LUYKEN (Jan). The most remarkable history... - Lot 69 - Ader

LUYKEN (Jan). The most remarkable history of the Old and New Testament, engraved in copper by the famous Jean Luyken, and enriched with a scholarly description. Amsterdam: Jean Covens, Corneille Mortier, 1732. - 2 parts in one volume in-folio, 454 x 282 : frontispice, (4 ff.), 78 pp., 3 maps, 40 plates ; (1 f.), 44 pp. pp. 43*-44*, ff. 45-59, 2 maps, 22 plates. Green morocco, gilt roulette wheel framed on the plates, spine with decorated ribs, gilt inside roulette wheel, gilt edges (late 18th century binding). Cohen, 491-492. First French edition of this particularly sought-after history of the Old and New Testament, illustrated by the Dutch theologian, painter, draftsman and engraver Jan Luyken (1649-1712 ). The latter illustrated some sixty stories from the Bible, in which one can see "art unfolded in all its breadth, & the fertility of the imagination pushed with prudence & care. What can be seen more complete than the Prints, which represent the ten wounds of Egipt, has there ever been anything more beautiful than those of St. Paul haranguing the People in Jerusalem; it is a masterpiece; such is also the plate, which represents the shipwreck of the Apostle before the Island of Malta" (preface). The work was first published in Dutch in 1729. It is divided into 2 parts and contains a total of 67 plates on double pages, including 5 maps, and 30 engravings in the text, drawn and engraved by Jan Luyken. Each engraving is accompanied by descriptions "which clarify several places in Scripture, often stopping the Reader by confusing the Bible plates with the Bible itself" (preface). The 62 biblical scenes are captioned in French and Dutch. Both titles are printed in red and black and include an identical vignette drawn and engraved by Bernard Picart, dated 1730. Beautiful and rare copy in green morocco from the end of the 18th century . Some rubbing on the nerves, on the caps a