Chronicon.

Clemons.jpg

Creator

Eusebius Caesariensis (ca. 270–338 CE).

Title

Chronicon.

Publisher

Venice: Erhard Ratdolt,

Date

September 1483.

Description

Provenance: Abel Berland.

My primary collection is the Aldine Press, but my eye occasionally wanders to other examples of early Venetian printing. This book is a synchronistic history of the world, in which each column represents the chronological calculations of different empires.

Important dates are printed in red ink, carrying on a tradition from the manuscript era, in which key dates were “rubricated,” or literally written in red ink. Each leaf places world events into the chronology of different traditions, such as the Roman or Jewish calendars, or the Greek Olympiads. Displayed here on the lower half of leaf l2r are the recording (in red letters) of the birth of Christ and the inception of a new chronological system (anni domini). A later reference includes an early mention of Johann Gutenberg. Gutenberg is lauded for his “solerti ingenio,” or ”expert skill,” a phrase that Ratdolt uses in the colophon to characterize his own talents.

The previous owner, Abel Berland, was a member of the Grolier Club from 1967 until his death in 2010.

Source

G. Scott Clemons