Hans Holbein the Younger was an artist and illustrator renowned for his realistic portraits as well as his depictions of biblical and religious subjects. Images of the Old Testament is a series of over 90 woodcut illustrations of different Old Testament passages accompanied by explanatory text in English and French. This copy was published in 1549 and based on earlier Latin versions published in 1538 and 1547. Some historians regard this series of images as some of Holbein’s finest work and a landmark in biblical illustration. This copy was owned by Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, director of the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge, who gifted it in 1961 to Joan Hassall, an accomplished wood-engraver, book illustrator, and typographer.