[Sca-cooks] Brothers in Craft Illustrations/ Buch der Mendelschen

Johnna Holloway johnnae at mac.com
Wed Oct 17 04:42:45 PDT 2012


Back in 2005, Volker Bach mentioned the Buch der Mendelschen Zwölfbrüderstiftung, but we don't seem to have traced or gone into a discussion of what they were or what they might offer. I came across one by chance  last night and started searching to find out what else was available. It turns out that they were scanned and catalogued between late 2007 and 2009.
http://www.nuernberger-hausbuecher.de/
The site in English translation says: "With the so-called house of Mendel's books and Landauer's twelve brothers house foundations has the Nuremberg Municipal Library, the largest and most valuable serial image source for historical craft in Europe. From the bakery to the carpenter, the "shipper" to "sugar makers" describe their numerous representations over 1,300 manufacturing process and craft products of 15 to 19 Century. As research material as well as the original illustrations craft representations of "Twelve Brothers books" in fold as popular scientific literature have long been known and loved. " Another website described the books as:

"An endowment in 14th century Nuremberg established "the Twelve Brothers House Foundation (Zwölfbrüderhausstiftungen), where a dozen elderly and unwell (but still capable) tradesmen were (I assume) given a place to live in exchange for their performing work duties." Illustrations and portraits of these craftsmen were created in the early centuries and these images still exist in a series of manuscripts known as the Mendel and Landauer manuscripts."

What we get are numerous occupations. See the list here for the English subject terms.
http://www.nuernberger-hausbuecher.de/index.php?do=page&mo=8

Some of those associated with food are:
Baker (ger.: Bäcker)
Baker (ger.: Laubenbäcker)
Brewer (ger.: Brauer)
Brewer (ger.: Braumeister)
Butcher (ger.: Fleischer)
Butcher (ger.: Fleischhacker)
Butcher (ger.: Freibankmetzger)
Butcher (ger.: Metzger)
Cook (ger.: Koch)
Cook (ger.: Köchin)
Gardener (ger.: Gärtner)
Gingerbread baker (ger.: Lebküchner)
Spice merchant (ger.: Gewürzhändler)
Spice merchant (ger.: Gewürzkrämer)

Sugar maker (ger.: Zuckersieder)

For example 
http://www.nuernberger-hausbuecher.de/75-Amb-2-279-11-v is the Lebküchner. It's dated as 1520.
You can actually search in German and locate illustrations by century, ranging from the 15th to the 19th centuries.

Johnnae




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