The Dances of Death … Holbein, David Deuchar 1803. 

This book has the long title of “The Dances Of Death, Through The Various Stages Of Human Life: Wherein The Capriciousness of that Tyrant is exhibited: In forty-six Copper plates; Done From The Original Designs, Which Were Cut In Wood, And Afterwards Painted, By John Holbein, In The Town-House Of Basil. To Which Are Prefixed, Descriptions Of Each Plate In French And English, With The Scripture Text From Which The Designs Were Taken. Etched By D. Deuchar, F. A. S.”

The book was printed in London by S. Gosnell for John Scott and Thomas Ostell in 1803, the first edition was printed in 1786, and this is the second edition of the title. It is 1/4 bound, with five raised bands, gilt-decorated compartments with maroon and green labels lettered in gilt and dated 1803 on the heel of the spine, brown marbled boards, blank endpapers, and 46 copper plates engraved by Deuchar. There are 50 plates altogether, counting the frontispiece  of Deuchar’s self-portrait where he is flanked by Adam and Eve on the sides, a frontispiece dedicated to Holbein with the title in French (it says the designs were done by David Deuchar after the designs by Holbein), there is an engraving of Holbein before the Preface, and an engraving of scabbards on the page before the last engraving in the book, which brings the total to 50 engravings altogether, the text is in English, Latin, and French, the spine has been rebound in gilt, while the brown boards seem original to the book, all the engravings are present, and there is an unwritten history here. (See Brunet III, 258.) 

David Deuchar (1743 - 1808) was a Scottish etcher, goldsmith, and engraver born in Montrose and active in Edinburgh. He and his brother, Alexander, were appointed Seal-Engravers to George, Prince of Wales, around 1786, and David pulled a fast one and substituted his own name for Christian von Mechel’s name on the frontispiece dedicated to Holbein: von Mechel did the engraving for the frontispiece before Deuchar did, and by replacing von Mechel’s name with his own, Deuchar made it appear that he did the original engraving - and the history is even more intriguing than that. Researchers in the 1970’s came to believe that Holbein did not do the original drawings for the book, Peter Rubens did, and Deuchar modified the frontispiece afterwards, keeping Holbein’s name on the frontispiece. (The researchers based their findings on a sketchbook by Rubens that was found in Amsterdam later on, and one expert had attributed the drawings to Holbein before the sketchbook was found. An art collector acquired the so-called Holbein drawings in 1771 and incorrectly cataloged them as original Holbein pieces. Von Mechel was allowed to borrow and copy the “Holbein drawings”, he began working on his own engravings for the book in 1776 and they were published in 1780, and in a letter von Mechel wrote in 1780, he expressed doubt that the drawings were Holbein originals because the initials on the drawings didn’t match Holbein’s signature. That is why people now believe that the drawings were not Holbein originals, but were actually done by Rubens.)

The book measures 7 3/8 x 6 3/8 inches wide and is in very good condition, with a tight binding and clean pages and text, there’s occasional light offset from the engravings, light wear at the corners of the boards, and light shadows around the borders of the paste-downs. 

WorldCat shows only five copies in Special Collections around the world (Univ of Alabama, Queens Library in Ontario, Stanford In Calif, the Univ of Liverpool in the UK, and the Univ of Birmingham in the UK), and the rest are ebooks in Special Collections. A modern rebound copy of the book sold at auction for $1187 at Christie’s in 2007, another copy sold for $315 at Swann’s in 2005, and the book is selling for a wide range of prices on the rare book website we use: $240 (with hinge cracks, a loose binding, a glued tear, and stains), $500 (only 36 plates, scuffs, wear, loss on the spine, light foxing), $600 (wear, browning, spots), $1200, $1800, $2000, and $2500 (with spots, foxing, light corner wear, heavy wear on the crown, and Bibliio is offering the book for $1400. We are starting the bidding low to get things rolling. 
 

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