CHESNEAU, Augustin.
Orpheus Eucharisticus ... Tomus primus [all published].
Paris, Florentin Lambert, 1657. 8vo. With an engraved title-page, a typographical title-page with a small woodcut ornament, 101 engraved emblems by Albert Flamen in the text (1 unnumbered on page 5, 100 numbered I-C), further with woodcut initials and woodcut tail-pieces. Late 17th- or early 18th-century gold-tooled red morocco. 699, [33] pp.
€ 19,500
First edition of a remarkable religious emblem book by Augustin Chesneau (1615-after 1669). The emblems, each with a Latin title above and French moralising couplet below engraved in the plate, are by the Flemish painter and engraver Albert Flamen (1620-1674). Flamen's engravings mainly show landscapes and animals such as birds, fish, Whale, dolphin, reptiles, trees, ships and various people. Greek and Christian mythological symbols are used in the emblems, apparently combined into a new mythology. Flamen's style in engraving reminds of that of Wenceslaus Hollar, and a lot of his images are connected with the world of animals, as is also the case in this work. This edition was re-issued in 1659 as the "editio secunda", with a cancelled letterpress title-page. A French edition was published by the same publisher in 1667 as Emblèmes sacrez sur le tres-saint et tres-adorable sacrement de l'eucharistie.
Binding with minor traces of use; p. 353 with small part of blank margin restored. Very good copy in red morocco. Adams, Rawles and Saunders F.181; Landwehr, Romanic Emblem Books 224; Praz 304; not in USTC.
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