EMBLEM BOOK. BURGUNDIA, Antonius a.

Mundi Lapis Lydius sive Vanitas per Veritate Falsi Accusata & Conuicta.

      Antuerp: Typis Viduae Ioan. Cnobbari. 1639 First edition. Small quarto. pp [28], 249, [27]. One of the great Flemish emblem books, with an impressive engraved title-page by Theodore van Merlen and fifty beautiful engraved emblems by Andries Pauwels after Abraham van Diepenbeek. The charm and importance of these illustrations, intended to guide us away from Vanity and towards the Truth, lie in the touchingly detailed glimpses many of them provide of domestic and social scenes of the time. Each plate is followed by two or three pages of text elaborating on the general lesson. Many of these texts have decorative woodcut endpieces. The plates are clear and sharp. Eighteenth century panelled calf, sympathetically rebacked.A few early ownership signatures. Some light wear to the covers. Very good indeed. A bright copy.