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VOCABULARIUS – Gemma vocabulorum, in Latin and Dutch. – Propria nomina clarorum hominum, populorum, urbium, ex Joh. Tortellio. Deventer: Richardus Pafraet, 2 January 1497.
A remarkable survival: a beautifully preserved contemporary wallet binding from the library of Nikolaus Humbracht, with his inscription dated just two years after the book’s publication. A member of the patrician family of Frankfurt, Nikolaus Humbracht commissioned a triptych, now in the Städel Museum, by the Master of Frankfurt, active at Antwerp between 1480 and 1525.
Although printed in many editions at the end of the 15th century, copies of the Gemma vocabulorum are rare. Rare: not in any of the three major collections of incunabula (Bavarian State Library, British Library, Bibliothèque Nationale); no copy in America; and only one very imperfect copy has appeared at auction in over 50 years. C 6337; Camp 782; Polain(B) 1567 (with a wrong collation and other errors); IDL 4677; ISTC iv00332100; not in Goff.
Chancery quarto (197 x 139mm). 238 leaves, with final blank. (Faint dampstain I p3-6, small stain on A6-7, faint dampstain in D and E.) Contemporary German ledger-style wallet binding: flexible calf lined with parchment, tooled in blind with lion and rosette stamps, front cover to a design of concentric frames, rear cover a saltire design, 3 calf strips affixed with white leather thongs across spine, the central one extending around to buckle on the front, a free flyleaf at each end (portion of central strap extending beyond flap renewed, lightly worn at extremities with very minor loss, 3 spine ties missing). Provenance: Nikolaus Humbracht, 1499 (d. 1504; inscriptions) – indecipherable stamp with crowned armorial – [Gumuchian, Catalogue de Reliures (XII) 1929, no. 6 – Grace Whitney Hoff (Bibliothèque, Paris 1933, I, no. 10, plate 10)].
A remarkable survival: a beautifully preserved contemporary wallet binding from the library of Nikolaus Humbracht, with his inscription dated just two years after the book’s publication. A member of the patrician family of Frankfurt, Nikolaus Humbracht commissioned a triptych, now in the Städel Museum, by the Master of Frankfurt, active at Antwerp between 1480 and 1525.
Although printed in many editions at the end of the 15th century, copies of the Gemma vocabulorum are rare. Rare: not in any of the three major collections of incunabula (Bavarian State Library, British Library, Bibliothèque Nationale); no copy in America; and only one very imperfect copy has appeared at auction in over 50 years. C 6337; Camp 782; Polain(B) 1567 (with a wrong collation and other errors); IDL 4677; ISTC iv00332100; not in Goff.
Chancery quarto (197 x 139mm). 238 leaves, with final blank. (Faint dampstain I p3-6, small stain on A6-7, faint dampstain in D and E.) Contemporary German ledger-style wallet binding: flexible calf lined with parchment, tooled in blind with lion and rosette stamps, front cover to a design of concentric frames, rear cover a saltire design, 3 calf strips affixed with white leather thongs across spine, the central one extending around to buckle on the front, a free flyleaf at each end (portion of central strap extending beyond flap renewed, lightly worn at extremities with very minor loss, 3 spine ties missing). Provenance: Nikolaus Humbracht, 1499 (d. 1504; inscriptions) – indecipherable stamp with crowned armorial – [Gumuchian, Catalogue de Reliures (XII) 1929, no. 6 – Grace Whitney Hoff (Bibliothèque, Paris 1933, I, no. 10, plate 10)].
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