Beschreibung:

HORAE, use of Rome (Latin). Horae Beatissimae Virginis Mariae, ad usum Romanum Repurgatissimae. Antwerp: Christoper Plantin 1570. 8vo, 199 x 127 mm. (7 13/16 x 5 in.), contemporary French calf, covers gilt-panelled with arabesque cornerpieces of raised strapwork on a gilt-hatched ground, oval central medallion within gilt floral wreath, the remainder semé with small quatrefoils, spine in six gilt compartments with hatched leaf tools, edges gauffered and gilt, caps restored, endpapers renewed, gutter of title-leaf repaired, a few minor marginal tears, fol. Q1 with small rust-hole, last leaf torn slightly along gutter, tightly lined, a few engraved borders lost in gutters . Voet's variant "d" of Plantin's 1570 Latin Horae , printed in red and black, title with engraved printer's compass device bearing arms of Philip II, 17 FULL-PAGE ENGRAVINGS by J. and H. Wiericx and P. Huys after Pieter van der Borcht title, text (including final blank page) and engravings printed within 8 different engraved page-borders of flowers, fruit and birds (see also lot --), running titles in red printed within banners at head of each border (several pages misprinted with register slightly askew), woodcut initials and small woodcuts of saints. Voet lists four variant 1570 editions of the present Horae : in the two "regular issues" the engraved title device bears either the arms of Philip II or the Holy Family, and there are no engraved borders; the borders were added for a deluxe issue printed for the Duke of Alva, whose arms replace those of Philip II in the title. Voet speculates that this fourth issue may have been the result of a surplus of sheets left over from the Duke of Alva edition with the engraved borders already printed. Bohatta 1283; Lacombe 586; Voet 1367. An illuminated copy on vellum (of issue c or d) was sold at Christie's New York on 1 October 1981 (lot 77, $26,000). Provenance : A. Brölemann, bookplate -- (from Lardanchet, 1937).