17TH-CENTURY BOOKS

False Imprint — Radical Theology

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•  “Liberius de Sancto Amore” was the pseudonym of Jean Leclerc (1657–1736; a.k.a. Johannes Clericus), a radical Swiss theologian who broke with Calvinism. He is famous for his promotion of exegesis. The present work, published with a false imprint while he lived in Saumur, was an unorthodox study of the doctrine of the Trinity, the Hypostatic union of the two natures in Christ, original sin, and other matters. It was decidedly unconventional for its era.

The woodcut “printer's device” on the title-page is telling: “Ex trunco veteri novus ramus,” which pretty much epitomizes Leclerc's writings.

Uncommon.  We locate fewer than 10 copies in the U.S.

•  Weller, I, p.278.   Recent quarter leather with gilt spine; sides with German-style brown paper speckled with black. Shadow of old pencilled shelf number and another four-digit number on verso of title-page. A very good copy.  (24769)

For FALSE IMPRINTS,
    click here.

ArguingBaptism with the QUAKERS

•  First edition of this attempt to convince Quakers of the validity of the orthodox Church of England practice of baptism, written by the nonjuring Church of Ireland clergyman who also published A Discourse Proving the Divine Institution of Water-Baptism. Supporting texts in English, Greek, and Latin are included.

•  ESTC R25145; Wing (rev. ed.) L1130; McAlpin, IV, 589.   Recent marbled paper wrappers. Title-page darkened and institutionally pressure-stamped, with lower outer portion torn away, just touching final number in date with no loss of sense. First few pages with edge nicks. Final (adv.) leaf with short internal tear with loss of a few letters, not affecting sense.  (25009)

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)

Historical Context of theNew Testament

•  First edition of this important “Tripartite History” (as described by the dedication), a chronological arrangement of the events described in the New Testament along with accompanying historical happenings. The sections of “The Christian History, the Jewish and the Roman” for the years 34–44 each have separate title-pages. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Lightfoot (1602–75) was a noted Hebraist and Biblical scholar; Lowndes says of his works that “the writings of Dr. Lightfoot are an invaluable treasure to the biblical student.”

•  ESTC R21614; Wing (2nd ed.) L2052; Lowndes 1359.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped title and publication labels. Title-page institutionally rubber-stamped. Pp. 145–48 (the end of the “Christian History...XXXIIII” section) bound in between pp. 152 and 153, with annotations in an early inked hand noting the error. Pages trimmed closely, taking part of title-page border and in a few instances affecting the catchwords or final lines of text. Waterstaining, mostly to lower outer portions.  (24853)

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.

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.

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.

Luther on Galatians — In English “Word by Word”

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•  The first English version of Luther's own personal favorite of his works, here in its sixth edition (first, 1575). Originally delivered as a series of lectures at Wittenberg University in 1531 and first published in 1535, the Commentarie expresses the essential Reformation doctrine of justification by faith alone. The translator has not been identified, but the text was edited by John Foxe and Henry Bull, and introduced by Edwin Sandys, Bishop of London; this edition was addressed to “all afflicted consciences which grone for Salvation.”

•  Wing (rev. ed.) L3510B; ESTC R032489.   Contemporary mottled sheep, rebacked some time ago with cloth, preserving original gilt-stamped leather title-label; corners rubbed, spine with inked shelving number. Hinges (inside) reinforced some time ago with cloth tape. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate, back one with traces of paper adhesions, lower (closed) edges institutionally rubber-stamped. First and last few leaves with edges tattered, one leaf with repair to long closed tear done some time ago, signature letter and catchword (only) lost to a close shave on A1. Pages browned and stained, especially at rear, yet, a sound and and usable copy, with early inked marks of emphasis and final page bearing inked inscriptions of Mary [D?]orn, dated 1732 and 1779.  (25840)

Polygamy isENJOINED 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 chipped at top of spine with front joint open (though holding), abraded/pitted, and rubbed through to paste boards at corners. 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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