Neuer und genauester Gründriss des Conclave mit seinem...

Rare plate realized on the occasion of the1669-1670 conclave.

Shows a portion of the floor plan of the Vatican Palace where the conclave was held, names of the attending cardinals, and around 16 scenes of the death of the old pope and the elections of the new one.

The Conclave of 1669-1670 lasted four months and ten days. It began on December 20, 1669. On the twenty-ninth of April, 1670 Emilio Cardinal Altieri, Cardinal Priest without red hat and without titular church, Bishop of Camerino, aged seventy-nine, was elected,

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 1670. 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.