De la Ruine des Nobles hommes et femmes (Of the ruin of noble men and women)
Giovanni Boccaccio
(Italian, 1313–1375)
Master of the Boccaccio Illustrations
(Netherlandish, 1470–1490)
Colard Mansion
(Netherlandish, 1440–1484)
1476
Place of PublicationBruges, Netherlands
Medium/TechniqueIllustrated book with nine hand-colored engravings
DimensionsOverall: 38.3 × 29 × 8 cm (15 1/16 × 11 7/16 × 3 1/8 in.)
Sheet (each): 37 × 26 cm (14 9/16 × 10 1/4 in.)
Sheet (each): 37 × 26 cm (14 9/16 × 10 1/4 in.)
Credit LineMaria Antoinette Evans Fund
Accession number32.458
On View
Not on viewClassificationsBooks and manuscripts
Collections
(Bruges: Colard Mansion, 1476) Folio; 290 leaves; modern armorial gilt-stamped brown morocco binding (Orrock & Son, Edinburgh, 1871).
Published in the prosperous Flemish town of Bruges, this is the earliest known printed book illustrated with engravings, which were printed separately and pasted into the volume. In this copy (the finest and most complete surviving example), the engravings were also colored by hand. The text, written in the later fourteenth century by Giovanni Boccaccio, consists of a series of imaginary interviews with celebrated sufferers of misfortune. Translated from the original Latin into French in the fifteenth century, the book was admired throughout Europe.
