Joachim Meyers Fäktbok (MS A.4º.2) in CBZ format

This is perhaps the most beautiful of the  versions of Meyer's masterwork. The MS A.4º.2 is a German fencing manual created by Joachim Meyer in the 1560s. The original currently rests in the holdings of Lunds Universitets Bibliotek in Lund, Sweden. This manuscript, which may be Meyer's earliest work, was created for his private student Otto Graf von Sulms, Minzenberg and Sonnenwaldt. It contains lessons in the use of the longsword, the dussack, and the side sword, and it has much in common with the substantially larger book he would publish in 1570, Gründtliche Beschreibung der Kunst des Fechtens.

The known provenance of the MS A.4º.2 is:

Written in the 1560s for Graf Otto von Solms; presented in either the early 1560s or when he visited Strasbourg in 1568.

1560s-1612 – owned by Otto von Solms (1550-1612).

1612-1642 – owned by Friedrich Albert von Solms (taken as spoils of war by Johannes Levi von Sommerlad, 1642).

1643-1728 – owned by the Sparre family (gifted by Anna Maria Falkenberg, Axel Sparre's widow, 1728).

1728-1780 – owned by Melker von Falkenberg (donated, 1780).

1780-present – held by the Lunds Universitets Bibliotek.

Scans of the manuscript have been converted into CBZ format for easy viewing by Alex Beaudet. Information about the manuscript comes from the wonderful Wiktenauer.