Price: £1,000.00
Title: 'Bressla'. Publication: Hartman Schedel’s Libri Cronicarum, dated July 1493. Description: Present day Wroclaw (Lower Silesia, Poland) stood at the crossroads of major mediaeval trading routes from the Baltic in the north to Italy in the south and from Kiew in the east to Magdeburg in the west. Because of its importance as a trading post over the centuries its ownership, as well as its name, had changed many times. The City was known as Wrotizla, Wrotizlava, Wratislavia, Prezzla, Breslaw, Bressla, Bresslaw, Breslau and finally Wroclaw. Around 990 it was taken from the Bohemians by the Poles. In 1335 it was inherited by the Czech King John of Luxembourg. In 1526 it was, in turn, inherited by the Austrian Habsburgs. Taking advantage of a dynastic crisis in Austria Fredrick II Hohenzollern of Prusia declared war on them in December 1740 and occupied Silesia. Austria tried unsuccesfully to recaputure the province in two subsequent campaigns. Finally, in 1945, Stalin 'shoved' Poland westward back to its original boundaries of the 10th century. In summary Wroclaw has been in Polish hands for over 400 years, in Austrian hands for 214 years, in Prussian hands for 205 years, in Czech hands for 191 years and in Bohemian hands for ? years. On the engraving can be identified (from left to right): the southern Swidnic Gate and the Church of Corpus Christi, the church of St. Elizabeth, the Rathaus, the twin spires of the church of St. Mary Magdalen, the spires of St. Mark and St. James. All in all a fairly accurate depiction of the City. Condition: The map has been de-acidified.The pages in this book were sewn into the binding and thus were subject to damage (tearing & splitting) along the centrefold. Surprisingly the only damage found on this sheet were the binding holes which have now been expertly repaired. The engraving was prepared from 2 woodblocks pressed onto one sheet hence the fact that the centre doesn't quite line up.
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