Prachtausgabe - Franciscum Vierling - Vorreden und Beschluß uber die Capitel der Bücher des Alten und Newen Testaments - 1596

Extremely rare Silesian binding

“Prefaces and Decision about the Chapters of the Books of the Old and New Testament” 1596.

Very rare Protestant glorious binding from Silesia around 1600.

Additionally with two beautifully colored coat-of-arms depictions and a colored initial.

Blind-embossed pigskin leather over wooden boards, with all 8 corner mounts.

The front board bears the gilded supralibros of Georg Fürst von Kupferberg (1535–1600) and the back board the coat of arms of his wife Patientia Schmidt von Schmiedeberg.
The blind embossing was done with the so-called “Tugendrolle” (Virtue Roll).

There is also an unusually richly punched gold edge with star, bow, and heart ornaments.

The binding is attributed to a master from Görlitz, possibly Joseph Preuskel, and the front and back sides bear the initials “I.P.”
Only 3 other copies of this binding are known.

Of particular note is that the second part Georg Fürst von Kupferberg was personally dedicated. His coat of arms thus appears both colored in the book and gilded on the binding.

The first flyleaf as well as the first eight leaves at the beginning are slightly loosened, of which the sixth leaf is loose.
Both flyleaves show light tears in the lower inner margin.

The pages are consistently somewhat browned and, in places, slightly stained. The second part slightly less than the first.

The binding is very well preserved, lightly rubbed and without the clasps.

Collation: 9 leaves, 301 numbered leaves, 1 blank leaf, 8 leaves, 191 numbered leaves, 1 leaf

Dimensions: 34 x 24 cm