Jacobus de Voragine, Leben der Heiligen, Nuremberg, Koberger, 1488, woodcuts only

JACOBUS DE VORAGINE

Leben der Heiligen. Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 5 December 1488

143 (of 262) hand-coloured woodcuts extracted from the work, pasted into a nineteenth-century album with a blue paper wrapper, lettered on upper cover "Ausschnitte"; sold not subject to return

This is a collection of just over half the woodcuts from Koberger's only illustrated edition of The Golden Legend. RARE: most surviving copies are incomplete.

LITERATURE:

ISTC ij00163500; Fairfax Murray, German 433; Schäfer 184

PROVENANCE:

Prof. Otto Hupp (1859-1949), graphic designer; Hartung und Karl, Munich, sale, 4 November 1986, lot 221