Liber chronicarum [German]. Das Buch der Croniken und Geschichten.

Imperial folio: [257 (of 298)] ff., c. 62 ll. (1st quire *10 missing, incl. German title replaced by a fragment of the Latin title pasted on front flyleaf; missing also ff. 10-11-12-13, 176, 186, 249, 260-261, 275-276, 279-298; f. 39 missing but substituted by hand as for the half upper part of f. 211, 3/4 of f. 235 missing but restored with mod. leaf; f. VIII in double bound between ff. IX and XIIII, ff. 66, 69, 78 & 80 inverted, many errors in foliotation, many ff. displaced: 77 between 66 & 68, 116 btw. 96 & 97, 118 btw. 114 & 115, 146 btw. 117 & 119, 249 btw. 145 & 147, 273 btw. 248 & 250, some corners missing with lack in ill. or text, margins strengthened and occ. marg. tears reinforced (ff. 183 & 214), some mod. ff. interfoliated, tear in f. 143 with lack of text restored).

Partly 16th-c. black morocco on wooden boards with brass studs and corner pieces, spine with raised bands (rebacked, boards and edges repaired, traces of brass pcs, mod. pastedowns and flylyeaves).

First German translation by Georg Alt of the most extensively illustrated book of the 15th c. The 2 editions (Latin and German) were planned simultaneously, each with its own specially designed new type, and both with the same woodcuts; the Latin ed. preceded the German by about 5 months. The text is a universal history written in Latin by the Nuremberg physician and humanist Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514), with on f. 252v the famous reference to the invention of printing in 1440 in Mainz. The Chronicle also incorporates geographical and historical information on European countries and towns. The narrative is divided into the 7 Ages of the World. The print run is estimated at 1800 copies.
Illustration: c. 1500 woodcuts, some hand-coloured, by Michael Wohlgemuth, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff and their workshop, including Albrecht Dürer. The woodcuts show religious subjects from the Old and New Testament, classical and medieval history, and city views, some in double-page, incl. Augsburg, Basel, Byzantium, Florence, Jerusalem, Bamberg, Nuremberg, Prague, Rome, Venice and Vienna.
Ref. ISTC is00309000. - GW M40796. - Goff S309. - Polain 3471. - BMC II:437. - CIBN S-163. - Bsb-Ink S-197. - A. Wilson, The making of the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1976. - C. Reske, Die Produktion der Schedelschen Weltchronik in Nürnberg, 2000.