The Secret Book of Honors of the Fugger Family

Author: Breu, Jorg

Date: 1545-1799

Language: German

Pages: 532

Description: 

The history of the Fugger family can be seen as an unparalleled success story of the German Renaissance. Starting as weavers in the second half of the 14th century, the family quickly evolved into successful merchants, bankers, and noblemen, culminating in Jakob Fugger the Wealthy (1459–1525) and Anton Fugger (1493–1560). They are considered to have been the wealthiest persons of their time, even though the family business was almost bankrupted by its loans to the Hapsburgs in the 1560s. The Fugger dynasty still exists today as a noble family in Germany. Around 1545 Johann Jakob Fugger (1516–75) commissioned this manuscript detailing the genealogy of his family up to his time. Genealogical research and text compilation was conducted by the apparitor, archivist, and entrepreneur Clemens Jäger (circa 1500–60). The illumination of the manuscript, including lavish portraits of family members, heraldic devices, and playfully detailed border motifs, was executed in the leading Augsburg workshop of Jörg Breu the Younger (circa 1510–47) and finished around 1548. Unlike the rest of Johann Jakob Fugger’s library, which was sold to Duke Albrecht IV of Bavaria in 1571, the manuscript was kept in the family for centuries and was even updated during the 18th century. Only in 2009 did the Fugger family sell it to the Bavarian State Library. The acquisition was made possible thanks to the generous financial support of the Ernst-von-Siemens Kunststiftung.

Reproduction Details: 

The hardcover books are made with two pieces of real wood on the inside. The leather is a 2 oz cowhide, from a small supplier in New York state. The Glue we use to attach the leather to the wood is made at our facility, and is a period correct wheat glue. The pages are pre-creased to add flexibility. Along the spine, we use a modern perfect binding, with modern glue, to make the binding last longer. Then we each signature is sewn into the book block.  We also add three layers of mull cloth to the outside of the perfect binding, drying in between each layer, a traditional way to make the binding stiff, strong, and resilient. The pictures below with the book block before its glued, and after.

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