Holbein, Hans

Estimate

15,000 - 25,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

Sir Peter Paul Rubens
The Images of the Old Testament, lately expressed, set forthe in Ynglishe and Frenche, with a playn and brief exposition. Lyons: Johan Frellon, 1549
Ink, paper and cow

4to (7 5/8 x 5 1/8 in.; 194 x 130 mm). Text in English and French, printer's device on title-page (repeated on final leaf in another version), ninety-three woodcuts in the text and one full-page with four images of the Evangelists on verso of penultimate leaf; first blank torn, stain in margin of A³, upper margin slightly browned. Strictly contemporary vellum, title written in French on spine.

Provenance

Constantijn Huygens (signature "Constanter" on title-page, dated "1633"). acquisition: Bernard Quaritch, 1986

Literature

STC 3045. Brunet, III. 253 "plus rare que les autres"; Harvard/French 283; Leerintveld, 'Magnificent paper': The Library of Constantijn Huygens. In Quaerendo, vol 28/3 (1998), pp. 165-184.

Catalogue Note

First English edition in its original condition; Constantijn Huygens' copy.

The library of Constantijn Huygens counted approximately 8,000 books. A small part was sold in the 1688 auction after he had died. The remainder of his library was distributed among his eldest sons and parts of it were sold in the 1695 auction soon after Christiaan Huygens had died and in the 1701 auction some years after the death of Constantijn Huygens Jr.

This English translation is based on the Latin edition of 1539, while Gilles Corrozet's French text is a revision of the second 1547 edition. The woodcuts were executed by Hans Lutzelburger.

Very rare, especially in this condition.