MERIAN, Matthaeus (1593-1650).
Topographia Bohemiæ, Moraviæ Et Silesiæ das ist, Beschreibung und eigentliche Abbildung der Vornehmsten, und bekandtisten Stätte, und Plätze, in dem Königreich Boheim, und einverleibten Landern, Mähren, und Schlesien.
Frankfurt: Matthaeus Merian, 1650.

Comparables: Galerie Bassenge, 2010 - EUR 5,336; Reiss & Sohn, 2008 - EUR 5,220.

Folio (13 1/4" x 8"). Engraved allegorical title-page, 3 double-page maps, 2 folding panoramas of Prague, one double-page and folding plate of Breslaw and 30 double-page plates views of Bohemia, some with contemporary extended margins (occasional browning). Contemporary sheep, the spine in seven compartments with six raised bands, morocco lettering-piece in one, the others decorated with small gilt tools (some surface abrasions).

Provenance: with the near contemporary ownership inscription of Julius Hoerle on the title-page.

An unusually attractive copy of this book; the plates, in particular the soaring panoramas of Prague, are in excellent condition. Part of Merian and Zeiller's "Topographiae Germaniae" series (16 volumes 1641-1654). Born in Basel, Switzerland and a pupil of Jacob van der Heyden, Merian joined the Frankfurt publishing house of Johann Theodor de Bry in 1616 and, the following year, married de Bry's daughter Maria Magdalena. He became one of the most prominent members of the publishing family, known throughout Europe for his engravings of cityscapes and landscapes, his scientific books, and achieved his greatest acclaim as head of the family publishing house following the death of his father-in-law in 1623. He rapidly and almost single-handedly built up the house to become one of the most important in Europe, etching most of the plates himself until about 1645, when he increasingly relied upon the help of a growing staff of assistants and pupils, including Wenceslaus Hollar, Rudolf and Conrad Meyer of Zurich, and his sons-in-law Christoph Le Blon and Melchior Kusel.