Nuremberg Chronicle

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Depiction of God creating the world

The Nuremberg Chronicle is one of the best documented early printed books. The Chronicle is an illustrated world history, in which the contents are divided into seven ages:

First age: From Creation to Deluge
Second age: Until birth of Abraham
Third age: Until King David
Fourth age: Until Babylonian captivity
Fifth age: Until birth of Jesus Christ
Sixth age: Present time (largest part)
Seventh age: Outlook on the end of the world and the Last Judgement

The Chronicle was first published in Latin on 12 June 1493 and was quickly followed by a German translation on 23 December 1493. Scholars estimate that 1400-1500 Latin and 700-1000 German copies were published. A document from 1509 records that 539 Latin versions and 60 German versions had not been sold. Approximately 400 Latin and 300 German copies survived into the twenty-first century.

The author of the Nuremberg Chronicle is Hartmann Schedel, while Georg Alt is credited with the German translation. The prominent artist Albrecht Dürer was an apprentice during the making of the 1,804 woodblock illustrations.

As was common at the time, the book did not have a title page. Latin scholars refer to it as Liber Chronicarum (Book of Chronicles) as this phrase appears in the index introduction of the Latin edition. English speakers have long referred to it as the Nuremberg Chronicle after the city in which it was published. German speakers refer to it as Die Schedelsche Weltchronik (Schedel's World History) in honour of its author.

External links

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[Beloit College's extensive account of their version of the Chronicle, with illustrations]

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