ABSTRACT
Praetorius's yearly European chronicles, the Zodiacus Mercurialis of 1666, 1667, and 1668, chiefly foreground his expert use of the emergent early modern periodical print media, which provided the basis of the rapidly expanding pan-European communications network. More than the other texts discussed so far, the Zodiacus chronicles, the Adunatus, and the Wunder-Chronik represent a type of text that owes its existence to the public's interest in Kunst and Wunde rthat news writing set out to serve. Taking advantage of the postal system and starting with the first Relationen and Avisen, newspapers provided the basis for a whole new form of print production and competition that rapidly conquered the publishing market. The Avisen provided the court and a general, mostly educated, readership with all manner of up-to-date information. Praetorius's reliance on newspapers of various kinds when writing the Zodiacus chronicles, the Adunatus, and the Wunder-Buch demonstrates how important this type of reading material had become to writers like him.
