Many bibliographers, treating of block books and arguing from the very simple style of the drawings and engravings, consider that the 'Apocalypsis' was the first that was produced. Many worse woodcuts were issued in the eighteenth century. It would be very hazardous indeed to fix a date by the quality of woodcut illustrations.
In order to assist our readers in reading the text printed with the early woodcuts, we give them a key to the most usual abbreviations of Monkish Latin.
1. A right line, thus (-), and a curve, thus (~), placed horizontally over a letter, denote: (-) 1st, over a vowel in the middle or end of a word, that one letter is wanting, e.g. vēdāt=vendant, bonū=bonum, terrā=terram. (~) 2nd, above or through a letter=the omission of more than one letter, e.g. aĩa=anima, a
r=aliter, a
ia=animalia, abla
