It’s a bit difficult to describe this massive two-volume set, but here goes:

Published in Germany (Stuttgart) in 1858, these two volumes have title pages and index pages in German but they are comprised almost entirely of engraved plates showing works of art (architecture, sculpture, and painting) in the Western tradition, from Classical times to mid 19th-century Europe.

Titled ‘Denkmäler der Kunst (‘Memorials of Art’ in English), each page is a single one-sided engraving on thick paper, almost all retaining their original tissue guards. In some cases there is a single large image on the page, but mostly each page includes several smaller images of related artworks (see photos).

Published by Ebner & Seubert, Stuttgart 1858. The aim of the volumes seems to have been to illustrate the most renowned and/or representative works of art in the European tradition over two millennia.

The 19th-century equivalents of coffee-table books, these were produced before photography and the illustrations are engraved on steel. In volume one there are also four beautiful colour plates printed by chromolithography (see pictures).

These are BIG, hefty volumes; each is 29cm, tall x 39cm wide, about 3.5cm thick, and together they weigh over 5 kg. Buyers outside Auckland, and especially in the South Island, please be aware of the higher than usual postage costs for this set.

Each volume is bound in brown cloth with leather spine and corners. The front right edge of the spine has split on volume 1, but the board remains firmly attached due to reinforcement to its inner hinge. Magnificent marbled endpapers (and page edges of text block are marbled too). Internally, some of the plates are a bit dusty or with light spotting or foxing, but mostly the plates are clean and bright.