A good illustration of this may be seen in the woodcut blocks from the recently discovered Sarum Missal (Figs. 312, 313). This very important acquisition to the list of Caxton’s works was found in 1893, in Lord Newton’s library at Lyme Hall, Cheshire, and is one of the works which Caxton sent to be printed in France. It contains some additions to the text in Caxton’s handwriting and has an impression of his peculiar mark at the end of the book. The illustrations have been printed from wood blocks, and coloured by hand afterwards, according to the practice which obtained at the latter end of the fifteenth century. Another interesting survival of the practice of placing a cross at the bottom of the page, on which was represented the crucifixion, is seen underneath the latter illustration (Fig. 313) in the Lyme Missal. In the earlier illuminated missals this device was resorted to in order to keep the picture of the crucifixion from being damaged by the frequent kissing of the cross; and so a small cross was placed at the bottom of the picture to enable the piously inclined to still perform this act of piety without damage to the book. The custom of engraving blocks for book illustration in outline, to be filled in afterwards in colour, led the way to line engraving on wood, where the pure line work was left uncoloured, and soon after became a style by itself, which ultimately, as the art of black and white, was sought after and prized for its own sake. The invention of printing from type may be traced from the woodcuts, as we have remarked above, some of the earliest of which were those cut for playing cards at the beginning of the fifteenth century. [Illustration: Fig. 312.—Page from the Caxton “Lyme Missal.”] The invention was soon after applied to the production of the xylographic or block-printed books, which were printed in colour from the block. The colour was spread on the block, a sheet of paper was placed on the top, and then rubbed over by the hand to get the impression. The early block-books printed in this way had more pictorial or decorative work in their pages than text or literary matter, and therefore appealed more directly to the great uneducated masses of the people of the times for whom they were compiled. By means of the block printing, many proofs could also be taken to supply the increasing demand for general knowledge which was springing up everywhere in the fifteenth century. Letters, whole words, and legends were now also cut for the printing of literary matter in the block-books. Book blocks were cut in Germany, Holland, and Flanders; the period of their production was from the year 1420 to 1510.