La prima [- quinta] parte della luce del dipingere et disegnare [...]. Eerste [- vijfde] deel van't light der teken en schilder konst [...]. La premiere [- cinquiesme] partie de la lumiere de la peinture & de la designature [...]. Der Erste [- fünffte] Theil vom Liecht der Reiss und Mahlkunst [...].

5 parts in 1 vol., folio: [8, incl. 1 pl.]-13/70 pp.; 7 pl., [7-1 bl.]-1/14-1/24 pp.; 19 pl., 4 pp.; 19 pl.; [4] pp.; 46 pl.; 1/2-[4] pp.; 51 pl. (lower corner of title underl.).

Contemp. mottled calf, gilt-orn. spine with raised bands, red edges (corners rubbed, covers sl. rubbed, joints starting to split, head and tail def.).

Rare first and only edition ill. with 204 full-page engr., accompanied by explanatory texts in Italian, Dutch, French and German. Published in 5 issues, number and sequence of the plates varying in nearly every copy. Hollstein's description and copy 1 of Getty Research Institute contains 204 pl. (digitalised copy: https://archive.org/details/laprimaquintapar00pass/page/n113). According to the description on Getty's website, their copy 2 has 4 more pl. (copy not studied). Franken described two copies with variants (one from the National Library of France, the other from the National Library of the Netherlands). He claims erroneously that the copy kept in the National Library of the Netherlands was printed in 1665. Some copies have year on title pen-corrected (1665 or 1666).
This delightful book contains the lessons given by the painter-engraver Crispijn de Passe II (c. 1594-1670). The elegant plates reproduce models in perfect perspective, with a very delicate play of light and shadow. Part I: 1 Minerva seated in a semi-circular room, 30 studies of proportion and 6 putti. Part II: 1 drawing school with 2 teachers (folded), 25 male models and 11 foreshortened male models. Part III: 19 female model after Dürer and Rubens. Part IV: 46 studies of dummies and paintings by others artistes, as Bloemaert, Bijler, Lanfranco... Part V: 47 mammals, 12 birds, 5 fish and 1 insect, some by Robert van Voorst after Roeland Savery and others. Some plates are ink-numbered by the same hand as Getty's copy (made by the publisher of the book?), others pen-corrected or scratched.
Ref. STCN 844266507. - USTC 1515149. - Hollstein, Dutch & Flemish Etchings, XVI:191. - D. Franken, L'oeuvre gravé des van de Passe, Amsterdam, s.n., 1881, pp. 301-307. - Not in Opac KBR, Kat. Berlin.
Prov. Borluut de Noortdonck.