With Realistic 17th Century Portraits Brimming with Vitality

PRINCIPES HOLLANDIAE, ET WESTFRISIAE AB ANNO CHRISTI DCCCLXIII.

VISSCHER, CORNELIUS, Illustrator. (ENGRAVINGS, 17TH CENTURY DUTCH). SCRIVERIUS, PETRUS.

(Haarlem: P. Soutman, 1650). 560 x 387 mm. (22 x 15 1/8"). 1 p.l., 122 pp., [2] leaves. FIRST EDITION.

Contemporary stiff vellum, smooth spine. With an engraved title page and 39 ENGRAVINGS BY CORNELIS VISSCHER. Front pastedown with bookplate of James M. Blackford III and armorial bookplate of Phillip Davies Cooke; ink signature of Bryan(?) Cooke in margin of title page. Smith, "Catalogue of the Works of Cornelius Visscher," pp. 146-85; Brunet V, 248. ◆The binding with noticeable splaying (as almost inevitable), vellum with minor scratches and a couple light stains, but the volume very sturdy and with its antique appeal intact. Engraved title with expertly repaired closed tear from right margin into image (with reinforcing strip on the verso obscuring the length of the repair), about a third of the engravings with varying degrees of marginal toning because of paper quality (usually even and light, and never blotchy or spotted), other very minor imperfections internally, but still a compelling wide-margined book, with two-thirds of the plates quite clean, and even the toned ones retaining their powerful effect.

A grand and sumptuous monument to the secular and spiritual authorities during the golden age of the Netherlands, this imposing volume comprises a fine collection of very impressive images by one of the greatest portrait engravers of his time, Cornelius Visscher (1629? - 1658?). His striking portraits--which often seem to be bursting with vitality--are mostly after full-length portraits in the town hall of Haarlem, including some after Jan Van Eyck, Rubens, Titian, and Lucas van Leyden, or else based on Phillip Galle and Hendrick Golzius. The likenesses are notable because they are very large, almost always forceful and/or striking, as well as quite realistic, especially for the middle of the 17th century. Pieter Scriverius, or Schrijver (1576-1660), was a Dutch philologist and poet who wrote on the history of Holland and edited a great many texts of classical and other early authors. A large picture book like this would have encouraged avid (not always careful) readership over the years, and copies in agreeable condition are now difficult to find. (CMA2203)

Price: $1,600.00