TOPOGRAPHIA GERMANIAE de (FACSIMILE PUBLICATION - EARLY PRINTED BOOKS). MERIAN, MATTHAEUS - 1959-65

Kassel and Basel: Brenreiter-Verlag, 1959-65. 305 x 203 mm. (12 x 8"). 16 volumes. Publisher's vellum-like paper in shades of ivory, upper covers blindstamped with Habsburg double-headed eagle crest, flat spines with brown morocco labels. With hundreds of folding topographical plates. Front pastedown of Hesse volume inscribed in ink, "John A. A. des V. G. / Haywood." Occasional small marks to boards or smudges to edges, but essentially unused, and in virtually mint condition. This is an excellent facsimile of that portion of the famous "Topographia" series that covers the Germanic territories. The set contains reproductions of the volumes covering Swabia (1643), Hesse (1646), Westphalia (1647), Bohemia / Moravia / Silesia (1650), Upper Saxony (1650), Brandenburg and Pomerania (1652), Lower Saxony (1653), Switzerland (1654), Braunschweig and Lüneburg (1654), Franconia (1656), Austria (1656), Bavaria (1657), Burgundy and the Netherlands (1659), Alsace (1663), the Rhenish Palatinate (1672), and Mainz / Trier / Cologne (1675). The splendid and justly celebrated "Topographia" series of books was initiated by Merian (1593-1650), the famous Swiss engraver who became head of a prominent Frankfurt publishing house of the period. The series, continued by Merian's heirs to a grand total of some 30 folio volumes issued between 1642-88, contains the largest number of engraved views of towns, villages, and castles ever assembled. It is of primary importance for the knowledge of Central European topography of the baroque era, and it is of great interest because of the very considerable artistic value of its engravings.