Pestblatt

Pestblatt

Incunabula

Woodcuts (prints)

Broadsides

This broadside sheet was printed during an epidemic of plague in the German city of Augsburg in the early 1470s. The woodcut depicts Saints Sebastian and Roch (accompanied by an angel), comforting those struck down by the plague. Prayers to the two saints are printed below. The aid of Saint Sebastian, a third-century martyr, was frequently invoked in cases of plague, and the intercession of Saint Roch (d. 1327) was said to be responsible for the end of an outbreak in the city of Constance in 1414.

Woodcut print from a broadside sheet showing Saints Sebastian and Roch, published in Augsburg, circa 1473

Unknown

1473, circa

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Boston Medical Library Rare Books Collection (Ballard 526)

image

1 broadside sheet with woodcut print

German

still image

DigID0002509

Purchased for the Boston Medical Library, circa 1932