This account is one of the most interesting reports on long-distance journeys undertaken by Austrian nobility during the 16th century. The author, Baron Hans Christoph von Teufel, was born in 1657, and studied in Padua, Bologna and Siena from 1585 to 1586. On 9 September 1587 he set out on the journey to the Orient. After his return in 1591, he converted to the Catholic faith. In 1606, he was involved in the peace negotiations with Turkey in Zsitva-Torok, and from 1607 until his death in 1624 served as a councillor of the imperial court treasury. Teufel is buried in Katzelsdorf, Lower Austria.

The journey, which he undertook together with travelling companions, began in Venice and took him by way of Ragusa to Constantinople. He then travelled on to Rhodes, to Egypt and Syria, then to Mesopotamia and Persia and on to the Holy Land. On 13 March 1591 he arrived back in Venice.

Teufel’s travelogue is interesting not so much for its literary content as for its layman’s illustrations, which are of great cultural and historical significance. Pictures of animals and cities are joined by remarkable scenes from everyday life, for example respectfully kissing the sultan’s sleeve, polo matches and a feast.

Another copy of this document exists at the Abbey of Seitenstetten. It is, however, incomplete and not illustrated. In 1598, the report was printed by Franz Kolb in Vienna and given the title “Il viaggio del molto illustre signor. Giovanni Christophoro Taifel, barono in Gunderstorff Austriacao, fatto di Constantinopoli verso Levante”.

At the “repeated request of various cavaglieri” Prince Gundaker of Liechtenstein (1580–1658) had 200 copies of his treatise, which he had originally written and illustrated solely for his own personal use, printed by court book printer Gregor Gelbhaar. The text was illustrated by numerous pictures of bridling equipment, which were executed by copper engraver Magdalena Ulrich and perfected by engraver Johann Konrad Khlüpfel. The printing process was supervised by Gundaker’s steward and valet, Johann Baptist Reuch(e)l, the former steward of his brother Karl. Subsequent plans to translate the book into Italian were, however, never realised.

Prince Gundaker was a skilled politician who had authored several expert appraisals and analyses for the imperial court. This work also showed him to be a profound expert on horsemanship. His specialist knowledge was valued by family members. Written evidence exists that even Karl Eusebius, who himself owned a well-known, highly regarded stud in Eisgrub (Lednice), drew on his uncle’s hippological expertise.

The acquisition of several large territories between 1653 and 1658 prompted Count Joachim Windhag (1600–1678) to draw up records documenting the size of his estate. What this resulted in was the third, greatly expanded edition of the appendix to Matthäus Merian’s Topographia provinciarum Austriacarum which had first appeared in 1656.

The work is deemed one of the highest-quality territorial topographies. It was printed by Leopold Voigt in Vienna and illustrated with 62 plates, almost all of them drawn by the painter and cartographer Clemens Beuttler and engraved between 1659 and 1664. The illustrations show not only views of the individual castles and their interiors, for instance the Kunstkammer, library and armoury, but also portray agricultural buildings and a number of the count’s enterprises. The contract under which Beuttler executed the work is dated 15 January 1659. The text was written by Windhag’s librarian P. Hyacinth Marian (Fidler). This edition is one of very few still existing in Vienna.

This work is a representative of so-called “housefather literature”, which reached the height of its popularity in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The author was most probably a man of the church. The household topics described cover an entire estate — the people, the animals and objects, the family, the servants and, finally, the peasants. The richly illustrated work, filling a total of 14 volumes, informs the reader of the duties of a household head as well as on construction activities, working the fields and keeping horses. Instructions on the management of a princely household stand equally alongside chicken breeding and kitchen recipes.

A famous predecessor of Florinus’ work is the Georgica Curiosa oder adeliges Land- und Feldleben, written by Baron Wolf Helmhard von Hohberg in 1682; significant input in terms of business advice was provided by Prince Gundaker of Liechtenstein. His nephew, Karl Eusebius, also made a foray into this genre with an educational work for his son Johann Adam. The document, very personal in character, is preserved in the original and in an 18th-century copy in the Princely Archives.