A Sixteenth-Century Book of Trades: Das Standebuch

This extraordinary book of verses by Hans Sachs and engravings by Jost Ammam offers a vivid portrait of city life in Renaissance Germany. Covering 114 ranks (such as "king") and trades (including "thimblemaker"), it provides a unique cross-section of the daily life and social attitudes of the 16th century.

Through words and pictures, the reader can experience at first hand one of the first instances of the small-town outlook that was to be an essential part of European culture for centuries....