CUSTOS, Raphael.
Patriciarum stirpium in S. Rom. Imp. Urbe Augusta Vindelicor ... | Der herren Gschlechter deß Hail. Röm. Reichs Statt Augspurg ...
Augsburg, Christoph Mang, 1613. 4to. With an engraved title, and 122 numbered engraved full-page illustrations of knights. Contemporary gold-tooled vellum, with a floral ornament within an oval frame in the centre of both boards, set within a double fillet frame with floral corner pieces, remnants of closing ties, gilt edges. [24], "123" [= 124] ll., 124-136, [1 blank] pp.
€ 3,500
Rare first and only edition of a heraldic work on the patrician families of Augsburg, with over a hundred beautiful full-page engravings. The work, printed in both Latin and German, includes descriptions in verse of various of these families, such as Welser, Peutinger, Fleckheimer, Hebenstreit, and Zeller, and traces their lineage back 400 years or more. The most prominent family members are depicted as knights on horseback, in full armour, together with their coat of arms, which are described in more detail on the final pages. The work is quite scarce, with only 9 copies recorded in institutions, and 3 in sales records.
The work was written and illustrated by the German engraver and publisher Raphael Custos (or Custodis, ca. 1590-1664). Together with his older half-brothers Lucas and Wolfgang Kilian, he was a member of the Kilian family of engravers in Augsburg. He was trained by his father, Dominicus Custos (1560-1612), and worked for his company for many years. Raphael's first major work was Regum neapolitanorum vitae et effigies (1606), for which he produced the engravings. Among his most famous works are Cabala, Spiegel der Kunst und Natur in Alchymia (1615), Architectura civiles (1628), and Emblemata amoris (1622), a reprint of Otto van Veen's emblem book. He also engraved maps. His map of the Iller river basin, published in 1619, is considered the oldest map of the Allgäu region.
With a paper label ("E5") mounted on the front pastedown. The vellum is somewhat soiled. Some of the leaves are somewhat foxed. Otherwise in good condition. Lipperheide 4395; USTC 1925631 (9 copies); VD17 23:246962D (8 copies); cf. Thieme & Becker 8, p. 220; not in Colas; Hiler & Hiler.
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