FRANCOFORDIENSE EMPORIUM, SIVE FRANCOFORDIENSES NUNDINAE. QUAM VARIA MERCIUM GENERA IN HOC EMPORIO PROSTENT, PAGINA SEPTIMA INDICABIT.
- Geneva: self published, 1574.
- small 8vo
- Recently bound vellum, cloth slipcase
- (8), 31, 120 pages
Price: $16,000.00 other currencies
Order Nr. 136913
First and only edition of the printer's own laudatory account of the Frankfurt Fair based on his experiences selling books there the previous year. Adams S1768; Renouard Estienne, 139:2; Schreiber Estienne, 189; Simon, Bibliotheca Bacchia II, 235. Collation: *4, a-i8, k4, woodcut printer's device to title by Elhen von Wolfhagen, Tilemann (1347-1420), decorative head-pieces and initials. Water-staining to preliminary pages and spotting, lightly browned, British Museum duplicate with ink stamps to verso of title (showing through) and foot of verso of final f.
Provenance: British Museum duplicate (stamps); Otto Schäfer Stiftung, Schweinfurt, Germany, with his monogram on the rear paste-down (also in Bibliothek Otto Schäfer, 1995, p. 67-68); H.P.Kraus (bookplate, his sale, Sotheby's New York, 4 April 2003, lot 226), with corresponding pencil notations 'JL' from the hand of Josh Lipton on the rear pastedown.
"Estienne printed the 'Francofurdiense Emporium' only once, and it was not reprinted for three centuries, consequently becoming an extremely desirable and rare book, which seldom comes on the market" (Schreiber).
This book is a recollection of the 1573 Frankfurt Book Fair, declaring Frankfurt as a center of the book trade, a trading city, and as a tourist destination. It includes descriptions of the merchandise for sale, including horses, weapons, clothing, and household goods. This main text is followed by Latin poems and a Greek text with a Latin translation by Estienne about drinking, including a poem in praise of Bacharach am Rhein, in which Estienne addresses the drinking pleasure of the Germans: ("Germani Gallos superant tantum arte bibendi").
"...with general praise of Germany, especially as the nation who gave the world the art of printing" (Schreiber).
"Throughout this text, there is a sense of pleasure in the mart: strangers are treated kindly, lodgings are good, the merchants are honest, the objects displayed for sale are fascinating and delightful" (J. Considine, Dictionaries in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge 2008, p.92).