Antwerpen, Henrick Eckert van Homberch, 1503

Abstract

Having worked in Delft for some five years, Henrick Eckert van Homberch moved to Antwerp in 1500 and set up his business in the Huys van Delft. From then on until his death in late 1523 or early 1524 he published at that address a continuous flow of works of quite varied natures — classical authors, romances of chivalry and school books included — though chiefly with a religious content. He provided many of his editions with illustrations, and he several times exchanged woodcuts with Adriaen van Berghen, who was a personal friend. In 1503 he published the Leven ons liefs heeren Ihesu Cristi. According to both title-page and colophon this is a second edition, but no traces have been found of an earlier edition by Van Homberch. In the form of a dialogue between Man and the Scripture, the book relates the story of the life of Christ, occasionally interrupted for a short meditation or a prayer. The title-page woodcut, which depicts the Salvator Mundi, is also found in other works by the same printer.