Liber Chronicarum cum figuris et ymaginibus ab inicio mundi

by SCHEDEL Hartmann

First edition (in Latin)

Price: $100,000.00
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Nuremberg: Anton Koberger for Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermeister. July 12, 1493. First edition (in Latin). The copy contains the numbered blank leaves 259 and 261, lacks the numbered blank leaf 260 and the unnumbered blank leaf preceding it, therefore collates: [20], 1-259, (5 "De Samaita Regione Europe"), 260-299, [1] leaves. The first two leaves remargined at bottom. This is a splendid and exceedingly tall copy of the book; the margins of the last few leaves are slightly waterstained, generally a clean and entirely uncolored copy. Tall folio (18-3/8 x 12-1/4 inches). 324 leaves, printed in Gothic letters, 64 lines to the full page, foliated in most parts but without signatures Illustrated with 42 large views of cities, double-folio map of Europe by Hieronymus Muunzer after Niclas Khrypffs, numerous large and fine woodcut illustrations, and close to 2,000 smaller illustrations (many repeated) by Michael Wohlgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, and their workshop which possibly included the young Albrech Dürer, in all 1808 woodcuts printed from 645 woodblocks. The notorious woodcut of Pope Joan with her baby on verso of f. 169 is not mutilated, as is the case all too often full old brown calf with rich blind stamping in the style of the early Renaissance, skillfully rebacked and repaired along edges, gauffered red edges. In cloth box The Nuremberg Chronicle is the most illustrated book of the fifteenth century and is a vast chronicle of world history from the time of creation to the time of publication, 1493. The work was in the planning stages for five years, and the printing took twenty months to accomplish. It was without doubt the most advanced and technically demanding work to be undertaken at the time. Interestingly the surprisingly complex lay-outs of both the Latin edition and the German translation edition which was published five months later, were actually planned simultaneously. They both use the same woodcuts, slightly differently placed in the text. It is believed that both were printed in a run of 1,500- 2,000 copies.The contract between Koberger and his financial partners, Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermeister, the contract between Koberger and the artists and two manuscript exemplaria (maquettes) survive in the Nürnberg Stadtbibliothek (Nuremberg City Library) with some other documents relating to the book, and give us a publication history which is unequaled by any other fifteenth century book.The illustrations are woodcuts which are highly skilled and show wonderful artistry, executed by Michael Wohlgemut who was Albrech Dürer's teacher, and by his stepson Wilhelm Playdenwurff, and both their names are mentioned in the colophon. They range from both New and Old Testament figures to medieval history and classical history imagery, and also include wonderful authentic views of contemporary cities. Some of the woodcut town views (29 are double page) were produced with interchangeable blocks, several views incorporate details from life and are of great topographical value, amongst them Würzburg, Augsburg, Bamberg, Basel, Köln (Cologne), Nürnburg, Salzburg, Strassburg, Ulm, and Wien (Vienna). some other cities such as Rome, Florence and Constantinople are a little less accurately depicted but clearly show their most important monuments.Wycliff's heresy is described, the invention of printing which is placed in Mainz, an account of a supposed discovery of America in 1483 by Martin Behaim and Jacobus Canus. However, Behaim sailed to Africa not America. It talks about explorations of the Atlantic Ocean and of Africa.It has been established that Dürer was apprenticed to Wohlgemut in 1486 - 1489, the time when these woodcuts were being created in Wohlgemut's workshop. Dürer was also the godson of Anton Koberger incidentally. A few woodcuts in the book, including the "Last Judgment" resembles Dürer's "Apocalypse" series and are tentatively attributed to him.with:The Nuremberg Chronicle ... San Francisco: Printed by John Henry Nash for the Book Club of California, 1930. One of 300 copies, with an original leaf from the 1493 Latin edition. Large folio, marbled boards, black cloth spine. Covers a tad faded, else fine.with:WILSON, Adrian. The Making of the Nuremberg Chronicle. Amsterdam: Nico Israel, (1976). Half folio, gray cloth, dust jacket (slight loss of paper), fine. WILSON, Adrian. The Nuremberg Chronicle Designs. One of 350 copies printed by the Tuscany Press for the Roxburghe and Zamorano Clubs, 1969. Large quarto, stiff pictorial wrappers. Light rubbing to edges, else fine [BMC II, p. 437. Goff S-307. Hain-Copinger 14508].

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