Hartmann Schedel was a German physician, humanist

Humanism

Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....

, historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

, and one of the first cartographers to use the printing press

Printing press

A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...

. He was born in Nuremberg

Nuremberg

Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

. Matheolus Perusinus

Matheolus Perusinus

Matheolus Perusinus was a professor of philosophy and medicine. He was a native of Perugia , and died at Padua....

 served as his tutor

Tutor

A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...

.

Schedel is best known for his writing the text for the Nuremberg Chronicle

Nuremberg Chronicle

right|thumbnail|240px|Fifth dayThe Nuremberg Chronicle is an illustrated Biblical paraphrase and world history that follows the story of human history related in the Bible; it includes the histories of a number of important Western cities. Written in Latin by Hartmann Schedel, with a version in...

, known as Schedelsche Weltchronik (English: Schedel's World Chronicle), published in 1493 in Nuremberg. It was probably commissioned by Anton Koberger

Anton Koberger

Anton Koberger was the German goldsmith, printer and publisher who printed and published the Nuremberg Chronicle, a landmark of incunabula, and was a successful bookseller of works from other printers...

. Maps in the Chronicle were the first ever illustrations of many cities and countries.

With the invention of the printing press

Printing press

A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...

 by Johannes Gutenberg in 1447, it became feasible to print books and maps for a larger customer basis. Because they had to be handwritten, books were previously rare and very expensive.

Schedel was also a notable collector of books, art and old master print

Old master print

An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition . A date of about 1830 is usually taken as marking the end of the period whose prints are covered by this term. The main techniques concerned are woodcut, engraving and etching, although there are...

s. An album he had bound in 1504, which once contained five engraving

Engraving

Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...

s by Jacopo de' Barberi, provides important evidence for dating de' Barbari's work.

Editions

• Hartmann Schedel: Registrum huius operis libri cronicarum cu [cum] figuris et imagibus [imaginibus] ab inicio mudi [mundi]. [Nachdruck der Ausgabe Nürnberg, Koberger, 1493]. Ostfildern: Quantum Books, [2002?]. - CCXCIX, [51] S., ISBN 3-935293-04-6
• Hartmann Schedel: Register des Buchs der Croniken und geschichten mit figuren und pildnussen von anbeginn der welt bis auf dise unnsere Zeit. [Durch Georgium Alten ... in diss Teutsch gebracht]. Reprint [der Ausg.] Nürnberg, Koberger, 1493, 1. Wiederdruck. München: Reprint-Verlag Kölbl, 1991. - [9], CCLXXXVI Bl., IDN: 947020551
• Hartmann Schedel: Weltchronik. Nachdruck [der] kolorierten Gesamtausgabe von 1493. Einleitung und Kommentar von Stephan Füssel. Augsburg: Weltbild, 2004. - 680 S., ISBN 3-8289-0803-9
• Stephan Füssel (Hg.): Schedel'sche Weltchronik. Taschen Verlag, Köln 2001. ISBN 3-8228-5725-4
• http://www.obrasraras.usp.br/ - Digitalisat der lateinischen Ausgabe (mit brasil-portugiesischer Bedien-Oberfläche)
• Digitalisat der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek
• Digitalisat der Beloit copy (Morse Library, Beloit College, Beloit, WI 53511, United States) - http://www.beloit.edu/nuremberg/inside/contents/index.htm
• Holzschnitte aus einem der Exemplare der Bibliothèque nationale de France - http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b2200022x
• LIBER CHRONICARUM - the Latin edition of the Nuremberg chronicle offered by -http://www.smithandpress.com

Literature

• Elisabeth Rücker: Hartmann Schedels Weltchronik, das größte Buchunternehmen der Dürerzeit. Verlag Prestel, München 1988. ISBN 3-7913-0876-9
• Stephan Füssel (Hrsg.): 500 Jahre Schedelsche Weltchronik. Carl, Nürnberg 1994. ISBN 3-418-00372-9
• Peter Zahn: Hartmann Schedels Weltchronik. Bilanz der jüngeren Forschung. In: Bibliotheksforum Bayern 24 (1996), 230-248
• Christoph Reske: Die Produktion der Schedelschen Weltchronik in Nürnberg. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2000. ISBN 3-447-04296-6
• Michael Zellmann-Rohrer, Constantine Hadavas, Selim S. Nahas: Liber Chronicarum Translation Volume 1. Boston. ISBN: 978-0-9831407-2-6

External links