The Dance of Death [antikvár]

PUBLISHER'S NOTE The present unabridged facsimile of the original 1538 edition of Hans Holbein's Dance of Death is reproduced from the copy that Mr. Lessing J. Rosenwald has presented to the Library of Congress. Without Mr. Rosenwald's kind cooperation, this edition would not have been possible. This volume is the first in a series of Dover reprints of great rare books from the Rosenwald Collection at the Alverthorpe Gallery, Jenkintown, Pa. This series is an important extension of the Gallery's continuing program of art education and scholarship. A word is in order concerning the extensive French text included in the book by the publishers of the original 1538 edition. A breakdown of the various sections, with a very brief explanation of each, follows: Page 1: Original title page. Pages 3-8: Prefatory letter from Jean de Vauzele, Prior of Montrosier (who speaks of himself in a pun as un vray Zele—• a true zealot), to Jeanne de Tourzelle, Abbess of the Convent of St. Peter at Lyons (whose name appears here in the form Touszele—all zeal). The main theme is the religious necessity for contemplating death, and the importance of artistic renderings of the subject. Pages 9-15: "Various Depictions of Death, Not Painted but Taken from Holy Scripture, Colored by Doctors of the Church and Shaded by Philosophers." This section is a homily on life after death and the proper care of the soul while still here on earth. Pages 16-56: The Holbein woodcuts, with Latin quotations from the Bible above them, and contemporary French quatrains below.