The Chronicles of Saxony

In 1492, a year before Hartman Schedel's famous 'Nuremburg Chronicle', the first and perhaps rarest of the great 'world' histories was published in Mainz.

Written in middle German by the goldsmith Conrad Bote (Konrad Botho), with copious woodcut illustrations by unknown artists (referred to as Masters H and HR), 'Cronecken der Sassen' (The Chronicles of Saxony) was the last work by the printer, Peter Schöffer, who had originally learned his craft under Johannes Gutenberg.

'World' means that the book commences with the creation of the world - there is an illustration of Noah's Ark in there - but settles down to be a regionally focused history, with pictures of all the major cities and armorial bearings and portraits of ruling families strewn throughout the work. In the manner of the time, many of the woodblock images (and bold calligraphic letters) appear repeatedly, functioning in a symbolic or representative manner.

I've certainly seen some of the images before, no doubt copied in later works, but I'm not sure if I've seen any similar figures in earlier handwritten manuscripts. There is very little online (in any language really) that provides more than just a cursory overview of the work.

• I posted nineteen full page images (not touched up in any way) to Wikimedia - most of these are seen above.
• 'Cronecken der Sassen' was uploaded to the internet yesterday by Wolfenbütteler Digitale Bibliothek. It consists of about six hundred+ pages and I would say I've posted the most interesting illustrations above or to Wikimedia.
• The last image above was nabbed from a German Ebay auction site.
• There is no spoon are no links.

Gottorp Kunstkammer

This riff on Giuseppe Arcimboldo's (wikipedia) 'The Four Seasons'
is appropriately timed (well, appropriate if you are in Austria
in the next six weeks anyway) --- the first-ever full-scale survey
dedicated to the proto-Surrealist’s work is currently on display
at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (ends 1 June 2008).
Addit: see Guardian Arts story: 'Natural Wonders'

German scholar Adam Olearius (1603-1671) is remembered because of his diplomatic activities on behalf of his home state of Holstein. He was part of two ambassadorial delegations that visited Russia and later, Persia, seeking to establish an overland trade route to Persia.

The commercial aims of the journeys were largely unsuccessful but Olearius afterwards published his detailed observations in a travel book that had several editions and translations and which introduced Europe to Persian culture.

Beyond his diplomatic envoy role, Olearius was employed by Duke Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp in a number of functionary positions. As librarian he helped expand the book and manuscript holdings of the Duke and as keeper of the Cabinet of Curiosities, Olearius purchased key regional collections and saw to it that Oriental specimens were included in the exhibit.

• Hence, according to the custom of the time, Olearius published a catalogue of the Duke's collection or Kunstkammer in 1666: 'Gottorffische Kunst-Kammer, worinnen allerhand ungemeine Sachen' is most easily accessible from Strasbourg Universities Library. (once you load the book, click on the folder icon top left to get thumbnail images) This is the 1673 edition from which all the above (extensively cleaned) example images were chosen. These constitute perhaps two thirds of the illustrations in the book and, as usual, Strasbourg have enormous jpeg images available.
• Wolfenbüttel Library has both the original edition of 'Gottorffische Kunst-Kammer' (and legend volume) as well as a 1674 edition incorporating both illustration and text. (I mention these mostly because the quality of illustration varies between editions: it's a matter of personal taste).
• Some of the specimens illustrated in the engraved plates looked familiar to me - they were copied from the Besler catalogue seen previously.
• Wolfenbüttel Library also has a copy of Olearius' famous book from 1647 about his Persian travels, 'Offt begehrte Beschreibung Der Newen Orientalischen Reise' (it's illustrated, but I haven't had a close look).
• An html version of the travel book in english is available from the University of Washington (Silk Road collection).
• Adam Olearius at Wikipedia.
• Thanks to Septentrio for telling me about Olearius some months ago.
  

Fragmenta Botanica

"Fragmenta Botanica, figuris coloratis illustrata :ab anno 1800 ad annum 1809 per sex fasciculos edita /opera et sumptibus Nicolai Josephi Jacquin" at Botanicus.

An easy way to see thumbnails of the illustrations - Illustrated Garden.

Splicing screencaps together whiled away a wet sunday arvo'. I posted a couple of humble Oxalis images by Jacquin previously. I wouldn't describe his approach as dispassionate necessarily, but Jacquin treats his subject matter equally, whether it's a rose or a weed. Elegance for all.