Scarce, pirated 15th century imaginary view of England

Description

This small and rare woodcut fictional image of an English town is from a reduced version of Hartmann Schedel’s Nuremberg Chronicle, published by Johann Schönsperger in 1496 in Augsburg. It is therefore often referred to as the Augsburg Chronicle.

The Liber Chronicarum, or Nuremberg Chronicle, named so after the place of its publication, was an early, highly successful encyclopedia with strong geographical emphasis, also known as a cosmography, presenting a narrated and richly illustrated universal history of the world. It was created by Hartmann Schedel, a German polymath, and printed and published for the first time in 1493 by Anton Koberger, who was also the godfather of Albrecht Dürer.

Due to its folio size and elaborate nature, the Nuremberg Chronicle was expensive and not easily accessible. With copyright laws not yet existing, rival printer and publisher Johann Schönsperger seized the opportunity and produced and published an abridged as well as smaller, and therefore also more affordable, version of the chronicle three years after the original. Later editions followed.

With Schönsperger’s publication lacking explicit consent of Schedel and/or Koberger, it is frequently considered pirated. All of his editions of the chronicle are much rarer than the original.

Printed on a sheet with German text above and below the image and on verso.

A difficult-to-find incunable with an intriguing history.

Publication

Das Buch der Croniken und Geschichten

Condition

Very good.

A clear impression on a sheet with light soiling in lower right corner, contained to margin. Clean image. Minor edge tears at bottom and left, with one small professional repair at upper left.

Item #: 02787

US $600.00

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