't Schat der zielen, dat is: Het geheele leven ons heeren Iesu Christi: naer de vyer evangeliesten. Naer vervolgh des tijdts by een ghevoeght, in seven stucken verdeelt. Met seer schoone figuren verciert/ gesneden door C. van Sichem, voor P.I.P.

8vo: 800-[4] pp. (dampstaining, lower corner Ff underl., some mispaginations).

Mod. half vellum, decor. paper on covers, ink-titled flat spine, red sp. edges (bookblock loosening spine).

First and only edition of a Catholic devotional book on the life of Christ (in 5 parts), the works of the Apostles, saints' lives, and religious emblems. Ill. with 686 fine woodcuts, mainly full-page and many signed "CVS", by Christoffel van Sichem II (c. 1581-1658) after his own inventions and after famous artists such as Aldegrever, Beham, Bloemaert, Dürer, Goltzius, Lucas van Leyden, the Wierix brothers, etc. Perhaps the most richly illustrated woodcut book of the 17th c. including a large ornamental woodcut with putti, beasts, insects and flowers besides decorated initials with biblical figures (mostly in the works of the Apostles). Van Sichem was one of the greatest block cutters of the Dutch Golden Age.
Ref. STCN. - Poortman 48. - Hollstein XXVII.51.52.