DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28460#0029
Part I.—Introduction.
13
in the xv centnry itself. The worcl occnrs bnt rarely in docnments,
ancl its meaning is obscnre.1
It will be best, therefore, not to take it for granted, that the
original Briefmaler were the book-illustrators, or that they were
called Briefdrucker after they had learnt to engrave ancl print wood-
cuts. On the other hand, Herr Schreiber’s theory (for it is no more
than a theory) about the original occupation of the Briefmaler does
not sufifcciently account for the prominence of tlie picture element in
tlieir later productions, whetlier blockbooks or broadsides. If we are
to insist so strongly on the meaning of “ Brief,” so little on the
meaning of “ Maler,” wre might expect to find among the
“ Holztafeldrucke,” 2 which they procluced after tliey had learnt to
engrave on v7ood, a large proportion of prints consisting of text alone
—“ Briefe ” in the original sense. This, however, is not tlie case.
Some blockbooks, of course, like the Ars Memorandi and Ars
Moriendi, consist of vThole pages of picture and wliole pages of text
arranged alternately ; but the text is quite subordinate to the pictures
and eould not liave been issued apart from thern. Specimens of any
sort of xylographic text, early or late, in book-form or not, un-
accompanied by pictures, are exceedingly scarce.3 * * * Tlie character of
the existing production of the Briefmaler, then, makes it far more
Theory no. 2
corrects
theory no. 1
in some points
but does not
override it
entirely.
1 Wilhelm Brieftrucker appears at Nordlingen in 1428, 1439, and 1452. His widow
is mentioned in 1453, and his son (who was a cloth-shearer, so that “ Brieftrucker ”
here can onlv be a surname) up to 1484. It does not appear that Wilhelm himself was
anything apppoaching to a Briefmaler. There is the same difficulty in understanding
the professions of the Briefdrucker mentioned at Frankfort in 1462 and 1475, and at
Basle in 1478. Lienhart Ysenhut “ Briefftrucker ” at Basle, 1482, is a name of more
importance, and willbe discussed presently. That is the latest instance in which tlie
wTord occurs. There are several entries iu the registers of citizenship at Ratisbon in
which Briefdrucker varies with “Aufdrucker.” These are the names : 1460, Margko
Rotnfeld der aufdrucker; 1461, Wenczl maler aufdrucker; 1463, Gorg priefdrucker uud
Linhard Wolff desselben wercks; 1471, Johannes Eysenhut aufdiuckter; 1481, Ulrich
Ketner briefmaler. Of these persons, Eysenlrut certainly, and Linhard probably, were
wood-engravers, who produced blockbooks, the Defensorium Mariae ancl the Salve
Regina respectively. This shows that a Briefdrucker ancl an Aufdrucker (the latter
also named in the blockbook as “impressor”) did at.least engrave on wood, whatever
else tiieir business may have been. Schreiber believes the original meaning of
Aufdrucker (perhaps of Briefdrucker also) to have been a man w7ho pressed leaf-gold
on to a ground of red pigment in MSS. and afterwards on the woodcuts of liturgical
books (see A 18; D 9,10). This laying on of gold (ealled in documents “ drucken ” and
“ imprimere ”) was a peculiar art, not understood by the ordinary scribes. In addition,
ornament was sometimes impressed with wood-blocks on the surface of the gold
itself, in imitation of the stamped relief ornament on the backgrounds of pictures. This
mav have led to the use of wood-blocks in its extension.
2 A term for which there is no exact English equivalent, since it includes, besides
woodcuts, impressions from wood-blocks on which only text, or little but text, is cut.
3 See Schreiber, op, cit., pp. 45-6, on the exisiing wood-blocks and printed fragments
of xylographic text. One of the latter, a Donatus, contains the name of Conrad
Dinckmut of Ulm, as printer. The latter’s period of activity as a printer in tlie
ordinary sense extends from 1482 to 1496. The only specimen in the British Museum
in which the text is the most important part is a broadside, Temptationes demonis
temptantis hominem de septem peccatis mortalibus (Proctor 29), and even this lias three
13
in the xv centnry itself. The worcl occnrs bnt rarely in docnments,
ancl its meaning is obscnre.1
It will be best, therefore, not to take it for granted, that the
original Briefmaler were the book-illustrators, or that they were
called Briefdrucker after they had learnt to engrave ancl print wood-
cuts. On the other hand, Herr Schreiber’s theory (for it is no more
than a theory) about the original occupation of the Briefmaler does
not sufifcciently account for the prominence of tlie picture element in
tlieir later productions, whetlier blockbooks or broadsides. If we are
to insist so strongly on the meaning of “ Brief,” so little on the
meaning of “ Maler,” wre might expect to find among the
“ Holztafeldrucke,” 2 which they procluced after tliey had learnt to
engrave on v7ood, a large proportion of prints consisting of text alone
—“ Briefe ” in the original sense. This, however, is not tlie case.
Some blockbooks, of course, like the Ars Memorandi and Ars
Moriendi, consist of vThole pages of picture and wliole pages of text
arranged alternately ; but the text is quite subordinate to the pictures
and eould not liave been issued apart from thern. Specimens of any
sort of xylographic text, early or late, in book-form or not, un-
accompanied by pictures, are exceedingly scarce.3 * * * Tlie character of
the existing production of the Briefmaler, then, makes it far more
Theory no. 2
corrects
theory no. 1
in some points
but does not
override it
entirely.
1 Wilhelm Brieftrucker appears at Nordlingen in 1428, 1439, and 1452. His widow
is mentioned in 1453, and his son (who was a cloth-shearer, so that “ Brieftrucker ”
here can onlv be a surname) up to 1484. It does not appear that Wilhelm himself was
anything apppoaching to a Briefmaler. There is the same difficulty in understanding
the professions of the Briefdrucker mentioned at Frankfort in 1462 and 1475, and at
Basle in 1478. Lienhart Ysenhut “ Briefftrucker ” at Basle, 1482, is a name of more
importance, and willbe discussed presently. That is the latest instance in which tlie
wTord occurs. There are several entries iu the registers of citizenship at Ratisbon in
which Briefdrucker varies with “Aufdrucker.” These are the names : 1460, Margko
Rotnfeld der aufdrucker; 1461, Wenczl maler aufdrucker; 1463, Gorg priefdrucker uud
Linhard Wolff desselben wercks; 1471, Johannes Eysenhut aufdiuckter; 1481, Ulrich
Ketner briefmaler. Of these persons, Eysenlrut certainly, and Linhard probably, were
wood-engravers, who produced blockbooks, the Defensorium Mariae ancl the Salve
Regina respectively. This shows that a Briefdrucker ancl an Aufdrucker (the latter
also named in the blockbook as “impressor”) did at.least engrave on wood, whatever
else tiieir business may have been. Schreiber believes the original meaning of
Aufdrucker (perhaps of Briefdrucker also) to have been a man w7ho pressed leaf-gold
on to a ground of red pigment in MSS. and afterwards on the woodcuts of liturgical
books (see A 18; D 9,10). This laying on of gold (ealled in documents “ drucken ” and
“ imprimere ”) was a peculiar art, not understood by the ordinary scribes. In addition,
ornament was sometimes impressed with wood-blocks on the surface of the gold
itself, in imitation of the stamped relief ornament on the backgrounds of pictures. This
mav have led to the use of wood-blocks in its extension.
2 A term for which there is no exact English equivalent, since it includes, besides
woodcuts, impressions from wood-blocks on which only text, or little but text, is cut.
3 See Schreiber, op, cit., pp. 45-6, on the exisiing wood-blocks and printed fragments
of xylographic text. One of the latter, a Donatus, contains the name of Conrad
Dinckmut of Ulm, as printer. The latter’s period of activity as a printer in tlie
ordinary sense extends from 1482 to 1496. The only specimen in the British Museum
in which the text is the most important part is a broadside, Temptationes demonis
temptantis hominem de septem peccatis mortalibus (Proctor 29), and even this lias three