Liber chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle), 1493
Author: Hartmann Schedel (1440–1514)
Illustrators: Michel Wolgemuth (German, 1434–1519) and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (German, ca. 1460–1494)
Printed book with woodcut illustrations; 18 15/16 x 13 3/8 x 3 3/8 in. (48.1 x 34 x 8.6 cm)
Rogers Fund, transferred by the Library, 1921 (21.36.145)
This epic history, published a year after Columbus's first voyage, presents the world through the lens of European Christians. In the account of the "third age"—from the birth of Abraham to the reign of the biblical King David—the text lists furnishings of the Tabernacle used in the Wilderness. Prescribed by God in chapter 25 of the Book of Exodus, they include the golden Ark of the Covenant, which contained the tablets of the Law. The left-hand image of the Ark conforms to the twelfth-century description of Rabbi Salomonis (Solomon ben Isaac of Troyes), known as Rashi, the renowned commentator on the Bible and Talmud; the second depiction, at right, is based on Catholic writings. Below is the table of the Shewbread. On the right plate is the seven-branched menorah of pure gold, the primary symbol of Judaism in the ancient and medieval worlds.
