Page from 'Mirabilia Romae, Historia et Descriptio Urbis Romae' by Pseudo-Aegidius Romanus, published by Andreas...

Copy of the earliest printed guide-book, a practical guide to pilgrim sites in the eternal city. Its wallet style is particularly evocative, being light, flexible and well suited to fit the pocket of a contemporary pilgrim (see 472852). Mirabilia Romae refers to two distinct texts, which have been subsumed under one title, owing to their transmission together in many manuscripts. The Mirabilia proper is on the wonders of Rome, and the Historia et Descriptio is, as its title indicates, a history and guide to the holy city. Although its ultimate aim was devotional in that it facilitated pilgrims' worship in churches around the city, it contains much secular, even art historical, detail in its descriptions of more than 80 churches and the relics contained therein. The woodcuts used here are cut down from a German-language blockbook edition of c.1475.