Apocalypse Johannis

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his book, known as Apocalisse Estense, is a beautiful example of the art of wood-engraving and belongs to the family of German "Blockbuecher" (block-books). The plates were impressed in brown ink; their scenes illustrate the everlasting holy text written by John the Apostle. Since they were hand-coloured, this book is to be regarded as a unique copy, although originated from a reproducible pattern. Nearly each plate contains two scenes, parted by a kind of frame. The illustrations were impressed, by an anonymous maker, on the recto of each folio, the verso being left blank. Due to the obscurity and the ambiguity of its contents, the Apocalypse has never had a wide popular circulation; yet, in this book the Latin text was simplified as much as possible to make it available to the widest reading public. Wood-engraved text and images make up a harmonious whole, the latter being distributed around or amidst the figures - a technique foreboding modern comics. Our facsimile edition reproduces the new binding which has been chosen for restoring the original book, and which replaces the worn-out former cover.

Xylographic block-book, hand-coloured, Rhenish or Dutch origin, 1460 ca., in Latin, 54 folios (106 pages), cm 22x29, bound in leather, with box; printrun: 999 copies. Commentary volume in Italian by E. Milano, with transcription and translation of the original.

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