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Interior hand-coloured illustrations of left and right hands with markings

Printed Books

Schatzbehalter

Stephan Fridolin

1491


This book (the title of which translates as ‘Treasure Chest or Shrine of True Riches for Salvation and Eternal Blessedness’) was written by the Franciscan preacher Stephan Fridolin (1430-98).

It is a compendium of Catholic piety and was published by the greatest early German printer, Anton Koberger, in Nuremberg.

Lavishly illustrated with 96 woodcuts by the master craftsman Michael Wohlgemut, teacher of Albrecht Dürer, the text contains instructions on how each image should be coloured. The quality of the colouring can often vary between copies, and was dependent on the amount spent by the original owners.

This book was purchased for the State Library of Victoria through the Felton Bequest in 1922.