The Antichrist and the Fifteen Signs before Doomsday

A popular theme of medieval millenarianism, the Fifteen Signs before Doomsday is a list of events that are supposed to occur during the fortnight preceding the end of the world and originate from the apocryphal Apocalypse of Thomas. References to the Fifteen Signs permeate Western medieval literature and influenced the works of William Shakespeare, who supposedly read an Anglo-Norman version from the 14th century. This printed German work was written by an unknown Bavarian author ca. 1440–50 and belongs to the first of three blockbook editions, which was created between 1450 and 1467, probably in Nuremberg. 68 delicately colored woodcuts, most arranged in two registers, illustrate the frightening and exciting events of the final two weeks of the world as we know it. Unlike the two succeeding editions, the text of this chiro-xylographic codex was written by hand. It is thus numbered among the rare blockbooks created during the second half of the 15th century that combines printed woodcuts with handwritten text.