LEAVES FROM THE NUREMBURG CHRONICLE
Set of four leaves, each 11"x 16", taken from a Latin edition of the Nuremburg Chronicle, one of the first widely-distributed printed books, and one of the first to integrate text and illustrations. The Chronicle presented an illustrated history of the world, from Genesis, through Biblical times, to modern times and the Last Judgment. The leaves presented here contain forty-one monochrome woodcut illustrations, produced by the workshop of Michael Wolgemut, twenty-four of which are portraits of kings, popes, saints, nobles, and other notable personages. The remainder, however, depict such events as the burning of a large group of people on a pyre, the destruction of a city by an earthquake, a feast, a wedding and the visitation of an angel. The capitals of one leaf have been outlined in red ink, and a marginal notation appears on another. Two leaves bear mounting tape remnants, else very good.