Erik Dahlbergh

SUECIA ANTIQUA ET HODIERNA. 1-3.

[Stockholm & Paris], [1667-1716].
Folio [37 by 25 cm]. With 354 mostly double-page engraved plates (some folding or multi-folding) including title-pages, portraits, maps, and more than 300 city views and views of castles, palaces, gardens, etc. With printed index, 14 pp., at end of last volume.
Three volumes, contemporary full calf, covers rubbed. Margins of three or four plates torn without loss.

First edition of Erik Dahlbergh's [1625-1703] famous Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna, or Ancient and Modern Sweden, a topographical work, with engravings by Adam and Nicolas Perelle, Jean Marot, Jean le Pautre, Dionysius Padt Brugge, Willem Swidde, Johan van den Avelen and others, after drawings by Erik Dahlbergh.
In 1661 Dahlberg was granted a royal privilege enabling him to realize his plans. The Suecia can be described as a grand vision of Sweden during its period as a great power.
"Den topografiska inventeringen av fäderneslandet nådde sin höjdpunkt i tidevarvets mest ryktbara illustrationsverk - Erik Dahlberghs skildring av "Det forna och närvarande Sverige"...Stormaktstidens självkänsla, dess nymornade kulturmedvetande, är dess grogrund...Dahlbergh ville vända sig till den utländska publiken, för hela världen demonstrera att "bakom bergen bor ock ett folk med sköna städer, adelspalats och kungliga slott"(Sten Lindroth).
* Collijn, Sveriges bibliografi, 1600-talet, col. 197. Svenskt Konstnärslexikon, 2, pp. 16-20. S.G. Lindberg, Swedish books 1280-1967, 37. Katalog der Ornamentstichsammlung der Staatlichen Kunstbibliothek Berlin, 1, 2256.