The Liber Chronicarum, also known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, was published in Nuremberg, Germany by Anton Koberger in 1493 and is considered one of the most important German incunabula and the most extensively illustrated book of the 15th century. Written in Latin by German physician and humanist Hartmann Schedel, the Nuremberg Chronicle uses both text and images to present a history of the Christian world from its creation through the present day of the early 1490s. Koberger's shop printed the Latin edition between May 1492 and October 1493 and a later German language edition was commissioned and published between January and December 1493. Both editions contain over 1800 images created by Nuremberg artists Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff from roughly 640 woodblocks.

The oldest form of printmaking, woodblock printing, or woodcut, is a relief process in which a design is cut into the surface of a wooden block, leaving raised areas that are then inked and printed onto paper. Since the cut areas are recessed, the ink only adheres to the raised design areas. Additionally, the woodcut's printed design appears on the paper in reverse of the original cut into the wooden block.

When the movable-type printing press was introduced to Western Europe by German Johannes Gutenberg circa 1455 it led to immediate and rapid productivity in the craft and business of printing. The term incunabula, which comes from the Latin meaning "swaddling, clothes, cradle", is used to refer to these early books printed between 1455 - 1501, or those "in the cradle" of the printed word. German printmaker Anton Koberger established a large and profitable printing business in Nuremberg by the 1490s, running twenty presses, and helped make the city one of the most prolific centers of incunabula printing.