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Osiander's only work published outside Germany

OSIANDER, Andreas.
Harmoniae Evangelicae libri quatuor, in quibus Evangelica historia ex quatuor Evangelistis ita in unum est contexta, ut nullius verbum ullum omissum, nihil alienum immixtum, nullius ordo turbatus, nihil non suo loco positum ... Elenchus Harmoniae.

Nice vignet at the bottom of the title and the beginning of the text; the 'Canon ad Harmonicam' - the 'Elenchus' - printed in four columns between printed lines; 97 half-page and one full-page woodcuts by Levinus de Witte, some of them are repeated several times

Nice vignet at the bottom of the title and the beginning of the text; the 'Canon ad Harmonicam' - the 'Elenchus' - printed in four columns between printed lines; 97 half-page and one full-page woodcuts by Levinus de Witte, some of them are repeated several times

Nice vignet at the bottom of the title and the beginning of the text; the 'Canon ad Harmonicam' - the 'Elenchus' - printed in four columns between printed lines; 97 half-page and one full-page woodcuts by Levinus de Witte, some of them are repeated several times

Nice vignet at the bottom of the title and the beginning of the text; the 'Canon ad Harmonicam' - the 'Elenchus' - printed in four columns between printed lines; 97 half-page and one full-page woodcuts by Levinus de Witte, some of them are repeated several times

Nice vignet at the bottom of the title and the beginning of the text; the 'Canon ad Harmonicam' - the 'Elenchus' - printed in four columns between printed lines; 97 half-page and one full-page woodcuts by Levinus de Witte, some of them are repeated several times



Antwerp, Matthiaus Crom, 1540. 8vo. 17th century limp vellum. Nice vignet at the bottom of the title and the beginning of the text; the 'Canon ad Harmonicam' - the 'Elenchus' - printed in four columns between printed lines; 97 half-page and one full-page woodcuts by Levinus de Witte, some of them are repeated several times (164) leaves.

First illustrated edition and third edition of the text, which was printed without illustrations twice before: in 1537 by Hieronymus Froben & Nicolaus Bischoff at Basel, and in 1538 by Wilhelm Montan at Antwerp (+ re-issue from 1539). Having studied Hebrew and Greek in Ingolstadt, Andreas Osiander (1496-1552) became a priest in 1520. In the subsequent years  he came in touch with supporters of the Reformation to become a prominent protestant leader. In 1548 he was appointed professor Theologiae in Königsberg. His last years there were, however, overshadowed by the bitter debates caused by his controversial doctrine of divine justice: the so-called 'Osiandrische Streit'. Osiander's writings consist for the most part of expositions of the Scripture, sermons and essays on the theological controversies of the day.
The present work on the four Gospels with a summary, a 'canon', of the gospels, is Osiander's only publication that was also published outside Germany. There are, apart from the Antwerp editions, editions in Switserland, France and Italy. The woodcuts are ascribed to Levinus (Liévin) de Witte (ca. 1503- after 4.2.1578), a painter, designer, and perhaps also a woodcutter, working in Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent. They are for the most part the same as in the book by Willem van Branteghem, Dat leven ons Heeren Christi Jesu (Antwerp, Mattheus Crom for Adriaen Kempe de Bouchout, 24 Dec. 1537; NK 4202).
The woodcuts were also used in the Latin edition with the same date: Iesu Christi vita (NK 486; in the copy of this edition in the British Library there is a contemporary annotation stating that the woodcuts are by De Witte), as well as in later editions and in other works. 97 of them are used in the present work by Andreas Osiander. De Witte is also identified as the illustrator in the laudatory poem by the humanist Georgius Cassander in the work by Van Branteghem. The poem is an acrostic reading 'Levinus de VVitte Gandensis'. The question whether he also cut the woodblocs cannot easily be answered.

Good copy.
NK 3650; Brunet, IV, 248; Thieme-Becker XXXVI, p. 129; I. Veldman & K. van Schaik, Verbeelde boodschap. De illustraties van Lieven de Witte bij 'Dat leven ons Heeren' (1537) (Haarlem 1989), esp. p. 14, 23 and 44; Hollstein LIII (1999), p. 231-306, with illustrations of the woodcuts on p. 249-74; not in Belg. Typogr.; G. Seebass, Das reformatorische Werk des Andreas Osiander (Nuernberg 1967); G. Seebass, Bibliographia Osiandrica (Nieuwkoop 1971), 24.3; cf. W. Nijhoff, L'art typogr., II (Anvers-Matthaeus Crom. I,2).

Related Subjects: 16th Century  Art  Reformation  Theology  Woodcuts 

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