HAMBURG.- This masterwork would not exist if it hadn‘t been for Leonardo da Vinci. The friend and student of the acclaimed mathematician Luca Pacioli did not only give impetus to “Divina porportione“, but also made many drawings for this milestone of Renaissance geometry. On May 31 this important source for the study of da Vinci‘s works will be offered in the Rare Books Auction at Ketterer Kunst in Hamburg with an estimate of € 80,000.

LOGICAL: Aristotle created the “Logica vetus“, an impressive parchment manuscript with fundamental texts on logic in France around 1250. It contains the primary texts for logical education throughout the entire medieval era. This extremely rare medieval text compilation was seminal for scholastic thining in the 13th and 14th century and will now be called up with an estimate of € 60,000.

SPLENDID: With the Barbeaux-Gradual from around 1280-1290 another vellum manuscript from Northern France will enter the race with an estimate of € 60,000. The rare medieval liturgical book with mass chants from the Cistercian monastery Barbeaux features rich and artful illuminations, among them 15 large interlace initials with gripping and biting lacertine animals, birds and foliage executed with great love for detail.

SALUTARY: The Gospel of Mark is the shortest and presumably oldest of the four Gospels. A vellum manuscript made in Italy around 1180 will enter the bidding race with an estimate of € 30,000. The well-preserved manuscript is particularly impressive for its magnificent interlace initial with so-called “Glossa ordinaria“, neatly executed comments between the lines or in the margins. Glossed bible manuscripts were one of the greatest accomplishments of scholarliness and graphic design in the 12th century.

DEMONIC: The “Consolatio peccatorum“, also known as the “Book Belial“, is one of the rare incunabula by Jacobus de Theramo and may be available for the estimate of € 25,000. Made in Strasbourg in 1481, the work is particularly captivating for its numerous woodcuts.

PICTURESQUE: The vast range of artist books on offer allows for an excursion into the world of visual arts. The array is led by “Les âmes mortes“ from Nikolaj Gogol and “Les fables“ from Jean de la Fontaine, which were both illustrated in enchanting airiness by Marc Chagall (each estimated at € 15,000), as well as by Pablo Picasso‘s “Sueno y mentira de Franco“ (estimate: € 10,000). Other highlights come from George Braque, Max Ernst, Iliazd and Fernand Léger as well as from Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies.

COMPLETED: Next to a French Book of Hours from around 1450- 70 (estimate: € 30.000) and a masterpiece from the highly acknowledged flower painter Pierre Joseph Redouté (estimate: € 25,000), the range of offers is completed by, among others, Hermann Max Pechstein‘s “Vater Unser“ made in Berlin in 1921 (estimate: € 8,000), three Bauhaus postcards by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Dörte Helm and Oskar Schlemmer (estimates: up to € 6,000) as well as a compilations of items of the graphic artist Rudolf Koch and his student Fritz Kredel (estimate: € 10,000).