DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28460#0057
Part I—Introduction.
41
acquaintance with continental collections are at the root of many of
the faults of Willshire’s catalogue. Much may be excused if we
remember how few of the cuts now described by Schreiber are to be
found in the pages of Passavant and Weigel, tlie only earlier writers
wlro had described any considerable nurnber of these prints. Travel
still remains the only means of forming an aequaintance with the
subject at first hancl, but as a preparation for travel or as a
reminder to the traveller when returned, such a handbook as
Schreiber’s is of great use. Of the large nunrber of prints described
in it, it is obvious that no single collection contains more t'han
a small proportion. Those included in our own range from no. 16
to no. 2798, ancl the gaps are many and wide.
These gaps are filled to a srnall extent by reproductions. The
latter are mentioned in the text, wherever the reproductions them-
selves are mounted ancl placecl among the originals as an aid to stucly,
but only a general mention is made of such large collections of repro-
ductions as the facsimiles of the Municlr and PTuremberg collections,
the “ Collectio Weigeliana,” and Schreiber’s own atlas of facsimiles.
jSTo reproduction receives a number in this catalogue, nor are any
described unless for the sake of adding something new to the
information already available about the originals.
The general plan of Schreiber’s handbook made it necessary for
him to aclhere strictly to order of subject, and consequently to break
up sets of prints, only recording their continuity by citing the remain-
ing numbers of the series in the notes on each of its members. In
cataloguing a single collection there is no need to break up sets in
this way, and a consistent adherence to Schreiber’s numbering would
have caused difficulties in the practical matter of mounting and also
serious hindrances to study. All connected series of prints have
therefore been kept together, as in Willshire’s catalogue, and the
dislocation thus caused in Schreiber’s system of numbering has been
remedied by the simple expedient of cross-references wherever a print
described by Schreiber occurs out of its numerical order. Each set
bears a single number, and the distinguishing numbers of the prints
which compose it are placed between brackets.
In the order of the separate subjects I have followed Schreiber for
the sake of convenience, though I cannot but regard some of liis sub-
divisions as superfluous. The distinctions which he draws, for instance,
between “ apocryphal and legendary ” subjects from the Life and
Passion of Christ, and subjects taken directly from the Bible, are
surely too refined and critical. To the mediseval mind the different
incidents of the March to Calvary and the preparations for the
Treatment of
reproductions.
Treatment of
connected
series of
prints.
Order of
subjects.
41
acquaintance with continental collections are at the root of many of
the faults of Willshire’s catalogue. Much may be excused if we
remember how few of the cuts now described by Schreiber are to be
found in the pages of Passavant and Weigel, tlie only earlier writers
wlro had described any considerable nurnber of these prints. Travel
still remains the only means of forming an aequaintance with the
subject at first hancl, but as a preparation for travel or as a
reminder to the traveller when returned, such a handbook as
Schreiber’s is of great use. Of the large nunrber of prints described
in it, it is obvious that no single collection contains more t'han
a small proportion. Those included in our own range from no. 16
to no. 2798, ancl the gaps are many and wide.
These gaps are filled to a srnall extent by reproductions. The
latter are mentioned in the text, wherever the reproductions them-
selves are mounted ancl placecl among the originals as an aid to stucly,
but only a general mention is made of such large collections of repro-
ductions as the facsimiles of the Municlr and PTuremberg collections,
the “ Collectio Weigeliana,” and Schreiber’s own atlas of facsimiles.
jSTo reproduction receives a number in this catalogue, nor are any
described unless for the sake of adding something new to the
information already available about the originals.
The general plan of Schreiber’s handbook made it necessary for
him to aclhere strictly to order of subject, and consequently to break
up sets of prints, only recording their continuity by citing the remain-
ing numbers of the series in the notes on each of its members. In
cataloguing a single collection there is no need to break up sets in
this way, and a consistent adherence to Schreiber’s numbering would
have caused difficulties in the practical matter of mounting and also
serious hindrances to study. All connected series of prints have
therefore been kept together, as in Willshire’s catalogue, and the
dislocation thus caused in Schreiber’s system of numbering has been
remedied by the simple expedient of cross-references wherever a print
described by Schreiber occurs out of its numerical order. Each set
bears a single number, and the distinguishing numbers of the prints
which compose it are placed between brackets.
In the order of the separate subjects I have followed Schreiber for
the sake of convenience, though I cannot but regard some of liis sub-
divisions as superfluous. The distinctions which he draws, for instance,
between “ apocryphal and legendary ” subjects from the Life and
Passion of Christ, and subjects taken directly from the Bible, are
surely too refined and critical. To the mediseval mind the different
incidents of the March to Calvary and the preparations for the
Treatment of
reproductions.
Treatment of
connected
series of
prints.
Order of
subjects.