[Icones Biblicae praecipuas Sacrae Scripturae historias eleganter [et] graphicè repraesentantes [AND:] Noui Testamenti D.N. Iesu Christi praecipuae historiae et visiones, picturis elegantissimis in aes incisis, repraesentatae] VERY RARE SUITE "BEFORE LETTER" OF MERIAN'S BILDERBIBEL, THE MOST CELEBRATED ENGRAVED BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE 17th CENTURY]

(Bible: Bilderbibel; Illustration). Merian, Matthaeus, the Elder (engr.)

Edité par [Matthaeus Merian], [Frankfurt], 1627

A propos de cet article

Oblong folio (leaves: 20.6 by 31.2 cm; plates: 10 to 11.5 by 14.5 to 15.5 cm). Engraved titlepage borders without letterpress; 231 (of 233) engraved plates printed on the rectos with no printed text, depicting biblical scenes from the Old and New Testaments (lacks Gen. XIX: Lot and his daughters after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; Exod. VIII & IX: The plague of frogs). Recent marbled calf (lightly rubbed at extremities), bordered in blind; gilt-tooled spine with raised bands, gilt lettering pieces. Occasional light stains and smudges (especially at the outermost leaves, and almost entirely restricted to the blank margins); old, mostly marginal repairs and reinforcement of tears to about 30 leaves (Matt. IV plate with loss of about 10 words of manuscript text). Protected by wide margins, the plates are clean, fresh and bright, with relatively few minor blemishes. Housed and protected in a custom luxurious modern leather clamshell box. Rare suite of biblical illustrations printed before letter, perhaps as proofs, comprising 231 (of 233) engraved plates from the Icones Biblicae of Matthaeus Merian, the elder (1593-1650). The engravings are printed on large paper and lack any printed text. They are preceded by a leaf of the engraved title borders to the first part, in which the central cartouche which would have contained a letterpress title and imprint is here blank. Neat manuscript annotations appear throughout: atop each engraving is a brief title, along with a notation of the biblical book and chapter(s); beneath each engraving are six-lines of rhyming verse in German; at the top corners are leaf numbers in Arabic numerals. All are penned in black ink in the same old cursive German hand. The engraved title leaf is not included in the manuscript foliation. The first three leaf numbers (and several others among the first 23 leaves) are obscured by wear or later marginal repairs. The foliation ends at leaf 233, and is discontinuous where one would expect to find numbers 15 and 38, corresponding to the missing plates noted above. As noted by Wütrich, only four of the 233 plates are signed by Merian, all in the New Testament series. Each of these signed plates appears in our suite: Matthaei I. - page 7; Johannis VIII. - page 65; Matthaei XXVII. - page 101; Apocalyps. IX. - page 145 (header titles and page numbers from the first edition). The first editions were published at Frankfurt in four parts between 1625 and 1627. The Pentateuch series was published in 1625. The second part, illustrating the Old Testament books from Joshua to Kings, appeared in 1626. These first two series were published under the name of Merian's father-in-law, the printer and bookseller Johann Theodor de Bry (1561-1623), whose heirs retained title to the business. The third part illustrates the remainder of the Old Testament and Apocrypha; the fourth, the New Testament. These last two parts were published in 1627 under the engravers's own name. Verses in Latin, German, and French accompany each plate in the three Old Testament series, the French verses being omitted in the 1627 New Testament series. While the eminent Swiss draughtsman and engraver Matthaeus Merian is best known for his topographical depictions of the German speaking lands which appeared in the Theatrum Europaeum, his novel selection of biblical stories and innovative stylistic approach revealed in the present series of plates proved highly influential, ushering in a new age of copperplate engraving in Bible illustration. Merian broke with the century-long tradition of woodcuts, which had accompanied countless editions of Luther's German Bible. Even as he drew on the Bible illustrations of Jost Amman, Hans Holbein, Virgil Solis, and Tobias Stimmer, Merian greatly expanded the traditional iconographic and compositional repertoire. The Old Testament alone contains 23 prints depicting stories that had never before been the subject of an engraver. While earlier New Testament woodcuts fo.

N° de réf. du vendeur 18927

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: [Icones Biblicae praecipuas Sacrae Scripturae historias eleganter [et] graphicè repraesentantes [AND:] Noui Testamenti D.N. Iesu Christi praecipuae historiae et visiones, picturis elegantissimis in aes incisis, repraesentatae] VERY RARE SUITE "BEFORE LETTER" OF MERIAN'S BILDERBIBEL, THE MOST CELEBRATED ENGRAVED BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE 17th CENTURY]
• Éditeur: [Matthaeus Merian], [Frankfurt]
• Date de parution: 1627
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Illustrateur: Matthaeus Merian
• Édition: First edition.
• État de l'article: Very good
• Signé: Signé par l'auteur
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Bible