‘Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam’ (‘Pilgrimage to the Holy Land’), written by the Mainz protonotary Bernhard von Breidenbach, was published in Latin by the artist and publisher Erhard Reuwich in Mainz on 21 June 1486. A German translation came out four months later. The book narrates the Palestine pilgrimage of Bernhard von Breidenbach, Johannes von Solms, the knight Philipp von Bicken and Erhard Reuwich in April 1483 – January 1484. It is an early guidebook of sorts with its basic composition, i.e. descriptions of the cities and places visited by travellers, introduction to the languages spoken by the people from those countries, currency exchange issues and much more, later becoming the staple of this genre.

The illustrations sketched by the Dutchman Erhard Reuwich, who was a member of the pilgrimage and the publisher of the book, are especially valuable. Panoramic views of cities printed on the spread of one, two or more sheets leave the greatest impression; the panorama of Venice takes up four spreads. This is the first book to have folding sheets. In addition to Venice, the publication includes views of Rhodes, the harbour of Modon, and Jerusalem. Erhard Reuwich’s engravings had considerable impact on the development of the panoramic genre in book illustration and became a source for copying.

The book was a great success. In the 15th century, it went through eight editions both in Latin and in German, Dutch, French, Spanish and Czech translations.