Forest regulations & metrology from 1535 Nuremberg. No U.S. copies.

[Forests]. Walds Ordnung betreffend die Marggrevischen Unterthanen so Wald gerechtigkeit in den Nürnberger Welden haben. 4to. S.l. [Nuremberg]: s.n., s.a. [1535]. 4to [19.3 x 15.9 cm], [19] ff., [2] ff. ‘Register,’ [1] folding leaf with ‘Kettenmaß’ woodcut bound in on tab, with woodcut initials and tailpiece. Bound in modern boards covered by vellum leaf from liturgical music manuscript. Binding well preserved. Title with early manuscript annotation and library stamp of Reichsgericht (1879-1945) which is canceled with ‘duplicate’ stamp, text block toned, pencil annotations to the text.
 
 
Rare first edition of the 1535 revised legislation regulating forest use and rights in the Nuremberg. The work is notable for its (strikingly modern) woodblock depiction of an official unit of measure, the “chain length” (Kettenmaß) with text below the line stating that “this length times three [is] a chain length.” 
 
The Walds Ordnung discusses forest rights in Nuremberg, namely the usage of firewood and wood used for building, types of wood (linden, oak, mistletoe), scavenged wood (fallen trees, trees blown over by wind, broken branches), and wood concessions for the poor. Provided are prohibitions on wood felling during feast days, felling at night, gathering too much wood, cutting or splitting wood on the wagon, taking the incorrect number of horses and oxen into the forest, building or setting fires in the forest, grazing livestock in the forest, burning lime, etc. Penalties are stated penalties for each violation.
 
The original forest and land use rights for the subjects of the Margraves Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Kulmbach had been regulated by agreement in 1496, but after conflicts in the early sixteenth century, the arrangement was modified and re-established. 
 
An unusual feature of this work is the 2-leaf index (“Register”) appended to the main text: It is printed on different paper and using different type, which, along with its woodcut tail-piece, appear to be rather later than 1535, perhaps even eighteenth century. This “Register” indexes topics correctly by page, but the original text is not paginated. This feature is not discussed by VD16.
 
There exists another edition of this work (VD16 B 6978) which does not have the “Register,” uses slightly different type and different woodblock ornaments, but is identical in orthography, punctuation and line endings. That version is located in the U.S. at George Washington University Law Library and Library of Congress (lacking B1) No primacy is established by VD16. 
 
 
*VD16 B 6979; collated with the Bamberg copy.