•  Brunet, I, 1056; DeBacker, Auteurs du XVIIe siècle, 1020; Tchemerzine, II, 271. Binding as above, nearly perfect save for just a touch of rubbing to the spine extremities, in cloth-covered slipcase, worn, with cloth starting to split over edges. Frontispiece and title-page separating from binding; title with red-tinted signs, near edges, that the marbling process did not go entirely smoothly; upper margins of several other leaves with hints of very faint waterstaining. Otherwise, clean and quite lovely.

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The title is within a typographic border; text is printed in double-column format, in roman type.

•  Palau 2864. 19th-century half sheep with marbled paper sides; binding shows wear. Lower margin of title-leaf and leaves of the preliminaries with minor worming; repaired with pasted-over paper. Some side- and shouldernotes shaved with loss. Sporadic soiling, not severe.

This sole edition is ornamented with a woodcut printer’s device and a woodcut headpiece and initial; the text is referenced with sidenotes.

Rare: Only two copies traced in the U.S. via OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956.

Provenance: Bookplate of Virtue & Cahill Library (the library of Portsmouth’s Catholic Cathedral) no. 8783, with a large overlaid rubber-stamp thereon starkly, blackly noting the dispersal and eventual sale of the library “following enemy action”—the cathedral having been bombed by the Germans in 1941.

•  On Allix, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, I, 334–35. 19th- or early 20th-century half calf over marbled paper, spine with gilt title; edges of leather with a dog’s tooth roll in blind. Leather rubbed, especially on joints and edges. Some soiling and waterstaining, mostly light and most notable on early leaves, with some small wormholes in the margins; a little fine chipping and some shallow dog-ears. Old inked ownership inscription on title-page, crossed out but still legible.

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There exist at least four different editions of this work. In this edition, line 9 of the title begins “VVhere” and line 19 has “Parliament, Council of State, and Army.”

•  Wing (rev. ed.) I289aA; ESTC R234704.   Removed from a nonce volume and now in later wrappers. (21001)

This is Sesse's reports of the decisiones of the Aragonese senate as to civil law, marriage, wills, criminal matters, succession, and much more. Vols. II, III, and IV followed between 1615 and 1627.

The Giunta printer's device is on the title-page; this is printed in double-column format with a sprinkling of woodcut initials.

Provenance:  Charles Spencer, Third Earl of Sunderland (lot 3840 in the Sunderland Library sale [1882]). In the collection of a theological institute; deaccessioned.

•  Not in Palau.   Contemporary vellum over paste boards, spine tooled in gilt and a nice gilt-stamped title-label; double fillets to form spine compartments, each compartment with a gilt floral center device. Pressure-stamp on title-page, old shelf-label on spine, pencilled note that this was “Sund. 3840.” A very nice copy.  (23014)

Provenance: Ownership inscription on front pastedown of Juan de Porras, dated Madrid, 1687; and another on the title-page of José de Quitana y Azevedo, an Audiencia judge, dated Santafé de Bogotá, 1732. Bookplate of a 20th-century American collector who lived for a while in Bogotá — pictured.

•  Palau 28935; Peeters-Fontainas, Bibliographie des impressions espagnoles des Pays-Bas Méridionaux, 72. Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of button and loop closures. Title on spine in old ink; raised bands and remnants of a paper spine-label. Interior waterstaining and many pages dog-eared; half-title and title-page missing pieces, not affecting any text. Library stamp on title-page partially eradicated; charming old (20th-century) private bookplate inside front cover. (20850)

This offers evidence of early readership in form of underlining in ink and occasional marginal notations, confined to early portion of the tome.

•  Gibson, Bacon, 243a. On Bacon, see: Oxford Companion to English Literature, 56–57. Contemporary vellum, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum showing minor scuffing and spots of discoloration. Front pastedown with a 19th-century bookplate; front free endpaper with edge nicks and short edge tears. Lacking half-title. Early inked marginalia and underlining, as above; leaves age-toned with intermittent light offsetting and foxing. One leaf with short tear from upper margin, not extending into text.

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The work is highly illustrated and the engravings, being16 folding maps/plans, and 18 folding plates, are of battles, plans of fortresses, maps of areas, statutes, etc. Three double-page engraved tables are of scripts. The in-text illustrations, which are just as detailed and impactful, are numerous.

An important book on the rising Dutch presence in the East Indies and concomitant diminution of the Portuguese hegemony. This is the first edition in German; a Dutch-language edition also appeared in 1672.

•  Landwehr, VOC, 557. 18th-century calf, gilt spine extra. Binding shows wear, with abrasions and leather lost; joints starting. Onetime library call number on spine; other library pencillings, but no stamps. Clean copy.

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•  NSTC B758. Contemporary half calf with marbled paper–covered sides, spines with later gilt-stamped leather labels; spines slightly darkened, corners and spine extremities rubbed. Pencilled bracketing and marks of emphasis; some light to moderate foxing.

This work is the first listed in all bibliographies under Louis Elzevir’s press at Amsterdam. In fact both the Elzevir edition of 1638 and this have the same colophon: “Lugduni-Batavorum: Typis Georgii Abrahami vander Marse, MDCXXXVIII.” And both collate the same, the only difference being the printer’s device and imprint information on the title-page.

Uncommon: Searches of OCLC, RLIN, & NUC locate fewer than ten copies in U.S. libraries.

Provenance: The Rev. Edward A. Dalrymple (Baltimore collector, mid–19th century); his collection given to the Maryland Diocesan Library; that library sold in 2006.

•  Rahir 1876; Willems 961 note. Contemporary vellum over light boards; spine delicately and lightly tooled in gilt. Ex–Maryland Episcopal Diocesan Library with stamp on front pastedown. One natural paper flaw; occasional early underlining.

•  On Bona, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 655. Speckled paper over light boards, lightly soiled. Interior with some light soiling, especially on outer pages and upper edges, and a little faint waterstaining.

•  VD17 12:128413B. Contemporary vellum with yapp edges, spine with early inked title; some light discoloration, with cut to vellum across spine. Pastedowns loose from inside covers, with bits of old manuscript used in the binding structure, showing; 19th-century bookplate attached to exposed paste board and endpapers creased. Shadow of old shelf number on verso of title-page. One leaf with small stain and hole affecting about four letters. Foxing ranging from mild to moderate.

This work was first published in 1613, and the title-page of the first edition exists in two states, of which this—with the author’s name after the title and “Apud” before the publisher’s name—is apparently the less common. The title is printed within an engraved architectural border depicting the theological and cardinal virtues, while the text is decorated with a few woodcut initials, woodcut and typographic headpieces, and a simple tailpiece at the end. A further edition was issued in Lyons in 1614.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, II, 439. Vellum over paste boards, covers sprung and moderately soiled; remnants of paper shelf label at base of spine. Bookplate and shelf label affixed to front pastedown; endpapers lightly soiled and pastedowns tearing along turn-ins. Text lightly age-toned with a very light old waterstain to lower and outer margins. Two shallow tears into the engraved border of the title-page, one with a little loss; a few leaves shallowly tattered on the top edge and a few with small holes in the margins. All edges red, faded.