Model-Buchs dritter Theil, von unterschiedlichen Vögeln, Blumen und Früchten, wie dieselbige zum Weiss-Nehen, Ladengewebe, Creutz- und Frantzösischen-Stiche, Strümpf-gestricke, auch Geschnür, Gewirck, und Geschlinge von Paterlein, oder andern dergleichen Arbeit, nach eines jeglichen Belieben anzuwenden; gezeichnet und den Jenigen so zu solcher Arbeit Lust haben, zu Dienst ins Kupffer versetzt, von-und in Verlegung Rosina Helena Fürstin [Neues Modelbuch, v. 3]

by Rosina Helena Fürst

Nuremberg: Christian Siegmund Froberg for the widow and heirs of Paul Fürst, [1676]

v. 3 of 4 only | [4] leaves + plates 4-28, 34, 37, 36, 38-43 (of 43) | 159 x 203 mm

The third volume from the second edition of the Nuremberg artist's pattern book for needlework. Fürst's patterns first appeared around 1660, followed by a four-part second edition published over multiple years (from which our volume comes). Subsequent editions appeared in 1689 and 1728. The genre dates at least to the a ca. 1523 Furm- oder Modelbuchlein. And while the 16th century saw needlework become a solidly feminine activity, men were still producing most of the pattern books. Fürst, raised in a family of engravers, was something of an exception in this respect, "THE FIRST WOMAN TO BE NAMED AS AN ARTIST IN A PATTERN BOOK [Modelbuch]" (Überrück). She likely found inspiration in the printed florilegia of her time, and some have suggested that she, in turn, may have influenced the work of Maria Sibylla Merian (Rosina's sister actually studied under Merian). As her title makes plain, these patterns of birds, flowers, and fruit could be adapted to a variety of needlework media. ¶ The ideal copy of these pattern books can be something of a moving target, and many copies fall short of what that ideal might appear to be. For example, the copy of this edition at the Nuremberg city library is missing both titles, plus some ten plates. Our copy runs to the requisite 43 plates, lacking plates 1-3 and 29-33. We might lack plate 35, but it seems our plate 37 takes its place, preceding plate 36, just as in the Nuremberg copy, which also lacks a 35. More confounding still, OUR PLATES 37-40 ARE REVERSE IMAGES of those in the Nuremberg copy, as if one set were copies made from the impressions of the others. Certainly heavy use will account for the incompleteness of some copies, but discrepancies among press runs of individual plates could help explain why certain leaves are consistently missing from multiple copies. For example, both us and Nuremberg lack plates 1-2 and 29-30, and plates 1-2 were also missing from the copy in Lipperheide's library. The Nuremberg copy also adds plates 45-50 from the ca. 1660 first edition (Neues Modelbuch), further muddying the waters. A reader's enhancement, or the publisher using up leftover plates from the earlier edition? With no narrative logic to maintain, there's no reason copies couldn't be sold with varying numbers of plates. Any number of patterns would be useful. ¶ Scarce as they are, we'll celebrate needlework pattern books in any state. "Their rarity is not to be wondered at, for by their very nature they were destined to be scattered and destroyed. Passed from hand to hand as we pass on similar books today, they suffered the usual accidents which happen to all books not kept carefully on shelves. Many more were destroyed by the pricking of their patterns for transfer" (Daniels). ¶ We find no copies of this volume in North America, and Fürst is no less scarce in the trade, across all editions. Present copy aside, we last find her at auction in 1967.

CONDITION: Early semi-limp marbled boards. With an added engraved title page. Plates 25 and 27 are double-page spreads. ¶ Lacking some plates as described above. The two double-page spreads a little wormed at the upper centerfold, each with perhaps a square centimeter of loss; plate 6 detached (but present); mild foxing; engraved title a bit soiled. Boards a little shaky, but still attached by both cords; spine largely perished; boards creased and worn.

REFERENCES: VD17 75:739567R; Arthur Lotz, Bibliographie der Modelbücher, p. 109, #61b; Five Hundred Years of Women's Work: The Lisa Unger Baskin Collection (2019), p. 60, #29 (1689 edition; "Fürst drew and engraved the complex illustrations of lace and embroidery...Model books for calligraphy, lace patterns, and needlework were typically used exhaustively by their owners, and as a result few survive"); Katalog der Freiherrlich von Lipperheide'schen Kostümbibliothek (1901-1905), v. 2, p. 598, #3920 (also lacking plates 1-2) ¶ Angelika Überrück, Gestickter Glaube: Die christlichen Motive auf Stickmustertüchern in Deutschland (2020), v. 1, p. 328 (cited above); Margaret Harrington Daniels, "Early Pattern Books for Lace and Embroidery: Part I," The Bulletin of the Needle and Bobbin Club 17.2 (1933), p. 4 (cited above); Sam Segal and Klara Alen (Judith Deitch, tr.), Dutch and Flemish Flower Pieces (2020), v. 1, p. 934 (on the patterns of Paul and Rosina: "These were often copies, for example, after Collaert's Florilegium. The publications of Johann Sibmacher (1561-1611) were quite likely to have been an inspiration for these compositions. The pattern books by Fürst, both father and daughter, would have been known by Maria Sibylla Merian, who may have imitated the concept in her own three 'Neue Blumenbucher' published in Nuremberg between 1675 and 1680."); Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe (2019), p. 197-198 ("In the sixteenth century, embroidery and related types of needlework became increasingly identified as feminine...As more embroidery was produced in the home for domestic consumption, it was increasingly considered an 'accomplishment' rather than an art, and those who embroidered for pay received lower wages, except for the male designers of embroidery patterns and the few men employed as court embroiderers by Europe's monarchs.")

Item #730