"[Germany (Absdorf), 1529 and 1549] approximately 52 leaves, c.220mm. by 150mm.,
(a) 26 leaves of soft double-ply paper originally sewn in gatherings but now detached from binding, two columns, 11 lines, in a frame 170mm. by 118mm., written in red and black ink in various sizes of a large formal bookhand, notations in other hands, edges frayed and some leaves separating into their constituent layers, slight thumbing, wrapped in a stronger sheet of paper with the inscription ‘Gruntpuech der Zins und Gult zu den Guet Abtstorf gehörig/Renovirt 1528 had der geleichen Hofmaister zu Abtsdorff’,
(b) 24 leaves of strong single-ply paper, collation: i–ii6, iii12, watermark: a gothic ‘P’ with a shield, close to Briquet, ‘Filigranes’, no. 8792 (Budweis, 1531), the last 8 leaves are cut away in a stepped fashion on the outer edge to make a thumb index, written in brown ink by various cursive hands, headings in an angular bookhand, some thumbing and signs of use, stitching broken, edges rather battered, wrapper of contemporary paper with inscription ‘Grundtbuech Geen Intzlestorff, hern Jorgen Grabner zugehörig angefangen 1549’, both loose in nineteenth-century binding
CATALOGUE NOTE
These documents are two extensive land-registers of the villages of Absdorf and Intzledorf, near St. Pölten in southern Austria, and while land-documents are common, ones of such size and scope are not. Both contain a mass of information on local rents and dues, and details of the produce of the area (mainly wine, cereal, saffron, hens, cheese, hay and garden produce). As well as an intrinsic historical value, these documents have some interest as two different approaches by two local officials to their record keeping. The ‘Hofmaister zu Abtsdorff’ who created the first book was principally concerned with creating a work of some beauty, allotting each individual landholder a whole page, having the pages ruled for only 11 lines, leaving wide margins, and writing the document (or employing a professional scribe to write it for him) in excellent German script, often with pen flourishes and cadels on the names of the individual landholders. The author of the second book (Jorgen Grabner) was under very different constraints, and produced a document that was functional rather than pleasing to the eye, with numerous additions of scribbled text and tables, crossing-outs, and erasures. This mass of information apparently left him in need of some organisation for his account, and so he added the alphabetical thumb-index. This is an early example of such a referencing system, and is notable for that fact alone."
Some text & images were too far in the gutter to fully capture.
Full pdf available, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A447642/datastre...
