[Ad Hispaniae et Hungariae reges termaximos. De Leone Belgico, eius[que] topographica at[que] historica descriptione liber quin[que] partibus…].

First edition.

VD16 E 4768 ; BM STC, German Books, S. 292 ; Adams E 1175.

“This work, of which copies are quite rare, contains the history of the troubles in the Netherlands, from 1559-83, and it is illustrated with 112 engravings by Fr. Hogenbergh, and a map of the Netherlands.

The Leo belqicus was reproduced several times with increases in the text and in the number of plates: namely, in 1585, fol. in 655 pp. with 142 plates (continued until 1585), 26 fr. Borluut, – with an appendix until 1586, fol. of 742 pp. with 165 plates etc…. “(Brunet, I, 122).

The illustrated history of the Wars of Religion in Belgium and Holland, described from 1559 to 1583, richly illustrated with copper engravings by Hogenberg.

Most of them show scenes of sieges of the most important cities of the Netherlands, such as Alkmaar, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Berg op Zoom, Breda, Brussels, Haarlem, Leiden, Maastricht, Mechelen, Middelburg, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Zutphen…

First published in 1583 with 112 plates, there were frequent reissues with augmentations of the text and in the number of plates, as in 1585, 1586 and 1588.

Michaël Eytzinger (Freiherr Michael von Aitzing, Aitzinger, Eyzinger, or Eitzing) (born ca. 1530 in Obereitzing – died 1598 in Bonn), was an Austrian nobleman, diplomat, historian, and publicist, who wrote and published several histories, including the Novus de Leone Belgico in 1583, which included the first cartographic depiction of the Low Countries under the name Leo Belgicus. The lion motif was inspired by the heraldic figures that appear in the arms of several Dutch districts, as well as in the arms of William of Orange. The map was published at a time when the Netherlands was fighting the Eighty Years’ War for independence from Spain.

A work famous in the history of the Netherlands, with the battles and atrocities of the Spaniards graphically illustrated by Hogenberg.

a precious copy of which all engravings are here in beautiful old coloring.