Feyerabend, Wapen und Stammbuch, Frankfurt, 1589; Paprocki, Prognostica virtutum cardinalum, Prage, 1589, Bohemian pigskin binding for Peter Wok Wolff von Rosenberg

FEYERABEND, SIGMUND & JOST AMMAN. Wapen und Stammbuch...mit Deutschen Reymen geziert. Frankfurt am Main: Sigmund Feyerabend, 1589 [bound with:]

PAPROCKI, BARTOSZ (BARTŁOMIEJ). Prognostica virtutum cardinalium in laudem Maximiliani Secundi. Prague: Jan Schumann, 1589

SECOND GERMAN EDITION of an extensively illustrated books and a LARGELY UNRECORDED WORK by Bartosz (Bartłomiej) Paprocki, FROM THE LIBRARY OF PETER WOK WOLFF VON ROSENBERG (Petr Vok z Rožmberka).

Jost Amman (1539-1591) was an influential Swiss-German artist, working primarily as an etcher and engraver. He produced detailed woodcuts for numerous illustrated books, and illustrations for bibles, works by ancient and contemporary authors, and non-fiction. Wapen und Stammbuch was first published in Latin, and then in German, in 1579; this later German edition features 8 additional plates. This edition has a total of 120 distinct woodcut illustrations by Amman: 61 elaborate coats of arms, 32 allegorical figures and 27 dress and costume plates. Although the 1579 editions possess 270 illustrations, many of these are repeats. This second German edition also contains a series of German rimes, believed to be composed by Sigmund Feyerabend. It was also reproduced in facsimile in 1881, 1893 and 1923; the work is largely known by its facsimile reprints, and genuine second edition copies are rare.

Bartosz Paprocki (1540-1614) is known as the father of Polish and Czech heraldry. A historian and a writer, Paprocki is the author of a number of armorials. This work is not found in the usual bibliographies of Polish/Latin works. It features a large woodcut portrait of Maximilian II, woodcut arms on the verso of the title-page and 10 additional woodcut emblems.

These two works were bound together for Petr Vok z Rožmberka (1539-1611), a Czech nobleman and an important figure in late sixteenth-century and early seventeenth-century Bohemian history. From 1557, he started to become interested in Lutheran literature, gradually straying from his Catholic upbringing. This limited his prospect of a career at the royal and imperial court. He began to enter the circles of the heir, Maximilian, instead of his father Ferdinand, who was more staunch in religious matters. In 1562, he was present at the coronation of Maximilian II; shortly after, he began travelling around Northern Europe, purchasing several paintings and books. He established an extensive library, which became known as the Rosenberg library and was catalogued by Václav Březan (now Stockholm, National Library of Sweden, U: 378/1-4, this book V, f. 189 recto ("Sigismu(n)di Feyerabendt Wapen und Stammbuch Franckfurt 1589").

Peter Wok Wolff commissioned the bookplate from the Flemish engraver Aegidius Sadeler in 1609, when Sadeler was working as court engraver for Rudolf II. Upon his death, the library of over 10,000 volumes passed to his Protestant nephew.