.jpg?w=1)
Details
MERIAN, Matthaeus, the elder (1593-1650). Todten-Tanz, wie derselbe in der löblichen und weit-berühmten Stadt Basel, als ein Spiegel menschlicher Besschaffenheit, gantz känstlich gemahlet und zusehen ist. Frankfurt: Heirs of Matthias Merian, 1696.
4o (191 x 150 mm). Engraved title-page and 44 engravings in the text (complete with the 2 full-page plates "Memento mori" and the transformation portait showing the death of Dives), ALL FINELY COLORED IN A CONTEMPORARY HAND. (Occasional very light browning or staining, small hole in the green pigment of plate on p. 85, R2 with short marginal tear, a few shoulder notes trimmed.) 18th-century calf. Provenance: Walter Sneyd (bookplate and presentation to Lord Douglas in Clydesdale, 1830); acquired from Laurence C. Witten, 1978.
Second edition, with Merian's dedication dated 1649. A work preserving a visual record of the famous Basel wall-paintings depicting a Dance of Death cycle. Dating from the 15th century, they had undergone restoration in the 16th and early-17th centuries. Merian added the "Memento mori" plate as well as the famous final "puzzle" engraving which can be viewed from two directions. CONTEMPORARY HAND-COLORED COPIES ARE VERY RARE: according to American Book Prices Current, only one hand-colored copy of a later edition has sold in the last 35 years: Sotheby's London, 27 May 1983, lot 399. Brunet III:1650; Graesse IV:497.
4o (191 x 150 mm). Engraved title-page and 44 engravings in the text (complete with the 2 full-page plates "Memento mori" and the transformation portait showing the death of Dives), ALL FINELY COLORED IN A CONTEMPORARY HAND. (Occasional very light browning or staining, small hole in the green pigment of plate on p. 85, R2 with short marginal tear, a few shoulder notes trimmed.) 18th-century calf. Provenance: Walter Sneyd (bookplate and presentation to Lord Douglas in Clydesdale, 1830); acquired from Laurence C. Witten, 1978.
Second edition, with Merian's dedication dated 1649. A work preserving a visual record of the famous Basel wall-paintings depicting a Dance of Death cycle. Dating from the 15th century, they had undergone restoration in the 16th and early-17th centuries. Merian added the "Memento mori" plate as well as the famous final "puzzle" engraving which can be viewed from two directions. CONTEMPORARY HAND-COLORED COPIES ARE VERY RARE: according to American Book Prices Current, only one hand-colored copy of a later edition has sold in the last 35 years: Sotheby's London, 27 May 1983, lot 399. Brunet III:1650; Graesse IV:497.