Copy of Jerusalem, Palestine and Egypt in Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam, the oldest known printed map of Jerusalem ...

Copy of Jerusalem, Palestine and Egypt in Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam, the oldest known printed map of Jerusalem by Erhard Reuwich 1486. Size 126 x 29 cm
The Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam or Sanctae Peregrinationes, an incunabulum account of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, by Bernhard von Breydenbach, was published in 1486, with the illustrations drawn by Reuwich. Breydenbach was a wealthy canon of Mainz Cathedral who made the pilgrimage in 1483-4, taking with him, as the book explains, "Erhard Reuwich of Utrecht", a 'skillful artist', to make drawings of the sights. Breydenbach was made Dean of the Cathedral soon after his return. The party also included two friends, one a knight, and a cook. Many scholars believe the text was actually "as told to" a German monk who did not make the journey.

Leaving in April 1483 and arriving back in January 1484, they travelled first to Venice, where they stayed for three weeks. They then took ship for Corfu, Modon and Rhodes - all still Venetian possessions. After Jerusalem and Bethlehem and other sights of the Holy Land, they went to Mount Sinai and Cairo. After taking a boat down the Nile to Rosetta, they took ship back to Venice.

It is most unusual for an illustrator to be named at this time - no doubt the fact that Reuwich was also the printer helped. The book also says that he printed the first edition (in Latin) at his house in Mainz; he may have inserted this information himself.

That is all the biographical detail that is known of Reuwich; no other documentation for him has been discovered. No other books say that he printed or illustrated them, but it is believed that Reuwich also designed the woodcuts for some illustrations of plants for a herbal published in Mainz in 1485. In December 1486 a "Meister Erhard von Mainz" is recorded as installing stained-glass panels in the "Amtskellerei" in Amorbach in Bavaria; this could be him.The Sanctae Peregrinationes, or the Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam, was the first printed illustrated travel-book, and marked a leap forward for book illustration generally. It featured five large fold-out woodcuts, the first ever seen in the West, including a spectacular five-foot-long (1600 x 300 mm) woodcut panoramic view of Venice, where the pilgrims had stayed for three weeks. The book also contained a three-block map of Palestine and Egypt, centred on a large view of Jerusalem, which is the oldest known printed map of Jerusalem