Record ID | cp010904 |
Voet reference number | 580 |
Museum Plantin-Moretus | c:lvd:1132837 |
Author | ARIAS MONTANUS (MONTANO) Benedictus |
Title page transcription | [Engraved title-page: see reproduction] Underneath, typographically printed text: ANTVERPIÆ, ‖ Ex officina Christoph. Plantini, Architypog. Regij. ‖ M.D.LXXV. |
Collation | 4º oblong (187 × 140): Letterpress text: A⁴, [A⁵]; Copper engravings: [no. 1 not marked], B-M⁴, N, [N]; folios [1r-55v] |
Fingerprint | 157504 - # b1 A2 ,q : # b2 A4 è$se |
Number of sheets | 13.50 |
Pages | [1r]: Title [1v] approbation (s. Sebastianus Baer, Antwerp); Privilege (to Ph. Galle: Brussels, 15 March 1574, signed by I. De Boodt) [2r-4v]: Philippo catholico Hispaniarum etc. regi…Philippus Gallaeus…(Antwerp, 1 March 1575) [5r]: Davidi regum praestantiss. Benedicti Ariae Montani dedicatio [5v]: Blank [6r-54v]: 48 engravings (printed on recto; verso blank) [55r]: [within woodcut-cartouche] FINIS [55v]: Blank |
Edition information | |
Illustrations | Copper engravings: 1) Title-page: 103 × 147 (see reproduction) 2) 48 illustrations, 107 × c. 140, numbered above left (with the exception of nos. 1 and 48: above right) from 1 to 48; quires marked underneath, to the right (with the exceptions of nos. 1 and 48: not marked) |
Copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus- A 1836: folio 55 missing)- British Library London (Print Room, 157 a 12: with folio 55KBR Royal Library of BelgiumAllard Pierson- incompleteUL Liège- R495B |
Digital copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus: A 1836 |
Bibliographical references | Morales, no. 35 Palau y Dulcet, I, page 474, no. 16474 Not in Ruelens-de BackerCockx-Indestege, E. Belgica typographica 5832 |
Online bibliographical references | STCV c:stcv:12857437USTC 406265 |
Note 1 | Series of 48 engravings illustrating the virtues and virtuous deeds of King David, with a small printed introductory part (approbatio; privilege; dedicatory by P. Galle to Philip II; one page foreword in the form of a Latin poem by Arias Montanus). The illustrations have an engraved caption (= a virtue of King David) and are accompanied underneath by a typographically printed Latin poem by Arias Montanus (four lines, on two columns) paraphrasing the virtue. |
Note 2 | This illustrated album was, in fact, a realization of Philip Galle, the Antwerp engraver and publisher, specialized in this kind of publications. It may be assumed that Galle and/or the craftsmen of his studio made the designs and the actual engravings. The part of Plantin in the making of the book was restricted to the printing of the small introductory part. As Plantin's name appears on the title-page, the printer, very likely, also had a financial interest in the enterprise, either by subsidizing it or by taking from Galle a number of copies. |
Note 3 | Philip Galle published in those years some similar illustrated albums, inspired from Arias's theological visions and with Latin verses of the Spanish theologian: a) Divinarum nuptiarum conventa et acta, 1573, with 28 illustrations and a small printed introduction (a copy in Museum Plantin-Moretus, A 1836. The copy in the Royal Library of San Lorenzo de El Escorial has the address of Ant. [Coppens van] Diest and the French translation of Arias's verses by Pieter Heyns: cf. Morales, no. 27); b) Christi Iesu vita admirabilumque actionum speculum, 1573, with 50 illustrations (a copy in Museum Plantin-Moretus, A 1836, without any printed text. The copy in the Royal Library of San Lorenzo de El Escorial has the address of Ant. [Coppens van] Diest and the French translation of Arias's verses by Pieter Heyns: cf. Morales, no. 28). Plantin doesn't seem to have taken part in these editions: his name is mentioned nowhere in the publication and the introductory part was printed by his Antwerp colleague A. Coppens van Diest. The Divinarum nuptiarum conventa is, however, listed in M 296, folio 11v, but without further details (Divinȩ nuptiae 4⁰ fig[uris] aeneis [price:] stuivers -). |
Note 4 | The edition was finished in the middle of 1575: in a letter of 20 June 1575, Plantin told de Cayas that Arias Montanus had asked him to mail to the secretary of Philip II 'un libro nuovo de figuras que contiene toda la historia del Re David' (Corr., IV, no. 636). |
Note 5 | Listed in M 296, folio 11v (Speculum Davidis 4⁰ fig. aeneis, [price:] stuivers 20). |
Further reading |