The Art of Combat
Artist
Joachim Meyer
(German, active 16–17th century)
Artistwoodblocks by
Tobias Stimmer
(German, active 16th–17th century)
Date1600
Mediumpaper with woodcut illustrations in a recycled parchment binding
Dimensions17 × 23 cm (6 11/16 × 9 1/16 in.), 1 lb, 12 oz (weight)
ClassificationsBooks
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.583
Description451 pages with 73 full-page woodcuts. Title page is missing, replaced by a handwritten version without image. 2nd printing, Augsburg 1600 (orig. ed. Strassburg 1570).Original parchment binding recycled from an annotated medieval copy of Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy (the passage on the cover corresponds to Book III verses 10 and 11; the intervening prose text is presumably on the reverse). The main script appears to date to about 900-1100; the annotations are perhaps about 1100-1300.
The cover is worn, especially at the edges where the writing has almost worn away, and soiled. The front cover is slightly bowed, the back cover has ripples in the manuscript. The interior pages are in excellent condition.
On the interior pastedown of the front cover are 20c notations in both pen and pencil (see photo in digital file). The top lines, dated 12-8-54 and perhaps initialed S. G., identify the makers' monograms on the woodcuts; the middle notation in pencil gives the bibliographical reference to Andresen, Peintre-Graveur (1872-78); and the bottom lines copy the text of the lost title page.
ProvenancePurchased October 13, 2004 from Hermann Historica (Munich). Collection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.
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