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| WFU
7,8
Anonymous, German fr. Chroniken der Sassen (1492) Peter Schoeffer, printer Konrad Bote, text Woodcut 5" x 5 5/8", 11 3/16" x 7 7/8" |
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| WFU
12
Anonymous, German fr. Rudimentum Novitiarum (1475) Lucas Brandis, printer Woodcut 2 7/16" x 2 1/4" |
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| The
development of the printing press and perhaps more importantly movable
type by Johann Gutenberg in Mainz during the mid-1450’s gave Germany the
undisputed advantage in the production of printed books. The first businessmen
to take advantage of the new market were Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer,
financial backers of Gutenburg. Due to Gutenberg’s financial problems,
they took over his invention in 1455. Their Psalter of 1457 was
the first printed book with a publisher’s name and date included.1
Fust and Schoeffer and the city of Mainz would continue to dominate the printing business until 1462. During that year, a dispute between two rival archbishops in Mainz finally succeeded in disrupting the entire city, both politically and economically. Conducting business in the city became difficult, so printers trained by Fust and Schoeffer moved to more promising towns to establish their own presses. Prior to 1462 there were only two presses in cities outside Mainz, but by 1472, there were presses in every major European city.2 In the Wake Forest collection, the two pages from incunabula, as the books of the fifteenth century were to be called, illustrate the foundation of the printing industry in Germany. Number 12 in the collection is a page from the Rudimentum Novitiarum printed by Lucas Brandis in the city of Lübeck in 1475. This, his first book, is probably his best and most famous work.3 Like the Nuremberg Chronicle, it followed the tradition of the universal history book, but in this case, on a smaller scale. Because printing was a very risky venture in the fifteenth century and Lübeck, unlike Cologne, Augsburg, or Ulm, was not a major center for printing, Brandis experienced difficulties in his profession. He eventually left the business altogether. The Rudimentum’s cuts included genealogical tables, maps, Biblical subjects, and portraits. Like other printers, Brandis saved money by repeating cuts. The page in the Wake Forest Collection is a modest example of subjects illustrated in Brandis’ book. The woodcut, a representation of church figures gathered in a circle, is done in a very simple style; the drapery hangs very straight and only the barest single-hatching is used for shading. The page is highlighted with red initials that were added by hand, to make the book appear more like a manuscript. Numbers 7 and 8 are from the Chroniken der Sassen which was printed by Peter Schoeffer, who continued to print after Fust’s death in 1466. The Chroniken is one of only three of Schoeffer’s books known for their illustrations.5 (That is notable considering he printed over 130 books.) The text of the Chroniken, written by Konrad Bote, is another narrative history book. The illustrations consist of views of cities and genealogical and heraldic portraits. Number 7 in the collection is a historical text on the cities of Augsburg and Regensberg. In the traditional manner, the text is Latin, while headings and illustration captions are in the vernacular. The woodcut illustration constitutes less than half of the page and shows two church figures with the respective cities’ heraldic portrait. The figures and cityscape are stylized, more symbolic than pictorially representative of the subjects; not much attention is given to scale. One scholar attributes this tendency to the political or historical landscape tradition as opposed to "scenic interest".6 Number 8 is a genealogical table, linked by chains and supplemented by stock portraits of the two primary ancestors and heraldic symbols. The illustrations are simple but elegant examples of fifteenth century book illustration. On close inspection, breaks in the illustration mark the shortcuts that the printer took in this book. The figures, heraldic shields, and the family tree itself are all from different blocks, assembled together to make this full-page illustration. K.H. 1.
Levarie, 1968, 82.
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