. Jaques Rupp. 13. Hans Schaufflein. 14. Jan +Taberith. 15. F. P. 16. H. F. 17. W. R. It is not unlikely that +“Cornelius,” No. 3, may be the same as Corneille Liefrink, No. 7; and +that “Wilhelm,” No. 6, and Wilhelm Liefrink, No. 8, may also be the same +person. At the back of the block which corresponds with the description +numbered 120, Hans Schaufflein’s name is found coupled with that of +Cornelius Liefrink; and at the back of the cut which corresponds with +the description numbered 121 Schaufflein’s name occurs alone.[V-74] The +occurrence of Schaufflein’s name at the back of the cuts would certainly +seem to indicate that he was one of the engravers; but his name also +appearing at the back of that described under No. 120, in conjunction +with the name of Cornelius Liefrink, who was certainly a +wood-engraver,[V-75] makes me inclined to suppose that he might only +have made the drawing on the block and not have engraved the cut; and +this supposition seems to be partly confirmed by the fact that the cuts +which are numbered 104, 105, and 106, corresponding with the +descriptions Nos. 119, 120, and 121, have not Hans Burgmair’s mark, and +are much more like the undoubted designs of Hans Schaufflein than those +of that artist. That the cuts published under the title of the Triumphs +of Maximilian were not all drawn on the block by the same person will, +I think, appear probable to any one who even cursorily examines them; +and whoever carefully compares them can scarcely have a doubt on the +subject. + + [Footnote V-74: The printed numbers on those two cuts are 105 and + 106, though the descriptions are numbered 120 and 121 in the text. + The subjects are, No. 105, two ranks, of five men each, on foot, + carrying long lances; and No. 106, two ranks, of five men each, on + foot, carrying large two-handed swords on their + shoulders.--Perhaps it may not be out of place to correct here the + following passage which occurs at page 285 of this volume: + “Bartsch, however, observes, that ‘what Strutt has said about + there being two persons of this name [Hans Schaufflein], an elder + and a younger, seems to be a mere conjecture.’” Since the sheet + containing this passage was printed off, I have learnt from a + paper, in Meusel’s Neue Miscellaneen, 5tes. Stück, S. 210, that + Hans Schäufflein had a son of the same name who was also a + painter, and that the elder Schäufflein died at Nordlingen, in + 1539. At page 281, his death, on the authority of Bartsch, is + erroneously placed in 1550.] + + [Footnote V-75: The name of Cornelius Liefrink occurs at the back + of some of the wood-cuts representing the saints of the family of + Maximilian, designed by Burgmair, mentioned at page 278, note.] + + [Illustration: From No. 15. With Burgmair’s mark.] + + [Illustration: From No. 65. Apparently not drawn by Burgmair.] + +Almost every one of the cuts that contains Burgmair’s mark, in the +Triumphal Procession, is designed with great spirit, and has evidently +been drawn by an artist who had a thorough command of his pencil. His +horses are generally strong and heavy, and the men on their backs of a +stout and muscular form. The action of the horses seems natural; and the +indications of the joints and the drawing of the hoofs--which are mostly +low and broad--evidently show that the artist had paid some attention to +the structure of the animal. There are, however, a considerable number +of cuts where both men and horses appear remarkable for their leanness; +and in which the hoofs of the horses are most incorrectly drawn, and the +action of the animals represented in a manner which is by no means +natural. Though it is not unlikely that Hans Burgmair was capable of +drawing both a stout, heavy horse, and a long-backed, thin-quartered, +lean one, I cannot persuade myself that he would, in almost every +instance, draw the hoofs and legs of the one correctly, and those of the +other with great inaccuracy. The cut on the opposite page and the five +next following, of single figures, copied on a reduced scale from the +Triumphs, will exemplify the preceding observations. The numbers are +those printed on the cuts, and they all, except one, appear to +correspond with the French descriptions in the text. The preceding cut +is from that marked No. 15. The mark of Hans Burgmair is on the +ornamental breast-plate, as an English saddler would call it, that +passes across the horse’s chest. This figure, in the original cut, +carries a tablet suspended from a staff, of which the lower part only is +perceived in the copy, as it has not been thought necessary to give the +tablet and a large scroll which were intended to contain +inscriptions.[V-76] The description of the subject is to the following +effect: “After the chase, comes a figure on horseback, bearing a tablet, +on which shall be written the five charges of the court,--that is, of +the butler, the cook, the barber, the tailor, and the shoemaker; and +Eberbach shall be the under-marshal of the household, and carry the +tablet.” + + [Footnote V-76: In all the blocks, the tablets and scrolls, and + the upper part of banners intended to receive verses and + inscriptions, were left unengraved. In order that the appearance + of the cuts might not be injured, the black ground, intended for + the letters, was cut away in most of the tablets and scrolls, in + the edition of 1796.] + +The cut on page 295 is a reduced copy of a figure, the last, in No. 65, +which is without Burgmair’s mark. In the original the horseman bears a +banner, having on it the arms of the state or city which he represents; +and at the top of the banner a black space whereon a name or motto ought +to have been engraved. The original cut contains three figures; and, if +the description can be relied on, the banners which they bear are those +of Fribourg, Bregentz, and Saulgau. The other two horsemen and their +steeds in No. 65 are still more unlike those in the cuts which contain +Burgmair’s mark. + + [Illustration: From No. 33. With Burgmair’s mark.] + +The above cut is a reduced copy of a figure on horseback in No. 33. +Burgmair’s mark, an H and a B, may be perceived on the trappings of the +horse. This figure, in the original, bears a large tablet, and he is +followed by five men on foot carrying flails, the _swingels_[V-77] of +which are of leather. The description of the cut,--which forms the first +of seven representing the dresses and arms of combatants on foot,--is as +follows: “Then shall come a person mounted and properly habited like a +master of arms, and he shall carry the tablet containing the rhyme. +Item, Hans Hollywars shall be the master of arms, and his rhyme shall be +this effect: that he has professed the noble practice of arms at the +court, according to the method devised by the emperor.”[V-78] + + [Footnote V-77: That part of the flail which comes in contact with + the corn is, in the North of England, termed a _swingel_.] + + [Footnote V-78: The substance of almost every rhyme and + inscription is, that the person who bears the rhyme-tablet or + scroll has derived great improvement in his art or profession from + the instructions or suggestions of the emperor. Huntsmen, + falconers, trumpeters, organists, fencing-masters, ballet-masters, + tourniers, and jousters, all acknowledge their obligations in this + respect to Maximilian. For the wit and humour of the jesters and + the natural fools, the emperor, with great forbearance, takes to + himself no credit; and Anthony von Dornstett, the leader of the + drummers and fifers, is one of the few whose art he has not + improved.] + +The following is a reduced copy of a figure in the cut erroneously +numbered 83, but which corresponds with the description that refers to +84. This figure is the last of the three, who, in the original, are +represented bearing banners containing the arms of Malines, Salins and +Antwerp. + + [Illustration: From No. 83. Apparently not drawn by Burgmair.] + + [Illustration: From No. 27. With Burgmair’s mark.] + +The following figure, who is given with his rhyme-tablet in full, is +copied from the cut numbered 27. This jovial-looking personage, as we +learn from the description, is the Will Somers of Maximilian’s court, +and he figures as the leader of the professed jesters and the natural +fools, who appear in all ages to have been the subjects of “pleasant +mirth.” The instructions to the painter are as follows: “Then shall come +one on horseback habited like a jester, and carrying a rhyme-tablet for +the jesters and natural fools; and he shall be Conrad von der Rosen.” +The fool’s cap with the bell at the peak, denoting his profession, is +perceived hanging on his left shoulder; and on the breast-plate, +crossing the chest of the horse, is Burgmair’s mark. + + [Illustration: No. 74. Apparently not drawn by Burgmair.] + +The figure on page 299 of a horseman, bearing the banner of Burgundy, is +from the cut numbered 74. The drawing both of rider and horse is +extremely unlike the style of Burgmair as displayed in those cuts which +contain his mark. Burgmair’s men are generally stout, and their +attitudes free; and they all appear to sit well on horseback. The +present lean, lanky figure, who rides a horse that seems admirably +suited to him, cannot have been designed by Burgmair, unless he was +accustomed to design in two styles which were the very opposites of each +other; the one distinguished by the freedom and the boldness of the +drawing, the stoutness of the men, and the bulky form of the horses +introduced; and the other remarkable for laboured and stiff drawing, +gaunt and meagre men, and leggy, starved-like cattle. The whole of the +cuts from No. 57 to No. 88, inclusive,--representing, except +three,[V-79] men on horseback bearing the banners of the kingdoms and +states either possessed or claimed by the emperor,--are designed in the +latter style. Not only are the men and horses represented according to a +different standard, but even the very ground is indicated in a different +manner; it seems to abound in fragments of stones almost like a +Macadamized road after a shower of rain. There is indeed no lack of +stones on Burgmair’s ground, but they appear more like rounded pebbles, +and are not scattered about with so liberal a hand as in the cuts +alluded to. In not one of those cuts which are so unlike Burgmair’s is +the mark of that artist to be found; and their general appearance is so +unlike that of the cuts undoubtedly designed by him, that any person in +the least acquainted with works of art will, even on a cursory +examination, perceive the strongly marked difference. + + [Footnote V-79: Those three are the numbers 77, 78, 79, + representing musicians on horseback. The same person who drew the + standard-bearers has evidently drawn those three cuts also.] + +The following cut is a reduced copy of that numbered 57; and which is +the first of those representing horsemen bearing the banners of the +several kingdoms, states, and cities subject to the house of Austria or +to which Maximilian laid claim. It is one of the most gorgeous of the +series; but, from the manner in which the horses and their riders are +represented, I feel convinced that it has not been drawn by Burgmair. +The subject is thus described in the emperor’s directions prefixed to +the volume: “One on horseback bearing the banner of the arms of Austria; +another on horseback bearing the old Austrian arms; another also on +horseback bearing the arms of Stiria.” On the parts which are left black +in the banners it had been intended to insert inscriptions. The +instructions to the painter for this part of the procession are to the +following effect: “One on horseback bearing on a lance a rhyme-tablet. +Then the arms of the hereditary dominions of the house of Austria on +banners, with their shields, helms, and crests, borne by horsemen; and +the banners of those countries in which the emperor has carried on war +shall be borne by riders in armour; and the painter shall vary the +armour according to the old manner. The banners of those countries in +which the emperor has not carried on war shall be borne by horsemen +without armour, but all splendidly clothed, each according to the +costume of the country he represents. Every one shall wear a laurel +wreath.” + + [Illustration: No. 57. Apparently not drawn by Burgmair.] + +The cut on the next page is copied from that numbered 107, but which +accords with the description of No. 122. The subject is described by the +emperor as follows: “Then shall come riding a man of Calicut, naked, +except his loins covered with a girdle, bearing a rhyme-tablet, on which +shall be inscribed these words, ‘These people are the subjects of the +famous crowns and houses heretofore named.’” In this cut the mark of +Burgmair is perceived on the harness on the breast of the elephant. +There are two other cuts of Indians belonging to the same part of the +procession, each of which also contains Burgmair’s mark. + + [Illustration: No. 107. With Burgmair’s mark.] + +The cuts which were to follow the Indians and close the procession were +the baggage-waggons and camp-followers of the army. Of those there are +five cuts in the work published in 1796, and it is evident that some are +wanting, for the two which may be considered as the first and last of +those five, respectively require a preceding and a following cut to +render them complete; and there are also one or two cuts wanting to +complete the intermediate subjects. Those cuts are referred to in the +French description under Nos. 125 to 129, but they are numbered 129, +128, 110, 111, 125. The last three, as parts of a large subject, follow +each other as the numbers are here placed; and though the right side of +No. 110 accords with the left of No. 128, inasmuch as they each contain +the half of a tree which appears complete when they are joined together, +yet there are no horses in No. 128 to draw the waggon which is seen in +No. 110. The order of Nos. 110, 111, and 125, is easily ascertained; +a horse at the left of No. 110 wants a tail which is to be found in +No. 111; and the outline of a mountain in the left of No. 111 is +continued in the right of No. 125. From the back-grounds, trees, and +figures in those cuts I am very much inclined to think that they have +been engraved from designs by Albert Durer, if he did not actually draw +them on the block himself. There is no mark to be found on any of them; +and they are extremely unlike any cuts which are undoubtedly of +Burgmair’s designing, and they are decidedly superior to any that are +usually ascribed to Hans Schaufflein. The following, which is a reduced +copy of that numbered 110, will perhaps afford some idea of those cuts, +and enable persons who are acquainted with Durer’s works to judge for +themselves with respect to the probability of their having been engraved +from his designs. One or two of the other four contain still more +striking resemblances of Durer’s style. + + [Illustration: No. 110. Probably drawn by Albert Durer.] + +Besides the twelve cuts which, in the French preface to the Triumphal +Procession of Maximilian, are said not to correspond with the original +drawings, there are also six others which the editor says are not to be +found in the original designs, and which he considers to have been +additions made to the work while it was in the course of engraving. +Those six cuts are described in an appendix, where their numbers are +said to be from 130 to 135. In No. 130 the principal figures are a king +and queen, on horseback, supposed to be intended for Philip the Fair, +son of the Emperor Maximilian, and his wife Joanna of Castile. This cut +is very indifferently executed, and has evidently been designed by the +artist who made the drawings for the questionable cuts containing the +complicated locomotive carriages, mentioned at page 290. No. 131, +a princess on horseback, accompanied by two female attendants also on +horseback, and guards on foot, has evidently been designed by the same +artist as No. 130. These two, I am inclined to think, belong to some +other work. Nos. 132, 133, and 134, are from the designs of Hans +Burgmair, whose mark is to be found on each; and there can be little +doubt of their having been intended for Maximilian’s Triumphal +Procession. They form one continuous subject, which represents twelve +men, habited in various costume, leading the same number of horses +splendidly caparisoned. A figure on horseback bearing a rhyme-tablet +leads this part of the procession; and above the horses are large +scrolls probably intended to contain their names, with those of the +countries to which they belong. The cut on the opposite page is a +reduced copy of the last, numbered 135, which is thus described in the +appendix: “The fore part of a triumphal car, drawn by four horses yoked +abreast, and managed by a winged female figure who holds in her left +hand a wreath of laurel.” There is no mark on the original cut; but from +the manner in which the horses are drawn it seems like one of Burgmair’s +designing. + +That the cuts of the Triumphal Procession of Maximilian were engraved by +different persons is certain from the names at their backs; and I think +the difference that is to be perceived in the style of drawing renders +it in the highest degree probable that the subjects were designed, or at +least drawn on the wood, by different artists. I am inclined to think +that Burgmair drew very few besides those that contain his mark; the +cuts of the banner-bearers I am persuaded are not of his drawing; +a third artist, of inferior talent, seems to have made the drawings of +the fanciful cars containing the emperor and his family; and the five +cuts of the baggage-waggons and camp followers, appear, as I have +already said, extremely like the designs of Albert Durer. The best +engraved cuts are to be found among those which contain Burgmair’s mark. +Some of the banner-bearers are also very ably executed, though not in so +free or bold a manner; which I conceive to be owing to the more laboured +style in which the subject has been drawn on the block. The mechanical +subjects, with their accompanying figures, are the worst engraved as +well as the worst drawn of the whole. The five cuts which I suppose to +have been designed by Albert Durer are engraved with great spirit, but +not so well as the best of those which contain the mark of Burgmair. + + [Illustration: No. 135. Apparently designed by Burgmair.] + +Though there are still in existence upwards of a hundred of the original +blocks designed by Albert Durer, and upwards of three hundred designed +by the most eminent of his contemporaries, yet a person who professes to +be an instructor of the public on subjects of art made the following +statement before the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Arts +and their Connexion with Manufactures, appointed in 1835. He is asked, +“Do you consider that the progress of the arts in this country is +impeded by the want of protection for new inventions of importance?” and +he proceeds to enlighten the committee as follows. “Very much impeded. +Inventions connected with the arts of design, of new instruments, or new +processes, for example, are, from the ease with which they can be +pirated, more difficult of protection than any other inventions +whatever. Such protection as the existing laws afford is quite +inadequate. I cannot better illustrate my meaning, than by mentioning +the case of _engraving in metallic relief_, an art which is supposed to +have existed three or four centuries ago; and the re-discovery of which +has long been a desideratum among artists. Albert Durer, who was both a +painter and engraver, _certainly possessed this art_, that is to say, +the art of transferring his designs, after they had been sketched on +paper, _immediately into metallic relief_, so that they might be printed +along with letter-press. At present, the only sort of engravings you can +print along with letter-press are wood engravings, or stereotype casts +from wood engravings; and then those engravings are but copies, and +often very rude copies, of their originals; while, in the case of Albert +Durer, it is QUITE CLEAR _that it was his own identical designs that +were transferred into the metallic relief_. Wood engravings, too, are +limited in point of size, _because they can only be executed on +box-wood_, the width of which is very small; in fact, we have no wood +engravings on a single block of a larger size than octavo: when the +engraving is larger, two or three blocks are joined together; but this +is attended with so much difficulty and inconvenience, that it is seldom +done. From the specimens of _metallic relief engraving_, left us by +Albert Durer, there is every reason to infer that he was under no such +limitation; that he could produce plates of any size.”[V-80] This +statement abounds in errors, and may justify a suspicion that the person +who made it had never seen the cuts designed by Albert Durer which he +pretends were executed in “metallic relief.” At the commencement he says +that the art of engraving in metallic relief is _supposed_ to have +existed three or four centuries ago; and immediately afterwards he +asserts that Albert Durer “certainly possessed this art;” as if by his +mere word he could convert a groundless fiction into a positive fact. +When he made this confident assertion he seems not to have been aware +that many of the original pear-tree blocks of the cuts pretendedly +executed in metallic relief are still in existence; and when, speaking +of the difficulty of getting blocks of a larger size than an octavo, he +says, “From the specimens of metallic relief engraving, left us by +Albert Durer, there is every reason to infer that he was under no such +limitation,--that he could produce plates of any size,” he affords a +positive proof that he knows nothing of the subject on which he has +spoken so confidently. Had he ever examined the large cuts engraved from +Durer’s designs, he would have seen, in several, undeniable marks of the +junction of the blocks, proving directly the reverse of what he asserts +on this point. What he says with respect to the modern practice of the +art is as incorrect as his assertions about Albert Durer’s engraving in +metallic relief. Though it is true that there are few modern engravings +on box-wood of a larger size than octavo, it is not true that the +forming of a large block of two or more pieces is attended with much +difficulty, and is seldom done. The making of such blocks is now a +regular trade; they are formed without the least difficulty, and +hundreds of cuts on such blocks are engraved in London every year.[V-81] +When he says that wood engravings “can only be made on box-wood,” he +gives another proof of his ignorance of the subject. Most of the earlier +wood engravings were executed on blocks of pear-tree or crab; and even +at the present time box-wood is seldom used for the large cuts on +posting-bills. In short, every statement that this person has made on +the subject of wood and pretended metallic relief engraving is +incorrect; and it is rather surprising that none of the members of the +committee should have exposed his ignorance. When such persons put +themselves forward as the instructors of mechanics on the subject of +art, it cannot be a matter of surprise that in the arts as applied to +manufactures we should be inferior to our continental neighbours. + + [Footnote V-80: Minutes of Evidence before the Select Committee on + Arts and Manufactures, p. 130. Ordered to be printed, 16th August + 1836.] + + [Footnote V-81: Among the principal modern wood-cuts engraved on + blocks consisting of several pieces the following may be + mentioned: The Chillingham Bull, by Thomas Bewick, 1789; A view of + St. Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle-on-Tyne, by Charlton Nesbit, from + a drawing by R. Johnson, 1798; The Diploma of the Highland + Society, by Luke Clennell, from a design by B. West, P.R.A. 1808; + The Death of Dentatus, by William Harvey, from a painting by B. R. + Haydon, 1821; and The Old Horse waiting for Death, left + unfinished, by T. Bewick, and published in 1832.] + +The art of imitating drawings--called chiaro-scuro--by means of +impressions from two or more blocks, was cultivated with great success +in Italy by Ugo da Carpi about 1518. The invention of this art, as has +been previously remarked, is ascribed to him by some writers, but +without any sufficient grounds; for not even the slightest evidence has +been produced by them to show that he, or any other Italian artist, had +executed a single cut in this manner previous to 1509, the date of a +chiaro-scuro wood engraving from a design by Lucas Cranach. Though it is +highly probable that Ugo da Carpi was not the inventor of this art, it +is certain that he greatly improved it. The chiaro-scuros executed by +him are not only superior to those of the German artists, who most +likely preceded him in this department of wood engraving, but to the +present time they remain unsurpassed. In the present day Mr. George +Baxter has attempted to extend the boundaries of this art by calling in +the aid of aquatint for his outlines and first ground, and by copying +the positive colours of an oil or water-colour painting. Most of Ugo da +Carpi’s chiaro-scuros are from Raffaele’s designs, and it is said that +the great painter himself drew some of the subjects on the blocks. +Independent of the excellence of the designs, the characteristics of Da +Carpi’s chiaro-scuros are their effect and the simplicity of their +execution; for all of them, except one or two, appear to have been +produced from not more than three blocks. The following may be mentioned +as the principal of Da Carpi’s works in this style. A Sibyl reading with +a boy holding a torch, from two blocks, said by Vasari to be the +artist’s first attempt in this style; Jacob’s Dream; David cutting off +the head of Goliah; the Death of Ananias; Giving the Keys to Peter; the +miraculous Draught of Fishes; the Descent from the Cross; the +Resurrection; and Æneas carrying away his father Anchises on his +shoulders from the fire of Troy;[V-82] all the preceding from the +designs of Raffaele. Among the subjects designed by other masters are +St. Peter preaching, after Polidoro; and Diogenes showing the plucked +cock in ridicule of Plato’s definition of man, “a two-legged animal +without feathers,” after Parmegiano. The latter, which is remarkably +bold and spirited, is from four blocks; and Vasari says that it is the +best of all Da Carpi’s chiaro-scuros. Many of Da Carpi’s productions in +this style were copied by Andrea Andreani of Milan, about 1580. That of +Æneas carrying his father on his shoulders was copied by Edward Kirkall, +an English engraver in 1722. Kirkall’s copy is not entirely from +wood-blocks, like the original; the outlines and the greater part of the +shadows are from a copper-plate engraved in mezzotint, in a manner +similar to that which has more recently been adopted by Mr. Baxter in +his picture-printing. + + [Footnote V-82: At the foot of this cut, to the right, after the + name of the designer,--“RAPHAEL URBINAS,”--is the following + privilege, granted by Pope Leo X. and the Doge of Venice, + prohibiting all persons from pirating the work. “QUISQUE HAS + TABELLAS INVITO AUTORE IMPRIMET EX DIVI LEONIS X. ET IL͞L + PRINCIPIS VENETIARUM DECRETIS EXCOMINICATIONIS SENTENTIAM ET ALIAS + PENAS INCURRET.” Below this inscription is the engraver’s name + with the date: “Romæ apud Ugum de Carpi impressum. MDXVIII.”] + +Lucas Dammetz, generally called Lucas van Leyden, from the place of his +birth, was an excellent engraver on copper, and in this branch of art +more nearly approached Durer than any other of his German or Flemish +contemporaries. He is said to have been born at Leyden in 1496; and, if +this date be correct, he at a very early age gave decided proofs of his +talents as an engraver on copper. One of his earliest prints, the monk +Sergius killed by Mahomet, is dated 1508, when he was only fourteen +years of age; and at the age of twelve he is said to have painted, in +distemper, a picture of St. Hubert which excited the admiration of all +the artists of the time. Of his numerous copper-plate engravings there +are no less than twenty-one which, though they contain no date, are +supposed to have been executed previously to 1508. As several of those +plates are of very considerable merit, it would appear that Lucas while +yet a boy excelled, as a copper-plate engraver, most of his German and +Dutch contemporaries. From 1508 to 1533, the year of his death, he +appears to have engraved not less than two hundred copper-plates; and, +as if these were not sufficient to occupy his time, he in the same +period painted several pictures, some of which were of large size. He is +also said to have excelled as a painter on glass; and like Durer, +Cranach, and Burgmair, he is ranked among the wood engravers of that +period. + +The wood-cuts which contain the mark of Lucas van Leyden, or which are +usually ascribed to him, are not numerous; and, even admitting them to +have been engraved by himself, the fact would contribute but little to +his fame, for I have not seen one which might not have been executed by +a professional “formschneider” of very moderate abilities. The total of +the wood-cuts supposed to have been engraved by him does not exceed +twenty. The following is a reduced copy of a wood-cut ascribed to Lucas +van Leyden, in the Print Room of the British Museum, but which is not in +Bartsch’s Catalogue, nor in the list of Lucas van Leyden’s engravings in +Meusel’s Neue Miscellaneen. Though I very much question if the original +cut were engraved by Lucas himself, I have no doubt of its being from +his design. It represents the death of Sisera; and, with a noble +contempt of the unity of time, Jael is seen giving Sisera a drink of +milk, driving the nail into his head, and then showing the body,--with +herself in the act of driving the nail,--to Barak and his followers: the +absurdity of this threefold action has perhaps never been surpassed in +any cut ancient or modern. Sir Boyle Roach said that it was impossible +for any _person_, except a _bird_ or a _fish_, to be in two places at +once; but here we have a pictorial representation of a female being in +no less than three; and in one of the localities actually pointing out +to certain persons how she was then employed in another. + + [Illustration] + +Heineken, in his account of engravers of the Flemish school, has either +committed an egregious mistake, or expressed himself with intentional +ambiguity with respect to a wood-cut printed at Antwerp, and which he +saw in the collections of the Abbé de Marolles. His notice of this cut +is as follows: “I found in the collections of the Abbé de Marolles, in +the cabinet of the King of France, a detached piece, which, in my +opinion, is the most ancient of the wood engravings executed in the Low +Countries which bear the name of the artist. This cut is marked, +_Gheprint t’ Antwerpen by my Phillery de figursnider_--Printed at +Antwerp, by me Phillery, the engraver of figures. It serves as a proof +that the engravers of moulds were, at Antwerp, in that ancient time, +also printers.”[V-83] + + [Footnote V-83: “J’ai trouvé dans les Recueils de l’Abbé de + Marolles, au Cabinet du Roi de France, une piece détachée, qui, + suivant mon sentiment, est la plus ancienne de celles, qui sont + gravées en bois dans les Païs-Bas, et qui portent le nom de + l’artiste. Cette estampe est marquée: _Gheprint t’ Antwerpen by my + Phillery de figursnider--Imprimé à Anvers, chez moi Phillery, le + graveur de figures_. Elle sert de preuve, que les graveurs de + moules étoient aussi, dans cet ancien tems, imprimeurs à + Anvers.”--Idée Générale d’une Collection complette d’Estampes, + p. 197.] + +In this vague and ambiguous account, the writer gives us no idea of the +period to which he refers in the words “cet ancien tems.” If he means +the time between the pretended invention of Coster, and the period when +typography was probably first practised in the Low Countries,--that is, +from about 1430 to 1472,--he is wrong, and his statement would afford +ground for a presumption that he had either examined the cut very +carelessly, or that he was so superficially acquainted with the +progressive improvement of the art of wood engraving as to mistake a cut +abounding in cross-hatching, and certainly executed subsequent to 1524, +for one that had been executed about seventy years previously, when +cross-hatching was never attempted, and when the costume was as +different from that of the figures represented in the cut as the costume +of Vandyke’s portraits is dissimilar to Hogarth’s. The words “_graveurs +de moules_,” I have translated literally “engravers of moulds,” for I +cannot conceive what else Heineken can mean; but this expression is +scarcely warranted by the word “_figuersnider_” on the cut, which is +almost the same as the German “formschneider;” and whatever might be the +original meaning of the word, it was certainly used to express merely a +wood engraver. Compilers of Histories of Art, and Dictionaries of +Painters and Engravers, who usually follow their leader, even in his +slips, as regularly as a flock of sheep follow the bell-wether through a +gap, have disseminated Heineken’s mistake, and the antiquity of +“_Phillery’s_” wood-engraving is about as firmly established as Lawrence +Coster’s invention of typography. One of those “straightforward” people +has indeed gone rather beyond his authority; for in a “Dictionary of the +Fine Arts,” published in 1826, we are expressly informed that +“_Phillery, who lived near the end of the fourteenth century, was the +first engraver on wood who practised in the Netherlands_.”[V-84] It is +thus that error on the subject of art, and indeed on every other +subject, is propagated: a writer of reputation makes an incorrect or an +ambiguous statement; other writers adopt it without examination, and not +unfrequently one of that class whose confidence in deciding on a +question is in the inverse ratio of their knowledge of the subject, +proceeds beyond his original authority, and declares that to be certain +which previously had only been doubtfully or obscurely expressed. In +Heineken’s notice of this cut there is an implied qualification under +which he might screen himself from a charge of incorrectness with +respect to the time of its execution, though not from a charge of +ambiguity. He says that, in his opinion, it is “the most ancient of the +wood engravings executed in the Low Countries _which bear the name of +the artist_;” and with this limitation his opinion may be correct, +although the cut were only engraved in 1525 or 1526; for I am not aware +of any wood engraving of an earlier date, executed in the Low Countries, +that contains the _name_ of the artist, though there are several which +contain the artist’s mark. It also may be argued that the words “_cet +ancien tems_” might be about as correctly applied to designate the year +1525 as 1470: if, however, he meant the first of those dates, he has +expressed himself in an equivocal manner, for he is generally understood +to refer the cut to a considerably earlier period. It has been indeed +conjectured that Heineken, in speaking of this cut, might intentionally +express himself obscurely, in order that he might not give offence to +his friend Monsieur Mariette, who is said to have considered it to be +one of the earliest specimens of wood engravings executed in the Low +Countries. This is, however, without any sufficient reason, merely +shifting the charge of ignorance, with respect to the difference of +style in wood engravings of different periods, from Heineken to Monsieur +Mariette. As there is no evidence to show that the latter ever expressed +any such opinion as that ascribed to him respecting the antiquity of the +cut in question, Heineken alone is answerable for the account contained +in his book. Impressions of the cut by “_Phillery_” are not of very +great rarity; there are two in the Print Room at the British Museum, and +from one of them the reduced copy in the following page has been +carefully made. + + [Footnote V-84: In a work of a similar kind, and of equal + authority, published in 1834, we are informed that Ugo da Carpi + was a historical painter, and that he died in 1500. He was only + born in 1486.] + + [Illustration] + +Any person, however, slightly acquainted with the progress of wood +engraving could scarcely fail to pronounce that the original of this cut +must have been executed subsequent to 1500, and in all probability +subsequent to the cuts of the Triumphal Procession of Maximilian, to the +general style of which, so far as relates to the manner of engraving, it +bears considerable resemblance. The costume of the figures, too, also +proves that it does not belong to the fifteenth century; and on +carefully examining the inscription, a person accustomed to the old +German or Dutch characters would be more likely to read “_Willem_” than +“_Phillery_” as the name of the artist. To one of the impressions in the +British Museum a former owner, after extracting Heineken’s account, has +appended the following remark: “This is the print above described. There +seems to be an inconsiderable mistake in the name, which I take to be +D’villery.” It is to be observed that in the original, as in the +preceding copy, the inscription is engraved on wood, and not set up in +type; and that consequently the first character of the doubtful name is +rather indistinct. It is however most probably a _W_; and the last is +certainly an _m_, with a flourish at its tail. The intermediate letters +_ille_ are plain enough, and if the first be supposed to be a _W_, and +the last an _m_, we have the name _Willem_,--a very probable prenomen +for a Dutch wood engraver of the sixteenth century. The inscription when +carefully examined is literally as follows: “_Gheprint Tantwerpen Bij +mij Willem de Figuersnider_.” Heineken’s mistake of _Phillery_ for +_Willem_, or William, and thus giving a heretofore unheard-of name to +the list of artists, is not unlike that of Scopoli the naturalist, who, +in one of his works, has commemorated “Horace Head” as a London +bookseller.[V-85] + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote V-85: The sign of Mr. Benjamin White, formerly a + bookseller in Fleet Street, was Horace’s Head. In Scopoli’s + Deliciæ, Flora, et Fauna Insubriæ, plate 24 is thus inscribed: + “Auspiciis Benjamini White et Horatii Head, Bibliopol. + Londinensium.” The learned naturalist had mistaken Mr. White’s + sign for his partner in the business.] + +Though the cut which bears the name of the supposed “Phillery” contains +internal evidence of its not having been engraved in the fifteenth +century, there is yet further reason to believe that it is merely a copy +of part of a cut of the same size by a Swiss artist of the name of Urse +Graff, which is dated 1524. There is an impression of Urse Graff’s cut +[V-86] in the Print Room of the British Museum; in the fore-ground are +the figures which have obviously been copied by _Willem de +Figuersnider_, alias _Phillery_, and immediately behind the middle +figure, who holds in his right hand a large Swiss espadon, is a leafless +tree with a figure of Death clinging to the upper part of the trunk, and +pointing to a hour-glass which he holds in his left hand. A bird, +probably intended for a raven, is perched above the hour-glass; and on +the trunk of the tree, near to the figure of Death, is Urse Graff’s mark +with the date as is here given. The back-ground presents a view of a +lake, with buildings and mountains on the left. The general character of +Urse Graff’s subject is Swiss, both in the scenery and figures; and the +perfect identity of the latter with those in the cut “printed at Antwerp +by William the figure-cutter” proves, beyond the possibility of a doubt, +that one of those two artists has copied the work of the other. Urse +Graff’s subject, however, is complete, and corresponds both in the +landscape and in the costume of the figures with the country of the +artist; while the cut of William of Antwerp represents merely an +unrelieved group of figures in the costume of Switzerland. Urse Graff +was an artist of reputation in his time; of “Willem,” who was probably +only an engraver of the designs of others, nothing more is known beyond +what is afforded by the single cut in question. From these +circumstances, though it cannot be positively decided which of those +cuts is the original, it is almost morally certain that the Flemish +figure-cutter has copied the work of the Swiss artist.--Urse Graff +resided at Basle, of which city he was probably a native. In one of his +engravings with the date 1523, he describes himself as a goldsmith and +die-sinker. Wood-cuts containing his mark are not very common, and the +most of them appear to have been executed between 1515 and 1528. +A series of wood-cuts of the Passion of Christ, designed in a very +inferior manner, and printed at Strasburg in 1509, are sometimes +ascribed to him on account of their being marked with the letters V. G., +which some writers have supposed to be the mark of an artist named Von +Gamperlin. Professor Christ, in his Dictionary of Monograms, says that +he can find nothing to determine him in favour of the name Gamperlin; +and that he is rather inclined to think that those letters are intended +for the name Von Goar, which he believes that he has deciphered on an +engraving containing this mark. The mark of Urse Graff, a V and a G +interlaced, occurs in the ornamented border of the title-page of several +books printed at Basle, and amongst others on the title of a quarto +edition of Ulrich Hutten’s Nemo, printed there by Frobenius in 1519. At +the end of this edition there is a beautifully-designed cut of the +printer’s device, which is probably the work of the same artist.[V-87] + + [Footnote V-86: This cut of Urse Graff is described in Bartsch’s + Peintre-Graveur, tom. vii. p. 465, No. 16.] + + [Footnote V-87: The device of Frobenius at the end of an edition + of the same work, printed by him in 1518, is much inferior to that + in the edition of 1519. In both, the ornamental border of the + title-page is the same.] + +A painter, named Nicholas Emanuel Deutsch, a contemporary of Urse Graff, +and who resided at Bern, is said, by Sandrart, to have been of a noble +English family, and the same writer adds that he left his own country on +account of his religion. The latter statement, however, is not likely to +be correct, for there are wood-cuts, with this artist’s mark, dated +“Bern, 1518;” which was before the persecution in England on account of +the doctrines of Luther had commenced. In J. R. Füssli’s Dictionary of +Artists it is stated that he was of a French family, of the name of +Cholard, but that he was born at Bern in 1484, and died there in 1530. +He was a poet as well as a painter, and held one of the highest offices +in the magistracy of Bern. + +Within the first thirty years of the sixteenth century the practice of +illustrating books with wood-cuts seems to have been more general than +at any other period, scarcely excepting the present; for though within +the last eight or ten years an immense number of wood-cuts have been +executed in England and France, yet wood engravings at the time referred +to were introduced into a greater variety of books, and the art was more +generally practised throughout Europe. In modern German and Dutch works +wood engravings are sparingly introduced; and in works printed in +Switzerland and Italy they are still more rarely to be found. In the +former period the art seems to have been very generally practised +throughout Europe, though to a greater extent, and with greater skill, +in Germany than in any other country. The wood-cuts which are to be +found in Italian books printed between 1500 and 1530 are mostly meagre +in design and very indifferently engraved; and for many years after the +German wood engravers had begun to give variety of colour and richness +of effect to their cuts by means of cross-hatchings, their Italian +contemporaries continued to adhere to the old method of engraving their +figures, chiefly in outline, with the shadows and the folds of the +draperies indicated by parallel lines. These observations relate only to +the ordinary wood engravings of the period, printed in the same page +with type, or printed separately in the usual manner of surface printing +at one impression. The admirable chiaro-scuros of Ugo da Carpi, printed +from two or more blocks, are for effect and general excellence the most +admirable specimens of this branch of the art that ever have been +executed; they are as superior to the chiaro-scuros of German artists as +the usual wood engravings of the latter excel those executed in Italy +during the same period. + +In point of drawing, some of the best wood-cuts executed in Italy in the +time of Albert Durer are to be found in a folio work entitled Triompho +di Fortuna, written by Sigismond Fanti, and printed at Venice in +1527.[V-88] The subject of this work, which was licensed by Pope Clement +VII, is the art of fortune-telling, or of answering all kinds of +questions relative to future events. The volume contains a considerable +number of wood-cuts; some designed and executed in the very humblest +style of wood engraving, and others, which appear to have been drawn on +the block with pen-and-ink, designed with great spirit. The smallest and +most inferior cuts serve as illustrations to the questions, and an idea +may be formed of them from the three here given, which occur under the +question: “Qual fede o legge sia di queste tre la buona, o la +Christiana, l’Hebrea, o quello di Mahumeto?”[V-89] In English: “Which of +these three religions is the best, the Christian, the Jewish, or the +Mahometan?” Several larger cuts are executed in a dry hard style, and +evidently drawn by a person very inferior to the artist who designed the +cuts executed in the manner of pen-and-ink drawings. The following is a +fac-simile of one of the latter. It is entitled “Fortuna de Africo,” in +a series of twelve, intended for representations of the winds. + + [Footnote V-88: The title of this book is, in red letters, + “Triompho di Fortuna, di Sigismondo Fanti, Ferrarese.” The + title-page is also ornamented with a wood-cut, representing the + Pope, with Virtue on one side, and Vice on the other, seated above + the globe, which is supported by Atlas, and provided with an axis, + having a handle at each side, like a winch. At one of the handles + is a devil, and at the other an angel; to the left is a naked + figure holding a die, and near to him is an astronomer taking an + observation. At the foot of the cut is the mark I. M. or T. M., + for I cannot positively decide whether the first letter be + intended for an I or a T. The following is the colophon: “Impresso + in la inclita citta di Venegia per Agostin da Portese. Nel anno + dil virgineo parto MD.XXVII. Nel mese di Genaro, ad instātia di + Jacomo Giunta Mercatāte Florentino. Con il Privilegio di Clemente + Papa VII, et del Senato Veneto a requisitione di l’Autore.” In the + Catalogue of the British Museum this book is erroneously entered + as printed at Rome, 1526. The compiler had mistaken the date of + the Pope’s licence for the time when the book was printed. This + trifling mistake is noticed here, as from similar oversights + bibliographers have sometimes described books as having been twice + or thrice printed, when, in fact, there had been only one + edition.] + + [Footnote V-89: The following questions, selected from a number of + others, will perhaps afford some idea of this “Opera utilissima et + jocosa,” as it is called by the author. “Se glie bene a pigliar + bella, o bruta donna; se’l servo sara fidele al suo signore; se + quest’ anno sara carestia o abundantia; quanti mariti havera la + donna; se glie bene a far viaggio et a che tempo; se’l parto della + donna sara maschio o femina; se’l sogno fatto sara vero; se’l fin + del huomo sara buono.” The three small illustrations of the last + query are of evil omen; in one, is seen a gallows; in another, + a man praying; and in the third, the quarters of a human body hung + up in terrorem.] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +The following cut, which appears in folio 38, is intitled “Michael +Fiorentino,”--Michael Angelo; and it certainly conveys no bad idea of +the energetic manner in which that great artist is said to have used his +mallet and chisel when engaged on works of sculpture. This cut, however, +is made to represent several other sculptors besides the great +Florentine; it is repeated seven times in the subsequent pages, and on +each occasion we find underneath it a different name. The late +T. Stothard, R.A. was of opinion that wood engraving was best adapted to +express pen-and-ink drawing, and that the wood engraver generally failed +when he attempted more. His illustrations of Rogers’s poems, engraved on +wood by Clennell and Thompson, are executed in a similar style to that +of the following specimen, though with greater delicacy. + + [Illustration] + +Certain wood-cuts with the mark A. G., executed towards the conclusion +of the fifteenth century, have been ascribed to an artist named Albert +Glockenton. Bartsch, however, says that the name of the artist is +unknown; and he seems to consider that Sandrart had merely conjectured +that those letters might represent the name Albert Glockenton. For no +better reason the letters I. V. on a tablet, with two pilgrim’s-staffs +crossed between them, which are to be found on several old chiaro-scuro +wood engravings, have been supposed to represent the name, John Ulric +Pilgrim. This name appears to be a pure invention of some ingenious +expounder of monograms, for there is not the slightest evidence, that I +am aware of, to show that any artist of this name ever lived. The +chiaro-scuros with this mark were probably executed in the time of +Durer, but none of them contains a date to establish the fact. Heineken +considers them to have been the productions of a German artist; and he +refers to them in proof of the art of chiaro-scuro having been practised +in Germany long before the time of Ugo da Carpi. It is, however, highly +questionable if they are of an earlier date than 1518; and it is by no +means certain that the artist was a German. By some persons he has been +supposed to have been the inventor of chiaro-scuro engraving, on no +better grounds, it would seem, than that his pieces are without a date. + +Next to the Germans, in the time of Albert Durer, the Dutch and Flemings +seem to have excelled in the art of wood engraving; but the cuts +executed in Holland and Flanders are generally much inferior to those +designed and engraved by German artists. In a considerable number of +Dutch wood engravings, of the period under review, I have observed an +attempt to combine something like the effect of cross-hatching and of +the dotted manner mentioned at page 232 as having been frequently +practised by French wood engravers in the early part of the sixteenth +century. In a series of cuts from a Dutch prayer-book, apparently +printed between 1520 and 1530, this style of engraving is frequently +introduced. Where a German artist would have introduced lines crossing +each other with great regularity, the Dutch wood engraver has +endeavoured to attain his object by irregularly picking out portions of +the wood with the point of his graver; the effect, however, is not good. +In the border surrounding those cuts, a Dance of Death is represented, +consisting of several more characters than are to be found in the +celebrated work ascribed to Holbein, but far inferior in point of design +and execution. + +An artist, named John Walter van Assen, is usually mentioned as one of +the best Dutch wood engravers or designers of this period. Nothing +further is known of him than that he lived at Amsterdam about 1517. The +mark supposed to be Van Assen’s is often ascribed by expounders of +monograms to another artist whom they call Werner or Waer van Assanen. + +A considerable number of French works, printed in the time of Albert +Durer, contain wood engravings, but few of them possess much merit when +compared with the more highly finished and correctly drawn productions +of the German school of the same period. The ornamental borders, +however, of many missals and prayer-books, which then issued in great +numbers from the Parisian press, frequently display great beauty. The +taste for surrounding each page with an ornamental border engraved on +wood was very generally prevalent in Germany, France, and Flanders at +that period, more especially in devotional works; and in the former +country, and in Switzerland, scarcely a tract was printed--and the +Lutheran controversy gave rise to many hundreds--without an ornamental +border surrounding the title. In Germany such wood engravers as were +chiefly employed in executing cuts of this kind were called +_Rahmen-schneiders_--border-cutters,--as has been previously observed at +page 190. In England during the same period wood engraving made but +little progress; and there seems to have been a lack of good designers +and competent engravers in this country. The best cuts printed in +England in the time of Durer are contained in a manual of prayers, of a +small duodecimo size. On a tablet in the border of one of the cuts--the +Flight into Egypt[V-90]--I perceive the date 1523. The total number of +cuts in the volume is about a hundred; and under each of the largest are +four verses in English. Several of the smaller cuts, representing +figures of saints, and preceding the prayers for their respective days, +have evidently been designed by an artist of considerable talent. As +most of the wood-cuts which constitute the ornaments or the +illustrations of books printed at this period are without any name or +mark, it is impossible to ascertain the names of the persons by whom +they were designed or engraved. + + [Footnote V-90: The following lines descriptive of this cut are + printed underneath it: + + +How Mary and Joseph with iesu were fayne. + In to Egypte for socour to fle. + Whan the Innocentes for his sake wer slayne. + By com̄issyon of Herodes crueltie.+] + +The manner of wood engraving in _intaglio_ so that the figures appear +white on a black ground, so frequently adopted by early Italian wood +engravers, was sometimes practised in Germany; and in one of the +earliest works containing portraits of the Roman emperors,[V-91] copied +from ancient medals, printed in the latter country, the cuts are +executed in this style. The subject of the work is the lives of the +Roman emperors, written by Joannes Huttichius, and the portraits with +which it is illustrated are copied from medals in a collection which had +been formed by the Emperor Maximilian, the great promoter of wood +engraving in Germany. The first edition, in Latin, was printed by Wolff +Köpffel, at Strasburg, in 1525; and a second edition, in German, was +published at the same place in the succeeding year. The cut on the next +page, of the head of Nero, will afford an idea of the style in which the +portraits are executed, and of the fidelity with which the artist has in +general represented the likeness impressed on the original medals. + + [Footnote V-91: In a folio work entitled “Epitome Thesauri + Antiquitatum, hoc est IMPP. Rom. Orientalium et Occidentalium + Iconum, ex Antiquis Numismatibus quam fidelissime delineatarum. Ex + Musæo Jacobi de Strada Mantuani Antiquarii,” Lyons, 1553, it is + stated that the first work containing portraits of the Roman + emperors engraved from their coins was that entitled “Illustrium + Imagines,” written by Cardinal Sadolet, and printed at Rome by + Jacobus Mazochius.--In Strada’s work the portraits are executed in + the same manner as in that of Huttichius. The wood-cut containing + the printer’s device, on the title-page of Strada’s work, is + admirably engraved.] + +Besides Durer, Burgmair, Cranach, and Schaufflein, there are several +other German painters of the same period who are also said to have +engraved on wood, and among the most celebrated of this secondary class +the following may be mentioned: Hans Sebald Behaim, previously noticed +at page 253; Albert Altdorffer; Hans Springinklee; and Hans Baldung +Grün. The marks of all those artists are to be found on wood-cuts +executed in the time of Durer; but I am extremely doubtful if those cuts +were actually engraved by themselves. If they were, I can only say that, +though they might be good painters and designers, they were very +indifferent wood engravers; and that their time in executing the +subjects ascribed to them must have been very badly employed. The common +working _formschneider_ who could not execute them as well, must have +been a very ordinary wood-_cutter_, not to say wood-_engraver_,--by the +latter term meaning one who excels in his profession, and not a mere +cutter of lines, without skill or taste, on box or pear-tree. + + [Illustration] + +Albert Altdorffer was born at Ratisbon in 1480, and afterwards became a +magistrate of his native city. The engravings on wood and copper +containing his mark are mostly of a small size, and he is generally +known as one of the _little masters_ of the German school of +engraving.[V-92] Hans Springinklee was a painter of some eminence, and +according to Doppelmayer, as referred to by Bartsch, was a pupil of +Durer’s. His mark is to be found on several wood-cuts; and it occurs in +one of the illustrations in the Wise King. Hans Baldung Grün was born at +Gemund in Suabia, and studied at Nuremberg under Albert Durer. He +excelled as a painter; and the wood-cuts which contain his mark are +mostly designed with great spirit. The earliest wood engraving that +contains his mark is a frontispiece to a volume of sermons with the date +1508; and the latest is a group of horses, engraved in a hard, stiff +manner, with the name “BALDUNG” and the date 1534.[V-93] He chiefly +resided at Strasburg, where he died in 1545. He is mentioned by Durer, +in his Journal, by the name of “Grün Hannsen.” + + [Footnote V-92: Heineken ranks the following in the class of + _little masters_: Henry Aldgrever, Albert Altdorffer, Bartholomew + Behaim, Hans Sebald Behaim, Hans Binck, Henry Goerting, George + Penez, and Virgil Solis. Most of them were engravers on copper.] + + [Footnote V-93: The following curious testimony respecting a lock + of Albert Durer’s hair, which had formerly been in the possession + of Hans Baldung Grün, is translated from an article in Meusel’s + Neue Miscellaneen, 1799. The lock of hair and the document were + then in the possession of Herr H. S. Hüsgen of Frankfort on the + Mayn: “Herein is the hair which was cut from the head of that + ingenious and celebrated painter Albert Durer, after his death at + Nuremberg, 8th April 1528, as a token of remembrance. It + afterwards came into the possession of that skilful painter Hans + Baldung, burger of this city, Strasburg; and after his death, in + 1545, my late brother-in-law, Nicholas Krämer, painter, of this + city, having bought sundry of his works and other things, among + them found this lock of hair, in an old letter, wherein was + written an account of what it contained. On the death of my + brother-in-law, in 1550, it was presented to me by my sister + Dorothy, and I now enclose it in this letter for a memorial. 1559. + SEBOLD BÜHELER.” To this testimony are subjoined two or three + others of subsequent date, showing in whose possession the valued + relic had been before it came into the hands of Herr Hüsgen.] + + [Illustration] + +We may here conveniently introduce fac-similes on a reduced scale of two +rather interesting wood engravings given by Dr. Dibdin in his +Bibliomania, and copied from an early folio volume, entitled +_Revelationes cœlestes sanctæ Brigittæ de Suecia_, printed at Nuremberg +by Anthony Köberger, M CCC XXI. _mensis Septembris_, which some read +1500, on the 21st of September, others 1521, in the month of September. +The first of these cuts is curious as representing the simplicity of an +ancient reading room, with its three-legged joint stool, such as is so +prettily described by Cowper, Task, I. v. 19; the other cut describes a +punishment which is said to have been revealed to St. Bridget against +those ladies who have “ornamenta indecentia capitibus et pedibus, et +reliquis membris, ad provocandam luxuriam, et irritandum Deum, in +strictis vestibus, ostensione mamillarum, unctionibus, &c.” The artist +is unknown, but seems to be among the best of the Nuremberg school. + + [Illustration] + +It cannot be reasonably doubted that Durer and several other German +painters of his time were accustomed to engrave their own designs on +copper; for in many instances we have the express testimony of their +contemporaries, and not unfrequently their own, to the fact. +Copper-plate engraving for about sixty years from the time of its +invention was generally practised by persons who were also painters, and +who usually engraved their own designs. Wood engraving, on the contrary, +from an early period was practised as a distinct profession by persons +who are never heard of as painters. That some of the early German +painters--of a period when “artists were more of workmen, and workmen +more of artists”[V-94] than in the present day--_might_ engrave some of +the wood-cuts which bear their marks, is certainly not impossible; but +it is highly improbable that all the wood-cuts which are ascribed to +them should have been executed by themselves. If any wood-cuts were +actually engraved by Durer, Cranach, Burgmair, and other painters of +reputation, I conceive that such cuts are not to be distinguished by +their superior execution from those engraved by the professional +_formschneider_ and _brief-maler_ of the day. The best copper-plates +engraved by Albert Durer can scarcely be surpassed by the best +copper-plate engraver of the present day,--that is, supposing him to +execute his work by the same means; while the best of the wood-cuts +which he is supposed to have engraved himself might be readily executed +by a score of modern wood engravers if the subject were drawn for them +on the block. In the age of Durer the best wood-cuts are of +comparatively large size, and are distinguished more from the boldness +and freedom of their design than from any peculiar excellence of +engraving: they display, in fact, rather the talent of the _artist_ than +the skill of the _workman_. Though wood engraving had very greatly +improved from about the end of the fifteenth century to the time of +Durer’s decease, yet it certainly did not attain its perfection within +that period. In later years, indeed, the workman has displayed greater +excellence; but at no time does the art appear to have been more +flourishing or more highly esteemed than in the reign of its great +patron, the Emperor Maximilian. + + [Footnote V-94: Evidence of Dr. G. F. Waagen of Berlin before the + Select Committee of the House of Commons on Arts and their + Connexion with Manufactures, 1835.] + + [Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +FURTHER PROGRESS AND DECLINE OF WOOD ENGRAVING. + + The Dance of Death -- Painted in Several Old Churches -- Two + Paintings of this Subject at Basle -- Old Editions of La Danse + Macabre, with Wood-Cuts -- Les Simulachres et Historiées Faces de la + Mort, Usually Called the Dance of Death, Printed at Lyons, 1538 -- + Various Editions and Copies of this Work -- Icones Historiarum + Veteris Testamenti, or Bible Cuts, Designed by Hans Holbein -- + Similarity Between these Cuts and those of the Lyons Dance of Death + -- Cuts of Both Works, Probably Designed by the Same Person -- + Portrait of Sir T. Wyatt -- Cuts in Cranmer’s Catechism -- And in + Other Old English Works -- Wood-Engraving in Italy -- Chiaro-Scuro + -- Marcolini’s Sorti -- S. Munster’s Cosmography -- Maps -- Virgil + Solis -- Bernard Solomon -- Jost Ammon -- Andrea Andreani -- Henry + Goltzius -- English Wood-Cuts -- Cuts by Christopher Jegher from the + Designs of Rubens -- General Decline of the Art in the Seventeenth + Century. + + +The best of the wood-cuts of the time of Albert Durer, more especially +those executed by German engravers, are for the most part of rather +large size; the best of those, however, which appeared within forty +years of his decease are generally small. The art of wood engraving, +both as regards design and execution, appears to have attained its +highest perfection within about ten years of the time of Durer’s +decease; for the cuts which, in my opinion, display the greatest +excellence of the art as practised in former times, were published in +1538. The cuts to which I allude are those of the celebrated Dance of +Death, which were first published in that year at Lyons. So admirably +are those cuts executed,--with so much feeling and with so perfect a +knowledge of the capabilities of the art,--that I do not think any wood +engraver of the present time is capable of surpassing them. The manner +in which they are engraved is comparatively simple: there is no laboured +and unnecessary cross-hatching where the same effect might be obtained +by simpler means; no display of fine work merely to show the artist’s +talent in cutting delicate lines. Every line is expressive; and the end +is always obtained by the simplest means. In this the talent and feeling +of the engraver are chiefly displayed. He wastes not his time in mere +mechanical execution--which in the present day is often mistaken for +excellence;--he endeavours to give to each character its appropriate +expression; and in this he appears to have succeeded better, considering +the small size of the cuts, than any other wood engraver, either of +times past or present. + +Though two or three of the cuts which will subsequently be given may be +of rather earlier date than those of the Dance of Death, it seems +preferable to give first some account of this celebrated work; and to +introduce the cuts alluded to, though not in strict chronological +order,--which is the less necessary as they do not illustrate the +progress of the art,--with others executed in a similar style. + +Long before the publication of the work now so generally known as “The +Dance of Death,” a series of paintings representing, in a similar +manner, Death seizing on persons of all ranks and ages, had appeared on +the walls of several churches. A Dance of Death was painted in the +cloisters of the Church of the Innocents at Paris, in the cloisters of +St. Paul’s, London, and in the portico of St. Mary’s, Lubec. The +painting in St Paul’s is said to have been executed at the cost of one +Jenkin Carpenter, who lived in the reign of Henry VI, and who was one of +the executors of that famous “lord-mayor of London,” Richard +Whittington; and Dugdale, in his History of St. Paul’s Cathedral, says +that it was in imitation of that in the cloisters of the Church of the +Innocents at Paris.[VI-1] This subject seems to have been usually known +in former times by the name of “The Dance of Machabre,” from a French or +German poet--for this point is not settled by the learned--of the name +of Macaber or Macabre, who is said to have written a poem on this +subject.[VI-2] The Dance of Death, however, which as a painting has +attained greater celebrity and given rise to much more discussion than +any other, is that which was painted on the wall of a kind of +court-house attached to the Church of the Dominicans at Basle. This +painting has frequently been ascribed to Holbein; but it certainly was +executed before he was born; and there is not the slightest reason to +believe that he ever touched it in any of the repairs which it underwent +in subsequent years. + + [Footnote VI-1: Besides those above mentioned, there is said to + have been a “Death’s Dance” at the following places: in + Hungerford’s Chapel, Salisbury Cathedral; Hexham Church; at + Fescamp in Normandy, carved in stone; at Dresden; Leipsic; + Annaberg; and Berne in Switzerland. The last, painted on the walls + of the cloisters of the Dominican friars, was the work of Nicholas + Emanuel Deutsch, previously mentioned at page 314. So early as + 1560 this painting was destroyed in consequence of the cloisters + being pulled down to widen a street. There are two copies of it in + water-colours preserved at Berne. From one of them a series of + lithographic engravings has been made. An ample list of old + paintings of this subject will be found in Mr. Douce’s Dance of + Death, chapters iii. and iv, published by Pickering, 1833, and + republished, with additions, by H. G. Bohn, 1858.] + + [Footnote VI-2: Mr. Douce says, “Macaber was not a German or any + other poet, but a nonentity.” He supposes that the name _Macaber_ + is only a slight and obvious corruption of _Macarius_, a Saint who + lived as a hermit in Egypt, and of whom there is a story of his + showing to three kings or noblemen an emblem of mortality in the + shape of three skeletons. “The word _Macabre_,” observes Mr. + Douce, “is found only in French authorities; and the Saint’s name, + which in the modern orthography is _Macaire_, would in many + ancient manuscripts be written _Macabre_ instead of _Macaure_, the + letter _b_ being substituted for that of _u_ from the caprice, + ignorance, or carelessness of transcribers.” Mr. Douce’s + conjecture would have been more feasible had he produced a single + instance from any ancient manuscript of the name having been + written _Macabre_ instead of _Macaure_ or _Macarius_. By a similar + process of reasoning, it would not be difficult to prove a hundred + old writers and poets non-entities. In the earliest French + editions, the work is intitled “La Danse Macabre;” and in a + Parisian edition, “Per Magistrum Guidonem Mercatorem pro Godefrido + de Marnef,” folio, 1490, the title is as follows: “Chorea ab + eximio Macabro versibus Alemanicis edita, et à Petro Desrey + emendata.” This seems to prove that Peter Desrey knew something of + a person named Macaber who had written a description of the Dance + in German.] + +The following particulars respecting this painting are such as seem best +authenticated. + +It is said to owe its origin to a plague which ravaged the city of Basle +in 1439, during the time of the great council, which commenced in 1431, +and did not terminate till 1448. A number of persons of almost all +ranks, whom the council had brought to this city, having fallen victims +to the plague, it is said that the painting was executed in remembrance +of the event, and as a memento of the uncertainty of life. Though it may +be true that the great mortality at Basle in 1439 might have been the +occasion of such a picture in the church-court--_Kirchhofe_, as it is +called by Hegner in his Life of Holbein--of the Dominicans in that city, +it is almost certain that the subject must have been suggested by one of +much earlier date painted on the walls of an old building which had +formerly been the cloisters of a nunnery which stood in that part of +Basle which is called the Little City. This convent was founded in 1275; +and the painting appears to have been executed in 1312, according to the +following date, which was to be seen above one of the figures, that of +the Count, who was also one of the characters in the painting in the +church-court of the Dominicans: “+Dussent jar treihuntert und Xii+;” in +English: One thousand three hundred and twelve. Several of the figures +in this old painting were almost the same as in that of the church-court +of the Dominicans, though executed in a coarser manner; and, like the +latter, were accompanied with explanatory inscriptions in verse. This +curious old work appears to have remained unnoticed till 1766, when one +Emanuel Büchel, of Basle, by trade a baker, but an admirer of art, and +an industrious draughtsman, had his attention directed to it. He made a +careful copy in colours of all that then remained of it, and his +drawings are now in the public library of Basle. “This oldest Dance of +Death,” says Hegner, writing in 1827, “is almost entirely effaced, and +becomes daily more so, as well on account of age as from the cloisters +of the old nunnery having been for many years used as a warehouse for +salt.”[VI-3] + + [Footnote VI-3: Hans Holbein der Jüngere. Von Ulrich Hegner, + S. 309. Berlin, 1827.] + +It is supposed that the Dance of Death in the church-court of the +Dominicans at Basle was originally painted in _fresco_ or distemper. The +number of characters, each accompanied by a figure of Death, was +originally forty;[VI-4] but in 1568, a painter, named Hans Hugo Klauber, +who was employed by the magistrates to repair the old painting, +introduced a figure of the reformer Oecolampadius as if preaching to the +characters composing the Dance, with portraits of himself, his wife, and +their little son, at the end. It is probable that he painted over the +old figures in oil-colour, and introduced sundry alterations, suggested +by other paintings and engravings of the same subject. It appears likely +that, at the same time, many of the old inscriptions were changed for +others more in accordance with the doctrines of the Reformation, which +then prevailed at Basle. The verses above the figure of the Pope were +certainly not such as would have been tolerated at the period when the +subject is supposed to have been first painted.[VI-5] In 1616 the +painting was again repaired; but, though a Latin inscription was then +added containing the names of the magistrates who had thus taken care to +preserve it, there is no mention made of any artist by whom the subject +had been originally painted or subsequently retouched. Had there been +any record of Holbein having been at any time employed on the work, such +a circumstance would most likely have been noticed; as his memory was +then held in the highest estimation, and Basle prided herself on having +had so eminent an artist enrolled among the number of her citizens. In +1658 the painting was again renewed: and there seems reason to believe +that further alterations were then introduced both in the costume and +the colouring. It was retouched in 1703; but from that time, as the +paint began to peel off from the decaying walls, all attempts for its +further preservation appear to have been considered hopeless. It would +indeed seem to have become in a great measure disregarded by the +magistrates, for a rope-maker used to exercise his trade under the roof +that protected it from the weather. As the old wall stood much in the +way of new buildings, it is not unlikely that they might be rather +wishful to have it removed. In 1805 the magistrates pronounced sentence +against the Dance of Death, and the wall on which it was painted was by +their orders pulled down, though not without considerable opposition on +the part of many of the citizens, more especially those of the suburb of +St. John, within which the old church-court of the Dominicans stood. +Several pieces of the painting were collected, and are still preserved +at Basle as memorials of the old “Todten-tanz,” which was formerly an +object of curiosity with all strangers who visited the city, and which +has been so frequently the subject of discussion in the history of art. + + [Footnote VI-4: All the persons introduced were of the size of + life. Death, in only one instance, was represented as a perfect + skeleton, and that was in the subject of the Doctor, whom he was + supposed to address as follows: + + +“Herr Doctor b’schaw die Anatomey + An mir, ob sie recht g’macht sey.”+ + + that is: + + “Doctor, take of me a sight, + Say if the skeleton be right.” + + It has been said that the Pope, the Emperor, and the King, were + intended respectively for portraits of Pope Felix V, the Emperor + Sigismund, and Albert II, his successor, as King of the Romans. + This, however, is merely a conjecture, and not a very probable + one. Sigismund died before the commencement of the plague which + is said to have been the occasion of the painting.] + + [Footnote VI-5: Those verses, as they appeared in later times, are + as follows: + + +“Heilig war ich auff Erd genant + Ohn Gott der höchst führt ich mein stand. + Der Ablass that mir gar wol lohnen + Doch will der tod mein nicht verschonen.”+ + + Their meaning may be thus expressed in English: + + “His Holiness, on earth my name; + From God my power never came; + Although by pardons wealth I got, + Death, alas, will pardon not!”] + +Mr. Douce has given a list of many books containing the figures of a +Dance of Death printed before the celebrated Simulachres et Historiées +Faces de la Mort of Lyons, 1538; and among the principal the following +may be here enumerated.--A German edition, intitled “Der Dodtendanz mit +figuren. Clage und Antwort schon von allen staten der Welt.” This work, +which is small folio, is mentioned in Braun’s Notitia librorum in +Bibliotheca ad SS. Udalricum et Afram Augustæ, vol. ii. p. 62. It is +without date, but Braun supposes that it may have been printed between +1480 and 1500. It consists of twenty-two leaves, with wood-cuts of the +Pope, Cardinal, Bishop, Abbot, &c. &c. accompanied by figures of Death. +The descriptions are in German verse, and printed in double +columns.--The earliest printed book on this subject with a date is +intitled “La Danse Macabre imprimée par ung nommé Guy Marchand,” +&c. Paris, 1485, small folio. In 1486 Guy Marchand,--or Guyot Marchant, +as he is also called,--printed another edition, “La Danse Macabre +nouvelle,” with several additional cuts; and in the same year he printed +“La Danse Macabre des Femmes,” a small folio of fifteen leaves. This is +the first edition of the Macaber Dance of females. Thirty-two subjects +are described, but there are only cuts of two, the Queen and the +Duchess. In 1490 an edition appeared with the following title: “Chorea +ab eximio Macabro versibus Alemanicis edita, et à Petro Desrey emendata. +Parisiis, per magistrum Guidonem Mercatorem [Guy Marchand] pro Godefrido +de Marnef.” In the same year Marchand printed another edition of “La +nouvelle Danse Macabre des Hommes;” and in the year following there +appeared from his press a second edition of “La Danse Macabre des +Femmes,” with cuts of all the characters and other additions. A Dance of +Death, according to Von der Hagen, in his Deutsche Poesie, p. 459, was +printed at Leipsic in 1496; and in 1499 a “Grande Danse Macabre des +Hommes et Femmes” was printed in folio at Lyons. The latter is supposed +to be the earliest that contains cuts of both men and women. About 1500, +Ant. Verard printed an edition, in folio, of the Danse Macabre at Paris; +and in various years between 1500 and 1530 a work with the same title +and similar cuts was printed at Paris, Troyes, Rouen, Lyons, and Geneva. +Besides those works, characters from the Dance of Death were frequently +introduced as incidental illustrations in books of devotion, more +especially in those usually denominated Horæ or Hours of the Virgin, and +printed in France.[VI-6] + + [Footnote VI-6: Several characters are to be found in those Dances + of Death which do not occur in the Simulachres et Historiées Faces + de la Mort of Lyons, 1538. In the preface to the Emblems of + Mortality,--with wood-cuts by John Bewick, 1789,--written by John + Sidney Hawkins, Esq., the following list is given of the cuts in + an edition of “La grande Danse de Macabre des Hommes et Femmes,” + 4to. printed at Troyes for John Garnier, but without a date. “The + Pope, Emperor, Cardinal, King, Legate, Duke, Patriarch, Constable, + Archbishop, Knight, Bishop, Squire, Abbot, Bailiff, Astrologer, + Burgess, Canon, Merchant, Schoolmaster, Man of Arms, Chartreux, + Serjeant, Monk, Usurer, Physician, Lover, Advocate, Minstrel, + Curate, Labourer, Proctor, Gaoler, Pilgrim, Shepherd, Cordelier, + Child, Clerk, Hermit, Adventurer, Fool. The women are the Queen, + Duchess, Regent’s Wife, Knight’s Wife, Abbess, Squire’s Wife, + Shepherdess, Cripple, Burgess’s Wife, Widow, Merchant’s Wife, + Bailiff’s Wife, Young Wife, Dainty Dame, Female Philosopher, + New-married Wife, Woman with Child, Old Maid, Female Cordelier, + Chambermaid, Intelligence-Woman, Hostess, Nurse, Prioress, Damsel, + Country Girl, Old Chambermaid, Huckstress, Strumpet, Nurse for + Lying-in-Woman, Young Girl, Religious, Sorceress, Bigot, Fool.” + Nearly the same characters occur in borders of the old Dutch + Prayer Book mentioned at page 318, though in the latter they are + yet more numerous; among the men there is a + fowler--_vogelaer_--and among the women, the beauty--_scone_--and + the old woman--_alde vrou_--which do not occur in the preceding + list.] + +The celebrated “Dance of Death,” the cuts of which have been so +generally ascribed to Hans Holbein as the engraver as well as designer, +was first published at Lyons, in 1538. It is of small quarto size, and +the title is as follows: “Les Simulachres & Historiées faces de la Mort, +autant elegammēt pourtraictes, que artificiellement imaginées. A Lyon, +Soubz l’escu de Coloigne. M.D.XXXVIII.” On the title-page is an +emblematic wood-cut, very indifferently executed, representing three +heads joined together, with a wreath above them; the middle one a full +face, and those on each side in profile. Instead of shoulders, the +heads, or busts, are provided with a pair of wings of peacock’s +feathers; they rest on a kind of pedestal, on which is also an open book +inscribed with the maxim, “ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΕΑΥΤΟΝ.” A large serpent is seen +confined by the middle in a hole which must be supposed to pass through +the pedestal; and to it (the pedestal) are chained two globes,--one +surmounted by a small cross, like the emblem of imperial authority, +and the other having two wings. This emblematic cut, which is certainly +not “l’escu de Coloigne,” is accompanied with the motto “_Usus me +Genuit_.”[VI-7] At the conclusion of the book is the imprint, within +an ornamental wood-cut border: “EXCVDEBANT LVGDVNI MELCHIOR ET GASPAR +TRECHSEL FRATRES. 1538.” The title is succeeded by a preface, of six +pages, which is followed by seven pages more, descriptive of “diverses +tables de Mort, non painctes, mais extraictes de l’escripture saincte, +colorées par Docteurs Ecclesiastiques, et umbragées par Philosophes.” +After those verbal sketches of Death come the cuts, one on each page; +and they are succeeded by a series of descriptions of death and +reflections on mortality, the general title to which, commencing at +signature H, is, “Figures de la Mort moralement descriptes, & depeinctes +selon l’authorité de l’scripture, & des sainctz Peres.” + + [Footnote VI-7: It has been thought necessary to be thus + particular in describing the title-page of this rare edition, as + it is incorrectly described by Mr. Douce. In the copy in the + British Museum the title-page is wanting.] + +By far the most important passage in the book, at least so far as +relates to the designer or engraver of the cuts, occurs in the preface, +which is written much in the style of a pedantic father-confessor to a +nunnery who felt a pleasure in ornamenting his Christian discourses and +exhortations with the flowers of Pagan eloquence. The preface is +addressed, “A moult reverende Abbesse du religieux convent S. Pierre de +Lyon, Madame Jehanne de Touszele, Salut dun vray Zele,”[VI-8] and the +passage above mentioned is to the following effect. “But to return to +our figured representations of Death, we have greatly to regret the +death of him who has imagined such elegant figures as are herein +contained, as much excelling all those heretofore printed,[VI-9] as the +pictures of Apelles or of Zeuxis surpass those of modern times; for, his +funereal histories, with their gravely versified descriptions, excite +such admiration in beholders, that the figures of Death appear to them +most life-like, while those of the living are the very pictures of +mortality. It therefore seems to me that Death, fearing that this +excellent painter would paint him in a manner so lively, that he should +be no longer feared as Death, and apprehensive that the artist would +thus become immortal, determined to shorten his days, and thus prevent +him finishing other subjects which he had already drawn. Among these is +one of a waggoner, knocked down and crushed under his broken waggon, the +wheels and horses of which appear so frightfully shattered and maimed +that it is as fearful to see their overthrow as it is amusing to behold +the liquorishness of a figure of Death, who is perceived roguishly +sucking the wine out of a broken cask, by means of a reed. To such +imperfect subjects, as to the inimitable heavenly bow named Iris,[VI-10] +no one has ventured to put the last hand, on account of the bold +drawing, perspectives, and shadows contained in this inimitable +chef-d’œuvre, there so gracefully delineated, that from it we may derive +a pleasing sadness and a melancholy pleasure, as in a thing mournfully +delightful.” The cut of the waggoner, described by the French euphuist, +was, however, afterwards finished, and, with others, inserted in a +subsequent edition of the work. It is figured in the present volume at +page 344. + + [Footnote VI-8: This “vray Zele” having said in the first page of + the preface that the name and surname of the revered abbess had + the same sound as his own, with the exception of the letter T, the + editor of the Emblems conjectures “that his name was JEAN, or, as + it was anciently written, JEHAN DE OUSZELL, or OZELL as it is now + usually spelt.”] + + [Footnote VI-9: In the original, “avancantes autāt les patronées + jusques ici.” The word _patronées_, I conceive to refer to cuts + printed from wood-blocks. The editor of the Emblems, 1688, who is + followed by Mr. Ottley, translated the passage, “exceeding all the + _examples_ hitherto.” Works executed by means of a stencil were in + old French said to be _patronées_, and the word also appears to + have been applied to impressions printed from wood-blocks. The + verb _patroner_ is thus explained in Noel and Chapsal’s Nouveau + Dictionnaire de la Langue Française, Paris, 1828: “Terme de + cartier: enduire de couleur, au moyen du patron évidé, les + endroits où cette couleur doit paraître.”] + + [Footnote VI-10: Mr. Douce supposes that the rainbow here alluded + to was that which appears in the cut of the Last Judgment, the + last but one in the first edition. The writer evidently means the + natural rainbow which is mostly seen imperfect.] + +The number of cuts in the first edition, now under examination, is +forty-one; above each is a text of Scripture, in Latin; and below are +four verses in French--the “descriptions severement rithmées,” mentioned +in the preface--containing some moral or reflection germane to the +subject. A few sets of impressions of all those cuts, except one, appear +to have been taken before the work appeared at Lyons. They have been +printed by means of a press,--not taken by friction in the manner in +which wood engravers usually take their proofs,--and at the top of each +cut is the name in the German language, but in Italic type. “Why those +German names,” says Hegner, “in a work which, so far as we know, was +first published at Lyons? They appear to confirm the opinion of the cuts +having been actually engraved at Basle; and the descriptions correspond +with the dialect of that city.” The late Mr. Ottley had impressions of +forty of those original cuts, and six of those which were inserted in a +later edition. In his Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of +Engraving, Mr. Ottley, speaking of the Dance of Death, says: “It is +certain that the cuts had been previously printed at Basle; and, indeed, +some writers assert that the work was published in that city, with texts +of Scripture, in the German language, above the cuts, and verses, in the +same language, underneath, as early as 1530; although, hitherto, I have +been unable to meet with or hear of any person who had seen a copy of +such an edition.” In a note upon this passage, Jansen, the compiler of +an Essay on the Origin of Engraving, and the anonymous author of a work +entitled Notices sur les Graveurs, Besançon, 1807, are cited as +mentioning such an edition. To give every one his due, however, and to +show the original authority for the existence of such an edition, I beg +here to give an extract from Papillon, who never felt any difficulty in +supposing a date, and whose conjectures such writers as Jansen have felt +as little hesitation in converting into certainties. The substance of +Papillon’s observations on this point is as follows: “But to return to +Holbein’s Dance of Death, which is unquestionably a master-piece of wood +engraving. There are several editions; the first of which, _so far as +may be judged_, ought to be about 1530, as has been already said,[VI-11] +and was printed at Basle or Zurich, with a title to each cut, and, +_I believe_, verses underneath, all in the German language.” What +Papillon puts forth as a matter of conjecture and opinion, Von Murr, +Jansen, and the author of the Notices sur les Graveurs, promulgate as +facts, and Mr. Ottley refers to the two latter writers as if he were +well inclined to give credit to their assertions. + + [Footnote VI-11: Traité de la Gravure en Bois, tom. i. p. 168. + Papillon in a preceding page had observed: “These cuts must have + been engraved about 1530, for we find the four first among the + little figures of the Old Testament printed in 1539, from which it + is easy to perceive that many thousand impressions had already + been taken from the blocks.”--Those four cuts in the first edition + of the Dance of Death, have not the slightest appearance of having + been from blocks that had already furnished many thousand + impressions. In the copy now before me, I cannot perceive a break + or an imperfection in the most delicate lines. The first edition + of the “Historiarum Veteris Testamenti Icones,” to which Papillon + alludes, first appeared in the same year as the Simulachres, 1538, + and from the office of the same publishers, the brothers Melchior + and Gaspar Trechsel.] + +From the following passage it would appear that Mr. Ottley had also been +willing to believe that those impressions might have been accompanied +with explanatory verses and texts of Scripture. “I have only to add, +upon the subject of this celebrated work, that I am myself the fortunate +possessor of forty pieces, (the complete series of the first edition, +excepting one,) which are printed with the greatest clearness and +brilliancy of effect, on one side of the paper only; each cut having +over it its title, printed in the German language with moveable type. It +is possible that they may originally have had verses underneath, and +texts of Scripture above, in addition to the titles just mentioned: but +as the margins are clipped on the sides and at bottom, it is now +impossible to ascertain the fact.”[VI-12] + + [Footnote VI-12: Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of + Engraving, vol. ii. p. 762.] + +Had the forty impressions in question been accompanied with verses and +texts of Scripture, they certainly might be considered as having +belonged to an earlier edition of the work than that of 1538, and for +the existence of which Mr. Ottley has referred to the testimony of +Jansen and the editor of the Notices sur les Graveurs, printed at +Besançon. There is, however, a set of those cuts preserved in the public +library at Basle, which seems clearly to prove that they had only been +taken as specimens without any further accompaniment than the titles. +They are printed on four folio leaves, on only one side of the paper, +and there are ten cuts on each page; the title, in the German language, +and in Italic type, like Mr. Ottley’s, is printed above each; and the +same cut--that of the astrologer--is also wanting. From these +circumstances there can scarcely be a doubt that the set formerly +belonging to Mr. Ottley[VI-13] had been printed in the same manner, and +that each impression had subsequently been cut out, perhaps for the +purpose of mounting them singly. The following are the titles given to +those cuts, and to each is subjoined a literal translation. They are +numbered as they follow each other in LES SIMULACHRES ET HISTORIEES +FACES DE LA MORT, 1538, which perhaps may not be incorrectly expressed +by the English title, “Pictorial and Historical Portraits of Death.” + + [Footnote VI-13: Those cuts, with that of the astrologer and five + others, supplied from a later edition, were bought, at the sale of + Mr. Ottley’s prints, in 1837, for the British Museum, for £37 + 10_s._ In the catalogue, which, I understand, was chiefly drawn up + from his own memoranda, they are thus described, under the head + “HANS HOLBEIN,” No. 458: “THE CELEBRATED DANCE OF DEATH, first + impressions, printed (probably at Basle, about 1530,) upon one + side only, with German titles at the top in type; supposed to be + UNIQUE.” That they were printed in 1530 is highly _improbable_, + and they certainly are NOT _unique_.] + + 1. _Die schöpfung aller ding_--The creation of all things. + 2. _Adam Eua im Paradyſs_--Adam and Eve in Paradise. + 3. _Vertribung Ade Eue_--The driving out of Adam and Eve. + 4. _Adam baugt die erden_--Adam cultivates the earth. + 5. _Gebeyn aller menschen_--Skeletons of all men. + 6. _Der Papst_--The Pope. + 7. _Der Keyser_--The Emperor. + 8. _Der Künig_--The King. + 9. _Der Cardinal_--The Cardinal. + 10. _Die Keyserinn._--The Empress. + 11. _Die Küniginn_--The Queen. + 12. _Der Bischoff_--The Bishop. + 13. _Der Hertzog_--The Duke. + 14. _Der Apt_--The Abbot. + 15. _Die Aptissinn_--The Abbess. + 16. _Der Edelman_--The Nobleman. + 17. _Der Thümherr_--The Canon. + 18. _Der Richter_--The Judge. + 19. _Der Fürspräch_--The Advocate. + 20. _Der Rahtsherr_--The Magistrate. + 21. _Der Predicant_--The Preaching Friar. + 22. _Der Pfarrherr_--The Parish-priest. + 23. _Der Münch_--The Monk. + 24. _Die Nunne_--The Nun. + 25. _Dass Altweyb_--The Old Woman. + 26. _Der Artzet_--The Doctor. + 27. (Wanting in the specimens.) The Astrologer. + 28. _Der Rychman_--The Rich Man. + 29. _Der Kauffman_--The Merchant. + 30. _Der Schiffman_--The Sailor. + 31. _Der Ritter_--The Knight. + 32. _Der Graff_--The Count. + 33. _Der Alt man_--The Old Man. + 34. _Die Greffinn_--The Countess. + 35. _Die Edelfraw_--The Lady. + 36. _Die Hertzoginn_--The Duchess. + 37. _Der Krämer_--The Pedlar. + 38. _Der Ackerman_--The Farmer. + 39. _Das Jung Kint_--The Young Child. + 40. _Das Jüngst Gericht_--The Last Judgment. + 41. _Die Wapen des Thots_--Death’s coat-of-arms. + +In 1542 a second edition of the Dance of Death, with the same cuts as +the first, was published at Lyons, “Soubz l’escu de Coloigne,” by John +and Francis Frellon, who appear to have succeeded to the business of the +brothers Trechsel,--if, indeed, the latter were not merely the printers +of the first edition. In a third edition, with the title Imagines +Mortis, 1545, the verses underneath each cut are in Latin.[VI-14] A cut +of a lame beggar, which has no relation to the Dance of Death, is +introduced as a tail-piece to one of the discourses on death--Cypriani +Sermo de Mortalitate--at the end of the volume; but it is neither +designed nor executed in the same style as the others. + + [Footnote VI-14: The French verses were translated into Latin by + George Æmylius, “an eminent German divine of Mansfelt,” says Mr. + Douce, “and the author of many pious works.”] + +In a fourth edition, with the title “Imagines Mortis,”[VI-15] 1547, +eleven additional cuts are introduced; namely: 1. Death fighting with a +soldier in Swiss costume; 2. Gamblers, with a figure of Death, and +another of the Devil; 3. Drunkards, with a figure of Death; 4. The Fool, +with a figure of Death playing on the bagpipes; 5. The Robber seized by +Death; 6. The Blind Man and Death; 7. The Waggoner and Death; +8. Children, one of whom is borne on the shoulders of the others as a +conqueror triumphing; 9. A child with a shield and dart; 10. Three +children; one riding on an arrow, another on a bow, as on a hobby-horse, +the third carrying a hare over his shoulder, suspended from a hunting +pole; 11. Children as Bacchanalians. The last four subjects have no +relation to a Dance of Death, but have evidently been introduced merely +to increase the number of the cuts; they are, however, beautifully +designed and well engraved. This edition contains twelve more cuts, +reckoning the tail-piece of the Lame Beggar, than the first. Another +edition, forming the fifth, was also published in 1547 under the title +of “Les Images de la Mort,” with French verses, as in the edition of +1538. The number of cuts is the same as in the edition of 1547 with +Latin verses, and the title “Imagines Mortis,” or “Icones Mortis.” + + [Footnote VI-15: Some copies have the title “Icones Mortis;” and + though they correspond in every other respect with those of the + same year, intitled Imagines Mortis, Mr. Douce seems to consider + that this trifling variation is a sufficient ground for describing + them as different editions.] + +In 1549, a sixth edition, with the same number of cuts as the last, was +published, under the title of “Simolachri, Historie, e Figure de la +Morte,” with the letter-press in Italian, with the exception of the +texts of Scripture, which were in Latin, as in the others. In the +preface, John Frellon--whose name appears alone in the edition of 1547, +and in those of subsequent years--complains of a piracy of the book, +which was printed at Venice in 1545, with fac-similes of the cuts of the +first edition. “Frellon, by way of revenge,” says Mr. Douce, “and to +save the trouble of making a new translation of the articles that +compose the volume, made use of that of his Italian competitor.”[VI-16] +A seventh edition, with the title “Icones Mortis,” and containing +fifty-three cuts, appeared, without any printer’s name, in 1554. + + [Footnote VI-16: Dance of Death, p. 107, edit. 1833 (Bohn’s + edition, p. 95). It is stated in the Italian piracy that it was + printed “_Con gratia e privilegio de l’Illustriss. Senato + Vinitiano, per anni dieci. Appresso Vincenzo Vaugris, al Segno + d’Erasmo._ MDXLV.”] + +In an eighth edition, 1562, with the title “Les Images de la Mort, +auxquelles sont adjoustees dix-sept figures,” five additional cuts are +introduced, thus making seventeen more than are contained in the first. +The total number of cuts in the edition of 1562 is fifty-eight; and that +of the Lame Beggar, which first appeared as a tail-piece in the edition +of 1545, has now a place among the others in the body of the book. The +subjects of the five new cuts are: 1. The Husband, with a figure of +Death; 2. The Wife,--Death leading a young woman by the hand, preceded +by a young man playing on a kind of guitar; 3. Children as part of a +triumph, one of them as a warrior on horseback; 4. Three children; one +with a trophy of armour, another carrying a vase and a shield, the third +seated naked on the ground; 5. Children with musical instruments. The +subjects of children are designed and executed in the same style as +those first introduced in the edition of 1547. The last of those five +new cuts does not appear in regular order with the other fifty-seven; +but is given as a tail-piece at the end of a preface to a devotional +tract--La Medicine de l’Ame--in the latter part of the book. Mr. Douce +mentions another edition with the date 1574. He, however, observes in a +note: “This edition is given on the authority of Peignot,[VI-17] page +62, but has not been seen by the author of this work. In the year 1547 +there were three editions, and it is not improbable that, by the +transposition of the two last figures, one of these might have been +intended.” As one of Mr. Douce’s _three_ editions of 1547 differs only +from another of the same date by having “_Icones_” instead of +“_Imagines_” in the title-page, he might as consistently have claimed a +fourth for the same year on the ground of a _probable_ transposition of +74 for 47. All the authentic editions of the “Dance of Death,” +previously noticed, were published at Lyons. The first, as has been +already observed, was in small quarto; the others are described by Mr. +Douce as being in duodecimo. In a Dutch Dance of Death, intitled “De +Doodt vermaskert met swerelts ydelheit,” duodecimo, Antwerp, 1654, +fourteen of the cuts, according to Mr. Douce, were from the original +blocks which had been used in the Lyons editions. + + [Footnote VI-17: Author of the work intitled, “Recherches sur les + Danses des Morts.” Dijon et Paris, 1826.] + +It seems probable that the earliest copies of the cuts in “Les +Simulachres et Historiées Faces de la Mort,” or Dance of Death, as the +work is more frequently called, appeared in a small folio, intitled +“Todtentantz,” printed at Augsburg in 1544, by “_Jobst Denecker, +Formschneyder_.” As I have never seen a copy of this edition, I take the +liberty of extracting the following notice of it from Mr. Douce: “This +edition is not only valuable from its extreme rarity, but for the very +accurate and spirited manner in which the fine original cuts are copied. +It contains all the subjects that were then published, but not arranged +as those had been. It has the addition of one singular print, intitled, +‘Der Eebrecher,’ _i. e._ the Adulterer, representing a man discovering +the adulterer in bed with his wife, and plunging his sword through both +of them, Death guiding his hands. On the opposite page to each engraving +there is a dialogue between Death and the party, and at bottom a Latin +hexameter. The subject of the Pleader has the unknown mark [Symbol] and +on that of the Duchess in bed, there is the date 1542.”[VI-18] Mr. Douce +is of opinion that the “_Jobst Denecker, Formschneyder_,” who appears as +the printer, was the same person as Jobst or Jost de Negker, the wood +engraver whose name is at the back of one of the cuts of the Triumphal +Procession of Maximilian.--The next copy of the work is that intitled +“Simolachri, Historie, e Figure de la Morte,” Venice, 1545, the piracy +complained of by Frellon in his Italian edition of 1549. It contains +forty-one cuts, as in the first Lyons edition of 1538. There is no +variation in the figures; but the expression of the faces is frequently +lost, and the general execution of the whole is greatly inferior to that +of the originals. Another edition, in Latin, was published in 1546; and +Mr. Douce says that there are impressions of the cuts on single sheets, +at the bottom of one of which is the date 1568.--In 1555, an edition +with the title “Imagines Mortis,” with fifty-three cuts, similar to +those in the Lyons edition of 1547, was published at Cologne by the +heirs of Arnold Birkman, Cologne, 1555; and there are four other +editions of the same work, respectively dated 1557, 1566, 1567, and +1572. Alterations are made in some of those cuts; in five of them the +mark [[SA]] is introduced; and in the cut of the Duchess the mark +[Symbol], seen on the bed-frame in the original, is omitted. All the +alterations are for the worse; some of the figures seem like caricatures +of the originals; and the cuts generally are, in point of execution, +very inferior to those in the Lyons editions. The name of the artist +to whom the mark [[SA]] belongs is unknown. In the preface to the +Emblems of Mortality, page xx, the writer says it is “that of SILVIUS +ANTONIANUS, an artist of considerable merit.” This, however, is merely +one of the blunders of Papillon, who, according to Mr. Douce, has +converted the owner of this mark into a cardinal. Papillon, it +would seem, had observed it on the cuts of an edition of Faerno’s +Fables--printed at Antwerp, 1567, and dedicated to Cardinal Borromeo +by Silvio Antoniano, professor of Belles Lettres at Rome, afterwards +a cardinal himself--and without hesitation he concluded that the editor +was the engraver.[VI-19] The last of the editions published in the +sixteenth century with wood-cuts copied from the Lyons work, appeared +at Wittemberg in 1590. + + [Footnote VI-18: Dance of Death, p. 118. Edit. 1833.] + + [Footnote VI-19: Mr. Douce gives another amusing instance of + Papillon’s sagacity in assigning marks and names to their proper + owners. “He (Papillon) had seen an edition of the Emblems of + Sambucus with cuts, bearing the mark [[SA]], in which there is a + fine portrait of the author with his favourite dog, and under the + latter the word BOMBO, which Papillon gravely states to be the + name of the engraver; and finding the same word on another of the + emblems, which has also the dog, he concludes that all the cuts + which have not the [[SA]] were engraved by the same BOMBO.”--Dance + of Death, p. 114, 1833. Those blunders of Papillon are to be found + in his Traité Historique et Pratique de la Gravure en Bois, tom. + i. pp. 238 et 525.] + +Various editions of the Dance of Death, with copper-plate engravings +generally copied from the work published at Lyons, are enumerated by Mr. +Douce, but only one of them seems to require notice here. Between 1647 +and 1651 Hollar etched thirty subjects from the Dance of Death, +introducing occasionally a few alterations. From a careful examination +of those etchings, I am inclined to think that most of them were copied +not from the cuts in any of the Lyons editions, but from those in the +edition published by the heirs of Birkman at Cologne. The original +copper-plates of Hollar’s thirty etchings having come into the +possession of Mr. James Edwards, formerly a bookseller in Pall-Mall, he +published an edition in duodecimo, without date, but about 1794,[VI-20] +with preliminary observations on the Dance of Death, written by the late +Mr. F. Douce. Those preliminary observations are the germ of Mr. Douce’s +beautiful and more complete volume, published by W. Pickering in 1833 +(and republished with additions by Mr. Bohn in 1858). As Petrarch’s +amatory sonnets and poems have been called “a labour of Love,” with +equal propriety may Mr. Douce’s last work be intitled “a labour of +Death.” Scarcely a cut or an engraving that contains even a death’s head +and cross-bones appears to have escaped his notice. Incorporated is a +_Catalogue raisonné_ which contains an enumeration of all the +tomb-stones in England and Wales that are ornamented with those standard +“Emblems of Mortality,”--skull, thigh-bones in saltire, and hour-glass. +In his last “Opus Magnum Mortis,” the notices of the several Dances of +Death in various parts of Europe are very much enlarged, but he has not +been able to adduce any further arguments or evidences beyond what +appeared in his first essay, to show that the cuts in the original +edition of the Dance of Death, published at Lyons, were not designed by +Holbein. Throughout the work there are undeniable proofs of the +diligence of the collector; but no evidences of a mind that could make +them available to a useful end. He is at once sceptical and credulous; +he denies that any poet of the name of Macaber ever lived; and yet he +believes, on the sole authority of one T. Nieuhoff Picard, whose +existence is as doubtful as Macaber’s, that Holbein painted a Dance of +Death as large as life, in fresco, in the old palace at Whitehall. + + [Footnote VI-20: Mr. Douce himself says, “about 1794.” A copy in + the British Museum, formerly belonging to the late Reverend C. M. + Cracherode, has, however, that gentleman’s usual mark, and the + date 1793.] + +Having now given a list of all the authentic editions of the Dance of +Death and of the principal copies of it, I shall next, before saying +anything about the supposed designer or engraver, lay before the reader +a few specimens of the original cuts. Mr. Douce observes, of the +forty-nine cuts given in his Dance of Death, 1833, that “they may be +very justly regarded as scarcely distinguishable from their fine +originals.” Now, without any intention of depreciating these clever +copies, I must pronounce them inferior to the originals, especially in +the heads and hands. In this respect the wood-cuts of the first Lyons +edition of the Dance of Death are unrivalled by any other productions of +the art of wood engraving, either in past or present times. In the +present day, when mere delicacy of cutting in the modern French taste is +often mistaken for good engraving, there are doubtless many admirers of +the art who fancy that there would be no difficulty in finding a wood +engraver who might be fully competent to accurately copy the originals +in the first edition of the Dance of Death. The experiment, however, +would probably convince the undertaker of such a task, whoever he might +be, that he had in this instance over-rated his abilities. Let the heads +in the Lyons cuts, and those of any copies of them, old or recent, be +examined with a magnifying glass, and the excellence of the former will +appear still more decidedly than when viewed with the naked eye. + +The following cut is a copy of the same size as the original, which is +the second of the Dance of Death, of the edition of 1538. The subject is +Adam and Eve eating of the forbidden fruit; and in the series of early +impressions, formerly Mr. Ottley’s, but now in the Print Room of the +British Museum, it is intitled “_Adam Eva im Paradyss_”--Adam and Eve in +Paradise. The serpent, as in many other old engravings, as well as in +paintings, is represented with a human face. In order to convey an idea +of the original page, this cut is accompanied with its explanatory text +and verses printed in similar type. + + [Illustration: + Quia audiſti vocem vxoris tuæ, & comediſti + de ligno ex quo preceperam tibi ne comederes &c. + + _GENESIS III_ + + [Figure] + + _ADAM_ fut par _EVE_ deceu + Et contre _DIEV_ mangea la pomm + Dont tous deux out la Mort receu, + Et depuis fut mortel tout homme. + C] + +In the two first cuts, which represent the Creation of Eve, and Adam +taking the forbidden fruit, the figure of Death is not seen. In the +third, Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise, Death, playing on a kind of +lyre, is seen preceding them; and in the fourth, Adam cultivating the +earth, Death is perceived assisting him in his labour. In the fifth, +intitled _Gebeyn aller menschen_--Skeletons of all men--in the early +impressions of the cuts, formerly belonging to Mr. Ottley, but now in +the British Museum, all the figures are skeletons; one of them is seen +beating a pair of kettle drums, while others are sounding trumpets, as +if rejoicing in the power which had been given to Death in consequence +of the fall of man. The texts above this cut are, “Væ væ væ habitantibus +in terra. APOCALYPSIS VIII;” and “Cuncta in quibus spiraculum vitæ est, +mortua sunt. GENESIS VII.” In the sixth cut there are two figures of +Death,--one grinning at the pope as he bestows the crown on a kneeling +emperor, and the other, wearing a cardinal’s hat, as a witness of the +ceremony. In the thirty-sixth cut, the Duchess, there are two figures of +Death introduced, and there are also two in the thirty-seventh, the +Pedlar; but in all the others of this edition, from the seventh to the +thirty-ninth, inclusive, there is only a single figure of Death, and in +every instance his action and expression are highly comic, most +distinctly evincing that man’s destruction is his sport. In the fortieth +cut there is no figure of Death; the Deity seated on a rainbow, with his +feet resting on the globe, is seen pronouncing final judgment on the +human race. The forty-first, and last cut of the original edition, +represents Death’s coat-of-arms----_Die wapen des Thots_. On an +escutcheon, which is rent in several places, is a death’s-head, with +something like a large worm proceeding from the mouth; above the +escutcheon, a barred helmet, seen in front like that of a sovereign +prince, is probably intended to represent the power of Death; the crest +is a pair of fleshless arms holding something like a large stone +immediately above an hour-glass; on the dexter side of the escutcheon +stands a gentleman, who seems to be calling the attention of the +spectator to this memento of Death, and on the opposite side is a lady; +in the distance are Alpine mountains, the top of the highest partly +shaded by a cloud. The appropriate text is, “Memorare novissima, et in +æternum non peccabis. ECCLE. VII;” and the following are the verses +underneath: + + “Si tu veulx vivre sans peché + Voy ceste imaige a tous propos, + Et point ne seras empesché + Quand tu t’en iras en repos.” + + [Illustration] + +The total number of cuts of the first edition in which Death is seen +attending on men and women of all ranks and conditions, mocking them, +seizing them, slaying them, or merrily leading them to their end, is +thirty-seven. + + [Illustration: + Spiritus meus attenuabitur, dies mihi bre- + viabuntur, & ſolum mihi ſupereſt ſepul- + chrum. + + _IOB XVII_ + + [Figure] + + Mes eſperitz ſont attendriz, + Et ma uie ſ’en ua tout beau. + Las mes longz iours ſont amoindriz + Plus ne me reſte qu’un tombeau.] + +The above cut is a copy of the thirty-third, the Old Man--_Der Alt +man_--whom Death leads in confiding imbecility to the grave, while he +pretends to support him and to amuse him with the music of a dulcimer. +The text and verses are given as they stand in the original. + +The following cut is a copy of the thirty-sixth, the Duchess--_Die +Hertzoginn_. In this cut, as has been previously observed, there are two +figures of Death; one rouses her from the bed--where she appears to have +been indulging in an afternoon nap--by pulling off the coverlet, while +the other treats her to a tune on the violin. On the frame of the bed, +or couch, to the left, near the bottom of the cut, is seen the mark +[[HL]], which has not a little increased the difficulty of arriving at +any clear and unquestionable conclusion with respect to the designer or +engraver of those cuts. The text and the verses are given literally, as +in the two preceding specimens. + + [Illustration: + De lectulo ſuper quem aſcendi- + ſti non deſcendes, ſed morte + morieris. + + _III REG. I_ + + [Figure] + + Du lict ſus lequel as monté + Ne deſcendras a ton plaiſir. + Car Mort t’aura tantoſt dompté, + Et en brief te uiendra ſaiſir.] + +The following cut, the Child--_Das Iung Kint_--is a copy of the +thirty-ninth, and the last but two in the original edition. Death having +been represented in the preceding cuts as beguiling men and women in +court and council-chamber, in bed-room and hall, in street and field, by +sea and by land, is here represented as visiting the dilapidated cottage +of the poor, and, while the mother is engaged in cooking, seizing her +youngest child. + + [Illustration: + Homo natus de muliere, brevi vivens tempore + repletur multis miſeriis, qui quaſi flos egre- + ditur, & conteritur, & fugit velut umbra. + + _IOB XIIII_ + + [Figure] + + Tout homme de la femme yſſant + Remply de miſere, & d’encombre, + Ainſi que fleur toſt finiſſant, + Sort & puis fuyt comme faict l’umbre.] + +The cut of the Waggon overturned, from which the following is copied, +first appeared with ten others in the edition of 1547. From an +inspection of this cut, which most probably is that mentioned as being +left unfinished, in the prefatory address to Madame Jehanne de Touszele +in the first edition, 1538, it will be perceived that the description +which is there given of it is not correct, and hence arises a doubt if +the writer had actually seen it. He describes the driver as knocked +down, and lying bruised under his broken waggon, and he says that the +figure of Death is perceived roguishly sucking the wine out of a broken +cask by means of a reed.[VI-21] In the cut itself, however, the waggoner +is seen standing, wringing his hands as if in despair on account of the +accident, and a figure of Death,--for there are two in this +cut,--instead of sucking the wine, appears to be engaged in undoing the +rope or chain by which the cask is secured to the waggon. A second +figure of Death is perceived carrying off one of the waggon-wheels. In +this cut the subject is not so well treated as in most of those in the +edition of 1538; and it is also not so well engraved.--The text and +verses annexed are from the edition of 1562. + + [Footnote VI-21: Mr. Douce, when correcting the mistake of the + writer of the address, commits an error himself. He says that + “Death is in the act of untwisting the _fastening to one of the + hoops_.” Now, it is very evident that he is undoing the rope or + chain that steadies the cask and confines it to the waggon. He has + hold of the stake or piece of wood, which serves as a +twitch+ to + tighten the rope or chain, in the manner in which large timber is + secured to the waggon in the present day.] + + [Illustration: + Il cheut en son chariot. + + I. _ROIS_ IX. + + [Figure] + + Au passage de MORT perverse + Raison, Chartier tout esperdu, + Du corps le char, & chevaux verse, + Le vin (sang de vie) esperdu.] + +Of the eleven additional cuts inserted in the edition of 1547, there are +four of children, which, as has already been observed in page 334, have +not the slightest connexion with the Dance of Death. The following is a +copy of one of them. The editor seems to have found no difficulty in +providing the subject with a text; and it serves as a peg to hang a +quatrain on as well as the others which contain personifications of +Death. + + [Illustration: + Il sera percé de sagettes. + + _EXOD. XIX._ + + [Figure] + + L’eage du sens, du sang l’ardeur + Est legier dard, & foible escu + Contre MORT, qui un tel dardeur + De son propre dard rend vaincu.] + +In the edition of 1562 five more cuts are inserted; but two of them +only--the Bridegroom and the Bride--have relation to the Dance of Death; +the other three are of a similar character to the four cuts of children +first inserted in the edition of 1547. All the seven cuts of children +have been evidently designed by the same person. They are well engraved, +but not in so masterly a style as the forty-one cuts of the original +edition. The following is a copy of one of the three which were inserted +in the edition of 1562. + + [Illustration: + Il partira les despoilles avec les puissans. + + _ISAIE LIII._ + + [Figure] + + Pour les victoires triumphées + Sur les plus forts des humains cœurs, + Les despoilles dresse en trophées + La MORT vaincresse des vainqueurs.] + +Having now given what, perhaps, may be considered a sufficiently ample +account of the Lyons Dance of Death, it next appears necessary to make +some enquiries respecting the designer of the cuts. Until the +publication of Mr. Douce’s observations, prefixed to the edition of +Hollar’s etchings from those cuts, by Edwards, about 1794, scarcely any +writer who mentions them seems to entertain a doubt of their having been +designed by Holbein; and Papillon, in his usual manner, claims him as a +wood engraver, and unhesitatingly declares that not only the cuts of the +Lyons Dance of Death, but all the other cuts which are generally +supposed to have been of his designing, were engraved by himself. Mr. +Douce’s arguments are almost entirely negative,--for he produces no +satisfactory evidence to show that those cuts were certainly designed by +some other artist,--and they are chiefly founded on the passage in the +first Lyons edition, where the writer speaks of the death of the person +“qui nous en a icy imaginé si elegantes figures.” + +The sum of Mr. Douce’s objections to Holbein being the designer of the +cuts in question is as follows. “The singularity of this curious and +interesting dedication is deserving of the utmost attention. It seems +very strongly, if not decisively, to point out the edition to which it +is prefixed, as the first; and what is of still more importance, to +deprive Holbein of any claim to the invention of the work. It most +certainly uses such terms of art as can scarcely be mistaken as +conveying any other sense than that of originality of design. There +cannot be words of plainer import than those which describe the painter, +as he is expressly called, _delineating_ the subjects and leaving +several of them unfinished: and whoever the artist might have been, it +clearly appears that he was not living in 1538. Now, it is well known +that Holbein’s death did not take place before the year 1554, during the +plague which ravaged London at that time. If then the expressions used +in this dedication signify anything, it may surely be asked what becomes +of any claim on the part of Holbein to the designs of the work in +question, or does it not _at least_ remain in a situation of doubt and +difficulty?”[VI-22] With respect to the true import of the passage +referred to, my opinion is almost directly the reverse of that expressed +by Mr. Douce. + + [Footnote VI-22: Dance of Death, p. 88. Edit. 1833 (Bohn’s edit. + 1858, p. 77.)] + +What the writer of the address to Madame Jehanne de Touszele, in the +Lyons edition of 1538, says respecting the unfinished cuts, taken all +together, seems to relate more properly to the engraver than the +designer; more especially when we find that a cut--that of the +Waggoner,--expressly noticed by him as being then unfinished, was given +with others of a similar character in a subsequent edition. + +From the incorrect manner in which the cut of the Waggoner is described, +I am very much inclined to think that the writer had neither seen the +original nor the other subjects already traced--the “_plusieurs aultres +figures jà par luy trassées_”--of whose “bold drawing, perspectives, and +shadows,” he speaks in such terms of admiration. If the writer knew +little of the process of wood engraving, he would be very likely to +commit the mistake of supposing that the engraver was also the designer +of the cuts. Though I consider it by no means unlikely that the engraver +might have been dead before the publication of the first edition, yet I +am very much inclined to believe that the passage in which the cuts are +mentioned is purposely involved in obscurity: the writer, while he +speaks of the deceased artist in terms of the highest commendation, at +the same time carefully conceals his name. If the account in the preface +be admitted as correct, it would appear that the cuts were both designed +and engraved by the same person, and that those already drawn on the +block[VI-23] remained unfinished in consequence of his decease; for if +he were _not_ the engraver, what prevented the execution of the other +subjects already traced, and of which the bold drawing, perspective, and +shadows, all so gracefully delineated, are distinctly mentioned? The +engraver, whoever he might be, was certainly not only the best of his +age, but continues unsurpassed to the present day, and I am satisfied +that such precision of line as is seen in the heads could only be +acquired by great practice. The designs are so excellent in drawing and +composition, and so admirably are the different characters +represented,--with such spirit, humour, and appropriate +expression,--that to have produced them would confer additional honour +on even the greatest painters of that or any other period. Are we then +to suppose that those excellencies of design and of engraving were +combined in an obscure individual whose name is not to be found in the +roll of fame, who lived comparatively unknown, and whose death is only +incidentally noticed in an ambiguous preface written by a nameless +pedant, and professedly addressed to an abbess whose very existence is +questionable?[VI-24] Such a supposition I conceive to be in the highest +degree improbable; and, on the contrary, I am perfectly satisfied that +the cuts in question were _not_ designed and engraved by the same +person. Furthermore, admitting the address to Madame Jehanne de Touszele +to be written in good faith, I am firmly of opinion that the person +whose death is there mentioned, was the engraver, and not the designer +of the cuts of the first edition. + + [Footnote VI-23: The words “_jà par luy trassées_” will apply more + properly to drawings already made on the block, but unengraved, + than to unfinished drawings on paper. It is indeed almost certain + that the writer meant the former, for their “_audacieux traicts, + perspectives, et umbrages_” are mentioned; they were moreover + “_gracieusement deliniées_.” These expressions will apply + correctly to a finished, though unengraved design on the block, + but scarcely to an unfinished drawing on paper.] + + [Footnote VI-24: I am very much inclined to think that Madame + Jehanne de Touszele is a fictitious character. I have had no + opportunities of learning if such a person were really abbess of + the Convent of St. Peter at Lyons in 1538, and must therefore + leave this point to be decided by some other enquirer.] + +The mark [[HL]] in the cut of the Duchess, is certainly not Holbein’s; +and Mr. Douce says, “that it was intended to express the name of the +designer, cannot be supported by evidence of any kind.” That it is not +the mark of the designer, I agree with Mr. Douce, but my conclusion is +drawn from premises directly the reverse of his; for had I not found +evidence elsewhere to convince me that this mark can only be that of the +engraver, I should most certainly have concluded that it was intended +for the mark of the designer. In direct opposition to what Mr. Douce +here says, up to the time of the publication of the Lyons Dance of +Death, the mark on wood-cuts is most frequently that of the designer, +and whenever that of the engraver appears, it is as an exception to the +general custom. It is, in fact, upon the evidence of the mark alone that +the greater part of the wood-cut designs of Durer, Cranach, Burgmair, +Behaim, Baldung, Grün, and other old masters, are respectively ascribed +to them. The cuts of the Triumphal Procession of Maximilian with Hans +Burgmair’s mark in front, and the names of the engravers written at the +back of the blocks, may serve as an illustration of the general +practice, which is directly the reverse of Mr. Douce’s opinion. If the +weight of probability be not on the opposite side, the mark in question +ought certainly, according to the usual practice of the period, to be +considered as that of the designer. + +In a subsequent page of the same chapter, Mr. Douce most inconsistently +says, “There is an unfortunate ambiguity connected with the marks that +are found on ancient engravings on wood, and it has been a _very great +error_ on the part of all the writers who treat on such engravings, in +referring the marks that accompany them to the block-cutters, or as the +Germans properly denominate them the _formschneiders_, whilst, perhaps, +the greatest part of them really belong to the designers.” He commits +in the early part of the chapter the very error which he ascribes to +others. According to his own principles, as expressed in the last +extract, he was bound to allow the mark [[HL]] to be that of the +designer until he could show on probable grounds that it was not. But +though Mr. Douce might deny that Holbein were the designer of those +cuts, it seems that he durst not venture to follow up the line of his +argument, and declare that Hans Lutzelburger _was_ the designer, which +he certainly might have done with at least as much reason as has +led him to decide that Holbein _was not_. But he prudently abstained +from venturing on such an affirmation, the improbability of which, +notwithstanding the mark, might have led his readers to inquire, how +it happened that so talented an artist should have remained so long +undiscovered, and that even his contemporaries should not have known +him as the designer of those subjects. + +Though I am satisfied that the mark [[HL]] is that of the _engraver_ of +the cuts in the first edition of the Lyons Dance of Death, I by no means +pretend to account for its appearing alone--thus forming an exception to +the general rule--without the mark of the designer, and without any +mention of his name either in the title or preface to the book. We have +no knowledge of the connexion in the way of business between the working +wood engravers and the designers of that period; but there seems reason +to believe that the former sometimes got drawings made at their own +expense and risk, and, when engraved, either published them on their own +account, or disposed of them to booksellers and printers. It is also to +be observed that about the time of the publication of the first Lyons +edition of the Dance of Death, or a few years before, wood engravers +began to occasionally introduce their name or mark into the cut, in +addition to that of the designer. A cut, in a German translation of +Cicero de Officiis, Frankfort, 1538, contains two marks; one of them +being that of Hans Sebald Behaim, and the other, the letters H. W., +which I take to be that of the engraver. At a later period this practice +became more frequent, and a considerable number of wood-cuts executed +between 1540 and 1580 contain two marks; one of the designer, and the +other of the engraver: in wood-cuts designed by Virgil Solis in +particular, double marks are of frequent occurrence. As it seems evident +that the publishers of the Lyons Dance of Death were desirous of +concealing the name of the designer, and as it appears likely that they +had purchased the cuts ready engraved from a Swiss or a German,--for the +designs are certainly not French,--it surely cannot be surprising that +he should wish to affix his mark to those most admirable specimens of +art. Moreover, if those cuts were not executed under the personal +superintendence of the designer, but when he was chiefly resident in a +distant country, the engraver would thus have the uncontrolled liberty +of inserting his own mark; and more especially, if those cuts were a +private speculation of his own, and not executed for a publisher who had +employed an artist to make the designs. Another reason, perhaps equally +us good as any of the foregoing, might be suggested; as those cuts are +decidedly the best executed of any of that period, the designer--even if +he had opportunities of seeing the proofs--might have permitted the mark +of the engraver to appear on one of them, in approbation of his talent. + +This mark, [[HL]], was first assigned to a wood engraver named Hans +Lutzelburger, by M. Christian von Mechel, a celebrated engraver of +Basle, who in 1780 published forty-five copper-plate engravings of a +Dance of Death from drawings said to be by Holbein, and which almost +in every respect agree with the corresponding cuts in the Lyons work, +though of greater size.[VI-25] M. Mechel’s conjecture respecting the +engraver of those cuts appears to have been first published in the +sixteenth volume of Von Murr’s Journal; but though I am inclined to +think that he is correct, it has not been satisfactorily shown that +Hans Lutzelburger ever used the mark [[HL]]. He, however, lived at that +period, and it is almost certain that he executed an alphabet of small +initial letters representing a Dance of Death, which appear to have been +first used at Basle by the printers Bebelius and Cratander about 1530. +We give (on the following page) the entire series. He is also supposed +to have engraved two other alphabets of ornamental initial letters, one +representing a dance of peasants, “intermixed,” says Mr. Douce, “with +other subjects, some of which are not of the most delicate nature;” the +other representing groups of children in various playful attitudes. +All those three alphabets are generally described by German and Swiss +writers on art as having been designed by Holbein; and few impartial +persons I conceive can have much doubt on the subject, if almost perfect +identity between most of the figures and those in his known productions +be allowed to have any weight. + + [Footnote VI-25: Mechel’s work is in folio, with four subjects on + each full page, and is entitled “Oeuvre de Jean Holbein, ou + Receuil de Gravures d’après ses plus beaux ouvrages, &c. Première + Partie. La Triomphe de Mort.” It is dedicated to George III, and + the presentation copy is in the King’s Library at the British + Museum. The first part contains, besides forty-five subjects of + the Dance of Death, the design for the sheath of a dagger from a + drawing ascribed to Holbein, which has been re-engraved in the + work of Mr. Douce. It is extremely doubtful if the drawings of the + Dance, from which Mechel’s engravings are copied, be really by + Holbein. They were purchased by M. Fleischmann of Strasburg, at + Crozat’s sale at Paris in 1741. It was stated in the catalogue + that they had formed part of the Arundelian collection, and that + they had afterwards come into the possession of Jan Bockhorst, + commonly called Lang Jan, a contemporary of Vandyke. This piece of + information, however, can only be received as an auctioneer’s + puff. M. Mechel himself, according to Mr. Douce, had not been able + to trace those drawings previously to their falling into the hands + of Monsieur Crozat. They were purchased of M. Fleischmann by + Prince Gallitzin, a Russian nobleman, by whom they were lent to + M. Mechel. They are now in the Imperial Library at Petersburg. + According to Mr. Coxe, who saw them when in M. Mechel’s + possession, they were drawn with a pen, and slightly shaded with + Indian ink. Hegner, in his Life of Holbein, speaks slightingly of + Mechel’s engravings, which he says were executed by one of his + workmen from copies of the pretended original drawings made by an + artist named Rudolph Schellenburg of Winterthur. Those + copper-plates certainly appear feeble when compared with the + wood-cut in the Lyons work, and Hegner’s criticism on the figure + of Eve seems just, though Mr. Douce does not approve of it. Hegner + says, “Let any one compare the figure of Eve under the tree in + Mechel’s second plate with the second wood-cut; in the former she + is sitting in as elegant an attitude as if she belonged to a + French family by Boucher.”--Boucher, a French painter, who died in + 1770, was famous in his time for the pretty women introduced into + his landscapes.] + + [Illustration] + +There is a set of proofs of the alphabet of the Dance of Death, printed +on one sheet, preserved in the Public Library at Basle, and underneath +is printed in moveable letters the name +HAnns Lützelburger +formschnider, genannt Franck+,--that is, “Hanns Lutzelburger, wood +engraver, named Franck.” The first H is an ornamented Roman capital; the +other letters of the name are in the German character. The size of the +cuts in this alphabet of the Dance of Death is one inch by +seven-eighths. The reason for supposing that Hans Lutzelburger was the +engraver of the cuts in the first edition of the Lyons Dance of Death +are: 1. The similarity of style between the latter and those of the +Basle alphabet of the same subject; and 2. The correspondence of the +mark in the cut of the Duchess with the initial letters of the name +H[ans] L[utzelburger], and the fact of his being a wood engraver of that +period. Mr. Douce, in the seventh chapter of his work, professes to +examine the “claim of Hans Lutzelburger as to the design or execution of +the Lyons engravings of the Dance of Death,” but his investigations seem +very unsatisfactory; and his chapter is one of those “in which,” as +Fielding says, “nothing is concluded.” He gives no opinion as to whether +Lutzelburger was the designer of the Lyons cuts or not, though this is +one of the professed topics of his investigation; and even his opinion, +for the time being, as to the engraver, only appears in the heading of +the following chapter, where it is thus announced: “_List of several +editions of the Lyons work on the Dance of Death, with the mark of +Lutzenburger_.”[VI-26] His mind, however, does not appear to have been +finally made up on this point; for in a subsequent page, 215, speaking +of the mark [[HL]] in the cut of the Duchess, which he had previously +mentioned as that of Hans Lutzelburger, he says, “_but to whomsoever +this mark may turn out to belong_, certain it is that Holbein never made +use of it.” His only unalterable decision appears to be that Holbein did +not design the cuts of the Lyons Dance of Death, and in support of it he +puts forth sundry arguments which are at once absurd and inconsistent; +rejects unquestionable evidence which makes for the contrary opinion; +and admits the most improbable that seems to favour his own. + + [Footnote VI-26: Mr. Douce in every instance spells the name thus. + In the proofs of the alphabet of the Dance of Death it is + _Lützelburger_, and below the cut with the date 1522, + _Leuczellburger_.] + +Mr. Douce, in his seventh chapter, also gives a list of cuts, which he +says were executed by Hans Lutzelburger; but out of the seven single +cuts and three alphabets which he enumerates, I am inclined to think +that Lutzelburger’s name is only to be found attached to one single cut +and to one alphabet,--the latter being that of the initial letters +representing a Dance of Death. The single cut to which I allude--and +which, I believe, is the only one of the kind that has his name +underneath it,--represents a combat in a wood between some naked men and +a body of peasants. Within the cut, to the left, is the mark, probably +of the designer, on a reversed tablet, [Symbol] thus; and underneath is +the following inscription, from a separate block: HANNS . LEUCZELLBURGER +. FURMSCHNIDER × 1.5.2.2. An impression of this cut is preserved in the +Public Library at Basle; and an alphabet of Roman capitals, engraved on +wood, is printed on the same folio, below Lutzelburger’s name. In not +one of the other single cuts does this engraver’s name occur, nor in +fact any mark that can be fairly ascribed to him. The seventh cut, +described by Mr. Douce,--a copy of Albert Durer’s Decollation of John +the Baptist,--is ascribed to Lutzelburger on the authority of Zani. +According to this writer,--for I have not seen the cut myself any more +than Mr. Douce,--it has “the mark H. L. reversed,” which perhaps may +prove to be L. H. “In the index of names,” says Mr. Douce, “he (Zani) +finds his name thus written, HANS LUTZELBURGER FORMSCHNIDER GENANT +(chiamato) FRANCK, and calls him the true prince of engravers on wood.” +In what index Zani found the reversed mark thus expounded does not +appear; I, however, am decidedly of opinion that there is no wood-cut in +existence with the mark H. L. which can be ascribed with anything like +certainty to Lutzelburger; and his name is only to be found at length +_under_ the cut of the Fight above mentioned, and printed in moveable +characters on the sheet containing the proofs of the alphabet of the +Dance of Death.[VI-27] The title of “true prince of engravers on wood,” +given by Zani to Lutzelburger, can only be admitted on the supposition +of his being the engraver of the cuts in the first edition of the Lyons +Dance of Death; but it yet remains to be proved that he ever used the +mark [[HL]] or the separate letters H. L. on any previous or subsequent +cut. Though, from his name appearing on the page containing the alphabet +of the Dance of Death, and from the correspondence of his initials with +the mark in the cut of the Duchess in the Lyons Dance of Death, I am +inclined to think that he was the engraver of the cuts in the latter +work, yet I have thought it necessary to enter thus fully into the +grounds of his pretensions to the execution of those, and other wood +engravings, in order that the reader may judge for himself. + + [Footnote VI-27: There are proofs of this alphabet in the Royal + Collection at Dresden, as well as in the Public Library at Basle.] + +Hegner, in his Life of Holbein, treats the claims that have been +advanced on behalf of Lutzelburger too lightly. He not only denies that +he was the engraver of the cuts in the first edition of the Lyons work, +but also that he executed the cuts of the alphabet of the Dance of +Death, although his name with the addition of “wood engraver”-- +_formschnider_--be printed on the sheet of proofs. If we cannot admit +the inscription in question as evidence of Lutzelburger being the +engraver of this alphabet, we may with equal reason question if any wood +engraver actually executed the cut or cuts under which his name only +appears printed in type, or which may be ascribed to him in the title of +a book. Mr. Douce, speaking of the three alphabets,--of peasants, boys, +and a Dance of Death,--all of which he supposes to have been engraved by +Lutzelburger, says that the proofs “may have been deposited by him in +his _native_ city,” meaning Basle. Hegner, however, says that there is +no trace of him to be found either in registers of baptism or +burger-lists of Basle. He further adds, though I by no means concur with +him in this opinion, “It is indeed likely that, as a travelling dealer +in works of art--who, according to the custom of that period, took up +their temporary residence sometimes in one place, sometimes in +another,--he had obtained possession of those blocks, [of the alphabet +of Death’s Dance, and the Fight, with his name,] and that he sold +impressions from them in the way of trade.”[VI-28] Mr. Douce says that +it may admit of a doubt whether the alphabets ascribed to Lutzelburger +were cut on metal or on wood. It may admit of a doubt, certainly, with +one who knows very little of the practice of wood engraving, but none +with a person who is accustomed to see cuts executed in a much more +delicate style by wood engravers of very moderate abilities. To engrave +them on wood, would be comparatively easy, so far as relates to the mere +delicacy of the lines; but it would be a task of great difficulty to +engrave them in relief in any metal which should be much harder than +that of which types are composed. To suppose that they might have been +executed in type-metal, on account of the delicacy of the lines, would +involve a contradiction; for not only can finer lines be cut on box-wood +than on type-metal, but also with much greater facility. + + [Footnote VI-28: Hans Holbein der Jüngere, S. 332.] + +It perhaps may not be unnecessary to give here two instances of the many +vague and absurd conjectures which have been propounded respecting the +designer or the engraver of the cuts in the Lyons editions of the Dance +of Death. In a copy of this work of the edition 1545 now in the British +Museum, but formerly belonging to the Reverend C. M. Cracherode, +a portrait of a painter or engraver named Hans Ladenspelder is inserted +opposite to the cut of the Duchess, as if in support of the conjecture +that _he_ might be the designer of those cuts, merely from the +circumstance of the initial letters of his name corresponding with +the mark [[HL]]. The portrait is a small oval engraved on copper, +with an ornamental border, round which is the following inscription: +“Imago Joannis Ladenspelder, Essendiensis, Anno ætatis suæ xxviii. +1540.”[VI-29] The mark [[L]] is perceived on this portrait, and +underneath is written the following MS. note, referring to the mark +in the cut of the Duchess: “[[HL]] the mark of the designer of these +designs of Death’s Dance, not H. Holbein. By several persons that have +seen Holbein’s Death Dance at Basil, it is not like these, nor in the +same manner.” This note, so far as relates to the implied conjecture +about Ladenspelder, may be allowed to pass without remark for what it is +worth; but it seems necessary to remind the reader that the painting of +the Dance of Death at Basle, here evidently alluded to, _was not_ the +work of Holbein, and to observe that this note is not in the handwriting +of Mr. Cracherode, but that it has apparently been written by a former +owner of the volume. + + [Footnote VI-29: Hans Ladenspelder was a native of Essen, a + frontier town in the duchy of Berg. The following mark is to be + found on his engravings [Symbol], which Bartsch thinks may be + intended for the single letters I. L. V. E. S.,--representing the + words _Joannes Ladenspelder Von Essen Sculpsit_.] + +In a copy of the first edition, now lying before me, a former owner has +written on the fly-leaf the following verses from page 158 of the +Nugæ--Lyons, 1540,--of Nicholas Borbonius, a French poet: + + “Videre qui vult Parrhasium cum Zeuxide, + Accersat a Britannia + Hansum Ulbium, et Georgium Reperdium + Lugduno ab urbe Galliæ.” + +The meaning of these verses may be thus expressed in English: + + Whoever wishes to behold, + Painters like to those of old, + To England straightway let him send, + And summon Holbein to attend; + Reperdius,[VI-30] too, from Lyons bring, + A city of the Gallic King. + + [Footnote VI-30: Of this George Reperdius, or his works, nothing, + I believe, is known beyond the brief mention of his name in + conjunction with that of Holbein in the verses of Bourbon.] + +To the extract from Borbonius,--or Bourbon, as he is more frequently +called, without the Latin termination,--the writer has added a note: +“_An Reperdius harum Iconum sculptor fuerit?_” That is: “Query, if +Reperdius were the engraver of these cuts?”--meaning the cuts contained +in the Lyons Dance of Death. Mr. Douce also cites the preceding verses +from Nicholas Bourbon; and upon so slight and unstable a foundation he, +_more solito_, raises a ponderous superstructure. He, in fact, says, +that “it is _extremely probable_ that he might have begun the work in +question [the designs for the Dance of Death], and have died before he +could complete it, and that the Lyons publishers might have afterwards +employed Holbein to finish what was left undone, as well as to make +designs for additional subjects which appeared in the subsequent +editions. Thus would Holbein be so connected with the work as to obtain +in future such notice as would constitute him by general report the real +inventor of it.” + +Perhaps in the whole of the discussion on this subject a more tortuous +piece of argument is not to be found. It strikingly exemplifies Mr. +Douce’s eagerness to avail himself of the most trifling circumstance +which seemed to favour his own views; and his manner of twisting and +twining it is sufficient to excite a suspicion even in the mind of the +most careless inquirer, that the chain of argument which consists of a +series of such links must be little better than a rope of sand. Mr. +Douce must have had singular notions of probability, when, upon the mere +mention of the name of Reperdius, by Bourbon, as a painter then residing +at Lyons, he asserts that it is _extremely probable_ that he, Reperdius, +might have begun the work: it is evident that he does not employ the +term in its usual and proper sense. If for “_extremely probable_” the +words “_barely possible_” be substituted, the passage will be +unobjectionable; and will then fairly represent the value of the +conjecture of Reperdius having designed any of the cuts in question. If +it be _extremely probable_ that the cuts of the first edition of the +Lyons Dance of Death were designed by Reperdius, from the mere +occurrence of his name in Bourbon, the evidence in favour of their being +designed by Holbein ought with equal reason to be considered as +_plusquam-perfect_; for the voices of his contemporaries are expressly +in his favour, the cuts themselves bear a strong general resemblance to +those which are known to be of his designing, and some of the figures +and details in the cuts of the Dance of Death correspond so nearly with +others in the Bible-cuts designed by Holbein, and also printed at Lyons +by the brothers Trechsel, and in the same year, that there cannot be a +doubt in the mind of any impartial inquirer who shall compare them, that +either both series must have been designed by the same person, or that +Holbein had servilely copied the works of an unknown artist greater than +himself. Upon one of the horns of this dilemma, Mr. Douce, and all who +assert that the cuts of the Lyons Dance of Death _were not designed by +Holbein_, must inevitably be fixed. + +One of the earliest evidences in favour of Holbein being the designer of +the cuts in the Lyons Dance of Death is Nicholas Bourbon, the author of +the epigram previously cited. In an edition of his Nugæ, published at +Basle in 1540, are the following verses:[VI-31] + + [Footnote VI-31: Neither these verses, nor those previously cited, + occur in the first edition of the Nugæ, Paris, 1533.] + +_De morte picta à Hanso pictore nobili._ + + Dum mortis Hansus pictor imaginem exprimit, + Tanta arte mortem retulit ut mors vivere + Videatur ipsa: et ipse se immortalibus + Parem Diis fecerit operis hujus gloria. + +Now,--after premising that the term _picta_ was applied +to designs engraved on wood, as well as to paintings in oil or +water-colours,[VI-32]--it may be asked to what work of Holbein’s +do these lines refer? The painting in the church-court at Basle +was not executed by Holbein; neither was it ascribed to him by his +contemporaries; for the popular error which assigns it to him appears to +have originated with certain travellers who visited Basle upwards of a +hundred years after Holbein’s decease. It indeed may be answered that +Bourbon might allude to the _alphabet_ of the Dance of Death which has +been ascribed to Holbein. A mere supposition of this kind, however, +would be untenable in this instance; for there is no direct evidence to +show that Holbein was the designer of this alphabet, and the principal +reason for supposing it to have been designed by him rests upon the +previous assumption of his being the designer of the cuts of the Lyons +Dance of Death. Deny him the honour of this work, and assert that the +last quoted verses of Bourbon must relate to some other, and the +difficulty of showing by anything like credible evidence, that he was +the designer of any other series of cuts, or even of a single cut, or +painting, of the same subject, becomes increased tenfold. Mr. Douce, +with the gross inconsistency that distinguishes the whole of his +arguments on this subject, ascribes the alphabet of the Dance of +Peasants to Holbein, and yet cautiously avoids mentioning him as the +designer of the alphabet of the Dance of Death, though the reasons for +this conclusion are precisely the same as those on which he rests the +former assertion. Nay, so confused and contradictory are his opinions on +this point, that in another part of his book he actually describes both +alphabets as being the work of the same designer and the same engraver. + + [Footnote VI-32: At that period a wood-cut, as well as a painting, + was termed _pictura_.--On the title-page of an edition of the New + Testament, with wood-cuts, Zurich, 1554, by Froschover, we find + the following: “Novi Testamenti Editio postrema per Des. Erasmum + Roterodamum. Omnia _picturis_ illustrata.”] + +“Some of the writers on engraving,” says Mr. Douce, “have manifested +their usual inaccuracy on the subject of Holbein’s Dance of +Peasants. . . . . . . There is, however, _no doubt_ that his beautiful +pencil was employed on this subject in various ways, of which the +following specimens are worthy of being recorded. In a set of initial +letters frequently used in books printed at Basle and elsewhere,” +&c. After thus having unhesitatingly ascribed the Dance of Peasants to +Holbein, Mr. Douce, in a subsequent page,--when giving a list of cuts +which he ascribes to Hans Lutzelburger,--writes as follows: “8. An +alphabet with a Dance of Death, the subjects of which, with a few +exceptions, are the same as those in the other Dance; the designs, +however, occasionally vary,” &c. On concluding his description of this +alphabet, he thus notices the alphabet of the Dance of Peasants, having +apparently forgot that he had previously ascribed the latter to Holbein. +“9. Another alphabet _by the same artists_. It is a Dance of Peasants, +intermixed with other subjects, some of which are not of the most +delicate nature.”[VI-33] + + [Footnote VI-33: Douce’s Dance of Death, pp. 80, 100, and 101.] + +It is, however, uncertain if Mr. Douce really did believe Holbein to be +the designer of the alphabet of the Dance of Death, though from the +preceding extracts it is plainly, though indirectly asserted, that he +_was_. In his wish to claim the engraving of the Dance of Peasants for +Lutzelburger, Mr. Douce does not seem to have been aware that from the +words “by the same artists,” coupled with his previous assertion, of +Holbein being the designer of that alphabet, it followed as a direct +consequence that he was also the designer of the alphabet of the Dance +of Death. Putting this charitable construction on Mr. Douce’s words, it +follows that _his_ assertion of Lutzelburger being the engraver of the +Dance of Peasants is purely gratuitous. If Mr. Douce really believed +that Holbein was the designer of the alphabet of the Dance of Death, he +ought in fairness to have expressly declared his opinion; although such +declaration would have caused his arguments, against Holbein being the +designer of the cuts in the Lyons Dance of Death, to appear more +paradoxical and absurd than they are when unconnected with such an +opinion; for what person, with the slightest pretensions to rationality, +could assert that Holbein was the designer of the alphabet of the Dance +of Death executed in 1530, the subjects, with few exceptions, the same +as those in the Dance of Death published at Lyons in 1538, and yet in +direct opposition to contemporary testimony, and the internal evidence +of the subjects themselves, deny that he was the designer of the cuts in +the latter work, on the sole authority of the nameless writer of a +preface which only appeared in the first edition of the book, and which, +there seems reason to suspect, was addressed to an imaginary personage? +Was Madame Jehanne de Touszele likely to feel herself highly +complimented by having dedicated to her a work which contains undeniable +evidences of the artist’s having been no friend to popery? In one cut a +couple of fiends appear to be ridiculing his “Holiness” the pope; and in +another is a young gallant with a guitar, entertaining a nun in her +bed-chamber. If a pious abbess of St. Peter’s, Lyons, in 1538, should +have considered that such cuts “tended to edification,” she must have +been an extremely liberal woman for her age. It is exceedingly amusing, +in looking over the cuts of the Lyons Dance of Death, to contrast the +drollery and satire of the designer with the endeavours of the textuary +and versifier to give them a devout and spiritual turn. + +As it is certain from the verses of Bourbon, in praise of Holbein as the +painter or designer of a subject, or a series of subjects, representing +“Death as if he were alive,”--ut mors vivere videatur,--that this +celebrated artist _had designed_ a Dance of Death, Mr. Douce, being +unable to deny the evidence thus afforded, paradoxically proceeds to fit +those verses to his own theory; and after quoting them, at page 139, +proceeds as follows: “It has already been demonstrated that these lines +could not refer to the old painting of the Macaber Dance at the +Dominican convent, whilst from the important dedication to the edition +of the wood-cuts first published at Lyons in 1538, it is next to +impossible that that work could then have been in Borbonius’s +contemplation. It appears from several places in his Nugæ that he was in +England in 1535, at which time Holbein drew his portrait in such a +manner as to excite his gratitude and admiration in another copy of +verses . . . . . . He returned to Lyons in 1536, and it is known that he +was there in 1538, when he probably wrote the complimentary lines in +Holbein’s Biblical designs a short time before their publication, either +out of friendship to the painter, or at the instance of the Lyons +publisher, with whom he was certainly connected.--Now, if Borbonius, +during his residence at Lyons, had been assured that the designs in the +wood-cuts of the Dance of Death were the production of Holbein, would +not his before-mentioned lines on that subject have been likewise +introduced into the Lyons edition of it, or at least into some +subsequent editions, in none of which is any mention whatever made of +Holbein, although the work was continued even after the death of that +artist? The application, therefore, of Borbonius’s lines must be sought +for elsewhere; but it is greatly to be regretted that he has not +adverted to the place where the painting,[VI-34] as he seems to call it, +was made.” + + [Footnote VI-34: Mr. Douce here seems to lay some weight on the + word _picta_, which, as has been previously observed, was applied + equally to wood engravings and paintings.] + +Mr. Douce next proceeds in his search after the “painting,” and he is +not long in finding what he wishes for. According to his statement, +“_very soon after_ the calamitous fire at Whitehall, 1697, which +consumed nearly the whole of that palace, a person, calling himself +T. Nieuhoff Piccard, probably belonging to the household of William III, +and a man who appears to have been an amateur artist,” made etchings +after nineteen of the cuts in the Lyons Dance of Death. Impressions of +those etchings, accompanied with manuscript dedications, appear to have +been presented by this T. Nieuhoff Piccard to his friends or patrons, +and among others to a Mynheer Heymans, and to “the high, noble, and +well-born Lord William Denting, Lord of Rhoon, Pendraght,” &c. The +address to Mynheer Heymans contains the following important piece of +information respecting a work of Holbein’s, which appears most +singularly to have escaped the notice of every other writer, whether +English or foreign. “Sir,--The costly palace of Whitehall, erected by +Cardinal Wolsey, and the residence of King Henry VIII, contains, among +other performances of art, a Dance of Death, _painted by Holbein_, in +its galleries, which, through an unfortunate conflagration, has been +reduced to ashes.”[VI-35] In the dedication to the “high, noble, and +well-born Lord William Benting,” the information respecting this curious +work of art,--all memory of which would have perished had it not been +for the said T. Nieuhoff Piccard,--is rather more precise. “Sir, [not My +Lord,]--In the course of my constant love and pursuit of works of art, +it has been my good fortune to meet with that scarce little work of Hans +Holbein, neatly engraved on wood, and which he himself had _painted as +large as life_, in fresco, on the walls of Whitehall.” Who Mynheer +Heymans was will probably never be discovered, but he seems to have been +a person of some consequence in his day, though unfortunately never +mentioned in any history or memoirs of the period, for it appears that +the court thought proper, in consideration of his singular deserts, to +cause a dwelling to be built for him at Whitehall. My Lord William +Benting,[VI-36]--though from his name and titles he might be mistaken +for a member of the Bentinck family,--appears to have been actually born +in the palace. It is, however, very unfortunate that his name does not +occur in the peerage of that time; and as neither Rhoon nor Pendraght +are to be found in Flanders or Holland, it is not unlikely that these +may be the names of two of his lordship’s _castles in Spain_. + + [Footnote VI-35: Douce, Dance of Death, p. 141.] + + [Footnote VI-36: “The identification of William Benting,” says Mr. + Douce with exquisite bon-hommie, “must be left to the sagacity of + others. He _could not have been_ the Earl of Portland created in + 1689, or he would have been addressed accordingly. He is, + moreover, described as a youth born at Whitehall, and then + residing there, and whose dwelling consisted of nearly the whole + of the palace that remained after the fire.”--Dance of Death, + p. 244. It appears that these addresses of Piccard were written in + a foreign language, though, whether Dutch, French, German, or + Latin, Mr. Douce most unaccountably neglects to say: he merely + mentions that his extracts are translated.] + +T. Nieuhoff Piccard’s express testimony of Holbein having painted a +Dance of Death in fresco, at Whitehall, is, in Mr. Douce’s opinion, +further corroborated by the following circumstances: 1. “In one of +Vanderdort’s manuscript catalogues of the pictures and rarities +transported from St. James’s to Whitehall, and placed there in the newly +erected cabinet room of Charles I, and in which several works by Holbein +are mentioned, there is the following article: ‘A little piece, where +Death with a green garland about his head, stretching both his arms to +apprehend a Pilate in the habit of one of the spiritual Prince-Electors +of Germany. Copied by Isaac Oliver from Holbein.’ There cannot be a +doubt that this refers to the subject of the Elector as painted by +Holbein in the Dance of Death at Whitehall, proving at the same time the +identity of the painting with the wood-cuts, whatever may be the +inference. 2. Sandrart, after noticing a remarkable portrait of Henry +VIII. at Whitehall, states ‘that there yet remains at that palace +_another work_, by Holbein, that constitutes him the Apelles of his +time.’ This is certainly _very like an allusion_ to a Dance of Death. +3. It is _by no means improbable_ that Matthew Prior may have alluded to +Holbein’s painting at Whitehall, as it is not likely that he would be +acquainted with any other. + + ‘Our term of life depends not on our deed, + Before our birth our funeral was decreed; + Nor aw’d by foresight, nor misled by chance, + Imperious Death directs the ebon lance, + Peoples great Henry’s tombs, and leads up Holbein’s Dance.’ + + _Prior, Ode to the Memory of George Villiers._”[VI-37] + + [Footnote VI-37: Douce’s Dance of Death, pp. 144, 145.] + +Mr. Douce having previously _proved_ that Holbein was _not_ the designer +of the cuts in the Lyons Dance of Death, thus, in a manner _equally +satisfactory_, accounts for the verses of Bourbon, by showing, on the +_unexceptionable_ evidence of “a person, calling himself T. Nieuhoff +Piccard, _probably_ belonging to the household of William III,” that the +great work of Holbein--by the fame of which he had made himself equal +with the immortal gods--was painted as large as life, in fresco, on the +walls of Whitehall. The ingenuity displayed in depriving Holbein of the +honour of the Lyons cuts is no less exemplified in proving him to be the +painter of a similar subject in Whitehall. The key-stone is worthy of +the arch. + +Though the _facts_ and _arguments_ put forth by Mr. Douce, in proof of +Holbein having painted a Dance of Death on the walls of the old palace +of Whitehall, and of this having been the identical Dance of Death +alluded to by Bourbon, might be summarily dismissed as being of that +kind which no objection could render more absurd, yet it seems necessary +to direct the especial attention of the reader to one or two points; and +first to the assertion that “it is next to impossible that the Lyons +Dance of Death of 1538 could then have been in Borbonius’s +contemplation.” Now, in direct opposition to what is here said, it +appears to me highly probable that _this_ was the very work on account +of which he addressed his epigram to Holbein; and it is moreover evident +that Bourbon expresses in Latin verse almost precisely the same ideas as +those which had previously been expressed in French by the writer of the +address to Madame Jehanne de Touszele, when speaking of the merits of +the nameless artist who is there alluded to as the designer or engraver +of the cuts.[VI-38] As Holbein is not certainly known to be the painter +or designer of any other Dance of Death which might merit the high +praise conveyed in Bourbon’s verses, to what other work of his will they +apply? Even supposing, as I do, that the alphabet of the Dance of Death +was designed by Holbein, I conceive it “next to impossible,” to use the +words of Mr. Douce, that Bourbon should have described Holbein as having +attained immortality through the fame of those twenty-four small +letters, a perfect set of which I believe is not to be found in any +single volume. That Bourbon _did_ know who was the designer of the cuts +of the Lyons Dance of Death there can scarcely be the shadow of a doubt; +he was at Lyons in the year in which the work was published; he was +connected with the printers; and another work, the Icones Historiarum +Veteris Testamenti, also published by them in 1538, has at the +commencement a copy of verses written by Bourbon, from which alone we +learn that Holbein was the designer of the cuts,--the first four of +which cuts, be it observed, being from the same blocks as the first four +in the Dance of Death, published by the same printers, in the same year. +What might be the motives of the printers for not inserting Bourbon’s +epigram in praise of Holbein in the subsequent editions of the Dance of +Death, supposing him to be the designer of the cuts, I cannot tell, nor +will I venture to _guess_. They certainly must have had some reason for +concealing the designer’s name, for the writer of the prefatory address +to Madame Jehanne de Touszele takes care not to mention it even when +speaking in so laudatory a style of the excellence of the designs. Among +the other unaccountable things connected with this work, I may mention +the fact of the French prefatory address to the abbess of St. Peter’s +appearing only in the first, and being omitted in every subsequent +edition. + + [Footnote VI-38: That the reader may judge for himself of the + similarity of thought in the passages referred to, they are here + given in juxta-position. + + “Car ses histoires funebres, avec leurs descriptions severement + rithmées, aux advisans donnent telle admiration, qu’ilz en _jugent + les mortz y apparoistre tresvivement_, et les vifs tresmortement + representer. Qui me faict penser, que la Mort craignant que ce + excellent painctre ne la paignist tant vifve qu’elle ne fut plus + crainte pour Mort, _et que pour cela luy mesme n’en devint + immortel_, que a ceste cause,” &c.--_Epistre des Faces de la + Mort._ + + “Dum mortis Hansus pictor imaginem exprimit, + Tanta arte mortem retulit, ut mors vivere + Videatur ipsa: et ipse se immortalibus + Parem Diis fecerit, operis hujus gloria.” + _Borbonius._] + +With respect to T. Nieuhoff Piccard, whose manuscript addresses to +“Mynheer Heymans” and “Lord William Benting” are cited to _prove_ that +Bourbon’s verses must relate to a painting of the Dance of Death by +Holbein in the old palace of Whitehall, nothing whatever is known; and +there is not the slightest reason to believe that a Lord William +Benting, born in the old palace of Whitehall, “Lord of Rhoon, +Pendraght,” &c. ever existed. I am of opinion that the addresses of the +person calling himself T. Nieuhoff Piccard are a clumsy attempt at +imposition.[VI-39] Though Mr. Douce had seen both those addresses, and +also another of the same kind, he does not appear to have made any +attempt to trace their former owners, nor does he mention the names of +the parties in whose possession they were at the time that he saw them. +He had seen the address to “Lord William Benting” previous to the +publication of his observations on the Dance of Death in 1794, when, if +he had felt inclined, he might have ascertained from whom the then +possessor had received it, and thus obtained a clue to guide him in his +inquiries respecting the personal identity of the Lord of Rhoon and +Pendraght. But this would not have suited his purpose; for he seems to +have been conscious that any inquiry respecting such a person would only +have tended to confirm the doubts respecting the paper addressed to him +by Piccard. It is also uncertain at what time those pretended addresses +were written, but there are impressions of the etchings which +accompanied them with the date 1720; and I am inclined to think that if +the paper and handwriting were closely examined, it would be found that +those pretended presentation addresses were manufactured about the same, +or perhaps at a later period. Whoever the person calling himself +T. Nieuhoff Piccard may have been, or at whatever time the addresses to +Mynheer Heymans and others may have been written, the only evidence of +there having been a painting of the Dance by Holbein at Whitehall rests +on his unsupported statement. Such a painting is not mentioned by any +foreign traveller who had visited this country, nor is it noticed by any +English writer prior to 1697; it is not alluded to in any tragedy, +comedy, farce, or masque, in which we might expect that such a painting +would have been incidentally mentioned had it ever existed. Evelyn, who +must have frequently been in the old palace of Whitehall, says not a +word of such a painting, though he mentions the Lyons Dance of Death +under the title of Mortis Imago, and ascribes the cuts to +Holbein;[VI-40] and not the slightest notice of it is to be found in +Vertue or Walpole. + + [Footnote VI-39: Hegner, in his Life of Holbein, speaking of the + Nieuhoff discovery, says: “Of this fable no notice would have been + taken here had not Mr. Douce ascribed undeserved authority to it, + and had not his superficial investigations found undeserved credit + with English and other compilers.” Hans Holbein der Jüngere, + S. 338. + + Mr. Douce, at page 240 of his Dance of Death, complains of + Hegner’s want of urbanity and politeness; and in return calls his + account of Holbein’s works _superficial_, and moreover says that + “his arguments, if worthy of the name, are, generally speaking, of + a most weak and flimsy texture.” He also gives him a sharp rebuff + by alluding to him as the “above _gentleman_,” the last word, to + give it point, being printed in Italics. Mr. Douce, when he was + thus pelting Hegner, does not seem to have been aware that his own + anti-Holbenian superstructure was a house of glass. + + “Cedimus, inque vicem dedimus crura sagittis.”] + + [Footnote VI-40: Evelyn is only referred to here on account of his + _silence_ with respect to the pretended painting at Whitehall. + What he says of Holbein cannot be relied on, as will be seen from + the following passage, which is a fair specimen of his general + knowledge and accuracy. “We have seen some few things cut in wood + by the incomparable Hans Holbein the Dane, but they are rare and + exceedingly difficult to come by; as his _Licentiousness of the + Friars and Nuns_; _Erasmus_; _The Dance Macchabre_; the _Mortis + Imago_, which he painted in great in the Church of Basil, and + afterwards graved with no less art.”--Evelyn’s Sculpture, p. 69. + Edition 1769.] + +The learned Conrad Gesner, who was born at Zurich in 1516, and died +there in 1565, expressly ascribes the Lyons Dance of Death to +Holbein;[VI-41] and, notwithstanding the contradictory statement in the +preface to the first edition of this work, such appears to have been the +general belief of all the artist’s contemporaries. Van Mander, who was +born in 1548, and who died in 1606, appears to have been the first +person who gave any account of the life of Holbein. His work, entitled +Het Schilder Boek, consisting of biographical notices of painters, +chiefly Germans and Flemings, was first published in 1604; and, when +speaking of Holbein, he mentions the Lyons Dance of Death among his +other works. Sandrart, in common with every other writer on art of the +period, also ascribes the Lyons work to Holbein, and he gives the +following account of a conversation that he had with Rubens respecting +those cuts: “I remember that in the year 1627, when the celebrated +Rubens was proceeding to Utrecht to visit Honthorst, I accompanied him +as far as Amsterdam; and during our passage in the boat I looked into +Holbein’s little book of the Dance of Death, the cuts of which Rubens +highly praised, recommending me, as I was a young man, to copy them, +observing, that he had copied them himself in his youth.” Sandrart, who +seems to have been one of the earliest writers who supposed that Durer, +Cranach, and others engraved their own designs, without any just grounds +describes Holbein as a wood engraver. Patin, in his edition of the +“Stultitiæ Laus” of Erasmus, 1676, repeats the same story; and Papillon +in his decisive manner clenches it by asserting that “most of the +delicate wood-cuts and ornamental letters which are to be found in books +printed at Basle, Zurich, and towns in Switzerland, at Lyons, London, +&c. from 1520 to about 1540, were engraved by Holbein himself.” Papillon +also says that it is believed--_on croit_--that Holbein began to engrave +in 1511, when he was about sixteen. “What is extraordinary in this +painter,” he further adds, “is, that he painted and engraved with the +left hand, so that he consequently engraved the lines on the wood from +right to left, instead of, as with us, engraving from left to +right.”[VI-42] Jansen, and a host of other compilers, without inquiry, +repeat the story of Holbein having been a wood engraver, and that the +cuts of the Lyons Dance of Death were engraved by himself. That he was +the designer of those cuts I am thoroughly convinced, though I consider +it “next to impossible” that he should have been also the engraver. + + [Footnote VI-41: “Imagines Mortis expressæ ab optimo pictore + Johanne Holbein cum epigrammatibus Georgii Æmylii, excusæ + Francofurti et Lugduni apud Frellonios, quorum editio plures habet + picturas. Vidi etiam cum metris Gallicis et Germanicis, si bene + memini.” Mr. Douce cites this passage from Gesner’s Pandectæ, + “a supplemental volume of great rarity to his well-known + Bibliotheca.” The correct title of the volume in which it occurs + is “Partitiones Theologicæ, Pandectarum Universalium Conradi + Gesneri Liber Ultimus.” Folio, printed by Christopher Froschover, + Zurich (Tiguri) 1549. The notice of the Dance of Death is in folio + 86, _a_.] + + [Footnote VI-42: Traité de la Gravure en Bois, tom. i. p. 165. Van + Mander asserts that Holbein painted with his left hand; but Horace + Walpole, however, in opposition to this, refers to a portrait of + Holbein, formerly in the Arundelian collection, where he appears + holding the pencil in his _right_ hand.] + +Holbein’s Bible Cuts, as they are usually called, were first published +at Lyons, in 1538, the same year, and by the same printers, as the Dance +of Death. The book is a small quarto, and the title is as follows: +“Historiarum Veteris Testamenti Icones ad vivum expressæ. Una cum brevi, +sed quoad fieri potuit, dilucida earundem et Latina et Gallica +expositione. Lugduni sub scuto Coloniensi. M.D.XXXVIII.”[VI-43] On the +title-page is an emblematic cut, with the motto _Usus me genuit_, +similar to that on the title-page in the first edition of the Dance of +Death, but not precisely the same; and at the end is the imprint of the +brothers Melchior and Caspar Trechsel within an ornamental border, as in +the latter work. I am greatly inclined to think that the brothers were +only the printers of the first editions of the Dance of Death and the +Bible cuts, and that the real proprietors were John and Francis Frellon, +whose names appear as the publishers in subsequent editions. + + [Footnote VI-43: A copy of this edition is preserved in the Public + Library at Basle, and there is another copy in the Royal + Collection at Dresden. Another edition, in every respect similar + to the first, was also printed by the brothers Trechsel in 1539. + Hegner, in his Life of Holbein, does not seem to have known of + this edition; speaking of that of 1538, he says, “It is probably + the same as that to which Papillon gives the date 1539.” There is + a copy of the edition of 1539 in the British Museum.] + +This opinion seems to be corroborated by the fact of there being an +address from “_Franciscus Frellaeus_” to the Christian Reader in the +Bible cuts of 1538 and 1539, which in subsequent editions is altered to +“Franciscus _Frellonius_.” That the same person is designated by those +names, I think there can be little doubt, as the addresses are literally +the same. From adopting the form “Frellaeus,” however, in the editions +of 1538 and 1539, it would seem that the writer was not wishful to +discover his name. When the work becomes popular he writes it +Frellonius; and in the second edition of the Dance of Death, when the +character of this work is also established, and there seems no longer +reason to apprehend the censures of the church of Rome, we find the +names of John and Francis Frellon on the title-page under the “shield of +Cologne.” Whatever might be their motives, it seems certain that the +first publishers of the Dance of Death were wishful to withhold their +names; and it is likely that the designer of the cuts might have equally +good reasons for concealment. Had the Roman Catholic party considered +the cuts of the Pope, the Nun, and two or three others as the covert +satire of a _reformed_ painter, the publishers and the designer would +have been as likely to incur danger as to reap profit or fame. + +The address of Franciscus Frellaeus is followed by a copy of Latin +verses by Nicholas Bourbon, in which Holbein is mentioned as the +designer; and immediately preceding the cuts is an address “aux +lecteurs,” in French verse, by Gilles Corrozet, who, perhaps, might be +the poet that supplied the French expositions of those cuts, and the +“descriptions severement rithmées” of the Dance of Death. The following +is an extract from Bourbon’s prefatory verses, the whole of which it +appears unnecessary to give. + + “Nuper in Elysio cum fortè erraret Apelles + Una aderat Zeuxis, Parrhasiusque comes. + Hi duo multa satis fundebant verba; sed ille + Interea mœrens et taciturnus erat. + Mirantur comites, farique hortantur et urgent: + Suspirans imo pectore, Coûs ait: + O famæ ignari, superis quæ nuper ab oris + (Vana utinam!) Stygias venit ad usque domos: + Scilicet, esse hodie quendam ex mortalibus unum + Ostendat qui me vosque fuisse nihil: + Qui nos declaret pictores nomine tantum, + Picturæque omneis ante fuisse rudes. + Holbius est homini nomen, qui nomina nostra + Obscura ex claris ac prope nulla facit. + Talis apud manes querimonia fertur: et illos + Sic equidem merito censeo posse queri, + Nam tabulam siquis videat, quam pinxerit Hansus + Holbius, ille artis gloria prima suæ, + Protinus exclamet, Potuit Deus edere monstrum + Quod video? humanæ non potuere manus. + Icones hæ sacræ tanti sunt, optime lector, + Artificis, dignum quod venereris opus.” + +Besides those verses there is also a Greek distich by Bourbon, to which +the following translation “pene ad verbum” is appended: + + “Cernere vis, hospes, simulacra simillima vivis? + Hoc opus Holbinæ nobile cerne manus.” + +When Mr. Douce stated that it was “_extremely probable_ that the +anonymous painter or designer of the Dance might have been employed also +by the Frellons to execute a set of subjects for the Bible previously to +his death, and that Holbein was afterwards employed to complete the +work,” he seems to have forgot that such a testimony of Holbein being +the designer was prefixed to the Bible cuts. In answer to Mr. Douce it +may be asked, in his own style, if the Frellons knew that another artist +was the designer of the cuts of the Dance of Death, and if he also had +been originally employed to design the Bible cuts, how does it happen +that they should allow Bourbon to give all the honour of the latter to +Holbein, who, if the Dance of Death be not his, was certainly much +inferior as a designer to the nameless artist whose unfinished work he +was employed to complete? + +The total number of the Bible cuts in the first edition of the work is +ninety, the first four of which are the same as the first four of the +Dance of Death; the other eighty-six are of a different form to the +first four, as will be perceived from the specimens, which are of the +same size as the originals. Those eighty-six cuts are generally much +inferior in design to those of the Dance of Death, and the style in +which they are engraved is very unequal, some of them being executed +with considerable neatness and delicacy, and others in a much coarser +manner. The following cut, Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, Genesis +XXII, is one of those which are the best engraved; but even these, so +far as regards the expression of the features and the delicate marking +of the hands, are generally much inferior to the cuts of the Dance of +Death. + + [Illustration] + +Though most of the Bible cuts are inferior both in design and execution +to those of the Dance of Death, and though several of them are rudely +drawn and badly engraved, yet many of them afford points of such perfect +identity with those of the Dance of Death, that it seems impossible to +come to any other conclusion than that either the cuts of both works +have been designed by the same person, or that the designer of the one +series has servilely copied from the designer of the other, and, what is +most singular, in many trifling details which seem the least likely to +be imitated, and which usually constitute individual peculiarities of +style. For instance, the small shrubby tree in the preceding cut is +precisely of the same species as that seen in the cut of the Old Woman +in the Dance of Death; and the angel about to stay Abraham’s hand bears +a strong general resemblance to the angel in Adam and Eve driven out of +Paradise. + +The cut on the opposite page--the Fool, Psalm LIII--is copied from one +of those executed in a coarser style than the preceding. The children in +this cut are evidently of the same family as those of the Dance of +Death. + +In the first cut, the Creation, a crack is perceived running nearly down +the middle from top to bottom, in the edition of the Dance of Death of +1545. It is also perceptible in all the subsequent Lyons editions of +this work and of the Bible cuts. It is, however, less obvious in the +Bible cuts of the edition 1549 than in some of the preceding, probably +in consequence of the block having been cramped to remedy the defect. +Mr. Douce speaks, at page 105, as if the crack were not discernible in +the Bible cuts of 1549; it is, however, quite perceptible in every copy +that has come under my notice. Some of the latter editions of this work +contain four additional cuts, which are all coarsely executed. In the +edition of 1547 they form the illustrations to Ezekiel XL; Ezekiel +XLIII; Jonah I, II, and III; and Habakkuk. The Bible cuts were also +printed with explanations in English. The title of a copy now before me +is as follows: “The Images of the Old Testament, lately expressed, set +forthe in Ynglishe and Frenche vuith a playn and brief exposition. +Printed at Lyons by Johan Frellon, the yere of our Lord God, 1549,” 4to. +In the latter editions there are wood-cuts of the four Evangelists, each +within an oval border, on the last leaf. They bear no tokens of +Holbein’s style. + + [Illustration] + +Among the many instances of resemblance which are to be perceived on +comparing the Dance of Death with the Bible cuts, the following may be +enumerated as the most remarkable. The peculiar manner in which fire +with smoke, and the waves of the sea, are represented in the Dance of +Death can scarcely fail to strike the most heedless observer; for +instance, the fire in the cut of Death seizing the child, and the waves +in the cut of the Seaman. In the Bible cuts we perceive the same +peculiarity; there is the same kind of fire in Moses directing the +manner of burnt offerings, Leviticus I; in the burning of Nadab and +Abihu, Leviticus X; and in every other one of those cuts where fire is +seen. In the destruction of Pharaoh and his host, Exodus XIV, are the +same kind of curling waves. Except in the Dance of Death and the Bible +cuts, I have never seen an instance of fire or water represented in such +a manner. If those cuts were designed by two different artists, it is +certainly singular that in this respect they should display so perfect a +coincidence of idea. The sheep in the cut of the Bishop in the Dance of +Death are the same as those in the Bible cut of Moses seeing God in the +burning bush, Exodus III; and the female figure in the cut of the +Elector in the former work is perceived in the Bible cut of the captive +Midianites, Numbers XXXI. The children introduced in both works are +almost perfectly identical, as will be perceived on comparing the cut of +Little Children mocking Elijah, chapter II, Kings II, with those of the +Elector, and Death seizing the child, in the Dance of Death. The face of +the Duchess in the latter work is the same as that of Esther in the +Bible cut, Esther, chapter II; and in this cut ornaments on the +tapestry, like fleurs-de-lis, behind the throne of Ahasuerus, are the +same as those on the tapestry behind the King in the Dance of Death. The +latter coincidence has been noticed by Mr. Douce, who, in direct +opposition to the evidence of the German or Swiss costume of the living +characters of the Dance of Death, considers it as contributing to +demonstrate that both the series of those cuts are of Gallic +origin.[VI-44] It is needless to enumerate more instances of almost +complete identity of figures and details in the cuts of the Dance of +Death and those of the Bible illustrations; they are too frequent to +have originated from a conventional mode of representing certain objects +and persons; and they are most striking in minor details, where one +artist would be least likely to imitate another, but where the same +individual designer would be most likely to repeat himself. “As to the +designs of these truly elegant prints,” says Mr. Douce, speaking of the +cuts of the Dance of Death, “no one who is at all skilled in the +knowledge of Holbein’s style and manner of grouping his figures would +hesitate immediately to ascribe them to that artist.”[VI-45] As this +opinion is corroborated by a comparison of the Dance of Death with the +Bible cuts, and as the internal evidence of the cuts of the Dance of +Death in favour of Holbein is confirmed by the testimony of his +contemporaries, the reader can decide for himself how far Holbein’s +positive claims to the honour of this work ought to be affected by the +passage in the anonymous address to Madame Jehanne de Touszele, which +forms the groundwork of Mr. Douce’s theory. + + [Footnote VI-44: “A comparison of the 8th subject of the + Simulachres,” says Mr. Douce, “with that of the Bible for Esther + I, II, where the canopy ornamented with fleurs-de-lis is the same + in both, will contribute to strengthen the above conjecture, as + will both the cuts to demonstrate their Gallic origin. It is most + certain that the King sitting at table in the Simulachres is + intended for Francis I, which if any one should doubt, let him + look upon the miniature of that king, copied at p. 214, in + Clarke’s ‘Repertorium Bibliographicum.’” The “above conjecture” + referred to in this extract is that previously cited at page 367, + where Mr. Douce conjectures that Holbein _might have been_ + employed to complete the Bible cuts which _might have been_ left + unfinished in consequence of the death of Mr. Douce’s “great + unknown” designer of the Dance of Death.--Dance of Death, p. 96. + Mr. Douce, not being able to deny the similarity of many of the + cuts, says it is highly probable that Holbein was merely employed + to finish the Bible cuts, without ever considering that it is + _primâ facie_ much more probable that Holbein was the designer of + the cuts in both works.] + + [Footnote VI-45: Dance of Death, p. 82.] + +Having now examined the principal arguments which have been alleged to +show that Holbein _was not_ the designer of the Dance of Death, and +having endeavoured to justify his claims to that honour by producing the +evidences on which they rest, I shall now take leave of this subject, +feeling thoroughly assured that HOLBEIN WAS THE DESIGNER OF THE CUTS OF +THE FIRST EDITION OF THE LYONS DANCE OF DEATH; and trusting, though with +no overweening confidence, that the preceding investigation will render +it necessary for the next questioner of his title to produce stronger +objections than the solitary ambiguous passage in the preface to the +first edition of the work, and to support them with more forcible and +consistent arguments than have been put forth by Mr. Douce. M. T. +Nieuhoff Piccard, I am inclined to think, will never again be called as +a witness in this cause; and before the passage in the preface can be +allowed to have any weight, it must be shown that such a personage as +Madame Jehanne de Touszele _was_ prioress of the convent of St. Peter at +Lyons at the time of the first publication of the work: and even should +such a fact be established, the ambiguity of the passage--whether the +pretendedly deceased artist were the engraver or designer, or both,--and +the obvious desire to conceal his name, remain to be explained. + +In 1538, the year in which the Dance of Death and the Bible cuts were +first published at Lyons, Holbein was residing in England under the +patronage of Henry VIII; though it is also certain that about the +beginning of September in that year he returned to Basle and he remained +there a few weeks.[VI-46] + + [Footnote VI-46: “Venit nuper Basileam ex Anglia Ioannes Holbein, + adeo felicem ejus regni statum prædicans, qui aliquot septimanis + exactis rursum eo migraturus est.” From a letter written by + Rudolph Gualter to Henry Bullinger, of Zurich, about the middle of + September 1538.--Quoted by Hegner, S. 246.] + +As the productions of this distinguished painter occupy so large a +portion of this chapter, it perhaps may not be unnecessary to give here +a few particulars of his life, chiefly derived from Hegner’s work, +previous to his coming to England. Hans Holbein, the Younger, as he is +often called by German writers to distinguish him from his father, was +the son of Hans Holbein, a painter of considerable reputation. The year +and place of his birth have not been positively ascertained, but there +seems reason to believe that he was born in 1498, at Augsburg,[VI-47] of +which city his father was a burgher, and from whence he appears to have +removed with his family to Basle, about the end of the fifteenth or the +beginning of the sixteenth century. Young Holbein was brought up to his +father’s profession, and at an early age displayed the germ of his +future excellence. There is a portrait in oil by young Holbein of the +date of 1513, which, according to Hegner, though rather weak in colour +and somewhat hard in outline, is yet clearly and delicately painted. +From the excellence of his early productions, Patin, in his Life of +Holbein, prefixed to an edition of the Laus Stultitiæ of Erasmus[VI-48] +thinks that he must have been born in 1495. That he was born in 1498 +there can, however, be little doubt, for Hegner mentions a portrait of +him, at Basle, when in the forty-fifth year of his age, with the date +1543. Several anecdotes are told of Holbein as a jolly fellow, and of +his twice or thrice discharging his account at a tavern by painting a +Dance of Peasants. Though there seems reason to believe that Holbein was +a free liver, and that he did paint such a subject in a house at Basle, +the stories of his thus settling for his liquor are highly improbable. +He appears to have married young, for in a painting of his wife and two +children, executed before he left Basle for England in 1526, the eldest +child, a boy, appears to be between four and five years old.[VI-49] + + [Footnote VI-47: Dr. Dibdin, in his Bibliographical Tour vol. iii. + pp. 80, 81, Edit. 1829, mentions two paintings at Augsburg by the + elder Holbein, one dated 1499 and the other 1501. The elder + Holbein had a brother named Sigismund, who was also a painter, and + who appears to have established himself at Berne. Papillon, in his + usual manner, makes Sigismund Holbein a wood engraver. By his + will, dated 1540, he appoints his nephew Hans the heir of all his + property in Berne.] + + [Footnote VI-48: Patin’s edition of this work was published in + octavo, at Basle, in 1676. It contains eighty-three copper-plate + engravings, from pen-and-ink sketches, drawn by Holbein, in the + margin of a copy of an edition printed by Frobenius, in 1514, and + still preserved (1860) in the Public Library at Basle. It is said + that Erasmus, when looking over those sketches, exclaimed, when he + came to that intended for himself, “Oho, if Erasmus were now as he + appears here, he would certainly take a wife.” Above another of + the sketches, representing a man with one of his arms about a + woman’s neck, and at the same time drinking out of a bottle, + Erasmus is said to have written the name “_Holbein._” In an + edition of the Laus Stultitiæ, edited by G. G. Becker, Basle, + 1780, 8vo. those sketches are engraved (very indifferently) on + wood.] + + [Footnote VI-49: Hegner, Hans Holbein der Jüngere, S. 110.] + +The name of Holbein’s wife is unknown; but it is said that, like +Durer’s, she was of an unhappy temper, and that he enjoyed no peace with +her. It is not, however, unlikely that his own unsettled disposition and +straitened circumstances also contributed to render his home +uncomfortable. Like most other artists of that period, he appears to +have frequently travelled; but his journeys do not seem to have extended +beyond Switzerland and Suabia, and they were for the most part confined +to the former country. He seems to have travelled rather in search of +employment than to improve himself by studying the works of other +masters. Perhaps of all the eminent painters of that period there is no +one whose style is more original than Holbein’s, nor one who owes less +to the study of the works of his contemporaries or predecessors. Though +there can be no doubt of his talents being highly appreciated by his +fellow-townsmen, yet his profession during his residence at Basle +appears to have afforded him but a scanty income. The number of works +executed by him between 1517 and 1526 sufficiently testify that he was +not deficient in industry, and the exercise of his art seems to have +been sufficiently varied:--he painted portraits and historical subjects; +decorated the interior walls of houses, according to the fashion of that +period, with fanciful and historical compositions; and made designs for +goldsmiths and wood-engravers. It is said that so early as 1520, the +Earl of Arundel,[VI-50] an English nobleman, having seen some of his +works in passing through Basle, advised him to try his fortune in +England. If such advice were given to Holbein at that period, it is +certain that it was not adopted until several years after, for he did +not visit this country till 1526. + + [Footnote VI-50: It is conjectured by Walpole that this might be + Henry Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel.] + + [Illustration: THE SHEATH OF A DAGGER, INTENDED AS A DESIGN FOR + A CHASER.[VI-51]] + + [Footnote VI-51: It is impossible to exceed the beauty and skill + that are manifested in this fine piece of art. The figures are, + a king, queen, and a warrior; a young woman, a monk, and an + infant; all of whom most unwillingly accompany Death in the Dance. + The despair of the king, the dejection of the queen, accompanied + by her little dog, the terror of the soldier who hears the drum of + Death, the struggling of the female, the reluctance of the monk, + and the sorrow of the poor infant, are depicted with equal spirit + and veracity. The original drawing is in the public library at + Basle, and ascribed to Holbein.] + +Before he left Basle he had painted two or three portraits of Erasmus, +and there is a large wood-cut of that distinguished scholar which is +said not only to have been painted, but also engraved by Holbein. This +cut is of folio size, and the figure of Erasmus is a whole length. His +right arm rests upon a terminus, and from a richly ornamented arch is +suspended a tablet, with the inscription, ER. ROT. Some old impressions +have two verses printed underneath, which merely praise the likeness +without alluding to the painter, while others have four which contain a +compliment to the genius of Erasmus and to the art of Holbein.[VI-52] +The original block is still preserved in the Public Library at Basle; +but there is not the slightest reason for believing that it was engraved +by Holbein. In 1526 Holbein left Basle for England: Patin says, because +he could no longer bear to live with his imperious wife. Though this +might not be the chief cause, it is easy to conceive that a person of +Holbein’s character would feel but little regret at parting from such a +helpmate. Van Mander says that he took with him a portrait which he had +painted of Erasmus, with a letter of recommendation from the latter to +Sir Thomas More, wherein it was observed that this portrait ‘was much +more like him than any of Albert Durer’s.’ Hegner, however, thinks that +what Van Mander says about the contents of this letter is not correct, +as no such passage is to be found in the published correspondence of +Erasmus with Sir Thomas More. Erasmus had already sent two portraits of +himself to England;[VI-53] and as Sir Thomas More was personally +acquainted with him, Hegner is of opinion that it would be unnecessary +to mention that the portrait was a better likeness than any of those +painted by Albert Durer. It is, however, by no means unlikely that +Erasmus in speaking of a portrait of himself by Holbein--whether +forwarded by the latter or not--might give his own opinion of it in +comparison with one from the pencil of Durer. + + [Footnote VI-52: The verses underneath the impressions which are + supposed to be the earliest, are as follows: + + “Corporis effigiem si quis non vidit Erasmi, + Hunc scite ad vivum picta tabella dabit.” + + The others: + + “Pallas Apellæam nuper mirata tabellam, + Hanc, ait, æternum Bibliotheca colat. + Dædaleam monstrat musis Holbeinnius artem, + Et summi ingenii Magnus Erasmus opes.”] + + [Footnote VI-53: Erasmus, writing to Bilibald Pirkheimer, in 1524, + says, “Rursus nuper misi in Angliam Erasmum bis pictum ab artifice + satis eleganti.” Hegner thinks that this artist was Holbein. In + 1517 a portrait of Erasmus, with that of his friend Petrus + Aegidius, was painted at Antwerp by Quintin Matsys. It was + intended by Erasmus as a present to Sir Thomas More. This painting + came subsequently into the possession of Dr. Mead, at whose sale + it was purchased, as the production of Holbein, by Lord Radnor, + for £110.] + +It would appear that in 1525 Erasmus had already mentioned Holbein’s +desire of trying his fortune in England to Sir Thomas More, for in a +letter written by Sir Thomas to Erasmus, dated from the court at +Greenwich, 18th of December 1525, there is a passage to the following +effect: “Your painter, dear Erasmus, is an excellent artist, but I am +apprehensive that he will not find England so fruitful and fertile as he +may expect. I will, however, do all that I can in order that he may not +find it entirely barren.”[VI-54] From a letter, dated 29th of August +1526, written by Erasmus to his friend Petrus Aegidius at Antwerp, it +seems reasonable to conclude that Holbein left Basle for England about +the beginning of September. Though Holbein’s name is not expressly +mentioned in this letter, there cannot be a doubt of his being the +artist who is thus introduced to Aegidius: “The bearer of this is he who +painted my portrait. I will not annoy you with his praises, although he +is indeed an excellent artist. Should he wish to see Quintin, and you +not have leisure to go with him, you can let a servant show him the +house. The arts perish here; he proceeds to England to gain a few +angels; if you wish to write [to England] you can send your letters by +him.”[VI-55] In this extract we discover a trait of the usual prudence +of Erasmus, who, in introducing his humbler friends to persons of power +or influence, seems to have been particularly careful not to give +annoyance from the warmth of his recommendations. How gently, yet +significantly, does he hint to Aegidius that the poor painter who brings +the letter is a person about whom he need give himself no trouble: if he +has not _leisure_ to introduce him personally to Quintin--that is, +Quintin Matsys--he can send a servant to show him his house. The +suggestion of the servant was a hint from Erasmus that he did not expect +the master to go with Holbein himself. + + [Footnote VI-54: “Pictor tuus, Erasme carissime, mirus est + artifex, sed vereor ne non sensurus sit Angliam tam fœcundam ac + fertilem quam sperarat. Quanquam ne reperiat omnino sterilem, + quoad per me fieri potest, efficiam. Ex aula Grenwici. 18 Dec. + 1525.”] + + [Footnote VI-55: “Qui has reddit, est is qui me pinxit. Ejus + commendatione te non gravabo, quanquam est insignis artifex. Si + cupiet visere Quintinum, nec tibi vacabit hominem adducere, + poteris per famulum commonstrare domum. Hic frigent artes: petit + Angliam ut corradat aliquot angelatos: per eum poteris quæ voles + scribere.”--Erasmi Epist.] + +Holbein on his arrival in England appears to have been well received by +Sir Thomas More; and it is certain that he resided for some time with +the learned and witty chancellor in his house at Chelsea. It is indeed +said that he continued with him for three years, but Walpole thinks that +this is very unlikely. Whether he may have resided during the whole of +the intermediate time with Sir Thomas More or not, there seems reason to +believe that Holbein entered the service of Henry VIII. in 1528. About +the autumn of 1529[VI-56], he paid a short visit to Basle, probably to +see his family, which he had left in but indifferent circumstances, and +to obtain permission from the magistracy for a further extension of his +leave of absence, for no burgher of the city of Basle was allowed to +enter into the service of a foreign prince without their sanction. +Patin, in his Life of Holbein, says that during his visit he spent most +of his time with his old tavern companions, and that he treated the more +respectable burghers, who wished to cultivate his friendship, with great +disrespect. Hegner, however, considers all those accounts which +represent Holbein as a man of intemperate habits and dissolute +character, as unworthy of credit; in his opinion it seems impossible +that he who was a favourite of Henry VIII, and so long an inmate of Sir +Thomas More’s house, should have been a dissolute person. M. Hegner +throughout his work shows a praiseworthy regard for Holbein’s moral +character, but his presumption in this instance is not sufficient to +counterbalance the unfavourable reports in the opposite scale. + + [Footnote VI-56: Erasmus, in a letter to Sir Thomas More, written + from Freyburg in Brisgau, 5th September, 1529, alludes to a + picture of More and his family which had been brought over by + Holbein; and Margaret Roper, the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas + More, writing to Erasmus in the following November, says, that she + is pleased to hear of the painter’s arrival with the family + picture,--“utriusque mei parentis nostrumque omnium effigiem + depictam.” Hegner thinks that those portraits of Sir Thomas More + and his family was only a drawing in pen-and-ink, which is now in + the Public Library at Basle. The figures in this drawing are: Sir + Thomas and his wife, his father, his son, and a young lady, three + daughters, a servant, and Sir Thomas’s jester. Over and under the + figures are written the name and age of each. The drawing is free + and light; and the faces and hands are very distinctly + expressed.--Hans Holbein der Jüngere, S. 202-235-237. The drawing + in the Public Library at Basle was probably a sketch of Holbein’s + large picture of the family of Sir Thomas More.] + +About the latter end of 1532, or the beginning of 1533, Holbein again +visited Basle; and his return appears to have been chiefly influenced by +an order of the magistracy, which was to the following effect: “To +M. Hans Holbein, painter, now in England. We Jacob Meier, burgomaster +and councillor, herewith salute you our beloved Hans Holbein, +fellow-burgher, and give you to understand that it is our desire that +you return home forthwith. In order that you may live easier at home, +and provide for your wife and child,[VI-57] we are pleased to allow you +the yearly sum of thirty guilders, until we can obtain for you something +better. That you may make your arrangements accordingly, we acquaint you +with this resolution. Given, Monday, 2nd September 1532.”[VI-58] It is +uncertain how long Holbein remained at Basle on his second visit, but it +was probably of short duration. Though he obeyed the summons of the +magistracy to return, he seems to have had sufficient interest to obtain +a further extension of his leave of absence. For the third and last time +he revisited Basle in 1538; and from a licence, signed by the +burgomaster Jacob Meier, dated 16th November in that year, it appears +that he obtained permission to return to England and remain there for +two years longer. In this licence fifty guilders per annum are promised +to Holbein on his return to Basle, and till then the magistrates further +agree to allow his wife forty guilders per annum to be paid quarterly, +and the first quarter’s payment to commence on the eve of St. Lucia next +ensuing,--that is, on the 12th of December. As the mention of the +allowance to Holbein’s wife would seem to imply that she was not very +well provided for by her husband, Hegner attempts to excuse his apparent +neglect by suggesting “that the great sometimes forget to pay, and will +not bear dunning;” and in illustration of this he refers to the passage +in Albert Durer’s Journal which has been previously given at page 269. + + [Footnote VI-57: Holbein’s wife and _child_ only, not children, + are mentioned in this licence. It is not known what became of + Holbein’s children, as there are no traces of his descendants to + be found at Basle. Merian, a clergyman of Basle, in a letter to + Mechel on this subject, in 1779, writes to this effect: “According + to a pedigree of the Merian family, printed at Regensburg in 1727, + Christina Syf, daughter of Rodolph Syf and Judith Weissin, and + grand-daughter of Hans Holbein the unequalled painter, (born + 1597,) was married on the 17th of November 1616 to Frederick + Merian.” Perhaps it is meant that Judith Weissin was Holbein’s + grand-daughter: there is evidently an error in the pedigree; and + if it be wrong in this respect, it is not entitled to much credit + in another.] + + [Footnote VI-58: Hegner, S. 242.] + +Holbein’s three visits to Basle have been here especially noticed in +order that the reader might judge for himself as to the probability of +his making the drawings for the Lyons Dance of Death on any of those +occasions. As this work was published in 1538, and as Holbein on his +last visit appears to have arrived at Basle about the beginning of +September in that year, it is impossible that he should have made the +drawings then; for if the forty-one cuts were executed by one person--as +from the similarity and excellence of the style there seems every reason +to believe--it would require at the least half a year to engrave them, +supposing that the artist worked as expeditiously as a wood engraver of +modern times. As it is highly probable that Holbein both made designs +and painted on his former visits, in 1529, and in 1532 or 1533, I think +it most likely that they were made on the latter occasion,--that is, +supposing them to have been designed on one of those visits. It is, +however, just as probable that the designs were made in England, and +forwarded to a wood engraver at Basle. + +Of the various paintings executed by Holbein during his residence in +England it is not necessary to give any account here; those who wish for +information on this point are referred to Walpole’s Anecdotes of +Painting.[VI-59] Of his life in England there are few particulars. “In +some household accounts of Henry VIII,” says Mr. Douce, “there are +payments to him in 1538, 1539, 1540, and 1541, on account of his salary, +which appears to have been thirty pounds per annum. From this time +little more is recorded of him till 1553, when he painted Queen Mary’s +portrait, and shortly afterwards died of the plague in 1554.” Thomas +Howard, Earl of Arundel, the great patron of artists, in the time of +Charles I, was desirous of erecting a monument to the memory of Holbein, +but gave up the intention as he was unable to discover the place of the +artist’s interment. As Holbein seems to have left no will, and as his +death appears to have excited no notice, it is likely that he died poor, +and in comparative obscurity. If his satirical drawings[VI-60] of +Christ’s Passion, ridiculing the Pope and the popish clergy, were known +to Mary, or any of her spiritual advisers, it could not be expected that +he should find favour at her court. + + [Footnote VI-59: See Dallaway’s edition, revised by R. N. Wornum. + London, Bohn, 1849, 3 vols. 8vo. Vol. i. pp. 66 et seq.] + + [Footnote VI-60: Those designs were engraved on sixteen small + plates by Hollar, but without his name. The enemies of Christ are + represented in the dress of monks and friars, and instead of + weapons they bear croziers, large candlesticks, and other church + ornaments; Judas appears as a capucin, Annas as a cardinal, and + Caiaphas as a bishop. In the subject of Christ’s Descent to Hades, + the gates are hung with papal bulls and dispensations; above them + are the Pope’s arms, and the devil as keeper of the gate wears a + triple crown. Underneath this engraving are the following verses, + which are certainly not of the period of Holbein: + + “Lo! the Pope’s kitchin, where his soles are fried, + Called Purgatorie; see his pardons tied + On strings; his triple crown the Divell weares, + And o’er the door the Pope’s own arms he beares.” + + In the subject of Christ before Caiaphas is the following + inscription in German: “_Wer wider die Römischen, der soll + sterben_,”--that is, “He who is against the Romans shall die.”] + +Wood engraving in England during the time of Holbein’s residence in this +country appears to have been but little cultivated; but though there +cannot be a doubt that the art was then practised here by native wood +engravers, yet I very much question if it were practised by any person +in England as a distinct profession. It is not unlikely that many of the +wood-cuts which appear in books printed in this country about that +period were engraved by the printers themselves. It has indeed been +supposed that most of the wood-cuts in English books printed at that +period were engraved on the continent; but this opinion seems highly +improbable--there could be no occasion to send abroad to have wood-cuts +so rudely executed. Perhaps the difficulty, or rather the impossibility +of finding a wood engraver in England capable of doing justice to his +designs might be one reason why Holbein made so few for the booksellers +of this country during his long residence here. The following portrait +of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet, who died in 1541, was probably drawn on +the block by Holbein. It is given on the reverse of the title of a small +work in quarto, printed at London, 1542, and entitled “Næniæ in mortem +Thomæ Viati equitis incomparabilis. Joanne Lelando antiquario autore.” +The verses, which are printed underneath the cut, seem decisive of the +drawing having been made by Holbein. There is a drawing of Sir Thomas +Wyatt by Holbein, in the Royal Collection, which is engraved in +Chamberlain’s work, entitled “Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans +Holbein,” folio, 1792. There is little similarity between the drawing +and the cut, though on comparison it is evident that both are intended +for the same person. + + [Illustration: + In effigiem Thomæ Viati. + Holbenus nitida pingendi maximus arte + Effigiem expressit graphicè: sed nullus Apelles + Exprimet ingenium felix animumque Viati.] + +It has been supposed that the original cut, of which the preceding is a +fac-simile, was engraved by Holbein himself: if this were true, and the +cut itself taken as a specimen of his abilities in this department of +art, there could not be a doubt of his having been a very indifferent +wood engraver, for though there be considerable expression of character +in the drawing of the head, the cut is executed in a very inferior style +of art. + +The cuts in Cranmer’s Catechism, a small octavo, printed in 1548,[VI-61] +have been ascribed to Holbein; but out of the whole number, twenty-nine, +including the cut on the reverse of the title, there are only two which +contain his mark. In the others the manner of pencilling is so unlike +that of these two, and the drawing and composition bear so little +resemblance to Holbein’s usual style, that I do not believe them to have +been of his designing. In the cut on the reverse of the title, the +subject is Cranmer presenting the Bible to Edward VI.; the others, +twenty-eight in number, but containing only twenty-six different +subjects,--as two of them are repeated,--are illustrative of different +passages of Scripture cited in the work. The following cut is one of +those designed by Holbein. It occurs at folio CL as an illustration of +“the fyrst sermon. A declaration of the fyrst peticion” [of the Lord’s +Prayer]. Holbein’s initials, H. H.--though the cross stroke of the first +H is broken away--are perceived on the edge of what seems to be a book, +to the left of the figure praying. + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VI-61: The following is the title of this scarce little + volume. “Catechismus, that is to say, a shorte instruction into + Christian religion for the singuler commoditie and profyte of + childrē and yong people. Set forth by the mooste reverende father + in God, Thomas Archbyshop of Canterbury, primate of all Englande + and Metropolitane.--Gualterus Lynne excudebat, 1548.” At the end + of the book, under a cut of Christ with a child before him, is the + colophon: “Imprynted at London, in S. Jhones Streete, by Nycolas + Hyll, for Gwalter Lynne dwellyng on Somers kaye, by Byllynges + gate.” Mr. Douce, at page 96, mentions a cut with the name _Hans + Holbein_ at the bottom, as occurring in the title-page of “A lytle + treatise after the manner of an Epystle wryten by the famous clerk + Doctor Urbanus Regius,” &c. also published by Walter Lynne, 1548.] + +The other cut, designed by Holbein, and which contains his name at full +length,[VI-62] occurs at folio CCI. The subject is Christ casting out +Devils, in illustration of the seventh petition of the Lord’s +Prayer,--“Deliver us from evil.” The following is a fac-simile. + + [Illustration: + HANS·HOLBEN] + + [Footnote VI-62: Mr. Douce, in his observations prefixed to + Hollar’s etchings of the Dance of Death, published by Edwards in + 1794, says, “A _set_ of cuts with the latter mark [_Hans Holben_] + occurs in Archbishop Cranmer’s Catechism, printed by Walter Lyne, + in 1548;” and in the same page he commits another mistake by + describing the mark on the cut of the Duchess in the Lyons Dance + of Death as [[HB]], instead of [[HL]]. It has been considered + necessary to notice these errors, as it is probable that many + persons who possess the work in which they occur, but who never + may have seen a copy of the Lyons Dance of Death, nor of + Cranmer’s Catechism, may have been misled in those matters by + implicitly relying on Mr. Douce’s authority. A certain class of + compilers are also extremely liable to transmit such mistakes, + and, to borrow an expression of Hegner’s, to give currency to + them, as if they stood ready for use “in _stereotype_.”] + +For the purpose of showing the difference of style between those two +cuts and the others contained in the same work, the three given on the +following page have been selected. The first, illustrating the Creation, +occurs at the folio erroneously numbered CXCV, properly CIX, No. 1; the +second, illustrating the sermon of our redemption, at folio CXXI, No. 2; +and the third, illustrating the third petition of the Lord’s +Prayer,--“Thy will be done,”--at folio CLXVIII, No. 3. The following are +the introductory remarks to the explanation of what the archbishop calls +the third petition: “Ye have herde how in the former petycions, we +require of our Lorde God to gyve us al thinges that perteyne to his +glorye and to the kyngdom of heaven, whereof he hath gyven us +commaundemente in the three preceptes written in the first table. Nowe +folowethe the thirde peticyon, wherein we praye God to graūte us that we +may fulfyll the other seven commaūdementes also, the whiche intreat of +matiers concerning this worldly kingdome and transitorye lyfe, that is +to saye, to honoure our parentes and gouernours, to kyl no man, to +committe none adulterye, to absteyne from thefte and lyinge, and to +behave our selfes in all thinges obedientlye, honestlye, peaceably, and +godly.” + + [Illustration: No. 1.] + + [Illustration: No. 2.] + + [Illustration: No. 3.] + +The feebleness of the drawing and the want of distinctness in these +three cuts, are totally unlike the more vigorous delineation of Holbein, +as exemplified, though but imperfectly, in the two which are doubtlessly +of his designing. None of them have the slightest pretensions to +delicacy or excellence of engraving, though they may be considered as +the best that had been executed in this country up to that time. Those +which, in my opinion, were not designed by Holbein have the appearance +of having been engraved on a _frushy_ kind of wood, of comparatively +coarse grain. It is not, however, unlikely that this appearance might +result from the feebleness of the drawing, conjoined with want of skill +on the part of the engraver. + +The following cut will not perhaps form an inappropriate termination to +the notice of the principal wood engravings which have been ascribed to +Holbein. It occurs as an illustration of the generation of Christ, +Matthew, chapter I, in an edition of the New Testament, printed at +Zurich, by Froschover, in 1554,[VI-63] the year of Holbein’s death. +Though there be no name to this cut, yet from the great resemblance +which it bears to Holbein’s style, I have little doubt of the design +being his. + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VI-63: The title-page of this book--which has previously + been referred to at page 357, in illustration of the word + _picta_--is as follows: “Novi Testamenti Editio postrema per Des. + Erasmum Roterodamum. Omnia picturis illustrata. Accesserunt + Capitum argumenta Elegiaco carmine, Rudolpho Gualtero authore, + conscripta. Tiguri, in Officina Froschoviana. Anno M.D.LIIII.” + 8vo.] + +The three following specimens of the cuts in Tindale’s Translation of +the New Testament, printed at Antwerp in 1534,[VI-64] ought, in strict +chronological order, to have preceded those of the Dance of Death; but +as Holbein holds the same rank in this chapter as Durer in the +preceding, it seemed preferable to give first a connected account of the +principal wood-cuts which are generally ascribed to him, and which there +is the strongest reason to believe were actually of his designing. The +celebrity of Tindale’s translation, as the earliest English version of +the New Testament which appeared in print, and the place which his name +occupies in the earlier part of the history of the Reformation in +England, will give an interest to those cuts to which they could have no +pretensions as mere works of art. It is probable that they were executed +at Antwerp, where the book was printed; and the drawing and engraving +will afford some idea of the style of most of the small cuts which are +to be found in works printed in Holland and Flanders about that period. +The first of the preceding cuts represents St. Luke employed in painting +a figure of the Virgin, and it occurs at the commencement of the Gospel +of that Evangelist. The second, which occurs at the commencement of the +General Epistle of James, represents that Saint in the character of a +pilgrim. The third, Death on the Pale Horse, is an illustration of the +sixth chapter of Revelations. + + [Footnote VI-64: The volume is of octavo size, and the title is as + follows: “The Newe Testament. Imprinted at Antwerp by Marten + Emperour. Anno M.D.XXXIIII.” The letters on the wood-cut of the + printer’s device, seen in the copies on paper, are M. K. The first + edition of Tindale’s Translation was printed in 1526. William + Tindale, otherwise Hitchins, was born on the borders of Wales, but + was of a Northumberland family, being descended from Adam de + Tindale of Langley, near Haydon Bridge, in that county. He was + strangled, and his body was afterwards burnt as that of a heretic + by the popish party, at Vilvorde, near Brussels, in 1536.] + + [Illustration: No. 1.] + + [Illustration: No. 2.] + + [Illustration: No. 3.] + +There is a beautiful copy, printed on vellum, of this edition of +Tindale’s Translation of the New Testament in the Library of the British +Museum. It appears to have formerly belonged to Queen Anne Boleyn, and +was probably a presentation copy from the translator. The title-page is +beautifully illuminated; the whole of the ornamental border, which is +seen in the copies on paper, is covered with gilding and colour, and the +wood-cut of the printer’s mark is covered with the blazoning of the +royal arms. On the edges, which are gilt, there is inscribed, in red +letters, ANNA REGINA ANGLIÆ. This beautiful volume formerly belonged to +the Reverend C. M. Cracherode, by whom it was bequeathed to the Museum. + +The first complete English translation of the Old and New Testaments was +that of Miles Coverdale, which appeared in folio, 1535,[VI-65] without +the name or residence of the printer, but supposed to have been printed +at Zurich by Christopher Froschover. The dedication is addressed to +Henry VIII, by “his Graces humble subjecte and daylie oratour, Myles +Coverdale;” and in the copy in the British Museum the commencement is as +follows: “Unto the most victorious Prynce and our most gracyous +soveraigne Lorde, kynge Henry the eyght, kynge of Englonde and of +Fraunce, lorde of Irlonde, &c. Defendour of the Fayth, and under God the +chefe and supreme heade of the churche of Englonde. ¶The ryght and just +administracyon of the laws that God gave unto Moses and unto Josua: the +testimonye of faythfulnes that God gave of David: the plenteous +abundance of wysdome that God gave unto Salomon: the lucky and +prosperous age with the multiplicacyon of sede which God gave unto +Abraham and Sara his wyfe, he gevē unto you most Gracyous Prynce, with +your dearest just wyfe and most virtuous Pryncesse, Quene Anne. Amen.” +In most copies, however, “Quene Jane” is substituted for “Quene Anne,” +which proves that the original dedication had been cancelled after the +disgrace and execution of Anne Boleyn, and that, though the colophon is +dated 4th October 1535, the work had not been generally circulated until +subsequent to 20th May 1536, the date of Henry’s marriage with Jane +Seymour. + + [Footnote VI-65: The title of this edition is as follows: “BIBLIA. + The Bible, that is, the holy Scripture of the Olde and Newe + Testaments, faithfully translated out of Douche and Latyn in to + Englishe. M.D.XXXV.” This title is surrounded with an ornamental + wood-cut border of ten compartments: 1. Adam and Eve. 2. The name + of Jehovah in Hebrew characters in the centre at the top. + 3. Christ with the banner of the cross trampling on the serpent, + sin, and death. 4. Moses receiving the tables of the law. + 5. Jewish High Priest,--Esdras. 6. Christ sending his disciples to + preach the Gospel. 7. Paul preaching. 8. David playing on the + harp. 9. In the centre at the bottom, King Henry VIII. on his + throne giving a book--probably intended for the Bible--to certain + abbots and bishops. 10. St. Paul with a sword. The day of the + month mentioned in the colophon was probably the date of the last + sheet being sent to press: “Prynted in the yeare of our Lorde + M.D.XXXV, and fynished the fourth daye of October.” Copies of this + edition with the title-page are extremely rare. Some copies have a + modern lithographed title prefixed, which is not exactly correct, + though professedly a fac-simile: in one of the scrolls it has + “_telius meus_” for “filius meus.” In the corresponding scroll in + a copy in the British Museum the words are in English: “This is my + deare Son in whom I delyte, heare him,”--above the figure of + Christ with the banner of the cross. I have not the least doubt of + this title-page having been designed by Holbein.] + +This edition contains a number of wood-cuts, all rather coarsely +engraved, though some of them are designed with such spirit as to be not +unworthy of Holbein himself, as will be apparent from two or three of +the following specimens. In the first, Cain killing Abel, the attitude +of Abel, and the action of Cain, sufficiently indicate that the original +designer understood the human figure well, and could draw it with great +force in a position which it is most difficult to represent. + + [Illustration: No. 1.] + +The figure of Abraham in No. 2 bears in some parts considerable +resemblance to that of the same subject given as a specimen of Holbein’s +Bible cuts at page 368; but there are several others in the work which +are much more like his style; and which, perhaps, might be copied from +earlier cuts of his designing. The two preceding may be considered as +specimens of the best designed cuts in the Old Testament; and the +following, the return of the Two Spies, is given us one of the more +ordinary. + + [Illustration: No. 2.] + + [Illustration: No. 3.] + +The three next cuts are from the New Testament. The first forms the +head-piece to the Gospel of St. Matthew; the second, which occurs on the +title-page, and displays great power of drawing in the figure, is John +the Baptist; and the third represents St. Paul writing, with his sword +before him, and a weaver’s loom to his left: the last incident, which is +frequently introduced in old wood-cuts of this Saint, is probably +intended to designate his business as a tentmaker, and also to indicate +that, though zealously engaged in disseminating the doctrines of Christ, +he had not ceased to “work with his hands.” + + [Illustration: No. 1.] + + [Illustration: No. 2.] + + [Illustration: No. 3.] + +Many of the cuts in this work are copied in a subsequent edition, also +in folio, printed in 1537; and some of the copies are so extremely like +the originals--every line being retained--as to induce a suspicion that +the impressions of the latter had been transferred to the blocks by +means of what is technically termed “rubbing down.” + +About 1530 the art of chiaro-scuro engraving on wood, which appears to +have been first introduced into Italy by Ugo da Carpi, was practised by +Antonio Fantuzzi, called also Antonio da Trente. Most of this engraver’s +chiaro-scuros are from the designs of Parmegiano. It is said that +Fantuzzi was employed by Parmegiano for the express purpose of executing +chiaro-scuro engravings from his drawings, and that, when residing with +his employer at Bologna, he took an opportunity of robbing him of all +his blocks, impressions, and designs. Between 1530 and 1540 Joseph +Nicholas Vincentini da Trente engraved several chiaro-scuros, most of +which, like those executed by Fantuzzi, are from the designs of +Parmegiano. From the number of chiaro-scuros engraved after drawings by +this artist, I think it highly probable that the most of them were +executed under his own superintendence and published for his own +benefit. Baldazzar Peruzzi and Domenico Beccafumi, both painters of +repute at that period, are said to have engraved in chiaro-scuro; but +the prints in this style usually ascribed to them are not numerous, and +I consider it doubtful if they were actually of their own engraving. + +From about 1530, the art of wood engraving, in the usual manner, began +to make considerable progress in Italy, and many of the cuts executed in +that country between 1540 and 1580 may vie with the best wood engravings +of the same period executed in Germany. Instead of the plain and simple +style, which is in general characteristic of Italian wood-cuts previous +to 1530, the wood engravers of that country began to execute their +subjects in a more delicate and elaborate manner. In the period under +consideration, we find cross-hatching frequently introduced with great +effect; there is a greater variety of _tint_ in the cuts; the texture of +different substances is indicated more correctly; the foliage of trees +is more natural; and the fur and feathers of animals are discriminated +with considerable ability. + +The following cut will afford perhaps some idea of the best Italian +wood-cuts of the period under consideration. It is a reduced copy of the +frontispiece to Marcolini’s Sorti,[VI-66] folio, printed at Venice in +1540. There is an impression of this cut on paper of a greenish tint in +the Print Room of the British Museum, and from this circumstance it is +placed, though improperly, in a volume, marked I. W. 4, and lettered +“Italian chiaro-scuros.” Underneath this impression the late Mr. Ottley +has written, “Not in Bartsch;” and from his omitting to mention the work +for which it was engraved, I am inclined to think that he himself was +not aware of its forming the frontispiece to Marcolini’s Sorti. +Papillon, speaking of the supposed engraver, Joseph Porta Garfagninus, +whose name is seen on a tablet near the bottom towards the right, says, +“J’ai de lui une fort belle Académie des Sciences,”[VI-67] but seems not +to have known of the work to which it belonged. This cut is merely a +copy, reversed, of a study by Raffaele for his celebrated fresco, +usually called the School of Athens, in the Vatican. It is engraved in a +work entitled “Vies et Oeuvres des Peintres les plus célèbres,” 4to. +Paris, 1813; and in the Table des Planches at the commencement of the +volume in which it occurs, the subject is thus described: “Pl. CCCCV. +Etude pour le tableau de l’Ecole d’Athènes. Ces différens episodes ne se +retrouvant pas dans le tableau qui a été exécuté des mains de Raphaël, +ne doivent être considérées que comme des essais ou premières pensées. +_Grav. M. Ravignano._” From this description it appears that the same +subject had been previously engraved on copper by Marco da Ravenna, who +flourished about the year 1530. Though I have never seen an impression +of Marco’s engraving of this subject, and though it is not mentioned in +Heineken’s catalogue of the engraved works of Raffaele,[VI-68] I have +little doubt that Porta’s wood-cut is copied from it. + + [Footnote VI-66: The following is the title of this curious and + scarce work: “Le Sorti di Francesco Marcolini da Forli, intitolate + Giardino di Pensieri.” Dedicated, “Allo Illustrissimo Signore + Hercole Estense, Duca di Ferrara.” At the conclusion is the + colophon: “In Venetia per Francesco Marcolini da Forli, ne gli + anni del Signore MDXXXX. Del mese di Ottobre.” In a _proemio_, or + preface, the author explains the manner of applying his + “_piacevole inventione_,” which is nothing more than a mode of + resolving questions by cards, and was probably suggested by + Fanti’s Triompho di Fortuna, of which some account is given at + page 315.] + + [Footnote VI-67: Papillon, Traité de la Gravure en Bois, tom. + i. p. 137.] + + [Footnote VI-68: This catalogue is printed in the second volume of + Heineken’s Nachrichten von Künstlern und Kunst-Sachen, 8vo. + Leipzig, 1768-1769. This work, which appeared two years before his + Idée Générale d’une Collection complette d’Estampes, contains much + information on the early history of art, which is not to be found + in the latter. All the fac-similes of old engravings in the Idée + Générale originally appeared in the Nachrichten. Heineken, in the + first volume of this work, p. 340, mentions Porta’s cut, but says + nothing of its being copied from a design by Raffaele.] + + [Illustration] + +Joseph Porta, frequently called Joseph Salviati by Italian authors, was +a painter, and he took the surname of Salviati from that of his master, +Francesco Salviati.[VI-69] There are a few other wood-cuts which contain +his name; but whether he was the designer, or the engraver only, is +extremely uncertain. + + [Footnote VI-69: Heineken, in his Nachrichten, 1er. Theil, S. 340, + says that Joseph Porta “was a pupil of _Cecchino_ Salviati, who is + not to be confounded with _Francesco_ Salviati;” and yet in his + Idée Générale, published subsequently, page 134, we find + “Francesco del Salviati, autrement Rossi, de Florence, et son + disciple Giuseppe Porta, appellé communément Giuseppe Salviati.” + Heineken, in his first work, committed the mistake of supposing + that Francesco Salviati’s to-name was the Christian name of + another person. In Huber’s Notice Générale des Graveurs et + Peintres, Francis Salviati appears as “François Cecchini, dit + Salviati.”] + +Marcolini’s work contains nearly a hundred wood-cuts besides the +frontispiece, but, though several of them are designed with great +spirit, no one is so well engraved.[VI-70] The following is a fac-simile +of one which occurs at page 35. The relentless-looking old woman is a +personification of _Punitione_--Punishment--holding in her right hand a +tremendous scourge for the chastisement of evil-doers. Though this cut +be but coarsely engraved, the domestic Nemesis, who here appears to +wield the retributive scourge, is designed with such spirit that if the +figure were executed in marble it might almost pass for one of Michael +Angelo’s. The drapery is admirably cast; the figure is good; and the +action and expression are at once simple and severe. + + [Footnote VI-70: The first forty-six cuts are the best, generally, + both in design and execution. The others, commencing at page 108, + are illustrative of the sayings and doctrines of ancient + philosophers and moralists, and one or two of the cuts are + repeated. In this portion of the work, each page, except what is + occupied by the cut, is filled with explanatory or illustrative + verses arranged in triplets.] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +The preceding cut, also a fac-simile, occurs at page 81 as an +illustration of Matrimony. The young man, with his legs already tied, +seems to be deliberating on the prudence of making a contract which may +possibly add a yoke to his shoulders. The ring which he holds in his +hand appears to have given rise to his cogitations. + +The following small cuts of cards--“Il Re, Fante, Cavallo, e Sette di +denari”--are copied from the instructions in the preface;[VI-71] and the +beautiful design of Truth rescued by Time--VERITAS FILIA +TEMPORIS--occurs as a tail-piece on the last page of the work. This cut +occurs not unfrequently in works published by Giolito, by whom I believe +the Sorti was printed; and two or three of the other cuts contained in +the volume are to be found in a humorous work of Doni’s, entitled +“I Marmi,” printed by Giolito in 1552. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VI-71: The first hundred and seven pages of the work are + chiefly filled with similar figures of cards variously combined, + with short references. How Marcolini’s pleasant invention is to be + applied to discover the secrets of Fate, I have not been able to + comprehend.] + +The wood engravers of Venice about the middle of the sixteenth century +appear to have excelled all other Italian wood engravers, and for the +delicacy of their execution they rivalled those of Lyons, who at that +period were chiefly distinguished for the neat and delicate manner of +their engraving small subjects. In the pirated edition of the Lyons +Dance of Death, published at Venice in 1545 by V. Vaugris, the cuts are +more correctly copied and more delicately engraved than those in the +edition first published at Cologne by the heirs of Arnold Birkman in +1555. In fact, the wood engravings in books printed at Lyons and Venice +from about 1540 to 1580 are in general more delicately engraved than +those executed in Germany and the Low Countries during the same period. +Among all the Venetian printers of that age, Gabriel Giolito is entitled +to precedence from the number and comparative excellence of the +wood-cuts contained in the numerous illustrated works which issued from +his press. In several of the works printed by him every cut is +surrounded by an ornamental border; and this border, not being engraved +on the same block as the cut, but separately as a kind of frame, is +frequently repeated: sixteen different borders, when the book is of +octavo size and there is a cut on every page, would suffice for the +whole work, however extensive it might be. The practice of _ornamenting_ +cuts in this manner was very prevalent about the period under +consideration, and at the present time some publishers seem inclined to +revive it. I should, however, be sorry to see it again become prevalent, +for though to some subjects, designed in a particular manner, an +ornamental border may be appropriate, yet I consider the practice of +thus _framing_ a series of cuts as indicative of bad taste, and as +likely to check the improvement of the art. Highly ornamented borders +have, in a certain degree, the effect of reducing a series of cuts, +however different their execution, to a standard of mediocrity; for they +frequently conceal the beauty of a well-engraved subject, and serve as a +screen to a bad one. In Ludovico Dolce’s Transformationi--a translation, +or rather paraphrase of Ovid’s Metamorphoses--first printed by Giolito +in 1553, and again in 1557, the cuts, instead of having a border all +round, have only ornaments at the two vertical sides. The preceding is a +fac-simile of one of those cuts, divested of its ornaments, from the +edition of 1557. The subject is the difficult labour of Alcmena,--a +favourite with Italian artists. This is the cut previously alluded to at +page 217. + +A curious book, of which an edition, in quarto, was printed at Rome in +1561, seems deserving of notice here, not on account of any merit in the +wood-cuts which it contains, but on account of the singularity of four +of them, which are given as a specimen of a “Sonetto figurato,” in the +manner of the cuts in a little work entitled “A curious Hieroglyphick +Bible,” first printed in London, in duodecimo, about 1782. The Italian +work in question was written by “Messer Giovam Battista Palatino, +Cittadino Romano,” and from the date of the Pope’s grant to the author +of the privilege of exclusively printing it for ten years, it seems +likely that the first edition was published about 1540. The work is a +treatise on penmanship; and the title-page of the edition of 1561--which +is embellished with a portrait of the author--may be translated as +follows: “The Book of M. Giovam Battista Palatino, citizen of Rome, in +which is taught the manner of writing all kinds of characters, ancient +and modern, of whatever nation, with Rules, Proportions, and Examples. +Together with a short and useful Discourse on Cyphers. Newly revised and +corrected by the Author. With the addition of fifteen beautiful +cuts.”[VI-72] In Astle’s Origin and Progress of Writing, page 227, +second edition, Palatino’s work is thus noticed: “In 1561, Valerius +Doricus printed at Rome a curious book on all kinds of writing, ancient +and modern. This book contains specimens of a great variety of writing +practised in different ages and countries; some of these specimens are +printed from types to imitate writing, and others from carved +wood-blocks. This book also contains a treatise on the art of writing in +cipher, and is a most curious specimen of early typography.” + + [Footnote VI-72: The following is a literal copy of the title: + “Libro di M. Giovam Battista Palatino, Cittadino Romano, Nelqual + s’insegna à Scriver ogni sorte lettera, Antica & Moderna, di + qualunque natione, con le sue regole, & misure, & essempi: Et con + un breve, et util Discorso de le Cifre: Riveduto novamente, & + corretto dal proprio Autore. Con la giunta di quindici tavole + bellissime.” At the end of the work is the imprint: “In Roma per + Valerio Dorico alla Chiavica de Santa Lucia. Ad Instantia de + M. Giovan della Gatta. L’Anno M.D.LXI.” 4to. Papillon says that + the work first appeared in 1540, and was reprinted in 1545, 1547, + 1548, 1550, 1553, and 1556. An edition was also published at + Venice in 1588.] + +After his specimens of “Lettere Cifrate,” Palatino devotes a couple of +pages to “Cifre quadrate, et Sonetti figurati,” two modes of +riddle-writing which, it appears, are solely employed for amusement. The +“Cifro quadrato” is nothing more than a monogram, formed of a cluster of +interwoven capitals, but in which every one of the letters of the name +is to be found. In the following specimen the name thus ingeniously +disguised is LAVINIA. + + [Illustration] + +The following is a slightly reduced copy of the first four lines of the +“Sonetto figurato;” the other ten lines are expressed by figures in a +similar manner. “As to figured sonnets,” says the author, “no better +rule can be given, than merely to observe that the figures should +clearly and distinctly correspond with the matter, and that there should +be as few supplementary letters as possible. Of course, orthography and +pure Italian are not to be looked for in such exercises; and it is no +objection that the same figure be used for the beginning of one word, +the middle of another, or the end of a third. It is the chief excellence +of such compositions that there should be few letters to be supplied.” + + [Illustration] + +The “interpretatio” of the preceding figured text is as follows: + + “Dove son gli occhi, et la serena forma + Del santo alegro et amoroso aspetto? + Dov’ è la man eburna ov’ e ’l bel petto + Ch’ appensarvi hor’ in fonte mi transforma?” + +This figured sonnet is a curious specimen of hieroglyphic and “phonetic” +writing combined. For those who do not understand Italian, it seems +necessary to give the following explanation of the words, and point out +their phonetic relation to the things. _Dove_, where, is composed of +_D_, and _ove_, eggs, as seen at the commencement of the first line. +_Son_, are, is represented by a man’s head and a trumpet, making a +sound, _son_. The preceding figures are examples of what is called +“phonetic” writing, by modern expounders of Egyptian antiquities,--that +is, the figures of _things_ are not placed as representatives of the +things themselves, but that their names when pronounced may form a word +or part of a word, which has generally not the least relation to the +thing by which it is _phonetically_, that is, vocally, expressed. +_Occhi_, eyes, is an instance of hieroglyphic writing; the figure and +the idea to be represented agree. _La_, the, is represented by the +musical note _la_; _serena_, placid, by a Siren,--_Sirena_,-- +orthography, as the author says, is not to be expected in figured +sonnets; and _forma_, shape, by a shoemaker’s last, which is called +_forma_ in Italian. + +In the second line, _Santo_, holy, is represented by a Saint, _Santo_; +_allegro_, cheerfulness, by a pair of wings, _ale_, and _grue_, a crane, +the superfluous _e_ forming, with the T following, the conjunction _et_, +and. The words _amoroso aspetto_ are formed of _amo_, a hook, _rosa_, a +rose, and _petto_, the breast, with a supplementary _s_ between the rose +and the breast. + +In the third line we have _ove_, eggs, and the musical _la_ again; +_man_, the hand, is expressed by its proper figure; _eburna_, +ivory-like, is composed of the letters EB and an urn, _urna_; and in the +latter part of the line the eggs, _ov’_, and the breast, _petto_, are +repeated. + +At the commencement of the fourth line, a couple of cloaks, _cappe_, +stand for _ch’ appe_ in the compound word _ch’ appe_nsarvi; _hor’_, now, +is represented by an hour-glass, _hora_, literally, an hour; _fonte_, a +fountain, is expressed by its proper figure; and the words _mi +transforma_, are phonetically expressed by a mitre, _mitra_, the +supplementary letters NS, and the shoemaker’s last, _forma_. + +In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a taste for inventing devices in this +manner seems to have been fashionable among professed wits; and the +practice of expressing a name by a rebus was not unfrequent in an +earlier age. It is probable that the old sign of the Bolt-in-Tun in +Fleet Street derives its origin from Bolton, a prior of St. +Bartholomew’s in Smithfield, who gave a bird-_bolt_ in the bung-hole of +a _tun_ as the rebus of his name. The peculiarities of the Italian +figured sonnet are not unaptly illustrated in Camden’s Remains, in the +chapter entitled “_Rebus,[VI-73] or Name-Devises_:” “Did not that +amorous youth mystically expresse his love to _Rose Hill_, whom he +courted, when in a border of his painted cloth he caused to be painted +as rudely as he devised grossely, a rose, a hill, an eye, a loafe, and a +well,--that is, if you will spell it, + + _Rose Hill I love well._”[VI-74] + + [Footnote VI-73: There is a curious allusion to a _Rebus_ in + Horace, Satyr. Lib. I. Sat. V., Vers. 88, which has escaped the + notice of all his commentators: + + “Quatuor hinc rapimur viginti et millia rhedis, + Mansuri oppidulo, quod versu dicere non est, + _Signis perfacile est._” + + The place which he did not think proper to name was undoubtedly + Asculum, whose situation exactly corresponds with the distance + from _Trivicum_, where he rested the preceding night. From the + manner in which Horace alludes to the _signa_-- _as_ and _culum_-- + of which the name is composed, it seems likely that a certain + vulgar benison was not unknown at Rome in the age of Augustus.] + + [Footnote VI-74: Remaines concerning Britaine, with additions by + John Philpot, Somerset Herald, p. 164. Edit. 1636.] + +Among the wood engravers of Lyons who flourished about the middle of the +sixteenth century, the only one whose name has come down to modern times +is Bernard Solomon; and if he were actually the engraver of the numerous +cuts which are ascribed to him, he must have been extremely industrious. +I am not, however, aware of any cut which contains his mark; and it is +by no means certain whether he were really a wood engraver, or whether +he only made the designs for wood engravers to execute. Papillon, who +has been blindly followed by most persons who have either incidentally +or expressly written on wood engraving, unhesitatingly claims him as a +wood engraver; but looking at the inequality in the execution of the +cuts ascribed to him, and regarding the sameness of character in the +designs, I am inclined to think that he was not an engraver, but that he +merely made the drawings on the wood. Sir E. L. Bulwer has committed a +mistake of this kind in his England and the English: “This country,” +says he in his second volume, page 205, edition 1833, “may boast of +having, in Bewick of Newcastle, brought wood engraving to perfection; +his pupil, Harvey, continues the profession with reputation.” The writer +here evidently speaks of that which he knows very little about, for at +the time that his book was published, Harvey, though originally a wood +engraver, and a pupil of Bewick, had abandoned the profession for about +eight years, and had devoted himself entirely to painting and drawing +for copper-plate and wood engravers. Indeed I very much question if Sir +Edward Lytton Bulwer ever saw a cut--except, perhaps, that of +Dentatus,--which was actually engraved by Harvey. With about equal +propriety, a writer, speaking of wood engraving in England twenty years +ago, might have described the late John Thurston as “continuing the +profession with reputation,” merely because he was one of the principal +designers of wood engravings at that period. + +Bernard Solomon, whether a designer or engraver on wood, is justly +entitled to be ranked among the “little masters” in this branch of art. +All the cuts ascribed to him which have come under my notice are of +small size, and most of them are executed in a delicate manner; they +are, however, generally deficient in effect,[VI-75] and may readily be +distinguished by the tall slim figures which he introduces. He evidently +had not understood the “capabilities” of his art, for in none of his +productions do we find the well-contrasted “black-and-white,” which, +when well managed, materially contributes to the excellence of a +well-engraved wood-cut. The production of a good _black_ is, indeed, one +of the great advantages, in point of conventional colour, which wood +possesses over copper; and the wood engraver who neglects this +advantage, and labours perhaps for a whole day to cut with mechanical +precision a number of delicate but unmeaning lines, which a copper-plate +engraver would execute with facility in an hour, affords a tolerably +convincing proof of his not thoroughly understanding the principles of +his art. In Bernard’s cuts, and in most of those executed at Lyons about +the same period, we find much of this ineffective labour; we perceive in +them many evidences of the pains-taking workman, but few traits of the +talented artist. From the time that a taste for those little and +laboriously executed, but spiritless cuts, began to prevail, the decline +of wood engraving may be dated. Instead of confining themselves within +the legitimate boundaries of their own art, wood engravers seem to have +been desirous of emulating the delicacy of copper-plate engraving, and, +as might naturally be expected by any one who understands the +distinctive peculiarities of the two arts, they failed. The book-buyers +of the period having become sickened with the glut of tasteless and +ineffective trifles, wood engraving began to decline: large +well-engraved wood-cuts executed between 1580 and 1600 are comparatively +scarce. + + [Footnote VI-75: Papillon, who speaks highly of the execution of + the cuts ascribed to Bernard Solomon, admits that they want + effect. “La gravure,” says he, speaking of the cuts contained in + ‘Quadrins Historiques de la Bible,’ “est fort belle, excepté + qu’elle manque de clair obscur, parce que les tailles sont presque + toutes de la même teinte, ce qui fait que les lointains ne fuyent + pas assez. C’est le seul defaut des gravures de Bernard Salomon; + ce qui lui a été commun avec plus de quarante autres graveurs en + bois de son temps.”--Traité de la Gravure en Bois, tom. + i. p. 209.] + +Bernard Solomon, or, as he is frequently called, _Little_ Solomon, from +the smallness of his works, is said to have been born in 1512, and the +most of the cuts which are ascribed to him appeared in works printed at +Lyons between 1545 and 1580. Perhaps more books containing small +wood-cuts were printed at Lyons between those years than in any other +city or town in Europe during the corresponding period. It appears to +have been the grand mart for Scripture cuts, emblems, and devices; but +out of the many hundreds which appear to have been engraved there in the +period referred to, it would be difficult to select twenty that can be +considered really excellent both in execution and design. One of the +principal publishers of Lyons at that time was Jean de Tournes; many of +the works which issued from his press display great typographic +excellence, and in almost all the cuts are engraved with great neatness. +The following cut is a fac-simile of one which appears in the title-page +of an edition of Petrarch’s Sonnetti, Canzoni, e Trionfi, published by +him in a small octodecimo volume, 1545. + + [Illustration] + +The design of the cut displays something of the taste for emblem and +device[VI-76] which was then so prevalent, and which became so generally +diffused by the frequent editions of Alciat’s Emblems, the first of +which was printed about 1531. The portraits of Petrarch and Laura, +looking not unlike “Philip and Mary on a shilling,” are seen enclosed +within a heart which Cupid has pierced to the very core with one of his +arrows. The volume contains seven other small cuts, designed and +engraved in a style which very much resembles that of the cuts ascribed +to Bernard Solomon; and as there is no mark by which his productions are +to be ascertained, I think they are as likely to be of his designing as +three-fourths of those which are generally supposed to be of his +engraving. + + [Footnote VI-76: Several editions of Alciat’s Emblems and Claude + Paradin’s Devises Heroïques were published at Lyons in the + sixteenth century. The first edition of the latter work was + printed there by Jean de Tournes, in 1557, 8vo.] + +The work entitled “Quadrins Historiques de la Bible,” with wood-cuts, +ascribed to Bernard Solomon, and printed at Lyons by Jean de Tournes, +was undoubtedly suggested by the “Historiarum Veteris Testamenti +Icones”--Holbein’s Bible-cuts--first published by the brothers Frellon +in 1538. The first edition of the Quadrins Historiques was published in +octavo about 1550, and was several times reprinted within the succeeding +twenty years. The total number of cuts in the edition of 1560 is two +hundred and twenty-nine, of which no less than one hundred and seventy +are devoted to the illustration of Exodus and Genesis. At the top of +each is printed the reference to the chapter to which it relates, and at +the bottom is a “Quadrin poëtique, tiré de la Bible, pour graver en la +table des affeccions l’amour des sacrees Histories.” Those “Quadrins” +appear to have been written by Claude Paradin. The composition of +several of the cuts is good, and nearly all display great _neatness_ of +execution. The following is a fac-simile of the seventh, Adam and Eve +driven out of Paradise. It is, however, necessary to observe that this +is by no means one of the best cuts either in point of design or +execution. + + [Illustration] + +A similar work, entitled “Figures du Nouveau Testament,” with cuts, +evidently designed by the person who had made the drawings for those in +the “Quadrins Historiques de la Bible,” was also published by Jean de +Tournes about 1553, and several editions were subsequently printed. The +cuts are rather less in size than those of the Quadrins, and are, on the +whole, rather better engraved. The total number is a hundred and four, +and under each are six explanatory verses, composed by Charles Fonteine, +who, in a short poetical address at the commencement, dedicates the work +“A Tres-illustre et Treshaute Princesse, Madame Marguerite de France, +Duchesse de Berri.” The following, Christ tempted by Satan, is a copy of +the sixteenth cut, but like that of the expulsion of Adam and Eve, it is +not one of the best in the work. + + [Illustration] + +Old engravings and paintings illustrative of manners or of costume are +generally interesting; and on this account a set of large wood-cuts +designed by Peter Coeck of Alost, in Flanders, is deserving of notice. +The subjects of those cuts are the manners and costumes of the Turks; +and the drawings were made on the spot by Coeck himself, who visited +Turkey in 1533. It is said that he brought from the east an important +secret relative to the art of dyeing silk and wool for the fabrication +of tapestries, a branch of manufacture with which he appears to have +been connected, and for which he made a number of designs. He was also +an architect and an author; and published several treatises on +sculpture, geometry, perspective, and architecture. The cuts +illustrative of the manners and costume of the Turks were not published +until 1553, three years after his decease, as we learn from an +inscription on the last.[VI-77] They are oblong, of folio size; and the +seven of which the set consists are intended to be joined together, and +thus to form one continuous subject. The figures, both on foot and +horseback, are designed with great spirit, but they want relief, and the +engraving is coarse. One of the customs which he has illustrated in the +cut No. 3 is singular; and though this _orientalism_ has been noticed by +a Scottish judge--Maclaurin of Dreghorn--Peter Coeck appears to be the +only traveller who has graphically represented “_quo modo Turci +mingunt_,” i. e. _sedentes_. Succeeding artists have availed themselves +liberally of those cuts. As the Turks in the sixteenth century were much +more formidable as a nation than at present, and their manners and +customs objects of greater curiosity, wood engravings illustrative of +their costume and mode of living appear to have been in considerable +demand at that period, for both in books and as single cuts they are +comparatively numerous. + + [Footnote VI-77: The following explanatory title occurs on the + first cut: “Ces moeurs et fachons de faire de Turcz avecq’ les + Regions y appartenantes, ont este au vif contrefactez par Pierre + Coeck d’Alost, luy estant en Turquie, l’an de Jesu Christ M.D. 33. + Lequel assy de sa main propre a pourtraict ces figures duysantes à + l’impression d’ycelles.” From another of the cuts we thus learn + the time of his death: “Marie Verhulst vefue du dict Pierre + d’Alost, trespasse en l’anne MDL, a faict imprimer les dicts + figures soubz Grace et Privilege de l’Imperialle Maiestie. En + l’Ann MCCCCCLIII.”] + +Though chiaro-scuro engraving on wood was, in all probability, first +practised in Germany, yet the art does not appear to have been so much +cultivated nor so highly prized in that country as in Italy. Between +1530 and 1550, when Antonio Fantuzzi, J. N. Vincentini, and other +Italians, were engaged in executing numerous chiaro-scuros after the +designs of such masters as Raffaele, Corregio, Parmegiano, Polidoro, +Beccafumi, and F. Salviati, the art appears to have been comparatively +abandoned by the wood engravers of Germany. The chiaro-scuros executed +in the latter country cannot generally for a moment bear a comparison, +either in point of design or execution, with those executed in Italy +during the same period. I have, however, seen one German cut executed in +this style, with the date 1543, which, for the number of the blocks from +which it is printed, and the delicacy of the impression in certain +parts, is, if genuine, one of the most remarkable of that period. As the +paper, however, seems comparatively modern, I am induced to suspect that +the date may be that of the painting or drawing, and that this +picture-print--for, though executed by the same process, it would be +improper to call it a chiaro-scuro--may have been the work of Ungher, +a German wood engraver, who executed some chiaro-scuros at Berlin about +seventy years ago. Whatever may be the date, however, or whoever may +have been the artist, it is one of the best executed specimens of +coloured block printing that I have ever seen. + +This curious picture-print, including the border, is ten inches and +three quarters high by six inches and three quarters wide. The subject +is a figure of Christ; in his left hand he holds an orb emblematic of +his power, while the right is elevated as in the act of pronouncing a +benediction. His robe is blue, with the folds indicated by a darker +tint, and the border and lighter parts impressed with at least two +lighter colours. Above this robe there is a large red mantle, fastened +in front with what appears to be a jewel of three different colours, +ruby, yellow, and blue; the folds are of a darker colour; and the lights +are expressed by a kind of yellow, which has evidently been either +impressed, or laid on the paper with a brush, before the red colour of +the mantle, and which, from its glistening, seems to have been +compounded with some metallic substance like fine gold-dust. The border +of the print consists of a similar yellow, between plain black lines. +The face is printed in flesh colour of three tints, and the head is +surrounded with rays of glory, which appear like gilding. The engraving +of the face, and of the hair of the head and beard, is extremely well +executed, and much superior to anything that I have seen in wood-cuts +containing Ungher’s mark. The globe is blue, with the lights preserved, +intersected by light red and yellow lines; and the small cross at the +top is also yellow, like the light on the red mantle. The hands and feet +are expressed in their proper colours; the ground on which the Redeemer +stands is something between a lake and a fawn colour; and the ground of +the print, upwards from about an inch above the bottom, is of a lighter +blue than the robe. To the right, near the bottom, are the date and +mark, thus: [[1543]] The figure like a winged serpent resembles a mark +which was frequently used by Lucas Cranach, except that the serpent or +dragon of the latter appears less crooked, and usually has a ring in its +mouth. The letter underneath also appears rather more like an I than an +L. The drawing of the figure of Christ, however, is very much in the +style of Lucas Cranach, and I am strongly inclined to think that the +original painting or drawing was executed by him, whoever may have been +the engraver. There must have been at least ten blocks required for this +curious print, which, for clearness and distinctness in the colours, and +for delicacy of impression, more especially in the face, may challenge a +comparison not only with the finest chiaro-scuros of former times, but +also with the best specimens of coloured block-printing of the present +day.[VI-78] + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VI-78: This interesting specimen of the combined arts of + wood engraving and printing formerly belonged to the late Mr. + Robert Branston, wood engraver, who executed several of the + chiaro-scuros, and imitations of coloured drawings, in Savage’s + work on Decorative Printing. It is now in the possession of his + son, Mr. Frederick Branston, who is of the same profession as his + father.] + +In 1557, Hubert Goltzius, a painter, but better known as an author than +as an artist, published at Antwerp, in folio, a work containing +portraits, executed in chiaro-scuro, of the Roman emperors, from Julius +Cæsar to Ferdinand I.[VI-79] Descamps, in his work entitled “La Vie des +Peintres Flamands, Allemands et Hollandois,” says that those portraits, +which are all copied from medals, were “engraved on wood by a painter of +Courtrai, named Joseph Gietleughen;”[VI-80] and Papillon, who had +examined the work more closely, but not closely enough, says that the +outlines are etched, and that the two _rentrées_--the subsequent +impressions which give to the whole the appearance of a chiaro-scuro +drawing--are from blocks of wood engraved in _intaglio_. What Papillon +says about the outlines being etched is true; but a close inspection of +those portraits will afford any person acquainted with the process ample +proof of the “rentrées” being also printed from plates of metal in the +same manner as from engraved wood-blocks. + + [Footnote VI-79: The title-page of this work is printed in three + colours,--black, sepia, and green. The black ornamental outlines + are from an etched plate; the sepia and green colours are printed + from wood-blocks. An edition of this work, enlarged by Gevartius, + with portraits in two colours, and entirely engraved on wood, was + printed at Antwerp in 1645.] + + [Footnote VI-80: Tom. i. p. 129. Paris, 1753.] + +Each of those portraits appears like an enlarged copy of a medal, and is +the result of three separate impressions; the first, containing the +outlines of the head, the ornaments, and the name, has been printed from +an etched plate of copper or some other metal, by means of a +copper-plate printing-press; and the two other impressions, over the +first, have also been from plates of metal, mounted on blocks of wood, +and printed by means of the common typographic printing-press. The +outlines of the head and of the letters forming the legend are black; +the field of the medal is a muddy kind of sepia; and the head and the +border, printed from the same surface and at the same time, are of a +lighter shade. The lights to be preserved have been cut in _intaglio_ in +the plates for the two “rentrées” in the same manner as on blocks of +wood for printing in chiaro-scuro. The marks of the pins by which the +two plates for the “rentrées” have been fastened to blocks of wood, to +raise them to a proper height, are very perceptible; in the field of the +medal they appear like circular points, generally in pairs; while round +the outer margin they are mostly of a square form. It is difficult to +conceive what advantage Goltzius might expect to derive by printing the +“rentrées” from metal plates; for all that he has thus produced could +have been more simply effected by means of wood-blocks, as practised up +to that time by all other chiaro-scuro engravers. Though those portraits +possess but little merit as chiaro-scuros, they are yet highly +interesting in the history of art, as affording the first instances of +etching being employed for the outlines of a chiaro-scuro, and of the +substitution, in surface-printing, of a plate of metal for a wood-block. +Goltzius’s manner of etching the outlines of a chiaro-scuro print was +frequently practised both by French and English artists about the middle +of the last century; and about 1722, Edward Kirkall engraved the +principal parts of his chiaro-scuros in mezzo-tint, and afterwards +printed a tint from a metal plate mounted on wood. In the present day +Mr. George Baxter has successfully applied the principle of engraving +the ground and the outlines of his subjects in aqua-tint; and, as in the +case of Hubert Goltzius and Kirkall, he sometimes uses a metal-plate +instead of a wood-block in surface-printing. In the picture-prints +executed by Mr. Baxter for the Pictorial Album, 1837, the tint of the +paper on which each imitative painting appears to be mounted, is +communicated from a smooth plate of copper, which receives the colour, +and is printed in the same manner as a wood-block. + +Among the German artists who made designs for wood engravers from the +time of Durer to about 1590, Erhard Schön, Virgil Solis, Melchior +Lorich, and Jost Amman may be considered as the principal. They are all +frequently described as wood engravers from the circumstance of their +marks being found on the cuts which they undoubtedly designed, but most +certainly did not engrave. Erhard Schön chiefly resided at Nuremberg; +and some of the earliest cuts of his designing are dated 1528. In 1538 +he published at Nuremberg a small treatise, in oblong quarto, on the +proportions of the human figure, for the use of students and young +persons.[VI-81] This work contains several wood-cuts, all coarsely +engraved, illustrative of the writer’s precepts; two or three of +them--where the heads and bodies are represented by squares and +rhomboidal figures--are extremely curious, though apparently not very +well adapted to improve a learner in the art of design. Another of the +cuts, where the proportions are illustrated by means of a figure +inscribed within a circle, is very like one of the illustrations +contained in Flaxman’s Lectures on Sculpture. Some cuts of +playing-cards, designed by Schön, are in greater request than any of his +other works engraved on wood, which, for the most part, have but little +to recommend them. He died about 1550. + + [Footnote VI-81: The following is a copy of the title: + “Underweisung der Proportzion und Stellung der Possen, liegent und + stehent; abgestochen wie man das vor augen sieht, in dem puchlein, + durch Erhart Schon von Norrenberg; für die Jungen gesellen und + Jungen zu unterrichtung die zu der Kunst lieb tragen. In den druck + gepracht, 1538.”] + +Virgil Solis, a painter, copper-plate engraver, and designer on wood, +was born at Nuremberg about 1514. The cuts which contain his mark are +extremely numerous; and, from their being mostly of small size, he is +ranked by Heineken with the “Little Masters.” Several of his cuts +display great fertility of invention; but though his figures are +frequently spirited and the attitudes good, yet his drawing is generally +careless and incorrect. As a considerable number of his cuts are of the +same kind as those of Bernard Solomon, it seems as if there had been a +competition at that time between the booksellers of Nuremberg and those +of Lyons for supplying the European market with illustrations of two +works of widely different character, to wit, the Bible, and Ovid’s +Metamorphoses,--Virgil Solis being retained for the German, and Bernard +Solomon for the French publishers. He designed the cuts in a German +edition of the Bible, printed in 1560; most of the portraits of the +Kings of France in a work published at Nuremberg in 1566; a series of +cuts for Esop’s fables; and the illustrations of an edition of Reusner’s +Emblems. Several cuts with the mark of Virgil Solis are to be found in +the first edition of Archbishop Parker’s Bible, printed by Richard +Jugge, folio, London, 1568. In the second edition, 1572, there are two +ornamented initial letters, apparently of his designing, which seem to +show that his sacred and profane subjects were liable to be confounded, +and that cuts originally designed for an edition of Ovid might by some +singular oversight be used in an edition of the Bible, although printed +under the especial superintendence of a Right Reverend Archbishop. In +the letter G, which forms the commencement of the first chapter of St. +Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews, the subject represented by the artist is +Leda caressed by Jupiter in the form of a swan; and in the letter T at +the commencement of the first chapter of the Epistle General of St. +John, the subject is Venus before Jove, with Cupid, Juno, Mars, Neptune, +and other Heathen deities in attendance.[VI-82] + + [Footnote VI-82: This last letter contains the mark [[SA]], which + is to be found on some of the cuts in the editions of the Dance of + Death printed at Cologne, 1555-1572.] + +A series of wood-cuts designed by Virgil Solis, illustrative of Ovid’s +Metamorphoses, was published at Frankfort, in oblong quarto, by George +Corvinus, Sigismund Feyerabend, and the heirs of Wigand Gallus, in 1569. +Each cut is surrounded by a heavy ornamental border; above each are four +verses in Latin, and underneath four in German, composed by Johannes +Posthius, descriptive of the subject. In the title-page,[VI-83] which is +both in Latin and in German, it is stated that they are +_designed_--_gerissen_--by Virgil Solis for the use and benefit of +painters, goldsmiths, and statuaries. It is thus evident that they were +not engraved by him; and in corroboration of this opinion it may be +observed that several of them, in addition to his mark, [Symbol], also +contain another, [Symbol], which is doubtless that of the wood engraver. +The latter mark occurs frequently in the cuts designed by Virgil Solis, +in the first edition of Archbishop Parker’s Bible. + + [Footnote VI-83: The title is as follows: “Johan. Posthii + Germershemii Tetrasticha in Ovidii Metam. Lib. xv. Quibus + accesserunt Vergilii Solis figuræ elegantissimæ, primum in lucem + editæ.--Schöne Figuren, auss dem fürtrefflichen Poeten Ovidio, + allen Malern, Goldtschmiden, und Bildthauern, zu nutz und gutem + mit fleiss gerissen durch Vergilium Solis, und mit Teutschen + Reimen kürtzlich erkläret, dergleichein vormals im Druck nie + aussgangen, Durch Johan. Posthium von Germerssheim. M.D.LXIX.”] + +Evelyn, in his Sculptura, has the following notice of this artist: +“Virgilius Solis graved also in wood _The story of the Bible_ and _The +mechanic arts_ in little; but for imitating those vile postures of +Aretine had his eyes put out by the sentence of the magistrate.” There +is scarcely a page of this writer’s works on art which does not contain +similar inaccuracies, and yet he is frequently quoted and referred to as +an authority. The “mechanic arts” to which Evelyn alludes were probably +the series of cuts designed by Jost Amman, and first published in +quarto, at Frankfort, in 1564; and the improbable story of Virgil Solis +having had his eyes put out for copying Julio Romano’s obscene designs, +engraved by Marc Antonio, and illustrated with sonnets by the scurrilous +ribald, Pietro Aretine, is utterly devoid of foundation. No such copies +have ever been mentioned by any well-informed writer on art, and there +is not the slightest evidence of Virgil Solis ever having been punished +in any manner by the magistrates of his native city, Nuremberg, where he +died in 1570. + +Wood-cuts with the mark of Melchior Lorich are comparatively scarce. He +was a native of Flensburg in Holstein, and was born in 1527. He obtained +a knowledge of painting and copper-plate engraving at Leipsic, and +afterwards travelled with his master through some of the northern +countries of Europe. He afterwards visited Vienna, and subsequently +entered into the service of the Palsgrave Otho, in whose suite he +visited Holland, France, and Italy. In 1558 he went with the Imperial +ambassador to Constantinople, where he remained three years. His +principal works engraved on wood consist of a series of illustrations of +the manners and customs of the Turks, published about 1570. There is a +very clever cut, a Lady splendidly dressed, with his mark and the date +1551; it is printed on what is called a “broadside,” and underneath is a +copy of verses by Hans Sachs, the celebrated shoemaker and +_meistersänger_ of Nuremberg,[VI-84] entitled “_Eer und Lob einer schön +wolgezierten Frawen_”--The Honour and Praise of a beautiful well-dressed +woman. A large cut of the Deluge, in two sheets, is considered one of +the best of his designing. Among the copper-plates engraved by Melchior +Lorich, a portrait of Albert Durer, and two others, of the Grand Signior +and his favourite Sultana, are among the most scarce. The time of his +death is uncertain, but Bartsch thinks that he was still living in 1583, +as there are wood-cuts with his mark of that date. + + [Footnote VI-84: Hans Sachs, whose poetical works might vie in + quantity with those of Lope Vega, was born at Nuremberg in 1494. + Notwithstanding the immense number of verses which he composed, he + did not trust to his profession of Meistersänger for the means of + living, but continued to carry on his business as a shoemaker till + his death, which happened in 1576. His verses were much admired by + his contemporaries; and between 1570 and 1579, a collection of his + works was published in five volumes folio. Several short pieces by + him were originally printed as “broadsides,” with an ornamental or + illustrative cut at the top.] + +Jost Amman, one of the best designers on wood of the period in which he +lived, was born at Zurich in 1539, but removed to Nuremberg about +1560.[VI-85] His designs are more bold, and display more of the vigour +of the older German masters, than those of his contemporary Virgil +Solis. A series of cuts designed by him, illustrative of professions and +trades, was published in 1564, quarto, with the title “Hans Sachse +eigentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auf Erden--aller Künste und +Handwerker,” &c.--that is, Hans Sachs’s correct Description of all +Ranks, Arts, and Trades; and another edition in duodecimo, with the +descriptions in Latin, appeared in the same year.[VI-86] For the +correctness of the date of those editions I am obliged to rely on +Heineken, as I have never seen a copy of either; the earliest edition +with Hans Sachs’s descriptions that has come under my notice is dated +1574. In a duodecimo edition, 1568, and another of the same size, 1574, +the descriptions, by Hartman Schopper, are in Latin verse.[VI-87] This +is perhaps the most curious and interesting series of cuts, exhibiting +the various ranks and employments of men, that ever was published. Among +the higher orders, constituting what the Germans call the “_Lehre und +Wehr Stande_”--teachers and warriors--are the Pope, Emperor, King, +Princes, Nobles, Priests, and Lawyers; while almost every branch of +labour or of trade then known in Germany, from agriculture to +pin-making, has its representative. There are also not a few which it +would be difficult to reduce to any distinct class, as they are neither +trades nor honest professions. Of those heteroclytes is the “Meretricum +procurator--der Hurenweibel”--or, as Captain Dugald Dalgetty says, “the +captain of the Queans.” + + [Footnote VI-85: Papillon, who appears to have been extremely + wishful to swell his catalogue of wood engravers, describes Jost + Amman of Zurich and Jost Amman of Nuremberg as two different + persons.] + + [Footnote VI-86: Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 244.] + + [Footnote VI-87: The following is the title of the edition of + 1568;--that of 1574 is somewhat different. “ΠΑΝΟΠΛΙΑ omnium + Illiberalium mechanicarum aut sedentariarum artium, continens + quotquot unquam vel a veteribus, aut nostri etiam seculi + celebritate excogitari potuerunt, breviter et dilucide confecta: + carminum liber primus, tum mira varietate rerum vocabulorumque + novo more excogitatorum copia perquam utilis, lectuque jucundus. + Accesserunt etiam venustissimæ Imagines omnes omnium artificum + negociantes ad vivum lectori representantes, antehac nec visæ + nec unquam æditæ: per Hartman Schopperum, Novoforens. Noricum. + --Frankofurti ad Moenum, cum privelegio Cæsario, M.D.LXVIII.”] + +The subject of the following cut, which is of the same size as the +original, is a _Briefmaler_,--literally, a card-painter, the name by +which the German wood engravers were known before they adopted the more +appropriate one of _Formschneider_. It is evident, that, at the time +when the cut was engraved, the two professions were distinct:[VI-88] we +here perceive the Briefmaler employed, not in engraving cuts, but +engaged in colouring certain figures by means of a _stencil_,--that is, +a card or thin plate of metal, out of which the intended figure is cut. +A brush charged with colour being drawn over the pierced card, as is +seen in the cut, the figure is communicated to the paper placed +underneath. The little shallow vessels perceived on the top of the large +box in front are the saucers which contain his colours. Near the window, +immediately to his right, is a pile of sheets which, from the figure of +a man on horseback seen impressed upon them, appear to be already +finished. + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VI-88: The _Briefmalers_, though at that time evidently + distinct from the _Formschneiders_, still continued to _print_ + wood-cuts. On several large wood-cuts with the dates 1553 and 1554 + we find the words, “Gedrukt zu Nürnberg durch Hanns Glaser, + _Brieffmaler_.”] + +The subject of the following cut, from the same work, is a +_Formschneider_, or wood engraver proper. He is apparently at work on a +block which he has before him; but the kind of tool which he employs is +not exactly like those used by English wood engravers of the present +day. It seems to resemble a small long-handled desk-knife; while the +tool of the modern wood engraver has a handle which is rounded at the +top in order to accommodate it to the palm of the hand. It is also never +held vertically, as it appears in the hand of the _Formschneider_. It +is, however, certain, from other woodcuts, which will be subsequently +noticed, that the wood engravers of that period were accustomed to use a +tool with a handle rounded at the top, similar to the graver used in the +present day.[VI-89]--The verses descriptive of the annexed cut are +translated from Hans Sachs. + + [Illustration] + + I am a wood-engraver good, + And all designs on blocks of wood + I with my graver cut so neat, + That when they’re printed on a sheet + Of paper white, you plainly view + The very forms the artist drew: + His drawing, whether coarse or fine, + Is truly copied line for line. + + [Footnote VI-89: See the mark C. S. at page 413.] + +Jost Amman died in 1591, and from the time of his settling at Nuremberg +to that of his decease he seems to have been chiefly employed in making +designs on wood for the booksellers of Nuremberg and Frankfort. He also +furnished designs for goldsmiths; and it is said that he excelled as a +painter on glass. The works which afford the best specimens of his +talents as a designer on wood are those illustrative of the costume of +the period, first published between 1580 and 1585 by S. Feyerabend at +Frankfort. One of those works contains the costumes of men of all ranks, +except the clergy, interspersed with the armorial bearings of the +principal families in Germany; another contains the costume of the +different orders of the priesthood of the church of Rome; and a third, +entitled Gynæceum sive Theatrum Mulierum, is illustrative of the costume +of women of all ranks in Europe. A work on hunting and fowling, edited +by J. A. Lonicerus, and printed in 1582, contains about forty excellent +cuts of his designing. A separate volume, consisting of cuts selected +from the four preceding works, and of a number of other cuts chiefly +illustrative of mythological subjects and of the costume of Turkey, was +published by Feyerabend about 1590. In a subsequent edition of this +work, printed in 1599, it is stated that the collection is published for +the especial benefit of painters and amateurs.[VI-90] Among the numerous +other cuts designed by him, the following may be mentioned: +illustrations for a Bible published at Frankfort 1565; a series of +subjects from Roman History, entitled Icones Livianæ, 1572; and the cuts +in an edition of Reynard the Fox. The works of Jost Amman have proved a +mine for succeeding artists; his figures were frequently copied by wood +engravers in France, Italy and Flanders; and even some modern English +paintings contain evidences of the artist having borrowed something more +than a hint from the figures of Jost Amman. + + [Footnote VI-90: This work is entitled “Kunstbüchlein,” and + consists entirely of cuts without any explanatory letter-press. + The first cut consists of a group of heads, drawn and engraved + with great spirit. On what appears something like a slab of stone + or wood--most unmeaningly and awkwardly introduced--are Jost + Amman’s initials, I.A., towards the top, and lower down the mark, + [[MF]] which is doubtless that of the engraver. This mark, with a + figure of a graver underneath, occurs on several of the other + cuts. The three following marks, with a graver underneath each, + also occur: L. F. C.S. G. H. These facts are sufficient to prove + that Jost Amman was not the engraver of the cuts which he + designed. In the edition of 1599 the cuts are said to have been + _drawn_ by “the late most excellent and celebrated artist, Jost + Amman of Nuremberg.”] + +Jost Amman was undoubtedly one of the best professional designers on +wood of his time; and his style bears considerable resemblance to that +of Hans Burgmair as exemplified in the Triumphs of Maximilian. Many of +his figures are well drawn; but even in the best of his subjects the +attitudes are somewhat affected and generally too violent; and this, +with an overstrained expression, makes his characters appear more like +actors in a theatre than like real personages. In the cuts of the horse +in the “Kunstbüchlein” the action of the animal is frequently +represented with great spirit: but in points of detail the artist is as +frequently incorrect. Some of his very best designs are to be found +among his equestrian subjects. His men generally have a good “seat,” and +his ladies seem to manage their heavy long-tailed steeds with great ease +and grace. + +Several of the views of cities, in Sebastian Munster’s Cosmography-- +first published in folio, at Basle, 1550--contain two marks, one of the +designer, and the other of the person by whom the subject was engraved, +the latter being frequently accompanied by a graver, thus: [H·H]; or +with two gravers of different kinds, thus: [·C·S·] This last mark, which +also occurs in Jost Amman’s Kunstbüchlein, is said to be that of +Christopher Stimmer, a brother of Tobias Stimmer, a Swiss artist, who is +generally described as a designer and engraver on wood. The cuts with +the former mark have been ascribed to Hans Holbein, but they bear not +the least resemblance to his style of design, and they have been +assigned to him solely on account of the letters corresponding with the +initials of his name. Professor Christ’s Dictionary of Monograms, and +Papillon’s Treatise on Wood-engraving, afford numerous instances of +marks being assigned to persons on no better grounds. + +A writer, in discussing the question, “Were Albert Durer, Lucas Cranach, +Hans Burgmair, and other old German artists, the engravers or only the +designers of the cuts which bear their mark?” has been pleased to assert +that the mark of the actual engraver is usually distinguished by the +graver with which it is accompanied. This statement has been adopted and +further disseminated by others; and many persons who have not an +opportunity of judging for themselves, and who receive with implicit +credit whatever they find asserted in a Dictionary of Engravers, suppose +that from the time of Albert Durer, or even earlier, the figure of a +graver generally distinguishes the mark of the _formschneider_ or +engraver on wood. So far, however, from this being a general rule, I am +not aware of any wood-cut which contains a graver in addition to a mark +of an earlier date than those in Munster’s Cosmography, and the practice +which appears to have been first introduced about that time never became +generally prevalent. When the graver is thus introduced there can be no +doubt that it is intended to distinguish the mark of the engraver; but +as at least ninety-nine out of every hundred marks on cuts executed +between 1550 and 1600 are unaccompanied with a graver, it is exceedingly +doubtful in most cases whether the mark be that of the engraver or the +designer. + +The wood-cuts in Munster’s Cosmography are generally poor in design and +coarse in execution. One of the best is that representing an encounter +of two armed men on horseback with the mark [Symbol], which also occurs +in some of the cuts in Gesner’s History of Animals, printed at Zurich, +1551-1558. This cut, as well as several others, is repeated in another +part of the book, in the manner of the Nuremberg Chronicle, where the +same portrait or the same view is used to represent several different +persons or places. The cuts are not precisely the same in every edition +of Munster’s work, which was several times reprinted between 1550 and +1570. Those which are substituted in the later editions are rather more +neatly engraved. + +The present cut is copied from one at page 49 of the first edition, +where it is given as an illustration of a wonderful kind of tree said to +be found in Scotland, and from the fruit of which it was believed that +geese were produced. Munster’s account of this wonderful tree and its +fruit is as follows; “In Scotland are found trees, the fruit of which +appears like a ball of leaves. This fruit, falling at its proper time +into the water below, becomes animated, and turns to a bird which they +call the _tree goose_. This tree also grows in the island of Pomona [the +largest of the Orkneys], not far distant from Scotland towards the +north. As old cosmographers--especially Saxo Grammaticus--mention this +tree, it is not to be considered as a fiction of modern authors. Aeneas +Sylvius also notices this tree as follows: ‘We have heard that there was +a tree formerly in Scotland, which, growing by the margin of a stream, +produced fruit of the shape of ducks; that such fruit, when nearly ripe, +fell, some into the water and some on land. Such as fell on land +decayed, but such as fell into the water quickly became animated, +swimming below, and then flying into the air with feathers and wings. +When in Scotland, having made diligent inquiry concerning this matter of +King James, a square-built man, and very fat,[VI-91] we found that +miracles always kept receding;--this wonderful tree is not found in +Scotland, but in the Orcades.’” + + [Footnote VI-91: It is uncertain if James I. or James II. be + meant. According to Sir Walter Scott, Aeneas Sylvius, afterwards + Pope Pius II, visited Scotland in 1448, when James II.--if + Chalmers be correct, Caledonia, vol. i. p. 831,--was scarcely + nineteen, and when his appearance was not likely to correspond + with the learned prelate’s description,--“hominem quadratum et + multa pinguedine gravem.”] + + [Illustration] + +The bird said to be the produce of this tree is the “Bernacle Goose, +Clakis, or Tree Goose” of Bewick; and the pretended _tree_ from which it +was supposed to be produced was undoubtedly a testaceous insect, +a species of which, frequently found adhering to ships’ bottoms, is +described under the name of “Lepas _Anatifera_” by Linnæus, who thus +commemorates in the trivial name the old opinion respecting its winged +and feathered fruit. William Turner, a native of Morpeth in +Northumberland, one of the earliest writers on British Ornithology, +notices the story of the Bernacle Goose being produced from “something +like a fungus proceeding from old wood lying in the sea.” He says it is +mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis in his description of Ireland, and that +the account of its being generated in this wonderful manner is generally +believed by the people inhabiting the sea-coasts of England, Scotland, +and Ireland. “But,” says Turner, “as it seemed not safe to trust to +popular report, and as, on account of the singularity of the thing, +I could not give entire credit to Giraldus, I, when thinking of the +subject of which I now write, asked a certain clergyman, named +Octavianus, by birth an Irishman, whom I knew to be worthy of credit, if +he thought the account of Giraldus was to be believed. He, swearing by +the Gospel, declared that what Giraldus had written about the generation +of this bird was most true; that he himself had seen and handled the +young unformed birds, and that if I should remain in London a month or +two, he would bring me some of the brood.”[VI-92] In Lobel and Pena’s +Stirpium Adversaria Nova, folio, London, 1570, there is a cut of the +“Britannica Concha Anatifera,” growing on a stalk from a rock, with +figures of ducks or geese in the water below. In the text the popular +belief of a kind of goose being produced from the shell of this insect +is noticed, but the writer declines pronouncing any opinion till he +shall have had an opportunity of visiting Scotland and judging for +himself. Gerard, in his Herbal, London, 1597, has an article on the +_Goose-tree_; and he says that its native soil is a small island, called +the Pile of Fouldres, half a mile from the main land of Lancashire. +Ferrer de Valcebro, a Spanish writer, in a work entitled “El Gobierno +general hallado en las Aves,” with coarse wood-cuts, quarto, printed +about 1680, repeats, with sundry additions, the story of the Bernacle, +or, as he calls it, the Barliata, being produced from a tree; and he +seems rather displeased that his countrymen are not disposed to yield +much faith to such singularities, merely because they do not occur in +their own country. + + [Footnote VI-92: “Avium præcipuarum, quarum apud Plinium et + Aristotelem mentio est, brevis et succincta historia. Per Dn. + Gulielmum Turnerum, artium et medicinæ doctorem,” 8vo. Coloniæ, + M.D.XLIIII, fol. 9 _b_.] + + [Illustration] + +There are two portraits of Erasmus in the first edition of Munster’s +Cosmography, one at page 130, and the other, with the mark [[HRMD]], at +page 407. The latter, as the author especially informs the reader, was +engraved after a portrait by Holbein in the possession of Bonifacius +Amerbach. The present is a reduced copy of a cut at page 361 of Henry +Petri’s edition, 1554. On a stone, near the bottom, towards the left, is +seen a mark[VI-93]--probably that of the artist who made the drawing on +the block--consisting of the same letters as the double mark just +noticed as occurring in the portrait of Erasmus, H.R. M.D. A cut of the +same subject, William Tell about to shoot at the apple on his son’s +head, was given in the first edition, but the design is somewhat +different and the execution more coarse. The cut from which the +preceding is copied may be ranked among the best in the work. + + [Footnote VI-93: In Professor Christ’s Dictionary of Monograms + this mark is ascribed, though doubtfully, to “Manuel Deutsch.” It + is certainly not the mark of Nicholas Emanuel Deutsch of Bern, for + he died several years before 1548, the date on several of the cuts + with the mark H.R. M.D. in Munster’s Cosmography, and which date + evidently relates to the year in which the artist made the + drawing. There can be no doubt that those four letters belong to a + single name, for some of the cuts in which they occur also contain + the mark of an engraver.] + +Though Sebastian Munster, in a letter, probably written in 1538, +addressed to Joachim Vadianus, alludes to an improvement which he and +his printer had made in the mode of printing maps, and to a project for +casting complete words, yet the maps which appear in his Cosmography, +with the outlines, rivers, and mountains engraved on wood, and the names +inserted in type, are certainly not superior to the generality of other +maps executed wholly on wood about the same period.[VI-94] Joachim +Vadianus, to whom Munster writes, and of whose assistance he wished to +avail himself in a projected edition of Ptolemy, was an eminent scholar +of that period, and had published an edition, in 1522, of Pomponius +Mela, with a commentary and notes. The passage in Munster’s letter, +wherein maps are mentioned, is to the following effect: “I would have +sent you an impression of one of the Swiss maps which I have had printed +here, if Froschover had not informed me of his having sent you one from +Zurich. If this mode of printing should succeed tolerably well, and when +we shall have acquired a certain art of _casting whole words_, Henri +Petri, Michael Isengrin, and I have thought of printing Ptolemy’s +Cosmography; not of so great a size as it has hitherto been frequently +printed, but in the form in which your Annotations on Pomponius appear. +In the maps we shall insert only the names of the principal cities, and +give the others alphabetically in some blank space,--for instance, in +the margin or any adjoining space beyond the limits of the map.”[VI-95] +The art of casting whole words, alluded to in this passage, appears to +have been something like an attempt at what has been called “logographic +printing;”[VI-96] though it is not unlikely that those “whole words” +might be the names of countries and places intended to be inserted in a +space cut out of the block on which the map was engraved. By thus +inserting the names, either cast as complete words, or composed of +separate letters, the tedious process of engraving a number of letters +on wood was avoided, and the pressman enabled to print the maps at one +impression. In some of the earlier maps where the names are printed from +types, the letters were not inserted in spaces cut out of the block, but +were printed from a separate form by means of a “re-iteration” or second +impression.[VI-97] In illustration of what Munster says about a certain +art of casting whole words,--“_artem aliquam fundendarum integrarum +dictionum_,”--the following extract is given from Dr. Dibdin’s +Bibliographical Tour, volume iii. page 102, second edition. “What think +you of undoubted proofs of STEREOTYPE PRINTING in the middle of the +sixteenth century? It is even so. What adds to the whimsical puzzle is, +that these pieces of metal, of which the surface is composed of types, +fixed and immovable, are sometimes inserted in wooden blocks, and +introduced as titles, mottoes, or descriptions of the subjects cut upon +the blocks. Professor May [of Augsburg] begged my acceptance of a +specimen or two of the types thus fixed upon plates of the same metal. +They rarely exceeded the height of four or five lines of text, by about +four or five inches in length. I carried away, with his permission, two +proofs (not long ago pulled) of the same block containing this +intermixture of stereotype and wood-block printing.” + + [Footnote VI-94: A map of Russia, engraved wholly on wood, in a + work entitled “Commentari della Moscovia e parimente della + Russia,” &c. translated from the Latin of Sigmund, Baron von + Herberstein, printed at Venice, 4to. 1550, is much superior in + point of appearance to the best in the work of Munster. This map, + which is of folio size, appears to have been constructed by + “Giacomo Gastaldo, Piamontese, Cosmographo in Venetia.” The work + also contains six wood-cuts, which afford some curious specimens + of Russian and Tartar arms and costume.] + + [Footnote VI-95: Philologicarum Epistolarum Centuria una, ex + Bibliotheca M. H. Goldasti, p. 165. 8vo. Francofurti, 1610.] + + [Footnote VI-96: According to this method, certain words, together + with radices and terminations of frequent occurrence, were cast + entire, and not in separate letters, and placed in cases in such + an order that the compositor could as “readily possess himself of + the Type of a word as of the Type of a single letter.” This + method, for which a patent was obtained, is explained in a + pamphlet entitled “An Introduction to Logography: or the Art of + Arranging and Composing for Printing with Words entire, their + Radices and Terminations, instead of single Letters. By Henry + Johnson: London, printed Logographically, and sold by J. Walter, + bookseller, Charing Cross, and J. Sewell, Cornhill, + M.DCC.LXXXIII.” Several works were printed in this manner, and + among others an edition of Anderson’s History of Commerce, 4 vols. + 4to. 1787-1789, by John Walter, at the Logographic Press, + Printing-House-Square, Blackfriars. Logography has long been + abandoned. The following account of this art is given in H. G. + Bohn’s Lecture on Printing, pp. 88, 89. “Something akin to + stereotyping is another mode of printing called Logography, + invented by the late Mr. Walter, of the _Times_, in 1783, and for + which he took out a patent. This means a system of printing from + type cast in words instead of single letters, which it was thought + would save time and corrections when applied to newspapers, but it + was not found to answer. A joke of the time was a supposed order + to the typefounder for some words of frequent occurrence, which + ran thus:--‘Please send me a hundred-weight, sorted, of murder, + fire, dreadful robbery, atrocious outrage, fearful calamity, + alarming explosion, melancholy accident; an assortment of + honourable member, whig, tory, hot, cold, wet, dry; half-a-hundred + weight, made up in pounds, of butter, cheese, beef, mutton, tripe, + mustard, soap, rain, &c.; and a few devils, angels, women, groans, + hisses, &c.’ This method of printing did not succeed: for if + twenty-four letters will give six hundred sextillions of + combinations, no printing office could keep a sufficient + assortment of even popular words.”] + + [Footnote VI-97: See an edition of Ptolemy, printed at Venice by + Jacobus Pentius de Leucho, in 1511, previously noticed at page + 203.] + +As the engraving of the letters in maps executed on wood--or indeed on +any other material--is, when the names of many places are given, by far +the most tedious and costly part of the process, the plan of inserting +them in type by means of holes pierced in the block, as adopted in +Munster’s Cosmography, was certainly a great saving of labour; yet on +comparing the maps in this work with those in Ptolemy’s Cosmography, +printed by Leonard Holl, at Ulm, 1482, and with others engraved in the +early part of the sixteenth century, it is impossible not to perceive +that the art of wood engraving, as applied to the execution of such +works, had undergone no improvement: with the exception of the letters, +the maps in Holl’s Ptolemy--the earliest that were engraved on +wood--are, in point of appearance, equal to those in the work of +Munster, published about eighty years later. Considering that the +earliest printed maps--those in an edition of Ptolemy, printed by Arnold +Bukinck, at Rome, 1478[VI-98]--are from copper-plates, it seems rather +surprising that, until about 1570, no further attempt should have been +made to apply the art of engraving on copper to this purpose. In the +latter year a collection of maps, engraved on copper,[VI-99] was +published at Antwerp under the superintendence of Abraham Ortelius; and +so great was their excellence when compared with former maps executed on +wood, that the business of map engraving was within a few years +transferred almost exclusively to engravers on copper. In 1572 a map +engraved on copper was printed in England, in the second edition of +Archbishop Parker’s Bible. It is of folio size, and the country +represented is the Holy Land. Within an ornamented tablet is the +following inscription: “Graven bi Humfray Cole, goldsmith, an English +man born in y^e north, and pertayning to y^e mint in the Tower. 1572.” +In Walpole’s Catalogue of Engravers the portraits engraved on copper of +Queen Elizabeth, the Earl of Leicester, and Lord Burleigh, which appear +in the first edition of Archbishop Parker’s Bible, 1568,[VI-100] are +ascribed to Humphrey Cole, apparently on no better ground than that his +name appears as the engraver of the map, which is given in the second. +If Cole were really the engraver of those portraits, he was certainly +entitled to a more favourable notice[VI-101] than he receives from the +fastidious compiler of the “Catalogue of Engravers who have been born or +resided in England;” for, considering _when_ and _where_ they were +executed, the engraver is entitled to rank at least as high as George +Vertue. In fact, the portrait of Leicester, considered merely as a +specimen of engraving, without regard to the time and place of its +execution, will bear a comparison with more than one of the portraits +engraved by Vertue upwards of a hundred and fifty years later. + + [Footnote VI-98: Some account of this work is given at page 200.] + + [Footnote VI-99: At page 204 it is stated, on the authority of + Breitkopf, that those maps were engraved by Ægidius Diest. + Ortelius himself says in the preface that they were engraved by + “Francis Hogenberg, Ferdinand and Ambrose Arsens, and others.”] + + [Footnote VI-100: The portrait of Queen Elizabeth appears on the + title; the Earl of Leicester’s is prefixed to the Book of Joshua; + and Lord Burleigh’s is given, with a large initial B, at the + beginning of the first psalm. In the second edition, 1572, the + portrait of Lord Burleigh is omitted, and the impressions of the + other two are much inferior to those in the first edition in + consequence of the plates being worn. Many of the cuts in the + second edition are quite different from those in the first, and + generally inferior to the cuts for which they are substituted.] + + [Footnote VI-101: “Humphrey Cole, as he says himself, was born in + the North of England, and _pertayned to the mint in the Tower_, + 1572. I suppose he was one of the engravers that _pertayned_ to + Archbishop Parker, for this edition was called Matthew Parker’s + Bible. I hope the flattery of the favourites was the incense of + the engraver!” Catalogue of Engravers, p. 16. Edit. 1794.--Walpole + does not appear to have paid the least attention to the engraver’s + merits--supposing, as he does, the portraits to have been executed + by him:--he sneers at him because he had engraved certain + portraits for a _Bible_, and because he was supposed to have been + patronised by a _bishop_. A more liberal writer on art would have + praised Parker, although he were an _archbishop_, for his + patronage of a native engraver.] + +The advantages of copper-plate engraving for the purpose of executing +maps, as exemplified in the work of Ortelius, appear to have been +immediately appreciated in England, and this country is one of the first +that can boast of a collection of provincial or county maps engraved on +copper. A series of maps of all the counties of England and Wales, and +of the adjacent islands, were engraved, under the superintendence of +Christopher Saxton, between 1573 and 1579, and published at London, in a +folio volume, in the latter year. Though the greater number of those +maps were the work of Flemish engravers, eight, at least, were engraved +by two Englishmen, Augustine Ryther and Nicholas Reynolds.[VI-102] They +appear to have been all drawn by Christopher Saxton, who lived at +Tingley, near Leeds. Walpole says, that “he was servant to Thomas +Sekeford, Esq. Master of the Court of Wards,” the gentleman at whose +expense they were engraved. He also states that many of them were +engraved by Saxton himself; but this I consider to be extremely +doubtful. In his account of early English copper-plate engravers, +Walpole is frequently incorrect: he mentions Humphrey Lhuyd--an author +who wrote a short description of Britain, printed at Cologne in +1572[VI-103]--as the _engraver_ of the map of England in the collection +of Ortelius; and he includes Dr. William Cuningham, a physician of +Norwich, in his catalogue of engravers, without the slightest reason +beyond the mere fact, that a book entitled “The Cosmographical Glasse,” +written by the Doctor, and printed in 1559, contains several +_wood-cuts_. He might, with equal justice, have placed Archbishop Parker +in his catalogue, and asserted that some of the _plates_ in the Bible +were “engraved by his own hand.” + + [Footnote VI-102: “Augustinus Ryther, _Anglus_,” occurs on the + maps of Cumberland and Westmorland, Gloucester, and Yorkshire. + Ryther afterwards kept a bookseller’s shop in Leadenhall-street. + He engraved some maps and charts, which were published about 1588. + On the map of the county of Hertford, Reynolds’s name occurs thus: + “Nicholas Reynoldus, Londinensis, sculpsit.” Several of those maps + were engraved by Remigius Hogenberg, one of the engravers who are + said to have been employed by Archbishop Parker in his palace at + Lambeth.] + + [Footnote VI-103: This little work, entitled “Commentarioli + Britannicæ Descriptionis Fragmentum,” was sent by the author to + Ortelius, and the prefatory address is dated Denbigh, in North + Wales, 30th August 1568. A translation of it, under the title of a + “Breviary of Britain,” was printed at London in 1573.--Lhuyd had + only furnished Ortelius with materials for the construction of the + map of England.] + +In connexion with the preceding account of the earliest maps executed in +England on copper, it perhaps may not be unnecessary to briefly notice +here the introduction of copper-plate engraving into this country. +According to Herbert, in his edition of Ames’s Typographical +Antiquities, the frontispiece of a small work entitled “Galenus de +Temperamentis,” printed at Cambridge, 1521, is the earliest specimen of +copper-plate engraving that is to be found in any book printed in +England. The art, however, supposing that the plate was really engraved +and printed in this country, appears to have received no encouragement +on its first introduction, for after this first essay it seems to have +lain dormant for nearly twenty years. The next earliest specimens appear +in the first edition of a work usually called “Raynalde’s Birth of +Mankind,” printed at London in 1540.[VI-104] This work, which is a +treatise on the obstetric art, contains, when perfect, three plates, +illustrative of the subject. Not having had an opportunity of seeing any +one of these three plates nor the frontispiece to “Galenus de +Temperamentis,” I am obliged to trust to Herbert for the fact of their +being engraved on copper. In the third volume of his edition of Ames, +page 1411, there is a fac-simile of the frontispiece to the Cambridge +book; and in the Preliminary Disquisition on Early Engraving and +Ornamental Printing, prefixed to Dr. Dibdin’s edition of the +Typographical Antiquities, will be found a fac-simile, engraved on wood, +of one of the plates in Raynalde’s Birth of Mankind. In an edition of +the latter work, printed in 1565, the “byrthe figures” are not engraved +on copper, but on wood. + + [Footnote VI-104: The name of “Thomas Raynalde, Physition,” is not + to be found in the edition of 1540. The title of the work is, “The + byrth of Mankynd, newly translated out of Latin into Englysshe. In + the which is entreated of all suche thynges the which chaunce to + women in theyr labor,” &c. At folio vi. there is an address from + Richard Jonas, “Unto the most gracious, and in all goodnesse most + excellent vertuous Lady Quene Katheryne, wyfe and most derely + belovyd spouse unto the moste myghty sapient Christen prynce, + Kynge Henry the VIII.”--This “most excellent vertuous lady” was + _Catherine Howard_. The imprint at the end of the work is as + follows: “Imprynted at London, by T. R, Anno Domini, M.CCCCC.XL.” + Raynalde’s name first appears in the second edition, 1545. Between + 1540 and 1600 there were at least eight editions of this work + printed in London.] + +A work printed in London by John Hereford, 1545, contains several +unquestionable specimens of copper-plate engraving. It is of folio size, +and the title is as follows: “Compendiosa totius Anatomiæ delineatio ære +exarata, per Thomam Geminum.” The ornamental title-page, with the arms +of Henry VIII. towards the centre, is engraved on copper, and several +anatomical subjects are executed in the same manner. Gemini, who is +believed to have been the engraver of those plates, was not a native of +this country.[VI-105] In a dedication to Henry VIII, he says that in his +work he had followed Andrew Vesalius of Brussels; and he further +mentions that in the year before he had received orders from the King to +have the plates printed off [_excudendas_]. A second edition, dedicated +to Edward VI, appeared in 1553; and a third, dedicated to Queen +Elizabeth, in 1559.[VI-106] In the last edition the Royal Arms on the +title-page are effaced, and the portrait of Queen Elizabeth engraved in +their stead. Traces of the former subject are, however, still visible, +and the motto, “Dieu et mon Droit,” has been allowed to remain. One of +the engravings in this work affords a curious instance of the original +plate of copper having been either mended or enlarged by joining another +piece to it. Even in the first edition, the zigzag line where the two +pieces are joined, and the forms of the little _cramps_ which hold them +together, are visible, and in the last they are distinctly apparent. + + [Footnote VI-105: At the end of the dedication to Henry VIII. he + signs himself “Thomas Geminus, Lysiensis.”] + + [Footnote VI-106: In the edition of 1559 there is a large + wood-cut--“Interiorum corporis humani partium viva + delineatio”--with the mark R. S. and a graver underneath. In this + cut the interior parts of the body are impressed on separate + slips, which are pasted, by one edge, at the side of the figure. + Those slips on being raised show the different parts as they occur + on dissection.] + +The earliest portrait engraved on copper, printed singly, in this +country, and not as an illustration of a book, is that of Archbishop +Parker engraved by Remigius Hogenberg. It is a small print four and a +half inches high by three and a half wide. At the corners are the arms +of Canterbury, impaled with those of Parker; the archbishop’s arms +separately; a plain shield, with a cross and the letters [[IX]]; and the +arms of Archbishop Cranmer. The portrait is engraved in an oval, round +the border of which is the following inscription: “Mūdus transit, et +cupiscētia ejus. Anno Domini 1572, ætatis suæ Anno 69. Die mensis +Augusti sexto.” In an impression, now before me, from the original +plate, the date and the archbishop’s age are altered to 1573 and 70, but +the marks of the ciphers erased are quite perceptible. The portrait of +the archbishop is a half-length; he is seated at a table, on which are a +bell, a small coffer, and what appears to be a stamp. A Bible is lying +open before him, and on one of the pages is inscribed in very small +letters the following passage from the VI. chapter of Micah, verse 8: +“Indicabo tibi, o homo, quid sit bonum, et quid Deus requirat a te, +utique facere judicium, et diligere misericordiam, et solicitum ambulare +cum Deo tuo.” The engraver’s name, “_R. Berg f._,” appears at the bottom +of the print to the right: a cross line from the R to the B indicates +the abbreviation of the surname, which, written at length, was +_Hogenberg_. Caulfield, speaking of this engraving in his +Calcographiana, page 4, 1814, says,--“The only impression supposed to be +extant is in the library at Lambeth Palace; but within the last two +years, Mr. Woodburn, of St. Martin’s Lane, purchased a magnificent +collection of portraits, among which was a very fine one of Parker.” + +The number of books, containing copper-plate engravings, published in +England between 1559 and 1600, is extremely limited; and the following +list will perhaps be found to contain one or two more than have been +mentioned by preceding writers: 1. Pena and Lobel’s Stirpium Adversaria +Nova, folio, 1570,--ornamented title-page, with the arms of England at +the top, and a small map towards the bottom:--the ornaments surrounding +the map are very beautifully engraved. 2. Archbishop Parker’s Bible, +1568-1572, with the portraits, previously noticed at page 419. +3. Saxton’s Maps, with the portrait of Queen Elizabeth on the title, +1579. 4. Broughton’s Concent of Scripture, 1591,--engraved title, and +four other plates. 5. Translation of Ariosto by Sir John Harrington, +1591,--engraved title-page, containing portraits of the author and +translator, and forty-six other plates. 6. R. Haydock’s Translation of +Lomazzo’s Treatise on Painting and Architecture, Oxford, 1598,--engraved +title-page, containing portraits of Lomazzo and Haydock, and several +very indifferent plates, chiefly of architecture and figures in outline. + +Walpole mentions a plate of the arms of Sir Christopher Hatton on the +title-page of the second part of Wagenar’s Mariner’s Mirrour, printed in +1588, and the plates in a work entitled “A True Report of the +Newfoundland of Virginia,” all engraved by Theodore de Bry. The first of +these works I have not been able to obtain a sight of;[VI-107] and the +second cannot properly be included in a list of works containing +copper-plates published in England previous to 1600;[VI-108] for though +it appeared in 1591, it was printed at Frankfort. In the reigns of James +and Charles I, copper-plate engraving was warmly patronised in England, +and several foreign engravers, as in the reign of Elizabeth, were +induced to take up their abode in this country. In the first edition of +Chambers’ Cyclopedia, it is stated that the art of copper-plate +engraving was brought to this country from Antwerp by Speed the +historian,--an error which is pointed out by Walpole: the writer it +seems had not been aware of any earlier copper-plates printed in England +than Speed’s maps, which were chiefly executed by Flemish engravers. + + [Footnote VI-107: In Herbert’s edition of the Typographical + Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 1681, both parts of this work are said + to have engraved titles, and the arms of Sir C. Hatton are said to + occur at the back of the title to the first part. The work + contains twenty-two maps and charts, probably copied from the + original Dutch edition of Wagenar, who was a native of Enchuysen. + There is no printer’s name in the English edition.] + + [Footnote VI-108: Walpole erroneously states that “Broughton’s + book was not printed till 1600,” and he says that “the _cuts_ were + probably engraved by an English artist named William Rogers.” The + mark [[WR]] is to be found on some of the plates of the edition of + 1600, but it is to be observed that they are not the same as those + in the edition of 1591. The _first_ edition of the work was + printed in 1588.] + + [Illustration: + Ἡ ΜΕΓΑΛΗ ΕΥΔΑΙΜΟΝΙΑ ΟΥΔΕΝΙ ΦΘΟΝΕΙΝ / ÆTATIS 28] + +Dr. William Cuningham, whom Walpole describes as an engraver, was a +physician practising at Norwich; and his book, entitled The +Cosmographical Glasse,[VI-109] some of the _plates_ of which are said to +have been “engraved by the doctor’s own hand,” was printed at London by +John Day in 1559. It contains no _plates_, properly speaking, for the +engravings are all from wood-blocks. At the foot of the ornamental +title-page, and in a large bird’s-eye view of Norwich, is the mark I. B. +F, which, from something like a tool for engraving, between the B. and F +in the original, is most likely that of the engraver. The principal cut +is a portrait of the author, a fac-simile of which is given in the +opposite page. + + [Footnote VI-109: The following is the title of this work: “The + Cosmographical Glasse, conteinyng the pleasant Principles of + Cosmographie, Geographie, Hydrographie or Navigation. Compiled by + William Cuningham, Doctor in Physicke. Excussum Londini in + officina Joan. Daii, Anno 1559. + + In this Glasse, if you will beholde + The starry skie and yearth so wide, + The seas also, with the windes so colde, + Yea, and thy selfe all these to guide: + What this Type mean first learne a right, + So shall the gayne thy travaill quight.” + + The “_Type_” mentioned in these verses relates to the various + allegorical and other figures in the engraved title-page.] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration: A] + +It is much more likely that some of those cuts were engraved by the +printer of the book, John Day, than by the author, Dr. Cuningham; for +the initials I. D. appear on a cut at the end of the book,--a skeleton +extended on a tomb, with a tree growing out of it--and also on two or +three of the large ornamental letters. John Day, in a book printed by +him in 1567, says that the Saxon characters used in it were _cut_ by +himself. The cut on page 425 and the three following are specimens of +some of the large ornamental letters which occur in the Cosmographical +Glasse. The first, the letter D, inclosing the arms of Lord Robert +Dudley, afterwards Earl of Leicester, to whom the work is dedicated. +The second, the letter A, Silenus on an ass, accompanied by satyrs; the +mark, a C with a small I within the curve, is perceived near the bottom, +to the right.[VI-110] The third, the letter I, with a military commander +taking the angles between three churches; and the mark I. D. at the +bottom to the left. The fourth, the letter T, a ship with a naked figure +as pilot, preceded by Neptune on a dolphin. A mark, H, is perceived in +the right-hand corner, at the bottom. + + [Footnote VI-110: This mark, which occurs in two other cuts of + large letters in the Cosmographical Glasse, is also to be found on + a large ornamented letter in Robert Record’s Castle of Knowledge, + folio, printed at London, by Reginald Wolfe, 1556. This work, like + that of Cuningham, is a treatise on Geography. A mark, I. C., with + a graver between the letters, occurs frequently in cuts which + ornament the margins of a work entitled “A Book of Christian + Prayers,” &c. 4to. first printed by John Day in 1569. It is + usually called “Queen Elizabeth’s Prayer Book.” In Herbert’s + edition of the Typographical Antiquities it is erroneously stated + that such of the cuts as relate to the History of Christ are + “after Albert Durer and his wife, _Agnes Frey_.” They are _not_ + copied from any cuts designed by Albert Durer, and his wife most + certainly neither drew nor engraved on wood. It is also + incorrectly stated “that a Dance of Death, in the same work, is + after Hans Holbein.”--The cuts in this work are very unequal in + point of execution. The best are those of the Senses--without any + mark--Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smelling, and Touch. A mark not + unlike that in the letter A, from Cuningham’s Cosmographical + Glass, occurs on several of the smaller cuts.] + + [Illustration: I] + + [Illustration: T] + +Of all the books printed in England in the reigns of Queen Mary and +Queen Elizabeth, those from the press of John Day generally contain the +best executed wood-cuts; and even though he might not be the engraver of +the cuts which contain his initials, yet it cannot be doubted that he +possessed a much better taste in such matters than any other English +printer of his age. Some of the large ornamental letters in works +printed by him are much superior to anything of the kind that had +previously appeared in England. In the “Booke of Christian Prayers” +printed by John Daye 1569, which goes by the name of “Queen Elizabeth’s +Prayer Book,” there is a portrait of her Majesty, kneeling upon a superb +cushion, with elevated hands, in prayer, of which the following is a +fac-simile. The book is decorated with wood-cut borders of considerable +spirit and beauty, representing, among other things, some of the +subjects of Holbein’s Dance of Death. + + [Illustration] + +Our next cut is a copy, slightly reduced, of a large letter, C, at the +commencement of the dedication of Fox’s Acts and Monuments to Queen +Elizabeth, in the edition printed by Day in 1576. The Queen, appearing +more juvenile than she is usually represented, is seen seated on a +throne, attended by three persons, supposed to be intended for one of +her council, John Day, the printer, and John Fox, the author of the +work. A cherub, with an immense cornucopia over his shoulder, holds a +rose and a lily in one hand, and with the other supports the arms of +England; while underneath a representation of the Pope is introduced, +holding in his hands the broken keys.[VI-111] + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VI-111: This work contains a considerable number of + wood-cuts, all undoubtedly designed and engraved in England. Two + of the best are Henry VIII, attended by his council, giving his + sanction to the publication of the Bible in English, with the mark + I. F.; and a view of Windsor Castle, with the mark M. D. Both + these cuts are in the second volume of the edition of 1576.] + +Though it be beyond the plan of the present work to trace the progress +of the various kinds of large ornamental letters engraved on wood that +have been from time to time introduced by the principal German, French, +Italian, and English printers from the invention of typography, it may +not be unnecessary to say a few words on this subject. In the earliest +works of the German printers, as the type was a close imitation of the +handwriting of the period, as used in Bibles and Missals, the large +ornamental letters occasionally introduced are distinguished by their +flourishes and grotesque work extending on the margin both above and +below the body of the letter, as is frequently seen in illumined +manuscripts of the period. Large initial letters of this kind are not +unfrequent in early French works; but are comparatively scarce in books +printed in England, where a letter, engraved on a square block, +appearing, with the ornaments, white on a black ground, was adopted +shortly after the introduction of printing by Caxton.[VI-112] As the +capitals of the Roman character used in Italy did not admit of the +flourishes which accorded so well with the curves of Gothic or German +capitals, the printers of that country, towards the end of the fifteenth +century, began to introduce flowers, figures of men, birds, and +quadrupeds, as back-grounds to their large initial letters. Between 1520 +and 1530 this mode of ornamenting their large Roman letters was in great +repute with the printers of Basle, Geneva, and Zurich, and to this taste +we owe the small alphabet of the Dance of Death. Subsequently the +Italian wood engravers, employed by the printers, carried this style of +ornament a step further by introducing landscapes as well as figures to +form a back-ground to the letter. The following specimen of letter thus +ornamented is from a work printed by Giolito at Venice about 1550. The +large capitals, in Cuningham’s Cosmographical Glasse, were doubtless +suggested by Italian letters in the same taste. + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VI-112: Dr. Dibdin, in his Preliminary Disquisition on + Early Engraving and Ornamental Printing, in his edition of Ames + and Herbert’s Typographical Antiquities, has given several curious + specimens of large ornamented capitals.] + +The borders which appear in the title-pages of Italian books of this +period, and more especially in those printed at Venice, frequently +display considerable excellence both in design and execution. They are +generally much lighter and more varied in design than the borders in +German books; and cross-hatching, which is seldom seen in Italian +wood-cuts executed previous to 1520, is so frequently introduced that it +would seem that this mode of producing a certain effect--which might +often have been accomplished by simpler means--was then considered as a +proof of the engraver’s talent. Some of the Italian printers’ marks and +devices, on the title-page, or at the end of a work, are drawn and +engraved with great spirit. The following devices occur in a folio +edition of Dante--known to bibliographers as the _cat edition_-- +published by the brothers Sessa, at Venice, in 1578. The smaller +cut--with ornamental work on each side, occupying nearly the width +of a page, but omitted in the copy--is several times repeated; the +larger--where Grimalkin “sits like an eastern monarch upon his +throne”[VI-113]--forms the tail-piece at the end of the volume. + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VI-113: Bibliographical Decameron, vol. i. p. 289.] + + [Illustration: + DISSIMILIVM IN / FIDA SOTIETAS] + +In the latter part of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth +century, an Italian artist named Andrea Andreani executed a considerable +number of chiaro-scuros on wood. He was born at Mantua in 1540, and one +of his earliest and largest works in this style is dated 1586. The +subject is the History of Abraham, from the pavement of the cathedral of +Siena;[VI-114] the first compartment consists of twelve pieces, printed +in three colours, forming, when joined together, a large composition +about five feet six inches wide by about two feet six inches high. The +second compartment, Moses breaking the Tables of the Law, is not +properly a chiaro-scuro, but a large wood-cut, consisting of several +pieces, printed in ink in the usual manner. It is about six feet wide by +about four feet high. Another large work of Andreani’s is the Triumphs +of Julius Cæsar, from the designs of Andrea Mantegna, dedicated to +Vincentius Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, and published in a folio volume in +1598. Andreani having obtained the blocks of several of the +chiaro-scuros executed by Ugo da Carpi, Antonio da Trente, Nicholas da +Vincenza, and others, reprinted them with the addition of his own mark; +and from this circumstance he frequently obtains the credit of having +engraved many pieces which were really executed by his predecessors and +superiors in the art. The chiaro-scuros which he reprinted are generally +superior to those pieces which were engraved by himself from original +designs, and in the execution of which he had to depend on his own +judgment and taste. He continued to engrave in this manner till he was +upwards of seventy years old, for there are one or two subjects by him +dated 1612. Bartsch says that he died in 1623, but observes that some +writers place his death in 1626. + + [Footnote VI-114: “The pavement of this cathedral is the work of a + succession of artists from Duccio down to Meccarino, who have + produced the effect of the richest mosaic, merely by inserting + grey marble into white, and hatching both with black mastic. The + grandest composition is the History of Abraham, a figure which is + unfortunately multiplied in the same compartments; but, when + grasping the knife, the patriarch is truly sublime. These works + lay exposed at least for a hundred years to the general tread, and + have been rather improved than defaced by the attrition; for one + female figure which had never been trodden looks harsher than the + rest. Those of the choir were opportunely covered two centuries + ago.”--Forsyth’s Italy, p. 102, 2nd Edit.] + +Henry Goltzius, a painter and engraver, born in 1558, near Venloo, in +Flanders, executed several chiaro-scuros, chiefly from his own designs. +The most of them are from three blocks; and among the best executed are +Hercules and Cacus, and four separate pieces representing the four +elements. Like most of the other productions of this artist, whether +paintings or copper-plate engravings, his chiaro-scuros are designed +with great spirit, though the action of the figures is frequently +extravagant. He imitated Michael Angelo, but not with success; he too +frequently mistakes violence of action for the expression of +intellectual grandeur, and displays the “contortions of the pythoness +without her inspiration.” The cut in the opposite page is a reduced copy +of the subject intended to represent the element of water. In the +original the impression is from four blocks; one with the outlines and +shaded parts black, as in the copy here given; the other three +communicating different tints of sepia. Henry Goltzius died in 1617. His +mark, an H combined with a G, is seen at the bottom of the cut. + + [Illustration] + +The cuts contained in a work on ancient and modern costume, printed at +Venice in 1590,[VI-115] are frequently described as having been drawn by +Titian and engraved by his _brother_, Cesare Vecellio. That this person +might have been a relation of Titian, whose family name was Vecelli, is +not unlikely, but it is highly improbable that he was his brother; for +Titian died in 1576, aged ninety-nine, and the dedication of the work to +Pietro Montalbano by Cesare Vecellio is dated October, 1589. In the +title it is stated that the costumes in question were “done”-- _fatti_-- +by Vecellio himself; but whether this word relates to the drawing or the +engraving, or to both, it would be exceedingly difficult to ascertain. +Those cuts have the appearance of having been drawn on the block with +pen-and-ink; and some of the best display so much “character” that they +look like portraits of individuals freely sketched by the hand of a +master. It was first stated in an edition of the work, printed in 1664, +that the cuts were drawn by Titian and engraved by Cesare Vecellio, his +brother. The improbable assertion was merely a bookseller’s trick to +attract purchasers. It has also been frequently asserted, that the cuts +in Vesalius’s Anatomy, printed at Basle in 1548, were drawn by Titian. +The Abbé Morelli has, however, shown that they were not drawn by him, +but by John Calcar, a Flemish painter, who had been one of his pupils. + + [Footnote VI-115: The following is the title of this work, which + is a large octavo: “De gli Habiti Antichi et Moderni di diverse + Parti del Mondo Libri due, fatti da Caesare Vecellio, & con + Discorsi da lui dichiriati. In Venetia, MD.XC.” This work is thus + mentioned in the notes to Rogers’s Italy: “Among the Habiti + Antichi, in that admirable book of wood-cuts ascribed to Titian, + (A. D. 1590,) there is one entitled Sposa Venetiana à Castello. It + was taken from an old painting in the Scuola di S. Giovanni + Evangelista, and by the writer is believed to represent one of the + brides here described.”--Italy, p. 257, note. Edit. 1830.] + +Papillon, who in his desire to dignify his art claims almost every +eminent painter as a wood engraver, pretends that Titian executed +several large cuts from his own designs. He says that Titian began to +engrave on wood when he was twenty-five years old [in 1502], and he +mentions a cut of the Virgin and the infant Christ, with other +figures,--probably intended to represent the marriage of St. +Catherine,--as one of the earliest specimens of his talents as a wood +engraver. Papillon also informs us that Titian engraved a large cut of +the Triumph of Christ, or of Faith, in 1508; and in another part of his +work he describes several others as engraved by Titian himself. + +Several of the cuts after designs by Titian, but which were certainly +not of his engraving, are of large size, and executed in a free, coarse +manner, as if they were rather intended to paste against a wall than to +be inserted in a portfolio. One of the largest is the destruction of +Pharaoh and his host; it consists of several pieces, which, when united, +form a complete subject about four and a half feet wide by about three +feet high. A dog, which the painter has introduced in a peculiar +attitude,[VI-116] gives to the whole the air of burlesque. The person by +whom it was engraved styles himself “depintore,” a word perhaps intended +to imply that he was a brother of the guild, or society of +painter-stainers, stencillers, and wood engravers.[VI-117] His name, +with the date, is engraved thus at the bottom of the cut, which is one +of those which Papillon says were executed by Titian himself: “In +Venetia p. dominico dalle greche depintore venetiano. M.DXLIX.” + + [Footnote VI-116: A dog performing the same act occurs as a + tail-piece in the first edition of Bewick’s Quadrupeds, 1790, page + 310.] + + [Footnote VI-117: I have seen a large head, which at first sight + might be mistaken for an impression from a wood-block, executed by + means of a stencil after a design of Correggio. It was + unquestionably old, and was about three feet high by two and a + half wide.] + +The following is a reduced copy of a cut designed by Titian, and said to +have been intended by him to ridicule those painters who, not being able +to succeed in colouring, recommended ancient sculptures, on account of +the correctness of the forms, as most deserving of a painter’s diligent +study. The subject is a caricature of the Laocoon; and the professed +admirers of antiquity, who, above all, insisted on correct drawing, and +thought slightly of colouring, are represented by the old ape wanting a +tail, seen in the distance, attended by three of her young ones. The +original cut is fifteen inches and seven-eighths wide by ten inches and +a half high. It is coarsely engraved, and contains neither name nor +date.[VI-118] There are several chiaro-scuros after designs by Titian, +engraved by Boldrini, Andreani, and others. + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VI-118: The following is Papillon’s description of this + cut: “Une Estampe que je possede, et que l’on regarde assez + indifférement, est le Laocoon gravé en bois par le Titien, + représenté sous la figure d’un singe et ses deux petits entourés + de serpens. Il fit ce morceau pour railler les Peintres de son + temps qui étudoient cette figure et les Statues antiques; et il + prétendit démontrer par cette Estampe qu’ils ressembloient aux + singes, lesquels ne font qu’imiter ce qu’ils voyent, sans rien + inventer d’eux mêmes.”--Traité de la Gravure en Bois, tom. + i. p. 160.] + +Wood engraving in Germany at the close of the sixteenth century appears +to have greatly declined; the old race of artists who furnished designs +for the wood engraver had become extinct, and their places were not +supplied by others. The more expensive works were now illustrated with +copper-plates; and the wood-cuts which appeared in the commoner kinds of +books were in general very indifferent both in design and execution. As +Germany was the country in which wood engraving was first encouraged and +fostered, so was it also the country in which the art earliest declined +and subsequently became most thoroughly neglected. In France and Italy, +wood engraving had also by this time experienced a considerable decline, +but not to such an extent as in Germany. + +Between 1590 and 1610, when the art was rapidly declining in other +countries, the wood-cuts which are to be met with in English books are +generally better executed than at any preceding period. Engraved +title-pages were then frequent, and several of them are executed with +considerable skill. A large wood-cut, with the date 1607, in particular +displays great merit both in design and engraving. The following is a +reduced copy of an impression preserved in the Print Room of the British +Museum.[VI-119] The original, exclusive of the verses, and the ornaments +at each side of them, is about fourteen inches high by about fourteen +and a half wide. + + [Footnote VI-119: There is also in the Print Room of the British + Museum a curious wood-cut, of large size, engraved on several + blocks, apparently of the time of James I. The title at the top, + in Latin and English, is as follows: “HUMANÆ VITÆ IMAGO OLIM AB + APELLE IN TABULA QUADAM DEPICTA. The image of the lyfe of man that + was painted in a table by Apelles.” The subject, however, is not + so much a general representation of the life of man in its several + stages, as an allegorical representation of the evils attendant on + sensual indulgence. Several of the figures are designed with great + spirit, and the explanations underneath the principal are engraved + on the same block, in Latin and English. It seems likely that this + cut was engraved for the purpose of being pasted or hung against a + wall. It is about five feet four inches wide by about three feet + high. Some of the figures are engraved with considerable spirit, + but the groups want that well-contrasted light and shade which + give such effect to the large cuts of Durer and Burgmair. It is + likely that large cuts of this kind were intended to be pasted on + the walls of rooms, to serve at once for instruction and ornament, + like “King Charles’s Golden Rules and the Royal Game of Goose” in + later times.--_To this note Mr. Jackson adds in his annotated + copy_: “The drawing appears to have been executed by an artist who + was rather partial to cross-hatching, and the engraving by one who + knew how to render every line before him with a degree of + sharpness and delicacy by no means common at that period.”] + + [Illustration: + + The good / Howſ-holder + + The good Howſ-holder, that his Howſe may hold, + Firſt builds it on the Rock, not on the Sand. + Then, with a warie head and charie hand + Pro[v]ides (in tyme) for Hunger and for Cold: + Not daintie Fare and Furniture of Gold, + But handſom-holſom (as with Health dooth ſtand). + Not for the Rich that can as much command + But the poor Stranger, th’Orfan & the Old. + + PRINTED AT LONDON IN THE BLACKE FRIERS. 1607] + +The following are the six concluding lines of the sonnet underneath the +cut: in the original they are printed in smaller type than the others, +and in a double column. In the copy they are merely indicated to show +the relative size of the type to that of the first eight lines. + + And (thus) to these to stand still open wide, + He neither wrings with Wrongs nor racks his Rents; + But saves the charge of wanton Waste & Pride: + For, Thrift’s right Fuel of Magnificence: + As Protean Fashions of new Prodigalitie + Have quight worn out all ancient Hospitalitie. + +The flowers at each side of the verses are, in the original, very +coarsely executed. They are merely printers’ ornaments, engraved on +separate pieces of wood, and not on the same block as the cut above +them. + +From one or two worm-holes, which have been in the block when it was +printed in 1607, and which are apparent in the impression, it seems +probable that this cut had been engraved some time previous to the date +which appears at the bottom. As it is, however, very likely that the +block was of pear-tree, which is extremely liable to the attacks of the +worm, it is possible that it might have been injured in this manner +within a year or two of its being finished. The bold, _cleanly cut_ +lines of the original are very much like the work of Christopher Jegher, +one of the best wood engravers of that period. He resided at Antwerp, +but he is said to have been born in Germany in 1578. His best works are +several large cuts which he engraved for Rubens from drawings made on +the block by Rubens himself, who appears to have originally published +them on his own account. From the manner in which the great painter’s +name is introduced at the bottom of each--“_P. P. Rub. delin. & +excud._”--it would appear that they were both designed and printed by +him. Impressions of those cuts sometimes occur with a tint printed over +them, in sepia, from a second block, in the manner of chiaro-scuros. We +here give a reduced copy of one of the largest.[VI-120] + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VI-120: The original cut is twenty-three inches and a + half wide by eighteen inches high.] + +As profit could not have been Rubens’s motive for having these cuts +engraved, it is not unlikely that his object was to compare his designs +when executed in this manner with those of the older German +masters--Durer, Burgmair, and Cranach. The best, however, differ +considerably in the manner of their execution from the best old German +wood-cuts, for the lines are too uniform and display too much of art; in +looking at those which consist chiefly of figures, attention is first +called to the _means_ by which an effect is produced, rather than to the +effect itself in connexion with the entire subject. This objection +applies most forcibly to the cut which represents the Virgin crowned by +the Almighty and Jesus Christ. The design displays much of Rubens’s +grandeur, with not less of his extravagance in the attitude of the +figures; but he seems to have studied less the effect of the whole, than +to have endeavoured to express certain parts by a peculiar arrangement +of lines und hatchings. The subject does not produce that feeling, which +it is the great object of art to excite, in consequence of the attention +being diverted from the contemplation of the whole to the means by which +it is executed. In such impressions, however, as have a tint of sepia +printed over them from a second block, the hardness of the lines and +heaviness in the hatchings are less apparent. The following is a reduced +copy of another of those cuts, which, for the beautiful simplicity of +the design, is perhaps the most pleasing of the whole. The execution of +the original is, however, coarse, a defect which is not so apparent in +the copy in consequence of the small scale on which it is +engraved.[VI-121] + + [Illustration: + CVM PRIVILEGIIS] + + [Footnote VI-121: The original is eighteen inches wide by thirteen + inches and a half high, including the margin with the inscription + “Cum privilegiis,” which is engraved on the same block.] + +Cornelius van Sichem,[VI-122] a contemporary of Christopher Jegher, +appears to have been one of the most industrious wood engravers of his +time. He was a native of Holland, and is supposed to have resided at +Amsterdam. One of his best cuts is a large head, engraved from a drawing +by Henry Goltzius, with the date 1607. This and several other large +cuts, which he probably engraved about the same time, are so much +superior to the smaller cuts, with his mark, which appear in books, that +I am inclined to think that most of the latter must have been engraved +by his pupils; they are indeed so numerous that it seems almost +impossible that he should have engraved them all himself. He seems at +first to have worked for fame, and afterwards to have turned a +manufacturer of wood-cuts for money. The cuts with his mark contained in +a quarto book entitled “Bibels Tresoor,” printed at Amsterdam in 1646, +by no means afford an idea of his ability as a wood-engraver; many of +them are wretched copies of old wood-cuts designed by Albert Durer and +other old masters, discreditable alike to the engraver and to the +originals. The following is a slightly reduced copy of a cut, engraved +by Van Sichem, from a design by Henry Goltzius. The original, which was +probably engraved about 1607, may be considered as an average specimen +of the engraver’s talents; it is not so well executed as some of his +best large cuts, while it is much superior to the greater number of the +small cuts which contain his mark. The subject is Judith with the head +of Holofernes. + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VI-122: Papillon, tom. i. p. 274-276, calls this + engraver _C. S. Vichem_; and charges Professor Christ with + confounding three _Sichems_ with three _Vichems_. The name at the + bottom of the cut, in the following page, is most certainly + intended for _C. V. Sichem_.] + +About 1625 a French wood engraver of the name of Businck executed +several chiaro-scuros chiefly from designs by Lalleman and Bloemart; and +between 1630 and 1647, Bartolomeo Coriolano, who sometimes styles +himself “Romanus Eques,” practised the same art at Bologna with great +reputation.[VI-123] In an edition of Hubert Goltzius’s Lives of the +Roman Emperors, enlarged by Casper Gevartius, folio, printed at Antwerp +in 1645, the portraits, in the manner of chiaro-scuros, from two blocks, +are executed with great spirit. The name of the engraver is not +mentioned, but from the mark I. C. I. on a tail-piece at the end of the +work, I am inclined to think that he was the same person who engraved +the cuts in a little book of devotion, first printed in Latin, French, +Spanish, and Flemish, at Antwerp, about 1646.[VI-124] The number of cuts +in this little work is forty, and most of them contain the mark of the +designer, [[AS]], as well as that of the engraver. From the drawing of +these cuts it would seem that the designer was either a pupil of Rubens, +or had closely copied his manner. In Professor Christ’s Dictionary of +Monograms the mark [[AS]] is ascribed to Andrea Salmincio, “an engraver +and pupil of Valesius.” Papillon, Traité de la Gravure en Bois, tom. +i. p. 274, adopting Professor Christ’s explanation of the mark, mentions +“Andrea Salmincio” as the designer of those cuts; but in page 461 of the +same volume, he says, referring to his former statement, that he had +since been informed by M. Eisen, a painter, and a native of +Valenciennes, that they were designed by “a famous Flemish painter and +engraver on wood, named Sallarte, a contemporary of Rubens, and who is +supposed to have assisted the latter in some of his great works.” Those +cuts may perhaps be considered as the last series that were expressly +designed by an artist of talent in the seventeenth century, for the +purpose of being engraved on wood. The style in which they are executed +is not worthy of the designs, though, considering the period, they are +not without merit. The engraver appears to have been extremely partial +to a kind of cross-hatching, in which the interstices are more like +squares than acute-angled lozenges, thus giving to the figures and +draperies a hard and unpliable appearance. + + [Footnote VI-123: The twelfth volume of Bartsch’s Peintre-Graveur + contains an ample list of Italian chiaro-scuros, together with the + names of the painters and engravers.] + + [Footnote VI-124: The only perfect copy which I have seen of this + little work is in Spanish. The title is as follows: “La Perpetua + Cruz, o Passion de Jesu Christo Nuestro Señor, desde el principio + de su encarnacion hasta su muerte. Representada en quarenta + estampas que se reparten de balde, y explicada con differentes + razones y oraciones de devocion. En Amberes, en la emprenta de + Cornelio Woons, 1650.” The cuts were engraved at the instance of + the Archbishop of Malines. Before the Spanish edition appeared, + thirty thousand copies of the work in Flemish and Latin had + already been circulated.] + +Though several English wood engravings of the reigns of James I. and +Charles I. have evidently been executed by professed wood engravers, yet +a great proportion of those contained in English books and pamphlets +printed in this country during the seventeenth century appear to have +been the work of persons who had not learnt and did not regularly +practise the art. The cuts of those occasional wood engravers, who were +most likely printers, are as rude in design as they are coarse in +execution, frequently displaying something like the fac-simile of a +boy’s drawing in his first attempts to sketch “the human _form_ divine.” +Such cuts, evidently executed on the spur of the moment, are of frequent +occurrence in tracts and pamphlets published during the time of the war +between Charles I. and the Parliament. Evelyn, in the first edition of +his Sculptura, published in 1662, thus mentions Switzer as a wood +engraver of that period: “We have likewise Switzer for cutting in wood, +the son of a father[VI-125] who sufficiently discovered his dexterity in +the _Herbals_ set forth by Mr. Parkinson, Lobel, and divers other +works.” The cuts of plants in the work, usually called Lobel’s Botany, +were most certainly not engraved by the elder Switzer; they are much +superior to the cuts of the same kind which are undoubtedly of his +engraving, and the work in which they first appeared was printed in +London in 1571. He engraved the cuts in Speed’s History of Britain, +folio, 1611; and, though the author calls him “the most exquisite and +curious hand of that age,” they abundantly testify that he was a very +ordinary workman. They are executed in a meagre, spiritless manner; the +best are those which represent the portraitures of the ancient Britons. +The cuts in Parkinson’s Paradisus Terrestris, folio, 1629, were also +undoubtedly engraved by him; his name, “_A. Switzer_,” with a graver +underneath, occurs at the bottom of the very indifferent cut which forms +the title-page. The portrait of the author is scarcely superior to the +title-page; and the cuts of plants are the most worthless that are to be +found in any work of the kind. It is not unlikely that the cuts in +Topsell’s History of Four-footed Beasts, 1607, and in Moffet’s Theatre +of Insects, 1634, were also engraved by the elder Switzer. The taste for +wood-cuts must have been low indeed when such an engraver was considered +one of the best of his age. Of the younger Switzer’s abilities I have +had no means of judging, never having seen a single cut which was known +to be of his engraving. + + [Footnote VI-125: In Walpole’s Catalogue of Engravers there is the + following notice of the elder Switzer: “In the Harleian Library + was a set of wooden cuts, representing the broad seals of England + from the conquest to James I. inclusive, neatly executed. Vertue + says this was the sole impression he had seen, and believed that + they were cut by Chr. Switzer, and that these plates were copied + by Hollar for Sandford. Switzer also cut the coins and seals in + Speed’s History of Britain, 1614 [1611], from the originals in the + Cottonian Collection. Speed calls him _the most exquisite and + curious hand of that age_. He probably engraved the botanic + figures for Lobel’s Observations, and the plates [cuts] for + Parkinson’s Paradisus Terrestris, 1629. Chr. Switzer’s works have + sometimes been confounded with his son’s, who was of both his + names.”--Catalogue of Engravers, p. 18 note, Edit. 1794. It is + doubtful if the elder Switzer’s Christian name were Christopher. + The initial in Parkinson’s Paradisus Terrestris is an A. It is, + however, possible that this letter may be intended for a Latin + preposition, and not for the first letter of the engraver’s + Christian name.] + +Between 1650 and 1700 wood engraving, as a means of multiplying the +designs of eminent artists, either as illustrations of books or as +separate cuts, may be considered as having reached its lowest ebb. A few +tolerably well executed cuts of ornaments are occasionally to be found +in Italian, French, and Dutch books of this period; but though they +sufficiently attest that the race _of workmen_ was not wholly extinct, +they also afford ample proof that _artists_ like those of former times +had ceased to furnish designs for the wood engraver. The art of design +was then, however, in a languishing condition throughout Europe; and +even supposing that wood engraving had been as much in fashion as +copper-plate printing then was for the purpose of illustrating books, it +would be vain to expect in wood-cuts that excellence of composition and +drawing which is not to be found in the works of the best painters of +the time. Wood engravings to please must possess _some_ merit in the +design--must show some trait of feeling for his subject on the part of +the designer. Deficiency in this respect can never be compensated by +dexterity of execution: in anything that approaches to fine art, mere +workmanship, the result of laborious application, can never atone for +want of mind. The man who drew a portrait of Queen Anne with a pen, and +wrote the Psalms in the lines of the face, and in the curls of the hair, +in characters so small that it required a glass to read them, does not +rank with a Vandyke or a Reynolds, nor even with a Lely or a Kneller. At +the period of the greatest decline of wood engraving, the want that was +felt was not of working engravers to execute cuts, but of talented +artists to design them. + +The principal French wood engravers about the end of the seventeenth +century were: Peter Le Sueur,--born in 1636, died 1716; his two sons, +Peter and Vincent; John Papillon the elder--who died in 1710; and his +son, of the same name, who was born in 1661, and died in 1723. Though +John Michael Papillon, son of John Papillon the younger, and author of +the Traité de la Gravure en Bois, speaks highly of the talents of the +aforesaid members of the families of Le Sueur and Papillon as wood +engravers, yet, from his account of their productions, it would seem +that they were chiefly employed in engraving subjects which scarcely +allowed of any display of excellence either in design or execution. +Their fine works were ornamental letters, flowered vignettes, and +tail-pieces for the booksellers; while their staple productions appear +to have been blocks for card-makers and paper-stainers, with patterns +for embroiderers, lace-workers, and ribbon-manufacturers. In the +succeeding century, J. M. Papillon, grandson of the first John Papillon, +and Nicholas le Sueur, grandson of the elder Peter Le Sueur, fully +supported the character of their respective families as wood engravers. +Some account of their works will be given in the proper place. + +The tail-piece at the conclusion of this chapter will afford some idea +of the primitive style of the wood-cuts previously mentioned as +occurring in tracts and pamphlets printed in England during the civil +war. It is a fac-simile of a cut which originally appeared on the +title-page to the first known edition of Robin Hood’s Garland, printed +in 1670.[VI-126] The original block is now in the possession of Mr. +William Garret of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and was frequently used by the late +Mr. George Angus of that town, as it had also been by his predecessors +in the same business, to decorate the title-pages of the penny histories +and garlands, which they supplied in such abundance for the +winter-evenings’ entertainment of the good folks of Northumberland and +the “Bishoprick.” Mr. Douce, in the second volume of his Illustrations +of Shakspeare, also gives a fac-simile of this cut; and the following is +his explanation of the subject. + + [Footnote VI-126: The cuts in an edition of “The most Delightful + History of Reynard the Fox,” 4to. London, printed for Thomas + Passinger, 1681, are scarcely superior to this cut in point of + execution, though it must be confessed that the figures are + generally in better “keeping.”] + +“Mr. Ritson has taken notice of an old wooden cut ‘preserved on the +title-page of a penny history (_Adam Bell, &c._), printed at Newcastle +in 1772,’ and which represents, in his opinion, a morris dance, +consisting of the following personages: 1. A bishop. 2. Robin Hood. +3. The potter or beggar. 4. Little John. 5. Friar Tuck. 6. Maid Marian. +He remarks that the whole is too rude to merit a copy, a position that +is not meant to be controverted; but it is necessary to introduce the +cut in this place for the purpose of correcting an error into which the +above ingenious writer has fallen. It is proper to mention that it +originally appeared on the title-page to the first known edition of +Robin Hood’s Garland, printed in 1670, 18mo. Now, this cut is certainly +not the representation of a morris dance, but merely of the principal +characters belonging to the Garland. These are Robin Hood, Little John, +_Queen Catherine_, the bishop, the _curtal frier_, (not Tuck,) and the +beggar. Even though it were admitted that Maid Marian and Friar Tuck +were intended to be given, it could not be maintained that either the +bishop or the beggar made part of a morris.” + +To give more specimens of wood engraving when in its lowest state of +declension has not been thought necessary; for even at this period it +would not be difficult to produce cuts which in point of mere execution +are superior to many which appeared when the art was at its height. It +is sufficient to have stated that, towards the end of the seventeenth +century, wood engraving for the higher purposes of the art had sunk into +utter neglect; that the best productions of the regular wood engravers +of the period mostly consist of unmeaning ornaments which neither excite +feeling nor suggest a thought; and that the wood-cuts which appear to +have been engraved by persons not instructed in the business partake +generally of the character of the following tail-piece. Having now +brought down the history of the art of wood engraving to the end of the +seventeenth century, its revival in the eighteenth, with some account of +the works of Thomas Bewick and the principal English wood engravers of +his time, will form the subject of the next chapter. + + [Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +REVIVAL OF WOOD ENGRAVING. + + English Wood-Cuts in 1712 -- Howel’s Medulla Historiæ Anglicanæ -- + Maittaire’s Classics 1713 -- E. Kirkall -- His Chiaro-Scuros -- Cuts + in Croxall’s Æsop, 1722 -- J. B. Jackson -- Chiaro-Scuros Engraved + by Him at Venice, 1738-1742 -- French Wood Engravers, 1710-1768; + J. M. Papillon, M. Le Sueur, and P. S. Fournier -- English + Wood-Cuts, 1760-1772 -- Cuts in Sir John Hawkins’s History of Music, + 1776 -- Thomas Bewick -- His First Wood-Cuts, in Hutton’s + Mensuration, 1768-1770 -- Cuts by Him in a Hieroglyphic Bible -- In + Fables, 1779-1784 -- His Cut of the Chillingham Bull -- His + Quadrupeds, British Birds, and Fables -- John Bewick -- Cuts by Him + in Emblems of Mortality, and Other Books -- Poems by Goldsmith and + Parnell -- Somerviles’s Chase -- Robert Johnson, Designer of Several + of the Tail-Pieces in Bewick’s Works -- Charlton Nesbit -- Luke + Clennell -- William Harvey -- Robert Branston -- John Thompson, and + Others. + + +Although wood engraving had fallen into almost utter neglect by the end +of the seventeenth century, and continued in a languishing state for +many years afterward, yet the art was never lost, as some persons have +stated; for both in England and in France a regular succession of wood +engravers can be traced from 1700 to the time of Thomas Bewick. The cuts +which appear in books printed in Germany, Holland, and Italy during the +same period, though of very inferior execution, sufficiently prove that +the art continued to be practised in those countries. + +The first English book of this period which requires notice is an +edition of Howel’s Medulla Historiæ Anglicanæ, octavo, printed at London +in 1712.[VII-1] There are upwards of sixty wood-cuts in this work, and +the manner in which they are executed sufficiently indicates that the +engraver must have either been self-taught or the pupil of a master who +did not understand the art. The blocks have, for the most part, been +engraved in the manner of copper-plates; most of the lines, which a +regular wood engraver would have left in relief, are cut in _intaglio_, +and hence in the impression they appear white where they ought to be +black. The bookseller, in an address to the reader, thus proceeds to +show the advantages of those cuts, and to answer any objection that +might be urged against them on account of their being engraved on wood. +“The cuts added in this edition are intended more for use than show. The +utility consists in these two particulars. 1. To make the better +impression on the memory. 2. To show more readily when the notable +passages in our history were transacted; which, without the knowledge of +the names of the persons, are not to be found out, by even the best +indexes. As for example: In what reign was it that a rebellious rout, +headed by a vile fellow, made great ravage, and appearing in the King’s +presence with insolence, their captain was stabbed upon the spot by the +Lord-Mayor? Here, without knowing the names of some of the parties, +which a world of people are ignorant of, the story is not to be found by +an index; but by the help of the cut, which catches the eye, is soon +discovered. We all have heard of the piety of one of our queens who +sucked the poison out of her husband’s wound, but very few remember +which of them it was, which the cut presently shows. The same is to be +said of all the rest, since we have chosen only such things as are +NOTABILIA in the history to describe in our sculptures.--And if it be +objected that the graving is in wood, and not in copper, which would be +more beautiful; we answer, that such would be much more expensive too. +And we were willing to save the buyer’s purse; especially since even the +best engraving would not better serve the purposes above-said.” + + [Footnote VII-1: Small wood-cuts appear to have been frequently + used about this time in newspapers, for what the Americans call a + “caption” to advertisements. “The great art in writing + advertisements is the finding out a proper method to catch the + reader’s eye, without which many a good thing may pass over + unobserved, or be lost among commissions of bankrupts. Asterisks + and hands were formerly of great use for this purpose. Of late + years the N.B. has been much in fashion, as also _little cuts and + figures_, the invention of which we must ascribe to the author of + spring trusses.”--Tatler, No. 224, 14th September 1710. The + practice is not yet obsolete. Cuts of this kind are still to be + found in country newspapers prefixed to advertisements of quack + medicines, horse-races, coach and steam-boat departures, sales of + ships, and the services of _equi admissorii_.] + +Though no mark is to be found on any of those cuts, I am inclined to +think that they were executed by Edward Kirkall, whose name appears as +the engraver of the copper-plate frontispiece to the book. The accounts +which we have of Kirkall are extremely unsatisfactory. Strutt says that +he was born at Sheffield in 1695; and that, visiting London in search of +improvement, he was for some time employed in graving arms, stamps, and +ornaments for books. It is, however, likely that he was born previous to +1695; for the frontispiece to Howel’s Medulla is dated 1712, when, if +Strutt be correct, Kirkall would be only seventeen. That he engraved on +wood, as well as on copper, is unquestionable; and I am inclined to +think that he either occasionally engraved small ornaments and +head-pieces on type-metal for the use of printers, or that casts in this +kind of metal were taken from some of his small cuts.[VII-2] + + [Footnote VII-2: Some of the cuts in an edition of Dryden’s plays, + 6 vols. 12mo. published by Tonson and Watts in 1717, have + evidently been either engraved on some kind of soft metal or been + casts from a wood block. In the corner of such cuts, the marks of + the pins, which have fastened the engraved metal-plate to a piece + of wood below, are quite apparent.] + +The head-pieces and ornaments in Maittaire’s Latin Classics, duodecimo, +published by Tonson and Watts, 1713, were probably engraved on wood by +Kirkall, as his initials, E. K., are to be found on one of the +tail-pieces. Papillon speaks rather favourably of those small cuts, +though he objects to the uniformity of the tint and the want of +precision in the more delicate parts of the figures, such as the faces +and hands. He notices the tail-piece with the mark E. K. as one of the +best executed; and he suspects that these letters were intended for the +name of an English painter--called _Ekwits_, to the best of his +recollection,--who “taught the arts of painting and of engraving on wood +to J. B. Jackson, so well known to the printers of Paris about 1730 from +his having supplied them with so large a stock of indifferent +cuts.”[VII-3] + + [Footnote VII-3: Papillon, Traité de la Gravure en Bois, tom. + i. p. 323.] + +The cuts in Croxall’s edition of Æsop’s Fables, first published by +J. and R. Tonson and J. Watts, in 1722, were, in all probability, +executed by the same person who engraved the head-pieces and other +ornaments in Maittaire’s Latin Classics, printed for the same publishers +about nine years before; and there is reason to believe that this +person, as has been previously observed, was E. Kirkall. Bewick, in the +introduction prefixed to his “Fables of Æsop and others,” first printed +in 1818, says that the cuts in Croxall’s edition were “on metal, in the +manner of wood.” He, however, gives no reason for this opinion, and I +very much question its correctness. After a careful inspection I have +not been able to discover any peculiar mark which should induce me to +suppose that they had been engraved on metal; and without some such mark +indicating that the engraved surface had been fastened to the block to +raise it to the height of the type, I consider it impossible for any +person to decide merely from the appearance of the impressions that +those cuts were printed from a metallic surface. The difference, in +point of impression, between a wood-cut and an engraving on type-metal +in the same manner, or a cast in type-metal from a wood-cut, is not to +be distinguished. A wood engraver of the present day, when casts from +wood-cuts are so frequently used instead of the original engraved block, +decides that a certain impression has been from a cast, not in +consequence of any peculiarity in its appearance denoting that it is +printed from a metallic surface, but from certain marks--little flaws in +the lines and minute “picks”--which he knows are characteristic of a +“cast.” When a cast, however, has been well taken, and afterwards +carefully cleared out with the graver, it is frequently impossible to +decide that the impression has been taken from it, unless the examiner +have also before him an impression from the original block with which it +may be compared; and even then, a person not very well acquainted with +the practice of wood engraving and the method of taking casts from +engraved wood-blocks, will be extremely liable to decide erroneously. + +Though it is by no means improbable that a person like Kirkall, who had +been accustomed to engrave on copper, might attempt to engrave on +type-metal in the same manner as on wood, and that he might thus execute +a few small head-pieces and flowered ornaments, yet I consider it very +unlikely that he should _continue to prefer metal_ for the purpose of +relief engraving after he had made a few experiments. The advantages of +wood over type-metal are indeed so great, both as regards clearness of +line and facility of execution, that it seems incredible that any person +who had tried both materials should hesitate to give the preference to +wood. If, however, the cuts in Croxall’s Æsop were really engraved on +metal in the manner of wood, they are, as a series, the most +extraordinary specimens of relief engraving for the purpose of printing, +that have ever been executed. When Bewick stated that those cuts were +engraved on metal, I am inclined to think that he founded his opinion +rather on popular report than on close and impartial examination of the +cuts themselves; and it is further to be observed that Thomas Bewick, +with all his merits as a wood engraver, was not without his weaknesses +as a man; he was not unwilling that people should believe that the art +of wood engraving was lost in this country, and that the honour of its +re-discovery, as well as of its subsequent advancement, was due to him. +Though he was no doubt sincere in the opinion which he gave, yet those +who know him are well aware that he would not have felt any pleasure in +calling the attention of his readers to a series of wood-cuts executed +in England upwards of thirty years before he was born, and which are not +much inferior--except as regards the animals--to the cuts of fables +engraved by himself and his brother previous to 1780.[VII-4] The cuts in +Croxall’s Æsop not only display great improvement in the engraver, +supposing him to be the same person that executed the head-pieces and +ornaments in Maittaire’s Latin Classics printed in 1713, but are very +much superior to any cuts contained in works of the same kind printed in +France between 1700 and 1760.[VII-5] + + [Footnote VII-4: “The Fables of Mr. John Gay,” with cuts by Thomas + and John Bewick, was published in 1779. “Select Fables, a new + edition improved,” with cuts by the same, appeared in 1784; both + in duodecimo, printed by T. Saint, Newcastle-on-Tyne. The cuts in + the latter work are considerably better than those in the former. + Several of the cuts which originally appeared in those two works + are to be found in “Select Fables; with cuts designed and engraved + by Thomas and John Bewick, and others,” octavo, printed for + Emerson Charnely, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1820.] + + [Footnote VII-5: The cuts in two different editions of Æsop’s + Fables, published at Paris,--the one by Charles Le Clerc in 1731, + and the other by J. Barbou in 1758,--are most wretchedly executed. + The mark of Vincent Le Sueur appears on the frontispiece to Le + Clerc’s edition.] + + [Illustration: FROM A COPPER-PLATE BY S. LE CLERC.] + + [Illustration: FROM A WOOD-CUT IN CROXALL’S ÆSOP.] + +Many of the subjects in Croxall are merely reversed copies of engravings +on copper by S. Le Clerc, illustrative of a French edition of Æsop’s +Fables published about 1694. The first of the preceding cuts is a +fac-simile of one of Le Clerc’s engravings; and the second is a copy of +the same subject as it appears in Croxall. The fable to which they both +relate is the Fox and the Goat. + +The above cut is by no means one of the best in Croxall: it has not been +selected as a specimen of the manner in which those cuts are executed, +but as an instance of the closeness with which the English wood-cuts +have been copied from the French copper-plates. In several of the cuts +in Bewick’s Fables of Æsop and others, the arrangement and composition +appear to have been suggested by those in Croxall; but in every instance +of this kind the modern artist has made the subject his own by the +superior manner in which it is treated: he restores to the animals their +proper forms, represents them _acting_ their parts as described in the +fable, and frequently introduces an incident or sketch of landscape +which gives to the whole subject a natural character. The following copy +of the Fox and Goat, in the Fables of Æsop and others, 1818-1823, will +serve to show how little the modern artist has borrowed in such +instances from the cuts in Croxall, and how much has been supplied by +himself. + + [Illustration] + +Between 1722 and 1724, Kirkall published by subscription twelve +chiaro-scuros engraved by himself, chiefly after designs by old Italian +masters. In those chiaro-scuros the outlines and the darker parts of the +figures are printed from copper-plates, and the sepia-coloured tints +afterwards impressed from wood-blocks; though they possess considerable +merit, they are deficient in spirit, and will not bear a comparison with +the chiaro-scuros executed by Ugo da Carpi and other early Italian wood +engravers. Most of them are too smooth, and want the bold outline and +vigorous character which distinguish the old chiaro-scuros: what Kirkall +gained in delicacy and precision by the introduction of mezzotint, he +lost through the inefficient engraving of the wood-blocks. One of the +largest of those chiaro-scuros is a copy of one of Ugo da Carpi’s--Æneas +carrying his father on his shoulders--after a design by Raffaele. In +Walpole’s Catalogue of Engravers, a notice of Kirkall’s “new method of +printing, composed of etching, mezzotinto, and wooden stamps,” concludes +with the following passage: “He performed several prints in this manner, +and did great justice to the drawing and expression of the masters he +imitated. This invention, for one may call it so, had much success, much +applause, no imitators.--I suppose it is too laborious and too tedious. +In an opulent country where there is great facility of getting money, it +is seldom got by merit. Our artists are in too much hurry to gain it, or +deserve it.” + +About 1724 Kirkall published seventeen views of shipping, from designs +by W. Vandevelde, which he also called “prints in chiaro-scuro.” They +have, however, no just pretensions to the name as it is usually +understood when applied to prints, for they are merely tinted engravings +worked off in a greenish-blue ink. These so-called chiaro-scuros are +decided failures. + +Kirkall engraved, on copper, the plates in Rowe’s translation of Lucan’s +Pharsalia, folio, published by Tonson, 1718; the plates for an edition +of Inigo Jones’s Stonehenge, 1725; and a frontispiece to the works of +Mrs. Eliza Haywood, which is thus alluded to in the Dunciad: + + “See in the circle next Eliza placed, + Two babes of love close clinging to her waist; + Fair as before her works she stands confest, + In flowers and pearls by bounteous Kirkall drest.” + +A considerable number of rude and tasteless ornaments and head-pieces, +with the mark F. H., engraved on wood, are to be found in English books +printed between 1720 and 1740. Several of them have been cast in +type-metal,[VII-6] as is evident from the marks of the pins, in the +impressions, by which they have been fastened to the blocks; the same +head-piece or ornament is also frequently found in books printed in the +same year by different printers. Some of the best headings and +tail-pieces of this period occur in a volume of “Miscellaneous Poems, +original and translated, by several hands. Published by Mr. Concanen,” +London, printed for J. Peele, octavo, 1724. The subjects are, Apollo +with a lyre; Minerva with a spear and shield; two men sifting corn; +Hercules destroying the hydra; and a man with a large lantern. They are +much superior to any cuts of the same kind with the mark F. H.; and from +the manner in which they are executed, I am inclined to think that they +are the work of the person who engraved the cuts in Croxall’s Æsop. The +following is a fac-simile of one of the best of the cuts that I have +ever seen with the mark F. H. It occurs as a tail-piece at the end of +the preface to “Strephon’s Revenge: A Satire on the Oxford Toasts,” +octavo, London, 1724.[VII-7] + + [Footnote VII-6: It is not unlikely that the frequency of such + casts has induced many persons to suppose that most of the cuts of + this period were “_engraved_ on metal in the manner of wood.”] + + [Illustration: + LEGENT HÆC NOSTRA NEPOTES.] + +John Baptist Jackson, an English wood engraver, was, according to +Papillon, a pupil of the person who engraved the small head-pieces and +ornaments in Maittaire’s Latin Classics, published by Tonson and Watts +in 1713; and as the cuts in Croxall’s Æsop were probably engraved by the +same person, as has been previously observed, it is not unlikely that +Jackson, as his apprentice, might have some share in their execution. +Though these cuts were much superior to any that had appeared in England +for about a hundred years previously, wood engraving seems to have +received but little encouragement. Probably from want of employment in +his own country, Jackson proceeded to Paris, where he remained several +years, chiefly employed in engraving head-pieces and ornaments for the +booksellers. Papillon, who seems to have borne no good-will towards +Jackson, thus speaks of him in the first volume of his “Traité de la +Gravure en Bois.” + + [Footnote VII-7: Two cuts, with the same mark, are to be found in + Thoresby’s Vicaria Leodinensis, 8vo. London, 1724; one at the + commencement of the preface, and the other at the end of the + work.] + +“J. Jackson, an Englishman, who resided several years in Paris, might +have perfected himself in wood engraving, which he had learnt of an +English painter, as I have previously mentioned, if he had been willing +to follow the advice which it was in my power to give him. Having called +on me, as soon as he arrived in Paris, to ask for work, I for several +months gave him a few things to execute in order to afford him the means +of subsistence. He, however, repaid me with ingratitude; he made a +duplicate of a flowered ornament of my drawing, which he offered, before +delivering to me the block, to the person for whom it was to be +engraved. From the reproaches that I received, on the matter being +discovered, I naturally declined to employ him any longer. He then went +the round of the printing-offices in Paris, and was obliged to engrave +his cuts without order, and to offer them for almost nothing; and many +of the printers, profiting by his distress, supplied themselves amply +with his cuts. He had acquired a certain insipid taste which was not +above the little mosaics on snuff-boxes; and with ornaments of this +kind, after the manner of several other inferior engravers, he +surcharged his works. His mosaics, however delicately engraved, are +always deficient in effect, and display the engraver’s patience rather +than his talent; for the other parts of the cut, consisting of delicate +lines without tints or a gradation of light and shade, want that force +which is necessary to render the whole striking. Such wood engravings, +however deficient in this respect, are yet admired by printers of vulgar +taste, who foolishly pretend that they most resemble copper-plates, and +that they print better than cuts of a picturesque character, and +containing a variety of tints. + +“Jackson, being obliged, through destitution, to leave Paris, where he +could get nothing more to do, travelled in France; and afterwards, being +disgusted with his profession, he accompanied a painter to Rome, from +whence he went to Venice, where, as I am informed, he married, and +subsequently returned to England, his native country.”[VII-8] + + [Footnote VII-8: Traité de la Gravure en Bois, tom. i. pp. 327, + 328.] + +Though Papillon speaks disparagingly of Jackson, the latter was at least +as good an engraver as himself. Jackson appears to have visited Paris +not later than 1726, for Papillon mentions a vignette and a large letter +engraved by him in that year for a Latin and French dictionary, printed +in 1727 by the brothers Barbou; and it is likely that he remained there +till about 1731. In an Italian translation of the Lives of the Twelve +Cæsars, printed there in quarto 1738, there is a large ornamental +title-page of his engraving; and in the same year he engraved a +chiaro-scuro of Christ taken down from the cross, from a painting by +Rembrandt,[VII-9] in the possession of Joseph Smith, Esq. the British +consul at Venice, a well-known collector of pictures and other works of +art. Between 1738 and 1742, when residing at Venice, he also engraved +twenty-seven large chiaro-scuros,--chiefly after pictures by Titian, +G. Bassano, Tintoret, and P. Veronese,--which were published in a large +folio volume in the latter year. They are very unequal in point of +merit; some of them appearing harsh and crude, and others flat and +spiritless, when compared with similar productions of the old Italian +wood engravers. One of the best is the Martyrdom of St. Peter +Dominicanus, after Titian, with the date 1739; the manner in which the +foliage of the trees is represented is particularly good. On his return +to England he seems to have totally abandoned the practice of wood +engraving in the ordinary manner for the purpose of illustrating or +ornamenting books; for I have not been able to discover any English +wood-cut of the period that either contains his mark, or seems, from its +comparative excellence, to have been of his engraving. Finding no demand +in this country for wood-cuts, he appears to have tried to render his +knowledge of engraving in chiaro-scuro available for the purpose of +printing paper-hangings. In an “Essay on the Invention of Engraving and +Printing in Chiaro Oscuro,”[VII-10] published in his name in 1754, we +learn that he was then engaged in a manufacture of this kind at +Battersea. The account given in this essay of the origin and progress of +chiaro-scuro engraving is frequently incorrect; and from several of the +statements which it contains, it would seem that the writer was very +imperfectly acquainted with the works of his predecessors and +contemporaries in the same department of wood engraving. From the +following passage, which is to be found in the fifth page, it is evident +that the writer was either ignorant of what had been done in the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and even in his own age, or that he +was wishful to enhance the merit of Mr. Jackson’s process by concealing +what had recently been done in the same manner by others. “After having +said all this, it may seem highly improper to give to Mr. Jackson the +merit of inventing this art; but let me be permitted to say, that an art +recovered is less little than an art invented. The works of the former +artists remain indeed; but the manner in which they were done is +entirely lost: the inventing then the manner is really due to this +latter undertaker, since no writings, or other remains, are to be found +by which the method of former artists can be discovered, or in what +manner they executed their works; nor, in truth, has the Italian method +since the beginning of the sixteenth century been attempted by any one +except Mr. Jackson.” What is here called the “Italian method,” that is, +the method of executing chiaro-scuros entirely on wood, was practised in +France at the end of the seventeenth century: and Nicholas Le Sueur had +engraved several cuts in this manner about 1730, the very time when +Jackson was living in Paris. The principles of the art had also been +applied in France to the execution of paper-hangings upwards of fifty +years before Jackson attempted to establish the same kind of manufacture +in England. Not a word is said of the chiaro-scuros of Kirkall,[VII-11] +from whom it is likely that Jackson first acquired his knowledge of +chiaro-scuro engraving: with the exception of the outlines and some +other parts in these chiaro-scuros being executed in mezzotint, the +printing of the rest from wood-blocks is precisely the same as in the +Italian method. + + [Footnote VII-9: This painting, which is wholly in chiaro-scuro, + is now in the National Gallery, to which it was presented by the + late Sir George Beaumont.] + + [Footnote VII-10: The title at length is as follows: “An Essay on + the Invention of Engraving and Printing in Chiaro Oscuro, as + practised by Albert Durer, Hugo di Carpi, &c., and the Application + of it to the making Paper Hangings of taste, duration, and + elegance, by Mr. Jackson of Battersea. Illustrated with Prints in + proper colours.” 4to. London, 1754.] + + [Footnote VII-11: There can be no doubt that the mention of + Kirkall’s name is purposely avoided. The “attempts” of Count + Caylus, who executed several chiaro-scuros by means of + copper-plates and wood-blocks subsequent to Kirkall, are noticed; + but the name of Nicholas Le Sueur, who assisted the Count and + engraved the wood-blocks, is never mentioned. It is also stated in + the Essay, page 6, that some of the subjects begun by Count Caylus + were finished by Mr. Jackson, and “approved by the lovers and + promoters of that art in Paris.”] + +The Essay contains eight prints illustrative of Mr. Jackson’s method; +four are chiaro-scuros, and four are printed in “proper colours,” as is +expressed in the title, in imitation of drawings. They are very poorly +executed, and are very much inferior to the chiaro-scuros engraved by +Jackson when residing at Venice. The prints in “proper colours” are +egregious failures. The following notices respecting Mr. Jackson are +extracted from the Essay in question. + +“Certainly Mr. Jackson, the person of whom we speak, has not spent less +time and pains, applied less assiduity, or travelled to fewer distant +countries in search of perfecting his art, than other men; having passed +twenty years in France and Italy to complete himself in drawing after +the best masters in the best schools, and to see what antiquity had most +worthy the attention of a student in his particular pursuits. After all +this time spent in perfecting himself in his discoveries, like a true +lover of his native country, he is returned with a design to communicate +all the means which his endeavours can contribute to enrich the land +where he drew his first breath, by adding to its commerce, and employing +its inhabitants; and yet, like a citizen of it, he would willingly enjoy +some little share of those advantages before he leaves this world, which +he must leave behind him to his countrymen when he shall be no more.” + +“During his residence at Venice, where he made himself perfect in the +art which he professes, he finished many works well known to the +nobility and gentry who travelled to that city whilst he lived in +it.--Mr. Frederick, Mr. Lethuillier, and Mr. Smith, the English consul +at Venice, encouraged Mr. Jackson to undertake to engrave in +chiaro-oscuro, blocks after the most capital pictures of Titian, +Tintoret, Giacomo Bassano, and Paul Veronese, which are to be found in +Venice, and to this end procured him a subscription. In this work may be +seen what engraving on wood will effectuate, and how truly the spirit +and genius of every one of those celebrated masters are preserved in the +prints. + +“During his executing this work he was honoured with the encouragement +of the Right Honourable the Marquis of Hartington, Sir Roger Newdigate, +Sir Bouchier Wrey, and other English gentlemen on their travels at +Venice, who saw Mr. Jackson drawing on the blocks for the print after +the famous picture of the Crucifixion painted by Tintoret in the albergo +of St. Roche. Those prints may now be seen at his house at +Battersea.--Not content with having brought his works in chiaro-oscuro +to such perfection, he attempted to print landscapes in all their +original colours; not only to give to the world all the outline light +and shade, which is to be found in the paintings of the best masters, +but in a great degree their very manner and taste of colouring. With +this intent he published six landscapes,[VII-12] which are his first +attempt in this nature, in imitation of painting in _aquarillo_ or +water-colours; which work was taken notice of by the Earl of Holderness, +then ambassador extraordinary to the republic of Venice; and his +excellency was pleased to permit the dedication of those prints to him, +and to encourage this new attempt of printing pictures with a very +particular and very favourable regard, and to express his approbation of +the merit of the inventor.” + + [Footnote VII-12: I have only seen one of these landscapes; and + from it I form no very high opinion of the others. It is scarcely + superior in point of execution to the prints in “proper colours” + contained in the Essay.] + +John Michael Papillon, one of the best French wood engravers of his age, +was born in 1698. His grandfather and his father, as has been previously +observed, were both wood engravers. In 1706, when only eight years old, +he secretly made his first essay in wood engraving; and when only nine, +his father, who had become aware of his amusing himself in this manner, +gave him a large block to engrave, which he appears to have executed to +his father’s satisfaction, though he had previously received no +instructions in the art.[VII-13] The block was intended for printing +paper-hangings, the manufacture of which was his father’s principal +business. Though until the time of his father’s death, which happened in +1723, Papillon appears to have been chiefly employed in such works, and +in hanging the papers which he had previously engraved, he yet executed +several vignettes and ornaments for the booksellers, and sedulously +endeavoured to improve himself in this higher department of his +business. + + [Footnote VII-13: Papillon, in the Supplement to his “Traité de la + Gravure en Bois,” page 6, gives a small cut--a copy of a figure in + a copper-plate by Callot--engraved by himself when nine years old. + If the cut be genuine, the engraver had improved but little as he + grew older.] + +Shortly after the death of his father he married; and, having given up +the business of engraving paper-hangings, he laboured so hard to perfect +himself in the art of designing and engraving vignettes and ornaments +for books, that his head became affected; and he sometimes displayed +such absence of mind that his wife became alarmed, fancying that “he no +longer loved her.” On his assuring her that his behaviour was the result +of his anxiety to improve himself in drawing and engraving on wood, and +to write something about the art, she encouraged him in his purpose, and +aided him with her advice, for, as she was the daughter of a clever man, +M. Chaveau, a sculptor, and had herself made many pretty drawings on +fans, she had some knowledge of design. Papillon’s fits of absence, +however, though they may have been proximately induced by close +application and anxiety about his success in the line to which he +intended to apply himself in future, appear to have originated in a +tendency to insanity, which at a later period displayed itself in a more +decided manner. In 1759, in consequence of a determination of blood to +the head, as he says, through excessive joy at seeing his only daughter, +who had lived from the age of four years with her uncle, combined with a +recollection of his former sorrows, his mind became so much disordered +that it was necessary to send him to an hospital, where, through +repeated bleedings and other remedies, he seems to have speedily +recovered. He mentions that in the same year, four other engravers were +attacked by the same malady, and that only one of them regained his +senses.[VII-14] + + [Footnote VII-14: Traité de la Gravure en Bois, Supplement, tom. + iii. p. 39. In the first volume, page 335, he alludes to the + disorder as “un accident et une fatalité commune à plusieurs + graveurs, aussi bien que moi.” Has the practice of engraving on + wood or on copper a tendency to induce insanity? Three + distinguished engravers, all from the same town, have in recent + times lost their reason; and several others, from various parts of + the country, have been afflicted with the same distressing malady. + These facts deserve the consideration of parents who design to + send their sons as pupils to engravers. When there is the least + reason to suspect a hereditary taint of insanity in the + constitution of the youth, it perhaps would be safest to put him + to some other business or profession where close attention to + minute objects is less required.] + +Papillon’s endeavours to improve himself were not unsuccessful; the cuts +which he engraved about 1724, though mostly small, possess considerable +merit; they are not only designed with much more feeling than the +generality of those executed by other French engravers of the period, +but are also much more effective, displaying a variety of tint and a +contrast of light and shade which are not to be found in the works of +his contemporaries. In 1726, in order to divert his anxiety and to bring +his cuts into notice, he projected _Le petit Almanach de Paris_, which +subsequently was generally known as “Le Papillon.” The first that he +published was for the year 1727; and the wood-cuts which it contained +equally attracted the attention of the public and of connoisseurs. +Monsieur Colombat, the editor of the Court Calendar, spoke highly of the +cut for the mouth of January; the cross-hatchings, he said, were +executed in the first style of wood engraving, and he kindly predicted +to Papillon that he would one day excel in his art. From this time he +seems to have no longer had any doubt of his own abilities, but, on the +contrary, to have entertained a very high opinion of them. He appears to +have considered wood engraving as the highest of all the graphic arts, +and himself as the greatest of all its professors, either ancient or +modern. + +From this, to him, memorable epoch,--the publication of “Le petit +Almanach de Paris,” with cuts by PAPILLON,--he appears to have been +seldom without employment, for in the Supplement to the “Traité de la +Gravure en Bois,” he mentions that in 1768, the “Collection of the Works +of the Papillons,” presented by him to the Royal Library, contained +upwards of _five thousand_ pieces of his own engraving. This “Recueil +des Papillons,” which he seems to have considered as a family monument +“ære perennius,” is perpetually referred to in the course of his work. +It consisted of four large folio volumes containing specimens of wood +engravings executed by the different members of the Papillon family for +three generations--his grandfather, his father, his uncle, his brother, +and himself. + +Papillon was employed not only by the booksellers of his own country, +but also by those of Holland. A book, entitled “Historische School en +Huis-Bybel,” printed at Amsterdam in 1743, contains two hundred and +seventeen cuts, all of which appear to have been either engraved by +Papillon himself, or under his superintendence. His name appears on +several of them, and they are all engraved in the same style. From a +passage in the dedication, it seems likely that they had appeared in a +similar work printed at the same place a few years previously. They are +generally executed in a coarser manner than those contained in +Papillon’s own work, but the style of engraving and general effect are +the same. The cut on the next page is a copy of the first, which is one +of the best in the work. To the left is Papillon’s name, engraved, as +was customary with him, in very small letters, with the date, 1734. + + [Illustration] + +Papillon’s History of Wood Engraving, published in 1766, in two octavo +volumes, with a Supplement,[VII-15] under the title of “Traité +Historique et Pratique de la Gravure en Bois,” is said to have been +projected, and partly written, upwards of thirty years before it was +given to the public. Shortly after his being admitted a member of the +Society of Arts, in 1733, he read, at one of the meetings, a paper on +the history and practice of wood engraving; and in 1735 the Society +signified their approbation that a work written by him on the subject +should be printed. It appears that the first volume of such a work was +actually printed between 1736 and 1738, but never published. He does not +explain why the work was not proceeded with at that time; and it would +be useless to speculate on the possible causes of the interruption. He +mentions that a copy of this volume was preserved in the Royal Library; +and he charges Fournier the younger, who between 1758 and 1761 published +three tracts on the invention of wood engraving and printing, with +having availed himself of a portion of the historical information +contained in this volume. The public, however, according to his own +statement, gained by the delay; as he grew older he gained more +knowledge of the history of the art, and “invented” several important +improvements in his practice, all of which are embodied in his later +work. In 1758 he also discovered the memoranda which he had made at +Monsieur De Greder’s, in 1719 or 1720, relative to the interesting +twins, Alexander Alberic Cunio and his sister Isabella, who, about 1284, +between the fourteenth and sixteenth years of their age, executed a +series of wood engravings illustrative of the history of Alexander the +Great.[VII-16] However the reader may be delighted or amused by the +romantic narrative of the Cunio, Papillon’s reputation as the historian +of his art would most likely have stood a _little_ higher had he never +discovered those memoranda. They have very much the character of +ill-contrived forgeries; and even supposing that he believed them, and +printed them in good faith, his judgment must be sacrificed to save his +honesty. + + [Footnote VII-15: The Supplement, or “Tome troisième,” as it is + also called, though dated 1766, was not printed until 1768, as is + evident from a “Discours Nuptial,” at page 97, pronounced on 13th + June 1768. Two of the cuts also contain the date 1768.] + + [Footnote VII-16: Papillon’s account of the Cunio, with an + examination of its credibility, will be found in chapter i. pp. + 26-39.] + +The first volume of Papillon’s work contains the history of the art; it +is divided into two parts, the first treating of wood engraving for the +purpose of printing in the usual manner from a single block, and the +second treating of chiaro-scuro. He does not trace the progress of the +art by pointing out the improvements introduced at different periods; he +enumerates all the principal cuts that he had seen, without reference to +their execution as compared with those of an earlier date; and, from his +desire to enhance the importance of his art, he claims almost every +eminent painter whose name or mark is to be found on a cut, as a wood +engraver. He is in this respect so extremely credulous as to assert that +Mary de Medici, Queen of Henry IV. of France, had occasionally amused +herself with engraving on wood; and in order to place the fact beyond +doubt he refers to a cut representing the bust of a female, with the +following inscription: “MARIA MEDICI. F. M.D.LXXXVII.” “The engraving,” +he observes, with his usual _bonhomie_, “is rather better than what +might be reasonably expected from a person of such quality; it contains +many cross-hatchings, somewhat unequal indeed, and occasionally +imperfect, but, notwithstanding, sufficiently well engraved to show that +she had executed several wood-cuts before she had attempted this. I know +more than one wood engraver--or at least calling himself such--who is +incapable of doing the like.” In 1587, the date of this cut, Mary de +Medici was only fourteen years old; and since its execution, according +to Papillon, shows that she was then no novice in the art, she must have +acquired her practical knowledge of wood engraving at rather an early +age,--at least for a princess. Papillon never seems to have considered +that F is the first letter of “FILIA” as well as of “FECIT,” nor to have +suspected that the cut was simply a portrait of Mary de Medici, and not +a specimen of her engraving. + +From the following passage in the preface, he seems to have been aware +that his including the names of many eminent painters in his list of +wood engravers would be objected to. “Some persons, who entertain a +preconceived opinion that many painters whom I mention have not engraved +on wood, may perhaps dispute the works which I ascribe to them. Of such +persons I have to request that they will not condemn me before they have +acquainted themselves with my researches and examined my proofs, and +that they will judge of them without prejudice or partiality.” The +“researches” to which he alludes, appear to have consisted in searching +out the names and marks of eminent painters in old wood-cuts, and his +“proofs” are of the same kind as that which he alleges in support of his +assertion that Mary de Medici had engraved on wood,--a fact which, as he +remarks, “was unknown to Rubens.” The historical portion of Papillon’s +work is indeed little more than a confused catalogue of all the +wood-cuts which had come under his observation; it abounds in errors, +and almost every page affords an instance of his credulity. + +In the second volume, which is occupied with details relative to the +practice of the art, Papillon gives his instructions and enumerates his +“inventions” in a style of complacent self-conceit. The most trifling +remarks are accompanied by a reference to the “Recueil des Papillons;” +and the most obvious means of effecting certain objects,--such means as +had been regularly adopted by wood engravers for upwards of two hundred +years previously, and such as in succeeding times have suggested +themselves to persons who never received any instructions in the +art,--are spoken of as important discoveries, and credit taken for them +accordingly. One of his fancied discoveries is that of lowering the +surface of a block towards the edges in order that the engraved lines in +those parts may be less subject to the action of the _plattin_ in +printing, and consequently lighter in the impression. The Lyons Dance of +Death, 1538, affords several instances of blocks lowered in this manner, +not only towards the edges, but also in the middle of the cut, whenever +it was necessary that certain delicately engraved lines should be +lightly printed, and thus have the appearance of gradually diminishing +till their extremities should scarcely be distinguishable from the paper +on which they are impressed. Numerous instances of this practice are +frequent in wood-cuts executed from 1540 to the decline of the art in +the seventeenth century. Lowering was also practised by the engraver of +the cuts in Croxall’s Æsop; by Thomas Bewick, who acquired a knowledge +of wood engraving without a master; and by the self-taught artist who +executed the cuts in Alexander’s Expedition down the Hydaspes, a poem by +Dr. Thomas Beddoes, printed in 1792, but never published.[VII-17] As the +same practice has recently been claimed as an “invention,” it would seem +that some wood engravers are either apt to ascribe much importance to +little things, or are singularly ignorant of what has been done by their +predecessors. Such an “invention,” though unquestionably useful, surely +does not require any particular ingenuity for its discovery; such +“discoveries” every man makes for himself as soon as he feels the want +of that which the so-called invention will supply. The man who pares the +cork of a quart bottle in order to make it fit a smaller one is, with +equal justice, entitled to the name of an inventor, provided he was not +aware of the thing having been done before: such an “adaptation of means +to the end” cannot, however, be considered as an effort of genius +deserving of public commendation. + + [Footnote VII-17: This poem was privately printed and never + published. It was written expressly in imitation of Dr. Darwin, + some of whose friends had contended that his style was inimitable, + but were deceived into a belief that this poem was written by him, + until the real author avowed himself. In the Advertisement + prefixed to it Dr. Beddoes speaks thus of the engraver of the + cuts: “The engravings in the following pages will be praised or + excused when it is known that they are the performance of an + uneducated and uninstructed artist, if such an application be not + a profanation of the term, in a remote village. All the assistance + he received was from the example of Mr. Bewick’s most masterly + engravings on wood.” The name of this self-taught artist was + Edward Dyas, who was parish-clerk at Madeley, Shropshire, where + the book was printed. The _compositor_, as is stated in the same + Advertisement, was a young woman.--See _Bibliotheca Parriana_, + p. 513.] + +In Papillon’s time it was not customary with French engravers on wood to +have the subject perfectly drawn on the block, with all the lines and +hatchings pencilled in, and the _effect_ and the different tints +indicated either in pencil or in Indian ink, as is the usual practice in +the present day. The design was first drawn on paper; from this, by +means of tracing paper, the engraver made an outline copy on the block; +and, without pencilling in all the lines or washing in the tints, he +proceeded to “translate” the original, to which he constantly referred +in the progress of his work, in the same manner as a copper-plate +engraver does to the drawing or painting before him. Papillon perceived +the disadvantages which resulted from this mode of proceeding; and +though he still continued to make his first drawing on paper, he copied +it more carefully and distinctly on the block than was usual with his +contemporaries. He was thus enabled to proceed with greater certainty in +his engraving; what he had to effect was immediately before him, and it +was no longer necessary to refer so frequently to the original. To the +circumstance of the drawings being perfectly made on the block, Papillon +ascribes in a great measure the excellence of the old wood engravings of +the time of Durer and Holbein. + +Papillon, although always inclined to magnify little things connected +with wood engraving, and to take great credit to himself for trifling +“inventions,” was yet thoroughly acquainted with the practice of his +art. The mode of thickening the lines in certain parts of a cut, after +it has been engraved, by scraping them down, was frequently practised by +him, and he explains the manner of proceeding, and gives a cut of the +tools required in the operation.[VII-18] As Papillon, previous to the +publication of his book, had contributed several papers on the subject +of wood engraving to the famed Encyclopédie, he avails himself of the +second volume of the Traité to propose several additions and corrections +to those articles. The following definition proposed to be inserted in +the Encyclopédie, after the article GRATUIT, will afford some idea of +the manner in which he is accustomed to speak of his “inventions.” The +term which he explains is “GRATTURE ou GRATTAGE,” literally, “SCRAPING,” +the practice just alluded to. “This is, according to the new manner of +engraving on wood, the operation of skilfully and carefully scraping +down parts in an engraved block which are not sufficiently dark, in +order to give them, as may be required, greater strength, and to render +the shades more effective. This admirable plan, utterly unknown before, +was accidentally discovered in 1731 by M. Papillon, by whom the art of +wood engraving is advanced to a state tending to perfection, and +approaching more and more towards the beauty of engraving on copper.” +The tools used by Papillon to scrape down the lines of an engraved +block, and thus render them thicker and, consequently, the impression +darker, differ considerably in shape from those used for the same +purpose by modern wood engravers in England. This tool now principally +used is something like a copper-plate engraver’s burnisher, and +occasionally a fine and sharp file is employed. + + [Footnote VII-18: “Manière de Gratter les tailles déjà gravées + pour les rendre plus fortes, afin de les faire ombrer + davantage.”--Supplément du Traité de la Gravure en Bois, p. 50.] + +In Papillon’s time the French wood engravers appear to have held the +graver in the manner of a pen, and in forming a line to have cut +_towards them_ as in forming a down-stroke in writing, and to have +engraved on the longitudinal, and not the cross section of the wood. +Modern English wood engravers, having the rounded handle of the graver +supported against the hollow of the hand, and directing the blade by +means of the fore-finger and thumb, cut the line _from them_; and always +engrave on the cross section of the wood. Papillon mentions box, +pear-tree, apple-tree, and the wood of the service-tree, as the best for +the purposes of engraving: box was generally used for the smaller and +finer cuts intended for the illustration or ornament of books; the +larger cuts, in which delicacy was not required, were mostly engraved on +pear-tree wood. Apple-tree wood was principally used by the wood +engravers of Normandy. Next to box, Papillon prefers the wood of the +service-tree. The box brought from Turkey, though of larger size, he +considers inferior to that of Provence, Italy, or Spain. + +Although Papillon’s _modus operandi_ differs considerably from that of +English wood engravers of the present day, I am not aware of any +supposed discovery in the modern practice of the art that was not known +to him. The methods of lowering a block in certain parts before drawing +the subject on it, and of thickening the lines, and thus getting more +_colour_, by scraping the surface of the cut when engraved, were, as has +been observed, known to him; he occasionally introduced cross-hatchings +in his cuts;[VII-19] and in one of his chapters he gives instructions +how to insert a _plug_ in a block, in order to replace a part which had +either been spoiled in the course of engraving or subsequently damaged. +One of the improvements which he suggested, but did not put in practice, +was a plan for engraving the same subject on two, three, or four blocks, +in order to obtain cross-hatchings and a variety of tints with less +trouble than if the subject were entirely engraved on the same block. +Such cuts were not to be printed as chiaro-scuros, but in the usual +manner, with printer’s ink. It is worthy of observation that Bewick in +the latter part of his life had formed a similar opinion of the +advantages of engraving a subject on two or more blocks, and thus +obtaining with comparative ease such cross-lines and varied tints as +could only be executed with great difficulty on a single block. He, +however, proceeded further than Papillon, for he began to engrave a +large cut which he intended to finish in this manner; and he was so +satisfied that the experiment would be successful, that when the +pressman handed to him a proof of the first block, he exclaimed, “I wish +I was but twenty years younger!” + + [Footnote VII-19: Several cuts in which cross-hatching is + introduced occur in the “Traité de la Gravure en Bois;” and the + author refers to several others in the “Recueil des Papillons” as + displaying the same kind of work. He considers the execution of + such hatchings as the test of excellence in wood engraving; “for,” + he observes, “when a person has learnt to execute them he may + boast of having mastered one of the most difficult parts of the + art, and may justly assume the name of a wood engraver.”--Tom. ii. + p. 90.] + +Papillon, in his account of the practice of the art, explains the manner +of engraving and printing chiaro-scuros; and in illustration of the +process he gives a cut executed in this style, together with separate +impressions from each of the four blocks from which it is printed. There +is also another cut of the same kind prefixed to the second part of the +first volume, containing the history of engraving in chiaro-scuro. +Scarcely anything connected with the practice of wood engraving appears +to have escaped his notice. He mentions the effect of the breath in cold +weather as rendering the block damp and the drawing less distinct; and +he gives in one of his cuts the figure of a “mentonnière,”--that is to +say, a piece of quilted linen, like the pad used by women to keep their +bonnets cocked up,--which, being placed before the mouth and nostrils, +and kept in its place by strings tied behind the head, screened the +block from the direct action of the engraver’s breath. + +He frequently complains of the careless manner in which wood-cuts were +printed;[VII-20] but from the following passage we learn that the +inferiority of the printed cuts when compared with the engraver’s proofs +did not always proceed from the negligence of the printer. “Some wood +engravers have the art of fabricating proofs of their cuts much more +excellent and delicate than they fairly ought to be; and the following +is the manner in which they contrive to obtain tolerably decent proofs +from very indifferent engravings. They first take two or three +impressions, and then, to obtain one to their liking, and with which +they may deceive their employers, they only ink the block on those +places which ought to be dark, leaving the distances and lighter parts +without any ink, except what remained after taking the previous +impressions. The proof which they now obtain appears extremely delicate +in those parts which were not properly inked; but when they come to be +printed in a page with type, the impression is quite different from the +proof which the engraver delivers with the blocks; there is no variety +of tint, all is hard, and the distance is sometimes darker than objects +in the fore-ground. I run no great risk in saying that all the three _Le +Sueurs_ have been accustomed to practise this deception.”[VII-21] + + [Footnote VII-20: He complains in another part of the work that + many printers, both compositors and pressmen, by pretending to + engrave on wood, had brought the art into disrepute. They not only + spoiled the work of regular engravers, but _dared_ to engrave + wood-cuts themselves.] + + [Footnote VII-21: Traité de la Gravure en Bois, tom. ii. p. 365.] + +All the cuts in Papillon’s work, except the portrait prefixed to the +first volume,[VII-22] are his own engraving, and, for the most part, +from his own designs. The most of the blocks were lent to the author by +the different persons for whom he had engraved them long previous to the +appearance of his work.[VII-23] They are introduced as ornaments at the +beginning and end of the chapters; but though they may enable the reader +to judge of Papillon’s abilities as a designer and engraver on wood, +beyond this they do not in the least illustrate the progress of the art. +The execution of some of the best is extremely neat; and almost all of +them display an effect--a contrast of black and white--which is not to +be found in any other wood-cuts of the period. A few of the designs +possess considerable merit, but in by far the greater number simplicity +and truth are sacrificed to ornament and French taste. Whatever may be +Papillon’s faults as a historian of the art, he deserves great credit +for the diligence with which he pursued it under unfavourable +circumstances, and for his endeavours to bring it into notice at +a time when it was greatly neglected. His labours in this respect were, +however, attended with no immediate fruit. He died in 1776, and his +immediate successors do not appear to have profited by his instructions. +The wood-cuts executed in France between 1776 and 1815 are generally +much inferior to those of Papillon; and the recent progress which wood +engraving has made in that country seems rather to have been influenced +by English example than by his precepts. + + [Footnote VII-22: The portrait was engraved “_in venerationis + testimonium_,” and presented to Papillon by Nicholas Caron, + a bookseller and wood engraver of Besançon. The following + complimentary verses are engraved below the portrait: + + “Tu vois ici les traits d’un Artiste fameux + Dont la savante main enfanta des merveilles; + Par ses travaux et par ses veilles + Il resuscita l’Art qui le trace à tes yeux.” + + Papillon speaks favourably of Caron as a wood engraver; he says + that “he is much superior to Nioul, Jackson, Contat, Lefevre, and + others his contemporaries, and would at least have equalled the Le + Sueurs had he applied himself to drawing the figure.”] + + [Footnote VII-23: From several of those blocks not less than sixty + thousand impressions had been previously taken, and from one of + them four hundred and fifty-six thousand had been printed.] + +Nicholas Le Sueur--born 1691, died 1764,--was, next to Papillon, the +best French wood engraver of his time. His chiaro-scuros, printed +entirely from wood-blocks, are executed with great boldness and +spirit, and partake more of the character of the earlier Italian +chiaro-scuros than any other works of the same kind engraved by his +contemporaries.[VII-24] He chiefly excelled in the execution of +chiaro-scuros and large cuts; his small cuts are of very ordinary +character; they are generally engraved in a hard and meagre style, +want variety of tint, and are deficient in effect. + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VII-24: In the chiaro-scuros from original drawings in + the collection of Monsieur Crozat, with the figures etched by + Count Caylus, the wood-blocks from which the sepia-coloured tints + were printed were engraved by Nicholas Le Sueur.--About the same + period Arthur Pond and George Knapton in England, and Count + M. A. Zanetti in Italy, executed in the same manner several + chiaro-scuros in imitation of drawings and sketches by eminent + painters. The taste for chiaro-scuros seems to have been revived + in France by the Regent-Duke of Orleans, who declared that Ugo da + Carpi’s chiaro-scuros afforded him more pleasure than any other + kind of prints.] + +P. S. Fournier, the younger, a letter-founder of considerable +reputation,--born at Paris 1712, died 1768,--occasionally engraved on +wood. Papillon says that he was self-taught; and that he certainly would +have made greater progress in the art had he not devoted himself almost +exclusively to the business of type-founding. Monsieur Fournier is, +however, better known as a writer on the history of the art than as a +practical wood engraver. Between 1758 and 1761 he published three tracts +relating to the origin and progress of wood engraving, and the invention +of typography.[VII-25] From these works it is evident that, though he +takes no small credit to himself for his practical knowledge of wood +engraving and printing, he was very imperfectly acquainted with his +subject. They abound in errors which it is impossible that any person +possessing the knowledge he boasts of should commit, unless he had very +superficially examined the books and cuts on which he pronounces an +opinion. He seems indeed to have thought that, from the circumstance of +his being a wood engraver and letter-founder, his decisions on all +doubtful matters in the early history of wood engraving and printing +should be received with implicit faith. Looking at the comparatively +small size of his works, no writer, not even Papillon himself, has +committed so many mistakes; and his decisions are generally most +peremptory when utterly groundless or evidently wrong. He asserts that +Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter, 1457-1459, is printed from moveable types +of wood, and that the most of the earliest specimens of typography are +printed from the same kind of types; and in the fulness of his knowledge +he also declares that the text of the Theurdank is printed not from +types, but from engraved wood-blocks. Like Papillon, he seems to have +possessed a marvellous sagacity in ferreting out old wood engravers. He +says that Andrea Mantegna engraved on wood a grand triumph in 1486; that +Sebastian Brandt engraved in 1490 the wood-cuts in the Ship of +Fools,[VII-26] after the designs of J. Locher; and that Parmegiano +executed several wood-cuts after designs by Raffaele. He decides +positively that Albert Durer, Lucas Cranach, Titian, and Holbein were +wood engravers, and, like Papillon, he includes Mary de Medici in the +list. Papillon appears to have had good reason to complain that Fournier +had availed himself of his volume printed in 1738. His taste appears to +have been scarcely superior to his knowledge and judgment: he mentions a +large and coarsely engraved cut of the head of Christ as one of the best +specimens of Albert Durer’s engraving; and he says that Papillon’s cuts +are for excellence of design and execution equal to those of the +greatest masters! + + [Footnote VII-25: The following are the titles of those tracts, + which are rather scarce. They are all of small octavo size, and + printed by J. Barbou. 1. Dissertation sur l’Origine et les Progrès + de l’Art de Graver en Bois, pour éclaircir quelques traits de + l’Histoire de l’Imprimerie, et prouver que Guttemberg n’en est pas + l’Inventeur. Par Mr. Fournier le Jeune, Graveur et Fondeur de + Caractères d’Imprimerie, 1758. 2. De l’Origine et des productions + de l’Imprimerie primitive en taille en Bois, 1759. 3. Remarques + sur un Ouvrage intitulé, Lettre sur l’Origine de l’Imprimerie, &c. + 1761. This last was an answer to a letter written by M. Bär, + almoner of the Swedish chapel in Paris, in which the two former + tracts of Fournier were severely criticised.--Fournier was also + the author of a work in two small volumes, entitled “Manuel + Typographique, utile aux Gens de lettres, et à ceux qui exercent + les differentes parties de l’Art de l’Imprimerie.”] + + [Footnote VII-26: The cut here introduced is the first in the + _Stultifera Navis_, or “Ship of Fools,” and is copied from + Pyason’s edition of 1509. The following lines accompany it: + + “----this is my mynde, this one pleasoure have I, + Of bokes to have great plenty and aparayle. + I take no wysdome by them; nor yet avayle + Nor them perceyve not: And then I them despyse. + Thus am I a foole and all that serve that guyse.”] + +From a passage in one of Fournier’s tracts--Remarques Typographiques, +1761,--it is evident that wood engraving was then greatly neglected in +Germany. It relates to the following observation of M. Bär’s, almoner of +the Swedish chapel at Paris, on the length of time necessary to engrave +a number of wooden types sufficient to print such a work as Faust and +Scheffer’s Psalter: “M. Schœpflin declares that, by the general +admission of all experienced persons, it would require upwards of six +years to complete such a work in so perfect a manner.” The following is +Fournier’s rejoinder: “To understand the value of this remark, it ought +to be known that, so far from there being many experienced wood +engravers to choose from, M. Schœpflin would most likely experience some +difficulty in finding one to consult.” The wood-cuts which occur in +German books printed between 1700 and 1760 are certainly of the most +wretched kind; contemptible alike in design and execution. Some of the +best which I have seen--and they are very bad--are to be found in a thin +folio entitled “Orbis Literatus Germanico-Europaeus,” printed at +Frankfort in 1737. They are cuts of the seals of all the principal +colleges and academical foundations in Germany. The art in Italy about +the same period was almost equally neglected. An Italian wood engraver, +named Lucchesini, executed several cuts between 1760 and 1770. Most of +the head-pieces and ornaments in the Popes’ Decretals, printed at Rome +at this period, were engraved by him; and he also engraved the cuts in a +Spanish book entitled “Letania Lauretana de la Virgen Santissima,” +printed at Valencia in 1768. It is scarcely necessary to say that these +cuts are of the humblest character. + +Though wood engraving did not make any progress in England from 1722 to +the time of Thomas Bewick, yet the art was certainly never lost in this +country; the old stock still continued to put forth a branch--_non +deficit alter_--although not a golden one. Two wood-cuts tolerably well +executed, and which show that the engraver was acquainted with the +practice of “lowering,” occur in a thin quarto, London, printed for +H. Payne, 1760. The book and the cuts are thus noticed in Southey’s Life +of Cowper, volume I. page 50. The writer is speaking of the Nonsense +Club, of which Cowper was a member. + +“At those meetings of + + Jest and youthful Jollity, + Sport that wrinkled Care derides, + And Laughter holding both his sides, + +there can be little doubt that the two odes to Obscurity and Oblivion +originated, joint compositions of Lloyd and Colman, in ridicule of Gray +and Mason. They were published in a quarto pamphlet, with a vignette, in +the title-page, of an ancient poet safely seated and playing on his +harp; and at the end a tail-piece representing a modern poet in huge +boots, flung from a mountain by his Pegasus into the sea, and losing his +tie-wig in the fall.” The following is a fac-simile of the cut +representing the poet’s fall. He seems to have been tolerably confident +of himself, for, though the winged steed has no bridle, he is provided +with a pair of formidable spurs. + + [Illustration] + +The cuts in a collection of humorous pieces in verse, entitled “The +Oxford Sausage,” 1764, are evidently by the same engraver, and almost +every one of them affords an instance of “lowering.” At the foot of one +of them, at page 89, the name “Lister” is seen; the subject is a +bacchanalian figure mounted on a winged horse, which has undoubtedly +been drawn from the same model as the Pegasus in Colman and Lloyd’s +burlesque odes. In an edition of the Sausage, printed in 1772, the name +of “T. Lister” occurs on the title-page as one of the publishers, and as +residing at Oxford. Although those cuts are generally deficient in +effect, their execution is scarcely inferior to many of those in the +work of Papillon; the portrait indeed of “Mrs. Dorothy Spreadbury, +Inventress of the Oxford Sausage,” forming the frontispiece to the +edition of 1772, is better executed than Monsieur Nicholas Caron’s +votive portrait of Papillon, “the restorer of the art of wood +engraving.” + +In 1763, a person named S. Watts engraved two or three large wood-cuts +in outline, slightly shaded, after drawings by Luca Cambiaso. +Impressions of those cuts are most frequently printed in a yellowish +kind of ink. About the same time Watts also engraved, in a bold and free +style, several small circular portraits of painters. In Sir John +Hawkins’s History of Music, published in 1776, there are four wood-cuts; +and at the bottom of the largest--Palestrini presenting his work on +Music to the Pope--is the name of the engraver thus: _T. Hodgson. +Sculp._ Dr. Dibdin, in noticing this cut, in his Preliminary +Disquisition on Early Engraving and Ornamental Printing, prefixed to his +edition of the Typographical Antiquities, says that it was “done by +Hodgson, the master of the celebrated Bewick.”[VII-27] If by this it is +meant that Bewick was the apprentice of Hodgson, or that he obtained +from Hodgson his knowledge of wood engraving, the assertion is +incorrect. It is, however, almost certain that Bewick, when in London in +1776, was employed by Hodgson, as will be shown in its proper place. + + [Footnote VII-27: Dr. Dibdin adds: “Mr. Douce informs me that Sir + John Hawkins told him of the artist’s obtaining the prize for it + from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts.”] + +Having now given some account of wood engraving in its languishing +state--occasionally showing symptoms of returning vigour, and then +almost immediately sinking into its former state of depression--we at +length arrive at an epoch from which its revival and progressive +improvement may be safely dated. The person whose productions recalled +public attention to the neglected art of wood engraving was + + [Illustration: + THOMAS BEWICK] + +This distinguished wood engraver, whose works will be admired as long as +truth and nature shall continue to charm, was born on the 10th or 11th +of August, 1753, at Cherry-burn, in the county of Northumberland, but on +the south side of the Tyne, about twelve miles westward of Newcastle. + + [Illustration: THE HOUSE IN WHICH BEWICK WAS BORN.] + +His father rented a small land-sale colliery at Mickley-bank, in the +neighbourhood of his dwelling, and it is said that when a boy the future +wood engraver sometimes worked in the pit. At a proper age he was sent +as a day-scholar to a school kept by the Rev. Christopher Gregson at +Ovingham, on the opposite side of the Tyne. The Parsonage House, in +which Mr. Gregson lived, is pleasantly situated on the edge of a sloping +bank immediately above the river; and many reminiscences of the place +are to be found in Bewick’s cuts; the gate at the entrance is +introduced, with trifling variations, in three or four different +subjects; and a person acquainted with the neighbourhood will easily +recognise in his tail-pieces several other little local sketches of a +similar kind. In the time of the Rev. James Birkett, Mr. Gregson’s +successor, Ovingham school had the character of being one of the best +private schools in the county; and several gentlemen, whose talents +reflect credit on their teacher, received their education there. In the +following cut, representing a view of Ovingham from the south-westward, +the Parsonage House, with its garden sloping down to the Tyne, is +perceived immediately to the right of the clump of large trees. The bank +on which those trees grow is known as the _crow-tree bank_. The +following lines, descriptive of a view from the Parsonage House, are +from “The School Boy,” a poem, by Thomas Maude, A.M., who received his +early education at Ovingham under Mr. Birkett. + + [Illustration: PARSONAGE AT OVINGHAM.] + + “But can I sing thy simpler pleasures flown, + Loved OVINGHAM! and leave the _chief_ unknown,-- + Thy _annual Fair_, of every joy the mart, + That drained my pocket, ay, and took my childish heart? + Blest morn! how lightly from my bed I sprung, + When in the blushing east thy beams were young; + While every blithe co-tenant of the room + Rose at a call, with cheeks of liveliest bloom. + Then from each well-packed drawer our vests we drew, + Each gay-frilled shirt, and jacket smartly new. + Brief toilet ours! yet, on a morn like this, + Five extra minutes were not deemed amiss. + Fling back the casement!--Sun, propitious shine! + How sweet your beams gild the clear-flowing Tyne, + That winds beneath our master’s garden-brae, + With broad bright mazes o’er its pebbly way. + See Prudhoe! lovely in the morning beam:-- } + Mark, mark, the ferry-boat, with twinkling gleam, } + Wafting fair-going folks across the stream. } + Look out! a bed of sweetness breathes below, + Where many a rocket points its spire of snow; + And from the _Crow-tree Bank_ the cawing sound + Of sable troops incessant poured around! + Well may each little bosom throb with joy! + On such a morn, who would not be a boy?” + +Bewick’s school acquirements probably did not extend beyond English +reading, writing, and arithmetic; for, though he knew a little Latin, he +does not appear to have ever received any instructions in that language. +In a letter dated 18th April, 1803, addressed to Mr. Christopher +Gregson,[VII-28] London, a son of his old master, introducing an artist +of the name of Murphy, who had painted his portrait, Bewick humorously +alludes to his _beauty_ when a boy, and to the state of his coat-sleeve, +in consequence of his using it instead of a pocket-handkerchief. Bewick, +it is to be observed, was very hard-featured, and much marked with the +small-pox. After mentioning Mr. Murphy as “a man of worth, and a +first-rate artist in the miniature line,” he thus proceeds: “I do not +imagine, at your time of life, my dear friend, that you will be +solicitous about forming new acquaintances; but it may not, perhaps, be +putting you much out of the way to show any little civilities to Mr. +Murphy during his stay in London. He has, on his own account, taken my +portrait, and I dare say will be desirous to show you it the first +opportunity: when you see it, you will no doubt conclude that T. B. is +turning _bonnyer_ and _bonnyer_[VII-29] in his old days; but indeed you +cannot _help knowing this_, and also that there were _great indications_ +of its turning out so _long since_. But if you have forgot our earliest +youth, perhaps your brother P.[VII-30] may help you to remember what a +_great beauty_ I was at that time, when the grey coat-sleeve was +_glazed_ from the cuff towards the elbows.” The words printed in Italics +are those that are underlined by Bewick himself. + + [Footnote VII-28: Mr. Christopher Gregson, who was an apothecary, + lived in Blackfriars. He died about the year 1813. As long as he + lived, Bewick maintained a friendly correspondence with him.] + + [Footnote VII-29: _Prettier_ and _prettier_.] + + [Footnote VII-30: Philip.] + +Bewick, having shown a taste for drawing, was placed by his father as an +apprentice with Mr. Ralph Beilby, an engraver, living in Newcastle, to +whom on the 1st of October 1767 he was bound for a term of seven years. +Mr. Beilby was not a wood engraver; and his business in the copper-plate +line was of a kind which did not allow of much scope for the display of +artistic talent. He engraved copper-plates for books, when any by chance +were offered to him; and he also executed brass-plates for doors, with +the names of the owners handsomely filled up, after the manner of the +old “_niellos_,” with black sealing-wax. He engraved crests and initials +on steel and silver watch-seals; also on tea-spoons, sugar-tongs, and +other articles of plate; and the engraving of numerals and ornaments, +with the name of the maker, on clock-faces,--which were not then +enamelled,--seems to have formed one of the chief branches of his very +general business.[VII-31] + + [Footnote VII-31: “While with BEILBY he was employed in engraving + clock-faces, which, I have heard him say, made his hands as hard + as a blacksmith’s, and almost disgusted him with + engraving.”--Sketch of the Life and Works of the late Thomas + Bewick, by George C. Atkinson. Printed in the Transactions of the + Natural History Society, Newcastle, 1830.] + +Bewick’s attention appears to have been first directed to wood engraving +in consequence of his master having been employed by the late Dr. +Charles Hutton, then a schoolmaster in Newcastle, to engrave on wood the +diagrams for his Treatise on Mensuration. The printing of this work was +commenced in 1768, and was completed in 1770. The engraving of the +diagrams was committed to Bewick, who is said to have invented a graver +with a fine groove at the point, which enabled him to cut the outlines +by a single operation. + + [Illustration] + +The above is a fac-simile of one of the earliest productions of Bewick +in the art of wood engraving. The church is intended for that of St. +Nicholas, Newcastle. + +Subsequently, and while he was still an apprentice, Bewick undoubtedly +endeavoured to improve himself in wood engraving; but his progress does +not appear to have been great, and his master had certainly very little +work of this kind for him to do. He appears to have engraved a few +bill-heads on wood; and it is not unlikely that the cuts in a little +book entitled “Youth’s Instructive and Entertaining Story Teller,” first +published by T. Saint, Newcastle, 1774, were executed by him before the +expiration of his apprenticeship. + +Bewick, at one period during his apprenticeship, paid ninepence a week +for his lodgings in Newcastle, and usually received a brown loaf every +week from Cherry-burn. “During his servitude,” says Mr. Atkinson, “he +paid weekly visits to Cherry-burn, except when the river was so much +swollen as to prevent his passage of it at Eltringham, when he +vociferated his inquiries across the stream, and then returned to +Newcastle.” This account of his being accustomed to _shout_ his +enquiries across the Tyne first appeared in a Memoir prefixed to the +Select Fables, published by E. Charnley, 1820. Mr. William Bedlington, +an old friend of Bewick, once asked him if it were true? “Babbles and +nonsense!” was the reply. “It never happened but once, and that was when +the river had suddenly swelled before I could reach the top of the +_allers_,[VII-32] and yet folks are made to believe that I was in the +habit of doing it.” + + [Footnote VII-32: Alders--the name of a small plantation above + Ovingham, which Bewick had to pass through on his way to + Eltringham ferry-boat.] + +On the expiration of his apprenticeship he returned to his father’s +house at Cherry-burn, but still continued to work for Mr. Beilby. About +this time he seems to have formed the resolution of applying himself +exclusively in future to wood engraving, and with this view to have +executed several cuts as specimens of his ability. In 1775 he received a +premium of seven guineas from the Society of Arts for a cut of the +Huntsman and the Old Hound, which he probably engraved when living at +Cherry-burn after leaving Mr. Beilby.[VII-33] The following is a +fac-simile of this cut, which was first printed in an edition of Gay’s +Fables, published by T. Saint, Newcastle, 1779. Mr. Henry Bohn, the +publisher of the present edition, happening to be in possession of the +original cut, it is annexed on the opposite page. + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VII-33: The Reverend William Turner, of Newcastle, in a + letter printed in the Monthly Magazine for June 1801, says that + Bewick obtained this premium “_during his apprenticeship_.” This + must be a mistake; as his apprenticeship expired in October 1774, + and he obtained the premium in 1775. It is possible, however, that + the engraving may have been executed during that period.] + +In 1776, when on a visit to some of his relations in Cumberland,[VII-34] +he availed himself of the opportunity of visiting the Lakes; and in +after-life he used frequently to speak in terms of admiration of the +beauty of the scenery, and of the neat appearance of the white-washed, +slate-covered cottages on the banks of some of the lakes. His tour was +made on foot, with a stick in his hand and a wallet at his back; and it +has been supposed that in a tail-piece, to be found at page 177 of the +first volume of his British Birds, first edition, 1797, he has +introduced a sketch of himself in his travelling costume, drinking out +of what he himself would have called the _flipe_ of his hat. The figure +has been copied in our ornamental letter T at page 471. + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VII-34: Bewick’s mother, Jane Wilson, was a daughter of + Thomas Wilson of Ainstable in Cumberland, about five miles + north-north-west of Kirk-Oswald.] + +In the same year, 1776, he went to London, where he arrived on the 1st +of October. He certainly did not remain more than a twelvemonth in +London,[VII-35] for in 1777 he returned to Newcastle, and entered into +partnership with his former master, Mr. Ralph Beilby. Bewick--who does +not appear to have been wishful to undeceive those who fancied that he +was the person who rediscovered the “long-lost art of engraving on +wood”[VII-36]--would never inform any of the good-natured friends, who +fished for intelligence with the view of writing his life, of the works +on which he was employed when in London. The faith of a believer in the +story of Bewick’s re-discovering “the long-lost art” would have received +too great a shock had he been told by Bewick himself that on his arrival +in London he found professors of the “long-lost art” regularly +exercising their calling, and that with one of them he found employment. + + [Footnote VII-35: Bewick, in London, in 1828, observed to one of + his former pupils, that it was then fifty-one years since he left + London, on his first visit, to return to Newcastle.] + + [Footnote VII-36: Mr. Atkinson talks about wood engraving having + taken a nap for a century or two “after the time of Durer and + Holbein,” and of Bewick being the restorer of the “long-lost art;” + and yet, with singular inconsistency, in another part of his + Sketch, he refers to Papillon, whose work, containing a minute + account of the art as then practised, was published about two + years before Bewick began to engrave on wood.--The Reverend + William Turner, who ought to have known better, also speaks of the + “long-lost art,” in his Memoir of Thomas Bewick.] + +There is every reason to believe that Bewick, when in London, was +chiefly employed by T. Hodgson, most likely the person who engraved the +four cuts in Sir John Hawkins’s History of Music. It is at any rate +certain that several cuts engraved by Bewick appeared in a little work +entitled “A curious Hieroglyphick Bible,” printed by and for T. Hodgson, +in George’s Court, St. John’s Lane, Clerkenwell.[VII-37] Proofs of three +of the principal cuts are now lying before me. The subjects are: Adam +and Eve, with the Deity seen in the clouds, forming the frontispiece; +the Resurrection; and a cut representing a gentleman seated in an +arm-chair, with four boys beside him: the border of this cut is of the +same kind as that of the large cut of the Chillingham Bull engraved by +Bewick in 1789. These proofs appear to have been presented by Bewick to +an eminent painter, now dead, with whom either then, or at a subsequent +period, he had become acquainted. Not one of Bewick’s biographers +mentions those cuts, nor seems to have been aware of their existence. +The two memoirs of Bewick, written by his “friends” G. C. Atkinson and +John F. M. Dovaston,[VII-38] sufficiently demonstrate that neither of +them had enjoyed his confidence in matters relative to his progress in +the art of wood engraving. + + [Footnote VII-37: I have not been able to discover the date of the + first edition of this work. The third edition is dated 1785.] + + [Footnote VII-38: “Some Account of the Life, Genius, and Personal + Habits of the late Thomas Bewick, the celebrated Artist and + Engraver on Wood. By his Friend John F. M. Dovaston, Esq. A.M.,” + was published in Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, 1829-1830. + Mr. Dovaston seems to have caught a knowledge of Bewick’s personal + habits at a glance; and a considerable number of his observations + on other matters appear to have been the result of a peculiar + quickness of apprehension. What he says about the church of + Ovingham not being “parted into proud pews,” when Bewick was a + boy, is incorrect. It had, in fact, been pewed from an early + period; for, on the 2nd of September, 1763, Dr. Sharp, Archdeacon + of Northumberland, on visiting the church, notices the pews as + being “very bad and irregular;” and on a board over the + vestry-door is the following inscription: “This Church was new + pewed, A. D. 1766.” No boards from this church containing + specimens of Bewick’s early drawing were ever in the possession of + the Duke of Northumberland. Mr. Dovaston is frequently + imaginative, but seldom correct. His personal sketch of Bewick is + a ridiculous caricature.] + +Mr. Atkinson, in his Sketch of the Life and Works of Bewick, says that +when in London he worked with a person of the name of Cole. Of this +person, as a wood engraver, I have not been able to discover any trace. +Bewick did not like London; and he always advised his former pupils and +north-country friends to leave the “province covered with houses” as +soon as they could, and return to the country to there enjoy the +beauties of Nature, fresh air, and content. In the letter to his old +schoolfellow, Mr. Christopher Gregson, previously quoted, he thus +expresses his opinion of London life. “Ever since you paid your last +visit to the north, I have often been thinking upon you, and wishing +that you would _lap up_, and leave the metropolis, to enjoy the fruits +of your hard-earned industry on the banks of the Tyne, where you are so +much respected, both on your own account and on that of those who are +gone. Indeed, I wonder how you can think of turmoiling yourself to the +end of the chapter, and let the opportunity slip of contemplating at +your ease the beauties of Nature, so bountifully spread out to +enlighten, to captivate, and to cheer the heart of man. For my part, +I am still of the same mind that I was in when in London, and that is, +_I would rather be herding sheep on Mickley bank top than remain in +London, although for doing so I was to be made the premier of England_.” +Bewick was truly a _country_ man; he felt that it was better “to hear +the lark sing than the mouse cheep;” for, though no person was capable +of closer application to his art when within doors, he loved to spend +his hours of relaxation in the open air, studying the character of +beasts and birds in their natural state; and diligently noting those +little incidents and traits of country life which give so great an +interest to many of his tail-pieces. When a young man, he was fond of +angling; and, like Roger Ascham, he “dearly loved a main of cocks.” When +annoyed by street-walkers in London, he used to assume the air of a +stupid countryman, and, in reply to their importunity, would ask, with +an expression of stolid gravity, if they knew “Tommy Hummel o’ Prudhoe, +Willy Eltringham o’ Hall-Yards, or Auld Laird Newton o’ +Mickley?”[VII-39] He thus, without losing his temper, or showing any +feeling of annoyance, soon got quit of those who wished to engage his +attention, though sometimes not until he had received a hearty +malediction for his stupidity. + + [Footnote VII-39: Humble, Eltringham, and Newton were the names of + three of his country acquaintances; Prudhoe, Hall-Yards, and + Mickley are places near Ovingham.] + +In 1777, on his return to Newcastle, he entered into partnership with +Mr. Beilby; and his younger brother, John Bewick, who was then about +seventeen years old, became their apprentice. From this time Bewick, +though he continued to assist his partner in the other branches of their +business,[VII-40] applied himself chiefly to engraving on wood. The cuts +in an edition of Gay’s Fables, 1779,[VII-41] and in an edition of Select +Fables, 1784, both printed by T. Saint, Newcastle, were engraved by +Bewick, who was probably assisted by his brother. Several of those cuts +are well engraved, though by no means to be compared to his later works, +executed when he had acquired greater knowledge of the art, and more +confidence in his own powers. He evidently improved as his talents were +exercised; for the cuts in the Select Fables, 1784, are generally much +superior to those in Gay’s Fables, 1779; the animals are better drawn +and engraved; the sketches of landscape in the back-grounds are more +natural; and the engraving of the foliage of the trees and bushes is, +not unfrequently, scarce inferior to that of his later productions. Such +an attention to nature in this respect is not to be found in any +wood-cuts of an earlier date. The following impressions from two of the +original cuts in the Select Fables are fair specimens; one is +interesting, as being Bewick’s first idea of a favourite vignette in his +British Land Birds; the other as his first treatment of the lion and the +four bulls, afterwards repeated in his Quadrupeds. In the best cuts of +the time of Durer and Holbein the foliage is generally neglected; the +artists of that period merely give general forms of trees, without ever +attending to that which contributes so much to their beauty. The merit +of introducing this great improvement in wood engraving, and of +depicting quadrupeds and birds in their natural forms, and with their +characteristic expression, is undoubtedly due to Bewick. Though he was +not the discoverer of the art of wood engraving, he certainly was the +first who applied it with success to the delineation of animals, and to +the natural representation of landscape and woodland scenery. He found +for himself a path which no previous wood engraver had trodden, and in +which none of his successors have gone beyond him. For several of the +cuts in the Select Fables, Bewick was paid only nine shillings each. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote VII-40: Bewick could engrave on copper, but did not + excel in this branch of engraving. The following are the principal + copper-plates which are known to be of his engraving. Plates in + Consett’s Tour through Sweden, Swedish Lapland, Finland, and + Denmark, 4to. Stockton, 1789; The Whitley large Ox, 1789; and the + remarkable Kyloe Ox, bred in the Mull, Argyleshire, 1790--A set of + silver buttons, containing sporting devices, engraved by Bewick + for the late H. U. Reay, Esq. of Killingworth, which passed into + the possession of Mr. Reay’s son-in-law, Matthew Bell, Esq. of + Wolsingham.] + + [Footnote VII-41: Mr. Atkinson says that “about the same time he + executed the cuts [sixty-two in number] for a small child’s book, + entitled ‘A pretty Book of Pictures for little Masters and Misses, + or Tommy Trip’s History of Beasts and Birds.’”--An edition of the + Select Fables, with very bad wood-cuts, was printed by Mr. Saint + in 1776. The person by whom they were engraved is unknown. Bewick + always denied that any of them were of his engraving.] + +In 1789 he drew and engraved his large cut of the Chillingham +Bull,[VII-42] which many persons suppose to be his master-piece; but +though it is certainly well engraved, and the character of the animal is +well expressed, yet as a wood engraving it will not bear a comparison +with several of the cuts in his History of British Birds. The grass and +the foliage of the trees are most beautifully expressed; but there is a +want of variety in the more distant trees, and the bark of that in the +fore-ground to the left is too rough. This exaggeration of the roughness +of the bark of trees is also to be perceived in many of his other cuts. +The style in which the bull is engraved is admirably adapted to express +the texture of the short white hair of the animal; the dewlap, however, +is not well represented, it appears to be stiff instead of flaccid and +pendulous; and the lines intended for the hairs on its margin are too +_wiry_. On a stone in the fore-ground he has introduced a _bit_ of +cross-hatching, but not with good effect, for it causes the stone to +look very much like an old scrubbing-brush. Bewick was not partial to +cross-hatching, and it is seldom to be found in cuts of his engraving. +He seems to have introduced it in this cut rather to show to those who +knew anything of the matter that he could engrave such lines, than from +an opinion that they were necessary, or in the slightest degree improved +the cut. This is almost the only instance in which Bewick has introduced +black lines crossing each other, and thus forming what is usually called +“cross-hatchings.” From the commencement of his career as a wood +engraver, he adopted a much more simple method of obtaining colour. He +very justly considered, that, as impressions of wood-cuts are printed +from lines engraved in _relief_, the unengraved surface of the block +already represented the darkest colour that could be produced; and +consequently, instead of labouring to produce colour in the same manner +as the old wood engravers, he commenced upon colour or black, and +proceeded from _dark to light_ by means of lines cut in intaglio, and +appearing white when in the impression, until his subject was completed. +This great simplification of the old process was the result of his +having to engrave his own drawings; for in drawing his subject on the +wood he avoided all combinations of lines which to the designer are +easy, but to the engraver difficult. In almost every one of his cuts the +effect is produced by the simplest means. The colour which the old wood +engravers obtained by means of cross-hatchings, Bewick obtained with +much greater facility by means of single lines, and masses of black +slightly intersected or broken with white. + + [Footnote VII-42: This cut was executed for Marmaduke Tunstall, + Esq. of Wycliffe, near Greta Bridge, in Yorkshire.] + +When only a few impressions of the Chillingham Bull had been taken, and +before he had added his name, the block split. The pressmen, it is said, +got tipsy over their work, and left the block lying on the window-sill +exposed to the rays of the sun, which caused it to warp and +split.[VII-43] About six impressions were taken on thin vellum before +the accident occurred. Mr. Atkinson says that one of those impressions, +which had formerly belonged to Mr. Beilby, Bewick’s partner, was sold in +London for twenty pounds; A. Stothard, R.A., had one, as had also Mr. +C. Nesbit. + + [Footnote VII-43: The block remained in several pieces until 1817, + when they were firmly united by means of cramps, and a number of + impressions printed off. These impressions are without the border, + which distinguishes the earlier ones. The border, which was + engraved on separate pieces, enclosed the principal cut in the + manner of a frame.] + +Towards the latter end of 1785 Bewick began to engrave the cuts for his +General History of Quadrupeds, which was first printed in 1790.[VII-44] +The descriptions were written by his partner, Mr. Beilby, and the cuts +were all drawn and engraved by himself. The comparative excellence of +those cuts, which, for the correct delineation of the animals and the +natural character of the _incidents_, and the back-grounds, are greatly +superior to anything of the kind that had previously appeared, insured a +rapid sale for the work; a second edition was published in 1791, and a +third in 1792.[VII-45] + + [Footnote VII-44: A Prospectus containing specimens of the cuts + was printed in 1787.] + + [Footnote VII-45: The first edition consisted of fifteen hundred + copies in demy octavo at 8_s._, and one hundred royal at 12_s._ + The price of the demy copies of the _eighth_ edition, published in + 1825, was £1 1_s._ A proof of the estimation in which the work + continued to be held.] + +The great merit of those cuts consists not so much in their execution as +in the spirited and natural manner in which they are drawn. Some of the +animals, indeed, which he had not had an opportunity of seeing, and for +which he had to depend on the previous engravings of others, are not +correctly drawn. Among the most incorrect are the Bison, the Zebu, the +Buffalo, the Many-horned Sheep, the Gnu, and the Giraffe or +Cameleopard.[VII-46] Even in some of our domestic quadrupeds he was not +successful; the Horses are not well represented; and the very +indifferent execution of the Common Bull and Cow, at page 19, edition +1790, is only redeemed by the interest of the back-grounds. In that of +the Common Bull, the action of the bull seen chasing a man is most +excellent; and in that of the Cow, the woman, with a _skeel_ on her +head, and her petticoats tucked up behind, returning from milking, is +evidently a sketch from nature. The Goats and the Dogs are the best of +those cuts both in design and execution; and perhaps the very best of +all the cuts in the first edition is that of the Cur Fox at page 270. +The tail of the animal, which is too long, and is also incorrectly +marked with black near the white tip, was subsequently altered. + + [Footnote VII-46: The cut of the Giraffe in the edition of 1824 is + not the original one engraved by Bewick. In the later cut, which + was chiefly engraved by W. W. Temple, one of Bewick’s pupils, the + marks on the body of the animal appear like so many white-coloured + lines crossing each other, and enclosing large irregular spots.] + +In the first edition the characteristic tail-pieces are comparatively +few; and several of those which are merely ornamental, displaying +neither imagination nor feeling, are copies of cuts which are frequent +in books printed at Leipsic between 1770 and 1780, and which were +probably engraved by Ungher, a German wood engraver of that period. +Examples of such tasteless trifles are to be found at pages 9, 12, 18, +65, 110, 140, 201, 223, and 401. Ornaments of the same character occur +in Heineken’s “Idée Générale d’une Collection complette d’Estampes,” +Leipsic and Vienna, 1771. Bewick was unquestionably better acquainted +with the history and progress of wood engraving than those who talk +about the “long-lost art” were aware of. The first of the two following +cuts is a fac-simile of a tail-piece which occurs in an edition of “Der +Weiss Kunig,”[VII-47] printed at Vienna, 1775, and which Bewick has +copied at page 144 of the first edition of the Quadrupeds, 1790. The +second, from one of the cuts illustrative of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, 1569, +designed by Virgil Solis,[VII-48] is copied in a tail-piece in the first +volume of Bewick’s Birds, page 330, edition 1797. + + [Footnote VII-47: Some account of this work is previously given at + page287.] + + [Footnote VII-48: This work is noticed at page 407.] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +The following may be mentioned as the best of the tail-pieces in the +first edition of the Quadrupeds, and as those which most decidedly +display Bewick’s talent in depicting, without exaggeration, natural and +humorous incidents. In this respect he has been excelled by no other +artist either of past or present times. The Elephant, fore-shortened, at +page 162; the Dog and Cat, 195; the Old Man crossing a ford, mounted on +an old horse, which carries, in addition, two heavy sacks, 244; the +Bear-ward, with his wife and companion, leading Bruin, and accompanied +by his dancing-dogs,--a gallows seen in the distance, 256; a Fox, with +Magpies flying after him, indicating his course to his pursuers, 265; +Two unfeeling fellows enjoying the pleasure of hanging a dog,--a gibbet, +seen in the distance, to denote that those who could thus quietly enjoy +the dying struggles of a dog would not be unlikely to murder a man, 274; +a Man eating his dinner with his dog sitting beside him, expecting his +share, 285; Old Blind Man led by a dog, crossing a bridge of a single +plank, and with the rail broken, in a storm of wind and rain, 320; a Mad +Dog pursued by three men,--a feeble old woman directly in the dog’s way, +324; a Man with a bundle at his back, crossing a stream on stilts, 337; +a winter piece,--a Man travelling in the snow, 339; a grim-visaged Old +Man, accompanied by a cur-dog, driving an old sow, 371; Two Boys and an +Ass on a common, 375; a Man leaping, by means of a pole, a stream, +across which he has previously thrown his stick and bag, 391; a Man +carrying a bundle of faggots on the ice, 395; a Wolf falling into a +trap, 430; and Two Blind Fiddlers and a Boy, the last in the book, at +456. In this cut Bewick has represented the two blind fiddlers earnestly +scraping away, although there is no one to listen to their strains; the +bare-legged _tatty_-headed boy who leads them, and the half-starved +melancholy-looking dog at their heels, are in admirable keeping with the +principal characters. + +On the next page is a copy of the cut of the Two Boys and the Ass, +previously mentioned as occurring at page 375. This cut, beyond any +other of the tail-pieces in the first edition of the Quadrupeds, perhaps +affords the best specimen of Bewick’s peculiar talent of depicting such +subjects; he faithfully represents Nature, and at the same time conveys +a moral, which gives additional interest to the sketch. Though the ass +remains immoveable, in spite of the application of a branch of furze to +his hind quarters, the young graceless who is mounted evidently enjoys +his seat. The pleasure of the twain consists as much in having _caught_ +an ass as in the prospect of a ride. To such characters the stubborn ass +frequently affords more _amusement_ than a willing goer; they like to +flog and thump a thing well, though it be but a gate-post. The gallows +in the distance--a favourite _in terrorem_ object with Bewick--suggests +their ultimate destiny; and the cut, in the first edition, derives +additional _point_ from its situation among the animals found in _New +South Wales_,--the first shipment of convicts to Botany Bay having taken +place about two years previous to the publication of the work. This cut, +as well as many others in the book, affords an instance of +lowering,--the light appearance of the distance is entirely effected by +that process. + + [Illustration] + +The subsequent editions of the Quadrupeds were enlarged by the addition +of new matter and the insertion of several new cuts. Of these, with the +exception of the Kyloe Ox,[VII-49] the tail-pieces are by far the best. +The following are the principal cuts of animals that have been added +since the first publication of the work; the pages annexed refer to the +edition of 1824, the last that was published in Bewick’s life-time: the +Arabian Horse, page 4,--the stallion, seen in the back-ground, has +suffered a dismemberment since its first appearance;[VII-50] the Old +English Road Horse, 9; the Improved Cart Horse, 14; the Kyloe Ox, 36; +the Musk Bull, 49; the Black-faced, or Heath Ram, 56; Heath Ram of the +Improved Breed, 57; The Cheviot Ram, 58; Tees-water Ram of the Old +Breed, 60; Tees-water Ram, Improved Breed, 61; the American Elk, 125; +Sow of the Improved Breed, 164; Sow of the Chinese Breed, 166; Head of a +Hippopotamus, (engraved by W. W. Temple,) 185; Indian Bear, 293; Polar, +or Great White Bear, substituted for another cut of the same animal, +295; the Spotted Hyena, substituted for another cut of the same animal, +301; the Ban-dog, 338; the Irish Greyhound, 340; the Harrier, 347; +Spotted Bavy, substituted for another cut of the same animal, 379; the +Grey Squirrel, 387; the Long-tailed Squirrel, 396; the Jerboa, +substituted for another cut of the same animal, 397; the Musquash, or +Musk Beaver, 416; the Mouse, substituted for another cut of the same +animal, 424; the Short-eared Bat, 513; the Long-eared Bat, 515; the +Ternate Bat, 518; the Wombach, 523; and the Ornithorhynchus Paradoxicus, +525. The cut of the animal called the Thick-nosed Tapiir, at page 139 of +the first edition, is transposed to page 381 of the last edition, and +there described under the name of the Capibara: it is probably intended +for the Coypu rat, a specimen of which is at present in the Gardens of +the Zoological Society, Regent’s Park. Bewick was a regular visitor of +all the wild-beast shows that came to Newcastle, and availed himself of +every opportunity to obtain drawings from living animals. + + [Footnote VII-49: The Kyloe Ox, which occurs at page 36 of the + edition of 1824, the last that was published in Bewick’s + life-time, is one of the very best cuts of a quadruped that he + ever engraved. The drawing is excellent, and the characteristic + form and general appearance of the animal are represented in a + manner that has never been excelled.] + + [Footnote VII-50: The Lancashire _Bull_, of the first edition, by + a similar process has been converted into the Lancashire _Ox_.] + + [Illustration] + +The tail-pieces introduced in subsequent editions of the Quadrupeds +generally display more humour and not less talent in representing +natural objects than those contained in the first. In the annexed cut of +a sour-visaged old fellow going with corn to the mill, we have an +exemplification of cruelty not unworthy of Hogarth.[VII-51] The +over-laden, half-starved old horse,--broken-kneed, greasy-heeled, and +evidently troubled with the string-halt, as is indicated by the action +of the _off_ hind-leg,--hesitates to descend the brae, at the foot of +which there is a stream, and the old brute on his back urges him forward +by _working_ him, as jockeys say, with the halter, and beating him with +his stick. In the distance, Bewick, as is usual with him when he gives a +sketch of cruelty or knavery, has introduced a gallows. The miserable +appearance of the poor animal is not a little increased by the nakedness +of his hind quarters; his stump of a tail is so short that it will not +even serve as a _catch_ for the crupper or _tail-band_. + + [Footnote VII-51: The originals of this and the three following + cuts occur respectively at pages 13, 15, 69, and 526 of the + edition of 1824. The other principal tail-pieces in this edition + are: Greyhound-coursing, (originally engraved on a silver cup for + a person at Northallerton,) drawn by Bewick on the block, but + engraved by W. W. Temple, page x, at the end of the Index; the Old + Coachman and the Young Squire, 12; Tinker’s Children in a pair of + panniers on the back of an Ass, 21; a Cow drinking, 28; Winter + scene, 34; Two Men digging, (engraved by H. White, who also + engraved the cut of the Musk Bull at page 49,) 37; Dog worrying a + Sheep, 62; Old Soldier travelling in the rain, 117; Smelling, + tail-piece to the Genet, a _strong bit_, 269; Drunken Man making + his Dam, 378; and Seals on a large piece of floating ice, 510.] + + [Illustration] + +In the cut of the child, unconscious of its danger, pulling at the long +tail of a young unbroken colt, the story is most admirably told. The +nurse, who is seen engaged with her sweetheart by the side of the hedge, +has left the child to wander at will, and thus expose itself to +destruction; while the mother, who has accidentally perceived the danger +of her darling, is seen hastening over the stile, regardless of the +steps, in an agony of fear. The backward glance of the horse’s eye, and +the heel raised ready to strike, most forcibly suggest the danger to +which the unthinking infant is exposed. + +Though the subject of the following cut be simple, yet the _sentiment_ +which it displays is the genuine offspring of true genius. Near to a +ruined cottage, while all around is covered with snow, a lean and hungry +ewe is seen nibbling at an old broom, while her young and weakly lamb is +sucking her milkless teats. Such a picture of animal want--conceived +with so much feeling, and so well expressed,--has perhaps never been +represented by any artist except Bewick. + + [Illustration] + +The original of the following cut forms the tail-piece to the last page +of the edition of 1824. An old man, wearing a parson’s cast-off beaver +and wig, is seen carrying his young wife and child across a stream. The +complacent look of the cock-nosed wife shows that she enjoys the treat, +while the old drudge patiently bears his burden, and with his right hand +keeps a firm _grip_ of the nether end of his better part. This cut is an +excellent satire on those old men who marry young wives and become +dotingly uxorious in the decline of life; submitting to every indignity +to please their youthful spouses and reconcile them to their state. It +is a _new reading_ of January and May,--he an old travelling beggar, and +she a young slut with her heels peeping, or rather staring, through her +stockings. + + [Illustration] + +Mr. Solomon Hodgson, the printer of the first four editions of the +Quadrupeds, had an interest in the work; he died in 1800; and in +consequence of a misunderstanding between his widow and Bewick, the +latter had the subsequent editions printed at the office of Mr. Edward +Walker. Mrs. Hodgson having asserted, in a letter printed in the Monthly +Magazine for July 1805, that Bewick was neither the author nor the +projector of the History of Quadrupeds, but “was employed merely as the +engraver or wood-cutter,” he, in justification of his own claims, gave +the following account of the origin of the work.[VII-52] “From my first +reading, when a boy at school, a sixpenny History of Birds and Beasts, +and a then wretched composition called the History of Three Hundred +Animals, to the time I became acquainted with works on Natural History +written for the perusal of men, I never was without the design of +attempting something of this kind myself; but my principal object was +(and still is) directed to the mental pleasure and improvement of youth; +to engage their attention, to direct their steps aright, and to lead +them on till they become enamoured of this innocent and delightful +pursuit. Some time after my partnership with Mr. Beilby commenced, +I communicated my wishes to him, who, after many conversations, came +into my plan of publishing a History of Quadrupeds, and I then +immediately began to draw the animals, to design the vignettes, and to +cut them on wood, and this, to avoid interruption, frequently till very +late in the night; my partner at the same time undertaking to compile +and draw up the descriptions and history at his leisure hours and +evenings at home. With the accounts of the foreign animals I did not +much interfere; the sources whence I had drawn the little knowledge I +possessed were open to my coadjutor, and he used them; but to those of +the animals of our own country, as my partner before this time had paid +little attention to natural history, I lent a helping hand. This help +was given in daily conversations, and in occasional notes and memoranda, +which were used in their proper places. As the cuts were engraved, we +employed the late Mr. Thomas Angus, of this town, printer, to take off a +certain number of impressions of each, many of which are still in my +possession. At Mr. Angus’s death the charge for this business was not +made in his books, and at the request of his widow and ourselves, the +late Mr. Solomon Hodgson fixed the price; and yet the widow and +executrix of Mr. Hodgson asserts in your Magazine, that I was ‘merely +employed as the engraver or wood-cutter,’ (I suppose) by her husband! +Had this been the case, is it probable that Mr. Hodgson would have had +the cuts printed in any other office than his own? The fact is the +reverse of Mrs. Hodgson’s statement; and although I have never, either +‘insidiously’ or otherwise, used any means to cause the reviewers, or +others, to hold me up as the ‘first and sole mover of the concern,’ I am +now dragged forth by her to declare that _I am the man_. + + [Footnote VII-52: This account is extracted from a letter written + by Bewick, and printed in the Monthly Magazine for November 1805.] + +“But to return to my story:--while we were in the progress of our work, +prudence suggested that it might be necessary to inquire how our labours +were to be ushered to the world, and, as we were unacquainted with the +printing and publishing of books, what mode was the most likely to +insure success. Upon this subject Mr. Hodgson was consulted, and made +fully acquainted with our plan. He entered into the undertaking with +uncommon ardour, and urged us strenuously not to retain our first humble +notions of ‘making it like a school-book,’ but pressed us to let it +‘assume a more respectable form.’ From this warmth of our friend we had +no hesitation in offering him a share in the work, and a copartnership +deed was entered into between us, for that purpose, on the 10th of April +1790. What Mr. Hodgson did in correcting the press, beyond what falls to +the duty of every printer, I know not; but I am certain that he was +extremely desirous that it should have justice done it. In this _weaving +of words_ I did not interfere, as I believed it to be in hands much +fitter than my own, only I took the liberty of blotting out whatever I +knew not to be truth.” + +The favourable manner in which the History of Quadrupeds was received +determined Bewick to commence without delay his History of British +Birds. He began to draw and engrave the cuts in 1791, and in 1797 the +first volume of the work, containing the Land Birds, was +published.[VII-53] The letter-press, as in the Quadrupeds, was written +by his partner, Mr. Beilby, who certainly deserves great praise for the +manner in which he has performed his task. The descriptions generally +have the great merit of being simple, intelligible, and correct. There +are no trifling details about system, no confused arguments about +classification, which more frequently bewilder than inform the reader +who is uninitiated in the piebald jargon of what is called “Systematic +nomenclature.” He describes the quadruped or bird in a manner which +enables even the most unlearned to recognize it when he sees it; and, +like one who is rather wishful to inform his readers than to display his +own acquaintance with the scientific vocabulary, he carefully avoids the +use of all terms which are not generally understood. Mr. Beilby, though +in a different manner and in a less degree, is fairly entitled to share +with Bewick in the honour of having rendered popular in this country the +study of the most interesting and useful branches of Zoology--Quadrupeds +and Birds--by giving the descriptions in simple and intelligible +language, and presenting to the eye the very form and character of the +living animals. As a copper-plate engraver, Mr. Beilby has certainly no +just pretensions to fame; but as a compiler, and as an able coadjutor of +Bewick in simplifying the study of Natural History, and rendering its +most interesting portions easy of attainment to the young, and to those +unacquainted with the “science,” he deserves higher praise than he has +hitherto generally received. Roger Thornton’s Monument, and the Plan of +Newcastle, in the Reverend John Brand’s History of that town, were +engraved by Mr. Beilby. Mr. Brand’s book-plate was also engraved by him. +It is to be found in most of the books that formerly belonged to that +celebrated antiquary, who is well known to all collectors from the +extent of his purchases at stalls, and the number of curious old books +which he thus occasionally obtained.--The Reverend William Turner, of +Newcastle, in a letter printed in the Monthly Magazine for June 1801, +vindicates the character of Mr. Beilby from what he considers the +detractions of Dr. Gleig, in an article on Wood-cuts in the Supplement +to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Mr. Beilby was a native of the city of +Durham, and was brought up as a silversmith and seal-engraver under his +father. He died at Newcastle on the 4th of January 1817, in the +seventy-fourth year of his age. + + [Footnote VII-53: Of this edition, 1,874 copies were printed,--one + thousand demy octavo, at 10_s._ 6_d._; eight hundred and fifty + thin and thick royal, at 13_s._, and 15_s._; and twenty-four + imperial at £1 1_s._ The first edition of the second volume, 1804, + consisted of the same number of copies as the first, but the + prices were respectively 12_s._, 15_s._, 18_s._ and £1 4_s._] + +The partnership between Beilby and Bewick having been dissolved in 1797, +shortly after the publication of the first volume of the Birds, the +descriptions in the second, which did not appear till 1804, were written +by Bewick himself, but revised by the Reverend Henry Cotes, vicar of +Bedlington. The publication of this volume formed the key-stone of +Bewick’s fame as a designer and engraver on wood; for though the cuts +are not superior to those of the first, they are not excelled, nor +indeed equalled, by any that he afterwards executed. The subsequent +additions, whether as cuts of birds or tail-pieces, are not so excellent +as numerous--in this respect the reverse of the additions to the +Quadrupeds. Though all the birds were designed, and nearly all of them +engraved by Bewick himself, there are yet living witnesses who can +testify that both in the drawing and the engraving of the tail-pieces he +received very considerable assistance from his pupils, more especially +from Robert Johnson as a draftsman, and Luke Clennell as a wood +engraver.[VII-54] Before saying anything further on this subject, it +seems necessary to give the following passage from Mr. Atkinson’s Sketch +of the Life and Works of Bewick. “With regard to the circumstance that +the _British Birds_, with very few exceptions, were finished by his own +hand, I have it in my power to pledge myself. I had been a good deal +surprised one day by hearing a gentleman assert that very few of them +were his own work, all the easy parts being executed by his pupils. +I saw him the same day, and, talking of his art, inquired if he +permitted the assistance of his apprentices in many cases? He said, ‘No; +it had seldom happened, and then they had injured the cuts very much.’ +I inquired if he could remember any of them in which he had received +assistance? He said, ‘Aye: I can soon tell you them;’ and, after a few +minutes’ consideration, he made out, with his daughter’s assistance, +_the Whimbrel_, _Tufted Duck_, and _Lesser Tern_:[VII-55] he tried to +recollect more, and turning to his daughter, said, ‘Jane, honey, dost +thou remember any more?’ She considered a little, and said, ‘No: she did +not; but that certainly there were not half a dozen in all:’ those we +both pressed him to do over again. ‘He intended it,’ he said; but, alas! +this intention was prevented. In some cases, I am informed, he made his +pupils block out for him; that is, furnished them with an outline, and +let them cut away the edges of the block to that line; but as, in this +case, the assistance rendered is much the same as that afforded by a +turner’s apprentice when he rounds off the heavy mass of wood in +readiness for a more experienced hand, but not a line of whose +performance remains in the beautiful toy it becomes, it does not +materially shake the authenticity of the work in question.” + + [Footnote VII-54: Pinkerton having stated in his Scottish Gallery, + on the authority of Messrs. Morison, printers, of Perth, that + Bewick, “observing the uncommon genius of his late apprentice, + Robert Johnson, employed him to trace the figures on the wood in + the History of Quadrupeds,” Bewick, in his letter, printed in the + Monthly Magazine for November 1805, previously quoted, thus denies + the assertion: “It is only necessary for me to declare, and this + will be attested by my partner Mr. Beilby, who compiled the + History of Quadrupeds, and was a proprietor of the work, that + neither Robert Johnson, nor any person but myself, made the + drawings, or traced or cut them on the wood.”--Robert Johnson was + employed by Messrs. Morison to copy for the Scottish Gallery + several portraits at Taymouth Castle, the seat of the Earl of + Breadalbane. Bewick in this letter carefully avoids pleading to + that with which he was not charged; he does not deny that several + of the drawings of the tail-pieces in the History of British Birds + were made by Robert Johnson. A pupil of Bewick’s, now living, saw + many of Johnson’s drawings for these cuts, and sat beside Clennell + when he was engraving them.] + + [Footnote VII-55: These three cuts were engraved by one of + Bewick’s pupils, named Henry Hole. Neither Bewick’s memory nor his + daughter’s had been accurate on this occasion; but not one of the + other cuts which they failed to recollect can be compared with + those engraved by Bewick himself. In addition to those three, the + following, not engraved by Bewick himself, had appeared at the + time the above conversation took place--some time between 1825 and + 1826:--the Brent Goose, the Lesser Imber, and the Cormorant, + engraved by L. Clennell; the Velvet Duck, the Red-breasted + Merganser, and the Crested Cormorant, by H. Hole; the Rough-legged + Falcon, the Pigmy Sand-piper, the Red Sand-piper, and the Eared + Grebe, by W. W. Temple.] + +Though it is evident that Bewick meant here simply to assert that all +the _figures_ of the _birds_, except the few which he mentions, were +entirely engraved by himself, yet his biographer always speaks as if +_every one_ of the cuts in the work--both birds and tail-pieces--were +exclusively engraved by Bewick himself; and in consequence of this +erroneous opinion he refers to seven cuts[VII-56] as affording +favourable instances of Bewick’s manner of representing water, although +_not one_ of them was engraved by him, but by Luke Clennell, from +drawings by himself or by Robert Johnson. Mr. Atkinson, in his +admiration of Bewick, and in his desire to exaggerate his fame, entirely +overlooks the merits of those by whom he was assisted. Charlton Nesbit +and Luke Clennell rendered him more assistance, though not in the cuts +of birds, than such as that “afforded by a turner’s apprentice when he +rounds off the heavy mass of wood;” and Robert Johnson, who designed +many of the best of the tail-pieces, drew the human figure more +correctly than Bewick himself, and in landscape-drawing was at least his +equal. These observations are not intended in the least to detract from +Bewick’s just and deservedly great reputation, but to correct the +erroneous opinions which have been promulgated on this subject by +persons who knew nothing of the very considerable assistance which he +received from his pupils in the drawing and engraving of the tail-pieces +in his history of British Birds. + + [Footnote VII-56: “He never could, he said, please himself in his + representations of water in a state of motion, and a horse + galloping: his taste must have been fastidious indeed, if that + beautiful moonlight scene at sea, page 120, vol. ii. [edition + 1816]; the river scene at page 126; the sea breaking among the + rocks at page 168, or 177, or 200, or 216; or the rippling of the + water as it leaves the feet of the old fisherman, at page 95, did + not satisfy him.” In scarcely one of the cuts engraved by Bewick + himself is water in a state of motion well represented. He knew + his own deficiency in this respect; though Mr. Atkinson, not being + able to distinguish the cuts engraved by Bewick himself from those + engraved by his pupils, cannot perceive it.] + + [Illustration] + +Though three of the best specimens of Bewick’s talents as a designer and +engraver on wood--the Bittern, the Wood-cock, and the Common +Duck[VII-57]--are to be found in the second volume, containing the +water-birds, yet the land-birds in the first volume, from his being more +familiar with their habits, and in consequence of their allowing more +scope for the display of Bewick’s excellence in the representation of +foliage, are, on the whole, superior both in design and execution to the +others; their characteristic attitude and expression are represented +with the greatest truth, while, from the propriety of the back-grounds, +and the beauty of the trees and foliage, almost every cut forms a +perfect little picture. Bewick’s talent in pourtraying the form and +character of birds is seen to great advantage in the hawks and the owls; +but his excellence, both as a designer and engraver on wood, is yet more +strikingly displayed in several of the other cuts contained in the same +volume, and among these the following are perhaps the best. The numbers +refer to the pages of the first edition of the Land Birds, 1797. The +Field-fare, page 98; the Yellow Bunting, a most exquisite cut, and +considered by Bewick as the best that he ever engraved, 143; the +Goldfinch, 165; the Skylark, 178; the Woodlark, 183; the Lesser and the +Winter Fauvette, 212, 213; the Willow Wren, 222; the Wren, 227; the +White-rump, 229; the Cole Titmouse, 241; the Night-Jar, 262; the +Domestic Cock, 276; the Turkey, 286; the Pintado, 293; the Red Grouse, +301; the Partridge, 305; the Quail, 308; and the Corncrake, 311.--Among +the Birds in the second volume, first edition, 1804, the following may +be instanced as the most excellent. The Water Crake, page 10; the Water +Rail, 13; the Bittern, 47; the Woodcock, 60; the Common Snipe, 68; the +Judcock, or Jack Snipe, 73; the Dunlin, 117; the Dun Diver, 257; the +Grey Lag Goose, 292; and the Common Duck, 333. + + [Footnote VII-57: The cut here given is engraved by Bewick at a + somewhat earlier date, for a once popular work entitled the + History of Three Hundred Animals, since incorporated in Mrs. + Loudon’s “Entertaining Naturalist.”] + +Nothing of the same kind that wood engraving has produced since the time +of Bewick can for a moment bear a comparison with these cuts. They are +not to be equalled till a designer and engraver shall arise possessed of +Bewick’s knowledge of nature, and endowed with his happy talent of +expressing it. Bewick has in this respect effected more by himself than +has been produced by one of our best wood engravers when working from +drawings made by a professional designer, but who knows nothing of +birds, of their habits, or the places which they frequent; and has not +the slightest feeling for natural incident or picturesque beauty.--No +mere fac-simile engraver of a drawing ready made to his hand, should +venture to speak slightingly of Bewick’s talents until he has both +_drawn and engraved_ a cut which may justly challenge a comparison with +the Kyloe Ox, the Yellow-hammer, the Partridge, the Wood-cock, or the +Tame Duck. + +Bewick’s style of engraving, as displayed in the Birds, is exclusively +his own. He adopts no conventional mode of representing texture or +producing an effect, but skilfully avails himself of the most simple and +effective means which his art affords of faithfully and efficiently +representing his subject. He never wastes his time in laborious trifling +to display his skill in execution;--he works with a higher aim, to +represent nature; and, consequently, he never bestows his pains except +to express a meaning. The manner in which he has represented the +feathers in many of his birds, is as admirable as it is perfectly +original. His feeling for his subject, and his knowledge of his art, +suggest the best means of effecting his end, and the manner in which he +has employed them entitle him to rank as a wood engraver--without +reference to his merits as a designer--among the very best that have +practised the art. + + [Illustration] + +Our copy of his cut of the Partridge, though not equal to the original, +will perhaps to a certain extent serve to exemplify his practice. Every +line that is to be perceived in this bird is the best that could have +been devised to express the engraver’s perfect idea of his subject. The +soft downy plumage of the breast is represented by delicate black lines +crossed horizontally by white ones, and in order that they may appear +comparatively light in the impression, the block has in this part been +lowered. The texture of the skin of the legs, and the marks of the toes, +are expressed with the greatest accuracy; and the varied tints of the +plumage of the rump, back, wings, and head, are indicated with no less +fidelity.--Such a cut as this Bewick would execute in less time than a +modern French wood engraver would require to cut the delicate +cross-hatchings necessary, according to French taste, to denote the grey +colour of a soldier’s great coat. + +The cut of the Wood-cock, of which that on the next page is a copy, is +another instance of the able manner in which Bewick has availed himself +of the capabilities of his art. He has here produced the most perfect +likeness of the bird that ever was engraved, and at the same time given +to his subject an effect, by the skilful management of light and shade, +which it is impossible to obtain by means of copper-plate engraving. +Bewick thoroughly understood the advantages of his art in this respect, +and no wood engraver or designer, either ancient or modern, has employed +them with greater success, without sacrificing nature to mere effect. + + [Illustration] + +Among the very best of Bewick’s cuts, as a specimen of wood engraving, +is, as we have already said, the Common Duck. The round, full form of +the bird, is represented with the greatest fidelity; the plumage in all +its downy, smooth, and glossy variety,--on the sides, the rump, the +back, the wings, and the head,--is singularly true to nature; while the +legs and toes, and even the webs between the toes, are engraved in a +manner which proves the great attention that Bewick, when necessary, +paid to the minutest points of detail. The effect of the whole is +excellent, and the back-ground, both in character and execution, is +worthy of this master-piece of Bewick as a designer and engraver on +wood. + +The tail-pieces in the first editions of the Birds are, taken all +together, the best that are to be found in any of Bewick’s works; but, +though it is not unlikely that he suggested the subjects, there is +reason to believe that many of them were drawn by Robert Johnson, and +there cannot be a doubt that the greater number of those contained in +the second volume were engraved by Luke Clennell. Before saying anything +more about them, it seems necessary to give a list of those which were +either not drawn or not engraved by Bewick himself; it has been +furnished by one of his early pupils who saw most of Johnson’s drawings, +and worked in the same room with Clennell when he was engraving those +which are here ascribed to him. The pages show where those cuts are to +be found in the edition of 1797 and in that of 1821. + + + Editions + + VOLUME I 1797 1821 + page page + + Boughs and Bird’s-nest, drawn and engraved by Charlton + Nesbit, preface i i + Sportsman and Old Shepherd, drawn by Robert Johnson, + engraved by Bewick, preface (transferred to Vol. ii. + preface, page vi. in the edition of 1821) vi -- + Old Man breaking stones, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved + by Bewick 26 xxviii + Horse running away with boys in the cart, drawn by + R. Johnson, engraved by Bewick 82 146 + Fox and Bird, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved by Bewick 159 140 + Winter piece, the _geldard_, drawn by R. Johnson, + engraved by Bewick 162 160 + + + Editions + + VOLUME II 1804 1821 + page page + + Two Old Soldiers, “the Honours of War,” drawn by + R. Johnson, engraved by Bewick, introduction v vii + Man creeping along the branch of a tree to cross a + stream, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved by L. Clennell 3 63 + Old Fisherman, with a leister, drawn by R. Johnson, + engraved by L. Clennell 23 38 + The Broken Branch, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved by + Bewick 31 41 + Old Man watching his fishing-lines in the rain, drawn + by R. Johnson, engraved by Bewick 41 48 + Man angling, his coat-skirts pinned up, engraved by + L. Clennell 46 57 + Old Angler _fettling_ his hooks, engraved by + L. Clennell 50 97 + Partridge shooting, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved by + L. Clennell 82 105 + Woman hanging out clothes, engraved by L. Clennell + (transferred to vol. i. page 164, edition of 1821) 106 -- + Man fallen into the water, engraved by L. Clennell 94 262 + River scene, engraved by L. Clennell 107 132 + Coast scene, engraved by H. Hole 123 124 + Coast scene, moonlight, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved + by L. Clennell 125 122 + Coast scene, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved by H. Hole 144 142 + Beggar and Mastiff, engraved L. Clennell 160 207 + Coast scene, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved by Bewick 161 151 + Burying-ground, drawn and engraved by L. Clennell 166 237 + Man and Cow, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved by Bewick 173 161 + Tinker and his Wife, windy day, drawn by R. Johnson, + engraved by H. Hole 176 148 + Winter piece, skating, drawn by R. Johnson engraved + by Bewick 180 202 + Man on a rock, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved by + L. Clennell 182 177 + Icebergs, Ship frozen up, drawn and engraved by + L. Clennell 188 156 + Sea piece, moonlight, engraved by L. Clennell 194 190 + Tired Sportsman, engraved by L. Clennell 202 245 + The Glutton, engraved by L. Clennell 211 195 + Sea piece, engraved by L. Clennell 215 197 + Runic Pillar, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved by John + Johnson 220 342 + Esquimaux and Canoe, drawn and engraved by L. Clennell 230 211 + Sea piece, drawn and engraved by L. Clennell 238 306 + Coast scene, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved by + L. Clennell 240 218 + Coast scene, drawn by R. Johnson, engraved by Bewick 245 220 + Man and Dog, engraved by H. Hole 251 228 + Geese going home, engraved by L. Clennell 271 260 + Boys sailing a Ship, engraved by L. Clennell 282 268 + Old Man and a Horse, going to market with two sacks full + of geese 286 247 + Boys riding on gravestones, drawn by R. Johnson, + engraved by L. Clennell 304 323 + Man smoking, engraved by L. Clennell 337 303 + Pumping water on a weak leg, engraved by L. Clennell 348 304 + Sea piece, drawn and engraved by L. Clennell 359 314 + Sea piece, drawn and engraved by L. Clennell 366 242 + Sea piece, drawn and engraved by L. Clennell (in + Supplement to vol. ii. p. 20) 380 -- + +This list might be considerably increased by inserting many other +tail-pieces engraved by Clennell; but this does not appear necessary, +as a sufficient number has been enumerated to show that both in the +designing and in the engraving of those cuts Bewick received very +considerable assistance from his pupils. In the additional tail-pieces +to be found in subsequent editions the greater number are not engraved +by Bewick himself. In the last edition, published in 1832, there are at +least thirty engraved by his pupils subsequent to the time of Clennell. + +The head-piece at the commencement of the introduction, volume I. page +vii. drawn and engraved by Bewick himself, presents an excellent view of +a farm-yard. Everything is true to nature; the birds assembled near the +woman seen winnowing corn are, though on a small scale, represented with +the greatest fidelity; even among the smallest the wagtail can be +distinguished from the sparrow. The dog, feeling no interest in the +business, is seen quietly resting on the dunghill; but the chuckling of +the hens, announcing that something like eating is going forward, has +evidently excited the attention of the old sow, and brought her and her +litter into the yard in the expectation of getting a share. The season, +the latter end of autumn, is indicated by the flight of field-fares, and +the comparatively naked appearance of the trees; and we perceive that it +is a clear, bright day from the strong shadow of the ladder projected +against the wall, and on the thatched roof of the outhouse. A heron, +a crow, and a magpie are perceived nailed against the gable end of the +barn; and a couple of pigeons are seen flying above the house. The cut +forms at once an interesting picture of country life, and a graphic +summary of the contents of the work. + +Among the tail-pieces drawn and engraved by Bewick himself, in the first +edition of the Birds, the following appear most deserving of notice. In +volume I.: A traveller drinking,--supposed to represent a sketch of his +own costume when making a tour of the Lakes in 1776,--introduced twice, +at the end of the contents, page xxx. and again at page 177. A man +_watering_, in a different sense to the preceding, a very natural, +though not a very delicate subject, at page 42. At page 62, an old +miller, lying asleep behind some bushes; he has evidently been tipsy and +from the date on a stone to the left, we are led to suppose that he had +been indulging too freely on the King’s birth-day, 4th June. The +following is a copy of the cut. Two cows standing in a pool, under the +shade of a _dyke-back_, on a warm day, page 74. In this cut Bewick has +introduced a sketch of a magpie chased by a hawk, but saved from the +talons of its pursuer by the timely interference of a couple of crows. +Winter scene, of which the following is a copy, at page 78. Some boys +have made a large snow man, which excites the special wonderment of a +horse; and Bewick, to give the subject a moral application, has added +“_Esto perpetua!_” at the bottom of the cut: the great work of the +little men, however they may admire it, and wish for its endurance, will +be dissolved on the first thaw. At page 97 the appearance of mist and +rain is well expressed; and in the cut of a poacher tracking a hare, the +snow is no less naturally represented. At page 157, a man riding with a +_howdy_--a midwife--behind him, part of the cut appears covered with a +leaf. Bewick once being asked the meaning of this, said that “it was +done to indicate that the scene which was to follow required to be +concealed.” At page 194 we perceive a full-fed old churl hanging his +cat; at page 226, a hen attacking a dog; and at page 281, two cocks +fighting,--all three excellent of their kind. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +Bewick’s humour occasionally verges on positive grossness, and a +_glaring_ instance of his want of delicacy presents itself in the +tail-piece at page 285. After the work was printed off Bewick became +aware that the nakedness of a prominent part of his subject required to +be covered, and one of his apprentices was employed to blacken it over +with ink. In the next edition a plug was inserted in the block, and the +representation of two bars of wood engraved upon it to hide the +offensive part. The cut, however, even thus amended, is still extremely +indelicate.[VII-58] + + [Footnote VII-58: The subject of this cut is thus explained in + Brockett’s Glossary of North Country Words: “NEDDY, NETTY, a + certain place that will not bear a written explanation; but which + is _depicted to the very life_ in a tail-piece in the first + edition of Bewick’s Land Birds, p. 285. In the second edition a + bar is placed against the offending part of this broad display of + native humour.”] + +The following is a copy of the head-piece at the commencement of the +advertisement to the second volume. It represents an old man saying +grace with closed eyes, while his cat avails herself of the opportunity +of making free with his porridge. The Reverend Henry Cotes, vicar of +Bedlington, happening to call on Bewick when he was finishing this cut, +expressed his disapprobation of the subject, as having a tendency to +ridicule the practice of an act of devotion; but Bewick denied that he +had any such intention, and would not consent to omit the cut. He drew a +distinction between the act and the performer; and though he might +approve of saying grace before meat, he could not help laughing at one +of the over-righteous, who, while craving a blessing with hypocritical +grimace, and with eyes closed to outward things, loses a present good. +The head-piece to the contents presents an excellent sketch of an old +man going to market on a windy and rainy day. The old horse on which he +is mounted has become restive, and the rider has both broken his stick +and lost his hat. The horse seems determined not to move till it suits +his own pleasure; and it is evident that the old man dare not get down +to recover his hat, for, should he do so, encumbered as he is with a +heavy basket over his left arm and an egg-pannier slung over his +shoulder, he will not be able to remount. + + [Illustration] + +The following are the principal tail-pieces drawn and engraved by Bewick +himself in the first edition of the second volume of the Birds, 1804. +A shooter with a gun at his back crossing a stream on long stilts, +page 5. An old wooden-legged beggar gnawing a bone near the entrance to +a gentleman’s house, and a dog beside him eagerly watching for the +reversion, page 27. A dog with a kettle tied to his tail, pursued by +boys,--a great hulking fellow, evidently a blacksmith, standing with +folded arms enjoying the sport, page 56. A man crossing a frozen stream, +with a branch of a tree between his legs, to support him should the ice +happen to break, page 85. A monkey basting a goose that is seen +roasting, page 263. An old woman with a pitcher, driving away some geese +from a well, page 291. An old beggar-woman assailed by a gander, page +313. + +One of the best of the tail-pieces subsequently inserted is that which +occurs at the end of the description of the Moor-buzzard, volume I. in +the editions of 1816 and 1821, and at page 31 in the edition of 1832. It +represents two dyers carrying a tub between them by means of a +cowl-staff; and the figures, Mr. Atkinson says, are portraits of two old +men belonging to Ovingham,--“the one on the right being ‘auld Tommy +Dobson of the Bleach Green,’ and the other ‘Mat. Carr.’”[VII-59] The +action of the men is excellent, and their expression is in perfect +accordance with the business in which they are engaged--to wit, carrying +their tub full of _chemmerly_--chamber-lye--to the dye-house. The +olfactory organs of both are evidently affected by the pungent odour of +their load. It may be necessary to observe that the dyers of Ovingham +had at that time a general reservoir in the village, to which most of +the cottagers were contributors; but as each family had the privilege of +supplying themselves from it with as much as they required for scouring +and washing, it sometimes happened that the dyers found their trough +empty, and were consequently obliged to solicit a supply from such +persons as kept a private stock of their own. As they were both +irritable old men, the phrase, “He’s like a _raised_ [enraged] dyer +begging _chemmerly_,” became proverbial in Ovingham to denote a person +in a passion. This cut, as I am informed by one of Bewick’s old pupils, +was copied on the block and engraved by Luke Clennell from a +water-colour drawing by Robert Johnson. + + [Footnote VII-59: “Mr. Atkinson must have misunderstood Bewick, as + the old man’s name was George, not Matthew, Carr. He was + grandfather to Edward Willis, one of Bewick’s pupils, and to + George Stephenson, the celebrated engineer. Matthew Carr was a + tailor, who lived and died at Righton, in Durham.”--JNO. JACKSON.] + +When the second volume of the History of British Birds was published, in +1804, Bewick had reached his fiftieth year; but though his powers as a +wood engraver continued for long afterwards unimpaired, yet he +subsequently produced nothing to extend his fame. The retouching of the +blocks for the repeated editions of the Quadrupeds and the Birds, and +the engraving of new cuts for the latter work, occupied a considerable +part of his time. He also engraved, by himself and pupils, several cuts +for different works, but they are generally such as add nothing to his +reputation. Bewick never engraved with pleasure from another person’s +drawing; in large cuts, consisting chiefly of human figures, he did not +excel. His excellence consisted in the representation of animals and in +landscape. The Fables, which had been projected previous to 1795, also +occasionally occupied his attention. This work, which first appeared in +1818, was by no means so favourably received as the Quadrupeds and the +Birds; and several of Bewick’s greatest admirers, who had been led to +expect something better, openly expressed their disappointment. Dr. +Dibdin, speaking of the Fables, says, “It would be a species of +_scandalum magnatum_ to depreciate any production connected with the +name of Bewick; but I will fearlessly and honestly aver that his Æsop +disappointed me; the more so, as his Birds and Beasts are volumes +perfectly classical of their kind.” The disappointment, however, that +was felt with respect to this work resulted perhaps rather from people +expecting too much than from any deficiency in the cuts as +_illustrations of Fables_. There is a great difference between +representing birds and beasts in their natural character, and +representing them as actors in imaginary scenes. We do not regard the +cock and the fox holding an imaginary conversation, however ably +represented, with the interest with which we look upon each when +faithfully depicted in its proper character. The tail-piece of the bitch +seeing her drowned puppies, at page 364 of the Quadrupeds, edition 1824, +is far more interesting than any cut illustrative of a fable in +Æsop;--we at once feel its truth, and admire it, because it is natural. +Birds and beasts represented as performing human characters can never +interest so much as when naturally depicted in their own. Such cuts may +display great fancy and much skill on the part of the artist, but they +never can excite true feeling. The martyr Cock Robin, killed by that +malicious archer the Sparrow, is not so interesting as plain Robin +Redbreast picking up crumbs at a cottage-door in the snow:-- + + “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” + +Whatever may be the merits or defects of the cuts in those Fables, +Bewick most certainly had very little to do with them; for by far the +greater number were designed by Robert Johnson, and engraved by W. W. +Temple and William Harvey, while yet in their apprenticeship. In the +whole volume there are not more than three of the largest cuts engraved +by Bewick himself.[VII-60] The tail-pieces in this work will not bear a +comparison with those in the Birds; the subjects are often both trite +and tamely treated; the devil and the gallows--Bewick’s two +stock-pieces--occur rather too frequently, considering that the book is +chiefly intended for the improvement of young minds; and in many +instances nature has been sacrificed in order that the moral might be +obvious. + + [Illustration: THE CROW AND THE LAMB.] + + [Footnote VII-60: The cuts engraved by Bewick himself are: a + tail-piece (a Cow standing under some bushes) to “The Two Frogs,” + page 200. The fable of “The Deer and the Lion,” page 315. “Waiting + for Death,” page 338. He also engraved the figure of the _Lion_ in + the fable of “The Lion and the four Bulls,” page 89 (see cut at + our page 480). The Man, Crow, and Sheep in the fable of the “Eagle + and the Crow,” of which we give the original cut. The Man and two + Birds in the fable of “The Husbandman and the Stork.”] + +The letter-press was entirely selected and arranged by Bewick himself, +and one or two of the fables were of his own writing. Though an +excellent illustrator of Natural History, Bewick is but an indifferent +fabulist.[VII-61] Though the work is professedly intended for the +instruction of the young, there are certainly a few tail-pieces +introduced for the _entertainment_ of the more advanced in years; and of +this kind is the old beggar and his trull lying asleep, and a bull +looking over a rail at them. The explanation of this subject would +certainly have little tendency to improve young minds. Bewick, though +very fond of introducing the devil in his cuts to frighten the wicked, +does not appear to have been willing that a ranting preacher should in +his discourses avail himself of the same character, though to effect the +same purpose, as we learn from the following anecdote related by Mr. +Atkinson. “Cant and hypocrisy he (Bewick) very much disliked. A ranter +took up his abode near Cherry-burn, and used daily to horrify the +country people with very familiar details of ultra-stygian proceedings. +Bewick went to hear him, and after listening patiently for some time to +a blasphemous recital of such horrors, at which the poor people were +gaping with affright, he got behind the holder-forth, and pinching his +elbow, addressed him when he turned round with great solemnity: ‘Now +then thou seems to know a great deal about the devil, and has been +frightening us a long while about him: can thou tell me whether he wears +his own hair or a wig?’”--This is a bad joke;--the query might have been +retorted with effect. The engraver, it seems, might introduce his +Satanic majesty _ad libitum_ in his cuts; but when a ranting preacher +takes the same liberty in his discourses, he is called upon to give +proof of personal acquaintance. + + [Footnote VII-61: The fable of the Ship Dog is one of those + written by Bewick.] + +Bewick’s morality was rather rigid than cheerful; and he was but too +prone to think uncharitably of others, whose conduct and motives, when +weighed in the scales of impartial justice, were perhaps as correct and +as pure as his own. His good men are often represented as somewhat cold, +selfish individuals, with little sympathy for the more unfortunate of +their species, whose errors are as often the result of ignorance as of a +positively vicious character. As a moralist, he was accustomed to look +at the dark rather than the bright side of human nature, and hence his +tendency to brand those with whom he might differ in opinion as fools +and knaves. One of the fables, written by himself, was objected to by +the printer, the late Mr. E. Walker, and at his request it was omitted. +We give a copy of the cut intended for it. The world is represented as +having lost its balance, and legions of his favourite devils are seen +hurled about in a confused vortex. The fable, it is said, was intended +as a satire on the ministerial politics of the time. A thumb-mark is +seen at the upper end of what is intended to represent a piece of paper +forming part of the page of a Bible pasted across the cut. A similar +mark is to be found at page 175 of the Land Birds, first edition, 1797, +and in the bill and receipt prefixed to the Fables, 1818-1823. + + [Illustration] + +In a novel, entitled “Such is the World,” there is the following +erroneous account of Bewick’s reason for affixing his thumb-mark to this +bill.[VII-62] “Having completed his task to the entire satisfaction of +his own mind, Mr. Bewick bethought him of engraving a frontispiece. But +having some suspicion that the said frontispiece might be pirated by +some of those corsairs who infest the ocean of literature, he resolved +to put a mark on it, whereby all men might distinguish it as readily as +a fisherman distinguishes a haddock[VII-63] from a cod-fish. +Accordingly, he touched with his thumb the little black ball with which +he was wont to ink his cuts, in order to take off proof impressions of +his work: he then very deliberately pressed his thumb on the +frontispiece which he was at that moment engraving, and cut the most +beautiful image of the original, which he designated by the appropriate +words ‘John Bewick, his mark.’” Had the writer looked at the +“frontispiece,” as he calls it, he would have found “_Thomas_,” and not +“_John_.” The conclusion of this account is a fair sample of its general +accuracy. In a preliminary observation the author, with equal +correctness, informs his readers that the work in which this +“frontispiece” appeared was “a superb edition of _Gay’s_ Fables.” + + [Footnote VII-62: Mr. Atkinson says that this account determined + Bewick to write a life of himself. It appears that he actually + completed such a work, but that his family at present decline to + publish it. [Mr. Jackson adds, “I engraved two portraits for it: + one was a portrait of the Rev. Wm. Turner, of Newcastle, the other + that of an engineer or millwright, at Morpeth, named Rastack, or + Raistick.”]] + + [Footnote VII-63: “There is a tradition that the two black marks + on the opposite sides of the haddock were occasioned by St. + Peter’s thumb and fore-finger when he took the piece of money out + of the fish’s mouth to give it as a tribute to Cæsar.”] + +Bewick’s _mark_ is, in fact, added to this bill merely as a jest; the +mode which he took to authenticate the copies that were actually issued +by himself, and not pilfered by any of the workmen employed about the +printing-office,[VII-64] was to print at his own work-shop, in red ink +from a copper-plate, a representation of a piece of sea-weed lying above +the wood-cut which had previously been printed off at a printing-office. +This mode of printing a copper-plate over a wood-cut was a part of one +of the plans which he had devised to prevent the forgery of +bank-notes.[VII-65] + + [Footnote VII-64: Bewick’s suspicions in this respect were not + altogether groundless. Happening to go into a bookbinder’s shop in + Newcastle in 1818, he found a copy of his Fables, which had been + sent there to bind before the work had been issued to the public. + He claimed the book as his property, and carried it away; but the + name of the owner who had purchased it, knowing it to have been + dishonestly obtained, was not publicly divulged.] + + [Footnote VII-65: About 1799 Bewick frequently corresponded with + Mr. Abraham Newland, cashier of the Bank of England, respecting a + plan which he had devised to prevent the forgery of bank notes. He + was offered a situation in the Bank to superintend the engraving + and printing of the notes, but he refused to leave Newcastle. The + notes of Ridley and Co.’s bank were for many years engraved and + printed under the superintendence of Bewick, who, after Mr. + Beilby’s retirement, still continued the business of copper-plate + engraving and printing, and for this purpose always kept presses + of his own.] + +The first of the two following cuts, copied from his Fables, records the +decease of Bewick’s mother, who died on the 20th of February 1785, aged +58; and the second that of his father, who died on the 15th of November +in the same year, aged 70. The last event also marks the day on which he +began to engrave the first cut intended for the Quadrupeds. This cut was +the Arabian Camel, or Dromedary, and he had made very little progress +with it when a messenger arrived from Cherry-burn to inform him of his +father’s death. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +Several years previous to his decease Bewick had devised an improvement, +which consisted in printing a subject from two or more blocks,--not in +the manner of chiaro-scuros, but in order to obtain a greater variety of +_tint_, and a better effect than could be obtained, without great +labour, in a cut printed in black ink from a single block. This +improvement, which had been suggested by Papillon in 1768, Bewick +proceeded to carry into effect. The subject which he made choice of to +exemplify what he considered his original discovery, was an old horse +waiting for death.[VII-66] He accordingly made the drawing on a large +block consisting of four different pieces, and forthwith proceeded to +engrave it. He however did not live to complete his intention; for even +this block, which he meant merely for the first impression--the subject +having to be completed by a second--remained unfinished at his +decease.[VII-67] He had, however, finished it all with the exception of +part of the horse’s head, and when in this state he had four impressions +taken about a week before his death. It was on this occasion that he +exclaimed, when the pressman handed him the proof, “I wish I was but +twenty years younger!” + + [Footnote VII-66: A small cut of the same subject, though with a + different back-ground, occurs as a tail-piece in the Fables, + 1818-1823.] + + [Footnote VII-67: The last _bird_ that Bewick engraved was the + Cream-coloured Plover, at page 383, vol. i. of the Birds, in the + edition of 1832. Several years previous to his death he had + projected a History of British Fishes, but very little progress + was made in the work. A few cuts of fishes were engraved, chiefly + by his pupils; that of the John Dory, an impression of which is + said to have been sold for a considerable sum, is one of those not + engraved by Bewick himself. As a work of art the value of an India + paper impression of the John Dory may be about twopence. This cut + is an early performance of Mr. Jackson’s, who also engraved, in + 1823, about twenty of the additional tail-pieces in the last + edition of the Birds, 1832.] + +This cut, with the head said to have been finished by another person, +was published by Bewick’s son, Mr. Robert Elliott Bewick, in 1832. It is +the largest cut that Bewick ever engraved,[VII-68] but having been left +by him in an unfinished state, it would be impossible to say what he +might have effected had he lived to work out his ideas, and unfair to +judge of it as if it were a finished performance. It is, however, but +just to remark, that the miserable appearance of the poor, worn-out, +neglected animal, is represented with great feeling and +truth,--excepting the head, which is disproportionately large and +heavy,--and that the landscape displays Bewick’s usual fidelity in +copying nature. + + [Footnote VII-68: This cut is eleven inches and five-eighths wide + by eight inches and three-fourths high. It is entitled, “Waiting + for Death: Bewick’s last work, left unfinished, and intended to + have been completed by a series of impressions from separate + blocks printed over each other.”] + +Bewick’s life affords a useful lesson to all who wish to attain +distinction in art, and at the same time to preserve their independence. +He diligently cultivated his talents, and never trusted to booksellers +or designers for employment. He did not work according to the directions +of others, but struck out a path for himself; and by diligently pursuing +it according to the bent of his own feelings, he acquired both a +competence with respect to worldly means and an ample reward of fame. +The success of his works did not render him inattentive to business; and +he was never tempted by the prospect of increasing wealth to indulge in +expensive pleasures, nor to live in a manner which his circumstances did +not warrant. What he had honestly earned he frugally husbanded; and, +like a prudent man, made a provision for his old age. “The hand of the +diligent,” says Solomon, “maketh rich.” This Bewick felt, and his life +may be cited in the exemplification of the truth of the proverb. He +acquired not indeed great wealth, but he attained a competence, and was +grateful and contented. No favoured worshipper of Mammon, though +possessed of millions obtained by “watching the turn of the market,” +could say more. + +He was extremely regular and methodical in his habits of business: until +within a few years of his death he used to come to his shop in Newcastle +from his house in Gateshead at a certain hour in the morning, returning +to his dinner at a certain time, and, as he used to say, _lapping up_ at +night, as if he were a workman employed by the day, and subject to a +loss by being absent a single hour. When any of his works were in the +press, the first thing he did each morning, after calling at his own +shop, was to proceed to the printer’s to see what progress they were +making, and to give directions to the pressmen about printing the +cuts.[VII-69] It is indeed owing to his attention in this respect that +the cuts in all the editions of his works published during his life-time +are so well printed. The edition of the Birds, published in 1832, +displays numerous instances of the want of Bewick’s own superintendence: +either through the carelessness or ignorance of the pressmen, many of +the cuts are quite spoiled. + + [Footnote VII-69: When Bewick removed the printing of his works + from Mr. Hodgson’s office to that of Mr. E. Walker, a pressman, + named Barlow, was brought from London for the purpose of printing + the cuts in the second volume of the Birds in a proper manner. + Bewick’s favourite pressman at Mr. Hodgson’s was John Simpson.] + +The following cut represents a view of Bewick’s workshop in St. +Nicholas’ Churchyard, Newcastle. The upper room, the two windows of +which are seen in the roof, was that in which he worked in the latter +years of his life. In this shop he engraved the cuts which will +perpetuate his name; and there for upwards of fifty years was he +accustomed to sit, steadily and cheerfully pursuing the labour that he +loved. He used always to work with his hat on; and when any gentleman or +nobleman called upon him, he only removed it for a moment on his first +entering. He used frequently to whistle when at work, and he was seldom +without a large quid of tobacco in his mouth. The prominence occasioned +by the quid, which he kept between his under lip and his teeth, and not +in his cheek, is indicated in most of his portraits. + + [Illustration] + +A stick, which had been his brother John’s, was a great favourite with +him, and he generally carried it in his walks, always carefully putting +it in a certain place when he entered his workroom. He used to be very +partial to a draught of water in the afternoon, immediately before +leaving work. The water was brought fresh by one of the apprentices from +the _pant_ at the head of the Side, in an earthenware jug, and the glass +which Bewick used to drink the water out of, was, as soon as done with, +carefully locked up in his book-case. One of his apprentices once +happening to break the jug, Bewick scolded him well for his +carelessness, and made him pay twopence towards buying another. + +Bewick was a man of athletic make, being nearly six feet high, and +proportionally stout. He possessed great personal courage, and in his +younger days was not slow to repay an insult with personal chastisement. +On one occasion being assaulted by two pitmen on returning from a visit +to Cherry-burn, he resolutely turned upon the aggressors, and, as he +said, “_paid_ them both well.” Though hard-featured, and much marked +with the small-pox, the expression of Bewick’s countenance was manly and +open, and his dark eyes sparkled with intelligence. There is a good bust +of him by Bailey in the Library of the Literary and Philosophical +Society of Newcastle, and the best engraved portrait is perhaps that of +Burnet, after a painting by Ramsey.[VII-70] The portrait on page 510, +engraved on wood, is another attempt to perpetuate the likeness of one +to whom the art owes so much. + + [Footnote VII-70: The following is a list of the principal + engraved portraits of Bewick: on copper, by J. A. Kidd, from + a painting by Miss Kirkley, 1798. On copper, by Thomas Ranson, + after a painting by William Nicholson, 1816. On copper, by + I. Summerfield, from a miniature by Murphy--that alluded to in + Bewick’s letter to Mr. C. Gregson, previously quoted--1816. On + copper, by John Burnet, from a painting by James Ramsey, 1817. + Copies of all those portraits, engraved on wood, are given in + Charnley’s edition of Select Fables, 1820; and there is also + prefixed to the work a portrait excellently engraved on wood by + Charlton Nesbit, one of Bewick’s earliest pupils, from a drawing + made on the block by William Nicholson.--In the Memoir of Thomas + Bewick, prefixed to the Natural History of Parrots, Naturalist’s + Library, vol. vi., it is incorrectly stated that Ranson, the + engraver of one of the above portraits, was a pupil of Bewick’s. + He was a pupil of J. A. Kidd, copper-plate engraver, Newcastle.] + +In the summer of 1828 Bewick visited London; but he was then evidently +in a declining state of health, and he had lost much of his former +energy of mind. Scarcely anything that he saw interested him, and he +longed no less than in his younger years to return to the banks of the +Tyne. He had ceased to feel an interest in objects which formerly +afforded him great pleasure; for when his old friend, the late Mr. +William Bulmer, drove him round the Regent’s Park, he declined to alight +for the purpose of visiting the collection of animals in the Gardens of +the Zoological Society. + + [Illustration: THOMAS BEWICK.] + +On his return to Newcastle he appeared for a short time to enjoy his +usual health and spirits. On the Saturday preceding his death he took +the block of the Old Horse waiting for Death to the printer’s, and had +it proved; on the following Monday he became unwell, and after a few +days’ illness he ceased to exist. He died at his house on the +Windmill-hills, Gateshead, on the 8th of November, 1828, aged +seventy-five. He was buried at Ovingham, and the following cut +represents a view of the place of his interment, near the west end of +the church. The tablets seen in the wall are those erected to the memory +of himself and his brother John. + + [Illustration] + +The following are the inscriptions on the tablets: + + In Memory of + JOHN BEWICK, + Engraver, + Who died December, 5, 1795, + Aged 35 years. + + His Ingenuity as an + Artist + was excelled only by + his Conduct as a + Man. + + The + Burial Place + of + THOMAS BEWICK, + Engraver, + Newcastle. + Isabella, his Wife, + Died 1st February, 1826, + Aged 72 years. + THOMAS BEWICK, + Died 8th of November, 1828, + Aged 75 years. + +In an excellent notice of the works of Bewick--apparently written by one +of his townsmen (said to be Mr. T. Doubleday)--in Blackwood’s Magazine +for July, 1825, it is stated that the final tail-piece to Bewick’s +Fables, 1818-1823, is “A View of Ovingham Churchyard;” and in the +Reverend William Turner’s Memoir of Thomas Bewick, in the sixth volume +of the Naturalist’s Library, the same statement is repeated. It is, +however, erroneous; as both the writers might have known had they +thought it worth their while to pay a visit to Ovingham, and take a look +at the church. The following cut, in which is introduced an imaginary +representation of Bewick’s funeral, presents a correct view of the +place. The following popular saying, which is well known in +Northumberland, suggested the introduction of the rain-bow: + + “Happy is the bride that the sun shines on, + And happy is the corpse that the rain rains on,--” + +meaning that sunshine at a wedding is a sign of happiness in the +marriage state to the bride, and that rain at a funeral is a sign of +future happiness to the person whose remains are about to be interred. + + [Illustration] + +The following eloquent tribute to the merits of Bewick is from an +article on Wilson’s Illustrations of Zoology in Blackwood’s Magazine for +June, 1828. + +“Have we forgotten, in our hurried and imperfect enumeration of wise +worthies,--have we forgotten + + ‘The Genius that dwells on the banks of the Tyne,’[VII-71] + +the Matchless, Inimitable Bewick? No. His books lie on our parlour, +bed-room, dining-room, drawing-room, study table, and are never out of +place or time. Happy old man! The delight of childhood, manhood, +decaying age!--A moral in every tail-piece--a sermon in every vignette. +Not as if from one fountain flows the stream of his inspired spirit, +gurgling from the Crawley Spring so many thousand gallons of the element +every minute, and feeding but one city, our own Edinburgh. But it rather +oozes out from unnumbered springs. Here from one scarcely perceptible +but in the vivid green of the lonesome sward, from which it trickles +away into a little mountain rill--here leaping into sudden life, as from +the rock--here bubbling from a silver pool, overshadowed by a +birch-tree--here like a well asleep in a moss-grown cell, built by some +thoughtful recluse in the old monastic day, with a few words from +Scripture, or some rude engraving, religious as Scripture, OMNE BONUM +DESUPER--OPERA DEI MIRIFICA.” + + [Footnote VII-71: This line is adapted from Wordsworth, who, at + the commencement of his verses entitled “The Two Thieves, or The + Last Stage of Avarice,” thus expresses his high opinion of the + talents of Bewick: + + “O now that the genius of Bewick were mine, + And the skill which he learned on the banks of the Tyne! + Then the Muses might deal with me just as they chose, + For I’d take my last leave both of verse and of prose.” + + _Lyrical Ballads_, vol. ii. p. 199. Edition 1805.] + +John Bewick, a younger brother of Thomas, was born at Cherry-burn in +1760, and in 1777 was apprenticed as a wood engraver to his brother and +Mr. Beilby. He undoubtedly assisted his brother in the execution of the +cuts for the two editions of Fables, printed by Mr. Saint in 1779 and +1784; but in those early productions it would be impossible, judging +merely from the style of the engraving, to distinguish the work of the +two brothers. Among the earliest cuts known to have been engraved by +John Bewick, on the expiration of his apprenticeship, are those +contained in a work entitled “Emblems of Mortality,” printed in 1789 for +T. Hodgson, the publisher of the Hieroglyphic Bible, mentioned at page +478. Those cuts, which are very indifferently executed, are copies, +occasionally altered for the worse, of the cuts in Holbein’s Dance of +Death. Whether he engraved them in London, or not, I have been unable to +ascertain; but it is certain that he was living in London in the +following year, and that he resided there till 1795. When residing in +the metropolis he drew and engraved the cuts for “The Progress of Man +and Society,” compiled by Dr. Trusler, and published in 1791; the cuts +for “The Looking Glass of the Mind,” 1796; and also those contained in a +similar work entitled “Blossoms of Morality,” published about the same +time. Though several of those cuts display considerable talent, yet the +best specimens of his abilities as a designer and engraver on wood are +to be found in Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell, 1795, and in Somervile’s +Chase, 1796, both printed in quarto, to display the excellence of modern +printing, type-founding, wood-engraving, and paper-making. Mr. Bulmer, +who suggested those editions, being himself a Northumbrian, had been +intimately acquainted with both Thomas and John Bewick. In the preface +to the Poems by Goldsmith and Parnell, he is careful to commemorate the +paper-maker, type-founder, and the engravers; but he omits to mention +the name of Robert Johnson, who designed three of the principal +cuts.[VII-72] The merits of this highly-talented young man appear to +have been singularly overlooked by those whose more especial duty it was +to notice them. In the whole of Bewick’s works he is not once mentioned. +Mr. Bulmer also says, that all the cuts were engraved by Thomas and John +Bewick; but though he unquestionably believed so himself, the statement +is not strictly correct; for the four vignette head and tail-pieces to +the Traveller and the Deserted Village were engraved by C. Nesbit. The +vignettes on the title-pages, the large cut of the old woman gathering +water-cresses, and the tail-piece at the end of the volume, were drawn +and engraved by John Bewick; the remainder were engraved by Thomas. + + [Footnote VII-72: The cut of the Hermit at his morning devotion + was drawn by John Johnson, a cousin of Robert, and also one of + Bewick’s pupils.] + +The cuts in this book are generally executed in a free and effective +style, but are not remarkable as specimens of wood engraving, unless we +take into consideration the time when they were published. The best in +point of execution are, The Hermit at his morning devotion, and The +Angel, Hermit, and Guide, both engraved by Thomas Bewick; the manner in +which the engraver has executed the foliage in these two cuts is +extremely beautiful and natural. It is said that George III. thought so +highly of the cuts in this book that he could not believe that they were +engraved on wood; and that his bookseller, Mr. George Nicol, obtained +for his Majesty a sight of the blocks in order that he might be +convinced of the fact by his own inspection. This anecdote is sometimes +produced as a proof of the great excellence of the cuts, though it might +with greater truth be cited as a proof of his Majesty being totally +unacquainted with the process of wood engraving, and of his not being +able to distinguish a wood-cut from a copper-plate. If Bewick’s +reputation as a wood engraver rested on those cuts, it certainly would +not stand very high. Much better things of the same kind have been +executed since that time by persons who are generally considered as +having small claims to distinction as wood engravers. + +The cuts in the Chase were all, except one, designed by John Bewick; but +in consequence of the declining state of his health he was not able to +engrave them. Soon after he had finished the drawings on the block he +left London for the north, in the hope of deriving benefit from his +native air. His disorder, however, continued to increase; and, within a +few weeks from the time of his return, he died at Ovingham, on the 5th +of December, 1795, aged thirty-five. + +The cuts in the Chase, which were all, except one, engraved by Thomas +Bewick, are, on the whole, superior in point of execution to those in +the Poems of Goldsmith and Parnell. Though boldly designed, some of them +display great defects in composition, and among the most objectionable +in this respect are the Huntsman and three Hounds, at page 5; the +conclusion of the Chase, page 31; and George III. stag-hunting, page 93. +Among the best, both as respects design and execution, are: Morning, +vignette on title-page, remarkably spirited; Hounds, page 25; a Stag +drinking, page 27; Fox-hunting, page 63; and Otter-hunting, page 99. The +final tail-piece, which has been spoiled in the engraving, was executed +by one of Bewick’s pupils. + + [Illustration] + +John Bewick, as a designer and engraver on wood, is much inferior to his +brother. Though several of his cuts possess considerable merit with +respect to design, by far the greater number are executed in a dry, +harsh manner. His best cuts may be readily distinguished from his +brother’s by the greater contrast of black and white in the cuts +engraved by John, and by the dry and withered appearance of the foliage +of the trees. The above is a reduced copy of a cut entitled the “Sad +Historian,” drawn and engraved by John Bewick, in the Poems by Goldsmith +and Parnell. + +The most of John Bewick’s cuts are much better conceived than engraved; +and this perhaps may in a great measure have arisen from their having +been chiefly executed for children’s books, in which excellence of +engraving was not required. His style of engraving is not good; for +though some of his cuts are extremely _effective_ from the contrast of +light and shade, yet the lines in almost every one are coarse and harsh, +and “laid in,” to use a technical expression, in a hard and tasteless +manner. Dry, stiff, parallel lines, scarcely ever deviating into a +pleasing curve, are the general characteristic of most of his small +cuts. As he reached the age of thirty-five without having produced any +cut which displays much ability in the execution, it is not likely that +he would have excelled as a wood engraver had his life been prolonged. +The following is a fac-simile of one of the best of his cuts in the +Blossoms of Morality, published about 1796. It exemplifies his manner of +strongly contrasting positive black with pure white; and the natural +attitudes of the women afford a tolerably fair specimen of his talents +as a designer. + + [Illustration] + +Robert Johnson, though not a wood engraver, has a claim to a brief +notice here on account of the excellence of several of the tail-pieces +designed by him in Bewick’s Birds, and from his having made the drawings +for most of the wood-cuts in Bewick’s Fables. He was born in 1770, at +Shotley, a village in Northumberland, about six miles to the south-west +of Ovingham; and in 1778 was placed by his father, who at that time +resided in Gateshead, as an apprentice to Beilby and Bewick to be +instructed in copper-plate engraving. The plates which are generally +supposed to have been executed by him during his apprenticeship possess +very little merit, nor does he appear to have been desirous to excel as +an engraver. His great delight consisted in sketching from nature and in +painting in water-colours; and in this branch of art, while yet an +apprentice, he displayed talents of very high order.[VII-73] He was +frequently employed by his master in drawing and making designs, and at +his leisure hours he took every opportunity of improving himself in his +favourite art. The Earl of Bute happening to call at Beilby and Bewick’s +shop on one occasion when passing through Newcastle, a portfolio of +Johnson’s drawings, made at his leisure hours, was shown to his +lordship, who was so much pleased with them that he selected as many as +amounted to forty pounds. This sum Beilby and Bewick appropriated to +themselves, on the ground that, as he was their apprentice, those +drawings, as well as any others that he might make, were legally their +property. Johnson’s friends, however, thinking differently, instituted +legal proceedings for the recovery of the money, and obtained a decision +in their favour. One of the pleas set up by Beilby and Bewick was, that +the drawings properly belonged to them, as they taught him the art, and +that the making of such drawings was part of his business. This plea, +however, failed; it was elicited on the examination of one of their own +apprentices, Charlton Nesbit, that neither he nor any other of his +fellow apprentices was taught the art of drawing in water-colours by +their masters, and that it formed no part of their necessary instruction +as engravers. + + [Footnote VII-73: Johnson’s water-colour drawings for most of the + cuts in Bewick’s Fables, are extremely beautiful. They are the + size of the cuts; and as a set are perhaps the finest small + drawings of the kind that were ever made. Their finish and + accuracy of drawing are admirable--they look like miniature _Paul + Potters_. It is known to only a few persons that they were drawn + by Johnson during his apprenticeship. Most of them were copied on + the block by William Harvey, and the rest chiefly by Bewick + himself.] + +On the expiration of his apprenticeship Johnson gave up, in a great +measure, the practice of copper-plate engraving, and applied himself +almost exclusively to drawing. In 1796 he was engaged by Messrs. +Morison, booksellers and publishers of Perth, to draw from the original +paintings the portraits intended to be engraved in “the Scottish +Gallery,” a work edited by Pinkerton, and published about 1799. When at +Taymouth Castle, the seat of the Earl of Breadalbane, copying some +portraits painted by Jameson, the Scottish Vandyke, he caught a severe +cold, which, being neglected, increased to a fever. In the violence of +the disorder he became delirious, and, from the ignorance of those who +attended him, the unfortunate young artist, far from home and without a +friend to console him, was bound and treated like a madman. A physician +having been called in, by his order blisters were applied, and a +different course of treatment adopted. Johnson recovered his senses, but +it was only for a brief period; being of a delicate constitution, he +sank under the disorder. He died at Kenmore on the 29th October, 1796, +in the twenty-sixth year of his age.[VII-74] + + [Footnote VII-74: John Johnson, a cousin of Robert, was also an + apprentice of Beilby and Bewick. He was a wood engraver, and + executed a few of the tail-pieces in the History of British Birds. + Like Robert, he possessed a taste for drawing; and the cut of the + Hermit at his morning devotion, engraved by T. Bewick, in Poems by + Goldsmith and Parnell, was designed by him. He died at Newcastle + about 1797, shortly after the expiration of his apprenticeship.] + +The following is a copy of a cut--from a design by Johnson +himself--which was drawn on the wood, and engraved by Charlton Nesbit, +as a tribute of his regard for the memory of his friend and +fellow-pupil. + + [Illustration] + +The next cut represents a view of a monument on the south side of +Ovingham church, erected to the memory of Robert Johnson by a few +friends who admired his talents, and respected him on account of his +amiable private character. + + [Illustration] + +Charlton Nesbit, who is justly entitled to be ranked with the best wood +engravers of his time, was born in 1775 at Swalwell, in the county of +Durham, about five miles westward of Gateshead, and when about fourteen +years of age was apprenticed to Beilby and Bewick to learn the art of +wood engraving. During his apprenticeship he engraved a few of the +tail-pieces in the first volume of the History of British Birds, and all +the head and tail-pieces, except two, in the Poems by Goldsmith and +Parnell, printed by Bulmer in 1795. Shortly after the expiration of his +apprenticeship he began to engrave a large cut, containing a view of St. +Nicholas Church, Newcastle-on-Tyne, from a drawing by his fellow-pupil, +Robert Johnson. We here present a reduced copy of this cut, which is one +of the largest ever engraved in England.[VII-75] The original was +engraved on a block consisting of twelve different pieces of box, firmly +cramped together, and mounted on a plate of cast iron to prevent their +warping. For this cut, which was first published about 1799, Mr. Nesbit +received a medal from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and +Manufactures. + + [Footnote VII-75: The original cut, including the border, is + fifteen inches wide by about twelve inches high.] + + [Illustration] + +About 1799 Mr. Nesbit came to London, where he continued to reside till +1815. During his residence there he engraved a number of cuts for +various works, chiefly from the designs of the late Mr. John +Thurston,[VII-76] who at that time was the principal, and indeed almost +the only artist of any talent in London, who made drawings on the block +for wood engravers. Some of the best of his cuts executed during this +period are to be found in a History of England printed for R. Scholey, +and in a work entitled Religious Emblems, published by R. Ackermann and +Co. in 1808. The cuts in the latter work were engraved by Nesbit, +Clennell, Branston, and Hole, from drawings by Thurston; and they are +unquestionably the best of their kind which up to that time had appeared +in England. Clennell’s are the most artist-like in their execution and +effect, while Nesbit’s are engraved with greater care. Branston, except +in one cut,--Rescued from the Floods,--does not appear to such advantage +in this work as his northern rivals. There is only one cut--Seed +sown--engraved by Hole. The following may be mentioned as the best of +Nesbit’s cuts in this work:--The World Weighed, The Daughters of +Jerusalem, Sinners hiding in the Grave, and Wounded in the Mental Eye. +The best of Clennell’s are:--Call to Vigilance, the World made Captive, +and Fainting for the Living Waters. These are perhaps the three best +cuts of their kind that Clennell ever engraved. + + [Footnote VII-76: Mr. Thurston was a native of Scarborough, and + originally a copper-plate engraver. He engraved, under the late + Mr. James Heath, parts of the two celebrated plates of the death + of Major Peirson and the Dead Soldier. He was one of the best + designers on wood of his time. He drew very beautifully, but his + designs are too frequently deficient in natural character and + feeling. He died in 1821.] + +In 1815 Mr. Nesbit returned to his native place, where he continued to +reside until 1830. While living in the country, though he did not +abandon the art, yet the cuts executed by him during this period are +comparatively few. In 1818, when residing in the North, he engraved a +large cut of Rinaldo and Armida for Savage’s Hints on Decorative +Printing: this cut and another, the Cave of Despair, in the same work +and of the same size, engraved by the late Robert Branston, were +expressly given to display the perfection to which modern wood engraving +had been brought. The foliage, the trees, and the drapery in Nesbit’s +cut are admirably engraved; but the lines in the bodies of the figures +are too much broken and “_chopped up_.” This, however, was not the fault +of the engraver, but of the designer, Mr. J. Thurston. The lines, which +now have a dotted appearance, were originally continuous and distinct; +but Mr. Thurston objecting to them as being too dark, Nesbit went over +his work again, and with immense labour reduced the strength of his +lines, and gave them their present dotted appearance. As a specimen of +the engraver’s abilities, the first proof submitted to the designer was +superior to the last. + +In order to give a fictitious value to Mr. Savage’s book, most of the +cuts, as soon as a certain number of impressions were taken, were sawn +across, but not through, in several places, and impressions of them when +thus defaced were given in the work.[VII-77] Nesbit’s cut was, however, +carefully repaired, and the back part of Armida’s head having been +altered, the impressions from the block thus amended were actually given +in the work itself as the _best_, instead of those which were taken +before it was defaced. This re-integration of the block was the work of +the late Mr. G. W. Bonner, Mr. Branston’s nephew. The transverse pieces +are so skilfully inserted, and engraved so much in the style of the +adjacent parts, that it is difficult to discover where the defacing saw +had passed. + + [Footnote VII-77: The practice of thus giving a fictitious value + to works of limited circulation, and which are not likely to reach + a second edition during the lifetime of their authors, is less + frequent now than it was a few years ago. It is little more than a + trick to enhance the price of the book to subscribers, by giving + them an assurance that no second edition can appear with the same + embellishments. In three cases out of four where the plates and + cuts of a work have been intentionally destroyed, there was little + prospect of such work reaching a second edition during the + writer’s life.] + +In 1830 Mr. Nesbit returned to London, where he continued to reside +until his death, which took place at Queen’s Elms, the 11th of November +1838, aged 63. Some of the best of his cuts are contained in the second +series of Northcote’s Fables; and the following, of his execution, may +be ranked among the finest productions of the art of wood engraving in +modern times:--The Robin and the Sparrow, page 1; The Hare and the +Bramble, page 127; The Peach and the Potatoe, page 129; and The Cock, +the Dog, and the Fox, page 238. Nesbit is unquestionably the best wood +engraver that has proceeded from the great northern hive of the art--the +workshop of Thomas Bewick. + +Luke Clennell, one of the most distinguished of Bewick’s pupils as a +designer and painter, as well as an engraver on wood, was born at +Ulgham, a village near Morpeth, in Northumberland, on the 8th of April, +1781. At an early age he was placed with a relation, a grocer in +Morpeth, and continued with him, assisting in the shop as an apprentice, +until he was sixteen. Some drawings which he made when at Morpeth having +attracted attention, and he himself showing a decided predilection for +the art, his friends were induced to place him as a wood engraver with +Bewick, to whom he was bound apprentice for seven years on the 8th of +April, 1797. He in a short time made great proficiency in wood +engraving; and as he drew with great correctness and power, Bewick +employed him to copy, on the block, several of Robert Johnson’s +drawings, and to engrave them as tail-pieces for the second volume of +the History of British Birds. Clennell for a few months after the +expiration of his apprenticeship continued to work for Bewick, who +chiefly employed him in engraving some of the cuts for a History of +England, published by Wallis and Scholey, 46, Paternoster Row. Clennell, +who was paid only two guineas apiece for each of those cuts, having +learnt that Bewick received five, sent to the publisher a proof of one +of them--Alfred in the Danish Camp--stating that it was of his own +engraving. In the course of a few days Clennell received an answer from +the publisher, inviting him to come to London, and offering him +employment until all the cuts intended for the work should be finished. +He accepted the offer, and shortly afterwards set out for London, where +he arrived about the end of autumn, 1804.[VII-78] + + [Footnote VII-78: Between the expiration of his apprenticeship and + his departure for London he appears to have engraved several + excellent cuts for a school-book entitled “The Hive of Ancient and + Modern Literature,” printed by S. Hodgson, Newcastle.--Clennell’s + fellow-pupils were Henry Hole and Edward Willis. Mr. Hole engraved + the cuts in M’Creery’s Press, 1803, and in Poems by Felicia + Dorothea Browne, (afterwards Mrs. Hemans) 1808. Mr. Hole gave up + wood engraving several years ago on succeeding to a large estate + in Derbyshire. Mr. Willis, who was a cousin of Mr. George + Stephenson, the celebrated engineer, died in London, the 10th of + February, 1842, aged 58; but had for some time previously entirely + abandoned the art.] + +Most of Clennell’s cuts are distinguished by their free and +_artist-like_ execution and by their excellent effect; but though +generally spirited, they are sometimes rather coarsely engraved. He was +accustomed to improve Thurston’s designs by occasionally heightening the +effect.[VII-79] To such alterations Thurston at first objected; but +perceiving that the cuts when engraved were thus very much improved, he +afterwards allowed Clennell to increase the lights and deepen the +shadows according to his own judgment. An admirable specimen of +Clennell’s engraving is to be found in an octavo edition of Falconer’s +Shipwreck, printed for Cadell and Davies, 1808. It occurs as a vignette +to the second canto at p. 43, and the subject is a ship running before +the wind in a gale. The motion of the waves, and the gloomy appearance +of the sky, are represented with admirable truth and feeling. The dark +shadow on the waters to the right gives wonderful effect to the white +crest of the wave in front; and the whole appearance of the cut is +indicative of a gloomy and tempestuous day, and of an increasing storm. +Perhaps no engraving of the same kind, either on copper or wood, conveys +the idea of a storm at sea with greater fidelity.[VII-80] The drawing +was made on the block by Thurston; but the spirit and _effect_,--the +lights and shadows, the apparent seething of the waves, and the troubled +appearance of the sky,--were introduced by Clennell. All the other cuts +in this edition of the Shipwreck are of his engraving; but though well +executed, they do not require any especial notice. Two of them, which +were previously designed for another work, are certainly not +_illustrations_ of Falconer’s Shipwreck. + + [Footnote VII-79: He also invariably corrected the _outline_ of + Thurston’s animals; “Fainting for the Living Waters” in the + Religious Emblems, and a little subject in an edition of Beattie’s + Minstrel, published at Alnwick, representing a shepherd and dog on + the brow of a hill, were thus improved by Clennell.] + + [Footnote VII-80: Mr. Jackson was in possession of the first proof + of this pretty wood engraving, inscribed Twickenham, September 10, + 1807, where Clennell was residing at the time.] + + [Illustration: DIPLOMA OF THE HIGHLAND SOCIETY + _Reduced to one-fourth of the original size_] + +Clennell’s largest cut is that which he engraved for the diploma of the +Highland Society, from a design by Benjamin West, President of the Royal +Academy; and for this he received fifty guineas. The original drawing +was made on paper, and Clennell gave Thurston fifteen pounds for copying +on the block the figures within the circle: the supporters, a Highland +soldier and a fisherman, he copied himself. The block on which he first +began to engrave this cut consisted of several pieces of box veneered +upon beech; and after he had been employed upon it for about two months, +it one afternoon suddenly split when he was at tea. Clennell, hearing it +crack, immediately suspected the cause; and on finding it rent in such a +manner that there was no chance of repairing it, he, in a passion that +the labour already bestowed on it should be lost, threw all the +tea-things into the fire. In the course of a few days however, he got a +new block made, consisting of solid pieces of box firmly screwed and +cramped together; and having paid Thurston fifteen pounds more for +re-drawing the figures within the circle, and having again copied the +supporters, he proceeded with renewed spirit to complete his work. For +engraving this cut he received a hundred and fifty guineas--he paying +Thurston himself for the drawing on the block; and the Society for the +Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures presented him with their gold +medal, May 30, 1809. This cut is characteristic of Clennell’s style of +engraving--the lines are in some places coarse, and in others the +execution is careless; the more important parts are, however, engraved +with great spirit; and the cut, as a whole, is bold and effective. +Cross-hatchings are freely introduced, not so much, perhaps, because +they were necessary, as to show that the engraver could execute such +kind of work,--the vulgar error that cross-hatchings could not be +executed on wood having been at that time extremely prevalent among +persons who had little knowledge of the art, and who yet vented their +absurd notions on the subject as if they were undeniable truths. The +preceding is a reduced copy of this cut.[VII-81] The original block, +when only a very limited number of impressions had been printed off, was +burnt in the fire at Mr. Bensley’s printing-office. The subject was +afterwards re-engraved on a block of the same size by John Thompson. + + [Footnote VII-81: The original cut is about ten inches and a half + high, measured from the line below the inscription, by about + thirteen inches and a half wide, measured across the centre.] + +The illustrations to an edition of Rogers’s Poems, 1812, engraved from +pen-and-ink drawings by Thomas Stothard, R.A., may be fairly ranked +among the best of the wood-cuts engraved by Clennell. They are executed +with the feeling of an artist, and are admirable representations of the +original drawings.[VII-82] Stothard himself was much pleased with them; +but he thought that when wood engravers attempted to express more than a +copy of a pen-and-ink drawing, and introduced a variety of tints in the +manner of copper-plate engravings, they exceeded the legitimate +boundaries of the art. A hundred wood-cuts by Bewick, Nesbit, Clennell, +and Thompson might, however, be produced to show that this opinion was +not well founded. + + [Footnote VII-82: Several additional cuts of the same kind, + engraved with no less ability by J. Thompson, were inserted in a + subsequent edition.] + +Clennell, who drew beautifully in water-colours, made many of the +drawings for the Border Antiquities; and the encouragement which he +received as a designer and painter made him resolve to entirely abandon +wood engraving. With this view he laboured diligently to improve himself +in painting, and in a short time made such progress that his pictures +attracted the attention of the Directors of the British Institution. In +1814, the Earl of Bridgewater employed him to paint a large picture of +the entertainment given to the Allied Sovereigns in the Guildhall by the +city of London. He experienced great difficulty in obtaining sketches of +the numerous distinguished persons whose portraits it was necessary to +give in the picture; and he lost much time, and suffered considerable +anxiety, in procuring those preliminary materials for his work. Having +at length completed his sketches, he began the picture, and had made +considerable progress in it when, in April 1817, he suddenly became +insane, and the work was interrupted.[VII-83] It has been said that his +malady arose from intense application, and from anxiety respecting the +success of his work. This, however, can scarcely be correct; he had +surmounted his greatest difficulties, and was proceeding regularly and +steadily with the painting, when he suddenly became deprived of his +reason. One of his fellow-pupils when he was with Bewick, who was +intimate with him, and was accustomed to see him frequently, never +observed any previous symptom of insanity in his behaviour, and never +heard him express any particular anxiety about the work on which he was +engaged. + + [Footnote VII-83: This painting was afterwards finished by + E. Bird, R.A., who also became insane.] + +Within a short time after Clennell had lost his reason, his wife also +became insane;[VII-84] and the malady being accompanied by a fever, she +after a short illness expired, leaving three young children to deplore +the death of one parent and the confirmed insanity of the other. These +most distressing circumstances excited the sympathy of several noblemen +and gentlemen; and a committee having been appointed to consider of the +best means of raising a fund for the support of Clennell’s family, it +was determined to publish by subscription an engraving from one of his +pictures. The subject made choice of was the Decisive Charge of the Life +Guards at Waterloo, for which Clennell had received a reward from the +British Institution. It was engraved by Mr. W. Bromley, and published in +1821. The sum thus raised was, after paying for the engraving, vested in +trustees for the benefit of Clennell’s children, and for the purpose of +providing a small annuity for himself. + + [Footnote VII-84: Clennell’s wife was a daughter of the late + C. Warren, one of the best copper-plate engravers of his time.] + +Clennell, after having been confined for three or four years in a +lunatic asylum in London, so far recovered that it was no longer +necessary to keep him in a state of restraint. He was accordingly sent +down to the North, and lived for several years in a state of harmless +insanity with a relation in the neighbourhood of Newcastle; amusing +himself with making drawings, engraving little wood-cuts, and +occasionally writing _poetry_. Upwards of sixty of those drawings are +now lying before me, displaying at once so much of his former genius and +of his present imbecility that it is not possible to regard them, +knowing whose they are, without a deep feeling of commiseration for his +fate. He used occasionally to call on Bewick, and he once asked for a +block to engrave. Bewick, to humour him, gave him a piece of wood, and +left him to choose his own subject; and Clennell, on his next visit, +brought with him the cut finished: it was like the attempt of a boy when +first beginning to engrave, but he thought it one of the most successful +of his productions in the art. The following specimens of his cuts and +of his poetry were respectively engraved and written in 1828. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +SONG. + + Good morning to you, Mary, + It glads me much to see thee once again; + What joy, since thee I’ve heard! + Heaven such beauty ever deign, + Mary of the vineyard! + +THE EVENING STAR. + + Look! what is it, with twinkling light, + That brings such joy, serenely bright, + That turns the dusk again to light?-- + ’Tis the Evening Star! + What is it with purest ray, + That brings such peace at close of day, + That lights the traveller on his way?-- + ’Tis the Evening Star! + What is it, of purest holy ray, + That brings to man the promised day, + And peace?-- + ’Tis the Evening Star! + +COMPENDIUM POETICA. + + A drop of heaven’s treasure, on an angel’s wing, + Such heaven alone can bring;-- + The painted hues upon the rose, + In heaven’s shower reposing, + Is an earthly treasure of such measure. + The butterfly, in his spell, + Upon the rosy prism doth dwell, + And as he doth fly, in his tour + From flower to flower, + Is seen for a while + Every care to beguile, + And so doth wing his little way, + A little fairy of the day! + +A FLOWERET. + + Where lengthened ray + Gildeth the bark upon her way; + Where vision is lost in space, + To trace, + As resting on a stile, + In ascent of half a mile-- + It is when the birds do sing, + In the evening of the spring. + The broad shadow from the tree, + Falling upon the slope, + You may see, + O’er flowery mead, + Where doth a pathway lead + To the topmost ope-- + The yellow butter-cup + And purple crow-foot, + The waving grass up, + Rounding upon the but-- + The spreading daisy + In the clover maze, + The wild rose upon the hedge-row, + And the honey-suckle blow + For village girl + To dress her chaplet-- + Or some youth, mayhap, let-- + Or bind the linky trinket + For some earl-- + Or trim up in plaits her hair + With much seeming care, + As fancy may think it-- + Or with spittle moisten, + Or half wink it, + Or to music inclined, + Or to sleep in the soft wind. + + St Peter’s, August 1828. + + L. C. + +About 1831, Clennell having become much worse, his friends were again +compelled to place him under restraint. He was accordingly conveyed to a +lunatic asylum near Newcastle, where he is still living. Until within +this last year or two, he continued to amuse himself with drawing and +writing poetry, and perhaps may do so still. It is to be hoped that, +though his condition appear miserable to us, he is not miserable +himself; that though deprived of the light of reason, he may yet enjoy +imaginary pleasures of which we can form no conception; and that his +confinement occasions to him + + “Small feeling of privation, none of pain.”[VII-85] + + [Footnote VII-85: Clennell died in the Lunatic Asylum, Feb. 9, + 1840, in his fifty-ninth year.] + +William Harvey, another distinguished pupil of Bewick, and one whose +earlier engravings are only surpassed by his more recent productions as +a designer on wood, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 13th of July 1796. +Having from an early age shown great fondness for drawing, he was at +the age of fourteen apprenticed to Thomas Bewick to learn the art of +engraving on wood.[VII-86] In conjunction with his fellow-pupil, W. W. +Temple, he engraved most of the cuts in Bewick’s Fables, 1818; and as he +excelled in drawing as well as in engraving, he was generally entrusted +by Bewick to make the drawings on the block after Robert Johnson’s +designs. One of the best cuts engraved by Harvey during his +apprenticeship was a vignette for the title-page of a small work +entitled “Cheviot: a Poetical Fragment,” printed at Newcastle in 1817. +This cut, which was also drawn by himself, is extremely beautiful both +in design and execution; the trees and the foliage are in particular +excellently represented; and as a small picturesque subject it is one of +the best he ever engraved. + + [Footnote VII-86: Isaac Nicholson, now established as a wood + engraver at Newcastle, was the apprentice immediately preceding + Harvey. W. W. Temple, who abandoned the business on the expiration + of his apprenticeship for that of a draper and silk-mercer, came + to Bewick shortly after Harvey; and the younger apprentice was + John Armstrong.] + +Harvey was a great favourite of Bewick, who presented him with a copy of +the History of British Birds as a new year’s gift on the 1st of January +1815, and at the same time addressed to him the following admonitory +letter. Mr. Harvey is a distinguished artist, a kind son, an +affectionate husband, a loving father, and in every relation of life a +most amiable man: he has not, however, been exposed to any plots or +conspiracies, nor been persecuted by envy and malice, as his master +anticipated; but, on the contrary, his talents and his amiable character +have procured for him public reputation and private esteem. + + “Gateshead, 1st January, 1815. + + “DEAR WILLIAM, + +“I sent you last night the History of British Birds, which I beg your +acceptance of as a new year’s gift, and also as a token of my respect. +Don’t trouble yourself about thanking me for them; but, instead of doing +so, let those books put you in mind of the duties you have to perform +through life. Look at them (as long as they last) on every new year’s +day, and at the same time resolve, with the help of the all-wise but +unknowable God, to conduct yourself on every occasion as becomes a good +man.--Be a good son, a good brother, (and when the time comes) a good +husband, a good father, and a good member of society. Peace of mind will +then follow you like a shadow; and when your mind grows rich in +integrity, you will fear the frowns of no man, and only smile at the +plots and conspiracies which it is probable will be laid against you by +envy, hatred, and malice. + + “To William Harvey, jun. Westgate. + + [HW: Thomas Bewick].” + +In September, 1817, Mr. Harvey came to London; and shortly afterwards, +with a view of obtaining a correct knowledge of the principles of +drawing, he became a pupil of Mr. B. R. Haydon, and he certainly could +not have had a better master. While improving himself under Mr. Haydon, +he drew and engraved from a picture by that eminent artist his large cut +of the Death of Dentatus, which was published in 1821.[VII-87] As a +large subject, this is unquestionably one of the most elaborately +engraved wood-cuts that has ever appeared. It scarcely, however, can be +considered a successful specimen of the art; for though the execution in +many parts be superior to anything of the kind, either of earlier or +more recent times, the cut, as a whole, is rather an attempt to rival +copper-plate engraving than a perfect specimen of engraving on wood, +displaying the peculiar advantages and excellences of the art within its +own legitimate bounds. More has been attempted than can be efficiently +represented by means of wood engraving. The figure of Dentatus is indeed +one of the finest specimens of the art that has ever been executed, and +the other figures in the fore-ground display no less talent; but the +rocks are of too uniform a _tone_, and some of the more distant figures +appear to _stick_ to each other. These defects, however, result from the +very nature of the art, not from inability in the engraver; for all that +wood engraving admits of he has effected. It is unnecessary to say more +of this cut here: some observations relating to the details, illustrated +with specimens of the best engraved parts, will be found in the next +chapter. + + [Footnote VII-87: This cut is about fifteen inches high by about + eleven inches and one quarter wide. It was engraved on a block + consisting of seven different pieces, the joinings of which are + apparent in impressions that have not been subsequently _touched_ + with Indian ink.] + +About 1824 Mr. Harvey entirely gave up the practice of engraving, and +has since exclusively devoted himself to designing for copper-plate and +wood engravers. His designs engraved on copper are, however, few when +compared with the immense number engraved on wood. The copper-plate +engravings consist principally of the illustrations in a collected +edition of Miss Edgeworth’s Works, 1832; in Southey’s edition of +Cowper’s Works, first published in 1836, and since by Mr. Bohn in his +Standard Library; and in the small edition of Dr. Lingard’s History of +England. + + [Illustration: SPECIMENS OF MR. HARVEY’S WOOD-ENGRAVING. + FROM DR. HENDERSON’S HISTORY OF ANCIENT AND MODERN WINES.] + + [Illustration] + +The beautiful vignettes and tail-pieces in Dr. Henderson’s History of +Ancient and Modern Wines, 1824, drawn and engraved by Mr. Harvey, may +be considered the ground-work of his reputation as a designer, and by +the kindness of Dr. Henderson we are enabled (in this second edition) +to present impressions of seven of them. The cuts in the first and +second series of Northcote’s Fables, 1828, 1833;[VII-88] in the Tower +Menagerie, 1828; in the Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society, +1831; and in Latrobe’s Solace of Song, 1837, were all drawn by him. +Among the smaller works illustrated with wood-cuts, and published +about the same time as the preceding, the following may be mentioned +as containing beautiful specimens of his talents as a designer on +wood:--The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green; The Children in the Wood; +A Story without an End, translated from the German by Mrs. Austin; and +especially his one hundred and twenty beautiful designs for the Paradise +Lost, and other poems of Milton, and his designs for Thomson’s Seasons, +from which two works we select four examples with the view of exhibiting +at the same time the talents of the distinguished engravers, viz., +John Thompson and Charles Gray. For various other works he has also +furnished, in all, between three and four thousand designs. As a +designer on wood, he is decidedly superior to the majority of artists of +the present day; and to his excellence in this respect, wood engraving +is chiefly indebted for the very great encouragement which it has of +late received in this country. + + [Footnote VII-88: What may be considered the sketches for the + principal cuts were supplied by Northcote himself. The following + account of the manner in which he _composed_ them is extracted + from a Sketch of his Life, prefixed to the second series of his + Fables, 1833:--“It was by a curious process that Mr. Northcote + really made the designs for these Fables the amusement of his old + age, for his talent as a draftsman, excelling as he did in + animals, was rarely required by this undertaking. His general + practice was to collect great numbers of prints of animals, and to + cut them out; he then moved such as he selected about upon the + surface of a piece of paper until he had illustrated the fable by + placing them to his satisfaction, and had thus composed his + subject; then fixing the different figures with paste to the + paper, a few pen or pencil touches rendered this singular + composition complete enough to place in the hands of Mr. Harvey, + by whom it was adapted or freely translated on the blocks for the + engravers.”--Mr. Harvey’s work was something more than free + translation. He _completed_ that which Northcote merely suggested. + The tail-pieces and letters are all of Mr. Harvey’s own invention + and drawing.] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +The two cuts on pages 533 and 534 are also from drawings by Mr. Harvey; +and both are printed from casts. The first is one of the illustrations +of the Children in the Wood, published by Jennings and Chaplin, 1831; +and the subject is the uncle bargaining with the two ruffians for the +murder of the children. This cut is freely and effectively executed, +without any display of useless labour. + + [Illustration] + +The second is one of the illustrations of the Blind Beggar of Bethnal +Green, published by Jennings and Chaplin, in 1832. The subject +represents the beggar’s daughter and her four suitors, namely,--the +gentleman of good degree, the gallant young knight in disguise, the +merchant of London, and her master’s son. This cut, though well +engraved, is scarcely equal to the preceding. It is, however, necessary +to observe that these cuts are not given as specimens of the engravers’ +talents, but merely as two subjects designed by Mr. Harvey. + + [Illustration] + +What has been called the “London School” of wood engraving produced +nothing that would bear a comparison with the works of Bewick and his +pupils until the late Robert Branston began to engrave on wood. About +1796, the best of the London engravers was J. Lee. He engraved the cuts +for the “Cheap Repository,” a collection of religious and moral tracts, +printed between 1794 and 1798, and sold by J. Marshall, London, and +S. Hazard, Bath. Those cuts, though coarsely executed, as might be +expected, considering the work for which they were intended, frequently +display considerable merit in the design; and in this respect several of +them are scarcely inferior to the cuts drawn and engraved by John Bewick +in Dr. Trusler’s Progress of Man and Society. Mr. Lee died in March, +1804; and on his decease, his apprentice, Henry White, went to +Newcastle, and served out the remainder of his time with Thomas Bewick. +James Lee, a son of Mr. J. Lee, the elder, is also a wood engraver; he +executed the portraits in Hansard’s Typographia, 1825. + + [Illustration: + _Rob. Branston._] + +Robert Branston, like Bewick, acquired his knowledge of wood engraving +without the instructions of a master. He was born at Lynn, in Norfolk, +in 1778, and died in London in 1827. He served his apprenticeship to his +father, a general copper-plate engraver and heraldic painter, who seems +to have carried on the same kind of miscellaneous business as Mr. +Beilby, the master of Bewick. About 1802 Mr. Branston came to London, +and finding that wood engraving was much encouraged, he determined to +apply himself to that art. Some of his first productions were cuts for +lottery bills; but as he improved in the practice of engraving on wood, +he began to engrave cuts for the illustration of books. His style of +engraving is peculiarly his own, and perfectly distinct from that of +Bewick. He engraved human figures and in-door scenes with great +clearness and precision; while Bewick’s chief excellence consisted in +the natural representation of quadrupeds, birds, landscapes, and +_road-side_ incidents. In the representation of trees and of natural +scenery, Branston has almost uniformly failed. Some of the best of his +earlier productions are to be found in the History of England, published +by Scholey, 1804-1810; in Bloomfield’s Wild Flowers, 1806; and in a +quarto volume entitled “Epistles in Verse,” and other poems by George +Marshall, 1812. + +The best specimen of Mr. Branston’s talents as a wood engraver is a +large cut of the Cave of Despair, in Savage’s Hints on Decorative +Printing. It was executed in rivalry with Nesbit, who engraved the cut +of Rinaldo and Armida for the same work, and it would be difficult to +decide which is the best. Both are good specimens of the styles of their +respective schools; and the subjects are well adapted to display the +peculiar excellence of the engravers. Had they exchanged subjects, +neither of the cuts would have been so well executed; but in this case +there call be little doubt that Nesbit would have engraved the figure +and the rocks in the Cave of Despair better than Branston would have +engraved the trees and the foliage in the cut of Rinaldo and Armida. The +cut on the previous page is a reduced copy of a portion of that of Mr. +Branston. + +Mr. Branston, like many others, did not think highly of the cuts in +Bewick’s Fables; and feeling persuaded that he could produce something +better, he employed Mr. Thurston to make several designs, with the +intention of publishing a similar work. After a few of them had been +engraved, he gave up the thought of proceeding further with the work, +from a doubt of its success. Bewick’s work was already in the market; +and it was questionable if another of the same kind, appearing shortly +after, would meet with a sale adequate to defray the expense. The three +cuts in the opposite page were engraved by Mr. Branston for the proposed +work. The two first are respectively illustrations of the fables of +Industry and Sloth, and of the Two Crabs; the third was intended as a +tail-piece. The cut of Industry and Sloth is certainly superior to that +of the same subject in Bewick’s Fables; but that of the Two Crabs, +though more delicately engraved, is not equal to the cut of the same +subject in Bewick. + + [Illustration: + INDUSTRY AND SLOTH.--_Robert Branston._] + + [Illustration: + THE TWO CRABS.--_Robert Branston._] + + [Illustration: + TAIL-PIECE TO THE TWO CRABS.--_Robert Branston._] + +Mr. Branston also thought that Bewick’s Birds were estimated too highly; +and he engraved two or three cuts to show that he could do the same +things as well, or better. In this respect, however, he certainly formed +a wrong estimate of his abilities; for, it is extremely doubtful +if--even with the aid of the best designer he could find--he could have +executed twenty cuts of birds which, for natural character, would bear a +comparison with twenty of the worst engraved by Bewick himself. The +great North-country man was an artist as well as a wood engraver; and in +this respect his principal pupils have also been distinguished. The cut +on our present page is one of those engraved by Mr. Branston to show his +superiority over Bewick. The bird represented is probably the Grey +Phalarope, or Scallop-toed Sand-piper, and it is unquestionably executed +with considerable ability; but though Bewick’s cut of the same bird be +one of his worst, it is superior to that engraved by Mr. Branston in +every essential point. + + [Illustration] + +Between twenty and thirty years ago, a wood engraver named Austin +executed several cuts, but did nothing to promote the art. William +Hughes, a native of Liverpool, who died in February 1825, at the early +age of thirty-two, produced a number of wood engravings of very +considerable merit. He chiefly excelled in architectural subjects. One +of his best productions is a dedication cut in the first volume of +Johnson’s Typographia, 1824, showing the interior of a chapel, +surrounded by the arms of the members of the Roxburgh Club. Another +artist of the same period, named Hugh Hughes, of whom scarcely anything +is now known, executed a whole volume of singularly beautiful wood +engravings, entitled “The Beauties of Cambria, consisting of Sixty Views +in North and South Wales,” London, 1823. The work was published by +subscription at one guinea, or on India paper at two guineas, and was +beautifully printed by the same John Johnson who printed William Hughes’ +cuts in the “Typographia,” and who, a few years previously, had +conducted the Lee Priory Press. The annexed four examples will give an +idea of the high finish and perfection of this elegant series. + + [Illustration: + _Hugh Hughes, del. et sc._ + PISTILL CAIN.] + + [Illustration: + _Hugh Hughes, del. et sc._ + MOLL FAMAU.] + + [Illustration: + _Hugh Hughes, del. et sc._ + WREXHAM CHURCH.] + + [Illustration: + _Hugh Hughes, del. et sc._ + PWLL CARADOC.] + + [Illustration: + GROUP OF FISH.--_J. Thompson._] + +John Thompson,[VII-89] one of the best English wood engravers of the +present day, was a pupil of Mr. Branston. He not only excels, like his +master, in the engraving of human figures, but displays equal talent in +the execution of all kinds of subjects. Among the very many excellent +cuts which have been engraved in England within the last twenty years, +those executed by John Thompson rank foremost. As he is rarely unequal +to himself, it is rather difficult to point out any which are very much +superior to the others of his execution. The following, however, may be +referred to as specimens of the general excellence of his cuts:--The +title-page to Puckle’s Club, 1817, and the cuts of Moroso, Newsmonger, +Swearer, Wiseman, and Xantippe in the same work; the Trout, the Tench, +the Salmon, the Chub, and a group of small fish,[VII-90] consisting of +the Minnow, the Loach, the Bull-head, and the Stickle-back, in Major’s +edition of Walton’s Angler;[VII-91] many of the cuts in Butler’s +Hudibras, published by Baldwyn in 1819, and reprinted by Bohn, in 1859, +of which we annex an example; the portrait of Butler, prefixed to an +edition of his Remains, published in 1827; and The Two Swine, The Mole +become a Connoisseur, Love and Friendship, and the portrait of +Northcote, in the second series of Northcote’s Fables. One of his latest +cuts is the beautifully executed portrait of Milton and his daughters, +after a design by Mr. Harvey, already given at page 531. The following +cut--a reduced copy of one of the plates in the Rake’s Progress--by Mr. +Thompson, engraved a few years ago for a projected edition of Hogarth’s +Graphic Works, of which only about a dozen cuts were completed, is one +of the best specimens of the art that has been executed in modern times. +In the engraving of small cuts of this kind Mr. Thompson has never been +surpassed; and it is beyond the power of the art to effect more than +what has here been accomplished. + + [Footnote VII-89: Charles Thompson, the brother of John, is also a + wood engraver. He resides at Paris, and his cuts are better known + in France than in this country. Miss Eliza Thompson, a daughter of + John Thompson, also engraves on wood.] + + [Footnote VII-90: The Salmon, Chub, and group of small fish are + given on the preceding page from the actual cuts referred to.] + + [Footnote VII-91: Bewick was accustomed to speak highly of the + cuts of fish in this beautiful work (several of which are given on + the previous pages): the Salmon, engraved by J. Thompson, and the + Eel, by H. White, he especially admired. Among others scarcely + less excellent are the Pike, by R. Branston; and the Carp, the + Grayling, and the Ruffe, by H. White. Major, in his second + edition, went to great expense in substituting other engravings + for most of these, with the intention of surpassing all that, by + the aid of artists, he had done before--in which he to some extent + succeeded. In this second edition, the Salmon is engraved by John + Jackson. All Mr. Major’s wood-cuts, as well as many of Bewick’s, + having passed into the hands of Henry G. Bohn (the present + publisher), his edition of Walton’s Angler is extensively enriched + by them.] + + [Illustration: + SALMON.--_J. Thompson._] + + [Illustration: + CHUB.--_J. Thompson._] + + [Illustration: + PIKE.--_R. Branston._] + + [Illustration: + EEL.--_H. White._] + + [Illustration: + _John Thompson._] + + [Illustration] + +The English wood engravers, who next to Charlton Nesbit and John +Thompson seem best entitled to honourable mention, are:--Samuel +Williams;* Thomas Williams; Ebenezer Landells; John Orrin Smith;* George +Baxter; Robert Branston; Frederick W. Branston; Henry White, senior, and +Henry White, junior; Thomas Mosses;* Charles Gorway; Samuel Slader;* +W. T. Green; W. J. Linton; John Martin; J. W. Whimper; John Wright; +W. A. Folkard; Charles Gray;* George Vasey; John Byfield;* John +Jackson;* Daniel Dodd, and John Dodd, brothers.--William Henry Powis, +who died in 1836, aged 28, was one of the best wood engravers of his +time. Several beautiful cuts executed by him are to be found in Martin +and Westall’s Pictorial Illustrations of the Bible, 1833, and in an +edition of Scott’s Bible, 1834; both works now published by Mr. Bohn. +The following examples, principally taken from Martin and Westall’s +Illustrations, will exemplify the talents of a few of the distinguished +artists above mentioned. It would swell the book beyond its limits to +give more, otherwise we might select from the same work, which contains +one hundred and forty engravings, by all the principal wood engravers of +the day. + + [Footnote *: All the engravers to whose names an asterisk is added + are now deceased.] + + [Illustration: + JOHN MARTIN JOHN JACKSON] + +The above cut was engraved by Mr. John Jackson in 1833. Abundant +evidences of the versatility of his xylographic talent, are scattered +throughout the present volume, of which, though not the author in a +literary sense, he was at least the conductor and proprietor. Among the +subjects pointed out by Mr. Chatto as engraved by Mr. Jackson, those on +pages 473, 495, 496, 512, 605, 614, deserve to be mentioned. + + [Illustration: + JOHN MARTIN F. W. BRANSTON] + +Mr. F. W. Branston, brother of Mr. Robert Branston, has long been known +as one of our best engravers, as the annexed Specimen will shew. + + [Illustration: + JOHN MARTIN E. LANDELLS] + +MR. EBENEZER LANDELLS, the engraver of this beautiful cut, has quite +recently been lost to us. He was projector, and for a long time +proprietor, of The Ladies’ Illustrated Newspaper, and has engraved an +immense number of subjects of all classes. + + [Illustration: + JOHN MARTIN W. H. POWIS] + +The talented engraver of the present subject has already been named, +with commendation, at page 544. We learn that the sum paid him for +engraving it was fifteen guineas, being three guineas more than the +average price. Mr. Wm. Bagg, now a successful draftsman of anatomical +subjects, made this and all the other drawings on the blocks at the rate +of five guineas each, and Mr. John Martin had ten guineas each for the +designs. As the volume contains 144 subjects it must have cost the +projectors, Messrs. Bull and Churton, upwards of four thousand guineas: +it may now be bought for a dozen shillings. + + [Illustration: + JOHN MARTIN THOS. WILLIAMS] + +MR. THOMAS WILLIAMS ranks high as an engraver on wood, and the +illustrated works of the last twenty years teem with his performances. +Some of the engravings in the Merrie Days of England, 1859, are by him. + + [Illustration: + JOHN MARTIN W. T. GREEN] + +The only other Illustration which we shall take from Martin and +Westall’s Bible Prints is the above, engraved by Mr. W. T. Green, who +continues to exercise his burin with great skill, and has recently +engraved one of the plates in Merrie Days of England, and Favourite +English Poems, and several of Maclise’s designs for Tennyson’s Princess. +To this is added, as a vignette finish to the chapter, an engraving +recently executed by him for an illustrated edition of Milton’s Paradise +Lost, now published in Bohn’s Library, and already mentioned at page +531. + +One of the principal wood engravers in Germany, about the time that +Bewick began to practise the art in England, was Unger. In 1779 he +published a tract, containing five cuts of his own engraving, discussing +the question whether Albert Durer actually engraved on wood: his +decision is in the negative. In the same year, his son also published a +dissertation, illustrated with wood-cuts, on the progress of wood +engraving in Brandenburg, with an account of the principal books +containing wood-cuts printed in that part of Prussia. They jointly +executed some chiaro-scuros, and a number of trifling book-illustrations +such as are to be found in Heineken’s Idée Générale d’une Collection +complette d’Estampes. These cuts are of a very inferior character. +Gubitz, a German wood engraver, who flourished about thirty years ago, +executed several cuts which are much superior to any I have seen by the +Ungers. Several of those engraved by Gubitz, bear considerable +resemblance to the cuts of Bewick. The principal French wood engravers +in the eighteenth century, subsequent to Papillon, were Gritner and +Beugnet; but neither of them produced anything superior to the worst of +the cuts to be found in the work of Papillon. With them wood engraving +in France rather declined than advanced. Of late years the art has made +great progress both in Germany and France; and should the taste for +wood-cuts continue to increase in those countries, their engravers may +regain for the art that popularity which it enjoyed in former times, +when Nuremberg and Lyons were the great marts for works illustrated with +wood engravings. + + [Illustration: + W. HARVEY W. T. GREEN] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +ARTISTS AND ENGRAVERS ON WOOD OF THE PRESENT DAY. + + +The present chapter, which is additional to the former edition, had not +been contemplated until the previous pages were printed off. But it was +then suggested to the publisher, by one who was able and willing to +co-operate in the object, that although the book was intended to be +merely an improved reprint of what had been given before, a short +chapter might advantageously be added respecting those Artists of the +present day who were omitted by Jackson, or have risen to eminence since +his time. + +Applications in the form of a circular were accordingly issued, and have +resulted in the Specimens now presented. They must speak for themselves, +it not being within the province of the publisher to pronounce as to +their respective merits. Besides which, the art of wood-engraving, owing +to the enormous impulse given to it during the last twenty years, has +attained such a pitch of excellence, that it would be somewhat difficult +to determine who, if sufficiently stimulated, could produce the most +perfect work. Artists in Wood, like Artists in Oil, have their +specialties, and excel relatively in Landscape, Cattle, or Figure +drawing; Architecture, Natural History, Diagrams, or Humour. But though +each may acquire distinction in the department which choice or accident +has assigned him, some can undertake all departments equally well. In +saying this we refer to engraving rather than designing, for Harrison +Weir would hardly undertake Architecture; Orlando Jewitt, Animals; or +George Cruikshank, Mathematical Diagrams. + +When, with the age of Bewick, wood-engraving began to reassume its +importance for book illustration, both designing and engraving were +generally performed by the same hand; but, in the present day, the +professions are becoming too important to be joined, and those who, like +William Harvey, Samuel Williams, and others, commenced by practising +both, now, recognising the modern policy of a division of labour, +confine themselves with few exceptions to one. Our business here, so far +as designs are concerned, is almost limited to those draughtsmen who +habitually draw on wood, for it is unnecessary to say that every drawing +or painting may be transferred to wood by the practical operator. + +The following Specimens are given in accidental order rather than with +any notion of precedence or classification. + + [Illustration: + PERCIVAL SKELTON JAMES COOPER + THE SIERRA MORENA] + +The present and following specimens are engraved by JAMES COOPER. The +first one is from Mr. Murray’s illustrated edition of Childe Harold, +published in 1859, which contains eighty engravings, all designed by Mr. +Percival Skelton; the others from the Select Poems and Songs of Robert +Burns, published by Kent & Co. in 1858. Mr. Cooper is favourably known +to the artistic world by his engravings in Rhymes and Roundelayes, +a volume to which we shall presently refer again; Poetry and Pictures +from Thomas Moore, Longmans, 1858; The Merrie Days of England, 1859; +Favourite English Poems, 1858; and Bloomfield’s Farmer’s Boy, +1858--mostly after designs by Birket Foster, and all produced under the +superintendence of Mr. Joseph Cundall. + + [Illustration: + BANKS OF THE NITH. + BURNS’ POEMS] + + [Illustration: + HARRISON WEIR JAMES COOPER + THE TWA DOGS. + BURNS’ POEMS] + + [Illustration: + HARRISON WEIR JAMES COOPER + TO AULD MARE MAGGIE + BURNS’ POEMS] + +This and the preceding three specimens complete what we have to adduce +of Mr. Cooper’s engraving: the designers will be spoken of in subsequent +pages. + + [Illustration: + HARRISON WEIR J. GREENAWAY + THE POETRY OF NATURE.] + +MR. HARRISON WEIR is distinguished for his spirited drawings of animals +and rural landscapes, as will be seen in the annexed examples, which are +engraved by W. Wright (formerly with Vizetelly) and John Greenaway. He +has contributed to most of the popular works of recent date, in which +animals form a feature. Among them may be named: The Poetry of the Year; +Poems and Songs by Robert Burns; Poetry and Pictures from Thomas Moore; +Favourite English Poems; Barry Cornwall’s Dramatic Scenes and Poems; +Fable Book for Children; James Montgomery’s Poems, 1860, and Wood’s +Natural History. + + [Illustration: + HARRISON WEIR N. WRIGHT + BLOOMFIELD’S FARMER’S BOY] + + [Illustration: + HARRISON WEIR GREENAWAY + CAMPBELL’S PLEASURES OF HOPE.] + + [Illustration: + HARRISON WEIR J. GREENAWAY] + +Both this and the specimen on the preceding page are from the +illustrated edition of Campbell’s Pleasures of Hope, of which all the +plates are engraved by MR. JOHN GREENAWAY. + +Mr. Greenaway has contributed to many other of the illustrated +publications of the present day, and among them to the Poetry of Nature, +edited by Mr. J. Cundall, with thirty-six cuts all designed by Harrison +Weir. Low and Son, 1860. Bloomfield’s Farmer’s Boy, 1858; Favourite +English Ballads, 1859. + + [Illustration: + BIRKET FOSTER EDMUND EVANS + WILD FLOWERS.] + +Engraved by EDMUND EVANS from a design by Birket Foster for Rhymes and +Roundelayes, published by Mr. Bogue in 1857, and since by Messrs. +Routledge. Mr. Evans has likewise engraved the Landscapes in Cowper’s +Task, after designs by the same artist, Herbert’s Poetical Works, and +Graham’s Sabbath, all published by Nisbet & Co.; the Landscapes in +Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel, and Marmion, published by Adam Black & +Co.; many of the subjects in Poems and Songs by Robert Burns, from which +we have given several specimens, The Merrie Days of England, &c.; and +all the illustrations in Goldsmith’s Poetical Works, which are printed +in Colours by himself. + + [Illustration: + BIRKET FOSTER W. J. PALMER + LAYS OF THE HOLY LAND] + +Engraved by W. J. PALMER, after a design by Birket Foster, for Lays of +the Holy Land, published by Nisbet & Co. Mr. Palmer has also contributed +to the Illustrated edition of Thomson’s Seasons, The Merchant of Venice, +Gray’s Poems, published by Low and Son; The Merrie Days of England, Kent +& Co., and other pictorial works, chiefly after the designs of Birket +Foster, and under the superintendence of Mr. Cundall. + +Although several specimens have already been given of Birket Foster’s +powers of design, in speaking of the engravers, we give another, one of +his earliest, that we may have occasion to say something of himself. + + [Illustration: + BIRKET FOSTER H. VIZETELLY + EVANGELINE.] + +MR. BIRKET FOSTER was a pupil of Mr. Landells, who, discerning his +artistic talent, employed him from an early age in the superior +department of his profession. After he commenced on his own account, his +first important illustrations were for Longfellow’s Poetical Works, of +which the above is a specimen. He has since partly or wholly +illustrated, besides those works already mentioned under the name of the +engraver, Adams’s Allegories, published by Messrs. Rivington; The Book +of Favourite Modern Ballads, Poets of the Nineteenth Century, Christmas +with the Poets, Favourite English Poems, Home Affections, The Merrie +Days of England, Barry Cornwall’s Dramatic Scenes and Poems, Southey’s +Life of Nelson, Gosse’s Rivers of the Bible, and many other of the best +works of the period. In 1859 he was elected a member of the Old Water +Colour Society, and has since then devoted himself almost exclusively, +and with great success, to painting in Water Colours. + + [Illustration: + JOHN TENNIEL DALZIEL] + +MR. JOHN TENNIEL is a successful illustrator of Historical subjects, and +Ballad poetry, and has produced many fine examples of his pencil. His +most recent work is a series of sixty-nine designs for the illustrated +edition of Moore’s Lalla Rookh, engraved by the Messrs. Dalziel, which +the “Times” of Nov. 1, 1860, calls the “greatest illustrative +achievement of any single hand,” and of which we here present an +example. He is now engaged in illustrating Shirley Brooks’ story called +The Silver Cord, in “Once a Week;” and in 1857 he contributed a number +of spirited designs to the illustrated edition of Barry Cornwall’s +Poetical Works. Among Mr. Tenniel’s earlier works are several in the +Book of British Ballads, edited by Samuel Carter Hall, in 1843; and +among his popular designs, sketched with a free pencil, are his large +cuts in “Punch,” and his small ones in Punch’s Pocket Book. + + [Illustrations: + JOHN TENNIEL DALZIEL + DEATH OF SFORZA. + SFORZA.] + +Both these examples are from Barry Cornwall’s dramatic sketch, entitled +Ludovico Sforza, published in the illustrated edition of his Poems. + + [Illustration: + JOHN GILBERT. DALZIEL BROTHERS. + ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.] + +Engraved by MESSRS. DALZIEL, BROTHERS, after the designs of MR. JOHN +GILBERT. These highly appreciated Artists appear together in a +considerable number of the illustrated publications of the present day. +Messrs. Dalziel are among the most extensive of our wood-engravers, and +have taken part in all the illustrated works of importance which have +been produced during the last twenty years. Among the recent ones +are:--Staunton’s Illustrated Shakspeare, from which the above specimen +is taken, and Longfellow’s Poems, Routledge, 1859; Barry Cornwall’s +Dramatic Scenes and Poems, with fifty-seven wood-engravings, published +by Chapman and Hall in 1857, now republished by Henry G. Bohn; and +Tennyson’s Princess, after drawings by Maclise. These artists are at +present engaged in engraving Millais’ Designs in the “Cornhill +Magazine.” + + [Illustration: + THOMAS DALZIEL DALZIEL BROTHERS + THE FLORENTINE PARTY.] + +The present engraving, executed by the Brothers Dalziel, for Barry +Cornwall’s Poems, gives a pleasing example of Mr. Thomas Dalziel’s +drawing. + + * * * + +The next two are early designs by Mr. John Gilbert. The first is from +the Percy Tales of the Kings of England, originally published in 1840, +by Mr. Cundall, and since by Henry G. Bohn; the other from Maxwell’s +Life of the Duke of Wellington, in which there are upwards of one +hundred similar vignettes, originally published in 1840, by Messrs. +Baily, Brothers. + + [Illustration: + JOHN GILBERT KIRCHNER + PRINCE ARTHUR AND HUBERT DE BOURG. + FROM PERCY TALES OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND.] + + [Illustration: + JOHN GILBERT] + + [Illustration: + THE DEMON LOVER. + JOHN GILBERT.] + +We have here, engraved by MR. W. A. FOLKARD, another of the early +designs of MR. JOHN GILBERT. It is one of the illustrations to the Book +of English Ballads, edited by S. C. Hall, in 1843, which contains +upwards of four hundred wood-engravings, and was the first work of any +consequence that presented a combination of the best artists of the +time. Indeed, it was the leader in what may be called the Illustrated +Christmas Books of the present day. Since this period, Mr. Gilbert has +probably produced more drawings on wood than any other artist, and has +contributed to almost every illustrated book of any importance. He is a +member of the Old Water Colour Society, and has sent many fine drawings +to the Exhibition. + + [Illustration: + G. H. THOMAS W. L. THOMAS + FROM HIAWATHA.] + +WILLIAM L. THOMAS deserves to rank among the foremost of our +wood-engravers, as will be seen by the present specimen. He engraved +most of the subjects to Hiawatha, all of which were drawn by his brother +George H. THOMAS, and are now included in Bohn’s Illustrated edition of +Longfellow’s Works; many of Mr. Maclise’s masterly designs for +Tennyson’s Princess, and all the subjects for the Boys’ Book of Ballads, +from drawings by John Gilbert. They have also contributed, separately or +together, to the Book of Favourite Modern Ballads, Poetry and Pictures +from Thomas Moore, Burns’ Poems, The Merrie Days of England, Favourite +English Poems, and many other illustrated works. + + [Illustration: + HIAWATHA.] + + [Illustration] + +Engraved by HORACE HARRAL (a pupil of the late John Orrin Smith), after +a design by George Thomas, for the illustrated edition of Longfellow’s +Poems, formerly published in detached portions by Kent & Co., and now +completely by H. G. Bohn. These artists have also contributed to the +illustrated editions of Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, Burns’ Poems, +Campbell’s Pleasures of Hope, the Merchant of Venice, and The Merrie +Days of England; also to the Poetry and Pictures from Thomas Moore. Mr. +George Thomas, who has long ranked as one of our best draughtsmen of +figure subjects, has of late turned his attention almost exclusively to +painting in oils, and is a successful exhibitor. + + [Illustration: + G. H. THOMAS E. EVANS + JOHN ANDERSON MY JO. + BURNS’ POEMS.] + + [Illustration: + G. H. THOMAS E. EVANS] + +These pleasing specimens conclude our examples of the drawing of Mr. +George Henry Thomas. Of Mr. Evans the engraver we have already spoken. + + [Illustration: + D. MACLISE W. THOMAS + FROM TENNYSON’S PRINCESS.] + +The illustrated volume from which this is taken has twenty-six +illustrations, engraved by W. Thomas, W. T. Green, E. Williams, and +Dalziel, Brothers. Miss E. Williams is a daughter of the late talented +Samuel Williams. + + [Illustration: + D. MACLISE, R.A. J. THOMPSON + LEONORA] + +Here is another Design by MR. D. MACLISE, R.A., who in his own peculiar +manner has furnished drawings on wood for several finely illustrated +publications, among which may be enumerated Longman’s edition of the +Poems and Songs of Thomas Moore, and especially Tennyson’s Princess, of +which we have given an example on a previous page. The present is the +smallest of a series of designs engraved by Mr. John Thompson, for that +stirring Ballad, Bürger’s Leonora. + + [Illustration: + PERCIVAL SKELTON J. W. WHYMPER + CHILDE HAROLD.] + +MR. PERCIVAL SKELTON has been mentioned incidentally on a previous page, +and we should have given in addition a fine example of his pencil from +the Book of Favourite Modern Ballads, but the plate is too large. This +present small specimen is to introduce the name of MR. J. W. WHYMPER, +who has been concerned in many of the illustrated publications of the +last thirty years, and especially those published by the Christian +Knowledge Society. + + [Illustration: + CLARKSON STANFIELD, R.A. H. VIZETELLY + ANDERSON READING THE BIBLE TO JACK.] + +MR. HENRY VIZETELLY has been so indefatigable for the last twenty years +in producing illustrated works in every department, that examples of his +wood engraving are extensively distributed. He is besides a printer, +well skilled in bringing up wood-cuts, which is a most delicate and +artistic process. All the engravings in Miller’s Boy’s Country Year +Book, and the Book of Wonderful Inventions, are engraved by him, or +under his direction, as are also most of the charming series of designs +made by CLARKSON STANFIELD, R.A. for Marryat’s Poor Jack, of which the +annexed is a specimen; many of the plates in Bohn’s illustrated edition +of Longfellow’s Poems; and the entire series of Christmas with the +Poets, fifty-three subjects, printed in tints by himself. + + [Illustration: + BIRKET FOSTER H. VIZETELLY + CHRISTMAS IN THE OLDEN TIME.] + +We here present a specimen of a series of engravings executed by Mr. +Vizetelly, for a work projected by the late Mr. Bogue, and yet +unpublished. + + [Illustration] + +SAMUEL WILLIAMS (recently deceased) deserves a conspicuous niche in the +Walhalla of Artists for his forty-eight beautiful illustrations of +Thomson’s Seasons, all drawn and engraved by himself. The annexed +specimens selected from that volume (now about to be published by Mr. +Bohn in his Illustrated Library) will give a fair example of his +peculiar taste in the miniature treatment of rural subjects. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration: + JOHN WOLF G. PEARSON + EAGLES, STAGS AND WOLVES.] + +This and the following engraving were executed by MR. GEORGE PEARSON, a +rising artist, after drawings made by JOHN WOLF, for the illustrations +of T. W. Atkinson’s Travels in the Region of the Upper and Lower Amoor +(in Eastern Asia). Mr. Wolf, like Mr. Harrison Weir, has a preference +for animal drawing, and excels in it. + + [Illustration: + JOHN WOLF G. PEARSON + HARE HAWKING.] + +This well-executed cut of Hare Hawking is from Messrs. Freeman and +Salvin’s Work on Falconry, recently published by Messrs. Longman. + +Mr. Pearson has lately been engaged in engraving Icthyological subjects +for Hartwig’s Sea and its Living Wonders, and some other works of +Natural History, a department which he is cultivating by preference. + + [Illustration: + G. PEARSON + FALLS OF NIAGARA.] + +The Vignette by the same engraver is one of the Illustrations of Bohn’s +Pictorial Hand-book of Geography just published. + + [Illustration: + H. ANELAY MEASOM + FROM SANDFORD AND MERTON.] + +MR. H. ANELAY is well known to the public as a draughtsman on wood, +especially in the departments of portrait and figure drawing. The +present example, taken from Bohn’s Illustrated edition of Sandford and +Merton, is engraved by MR. MEASOM, whose practice is extensive and of +long standing. Several of the figure subjects in Merrie Days of England, +recently published by Kent and Co., and in Favourite English Poems, +published by Low and Co. are by him. + + [Illustration: + JOHN ABSOLON THOMAS BOLTON + MILES STANDISH.] + +MR. J. ABSOLON has for many years been an illustrator of popular story +books and poems, most of which have been published or edited by Mr. +Cundall. Among them may be named, Favourite English Poems, published by +Low and Co., in 1859; Rhymes and Roundelayes, Routledge, 1858; +Goldsmith’s Poetical Works; and Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads, published by +Murray. The present specimen is from Bohn’s Illustrated edition of +Longfellow’s Poems, in which the Miles Standish is chiefly illustrated +by the designs of Mr. Absolon, and entirely engraved by MR. THOMAS +BOLTON, an artist of considerable repute, whose name appears in many of +the books quoted in these pages, and among others, in the Poems and +Songs of Robert Burns. + +Mr. Bolton has just invented a process by which the powers of +photography may be applied direct to the production of subjects from +nature or art on wood, and from which the engraving can be made without +the intervention of drawing. We annex his first specimen; others are +about to appear in the illustrated edition of Miss Winkworth’s Lyra +Germanica. + + [Illustration: + FLAXMAN THOMAS BOLTON] + +This specimen of MR. BOLTON’S new process is taken from the well-known +relief of Flaxman, “_Deliver us from evil_.” It is one of the first +successful photographs on wood, and was printed and engraved by MR. +THOMAS BOLTON, from Mr. Leighton’s negative. + + [Illustration: + R. DOYLE JOHN SWAIN + MONTALVA’S FAIRY TALES.] + +MR. RICHARD DOYLE’s manner of drawing is fairly exemplified in the +present engraving, executed by him for Montalva’s Fairy Tales of all +Nations, published by Chapman & Hall in 1859. Mr. Doyle has illustrated +a considerable number of books of a popular character, among which may +be named: The Scouring of the White Horse; The Newcomes; The Continental +Tour of Brown, Jones, and Robinson, of which we give an example on the +next page: Manners and Customs of the English; and Pips’ Diary. + + [Illustration: + RICHARD DOYLE JOHN SWAIN + BROWN, JONES, AND ROBINSON IN VENICE.] + +Mr. Doyle’s “Foreign Tour of Brown, Jones, and Robinson, what they saw +and did in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy,” published in 1855, +has acquired great popularity among the lovers of comic literature, and +by the kindness of the publishers, Messrs. Bradbury and Evans, we are +enabled to give a specimen. + + [Illustration: + JOHN LEECH ORRIN SMITH + FROM UNCLE TOM’S CABIN.] + +MR. JOHN LEECH is so well known to every reader of “Punch,” that we need +hardly do more here than merely mention his name as one of the best and +most extensive of our graphic humorists. + +Among the many books to which he has contributed are: The Comic History +of England; Comic History of Rome; Comic Aspects of English Social Life; +Tour in Ireland; Soapy Sponge’s Sporting Tour; Young Troublesome; Mr. +Jorrocks’ Hunt; Punch’s Almanack; and several editions of Uncle Tom’s +Cabin, from one of which (our own) the above specimen is taken, drawn, +as we have reason to believe, in the course of two or three hours. + + [Illustration: + JOHN LEECH JOHN SWAIN + PEASANTRY ON THEIR WAY TO AN IRISH FAIR. + TOUR IN IRELAND.] + +Another specimen of Mr. Leech’s comic humour, taken from his Tour in +Ireland, published at the Punch Office. + + [Illustration: + JOHN LEIGHTON HENRY LEIGHTON + HASTEN AT LEISURE.] + +We here present a specimen of that curious work, “Moral Emblems of all +Ages and Nations,” published by Messrs. Longman & Co. The whole book has +been drawn after the originals and superintended throughout by MR. JOHN +LEIGHTON, who is well known under his pseudonyme of “Luke Limner.” The +engraving is by HENRY LEIGHTON. + + [Illustration: + EDWARD DUNCAN HORACE HARRAL + THE BLOWING UP OF CORINTH] + +EDWARD DUNCAN, a member of the Old Water Colour Society, often draws on +wood, especially Landscapes and Naval subjects. He has contributed to +the Book of Favourite Modern Ballads, Favourite English Poems, Rhymes +and Roundelayes, Poetry and Pictures from Thomas Moore, the Soldier’s +Dream, and Lays of the Holy Land. + + [Illustration: + E. DUNCAN H. HARRAL] + +These two examples of his style are engraved by HORACE HARRAL for Bohn’s +Illustrated edition of Southey’s Life of Nelson. + + [Illustration: + O. JEWITT + NORTH PORCH OF STA. MARIA MAGGIORE, BERGAMO.] + +The wood-engravings in the present and following pages are by MR. +ORLANDO JEWITT, who devotes himself almost exclusively to Gothic +Architecture and Ornament, in which he is pre-eminent. He is one of the +very few who continue to combine designing and drawing with engraving. +The first specimen here presented is from Street’s Brick and Marble +Architecture of Italy in the Middle Ages, 8vo., published by Mr. Murray +in 1855. + + [Illustration: + O. JEWITT + SHRINE IN BAYEUX CATHEDRAL.] + +Our second specimen, and two of those on the next page, are from Mr. +Pugin’s splendid work, the “Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament,” +published by Henry G. Bohn in 1846. + + [Illustration: HEARSE OF MARGARET, COUNTESS OF WARWICK.] + + [Illustrations: SPECIMENS OF ENGRAVING BY ORLANDO JEWITT. + + O. JEWITT, del. et sc. + CAPITAL OF THE PRESBYTERY, LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. + LETTERN. + + O. JEWITT, del. et sc. + BRICK TRACERY, ST. STEPHEN’S CHURCH, TANGERMUNDE, PRUSSIA. + _Unpublished._] + +Among the many works to which Mr. Jewitt has contributed, besides those +already mentioned, are Bloxam’s first principles of Gothic Architecture; +the Glossary of Architecture published by Mr. Parker of Oxford; +Rickman’s Gothic Architecture, fifth edition; and the Baptismal Fonts, +published by Mr. Van Voorst. He is now engaged in drawing and engraving +Murray’s Handbook of English Cathedrals. + + [Illustration: + T. CRESWICK J. WILLIAMS + THE NUT BROWN MAID.] + +MR. CRESWICK, R.A., the distinguished painter, has occasionally drawn on +wood, but more as a favour than part of his _métier_. The present +specimen, one of a series contributed to the Book of British Ballads, is +so highly praised by Mr. Ruskin, and at the same time so elaborately +criticised, that we think it in place to quote his words. After +comparing him advantageously with Poussin, he proceeds to say, “Who with +one thought or memory of nature in his heart could look at the two +landscapes, and receive Poussin’s with ordinary patience? Take Creswick +in black and white, where he is unembarrassed by his fondness for +pea-green, the illustrations, for instance, to the _Nut-Brown Maid_, in +the Book of English Ballads. Look at the intricacy and fulness of the +dark oak foliage, where it bends over the brook; see how you can go +through it, and into it, and come out behind it, to the quiet bit of +sky. Observe the grey aërial transparency of the stunted copse on the +left, and the entangling of the boughs where the light near foliage +detaches itself. Above all, note the forms of the masses of light. Not +things like scales or shells, sharp at the edge, and flat in the middle, +but irregular and rounded, stealing in and out accidentally from the +shadow, and presenting in general outline, as the masses of all trees +do, a resemblance to the specific forms of the leaves of which they are +composed. Turn over the page, and look into the weaving of the foliage +and sprays against the dark-night-sky, how near they are, yet how +untraceable; see how the moonlight creeps up underneath them, trembling +and shivering on the silver boughs above; note also, the descending bit +of ivy, on the left, of which only a few leaves are made out, and the +rest is confusion, or tells only in the moonlight like faint flakes of +snow. + +“But nature observes another principle in her foliage, more important +even than its intricacy. She always secures an exceeding harmony and +repose. She is so intricate that her minuteness of parts becomes to the +eye, at a little, one united veil or cloud of leaves, to destroy the +evenness of which is perhaps a greater fault than to destroy its +transparency. Look at Creswick’s oak again, in its dark parts. Intricate +as it is, all is blended into a cloud-like harmony of shade, which +becomes fainter and fainter as it retires, with the most delicate +flatness and unity of tone. And it is by this kind of vaporescence, so +to speak, by this flat misty unison of parts, that nature and her +faithful followers are enabled to keep the eye in perfect repose in the +midst of profusion, and to display beauty of form wherever they choose, +to the greatest possible advantage, by throwing it across some quiet +visionary passage of dimness and rest.” + +Mr. Creswick has recently contributed several vignettes to Tennyson’s +Poems. The following, engraved by MASON JACKSON, is from Bohn’s +Illustrated edition of Walton’s Angler, to which Mr. Creswick has +contributed several others. + + [Illustration: + CRESWICK MASON JACKSON] + + [Illustration: + JOHN MARTIN W. J. LINTON] + +MR. W. J. LINTON has for many years had extensive practice both as a +draughtsman and an engraver on wood, and still continues to combine both +professions. The specimens on the present page shew his early work; the +first is after a drawing by John Martin from the series of Bible Prints +before quoted; the second, a vignette after MCIAN, from the Book of +British Ballads. + + [Illustration: + R. R. MC IAN W. J. LINTON] + +His later work is beautifully exemplified on the opposite page by the +subject called Death’s Door, after a drawing by that remarkable man +WILLIAM BLAKE, of whom some account will be found at p. 632. It was +published in the Art Union Volume of 1859, and is by the kindness of the +Council of that Society inserted here. + +To complete this page we annex two other of Mr. Linton’s late works. +They are taken from Milton’s L’Allegro, published by Low & Co. + + [Illustration: + STONHOUSE W. J. LINTON + “SHALLOW BROOKS AND RIVERS WIDE.”] + +Many of the illustrated books of the last twenty years exhibit the +talents of Mr. Linton. We may name, besides the Book of Ballads, The +Pictorial Tour of the Thames, The Merrie Days of England, 1859, Burns’ +Poems and Songs, Favourite English Poems, 1859, Shakspere’s Birthplace, +and the Illustrated edition of Milton’s Poetical Works formerly +published by Kent & Co. and now in Bohn’s Illustrated Library. + + [Illustration: + J. L. HORSLEY, A.R.A. W. J. LINTON + “SUCH AS THE MELTING SOUL MAY PIERCE.”] + + [Illustration: + F. W. FAIRHOLT] + +MR. F. W. FAIRHOLT is distinguished for his knowledge of Costume and +Mediæval art, which he has exemplified in a considerable number of +shaded outlines, mostly drawn and engraved by himself. The +wood-engraving at the head of this page is from the Archæological Album +published in 1845, under the auspices of the British Archæological +Association, to whose journal Mr. Fairholt has contributed largely. Ten +of the subjects in the Book of British Ballads, illustrative of the +Story of Sir Andrew Barton, are designed by him and give a favourable +specimen of his drawing. They are cleverly engraved by T. Armstrong. + + [Illustration: F. W. FAIRHOLT] + +The Vignette is from the illustrated edition of Robin Hood, edited by +Mr. J. M. Gutch in 1847. Mr. Fairholt has also edited and illustrated a +volume on the Costume of England; a History of Tobacco, published by +Messrs. Chapman & Hall; and the Translation of Labarte’s Arts of the +Middle Ages, published by Mr. Murray. + + [Illustration: + JOSEPH DINKEL JAMES LEE + SHELL-LIMESTONE FROM THE MOUTH OF THE THAMES. + From Dr. Mantell’s Geological Work, Medals of Creation.] + + [Illustration: + JOSEPH DINKEL JAMES LEE + MOSASAURUS HOFMANNI. + From Dr. Mantell’s Petrifactions and their Teachings.] + +MR. JOSEPH DINKEL is a very accurate draughtsman of subjects of Natural +History, especially of Fossil remains; but though he has most practice +in this department, he also undertakes Architectural and Engineering +drawings. The present specimens are skilfully engraved by MR. JAMES LEE. +Nearly all the drawings of the great work of Professor Agassiz, +‘Poissons Fossiles,’ published at Neuchatel, from 1833 to 1843, were +executed by Mr. Dinkel; and he drew almost exclusively for the late Dr. +Mantell. He is now much employed by Professor Owen; Thomas Bell, Esq. +President of the Linnæan Society; and the Royal, Geological, and +Palæontological Societies. + + [Illustration: + E. H. WEHNERT HORACE HARRAL + FROM COLERIDGE’S ANCIENT MARINER.] + +EDWARD H. WEHNERT, a member of the New Society of Painters in Water +Colours, frequently draws upon wood. He illustrated Coleridge’s Ancient +Mariner, Grimm’s Tales, Eve of St. Agnes, and contributed designs to +Bohn’s edition of Longfellow’s Poems and to many other popular works of +poetry and fiction. His style is essentially German. He has recently +contributed thirty-four subjects to the Favourite English Poems and +completed a number of drawings for Andersen’s Tales, the electrotypes of +which are produced by a new process by Mr. W. J. Linton. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +GEORGE CRUIKSHANK is especially celebrated for the felicitous humour +which he throws into every subject that comes under his pencil or burin. +His works are legion and all highly prized, but his designs on wood are +much less numerous than his etchings on copper. Mr. Ruskin, in his +‘Modern Painters,’ has lately expatiated as enthusiastically on the +artistic merits of Mr. Cruikshank as he has done on those of Mr. +Creswick, quoted by us in a previous page. He concludes by saying: +“Taken all in all, the works of Cruikshank have the most sterling value +of any belonging to this class produced in England.” The present +examples, taken from his ‘Three Courses and a Dessert,’ published in +Bohn’s Illustrated Library, will afford some idea of his peculiar +talent. On the following page we give examples of his early work, being +illustrations contributed to the ‘Universal Songster,’ a once popular +work to which other artists including his late brother Robert +Cruikshank also contributed. The engraver, rather a coarse hand, was +J. R. Marshall. + + [Illustration: + GEORGE CRUIKSHANK + THE OLD COMMODORE.] + + [Illustration: + GEORGE CRUIKSHANK + GILES SCROGGINS AND MOLLY BROWN.] + + [Illustration: + ALFRED CROWQUILL. + THE MAN WHO WISHED TO BE TALLER.] + + [Illustration: + ALFRED CROWQUILL. + THE WOMAN WHO WISHED TO BE YOUNGER.] + + [Illustration: + ALFRED CROWQUILL. + DRINKING IS A VICE THAT LOWERS A MAN.] + + [Illustration: + KENNY MEADOWS.] + +Our last page of illustrations is devoted to humour. Three of the +subjects are from the Pictorial Grammar, by ALFRED CROWQUILL (_i.e._ +A. Forester), the fourth, a design by KENNY MEADOWS (from the Book of +British Ballads), one of his early productions, but unsurpassed by +anything he has since done. + +These artists have in former years illustrated a number of books. Among +Crowquill’s may be named eight subjects to the Book of British Ballads. +His latest work is ‘The Adventures of Gooroo Simple and his Five +Disciples.’ + +Among those by Kenny Meadows, we remember as his best an illustrated +edition of Shakespeare, in three vols. royal 8vo. originally published +by Mr. Tyas. London, 1843. + +The Publisher here concludes his additional chapter; not for want of +material, for he has more than enough to fill another volume, but for +want of space. In endeavouring to give some indication of xylographic +art-progress in England, he has made no attempt at completeness, and has +said nothing whatever of foreign art, which has progressed quite as +rapidly as our own. So much remains to be done in both domains, and so +many fine examples are either lying before him, or placed at his +disposal, which might advantageously have been adduced, that he +contemplates following the present volume, at no very distant period, +with one that shall supply what has now been necessarily omitted. Among +the many skilful Artists whose names have not yet been mentioned are the +following, arranged in three distinct alphabets. The first alphabet +comprises those who are professionally painters in oil, but occasionally +draw on wood; the second, those who make drawing on wood their leading +profession, although many of them also paint in oil; the third, those +who almost confine themselves to engraving the designs of others, +although some of them are themselves good draughtsmen. One or more of +the books to which they have contributed, are indicated. + +_Painters who occasionally Draw on Wood._ + +ANDREWS, G. H. _Figure subjects and Landscapes_; Ministering Children. +--ANSDELL, Richard. _Animals_; Rhymes and Roundelayes. --ARMITAGE, +Edward. _Figure subjects_; Winkworth’s Lyra Germanica. --COPE, Charles +West, R.A. _Figure subjects_; Book of Favourite Modern Ballads, Adams’ +Allegories, Excelsior Ballads, Burns’ Poems, Poetry of Thomas Moore. +--CORBOULD, E. H. _Figure subjects and Architecture_; Merrie Days of +England, Book of Favourite Modern Ballads, Burns’ Poems, Poetry of +Thomas Moore, Barry Cornwall’s Poems. --CROPSEY, Jasper. _Landscapes_; +Poetry of Thomas Moore, Poe’s Poems. --DODGSON, G. _Landscape_; Lays of +the Holy Land. --FRITH, William Powell, R.A. _Figure subjects_; Book of +British Ballads. --GOODALL, Edward. _Landscapes_; Rhymes and +Roundelayes. --GRANT, W. J. _Figure subjects_; Favourite Modern Ballads, +Bloomfield’s Farmer’s Boy. --HICKS, G. E. _Figure subjects_; Favourite +Modern Ballads. --HORSLEY, John Calcott, A.R.A. _Figure subjects_; +Poetry of Thomas Moore, Burns’ Poems, Tennyson’s Poems, Favourite +English Poems, Favourite Modern Ballads. --HUNT, W. Holman. _Figure +subjects_; Tennyson’s Poems, Mrs. Gatty’s Parables, Once a Week. --LE +JEUNE, H. _Figure subjects_; Poetry of Thomas Moore, Lays of the Holy +Land, Ministering Children. --MILLAIS, John Everett, A.R.A. _Figure +subjects_; Tennyson’s Poems, Lays of the Holy Land, Once a Week. Mr. +Millais is now engaged in illustrating a volume of Parables to be +engraved by the Dalziels. --MULREADY, William, R.A. _Figure subjects_; +Tennyson’s Poems, Vicar of Wakefield, (engraved by Mr. John Thompson). +--NASH, Joseph. _Figures and Architecture_; Merrie Days of England. +--PICKERSGILL, F. Richard, R.A. _Figure subjects_; Poetry of Thomas +Moore, Book of British Ballads, Lays of the Holy Land. --REDGRAVE, +Richard, R.A. _Figure subjects_; Favourite English Poems, Book of +British Ballads. --ROBERTS, David, R.A. _Architectural Landscapes_; +Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads. --SELOUS, H. C. _Figure subjects_; Poems and +Pictures, Book of British Ballads. --SOLOMON, A. _Figure subjects_; +Book of Favourite Modern Ballads. --WARREN, H. _Figure subjects and +Architecture_; Book of British Ballads, Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads, +Poetry of Thomas Moore, Lays of the Holy Land. --WEBSTER, Thomas, R.A. +_Infantine subjects_; Favourite English Poems, Book of British Ballads. +--WYBURD, F. _Figure subjects_; Poetry and Pictures of Thomas Moore. + +_Professional Draughtsmen on Wood._ + +ARCHER, J. W. _Antiquarian and Architectural_; Vestiges of Old London. +--ARCHER, J. R.S.A. _Figure subjects_; Burns’ Poems. --BENNETT, Charles. +_Humorous subjects_; Poets’ Wit and Humour, Quarles’ Emblems, 1860, +Proverbs in Pictures. --BRANDLING, H. _Figure subjects and +Architecture_; Merchant of Venice. --CLAYTON, J. R. _Figure subjects_; +Barry Cornwall’s Poems, Lays of the Holy Land. --COLEMAN, Wm. _Landscape +and Figure subjects_; Mary Howitt’s Tales. --DARLEY, Felix. _Figure +subjects_; Poe’s Poetical Works, Poets of the West. --DICKES, William. +_Figures and Landscape_; most of the subjects in Masterman Ready. Mr. +Dickes’ attention is now turned to Colour-printing. --EDMONSTON, S. +_Figure subjects_; Burns’ Poems. --FRANKLIN, John. _Figure subjects_; +Book of British Ballads, Mrs. S. C. Hall’s Midsummer Eve, Seven +Champions of Christendom, Poets of the West. --GOODALL, Walter. _Figure +subjects_; Rhymes and Roundelayes, Ministering Children. --HULME, F. W. +_Landscapes_; Rhymes and Roundelayes. --HUMPHREYS, Noel. _Ornamental +Vignettes_; Rhymes and Roundelayes. --JONES, Owen. _Moresque Ornaments +and Architecture_; Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads. --KEENE, Charles. _Figure +subjects_; Punch, Once a Week, Voyage of the Constance. --LAWLESS, M. J. +_Figure subjects_; Once a Week, Punch. --MACQUOID, Thomas. _Ornamental +Letters and Borders_; Rhymes and Roundelayes, Burns’ Poems, Favourite +English Poems, &c. --MORGAN, Matthew S. _Figures and Landscape_; Miles +Standish. --PHIZ (Hablot K. Browne). _Humour_; Bleak House, Martin +Chuzzlewit, The Pickwick Series, Wits and Beaux of Society, Lever’s St. +Patrick’s Eve, &c. He has executed more etchings on steel than drawings +on wood. --PROUT, J. S. _Landscapes and Architecture_; Rhymes and +Roundelayes. --READ, Samuel. _Landscapes and Architecture_; Rhymes +and Roundelayes, contributes to the London News. --ROGERS, Harry. +_Ornamental Letters and Vignettes_; Quarles’ Emblems, Poe’s Poetical +Works. --SCOTT, T. D. _Figure subjects and Landscapes_; able reducer and +copyist of Pictures on Wood; Book of British Ballads. --SHAW, Henry. +_Architectural Ornaments, Letters, Furniture, &c._; has designed +extensively on wood, chiefly for his own works. --STEPHENSON, James. +_Figure subjects_; Clever Boys, Wide Wide World (Bohn’s Edition), &c. +A skilful engraver on steel. --STOCKS, Lumb, A.R.A. _Figure subjects_; +Ministering Children, Ministry of Life, English Yeomen, &c. Mr. Stocks +has considerable reputation as an engraver on steel. --SULMAN, T. Jun. +_Ornamental Borders and Vignettes_; Lalla Rookh. --TOPHAM, F. W. _Irish +Character_; Poetry of Thomas Moore, Mrs. S. C. Hall’s Midsummer Eve, +Burns’ Poems. --WATSON, J. D. _Figure subjects_; Pilgrim’s Progress, +110 designs, Eliza Cook’s Poems. --ZWECKER, John B. _Animals_; mostly +engraved by the Dalziels; Wood’s Natural History, &c. + +_Engravers on Wood not before mentioned._ + +ARMSTRONG, Wm. Don Quixote, 1841, Illustrated News, Clever Boys 1860. +--GORWAY, C. has successfully engraved many of John Gilbert’s designs. +--HAMMOND, J. Poems and Songs of Robert Burns. --JACKSON, Mason, son of +the Projector of the present volume, in which some of the subjects are +engraved by him; also Walton’s Angler (Bohn’s Edition), Ministering +Children. --LOUDON, J. engraves for the Illustrated Times. --SMYTH, +F. G. _Figure subjects_; Illustrated News. --SWAIN, Joseph. _Figure +subjects_; Lyra Germanica. --WIMPERIS, E. Merrie Days of England. +--WOODS, H. N. _Ornamental Borders and Vignettes_; Moore’s Lalla Rookh. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE PRACTICE OF WOOD ENGRAVING. + + Erroneous Opinions About Cross-Hatching -- The Choice and + Preparation of the Wood -- Mode of Inserting a Plug -- Magnifying + Glasses and Engraver’s Lamp -- Different Kinds of Tools -- Cutting + Tints -- Engraving in Outline -- Cuts Representing Colour and + Texture -- Maps Engraved on Wood -- The Advantages of Lowering a + Block Previous to Engraving the Subject -- Chiaro-Scuro Engraving on + Wood, and Printing in Colours from Wood-Blocks -- Metallic Relief + Engraving, by Blake, Bewick, Branston, and Lizars -- Mr. + C. Hancock’s Patent -- Mr. Woone’s Patent -- Casts from Wood-Cuts -- + Printing Wood-Cuts -- Conclusion. + + +Perhaps no art exercised in this country is less known to the public +than that of wood engraving; and hence it arises that most persons who +have incidentally or even expressly written on the subject have +committed so many mistakes respecting the practice. It is from a want of +practical knowledge that we have had so many absurd speculations +respecting the manner in which the old wood engravers executed their +cross-hatchings, and so many _notions_ about vegetable putties and +metallic relief engraving. Even in a Memoir of Bewick, printed in 1836, +we find the following passage, which certainly would not have appeared +had the writer paid any attention to the numerous wood-cuts, containing +cross-hatchings of the most delicate kind, published in England between +1820 and 1834:--“The principal characteristic of the ancient masters is +the crossing of the black lines, to produce or deepen the shade, +commonly called _cross-hatching_. Whether this was done by employing +different blocks, one after another, as in calico-printing and +paper-staining, _it may be difficult to say_; but to produce them on the +same block is so difficult and _unnatural_, that though Nesbit, one of +Bewick’s early pupils, attempted it on a few occasions, and the splendid +print of Dentatus by Harvey shows that it is not impossible even on a +large scale, yet the waste of time and labour is scarcely worth the +effect produced.”[IX-1] Now, the difficulty of saying whether the old +cross-hatchings were executed on a single block, or produced by +impressions from two or more, proceeds entirely from the writer not +being acquainted with the subject; had he known that hundreds of old +blocks containing cross-hatchings are still in existence, and had he +been in the habit of seeing similar cross-hatchings executed almost +daily by very indifferent wood engravers, the difficulty which he felt +would have vanished. “Unnatural” is certainly an improper term for a +_philosopher_ to apply to a process of art, merely because he does not +understand it: with equal reason he might have called every other +process, both of copper-plate and wood engraving, “unnatural;” nay, in +this sense there is no process in arts or manufactures to which the term +“unnatural” might not in the same manner be applied. + + [Footnote IX-1: Memoir of Thomas Bewick, by the Reverend William + Turner, prefixed to volume sixth of the Naturalist’s Library, page + 18.] + +In giving some account of the practice of wood engraving, it seems most +proper to begin with the ground-work--the wood. As it is generally +understood that box is best adapted for the purposes of engraving, and +that it is generally used for cuts intended for the illustration of +books, there seems no occasion to enter into a detail of all the kinds +of wood that might be used for the more ordinary purposes of large +coarse cuts for posting-bills, and others of a similar character. Mr. +Savage, in his Hints on Decorative Printing, has copied the principal +part of what Papillon has said on the subject of wood, intending that it +should be received as information from a practical wood engraver; but he +has omitted to notice that much of what Papillon says about the choice +of wood, can be of little service in guiding the modern English wood +engraver, who executes his subject on the cross-section of the wood, +while Papillon and his contemporaries were accustomed to engrave upon +the side, or the _long-way_ of the wood. “There is no difficulty,” says +Papillon, as translated by Mr. Savage, “in distinguishing that which is +good, as we have only need of taking a splinter of the box we wish to +try, and break it between the fingers; if it break short, without +bending, it will not be of any value; whereas, if there be great +difficulty in breaking it, it is well adapted to our purpose.” + +Now, it is quite evident from this direction--independent of the fact +being otherwise known--that the thin splinter by which the quality of +the wood was to be tested was to be cut the long way of the wood: +a similar cutting taken from the cross-section would break short, +however excellent the wood might be for the purpose of engraving. +Papillon’s direction is therefore calculated to mislead, unless +accompanied with an explanation of the manner in which the splinter is +to be taken; and it is also utterly useless as a test of box that is +intended to be engraved on the cross-section, or end-way of the wood. + +For the purposes of engraving no other kind of wood hitherto tried is +equal to box. For fine and small cuts the smallest logs are to be +preferred, as the smallest wood is almost invariably the best. American +and Turkey box is the largest; but all large wood of this kind is +generally of inferior quality, and most liable to split; it is also +frequently of a red colour, which is a certain characteristic of its +softness, and consequent unfitness for delicate engraving. From my own +experience, English box is superior to all others; for though small, it +is generally so clear and firm in the grain that it never crumbles under +the graver; it resists evenly to the edge of the tool, and gives not a +particle beyond what is actually cut out. The large red wood, on the +contrary, besides being soft, is liable to crumble and to cut short; +that is, small particles will sometimes _break_ away from the sides of +the line cut by the graver, and thus cause imperfections in the work. +Box of large and comparatively quick growth, is also extremely liable to +shrink unevenly between the rings, so that after the surface has been +planed perfectly level, and engraved, it is frequently difficult to +print the cut in a proper manner, in consequence of the inequality of +the surface. + +As even the largest logs of box are of comparatively small diameter, it +is extremely difficult to obtain a perfect block of a single piece equal +to the size of an octavo page. In order to obtain pieces as large as +possible, some dealers are accustomed to saw the log in a slanting +direction--in the manner of an oblique section of a cylinder--so that +the surface of a piece cut off shall resemble an oval rather than a +circle. Blocks sawn in this manner ought never to be used; for, in +consequence of the obliquity of the grain, there is no preventing small +particles tearing out when cutting a line. + +Large red wood containing _white spots_ or streaks is utterly unfit for +the purposes of the engraver; for in cutting a line across, adjacent to +these spots or streaks, sometimes the entire piece thus marked will be +removed, and the cut consequently spoiled. A clear yellow colour, and as +equal as possible over the whole surface, is generally the best +criterion of box-wood. When a block is not of a clear yellow colour +throughout, but only in the centre, gradually becoming lighter towards +the edges, it ought not to be used for delicate work; the white, in +addition to its not cutting so “sweetly,” being of a softer nature, +absorbs more ink than the yellow, and also retains it more tenaciously, +so that impressions from a block of this kind sometimes display a +perceptible inequality of colour;--from the yellow parts allowing the +ink to leave them freely, while the white parts partially retain it, the +printed cut has the appearance of having received either too much ink in +one place, or too little in another. Besides this, the ink remaining on +the white parts becomes so adhesive, that, should the sheet be rather +too damp (as will frequently happen when much paper is wetted at one +time), it will sometimes stick to the paper; a small spot of white will +hence appear in the impression, while a minute piece of paper will +remain adhering to the block, to be mixed up with the ink on the balls, +and transferred as a black speck to another part of the cut in a +subsequent impression. But this is not all: should the piece of paper +remain unnoticed for some time it will make a small indention in the +block, and occasion a white or grey speck in the impressions printed +after its removal. Soft red and white box, more especially the latter, +being more porous than clear yellow, blocks of those kinds of wood are +most liable to be injured by the liquids used to clean them after +printing. Should the printer wash them with either lees or spirits of +turpentine, these fluids will enter the wood more freely than if it were +yellow, and cause it to expand in proportion to the quantity used, and +sometimes to such an extent as to distort the drawing. If a block of any +kind of box, whether red, white, or yellow, be wetted or exposed to +dampth, it will expand considerably;[IX-2] but with care it will return +to its former dimensions, should it have been sufficiently seasoned +before being printed. When, however, the expansion has been caused by +lees or spirits of turpentine, the block will never again contract to +its original size.[IX-3] + + [Footnote IX-2: The following is an instance of the effect of + dampth upon box-wood. I placed one evening a block, composed of + several pieces of box glued to a thick piece of mahogany, against + the wall of a rather damp room, and on examining it the next + morning I found that the box had expanded so much that the edges + projected beyond the mahogany upwards of the eighth of an inch.] + + [Footnote IX-3: Some of the blocks engraved for the Penny + Magazine, measuring originally eight inches and a half by six + inches, have, after undergoing the process of stereotyping and the + subsequent washing, increased not less than two inches in their + perimeter or exterior lineal dimension, as has been proved by + comparing the measurement of a block in its present state with a + first proof taken on India paper, which paper, being dry when the + impression was taken, has not suffered any contraction.] + +As publishers frequently provide the drawings which are to be engraved, +perhaps a knowledge of the different qualities of box is as necessary to +them as to wood engravers themselves. In reply to this it may be said, +why not require the engraver who is to execute the cuts to supply proper +wood himself? Where only one engraver is employed to execute all the +cuts for a work, the choice of the wood may indeed be very properly left +to himself. But where several are employed, and each required to send +his own wood to the designer, very few are particular what kind they +send; for when the designer receives the different pieces he generally +consigns them to a drawer until wanted, and when he has finished a +design, he not unfrequently sends it to an engraver who did not supply +the identical piece of wood on which it is drawn. Hence scarcely any +engraver pays much attention to the kind of wood he sends; for where +many are employed in the execution of a series of cuts for the same +work, it is very unlikely that each will receive the drawings on the +wood supplied by himself. Even when the designer is particular in making +the drawings of the subjects which he thinks best suited to each +engraver’s talents on the wood which such engraver has supplied, it not +unfrequently happens that the person who employs the engravers will not +give the blocks to those for whom the artist intended them. Publishers +have a much greater interest in this matter than they seem to suspect. +If soft wood be supplied, the finer lines will soon be bruised down in +printing, and the cut will appear like an old one before half the number +of impressions required have been printed; if red-ringed, the surface is +extremely liable to become uneven, and also to warp and split. + +As box can seldom be obtained of more than five or six inches diameter, +and as wood of this size is rarely sound throughout, blocks for cuts +exceeding five inches square are usually formed of two or more pieces +firmly united by means of iron pins and screws. Should the block, +however, be wetted or exposed to dampth, the joints are certain to open, +and sometimes to such an extent as to require a piece of wood to be +inserted in the aperture.[IX-4] Perhaps the best way to guard against a +large block opening at the joining of the pieces would be to enclose it +with an iron hoop or frame; such hoop or frame being fixed when nearly +red-hot in the same manner as a tire is applied to a coach or cart +wheel. If the iron fit perfectly tight when forced on to the block in +the manner of a tire, it will be the more likely, by its contracting in +cold and damp weather, to resist the expansive force of the wood at such +times. + + [Footnote IX-4: Sometimes a piece of metal--such as part of a thin + rule--is inserted in the chink by printers, when the part injured + is dark and the work not fine. Such a temporary remedy is sure to + increase the opening in a short time, and make the block worse.] + +Besides the hardness and toughness of box, which allows of clear raised +lines, capable of bearing the action of the press, being cut on its +surface, this wood, from its not being subject to the attacks of the +worm, has a great advantage over apple, pear-tree, beech,[IX-5] and +other kinds of wood, formerly used for the purposes of engraving. Its +preservation in this respect is probably owing to its poisonous nature, +for other kinds of wood of greater hardness and durability are +frequently pierced through and through by worms. The chips of box, when +chewed, are certainly unwholesome to human beings. A fellow-pupil, who +had acquired a habit of chewing the small pieces which he cut out with +his graver, became unwell, and was frequently attacked with sickness. On +mentioning the subject to his medical adviser, he was ordered to refrain +from chewing the pieces of box; he accordingly took the doctor’s advice, +gave up his bad habit, and in a short time recovered his usual +health.[IX-6] + + [Footnote IX-5: One of the original blocks of Weever’s Funeral + Monuments, 1631, preserved in the Print Room of the British + Museum, is of beech.] + + [Footnote IX-6: A few years ago I allowed a rabbit to have the run + of a small garden, where it soon eat up everything except a small + bush of box. Happening to leave home for two days without making + any provision for the rabbit, I found it in a dying state, and all + the leaves nibbled off the box. The rabbit died in the course of a + few hours, and on opening it the cause of its death was + apparent--the stomach was full of the leaves of the box.--See + Brand’s Popular Antiquities, vol. ii. page 265 (Bohn’s edit.), for + an account of yew poisoning two cows.] + +Box when kept long in a dry place becomes unfit for the purpose of +engraving. I have at this time in my possession a drawing which has been +made on the block about ten years, but the wood has become so dry and +brittle that it would now be impossible to engrave the subject in a +proper manner. + +When the wood does not cut clear, but crumbles as if it were too dry, +the defect may sometimes be remedied by putting the block into a deep +earthenware jug or pan, and placing such jug or pan in a cool place for +ten or twelve hours. When the wood is too hard and dry to be softened in +the above manner, I would recommend that the back of the block should be +placed in water--in a plate or large dish--to the depth of the sixteenth +part of an inch, for about an hour. If allowed to remain longer there is +a risk of the block afterwards splitting. + + [Illustration] + +Box, of whatever kind, when not well seasoned, is extremely liable to +warp and bend; but a little care will frequently prevent many of the +accidents to which drawings on unseasoned wood are exposed by neglect. +For instance, when a block is received by the engraver from the designer +or publisher, it ought, if not directly put in hand, to be placed on one +of its edges, and not, as is customary with many, laid down flat, with +the surface on which the drawing is made upwards. If a block of +unseasoned wood be permitted to lie in this manner for a week or two, it +is almost certain to turn up at the edges, the upper surface becoming +concave, and the lower convex, as is shown in the annexed cut, +representing the section of such a block. + +The same thing will occur in the process of engraving, though to a small +extent, should the engraver’s hands be warm and moist; and also when +working by lamp-light without a globe filled with water between the lamp +and the block. Such slight warping in the course of engraving is, +however, easily remedied by laying the block with its face--that is, the +surface on which the drawing is made--downward on the desk or table at +all times when the engraver is not actually employed on the subject. The +block so placed, provided that it be not of very dry wood, in a short +time recovers its former level. When a block of very dry wood becomes +_dished_, or concave, on its upper surface, as shown in the preceding +cut, there is little chance of its ever again becoming sufficiently flat +to allow of its being well printed. When the deviation from a perfect +level at the bottom is not so great as to attract the notice of the +pressman previous to taking an impression, the block not unfrequently +yields to the action of the platten, and splits. The fracture remains +perhaps unobserved for a short time, and when it is at length noticed, +the block is probably spoiled beyond remedy. + +When box is very dry it is extremely difficult to cut a clear line upon +it, as it crumbles, and small pieces fly out at the sides of the line +traced by the graver. The small white spots so frequently seen in the +delicate lines of the sky in wood-cuts are occasioned by particles +flying out in this manner. If a block consist partly of yellow wood and +partly of wood with red rings, the yellow will cut clear, while in the +red it will be almost impossible to cut a perfect line. When the same +piece of wood is yellow and red alternately it is extremely difficult to +produce an even _tint_ upon it. Wood of this kind ought always to be +rejected, both from the difficulty of engraving upon it with clearness, +and from the uncertainty of the surface continuing perfectly flat, as +the red rings are more liable to shrink in drying than the other parts, +and, from their thus not receiving a sufficient quantity of ink, to +appear like so many rainbows in the impression. + +The spaces between those rings are greater or less, accordingly as the +seasons have been favourable or unfavourable to the growth of the tree. +Besides the injurious effect which those red rings are apt to produce in +an impression, wood of this kind is very unpleasant and uncertain to +engrave on; for as the yellow parts cut pleasant and clear, the +engraver, unless particularly on his guard, is betrayed to trust to the +whole piece as being of the same uniform tenacity, and before he is +aware of its inequality in this respect, or can check the progress of +his graver, its point has entered one of those soft red rings, and, to +the injury of his work, has either caused a small piece to fly out, or +carried the line further than he intended. Wood of this kind is unfit +for anything except very common work, and ought never to be used for +delicate engraving. There is no certain means of forming a judgment of +box-wood until it be cut into slices or trencher-like pieces from the +log; for many logs which externally appear sound and of a good colour, +prove very faulty and cracked in the centre when sawn up. Turkey box is +in particular so defective in this respect that a large slice can seldom +be procured without a crack. This, probably, is occasioned by the manner +in which the tree is felled. Previous to their beginning to cut down a +tree the Turkish wood-cutters fasten a rope to the top, by means of +which they break the tree down when the bole is little more than half +cut through. The consequence is that a _shiver_ frequently extends +through the most valuable portion of the log. + +Many artists, who are not accustomed to make drawings on wood, +erroneously suppose that the block requires some peculiar preparation. +Nothing more is required than to rub the previously planed and smoothed +surface with a little powdered Bath-brick, slightly mixed with water: as +little water as possible is, however, to be used, as otherwise the block +will absorb too much, and be afterwards extremely liable to split. When +this thin coating is perfectly dry, it is to be removed by rubbing the +block with the palm of the hand. No part of the light powder ought to +remain, for, otherwise, the pencil coming in contact with it will make a +coarse and comparatively thick line, which, besides being a blemish in +the drawing, is very liable to be rubbed off. The object of using the +powdered Bath-brick is to render the surface less slippery, and thus +capable of affording a better _hold_ to the point of the black-lead +pencil. + +When the principal parts of the drawing are first washed in upon the +block in Indian ink, it is of great advantage to gently rub the surface +of the block, when dry, with a little dry and finely powdered +Bath-brick, before the drawing is completed with the black-lead pencil. +By this means the hard edges of the Indian-ink wash will be softened, +the different tints delicately blended, and the subsequent touches of +the pencil be more distinctly seen. Some artists, previous to beginning +to draw on the block, are in the habit of washing over the surface with +a mixture of flake-white and gum-water.[IX-7] This practice is, however, +by no means a good one. The drawing indeed may appear very bright and +showy when first made on such a white surface, but in the progress of +engraving a thin film of the preparation will occasionally rise up +before the graver and carry with it a portion of the unengraved work, +which the engraver is left to restore according to his ability and +recollection. This white ground also mixes with the ink in taking a +first proof, and fills up the finer parts of the cut. If a white wash be +used without gum, the drawing is very liable to be partially effaced in +the progress of engraving, and the engraver left to finish his work as +he can. The risk of this inconvenience ought to be especially avoided in +making drawings on a block, as the wood engraver has not the opportunity +of referring to another drawing or to an original painting in the manner +of an engraver on copper. + + [Footnote IX-7: Instead of gum-water, French artists, who are + accustomed to make drawings on wood, use water in which parchment + shavings have been boiled.] + +The less that is done to change the original colour of the wood--by +white or any other preparation--so much the better for the engraver; +a piece of clear box is sufficiently light to allow of the most delicate +lines being distinctly drawn upon it. When the surface of the block is +whitened, another inconvenience arises besides those already noticed. It +is this: when the drawing is made upon a white ground, and the subject +partially engraved, the effect of the whole becomes very confused and +perplexing to the engraver in consequence of the parts already engraved +appearing nearly of the original colour of the wood, while the ground of +the parts not yet cut is white, as first drawn. The engraver’s eye +cannot correctly judge of the whole, and the inconvenience is increased +by his neither having an original drawing to refer to, nor a proof to +guide him: until the cut be completed he has no means of correctly +ascertaining whether he has left too much _colour_ or taken too much +away. + +The engraver on copper or on steel can have an impression of his etching +as soon as it is _bit_ in, and can take impressions of the plate at all +times in the course of his progress; the wood engraver, on the contrary, +enjoys no such advantages; he is obliged to wait until all be completed +ere he can obtain an impression of his work. If the wood engraver has +kept his subject generally too dark, there is not much difficulty in +reducing it; but if he has engraved it too light, there is no remedy. If +a small part be badly engraved, or the block has sustained an injury, +the defect may be repaired by inserting a small piece of wood and +re-engraving it: this mode of repairing a block is technically termed +“_plugging_.”[IX-8] + + [Footnote IX-8: This mode of repairing a block was practised by + the German wood engravers of the time of Albert Durer. The “plug” + which they inserted was usually square, and not circular as at + present. The French wood engravers of the time of Papillon + continued to employ square plugs. There are two or three instances + of cuts thus repaired, in the Adventures of Sir Theurdank, + Nuremberg and Augsburg, 1517-1519.] + +When a block requires to be thus amended or repaired, it is first to be +determined how much is necessary to be taken out that the restoration +may accord with the adjacent parts; for sometimes, in order to render +the insertion less perceptible, it may be requisite to take out rather +more than the part imactually perfect or injured. This being decided on, +a hole is drilled in the block, as is represented in the next page, of a +size sufficient to admit “the _plug_.” The hole ought not to be drilled +quite through the block, as the piece let in would, from the shaking and +battering of the press, be very likely to become loosened. Should it +receive more pressure at the top than bottom, it would sink a little +below the engraved surface of the block, and thus appear lighter in the +impression than the surrounding parts; while should it be slightly +forced up from below it, would appear darker,--in each case forming a +positive blemish in the cut.[IX-9] When the shape of the part to be +restored is too large to be covered with one circular plug, it is better +to add one plug to another till the whole be covered, than to insert one +of a different shape, and thus fill the space at once. When a single +plug is used the section appears thus; the plug being driven in like a +wedge, and having a vacant space around it at the bottom. If an oblong +space of the form No. 1. is to be restored, it will be best effected by +first inserting a plug at each end, as at No. 2, then adding two others, +as at No. 3, and finally wedging them all fast by a central plug, as at +No. 4, like the key-stone in an arch. When a plug is firmly fixed, the +top is carefully cut down to the level of the block, and the part of the +subject wanting re-drawn and engraved. When these operations are well +performed no trace of the insertion can be discovered, except by one who +should know where to look for it. + + [Footnote IX-9: In a tail-piece at page 52 of Bewick’s Fables, + edition 1823, a plug which has been inserted appears lighter than + the adjacent parts, in consequence of its having sunk a little + below the surface; and in the cut to the fable of the Hart and the + Vine, in the same work, two large plugs, at the top, are darker + than the other parts in consequence of their having risen a little + above the surface.] + + [Illustration: THE PLUG OUT.] + + [Illustration: No. 1.] + + [Illustration: No. 2.] + + [Illustration: No. 3.] + + [Illustration: No. 4.] + +When a cast is taken from a block which requires the insertion of a +plug, the best mode is to have the part intended to be renewed cast +blank. In this case a hole of sufficient size is to be drilled in the +block, and afterwards filled up with plaster to the level of the +surface. A cast being then taken, the part to be re-engraved remains +blank, but of a piece with the rest of the metal, so that there is no +possibility of its rising up above or sinking below the surface, as +sometimes happens when a plug is inserted in a wood-block. When the part +remaining blank in the cast is engraved in accordance with the work of +the surrounding parts, it is almost impossible to discover any trace of +the insertion. The following impression is from a cast of the block +illustrating the “plug,” with the part which appears white in the former +cut restored and re-engraved in this manner. A white circular line, near +the handle of the pail, has been purposely cut to indicate the place of +the plug. + + [Illustration] + +Before beginning to engrave any subject, it is necessary to observe +whether the drawing be entirely, or only in part, made with a pencil. If +it be what is usually called a _wash_ drawing, with little more than the +outlines in pencil, it is not necessary to be so cautious in defending +it from the action of the breath or the occasional touching of the hand; +but if it be entirely in pencil, too much care cannot be taken to +protect it from both. + +Before proceeding to engrave a delicate pencil drawing the block ought +to be covered with paper, with the exception of the part on which it is +intended to begin. Soft paper ought not to be used for this purpose, as +such is most likely to partially efface the drawing when the hand is +pressed upon the block. Moderately stout post-paper with a glazed +surface is the best; though some engravers, in order to preserve their +eyes, which become affected by white paper, cover the block with blue +paper, which is usually too soft, and thus expose the drawing to injury. +The dingy, grey, and over-done appearance of several modern wood-cuts is +doubtless owing, in a great measure, to the block when in course of +engraving having been covered with soft paper, which has partially +effaced the drawing. The drawing, which originally may have been clear +and _touchy_, loses its brightness, and becomes indistinct from its +frequent contact with the soft pliable paper; the spirited dark touches +which give it effect are rubbed down to a sober grey, and all the other +parts, from the same cause, are comparatively weak. The cut, being +engraved according to the appearance of the drawing, is tame, flat, and +spiritless. + + [Illustration] + +Different engravers have different methods of fastening the paper to the +block.[IX-10] Some fix it with gum, or with wafers at the sides; but +this is not a good mode, for as often as it is necessary to take a view +of the whole block, in order to judge of the progress of the work, the +paper must be torn off, and afterwards replaced by means of new wafers +or fresh gum, so that before the cut is finished the sides of the block +are covered with bits of paper in the manner of a wall or shop-front +covered with fragments of posting-bills. The most convenient mode of +fastening the paper is to first wrap a piece of stiff and stout thread +three or four times round the edges of the block, and then after making +the end fast to remove it. The paper is then to be closely fitted to the +block, and the edges being brought over the sides, the thread is to be +re-placed above it. If the turns of the thread be too tight to pass over +the last corner of the block, A, a piece of string, B, being passed +within them and firmly pulled, in the manner here represented, will +cause them to stretch a little and pass over on to the edge without +difficulty. When this plan is adopted the paper forms a kind of moveable +cap, which can be taken off at pleasure to view the progress of the +work, and replaced without the least trouble. + + [Footnote IX-10: French wood engravers are accustomed to rub the + sides of the block with bees’-wax, which on being chafed with the + thumb-nail becomes slightly softened, and thus adheres to the + paper.] + +I have long been of opinion that many young persons, when beginning to +learn the art of wood engraving, have injured their sight by +unnecessarily using a magnifying glass. At the very commencement of +their pupilage boys will furnish themselves with a glass of this kind, +as if it were as much a matter of course as a set of gravers; they +sometimes see men use a glass, and as at this period they are prone to +ape their elders in the profession, _they_ must have one also; and as +they generally choose such as magnify most, the result not unfrequently +is that their sight is considerably impaired before they are capable of +executing anything that really requires much nicety of vision. + +I would recommend all persons to avoid the use of glasses of any kind, +whether single magnifiers or spectacles, until impaired sight renders +such aids necessary; and even then to commence with such as are of small +magnifying power. The habit of viewing minute objects alternately with a +magnifying glass and the naked eye--applying the glass every two or +three minutes--is, I am satisfied, injurious to the sight. The +magnifying glass used by wood engravers is similar to that used by +watch-makers, and consists of a single lens, fitted into a short tube, +which is rather wider at the end applied to the eye. As the glass seldom +can be fixed so firmly to the eye as to entirely dispense with holding +it, the engraver is thus frequently obliged to apply his left hand to +keep it in its place; as he cannot hold the block with the same hand at +the same time, or move it as may be required, so as to enable him to +execute his work with freedom, the consequence is, that the engraving of +a person who is in the habit of using a magnifying glass has frequently +a cramped appearance. There are also other disadvantages attendant on +the habitual use of a magnifying glass. A person using such a glass must +necessarily hold his head aside, so that the eye on which the glass is +fixed may be directly above the part on which he is at work. In order to +attain this position, the eye itself is not unfrequently distorted; and +when it is kept so for any length of time it becomes extremely painful. +I never find my eyes so free from pain or aching as when looking at the +work directly in front, without any twisting of the neck so as to bring +one eye only immediately above the part in course of execution. +I therefore conclude that the eyes are less likely to be injured when +thus employed than when one is frequently distorted and pained in +looking through a glass. I am here merely speaking from experience, and +not professedly from any theoretic knowledge of optics; but as I have +hitherto done without the aid of any magnifying power, I am not without +reason convinced that glasses of all kinds ought to be dispensed with +until impaired vision renders their use absolutely necessary. I am +decidedly of opinion that to use glasses _to preserve_ the sight, is to +meet half way the evil which is thus sought to be averted. A person who +has his sense of hearing perfect never thinks of using a trumpet or +acoustic instrument in order to preserve it. All wood engravers, whether +their eyes be naturally weak or not, ought to wear a shade, similar to +that represented in the following figure, No. 1, as it both protects the +eyes from too strong a light, and also serves to concentrate the view on +the work which the engraver is at the time engaged in executing. + + [Illustration: No. 1.] + + [Illustration: No. 2.] + +When speaking on this subject, it may not be out of place to mention a +kind of shade or screen for the nose and mouth, similar to that in the +preceding figure, No. 2. Such a shade or screen is called by Papillon a +_mentonnière_,[IX-11] and its object is to prevent the drawing on the +block being injured by the breath in damp or frosty weather. Without +such a precaution, a drawing made on the block with black-lead pencil +would, in a great measure, be effaced by the breath of the engraver +passing freely over it in such weather. Such a shade or screen is most +conveniently made of a piece of thin pasteboard or stiff paper. + + [Footnote IX-11: Papillon’s description of a _mentonnière_ is + previously noticed at page 465.] + +There are various modes of protecting the eyes when working by +lamp-light, but I am aware of only one which both protects the eyes from +the light and the face from the heat of the lamp. This consists in +filling a large transparent glass-globe with clear water, and placing it +in such a manner between the lamp and the workman that the light, after +passing through the globe, may fall directly on the block, in the manner +represented in the following cut. The height of the lamp can be +regulated according to the engraver’s convenience, in consequence of its +being moveable on the upright piece of iron or other metal which forms +its support. The dotted line shows the direction of the light when the +lamp is elevated to the height here seen; by lowering the lamp a little +more, the dotted line would incline more to a horizontal direction, and +enable the engraver to sit at a greater distance. By the use of those +globes one lamp will suffice for three or four persons, and each person +have a much clearer and cooler light than if he had a lamp without a +globe solely to himself.[IX-12] + + [Footnote IX-12: Papillon preferred a kind of bull’s-eye + lens--_loupe_--of about three and a half inches diameter, flat on + one side and convex on the other, to a globe filled with + water--_un bocal_--for the purpose of bringing the light of the + lamp to a focus. This bull’s-eye he had enclosed in a kind of + frame, which could be inclined to any angle, or turned in any + direction by means of a ball-and-socket joint. He gives a cut of + it at page 75, vol. ii. of his Traité de la Gravure en Bois.--I + have tried the bull’s-eye lens, but though the light was equally + good as that from the globe, I found that the heat affected the + head in a most unpleasant manner.] + + [Illustration: SANDBAG AND BLOCK. GLOBE. LAMP.] + +It has been said, and with some appearance of truth, that “the best +engravers use the fewest tools;” but this, like many other sayings of a +similar kind, does not generally hold good. He undoubtedly ought to be +considered the best engraver who executes his work in the _best manner_ +with the fewest tools; while it is no less certain that he is a bad +engraver who executes his work badly, whether he use many or few. No +wood engraver who understands his art will incumber his desk or table +with a number of useless tools, though, from a regard to his own time, +he will take care that he has as many as are necessary. There are some +who pride themselves upon executing a great variety of work with one +tool, and hence, firmly believing in the truth of the saying above +quoted, fancy that they are first-rate engravers. Such would be better +entitled to the name if they executed their work well. A person who +makes his tools his _hobby-horse_, and who bestows upon their +ornaments--ebony or ivory handles, silver hoops, &c.--that attention +which ought rather to be devoted to his subject, rarely excels as an +engraver. He who is vain of the beautiful appearance of his tools has +not often just reason to be proud of his work. + + [Illustration] + +There are only four kinds of cutting tools[IX-13] necessary in wood +engraving, namely:--gravers; tint-tools; gouges or scoopers; and flat +tools or chisels. Of each of these four kinds there are various sizes. +The following cut shows the form of a graver that is principally used +for outlining or separating one figure from another. A, is the back of +the tool; B, the face; C, the point; and D, what is technically called +the belly. The horizontal dotted line, 1, 2, shows the surface of the +block, and the manner in which part of the handle is cut off after the +blade is inserted.[IX-14] This tool is very fine at the point, as the +line which it cuts ought to be so thin as not to be distinctly +perceptible when the cut is printed, as the intention is merely to form +a termination or boundary to a series of lines running in another +direction. Though it is necessary that the point should be very fine, +yet the blade ought not to be too thin, for then, instead of cutting out +a piece of the wood, the tool will merely make a delicate opening, which +would be likely to close as soon as the block should be exposed to the +action of the press. When the outline tool becomes too thin at the point +the lower part should be rubbed on a hone, in order to reduce the +extreme fineness. + + [Footnote IX-13: A sharp-edged scraper, in shape something like a + copper-plate engraver’s burnisher, is used in the process of + _lowering_.] + + [Footnote IX-14: The handle, when received from the turner’s, is + perfectly circular at the rounded end; but after the blade is + inserted, a segment is cut off at the lower part, as seen in the + above cut.] + + [Illustration] + +About eight or nine gravers of different sizes, beginning from the +outline tool, are generally sufficient. The blades differ little in +shape, when first made, from those used by copper-plate engravers; but +in order to render them fit for the purpose of wood engraving, it is +necessary to give the points their peculiar form by rubbing them on a +Turkey stone. In this cut are shown the faces and part of the backs of +nine gravers of different sizes; the lower dotted line, A C, shows the +extent to which the points of such tools are sometimes ground down by +the engraver in order to render them broader. When thus ground down the +points are slightly rounded, and do not remain straight as if cut off by +the dotted line A C. These tools are used for nearly all kinds of work, +except for series of parallel lines, technically called “tints.” The +width of the line cut out, according to the thickness of the graver +towards the point, is regulated by the pressure of the engraver’s hand. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration: TINT-TOOL. GRAVER.] + +Tint-tools are chiefly used to cut parallel lines forming an even and +uniform _tint_, such as is usually seen in the representation of a clear +sky in wood-cuts. They are thinner at the back, but deeper in the side +than gravers, and the angle of the face, at the point, is much more +acute. About seven or eight, of different degrees of fineness, are +generally sufficient. The following cut will afford an idea of the shape +of the blades towards the point. The handle of the tint-tool is of the +same form as that of a graver. The figure marked A presents a side view +of the blade; the others marked B show the faces. Some engravers never +use a tint-tool, but cut all their lines with a graver. There is, +however, great uncertainty in cutting a series of parallel lines in this +manner, as the least inclination of the hand to one side will cause the +graver to increase the width of the white line _cut out_, and undercut +the raised one _left_, more than if in the same circumstances a +tint-tool were used. This will be rendered more evident by a comparison +of the points and faces of the two different tools: The tint-tool, being +very little thicker at B than at the point A, will cause a very trifling +difference in the width of a line in the event of a wrong inclination, +when compared with the inequality occasioned by the unsteady direction +of a graver, whose angle at the point is much greater than that of a +proper tint-tool. Tint-tools ought to be sufficiently strong at the back +to prevent their bending in the middle of the blade when used, for with +a weak tool of this kind the engraver cannot properly guide the point, +and hence freedom of execution is lost. Tint-tools that are rather thick +in the back are to be preferred to such as are thin, not only from their +allowing of great steadiness in cutting, but from their leaving the +raised lines thicker at the bottom, and consequently more capable of +sustaining the action of the press. A tint-tool that is of the same +thickness, both at the back and the lower part, cuts out the lines in +such manner that a section of them appears thus: the black or raised +lines from which the impression is obtained being no thicker at their +base than at the surface; while a section of the lines cut by a tool +that is thicker at the back than at the lower part appears thus. It is +evident that lines of this kind, having a better support at the base, +are much less liable than the former to be broken in printing. Gouges of +different sizes, from A the smallest to B the largest, as here +represented, are used for scooping out the wood towards the centre of +the block; while flat tools or chisels, of various sizes, are chiefly +employed in cutting away the wood towards the edges. Flat tools of the +shape seen in figure C are sometimes offered for sale by tool-makers, +but they ought never to be used; for the projecting corners are very apt +to cut _under_ a line, and thus remove it entirely, causing great +trouble to replace it by inserting new pieces of wood. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration: GOUGES.] + + [Illustration: CHISELS.] + + [Illustration: C] + + [Illustration] + +The face of both gravers and tint-tools ought to be kept rather long +than short; though if the point be ground _too fine_, it will be very +liable to break. When the face is long--or, strictly speaking, when the +angle, formed by the plane of the face and the lower line of the blade, +is comparatively acute--thus, a line is cut with much greater clearness +than when the face is comparatively obtuse, and the small shaving cut +out turns gently over towards the hand. When, however, the face of the +tool approaches to the shape seen in the following cut, the reverse +happens; the small shaving is rather ploughed out than cleanly cut out; +and the force necessary to push the tool forward frequently causes small +pieces to fly out at each side of the hollowed line, more especially if +the wood be dry. The shaving also, instead of turning aside over the +face of the tool, turns over before the point, thus, and hinders the +engraver from seeing that part of the pencilled line which is directly +under it. A short-faced tool of itself prevents the engraver from +distinctly seeing the point. When the face of a tool has become obtuse, +it ought to be ground to a proper form, for instance, from the shape of +the figure A to that of B. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +Gravers and tint-tools when first received from the maker are generally +too hard,--a defect which is soon discovered by the point breaking off +short as soon as it enters the wood. To remedy this, the blade of the +tool ought to be placed with its flat side above a piece of iron--a +poker will do very well--nearly red-hot. Directly it changes to a straw +colour it is to be taken off the iron, and either dipped in sweet oil or +allowed to cool gradually. If removed from the iron while it is still of +a straw colour, it will have been softened no more than sufficient; but +should it have acquired a purple tinge, it will have been softened too +much; and instead of breaking at the point, as before, it will bend. +A small grindstone is of great service in grinding down the faces of +tools that have become obtuse. A Turkey stone, though the operation +requires more time, is however a very good substitute, as, besides +reducing the face, the tool receives a point at the same time. Though +some engravers use only a Turkey stone for sharpening their tools, yet a +hone in addition is of great advantage. A graver that has received a +final polish on a hone cuts a clearer line than one which has only been +sharpened on a Turkey stone; it also cuts more pleasantly, gliding +smoothly through the wood, if it be of good quality, without stirring a +particle on each side of the line. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +The gravers and tint-tools used for engraving on a plane surface are +straight at the point, as is here represented; but for engraving on a +block rendered concave in certain parts by lowering, it is necessary +that the point should have a slight inclination upwards, thus. The +dotted lines show the direction of the point used for plane surface +engraving. There is no difficulty in getting a tool to _descend_ on one +side of a part hollowed out or lowered; but unless the point be slightly +inclined upwards, as is here shown, it is extremely difficult to make it +_ascend_ on the side opposite, without getting _too much hold_, and thus +producing a wider white line than was intended. + + [Illustration] + +As the proper manner of holding the graver is one of the first things +that a young wood engraver is taught, it is necessary to say a few words +on this subject. Engravers on copper and steel, who have much harder +substances than wood to cut, hold the graver with the fore-finger +extending on the blade beyond the thumb, thus, so that by its pressure +the point may be pressed into the plate. As box-wood, however, is much +softer than copper or steel, and as it is seldom of perfectly equal +hardness throughout, it is necessary to hold the graver in a different +manner, and employ the thumb at once as a stay or rest for the blade, +and as a check upon the force exerted by the palm of the hand, the +motion being chiefly directed by the fore-finger, as is shown in the +following cut. + + [Illustration] + +The thumb, with the end resting against the side of the block, in the +manner above represented, allows the blade to move back and forward with +a slight degree of pressure against it, and in case of a slip it is ever +ready to check the graver’s progress. This mode of resting the thumb +against the edge of the block is, however, only applicable when the cuts +are so small as to allow of the graver, when thus guided and controlled, +to reach every part of the subject. When the cut is too large to admit +of this, the thumb then rests upon the surface of the block, thus: + + [Illustration] + +still forming a stay to the blade of the graver, and a check to its +slips, as before. + + [Illustration: No. 1.] + + [Illustration: No. 2.] + +In order to acquire steadiness of hand, the best thing for a pupil to +begin with is the cutting of tints,--that is, parallel lines; and the +first attempts ought to be made on a small block such as is represented +in No. 1, which will allow each entire line to be cut with the thumb +resting against the edge. When lines of this length can be cut with +tolerable precision, the pupil should proceed to blocks of the size of +No. 2. He ought also to cut waved tints, which are not so difficult; +beginning, as in straight ones, with a small block, and gradually +proceeding to blocks of greater size. Should the wood not cut smoothly +in the direction in which he has begun, he should reverse the block, and +cut his lines in the opposite direction; for it not unfrequently happens +that wood which cuts short and crumbles in one direction will cut clean +and smooth the opposite way. It is here necessary to observe, that if a +certain number of lines be cut in one direction, and another portion, by +reversing the block, be cut the contrary way, the tint, although the +same tool may have been used for all, will be of two different shades, +notwithstanding the pains that may have been taken to keep the lines of +an even thickness throughout. This difference in the appearance of the +two portions of lines cut from opposite sides is entirely owing to the +wood cutting more smoothly in one direction than another, although the +difference in the resistance which it makes to the tool may not be +perceptible by the hand of the engraver. It is of great importance that +a pupil should be able to cut tints well before he proceeds to any other +kind of work. The practice will give him steadiness of hand, and he will +thus acquire a habit of carefully executing such lines, which +subsequently will be of the greatest service. Wood engravers who have +not been well schooled in this elementary part of their profession often +cut their tints carelessly in the first instance, and, when they +perceive the defect in a proof, return to their work; and, with great +loss of time, keep thinning and dressing the lines, till they frequently +make the tint appear worse than at first. + +When uniform tints, both of straight and waved lines, can be cut with +facility, the learner should proceed to cut tints in which the lines are +of unequal distance apart. To effect this, tools of different sizes are +necessary; for in tints of this kind the different distances between the +black lines, are according to the width of the different tools used to +cut them; though in tints of a graduated tone of colour, the difference +is sometimes entirely produced by increasing the pressure of the graver. +In the annexed cut, No. 3, the black lines are of equal thickness, but +the width of the white lines between them becomes gradually less from +the top to the bottom. By comparing it with No. 4, the difference +between a uniform tint, where the lines are of the same thickness and +equally distant, and one where the distance between the lines is +unequal, will be more readily understood. + + [Illustration: No. 3.] + + [Illustration: No. 4.] + + [Illustration: No. 5.] + +A straight-line tint, either uniform, or with the lines becoming +gradually closer without appearing darker, is generally adopted to +represent a clear blue sky. In No. 3 the tint has been commenced with a +comparatively broad-pointed tool; and after cutting a few lines, less +pressure, thus allowing the black lines to come a little closer +together, has been used, till it became necessary to change the tool for +one less broad in the face. In this manner a succession of tools, each +finer than the preceding, has been employed till the tint was +completed.--To be able to produce a tint of delicately graduated _tone_, +it is necessary that the engraver should be well acquainted with the use +of his tools, and also have a correct eye. The following is a specimen +of a tint cut entirely with the same _graver_, the difference in the +colour being produced by increasing the pressure in the lighter parts. +Tints of this kind are obtained with greater facility and certainty by +using a graver, and increasing the pressure, than by using several +tint-tools. On comparing No. 3 with No. 5, it will be perceived that the +black lines in the latter decrease in thickness as they approach the +bottom of the cut, while in the former they are of a uniform thickness +throughout. If a clear sky is to be represented, there is no other mode +of making that part near the horizon appear to recede except by means of +fine black lines becoming gradually closer as they descend, as seen in +the tint No. 3. As the black lines in this tint are closer at the bottom +than at the top, it might naturally be supposed that the colour would be +proportionably stronger in that part. It is, however, known by +experience that the unequal distance of the lines in such a tint does +not cause any perceptible difference in the colour; as the upper lines, +in consequence of their being more apart, print thicker, and thus +counterbalance the effect of the greater closeness of the others. + +The two following cuts are specimens of tints represented by means of +waved lines: in No. 6 the lines are slightly undulated; in No. 7 they +have more of the appearance of zig-zag. + + [Illustration: No. 6.] + + [Illustration: No. 7.] + +Waved lines are generally introduced to represent clouds, as they not +only form a contrast with the straight lines of the sky, but from their +form suggest the idea of motion. It is necessary to observe, that if the +alternate undulations in such lines be too much curved, the tint, when +printed, will appear as if intersected from top to bottom, like +wicker-work with perpendicular stakes, in the manner shown in the +following specimen, No. 8. This appearance is caused by the unequal +pressure of the tool in forming the small curves of which each line is +composed, thus making the black or raised line rather thicker in some +parts than in others, and the white interstices wide or narrow in the +same proportion. The appearance of such a tint is precisely the same +whether cut by hand or by a machine.[IX-15] In executing waved tints it +is therefore necessary to be particularly careful not to get the +undulations too much curved. + + [Footnote IX-15: The sky in many of the large wood engravings + executed in London is now cut by means of a machine invented by + Mr. John Parkhouse. In many steel engravings the sky is ruled in + by means of a machine by persons who do little else.] + + [Illustration: No. 8.] + +As the choice of proper tints depends on taste, no specific rules can be +laid down to guide a person in their selection. The proper use of lines +of various kinds as applied to the execution of wood-cuts, is a most +important consideration to the engraver, as upon their proper +application all indications of form, texture, and conventional colour +entirely depend. Lines are not to be introduced merely as such,--to +display the mechanical skill of the engraver; they ought to be the signs +of an artistic meaning, and be judged of accordingly as they serve to +express it with feeling and correctness. Some wood engravers are but too +apt to pride themselves on the delicacy of their _lining_, without +considering whether it be well adapted to express their subject; and to +fancy that excellence in the art consists chiefly in cutting with great +labour a number of delicate unmeaning lines. To such an extent is this +carried by some of this class that they spend more time in expressing +the mere scratches of the designer’s pencil in a shade than a Bewick or +a Clennell would require to engrave a cut full of meaning and interest. +Mere delicacy of lines will not, however, compensate for want of natural +expression, nor laborious trifling for that vigorous execution which is +the result of feeling. “Expression,” says Flaxman, “engages the +attention, and excites an interest which compensates for a multitude of +defects--whilst the most admirable execution, without a just and lively +expression, will be disregarded as laborious inanity, or contemned as an +illusory endeavour to impose on the feelings and the understanding.-- +Sentiment gives a sterling value, an irresistible charm, to the rudest +imagery or the most unpractised scrawl. By this quality a firm alliance +is formed with the affections in all works of art.”[IX-16] Perpetrators +of laborious inanities find, however, their admirers; and an amateur of +such delicacies is in raptures with a specimen of “exquisitely fine +lining,” and when told that such wood-_peckings_ are, as works of art, +much inferior to the productions of Bewick, he asks where his works are +to be found; and after he has examined them he pronounces them “coarse +and tasteless,--the rude efforts of a _country_ engraver,” and not to be +compared with certain delicate, but spiritless, wood engravings of the +present day. + + [Footnote IX-16: Lectures on Sculpture, pp. 172-193.] + +With respect to the direction of lines, it ought at all times to be +borne in mind by the wood engraver,--and more especially when the lines +are not _laid in_ by the designer,--that they should be disposed so as +to denote the peculiar form of the object they are intended to +represent. For instance, in the limb of a figure they ought not to run +horizontally or vertically,--conveying the idea of either a flat surface +or of a hard cylindrical form,--but with a gentle curvature suitable to +the shape and the degree of rotundity required. A well chosen line makes +a great difference in properly representing an object, when compared +with one less appropriate, though more delicate. The proper disposition +of lines will not only express the form required, but also produce more +_colour_ as they approach each other in approximating curves, as in the +following example, and thus represent a variety of light and shade, +without the necessity of introducing other lines crossing them, which +ought always to be avoided in small subjects: if, however, the figures +be large, it is necessary to break the hard appearance of a series of +such single lines by crossing them with others more delicate. + + [Illustration] + +In cutting curved lines, considerable difficulty is experienced by not +commencing properly. For instance, if in executing a series of such +lines as are shown in the preceding cut, the engraver commences at A, +and works towards B, the tool will always be apt to cut through the +black line already formed; whereas by commencing at B, and working +towards A, the graver is always outside of the curve, and consequently +never touches the lines previously cut.[IX-17] This difference ought +always to be borne in mind when engraving a series of curved lines, as, +by commencing properly, the work is executed with greater freedom and +ease, while the inconvenience arising from slips is avoided. When such +lines are introduced to represent the rotundity of a limb, with a break +of white in the middle expressive of its greatest prominence, as is +shown in the following figure A, it is advisable that they should be +first _laid in_ as if intended to be continuous, as is seen in figure B, +and the part which appears white in A _lowered_ out before beginning to +cut them, as by this means all risk of their disagreeing, as in C, will +be avoided. + + [Illustrations: + A B C] + + [Footnote IX-17: As the drawing is the reverse of the impression, + it is necessary to observe that the motion of the graver in this + case is from right to left on the block,--that is, the point B + forms the beginning, and not the termination, of the first line + when the work is properly commenced. The lines are represented in + the cut as they would appear when drawn on a block to be engraved + in the manner recommended.] + +The rotundity of a column or similar object is represented by means of +parallel lines, which are comparatively open in the middle where light +is required, but which are engraved closer and thicker towards the sides +to express shade. The effect of such lines will be rendered more evident +by comparing the column in the annexed cut with the square base, which +is represented by a series of equidistant lines, each of the same +thickness as those in the middle of the column. + + [Illustration] + +Many more examples of tints and simple lines might be given; but, as no +real benefit would be derived from them, it is needless to increase the +number, and make “much ado about nothing.” Every new subject that the +engraver commences presents something new for him to effect, and +requires the exercise of his taste and judgment as to the best mode of +executing it, so that the whole may have some claim to the character of +a work of art. If a thousand examples were given, they would not enable +an engraver to execute a subject properly, unless he were endowed with +that indefinable _feeling_ which at once suggests the best means of +attaining his end. Such feeling may indeed be excited, but can never be +perfectly communicated by rules and examples. In this respect every +artist, whether a humble wood engraver, or a sculptor or a painter of +the highest class, must be self-instructed; the feeling displayed in his +works must be the result of his own perceptions and ideas of beauty and +propriety. It is the difference in feeling, rather than any greater or +less degree of excellence in the mechanical execution, that +distinguishes the paintings of Raffaele from those of Le Brun, Flaxman’s +statues from those of Roubilliac, and the cuts in the Lyons Dance of +Death from many of the laborious inanities of the present day. + +Clear, unruffled water, and all bright and smooth metallic substances, +are best represented by single lines; for if cross-lines be introduced, +except to indicate a strong shadow, it gives to them the appearance of +roughness, which is not at all in accordance with the ideas which such +substances naturally excite. Objects which appear to reflect brilliant +flashes of light ought to be carefully dealt with, leaving _plenty of +black_ as a ground-work, for in wood engravings such lights can only be +effectively represented by contrast with deep _colour_. Reflected lights +are in general best represented by means of single lines running in the +direction of the object, with a few touches of white judiciously taken +out. In this respect Clennell particularly excelled as a wood engraver. +Painting itself can scarcely represent reflected lights with greater +effect than he has expressed them in several of his cuts. In Harvey’s +large cut of the Death of Dentatus, after Haydon’s noble picture, the +shield of Dentatus affords an instance of reflected light most admirably +represented. + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +As my object is to point out to the uninitiated the method of cutting +certain lines, rather than to engage in the fruitless task of showing +how such lines are to be generally applied, I shall now proceed to offer +a few observations on engraving in outline, a process with which the +learner ought to be well acquainted before he attempts subjects +consisting of complicated lines. The word _outline_ in wood engraving +has two meanings: it is used, first, to denote the distinct boundaries +of all kinds of objects; and secondly, to denote the delicate white line +that is cut round any figure or object in order to form a boundary to +the lines by which such figure or object is surrounded, and to thus +allow of their easier liberation: it forms as it were a terminal furrow +into which the lines surrounding the figure run. In speaking of this +second outline in future, it will be distinguished as the _white +outline_; while the other, which properly defines the different figures +and forms, will be called the true or proper outline, or simply the +outline, without any distinctive additional term. As the white outline +ought never to be distinctly visible in an impression, care ought to be +taken, more especially where the adjacent tint is dark, not to cut it +too deep or too wide. In the first of the two following cuts, the white +outline, intentionally cut rather wider than is necessary, is distinctly +seen from its contrast with the dark parts immediately in contact with +it. In the second cut of the same subject, with a different back-ground, +it is less visible in consequence of the parts adjacent being light. It +is, however, still distinctly seen in the shadow of the feet; but it is +shown here purposely to point out an error which is sometimes committed +by cutting a white outline where, as in these parts, it is not required. +The white outline is here quite unnecessary, as the two blacks ought not +to be separated in such a manner; the proper intention of the white +outline is not so much to define the form of the figure or object, but, +as has been already explained, to make an incision in the wood as a +boundary to _other lines_ coming against it, and to allow of their being +clearly liberated without injury to the proper outline of the object: +when a line is cut to such a boundary, the small shaving forced out by +the graver becomes immediately released, without the point of the tool +coming in contact with the true outline. The old German wood engravers, +who chiefly engraved large subjects on apple or pear tree, and on the +_side_ of the wood, were not in the habit of cutting a white outline +round their figures before they began to engrave them, and hence in +their cuts objects frequently appear _to stick_ to each other. The +practice is now, however, so general, that in many modern wood-cuts a +white line is improperly seen surrounding every figure. + + [Illustration] + +In proceeding to engrave figures, it is advisable to commence with such +as consist of little more than outline, and have no shades expressed by +cross-lines. The first step in executing such a subject is to cut a +white line on each side of the pencilled lines which are to remain in +relief of the height of the plane surface of the block, and to form the +impression when it is printed. A cut when thus engraved, and previous +to the parts which are white, when printed, being cut away, or, in +technical language, _blocked out_, would present the following +appearance.[IX-18] It is, however, necessary to observe that all the +parts which require to be blocked away have been purposely retained +in this cut in order to show more clearly the manner in which it is +executed; for the engraver usually cuts away as he proceeds all the +black masses seen within the subject. A wide margin of solid wood round +the edges of the cut is, however, generally allowed to remain until a +proof be taken when the engraving is finished, as it affords a support +to the paper, and prevents the exterior lines of the subject from +appearing too hard. This margin, where room is allowed, is separated +from the engraved parts by a moderately deep and wide furrow, and is +covered with a piece of paper serving as a _frisket_ in taking a proof +impression by means of friction. In clearing away such of the black +parts in the preceding cut as require to be removed, it is necessary +to proceed with great care in order to avoid breaking down or cutting +through the lines which are to be left in relief. When the cut is +properly cleared out and blocked away, it is then finished, and when +printed will appear thus: + + [Footnote IX-18: The subject of this cut is the beautiful monument + to the memory of two children executed by Sir F. Chantrey, in + Lichfield Cathedral.] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +Sculptures and bas-reliefs of any kind are generally best represented by +simple outlines, with delicate parallel lines, running horizontally, to +represent the ground. The following cut is from a design by Flaxman for +the front of a gold snuff-box made by Rundell and Bridge for George IV. +about 1827. The subject of this design was intended to commemorate the +General Peace concluded in 1814: to the left Agriculture is seen +flourishing under the auspices of Peace; while to the right a youthful +figure is seen placing a wreath above the helmet of a warrior; the +trophy indicates his services, and opposite to him is seated a figure of +Victory. The three other sides, and the top and bottom, were also +embellished with figures and ornaments in relief designed by Flaxman. +The whole of the dies were cut in steel by Henning and Son--so well +known to admirers of art from their beautiful reduced copies and +restorations of the sculptures of the Parthenon preserved in the British +Museum--and from these dies the plates of gold composing the box were +struck, so that the figures appear in slight relief. A blank space was +left in the top of the box for an enamel portrait of the King, which was +afterwards inserted, surrounded with diamonds, and the margin of the lid +was also ornamented in the same manner. This box is perhaps the most +beautiful of the kind ever executed in any country: it may justly +challenge a comparison with the drinking cups by Benvenuto Cellini, the +dagger hafts designed by Durer, or the salts by Hans Holbein. The +process of engraving in this style is extremely simple, as it is only +necessary to leave the lines drawn in pencil untouched, and to cut away +the wood on each side of them. An amateur may without much trouble teach +himself to execute cuts in this manner, or to engrave fac-similes of +small pen-and-ink sketches such as the annexed.[IX-19] + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote IX-19: This small cut is a fac-simile, the size of the + original, of Sir David Wilkie’s first sketch for his picture of + the Rabbit on the Wall.] + +Having now explained the mode of procedure in outline engraving, it +seems necessary, before proceeding to speak of more complicated +subjects, to say a few words respecting drawings made on the block; for, +however well the engraving may be executed, the cut which is a +fac-simile of a bad drawing can never be a good one. An artist’s +knowledge of drawing is put to the test when he begins to make designs +on wood; he cannot resort, as in painting, to the trick of colour to +conceal the defects of his outlines. To be efficient in the engraving, +his principal figures must be distinctly made out; a drawing on the wood +admits of no _scumbling_; black and white are the only means by which +the subject can be represented; and if he be ignorant of the proper +management of chiaro-scuro, and incorrect and feeble in his drawing, he +will not be able to produce a really good design for the wood engraver. +Many persons can paint a tolerably good picture who are utterly +incapable of making a passable drawing on wood. Their drawing will not +stand the test of simple black and white; they can indicate generalities +“indifferently well” by means of positive colours, but they cannot +delineate individual forms correctly with the black-lead pencil. It is +from this cause that we have so very few persons who professedly make +designs for wood engravers; and hence the sameness of character that is +to be found in so many modern wood-cuts. It is not unusual for many +second and third rate painters, when applied to for a drawing for a +wood-cut, to speak slightingly of the art, and to decline to furnish the +design required. This generally results rather from a consciousness of +their own incapacity than from any real contempt for the art. As greater +painters than any now living have made designs for wood engravers in +former times, a second or third rate painter of the present day surely +could not be much degraded by doing the same. The true reason for the +refusal, however, is generally to be found in such painter’s incapacity. + +The two next cuts, both drawn from the same sketch,[IX-20] but by +different persons, will show how much depends upon having a good, +artist-like drawing. The first is meagre; the second, on the contrary, +is remarkably spirited, and the additional lines which are introduced +not only give effect to the figure, but also in printing form a support +to the more delicate parts of the outline. + + [Illustration: No 1.] + + [Illustration: No. 2.] + + [Footnote IX-20: The original sketch, from which the figure was + copied, is by Morland.] + +Though a learner in proceeding from one subject to another more +complicated will doubtless meet with difficulties which may occasionally +damp his ardour, yet he will encounter none which will not yield to +earnest perseverance. As it is not likely that any amateur practising +the art merely for amusement would be inclined to test his patience by +proceeding beyond outline engraving, the succeeding remarks are more +especially addressed to those who may wish to apply themselves to wood +engraving as a profession. + +When beginning to engrave in outline, it is advisable that the subjects +first attempted should be of the most simple kind,--similar, for +instance, to the preceding figure marked No. 1. When facility in +executing cuts in this style is obtained, the learner may proceed to +engrave such as are slightly shaded, and have a back-ground indicated as +in No. 2. He may next proceed to subjects containing a greater variety +of lines, and requiring greater neatness of execution, but should by no +means endeavour to get on too fast by attempting to do _much_ before he +can do a little _well_. Whatever kind of subject be chosen, particular +attention ought to be paid to the causes of failure and success in the +execution. By diligently noting what produces a good effect in certain +subjects, he will, under similar circumstances, be prepared to apply the +same means; and by attending to the faults in his work he will be the +more careful to avoid them in future. The group of figures here, +selected from Sir David Wilkie’s picture of the Rent Day, will serve as +an example of a cut executed by comparatively simple means; the subject +is also such a one as a pupil may attempt after he has made some +progress in engraving slightly shaded figures. There are no complicated +lines which are difficult to execute; the hatchings are few, and of +simple character; and for the execution of the whole, as here +represented, nothing is required but a _feeling_ for the subject; and a +moderate degree of skill in the use of the graver, combined with patient +application. + + [Illustration] + +When the pupil is thus far advanced, he ought, in subjects of this kind, +to avoid introducing more work, more especially in the features, than he +can execute with comparative facility and precision; for, by attempting +to attain excellence before he has arrived at mediocrity, he will be +very likely to fail, and instead of having reason to congratulate +himself on his success, experience nothing but disappointment. To make +wood engraving an interesting, instead of an irksome study to young +persons, I would recommend for their practice not only such subjects as +are likely to engage their attention, but also such as they may be able +to finish before they become weary of their task. At this period every +endeavour ought to be made to smooth the pupil’s way by giving him such +subjects to execute as will rather serve to stimulate his exertions than +exhaust his patience. Little characteristic figures, like the one here +copied, from one of Hogarth’s plates of the Four Parts of the Day, seem +most suitable for this purpose. A subject of this kind does not contain +so much work as to render a young person tired of it before it be +finished; while at the same time it serves to exercise him in the +practice of the art and to engage his attention. + + [Illustration] + +When a pupil feels no interest in what he is employed on, he will seldom +execute his work well; and when he is kept too long in engraving +subjects that merely try his patience, he is apt to lose all taste for +the art, and become a mere mechanical cutter of lines, without caring +for what they express. + +Such a cut as the following--copied from an etching by Rembrandt--will +form a useful exercise to the pupil, after he has attained facility in +the execution of outline subjects, while at the same time it will serve +to display the excellent effect in wood engravings of well contrasted +light and shade. The hog--which is here the principal object-- +immediately arrests the eye, while the figures in the back-ground, +being introduced merely to aid the composition and form a medium +between the dark colour of the animal and the white paper, consist +of little more than outline, and are comparatively light. In engraving +the hog, it is necessary to exercise a little judgment in representing +the bristly hair, and in _touching_ the details effectively. + + [Illustration] + +When a learner has made some progress, he may attempt such a cut as that +on the next page in order to exercise himself in the appropriate +representation of animal texture. The subject is a dray-horse, formerly +belonging to Messrs. Meux and Co., and the drawing was made on the block +by James Ward, R.A., one of the most distinguished animal painters of +the present time. Such a cut, though executed by simple means, affords +an excellent test of a learner’s skill and discrimination: the hide is +smooth and glossy; the mane is thick and tangled; the long flowing hair +of the tail has to be represented in a proper manner; and the markings +of the joints require the exercise of both judgment and skill. By +attending to such distinctions at the commencement of his career, he +will find less difficulty in representing objects by appropriate texture +when he shall have made greater progress, and will not be entirely +dependent on a designer to _lay in_ for him every line. An engraver who +requires every line to be drawn, and who is only capable of executing a +fac-simile of a design made for him on the block, can never excel. + + [Illustration] + +As enough perhaps has been said in explanation of the manner of cutting +tints, and of figures chiefly represented by single lines, I shall now +give a cut--Jacob blessing the children of Joseph--in which single-lined +figures and tint are combined. It is necessary to observe that this cut +is not introduced as a good specimen of engraving, but as being well +adapted, from the simplicity of its execution, to illustrate what I have +to say. The figures are represented by single lines, which require the +exercise of no great degree of skill; and by the introduction of a +varied tint as a back-ground the cut appears like a complete subject, +and not like a sketch, or a detached group. + +It is necessary to remark here, that when comparatively light objects, +such as the figures here seen, are to be relieved by a tint of any kind, +whether darker or lighter, such objects are now generally separated from +it by a black outline. The reason for leaving such an outline in parts +where the conjunction of the tint and the figures does not render it +absolutely _necessary_ is this: as those parts in a cut which appear +white in the impression are to be cut away--as has already been +explained,--it frequently happens that when they are cut away _first_, +and the tint cut afterwards, the wood breaks away near the termination +of the line before the tool arrives at the blank or white. It is, +therefore, extremely difficult to preserve a distinct outline in this +manner, and hence a black _conventional_ outline is introduced in those +parts where properly there ought to be none, except such as is formed by +the tint _relieving_ against the white parts, as is seen in the back +part of the head of Jacob in the present cut, where there is no other +outline than that which is formed by the tint relieving against his +white cap. Bewick used to execute all his subjects in this manner; but +he not unfrequently carried this principle too far, not only running the +lines of his tints into the white on the _light_ side of his +figures,--that is, on the side on which the light falls,--but also on +both sides of a light object. + + [Illustration] + +Before dismissing this part of the subject, it is necessary to observe +further, that when the white parts are cut away before the tint is +introduced, the conventional black outline is very liable to be cut +through by the tool slipping. This will be rendered more intelligible by +an inspection of the following cut,[IX-21] where the house is seen +finished, and the part where a tint is intended to be subsequently +engraved appears black. Any person in the least acquainted with the +practice of wood engraving, will perceive, that should the tool happen +to slip when near the finished parts, in coming directly towards them, +it will be very likely to cut the outline through, and to make a breach +in proportion as such outline may be thin, and thus yield more readily +to the force of the tool. + + [Footnote IX-21: In this cut the _white_ outline, mentioned at + page 587, is distinctly seen at the top of the buildings and above + the trees.] + + [Illustration] + +When the tint is cut _first_, instead of being left to be executed last, +as it would be in the preceding cut, the mass of wood out of which the +house is subsequently engraved serves as a kind of barrier to the tool +in the event of its slipping, and allows of the tint being cut with less +risk quite up to the white outline. By attending to such matters, and +considering what part of a subject can be most safely executed first, +a learner will both avoid the risk of cutting through his outline, and +be enabled to execute his work with comparative facility. The following +cut is an example of the tint being cut first. For the information of +those who are unacquainted with the process of wood engraving, it is +necessary to remark that the parts which appear positively black are +those which remain untouched by the graver. + + [Illustration] + +The following subject, copied from one of Rembrandt’s etchings, is +chiefly represented by black lines crossing each other. Such lines, +usually termed _cross-hatchings_, are executed with great facility in +copper and steel, where they are cut _into_ the metal; but in wood +engraving, where they are left in _relief_, it requires considerable +time and attention to execute them with delicacy and precision. In order +to explain more clearly the difficulty of executing cross-hatchings, let +it be conceived that this cut is a drawing made on a block, and that the +engraver’s object is to produce a fac-simile of it: now, as each black +line is to be left in relief, it is evident that he cannot imitate the +cross-hatchings seen in the arms, the neck, and other parts, by cutting +the lines continuously as in engraving on copper, which puts black _in_ +by means of an incision, while in wood engraving a similar line takes it +_out_. As the wood engraver, then, can only obtain white by cutting out +the parts that are to appear so in the impression, while the black is to +be left in relief, the only manner in which he is enabled to represent +_cross-hatchings_, or _black lines crossing each other_, is to cut out +singly with his graver every one of the white interstices. Such an +operation, as will be evident from an inspection of this cut, +necessarily requires not only patience, but also considerable skill to +perform it in a proper manner,--that is, to cut each white space cleanly +out, and to preserve the lines of a regular thickness. From the supposed +impossibility of executing such cross lines, it has been conjectured +that many of the old wood-cuts containing such work were engraved in +metallic relief: this opinion, however, is sufficiently refuted, by the +fact of hundreds of blocks containing cross-hatchings being still in +existence, and by the much more delicate and difficult work of the same +kind displayed in modern wood engravings. Not only are cross-hatchings +of the greatest delicacy now executed in England, but to such a degree +of refinement is the process occasionally carried, that small black +_touches_--such as may be perceived in the preceding cut in the folds of +the sleeve above the elbow of the right arm--are left in the white +interstices between the lines. Cross-hatchings, where the interstices +are entirely white, are executed by means of a lozenge-pointed tool, and +the piece of wood is removed at two _cuts_, each beginning at the +opposite angles. Where a small black touch is left within the +interstices, the operation becomes more difficult, and is performed by +cutting round such minute touch of black with a finely pointed graver. + + [Illustration] + +The various conjectures that have been propounded respecting the mode in +which cross-hatchings have been effected in old wood-cuts require no +argument to refute them, as they are directly contradicted both by +undoubted historical facts, and by every day’s experience. Vegetable +putties, punches, and metallic relief are nothing but the trifling +speculations of persons who are fonder of propounding theories to +display their own ingenuity than willing to investigate facts in order +to arrive at the truth. It has happened rather unfortunately, that most +persons who have hitherto written upon the subject have known very +little about the practice of wood engraving, and have not thought it +worth their while to consult those who were able to give them +information. There is, however, no fear now of a young wood engraver +being deterred from attempting cross-hatchings on learning from certain +heretofore authorities on the subject that such work could not be +executed on wood. He now laughs at _vegetable putties_, _square-pointed +punches_ for indenting the block to produce cross-hatchings, and +_metallic relief_: by means of his graver alone he produces a practical +refutation of every baseless theory that has been propounded on the +subject. + +The right leg of Dentatus in Mr. Harvey’s large wood engraving after Mr. +Haydon’s picture is perhaps the most beautiful specimen of +cross-hatching that ever was executed on wood; and, in my opinion, it is +the best engraved part of the whole subject. Through the kindness of Mr. +Harvey, I have obtained a cast of this portion of the block, from which +the present impression is printed. The lines showing the muscular +rotundity and action of the limb are as admirably _laid in_ as they are +beautifully engraved. In the wider and stronger cross-hatchings of the +drapery above, the small black touches previously mentioned are +perceived in the lozenge-shaped interstices. + + [Illustration] + +From an opinion that the excellence of an engraving consists chiefly in +the difficulty of its execution, we now frequently find cross-hatchings +in several modern wood-cuts, more especially in such as are manufactured +for the French market, where a better effect would have been produced by +simpler means. Cross-hatchings, _properly introduced_, undoubtedly +improve a subject; and some parts of large figures, such as the leg of +Dentatus, cannot be well expressed without their aid, as a series of +curved lines on a limb, when not crossed, generally cause it to appear +stiff and rigid. By crossing them, however, by other lines properly +_laid in_, the part assumes a most soft and natural appearance. + +As the greatest advantage which wood engraving possesses over copper is +the effective manner in which strongly contrasted light and shade can be +represented, Rembrandt’s etchings,--which, like his paintings, are +distinguished by the skilful management of the chiaro-scuro--form +excellent studies for the engraver or designer on wood who should wish +to become well acquainted with the capabilities of the art. A delicate +wood-cut, executed in imitation of a smooth steel-engraving of “sober +grey” tone, is sure to be tame and insipid; and whenever wood engravers +attempt to give to their cuts the appearance of copper or steel-plates, +and neglect the peculiar advantages of their own art, they are sure to +fail, notwithstanding the pains they may bestow. Their work, instead of +being commended as a successful application of the peculiar means of the +art, is in effect condemned by being regarded as “a clever _imitation_ +of a copper-plate.” + + [Illustration] + +The above cut of Christ and the Woman of Samaria, copied from an etching +by Rembrandt, will perhaps more forcibly illustrate what has been said +with respect to wood engraving being excellently adapted to effectively +express strong contrasts of light and shade. The original etching--which +has been faithfully copied--is a good example of Rembrandt’s consummate +skill in the management of chiaro-scuro; everything that he has wished +to forcibly express immediately arrests the eye, while in the whole +design nothing appears abrupt. The extremes of light and shade concentre +in the principal figure, that of Christ, and to this everything else in +the composition is either subordinate or accessory. The middle tint +under the arched passage forms a medium between the darkness of Christ’s +robe and the shade under the curve of the nearest arch, and the light in +the front of his figure is gradually carried off to the left through the +medium of the woman and the distant buildings, which gradually approach +to the colour of the paper. Were a tint, however delicate, introduced in +this subject to represent the sky, the effect would be destroyed; the +parts which are now so effective would appear spotted and confused, and +have a crude, unfinished appearance. By the injudicious introduction of +a tinted sky many wood-cuts, which would otherwise be striking and +effective, are quite spoiled. + +It but too frequently happens when works are illustrated with wood-cuts, +that subjects are chosen which the art cannot successfully represent. +Whether the work to be illustrated be matter of fact or fiction, the +designer, unless he be acquainted both with the capabilities and defects +of the art, seldom thinks of more than making a drawing according to his +own fancy, and never takes into consideration the means by which it has +to be executed. To this inattention may be traced many failures in works +illustrated with wood-cuts, and for which the engraver is censured, +although he may have, with great care and skill, accomplished all that +the art could effect. An artist who is desirous that his designs, when +engraved on wood, should appear like impressions from _over-done_ +steel-plates, ought never to be employed to make drawings for wood +engravers: he does not understand the peculiar advantages of the art, +and his designs will only have a tendency to bring it into contempt, +while those who execute them will be blamed for the defects which are +the result of his want of knowledge. + +Delicate wood engravings which are made to look well in a proof on India +paper by rubbing the ink partially off the block in the lighter +parts--in the manner described by Papillon at page 466--generally +present a very different appearance when printed, either with or without +types in the same page. Lines which are cut too thin are very liable to +turn down in printing from their want of support; and hence cuts +consisting chiefly of such lines are seldom so durable as those which +display more black, and are executed in a more bold and effective style. +A designer who understands the peculiarities of wood engraving will +avoid introducing delicate lines in parts where they receive no support +from others of greater strength or closeness near to them, but are +exposed to the unmitigated force of the press. Cuts in proportion to the +quantity of _colour_ which they display are so much the better enabled +to bear the action of the press; the delicate lines which they contain, +from their receiving support from the others, are not only less liable +to break down, but, from their contrast with the darker parts of the +subject, appear to greater advantage than in a cut which is of a +uniformly grey tone. I am not, however, the advocate of _black_, and +little else, in a wood-cut; on the contrary, I am perfectly aware of the +absurdity of introducing patches of black without either meaning or +effect. What I wish to inculcate is, that a wood-cut to have a good +effect must contain more of properly contrasted black and white than +those who wish their cuts to appear like imitations of steel or +copper-plate engravings are willing to allow. As wood engraving is not +well adapted to represent subjects requiring great delicacy of lines and +variety of tints, such will be generally avoided by a designer who +understands the art; while, on the contrary, he will avail himself of +its advantages in representing well contrasted light and shade in a +manner superior to either copper-plate or steel engraving. Of all modern +engravers on wood, none understood the advantages of their art in this +respect better than Bewick and Clennell: the cuts of their engraving are +generally the most effective that have ever been executed. + +Night-pieces, where the light is seen proceeding from a lantern, a lamp, +or any other luminous object, can be well represented by means of wood +engraving, although such subjects are very seldom attempted. An engraved +wood-block, which contains a considerable proportion of positive black, +prints much better than a copper-plate engraving of the same kind; in +the former the ink is distributed of an even thickness over the +_surface_, and is evenly pressed upon the paper; in the latter the ink +forms a little pool in the _hollowed parts_, and, instead of being +evenly taken up by the paper which is _pressed into_ it, adheres only +partially, thus giving in the corresponding parts a blurred appearance +to the impression. For the effective representation of such scenes as +Meg Merrilies watching by a feeble light the dying struggles of a +smuggler, or Dirk Hatterick in the Cave, from Sir Walter Scott’s Guy +Mannering, wood engraving is peculiarly adapted,--that is, supposing the +designer, in addition to possessing a knowledge of chiaro-scuro, to be +also capable of drawing correctly, and of treating the subject with +proper _feeling_. Some idea of the capability of the art in this respect +may be formed from the following cut--the Flight into Egypt,--copied +from an etching by Rembrandt. The mere work in this cut is of a very +simple character; there are no lines of difficult execution; and the +only parts that are lowered are those which represent the rays of light +seen proceeding from the lantern. + + [Illustration] + +As the wood engraver can always get his subject _lighter_, but cannot +reproduce the black which he has cut away, he ought to be careful not to +get his subject too light before he has taken a proof; and even in +reducing the _colour_ according to the touchings of the designer on the +proof, he ought to proceed with great circumspection; and where his own +judgment informs him that to take out all the black marked for excision +would be to spoil the cut, the safest mode would be to take out only a +part, and not remove all at once; for by strictly adhering to the +directions of an artist who knows very little of the real advantages of +wood engraving, it will not unfrequently happen that the cut so amended +will to himself, when printed, appear worse than it did in its first +state. In the following cut too much has been done in this respect; it +has been touched and retouched so often, in order to make it appear +delicate, that the spirit of the original drawing has been entirely +lost. In this instance the fault was not that of the artist, but of the +engraver, who “would not let well alone;” but, in order to improve his +work, as he fancied, kept _trimming_ the parts which gave effect to the +whole till he made it what it now appears. So far as relates to the +execution of the lines, the subject need not have been better; but, from +the engraver’s having taken away too much colour in places where it was +necessary, the whole has the appearance of middle tint, the excellence +of the original drawing is lost, and in its stead we have a dull, misty, +spiritless wood engraving. + + [Illustration] + +In every cut there ought to be a principal object to first arrest the +attention; and if this cannot be effected from want of interest in such +object considered singly, the designer ought to make the general subject +pleasing to the eye by skilful composition or combination of forms, and +the effective distribution of light and shade. + + [Illustration] + +The preceding cut--a moonlight scene--when compared with the previous +one, will show how much depends on an engraver having a proper _feeling_ +for his subject. So far as relates to the mere execution of the lines, +this cut is decidedly inferior to the former; but, viewed as a +production of art, and as a spirited representation of the original +drawing, it is very much superior: in the former we see little more than +mechanical dexterity; while in the latter we perceive that the engraver +has, from a greater knowledge of his art, produced a pleasing effect by +comparatively simple means. The former cut displays more mechanical +skill; the latter more artistic feeling. The one contains much delicate +work, but is deficient in spirit; the other, which has been produced +with little more than half the labour, is more effective because the +subject has been better understood. + +The following cut, representing a landscape, with the effect of the +setting sun, displays great delicacy of execution; but the labour here +is not thrown away, as in the sea-piece just mentioned: manual dexterity +in the use of the graver is combined with the knowledge of an artist, +and the result is a wood engraving at once delicate in execution and +spirited in its general effect. + + [Illustration] + +A volume might be filled with examples and comments on them, and I +might, like Papillon, _instruct_ the reader in the practice of the art, +by informing him how many times the graver would have to enter the wood +in order to produce a certain number of lines in relief; but I have no +inclination to do either the one or the other: my object is to make a +few observations on some of the most important and least understood +points in the practice of wood engraving, and to illustrate them with +examples, rather than to enter into minute details, which would be +uninteresting to the general reader, and useless to the learner who has +made any progress in the art. The person who wishes to acquire a +knowledge of wood engraving, with the view of practising it +professionally, must generally be guided by his own judgment and +feeling; for he who requires the aid of rules and examples in every +possible case will never attain excellence. A learner ought not to put +much trust in what is said about the beautiful wood-cuts--or _plates_, +as some critics call them--which appear in modern publications. He ought +to examine for himself, and not pin his faith to ephemeral +commendations, which are often the customary acknowledgment for a +presentation copy of the work. It is not unusual to find very ordinary +wood-cuts praised as displaying the very perfection of the art, while +others of much greater merit are entirely overlooked. + +The person who wishes to excel as a wood engraver,--that is, to display +in his cuts the knowledge and feeling of an artist, as well as the +mechanical dexterity of a workman,--ought always to bear in mind that +those who rank highest in modern times, not only as engravers, but also +as designers on wood, have generally adopted the simplest means of +effecting their purpose, and have never introduced unmeaning +cross-hatchings, when working from their own drawings, merely to display +their skill in execution. In representing a peasant supping his +porridge, they have not spent a day on the figure, and two in delicately +engraving the bowl. It may almost be said that Bewick never employed +cross-hatchings; for, in the two or three instances in which he +introduced such lines, it has been rather for the sake of experiment +than to improve the appearance of the cut. Though one of the finest +specimens of this kind of work ever executed on wood is to be found in +Mr. Harvey’s cut of Dentatus, yet, on other occasions, when he engraved +his own designs, he seldom introduced cross-hatchings when he could +accomplish the same object by simpler means. A wood engraving, viewed as +a _work of art_, is _not_ good in proportion as many of its parts have +the appearance of fine lace. Bewick’s birds and tail-pieces are not, in +my opinion, less excellent because they do not display so much _work_ as +a modern wood-cut which contains numerous cross-hatchings. Several of +the best French designers on wood of the present day appear to have +formed erroneous opinions on this subject; and hence we find in many of +their designs much of the engraver’s time spent in the execution of +parts which are unimportant, while others, where expression or feeling +ought to be shown, are treated in a careless manner. Many of their +designs seem to have been made rather to test the patience of the +engraver as a _workman_ than to display his ability as an _artist_. The +following cut, from a cast of a part of the Death of Dentatus, is +introduced to show in how simple and effective a manner Mr. Harvey has +represented the shield of the hero. An inferior artist would be very +likely to represent such an object by means of complicated lines, which, +while they would be less effective, would require nearly a week to +engrave. + + [Illustration] + +Considering the number of wood engravings that are yearly executed in +this country, it is rather surprising that there should hitherto have +been so few persons capable of making a good drawing on wood. Till +within the last few years, it might be said that there was probably not +more than one _artist_ in the kingdom possessing a knowledge of design +who professionally devoted himself to making drawings on the block for +wood engravers. Whenever a good original design is wanted, there are +still but few persons to whom the English wood engraver can apply with +the certainty of obtaining it; for though some of our most distinguished +painters have occasionally furnished designs to be engraved on wood, it +has mostly been as a matter of especial favour to an individual who had +an interest in the work in which such designs were to appear. In this +respect we are behind our French neighbours; the more common kind of +French wood-cuts containing figures are much superior to our own of the +same class; the drawing is much more correct, more attention is paid to +costume, and in the details we perceive the indications of much greater +knowledge of art than is generally to be found in the productions of our +second-rate occasional designers on wood. It cannot be said that this +deficiency results from want of encouragement; for a designer on wood, +of even moderate abilities, is better paid for his drawings than a +second-rate painter is for his pictures. The truth is, that a taste for +correct drawing has hitherto not been sufficiently cultivated in +England: our artists are painters before they can draw; and hence, +comparatively few can make a good design on wood. They require the aid +of positive colours to deceive the eye, and prevent it from resting upon +the defects of their drawing. It is therefore of great importance that a +wood engraver should have some knowledge of drawing himself, in order +that he may be able to correct many of the defects that are to be found +in the commoner kind of subjects sent to him to be engraved. + +In the execution of subjects which require considerable time, but little +more than the exercise of mechanical skill, it is frequently advisable +to adopt the principle of _the division of labour_, and have the work +performed, as it were, by instalments, allotting to each person that +portion of the subject which he is likely to execute best. In this +manner the annexed cut of Rouen Cathedral has been engraved by four +different persons; and the result of their joint labours is such a +work as not even the best engraver of the four could have executed by +himself. Each having to do but a little, and that of the kind of work in +which he excelled, has worked _con amore_, and finished his task before +he became weary of it. + + [Illustration: ROUEN CATHEDRAL.] + +Though copper-plate engraving has a great advantage over wood when +applied to the execution of maps, in consequence of the greater delicacy +that can be given to the different shades and lines, indicating hills, +rivers, and the boundaries of districts, and also from the number of +names that can be introduced, and from the comparative facility of +executing them; yet, as maps engraved on copper, however simple they may +be, require to be printed separately, by means of a rolling-press, the +unavoidable expense frequently renders it impossible to give such maps, +even when necessary, in books published at a low price. Under such +circumstances, where little more than outlines, with the course of +rivers, and comparatively few names, are required, wood engraving +possesses an advantage over copper, as such maps can be executed at a +very moderate expense, and printed with the letter-press of the work for +which they are intended. As the names in maps engraved on wood are the +most difficult parts of the subject, the method of drilling holes in the +block and inserting the names in type--as was adopted in the maps to +Sebastian Munster’s Cosmography, Basle, 1550,[IX-22]--has recently been +revived. The names in the outline maps contained in the Penny Cyclopædia +are inserted in this manner. Had those maps not been engraved on wood, +it would have been impossible that any could have been given in the +work, as the low price at which it is published would not have allowed +of their being engraved on copper, and, consequently, printed by means +of a rolling-press at an additional expense. + + [Footnote IX-22: Some account of the maps in Sebastian Munster’s + Cosmography is previously given at page 204, and page 417.] + + [Illustration] + +When, however, a map is of small dimensions, and several names in +letters of comparatively large size are required to be given, this +method of piercing the block can scarcely be applied without great risk +of its breaking to pieces under the press, in consequence of its being +weakened in parts by the holes drilled through it being so near +together.[IX-23] This inconvenience, however, may be remedied by +engraving the names in _intaglio_ where they are most numerous, and +afterwards cutting a _tint_ over them, so that when printed they may +appear white on a dark ground. Other names beyond the boundary of the +map can be inserted, where necessary, in type. The preceding skeleton +map of England and Wales, showing the divisions of the counties and the +course of the principal rivers, has been executed in this manner: all +the names on the land, and the courses of the rivers, were first +engraved on the smooth surface of the block in _intaglio_--in less than +a third of the time which would have been required to engrave them in +relief; the tint was next cut; and lastly, the block was pierced, and +all the other names inserted in type, with the exception of the word +“ENGLAND” in the title, which was engraved in the same manner as the +names on the land. + + [Footnote IX-23: When there is any danger of the block splitting + from this cause, it is best to have a cast taken from it, as by + this means the whole is obtained of one solid piece.] + +As what has been previously said about the practice of the art relates +entirely to engraving where the lines are of the same height, or in the +same plane, and when the impression is supposed to be obtained by the +pressure of a flat surface, I shall now proceed to explain the practice +of lowering, by which operation the surface of the block is either +scraped away from the centre towards the sides, or, as may be required, +hollowed out in other places. The object of thus lowering a block is, +that the lines in such places may be less exposed to pressure in +printing, and thus appear lighter than if they were of the same height +as the others. This method, though it has been claimed as a modern +invention, is of considerable antiquity, having been practised in 1538, +as has been previously observed at page 462. Instances of lowering are +very frequent in cuts engraved by Bewick; but until within the last five +or six years the practice was not resorted to by south-country +engravers. It is absolutely necessary that wood-cuts intended to be +printed by a steam-press should be lowered in such parts as are to +appear light; for, as the pressure on the cut proceeds from the even +surface of a metal cylinder covered with a blanket, there is no means of +_helping_ a cut, as is generally done when printed by a hand-press, by +means of _overlays_. Overlaying consists in pasting pieces of paper +either on the front or at the back of the outer tympan, immediately over +such parts of the block as require to be printed dark; and the effect of +this is to increase the action of the platten on those parts, and to +diminish it on such as are not overlaid. When lowered blocks are printed +at a common press, it is necessary that a blanket should be used in the +tympans, in order that the paper may be pressed into the hollowed or +lowered parts, and the lines thus _brought up_. The application of the +steam-press to printing lowered wood-cuts may be considered as an epoch +in the history of wood engraving. Wood-cuts were first printed _by a +steam-press_ at Messrs. Clowes and Sons’ establishment,[IX-24] and since +that time _lowering_ has been more generally practised than at any +former period. + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote IX-24: The first work containing lowered cuts printed by + a steam-press was that on Cattle, published in numbers, under the + superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful + Knowledge, 1832.] + +By means of simply lowering the edges of a block, so that the surface +shall be convex instead of plane, the lines are made to diminish in +strength as they recede from the centre until they become gradually +blended with the white paper on which the cut is printed. This is the +most simple mode of lowering, and is now frequently adopted in such cuts +as are termed _vignettes_,--that is, such as are not bounded by definite +lines surrounding them in the manner of a border. In the preceding cut, +representing a group from Sir David Wilkie’s painting of the Village +Festival, in the National Gallery, the light appearance of the lines +towards the edges has been produced in this manner. + +Mr. Landseer, in his Lectures on Engraving, observes that hard edges are +incident to wood-cut vignettes. He was not aware of the means by which +this objectionable appearance could be remedied. The following are his +observations on this subject: “A principal beauty in most vignettes +consists in the delicacy with which they appear to relieve from the +white paper on which they are printed. The objects of which vignettes +consist, themselves forming the boundary of the composition, their +extremities should for the most part be tenderly blended--be almost +melted, as it were, into the paper, or ground. Now, in printing with the +letter-press, the pressure is rather the strongest at the extremities of +the engraving, where we wish it to be weakest, and it is so from the +unavoidable swelling of the damp paper on which the impressions are +worked, and the softness of the blankets in the tympans of the press. +Hence, hard, instead of soft edges, are incident to vignettes engraven +on wood, which all the care of the printer, with all the modern accuracy +of his machine, can rarely avoid.” + +Mr. Landseer’s objection to vignettes engraved on wood applies only to +such as are engraved on a plane surface, since by lowering the block +towards the edges, lines gradually blending with the white paper can be +obtained with the greatest facility. For the representation of such +subjects,--supposing that their principal beauty consists in “the +delicacy with which they appear to relieve from the white paper,”--wood +engraving is as well adapted as engraving on copper or steel. Though it +is certainly desirable that the lines in a vignette should gradually +become blended with the colour of the paper, yet something more is +required in an engraving of this kind, whether on wood or on metal. Much +depends on its form harmonizing with the composition of the subject: +a beautiful drawing reduced to an irregular shape, and having the edges +merely softened, will not always constitute a good vignette. Of this we +have but too many instances in modern copper-plate engravings, as well +as wood-cuts. Of all modern artists J. M. W. Turner, R.A., and W. Harvey +appear to excel in giving to their vignettes a form suitable to the +composition. + +Perhaps it may not be out of place to say a few words here on the +original meaning of the word _vignette_, which is now generally used to +signify either a wood-cut or a copper-plate engraving which is not +inclosed by definite lines forming a border. The word is French, and is +synonymous with the Latin _viticula_, which means a little vine, or a +vine shoot, such as is here represented. + + [Illustration: C] + +Capital letters in ancient manuscripts were called by old writers +_viticulæ_, or _vignettes_, in consequence of their being frequently +ornamented with flourishes in the manner of vine branches or shoots. The +letter C, forming the commencement of this paragraph, is an example of +an old vignette; it is copied from a manuscript apparently of the +thirteenth century, formerly belonging to the monastery of Durham, but +now in the British Museum. Subsequently the word was used to signify any +large ornament at the top of a page; in the seventeenth century all +kinds of printer’s ornaments, such as flowers, head and tail-pieces, +were generally termed vignettes; and more recently the word has been +used to express all kinds of wood-cuts or copper-plate engravings which, +like the group from the Village Festival, are not inclosed within a +definite border. Rabelais uses the word to denote certain ornaments of +goldsmith’s work on the scabbard of a sword; and our countryman Lydgate +thus employs it in his Troy Book to denote the sculptured foliage and +tracery at the sides of a window: + + “And if I should rehearsen by and by + The corve knots, by craft and masonry, + The fresh embowing with virges right as lines, + And the housing full of backewines, + The rich coining, the lusty battlements, + _Vinettes_ running in casements.” + + [Illustrations: + O + Q + H + I + E + F + F + D + G + V + B] + +The additional specimens of ornamental capitals on the preceding page +are chiefly taken from Shaw’s Alphabets, in which will be found a great +variety of capitals of all ages. + +Before introducing any examples of concave lowering in the middle of a +cut, it seems necessary to give first a familiar illustration of the +principle, in order that what is subsequently said upon this subject may +be the more readily understood.--The crown-piece of George IV., which +every reader can refer to, will afford the necessary illustrations. As +the head of the King on the obverse, and the figures of St. George, the +horse, and the dragon, on the reverse, are in _relief_,--that is, higher +than the field,--it is evident, that if the coin were printed, each side +separately, by means of pressure from an even surface, whether plane or +cylindrical, covered with a yielding material, such as a blanket or +woollen cloth, so as to press the paper against the field or lower +parts, the impressions would appear as follows,--that is, with the parts +in relief darkest, and the lower proportionably lighter from their being +less exposed to pressure. + + [Illustration: IMPRESSIONS FROM A SURFACE WITH THE FIGURES IN + RELIEF.] + +If casts be taken of each side of the same coin, the parts which in the +original are raised, or in _relief_, will then be concave, or in +_intaglio_;[IX-25] and if such casts be printed in the manner of +wood-cuts, the impressions will appear as in the opposite page,--that +is, the field being now highest will appear positively black, while the +figures now in _intaglio_, or _lowered_, as I should say when speaking +of a wood-cut, will appear lighter in proportion to the concavity of the +different parts. + + [Footnote IX-25: The _casts_ are precisely the same as the _dies_ + from which the coin is struck.] + + [Illustration: IMPRESSIONS FROM A SURFACE WITH THE FIGURES LOWERED, + OR IN INTAGLIO.] + +Upon a knowledge of the principle here exemplified the practice of +lowering in wood engraving entirely depends. When a block is properly +lowered, there is no occasion for overlays; and when cuts are to be +printed at a steam-press,--where such means to increase the pressure in +some parts and diminish it in others cannot be employed without great +loss of time,--it becomes absolutely necessary that the blocks should be +lowered in the parts where it is intended that the lines should appear +light. + +In order that a cut should be printed properly without overlays, either +at a common press with a blanket in the tympans, or at a steam-press +where the cylinder is covered with woollen cloth, it is necessary that +the parts intended to appear light should be lowered before the lines +seen upon them are engraved; and the mode of proceeding in this case is +as follows:--The designer being aware of the manner in which the cut is +to be printed, and understanding the practice of lowering, first makes +the drawing on the block in little more than outline,[IX-26] and washes +in with flake-white the parts which it is necessary to lower. The block +is then sent to the engraver, who, with an instrument resembling a +sharp-edged burnisher, or with a flat tool or chisel, scrapes or pares +away the wood in the parts indicated. When the lowering is completed, +the designer finishes the drawing, and the cut is engraved. It is +necessary to observe, that unless the person who makes the drawing on +the block perfectly understand the principle of lowering, and the +purposes for which it is intended, he will never be able to design +properly a subject intended to be printed by a steam-press. + + [Footnote IX-26: If the drawing were finished, the lines on the + parts intended to be light would necessarily be effaced in + lowering the block in such parts.] + + [Illustration] + +When an object is to be represented dark upon a light ground, or upon +middle tint, the first operation in beginning to lower the block is to +cut a delicate white outline round the dark object, and proceed with a +flat tool or a scraper, as may be most convenient, to take a thin +shaving or paring off those parts on which the background or middle tint +is to be engraved. The extent to which the block must be lowered will +depend on the degree of lightness intended to be given to such parts. In +Bewick’s time, when the pressmen used leather balls to ink the cuts and +types, it was only necessary to take a very thin shaving off the block +in order to produce the desired effect; as such balls, from the want of +elasticity in the leather, which was comparatively hard and unyielding, +would only touch lightly such parts as were below the level of the other +lines and the face of the types: had the block been lowered to any +considerable depth, such parts would not have received any ink, and +consequently would not have shown the lines engraved on them in the +impression. In the present day, when composition rollers are used, it is +necessary to lower the parts intended to appear light to a much greater +depth than formerly;[IX-27] as such rollers, in consequence of their +greater elasticity, are pressed, in the process of inking, to a +considerably greater depth between the lines of a cut than the old +leather balls. The preceding cut--a Shepherd’s Dog, drawn by +W. Harvey,--is printed from a block in which both the fore-ground and +distance are lowered to give greater effect to the animal. If such a +cut, printed in the same page with types, as it appears here, were inked +with leather balls, a considerable portion of the lowered parts would +not be visible. This cut illustrates the principle of printing from a +surface--such as that of a coin--in which the head or figure is in +relief. + + [Footnote IX-27: In cuts printed by a steam-press it not + unfrequently happens that lowering to the depth of the sixteenth + part of an inch scarcely produces a perceptible difference in the + strength of the impression. In cuts inked with leather balls, and + printed at the common press, the lines in parts lowered to this + depth would not be visible.] + +In the next cut, an Egret, from a drawing by W. Harvey, the figure of +the bird appears white on a dark ground,--the reverse of the cut of the +Shepherd’s Dog,--and is an example of lowering the block in the middle +in the manner of a die with the figures in intaglio, or a cast from a +coin in which the head or figures are in relief. + + [Illustration] + +In a cut of this kind the general form of the principal object required +to be light is first lowered out, and the drawing of the figure being +next completed upon the hollowed part, the engraver proceeds to cut the +lines, beginning with the back-ground and finishing the principal object +last. In cutting the lines in the hollowed part, the engraver uses such +a tool, slightly curving upwards towards the point, as has been +previously described at page 579. In lowering the principal object in a +cut of this kind, the greatest attention is necessary in order that the +hollowed parts may be gradually concave, and also of a sufficient depth. +In performing this operation, the engraver is solely guided by his own +judgment; and unless he have some practical knowledge of the extent to +which composition balls and rollers will penetrate in such hollowed +parts, it is almost impossible that he should execute his work in a +proper manner;--should he succeed, it will only be by chance, like a +person shooting at a mark blindfolded. In such cases, though no special +rules can be given, it is necessary to observe that the part lowered +will, in proportion to its area, be exposed to receive nearly the same +quantity of ink, and the same degree of pressure, as the lines on a +level with the types. The _depth_ to which such parts require to be +lowered will consequently depend on their extent; and the degree of +lightness intended to be given to the lines engraved on them. This, +however, will be best illustrated by the annexed diagram. If, for +instance, the part to be lowered extend from A to B, it will be +necessary to hollow the block to the depth indicated by the dotted line +A c B. Should it extend from A to D, it will require to be lowered to +the depth of the dotted line A e D in order to obtain the same degree of +lightness in colour as in the lowered part A c B of less area,--that is, +supposing the engraved lines in both cases to be of equal delicacy. + + [Illustration] + +As overlaying such delicately engraved cuts as require the greatest +attention in printing occupies much time, and lays the press idle during +the process, the additional sum charged per sheet for works containing a +number of such cuts has frequently operated to the disadvantage of wood +engraving, by causing its productions to be dispensed with in many books +where they might have been introduced with great advantage, both as +direct and incidental illustrations. It is, therefore, of great +importance to adapt the art of wood engraving to the execution of cuts +of all kinds, whether comparatively coarse or of the greatest delicacy, +so that they may be properly printed at the least possible expense. + + [Illustration] + +The preceding cut, with the two following, which have all been lowered, +would, if printed at a steam-press, appear nearly as well as they do in +the present work, where they have been printed by means of a common +press with a blanket. But such a subject--a winter-piece, with an ass +and her foal standing near an old outhouse,--cannot be properly +represented without lowering the block; for no overlaying would cause +the lines indicating the thatch on the houses and the stacks, as seen +through the snow, to appear so soft as they now do. + + [Illustration] + +In this cut of a Salmon Trout, with a view of Bywell Lock, on the river +Tyne, both the fore-ground and the distance are lowered; the objects +which appear comparatively dark in those parts are the least reduced, +while those that appear lightest are such as are lowered to the greatest +extent. The back of the fish, which appears dark in the impression, is +in the block like a ridge, which is gradually lowered in a hollow curve +towards the lower line. In such a cut as this, particular care ought to +be taken not to lower too much those parts which come into immediate +contact with a strong black outline, such as the back of the Salmon; for +where the lowering in such parts is too abrupt, there is great risk of +the lines engraved on them not being _brought up_, and thus causing the +figure in relief to appear surrounded with a white line, as in the +impressions from the crown-piece at page 618. + +By means of lowering, the black pony, on which a boy is seen riding, in +the following cut, is much more effectively represented, than if the +whole subject were engraved on a plane surface. The grey horse, and the +light jacket of the rider, the ground, the garden wall, and the lightest +of the trees, are all lowered in order to give greater effect to the +pony. + + [Illustration] + +A cut which is properly lowered may not only be printed by a steam-press +without overlays, but will also afford a much greater number of good +impressions than one of the same kind engraved on a plane surface; for +the more delicate parts, being lower than those adjacent to them, are +thus saved from too much pressure, without the necessity of increasing +it in other places. The preceding cut will serve to show the advantages +of lowering in this respect. It was originally engraved, from a drawing +by William Harvey, for the Treatise on Cattle, published under the +direction of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Though +twelve thousand impressions have already been printed from it by means +of Messrs. Clowes and Sons’ steam-press, it has not sustained the +slightest injury in any part; and the present impression is scarcely +inferior to the first proof. With the exception of clearing out the ink +in two or three places, it has required no preparation or retouching to +give it its present appearance. Had such a work as the Treatise on +Cattle been printed at a common press without the blocks having been +lowered, the cost of printing would have been at least double the sum +charged by Messrs. Clowes; and the engraving, after so great a number of +impressions had been taken, would have been considerably injured, if not +quite spoiled. + + [Illustration] + +In complicated subjects, consisting of many figures, and in which the +light and shade are much diversified, it becomes necessary to combine +the two principles of lowering, which have been separately illustrated +by the Dog and the Egret, and to adapt them according to circumstances, +forming some parts convex, and making others concave, respectively, as +the objects engraved on them are to appear dark or light. In order to +illustrate this process of combined lowering, I have chosen a subject +from Rembrandt--the Descent from the Cross--in which several figures are +introduced, and in which the lights and shades are so much varied--in +some parts blended by a delicate middle tint, and in others strongly +contrasted--as to afford the greatest possible scope for the +illustration of what is termed _lowering_ in a wood engraving. + +The cut on the next page shows the appearance of an impression taken +from the block before a single line had been engraved, except the +_white_ outline bounding the figures. All that is here seen has been +effected by the flat tool and the scraper; the lightest parts are those +that are most concave, the darkest those that are most convex. The parts +which have the appearance of a middle tint are such as are reduced to a +medium between the strongest light and the darkest shade. The impression +in its present state has very much the appearance of an unfinished +mezzotint. + + [Illustration] + +In order to render this example of complicated lowering more +intelligible to those who have little knowledge of the subject, it seems +necessary to give a detailed account of the process, even at the risk of +repeating some previous explanations. In complicated as well as in +simple subjects intended to be lowered, the design is first drawn in +outline on the wood. In such a subject as that which is here given, the +Descent from the Cross, it is necessary to cut a delicate _white_ +outline--such as is seen in the ladder--round all those parts where the +true outline appears dark against light, previous to lowering out those +light parts which come into immediate contact with such as are dark. +When a white outline has been cut where required, a thin shaving is to +be taken off those parts which are intended to be a shade lighter than +the middle tints,--for instance, in the rays of light falling upon the +cross, and in the lower part of the sky. After this, the light parts of +the ground and the figures are to be lowered; but, instead of taking a +mere shaving off the latter, the depth to which they are to be hollowed +out will depend on the form and size of the parts, and the strength of +the light intended to appear on them; and where a series of delicate +lines are to run into _pure white_, great care must be taken that the +wood be sufficiently _bevelled_ or rounded off to allow of their +blending with the white, without their extremities forming a distinct +line, more especially where rotundity is to be represented. In a block +thus lowered, the parts intended to be lightest will be the most +concave, and those intended to be darkest the most in relief; and, when +printed, the impression will appear as in the following cut, in +consequence of the lowered parts, in proportion to their depth, +receiving both less ink and less pressure; while those that are to +appear positively white are lowered to such an extent as to be neither +touched by the ink, nor exposed to the action of the platten or +cylinder. + + [Illustration] + +When the block has been thus prepared, the subject is drawn upon it in +detail, and the engraving of the lines proceeded with. The sky, and the +lighter and more distant objects, should be engraved first: and care +ought to be taken not to get the lines too fine at the commencement, +for, should this happen, there is no remedy for the defect. By keeping +them comparatively strong, the darker objects can be executed in a +corresponding degree of boldness; and should the proof be generally too +dark, the necessary alterations can be easily made. The above cut of the +Descent from the Cross is printed from the finished block; all the +positive lines here seen having been engraved subsequent to the process +of lowering. + +It is necessary to observe that the process of engraving upon an uneven +surface--such as that of the lowered block of the Descent from the +Cross--is much more difficult than on a surface which is perfectly +plane; for the graver in traversing such parts as are lowered is apt to +lose its hold, and to slip in descending, while in ascending it is +liable to take too much hold, and to _tear_ rather than to clearly cut +out the wood in certain parts, thus rendering the raised lines rough at +the sides, and sometimes breaking them quite through. In order to remedy +in some degree such inconveniences, it is necessary to use a graver +slightly curving upwards towards the point. + +The process of lowering, as previously explained, is peculiarly adapted +to give the appearance of proper texture to objects of Natural History, +and in particular to birds, where it is often so desirable to impart a +soft downy appearance to the plumage. Such softness can never be well +represented by lines engraved on a perfectly level surface; for, however +thin and fine they may be, they will always appear too distinct, and +want that softness which can only be obtained by lowering the block, and +printing it with a blanket in the tympans at a common press. Those who +in engraving birds on a plane surface are fond of imitating the delicacy +of copper-plate or steel engravings, always fail in their attempts to +represent that soft appearance so peculiar to the plumage of birds, +whatever may be its colour. Bewick’s Birds, in this respect, have never +been equalled; and the softness displayed in the plumage has been +chiefly obtained by lowering, and thus preventing such parts receiving +too much ink or too much pressure. The characteristic expression of the +bird, and the variety of texture in the plumage, are not indeed entirely +dependent on this process; but the appearance of softness, and the +general effect of the cut as a whole,--as exemplified in the Birds of +Bewick,--are not otherwise to be obtained. Any wood engraver who doubts +this, should attempt to copy, on an unlowered block, one of the best of +Bewick’s birds; on comparing a printed impression of his work with the +original, he will be likely to discover that he has thought too highly +of his own practice, and too lightly of Bewick’s. + +Though chiaro-scuro drawings can be faithfully copied by means of wood +engraving; yet the art, as applied to the execution of such works, has +met with but little encouragement in this country, and has consequently +been little practised. From 1754--the date of J. B. Jackson’s tract on +the Invention of Engraving and Printing in Chiaro-scuro--to 1819, when +the first part of Mr. Savage’s Hints on Decorative Printing was +published, the only chiaro-scuro wood engravings which appear to have +been published in England were those executed about 1783, by an amateur +of the name of John Skippe. The chiaro-scuros engraved by Mr. Skippe do +not appear to have been numerous; I have only seen three--St. John the +Evangelist, St. Paul, and Hebe, all after drawings by Parmegiano. The +latter is printed from four blocks, and each of the others from three. +In point of execution, that of St. John is decidedly the best: it is +much superior to any of the specimens given in J. B. Jackson’s work, and +will bear a comparison with some of the best chiaro-scuros of Nicholas +Le Sueur. + +Savage’s Hints on Decorative Printing, in two parts, 1819-1823, contains +several specimens, not only of chiaro-scuro wood engravings, but also of +subjects printed in positive colours from several wood-blocks, in +imitation of coloured drawings. Some of the chiaro-scuros, properly so +called, are well executed, though they generally seem too soft and +_woolly_. The following are those which seem most worthy of notice:--A +female Bacchante, from a bas-relief in the British Museum; Theseus, from +the statue in the Elgin Collection of Marbles, in the British Museum; +Copy of a bust in marble in the British Museum; Bridge and Landscape; +Passage-boats; and a River Scene. For the representation of such +subjects as the preceding, when drawn in sepia, wood engraving is +peculiarly adapted. + +The simplest manner of representing a chiaro-scuro drawing is by +printing a tint, with the lights cut out, from a second block, over the +impression of a cut engraved in the usual manner. Chiaro-scuros of this +kind have the appearance of pen-and-ink drawings made on tinted paper, +and heightened with touches of white. The illustrations to an edition of +Puckle’s Club were thus printed in 1820,--the year after they had +appeared printed in the usual manner in a new edition of the work--but +many of them are spoiled by the badly-chosen “fancy” colour of the tint. + +From the time of the publication of the second part of Savage’s Hints, +and the tinted illustrations of Puckle’s Club, no further attempts +appear to have been made to improve or extend the practice of +chiaro-scuro engraving and printing in colours till Mr. George Baxter +turned his attention to the subject. His first attempts in chiaro-scuro +engraving are to be found in a History of Sussex, printed by his father +at Lewes, in 1835. Mr. Baxter tried various experiments, and at length +succeeded so much to his satisfaction, that he took out a patent for +printing in oil-colours. The manner in which he executes picture-prints +in positive colours, after drawings or paintings in oil, is _nearly_ the +same as that in which Kirkall executed his chiaro-scuros. The ground, +the outlines, and the more minute details, are first printed in neutral +tint from a plate engraved in aquatint; and over this impression the +proper colours are printed from as many wood-blocks as there are +different tints. The best specimens of Mr. Baxter’s printing in +oil-colours, from wood-blocks over an aquatint ground, are to be found +in the Pictorial Album, published by Chapman and Hall, 1837; and among +these the following appear to be most deserving of distinct +enumeration:--Interior of the Lady Chapel, Warwick; Lugano; Verona; and +Jeannie Deans’s Interview with the Queen. In some of the most elaborate +subjects in this work, the colours have been communicated by not less +than twenty blocks, each separately printed. So far as regards the +landscapes, nothing of the same kind previously done will bear to be +compared with them. But since this period, Mr. Baxter has brought his +peculiar art to still greater perfection, and both large and small +examples are to be met with abundantly. One of the most popular is his +“Holy Trinity, after Raphael,” a small plate of which no fewer than +700,000 copies have been sold. The subscribers to Bohn’s Scientific +Library will find a good specimen in the View of Chimborazo, prefixed to +Humboldt’s Views of Nature. + +Another recent invention is that of “Knight’s Patent Illuminated Prints +and Maps.” In every instance hitherto of surface-printing in colours, +each colour, having a separate block, had to be worked off separately, +which rendered such productions extremely expensive.[IX-28] The new +process has one great advantage over all its predecessors, in cheapness, +and the facility with which it can multiply impressions. The general +nature of the process will be best understood from a description of the +mode of completing a coloured print. + + [Footnote IX-28: Sir William Congreve’s mode of colour printing, + however, patented many years ago, and now practised by Mr. Charles + Whiting of Beaufort House, is one of the least expensive of all. + It consists in printing several colours at one time, and may be + thus described:--“A coloured design being made on a block, the + various colours are cut into their respective sections, like a + geographical puzzle, and placed in an ingeniously constructed + machine, which inks them separately, and prints them together. By + this mode speed is obtained in large operations, and the colours + are prevented from running into each other. It is extensively + applied to book-covers, decorative show-cards, the back of country + notes, and labels, where the object is to prevent forgery.”--_See + Bohn’s Lecture on Printing, page 104._] + +In the first place, a subject is engraved upon wood in the usual manner, +and the impression is coloured by a skilful artist. We will suppose four +principal colours are introduced, red, blue, yellow, and brown. Separate +and exact drawings of each colour are then made; and four polished +plates are prepared, each plate carrying one colour. These four plates +are then firmly fixed in an ingeniously contrived frame, or table, +moving upon the table of a common press, the motion being regulated by +machinery, which ensures the most exact register, after it has once been +obtained, and affords the greatest facility in obtaining it. The colours +are then applied to their respective plates in precisely the same manner +as ink to type, by means of rollers; and four sheets of paper of the +size intended for the print (or, for convenience, one large sheet to be +afterwards cut up) are then placed on the frisket, which is then turned +down on the plates, and the pull applied. The table is then turned one +quarter round, and the process is repeated, till each colour has, in +succession, been printed upon the four sheets. Six or seven colours are +sometimes produced by the same process, and from the same plates, by +combination; and the union of two colours to produce a third is effected +perfectly, in consequence of the rapidity of the process, which does not +allow the colours to dry and become hard. The bright whites are, of +course, formed by removing the surface in the requisite parts from all +the plates, and suffering the ground to appear. Eight, or indeed any +number of colours, can be introduced by using another press, or presses; +in which case the frisket with the sheet or sheets fixed, is passed from +one press to the other. The block of the drawing is always the last +impressed. + +From its extreme exactitude this invention seems peculiarly adapted for +designs of patterns for shawls, ribbons, printed cottons, carpets, and +such manufactures as have hitherto apparently been left to the fancy of +the workman, or his employers, who in matters of art have frequently +quite as little taste as the workman. + +But probably the most favourable field for the display of the +perfections of this invention, would be in subjects where only light and +shade, or at most what are called neutral tints, are required, such as +architectural drawings and sculptures, either statues or in relief. For +such purposes the depth of tone obtainable, and the sharpness of the +lights, seem peculiarly adapted.[IX-29] + + [Footnote IX-29: The best specimen of this art will be found in + Charles Knight’s Old England’s Worthies, a folio volume, + containing twelve large plates of Architecture and Costume, + printed in colours, and 240 portraits engraved on steel, folio + (now published by H. G. Bohn), 15_s._ The practice of the art has + not been continued, as it was only applicable to very large + editions (ten thousand and upwards), and was more expensive than + hand colouring where small editions were required. The machinery + has been sold off and destroyed.] + +What is termed metallic relief engraving consists in executing subjects +on plates of copper, or any other metal, in such a manner that the lines +which form the impression shall be in relief, and thus allow of such +plates being inked and printed in the same manner as a wood-cut. Since +the revival of wood engraving in this country several attempts have been +made to _etch_ in metallic relief, and thus save the time necessarily +required to cut out all the lines in a wood engraving. In etching upon +copper, in order that the subject may be represented by lines _in +relief_,--the reverse of the usual procedure in copper-plate +engraving,--and that the plate may be printed in the same manner as a +wood-cut, there are several methods of proceeding. In one, the subject +is _drawn_ upon the plate in Burgundy pitch, or any other substance +which will resist the action of aquafortis, in the same manner as +copper-plate engravers in the ordinary process _stop out_ the parts +intended to be white. When the substance in which the drawing is made +becomes _set_, or sufficiently hard, the plate is surrounded with a +_wall_, as it is technically termed, and aquafortis being poured upon +it, all the unprotected parts are corroded, and the drawing left in +relief. + +This was the method generally adopted by William Blake, an artist of +great but eccentric genius, in the execution of his Songs of Innocence, +the Book of Thel,[IX-30] the Gates of Paradise, Urizen, and other works, +published between 1789 and 1800. The following account of the origin of +this new mode of engraving or etching in metallic relief, by corroding +the parts intended to appear white in the impression, is extracted from +the Life of William Blake, in Allan Cunningham’s Lives of British +Painters, Sculptors, and Architects:-- + +“He had made the sixty-five designs of his Songs of Innocence, and was +meditating, he said, on the best means of multiplying their resemblance +in form and in hue; he felt sorely perplexed. At last he was made aware +that the spirit of his favourite brother Robert was in the room, and to +this celestial visitor he applied for counsel. The spirit advised him at +once: ‘Write,’ he said, ‘the poetry, and draw the designs upon the +copper, with a certain liquid, (which he named, and which Blake ever +kept a secret,) then cut the plain parts of the plate down with +aquafortis, and this will give the whole, both poetry and figures, in +the manner of stereotype.’ The plan recommended by this gracious spirit +was adopted, the plates were engraved, and the work printed off. The +artist then added a peculiar beauty of his own: he tinted both the +figures and the verse with a variety of colours, amongst which, while +yellow prevails, the whole has a rich and lustrous beauty, to which I +know little that can be compared. The size of these prints is four and a +half inches high by three inches wide. The original genius of Blake was +always confined, through poverty, to small dimensions. Sixty-five plates +of copper were an object to him who had little money.” + + [Footnote IX-30: The Book of Thel, which, with the titles, + consists of seven quarto pages of verse and figures engraved in + metallic relief, is dated 1789. A full list of the works of this + remarkable artist will be found in Bohn’s enlarged edition of + Lowndes’s Bibliographer’s Manual.] + +Blake subsequently executed, in the same manner, “the Gates of +Paradise,” consisting of sixteen small designs; and “Urizen,” consisting +of twenty-seven designs. The size of the latter is four inches by six, +and they are dated Lambeth, 1794. In 1800 he also engraved by a similar +process, combined with the usual mode of etching _through_ a prepared +ground laid over the plate, two subjects to illustrate a song of his own +writing, which was printed with them also from metallic relief. The +title of this song is “Little Tom the Sailor,” and the date is October +5, 1800. It appears to have been a charitable contribution of Blake’s to +the “Widow Spicer of Folkstone,” the mother of little Tom; and we learn +from the imprint at the bottom that it was printed for, and sold by her +for the benefit of her orphans. + +Blake’s metallic relief engravings were printed by himself by means of a +rolling or copper-plate press, though the impression was obtained from +the lines in relief in the same manner as from a wood-cut. The only +difference in the printing consisted in the different manner in which +the pressure was applied. As it is difficult, according to Blake’s +process, to corrode the large white parts to a depth sufficient to +prevent their being touched by the dauber or ball in the process of +inking, and thus presenting a soiled appearance in the impression, he +was accustomed to wipe the ink out where it had touched in the hollows. +As this occupied more time than the mere inking of the plate, his +progress in printing was necessarily slow. + +In another mode of engraving in relief on a plate of copper, the plate +is first covered with an etching ground in the usual manner, and to this +ground an outline of the subject is transferred by passing the plate +with a pencil-drawing above it through a rolling-press. The engraver +then proceeds to remove with his etching-point, or some other tool, as +may be necessary, all such parts as are intended to be _white_. When +this process, which may be termed _reverse etching_, is completed, the +parts intended to be white are corroded by pouring aquafortis upon the +plate in the usual manner, while the lines which represent the object +remain in relief, in consequence of their being protected at the surface +by the coating of etching ground. + +Several persons have made experiments in this mode of metallic relief +engraving. It was tried by Bewick, and also by the late Robert Branston; +but they did not succeed to their satisfaction, and none of their +productions executed in this manner was ever submitted to the public. +About twenty years ago, Mr. W. Lizars of Edinburgh appears to have +turned his attention to the subject of metallic relief engraving, and to +have succeeded better than either Bewick or Branston. One of the +earliest-published specimens of his engraving in this style is the +portrait of Dr. Peter Morris, forming the frontispiece to Peter’s +Letters to his Kinsfolk, printed at Edinburgh in 1819. This portrait has +every appearance of being executed by the process of reverse +etching,--that is, by first covering the plate with etching ground, and +then removing the parts that are to be white, and leaving the lines that +are to appear black in relief. The plate was printed by a common +printing-press at the office of Ballantyne and Co. In the preface the +“new invention” of Mr. Lizars is thus mentioned:--“The portrait of Dr. +Morris is done in this new style; and, had the time permitted, the +others would have all been done so likewise. It is thrown off by the +common printing-press, as the reader will observe--but this is only one +of the distinguishing excellences of this new and splendid invention of +Mr. Lizars.” + +Within the last three or four years several plans for executing +engravings in metallic relief have been devised; and it has been +prophesied of each, that it would in a short time totally supersede wood +engraving. The projectors of those plans, however, seem to have taken +too narrow a view of the subject; and to have thought that the mere +novelty of their invention was sufficient to ensure it success. They +appear not to have considered, that it was necessary that their metallic +relief casts should not only be cheaper than wood-cuts, but that they +should be also as well executed. + +Mr. Woone has taken out a patent for his invention, and the principle +upon which it is founded is that of taking a cast from a copper-plate, +whereby the lines engraved in _intaglio_ are in the cast in _relief_. +His process of metallic relief engraving is as follows:--A smooth plate +of metal is covered with a coating of plaster of Paris, about equal in +thickness to the depth to which the lines are cut in engraving on copper +or steel. Upon this surface of plaster the engraver, with a fine point, +as in etching, cuts the lines of the subject _through_ to the plate +below. When this plaster etching is completed, a cast is taken from it +in type-metal; and, after being _cleared out_, the subject in metallic +relief can be printed at a common press in the manner of a wood-cut. +According to this plan only _one_ cast can be taken of each subject, as +the plaster is destroyed during the process, so that there is nothing +left from which a second mould can be made, as in the case of a +wood-cut. The chief advantage of this invention consists in the lines +being of equal height in the cast, in consequence of their being etched +through the plaster to the level surface of the plate beneath. As the +coating of plaster is, however, extremely thin, it is generally +necessary to clear out with a graver the interstices of the cast in +order to prevent their being touched by the inking roller. + +A Mr. Schonberg has also made several experiments in metallic relief +engraving by means of etching on stone, and afterwards taking a cast +from his work. Though he has been for several years endeavouring to +perfect his invention, he has not up to this time succeeded in producing +anything which it would be fair to criticise. + +Many of the cuts of trees and shrubs in Loudon’s Arboretum et Fruticetum +Britannicum are printed from casts in metallic relief, executed by Mr. +Robert Branston. The mode of procedure, according to Mr. Branston’s +method, is extremely simple; the subject is first etched on copper, and +bit in by aquafortis in the usual manner; and from this etching a cast +is afterwards taken in type-metal. As the plate is not corroded to an +equal depth in every part, it is necessary to rub on a stone the faces +of the casts thus obtained in order to reduce the raised lines to the +same level. There is also another inconvenience that attends casts in +metallic relief taken from an etched copper-plate; for, as the +aquafortis acts laterally as well as vertically, it is difficult to +corrode the lines to a sufficient depth, without at the same time +getting them too thick. It is hence necessary to clear out many of the +hollow parts of such casts with a graver, in order to prevent their +being touched by the balls or inking-roller, and thus giving to the +impression a soiled appearance. + +Casts in metallic relief from etchings always appear coarse; and, from +the experiments hitherto made, it seems impossible to execute _fine_ +work in this manner. So far as relates to cheapness, such casts, however +well they may be executed, being of a level surface, cannot be printed +properly by a steam-press in the manner of lowered blocks, or casts from +lowered blocks. For a work of extensive circulation, printed by means of +a steam-press, a lowered block, or a cast from it, would be cheaper at +five pounds, than a cast from an etching at four, even admitting that +both were equally well executed. + +The principal feature in Mr. C. Hancock’s patent metallic relief +engraving, which is quite original, is, that subjects resembling +mezzotints can be inserted and printed with the text in the same manner +as wood engravings. A mezzotint plate, if printed in the usual manner +previous to being engraved upon, would appear black. On the other hand, +if submitted to the same kind of printing as a wood-cut, it would +scarcely discolour the paper. Upon this plate Mr. Hancock draws his +subject with a broad steel point or burnisher, which polishes down the +small prominences to a smooth surface in proportion to the pressure used +in drawing. In proportion as the surface becomes smooth, so does it +print dark, and have the appearance of a mezzotint. The reader will +perceive that, according to this plan, Mr. Hancock can take a proof of +his subject at any time, and procure either _dark_ or _light_ at +pleasure, as the subject may appear to require it. The sparkling light +can be touched in with the graver, in the same manner as on wood; so +that such touches appear much sharper than in common mezzotint, where +the lights are got by burnishing. As Mr. Hancock has not as yet brought +anything before the public, it would be unfair to anticipate him, by +introducing anything more in this place than a description of his +process. + +Wood engraving is necessarily confined, by the size of the wood, to the +execution of subjects of comparatively small dimensions; and this +limitation, together with the difficulty of printing even tints in +positive colours, have combined to prevent it from being made +extensively available in the production of works in chiaro-scuro, of +large size, by the ordinary modes of surface-printing. Latterly, +however, the demand which the progress of education has created for +maps, school prints, elementary examples of fine art, and illustrations +_on a large scale_ for the illustrated newspapers, having called the +attention of artists to the subject, many attempts have been made, and +in some cases with success, to produce relief engravings on metal; and +also to combine that mode of engraving with analogous apparatus for the +production of works in tints or colours, separate, combined, or mixed +with line plates, in such degrees as particular cases might require. +Several of these persons have been already named, and their processes +described; it only therefore remains to state, that Mr. Stephen Sly, in +connexion with other artists, has for some years past been steadily +engaged in making a series of experiments for giving a practical value, +by various inventions, to the discoveries and experience of their +predecessors in the art; and with every prospect of success. Their +method of procedure is: 1. To produce a finished drawing, in simple or +crossed lines, with etching varnish on a plate prepared for the purpose; +2. To bite away, with a compound acid, the spaces between the varnish +lines; and 3. To deepen and finish the work so produced, by the use of +engraving tools, in the ordinary manner. The great difficulties in the +way of these apparently simple operations have been, 1. To cast _sound_ +and durable plates of a large size, and of a texture sufficiently +compact to produce sharp lines by the etching process, and at the same +time soft enough to permit the surfaces to be lowered, and the cutting +to be executed with facility; 2. To remove the oxide formed by the +combination of the acid with the metal from between the lines; and 3. To +carry the biting to a depth sufficiently great to permit the plate, with +the addition of a small quantity of graver-work, to yield a clear +impression. + +Metallic relief engraving has not unfrequently been practised at Paris +of late years. I have now lying before me an impression from a plate +engraved in this manner by Messrs. Best, Andrew, and Leloir, of that +city. The subject is a wild turkey, and it was engraved about three +years ago for Mr. Audubon. Though it is the best specimen of metallic +relief engraving that has come under my notice, I am yet of opinion that +the subject could be better engraved on wood, and at a less cost. +Ornaments and borders are sometimes engraved on solid brass by means of +chisels and gravers in the same manner as a wood-cut. The head of +Buchanan, and the border on the wrapper of Blackwood’s Magazine, were +engraved on brass in this manner, more than twenty years ago, by Messrs. +Vizetelly, Branston, and Co. They were originally engraved on wood by +Bewick. The greater durability of ornaments engraved on brass, +compensates for their additional cost. The _cheapest_ mode, however, is +to have such ornaments first engraved on wood, and casts afterwards +taken from them in type metal. One great objection to _cutting_ on metal +with the graver is, that the metal _cuts the paper_ in printing from it. + +Duplicates of wood engravings may be readily obtained by means of casts +from the original blocks; and within the last twenty years, the practice +of thus multiplying subjects originally engraved on wood, has become +very prevalent both in this country and in France. Casts can be obtained +from wood engravings by two different processes, and both are practised +by two or three stereotype printers, to whom this business is usually +entrusted. By the one mode, a mould is first made from the block in +plaster of Paris, and from this mould or matrix a cast is afterwards +taken in type metal. By the other mode--termed by the French +_clichage_[IX-31]--the mould or matrix is not formed of plaster; but is +obtained by letting the block fall, with its engraved surface downwards, +directly on a mass of metal,[IX-32] just sufficiently fluid to receive +the impression, and which becomes solid almost at the very instant it is +touched by the block. From this mould or matrix a cast is afterwards +taken in the same manner. In order to prevent the surface of the block +becoming charred by the heat, it is previously rubbed over with a +composition of common yellow soap and red ochre. + + [Illustration: No. 1 (from Wood).] + + [Illustration: No. 2 (from Metal).] + + [Footnote IX-31: A cast from a form of types, as well as from an + engraved wood-block, is by French printers termed a _cliché_.] + + [Footnote IX-32: The metal of which this matrix is formed, is made + several degrees harder than common type metal, by mixing with the + latter a greater portion of regulus of antimony, otherwise the + matrix and cast would adhere.] + +When it is particularly desirable to preserve the original block +uninjured, the safest mode is that of forming a mould or matrix of +plaster; for by the process of _clichage_ a delicately engraved block is +extremely liable to receive damage. As a cast, whether from a matrix of +metal or of plaster, generally requires certain small specks of the +metal to be removed, or some of the lines to be cleared out, this +operation is frequently entrusted to a person employed in a +printing-office where such cast is taken. Such person, however, should +never be allowed to do more than remove the specks; for, should he +attempt to re-enter or re-cut the lines or tints on metal, he will be +very likely to spoil the work. It is extremely difficult, even to a +dexterous engraver, to re-enter the lines that have been partially +closed up in a tint, so that they shall appear the same as the others +which have come off clear. Should the printer’s _picker_ happen to +re-enter them in a direction opposite to that in which they were +originally cut on the block, the work is certain to be spoiled. When a +cast requires clearing out and retouching in this manner, the operation +ought to be performed by a wood engraver, and, if possible, by the +person who executed the original block. When the subject is not very +complicated, it is extremely difficult to distinguish which of two +impressions is from a cast, and which is from the original block. Those +who profess to have great judgment in such matters are left to determine +which of the preceding busts is printed from metal, and which from wood. + +When a duplicate of a modern, or a fac-simile of an old wood-cut is +required, the best mode of obtaining a correct copy, is to transfer the +original, if not too large or too valuable, to a prepared block; and the +mode of effecting this is as follows:--The back of the impression to be +transferred is first well moistened with a mixture composed of equal +parts of concentrated potash and essence of lavender; it is then placed +above a block whose surface has been slightly moistened with water, and +rubbed with a burnisher. If the mixture be of proper strength, the ink +of the old impression will become loosened, and be transferred to the +wood. Recent impression of a wood-cut, before the ink is set, may be +transferred to a block without any preparation, merely by what is +technically termed “rubbing down.” In order to transfer impressions from +copper-plates, it is necessary to use the _oil_ of lavender instead of +the _essence_: if a very old impression, apply the preparation to its +face. + +Since the former edition of this work considerable improvements have +been made in the mode of taking casts, of which the principal is +_electrotyping_, by the galvanic precipitation of copper. By this +process all the finer lines of the engraving are so perfectly preserved, +that impressions printed from the cast are quite undistinguishable from +those printed from the original block. + +Before closing this subject we think it right to introduce the notice of +a new art, which, if it accomplishes all it professes, and as, judging +by the annexed example, it seems capable of performing, will be a great +acquisition. The art was first brought out as Collins’s process, but is +now called the _Electro-printing Block process_, and is managed under +the inventor’s direction by a company established at No. 27, New Bridge +Street, Blackfriars. The object of the process is to reduce or extend, +by means of transfer to an elastic material, maps or engravings of any +size. The specimen given in the present volume is reduced from a +lithograph copy of an early block print, four times its size,[IX-33] and +then electrotyped into a surface block, so as to print in the ordinary +manner of a wood-engraving. The reader will easily imagine that any +plate transferred to an elastic surface distended equally, will, when +collapsed, yield a reduced impression, and _vice versâ_. The only +drawback to this process seems to be the want of depth in the +electro-type where there are large unengraved spaces. Such plates will +want good bringing-up and very careful printing. + + [Footnote IX-33: Taken from Mr. S. Leigh Sotheby’s _Principia + Typographica_, 3 vols. folio--to whose kindness we are indebted + for the reduced block.] + + [Illustration] + +The unequal manner in which wood-cuts are printed, is often injurious +both to publishers and engravers; for, however well a subject may have +been engraved, or whatever may have been the expense incurred, both the +engraver’s talents and the publisher’s money will, in a great measure, +have been thrown away unless the cut be properly printed. The want of +cordial co-operation between printers and wood engravers is one of the +chief causes of wood-cuts being so frequently printed in an improper +manner. One printer’s method of printing wood-cuts often differs so much +from that of another, that it is generally necessary for an engraver who +wishes to have justice done to his work, to ascertain the office at +which a book is to be printed before he begins to execute any of the +cuts. If they are intended to be printed at a steam-press, they require +to be engraved in a manner suitable to that method of printing; and if +it be further intended to take casts from them, and to print from such +casts instead of the original blocks, it is necessary for the engraver +to execute his work accordingly. Should they have to be printed at a +common press _with a blanket_, it is necessary that they should be +lowered in such parts as are most liable to be printed too heavy from +the parchment of the tympan, when there is a blanket behind it, +penetrating to a greater depth between the lines than when no blanket is +used.[IX-34] When it is intended to print cuts in what is called the +_best_ manner,--that is, at a common press without a blanket, and where +the effect is brought up by means of overlaying,--the engraver has +nothing to do but to execute his subject on a plane surface to the best +of his ability, and to leave the task of bringing up the dark, and +easing the light parts to the printer,--who, if he have not an artist’s +eye, can only by chance succeed in producing the effect intended by the +draftsman and the engraver. + + [Footnote IX-34: The principal difference, so far as relates to + wood engravings, between printing by a steam-press with + cylindrical rollers, and printing by a common press with a + blanket, is, that the blanket or woollen cloth covering the + cylinder of the steam-press comes into immediate contact with the + paper, while in the common press the parchment of the tympan is + interposed between the paper and the blanket. It is necessary that + cuts intended to be printed by a steam-press should be lowered to + a greater depth than cuts intended to be printed with a blanket at + a common press, as the blanket on the cylinder penetrates to a + greater depth between the lines.] + + [Illustration] + +Should a series of wood-cuts be engraved with the view of their being +printed at a steam-press, or at a common press with a blanket, and +should the publisher or proprietor of the work afterwards change his +intention, and decide on having them printed in the _best_ manner,--that +is, by the common press without a blanket, and with overlays,--such +cuts, whatever pains might be taken, could not be properly and +efficiently printed; for those parts which had been lowered in order to +obviate the _in_-pressure of the blanket, would either be totally +invisible, or would only appear imperfectly,--that is, with the lines +indistinct and broken, as if they had not been properly inked. The +following cut, which was lowered for machine-printing, or printing with +a blanket, but has been worked off at a common press without a blanket, +when compared with the same subject printed in the manner originally +intended,--that is, with a blanket,--will illustrate what has been +previously said on the subject. I by no means wish it to be understood, +that any printer would allow such a cut to appear quite so bad as it +does in the present impression; he would do _something_ to remedy the +defects, but he could not, without employing a blanket, cause it to have +the appearance originally intended by the designer and engraver. It is +printed here without any aid of overlaying, in order that the difference +might be the more apparent to those who are unacquainted with the +subject. I have, however, not unfrequently seen excellent cuts spoiled +from inattention to bringing up the lowered parts, even when printed at +the office of printers who have acquired a high character for _fine_ +work, and whose names on this account are announced in advertisements in +connexion with those of the author, designer, and publisher, as a +guarantee for the superior manner in which the cuts contained in the +work will be printed.[IX-35] The following cut, of the same subject as +that given on the previous page, shows the appearance of the engraving +when properly printed in the manner intended; every line is here brought +up by using a blanket, while from the block having been lowered, with a +view to its being printed in this manner, there has been no occasion for +overlays to increase the effect in the darker parts. The difference in +the two impressions is entirely owing to the different manner of +printing; for the one is printed from the block, and the other from a +cast. + + [Illustration] + + [Footnote IX-35: I have known a printer, who _once_ had a high + character for his _fine_ work, charge and receive twelve guineas + per sheet for a book containing a number of wood-cuts which + required to be well printed, and I have known a similar work + better printed from lowered blocks for less than half the sum per + sheet. Publishers will at no distant time discover, that it is + their interest rather to have their cuts first properly engraved + than to pay a printer a large additional sum for the trouble of + overlaying them, and thus giving them the appearance which they + ought to have without such means and appliances, if the blocks + were originally executed as they ought to be.] + +Subjects engraved on lowered blocks, in the manner of the following cut, +have always an unfinished appearance when printed without a blanket, and +the feebleness and confusion apparent in the lighter parts, instead of +being remedied by overlaying the darker parts, are thus rendered more +obvious. The connecting medium between the extremes of black and white +being either entirely omitted or very imperfectly given, causes the +impression to have that harsh and unfinished appearance which is +frequently urged as one of the greatest objections to engraving on wood. +It is indeed true, that many cuts have this objectionable appearance; +but it is also true that the fault does not originate in any deficiency +in the art, but is either the result of want of knowledge on the part of +the engraver, or is occasioned by improper printing. When wood engravers +found that anything approaching to delicacy, in blending the extremes of +black and white in their work, was extremely liable to be either lost or +spoiled in the printing, it is not surprising that they should have paid +comparatively little attention to the connecting tints. In many +excellently engraved cuts, printed at the common press with overlays, +the tint next in gradation to positive black is often perceived to be +too dark, in consequence of the extra pressure on the adjacent parts; +while, on the other hand, the delicate lines intended to blend with the +white, are either too heavy, or appear broken and confused. It is +chiefly from this cause, that so much black and white, without the +requisite connecting middle tints, is found in wood-cuts; for the +engraver, finding that such tints were frequently spoiled in the +impression, omitted them whenever he could, in order to adapt his +subject to the usual method of printing. When, in consequence of an +improvement in the mode of printing wood-cuts, engravers can depend on +finding all in the impression that can be executed on the block, it will +no longer be an objection to the art that its productions have a hard +and unfinished appearance, and that it is only capable of efficiently +representing subjects displaying strong contrasts of black and white. + +Should a wood-cut engraved on a plane surface, with the intention of its +being printed in the _best_ manner,--that is, at a common press with +overlays, and _without_ a blanket,--be printed at a steam-press, or at a +common press _with_ a blanket, it will present a very different +appearance to the engraver’s proof.[IX-36] The following cut, which +ought properly to have been printed in the _best_ manner, is here +printed improperly _with a blanket_, and the result is anything but +satisfactory; the parts which ought to have been delicately printed are, +in consequence of the equality of the pressure on every part of the +unlowered surface brought up too heavy, and from their appearing too +dark, the effect intended by the designer and engraver is destroyed. The +same cut, when printed at a common press with overlays, and without a +blanket, as originally intended, would have the light parts relieved, +and appear as it does on the following page. + + [Footnote IX-36: The cuts being arranged back to back, as at pages + 641, 642, and thereby preventing the types appearing, as they do + on the next page, is an advantage not to be overlooked.] + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration] + +The want of something like a uniform method of printing wood-cuts, and +the high price charged by printers for what is called fine work, have +operated most injuriously to the progress and extension of wood +engraving. The practice, however, of printing wood-cuts by a +steam-press, or a press of any kind with a cylindrical roller instead of +a platten, seems likely to introduce a general change in the practice of +the art. By the adoption of this cheap and expeditious method of +printing, books containing the very best wood engravings can be afforded +at a much cheaper rate than formerly. As cuts printed in this manner can +receive no adventitious aid from overlays, the wood engraver is required +to finish his work perfectly before it goes out of his hands, and not to +trust to the taste of a pressman for its being properly printed. The +great desideratum in wood engraving is to produce cuts which can be +efficiently printed at the least possible expense; and, as a means +towards this end, it is necessary that cuts should require the least +possible aid from the printer, and be executed in such manner that, +without gross negligence, they will be certain to print well. The +greatest advantage that wood engraving possesses over engraving on +copper or steel is the cheap rate at which its productions can be +printed at one impression, in the same sheet with the letter-press. To +increase, therefore, by an incomplete method of engraving, the cost of +printing wood-cuts, is to abandon the great vantage ground of the art. + +The mode of printing by the common press without a blanket, and of +_helping_ a cut engraved on a plane surface by means of overlays, is not +only much more expensive than printing from a lowered block by the +steam-press, or a common press with a blanket and without overlaying, +but is also much more injurious to the engraving. When a cut requires to +be overlaid[IX-37] in order that it may be properly printed, a piece of +paper is first pasted on the tympan, and on this an impression is taken, +which remains as a substratum for the subsequent overlays. A second +impression is next taken, and in this the pressman cuts out the lighter +parts, and notes such as are too indistinct and require _bringing up_. +He then proceeds to paste scraps of paper over the corresponding parts +in the first impression, on a sheet of thin paper, either in front or at +the back of the parchment tympan, in order to increase in such parts the +pressure of the platten; and thus continues, sometimes for half a day, +pasting scrap over scrap, until he obtains what he considers a perfect +impression. + + [Footnote IX-37: What is called _underlaying_ consists in pasting + one piece of paper or more on the lower part of a block, in order + to raise it, and increase the pressure. When a block is uneven at + the bottom, in consequence of warping, underlaying is + indispensable.] + +As the block is originally of the same height as the type, it is evident +that the overlays must very much increase the pressure of the platten on +such parts as they are immediately above. Such increase of pressure is +not only injurious to the engraving, occasionally breaking down the +lines; but it also frequently squeezes the ink from the surface _into_ +the interstices, and causes the impression in such parts to appear +blotted. While a block, with a flat surface, printed in this manner will +scarcely afford five thousand good impressions without retouching, +twenty thousand can be obtained from a lowered block printed by a +steam-press, or by a common press with a blanket and without overlays; +the darkest parts in a lowered block being no higher than the type, and +not being overlaid, are subject to no unequal pressure to break down the +lines, while the lighter parts being lowered are thus sufficiently +protected. The intervention of the blanket in the latter case not only +brings up the lighter parts, but is also less injurious to the +engraving, than the direct action of the wood or metal platten, with +only the thin cloth and the parchment of the tympans intervening between +it and the surface of the block. + +When wood-cuts are printed with overlays, and the paper is knotty, the +engraving is certain to be injured by the knots being indented in the +wood in those parts where the pressure is greatest. When copies of a +work containing wood-cuts are printed on India paper, the engraving is +almost invariably injured, in consequence of the hard knots and pieces +of bark with which such paper abounds, causing indentions in the wood. +The consequence of printing off a certain number of copies of a work on +such paper may be seen in the cut of the Vain Glow-worm, in the second +edition of the first series of Northcote’s Fables: it is covered with +white spots, the result of indentions in the block caused by the knots +and inequalities in bad India paper. Overlays frequently shift if not +well attended to, and cause pressure where it was never intended. + +In order that wood engravings should appear to the greatest advantage, +it is necessary that they should be printed on proper paper. A person +not practically acquainted with the subject may easily be deceived in +selecting paper for a work containing wood engravings. There is a kind +of paper, manufactured of coarse material, which, in consequence of its +being pressed, has a smooth appearance, and to the view seems to be +highly suitable for the purpose. As soon, however, as such paper is +wetted previous to printing, its smoothness disappears, and its +imperfections become apparent by the irregular swelling of the material +of which it is composed. Paper intended for printing the best kind of +wood-cuts ought to be even in texture, and this ought to be the result +of good material well manufactured. Paper of this kind will not appear +uneven when wetted, like that which has merely a _good face_ put upon it +by means of extreme pressure. The best mode of testing the quality of +paper is to wet a sheet; however even and smooth it may appear when dry, +its imperfections will be evident when wet, if it be manufactured of +coarse material, and merely pressed smooth. + +Paper of unequal thickness, however good the material may be, is quite +unfit for the purpose of printing the best kind of wood engravings; for, +if a sheet be thicker at one end than the other, there will be a +perceptible difference in the strength of the impressions of the cuts +accordingly as they may be printed on the thick or the thin parts, those +on the latter being light, while those on the former are comparatively +heavy or dark. When it is known that an overlay of the thinnest tissue +paper will make a perceptible difference in an impression, the necessity +of having paper of even texture for the purpose of printing wood-cuts +well is obvious. As there is less chance of inequality of texture in +comparatively thin paper than in thick, the former kind is generally to +be preferred, supposing it to be equally well manufactured. + +Mr. Savage, at page 46 of his Hints on Decorative Printing, recommends +that in a sheet which consists entirely of letter-press in one +_form_,[IX-38] and of letter-press and wood-cuts in the other, the form +without cuts should be worked first. His words are as follow:--“When +there are wood-cuts in one form, and none in the other, then the form +without the cuts ought to be worked first; as working the cuts last +prevents the indention of the types appearing on the engraving, which +would otherwise take place to its prejudice.” + + [Footnote IX-38: The entire quantity of types, or of types and + wood-cuts, which is locked up together, and printed on one side of + a sheet at one impression, is called by printers a _form_.] + +My opinion on this subject is directly the reverse of Mr. Savage’s, for, +under similar circumstances, I should advise that the form containing +the cuts should be printed first; and for the following reason:--When +any parts of a wood-cut require to be printed light--whether by lowering +the block or by overlaying--the pressure in such parts must necessarily +be less than on those adjacent. If then the form containing such cuts be +printed first, the paper being perfectly flat, and without any +indentions, all the lines will appear distinct and continuous, unless +the pressman should grossly neglect his duty. If, on the contrary, the +form containing such cuts be printed last, there is a risk of the lines +in the lighter parts appearing broken and confused, in consequence of +the inequality in the surface of the paper, caused by the indention of +the types on the opposite side. Imperfections of this kind are to be +seen in many works containing wood-cuts; and they are in particular +numerous in the Treatise on Cattle published under the superintendence +of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. In many of the +cuts in this work the lines representing the sky appear discontinuous +and broken, and the imperfections are always according to the kind of +type on the other side of the paper. When both forms contain wood-cuts, +I should recommend that to be first which contains the best. Mr. +Savage’s reason, independent of the preceding objections, is scarcely a +good one; for admitting that the indention of the types of the second +form does appear in the _clear_ and _distinct_ impressions from the cuts +in the first, when the sheet is just taken from the press, are not such +inequalities entirely removed when the sheet is _dried_ and pressed? + +In order to produce good impressions in printing wood-cuts, much more +depends on the manner in which the subject is treated by the designer, +and on the plate which the cut occupies in a page, than a person +unacquainted with the nicety required in such matters would imagine. +Wood-cuts which are delicately engraved, or which consist chiefly of +outline, are the most difficult to print in a proper manner, in +consequence of their want of dark masses to relieve the pressure in the +more delicate parts, and thus cause them to appear lighter in the +impression. There ought never to be a large portion of light delicate +work in a wood-cut without a few dark parts near to it, which may serve +as stays or props to relieve the pressure. In illustration of what is +here said, I would refer to the cut of King Shahriyár unveiling +Shahrazád, at page 15 of Mr. Lane’s Translation of the Arabian Nights’ +Entertainments, where it will be seen, that certain dark parts are +introduced as if at measured distances. It is entirely owing to the +introduction of those dark parts that the pressman has been enabled to +print the cut so well: they not only give by contrast the appearance of +greater delicacy to the lightest parts; but they also serve to relieve +them from that degree of pressure, which, if the cut consisted entirely +of such delicate lines, would most certainly cause them to appear +comparatively thick and heavy. Another instance of the advantage which a +cut derives from its being placed in a certain situation in the page, is +also afforded by the same work. The cut to which I allude is that of the +Return of the Jinnee, at page 47, consisting chiefly of middle tint, +with a pillar of smoke rising up from the ground, and gradually becoming +lighter towards the top. Had this cut been introduced at the head of the +page without any text above it, the light parts would not have appeared +so delicate as they do now when the cut is printed in its present +situation. The top of the cut, where the lines are required to be +lightest, being near to the types, thus receives a support, and is by +them relieved from that degree of pressure which would otherwise cause +the lines to appear heavy. Towards the bottom of the cut, which also +forms the bottom of the page, there are two or three dark figures which +most opportunely afford that necessary degree of support which in the +upper part is derived from the types. + +The engraver by whom a cut has been executed is unquestionably the best +person that the printer can apply to for any information as to the +manner in which it ought to be printed, as he alone can be perfectly +acquainted with the _state of the block_, and with any peculiarity in +the engraving. If any light part should have been lowered to a very +trifling extent, it is sometimes almost impossible that the printer +should perceive such lowered part after the block has been covered with +ink; and hence, notwithstanding the proof which may have been sent by +the engraver as a guide, such a cut is very likely to be worked off, to +the great injury of the general effect of the subject, without the +lowered part being properly brought up. In order to avoid such an +occurrence, which is by no means unfrequent, it is advisable to send to +the engraver a printed proof of his cut, in order that he may note those +parts where the pressman has failed in obtaining a perfect impression. +From the want of this precaution wood-cuts are but too often badly +printed; while at the same time the engraver is blamed for executing his +work imperfectly, though in reality the defect is entirely occasioned by +the cut not being properly printed. + +The best mode of cleaning a block after the engraver has taken his first +proof is to rub it well with a piece of woollen cloth. So long as +anything remains to be done with the graver, the block, after taking a +proof, ought never to be cleaned with any liquid, as by such means the +ink on the surface would be dissolved, and the mixture getting between, +the lines would thus cause the cut to appear uniformly black, and render +it difficult for the engraver to finish his work in a proper manner from +his inability to clearly distinguish the lines.[IX-39] Turpentine or lye +ought to be very sparingly used to clean a cut after the printing is +finished, and never unless the interstices be choked up with ink which +cannot otherwise be removed. When the surface of the block becomes foul, +in consequence of the ink becoming hardened upon it, it is most +advisable to clean it with a little soap and water, using as little +water as possible, and afterwards to rub the block well with a piece of +woollen cloth. When it is necessary to use turpentine in order to get +the hardened ink out of the interstices, the surface of the block should +immediately afterwards be slightly washed with a little soap and water, +and afterwards rubbed with a piece of woollen cloth.[IX-40] _Warm_ water +ought never to be used, as it is much more apt than cold to cause the +block to warp and split. The practice of cleaning wood-cuts in the form +by means of a _hard_ brush, dipped in turpentine or lye, is extremely +injurious to the finest parts, as by this means most delicate lines are +not unfrequently broken. The use of anything damp to clean the cuts when +the pressman finishes his day’s-work, is to be avoided; as a very small +degree of damp is sufficient to cause the block to warp when left locked +up over night in the form. Whenever it is practicable, the cuts ought to +be taken out of the form at night, and placed on their edges till next +morning; as, by thus receiving a free circulation of air all round them, +they will be much less liable to warp, than if allowed to remain in the +form. As wood-cuts are often injured by being carelessly printed in a +rough proof, it is advisable not to insert them in the form till all the +literal corrections are made, and the text is ready for the press. + + [Footnote IX-39: When a block, after being printed, requires + retouching, it is generally necessary to cover it with fine + whiting, which, by filling up the interstices, thus enables the + engraver to distinguish the raised lines more clearly.] + + [Footnote IX-40: When a block has been cleaned with turpentine, + and not afterwards washed with soap and water, it will not receive + the ink well when next used. The first fifty or sixty impressions + subsequently taken, are almost certain to have a grey and scumbled + appearance.] + +It is a fact, though I am unable to satisfactorily account for it, that +an impression from a wood-block, taken by a common press, without +overlaying, or any other kind of preparation, is generally lighter in +the middle than towards the edges. Mr. Edward Cowper, who has +contributed so much to the improvement of machine-printing, when engaged +in making experiments with common presses constructed with the greatest +care,[IX-41] informs me, that he frequently noticed the same defect. +Such inequality in the impression is not perceptible in cuts printed by +a steam-press, where the pressure proceeds from a _cylinder_ instead of +a flat platten of metal or wood. Besides the advantage which the +steam-press possesses over the common press in producing a uniformly +regular impression, the ink in the former method is more equally +distributed over every part of the form in consequence of the +undeviating regularity of the action of the inking rollers. Though an +equal distribution of the ink be of great advantage when all the cuts in +a form require to be printed in the same manner,--that is, when all are +of a similar _tone_ of colour,--yet when some are dark, and others +comparatively light, balls faced with composition are decidedly +preferable to composition rollers, as by using the former the pressman +can give to each cut its proper quantity of ink. + + [Footnote IX-41: Some of those presses were so truly constructed, + that if the table were wetted, and brought in contact with the + platten, it could be raised from its bed by allowing the platten + to ascend, in consequence of the two surfaces being so perfectly + plane and level.] + +I very much doubt, if soft composition rollers, such as are now +generally used, be so well adapted as composition balls for inking +wood-cuts engraved on a _plane_ surface. The material of which the +rollers are formed is so soft and elastic, that it does not only pass +over the surface of the block, but penetrates to a certain depth between +the lines, thus inking them at the sides, as well as on their surface. +The consequence of this is, that when the pressure is too great, the +paper is forced in between the lines, and receives, to the great +detriment of the impression, a portion of the ink communicated by the +soft and elastic roller to their sides. For inking cuts delicately +engraved on _unlowered_ blocks, I should recommend composition balls +instead of composition rollers, whenever it is required that such cuts +should be printed in the _best_ manner. + +The great advantage which modern wood engraving possesses over every +other branch of graphic art, is the cheap rate at which its productions +can be disseminated in conjunction with types, by means of the press. +This is the stronghold of the art; and whenever it has been abandoned in +modern times to compete with copper-plate engraving, in point of +delicacy or mere difficulty of execution, the result has been a failure. +No large modern wood-cuts, published separately, and resting on their +own merits as works of art, have repaid the engraver. The price at which +they were published was too high to allow of their being purchased by +the humbler classes, while the more wealthy collectors of fine prints +have treated them with neglect. Such persons were not inclined to +purchase comparatively expensive wood-cuts merely as curiosities, +showing how closely the peculiarities of copper-plate engraving could be +imitated on wood. + +Though most of the large cuts designed by Albert Durer were either +published separately without letter-press, or in parts with brief +explanations annexed; yet we cannot ascribe the favour with which they +were unquestionably received, to the mere fact of their being executed +_on wood_. They were adapted to the taste and feelings of the age, and +were esteemed on account of the interest of the subjects and the +excellence of the designs. Were a modern artist of comparatively equal +talent to publish a series of subjects of excellence and originality, +engraved on wood in the best manner, I have little doubt of their being +favourably received; their success, however, would not be owing to the +circumstance of their being engraved on wood, but to their intrinsic +merits as works of art. + +On taking a retrospective glance at the history of wood engraving, it +will be perceived that the art has not been regularly progressive. At +one period we find its productions distinguished for excellence of +design and freedom of execution, and at another we find mere mechanical +labour substituted for the talent of the artist. As soon as this change +commenced, wood engraving, as a means of multiplying works of art began +to decline. It continued in a state of neglect for upwards of a century, +and showed little symptoms of revival until the works of Bewick again +brought it into notice. + +The maxim that “a good thing is valuable in proportion as many can enjoy +it,” may be applied with peculiar propriety to wood engraving; for the +productions of no other kindred art have been more generally +disseminated, nor with greater advantage to those for whom they were +intended. In the child’s first book wood-cuts are introduced, to enable +the infant mind to connect words with things; the youth gains his +knowledge of the forms of foreign animals from wood-cuts; and the +mathematician avails himself of wood engraving to execute his diagrams. +It has been employed, in the representation of religious subjects, as an +aid to devotion; to celebrate the triumphs of kings and warriors; to +illustrate the pages of the historian, the traveller, and the poet; and +by its means copies of the works of the greatest artists of former +times, have been afforded at a price which enabled the very poorest +classes to become purchasers. As at least one hundred thousand good +impressions can be obtained from a wood-cut, if properly engraved and +carefully printed; and as the additional cost of printing wood-cuts with +letter-press is inconsiderable when compared with the cost of printing +steel or copper plates separately, the art will never want +encouragement, nor again sink into neglect, so long as there are artists +of talent to furnish designs, and good engravers to execute them. + + [Illustration: + DIES ADDIDIT MEA] + + + + +INDEX. + + + A. + + Absolon, John, artist, 576*. + Accursius, Mariangelus, note written by, in a Donatus, 123. + Advertisements, wood-cuts prefixed to, 446 _n_. + Allegory of Death, a tract printed at Bamberg, 1462, 171. + Almanach de Paris, with wood-cuts, by Papillon, 459. + Almanacks, sheet, 1470, 1500, 225. + Alphabet of figures, engraved on wood, in the British Museum, 106; + cuts from, 109, 110, 111, 112; + with figures, of a Dance of Death, preserved in the public library + at Basle, 352. + Altdorffer, A. 320. + Amman, Jost, cuts designed by, in a book of trades and professions, + 408, 409; + other cuts designed by him, 411. + Amonoph, a name on an Egyptian brick-stamp, 6 _n_. + Andreani, Andrea, chiaro-scuros engraved by, 432. + Andrews, G. H. painter, 598*. + Anelay, H. artist, 575*. + Angus, George, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, printer, wood-cuts used by, in + cheap works, 180, 228. + Annunciation, old cut of the, 50. + Ansdell, Richard, painter, 598*. + Ansgarius, St., supposed to have been the compiler of the Biblia + Pauperum, 94. + Antichrist, cuts of, 61. + Antonianus, Silvius, a cardinal, claimed by Papillon as a wood + engraver, 337. + Antonio, Marc, his copies of the Little Passion and the Life of the + Virgin, designed by Durer, 251. + Antwerp, painters’ company of, entertain Durer, 261; + procession in honour of the Virgin, _ib._ + Apelles, the image of the life of man as painted in a table by, + 436 _n_. [[_text has “432”_]] + Apocalypse, an ancient block-book, 61, 68; + cuts in illustration of, from Durer’s designs, 239. + Appeal to Christendom, early specimen of typography, 138. + Arch, triumphal, of Maximilian, designed by Durer, 255. + Archer, J. draughtsman, 599*. + Archer, J. W. draughtsman, 599*. + Aretin, J. C. von, 114. + Armitage, Edward, painter, 598*. + Armstrong, T. engraver, 592*. + Armstrong, Wm. engraver, 600*. + Ars Memorandi, 113; + cut from, 115. + Ars Moriendi, an old block-book, 116. + Art, early German, 3. + Assen, J. W. van, 318. + Astle’s Origin and Progress of Writing, 20. + Atkinson, G. C., his Life of Bewick, 477, 478, 480, 482, 492, 501, + 503, 505. + Austin, an English wood-engraver, 538. + + + B. + + Babylonian brick, 7. + Balls, leather, formerly used by pressmen, not so elastic as + composition rollers, 620. + Bamberg, a book of fables printed at, in 1461, 171. + Bämler, John, a printer of Augsburg, 180. + Baptism of Drusiana, 66. + Bartsch, Adam, of opinion that Albert Durer did not engrave on wood, + 237. + Battailes, La Fleur des, 1505, 210. + Baxter, George, his improvements in printing in colours, 406; + his chiaro-scuros and picture-prints, 629. + Beating time with the foot mistaken for printing, 120. + Beaumont, Sir George, curious alphabet of figures engraved on wood, + formerly belonging to, 106. + Bechtermuntze, Henry and Nicholas, early printers, related to + Gutemberg, 142. + Beddoes, Dr. Thomas, his poem of Alexander’s expedition down the + Hydaspes, with wood-cuts, by E. Dyas, 1792, 463 _n_. + Behaim, Michael, letter to, from Albert Durer, 235. + Behaim, H. S. 253 _n_, 320. + Beilby, Ralph, the partner of Bewick, 479. + Beildeck, Lawrence, his evidence in the suit of the Drytzehns + against Gutemberg, 1438, 128. + Bekker, R. Z. editor of a collection of wood-cuts, from old blocks + in the possession of the Baron Von Derschau, 226. + Bellini, Giovanni, his praise of Durer, 242. + Bells, inscriptions on, 20. + Bennett, C. draughtsman, 599*. + Benting, William, Lord of Rhoon and Pendraght, a fictitious + character, mentioned by T. Nieuhoff Piccard, 360, 361 _n_, 363. + Bernacle or Barnacle Goose, 414. + Bernardin, St. account of an old wood-cut of, 56. + Beroaldus, Peter, editor of an edition of Ptolemy, 201. + Best, Andrew, and Leloir, their metallic relief engraving, 636. + Bethemsted, a name in an old book of wood-cuts, 111. + Beugnet, a French wood engraver, 547. + Bewick, Thomas, his birth, 1753, 472; + apprenticed to Mr. R. Beilby, 474; + engraves the diagrams in Hutton’s Mensuration, 1768-1770, 475; + receives a premium for his cut of the Old Hound, 1775, 476; + visits London, 477; + cuts engraved by him in a Hieroglyphic Bible, 478; + his love of the country, 479; + his partnership with Beilby, _ib._; + his cuts in Gay’s Fables, 480; + his cut of the Chillingham Bull, 481; + his Quadrupeds, 1791, 482-490; + his British Birds, 1797-1804, 490-502; + his Select Fables, 1818, 502-506; + his cut of the Old Horse waiting for Death, 510; + his diligence, 507; + his death, _ib._; + tribute to his merits from Blackwood’s Magazine, 512; + list of portraits of him, 509 _n_. + Bewick, John, notice of his principal works, 513. + Bible, the Mazarine, printed prior to August, 1456, 139. + Bible supposed to have been printed by Pfister, at Bamberg, 181. + Bible cuts, Lyons, 1538, designed by Holbein, 365-371; + engravings from 86, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92. + Bible, Quadrins Historiques de la, 402. + Biblia Pauperum, 80-94. + Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum, 83. + Bildhauer, 2. + Binding, old, 60. + Birds, engraved by Bewick’s pupils, 492 _n_. + Birkman, Arnold, Dance of Death, copied from the Lyons edition, + published by his heirs, Cologne, 1555-1572, 336. + Blake, William, his mode of engraving in metallic relief, 632; + his drawing of Death’s Door, engraved by Linton, 591. + Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, cut from, 534. + Blocking out, 589. + Block-books claimed for Lawrence Coster, 58. + Blocks, original, of the Triumphs of Maximilian, preserved at + Vienna, 291. + Bolton, Thomas, wood engraver, 576*, 577*. + Bombo, the name of a dog, supposed by Papillon to be the name of a + wood-engraver, 337 _n_. + Bomb shell, cut of a, from a book printed in 1472, 187. + Borbonius, or Bourbon, Nicholas, verses by, in praise of Holbein, + 356, 357, 362, 367. + Borders, flowered, earliest specimens of in books, 209. + Böttiger, C. A. 21. + Box-wood, different qualities of, 563, 566. + Brandling, H. draughtsman, 599*. + Brands for marking cattle, 11. + Branston, Robert, notice of his principal wood-cuts, 535-538. + Branston, R. the younger, wood-engraver, 544; + his method of engraving in metallic relief, 634. + Branston, F. W. wood-engraver, 544, 545. + Brass stamps, 10. + Brasses, monumental, 21. + Braunche, Robert, his monument at Lynn, 22. + Breitkopf, G. J. his attempt to print maps with separative pieces of + type-metal, 1776, 205. + Breydenbach’s Travels, 1486, 206-209. + Bricks, from Egypt and Babylon, 6, 7. + Bridget, St., early cut of, 52. + Brief of Indulgence, 1454, an early specimen of typography, 137. + Briefe, cards so called in Germany, 42. + Briefmaler and Briefdrucker, 43, 410. + British Birds, History of, with cuts by Bewick, 490-502. + Broughton, Hugh, his Concent of Scripture, with copper-plate + engravings, 1591, 423. + Büchel, Emanuel, a Dance of Death copied by, in water-colours, 326. + Bukinck, Arnold, printer, his edition of Ptolemy, 1478, with maps, + engraved on copper, 200. + Bullet, J. B. his Researches on Playing Cards, 40. + Bulwer, Sir E. Lytton, quoted, 398. + Burgmair, Hans, painter, and designer on wood, 277. + Burleigh, Lord, his portrait in Archbishop Parker’s edition of the + Bible, 1568, 419. + Burnet, John, his engraving of Chelsea Pensioners, after Wilkie, + 213. + Burning in the hand, 12. + Bury, Richard de, makes no mention of wood engraving, 39. + Businck, chiaro-scuros engraved by, 440. + Buttons, silver, engraved by Bewick, 479. + Bybel, Historische School en Huis, Amsterdam, 1743, with wood-cuts, + 459. + Byfield, John, wood engraver, 544. + + + C. + + Calcar, John, a Flemish painter, 434. + Calderinus, D. editor of an edition of Ptolemy, 208. + Camus, his account of a book printed at Bamberg, 1462, 171. + Canticles, illustrations of, 71, 72. + Capitals, ornamented, in Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter, 426; + in English and other books, 616, 617. + Car, triumphal, of Maximilian, designed by Durer, 255. + Cards, known in 1340, 40. + Caron, Nicholas, wood engraver, his portrait of Papillon, 466 _n_. + Carpi, Ugo da, engraver of chiaro-scuros, on wood, 230, 307. + Cartouch, 28 _n_. + Casts, stereotype, early, 418; + modern, 636; + clichage, 637. + Cat edition of Dante, Venice, 1578, 431. + Catherine, St. patroness of learned men, 207. + Catholicon Johannis Januensis, 135 _n_. + Cauteria, 12. + Caxton, W. books printed by,--Game of Chess, 191; + Mirror of the World, 194; + Golden Legend, Fables of Esop, Canterbury Tales, 195. + Caylus, Count, chiaro-scuros executed by, and N. Le Sueur, 456 _n_. + Cessolis, J. de, his work on Chess, 197. + Champollion, 6 _n_. + Chantrey, Sir F. monument by, in Lichfield Cathedral, 589, 590. + Characters in an old Dutch Dance of Death, 318, 329 _n_. + Charlemagne, his monogram, 14. + Chelidonius, 243, 251. + Chelsea Pensioners, engraving of, after Sir D. Wilkie, 213. + Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, 48. + Chess, the Game of, printed by Caxton, 191. + Chiaro-scuro, engraving on wood, known in Germany, in 1509, 230. + Chiaro-scuros, 307, 402, 432, 440, 451, 455, 467, 628. + Children in the Wood, cut from, 533. + Chillingham bull, cut of, by Bewick, 481. + Chinese engraving and printing, 23. + Chirotipografia, or hand-printing, 44 _n_. + Chisels, 578. + Christopher, St. wood-cut of, in the possession of Earl Spencer, 45, + 46. + Chrysographus, 121. + Circular wood engravings in the British Museum, 54 _n_. + Clayton, J. R. draughtsman, 599*. + Cleaning wood cuts after printing, mode of, 649. + Clennell, Luke, a pupil of Bewick, biographical notice of, 521-527. + Clerc, Sebastian le, cuts in Croxall’s Æsop’s Fables, copied from + his engravings, 450. + Clichage, a mode of taking a cast from a wood engraving, 637. + Coeck, Peter, of Alost, his Costumes and Manners of the Turks, 402. + Coining, its antiquity, 19. + Cole, Humphrey, an English engraver, 1572, 419. + Coleman, Wm. artist, 599*. + Collation of editions of the Speculum Salvationis, 102. + Cologne Chronicle, unfairly quoted by the advocates of Coster, 122. + Colonna, Francis, author of the Hypnerotomachia, 218. + Colour, the meaning of the word when applied to engravings, 213. + Committee of the House of Commons on Arts and their Connexion with + Manufactures, 305. + Congreve’s, Sir Wm. mode of colour printing, 630. + Concanen, M. wood cut in Miscellaneous Poems, published by, 1724, + 453. + Cooper, James, wood-engraver, 550, 552. + Coornhert, Theodore, claims the invention of printing for Harlem, + 146. + Cope, C. W. painter, 598*. + Copperplate engraving, its invention ascribed to Varro, 21. + Copperplates, earliest books containing, 200; + the earliest engraved in England, 419. + Corbould, E. H. painter, 598*. + Coriolano, Bartolomeo, chiaro-scuros engraved by, 440. + Cornelius, a bookbinder, his account of Coster’s invention, 150-152. + Coster, Lawrence, first mentioned by Hadrian Junius as the inventor + of printing, 147; + account of his invention, 149. + Cotman’s Sepulchral Brasses, 22 _n_. + Coverdale, Miles, cuts in his translation of the Bible, 1535, + 385-389. + Cowper, Edward, his invention for piercing wood blocks for map + engraving, 205. + Cracherode, Rev. C. M. prints and books presented by him to the + British Museum, 72, 231, 355, 385. + Cranach, Lucas, painter and designer on wood, 275; + chiaro-scuros cut after, 276; + figure of Christ printed in colours, supposed to be by him, 404. + Cranmer, Archbishop, his Catechism, 1548, with wood cuts, 380-382. + Creswick, T. artist. 588*, 589*. + Cropsey, Jasper, painter, 598*. + Crown-piece of George IV., impressions of casts from, 618. + Crowquill, Alfred, artist, 597*. + Cross-hatching, 224, 234, 562. + Croxall’s Æsop’s Fables, wood cuts in, 1722, 448-451. + Cruikshank, George, artist, 595*, 596*. + Cuningham’s, Dr. William, Cosmographical Glass, 1559, 421, 425; + his portrait, 424; + cuts from his book, 425, 426, 427. + Cunio, Alberic and Isabella, pretended wood engravers, 26. + Curved lines, the effect of, 585. + Cutting tools, 576. + + + D. + + Dalziel, Bros. wood engravers, 559-562*, 566*. + Dalziel, Thomas, artist, 562*. + Dammetz, Lucas, called also Lucas Van Leyden, 308. + Dampth, its effect on box-wood, 564. + Dance of Death, in old churches, 325; + at Basle, 326; + in old French and other books, 328; + the Lyons Dance of Death, 1538, with cuts, designed by Hans + Holbein, 329-364; + his Alphabet containing his Dance of Death, 352. + Dante, edition of, with copper-plates, 1482; + the cat edition of, Venice, 1578, 431. + Darley, Felix, draughtsman, 599*. + Dates of block books and cuts, mistake about, 58. + Day, John, an English printer, supposed to have also engraved on + wood, 425. + Denecker, Jobst, publisher of a Dance of Death at Augsburg, 1544, + 336. + Dentatus, the large cut of the death of, engraved by W. Harvey, 528; + specimens of it, 601, 609. + Derschau, the Baron Von, his collection of old wood blocks, 93, 226; + his character, 236 _n_. + Desroches, M. ascribes the invention of printing to “Vedelare + Lodewyc,” 119. + Deutsch, N. E. 314. + Dickes, W. draughtsman, 599*. + Dinkel, Joseph, draughtsman, 593*. + Doctrinale gette en mole, 122. + Dodd, Daniel and John, wood engravers, 544. + Dodgson, G. painter, 598*. + Dolce, Ludovico, his Transformationi, a paraphrase of Ovid’s + Metamorphoses, 394. + Dominicals, stamped on paper, 120. + Dominotiers, 45. + Donatus, a grammatical treatise so called, printed from wood blocks, + 117; + one supposed to have been _stamped_, 1340, 121; + idea of typography perhaps suggested by such a work, 123. + Douce, Francis, his opinion about the name Machabre, 325; + his list of books containing figures of a Dance of Death, 328; + his edition of the Dance of Death, 1833, 338; + denies that the cuts in the Lyons edition were designed by + Holbein, 346; + but believes, on the authority of an unknown writer, named + Piccard, that Holbein painted a Dance of Death in the old + palace at Whitehall, 360. + Dovaston’s account of Bewick, 478 _n_. + Doyle, R. artist. 578*, 579*. + Drawings, of a Dance of Death, supposed to be originals, by Holbein, + 357; + by Robert Johnson, purchased of Beilby and Bewick, by the Earl of + Bute, 517; + on wood, mode of preparing the block for, 570; + for wood engraving, difficulty of obtaining good, 592. + Drytzehn, Andrew, a partner of Gutemberg’s, 126. + Duncan, Edward, artist, 583*. + Dünne, Hans, work done by him for Gutemberg, on account of printing, + previous to 1438, 129. + Durer, Albert, placed as pupil under Michael Wolgemuth, 238; + earliest known copper-plate of his engraving, 1494, 239; + his illustrations of the Apocalypse, _ib._; + his visit to Venice, 241; + his illustrations of the History of the Virgin, 243-246; + of Christ’s Passion, 246-250; + triumphal car, 255; + triumphal arch, _ib._; + his earliest etchings, 257; + specimen of his carving in the British Museum, 258; + his poetry, 260 _n_; + his visit to Flanders, 260-270; + his portrait, 272; + lock of his hair preserved, 321 _n_; + his death, said to have been hastened through his wife’s bad + temper, 239, 273. + Dyas, E. a self-taught wood engraver, 463 _n_. + Dyers of Ovingham, 501. + + + E. + + Edmonston, S. draughtsman, 599*. + Egyptian brick stamp, 5, 6. + Electro-printing block process, specimen of, 639. + Electrotyping, 638. + Elizabeth, Queen, portrait of, in Archbishop Parker’s Bible, 1568, + 419; + in her Prayer-Book, 427, 428. + Emblems of Mortality, with cuts, engraved by John Bewick, 1789, 329, + 513. + Emblems, Religious, with wood-cuts, 1808, 520. + English book, the earliest, that contains wood-cuts, 191-194. + Engraving, the word explained, 1; + copper-plate, 20, 200, 419. + Enschedius, J., specimen of typography discovered by him, 161. + Entkrist, Der, an old block-book, 1. + Erasmus, portrait of, painted by Durer, 263; + invoked by Durer to exert himself in behalf of the Reformation, + 267; + his worldly wisdom displayed in his letter introducing Holbein to + Aegidius, 375; + his Ship of Fools, with cuts by Seb. Brandt, 468. + Etching, the process of, explained, 258 _n_; + in metallic relief, 632. + Evans, Edmund, wood engraver, 556, 567*. + Eve, creation of, conventional mode of representing, 215, 216. + Evelyn’s Sculptura, 5, 408. + Eyck, Hubert and J. van, paintings by them, 265. + + + F. + + Fables, book of, printed at Bamberg, 1461, 171; + Æsop’s, 1722, 448; + Select, with cuts, by Bewick, 1818, 502-506. + Fairholt, F. W. artist, 592*. + Falconer’s Shipwreck, 1808, with cuts by Clennell, 522. + Fanti, Sigismond, his Triompho di Fortuna, Venice, 1527, 315. + Fantuzzi, Antonio, called also Antonio da Trente, engraver of + chiaro-scuros, 389. + Fasciculus Temporum, with wood-cuts, 1474, 190. + Faust, John, becomes a partner of Gutemberg, 131; + sues him for money advanced, 133; + gains the cause, 134. + Faust and Scheffer’s Psalter of 1457, 164. + Fellowship, or Guild of St. Luke, at Antwerp, 121. + Figures du Nouveau Testament, 402. + Flaxman’s Lectures, print of the creation of Eve in, 217; + cut from his relief, “Deliver us from evil,” 577*; + his opinion of expressionand sentiment in art, 585; + cut from a design by, 590. + Folkard, W. A. wood engraver, 544, 564*. + Forma, a shape or mould, 42. + Formschneider, 19, 43, 44, 410. + Foster, Birket, artist, 551, 556-558, 570*, 571*. + Fournier, P. S. his discoveries with respect to the Speculum + Salvationis, 101; + his opinion of wooden types, 136; + his works, 467-469. + Fox’s, John, Acts and Monuments, 428. + Fracture, 283 _n_. + Franklin, John, draughtsman, 599*. + Frellon, John and Francis, publishers of the second edition of the + Lyons Dance of Death, 366. + French wood-cuts, 610. + Frey, Agnes, the wife of Durer, her avarice and ill-temper said to + have hastened her husband’s death, 273. + Frith, W. P. painter, 59. + + + G. + + Gænsfleisch, a surname of the family of Gutemberg, 124. + Galenus de Temperamentis, with a title-page, engraved on copper, + printed at Cambridge, 1521, 421. + Galius, Nicholas, tells the story of Coster’s invention to + H. Junius, 150. + Gamperlin, Von, cuts ascribed to, 314. + Garfagninus, Joseph Porta, 390. + Gebhard, L. A. his notice of the History of the Council of + Constance, with cuts of arms, 189. + Gemini, Thomas, his Compendium of Anatomy, with copper-plate + engravings, London, 1545, 422. + Gent, Thomas, wood-cuts in his History of Ripon, 181. + George IV. his signature stamped, 14; + his snuff-box, with designs by Flaxman, 590. + Gesner, Conrad, expressly mentions the cuts in the Lyons Dance of + Death, as having been designed by Holbein, 364. + Ghesquiere, M. his answer to M. Desroches, 120. + Gilbert, John, artist, 561*, 563*, 564*. + Gilpin, Rev. William, his definition of tint, 213. + Giolito, Gabriel, printer, of Venice, 394. + Giraffe, wood-cut of a, in Breydenbach’s Travels, 1486, 269. + Glasses, observations on the use of, 573. + Globe, glass, the engraver’s, to concentrate the light of the lamp, + 575. + Glockendon, George, an early German wood engraver, 227. + Glockenton, A. cuts ascribed to, 317. + Goethe, allusion to Sir Theurdank, in his Götz Von Berlichingen, + 281 _n_. + Golden Legend, printed by W. de Worde, 1493, large cut in, 195. + Goldsmith and Parnell’s Poems, printed by Bulmer, 513. + Goltzius, Henry, chiaro-scuros by, 432. + Goltzius, Hubert, his portraits of the Roman Emperors in + chiaro-scuro, from plates of metal, 1557, 405. + Goodall, E. painter, 598*. + Goodall, W. draughtsman, 599*. + Goose, Bernacle or Barnacle, said to be produced from a tree, 414. + Gorway, Charles, wood engraver, 544, 600*. + Gospels of Ulphilas, 44. + Gothic monograms, 15. + Graff, Rose, 313, 314. + Grand-duc de l’armée céleste, 173. + Grant, W. J. painter, 598*. + Gratture, the French term for the process of thickening the lines in + a wood-cut by scraping them down, 464. + Gravers, 574, 575. + Gray, Charles, wood-engraver, 544. + Green, W. T. wood-engraver, 544, 547, 548. + Greenaway, J. wood-engraver, 553-555. + Greff, Jerome, publisher of a pirated edition of Durer’s + Illustrations of the Apocalypse, 241. + Greffier and Scrivener, 2 _n_. + Gregson, Mr. C., letter to, from Bewick, 474, 479. + Gringonneur, Jacquemin, cards painted by, 41. + Gritner, a French wood-engraver, 547. + Grotesque, 9 _n_. + Grün, H. B. 320. + Gubitz, a modern German wood-engraver, 546. + Guicciardini, L. mentions the report of printing having been + invented at Harlem, 146. + Gutemberg, John, his birth, 124; + residing at Strasburg in 1434, 125; + his partnership with Andrew Drytzehn, _ib._; + evidences of his having a _press_ in 1438, for the purpose of + printing, 127; + his return to Mentz and partnership with Faust, 131; + partnership dissolved, 133; + proofs of his having afterwards had a press of his own, 140; + his death and epitaph, 144. + + + H. + + Hahn, Ulric, Meditationes J. de Turrecremata, printed by, in 1467, + 184. + Hammond, --, wood-engraver, 600*. + Hancock, Charles, his patent for engraving in metallic relief, 635. + Handgun, figure of one seen in cut in Valturius, de Re Militari, + 1472, 187. + Hans, Young, Briefmaler, 116, 225. + Harral, Horace, wood-engraver, 566*, 583*, 594*. + Harrington, Sir John, his translation of Ariosto, with copper-plate + engravings, 1591, 423. + Hartlieb, Dr. Cyromantia, 116. + Harvey, William, a pupil of Bewick, notice of his works as an + engraver and designer, 527-534. + Hawkins, John Sidney, editor of Emblems of Mortality, 1789, 329. + Hawkins, Sir John, wood-cuts in his History of Music, 1776, 471. + Haydock, R. his translation of Lomazzo, with copper-plate engraving, + 1598, 423. + Head of Paris, the lover of Helen, serves for that of Thales, Dante, + and others, 212. + Hegner, Ulrich, author of Life of Holbein, his notice of the Dance + of Death, at Basle, 326; + of the German names in proof impressions of the cuts in the Lyons + Dance of Death, 331; + of Hans Lutzelburger, 351; + his Life of Holbein, 372. + Heilman, Anthony, his evidence in the suit of the Drytzehns against + Gutemberg, 1438, 128. + Heineken, Charles, Baron Von, his disbelief of Papillon’s story of + the Cunio, 27; + his opinion that cards were invented in Germany, 40; + his notice of the old wood-cut of St. Christopher, 46; + of the History of the Virgin, 68; + of the Apocalypse, 80; + of the Poor Preacher’s Bible, 82, 94; + of the Speculum Salvationis, 100; + his erroneous account of a Dutch wood-cut, by _Phillery_ [Willem] + de figuersnider, 309. + Helgen, or Helglein, figures of Saints, 45. + Henderson, Dr. his History of Wines, with Illustrations, by + W. Harvey, 530. + Henry VIII. his signature stamped, 14. + Heures a l’Usaige de Chartres, printed by S. Vostre, 1502, 232. + Hicks, G. E. painter, 598*. + Hieroglyphic sonnet, 396; + Bible, 478. + Highland Society, diploma of, 523. + Historiarum Veteris Testamenti Icones, or Bible-cuts, designed by + Holbein, 365-371. + Histories, the Four, dated 1462, 172-175. + History of the Virgin, an ancient block-book, 68-80. + Hodgson, Solomon, printer of the first four editions of Bewick’s + Quadrupeds, 488. + Hodgson, T. the engraver of a cut in Sir John Hawkins’s History of + Music, 1776, 471. + Hogarth, cut from projected edition of, 544; + sketch from, 594. + Hogenberg, R. portrait of Archbishop Parker engraved by, 1572, 422. + Holbein, Hans, the designer of the cuts in the Dance of Death + printed at Lyons, 371; + his birth, _ib._; + his marriage, 372; + how employed at Basle, 373; + visits England, _ib._; + revisits Basle, 376; + his death, 378; + his satirical drawings, 378 _n_; + his Alphabet, 352. + Hole, Henry, a pupil of Bewick, 492 _n_. + Holl, Leonard, printer of Ulm, his edition of Ptolemy, 1483, 199. + Hollar, W. his etchings of the Dance of Death, 337. + Holzschneider, 2. + Horace, his well-stored wine, 9. + Horne, Rev. T. H. probably incorrect with respect to a date, 60. + Horsley, J. C. artist, 591*, 598*. + Hortus Sanitatis, 1491, 210. + Householder, the Good, 438. + Howel’s Medulla Historiæ Anglicanæ, with wood-cuts, 1712, 446. + Hughes, Hugh, his Beauties of Cambria, 538-548. + Hughes, William, wood-engraver, 538. + Hudibras, 1819, cut from, 543. + Hulme, F. W. draughtsman, 599*. + Humanæ Vitæ Imago, 436 _n_. + Humphreys, Noel, draughtsman, 599*. + Hunt, W. Holman, painter, 598*. + Hunting and Hawking, Book of, printed at St. Alban’s, 1486, and at + Westminster in 1496, 195. + Hutton’s Mensuration, with diagrams engraved by Bewick, 1768-1770, + 475. + Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, 218, 220, 224. + + + I. + + Images of the Old Testament, with cuts, designed by Holbein, + 365-370. + Impressions from wood and from copper, the difference in the mode of + taking, 4. + Initial letters, flowered, 191, 429. + Insanity of engravers, 458 _n_. + Inscriptions on bells, 20. + Intaglio engraving on wood, so that the outlines appear white upon + black, 225, 482, 618, 619. + + + J. + + Jackson, John, wood-engraver, 545. + Jackson, John Baptist, an English wood engraver, perhaps a pupil of + Kirkall, 453; + Papillon’s notice of him, 454; + engraves several chiaro-scuros at Venice, 455; + establishes a manufactory for paper-hangings at Battersea, and + publishes an essay on chiaro-scuro engraving, 455-457. + Jackson, John, 545. + Jackson, Mason, wood-engraver, 589*, 600*. + Jacob blessing the children of Joseph, 596, 597. + Janszoon, Lawrence, supposed to be the same person as Lawrence + Coster, 162. + Javelin-headed characters, 7. + Jean-le-Robert, his Journal, 122. + Jegher, Christopher, wood engravings by, from drawings by Rubens, + 437. + Jettons, or counters, 19. + Jewitt, Orlando, draughtsman and wood-engraver, 584*-587*. + John, St. old wood-cuts of, 60. + Johnson, John, a pupil of Bewick, 517 _n_. + Johnson, Robert, a pupil of Bewick’s, list of tail-pieces in the + British Birds designed by, 497; + notice of his life, 516. + Jones, Owen, draughtsman, 599*. + Journal, Albert Durer’s, of his visit to Flanders, 260. + Judith, with the head of Holofernes, 440. + Junius, Hadrian, claims the invention of printing for Lawrence + Coster, 147-150. + + + K. + + Kartenmachers in Germany, in the fifteenth century, 43. + Keene, Charles, draughtsman, 599*. + Killing the black, a technical term in wood engraving, explained, + 232. + Kirchner, --, wood-engraver, 563*. + Kirkall, E. copper-plate frontispiece to Howel’s Medulla Historiæ + Anglicanæ, engraved by, 1712, 447; + chiaro-scuros engraved by, 451; + copper-plates engraved by, in Rowe’s translation of Lucan’s + Pharsalia, and other works, 452. + Klauber, H. H., repainted the Dance of Death in the church-court of + the Dominicans, at Basle, 327. + Knight, R. Payne, his bequest of a piece of sculpture, by A. Durer, + to the British Museum, 258. + Knight, C. his patent illuminated prints and maps, 630. + Koburger, Anthony, printer of the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493, 212. + Koning, J. a modern advocate of Coster’s invention, 154. + Krismer, librarian of the Convent of Buxheim, 49 _n_. + Kunig, der Weiss, the title of a work, with wood-cuts, chiefly + written by the Emperor Maximilian, 286, 483; + summary of its contents, _ib._ + Kupfer-stecher, 2. + Küttner, K. G. his opinion of Sir Theurdank, 282. + Kyloe Ox, by Bewick, 485 _n_. + + + L. + + Ladenspelder, Hans, 355. + Laer, W. Rolewinck de, his Fasciculus Temporum, with wood-cuts, + 1474, 190. + Lamp, the engraver’s, 575. + Landells, Ebenezer, wood-engraver, 544. + Landseer, Mr. Edwin, on vignettes, 615. + Landseer, Mr. John, his theory of vegetable putties, 72; + his observations on the term colour, as applied to engravings, + 213. + Laocoon, burlesque of the, by Titian, 435. + Lapis, Dominico de, printer of Bologna, his edition of Ptolemy, with + an erroneous date, 201. + Lar, the word on a Roman stamp, 8. + Lawless, M. J. draughtsman, 599*. + Lee, James, wood-engraver, 593*. + Lee, John, wood-engraver, 534. + Leech, John, artist, 580*, 581*. + Leglenweiss, the word explained, 44. + Legrand, J. G. his translation of the Hypnerotomachia, 219. + Lehne, F. his observations on a passage in the Cologne Chronicle, + 122 _n_; + his Chronology of the Harlem Fiction, 155; + his remarks on Koning, 157. + Leicester, Robert Earl of, his portrait in Archbishop Parker’s + edition of the Bible, 1568, 419. + Leighton, John, artist, 582*. + Leighton, Henry, wood-engraver, 582*. + Le Jeune, H. painter, 598*. + Leland, John, his Næniæ, 1542, contains a portrait, engraved on + wood, of Sir Thomas Wyatt, 379. + Le Sueurs, French wood-engravers, 443, 467. + Letania Lauretana, with wood-cuts, Valencia, 1768, 469. + Lettere Cifrate, 395. + Leyden, Lucas van, visited by Durer, 269; + his engravings, 308. + Lhuyd, Humphrey, erroneously described by Walpole as an engraver, + 420. + Libripagus, a definition of the word, by Paul of Prague, 182. + Lignamine, P. de, in his Chronicle, 1474, mentions Gutemberg and + Faust, as printers, at Mentz in 1458, 140. + Linton, W. J. wood-engraver, 544, 590*, 591*. + Lobel and Pena’s Stirpium Adversaria, with copper-plate title-page, + London, 1570, 423. + Lodewyc von Vaelbeke, a fidler, supposed to have been the inventor + of printing, 119. + Logography, 417. + Lorenzo, Nicolo, books containing copper-plates printed by him, + 1477-1481, 202. + Lorich, Melchior, 408. + Loudon’s Arboretum, with cuts printed from casts of etchings, by + Branston, 634. + Loudon, J. wood-engraver, 600*. + Lowering, the practice of, no recent invention, 465. + Lowering, concave, 618. + Lowering, advantages of, 624. + Lowering, complicated, 625. + Lowering, the difference between cylindrical rollers and the common + press, so far as relates to, 640 _n_. + Lucas van Leyden, 308. + Lucchesini, an Italian wood-engraver, about 1770, 469. + Luther, Martin, his cause espoused by Durer, 265; + caricature portraits of, 267. + Lutzelburger, Hans, a wood-engraver, 351. + Lydgate, John, mentions vignettes in his Troy Book, 616. + Lysons, Mr. Samuel, letter from, to Sir George Beaumont, 108. + + + M. + + Mabillon, 14. + Machabre, The Dance of, 325-329. + Maclise, D. artist, 568*, 569*. + Macquoid, T. draughtsman, 599*. + Mair, an engraver, a supposed chiaro-scuro by, 1499, 231. + McIan, R. R. artist, 588*, 590*. + Maittaire’s Latin Classics, wood-cut ornaments in, 1713, 448. + Mallinkrot, his translation of a passage in the Cologne Chronicle, + 123. + Mander, C. Van, ascribes the Lyons Dance of Death to Holbein, 365. + Mantegna, Andrea, wood-cuts of the Hypnerotomachia ascribed to, 219. + Manung, widder die Durken, an early specimen of typography, 138. + Map engraved on wood, specimen of a, 612. + Maps engraved on wood and on copper, the earliest, 199; + names of places in, printed in type, 1511, 203; + printed in colours, 1538, 204; + improvements in engraving, _ib._; + printed in separate pieces, with types, 1776, 205; + improvements in printing, 417; + early, on copper, published in England, 419; + Knight’s patent illuminated, 630. + Marcolini, F. wood-cuts in his Sorti, 1540, 389, 391. + Marks, double, on wood-cuts, 350. + Marshall, J. R. wood engraver, 596*. + Martin, John, artist, 545, 546, 547, 590*. + Martin, J. wood-engraver, 544. + Mary de Medici, her portrait mistaken by Papillon and Fournier for a + specimen of her own engraving on wood, 461. + Masters, little, 320 _n_. + Matsys, Quintin, entertains Durer, 261. + Maude, Thomas, extract from his poem of the School Boy, 473. + Maugerard, M. copy of an early edition of the Bible discovered by, + 139. + Maximilian the First, Emperor of Germany, his triumphal car and + arch, designed by Durer, 255; + the Adventures of Sir Theurdank, the joint composition of himself + and his secretary, 282-285; + works celebrating his actions,--The Wise King, 286; + the Triumphal Procession, 288, 289. + Mazarine Bible, 139 _n_. + Meadows, Kenny, artist, 597*. + Measom, Geo. wood engraver, 575*. + Mechel, Christian von, of Basle, his engravings after Holbein, 350. + Medals, 320. + Meditationes Joannis de Turrecremata, 184. + Meerman, G. his disbelief of the story of Coster’s invention, 154; + and his subsequent attempts to establish its credibility, 155. + Mentelin, John, printer, of Strasburg, formerly an illuminator, 121. + Mentonnière, 465, 574. + Merchants’-marks, 17. + Metallic relief engraving, erroneous statements about, 305; + Blake’s metallic relief engraving, 632; + portrait thus executed by Lizars, 633; + Woone’s, 634; + Schonberg’s, _ib._; + Branston’s, _ib._; + Hancock’s patent, 635; + Sly’s experiments, 636; + Messrs. Best, Andrew, and Leloir, _ib._ + Meydenbach, John, said to have been one of Gutemberg’s assistants, + 166. + Meydenbach, Jacobus, printer of the Hortus Sanitatis, 1491, 210. + Millais, J. E. painter, 598*. + Mints, provincial, for coining money, 19. + Mirror of Human Salvation, 95. + Mirror of the World, printed by Caxton, 194. + Missale Herbipolense, with a copper-plate engraving, 1481, 201. + Moffet’s Theatre of Insects, 442. + Monogram, 13, 15. + Montagna, Benedetto, wood-cuts of the Hypnerotomachia ascribed to + him, 220. + Monte Sancto di Dio, an early book, containing copper-plates, 1477, + 202. + Monumental brasses, 21. + More, Sir Thomas, 375. + Morgan, M. S. draughtsman, 599*. + Morland, sketch from, 592. + Mort, les Simulachres de la, Lyons, 1538, 328. + Mosses, Thomas, wood engraver, 544. + Mulready, W. painter, 598*. + Munster, Sebastian, his Cosmography, 413; + his letters to Joachim Vadianus about an improvement in the mode + of printing maps, 417. + Murr, C. G. Von, references to his Journal of Art, and other works, + 2, 9, 42, 47, 49, 51, 56, 74, 227, 236, 237, 241, 242, 257, 260, + 262, 264, 267, 273, 281, 283, 289, 291. + + + N. + + Names of wood engravers at the back of the original blocks of the + Triumphs of Maximilian, 292. + Naming of John the Baptist, a piece of sculpture by A. Durer, 259. + Nash, J. painter, 599*. + Nesbit, Charlton, a pupil of Bewick, notice of some of his principal + cuts, 519-521. + Neudörffer, his account of Jerome Resch, a wood engraver, + contemporary with Durer, 236. + Nicholson, Isaac, a pupil of Bewick, 527. + Northcote, James, his mode of composing the cuttings for his Fables, + 529 _n_. + Notarial stamps, 17. + Nummi bracteati, 16. + Nuremberg Chronicle, 212. + + + O. + + Oberlin, J. J. Essai d’Annales de la Vie de Gutenberg, 125, 130, + 136, 138, 140, 143. + Odes, two, by Lloyd and Colman, with wood-cuts, 1760, 470. + Ortelius, Abraham, his collection of maps, engraved on copper, 1570, + 419. + Ortus Sanitatis, 211. + Ottley, W. Y. adopts Papillon’s story of the Cunio, 419; + his advocacy of Coster’s pretensions, 160; + ascribes the introduction of cross-hatching to M. Wolgemuth, 239; + and the designs of the cuts in the Hypnerotomachia to Benedetto + Montagna, 220. + Outline, in wood engraving, the difference between the white and the + true, 587; + engravings in, 590. + Overlaying wood-cuts, mode of, 613, 645. + Ovid’s Metamorphoses, printed at Venice, 1497, 217. + Ovingham, the parsonage at, 473; + the church, 512. + Oxford Sausage, with wood-cuts, 1764, 470. + + + P. + + Packhouse’s machine for tints, 584 _n_. + Palatino, G. B. his work on Penmanship, 395. + Palmer, W. J. wood-engraver, 557. + Paper, proper for printing wood-cuts, 646; + India paper, injurious to wood-cuts, _ib._ + Paper-mark in an old book of wood-cuts, 107. + Paper money, early, 25 _n_. + Papillon, John, the elder, 443. + Papillon, John Michael, his story of the Cunio, 26; + his character, 35; + notice of his works, 457-467. + Parafe, or ruche, 14. + Parker, Archbishop, his portrait, engraved by R. Hogenberg, 1572, + 422. + Parkinson’s Paradisus Terrestris, 442. + Parmegiano, chiaro-scuros after his designs, 403. + Pasti, Matteo, supposed to have designed the cuts in Valturius de Re + Militari, 1472, 186. + Patin’s Life of Holbein, 372. + Patroner, the word explained, 330 _n_. + Paul of Prague, his definition of “libripagus,” 182. + Pearson, G. wood engraver, 573*, 574*. + Pepyr, Edmund, his mark, 18. + Peringskiold, 14. + Petit-Jehan de Saintré, Chronicle of, 41. + Petrarch’s Sonnets, Lyons, 1545, cuts in, 400. + Petronius, 8, 15. + Pfintzing, Melchior, joint author of Sir Theurdank, 282. + Pfister, Albert, works printed by, at Bamberg in 1461 and 1462, 170, + 181. + Phillery, properly Willem, de figursnider, mistakes about a cut of + his engraving, 310. + Phiz (H. K. Browne), draughtsman, 599*. + Piccard, T. Nieuhoff, an unknown discoverer of a painting of the + Dance of Death, by Holbein, 360, 363. + Pickersgill, F. R. painter, 599*. + Pictura, a wood-cut sometimes called, 357. + Pilgrim, John Ulric, cuts ascribed to, 317. + Pinkerton, John, his statement that several of the cuts in Bewick’s + Quadrupeds were drawn on the block by R. Johnson, 491 _n_. + Pinx. et Scalp. not to be found on early wood-cuts, 35. + Pirkheimer, Bilibald, letters written to him by Albert Durer, 242; + his letter to J. Tscherte, announcing Durer’s death, 273. + Pittacia, small labels, 8 _n_. + Playing cards, 40. + Plebanus, a curate or vicar, 61 _n_. + Pleydenwurff, William, with M. Wolgemuth, superintends the cuts of + the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1491, 212. + Ploughman, Pierce, his Creed, 18. + Plug, mode of inserting in an engraved wood-block, 549. + Poetry, specimen of Durer’s, 260; + specimens of Clennell’s, when insane, 526. + Poliphili Hypnerotomachia, 218, 220, 224. + Polo, Marco, 25. + Poor Preacher’s Bible, 80-94, 175-179. + Portraits of Bewick, list of the principal, 509. + Powis, W. H. wood engraver, 544. + Prayer-book, Queen Elizabeth’s, 1569, 427. + Prenters of Antwerp in 1442, 121. + Press made for Gutemberg previous to 1438, 127. + Press, rolling, for copper-plate printing, 4. + Press, steam, wood-cuts printed by, 644. + Preusch, his attempt to print maps by a typometric process, 205. + Printing, Gutemberg occupied with the invention of, in 1436, 127. + Printing in colours, a figure of Christ, with the date 1543, 403; + Savage’s decorative printing, 629; + G. Baxter’s improvements, 629; + C. Knight’s patent illuminated prints and maps, 630. + Printing wood-cuts, best mode of, 640. + Priority of editions of the Speculum Salvationis, 100. + Procession, triumphal, of Maximilian, 288, 289. + Procopius, 13. + Proofs of wood engravings, mode of unfairly taking, 466, 603. + Prout, J. S. draughtsman, 599*. + Psalter, printed by Faust and Scheffer in 1457, 164. + Ptolemy’s Cosmography, with maps, engraved on wood, 1483, 199; + an edition printed by Dominico de Lapis, at Bologna, 201; + at Venice, by J. Pentius de Leucho, 1511, 203. + + + Q. + + Quadrin’s Historiques de la Bible, 402. + Quadrupeds, History of, with cuts, by Bewick, 1791, 482-490. + Queen Elizabeth’s Prayer-book, 427. + Quintilian, his notice of the manner of boys learning to write by + tracing the letters through a stencil, 12. + + + R. + + Raffaele, designs for the wood-cuts of the Hypnerotomachia ascribed + to him, 219; + a wood-cut after a drawing by, in Marcolini’s Sorti, 389. + Rahmenschneiders, or border-cutters, 190, 319. + Raidel, his Dissertation on an edition of Ptolemy, 201; + dates, erroneous in books, _ib._ + Raimbach, Abraham, his engraving of the Rent-day, after Sir + D. Wilkie, 213. + Randell, a printer’s apprentice, wood-cuts by, 180. + Raynalde’s Birth of Mankind, with three copper-plate engravings, + 1540, 421. + Read, S. draughtsman, 599*. + Rebus, or “name devises,” 398. + Redgrave, R. painter, 599*. + Relief, metallic, engraving in, erroneous statements about, 305; + practised by Blake and others, 632-636. + Rembrandt, cuts copied from etchings by, 595, 599, 602, 605. + Renaudot, l’Abbé, 24. + Rent-day, engraving of a group from, after Sir D. Wilkie, 593. + Repairing wood-cuts, 569 _n_. + Reperdius, George, a painter praised by Nicholas Bourbon, 356. + Requeno’s Chirotipografia, 44 _n_. + Revelationes Cœlestes sanctæ Brigittæ de Suecia, 321. + Reynolds, Nicholas, an English engraver on copper, 1575, 420. + Reyser, George, printer of the Missale Herbipolense, 1481, 202. + Roberts, David, painter, 599*. + Robin Hood’s Garland, with wood-cut on the title-page, 1670, 444, + 445. + Rocca, Angelus, mentions a Donatus on parchment, 123 _n_. + Rogers, Harry, draughtsman, 599*. + Rogers, William, an English copper-plate engraver, about 1600, 423. + Rolling-press, 4. + Rollers, composition, not so good as composition balls for inking + certain kinds of wood-cuts, 650. + Roman stamps, 8, 10. + Rotundity, how indicated by straight lines, 584. + Rouen Cathedral, 611. + Rubbing down, 389. + Rubens. P. P. his praise of the cuts in the Lyons Dance of Death, + designed by Holbein, 365; + wood engravings from his designs, 438, 439. + Ruche, or parafe, 14. + Runic cyphers and monograms, 15. + Ryther, Augustine, an English engraver on copper, 1575, 420. + + + S. + + Sachs, Hans, his descriptions of cuts designed by Jost Amman, 408. + Salmincio, Andrea, wood-cuts ascribed to, 441. + Sandbag and block, 575. + Sandrart, J. his notice of the Dance of Death, with cuts designed by + Holbein, 365. + Saspach, Conrad, his evidence in the Drytzehns’ suit against + Gutemberg, 1438, 128. + Savage, W. chiaro-scuros in his hints on Decorative Printing, 629; + his opinion as to the best mode of working a form containing + wood-cuts, 647. + Saxton, Christopher, his collection of English County Maps, engraved + on copper, 1573-1579, 420. + Schapf, George, an early wood engraver, 142, 228. + Schäufflein, Hans, painter, generally supposed to have engraved on + wood, 281, 283, 284, 285, 287. + Schedel, Hartman, compiler of the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493, 212. + Scheffer, Peter, a partner of Gutemberg and Faust, 132; + mentioned by Faust as his servant, 133; + a clerk, or copyist of books, 167. + Schelhorn’s Amœnitates, 113. + Schœpflin, Vindiciæ Typographicæ, 125, 132. + Schön, Martin, 74, 238. + Schön, Erhard, 406. + Schonberg, Mr. his attempts to engrave in metallic relief, 634. + Schönsperger, Hans, the printer of Sir Theurdank, 282. + Schopper, Hartman, verses by, in a book of trades and professions, + 409. + Schoting of Nuremberg, a cut thus inscribed, the date 1584, mistaken + for 1384, 59. + Schultheis, Hans, his evidence in the Drytzehns’ suit against + Gutemberg, 1438, 127. + Schussler, John, a printer of Augsburg, 180. + Schwartz, J. G. Documenta de Origine Typographiæ, 124, 133, 134, + 142. + Scopoli, mistakes Mr. B. White’s sign for the name of his partner, + 313. + Scott, T. D. draughtsman, 599*. + Scrive, a tool to mark timber with, 2. + Scrivener and Greffier, 2 _n_. + Scriverius, his account of Coster’s invention, 151 _n_. + Seals, engraved, 20. + Sebastian, St. account of an old wood-cut of, 55. + Selous, H. C. painter, 599*. + Shade for the eyes, 575. + Shaw, Henry, draughtsman, 599*. + Shields of arms in the block-book called The Apocalypse, 65; + in the History of the Virgin, 75, 76, 77, 78. + Sichem, Cornelius van, wood engraver, 439. + Silberrad, Dr. old wood-cuts in the possession of, 227. + Simulachres et Historiées Faces de la Mort, Lyons, 1538, 328. + Singer’s Researches on the History of Playing Cards, 9; + his unacknowledged obligations to Breitkopf, 10. + Skelton, Percival, 550, 569*. + Skippe, John, chiaro-scuros engraved by, 628. + Slader, Samuel, wood engraver, 544. + Sly, Stephen, his experiments in metallic relief, 636. + Smith, John Orrin, wood engraver, 544. + Smith, Orrin. wood engraver, 580*. + Smyth, F. G. wood-engraver, 600*. + Snuff-box, George the Fourth’s, with designs, by Flaxman, 590. + Solis, Virgil, 406. + Solomon, song of, illustrations, 71, 72. + Solomon, A. painter, 599*. + Solomon, Bernard, of Lyons, 398-401, 407. + Somervile’s Chase, with cuts, designed by John Bewick, 513. + Sonetto figurato, 395-397. + Sorg, Anthony, of Augsburg, account of the Council of Constance, + with wood-cuts, printed by him in 1483, 189. + Sorti, Marcolini’s, a work containing wood-cuts, 389-393. + Southey, Robert, his notice of two odes by Lloyd and Colman, with + wood-cuts, 470. + Spanish marks, 15. + Specklin, D. mentions wooden types, 131. + Speculum Nostræ Salutis, 149. + Speculum Salvationis, a misnamed block-book, 95-106; + cuts from, 96, 97, 98. + Speed’s History of Britain, 442. + Sporer, Hans, an old briefmaler, 43. + Springinklee, Hans, 287, 320. + Stabius, J. his description of the triumphal arch of Maximilian, + 256. + Stamham, Melchior de, Abbot of St. Ulric and Afra, at Augsburg, + printing-presses bought by him, 165 _n_. + Stampien, to stamp with the foot as a fiddler beats time, mistaken + for printing, 120. + Stamping of letters in manuscripts, 44. + Stampilla, 14. + Stamps, Roman, 8; + notarial, 17. + Stanfield, Clarkson, R.A. 570*. + Steiner, J. M. his notice of a book printed at Bamberg in 1462, 170. + Stencilling, 12, 40 _n_. + Stephenson, James, draughtsman, 599*. + Stereotype, early, 418; + modern, 636. + Stigmata, 12. + Stimmer, Christopher, and Tobias, 413. + Stocks, Lumb, draughtsman, 599*. + Stoke-field, knights and bannerets created after the battle of, 191. + Stonehouse, artist, 591*. + Stothard, Thomas, R.A. his Illustrations of Rogers’s Poems, 1812, + engraved on wood, 524. + Strephon’s Revenge, 1724, copy of a tail-piece in, 453. + Sueur, le, Peter and Vincent, 443; + Nicholas, 467. + Sulman, T. draughtsman, 599*. + Swain, John, wood engraver, 579*, 581*. + Swain, Joseph, wood-engraver, 600*. + Swedish coins, 15. + Sweynheim, Conrad, printer, the first that devised maps engraved on + copper, 200. + Switzer, cuts engraved by, 442. + Sylvius, Æneas, his account of the Barnacle or Tree goose, 415. + + + T. + + Tail-pieces in Bewick’s Quadrupeds, 486. + Tell, William, 416, 417. + Temple, W. W. a pupil of Bewick, 527. + Tenniel, John, artist, 559, 560. + Terms, abstract, derived from names expressive of tangible and + visible things, 214. + Terra-cottas, called Typi, 7. + Testament, Figures du Nouveau, 402. + Theodoric, his monogram, 13. + Ther-Hoernen, Arnold, prints at Cologne an edition of the Fasciculus + Temporum, with wood-cuts, 1474, 190. + Theurdank, the Adventures of, an allegorical poem, by the Emperor + Maximilian and his Secretary, 281; + the text erroneously supposed to have been engraved on wood, 283. + Thomas, G. H. artist, 565*-567*. + Thomas, W. L. wood engraver, 565*, 568*. + Thompson, Charles, wood engraver, 541 _n_. + Thompson, Eliza, wood engraver, 541 _n_. + Thompson, John, wood engraver, a pupil of R. Branston, notice of + some of his principal cuts, 541, 569*. + Thurston, John, designer on wood, 519 _n_. + Tindale, William, cuts in his translation of the New Testament, + 1534, 383-385. + Tinsel money, 16. + Tints, mode of cutting, 577-581. + Tint-tools, 577. + Titian, wood-cuts after, 433, 435. + Tools, wood engravers’, 576-530. + Topham, F. W. draughtsman, 599*. + Topsell’s History of Four-footed Beasts, 442. + Tract printed by A. Pfister, at Bamberg, 1461, 1462, 170, 181. + Transferring old impressions of wood-cuts, 104 _n_; + old wood-cuts and copper-plates, 637. + Travelling printers, 184. + Tree goose, 414. + Treitzsaurwein. M. Secretary to the Emperor Maximilian, nominal + author of the Weiss Kunig, 286. + Treschel, Melchior and Gaspar, printers of the Lyons Dance of Death, + 1538, with cuts, designed by Hans Holbein, 330. + Trimming, 606. + Triompho di Fortuna, 315-317. + Trithemius, his account of the invention of printing, 131. + Triumphal procession, usually called the Triumphs of Maximilian, + 288-304. + Trusler, Dr. his Progress of Man and Society, with cuts, by John + Bewick, 613. + Turner, Dr. William, his account of the Tree goose, 414. + Turner, the Rev. William, his opinion of cross-hatching, 562. + Turrecremata, J. de, his Meditationes, 184. + Typi, 7. + Typography, invention of, 118; + not a chance discovery, 145. + + + U. + + Ulphilas, Gospels of, 44. + Underlaying wood-cuts, mode of, 645 _n_. + Unger, father and son, German wood engravers, 1779, 403, 483, 545. + Urse Graff, a cut designed by, probably copied by Willem de + Figuersnider, 313; + other cuts with his mark, 314. + + + V. + + Vagabonds and sturdy beggars, 12. + Valcebro, Ferrer de, his notice of the Bernacle or Tree goose, 416. + Valturius, R. de Re Militari, 186. + Vasari, George, claims the invention of chiaro-scuro engraving for + Ugo da Cai, 230. + Vasey, George, wood engraver, 544. + Vaugris, V. printer of a piracy of the Lyons Dance of Death, at + Venice, 1542, 393. + Vecellio, Cesare, his book of Costumes, Venice, 1589, 433. + Vegetable putties, a theory of Mr. J. Landseer, 72. + Veldener, John, printer of an edition of the Speculum Salvationis, + 1483, 106; + one of the earliest printers who introduced ornamental borders + engraved on wood, 191. + Venice, foreign cards prohibited to be brought into the city of, + 1441, 43. + Verona, Johannes de, 186. + Vesalius’s Anatomy, Basle, 1548, erroneously said to contain cuts + designed by Titian, 433. + Vignettes, 615. + Vincentini, J. N. engraver of chiaro-scuros, 389. + Vizetelly, H. wood engraver, 558, 570*, 571*. + Vostre, Simon, Heures printed by him, 232. + + + W. + + Waagen, Dr. G. F. extract from his evidence before the Committee on + Arts and Manufactures, 322. + Walsokne, Adam de, his mark, 18. + Walton’s Angler, cuts of fish in Major’s edition of, 541, 543. + Wand-Kalendars, or sheet almanacks, 1470, 1500, 225. + Ward, James, R.A. cut of a dray-horse from a drawing by, 596. + Warren, H. painter, 599*. + Watson. J. D. draughtsman, 599*. + Watts, S. his engravings, 1703, 471. + Waved lines, 583. + Webster, T. painter, 599*. + Wehnert, G. H. artist, 594*. + Weir, Harrison, artist, 551, 555. + Weiss-Kunig, 286. + West, Benjamin, his design for the diploma of the Highland Society, + 523. + Wethemstede, John, prior of St. Albans, 111. + White, Henry, senior and junior, wood engravers, 544. + White outline, 587, 598. + Whitehall, fictions about a Dance of Death painted by Holbein in the + old palace at, 360-363. + Whiting, Chas. his colour-printing, 630. + Whymper, J. W. wood engraver, 544, 569*. + Wilkie, Sir David, R.A. his sketch for his picture of the Rabbit on + the Wall, 591; + group from his Rent-day, 593; + from his Village Festival, 614. + Willett, R. his opinion of wooden types, 136. + Williams, J. wood engraver, 588*. + Williams, Samuel, artist and wood engraver, 544, 572*. + Williams, Thomas, wood engraver, 544, 547. + Willis, Edward, a pupil of Bewick, 522 _n_. + Wimperis, E. wood-engraver, 600*. + Wimpheling, verses by him, celebrating Gutemberg as the inventor of + printing, 155. + Wirtemberg, Counts of, their arms, 78. + Wolf, J. artist, 573*, 574*. + Wolgemuth, Michael, not the first that introduced cross-hatching in + wood engravings, 239. + Women, engravers on wood, 235. + Wood for the purposes of engraving, several kinds mentioned by + Papillou, 464; + mode of preparing, 562-568. + Wood-cut, the earliest known with a date, 45. + Wood-cuts, largest modern; directions for cleaning, 649. + Wood engravers, early, unfriendly to the progress of typography, + 179. + Wooden types, 131, 136, 137. + Woods, H. N. wood-engraver, 600*. + Wootie, Mr. his patent for engraving in metallic relief, 634. + Worde. W. de, cuts in books printed by him, 196, 198. + Wordsworth, William, his high opinion of Bewick’s talents, 512. + Wright, John, wood engraver, 544. + Wright, W. wood engraver, 554. + Wyatt, Sir Thomas, a wood-cut portrait of, from a drawing, by + Holbein, 379. + Wyburd, F. painter, 599*. + + + Z. + + Zainner, Gunther, of Augsburg, 179; + the Legenda Aurea, with wood-cuts, printed by him, in 1471, 188. + Zainer, John, of Reutlingen, prints at Ulm in 1473, an edition of + Boccacio de Claris Mulieribus, with wood-cuts, 190. + Zani’s arguments in favour of Papillon’s story of the Cunio, 36, 37. + Zerlegen, a word used by German printers to denote the + _distribution_ of the types, occurs in connection with Gutemberg’s + press in 1438, 128. + Zuyren, J. Van, claims the invention of printing for Harlem, 146. + Zwecker, John B. draughtsman, 599*. + + +THE END. + + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY R. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, + BREAD STREET HILL. + + + + +Errors and Inconsistencies (noted by transcriber) + +Inconsistent spellings were only regularized when there was a strong +preponderance; changes are individually noted. The various spellings of +the name now written “Shakespeare” are unchanged, as are the forms +“Albert Durer” and “Gutemberg”. German citations consistently omit the +period (full stop) in references such as “2 Theil”. Other unchanged +forms include: + + cross line : cross-line + figuersnider : figursnider + fore-/back-ground : fore/background + type-founder : typefounder + wood-cut : woodcut + wood-engraver : wood engraver + Schaufflein : Schäufflein + +In the Index, missing or inconsistent punctuation was silently +regularized. + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + life of St. Birinus, of the twelfth century [twelth] + +CHAPTER I + + the loitering cask, (that bears its / date) from [date, from] + [_in the same passage, “Lyde” for expected “Lydus” is in Smart_] + and even allowing him to be sincere [eve nallowing] + explain and dictate to me. + [_text has superfluous close quote_] + which have been alleged in its favour by Mr. Ottley. [Mr Ottley.] + “It is possible,” says Zani, [say] + [Footnote I-39] ... the tale of the Cunio at p. 89, tom. i. [tom i.] + +CHAPTER II + + [Footnote II-2] ... That is: “always excepting + [_open quote missing_] + The term _Formschneider_, which was originally used [Fornschneider] + [Footnote II-7] ... der Spielkarten Zu erforschen, [Zuerforschen] + lustra / cors . apientie + [_printed as shown: probably error for “lustra / tor . sapientie”_] + much better calculated to overthrow.[II-43] [overthrow.”] + “Confute the exciseman and puzzle the vicar,--” + [_close quote missing_] + On these I have nothing to remark further [futher] + not in the belief that I have made any important discovery + [_final t in “important” invisible_] + not so old as either the Apocalypse or the History of the Virgin + [Apocalpyse] + Mulier autem in paradiso est formata [formato] + David with Goliath’s head [Goliah’s] + The title at full length is as follows: “_Ars memorandi + [_open quote missing_] + +CHAPTER III + + (Displaying thus his meikle skill,) [_closing parenthesis missing_] + [Footnote III-2] ... “J’ai rendu _Vedelare_ [rendn] + for in no country are books to be found printed [foe in] + [III-19] [_footnote tag missing: best guess_] + einen spätern tag [spatern] + About a hundred and twenty-eight years ago + [_text has superfluous open quote_] + was printed by Ketelar and Leempt [_spelling unchanged_] + +CHAPTER IV + + [Footnote IV-5] ... written at Paris in 1449 [_a in “at” + invisible_] + printed at the press of Haass the Younger, of Basil + [_spelling unchanged_] + not only in Germany, but in France, Holland, and Switzerland + [France Holland,] + or even any of those cuts were designed by him [hose cuts] + “ΣΥΜΟΙΓΛΥΚΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΙΚΡΟΣ”--“at once sweet and bitter.” + [_printed as shown, matching the illustration; the quotation is + usually given as ΣΥΜΟΙ ΓΛΥΚΥΣ ΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΠΙΚΡΟΣ_] + +CHAPTER V + + necessary to examine the grounds of this opinion. [gronnds] + wood engravings supposed to have been executed by Albert Durer + [excuted] + [Footnote V-12] ... we find the words: “_Gedrukt durch Albrecht + Durer, Maler_,” [_open quote missing_] + [Footnote V-13] ... is called his “wander-jahre,” + [_open quote missing_] + have evidently been supplied by his own country. + [_final . invisible_] + [Footnote V-27] ... between page 730 and page 731. + [_final . missing_] + [Footnote V-30] ... impressus vero per Albertum Durer. Anno + MDXXIII.” + [_close quote missing_] + [Footnote V-35] ... For biting-in on steel, _nitric_ acid is used + [_comma after “steel” invisible_] + Durer proceeded from Nuremberg direct to Bamberg [foom] + [Footnote V-40] ... rather a “humble friend” than a menial servant + [_l in “menial” invisible_] + [Footnote V-45] ... “Am Donnerstage nach Marien Himmelfahrt,” + [Donnnerstage] + [Footnote V-49] ... was a supporter of the doctrines of Luther.” + [_close quote missing_] + [Footnote V-53] ... a letter addressed to “Hernn Frey in Zurich,” + [_spelling unchanged_] + [Footnote V-62] ... “Go! Go! Tell that to a girl who reads Sir + Theurdank, and wishes that she may have such a husband.” + [_text unchanged: correct translation is plural “who read ... + and wish that they...”_] + [Footnote V-67] ... nebst von Hannsen Burgmair dazu verfertigten + Holzschnitten. Herausgeben aus dem Manuscripte der Kaiserl. Königl. + Hofbibliothek ... + [_printed as shown, but real title is ... “nebst den von Hannsen + Burgmair ... Herausgegeben aus dem Manuscripte.”] + About thirty-five chapters, from XV. to L., are chiefly occupied + [to L, are] + [Footnote V-83] “J’ai trouvé dans les Receueils de l’Abbé de + Marolles + [_printed as shown, but source has “Recueils”_] + [Footnote V-90] ... By com̄issyon of Herodes crueltie. [rueltie] + +CHAPTER VI + + 10. _Die Keyserinn._--The Empress. [_anomalous . in original_] + To England straightway let him send, [_n in “send” invisible_] + When Mr. Douce stated that it was [Mr Douce] + It strikingly exemplifies Mr. Douce’s eagerness [Mr Douce’s] + forms the tail-piece at the end of the volume. [tailpiece] + [VI-121] [_footnote tag missing: best guess_] + +CHAPTER VII + + [Illustration: / THOMAS BEWICK] + [_the letters of the name itself are the illustration_] + [Footnote VII-34] ... about five miles north-north-west of + Kirk-Oswald. [_final . missing_] + as much in having _caught_ an ass as in the prospect of a ride. + [_final . missing_] + we are led to suppose that he had been indulging too freely on the + King’s birth-day [on the the] + [Footnote VII-62] ... at Morpeth, named Rastack, or Raistick.” + [_close quote missing_] + [Footnote VII-65] ... under the superintendence of Bewick, who, + after Mr. Beilby’s retirement [Mr Beilby’s] + +CHAPTER VIII + + Mr. Pearson has lately been engaged in engraving Icthyological + subjects [_spelling unchanged_] + Favourite Modern Ballads, Favourite English Poems [Englis] + [Illustrations] SPECIMENS OF ENGRAVING BY ORLANDO JEWITT. ... + LETTERN. [_word is part of engraving_] + MR. CRESWICK, R.A., the distinguished painter [R.A. the] + ANDREWS, G. H. _Figure subjects and Landscapes_; Ministering + Children.--ANSDELL, Richard. _Animals_; Rhymes and Roundelayes.-- + ARMITAGE, Edward. + [ANDREWS G. H. ... ARMITAGE Edward.] + ARCHER, J. W. ... Barry Cornwall’s Poems, Lays of the Holy Land.-- + COLEMAN, Wm. ... Poets of the West.--DICKES, + [Lays of the Holy Land-- ... West--DICKES] + +CHAPTER IX + + [Footnote IX-6] ... where it soon eat up everything + [_text unchanged: probably correct_] + [IX-10] [_footnote tag missing: best guess_] + that the colour would be proportionably stronger [_text unchanged_] + Messrs. Vizetelly, Branston, and Co. [Vizitelly] + by means of a rolling-press, [_comma invisible_] + [IX-38] [_footnote tag missing: best guess_] + +INDEX + + Dante, edition of, with copper-plates, 1482 [copperplates] + Fracture [_printed as shown, but body text has “Fractur”_] + Hieroglyphic ... Bible, 478. [_page reference missing_] + Packhouse’s machine for tints + [_printed and alphabetized as shown, but body text has “Parkhouse”_] + Sandrart, J. [Sandrant] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Treatise on Wood Engraving, by +John Jackson and William Andrew Chatto and Henry G. 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