Merian (Matthaeus) Todten-Tanz / La Danse des Morts, text in French and German, roman and blackletter type, French letter press title with woodcut vignette, German title engraved, dated 1744, with upper margin trimmed (?to remove previous ink ownership inscription, visible offsetting to French title; no loss to plate), woodcut head- & tail-pieces, 43 engraved illustrations, a couple of minor instances of light spotting or soiling, occasional light browning, contemporary brokatpapier boards depicting two allegorical figures representing Spring and Summer within foliate borders, rebacked in modern morocco, three very small abrasions to lower cover, small discrete repairs to lower corners, 4to, Basel, Jean Rodolphe Imhof, 1756.

⁂ Bilingual edition, with French text by Jacques Anthony Chauvin. The engraved illustrations here present were slightly revised by Chauvin from the final state of Matthaeus Merian's own originals. First appearing in 1621, Merian's illustrations were taken from a fresco of the Totentanz (c.1440) on a cemetery wall in Basel, which thereafter itself became renowned accross Europe, although was sadly demolished in 1805.

Provenance: ?J Newton (ink ownership inscription front endpaper)