CALLOT, Jacques.

De droeve ellendigheden van den oorlogh seer aedigh en konstigh abgebeeldt.

Amsterdam?: [ca. 1730]. Second edition, the plates re-engraved by Leon Schenck (originally issued in Paris, 1633, as Grandes misères de la guerre). Each plate here adds a verse, "six lines by Michel de Marolles" (OCLC) at the foot of the image, not present in the original edition. Callot (1592-1633), a native of Nancy, France, trained in Florence, "taking up etching and introducing the technical innovation of using a very hard ground on the plate, thus making it possible to vary the thickness of the line, modeling it along its whole course … with a dependable ground to work on, he became the first specialist virtuoso etcher … [this work provides] the first unromantic pictures of war, exposing its impersonal cruelty, casual violence, and senseless destruction … his records of war-torture, rape, burning at the stake, the firing squad-are strikingly believable because he observed decorum, viewed events as dispassionately as only a Frenchman can, and made his figures move as delicately and precisely as deadly insects. Through his technical innovations and the excellence of his drawing he exerted an influence more profound than that of may greater artists" (Encyclopedia of World Art). Oblong 4to. 18 mounted engraved plates (ca. 8.2 x 18.5 cm.), numbered 2-18 (including the title plate, also numbered "2," as issued). Each plate mounted on the recto of a blank sheet, all but one with another blank sheet as guard. Somewhat later burgundy half-leather and marbled boards, title "Callot's Miseries of War" gilt-stamped on spine and with leather lettering piece mounted on upper board (spine and corners rubbed); recent "1630" penned beneath the title leaf, plates trimmed closely, else a very good copy.

• USD 1,250.00 > other currencies
• ordernr.: 46201

• bookseller: Bartleby's Books (USA)