block book

block book Before and after the invention of printing from movable types in the mid-15th cent., some books were printed in Europe from engraved wooden blocks, with one block for each page. This method was developed by the 9th cent. AD in China. The practice has a richer history in the East than in the West since the number of characters used in Chinese writing made printing from movable type exceedingly difficult. Chinese and Japanese illustrated block books are often beautifully printed in colors. European block books, on the contrary, were crude and inexpensive. They were, however, the first examples of printed book illustration in the West. The best-known block book is the Biblia pauperum [poor man's Bible].

block book. A type of illustrated book in which the words and image on each page are printed from a single woodcut block, as distinct from books that use movable type for the words. Block books were made in China probably as early as the 6th century ad, but in Europe the earliest known examples seem to date from around 1450, that is, at very much the same time that Gutenberg introduced printing from movable metal type. (At one time they were thought to pre-date movable type, but it is now thought more likely that they were introduced very slightly after it.) As the entire text had to be cut letter by letter on wood blocks, the process was extremely laborious and suitable only for short books in continuous demand, usually popular religious texts (see Ars moriendi, Biblia pauperum, and Speculum humanae salvationis). Very few block books were executed after 1480 and their place in the history of printing is as sterile descendants of the woodcut rather than as ancestors of the modern illustrated book.

block book A type of illustrated book in which the words and image on each page are printed from a single woodcut block, as distinct from books that use movable type for the words. Block books were made in China probably as early as the 6th century ad, but in Europe the earliest known examples seem to date from around 1450, that is, at very much the same time that Gutenburg introduced printing from movable metal type. (At one time they were thought to pre-date movable type, but it is now thought more likely that they were introduced very slightly after it.) As the entire text had to be cut letter by letter on wood blocks, the process was extremely laborious and suitable only for short books in continuous popular demand, usually popular religious texts. Very few block books were executed after 1480 and their place in the history of printing is as sterile descendants of the woodcut rather than as ancestors of printing from movable type.