Codex Picturatus. Bathasaris Behem

CODEX BALTHASARIS BEHEM - CODEX PICTURATUS BALTHASARIS BEHEM (facsimile).

Book in cardboard, leather and paper case, with embossed gilt inscription on face; brown leather binding, with 4 scrolls on spine, 2 brass buckles; inside pages - chalk paper [372] and handmade paper [6];

Warsaw - Cracow, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Yugoslavia - "Forum"; binding Cracow - "Starodruk"; 1989.

Numbered series - piece no. 571

Format including cassette: 25x36,5cm

Facsimile of the famous Cartulary, located in the collection of the Jagiellonian Library, an illuminated manuscript containing the privileges and statutes of the city of Cracow and the laws of the Cracow guilds, written down by Balthasar Behem (ca. 1460-1508) in the years 1502 -1505, in Gothic script in Polish, Latin and German. The text of the codex covers 372 pages, 32.7 by 24.3 cm in size, and is decorated with 27 color miniatures by an unidentified artist, mostly depicting the daily life of the craftsmen and merchants of Cracow. The 1880 original was fitted with a smooth leather binding and silver hardware.; on the 1st page annotated at the bottom in a 19th century hand: "Privileges or endowments / Book / of Arts and Crafts / with a speech of Balthazar Bem / city scribe / of / 1505"; at the end of the book a paste-down - colophon - with printed text: "CODEX PICTURATUS / BALTHASARIS BEHEM / FACSIMILE / Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza / Varsoviae - Cracoviae / Edita sunt MD exemplaria / singula numero manu adscripto / signata / Typis exscripsit "Forum" / in Iugoslavia / Compegit "Starodruk" / Cracovia / Numerus 571". The phototyped version of Balthasar Behem's Codex has made history. "Printed in Yugoslavia and bound by the Cracovian "Starodruk" it was offered in two types of binding - full leather and half leather for - at the time - a not inconsiderable amount, $950 and $690 respectively." See Catalogue of reprints of the National Publishing Agency in Cracow, Cracow, 1989, p.5;

condition: book in very good condition, slightly dusty cover