37 x 27 cm. 844 pages. With 137 full-page color miniatures. Original white pigskin binding with embossed cover and spine. (Signed: H. Sperling, Leipzig). The Codex Manesse, also known as the Manesse Song Manesse, is the most comprehensive and famous German song manuscript of the Middle Ages. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Zurich patrician Rüdiger Manesse and his son Johann compiled an extensive collection of Middle High German poetry, songs, and sayings by 140 authors. These include such well-known names as Walther von der Vogelweide, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Hartmann von Aue, Gottfried von Straßburg, and Ulrich von Lichtenstein. The manuscript contains exclusively poetic works in High German. The 137 miniatures are considered an important document of Upper Rhine Gothic book illumination. Produced in 320 numbered copies by the Kunstanstalt A. Frisch in Berlin. Enclosed is the almost always missing commentary volume: Sillib, Rudolf et al., The Manesse Song Manuscript. Leipzig, Insel-Verlag 1929. 4 volumes. 141 pages. - Sarkowski 1054.