Eigentliche Abbildung, der grausamen und er schretlichen... Aethna, in Sicilien...

Extremely rare broadsheet, made to document the eruption of Mount Etna in 1669, which is considered the most devastating in historical times. It began in spring and ended in mid-July of the same year. It devastated and buried dozens of towns reaching the sea in correspondence of the western districts of Catania.

The sheet is published in the Relationis Historicae Semestralis Continuatio, Jacobi Franci Historische Beschreibung aller Denckwürdigen Geschichten, so sich hin und wider in Europa, Hoch- und Nider Teutschland, auch in Franckreich of 1669. The work, also known as "Messerelationen", published in Frankfurt since 1598, was printed on the occasion of spring and autumn fairs, to provide news about major international events. Early editions of the collection were signed in the name of Jacobus Francus, which was the pseudonym used by several writers, including Conrad Lautenbach and Conrad Memmius.

A Messrelation was a print published in the 16th to 18th century for the book fairs in Frankfurt and Leipzig (the largest in Europe at their time) which reported news about political and military news since the last fair. Messrelationen are seen as precursors to modern newspapers as they were the first printed news media to be published periodically.

The Austrian scholar Michael von Aitzing (ca. 1530–1598) is commonly seen as their inventor, having published for the first time a Relatio Historica (printed in Cologne) at the autumn 1583 book fair in Frankfurt, in which he related the events in the Low Countries since February 1580. This was a huge success and from 1588 Aitzing published his "relations" twice a year, for the Easter book fair at Leipzig and for the autumn book fair at Frankfurt. Since 1590, competitors published their own Messrelationen. The first one from Frankfurt was published in 1591 (running until 1806), the first one from Leipzig in 1605 (running until 1730).

Etching, traces of the editorial folds of the folio - folded several times to fit into the volume, trimmed at the margins, generally in very good condition.

Bibliografia

Rosseaux, Ulrich (2004), Die Entstehung der Meßrelationen. Zur Entwicklung eines frühneuzeitlichen Nachrichtenmediums aus der Zeitgeschichtsschreibung des 16. Jahrhunderts, Historisches Jahrbuch, 124; Stöber, Rudolf (2000). Deutsche Pressegeschichte. Einführung, Systematik, Glossar. Constance. p. 51.