• Bonhams, June 16-25: 15th-CENTURY TREATISE ON SYPHILIS. GRÜNPECK. 1496. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, June 16-25: THE NORMAN COPY OF BENIVIENI'S TREATISE ON PATHOLOGY. 1507. $12,000 - $18,000
    Bonhams, June 16-25: FRACASTORO. Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus. 1530. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, June 16-25: THE FIRST PUBLISHED WORK ON SKIN DISEASES. MERCURIALIS. De morbis cutaneis... 1572. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, June 16-25: BIDLOO. Anatomia humani corporis... 1685. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, June 16-25: THE NORMAN COPY OF DOUGLASS'S EARLY AMERICAN WORK ON INNOCULATION AND SMALLPOX. 1722. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, June 16-25: LIND'S FIRST TREATISE ON SCURVY. 1753. $15,000 - $20,000
    Bonhams, June 16-25: RARE JENNER SIGNED CIRCULAR ON VACCINATION. 1821. $4,000 - $6,000
    Bonhams, June 16-25: MOST BEAUTIFUL OF MEDICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. BRIGHT. Reports of Medical Cases... 1827-1831. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, June 16-25: FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE PRESENTATION COPY TO HER MOTHER. 1860. $6,000 - $8,000
    Bonhams, June 16-25: LORENZO TRAVER'S MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL OF BURNSIDE'S NORTH CAROLINA EXPEDITION. TRAVER, Lorenzo. $2,000 - $3,000
    Bonhams, June 16-25: ONE OF THE EARLIEST PHOTOGRAPHIC BOOKS ON DERMATOLOGY. HARDY. Clinique Photographique... 1868. $3,000 - $5,000
  • Bonhams, June 16-24: KELMSCOTT PRESS. RUSKIN. The Nature of Gothic. 1892. $1,500 - $2,500
    Bonhams, June 16-24: ASHENDENE PRESS. The Wisdom of Jesus. 1932. $2,000 - $3,000
    Bonhams, June 16-24: CHARLOTTE BRONTE WRITES AS GOVERNESS. Autograph Letter Signed, 1851. $15,000 - $25,000
    Bonhams, June 16-24: FIRST AMERICAN EDITION OF WUTHERING HEIGHTS. BRONTE, Emily. New York, 1848. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, June 16-24: IAN FLEMING ASSOCIATION COPY. You Only Live Twice. London, 1964. $7,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, June 16-24: DELUXE EDITION WITH ORIGINAL PAINTING. BUKOWSKI, Charles. War All the Time. 1984. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, June 16-24: EINSTEIN'S MOST POWERFUL STATEMENT ON THE ATOMIC BOMB. Original Typed Manuscript Signed, "On My Participation in the Atom Bomb Project," 1953. $100,000 - $150,000
    Bonhams, June 16-24: EINSTEIN ON SCIENCE, WAR AND MORALITY. Autograph Letter Signed, 1949. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, June 16-24: SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. WASHINGTON, George. Engraved document signed, 1786. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, June 16-24: AN EARLY CHINESE-MADE 34-STAR U.S. CONSULAR FLAG. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, June 16-24: SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH OF LINCOLN WITH HIS SON TAD. 1864. $60,000 - $90,000
    Bonhams, June 16-24: MALCOLM X WRITES FROM KENYA. Postcard signed, 1964. $4,000 - $6,000
  • Case Antiques
    Two-Day Summer Auction
    July 12 & 13, 2025
    Case Antiques, July 12-13: Winston Link Signed Photograph, Hotshot Eastbound, Iager, West Virginia, July 1957. $3,400 to $3,800.
    Case Antiques, July 12-13: Alexander Hamilton ALS, Whiskey Rebellion. $2,800 to $3,200.
    Case Antiques, July 12-13: Civil War Canteen and Letters, Thomas Tabb Jr. CSA. $1,800 to $2,200.
    Case Antiques
    Two-Day Summer Auction
    July 12 & 13, 2025
    Case Antiques, July 12-13: Archive of Capt. William Tabb of MS, CSA, Killed Atlanta. $1,000 to $1,400.
    Case Antiques, July 12-13: Rudyard Kipling Collection, 29 Volumes, First Editions; Zaehnsdorf Bindings. $1,000 to $1,200.
    Case Antiques, July 12-13: Artist Andrew Wyeth & Family Signed Letters, Cards. $1,000 to $1,200.
    Case Antiques
    Two-Day Summer Auction
    July 12 & 13, 2025
    Case Antiques, July 12-13: Augusta Resolves Silk Broadside, Revolutionary War RelateD. $800 to $1,000.
    Case Antiques, July 12-13: 1894 Map of Nashville. $800 to $900.
    Case Antiques, July 12-13: CSA Navy Appointment, Semmes and Mallory plus Photo of Lt. Armstrong. $600 to $800.
    Case Antiques
    Two-Day Summer Auction
    July 12 & 13, 2025
    Case Antiques, July 12-13: Slave Colonies of Great Britain, 1825, Macaulay, First Edition, plus Debate on Abolition, 1792. $600 to $800.
    Case Antiques, July 12-13: Signed Photo of 3 Presidents: Nixon, Ford, Carter. $600 to $800.
    Case Antiques, July 12-13: Slave Ledger, Merrill Plantations, Natchez, MS & Concordia, LA. $1,000 to $1,200.
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Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2019 Issue

Renaissance Manuals on Perspective and Human Proportion from Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books

Perspectives.

Perspectives.

Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books has issued a catalogue entitled Perspectives. A Special Collection of Artists' Manuals on Perspective and Human Proportion. Perspective, basically, is the art of making flat, two-dimensional images appear as if they were three dimensional. To a large degree, we take it for granted today as artists, with varying degrees of success, have mastered the art. However, if you think of the pictures you drew in elementary school, and many if not most of us never advanced beyond this, they were flat and dull. There was a time when even the greatest artists never advanced beyond this point.

 

The development of a sense of perspective dates only to the Renaissance. That is why the great paintings found inside the Egyptian pyramids look flat and out of proportion. Walk like an Egyptian. The drawings may have offered detail, but they still lacked depth, not at all life like. The same can be said for old American native rock art and cave art. Talented artists drew flat images. It was not until the dawn of the Renaissance that great artists such as Michelangelo and Dürer began to master the techniques that added a third dimension, and with it, life to their drawings.

 

For example, take a look at the cover image. I have no idea what these gentlemen are doing, or what they are pointing to, so I will leave that to others to explain. What else is noticeable is the artist has added depth to the drawing. The different sizes of the figures creates a sense that some are farther away than others, though in reality, the difference is that some figures are larger than others, not closer. The lines, which draw together appear as they would if traveling away from you, though in reality they too are flat. Add to that the greater detail in the larger figures, as you would be able to discern from people placed closer to you, and the the shading beneath the feet consistently aimed in one direction as shadows would be, and you have created the appearance of depth the Egyptians never mastered.

 

Of course, there is more to perspective than this simple explanation, which is why I still can't draw anything more realistic than a mediocre cave drawing. There are mathematical relationships that artists began to recognize at the dawn of the Renaissance. These books and manuals relate these lessons as they were developed in the early days of three-dimensional art. Much here, new at the time, is timeless today. Here are a few examples.

 

We begin with a trilogy from Albrecht Dürer: Underweysung der messung, mit dem zirckel unn richtscheyt in Linien ebnen unnd gantzen corporen (1525), with Etliche underricht, zu befestigung der Stett, Schlosz, und flecken (1527), with Hierinn sind begriffen vier bücher von menschlicher Proportion (1528). This is a sammelband of first editions of the three groundbreaking books Dürer wrote near the end of his life (he died in 1528). The first is his treatise on measurement, which explained his techniques on perspective and mathematical proportion. The second is on a different subject – fortification. One doesn't think of Dürer with military subjects, he being an artist, engraver and writer, but this was a practical subject at a time when some European country was always fighting with another, or with the Turks, or even their own people. It makes more sense if you think of this as a book about architecture. The third book is on human proportion, a necessary subject for an artist to master, both for perspective and realistic drawings of people. Item 2.

 

Next we turn to a book on perspective even older than those of Dürer, Von der Kunnst Perspectiva. This is the 1509 German edition of De artificiali perspectiva, first published in France in 1505. The author was Jean Pélerin, also known as Viator. He was not the first to write about perspective, as several Italian artists had written on the subject before, some even prior to printing, but his 1505 edition was the first such treatise published outside of Italy. Viator was a diplomat in the court of King Louis XI and a clergyman. What he wasn't was an artist. Nonetheless, he had a great understanding of the principles of perspective. The drawings used to illustrate the principles are simple, essentially line drawings, as one might expect of a person of limited artistic talent. Nevertheless, they dramatically display depth despite their simplicity, demonstrating how to create a sense of perspective. This very rare edition, published by Jörg Glockendon, is believed to have been pirated. Item 1.

 

Next we have an amazing book whose artwork in a sense turns perspective on its head. The perspective is right, but the objects illustrated present an incongruous mix. You would think this was surrealism, except that art form would not be invented for another 350 years. The title is Geometria et Perspectiva, Hier Inn Etliche Zerbrochne Gebew, den Schreinern in eingelegter Arbait dienstlich… by Lorenz Stöer. It was published in 1567. Stöer illustrates very odd scenes, combining realistic structures, various large polyhedrons, and other unusual structures to create a world that will remind you of a more recent artist who created some of the most fantastic artwork of the last century. As Günther notes, “The bizarre and implausible coexistence of buildings, nature, and puzzling geometrical objects is so surreal that they resemble – and may have been the inspiration for – the tangled and ‘impossible’ works of the Dutch artist Maurits C. Escher (1898-1972), renowned for his mathematically-inspired optical illusions.” If you are an admirer of the work of Escher, to which I plead guilty, you will love these illustrations. Item 8.

 

It turns out the item on the cover is actually a manual on perspective. The title is Underweissung der Proportion unnd stellung der bossen, likely a rare third edition from 1543 (the first was published in 1538). It is the work of Erhard Schön, a disciple of Dürer. Günther describes Schön as probably the leading woodcut designer after Dürer. He had a workshop full of apprentices who asked him to create this guide to help them prepare satisfactory illustrations. The instructions of Dürer and others were hard to follow, so Schön's job was to make the principles more understandable. Many of the illustrations use simpler linear ones to demonstrate the point, people with square, or cube-like heads seen from different angles. Günther notes once again these drawings appear to preview much later art forms, saying, “these angular figures composed of geometrical solids are stunning for the present-day viewer, as they strongly recall cubism, anticipating the 20th-century avant-garde movement.” Item 4.

 

Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books may be reached at +41 (0)61 275 7575 or info@guenther-rarebooks.com. Their website is www.guenther-rarebooks.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    New York Book Week
    12-26 June
    Sotheby’s, June 25: Theocritus. Theocriti Eclogae triginta, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, February 1495/1496. 220,000 - 280,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, June 26: Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby, 1925. 40,000 - 60,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, June 26: Blake, William. Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Printed ca. 1381-1832. 400,000 - 600,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, June 26: Lincoln, Abraham. Thirteenth Amendment, signed by Abraham Lincoln. 8,000,000 - 12,000,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, June 26: Galieli, Galileo. First Edition of the Foundation of Modern Astronomy, 1610. 300,000 - 400,000 USD
  • Finarte
    Books, Autographs & Prints
    June 24 & 25, 2025
    Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE / LANDINO, CRISTOFORO. Comento di Christophoro Landino Fiorentino sopra la Comedia di Danthe Alighieri poeta fiorentino, 1481. €40,000 to €50,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. La Commedia [Commento di Christophorus Landinus]. Aggiunta: Marsilius Ficinus, Ad Dantem gratulatio [in latino e Italiano], 1487. €40,000 to €60,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: ALIGHIERI, DANTE. Il Convivio, 1490. €20,000 to €25,000.
    Finarte
    Books, Autographs & Prints
    June 24 & 25, 2025
    Finarte, June 24-25: BANDELLO, MATTEO. La prima [-quarta] parte de le nouelle del Bandello, 1554. €7,000 to €9,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: LEGATURA – PLUTARCO. Le vies des hommes illustres, grecs et romaines translates, 1567. €10,000 to €12,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: TOLOMEO, CLAUDIO. Ptolemeo La Geografia di Claudio Ptolemeo Alessandrino, Con alcuni comenti…, 1548. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Finarte
    Books, Autographs & Prints
    June 24 & 25, 2025
    Finarte, June 24-25: FESTE - COPPOLA, GIOVANNI CARLO. Le nozze degli Dei, favola [...] rappresentata in musica in Firenze…, 1637. €6,000 to €8,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: SPINOZA, BARUCH. Opera posthuma, 1677. €8,000 to €12,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: PUSHKIN, ALEXANDER. Borus Godunov, 1831. €30,000 to €50,000.
    Finarte
    Books, Autographs & Prints
    June 24 & 25, 2025
    Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - LECUIRE, PIERRE. Ballets-minute, 1954. €35,000 to €40,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - MAJAKOVSKIJ, VLADIMIR / LISSITZKY, LAZAR MARKOVICH. Dlia Golosa, 1923. €7,000 to €10,000.
    Finarte, June 24-25: LIBRO D'ARTISTA - MATISSE, HENRI / MONTHERLANT, HENRY DE. Pasiphaé. Chant de Minos., 1944. €22,000 to €24,000.

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