[RETZA (FRANCISCUS DE)


De generatione Christi, sive defensorium inviolatae castitatis B.V.M.], 28 leaves (of 30, lacking title and final leaf with woodcut of the Virgin), 30-32 lines, gothic type, in Latin and German, 51 woodcut illustrations (mostly 80 x 65mm.) in the text, one full-page woodcut of the Virgin (of 2), leaves misbound, washed, 3 leaves with blank section of margin replaced, modern vellum [ISTC ir00153000; BMC III, 780; Fairfax Murray (German) 360; Goff, R153' GW 10275; HC 6086 *], small 4to (197 x 138mm.), [Basel, Lienhart Ysenhut, c.1487-88]
|The third edition of this richly illustrated and curious work by Franciscus de Retza (c.1343-1427), in which natural phenomena and mythical stories are compared to the Immaculate Conception. The woodcuts, copied from the first Strassburg edition (c.1479-1482), depict the extraordinary scenes described in the text. Fairfax Murray notes that the first leaf of this book was blank when first issued, and it was only after some copies were distributed that the printer thought it necessary to add a title-page.Provenance: Ducs d'Arenberg, Brussels and Nordkirchen, their "Ch. Protector Meus" small oval stamp (Lugt 567) on endpaper; probably included in their sale, Christie's, 14 July 1902.