53 Gezigten van Steden, Kerken, Gebouwen, &c. in de Vereen: Nederlanden: In't Koper gesneden door J.C. Philips. Naar de Teekeningen van C. Pronk, J. de Beyer, A. de Haen, &c.
Small hardcover folio.
1730-1756 · Amsterdam
Amsterdam: Is. Firion, 1730-1756. Small hardcover folio. . Very Good Minus. 8vo. 21 by 15.5 cm. Virtually all the 53 copper engraved plates are folding, most about 25 cm wide but some as much as 48 cm wide (two folds versus four folds, with just a few that are smaller than the former). The city and church views are of Amsterdam, Middelburg, Utrecht, Arnhem, Haarlem, Graerenhagen, Rotterdam, Zierikzee, and many other Dutch towns. All together the folio makes for a glorious snapshot of how the thriving Dutch Republic looked in the mid-18th century. The collection also has an element of manuscript, with a handwritten, in ink, title page and table of contents. The plates were engraved printings, but the collection was assembled as a one off. From the handwriting, the collection was surely assembled by the mid-19th century, and the folio has kept the collection intact and heightened its appeal. There is sometimes heavy foxing in the margins. The images themselves remain vivid and mostly unaffected by the foxing. The plates are bound with a 19th century marbled paper. Its spine is shot. The outer folio has the same marbled paper on the boards, with a more recent cloth on the spine. The spine is utilitarian and neither adds nor subtracts from the appearance. Pasted within the front board is a bookplate. The "book" itself has a small label on the rear cover from a book dealer in Antwerp from 1957. (Inventory #: 005026)