Plannck (incunable) - Mirabilia Rome - 1490

Plannck Stephan

Mirabilia Romae urbis
Rome - 1490 (?) -

(8) c. - (c. 8 white).
In 12o - 14 X 10 cm. -

No signature - No date - Car. goth. - 26/28 ll.

ONE OF THE FIRST TOURIST GUIDES FOR THE PILGRIMS OF ROME.
COPINGER, 4045.

Fascinating, evocative and very rare incunabulum, in its splendid period binding, very probably amateur, with the seal-like dry-stamped image of a unicorn on the covers, set in elaborate phytomorphic borders.

A copy of the same edition, but with a modern binding, sold a few days ago for €7,000 at a major Italian auction house.

The Mirabilia Urbis Romae are a collection of hundreds of Latin manuscripts and incunabula that describe notable architectural works and historic monuments of the city of Rome.
Almost all of these brochures were intended as travel guides for pilgrims and visitors.
Before the XIV century, however, the central text seems to have served as a census of the city’s architectural patrimony, the “Decus Urbis.”

This heritage represented the strength of Rome and the power of the institutions that controlled it.
The first compilation in the Mirabilia tradition, produced between 1140 and 1143, is the work of a canon of the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, named Benedetto.

The Mirabilia begin with a description of the walls of Rome, with details of towers, fortifications and gates; then triumphal arches, hills, baths, ancient buildings, theatres, places tied to the martyrdom of saints; then bridges, cemeteries and some important ancient monuments and historical accounts.
An itinerary of the Vatican to Trastevere follows, although the guide focuses almost exclusively on ancient monuments.
In other words, it describes the city’s ancient patrimony, not all points of interest.

The first important printed work was compiled around 1475 under the title
“Mirabilia Romae vel potius Historia et descriptio urbis Romae.”
For the Jubilee year 1500, the Roman printers produced editions in Latin, Italian, German, French and Spanish.
While earlier editions included fantastical accounts of ancient history and misidentifications of the subjects of sculpture,
the knowledge accumulated by humanists in the Renaissance allowed an increasingly well-founded and realistic rendering of Rome’s past.
The rise of modern critical scrutiny was first attracted to the different versions of Mirabilia Urbis Romae by the archaeologist of Christian Rome in the 19th century, Giovanni Battista de Rossi.

From the 15th century the Mirabilia would be printed several times.
They can indeed be considered among the oldest incunabula printed by the German-type presses in Rome.

Stephan Plannck (1457/1501) is the editor of the present edition (1490?).
Born in Bavaria and active in Roman publishing in the last two decades of the 15th century, of which he became one of the most active figures.

In the course of the various prints, the Mirabilia will retain the original title, though they will undergo continuous modernization and modifications of content.
In the 16th century, with the birth of interest in antiquity, favored by archaeological discoveries, the fantastical part was eliminated and the Mirabilia became a true guide to the ruins of the city.
Thus, using the Mirabilia, a foreigner could tour the city in three days, guided by a cicerone.
They would be used until the Baroque.

The present edition, free from shelf marks and printing data, is rather difficult to catalog, as numerous prints appeared during the period, all different from each other, though
with nearly identical text.
However, the edition seems to belong to Stephan Plannck with a 1490 printing.
The first sheet, with the title page, seems to come from another edition, perhaps posthumous, albeit with identical illustration on the frontispiece and text on the verso (with different line spacing). The remaining sheets are COMPLETE.

ALL THE PAGES OF THE TEXT ARE SHOWN IN PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE ORDER OF INCLUSION.

Rare period binding in full leather, with dry-stamped decorations set in elaborate phytomorphic frames and fleurons, enclosing two unicorns, bearing a lion’s tail and split hooves, symbol of wisdom.
Small cracks and pinhole worm traces are present.

Splendid full-page illustration on the frontispiece, depicting Rhea Sylvia kneeling, with the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus in the foreground, while in the background one can recognize the Pantheon, Nero’s tower and the Pyramid of Cestius.
Browning and traces of dirt on the leaves, though the text remains regularly readable.
The original white 8th leaf.

The first leaf with the frontispiece probably comes from another edition.
COLLATED. COMPLETE