ROLEWINCK, Werner (1425-1502). Fasciculus temporum. Strasbourg: Johann Prüss, 1487.

ROLEWINCK, Werner (1425-1502). Fasciculus temporum. Strasbourg: Johann Prüss, 1487.

An incunable edition of Rolewinck’s popular illustrated chronicle—considered one of the earliest examples of a hypertext. The work comprises a multi-page linear chart, which uses “a system of coordinated circles to locate biblical, classical, and modern rulers and writers in the flow of historical time—a system so complicated that the first printer who grappled with it [in 1474] botched the job” (Grafton). Reprinted numerous times in the 15th century, each publisher improved on Rolewinck’s innovative graphic design and added more items to the timeline, bringing it up to date. “The results were most impressive: a neatly designed, powerfully horizontal line of time plunging forward from the creation to the present” (ibid). This edition ends with the election of Pope Innocent VIII in 1484—although an annotator has added a final entry for the election of Pope Alexander VI in 1492. BNF R-178; Goff R-273; HC 6936; cf. Grafton, Cartographies of Time, p. 28-31.

Folio (290 x 191mm). Collation: [6] A8, B-O6, P4. Woodcut illustrations throughout, with later hand-coloring and heightened in gold (final 4 leaves repaired in the inside margin; scattered worming; occasional small repairs, affecting corner of text in one leaf; lower margins of final 2 leaves reinforced with early paper, covering annotations; some staining). Modern leather to style (hinges worn). Provenance: early annotations in several hands, occasionally cropped.

Pre-Lot Text
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