Composed originally in German, the Latin translation was actually printed first, probably in 1400 copies, followed by 700 copies of the German text. The woodcuts in both are the same, but the Latin text is printed on larger paper because Latin was the more authoritative language. We know from Nuremberg records that after the turn of the century the publishing consortium also had far more Latin than German copies left for sale, despite the more generous presentation of the Latin text. A contemporary purchaser could order the book coloured or uncoloured, bound or unbound, depending on his or her means.

View a double page spread of Venice