[Rarebooks] Poe and Bavaria... what a duo!

[Phil Bishop]

 MOSHER BOOKS offers this unlikely duo:

(1)
LES POEMES D'EDGAR POE  by Poe, Edgar Allan (Mallarme, trans.)
Bruxelles (Brussels): Edmond Deman, 1888. The true FIRST EDITION ________ 
FIRST FRENCH TRANSLATION of these poems (except for 'the Raven') by Stephene 
MALLARME 1842-1898); LIMITED EDITION, #208 of 850. ________ ART WORK BY 
EDOUARD MANET. ________ Bound in 3/4 crushed dark-blue morocco over marbled 
boards (about 1`1" x 8") by Flammarion with the bindery stamp appearing at 
the top of the first free endpaper. Spine with four raised bands, 
gilt-framed panels with gilt floral and decorative tooling and author / 
title appearing in 2nd and 4th panels; marbled endpapers; top page edges 
gilt. Hinges professionally strengthened; minor spotting at a few places. 
________ Contains the rare "The Raven" lithograph and the first appearance 
of the Poe portrait, both by Edouard Manet. ________ PAGINATION: 196, [1] 
pp, two engravings (Raven & portrait) plus two appearances of the signed 
hand illustration as appears in the photos accompanying this book 
description. ________ The "... likeness of Poe by Manet is an impromptu 
sketch based on a reproduction of one of the two daguerreotypes by William 
A. Pratt... The sketch was first reproduced as the frontispiece to 
Mallarme's 1888 edition of Les Poemes d'Edgar Poe, published five years 
after Manet's death. The likeness has usually been described as a drawing in 
pen and ink, but the existence of what appears to be a unique lithographic 
proof, now preserved at the University of Virginia, suggest that the 
portrait was executed with lithographic tusche, applied directly onto the 
lithographer's stone..."--Deas, Michael J. "Edouard Manet" in "The Portraits 
and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe" (1989), pp. 91-93. ________ The 
French poet, Mallarme, was co-originator and leader of the Symbolists, and 
prominent among the Decadents, and this is his famous translation of Poe's 
poems. ________ On OCLC, the few copies located in institutions include 
Univ. TX-Austin, Brown U., Johns Hopkins U., Univ. of VA, the Morgan Library 
& Museum, and Harvard. ________ A WONDERFUL ADDITION TO ANY SERIOUS E.A. POE 
COLLECTION, AND A BEAUTIFUL BOOK. ________ See: "The Artist & The Book, p. 
124, #178; Polin 17 & 27: Loewentheil's Poe Catalogue, 144 (#612 & 613). 
$3,900


(2)
TOPOGRAPHIA BAVARIAE, das ist Beschreib. und Aigentliche Abbildung der 
Vornembsten Stätt und Orth in Ober und Nieder Beyern, der Obern Pfaltz, Und 
Andern, zum Hochlöblichen Baÿrischen Craiße gehörgen Landschafften
by Zeiller, Martin (Merian, Matthaeus, engraver, publisher)
Frankfurt, 1644. (probably ca. 1664) ________ VIEWS OF 17th CENTURY 
BAVARIA - 2 double-page maps & 91 town views, plans and buildings, etc. 
________ Folio (about 12 ¼" x 8 ¾"). Signatures: Engraved title-page, A4-K4, 
L6. Pagination: [1}-38, [2], 39-84, [7]; between E3 and E4 there is an 
unpaginated leaf with special instructions to the bookbinder to insert this 
leaf between the copper plates of old and new Oetingen ("Der Buchbinder wird 
hiemit erinnert diese Beschreibung..."). The work ends with a six-page index 
and a final page giving instructions to the bookbinder as to where maps and 
plates are to be placed. Decorative lead letters, head- and tail-pieces. Two 
maps and 52 plates showing 91 views, plans, buildings, and others when you 
count all illustrations including insets. ________ Binding is 
contemporaneous full vellum with rounded spine. Condition: Vellum covers 
soiled and evidence of ties, some soiling and light staining at places, a 
few plates mended at folds. Early remargin at bottom of leaf F1 (pages 
41/42) affecting a few letters and some early brown spotting along the stub 
pasted to the Newstatt plate (between pp. 36/37); front fore-edge vellum 
turn-in beginning to pull away; a few marginal notations and ownership 
notation on front endpaper, all in an early hand, and small bookseller 
description pasted to verso of first endpaper. Even with these minor 
imperfections, overall the volume is a very sound and fine copy with nice 
sharp images of the fine engraved plates. ________ This exceptional picture 
book on Bavaria contains an engraved title page, a large armorial cut 
illustration (p. 69), two double-page maps, and 52 plates comprising 91 
illustrations (some plates with insets) of town plans, views street scenes, 
and buildings, many being stub-mounted double page layouts (42) and some 
with additional foldouts (6) by the Swiss born engraver and publisher 
Matthaeus Merian (1593-1650). ________ Merian is best known for his 
twenty-one volume series with collaborator German geographer, Martin Zeiler 
(1589-1661) which is collectively called Topographia Germaniae series which 
is still regarded as one of the most important Seventeenth Century works of 
illustration. It's importance is belied by the facsimile edition of 1962 
(Barenreiter Verlag, Kassel & Basel), This monumental achievement between 
1642 and 1688 included over 2,000 plates etched and engraved by Merian and 
his sons Matthaus and Caspar. There are beautiful views of medieval Bavarian 
walled towns like Amberg, Auerbach, Bernau, Deckendorff, Erding, Fridberg, 
Mulldorff, Newstatt, Schrobenhausen, Weilmeim, and many others, All towns & 
cities are arranged in alphabetical order as one proceeds through the volume 
up to p. 71 at which point we begin with another alphabetical listing of 
smaller towns and villages including Dachau and many others. A complete 
Register/Index appears at the end. ________ Two copies of the Merian 
'Bavaria' are recorded in American Book Prices Current: one in 1991 at 
Sotheby's listed as "1644 (but c.1660).with engraved title, 4 double-page 
maps & 57 plates" which went for £4,800 ($7,872), and one twenty-nine years 
ago on Nov. 27, 1980 at Christie's which most closely approximates our copy 
with "2 double-page maps & 51 plates & plans" --with several faults- which 
went for £2,400 ($5,736). OCLC list copies at the Metropolitan Museum of 
Art, Yale University Libraries, Dartmouth College, the University of 
Chicago, Boston University, Saint Johns University, and the Harry Ransom 
Center at the University of Texas-Austin. Six other copies are listed in 
German university libraries and the Herzog August Bibliothek. No copy listed 
mentions the inserted plate between the old and new Oetingen plates. 
________ Graesse VI, 509; Brunet V, 1529-30.      $6,900

             -- We will be setting up at the Bornstein show in Boston, Sat. 
Nov. 12, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. --

____________________
Philip R. Bishop
MOSHER BOOKS   (member ABAA, ILAB, & IOBA)
P. O. Box 542
Ephrata, PA  17522-0542
717-733-1476
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