92-B 3343 Illustrated Books of the Past Four Centuries An A Record of the Exhibition Held in the Print Gallery of The New York Public Library in 1919 By Frank Weitenkampf, L.H.D. Chief , Arts and Prints Division New York The New York Public Library 1920 Illustrated Books of the Past Four Centuries A Record of the Exhibition El eld in the Print Gallery of T he New Y ork Public Library in 1919 By Frank Weitenkampf, L.H.D. Chief , Arts and. Prints Division cA~i New York The New York Public Library 1920 TABLE OF CONTENTS Some Books on the History of Book-Illustration ------ Group of Books Showing the Taste of the Period 1820-1850 in England and the United States ----------- Maps as Elements of Book Decoration - -- -- -- - Italian Books, 15tii-16th Centuries - -- -- -- - German Books, 15th - 16th Centuries - -- -- -- - English Books, 15th - 16th Centuries - French Books, 15tii -16th Centuries - -- -- -- - French Books, 18th Century - - - Line Engraving and Mezzotint, 19th Century - - Etched Illustration, 19th Century Lithography in the Service of Book-Illustration ------ French, 19th Century : Wood Engravings - ------- German, 19th Century : Wood Engravings ------- English, 19th Century: Wood Engravings ------- United States, 19th Century : Wood Engravings ------ Process Work : Painted Illustration ---- Pen-and-Ink - -- -- - Some 19th Century Efforts in the United States ro Produce the “Book Beautiful” ------------- Some Principles of Harmonious Book-Making ------- Illustrations in Color - -- -- Index --------------- PACE 6 7 8 8 11 14 15 17 20 20 21 22 24 25 29 31 32 33 34 ’35 38 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/illustratedbooksOOnewy ILLUSTRATED BOOKS OF THE PAST FOUR CENTURIES A RECORD OF THE EXHIBITION HELD IN THE PRINT GALLERY OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY IN 1919 By Frank WeitenkaMpf Chief, Arts and Prints Division Certain well-known artists, such as Forain, Steinlen, or our own C. D. Gibson, do not appear in the present exhibition because they belong to the class which, for want of a better term, is designated by the inclusive name “cartoonists,” and are only incidentally illustrators. T HE present list of exhibits and labels practically reproduces the exhibition in text, with the addition of a few notes.* There are a certain number of noteworthy examples of book-illustration whose inclu- sion in such an exhibition could not be questioned. On the other hand, in not a few cases, another book might just as well have been shown as the one selected. That applies particu- larly to those not of the very first importance. Personal preferences on the one hand, and possible lacunae in the collection of material at one’s disposal on the other, may at times determine choice. Similarly, selection of a given illustration in a book does not necessarily mean that another one would not have been every bit as effective. Some of the books exhibited clearly illustrate not so much fine book-making as what was considered fine book-making in their day. In the end, then, the present annotated catalogue is a record of one attempt to trace graphically the development of a branch of art that has been peculiarly near to the people for over four hundred years. If there is any help in this to anyone planning a similar display, so much the better. In the notes appended to the titles, two things have been especially kept in view : the tracing of the development of the art, and the emphasizing of the important place that pure line drawing has held in the successful achievement of the book harmonious in all its parts. Apart from all that, the illustrations exhibited here cover so wide a field of racial, national, and individual expression, and so long and varying a stretch of time, that there is something of interest for every taste. Notes in italics indicate the place at which the book is opened for display. The names in parentheses, following titles in this list, refer to works in which the books exhibited are noted. These works, and those referred to (not by full title) in quoted notes, are indicated as follows : Bartsch : Bartsch, Adam. Le peintre graveur. Vienne, 1803-21. 21 v. Beraldi : Beraldi, Henri. Les graveurs du xix' siecle. Paris, 1885-92. 12 v. Bohatta : Bohatta, Hanns. Bibliographic der livres d’heures (Horae B. M. V.)...des xv. und xvi. Jahrhunderts. Wien, 1909. Brivois : Brivois, Jules. Guide de l’amateur. Bibliographic des ouvrages illustrees du xix* siecle, principalement des livres a gravures sur bois. Paris, 1883. Cohen : Cohen, Henri. Guide de l’amateur de livres a gravures du xviii' siecle. Sixieme edition, revue, corrigee et considerablement augmentee par Seymour de Ricci Paris 1912. Crane : Crane, Walter. Of the decorative illustration of books old and new. London, 1896. * An article describing the exhibition appeared in the Library’s Bulletin for May, 1919. I 5 ] 6 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Hayden : Hayden, A. Chats on old prints. New York, 1906. Lippmann : Lippmann, F. Art of wood-engraving in Italy in the 15th century. London, 1888. Pennell: Pennell, J. Modern illustration. London, 1895. Pennell Pen: Pennell, J. Pen drawing and pen draughtsmen... London, 1889. Perrins: Italian book-illustrations and early printing; a catalogue of early Italian books in the library of C. W. Dyson Perrins. [Introduction by Alfred W. Pollard.] Oxford, 1914. Pollard : Pollard, A. W. Early illustrated books. London, 1893. Pollard Fine: Pollard, A. W. Fine books. London [1912]. Salaman: Modern book illustrators and their work. Text by M. C. Salaman. London: “The Studio,” 1914. Weitenkampf : Weitenkampf, F. How to appreciate prints. New York, 1916. Weitenkampf Graphic: Weitenkampf, F. American graphic art. New York, 1912. White : White, Gleeson. English illustration. “The Sixties” : 1855-70. Westminster, 1897. Further titles of books on the subject will be found in the first section of the exhibition. ORDER OF ARRANGEMENT The first section is introductory. The second and third, just as obviously, are of a general nature and do not fit easily into any of the following groups. With the fourth (“Italian books, 15th - 16th cen- turies”) begins the record, in chronological order, of the historical development of illustration. Some Books on the History of Book-Illustration, No. 1-14. Group of Books Showing the Taste of the Period 1820-1850 in England and the United States, No. 15-27. Maps as Elements of Book Decoration, No. 28-31. Italian Books, 15th -16th Centuries, No. 32-44. German Books, 15th - 16th Centuries, No. 45-64. English Books, 15th -16th Centuries, No. 65-68. French Books, 15th - 16th Centuries, No. 69-88. French Books, 18th Century, No. 89-107. Line Engraving and Mezzotint, 19th Century, No. 108-113. Etched Illustration, 19tii Century, No. 114-121. Lithography in the Service of Book-Illustration, No. 122-133. French, 19th Century: Wood Engravings, No. 134-150. German, 19th Century: Wood Engravings, No. 151-166. English, 19th Century: Wood Engravings, No. 167-198. United States, 19th Century: Wood Engravings, No. 199-213. Process Work: Painted Illustration, No. 214-219. Pen-and-Ink, No. 220-231. Some 19th Century Efforts in the United States to Produce the “Book Beautiful,” No. 232- 240. Some Principles of Harmonious Book-Making, ^To. 241-243. Illustrations in Color, No. 244-266. Some Books on the History of Book-Illustration 1. Kristeller, Paul. Early Florentine woodcuts; with an annotated list of Floren- tine illustrated books. London, 1897. 4°. Title-page. 2. Perrins, C. W. Dyson. Italian book- illustrations and early printing; a catalogue of early Italian books in the library of C. W. Dyson Perrins. Oxford: University Press, 1914. illus. 4°. Page 101. Franchini Gafori Laudensis. Musice actionis. Liber primus. 3. Massena, Victor, 4. prince d’Essling, due de Rivoli. Etudes sur l’art de la gra- vure sur bois a Venise. Les livres a figures venitiens de la fin du xv° siecle et du com- mencement du xvi'. Florence, 1907-10. 4 v. illus. f°. 2c partic, 2. title-page. Ire partic, 2, Plutarch, Vitae, 8 June, 1496. Thesci Vita. 4. Renouvier, Jules. Des gravures en bois dans les livres d’Anthoine Verard. Paris, 1859. 8°. Title-page. 5. Kutschmann, Th. Geschichte der deut- schen Illustration vom ersten Auftreten des Holzschnitts bis auf die Gegenwart. Gos- lar [1899j. 2v. f°. Title-page of v. 1. 6. Muther, Richard. Die deutsche Biicher- illustration der Gothik und Friihrennais- sance (1460-1530). Munchen, 1884. 2v. illus. 4°. Title-page of V. 1. 7. Worringer, Wilhelm. Die altdeutsche Buchillustration. . . Munchen, 1912. illus. 4°. (Klassische Ulustratoren.) Title-page. ILLUSTRATED BOOKS OF THE PAST FOIJR CENTURIES 7 History of Book-Illustration, continued. 8. Cohen, Henri. Guide de l’amateur de livres a gravures du xviii' siecle. Sixieme edition, revue, corrigee, et considerable- ment augmentee par Seymour de Ricci. Paris, 1912. 8°. Title-page of 5th edition, 1886, edited by Roger Portalis. 9. Hausenstein, Wilhelm. Rokoko; fran- zosische und deutsche Illustratoren des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts. . . Munchen, 1912. illus. 4°. (Klassische Illus^rato- ren.) Title-page. 10. Portalis, Roger, baron. Les dessina- teurs d’illustrations au 18* siecle. Paris, 1877. 2 v. 8°. Title-page of v. 1. 11. Brivois, Jules. Guide de l’amateur. Bibliographic des ouvrages illustres du xix' siecle. Paris, 1883. 4°. Title-page. 12. Hardie, Martin. English coloured books. London [1906j. 4° (Connoisseur’s library.) Title-page. 13. Bayard, Emile. L’illustration et les illustrateurs. . . Avec une preface par Henry Havard. Paris, 1898. 4° Title-page. 14. Pauli, Gustav. Das Bilderbuch. (Dekorative Kunst, v. 8, May, 1902, p. 273.) T itle. Group of Books Showing the Taste of the Period 1820 - 1850 in England and the United States “Line engraving. .. with the introduction of steel plates, about 1820, and steel facing. .. increased in popularity. For several decades it was extensively used for illustrating. . . There were ‘Byron Beauties' (1836), ‘Waverley Gallery' (1840) and similar collections prepared under the superintendence of Heath, or Finden, or some other noted engraver of the day... There were ‘annuals’ galore, with frontispieces representing the pretty, insipid, long-curled beauties so admired in those days. There were gift books, ‘an elegant accession to the drawing-room table,* as one advertisement puts it. Even Greenwood and Auburn cemeteries were each pictured in a sumptuous volume! “The general run of this work, smooth, nice, ‘highly finished* says the title of ‘Gems of Beauty,' elementary in its expression of obvious sentiment, was an embodiment of mere and undiluted craftsman- ship. Commercialism and the desire for cheaper and more rapid methods naturally favored this attitude, and we find an immense amount of dull work as the legacy of the first half of the nineteenth century.” — Weitenkampf, p. 86-87. 15. Talisman for 1830. New York, 1829. 12 °. Line engravings by Durand, Maverick, Kearney, Kelley, Gimber, Childs, Tucker, reproducing works by American painters — R. W. Weir, H. Inman, T. S. Cummings, S. F. B. Morse, T. Cole. Engraved title-page, by IVm. H oogland, and frontispiece by Geo. IV. Hatch after H. Inman. 16. The Token and Atlantic souvenir for 1838. Edited by A. G. Goodrich. Boston, 1838. The illustrations are line engravings by J. A. Adams, E. Gallaudet, J. Andrews, C. Jewett, J. Smillie, G. H. Cushman, G. B. Ellis, and J. Cheney, after J. G. Chapman, G. S. Newton, Healy, G. L. Brown, and Woolaston. Engraved title-page and frontispiece, both by John Gadsby Chapman. 17. The Opal. A pure gift for the Holy Days. Edited by N. P. Willis. Illustrated by J. G. Chapman. New York, 1844. The illustrations are all in line (mainly etched), excepting the frontispiece, which is in mezzotint. Title and frontispiece. 18. The Gem of the season. Edited by J. H. Agnew. Twenty plates by Sartain. New York, 1846. Mezzotints, some after drawings by John Martin, Danby, W. Kidd, but mostly after paintings by Reynolds, Kauffman, C. R. Leslie, etc Title-page engraved on wood (Herrick del. & sc.) and frontispiece by John Sartain. 19. Forget me not for 1849. Edited by Alfred A. Phillips. New York. The illustrations are mezzotints by A. H. Ritchie after Parris, Stephanoff, J. Horsley, Mile. Boulanger, E. M. Ward, A. Johnston, F. Rochard, and K. Meadows. Lithographed title-page in colors, and frontispiece. 20. The Magnolia; or, Gift-book of friend- ship. Edited by Clara Arnold. New York [1855?,. 12°. Line engravings by O. Pelton, J. A. Rolph; mezzo- tints by H. W.. Smith, Sartain. Title (lithographed, in color) and frontispiece by Pelton. 21. Green-Wood illustrated in highly fin- ished line engravings. From drawings taken on the spot by James Smillie. The descriptive notices by N. Cleaveland. New York, 1847. 4°. The plates were engraved in line by James Smillie, R. Hinshelwood, John A. Rolph, Rice & Buttre, O. G. Hanks, and Wm. Lawrence. One of the plates (“Bayside Avc., Fern Hill/* by Hiiis he hvood), paper cover of one of the parts in which the work was published, and binding in black and gold. 22. Godey’s Lady’s Book. Title for 1854, E. E. Tucker sc. Vignette within ornamen- tal border represents “Time in search of Cupid.” 8 THE NEW YORK British and American Taste, 1820 - 50, cont'd. 23. Landscape illustrations for the Waver- ly novels, with descriptions of the views. London, 1834. The illustrations are line engravings, engraved by E. Fxnden, after D. Roberts, J. D. Harding, P. Dewint, G. Cattermole, C. Stanfield, G. F. Robson, W. Daniell, S. Prout and others. Title-page and plate “Heart of Mid Lothian. The Tolbooth. Painted by A. Nasmyth /’ with text for the same. 24. Jennings’ Landscape annual for 1835: Tourist in Spain, by Thomas Roscoe. Il- lustrated from drawings by David Roberts. London, 1835. The drawings are reproduced in line-engraving by J. Fisher, J. C. Armytage, Freebairn, etc., and there are also vignettes engraved on wood. Engraved title-page by E. Goodall and frontis- piece by J. Fisher. 25. Pictorial album; or, Cabinet of paint- ings for the year 1837. Containing eleven designs, executed in oil colors, by G. Baxter. From the original pictures, with PUBLIC LIBRARY illustrations in verse and prose. London: Chapman & Hall, n. d. 8° In this book the prevailing taste for the “keep- sake” has enlisted Baxter’s services. The color- plates reproduce paintings by Miss Corbaux, R. and W. Westall, S. Prout, Miss Sharpe, G. Barnard, Wm. Pickersgill, G. Jones, Mrs. Seyffarth, and J. Holland. Title after Miss F. Corbaux; frontispiece after R. Westall. 26. Gems of beauty, displayed in a series of highly finished engravings of various subjects. From designs by E. T. Parris, G. Cattermole, J. R. Herbert, and E. Cor- bould, Esqrs., engraved under the superin- tendence of Charles Heath. With fanciful illustrations in verse by the Countess of Blessington. London, New York. 4°. The amethyst, by W. H. Mote, after E. T. Parris. 27. Beaute morale des jeunes femmes. [By Sophie Ulliac-Tremadeure.] Paris: Lefuel [1829]. Colored line-engravings. The ornamental half- titles for the sub-divisions of the book are signed Montaut inv. sculp. This is Gabriel Xavier Montaut, born 1798. (See Beraldi, v. 10, p. 109.) Agrippine, femme de Germanicus. Maps as Elements of Book Decoration 28. Ptolemy. Cosmographia. Rome: Ar- nold Bucking, 1478. Prima Europe tabula [Great Britain], “This remarkable edition contains the first printed atlas, and the first collection of maps engraved on copper... The inscriptions were not engraved, but were made with a punch and mallet.” — Joseph Sabin, Dictionary of books relating to America, v. 16, p. 44-45. 29. Mela, Pomponius. Cosmographia siue De situ orbis. Venice: Erhard Ratdolt, 18 July 1482. (Perrins, p. 29.) Woodcut map of the world. 30. Geografia. Tavole moderne di geo- grafia. Rome: Antonio Lafreri, 1570. "Discgno de Vlsole di Cypro.” “The most important maps printed separately in different towns of Italy, collected, in the 16th century. The engraved title is probably the work of Antonio Lafreri.”- — A. E. Nordenskiold, Fac- simile-atlas, p. 118. 31. Bry, Theodore de. America; pt. 1: Admiranda narratio fida tamen de com- modis et incolarum ritibus. . . Virginse. . .a Thomas Hariot. Frankfort: S. Feyera- bend, 1590. x iiii. Illustration: Crates lignea in qua pisces vstulant. Also, map: America pars, nunc Virginia dicta. In the English edition, published at Frankfort in the same year, we are told, in the epistle “to the gentle reader,” that the pictures in the book were drawn by John White, an English artist. Italian Books, 15th -16th Centuries (Woodcuts, excepting No. 34) 32. Turrecremata, Johannes de. Medita- tiones. Rome, 1473. Flight into Egypt. Second edition. The first was printed at Rome, 31 Dec. 1467, by Ulrich Hahn, and was the first illustrated book printed in Italy with movable type, and the first book printed in Italy in which wood- engraving was employed. The third edition, 1484, is listed in Perrins, p. 27-28, where we are informed that it includes “33 out of 34 of the original wood- cuts. . . The woodcuts are based on certain frescoes, no longer in existence, which by Cardinal [Turre- cremata’s] order had been painted on the walls of tile Church of Santa Maria de Minerva at Rome, and they retain a large pictorial effectiveness despite the clumsy coarseness with which they are cut. Strength or grace may still be traced in a few in- dividual figures. . .but throughout the bonk the un- trained cutter has played havoc with his designs.” “The woodcuts. .. in their coarse outlines, and the angular and awkward rendering of the faces. . .evince the utter incapability of the engraver to deal with the finer elements of the design.” — Lippmann, p. 9. “The work. . .served as a model for the metal cuts of Neumeister’s editions at Mainz and elsewhere, and for the small neat woodcuts of one by Plannck.” — Pollard Fine, p. 123. 33. Valturius, Robertus. De re militari. Verona: Boninus de Boninis, 13 February, 1483. (Perrins, p.26-27.) Lent by The Pierpont Morgan Library. Liber x, leaf x iiii. “Of the 96 woodcuts in this edition 95 are copied with some reduction from those of the 1472 edition, and one (sig. &l b ) of soldiers in a tent is new. This was afterwards used in Antonio Cornazano’s Arte bellissima del arte militar, Venice, C. de Pensis, 1493.” — Perrins, p. 27. The original edition, 1472, was the second book ILLUSTRATED BOOKS OF THE PAST FOUR CENTURIES 9 Italian Books, 15th -16tJi Centuries, cont’d. printed at Verona, and the second illustrated book printed in Italy. Of it, Pollard says, p. 87-88: “In this fine book, printed by John of Verona with all the care which marks the northern Italian work of the time, there are eighty-two woodcuts repre- senting various military operations and engines, drawn in firm and graceful outline, which could hardly be bettered. The designs for these cuts have been attributed to the artist Matteo de’ Pasti.” Lippmann, p. 56-58, says: “As soon as the technique of the new art had been mastered by the Italian designers and block- cutters, they entered upon its practice with inde- pendent energy, and stamped their work with a distinctive national style. Even the German en- gravers in Italy... fell almost completely into the fashion of the country they laboured in... “The earliest North-Italian woodcuts to which a date is attached were executed in that pure outline- style. They are the illustrations. . .in Valturio’s book De re militari... The cuts are for the most part mere professional delineations of military engines; but the designs are so clear, and the lines drawn with such a bold and firm hand, that they strongly remind us of Lionardo’s masterly sketches of similar objects. There is equally high quality in the occasional human figures. . .and in the figures of the animals... The engraver’s work, also, is of such perfect execution that the original drawing can have lost nothing of its merit in his hands. The difficulties with which the old system of cutting the block lengthwise had to contend, in the reproduction of simple straight lines, seem to have had no existence for the artists who worked on the Valturio. The lines fall every- where exactly into their true perspective; the cor- ners form correct angles sharply and clearly drawn. When we reflect upon the position which the tech- nique of wood-engraving occupied in all countries about the year 1472, we must recognise perforce that this book is one of the most noteworthy pro- ductions of an age astonishingly fertile in new in- ventions.” 34. Dante. Divina Commedia. Florence: Niccolo di Lorenzo, 30 August, 1481. (Per- rins, p. 18.) Lent by The Pierpont Morgan Library. Leaf h Hi, end of canto 11, illustration for canto 12. Illustrated with line engravings on copper; the only book shown in this group which is not illustrated with wood engraving. “Niccolo di Lorenzo, in 1477, issued the Monte Santo di Dio of Antonio Bettini with three illustra- tions engraved on copper, the first use of this form of decoration in the whole edition of any printed book... Niccolo conceived the ambitious design of illustrating the Divina Commedia... Plates were prepared for the first nineteen cantos, based on portions of the designs of Botticelli, and usually said, though on no strong evidence, to have been executed by Baccio Baldini... The double printing of letterpress and engravings proved too burdensome. In most copies only the first and second plates are printed on the book’s own paper, the others being either omitted altogether or separately printed and pasted in their places.” — Perrins, p. 18. “In many of these prints... the design ... suggests the growing influence of Botticelli... Most of the prints in the Fine Manner ... show ... repetitions of Finiguerra designs. . . Almost the last prints in the manner of this school, and distinctly inferior to the preceding in technical power, are the illustrations to Antonio Bettini’s Monte Sancto di Dio, 1477, and Landino’s Dante of 1481.” — A. M. Hind, A short history of engraving and etching, p. 47-49. 35. Aesopus. Vita et fabulae. Naples: [the “Germani fidelissimi” fori Francesco Tuppo, Feb. 13, 1485. (Perrins, p. 30-32.) De apro et asello fabula xii. “Fables of Aesop. . . 1485 . . . Adorned with eighty- seven large woodcuts ... marked by strong individu- ality of treatment. The figures. .. are powerfully drawn, their attitudes and movements lifelike; and the human heads are massive, with a striking and energetic expressiveness in the features. The out- lines are firm and sharp; there is considerable mas- tery of perspective in the disposition and the graded shading of the backgrounds. . . Every one of the designs is surrounded by a rich border composed of separate pieces of frame work which are frequently repeated in various combinations. The upper portion in each is an arch filled in with ornamental details in white upon a black ground. . .enclosing representa- tions of the triumphs of Hercules executed with remarkable power... The peculiar foreign look of those illustrations, and especially of the decorative borders, appears to result from the mixture of diverse artistic elements. . . There is no affinity whatever between the Aesop illustrations and the woodcuts which appear in any other Italian book of that period... Technically considered, those woodcuts hold a position of commanding importance amongst the works of their epoch. . . -There is no trace of the uncouthness which usually disfigured wood-engraving before the last decade of the fifteenth century.” — Lippmann, p. 14-15. “The Aesop cuts stand out as among the most individual of Italian book-illustrations, their strongly marked features remaining impressive, whether they are liked or disliked.” — Perrins, p. x. 36. Dante. Divina Commedia. Brescia: Boninus de Boninis, 31 May, 1487. (Per- rins, p. 36, no. 42.) Lent by The Pierpont Morgan Library. Canto 7. “With 68 full-page woodcuts in black-ground bor- ders, this is thus the most pretentiously illustrated Dante of the 15th century. As in other editions the designs are rendered monotonous by the repetition of the two figures of Dante and his guide, not only in each cut, but sometimes in different parts of the same cut. Many of the designs, however, were evidently very vigorously sketched, but the cutting is never good and often wretched.” — Perrins, p. 36. 37. Bergomensis, Jacobus Philippi [Fore- stij. Supplementum Chronicarum. Ven- ice: Bernardinus Benalius, 15 December, 1486. (Perrins, p. 35-36, no. 41.) Leaf 103, showing small cuts of cities. “With large woodcuts of the Creation, Expulsion from Paradise, and Death of Abel, copied from the Low-German Bibles printed by H. Quentcll at Cologne about 1480, and numerous small cuts of cities, and ornamental capitals.” — Perrins, p. 36. “The .. .Supplementum Chronicarum of Giovanni Philippo Foresti of Bergamo, with numerous out- line w'oodcuts of cities, for the most part purely imaginary and conventional, the same cuts being used over and over aga'in for different places.” — Pollard, p. 94. In this book appears the use of solid blacks so characteristic of the Italian work and utilized also — with, of course, different racial and individual expression — by the Japanese print-makers and by nineteenth century illustrators such as Aubrey Beardsley. 38. (Same.) Venice, 1503. z 2. “The Supplementum Chronicarum was re-issued several times. . .and changes were constantly made in the cuts.” — Pollard Fine, p. 126. 39. Bonaventura. Devote meditatione sopra la Passione del nostro Signore. Venice: Math, di Codecha da Parma, 26 April, 1490. (Copinger, n, 1188.) Lent by The Pierpont Morgan Library. First page: Incojninciano le denote meditatione. There are fourteen cuts in this edition. As to the cuts in the editions of Florence (about 1496) and Venice (1497), see: Perrins, p. 106, 108. Pollard, in “Fine books,” p. 138, speaks of two undated 10 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Italian Books, 15th -16th Centuries, confd. editions and the probable influence of the illustrations in the Venice edition of 1489. “Bonaventura. . . Venice, Matteo Codeca, 27 February, 1489... The second illustrated edition . . . and the first with illustrations specially cut for it, the large woodcuts used in the edition of 1487 (Hieronymo* di Sancti & Cornelio compagni) having been designed much earlier for a blockbook of the Passion. The cuts in the edition of 1489 are by the same two cutters who worked on the Malermi Bible of the next year. One of them attempts shading, and his figures, more especially the faces, are blurred and indistinct; the other works in very clean-cut outline, and, though his knife occasionally slips, is much the more successful. These woodcuts reappear in the same printer’s editions of 26 April, 1490, 10 March, 1492, 11 October, 1494, and were imitated at Florence.” — - Perrins, p. 44-45. 40. Ketham, Johannes. Fasciculo de medi- cina. Venice: Joh. and Greg, de Gregoriis, 5 February, 1493. (Perrins, p. 60, no. 63.) Lent by The Pierpont Morgan Library. c ii: Cut of physician at bedside of plague -stricken Patie nt. “The picture of the Dissection .has the interest of being printed in several colours. Erhard Ratdolt had made some experiments in colour-printing in the astronomical books which he printed at Venice. . . In 1490 a Venetian printer, Johann Herzog, had illustrated the De Heredibus of Johannes Crispus de Montibus with a genealogical tree. . .printed in br