Published by the printer and book dealer Johann Prüss (1447–1510/1516) in Strasbourg, an important early center for publishing, Das Heldenbuch (The Hero’s Book) of 1479 was the first printed edition of the late medieval epic poem, which told the tale of the legendary romantic hero Wolfdietrich. Buyers of books during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries could choose loose pages or to have them collated in basic or decorative bindings, and could opt to pay extra for hand coloring of illustrations. Over the centuries, countless early illustrations such as these pages from The Hero’s Book have become accidentally or purposely separated from their original publications.