•  Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels. Frontispiece lacking and pages showing light cockling; clean and attractive.  (21114)

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear; evidence of removed bookplate on front pastedown and very faded word in an early hand on title-page margin.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, IV, 513; Landwehr, Emblem & Fable Books Printed in the Low Countries (3rd ed.), 346; Corpus librorum emblematum, Jesuit series, J.631; Emblem Books at the University of Illinois, H56.   Bound as above, binding gently rubbed with a few small spots, one small wormhole and a leather repair, pencilling on endpapers. Light age-toning and limited, light to moderate all-marginal waterstaining throughout, a smattering of spots. Provenance marks as above. Plates as fresh and engaging as the day they were produced.  (38273)

Some copies have a frontispiece but not this one. Of the nine copies we trace to U.S. libraries, we know that at least two lack the frontispiece, but others may also. We have checked the OPAC records for the other seven but because all seven are clearly copy cataloguing we have to wonder about their accuracy.

Binding:  20th-century half dark green crushed morocco with marbled paper sides in a swirl pattern and top edge gilt, signed “Alfred Farez” who was active 1909 to ca. 1930. Unidentified owner's gilt monogram at base of spine. Binding signed “Alfred Farez” who was active 1909 to ca. 1930.

•  Sabin 58530; Streit, Bibliotheca missionum, III, 932; Palau 56514; Maggs, Bibliotheca Americana, I, 887.   Bound as above with old “wall paper” wrappers bound in. Title-page with a very little light soiling and one other leaf with a single spot likewise light; text notably clean and with good margins. A very good copy.  (34707)

WorldCat locates only six U.S. libraries reporting ownership.

•  Medina, Mexico, 8139; Palau 317550.   Original plain wrappers, front one lacking. Light dust-soiling. Very good copy.  (28210)

This leaf of The Golden Legend has on its recto, and continuing on the verso, the final portion of account of the nativity of the Virgin, which recounts episodes from her mature adulthood andshows the Mother of God as a powerful figure with a powerful sense of what is due her.  She promises death within 30 days to a bishop who has removed from office an unsatisfactory priest that she appreciates as specially devoted to her (he is reinstated and the bishop lives); she intercedes in another vision with her “debonayre sone” to reverse the damnation of a “vayne and ryotous” cleric who, on the other hand, has been specially devoted to her and her Hours (he reforms). In a third case, she redeems from the grasp of hell a bishop's vicar who, disappointed of promotion in office, had engaged “a Jewe [who was] a magycyan” to facilitate his signing in his own blood a soul-sacrificing deal with “the devyll” (the vicar repented).  The Marian section closes with an account of “Saynt Jherom's” devotion to her. All this is followed on the verso by the beginning of the life of St. Adrian of Nicomedia, who before his conversion to Christianity and subsequent martyrdom was a Herculian Guard of the Roman Emperor Galerius Maximian. He is the patron saint of soldiers, arms dealers, guards, butchers, victims of the plague, and epileptics. The text is printed in double-column format inEnglish gothic type.

Provenance:  From an offering of leaves from this edition of The Golden Legend by the Dauber & Pine Bookshops, New York City, in ca. 1928 .

English incunable leaves are increasingly difficult to obtain.

•  STC (rev. ed.) 24876; ESTC S103597; Duff 411; Copinger 6475; Goff J-151; ISTC ij00151000.   Removed neatly from a bound volume. With a “cover leaf” in approximation of a title-page, reading “The Golden Legende. J. de Voragine. Printed by Wynkyn de Worde 1498. Dauber & Pine Bookshops, Inc. New York.” A striking relic recounting multiple miracles and presenting Mary as a most interesting personality.  (40744)

WorldCat records suggest this could have beena tract printed for Anthony Benezet (1713–84), a French-born educator and abolitionist who immigrated to Philadelphia.

•  Evans 10659; Hildeburn, Pennsylvania, 2289; Parsons 21.   In modern tan wrappers; faint stain to front one. Leaves age-toned with some foxing, tip of one leaf corner torn away, tiny stain to bottom edge of leaves. A small, neat product of earnest Philadelphia.  (39894)

The text is in Greek, preface in Latin. The title-page gives the place and date of printing but the other imprint data is from the colophon. The headpiece, caption title, and initial on folio 1 areprinted in red; the initial and headpiece are the only woodcuts in the volume.

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Adams J274; EDIT16 CNCE 32951.   18th-century vellum over pasteboards, slightly yapp edges; lower 1.5" of title-leaf excised removing “Veronae” and “MCXXXI” and missing paper very neatly replaced long ago. All edges blue. A little dust-soiling, notably to title-page, some leaves browned, occasionally a trivial stain, a marginal note or two in Greek. In fact, a nice, clean copy.  (40719)

The text is neatly printed in roman in single-column format with capital spaces with guide letters (unaccomplished) and marginal notes; the title-page contains the iconic Aldine device.

Provenance:  Early ink signature “Alexii Feni” on title-page; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear of both the text and its clamshell housing.

•  Adams C1559; UCLA, Aldine Press: Catalogue of the Ahmanson-Murphy Collection (2001), 674; EDIT 16 CNCE 27775; Renouard, Alde, p. 186, 5; Goldsmid, Aldine Press at Venice, *546. On John Chrysostom, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, VII, 1041–44.   16th-century limp vellum with title label on spine and evidence of ties; vellum wrinkled and stained, significant portions lacking on spine, edges of endpapers tattered with some paper loss and text block recently reattached. Housed in a maroon cloth clamshell with black leather labels. Light to moderate age-toning and staining with the occasional spot, several leaves with waterstaining to bottom corner or small marginal worm tracking; a handful of creased corners, a few examples of hurried paper manufacture, chipping to edges of first and last few leaves of text including title-page. Provenance marks as above, one early inked correction to a marginal note.  (38092)

Uncommon: ESTC, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956 find only 9 U.S. holdings.

•  ESTC S107911; STC (2nd ed.) 14831.   Period-style calf framed and panelled in gilt fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels. Lacks initial blank leaf, as is the case with virtually all copies. Two leaves with tattered outer edges, one leaf with small hole affecting a few letters; pages with some moderate offsetting, a few browned.  (25084)

The text, in Latin and Greek, is divided into two sections: a preface in 15 short chapters, and the main text. The former is printed in roman and italic with nice woodcut head- and tailpieces, and one historiated woodcut initial. Sidenotes, footnotes, and woodcut ornaments like those in the former section enhance the main text, which is printed double column in parallel Latin and Greek, with two handsome engraved initials on the first page below a finely engraved vignette by J. B. Guélard (fl. ca. 1730) after a drawing by A. Humblot (fl. ca. 1740). The title-page, printed in red and black, has an engraved device by [Nicolas-Jean-Baptiste] de Poilly (1707–80). This copy also has a half-title page.

•  Brunet, III, 623 (“Bonne édition”); Graesse, III, 515; NCE 8: 94–95 and online (St. Justin Martyr).   Contemporary treed calf triple-ruled in blind on covers, spine gilt extra with author and title gilt to red morocco spine label, board edges with gilt double-rule, marbled endpapers in a stone pattern and matching marbled edges, emerald green ribbon place holder. Upper joint starting with volume strong despite this and its large size; boards scuffed, corners bumped and rubbed revealing boards; stains on pastedowns and endpapers from underlying turn-ins of the binding. Light foxing in a few places, thumbsoiling, and occasional small stains; one leaf with a corner torn away, another with a natural paper flaw, a few leaves creased. A good copy of avery imposing book.  (30647)

This is the first appearance of this commentary byXystus Betuleius (Sixt Birk, 1501–54), a corrector for the Basel printers and a teacher at various schools who composed German and Latin didactic dramas; commentaries on Lactantius (this) and Cicero; and a concordance of the Greek New Testament. An associate of Erasmus, he witnessed Erasmus's first will, in 1527.

•  Adams L27; VD16 L42; Graesse, IV, 66. Not in Schweiger or Brunet. On Lactantius, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, VIII, 308–09. On Birk, see: Contemporaries of Erasmus, pp. 150–51.   Recent full brown morocco blind-ruled, old style; raised bands on spine accented with gilt ruling, author and title gilt in second compartment and date collector style at spine base, edges lightly speckled brown. Mild foxing on some leaves; limited, very light old waterstaining in latter half, this rising on a few leaves to “moderate” and being virtually all marginal; a few small stains from chemical reactions in paper. One marginal oxidized inkstain, slim but dark, offset onto next neighboring pages (only); two very small tears in last leaf. There is one short paragraph of contemporary inked marginalia on one leaf, and one instance of underlining on another.  (31312)

The document is addressed to the fourth provincial council, called by Archbishop Lorenzana, and is a plea on behalf of the nuns to not change how things are done and administered in the nunnery, to not introduce innovations.

Guatemalan by birth, Guevara (d. 1804) studied civil and canonical jurisprudence at the Tridentine Seminary in Mexico, where he graduated from the university and became a lawyer at the royal court. One ofthe leading lawyers in Mexico, he ascended quickly to high office, and was appointed governor in absence of the viceroy four times; according to Beristain, he was called the “American Ulpian” (after the Roman jurist) by at least one contemporary.

•  Palau 129542; Medina, Mexico, 5451; Beristain, II, p. 61.   Recent marbled paper over boards, title and author gilt on green leather spine label, new endpapers. Short, shallow instance of insect gnawing at fore-edge of first ten leaves and very limited, minor worming throughout along with mild to moderate mostly marginal speckles of foxing; light waterstaining at fore-edge of some pages and occasional inkstains or smudges; one corner of textblock bumped or “creased across” (with no tearing) and another corner just bumped. A copy not “fine” but definitely worth having.  (31197)

Provenance: Charles Spencer, Third Earl of Sunderland, lot 7230 in the Sunderland Library sale (1882).

•  On Lamy, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, VIII, 354–55. 18th-century vellum over boards with raised bands, lightly soiled; on the covers an ornate mandorla inside a composite frame. Crack in the vellum along front joint, joint itself sound. Ex-library with paper labels on spine; old pressure-stamps, including one on title-page of vol. I. Upper outer corner of title-leaf lost taking part of one letter of title; small tear into printed border of first map in vol. II. All edges speckled blue and red. A stout, substantial volume.

Bound with Lancellotti's work is a summary of titles of chapters of canon law compiled by Thomas Naogeorg (1508–63). Naogeorg's wanderings took him from being a Dominican to being a Lutheran to being a Calvinist. Along the way, during his Lutheran phase, he studied canon law for a year (1551) at Basel, during which time he compiled and published this work, likely as a student's guide. He is better known for his plays, in which he sharply attacks the Papacy.

The two works here were first published by the firm of Guillaume Rouillé, in 1587 and 1588 respectively, and may have been intended to be bound together, as witnessed by the Library of Congress copy. The title-page transcriptions of the earlier editions (except for the date and "hæredes"), and their signatures, pagination, and arrangement, match those of these present 1614 editions. There are italic shouldernotes, and woodcut headpieces and initials.

•  On Lancellotti, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, VIII, 356. Contemporary calf, covers framed in gilt double fillets, rebacked with calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; corners and edges rubbed, sides with small cracks and scuffs. All edges speckled brown. Bouquiniste's paper label on front pastedown and front free endpaper lacking. Two words inked long ago in two margins, and one page with old pencilled underlining.  (3797)

The work is a classic in the field of early European accounts of China, of missions to and in China, and of travel in general. Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of the first edition and may have done so for the work's sections on education.

•  ESTC T140502; Goldsmiths'-Kress 3379?; DeBacker-Sommervogel, II, 1356; Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, I, 40-41.   Recent quarter calf, round spine, raised bands, gilt ruling above and below each band; gilt center devices in four spine compartments. Marbled paper sides. Light age-toning to title-page; apart from an old touch of inkstaining at the tips of pages in one section, a very few stray stains only. A very nice copy.  (40384)

Uncommon:  WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only three U.S. libraries reporting ownership.

•  Saricks, I, 385.   Removed from a nonce volume, title-page with paper shelving label in lower inner corner, pencilled monogram in upper outer corner and that latter corner curled. Pages age-toned with some dust-soiled; last few leaves with crumpled edges or creased/dog-eared corners.  (36788)

Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only four U.S. institutional holdings of this first edition.

•  This ed. not in Martin & Walter (cf. IV 2: 8376).   Sewn, never bound; title-page with affixed paper shelving label in lower inner corner, not touching text, and with pencilled monogram in upper outer corner. Page edges untrimmed and somewhat ragged; top edges mostly unopened; dust-soiling to outer leaves and untrimmed edges, with corners of a good many untriummed leaves turned in. A nice copy.  (36785).

Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only two U.S. institutional holdings.

•  Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with affixed paper shelving label in lower inner corner and pencilled monogram in upper outer portion. Pages age-toned with a few light spots.  (30814)

The present work deals with the sacrament of penance and the need for the penitent to confess orally and from the heart, to be contrite, and to do penance in order to receive the necessary, priestly absolution.

Provenance:  In the 19th century in the library of the Seminarii Veteris Catholici Amisfurtensis (deaccessioned); from 2000 till 2016 in a private collection.

Searches of NUC and WorldCatfail to locate any copies in U.S. libraries.

•  VD17 23:713687B.   Contemporary vellum over pasteboards. Bound without pastedowns or free endpapers, but with four blank leaves before and after the text block! A clean copy in an interesting anomalous binding style.  (36748)

This uncommon text is dated as having been issued 5 March 1803. Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only three U.S. institutions reporting ownership: UTexas, DLC, UC-Berkeley.

•  Medina, Mexico, 9605.   Sewn, in “wallpaper” polychromatic (orange, blue-green, yellow, white) wrappers. Creased at midpoint horizontally a long time ago; all corners dog-eared. Pencilled “dup” in upper margin of p. 1. A rumpled but complete copy in a very interesting wrapper.  (39467)

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only one copy worldwide — at the John Carter Brown Library.

•  Not in Medina, Puebla; Gavito, Adiciones a la Imprenta en la Puebla; not CCILA.   Folded once longitudinally, otherwise, as printed. Crisp copy.  (40408)