![[FRIDOLIN, Stephan (first third of the 15th century - 1498)]. Schatzbehalter oder schrein der waren reichtümer des heils und ewyger seligkeit. Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 8th November 1491.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2001/NYR/2001_NYR_09880_0073_000(040342).jpg?w=1)
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[FRIDOLIN, Stephan (first third of the 15th century - 1498)]. Schatzbehalter oder schrein der waren reichtümer des heils und ewyger seligkeit. Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 8th November 1491.
Median 2o (329 x 222 mm). Collation: a-z ab-ad6 ae8 A-Z Aa-Gg6 Hh10. 353 leaves (of 354 lacks final blank), 40 lines and head-line, double column. Gothic types 11:162, (head-lines, subjects, first heading in each book); 10:120, (text). Capital-spaces with printed guide-letters, 7- and 11-line illuminated opening initials by contemporary Nuremberg artist. Rubricated with two large red and blue divided Lombard initials, many smaller initials in red or blue, red paragraph marks and capital strokes. 96 FULL-PAGE NUMBERED WOODCUTS BY MICHAEL WOLGEMUT FULLY COLORED BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND including 5 repeats. (Minor worming at beginning, browning to some leaves, light marginal staining.) Contemporary German black stained pigskin over wooden boards, blind-tooled with triple fillets to an overall saltire pattern, the intersections of the fillets marked with a tiny rosette the individual compartments edged with Kopfstempel and marked with curving double lines emanating from a central small rosette (rebacked with black stained pigskin in a matching design, lower cover with leather patch, clasps missing). Provenance: Bibliotheca Canoniae ad B.V. Mariam Santamque Felicitatem (booklabel with printed date 1778) -- Estelle Doheny (morocco bookplate; purchased from Erwin Rosenthal, Berkeley) -- donated to SMS, 1945.
FIRST EDITION of one of the earliest German illustrated books with woodcuts that can be attributed to specific artists, and one of the great monuments of late gothic woodcut design. FULLY COLORED IN A CONTEMPORARY HAND, colored in Koberger's shop or by an atelier associated with Koberger in a vivid and consistent palette.
Little is know about the author of the Schatzbehalter. The devotional and edificational text was written for the Sisters of the Nuremberg Order of St. Clare (Poor Clares) and edited by Sister Caritas Pirckheim. The content is mainly concerned with the contemplation of the life of Christ and his suffering. It is set in a large and beautiful gothic type. The 91 large full-page woodblocks (252 x 176 mm) are designed to illustrate the text faithfully. They depict scenes from the Old and New Testament but also allegorical images with theological subjects. The beginning and end of the illustration sequence are marked by illustrations of hands and an illustration of the cross (cuts 1 and 87). The woodcuts "...are not signed, nor is their authorship mentioned in text, but they have always been attributed to Wolgemut on the strength of their resemblance to his pictures and to the cuts in Schedel's Chronicle, which are certified as his work by the colophon" (Dodgson I pages 241-42). Apart from Michael Wolgemut, many of the woodcut illustrations can also be attributed to Wilhelm Pleydenwurff and a few others to apprentices in Wolgemut's workshop, including perhaps Albrecht Duerer. BMC II, 434 (IB. 7413); BSB-Ink. F-263; Fairfax Murray German 392; HC *14507; Harvard/Walsh 715 and 716; Muther 423; Pr 2070; Goff S-306.
Median 2o (329 x 222 mm). Collation: a-z ab-ad6 ae8 A-Z Aa-Gg6 Hh10. 353 leaves (of 354 lacks final blank), 40 lines and head-line, double column. Gothic types 11:162, (head-lines, subjects, first heading in each book); 10:120, (text). Capital-spaces with printed guide-letters, 7- and 11-line illuminated opening initials by contemporary Nuremberg artist. Rubricated with two large red and blue divided Lombard initials, many smaller initials in red or blue, red paragraph marks and capital strokes. 96 FULL-PAGE NUMBERED WOODCUTS BY MICHAEL WOLGEMUT FULLY COLORED BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND including 5 repeats. (Minor worming at beginning, browning to some leaves, light marginal staining.) Contemporary German black stained pigskin over wooden boards, blind-tooled with triple fillets to an overall saltire pattern, the intersections of the fillets marked with a tiny rosette the individual compartments edged with Kopfstempel and marked with curving double lines emanating from a central small rosette (rebacked with black stained pigskin in a matching design, lower cover with leather patch, clasps missing). Provenance: Bibliotheca Canoniae ad B.V. Mariam Santamque Felicitatem (booklabel with printed date 1778) -- Estelle Doheny (morocco bookplate; purchased from Erwin Rosenthal, Berkeley) -- donated to SMS, 1945.
FIRST EDITION of one of the earliest German illustrated books with woodcuts that can be attributed to specific artists, and one of the great monuments of late gothic woodcut design. FULLY COLORED IN A CONTEMPORARY HAND, colored in Koberger's shop or by an atelier associated with Koberger in a vivid and consistent palette.
Little is know about the author of the Schatzbehalter. The devotional and edificational text was written for the Sisters of the Nuremberg Order of St. Clare (Poor Clares) and edited by Sister Caritas Pirckheim. The content is mainly concerned with the contemplation of the life of Christ and his suffering. It is set in a large and beautiful gothic type. The 91 large full-page woodblocks (252 x 176 mm) are designed to illustrate the text faithfully. They depict scenes from the Old and New Testament but also allegorical images with theological subjects. The beginning and end of the illustration sequence are marked by illustrations of hands and an illustration of the cross (cuts 1 and 87). The woodcuts "...are not signed, nor is their authorship mentioned in text, but they have always been attributed to Wolgemut on the strength of their resemblance to his pictures and to the cuts in Schedel's Chronicle, which are certified as his work by the colophon" (Dodgson I pages 241-42). Apart from Michael Wolgemut, many of the woodcut illustrations can also be attributed to Wilhelm Pleydenwurff and a few others to apprentices in Wolgemut's workshop, including perhaps Albrecht Duerer. BMC II, 434 (IB. 7413); BSB-Ink. F-263; Fairfax Murray German 392; HC *14507; Harvard/Walsh 715 and 716; Muther 423; Pr 2070; Goff S-306.