Binding
Contemporary, German
City or Locale: Salzburg
Workshop: Ulrich Schreier
                    
                    

Stamps
(Wind)
  W13/14
   W110
   W140
   

Other details
  Covering: calf
  Endbands:
  Boards: beech?
  Supports: cords
  Edges: yellow
  Binding waste: none
  Text finish: rubricated red & blue, illuminated

Notes: Although worn and fragile, this binding is included here because it is the work of a great binder of the late fifteenth century, Ulrich Schreier, who was active primarily in Salzburg and Vienna. The lower cover is quite abraded, but it reveals most clearly the stamping so typical of many Schreier bindings, that is, the use of "kopfstempel" around the perimeter of various shaped compartments, along with curving lines radiating from a center stamp, here a swirling rosette. The resulting effect is that of oak-like leaves. Also apparent is the way Schreier often skewed the design slightly from the axis of the binding. Schreier was also a well-known illuminator, and the scribal finish of this text appears to be by his workshop as well. The hole at the head of the lower board is evidence that the book was once chained. Two early inscriptions reveal that this copy did not remain in Salzburg after it was bound. It came to the Huntington through Otto Vollbehr in 1924.
A very good website showing a number of Schreier bindings and illuminations is offered by the Universitätsbibliothek Salzburg.