Speculum humanae salvationis. - [Das ist der spiegel menschlicher behaltnuB mit den Evangelien]
Fifth German edition of the very rare Speculum humanae salvationis, nearly complete copy with 272 fine woodcuts (of 279) in contemporary colouring.
A very scarce work from Peter Berger’s printing shop in Augsburg, of whom only 4 prints are known (Geldner).
Augsburg, P. Berger, 6 février 1489.
Very rare in contemporary coloring.
Contemp. wooden boards with blind-tooled calf (multiple frames of slant iron lines and roll-tooling) on 4 bands, with slanted edges and 2 brass clasps.
Folio. 230 (of. 236) unnumb. II. Gothic type, 2 cols. 46 lines.
267 x 194 mm.
Speculum humanae salvationis. - [Das ist der spiegel menschlicher behaltnuB mit den Evangelien und Epistelen durch das gantz Jar]. With 272 woodcuts in the text in an old colouring.
Augsburg, P. Berger, 6 February 1489.
Almost complete copy in an old coloring of the very rareSpeculum humanae salvationis, this is the fifth German edition, increased by the parts of the German Plenarium and der Legenda aurea of Jacobus de Voragine. Also a rare print from the Augsburg printshop of Peter Berger, by whom only four prints are known of.
In 1975, a copy of the 1478 Frenc edition uncolored and missing 40 leaves was catalogued by Pierre Bérès (catalogue 57, n° 251) and priced 3 millions F.F.
Speculum Humanae Salvationis is certainly the most famous illustrated text coming from the presses of the Western printing house because the first illustrated typographic edition of 1472 was preceded by four xylographic editions, a technique preceding the printing with movable characters of Guttenberg, two Latinas and two Hollandas.
« According to the system favorable to the city of Harlem, this text would have been printed in that city, from the year 1420, or at the latest from 1430 to 1439. In the opposite system, the printing of this same text would be after 1450, and there would have been an earlier print of the plates (a print of which, to be sure, no trace remains).
What is best demonstrated is the existence of several editions of this ancient monument of xylography united with typography, editions made with the same plates figures, and including Will. Young Ottley (History of engraving) established a publication order based on successive deterioration of the plates, an order that Mr. Samuel Leigh Sotheby also adopted in his Principia topographica.
1° The Latin edition (with the whold text printed with moveable types, towards 1439),
2° The Dutch edition, printed towards 1441
3° The Latin edition printed in part xylographic towards 1442
4° The Ducth edition printed between 1460 and 1470 ». (Brunet, Supplément).
Speculum humanae salvationis is a treatise on theology of the fourteenth century, based on the principle of biblical typology it compares scenes from the New and Old Testaments, following the idea that the events preceding the arrival of Christ prefigure the events in his life. Widely distributed and translated from Latin, it is preserved by most libraries of the time.
The book’s form is very standardized, and it contains four parts: a scene from the life of Christ and three stories prefiguring it. Each chapter consists of two columns with a miniature at the top of each, so that each complete book of 45 chapters contains 192 miniatures, making the Speculum the richest repertoire for biblical imagery of the 16th and 15th centuries as well as the most popular picture book of the Middle Ages.
The work is intended as a description of the fall of man and the history of his redemption. Every fact of the life of Christ is announced in one or more episodes described in the Old Testament or in secular history.
Each complete book must thus contain a total of one hundred and ninety-two miniatures.
