Titles starting with D from The Book Block

[London James Edwards, 1789]. 8vo., very handsome full polished calf with a series of decorative borders (gilt and blind) in the manner of Edwards of Halifax; spine with five raised bands and a black morocco label with gilt and blind decoration within the compartments. A.e.g., pink endleaves.Based upon Holbein's original 15th century designs, Wenceslaus Hollar, the Bohemian etcher born in Prague in 1607 created copper plates for his own Dance of Death. In 1647 an edition of 30 copperplates wa... more information

Newcastle upon Tyne Printed for William Charnley, 1789. 8vo., tan diced binder's cloth, plain sides, title gilt-stamped on the spine: HOLBEIN'S DANCE OF DEATH. Spine rebacked with a small portion of the original lacking. FIRST EDITION with 52 woodcuts of the Dance of Death of which 51 are after Holbein's designs; the full-page frontispiece, which contained a figure of the Deity habited as a Pope, was changed in deference to Protestant sentiment, for an original design. This Charnley/... more information

London J. Coxhead, 1816. Publisher's printed gray boards, copy set within decorative borders; spine renewed with matching paper.Based upon Holbein's original 15th century designs, Wenceslaus Hollar, the Bohemian etcher born in Prague in 1607 created copper plates for his own Dance of Death. In 1647 an edition of 30 copperplates was brought out in London; another edition from these plates was published in 1651. The plates then disappeared from sight until the late 18th-early 19th centuries... more information

London W. Smith for John Scott & Thomas Ostell, 1803. Squarish, small 4to., original gray publisher's boards with a printed paper label: Holbein's Dance of Death with Fifty Plates. Twelve Shillings. Rebacked, a few plates guarded, slight widespread spotting. RARE IN THIS STATE.As to the plates themselves, there are fifty, as the cover label states (the title-page calls for 46), and they differ in number slightly from another edition of the same year printed by S. Gosnell for Scott and... more information

London S. Gosnell, 1803. Sm. 4to., contemporary paneled calf with blind decorated sides and spine, which has been rebacked much earlier; red morocco label, all edges stained red. Occasional foxing, mainly to the beginning and end; a handsome, well-printed copy.The 46 Dance of Death plates are within separately engraved borders in four different designs, three of which are copied with slight variations from the Diepenbeke borders to W. Hollar's plates. As to the plates themselves, 30 are copie... more information

London W. Smith for John Scott, 1803. Small 4to., contemporary red straight grain morocco, expertly rebacked, with a half-inch wide decorated border surrounding a blind-tooled border; spine with four raised bands and elaborate decorative gilt tooling. A.e.g.The work contains a total of fifty plates of which 46 are devoted to the Dance of Death. The plates are printed without the decorative borders found in copies printed by S. Gosnell for John Scott the same year. In this copy, they are interleav... more information

Paris A. Turnèbe, 8 cal. December, 1554.. Sm. 4to. (8 3/8 x 6 5/8 inches), 18th century 3/4 vellum over paper-covered boards, title lettered in hand on the spine; edges sprinkled in a red and blue marbled pattern. A FINE COPY.First edition of these ancient texts on surveying, edited by Galland and Adrien Turnèbe from a manuscript which they found in the library of a monastery of the Saint-Bertin at Saint-Omer. And as Ruth Mortimer points out, although the title-page fails to na... more information

London W. Rogers, 1695. 8vo., (8 x 6 inches). Full 18th century calf with plain sides; spine with five raised bands bordered with triple gilt fillets, later (?) title label. Spine professionally repaired with the original spine laid down. A small hole in the border of one leaf repaired; extreme lower corner of the engraved frontispiece mended. A VERY HANDSOME copy ELABORATELY RULED IN RED throughout.Charles Alphonse Du Fresnoy (1611-55), painter and poet is remembered for his Latin poem written i... more information

Geneva Eustache Vignon, 1580. 8vo., seventeenth century acid calf, plain sides; spine with five raised bands and gilt decoration within the compartments, except for the one with the red morocco title label. Minor wear to the front joint, board edges gilt, all edges marbled.The first appearance of this work by Lavater, a Protestant minister from Zurich, was in 1570, and there were several subsequent editions into the next century. Examples from the sixteenth century are uncommon (and most institut... more information

Basel Chez Maehli-Lamy, 1843. 8vo., three-quarter green cloth over marbled boards, with the title stamped in gilt on the spine, and bookplate of Edward Cheney on front pastedown. This bilingual edition begins with a short history of the subject, followed by a series of woodcuts portraying the usual array of humankind confronting Death personified. A number of the plates bear the initials GS along with a rendering of a knife to signify the name of the wood cutter, George Scharffenberg, who first cut these i... more information

Basel Gebrüdern von Mechel, 1796 [1843]. Tall 8vo., later quarter cloth over 19th century boards with morocco corners. Quite a nice copy. The work contains 41 large woodcuts of the Dance of Death (many signed with the initials GS), partly after the renowned Basel paintings and partly after Holbein's designs, with descriptive text above and below the images. There is an inserted frontispiece on thin yellow paper which depicts a view of Basel, entitled: "Der Todten-Tanz zu Basel. Anno MDLXXVI.&... more information

Worcester Isaiah Thomas, 1798. 8vo., contemporary tree calf with a red morocco spine label. A full-page advertisement for Thomas's "Printing in its Great Variety," type set within an oval leafy border, appears on U4v (there is a small hole in the ad affecting the floral border and two words of text on the recto), U5-6 list of books for sale in his bookstore in Worcester.The author, Alexander MacBear died in 1784 and his name does not appear on the title-page. The book consists of 23... more information

Pavia Stamperia Bolzani, 1792. 8vo. (8 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches), original blue-gray wrappers. An attractive, tall uncut copy with a minor damp stain to the lower margin of the last few gatherings. Altogether unsophisticated.The engraved title-page features a 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 inch vignette of a right hand holding a partially unrolled Hebrew manuscript against a dark background, signed with the monogram GL (LG?), after a drawing by Correggio. The still visible guide lines for the text of the title suggest ... more information

[London James Edwards, (1789]. 8vo. (7 x 4 3/4 inches), full contemporary acid calf with a gilt decorated floral border; smooth rounded spine with horizontal Greek key gilt bands and floral decoration within the compartments, morocco title label. Slightly rubbed at the extremities. The edition is printed on thick paper and there is occasional light foxing. A very uncommon edition and not seen before with the added 23 leaves at the end (see below). Based upon Holbein's original 15th century d... more information

London William Charlton Wright, 1825. 8vo., Publisher's printed boards, rubbed and hand soiled, with a calf spine; internally, quite nice.First edition of what purports to be the work of John Bewick but probably is not. As Aldred Warthin (The Physician of the Dance of Death. pp. 81-82) writes: "The cuts with several exceptions are imitations of the original Holbein, but are absurdly modernized; both the costumes and the properties are represented in the contemporary style...[they] have s... more information

Coloniæ Agrippinæ [but Amsterdam] Apud Cornelium ab Edmond [i.e. G. J. Blaeu], 1634. 12mo. 4 7/16 x 2 inches), contemporary burgundy morocco with a series of triple gilt fillet borders forming an inner panel with a coat of arms in the center; spine with four raised bands, gilt tooling and titling. Board edges gilt, inner gilt dentelles; a.e.gA characteristic 17th century Dutch book (with its false Cologne imprint) opens with an historiated engraved title-page featuring an elegantly dr... more information

Holland C. Allard Amsteldam, [1708]. 8vo. (8x6 inches) later marbled paper covered wrappers. [3], 32 p. Rare religious work in Dutch that includes 15 engravings, most of which depict the infant Christ but several cover his Crucifixion and Resurrection. OCLC shows only one copy (NY Public Library) and none is currently available for sale. Fine. Dutch Religious Work Profusely Illustrated ... more information

Venice Pietro di Nicolini da Sabbio, 1538. 8vo. (6 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches), late 17th or early 18th century vellum over stiff boards with a red morocco title label; edges stained yellow. A few early marginal notes in brown ink; a very nice copy.Title-page with a large woodcut historiated border, the book’s 191 foliated leaves are nicely printed in italic type by Paolo Manuzio, whose name is absent from the volume. The Aldine Press had closed in 1529, upon the death of Andrea Torresano, and was s... more information

Frankfurt am Main Undreåischen Buchhandlung, 1838. Bound with;JUNG, ABBÉ L. Der herr ist mein Untheil! Frankfurt am Main (Undreåischen Buchhandlung), 1840.Two works bound in one. 8vo., full dark brown crushed calf with a single gilt fillet border surrounding a pair of gothic arched windows; in the center of the upper cover is a six-sided cartouche with the name of the owner stamped in gilt; Clémentine Simonnaire. Smooth, slightly rounded spine with gilt decorat... more information

Copenhagen J. H. Schubothe, 1814. Small 4to., more-or-less contemporary marbled boards with a morocco spine label and a gilt cypher on the cover (by Gustave Hedberg, Stockholm, with his ticket).Woodcut title-page with two skulls followed by 36 large (5 x 5 1/4 inch) woodcuts and verses devoted to the Dance of Death. Although the theme is traditional--Death in the form of a skeleton ushers away people of every class to their final reward: the Pope, Emperor, King, Queen, right on down to the child ... more information