Versehung von Leib, Seele, Ehre und Gut

4to (186 x 132mm.), 159 leaves (of 160, without final blank leaf), a-v⁸, 27 lines plus headline, gothic type, full-page woodcut with contemporary hand-colour on verso of title-page, 8-line coloured woodcut initial on a2, contemporary annotations including two lengthy notes on title-page, early sixteenth-century blind-tooled calf over wooden boards, two old rebacks (one with tooling), title-leaf with marginal paper repairs and slight soiling, a8 becoming detached, lower corners of f2 and 4-5 with small repairs, quires r-t with marginal damp-staining and becoming friable, binding rebacked with later endpapers, binding slightly wormed with loss of calf at head of upper cover, lacking single clasp

obscured German library stamp on title-page; bought from Maggs Bros., catalogue 656 (1938), number 47, their catalogue extract pasted to inside front cover with the price removed (£22 10-)

Goff V237; H 16021=16091; BMC ii 368; BSB-Ink V146; Klebs 1028.3; Schreiber 5425

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A rare copy of this early nursing manual, first published in Nuremberg in 1489, which provides for spiritual as well as physical comfort. It was based on earlier German medical texts from the late thirteenth-century and contains instructions for the care of patients, recipes for medicines, bloodletting and astrology, as well instructions for drawing up a will.

The woodcut was previously used in Schobsser's 1490 edition of this text and in Anton Sorg's editions of Müntzinger's Büchlein des sterbenden Menschen (c. 1480 and c. 1483). It depicts a dying man whose soul is being gathered by an angel, with a monk and two women by his side.

RARE. We have not found a copy of this edition being offered for sale since this copy was on the market in 1938.