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Holbein, Hans : THE DANCES OF DEATH through the various stages of human life...in Forty-six Copper Plates...ETCHED BY D. DEUCHAR

W. Smith for John Scott & Thomas Ostell, London, 1803

Squarish, small 4to., original gray publisher's boards with a printed paper label: Holbein's Dance of Death with Fifty Plates. Twelve Shillings. Rebacked, a few plates guarded, slight widespread spotting. RARE IN THIS STATE.As to the plates themselves, there are fifty, as the cover label states (the title-page calls for 46), and they differ in number slightly from another edition of the same year printed by S. Gosnell for Scott and Ostell. What's more, they are not set within decorative borders and the letterpress and title-page differs significantly from the other edition in both typeface and format; here the text is gathered in an integral section that precedes the plates, in the other edition the plates are integrated into the text (we know of another copy in the publisher’s gray boards in which the plates are untrimmed and gathered in a section after the letterpress). Thirty of the plates are copies from Hollar's designs, the rest are from the spurious editions of Holbein's cuts, with variations. The last plate, not mentioned by Douce as being in this work, and often lacking, is a design by De Mechel called, "Petite Danse de Morts," which was originally engraved on the sheath of a poignard, after drawings by Holbein. The work was first published in Edinburgh in 1788. According to Aldred Warthin, "The paper used in the Edinburgh edition is extremely poor, which may account for the poor impressions of the plates...[and] The prints in these London editions are much better than those of the Edinburgh, and a better quality of paper is used." The quality of the plates in the two 1803 editions is similar as to wear, the impressions of the Gosnell-printed edition are, however, considerable darker than are those printed by Smith.See" Warthin, Aldred S. The Physician of the Dance of Death. pp. 79-80. Douce, Francis. The Dance of Death. pp. 135-36. Minns Collection. AAA Catalogue, 1922. No. 268 ["Large, uncut copy of this rare edition of Deuchar's plates. Printed on heavier paper than the first edition, and with very fine impressions of the plates."].

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