Bound Beauty:
Eight Centuries of Art in Books (1270-1958)

TEFAF New York Fall 2019
1 – 5 November 2019
Stand no. 205

Heribert Tenschert is pleased to return to TEFAF New York this Fall with a peerless exhibition of some of the world’s rarest and finest illustrated books from throughout the last millennium, including an exceptional Flemish manuscript of the late medieval period, The Book of Hours of Claude de Toulongeon (c.1479-81), as well as works by Giotto, Grandville, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and more.

The Book of Hours of Claude de Toulongeon (c.1479-81) is named after its initial owner, one of the knights of the chivalrous Order of the Golden Fleece. Boasting twenty full page and thirty-four smaller miniatures painted by the Master of Edward IV in a rare grisaille style, this large chancery folio-size prayer book has been stunningly preserved. Toulongeon himself appears in four of the book’s miniatures.

Also on view will be a Biblia Pauperum from 1460-64, one of only three complete copies known, and the only one remaining in private hands. This block book, in which both the illustrations and text on each leaf were carved together as woodcuts and subsequently hand-printed, is possibly the earliest printed illustrated book. It represents the period just after the invention of the printing press, a time when movable type was still very expensive and the true impact of Gutenberg’s innovation had yet to be felt in the Renaissance and the scientific revolution.

Another highlight in the display is Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg's seminal town atlas, the Civitates Orbis Terrarum (1574-1618). This copy, with all six volumes bound into two contemporary morocco bindings, is complete with 500 representations of cities on 359 double page maps, all in their original colouring. With its detailed birds-eye city views and depictions of regional dress, this town book, which took nearly half a century to complete, provides a fascinating glimpse into life in hundreds of cities across Europe, Africa, and the Near East in the late 16th and early 17th century.

Our eight-century span is bookended by works from the 13th and 20th centuries, including a remarkable luxury psalter made in Bruges in 1270, with twelve large calendar miniatures and nine full-page miniatures in bold colour and extensive gold leaf, as well as a unique copy of François Louis Schmied’s masterful illustrations of Homer’s Odyssey (1933), containing 10 original gouaches and over 100 also hand-painted pre-press proofs, bound in two silver-clasped Art Deco bindings designed by Schmied himself. 

In business for over 40 years, Heribert Tenschert is the world’s leading dealer in illuminated manuscripts, counting several renowned institutions and discerning private collectors among his clients. He is recognized as an authority in the field of rare books, having published more than 80 detailed scholarly catalogues on items from his collections. He has been exhibiting at TEFAF Maastricht since 1993 and at TEFAF New York since its first opening in 2016.