The Dance of Death, 113

that this is the only print belonging to the spurious onesthat is not reversed.

It is very probable that Hollar executed this work atAntwerp, where, at the time of its date, he might havefound Diepenbecke, and engaged him to make designs foithe borders which are etched on separate plates, thus sup-plying passe-par-touts that might be used at discretion.Many sets appear without the borders, which seem tohave strayed, and perhaps to have been afterwards lost ordestroyed. As Rubens is recorded to have admired thebeauty of the original cuts, so it is to be supposed thatDiepenbecke, his pupil, would entertain the same opinionof them, and that he might have suggested to Hollar themaking etchings of them, undertaking himself to furnishappropriate borders. But how shall we account for theintroduction of so many of the spurious and inferior de-signs, if he had the means of using the originals ? Manybooks were formerly excessively rare, which, from peculiarcircumstances, not necessary to be here detailed, but wellknown to bibliographers and collectors, have since becomecomparatively common. Hollar might not have had anopportunity of meeting with a perfect copy of the originalcuts, or he might, in some way or other, have been impededin the use of them, when executing his work, and thus havebeen driven to the necessity of pursuing it by means of thespurious edition. These, however, are but conjectures, andit remains for every one to adopt his own opinion.

The copper-plates of the above thirty etchings appear tohave fallen into the hands of an English noble family, fromwhich the late Mr. James Edwards, a bookseller of wellmerited celebrity, obtained them, and about the year 1794caused many impressions to be taken off after they hadbeen rebitten with great care, so as to prevent that injury,with respect to outline, which usually takes place whereetchings or engravings upon copper are retouched. Pre-viously to this event good impressions must have beenextremely rare, at least on the Continent, as they are notfound in the very rich collections of Winckler or Brandes,nor are they mentioned by the foreign writers on engraving.To Mr. Edwards's publication of Hollar's prints there wasprefixed a short dissertation on the Dance of Death, which