DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7597#0109
80
WOOD ENGRAVING IN GERMANY [chap. h.
ment of Venice, dated 1441, that, some time prior to that period, it
had been improved by the artists of other parts, who, as we have
seen, became, in their turn, exporters of playing-cards and other ■
wood-prints.
The inhabitants of Germany and the Low Countries appear more
especially to have devoted themselves with eagerness to the prac-
tice of this art; their productions in which, it is probable, began to
constitute a branch of their commerce soon after the year 1400.*
If we may believe Heineken, who quotes the authority of an
ancient Chronicle in manuscript, which he found at Ulm, " they
" used to send their playing-cards in large bales, as well into Italy,
" as to Sicily and other parts, by sea, receiving in return for them
" spices and other merchandize." -f- The term knrte.nmacher, or
card-maker, is mentioned in the Burger-buche of Augsburg, in
1418;]: and in that of Nurenberg, in 1433 and 1438; § and certain
it is, that, from the commencement of the fifteenth century, it is
a more easy task to trace the history and progress of wood-engraving
* So we may fairly infer from the Venetian
decree, if the supposition be admitted, that
some of the foreign wood engravings which it
prohibited were the productions of Germany,
or the Low Countries.
f Heineken quotes the words in the Ger-
man {Idee Generate, p. 245), but without
informing us of the date of the manuscript,
or of the period to which the passage refers.
In his Bene Bachrichten (1786), p. 139,
he is more explicit: for, besides again quoting
the original passage (although with some slight
verbal alteration ; and, consequently, we may
presume, with more accuracy), he informs us
that it is found in an old Chronicle, finished
in 1474, preserved in the library of the Stadt-
house of Ulm, %n dec ^tadtbrhltotheft ?U
Mlm fand ich cine Cljcontfee dec £cadt Mlm in
H&anti£cripte, too am €nde s;te|)t: Georg
Zylin, complevit hoc opus 1474, lint) untec btt
ftubrift:
Chacten ^piet^andeL
3Me &piel Charten tautden leglentoei.sisi
(uasMjSt in Meinen jPa.^ern) in 3[calten, &kU
lien, auch iiber Mm ge^chicfet, gegen .%e;
ceren mid andece JBaacen her£tcichen, toocaug
£>ie H&enge dec Chactenmach.ee, go £ich hiec
autgehalten, abjunehmen i£t»
The above memorandum being written
(perhaps after the book was completed) under
the Rubrick, it is impossible to determine to
what period it relates.
% Brietkopf, " iijc^prung dec ^pielfearten"
—2 Thiel. It is remarkable that the earliest
mention of the term " Kartenmacher" in Ger-
many, is found in the records of the city of
Augsburg, which was one of the principal
depots of the ancient Venetian merchants.
\ Heineken, Jjeue Bachrtchten, p. 138.
WOOD ENGRAVING IN GERMANY [chap. h.
ment of Venice, dated 1441, that, some time prior to that period, it
had been improved by the artists of other parts, who, as we have
seen, became, in their turn, exporters of playing-cards and other ■
wood-prints.
The inhabitants of Germany and the Low Countries appear more
especially to have devoted themselves with eagerness to the prac-
tice of this art; their productions in which, it is probable, began to
constitute a branch of their commerce soon after the year 1400.*
If we may believe Heineken, who quotes the authority of an
ancient Chronicle in manuscript, which he found at Ulm, " they
" used to send their playing-cards in large bales, as well into Italy,
" as to Sicily and other parts, by sea, receiving in return for them
" spices and other merchandize." -f- The term knrte.nmacher, or
card-maker, is mentioned in the Burger-buche of Augsburg, in
1418;]: and in that of Nurenberg, in 1433 and 1438; § and certain
it is, that, from the commencement of the fifteenth century, it is
a more easy task to trace the history and progress of wood-engraving
* So we may fairly infer from the Venetian
decree, if the supposition be admitted, that
some of the foreign wood engravings which it
prohibited were the productions of Germany,
or the Low Countries.
f Heineken quotes the words in the Ger-
man {Idee Generate, p. 245), but without
informing us of the date of the manuscript,
or of the period to which the passage refers.
In his Bene Bachrichten (1786), p. 139,
he is more explicit: for, besides again quoting
the original passage (although with some slight
verbal alteration ; and, consequently, we may
presume, with more accuracy), he informs us
that it is found in an old Chronicle, finished
in 1474, preserved in the library of the Stadt-
house of Ulm, %n dec ^tadtbrhltotheft ?U
Mlm fand ich cine Cljcontfee dec £cadt Mlm in
H&anti£cripte, too am €nde s;te|)t: Georg
Zylin, complevit hoc opus 1474, lint) untec btt
ftubrift:
Chacten ^piet^andeL
3Me &piel Charten tautden leglentoei.sisi
(uasMjSt in Meinen jPa.^ern) in 3[calten, &kU
lien, auch iiber Mm ge^chicfet, gegen .%e;
ceren mid andece JBaacen her£tcichen, toocaug
£>ie H&enge dec Chactenmach.ee, go £ich hiec
autgehalten, abjunehmen i£t»
The above memorandum being written
(perhaps after the book was completed) under
the Rubrick, it is impossible to determine to
what period it relates.
% Brietkopf, " iijc^prung dec ^pielfearten"
—2 Thiel. It is remarkable that the earliest
mention of the term " Kartenmacher" in Ger-
many, is found in the records of the city of
Augsburg, which was one of the principal
depots of the ancient Venetian merchants.
\ Heineken, Jjeue Bachrtchten, p. 138.