the spread of printing.
497
impressions[1] of wood-cuts, "made by Wolgemuth and Pleydenwurff, mathematical men, and cunning as designers."
Augsburg. The practice of typography was brought to Augsburg in 1468 by Gunther Zainer of Reutlingen, who is
The Birth of Eve, from Zainer's Edition of the Speculum Salutis.
[From Heineken.]
supposed to have been taught at Strasburg. He was the first printer in Germany who printed a book in Roman characters.
- ↑ These two thousand impressions were taken from about three hundred cuts—for the cut that served for the portrait of Paris of Troy was used for Odofredus of Germany and the poet Dante of Italy. Wood-cuts professing to represent cities and battles in Greece and Syria were repeated for battles and cities in France and Germany, with an indifference to the anachronisms and a cool disregard of the incredulity of the reader that are amazing. The author had a keen relish for the marvelous—for men with one eye, with immense ears, with enormous legs, and like monstrosities. The Dance of Death, which is reproduced on page 185 of this book, is one of the most meritorious designs, but most of them are of small value. The fac-simile of Koburger's map on the opposite page should be contrasted with the map of Germany in any modern atlas. It is presented as an illustration of the medieval notion of geography, and as one of the first attempts at map-printing.
