13 proof impressions of woodcuts or wood engravings made for an almanac (Étrennes spirituelles dédié[es] a M. Le Dauphin).

Jean-Michel Papillon.

13 proof impressions of woodcuts or wood engravings made for an almanac (Étrennes spirituelles dédié[es] a M. Le Dauphin).

[Paris],

1733.

Purchased with funds provided by the B. H. Breslauer Foundation and with funds donated by Terry Belanger.

These relief proof impressions, intended for inclusion in an 18th-century almanac, were cut, printed, assembled, and then labeled in manuscript by Jean-Michel Papillon (1698–1776), an esteemed French woodcut artist and printer, who wrote a well-known manual on how to prepare relief woodcuts. The jury is still out on whether these are extremely fine woodcuts or early examples of endgrain wood-engraving.

From the collection of Rare Book School