A fine copy of the second Latin edition of this famous work illustrated with the superb woodcuts of Jost Amman which show the trades and professions of 16th century Germany.
First published in 1568 in German with verses by Hans Sachs, the Latin version followed soon after with new verses by the humanist poet Hartmann Schopper (1542-95). The Latin editions contain 18 more woodcuts than those found in the German ones; the apothecary woodcut has been replaced in the present edition.
The enterprise to depict "all the trades in the world", a collaboration led by the leading Frankfurt printer Feyerabend, who had commissioned his favoured Nuremberg artist Amman, is described by Rabb as, "one of the most interesting publishing ventures of the sixteenth century".
Amman's illustrations are justly praised for the clarity with which they depict various craftsmen at their work and for the intricate details of the technical processes used in the late 16th century and now largely lost. Several of them show artisans involved in the production of books and book illustrations (e.g. the printer, the type-founder, the book-binder, the paper maker, the vellum maker, the draughtsman and woodcutter (both said to depict Amman himself). Of these the most famous is the cut of the printing office which shows the printer with the tympan and frisket open in the act of removing the printed sheet while his colleague is rolling the ink balls over the type ready for another impression; in the background two compositors are at work on their frames and in the foreground two piles of printed and blank paper.
Concentrating mostly on the urban trades, those represented include the physician, painter, sculptor, potter, goldsmith, clock maker, glassmaker, embroiderer, stone mason, dentist, miller, baker, barber, shoemaker, milliner, butcher, hunter, cook, brewer, tailor, weaver, cobbler, bell maker, coppersmith. There are several musical illustrations showing a vocal quartet, and various ensembles of stringed and wind instruments; there is also a cut of a lute maker in his shop.
A 7-line Latin note to the rear pastedown, in an early modern hand, relates a popular drinking verse beginning "De bibendi causis..." (loosely translated: 'On the causes of drinking. If I remember correctly, there are five reasons to drink: the arrival of guests (1), present and future thirst (2 & 3), the goodness of wine (4) and any other reason (5)'.
Provenance: Pencil note on front pastedown states that this was in the library of the Duke of Arenberg, their paper label near the top of the spine, ink number now rubbed away. The principal bibliophile in the family was Engelbert August, 8th Duke of Arenberg (1824-1875), while the 10th Duke of Arenberg, Engelbert Karl (1899-1974) ordered the sales of the library in the 1950s. Many books from the collection have an oval or rectangular paper label at the head of the spine, with a blue border and ink number. Books from this library are not to be confused with the other well known Arenberg collection in Nordkirchen.
Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, their sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 2 November 1977, lot 219 to H.P. Kraus, New York. Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow, with their bookplate.
VD16 S 3898. Fairfax Murray, German, 31 (German edition). Theodore K. Rabb, A Sixteenth-Century Book of Trades, Das Ständebuch (2009).
