St Albans: Schoolmaster Printer, [not before 1486]

The Book of St Albans contains the first images printed in colour in England, which seem to be the only images printed in England in more than two colours for centuries. The dozens of vibrant coats of arms are all in the third section, the book of heraldry, and represent each coat of arms that is described in heraldic tinctures: gules (red), vert (green), azure (blue), sable (black) and Or (yellow/gold), with the white of the page for argent (white/silver). Some of the colour inks used for illustrations seem to be different from those used in text (i.e., initials). For instance, a thicker and darker blue seems to have been used for the initials. Some areas of colour ink on the coats of arms have a cloth-like texture, which may also suggest that they were printed separately from the text, possibly in a different way.

Inc.3.J.4.1[3636], fol. 65v