Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library Part V

Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library Part V

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 1154. Luther, [Bible] Der Ander Teil der Bücher, Wittenberg, 1551, Dresden binding of red morocco richly gilt for Nicolaus von Ebeleben.

Luther, [Bible] Der Ander Teil der Bücher, Wittenberg, 1551, Dresden binding of red morocco richly gilt for Nicolaus von Ebeleben

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December 10, 04:10 PM GMT

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30,000 - 40,000 GBP

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Lot Details

Description

LUTHER, MARTIN. Der Ander Teil der Bücher D. Mart. Luth., darin alle Streitschrifften, sampt etlichen sendbrieven an Fürsten und Stedte etc. zusamen gebracht sind, wider allerley Secten so zu seiner zeit reine Christliche lere angefochten haben. Wittenberg: heirs of Georg Rhau, 1551


An elaborate Dresden binding by Jakob Weidlich made for Nikolas von Ebeleben; for a similar binding on another volume of Luther, bound for his brother Georg, see Bibliotheca Brookeriana I, 11 October 2023, lot 59.


Ebeleben studied in Paris and Bologna, where he had many books bound for him; one of the binderies in Bologna which served foreign students is named for him and his fellow student Damian Pflug. He returned to Germany after his studies in 1549 to become a canon of Meissen cathedral, amassing a library of some four hundred volumes. He commissioned a number of bindings from Jakob Weidlich in Dresden, influenced by the Italian Renaissance styles of bookbindings which Ebeleben brought home with him.


Ebeleben had bound a set of Luther's works in twelve volumes, in red or brown morocco; eight volumes survive, including the present volume (number two), of which five are in similar red morocco bindings by Weidlich, and six of the twelve were still together in 1929. Other volumes from the set are now in Yale University (volume 3), Dresden (volume 7), Schweinfurt (volume 10), and the British Library (volume 11; Davis Gift II, 335).


This copy has a note on the title-page dated 1736 stating that it is among the books condemned by the Index of Prohibited Books.

Folio (298 x 188 mm). Gothic type, 50 lines plus headline. collation: *6 A-Z Aa-Zz Aaa-Zzz Aaaa-Zzzz AAaa-CCcc6 DDdd8: 583 leaves (of 584, with DDdd7 blank, without DDdd8 blank). Title printed in red and black, woodcut of Luther and Friedrich III of Saxony kneeling below the Crucifixion, a few lower corners folded and untrimmed, manuscript notes on title-page dated 1736 stating that the book was condemned. (Small stains on O6-P3, occasional light browning.)


binding: Contemporary Dresden binding of red morocco gilt (310 x 222 mm), made by Jakob Weidlich (EBDB w003975) for Nicolaus von Ebeleben, covers richly gilt with interlacing frames, numerous small leafy and star stamps, outer gilt border of leafy columns, title lettered in gilt on upper cover DER AND TEIL D MARTTI LVTH, owner's name on lower cover NICKEL VON EBELEB, spine gilt in compartments, red edges gilt and gauffered, stubs from two pairs of wide red silk ties. (Binding slightly rubbed, ends of spine repaired.)


provenance: Nikolas von Ebeleben (1514-1579), name on binding — Charterhouse of Gaming (Lower Austria), inscription on title-page (dissolved in 1782) — Librairie Gumuchian & Cie., their small purple G inkstamp on lower pastedown, Catalogue de reliures (Paris, [1929]), item 41 — Jean Fürstenberg (1890-1982), red gilt booklabel, and exhibition label — Martin Breslauer Inc., catalogue 401/1 (New York, 1979), item 35 — Christie's Rome, 16 June 2005, lot 141. acquisition: Purchased in 2007 from Librairie Lardanchet, Paris. references: VD16 L 3316; binding: Davis Gift I, 274-280, p.276; exhibited: Exposition de reliures de la Renaissance: collection Jean Fürstenberg, 30 September, Paris, item 70

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