Descrizione

With an engraved frontispiece and 117 numbered woodcuts by Hans Burgkmair, Leopold Schaufelein, Leonhard Beck and others reprinted from the sixteenth century plates, engraved initials and tail-pieces throughout. Folio, in antique half vellum over marbled boards, with institutional gold wax seal on upper board, spine lettered in manuscript. 125 ff; 58 pp. Very handsomely preserved and a very pleasing copy with a bit of age evidence to the binding and some mellowing to the prelims.

Edizione: a fine early issue of one of the most spectacular german illustrated books of the sixteenth century. the poem is an allegorical chivalric romance celebrating the exploits of the hero (emperor maximilian i) in overcoming a series of obstacles in his journey to seek the hand in marriage of queen ernreich (mary of burgundy) in 1478. parts of the text were composed by maximilian himself, who had made the first drafts in 1505-8; his private secretary melchior pfintzing oversaw completion of the poem and edited the work. other contributors were maximilian's silberkammerer sigismund von dietrichstein and his geheimsekretar marx treitzsauerwein; johann stabius and the humanist conrad peutinger worked with the printers and artists. a contract survives dated 17 december 1508, in which maximilian awarded the augsburg printer schonsperger, a specialist in the production of german illustrated books, the post of imperial printer for life, at an annual salary of 10 florins. <br> this printing contains additional preliminary material by matthaus schultes and a 58 page work on maximilian i.