Number 14 in the collection is a page from Grüninger's edition of Virgil's complete works printed in Strasbourg in 1502. The history of illustration of Virgil's works is complex. Illustrations of his works began as an addition to Roman scrolls, and some episodes continued to be illustrated in the Middle Ages. During the early Renaissance, more attention was given to the text, and illustrated versions fell out of favor. Grüninger's edition, edited by Sebastian Brant, was the first notable printed edition of Virgil after the medieval period. Brant, popular for his book The Ship of Fools, believed that through the illustrations of this classical text, the "unlearned" could understand even if they could not read.1

Grüninger's edition of 1502 is an important book to include in the study of the early printed illustrated book because several innovations developed with its publication. The transition from the simple woodcut technique of the fifteenth century to the more elegant style of the sixteenth century is evident. This style more closely resembles engraving, which Dürer would continue to perfect.2 This is achieved through the use of close parallel shading, creating a tonal similarity to engraving. Another notable feature of Grüninger's edition is the narrative quality of the illustrations.3 The illustrations follow the text so closely that an animated effect, like a cartoon strip, is produced. Some scenes are illustrated in several cuts, creating an effect of spatial and temporal movement. Good examples of the effect are the scenes involving the Trojan Horse, which is shown in several woodcuts, comparable to the frames in a motion picture. 

The page in the Wake Forest collection illustrates a scene from the second book of Virgil's Aeneid. The scene includes Aeneas, his father, Anchises, his son, Ascania, and his wife, Cruesa. At this point in the book, which recounts the fall of the city Troy by the Greek's deceptive use of the Trojan Horse, Aeneas' father is given a sign in the form of a falling star. It is an omen from Jupiter telling Anchises that he is to flee the burning city with his family and not remain behind as he had first intended. An interesting aspect of this page are the notes in Latin that are made in red ink in the margins of the text. This was obviously one scholarly owner's way of making references to himself as he read along. 

Number 15 in the collection is a page from Vitruvius Teutsch which was printed in 1548 in the city of Nuremburg. The book is a printing of Vitruvius' text, De architectura, or The Ten Books on Architecture. Vitruvius, a Roman architect and engineer, wrote the text in the 1st century B.C., and it became a very important work of architectural literature during the years of the Renaissance. This edition, printed in Strasbourg, was the first European edition and the first significant work on architecture to be published in German.iv The contents of the book cover a wide range of architectural and engineering matters, including the training of the architect, definitions of materials, the construction of temples, astronomy, hydroengineering, and mechanics.5 

The illustrator of this edition, Peter Flötner, was a printmaker and sculpture working in the city of Nuremburg. He was especially known for his classical architectural design which made him the perfect illustrator for Vitruvius' classical text. Even though Flötner monogrammed only one of the 193 cuts, he is generally thought to be the principal illustrator of the book because of the similarity between the cuts in the book and other architectural designs he is known to have done.6 The full-page cut in the Wake Forest collection is from Chap. 10, Book 5, a section on the construction of baths. The subject of Flötner's illustration is the 1st century B.C. version of the water heater. Three bronze cauldrons are to be set over the furnace, one for hot, another for tepid, and the third for cold water, placed so that the amount of water which flows out of the hot water cauldron may be replaced from that of the tepid water, and, in the same way, the cauldron for tepid water may be supplied from that for cold. The arrangement must allow the semicylinders for the bath basins to be heated from the same furnace.7 The device is carefully represented with detailed numbering and lettering to provide the engineer with notes on how to construct it. The cut is equally straightforward in terms of tone, with simple shading that does not interfere with the instructional intent. 

K.H. 

1. Mayor, 1971,56-57.
2. Hind, 1963, 339-340. 
3. Mortimer, 1982,214. 
4. Smith, 1983, 233. 
5. Smith, 1983, 233. 
6. Smith, 1983, 233. 
7. Morgan, 1926, 157.