Illuminated manuscript leaf from a French Book of Hours, circa 1450

Illuminated manuscript leaf from a French Book of Hours, circa 1450

Technical Details & Condition:

This double-sided leaf is executed in Latin Gothic Textura Formata script on fine vellum. By the mid-15th century, this script reached its most formal, “frozen” state—exemplified here by the absolute rigidity of the minims and the use of quadrate (square) feet. This high-grade Formata was reserved for prestigious liturgical works and remains a hallmark of the “golden age” of Northern French illumination.

The borders exhibit the mid-15th-century shift toward naturalism. The exceptionally fine foliate decoration features strawberries (often symbolizing righteousness or the "fruits of the spirit") intertwined with blue and gold acanthus leaves and delicate ivy. The pigments are tempered with glair (egg white), providing a crisp finish. The vibrant scarlet of the berries is likely minium (red lead), while the more saturated red of the initials is vermilion. The deep blue is likely azurite, potentially enriched with a glaze of lapis lazuli (ultramarine) to add luminosity—a technique used in high-status workshops to balance cost and brilliance. The "lively" pale green is malachite, likely brightened with lead-tin yellow.

The burnished gold initials are set against alternating grounds of blue and rose-pink. This principle of alternation extends to the line-fillers; by flipping the sequence of red and blue, the scribe created a visual rhythm that guided the reader's eye and maintained the "woven" density of the text block.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 19 x 13.3 cm

Lettering (Textual Content):

• Recto: Conclusion of Psalm 142 (Vulgate), beginning with "...spiritus tuus bonus..." Followed by the shorthand for the Gloria Patri and the opening of the antiphon "Ne reminiscaris" ("Remember not, Lord, our offenses"). A final rubric in Middle French, "La letanie", formally introduces the next section of the book.

• Verso: The start of the Litany of the Saints, opening with the Kyrieleyson (Lord have mercy). The text includes the standard sequence of invocations to the Trinity and the Virgin Mary.

Price & Shipping:

AU$598 (approximately US$429.38 / €366.52 / £317.39), including worldwide express shipping. Import duties (if any) are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in purchasing this rare illuminated manuscript leaf—please note that the French rubricated words, “La letanie” (the litany), appearing within the otherwise Latin text, may have been intended as a “wake-up” signal for a French lay aristocrat, indicating that the litany had concluded. To inquire, please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I will gladly provide a PayPal invoice for a secure and seamless transaction.

This manuscript leaf has been sold

August Gaber, “Death as the Winner”, 1848, after Alfred Rethel

August Gaber (1823 –1891)

“Death as the Winner” (or “Der Tod als Sieger” or "Death Leaving the City as a Hero"), 1848

Technical Details & Condition:

Woodcut (wood-engraving) printed in black on heavy buff wove paper. This is the sixth and final plate, lettered above the image as “Sechstes Blatt” (Sixth Sheet), from the series “Auch ein Todtentanz” (or “This, too, is a Dance of Death”). The edition was published in Leipzig in 1849 by Georg Wigand (1818–1858).

The series revisits the medieval “Danse Macabre” tradition—where skeletons interact with the living to reflect on mortality (memento mori)—but recontextualises it within the German Revolutions of 1848–49.

In this climactic scene, Death is portrayed as a mock hero. Crowned with laurel and holding a white flag attached to his scythe, he rides a horse over a barricade of fallen revolutionaries. A chilling detail: the horse licks the wound of a dead insurgent, emphasizing the cold, unfeeling nature of the “liberty” found in death. The series serves as a conservative, counter-revolutionary warning that radical upheaval only leads to the grave. 

The design of this print, along with the others in the series, is based on drawings by Alfred Rethel (1816–1859), with intermediary design work by Hugo Leopold Friedrich Heinrich Bürkner (1818–1897). The verses below the image are by Robert Reinick (1805–1852). 

The impression is strong and well-printed. Aside from minor bumps to the lower corners, the sheet is in near pristine condition, free of tears, holes, abrasions, or stains.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 28.2 x 42 cm
• Platemark: 22.3 x 31.8 cm

Lettering:

• Above image borderline at centre: “Sechstes Blatt.”
• Within the image borderline at lower right: “GABER sc.”
• Below the image borderline in four columns of two lines: “Der sie geführt — es war der Tod! / Er hat gehalten, was er bot. // Die ihm gefolgt, sie liegen bleich / Als Brüder alle, frei und gleich. — // Seht hin die Maske that er fort; / Als Sieger, hoch zu Rosse dort, / zieht, der Verwesung hohn im Blick, / Der held der rothen Republik.”

(Translation: “He who led them—it was Death! He kept his promise. Those who followed him lie pale, all brothers, free and equal. Look, he removed the mask; as victor, high on horseback, there, with the scorn of decay in his eyes, rides the hero of the Red Republic.”)

References:

• Adriani 99 (Gert Adriani, “Alfred Rethel: Auch ein Totentanz: Todesdarstellungen von 1828 bis 1852”, 1956, Düsseldorf, p. 29, cat. no. 99).
• Rijksmuseum: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200137057
• National Galleries of Scotland: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/155965/dance-death-auch-ein-todtentanz-death-winner   
• British Museum (series): https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1977-U-11-1-6

Price & Shipping:

AU$288 (approximately US$206.50 / €175.96 / £152.51), including worldwide express shipping. Import duties (if any) are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you wish to purchase this exceptionally executed and startlingly memorable woodcut, based on a design by Alfred Rethel, please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I will provide a PayPal invoice to ensure a secure and easy transaction.

This print has been sold

William Strang, “Edwin T. Bull”, 1907

William Strang (1859–1921)

“Edwin T. Bull”, 1907

Note on the Sitter: Edwin T. Bull remains an enigmatic figure in Strang’s oeuvre. He likely belonged to the artist’s circle of professional or personal associates in London. In this study, Strang treats Bull with the same “fidelity to beauty” and psychological intensity usually reserved for his high-profile literary subjects, making this a rare and intimate glimpse into the Etching Revival's human side.

Technical Details & Condition:

Drypoint with pale plate tone on cream laid paper; pencil-signed by the artist at lower right.

While David Strang (1962) categorises this print as an etching (cat. no. 596), the British Museum describes it as a drypoint (inv. no. 1953,0509.316). Given the nuanced phrasing of the lines, it is likely a drypoint or a masterful combination of both techniques.

This impression is from the second state (of two), featuring the artist’s name and date inscribed in the plate. David Strang notes only four impressions of the first state, and "perhaps about 20" of the second, of which only 10 to 12 were likely signed.

A strong, superb, and near-faultless impression. The sheet is in near-pristine condition, with only minor remnants of mounting on the verso.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 38.8 x 28.5 cm
• Platemark: 30.3 x 22.7 cm

In-Plate Lettering:

• Lower right: “W. STRANG / 1907”

References:

• Strang 486 (Laurence Binyon [intro.] “William Strang, Catalogue of His Etched Work”, 3 vols., 1906–23, Glasgow, cat. no. 486)
• Strang 596 ii (David Strang, “William Strang, Catalogue of His Etchings and Engravings”, 1962, Glasgow, p. 102, cat. no. 596 ii)
• National Galleries of Scotland: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/32766  
• British Museum (no image): https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1953-0509-316

Price & Shipping:

AU$479 (approximately US$342.63 / €292.20 / £253.26), including worldwide express shipping. Import duties (if any) are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you wish to purchase this large, pencil-signed, and exceptionally rare portrait study by William Strang—a key figure of the Etching Revival noted for his ability to express psychological depth and fidelity to appearance in his portraits—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I will provide a PayPal invoice to ensure a secure and easy transaction.

This print has been sold

Henri Guérard, “Aube”, 1875

Henri Guérard (also known as Henri-Charles Guérard) (1846–1897)

“Aube” (or “Dawn”), 1875

Technical Details & Condition:

Etching with plate tone on laid (Holland) paper, issued prior to lettering, with full margins. This print is plate 4 from a series of ten etchings illustrating Victor Hugo's renowned collection of poems condemning Napoleon III and the Second Republic, “Les Châtiments” (also known as “The Castigations” or “The Punishments”). It was printed by Charles Delâtre (active 1872–1876) and published in Paris in 1875 as part of a portfolio titled: “Series of ten etchings by Henry Guérard on Holland paper for the illustration of Victor Hugo's Les Châtiments, Paris, Librairie Nouvelle.”

The prints in this series are extremely rare, and their numbering is discontinuous; see commentary by Paris Musées Collections: https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/maison-de-victor-hugo/oeuvres/iv-aube-les-chatiments-iv-x#infos-secondaires-detail.

This particular etching illustrates a few verses from the poem “Aube” (Dawn): “Sur l'horizon lugubre apparaît le matin / Face rose qui rit avec des dents de perles / Le boeuf rêve et mugit, les bouvreuils et les merles / Et les geais querelleurs sifflent, et dans les bois / On entend s'éveiller confusément les voix ; / Les moutons hors de l'ombre, à travers les bourrées, / Font bondir au soleil leurs toisons éclairées.” (Translation: “On the gloomy horizon appears the morning / A rosy face that laughs with pearly teeth / The ox dreams and lows, the bullfinches and blackbirds / And the quarrelsome jays hiss, and in the woods / One hears voices awakening confusedly; / The sheep out of the shadows, through the thickets, / Make their illuminated fleeces leap in the sun.”)

The impression is strong and well-printed — near faultless. The sheet is in pristine condition, free of tears, holes, folds, stains, or signs of handling.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 27.3 x 17.5 cm
• Platemark: 14.9 x 10.6 cm
• Image Borderline: 13 x 9.4 cm

In-Plate Lettering:

• Lower left within the image borderline: “H.GUERARD – 1875”
• Lower centre below the image borderline: “IV”
• Lower right below the image borderline: “IMP. CH DELATRE”

References:

• Beraldi 556–565 (Henri Beraldi, Les Graveurs du XIX^e Siècle: GAVARNI–GUÉRARD, 1888, vol. VII, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, p. 273, cat. nos. 556–565)
• British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1900-1231-6052

Price & Shipping:

AU$276 (approximately US$197.36 / €168.31 / £145.89), including worldwide express shipping. Import duties (if any) are the buyer’s responsibility.

I am offering this freely inscribed etching of a flock of sheep, reminiscent of the work of Charles Jacque and the Barbizon School. For purchase inquiries, please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com, and I will send a PayPal invoice for easy payment.