" Anvers (Antwerpen), .G.Zazzarini, 1914, in-folio, 45 x 32 cm, (20 pp of which 12 blank) + 407 pp + (1) + 37 plates h.t. with 59 copper engravings + 16 full page orig. woodcuts h.t. + 9 orig. culs-de-lampe + ca. 300 b/w ills. h.t. and in the text, (complete). Printed in 500 copies by the Antwerp master printer Buschmann, This is copy 308 on van Gelder paper. Bound before the half-title is a leaf, printed at the Plantin Museum, which contains an official ex-dono of the town of Antwerp, signed by its (socialist) mayor (Lode Craeybeckx) , dated 5 febr. 1955, to Achiel van Acker (Belgian socialist prime-minister) who visited the museum on that day.. Interesting to know is that Van Acker (Bruges 1898 - 1975) was at one time an antiquarian bookseller in Bruges. Bound in modern green cloth, with title label on spine, marbled endpapers. Rare and very interesting bibliophile book on the history of the famous 16th century humanist printing press of Christopher Plantin and his successors who were active until 1876 when the premises, with the presses, the archives and the library became a museum. A major interest of the book are the illustrations which were printed from the original copper plates and woodblocks which rest in the museum. They include etchings by Lucas van Leyden, Wierickx, the Galle family, Goltzius, Hogenberg, Pontius a.o. The illustrations were taken from famous publications such as Guicciardini's :''Discrittione di tutti i Paesi Bassi'', de la Serre's: ''Entrée de la Reyne-Mère du Roy très Chrestien dans les villes des Pays-Bas''.Title-pages designed by Rubens are also present. From the woodcuts we only mention 4 original chiaroscuro portrait prints by Goltzius from his : ''Icones Imperatorum, Antwerp, 1645 '' The author was the first curator of the Museum; and also a leading Rubens scolar.."