Beschreibung:

ALEXANDER MAGNUS -- Historia Alexandri Magni: Hienach volget die histori von dem grossen Alexander wie die Eusebius beschriben hat . Translated from Latin and adapted by Johann Hartlieb (ca.1410-1468). Augsburg: Johann Bämler, 28 June 1473. Chancery 2° (299x198mm). Collation: [1 10 2-21 8 ] (1/1r blank, 1/1v woodcut, 1/2r prologue by Hartlieb, 1/3v prologue of pseudo-Eusebius, 1/4v text, 21/8r colophon, 21/8v blank). 166 (of 170, lacking 1/1.10, 2/1 and 20/8) leaves. 27 (of 29) woodcuts, including one repeat, Maiblumen initials (1 a , 1 b ) and outline capitals (2), other initial spaces with printed guide-letters. 27-28 lines. Type: 1:145G. (First quire rehinged, final leaf mounted and rehinged, some light foxing, a few marginal tears repaired.) H *785; GW 884; Goff A-403; Schreiber 3132; Schramm III, pp. 2, 25; BSB H-283; not in BMC. [Bound third with:] HEROLDT, Johannes (1514-1567). Heydenwelt und irer Götter anfängcklicher Ursprung: Diodori des Siciliers..., Dictys des Candioten..., Hori Apollinis..., Planeten Tafeln (etc.). Basel: Henricus Petrus, 1554. 2°. Collation: a-b 4 c-d 2 e-h 6 i-k 4 l-q 6 r 4 s 2 t 6 u 4 x 6 y 8 z 6 aa 8 bb-cc 4 dd 8 A-Z 6 Aa 6 Bb 4 AA-GG 6 HH 2 II 6 KK-LL 8 . 622 leaves. Title in red and black, some Greek in text, 415 woodcuts plus 4 bifolia of woodcuts, including half-page maps of the Nile Delta, Arabia, Africa, Sicily, and a full-page map of Sardinia; woodcut capitals. (The two-leaf quires of woodcuts mounted on stubs and occasionally trimmed, some leaves very lightly browned.) VD 16, H-2545. THE FIRST EDITION IN GERMAN. [and with:] HERODOTUS. Des aller fürnembsten unnd ältesten Geschictschreibers Historia . Translated by Georg Schwartzkopff. Frankfurt: Nicolaus Bassaeus, 1593. 2°. Collation: )( 4 2)(-3)( 6 4)( 8 A-Z Aa-Oo 6 Pp 4 . 250 leaves. Title in red and black, printer's device on title and another at end, woodcut capitals, headpieces and one woodcut scene. (Title mounted.) VD 16, H-2520. Contemporary pigskin over wooden boards, blindstamped with roll tools and a central armorial panel with initials V.B., two brass fore-edge catches (without clasps), paper spine label, yellow edges, leather index tabs (light stain on back cover), the panel was assigned by Haebler (p.67) to Ulrich Brötzel of Ulm ca. 1553-5; this is obviously a later use of it. FIRST EDITION of Hartlieb's translation of Alexander Magnus , the first in German, and the first use of this woodcut series. Hartlieb translated the story for Duke Albrecht III and his wife Anne of Austria; he had also written a book on chiromancy for Anne, which was later published as a blockbook. Bämler is intimately connected with the Hartlieb Alexander Magnus , not merely as the first to bring it into print. In his original occupation as scribe and illuminator, Bämler added painted and gold initials to an early manuscript of this translation (PML 782). It can be no coincidence then that the illustrations of that manuscript are the source for the woodcuts in Bämler's printed edition which, in turn, strongly influenced later woodcut series illustrating the Alexander Magnus . (See S. Edmunds, "New Light on Johannes Bämler", Journal of the Printing Historical Society , 22, 1993, pp.29-53; D.J.A. Ross, Alexander Historiatus , Frankfurt-am-Main 1988.) Only one copy is recorded in America, and the only two copies in the U.K. are in the National Libraries of Wales and Scotland.