Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Atlas Title Pages Redux ONE

Scenic and typographic atlas title page engravings 
and lithographs from the Rumsey Map Collection


Historical and biographical atlas of the New Jersey coast 1878
Title: Historical and biographical atlas of the New Jersey coast
Author: TT Price, TF Rose; HC Woolman
Date: 1878
Notes: Illustrated lithographed title page. This is an outstanding combination of maps, views, and historical text. It is in the "county atlas" style of the period, but the choice of area (the New Jersey sea coast spanning several counties) is unusual. Maps hand painted and printed in full colour.



Schonberg's Atlas of the United States and Canada with Mexico & the West Indies 1867
Title: Title Page and Index Page: Schonberg's Atlas of the United States, Canada, Mexico & the West Indies
Author: Schonberg & Co.
Date: 1867



Atlas Universel, Par M. Robert Geographe ordinaire du Roy 1758
Title: Atlas Universel, Par M. Robert Geographe ordinaire du Roy, et Par M. Robert De Vaugondy son fils Geographe ord. du Roy, et de S. M. Polonoise, Duc de Lorraine et de Bar, et Associe de L'Academie Royale des Sciences et belles Lettres de Nancy, Avec Privilege Du Roy, 1757
Author: Gilles Robert de Vaugondy
Notes: 1st edition, with five postal maps added, as issued. With the list of subscribers and the extra postal maps of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The French postal map is dated 1758. All five were added after the printed list of maps was printed, but are mentioned by Vaugondy in the preface, so they may have been an afterthought.



Thomas's library atlas, embodying a complete set of maps 1835
Title: Thomas's library atlas, embodying a complete set of maps, illustrative of modern & ancient geography ... London, Joseph Thomas, 1, Finch Lane, 1835. Sold by Simpkin & Marshall, Stationers Court
Author: R Fenner; Publisher: J Thomas
Notes: Reissue of Fenner's Pocket atlas of 1830.



Petit atlas moderne ou collection de cartes elementaires dedie a la jeunesse 1800
Title: Petit atlas moderne ou collection de cartes elementaires dedie a la jeunesse. A Paris, chez Delamarche, Geogr., Rue du Jardinet No. 13, vis a vis celle de l'Eperon
Author: Charles Francois Delamarche; Jean Lattre
Date: 1800
Notes: Engraved illustrated title page showing cherub with globe, maps, surveying instruments, etc. Called "Frontispice" in table of contents. N. America and Etats Unis dated 1783. Originally published by Lattre in 1763, this and later editions were published by Delamarche.



Atlas til Friherre Klinckowstroms 1824
Title: Atlas til Friherre Klinckowstroms Bref om de Forente Staterne
Author: Axel Leonhard Klinckowstrom; Publisher: C. Muller, Stockholm
Date: 1824
Notes: View on title page: Presidentons i de Forente Staterna recidence i Washington.



The West-India atlas or, a compendious description of the West Indies 1788
Title: West-India atlas: or, a compendious description of the West-Indies
Author: Thomas Jeffreys
Date: 1788
Notes: This is a superb atlas of the West Indies and a companion atlas to Jeffery's American Atlas also first issued in 1775. The latest date on the charts in this copy is 1788 (The Cape Verd Islands). There is a beautifully illustrated title page that precedes the main title page, which reads "The West Indian Atlas..." Jefferys died in 1771; Sayer and Bennet acquired his materials in preparation for this atlas, and published the atlas posthumously under his name (as they did with the American Atlas) in 1775.



The Royal Illustrated Atlas, Of Modern Geography 1872
Title: The Royal Illustrated Atlas, Of Modern Geography With An Introductory Notice By Dr. N. Shaw, Secretary To The Royal Geographical Society &c
Author / Publisher: A Fullerton & Co. London & Edinburgh
Date: 1872
Notes: 1st edition 1864; published in 27 parts 1854-62. The date of 1872 is estimated by the Australia map; all the maps are undated and probably date throughout the period 1864 to 1872. This is the last highly decorative atlas published in England. Even the maps without views or figures are beautifully engraved and coloured with a mixture of printed colour and hand colour. Swanston, Petermann, Bartholomew, McNab and Johnson engraved the maps.



Melish's Universal School Atlas 1820
Title: Melish's Universal School Atlas
Author / Publisher: John Melish
Date: 1820
Notes: The third edition, complete with eight outline colour maps. Rare. With marble covered half-leather boards and "School Atlas" imprinted on spine.



The Illustrated Atlas, And Modern History Of The World Geographical, Political, Commercial & Statistical 1851
Title: The Illustrated Atlas, And Modern History Of The World Geographical, Political, Commercial & Statistical
Author: RM Martin; J&F Tallis
Date: 1851
Notes: Hand-coloured maps by J. Rapkin. Earlier editions have a second title page dated 1851, a view of the Great Pavilion opposite the ornamental title page, and an index sheet titled "Directions to Binder - arrangement of maps".



State, Territorial and Ocean Guide Book of the Pacific 1866
Title: State, territorial and ocean guide book of the Pacific
Author: Sterling M Holdredge
Date: 1866
Notes: With a beautiful chromo litho title page illustrated with a globe showing the western hemisphere. Transportation scenes surround globe, including ships, a riverboat, train, and stagecoach. The nine maps are all double page and full of interesting information. They were lithographed by Grafton T. Brown, the first black lithographer in San Francisco.



Davis' new commercial encyclopedia, the Pacific Northwest Washington, Oregon and Idaho 1909
Title: Davis' new commercial encyclopedia, the Pacific Northwest: Washington, Oregon and Idaho
Author / Publisher: Ellis Arthur Davis
Date: 1909
Notes: Atlas begins with an explication of the three featured states along with pictures and uncoloured maps. This is followed by full colour maps of the United States and the world. Most maps are by GF Cram.



Schonberg's Standard Atlas Of The World. New York, Schonberg And Company 1867
Title: Schonberg's Standard Atlas Of The World
Publisher: Schönberg & Co. New York
Date: 1865
Notes: Includes a captivating large vignette with a radiant sun and five women and three cherubs with the instruments of geography (sextant, globes, map, telescope, notebook, etc.). The landscape is wild with trees, islands, and rugged topography. Ships of various types also shown.



New Topographical Atlas of Jefferson Co. New York 1864
Title: New Topographical Atlas of Jefferson County, New York
Author: SN & DG Beers
Date: 1864
Notes: The first county atlas produced by the Beers family.



Johnson's New Illustrated (Steel Plate) Family Atlas 1864
Title: Johnson's New Illustrated (Steel Plate) Family Atlas
Author: AJ Johnson
Date: 1860
Notes: [Half-]Title on page reads "American Atlas" and is accompanied by an illustration of Indians on a bluff overlooking a river, town and homestead. Most of the maps come from Colton's 1859 edition of the General Atlas, published by Johnson and Browning.



Includes large vignette with the tools of cartographers and surveyors 1874
Title: Combination Atlas Map Of Portage County Ohio. Compiled, Drawn and Published From Personal Examinations and Surveys
Author: LH Everts
Date: 1874
Notes: Includes large vignette with the tools of cartographers and surveyors. Everts was Thompson's partner in early 1870's. There are similarities between this atlas and Thompson's atlases of California counties, due to his earlier partnership with Everts. Many views and portraits. Full colour.



Township map of Peninsular Florida issued by the Associated Railway Land Department of Florida 1890
Title: Front Cover: Township map of Peninsular Florida issued by the Associated Railway Land Department of Florida & Back Cover: Florida: map illustrating its geographical position of the "Plant" and Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West systems
Publisher: D.H. Elliott, General Land Agent, Associated Railway Land Department of Florida
Date: 1890
Notes: With illustrated covers and title page. The Associated Railway Land Department of Florida was composed of four railway companies and two land development companies that, as a group, controlled what appears on the map to be half the land in the state. A 36 page written essay by D.H. Elliott explains the agricultural potential of the lands offered for sale.



Geographischer Atlas uber alle Theile der Erde bearbeitet nach der ritterschen Lehre und dem Andenken 1864
Title: Geographischer Atlas uber alle Theile der Erde
Author: JM Ziegler & Carl Ritter
Date: 1864
Notes: The maps are numbered 1-26 and are undated. They are with hand or printed colour, in a mixture of outline and full colour. Covers are brown marbled paper covered boards with an untitled paper label and new blue cloth spine.



Geographie moderne avec une introduction 1787
Title: Geographie moderne avec une introduction. Ouvrage utile a tous ceux qui veulent se perfectionner dans cette science ... Dediee a Messieurs de l'Academie Royale des Sciences et Belles-Lettres de Rouen. Par Mr. l'Abbe Clouet de la meme Academie avec approbation et P. du R. Corrigee et augmentee des nouvelles decouvertes du celebre Capitaine Cook et des changements arrives dans l'Amerique Septentrional.
Author: Jean-Baptiste Louis Clouet
Date: 1787
Notes: This is an unusually thorough teaching atlas for the period: each map has marginal text on both sides which explains the function of the map -- topographical, historical, political, etc. Because of its comprehensiveness, this atlas must have been used by advanced students of geography.



Bridgens' Atlas Of Lancaster Co., Penna 1864
Title: Bridgens' Atlas Of Lancaster Co., Penna. From actual Surveys by H.F. Bridgens and Assistants, Published By D.S. Bare, Lancaster, Pa. Engraved & Printed at Jas. McGuigan's Lithc. Estabnt. S.E. Cor. Third & Dock Sts. Philada. Entered ... 1864, by H.F. Bridgens ... Penna.
Date: 1864
Notes: 2nd county atlas published in the United States. Very different from the Beers family productions; elegant cartography. Full hand painted colour.



Description geographique et statistique de la Confederation Argentine  1873
Title: Atlas de la Confédération Argentine
Author: Victor Martin de Moussy
Date: 1873
Notes: This was the first atlas of Argentina. A beautifully engraved title page precedes the full title page and reads "Atlas de la Confederation Argentine. Bachelier Lith. Gve. Sanier, del. Imp. Lemercier & Cie. Paris." Most of the maps are without colour; a few are hand painted in full colour.



Colton's Atlas Of The World, Illustrating Physical And Political Geography 1856
Half-Title to Colton's Atlas Of The World, Illustrating Physical And Political Geography, Accompanied By Descriptions Geographical, Statistical, And Historical
Author: GW Colton
Date: 1856
Notes: This atlas was the first world atlas produced by Colton, after many years of issuing pocket maps, wall maps, guides, and maps for books. The atlas was one of the finest and most accurate of the period - it had a long publishing run, continuing for over thirty years.



Atlas of the oil region of Pennsylvania 1865
Title: Atlas of the oil region of Pennsylvania. From actual surveys under the direction of F.W. Beers, C.E. With a few facts relating to petroleum, historically, scientifically, and commercially, reviewed by Ivan C. Michels, Editor of the Philadelphia Coal Oil Circular and Petroleum Price Current.
Author: FW Beers
Publisher: Beers, Ellis, & Soule, New York
Date: 1865
Notes: The only regional atlas made of the oil regions in Pennsylvania and probably the most complete and detailed mapping done at the time -- it is far more detailed than the general maps that appeared in pocket form or separately.


All the notes above derive from the Rumsey site and are closer to quotes than paraphrasing. The images have all been cropped - slightly in most cases - from their respective source files; but are otherwise unaltered.


From the title of this entry you can deduce that there is a previous Atlas Title Page post AND, also, that an Atlas Title Page Redux TWO will be appearing on this site soon enough.

A title page, particularly in the context of a cartographic atlas, is something of a loose term describing variable material within the front matter, or preliminary pages. For our purposes, it may include decorative part-title frontispieces or more formal written pages bearing the full title and identifying information in embellished typeforms.
"The history of the title-page can be traced back to the 1470s. The earliest printed books followed the tradition of manuscript volumes in that a colophon at the end of the work gave details of the contents and the date and place of printing. Therefore, the first printed Ptolemaic atlases do not have a title-page and rely on a colophon for this purpose." [source]
In general, there are said to be five types of title page (often combined): ornamental, compartmental, architectural, pictorial and cartographical. These evolved over a few hundred years and the plates above are mostly from 1850 onwards. The allegorical, religious, heraldic and mythological thematic figures that often dominated earlier title pages, for instance, tended to be reduced or gave way, over time, to decorative elements that had a more practical, informative focus.

Many of the scenes featured in the title pages above (and yet to come!) therefore contain items such as scientific instruments, world globes, evocative location scenes, peoples from distant and/or romantic places and maybe hints of naval strength and imperialism associated with the age of exploration. I'm particularly fond of the diverse typographic forms in many of the titles. The image choice skews towards US locations, mostly for practical reasons. Rumsey's [source] site concentrates on US maps and, as printing became cheaper and more innovative in the mid-to-late 19th century, publishing houses in Philadelphia and New York emerged as prolific and dominant players in atlas production in the world. So the selection is not meant to be a serious overview of the genre; it's more a personal sampling.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Il Gazzettiere Americano

Bird etchings from the 1763 Italian 
version of 'The American Gazetteer'



Tucano ò sia pica del Brasile
Tucano ò sia pica del Brasile

Description & notes: Toucan on the branch of a tree. Text describes a toucan with a red body and white throat. Scientific name: Ramphastos tucanus.

Illustration by Veremondo Rossi



Il re degli zopiloti ò sia degli avoltoi
Il re degli zopiloti ò sia degli avoltoi

Description & notes: Vulture or buzzard with skeletons of its prey about its feet. Text describes the vultures of the area around Acapulco; this is perhaps the turkey vulture or Cathartes aura.

Illustration by Veremondo Rossi



Penguino dell' America settentrionale
Penguino dell' America settentrionale

Description & notes: Penguin with detail of feather and head profile. Perhaps the Humboldt penguin which is native to Peru and Chile. Scientific name: Spheniscus Humboldti.

Illustration by Giuseppe Maria Terreni



Uccello Artico detto Nave da Guerra, che credesi il Maschio
Uccello Artico detto Nave da Guerra, che credesi il Maschio

Description & notes: Male Arctic tern. Scientific name: Sterna paradisaea.

Illustration by Antonio Gregori



Il pellicano d'America
Il pellicano d'America

Description & notes: Brown pelican stands on coast. Text describes pelican found in Jamaica. Scientific name: Pelecanus occidentalis.

Illustration by Violente Vanni



Gran grue della baia d'Hudson
Gran grue della baia d'Hudson

Description & notes: Heron from Hudson's Bay, probably a great blue heron. The great blue heron (Ardea herodias) range in Canada.

Illustration by Andrea Scacciati



Colibri col petto rosso maschio, e femmina
Colibri col petto rosso maschio, e femmina

Description & notes: Hummingbirds. Female sits on a nest with two eggs, while the male bird flies toward her. Also includes a butterfly.

Illustration by Veremondo Rossi



Airone cenerino dell' America settentrionale
Airone cenerino dell' America settentrionale

Description & notes: Little blue heron standing by the side of a pond. Also includes a fish. Identified as a gray heron (Ardea cinerea); here most likely a little blue heron (Egretta caerulea), a North American bird.

Illustration by Andrea Scacciati



1. Uccello Artico, che credesi la Femmina 2 Uccello chiamato volgarmente il Tropico
1. Uccello Artico, che credesi la Femmina
2. Uccello chiamato volgarmente il Tropico

Description & notes: Red-billed tropicbird and female Arctic tern. Includes detail of the two birds' heads. Scientific name of the red-billed tropicbird: Phaethon aethereus; scientific name of the Arctic tern: Sterna paradisaea.

Illustration by Ferdinando Gregori



1. Colibri verde colla coda lunga 2. Colibri minimo della sua grandezza naturale
1. Colibri verde colla coda lunga
2. Colibri minimo della sua grandezza naturale

Description & notes: Hummingbirds. Includes branches they are perched on and an egg. Text describes hummingbirds found in Jamaica. Scientific name: Archilochus colubris [?].

Illustration by Veremondo Rossi



18th century ornithological engraved etching
1 Fregata
2 Paill'encul
3 Grandgosier
4 Fiammingo
5 piccola Isola d'Aves

Description & notes: Frigate bird, paille-en-queue or tropicbird, pelican, flamingo and Aves or Bird Island. Text describes birds of the Caribbean islands. Frigatebird: (perhaps) Fregata magnificens, paille-en-queue or white-tailed tropicbird: Phaeton lepturrus, pelican: (perhaps) Pelecanus occidentalis, and flamingo: Phoenicopteridae ruber ruber (or the Caribbean flamingo). Image derived from Jean Baptiste Labat, 'Nouveau Voyages', Paris, 1722.

Illustrator not named



1. Aspetto della Montagna dello Zolfo 2 Uccello Diavolo
1. Aspetto della Montagna dello Zolfo
2 Uccello Diavolo

Description & notes: View of a sulfur mountain or volcano with two black men. Also includes a crow or raven and two dogs. Text discusses the mountain described by Labat and found in Guadeloupe.

Illustrated by Giuseppe Maria Terreni

{All the images above have been lightly spot-cleaned in the background. 
The descriptions/notes below the images are essentially quoted from the source website.
See the first comment below for proposed species identification corrections.}


The full title of the original 3-volume series, published in London in 1762, for J Millar and J&R Tonson, is:
'The American Gazetteer : containing a distinct account of all the parts of the new world, their situation, climate, soil, produce, former and present condition, commodities, manufactures and commerce; together with an accurate account of the cities, towns, ports, bays, rivers, lakes, mountains, passes and fortifications; the whole intended to exhibit the present state of things in that part of the globe, and the views and interests of the several powers who have possessions in America'.
The series is a geographical dictionary or perhaps, more correctly, an encylopaedia of the Americas and I recommend reading some sample paragraphs or pages: the language is wonderful, if dated.

In 1763 the books were translated into Italian and published in Livorno (by Marco Coltellini) as the first complete geographical description of the New World. More than seventy etched engravings of wildlife were added to the few maps that had been published in the first edition. It is the quality of some of the illustrations (the buzzard, pelican and toucan plates above, for instance) that mark this edition as a work of particular distinction.

I noted copies of 'Il Gazzettiere Americano' selling for £2500 this year, but didn't see any sales of the original edition in English in the recent past. I get the feeling that the Italian publication has a better, or more significant, reputation because of the greater range and quality of illustrations.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Kilian Grotesque Ornament

These images are from a 1607 suite of ornamental grotesque prints called 'Newes Gradesca Büchlein' by Lucas Kilian


In the middle Venus grabs Cupid's arrow, while his arch falls down by Lucas Kilian (1607) h'
Grotesque panel with Venus and Cupid; at centre; and two male half-length figures wearing helmets pouring liquid from large pitchers at upper centre from a series of thirteen plates with grotesque panels



A wagon is pulled by a winged satyr by Lucas Kilian (1607) d
A wagon is pulled by a winged satyr



In the middle is a man in oriental dress backwards on a donkey by Lucas Kilian (1607) e
Grotesque panel with a Turk sitting backwards on a donkey chased by wasps; at centre; half-length grotesque figures playing an organ and a harp at lower centre; male figures playing a lute and viola da gamba at centre left and right



A man in oriental dress with a banner sits on a drum in the middle by Lucas Kilian (1607) g
Grotesque panel with a Turk seated on a drum holding a banner; at centre; two Turkish horsemen below and two grotesque birds riding sows at lower centre



Sphere under a starry sky by Lucas Kilian (1607) c
Sphere under a starry sky



Bacchus sitting under an arch of vines, flanked by flower vases held by monkeys by Lucas Kilian (1607) j
Grotesque panel with a putto seated on a wine barrel at centre; two parrots in profile below; surrounded by festoons



Venus + 2 dolphins by Lucas Kilian (1607)
Grotesque panel with a nude female figure (Venus?) standing on a globe; at centre; half-length grotesque figures in various poses throughout



Diana + nymph by Lucas Kilian (1607) b
Grotesque panel with a female figure kneeling in front of a classical hunter (Venus and Adonis?) at centre; a hunter shooting a stag at upper centre, another attacking a boar with a spear at lower centre



A couple struggling in the middle by Lucas Kilian (1607) i
Grotesque panel with two male figures wrestling at centre; below a lion attacking a bull



Liquid from two horns by Lucas Kilian (1607) a
Grotesque panel with a half-length grotesque figure sitting on a shell holding two cornucopias at centre; liquid from the cornucopias flowing into bowls held by two seated figures below; with various animals throughout and two male figures at upper left and right roasting birds [Ed. I see kangaroos!]



A crowned woman stands in the middle flanked by two satyrs. Together they support a shell in which a figure sitting by Lucas Kilian (1607) f
Grotesque panel with a half-length grotesque figure sitting on a shell holding two sticks from which masks are dangling; below a whole-length figure standing underneath a canopy; grotesque figures reading and farting



Newes Gradesca Büchlein (title page) by Lucas Kilian (1607)
Title-page with a strapwork cartouche flanked by female personifications of sculpture and painting; at upper left and right putti holding a burin and a square and pair of dividers



Lucas (Lukas) Kilian (1579-1637) was a painter, draughtsman and engraver and was known to have worked for the publisher, Domenicus Custos [previously]. He spent three years in Italy, mainly in Venice, but lived the majority of his life in his home town of Augsburg in Germany, where he died.

Among the sparse web notes about Kilian is the inference that his independent prints (as opposed to the reproduction work he undertook in Italy to fund his travels) were influential with respect to the graded shade styling of auricular (ear-like) elements and in the novel dissolving grotesque tail appearances. It should be emphasised here that I'm parsing snippets of translated - sometimes garbled - mentions and it's equally possible that Kilian's work may simply be representative of a certain point in the evolution of grotesque embellishment rather than being at the forefront necessarily.

The images above are from an album called 'Newes Gradesca Büchlein' by Lucas Kilian, which he designed and published in Augsburg in 1607 and all but the last image comes from the Rijksmuseum. The British Museum was the source for the title page image and all the commentary below the images in black text (the blue is my rendering of the translation of the Dutch descriptions at the Rijksmuseum). There is, not unexpectedly, some minor contradictions between the commentaries at times.

It might be considered peripheral for the most part here, but one item of interest that surfaced when I was (mostly fruitlessly) searching for background to the Kilian print suite, is an old post from the esteemed misteraitch at Giornale Nuovo called Tales of the Arabesque.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

The Time of the Hunt

The Book of the Hunt of King Modus & Queen Ratio -
15th century Flemish manuscript miniatures


15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 19



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 48



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 91



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 119



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 106
A deer with ten antlers (and Christ on the cross), representing the ten commandments



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 59



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 68



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 124



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 64



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 109



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 314



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 128



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 206



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 111



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 196



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 193



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 234



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 259



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 284



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 290



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 334



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 343



15th century illuminated manuscript miniature: Henri de Ferrières, Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio 346

[The miniatures above have been cropped and the larger images were 
made from spliced screencaps. They are otherwise unaltered.]

Attributed to an anonymous Burgundian illuminator known as the Master of Girart de Roussillon^, 'The Book of King Modus and Queen Ratio' (after 1455) is a treatise on hunting and, in the form held by the Royal Library of Belgium, is bound with a second book, 'The Dream of Pestilence', something of a poetic exposition on contemporary morals.
The Book of the Hunt of King Modus – this is the title of a work conceived in 1370 by Henri de Ferrières^, a knowledgeable expert of the art and practice of hunting. The Norman nobleman, who as an old man exchanged the pen against the sword, wrote the first treatise on hunting in the French language, which has since been copied several times. It is assumed that this manuscript was made for Philip the Good, the third of the great dukes of Burgundy who assembled a kingdom more wealthy and powerful than any other in Europe.

Who was King Modus? - The author wished to underline the authority of his text while also capturing the readers’ attention. He therefore patterned this work after the manner of the Greek philosophers, as a dialogue between a student and his teacher conversing on the hunting profession. The teacher in this case is embodied in the allegorical figure of King Modus.

56 lively miniatures - The miniatures of our manuscript, which was produced in 1455 in Burgundy, deserve special mention. Their rich golden decoration is not only intended to illustrate the instructions of the text but also to glorify the pompous lifestyle of the nobility. They intrigue us with a certain liveliness, the expert representation of animals and the authenticity of the luxurious vestments. The close association with nature was intended by the illuminators who attached great importance to authenticity in their depictions. The book thus displays the pinnacle of Flemish art in a work made for a prince of the high nobility." [Adeva Fine Manuscripts]