Bible, Dutch | Taferelen der voornaamste Geschiedenissen van het Oude en Nieuwe Testamen. The Hague, 1728-1729, 2 volumes

Lot 12
28.11.2023 14:00UTC +00:00
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ID 1073290
Lot 12 | Bible, Dutch | Taferelen der voornaamste Geschiedenissen van het Oude en Nieuwe Testamen. The Hague, 1728-1729, 2 volumes
Estimate value
£ 4 000 – 5 000
Bible, Dutch

Taferelen der voornaamste Geschiedenissen van het Oude en Nieuwe Testament. The Hague: Pieter de Hondt, 1728-1729

First edition with these illustrations, this copy PRINTED ON SUPER-ROYAL PAPER, 3 volumes, folio (470 x 330mm.), 276 FINE ENGRAVED PLATES, comprising two frontispieces, the 212 plates called for (29 double-page, 183 full-page) by Gerard Hoet (119), Houbraken (27), and Bernard Picart (64), engraved on copper by Duflos, Thomassin, Gouwen, Folkema, and others; and EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH 62 DOUBLE-PAGE COPPERPLATE ENGRAVINGS by Johannes Luyken from Icones Biblicae Veteris et N. Testamenti, contemporary blind-stamped vellum, covers with multiple plain rule borders, central arabesque, raised bands, spines inked with neat calligraphic titles, a few plates with faint marginal dampstains, occasional minor foxing and browning to text

The beautiful illustrations in this imposing Bible are printed on “super-royal” paper which, in Cohen-de Ricci’s opinion, showed off the engravings to best advantage. The splendid e engravings for this book were created between 1705 and 1720 for publisher and bookseller Pieter de Hondt (1696-1764) by Dutch master Gerard Hoet (1648-1733), by Hoet’s pupil Jacobus Houbraken (1698-1780), and by Bernard Picart (1673-1733), described by John Harthan in “The History of the Illustrated Book” as “a man of vast industry, training many engravers and illustrating books of all kinds.” Engraved captions in English, German, Latin, French, Dutch, and Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) identify the scenes, which feature many of the best-known stories from the Bible.

The engravings were sold as individual prints until 1728, when De Hondt collected them all for use in this Bible and in a French edition of Saurin’s “Discourses.” Brunet says that both this work and the Saurin were printed on four different kinds of paper, “ordinary or median paper” (sold for 80-100 francs), “royal paper” (120-150 francs), “superroyal” (150-200), and “imperial paper” (200-250), and agrees with Cohen-de Ricci that the super-royal paper produced the best impressions of the plates.

The 62 extra illustrations in this copy are by Johannes [Jan] Luyken (1649-1712). Son of Amsterdam engraver Kaspar Luyken, he is best known for the 104 plates of religious persecutions in “The Martyr’s Mirror.” His Bible illustrations were issued c.1700; the impressions here were likely done for the 1729 printing of Icones Biblicae by Covens & Mortier, one of the most important Amsterdam publishing firms in the first half of the eighteenth century.
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