MERIAN (Matthaüs). Bybel printen, Vertoonende de Voornaemste historien Der heylige schrifture, Konstigh afgebeelt Door Matthæus Merian. Amsterdam: Nicolas Visscher, s.d. late 17th century]. - 3 parts in one folio volume, 315 x 202 : frontispiece, (3 ff.), 62 ff., (1 f.), 111 ff., (1 f.), 85 ff. Stiff vellum, smooth spine (contemporary binding). An uncommon edition of this publication, part of the collections known as Figures of the Bible, the first of which appeared in the 16th century. These are collections of engravings, first on wood and then in intaglio, depicting the main episodes of the entire Bible or of a single Testament. Each figure is generally accompanied by a text, often the part of the biblical text represented. This edition, published after 1682 and before 1702, contains the representation in images of the whole Bible. It is divided into three parts, the first containing the Pentateuch, the second the rest of the Old Testament and the third the New Testament. The illustration includes a frontispiece with a title in four languages, different from the one on the printed title, and 260 mid-page intaglio figures, 62 in the first part, 112 in the second, including the title, and 86 in the last, also including the title. These figures are a reproduction of engravings made in the first half of the 17th century by the German draughtsman and engraver Matthaüs Merian (1593-1650) and the Dutch draughtsman and engraver Pieter Hendricksz Schut (1619-1660?). Each covers the upper part of the folio, surmounting an explanation in verse in German, French, English and Dutch, as well as in Dutch prose. Hinges cracked, restoration at bottom of spine. Endpapers renewed, first three leaves rebacked. Small tears to printed title, restorations to frontispiece. Tear without missing on folio 34 of the first part and on folio 82 of the second. Some scattered foxing. Provenance: Van der Helle, with bookplate. - M. Nicolle, art historian and curator of the Museum of Rouen, with his signature on the first white endpaper.