NEW Limited edition of 50 copies.

Accurate reproduction of the three-part, historically coloured original woodcut from the collection of the Kunstmuseum Basel, Amerbach Kabinett.

Apart from the copy in Basel, only one other copy, also coloured, is known to exist, in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.

The artist: Daniel Schwegler, c. 1480, before 1546, from Constance, resident in Basel from 1524. Son of Gregorius Brunswiler, alias S., procurator of the Constance curia and notary of the Basel curia, and Verena Wedeli; married to Anna Schmid. S. was enrolled at the University of Basel in 1496–97 as a citizen of Constance. In 1503, he acquired citizenship of Leipzig, but soon returned to Basel. Between 1503 and 1513, S. produced at least 41 woodcuts under the monogram DS, including the basilisk bearing the Basel coat of arms, a crucifixion, and the title page and three illustrations in Petermann Etterlin’s chronicle. From 1513, he served as the bishop’s procurator; in 1524, he was granted citizenship of Basel. In 1525, he became mayor of Greater Basel; in 1529, he was appointed procurator at the bishop’s court of justice and bailiff at Birseck Castle. (HLS, Urs Schwegler).

The woodcut, the exact date of which cannot be determined – the Kunsthaus Basel estimates it to be from around 1510, though I believe it was created closer to the time of the event – depicts the various stages of the final, brutal battle of the utterly senseless Swabian or Swiss War.

The meticulous depiction of weapons, armour, cannons and clothing is remarkable. The artist must have possessed detailed knowledge; he may even have taken part in the battle himself.

The landscape and buildings are also depicted in great detail. In the top left are the ruins of Reichenstein Castle (now rebuilt in a historicist style); above Arlesheim is Birseck Castle; and in the top right is Dorneck Castle. The old village church of St Mauritius, now a local history museum, is also clearly recognisable. On the left are the houses of the village of Arlesheim, and in the centre is the wooden footbridge over the River Birs.

Enclosed:

‘On St Mary Magdalene’s Day, a great battle took place’. Commemorative publication: 500 Years of the Battle of Dornach 1499–1999, Solothurn, Vogt-Schild Habegger, 1999. Large 8°, 391 pp., several illustrations. Paperback.

Contains numerous texts on the battle and the historical background to the Swabian War. Detailed information on the texts can be found under book number: 107885

If you are interested, we would be happy to send you further high-resolution images!

Production:

Art print: Printolino, Root D4

Folder production: Rischard Bookbinders in Zurich.

An important photobook and an ode to steam power! Sixty years after the original was published, here is the facsimile in a limited edition of 330 Arabic-numbered, signed copies. Includes an accompanying booklet (a retrospective and an essay) by René Teo Schlachter and a film by Phil Dänzer, ‘Magic from the Darkroom – The Photographer René Groebli’, Zurich 2007. The first edition of ‘Magie der Schiene’, the original version of ‘Rail Magic’, was published in 1949, sixty years ago. At the time, it was one of the few photograph books of genuine artistic merit, possessing a visual language of its own for which an understanding was only just beginning to take root. In this respect, this publication stands as a milestone and therefore justifies its reprint in the present form. It is surprising today that this idiosyncratic visual language took so long to be understood. It is this language that is evident in every phase of Groebli’s multifaceted body of work and is expressed in each of his series. Connoisseurs of photography collect works by René Groebli because his body of work displays a consistency across all criteria of evaluation that is extremely rare at this level. His exceptionally diverse body of work encompasses numerous thematic groups whose messages were ahead of their time. Groebli has always utilised every technical possibility with great craftsmanship, such as motion blur or the accentuation of grain structures.

Groebli, René. The Magic of the Railways. Facsimile, supplementary booklet, DVD. Zurich, Kubus-Vlg./edition peter petrej, 1949/2009. Large 8°, unpaginated (8 double leaves with 12 full-page and 2 double-leaf-sized illustrations); Supplement: 8 leaves, numerous illustrations, some in colour; 1 DVD. Facsimile: loose double leaves in a booklet with a belly band; supplement (paperback) and 1 DVD in a slipcase. (In mint condition)

ISBN 9783907639023

Order number: 52440