table of the contents

OF

VOLUME THE FIRST.

P REFACE

page vii.

CHAPTER I.

The Process employed in Wood Engraving. The Antiquity of this art in China .Earliest account of Wood Engraving in Europe . Papillon’s story of the two Cunio.Examined. And judged authentic ..page!

CHAPTER II.

The Decree of the Government of Venice , 1441. Specimen of old Venetian WoodEngraving described. Supposition that the Venetians obtained this Art from theChinese , at a very early period. And that other European Nations discovered theSecretin the course of their Traffick with Venice . The Art, perhaps, improved inGermany. Silence of old writers with respect to Wood Engraving , accounted for.No evidence that it was invented in Europe . Opinion of those who ascribe its Originto the Invention of Playing Cards, unsupported by Evidence. Remarks on the earlyUse of Playing Cards. Early Wood Engravings of Germany , and the Low Countries.Specimens described. St. Bridget. A Print preserved at Lyons, dated 1384. Doubt-ful. St. Christopher, 1423, the earliest Print with a Date, of which there is nodoubt. Its Companion, the Annunciation. Reasons for suspecting these two Printsto be Italian. Other ancient Wood Engravings , with Dates, &c. ... p age 46

CHAPTER III.

Early Block-Books of Germany and the Low Countries. Probability that some ofthem are as early as 1420. The Artists who executed them unknown. And even theSchools to which most of them appertain. Sketch of the Amelioration and Advance-ment of the Arts in the Low Countries. Few of the Block-Books have any thing torecommend them, except their Antiquity. The best of them are probably the Pro-