ABSTRACT
The importance of printed books for the dissemination of knowledge was already acknowledged in the early period of print. A chronicle printed by Jan van Doesborch in Antwerp in 1530 praises ‘the noble art of book printing, through which art the world has now come to be so ingenious and has come to know more than she knew a hundred years ago, when there was no printing.’ 1 The printing press made books available in larger numbers, to more differentiated audiences, than ever before. Yet, it is only in recent years that the specific roles of woodcuts and other printed images in knowledge transmission have become the subject of detailed study. At the same time, it is now a fundamental premise in book historical scholarship that the material appearance of books shapes the ways in which these books are used and interpreted. 2 As images are one of the most salient aspects of book design, their meanings and functions in processes of knowledge transmission can only be understood if we look not just at what they represent, but also at how they do so through their visual language and material appearance.
