[Rarebooks] FS: Landmark Book on Old Testament Illustration: Holbein 1538

[Charles Agvent]

Only 2 other copies are offered for sale worldwide, one at $20,000 and 
the other at $31,000.

HOLBEIN, Hans. HISTORIARUM VETERIS INSTRUMENTI ICONES AD VIVUM 
EXPRESSAE. Lyons: M. and G. Trechsel [for J. and F. Frellon], 1538. 
First Edition. Small quarto (5" x 6-1/2") bound in 19th-century English 
diced russia leather, tooled in blind, marbled endpapers and edges; 94 
pages + colophon with blank verso. Housed in a modern green cloth 
slipcase. Illustrated with Treschel device on the title page and 92 
woodcuts by Hans Lützelberger and others after Holbein. FIRST EDITION, 
FIRST ISSUE (with Judith rather than Job depicted on I2) of Holbein's 
influential illustrations for the Old Testament. With this publication 
"Bible illustration at Lyons changed significantly" (Mortimer). The set 
was re-used in Bibles by the same publishers and copied widely at Paris, 
Zurich, Antwerp, and elsewhere. The first four smaller blocks are from 
Holbein's Dance of Death series, published the same year; the remaining 
blocks are of Old Testament subjects. Holbein showed supreme skill at 
placing grand spiritual narrative within a compact domestic setting, 
thereby challenging the popularity of classical themes. The preface by 
François Frellon on the title page verso urges the reader to reject the 
images of goddesses such as Venus and Diana in favor of the 
"sacrosanctas Icones." Brunet III, 252: "Ces planches en bois ... ont 
été gravées avec beaucoup de délicatesse, d'après des dessins, en tout 
ou en partie de la main de Hans Holbein: les exemplaires en sont fort 
rares"; Graesse, page 317; Mortimer, FRENCH SIXTEENTH CENTURY BOOKS, 
276. Stamp removed from title verso, G4 and H1 reversed in binding, 
light soiling. Near Fine and very scarce.

Provenance: Otto Schaefer (monogram stamp at end; sale, Sotheby's NY, 1 
November 1995, lot 114). (#016962)        $15,000.00

http://home.ptd.net/~chagvent/016962.jpg

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