With 235 Woodcut Illustrations
LIVY, Titus; Bernhard SCHÖFFERLIN and Ivo WITTIG (translators). Romische historie … meniglich kürtzweilich und dienstlich zu lessen. [Mainz: Johann Schöffer]. 1514.
Folio. Eighteenth-century speckled calf, rebacked, spine with raised bands, compartments tooled in blind; ff. [12], i-cccciii, lacking final 7 leaves (i.e. ff. ccciv-ccccx), title in red and black, numerous woodcut initials, some possibly metal cut, with 235 woodcut illustrations (from an original total of 237), including one full-page; text printed in Gothic type; hinges cracked, extremities slightly worn, endpapers renewed; title-page re-margined with small loss to centre and lower edge (affecting a few words of preface), tiny wormholes to upper part of first 5 ff. touching a few letters, wormhole to lower margin of ff. b5-c1 (not affecting text), and to lower margin of ff. c2-f6 (not affecting text, restored), wormhole to upper inner margin of ff. g1-h3 (not affecting text), closed tear to lower edge of k1 (restored), closed tear to Lll1 (restored), open tear to Lll2 (affecting a few words, restored); some variable thumb-soiling and damp-staining, but overall very good. Provenance: Some contemporary underlining and occasional marginal notes (some slightly trimmed); ownership inscription ‘Ex Libris Josephi S.R.I. Equitis de Bretfeld A.o 1797’ of Joseph von Bretfeld (1729-1820), a Bohemian lawyer and university professor in Prague, to title.
Third edition of the first German translation of Livy’s History of Rome, one of the most copiously illustrated books of the German early Renaissance, with over two hundred large woodcut illustrations.
The Römische Historie was first published in Mainz in 1505 by Johann Schöffer and reissued in 1507 in Strasbourg by Johann Grüninger. This third edition was the last to include the original woodcut illustrations. The printer Johann Schöffer (c. 1475-1531) was the son of Peter Schöffer (c. 1425-c. 1503), Gutenberg’s apprentice and successor. The translation is a collaborative effort: Parts I and II were translated by Bernhard Schöfferlin (c. 1436-1501), while Part III was completed by Ivo Wittig (1455-1507). The first Latin edition of Livy’s History of Rome was printed in Rome as early as 1469 by Konrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz; however, no German translation appeared during the fifteenth century. The preface by Johann Schöffer (on the title’s verso) is an early account of Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the movable-type printing press, and the subsequent improvements by Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, for which the city of Mainz ‘should be praised and lauded not only throughout the German nation, but also throughout the world’ (transl.).
The large number of woodcut illustrations, many reused multiple times, serves as a ‘treasure trove of German cultural history from the Middle Ages: costumes, buildings, castles, churches, city views, landscapes, and ships’ (Reiniger, p. 16, transl.). Predominantly half-page, with some larger examples, these images were created from either single wood blocks or combinations of two blocks, allowing for diverse arrangements. The only full-page illustration, found after the title page, depicts Schöfferlin presenting his book to the dedicatee, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519), enthroned and surrounded by the seven prince-electors. The anonymous creator of these illustrations is known as the ‘Master of the Woodcuts of the Mainz Livy’, although scholars suggest that several artists may have been involved.
Rare: OCLC shows five copies in the US (Mills, Princeton, Trinity, UCLA, and Kentucky) and only one in the UK (British Library).
BM STC German, 1455-1600, p. 521; Brunet III, 1113; Panzer I, 788; Proctor 9856; VD16 L 2104. See Thormählen, ‘Die Holzschnittmeister der Mainzer Livius-Illustrationen’; Reiniger, Sickingens Ebernburg.
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