The Mirror of Salvation
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Book InformationThis blockbook is the key to understanding the "religious climate" of the Middle Ages. It is the first and only edition of its kind of the Mirror of Salvation, among the most significant and influential blockbooks of the fifteenth century. This edition reprints all 58 woodcuts, each with two illustrations, translates into modern English the text of the entire blockbook, and provides detailed explanations of the woodcuts and the text. No other edition approaches the magnitude of this achievement, which is intended to make the blockbook accessible to the present-day reader. The detailed explanations highlight the biblical passages, both canonical and apocryphal, and mythological legends that develop the theme of the blockbook. As the title Mirror of Salvation suggests, the blockbook's theme focuses on the roles of the Virgin Mary and of Christ in the salvation of humankind. Because the blockbook was intended as a resource and reference work for sermons and religious instruction in the late Middle Ages, it exemplifies the level of understanding of Scripture and mythology imparted to the common folk. In manifold other ways, the Mirror of Salvation supplies information and insights that enable a present-day reader more fully to understand (1) religious artwork of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, (2) medieval religious dramas, (3) the interaction of visual and verbal elements in other works of the late Middle Ages (such as illuminated manuscripts, illustrated Bibles, and emblem books), and (4) the sequential and schematic arrangement of stained glass windows in a cathedral, convent, or monastery.
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Author Information
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Duquesne University
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Last Modified: Monday, 26-Sep-2005 12:02:56 EDT