When Werner Rolevinck, a Carthusian monk from the Charterhouse of St. Barbara in Cologne, began writing his history the Fasciculus Temporum, he could not have imagined how the development of printing would transform his "little bundle of the things of time" from a manuscript (c. 1468-72) for monastic and clerical audiences into a printed book, a "best seller" that appeared all around Europe in the early years of printing. His design for the format of his history, as he described it, "...in brevi quasi tabella depingunt...," a history of the world, "in a brief form as if it were painted picture," proved to be an innovative and important influence in the technical development of printing design. The layout and design for his book, created by himself and by its first printer, Arnold Ther Hoernen, in 1474, in Cologne, served as model for all the subsequent volumes. The work was reprinted all over Europe, from 1474 to 1535, in twenty-five editions in Latin and six editions of translations. The first translation of the history was in Dutch, then two followed in German, and finally four editions were issued in French. By the year 1726, the work had been printed in a total of thirty-nine editions. The two last editions, (the first in 1584, by Johannes Pistorius, editor, in Fasciculus Temporum Omnes Antiquorum Chronicas Complectens in Germanicorum Scriptorum, and a reprint in 1726) were copies of the Latin text printed without illustrations.
There were a number of innovations present in the first printed editions
of this work. The list of towns in which the Fasciculus Temporum
was printed in the 1400's provides a record of the spread of printing throughout
Europe. Often this book was the first illustrated book printed in the area.
In each new place where the book was printed, often, the printer would
include a woodcut illustrating a view of the town, thus making an effort
to appeal to local book buyers. Especially beautiful, hand colored editions
were the Dutch editions by Johann Veldener, Erhard Ratdolt's Venice editions,
and the various Cologne editions from the 1470's. These editions contain
fascinating woodcut illustrations that represent such events as the creation
of the world, scenes from the Old Testament, the building and destruction
of famous cities from antiquity to the late 1400's. There is even a representation
of the siege at Rhodes in the 1480's. These books present the effort of
early printers to embody important historical moments in a printed form.
Illustration: Rudimentium Novitiorum
The second work that forms a part of my research was also produced in the early years of printing, the Rudimentium Novitiorum. This work is a compendium of history, printed in Lübeck by Lucas Brandis de Schass, dated August 5th, 1475. Unlike the Fasciculus, the Rudimentum Novitiorum was never reprinted in Latin, but appeared only twice again, in French, under the title Mer Des Histoires This translation was first produced by Pierre Le Rouge in 1488 and again by Antoine Vérard in 1491 in Paris. The Rudimentum Novitiorum is a universal history, in the form of a large, encyclopedic text book, clearly designed for use in the school room. The Latin version is a large folio, suitable for use on a book stand with the text and illustrations laid out in such a way as to serve as textbook for the students. The text is arranged chronologically and is divided into six epochs, beginning with the creation and ending with the third year of the pontificate of Sixtus IV (1475). The book also contains numerous woodcuts of graphic representations of genealogical tables, maps, and pictorial sequences of the major historical events of the Old and New Testament and later times. The work, intended to serve as an educational tool for young clerics, like the Fasciculus, did not enjoy the same popularity as the Fasciculus, perhaps due to the great size of the finished volume.
All of the editions of the Fasciculus and the Rudimentum Novitiorum contain illustrations of crucial historical moments. In the Fasciculus the illustrations vary from edition to edition and from country to country, but all of them represent history from its inception to the moment the edition came from the press. The Rudimentum Novitiorum also contains such illustrations, including some firsts for woodcut illustrations, such as maps and contemporary representations of physicians and scholars. Both works survive in beautifully decorated editions. I have been working on a book on the Fasciculus Temporum for the past few years and hope to complete the first study of Rolevinck’s wonderful "little bundle of the things of time" in the next few years.
