Early printed books / by E. Gordon Duff.

  • Edward Gordon Duff
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Early printed books / by E. Gordon Duff. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/262 (page 4)
    Since the date has been touched up with a pencil, and at the same time some authorities consider 1468 to be the right reading, it is best to consider the St. Christopher as the earliest dated woodcut. Though these two are the earliest dated prints known, it is, of course, most probable that some others which are undated may be earlier; but to fix even an approxi- mate date to them is in most cases impossible. The conventional way in which religious subjects were treated, and the extraordinary care with which one cutter copied from another, makes it difficult even for a specialist to arrive at any very definite con- clusions. In England, wood engraving does not seem to have been much practised before the introduction of print- ing, but there are one or two cuts that may be assigned to an earlier period. Mr. Ottley, in his Inquiry concernmg the hiventio^i of Prmting^ drew attention to a curious Image of Pity which he had found sewn on the blank leaf at the beginning of a manuscript service-book. This cut, of which he gives a facsimile in his book, is now in the British Museum. Another cut, very similar in design and execution, and probably of about the same date, was found a few years ago in the Bodleian, also inserted at the beginning of a manuscript service-book. In the upper part of the cut is a half-length figure of our Lord, with the hands crossed, standing in front of the cross. On a label at the top of the cross is an inscription, the first part of which is clearly O