Dipity
John Buckland-Wright (1897-1954) illustrated Dolores for an edition of Swinburnes poem, published by Stols. White line engraving
Etching by Picasso (1881-1973) for an edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses, the first book published by Skira.
Chromolithography was patented and perhaps invented in 1837 by Godefroy Engelmann. As a way of rendering colors it has hardly been surpassed in modern times but as it was a very timeconsuming job f...
William Blake (1757-1827) invented a new technique that inversed the normal way of etching and is called relief etching.
Louis XVI died under the guilotine and so did his wife Marie Antionette and a big part of the French nobility. The mechanisation of death - in a sense the guillotine reminds one of the printing pre...
A process invented by William Blake (1757-1827) in which the inkt was applied to the parts that were not bitten away. The coloring was done by hand.
Gautier d'Agoty, Jacques Fabian. Anatomie generale des viscères . ([Paris: s.n., 1752]). Jacques Gautier d'Agoty was born in Marseilles in about 1717 and was trained as a printmaker under the note...
Albinus, Bernhard Siegfried. Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis humani. (Londini : Typis H. Woodfall, impensis Johannis et Pauli Knapton, 1749). Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (i.e. Weiss) was bor...
Romeyn de Hooghe (1645-1708) used a special technique for his etchings so he could make more prints. He is known for his enourmous production and for his erotic prints (some scholars use the word p...
Shou, Hua. Jushikei hakki (Shi si jing fa hui. Japanese & Chinese). ([Tokyo] : Suharaya Heisuke kanko, Kyoho gan [1716]). Hua Shou was a noted Chinese physician of the mid-14th century. He is perh...
Bidloo, Govard. Ontleding des menschelyken lichaams. (Amsterdam: By de weduwe van Joannes van Someren, de erfgenaamen van Joannes van Dyk, Hendrik en de weduwe van Dirk Boom, 1690). Govard Bidloo ...
William III of Orange conquered England and thus saved the Parlaiment and the Anglican church.
A great edition of a great book: Almost 200 years after the first printed edition this one was published, dedicated to king Louis XIV. The machines are of interest: they are very big indeed.
An extraordinary edition of Vitruvius was dedicated to Louis XIV, in 1684 at the apogee of his power. The machines are interesting as they are a lot bigger than in any other edition.
The Dutch master Romeyn de Hooghe published more than 4500 etchings. He used a special technique with hard varnisch to etch his plates deeper so that more prints could be made
After twenty years of government by the Dutch states, under the ascendancy of pensionary Johan de Witt, William of Orange was named stadholder.
The mennonite inventor Jan van der Heyden invented a new firehose - to late to save the great printing house of the Blaeus that burned down that year. This fire is shown in the book that Van der He...
Dirck Jansz van Santen was a 17th century master in the coloring of engravings and maps who produced some of the most beautiful books ever published. He 'painted' the color on the engraving instead...
In 1666 a big part of London burnt down after being hit by a severe plague. The famous diarist Samuel Pepys left a eyewitness account of both the plague and the great fire.
In 1649 Blaeu published the first latin edition of his atlas of Dutch towns. It was part of his project to create the greatest atlas that the world had ever known. The picture shows Amersfoort, a ...
In 1648 the 80-years war in the Netherlands and the 30-years war in Germany both ended.
One of the few bookillustrations by Rembrandt was this etching in a book of Herckmans. Normally an artist would do a design that was engraved so that more prints could be made. Later in the 17th ce...
Emperor Rudolf II of Habsburg (1557-1612) was little effective as a ruler but a great patron of the arts and science.
Theodor Galle (1571–1633), after Stradanus (Jan van der Straet) (1523–1605) - a detailed engraving of a printing house that gives a detailed view of the work.
Henry IV (1553-1610) changed his religion for political reasons and gave the protestants religious freedom. He was killed by a fanatical monk. The edict of Nantes (1598) was repudiated by Louis XIV.
Jan Huygen van Linschoten (1563-1611) worked for the Portugese in India. He published a book on his travels that inspired Dutch merchants to finance voyages of exploration.
Charles V ruled more of the world than any man before or after him: the greater part of Europe and extensive colonies in the Americas and the east. His reign was plagued by the reformation that res...
Jan van Leiden (1509-1536) was a leader of the chiliastic anabaptist movement. The anabaptists had taken Muenster in Germany in 1534 where they soon introduced a reign of terror. Most of the milita...
Gersdorff, Hans von. Feldtbůch der Wundartzney : newlich getruckt und gebessert. (Strassburg: Hans Schotten zům Thyergarten, [1528]). Hans von Gersdorff was one of the most noted German surgeons o...
Dürer, Albrecht. Vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion. (Nuremberg: Hieronymus Formschneyder, 1528). Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was a painter, graphic artist, and humanist. Dürer is best known f...
In 1527 the mostly Lutheran troups of emperor Charles V attacked and plundered Rome under the eyes of pope Clement VII who had fled to the Castel San'Angelo.
Berengario da Carpi, Jacopo. Isagogae breues, perlucidae ac uberrimae, in anatomiam humani corporis a communi medicorum academia usitatam. (Bologna: Beneditcus Hector, 1523). Jacopo Berengario da ...
The first illustrated edition of Vitriuvius was published in Como in 1521 by Cesare Cesariono
Magellan (1480-1521 sails around the world for the king of Spain. The trip took the sailors three years. Most of the sailors (including Magellan himself who was killed on the Philippines) died.
Sigismondo Fanti: Theorica et practica de modo scribendi fabricandique omnes litterarum species. Venice: Giovanni Rosso,1514. The first edition of the first Italian writing manual.
Livre fleurissant en fleurs / Lambert of St. Omer 1512 Edingen (Enghien)
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) The Revelation of St John: The Four Riders of the Apocalypse, 1497-98. One of the greatest masters of the woodcut made this haunting illustration a few years before the b...
A great poet, a doctor of the church, inventor of the italian language as we know it and lover of Lucrezia Borgia. But nowadays more people know the letter Bembo that was cut by Francesco Griffo. R...
On January 2, 1492 Granada surrendered to Isabella and Ferdinand. Granada was the last Muslim Kingdom in Spain and this marked the final expulsion of the Moors from Spain. July of that year the Jew...
The first explorer from Europe that made a landfall in America
The first printer in Muenster was Mathieu Vivian
Pomponius Mela. Cosmographia sive De situ orbis en Dionysius Periegetis. De situ orbis Venezia, Erhard Ratdolt : 1483 Note the flat map in a threedimensional representation, as if on a stage
Horatius Flaccus, Quintus. Opera. Florence: Antonio di Bartolommeo Miscomini, 5 Aug. 1482. An extraordinary page with Landini's comment around the text and an initial that does not look as if a pro...
Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius. Carmina. Milano, Philippus de Lavagnia : 1475. Most of the incunabula that I have seen have no decoration - one would think that the buyers of these books had less i...
Biblia Latina. Venice: Franciscus Renner, de Heilbronn and Nicolaus de Frankfordia, 1475. - A hand-decorated page - I like the Japanese stamp, probably an earlier owner who donated the book to the ...
Mardokai Finzi. Luhot. Mantua, Abraham ben Solomon Conat : 1474
Calderinus, Domitius. Commentarii in Martialem. Venice: Jacobus Rubeus, 13 Sept. 1474. - incunabula most times have a precise date like this edition of Martialis, printed by Rubeus.
The decoration in woodcut, partly filled in with red ink and a handpainted initial from Johann Zainer
Leonardus Brunus. Isagogicon moralis disciplinae. Köln, Ulrich Zell : 1470 One can hardly distinguish this book from a contemporary manuscript. Note that there is nog pagination, not headers, nothi...
Thomas Aquinas. Questiones de XII quodlibet Roma, Georgius Lauer. 1470 A decorated book in the Florentine Note the text in red, that was handwritten
You can see how difficult the cutting and setting of type is. A scribe would do a far better job. No wonder that the marquis of Montefeltro would not allow printed books in his library.
A picture of Venice from Schedel's World chronical
The first printer in Cologne was Ulrich Zell
Mentelin was the first printer of Strasbourg, so early that many held him to be the inventor.
Meditationes and other texts According to several notes in the manuscript, copied by Johannes Raphorst de Traiecto of the Carthusians (Genadendal), Sint-Kruis near Bruges, in 1458. According to a ...
Vita of St. Francis of Assisi / Bonaventure - Sinte Franciscus testament - Spieghel der volcomenheit - Sommeghe wonderlike werken die sinte Franciscus ende sijn ierste ghesellen deden - Gulden woor...
Lorenzo the Medici or 'the Magnificent' as he was called was one of the great patrons of the renaissance and father of two popes.
Sermons on the Epistles / Willelmus Peraldus - Sermon on the dedication of a church - Excerpts from several authors - Sermons for the liturgical year / pseudo-Bonaventure (Conrad Holtnicker of Saxo...
Vita of St. Francis of Assisi (Legenda Maior) / Bonaventure - Sinte Franciscus ghesellen - Spieghel der volcomenheit / brother Leo - Wonderlike werken - Gulden woorden / Aegidius of Assisi - Sinte ...
Consolatorium timoratae conscientiae - De morali lepra - Manuale confessorum John Nider 1441 Netherlands (?)
Vanden levene Ons Heren - Dat boec vanden houte - Gulden legende / Jacobus de Voragine 1438
Postillae dominicales praesertim super epistolas Pauli - Commentary on William de Montibus "Poeniteas cito" 1431
Brevilogus / Ludolfus (Lupoldus de Bebenburg?) - Exactis regibus - De significatione verborum (part of: Summa de casibus conscientiae) / Astesanus of Asti - Phrases from the Holy Scripture Accordi...
(Gian Francesco) Poggio Bracciolini (1380 –1459) was one of the most important Italian humanists. He recovered a great number of texts, mostly lying forgotten in German and French monastic librarie...
Peregrinatio ad terram sanctam / Wilhelm von Boldensele 1351 Southern Netherlands?
Roman van Heinric ende Margriete van Limborch / Heinric van Aken. c. 1350 Roman van Walewijn / Penninc and Pieter Vostaert. 1350 Brabant, West
The humanist Giovanni Boccaccio wrote the Decamerone just after the plague hit Europe killing about 25% of the population.
Synodal Statutes of the Diocese of Liège (1288) / Johannes Flandriae after 1337 Liège
Commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine of Hippo / Hugh of St. Victor. 1320 - Meditationes piissimae de cognitione humanae conditionis / pseudo-Bernard of Clairvaux 1321 Le Roux (near Charleroi)
Chronicle of Oudenburg (fragment) after 1303 Oudenburg, near Oostende, Belgium
Statutes and regulations for Arras cathedral 1294-1297, 14th and early 15th century
Remedia amoris (glossed) / Ovid - Tobias (glossed, vs. 1-174) / Matthew of Vendôme 1282 and 14th century
Cartulary of the Diocese Arras 1280-1282
Apographum instrumenti (52r), 1262? Series abbatum Sangallensium (54r), after 1277 Sankt Gallen
Customs and ordinances of the Dominican Sisters in Montargis (1253, 1256) c. 1249-1256
Liber casuum decretalium (Concordantia titulorum Libri extra) / Johannes de Deo - Statutes concerning the diocese Tournai - Letters to the bishop of Tournai - Abstracts of decretals - Novellae / In...
Cronica Floridi Horti / Emo and Menko Emo: after 1234 Menco: 1249-1273
Libellus diffinitionum ordinis cisterciensis after 1234, 1236-1237
Liber manualis of Ademar of Chabannes. mainly 11th century (1023-1025) with some 10th and 13th fragments and notes Cahier I contains a note on the history of the monastery of St. Martial in Limoge...
The crusaders of the fourth crusade attacked and sacked the Byzantine capital in 1204 and choose Baldwin of Flanders as the emperor of a short-lived latin empire. The famous library of Constantinop...
De viris illustribus / Jerome and Gennadius of Marseille - De viris illustribus / Sigebert of Gembloux - Liber interpretationis nominum Hebraicorum / Jerome 1178-1183
Gesta Theodorici - Variae (Book VII, ch. 41) / Cassiodore - Didascalicon (Books I-VI, ch. 6) / Hugh of St. Victor - Theological treatises on the Old Testament
Annals / Isingrim of Ottenbeuren Benedictines of St. Martin, male, Wiblingen near Ulm 1155-1168
Chronici canones / Eusebius of Caesarea - Chronicon imperiale / Prosper of Aquitaine - Chronicon / Sigebert of Gembloux 1154 Corbie?
Chronicle of the Chapter of St. Mary - Martyrology / Usuard - Institutio canonicorum / Chrodegang of Metz - Collectio Hadriana - Rule of St. Augustine / Augustine of Hippo - Sententiae, consiliae, ...
Gesta Normannorum Ducum / William of Jumièges - Biography of Charlemagne / Einhard 1138-1139 Benedictines of Notre Dame du Bec, Le Bec-Hellouin
Historia Ecclesiastica (Books I-IX) / Eusebius of Caesarea - List of emperors and archbishops of Mainz up to 1125 According to Bischoff (1998) the manuscript dates from the third quarter of the ...
In 1095 Pope Urban II called on the christian kings and knights to conquer Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the 'infidels'.
William the Conqueror (1027-1087) the Duke of Normandy invaded England in 1066.
Gesta episcoporum Cameracensium (Book I-II) CMD-NL: 1041-1045 Van Mingroot 1975: 1023-1025
Liber manualis of Ademar of Chabannes mainly 11th century (1023-1025) with some 10th and 13th fragments and notes
Otto the Great (912-973) was the initiator of a political and cultural renaissance in the 10th century - greatly helped by a finding of silver to pay for his ambitions.
Directives for clerics in the diocese of Trier (issued in 929) / Rotgar, bishop of Trier After 929
Capitulary / Hérard of Tours Date and localisation according to Lieftinck (CMD-NL 1): after 859 and probably before Hérard's death in 871 Tours
Periegesis / Dionysius of Alexandria -Commentary on Book I of Priscian's Institutiones Grammaticae - Institutiones grammaticae / Priscian - Institutione de nomine et pronomine at verbo / Priscian ...
De spectaculis / Tertullian The so called Keppel fragment Cologne, before 834
Letter to Agobardus / Louis the Pious Although recorded in CMD 1 (dated 816), the document is probably younger, because four other known transcriptions of this document are all later copies
Incantamentum - Horologium - Easter tables / Bede the Venerable and Victorius of Aquitaine - Annals of Flavigny and Lausanne - Excerpts of chronicals - Chronicon universale usque ad annum 741 c. 816
Charlemagne was crowned Emperor in the west in 800. The Byzantine empire had an Empress, Irene, at that moment.
Gregory the Great (540-604) reformed the church in the west and was canonized for his efforts and his piety. He became pope in 590.
The compilation of roman law, the corpus juris, is completed on order of the emperor Justinian (483-565).
One of the more humane emperors, who left a book of maxims that had a great impact on western thinking
Boekwetenschap en handschrift...
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