Liber Chronicarum. Nuremberg Chronicle. Single Leaf. Folio CCVIII. [Saint Dominic. Saint Francis. Honorius III. Gregory Ninth].

Nuremberg:: Anton Koberger,, 1493.. Single leaf.. MInor edge wear, few small contemporary notes in old ink to outer margin, faded stain at lower margin, overall still excellent. Recto mentions history of Saint Dominic and Saint Francis with woodcuts. Verso mentions history of Pope Honorius the Third, Pope Gregory the Ninth and Celestine the Fourth, with woodcuts of each. The Nuremberg Chronicle is the most extensively illustrated book, and one of the most important, of the 15th century. The text is a universal history of the Christian world from the beginning of time to the 1490Õs. Written in Latin by physician and humanist, Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514) on commission from Nuremberg merchants Sebald Schreye (1446-1520) and Sebastian Kammermeister (1446-1503). The Chronicle was printed by Nuremberg printer Anton Koberger (c.1440-1513), owner of the largest 15th-century German printing house. The Latin edition was printed in KobergerÕs shop between May 1492 and October 1493. In the meantime, a German translation was commissioned to George Alt (c.1450-1510), a scribe at the Nuremberg treasury, and the German edition was printed alongside the Latin one between January and December 1493. The Chronicle was illustrated by German artists Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, with the assistance of studio apprentices, including a young Albrecht Durer.