these are well executed. To the right, St. John appears to be asleep in a sepulchre, which has more the air of a truckle-bed.

It is obvious, from the foregoing list, that some of the cuts in the present copy are inserted without attention to numerical order; as the denunciations of the 6th angel come after those of the seventh. In some respects this copy would seem to correspond with Heinecken's account of the first edition, and in other respects with that of the second. The description of St. John's embarcation in the vessel, in the 4th plate of the third edition, differs from the impression of it in the present one; so that it is extremely perplexing to ascertain its correct order in the list of editions. It is worth remarking that, according to the late Mr. Crevenna, this copy (which was originally in his own collection) was seen by Heinecken, and was pronounced by him to be complete; but to be the fourth edition of the work: while, in his Idée Générale, &c. p. 365-6, Heinecken describes a perfect copy of the fifth edition* (which, he says, is exactly like the third and fourth) as containing FIFTY CUTS! There will be found an elaborate description of this impression in the first edition of the Bibl. Crevenn. vol. i. p. 31-35, which renders it unnecessary to refer to many anterior and subsequent authorities. At the Crevenna sale, Bibl. Crevenn. 1789, 8vo. vol. i. n°. 185, this copy was sold for 510 florins. The reader may, if he pleases, consult Maittaire's Annal Typog. vol. i. p. 13-18, edit. 1719, and Meerman's Origin. Typog. vol. i. p. 236. Neither Clement, De Bure, nor the catalogues of De Boze, Gaignat, or La Valliere are particularly illustrative. The present may be called a fine and complete copy, and is bound in ancient red morocco.

4. ARS MORIENDI. Quarto.

Of a very different nature from the preceding and subsequent works, is the present most singular production. Clement and Heinecken have properly observed upon its dissimilarity to the usual wooden block

After going through his several editions, Heinecken notices a sixth, which he thinks is more ancient than either of the preceding five. He calls it, by way of distinction, the edition of Gottwic, or Kettwein. It was in an abbey, in Austria, so called; the library of which is taken especial care of by its Benedictine tenants; p. 367. Crevenna makes us despair of accuracy of description in the present work. It would seem that Messrs. Gockinga and Meerman were either not sufficiently correct, or not sufficiently copious. Bibl. 1775, 4to. vol. i. p. 34.

publications of this period; * and although the latter places the present impression as the second in the list of those of the ARS MORIENDI,' yet he seems to have adopted this arrangement in consequence only of its being of a less form than the others.' C'est la seule raison (continues he) pourquoi je la mets après la précédente; autrement elle a toutes les marques de la plus haute antiquité, et son graveur paroit être un des plus anciens maitres.' It should seem, therefore, that the present impression might, in fact, be the first; and according to the inference drawn from certain premises stated in a note, under the IXth IMPRESSION (vide post), I strongly incline to think that it yields to no known impression extant, in point of antiquity. As an illustration of the ancient histories of Printing and Engraving, it appears to be exceedingly valuable.

In regard to the general description of it, not much remains to be said after Heinecken's copious remarks. The wood-cuts are printed uniformly on the reverse of the leaf, having the recto blank; and the text, which consists of dry sentences of morality from the Catholic writers, faces them on the recto of the ensuing leaf; having the reverse blank. In the present copy the blank of one side of the leaf is pasted to that of the other; but from the separations made in some of these pasted leaves, it is unquestionable that the work was executed in the form just before described. Both the cuts (or IMPRESSIONS) and the text are uniformly surrounded by a border of a single line; and

* On y voit à chaque page l'Imprimerie dans sa naissance. Il n'y a rien de regulier, rien d'exact, tout y est grossier et informe. Les pages d'écriture ont été gravées toutes entières sur des planches de bois, &c.—Les Caractéres sont épais, et joints ensemble comme s'ils étoient ecrits à la main; ce qui fait voir que cette pièce a été imprimée avant l'invention des caractéres mobiles.' A little afterwards, he proceeds thus: Enfin il y a aparence que cette pièce a été imprimée à la main, avant l'invention des presses, à peu près de la manière que les Teinturiers impriment sur la toile: car on voit que les lignes extérieures de diverses pages ont coulé en relevant la forme. Et si l'on examine l'espace qui se trouve entre deux pages, pour former les deux marges intérieures, on reconnoîtra facilement, que l'on n'avoit pas encore le secret d'afermir deux formes ensemble, pour imprimer deux pages à la fois; mais que chaque page a été imprimée séparément. L'une est haute et l'autre basse. Elles s'aprochent ordinairement par enhaut, et s'éloignent au bas, ce qui fait, qu'il est impossible de plier les feuilles, ensorte que les marges en soient égales.' Bibl. Curieuse, &c. vol. ii. p. 145-6.

'Le dessin différe de tous les autres, que nous avous vû jusqu'ici; il est lourd et chargé : il ne ressemble ni à la Bible des Pauvres, ni à l'Apocalipse, et encore moins à celui des Cantiques: l'artiste est d'une toute autre école. Il en est de même avec la graveur, qui est extremement grossiere.' Idée Générale, &c. p. 400.

they are each executed upon a wooden block. The text is singularly irregular; both in respect to the size of the letter, the distances between the lines, and the length of the lines. The whole text has the air of great rudeness in the art of printing; but the cuts are, some of them, not destitute of merit. In the midst of a collection of fiends or demons, which may vie in grotesque horror with those of Teniers, Breughel, or Callot, we meet with many specimens of no ordinary skill in the arts of designing and engraving. It remains to subjoin a description of the cuts, with a few fac-similes of parts of them, as illustrative of the foregoing remarks.

IMPRESSION I. The dying man, as usual, is in his bed: above him are the Father, Son, and Virgin, with two fiends to the left* of them: below, is a label, from one of the fiends, inscribed 'infernus factus est': to the right, is a spirited small upright figure, crowned, resting on a lance and flag in his left hand: below, are three men in consultation, with a fiend to the right of them-from whom issues a label inscribed Fac sicut pagani.' Below the dying man are five small figures: two, of a king and queen kneeling in fervent prayer at the foot or base of the pillar, on the top of which stands the figure crowned, with a lance, &c. To the right of these, are two, of the exact size and expression of the following:

6

The reader will understand the right' and left' in reference to himself; and not to VOL. I,

d

Again, to the right, is a fiend urging the foregoing ones (of which fac-similes are given) to self-destruction: a label issues from him, having inscribed upon it- Inter ficias te ipm.' The TEXT is surrounded by a single-line border, having 28 lines within: and being entitled 'Temptacio dyaboli de fide.' The 15th line is elongated, and some of them have larger letters than the others.

IMPRESSION II. Above the dying man, in his bed, is the dove, emblematic of the Holy Ghost: to the left, are our Saviour, the Virgin, and the twelve Apostles; Judas Iscariot being designated by a pair of horns. An angel stands before the dying man. Two quadrupedical fiends, and a third in the form of a fish, are beneath, retreating and discomfited: they have labels issuing from them. The TEXT is intitled 'Bona Inspiratio angeli de fide,' and has 34 lines inclusively.

III. Above the dying man are three fiends, a man, and a woman. At the bottom of his bed is one very horrific fiend, with a bag in his right hand; below him is a female one, with a dagger in her left hand: three human figures are at bottom, or in the very foreground of the print: to the right is a fiend holding up his head, or rather turning up his nose. The TEXT begins with Temptatio dyaboli de Desperacione'-31 lines.

IV. Above the head of the dying man's bed, is a cock: to the left is St. Peter, with a large key in his right hand: the Virgin, rather elegantly designed and executed, is to the left of him, and a crucifix still more to the left. Beneath the crucifix is a man stooping, with a horse lying down. An upright angel to the right; a quadrupedical fiend retreating; and the hinder legs of one creeping under the bed. The TEXT begins with Bona inspiratio angeli contra desperacionem': 28 lines.

V. This cut is an exemplification of 'Impatience' on a death bed; and the following figure is no unnatural representation of the act of an impatient man:

the figures explained. This mode is adopted in conformity to the one usually followed by French bibliographers.

Below him is a table overturned; and to the left, is a woman coming to offer food, and about to retreat as if astonished. A man is retreating above the bed, and a woman is looking compassionately down upon the figure in bed. The fiends, or devils, here seem to be triumphant: besides the hideous figure represented in the foregoing fac-simile, at the head of the bed, there is another similar fiend at the bottom, to the right, from whose mouth issues a label with this exulting inscription 'quam bene decipi eum.' The TEXT begins Temptatio dyaboli de impaciencia,' and has 27 lines inclusively: one of these lines is elongated even beyond the border: this is properly noticed by Heinecken.

VI. This cut, on the contrary, represents the triumph of the dying penitent. An angel, the Virgin, the Father, our Saviour, with three other figures, surround the bed;