STÜRMER, Wolfgang. Vorzeichnung und Gepräge der Großen und Kleinen Müntzsorten/ Welcher sich die Röm., Keyse auch zu Hungern/ Beheim/ Etc. Kön. Mayest. Etc. Sampt den Churfürsten/ Fürsten und Stenden/ Vermöge des Heiligen Röm. Reich Müntzordnung/ und Darauff Erfolgten Kreis und Probationtägen Vergliechen/ Darinne Anfangs die Guten Thaler/ So Hinfüro genkund gebe sein sollen/ Und dann folgende auch die Großen und Kleiner Geringer Valuirten/ Sorten Zubefinden/ So auff den Bruch/ in die Verordnete Wechsel/ Geantwortet Werden Sollen. Mit Röm, Keys, Mayest. Befreihung in Zehen Jaren nicht nach zu drucken. M.D. LXXXV [Erfurt, 1585].
Colophon: Gedruckt Erffordt / durch Johan Beck / In verlegung Wolff Stürmers / Bürger zu Leipzig.
(200 x 150 mm) pp. 191 (COMPLETE despite wildly erratic pagination, documented below). Signatures: A- BB4. Red and black title page, 2 pgs of introduction, 5 pgs register (unpaginated), 1,5, 5, 7, 9, 23, 13, 19, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25/26, 27, 29/30, 31, 33, 35/36, 37, 39, 41/42, 43/44, 45, [unnumbered], 49/50, 51/52, 53/54, 55/56, 57/58, 59/60, 61/62, 63/64, 66/67, 68/69, 70, 79, 74/75, 76/77, 78/79, 80/81, 82/83. 84/85, 86/78, 88/89, [unknown], 92/93, 94/95, 96/97, 98/99, 100/101, 102/103, 104/105, 106/114, 115/109, 110/118, 119/113, 114/115, 116/117, 118/119, [unnumbered]/121, 122/123, 124/125, 126/127, 128, 129/130, 131/132, 133/134, 135/136, 137/138, 139, 141/142, 143, 145/146, 147/148, 149/150, 151/152, 153/154, 158/156, 157, 159/160, 161/162, 163/164, 165/166, 167/168, 169/170, 171/172, 175/174, 178/176, 177/178, 179/180, 181/182, 183/184, 185/186, 187/188, 189/190, 191. Each page with decorative border. Over 500 coins depicted. Bound in limp vellum consisting of 15th c. medieval manuscript, with 16th c. title written on spine. Evidence of two ties.
p. 90 has suffered a tear and wants about a quarter of the page. Despite this flaw, overall in VERY GOOD condition, certainly for the contemporary use of the book.
The Book:
The markets in Germany were bustling with trade from all over the Continent. A standard currency was far from being agreed on and coin was the coin of the day, with each region stamping their own devices onto metal. Merchants and money-changers, therefore, relied on books like this to verify the authenticity of the money they were being handed. The day-to-day use of these books took its toll and not many of them survive due to the environment and handling they saw in their contemporary market setting.
Pages 1 through 187 (and all the mayhem of pagination that runs between) offer intricate woodcuts of both sides of the coins, along with exchange values and brief descriptions, although the book is illustration-heavy. The coins range from the 1480s to 1570s— nearly a century of late Medieval and Early Modern numismatic data.
Wolfgan Stürer (1515-1593 or 1595) was an author and editor in Leipzig, Saxony. Four editions of his major work, this Vorzeichnung und Gepräge, were produced during his lifetime (1572, 1573, 1575, and 1583).
The Manuscript:
The medieval manuscript serving as a binding is a 15th century Psalter created in Germany. This sheet of parchment once formed a bifolium, that is two folios folded to create part of a gathering with the gutter now pasted over the spine, over which a label has been pasted. The manuscript would have been used to celebrate the Lauds in Mass.
The Collector:
The front paste down houses an armorial ex libris bookplate of Clair Mendel. Mendel was the German Consul in Miami from 1958 to 1970. The bulk of his collection of fine 16th century paintings is housed in the Claire Mendel Collection, in the Vizcaya Museum in Miami, Florida.