Liber cronicarum [Nuremberg Chronicle]

Date

12 July, 1493

Identifier

de Beer Ge 1493 S
HC 14508*; BMC II 437; Goff S307; Kaplan 424; ISTC is00307000.

Type

Publisher

Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, for Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermeister
Anton Koberger of Nuremberg (b. about 1445; d.1513) was a goldsmith before he became a printer, and bookseller. In 1470, he established a printery in Nuremberg and his first dated volume was Alcinous, 24 November 1472. In 1483 he produced a German Bible and in 1484 the first book printed in the Hungarian language.
Koberger was primarily a publisher, an entrepreneur par excellence, who, by 1500 had produced as many as 200 works and sold them through the various agencies he had in various European cities. He employed traveling salesmen, and issued one of the first advertising circulars. According to statements, Koberger had some twenty-four presses operating a day for his printing and employed over a hundred workmen. Durer was his godson.

Description

Rebacked mottled calf binding. Marbled endpapers. Spine title reads: Liber Chroni/ Perviam Epit/ Digestarum
Adam and Eve (f.66a), King and book img (f.151b), Nuremberg (f.99b and 100a), title-page sample, Epitoma operum (f.1a), binding and front endpapers, colophon, comet (f.186a), Constantinople (f.249a), Cyclops (detail from f.12a), Anthropagamai characters (f.12a), solar system (f.4a).

Abstract

This is the Latin edition of the Nuremberg Chronicle, a history of the world from the beginning. The most sumptuously illustrated book of the 15th century, with 1809 woodcuts by Wohleguth and Pleydenwurff, of which 1,164 are repeats. It contains many authentic views of great cities of Europe. Variants listed by W.B. Todd, The Book Collector (1964), pp.497-498. See Adrian Wilson, The Making of the Nuremberg Chronicle (1976).

Format

Paper. [20], 299, [1] leaves; illus., 1 double map. 460 x 315 mm (large folio).
Leaves 29-319 numbered I-CCXCIX.
F.1a: Woodcut title
F. 320b Colophon: "...Anthonius koberger Nuremberge impressit. Adhibitis tame viris mathematicis pingendiqz arte peritissimus. Michaele wolgemut et wilhelmo Pleydenwurff. quaru solerti acuratissimaqz animaadversione tum civitatum tum illustrium virorum figure inserte sunt. Consummatu autem duodecima mensis Iulij. Anno salutis nre. 1493.'
Woodcuts by Wohlgemuth, Pleydenwurff and [Albrecht Drer].
Some repair to map at back.

Provenance

1. William Benson (Si deus quis contra bookplate and motto)
2. Esmond de Beer
3. Otago University Library

Files

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Citation

Hartmann Schedel, “Liber cronicarum [Nuremberg Chronicle],” ourheritage.ac.nz | OUR Heritage, accessed November 9, 2024, https://ourheritage.ac.nz/items/show/6360.