Magdeburg

Title

Magdeburg

Description

General view of the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe. Reverse side shows several depictions of kings. Printed by Anton Kober, German edition.

ca. 1493

Artist

Schedel (1440-1515)

Hartmann Schedel (1440 -1515) settled in Nuremberg 1484. He published the famous Nuremberg Chronicle 1493, Schedel's library has been sold in 1552 to Hans Jacob Fugger. Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle must have been one of the most popular of incunables, judging by the number of surviving copies. Some 800 copies of the Latin edition have been traced and 400 of the German. This is not surprising considering that this compilation of sacred and profaned history was the most elaborate printed book of its time, illustrated with more than 1800 woodcuts. Among these were a number of double-page city views, a folding map of the world and another of northern and central Europe. The text is an amalgam of legend, fancy and tradition interspersed with the occasional scientific fact or authentic piece of modern learning. Hartmann Schedel, a physician of Nuremberg, was the editor-in-chief; the printer was Anton Koberger, and among the designers the most famous were Michael Wolgemut and Hanns Pleydenwurff, masters of the Nuremberg workshop where Albrecht Durer served his apprenticeship. The first edition of the Nuremberg Chronicle in July 1493 was in Latin and there was a reprint with German text in December of the same year. World Map: His Ptolemaic world map with the figures simbolizing the three sons of Noah's: Sem, Ham and Jafet. The world map was included in the Chronicle of the Nuremberg physician, Hartmann Schedel to demonstrate the world after the Deluge. The hundreds of the woodcuts used for printing the illustrations of the famous German work were cut by Wolgemut and Pleydenwurff. The young Albrecht Dürer could contributed to the book as he apprenticed the Nuremberg printers. The panel to the left side, showing the monstrous races, is an illustration of the tales, fables and antique works, first of all Pliny the elder. Note that this panel is the best identification mark of our edition, there was another panel with the map of the 1493 edition.

Historical Description

The area of today's state of Saxony-Anhalt was one of the cultural focal points in the German-speaking area in the early Middle Ages. Today's state capital Magdeburg was at that time one of the political centers in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The well-preserved architectural monuments from the Romanesque and Gothic periods, such as the cathedrals in Magdeburg and Halberstadt, the old town of Quedlinburg and many castles and churches, testify to the earlier importance of the entire region. The state was created in July 1947 through the unification of the Free State of Anhalt with the Prussian provinces of Magdeburg and Halle-Merseburg, which the Free State of Prussia had created in April 1944 by dividing its province of Saxony.