Lot 02

Ulrich von Richenthal (1360 - 1437) COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE CHRONICLES

The second edition of the famous chronicle of the Council of Constance (1414-1418), the largest assembly of the Middle Ages, was created on the basis of the first edition by A. Sorgo in Augsburg in 1483. The author of the text is the chronicler of Constance Ulrich von Richenthal (1360-1437). Artistically valuable woodcuts were created by Jörg Breu the Younger (1510 - 1547) Augsburg draughtsman, miniaturist and painter, also using the mentioned incunabula edition. The exceptionally rich illustrative accompaniment thus covers the course and proceedings of the Council, its assemblies, knightly tournaments, celebratory banquets and other events, and is valuable as a source of costume and ceremonial information. For the Czech context, the passage about the condemnation and burning of the Czech reformers Jan Hus (1369 - 1415) and Jeroným Pražský (1377 or 1378 - 1416) is traditionally interesting. Great attention is paid to the presentation of the participating nobility, the highest European secular and spiritual authorities, who are very spectacularly represented here with their coats of arms and symbols. It is one of the most important and, thanks to its graphic accompaniment, the most valuable Renaissance books, not only from the field of the Reformation. The copy is in an excellent state of preservation, 500-year-old paper without oxidation, stains or restoration interventions. Vermilion color trim. Richly decorated with an ornamental blind print on the spine, the leather binding on 6 genuine bindings with a gilded label is from the 18th century. It contains 215 Roman numbered leaves, including the title page. With a woodcut on the title page, with 44 (of which 41 full-page) text woodcuts and also about 1150 heraldic woodcuts. The text also contains initials, vignettes and several handwritten marginalia.