Rare -- LImited Edition 327/375 

Printed for America

by Unwin Brothers, of London, England

1885

Book is completely in tack --- Very good condition for being 135 years old!!!

Please read "Note by the Printers" 4 Photos....

This 135 year old Biblia Pauperum:  One of the small, late-medieval picture books (biblia picta) for religious instruction of the poor in spirit (pauperes spiritu);

used also by clerics who could not afford a complete Bible or expensive handbooks, such as historiated and moralized Bibles for preaching and catechism.

The layout of the material differs according to the quality of the book.  In principle, a central roundel or rectangular, picturing one of the most important events 

of the New Testament (the Annunciation, the Assumption of the virgin, or the Last Judgment), is surrounded by four half-length figures of Prophets and flanked,

on either side by a roundel or rectangular with typological incidents from the Old Testament.  Textual instruction is given in a general title, in an explanation of

each of the Old Testament scenes and, on scrolls, in prophetic sayings.  The name Biblia pauperum occurs only in late manuscripts, but the content of the 

work is derived from an ancient Christian method of teaching my means of typological picture cycles.  It was prepared by an unknown late-13th-century theologian; 

the oldest manuscripts suggest Bavarian origin.  

History:  Originally Paupers' Bibles took the form of colourful hand-painted illuminated manuscripts on vellum, though in the 15th century printed examples

with woodcuts took over.  The Biblia pauperum was among the commonest works put out in block-book form, mainly in the Netherlands and Germany, where

both text and images were done entirely in a single woodcut for each page.  The first of many editions printed using movable type was printed in German, in 

Bamberg in about 1462 by Abrecht Pfister; there were about 18 incunabulum editions.  A Biblia pauperum was not intended to be bought by the poor--

some manuscripts were opulent and very expensive, although the block-book versions were far cheaper, and probably affordable by parish priests.  The 

simpler versions were however probably used by the clergy as a teaching aid for those who could not red, which included most of the population.  The name

Biblia pauperum was applied by German scholars in the 1930s.

Each group of images in the Biblia pauperum is dedicated to one event from the Gospels, which is accompanied by two slightly smaller pictures of Old Testament

events which prefigure the central one, according to  belief of medieval theologians in typology; these parallels are explained in two blocks of text, and each

of the three Biblical scenes is introduced with a Latin verse.  Four Prophets hold scrolls with quotations from their Books, which prefigure the same event from the

Gospels.  For example, the scene of Longinus spearing Jesus as he hangs on the Cross is accompanied by God bringing forth Eve from the side of Adam, and 

Moses striking the rock so that water flowed forth, together with prophecies of Aechariah, the Psalms, the Lamentations and Amos......

Please note and read the 4 photos of "Note by the Printers" explaining how this extraordinary collection of early printed Books was exhibited at

South Kenfington in 1877.