MESSENGER FROM THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAINS 1777 Jan Luyken ANTIQUE ETCHING

Original 1777 10 1/4 inch x 8 inch Etching titled THE MESSENGER FROM THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAINS WATCH AND OBSERVE THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE MOON, IN ORDER TO GIVE NOTICE TO THE NATION FOR CELEBRATING THE NEOMENIA

Etched by Charles Grignion (1721 - 1810). Engraver of French origin but worked and died in England; very active in middle decades of the century.
After Jan Luyken (1649 - 1712). Luyken was born in Amsterdam and learned engraving from his father Kaspar Luyken.
He illustrated the 1685 edition of the Martyrs Mirror with 104 copper etchings and published Het Menselyk Bedryf ("The Book of Trades") in 1694, which contains numerous engravings, by Luyken and his son Caspar, of 17th century trades.

From “The Works of Flavius Josephus. I. The Life of Josephus as written by Himself; II. The Antiquities of the Jewish People, with a defence of those Antiquities, in Answer to Apion; III. The History of the Martyrdom of the Maccabees, and the Wars of the Jews with the Neighbouring Nations till the final Destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Power; IV. Account of Philo's Ambassy from the Jews of Alexandria, to the Emperor Caius Caligula (1777). Published by Fielding and Walker, London, 1777.
Josephus, Flavius (37 - c. 100), was a first-century Romano-Jewish scholar, historian and hagiographer, who was born in Jerusalem (then part of Roman Judea) to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry.

Image size 6 inch x 4 inch

The etching is in good condition with slight foxing and age related toning. Reverse side blank.