Page:De Vinne, Invention of Printing (1876).djvu/253

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
BLOCK-BOOKS WITH TEXT.
243

side of the sheet, with the blank pages pasted together. The size of the page, the color of the ink, and the method used in gathering the sheets are not stated. It seems that there were at least two editions of each work, one in German and
A Page from the Wonders of Rome,
Original is 3¼ by 5⅝ inches.

[From Sotheby.]
}}one in Latin, and that portions of the different editions were sometimes bound up in one book. Von der Hagen says that the first page of the copy examined by him contained an imperfect impression of one of the pages of the Antichrist.

THE WONDERS OF ROME.

This small quarto of one hundred and eighty-four engraved pages is an example of patience in obscure letter-cutting that is more characteristic of China than of Europe. The text is in German, and is fairly printed in black ink on both sides of the paper. The book is enlivened by a few illustrations which have small merit as designs. The Wonders of Rome is an ecclesiastic's description of the more important shrines of the holy city, with their consecrated relics. The first page of the book contains an engraving of the handkerchief of Saint Veronica, which, according to the legend, was placed on the face of Christ to wipe away the blood that dripped from the crown