CATALOGUE OF A LOAN COLLECTION OF BOOKS' PRINTED

BEFORE 1600. By the Rev. W. J. LOFTIE, F.S.A. INTRODUCTION. The general liistory of the art of printing is .so fully and carefully examined in Mr. AVinter Jones's address, that it Yill be unnecessary for me to do more as an introduction to the followino; catalo2:ue than to call attention to a few general facts regarding the earliest productions of the press ; whilst I apologise if I am obliged here and there to trespass on the ground already occupied by him. I shall endeavour to make my notes as concise as possible, referring the I'eader for fui'thcr information to Mr. Jones's paper, and to the notices of individual books which will be found under the respective heads. Printing, as we have it, is the child of wood engraving. The history of wood engraving has been written by a com- petent autliority,^ whose investigations in pui'suit of informa- tion regarding one branch of the art enabled him to simplify and lighten the studies of those who pursued a different branch. Wood engi-aving, again, is apparently descended from a still more ancient art, that of block pi-inting — the exact origin of which cannot be traced. It is not long since some small dies for pi-inting the names of various medicines were exhibited to the Archaeological Institute, as having been found among the remains of a lloman villa at L3'dney, in Gloucestershire, and many similar examples nn'ght be quoted. Tlie Chinese, too, have printed by means of wooden blocks from a very early period. The earliest examples of pla^'ing cards which I have seen were among the collection known as that of Culeman, and ' Exhibited at tlie rooms of the Iiisti- ■ Jackaons Histurj- of o(y Eugi-av- tute, May, 1871. ing-