Günther Zainer’s personal Copy of the “Speculum Humanae Salvationis” Incunable with almost 200 coloured Woodcuts: One of the finest Copies in existence
Speculum humanae salvationis cum speculo S. Mariae Virginis (Latin and German). (Augsburg: Günther Zainer, in the monastery of SS. Ulrich and Afra, 1472-73).
192 originally coloured woodcuts (15 repeated), 269 leaves (of 270, without initial blank), (collation a-z A-D10), 33 lines, gothic type, painted coat-of-arms of Günther Zainer at the foot of first leaf.
Chancery folio (310 x 210mm.).
Contemporary south German blind-stamped calf over wooden boards, single clasp, some deckle edges; (a)10 becoming loose, (n)5 torn in text without loss, occasional very light staining from paint or ink, a few small wormholes, joints skilfully repaired, all in all a most magnificent copy after 550 years.
Günther Zainer, the first Printer in Augsburg, dedicates this marvellous copy to the Charterhouse of Buxheim
This is Günther Zainer’s own beautiful large and crisp copy with original colouring in a contemporary binding (Augsburg?). It is the first Latin-German edition, containing the first edition in German; there were previous block book editions in Latin and Dutch produced in the Netherlands.
Günther Zainer was the first printer to set up a printing shop in Augsburg, at the invitation of the abbot of the monastery of SS Ulrich and Afra, where he worked from 1468 until his death (possibly at the Charterhouse of Buxheim) in 1478. He produced many vernacular texts, in particular with woodcuts, and this edition was one of the first heavily illustrated books in Augsburg.
Zainer gave two copies of each book he printed to the Charterhouse of Buxheim during the years 1473-1478, so this is without a doubt one of these, whereas the other seems to be lost. In the Bavarian State Library there is another Zainer incunable (dated 1475) with his painted coat-of-arms, see BSB-Ink B-115,5 (Bartholomäus de Sancto Concordio). One cannot but emphasize the rarity and importance of the fact that this is the printer’s personal copy (the likes of which has not occurred to us in our career). Additionally, and certainly because of this fact, one recognizes the marvellous state of preservation of the book, with unusually large margins (larger than both British Library copies), very thick and immaculately white paper and also strong impressions of the woodcuts as well as the fine and sophisticated colouring of all 192 images.
About the text
The Speculum Humanae Salvationis or Mirror of Human Salvation was a bestselling, lavishly illustrated work of popular theology in the late Middle Ages, part of the genre of encyclopedic speculum literature, in this case concentrating on the medieval theory of typology, whereby the events of the Old Testament prefigured or foretold the events of the New Testament.
Provenance
Günther Zainer, the first printer in Augsburg, who had his coat-of-arms painted on the first page of the book (compare with his printer’s mark: a lion, upright towards the left, with his face turned to the beholder). Charterhouse of Buxheim, inscription and ink stamp at foot of first leaf, as a gift to them from the printer; their library went in 1810 to the Graf von Ostein, and was inherited by Graf von Waldbott-Bassenheim, sale, Munich, Behrens, 20 September 1883, lot 2882. European private collection.
Literature
Goff S-670; H 14929; BMC ii 321 and 338; BSB-Ink S-509; Bod-inc S-274; GW M43054; Fairfax Murray, German 399 (this copy, also coloured, sold in 1917 for £ 168, in the middle of the great war); IGI 9126; Pellechet 10643; Schreiber 5273. Schramm II, S. 13ff.
Zainer’s printer’s mark with his coat-of-arms
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