[Rarebooks] FS: 1538 Holbein Landmark Biblical Illustrations, price reduced
Charles Agvent
charles at charlesagvent.com
Tue May 3 11:26:18 EDT 2016
Only one other copy available for sale, priced at just under $18,000.
Price on our copy reduced to $11,000 NET
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
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