Beschreibung:

Peregrinatio in terram sanctam
Speier:] Peter Drach, 29 July 1490. Chancery folio (310 x 212 mm). Collation : a8 b2 (+ 3 fold-out sheets) c2 c22 c32 (+ 1 fold-out sheet) d12 (+ 1 fold-out sheet) d22 (+ 1 fold-out sheet) e-n8 [o]2 (+ 2 fold-out sheets) p10 (a1r blank, alv allegorical woodcut of Mainz, a2r Breydenbach's dedication to Bertholdus [de Henneberg], archbishop-elector of Mainz, a3r table, a3v preface, a6r text (with fold-out woodcuts as below) pl0r colophon, pl0v blank). 104 leaves, plus 8 fold-out sheets, quire [o] bound at end. 52 lines. Types 10:146G, 13:80G. 13-line woodcut initial R with the arms of the archbishop of Mainz, 4- and 6-line initial spaces. Woodcuts after Erhard Reuwich full-page allegorical woodcut of the city of Mainz with the armorial shields of Breydenbach and his traveling companions Johannes von Solms and Philip von Bicken, seven double-page or folding woodcut panoramic city views, of Venice (4 sheets), Parenzo (1 sheet), Corfu (1 sheet), Modon (2 sheets), Rhodes (2 sheets), Candia (2 sheets), and Palestine with Jerusalem (3 sheets, bound in at end in this copy), 9 woodcuts in text showing Middle Eastern costumes and genre scenes, 6 cuts of alphabets of various Middle Eastern languages, one full-page woodcut of animals and one small cut of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, these last two printed on the back of the folding Jerusalem view. Initials and paragraph marks supplied in alternating red and blue.Contemporary Magdeburg binding from the shop of the Dreikoenigsmeister, in blind-stamped panelled calf over wooden boards, decorated with rosettes and other tools, old ink lettered title in upper panel front cover 'hystoria in.', old brass catches. Modern blue morocco box. Condition : filled wormholes from fol. a7 through quire b affecting text and Venice woodcut, minor creasing and a few small repairs at sheet junctures of the folding views, views of Rhodes and Jerusalem each with 2 or 3 small areas of loss, touched up in ink facsimile, fore-border of Jerusalem view shaved, one sheet of Venice view probably supplied from a different copy, occasional soiling and staining throughout; binding rebacked in soft calf, clasps lacking, some wear with loss to covers, lightly worn. Provenance : "Henricus de Bohemiis" (ownership inscription, the date 1580 supplied, apparently by the first hand); contemporary marginalia. Acquisition : purchased from Martayan Lan, (2000), $145,000. second latin edition of the first illustrated book of travel. Breydenbach was dean of Mainz Cathedral; the Peregrinatio contains the journal of his pilgrimage to Palestine and Mount Sinai undertaken in 1483-84 in the company of Count John of Solms, Philip of Bicken, and other noblemen of the region. The account is in effect one of the earliest printed guide books, containing a wealth of useful information on places in and on the way to the Holy Land, and on distances, local customs, alphabets, etc. The remarkable multi-block panoramic woodcut views are printed here from the original blocks of the first edition, printed at Mainz by Erhard Reuwich in February 1486. The Armenian alphabet cut first appeared in Reuwich's German edition from the summer of the same year. These are the first detailed printed town views .They are also notable for being the earliest example of book illustrations whose artist is known: the woodcuts were based on the drawings of the painter Erhard Reuwich a native of Utrecht, who accompanied the expedition as its official artist, and who borrowed or leased Peter Schoeffer's types for the printing of the first edition. Reuwich is not identified as the illustrator of any other works, but certain similarities in technique have led to recent suggestions that he may be identified with the anonymous "Hausbuchmeister" (cf., for example, R. W Fuchs, "Mainzer Frühdrucke mit Buchholzschnitten," Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens 2 (1960), pp. 31-70). Ilse Schunke (Schwenke-Sammlung) identifies the binding tools as those of the "Dreikönigsmeiste