Description

4to. 8 unnumbered ff, With nearly page-sized title woodcut and an armorial woodcut at the end, both by the Master of Petrarch. Marbled red boards. First and only edition of this probably rarest work by the Bregenz-born historiographer. The book was published "on the occasion of Albrecht of Brandenburg's creation as cardinal in honour of his defence of Christianity against the Turks, and the awarding of a sword and helmet-like fur cap, blessed by Pope Leo X on Christmas Day, to Emperor Maximilian through the hands of the Papal legates Cajetan and Lang" (cf. Musper). - The title woodcut shows an angel bearing the insignia of both these awards; the final woodcut shows Mennel's arms. - A clean and wide-margined copy. Rare; last at a German auction in 1964. - VD 16, M 4614. BM-STC German 618. Panzer VI, 152, 133. Zapf II, 204, XV. Musper, Nachlese zum Petrarkameister, in: GJB 1951, 110 ff. Maximilian-Ausst. Wien 1959, 127.