17TH-CENTURY BOOKS

Bohemian History

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•  Scarce first edition: History of the Bohemian Revolt and the resulting Calvinist–Protestant strife during the earliest portion of the Thirty Years’ War. The author, bishop of Antwerp from 1604 to 1611, was “an indefatigable historical writer” and “a reliable historian,” according to the Catholic Encyclopedia (online).

The printing privilege and the colophon of this edition both give the date 1621; a revised edition was printed in Cologne in 1622.

Very uncommon.  Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 find no U.S. institutional holdings, and only one overseas location.

•  Not in Brunet; not in STCV. Contemporary vellum, spine with hand-inked title; ties now lacking, back cover showing minor abrasions. Title-page with early inked inscription mostly shaved away from lower margin. Pages of different signatures variously browned or age-toned; clean.

Roman Law, Emperor Theodosius, Desecration of Temples, & More

•  Libanius (ca. 314 – ca. 394), a Greek-speaking teacher of rhetoric of the late Roman Empire, left a decent-sized corpus of writing of which 64 orations, 51 declamationes, 57 hypotheses, and approximately 1544 letters are the principal survivors.

The present work is his famous “lamentation” on the desecration of pagan temples. Addressed to the Emperor Theodosius, the oration concerns the legality of the Emperor's order for the desecration; the text is in Greek and Latin in parallel columns. The Greek font is notably light and elegant.

At the rear of this volume is Godefroy's opuscule on funeral rites and ceremonies. Several libraries report both works being bound together, as here, but not all.

•  19th-century quarter brown leather, spine sunned much lighter. Library-bound with call number inked on cover, bookplates on front pastedown, rubber-stamps on pastedowns. Title-page with old pressure-stamp; text itself without other markings save a six-digit number neatly stamped at base of next leaf. Actually, a clean, good copy.  (22733)

TurbulentGERMAN Times  

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mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  Wonderful and wondrous events and people are found in this history of “things German” during the first half of the 17th century — essentially a “history of our times” with a focus on Germany widely defined. In addition to the expectable coverage of wars, marriages and deaths of kings and other royals, alliances, etc., Lotichius tells of whales appearing in unexpected places, meteors and other celestial “portents,” and events occurring “elsewhere.” The net he casts extends to Mexico and the famous riots there of 1624, and Dutch activity in the Indies.

Religion was such an important factor in so many aspects of daily life and polity that the author makes sure to cover it in depth: the Spanish Inquisition, the English Star Chamber, the Turks, Jesuits, the Catholic League, and so on are all well-essayed.

The text is in Latin, printed in double-column format, and begins with a handsome engraved title-page. While this text is complete here, the volume is famous for its illustrations, which, unfortunately, have been plundered: What remains are 22 of 52 double-page plates and maps and 1 of 8 portraits. Hence the price, which is half that of a complete copy.

There are two variants from the same printer in the same year: we have not deciphered which this is, as the variants seem to merely be “stop-press” corrections.

•  VD17 23:231448K, or 23:233835L. Not in Alden & Landis . Recent ebony-brown calf in an old style by Grace Bindings (“GB” at inner area of lower rear turn-in): Round spine with raised bands, bands accented with gilt beading, one spine panel elaborately tooled in blind with fillets, beading, devices, and title lettered directly; and covers framed in blind fillets. Lacks plates and maps as described above. Ex-defunct library with stamps in some margins, occasionally intruding into text. All edges marbled. A much better than decent copy for those seeking the text and less concerned with the plates — the 23 present being certainly plenty to grace the reader’s experience.

French Foreign Policy — As Considered "Abroad"

•  Critique of Louis XIV and his foreign policy that purports to have been translated from the French by "Luis Quirante del Toboso," the supposed secretary of Wilhelm von Furstenberg, the cardinal of Strassburg. Title-page has a handsome border of printer's ornaments.

•  Palau 82871. Modern cloth.

An EarlyENGLISH Translation

Lucanus, Marcus Annaeus [Lucan].

•  Second edition of May’s esteemed English verse translation, following Thomas Jones’s first printing of 1627. Lucan (A.D. 39–65), born in Cordoba, Spain, and raised in Rome, was the grandson of the elder Seneca, nephew of the younger Seneca, and the brother of the Gallio mentioned in Acts 18; he published the Pharsalia in A.D. 62 or 63, but it seems likely that his poetic talent aroused the jealously of the vain Nero, as he forbade him to write or even plead in the courts, and then later compelled him to commit suicide for alleged treason.

The editio princeps of the Pharsalia was printed in Rome by Sweynheym and Pannartz in 1469; Christopher Marlowe published the first English translation of any part of the Pharsalia, his rendition of the first book, in 1600, with a 1614 effort by Sir Arthur Gorges being the only other such to precede May’s standard-setting 1626 English version of books one through three.

In the present volume, this great epic poem in May’s translation is accompanied by its translator’s English rendition of his own sequel, originally written in Latin verse. This Continuation advances the action through Cleopatra’s seduction of Caesar (May depicts the Egyptian queen with “snowie necke” and “golden tresses”), the death of Cato, and various additional battles before arriving at Caesar’s death. At the time, May’s work was thought highly enough of that Charles I allowed the Continuation’s dedication to bear his name.

•  Pharsalia: STC 16888; Schweiger, II, 567; ESTC S108868. Continuation: STC 17712; ESTC S108892. 20th-century black morocco in imitation of early, severe style, with raised bands from which blind-tooling extends onto covers; spine with gilt-stamped title and date, and turn-ins elaborately tooled in blind. Moderately worn, spine faded not unattractively, and leather rubbed over joints. Front pastedown with bookplate, inked date of 1986; front free endpaper with inked gift inscription dated 1944. T1-2 trimmed differently and possibly surviving from another copy; A3 of the continuation also possibly supplied. Occasional instances of very minor staining; mostly clean. Pleasant on shelf and in hand.

AGAIN Lucan English’d

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•  THIRD edition, following the first of 1627, of Thomas May’s English translation of Lucan’s epic poem . . .

•  ESTC S108867; STC (2nd ed.) 16889. Continuation: ESTC S108892; STC (2nd ed.) 17712. Both: Lowndes, III, 1408. Period-style calf by Grace (signed “GB” on lower back turn-in), framed and panelled in gilt rolls, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Outer and lower edges of the engraved title-page of second work shaved, touching design. Light waterstaining to upper portions of approx. 25 ff. of Continuation; small area of worming to lower inner margins of a few leaves, touching the occasional catchword but not main text.

A NeatIllustrated Volume

Lucanus, Marcus Annaeus [Lucan].

•  This Pharsalia is in the French verse translation done by Georges de Brébeuf, here in an uncommon and relatively early edition. Brébeuf’s version was originally published in 1654, with several editions (including one Elzevir) following over the next few years, and one additional Paris printing by Loyson appearing in the same year as this example, which is acknowledged in the statement of privilege. The10 full-page engravings present in this nicely printed volume include a frontispiece displaying a bust of Lucan (a native of Cordoba, Spain) surrounded by Roman motifs, an additional engraved title-page bearing a martial scene, and—among other war images done by various hands—a striking rendition of Cato and the snakes.

•  Schweiger, II, 568 (citing the 1666 Pierre Ribou and the Loyson eds.). Contemporary mottled calf, board edges gilt-stamped, spine gilt extra, with raised bands and a gilt-stamped leather title label; moderately worn, leather cracking over joints, edges rubbed with corners bumped, spine with small chip to head exposing headband and with small paper label at foot. All page edges speckled in red and brown. Lacking final blank (only). Front pastedown with bookplate dated 1969. Pages clean; slight offsetting from a few illustrations.

A Blaeu Pharsalia withNotes by Grotius

•  This 1643 Blaeu edition has notes by Hugo Grotius and an engaging engraved title-page.

•  Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, II, 563–64. On Lucan, see: Oxford Companion to Classical Literature 328–29. Vellum over paste boards; spine with inked title: lightly soiled with a few small spots. A pair of inkspots on title-page, touching top of engraving; otherwise scattered light spotting and traces of soiling only. Bookplate on front pastedown. Inked ownership inscriptions of "C[?]. Fabricius," "M.G. Boettneri," and "KT" on front free endpaper, and another (more difficult to decipher) in bottom margin of title-page. Inked notations on rear pastedown and front free endpaper. All edges speckled blue and red.

For more LUCAN,  click here.

The Papal Court — As Seen by a Critic

•  Revised edition, following the first of 1660, of this critical look at the Papal court. “Lunadoro” has been tentatively identified as the pseudonym of biographer and historian Gregorio Leti, author of anti-Catholic and anti-Papal polemics including Il nipotismo di Roma, Il putanismo romano, and the Vita di Donna Olimpia Maidalchini Pamfili. The Catholic Encyclopedia (online) refers to Leti as “mendacious and inexact,” though contemporary readers found this and nearly all of his other works sufficiently interesting to call for numerous editions and translations. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Francesco Sestini’s Il Moderno Maestro di Camera has a separate title-page, dated 1698; the first title-page bears the printer’s crowned salamander device and the second a vignette of Minerva. The collation here matches descriptions of other copies.

Uncommon: Searches of OCLC and RLIN locate only three copies in U.S. libraries.

Provenance: Late 18th-century private collector’s booklabel — “Ex Biblioth. Hamburg. Wolfiana”; also with a 19th-century bookplate.

•  Contemporary vellum, spine with early hand-inked title; binding with small spots of light discoloration, spine title a bit scuffed. All edges speckled blue. Front pastedown with bookplates as above; front free endpaper with early inked shelving number. First gathering, including title, a cancel. Title-page reinforced at inner margin. Pages clean.

Proving thatPolygamy is Enjoined upon Christians

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•  Third and best edition of a treatise in defense of polygamy, originally titled Theophili Aletaei discursus politicus de Polygamia. This greatly expanded version was printed in Lund, Sweden; earlier editions were much briefer. Depending on which account you prefer, this scandalous work may have been written either to please the author's patron, who had grown tired of his wife, or to advance the author's dream of founding a polygamous sect. Lyserus, also known as Lyser or Leyser, was a Lutheran pastor before the infamy this book earned him sent him wandering in exile; he travelled through Germany, Denmark, and Sweden until his death in 1684.

According to the online cataloguing of this book at Brigham Young University, “Early editions [were] burnt by [the] hangman in Denmark (1676); in Sweden (1679) . . . the possession of a copy meant a 1000 ducat fine. This edition was added to the Index of forbidden books in 1687.” It is often held today in medical libraries.

•  Graesse, I, 68.   17th-century speckled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; leather acid-pitted, front joint (outside) cracked, edges rubbed. Front pastedown with Parisian bookseller's ticket; front free endpaper with pencilled annotation; back pastedown with rubber-stamped date in 1908. Slip of old printed cataloguing laid in.  (23549)

TO Part IX . . .

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