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DANCE OF DEATH - MERIAN, Matthäus (1593-1650). Todten Tantz : Wie derselbe in der Weitberümbten Statt Basel als ein Spiegel Menschlicher beschaffenheit gantz Künstlich mit Lebendigen Farben Gemahlet, nicht ohne nutzliche Verwunderung zusehen ist. Getruckt zu Basel: bey Johann Schroeter, 1621. Small 4to (194 x 148 mm), [49] ff, with engraved title and 42 etchings by Matth. Merian the Elder, all in old colouring. Modern vellum, inked title to spine, red edges. Somewhat soiled or spotted in places; with a few old repairs to marginal tears; one plate mounted, with minor losses in the blank margins.

Exceedingly rare hand-coloured first edition.

The widespread popularity throughout Europe of the 15th-century mural on the cemetery wall of the Dominican church in Basel is largely due to the engraved series by Matthäus Merian, which served as the model for many later published Dance of Death cycles. The fresco copied by Merian, executed by an anonymous artist, was destroyed in 1805. Merian likely made his drawings shortly before departing on his journey to Germany. His work may have been prompted by the restoration of the mural carried out by the painter Emanuel Bock on behalf of the wardens of the Dominican church, completed in 1616 after two years of work. It is possible that Merian, like Bock, acted on commission of these wardens.

However, it was only five years later, in 1621, that Merian’s Dance of Death was published in Basel by Johann Schröter, with a dedication to the same church wardens who had commissioned the restoration. Curiously, this dedication was not written by Merian himself, but by a namesake, Johann Jakob Merian, who was apparently involved in the project, though not as an engraver. The long-held view that he was the engraver has been refuted by Willy Wüthrich (p. 357, note 2). The first plate, depicting the sermon of Johannes Oecolampadius, is clearly signed “MMerian fec.”

The same year an edition appeared in Basel at the address of Matthäus Mieg with the preliminary leaves and the final leaves differing from those of Schröter’s edition: the text was rearranged, with new woodcut headpieces, and the dedication bearing Mieg’s signature. Four years later, in 1625, Mieg reissued the volume in the same form. The plates had apparently first been transferred by Merian to Johann Schröter, who in turn passed them on to Mieg (Wüthrich).

A very interesting copy, formerly interleaved, with handwritten annotations and sketches in ink and pencil on the blank facing leaves opposite the engravings. These brief notes concern the composition, the  costumes and colouring of the Dance of Death.

To give an example, Facing fol. [14] we read: “Die Schuhe blau – zwischen den herabhängenden Zöpfen scheint das Hemd vorzugehen / das Gestrickte oder (G) das Garn über die Achseln gelb.”  [The shoes blue – between the hanging braids, the shirt seems to show through / the knitted fabric, or the yarn over the shoulders yellow]. 

These annotations and drawings date from the late 18th or early 19th century and could be related to the watercolours by Emanuel Büchel, with which they share certain similarities (cf. the shape of the herald’s collar of office, or the medical instrument in the physician’s sleeve). Emanuel Büchel (1705–1775) was an illustrator, topographer, and painter. In 1773, he was commissioned to copy the Basel Dance of Death. He executed his watercolours at a very late stage in the history of the mural. By that time, the painting had undergone numerous alterations and restorations and was in such a deteriorated condition that the entire wall was demolished only 32 years later.

Provenance: contemporary handwritten entry: “Johann Stäehelin / A(nno) 1622" and below: " Oder bössen kipperei so in dissen / Jahre (?) fürganngen” [Oder bösen Kipper, die in diesem Jahre vergangen]. Probably Johannes Stähelin (1600–1660). He was the son of Johannes Stähelin (1555–1615), a successful spice merchant and a member of the Safran Guild (one of the four principal merchant guilds). He rose even higher in the political sphere than his father: in 1656, he became a member of the “Council of Thirteen” (Dreizehnerrat), the most powerful of Basel’s political bodies. S. Heinr. Sarasin (bookplate).

Census: all early editions are of the utmost rarity. Of the 1621 Schroeter edition we could trace only 3 copies: one in an institution (Kupferstichkabinett Basel); an incomplete copy sold in 2003 (Brandes, auction 119, no. 1167), and the present one. The Basel copy is in black, whereas the two other copies are coloured copy. The copy sold in 2003 came from a private collection and was exhibited at the Städtische Museum Braunschweig in 1989.

Of the 1621 Mieg edition: 6 copies: 3 in institutions (Ulm, SUB Frankfurt; Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek); 2 copies sold in auction this last fifty years (Kornfeld Auk. 111, 220; Hauswedell Auk. 81, 311); and, according to Wüthrich, one in Basel in private hands.

Of the 1625 edition: we could trace 2 copies, both in Basel, one in Universitätsbibliothek, the other in private hands (Wüthrich).

References: Massmann 73, III.I.Aa.I; Wüthrich III, 357, I; not in VD 17; Graesse IV, 497 (mentioning only the later Frankfurt edition of 1649, with the note: “La prem. éd. de 1621 n'est pas constatée”).

Price: CHF 120 000