A SUM OF HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE 1490S, THE NUREMBERG CHRONICLE IS A GRAND DEPICTION OF EUROPE AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. In addition to a very comprehensive history of the main countries and cities, this universal chronicle abounds in delightful details: the invention of printing, the invention of chess, the discoveries of Portuguese navigators, and the construction of important monuments.

ADORNED WITH A LARGE FULL-PAGE XYLOGRAPHIC TITLE, THIS SUPERB INCUNABLE IS ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER 1,800 WOODCUTS, SOME REPEATED, OF GREAT BEAUTY AND REMARKABLE PRECISION.

A MULTITUDE OF EUROPEAN CITIES ARE ENGRAVED ON DOUBLE OR SINGLE PAGES, MANY BEING AUTHENTIC REPRESENTATIONS OF THE STATE OF THESE VARIOUS CITIES AT THE END OF THE 15TH CENTURY: Jerusalem, Rome, Venice, Florence, Augsburg, Vienna, Nuremberg, Constantinople, Strasbourg, Salzburg, Ulm, Munich, Prague, Basel, Krakow, Lübeck (first view of Toulouse).

SUPERB LARGE WOODCUTS REPRESENT: The Creation, God Master of the Universe (275 x 224 mm), The Creation of Eve, The Expulsion from Paradise, Eve with Cain and Abel, Pope Pius II and Frederick III. Many other very expressive and varied figures evoke feasts, dances, and celebrations as well as genealogies or portraits in large arabesques along the text.

THESE FAMOUS WOODCUTS ARE BY Wolgemut, born in Nuremberg in 1434, and his son-in-law Pleydenwurff.

BIBLIOGRAPHERS UNANIMOUSLY HIGHLIGHT THE QUALITY, RICHNESS, AND IMPORTANCE OF THE ILLUSTRATION SIGNED BY A RECOGNIZED MASTER, OF THIS INCUNABLE UNIVERSAL CHRONICLE. "The chronicle and the Schatzbehalter are the two first important books with original illustrations published in Nuremberg and with the exception of Breydenbach, the earliest books printed in Germany of which the woodcuts can be assigned with certainty to a known draftsman." Dogson.

THE SUMPTUOUS COPY IS ONE OF THE FEW TO HAVE BEEN ENTIRELY PAINTED AT THE TIME.

ALL THE VARIOUS DETAILS OF THE 1809 WOODCUTS THUS COME TO LIFE UNDER THE ARTIST'S BRUSH AND GIVE AN ENTIRELY NEW DIMENSION TO THIS GREAT FRESCO OF THE WORLD.

The colors, both subtle and very pleasing, do not detract from the finesse of the woodcuts, which they enhance notably in a particularly happy harmony of ultramarine blue, emerald green, and carmine. THE SET OF THESE PAINTINGS EXHIBITS A REMARKABLE STATE OF FRESHNESS.

The artist has finally enhanced the ornamentation of the volume with the presence of numerous large initials drawn and painted by hand, with scroll motifs, one of them evoking a Gothic stained glass window.

VERY PRECIOUS COPY PRESERVED IN ITS ORIGINAL BINDING OF BLIND-STAMPED PIGSKIN OVER WOODEN BOARDS. The covers are entirely decorated with blind-stamped roll-stamps, palms, and palmettes.

AN ASTONISHING INCUNABLE FRESCO OF THE KNOWN WORLD IN 1493, WONDERFULLY ENHANCED WITH FRESH COLORS AND PRESERVED IN ITS ORIGINAL BINDING OF THE TIME.