Pupillorum Patrocinium, Legum et Praxeos Studiosis, Non Minus...
Damhouder's Pioneering Illustrated Treatise on Guardianship, Featuring the Earliest Depiction of a Book Auction and a Folding Plan of Bruges Damhouder (Damhoudere), Josse (Joost) de [1507-1581]. Pupillorum Patrocinium, Legum et Praxeos Studiosis; Non Minus Utile Quam Necessarium, Iconibus Materiae Subiectae Convenientibus Illustratum, Iam Denuo Vigili Cura, & Non Poenitenda Accessione Locupletatum. Item De Magnificentia Politiae Amplissimae Civitatis Brugarum, Cum Eiusdem Topographia, & In Laudem Amplissimi Senatus Oratione. Subhastationum Compendiosa Exegesis, Iterum Recognita & Locupletata. Index Verborum Rerumque Locupletissimus. Antwerp: Apud Ioannem Bellerum, 1564. [xii], 180, [18] ff. Main text in parallel columns. 12 woodcut plates, 1 double-page. Quarto (7-1/2" x 6-1/4"; 19 x 15.9 cm). Contemporary limp vellum, early hand-lettered title to spine, endpapers renewed. Moderate soiling, light rubbing to extremities, corners bumped and lightly worn. Moderate toning, light foxing and faint dampstaining to a few leaves, light edgewear, faint (and partially illegible) early owner signature and a few minor tears to title page, another minor tear to fol. 71., paper repairs to margins of title page, fol. 1 and fol. 71. An attractive, well preserved copy of a scarce edition. $3,500. * This 1564 Antwerp edition is a landmark in the history of visual jurisprudence, representing the third edition of Damhouder's comprehensive treatise on the law of guardian and ward. A pioneer in the "picture book" tradition of legal education, Damhouder used detailed woodcuts to translate abstract Roman-Canonical law into accessible, real-world scenarios. Beyond their legal function, these plates serve as an invaluable sociological record of 16th-century life in the Low Countries, depicting domestic interiors, period costumes, and specific trades. One plate illustrates three young orphans appearing before a magistrate alongside their guardian, tutor, and executor; others track the ward's progress through life, showing a guardian introducing a child to a teacher, visiting a shoemaker's shop, and auditing assets with an accountant. The volume is further enriched by two significant supplemental works. The first, De Magnificentia Politiae Amplissimae Civitatis Brugarum (first published 1544), is a sophisticated political and sociolog.
Price: $3,500.00
Book number 70807