1492 - Hand-colored incunable leaf from the Cronecken der Sasson (Chronicles of Saxony), 1492

Mainz, Germany: Peter Shoeffer, 1492. Disbound. Very good. In 1492, a year before the famous Nuremburg Chronicle, the rarest of the early European "world" histories was published, the Chronicles of Saxony. Its author was a goldsmith, Konrad Botho (Conrad Bote), and it was printed in Mainz, the last work of the famous Peter Shoeffer, who had learned the craft as an apprentice with Johannes Gutenberg.

Although the Cronecken begins with the creation of the world and includes a section about Noah's Ark, the work focuses on the history of Saxony and is written in low middle German. It includes illustrations of important regional cities and portraits (truncated) of ruling families along with their armorial bearings. The book's two unknown woodcut illustrators are referred to as Masters H and HR.

The vibrant hand-colored illustration featured on this leaf (7½" x 10½") shows the union of the house of Brunswick-Göttingen with that of Jülich-Berg through the marriage of Duke Otto I and Margareta, the daughter of Count William II of Berg.. A hand-colored illustration of Bishop Albrecht and his coat of arms is on the reverse. . Otto I was known as Otto the Evil because he was continuously feuding with other regional rulers, frequently several at the same time. He died excommunicated and was buried in unhallowed ground, leaving his impoverished dukedom to his son Otto II . (Inventory #: 010249)