Beschreibung
Rare first and only edition (especially rare with all 20 plates) of a richly illustrated account on the receipt of the Order of the Golden Fleece by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II and several members of his family and his entourage, mostly at Prague. The book opens with a history of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The illustrations are attributed to Anthony Boys, Bays or Waiss (ca. 1545?-post 1593), who was appointed court painter to the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in 1579 and is best known as a portrait painter for the courts of the Austrian Habsburg Emperors. The text was written by Archduke Ferdinand's secretary, Paul Zehendter. The full-page plates include the coats-of-arms of Christoffel d'Assonleville (1528-1607); Wilhelm de S. Clemente, Rudolf's ambassador to Spain; Alexandre le Blancq, Seigneur de Meurchin (fl. 1520-1585) and Ranuccio I de Farnese, Duke of Parma (1569-1622). Some of these noblemen also appear in the precessions in the folding plates, along with Rudolf himself and his family. Four of the folding plates show the interior of St Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle during the ceremonies. Others show outdoor processions, fireworks before the palace, a shooting tournament in the lists, the grand banquet and more. All appear, of course, in their finest ceremonial costumes. The 1585 festivities were also important for their music.With an early library stamp on the title-page and several early and recent inscriptions on the endleaves. With minor marginal wormholes in the first few leaves and an occasional minor and marginal tear. The mounted engravings are slightly browned, probably from the paste used, but the book is still internally in good condition. The binding has been rebacked as noted, some of the gold has rubbed off, and some cracks, worm holes and other defects have been restored, but the details of the centrepiece and the three other stamps remain clear.l J. Bata, "Remarks on the festivities of the order of the Golden Fleece in Prague (1585)", in: Musicologica Brunensia LI (2016), pp. 25-35; Berlin Kat. 2820 (incompl. copy); H. Kunze, Gesch. der Buchillustr. in Deutschland. Das 16. und 17. Jhrh., Frankfurt, 1993, text-vol. p. 506; VD16 Z225 (6 copies, some incompl.). Contemporary gold-tooled tanned sheepskin (bound in Dillingen?), sewn on 3 supports, each board with a large strapwork arabesque centrepiece, a border made from a decorative column stamp and a large rozette inside each corner, the spine with a decorated lozenge stamp in at least the two central compartments, traces of ties, edges sprinkled red, 3 paper spine labels. Rebacked with most of the original backstrip laid down. With title printed in red and black (the first 2 words printed from woodcuts), 7 full-page engraved illustrations, separately printed and mounted over blank spaces left for the purpose (showing the collar (chain) of the Order, the Emperor Rudolf II in his robes and 5 coat-of-arms), and 13 large folding engraved plates (half-sheets, mostly divided lengthwise) showing the splendid ceremonies held at Prague and Landshut (ceremonies in St Vitus Cathedral, Prague, a banquet, a shooting tournament in the jousting lists, fireworks, etc.), probably all drawn by Anthony Boys. Further with 5 woodcut decorated initials (4 gothic series and 1 roman series) plus 2 repeats, a woodcut interlaced tailpiece, and decorations built up from arabesque typographic ornaments. Set in fraktur types, with passages in italic and incidental roman. Pages: [1], [1 blank], 155, [1], [2 blank] pp. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 14869
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