The Jagiellonian Library Berol. Ms. Germ. Qu. 2020

The Goliath Fight Book of Georg Lemberger

The Berol. Ms. Germ. Qu. 2020 is a German fencing manual produced by George Lemberger between 1535 and 1540. The original currently rests in the holdings of Biblioteka Jagiellońska in Kraków, Poland. It is usually referred to as the Goliath Fechtbuch (“fight book”) due to the elaborate depiction of David confronting Goliath on the first folia.

This facsimile is printed on cotton rag paper to simulate the texture and handling of Medieval paper, and bound according to the current quire structure. The cover is burgundy pigskin with 8mm boards and gold-foiled tooling based on the current (17th century) cover design.

The 600-page hardcover Commentary Volume can be purchased at a discount when bundled with the facsimile.

Edition size: 200 copies

facsimile
commentary volume

$400
+$60

Funded 26 June 2023.

Gallery

Description

Reverend Hans Lecküchner (or Lebkommer; ✝ 1482) was a 15th century German cleric and fencing master. He was born in the Nürnberg area, and in 1455 he was inscribed at the University of Leipzig. In 1457, he received the title of baccalaureus, and he was consecrated as a Catholic acolyte in 1459. At some point before creating his first manuscript in 1478, Lecküchner was consecrated as a priest. From 1480 until his death on December 31, 1482, he was employed as a communal priest in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Lecküchner dedicated his fencing manual to Philip “the Upright” von Wittelsbach, Count Palatine of the Rhine, but the nature of his connection to the elector remains unclear.

Two potential autograph copies of Lecküchner’s treatise are preserved: Heidelberg Cod. Pal. germ. 430, completed in 1478, and this manuscript, completed on 19 January 1482 (less than a year before his death). The latter mentions in the last paragraph that a previous draft had been produced, which was likely the source for the shorter version included by Hans von Speyer in the Salzburg ms. M.Ⅰ.29 in 1491.

Cgm 582 excels these other two contemporary copies of Lecküchner's teachings both in its length—it is half again as long as CPG 430—and in that nearly every page includes a lavish watercolor illustration by an artist from the circle of Michel Wolgemut. Indeed, there is no other 15th century fencing treatise comparable to this manuscript, and it would not be equaled until the writings of Paul Hektor Mayer in the 1540s and Joachim Meyer in the 1560s.

The Jagiellonian Library Berol. Ms. Germ. Qu. 2020

The Goliath Fight Book of Georg Lemberger

facsimilecommentary volume

$400+$60

Gallery

facsimile
commentary volume

$400
+$60