Jan Luyken / Caspar Luyken / Johann Christoph Weigel - Ethica Naturalis (Emblems Book) - 1695-1700

FIRST EDITION BOOK OF EMBLEMS by the German engraver and publisher Johann Christoph Weigel the Elder (1654-1725) and illustrated with 100 numbered engravings almost half page size; approx. height 106 x width 118 mm. This is the first edition and the illustrations were created by two Dutch engravers Jan Luyken (1649-1712) and Caspar Luyken (1672-1708), father and son who in that period 1699-1705 worked in Nuremberg and collaborated with this German publisher. This book "Ethica Naturalis seu Documenta Moralia" or "Natural Ethics or Moral Documents" tells with words but above all with images the relationship of man with nature, animals, climate, seasons, atmospheric events, famine, war, cataclysms, inexplicable events such as comets, eclipses, earthquakes, floods, storms, fires, droughts, epidemics such as the plague that frightened and anguished the man of 1600, inexplicable events from which he tried to find a logical sense for his existence. Complete book with 100 numbered engravings.

An engraver himself, Weigel is perhaps best known for his work in atlases, world geography, and universal histories. The 100 illustrations of Jan Luiken (41 images) and Caspar Luiken (59 images) are of great quality, richly inked, with great contrast, excellent chiaroscuro and that make the scenes conceived dramatic and very detailed. A series of paintings of real or extraordinary life and a large production of the Luyken family studio. The scenes recall nature, places, architecture, landscapes and life in the Low Countries, Germany and Northern Europe of the late 1600s. For each emblem there is a half-page illustration, a title indicating the theme or subject, and 10 rhyming lines describing the concept, the moral, the dilemma or the lesson to be learned, all in Latin. As usual this book has a title but no date, but it was made around 1695-1700, the pages do not have a number, but the illustrations (100) are all numbered and consecutive, the book is complete. One of the best productions of Dutch-German illustrators of the 17th century. The entire series and the images created by these 3 authors are well documented by the archive of the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history.

TITLE: "Ethica Naturalis seu Documenta Moralia e Variis rerum Naturalium proprietatibus Virtutum Vitiorumq symbolicis imaginibus collecta" (Natural Ethics or Moral Documents Collected from the Symbolic Images of Various Properties of Natural Things, Virtues and Vices). Published in Nuremberg by Johann Christoph Weigel, 1695-1700 circa. DESCRIPTION: in-4° size height 235 x width 197 mm or 9.3 by 7.8 inches. Engraved title-page plus 100 numbered and consecutive plates printed on rectos only, complete book. Modern binding in pefect condition, with marbled boards, spine with decorations and title. Pages are in good condition, well printed, illustrations richly inked, rare defects or stains as per photo. BEAUTIFUL COMPLETE FIRST EDITION.

LITERATURE/REFERENCES: Landwehr, German emblem books 639; Praz p. 533; VD-17 12:655694E; Klaversma & Hannema 471/472; Cicognara 1975; Paisey (BL) W-693; Van Eeghen/Van der Kellen 348; Rijksmuseum catalogue reference; P Van Eeghen 2533 & Object number RP-P-1896-A-19368-1862, RP-P-1896-A-19368-1803, RP-P-1896-A-19368-1882 etc...; Michael Bauer in 'Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens', XXIII 1982, cols.693-1186 idem, introduction to Weigel, 'Abbildung und Beschreibung der ... Hauptstände' Nördlingen 1987 (in BM); Laborde, Léon. Histoire de la gravure en manière noire...(Paris: J. Didot, l'âiné, 1839): pp. 243; Spufford, Margaret (1995). "Literacy, trade and religion in the commercial centres of Europe". A Miracle Mirrored: The Dutch Republic in European Perspective. Cambridge University Press. p. 234.

AUTHOR: Johann Christoph Weigel, known as Christoph Weigel the Elder (1654-1725), was a German engraver, art dealer and publisher. He was born at Redwitz, Free imperial city of Eger in Egerland and worked for most of his life in Nuremberg. Weigel learned the art of engraving in Augsburg. After various positions, including in Vienna and Frankfurt am Main, he acquired citizenship in Nuremberg in 1698. Weigel's first work from his own, successfully run publishing house in Nuremberg was Bilderlust from 1698. Around 70 books and a series of engravings were published by this publishing house during his lifetime. Weigel worked particularly brilliantly in the scraping and line manner. He was the first engraver to use a type of machine for the underground. In Nuremberg, he worked very closely with the imperial geographer and cartographer Johann Baptist Homann (1664–1724) when producing his maps. His younger brother Johann Christoph Weigel ran an art shop in Nuremberg around the same time and was also very successful.

ILLUSTRATOR: Johannes or Jan Luyken (1649-1712) was a Dutch poet, illustrator, and engraver. He was born and died in Amsterdam, where he learned engraving from his father Kaspar Luyken. He was a child prodigy. Luyken married at 19 and had several children, including renowned engraver Caspar Luyken. At age 26 Luyken converted to the Mennonite church, which inspired him to write moralistic poetry. Luyken illustrated the 1685 edition of the Martyrs Mirror with 104 copper etchings. Thirty of these plates survive and were part of The Mirror of the Martyrs exhibit. He also published Het Menselyk Bedryf ("The Book of Trades") in 1694, which contains numerous engravings of 17th-century trades by Luiken and his son Caspar (Caspaares).

ILLUSTRATOR: Caspar Luyken (1672-1708) was a Dutch illustrator and engraver. He was the son of Jan Luyken, with whom he collaborated extensively. Luyken worked mostly in Amsterdam and produced Het Menselyk Bedryf ("The Book of Trades") with his father in 1694. In 1699 he moved to Nuremberg to work with Christoph Weigel the Elder. He stayed there until 1705. He published his Gallery of Late 17th-century Costume there in 1703. In 1708 Jan and Caspar Luyken illustrated Weigel's Historiae Celebriores Veteris Testamenti Iconibus Representatae.

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