Book Description

The Silver Library ( Silber Bibliothek) of Albrecht, Duke of Prussia, and his wife Anna Maria is an absolutely unique collection of volumes bound in richly decorated precious metal. It was founded between the end of the 1540s and the beginning of the 1560s as a manifestation of the splendor of the ducal court and a deep reverence for the Word of God and Lutheran thought. Originally it consisted of twenty items mainly created in goldsmith workshops in Königsberg, Nuremberg and probably Münden. This monograph gives a historical overview of the Silver Library against the background of the ducal couple’s lives as well as the culture of the 16th-century Prussia. It also presents an analysis of the bindings as examples of the Renaissance and Mannerist art of goldsmithing.