Maximilianus I.; Pfinzing, Melchior; Scheifelen von No¨rdlingen, Johann.

Der Aller-Durchleuchtigste Ritter Oder Die Rittermässige/ hoch-theure/ höchst-gefährliche und Glorwürdigste Groß-Thaten/ Abentheuer/ Glücks-Wechslungen und Siges-Zeichen Deß Aller-Großmächtigsten/ Unüberwindlichsten ... Heldens Maximiliani I. Roman. Imperat. ... Wie solche Von ... Herrn Melchior Pfinzing, Probsten zu St. Alban/ Dechant zu St. Victor bey Mayntz ... Vor mehr als anderhalb hundert Jahren/ in alten damahls gebräuchlichen Teutschen Reimen gar zierlich verfaßt/ und gleichsam als in einem Siegs- und Triumph-Spiel ... unter dem Nahmen Theur-Danck, Zu offentlichem Druck befördert/ Und Von dem alten vortrefflichen und berühmten Mahler Johann Scheifelen von Nördlingen ... [=The Most Illuminating Knight, or The Chivalrous, Most Precious, Most Dangerous, and Most Glorious Great Deeds, Adventures, Fortunes, and Signs of the Most Mighty, Most Invincible ... Hero of Maximilian I, Roman Emperor ... More than one and a half hundred years ago / very elegantly composed in old German rhymes common at the time / and, as it were, as in a victory and triumph play ... under the name Theur-Danck, brought to public print / And by the old, excellent and famous painter Johann Scheifelen of Nördlingen ...]

Ulm: Matthaus Schultes; Matthaus Wagner, 1679. Later edition. Hardcover. Folio. [13], 2-58, [123 unpaginated illustrated leaves] pp. Contemporary parchment with manuscript hand on the spine; all edges decoratively red. Title page printed in red and black. Lacks the frontispiece, else complete. Illustrated with 123 striking woodcuts. Adams 962-964. British Museum 11501. The Theur-Danck was first published in 1517, with 118 woodcuts. Its authorship is attributed to Maximilian I and his secretary Melchoir Pfinzing. It is a semi-autobiographical poem of the emperor's childhood and his journey to wed his first wife, Mary of Burgundy. The Emperor Maximilian earned the nickname "the last knight", as he was known for leading his armies on the battlefield in full armor during his mission to expand the Holy Roman Empire through military conquest and marital alliances. He was a skilled jouster, horseman, and lancer. The woodcuts in the volume are incredibly detailed, showing the dress and decoration of women and men in the late Middle Ages, displaying armor, weapons, equipment for horse-riding, mountain passes, abbeys, castles, cannons, ships, and numerous other sights from fifteenth-century Germany. A stirring production that portrays the classic motifs of a medieval knight on a quest to reach his true love: penance, labor, suffering, and triumph. Good or better. Item #000016021

Some wear and minor loss to the parchment on the spine's edges, the cloth ties on the binding perished, a few annotations on the title page (either 17th or 18th century).

Price: $3,000.00