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Holbein, Hans : THE DANCE OF DEATH...Engraved by W. HOLLAR

J. Coxhead, London, 1816

Publisher's printed gray boards, copy set within decorative borders; spine renewed with matching paper.Based upon Holbein's original 15th century designs, Wenceslaus Hollar, the Bohemian etcher born in Prague in 1607 created copper plates for his own Dance of Death. In 1647 an edition of 30 copperplates was brought out in London; another edition from these plates was published in 1651. The plates then disappeared from sight until the late 18th-early 19th centuries, when several editions from the "newly discovered" plates began to appear. In this copy, which appears "as issued" by the publisher, the plate section is gathered together at the front, just after the title-page and before the letterpress (i.e. "The Life of Holbein," followed by an essay on the history of the dance of death, called "The Dance of Death," is followed by "Descriptions of the Cuts in Hollar's Dance of Death," in English and French. At the end is a short essay entitled, "The Dance of Macaber".) Typically, these copies in boards were handed over to bookbinders who, before sewing the gatherings, interleaved the descriptive text with the plates. It is HIGHLY UNCOMMON to find the work in the original boards in such an unsophisticated state. According to a notice on the boards, the work was issued by Coxhead coloured for 25s and plain for 16s. See: Warthin, A. S. The Physician of the Dance of Death. pp. 72-75. Minns Catalogue No. 253.

IN THE PUBLISHER'S PRINTED BOARDS

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