Opening the text

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His AssociatesDe Vinne, Theodore Low

History

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates

Name: The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates
Author: De Vinne, Theodore Low

De Vinne, Theodore Low

Incunabula -- Bibliography; Printing -- History -- Origin and antecedents

This is a small block-book of eight leaves. Weigel places it among
the earliest specimens of engraving on wood. The language in which
the pictures are explained is High German. The pictures illustrate
the Go-between, the Liar, the Cheat, the Counterfeit Goldsmith, the
Cheating Merchant, the Church Robber, the Cheating Rope-maker, the
Blacksmith that sells iron for steel. The designs are rude, but they
are full of spirit and character, and the cutting of the figures
has been done with ability and intelligence. The paper was printed
on one side only and in dull brown ink. This book was found in the
neglected library of an old South German monastery, in the heart of
the neighborhood in which we find the earliest notices of printers
and painters of images. As it is the only block-book of a decidedly
non-religious character, it may be ascribed to some maker of playing
cards, who practised the art of engraving before it was placed under
the control of the Church.




[p230]

XII

Block-Books of Images with Text.


 The Antichrist, with Fac-simile . . . How to Remember the Evangelists,
 with Fac-simile . . . How to Die Becomingly, with Fac-simile . . .
 Other Editions of this Work . . . Chiromancy of Doctor Hartleib, with
 Fac-simile . . . German Planetarium and Calendar, with Fac-simile
 . . . Wonders of Rome, with Fac-simile . . . Pomerium Spirituale,
 with Fac-simile . . . Temptations of the Devil, with Fac-simile . . .
 Life of St. Meinrat, with Fac-simile . . . Dance of Death, with
 Fac-simile . . . Mechanical Peculiarities of the Block-Books . . . All
 of Religious Character . . . Made for Priests, but seen by the People
 . . . Not Adapted to the Needs of the People . . . The Period of the
 Block-Books . . . Made in Germany and the Netherlands . . . Dates and
 Printers of the Books Unknown . . . Probably Made in the First Quarter
 of the Fifteenth Century . . . An Established Business before the
 Invention of Typography.

       *       *       *       *       *

 This, that is written in this little book, ought the priests to learn
 and teach to their parishes: and it is also necessary for simple
 priests that understand not the Scriptures, and it is made for simple
 people . . . . by cause that for to hear examples stirreth and moveth
 the people that ben simple more to devotion than great authority of
 science.

 _Caxton’s Preface to the Doctrinal of Sapyence._

       *       *       *       *       *

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates

De Vinne, Theodore Low

Incunabula -- Bibliography; Printing -- History -- Origin and antecedents

This is a small block-book of eight leaves. Weigel places it among
the earliest specimens of engraving on wood. The language in which
the pictures are explained is High German. The pictures illustrate
the Go-between, the Liar, the Cheat, the Counterfeit Goldsmith, the
Cheating Merchant, the Church Robber, the Cheating Rope-maker, the
Blacksmith that sells iron for steel. The designs are rude, but they
are full of spirit and character, and the cutting of the figures
has been done with ability and intelligence. The paper was printed
on one side only and in dull brown ink. This book was found in the
neglected library of an old South German monastery, in the heart of
the neighborhood in which we find the earliest notices of printers
and painters of images. As it is the only block-book of a decidedly
non-religious character, it may be ascribed to some maker of playing
cards, who practised the art of engraving before it was placed under
the control of the Church.




[p230]

XII

Block-Books of Images with Text.


 The Antichrist, with Fac-simile . . . How to Remember the Evangelists,
 with Fac-simile . . . How to Die Becomingly, with Fac-simile . . .
 Other Editions of this Work . . . Chiromancy of Doctor Hartleib, with
 Fac-simile . . . German Planetarium and Calendar, with Fac-simile
 . . . Wonders of Rome, with Fac-simile . . . Pomerium Spirituale,
 with Fac-simile . . . Temptations of the Devil, with Fac-simile . . .
 Life of St. Meinrat, with Fac-simile . . . Dance of Death, with
 Fac-simile . . . Mechanical Peculiarities of the Block-Books . . . All
 of Religious Character . . . Made for Priests, but seen by the People
 . . . Not Adapted to the Needs of the People . . . The Period of the
 Block-Books . . . Made in Germany and the Netherlands . . . Dates and
 Printers of the Books Unknown . . . Probably Made in the First Quarter
 of the Fifteenth Century . . . An Established Business before the
 Invention of Typography.

       *       *       *       *       *

 This, that is written in this little book, ought the priests to learn
 and teach to their parishes: and it is also necessary for simple
 priests that understand not the Scriptures, and it is made for simple
 people . . . . by cause that for to hear examples stirreth and moveth
 the people that ben simple more to devotion than great authority of
 science.

 _Caxton’s Preface to the Doctrinal of Sapyence._

       *       *       *       *       *

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates

The Invention of Printing.: A Collection of Facts and Opinions, Descriptive of Early Prints and Playing Cards, the Block-Books of the Fifteenth Century, the Legend of Lourens Janszoon Coster, of Haarlem, and the Work of John Gutenberg and His Associates

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