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1626 · Antwerp
by (VELLUM PRINTING). (EMBLEM BOOKS)
Antwerp: M. Snyders, 1626. FIRST EDITION. 135 x 82 mm. (5 1/4 x 3 1/4"). 39 [of 40] leaves (lacking C4). Two volumes (one as issued, the other a companion volume containing related plates, without any title page)..
Very pretty late 18th or early 19th century red morocco, covers bordered by delicate cresting roll with leaf cornerpieces, smooth spine gilt in compartments with leafy centerpieces, gilt lettering, turn-in with gilt floral roll, pale blue watered silk endleaves, all edges gilt. Supplemental volume in late 19th century red half morocco over red paper boards, similarly tooled spine. Housed together in a custom-made modern wooden box with (truncated) sliding panel closure, a heart mosaic in multi-colored hard-grain leather on its sides. Amoris Divini WITH engraved title page, and 38 (of 39; lacking plate XXXIV) ENGRAVED PLATES, 35 OF THEM ON VELLUM, ALL DELICATELY COLORED AND HEIGHTENED IN GOLD (plates 19, 29, 30, 31, and 36 bound after text pages for plates 31, 36, 29, 30, and 34, respectively); second volume with 45 plates on paper (though without any text), including many of these same emblems, apparently from a later edition of this work, ALL DAINTILY HIGHLIGHTED WITH GILT. Front pastedown of first volume with monogram book label in colors and gilt, verso of front free endpaper with oval armorial bookplate "Ex Museo Van Der Helle" (see below). De Vries, "De Nederlandsche Emblemata" 121; Landwehr "Low Countries" 33; Praz, p. 254; Brunet I, 240 (this copy?); Delbergue-Cormont, "Bibliothèque de M. Van der Helle," Paris, 10 Février 1868, lot 69 (this copy). ◆Amoris spine very slightly dulled, occasional hints of marginal thumbing, but A LOVELY COPY, clean and fresh internally with rich colors and glistening gold, in a well-preserved binding; supplemental plates with faint marginal browning, but excellent internally, the engravings gently shimmering with gold, and the binding with few signs of wear.
The main volume here comprises a collection of emblems illustrating concepts of human and divine love; it is made all the more special by being printed on vellum, beautifully hand colored, and then delicately highlighted with gold. The emblems depict Divine Love as a beardless young man with nimbus who always represents love in its purest form. Human love, or worldly love, is variously embodied in a winged Cupid (sometimes blindfolded) who represents erotic love and who is accompanied by symbols of treasure or power that represent worldly desires. Landwehr, Praz, and De Vries make no mention of a vellum edition, but Brunet describes one copy on vellum painted in colors and gold, which he says sold at the Duriez auction. That book appeared as lot 3216 in "Catalogue des livres imprimés et manuscrits, composant la bibliothèque de feu M. L.-M.-J. Duriez (de Lille), membre de la Société des Bibliophiles français" (Paris, J.-S. Merlin, 1827), where its binding description matches our copy. Having uncovered no other hand-colored copies on vellum in auction records or in OCLC, we think it quite likely that the present volume is, in fact, the Duriez copy. Louis Duriez (1753-1825) was a Lille lawyer of sufficient skill and cleverness to move without incident from serving as lieutenant provost for his district under King Louis XVI to becoming receiver of the district of Lille after the revolution (1791) and purchasing the estate of an aristocrat which had been seized by the state. He rose to successively more important and remunerative governmental positions and was named Knight of the Royal Order of the Legion of Honor in 1814. In 1820, he was one of the founding members of the Société des Bibliophiles français, an elite group limited to 24 scholarly collectors. After his death, his collection of more than 5,000 carefully chosen works was dispersed at 59 auctions held between 22 January and 1 April 1828 at Maison Silvestre in Paris. A perusal of the lots on offer finds a strong emphasis on fine bindings, works on vellum, and illustrated books, many noting hand coloring. The emblems in the second, thinner book here (on paper, without coloring--but with gold highlighting) allow the reader to experience the pleasure to be found in comparing the degrees of decoration and opulence of the two volumes. These illustrations likely come from one of the later printings of this title, each of which added new emblems to the original 39 called for in Landwehr and Praz. (It is not clear when or by whom this second volume was wedded to the first.) After its presumed residence in the Duriez collection, our copy of the 1626 edition (and perhaps its sidecar volume) moved to another distinguished library--that formed by the scholarly and erudite French collector, M. Van Der Helle of Lille, who amassed a collection particularly rich in illustrated books and works on vellum. In the catalogue for the sale of his library in 1868, Paris auction house Delbergue-Cormont described him as a bibliophile "of the school of Renouard . . . [who] only liked irreproachable copies." (We bought this item without being warned that it is [slightly] defective, but given its distinguished provenance and the many other features it has going for it, we did not ask the seller to take it back.).. (Inventory #: ST19298)
Very pretty late 18th or early 19th century red morocco, covers bordered by delicate cresting roll with leaf cornerpieces, smooth spine gilt in compartments with leafy centerpieces, gilt lettering, turn-in with gilt floral roll, pale blue watered silk endleaves, all edges gilt. Supplemental volume in late 19th century red half morocco over red paper boards, similarly tooled spine. Housed together in a custom-made modern wooden box with (truncated) sliding panel closure, a heart mosaic in multi-colored hard-grain leather on its sides. Amoris Divini WITH engraved title page, and 38 (of 39; lacking plate XXXIV) ENGRAVED PLATES, 35 OF THEM ON VELLUM, ALL DELICATELY COLORED AND HEIGHTENED IN GOLD (plates 19, 29, 30, 31, and 36 bound after text pages for plates 31, 36, 29, 30, and 34, respectively); second volume with 45 plates on paper (though without any text), including many of these same emblems, apparently from a later edition of this work, ALL DAINTILY HIGHLIGHTED WITH GILT. Front pastedown of first volume with monogram book label in colors and gilt, verso of front free endpaper with oval armorial bookplate "Ex Museo Van Der Helle" (see below). De Vries, "De Nederlandsche Emblemata" 121; Landwehr "Low Countries" 33; Praz, p. 254; Brunet I, 240 (this copy?); Delbergue-Cormont, "Bibliothèque de M. Van der Helle," Paris, 10 Février 1868, lot 69 (this copy). ◆Amoris spine very slightly dulled, occasional hints of marginal thumbing, but A LOVELY COPY, clean and fresh internally with rich colors and glistening gold, in a well-preserved binding; supplemental plates with faint marginal browning, but excellent internally, the engravings gently shimmering with gold, and the binding with few signs of wear.
The main volume here comprises a collection of emblems illustrating concepts of human and divine love; it is made all the more special by being printed on vellum, beautifully hand colored, and then delicately highlighted with gold. The emblems depict Divine Love as a beardless young man with nimbus who always represents love in its purest form. Human love, or worldly love, is variously embodied in a winged Cupid (sometimes blindfolded) who represents erotic love and who is accompanied by symbols of treasure or power that represent worldly desires. Landwehr, Praz, and De Vries make no mention of a vellum edition, but Brunet describes one copy on vellum painted in colors and gold, which he says sold at the Duriez auction. That book appeared as lot 3216 in "Catalogue des livres imprimés et manuscrits, composant la bibliothèque de feu M. L.-M.-J. Duriez (de Lille), membre de la Société des Bibliophiles français" (Paris, J.-S. Merlin, 1827), where its binding description matches our copy. Having uncovered no other hand-colored copies on vellum in auction records or in OCLC, we think it quite likely that the present volume is, in fact, the Duriez copy. Louis Duriez (1753-1825) was a Lille lawyer of sufficient skill and cleverness to move without incident from serving as lieutenant provost for his district under King Louis XVI to becoming receiver of the district of Lille after the revolution (1791) and purchasing the estate of an aristocrat which had been seized by the state. He rose to successively more important and remunerative governmental positions and was named Knight of the Royal Order of the Legion of Honor in 1814. In 1820, he was one of the founding members of the Société des Bibliophiles français, an elite group limited to 24 scholarly collectors. After his death, his collection of more than 5,000 carefully chosen works was dispersed at 59 auctions held between 22 January and 1 April 1828 at Maison Silvestre in Paris. A perusal of the lots on offer finds a strong emphasis on fine bindings, works on vellum, and illustrated books, many noting hand coloring. The emblems in the second, thinner book here (on paper, without coloring--but with gold highlighting) allow the reader to experience the pleasure to be found in comparing the degrees of decoration and opulence of the two volumes. These illustrations likely come from one of the later printings of this title, each of which added new emblems to the original 39 called for in Landwehr and Praz. (It is not clear when or by whom this second volume was wedded to the first.) After its presumed residence in the Duriez collection, our copy of the 1626 edition (and perhaps its sidecar volume) moved to another distinguished library--that formed by the scholarly and erudite French collector, M. Van Der Helle of Lille, who amassed a collection particularly rich in illustrated books and works on vellum. In the catalogue for the sale of his library in 1868, Paris auction house Delbergue-Cormont described him as a bibliophile "of the school of Renouard . . . [who] only liked irreproachable copies." (We bought this item without being warned that it is [slightly] defective, but given its distinguished provenance and the many other features it has going for it, we did not ask the seller to take it back.).. (Inventory #: ST19298)