Rare first German edition of this famous woodcut book, regarded by Becker as one of the most beautiful of the works of the prolific Swiss-German artist Jost Amman (1539-91) who has provided most of the illustrations. A Latin edition was published by Feyerabend a month before the German version under the title Insignia sacrae caesareae majestatis.
It can be seen as a companion book to Amman’s other great pattern book for artists, the Künst und Lehrbüchlein of 1578 and both were frequently reprinted. There are numerous coats of arms of Emperors, electors, knights of the Holy Roman Empire and other members of the nobility which face woodcuts depicting professions such as physicians, hunters, lawyers, mayors, trumpeters, and organists, as well as purely allegorical cuts which interpret concord, vanity, pride, charity, temperance, melancholy, astuteness and various mythological subjects including Bacchus, Diana and Neptune. A second part without text holds blank shields often supported by figures and some of the allegorical allegorical woodcuts from the first part and ends with 24 pages of smaller blank shields set four to a page. This suggests that the book could also have been used as an album amicorum - a few here have some pen decoration added - and while this copy is complete many copies lack at least some of the leaves with blank shields.
Many of the cuts are signed with the initials of Amman, who often cut the blocks himself but here other cutters are also represented by the initials “M.F.”, L.F.“, “M.B.”, and “C. S.” For an excellent appraisal of the work of Jost Amman see In The Library: Jost Amman and Sixteenth-Century Woodcut Illustration (NGA, Washington, Sept. 2017; open access).
Provenance: One blank shield has the name and arms of “M.R.D. Brösicken” added.
The last six leaves containing the register and colophon with printer’s device cut down and mounted, last leaf backed, a few letters affected; some minor repairs and stains elsewhere but generally a fresh copy.
VD16 F903. Becker no. 24. Lipperheide Db 5. New Hollstein 157. Not in Fairfax-Murray.
