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Title
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Legenda Aurea
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Heading
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The Golden Legend
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Description
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William Caxton produced works already proven to be popular as safe publishing ventures. Salient among these is The Golden Legend, which Caxton translated and issued in 1483/84. It is from the Legenda Aurea, a collection of saints’ lives compiled in about 1260 by the Dominican friar and Bishop of Genoa, Jacobus de Voragine (1228/30-1298). Over one thousand extant manuscripts testify to its place in mediaeval culture. The first printed edition dates from about 1469. Some 150 editions followed during the incunabula period, including translations into French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, German, Low German and even Czech. Caxton’s translation was an adaptation which added several English saints.
Shown here is the first of six incunable editions issued by Nuremberg’s leading printer and publisher, Anton Koberger (ca 1445-1513). Anton Koberger ran a much larger venture than William Caxton or any other printer, employing 24 presses and more than one hundred workmen when most printers had at most three presses. Yet his career parallels Caxton’s in certain ways: as the outstanding publisher of his country in the fifteenth century; as the producer mainly of folios; as a pioneer (it was Koberger who brought printing to Nuremberg), and as a shrewd businessman.
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Date of Publication
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1478
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Format
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Folio
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Century
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15th
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Illustrations
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Manuscript
The BeginningsSee all items with this value
