GERMAN SCPIOOL OF ENGRAVING. 



it was engraven, is Tiere and there perforated by worms. 

 It may be neceflary to obferve, that the earliell printed 

 books were impreHed from engraved blacks or tablets of 

 this kind. To the rude reprefeutations of faints and mira- 

 cles, their names and legends, cut in the Gothic character, or 

 German text, on a fcroll or label, were added, for the better 

 information of the unlearned fpettator, and in aid of the la- 

 bours of the artift, if fuch he might be termed; and from 

 thefe explanatory fcrulls, the id'-a was firll caught of printing 

 book«, to which the works of imitative art became in their 

 turn merely illuftrative. Soinc of thefe prints are limply 

 outlines, and in others, which were produced fomew hat later, 

 fhadowing, with a fingle courl'.- of lines, is feebly attempted. 

 The tablet in the coUecllon of earl Spencer, is of the former 

 kind, and originally conltituted the fecond leaf of the fecond 

 edition (of which there is a complete copy in his majefty's 

 library) of the hiflory and vifions of St. John the Divine. 

 It is, probably, therefore, one of the earlieft engravings on 

 wood that was ever performed, excepting the prototypes for 

 the playing cards, which have been before-mentioned, and 

 perhaps the oldeft of which the original tablet itfelf is ftill 

 extant. Hence it appears that the art of engraving is the 

 parent of that of printing, and that at leafl; that branch 

 of printing which delivers the ink from the furface of the 

 engraving, and wliich is now termed letter-prefs printing, 

 originated in Germany. 



The prefent writer conceives that a great deal too much 

 of fpurious importance has been attaclied to the invention, 

 as it has been termed, of printing; that the traffickers in 

 its productions, by diverting tlie attention of thofe wlio 

 might elle have become men of tafte, from its true mark, 

 have i\ifled or intercepted much of the pleafure which the 

 engravers' art is capable of imparting ; and that the philo- 

 fophy of engraving lies buried ahve under a heap of rarity 

 and early rubbiih v.-hirh has been piled, and is ftill piling, 

 on it without mercy, from the fnovel:; of de ilers, collectors, 

 and thofe who have, unfortunately for fociety, nothing bet- 

 ter to do than to labour under them. 



A knowledge of the era, and of the author of a great 

 work, or an ufeful invention, is certainly delirable. Befide 

 tbut it is nccelTary to the truth of liiftory, it feems to afiift: 

 ns in indulging the amiable fentiment of gratitude. It would 

 call forth our fmcere regret, if the name of the author of 

 Paradife I^oll, or the Cartoons, or Principia, had funk in 

 oblivion. But at the time which we are confidering, paper 

 ai]d ink were in conflant and daily uie ; and impreflions 

 from dios and from feals had for ages been taken, and were 

 under hourly obfervation; it therefore required no protracted 

 train of thought ; no long connefted chain of caufes and ef- 

 fects ; no mighty genius, like that of Homer, Michael An- 

 gelo, or Newton, to perceive that impreflions might alio 

 be taken either from the furfaces or incifions of engraved 

 blocks or plates. The art of printing, as I conceive, origi- 

 nated in a concurrence of circumftances entirely independ- 

 ent of the minds or ftudies of its reputed inventors. We 

 have feen that at fu-(l, when it was coarfely performed, 

 and (like the tops of ballads, and the dying fpeeches of 

 criminals at prefent) grofsly addrefTed itfelf to the lower 

 elafies of the community, it was regarded as of \ery 

 little confequence ; and though Kofter, Guttemburg, and 

 Fauft, cannot be ranked in the clafs of inventors, the in- 

 ferior merit of perceiving that the arts of engraving and 

 printing might be applied to purpofes of greater magnitude 

 and imporlanc; than had hitherto been obferved, may be 

 jiiftly claimed for them. It is the important confequences 

 gradually refulting from the difcovery, that have made us 

 attach a degree of credit to the name, and entertain an un- 

 7 



merited refpcft for the fuppofed refearchcs, of the difcovcrcr, 

 to which, in point of real ingenuity, the maker of thclirft 

 pair of ipedacles or (lockings, or tlie firft flicet of paper, 

 would be far more juftly entitled. 



In tracing effefts to their true caufes, it onglit not to be 

 forgotten that the great benefits v.c have derived, and con. 

 tinuc to derive, from engraving and printing, ought, in fair- 

 nefs, to be partly afcribed to the difcovery of the means of 

 converting rags into paper : this probably helped to fuggeil 

 the idea of printing, and perhaps two centuries and a half had 

 fearcelymore than brought this invention to the degree of per- 

 feftion neceflary for the reception of impreflions from printing 

 types and engravings. Had the modern art of making pajicr 

 been known to the ancients, we had probably never he.ird the 

 names of Fauft and Finiguerra, for with the fame kind of 

 ftamps which the Roman tradefmen ufed for their potterv and 

 packages, books might alfo have been printed ; and the 

 fame engraving whic'i adorned the fliields and pateras 

 of the remote ages, with the addition of paper, min-ht 

 have fpread the rays of Greek and Etrurian intelligence 

 over the world of antiquity. The procefs of printing is in- 

 deed fo Ample in itfelf, and was fo nearly obvious in the Hate 

 of things we have juft attended to, that a child at play, who 

 wanted to multiply a given form, might almolt be aftiamcd 

 not to have perceived it : and we ought rather to wonder it 

 was not difcovered fooner, than that it was difcovered fo foon. 

 The art of engraving and printing from tablets of wood, 

 then, may be faid to have been rather difcovered than invent- 

 ed in Germany, and rather feen than difcovered. That it 

 was little thought of at the time, may be inferred from the 

 number of wood cuts, the production of this period, which 

 appear without either dales or the names of their authors, 

 who were at once the deilgners, engravtrs, and printers of 

 their own works, but who deemed thofe works of too little 

 importance to claim for themfelves diilinclion on account of 

 having performed them. 



For the accommodation of thofe perfons who cou'd not 

 afford to purchafe manufcript copies of the Old and New 

 Teftaments, befide the apocalyptical vifions of St. John the 

 Divine, which has been already mentioned, a fmaJI folio vo- 

 lume, entitled "Hiftori-a: Veteris et Novi Teftamenti," (com- 

 monly known by the name of " The Poor Man's Bible,") 

 was publilhed about this time, or foon after. In the fame 

 manner as the former, each leaf, printed from a fingle en- 

 graved block of wood, confilled of a mixture of reading 

 with pictorial reprefentation, fuch as it was ; to which cclour 

 was in lome inftances afterwards added with the hair ]-,cncil,. 

 or fome iuch implement. The printing was perffjrmed only 

 on one iide the paper, and two of thefe leaves bein^ pafled 

 together have the appearance of a fingle leaf printed on both 

 fides. Copies of tlirfe early wood cms, fufiicientlv falthfid, 

 maybe feen in Strutt's Biographical Dictionary of Engravers. 

 As the title of this anonymous and undated book (xXv: Poof 

 Man's Bible) imports, its publication was regarded merely 

 as a cheap contrivance for diffeminating tlie knowledge of 

 holy fcripture. Other books of engravings, printed in the 

 fame manner, were foon afterward produced, among which 

 are " Hiftorlabeatx Marite Virginis," " Ars Memorandi," 

 " Ars Moriendi,'' and " Speculum Humana; Sulvationis;" 

 but wepafs over, as of minor importance, all particular men- 

 tion of thefe and various other engravings on wood by un- 

 known workmen, which were apparently executed in Ger- 

 many, about the time now under our obfervation. The next 

 work which bears a date after the print of St. Chiiftopher 

 and the infant Jcfus, and the firll engraved book wliich bears 

 date at all, is called " the Chiromancy of Doctor Hartlieb.".. 

 It confifts of twenty-four fmall folio leaves, piinte«i on loth 



lid«e. 



