Turrecremata, Johannes de
First edition in reduced format, a synthesis of the archaic style of the printer Ulrich Han and the Napolitan Francesco del Tuppo in a new series of wood engravings by Stephan Planck.
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When, in 1468, Ulrich Han (d. 1476) published the first Roman edition of the Meditationes by the Dominican cardinal Juan de Torquemada (1388-1468), it was the first book with woodcuts to be printed in Italy. Only three copies of the 1468 edition have been recorded. This edition, issued in 1498, uses for the first time a new series of woodcuts by Plannck (1457-1501), except for the engraving of Saint Peter receiving the keys to paradise which had been used according to Arnim in Mirabillia Romae in 1494.
The woodcuts are inspired by those designed for the Han edition of Meditationes. The white-on-black frame of the engraving on the title page shows the influence of Francesco del Tuppo's Aesop of 1485.
The woodcuts represent:
a1r: Creation of the World; a2r: Creation of Adam; a3r: Adam & Eve; a4r: The Annunciation; a5r: The Nativity; a5v: Circumcision; a6v: Adoration of the Magi; a7r: Presentation in the Temple; a8: Flight into Egypt; b1r: Christ and the Doctors of the Law; b2v: The Baptism of Christ; b3v: The Temptation in the Desert; b4r: St Peter receiving the keys to heaven; b5: the Transfiguration; b6r: Washing of the feet; b6v: the Last Supper; b7r: Judas' betrayal; b8v: Christ before Caiaphas; c1r: Crucifixion; c2r: Women discovering the open tomb; c3r: Souls led from Purgatory; c4r: Resurrection of Christ; c5: Jesus appearing to his apostles; c6r: Ascension; c6v: Pentecost; c7r: Procession of the Holy Spirit; c8r: Abraham and three angels; d1r: Dominican Tree; d2r: the pope and a Dominican monk, d2v: Assumption of the Virgin, d3r: Christ crowned, d3v: Christ and Mary crowned, d4: Mass for the dead.
Stephan Planck had bought out Ulrich Han's business after the latter's death in 1475-1476. Han's former partners, a merchant from Lucca and Wolfgang Han, were unable to make the business prosper without him. The engravings, the woodcuts of 1468, thus came into the possession of Stephan Planck, but in the meantime the Italian printing press had produced new iconographic canons, of which the Neapolitan Francesco del Tuppo (1443-1498) was one of the protagonists. This synthesis of the two styles makes the eighth edition of the Meditationes particularly important for understanding the international rise of the Italian illustrated book at the turn of the 15th century.
Provenance: from the collection of Bernard Malle.
ISTC 00541000; Goff T-541; HC 15728; Sander 7409; Arnim 342; Brunet, V, 986; French, 555.
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