Some highlights of the ILAB-LILA Virtual Book Fair

 


MASS IN FULL COLOUR: THE PLANTIN/MORETUS MISSAL OF 1613 WITH THE PLATES IN SPECTACULAR CONTEMPORARY HANDCOLOURING HEIGHTENED WITH GOLD

MISSALE Romanum, ex decreto sacrosancti Concilii Tridentini restitutum, Pii. V. Pont. Max. iussu editum, et Clemetis VIII. auctoritate recognitum.

Antwerp, Ex Officina Plantiniana, widow and sons Joh. Moretus, 1613. Folio. Blind stamped 19th-century leather over boards, gilt title on spine, red painted edges. Printed in red and black and with musical notation. Engraved half-page title vignette of the Last supper and 10 full-page engraved plates (ca. 275 x 85 mm) lavishly coloured by a contemporary hand and heightened with gold, those 10 full-page plates are on versos, on the facing pages the beginning of the texts of new parts of the Missal are printed in a different lay-out: the writing space for the two columns being ca. 200 x 120 mm in stead of the normal 270 x 165 mm leaving enough space for a spectacular border decoration with many separate scenes relating to the subject of the opposite plate, this border decoration as well as the initials are painted and heightened with gold by the same contemporary hand. Many interesting historiated woodcut initials and Plantin's printer's device on the last page. (64), 542, CIV, (6) pp.
Bound with:
(2) MISSALE propriae festorum Ordinis Fratrum Minorum, redactae ad formam Missalis Romani, ex decreto Consilii Tridentini restituti, & Clementis VIII. auctoritate recogniti.
Antwerp, Ex Officina Plantiniana, widow and sons of Joh. Moretus, 1613. Folio. 23 pp.
Printed in red and black. With an engraved half-page title vignet of Franciscus receiving the stigmata in a landscape with the city of Assisi in the background, coloured and hightened with gold by the same contemporary hand that did also the colouring in the Missal. Several woodcut initials.

And:
(3) PROPRIUM Missarum de Sanctis ad usum Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis Romano Missali accomodatum.
Tulli Leucorum (= Toul, Dépt. Meurthe & Moselle), Johan & Franz Laurent for Johan Elias Höffling in Bamberg, 1672. Folio. 20 pp.
Printed in red and black. With a half-page title vignette of Franciscus with the Instruments of the Passion; some interesting woodcut initials.

Ad 1: The important 1613 edition, published by the Officia Plantiniana, of the Missale Romanum, for the first time with a number of extra plates disigned by P.P. Rubens and engraved by Theodor Galle.
The newly revised Missal following the directives of the Council of Trente was first published in Rome in 1570 but very soon Christoph Plantin acquired the exclusive right for the printing of Missals and other liturgical books for the Low Countries, Spain and the Spanish colonies. The first Plantin edition appeared in 1572. Until 1613 the Missal, in editions published in 1590, 1605, 1606 and 1610 by Jan Moretus I, was illustrated with no more than 8 full-page engravings and border decorations on the opposite pages. Six of these engraved plates were executed before 1590 as they appear in the 1590 Moretus edition. Five plates were cut after the designs by Maarten de Vos, probably by Hans Collaert. For this 1613 edition Jan Moretus had two additional plates made, designed by no less an artist than P.P. Rubens and engraved by Theodor Galle: The Adoration of the Magi (p. 42) and The Ascension of Christ (p. 302). In addition Rubens also retouched many of the existing plates and designed new border decorations for two pages: The tree of Jesse (p. 1) and The scenes from the New Testament (p. 23) which were also engraved by Galle. For The Adoratin of the Magi, for instance, Galle got Fl. 75.-

All the title vignettes and the 10 magnificent engraved plates, as well as the opposite pages with extensive border decoration, comprising many biblical scenes in cartouches, are handcoloured and lavishly heightened with gold in a spectacular manner by a very skilful contemporary hand.

Contents:
p. (1)-(8): Title, dedications, privilege dd. Brussels, 17 Jan. 1611.
p. (9)-(16): 'De cyclo decennovennali Aurei numeri', 'De festis mobilibus' and tables.
p. (17)-(28): Calender.
p. (29)-(64): Prefatory texts.
p. 1-266 and 278-376: Proprium de tempore
p. 267-277: Canon Missae.
p. 377-542: Proprium de Sanctis.
p. I-CIV: Commune Sanctorum.
P. (1)-(6): Index nominum, Series chartarum, Approbatio, dd. Brussels, 24 Nov. 1612, Impressum and Printer's device.

The decoration:
- p. (64): Annunciation by Hans Collaert (?) after Maarten de Vos; facing the beginning of the 'Proprium Missarum de tempore' on p. 1: beautiful borderdecoration newly designed by Rubens and engraved by Theodor Galle: The tree of Jesse.
- p. 22: Nativity and Adoration of the shepherts by an anonymous artist; facing the beginning of the text 'Ad tertiam Missam. In die Nativitatis Domini' on p. 23: Six scenes from the New Testament, newly designed by Rubens and engraved by Theodor Galle.
- p. 42: Adoration of the Magi designed by Rubens; facing the beginning of 'In Epiphania Domini' on p. 43: Six scenes from the life of Christ.
- p. 268: Canon plate: Crucifixion by Hans Collaert (?) after Maarten de Vos; facing the beginning of the 'Canon missae' on p. 269: Six scenes from the life of Christ.
- p. 278: Resurrection of Christ by Hans Collaert (?) after Maarten de Vos; facing the beginning of 'Domenica Resurrectionis' on p. 279: Six scenes from the life of Christ.
- p. 302: Ascension of Christ newly designed by Rubens and engraved by Theodor Galle; facing the beginning of 'In die Ascensionis Domini' on p. 303: Six scenes from the life of Christ.
- p. 310: Pentecost. Ascension of the H. Ghost by Hans Collaert (?) after Maarten de Vos; facing the beginning of 'In Domenica Pentecostes' on p. 311: Six scenes from the New Testament.
- p. 328: Last supper by an anonymous artist; facing the beginning of 'In solemnitate corporis Christi' on p. 329: Six scenes from the New Testament.
- p. 492: Assumption of the Virgin by Hans Collaert (?) after Maarten de Vos; facing the beginning of 'In Assumptione B. Mariae Virginis' on p. 493: Six scenes from the life of Mary.
- p. 530: All Saints by an anonymous artist after Maarten de Vos; facing the beginning of 'In festo Omnium Sanctorum' on p. 531: Nine scenes of the blessed: 'Beati pauperes spiritu', 'Beati mites.', Beati qui lugent', etc.

Ad 2: Probably originally bound together with the Missae Propriae festorum Ordinis Fratrum Minorum: the special masses in use with the Minorites or Franciscans, also printed 'Ex Officio Plantiniana' in 1613 and with the title-vignette coloured by the same contemporary hand.

(3) (Later?) added: Proprium Missarum de Sanctis ad usum Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis: the special masses for the saints, in use with the Cistercians, printed in 1672 in Toul (Départ. Meurthe & Moselle).

Provenance:
At the end of (2) is an contemporary ownership's entry in a difficult German handwriting: 'Ich Urs(a)ula Pomer..ni (Pomezni?) von Augsburg hab dieses Messebuch ..... damit Sie und allen so darauss Mass lessen für mich bitten 1613'. Also pointing to the same early Augsburg origin is a separate leaf from an eighteenth century Missal printed in Augsburg, by Joseph Antoniss Labhart, glued in between p. 438/39, containing a Mass for S. Johannes Nepomucenus, venerated especially in Augsburg. (A second leaf, from a nineteenth century Missal, containg a Mass for Agathangelus and Cassianus,two martyrs of the Capucins, glued between p. 484/85).

 

Very good and spectacular copy of this important 1613 edition of Plantin's Missal. - (Some insignificant repairs; some of the 'claves' gone, leaving sometimes little holes not affecting the text or plates).
Not in Weale/Bohatta; not in Simoni; cf. Graesse IV, p.549; Judson-Van de Velde, Nr. 6-9; Rubens als boekillustrator (Antw. 1977), Nr. 2a (p. 1: Nr. 2b incl. illustr. of the original design by Rubens in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York; p. 23: Nr. 2c; p. 42: Nr. 2d; p. 302: Nr. 2a); L. Bowen & D. Imhof, 'Book illustrations by Maarten de Vos for Jan Moretus I', in: Print Quarterly, 18 (2001), p. 261-89.

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY DUTCH WATERCOLOUR DRAWING OF FLOWERS

HENDRIKS, Wybrand. Watercolour drawing depicting flowers in a basket standing on a marbled plinth together with some fruit and a bird's nest in front of a wall-niche.
[Haarlem], 1782. 444 x 337 mm. In a contemporary passe-partout with the artist's name in a cartouche. Signed and dated at the left side in the bottom of the plinth 'Wd. Hendriks./1782'. Several later auction numbers and other annotations on verso.

EURO (€) 22.000

Cf. P.C. Sutton, A guide to Dutch Art in America, 1986, p. 239, plate 154.
Beautiful watercolour depicting several flowers, the scene revived with a bird's nest with three hungry young birds, a butterfly and some other insects, by Wybrand Hendriks (1744-1831). The flowers could be part of a June bouquet, with several kinds of roses, African marigold, forget-me-not, flax, cornflower, etc. In the 17th- and 18th centuries it was custom to paint flowers of different seasons, but here even the fruit is of the same season. In the nest one does not see eggs, as expected in spring, but young birds with their little bills widely opened.
Wybrand Hendriks was strongly influenced in his work by Jan van Huysum (1682-1749), the words most expensive 18th-century painter, whose influence, on painting still lives of flowers, is apparent in the work of many artists, even a century after his death. Hendriks was born in Amsterdam, he attended the Municipal Drawing Academy, here he won three prices. He started working for the wallpaper factory of Johannes Remmers, after the death of the owner Anthonie Palthe in 1772, Hendriks took it over. He married Agatha Ketel (1736-1802), Palthes widdow, and in 1775 they moved to the city of Haarlem. After three years living in Ede (1782 - 1785), Hendriks and his wife returned to Haarlem. He became president of the Teyler Foundation, performing his duties to great satisfaction of all concerned for 34 years. In 1786 he also became director of the Municipal Drawing Academy of Haarlem. After the death of his first wife he was married to Geertruid Harmsen from 1806 till 1817 when she died. Hendriks lived the rest of his life in Haarlem.
Paintings and watercolours of the artist can be found at the Rijksmuseum and the Rijksprentenkabinet in Amsterdam, the Municipal Museum of The Hague, The Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the Städelches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt am Main, the Mauritshaus in The Hague, the Frans Halsmuseum and Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the Rijksprentenkabinet in Leyden, the British Museum and the National Gallery in Londen, the castle Sypestein in Loosdrecht, the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, and the Museum Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, and the Albertina in Vienna.
With a certificate from Dr. S. Segal, Amsterdam.

Plutarch in the unsurpassed 1478 Jenson edition.
Illuminated copy of Petrus De Ginori in a fine contemporary Italian binding

  

PLUTARCHUS.
Vitae parallelae.

Venice, Nicolas Jenson, 1478, 2 January. 2 vols. Folio. Beautiful contemporary blind tooled brown calf over wooden boards; fillets, rolls and loose stamps; an octangular space in the centre with two ornaments composed of four demi-circles of six lines, surrounded by a pattern of very tiny stamps; spine in six compartments tooled in a lozenge-shaped pattern; brass corner- and centrepieces; four clasps and catches: two at the fore edge and one at the top and lower edge. First text-page lavishly illuminated: the 12-lines initial (Q) in gold decorated with a exquisite freely painted spray of coloured flowers in blue, red, pink and yellow, green leaves and tiny gold rayed discs in a North Italian (Florentine?) style, extending in the left and top margins; a similar spray in the right margin surrounds a monogram 'PB' and a coat of arms: a blue field with a gold bar with three gold stars, in a green wreath in the lower margin.Very wide margins (405 x 20mm.); printed in the famous Jenson roman (Type 115 (111)R); capital spaces with guide letters.
Collation: Vol. 1 : a10, b12, c-m10, n8, o-x10, y-z8, &8 (= 234 leaves, including the first blank and the often lacking blank f. b7); one extra blank leaf; vol. 2: A-E10, F-N8.10, oo-pp8, Q-Y10, Z8, &&10 (= 226 leaves). Parchment double-leaves are bound in at the beginning and the end of the book-bloc, one of the leaves pasted to the boards.

Splendid and in many respects best and most important edition of the Lives by Plutarch, published by the famous printer, publisher and type-designer Nicolas Jenson. It is the fourth edition of this work, only preceeded by the edtio princeps, edited by Johannes Antonius Campanus, printed in 1470-71 at Rome by Ulrich Hahn; the Strassbourg edition by the R-printer (=Adolph Rusch), after 1471 and the edition by Sweynheym and Pannartz printed in 1473 at Rome. It is a pity that we know so little of the genesis of what instantly became a much prized and widely read edition, recommended as much by its popular subject matter as by its exceptional typography, offering content and presentation in perfect harmony. The edition is based on the edition by Campanus, but a great deal of further editorial work had been needed, as Jenson acknowledged in a colophon, stating that the Lives had been 'emended with anxious care'. The Latin translations are by Johannes Tortellinus, Lapus Biragus, Donatus Acciaiuolus, Antonius Pacinus, Guarinus Veronensis, Leonardus Brunus, Franciscus Barbarus, Leonardus Justinianus, Alamannus Rinuccinus and Jacobus Angelus de Scarperia. Added were the Vitae of Hannibal, Scipio Africanus and Charlemagne by Donatus Acciaiuolus; of Titus Pomponius Atticus by Cornelius Nepos; of Cicero and Aristotle by Leonardus Brunus; and of Plato by Guarinus Veronensis; the translation by Perigrinus Attius of the pseudo Plutarch Vita of Homer; the translation by Guarinus Veronensis of the Vita of Euagoras by Isocrates; the translation by Baptista Guarinus of the Vita of Agesilaos by Xenophon, and the Breviarium rerum gestarum populi Romani by Festus. Jenson substituted a version of the Lives of Theseus and Romulus by Laponda Castiglionchio for the one by Filelfo which Campanus had used, deleted the non-Plutarchus Lives of Homer and Virgil from the end of the selection, and re-issued the remainder of the collection. Subsequent editions of the Vitae followed his. Such a procedure of changing and adding material in such a way as to give his version of the text a look of its own and to offer the reader something extra for his money, is typical for Jenson during the seventies of the century.
Nicolas Jenson († 1480) was undoubtedly the greatest of the first generation of Venetian printers. Born ca. 1440 near Tours he may have been sent to Mainz in 1458 by King Charles VII to learn the secrets of the new trade of printing, introduced there by Gutenberg. He left Mainz probably in 1462. Until 1470 when he emerged as a first-rate printer in Venice, nothing is known about him. Unlike Aldus Manutius, who started printing in Venice in the later 80s, Jenson was a businessman and technocrat, not so much a humanist and scholar. Jenson's achievements were earlier than Aldus', slightly different, but in a sense they have had an even further-reaching importance, especially because of the grandeur and perfect lay-out of his Latin and Greek classics, and certainly also because of his letterforms which were justly admired for their beauty and legibility. In his letter designs he has transposed for the first time Carolingian scriptforms into a lower-case alphabet that would match the roman inscriptional capital letters already employed for the upper case alphabet. This was an artistical and technical archievement of the first magnitude and of lasting importance to the shape and appearance of our basic information medium in the Western civilisation: the roman letters. Jenson was already admired and respected by his contemporaries not only as a fine printer of classics, canon law and liturgical material, but also for his ability to render letterforms in distinctly 'typographic' characters that remain a source of inspiration for designers to this day. Harry Carter once observed after counting some thirty roman founts based on Janson's design: 'there was little left for makers of roman type but to copy Jenson'.Plutarch's popularity and importance rest primarily on these Vitae (or Parallel Lives) - composed in Greek ca 100-120 AD -, which were designed to encourage mutual respect between Greeks and Romans. The lives are presented in pairs, for example: Theseus - Romulus; Demosthenes - Cicero; Alexander the Great - Caesar, etc. In all 22 pairs survive and four single biographies of Aratus, Artaxerxes, and the Roman emperors Otho and Galba. By exhibiting noble deeds and characters, they were also to provide patterns of good behavior and moral and ethical values. Plutarch's later influence has been profound, but his reputation faded in the Latin West during the Middle Ages, only to be re-introduced in Renaissance Italy by Byzantine scholars in the 15th century. Italian humanists had translated Plutarch's work into Latin long before the Greek editio princeps was published at Florence in 1517, re-published by Aldus in 1519. Especially through its translations into Latin (of which the present 1478 Jenson edition is the best incunable-edition), as well as in the vernacular (the famous French translation by Jacques Amyot in 1559, and the English translation by Sir Thomas North in 1579) the Lives could gain an enormous impact on Western civilisation by providing later biographers and literary authors an outstanding model. It is very well known for example that authors like Montagne, Corneille, Racine, Rouseau and Schiller heavily drew upon the Lives. This was certainly also the case with Shakespeare for whom the Lives were the main source for his Roman plays. Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, Anthony and Cleopatra and Timon of Athens, all come, often literally, from the Lives (G. Highet, The Classical Tradition, Oxford 1967. p. 210-14). They have functioned also to a great extent as a model for later rulers like the French King Henry IV, Frederik II of Prussia and even Napoleon. Provenance: The copy was first owned by Petrus de Ginoris (Pietro Ginori (de Riparbello)), who had the copy also illuminated. Not only there is the coat of arms of the Ginori family from Florence in the lower margin of the first text-page: a blue field with a gold bar with three gold stars (Rietstap, G (Plate L)), but there is also his embellished monogram ('PB') in the right margin. That this monogram PB is in fact the monogram of Petrus de Ginoris is proved by the ownership's entry on the recto of the free parchment flyleaf at the beginning: above his name 'Petri Gini de Ginoris' there is the same mongram 'PB'. The only problem is that this entry is dated 'cccco lxxii' which is impossible of course. Probably this is a mistake for 1482 (cccc lxxxii).
Magnificent copy of this important edition with beautifully illuminated first page; very wide margins. Probably it was the original owner Petrus de Ginoris who wrote a table of contents on the recto of the first blank leaf.- (Few wormholes and insignificant staines in the margins; binding recently skilfully restored: rebacked with the remaining original fragments of the back pasted on; a restauration report is available).
Hain-Copinger *13127; Goff P 832; Pol. 3212; BMC V, p. 178; Pell-Pol. 9387; Proctor 4113; BNCI P 491; IGI 7922; BSB-Ink, P 626; IDL 3749; Sardini, Nicolao Jenson, 1478 (i, ii); Flodr, Incun. Classicorum, p. 250; Lowry, Nicolas Jenson, p. 122-3.