Block book
A block book (also woodcut book ) is a book printed from wooden sticks, in which the printing form for a whole page with image and / or text has been cut from a wooden board ( block printing ). Sometimes texts were added to the printed images by hand or with letters (see picture).
The dating of the European block books extends to the 15th century . Some scholars set it as early as 1420 before the art of printing was further developed by Gutenberg , others argue for a later date. Production ceased around 1530. The Asian forms are much older.
Early Asian block books
Since the Tang Dynasty (615–906), block books have been produced in China using wood board printing (block printing). The Diamond Sutra , which consists of six pages with small half-page woodcuts, was written in 868.
Block books in Central Europe
Of the European form, 33 works, mostly religious edification literature, are known in over 100 different editions (see also single-sheet woodcut and woodcut ). The miniatures of the manuscripts served as models. The Netherlands and the Upper Rhine (Basel, perhaps Strasbourg) are considered the home of block books. Block books emerged in connection with the other efforts of the 15th century to produce books as efficiently and cheaply as possible.
The grater was used for production, not the press. As the type image was consequently deeply impressed on the paper, the paper was printed on one side and the remaining white pages were glued together (anopistographic prints).
There are three forms that cannot always be clearly separated.
- Xylographic block books: images and texts are both from the same stick
- Chiroxylographic block books: picture printed from a wooden stick, text added by hand
- Type-oxylographic block books: pictures are set on wooden sticks, texts in types
The block books can also be divided into those with text only, those with text and images on the same page, and those with text and images on separate pages.
The content was partly religious, partly dogmatic and moral-didactic in nature. Block books contained pictorial representations from the Old and New Testaments , which were juxtaposed and thus formed a so-called concordance , as well as representations of the Ten Commandments , the life of Mary and the Savior, the Revelation of St. John , the history of certain saints, the apostolic creed, the Ars moriendi and the Ars memorandi . Block books for profane use contained fables with moral application, the dance of death , chiromancy , the marvels of Rome and the like.
literature
- Angelika Merk: block books of the 15th century. Artifacts of early letterpress printing. de Gruyter, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-055919-4 .
- Sabine Mertens (arrangement): Block books of the Middle Ages. Image sequences as reading. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1991, ISBN 3-8053-1257-1 (also catalog of the exhibition of the same name by the Gutenberg Society in the Gutenberg Museum , June 22 to September 1, 1991).
- Rudolf Hochegger: About the origin and meaning of the block books. With special regard to the “Liber Regum seu Historia Davidis” . Kraus [ua], Nendeln, Liechtenstein 1968 (unchanged reprint of the Leipzig edition 1891; from the Central Journal for Libraries / Supplement; 7)
- Heinrich Theodor Musper: The single-leaf woodcut and the block books of the XV. Century. Completely revised and greatly expanded edition of Vol. 6–8 of the first edition. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-7772-7610-3 .
- Jan Tschichold : The Chinese and Japanese multi-colored wood panel printing, technical. Basler Papiermühle , Basel 1992 (unchanged reprint of the Basel 1959 edition).
- Peter Tschudin: Pressure before Gutenberg. Korean printing art. Basler Papiermühle, Basel 1999, ISBN 3-905142-16-3 .
Web links
- Digitized block books from the Bamberg State Library
- Digitized block books from Bavarian collections , provided by the Bavarian State Library in Munich
- Digitized block books from the Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel
- Carlos Gilly : block book. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .