Thread: 17th century illustration - the Razor Maker

This is a neat one. Some may have seen it before. It's part of a series from Abraham a Sancta Clara (Etwas für Alle) on trades of the day, in the late 17th century, though I can't recall at the moment if this was included in the original printing or just scheduled for it. This particular one is about a razor maker (Messenmaker and Der Schermesserer | Luyken, Caspar - Europeana). This copy is from the Rijksmuseum, dated 1711:



Note the style of the blades in the picture:





Maybe there's a connection:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ml#post1674524
http://straightrazorpalace.com/forge...y-replica.html


As for the little poem, the German is a bit archaic / dialectic and not in prose, but this is my go at it (maybe someone with more experience can correct my errors in transcription / translation).

Transcription:
-----------------------------------------------------
Der Schermesserer

Fasset mit Bedacht, was sonst Reue macht.

Man klagt das scharffe Messer an,
daß as die zarten Blut-Korallen,
mach' aus beseifften Wangen wallen,
wann es Unachtsamkeit gethan.
Ein jeder lerne sich selbst kennen,
eh' er will andre schuldig nennen.
-----------------------------------------------------

In standard German:

(I reference a Gebrüder Grimm Wörterbuch here for beseifft->beseift: Wörterbuchnetz - Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm)
-----------------------------------------------------
Der Schermesserer

Fasset mit Bedacht, was sonst Reue macht.

Man klagt das scharfe Messer an,
daß es die zarten Blutkorallen,
macht aus eingeseiften Wangen wallen,
wann es Unachtsamkeit getan.
Ein jeder lerne sich selbst kennen,
ehe er will andere schuldig nennen.
-----------------------------------------------------

My translation:
-----------------------------------------------------
The Razor Maker

Grasp with care, or else it makes for remorse

One blames the sharp knife,
That it makes the delicate blood corals from lathered cheeks flow,
When negligence did it.
Each should become acquainted with themselves,
Ere he wants to name others guilty.
-----------------------------------------------------

It's often unclear (at least to me as a non-expert) whether what we see in many illustrations are shaving razors or tools for general shaving and/or cutting for surgery. That the poem specifically mentions lathered cheeks (= beseifften [eingeseiften] Wangen), unless I'm misunderstanding some of the wording, I think makes it very clear that this page is talking about razors for shaving the face.

Thanks, that's a nice find! Hadn't seen it before.

Pretty dang cool, thanks

Nothing like forging razors in a super heated furnace wearing flip flops. I guess OSHA didn't have much of a presence in 1700.