The National Library at Paris has two very old xylographic blocks[130] of this book, which some bibliographers suppose were made about the middle of the fifteenth century. The letters on these blocks were more carefully drawn and sharply engraved than the letters of any known block-book. The wood is worm-eaten, but the letters are neat and clear, and do not show any evidences of wear from impression. One of these blocks has been attributed to John Gutenberg, for its letters resemble those of the _Mazarin Bible_. It [p259] has been conjectured that this block may have been one of Gutenberg’s earlier experiments in printing. Apart from the similarity of the characters, there is no warrant for this conjecture. This similarity is entirely insufficient as evidence; it is not even proof of age. The block was probably engraved during the last quarter of the fifteenth century. [Illustration: Fac-simile of the Fragment of an early Donatus. [From Koning.]] Koning, author of a treatise on early printing in Holland, has given in his book the fac-simile, which is here copied, of a fragment of a leaf from a xylographic _Donatus_. It was taken from the cover of a book printed by Gerard Leeu, of Antwerp, in 1490. Koning says that the fashion of the letters in this book is like that of letters in the manuscripts of Holland during the fifteenth century, and that they closely resemble the engraved letters of one edition of the _Ars Moriendi_. Holtrop gives a fac-simile of the entire page of a xylographic _Donatus_ with similar letters, which he claims as a piece of early Dutch printing. The arrangement of words in Koning’s fac-simile of this fragment cannot be passed by without notice. The words are more readable than those of many block-books, but I have reset a small portion in modern type, that they might be more clearly contrasted with the modern method of composition. The words that do not appear in the mutilated fragment given by Koning are restored from the perfect copy of Holtrop. THE OLD METHOD. ‹f›Lego legis legit. & plr legim’‹/f› ‹f›legitis legu’t Ptito ipfco legeba’‹/f› ‹f›legebas legebat, & plrlegebam’‹/f› ‹f›legebatis legeba’t‹/f› THE MODERN METHOD. Present Tense. Imperfect Tense. _Singular._ _Plural._ _Singular._ _Plural._ Lego, Legimus, Legebam, Legebamus Legis, Legitis, Legebas, Legebatis, Legit, Legunt, Legebat, Legebant. [p260]