Beschreibung:

FRANCK, Caspar (1543-1584), compiler]. Passional, inn welchem mit sonderm Fleiss in schöne Figuren zusammen gebracht sein die fürnembste Historien und Geschicht des Lebens, Leidens, Sterbens, und Aufferstehung unsers herrn Jesu Christi . Munich: Adam Berg, 1572. 4 o (189 x 139 mm). Collation: (:) 4 A-L 4. 47 leaves (of 48, without final ?blank leaf). Gothic type. Title within historiated woodcut border, blank armorial shield at top, ?printer's twin-tower device within shield at bottom, 41 large woodcut illustrations of the Passion, Pentecost, etc., by Nicolaus and Virgil Solis after Dürer, woodcut initial and tailpiece. (Small loss through adhesion to woodcut and text on G2v, hole to C4 catching 3 letters and woodcut on verso.) 19th-century English red hard-grain morocco gilt, covers panelled with acorn tools at center and fan motifs at corners, by W. Pratt for C. Inglis (joints and extremities worn, small tear to head of spine). Provenance : 17th-century notes on D4r, misprinted signature L3 corrected in ink; C. Inglis, M.D. (booklabels); Lionel L. Pries Memorial Library (bookplate). FIRST EDITION. The preface, dated 31 January 1572, is signed with the initials of the Lutheran preacher Caspar Franck, author of numerous Reformist tracts and sermons. The text consists of German verse captions to the illustrations and biblical quotations. The woodcut Passion series is one of several such suites, most after Dürer, issued from the workshop of Virgil Solis. Most of the cuts are signed with the latter's monogram; four are signed with a monogram combining an N and a V (Virgil and Nicolaus Solis?). The series, a close copy of Dürer's Small Woodcut Passion, may have been cut by Virgil's brother or cousin Nicolaus Solis. Apparently in an earlier state, signed with Nicolaus Solis' monogram, 24 of the blocks were used to illustrate a Passional printed by Berg in 1571 (cited in Andresen, Der Deutsche Peintre-Graveur , 1872, II:96-98). Berg used the complete series again in a 1607 Passional , along with two additional woodcuts not used here, and with a later, unsigned state of the four cuts here signed NV (cf. The Illustrated Bartsch , vol. 9, pp. 436-457: [5]320). The binding decoration copies a series of bindings used for a collection of early plays formed in the early nineteenth century by the collector John Bellingham Inglis, presumably a relative of Dr. C. Inglis (cf. de Ricci, English Collectors , p. 97 and pl. VII). RARE. There are no copies in American libraries, according to RLIN and NUC. BM/STC German , p. 445. No copies in RLIN.