Duodecim specula deum aliquando videre desideranti concinnata.
Antwerp: Ex officina Plantiniana, apud Ioannem Moretum, 1610. Signed engraved title page. (Theodor. Galle fecit) 12 unsigned
engravings numbered I-XII wonderfully illustrated work about 12
mirrors mankind uses to try and see God. First editio. This
copy is bound in
modern crushed
levant morroco, extra
spine and bords in
gilt and blind by F.
Bedford. Bound over
the original limp
vellum boards with a
gilt lozenge of the
arms of the Jesuits
(IHS). This is a very
clean copy with very
vivid impressions of
the engravings . With
the book plate of T.J.
Coolidge Jr (1863-192,
Harvard 1850). DeBacker-Sommervogel vol. II col.1851 no.20,;
Daly & Dimler corpus Librorun eblematun(CLE) J141;
Praz, M. Studies in 17th century imagery,; vol. I p.313;
Landwehr, J. Dutch emblem books,134 ;
Funck p. 303, BCNI 5556, Bibl. Belg. D 157. A very fine copy. Item #813
This book is structured from
top left to right Emblem number with caption, pictura with motifs
lettered, then subscriptio, prose identification of the lettered motifs, In
most copies the facing page with number followed by a prose
conversation between Anima and Desiderus.
"The Duodecim Specula consists of twelve chapters, each prefaced by an
imago, focusing on various kinds and degrees of specular image: it
starts with the Everyday Mirror (speculum commune), manufactured
by "human artifice" (artis opus), the surface of which philosophers use
to expose human characteristics, and ends with the Mirror of Beatific
Vision (speculum visionis beatificae), in whose images the 'cutting edge
of the mind' (acies mentis) glimpses the radiance of divinity." (Melion,
Walter, and Enenkel, Karl A. E.,The Authority of the Word: Reflecting
on Image.
Price: $3,200.00