Only known copy of the only known edition of a charming little devotional print series illustrating the life of Saint Dominic (ca. 1175-1221), who founded the Dominican order. It is printed on vellum from engraved plates, hand-coloured by a 17th-century hand and in a richly gold-tooled black morocco armorial binding. The engraved title-page opens with a dedication to Michael van Ophoven (1570-1637), Bishop of 's-Hertogenbosch, so the series must have been engraved after he became Bishop in June 1626 but probably before the Prince of Orange, Frederik Hendrik captured Den Bosch for the Dutch Republic in September 1629. Van Ophoven nominally remained Bishop to his death, but had to flee the city in 1629.
The coat-of-arms on the binding is Italian, with dexter three crowned eagles (the Lente or Lenti family); and sinister a tree (the Della Rovere family) quartered with a field bendy with an eagle in the second bend (the city of Urbino and the Montefeltro family). These sinister arms were born by Franciscus Maria II della Rovere (1549-1631), the last Duke of Urbino, who ceded the Dukedom to the Papal States and died without heir in 1631. The crown appears to be that of a marquis. The present coat-of-arms has therefore been attributed to Marquis Marcantonio Lente (1566-1643) who added Montefeltro della Rovere to his name when he married Lucrezia della Rovere, younger sister of the last Duchess of Urbino, in 1609. He may have had the book bound in Italy ca. 1630, but the style of the tooling looks to us more like the third quarter of the 17th century, during the time of Marcantonio's son Ippolito (1618-1688). Curiously, however, the arms of Marcantonio and his son, grandson and great-grandson are usually shown as the three crowned eagles above and the tree below, omitting the arms of Urbino/Montefeltro, and Ippolito became a Duke in 1646. The book was certainly bound for Marcantonio, Ippolito or a close relative.
With the (repeating) imprint shaved in 4 leaves and an occasional scene very slightly shaved at the fore-edge, but still in very good condition. The binding lacks its ties and shows slight wear at the hinges and corners but is also very good, with the tooling crisp and clear. Not in BCNI; Cat. des livres imprimés sur vélin de la Bibl. du Roi (1822); Cat. de livres imprimés sur vélin, ... dans des bibliothéques tant publiques que particulières (1824); Fuhring; Funck; Hollstein; KVK; UniCat.; WorldCat; for Van Mechelen: www.vondel.humanities.uva.nl/ecartico/persons/4919.