Historiae biblicae Veteris et Novi Testamenti [...] = Biblische Geschichten/ des Alten und Neuen Testaments [...].

Oblong folio: printed title (red and black) + 100 engraved plates (marginal spotting, some sl. soiling).

Mod. gilt half vellum, decorated paper on covers, front cover with gilt title and unidentified monogram BvR (owner or binder?). Good copy.

100 engraved plates illustrating the Bible from Genesis to the Book of Revelations, numbered 2-100 by Joseph and Johann Klauber after J.A. Stockmann. Specialising in devotional prints, the engravers’ technical skill is demonstrated here in the virtuosic execution of ornate frame, religious iconography, figure, landscape and architecture, although the design and composition of the plates cannot confidently be claimed for the brothers. "The workshop is so often looked upon as an epitome of Augsburg, 18th century print art, the idea takes some time getting used to that the brothers were almost exclusively reproductive artists and that there are very few prints whose invention can confidently be claimed for them" (Stoll, Empire of Prints, 24). The title pages to the Old and New Testaments bear the signature of "I.A. Stockmann", draughtsman Johann Adam Stockmann, which might indicate that the designs for the suite are his. The plates depict scenes from the books of the Old and then the New Testament, with numbering from the Vulgate Bible (this, in conjunction with the "Cath." element of the brothers’ signature at the foot of the plates, firmly stated their religious persuasion in the staunchly Protestant Augsburg) (Maggs).
Ref. Empire of prints. The imperial city of Augsburg and the printed image in the 17th and 18th c. (Augsburg, 2016). - Berlin Kat. I:155.