March 10, 2002

7:12 AM

"To this day, the illustrations march right off the page" describes a rare book published in 1493 found in a Maine farmhouse. The book is illustrated with more than 1,800 exquisite pictures made from woodcuts. Where will they find my rare digital photo in 500 years and will they say "it marches off the CD-ROM" or "data-error.. should have used wood block"
posted by stbalbach (5 comments total)

Plenty of the images are available online along with some background info.
posted by euphorb at 11:43 AM on March 10, 2002

I looked through the Beinecke library's copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle, which was a great experience. Late medieval books are so exquisite.

I'd sell my sister to have found this Maine copy of the Chronicle.
posted by evanizer at 2:48 PM on March 10, 2002

wow, what a find! it's like the antiques roadshow, or like the ninth gate :)

i found a book of short stories from the 40s at a garage sale one time. it was pretty cool.
posted by kliuless at 6:04 PM on March 10, 2002

This is a nice link, stbalbach. I live only 80 miles from Camden but hadn't heard about it (since I get all my news from MeFi). Not quite as old as the Viking Penny (dated between 1065 and 1080) found nearby in Brooklin, Maine in 1957, and now in the Maine State Museum, but still a fascinating discovery.
posted by LeLiLo at 11:24 PM on March 10, 2002

Well, that was brilliant. I love woodcuts. I was looking through some of my old books yesterday, and some of the books of the children's author "BB" (does anyone remember those?) had some incredible woodcut illustrations. Although not as detailed as these.
posted by lucien at 4:31 AM on March 11, 2002