farfel_n03_102_181

H. Steinhowel - whose book on the plague was J. Zainer's
first production.
-The translation was dedicated 14 Aug 1473 to Eleanor
of Austria, wife of Duke Sigismund of Tyrol. Steinhowel
reduced the number of Boccaccio's biographies from 105
(rather 106) to 99, + then named Eleanor as the
appropriate 100th woman of the book. "the crown of
womanly virtues in our time." The woodcut material
is the same, with a few omissions, as in the Latin ed of
1473 (Goff B-716). THere is a new historiated initial -
border for the dedication, displaying prominantly
the arms of Scotland, Eleanor being the daughter
of James I, King.
-The 1st German ed. of Bocaccio's celebrated compendium
of the lives of famous + infamous women was prepared
by Ulm physician + author H. Steinhowel, the major
patron of Zainer's press in its early years.

Although paper had been introduced much earlier in India, the
Indians were slow to adopt the medium either for writing or
for painting. The Hain community of Western India, not only
traded vigorously with the Arab world but under early Muslim
influence, appears to have been the first to adopt paper
enthusiastically, though not much earlier than the 14th C.
However, they did not adopt the vertical format or the idea of
bound books from the Muslims.