“A cat­a­logue of the Helden­rüstkam­mer of Arch­duke Fer­di­nand II in Schloss Ambras, the first col­lec­tion of armour formed for his­tor­i­cal rea­sons in the first purpose-built museum North of the Alps.” The work illus­trates 125 suits of armor, one per plate. Its full title runs to 133 words. What fol­lows is a ren­der­ing of just the first por­tion of the full title: “Most true images of the most august emper­ors, the most serene kings and arch­dukes, of the most illus­tri­ous princes, as well as earls, barons, nobles, and other emi­nent men, who were either the com­mand­ing lead­ers in war or within their realms per­formed admirably…[together with] suc­cinct descrip­tions [of their achieve­ments].” (Some­times this work is referred to as the “Arma­men­tar­ium Hero­icum,” Latiniz­ing the Ger­man for “Heroes Armory.”)
❧ This tour-de-force of Baroque illus­tra­tion was com­plied by Jakob Schrenk von Notz­ing with plates believed to be by the engraver Domini­cus Cus­tos. The book was pub­lished in Inns­bruck in 1601. This date in the Prince­ton copy has been revised by means of a hand­stamp to read “M.DC.XIX.” The Library’s copy is bound in con­tem­po­rary calf and is stamped with the name and arms of its first owner: Hec­tor Le Bre­ton, seigneur de la Doine­terie, who held pub­lic offices dur­ing the reigns of Henri IV, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV. In 1615 he suc­ceeded his cousin as roi d’armes de France.
❧ Call num­ber; (Ex) D106 .S3f. Pur­chased in 1983 from Robin Hal­was (anti­quar­ian book­seller, Lon­don; his cat­a­logue 3, num­ber 79).
❧ Cf. Elis­a­beth Sche­icher, “His­to­ri­og­ra­phy and Dis­play: The Helden­rustkam­mer of Arch­duke Fer­di­nand II in Schloss Ambras.” Jour­nal of the His­tory of Col­lec­tions 2 (1990): 69–79.