History.— The date of the actual origin of printing from engravings on wood is still in doubt; it is an involved question. In India stamps engraved on wood have been in use for printing colors on fabrics from a very distant past. Already in the 10th century the Chinese were acquainted with hooks printed from tab lets of wood: and the illuminators of the Mid Ile Ages used wooden embossed stamps for impressing the outlines of colored initials on manuscripts. The earliest known examples of wood engraving date from the early part of the 15th century when in various parts of northern Europe, notably in Germany and the Nether lands, there existed various rude prints repre senting scenes from Scripture and the lives of the saints, evidently made from woodcuts. They were printed in a pale brown ink apparently by rubbing on the back of the paper with some blunt edged instrument and were generally col ored either by hand or with the use of a stencil.
One of the most noted of these and the earli est dated print from a wood block is the fa mous Saint Christopher of 1423 found pasted in the cover of a manuscript discovered in the library of a convent in Buxheim, Swabia. It represents Saint Christopher wading across a stream with the infant Jesus on his shoulder. On the right bank a hermit is kneeling before his cell holding a lantern in his hand, on the left ayeasant is climbing a steep hill on the way to his home. It is a rude cut without any regard for perspective, but the figure of Saint Christo pher possesses a certain dignity and the pictorial effect is such as would appeal to a primitive people. Many similar cuts were produced in the 15th and 16th centuries in the cities of Augs burg, Nuremberg. Ulm, Cologne and the Flem ish cities. Conventional in design and often repeating again and again the same subjects, they were yet expressive of the mediaeval reli gious conceptions and were no doubt highly ef fective in giving particular and comprehensible value to the biblical lessons they were intended to convey.
It has been contended by some authorities that wood engraving really began with the in vention of playing cards, hut no authentic rec ords are avalable of their having been printed before 1423, the date of the Saint Christopher, and then app ar to have Fern made with a siclicil The making of •aered print. Vet) developed into a large business, and by the mid dle of the 15th century wood engraving was an established and widely familiar art Coming before the invention of the printing press, when books in manuscript only were the treasured possessions of the great monasteries, these prints were of inestimable value in the cause of popular religious education. From the very first wood engraving has been an art for the people. In the beginning serving religious pur poses only it soon became a means of satire and comment upon the abuses of the clergy and a record of the manners and customs of the times.
In the early part of the 15th century many minds were striving toward the invention of a way to print from movable types. The idea came no doubt from the so-called block books. )1any of the early prints bore the name of a saint or a short legend which was evidently cut on the block with the picture. From these leg ends it was a natural step to extend the text and add whole columns of text. The date and place of the earliest of these block books is a matter for conjecture, but they were known in the early part of the 15th century. One of the most widely discussed of these is the 'Biblia Pauperum,' or Poor Preacher's Bible, several editions of which are known. It is a small folio containing 40 pages printed on one side only in a pale brownish ink by means of rubbing on the back. Each page is divided into five compart ments separated by pillars, suggesting the idea of church windows. The central panel shows a scene from the Gospels and on the sides are illustrations from the Old Testament bearing on the central design. There are also texts and Latin verses. Another block book that has given rise to much speculation is the 'Speculum Humana: Salvationis.' or 'The Mirror of Hu man Salvation.' In this the text appears to have been printed from movable type in black ink on a press. It is, therefore, the oldest ex tant typographical illustrated work known. Other famous block books arc the 'Apoc-alypsis Sancti Johannis,' Visions of Saint John; (Ars Moriendi,' The Art of Dying; 'Canticum Can ticorum,' or a History of the Virgin prefigured in the Song of Solomon. All of these are curi ously and often grotesquely mediaval, full of the symbolism and mysticism of primitive hu manity. Rude as they are, though, they were preparing the way for something better Other noted block books extant are 'Laser Regum,' Book of Kings; 'Temptationis lltttmonis,' Temptations of a Demon: 'Endcrist.' the only copy known is in the Spencer Library . 'De Gencratione Christi,' of the genealogy of Christ ; ' iribilia The onder ot Rome; 'Confessionale,. of the Confessional: 'Symbolum Apostolicum,' Symbols of the Apos tles These German and Netherlands block hock-s were issued in numerous editions and had quo a large foreign circulation 'Ars Moricnch' was issued in Latin, German, French, Italian and English, the texts varying. Some of these block books were cut up later and pieced to gether in different combinations in later edi tions It must he noted, however, that the tit vraving• done in the Netherlands Wert, mimosa invariably, of a more artistic character than those emanating from German hands.