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I r k\’ /nr*“~? c— v* , • f llil >--T 2\ji -5 W\a * W IL' 4-? |>V ' a VxxTi /I' V *ll I MU il rfBM Christ’s Entry .nto Jerusalem. ( 1 F&? \ 77777 V_ , r<^?~.J7jf''r> 4 4M ! W> *&1«A Jti Tht Saviour Driving the Money Changers from the Temple. t3TWk The Raising of Lazarus. -Th \l I •s j Uch.7*'2 \\// \// i liWWJ BO to I I 5^’ c -5 fe iaw T« e Incredulity of Saint Thomas. 1 .-- n~h£V -.■' - t {L > ■■...' p v ’ I< - / 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 jF~“" : ‘ ----- Vast Ruins X. Unearthed I at Samaria Professor Reisner, of Harvard. Oagff-. J on the / site of jatfhgi l ** 1 * ; n the Palace /j Ahab and & 1 Wuled & Jezebel. WIU ’ *s- *'** 1— Naboth’s ' ■-> ' vlww * 1 I 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 ' * • k,> ■■>■■»■■■■ ■ m ■■ ji»h. ■SS®”’ Kxlh p 777 m oftj Hm® JMr Tg I —in \\> i / n\K& _\'7 l X— f iW Wfe AL JiZi d/7 \\ -— : iW i \ A °\( & —vqAzzrS., 1 ...Ll *—-» r~~l - -~J f~ 1— —I 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 ' ——- " -•••■ - - •/.. J 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 ■ a' v ~ I SO® st, I JL ® c- > ' I e iff* 5 MpfWMRr - w I w :■ ■ ■ <- : '5 y r 1 ' ! Mi > |.A' aIW-Z; J< *- v '‘XHi' si ■ 'W?' -i^wSy'i t lI ' aiw 4% <- 1 r s- •■-"-AcJL \ 2 • <1 h fRIB S 3l J »«»■• <aV ’ to v '•• / ..i.un, vtfin«,n i .owvo i.'.to tnc sea, a Biblical Region Which Is Now Being Developed iX by American Enterprise. ’M I .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