Catalogus nr 5.indd - Den Hertog Bolland Rare Books

OSIANDER, Andreas (1498-1552). Harmoniae evangelicae libri quatuor, in quibus evangelicahistoria ex quatuor evangelistis ita in unum est contexta, ut nullius verbum ullum omissum, nihilalienum immixtum, nullius ordo turbatus, nihil non suo loco positum. Omnia vero literis & notisita distincta sint, ut quid cuiusque evangelistae proprium, quid cum alijs, & cum quibus communesit primo statim aspectu deprehendere queas. [Colophon: Antwerpen, Matthias Crom, 1540]. 8vo.[164] lvs. With 1 full-page and 97 smaller woodcuts by Lieven de Witte, some of which are repeatedonce or more. Seventeenth-century limp vellum. 7.450,-[ 19 ]Extremely rare third Latin and first illustrated edition of Osiander’s Harmony of the Gospels. Osiander was one ofthe leading reformers of Nürnberg and from 1549 until his death in 1552 professor at the University of Königsberg.His Harmony of the Gospels, the first Protestant work of its kind, was first published in Basel in 1537, while a secondedition appeared in Antwerpen in 1538 (reissued in 1539). Both editions however were printed without illustrations.The charming woodcuts (ca. 50 x 70 mm.) in the edition above are ascribed to Lieven de Witte (ca. 1503-after February4, 1578), a painter and designer (and perhaps also a woodcutter) working in Antwerp, Brussels, and Ghent. They werefirst used in the Dutch and the Latin edition of the gospel harmony of Willem van Branteghem (published in 1537and both printed by Matthias Crom), but they were also used in several other works. - Lower corner of front coverand lower corner of two leaves expertly repaired.NK 3650; NB 23283; Seebass 24.3.