HISTORY - NETHERLANDS Aurelius Cornelius... Lot 22

[HISTORY - NETHERLANDS] [Aurelius Cornelius] - [VAN LEYDEN Lucas] Cronycke van Hollandt, Zeelandt, ende van Vrieslandt, beghinnende va[n] Adams tiden tot die geboerte ons heren Jh[es]u[m] voertgaende tot de[n] jare M.CCCCC. ende Xvij. Leiden, Jan Seversz, 18 August 1517, 435 ff. ch. In-4°. Pleine basane XVIIIe. Back with 5 nerves. Title piece in deficit. Accidents to the headdresses and missing back. Blunt corners. Rubbing and epidermis. Original edition of the rarest rarity! Published in Leiden in 1517, this very rare first edition, written by the Dutch humanist Cornelius Aurelius (c. 1460-1531) and known today as the "Divisiekroniek", mainly describes the history of Holland from the earliest times up to the year 1517. It also contains world history, a genre that was very popular in the late Middle Ages. Cornelius Aurelius compiled his book on the basis of a wide variety of old and contemporary historical works from the Netherlands and abroad. His chronicle had a great influence for a very long time. (see lot no. 30 ) This 1517 edition is also important from the point of view of art history because of the dozens of woodcuts it contains. The book contains 239 in-text woodcuts (including 121 portraits) printed from 110 separate woodblocks. Only ten of these were specially designed for the "Divisiekroniek", all other woodcuts having been used in earlier editions, such as Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle. Lucas van Leyden, one of the artists most likely to have been involved in the illustration of the book, is known as the most important Renaissance artist in the Northern Netherlands, particularly through his paintings, but the composition and architectural setting of his engravings also testify to his talent. Some of the engravings are also attributed to Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen and Cornelis Engebrechtsz. Unfortunately incomplete copies of the title