Previous blogs on the collection of blockbooks in the John Rylands Library have focused on our copies of the Apocalypse, the Biblia pauperum (“Poor Man’s Bible”), and the Ars moriendi (“The Art of Dying”). Other blockbooks in the collection include copies of the Canticum canticorum (“Song of Solomon” or “Song of Songs”) and the Speculum humanae salvationis (“Mirror of Human Salvation”). These early examples of xylographic printing – each page was produced from a single carved wooden block – are all religious texts, offering spiritual and moral guidance to a readership of poor parish priests and the semi-literate laity.
Not all the blockbooks which were produced in Europe during the second half of the 15th century were on matters of faith. An Abecedarium (an ABC for teaching the alphabet) was made ca. 1470? in southern Germany, perhaps in the city of Ulm. There were also at least four separate blockbook editions of the schoolbook known as the Ars minor of Aelius Donatus (a Latin grammar used by generations of schoolboys throughout the Middle Ages), which were probably produced sometime between 1476 and 1495. There were undoubtedly other blockbooks about which we know nothing today as they simply haven’t survived, most of them probably having been used until they fell to bits.
The John Rylands Library holds two very interesting blockbooks on more practical matters. One is an early tourist’s guide to Rome, the other is on the mysterious art of palm-reading.
MIRABILIA ROMAE
The Mirabilia Romae (“The marvels of Rome”) is a guidebook to the city of Rome for pilgrims and visitors. Many handwritten guides to Rome were made during the Middle Ages and over 100 incunable editions were printed in the second half of the 15th century. There was obviously a high demand for such guidebooks, which is testament to just how many people were making the pilgrimage to Rome.
The blockbook Mirabilia Romae (fully digitised here) is in German and was possibly the first printed edition. Like most blockbooks, it is undated and is without a place of publication or the name of the printer. The coat of arms of Pope Sixtus IV (see Figure 1, above) in the book suggests that it was made between 1471-1484 (the years of his Papacy), most probably in 1474/5 for the Papal Jubilee of 1475 when a great influx of pilgrims into Rome was expected. It was possibly produced in Germany, maybe at Nuremberg, and the blocks were undoubtedly made by German woodcutters. More likely it was printed in Rome itself, perhaps by the émigré printer Ulrich Han who had set up the city’s first printing press sometime around 1466 or 1467.
UML 17679, leaf *2 recto
The text of the Mirabilia Romae is divided into two parts. The first part (see Figure 2, above) contains the secular history of Rome, from its foundation by Romulus to the reign of Emperor Constantine and the enthronement of Pope Sylvester. The second part (see Figure 3, below), which would have been of more practical use for pilgrims, contains a description of the relics found in the seven cathedrals of Rome and the indulgences which could be gained there, followed by a description of the small churches and a list of the stations visited by the popes in procession during Lent and on other feast days.
Consisting of 92 leaves, printed on both sides of the leaf in black ink, the Mirabilia Romae contains extensive text with a few illustrations. Just imagine having to carve each letter, each word, every page, out of the wood block in mirror image. It’s no wonder that this is the only known blockbook edition (only seven copies of it have survived) and that all subsequent editions were printed typographically, that is with moveable metal type. The illustrations include a full-page woodcut image of the she-wolf feeding Romulus and Remus, Rhea Silvia (the mother of Romulus and Remus) praying at the temple of Vesta, and in the background the city of Rome surrounded by ramparts and a forest (Figure 4).
CHIROMANTIA
The Chiromantia (“Palmistry”) was written in German and has the title Die kunst Ciromantia (“The art of chiromancy”). It is a text on the art of predicting the future through palmistry, or palm-reading. The author of the Chiromantia was said to be Johann Hartlieb (ca. 1410-1468), a personal physician at the Bavarian court of Duke Albrecht III. He also wrote a number of other works, including a compendium of herbs and a book on forbidden magic.
Hartlieb wrote the Chiromantia in 1448 for the Duke’s wife, Anna of Brunswick-Grubenhagen-Einbeck. This blockbook edition of it was printed in Augsburg by Jörg Schapf, probably sometime around 1480 (it is fully digitised here). In the poorly-printed author’s preface, an illustration depicts Hartlieb presenting the book to Anna (see Figure 5).
The introduction is followed by 44 illustrations of hands, arranged in pairs facing each other, each opening of the book showing the left hand of a woman and the right hand of a man, since those are the hands on which the fate of the owner is written. The lines and features of the hand are associated with the influences of the seven planets (the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), to which the seven mounds of the palm correspond. The features of the hands have short captions explaining their characteristics, referring to the character traits of their owners and their fates: fortune, luck, misfortune, illness, love, sorrow, etc. (see Figure 6).
The provenance of these two blockbooks sheds some light on the trade in rare and valuable books during the early 19th century. The Mirabilia Romae was sold as a duplicate copy from the Royal Library at Munich and was acquired by George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834), one of the greatest book collectors of the age. The Chiromantia is said to have been in the Kaiserliche Hofbibliothek (the Imperial Court Library), in Vienna. A 19th century manuscript note written at the front of the book states: “… it is supposed that the present [copy] was surreptitiously obtained from the Imperial Library at Vienna when the French Army was in possession of that Capital; it was purchased of a General Officer who employed an agent for the purpose of vending it in order to conceal his own name”. According to Thomas Frognall Dibdin in his Bibliographical Decameron (1817), vol. 1, p. 143: “It was purchased by Lord Spencer for 100 guineas; having been bought in at a public auction for 120 l.”.
Earl Spencer’s magnificent library, filled with the earliest and rarest printed books, was bought for £210,000 in 1892 by Enriqueta Rylands. It was purchased to form the centrepiece collection of her great gift to the city of Manchester, the John Rylands Library.
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