Details of First U.S. Exhibition Devoted to Medieval Blockbooks

Graphic Devotions: Late Medieval European Blockbooks will explore the pivotal period 1450 to 1480 in European book history when growing demand for books spurred innovation and experimentation in their production.

Featuring 20 bound works plus five prints, the exhibition at The Morgan Library & Museum will be the first in the United States devoted exclusively to blockbooks. It will be on view from November 6 through May 16, 2027.

A highlight of the exhibition will be the Ars moriendi (Art of dying), a blockbook printed in the Netherlands around 1467-69, which will be presented in its entirety for the first time following the Morgan’s acquisition of additional leaves in 2022. J. Pierpont Morgan acquired several leaves from the original copy in 1902 after it was unbound in the 19th century, and the remaining leaves passed through private collections in Germany and Belgium before returning to the market in 2022. The Morgan’s acquisition reunited the two parts after more than a century, creating the only complete example of this early state of the edition. 

Also on view will be the disbound Biblia pauperum (Bible of the poor), dating to around 1462–65. A compendium of scripture intended for prayer and reflection, it was printed with two successive page compositions on one side of each sheet, leaving the reverse blank. The sheets could be folded and bound as a book or left flat, suggesting that the work may have been intended not
only for private reading but also for public display.

Blockbooks are highly illustrated books printed entirely from woodblocks, with both text and images carved into the same blocks. While some blockbooks adapted texts and imagery from contemporary manuscripts, block cutters and printers generally created new texts specifically suited to the medium, allowing words and images to work together in an innovative and accessible format.

First produced in the Low Countries and the Lower Rhine region in the mid-1450s and 1460s, blockbooks gained popularity in southern Germany from the 1460s until 1480. Although thewoodcuts can appear comparatively simple or stylized by modern standards, the concept of creating books from ready-made woodblocks was revolutionary in Europe. Once the text and images had been carved, copies could be produced as needed, offering a new way to reproduce books for a growing audience.

Although woodblock printing had long been practiced in Asia, its use for books in Europe represented a significant development in the history of the medium. Ultimately, the labor-intensive process of printing books from woodblocks was surpassed by the efficiencies and capabilities of typographic printing, and the blockbook tradition largely disappeared by 1480. As a result, surviving examples are exceedingly rare.

The Morgan holds the largest collection of blockbooks in the United States, with examples ranging from complete copies to fragmentary copies and individual leaves. Typically religious in nature, these works include individual books of the Bible, theological visualizations of the Old and New Testaments, and devotional texts.  The exhibition will include eight blockbooks and five medieval manuscripts from the Morgan’s collection, as well as loans of blockbooks from the Library of Congress and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

“These extraordinary objects offer a unique window into the values, ideas, and artistic practices of late medieval European society, while revealing a critical moment of innovation in the evolution of the book,” said Colin B. Bailey, Katharine J. Rayner Director
of the Morgan Library & Museum.

The exhibition is accompanied by an eponymous catalogue, the first English-language monograph devoted to blockbooks since 1858. It features essays and chapters exploring the historical and material contexts of medieval blockbooks, a short essay on their modern collecting history, and for the first time a comprehensive census organized by edition of blockbooks held in the United States.