The Nuremberg Chronicle, Nuremberg 1493
In May of 1493 appeared in the Latin language one of the earliest voluminous books, fully illustrated with 1809 woodcuts printed from 645 woodblocks: The Nuremberg Chronicle.
The story of this book is a story of superlatives. Hartmann Schedel, a medical doctor in Nuremberg who owned the most important private collection of books in all of Europe was the author. His library made the writing of this book possible. The writing and production of this book was teamwork. Among the more famous cooperators were Wilhelm Pleydenwurff and the painter and expert woodcutter Michael Wolgemut (1434-1519) who became the first noted book illustrator. His most famous apprentice up to 1489 was Albrecht Dürer who is supposedly contributed two woodcuts to the Chronicle. Poet Konrad Celtis contributed the German text which was published in December of the same year.
Sebald Schreyer (1446-1520), a wealthy merchant in Nuremberg, financed the enduring and long lasting preparations which went into the production of this book which is a "History of the World" from Genesis to the date of printing. The double page size woodcuts of city views are, with the exception of Lübeck, the first ever printed views. Large sized and sometimes in bold, bright hand coloring they are considered the crowns of city view collections.
Columbus had already "discovered" America when the Schedel Chronicle appeared on the book market. But no news of this stunning discovery had reached the editors in time to be included in this remarkable book, so that, alas, there is no mention of "The New World" in it. However it remains a fact that the Nuremberg Chronicle is one of the most noted and valuable incunabila.
With the exception of "Cologne" and "Salzburg" ( or otherwise noted) the following double-page-size views were once bound in the same book. Here is the general description: The book from which these views stem had obviously some water damage in the upper right corner. Therefore, in the opened-up page in the text part of the left and right upper corner, a brown waterstain shows. (In the case of Nuremberg, the only full doublesize image of a city in the Chronicle, the waterstain appears hardly visible in the sky.) There are some repaired tears here and there, some repaired little holes, some spotting. The centerlines are visible, as these woodcuts were printed from two woodblocks and the half pages had to be united (unlike other large books where there would be a centerFOLD). The lower corners bear the fingermarks of people leafing through the book. Considering the age of half a millenium of existence the condition of these prints is definately Very Good, the original hand coloring superb!!! Text is Latin. First editin May 1493!
Size of a complete page is ca. 42 x 57 cm. ( 16.5. x 22.4 ") The sizes given below are for the images without the text.
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"Bressla" Breslau, capital of Silesia. See description in the general text above. 23.4 x 52.8 cm (9.2 x 20.8 ") $ 3500.00 Order Nr. SCHEDELO550 |
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"Constantia" Konstanz on the Lake of Constance. See description in the general text above. 20.1 x 52.1 cm (7.9 x 20.5 ") $ 3000.00 Order Nr. SCHEDEL 0551 |
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"Nissa" Neisse in Silesia. See description in the general text above. 20 x 52 cm ( 7.9 x 20.5 ") $ 3000.00 Order Nr. SCHEDEL 0552 |
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Macedonia Above the image is unrelated
text. On the reverse side is text (in Latin) about
Macedonia, Magnesia, Print has a few light stains
and spots in margins. Below the image is an unreadable word
in Image size: 19 x 22.5 cm ( 7.4
x 8.8 ") $ 580.00 Order Nr. SCHEDEL0554 |
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Matheus apostolus
The story of this book is a story of superlatives. Hartmann Schedel, a medical doctor in Nuremberg who owned the most important private collection of books in all of Europe was the author. His library made the writing of this book possible. The writing and production of this book was teamwork. Among the more famous cooperators were Wilhelm Pleydenwurff and the painter and expert woodcutter Michael Wolgemut (1434-1519) who became the first noted book illustrator. His most famous apprentice up to 1489 was Albrecht Dürer who is supposedly contributed two woodcuts to the Chronicle. Poet Konrad Celtis contributed the German text which was published in December of the same year. Backside is printed with text. Print has some scattered spotting. Lower margin has been reinforced. No right margin. 14 x 10.5 cm ( 5.5 x 4.1 ") $ 250.00 Order Nr. SANTO9621 |
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