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[Holbein, Holbein] : DER TODTEN-TANZ...LA DANSE DES MORTS...

Chez Maehli-Lamy, Basel, 1843

8vo., three-quarter morocco over marbled boards, with the title stamped in gilt on the spine, extremities lightly rubbed. This bilingual edition begins with a short history of the subject, followed by a series of woodcuts portraying the usual array of humankind confronting Death personified. A number of the plates bear the initials GS along with a rendering of a knife to signify the name of the wood cutter, George Scharffenberg, who first cut these images into wood in 1576. As Aldred Warthin [The Physician and the Dance of Death] points out, "Most of these [18th century editions by de Mechel] have 41 woodcuts [as does ours], 27 from Holbein, 7 from the Basel Totentanz, and 7 probably from the Totentanz in Berne...Numerous cheap reproductions of these were issued in Basel during the first half of the nineteenth century." Our edition has cuts that measure a generous 4 3/8 x 3 inches and are close copies of the originals. In over thirty years of searching, it is the very first copy of this edition we have seen.See: Warthin. p. 83-84 [illustrations], and 89. Not in Minns.

A 19TH C. DANCE OF DEATH WITH WOODCUTS BY SCHARFFENBERG

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