Death, Purgatory And Paradise, France, 17th Century

Three engravings on the theme of the memento mori and all three bearing the inscription "Pense zi bien" and each captioned "Death", "Purgatory" and "Paradise". Could hell be missing (which would not be so bad)? These are French variations datable to the second half of the 17th century after Flemish engravings by Egbert van Panderen made around 1610-1620. See the copies preserved at the British Museum. The engravings (180x140mm on average) are pasted on the inside covers and endpapers of a copy of the Dictionnaire Royal printed in Lyon in 1680. The body of the work and the binding are in poor condition. The engravings of death and its spectacular skull with an open mouth and of purgatory are in rather good condition; the engraving of paradise has a small marginal loss. This series of engravings seems rare and undocumented.