Electorum imperii institutio

Antique woodcut town view of Germany. Printed in Nuremberg by Anton Koberger in 1493.

Reference 12991

Description

Large, decorative Incunabulum leaf showing area and cities of the German and Austrian Elector-Princes, who elected the Holy Roman Emperor by H. Schedel. From the Latin edition of the famous Liber chronicarum or Nuremberg Chronicle published in 1493, the year that Columbus returned to Europe after discovering America. Showing the following cities together with the coat of arms, from left to right: Augsburg, Metz, Aachen, Lübeck, Bamberg, Selestat, Haguenau, Ulm, Cologne, Regensburg, Constance and Salzburg. Verso five woodcut portraits of electors and earls. Leaf number CLXXXV.

The woodblock cutters were Michael Wolgemut, the well-known teacher of Albrecht Dürer, and his stepson Wilhelm Pleydenwurff. Wohlgemut was Albrecht Dürer's tutor between 1486-90. Since the young Dürer was active in Wohlgemut's printer shop during the time the woodblock for the Nuremberg Chronicle have produced, he may also have collaborated, since some of the cuts bear a remarkably close resemblance to his Apocalypse illustrations.

Details

Cartographer	Hartmann Schedel
Title	Electorum imperii institutio
Publisher, Year	Anton Koberger, Nuremberg, 1493
Plate Size	24.3 x 52.5 cm (9.6 x 20.7 inches)
Sheet Size	41.0 x 59.0 cm (16.1 x 23.2 inches)

Condition

As usual with backed centrefold, restored missing part in the centre of the centrefold, small tear restored in the left margin. A good example.

Cartographer

Hartmann Schedel was born 1440 in Nuremberg. He studied in Leipzig and Padua several disciplines also Physics, Medicine and Laws. Neither his social position nor his business made him famous, but his major work the so called Schedel's World Chronicle. The incunable was issued 1493 in Latin, followed by the German edition in the same year. It contains more than 1800 woodcuts out of Michael Wolgemut woodcut shop. Albrecht Dürer completed an apprenticeship with Wolgemut around 1490, so even Dürer may has worked on these woodcuts. Many of the illustrations showing cities the first time ever. In 1497 the Small Schedel was printed by Johann Schönsperger in Augsburg, a reduced version of the Nuremberg print also smaller in size. Schedel died 1514 in Nuremberg.

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Hartmann Schedel: Electorum imperii institutio.

Antique woodcut town view of Germany. Printed in Nuremberg by Anton Koberger in 1493.

Germany - Schedel, Hartmann - Electorum imperii institutio