Retablo de la Vida de Christo Fecho en Metro... Facsimile Edition

There are two editions: a set of copies of the issues have a plain colophon (inscription at the end of the book) in which there is only a mention to the town of Alcalá de Henares; and another set of issues, on the other hand, shows a more detailed colophon, where you can see the town where it was printed and the date when the work was completed: the 8th of November 1529.

'The life of Christ, 'written by a religious monk of the Cartujan order, in Castilian verses or Major Art couplets, whatever is best read', and remembered, without a doubt, as the quiet author reminds us (he even hides his name, however we know, nowadays, that his name was Juan Padilla, from Seville) 'as Aristotle said, men naturally enjoy verse and music'. In a few sentences, the author has told us the contents, the shape, the reason behind his choice and the objective followed.

However it's about verses, there are several side apostilles in order to authorise the poet's expressions and for preacher's use. Each song concludes with a prayer and, in general, it is accompanied by a small image related to it, between two xylographic vertical parts. Some of the images are repeated, as the workshop did not have enough image originals to be able to illustrate every scene narrated in these verses. 

The ink result is pleasant to the sight, because of the double column; the apostilles appear irregularly, the presence of a running title, the alternance of different size typescripts, the printed typographic signs. The cover displays four of those scenes, irregularly distributed: Crucified Jesus Christ and Resuscitated Jesus Christ above the display of Jesus being born and Jesus in Maria's arms, on a donkey, St Joseph walking alongside, when they leave for Egypt. Those four scenes, the title and the printing year occupy the inside space of an architectural structure, with the legend "Initium Sapientiae timor Domini".