PRINTING 631 



preserved in the library, it was enclosed and turned round, and not folded : hence the 

 word volumen ' (Arts of the Greeks and Romans). ' Video quod agas : tuas quoque 

 epistolas vis referam in volumina ' (Cicero). 



The orders respecting books in the 'Close Bolls' of the Middle Ages are 

 interesting, not only as illustrating the literary taste of the age, but principally 

 because they generally contain some circumstance which shows the scarcity and value 

 of the article. It was not until a period considerably subsequent to the invention of 

 printing that the cost and rarity of books ceased to obstruct the advancement of 

 learning and the diffusion of knowledge. 



Block Books. Incredible difficulties were encountered by those who undertook 

 first to lay open the stores of ancient learning, from the scarcity of MSS. ; for the 

 literary treasures of antiquity had suffered from the malice of men as well as from the 

 hand of time. The time had now come, however, when the world's inheritance of 

 the knowledge of Greece and Eome was to be secured from any further destruction. 

 The art of printing books from engraved blocks of wood was no doubt invented in 

 Holland; and, apart from the great interest created by the object for which the 

 block books were designed, namely, the propagation of the Scriptures (being, as it 

 were, the forerunner of the Reformation), they are extremely valuable as exhibiting 

 the first attempts at engraving on wood in the form of books, many of them having 

 preceded the art of printing by moveable types. Sotheby's 'Block Books' 



But that prints without text, or letter-press as it is termed, were in common use at 

 a period considerably anterior to that of the block books there is abundant evidence. 

 It is related by Papillon, (Traite Historique et Pratique de la Gravure en Bois,) that 

 the heroic actions of Alexander the Great were engraved on wood by the two Cunio, 

 Alexander Alberic and his sister Isabella, and impressions printed from the blocks 

 as early as 1285 ; and his statement has been supported by Ottley, ('Early Hist, of 

 Engraving upon Copper and Wood, &c.,' 2vols.4to. 1816,) and Singer, ('Hist, of Playing 

 Cards, &c.,' London, 4to. 1816). But Jackson, (' Hist, of Wood Engraving,') takes some 

 trouble to prove that Papillon was excessively credulous, if not deranged. Towards 

 the end of the fourteenth century, too, playing cards were engraved and printed for the 

 amusement of Charles VI. King of France, who reigned from 1380 to 1421. The 

 print of St. Christopher carrying the infant Saviour on his back across the sea, in the 

 collection of Earl Spencer, bears an inscription and the date 1423 at the bottom of 

 the same block ; but one in the possession of Mr. J. A. G. Weigel of Leipsic is supposed 

 to be the work of even an earlier artist. 1 These circumstances, together with the fact 

 that the Government of Venice published a decree, dated October 1 1 , 1 441 , wherein the 

 art and mystery of making ' playing cards and coloured figures printed ' are stated 

 to have fallen into decay in consequence of the great quantity which had been made 

 out of that state, and which were now prohibited under pain of forfeiture and fine,* 

 all prove that the knowledge and practice of printing, although not applied to the 

 spread of knowledge and the multiplication of books, had yet an existence in Europe 

 long before the time to which it is usually attributed. 



When the substructure had been completed, the work was pursued with the utmost 

 eagerness. Great numbers of books were produced, evidently in the Chinese manner 

 above described ; for the diversity of the characters found in block books has been a 

 never-ending puzzle to those who have endeavoured to ascertain the printer by com- 

 parison of the formation of the letters used. The workmanship of many of these 

 picture-books was of a coarse description, without shadowing or 'cross-hatching,' 

 tastelessly daubed over with broad colours, especially those printed for circulation 

 amongst the poorer classes. Those best known of this class were called Biblia 

 Paupcrum, poor men's books, or rather books for poor preachers, and consisted of a 

 series of rude engravings, each occupying a page, but divided into compartments 

 containing pictorial illustrations of the most remarkable incidents mentioned in the 

 Books of Moses, the Gospels, and the Apocalypse. 



Invention of Moveable Types. Gutenberg. About the year 1438, while the learned 

 Italians were eagerly deciphering their recently-discovered MSS., and slowly 

 circulating them from hand to hand, it fell to the lot of a few obscure Germans to 

 perfect the greatest discovery recorded in the annals of mankind. The notion of 

 printing by moveable types, and thereby saving the endless labour of cutting new 

 blocks of letters for every page, was reserved for John Gutenberg of Mayence. 

 Born in that city about the beginning of the century, he settled at Strasburg about 

 1424, and commenced printing in the house of one Dritzehen. But having been 

 engaged in a lawsuit connected with Dritzehen's family, and exhausted his means, 

 he returned to Mayence, where he resumed his typographic employment in partnership 

 with a wealthy goldsmith, named John Fust or Faust. After many experiments with 



' A copy of Mr. Weigel's print may be seen in Sotheby's ' Block Books,' vol. ii. p. 161. 

 2 Ihis must-be regarded as the earliest authentic document respecting Printing. 



