Jacques Basnage - Histoire du vieux et du nouveau testament - 1706

BASNAGE, JACQUES. — HISTORY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT (AMSTERDAM, 1706).
Amsterdam: Pierre Mortier, 1706.
Small quarto. Full brown calf of the period, spine with raised bands and ornamentation. [20+141(7ff. Missing)+14+79+11 pages]
Monumental historical and religious fresco written by Protestant pastor Jacques Basnage, one of the major intellectual figures of the Huguenot Refuge in Holland.

Illustrated with about 400 engravings in copperplate.

Published by the great Amsterdam publisher Pierre Mortier, this “Bible de چاپ” (grand luxury edition) was intended for patrician and scholarly libraries of the eighteenth century. It combines the erudite exegesis of the time with an exceptional iconographic program engraved in copperplate by the best Dutch and French masters of the era, each scene accompanied by verse and prose commentary.

Volume bound in full antique calf, damaged. Covers worn, with scuffs and signs of use; spine fatigued with losses to the head and tail, and cracks to the joints. Interior satisfactory on large-format paper with wide margins, showing light marginal damp-staining and numerous tears, sometimes affecting the text. Missing the first 7 leaves. Some leaves of the preface with old restorations.

Stunning engravings of exceptional finesse, such as the spectacular plate of the Crossing of the Red Sea or Jacob’s Ladder, offering the most accomplished visual testimony of Protestant book art in the Enlightenment era.