Page:De Vinne, Invention of Printing (1876).djvu/238

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228
BLOCK-BOOKS WITHOUT TEXT.

certainly ever addressed his mistress with such an air. He holds what appears to be a ring as gracefully as a modern Frenchman holds a snuff-box, and upon the scroll before him are engraved a heart, and the words which he may be supposed to utter: Mon ame—My soul.[1]

The real object of this book is not apparent. The figures were not engraved for the purpose of teaching the alphabet, for the designs are quaint, elaborate, and above the comprehension of young children.
A Page from the Apostles' Creed.
Original is 5⅜ by 8⅛ inches.
[From Dibdin.]
When the book was first made, the letters had a significance which seems to have been forgotten.

THE APOSTLES' CREED.

This is the title given to a lost block-book, of which only seven leaves remain. The annexed illustration is a reduced fac-simile of the page that tells the story of the Resurrection. The four angels about the circle are sounding the last trump, and the dead are coming forth from their graves. The figures in the lower corners are those of Zacharias and Judas. In this book, and in nearly all the block-books, the subjects most frequently presented are those that illustrate the marvelous and terrible. The designs have merit, but the letters are badly engraved. The pictures are explained by a few lines in German. The

  1. The reading should be, Mon cœur avez — you have my heart, — the word heart being represented not by letters, but by a drawing.