1852
Basel C. F. Beck, 1852. Sm. 4to. (9 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches), quarter brown morocco over marbled sides; spine with four raised bands and gilt titling. Publisher's original front and rear wrapper bound in (short tear in the rear wrapper mended; small light tide line in the upper margin of the first seven leaves and occasional minor offsetting). One in a long tradition of tri-lingual Dances of Death, the wood-engraved illustrations for which are based on the famous Basel Church wall paintings which come down to us from the engravings of Holbein, via Matthias Merian, whose Todentanz was first published in Frankfurt in 1649. The text that accompanies the engravings consists of a dialogue between Death and the "candidate," all going to prove that no one escapes his fate, from the Pope and the Emperor on down to the humblest man. An attractive edition and one, which we have never seen before.See Warthin, A. The Physician of the Dance of Death. Pp. 84-89. Egger, F. Basler Totentanz. Basel (Buchverlag Basler Zeitung und Historisches Museum), 1990. based on the famous Basel Church wall paintings
(Inventory #: 450.1852)