1 Hartmann Schedel, Liber chronicarum. Nuremberg: Anton

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THE MOST EXTENSIVELY ILLUSTRATED BOOK PRINTED IN THE 15TH CENTURY
Hartmann Schedel, Liber chronicarum.
Nuremberg: Anton Koberger for Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermaister, 12 July
1493. – First edition.
Large-2°. 474 x 323 mm. 326 leaves, ff. [20], CCLXVI, [6], CCLXVII-CCXCIX, [1]. – Printed in 2
columns, 64 lines, Gothic type (Rotunda). Capitals touched in red by hand, lombards supplied in red and
occasionally blue, a fourteen-line initial in blue and red with red penwork at the beginning of the text. –
With calligraphic woodcut title “Registrum huius operis…” and 1809 woodcuts by Michael Wolgemut,
Wilhelm Pleydenwurff and others. – Old inscription on title, a few leaves slightly browned, light dampstaining to upper and lower margins, first 3 and last 4 leaves with little restoration to margins, the map at
the end with some creases and strengthened at the centrefold. – Contemporary original publisher’s
binding: blind-stamped calf on wooden boards, brass corner- and centrepieces, 2 clasps. – Recased, joints
and edges restored, endpapers renewed.
TEXT
First edition of the famous Nuremberg Chronicle (as it is popularly called, based upon the city of its
publication), a history of the world in Latin, published in the year that Columbus returned to
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Europe after discovering America. A German edition was printed shortly afterwards: 23
December 1493.
The Chronicle was compiled by the Nuremberg town physician, humanist and bibliophile
Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514). He drew heavily on the Supplementum chronicarum by Jacobus
Bergomensis, as well as on works of Vincent de Beauvais, Enea Piccolomini and others. The
Chronicle opens with the Creation of the World and closes with the Last Judgement. Along with
historical events and persons, many passages are given to portents, disasters, curiosities and
monsters. It also provides geographical information on European countries and towns.
The book was commissioned by the Nuremberg lay assessor Sebald Schreyer (1446-1520), who
invested in realties and mining, and by his brother-in-law, the patrician Sebastian Kammermeister
(d. 1501). Their interest in both history and investing lead to a pre-contract of 1487/88 (lost)
with Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, painters and woodcutters. The final (and
surviving) contract of 1491 engaged the commissioners to pay a 1000 Rhenisch gulden, as soon
as the two artists would present a manuscript ready for press ‘in Latin and German together with
the woodblocks for illustration.’ In March 1492 followed the contract with the printer Anton
Koberger who had to provide the paper and had to be paid by instalments according to the
delivered gatherings. Much precaution was given to protection: The whole enterprise should be
executed in ‘separate and locked rooms,’
so that ‘nobody could print and take away
anything without authority.’ However, the
Chronicle did not become a business
success: Even after sixteen years 571
copies (of the Latin and German editions)
were still in stock. The reason might have
been Hans Schönsperger’s cheaper pirate
editions of 1496/97 and 1500.
ILLUSTRATION
The Nuremberg Chronicle with its 1809
woodcuts from 645 blocks is regarded as
the most richly illustrated incunable, and
‘the biggest book venture at the time of
Dürer’ (Rücker).
Most important are the biblical woodcuts,
the 32 large accurate views, printed from
two to four blocks, a world map (fol. XIIvXIII; Shirley no. 19), and the large map of
northern and central Europe by
Hieronymus Münzer (c. 1447-1508), the
first ‘modern’ map of Germany in a
printed book. The magnificent doublepage views of Augsburg, Bamberg, Basel,
Breslau, Budapest, Florence, Cologne,
Lübeck, Munich, Nuremberg, Prague,
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Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576
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Manuskripte und seltene Bücher
Rome, Salzburg, Strasbourg, Ulm, Venice, Vienna, Würzburg and many others are what
perpetuate the great eminence the Chronicle holds even till today. The remaining views are
imagined, many of them used several times; the same is true for the bulk of portraits.
Wolgemut and Pleydenwurff provided the designs for the woodcuts, assisted by at least two
further drawers of Wolgemut’s workshop. It has also been assumed that Albrecht Dürer was
involved in the work, as he was the godson of Koberger and apprentice in Wolgemut’s workshop
from 1486 to 1489. However, the question of his probably rather small role in this large project is
still discussed (see Zahn 2002).
Wolgemut’s drawing of 1490 for the frontispiece is preserved in the British Museum. It reveals
how much technical skill he expected from the cutters. The Nuremberg municipal library holds
the manuscripts of the Latin and German editions with sketchy drawings after the already
finished woodcuts; they are matchless preservations of make-up copies from the 15th century.
BINDING
Dark brown calf over wooden boards, with ten brass corners and central pieces, two brass clasps.
A typical feature of Koberger bindings is a title stamped on top of front cover: “Liber
chronicarum figuris”. Also characteristic are the tools which have been used to decorate the
covers, see Einbanddatenbank (German bindings database: www.hist-einband.de) workshop
number w000298 “Adler Schedel-Meister”, for example the ‘griffon’ (stamp no. s013770), a leaf
(stamp no. s013782) or the ‘tendril rhomb’ (plate no. p001299).
PROVENANCE
1. Tempsford Hall Library, Bedfordshire, UK. The bookplate accompanied by a view of
Aldenham Abbey points to the Stuart family who resided at both manors.
2.
Collection Pierre Malle. Red leather bookplate gilt on pastedown.
LITERATURE
Bibliographical references:
Hain/Copinger no. 14508. – GW M40784. – ISTC is00307000. – Goff S-307. – London, BMC II, p. 437.
– Munich, BSB-Ink S-195. – Oxford, Bod-Inc S-108. – Schreiber no. 5203. – Schramm XVII, p. 6-7 and
9, fig. 408-576, 503-545, 551-576. – Hind I, p. 374-377 and passim. – Kunze, Buchillustration I, p. 368-381.
– Baer, Historienbücher p. 172-181 and LXVI. – Davies, Fairfax Murray (German), no. 394. – Arnim, Schäfer,
no. 309.
Monographies and essays:
A. Wilson, The Making of the Nuremberg Chronicle, Amsterdam 1976. – E. Rücker, Die Schedelsche Weltchronik:
das größte Buchunternehmen der Dürerzeit, Munich 1988. – S. Füssel, Die Welt im Buch, Buchkünstlerischer und
humanistischer Kontext der Schedelschen Weltchronik von 1493, Mainz 1996. – C. Reske, Die Produktion der
Schedelschen Weltchronik in Nürnberg, Wiesbaden 2000. – P. Zahn, ‘Albrecht Dürer und die Holzschnitte der
Schedelschen Weltchronik’, in Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 2002, p. 124-144. – Facsimiles: Kratzsch 1990; Füssel 2001.
Online information in the Web: http://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/artikel/artikel_45473
Digitized copy of University Library Frankfurt am Main:
http://sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/inc/content/titleinfo/5970815
Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books AG · Mosboden 1 · 6063 Stalden · Schweiz
Office: Spalenberg 55 · 4051 Basel · Fon +41 61 275 7575 · Fax +41 61 275 7576
info@guenther-rarebooks.com · www.guenther-rarebooks.com