Defensorium immaculatae virginitatis
Series: Blockbücher -- Bd. 2; German books before 1601 -- roll 64, item 7
Publisher: Insel-Verlag
Published: 1925
Place of publication: Leipzig
Language: lat
Number of pages: 18
Subjects: Incunabula; Facsimiles; Wood-engraving, German; Block books; Illustrated books; History; Immaculate Conception
Notes: Title from cover.

Printed on double leaves, Chinese style.

"Es wurden nach dem in der Bayrischen Staatsbibliothek zu München befindlichen original fünfhundert Exemplare ... hergestellt auf einem Papier, das die Firma J.W. Zanders in Bergisch-Gladbach nach einem alten Muster mit der Hand schöpfte ..."-- Colophon.

Reproduction of a block-book printed in Germany, with 59 woodcuts representing certain real or imaginary marvels in the natural world, explaining by comparison the Virgin birth. The date 1470 occurs on the first page, preceded by the initials F.W., generally believed to refer to the artist Friedrich Walther. The authorship of the descriptive text appended to each woodcut is ascribed to Franciscus de Retza, whose name appears in a different version (Regensburg, Johannes Eysenhut, 1471).

Number 221 of 500 copies.