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Mechel, Chretien de.
Oeuvre de Jean Holbein ou Recueil de Gravures d’Apres Les Plus Beaux Ouvrages de ce Fameux Peintre.
Publisher: Chez Guiillaume Haas, Basle;
Date of Publication: 1780
Stock Code: 6928
FIRST EDITION. Folio, 4 parts in one volume; 2 engraved title leaves, 1 aquatint title and 51 plates as called for. Part I: title leaf, pp., [3]-12, [2], 12 plates with 47 numbered subjects (Holbein’s Dance of Death) & 2 plates, of Le Triomphe de la Richesse and Le Triomphe de Pauvrete; Part II: engraved title leaf and 12 plates; Part III: Aquatint title leaf and 12 aquatint plates numbered in 2 sets of 6, with 3 additional un-numbered aquatint plates, of which 2 double-page; Part IV: decorative title page with blue panel & 10 portrait plates. Later black quarter morocco with gilt titles and blind ruling to spine over navy blue pebbled cloth; marbled endpapers. Spine scuffed with minor wear at tips; wear to board edges. Two different pictorial bookplates to front paste-down. Text leaves lightly toned; a little offsetting otherwise contents clean. A Very Good copy. Mechel’s edition of Hans Holbein’s work, from originals in the Imperial Gallery of St Petersburg and the Bibliotheque Publique a Basle. This copy does not include the 2 plates at the end of Part IV of the family of Thomas More which are are usually absent. £750.00