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an old book with a golden cross on the front coveran open book with a black and white design on itan open book with a black and white image of a man on a horsea book with a picture of a man and a woman on itan open book with two illustrations of a man and a woman in a boatan open book with a picture of people in itan open book with a picture of a man on the cover of ita brown book with gold trim and a cross on the covera brown book with gold trimming and a golden cross on it
MARAMBAT - de MALAFOSSE

54 - [FONTAINE (Charles)]. FIGURES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
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Estimate €200 - €300
Sale commission
Description
[FONTAINE (Charles)]. FIGURES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. Lyon, Jean de Tournes, 1556. In-12, havana-coloured calfskin, covers decorated with a roulette border featuring foliage and, in the centre, a gilded diamond-shaped fleur-de-lis; ribbed spine with gilded decoration, gilded title, edges speckled with red (late 19th-century binding); (52) ff. ; signatures A–F⁸, G⁴. Skin flaps at the top of the front cover, dog-ears rubbed. Handwritten ex-libris ‘André / Comte d’Herbemont / Charmois’ on the first blank leaf. SECOND EDITION of this work, which may be regarded as a BOOK OF EMBLEMS, published two years after the 1554 edition. It is one of the most captivating illustrated books to have come off the presses of Jean de TOURNES in Lyon. The six-line verses accompanying the illustrations are by the Lyon poet Charles FONTAINE (1514–1564/1570). The illustrations comprise 96 woodcuts by Bernard SALOMON, known as ‘Le Petit Bernard’, three of which are repeated. The illustrations depict the main episodes of the New Testament, from the Gospels through to the Acts of the Apostles and the Book of Revelation. Each scene is headed by its scriptural reference and followed by an explanatory six-line verse. A CHARMING COPY in an elegant, decorated binding from the late 19th/early 20th century, from the library of Count André d’Herbemont at the Château de Charmois in Mouzay, in the Meuse. ¶ Adams-Rawles-Saunders, ‘A Bibliography of French Emblem Books’, F.182, for the first edition – USTC, no. 11319 – Cartier, 269 for the 1554 edition – Mortimer, 85.
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About the sale Sale of Antique and Modern Books
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Auction time 11/12/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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