the regular press with moveable types, as, for instance, that of Pfister, printed at Bamberg in 1462,”—yet had previously declared, p. 39, "many suppose that Laurens Koster, of Haarlem, who afterwards invented moveable types, was one of the earliest engravers of Block-books, and that in fact the Biblia Pauperum was actually his work." "The period of its execution may probably be estimated as lying between 1410 and 1420 :* probably earlier, but certainly not later." The earliest editions of these Biblia Pauperum contain forty leaves, the later editions fifty, printed only on one side. Opposite to p. 40, Noel Humphreys gives, pl. 2, “A Page from the Biblia Pauperum generally supposed to be one of the earliest block-books." Availing ourselves of the Author's remarks, p. 40, we yet prefer, on account of some inaccuracies in his decyphering the Latin contractions, giving our own description of this plate. The page is in three divisions, all in the Gothic decorative style, with separating archways between the subjects. In the upper division, in the centre, are seated, each in his niche, "Isaya" and "Dauid." (See Plate VI.) In the upper corners, on the right hand of the first, and on the left hand of the second, are Latin inscriptions, the former relating to Eve's seed bruising the serpent's head, Genesis iii. c., and the latter to Gideon's fleece saturated with dew, Judges vi. c. The middle compartment is a triptych, consisting of Eve's Temptation, the Annunciation by the Angel to the Blessed Virgin; and Gideon in his armour, on his knees, with his shield on the ground, watching the fleece. Over Eve's Temptation there is a scroll issuing from Isaiah's niche, and having this inscription: “Ecce virgo concipiet et pariet filium,"-Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, Is. vii. 14; Eve stands near the tree of life, emblematized by God the Father among the branches,—and erect before her is the serpent, almost on the tip of its tail, with its body slightly curved. In the Annunciation appears a ray of light breathed upon the Virgin from God the Father seated in the clouds, and in the ray are the dove, the emblem of the Holy Spirit, descending, and an infant Christ bearing his cross; the Angel stands before Mary addressing to her the salutation, "Ave gratiâ plena, dominus tecum,"-Hail full of grace, the Lord is with thee, Luke i. 28; and Mary, seated with a book on her knees, and her hands devoutly crossed on her breast, replies, “ Ecce, ancilla domini, fiat mihi,”Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me, Luke i. 38. Of Gideon and the fleece little needs be said, except that over him from the niche of David issues a scroll with the words “Descendet dominus sicut pluvia in vellus,” in the Latin Vulgate, Ps. lxxi. 6, i.e. The Lord shall descend as rain upon the fleece; but in the English version, Ps. lxxii. 6, He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass. The Angel also addressing Gideon bears a scroll, not quite legible, but evidently meaning, "Dominus tecum birorum fortissime," Judges vi. 12,-English version, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. The lower compartment, like the upper, has in the centre two arched niches, which contain, the one Ezekiel, the other Jeremiah; beneath Eve's temptation and Gideon's omen are the alliterative and rhyming couplets **Vipera vim perdet, and “Rore madet vellus Sine vi pariente puella." Permansit arida tellus; "* and beneath the Annunciation, "Virgo salutatur, Ennupta manens gravidatur." From Ezekiel's niche issues the scroll, Ez. xliv. 2, "Porta hæc Mr. Humphreys reads “Pluviam sicut arida tellus ;" but in this, as in two or three other instances in this pl. 2, and p. 40, a botanical lens will show that the readings are those which I have given. I desire here to express to him my obligation for the courteous permission to make use of pl. 2, p. 40, of his work, for a photolith (see Plate VI.), to illustrate my remarks. clausa erit, et non aperietur;" and from Jeremiah's, xxxi. 22, "Creavit dominus nobum super terram, femina circumdabit birum." It requires no argument to prove the emblematical nature of the middle compartment of this page from the Biblia Pauperum; and the texts on scrolls are but the accessories to the devices, and serve only the more clearly to mark this Blockbook as an Emblem-book. Passing by similar Block-books, as The Book of Canticles, and The Apocalypse of St. John, we will conclude the subject with a notice of Humphreys' pl. 5, following p. 42 of his text; it is "A Subject from the Block-book entitled 'Ars memorandi,' executed probably at the beginning of the fifteenth century." "The entire work," we are informed, p. 42, "consists of the symbols of the four evangelists, each occupying a page, and being most grotesquely treated, the bull of St. Luke and the lion of St. Mark standing upright on their hind legs. These symbols are surrounded with various objects, calculated to recall the leading events in their respective Gospels.' But the whole passage in explanation of the Plate is so much to our purpose, that we ask pardon of the author for inserting it entire. He says :— "The page I have selected for reproduction is the fourth 'image or symbol' of St. Matthew-the Angel. The objects grouped around are many of them very curious, and, without the assistance of the accompanying explanations, would certainly not serve to aid the memory of the modern Biblical students. The symbolic Angel holds in the left hand objects numbered 18, which by the explanation we learn to be the sun and moon, accompanied by an unusual arrangement of stars and planets; intended to recall the passage, 'there were signs in the sun and moon'-erant signa in sole et luna. I give the text of monkish explanation in MS. No. 19, the clasped hands, represents marriage, in reference to the generations of the Ancestors of Christ as enumerated by St. Matthew. No. 20, the cockle |