[AMMAN (Jost)]. – [LONICER (Philipp)].

Insignia sacræ cæsareæ majestatis, principium electorum, ac aliquot illustrissimarum, illustrium, nobelium, et aliarum familiarum, formis artificiosissimis expressa. Frankfurt am Main, Georg Rab for Sigmund Feyerabend, 1579. Small in-4 of [112] ff. (of 144), soft vellum (contemporary binding). First edition of this very rare and beautiful work, illustrated with numerous full-page woodcuts mostly by the Swiss artist Jost Amman (1539-1591). It is a kind of printed album amicorum, alternating heraldry and iconography, comprising three parts. In the first part, each engraving represents either the coat of arms of an illustrious house of the Holy German Empire, or a mythological figure, an allegory, an emblem, or a civil or military costume; all are accompanied by an eight-column Latin composition by Philipp Lonicer (1532-1599). The second part follows the same principle, sometimes repeating the woods of the first part; but it is devoid of text and the shields on the heraldic plates are empty, so that the owner of the work and his family can complete it. Finally, the third part contains only small shields, also empty, at a rate of four per page. The title and the last leaf are each decorated with a typographical mark. Complete copies of the 144 ff. required by Brunet and Becker are exceedingly rare. For comparison, the Cambridge copy has 104 and the Arsenal copy 120. The present copy contains 112 ff. and hence 201 full-page woodcuts, 153 in the first part and 48 in the second, plus 14 pp. of small shields in the last. A copy in its first condition from the library of Peiresc, the famous astronomer, patron, curiosity seeker and collector of Provence, with his monogrammed dry stamp at the bottom of the title. Born in Belgentier, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580-1637), after studies in Aix, Avignon and Montpellier, became secretary to Guillaume du Vair, president of the Parliament of Provence. Long journeys and a large correspondence brought him into contact with many scholars, humanists and scientists, such as Galileo and Gassendi. His library contained more than 6,000 volumes and was accompanied by a cabinet of curiosities demonstrating the universality of his tastes. Many of his books were bound in red morocco by Simon Corberan, his regular bookbinder in Aix-en-Provence, but others, acquired already bound, retained their original cover and were simply stamped in black, at the bottom of the title page, with the collector's smallest gilding iron. A second dry stamp, unknown to Lugt, appears next to that of Peiresc; it represents an open compass on the initial F or JF. Minor scattered foxing and a few uniformly faded leaves, corner of a white endpaper cut. Brunet, I, 235 (144 ff. and 270 woodcuts) - Becker, n°24a (144 ff., list of woodcuts) - Adams, L-1458 (104 ff.) - VD16 : L 2468 (129 ff.) - Bruno Marty, " De quelques signes extérieurs de N.-C. F. de Peiresc ", 2021, on the website lesamisdepeiresc.fr.