144 - Meisner, Daniel. *Thesaurus philo-politicus, hoc est: Emblemata sive moralia politica, figuris aeneis incisa*. Frankfurt, Kieser 1623., A masterpiece of 17th-century emblematics featuring magnificent views of European cities

Meisner, Daniel. *Thesaurus philo-politicus, hoc est: Emblemata sive moralia politica, figuris aeneis incisa*. Frankfurt, Kieser 1623., A masterpiece of 17th-century emblematics featuring magnificent views of European cities Meisner, Daniel. *Thesaurus philo-politicus, hoc est: Emblemata sive moralia politica, figuris aeneis incisa*. Frankfurt, Kieser 1623. Oblong octavo (140 x 182 mm); [28] pages. 2 illustrated frontispieces, 52 plates in the first part and 48 in the second, handwritten index at the end of the volume (incomplete, with missing pages, defects, tears, and discoloration.) Contemporary binding in brown leather, spine with 4 raised bands and gilt decoration (worn). A rare first edition. Among the most famous and classic series of city views, alongside those by Münster, Braun-Hogenberg, and Merian, with the added distinction of also being a rare example of an emblem book. The plates are embellished with mottos and maxims in Latin and German that introduce an allegorical-emblematic scene, each with a European city in the background. These urban landscapes rank among the finest depictions of topography from the early decades of the 17th century. This copy depicts the major German, Austrian, and Swiss cities, as well as views of Naples, Copenhagen, Riga, Paris, Seville, Calais, Prague, Genoa, Gdańsk, Venice, Toledo, and Stockholm. Over the past twenty years, only four copies of the work have appeared at auction, all of them incomplete. A masterpiece of 17th-century emblematic art featuring magnificent views of European cities