[25] Merlin, “Origine des Cartes à Jouer, Recherches nouvelles,” etc. Paris, 1869.
[26] Printed in Ottley, “An Inquiry,” etc., vol. i., p. 47.
[27] “Nam quod legentibus Scriptura, hoc idiotis præstat pictura cernentibus, quia in ipsa etiam ignorantes vident quid sequi debeant, in ipsa legunt qui litteras nesciunt; unde et præcipue gentibus pro lectione pictura est.” Patrologiæ Cursus Completus, Accurante, J. P. Migne, tom. lxxvii. Sancti Gregorii Magni, tom, iii., liber xi., epis. xiii., col. 1128. Vide, also, idem, liber ix., epis. cv., col. 1027.
[28] “Biblia Pauperum.” Reproduced in fac-simile, from one of the copies in the British Museum, with an historical and bibliographical introduction by J. Ph. Berjeau. London, 1859.
[29] “Speculum Humanæ Salvationis.” Le Plus Ancien Monument de la Xylographie et de la Typographie réunies. Reproduit en fac-simile, avec introduction Historique et Bibliographique, par J. Ph. Berjeau. Londres, 1861.
[30] The composition of the poem which forms the text of the Speculum has been attributed to Vincent de Beauvais, who could not have written it, and to Conrad d’Altzheim, who might have written it; the designs have been attributed to various artists, particularly to Steurbout, but on the slightest grounds; the printing has been assigned to Lawrence Coster, in whose doubtful if not fabulous name no confidence can be placed, and to Veldener, Faust and Scheffer, Thierry Martens d’Alost, and other early German and Flemish printers.
[31] Renouvier, “Origine,” etc., p. 91; and Berjeau’s preface to the Fac-simile Reproduction of the Speculum. The claims of the Brotherhood are supported most fully by Harzen in “Archiv für die Zeichnenden Künste.” Leipsig, 1855.
[32] Didot, “Essai Typographique et Bibliographique sur l’Histoire de la Gravure sur Bois,” col. 205. Paris, 1863.
[33] Renouvier, “Des Gravures sur Bois dans les Livres de Simon Vostre.” Paris, 1862.
[34] See Duplessis on the works of Simon Vostre, and Brunet’s “Manuel du Libraire,” tom v., at the end, for farther information on the devotional books of the French printers.