The rapid spread of letterpress didn’t mark the end of book manuscripts. Sumptuous, elaborately designed volumes showcased masterpieces of illustration, calligraphy and, of course, bookbinding. Crafted as status symbols for their clients, these magnificent manuscripts were coveted collector items.

Daniel Bretschneider and other Dresden court painters: A collection of images of the dukes of Saxony and margraves of Meissen.
Manuscript on parchment, illustrations: Feather in ink, brush in gouache. – 17th/18th century.
Shelf mark: Mscr.Dresd.J.1

© SLUB

Even in the early modern era, many royal houses would have magnificent ancestral portrait galleries installed in their royal residences. These series of pictures would reflect the manner in which rulers saw themselves as dynasties by creating a premature lineage based on historic figures with fictitious genealogies, often from Charlemagne to ancient heroes, and using this continuity to legitimise their entitlement to rule.
Elector Christian I (1560–1591) was the first to install an ancestral portrait gallery of the Wettins in the “Langer Gang”, the upper level of the 100-metre-long building connecting the Royal Palace and stables in Dresden. Court painter Heinrich Göding the Elder (1531–1606) crafted oil paintings on timber panels in his workshop in 1588/89. The series consisted of 46 portraits, starting with King Harderich of Saxony (circa 90 BC) and ending with a portrait of the client. A painting of Dresden’s Royal Palace was also attributed to Christian I’s reign. The gallery was continued under the subsequent electors, until Augustus II the Strong (1670–1733) had his portrait added as the last of the series. All of the portraits from the ancestral gallery have been missing since 1945. Ever since, their complete, detailed replicas have existed solely in this manuscript, with miniature copies created in top quality by Daniel Bretschneider and subsequent court painters.

Wegweisser heis ich / Wer verirret frag mich.
Manuscript on paper, illustrations: Brush in ink and gouache, highlighted with gold. – Circa 1586.
Shelf mark: Mscr.Dresd.J.404

© SLUB / Deutsche Fotothek

One of the key approaches of alchemy was the “transmutation” of ignoble metals into noble metals using the as yet undiscovered “Lapis philosophorum” or “philosopher’s stone”, i.e. essentially the search for a way of artificially generating gold and silver. This alchemistic manuscript with rhyming texts and elaborate paintings was owned by Elector Christian I.

Gioacchino Greco: Traitté du tres noble jeu des eschecz, Lequel est tiré des guerres et des raisons d'estat …
Manuscript on parchment, illustrations: Brush in gouache. – Early 17th century.
Shelf mark: Mscr.Dresd.Oc.60

© SLUB / Deutsche Fotothek

This magnificent chess manuscript ended up in the Electoral Library from the collection of Count Heinrich von Bünau (1697–1762). The calligraphed parchment manuscript, elaborately adorned with initials, arabesques and vignettes and bound in gold-embossed Morocco leather, starts by presenting the chess pieces on seven full-page miniatures.

Wolfram von Eschenbach: Parzival.
Manuscript on paper, illustrations: Feather, brush in watercolours. – Circa 1445/1450.
Shelf mark: Mscr.Dresd.M.66

© SLUB

The writing studio with adjacent manuscript shop run by Diebold Lauber (circa 1420–circa 1470) in the Alsatian town of Hagenau was probably one of the most successful commercial book-production companies of the time. On offer were over 40 titles of spiritual literature and gallant epics. The SLUB houses two manuscripts from the Lauber studio: A Bible Historiale and the Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach presented here. Despite extensive restoration, both codices still bear significant traces of severe water damage caused by wartime events in 1945.