The Earliest Dated European Woodblock Print

The earliest dated European form of xylographic or woodblock prints are religious souvenirs known as "helgen." The earliest recorded helgen is a portrait of the Virgin dated 1418 in the Royal Library of Brussels, however, "there is the probability that it is only a copy, made about 1450, of an earlier print now lost, on which the artist retained the date of the original" (Clair, A Chronology of Printing [1969] 7).

The earliest known dated European woodblock print or woodcut is a portrait of St. Christopher dated 1423 preserved in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, England.