First edition of the famous Weisskunig on the life of Emperor Maximilian I. containing 237 full-page woodcuts by Beck and Burgkmair
Vienna: Joseph Kurzböck, 1775
„ Der Weiß Kunig: eine Erzehlung von den Thaten Kaiser Maximilian des Ersten...“
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We are offering a well-preserved exemplar of the first edition of the Weisskunig illustrated by 237 full-page woodcuts by Leonhard Beck (1480 – 1572) and Hans Burgkmair ( 1473-1531), the text being decorated by some woodcut initials and vignettes. The autobiographical work narrates from the life and deeds of the Holy-Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459 – 1519). It is a supplement to the emperor’s major work Theuerdank.
Maximilian calls himself the Weißkunig (white king) due to his white harness he used to wear in tournaments and battles. The major part of the text was written by the ghostwriter Marx Treitzsaurwein (1415 – 1527), who received the necessary information by the emperor in the shape of hints on sources and often also as dictates.
The first part of the work deals with the marriage of the old white king Emperor Frederick III with Eleonara and their coronation in Rome.
The second part describes the birth and youth of Maximilian up to his marriage with Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, the third part describes the emperor’s wars between 1477 and 1513.
While the first two parts have been edited by Treitzsaurwein independently according to the sources, the third part is considered as the work of Maximilian himself dictated to the ghostwriter.
The work was never finished as it was planned to be continued up to the emperor’s death. In 1526, seven years after the death of the emperor, king Ferdinand ordered Treitzsaurwein to conclude the work and to organise its publication. However, the work was not finished as Treitzsaurwein died already in 1527.
Thus the work was not published and for a time being forgotten. For two hundred years even the woodblocks, which had already been prepared, disappeared. They were rediscovered in the 18th century in Graz. Now in 1775, the first publication of the Weisskunig was completed by using the old woodblocks and the text of Treitzsaurwein’s manuscripts.
