bavarikon4UDescription
The block book is part of an anthology, i.e. a volume that has been assembled by the bookbinder from several texts with independent content between two book covers. In addition to the block book, the volume contains two prints made with movable type printing and two manuscripts, all of them religious texts and from around 1500. The "Zeitglöcklein" (Little Time Bell) has just 16 sheets but is complete. It was certainly printed around 1475 in several hundred copies, but this one copy is the only one to have survived worldwide. The booklet tells the story of Jesus' passion from the Last Supper to the burial in 24 continuously hand-coloured pictures, each of which is accompanied by short instructions for prayer. The pictures corresponding to the 24 hours of a day (hence the work's title) should guide the reader in a simple way during personal devotion in the context of the Liturgy of the Hours. The original readership probably consisted mainly of members of the Franciscan Order. It is not only the origin of the booklet from the Bamberg Franciscan monastery that indicates this, but also the fact that the text and pictures on the last pages depict the stigmatisation of St. Francis. Datum: 2020
Author
Stefan Knoch