BOURGOGNE (Antoine de).

Mundi lapis lydius sive vanitas per veritate[m] falsi accusata et convicta. Antwerp, widow of Jan Cnobbaert, 1639. Small in-4, vellum with covers (Binding of the time). First edition of this very beautiful book of moral emblems published in Antwerp. It is illustrated with an allegorical title-frontispiece by Theodoor Jonas van Merlen after Abraham van Diepenbeeck and 50 mid-page emblematic figures, presented in oval or hexagonal medallions, etched by Andries Pauwels after the same artist. Archdeacon of Bruges, Antoine de Bourgogne (1594?-1657) was, after 1651, dean of his cathedral chapter. A copy in contemporary Dutch vellum given by the widow Cnobbaert to the Jesuit convent of Antwerp, with a handwritten ex-dono dated 1639 at the top and bottom of the frontispiece. It does include the [14] introductory pages, but lacks, as is often the case, the additional errata page. Body of the book partially unstuck, marginal spotting on a few leaves, small tears in the margin of the frontispiece. Praz, 292 - Landwehr, Low Countries, n°98.