Books

THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA. First edition, and a remarkable wide-margined complete copy, preserved in its original binding bearing the city of Vienna's coat of arms, of the first illustrated encyclopedia. Published in 1493, at the dawn of the discovery period, in Nuremberg by Europe's largest printer, Anton Koberger, this ambitious illustrated world history was commissioned by two of the town's merchants. Schedel, a medical doctor, humanist, and book collector, assembled the text from a variety of classical and medieval sources, doubtless drawing on his own large personal library. Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff were brought in to design and illustrate the work, incorporating over 1800 images from over 600 individual woodcuts, more than any other previously published volume. A young Albrecht Dürer, who was apprenticed to Wolgemut whilst the book was in preparation, may have had a hand in some of the designs. The work was revolutionary in its juxtaposition of related images with text. In a chronicle covering the whole span of history from the Creation to the time of publication, with a look forward to the Last Judgment, the woodcuts include depictions of Biblical characters, legendary scenes, European cityscapes, and portraits of rulers and popes. Many of the larger illustrations were sold separately as prints, often water-coloured. Some copies of the book also had their illustrations hand-coloured. As was often the case with books of this period, many of the woodcuts appear in the text more than once, with just the captions changed. A slightly shorter, vernacular German edition followed in December of the same year aimed at the literate upper-middle classes. Besides occupying a key place in the history of book illustration, the Nuremberg Chronicle provides a wonderful insight into Renaissance knowledge and the fifteenth-century humanist understanding of the world. The work's author, Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514) was a physician and an important humanist and book collector, whose outstanding library provided much of the research materials for the work (Schedel's private library is today among the most precious collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich). The original publisher's contract for the work is extant, providing a revealing window on the complicated production of this enormous project (see Wilson). A German edition followed in December of the same year. "As a product of humanism, the Liber chronicarum is a synthesis of religion, empiricism, and classical antiquity. It is no wonder that of all people Schedel published the famous chronicle of world history. After all, he lived right in the centre of humanism: Nuremberg. Schedel grew up in the transitional period from the handwritten to the printed book and became an ardent book collector. In Nuremberg he found himself in the excellent company of 'arch-humanist' Conrad Celtis (1459-1476), but he also came into contact with the cosmographer Martin Behaim (1459-1507) and the astronomers Johannes Müller (Regiomontanus, 1436-1476) and Johannes Werner (1468-1522). The Nuremberg humanism was characterized by research into scientific, astronomical and astrological issues. "In combination with Schedel's personal interests in the field of medicine, philosophy, history, and geography the ideal breeding ground was created for the Liber chronicarum. To really understand the topographical value of this world chronicle, it is important to have some knowledge of the characteristics, contents, and sources of the book. "The 'statistics' of the Liber chronicarum, which was financed by Sebald Schreyer (1446-1520) and Sebastian Kammermeister (1446-1503), are impressive. The work has over 600 pages and both in the Latin and German edition there are more than 1,800 illustrations. The printer, Anton Koberger (circa 1440-1513), used nineteen already existing woodcuts from the Postillae (1481), while the other 633 woodcuts came from the workshop of artists Michael Wohlgemut a.

The Liber Chronicarum, also known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, is a historical book written by Hartmann Schedel and published in 1493, detailing world history.