Schedel, Liber Chronicarum, Augsburg, 1497, later stamped pigskin

Schedel, Hartmann

Liber chronicarum. Augsburg: Johann Schönsperger, 1 February 1497

Chancery folio (295 x 190mm.), 386 leaves (of 388, without both blank leaves), [*-***]⁶ [****]⁸; a⁶ b-e⁴ f-g⁶ h⁴ i⁶ k² l⁴ m⁶ n⁸ o-p⁶ q⁴ r-v⁶ x⁴ y-z A-Z AA-MM⁶ NN⁴ OO⁶ [*]², double column, 51 lines plus headline, gothic type, numerous woodcuts (including double-page map), seventeenth-century German tooled pigskin over wooden boards, two clasps, blue edges, modern slipcase, manuscript note at end of index dated 1554, v2-y3 and C6 repaired at lower corner with slight loss on x3-4, a few woodcuts shaved, map repaired at foot

A smaller format reprint of the monumental Nuremberg Chronicle; as many copies do not contain the map at the end, it may not have been included in all copies (see BMC). The same map also appears in Schönsperger's German editions of 1496 and 1500, with gaps left for the place names so that type can be inserted as appropriate.

Appearing just three years after the original chronicle, the smaller format of the Augsburg editions (in both Latin and German) meant they were much cheaper than the originals. The illustrations are smaller but more numerous, and the text is uncut, even to the point of including the original colophon, on GG1. The original double-page view of Nuremberg is considerably reduced in size.

LITERATURE:

ISTC is00308000; Campbell 222ii

PROVENANCE:

erased inscriptions on title-page; Robert Smith (1752-1838, later Lord Carrington), armorial bookplate; Jorge Beristayn (1894-1964), inscription on inside front cover and flyleaf dated 1963 (he owned a large collection of incunabula)