
16TH-CENTURY BOOKS
A-B C D-F G-H
I-Le Lf-M N-P R-S T-Z
Sole Aldine Edition — Extensive Marginalia
in
Solinus's Polyhistor
(“A”
is for “ALDUS RULES!”). Mela, Pomponius.
Pomponivs Mela. Ivlivs Solinvs. Itinerarivm Antonini Avg. Vibivs Seqvester. P.
Victor de regionibus urbis Romae. Dionysius Afer de situ orbis Prisciano interprete.
[colophon: Venetiis: In aedibvs Aldi, et Andreae soceri mense, M.D. XVIII {1518}].
8vo (16.5 cm; 6.5"). 233, [1] ff., without the final two leaves (one blank, one
with Aldine device).
$3200.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
This collection of six works of geography by Classical writers is edited by Francesco Asolano (a.k.a. Francesco Torresani) and consists of Mela's De chorographia, Solinus's Polyhistor, Publius Victor's De regionibus urbis Romae, Periegetes Dionysius Afer's Orbis terrae descriptio, Antonius Augustus's Itinerarium, and texts by Vibius Sequester and Priscian.
The sole Aldine edition of these works, it is also the editio princeps of Publius Victor, the second edition of Antoninus Augustus' Itinerarium, and the third edition of Dionysius in Latin.
As is to be expected, the text is in italic with spaces and guide letters provided for (unaccomplished) initials.
The register (leaf G2 recto) lists a gathering *4 that is not found here or in any known copy, so the reference would seem to be incorrect.
Evidence of readership: VERY Extensive marginalia in the Solinus, in a neat hand.
Binding: 19th-century straight-grain red goat with single gilt fillets defining “spine compartments” and “title-labels”; gilt circle devices in compartments. Single gilt rule border on covers; gilt double fillets on board edges. Blue marbled endpapers. All edges speckled blue.
Renouard, Alde, 83; Adams M1053; Schweiger, II, 607 (“seltene Ausg.”). Volume expertly rebacked retaining old spine. Minor worming in upper outer area of all leaves to fol. 16, costing some letters but more typically parts only of same. Marginalia in Solinus as above. A good and, for its notes, important copy. (24667)
This entry is repeated in the
“Lf-M” section of this
catalogue . . .
Agricola, Johann. Siebenhundert und funfftzig deutscher sprüchwörter ernewert und begessert durch Johan. Agricola. Mit vielen schönen lustigen und nützlichen historien und exempeln erkleret und ausgelegt. Wittenberg: Gedruckt bey J. Krafft, 1592. Small 8vo. )(8 *8 A–Z8 Aa–Xx8 (-Xx8, a blank) [14], 350 ff.
$1200.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Last 16th-century edition (first was 1541) of Johann Agricola's work on German proverbs, their origins, meanings, and current uses. He is best remembered as a theologian who was a leading figure of the Antinomians, at first a friend of Luther’s and later a bitter opponent who after Luther’s death worked with Roman Catholic authorities in forming the Augsburg Interim.
All 16th-century editions are scarce. Via NUC, OCLC and RLIN we locate only this copy of this edition (now deaccessioned) and that at Princeton.
Binding: Contemporary alum-tawed sheep over wooden boards with partially bevelled edges. Elaborately blind-embossed with a roll and a center panel ornament. Front cover with initials “H. S.” and date “1597” in gilt. Rear cover with gilt putti in the areas where initials and the date appear on the front.
Evidence of readership:
Marginalia in the prefatory index; very scattered early underscoring.
VD16 A969; Goedeke, II, 8. Binding as above, lacking clasps and with old paper spine label; ex-library with bookplate and call number in old, faded, white numbering on spine. Title-page browned and tipped in; loss of paper to fore- and bottom margins of same. Some age-toning to paper and several leaves with natural paper flaws, repaired with archival tissue; three other leaves also with natural paper flaws repaired at time of binding or shortly after printing. Approximately 12 leaves with inkstains, sometimes obscuring text. One leaf (178) with a hole costing a significant loss of text. A marginally acceptable copy as regards text, in a good binding.
Two
Authors
Three Titles
Contemporary Marginalia
PETER
MARTYR
Anghiera, Pietro Martire d', and Góis, Damião
de. De rebvs oceanicis et novo orbe, decades tres...item...de
Babylonica legatione, libri III. Et item de rebvs aethiopicis, indicis, lusitanicis
& hispanicis...Damiani a Goes.... Coloniae: Geruinum Calenium & hæredes
Quentelios, 1574. 8vo. [24] ff., 655, [1 (blank)] pp., [15] ff. (lacks final
blank).
$2750.00
This volume consists of two works by Peter Martyr and one by Góis.
Those of Martyr are the first three Decades and an abridgement of the
fourth, together with his account of his diplomatic mission to
Egypt.
The De Babylonica legatione was first appended to the De rebus oceanicis
et novo orbe in 1533.
Martyr's
Decades are, of course, one of the major sources for the early history of the
New World, for as royal historian to the Spanish court he obtained information
directly from Columbus, Cortés, Vasco de Gama, and other explorers and
conquerors, as well as from memorials and reports submitted to the king.
The work of Góis is composed of various opuscula concerning
Spain,
Portugal, Ethiopia, and other regions visited and travelled by the Portuguese.
Góis is one of the most highly regarded 16th century chroniclers of Portuguese
overseas activity (cf. Europe Informed, pp. 76-77).
A
worthy gathering with a good deal of interesting marginalia.
Alden & Landis, European Americana, 574/1; Adams
M755; Sabin 1558; Medina, Biblioteca hispano-americana, 235; JCB, I,
253; Arents, Additions, 3; Palau 12595; Maggs, Spanish Americana,
471; Rodrigues 186 and 809; Borba de Moraes (2nd ed.), Bibliographia brasiliana,
532. Half vellum over late-17th-century, early-18th-century "Dutch" gold-stamped
"wallpaper"; gilt-stamped leather label on spine, with small circular paper
label pasted below; paper with abrasions and vellum soiled. A sound volume.
All edges speckled. Light agetoning; one pin-type wormhole at base of outside
margin through first quarter of the book, and a bit of other minor marginal
worm-work in the first 10 pages neatly repaired.

A Handsome
Dated Binding — Initials, “A.W.” — 1539
Arrianus. [three lines in Greek, romanized as] Arrianou Peri Alexandrou anabaseōs historiōn biblia oktō. [then in Latin] Arriani De expeditione sive Rebus gestis Alexandri Macedonum regis libri octo, nuper & reperti, & quàm diligentissimè in lucem editi. Historiam quoque eandem, olim quidem a Bartholomaeo Facio latinitate donatam, nunc vero ... mendis repurgatam, hic adiungi curavimus ... Basileae: [Robertus Winter, 1539]. Vol. 1 of 2. 13, [1] pp., [321] ff. (lacks last 8 leaves).
$950.00
Click the middle and righthand images for enlargement.
The author's most important work, written after the example of Xenophon's Anabasis, this is an account of Alexander the Great, and of India and Iran in his time. The edition bears a prefatory epistle by Nicolaus Gerbel (1485–1560), its editor.
Present here is vol. I containing the original Greek text, the Latin translation having been printed in a separate volume.
Incomplete at the end, lacking the final eight leaves, this is sold as a binding only.
Binding: Contemporary alum-tawed pigskin over bevelled boards, remnants of the metal closures. Covers elaborately blind-embossed with several rolls and devices. Front cover has in its center panel the initials “A. W.,” the date 1539, and medallions of Manfred of Saxony and Luther, while the rear cover's center panel has medallions of Melanchthon and Erasmus.
Graesse, I, 227;
Legrand, Bibliographie hellénique, III, 388; Adams A2009. Binding toned to a pleasing dark tan. Old bookplate on front pastedown. Front free endpaper torn with loss. Vol. I only, and lacking the final eight leaves. (20418)
Two
Church Fathers
Two
Scholar Printers
An
Apparatus by Erasmus
Athanasius, Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria. Athanasii Episcopi Alexandrini sanctissima, eloquentissma que opera ... que omnia olimia[m] latina facta Christophoro Porsena, Ambrosio Monacho, Angelo Politiano, interpretibus, una cum doctissima Erasmi Roterodani ad pium lectorem paraclesi. [bound with another work as below]. Parisiis: Joanne Paruo [i.e., Jean Petit] , [1519]. Folio extra. [6], 255, [66] ff. [bound with] Basil, Saint, Bishop of Caesarea.
Basilii Magni Caesariensium in Cappadocia Antistitis sanctissimi opera plane diuina, variis e locis sedulo collecta: & accuratio[n]e ac impe[n]sis Iodici Badii Asce´sii recognita & coimpressa, quorum index proxima pandetur charta. [Paris: Venundantur eidem Ascensio [i.e., Badius Ascensius, 1520]. Folio extra. [10], 178 ff.
$3850.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Two editions of Church Fathers from two scholar/printer presses. St. Athanasius's text was translated into Latin by three noted Renaissance scholars, edited by Nicholas Beraldus, and has the added prestige of apparatus by Erasmus. The title-page is printed within a four-piece woodcut border, with the title in red and black, and the page bears the famous Petit printer's device. The text enjoys handsome typography, side- and shouldernotes, and large woodcut initials.
The St. Basil is from Badius Ascensius's press and he acted as the editor, the translators having been Johannes Argyropoulos, Georgius Trapezuntius, and others. The title-page uses the same four-part woodcut title-page border as found on the St. Athanasius, bound in at the front, which makes much sense given the familial relationship between Ascensius and Petit.
Athanasius: Index Aurel. 109.388; Moreau, II, 1982. Basil: Index Aurel. 114.440; Renouard, Ascensius, II, 145/146; Moreau, II, 2246. Alum-tawed pigskin, elaborately tooled in blind over wooden boards with metal and leather clasps; one clasp perished. Binding with one corner tip broken off; small hole in leather on rear board; dust-soiled. Inside, some early marginalia and underlining in red; narrow arc of old, light waterstaining to fore-edges of one part. Pages generally very clean. (19915)

“Opera quae exstant”
NOT
Basilius Seleucensis. [five lines in Greek, the] B. Basilii
Seleuciae Isauriae Episcopi, qui I. Chrysostomo contubernalis fuit, Opera quae exstant. [Heidelberg]: In bibliopolio H. Commelini, 1596. 8vo (16.5 cm; 6.5"). 8, 408 pp.
$650.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
One of several editions all printed in 1596, all bearing the same title, and all claiming to be “Opera quae exstant,” but differing in significant ways: Some editions are in Greek and Latin; some have as place of printing “Lugduni” and others have no place. The present edition contains only the homilies and is entirely in Greek.
Provenance: Early 19th-century armorial bookplate of Robert Chambers; manuscript ownership “Ex libris G.R.W.”— William R. Wittingham, fourth Anglican bishop of Baltimore (a Latinophile who used “Guillelmus” for “William”), dated Sept. 22, 1856; later in the diocesan library of Maryland; deaccessioned 2006.
VD16 B 727. Contemporary limp vellum with evidence of ties; slightly yapp edges. Occasional light foxing. 19th-century library stamps on the front free endpaper and title-page. A clean solid copy. (24432)
Bible.
Latin. Vulgate. 1513. Biblia cum concordantiis veteris et novi testamenti
necnon et iuris canonici. Lugduni: M. Jacobum Sacon, 1513. Folio (34.5 cm, 13.5").
aa8 bb6 a–z8 A–Q8 R6
AA–BB8 CC10 (-aa1, CC9,10); [13], CCCXVII, [25] ff.
(lacking title-page & last 2 ff. of the Interpretationes).
$4750.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Revised edition, following the first of 1506, of Jerome’s Vulgate as printed by Jacques Sacon for Anton Koberger of Nuremberg. Darlow and Moule note that Sacon “reprinted the best contemporary editions,” for example Kerver’s 1504 Paris edition.
This Bible is illustrated with
two full-page and 130 in-text woodcuts (including some repeated images), a few of which have early hand-coloring, mostly but not entirely in green or
yellow. One full-page cut shows the six days of Creation — partially hand-colored in green, brown, red, blue, and yellow — while another depicts the manger scene. The text is followed by the Interpretationes nominum hebraicorum, a dictionary of Hebrew names often appended to manuscript and early printed Bibles.
Scarce: OCLC and RLIN report two holdings, both in the U.S.
Binding: Contemporary blind-tooled, alum-tawed pigskin over beech boards, elaborately worked using embossing rolls with religious vignettes and busts. Covers with etched metal corner bosses and remnants of leather and metal clasps.
Adams B988; c.f. Darlow & Moule 6101 & 6091. Binding as above, spine with hand-inked title; overall dust-soiled and darkened with several short tears to leather; leather no longer tight to the boards. Straps, clasp locking-mechanisms, and lower front metal corner now lost. Title-page and final two ff. of Interpretationes lacking; front pastedown separated from board and back pastedown lacking. First and last few leaves with insect damage to outer edges. First text page (contents) with old institutional rubber-stamp and shadow of pencilled numeral. A few leaves separated; a number of leaves with short tears from lower margins, a few extending into text, in many cases with traces of old repairs. Two leaves with lower outer corners torn away, one repaired some time ago. Pages age-toned, some waterstained. Scattered contemporary inked marginalia; some light underlining and a few instances of early inked doodling.
Despite its faults, this is rare and imposing.
Bible.
Latin. Selections. Peckham. 1514. Diuinarum sententiarum libro[rum] Biblie ad certos titulos redacte collectariu[m], ingenio siquide[m] eruditissimi sacris literis assuetissimi viri ... Joha[n]nis de Pechano ... compilatu[m] ... Parisius: Venales reperiu[n]tur in vico diui Jacobi ad intersignium diui Claudii [Francois Regnault], 1514. Small 8vo (14.5 cm; 5.875"). AA8 BB4 a–z8 [et]8 A–H8 I4 (-AA1); [11 (of 12)], cclxi [i.e., 260] ff. (without the title-leaf).
$3500.00
Also known as Collectarium sacrae Bibliae, this is only
the second edition, the first having appeared earlier the same year at the suggestion
of John Fisher (1459–1535), of this medieval compilation from the pen
of the archibishop of Canterbury (d. 1292). An epitome and a particular one,
it saw considerable acceptance if the number of surviving manuscript copies
(whole or partial) are testimony.
Click the image above left for an enlargement.
Note: Color and contrast in the enlarged image has been enhanced, better to show detail
Binding: Contemporary Flemish panel-stamped binding, calf over bevelled boards with remnants of brass and leather clasp. Each cover embossed twice with a panel featuring medallions of mythical and other creatures; thus, the panel is used four times.
Provenance: 17th-century spine label with initials “S.F.” and a tree design between them. Ownership signature of Gordon Duff; Yale University (bookplate) — deaccessioned.
Edition: Moreau, II, 930; Shaaber, British Authors Printed Abroad, P57; not in Darlow & Moule. Binding: Fogelmark, Flemish and Related Panel-Stamped Bindings, plate XXXII R.46 & pp. 48–49. Volume rebacked and much of old spine reapplied. Lacks title-leaf. All initials highlighted in red; occasional early underlining.
Missing leaf notwithstanding (though it does lower the price), a very nice copy in a notable early binding.
An
Early
Bible in GREEK
Both O.T.
& N.T.
Bible.
Greek. 1545. [three lines in Greek, then] Divinae Scriptvrae, Veteris
ac Novi Testamenti, omnia innumeris locis nunc demum, & optimorum librorum
collatione, & doctorum uirorum opera, multo quàm unquam antea emendatiora,
in lucem edita. Basileae: Per Ioan. Heruagium, 1545. Folio. *4 (-*2,3,4) a–z6A–Z6Aa–Ss6Tt4Vv–Zz6AA–MM6NN4;
969, [1] pp., [3] ff.
$6000.00

While Erasmus was creating quite a stir with the first, second, third, and fourth editions of his Greek New Testament, others were busy working at producing complete Bibles in Greek. The accepted sequence of complete Bibles in Greek is: First, the Aldine Bible of 1518, second, the Greek Bible contained in the Complutem polyglot—finished by 1517 but not published until 1520), and third, that printed in Strassburg in 1524–26. This, then, is but the fourth. As with all save the Strassburg Bible, it is folio in format.
Melanchthon (1497–1560), the great Humanist and Luther's friend and supporter, wrote the preface to this edition. The three leaves bearing that essay are missing from this copy and this may be due to a Catholic or Inquisitorial censor removing them so that the text of the Bible proper could be used by Catholic readers. All of Melanchthon's writings, including introductions, were on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. The text of the Bible proper, here, is complete.
The text of the O.T. "follows the Aldine Bible of 1518; with variant readings, and restoration of the usual order in Provers and Ecclesiasticus. The Apocrypha are grouped together as in No. 4602 [i.e., the Strassburg edition of 1524–26]. The N.T. text appears to agree with the quarto edition printed at Basel in 1545" (Darlow & Moule). The New Testament just referred to was the sole Greek-only Testament that Froben published and it follows the text of the fourth Greek N.T. of Erasmus, meaning that the N.T. here is also a close reprinting of the Erasmus fourth.
The typography is exquisite and Hervagius has enhanced the presentation on the page with attractive decorative head-pieces, including one that spans the page and depicts a group of six peasants dancing to the tune of a man playing a flute or "pipe."
Provenance:
Late-17th- / early-18th-century ownership signature of "Pet. Wedderburn; 18th-century
bookplate of Lord Eliock; later pencilled signature of "[?].T. Coleridge"
(not Samuel Taylor Coleridge; possibly, however, Justice John Coleridge).
At back, "Ex dono D. Al: Brown, M.D." and another ownership inscription entirely
in Greek.
Darlow & Moule 4614; Dibdin (4th ed.), An Introduction to...Greek and Latin Classics, 86; Rumball-Petre, Rare Bibles, 224. 16th-century calf over wood boards, covers elaborately tooled to produce an interesting embossed binding of concentric panels: Used are a single fillet (repeatedly, usually in triplets) and a roll featuring urns, flowers, and putti. Rebacked and edges and corners renewed. Remains of brass clasps. Endpaper reattached. Title-page cut down and mounted. There are a very few instances of old marginalia. A very clean, handsome copy.
Bible.
Greek & Hebrew. 1584. Biblia Hebraica & Novum Testamentum Graecum. Antuerpiae: Ex officina Christophori Plantini, 1584. Tall folio (35 cm, 13.9").
¶4 A–Z4 π1 Aa–Qq4, †4 ††6 A–O6 P8
a–x6 y8 z8 aa–gg6 AA–RR6; [viii], 186, 128, [xx], 283, [1], 203, [1] pp.
$6000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Here, in one tall thick volume, is the essence of
the Royal Antwerp Polyglot. It is comprised of two parts in one volume, edited by B. Arias Montanus: A “complete
Bible in the original languages, with an interlinear Latin translation; the whole reprinted from the Antwerp Polyglot. The Hebrew O.T. starts at the end of the volume, and the Greek N.T. at the beginning, followed by the Greek Apocrypha; each of the two parts has its own separate title” (Darlow and Moule).
Adams B972; Darlow & Moule 5106 & 4645. Modern full polished brown calf, panelled in blind and with blind-stamped decorative corner pieces,
covers with elaborate blind-stamped version of the Plantin Press device, spine compartments decoratively tooled in blind and with blind-stamped lettering.
Front pastedown with large, gilt-stamped version of the covers' blind Plantin device. Both title-pages neatly backed and with marginal restoration. Lacks one blank between New Testament sections (only). One instance of early underlining. One leaf with tear from lower margin, not touching text. Overall, a very clean and well margined copy, solid for use in an appropriate binding.
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