94
LITERATURE.
Henry VI. The subjects of all the smaller figures are distinctly examined ; and it is amaziiig to observe, with what ingenuity topics for paint- ing have been extorted from the books of the Old and New Testament. Among the more curious paintings which decorate the book are the following :
Judas hanging himself: he is in a blue coat, hanging on a tree, his hands sprawling, a devil coming to him, and two more pulling at his legs with hooks.
Christ breaking the gates of hell, and carrying away Adam and Eve and the other holy prophets.
God and Christ seated under a triple throne, and nimbui, holding a chalice into which the dove descends.
Angels singing; — men and angels striking balls hung in air ; — two apostles at the ascension — John baptizing Christ — two angels holding his garment — Cupids riding on sticks holding a cross — a greyhound tied to a tree, an Owl above.
Christ between the virgin and the baptist, angels taking up souls, devils pulling them into the mouth of hell : angels with the instruments of the passion. A devil with a soul on his 1>ack; two others pounding and beating two men; another turning Ixion's wheel. A dead body saying, O mart cruelle trap es dure et amere.
Jesus Christ sending a letter to the bishop of Pergamos, signifying that sinful men and women, who dance, play, and kiss, shall be in danger of death.
The trinity; God crowning a crucifix; the dove issuing from the mouth of the Father.
This piece, at the same time that it exliibits a splendid monument of the arts in the fifteenth century, may furnish the philosopher with matter for reflection upon the ignorance and superstition of the age.
1430. The Biblia Pauperum, or the Bible OF THE Pooh, executed about this time.
The Biblia Pauperum is acknowledged to be a very ancient book. The few copies of it which remam in existence are, for the most part, either imperfect, or in very bad condition. Tliis will not excite much surprise when it is considered that it is akindgf Catechism of the Bible, which was executed for the use of young persons, and the common people ; and hence its tide, Biblia Pauperum, or the Bible of the Poor. This was the only part of the sacred book at that time within reach of the commonality, a complete Bible in manuscript being then worth a hundred pounds of our money. This will sufficiently account for the destruction of almost every copy of the Biblia Pauperum by repeated use, and for the mutilated state of the few copies that remain. The work consists of forty leaves of a small folio size, each leaf containing a cut in wood, with extracts and descriptive sentences referring to tlie subjects of the cuts. Each page contains four busts — two at the top, and two lower down ; together with three historical subjects. The two up^er busts represent certain prophets, or other emment persons, whose names are added beneath them. Of the three historical subjects, the chief
type, or principal piece, is taken from the New Testament; and occupies the centre of the pa^, between the two ante-types, or subordinate sub- jects, which are allusive to it. Some difficulties have arisen among bibliographers as to the pre- cise time at which the first editions of the Biblia Pauperum was executed. Heineken, an author who examined with minute attention the few copies of this work which have escaped the wreck of time, discovered five different editions; the fifth being found to contain ten plates more than any of the others. Mr. Dibdin has supposed the date to be about 1450; but Mr. Home thinks that it is twenty or thirty years older. The fac- simile annexed will shew the execution of the blocks to have been very coarse, and the form of the letters, compared with specimens in other books of which the date is better ascertained, is very gothic, and their proportions are not all well preserved. Upon comparison with some of the fac-similes in Uie Bibliothica Spenceriana, supposed to have been executed between 1420 and 1430, the similarity of coarseness in the shape of the letters, will render it probable that the Biblia Pauperum is nearly of equal antiquity. The edition here particularly spoken of is mote valuable than any of the others, being that which contains the additions before-mentioned.* — (See Engraving.)
The second class of Xylographic Works to be described, consists of Books of Images with Text Of all the ancient books of images which pre- ceeded the invention of the present mode of printing, the Speculum Humane Salvationes, or as it is generally termed, the Speculum Salutes, is confessedly the most perfect both with respect to design and execution. This compilation is a collection of historical passages from the Scrip- tures, with a few from profane history, which have some relation to the scriptural subjects. It is ascribed to a Benedictine monk of the thirteenth or fourteenth century styled Brother John. So popular was this " Mirror of Salvation," that it was translated into German, Flemish and other languages ; and very frequently printed. Two latin editions are extant, without date. The im- pressions in both are sixty-three in number, and are executed from the- same blocks ; but in that which is reputed to be the more ancient, the explanations of twenty-five, not in regular suc- cession, are printed from entire wooden blocks, while the remaining thirty-eight, and the five leaves of prefax^, are wholly executed w ith fn^
- It may be amusing to those onacqnalnted wtttti
estimation such ancient pieces of printing bear a«iaac#0 virtuosi, to ste the prices that have l>een given for oi^M of the Biblia Pauperum.
I7M— At the sale of M. de Boze, 10* Uvres . ^43 U 1709 „ „ M. Gaignat, 830 „ ... St t
i;9I „ „ M.Paris tl •
181S „ „ M. WiUett »57
ISISorlSig „ Dalie of Marlborongh .. SIM A copy of this booli, formerly Gaignat's, is in His iitjiettfl libraiy, another copy is in the library of Earl Speneff. The Bodleian and Corpus Christi College libiamt, tt Oxford, contain each a copyj and there is also one ^sld to be in the library at Bennett College, Cambridge, one in the Hunterian Mnscuro, Glasgow (very imperfect ; one IB the Royal Ubrary, Paris, ana one in the jmbUc Vbnrjft Baale.
