file which includes the original illustrations4 ,see #djehi-;h4htm or #djehi-;h4zip3 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/cache_/epu b_/#djehi_/pg#djehi-;images4html7 or 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/files_/#dj ehi_/djehi-;h4zip7 ,images of the original pages are available through ,internet ,archive4 ,see http3_/_/archive4org_/details_/briefhist oryofwo#jj;cunduoft ,transcriber's note3 ,a carat character is used to denote superscription4 ,a single character following the carat is superscripted 7example3 cccco74 ,the original page numbers are enclosed by curly brackets and embedded in the text to facilitate the use of the index 7examples3 vii and #abg74 ,illustration3 ,,henry ,,viii4 ,,in ,,council 7,from ,holinshed's ',chronicles of ,england1' #aegg7 ,page #ajj ,a ,,brief ,,history ,,of ,,wood-,,engraving ,,from ,,its ,,invention by ,,joseph ,,cundall ,author of ',holbein and ,his ,works' etc4 ,london ,sampson ,low1 ,marston1 ,company ,limited ,st4 ,dunstan's ,house ,fetter ,lane1 ,fleet ,street1 ,e4,c4 #ahie vii ,,contents ,,chapter ,i ,,page ,on ,pictures of ,saints--,the print of ,the ,virgin with the ,holy ,child in her ,lap in the ,bibliothque ,royale de ,belgique--,on the print of ,st4 ,christopher in the ,spencer ,library at ,manchester--,the ,annunciation and the ,st4 ,bridget of ,sweden #a ,,chapter ,,ii ,on the ,block ,books of the ,fifteenth ,century--,biblia ,pauperum2 ,apocalypsis ,sancti ,johannis1 c4 #aa ,,chapter ,,iii ,the ,block ,books of the ,fifteenth ,century--,ars ,moriendi-- ,temptacio ,diaboli--,canticum ,canticorum1 and others #bj ,,chapter ,,iv ,block ,book--,speculum ,humanae ,salvationis--,casus ,luciferi--,the ,mentz ,psalter of #adei--;,book of ,fables--,the ,cologne ,bible--,nrnberg ,chronicle--,breydenbach's ,travels #bh ,,chapter ,v ,on ,wood-,engraving in ,italy in the ,fifteenth ,century--,the ,venice ,kalendario of #adgf--,the ,triumph of ,petrarch--,the ,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili--,aldo ,manuzio--,portrait of ,aldus #dj viii ,,chapter ,,vi ,on ,wood-,engraving in ,france in the ,fifteenth ,century-- ,engraving on ,metal ,blocks--',books of ,hours'--,famous ,french ,publishers3 ,pierre ,le ,rouge1 ,simon ,vostre1 ,antoine ,verard1 ,thielman ,kerver1 ,guyot ,marchant1 ,philippe ,pigouchet1 ,jean ,dupr1 and others #ea ,,chapter ,,vii ,wood-,engraving in ,england in the ,fifteenth ,century--,william ,caxton1 ,recuyell of the ,historyes of ,troye--,dictes and ,sayings of ,philosophers--,game and ,playe of the ,chesse1 c4--,wynkyn de ,worde--,richard ,pynson #fa ,,chapter ,,viii ,wood-,engraving in ,germany in the ,sixteenth ,century--,albrecht ,drer--,coronation of the ,virgin--,the ,apocalypse--,the ,little ,passion--,his ,engravings on ,copper--,the ,triumphs of ,maximilian--,the ,triumphal ,arch--,the ,triumphal ,car--,the ,triumphal ,procession #fi ,,chapter ,,ix ,hans ,holbein--,dance of ,death--,bible ,cuts--,hans ,ltzelburger--,dance of ,death ,alphabet--,the ,little ,masters--,altdorfer--,beham--,brosamer- -,aldegrever--,cranach #ha ,,chapter ,x ,wood-,engraving in ,italy and ,france in the ,sixteenth ,century--,giuseppe ,porta of ,venice--,geoffroy ,tory and ,robert ,estienne of ,paris--,borluyt's ,figures from the ,new ,testament--,christophe ,plantin of ,antwerp #hi ix ,,chapter ,,xi ,wood-,engraving in the ,sixteenth and ,seventeenth ,centuries in ,italy and ,england--,printing in ,chiaro-oscuro in ,venice--,printing in ,colour in ,germany--,habiti ,antichi e ,moderni by ,vecellio--,wood-,engraving in ,england--,foxe's ,acts and ,monuments--,holinshed's ,chronicles--,a ,booke of ,christian ,prayers--,dr4 ,cuningham's ,cosmographical ,glasse--sop's ,fables--,the ,french engraver ,papillon #ii ,,chapter ,,xii ,thomas ,bewick and his ,pupils--,select ,fables--,history of ,quadrupeds--,history of ,british ,birds--sop's ,fables-- ,prices at which these books were published--,death of ,bewick #ajh ,,chapter ,,xiii ,bewick's ,successors--,john ,bewick 7his ,brother7--,looking-glass for the ,mind--,goldsmith's ,poems--,somerville's ,chase--,robert ,johnson--,charlton ,nesbit--,robert ,elliot ,r4 ,bewick--,history of ,fishes--,luke ,clennell--,william ,harvey--,george ,bonner--,w4 ,h4 ,powis--,john ,jackson--,ebenezer ,landells--,robert ,branston--,f4 ,w4 ,branston--,john ,thompson--,j4 ,orrin ,smith--,john and ,mary ,byfield--,samuel ,williams--,w4 ,t4 ,green--,o4 ,jewitt--,c4 ,gray--,s4 ,slader--,j4 ,greenaway--,w4 ,j4 ,palmer--,german ,engravers--,modern ,english ,engravers #aaf ,,index #abi x ,illustration3 ,,the ,,wood-,,engraver ,by ,jost ,amman 7#aefh7 #a ,a ,,brief ,,history ,,of ,,wood-,,engraving ------ ,,chapter ,i ,,on ,,the ,,early ,,pictures ,,of ,,saints ,many volumes have been written on the subject of ,wood-,engraving1 especially in ,germany1 ,holland1 and ,belgium1 where the art first flourished2 as well as in ,italy1 ,france1 and ,england2 and some of the best of these books have been published during the present century4 ,the most important of them are1 ,dr4 ,dibdin's celebrated bibliographical works2 ',a ,treatise on ,wood-,engraving1' by ,w4 ,a4 ,chatto1 of which a new edition has lately been issued2 ',wood-,engraving in ,italy in the #aeth ,century1' by ,dr4 ,lippmann2 and1 above all1 ',the ,masters of ,wood-,engraving1' a magnificent folio volume written by ,mr4 ,w4 ,j4 ,linton--himself a ,master--who1 besides giving us the benefit of his technical knowledge obtained by the practice of the art for fifty years1 presents us with copies1 from blocks engraved by himself1 of the most celebrated woodcuts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries4 ,many writers have asserted that the first wood-engravings are to be found on playing-cards2 others maintain that #b the very rough prints on the playing-cards of the early fifteenth century were taken from stencil-plates4 ,it is impossible to decide the point1 nor is it of much importance2 there is no evidence whatever as to the method of their production4 ,they appeared in ,europe about the year #acej3 they came from the ,east1 but their positive history1 according to ,dr4 ,willshire1 begins in the year #acib4a ,it has been asserted that many prints of ,images of ,saints produced by means of wood-engraving preceded even playing-cards4 ,the first undoubted fact that we can arrive at in the history of wood-engraving is that early in the fifteenth century there were to be found1 in many of the monasteries and convents in various parts of ,europe1 prints of the ,virgin with the ,holy ,infant1 the most popular ,saints1 and ,subjects from the ,bible1 which were certainly taken from engravings on wood2 and we have now to describe some typical examples of primitive devotional pictures1 printed by the xylographic process4 ,the earliest of these woodcuts may date from #achj1 and there are many which are assigned to the first half of the fifteenth century2 they were all intended to be coloured by hand1 and are therefore simply in outline1 without shading4 ,the designs are usually good1 but the execution is not always so meritorious4 ,in the ,royal ,library at ,brussels there is a coloured print of ,the ,virgin with the ,holy ,child in her lap1 surrounded by four ,saints in an inclosed garden4 ,on the ,virgin's right hand sits ,st4 ,catherine1 with a royal crown on her head1 the sword in her left hand1 and1 leaning against her feet1 a broken wheel4 ,beneath is ,st4 ,dorothea crowned with roses1 with a branch of a rose-tree in her right hand and the handle of a basket of apples in her left2 on the other side are ,st4 ,barbara holding her tower1 and1 under her1 ,st4 ,margaret with a book in her left hand2 her right hand clasps a laidly dragon1 and a cross leans upon her arm4 #c ,illustration3 ,,the ,,virgin ,,with ,,four ,,saints ,in the ,bibliothque ,royale de ,belgique #d ,outside the palings a rabbit is feeding2 a bird sits on the rail behind ,st4 ,catherine1 two others are flying1 and1 above all1 three angels are offering chaplets of roses to the ,virgin2 a palm-tree is growing on each side of her4 ,but the most important part of the print is the very solid three-barred gate at the entrance to the garden1 for on the uppermost of the bars we distinctly read m3 cccco xviiio4 ,the print itself measures #ad inches in height by #i inches in width1 without reckoning the border lines4 ,it was found pasted at the bottom of an old coffer in the possession of an innkeeper at ,malines in #ahdd by a well-known architect1 ,m4 de ,noter1 who1 recognising its great importance1 offered it to the ,royal ,library at ,brussels4 ,it has been reproduced in scrupulously exact facsimile and fully described in the work entitled ',documents iconographiques et typographiques de la ,bibliothque ,royale de ,belgique1' published by ,,mm4 ,muquardt of ,brussels4 ,the small letters o are supposed to represent nails in the gate4 ,m4 ,georges ,duplessis tells us that he has examined the print minutely several times1 and that he does not believe this date has been tampered with in any way4 ,some collectors and would-be critics maintain that the drawing of the figures and the folds of the garments are of a later date than #adah2 if they were to examine the works of ,hubert and ,jan van ,eyck1 and the paintings of ,meister ,stephan ,lochner of ,cologne1 ,rogier van der ,weyden1 and other artists who lived about this time1 they would be sufficiently answered4 ,mr4 ,linton is of opinion 7and there can be no better judge7 that the style of the engraving does not compel him to attribute it to a later date than #adah1 yet both he and ,mr4 ,chatto express their doubts as to its authenticity--it appears to us1 without sufficient reason4 ,about the middle of the eighteenth century ,herr ,heinecken1 a ,german collector of engravings1 discovered1 pasted #e inside the binding of a manuscript in the library of the convent of ,buxheim in ,suabia1 a folio print brightly coloured of ,st4 ,christopher bearing the ,infant ,christ4 ,the outlines are printed in black ink1 not by any kind of press1 but in much the same way as that used by wood-engravers of the present day in taking their proofs1 who first ink the engraved surface with a printer's ball1 then lay the paper carefully over the cut1 waxed at the edges to hold the paper firmly1 and rub the back of the paper with a burnisher4 ,in the fifteenth century a roller called a frotton was used1 as being more expeditious4 ,our illustration gives an idea of the original1 which is still in the cover of the book in which it was discovered1 and now in the ,spencer ,library at ,manchester4 ,the cut measures #aa inches in height by #h inches in width1 and is coloured after the manner of the time2 that is1 the ,saint's robe is tinted with red and the lining with yellow ochre1 the nimbuses are of the same kind of yellow2 the robes of ,christ and the monk are light blue1 of the same tint as the water2 the grass and foliage are bright green2 the faces1 hands1 and legs are in a pale flesh-tint2 there are but five or six colours used1 and they may have been either washed in by hand or brushed in through a stencil-plate4 ,as hand colouring would be quicker and less troublesome1 one does not see the advantage of the stencil4 ,the inscription beneath the cut reads thus3-- ,cristofori faciem die quacumque tueris ,millesimo cccco ,illa nempe die morte mala non morieris xxo tercio which may be rendered3 ,on whatever day the face of ,christopher thou shalt see1 ,on that day no evil form of death shall visit thee4 #f ,illustration3 ,,st4 ,,christopher ,the original 7#aa in4 by #h in47 is pasted inside the cover of an old manuscript book in the ,spencer ,library now at ,manchester4 #g ,mr4 ,linton is enthusiastic in praise of this cut4 ',i am well content1' he says1 'to give some words of unstinted praise to our ,st4 ,christopher for the design4 ,i mind not the disproportionate space he occupies in the picture4 ,is not he famous as a giant8 ,the perspective also is good enough for me1 as doubtless it was to those in whose interest the print was issued4 ,it is certain he is crossing a stream2 we see a fish beneath the waves4 ,he supports his colossal frame and helps his steady course with a full-grown fruit-bearing palm-tree--fit staff for saintly son of ,anak2 no heathen he2 the nimbus is round his head4 ,as on his shoulders he bears the ,lord of the ,world1 can we fail to remark his upturned glance1 inquiring why he is thus bowed down by a little child8 ,the blessing hand of the ,blessed plainly gives reply4 ,look again1 and see on one side of the stream the merely secular life2 is it not all expressed by the mill and the miller and his ass1 and far up the steep road 7what need for diminishing distance87 the peasant with the sack of flour toiling towards his humble home4 ,and on the other side is the spiritual life--the hermit1 by his windowless hut1 the warning bell above2 he kneels in front1 with his lantern of faith lifted high in his hand1 a beacon for whatever wayfarer the ferryman may bring4 ,rank grasses and the fearless rabbit mark the quiet solitude in which the hermit dwells4 ,i can forgive all shortcomings4 ,these old-century men were in earnest4' ,in the ,spencer collection are two other prints which may be attributed to the same period as the ,st4 ,christopher4 ,one is a picture of ,the ,annunciation1 which was found pasted on the end cover of the book 7,laus ,virginis7 in which the ,st4 ,christopher was discovered4 ,it is of similar size1 and is printed with a dark-coloured pigment1 probably by means of a frotton4 ,the ,angel ,gabriel is kneeling before the ,virgin1 who also is kneeling2 she holds a book in her hand1 and is represented in a kind of ,gothic chapel2 a vase with flowers in it stands under one of the diamond-paned windows4 ,the ,holy ,dove is descending in a flood of rays2 unfortunately the figure of the ,almighty has been torn from the top left-hand corner of the print4 ,on one of the pillars of the chapel is a small scroll with the legend ,ave gracia plena dominus tecum4 #h ,illustration3 ,,the ,,annunciation ,the original 7#aa in4 by #h in47 is pasted inside the cover of an old manuscript book in the ,spencer ,library4 #i ,the wood-engraver may produce his design in two ways1 either by means of black lines on a white ground1 or by white designs on a black ground4 ,the two methods are here united1 while in the ,st4 ,christopher one only 7the first7 is used4 ,notice the discreet use of masses of black to give force to the design1 and to contrast with the lightness of the other part of the picture4 ,the ,annunciation belongs to quite a different school to the ,st4 ,christopher4 ,the other print is of ,st4 ,bridget of ,sweden 7who died in #acgc74 ,she is seated at a sloping desk1 writing with a stylus in a book4 ,the motto above her head is o brigita bit got fr uns 7',o ,bridget1 pray to ,god for us'74 ,in the left upper corner is a small representation of the ,virgin with the ,holy ,infant in her arms1 opposite is a shield with the letters ,s4,p4,q4,r4 on it1 referring to her journey to ,rome4 ,in the lower corners are1 on the left1 the palm and crown of martyrdom2 and on the right is a shield with the ,lion rampant of ,sweden4 ,a pilgrim's hat and scrip hang on a staff behind the ,virgin's seat4 ,the print is roughly coloured1 evidently by hand4 ,many other woodcuts of the same character have been discovered1 which are believed to have been engraved in the first half of the fifteenth century4 ,in the ,imperial ,library at ,vienna there is a print of ,st4 ,sebastian1 bearing the date #adcg1 which was found in the monastery of ,st4 ,blaise in the ,black ,forest4 ',having visited1' says ,herr ,heinecken1 'in my last tour a great many convents in ,franconia1 ,suabia1 ,bavaria1 and in the ,austrian ,states1 ,i everywhere discovered in their libraries many of these kinds of figures engraved on wood4 ,they were usually pasted either at the beginning or the end of old volumes of the fifteenth century4 ,these facts have confirmed me in my opinion that the next step of the #aj engraver on wood1 after playing-cards1 was to engrave figures of ,saints1 which1 being distributed and lost among the laity1 were in part preserved by the monks1 who pasted them into the earliest printed books with which their libraries were furnished4' ,herr ,heinecken possessed more than a hundred of these pictures of ,saints4 ,there can be little doubt they were produced in the monasteries and convents1 and distributed to the people1 especially in the processions of the ,church1 as aids to devotion4 ,among the thousands of monks who lived in the fifteenth century there must have been many men who1 like ,fra ,angelico1 were gifted with sufficient artistic taste to enable them to draw and engrave such a picture as the ,st4 ,christopher4 99 99 99 99 99 #aa ,,chapter ,,ii ,,on ,,the ,,block ,,books ,,of ,,the ,,fifteenth ,,century ,in the first half of the fifteenth century1 before the invention of printing by means of movable type1 many books were produced in which the woodcuts and the text were engraved on the same page1 or sometimes the text was on one page and the woodcut opposite4 ,they were impressed on one side only of the paper1 and the two blank pages were often pasted together4 ,they are usually called ,block ,books4 ,many of the cuts are more than ten inches in height by eight inches in width1 and were probably cut with a knife upon smoothly planed planks of the pear-tree1 or other fine-grained wood1 or possibly some were engraved upon soft metal4 ,the most celebrated of them are3 ,i4 ,biblia ,pauperum4--,bible of the ,poor4 ,,ii4 ,apocalypsis ,sancti ,johnannis4--,visions of ,st4 ,john4 ,,iii4 ,ars ,moriendi4--,the ,art of ,dying4 ,,iv4 ,canticum ,canticorum4--,solomon's ,song4 ,v4 ,ars ,memorandi4--,the ,art of ,remembering4 ,,vi4 ,liber ,regum4--,book of ,kings4 ,,vii4 ,temptationes ,daemonis4--,temptations of a ,demon4 ,,viii4 ,endkrist 7only known copy in the ,spencer ,library74 ,,ix4 ,quindecim ,signa4--,the ,fifteen ,signs4 ,x4 ,de ,generatione ,christi4--,of the ,genealogy of ,christ4 ,,xi4 ,mirabilia ,romae4--,the ,wonders of ,rome4 ,,xii4 ,speculum ,humanae ,salvationis4--,mirror of ,salvation4 ,,xiii4 ,die ,kunst ,ciromantia4--,the ,art of ,chiromancy4 ,,xiv4 ,confessionale4--,of the ,confessional4 ,,xv4 ,symbolum ,apostolicum4--,symbols of the ,apostles4 #ab and are supposed to have been issued between the years #adbj and #addj4 ,there is no title-page to any of them1 and the dates are generally only a matter of conjecture4 ,probably they were copies of illuminated manuscripts1 and were drawn1 engraved1 and coloured by the monks in their scriptoria4 ,doubtless other books of a similar character may be existing in some of the old monasteries on the ,continent at the present day4 ,the ,block ,books appear to have been made in ,germany and ,holland1 and the most popular volumes passed through many editions4 ,the earliest specimens are printed in a brown ink similar to that used for distemper drawings4 ,it sometimes happened that the blocks used for a book were afterwards cut up and used over again in a different combination 7as noticed by ,bradshaw in his ',memoranda1' ,no4 #c1 pp4 #e and #f1 and by ,william ,blades1 in his ',pentateuch of ,printing1' pp4 #ab and #ac47 ,a ,block-book edition of the ',biblia ,pauperum1' printed at ,zwolle1 was cut up1 and the pieces used afterwards in a different combination4 ,the same was done with the blocks of the ',speculum nostrae ,salvationis1' which were cut up1 and the pieces used again for an edition printed at ,utrecht in #adha4 ,this was a step in the development of the art of printing4 ,biblia ,pauperum4--,in the ,print ,room of the ,british ,museum there is a very fine copy of this work1 probably the first edition4 ,it is a small folio consisting of forty leaves impressed on one side only of the paper1 in pale-brown ink or distemper1 by means of friction1 probably by a frotton or roller1 as we can tell by the glazed surface on the back4 ,the right order of the pages is indicated by the letters a1 b1 c1 c41 on the face of the prints1 each of which is about ten inches in height by seven and a-half in breadth4 ,on the upper part of each page are frequently two half-length figures and two on the lower1 intended for portraits of the prophets and other holy men whose writings are cited in the ,latin text4 #ac ,illustration3 ,,biblia ,,pauperum--,,tenth ,,page 7,reduced from #aj in4 by #g in47 #ad ,the middle part of the page consists of three compartments1 each of which is occupied by a subject from the ,old or ,new ,testament4 ,the greater part of the text is at the sides of the upper portraits4 ,on each side of those below is frequently a rhyming ,latin verse4 ,texts of ,scripture also appear on scrolls4 ,the illustration1 which is a much reduced copy of the tenth page 7k71 will afford a better idea of the arrangement of the subject and of the texts than any more lengthened description4 ,the picture in the middle represents the ,temptation of ,christ by the ,devil2 that on the right1 the ,temptation of ,adam by ,eve2 and that on the left1 ,esau selling his birthright for a ,mess of ,pottage1 which his ,brother ,jacob has evidently just cooked in the iron pot suspended over the fire on a ratchet in the chimney-breast4 ,the ham and goat's flesh or venison hanging on the kitchen wall remind us of the ,dutch paintings of two centuries later4 ,esau's bow and quiver will be seen to be of a very primitive character4 ,on the thirty-second page 7to give another example7 we find in the middle compartment ,christ appearing to ,his ,disciples2 on the left1 ,joseph discovering himself to his ,brethren2 and on the right1 the ,return of the ,prodigal ,son4 ,at the bottom of the page are these rhyming ,latin verses3-- ,under ,joseph and his ,brethren4 ,quos vex7av7it pridem ,blanditur fratribus idem4 ,under the ,return of the ,prodigal ,son4 ,flens amplexatur ,natum pater ac recreatur4 ,hic ihesus apparet3 surgentis gloria claret4 ,which have been roughly translated3 ,whom he so lately vexed ,he charms as brother next4 ,the wept-one is embraced ,and as a son replaced1 ,here doth ,christ appear1 in rising glory clear4 #ae ,illustration3 ,,jacob ,,and ,,esau--,,biblia ,,pauperum ,facsimile of the original cut #af ,the ',biblia ,pauperum1' although it could not be read by the laity1 was evidently issued for their especial benefit1 and1 with the help of the priests1 it afforded excellent lessons in ,bible history4 ,it is believed that the first copies were printed at ,haarlem about ,a4,d4 #adcj to #addj4 ,five editions of the ',biblia ,pauperum' are known as block books with the text in ,latin2 two with the text in ,german2 and several others were printed about #adge with the text in movable type4 ,at least three editions were printed in ,holland1 and seven or eight others appear to be of ,german origin2 the earlier are of the ,dutch ,school4 ,there are four copies1 differing editions1 in the ,british ,museum1 one in the ,bodleian ,library1 and one in the ,spencer ,library4 ,some of the copies are coloured in a very simple manner4 ,apocalypsis ,sancti ,johannis4--,this work consists of forty-eight pages of woodcuts about ten and a-half inches high by seven and a-half broad1 printed in ink or distemper of a greyish-brown tint on thick paper on one side only4 ,each page is equally divided into two subjects1 taken from the ,apocalypse1 one above the other4 ,the cuts are engraved in the simplest manner1 without any attempt at shading1 as will be seen on examination of our print1 which forms the first page of the book4 ,in the upper half ,st4 ,john is addressing three men and one woman4 ,the words in the label ,conversi ab idolis per predicationem beati ,johannis ,drusiana et ceteri are literally ',drusiana and the others are converted from idols by the preaching of the blessed ,john4' ,the letter a indicates page #a4 ,in the lower half we see ,st4 ,john baptizing ,drusiana in a very small font in a small chapel2 outside are six ill-looking men trying to peep in through the chinks of the door4 ,over the chapel are the words ,sanctus ,johannes baptisans1 and over the men ,cultores ydolorum explorantes facta ejus1 literally1 ',worshippers of ,idols spying on his acts4' ,two of the idolaters are armed with hatchets1 as if they intended to break open the door4 ,the ,latin words1 in accordance with the usual practice of the monks1 are contracted in a manner very puzzling to those unused to these medival writings4 ,there are several editions of the ,apocalypsis1 all apparently of ,german origin4 #ag ,illustration3 ,,apocalypsis ,,sancti ,,johannis ,one of the earliest of the ,block ,books #ah ,many bibliographers1 treating of block books and arguing from the very simple style of the drawings and engravings1 consider that the ',apocalypsis' was the first that was produced4 ,many worse woodcuts were issued in the eighteenth century4 ,it would be very hazardous indeed to fix a date by the quality of woodcut illustrations4 ,in order to assist our readers in reading the text printed with the early woodcuts1 we give them a key to the most usual abbreviations of ,monkish ,latin4 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 9999 ,transcriber's note3 ,in paragraph #a4 -e denotes a letter with a 9999 9999 straight line over 7or through the riser71 e the same with a 9999 9999 tilde-like curve4 9999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 #a4 ,a right line1 thus 7-71 and a curve1 thus 771 placed horizontally over a letter1 denote3 7-7 #ast1 over a vowel in the middle or end of a word1 that one letter is wanting1 e4g4 v-ed-atvendant1 bon-ubonum1 terr-aterram4 77 #bnd1 above or through a letterthe omission of more than one letter1 e4g4 aiaanima1 alraliter1 aliaanimalia1 ablacoablatio1 ,winton,wintonia1 nobnobis1 c4 ,a straight line through a consonant also denotes the omission of one or more letters1 e4g4 vo-bvobis1 q-dquod1 c4 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 9999 ,transcriber's note3 ,in paragraph #b4 8 denotes a backward curl 9999 9999 attached to the top of a letter4 9999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 #b4 8er1 or re1 as the sense requires1 e4g4 8traterra1 8pdictuspredictus1 i4e4 prdictus4 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 9999 ,transcriber's note3 ,in paragraph #c4 the first 8e has an oblique 9999 9999 line attached below the letter1 the second a lightning bolt4 9999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 #c4 ,the diphthong is sometimes represented thus1 terr8e or terr8eterr4 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 9999 ,transcriber's note3 ,in paragraph #d4 the first -p has a straight 9999 9999 line the second a wavy one 7like a tilde7 through the 9999 99 descender4 ,in the third a line continues the bottom of the loop 9999 9999 and bends down to cut the descender4 9999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 #d4 ,a straight or curved line through the letter p1 thus1 -p -pper1 por1 and par4 ,a curved line1 thus -ppro4 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 9999 ,transcriber's note3 ,in paragraph #e4 the sign #c resembles the 9999 9999 type of #c with an angled top1 or a drachm sign4 9999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 #e4 ,the character #c at the end of a wordus1 omnib#comnibus1 also et1 deb#c;debet4 #ai 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 9999 ,transcriber's note3 ,in paragraph #f4 the sign zs resembles a z 9999 9999 with a reversed s drawn through the bottom stroke4 9999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 #f4 ,the figure zs at the end of a wordrum1 ras1 res1 ris1 and ram2 eozseorum1 libzslibras or libris1 ,windesozs,windesores1 ,alienozs,alienoram1 c4 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 9999 ,transcriber's note3 ,in paragraph #g4 the sign - is an ampersand 9999 9999 with a straight line over2 q#c a q with a mark like a small #c 9999 9999 on the right2 #i a raised spiral rather like a #i1 c7 has a 9999 9999 long bracket-shaped mark descending below the baseline4 9999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 #g4 -etiam1 q#cque1 quia1 and quod2 #i at commencement of a wordcom or con2 #imittocommitto1 #ivictoconvicto4 ,this contraction is also printed thus1 c74 c7concordia or concessio4 ,in the middle or end of a word #ius1 ,de#i;,deus1 reb#irebus1 ,aug#iti,augusti2 also for os1 p#ipost1 p#itpost4 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 9999 ,transcriber's note3 ,in paragraph #h4 - and are as in paragraph #a4 9999 9999 denotes the next letter is raised 7so also in #ab4 below74 9999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 #h4 ,in ,domesday ,book #g;et1 -eest1 stsunt1 -,mmanerium1 momodo1 dimdimidius1 c4 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 9999 ,transcriber's note3 ,in paragraph #i4 -2 is like a semicolon with 9999 9999 a straight line through the middle4 9999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 #i4 ,est is sometimes written -2 4 #aj4 ,points or dots after letters often denote contractions1 e4g4 di4 et fi4dilectus et fidelis1 e4 for est1 plurib4pluribus4 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 9999 ,transcriber's note3 ,in paragraph #aa4 8t has a sort of streamer to 9999 9999 the left and curling down4 9999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 #aa4 8tet in later times4 #ab4 ,a small letter placed over a word denotes an omission--piusprius1 titibi1 qosquos1 qiqui1 c4 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 9999 ,transcriber's note3 ,in paragraph #ac4 is as in paragraph #a4 9999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999 #ac4 ,xps1 ,xpc1 ,xpo1 stand for ,christus and its different cases4 ,me ,marie4 ,these are the most common contractions4 ,there are many more1 including numerous technical terms1 which it would be useless for us to give for our present purpose4 99 99 99 99 99 #bj ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,block ,,books ,,of ,,the ,,fifteenth ,,century 7continued74 ,ars ,moriendi4--,of all the block books known to us1 this bears the palm for artistic merit4 ,it is probable that the ',ars ,moriendi' is of later date than the block books already described4 ,mr4 ,george ,bullen 7,holbein ,society1 ',ars ,moriendi1' #ahha1 p4 #d7 was of opinion that the first edition was printed at ,cologne in ,germany about the middle of the fifteenth century4 ,others say that the quarto edition is the earlier4 ,the illustrations belong to the lower ,rhenish ,school1 which1 about the middle of the fifteenth century1 was influenced by the style of ,roger van der ,weyde1 and probably also by the work of some of the pupils of the ,van ,eycks4 ,there are eleven woodcuts1 about eight and a-half inches1 by five and a-half inches1 without including the frame-lines1 printed on separate pages1 and thirteen pages of text1 all impressed on one side only of the paper4 ,five of the pictures represent a sick man in bed tempted by devils--,i4 ,to ,unbelief2 ,,ii4 ,to ,despair and ,suicide2 ,,iii4 ,to ,impatience of ,good ,advice2 ,,iv4 ,to ,vainglory2 and ,v4 ,to ,avarice4 ,in the five opposite pictures the sick man is attended by ,good ,angels1 who refute the arguments of the demons4 ,in the eleventh print we witness the death of the sick man4 ,the drawings are somewhat similar in manner to the works of ,roger van der ,weyde1 who lived in the early part of the fifteenth century4 #ba ,it was a time when art was beginning to awake from its long sleep1 and such works as the ',ars ,moriendi' were far in advance of any we know of belonging to the previous century4 ,one of the best of the illustrations is from the last temptation3 temptacio diaboli de avaricia1 and is probably intended to be the presentation of a dream4 ,the sick man's bed is on the roof of his house6 ,a diabolus1 as tall as the house1 points to a youth--possibly the heir1 who is leading a very ,flemish-looking horse into a doorway--and says1 ,intende thesauro--take care of your treasures4 ,the figures by the bedside must represent the father and mother1 wife1 sisters1 and young son of the dying man4 ,the diabolus on his right says ,provideas amicis--',you may provide for your friends4' ,the heads of the diaboli in this print are more laughable than terrible1 and suggest the make-up of a pantomime rather than the demons who are messengers of the ,evil ,one4 ,on the next page an angel gives good counsel to the dying man1 a figure of ,christ on the cross is at his bed's head1 and the ,mother of ,christ blesses him4 ,a group of relations and friends still attend him1 and beside them are sheep and oxen4 ,in the foreground an angel is driving away a man and woman1 who are evidently in great grief1 and a crouching demon says1 ,quid faciam--',what can ,i do8' ,pictures like this appealed forcibly to the minds of the laity in the middle ages1 and were doubtless fully explained to the uneducated by the religious dwellers in the monasteries and convents which at that time abounded throughout ,europe4 ,a reproduction of this book was issued a few years since by the ,holbein ,society4 ,the designs were copied in careful pen-and-ink drawings by ,mr4 ,f4 ,price1 and the text was translated and the pictures described by ,mr4 ,george ,bullen1 who also wrote a learned preface1 enumerating the various editions of the book which are known to have been printed in different languages4 ,weigel printed a photographic reproduction of this book in #ahfi4 #bb ,the ',ars ,moriendi' was the most popular of all the block books4 ,before the end of the fifteenth century eight different editions had been issued1 seven of them in ,latin and one in ,french4 ,m4 ,passavant states that he had met with thirty different imitations of it issued in ,germany and ,holland4 ,there is but one quite perfect copy of the first edition of this book known1 and this fortunately is in the ,british ,museum4 ,it was bought at the ,weigel sale in ,leipsic in #ahgb for the large sum of #a1jgb #ajs41 exclusive of commission4 ,canticum ,canticorum4--,the ,church's ,love unto ,christ prefigured in ',the ,song of ,songs which is ,solomon's4' ,this is a much more pleasing book than the ',apocalypsis4' ,the figures are more gracefully designed and the engraver has shown much more knowledge of his art2 the indications of shading are in many instances very happily given4 ,it consists of only sixteen leaves with two subjects1 one above the other on each leaf2 each picture is five inches high by seven wide1 and is printed by means of friction in dark-brown ink or distemper1 on thick paper4 ,our illustration is from the second leaf4 ,in the upper subject we see the ,bride and ,bridegroom conversing1 two maidens attending4 ,the words on the scroll on the left are ,trahe me3 post te curremus in odorem unguentorum tuorum1 ',draw me1 we will run after thee3 because of the savour of thy good ointments' 7,song of ,solomon1 ch4 i41 v4 #d and #c74 ,on the scroll to the right1 ,sonet vox tua in auribus meis1 vox enim tua dulcis et facies tua decora1 ',let me hear thy voice1 for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely' 7,song of ,solomon1 ch4 ii41 verse #ad74 ,in the lower subject1 in which the ,bride is seen seated by her maidens and the ,bridegroom is standing near1 on the left-hand scroll we read1 ,en dilectus meus loquitur mihi1 ,surge1 propera1 amica mea1 ',my beloved spake and said unto me1 ,rise up1 my love1 my fair one1 and come away' 7ch4 ii41 verse #aj72 and on the right1 ,quam pulchra es amica mea1 quam pulchra es6 oculi tui columbarum1 absque eo quod intrinsecus latet1 ',how beautiful art thou1 my love1 how beautiful art thou6 thy eyes are doves' eyes1 besides what is hid within' 7ch4 iv4 #a74 #bc ,illustration3 ,,canticum ,,canticorum--,,second ,,leaf 7,much reduced7 #bd ,on the sixth leaf1 the ,bride and ,bridegroom are eating grapes in a vineyard1 three maidens attending1 all seated4 ,in the cut below1 the ,bridegroom is standing outside a garden wall over which the ,bride is watching him4 ,an angel is entering the gate1 other angels with drawn swords are on the wall4 ,it is supposed that these engravings were executed in the ,netherlands3 the female figures are said to be in the costume of the ,court of ,burgundy6 ,there are several shields of arms to be found in three of the subjects1 and these have given rise to long dissertations by writers on heraldry4 ,mr4 ,chatto's book has engravings of eighteen of them with descriptions4 ,one is the shield of ,alsace1 another of the house of ,wrtemberg1 a third of the city of ,ratisbon2 and the cross-keys1 the fleur-de-lis1 the black spread-eagle1 and a rose 7much like our ,tudor rose71 may be seen on others4 ,several copies of the ',canticum' have been found1 coloured and uncoloured4 ,two editions of the ,canticum ,canticorum are known2 both appear to have emanated from ,holland and the ,low ,countries1 and both bear clear traces of the influence of the school of the ,van ,eycks4 ,the ,figure ,alphabet4--,in the ,print ,room of the ,british ,museum there is a curious little book 7six inches by four inches in size7 in which nearly all the letters of the alphabet are formed by grotesque figures of men4 ,except that it was bequeathed to the ,museum by ,sir ,george ,beaumont1 no one knows anything of its history2 but internal evidence warrants us in attributing it to the work of an engraver of the first half of the fifteenth century4 ,the cuts are printed in a kind of sepia-coloured distemper which can be easily wiped off by means of moisture4 ,there is one very curious thing connected with this work4 ,in the cut forming the #be letter ,l a young man is leaning on a sword1 on the blade of which is plainly written ,london1 and on the cloak of the youth lying below we read1 in a current hand usual at that date1 the word ,bethemsted4 ,the figures1 grotesque as they are1 were drawn by a better artist than those who designed the block books4 ,we know that the art of engraving was in a very low state in ,england at the time we are speaking of2 we should therefore rejoice if we could anyhow prove that these very early specimens of wood-cutting were done in this country4 ,illustration ,in the letter ,f1 which we have given as an illustration1 very much reduced from the original1 a tall man is blowing a very long trumpet2 a youth1 bending down to form the crotch of the letter1 is beating a tabor2 while a nondescript animal lies couched at his feet4 ,many other block books exist in the ,british ,museum1 the ,bodleian ,library1 ,oxford1 the ,spencer ,library1 ,manchester1 and in the large libraries on the ,continent besides those we have mentioned4 ,some were printed1 long after the introduction of printing1 in ,venice and in the cities of ,lower ,germany4 ,before the beginning of the fifteenth century we have no record of any examples of wood-engraving of an artistic kind1 except1 as we have said1 the designs on playing-cards1 and the workmanship of these1 whether it was by woodcuts or by a stencil-plate1 was very crude4 ,the art really came into existence in the first quarter of that famous fifteenth century4 ,there were scores of men at that time who could carve excellently well in stone or wood1 or who could design #bf and make beautiful jewels1 and some of these men1 probably monks in their monasteries1 as well as secular craftsmen1 drew and cut the first wood-engraving4 ,no one knows who they were4 ,up to the year #adge the original method of wood-cutting changed very little2 nearly every print was in outline with a thick and a thin line4 ,a few1 such as those in the ',ars ,moriendi1' had a little shading of the most primitive kind4 ,they were intended to be coloured1 and1 among the prints that have been preserved1 experts say they can detect the manner of colouring prevalent in ,upper or ,lower ,germany1 the ,rhine ,provinces1 or the ,netherlands4 ,towards the end of the century came a transition4 ,shading was introduced and even cross-hatching was executed by the best wood-engravers of the time4 ,the art took1 as it were1 a sudden bound1 and in a few years attained a height which we at the end of the nineteenth century find it hard to excel4 ,but of this we must speak in a future chapter4 ,ars ,memorandi4--,this very curious book--much more curious than beautiful--contains fifteen designs and the same number of pages of engraved text4 ,the designs are intended to assist the memory in reading the ,gospels1 and perhaps to assist the friars in preaching to the people4 ,to the ,gospel of ,st4 ,john1 with which the book begins1 there are three cuts allotted1 and as many pages of text2 to ,st4 ,matthew five cuts and five pages of text2 to ,st4 ,mark1 three cuts and three pages of text2 and to ,st4 ,luke1 four cuts and four pages of text4 ,in every print an allegorical figure is represented2 an eagle symbolical of ,st4 ,john1 an angel of ,st4 ,matthew1 a lion of ,st4 ,mark1 and an ox of ,st4 ,luke4 ,the first cut is intended to represent1 figuratively1 the first six chapters of ,st4 ,john's ,gospel4 ,an upright eagle1 with spread wings and claws1 has three human heads--that of the ,saint with a dove above it is in the middle1 the head #bg of ,christ is on its right1 and that of ,moses on its left4 ,a lute1 from which three bells depend1 lies across the eagle's breast2 this is supposed to refer to the ,marriage in ,cana1 and a little numeral tells us that the account of it is in the second chapter4 ,between the outspread claws is a bucket surmounted by a crown4 ,these are symbolical of the ,well of ,samaria and the ,nobleman's son at ,capernaum in chapter iv4 ,on the bend of the eagle's outspread right wing is a fish and the numeral #e1 referring to the ,pool of ,bethesda in chapter v41 and on the left wing are five barley loaves and two small fishes1 and a small #f1 referring to the parable of the loaves and fishes in the sixth chapter4 ,this very singular book must have been a great favourite with the priests1 and perhaps with the laity1 for it was reprinted over and over again4 ,it appears to have been of ,german origin4 ,of the other block books mentioned in chapter ii4 it would be tedious to give an account2 they are very similar to those we have just described4 99 99 99 99 99 #bh ,,chapter ,,iv ,,speculum ,,human ,,salvationis ,historians tell us that in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the cities of the ,netherlands were the most populous and the richest in all ,western ,europe4 ,bruges1 ,ghent1 ,lige and ,brussels by their manufactures1 and ,antwerp by her commerce1 in which she rivalled ,venice1 had become celebrated for their great wealth1 the grandeur of their rulers1 and the magnificence of their great ,guilds4 ,the more northern towns1 too1 ,amsterdam1 ,haarlem1 and ,utrecht1 and many cities of ,germany1 such as ,mentz1 ,cologne1 ,strasburg1 ,nrnberg1 ,augsburg1 and ,basel1 were rich and prosperous4 ,it was among these cities that the sister arts of printing and wood-engraving first flourished4 ,from undoubted evidence accumulated by the patience and labour of many bibliographers1 it appears that the art of printing by means of movable type was not invented by any one man1 but was the result of a gradual development of the art of engraving4 ,in the fifteenth century1 as in the nineteenth1 there was an ever-growing demand for school books4 ,one of the most popular of these in the fifteenth century was the ',donatus1' a grammar so called from the name of the author4 ,there was also a ,latin ,delectus called a ',catho4' ,these were cheap books and were usually printed from engraved wood blocks4 ,these and the block books already described were contemporary1 and the immediate forerunners of separate types4 7,see ,blades1 ',pentateuch of ,printing1' p4 #ab47 #bi ,in certain editions of the ',speculum' there are to be seen woodcuts printed in ink of one colour and text in ink of another colour1 from metal movable types4 ,these types are rude in the extreme1 far more so than the ,german ,indulgence of #aded1 the very earliest known dated piece of printing4 ,there is no doubt that the ,donatuses were at first printed from wood blocks1 both in ,germany and the ,low ,countries1 but there is not a single ,dutch block-book ,donatus known1 while there are some nineteen or twenty early type-printed ,dutch ,donatuses already catalogued4 ,therefore it appears likely that ,gutenberg simply developed the process which had already been for some time in use in the ,low ,countries for ,donatuses and similar books4 ,illustration3 ,,first ,,page ,,of ,,the ,,speculum ,,human ,,salvationis ,the first book of importance that was printed at a press #cj and from movable type was the celebrated ,bible#b which ,gutenberg produced at ,mentz about the year #adee4 ,about the same time it is asserted that ,laurent ,janszoon ,coster of ,haarlem issued the ,speculum ,human ,salvationis1 and much discussion has risen as to which book has the prior claim4 ,the ,dutch insist on ,coster as being the proto-printer2 the ,germans not only assert the claim of ,gutenberg but say that ,coster is a myth6 ,the controversy is still carried on and there is little likelihood that it will ever be decided4 ,in the year #adfb there was a small revolution in ,mentz1 owing to the rival claims of two ,archbishops1 and the city was sacked4 ,the printers in the employment of ,gutenberg and his partners1 ,fust and ,peter ,schoeffer1 were scattered in every direction4 ,fifteen years afterwards printing-presses were to be found in every large city of ,germany and the ,netherlands1 as well as in ,italy and ,france2 and about #adgg1 ,caxton set up his first press in the precincts of ,westminster ,abbey4 ,speculum ,humanae ,salvationis--',the ,mirror of ,man's ,salvation4'--,this was the first book1 printed from type1 that had wood engravings4 ,it is a small folio containing fifty-eight cuts1 each of which is divided into two subjects1 inclosed in an architectural frame1 in which is the title in ,latin4 ,the cuts are placed at the head of the pages1 of which they occupy one-third4 ,it is to be noticed that1 though the cuts are all printed in brown ink1 the text beneath them is printed in black3 probably because the prints were to be coloured4 ,the arrangement and scope of this work are much like those of the ',biblia ,pauperum'2 the subjects are taken from the ,old and ,new ,testaments1 including the ,apocrypha1 and a few are from classic history4 ,the illustrations are from the first page3 ,casus #ca ,luciferi--',the ,fall of ,lucifer'--and ,deus creavit hominem ad ymaginem et similitudinem suam--',god created ,man after ,his own image and likeness4' ,illustration3 ,,speculum3 ,,the ,,fall ,,of ,,lucifer 7,size of the original cut7 #cb ,we see that the arts of drawing and engraving had improved since the time of the ',biblia ,pauperum4' ,the figures are in better proportion3 in many of the designs the folds of the dress fall more gracefully and the shading is more artistically done4 ,there are four fifteenth-century editions of this work known1 two with the text in ,dutch1 and two in ,latin4 ,three editions are printed entirely with movable type1 while part of the fourth--the second ,latin edition--is certainly from engraved blocks4 ,no one can tell the reason of this curious anomaly--we can only conjecture4 ,experts tell the various editions by the state of the cuts2 when these are unblemished1 it is assumed that they are of the first edition2 when a few of the lines of the cuts are broken1 it is supposed that they belong to the second edition2 when many are broken1 to the third edition1 and so on4 ,mr4 ,woodbery#c has so graphically described the ',speculum' that we cannot do better than quote his words3 ',a whole series needs to be looked at before one can appreciate the interest which these designs have in indicating the subjects on which imagination and thought were then exercised1 and the modes in which they were exercised4 ,symbolism and mysticism pervade the whole4 ,all nature and history seem to have existed only to prefigure the life of the ,saviour3 imagination and thought hover about ,him1 and take colour1 shape1 and light only from that central form2 the stories of the ,old ,testament1 the histories of ,david1 ,samson1 and ,jonah1 the massacres1 victories1 and miracles there recorded1 foreshadow1 as it were in parables1 the narrative of the ,gospels2 the temple1 the altar1 and the ark of the covenant1 all the furnishings and observances of the ,jewish ritual1 reveal occult meanings2 the garden of ,solomon's ,song1 and the sentiment of the ,bridegroom and the ,bride who wander in it1 are interpreted1 sometimes in graceful or even poetic feeling1 under the inspiration of mystical devotion2 old kings of pagan ,athens are transformed into witnesses of ,christ1 and1 with the ,sibyl of ,rome1 attest spiritual truth4 #cc ,illustration3 ,,the ,,grief ,,of ,,hannah 7,from the ,cologne ,bible7 #cd ,this book and others like it are mirrors of the ecclesiastical mind2 they picture the principal intellectual life of the ,middle ,ages2 they show the sources of that deep feeling in the earlier ,dutch artists which gave dignity and sweetness to their works4 ,even in the rudeness of these books1 in the texts as well as in the designs1 there is a navet1 an openness and freshness of nature1 a confidence in limited experience and contracted vision1 which make the sight of these cuts as charming as conversation with one who had never heard of ,america or dreamed of ,luther1 and who would have found modern life a puzzle and an offence4 ,the author of the ,speculum laments the evils which fell upon man in consequence of ,adam's sin1 and recounts them3 blindness1 deafness1 lameness1 floods1 fire1 pestilence1 wild beasts1 and law-suits 7in such order he arranges them72 and he ends the long list with this last and heaviest evil1 that men should presume to ask why ,god willed to create man1 whose fall ,he foresaw2 why ,he willed to create the angels1 whose ruin ,he foreknew2 wherefore ,he hardened the heart of ,pharaoh1 and softened the heart of ,mary ,magdalene unto repentance2 wherefore ,he made ,peter contrite1 who had denied ,him thrice1 but allowed ,judas to despair in his sin2 wherefore ,he gave grace to one thief1 and cared not to give grace to his companion4 ,what modern man can fully realise the mental condition of this poet1 who thus weeps over the temptation to ask these questions1 as the supreme and direst curse which ,divine vengeance allows to overtake the perverse children of this world8' ,by far the most excellent book issued about this time is ,the ,psalter1 printed by ,gutenberg's former partners1 ,fust and ,schoeffer1 at ,mentz in #adei4 ,the initial letters1 which are printed in red and blue and the ,gothic type1 all of which are in exact imitation of the best manuscripts1 could not be excelled at the present day4 ,the book belongs more to the ,history of ,printing1 but on account of its beautiful initial letters1 which1 it is said1 were drawn and engraved by ,schoeffer1 we feel constrained to notice it4 #ce ,illustration3 ,,frontispiece ,,to ,,breydenbach',s ,,travels 7,much reduced7 #cf ,a ,book of ,fables issued from the press of ,albrecht ,pfister1 of ,bamberg1 in #adfa1 may be mentioned as a very early work in which woodcuts and type were printed together2 it is a small folio of twenty-eight leaves1 containing eighty-five fables in rhyme in the old ,german language1 illustrated with a hundred and one cuts4 ,they are of little merit and show no advancement in the art of wood-engraving4 ,the only known copy of this book1 which is in the ,wolfenbttel ,library1 was taken away by the ,french under ,napoleon's orders and added to the ,bibliothque ,nationale2 it was restored at the surrender of ,paris in #ahae4 ,we cannot give a list of all the books containing woodcuts that were issued in ,germany at the end of the fifteenth century2 their name is legion4 ,we must1 however1 mention two or three of the most important4 ,in the ,cologne ,bible1 printed about the year #adge1 there are one hundred and nine cuts1 one of which we give as an example2 they are about equal in merit to those in the ',biblia ,pauperum1' but show no improvement4 ,the subject of the cut is ',the ,grief of ,hannah4' ,we see ,elkanah and his two wives1 ,hannah and ,peninnah1 in a room from which the artist has obligingly taken away one of the sides4 ,in the ,nrnberg ,bible1 printed in #adhb1 we find the same set of cuts4 ,the ,nrnberg ,chronicle1 often quoted as an example of early ,german wood-engraving1 is a folio volume containing more than two thousand cuts1 which include views of cities1 portraits of saints and other holy men1 scenes from ,biblical and profane history1 and a great many other subjects1 produced1 we are told1 under the superintendence of ,michael ,wolgemuth and ,william ,pleydenwurff1 'mathematical men skilled in the art of painting4' ,the same head does duty for the portrait of a dozen or more historians or poets--the #cg same portrait is given to many military heroes--the saints are treated in the same way1 and even the same view serves for several different cities4 ,the cuts are bolder and more full of colour than any we have had before1 and so far may be said to be in advance1 and this we must put down to the superintendence of ,wolgemuth1 who was an artist of repute4 ,chatto says they are the most tasteless and worthless things that are to be found in any book1 ancient or modern--but this is too sweeping an assertion4 ,the work was compiled by ,hartman ,schedel1 a physician of ,nrnberg1 and printed in that city by ,anthony ,koburger in #adic4 ,the most important book of this time1 so far as the woodcuts are concerned1 is a ,latin edition of ,breydenbach's ,travels1 which was printed in folio by ,erhard ,reuwich in ,mentz in #adhf4 ,we give a much reduced copy of the frontispiece1 which is without doubt the best example of wood-engraving of the fifteenth century4 ,in this cut we see for the first time cross-hatching used in the shadows1 in the folds of the drapery of the principal figure--,saint ,catherine1 who is the patroness of learned men--in the upper parts of the shields and beneath the top part of the frame4 ,bernard de ,breydenbach1 who was a canon of the cathedral of ,mentz1 was accompanied in his travels to the ,holy ,sepulchre at ,jerusalem and the shrine of ,st4 ,catherine on ,mount ,sinai by ,john1 ,count of ,solms and ,lord of ,mintzenberg1 and ,philip de ,bicken1 ,knight4 ,the arms of the three travellers are given in the cut with the names beneath them4 ,besides the frontispiece there are many other good engravings in this volume--a picture of ,venice1 five feet long and ten inches high2 views of ,corfu1 ,modon1 in ,southern ,greece1 and the country round ,jerusalem4 ,there are also many pictures of animals1 such as a giraffe1 a unicorn1 a salamander1 a camel1 and a creature something like an ouran-outang4 ,travellers saw wonderful things in those days6 ,it is a great pity that we do not know the names of the artists #ch who drew and engraved the cuts in this most interesting book4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,bibliomaniac ,from ',navis ,stultifera' 7,the ,ship of ,fools7 ,just at the close of the century we find the first humorous conception of ,german artists in the illustrations of the ,navis ,stultifera 7,ship of ,fools71 written by ,sebastian ,brandt and printed at ,basel in #adig4 ,this very bold and original work had an immense success and was frequently reprinted4 ,every page is adorned with the antics of clowns and men in fools' caps and bells1 in caricature of some absurdity1 and the bibliomaniac is not spared3 ',i have the first place among fools1' he is made to say2 ',i have heaps of books which ,i #ci rarely open4 ,if ,i read them ,i forget them and am no wiser4' ,as will be seen by the cut1 though the perspective of the draughtsman is not to be praised1 the work of the engraver is excellent2 the fineness of the lines is new to us and the shadows are well treated4 ,notice also the bindings of the books1 with their bosses1 hinges1 and clasps2 nearly all are folios1 and four or five are ornamented with the same pattern4 ,the decoration at the side is evidently copied from an illuminated manuscript4 ,with this book we may fitly close our notice of ,german wood-engraving of the fifteenth century4 99 99 99 99 99 #dj ,,chapter ,v ,,on ,,wood-,,engraving ,,in ,,italy ,,in ,,the ,,fifteenth ,,century ,although at this time ,germany took the lead of all ,european countries so far as the illustrations of printed books are concerned1 the transition from ,german to ,italian art is like the change from the strong bleak winds of the ,north to the balmy air and sunny skies of the ,south4 ,we are aware of the difference both of climate and of art in a moment3 the very first picture presented to us reveals it4 ,the ,italians of the fifteenth century could not take up a handicraft without making it a fine art4 ,here is a title-page of a folio ,,kalendario produced in ,venice in the year #adgf4 ,this is the first title-page on which the contents of the book1 the name of the author1 the imprint of the publishers1 who were also the printers1 and the date of the issue of the book1 were ever given4 ,mark the decoration4 ,though the publishers were ,germans1 the artist who drew this border must have been an ,italian2 and probably the engraver was an ,italian also1 for the book was produced at ,venice4 ,the character of the design suggests the work of an illuminator4 ,the introduction of the printing-press must have interfered sadly with the writer of manuscripts and his brother the illuminator1 and both were doubtless glad to avail themselves of the new art4 ,the manuscript writer may have turned compositor1 and the illuminator may have been transformed into a book decorator4 #da ,illustration3 ,,title-,,page ,,of ,a ,,folio ,,kalendario ,,by ,,joanne ,,de ,,monte ,,regio1 ,,printed ,,at ,,venice ,,in #adgf 7much reduced7 ,we have before us a facsimile of a cut called ',the ,triumph of ,love1' which appeared as one of the illustrations of ,,triumphi ,,del ,,petrarca1 a book printed in ,venice1 in #adhh4 ,a man1 seated with his hands bound behind him1 is tied with a rope to a triumphal car which is drawn by four horses2 on a ball of fire1 which rises from the car1 a blindfolded ,cupid is shooting an arrow 7apparently at the near leader72 a great crowd of men and women1 among whom we see a king and a mitred bishop1 follow and surround the car1 and on a distant hill we behold ,petrarch conversing with his friend4 ,there are two rabbits feeding calmly in the #db foreground1 notwithstanding the danger of the horses' hoofs1 and the usual conventional designs for grass and flowers4 ,the groundwork of the border of this curious print is black1 with an ,italian design carefully cut out in white1 with but little shadow4 ,from the waviness of many of the lines which should be straight1 we think this print must be from an engraving on metal4 ,of all the wood-engravings executed in ,italy in the fifteenth century1 none can compare in excellence with those in the ,,hypnerotomachia ,,poliphili 7,dream of ,poliphilo7 printed in ,venice1 by ,aldus1 in #adii4d ,there are1 in all1 one hundred and ninety-two subjects1 of which eighty-six relate to mythology and ancient history1 fifty-four are pictures of processions and emblematic figures1 thirty-six are architectural and ornamental1 and sixteen vases and statues4 ,they have been attributed to many different artists1 the most probable of whom is ,carpaccio4 ,the subject of the ',hypnerotomachia' has been described as a ',contest between ,imagination and ,love'2 it is a curious medley of all kinds of fable1 history1 architecture1 mathematics1 and other matters1 seasoned with suggestions which do not reflect credit on the moral perceptions of its author1 a ,dominican monk1 named ,francesco ,colonna4 ,an enthusiastic admirer of this book thus poetically describes it3 ',there is1 perhaps1 no volume where the exuberant vigour of that age is more clearly shown1 or where the objects for which that age was impassioned are more glowingly described4 #dc ,illustration3 ,,poliphilo ,,in ,,the ,,garden ,from ',hypnerotomachia ,poliphili1' printed by ,aldus at ,venice in #adii ,the romantic and fantastic rhapsody mirrors every aspect of nature and art in which the ,italians then took delight--peaceful landscape1 where rivers flow by flower-starred banks and through bird-haunted woods2 noble architecture and exquisite sculpture1 #dd the music of soft instruments1 the ruins of antiquity1 the legends of old mythology1 the motions of the dance1 the elegance of the banquet1 splendour of apparel1 courtesy of manners1 even the manuscript1 with its cover of purple velvet sown with ,eastern pearls--everything that was cared for and sought in that time when the gloom of asceticism lifted and disclosed the wide prospect of the world lying1 as it were1 in the loveliness of daybreak4' ,but it is more on account of the beauty of the cuts than the poetry of the author that this book has been so much admired and so frequently reprinted4 ,our illustration shows us where ,poliphilo in his dream visits a bevy of fair maidens in a garden4 ,these nymphs are not very beautiful1 but1 though they have such high waists1 remark how gracefully their figures are drawn1 and look at the action and the drapery of the damsel running away4 ,the engraving is1 without doubt1 an exact facsimile of the artist's drawing2 the lines are clear and crisp1 and are evidently the work of a practised hand4 ,the drawing of the gateway and trees is simply conventional4 ,we are sorry that we have not room for more of the illustrations of this remarkable work4 ,in these early books it seems to have been nobody's business to record the name of the engraver who produced the illustrations1 and1 although the printer's name is generally very conspicuous in the colophon1 the artist's name rarely1 if ever1 appears4 ,but the work of certain masters of certain schools is generally recognised with ease1 either by some peculiarity of manner1 or by some particular mark4 ,thus one artist1 who1 towards the end of the fifteenth century1 illustrated a few books printed in ,italy1 is known as 'the master of the dolphin1' because in most of his work this fish appears among the decorations4 ,another is known to us only by the name of 'the illustrator of the ,poliphilus1' that quaint romance of ,colonna which has taken a proud place in literature1 not for its own intrinsic merits1 but #de rather on account of the beauty of its woodcuts1 the name of whose author is still a matter of conjecture4 ,we may here say a few words about ,aldo ,manuzio1 better known in ,england by his ,latinised name1 ,aldus ,manutius1 the celebrated printer1 and some of the other early printers of ,venice4 ,one of the first to set up a press in ,venice was ,nicolas ,jenson1 a ,frenchman1 who had worked at ,mentz1 and who was the first to cut and introduce ,roman type such as is now in use4 ,at his death his business and plant were bought by a rich man1 ,andrea ,torresano1 of ,asola1 and the work was carried on successfully4 ,aldo ,manuzio1 who was born at ,sermoneta1 a village near ,velletri1 in #adej1 received an excellent education1 especially in ,greek2 and the celebrated ,pico da ,mirandola made him tutor to his nephews1 ,alberto and ,leonardo ,pio1 ,lords of ,carpi4 ,alberto ,pio1 under his master's training1 became a great lover of literature2 and when ,aldo conceived the idea of starting a printing-press1 the young lord advanced him the necessary funds1 and gave him a house in ,venice near the ,church of ,sant' ,agostino4 ,aldo then married a daughter of ,torresano1 and the two printing businesses were joined and carried on together under ,aldo's direction4 ,his house1 we are told1 was a veritable colony2 besides the compositors' rooms and the press-rooms1 he had closets for press-readers and studios for the special use of learned authors4 ,the first 'printer's devil' was a little negro boy who had been brought by one of the men from ,greece4 ,at the beginning of the sixteenth century the wood-engravers of ,florence were celebrated for beautiful book illustrations in a distinct style4 ,those in the ,,quatro ,,reggie1 ,florence1 #aejh1 are typical examples2 their chief characteristics are1 great breadth2 masses of white and black #df evenly balanced2 and the frequent use of white lines out of masses of black4 ,illustration3 ,,teobaldo ,,manuzio--,,known ,,as ,,aldus1 ,,printer ,,at ,,venice ,some of the fine borders to these early ,italian wood-engravings owe their distinctive character to earlier work of #dg engravers on metal4 ,thus the borders round the illustrations of the ,venice folio of #adia of the ,,triumphs ,,of ,,petrarch seem to be direct copies of engravings in metal by ,filippo ,lippi4 ,the masses of white on a black background are very effective1 and the strength of the colour increases the effect of the picture which the border surrounds4 ,between #adgd and #aeab ,aldus printed for the first time the works of thirty-three ,greek authors4 ,the works of ,aristotle1 brought out in four volumes1 occupied three years4 ,a learned ,greek1 ,musurus of ,crete1 corrected the proofs1 in which ,aldus himself assisted4 ,the workmen were nearly all ,greeks4 ,the ,greek type was copied from the handwriting of ,musurus1 and the ,italian1 known as the ,aldine1 from the writings of ,petrarch2 this was cut by the celebrated artist-goldsmith1 ,francia of ,bologna4 ,the ,aldine edition of ,virgil 7#aeja71 now exceedingly rare1 was the first book printed in this ,italic type4 ,notwithstanding all his learning1 energy1 and philanthropy1 ,aldus did not succeed in his business4 ,many of his books were pirated1 wars and insurrections interrupted him1 the ,league of ,cambray caused him to close his works from #aejf to #aeaj1 and he sold his books at a rate too cheap to be remunerative4 ,the first printed edition of ,,sop',s ,,fables1 which appeared at ,verona as early as #adha1 and was reprinted at ,venice in #adia1 contains many excellent engravings inclosed in ornamental borders1 thoroughly ,italian in character4 ,the figures are not unlike those in the ',hypnerotomachia1' and we can readily imagine that they were drawn by the same artist1 who has given us little more than outlines1 which the engraver has well cut in facsimile4 ,the fable of ',the ,jackdaw and the ,peacock' is particularly well done4 ,an edition of ,,ovid',s ,,metamorphoses appeared also at this time with tolerably good illustrations not so well engraved4 ,there are some curious little cuts in the ,,epistole ,,di ,,san ,,hieronymo ,,volgare1 published in ,ferrara in #adig1 which #dh are more valuable for their originality than their beauty1 either of drawing or engraving4 ,the book was evidently intended for the use of the illiterate1 to whom the quality of the pictures laid before them was of little consequence if they told the story that was meant for them to read with their eyes4 ,the homely scene of ,christ appearing like a ,gardener with a hoe on ,his shoulder1 addressing ,mary ,magdalene in an ,italian pergola1 would appeal to their feelings much more directly than the ,transfiguration of ,raphael4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,bootmaker',s ,,shop ,from the ',decameron1' printed in ,venice in #adib ,we do not find record of any other important wood-engravings in the history of printing in ,italy at the end of the fifteenth century4 ,presses abounded everywhere1 chiefly managed by ,germans2 there was scarcely an important town in ,italy without a printer2 few illustrated books1 however1 were issued at this time4 ,an edition of ,boccaccio's #di ',,decameron1' with many excellent cuts1 one of which1 representing a bootmaker's shop1 we give as an illustration1 was printed by the brothers ,gregorio at ,venice in #adib4 ,and there are some illustrations in a book called ',,fiore ,,di ,,virt1' which appeared in ,venice in the same year1 that may be praised for the work of the wood-engraver1 though the designer shows a sad ignorance of the laws of perspective and proportion4 ,and we have before us an illustration to a poem by ,,poliziano1 in which ,giuliano dei ,medici is kneeling before the altar of the goddess ,minerva1 where we see graceful drawing by the artist and fairly good engraving4 ,it #ej was printed in ,florence1 but the type bears no comparison with the beauty of the ,aldine books4 ,illustration3 ,,frontispiece ,,to ,a ',,terence1' ,,printed ,,at ,,lyons ,,in #adic ,the love of colour1 which is born in all ,italians1 led them to develop a process of making pictures in chiaroscuro--by printing several wood-blocks one upon another1 each block giving a separate tint4 ,in fact1 it was the beginning of the modern colour-printing4 ,the invention of the new process was claimed by ,ugo da ,carpi1 who reproduced several of the designs of ,raphael4 ,in the beginning of the next century we find pictures printed in four different colours--trying to imitate water-colour1 or1 rather1 distemper drawings4 7,see p4 #ii47 ,at ,lyons1 about the same time1 there was an illustrated edition of ',,terence' published1 with well-executed woodcuts1 from which we are able to give only the frontispiece1 ',the ,author writing his book4' ,it is sufficient to show that the engraving is the work of a practised hand4 99 99 99 99 99 #ea ,,chapter ,,vi ,,in ,,france ,,in ,,the ,,fifteenth ,,century ,before we begin our brief history of wood-engraving in ,france it will be well to speak of the technical part of the new art in the fifteenth century4 ,we have already stated that the engraving of the ',st4 ,christopher' and other large prints were cut with a knife on planks of apple or pear or other close-grained wood2 but there has always been much doubt about the small book illustrations which appeared in various countries quite at the end of the century4 ,the discovery1 however1 of some engraved blocks of metal solved the difficulty4 ,in those days workers in metal were to be found in all large towns2 the age of moulding and casting everything that could be cast had not then arrived3 of course1 coins and medals were made in the foundry2 but handwork of the most perfect kind on metal was as common as wood-carving for the churches4 ,experts have discovered twisted lines in some of the old prints2 a line in a woodcut may easily be broken but it can hardly be bent1 and it is now asserted that many of the woodcuts1 including the beautiful initial letters in ,fust and ,schoeffer's ',psalter1' were really engraved on metal4 ,the view of ,london at the head of the first page of the ,illustrated ,london ,news is1 we are told1 cut in brass2 ,mulready's well-known envelope1 engraved on brass by the celebrated wood-engraver1 ,john ,thompson1 may be seen in the ,south ,kensington ,museum2 and scores of other examples of metalwork of this kind might be cited4 #eb ,illustration3 ,,ornaments ,,from ',,heures ,a ,l',,usaige ,,de ,,chartre' 7,published by ,vostre7 ,and there is no doubt that the famous illustrations of the ,missal1 or ',book of ,hours1' issued in ,paris between #adij and #aebj1 were engraved on metal of some kind1 perhaps on copper or some amalgam of tin and copper4 ,there was a metal known as 'latten' in those days1 and probably the engraving was done on some material of this kind1 not too hard to cut1 not too soft to wear away4 ,it will be noticed that the groundwork of many borders in the ,french books is filled with little white dots1 cribl it was called2 these dots are1 in the first place1 to imitate similar work in the gold grounds of the borders of illustrated missals1 and1 in the second place1 to save the labour of cutting away so much of the metal as would be required for a white ground4 ,these dots were evidently #ec made by means of a sharp and finely-pointed tool driven by a blow into the metal4 7,see page #ei47 ,france was not early in the field with illustrated books1 but she quickly made up for the delay by the excellence of her work1 more especially in ornament4 ,in #adhh1 ,pierre ,le ,rouge1 a printer and publisher1 sent forth a book1 ',,la ,,mer ,,des ,,histoires1' which contains many charming designs1 from which beautiful wall-papers we know of have been borrowed2 they are as well engraved as similar work at the present day1 and only needed better 'over-laying' by the pressman1 an art but little practised at that time4 ,this book contains the first decorative work by wood-engraving we have met with1 and shows the great excellence of art in ,france at this period4 ,there is a good example1 though much reduced in size1 among the illustrations of ,mr4 ,william ,morris's paper ',on the ,woodcuts of ,gothic ,books1' that he read before a meeting of the ,society of ,arts in ,january #ahib3 it is printed in the ,journal of the ,society for ,february #abth4 ,besides ,le ,rouge1 there were in ,paris at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries four celebrated printers1 who were also publishers1 whose books command our attention4 ,their names are ,simon ,vostre1 ,antoine ,verard1 ,thielman ,kerver1 a ,german1 and ,guyot ,marchant2 they all published the ',book of ,hours1' illustrated and decorated by the best artists and engravers of their time4 ,there was likewise a printer named ,philippe ,pigouchet1 who was also an engraver on wood1 and who began by cutting blocks for ,simon ,vostre1 and afterwards turned publisher on his own account4 ,an important point to notice in connection with the illustrations of ,french ',books of ,hours' at this time is that they are nearly all inspired by ,german artists and nearly all copied from illuminated ,,mss4 #ed ,illustration3 ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,the ,,virgin 7,from a ,missal published by ,simon ,vostre7 #ee ,at the end of the fifteenth century the art of illumination was at its height in ,paris4 ,no one excelled the exquisite work of ,jean ,foucquet1 servant to the ,king1 and ,jean ,perreal1 painter to ,anne of ,brittany4 ,manuscripts containing their miniature paintings command a large sum whenever they are offered for sale at the present day4 ,these artists1 it is said1 gave their aid to the publishers of the ',book of ,hours' 7,heures l'usage de ,rome71 which had such an enormous sale that each publisher produced an edition for himself4 ,mr4 ,noel ,humphreys asserts1 in his ',history of the ,art of ,printing1' that no fewer than sixty editions were published between #adhd and #adid4 ,in his ',introduction to the ,study and ,collection of ,ancient ,prints1' ,dr4 ,willshire says3 ',towards the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries some well-known ,french printers--,pigouchet1 ,jean ,dupr1 ,antoine ,verard1 and ,simon ,vostre--published some beautiful ,books of ,hours1 ornamented with engravings having some peculiar characters4 ,the chief of these were that the ground and often the dark portions of the print were finely cribl or dotted white1 serving as a means of killing black--a practice then prevalent among ,french engravers2 secondly1 each page of text was surrounded by a border of little subjects engraved in the same manner1 and often repeated at every third page4444 ,not unfrequently they were printed in brilliant ink on fine vellum1 that they might compete with the illuminated ,,ms4 ,books of ,hours then in fashion4 ,the prints decorating these books have been generally considered to be impressions from wood4' ,but ,mr4 ,linton says they are from engraved blocks of metal2 and every practical man will1 we are sure1 agree with the great living ,master of ,wood-engraving4 ,our first illustration is from a ',book of ,hours1' or ,missal1 published by ,simon ,vostre in #adhh4 ,it represents ',the ,death of the ,virgin1' a subject that was always chosen by the illustrator of religious books in those days2 in our account of wood-engraving in the next two centuries we shall frequently meet with it among the works of the great artists4 #ef ,illustration3 ,,the ,,passion ,,of ,,our ,,lord 7,after a painting by ,martin ,schongauer4 ,from a ,missal by ,simon ,vostre7 #eg ,the ,gothic framework of the cut is evidently borrowed from church ornament4 ,the expression of the faces in the crowd of visitors is far in advance of anything we have seen hitherto in the ,german cuts2 and the engraving1 which was probably on metal1 is evidently facsimile of the drawing and is remarkably well executed4 ,the narrow border on the right of the cut is from an illuminated manuscript4 ,in another of ,vostre's ,missals we find a copy of an engraving after the ,german painter1 ,martin ,schongauer1 ',christ bearing the ,cross1' enclosed in a ,french ,renaissance frame4 ,in the sky there is a good example of the cribl work of which we have spoken4 ,the towers of ,jerusalem in the background must have been evolved from the artist's inner consciousness3 he certainly never saw the ,holy ,city4 ,antoine ,verard also published many ',livres d',heures1'#e very much like ,vostre's4 ,we are told that he frequently printed a few copies on the finest vellum and had them coloured in exact imitation of the illuminated ,missals4 ,one of ,verard's patrons was the ,duc d',angoulme1 a noted bibliophile1 who commissioned him to print on vellum the romance of ',,tristan1' the ',book of ,consolation' of ,boethius1 the ',ordinaire du ,chrtien1' and the ',heures en ,franois1' all with illuminated borders and handsome bindings4 ,for this great amount of work ,verard received about #bdjl41 then equivalent perhaps to #a1jjjl4 of the present day4 ,we give an outline copy of one of the pages of the romance of ',,tristan1' which will repay much attention both for the principal subject1 the ,king's ,banquet1 and the tapestry on the wall1 which ought to be coloured to be properly appreciated4 ,this famous publisher issued also a huge chronicle in five folio volumes1 the ',miroir ,historical1' profusely illustrated with good wood engravings2 the first volume in #adie1 the last in #adif4 #eh ,illustration3 ,,the ,,king',s ,,banquet 7,from the romance of ',tristan1' published by ,antoine ,verard7 ,thielman ,kerver1 the ,german1 also brought out many ',books of ,hours1' copying those issued by ,simon ,vostre in a most barefaced way2 indeed1 piracy of this kind was rampant all over ,europe1 and but little regarded4 ,we give #ei a reduced copy of ,kerver's book-mark2 in the original it will be seen that the background is cribl1 thus suggesting that it was cut on metal4 ,illustration3 ,,mark ,,of ,,thielman ,,kerver ,it was ,guyot ,marchant who produced1 in #adhe1 the first edition of the ',,dance ,,of ,,death1' which contained seventeen engravings on ten folio leaves1 with the text printed in the old ,gothic characters4 ,this awe-inspiring but highly popular subject had been painted on the walls of many public buildings in ,germany and ,france1 and in past ages it had always been a great favourite with the lower classes 7many of our readers will remember a version of it on the walls of the curious old wooden bridge at ,lucerne1 the designs of which have doubtless been handed down by tradition7--but #fj ,marchant was the first who printed the story in a series of woodcuts1 well drawn and admirably engraved1 and he had his reward1 for the work was reprinted over and over again4 ,the ,pope1 the ,emperor1 the ,bishop1 the ,duke and the ,duchess are given with much spirit1 and are evidently the work of a clever draughtsman1 who might1 however1 have made his ,death a little less hideous4 ,but there was a great love of the horrible in those days4 ,a special chapter might well be devoted to the beautiful marks used by ,french printers4 ,guyot ,marchant's mark represents leather-workers engaged at their trade1 and above are a few musical notes4 ,there are two varieties of this device4 ,the mark of ,jehan ,du ,pr is an elaborate piece of work1 in which heraldry plays a conspicuous part1 while that of ,antoine ,caillaut is pictorial4 ,the ,le ,noirs used devices in which the heads of negroes figured prominently4 ,the well-known mark of ,badius ,ascensius represents printers at work4 ,jehan ,petit used several beautiful cuts1 in which his mark forms part of an elaborate design4 99 99 99 99 99 #fa ,,chapter ,,vii ,,in ,,england ,,in ,,the ,,fifteenth ,,century ,in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries many of the finest churches in ,england were built by architects so celebrated that some of them were sent for to erect similar buildings in ,france4 ,the beautiful carvings and highly decorated monuments still existing in our cathedrals prove that the art of sculpture in ,england was at that time little inferior to that of other countries4 ,and in the ,british ,museum and ,bodleian ,library1 and many private collections1 there is plentiful evidence that the miniature painters and illuminators were but little behind their brethren in ,italy and ,france2 even the binders1 as we see by existing work1 used excellent ornament in the decoration of the covers of their books4 ,why is it1 then1 that we find the art of wood-engraving1 when it was flourishing in all the chief countries on the ,continent1 almost at its earliest state of infancy in ,england8 ,this is a question very difficult to answer4 ,certainly our great printers1 ,william ,caxton1 and his successors1 ,wynkyn de ,worde and ,richard ,pynson1 did not follow the example of the great typographers of ,venice or the yet more-to-be-praised booksellers of ,paris1 who devoted so much energy and taste in the decoration of their books4 ,of the few cuts printed in the fifteenth century1 such as they are1 we must say a few words4 ,the earliest are all #fb small devotional pictures1 representing ,scriptural subjects1 as ',the ,image of ,pity1' a figure of ,christ on the ,cross surrounded by emblems of the ,passion2 four or five only of these early cuts have been found4 ,william ,caxton1 the first ,english printer1 who was born in the ,weald of ,kent about the year #adbb1 was apprenticed to ,robert ,large1 a rich mercer of ,london1 who was ,lord ,mayor in #addj4 ,in the following year the master died and ,caxton went to ,bruges1 where he prospered in business1 and in #adfb was made ,governor of a ,company of ,english ,merchants who traded in ,flanders1 then the foremost mercantile country in the world4 ,in #adga ,caxton gave up commerce and attached himself to the court of ,margaret1 ,duchess of ,burgundy1 the sister of ,edward ,,iv4 ,at the request of the duchess1 he then translated the ,le ,recueil des ,histoires de ,troye1 written by ,raoul ,lefevre1 and employed ,colard ,mansion of ,bruges to produce it4 ,this was the first book printed in the ,english language4 ,in passing his book through the press ,caxton learned the new art1 and with type bought of ,colard ,mansion he set up the first printing-press in ,england1 at the sign of ',the ,red ,pale' in the ,almonry at ,westminster1 at the end of the year #adgf4 ',the ,dictes and ,sayings of ,philosophers1' which appeared in #adgg1 is believed to be the first book printed in ,england2 this was followed by ',the ,morale ,prouerbes of ,cristyne1' and several other books1 all without illustration4 ,in #adgh he printed ',the ,mirrour of the ,world1' the first book printed in ,england with cuts1 one of which we give as an example2 and the more famous ',game and ,playe of the ,chesse1' from the second edition of which we have taken as a specimen ',the ,knight1' which ,caxton thus describes3 ',the knyght ought to be maad al armed upon a hors in such wise that he have an helme on his heed and a spere in his right hond1 and coverid with his shelde1 a swerde and a mace on his left syde1 clad with an halberke and plates tofore his breste1 legge harnoys on his legges1 spores on his heelis1 on hys handes hys gauntelettes1 hys hors wel broken and taught1 and apte to bataylle1 and coveryd with hys armes4' #fc ,illustration3 ,,music 7,from ,caxton's ',mirrour of the ,world'7 7,orthography was not much regarded in those days47 ,this book is so rare and so keenly sought for that at the sale at ,osterley ,park in #ahee a perfect copy was bought for the enormous sum of #a1iejl4 ,in #adhc appeared ',the ,golden ,legende1' considered to be his magnum opus1 on account of the beauty of the typography2 and about #adij ',the ,talis of ,cauntyrburye' with #bg cuts representing individual pilgrims1 and one with all the pilgrims seated round a large table4 ,it is #fd said that ,caxton printed ninety-nine different works1 of which sixty-four survive either in perfect books or in fragments1 which may be consulted at the ,british ,museum4 ,he produced the first printed edition of ,chaucer1 ,lydgate1 ,gower1 and ,sir ,thomas ,malory's ',king ,arthur4' ,he was an accomplished linguist1 and translated and published ,cicero's ,orations ',de ,senectute' and ',de ,amicitia1' ,virgil's 'neid' and many other classical works4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,knight 7,from ,caxton's ',game and ,playe of the ,chesse'7 ,with one exception none of his books has a title-page1 though some have prologues and colophons2 and the pages are not numbered4 ,they are all printed in the ,gothic #fe character known as 'black letter1' and nearly all are in small folio size4 ,caxton1 we are assured1 received the patronage and friendship of all the great men of his time and was much esteemed throughout ,europe2 and from a miniature painting in a beautiful manuscript in the library of ,lambeth ,palace we know that ,earl ,rivers presented him with his first book in his hand to the ,king1 ,edward ,,iv4 ,it is supposed that he died at the end of #adia in his sixty-ninth year4 ,illustration3 ,,wynkyn ,,de ,,worde',s ,,mark ,with ,caxton's ,initials ,wynkyn de ,worde1 ,caxton's pupil and successor1 was a native of ,lorraine4 ,he probably came over with him from ,bruges1 and so attached was he to his master1 and so highly did he esteem him1 that in all the nine book-marks that ,de ,worde used1 he always included the initials ,w4 ,c4 ,the mark we have given is of rare occurrence1 and is one of the best pieces of engraving of the time4 ,bibliographers have found four hundred books printed by him2 among them is ',the ,golden ,legende1' with woodcuts 7#adic72 a translation of ',huon de ,bordeaux1' from which ,shakespeare borrowed the plot of his ',midsummer ,night's ,dream'2 and his best-known #ff work1 often reprinted1 ',treatyses perteynynge to ,hawkynge and ,huntynge1 and ,fyshynge with an ,angle1' by ,dame ,juliana ,berners 7#adif71 which contains many woodcuts1 one of which1 a man fishing1 is very quaint 7see engraving74 ,a book which was 'imprynted at ,london in ,flete ,street in #aeca1' called ',pilgrymage of ,perfeccyon1 ,a devoute ,treatyse in ,englysshe1' is illustrated by three curiously folded woodcuts4 ,de ,worde was the first printer in ,england who used the ,roman type4 ,several of his books have a woodcut on the title-page4 ,in his ',history of ,wood-engraving1' ,mr4 ,chatto gives his opinion about the cuts of this period3--',although ,i am inclined to believe that within the fifteenth century there were no persons who practised wood-engraving in this country as a distinct profession1 yet it by no means follows from such an admission that ,caxton's and ,de ,worde's cuts must have been engraved by foreign artists4 ,the manner in which they are executed is so coarse that they might have been cut by any person who could handle a graver4 ,looking at them merely as specimens of wood-engraving1 they are not generally superior to the practice-blocks cut by a modern wood-engraver's apprentice within the first month of his novitiate4' ,soon there were other printers in ,london4 ,richard ,pynson began to publish books from his own press in ,fleet ,street4 ,his first book illustrated with woodcuts appears to have been ',the ,canterbury ,tales1' printed before #adic4 ,in the following year ,pynson issued ,lydgate's ',falle of ,princis' with numerous small woodcuts by a master-hand1 which appear too good to be ,english4 #fg ,illustration3 ',,fyshynge ,,wyth ,,an ,,angle' 7,from ',the ,book of ,st4 ,albans1' printed by ,wynkyn de ,worde in #adif7 ,for a ',sarum ,missal' of #aejj1 he used some beautifully engraved borders and ornaments1 as well as a large cut of ,archbishop ,morton's coat of arms4 ,another of his important works was ,lord ,berners' translation of ,syr ,john ,froissart's ',cronycles of ,englande1 ,fraunce1 ,spayne1 c4' ,we give a #fh copy of ,pynson's ',mark1' but we fear both this and ,de ,worde's were engraved on the ,continent4 ,illustration3 ,,richard ,,pynson',s ,,mark ,in #adih1 ,julian ,notary established an office from which twenty-three books have been traced4 ,many of them have curious woodcuts1 some of which seem to have descended to him from ,caxton and ,wynkyn de ,worde4 ,we find the decoration of the covers of ,notary's works mentioned with approval in the early history of book-binding1 which arrived at a much greater perfection than wood-engraving in this country at the close of the fifteenth century4 99 99 99 99 99 #fi ,,chapter ,,viii ,,in ,,germany ,,in ,,the ,,sixteenth ,,century ,we must now retrace our brief history to ,germany1 where1 under the immediate direction and control of such well-known artists as ,albrecht ,drer of ,nrnberg 7b4 #adga1 d4 #aebh7 and ,hans ,burgkmair of ,augsburg 7b4 #adgb1 d4 #aeca71 as well as of ,lucas ,cranach1 a ,franconian 7b4 #adgb1 d4 #aeec71 and1 afterwards1 of ,hans ,holbein of ,augsburg 7b4 #adig1 d4 #aedc71 the art of wood-engraving in its grandest and purest form arrived at its first culmination4 ,this was in a great measure due to the liberal patronage of the ,emperor ,maximilian1 who1 possessing a great love of art1 esteemed all painters1 architects1 designers1 and engravers as highly as his warriors4 ,he was fond of magnificence in a truly imperial way1 and the superb series of wood-engravings--the noblest the world has ever seen--known as ',the ,triumphs of ,maximilian1' were the outcome of this generous tendency4 ,of these celebrated works1 which were not completed when the ,emperor died in #aeai1 we must speak in their proper place4 ,it was to the genius of ,albrecht ,drer and the engravers who translated his drawings into woodcuts that the art received its new vigour4 ,up to this time wood-engraving in ,germany had been the work of craftsmen who were little better than mechanics2 but when ,drer and ,burgkmair1 who knew the capabilities of the art1 made drawings on the wood expressly for the engravers to reproduce in exact lines1 there #gj was a quick improvement which went on increasing in excellence for more than half a century4 ,after the death of ,holbein and his immediate successors1 the art faded into insignificance in ,germany for many years4 ,the first important work of the early life of ,albrecht ,drer was a series of fifteen large drawings on wood representing allegorical ,scenes from the ,apocalypse4 ,they are mystical1 indeed almost incomprehensible2 at the same time we are obliged to notice the tremendous vigour and the wonderful power of invention in the man who designed them4 ,but his attempt to embody the supernatural led him into the most extravagant conceptions4 ',in attempting to bring such themes within the power of expression which art possesses1' writes ,mr4 ,woodbery1 'he strove to give speech to the unutterable4' ,yet the genius of the true artist was apparent through all his work4 ,the most celebrated of the ,apocalypse designs is the fourth in the book1 ',the ,opening of the ,first ,four ,seals1' a wonderfully grand conception of the ,four ,horsemen going forth to conquer2 ,death on the pale horse below1 and ',hell following him4' 7,revelation vi4 #h47 ,king1 burgher1 peasant and priest1 have all fallen beneath him4 ,although we are expressly told that ,drer himself printed this work in #adih1 it by no means follows that he engraved the woodcuts2 they are greatly in advance of any previous work of the kind1 and this may be attributed to the fact that the artist who designed them knew the best capabilities of the art4 ,if he and the unknown engraver had learned the advantages of lowering the face of the wood when delicate lines were required1 and the present methods of overlaying the cuts to produce greater intensity of colour1 some of the engravings of ,drer's time would be models of excellence4 ,the series of the ,apocalypse was succeeded by three others in which the human interest is far greater4 ,these were what the artist himself called ',the ,larger ,passion of #ga ,our ,lord1' a series of eleven large cuts1 with a vignette on the title-page2 ',the ,life of the ,virgin1' a series of twenty cuts2 and ',the ,smaller ,passion of ,our ,lord1' a series of thirty-six cuts of less size1 with a well-known vignette of ',christ ,mocked' on the title-page4 ,these works mark an important era in the history of wood-engraving and clearly led onwards to its future development4 ,they were all published between #aeaj and #aeab1 and so great was their popularity that the celebrated ,italian engraver1 ,marc ,antonio ,raimondi1 reproduced the whole of ',the ,smaller ,passion' in copper-plate--much1 as may be imagined1 to ,drer's annoyance4 ,in the ',larger ,passion of ,our ,lord' we find representations of the ,last ,supper1 ,christ on the ,mount of ,olives1 the ,betrayal1 the ,scourging1 ,christ ,mocked1 ,christ ,bearing his ,cross1 the ,crucifixion1 the ,resurrection1 and other subjects from the ,new ,testament2 and so deeply did the highly-wrought artist feel the awful importance of his subject that he repeated some of these events in at least five different series4 ,in all of them his characters are dressed in the uncouth habiliments of ,german peasants1 and we see bits of ,german villages2 but in this respect he only followed the example of the great ,italian painters1 who clothed the most sacred figures in the costumes of their own towns1 and1 when possible1 gave an ,italian landscape for a background to their pictures of the ,holy ,land4 ,the series of twenty large engravings called ',the ,life of the ,virgin' was published and sold by ,drer himself in book form at about the same time 7#aeaj71 and was equally well received by the ,german people1 who were at that time in a state of religious ferment consequent on the preachings of ,martin ,luther1 and ,drer was one of his prominent disciples4 #gb ,illustration3 ,,the ,,virgin ,,crowned ,,by ,,two ,,angels4 ,,by ,,albrecht ,d,,rer ,engraved by ,jerome ,andre 787 #gc ,but it was the series of thirty-seven smaller woodcuts1 known as ',the ,lesser ,passion1' that was most popular2 in some measure1 perhaps1 because the prints are of a more handy size4 ,all the subjects of ',the ,larger ,passion' are repeated1 with variations1 in this series1 and twenty-five others from the ,life of ,christ are added4 ,by a happy chance1 thirty-five of the original woodcuts of this series are preserved in the ,british ,museum4 ,in the year #ahdj they were reprinted1 by permission of the trustees1 under the care of ,mr4 ,henry ,cole4 ,the wood was found to be much worm-eaten1 but all injury was deftly repaired by ,mr4 ,thurston ,thompson1 and a small edition of the work was issued#f with an exhaustive introduction by ,mr4 ,cole4 ,the most admired of all the works of ,drer are the large plates known as ',the ,knight1 ,death1 and the ,devil1' ',the ,conversion of ,st4 ,eustace1' ',melencolia1' ',st4 ,jerome in his ,chamber1' and several others which he engraved or etched on copper with his own hands and which he himself published4 ,fine impressions of these marvellous works are now as eagerly sought for as celebrated ,rembrandt etchings4 ,drer made also many drawings on wood which were engraved and printed under his immediate supervision1 and issued in separate sheets4 ,of one of the most beautiful1 of these1 ',the ,virgin crowned by two ,angels1' we are able to give an impression which is an exact facsimile 7reduced7 of a print of the year #aeah4 ,nothing of its kind can exceed the brilliancy of the original1 the engraving is as nearly perfect as possible1 and were it not for the hardness of the lines in the faces and other objects where softness is required1 no craftsman of the present day could surpass its excellence as a product of the printing-press4 ,many other separate large wood-engravings1 after ,drer's drawings1 appeared between the years #aeaj and #aeah1 such as ',the ,holy ,family with the three ,rabbits1' ',st4 ,jerome in his ,chamber1' ',the ,flight into ,egypt1' ',beheading of ,st4 ,john the ,baptist1' and1 among other strange subjects1 a representation of a ,rhinoceros4 #gd ,drer also designed a frontispiece to his own book of poems1 published in #aeaj4 ,three magnificent books illustrated with woodcuts of great size1 the ',theuerdank1' the ',werskunig1' and the ',freydal1' appeared in ,germany early in the sixteenth century4 ,the first is an epic relating to the ,emperor ,maximilian's journey to ,burgundy on matrimonial affairs2 it was published in #aeag4 ,hans ,schaufelein drew the designs for a hundred and eighteen cuts1 measuring #f inches by #e inches each4 ,the second is in honour of the ,emperor's journeys in distant lands1 and the third to celebrate his deeds of prowess4 ,there are #bcg designs1 chiefly by ,hans ,burgkmair of ,augsburg1 in the ',werskunig'2 the blocks are still preserved2 they remained unused till long after the ,emperor's death1 and were not published till #agge4 ,the ',freydal' has never been completed1 though the designs are still in existence4 ,,the ,,triumphs ,,of ,,maximilian ,but we have yet to speak of ',the ,triumphs of ,maximilian4' ,this imperial work1 the most important production of the art of wood-engraving the world has ever seen1 was executed by command of the ,emperor ,maximilian to convey to posterity a pictorial representation of the magnificence of his court1 the splendour of his victories1 and the extent of his dominions4 ,it consists of three distinct sets of designs3 7,i47 ,the ',triumphal ,arch1' 7,,ii47 the ',triumphal ,car1' both from the hand of ,albrecht ,drer1 and 7,,iii47 the ',triumphal ,procession1' by ,hans ,burgkmair4 ,the size of the work is immense2 if the whole series were laid out side by side it would cover about one hundred and ninety-two feet 7#fd yards67 ,the drawings were made on pear-wood and were cut by about eleven different engravers1 of whom the most famous was ,jerome of ,nrnberg4 ,many of the original blocks are happily preserved in the ,imperial ,library at ,vienna1 and on the backs of them are written the names or #ge initials of the various engravers4 ,it is evident1 therefore1 that at the beginning of the sixteenth century there was a recognised school of wood-engravers in ,germany of considerable importance4 ,one of them1 ,jobst de ,neger1 or ,dienecker1 came from ,antwerp2 a few lived at ,nrnberg1 others at ,augsburg4 ,some idea of the ',triumphal ,arch' is conveyed to our mind when we learn that it was drawn on ninety-two separate blocks of wood1 and that when properly joined it is ten and a half feet high and nine and a half feet wide6 ,it was designed 'after the manner of those erected in honour of the ,roman ,emperors at ,rome2' there are three gateways or entrances--that in the centre is called the ,gate of ,honour and ,power1 on the right is the ,gate of ,nobility1 on the left the ,gate of ,fame1 a part of which is seen in the illustration4 ,the arch itself is decorated with portraits of the ,roman ,emperors from the time of ,julius ,csar1 shields of arms showing the descent of the ,emperor and his alliances1 representations of his most famous exploits1 including his adventures while chamois-hunting in the ,tyrol1 with explanatory verses in the ,german language cut in the wood4 ,above the central entrance is a grand tower surmounted by a figure of ,fortune holding the imperial crown4 ,the whole is a kind of epitome of the history of the ,german ,empire4 ,the 'projector of the design' was ,hans ,stabius1 who calls himself the historiographer and poet of the ,emperor4 ,the work was begun in #aeae--;four years before the ,emperor's death--and was not quite finished at the time of the death of the artist in #aebh4 ,although we do not see the greatest excellence of ,drer's peculiar genius in this immense production executed to order1 for it is too full of ,german fantasies and very unlike the classic simplicity of the old ,roman arches1 it will be found to contain the finest work of the wood-engraver at that period4 ,some parts of it are of a marvellous delicacy that can hardly be surpassed4 #gf ,illustration3 ,,the ,,gate ,,of ,,fame 7,from the ',triumphal ,arch' by ,albrecht ,drer4 ,engraved by ,jerome ,andre47 #gg ,the ',triumphal ,car1' also designed by ,drer at the suggestion of ,stabius1 is a richly decorated chariot drawn by six pairs of horses4 ,in it the ,emperor in his imperial robes is seated under a canopy amid allegorical figures representing ,justice1 ,truth1 ,clemency1 ,temperance1 and the like1 who offer to him triumphal wreaths4 ,over the canopy is an inscription3 quod 4 in 4 celis 4 sol 4 ,hoc 4 in 4 terra 4 ,caesar 4 est4 ,the ,car is driven by ,reason with ,reins of ,nobility and ,power1 and the horses are guided by female figures of ,swiftness1 ,prudence1 ,boldness1 and similar equine virtues4 ,the whole of the design is seven feet four inches in length and about a foot and a half in height4 ,to modern eyes the car is not prepossessing1 the figures of the attendant damsels are by no means elegant1 and the horses would not1 we fear1 meet with the approval of ,english critics4 ,it brings to us a reminiscence of the funeral car of the ,duke of ,wellington1 which1 we remember1 was designed by a ,german artist4 ,some parts of the decorations are excellent and the whole is well engraved4 ,the ',triumphal ,procession' is still more important4 ,it consists of a series of one hundred and thirty-five large cuts1 which1 joined together1 would cover in length one hundred and seventy-five feet 7upwards of #eh yards67 ,a herald1 mounted on a fantastic1 four-footed winged gryphon1 leads the procession2 next follow two led horses bearing a tablet with these words1 doubtless by ,stabius3 ',this ,triumph has been made for the praise and everlasting memory of the noble pleasures and glorious victories of the most serene and illustrious prince and lord1 ,maximilian1 ,roman ,emperor elect1 and head of ,christendom1 ,king and ,heir of seven ,christian kingdoms1 ,archduke of ,austria1 ,duke of ,burgundy and of other grand principalities and provinces of ,europe4' ,more horses follow1 then come falconers with hawks on their wrists1 hunters of the chamois and the bear1 behind them are elks and buffaloes1 richly caparisoned stags four abreast1 and camels drawing decorated chariots in which ride the musicians4 #gh ,illustration3 ,,horsemen1 ,,three ,,abreast1 ,,with ,,banners 7,from ',the ,triumphal ,procession' by ,burgkmair4 ,cut by ,dienecker and other engravers7 ,the ,emperor's favourite jester1 ,conrad von der ,rosen1 follows on horseback1 bearing an immense flag2 then come fools1 fencing-masters1 and soldiers of all kinds armed for every service1 horsemen three abreast1 with banners inscribed with the names of the great battles which the ,emperor had won1 cars filled with trophies taken from conquered nations1 among them the ',savages of ,calicut'--natives of ,india--one of them riding a huge elephant1 and numerous other figures filled up the immense length of the engraving4 #gi ,illustration3 ,,the ,,savages ,,of ,,calicut 7,from ',the ,triumphal ,procession' by ,burgkmair4 ,cut by ,dienecker and other engravers7 ,the whole work1 though evidently intended to be a glorification of the great ,emperor1 is much #hj more valuable to us at the present day as a marvellous record of the barbaric magnificence of the middle ages1 and an outward aspect of secular life4 ',the ideal of worldly power and splendour1 the spirit of pleasure and festival1 is shown forth in this marvellously varied march of laurelled horses and horsemen1 whose trappings and armour have the beauty and glitter of peaceful parade4 ,there is nowhere else a work which so presents at once the feudal spirit and feudal delights in such exuberance of picturesque and feudal display4' ,drer's designs for the ',prayer-book of ,maximilian' also claim a short notice4 ,only three copies of the work are known to be in existence1 one of which is in the ,british ,museum4 ,the margins are full of fanciful designs2 amid intertwining branches1 birds are singing1 apes are climbing1 snakes creeping1 and gnats flying4 ,king ,david is charming a stork with his harp2 a fox is playing a flute to poultry4 ,it is a curious mixture of the sacred and profane1 for which ,drer has often been censured4 ,the engraving of the subjects1 which are in outline1 is excellent4 99 99 99 99 99 #ha ,,chapter ,,ix ,,hans ,,holbein ,,and ,,hans ,l,,tzelburger ,hans ,holbein1 who first saw the light at ,augsburg in the year #adig1 was the greatest artist ever born in ,germany1 and as he passed half of his artistic life in ,england we may claim some little share in the glory of his undisputed eminence4 ,the son of a worthy painter of sacred pictures for the ,church1 he was brought up amidst all the paraphernalia of the studio1 and at a very early age began to design title-pages1 initial letters1 and ornaments for numerous important books published by ,johann ,froben1 ,valentine ,curio1 and other printers of ,basel1 and ,christoph ,froschover1 of ,zrich4 ,some of these folio title-pages1 most of which are of an architectural character1 are veritable works of art1 and are greatly treasured at the present day4 ,next we find him making illustrations for the ,new ,testament1 some of which were engraved on wood and some on metal1 probably by ,dienecker or ,ltzelburger1 though of this we have no direct evidence4 ,but ,holbein's greatest fame1 as a designer of book-illustrations1 is derived from his well-known series of the ',dance of ,death1' which was first given to the world in the year #aech1 though from some proofs still in existence they are known to have been engraved before the artist's first visit to ,london in #aebg4 ,it is believed that the original forty-one drawings on wood were all cut by ,hans ,ltzelburger1 who has been very properly called the ',true ,prince of ,wood-,engravers1' for1 in the opinion of our foremost critics1 these ',dance of ,death' cuts are the masterpieces of the art at that period1 excelling even the work of ,jerome ,andre of ,nrnberg on ,drer's ',triumphal ,arch4' #hb ,illustration3 ,,holbein',s ,,dance ,,of ,,death ,,the ,,king ,seventeen other designs were added to the ',dance of ,death' afterwards1 making the complete series fifty-eight4 ,the original blocks are lost2 they have been copied on the ,continent many times1 and were reproduced in ,england in perfect facsimile and in the very best manner under the superintending care of ,francis ,douce1 a celebrated antiquary1 by ,john and ,mary ,byfield and ,george ,bonner1 all excellent engravers4 ,accompanied by a learned dissertation by ,mr4 ,douce1 the work #hc was published by ,william ,pickering#g in the year #ahcc4 ,it is from electrotypes of these blocks that we are enabled to present to our readers the designs of ',the ,king1' ',the ,queen1' ',the ,astrologer1' and ',the ,pedlar1' four of the best of the series4 ,illustration3 ,,holbein',s ,,dance ,,of ,,death ,,the ,,queen ,wall-pictures of ',the ,dance of ,death1' with but little artistic merit1 existed at a much earlier period1 and some of them may still be traced in the cloisters of old cathedrals4 ,the subject was a great favourite with both priest and people in the ,middle ,ages2 it appealed to the feelings of rich and poor1 old and young1 and ,holbein's 'fearful' pictures1 as soon as they appeared1 met with immense popularity1 which1 to this day1 has never ceased4 #hd ,illustration3 ,,holbein',s ,,dance ,,of ,,death ,,the ,,astrologer ,almost every class is represented in them--the ,king at his well-spread board is served by his fellow ,king1 who fills his bowl2 the ,queen1 walking with her ladies1 is led into an open grave2 in a landscape1 in which we see a flock of sheep1 ,death appears to an aged ,bishop2 here we see ,death running away with the ,abbot's mitre and crozier2 there he visits the ,physician and the ,astrologer4 ,in the church is a ,preacher who holds the people in awe1 behind him is a ,preacher more dread still2 the ,miser with his bags1 the ,merchant with his bales1 are alike surprised by ,death2 the ,knight's armour is defenceless1 the ,pedlar with his basket cannot escape1 the ,waggoner with #he his wine-cart is overthrown4 ,all are represented in their turn--the ,duchess in her bed1 the poor woman in her hovel1 the child who is ruthlessly taken from his mother4 ,we can imagine the sensation which such a work would create among a very impressionable people at that season of religious ferment1 the greatest the world has ever known4 ,thirteen editions from the original blocks are known to have been printed between the years #aech and #aefc4 ,illustration3 ,,holbein',s ,,dance ,,of ,,death ,,the ,,pedlar ,about the same time another series of wood-engravings appeared1 consisting of eighty-six designs by ,holbein1 drawn on wood larger than the ',dance of ,death' blocks and just as well engraved1 probably by ,ltzelburger2 these were ',scenes from ,old ,testament ,history1' generally known as ',holbein's ,bible ,cuts'2 they were issued separately with descriptions in verse and were also used to illustrate ,bibles4 #hf ,illustration3 ,,the ,,happiness ,,of ,,the ,,godly4--,,holbein',s ,,bible ,,cuts ,engraved by ,ltzelburger ,this series was also reproduced by the same artists who cut the ',dance of ,death1' under the superintendence of ,mr4 ,douce2 and it is from electrotypes of these blocks that we are enabled to give our two ,bible illustrations1 ',the ,happiness of the ,godly' 7,psalm i471 and ',joab's ,artifice' 7#b ,samuel xiv4 #d74 ,they copy the original prints in exact facsimile1 and1 looking at them1 one cannot but wonder at the high state of perfection to which the art of wood-engraving had attained nearly four hundred years ago4 ,at that time1 ,germany stood alone in its excellence2 ,france1 and even ,italy1 were far behind her2 and ,england and ,spain were nowhere4 ,we ought to add that both the ',dance of ,death' and the ',bible ,cuts' were #hg issued1 with text1 by the brothers ,trechsel1 the celebrated publishers of ,lyons1 in #aech1 when ,holbein must have been in ,england4 ,a wonderful alphabet1 with ',dance of ,death' figures1 evidently designed by ,holbein1 has ,hanns ,ltzelburger 7,formschnider7 genant ,franck printed at the foot of the page4 ,these letters were probably engraved on metal4 ,a ',peasant's ,dance' and ',children's ,sports1' designed as headings of chapters by the same artist1 are well known1 as they have been frequently reproduced4 ,illustration3 ,,joab',s ,,artifice4--,,holbein',s ,,bible ,,cuts ,engraved by ,ltzelburger ,in the works of ',the ,little ,masters' who succeeded ,drer and ,holbein we are not much concerned4 ,albrecht ,altdorfer 7d4 #aech7 was a designer as well as an engraver on wood4 ,hans ,beham 7d4 #aeej87 is best known by his #hh twentysix designs from the ,apocalypse which ,mr4 ,linton praises as of 'supremest excellence4' ,he says1 moreover1 that they were probably engraved on metal 7perhaps copper71 by ,beham himself1 as well as his #ha little ,bible cuts which were used to illustrate the first ,english ,bible4 ,he also designed and perhaps engraved several large cuts1 one of which1 ',the ,fountain of ,youth1' is four feet long2 another is ',the ,dance of the ,daughter of ,herodias1' reproduced by ,dr4 ,lippmann4 ,hans ,brosamer 7d4 #aeeb7 designed and engraved pictures for books4 ,heinrich ,aldegrever 7d4 #aeeh7 is well known for his portraits of ,luther1 ,melanchthon1 and the notorious ,john of ,leyden4 ,virgil ,solis 7d4 #aefb7 was a prolific book-illustrator2 he designed a series of #baf ,bible pictures1 all of small size1 as well as #agh cuts for ,ovid's ',metamorphoses1' and #aid for sop's ,fables2 he also designed and probably engraved much ornament1 especially for title-pages of books1 some of which was very good4 ,jost ,amman 7d4 #aeia7 is celebrated for his book of ',all ,ranks1 ,arts1 and ,trades1' with one hundred and thirty-two figures4 7,see page #abh74 ,the religious books printed in ,germany at the end of the sixteenth century were altogether inferior as regards their illustrations1 though a few are fairly designed and executed4 ,ornamental borders1 especially on title pages1 were usual1 and those designed by ,lucas ,cranach are of considerable merit4 ,many of the ,german printers' marks or devices1 which are very well engraved1 were the work of some of the best artists of the times4 ,these were but expiring efforts1 and by the end of the century1 owing to continual warfare and internal disturbances1 the art of wood-engraving in ,germany was almost forgotten4 99 99 99 99 99 #hi ,,chapter ,x ,,in ,,italy ,,and ,,france ,,in ,,the ,,sixteenth ,,century ,in the early years of the sixteenth century1 the printers of ,florence issued many cheap popular books1 chiefly ,rappresentazioni1 i4e4 ,plays1 sacred or secular4 ,these plays are generally badly printed in double columns1 but they are illustrated with numerous cuts1 some of which are of peculiar merit4 ,the earliest known printer of them was ,francesco ,benvenuto 7c4 #aeaf-aede71 but the majority appear to have been issued between #aeej and #aehj1 anonymously1 though we know that ,giovanni ,baleni of ,florence was the printer of some of these4 ,there were also many quaint little tracts1 metrical ,novelle and ,istorie1 of which a collection has been found at the ,university ,library1 ,erlangen2 a valuable description of them was published by ,dr4 ,varnhagen4 ,the poems are1 as a rule1 illustrated with small cuts1 inclosed within a neat border1 the subjects are usually well chosen1 and the drawing very good2 the treatment of some of the domestic scenes is worthy of ,bewick4 #ij ,illustration3 ,,frontispiece ,,of ',,le ,,sorti ,,di ,,marcolini' ,by ,giuseppe ,porta ,venice #aedj ,illustration3 ,,le ,,pot-,,cass 7,device of ,geoffroy ,tory7 ,in striking contrast to the simplicity of these popular wood-engravings are the elaborate engravings which appeared in the more expensive books issued in the latter half of the same century1 when illustrated editions of ,dante1 ,boccaccio1 ,ovid1 sop's ,fables1 and ,alciat's ',emblems1' appeared1 one after the other1 but not one of these calls for #ia special notice2 nor did the best of their wood-engravings equal the work of ,ltzelburger4 ,the frontispiece of a curious book1 ,le ,sorti di ,marcolini da ,forli1 printed at ,venice in #aedj1 of which we offer a reduced copy1 gives us a good idea of the prevailing art of the period4 ,it is said to be taken from a design by ,raphael for his celebrated picture ',the ,school of ,athens1' and we see by the tablet in the foreground that it was either drawn on the wood or engraved by ,joseph 7,giuseppe7 ,porta1 known as ,salviati1 after his more celebrated master whom he accompanied to ,venice4 ,in ,paris1 in the first half of the sixteenth century1 there lived a very celebrated printer1 ',geoffroy ,tory1 ,peintre et ,graveur1 ,premier ,imprimeur ,royal1 ,reformateur de l',orthographe1 et de la ,typographie1' as he is described by his biographer1 ,m4 ,a4 ,bernard 7,paris1 #aheg74 ,he was born at ,bourges in #adhj1 and in early life went to ,paris1 where he not only wrote books and printed them1 but designed ornamental borders and engraved them4 ,he also studied his profession in ,italy1 and brought back with him new ideas about printing and illustrating books4 ,such a man had great influence at that time1 for he had much inborn taste and excellent skill1 and publishers should all be proud of him as one of their most praiseworthy ancestors4 ,he adopted the singular design the ,pot-cass1 of which we give a copy1 as his somewhat enigmatical device2 and some writers maintain that the little ',cross of ,lorraine' 77 found on many of the cuts of this period is also his mark4 #ib ,illustration3 ,,from ',,les ,,heures' ,,printed ,,by ,,simon ,,de ,,colines ,engraved by ,geoffroy ,tory #ic ,in our illustration1 taken from the ,heures1 printed by ,simon de ,colines1 this ,cross of ,lorraine will be seen under the kneeling priest4 ,he made antique letters1 he himself tells us1 for ,monseigneur the ,treasurer for ,war1 ,master ,jehan ,grolier1 whom we know as one of the best patrons of book-binding2 and wrote a book which he called ',champfleury1 auquel est contenu l'art et science de la deue proportion des lettres 444 selon le corps et le visage humain1' a very learned and amusing treatise4 ,some of the initial letters in this book are very cleverly designed and engraved--probably by the ingenious author4 ,the picture of ',antoine ,macault reading his translation of ,diodorus ,siculus to the ,king' is said to have been engraved by ,tory2 it is evidently either from a design by ,hans ,holbein or by an artist who copied his style4 ,all the figures in this excellent engraving are portraits--the ,king 7,francis ,i471 his three sons1 and his favourite nobles4 ,it is the best cut that was issued at ,paris at this time4 ,geoffroy ,tory died in #aecc1 though his workshop was carried on for many years afterwards4 ,among other woodcuts of this period we find a small portrait of the poet ,nicholas ,bourbon1 dated #aece4 ,as this is a direct copy of the portrait of the same individual1 undoubtedly by ,holbein1 which is now at ,windsor ,castle1 and as the ornamentation is quite in ,holbein's style1 we cannot doubt that this celebrated painter had frequent relations with the publishers on the ,continent in the first half of the sixteenth century4 #id ,illustration3 ,,antoine ,,macault ,,reading ,,his ,,translation ,,of ,,diodorus ,,siculus ,,to ,,king ,,francis ,i4 ,designed by ,holbein4 ,engraved by ,geoffroy ,tory8 #ie ,another celebrated printer who enjoyed the patronage of the ,king was ,robert ,estienne1 who1 by some curious perversity1 is frequently spoken of by ,english scholars and biographers as ,robert ,stephens1 simply because1 following the fashion of the day1 he often latinised his name and signed ,robertus ,stephanus4 ,estienne was1 next to ,aldo ,manuzio of ,venice1 the most learned of printers1 and deserves to be held in due reverence4 ,the most important illustrated book he published was ',the ,lives of the ,dukes of ,milan1' by ,paulus ,jovius 7,paris1 #aedi74 ,this work has sixteen portraits of the ,dukes1 well engraved1 some say by ,geoffroy ,tory himself1 but this is a matter of dispute1 though they certainly were cut in his workshop4 ,among the most characteristic works of the wood-engraver in the middle of the century were two large processions1 ',the ,triumphal ,entry of ,king ,henri ,,ii4 into ,paris1' published by ,roville of ,lyons1 in #aedh1 and ',the ,triumphal ,entry into ,lyons1' issued in the following year4 ,these prints were designed either by ,jean ,cousin or ,cornelis de la ,haye1 but the name of the engraver is nowhere mentioned4 ,they are somewhat similar to ',the ,triumph of ,maximilian1' by ,burgkmair1 but are not nearly so important as works of art1 and did nothing to raise the character of wood-engraving4 ,in the books published in the second half of the century we frequently meet with the name of ,bernhard ,salomon 7born at ,lyons in #aeab71 generally called ,le ,petit ,bernard1 who made designs for ,alciat's ',emblems' 7,a4,d4 #aefj7 and ,ovid's ',metamorphoses' 7,a4,d4 #aefd71 which were engraved in the workshop of ,geoffroy ,tory1 and published by ,jean 7or ,hans7 de ,tournes1 of ,lyons4 ,bernard's style was much influenced by the ,italian painters ,rosso and ,primaticcio1 who had been invited by the ,king to decorate ,fontainebleau1 and may be easily recognised by the extreme height and tenuity of his figures1 and by the peculiar ornament which he used as framework for his drawings4 ,another book containing equally good illustrations is ,ghesneden ,figuera wyten ,niewen ,testamente 7',engraved ,figures from the ,new ,testament'71 adorned with ninety-two small cuts besides the title-page and initial letters2 these were drawn and probably engraved by ,guilliame ,borluyt1 #if citizen of ,ghent1 and published by ,jean de ,tournes of ,lyons in #aeeg4 ,from the fineness of the lines and other indications we suspect these designs were cut on metal1 which was much used at this time instead of wood4 ,through the kindness of ,messrs4 ,h4 ,s4 ,nichols ,co41 of ,soho ,square1 who possess an excellent copy of this very rare book1 we are enabled to offer our readers two cuts1 ',the ,woman of ,samaria' and ',christ ,scourged1' of the same size as the originals4 ,the publishers of ,lyons were celebrated from the end of the fourteenth to the middle of the fifteenth century for their dainty little books1 which were very prettily illustrated4 ,illustration3 ,,christ ,,and ,,the ,,woman ,,of ,,samaria ,by ,guilliame ,borluyt ,we must not conclude this chapter without mentioning another celebrated publisher1 ,christophe ,plantin of ,antwerp4 ,he was born at ,saint-,avertin1 near ,tours1 in #aead1 and at an early age apprenticed to a printer and book-binder1 ,robert ,mac1 at ,caen2 thence he went to ,paris1 whence wars soon drove him away4 ,he next took refuge at ,antwerp1 where he employed himself in binding books and making leather boxes1 coffrets1 curiously inlaid and gilt4 #ig ,illustration3 ,,the ,,scourging ,,of ,,christ ,by ,guilliame ,borluyt ,by mistake he was1 one dark evening1 stabbed with a sword1 and he afterwards suffered so much pain from the wound that he could not stoop without feeling it3 consequently he turned to the business of a printer1 and soon became the most celebrated man of the day in that craft4 ,philip ,,ii4 of ,spain made him his chief printer1 and under royal orders ,plantin produced the well-known ,polyglot ,bible in eight folio volumes 7#aefh-aegc74 ,he had previously printed some smaller books of ,emblems 7#aefd71 and ,devises ,hroques 7#aefb71 and had employed ,pierre ,huys1 ,lucas de ,heere1 ,godefroid ,ballain1 and other artists1 to illustrate them4 ,he died in #aehi4 ,his second daughter married ,jean ,moret1 one of the overseers of #ih the printing-office1 and the business known as ',plantin-,moretus' continued to prosper up to the present century4 ,a few years since the offices were bought by the city authorities1 and the ,plantin ,museum is now one of the principal attractions of ,antwerp4 ,in his various works ,plantin used many woodcuts1 but most of his title-pages have borders executed by ,wierix1 ,pass1 and other celebrated copperplate engravers4 ,his device was a ,hand with a pair of compasses1 and his motto ,labore et ,constantia4 ,the history of wood-engraving and wood-engravers in ,holland forms the subject of a monograph from the pen of ,mr4 ,w4 ,m4 ,conway 7',the ,woodcutters of the ,netherlands1' ,cambridge1 #ahhd74 ,the list commences with a ,louvain engraver1 who worked for ,veldener in #adge1 and about the same time for ,john and ,conrad de ,westphalia4 ,most of the greater ,dutch towns had wood-engravers1 and the work of these artists appears in many of the books printed in the ,low ,countries4 ,as in ,france1 many of the printers' marks are very good4 ,it was in this century that publishers began to illustrate their books with copperplate engravings1 which soon came into general use1 and these plates for many years1 to a very great extent1 superseded engraving on wood4 ,etchings by the artist's own hands are also frequently met with1 and to these causes we may in a great measure attribute the decay of the ,formschneider's art for at least two centuries4 99 99 99 99 99 #ii ,,chapter ,,xi ,,in ,,the ,,sixteenth ,,and ,,seventeenth ,,centuries ,,in ,,germany1 ,,italy ,,and ,,england ,in the portfolios of collectors of works of art of the sixteenth century we frequently meet with very interesting examples of printing in chiaro-oscuro1 as it was called1 by means of successive impressions of engraved wood-blocks4 ,sometimes two or three blocks were used1 sometimes six or eight1 in all cases with the intention of reproducing the appearance of a tinted water-colour drawing or an oil-painting4 ,those prints which were the least ambitious were the most successful1 ,they were generally printed in various shades of grey and brown--from light sepia to deep umber--and sometimes the effects are admirable4 ,a well-known designer and engraver on wood1 ,ugo da ,carpi 7c4 #aebj71 introduced this new style of printing into ,venice1 and other artists1 ,antonio da ,trento1 ,andrea ,andreani1 ,bartolomeo ,coriolano1 and others made many successful efforts in a similar direction2 their best works are much prized4 ,at the same time a group of ,venetian artists1 who were also engravers on wood1 distinguished themselves by copying the works of ,titian and other ,italian painters4 ,the most celebrated of these engravers were ,nicolo ,boldrini1 ,francesco da ,nanto1 ,giovanni ,battista del ,porto1 and ,giuseppe ,scolari1 who all flourished between the years #aecj and #aehj4 ,their #ajj productions1 which are on a large scale1 are greatly valued by artists4 ,near the end of the century a book of costume entitled ,habiti ,antichi e ,moderni di tutto il ,mondo was designed and published at ,venice by ,cesare ,vecellio1 who is said to have been a nephew of the great ,titian4 ,this work contains nearly six hundred figures in the costume of every age and country1 admirably drawn and engraved2 indeed1 they are the best examples of the art of wood-engraving in ,italy at the time4 ,this excellent work was reproduced in their well-known style by ,messrs4 ,firmin1 ,didot ,cie in two volumes 7,paris1 #ahfj74 ,an edition of ',dante' published by the brothers ,sessa at ,venice in #aegh is well illustrated with good woodcuts4 ,german artists were also bitten at this time with a mania for reproducing pictures by means of colour blocks4 ,the results1 however1 were much more curious than beautiful4 ,we have before us a copy of a painting designed by ,altdorfer1 one of the ',little ,masters1' of ',the ,virgin with the ,holy ,infant on her ,lap1' set in an elaborate architectural frame4 ,in this print at least eight different colour-blocks were used1 among them a deep red and a vivid green4 ,the printer's register has been fairly well kept1 and the mechanical part of the work is worthy of all praise2 but we fear the effect on most of our readers would be to produce anything but admiration4 ,a ,saint ,christopher1 designed and probably engraved by ,lucas ,cranach1 printed in black and deep umber1 only with the high lights carefully cut out of the latter block1 is much more satisfactory4 ,in the middle and towards the end of the sixteenth century there were several excellent wood-engravings published in ,london in illustration of ,foxe's ',book of ,martyrs' 7#aefb71 ,holinshed's ',chronicles of ,england1 ,scotland1 and ,ireland' 7#aegg71 ',a ,booke of ,christian ,prayers' 7#aefi71 and other works1 chiefly from the press of the celebrated ,john ,daye4 #aja ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,,john ,,daye1 ,,the ,,celebrated ,,printer ,,of ,,foxe',s ',,book ,,of ,,martyrs1' ,a4,d4 #aefb #ajb ,as an example we give one of the illustrations of ,holinshed's ,chronicles as a frontispiece4 ,there can be no doubt that ,holbein designed it2 the ornamentation alone would almost prove it to be from his hand4 ,the title-page of the ',bishops' ,bible1' printed about the same time1 has a finely engraved border1 representing the ,king handing the volume to the ,bishops1 who in turn present it to the people4 ,there are many woodcuts in the text1 but they are of very low merit4 ,we give an illustration of ',a ,booke of ,christian ,prayers1' known as ,queen ,elizabeth's ,prayer-book1 from a fine portrait of ,her ,majesty kneeling on a handsome cushion1 with clasped hands before a kind of altar4 ,the ,queen's dress is magnificent1 and the ornamentation of the whole design is of a similar character4 ,it is an excellent piece of engraving1 and we are able to give a facsimile of it1 cut about sixty years ago by ,george ,bonner4 ,mr4 ,linton thinks the original was on metal2 who engraved it is at present unknown4 ,we fear there was no one in ,england who could produce such work1 nor can anyone tell who made the design4 ,it is printed on the back of the title-page1 which is decorated with a border of a ',jesse-tree1' with a figure of ,jesse at the foot and the ,virgin with the ,holy ,infant on her lap at the head4 ,there are woodcut borders to each of the #bgd pages1 all betraying ,german origin1 and evidently by different hands4 ,a few floral designs and single figures of ',temperance1' ',charity1' and the like are the best4 ,among the rest is a series of ',dance of ,death' pictures1 but not by ,holbein4 ,another edition of this work was printed in #aeij at ,london1 ',by ,richard ,yardley and ,peter ,short for the assignes of ,richard ,day dwelling in ,bred-street hill at the signe of the ,starre4' ,doubtless this was on the site of the present printing office of ,richard ,clay ,sons4 ,richard ,day was a son of ,john ,day or ,daye1 as we often find the name printed4 #ajc ,illustration3 ,,elizabetha ,,regina 7,from ',a ,booke of ,christian ,prayers4' ,printed by ,john ,daye1 ,london1 #aefi47 #ajd ,another illustrated book1 ',the ,cosmographical ,glasse1 conteinyng the pleasant ,principles of ,cosmographie1 ,geographie1 ,hydrographie or ,navigation4 ,compiled by ,william ,cuningham1 ,doctor in ,physicke' 7of ,norwich71 was printed by ,john ,day in #aeei1 with many cuts4 ,in the ornamental title-page there is a large bird's-eye view of the city of ,norwich1 with a mark of the engraver1 ,i4 ,b4 ,there is also a large and well-engraved portrait of the author1 'tatis #bh1' a rather sad-looking young man2 and many initial letters1 some of which have a small ,i4 ,d4 at the foot1 which probably tell us that ,john ,day himself engraved them4 ,others have a small ,i inside a larger ,c1 and this monogram appears frequently on the small cuts in the border of ,queen ,elizabeth's ,book of ,prayers4 ,john ,day tells us in a work published in #aefg that the ,saxon type in which it is printed was cut by himself4 ,john ,day was a great friend of ,john ,foxe1 and assisted him in producing his celebrated ',acts and ,monuments of the ,church1' generally known as his ',booke of ,martyrs4' ,in the ',acts and ,monuments1' printed in #aegf1 there is a large initial ,c1 evidently drawn and engraved by the artists who produced the ,queen's portrait4 ,in this initial1 ,elizabetha ,regina is seen seated in state1 with her feet resting on the same cushion that appears in the larger print1 attended by three of her ,privy ,councillors standing at her right hand4 ,a figure of the ,pope with two broken keys in his hands forms part of the decoration of the base2 an immense cornucopia reaches over the top4 ,early in the seventeenth century we meet with the name of an excellent wood-engraver at ,antwerp1 ,christoph ,jegher1 who worked for many years with ,peter ,paul ,rubens1 and produced many large woodcuts4 ,we are enabled to give a much-reduced copy of a ',flight into ,egypt1' which in the original is nearly twenty-four inches in length4 ,underneath appears the inscription1 ,p4 ,p4 ,rub4 delin4 excud41 from which we learn that ,rubens himself superintended the #aje printing1 for ,c4 ,jegher sculp4 appears on the other side4 ,some of this series of cuts were printed with a tint of sepia over them in imitation of the ,italian chiaro-oscuro prints of the previous century4 ,christoph ,jegher was born in ,germany in #aeij 787 and died at ,antwerp in #afgj4 ,he lived through many tempestuous years and did much good work4 ,a contemporary wood-engraver named ,cornelius van ,sichem1 living at ,amsterdam1 produced a few excellent cuts from drawings by ,heinrich ,goltzius 7d4 #afag71 who copied the ,italian school4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,flight ,,into ,,egypt4 ,,by ,,rubens ,reduced copy of the engraving by ,c4 ,jegher ,at the end of the seventeenth century the art of wood-engraving reached its lowest ebb4 ,there were a few tolerably good mechanical engravers on the ,continent1 who were #ajf chiefly employed in the manufacture of ornaments for cards1 and head and tail pieces for books and ballads1 but nearly all the woodcuts we meet with in ,english books are of the most childish character4 ,the rage for copper-plate engravings had set in with so much vigour among all the printers and publishers that the poor wood-engraver was well-nigh forgotten4 ,in ,london a new edition of 'sop's ,fables1' edited by ,dr4 ,samuel ,croxall1 and illustrated with many woodcuts much better engraved than was customary at the time1 was published by ,jacob ,tonson at the ,shakespear's ,head1 in the ,strand1 in #agbb4 ,we do not learn the names of the artists4 ,in #agbd ,elisha ,kirkall engraved and published seventeen ,views of ,shipping1 from designs by ,w4 ,vandevelde1 which he printed in a greenish kind of ink2 and in a portfolio full of woodcuts in the ,print ,room of the ,british ,museum ,mr4 ,w4 ,j4 ,linton recently discovered a large ,card of ,invitation 7query--to a wedding87 from ,mr4 ,elisha and ,mrs4 ,elizabeth ,kirkall1 dated ',august the #cast1 #agji4 ,printed at ,his ,majesty's ,printing ,office in ,blackfryers1' which is very firmly and boldly engraved1 probably in soft metal4 ,on the left of the ,royal ,arms1 ,fame1 blowing a trumpet1 holds up a circular medallion portrait of ,guttenburgh 7we follow the spelling72 a similar figure on the right holds the portrait of ,w4 ,caxton and a scroll2 at the foot1 in the middle1 is a view of ,london ,bridge over the ,thames1 with the ,monument and ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral1 and on either side is a ,cupid--one with a torch and a dove1 with masonic emblems at his feet1 the other with attributes of painting1 sculpture1 and music4 ,the ,cupids are very like the fat-faced little cherubim we so constantly meet with on seventeenth-century monuments1 though ,mr4 ,linton has nothing but praise to give to the engraving1 which he says is the first example of the use of the 'white line' in ,english work4 ,in ,paris there was a family of three generations of #ajg engravers named ,papillon1 who illustrated hundreds of books with small and very fine cuts1 in evident imitation of the copper-plates then so much in vogue4 ,jean ,michel ,papillon1 the youngest of them1 published a ,trait ,historique et ,pratique de la ,gravure en ,bois1 in two volumes with a supplement1 which1 though full of credulous errors1 has been of inestimable service to all writers on the history of wood-engraving4 ,this ,papillon was probably in ,england at one time1 for he received a prize from the ,society of ,arts4 ,he was born in the year #afih1 began to engrave blocks when only eight years old1 and lived till the year #aggf4 99 99 99 99 99 #ajh ,,chapter ,,xii ,,thomas ,,bewick ,,and ,,his ,,pupils ,in the year #agge1 the ,society for the ,encouragement of ,arts offered a series of small money premiums for the best engravings on wood4 ,these prizes were won by ,thomas ,hodgson1 ,william ,coleman1 both then living in ,london1 and ,thomas ,bewick1 of ,newcastle1 who sent up for competition five engravings intended to illustrate a new edition of ',gay's ,fables4' ,it is of the last of these three--who received an award of seven guineas1 which he immediately gave over to his mother--that we have now to write4 ,he was born at ,cherryburn1 a farmhouse on the south bank of the ,tyne1 in the parish of ,ovingham1 about twelve miles from ,newcastle1 in ,august #agec4 ,this we learn from an inscription now over the door of the 'byre1' or cowshed1 which is still standing4 ,his father was a farmer1 who also rented a small coal-pit at ,mickley1 close by4 ,after having received a fair education at local schools and at ,ovingham parsonage1 young ,thomas1 who had shown a great love of drawing1 was in ,october #agfg apprenticed to ,ralph ,beilby1 a general engraver1 in ,st4 ,nicholas' ,churchyard1 ,newcastle4 ,here the boy learned to cut diagrams in wood1 engrave copper-plates for books1 tradesmen's cards1 etch ornament on sword-blades1 and other work of the kind1 much as ,hogarth had done some fifty years before him2 and1 as luck would have it1 his master received an #aji order to engrave a series of wood-blocks to illustrate a ',treatise on ,mensuration' written by ,mr4 ,charles ,hutton1 a schoolmaster in ,newcastle--afterwards ,dr4 ,hutton1 a ,fellow of the ,royal ,society4 ,this work was issued in fifty sixpenny numbers1 and published in a quarto volume in #aggj4 ,it was on this book that ,thomas ,bewick trained his 'prentice hand in the art in which he was afterwards to become so famous4 ,at the end of his apprenticeship in #aggd1 he worked with his old master for a short time at a guinea a week2 then he went to live for a time at ,cherryburn1 and in #aggf1 with three guineas sewed in his waist-band1 he walked to ,edinburgh1 ,glasgow1 and northwards to the ,highlands1 always staying at farm-houses on the road4 ,he returned to ,newcastle in a ,leith sloop1 and1 after working till he had earned sufficient money1 took a berth in a collier for ,london1 where he arrived in ,october and soon found several ,newcastle friends4 ,but ,london life did not suit this child of the country-side4 ',i would rather be herding sheep on ,mickley bank top1' he writes to a friend1 'than remain in ,london1 although for so doing ,i was to be made ,premier of ,england4' ,soon after his return to ,newcastle he joined his old master in partnership1 and took his younger brother1 ,john1 as an apprentice1 and for eight years the brothers made a weekly visit to ,cherryburn1 often fishing by the way4 ,in the year #aghe1 their mother1 father1 and eldest sister all died1 and in the following year ,thomas ,bewick married ,isabella ,elliot1 of ,ovingham1 one of the companions of his childhood4 ,he was at that time living in the 'fine1 low1 old-fashioned house'--with a long garden behind it1 in which he cultivated roses--formerly occupied by ,dr4 ,hutton2 and going daily to work in the old house overlooking ,st4 ,nicholas' ,churchyard4 ,we have previously said that the early wood-engravings were cut with a knife1 held like a pen and drawn towards the craftsman1 on 'planks' of the soft wood of the pear or #aaj apple-tree1 or some similar tree4 ,it is believed that ,bewick was the first who used the wood of the box-tree1 which is very hard1 and who made his drawings on the butt-ends of the blocks1 and cut his lines with the graver pushed from him4 ,he brought into practice what is known as the 'white line' in wood-engraving2 that is1 he produced his effects more by means of many white lines wide apart to give an appearance of lightness1 and by giving closer lines to produce a grey effect1 as in our cut of ',the ,yellowhammer4' ,he gave up the old method of obtaining 'colour1' as it is termed1 by means of cross-hatching1 and used a much simpler and more expeditious way of giving depth of shadow by leaving solid masses of the block1 which of course printed black--and he constantly adopted the plan of lowering the wood in the background1 and such parts of the block as were required to be printed lightly4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,yellowhammer 7,from ',the ,land ,birds'7 #aaa ,the first book of real importance that was illustrated by ,thomas ,bewick was the ',select ,fables' published by ,saint of ,newcastle in #aghd2 this is now very rare2 there is1 however1 a copy in the ,british ,museum 7press-mark #abcje g #af7 which can at all times be consulted4 ,most of the designs are derived from ',croxall's ,fables1' and many of these were copied from the copper-plates by ,francis ,barlow in his edition of sop1 published 'at his house1 ,the ,golden ,eagle1 in ,new ,street1 near ,shoo ,lane1 #affe4' ,though ,bewick improved the drawings1 there was little originality in them1 but the engravings were far in advance of any other work of the kind done at that period4 ,the success of this book induced him to carry out an idea he had long entertained of producing a series of illustrations for a ',general ,history of ,quadrupeds1' on which he was engaged for six years1 making the drawings and engraving them mostly in the evening4 ,he tells us he had much difficulty in finding models1 and was delighted when a travelling menagerie visited ,newcastle and enabled him to depict many wild animals from nature4 ,it was while he was employed on this work that he received a commission to make an engraving of a ',chillingham ,bull1' one of those famous wild cattle to which ,sir ,walter ,scott refers in his ballad1 ',cadyow ,castle'3 ',mightiest of all the beasts of chase ,that roam in woody ,caledon4' ,he made the drawing on a block #g inches by #e inches1 and used his highest powers in rendering it as true to nature as he could2 it is said that he always considered it to be his best work4 ,after a few impressions had been taken off on paper and parchment1 the block1 which had been carelessly left by the printers in the direct rays of the sun1 was split by the heat2 and1 though it was in after years clamped in gun-metal1 no impressions could be taken which did not show #aab a trace of the accident4 ,happily1 one of the original impressions on parchment may be seen in the ,townsend ,collection in the ,south ,kensington ,museum4 ,meanwhile the ',quadrupeds' were going on bravely3 ,ralph ,beilby compiled the necessary text1 which ,bewick revised where he could1 and in #agij the book was published4 ,it sold so well that a second edition was issued in #agia1 and a third in #agib4 ,since then it has been frequently reprinted4 ,the first edition consisted of #a1ejj copies in demy octavo at #hs41 and #ajj in royal octavo at #abs4 ,the price of the eighth edition1 with additional cuts1 published in #ahbe1 was one guinea4 ,illustration3 ,,tail-,,piece 7,from ',the ,quadrupeds'7 ,besides the engravings of quadrupeds1 the best that had appeared up to that time1 the numerous tail-pieces which ,bewick drew from nature charmed the public immensely4 ,we give an example1 one of them in which a small boy1 said to be a young brother of the artist1 is pulling a colt's tail1 while the mother is rushing to his rescue4 ,this little cut gives an admirable idea of their style4 ,many of them are humorous1 many very pathetic1 many grimly sarcastic1 and all perfectly original4 #aac ,illustration3 ,,the ,,woodcock 7,from ',the ,water ,birds'7 ,as soon as the success of the ',quadrupeds' was assured1 ,bewick commenced without delay his still more celebrated book1 the ',history of ,british ,birds4' ,in making the drawings for this work he was much more at home1 for he knew every feathered creature that flew within twenty miles of ,ovingham1 and it was all 'labour of love4' ,he worked with all his soul first at the ',land ,birds' and afterwards at the ',water ,birds1' and it is on these two books that ,bewick's fame both as a draughtsman and an engraver principally rests4 ,we give a copy of the ',yellowhammer1' which the artist himself considered to be one of his best works1 and the ',woodcock1' in which all the excellences of his peculiar style may readily be traced4 ,the first volume1 the ',land ,birds1' appeared in #agig1 and was received with rapture by all lovers of nature4 ,again1 #aad the tail-pieces1 pictures in miniature1 were applauded to the skies1 and the gratified author was beset on all sides with congratulations4 ,mr4 ,beilby wrote the descriptions as before1 and performed his work very creditably4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,farmyard 7,from ',the ,land ,birds'7 ,the partnership between ,ralph ,beilby and ,thomas ,bewick was dissolved in #agig1 and the descriptions to the second volume1 ',the ,water ,birds1' which did not appear till #ahjd1 were written by ,bewick himself1 and revised by the ,rev4 ,h4 ,cotes1 ,vicar of ,bedlington4 ,it is known that ,bewick was assisted in the tail-pieces by his pupils1 ,robert ,johnson as a draughtsman1 and ,luke ,clennell as an engraver1 but it is certain that every line was done under his immediate superintendence1 and no doubt the originator of these excellent works was beginning to feel that he was no longer young4 #aae ,of the first edition of the ',land ,birds' #a1jjj were printed in demy octavo at #ajs4 #f;d41 #hej on thin and thick royal octavo1 at #acs4 and #aes41 and twenty-four on imperial octavo at #a #as4 ,the first edition of the ',water ,birds' in #ahjd consisted of the same number of copies as that of the ',land ,birds1' but the prices were increased respectively to #abs41 #aes41 #ahs41 and #a #ds4 ,the only book of importance on which ,bewick was engaged after #ahjd was an edition of 'sop's ,fables1' which was published in #ahah4 ,mr4 ,chatto says3 ',whatever may be the merits or defects of the cuts in the ,fables1 ,bewick certainly had little to do with them--for by far the greater number were designed by ,robert ,johnson and engraved by ,w4 ,w4 ,temple and ,william ,harvey1 while yet in their apprenticeship4' ,bewick amused himself by re-writing the ,fables1 to which he contributed a few of his own1 but he was in no sense a literary man1 and several of his greatest admirers openly expressed their disappointment at the book2 even his supreme advocate1 ,dr4 ,dibdin1 said3 ',i will fearlessly and honestly aver that his sop disappointed me4' ,in #ahbf ,bewick lost his wife1 who left to his care one son and three daughters4 ,in the summer of #ahbh he visited ,london alone2 he was not in good health1 took but little interest in what was going on1 and soon longed to return home4 ,there he was busy as ever on a large cut of an old horse ',waiting for ,death' 7which ,mr4 ,linton has faithfully copied74 ,early in ,november he took the block to the printers to be proved1 and after a few days' illness1 he died on ,november #h1 #ahbh4 ,he was buried in ,ovingham churchyard1 where a tablet is erected to his memory4 ,but his books are his true monument1 and they will live for ever4 99 99 99 99 99 #aaf ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,thomas ,,bewick',s ,,successors ,it redounds greatly to the glory of ,thomas ,bewick that the important advance in the art of wood-engraving which was due to his talents and his industry did not die with him4 ,he left behind him several eminent successors1 whose influence is felt to the present day4 ,his brother ,john1 seven years younger than himself1 was his first pupil1 and to him we are indebted for the illustrations to a work called ',emblems of ,mortality1' #aghi1 copied from ,holbein's ',dance of ,death1' the ',looking-,glass for the ,mind1' and ',blossoms of ,morality1' #agif4 ,of these1 the cuts in the ',looking-,glass for the ,mind' are decidedly the best1 and after examining them carefully we cannot but regret that the artist was taken away so young4 ,his drawings are very unlike those of his elder brother1 and are certainly more graceful--we give one as an example of their style4 ,two other books1 ',poems1' by ,goldsmith and ,parnell1 #agie1 and ,somerville's ',chase1' #agif1 also contain some of his best work2 they were printed in quarto by ,bulmer1 'to display the excellence of modern printing and wood-engraving4' ,for the former of these1 ,john ,bewick made most of the drawings1 in which he was assisted by the clever artist1 ,robert ,johnson1 a fellow-pupil1 and nearly all were engraved by ,thomas and ,john ,bewick1 and a few by another pupil1 ,charlton ,nesbit4 #aag ,for ',the ,chase1' ,john ,bewick made all the drawings except one1 and nearly all were engraved by his brother4 ,for five or six years ,john ,bewick lived in ,london1 till ill-health compelled him to return to his native place1 where he died in the same year in which ,somerville's ',chase' was published4 ,he was buried in ,ovingham churchyard1 where a tablet is erected to his memory4 ,illustration3 ,,little ,,anthony4 ,,by ,,john ,,bewick ,from ',looking-,glass for the ,mind' ,robert ,elliot ,bewick1 the only son of ,thomas ,bewick1 was trained to the business of wood-engraver1 and at one time1 over the window of the house in ,st4 ,nicholas' ,churchyard1 there was a board with an inscription ',,bewick ,,and ,,son1 engravers and copper-plate printers4' ,robert suffered much from ill-health and turned his attention to drawing rather than engraving4 ,he died in #ahdi1 leaving fifty beautiful designs for a ',history of ,fishes1' which he had long in contemplation as a companion volume to his father's works4 #aah ,these drawings1 the gift of the last of ,bewick's daughters1 are now in the ,british ,museum4 ,the most celebrated of ,bewick's other pupils were ,charlton ,nesbit1 born at ,shalwell1 near ,gateshead1 in #agge2 ,luke ,clennell1 born at ,ulgham1 a village near ,morpeth1 in #agha2 and ,william ,harvey1 born near ,newcastle in #agif4 ,nesbit engraved a few of the tail-pieces in the ',land ,birds1' and most of the head and tail pieces in the ',poems' of ,goldsmith and ,parnell4 ,he also engraved1 from a drawing by ,robert ,johnson1 a large block1 #ae inches by #ab inches1 of ,st4 ,nicholas ,church1 ,newcastle1 which at the time was considered a triumph of art4 ,about the end of the century ,nesbit migrated to ,london1 where for many years he was employed by ,rudolph ,ackermann and other publishers in engraving the drawings of the artist1 ,john ,thurston1 whose work was at that time very popular4 ,in #ahae ,nesbit returned to ,shalwell1 where he continued to reside till #ahcj1 doing but little work besides the engraving of ',rinaldo and ,armida' for ,savage's ',hints on ,decorative ,printing1' after a design by ,thurston4 ,this is considered to be his best work4 ,he then went back to ,london1 and was chiefly engaged in engraving drawings by ,william ,harvey for the second volume of ,northcote's ',fables4' ,he died at ,queen's ,elms in ,november #ahch1 aged #fc4 ,mr4 ,chatto says3 ',nesbit is unquestionably the best wood-engraver that has proceeded from the great northern hive of art--the workshop of ,thomas ,bewick4' ,the story of ,luke ,clennell's life is very sad4 ,like many other artists1 he showed an early disposition to make sketches on his slate instead of 'doing sums1' and was often reproved2 his uncle sympathised with him1 and in #agig apprenticed him to ,thomas ,bewick for the usual seven years1 during which time he engraved many of the tail-pieces to the ',water ,birds' and learned to make water-colour drawings from nature4 ,when his apprenticeship was over he assisted ,bewick in the illustrations to a ',history of ,england1' #aai published by ,wallis and ,scholey1 in which ,nisbet had also joined1 but finding that ,bewick was paid five pounds for each cut1 while he received only two pounds1 ,clennell sent some specimens of his abilities to the publishers1 who immediately offered him work in ,london1 where he arrived in the autumn of #ahjd4 ,two years afterwards he received the gold palette of the ,society of ,arts for a wood-engraving of a battle-scene1 and soon afterwards he was engaged on illustrations to new editions of ,beattie's ',minstrel1' #ahjg1 and ,falconer's ',shipwreck1' #ahjh4 ,about this time he married the eldest daughter of ,charles ,warren1 a well-known line engraver1 and became intimate with ,abraham ,raimbach and other artists whose friendship was of much service to him4 ,his most important work as a wood-engraver was the ',diploma of the ,highland ,society1' a large block #ac inches by #aj inches1 of which we give a much-reduced copy4 ,benjamin ,west made the original design on paper1 ,clennell himself drew the ,highlander and ,fisherman on the wood1 and gave ,thurston fifteen pounds to fill in the circle with ,britannia and her attendant groups4 ,after he had worked on the block1 which was of boxwood veneered upon beech1 for about two months1 the same fate befell it that had ruined ,bewick's ',chillingham ,bull'2 one evening1 while he was at tea1 the boxwood split with a loud report1 and it is said poor ,clennell threw the tea-things into the fire6 ,this was the sad beginning of a long malady4 ,taking courage1 however1 he procured a block made of pieces of solid boxwood firmly clamped together1 paid ,thurston again for drawing the central groups1 and1 after much labour1 produced his chef d'oeuvre1 for which he received #aej guineas from the ,highland ,society1 and was further rewarded with the gold medal of the ,society of ,arts1 ,may #cj1 #ahji4 ,this second block likewise met with an untimely fate2 it was burnt in the fire at ,bensley's printing-office4 ,john ,thompson afterwards engraved it in fac-simile4 ,a copy of ,clennell's original engraving1 bequeathed by ,mr4 ,john #abj ,thompson1 may be seen in the ,art ,library at ,south ,kensington4 ,illustration3 ,,diploma ,,of ,,the ,,highland ,,society ,engraved by ,luke ,clennell ,among the best wood-engravings by ,clennell we may rank the illustrations designed by ,stothard as head and tail pieces for a small edition of ,rogers's ',pleasures of ,memory1' #ahaj4 ,they were drawn in pen and ink1 and engraved in facsimile with charming spirit and fidelity4 ,after this time1 ,clennell1 who could work beautifully in water-colours1 gave up engraving and exhibited drawings and paintings at the ,academy1 the ,british ,institution1 and the ,exhibition of ,painters in ,water-,colours at their room in ,spring ,gardens4 ,in ,march #ahae1 the ,british #aba ,institution set aside #a1jjj guineas for premiums for the best oil-paintings illustrating the career of ,wellington4 ,one of these premiums was awarded to ,clennell for his ',charge of the ,life ,guards at ,waterloo1' a picture full of spirit1 which was afterwards engraved4 ,in #ahad the ,earl of ,bridgewater gave him a commission to paint ',the ,banquet of the ,allied ,sovereigns in ,guildhall4' ,he experienced great difficulty in obtaining sitters for the necessary portraits1 and suffered so much from anxiety that1 although in ,april #ahag he had nearly conquered all his troubles1 he suddenly lost his reason4 ,this so much affected his wife that she also became insane and soon died4 ,by the advice of his friends poor ,clennell was sent to live with a relation who resided near ,newcastle1 and there he lingered till ,february #ahdj1 when he died1 leaving three children1 who were for a time supported in a great measure by the ,committee of the ,artists' ,fund and by the profits of the engraving of the ',charge of the ,life ,guards4' ,william ,harvey was apprenticed to ,bewick in #ahaj and was his favourite pupil4 ,he frequently made drawings on the wood after the designs of ,robert ,johnson1 and engraved many of the cuts in ',bewick's ,fables1' #ahah4 ,on ,new ,year's ,day #ahae ,bewick presented him with a copy of his ',history of ,british ,birds' in two volumes1 which he always showed to his friends with much pride4 ,in ,september #ahag ,harvey came to ,london and1 to improve his knowledge of drawing1 took lessons of an excellent master--,b4 ,r4 ,haydon4 ,while under his tuition ,harvey copied his picture of the ',assassination of ,dentatus' on a large block1 and engraved it with most elaborate care4 ,this cut has always been greatly admired by the profession1 who point to the variety of the lines of engraving in the right leg of ,dentatus as being a triumph of their art4 ,if we can find any fault with this celebrated work1 it is that1 to use ,mr4 ,chatto's words1 ',more has been attempted than can be efficiently #abb represented by means of wood-engraving'--it is1 in fact1 too much like an attempt to rival copper-plate line-engraving4 ,about the year #ahbd ,harvey had so many commissions for designs for both copper-plates and woodcuts that he gave up entirely the practice of engraving1 and devoted himself to drawings for the illustration of books4 ,his first successes were his vignettes for ,dr4 ,henderson's ',history of ,ancient and ,modern ,wines1' #ahbd1 the illustrations to ,northcote's ',fables1' #ahbh and #ahcc1 the ',tower ,menagerie1' #ahbh1 ',gardens and ,menagerie of the ,zoological ,society1' #ahca1 and ',the ,children in the ,wood' and a ',story without an ,end1' #ahcb4 ,but perhaps his most characteristic designs were the illustrations to ,lane's ',thousand and ,one ,nights' in #ahcd-dj2 these are considered to be his best work4 ,he was at this time at the height of his reputation1 and for twenty-six years more he almost monopolised the illustration of books published in ,london4 ,merely to give a list of them would occupy too much space4 ,during the latter years of his life1 ,harvey lived near the old church of ,richmond1 and there he died in #ahff4 ,he was one of the most courteous and amiable of men1 and though his designs were 'mannered1' they were always pleasant to look at1 and often very poetical4 ,there were other pupils of ,bewick who obtained some little fame4 ,among them were ,john ,anderson1 a native of ,scotland1 who assisted ,thurston in illustrating ,bloomfield's ',farmer's ,boy1' published in #ahjj by ,vernor and ,hood2 ,john ,jackson1 who was born at ,ovingham in #ahja1 and ,ebenezer ,landells1 born at ,newcastle in #ahjh4 ,jackson for some reason quarrelled with his master1 came to ,london and worked for ,william ,harvey1 who was much employed about that time in making illustrations for the various works issued by ,charles ,knight1 including the ',penny ,magazine1' ,knight's ',shakspere1' ',pictorial ,bible1' ',pictorial ,prayer-book1' and a hundred other books which appeared between #ahbh and #ahdj--under the auspices of that enterprising publisher4 ,some of #abc ,jackson's best work will be found in the ',tower ,menagerie' and other illustrations of animals designed by ,harvey4 ,he will always be remembered for the share he took in the ',treatise on ,wood-,engraving1' for which ,mr4 ,chatto wrote the text4 ,this work was undertaken at the sole risk of ,mr4 ,jackson1 who engraved many of the three hundred illustrations4 ,it is a very valuable book and1 supplemented by ,mr4 ,linton's ',masters of ,wood-,engraving1' tells pretty well all that is ever likely to be known of this fascinating art4 ,jackson died in ,london in the year #ahdh4 ,at the death of ,bewick1 ,ebenezer ,landells came to ,london1 #ahbi1 and soon found employment in engraving designs for the ,illustrated ,london ,news1 ,punch1 and other periodicals4 ,his studio became quite a nursery of art1 and many excellent draughtsmen--among them1 ,birket ,foster--and engravers were educated under his superintendence4 ,he died at ,brompton in #ahfj1 the last of ,bewick's pupils4 ,going back to the last century we find that we have omitted to speak of another self-taught wood-engraver1 ,robert ,branston1 who was born in #aggh at ,lynn in ,norfolk4 ,when he was twenty-one years of age he settled in ,london and soon found employment in working for the publishers4 ,he engraved the ',cave of ,despair' from a drawing by ,thurston for ,savage's ',hints on ,decorative ,printing' in rivalry with ,nesbit's ',rinaldo and ,armida'2 this is considered to be his best work4 ,he also assisted in engraving the cuts in ,scholey's ',history of ,england1' ,bloomfield's ',wild ,flowers1' #ahjf1 and a series of ',fables' after ,thurston's designs which1 though beautifully executed1 were never published4 ,he died at ,brompton in #ahbg4 ,among his pupils were his son1 ,robert ,branston the younger1 who for many years produced excellent work4 #abd ,illustration3 ,,haymaking4 ,,by ,w4 ,,mulready1 ,r4,a4 ,engraved by ,john ,thompson ,john ,thompson1 one of the princes of wood-engravers1 was born in ,manchester in #aghe1 came to ,london early in life1 and1 after practising for some years under ,robert ,branston the elder1 soon gained great distinction in his art4 ,like all other wood-engravers of the period1 he was employed chiefly in rendering the designs of ,thurston4 ,in #ahah he engraved the illustrations to a new edition of ,butler's ',hudibras1' and about the same time he was engaged by the ,bank of ,england to produce a bank-note which could not be imitated4 ,then followed the illustrations to the ',blind ,beggar of ,bethnal ,green1' #ahcb1 ,shakespeare1 #ahcf1 and the ',arabian ,nights1' #ahda1 all after designs by ,william ,harvey4 ,he also engraved many of the beautiful cuts in the books of ,natural ,history published by ,van ,voorst4 ,in #abe #ahdc he produced the work for which he will for ever be celebrated1 the illustrations to the ',vicar of ,wakefield' from the drawings by ,mulready--one of the most charming books ever published4 ,it would take too much time to enumerate even the best of the engravings he executed in his long life4 ,we must not1 however1 forget to mention that he engraved in gun-metal ,mulready's design for a postal envelope in #ahci1 and the figure of ,britannia which is still printed on ,bank of ,england notes4 ,he presented his collection of valuable woodcuts to the ,art ,library at ,south ,kensington1 and died at ,kensington in #ahff1 aged #ha4 ,his son1 ,thurston ,thompton1 was also an excellent engraver4 ,among the other celebrated wood-engravers of the latter half of this century were ,john and ,mary ,byfield1 who engraved the facsimile cuts of ,holbein's ',dance of ,death' and ',scenes from ,old ,testament ,history' for ,pickering's editions of these celebrated works2 ,w4 ,h4 ,powis1 some of whose best work may be seen in ',solace of ,song'2 ,j4 ,orrin ,smith1 born in ,colchester in #ahjj1 who placed himself under the tuition of ,william ,harvey1 and became a very expert craftsman1 and whose best work may be seen in ,wordsworth's ',greece1' ',the ,solace of ,song1' ,lane's ',arabian ,nights1' and in ',paul et ,virginie1' published by ,curmer of ,paris--,orrin ,smith died in #ahdc2 ,samuel ,williams1 also a native of ,colchester1 who designed on the wood most of the works which he engraved--he was famous for his country scenes1 the best of which are in ,thomson's ',seasons' and ,cowper's ',poems1' published about #ahdj--;he died in #ahec in his #feth year2 ,w4 ,t4 ,green and ,thomas ,bolton1 both excellent reproducers of landscape1 and especially of the drawings of ,birket ,foster2 ,charles ,gray1 and ,samuel ,v4 ,slader1 all of the first repute2 ,orlando ,jewitt1 celebrated both for his beautiful reproductions of architectural work1 for ,parker's ',glossary1' and other important works2 and1 lately1 we have lost ,j4 ,greenaway1 brother of the famous artist1 ,kate #abf ,greenaway1 and ,w4 ,j4 ,palmer1 both excellent men and engravers of the very first class4 ,illustration3 ,o',,erarched ,,with ,,oaks ,,that ,,form ,,fantastic ,,bowers ,still with us1 we can only mention in a few words the modern prince of wood-engravers1 ,w4 ,j4 ,linton1 who has for #abg many years resided in ,america2 ,w4 ,l4 ,thomas1 the originator of ,the ,graphic newspaper1 and one of the ablest artists in water-colours in ',the ,institute'2 ,edmund ,evans and ,horace ,harral1 who so successfully rendered ,birket ,foster's drawings some years ago2 ,j4 ,w4 ,whymper1 the brothers ,dalziel and ,james ,cooper1 the producers of thousands of good engravings1 and a comparatively new man1 ,w4 ,biscombe ,gardner1 who excels in portraiture4 ,in ,germany1 during the last half-century1 wood-engraving met with much encouragement1 and reverting to the earlier and purer style of the fifteenth century1 many artists and engravers produced work of great merit3 ,e4 ,kretzschmar1 of ,leipsic1 the brothers ,a4 and ,o4 ,vogel1 ,f4 ,unzelmann and ,h4 ,mller1 rendered the drawings of ,adolf ,menzel and ,ludwig ,richter with careful exactitude4 ,in the atelier of ,hugo ,brkner1 of ,dresden1 the much-admired ',death as a ,friend1' by ,rethel1 was engraved by ,jungtow1 and ',death as an ,enemy' by ,steinbrecher3 and ,a4 ,gaber1 recently deceased1 faithfully reproduced the drawings of ,overbeck1 ,schnorr von ,carolsfeld1 ,oscar ,pletsch1 and ,moritz von ,schwind4 ,of living engravers we may refer our readers to the excellent examples of skill to be seen in the ',meisterwerke der ,holzschneidekunst1' a monthly periodical of great merit2 and especially to the works of ,pfnorr of ,darmstadt2 ,hfel of ,vienna2 ,flegel and ,weber of ,leipsic2 ,mezger and ,vieweg of ,brunswick2 ,h4 ,gnter1 ,karl ,oertel1 ,lttge1 and ,e4 ,krelb4 ,in ,france no great advance has been made1 and most of the engravers have been contented to produce work a little above mediocrity4 ,several ,french publishers have given commissions to ,english engravers--,orrin ,smith1 ,henry ,linton1 and others4 ,in ,america great strides have been made1 and1 in the estimation of many excellent judges1 the best works ever done by wood-engravers have been presented to us in the pages of the illustrated magazines4 ,these publications excite #abh our wonder not only at the great energy which is thrown into them1 apparently without regard to cost1 but at the immense success which they have justly achieved4 ,some critics disapprove of the style to which we have just referred1 and say it is in too close an imitation of steel engraving1 but it seems hard to censure works which have given unbounded satisfaction to so many thousand lovers of art4 ,owing to the invention of various mechanical processes1 and the perfection to which photography has attained1 the art of wood-engraving would seem to be in danger of becoming extinct4 ,this is by no means the real case1 for the brilliant band of wood-engravers which has arisen in ,america1 of whom we have just spoken1 still continue to give us excellent examples of their skill2 and especially we may mention the inimitable copies of paintings by the ,old ,masters by ,timothy ,cole1 whose rendering of ,paul ,potter's ',young ,bull' excites our warmest admiration4 ,in ,england1 under the influence of ,mr4 ,william ,morris and his followers1 a revival of this interesting craft1 as practised in the fifteenth century1 has been set on foot in some of the ,schools of ,art--notably at ,birmingham1 where in #ahic the students issued a ,book of ,carols illustrated with original designs1 some of which were cut by the students themselves4 ,this revival of the earlier and purer methods of engraving1 coupled with a careful study of the possibilities of the art1 may be taken as a sign that by no means the last chapter on the history of engraving on wood has yet been written4 ,at present1 much of the new process work which we find in such over-abundance in newspapers and magazines is slovenly to the last degree4 ,on the other hand1 now and then we see beautiful results--the best in the ,american magazines2 let us hope that the facile cheapness of this new craft--art it cannot be called--will in good hands soon achieve something more worthy of our regard4 99 99 99 99 99 #abi ,,index ,the ,engravings in this book are referred to in italic type ,abbreviations of ,latin words1 #ah sop's ,fables 7#adha71 #dg sop's ,fables 7,bewick's71 #aae ,aldegrever1 #hh ,aldus ,manutius1 #de-dg ,alphabet1 ,figure1 ,,xv ,cent41 #be ,altdorfer1 ,albrecht1 #hg1 #ajj ,amman1 ,jost1 #hh ,anderson1 ,john1 #abb ,andre1 ,jerome1 #hb ,andreani1 ,andrea1 #ii ,annunciation1 ,the1 #h ,apocalypse1 ,drer's1 #gj ,apocalypsis ,sancti ,johannis1 #ag ,ars ,memorandi1 #aa1 #bf ,ars ,moriendi1 #aa1 #bj1 #bf ,battista del ,porta1 #ii ,beham1 ,hans1 #hg ,beilby1 ,ralph1 #ajh1aab ,berners1 ,dame ,juliana1 #ff ,bewick1 ,john1 #aaf ,bewick1 ,robert1 #aag ,bewick1 ,thomas1 #ajh-aae ,bible ,cuts1 ,holbein's1 #hf1 #hg ,biblia ,pauperum1 #ab-af ,bibliomaniac1 ,the1 #ch ,block ,books of the ,,xv ,cent41 #aa ,blossoms of ,morality1 #aaf ,boldrini1 ,nicolo1 #ii ,bolton1 ,thomas1 #abf ,bonner1 ,george1 #hb1 #ajb ,booke of ,christian ,prayers 7,q4 ,elizabeth71 #ajj ,book of ,fables 7,pfister1 #adfa71 #cf ,book of ,hours1 #ee ,book of ,st4 ,albans1 #ff ,borluyt's ,figures from ,new ,testament1 #if1 #ig ,bourbon1 ,nicolas1 #ic ,brandt's ,navis ,stultifera1 #ch ,branston1 ,robert1 #abc ,breydenbach's ,travels1 #ce1 #cg ,british ,birds1 ,history of 7,bewick71 #aaj-aae ,british ,quadrupeds1 ,history of 7,bewick71 #aaa1 #aab ,brosamer1 ,hans1 #hh ,brkner 7,german engraver71 #abg ,bullen1 ,mr4 ,george1 #bj ,burgkmair1 ,hans1 #fi-hj ,byfield1 ,john and ,mary1 #hb1 #abe ,caillaut1 ,antoine1 #fj ,canterbury ,tales1 ,the1 #ff ,canticum ,canticorum1 #aa1 #bc ,casus ,luciferi1 #cj ,caxton1 ,william1 #fb ,chatto1 ,w4 ,a41 #a1 #d1 #ff1 #aah ,chiar-oscuro1 ,printing in1 #ej1 #ii ,chillingham ,bull 7,bewick71 #aaa ,christopher1 ,saint1 #f ,clennell1 ,luke1 #aah-aba ,cole1 ,mr4 ,henry1 #gc ,cole1 ,timothy1 #abh ,colines1 ,simon de1 ,heures de1 #ib ,cologne ,bible1 #cc1 #cf ,colonna1 ,francesco1 #db ,colour ,printing in ,germany 7,,xvi ,cent471 #ajj ,conway1 ,w4 ,m4 7,woodcutters of the ,netherlands71 #ih ,copperplate-,engraving introduced1 #ih ,coriolano1 ,bartolommeo1 #ii ,cranach1 ,lucas1 #fi1 #hh1 #ajj ,croxall's sop1 #ajf1 #aaa ,cuningham's ,cosmographical ,glasse1 #ajb ,curio1 ,valentine1 #ha ,dance of ,death 7#adhe71 #ei ,dance of ,death 7,holbein's71 #ha-he ,daye1 ,john 7,printer71 #aja-ajd ,death of the ,virgin 7,missal71 #ed ,decameron1 ,the 7#adib71 #dh ,dentatus1 ,death of 7engraved by ,w4 ,harvey71 #aba ,dibdin's1 ,dr41 ,works1 #a ,dienecker 7,engraver71 #gh ,diploma of ,highland ,society 7,clennell71 #abj ,douce1 ,francis1 #hb ,duplessis1 ,m4 ,georges1 #d ,dupr1 ,jean1 #ee1 #fj ,drer1 ,albrecht1 #fi ---- ,apocalypse1 #gj ---- ,engravings on ,copper1 #ga ---- ,life of the ,virgin1 #ga ---- ,passion of ,our ,lord1 #ga ---- ',smaller' ,passion1 #ga1 #gc ---- ,virgin crowned by ,angels1 #gb ,elizabetha ,regina 7#aefi71 #ajc ,elizabeth's1 ,queen1 ,prayer ,book1 #ajb ,emblems of ,mortality 7#aghi71 #aaf ,estienne1 ,robert1 #ic ,figure ,alphabet1 ,the1 #bd ,flight into ,egypt 7,jegher's71 #aje ,foster1 ,birket1 ,drawing by1 #abf ,foxe's ,book of ,martyrs1 #ajj ,froben1 ,johann1 #ha ,froschover1 ,christoph1 #ha ,fyshynge with an ,angle 7#adif71 #fg ,gaber 7,german ,engraver71 #abg ,game and ,playe of the ,chesse 7,caxton's71 #fb1 #fd ,german ,engravers1 #abg ,gray1 ,charles1 #abe ,green1 ,w4 ,t4 7,engraver71 #abe ,greenaway1 ,j41 #abe ,gutenberg's ,psalter1 #cd ,harvey1 ,william1 #aae1 #aba ,heinecken1 ,herr1 #d1 #aj ,henry ,,viii in ,council1 frontispiece ,heures l'usaige de ,chartres1 #eb ,history of ,british ,birds 7,bewick71 #aaj-aad ,history of ,quadrupeds 7,bewick71 #aaa1 #aab ,holbein1 ,hans1 #fi1 #ha-hg ---- ,alphabet of ,dance of ,death1 #hg ---- ,bible ,cuts 7,old ,testament71 #hf1 #hg ---- ,dance of ,death1 #hb-hd ---- ,society1 #bj1 #ba ,holinshed's ',chronicles of ,england1' c41 #ajj ,humphreys1 ,noel1 #ee ,hypnerotomachia ,poliphili 7#adid71 #db-dd ,illuminated ,books of ,,xv ,century1 #ec ,images of ,saints1 #b ,jackson1 ,john1 #abb ,jegher1 ,christoph1 of ,antwerp1 #ajd ,jewitt1 ,orlando1 #abe ,johnson1 ,robert1 #aae ,jovius1 ,paulus1 #ie ,jungtow1 #abg ,kalendario 7,venice1 #adgf71 #da ,kerver1 ,thielman1 #ec1 #eh1 #ei ,king's ,banquet1 ,the1 #eh ,kirkall1 ,elisha 7#agbd71 #ajf ,knight1 ,charles1 #abb ,landells1 ,ebenezer1 #abb ,le ,noir 7,printers' mark71 #fj ,le ,rouge1 #ec ,linton1 ,w4 ,j41 #a1 #e1 #ajf ,lippmann1 ,dr41 #a ,little ,masters1 ,the1 #hg ,livres d',heures1 #eg ,looking-glass for the ,mind1 #aaf1 #aag ,ltzelburger1 ,hans1 #ha1 #hg ,macault reading his ,translation1 #id ,mac1 ,robert1 of ,caen1 #if ,mansion1 ,colard1 of ,bruges1 #fb ,manuzio1 ,aldo1 #de1 #df ,marchant1 ,guyot1 #ec1 #ei ,maximilian1 ,emperor1 #fi1 #gd-hj ,mazarine ,bible1 #cj ,mer des ,histoires1 ,la1 #ec ,milan1 ,lives of ,dukes of1 #ie ,metal ,blocks1 #ea ,mirrour of the ,world 7#adgh71 #fc ,morris1 ,william1 #ec1 #abh ,mulready3 ,vicar of ,wakefield1 #abe ,nanto1 ,francesco da1 #ii ,navis ,stultifera 7#adig71 #ch ,nesbit1 ,charlton1 #aaf1 #aah ,notary1 ,julian1 #fh ,nrnberg ,chronicle1 #cf ,palmer1 ,w4 ,j41 #abf ,papillon1 ,j4 ,m4 7,french ,engraver71 #ajg ,passion of our ,lord 7,missal71 #ef ,petit1 ,jehan1 #fj ,pigouchet1 ,philippe1 #ee ,plantin1 ,christophe1 ,antwerp1 #if ,playing ,cards1 #b ,porta1 ,giuseppe1 #ij1 #ia ,porto1 ,battista del1 #ii ,powis1 ,w4 ,h4 7,engraver71 #abe ,printers' marks1 #fj ---- ,kerver's1 #ei ---- ,le ,noir's1 #fj ---- ,plantin's1 #ih ---- ,pynson's1 #fh ---- ,tory's1 ,geoffroy1 #ia ---- ,wynkyn de ,worde's1 #fe ,psalter1 ,gutenberg's1 #cd ,pynson1 ,richard1 #ff ,recueil des ,histoires de ,troye1 #fb ,saint ,bridget of ,sweden1 #i ,saint ,christopher1 #f ,saint ,sebastian1 #i ,salomon1 ,bernhard 7,petit ,bernhard71 #ie ,schaufelein1 ,hans1 #gd ,schongauer1 ,martin1 #ef1 #eg ,scolari1 ,giuseppe1 #ii ,select ,fables 7,bewick71 #aaa ,sessa ,brothers1 of ,venice1 #ajj ,slader1 ,samuel1 #abe ,smith1 ,j4 ,orrin1 #abe ,somerville's ,chase1 #aag ,sorti di ,marcolini 7#aedj71 #ij1 #ia ,speculum ,salvationis1 #aa1 #bi ,terence 7,lyons1 #adic71 #di ,theuredank1 ,adventures of1 #gd ,thompson1 ,john1 #aai1 #abc1 #abd ,thurston1 ,john1 #aah ,tory1 ,geoffroy1 #ia1 #ib1 #id1 #ie ,tournes1 ,jean de1 #ie1 #if ,trento1 ,antonio da1 #ii ,tristan1 ,romance of1 #eh ,triumphs of ,maximilian1 #gd-hj ---- ,triumphal ,arch 7,drer71 #ge1 #gf ---- ,triumphal ,car 7,drer71 #gg ---- ,triumphal ,procession 7,burgkmair71 #gh1 #gi ,triumphal entry of ,henri ,,ii into ,lyons1 #ie ,triumphal entry of ,henri ,,ii into ,paris1 #ie ,triumphi del ,petrarca 7#adhh71 #da1 #dg ,ugo da ,carpi1 #ii ,vecellio1 ,cesare1 #ajj ,verard1 ,antoine1 #ec1 #eg ,virgil ,solis1 #hh ,virgin with four ,saints 7#adah71 #c ,vostre1 ,simon1 #ec1 #ee ,werskunig1 #gd ,williams1 ,samuel1 #abe ,willshire1 ,dr41 #b1 #ee ,woodbery1 ,mr41 #cb ,wood-,engraver1 ,the1 x ,wood ,engravers 7,living71 #abf ,wynkyn de ,worde1 #fe ,spottiswoode ,co4 ,printers1 ,new-street ,square1 ,london4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,notes #a ,w4 ,h4 ,willshire1 ,playing and other ,cards in the ,british ,museum1 #a vol4 #hvo4 7#ahgf74 #b ,it is often called the ,mazarine ,bible1 because a copy was discovered1 with notes written in it by the illuminator1 in the library of ,cardinal ,mazarin4 ,it is very scarce4 ,in #ahhd ,mr4 ,quaritch bought a very fine copy from the library of ,sir ,john ,thorold1 for which he paid #c1ijj4 #c ,history of ,wood-,engraving1 #ahhc4 #d ,an ,english version1 neither faithful nor complete1 was published in the time of ,queen ,elizabeth1 ',at ,london1 ,printed for ,simon ,waterson1 and are to be sold at his shop in ,st4 ,paule's ,churchyard at ,chepegate1 #aeib4' ,it is extremely scarce4 ,many of the pages1 as giving examples of costume1 have lately been reprinted by authority of the ,science and ,art ,department4 ,there is a ,french edition of ,poliphilo1 printed at ,paris by ,kerver in #aefa1 with illustrations in a late florid ,french style4 #e ,in a recent ,catalogue1 ,mr4 ,quaritch offers no less than seven different editions of the illustrated ',livre d',heures' printed by ,verard1 at prices varying from #fjl4 to #bjjl4 #f ,it was printed1 with descriptions in black-letter1 at the ,chiswick ,press1 and published by ,joseph ,cundall1 #ab ,old ,bond ,street1 #ahdj4 #g ,it is now issued by ,george ,bell ,sons1 who also publish ,holbein's ,bible ,pictures4