Das Christliche Jahr.
4to. 244 (instead of 248) partly numbered engraved plates. Slightly later full calf with giltstamped red title label to sparsely gilt spine.
€ 2,800.00
Very rare edition of "one of the most splendidly illustrated devotional books of the period" (Jantz), containing only the engraved plates and neither the text nor the music. The "Geistreiche GesΓ€nge und Lieder auf alle Sonntags-Evangelien und Episteln so in dem Christlichen Jahre enthalten seyn [...]" were first issued in 1725-26, which saw a reissue under the title "Das Christliche Jahr" in 1735. This title is stamped on the spine label of this copy, suggesting that the present copy is of this latter edition. The plates "represent scenes from biblical history and the lives of the saints [...] exhibit[ing] a high point of Baroque illustration" (Faber du Faur) and are mostly presented within ornamental frames decorated by emblematic vignettes.
Wants title-page. Later handwritten bibliographical note in ink to flyleaf. Hinges a little worn, small flaw at the top margin of the plate showing St. Theresa (not touching image), but otherwise very well preserved. From the library of the Viennese collector Werner Habel, with his ownership stamp to flyleaf.
Faber du Faur 1146. Jantz 2379. BΓ€umker III, 56, 138. Wolffheim 2202. Seebass 301. Nagler XIII, 36 and IX, 418.