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padding: .1em;} + +div.correction {font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 88%; +margin: .25em 5%; padding: .5em .75em;} +div.correction p {margin-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;} +div.correction p.continue {margin-top: 0;} + +span.citation {font-size: medium; font-family: serif;} + +/* page number */ +span.pagenum {font-size: small; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; +text-align: right; text-indent: 0;} + +/* Transcriber's Note */ +.mynote {font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 92%;} +div.mynote {margin: 1em 5%; padding: .5em 1em 1em;} +div.mynote a {text-decoration: none;} + +@media print { + .screenstyle {display: none;} + body {margin-left: 2%; margin-right: 2%;} + a {text-decoration: none; color: inherit;} + div.maintext {page-break-before: always;} + div.verse, p.synopsis {page-break-inside: avoid;} + h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {page-break-after: avoid;} + p.caption {page-break-before: avoid;} + span.pagenum {position: static; float: right; width: auto; + margin-right: -10%;} + ins.correction, a.error {background-color: #CCC;} + ins.correction {border-bottom: none;} +} + +@media screen { + span.pagenum {position: absolute; right: 2%;} + .mynote ins.correction, a.error {border-bottom: 1px dotted red;} +} +</style> + +</head> + +<body> +<div class = "mynote"> + +<p class = "center"> +<a href = "WoodEngraving.html">Introduction</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving.html#illus">List of Illustrations</a> (separate +file)</p> + +<p class = "center"> +Chapter I<br> +<a href = "#chap_II">Chapter II</a><br> +<a href = "#chap_III">Chapter III</a><br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving4.html">Chapter IV</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving4.html#chap_V">Chapter V</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving6.html">Chapter VI</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving7.html">Chapter VII</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving8.html">Chapter VIII</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving9.html">Chapter IX</a> (separate file)</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<a href = "WoodEngraving.html#index">Index</a> (separate file)</p> +</div> + +<div class = "titlepage"> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page1" id = "page1"> +1</a></span> +<h2><span class = "smallest">ON</span><br> +WOOD ENGRAVING.</h2> + +</div> + + +<h3><a name = "chap_I" id = "chap_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br> +<span class = "subhead">ANTIQUITY OF ENGRAVING.</span></h3> + +<p class = "synopsis"> +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.</p> + +<div class = "maintext"> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword"><span class = "dropcap"> +<a name = "illus_1" id = "illus_1"><img src = "images/illus_1.png" width += "148" height = "165" alt = "A"></a></span>s</span> +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 <span class = "smallcaps">Engraving</span> 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 <span +class = "smallcaps">Wood Engraving</span>.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page2" id = "page2"> +2</a></span> +the French “<i>engraver</i>.” 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 <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = +"(Greek) graphô">γράφω</span> (<i>grapho</i>, I cut), which, with its +compound <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = "(Greek) epigraphô">ἐπιγράφω</span>, according to Martorelli, as cited by Von +Murr,<a class = "tag" name = "tagI1" id = "tagI1" href = +"#noteI1">I.1</a> 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 +<span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = "(Greek) graphô">γράφω</span> +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 +<span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = "(Greek) graphô">γράφω</span>, +which in its primitive meaning signified “to cut,” became expressive of +writing generally.</p> + +<p>From <span class = "greek" lang = "el" title = "(Greek) graphô">γράφω</span> is derived the Latin <i>scribo</i>,<a class = "tag" +name = "tagI2" id = "tagI2" href = "#noteI2">I.2</a> “I write;” and +it is worthy of observation, that “<i>to scrive</i>,”—most +probably from <i>scribo</i>,—signifies, in our own language, to +cut numerals or other characters on timber with a tool called a +<i>scrive</i>: 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.</p> + +<p>Under the general term <span class = +"smallcaps">Sculpture</span>—the root of which is to be found in +the Latin verb <i>sculpo</i>, “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 <i>sculpture</i> is now more strictly applied, each of those +arts requiring in its process the act of <i>cutting</i> 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 +<i>Bildhauer</i>, from <i>Bild</i>, a statue, and <i>hauen</i>, to hew, +indicating the operation of cutting with a mallet and chisel; the +copper-plate engraver is called a <i>Kupfer-stecher</i>, from +<i>Kupfer</i>, copper, and <i>stechen</i>, to dig or cut with the point; +and the wood engraver is a <i>Holzschneider</i>, from <i>Holz</i>, wood, +and <i>schneiden</i>, to cut with the edge.</p> + +<p>It is to be observed, that though both the copper-plate engraver and +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page3" id = "page3"> +3</a></span> +the wood engraver may be said to <i>cut</i> in a certain sense, as well +as the sculptor and the carver, they have to execute their work +<i>reversed</i>,—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 <i>direct</i>.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Engraving</span>, 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.”</p> + +<p>The impressions obtained from engraved <i>plates</i> of metal or from +<i>blocks</i> of wood are commonly called engravings, and sometimes +prints. Formerly the word <i>cuts</i><a class = "tag" name = "tagI3" id += "tagI3" href = "#noteI3">I.3</a> 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 <i>plates</i>; 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 <i>most +charming plates</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page4" id = "page4"> +4</a></span> +the rolling or copper-plate printer’s press; and the impression is +obtained by the paper being pressed <i>into</i> the inked incisions.</p> + +<p>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, +<i>intagliate</i> 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 <i>chase</i> 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 <i>tympan</i>, it is then run in +under the <i>platen</i>; which being acted on by the lever, presses the +paper <i>on to</i> the raised lines of the block, and thus produces the +impression. Impressions from wood are thus obtained by the +<i>on-pression</i> of the paper against the raised or prominent lines; +while impressions from copper-plates are obtained by the +<i>in-pression</i> 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.</p> + +<div class = "picture"> +<div class = "picblock w200"> +<p><a name = "illus_4a" id = "illus_4a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_4a.png" width = "187" height = "160" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +PRINTED FROM A WOOD-BLOCK.</p> +</div> + +<div class = "picblock w200"> +<p><a name = "illus_4b" id = "illus_4b"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_4b.png" width = "198" height = "179" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +PRINTED FROM A COPPER-PLATE.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 <i>surface printing</i> by means of +the common press from prominent lines, still more intelligible. The +subject is a representation of the copper-plate or rolling press.</p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page5" id = "page5"> +5</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class = +"smallcaps">Adam</span> or his good angel <span class = +"smallcaps">Raziel</span>, or whether it was introduced at a subsequent +period by <span class = "smallcaps">Tubal-Cain</span>, <span class = +"smallcaps">Noah</span>, <span class = "smallcaps">Trismegistus</span>, +<span class = "smallcaps">Zoroaster</span>, or <span class = +"smallcaps">Moses</span>. Those who feel interested in such remote +speculations will find the “authorities” in the second chapter of +Evelyn’s “Sculptura.”</p> + +<p>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 “<span class = "smallroman">ARS +GRAPHICA ET IMPRESSORIA</span>” attained its perfection in the discovery +of <span class = "smallroman">PRINTING</span> by means of movable fusile +types.<a class = "tag" name = "tagI4" id = "tagI4" href = +"#noteI4">I.4</a></p> + +<p>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.<a +class = "tag" name = "tagI5" id = "tagI5" href = "#noteI5">I.5</a></p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_6" id = "illus_6"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_6.png" width = "402" height = "314" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>The original stamp is made of the same kind of wood as the +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page6" id = "page6"> +6</a></span> +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 +<i>intaglio</i>, 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.”<a class = "tag" name = +"tagI6" id = "tagI6" href = "#noteI6">I.6</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page7" id = "page7"> +7</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_7" id = "illus_7"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_7.png" width = "224" height = "330" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page8" id = "page8"> +8</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<a class = "tag" name = "tagI7" id = "tagI7" href = +"#noteI7">I.7</a> has given some account of the “figlinarum +signa,”—the stamps of the ancient potters and tile-makers.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_8" id = "illus_8"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_8.png" width = "142" height = "74" +alt = "LAR" title = "LAR"></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It would be difficult now to ascertain why this stamp should be +marked with the word <span class = "smallcaps">Lar</span>, 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;<a class = "tag" name = +"tagI8" id = "tagI8" href = "#noteI8">I.8</a></p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page9" id = "page9"> +9</a></span> + +<div class = "verse w20"> +<p class = "indent">——Prome reconditum,</p> +<p>Lyde, strenua, Cæcubum,</p> +<p class = "indent">Munitæque adhibe vim sapientiæ.</p> +<p>Inclinare meridiem</p> +<p class = "indent">Sentis: ac veluti stet volucris dies,</p> +<p>Parcis deripere horreo</p> +<p class = "indent">Cessantem Bibuli Consulis amphoram.</p> + +<p class = "author"> +<i>Carmin.</i> lib. <span class = "smallroman">III.</span> xxviii.</p> +</div> + +<p class = "quotation"> +“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 <ins class = +"correction" title = "text has , for )">date)</ins> from the Consul +Bibulus.”—<i>Smart’s Translation.</i></p> + +<p>Mr. Ottley, in his “Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of +Engraving,” pages 57 and 58, makes a distinction between +<i>impression</i> where the characters impressed are produced by +“<i>a change of form</i>”—meaning where they are either +indented in the substance impressed, or raised upon it in +relief—and <i>impression</i> where the characters are produced by +<i>colour</i>; 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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 “<span class = "smallcaps">Galliani</span>,” 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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagI9" id = "tagI9" href = +"#noteI9">I.9</a></p> + +<p>At page 90 of Singer’s “Researches into the History of Playing-Cards” +are impressions copied from stamps similar to the preceding; +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page10" id = "page10"> +10</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>The following impressions are also copied from two other brass +stamps, preserved in the collection of Roman antiquities in the British +Museum.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_10" id = "illus_10"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_10.png" width = "233" height = "245" +alt = "OVIRILLIO, FLSCLADIOU" title = "OVIRILLIO, FLSCLADIOU"></p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page11" id = "page11"> +11</a></span> +<p>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 <i>intaglio</i> 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</p> + +<div class = "verse smallroman"> +<p>Q. JUN. TAURI. ANODY.</p> +<p>NUM. AD OMN. LIPP.</p> +</div> + +<p>M. Dulaure explains thus: <i>Quinti Junii Tauridi anodynum ad omnes +lippas</i>;<a class = "tag" name = "tagI10" id = "tagI10" href = +"#noteI10">I.10</a> an inscription which is almost literally rendered by +the title of a specific still known in the neighbourhood of +Newcastle-on-Tyne, “<i>Dr. Dud’s lotion, good for sore eyes</i>.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +“Aut pecori signa, aut numeros impressit acervis;”</p> + +<p class = "continue"> +and from the third book we learn that the operation was performed by +branding:</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +“Continuoque notas et nomina gentis <i>inurunt</i>.”<a class = "tag" +name = "tagI11" id = "tagI11" href = "#noteI11">I.11</a></p> + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page12" id = "page12"> +12</a></span> +<p>Such brands as those above noticed, commonly known by the name of +<i>cauteria</i> or <i>stigmata</i>, 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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagI12" id = +"tagI12" href = "#noteI12">I.12</a></p> + +<p>From a passage in Quintilian we learn that the Romans were acquainted +with the method of <i>tracing</i> 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 <i>stencilling</i> 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 <i>joining-hand</i>, it will be useful for him to have a +<i>copy-head</i> of wood in which the letters are well cut, that through +its furrows, as it were, he may trace the characters with his +<i>style</i>. 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 +<i>set</i>, without his requiring any assistance from the master to +guide it.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagI13" id = "tagI13" href = +"#noteI13">I.13</a></p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page13" id = "page13"> +13</a></span> +<p>A thin stencil-plate of copper, having the following letters <i>cut +out</i> of it,</p> + +<div class = "verse smallroman"> +<p>DN CONSTAN</p> +<p>TIO AVG SEM</p> +<p>PER VICTORI</p> +</div> + +<p class = "continue"> +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,”<a class = "tag" name = "tagI14" id = "tagI14" href = +"#noteI14">I.14</a> might be traced on paper by means of a pen, or with +a small brush, charged with body-colour, as stencillers <i>slap-dash</i> +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.</p> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_13" id = "illus_13"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_13.png" width = "166" height = "151" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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;<a class = "tag" name = "tagI15" id = +"tagI15" href = "#noteI15">I.15</a> and in Peringskiold’s edition of the +Life of Theodoric, the annexed is given as the monogram<a class = "tag" +name = "tagI16" id = "tagI16" href = "#noteI16">I.16</a> 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.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page14" id = "page14"> +14</a></span> + +<p class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_14" id = "illus_14"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_14.png" width = "106" height = "111" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagI17" id = "tagI17" href = +"#noteI17">I.17</a> 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.”</p> + +<p>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,<a class = "tag" name = "tagI18" id += "tagI18" href = "#noteI18">I.18</a> accompanied with a peculiar kind +of flourish, called by French writers on diplomatics <i>parafe</i> or +<i>ruche</i>. 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 +<i>stampilla</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page15" id = "page15"> +15</a></span> +warrant which sent the poet Surrey to the scaffold was signed with this +stamp, and not with Henry’s own hand.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_15" id = "illus_15"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_15.png" width = "328" height = "71" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>“In their inscriptions, and in the rubrics of their books,” says a +writer in the Edinburgh Review<a class = "tag" name = "tagI19" id = +"tagI19" href = "#noteI19">I.19</a> “the Spanish Goths, like the Romans +of the Lower Empire, were fond of using combined capitals—of +<i>monogrammatising</i>. 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 <i>Gothic</i> custom in their writings. The Spanish +Goth sometimes subscribed his name; or he drew a <i>monogram</i> like +the Roman emperors, or the sign of the <i>cross</i> 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.”</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page16" id = "page16"> +16</a></span> +silver; and it has been supposed that the impression was produced from +wooden dies. They are known to collectors as “<i>nummi +bracteati</i>”—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.”<a class = "tag" name = +"tagI20" id = "tagI20" href = "#noteI20">I.20</a> 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 +<span class = "smallroman">EIR</span>, <span class = +"smallroman">OIR</span>, and <span class = "smallroman">AIR</span>, +respectively, and considers them to be intended to represent the name of +Eric the Victorious. The characters on the fourth he reads as <span +class = "smallroman">EIM</span>, 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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_16a" id = "illus_16a"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_16a.png" width = "290" height = "56" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<div class = "figfloat w150"> +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_16b" id = "illus_16b"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_16b.png" width = "82" height = "79" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +NICOLAUS FERENTERIUS, 1236</p> +</div> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagI21" id = "tagI21" href = +"#noteI21">I.21</a></p> + +<p>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.<a +class = "tag" name = "tagI22" id = "tagI22" href = +"#noteI22">I.22</a></p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page17" id = "page17"> +17</a></span> + +<div class = "picture"> +<div class = "picblock w250"> +<p><a name = "illus_17" id = "illus_17"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_17a.png" width = "227" height = "262" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +JACOBUS ARNALDUS, 1345.</p> +</div> + +<div class = "picblock"> +<p><img src = "images/illus_17b.png" width = "173" height = "285" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +JOHANNES MEYNERSEN, 1435.</p> +</div> + +<div class = "picblock"> +<p><img src = "images/illus_17c.png" width = "144" height = "221" +alt = "see text and caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +JOHANNES CALVIS, 1521.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page18" id = "page18"> +18</a></span> +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.<a class = "tag" name += "tagI23" id = "tagI23" href = "#noteI23">I.23</a></p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_18" id = "illus_18"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_18.png" width = "247" height = "82" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "open">“Wide windows y-wrought, y-written full thick,</p> +<p>Shining with shapen shields, to shewen about,</p> +<p>With <i>marks of merchants</i>, y-meddled between,</p> +<p>Mo than twenty and two, twice y-numbered.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagI24" id = "tagI24" href = "#noteI24">I.24</a>”</p> +</div> + +<p>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;<a class = "tag" name = "tagI25" +id = "tagI25" href = "#noteI25">I.25</a> and having shown that the +principle of stencilling—the manner in which the above-named cut +is +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page19" id = "page19"> +19</a></span> +coloured<a class = "tag" name = "tagI26" id = "tagI26" href = +"#noteI26">I.26</a>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>money</i>, almost every abbey struck its own +<i>jettons</i> or +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page20" id = "page20"> +20</a></span> +counters; which were thin pieces of copper, commonly impressed with a +pious legend, and used in <i>casting up accounts</i>, 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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagI27" id = +"tagI27" href = "#noteI27">I.27</a></p> + +<p>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 <i>gentle</i> +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—<i>en creux</i>—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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page21" id = "page21"> +21</a></span> +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,<a class = "tag" name = +"tagI28" id = "tagI28" href = "#noteI28">I.28</a> 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 <i>inventum Varronis</i>. 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 +‘<i>Imagines</i>’ or ‘<i>Hebdomades</i>,’ 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.”<a class = +"tag" name = "tagI29" id = "tagI29" href = "#noteI29">I.29</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page22" id = "page22"> +22</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagI30" id = "tagI30" href = "#noteI30">I.30</a></p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page23" id = "page23"> +23</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>engraved</i> 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.”<a class = +"tag" name = "tagI31" id = "tagI31" href = "#noteI31">I.31</a> The +<i>possibility</i> of this may be granted certainly; but at the same +time we must admit that it is equally <i>possible</i> that the engraved +characters were blackened with ink for the purpose of being printed, if +they were of wood; or that, if +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page24" id = "page24"> +24</a></span> +cut in copper or other metal, they were filled with a black composition +which would harden or <i>set</i> in the lines,—as an ingenious +inquirer might infer from ink being represented by the +<i>stone</i> <span class = "smallroman">ME</span>; and thus it is +<i>possible</i> 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.<a class += "tag" name = "tagI32" id = "tagI32" href = "#noteI32">I.32</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagI33" id = "tagI33" href = +"#noteI33">I.33</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Ottley, at pages 51 and 52 of his work, gives a brief account of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page25" id = "page25"> +25</a></span> +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 <i>direct traffic</i> 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.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagI34" id = "tagI34" href = "#noteI34">I.34</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>very probably</i> 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;<a class = "tag" name += "tagI35" id = "tagI35" href = "#noteI35">I.35</a> 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,” +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page26" id = "page26"> +26</a></span> +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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagI36" id = "tagI36" href = +"#noteI36">I.36</a> 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?”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<i>knight</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page27" id = "page27"> +27</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>three sheets of letter-paper</i> 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 <i>any</i> 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 <i>vivâ voce</i> 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.</p> + +<p>“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,<a class = +"tag" name = "tagI37" id = "tagI37" href = "#noteI37">I.37</a> that +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page28" id = "page28"> +28</a></span> +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<ins class = "correction" +title = "text has superfluous close quote">. </ins></p> + +<p>“In a <i>cartouch</i><a class = "tag" name = "tagI38" id = "tagI38" +href = "#noteI38">I.38</a> 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.</p> + +<p>“‘<span class = "smallcaps">The chivalrous deeds</span>, 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.’”</p> + +<p>After having given the translation of the title-page, Papillon thus +continues the narrative in his own person: “This <i>cartouch</i> [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. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page29" id = "page29"> +29</a></span> +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.”</p> + +<p>“‘<i>It is necessary to cut away the ground of the blocks more, that +the paper may not touch it in taking impressions.</i>’”</p> + +<p>“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, <i>Darius</i>, Campaspe, +and others.”</p> + +<p>“<span class = "smallcaps">Subject 1.</span>—Alexander mounted +on Bucephalus, which he has tamed. On a stone are these words: +<i>Isabel. Cunio pinx. & scalp.</i>”</p> + +<p>“<span class = "smallcaps">Subject 2.</span>—Passage of the +Granicus. Near the trunk of a tree these words are engraved: <i>Alex. +Alb. Cunio Equ. pinx. Isabel Cunio scalp.</i>”</p> + +<p>“<span class = "smallcaps">Subject 3.</span>—Alexander cutting +the Gordian knot. On the pedestal of a column are these words: +<i>Alexan. Albe. Cunio Equ. pinx. & scalp.</i> This block is not so +well engraved as the two preceding.”</p> + +<p>“<span class = "smallcaps">Subject 4.</span>—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: +<i>Isabel. Cunio pinxit & scalp.</i>”</p> + +<p>“<span class = "smallcaps">Subject 5.</span>—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: <i>Alex. Alb. Cunio Eques, pinx. & +scalp.</i>”</p> + +<p>“<span class = "smallcaps">Subject 6.</span>—The famous battle +of Arbela. Upon a small hillock are these words: <i>Alex. Alb. Equ. +& Isabel. pictor. and scalp.</i> For composition, design, and +engraving, this subject is also one of the best.”</p> + +<p>“<span class = "smallcaps">Subject 7.</span>—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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page30" id = "page30"> +30</a></span> +and magnanimous air. On a stone near a bush are engraved these words: +<i>Isabel. Cunio pinx. & scalp.</i>”</p> + +<p>“<span class = "smallcaps">Subject 8 and last.</span>—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: <i>Alex. Alb. Equ. et Isabel. Cunio, +pictor. & scalp.</i> At the top of this impression, a piece +about three inches long and one inch broad has been torn off.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Without troubling myself to transcribe the whole of this choice +morsel of French Romance concerning the history of the “amiable +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page31" id = "page31"> +31</a></span> +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.<a class = +"tag" name = "tagI39" id = "tagI39" href = "#noteI39">I.39</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page32" id = "page32"> +32</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>ornamented with flowered +compartments, which appear simply stamped and marked with an iron a +little warmed, without any gilding</i>.” 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.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page33" id = "page33"> +33</a></span> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page34" id = "page34"> +34</a></span> +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 “<span class = "smallroman">NO</span>.” 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagI40" id = "tagI40" href = +"#noteI40">I.40</a> 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 <i>pope</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page35" id = "page35"> +35</a></span> +described as being marked: <i>Alex. Alb. Equ. et Isabel, Cunio pictor. +et scalp.</i></p> + +<p class = "verse"> +“Thus painters <i>did not</i> write their names at Co.”</p> + +<p>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 <i>pinx. et scalp.</i> to a woodcut? +I challenge any believer in Papillon to point out a wood engraving +on which the words <i>pinxit</i> and <i>scalpsit</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagI41" id = "tagI41" href += "#noteI41">I.41</a> 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 <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘eve nallowing’">even allowing</ins> him to be sincere in the belief of what +he related, he was a person very likely to occasionally deceive both +himself and others.<a class = "tag" name = "tagI42" id = "tagI42" href = +"#noteI42">I.42</a></p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page36" id = "page36"> +36</a></span> +from his book, t. i. p. 335, in which he says, ‘<i>Par un +accident et une fatalité commune à plusieurs graveurs, aussi bien qu’à +moi, Le Fevre est devenu aliéné d’esprit</i>:’ 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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagI43" id = +"tagI43" href = "#noteI43">I.43</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <ins class = "correction" title = ". missing">Mr.</ins> Ottley.</p> + +<p>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.” “<i>Argal</i>,” 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.</p> + +<p>The reasoning faculties of Signor Zani appear to have been very +imperfectly developed, for he cites the following as a case in point; +and +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page37" id = "page37"> +37</a></span> +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,<a class = "tag" name = +"tagI44" id = "tagI44" href = "#noteI44">I.44</a> 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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagI45" id = "tagI45" +href = "#noteI45">I.45</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page38" id = "page38"> +38</a></span> +inevitably the same; that is, the evidence in both cases would not be +relied on.</p> + +<p>“It is possible,” <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘say’">says</ins> Zani, “that at this moment I may be blinded by +partiality to my own nation; but I would almost assert, that <i>to deny +the testimony of the French writer, would be like denying the existence +of light on a fine sun-shiny day</i>.” His mental optics must have been +of a peculiar character, and it can be no longer doubtful that he</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "open">“Had lights where better eyes are blind,</p> +<p>As pigs are said to see the wind.”</p> +</div> + +<p>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 “<i>de non-apparentibus et +non-existentibus eadem est ratio</i>;” 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>If such wood engravings—“the toys of the day”—had been +known +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page39" id = "page39"> +39</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_39" id = "illus_39"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_39.png" width = "212" height = "183" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<div class = "footnote"> + +<p><a name = "noteI1" id = "noteI1" href = "#tagI1">I.1</a> +C. G. Von Murr, in his Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, 2 Theil, +S. 253, referring to Martorelli, De Regia Theca Calamaria.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI2" id = "noteI2" href = "#tagI2">I.2</a> +If this etymology be correct, the English Scrivener and French +<i>Greffier</i> may be related by descent as well as professionally; +both words being thus referable to the same origin, the Greek <span +class = "greek" lang = "el" title = "(Greek) graphô">γράφω</span>. The +modern <i>Writer</i> in the Scottish courts of law performs the duties +both of Scrivener and Greffier, with whose name his own is +synonymous.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI3" id = "noteI3" href = "#tagI3">I.3</a> +Towards the close of the seventeenth century we find books “adorned with +<i>sculptures</i> by a curious hand;” about 1730 we find them +“ornamented with <i>cuts</i>;” at present they are “illustrated with +<i>engravings</i>.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI4" id = "noteI4" href = "#tagI4">I.4</a> +Astle on the Origin and Progress of Writing, p. 215, 2nd edit.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI5" id = "noteI5" href = "#tagI5">I.5</a> +Author of “An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern +Egyptians, written in Egypt during the years 1833, ’34, and ’35.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI6" id = "noteI6" href = "#tagI6">I.6</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI7" id = "noteI7" href = "#tagI7">I.7</a> +Inscriptionum Explicatio, fol. Romæ, 1699.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI8" id = "noteI8" href = "#tagI8">I.8</a> +“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: <i>Falernum Opimianum annorum centum</i>.” +<i>Pittacia</i> were small labels—schedulæ breves—attached +to the necks of wine-vessels, and on which were marked the name and age +of the wine.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI9" id = "noteI9" href = "#tagI9">I.9</a> +Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, 2 Theil, S. 81. By +grotesque—“Laubwerk”—ornamental foliage is here +meant;—<i>grot</i>-esque, bower-work,—not caricatures.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI10" id = "noteI10" href = "#tagI10">I.10</a> +M. Dulaure’s latinity is bad. “<i>Lippas</i>” certainly is not the word. +His translation is, “Remède anodin de Quintus Junius Tauridus, pour +<i>tous les maux</i> 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 “<span class = "smallcaps">Walchii</span> +Antiquitates Medicæ Selectæ, Jenæ, 1772,” Num. 1 and 2, referred to +by Von Murr.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI11" id = "noteI11" href = "#tagI11">I.11</a> +<span class = "smallcaps">Hermannus Hugo</span>, De prima Origine +Scribendi, cap. xix. De Notis Servilibus, et cap. xx. De Notis pecudum. +A further account of the ancient <i>stigmata</i>, and of the manner +in which slaves were marked, is to be found in <span class = +"smallcaps">Pignorius</span>, De Servis.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI12" id = "noteI12" href = "#tagI12">I.12</a> +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 +<i>punishment</i> 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.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI13" id = "noteI13" href = "#tagI13">I.13</a> +“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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI14" id = "noteI14" href = "#tagI14">I.14</a> +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, <i>percé au jour</i>, in vellum: +“Liber Passionis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, cum figuris et +characteribus <i>ex nulla materia</i> 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI15" id = "noteI15" href = "#tagI15">I.15</a> +“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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI16" id = "noteI16" href = "#tagI16">I.16</a> +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 +<i>character</i>; a portion of one letter being understood to represent +another, two being united to form a third, and so on.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI17" id = "noteI17" href = "#tagI17">I.17</a> +Mabillon’s opinion is founded on the following passage in the Life of +Charlemagne, by his secretary Eginhard: “<i>Ut scilicet imperitiam +hanc</i> [<i>scribendi</i>] <i>honesto ritu suppleret, monogrammatis +usum loco proprii signi invexit</i>.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI18" id = "noteI18" href = "#tagI18">I.18</a> +“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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI19" id = "noteI19" href = "#tagI19">I.19</a> +No. lxi. p. 108, where the preceding Gothic marks, with the explanation +of them, are given.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI20" id = "noteI20" href = "#tagI20">I.20</a> +Essay on Medals, pp. 144, 145. Edit. 1784.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI21" id = "noteI21" href = "#tagI21">I.21</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI22" id = "noteI22" href = "#tagI22">I.22</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI23" id = "noteI23" href = "#tagI23">I.23</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI24" id = "noteI24" href = "#tagI24">I.24</a> +“<i>Y-meddled</i> 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI25" id = "noteI25" href = "#tagI25">I.25</a> +“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 <span class = "smallroman">MCCCCXVIII.</span>; +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI26" id = "noteI26" href = "#tagI26">I.26</a> +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).</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI27" id = "noteI27" href = "#tagI27">I.27</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI28" id = "noteI28" href = "#tagI28">I.28</a> +“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 <span class += "smallroman">XXXV.</span> 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).</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI29" id = "noteI29" href = "#tagI29">I.29</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI30" id = "noteI30" href = "#tagI30">I.30</a> +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).</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI31" id = "noteI31" href = "#tagI31">I.31</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI32" id = "noteI32" href = "#tagI32">I.32</a> +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. +‘<i>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.</i>’”—Hermannus Hugo, De Prima Origine +Scribendi, p. 211. Antwerpiæ, 1617.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI33" id = "noteI33" href = "#tagI33">I.33</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI34" id = "noteI34" href = "#tagI34">I.34</a> +See the Travels of Marco Polo. (In Bohn’s Antiq. Library).</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI35" id = "noteI35" href = "#tagI35">I.35</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI36" id = "noteI36" href = "#tagI36">I.36</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI37" id = "noteI37" href = "#tagI37">I.37</a> +A Monsieur Spirchtvel, as Papillon informs us. Tom. +i. p. 92.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI38" id = "noteI38" href = "#tagI38">I.38</a> +<i>Cartouch.</i> “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 <i>cartouches</i> were much in vogue +in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for the frontispieces of +books of prints; and indeed <i>Callot</i> and <i>Della Bella</i> 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI39" id = "noteI39" href = "#tagI39">I.39</a> +Readers of French romances will find the tale of the Cunio at +p. 89, <ins class = "correction" title = ". missing">tom.</ins> +i. of Papillon’s “Traité de la Gravure en Bois,” or at p. 17, +vol. i. of Mr. Ottley’s “History of Engraving.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI40" id = "noteI40" href = "#tagI40">I.40</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI41" id = "noteI41" href = "#tagI41">I.41</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI42" id = "noteI42" href = "#tagI42">I.42</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI43" id = "noteI43" href = "#tagI43">I.43</a> +Inquiry into the Early History of Engraving, vol. +i. p. 23.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI44" id = "noteI44" href = "#tagI44">I.44</a> +History of Engraving, vol. i. p. 28.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteI45" id = "noteI45" href = "#tagI45">I.45</a> +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.</p> + +</div> + +</div> +<!-- end div maintext --> + +<div class = "correction"> +<h5>Errors in Chapter I</h5> + +<p><span class = "citation"> +the loitering cask, (that bears its date) from</span><br> +date, from<br> +<i>in the same passage, “Lyde” for expected “Lydus” is in Smart</i></p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +and even allowing him to be sincere</span><br> +eve nallowing</p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +which have been alleged in its favour by Mr. Ottley.</span><br> +Mr Ottley.</p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +“It is possible,” says Zani,</span><br> +say</p> +<p>Footnote I.39</p> +<p class = "continue"> +<span class = "citation">the tale of the Cunio at p. 89, tom. +i.</span><br> +tom i.</p> +</div> + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page40" id = "page40"> +40</a></span> +<h3><a name = "chap_II" id = "chap_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br> +<span class = "subhead">PROGRESS OF WOOD ENGRAVING.</span></h3> + +<p class = "synopsis"> +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.</p> + +<div class = "maintext"> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword"><span class = "dropcap"> +<a name = "illus_40" id = "illus_40"> +<img src = "images/illus_40.png" width = "139" height = "178" +alt = "F"></a></span>rom</span> +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.<a +class = "tag" name = "tagII1" id = "tagII1" href = +"#noteII1">II.1</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>From a passage discovered by M. Van Praet, in an old manuscript copy +of the romance of <i>Renard le Contrefait</i>, it appears that cards +were known in France about 1340, although Bullet was of opinion that +they +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page41" id = "page41"> +41</a></span> +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, <i>cards</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>coup de soleil</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 “<i>Ell. +Kartenmacherin</i>;” that is, Ell.—probably for +Elizabeth—the card-maker. In the same book, under the year 1435, +the name of “<i>Eliz. Kartenmacherin</i>,” probably +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page42" id = "page42"> +42</a></span> +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 “<i>Karten</i>” before they gave them the name of +“<i>Briefe</i>.” 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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII2" id = "tagII2" href += "#noteII2">II.2</a></p> + +<p>The name <i>Briefe</i>, which the Germans give to cards, also +signifies letters [epistolæ]. The meaning of the word, however, is +rather more general than the French term <i>lettres</i>, or the Latin +<i>epistolæ</i> which he gives as its synonyms, for it is also applied +in the sense in which we sometimes use the word “paper.” For instance, +“<i>ein Brief Stecknadeln, ein Brief Tabak</i>,” are literally +translated by the words “a <i>paper</i> of pins, +a <i>paper</i> of tobacco;” in which sense the word “<i>Brief</i>” +would, in Latin, be more correctly rendered by the term <i>charta</i> +than <i>epistola</i>. 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 <i>chartaæ</i>, the Italian <i>carte</i>, or the French +<i>cartes</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>In the town-books of Nuremberg, the term +<i>Formschneider</i>—figure-cutter,—the name appropriated to +engravers on wood, first occurs in 1449;<a class = "tag" name = "tagII3" +id = "tagII3" href = "#noteII3">II.3</a> 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 <i>form</i> or <i>forma</i> is almost +precisely the same in most of the European languages. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page43" id = "page43"> +43</a></span> +It has erroneously been explained, in its relation to wood engraving, as +signifying a <i>mould</i>, whereas it simply means a shape or figure. +The model of wood which the carpenter makes for the metal-founder is +properly a <i>form</i>, and from it the latter prepares his mould in the +sand. The word <i>form</i>, 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 <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘Fornschneider’"><i>Formschneider</i></ins>, 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.</p> + +<p>About the time that the term <i>Formschneider</i> first occurs we +find <i>Briefmalers</i> mentioned, and at a later period +<i>Briefdruckers</i>—card-printers; and, though there evidently +was a distinction between the two professions, yet we find that between +1470 and 1500 the <i>Briefmalers</i> not only engraved figures +occasionally, but also printed books. The <i>Formschneiders</i> and the +<i>Briefmalers</i>, 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.” +“<i>Kartenmacher</i> and <i>Kartenmaler</i>” says Von Murr, “or +<i>Briefmaler</i>, 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.”</p> + +<p>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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII4" id = +"tagII4" href = "#noteII4">II.4</a> It is hence evident that the art +both of the German +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page44" id = "page44"> +44</a></span> +<i>Kartenmacher</i> and of the <i>Formschneider</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>barrelwise</i> [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 +“<i>leglenweiss</i>”—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 <i>kit</i>.</p> + +<p>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,<a class = +"tag" name = "tagII5" id = "tagII5" href = "#noteII5">II.5</a> 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<a class = "tag" name = "tagII6" id = "tagII6" href = +"#noteII6">II.6</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page45" id = "page45"> +45</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Wood-cuts of sacred subjects were known to the common people of +Suabia, and the adjacent districts, by the name of <i>Helgen</i> or +<i>Helglein</i>, a corruption of Heiligen, saints;—a word which in +course of time they used to signify +prints—<i>estampes</i>—generally.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII7" id = "tagII7" href = "#noteII7">II.7</a> 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.”<a class += "tag" name = "tagII8" id = "tagII8" href = "#noteII8">II.8</a></p> + +<p>As might, <i>à priori</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page46" id = "page46"> +46</a></span> +assigned. From 1423, therefore, as from a known epoch, the practice of +wood engraving, as applied to pictorial representations, may be +dated.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_46" id = "illus_46"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_46.png" width = "332" height = "458" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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 <span class = "smallcaps">Laus +Virginis</span><a class = "tag" name = "tagII9" id = "tagII9" href = +"#noteII9">II.9</a> and finished in 1417, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page47" id = "page47"> +47</a></span> +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.<a class = "tag" name += "tagII10" id = "tagII10" href = "#noteII10">II.10</a></p> + +<p>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 +<i>rubbed off</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = "tagII11" +id = "tagII11" href = "#noteII11">II.11</a> 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.</p> + +<p>To the left of the engraving the artist has introduced, with a noble +disregard of perspective,<a class = "tag" name = "tagII12" id = +"tagII12" href = "#noteII12">II.12</a> what Bewick would have called a +“bit of Nature.” In the foreground a figure is seen driving an ass +loaded with +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page48" id = "page48"> +48</a></span> +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,</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Cristofori faciem die quacunque tueris,</p> +<p>Illa nempe die morte mala non morieris,</p> +</div> + +<p class = "continue"> +may be translated as follows:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Each day that thou the likeness of St. Christopher shalt see,</p> +<p>That day no frightful form of death shall make an end of thee.</p> +</div> + +<p>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.<a class = +"tag" name = "tagII13" id = "tagII13" href = "#noteII13">II.13</a> 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</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +“A Christofre on his brest, of silver shene.”</p> + +<p>The date “<i>Millesimo cccc<sup>o</sup> xx<sup>o</sup> +tercio</i>”—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page49" id = "page49"> +49</a></span> +<p>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 +<i>different blocks</i>. 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 <i>proof</i>—of one of the <i>cheats</i> of <span +class = "smallcaps">De Murr</span>.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII14" id += "tagII14" href = "#noteII14">II.14</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_50" id = "illus_50"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_50.png" width = "335" height = "460" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>Respecting these cuts, which in all probability were engraved by some +one of the Formschneiders of Augsburg, Ulm, or Nuremberg,<a class = +"tag" name = "tagII15" id = "tagII15" href = "#noteII15">II.15</a> +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page50" id = "page50"> +50</a></span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page51" id = "page51"> +51</a></span> +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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII16" id = "tagII16" href = +"#noteII16">II.16</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, “<i>O Brigita bit Got für uns!</i>” “O +Bridget, pray to God for us!” At the foot of the desk at which St. +Bridget is writing are the letters <span class = "smallcaps">M. I. +Chrs.</span>, an abbreviation probably of Mater Jesu Christi, or if +German, Mutter Iesus Christus.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII17" id = +"tagII17" href = "#noteII17">II.17</a></p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_52" id = "illus_52"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_52.png" width = "328" height = "490" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>From the appearance of the back of this cut, as if it had been rubbed +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page52" id = "page52"> +52</a></span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page53" id = "page53"> +53</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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?”</p> + +<p>His principal reasons for the preceding conjecture, are the ancient +use of the word <i>stampide</i>—“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 <i>stampide</i>, which occurs +in the Venetian decree, was employed there to signify “<i>printed with a +press</i>.” For it is certain that the low Latin word <i>stampare</i>, +with its cognates in the different languages of Europe, was used at that +period to denote <i>impression</i> generally. But even supposing that +“<i>stampide</i>” 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 <i>foreign</i> 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 +<i>stampide</i>—“<i>printed</i>,” 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page54" id = "page54"> +54</a></span> +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,<a class = "tag" name += "tagII18" id = "tagII18" href = "#noteII18">II.18</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page55" id = "page55"> +55</a></span> +<p>Even the St. Bridget, which he considers to be of a date not later +than the close of the fourteenth century,<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII19" id = "tagII19" href = "#noteII19">II.19</a> 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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII20" +id = "tagII20" href = "#noteII20">II.20</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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;<a class = "tag" name = "tagII21" +id = "tagII21" href = "#noteII21">II.21</a> 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 +‘<i>Nicolai Dunkelspül</i><a class = "tag" name = "tagII22" id = +"tagII22" href = "#noteII22">II.22</a> Sermonum Partem Hyemalem.’ It is +of quarto +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page56" id = "page56"> +56</a></span> +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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII23" id = "tagII23" href = +"#noteII23">II.23</a> Between these compartments there appears in +manuscript the date ‘<i>anno d’ni 1443</i>.’ 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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII24" id = "tagII24" href = +"#noteII24">II.24</a></p> + +<p>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 “<i>Vide, lege, dulce +nomen</i>.” Upon a scroll above the head of the saint is engraved the +sentence, “<i>Ihesus semper sit in ore meo</i>,” and behind him, on a +black label, is his name in yellow letters, “<i>Sanct’ Bernard’</i>.” +The cut is surrounded by a border of foliage, with the emblems of the +four Evangelists at the four corners, and +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page57" id = "page57"> +57</a></span> +at the foot are the five following lines, with the date, impressed from +prominent lines:—</p> + +<div class = "verse ital"> +<p>O . splendor . pudicitie . zelator . paupertatis . a</p> +<p>mator. innocentie . cultor . virginitatis . <ins class = "correction" +title = "printed as shown: apparent error for ‘lustra / tor sapientie’">lustra</ins></p> +<p><ins class = "correction" title = "printed as shown: apparent error for ‘lustra / tor sapientie’">cors . apientie</ins> . protector . +veritatis . thro</p> +<p>num . fulgidum . eterne . majestatis . para</p> +<p>nobis . additum . divine . pietatis . amen. (1454)</p> +</div> + +<p>This rare cut was communicated to Jansen by M. Vanpraet, the +well-known bibliographer and keeper of the Royal Library.<a class = +"tag" name = "tagII25" id = "tagII25" href = "#noteII25">II.25</a></p> + +<p>“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.”<a class = +"tag" name = "tagII26" id = "tagII26" href = "#noteII26">II.26</a></p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page58" id = "page58"> +58</a></span> +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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII27" id = "tagII27" +href = "#noteII27">II.27</a></p> + +<p>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 <span +class = "smallroman">BLOCK-BOOKS</span>: 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.</p> + +<p>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,<a class = "tag" +name = "tagII28" id = "tagII28" href = "#noteII28">II.28</a> 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;<a class = "tag" name = "tagII29" id = "tagII29" href = +"#noteII29">II.29</a> but that the Speculum—<i>the text of which +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page59" id = "page59"> +59</a></span> +in the first edition was printed from metal types</i>—should be +printed before 1460, is in the highest degree improbable.</p> + +<p>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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII30" id = +"tagII30" href = "#noteII30">II.30</a></p> + +<p>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 “<span class = "smallcaps">Schoting of Nuremberg</span>,” 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page60" id = "page60"> +60</a></span> +explanations in moveable types underneath the cuts, and probably of a +later date than 1470.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII31" id = "tagII31" +href = "#noteII31">II.31</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The earliest ancient binding known, on which a date is impressed, is, +I believe, that described by Laire.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII32" id = "tagII32" href = "#noteII32">II.32</a> 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:</p> + +<p class = "center"> +“Illigatus est Anno Domini 1469<br> +Per me Johannem<br> +Richenbach Capellanum<br> +In Gyslingen.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII33" id = "tagII33" href = +"#noteII33">II.33</a></p> + +<p>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. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page61" id = "page61"> +61</a></span> +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.”<a class = +"tag" name = "tagII34" id = "tagII34" href = "#noteII34">II.34</a> 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.”<a +class = "tag" name = "tagII35" id = "tagII35" href = +"#noteII35">II.35</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page62" id = "page62"> +62</a></span> +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.<a +class = "tag" name = "tagII36" id = "tagII36" href = +"#noteII36">II.36</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>field</i> 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. +<span class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_62" id = "illus_62"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_62.png" width = "31" height = "72" +alt = "see text"></span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page63" id = "page63"> +63</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII37" +id = "tagII37" href = "#noteII37">II.37</a> 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 <span class = "blackletter">a</span>; +the two next with the letter <span class = "blackletter">b</span>, 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 <span class = "blackletter">m</span> and <span +class = "blackletter">n</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Of the forty-eight cuts<a class = "tag" name = "tagII38" id = +"tagII38" href = "#noteII38">II.38</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page64" id = "page64"> +64</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" +name = "tagII39" id = "tagII39" href = "#noteII39">II.39</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page65" id = "page65"> +65</a></span> +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, <big>m</big>, representing the fight +of Michael and his angels with the dragon, the following shields are +borne by two of the heavenly host.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_65" id = "illus_65"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_65.png" width = "296" height = "100" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>The <!-- no indent --> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page66" id = "page66"> +66</a></span> +time, and have required no small degree of care. The following is a +reduced copy of the first cut.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_66" id = "illus_66"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_66.png" width = "319" height = "423" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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: “<i>Conversi ab idolis, per predicationem +beati Johannis, Drusiana et ceteri.</i>”—“By the preaching of St. +John, Drusiana and others are withdrawn from their idols.” The letter +<span class = "blackletter">a</span>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page67" id = "page67"> +67</a></span> +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—“<i>Cultores ydolorum explorantes facta +ejus</i>;”—“Worshippers of idols watching the saint’s +proceedings.”</p> + +<p>The following cut is a copy of the eighteenth of the Apocalypse, +which is illustrative of the <span class = "smallroman">XI</span>th and +<span class = "smallroman">XIII</span>th 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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_67" id = "illus_67"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_67.png" width = "317" height = "428" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page68" id = "page68"> +68</a></span> +<p>The inscription to the right, is the 7th verse of the <span class = +"smallroman">XI</span>th chapter, with the names of Enoch and Helyas +inserted as those of the two witnesses: “<i>Cum finierunt Enoch et +Helyas testimonium suum, bestia quæ ascendit de abisso faciet contra eos +bellum, et vincet eos et occidet illos</i>.” 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.”</p> + +<p>The tablet to the left contains the following inscription: “<i>Et +jacebunt corpora eorum in plateis, et non sinent poni in +monumentis</i>.” It is formed of two passages, in the 8th and 9th verses +of the <span class = "smallroman">XI</span>th 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.”</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII40" id = "tagII40" href += "#noteII40">II.40</a> 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:—“<i>Hic facit +Antichristus miracula sua, et credentes in ipsum honorat, et incredentes +variis interficit pœnis</i>.”—“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.</p> + +<p>In several of the cuts, the typical expressions which occur in the +texts are explained. Thus, in cut eighth, we are informed that “<i>Stolæ +albæ animarum gloriam designant</i>.”—“The white vestments denote +the glory of departed souls.” In the lower compartment of the same cut, +the “<i>cæli recessio</i>”—“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.</p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page69" id = "page69"> +69</a></span> +one above the other; the total number of subjects in the book is, +consequently, thirty-two.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII41" id = "tagII41" href = +"#noteII41">II.41</a> 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:<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII42" id = "tagII42" href = "#noteII42">II.42</a> “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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page70" id = "page70"> +70</a></span> +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 +<i>must</i> 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?</p> + +<p>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. “<span class = "blackletter">Dit is die +voersinicheit va Marie der mod . godes . en is gehete in lath</span> . +<i>Cāti.</i>” 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 <ins class = "correction" title = "text has superfluous close quote">overthrow.</ins><a class = "tag" name = +"tagII43" id = "tagII43" href = "#noteII43">II.43</a></p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page71" id = "page71"> +71</a></span> +that I have seen. Compared with them, those of the Biblia Pauperum and +the Speculum might be termed “Gothic” indeed.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_71" id = "illus_71"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_71.png" width = "336" height = "487" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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;<a class = +"tag" name = "tagII44" id = "tagII44" href = "#noteII44">II.44</a> that +is, from the upper portion of the fourth cut.</p> + +<p>The text is the 14th verse of the 1st chapter of the Song of Solomon: +“<i>Botrus cipri dilectus meus inter vineas enngadi</i>;” 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page72" id = "page72"> +72</a></span> +manner in which they are clothed, the artist may be considered as the +Stothard of his day.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_72" id = "illus_72"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_72.png" width = "323" height = "473" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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.<a class += "tag" name = "tagII45" id = "tagII45" href = "#noteII45">II.45</a></p> + +<p>On the scroll to the left, in the upper subject, the words are +intended for—“<i>Trahe me, post te curremus in odore unguentorum +tuorum</i>.” 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.” +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page73" id = "page73"> +73</a></span> +In the scroll to the right, the inscription is from the 14th verse of +the <span class = "smallroman">II</span>nd chapter: “<i>Sonet vox tua in +auribus meis, vox enim tua dulcis et facies tua decora</i>:” which is +thus rendered in our Bible: “Let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy +voice, and thy countenance is comely.”</p> + +<p>On the scroll to the left, in the lower compartment, is the following +inscription, from verse 10th, chapter <span class = +"smallroman">II</span>nd: “<i>En dilectus meus loquitur mihi, Surge, +propera, amica mea</i>:” 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 +<span class = "smallroman">IV</span>th: “<i>Quam pulchra es amica mea, +quam pulchra es! Oculi tui columbarum, absque eo quod intrinsecus +latet.</i>” 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 <i>within thy +locks</i>.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII46" id = "tagII46" href = +"#noteII46">II.46</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page74" id = "page74"> +74</a></span> +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</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +“Confute the exciseman and puzzle the <ins class = "correction" title = +"close quote missing">vicar,—”</ins></p> + +<p>abandoned type-metal, and fortified his “<i>stubborn</i> opinion +behind <i>vegetable putties</i> or pastes that are capable of being +hardened—or any substance that is capable of being +<i>worm-eaten</i>.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII47" id = "tagII47" href += "#noteII47">II.47</a> Such “commenta opinionum”—the mere +figments of conjecture—only deserve notice in consequence of their +extravagance.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<a class = "tag" name = "tagII48" id = "tagII48" href = +"#noteII48">II.48</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page75" id = "page75"> +75</a></span> +of Germany, and Von Murr asserts that such sculptures were probably +Martin Schön’s models.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_75" id = "illus_75"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_75.png" width = "210" height = "193" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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: “<i>Surgam et circumibo civitatem; per vicos et +plateas queram quem diligit anima mea</i>:” 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page76" id = "page76"> +76</a></span> +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 <span class = "smallroman">V.</span> verse 7: +“<i>Percusserunt et vulneraverunt me, tulerunt pallium meum custodes +murorum</i>.” 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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_76" id = "illus_76"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_76.png" width = "346" height = "38" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>On these I have nothing to remark <ins class = "correction" title = +"text reads ‘futher’">further</ins> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page77" id = "page77"> +77</a></span> +all from the IVth chapter of the Song of Solomon. The first is from +verse 12: “<i>Ortus conclusus est soror, mea sposa; ortus conclusus, +fons signatus</i>:” 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: “<i>Fons ortorum, puteus aquarum +vivencium quæ fluunt impetu de Lybano</i>:” in our Bible: +“A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams +from Lebanon.” The third is from verse 16: “<i>Surge Aquilo; veni +Auster, perfla ortum et fluant aromata illius</i>:” in our Bible: +“Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, +that the spices thereof may flow out.”</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_77" id = "illus_77"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_77.png" width = "362" height = "152" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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.”<a +class = "tag" name = "tagII49" id = "tagII49" href = +"#noteII49">II.49</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. “<i>En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta +fortes ambiunt, omnes tenentes gladios</i>:” in our Bible: “Behold his +bed, which is Solomon’s; three score valiant men are about it +. . . . . they all hold swords.”</p> + +<p>The first three of the shields on the following page I shall leave to +be +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page78" id = "page78"> +78</a></span> +assigned by others. The fourth, which is charged with a rose, was the +arms of Hagenau, a town in Alsace.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_78" id = "illus_78"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_78.png" width = "363" height = "63" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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 <ins class = "correction" title = "final ‘t’ invisible">important</ins> 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,<a class = "tag" name = "tagII50" id = "tagII50" href = +"#noteII50">II.50</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII51" id = "tagII51" href = +"#noteII51">II.51</a> Even with +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page79" id = "page79"> +79</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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;<a class = "tag" name = "tagII52" id = "tagII52" href = +"#noteII52">II.52</a> 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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII53" +id = "tagII53" href = "#noteII53">II.53</a></p> + +<p>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 <i>first</i> and the <i>last</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page80" id = "page80"> +80</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 “<i>gatherings</i>,” 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.</p> + +<p>Of all the block-books, that which is now commonly called “<span +class = "smallcaps">Biblia Pauperum</span>,”—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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page81" id = "page81"> +81</a></span> +corrected.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII54" id = "tagII54" href = +"#noteII54">II.54</a> It has been gravely stated that this book, whose +text is in abbreviated Latin, was printed for the use of the <i>poor</i> +in an age when even the <i>rich</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII55" id = "tagII55" href = +"#noteII55">II.55</a> Schœpflin calls it, “Vaticinia Veteris Testamenti +de Christo;”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII56" id = "tagII56" href = +"#noteII56">II.56</a>—“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. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page82" id = "page82"> +82</a></span> +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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII57" id = +"tagII57" href = "#noteII57">II.57</a></p> + +<p>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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII58" id = "tagII58" href = +"#noteII58">II.58</a> 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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII59" id = +"tagII59" href = "#noteII59">II.59</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page83" id = "page83"> +83</a></span> +frequently been confounded with the other.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII60" id = "tagII60" href = "#noteII60">II.60</a> 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 <i>poor</i> preachers.</p> + +<div class = "verse blackletter"> +<p>Predictu’ p’hemiu’ hujus libri de conte’tis compilavi,</p> +<p>Et p’pter paup’es p’dicatores hoc apponere curavi;</p> +<p>Qui si forte nequieru’t totum librum sibi co’p’are,</p> +<p>Possu’t ex ipso p’hemio, si sciu’t p’dicare.</p> +</div> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>This preface of contents, stating what this book’s about,</p> +<p>For the sake of all <i>poor preachers</i> I have fairly written +out;</p> +<p>If the purchase of the book entire should be above their reach,</p> +<p>This preface yet may serve them, if they know but how to preach.</p> +</div> + +<p>That the other book might be called “Biblia Pauperum +<i>Predicatorum</i>,” 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.</p> + +<p>Nyerup, who in 1784 published an “Account of such books as were read +in schools in Denmark prior to the Reformation,”<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII61" id = "tagII61" href = "#noteII61">II.61</a> 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 <span class = "smallcaps">Biblia Typico-Harmonica</span>. 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 +<i>preachers</i>, and the ‘Dictionarius Pauperum.’ Of the last the title +is explained in the book itself: ‘Incipit summula omnibus <i>verbi +divini seminatoribus pernecessaria</i>.’” It is surprising that Camus +did +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page84" id = "page84"> +84</a></span> +not perceive that the very titles which he cites militate against the +opinion of the “Biblia” being intended for the use of poor <i>men</i>. +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 <i>hominum</i>;” +but “ad usum pauperum <i>predicatorum</i>, et <i>verbi divini +seminatorum</i>:” not for the use of “poor <i>men</i>,” but for “poor +<i>preachers</i> and <i>teachers of the divine word</i>.” Camus has +unwittingly supplied a club to batter his own argument to pieces.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span +class = "blackletter">a</span> to <span class = "blackletter">v</span>, +and of the second twenty by the same letters, having as a distinguishing +mark a point both before and after them, thus: <span class = +"blackletter">. a .</span> In that which Heineken considers the first +edition, the letters <span class = "blackletter">n</span>, <span class = +"blackletter">o</span>, <span class = "blackletter">r</span>, <span +class = "blackletter">s</span>, <!--printed with blackletter commas --> +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 <span class = "blackletter">n</span>, <span +class = "blackletter">o</span>, <span class = "blackletter">r</span>, +<span class = "blackletter">s</span>,<!-- ditto --> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page85" id = "page85"> +85</a></span> +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.<a class = +"tag" name = "tagII62" id = "tagII62" href = "#noteII62">II.62</a> 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<a class += "tag" name = "tagII63" id = "tagII63" href = "#noteII63">II.63</a> 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 <span class = "blackletter">. p .</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class = "blackletter">o</span>, 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 <span +class = "blackletter">k</span>, will afford a better idea of the +arrangement of the subjects, and of the explanatory texts, than any +lengthened description.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page86" id = "page86"> +86</a></span> +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.”</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_86" id = "illus_86"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_86.png" width = "330" height = "435" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page87" id = "page87"> +87</a></span> +<p>Underneath the two half-length figures at the top, is inscribed +“David 34,” and “Ysaie xxix.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII64" id = +"tagII64" href = "#noteII64">II.64</a> 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,<a class = "tag" name = "tagII65" id = +"tagII65" href = "#noteII65">II.65</a> 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.</p> + +<p>The rhyming verses are as follows. That to the right, underneath the +subject of Adam and Eve:</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Serpens vicit, Adam vetitam sibi sugerat escam.</p> + +<p>The other, on the opposite side, underneath Jacob and Esau:</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Lentis ob ardorem proprium male perdit honorem.</p> + +<p>And the third, at the bottom of the page, underneath the two +portraits:</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +Christum temptavit Sathanas ut eum superaret.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class = +"blackletter">k</span>, 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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_88" id = "illus_88"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_88.png" width = "294" height = "313" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>The next cut represents Satan tempting Christ by offering him stones +to be converted into bread.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page88" id = "page88"> +88</a></span> +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_89" id = "illus_89"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_89.png" width = "294" height = "464" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page89" id = "page89"> +89</a></span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page90" id = "page90"> +90</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_90" id = "illus_90"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_90.png" width = "279" height = "500" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page91" id = "page91"> +91</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_91" id = "illus_91"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_91.png" width = "287" height = "508" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page92" id = "page92"> +92</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_92" id = "illus_92"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_92.png" width = "299" height = "262" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII66" id = "tagII66" href = +"#noteII66">II.66</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page93" id = "page93"> +93</a></span> +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,<a class = "tag" +name = "tagII67" id = "tagII67" href = "#noteII67">II.67</a> 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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII68" id = "tagII68" href = +"#noteII68">II.68</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <ins class = "correction" +title = "text reads ‘Apocalpyse’">Apocalypse</ins> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page94" id = "page94"> +94</a></span> +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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII69" id = +"tagII69" href = "#noteII69">II.69</a></p> + +<p>In a copy of the “Biblia Pauperum Predicatorum” from wood-blocks, +Heineken observed written: “<span class = +"smallcaps">S. Ansgarius</span> 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.<a +class = "tag" name = "tagII70" id = "tagII70" href = +"#noteII70">II.70</a> 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;<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII71" id = "tagII71" href = "#noteII71">II.71</a> and Heineken +observes that it might be from this passage that the “Biblia Pauperum +Predicatorum” was ascribed to the Bishop of Hamburg.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII72" id = +"tagII72" href = "#noteII72">II.72</a> 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.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page95" id = "page95"> +95</a></span> +<p>The book usually called the “Speculum Humanæ Salvationis,”<a class = +"tag" name = "tagII73" id = "tagII73" href = +"#noteII73">II.73</a>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The four controverted editions of the Speculum may be considered as +holding a middle place between block-books,—which are wholly +executed, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page96" id = "page96"> +96</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_96" id = "illus_96"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_96.png" width = "375" height = "202" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page97" id = "page97"> +97</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_97" id = "illus_97"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_97.png" width = "372" height = "399" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "blackletter">Inchoatur speculum humanae salvacionis</p> +<p class = "blackletter">In quo patet casus hominis et modus +repactionis.</p> +</div> + +<p>Which may be translated into English thus:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>In the Mirror of Salvation here is represented plain</p> +<p>The fall of man, and by what means he made his peace again.</p> +</div> + +<p>The following is the right-hand compartment of the same cut. The +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page98" id = "page98"> +98</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_98" id = "illus_98"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_98.png" width = "372" height = "402" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p><!-- no indent -->The first two lines of the text in the column +underneath this cut are,</p> + +<div class = "verse blackletter"> +<p>Mulier autem in paradiso est <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘formato’">formata</ins></p> +<p>De costis viri dormienti est parata.</p> +</div> + +<p><!-- no indent -->That is, in English rhyme of similar measure,</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>The woman was in Paradise for man an help meet made,</p> +<p>From Adam’s rib created as he asleep was laid.</p> +</div> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page99" id = "page99"> +99</a></span> +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<a class = "tag" name = "tagII74" id = +"tagII74" href = "#noteII74">II.74</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Speculum Salvationis, as printed in the editions previously +noticed, is only a portion of a larger work with the same title, and +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page100" id = "page100"> +100</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII75" id = "tagII75" href = "#noteII75">II.75</a> 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.</p> + +<p>Though the Speculum from the time of the publication of Junius’s +work<a class = "tag" name = "tagII76" id = "tagII76" href = +"#noteII76">II.76</a> 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,<a class = "tag" name = "tagII77" id = +"tagII77" href = "#noteII77">II.77</a> 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.</p> + +<p>Heineken, who assumed that the work was of German origin, insisted +that the <i>first</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page101" id = "page101"> +101</a></span> +Scheffer, and that the cuts in this <i>second</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" +name = "tagII78" id = "tagII78" href = "#noteII78">II.78</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII79" id = "tagII79" href = "#noteII79">II.79</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page102" id = "page102"> +102</a></span> +answered by a simple negative, leaving the person who puts them forth to +make out a probable case.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class = "hanging"> +<p>1. The Latin edition in which part of the text is printed from +wood-blocks.</p> + +<p>2. The Latin edition in which the text is entirely printed from +moveable types.</p> + +<p>3. The Dutch edition with the text printed wholly from moveable +types, supposed by Meerman to be the <i>first edition</i> of all.<a +class = "tag" name = "tagII80" id = "tagII80" href = +"#noteII80">II.80</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> +</div> + +<p>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 <i>earliest of all</i>; 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, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page103" id = "page103"> +103</a></span> +have been printed subsequently to the other two.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII81" id = "tagII81" href = "#noteII81">II.81</a> Which of the +pretended <i>first</i> editions was in reality the <i>last</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>first Latin</i> with a +copy of that called the <i>second Dutch</i>, 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 <i>second +Dutch</i> edition was in fact of an earlier date than the pretended +<i>first Latin</i> edition of Heineken. In further comparing the above +editions with the supposed <i>second Latin</i> edition of Heineken and +the supposed <i>first Dutch</i> 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 <i>second Dutch</i>. 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 <i>first</i> Latin and Dutch editions +contained similar fractures, it could not be determined with certainty +which was actually the <i>last</i>.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page104" id = "page104"> +104</a></span> +<p>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,”<a class = "tag" name += "tagII82" id = "tagII82" href = "#noteII82">II.82</a> as engravers +say, to the block. In the last cut<a class = "tag" name = "tagII83" id = +"tagII83" href = "#noteII83">II.83</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page105" id = "page105"> +105</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As the first edition of the Speculum was printed subsequent to the +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page106" id = "page106"> +106</a></span> +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.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII84" id = "tagII84" href = "#noteII84">II.84</a> 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,—</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +“Est quoddam prodire tenus, si non datur ultra.”</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page107" id = "page107"> +107</a></span> +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.<a +class = "tag" name = "tagII85" id = "tagII85" href = +"#noteII85">II.85</a></p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII86" id = "tagII86" href = +"#noteII86">II.86</a> G, David with <ins class = "correction" +title = "text reads ‘Goliah’s’">Goliath’s</ins> 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 <a href = "#illus_109">page 109</a>.] L, a man +with a long sword, as if about to pierce a figure reclining. [Engraved +as +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page108" id = "page108"> +108</a></span> +a specimen at <a href = "#illus_110">page 110</a>.] 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 <a href = "#illus_111">page 111</a>.] The last cut is +the ornamental flower, of which a copy is given at <a class = "error" +href = "#illus_112" title = "text reads ‘page 113’">page 112</a>.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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 ‘<i>London</i>’ 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.”</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_109" id = "illus_109"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_109.png" width = "332" height = "464" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page109" id = "page109"> +109</a></span> +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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page110" id = "page110"> +110</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_110" id = "illus_110"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_110.png" width = "325" height = "460" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page111" id = "page111"> +111</a></span> +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, +“<i>Mon Ame</i>.” At <a href = "#illus_109">page 109</a>, 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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_111" id = "illus_111"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_111.png" width = "330" height = "457" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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 “<i>London</i>;” 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 “<i>Bethemsted</i>.” In this name the letter B is not unlike a +W; and I have heard it conjectured that the name might be that of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page112" id = "page112"> +112</a></span> +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 “<i>R. Beths.</i>,” which is in all probability +intended for an abbreviation of the name, “<i>Bethemsted</i>,” 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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_112" id = "illus_112"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_112.png" width = "333" height = "440" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page113" id = "page113"> +113</a></span> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a +class = "tag" name = "tagII87" id = "tagII87" href = +"#noteII87">II.87</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The “<span class = "smallcaps">Ars Memorandi</span>” is considered by +Schelhorn<a class = "tag" name = "tagII88" id = "tagII88" href = +"#noteII88">II.88</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page114" id = "page114"> +114</a></span> +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.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII89" id = "tagII89" href = "#noteII89">II.89</a> At the foot of +each page of text is a letter of the alphabet, commencing with <span +class = "blackletter">a</span>, 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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII90" id = "tagII90" href = +"#noteII90">II.90</a></p> + +<p>“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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII91" id = +"tagII91" href = "#noteII91">II.91</a></p> + +<p>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.<a class = +"tag" name = "tagII92" id = "tagII92" href = "#noteII92">II.92</a> The +lute on the breast of the eagle, with something like three bells<a class += "tag" name = "tagII93" id = "tagII93" href = "#noteII93">II.93</a> +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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page115" id = "page115"> +115</a></span> +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.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagII94" id = "tagII94" href = "#noteII94">II.94</a></p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_115" id = "illus_115"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_115.png" width = "210" height = "289" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>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. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page116" id = "page116"> +116</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,”<a class = +"tag" name = "tagII95" id = "tagII95" href = "#noteII95">II.95</a> 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: “<span class = "blackletter">jorg schapff zu +augspurg</span>.” 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.</p> + +<p>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: “<span class = "blackletter">Hans eporer, 1473, +hat diss puch pruffmo er</span>.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagII96" id = +"tagII96" href = "#noteII96">II.96</a></p> + +<p>Of the book named in German “<span class = "blackletter">Der +Entkrist</span>”—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: “<span class = +"blackletter">Der jung hanss priffmaler hat das puch zu nurenberg, +1472</span>.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The early wood-engravers, besides books of cuts, executed others +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page117" id = "page117"> +117</a></span> +consisting of text only, of which several portions are preserved in +public libraries in Germany,<a class = "tag" name = "tagII97" id = +"tagII97" href = "#noteII97">II.97</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagII98" id = +"tagII98" href = "#noteII98">II.98</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span +class = "smallroman">PRESS</span>; 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.</p> + +<div class = "footnote"> + + +<p><a name = "noteII1" id = "noteII1" href = "#tagII1">II.1</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII2" id = "noteII2" href = "#tagII2">II.2</a> +Cards—<i>Carten</i>—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, <i>Carten</i>, Schofzagel, Pretspil, und Kugeln, umb einen +pfenink zwen zu vier poten.” That is: <ins class = "correction" title = +"“ missing">“always</ins> excepting horse-racing, shooting with +cross-bows, <i>cards</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII3" id = "noteII3" href = "#tagII3">II.3</a> +In the town-books of Nuremberg a Hans <i>Formansneider</i> occurs so +early as 1397, which De Murr says is not meant for “wood engraver,” but +is to be read thus: <i>Hans Forman, Schneider</i>; that is, “Ihon +Forman, maister-fashionere,” or, in modern phrase, “tailor.” The word +“<i>Karter</i>” 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII4" id = "noteII4" href = "#tagII4">II.4</a> +“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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII5" id = "noteII5" href = "#tagII5">II.5</a> +This celebrated version, in the Mœso-Gothic language, is preserved in +the library of Upsal in Sweden.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII6" id = "noteII6" href = "#tagII6">II.6</a> +Osservazioni sulla Chirotipografia, ossia Antica Arte di Stampare a +mano. Opera di D. Vincenzo Requeno. Roma 1810, 8vo.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII7" id = "noteII7" href = "#tagII7">II.7</a> +Fuseli, at p. 85 of Ottley’s Inquiry; and Breitkopf, Versuch +d. Ursprungs der Spielkarten <ins class = "correction" title = +"text reads ‘Zuerforschen’">Zu erforschen</ins>, 2 Theil, +S. 175.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII8" id = "noteII8" href = "#tagII8">II.8</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII9" id = "noteII9" href = "#tagII9">II.9</a> +“Liber iste, <i>Laus Virginis</i> 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII10" id = "noteII10" href = "#tagII10">II.10</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII11" id = "noteII11" href = "#tagII11">II.11</a> +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.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII12" id = "noteII12" href = "#tagII12">II.12</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII13" id = "noteII13" href = "#tagII13">II.13</a> +See Brand’s Popular Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 359-364.—Bohn’s +edition.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII14" id = "noteII14" href = "#tagII14">II.14</a> +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 <i>fac-simile</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII15" id = "noteII15" href = "#tagII15">II.15</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII16" id = "noteII16" href = "#tagII16">II.16</a> +Von Murr, Journal, 2 Theil, S. 105, 106.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII17" id = "noteII17" href = "#tagII17">II.17</a> +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.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII18" id = "noteII18" href = "#tagII18">II.18</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII19" id = "noteII19" href = "#tagII19">II.19</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII20" id = "noteII20" href = "#tagII20">II.20</a> +An engraving of this seal is given in the first volume of Meerman’s +Origines Typographicæ.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII21" id = "noteII21" href = "#tagII21">II.21</a> +Heineken, Neue Nachrichten von Künstlern und Kunstsachen. Dresden und +Leipzig, 1786, S. 143.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII22" id = "noteII22" href = "#tagII22">II.22</a> +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.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII23" id = "noteII23" href = "#tagII23">II.23</a> +St. Alexius returning unknown to his father’s house, as a poor pilgrim, +was treated with great indignity by the servants.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII24" id = "noteII24" href = "#tagII24">II.24</a> +Von Murr, Journal, 2 Theil, S. 113-115.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII25" id = "noteII25" href = "#tagII25">II.25</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII26" id = "noteII26" href = "#tagII26">II.26</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII27" id = "noteII27" href = "#tagII27">II.27</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII28" id = "noteII28" href = "#tagII28">II.28</a> +A copy of the Speculum belonging to the city of Harlem had at the +commencement, “<i>Ex Officina Laurentii Joannis Costeri. Anno 1440</i>.” +But this inscription had been inserted by a modern hand—Idée +Générale, p. 449.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII29" id = "noteII29" href = "#tagII29">II.29</a> +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 <i>a</i>, 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 +<i>rédacteur’s</i> power of ascertaining who were the writers of ancient +MS. notes appears little short of miraculous.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII30" id = "noteII30" href = "#tagII30">II.30</a> +Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. i. p. 4, cited in Ottley’s Inquiry, vol. +i. p. 99.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII31" id = "noteII31" href = "#tagII31">II.31</a> +Singer’s Researches into the History of Playing-cards, p. 107.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII32" id = "noteII32" href = "#tagII32">II.32</a> +Index Librorum ab inventa Typographia ad annum 1500, No. 37.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII33" id = "noteII33" href = "#tagII33">II.33</a> +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, <i>Per me Rich-en-bach illigatus in Gysslingen 1470</i>.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII34" id = "noteII34" href = "#tagII34">II.34</a> +“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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII35" id = "noteII35" href = "#tagII35">II.35</a> +Mr. Singer, at page 101 of his Researches into the History of +Playing-cards, speaks of “<i>one</i> Plebanus of Augsburg,” as if +Plebanus were a proper name. It has nearly the same meaning as our own +word “Curate.” “<span class = "smallcaps">Plebanus</span>, Parœcus, +Curio, Sacerdos, qui <i>plebi</i> præest; Italis, <i>Piovano</i>; +Gallo-Belgis, <i>Pleban</i>. 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.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII36" id = "noteII36" href = "#tagII36">II.36</a> +Idée Générale, pp. 334-370.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII37" id = "noteII37" href = "#tagII37">II.37</a> +In the copy of the Biblia Pauperum in the British Museum,</p> + +<table> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td>Inches.</td> +<td>Inches.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>The largest cut is</td> +<td>10-4/8 high, and</td> +<td>7-5/8 wide.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>The smallest —</td> +<td>10-1/8 —  —</td> +<td>7-5/8 —</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class = "continue"> +In the Historia Virginis, also in the British Museum,</p> + +<table> +<tr> +<td>The largest cut is</td> +<td>10-3/8 high, and</td> +<td>7-2/8 wide.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>The smallest —</td> +<td>9-7/8 —   —</td> +<td>6-7/8 —</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><a name = "noteII38" id = "noteII38" href = "#tagII38">II.38</a> +The two which are wanting are those numbered 36 and 37—that is, +the second <span class = "blackletter">s</span>, and the first <span +class = "blackletter">t</span>—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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII39" id = "noteII39" href = "#tagII39">II.39</a> +Witness Rembrandt, who never gets rid of the Dutch character, no matter +how elevated his subject may be.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII40" id = "noteII40" href = "#tagII40">II.40</a> +Revelations, chap. xi. verses 3d and 4th.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII41" id = "noteII41" href = "#tagII41">II.41</a> +Idée Générale, p. 376.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII42" id = "noteII42" href = "#tagII42">II.42</a> +Inquiry, vol. i. p. 140.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII43" id = "noteII43" href = "#tagII43">II.43</a> +Inquiry, p. 140.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII44" id = "noteII44" href = "#tagII44">II.44</a> +Inquiry, p. 144, vol. i.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII45" id = "noteII45" href = "#tagII45">II.45</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII46" id = "noteII46" href = "#tagII46">II.46</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII47" id = "noteII47" href = "#tagII47">II.47</a> +Landseer’s Lectures on the Art of Engraving, pp. 201-205, 8vo. London, +1807.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII48" id = "noteII48" href = "#tagII48">II.48</a> +Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 374. Von Murr, Journal, 2 Theil, +S. 43.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII49" id = "noteII49" href = "#tagII49">II.49</a> +Song of Solomon, chap. iv. verse 4.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII50" id = "noteII50" href = "#tagII50">II.50</a> +Those arms are to be seen in Sebastiana Munsteri Cosmographia, cap. De +Regione Wirtenbergensi, p. 592. Folio, Basiliæ, apud Henrichum +Petri, 1554.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII51" id = "noteII51" href = "#tagII51">II.51</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII52" id = "noteII52" href = "#tagII52">II.52</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII53" id = "noteII53" href = "#tagII53">II.53</a> +Inquiry, p. 142.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII54" id = "noteII54" href = "#tagII54">II.54</a> +“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 <i>Biblia Pauperum</i>,—<i>the +Bible of the Poor</i>,—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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII55" id = "noteII55" href = "#tagII55">II.55</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII56" id = "noteII56" href = "#tagII56">II.56</a> +J. D. Schœpflin, Vindiciæ Typographicæ, p. 7, 4to. Argentorati, +1760.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII57" id = "noteII57" href = "#tagII57">II.57</a> +Ger. Meerman, Origines Typographicæ, P. 1, p. 241. 4to. Hagæ Comit. +1765.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII58" id = "noteII58" href = "#tagII58">II.58</a> +Idée Générale, p. 292, note.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII59" id = "noteII59" href = "#tagII59">II.59</a> +Camus, speaking of one of those manuscripts compared with the +block-book, observes: “Ce dernier abrégé méritoit bien le nom de <span +class = "smallcaps">Biblia Pauperum</span>, par comparison aux tableaux +complets de la Bible que je viens d’indiquer. Des ouvrages tels que les +tableaux complets ne pouvoient être que <span class = "smallcaps">Biblia +Divitum</span>.”—Notice d’un Livre imprimé à Bamberg en 1462, +p. 12, note. 4to. Paris, 1800.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII60" id = "noteII60" href = "#tagII60">II.60</a> +“Entre ces abrégés [de la Bible] on remarque le <span class = +"smallcaps">Speculum Humanæ Salvationis</span> et le <span class = +"smallcaps">Biblia Pauperum</span>. 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII61" id = "noteII61" href = "#tagII61">II.61</a> +“Librorum qui ante Reformationem in scholis Daniæ legebantur, Notitia. +Hafniæ, 1784;” referred to by Camus, Notice d’un Livre, +&c. p. 10.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII62" id = "noteII62" href = "#tagII62">II.62</a> +Inquiry, vol. i. p. 129.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII63" id = "noteII63" href = "#tagII63">II.63</a> +Idée Générale, p. 307, 308.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII64" id = "noteII64" href = "#tagII64">II.64</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII65" id = "noteII65" href = "#tagII65">II.65</a> +“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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII66" id = "noteII66" href = "#tagII66">II.66</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII67" id = "noteII67" href = "#tagII67">II.67</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII68" id = "noteII68" href = "#tagII68">II.68</a> +Inquiry, vol. i. p. 130.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII69" id = "noteII69" href = "#tagII69">II.69</a> +Notice d’un Livre, &c. p. 11.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII70" id = "noteII70" href = "#tagII70">II.70</a> +Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 319.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII71" id = "noteII71" href = "#tagII71">II.71</a> +Ornhielm’s book was printed in 4to. at Stockholm, 1689. The passage +referred to is as follows: “Quos <i>per numeros et signa</i> +conscripsisse cum [Ansgarium] libros Rembertus memorat indigitatos +<i>pigmentorum</i> vocabulo, eos continuisse, palam est, quasdam aut e +divinarum literarum, aut pie doctorum patrum scriptis, pericopas et +sententias.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII72" id = "noteII72" href = "#tagII72">II.72</a> +“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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII73" id = "noteII73" href = "#tagII73">II.73</a> +It is sometimes named “Speculum Figuratum;” and Junius in his account of +Coster’s invention calls it “Speculum Nostræ Salutis.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII74" id = "noteII74" href = "#tagII74">II.74</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII75" id = "noteII75" href = "#tagII75">II.75</a> +Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 474.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII76" id = "noteII76" href = "#tagII76">II.76</a> +The “Batavia” or Junius, in which the name of Lawrence Coster first +appears as a printer, was published in 1588.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII77" id = "noteII77" href = "#tagII77">II.77</a> +Dissertation sur l’Origine et les Progrès de l’Art de Graver en Bois. +Par M. Fournier le Jeune, 8vo. Paris, 1758.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII78" id = "noteII78" href = "#tagII78">II.78</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII79" id = "noteII79" href = "#tagII79">II.79</a> +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.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII80" id = "noteII80" href = "#tagII80">II.80</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII81" id = "noteII81" href = "#tagII81">II.81</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII82" id = "noteII82" href = "#tagII82">II.82</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII83" id = "noteII83" href = "#tagII83">II.83</a> +The subject is Daniel explaining to Belshazzar the writing on the +wall.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII84" id = "noteII84" href = "#tagII84">II.84</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII85" id = "noteII85" href = "#tagII85">II.85</a> +<span class = "figfloat"> +<a name = "illus_107" id = "illus_107"> +<img src = "images/illus_107.png" width = "35" height = "74" +alt = "see text"></a></span> +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 <a href = "#illus_62">page 62</a>, 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII86" id = "noteII86" href = "#tagII86">II.86</a> +The initial F, at the commencement of this chapter, is a reduced copy of +the letter here described.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII87" id = "noteII87" href = "#tagII87">II.87</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII88" id = "noteII88" href = "#tagII88">II.88</a> +“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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII89" id = "noteII89" href = "#tagII89">II.89</a> +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: <ins class = "correction" title = "open quote missing">“<i>Ars</i></ins> <i>memorandi notabilis per figuras +Ewangelistarum hic ex post descriptam quam diligens lector diligenter +legat et practiset per signa localia ut in practica +experitur</i>.”—“En horridum et incomtum dicendi genus, +Priscianumque misere vapulantem!” exclaims Schelhorn.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII90" id = "noteII90" href = "#tagII90">II.90</a> +Heineken, Idée Générale, p. 394.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII91" id = "noteII91" href = "#tagII91">II.91</a> +Über die frühesten universal historischen Folgen der Erfindung der +Buchdruckerkunst, von J. Christ. Freyherrn Von Aretin, S. 18. +4to. Munich, 1808.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII92" id = "noteII92" href = "#tagII92">II.92</a> +“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus +Christ.”—St. John’s Gospel, chap. i. v. 17.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII93" id = "noteII93" href = "#tagII93">II.93</a> +“Forte tamen ea, quæ tintinnabulis haud videntur dissimilia, +nummulariorum loculos et pecuniæ receptacula referunt.”—Schelhorn, +Amœnit. Liter. tom. i. p. 10.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII94" id = "noteII94" href = "#tagII94">II.94</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII95" id = "noteII95" href = "#tagII95">II.95</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII96" id = "noteII96" href = "#tagII96">II.96</a> +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,—<i>Durer</i>, +or, as his father’s name was sometimes spelled, <i>Thurer</i>.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII97" id = "noteII97" href = "#tagII97">II.97</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteII98" id = "noteII98" href = "#tagII98">II.98</a> +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.</p> + +</div> +</div> +<!-- end div maintext --> + +<div class = "correction"> +<h5>Errors in Chapter II</h5> +<p><span class = "citation"> +The term <i>Formschneider</i>, which was originally used</span><br> +Fornschneider</p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +lustra / cors . apientie</span><br> +<i>printed as shown: probably error for “lustra / tor . +sapientie”</i></p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +much better calculated to overthrow.<sup>II.43</sup></span><br> +overthrow.”</p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +“Confute the exciseman and puzzle the vicar,—”</span><br> +<i>close quote missing</i></p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +On these I have nothing to remark further</span><br> +futher</p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +not in the belief that I have made any important discovery</span><br> +<i>final t in “important” invisible</i></p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +not so old as either the Apocalypse or the History of the +Virgin</span><br> +Apocalpyse</p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +Mulier autem in paradiso est formata</span><br> +formato</p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +David with Goliath’s head</span><br> +Goliah’s</p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +The title at full length is as follows: “<i>Ars memorandi</i></span><br> +<i>open quote missing</i></p> + +<p>Footnote II.2</p> +<p class = "continue"> +<span class = "citation">That is: “always excepting</span><br> +<i>open quote missing</i></p> +<p>Footnote II-7</p> +<p class = "continue"> +<span class = "citation">der Spielkarten Zu erforschen,</span><br> +Zuerforschen</p> +</div> + + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page118" id = "page118"> +118</a></span> +<h3><a name = "chap_III" id = "chap_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br> +<span class = "subhead">INVENTION OF TYPOGRAPHY.</span></h3> + +<p class = "synopsis"> +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.</p> + +<div class = "maintext"> + +<p class = "first"> +<span class = "firstword"><span class = "dropcap"> +<a name = "illus_118" id = "illus_118"> +<img src = "images/illus_118.png" width = "138" height = "185" +alt = "B"></a></span>efore</span> 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.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page119" id = "page119"> +119</a></span> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII1" id = "tagIII1" href = +"#noteIII1">III.1</a> 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:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>In dieser tyt sterf menschelyc</p> +<p>Die goede vedelare Lodewyc;</p> +<p>Die de beste was die voor dien</p> +<p>In de werelt ye was ghesien</p> +<p>Van makene ende metter hant;</p> +<p>Van Vaelbeke in Brabant</p> +<p>Alsoe was hy ghenant.</p> +<p>Hy was d’erste die vant</p> +<p>Van Stampien die manieren</p> +<p>Diemen noch hoert antieren.</p> +</div> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>This year the way of all flesh went</p> +<p>Ludwig, the fidler most excellent;</p> +<p>For handy-work a man of name;</p> +<p>From Vaelbeke in Brabant he came.</p> +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page120" id = "page120"> +120</a></span> +<p>He was the first who did find out</p> +<p>The art of beating time, no doubt,</p> +<p>(Displaying thus his meikle <ins class = "correction" title = +"closing parenthesis missing">skill,)</ins></p> +<p>And fidlers all practise it still.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII2" +id = "tagIII2" href = "#noteIII2">III.2</a></p> +</div> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII3" id = "tagIII3" href = +"#noteIII3">III.3</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<sup>o</sup> +ſtmp̄<sup>to</sup> 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<sup>to</sup>, 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 “<i>non +scripto</i>,” 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,”— +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page121" id = "page121"> +121</a></span> +“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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>printed</i>, if I may here use the +term, by means of friction. Although there is no mention of a +<i>press</i> 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 +“<i>Prenters</i>”. 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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII4" id = "tagIII4" href = +"#noteIII4">III.4</a></p> + +<p>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 <i>Printers</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page122" id = "page122"> +122</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" +name = "tagIII5" id = "tagIII5" href = "#noteIII5">III.5</a> 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 “<i>Doctrinale gette en mole</i>” 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII6" +id = "tagIII6" href = "#noteIII6">III.6</a> however, has most clearly +shown, from the same chronicle, that the actual testimony of Ulric Zell +is directly in opposition +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page123" id = "page123"> +123</a></span> +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,<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII7" id += "tagIII7" href = "#noteIII7">III.7</a> 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 <i>fanciful +people</i> who say that books were printed before; but <i>this is not +true</i>; <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘foe’">for</ins> +in no country are books to be found printed before that time.”<a class = +"tag" name = "tagIII8" id = "tagIII8" href = "#noteIII8">III.8</a></p> + +<p>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,”<a +class = "tag" name = "tagIII9" id = "tagIII9" href = +"#noteIII9">III.9</a> printed from wood-blocks. In the petition of +Conrad Sweinheim and Arnold Pannartz, two Germans, who first established +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page124" id = "page124"> +124</a></span> +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, “<span +class = "smallcaps">Donati</span> pro puerulis, unde <span class = +"smallroman">IMPRIMENDI INITIUM</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Gutemberg was descended of an honourable family, and he himself is +said to have been by birth a knight.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII10" +id = "tagIII10" href = "#noteIII10">III.10</a> 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.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII11" id = "tagIII11" href = "#noteIII11">III.11</a></p> + +<p>When Gutemberg called himself der Junge, or junior, it was doubtless +to distinguish himself from Gænsfleisch <i>der Elter</i>, 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page125" id = "page125"> +125</a></span> +St. Thomas at Strasburg, he is thus expressly named: “<i>Joannes dictus +Gensfleisch alias nuncupatus Gutenberg de Moguncia, Argentinæ +commorans</i>;” that is, “John Gænsfleisch, otherwise named Gutemberg, +of Mentz, residing at Strasburg.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII12" id = +"tagIII12" href = "#noteIII12">III.12</a> 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<a class = "tag" name += "tagIII13" id = "tagIII13" href = "#noteIII13">III.13</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 “<i>die ytzund nit inlendig sint</i>”—“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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII14" id = "tagIII14" href = +"#noteIII14">III.14</a> 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.</p> + +<p>From 1436 to 1444 the name of Gutemberg appears among the +“<i>Constaflers</i>” 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,<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII15" id = "tagIII15" +href = "#noteIII15">III.15</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page126" id = "page126"> +126</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII16" id = "tagIII16" href = +"#noteIII16">III.16</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page127" id = "page127"> +127</a></span> +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.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII17" id = "tagIII17" href = "#noteIII17">III.17</a></p> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII18" id = "tagIII18" href = +"#noteIII18">III.18</a> 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 <i>pieces</i>” 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.</p> + +<p>Hans Schultheis, a dealer in wood, and Ann his wife, depose to the +following effect: After the death of Andrew Drytzehn, Gutemberg’s +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page128" id = "page128"> +128</a></span> +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.”<a class = "tag error" name += "tagIII19" id = "tagIII19" href = "#noteIII19" title = "footnote tag missing">III.19</a></p> + +<p>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 <i>as you made the press</i> +and know all about it, go and take the <i>pieces</i><a class = "tag" +name = "tagIII20" id = "tagIII20" href = "#noteIII20">III.20</a> 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<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII21" id = "tagIII21" href = "#noteIII21">III.21</a> he found that +the work was removed.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" +name = "tagIII22" id = "tagIII22" href = "#noteIII22">III.22</a> The +same witness also states that he was well aware of many people being +wishful +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page129" id = "page129"> +129</a></span> +to see the press, and that Gutemberg had desired that they should send +some person to prevent its being seen.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII23" id = "tagIII23" +href = "#noteIII23">III.23</a></p> + +<p>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 <i>press</i> and of <i>printing</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 “<i>chase</i>” 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>lead</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page130" id = "page130"> +130</a></span> +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,<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII24" id = "tagIII24" +href = "#noteIII24">III.24</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII25" id = "tagIII25" +href = "#noteIII25">III.25</a> It is, however, to be remarked that the +passages cited by Schœpflin, and referred to by Oberlin, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page131" id = "page131"> +131</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Catholicon</i>, from letters cut on blocks of wood. +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page132" id = "page132"> +132</a></span> +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 +<i>matrices</i>, 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 <i>quaternion</i> [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.”<a class = +"tag" name = "tagIII26" id = "tagIII26" href = +"#noteIII26">III.26</a></p> + +<p>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 +<i>matrices</i> 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:<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII27" id = "tagIII27" +href = "#noteIII27">III.27</a> 1. That the “subtiliora,”—more +subtle contrivances, mentioned <i>before</i> the invention of casting +moveable letters, may relate to the cutting +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page133" id = "page133"> +133</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<a class = "tag" +name = "tagIII28" id = "tagIII28" href = "#noteIII28">III.28</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII29" id = +"tagIII29" href = "#noteIII29">III.29</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page134" id = "page134"> +134</a></span> +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.<a +class = "tag" name = "tagIII30" id = "tagIII30" href = +"#noteIII30">III.30</a></p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII31" id = "tagIII31" href = +"#noteIII31">III.31</a> 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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII32" +id = "tagIII32" href = "#noteIII32">III.32</a></p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page135" id = "page135"> +135</a></span> +6th November, 1455.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII33" id = "tagIII33" +href = "#noteIII33">III.33</a> It would appear that Gutemberg not being +able to repay the money was obliged to relinquish the printing materials +to Faust.</p> + +<p>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 <i>vice versâ</i>, the account is correct.</p> + +<p>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 “<i>Catholicon</i>” 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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII34" id = +"tagIII34" href = "#noteIII34">III.34</a> Whatever may have been the +book which Trithemius describes as a “Catholicon,” it certainly was not +the “<i>Catholicon Joannis Januensis</i>,” 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Vincentii Bellovacensis Speculum Historiale</i> in +1473, were printed with moveable types of wood. It is, however, doubtful +if ever a single book was printed in this manner.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page136" id = "page136"> +136</a></span> +<p>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 “<i>Eyn Manung der +Cristenheit widder die durken</i>,” 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII35" id = "tagIII35" href = "#noteIII35">III.35</a> 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,<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII36" id = +"tagIII36" href = "#noteIII36">III.36</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page137" id = "page137"> +137</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Erffurdie</i> +sub anno Domini m cccc liiij, die vero <i>quinta decima</i> mensis +<i>novembris</i>.” 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 “<i>Forma plenissimæ absolutionis et remissionis in vita et in +mortis articulo</i>,”—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 +<i>Luneborch</i> anno Domini m cccc l <i>quinto</i>, die vero +<i>vicesima sexta</i> mensis <i>Januarii</i>.” 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 <i>quinto</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page138" id = "page138"> +138</a></span> +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.<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII37" id = "tagIII37" href = "#noteIII37">III.37</a> Two words, +<span class = "smallroman">UNIVERSIS</span> and <span class = +"smallroman">PAULINUS</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>The next earliest specimen of typography with a date is the tract +entitled “<i>Eyn Manung der Cristenkeit widder die durken</i>,”—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 “<i>Als man +zelet noch din’ geburt offenbar m.cccc.lv. iar sieben wochen und iiii do +by von nativitatis bis esto michi</i>.” 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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII38" id = "tagIII38" href += "#noteIII38">III.38</a></p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII39" id = "tagIII39" href = +"#noteIII39">III.39</a> +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page139" id = "page139"> +139</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII40" id = +"tagIII40" href = "#noteIII40">III.40</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<a +class = "tag" name = "tagIII41" id = "tagIII41" href = +"#noteIII41">III.41</a> and bound has written the following memorandum: +“<i>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.</i>” At the end of the second +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page140" id = "page140"> +140</a></span> +volume the same person has written the date in words at length: “<i>Iste +liber illuminatus, ligatus & completus est p’ henricum Cremer +vicariū ecclesie <ins class = "correction" title = "printed with ‘ur’ ligature">collegat<i>ur</i></ins> Sancti Stephani maguntini sub anno +D’ni millesimo quadringentesimo quinquagesimo sexto festo assumptionis +gloriose virginis Marie. Deo gracias alleluja.</i>”<a class = "tag" name += "tagIII42" id = "tagIII42" href = "#noteIII42">III.42</a> Fischer<a +class = "tag" name = "tagIII43" id = "tagIII43" href = +"#noteIII43">III.43</a> says that this last memorandum assigns “einen +<ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘spatern’">spätern</ins> +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 <i>second</i> volume was finished, is on the 15th of August: while +the feast of St. Bartholomew, the day on which he finished the +<i>first</i>, falls on August 24th. Lambinet,<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII44" id = "tagIII44" href = "#noteIII44">III.44</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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,”<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII45" id = "tagIII45" href = "#noteIII45">III.45</a> 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<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII46" id = "tagIII46" href = "#noteIII46">III.46</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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, +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page141" id = "page141"> +141</a></span> +that there were then two printers at Mentz skilful in printing on +parchment with metal types. The name of one was <i>Cutemberg</i>, and +the other Faust; and it was known that each of them could print three +hundred sheets in a day.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII47" id = +"tagIII47" href = "#noteIII47">III.47</a> 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.”<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII48" id = "tagIII48" href = "#noteIII48">III.48</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The words translated “certain forms, letters, utensils, materials, +and other things belonging to printing,” in the preceding paragraph, are +in the original enumerated as: “<i>etliche formen</i>, +<i>buchstaben</i>, <i>instrument</i>, <i>gezuge und anders zu truckwerck +gehoerende</i>.” 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” +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page142" id = "page142"> +142</a></span> +mentioned in the document. As there appears to be a distinction also +between “<i>instrument</i>” and “<i>gezuge</i>,”—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 “<i>der +Zeug</i>”—literally, “stuff,” and that the mixed metal of which +types are composed is also known as “der Zeug, oder Metall.”<a class = +"tag" name = "tagIII49" id = "tagIII49" href = "#noteIII49">III.49</a> +It is to be remembered that the earliest printers were also their own +letter-founders.</p> + +<p>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.<a +class = "tag" name = "tagIII50" id = "tagIII50" href = +"#noteIII50">III.50</a> 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.”<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII51" id = "tagIII51" href = "#noteIII51">III.51</a></p> + +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page143" id = "page143"> +143</a></span> +<p>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 <i>Augustinus de Vita Christiana</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII52" id = +"tagIII52" href = "#noteIII52">III.52</a></p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page144" id = "page144"> +144</a></span> +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,<a +class = "tag" name = "tagIII53" id = "tagIII53" href = +"#noteIII53">III.53</a> 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:<a class = "tag" +name = "tagIII54" id = "tagIII54" href = "#noteIII54">III.54</a></p> + +<p class = "center smallroman"> +“D. O. M. S.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>“Jo. Guttenbergensi, Moguntino, qui primus omnium literas ære +imprimendas invenit, hac arte de orbe toto bene merenti Ivo Witigisis +hoc saxum pro monimento posuit <span class = +"smallroman">M.D.VII.</span>”</p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII55" id = +"tagIII55" href = "#noteIII55">III.55</a></p> + +<p>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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII56" id = "tagIII56" href = +"#noteIII56">III.56</a> About fourteen years must have +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page145" id = "page145"> +145</a></span> +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 <span class = "smallcaps">Press</span>, by means of which +numerous impressions from his types might be perfectly and rapidly +obtained.</p> + +<p>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.”<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII57" id = "tagIII57" href = "#noteIII57">III.57</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page146" id = "page146"> +146</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page147" id = "page147"> +147</a></span> +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.”<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII58" id = "tagIII58" href = +"#noteIII58">III.58</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a +class = "tag" name = "tagIII59" id = "tagIII59" href = +"#noteIII59">III.59</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page148" id = "page148"> +148</a></span> +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;<a class = +"tag" name = "tagIII60" id = "tagIII60" href = "#noteIII60">III.60</a> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p><ins class = "correction" title = "text has superfluous open quote">About</ins> a hundred and twenty-eight years ago,<a class = "tag" +name = "tagIII61" id = "tagIII61" href = "#noteIII61">III.61</a> +Lawrence John, called the churchwarden or keeper,<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII62" id = "tagIII62" href = "#noteIII62">III.62</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page149" id = "page149"> +149</a></span> +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 <i>Speculum Nostræ Salutis</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>“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,—<i>infaustus</i><a class = +"tag" name = "tagIII63" id = "tagIII63" href = "#noteIII63">III.63</a> +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.<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII64" id = "tagIII64" href = +"#noteIII64">III.64</a> This person, who was admitted under an oath to +assist in printing, as soon as he thought he had attained +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page150" id = "page150"> +150</a></span> +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 ‘<i>Alexandri +Galli Doctrinale</i>,’ a grammar then in frequent use, with ‘<i>Petri +Hispani Tractatus</i>.’</p> + +<p>“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.”<a class = "tag" +name = "tagIII65" id = "tagIII65" href = "#noteIII65">III.65</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The manner in which Coster, according to the preceding account, first +discovered the principle of obtaining impressions from separate +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page151" id = "page151"> +151</a></span> +letters formed of the bark of the beech-tree requires no remark.<a class += "tag" name = "tagIII66" id = "tagIII66" href = "#noteIII66">III.66</a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page152" id = "page152"> +152</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +“<i>the</i> thief,” it is evident from this circumstance, as well as +from the express words of the narrative,<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII67" id = "tagIII67" href = "#noteIII67">III.67</a> 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?</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page153" id = "page153"> +153</a></span> +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,—</p> + +<p class = "verse"> +“O’er which lame faith leads understanding blind.”</p> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII68" id = "tagIII68" href += "#noteIII68">III.68</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page154" id = "page154"> +154</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Lehne, in his “Chronology of the Harlem fiction,”<a class = "tag" +name = "tagIII69" id = "tagIII69" href = "#noteIII69">III.69</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page155" id = "page155"> +155</a></span> +assumed; in short, the whole story of the invention was a fiction.<a +class = "tag" name = "tagIII70" id = "tagIII70" href = +"#noteIII70">III.70</a> After the publication of Schœpflin’s Vindiciæ +Typographicæ in 1760, giving proofs of Gutemberg having been engaged in +1438 with some invention relating to <i>printing</i>, and in which a +<i>press</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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,<a +class = "tag" name = "tagIII71" id = "tagIII71" href = +"#noteIII71">III.71</a> +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page156" id = "page156"> +156</a></span> +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 <i>Gænsfleisch</i>, he concludes +to have been intended for the elder brother. The second, inscribed by +Ivo Wittich to the memory of John <i>Gutemberg</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<a class = "tag" name = +"tagIII72" id = "tagIII72" href = "#noteIII72">III.72</a> 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.</p> + +<p>John Gænsfleisch the Elder, whom Meerman makes Gutemberg’s elder +brother, was descended from a branch of the numerous family of +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page157" id = "page157"> +157</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<a +class = "tag" name = "tagIII73" id = "tagIII73" href = +"#noteIII73">III.73</a> 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<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII74" id = +"tagIII74" href = "#noteIII74">III.74</a> makes the following +remarks:—</p> + +<p>“He gives up the name of John,—although it might be supposed +that old Cornelius would have known the name of his bedfellow better +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page158" id = "page158"> +158</a></span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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 +<i>satisfactory</i> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page159" id = "page159"> +159</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page160" id = "page160"> +160</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page161" id = "page161"> +161</a></span> +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 <ins class = "correction" title = "spelling unchanged">Ketelar</ins> and Leempt, who first established a +printing-office at Utrecht in 1473.</p> + +<p>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;”<a class = "tag" name = "tagIII75" +id = "tagIII75" href = "#noteIII75">III.75</a> 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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page162" id = "page162"> +162</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class = "pagenum"><a name = "page163" id = "page163"> +163</a></span> +the <i>proof</i> 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 <i>de novo</i>; 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.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "illus_163" id = "illus_163"> </a> +<img src = "images/illus_163.png" width = "147" height = "165" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<div class = "footnote"> + + +<p><a name = "noteIII1" id = "noteIII1" href = "#tagIII1">III.1</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII2" id = "noteIII2" href = "#tagIII2">III.2</a> +The following is the French translation of Monsieur Desroches: “En ces +temps mourut de la mort commune à tous les hommes, Louis <i>cet +excellent faiseur d’instrumens de musique</i>, 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 <ins class = +"correction" title = "text reads ‘rendn’">rendu</ins> <i>Vedelare</i> +par ‘faiseur d’instrumens de musique.’ Le mot radical <i>est vedel</i>, +violin: par consequent, <i>Vedelare</i> 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII3" id = "noteIII3" href = "#tagIII3">III.3</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII4" id = "noteIII4" href = "#tagIII4">III.4</a> +Lichtenberger, Initia Typographica, § De Prenteris ante inventam +Typographiam, p. 140.—Lambinet, Recherches sur l’Origine de +l’Imprimerie, p. 115.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII5" id = "noteIII5" href = "#tagIII5">III.5</a> +Reflexions sur deux pièces relatives à l’Hist. de l’Imprimerie. +Nivelles, 1780.—Lambinet, Recherches, p. 394.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII6" id = "noteIII6" href = "#tagIII6">III.6</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII7" id = "noteIII7" href = "#tagIII7">III.7</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII8" id = "noteIII8" href = "#tagIII8">III.8</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII9" id = "noteIII9" href = "#tagIII9">III.9</a> +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 <i>Donatus</i> et +<i>Confessionalia</i> primùm omnium anno <span class = +"smallroman">MCCCCL</span>. Admonitus certè fuit ex <i>Donato</i> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII10" id = "noteIII10" href = "#tagIII10">III.10</a> +Schwartz observes that in the instrument drawn up by the notary Ulric +Helmasperger, Gutemberg is styled “<i>Juncker</i>,” an honourable +addition which was at that period expressive of nobility.—Primaria +quædam Documenta de Origine Typographiæ, p. 20, 4to. Altorfii, +1740.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII11" id = "noteIII11" href = "#tagIII11">III.11</a> +“Morabatur autem prædictus Joannes Gutenberg Moguntiæ in domo <i>zum +Jungen</i>, quæ domus usque in præsentem diem [1513] illius novæ Artis +nomine noscitur insignita.”—Trithemii Chronicum Spanhemiense, ad +annum 1450.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII12" id = "noteIII12" href = "#tagIII12">III.12</a> +In the release which he grants to the town-clerk of Mentz, in 1434, he +describes himself as, “Johann Gensefleisch der Junge, genant +Gutemberg.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII13" id = "noteIII13" href = "#tagIII13">III.13</a> +In “Het derde Jubeljaer der uitgevondene Boekdrukkonst door Laurens +Jansz Koster,” p. 71. Harlem, 1740.—Oberlin, Essai +d’Annales.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII14" id = "noteIII14" href = "#tagIII14">III.14</a> +The release is given in Schœpflin’s Vindiciæ Typographicæ, +Documentum I.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII15" id = "noteIII15" href = "#tagIII15">III.15</a> +“<i>Ennelin zu der Iserin Thure.</i>” She was then living at Strasburg, +and was of an honourable family, originally of Alsace.—Schœpflin. +Vind. Typ. p. 17.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII16" id = "noteIII16" href = "#tagIII16">III.16</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII17" id = "noteIII17" href = "#tagIII17">III.17</a> +This decision is dated “On the Eve of St. Lucia and St. Otilia, [12th +December,] 1439.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII18" id = "noteIII18" href = "#tagIII18">III.18</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII19" id = "noteIII19" href = "#tagIII19">III.19</a> +“Andres Dritzehn uwer bruder selige hat iiij stücke undenan inn einer +<i>pressen</i> 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII20" id = "noteIII20" href = "#tagIII20">III.20</a> +“Nym die stücke usz der <i>pressen</i> und <i>zerlege</i> 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 +<i>zerlegen</i>,” 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 +“<i>forms</i> kept together by <i>two screws</i> or +press-<i>spindles</i>.”—Life of Caxton, in his edition of Ames’s +and Herbert’s Typ. Antiq. p. lxxxvii. note.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII21" id = "noteIII21" href = "#tagIII21">III.21</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII22" id = "noteIII22" href = "#tagIII22">III.22</a> +“Dirre gezuge hat ouch geseit das er wol wisse das Gutenberg unlange vor +Wihnahten sinen kneht sante zu den beden Andresen, alle <i>formen</i> 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII23" id = "noteIII23" href = "#tagIII23">III.23</a> +“Hanns Dünne der goltsmyt hat gesait, das er vor dryen jaren oder daby +Gutemberg by den hundert guldin verdienet habe, alleine das zu dem +<i>trucken</i> gehöret”—Schœpflin, Vind. Typ. Document. +p. 13.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII24" id = "noteIII24" href = "#tagIII24">III.24</a> +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 +<i>Masso Piniguera</i>.”—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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII25" id = "noteIII25" href = "#tagIII25">III.25</a> +Essai d’Annales de la Vie de Jean Gutenberg, par Jer. J. Oberlin. +8vo. Strasbourg, An ix. [1802.]</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII26" id = "noteIII26" href = "#tagIII26">III.26</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII27" id = "noteIII27" href = "#tagIII27">III.27</a> +Vindiciæ Typographicæ, pp. 77, 78.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII28" id = "noteIII28" href = "#tagIII28">III.28</a> +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 <i>pueri mei</i> +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 <i>boy</i>” by whose hand—not by his +ingenuity—John Faust exercises a certain beautiful art.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII29" id = "noteIII29" href = "#tagIII29">III.29</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII30" id = "noteIII30" href = "#tagIII30">III.30</a> +“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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII31" id = "noteIII31" href = "#tagIII31">III.31</a> +“. . . . und das <span class = "smallcaps">Johannes</span> [<span class += "smallcaps">Fust</span>] ym ierlichen 300 Gulden vor Kosten geben, und +auch Gesinde Lone, Huss Zinss, Vermet, Papier, Tinte, +&c. verlegen solte.” Primaria qæedam Doc. p. 10.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII32" id = "noteIII32" href = "#tagIII32">III.32</a> +“. . . . 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII33" id = "noteIII33" href = "#tagIII33">III.33</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII34" id = "noteIII34" href = "#tagIII34">III.34</a> +“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 +<i>Donat</i> et que <i>Trithem</i> nomme un <i>Catholicon</i>, (livre +universel,) ce qu’on a confondu ensuite avec le grand ouvrage intitulé +<i>Catholicon Januensis</i>.”—Idée Générale, p. 258.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII35" id = "noteIII35" href = "#tagIII35">III.35</a> +Oberlin, Essai d’Annales de la Vie de Gutenberg.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII36" id = "noteIII36" href = "#tagIII36">III.36</a> +“. . . . 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII37" id = "noteIII37" href = "#tagIII37">III.37</a> +Oberlin, Essai d’Annales de la Vie de Gutenberg.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII38" id = "noteIII38" href = "#tagIII38">III.38</a> +Dr. Dibdin, Bibliog. Tour, vol iii. p. 135, second edition.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII39" id = "noteIII39" href = "#tagIII39">III.39</a> +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 “<i>Eyn Manung der +Cristenheit widder die durken</i>.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII40" id = "noteIII40" href = "#tagIII40">III.40</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII41" id = "noteIII41" href = "#tagIII41">III.41</a> +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.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII42" id = "noteIII42" href = "#tagIII42">III.42</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII43" id = "noteIII43" href = "#tagIII43">III.43</a> +Typograph. Seltenheit. S. 20, 3te. Lieferung.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII44" id = "noteIII44" href = "#tagIII44">III.44</a> +Recherches sur l’Origine de l’Imprimerie, p. 135.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII45" id = "noteIII45" href = "#tagIII45">III.45</a> +Oberlin says that “Ville-Ostein” lies near Erfurth, and is in the +diocese of Mentz.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII46" id = "noteIII46" href = "#tagIII46">III.46</a> +Index librorum sub incunabula typograph. impressorum. 1739; cited by +Fischer, Typograph. Seltenheit. S. 21, 3te. Lieferung.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII47" id = "noteIII47" href = "#tagIII47">III.47</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII48" id = "noteIII48" href = "#tagIII48">III.48</a> +Fischer, Typograph. Seltenheit. S. 44, 1ste. Lieferung. In this +instrument Gutemberg describes himself as “Henne Genssfleisch von +Sulgeloch, genennt Gudinberg.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII49" id = "noteIII49" href = "#tagIII49">III.49</a> +Primaria quædam Document. pp. 26-34.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII50" id = "noteIII50" href = "#tagIII50">III.50</a> +“. . . . per henricum bechtermuncze pie memorie in altavilla est +inchoatum. et demū sub anno dñi <span class = +"smallroman">M.CCCCLXII.</span> 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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII51" id = "noteIII51" href = "#tagIII51">III.51</a> +Typographisch. Seltenheit. S. 101, 5te. Lieferung.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII52" id = "noteIII52" href = "#tagIII52">III.52</a> +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.</p> + +<p class = "continue"> +1. Matthei de Cracovia tractatus, seu dialogus racionis et consciencie +de sumpcione pabuli salutiferi corporis domini nostri ihesu christi. +4to. foliis 22.</p> + +<p class = "continue"> +2. Thome de Aquino summa de articulis fidei et ecclesie sacramentis. +4to. foliis 13.</p> + +<p class = "continue"> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII53" id = "noteIII53" href = "#tagIII53">III.53</a> +St. Matthias’s Day is on 24th February.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII54" id = "noteIII54" href = "#tagIII54">III.54</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII55" id = "noteIII55" href = "#tagIII55">III.55</a> +Serarii Historia Mogunt. lib. 1. cap. xxxvii. p. 159. Heineken, +Nachrichten von Kunstlern und Kunst-Sachen, 2te. Theil, S. 299.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII56" id = "noteIII56" href = "#tagIII56">III.56</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII57" id = "noteIII57" href = "#tagIII57">III.57</a> +On the Pleasures and Advantages of Science, p. 160. Edit. 1831.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII58" id = "noteIII58" href = "#tagIII58">III.58</a> +Ludovico Guicciardini, Descrittione di tutti i Paesi Bassi: folio, +Anversa, 1581. The original passage is given by Meerman. The original +words <i>altre memorie</i>—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.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII59" id = "noteIII59" href = "#tagIII59">III.59</a> +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.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII60" id = "noteIII60" href = "#tagIII60">III.60</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII61" id = "noteIII61" href = "#tagIII61">III.61</a> +Reckoning from 1568, the period referred to would be 1440.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII62" id = "noteIII62" href = "#tagIII62">III.62</a> +“Ædituus Custosve.” The word “Koster” in modern Dutch is synonymous with +the English “Sexton.”</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII63" id = "noteIII63" href = "#tagIII63">III.63</a> +“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 “<i>Faustus</i>,” signifies lucky; the word +“<i>infaustus</i>,” unlucky. The German name Füst may be literally +translated “Fist.” A clenched hand is the crest of the family of +Faust.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII64" id = "noteIII64" href = "#tagIII64">III.64</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII65" id = "noteIII65" href = "#tagIII65">III.65</a> +Hadriani Junii Batavia, p. 253, et sequent. Edit. Ludg. Batavor. +1588.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII66" id = "noteIII66" href = "#tagIII66">III.66</a> +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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII67" id = "noteIII67" href = "#tagIII67">III.67</a> +“Choragium omne typorum involat, instrumentorum herilium ei artificio +comparatorum suppelectilem convasat, deinde <i>cum fure</i> domo se +proripit.”—H. Junii Batavia, p. 255.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII68" id = "noteIII68" href = "#tagIII68">III.68</a> +“. . . . . quum nova merx, nunquam antea visa, emptores undique exciret +cum huberrimo questu.”—Junii Batavia.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII69" id = "noteIII69" href = "#tagIII69">III.69</a> +In “Einige Bemerkungen über das Unternehmen der gelehrten Gesellschaft +zu Harlem,” &c. S. 31.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII70" id = "noteIII70" href = "#tagIII70">III.70</a> +Santander has published a French translation of this letter in his +Dictionnaire Bibliographique, tom. i. pp. 14-18.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII71" id = "noteIII71" href = "#tagIII71">III.71</a> +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.</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p class = "open">“Felix <i>Ansicare</i>, per te Germania felix</p> +<p class = "indent">Omnibus in terris præmia laudis habet.</p> +<p>Urbe Moguntina, divino fulte Joannes</p> +<p class = "indent">Ingenio, primus imprimis ære notas.</p> +<p>Multum Relligio, multum tibi Græca sophia,</p> +<p class = "indent">Et multum debet lingua Latina.”</p> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII72" id = "noteIII72" href = "#tagIII72">III.72</a> +Nachrichten von Kunstlern und Kunst-Sachen, 1te. Theil, +S. 286-293.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII73" id = "noteIII73" href = "#tagIII73">III.73</a> +In a Memoir on the Invention of Printing, which was crowned by the +Academy of Sciences at Harlem in 1816.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII74" id = "noteIII74" href = "#tagIII74">III.74</a> +Einige Bemerkungen, &c. S. 18, 19.</p> + +<p><a name = "noteIII75" id = "noteIII75" href = "#tagIII75">III.75</a> +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 <i>Joannes Enschedé</i>, Lettergieter en Boekdrukker te +Haarlem, 1768.—<i>A. J. Polak sculps. ex originali.</i>”</p> + +</div> +</div> + +<div class = "correction"> +<h5>Errors in Chapter III</h5> + +<p><span class = "citation"> +(Displaying thus his meikle skill,)</span><br> +<i>closing parenthesis missing</i></p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +for in no country are books to be found printed</span><br> +foe in</p> +<p>[III.19]<br> +<i>footnote tag missing: best guess</i></p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +einen spätern tag</span><br> +spatern</p> +<p><span class = "citation"> +was printed by Ketelar and Leempt</span><br> +<i>spelling unchanged</i></p> + +<p>Footnote III.2</p> +<p class = "continue"> +<span class = "citation">“J’ai rendu <i>Vedelare</i></span><br> +rendn</p> +</div> + +<div class = "mynote"> + +<p class = "center"> +<a href = "WoodEngraving.html">Introduction</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving.html#illus">List of Illustrations</a> (separate +file)</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<a href = "#chap_I">Chapter I</a><br> +<a href = "#chap_II">Chapter II</a><br> +<a href = "#chap_III">Chapter III</a><br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving4.html">Chapter IV</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving4.html#chap_V">Chapter V</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving6.html">Chapter VI</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving7.html">Chapter VII</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving8.html">Chapter VIII</a> (separate file)<br> +<a href = "WoodEngraving9.html">Chapter IX</a> (separate file)</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<a href = "WoodEngraving.html#index">Index</a> (separate file)</p> +</div> + +</body> +</html> |