Buzz
A recent publication by the British Library, Graven Images: The Art of the Woodcut, features an intriguing collection of witches, demons, and mythical beings.
Woodcuts, emerging in Europe around 1400 (though used earlier in Japan and China), became one of the earliest methods of mass communication. They were printed in books, displayed on public walls, and sold on streets, disseminating religious art, political messages, breaking news, and scandalous tales. The British Library's new book, Graven Images: The Art of the Woodcut, compiles some of the most peculiar and entertaining woodcuts from their archives, showcasing extraordinary depictions of miraculous events, heinous crimes, and both real and fantastical creatures. Jon Crabb, a London-based writer and editor, offers a compelling narrative, exploring the chaos illustrated in these works, from Henry VIII's 1534 split from the papacy to the witch hunts of the 16th and 17th centuries.
BRITISH LIBRARYThe Joviall Crew, or, the Devill turn’d Ranter: being a character of the roaring Ranters of these times, represented in a comedie (1651)
BRITISH LIBRARYA strange creature from the collection of Ambroise Paré, depicting unusual beasts of land and sea.
BRITISH LIBRARYA 1525 depiction of confronting ancient, devilish serpents with the Divine Word, from Beschwerung der alten, Teüfelischen Schlangen mit dem Götlichen wort.
BRITISH LIBRARYA peculiar vision from Beschwerung der alten, Teüfelischen Schlangen mit dem Götlichen wort.
BRITISH LIBRARYAn account of an extraordinary and astonishing creature born in Kirkham parish, Lancashire (1646).
BRITISH LIBRARYDepictions of the "Roundheads" (Parliamentarians) and various other head types during the English Civil War.
BRITISH LIBRARYA true relation of the trauels of M. Bush, a gentleman: who with his owne handes without any other mans helpe made a Pynace, in which hee past by ayre, land, and water: From Lamborne, a place in Barkshire to the Custome-house Key in London (1608). This woodcut illustrates the forgotten tale of William Bush, who rigged cables between structures to "fly" a small boat, creating a public sensation.
BRITISH LIBRARYThe complaint of M. Tenter-hooke the Proiector, and Sir Thomas Dodger the Patentee 1641. A peculiar satire addressing the expiration of patents on specific goods.
BRITISH LIBRARYThe godly end, and wofull lamentation of one Iohn Stevens, a youth, that was hang’d, drawne, and quartered for high-treason, at Salisbury in Wilshire, vpon Thursday being the seuenth day of March last 1632. With the setting vp of his quarters on the citygates (1633).
