. Old picture books; with other essays on bookish subjects. ooked on only as an example of thesporadic illustrations of which we have spoken as appear-ing in other districts. But from the 28th of September,1490, onwards for twenty years, we have a succession ofwoodcuts which, amid all the differences which give themindividuality, are yet closely linked together in style, andform, on the whole, by far the finest series of book-illustrations of early date. The popularity which thesewoodcuts attained is attested by the repeated editions ofthe w^orks in which they appear ; while the suddennesswith
. Old picture books; with other essays on bookish subjects. ooked on only as an example of thesporadic illustrations of which we have spoken as appear-ing in other districts. But from the 28th of September,1490, onwards for twenty years, we have a succession ofwoodcuts which, amid all the differences which give themindividuality, are yet closely linked together in style, andform, on the whole, by far the finest series of book-illustrations of early date. The popularity which thesewoodcuts attained is attested by the repeated editions ofthe w^orks in which they appear ; while the suddennesswith which they sprang up, the general similarity ofstyle, and the nature of the books they illustrate, allsuggest that we have here to deal with a conscious andcarefully directed movement as opposed to the haphazarduse of illustrations in other cities during the previoustwenty years. The book in which the first characteristicFlorentine woodcut appears is an edition of the Laude,of Jacopone da Todi, printed by Francesco Buonaccorsi ; rMMMaMAMMMhaaaaaaBaaHMMM*. FROM JACOlONE DA TODlS LAUDE, 1490 FLOREXTIXE RAPPRESEXTAZIOXI 17 and both the choice of the book and the name of theprinter offer a tempting basis for theory-making. Print-ing, we must remember, though it had been in use formore than a third of a century, was even then a new craft,and was still taken up sometimes as a side-employmentby many persons who had been bred to other trades orprofessions. Our own Caxton, as we all know, was amercer ; the first printer at St. Albans, a schoolmaster ;Francesco Tuppo, of Naples, a jurist ; Joannes Philippusde Lignamine, of Rome, a physician ; and so on. Innatural continuation, however, of the work of the Scrip-torium in many monasteries, we find that a large numberof the early printers were members of monasteries orpriests, and it was to this latter order that the Buonaccorsiwho printed the Laude belonged. Now, the nameBuonaccorsi is the name of the family of Savonarolasmother. A few mo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbibliog, bookyear1902
