Author: NATALIS Hieronymus - Jérôme NADAL - Jan WIERICX - Antoon WIERICX - Hieronymus WIERICX - Adriaen COLLAERT - Karel de MALLERY (engravers) - Bernardus PASSARO (designer) :
Title: Evangelicae Historiae Imagines. Ex ordine Evangeliorum, quae toto anno in Missae Sacreficio recitantur, in ordinem temporis vitae Christi digestae. (Suite of 154 engravings ) [TOGETHER WITH] Adnotationes et meditationes in evangelia.....( Text to the engravings).
Description: 10. [1]Antverpiae (Antwerpen), no printer ( Nutius ) , 1593, in-folio, 32,7 cm, engraved title + suite of 153 engravings. (the 6 text leaves which go with this edition are to be found in [ item 2] . Bound in later boards covered with marbled paper, leather title label on smooth spine. Printed on unwatermarked paper. With some marginal small stains and foxing spots at some pages. Plates 61, 73, and 78 have a restoration at the inner margin, not affecting the engraved image. Plates 81, 98, 104 and 145 have small restorations in the upper margin, also not affecting the engraved image. [Together with] [2] Adnotationes et meditationes in evangelia..., Antwerpen, Martinus Nutius, 1594, in-folio, (8) nn pp ( engraved title, pp7/8 blank) + 595 pp + (7)nn pp ( ultimate and penulitmate pp. blank) . Bound in contemporary vellum, with gilt supra libro (canon view), vellum damaged with some loss of material, interior good. (copy from the library of the Friar Minor of Maastricht ( small stamp) Both books in first edition. The plate suite [1] , a real masterpiece of Flemish bookillustration in the 16th century, appeared anonymously in Antwerp in 1593. The publishers were the Antwerp Jesuits **. An explanatory text by Natalis [our item 2] was published one year after these suite was published (in 1594). The engavings were commissioned by the Headquarters of the Jesuit Order in Rome. From correspondance by Christophe Plantin we know that he was involved in this project from 1587 onwards. But he never published this suite. This was done by the Antwerp Jesuits, the printer was Nutius. Only in 1605 did Plantin's son in law Jan Moretus aquire the plates from Carolus Scribanus - the head of the Antwerp Jesuit College. Antoon Wiericx engraved 58 plates, 57 were done by Hieronymus Wiericx, 17 by Jan Wiericx , 11 by Adriaen Collaert, 9 by Karel de Mallery, 1 by Jan Collaert and 1 by the unkown engraver I.N. The plates in our copy carry also the name of the designer, which indicates a first edition . (In the Plantin edition of 1607 -Imhof N1- most designer names were removed). The drawings were made by the Roman draughtsman B.Passaro and are preserved in the Brussels Royal Library. ** See Manuel Insolara... La spiritualité en images aux Pays-Bas...Leuven, 1996, pp. 135-141. Biblio. ref. [1] USTC 402295 Pettegree 22113 . [2] USTC 403349 - Pettegree 22114 . .

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