up the book must have given the printer and the binder a great deal of trouble, but it was an efficient method, and the only one that should have been employed.
In most editions of the book, the ink is of the same rusty brown color that has been observed in the Bible of the Poor. In some copies it is almost gray; in others, nearly black. The first edition has engravings of the greatest merit, but it is badly printed. The paper-mark is a bunch of grapes, similar in design to that of a print in the collection of M. Weigel, entitled The Adoration of the Three Kings, which, it is claimed, was printed about the year 1425. But paper-marks are misleading evidences. We do not certainly know the date nor the country in which any edition of the book was printed. German bibliographers say that it was printed in Southern Germany; Dutch bibliographers say that it was printed in the Netherlands, probably by Coster of Haarlem; but all evidences that have been adduced to establish a certain date for the earlier editions of the book, or to prove that they were done at any time or by any printer, are unsatisfactory. Some copies of the book are interleaved with manuscript explanations, which are sometimes in the Dutch, and sometimes in the German language. The greater part of the copies have been found in Germany, and it is the opinion of the most eminent bibliographers that the first edition of the book, and most of the editions, were printed in Germany.
The catalogue of the library of Dr. Kloss contains the following note under the specification of a ragged copy of the Apocalypse: "At the end of this volume is a short note, written by Pope Martin V, who occupied the papal chair from 1417 to 1431. " This indirect attestation to the age of the book has never been considered as trustworthy.
Another copy of the book, known as the Spencer copy, is bound up with a copy of the Bible of the Poor, and has on the binding an inscription to this effect: "Bound in the year of our Lord 1467 by me, John Reichenbach, in Gyllingen," The inscription is undoubtedly authentic.
