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U/AI I DA IMT IM C* Treasures of Mediaeval Art Found
WhLL I Hill I 111 U J Hidden in an Ancient Church
FROM THE FIRST
PRINTED BIBLE!
A DISCOVERY of great, interest, concerning the
“Biblia Pauperuni.” or “Poor Man’s Bible,” has
been made in the ancient Church of Arnau, near
Konigsberg, in East. Prussia.
The “Poor Man’s Bible,” in its original manuscript
form, was the first Bible and the first book circulated
among the people of Northern Europe In its wood
cut form it was the first printed book.
After the restorers had removed a layer of paint
and plaster from the church walls they found a series
of frescoes occupying the south, west and north walls
of the nave. Scholars have decided that these fres
coes. which are reproduced in part on this page, ara
copied from the original “Poor Man’s Bible.’’
This Bible consisted of a series of central pictures
illustrating the life of Christ, with parallel scenes from
the Old Testament accompanying each one and de
scriptive passages from the Bible beneath them. No
copy of the original manuscript form exists, but from
many references to it by mediaeval writers, it is esti
mated to nave been composed between 1200 and 1300
A printed version was published in 1420 in the
Netherlands or Germany with the text in Latin.
Each page was printed from an entire wood block.
That was the first printed book of any considerable
size. Os course that was before the invention of
movable types. An edition with the text in German
was published in 1471.
The “Poor Man’s Bible,” or "Biblia Pauperism,” is so
called because it was intended by presenting a summary
of the most important chapters of both the Old and New
Testaments, and by speaking with Its figures to the
eyes of the unlearned, to popularize the contents of
a work so expensive by its bulk that before the in
vention of printing the possession of a copy was only
within the reach of a very small number of rich in
dividuals or monastic corporations.
The “Poor Mans’ Bible” is a set in the first edition
of forty, and in the second of fifty woodcuts disposed
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In three horizontal compartments—upper, middle and
lower. Each is arranged in three vertical divisions,
which may be distinguished as left, centre and right,
all divided from each other by an architectural frame
work uniform alternately for the left and right pages
of the work.
The middle horizontal compartment, with three ver
tical divisions, forms the principal parr of the wood
cut. The left and right subjects are taken from the
Old Testament, while the central subject is always
taken from the New Testament. The latter only is
in chronological order.
The central pictures tell the complete story of the
life of Christ very clearly, while the scenes on the
right and left represent Old Testament episodes that
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Ghr-ist on the Cross (in the Centre). The Sacrifice of The Resurrection (in the Centre). Samson Carrvino Off the
Abraham (on t e Left). Israelites Raising Gates of Gaza (on the Left). Jonah Coming Out
tbe Brazen Serpent (on the Right). of the wha | e - 6 B?(ly (0 _ the R|ghf) 9 '
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Copyright. 1912. by the Star Company. Great Britain Rights Reserve®.
forecast or suggest the central scene in some way.
The pictures, white simple and primitive in technique,
tell their story with admirable lucidity and force.
Beneath each Old Testament scene in the printed
book is a verse in the mediaeval style, known as
leonine, explaining the subject above, while at the
bottom of the page is another leonine verse, explain
ing the central design.
Two Latin editions of this book are known. The
more ancient presents a set of forty woodcuts printed
generally by pictures on one side of *he paper only,
and facing each other. The other edition, which is
more recent and of which one copy only is known,
preserved formerly in the library of Wolfenbuttel, but
now' in Paris, consists of fifty plates by another en
graver.
The probable period when the “Poor Man’s Bible”
was produced for the first time in manuscript is to be
inferred both from the form of the leonine verse m
the Latin edition and from the abbreviations used in
the text. This rhymed Latin poetry was most fre
quently used in Germany from the eleventh to the
fifteenth centuries. It was not used before or after
those periods. • The abbreviations likewise were seldom
employed in manuscripts before the ninth century, but
became more and more frequent down to the inven
tion of printing.
The original manuscript of the “Poor Man’s Bible”
may thus be traced to the twelfth or thirteenth cen
tury. as it is asserted by Hugo Meerman and Fiorillo.
while the costumes of the block book announce a more
recent period. This merely indicates that the wood
cut artist brought the styles nearer to his own time
in reproducing the manuscript.
The designs of the book are declared by experts
to show a high degree of artistic skill. They belong
to the school of the early Flemish painter, John Van
Eyck, born 1366, died 1406, and bear the closest
resemblance to the ‘lSpeculum Humanae Salvationis”
(“Mirror of Human Salvation”) by that artist. They
are cieariy oi methenands or German origin, toe two
countries being artistically cne at that time.
A complete set of the designs of the “Po?r Man’s
Bible” was formerly erected in the stained glass win
dows of the Convent ot Hirschau, in Wurtemberg. Un
fortunately this convent was destroyed in the French
war of 1694. Some authors, such as Lessing, maintained
that the book was coined from these windows, but
modern experts have almost unanimously decided that
the windows were copied from the book The fact
that this set was destroyed greatly increases the in
terest felt by scholars in the newly discovered set
at Arnau.
The architectural disposition of the triptych con
taining the designs is said to have been taken from the
Shown Here for the First
Time —New Discoveries in the
> Holy Land
Cathedral of Orvieto, in Italy, in which Ugolino da Sienna
and Niccolo Pisano sculptured and painted Biblical sub
jects between Tuscan pillars, as in the “Poor Man’s
Bible.’’
The designs of the block book were largely used as
copy by artists of the fifteenth century. The great
Albert Durer without scruple borrowed from this
source, as may be seen in his “Ascension,” "Entry
Into Jerusalem” and “Apotheosis of Christ.” Lucas
Van Leyden and others borrowed from the same source.
The engraver of the first edition of the
“Poor Man’s Bible” was probably Laurence
Coster, born 1370, died 1370, died 1440, a contempo
rary of John Van Eyck. This would make 1420 a
probable date for the publicatipn of the book. It is
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Biblical Region Which Is Now Being Developed iX
by American Enterprise. ’M
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.4 the oldest important work
ts we possess printed from
M ■ woodcuts-
** B Besides the two Latin edi-
tions. the other principal
editions are the German and tlie French. "Biblia Pauper
/um.” They both come from the original and are
some years later than the Latin.
This discovery is but one of many which indefatigable
workers and scholars have recently made in the s
cinating realm of biblical archaeology. la the latest
report of the Palestine Exploration Fund it is stated
that the tombs of the Hebrew patriarchs. Isaac, Jacob
and Joseph, at Hebron, tn Palestine, have been photo
graphed for the first time in history.
The tombs are not the original structures, but it is
believed that they mark the actual burial places of
the prophets. New evidence upon this point has re
cently been found.
Hebron is twenty-seven miles southwest of Jerusalem.
and one of the most ancient cities in the world Her#
Abraham, the founder of the Israelite nation, lived and
hence it happens that be and his descendants the
patriarchs and their wives and families are buried
here. These facts are referred to in the book ■'
Genesis, which tells us that Abraham was buried in
the Cave of Machpelah.
The tombs are situated within an extraordinary
structure called the Haram, a tremendous stone waif of
great extent. Its construction dates from Herod tiU
Great’s time. Within the enclosure are buildings ot
various periods. Chief among them is a great mosoue
which was originally a Christian church built by *t.b«
Crusaders over the Cave of Machpelah. Within ,h’ la
mosque the burial places are situated.
“This shrine," says the Rev. A. B. Grimaldi “is of
oblong loiin. with gable root, (he ridge being about
twelve feet liom the floor. The walls and roofs are
of well dressed ashlar, in alternate bands of yellowish
and reddish limestone, called Santa Croce marble, found
in the vicinity. Brass crescents are seen in the gable
ends. Two windows are seen in the sides, which have
heavy iron bars, through which the cenotaph can be
seen. The door is of wood, adorned with various pat
terns in brass work.”
The other tombs are those of Rebekah, the wife ot
Isaac, of Jacob and his wife Leah, and of Joseph, son
of Jacob.
Three stone slabs on the mosque floor cover the
actual entrance to the cave of Machpelah. into which
petitions to Abraham are still thrown by the Moham
medans.
Remarkably interesting discoveries have been made
by Dr. Reisner, of the Harvard University expedition,
upon the site of ancient Samaria in the Holy Land
