Southern Africa - Tobias Lotter, c. 1730

Africae Pars Meridionalis cum Promontorio Bonae Spei? [Southern part of Africa with the Cape of Good Hope.] copper engraving published around 1730 by Tobias Lotter. With original hand colouring. Size: approx. 50 x 58 cm. This fine map of Southern Africa is all about the Dutch presence at the time and details Castle of Good Hope, Saldanha Bay and the surroundings of Cape of Good Hope. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) decided to establish a permanent settlement at the Cape in 1652. The VOC, one of the major European trading houses sailing the spice route to the East, had no intention of colonizing the area, instead wanting only to establish a secure base camp where passing ships could be serviced and restock on supplies. The VOC had settled at the Cape in order to supply their trading ships. The Cape and the VOC had to import Dutch farmers to establish farms to supply the passing ships as well as to supply the growing VOC settlement. The small initial group of free burghers, as these farmers were known, steadily increased in number and began to expand their farms further north and east into the territory of the Khoikhoi. The free burghers were ex-VOC soldiers and gardeners, who were unable to return to Holland when their contracts were completed with the VOC. he VOC also brought some 71,000 slaves to Cape Town from India, Indonesia, East Africa, Mauritius, and Madagascar. Price: Euro 525,-

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Book number: 8440

Spanish armada defeat - John Pine, 1736

SPANISH ARMADA DEFEATED BY THE ENGLISH IN 1588 Copper engraving made in 1739 by John Pine after a drawing by Clement Lemprière for “The Tapestry hangings of the House of Lords: representing the several engagements between the English and Spanish fleets, in the ever memorable year MDLXXXVIII”. Coloured by a later hand. Size (plate): 37,5 x 60,5 cm. The tapestry to commemorate the defeat of the Spanish armada that served as a model for this engraving, was commissioned by Lord High Admiral Charles Howard of Effingham (1536 1624), who had commanded the Royal Navy against the Armada. The English fleet was presented as a unified naval force acting in unity though it had been a loose group of ships which until then had preyed in a pirate's role on the Spanish treasure fleet, paid for by the admirals themselves. The tapestry was woven by Francis Aertsz Spierincx in Delft, after a design by Hendrik Cornelisz Vroom. Vroom, in turn, used a map by Robert Adams from 1588 as a guideline for his work. We see the English and Spanish fleets in the Channel near the Isle of Portland and Weymouth with the coat of arms of Queen Elizabeth I at the top. The scene is framed in an ornamental border with 22 portraits of commanders of the English fleet. At the top center a portrait of Charles Howard, the Lord High Admiral, with his coat of arms in the corners. The tapestry  is meant as English propaganda, the fact that also Dutch have played an important role in the defeat of the Spanish armada is 'forgotten'. In 1651 the ten tapestries were hung in House of Lords, which was used for the meetings of the committee of Parliament. They remained there until destroyed in the Burning of Parliament of 1834. Price: Euro 875,-

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Book number: 5396

St. Petersburg - Artaria, c. 1830

MAGNIFICENT VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG "Saint Pétersbourg" Lithography with beautuful original hand colouring, published by Artaria & Comp. in Vienna around 1830 . Size (print): approx 51 x 77 cm . Panorama taken from the Peter and Paul fortress with Naryshkin bastion, overlooking the Neva River. On the Palance Embankment we see the Winter Palace, the Hermitage Theatre, the Marble Palace, the Vladimir Palace, the New Michael Palace, the Ficquelmont Palace and the Summer Garden. On the right the Old Stock Exchange is sited to fill the majestic sweep of the Spit [Strelka] of Vasilievsky Island, just opposite the Winter Palace. Until 1850 only a pontoon bridge (left) was allowed across the river and replaced with a permanent bridge (Blagoveshchensky Bridge). Price: Euro 6.500,- (incl. frame)

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Book number: 720

St. Peter's Basilica interior - Johann Ulrich Kraus after Johann Andreas Graff, 1696

STUNNING LARGE PIECE OF ST. PETER’S BASILICA INTERIOR "Romae Divi Petri Templum in Vaticano. In Rom die St. Peters Kirche im Vatican". Engraving on 6 loose sheets made in 1696 by Johann Ulrich Kraus after Johann Andreas Graff. Total size: 135,5 x 162,5 cm. Johann Ulrich Kraus (1655–1719) was born to a widely dispersed family of artists and artisans. He was a student of Melchior Küsel (1626- ca.1683), who was in turn a student of Matthäus Merian the Elder. Kraus became a partner in the Augsburg publishing company of Melchior Küsel, whose daughter Johanna Sibylla he married in 1685. Kraus became one of the most successful and respected engravers and publishers of his generation in Augsburg. Kraus himself never visited Italy, although he created numerous views of Rome. This intricately detailed and wall-sized engraving of St. Peter’s Basilica fully captures the depth and beauty of the architectural and spiritual centre of the Roman Catholic Church. The print was made during the rule of pope Innocent XII and shows us the inside of Michelangelo’s dome of St. Peter's Basilica towards the south transept and apse. In the centre there is St. Peter's Baldachin by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the large Baroque sculpted bronze canopy, over the basilica’s main altar. The baldachin is directly under the dome of the basilica, it is intended to mark the place of Saint Peter's tomb underneath. On top of the baldachin four angels stand at the corners. Around the inside of the dome is written: “TV ES PETRVS ET [SVPER HANC PETRAM AEDIFICABO] ECCLESIAM MEAM. ET TIBI DABO CLAVES REGNI CAELORVM” ["You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven."] Set in niches within the piers supporting the dome, are statues of (on the right) Saint Helena holding the True Cross, the Apostle Andrew (on the left) and (behind St. Peter's Baldachin) Saint Veronica. The interior view of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome presented here, impressive in its size and detail, was engraved by Kraus after an example by his Nuremberg colleague Johann Andreas Graff (1636-1701), who visited Italy in the 1660s and must have made drawings of the basilica there. However, the final drawing for this large-scale view has not yet been discovered or not been preserved. Especially ingenious is Graff's idea of the "diagonal perspective." Unlike the centered view from nave to choir, familiar from 17th century engravings of Roman churches, it is as if the viewer is standing at one of the crossing pillars and looks from the northeast through the columns of the baldachin over to a dome pillar, to either side of which a transept opens. Draftsman Graff worked as if he had a "fisheye" or "wide-angle" lens to visually capture much more of the interior than the viewer could have with the naked eye. Kraus explains this fact in his legend indicating that the view deviates from the "ordinary perspective". There are two engravings of St. Peter's Basilica by Kraus that differ significantly in details and format. The first, large-format variant, as (partially) presented here, was printed from no fewer than 12 plates and measures assembled 183 x 162.2 cm. The view of the interior is composed of six plates, followed by five additional views of the basilica and St. Peter's Square from three plates, and a written legend from another three plates. Mounted as wall decoration, the work had the size of a substantial painting. The legend beneath the depiction was written in both Latin and German, and the dedication was to Bishop Johann Philipp von Lamberg, who was elevated to cardinal in 1700. Success however, so the story goes, remained elusive and frustrated by limited sales, Kraus destroyed the copper plates. Shortly after the destruction of the plates, Kraus received a large order - which he could no longer fulfill and could only sell the few prints he had previously made. Kraus then produced a smaller reprint in two versions (Diefenbacher, New Hollstein 104-106, Introduction xxxv-xxxvii). In the smaller variant, Kraus added audience and festive decoration to the interior, on the occasion of the canonization of Pope Alexander VIII (October 16, 1690) (See on the history of the copper engraving: Eckhard Leuschner, "Aus Rom nach Augsburg via Nürnberg", in: "Der Augsburger Kupferstecher und Verleger Johann Ulrich Kraus (1655-1719)", Vienna 2021, pp. 152-164.) The six engravings of the large variant here are loose sheets are trimmed and prepared for mounting. St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is considered the greatest of all churches of the Christian world. This impressive six sheet engraving proves it really is. The imperial folio print (mentioned by Thieme/Becker vol. XXI, p.442) has numerous restorations but is a stunning piece nevertheless and of great rarity. The New Hollstein only mentions two collections, Dresden and Vienna, which possess this interior view of the large version - however, also incomplete without a legend or the additional five views. Price: Euro 6.500,-

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Book number: 8742

Steps of Life - Dirk van Lubeek, ca. 1800

CARPE DIEM! “Trap des ouderdoms”, houtsnede vervaardigd door Dirk van Lubeek (1747-1819). In de druk rechtsonder gemonogrammeerd. In de tijd met de hand gekleurd. Afm. 32,5 × breedte 39,4 cm. In dit belerende beeldverhaal in de vorm van een centsprent zien we “Van de wieg tot aan 't graf legt den mensch dees loopbaan af.” Op de 10 treden van de trap des ouderdoms, in de vorm van een brug, staan mannen in de leeftijd van 0 tot 100 jaar. Onder de brug zien we een wieg, Vadertje Tijd en een grafmonument. Daaronder een vers dat tot nadenken aanzet. Als volgt hertaald: Mens, u zult wel merken: de tijd heeft vlerken. Zie hier, geliefde jeugd, de trap van ‘s mensen leven: De kindheid huppelt voort langs paden van geneugten, Het jongelingschap komt er aan en wil naar vreugde streven, Echter, onervaren, wijkt zij vaak van het pad van de deugd. Nu daagt de manbaarheid; ziedaar de denkkrachtjaren; De mens stapt langzaam voort; ‘t verstand verslapt, verdwijnt, thans is de grijsheid aan de beurt met haar zilveren haren; Het brein neemt langzaam af, wanneer het leven ook wegkwijnt. O knaapjes wilt gij nog eens (als het gewicht van de jaren begint te drukken), Op uw vervlogen jeugd nog lachend terug kijken, Zorg dan, in vreugde en verdriet, dat u steeds deugdzaam blijft, Dat is het, wat op aarde reeds hemelse vreugde kan bieden. Kortom: pluk de dag, maar doe dat dapper, wijs, gematigd, rechtvaardig. Prijs: Euro 575,-  

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Book number: 5896

Stock trading satire - anonymous, 1720

“Graf kelder der Verongelukte Actionisten.” (Tomb of the ruined stock traders.) Etching and engringpublished in Amsterdam in or after 1720 as part of “Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid” (the picture of stupidity). Coloured by a later hand. Size: 29,3 x 18,2 cm. A lively stock trade in 1720 in Amsterdam turned out to be a wind trade. Investors widely fell for the empty promises that were presented to them. This eventually led to a major riot in the capital and became the subject of this satirical print. The instigator of the crisis was the speculator John Law (1671-1729), the son of a wealthy Scottish goldsmith and banker. Law had built up a formidable reputation in London as a womanizer and gambler. He had had to flee the city and then traveled to Amsterdam and other European cities, where he studied banking and insurance. In addition to a charming appearance, Law had a good head for numbers. In France he managed to gain the trust of the court. In 1717 he got permission to found the Mississippi Company, which issued shares in worthless companies overseas with the promise of high returns. After a number of mergers with other companies, a batch of new shares was released in 1719, the price of which continued to rise. Following this rapid success, eager speculators in the Netherlands also set up companies with the most fantastic promises. Rich and poor alike speculated vigorously in the shares of these companies. Until mistrust in France and the Netherlands increased, panic set in and prices fell dizzyingly. Bankruptcies followed and many people became unemployed. In Amsterdam, the wind trade led to a riot in 1720. Furious workers, who had become out of work because of the bankruptcies, went to Dam square and knocked off the stately wigs and hats of the stock traders. Then they stormed the meeting place of the traders, the coffee house Quincampoix in the Kalverstraat, so named after the Rue Quincampoix in Paris, the center of the speculation trade. This engraving of the "tomb of the ruined stock traders" mocks stock trading and those who are involved. In the center we see a trader in his shop (selling blank stocks). The shop is sold out, its says, the property is immediately put up for rent. The “wind seller” is held up a mirror by an earth angel. The trader points to the globe from the “actioned world” saying “I am seeing everything wrong”. A snake wrapped around the world biting itself in the tail: "the seller of wind imitates this animal that consumes itself". John Law narrowly escaped in the riot in Amsterdam in 1720. A few years later he would die in Venice, completely penniless, Price: Euro 350,-

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Book number: 5277

Strait of Malacca, Singapore - 1898

RARE 19TH CENTURY MAP OF THE MALACCA STRAIT WITH SINGAPORE “Malacca Strait with Part of the East Coast of the Malay Peninsula”, engraving published in London by the British Admiralty in 30 June 1898 under the superintendence of Rear Admiral Sir W.J.L. Wharton. Size: 65,5 x 98 cm. In 1795 King George III created the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, to provide top notch nautical charts to the vast Royal Navy. Prior to the founding of the Admiralty the surveying and creation of nautical charts was primarily a commercial venture in which the cartographer himself, more often than not, actually financed the printing of his own material. The great navigator James Cook himself is known to have scrambled for funds to publish his own seminal charts - the most important and advanced of the period. The system of privately funded nautical mapping and publishing left vast portions of the world uncharted and many excellent charts unpublished. King George III, responding to significant loss in trade revenue related to shipwrecks and delay due to poor charts, recognised the need for an institutionalised government sponsored cartographic agency - the Admiralty. The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is still in operation today. On this large and rare 19th century nautical chart or maritime map we see Peninsula Malaya, Singapore and its neighbouring islands and parts of Sumatra surrounded by the South China Sea and Malacca Strait. In the second half of the 19th century, Singapore was part of the Straits Settlements, a group of British territories in Southeast Asia controlled by the British East India Company and later served as a crown colony. In the 1890s Singapore became a global centre for rubber sorting and export. Price: EUR 2.150,-

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Book number: 2913

Strait of Malacca - Admiral Wharton, 1896

RARE 19TH CENTURY MAP OF THE MALACCA STRAIT “Malacca Strait - Butang Group to Pulo Berhala”, engraving by Davies & Company published in London by the British Admiralty on 23 May 1896 under the superintendence of Rear Admiral Sir W.J.L. Wharton. Size: 114 x 77 cm. In 1795 King George III created the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office to provide top notch nautical charts to the vast Royal Navy. Prior to the founding of the Admiralty the surveying and creation of nautical charts was primarily a commercial venture in which the cartographer himself, more often than not, actually financed the printing of his own material. The great navigator James Cook himself is known to have scrambled for funds to publish his own seminal charts - the most important and advanced of the period. The system of privately funded nautical mapping and publishing left vast portions of the world uncharted and many excellent charts unpublished. King George III, responding to significant loss in trade revenue related to shipwrecks and delay due to poor charts, recognised the need for an institutionalised government sponsored cartographic agency - the Admiralty. The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is still in operation today. On this rare and large 19th century nautical chart or maritime map we see the Malacca Strait with Langkawi, the “Jewel of Kedah” the archipelago of islands some 30 km off the coast of what we now call northwestern Malaysia. (In those days still the sultanate of Kedah.) Further south, off the coast of Perak, there is Penang Island, an important centre of spice production within Southeast Asia. George Town on Penang was capital of the Straits Settlements from 1826-1832 and an important British entrepôt. By the end of the 19th century the city had evolved into a leading financial centre in Malaya. For a adjacent chart of the Malacca Strait to the south, please check here. Price: Euro 750,-

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Book number: 4654

Suriname - C.F. Stemler, 1877

“Kaart van de rivier de Suriname” (map of the Suriname river) lithograph commissioned by infantry officer G.P.H. Zimmermann, published in Amsterdam by C.F. Stemler in 1877. Size approx. 100 x 64 cm. Including inset maps of the northeast coast of South America, Paramaribo, and the mouth of the Suriname River. This map was based on a manuscript map drawn by W.J.F. Vermeulen, which is preserved in the Surinaams Museum in Paramaribo. The map covers the areas along the Suriname River from its mouth to the point where gold exploitation had just begun. The inset maps, depicting cross-sections of the river and showing products from the riverbanks, provide a good picture of the final phase of the plantation era. The map indicates military occupations, plantations cultivated with sugar, cocoa, and bananas. "The communication routes mainly consist of narrow forest paths, maybe 4 to 5 paces wide, which become difficult to traverse after heavy rains and are only suitable for pedestrians and horses during the dry season, never for carriages. The names of places in the map are mentioned in red letters." The numbers provided on the map represent approximate hectares of cultivated land, depths at low tide, the number of people at posts or stations, the number of black and other indigenous populations at plantations and territories, and the number of immigrants and students at schools, all represented in red figures. Literature: G.P.H. Zimmerman, Beschrijving van de rivier ‘de Suriname’, Tijdschrift van het Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap 2 (1877), map no. 15; Koeman, Bibliography printed maps Suriname, no. 161, 238. Price: Euro 575,-.

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Book number: 7852

Sydney - after Theodore Mesnard, 1838

PANORAMA OF SYDNEY FROM THE RAREST OF ALL FRENCH PACIFIC VOYAGE ACCOUNTS "Vue de Sydney et l'entrée de la Rivière de Paramatta (1ere et 2eme feuille)". Two lithographs by Thierry and Sabatier after Theodore Mesnard. From the Atlas to the Voyage autour du Monde sur la fregate Venus pendant les années 1836-1839 (plates 63 and 64). Published in Paris, 1842. With original hand colouring. Size (each) approx. 20 x 44 cm. Under the cover of scientific research, the French Restoration rivived the tradition of great discoveries. The expedition under the command of admiral Dupetit-Thouars of the frigate Venus, searched for ports of call or territories to conquer. Mesnard a naval cadet, was the artist on board of the Venus. The French expedition visited Sydney for two weeks in November 1838. The voyage caused a stir in British circles around the world, as it was rumoured that it intended to claim New Zealand as a colony. The view of Sydney is from a point on the harbour north-east of Pinchgut, shown as a rocky outcrop in centre foreground. At the extreme left is Garden Island and the spire of St James' Church appears above Mrs Macquaries Point. Beyond is the entrance to Parramatta River, with Goat Island front right, and the Venus sailing in the foreground. The locals called Pinchgut Mat-te-wan-ye, the Europeans first called it Rock Island. Later hewn down, reconstructed and renamed Fort Denison, but in the imagined world of convict Sydney, always called Pinchgut. It was the location of supposed dark deeds and generator of cheerfully black urban myths. Visions of the remnants of a man called Morgan, strung up on a gibbet and swinging in the breeze, his decayed remains intended to act as an exemple to others. Comdemned to hang for murder, when asked for any last words, he is supposed to have calmly surveyed the scene and remarked "you have here indeed a beautiful harbour." Literature: "Sydney Vistas - panoramic views 1788-1995", catalogue to the exhibition at the Focus Gallery, Museum of Sydney (1995), no. 10. Price (for the pair): Euro 2.150,-

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Book number: 825

Taxation cartoon - Jean-Jacques Grandville, 1833

CARTOON ON "IMPÔTS SUCCEURS": SUCKING TAXES "Le peuple livré aux impôts suceurs dans la grande fosse du budget. Spectacle gratis donné par la pouvoir aux salariés de toute espèce." (The people delivered to the sucking taxes in the great pit of the budget. A free spectacle given by the authorities to workers of all kinds.) Etching made in 1833 by Jean-Jacques Grandville. Coloured by a later hand. To denounce the increases in taxes and levies imposed on the people by the government, caricaturist Grandville devised a cartoon based on a dream of publisher and agitator Charles Philipon. This dream takes place in a walled pit, a sort of square arena. The "impôts suceurs" (sucking taxes) are terrifying monsters. Each embodies a type of tax: there is the monster of the salt tax; one of the city tax with, in its many legs, the names of products subject to this tax: wine, tobacco, oil, coal; the monster of the personnel sinks its teeth into the body of a soulless citizen; another man tries to escape the monster of the lottery tax; and the monster of the furniture tax holds onto someone and is about to devour him. Some are already drained and lying on the ground. In the foreground, a woman kneels, accompanied by her two children, before the customs monster wearing a cap and begs him to spare her. To the left in the front is the well-filled chest of "general income". At the entrance to the pit on the left, three monsters wait to enter the arena: they are the monsters of the doors, windows, and patents. Patronizingly, the spectacle is observed. They are the "officials, prefects, sub-prefects, directors and general receivers, city agents, royal prosecutors, deputies, constables, gendarmes, investigating judges, court presidents, decorated individuals, ministerial journalists, successful poets, inspectors-general, university inspectors, tobacco vendors, lottery vendors, seal vendors (...)". They are on a terrace above surrounding the pit. They seem pitiful and indifferent. In the back is a box with three arches where members of the government sit. In France it is the time July Monarchy (1830-1848). From left to right: Marshal Soult, Minister d'Argout, Madier de Montjau, King Louis-Philippe, Minister Barthe, President Thiers, and battalion chief Viennet. With this cartoon, the artist has created a sharp contrast between the elegant company in the gallery above and the repulsive spectacle below, where deformed beings devour the people. The people are heavily taxed and serve as food for a cruel gang. It is an incitement to revolt; the people should not tolerate this! Price: Euro 575,-

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Book number: 8784

To-Day - Dudley Hardey, 1895-1900

“To-day”, colour lithograph by Dudley Hardey, published by impremerie Chaix between 1895-1900 for their “Maîtres de l'Affiche: publication mensuelle contenant la reproduction des plus belles affiches illustrées des grands artistes, français et étrangers". Size (paper): 40 x 29 cm. The Yellow Girl advertisement for Today magazine was one of Dudley Hardey's most iconic works. The Maitres de l'Affiche series was the direct result of international interest in posters and poster artists that reached its height in the mid-1890s in Europe and America. The masterpieces of artists like Jules Chéret, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Alphonse Mucha transformed commercial advertisements into an esteemed art form worthy of public adoration and scholarly pursuit. Along with the decade's wave of poster journals, books, and exhibitions came a serious desire to collect the artworks for personal enjoyment and study -- but the sheer size of posters made storage awkward and often times impossible. The Maitres de l'Affiche ("Masters of the Poster") series was born of this dilemma. By offering subscribers reductions of the era's most important posters, collectors and enthusiasts were able to build miniature archives of posters from around the world. The complete Maitres de l'Affiche series boasted 256 expertly produced miniature lithographic plates representing the best of the Belle Époque. During its five-year run from late 1895 to 1900 the series was hugely successful, and it continues to be popular today, offering experts and novices alike a convenient and dazzling overview of some of the finest achievements in poster art. It is not surprising that the exquisite Maitres de l'Affiche collection was the brainchild of Jules Chéret, inventor of the three-stone lithographic process and virtual founder of the modern poster.  As early as the 1860s, Chéret's magnificent creations brought elegance and colour to the urban landscape of Paris and soon generated an international industry.  By 1866, Chéret opened his own print shop, which would eventually become a branch of the large French publisher Imprimerie Chaix.  His role as artistic director at Chaix provided Chéret with the platform and resources necessary to launch the Maitres series. The first four plates were released in December of 1895 and featured posters by Chéret, Toulouse-Lautrec, Julius Price, and Dudley Hardy. The series would continue for a total of sixty months, ending in November of 1900 -- truly spanning the peak of the poster craze.  In the end, there were a total of 240 regular plates and 16 bonus plates. The Maitres de l'Affiche series operated much like a contemporary magazine.  A poster enthusiast had the option of purchasing the current month's four plates from a specialized dealer, or he could choose to subscribe to the series for the length of one year.  In France, a one-year subscription cost 27,- francs, equivalent to roughly five to ten original full-sized versions of the posters highlighted in the Maitres series. The first plate of every month was a poster by Chéret himself, making him the most frequently represented artist in the series.  As a matter of fact, Chéret's 60 regular and seven bonus plates comprise nearly 25-percent of the entire collection. All in all, 97 artists from around the world were represented in the Maitres de l'Affiche series, though more than half of them were French.  In contrast, only four were from Italy, six from Germany and eight from England. A range of popular styles are evident in the collection, including the classic Art Nouveau of Alphonse Mucha and Privat Livemont, the illustrations of Edward Penfield and Adolphe Willette, and the graphic qualities of Toulouse-Lautrec and Pierre Bonnard. The original, full-sized posters and the Maitres prints they inspired were never considered in competition with one another; rather, they were viewed as two entirely different entities.  While posters were large and bold, prints were beloved for their exquisite size and detail.  In addition, posters were often printed on inexpensive newsprint due to their anticipated short lifespan. Prints, on the other hand, were made on very fine paper using printing techniques too intricate for larger items. Print collecting was an extremely popular hobby in its own right well before posters became fashionable.  Chéret introduced the modern poster, but it was not until Toulouse-Lautrec's Moulin Rouge in 1891 that posters were elevated to an art form print collectors deemed worthy of their attention.  In many ways, the Maitres series can be seen as the successful marriage of the poster and print crazes. In his preface to Volume I of the Maitres series, Roger Marx, a notable 19th-century art historian and critic, described the streets of Paris as 'a museum in the breeze.' He wrote that 'the poster has a precarious fate... it gleams in sun, fades in the mist, dangles sadly in shreds, [and] sways in the wind after a heavy shower.'  Although innately ephemeral in its purpose, the poster was saved by its beauty and charm.  Les Maitres de l'Affiche, in its convenient format, has certainly stood the test of time. Price: Euro 275,- (excl. frame), Euro 475,- (incl. frame)  

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Book number: 5104

Tulip with rose and butterfly - James Holland, c. 1825

Tulip with rose and butterfly, watercolour made by James Holland around 1825. Size (paper): 19,2 x 14,9 cm. James Holland (1800-1870) was a British water-colour painter born at Burslem, where his father and other members of his family were employed at the pottery works of William Davenport. He himself was employed at an early age for painting flowers on pottery and porcelain, and came to London in 1819 to practise as a flower-painter and to give lessons in drawing landscapes, architecture, and marine subjects. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1824’ In 1835 he became an associate exhibitor of the (now Royal) Society of Painters in Water-colours, but he left the society in 1843, and joined the (now Royal) Society of British Artists, of which he remained a member untill 1848. He rejoined the Water-colour Society in 1856, and was elected a full member two years afterwards. The drawing of a tulip with rose and butterfly is a typical design for a porcelain plate or platter. Price: Euro 1.250,- (incl. frame)

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Book number: 3659

Tulips - John Hill, 1756-57

“Tulips. - The Changeable Tulip; The Golden Tulip; The Bleeding Tulip; The Pearl Crimson Tulip; The Auriflame or Gold and Scarlet Tulip; The White & Purple Tulip” Kopergravure uit een van de mooiste boeken over bloementuinen “Eden: or, a complete body of Gardening. Containing plain and familiar directions for raising the several useful products of a garden. Together with the culture of all kinds of Flowers, according to the methods of the English, French and Dutch Florists”, uitgegeven door Sir John Hill te Londen 1756-57. Later met de hand gekleurd. Afm (plaatrand) 37,5 x 23 cm. John Hill (1714? – 1775) was een harde werker, vol energie en een kundig vakman. Hij was echter ook verwaand, excentriek en zelf ingenomen: eigenschappen niet erg bevorderlijk voor zijn populariteit. Op zoek naar rijkdom en erkenning had hij verschillende valse starts die hem leidden langs een flink aantal beroepen: apotheker, botanicus, acteur, tuinman (hij zou hebben geholpen bij de aanleg van Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew en was tuinman op Kensington Palace), maar bovenal was hij productief auteur op velerlei gebied (de lijst van titels op zijn naam in de Oxford Dictionary of National Biography beslaat vijf en een half kolommen). De gravure met de tulpen uit Hill’s Eden, is gemaakt naar ontwerp van de Nederlandse bloemenschilder Jan van Huysum. Prijs: Euro 1.350,- (incl. lijst)

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Book number: 7369

Twelve months - Johann Sebastian Müller, before 1744

THE TWELVE MONTHS OF THE YEAR 12 copper engravings on 3 sheets made by Johann Sebastian Müller (1715 - c. 1792), published before 1744 by Johann Cristian Schmidhammer in Nuremberg. Coloured by a later hand. Size: each 6,3 x 9 cm (13 x 19 cm on a sheet). These lovely scenes depict the activities that took place at in the respective months of the year. In January it is cold, there is snow and ice, but a kettel with fire gives warmth and people are skating. Carnival is in February and Lent begins. Trees are trimmed in March, it is the start of spring. In April people are plowing, sowing and yearning for love. In May it is pleasant and the gardens are in bloom. The sheep are sheared in the summer month of June. In July it is time to hay, in order that we can feed our cattle in wintertime. In the heat of August it is time for the harvest. In the autumn month of September, the fruit is picked and birds are caught. October is the month when the new wine is ready. In November it is time to hunt. In December, animals are slaughtered to be eaten in the winter. The signs of the zodiac were added to decorate the scenes of the months. Price: Euro 1.450,- (incl. 3 frames)

Inter-Antiquariaat Mefferdt & De JongeProfessional seller

Book number: 4005