"HERBERSTEIN, SIGISMUND VON. "

"Rerum Moscouiticarum Commentarij... Russiae, &...Moscouiae...descriptionem. De religione...,& et quae nostra cum religione non conueniunt. Chorographiam denique totius imperij Moscici...Quis denique modus... Oratores...Itineraria quoque duo in Moscouiam...Accessit...Index.."

"(July 1551)" "With 1 double-page woodcut map, 2 splendid full-page woodcuts, some figured woodcut initials, large woodcut printer's devise on last leaf verso. 4 unn. leaves, 175 pp., 13 unn. pp. Folio. Contemp. roll-tooled calf over five raised bands (slightly rubbed, corners somewhat bumped, top and lowest compartment of spine restored). Basel, Johannes Oporinus, (July 1551). _ (Bound after:) WIDUKIND (or WITTEKINDUS of Corvey). Rerum ab Henrico et Ottone I imp(eratores) gestarum libri III, un cum alijs .. historijs, ab anno salutis D.CCC. usque ad praesentem aetatem .. huc accessit .. index. [Motto in Greek and Latin]. (Ed. by Martin Frecht). With Herwagen's woodcut device on title and on last leaf verso, and several fine large white on black figured woodcut initials. 14 unn. leaves, 394 pp., 1 leaf. Basel, Johannes Herwagen, March 1532. (Bound before:) RHENANUS (i.e. BILDIUS), Beatus. Rerum Germanicarum libri tres .. Quibus praemissa est Vita Beati Rhenani, à Ioanne Sturmio eleganter conscripta. With Froben's woodcut device on title and last leaf verso, and with some figured woodcut initials. 24 unn. leaves, 206 pp., 1 leaf. Basel, (Hieronymus Froben and Nicolaus Episcopius, March) 1551. Sammelband of historiographic sources, all in fine Basel editions. Ad I: Second enlarged edition, but the first by Oporinus, of Herberstein's (1486-1566) historio-geographical description of the Russian Empire, first published at Vienna in 1549, corrected and edited here by Wolfgang Lazius. Herberstein's wide-ranging knowledge about the land and peoples of Russia is the result of two diplomatic missions on behalf of Emperor Maximilian in 1516-1518 and 1526-1527. The aim of his mission to the Muscovite Tsar Wassilij Ivanovitch was to mediate in the Russian-Polish war. Herberstein's work is to be considered the first Western eyewitness account of Russia, and it is of important cultural value still today. The double-page woodcut at the beginning (insert from another copy) is drawn by Baron Herberstein shows a map of Russia. The following full-page woodcut depicts Tsar Wassilij Ivanovitch III with his coat of arms; at the end full-page woodcut of the author's coat of arms within decorative borders. - VD 16 H 2203; STC, (German), 397; Adams H-299; Adelung I, 166, no. 2; ADB XII, 38 (in great detail); cf. Lipperheide Kaa 3 (ed. of 1556). Ad II: First edition of the Chronicle of the Saxon historian Widukind, monk at the Abbey of Corvey (died c. 1004), his "Res Gesta Saxonicae", edited and annotated by the Ulm reformer Martinus Frecht. It covers the period from 919 to 973, i.e. from Emperor Heinrich I to his son Otto I, much of it written during the latter's lifetime, and is dedicated to his daughter Mathilde, abbess of the Quedlinburg monastery. Other sources included are: The history of Emperor Heinrich VII by Conrad Vecerus, the life of Carolus Magnus by Eginhart, the Historia Bohemica by Aeneas Sylvius, Liutprandus' chronicle, and the Mainz chronicle by bishop Conrad. - Adams W-215; STC, (German), 920; Potthast I, LXXI and II, 1113 ("eine der vorzüglichsten Quellen des Mittelalters"); Panzer VI, 287, 869; VD 16 ZV 7827. Ad III: Beatus Rhenanus' (1485-1547) opus magnum, the first edition to include his biography written by Iohannes Sturm, the first ever written. The "Rerum Germanicarum libri tres" were initially published in 1531; the work was much appreciated by contemporary and later historians for the impartial and critical attitude of the author. - VD 16 R 2065; STC, (German), 126 (under Bildius); Adams R-439. With two engr. armorial bookplates on first paste-down, one of George Edwards, librarian in London. First leaves of the Rhenanus somewhat stained, occasional small waterstain to top margin, altogether a very good and clean copy. HISTORY (KULTURGESCHICHTE) ; CHRONICLES / CHRONIKEN ;"

Hellmut Schumann Antiquariat

Book number: "32135-135"

Keywords: "HISTORY (KULTURGESCHICHTE) ;"