HOLBEIN, Hans (1497-1543). Les simulachres & historiees faces de la mort, autant elegamment pourtraictes, que artificiellement imaginées. Lyon: Melchior and Gaspar Trechsel [for Jean and François Frellon], 1538.
HOLBEIN, Hans (1497-1543). Les simulachres & historiees faces de la mort, autant elegamment pourtraictes, que artificiellement imaginées. Lyon: Melchior and Gaspar Trechsel [for Jean and François Frellon], 1538.

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HOLBEIN, Hans (1497-1543). Les simulachres & historiees faces de la mort, autant elegamment pourtraictes, que artificiellement imaginées. Lyon: Melchior and Gaspar Trechsel [for Jean and François Frellon], 1538.

4o (176 x 121 mm). Trechsel device on title, criblé and ornamental initials, and 41 woodcuts by Hans Lützelburger after Holbein. (Trimmed closely affecting some shoulder notes.) Brown morocco by Chambolle-Duru. Provenance: André Hachette (bookplate); acquired from Loeb-Larocque, 1960.

FIRST EDITION of Holbein's "Dance of Death" cycle. A "remarkable work with its most fascinating designs of exquisite finish" (Fairfax Murray). Holbein's images present a "sharpening of the humor and satire and a heightening of the drama, [and become] a series of fully realized scenes" (Mortimer). The king whom Death is serving may be a portrait of François I. Fairfax Murray French 247; Mortimer French 284. Fact and Fantasy 30.

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