6 - Koelhoff's Chronik - Tribute to the Jupiter Column - 1499

Koelhoff's Chronik - Tribute to the Jupiter Column - 1499 Description: XXXIII. Representatives of the five Rhine cities, designated by their city coats of arms, pay tribute to the Jupiter Column in Trier. A woodcut from Die Cronica van der hilliger Stat va[n] Coelle[n], Köln: Johannes Koelhoff der Jüngere, 23. 8. 1499 by the Author Guilelmus The work was published in 1499, re-using many woodcuts from the 1491-1498 period and with new cut woodcuts for the publication probably created between 147-1499. A rare and interesting full page woodcut from the incunabula period pre 1500. Dimensions: 22,50 x 14,20 cm Condition: Woodcut and text in good early impression on a full laid paper from the period with full margins. Age toned and thumbed in bottom right corner as might be expected. Excellent for a piece over 500 years old. Literature: The Cologne Chronicle, a richly illustrated book written in the vernacular, is one of the unusual products of Cologne printing in the incunabula period (Corsten), along with the illustrated Bibles that were created two decades earlier. While the work was not a success at the time of its publication and even led to the economic ruin of the printer and publisher Joh. Koelhoff the Younger, the Cologne Chronicle is now an indispensable part of modern research history as one of the most important source works on Cologne and Rhineland history, as an important monument to the Cologne-Ripuarian language, and as evidence of Gutenberg's role as the inventor of the printing press. The unusually high number of woodcuts appears to be the result of the success of Schedel's World Chronicle, but is also largely dependent on a handwritten chronicle of Cologne: the "Agrippina" by Heinrich von Beeck, written around 1470. The woodcuts show famous early views of Cologne, historical scenes, portraits and coats of arms (including the double-leaf quaternion eagle). - The anonymous author, about whom speculation has been made for centuries, is possibly a monk of the Augustinian Hermits (cf. Corsten). - According to Corsten's estimates, the print run of the book was barely more than 250 copies, although later research, based on the surviving exemplars and fragments suggest some 600 to 800 copies. ---------- Copinger (1895–1902) Nr. 4989; GW 6688. – Schreiber (1910–1911) Nr. 3753; Ernst Voullieme: Der Buchdruck Kölns bis zum Ende des fünfzehnten Jahrhunderts. Ein Beitrag zur Inkunabelkunde. Bonn 1903 (Publikationen der Gesellschaft für Rheinische Geschichtskunde 24; Baer (1903/1973) S. 189–192, Abb. XXIV; Schramm 8 (1924) S. 12f., Abb. 749–828; Borchling/ Claussen 1 (1931) Sp. 138f., Nr. 312; Kunze (1975) Bd. 2, Taf. 207–209; Severin Corsten: Die Kölnische Chronik von 1499. Hamburg 1982. (48 S. mit Abb.). Medium: oldcolored woodcut Date: 1499