Description
Hortulus anime zu Tewtsch Sele(n)wuortzgertlein gena(n)t / mit vil schönen gebeten un(d) figuren. (On the last text leaf:) Nuremberg, Friedrich Peypus for Johann Koberger, May 18, 1519. 8°. 16 unnum. 228 foliated Roman fol. (instead of 230 fol. [wrongly paginated 234]), 6 unnum. With 54 (instead of 56) large text woodcuts by Hans Springinklee, 2 astronomical woodcuts (sun, moon) and 3 smaller woodcuts, all text pages with woodcut borders and printer's mark on the last leaf. Modern half pigskin binding (signed Hedberg) with gilt-stamped spine title. VD16 H-5099. w. Consuelo Oldenbourg, Hortulus animae [1494]-1523, bibliography and illustration L86. Not in Adams. Prayer book printed throughout in red and black with wonderful woodcuts by Dürer's pupil Hans Springinklee (1490/95-1540), of great rarity; this is also a contemporary colored copy. Previously unknown variant of the Munich copy described in VD16 under H-5099 (Mü SB Rar. 1622) with the final printing date of May 18, 1519, whose digital copy (nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb00071227-2) we have used for comparison. Our copy also has this date of completion, but shows such significant differences to the Munich copy that we assume it is a completely new edition; in our opinion, the Munich printing is the later variant. For example, a different woodcut is printed on our title - also a crescent moon Madonna, but a standing one (and not a seated one as in the Munich copy). In the Munich print, the initials (originally) printed in red are often replaced by small woodcut initials printed in black on the "inscription plates" below the woodcuts (cf. pp. 93v, 94v and 95v); this also necessitated a new text at the head of the following page, as the woodcut initials required more space than the original small red initials. The most notable deviations are at the end of the last two foliated leaves and the six unfoliated leaves. In our copy, the last leaf of quire "f" is foliated "CCXXVIII", the first leaf of quire "g" "CCXXXIII"; in the Munich copy, the foliation of the first leaf of quire "g" has been corrected to "CCXXIX". The text is identical in both prints. In our copy, leaf "g2" has the following text printed in red at the end: "Das ist die löbliche bruderschafft des hymelischen Rosenkrantz. To those who pray the hymnal rosary we grant all indulgences of our dear Lady Rosary / and to this end one hundred and seven years / one hundred and fifty years / and one thousand seven hundred and eighty days." The reverse of the leaf shows the woodcut of the rosary. In the Munich copy, the text printed in red is printed above or below the rosary woodcut, whereby the text below the woodcut had to be shortened due to lack of space to: "To those who pray the hym(m)lische Rosenkrantz we grant asller ablass unser lieben frawen Rosenkra(n)tz ( vn(d) darzu. c.vn(d) seven(d) years/ c.quadrage(n)/ vn(d) m.vn(d). lxxx. Day." The small-format "Hortulus animae" was an extremely popular prayer book for the people at the time; it first appeared in Latin in Strasbourg in 1498 and in German in 1501, after which editions followed almost every year. Peypus printed three Latin and three German editions for Koberger in 1518 and 1519 alone! Given that so many editions were published, only very few copies have survived - a telling testimony to how much these books were used. Oldenbourg lists 36 editions, of each of which only a single copy has survived. The present copy has the following 16th century ownership entry at the foot of the crucifixion woodcut on p. XXXI: "Auß dem Weissenauer Closter ist diß Buch an mich Anna Ottin verehrt worden". A copy with numerous damages. The two leaves M2 and Z8, each with a woodcut, are missing. Numerous woodcut borders are frayed at the sides (some also trimmed). There are mended tears in the folds of a number of leaves. Some leaf edges have old paper strips on the outside. On the flyleaf ownership entry by Baron Per Hierta, Främmestad, dated 1896, below the name entry Otto Smith dated 1911; the Swedish brandy producer Smith took over a large part of the Hierta book collection. Possibly unique. The only copy of the 1519 edition of Peypus dated May 18 in the trade I can find in catalog IV of Weiss, Munich, 1917; this is possibly the Munich copy mentioned.
You may also like