PRINTED 1816 THE DANCE OF DEATH FROM THE ORIGINAL DESIGNS OF HANS HOLBEIN RARE

Description

Up for auction is a rare edition of
The Dance Of Death from the original designs of Hans Holbein. ; Illustrated with thirty-three plates, engraved by W. Hollar. ; With descriptions in English and French.
London : Printed for J. Coxhead, Holywell-Street, Strand, 1816. Printed by M. M'Millan, Bow Street, Covent Garden.)  with thirty three plates
( hand colored.)
To be clear this volume
contains twenty nine plates and is
missing four plates
according to the title page. This volume is an usual edition in that the plates are beautifully hand colored. Not many editions have come up on the market recently with hand colored plates. Nevertheless it is a rather interesting copy.
Condition :  acceptable only. The volume is missing four plates as noted in my description in addition the front cover board is detached plus what appears to be older repairs to the spine cover board and spine show professional bookbinding tape.  Front end paper detached, internally text block in very good condition as well as remaining plates. paper shows general age toning. As always any questions feel free to ask.
“ The Danse Macabre (/dɑːns məˈkɑːb(rə)/; French pronunciation:  [dɑ̃s ma.kabʁ]) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death: no matter one's station in life, the Danse Macabre unites all. The Danse Macabre consists of the dead or a personification of death summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child, and laborer. It was produced as memento mori, to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain were the glories of earthly life. Its origins are postulated from illustrated sermon texts; the earliest recorded visual scheme was a now-lost mural at Holy Innocents' Cemetery in Paris dating from 1424 to 1425. “