Munster, Sebastian | Compositio horologiorum, Basel, 1531, frist edition Hans Holbein the Younger

Munster, Sebastian

Compositio Horologiorum. Basel: Henricus Petrus, 1531

First edition of one of the earliest printed books on horology, with four cuts by Hans Holbein the Younger.

Holbein provided a full-page, and apparently the first, illustration of the "Nocturnal," an instrument used to determine the hour of the night at sea; other cuts by Holbein appear on pages 39, 166, and 173.

This copy shows extensive evidence of early censorship. An early owner's name is struck out and eroded between the second and third lines of the title-page; half of the seventh and all of the eighth line of the title-page are erased; the printer's name is struck through; Munster's name is struck out in the headings of the dedication and preface; his name in the drop title is also erased; the outer margins are stabbed, implying that the book was sewn shut.

4to (203 x 149 mm). Woodcut horological vignette on title, figures, tables, and diagrams, printer's device at end, without the folding cut of a wall sundial, as usual; scattered ink strikeovers with some loss from oxidation, four stab marks along fore-edge margin, a few margins neatly repaired occasional light foxing. Modern half vellum, edges stained blue blue-green edges.

REFERENCES

Brunet 3:1944; Houzeau & Lancaster 11349; Major, "Basler Horologienbucher mit Holzschnitten von Hans Holbein d. J." in Monatshefte fur Kunstwissenschaft 4 (1911): 77–81; Zinner 1448

PROVENANCE

Robert S. Dunham (acquired from Heller in September 1946; Sotheby's, 11 December 1993, lot 725)