Beschreibung:

BIBLIA PAUPERUM: Blockbook. Schreiber xylographic ed. VI. [Southern Germany, from Netherlandish woodblocks, c.1464-65]. Chancery 2° (276 x 203mm). Collation: [1-20 2], 40 leaves of illustration and text signed a-v, .a.-.m., n/o, .p./.q., r/s, .t./.u., printed from 20 blocks, each bifolium printed on one side only from one block cut with two pages, in pale grey ink and folded with printed sides facing each other. The blocks agree with the description given in Schreiber with the following exceptions: a: second word in banderole on right is tecu- [final u is not broken]; c: Schreiber calls for a break at left across David's beard. It is very faint and does not reach to David's beard; .g.: there are 3, not 8, lines of shading in centre panel between nimbus of St. John and the side of the boulder; .v. last syllable (sam) of last word at lower right is present [Schreiber calls for it as broken away], the second word of 5th line of text at upper right reads ce-i, small point at top of the hat of the prophet at bottom is present [not broken]. Early MS foliation at lower outer corner. PAPER: all sheets, with one exception, marked with a bull's head without nostrils, surmounted by 5-petalled flower, Piccard, Ochsenkopf XII: 133-135, manufactured in northern Italy and exported for use to Zurich and southern Germany, 1460-66; a single sheet (.i./.k.) marked with a tower similar to Piccard, Turm II: 334-373, manufactured in northern Italy around Milan and primarily exported to Nuremberg and towns en route (and beyond to Vienna and the Balkans), dating from 1450-71, but those with chainline measurement as here of 36mm date from no later than 1465. Condition: bifolia divided and each leaf mounted on stub for binding with slight loss at inner margin, usually extending no further than the rule border; repaired tears with slight loss in first and final leaves; lower margin renewed in first leaf; repaired tears without loss in 3 leaves; minor marginal repairs in 7 leaves; outer fore-edge of final 3 leaves renewed, just shaving edge of the plate; tiny marginal wormhole in final 6 leaves, the last 4 filled; light stains in 15 leaves; numerous plates with some rule-frames or outlines strengthened in ink, some also with a few letters strengthened, possibly at time early foliation was added. The foregoing list is scrupulous; the condition is very good and the impression of the woodcuts, although printed with pale ink, is sharp and fresh, and the paper is strong. There is no evidence that the blank sides of the leaves were pasted together. Gold-tooled blue morocco, fillet border on sides with cinquefoil at corners, title lettered along flat spine, gilt edges, by Charles Lewis Provenance : Beriah Botfield from Payne and Foss for £52.10 (P. & F. Acquisitions, p. 8). ONE OF ONLY 3 COMPLETE COPIES KNOWN OF SCHREIBER ED. VI, THE ONLY ONE REMAINING IN PRIVATE HANDS. Schreiber identified ten editions of the 40-leaf Biblia Pauperum without establishing precedence. He considered ed. VI, along with eds. I and IV, to be modelled directly on a lost original source. More recently, Renate Kroll has posited ed. IV (closely related to ed. VI) as the earliest surviving edition. Blockbook editions of the Biblia pauperum originated in the Netherlands about 1460, possibly at Utrecht (cf. R. Koch). They were produced by cutting both image and text into a block of wood. The block was then inked, a sheet of paper laid over it, and the verso of the sheet rubbed to take the impression. The sheet, printed on one side only, was folded in half and sewn at the hinge into a binding, sometimes with the blank sides pasted together. Requiring no special equipment, their printing was not dependent on a particular shop or printer; the woodblocks could be transported and printed anywhere, anytime, in as many or as few copies as demanded. Thus within each edition, i.e. group of copies printed from the same set of woodblocks, there may be multiple impressions. Each copy therefore m