[WOOD ENGRAVING]. DUERER, ALBRECHT. Icones sacrae. In historiam Salutis humanae per Redemptorem nostrum Jesum Christum Dei et Mariae filium instauratae ... Nunc primum e tenebris in lucem editae. [Hamburg: G.L. Froben], 1604. First edition. Early laced vellum with silk ties, with an old silk ribbon laced through the covers. 7 3/8 x 5 1/4 inches (18.3 x15.5 cm); title within large woodcut border, 38 woodcut illustrations by Altdorfer, illustrating the Fall of Man and the Passion of Christ, each with accompanying text within type borders, collating A-K^(4) L^(2). Pencilled note on the front cover, old burnhole in the rear (through which the ribbon runs), the last six leaves with a small nominally toned area as a result of that burn, some old dampstaining in the upper gutter in signatures C and D, touching the borders and a little of the text, generally a sound copy, early name neatly inscribed in the margin at the foot of the title (Paulo Francis Zug...wig].
The fine woodcut illustrations, present here in excellent impressions, are in fact by Altdorfer, illustrating the Fall of Man and the Passion of Christ. They are all signed with his monogram [A within A], which resembles that of Durer. This confusion probably caused the misattribution of the work to Durer by the publisher. The series is rare; we locate only two copies sold within the past thirty years, one sold in 1994 (1100 pounds), and another in 2014 for substantially more.