Liber Chronicarum [Nuremberg Chronicles].

SCHEDEL, Hartmann.

$92,000.00

Item Number: 143505

Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1493.

First edition of the most fully realized illustrated book of the fifteenth century and one of the most impressive volumes ever published. Imperial folio, bound in three quarter calf with five raised bands to the spine, morocco title labels lettered in gilt to the spine and front panel, copiously illustrated with 1,809 splendid woodcuts by Wohlgemuth and Pleydenwurff (the teachers of Durer), some full page, others double-page, illustrating Schedel’s year-by-year account of notable events in world history from the Creation to the year of publication, including the creation of Adam and Eve, birth of Jesus Christ, invention of printing at Mainz, exploration of the Atlantic and of Africa, as well as references to the game of chess and medical curiosities, including what is believed to be the first depiction of Siamese twins. Drawn by the author from multiple medieval and Renaissance sources, such as Bede, Vincent of Beauvais, Martin of Tropau, Flavius Blondus, Bartolomeo Platina, and Philippus de Bergamo (Iacopo Filippo Foresta), the Chronicle also incorporates geographical and historical information on European countries and towns. The colophon on 266r includes the names of Wohlgemuth and Pleydenwurff and 1493 as the date of publication. The Nuremberg Chronicles is especially famed for its series of over 1,800 woodcuts depicting biblical subjects, classical and medieval history, and a large series of city views in Europe and the Middle East including Jerusalem Byzantium, Augsburg, Bamberg, Basel, Cologne, Nuremberg, Rome, Ulm, and Vienna. Includes the double-page map of Europe showing the British Isles, Iceland and Scandinavia, the double-page map of Germany, and and the three numbered blank leaves, intended for the recording of post-publication history (f. 259, 260 & 261). The woodcut of Pope Joan (f.169, verso) and text relating to it are unmutilated. 323 leaves instead of 326, lacking the xylographic title page and two pages of the index which have been supplied. A very good example of this monumental achievement in the history of printing which has survived over five centuries.

Hartmann Schedel was a medical doctor, humanist and book collector. He earned a doctorate in medicine in Padua in 1466, then settled in Nuremberg to practice medicine and collect books. According to an inventory done in 1498, Schedel's personal library contained 370 manuscripts and 670 printed books. He compiled this elaborate history of the world from “the first day of creation” to his own time in an effort to correct what he felt was a slight to German history by other chroniclers. He divided his work into the usual six ages of the history of mankind, adding a seventh in which he foretold the coming of the Antichrist, the destruction of the world, and judgment day. The invention of printing is mentioned on verso of leaf CCLII: “born in Germany… in the city near the Rhine [i.e. Mainz]… in the year 1440”; on verso of leaf CCXC is a brief account (not appearing in the subsequent German edition of the same year) of the “Portuguese voyage of discovery along the coast of Africa in 1483 [1484], under the direction of Diego Cam and Martin Behaim of Nuremberg, which has been used as a basis for the unwarranted theory that the expedition reached America” (Sabin). The legacy of the volume rests on its illustrations. “There are 1809 woodcuts printed from 645 different blocks. They picture the major events of the Old and New Testaments, episodes in the lives of many saints, portraits of prophets, kings, popes, heroes, and great men of all centuries, freaks of nature, and panoramic views of cities. Nuremberg artists Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff were responsible for the production of the book… The wood blocks were designed by the two masters and their assistants, including the young Albrecht Dürer, who was apprenticed to Wolgemut at the time. The printing was carried out under the supervision of the great scholar-printer Anton Koberger, whose illustrated books were famous throughout Europe” (Legacies of Genius 5).