EYTZINGER, Michaël von (d. 1598)

Novus ad Hispaniae et Hungariae reges termaximos. De Leone Belgico, eiusque topographica atque historica descriptione liber: quinque partibus gubernatorum Philippi regis Hispaniarum ordine, distinctus; insuper & elegantissimi illius artificis Francisci Hogenbergii bis centum & VIII figuris ornatus; rerumque in Belgio maxime gestarum, inde ab anno Christi M.D.LIX. usque ad annum M.D.LXXXVII. perpetua narratione continuatus

Cologne: Gerard van Campen, 1588. 4to. (10 5/8 x 8 inches). Engraved architectural title-page with engraved portrait of the author on verso, 9 preliminary leaves, large folding map of the Low Countries "Leo Belgicus," 208 unnumbered double-page engraved plates on guards, and 2 engraved calendars on verso of penultimate leaf. Expert marginal restoration to title and one leaf.

18th-century red morocco, armorial binding with gilt central device of a crown atop a shield surrounded by laurel, gilt cornerpieces with acorns and flowers, spine with raised bands forming six compartments tooled gilt, all edges gilt, marbled pastedowns

Provenance: "Collegium Societatis Jesu Bruxellis 1643 M.B." (manuscript annotation preserved and laid in on front free flyleaf)

A richly illustrated 1588 edition of Eytzinger's celebrated history of the Dutch Revolt, with the famous "Leo Belgicus" map and 208 double-page engravings by Frans Hogenberg, presenting the Low Countries in the form of a lion and recording the political, military, and religious violence of the Eighty Years' War.

Eytzinger's Novus de Leone Belgico is among the most visually distinctive historical works of the later sixteenth century. First published in 1583, it introduced the "Leo Belgicus," the cartographic conceit that transformed the Low Countries into the body of a lion. The form drew on the heraldic lions of the provinces and of William of Orange, and it became one of the most enduring symbolic images of the Netherlands during the struggle against Spanish rule. In the present edition, the large folding map stands at the threshold of a vast engraved chronicle of revolt, siege, repression, and political crisis. The work follows events in the Low Countries from 1559 to 1587, arranging the history under the governors of Philip II of Spain. Eytzinger, an Austrian nobleman, diplomat, and historian, wrote for a European political audience, addressing the kings of Spain and Hungary while presenting the Low Countries as a territory whose geography and history could be read together. The title's "Belgicus" refers to the historic Low Countries, encompassing the region before the later separation of the northern and southern Netherlands. The 208 double-page engravings show battles, sieges, city views, executions, massacres, ceremonial entries, military encampments, naval actions, and scenes of destruction. Hogenberg's plates transform recent history into a sequence of vivid visual reports, combining topographical detail with polemical immediacy. Seen together with the "Leo Belgicus" map, they make the volume both a historical narrative and a graphic atlas of conflict. The 1588 edition is a substantially enlarged form of a work that had expanded through successive issues. The first edition of 1583 contained 112 plates; later editions added both text and engravings as the war continued. Graesse describes the 1588 edition as the last and rarest of the early series. The present copy bears the imprint of Gerard van Campen on the colophon.

Brunet I: 122-123; Graesse I: 49; Adams, VD 16, 4771, Adams, E-1175 (first edition).

Item #41988

Price: $15,000.00