Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/228

 216 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE viduals would wish to possess a representation of the Saviour, of the Blessed Virgin, or of their patron saint. The price of an oil-painting or a carved crucifix was beyond the means of most people, but even the poorest could afford to buy some little illustrated leaflet to hang on a wall or door, or to place in a book. In the first stages of the art engravings were printed on single sheets ; but towards the middle of the fifteenth century the so-called typographical picture-books ap- peared, containing a series of representations accom- panied by explanatory texts and practical reflections. Examples of this kind of work are the 'Apocalypse,' the ' Historjr of the Passion,' the ' Salve Eegina,' the ' Dance of Death,' and the ' Bible for the Poor ' (Biblia Pauper urn). The best known of these are the ' Bibles for the Poor,' which contained from fifty to sixty scenes from the Old and New Testaments, with printed ex- planations. The poor, for whom this work was de- signed, were not so much the pauper classes among the people, but the poor preachers, who often were not in a position to buy complete Bibles, and could thus provide themselves with a narrative of the principal events of the Holy Scriptures. The German translations of the Bible intended for the people were also furnished with wood engravings. The copy published by Koberger, of Nuremberg, for instance, contained more than one hundred wood engravings. As a printer and publisher, Koberger deserves much praise for having employed artists of the highest eminence to furnish the designs for these illustrations. The woodcuts which were prepared under the direc- tion of Michael Wolgemutli in 1491 for the ' Schatzbe- halter der wahren Eeichthiimer des Heils'('The Treasury