poden audiuimus cepalmarin die Ci delcederet mane ditebat hilz ws ch cukaiha Heile of defcamētu tibi alelbis Juttis ergo de lohi mo figuris vel pais rbundet fingh pho die fibi vmigomos colligerent Quadpatoibat no pl?gomoz habuerunt Leaf 31 from a M.S. Speculum Humana Salvationis" miniature." "The Missal," says Dibdin, "frequently displays the arms of these noble personages," (John, Duke of Bedford, and of his wife Jane, daughter of the Duke of Burgundy,) "and also affords a pleasing testimony of the affectionate gallantry of the pair: the motto of the former being 'A VOUS ENTIER;' that of the latter, 'J'EN SUIS CONTENTE.'” Among its ornaments are emblems or symbols of the twelve months, and a large variety of paintings derived from the Sacred Scriptures, many of which possess an emblematical meaning. Not aiming at any exhaustive method in the information we gather and impart respecting Emblem works and editions previous to the year A.D. 1500, we pass by the very numerous other instances in support of our theme which a search into manuscripts would supply. The "Block-Books,"* which, in the main, are especially emblematical, we next consider. We select two instances as representative of the whole set ;-namely, the “BIBLIA PAUPERUM," Bibles of the Poor, and the "ARS MEMORANDI," The Art of Remembering. In his "BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DECAMERON," vol. i. p. 160, Dibdin tells us, “The earliest printed book, containing text and engravings illustrative of scriptural subjects, is called the Historics of Foseph, Daniel, Judith, and Esther. This was executed in the German language, and was printed by Pfister at Bamberg in 1462. It is among the rarest of typographical curiosities in existence." Dibdin's dictum is considerably modified, if not set aside, by Noel Humphreys; who, though affirming, p. 41, that "a late German edition of the Biblia Pauperum has the date 1475, but that before that period editions had been printed at One of the earliest and most curious of the Block-books, Biblia Pauperum, has been reproduced in fac-simile by Mr. J. Ph. Berjeau, from a copy in the British Museum. |