DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7597#0018
PREFACE. xj
vels, as to the use of Wood-Engraving amongst the Chinese, (who,
there appears to be no doubt, practised it before his time), makes in
favour, rather than otherwise, of the supposition that that art was
well known, at the time he wrote, in his own country. Mr. Singer
admits also (p. 95) that the account given by Papillon of certain
wood-engravings said to have been executed at Ravenna, about the
year 1284, by two persons of the name of Cunio, bears every ap-
pearance of truth; and agrees with me, that the decree of the
government of Venice of 1441, respecting wood-engraving, is good
evidence that that art had been in common use, as well in Italy as
elsewhere, long previously to that date : and yet he cannot allow the
probability of the truth of my opinion, stated at pages 45 and 69, that
the outlines of the three packs of cards which were furnished for the
use of Charles the Vlth, king of France, in 1392, at the low price of
fifty sous for the whole, must have been first printed, and afterwards
gilt and coloured by the hand. " It is possible," Mr. Singer ob-
serves, (p. 105), "that the cards of Gringonneur were very rude
" performances, seeing that a mad king could have but little discri-
" mination in works of art;" he adds, that "the expression '« or et
" d, diverses couleurs' seems to imply, that Gringonneur's cards were
" painted, and not printed;" and that "it should be observed too,
" that he is called Peintre." He concludes with remarking, that,
" had there been any solid ground for Mr. Ottley's conjecture, the
*f ]?rencJi writers would have seized upon it with avidity."
To the last of Mr. Singer's reasons for condemning my hypo-
thesis, I have only to say, that if it be really a good one, we ought
both of us to have confined ourselves to a simple statement of the
few facts we have been able to collect, without venturing to offer any
vels, as to the use of Wood-Engraving amongst the Chinese, (who,
there appears to be no doubt, practised it before his time), makes in
favour, rather than otherwise, of the supposition that that art was
well known, at the time he wrote, in his own country. Mr. Singer
admits also (p. 95) that the account given by Papillon of certain
wood-engravings said to have been executed at Ravenna, about the
year 1284, by two persons of the name of Cunio, bears every ap-
pearance of truth; and agrees with me, that the decree of the
government of Venice of 1441, respecting wood-engraving, is good
evidence that that art had been in common use, as well in Italy as
elsewhere, long previously to that date : and yet he cannot allow the
probability of the truth of my opinion, stated at pages 45 and 69, that
the outlines of the three packs of cards which were furnished for the
use of Charles the Vlth, king of France, in 1392, at the low price of
fifty sous for the whole, must have been first printed, and afterwards
gilt and coloured by the hand. " It is possible," Mr. Singer ob-
serves, (p. 105), "that the cards of Gringonneur were very rude
" performances, seeing that a mad king could have but little discri-
" mination in works of art;" he adds, that "the expression '« or et
" d, diverses couleurs' seems to imply, that Gringonneur's cards were
" painted, and not printed;" and that "it should be observed too,
" that he is called Peintre." He concludes with remarking, that,
" had there been any solid ground for Mr. Ottley's conjecture, the
*f ]?rencJi writers would have seized upon it with avidity."
To the last of Mr. Singer's reasons for condemning my hypo-
thesis, I have only to say, that if it be really a good one, we ought
both of us to have confined ourselves to a simple statement of the
few facts we have been able to collect, without venturing to offer any