Cousin, Effigies Des. Erasmi Roterodami, Basel, 1553, modern boards

COUSIN, GILBERT. Effigies Des. Erasmi Roterodami literatorum principis, & Gilberti Cognati Nozereni, eius amanuensis : una cum eorum Symbolis, & Nozeretho Cognati patria. Accesserunt et doctorum aliquot virorum in D. Erasmi & Gilberti Cognati laudem, Carmina. Basel: Johann Oporinus, (1553)

Gilbert Cousin of Nozeroy (1506-1572) became a companion and scholarly assistant to the elderly Erasmus in 1530, and moved from Freiburg to Basel with his master. This work includes the famous woodcut of Erasmus and Cousin in Erasmus's study in Freiburg, based on a painting commissioned by Cousin shortly after Erasmus's death in 1535. The shelving of the books can be seen clearly in open bookcase behind Cousin (the other bookcase remains closed) with the folio volumes arranged with the foredges facing outwards. The depiction of the scene is discussed in Egbertus van Gulik, Erasmus and his Books (Toronto, 2018), pp. 74-76.

The book is of great rarity: the only copy traced in North America is in Chicago, Newberry Library (Case 3A 1198); none can be traced in the UK, except possibly a (fragment?) in the British Museum, Prints & Drawings, O7 132. Four copies are recorded in Basel, three in Paris, and single copies in Dole, Dresden, Ghent, Strasbourg, Tübingen, and Vienna. This is the only copy recorded by Rare Book Hub.