[Footnote II-51: The backs of many of the old wood-cuts which have been taken by means of friction, still appear bright in consequence of the rubbing which the paper has sustained in order to obtain the impression. They would not have this appearance if the paper had been used in a damp state.] Mr. Ottley, however, states that no less than two pages of the History of the Virgin have been engraved on the same block. His observations on this subject are as follows: “Upon first viewing this work, I was of opinion that each of the designs contained in it was engraved upon a separate block of wood: but, upon a more careful examination, I have discovered that the contents of each two pages--that is, four subjects--were engraved on the same block. The number of wooden blocks, therefore, from which the whole was printed, was only eight. This is proved in the first two pages of the copy before me;[II-52] where, near the bottom of the two upper subjects, the block appears to have been broken in two, in a horizontal direction,--after it was engraved,--and joined together again; although not with such exactness but that the traces of the operation clearly show themselves. The traces of a similar accident are still more apparent in the last block, containing the Nos. 29, 30, 31, 32. The whole work was, therefore, printed on eight sheets of paper from the same number of engraved blocks, the first four subjects being printed from the same block upon the same sheet,--and so on with the rest; and, indeed, in Lord Spencer’s copy, each sheet, being mounted upon a guard, distinctly shows itself entire.”[II-53] [Footnote II-52: This must have been a copy of that which Heineken calls the second edition; no such appearances of a fracture or joining are to be seen in the first.] [Footnote II-53: Inquiry, p. 142.]