Lot 50: 

JAMNITZER, Christoph (1563-1618). Neüw: Grottessken Buch. Nuremberg: the artist, 1610.

Oblong half broadsheets (185 x 245mm). 3 parts in 1 volume. 2 leaves of letterpress (dedication to Carl Ludwig von Fernberg zu Egenberg 2pp., German verse to all lovers of art and apprentices 1p., imperial privilege), 3 ETCHED PICTORIAL TITLES AND 59 ETCHED PLATES. (Lacking one plate: Andresen no. 15.) Contemporary binding of a fragment from a 10υtυh or 11υtυh-century vellum manuscript from which another work, originally inserted after the Jamnitzer, was removed (crack down the center of the front cover). Grey cloth slipcase. Provenance: Acquired from Marlborough Rare Books 1963.

FINE IMPRESSIONS of the plates in this famous but notoriously rare pattern book by one of Nuremberg's most virtuoso goldsmiths of the Baroque period, offering artists, goldsmiths, builders, jewellers and other craftsmen and apprentices designs of fantastical animals, jousting creatures, putti at play, fanciful landscapes, caryatids and other ornament of grotesque imagery for drawing, painting, carving, engraving and sculpting. Because each oblong etching was pulled on a divided half-sheet, the book could not be quired and the plates may therefore occur in any sequence; in fact, only the dated general title invariably comes first, while all three titles merely describe their own images (Antiquischer Tempel, Radesco Baum and SchnackenMarckt) and not the sections that follow. Lacking only one plate, the Vershbow set is exceptionally complete and in FINE CONDITION. The use of the book and the individual prints was mostly practical, which explains their scarce survival and generally poor condition. Of the 22 sets located in libraries and museums, more than half are imperfect. Apparently no more than two copies are held in private hands. Andresen IV, pp. 244-264; Berlin Katalog 32; Hollstein XVa, pp. 207-210; C.P. Warncke, "Christoph Jamnitzers New Grottessken Buch - ein Unikat in Wolfenbüttel," in: Wolfenbütteler Beitrãge 3 (1978), pp. 65-87. Fact and Fantasy 51.

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