One of a series of woodblocks produced by John Bagford (1650-1716) c. 1707 intended to illustrate his proposed history of printing, never published. Other surviving Bagford blocks include: British Library C.48.h.7: Woodcut depicting the first recto of a supposed Dutch edition of the Speculum humanae salvationis blockbook; British Museum, Prints and Drawings Department, B, 11.1, Bodleian Library Douce Wood- blocks f.1, Bodleian Library Douce Woodblocks f.2: Woodcut copies of letters from the 'Grotesque alphabet of 1464'; Bodleian Library Douce Woodblocks d.1: Woodcut depicting four images from the Notitia Dignitatum cycle. See: Potten, Edward, 'Dating the Rylands Apocalypse wood-block: John Bagford and the earliest facsimiles of blockbooks', Journal of the Printing Historical Society, Winter 2022, pages 14-46.<\/p>
The scenes depicted on the woodblock are closely related to the comparable images found in Schreiber's Edition IV of the blockbook Apocalypse, but differ in several ways.<\/p>
The wood used is from the pomoideae family, which includes pear, apple, hawthorne, quince, mountain ash, whitebeam and medlar, among others.<\/p>
Radiocarbon dating of a sample of the wood undertaken by the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre in Glasgow in 2019 concluded that there is a 95 percent chance that the wood was growing between 1682 and 1735.<\/p>
The date of c. 1707 comes from Bagford's assertion in his 1707 'An essay on the invention of printing' that he had by that date produced 'specimens' of blockbooks 'cut for my history of printing'.<\/p>
Two impressions taken from the woodblock are retained with it, one printed on wove paper, which thus can be dated no earlier than the second half of the eighteenth century, the other on laid paper with no visible watermark. In addition to the impressions retained with the woodblock at the John Rylands Library, at least two further impressions taken from the block survive: a complete impression acquired by the British Museum in 1856 from the print-dealer and bookseller George E. Mason, now British Museum, Prints and Drawings Department, in 'Reproduction of prints' box (not in the BM database), and a partial impression of the upper portion of the Rylands block, which survives among the papers of John Bagford (1650-1716) and is now British Library Harl. 5966 (121).<\/p>
In addition to the impressions from the Rylands woodblock, a number of other facsimile impressions and pen and ink drawings of leaves from blockbooks, of letters from the 'Grotesque Alphabet of 1464', of letters from the 'Ribbon Alphabet', and of the four images from the Notitia Dignitatum cycle survive, all of which can similarly be linked to John Bagford and his proposed history of printing. These are listed in Potten, Edward, 'Dating the Rylands Apocalypse wood-block', pages 20-21, 30, 39, 43 (footnote 70), and 46 (addendum).<\/p>" }, { "label": "Former Owner(s)", "value": "Spencer, George John Spencer, Earl, 1758-1834; Astle, Thomas, 1735-1803; Ames, Joseph, 1689-1759; Thompson, Peter, 1698-1770; Thompson, Peter, of the Dorset Militia" }, { "label": "Acquisition", "value": "
Part of the library of the Earls Spencer, acquired in 1892 by Enriqueta Rylands from John Poyntz Spencer (1835-1910), 5th Earl Spencer, for The John Rylands Library.<\/p>" }, { "label": "Title", "value": "Woodblock with two scenes from the Apocalypse" }, { "label": "Funding", "value": "Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)" }, { "label": "Project Information", "value": "
Created as part of the Incunabula Cataloguing Project, funded by the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, and the research project: '\u2018Werck der bücher\u2019 Transitions, experimentation, and collaboration in reprographic technologies, 1440\u20131470', funded by the AHRC/DFG. John Gandy is Project Cataloguer on the Incunabula Cataloguing Project. 'Werck der bücher' is led by Dr Stephen Mossman, Senior Lecturer in Medieval History, Department of History, School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, (SALC), University of Manchester, and Edward Potten, Principal Consultant, Department of History, School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, (SALC), University of Manchester.<\/p>" }, { "label": "Publication", "value": "London?" }, { "label": "Date of Creation", "value": "1707" }, { "label": "Origin Place", "value": "England, London" }, { "label": "Language(s)", "value": "Latin" }, { "label": "Physical Location", "value": "The John Rylands Research Institute and Library" }, { "label": "Extent", "value": "1 woodblock. height: 272 mm, width: 202 mm." }, { "label": "Classmark", "value": "17252" }, { "label": "Subject(s)", "value": "Printing--History" }, { "label": "Physical Description", "value": "
Two impressions from the woodblock and a note regarding its provenance are retained with it.<\/p>
Housed in a bespoke black buckram box.<\/p>" }, { "label": "Abstract", "value": "
Woodblock depicting two scenes from the blockbook Apocalypse cycle, at the top Saint John brought before the prefect and below Saint John taken to Rome by sea.<\/p>