Beschreibung:

DAHLBERG, Erik Jonsson, Count (1625-1703). Suecia antiqua et hodierna . [Stockholm, 1692-1713 and later]. 3 volumes in one, oblong 2 o (307 x 393 mm). Thirteen page index at end. 354 etched and engraved plates (the list of plates at end calling for 352, but numbers "46" in vol. II and "38" in vol. III each consisting of two separate plates), of which 3 double-page and 10 folding, several others printed on two joined sheets; including 3 engraved volume titles, two portraits of King Charles XI of Sweden, a portrait of Dahlberg, and maps, plans, and views by various engravers including J. van den Aveele, Willem Swidde Jean Marot Jean Le Pautre A. Perelle, J. J. von Sandrart, and E. Reitz, most after Count Dahlberg's drawings, numbered in manuscript. Many plates cut round platemark and mounted, indicating probable later issue. (Old tears and occasional repairs throughout, paper weak in places, creasing, some browning and light foxing throughout.) Contemporary calf gilt (covers detached, rubbed and worn). In 1661 Count Dahlberg, Governor of Livonia and Chancellor of the University of Tartu (Estonia), obtained a commission from the Swedish goverment to compile a visual archive of the country's architectural treasures. A team of 18 engravers was hired to transfer his drawings to copperplate (a few of the drawings were by David Klocker-Ehrenstrahl and Elias Brenner . Per Lagerlöf wrote a Latin text, but it was only partially printed and never published (it appears in a few copies). It took 21 years to complete the printing of the plates, and the sheets continued to be published throughout the 18th and into the 19th century. During the years in storage many sheets suffered damage to the margins; later issues are thus often characterized by renewed margins. A small number of copies were issued in 1772, with a new title bearing that date. The present copy is a mixed set, with many of the plates remargined. Berlin Katalog 2256; Brunet V, 578. Sold as a collection of plates, not subject to return.