ORLEY Richard van (designer) - Jan-Baptist BERTERHAM ( engraver ) :
Reference : 56460
" Brussel, (imprimeur Fricx ?), s.d. (around 1735), suite of 150 engravings printed on 150 leaves ;print size ca. 78 x 60 mm ;, leaf size 200 x 160 mm. Bound in contemporary half roan, boards covered with marbled paper, (leather a bit worn). On the spine a paper label with the number 1036 (inventory nr. of the library of the Mechelen printer-publisher Dessain). Complete suite of the 150 engravings which served to illustrate the Pontificale Romanum published by Fricx in Brussels in 1735 (3 vols in-8°) . This edition counts 156 engravings but as explained in the oeuvre catalogue of Van Orley ( A. Jacobs; Richard van Orley, Bib. Roy. Brux. 2004) on pp. 111-116) six engravings appear twice in this publication; which means that our suite is completewith 150 engravings (numbered in pencil). We add the first volume of the Pontificale (one of three vols) which contains a title page also designed by Van Orley and engraved by Berterham and 72 engravings from the suite. On the genesis of this suite see at length the study of Alain Jacobs (cited above). The copy belonged to Dessain in Mechelen who most certainly acquired it from the printer - publisher family Hanicq (Pierre Hanicq 1753-1828 - François Hanicq 1789-1865).. The Brussels printer Le Charlier used the plates for a re-issue of the Pontificale at the end of the 18th c. It is probably from him that Hanicq acquired this suite."