16th century Sammelband of two rare pilgrimages to the Holy Land

Tucher, Hans. Gründtlicher und Eigentlicher Bericht der Meerfart [...] gen Venedig, Jerusalem, zu S. Katharinen Berg, Sinay, Alexandria, un[d] wider gen Nürnberg gethan, was wunders er zu Wasser und Land, und was sich die Bilger in dem heyligen Landt, auch in der Wüsten biß zum Roten Meer, leyden müssen, erfaren hat […].

Frankfurt, Georg Rab & Weygand Han, 1561.

4to. 75, (1) ff.

(Bound with) II: Fabri, Felix. Eigentliche beschreibung der hin unnd wider farth zu dem Heyligen Landt gen Jerusalem, und furter durch die grosse Wüsteney zu dem Heiligen Berge Horeb Sinay, darauß zuvernemen was wunders die Pilgrin hin und wider auff Land und wasser zu erfahren und zu besehen haben. [Frankfurt, David Zöpfel], 1556. 219, (1) ff. With a title woodcut depicting a pilgrim with two camels. Contemporary blindstamped leather over wooden boards.

 18.500,00

I: A fine Renaissance edition of Tucher's pilgrimage to the Holy Land, undertaken in 1479-80 and first published by Schönsberger in Augsburg in 1482. Tucher (1428-91) was a wealthy Nuremberg merchant who moved in humanistic circles; "his travel report is remarkable in several respects: geographically, because it provides a different, non-traditional route from Jerusalem to Mt. Sinai. Tucher departed from Gaza like Breydenbach, Count Solms, and Felix Fabri in 1483, and seems to have crossed the Tih by the pass el-Mureikhy (which he calls 'Roackie'). But Tucher's stations in the desert denote a different route and are even more difficult to reconcile with the known localities. In historical respect, Tucher's account is remarkable for abstaining largely from the fabulous and for revealing a sense of factual reporting, even though much space is given to miraculous episodes, as might be expected from a text of this genre and age. Finally, it is of linguistic interest" (ADB).

II: Editio princeps of Fabri's pilgrimage account. Felix Fabri, a native of Zurich and a Dominican preacher at Ulm, describes his two pilgrimages made to the Holy Land, the first in 1480, as chaplain to Georg von Stein, and the second in 1483-84 as chaplain to Johannes Truchsess von Waldburg, as part of the same party as Breydenbach.

Title-page of Tucher frayed. Some light staining throughout. Worldcat lists 3 copies of Tucher in the US, and 5 copies of Fabri. Not a single copy of Tucher in auction records; a copy of Fabri in a modern binding commanded £4140 at Sotheby's in 1998.

Literatur

I: VD 16, T 2164. Röhricht 390. ADB XXXVIII, 766.

II: VD 16, F 136. Röhricht 395 ("Ulm").

Art.-Nr.: BN#48505 Schlagwörter: , , ,