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1ST & ONLY ED.: RICHLY WOODCUT-ILLUSTRATED CHRONICLE OF FLANDERS
[DOPPERE, Roelant de]. Dits die Excellente Cronike van Vlaenderen, beghinnende van Liederick Buc den eersten forestier tot den laetsten, die door haer vrome feyten, namaels Graven van Vlaenderen ghemaect worden, achtervolghende die rechte afcomste der voorseyde graven, tot desen onsen doorluchtichsten hoochgheboren Keyzer Karolo.
INCLUDING: Vanden Alder Victorieusten, ende Onverwinlijcsten Prinche Karolus, Keyser van Roomen, Coninck van Spaengien ... ende van sommeghe gesten by sijne tijden gheschiet, die seer wonderlijc sijn om hooren, ende oock ghenoechlijck om lesen.
Antwerp, Willem Vorsterman, 1531. Folio. 2 parts in 1 volume. First part with title-page in red and black, large woodcut of a splendid entry of Charles V, full-page variant woodcut of a splendid entry of Charles V on verso of title-page with a grotesque woodcut ornamental border below, full-page woodcut printer's device in elaborate ornamental woodcut borders at end, no less than 170 woodcuts showing full-length portraits, large views of fighting knights, citiy sieges, horseback riders, ships at sea, festive banquets, princely deathbeds, courtly scenes, etc., most in elaborate ornamental and grotesque woodcut borders, including 15 scenes composed of two woodcuts joined together and 6 text blocks set within rich ornamental borders (with several repeats). Second part with a large woodcut bust of Charles V on the half-title, double-page folding woodcut view of the siege of Vienna in elaborate woodcut borders and 28 woodcuts in the supplement, with portraits and large scenes of knights and courtly life set between ornamental and grotesque woodcut borders, 5 of them composed of two or three joined woodcuts, including some repeats. Seventeenth-century mottled calf, gold-tooled spine, red sprinkled edges.
| Orders and Information | € 14500 |
First and only edition of a chronicle of Flanders with splendid woodcut illustrations. Apart from the first section describing ancient history, based as usual on legends, the history is especially important for its numerous official documents. Its detailed descriptions of festivities and ceremonies provide our best picture of the customs and morals of the period.
The anonymous supplement covers the life of the emperor Charles V, especially interesting for its numerous large woodcuts illustrating the chronicle. Some came from the publisher's stock and others were no doubt especially made for the present work. Many are most elegantly and finely cut. Today the book has become rather scarce.
Good condition, title-page slighty soiled, few minor restorations in the margins and some slight staining and thumbing troughout. Binding slightly rubbed, spine cracked and chipped. With the bookplate of V. de la Montagne and with some contemporary handwritten notes on the recto of the last blank.
