Mathieu, Marc, Luc, Jean - Epistel und evangelien auf alle Sonntage der ganzen jahrs... - 1801

Full leather binding in very well preserved condition. Plain spine. First plate with cold stamped representation, last plate with cold stamped fillets. Whole clasp. Frontispiece with 4 "representations" of the evangelists

The four evangelists are represented in the allegorical form of the tetramorph: the winged man or the angel for Matthew, the lion for Mark, the bull for Luke and the eagle for John. This representation is inspired by a vision of the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel and by the description of the Four Living of the Apocalypse which means that these animal-symbols are often represented winged.

The lion symbolizing Mark is usually winged, which distinguishes it from the lion of St. Jerome.

The evangelists, four in number for the canonical gospels, are the supposed authors of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Evangelists do not introduce themselves by name in their works and there is no evidence that the titles are indeed the originals. Modern scholars therefore believe it is safer to say that the authors of these texts were anonymous, and that their names were attributed to the accounts by subsequent generations of Christians.