Megiser, Hieronymus. Diarium Austriacum. Das ist, Historischer Calender, deß Hochlöblichsten und durchleuchtigsten Hauses Oesterreich [...].

(Augsburg, Christoff Mang), 1614.

8vo. (16), 151 (but: 149), (1) pp., final blank leaf. Contemporary vellum with armorial supralibros (Imperial arms as king of Bohemia and Hungary, Order of the Golden Fleece) on both covers (oxidized). Remains of ties. All edges gilt.

 1,800.00

First German edition, published in the same year as the Latin one: an index of all days of the year, arranged in the manner of a calendar of saints, designating for each the birthdays, days of death, or other memorial days of the Habsburgs. This is one of Megiser's several experiments revolving around Habsburgian genealogy. "Die Arbeiten eines Laz und Cuspinian darüber waren ihm bekannt; seine Darstellungen im Diarium Austriacum (1614) [...] lehnen sich an den vorsichtigeren Guillimannus und den Niederländer Pontus Henterus (+ 1602) an" (Doblinger, S. 455).

Dedicated to the wife of Emperor Matthias, the Empress Anna of Austria-Tyrol (1585-1618), founder of Vienna's Capuchin monastery and of the Capuchin Crypt. The Swabian-born polymath Megiser (1554-1619) was appointed offical historian in Linz by Archduke Charles in 1612; in 1615 he was made historiographer of the Upper Austrian estates.

Provenance

Title-page has erased contemporary ownership of the old Capuchin monastery in Vienna's St Ulrich quarter (founded in 1600 and closed in 1811) with their handwritten spine label in red and black ink. Acquired at auction from an Austrian private collection. Rare.

Condition

Covers a little warped; interior shows a slight waterstain throughout the upper margin. Pretty vellum binding with the Imperial arms to both covers.

References

VD 17, 23:276157B. ADB XXI, 184. Max Doblinger, Hieronymus Megisers Leben und Werke (MIÖG 26.3 [1905]), pp. 431-478, at p. 478, no. 35.

Stock Code: BN#47860 Tags: ,