Rhabanus Maurus, De laudibus Sancte Crucis.
Pforzheim, Thomas Anshelm, 1503

Using examples from late Antiquity Rhabanus Maurus, abbot of the monastery in Fulda, devised ‘visual poetry’ around 810 on the subject of the redeeming Holy Cross. The visual poems, which also feature illustrations, have been composed from woodcut and type with exquisite craftsmanship. The texts runs on in the illustration, but the letters printed in red may also be read separately in a different sense. The figures, corresponding with preserved manuscripts, largely consist of carefully inserted xylographic parts (including letters) within a typographical whole, with the distinction between the two very hard to perceive. The illustration shows how two cruciform blocks (above) and two T-form blocks (below) were fitted in; text was then printed from type in red over these figures.

Coloured copy from the library of Stanislas de Guaïta (1860-1897), French occultist writer.