RINGMANN, 'Philesius' [Matthias] (c.1482-1511) and Urs GRAF (c.1485-1529). Passio nomini nostri Jesu Christi. Strassburg: Johann Knobloch, 1507.

2° (302 x 204mm). 30 leaves. 25 full-page woodcuts, 22 of these with Urs Graf's initials. (Soiled, some spotting, title with small repairs, short tears at edges.) 16th-century blind-tooled quarter leather over wooden boards, brass catch, pastedowns from leaves of a German piracy of the Nuremberg Chronicle (spine repaired, clasp lacking, free endpapers renewed). Provenance: some annotations in Latin by a 16th century reader -- deleted stamp on C3.

The second Latin edition of this popular text with Graf's masterful suite of woodcuts. They constitute his first major effort in woodcut, and after producing these Graf was employed by the Basel printers Froben, and Adam Petri. His 'subject matter and his experiments with woodcut techniques make Graf an original and highly imaginative artist' (Grove). Graf appears to have been an adventurous and, on occasion, violent man, frequently in trouble with the authorities. Between 1510 and 1521-22 he was enlisted as a mercenary soldier in foreign campaigns in Italy and France. Some of his later work chronicles the bloody and lustful life of soldiers of fortune and their camp followers. Adams R-566 (1508 ed.); Brunet IV, 421 (1508 ed.); Graesse V, 157.

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