This book is titled Der Todtentanz Gemälde auf der Muhlenbrucke in Luzern and La Danse des Morts Tableaux sur le Pont des Moulins a Lucerne, which are the German and French titles for this book about the Dance of Death paintings at the mill bridge in Lucerne, Switzerland, and the images in the book are lithographs executed in 1889 by Synnberg & Ruttger based on the original paintings by Gaspard Meglinger between 1626 and 1635.
Gaspard Meglinger (aka Caspar Meglinger 1595 - 1670) was a Swiss artist who was commissioned by the townspeople in Lucerne to paint a series of images to commemorate the people in Lucerne who died during the Black Plague of the Middle Ages, and the images were produced to remind everyone that death comes to us all, no matter how old we are or what our station in life was - death is inevitable.
The original paintings were triangular in shape, to fit into the eves of the bridge, many of the original paintings can still be found in the eves under the roof, and that is why the lithographs in the book are triangular in shape as well.
The book measures 6 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches wide, with brown boards, gilt titles on the front cover in German and French, gray patterned endpapers, the title page also says the plates were produced by A. Elgin (Anton Elgin), there’s a one-page Table of Contents after the title page, then a six-page background in German, French, and English about Meglinger and his paintings and the images here, followed by 45 plates depicting the triangular lithographs in the book, the blank page near the rear has the name and date of the person who gifted the book to someone (D F Bogardus, 5 /28/ 52), and there is a red topstain applied to all the edges by the publisher.
The book is in very good condition, except for the inner hinges which are loose, wear on the crown and along the edges of the spine, light bumps at the heel of the spine, and there is light wear at the tips and two tips are turned in. The pages and images are clean and and all the pages are intact and present.
The first edition was published in 1867 and had 56 lithographed plates, and WorldCat shows three copies in Special Collections around the world from 1867 (at the University of Virginia, the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., and Princeton) and five copies from 1889 in Special Collections (at Duke, Case Western Reserve in Ohio, the New York Pubic Library, the University of Kansas, and the University of California at Santa Cruz).
Auction records for the book are hard to find, and sales records don’t show up very often either, so we’re going by sales prices offered right now on the rare book website we use to find value: four first editions from 1867 are being listed for €824 ($968), €878 ($1030), $1038 and $1347 (with corner bumps), one from 1880 is going for $363, four copies from 1889 are selling for $200, $240, €773 ($1035), and €880 ($1180) apiece, two copies from 1893 are selling for $260 and $294, and the opening bid is low for this scarce title about the Dance of Death from the 1880’s.
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