unfortunate one for their argument; namely, that the Custos or Warden of St. Bavon’s was not known as a printer to one of his contemporaries. The citizens of Harlem, however, have still something to console themselves with: though Coster may not be the inventor of printing, there can be little doubt of Junius, or his editor, being the discoverer of Coster,-- “Est quoddam prodire tenus, si non datur ultra.” [Footnote II-84: Heineken gives an account of those twelve additional cuts at page 463 of his Idée Générale. It appears that Veldener also published in the same year another edition of the Speculum, also in quarto, containing the same cuts as the older folios, but without the twelve above mentioned.] There is in the Print Room of the British Museum a small volume of wood-cuts, which has not hitherto been described by any bibliographer, nor by any writer who has treated on the origin and progress of wood engraving. It appears to have been unknown to Heineken, Breitkopf, Von Murr, and Meerman; and it is not mentioned, that I am aware of, either by Dr. Dibdin or Mr. Douce, although it certainly was submitted to the inspection of the latter. It formerly belonged to the late Sir George Beaumont, by whom it was bequeathed to the Museum; but where he obtained it I have not been able to learn. It consists of an alphabet of large capital letters, formed of figures arranged in various attitudes; and from the general character of the designs, the style of the engraving, and the kind of paper on which the impressions have been taken, it evidently belongs to the same period as the Poor Preachers’ Bible. There is only one cut on each leaf, the back being left blank as in most of the block-books, and the impressions have been taken by means of friction. The paper at the back of each cut has a shining appearance when held towards the light, in consequence of the rubbing which it has received; and in some it appears as if it had been blacked with charcoal, in the same manner that some parts of the cartoons were blacked which have been pricked through by the tapestry worker. The ink is merely a distemper or water-colour, which will partly wash out by the application of hot water, and its colour is a kind of sepia. Each leaf, which is about six inches high, by three and six-eighths wide, consists of a separate piece of paper, and is pasted, at the inner margin, on to a slip either of paper or parchment, through which the stitching of the cover passes. Whether the paper has been cut in this manner before or after that the impressions were taken, I am unable to determine.[II-85]