
GREEK & LATIN ~ CLASSICS
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D-K L-Q
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Ricchieri, Lodovico. Lectionvm antiqvarvm libri triginta.... Genevae: Excudebat Philippus Albertus, 1620. Folio (33 cm, 13"). ¶6 a–b6 C–Z6 Aa–Zz6 AAa–ZZz6 AAaa–CCcc6; [6] ff., 1720 columns, [2] ff., lacking [62] ff.
$850.00
Lodovico Ricchieri (a.k.a. Ludovicus Caelius Rhodiginus, 1453–1525) here gives a survey from Classical Greek and Latin authors on life, the universe, and everything, beginning with the nature of God and including overviews of such diverse subjects as sleep and rhetoric. First published in 1517, this work saw many 16th- and 17th-century editions. For those who can read it, quite a read!
Old calf, rebacked and recornered; abraded with some loss on edges. Some waterstaining and browning; soiling and shallow chipping. Lacking final [62] ff., the index (only). (7532)

“Improved Taste of Modern Time Must
Question the Crudities of Former Days”
Rocco, Sha [pseud. of Abisha Shumway Hudson]. The masculine cross and ancient sex worship. New York: Asa K. Butts & Co., 1874. 8vo (19 cm, 7.75"). 65, [7 (adv.)] pp.; illus.
$200.00
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First edition: A study of cruciform sexual symbolism in ancient religions, touching on Indian, Egyptian, Chinese, and other mythological connections to the shape of the cross. The volume is illustrated with in-text engravings of statues, relics, and other items, including the final chapter (“The Phallus in California,” about the results of the author's antiquity-hunting expedition in Stanlislaus County, CA), which features a representation of what the author says is misidentified as an “Indian pestle.”
Hudson was a Massachusetts-born physician and one of the founders of the Keokuk Medical College; his publisher here was the notable freethinker and
contraception advocate Asa K. Butts, who has supplied several pages of advertisements for some of his other publications.
Publisher's blue cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and fish vignette with blind-stamped decorative borders; spine slightly darkened, small spots of light discoloration, extremities rubbed. Sewing just barely starting to loosen but holding; pages clean.
A more than decent copy of this interesting and, shall we say, “highly personal” work. (35139)

French Translation of the NT with
Exegesis of Text
& of PICTURES
Rohault de Fleury, Charles. L'évangile études iconographiques et archéologiques. Tours: Alfred Mame et Fils, 1874. Folio (33 cm, 13"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., [8], vii, [1], 287 pp.; 53 plts. II: Frontis., [4], 320 pp.; 46 plts.
$350.00
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Sole edition. A study of the iconography of Jesus in
Late Roman and Medieval art, from the 3rd to the 12th century. Each chapter (165 in all) covers a particular scene in the life of Jesus, and the text begins with a Catholic translation in French of the relevant passages from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The text is accompanied by illustrations, copious interpretive notes of the iconography and critical commentary, both exegetical and archaeological. Officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church, the preliminary leaves including an “approbation” by the Archbishop of Tours and a letter from the Archbishop of Paris.
The book is illustrated with 100 engraved plates and numerous in-text engravings, as well as a frontispiece map of the Holy Land in each volume. The plates are mostly figural illustrations taken from paintings in catacombs and on sarcophagi, illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, ivory figurines, murals, etc. The title-pages are printed in black and red ink, and decorated with an engraved vignette.
Publisher's red cloth, stamped in gilt on the spines and front covers. Spines sunned and front cover of vol. II slightly sunned along fore-edge also; cloth of spines frayed at extremities and chipped in other places. Hinges (inside) of vol. I a little weak, stitching exposed; corners bumped with cloth damage; pages very shallowly bumped. Ex-library, with shelf labels on spines, institutional bookplates on front pastedowns, pressure-stamp to title-pages and one other page in each volume. Paper very good; pages clean and bright. (24688)
Sigonio, Carlo. Historiarum de occidentali imperio libri XX. Bononiae: Apud Societatem Typographiae Bononiensis, 1578. Folio (30.6 cm, 12"). A–E6 F8 G–Z6 AA–ZZ6 AAa–EEe6 (EEe3–4 lacking); 564 (i.e., 568) pp., [24] ff. (of which 2 ff. lacking).
$975.00
Carolus Sigonius (Italian Carlo Sigonio or Sigone, 1524–84) was a professor at the University of Bologna and a leading humanist noted as being the first to apply “accurate criticism . . . to the chronology of Roman history” (Sandys). His history of the western Roman Empire covers the period from 284—the beginning of the reign of Diocletian, who divided the empire into east and west—until Justinian’s death in 565. In addition, Sigonius wrote a number of works in law and classical studies and a history of the kingdom of Italy from the Lombard invasion in 568 through the 13th century.
This is this history’s first edition and was followed by 1579, 1593, and 1628 editions. It is printed with a woodcut printer’s device on the title-page showing the goddess Liberty with two books labelled “Bononia docet” (“Bologna teaches”) at her feet. The text is enclosed in double-ruled borders and simply ornamented with a few woodcut initials, one of which shows Juno being pulled in her chariot by peacocks.
Adams S1117; Soltész, Catalogus librorum sedecimo saeculo . . . in Bibliotheca Nationali Hungariae . . . S524. On Sigonius, see: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., XXV, 82; and Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, II, 143–45. Full calf old style: Round spine with raised bands, accented in gilt beading; tan leather title label; fillets in blind extending onto covers from each band to terminate in trefoils with blind double fillets beyond. Pages lightly washed, clean, and crisp: a few instances of staining, not obscuring text; a few short notations in ink and occasional worming in the margins, neither affecting text; ink stain on p. 95 obscuring letters without loss of sense. Inked title on lower edge, old style. Three ink ownership stamps on title-page. EEe3–4, the last two leaves of the index, are lacking. (4561)

The E.P. Goldschmidt Copy, Bound for Julius von Thungen
(Sibyls’ Oracles). [two lines in Greek romanized as] Sibylliakon chresmon logoi okto. [then in Latin] Sibyllinorum oraculorum libri VIII. Basileae: per Ioannem Oporium, [1555]. 8vo (16 cm, 6.375’’). 333. [3] pp. [bound with] [Greek Comedy.] Ex veterum comicorum fabulis, quae integrae non extant, sententiae. Parisiis: Apud Guil. Morelium, 1553. [4], 147, [1] pp.
[SOLD]
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The E.P. Goldschmidt copy of a fascinating humanistic sammelband. The first work is the first Greek–Latin edition of the Sibyllinorum oraculorum libri viii, based on Birck’s Greek edition of 1545 as amended and translated by Sébastien Castellion (1515–63). These were short prophecies allegedly uttered by the ancient Sibyls, imbued with Greek mythology and the doctrines of Gnosticism, Hebraism, and early Christianity. The second work is the first Greek–Latin edition of a florilegium of ancient drama and poetry — including prominently Menander — which had survived in fragmentary form only. Like the oracles, these excerpts were interpreted allegorically by humanists as a gateway to disclose pagan insights into the coming of Christ. Present here is the Latin translation only, the Greek never having been bound in.
Binding: Exquisitely bound for Julius von Thungen, a German aristocrat, in contemporary polished French calf, spine with raised bands, devices in compartments, and identifying information gilt-tooled directly to spine (not on labels); covers gilt-ruled with gilt fleurons to corners and a gilt armorial supralibros at center, this incorporating in its wreath a gilt “G.W.” and “1558" that may be the binder’s signature and the year in which the book was bound. All edges gilt and gauffered; traces of a 16th-century manuscript used as rear pastedown. This is “an example of a German student’s binding made in some French university town, whether Paris, Bourges or Orleans” (Gothic and Renaissance Bookbindings, n .218).
Provenance: Armorial supralibros of Julius von Thungen (ca. 1558) on covers as above; bookplate of Anton Ruland (1874) and Goldschmidt’s gilt booklabel “E PH G” (ca. 1900) on front pastedown; modern label of G.J. Arvanitidi and autograph of Anton Ruland on front free endpaper; casemark label to rear pastedown. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
I: VD16 S6278; Graesse, VI, 398. II:: Pettegree & Walsby, French Books, 79713; not in Brunet. Binding as above. Joints and spine cracked but firm, with edges a bit rubbed and spine with leather lost at head, foot, and band ends; front free endpaper torn at lower outer corner. Text ruled in red, with an appended, unrelated gathering B entitled Phocylidis poema admonitorium
(from an unidentified 16th-century probably French edition) and two leaves of gathering F misbound; upper blank margin of title trimmed, edges a trifle dusty, the odd marginal spot.
Engaging content, an engaging physical copy, and a very engaging provenance. (40793)

Flavian Epic, Georgian Scholarship
Silius Italicus, Tiberius Catius; Richard Heber, ed. Caji Silii Italici Punica. Londini: Gul. Bulmer (pr. by R. Faulder), 1792. 16mo (16.5 cm, 6.5"). 2 vols. I: xxiv, 240 pp. II: [4], 270, [2] pp.
$300.00
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Sole printing of Richard Heber's edition of this Silver Age epic Latin verse about the Second Punic War — so epic that it is now the longest known extant poem of Classic Latin literature, in fact. Heber (1774–1833), himself one of the most notably epic bibliomaniacs of the era, was just 18 when he tackled the project, as per the Bibliotheca Heberiana. He based his work on Arnold Drakenborch's. Dibdin found this a “useful little edition, which exhibits the text very elegantly printed by Bulmer.” Printed on wove paper.
Binding: Contemporary mottled calf, covers framed in beaded gilt rule, spines with gilt-stamped leather black and red title and volume labels, gilt-stamped crossed-arrow decorations in elegantly gilt-ruled compartments.
Provenance: Front pastedowns each with inked inscription: “George Sinclair, April 11th, 1805"; first two books of vol. I with early inked annotations in both Latin and English, no subsequent annotations. Later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear of each volume.
Brunet, V, 383; Dibdin, II, 407–08; ESTC T147242; Schweiger, II, 956. Bound as above; minimal wear overall, vol. II with small scuff to back cover. Inscriptions and marginalia as above. Back pastedown and final 40 (approximately) leaves of vol. I with small area of pinhole worming to upper outer margins, not approaching text.
A handsome set of this uncommon Heberianum. (40254)

A Noble Book for
Your House in Tuscany?
(Smith's Patron Was the Second Earl of Warwick)
Smith, John. Italian scenery [i.e., Select views in Italy, with topographical and historical descriptions, in English and French]. [London: Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for J. Smith, W. Byrne, & J. Edwards, 1817]. 4to. [1] f. (engr. dedication), [78] ff. (of letterpress), [72] ff. of plates, illus.
$2500.00
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Smith is remembered in art circles as a very accomplished water color artist and it was that work that attracted the attention of George Greville, second earl of Warwick. The earl became Smith's patron and sent him Italy where he produced such works as “Outside Porta Pia, Rome” (now in the Tate collection) and “Interior of the Coliseum” (now in the British Museum); “his Italian pictures . . . are considered Smith's best” (ODNB).
Toward the end of the 18th century (1792–1799), Smith produced the first edition of this work, laden with
72 engravings (by various artisans) after his original watercolors. This second edition of his Select Views in Italy was not issued with a title-page, although some copies have a copy (reprinting?, remainder sheet?) of the first edition's; it begins instead with a splendidly calligraphic
engraved dedication leaf reading, “Italian scenery. To the Queen's most Excellent Majesty this Collection of Select Views in italy is with Her Majesty's gracious permission Humbly dedicated by Her most obedient and devoted Servant, John Smith.” Dated in text 18 January 1817, the leaf was designed by Tomkins and engraved by Ashby; at its bottom, as on a title-page, is “London[,] J. Smith, W. Byrne, & J. Edwards.”
The text in this edition, bilingual in
English and French, is the same as that of the first edition; but it was entirely reset and the plates are restrikes of those of the first edition, with the original imprints removed and the numeration moved to the top of the plates. This is, therefore, a particularly interesting object to
set beside an example of its first edition!
Provenance: No bookplates or inscriptions, but spine with initials “G.O.B.” tooled at base.
20th-century cordovan-color sheep, covers framed in single gilt fillet with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped fleurons in compartments; spine sunned/lightened with darker streaks and patches evident, one spine compartment with small scuff, joints with excellent repairs and corners likewise well refurbished. Text with only an occasional age-stain or instance of foxing; plates remarkably unblemished. Blue silk placemarker. Overall indeed a
VERY NICE COPY. (33233)

One of the First
English Histories IN English
Speed, John. The historie of Great Britaine under the conquests of the
Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. Their originals, manners, habits, warres, coines, and seales: with the successions, lives, acts, and issues of the English monarchs from Iulius Caesar, unto the raigne of King Iames, of famous memorie. London: Pr. by John Dawson [and Thomas Cotes] for George Humble, 1632. Folio (33.5 cm, 13.25"). [10] ff., 1042 pp.; 1043–1086 ff., 1087–1237, [85 (index)] pp. (lacking frontis.); illus.
$3500.00
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Third edition of this archetypal early English history, a variant of the 1631 edition. Printed with all the archaic and “curious” spellings one could hope for in such a work (e.g., “Britaine” and “ye” on the title-page), each page bears both roman and italic types; the text contains a number of intricate initials, headpieces, and tailpieces, and is adorned with detailed woodcuts of kings, their coats of arms, and the seals and coinage of their reigns. The illustrations are as notable as the typography for quaint charm.
Speed (1552–1629), a cartographer and historian, published the Historie as a continuation of his Theatre of Great Britaine, both works being listed in the table of contents of this work, which explains the volume's peculiar pagination and arrangement.
An epitome of the “antiquarian” both in form and content, this is a marvelous compendium of royal history and lore.
ESTC S997; STC (rev. ed.) 23049; Graesse 462–63; Lowndes 2471–72. Period-style calf framed, panelled, and stamped in gilt; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels; signed by Starr Bookworks. Light to moderate waterstaining, with traces of now-arrested mildew in the form of intermittent and usually faint pink staining/spotting. Frontispiece lacking; title-page partially mounted; dedication page and first few leaves of contents with inner margins reinforced. Pp. 41/42 with tear from lower margin extending into text, lower edge of tear repaired; pp. 125/26 with lower outer corner torn away and replaced, without loss of text; pp. 271/72 with lower portion replaced, with loss of several paragraphs and the lower half of one image; pp. 449/50 with lower outer corner replaced, with loss of lower portion of one decorated capital, about three lines of text, and small portion of tailpiece; pp. 597/98 with small portion of outer margin repaired, with loss of one shouldernote; pp. 1005/06 with portion of outer margin torn away, with partial loss of one shouldernote; pp. 1041/42 with lower and outer margins partially cut away along frame of text block, without loss. Pp. 1087/88 with lower portion excised, text replaced in an early inked hand; pp. 1237/38 mounted, with loss of an image and two paragraphs of text. One index leaf with lower outer portion excised, with loss of about 15 lines of text; final index leaf with lower outer corner torn away and repaired, text partially reconstructed in an early inked hand. One coat of arms drawn in by hand where the shield had been left blank. Definitely an imperfect copy; yet, in fact, definitely not a devastated one. (24405)

Three 1586 Greek Works from Fédéric Morel's Press
Synesius, of Cyrene, Bishop of Ptolemais. [title in Greek, romanized as] Synesiou Kyrênês Episcopou Ymnoi deka. Grêgoriou tou Nazianzêiou ôdai teatares. [bound with two others, see below]. Lutetiae [Paris]: Apud Federicum Morellum, 1586. 8vo (18 cm; 7"). 88 pp. [with the same author's] [title in Greek romanized as] ... Peri enypnion ... Liber de insomniis ... Lutetiae [Paris]: Apud Federicum Morellum, 1586. 8vo. 56 pp. (lacking parts 2 and 3; [10], 31, [5], 55, [1] ff.). [with] John Chrysostom, Saint. [title in Greek romanized as] Ioannou tou Chrysostomou Peri Heimarmenes te kai pronoias. [then in Latin:] Divi Ioannis Chrysostomi Conciucnculae perquam elegantes sex de fato & prouidentia Dei. Lutetiae [Paris]: Apud Federicum Morellum, 1586. 8vo. 82. (i.e., 79), [1] pp.
$2875.00
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An attractive Greek sammelband of scarce theological works in a trio produced by Frédéric Morel (1552–1630) — heir of a great line of Paris printers after his father’s death in 1583 and, from 1581, the French Royal Printer for the Greek, as blazoned by the dedicated printer’s device with pike, snake, and olive branch on each title-page here. Based on editions previously produced by other Parisian printers (and sometimes also bound together), this sammelband boasts the famous Grec du Roi typeface — in particular, the Royal Pica Greek — that Morel had inherited, ultimately, from Robert Estienne, and which was originally produced by Garamond.
Synesius (373–414), Bishop of Ptolemais, was known in the Renaissance for his intriguing works, spanning subjects as varied as the praise of hair and the making of astrolabes. First here, entirely in Greek, are his ten famous hymns of Neoplatonic feeling, followed by four odes by the Church Father Gregory of Nazianzus (329–90), Archbishop of Constantinople. Next comes part I (only) of Synesius’s second work – Peri enypniōn — “one of the most fervent writings in the area of religiously founded speculation about divination through dreams,” and “an important representative of Greek oneirological thinking” (Bittrich, 71); this concludes with a short Orphic hymn. The last work presents the influential Conciunculae by John Chrysostom (347–407), a treatise on fate and divine providence, followed by short excerpts from St. Isidore’s epistles.
In addition to the royal printer’s woodcut device on titles, the works all also have interesting decorated initials and ornaments.
Binding: Late 18th-century green sheep, board edges gilt with a decorated fillet with stars in a chaine; spine gilt with Greek fillet and urns. Gilt inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt.
Provenance: From the library of the Hardens of Crea, King’s Co., in Ireland, and probably bound in Dublin in the second half of the 18th century. Armorial bookplate printed in red of Henry Hurden, L.L.B.; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
I: Not in Brunet or USTC. II: USTC 171954; Pettegree & Walsby 87229; Renouard 1584 06:14:1; Brunet, V, 614. III: Adams, C1546. Bittrich, “Outline of a General History of Speculation about Dreams,” in On Prophecy, Dreams and Human Imagination (2014), 71–96. Bound as above, second work lacking parts II and III, rubbed and with spine a little sunned; text remarkably clean, with
generous lower margins. Light age-toning small light water stain at foot of a few leaves; two pages in last section with old pencilled underlining.
Handsome Greek printing with pleasing provenance. (37798)

History of the Roman Empire — Bodoni Printing
Tacitus, Cornelius. C. Cornelii Taciti opera. Parmae: Ex Regio Typographeo, 1797. 8vo (22 cm, 8.66"). 2 vols. I: [4], xii, [4], 379 (i.e., 376) pp. II: [4], 328 pp.
$500.00
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First Bodoni octavo edition of Tacitus's Annals (only, despite the title), following the press's folio and quarto printings of 1795. Dedicated to Ferdinand, Duke of Parma and one of Bodoni's most important patrons, this two-volume set offers a classic example of Bodonian restraint and minimalism. Searches of WorldCat show
only seven U.S. institutions reporting holdings.
Brooks 692; Brunet, V, 638. This ed. not in De Lama, not in Schweiger. Modern quarter green morocco and green pebbled cloth–covered boards, spines with gilt-stamped title and gilt rule–framed compartments; spines sunned (not unattractively), volumes lightly rubbed overall. Some pages creased in the press, with variable spotting/soiling/foxing, the last generally speckle-type; still a
solid, dignified set. (40179)

Bodoni Tacitus — Three Volumes Nicely Bound
Tacitus, Publius Cornelius. C. Cornelii Taciti opera. Parmae: In Aedibus Palatinus, Typis Bodonianis, 1795. Imp. 4to (32.38 cm, 12.75"). 3 vols. I: [2], xii, [6], 284 pp. II: [4], 297, [1] pp. III: [4], 281, [3] pp.
$1000.00
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Large quarto variant of the Bodoni edition of Tacitus's Annals (only, despite the title); the spine labels here give the more correct “Annales,” rather than Opera). Giani notes the scrupulous accuracy of this text, and the “grande perizia filologica” brought to the task by editor Vincenzo Jacobacci.
Binding: Contemporary quarter calf and marbled paper–covered boards, spines with gilt-stamped olive leather title and date labels; quatrefoil gilt roll on raised bands and blind-tooled, black-accented decorations in compartments. All page edges marbled to match endpapers.
Brooks 594; De Lama, II, 106; Giani 71 (p. 54); Schweiger, II, 1006. Bound as above, rebacked with the original spines laid down; sides and edges with moderate scuffing. Faint spotting, occasionally more pronounced, to many page edges; pages overall clean.
Bodoni's unadorned typesetting embodies classical elegance. (40168)

Editio Princeps Chapters XXIX & XXX
“A Very Splendid Edition” (Dibdin)
Theophrastus. Characterum ethicorum Theophrasti Eresii capita dvo hactenvs anecdota quae ex cod. ms. Vaticano saecvli XI Graece edidit Latine vertit. Parmae: Ex Regio Typographeo, 1786. Large 4to (31 cm, 12.125"). Frontis., [4] ff., 122 pp., [4] ff.
[SOLD]
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Editio princeps of chapters 29 and 30 of the Characteres, this is also the first Bodoni printing of any writings of Theophrastus. The edition consists of
118 copies, all printed on paper but with 18 (not this one) on special paper.
The “Praefatione et adnotationibvs illvstravit Iohannes Christophorvs Amadvtivs” are entirely in Latin; the Greek text’s title-page reads “Theophrasti Eresii Capita dvo hactenus anecdota Charactervm Ethicorvm nempe XXIX et XXX,” with each of those two texts being followed by a Latin translation.
Brooks 315. Giani 29 (p. 91). 19th-century half brown morocco with textured brown cloth sides and stone pattern endpapers; leather abraded at board edges. Paper a little age-toned and with several paper flaws observable; in fact very good. (40133)

“Exact Portraitures of the
Very Peculiarities of Temper That Are
Every Day Passing under Our Own Observation”
American Edition, Uncredited
Theophrastus. The characters of Theophrastus; illustrated by physionomical sketches. Boston: Frederic S. Hill (stereotyped by Jenkins & Greenough), 1831. 12mo (16.9 cm, 6.7"). xiv, 64 pp.; 31 plts.
$100.00
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The earliest surviving character studies, translated from the original Greek into English. This appears to be an unauthorized American reprinting of the 1824 London edition attributed to “Francis Howell” but actually done by artist and theologian Isaac Taylor; Taylor's preface (signed “T”) appears here but his appended commentary on human nature does not, and his
31 wood engravings — a bust of Theophrastus and 30 caricatures — have been recut.
Evidence of Readership: One sketch in this copy bears a pencilled identification (“The Dissembler” = Dr. Baker); in addition, many of the images have been traced in pencil on the reverse of their plates.
American Imprints 9398. Contemporary tan paper–covered boards with brown cloth shelfback; cloth worn, paper lost over rear board and wrinkled/chipped on front board. Front pastedown and free endpaper with early inked and pencilled inscriptions; tracing and annotation as above. Pages age-toned; one plate with upper portion excised, just shaving top of image.
A quirky copy of a quirky work. (36683)

When Undergrads Could Understand & Translate Demotic
When It Could Seem Sensible to Them to Produce a WHOLE BOOK by Lithography
. . . *&* with CHROMOLITHOGRAPHY Plentifully Present . . .
University of Pennsylvania. Philomathean Society (Henry Morton, Charles R. Hale, Samuel Huntington Jones). Report of the committee appointed by the Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania to translate the inscription on the Rosetta Stone. [Philadelphia: The Philomathean Society], copyright 1859. Small 4to (23 cm; 9"). 152 pp., [4] ff., 6 plates. [also bound in] Catalogue of members of the Philomathean Society ... Philadelphia: Ringwalt & Co, 1859. Small 4to. 24 pp.; and tipped-in lithographed copyright notice.
$1100.00
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Probably the most famous
American all-lithographed book of the 19th century, with
chromolithographic illustrations and embellishments that lavishly enhance the whole. In his already classic study of 19th-century American color plate books, Stamped with a National Character, William Reese writes of this work: “The first full translation of the Rosetta Stone, undertaken by three members of the University of Pennsylvania . . . [student body], provided the basis for a notable display of chromolithographic book illustration by the Philadelphia lithographer, Louis Rosenthal. The entire book was lithographed, presumably to better accommodate the hieroglyphs, but Rosenthal went far beyond necessity. He created hundreds of crude but exuberant chromolithographs intermingled with the text, showing scenes from Egyptian life or elaborate borders in quasi-Egyptian motifs. It is one of the few American books printed entirely by lithography” (p. 99).
The genesis of the work was the arrival at the Philomatheans' building of a donated cast of the Rosetta Stone. Three Philomatheans — Henry Morton, Charles R. Hale, and Samuel Huntington Jones — worked out a plan to translate the stone and produce the book here offered. Hale undertook to transcribe and translated the Greek and Demotic texts, Jones produced the historical introduction, and Morton supplied the hieroglyphic inscriptions, drawings, and other illustrations. The first edition of the finished work appeared just before Christmas, 1858, in an edition of 400 copies and sold out immediately.
In late January 1859, the Society wished to print a second edition of 600 copies; but because no lithographic establishment could afford not to reuse lithographic stones, all stones save those for the last 20 or so pages of their work had been ground down. Thus in the second edition, i.e., the edition offered here, the artistic embellishments are “largely a new work,” in the words of Randolph G. Adams (“The Rosetta Stone,” in Bibliographical Essays, A Tribute to Wilberforce Eames, p. 234).
In some very few copies of this second edition, p. 6 bears the signatures of the three Philomatheans who produced the book. This is, unfortunately, not one of those few, hence the lower price. But this copy does have the oft-missing copyright notice at the rear.
Reese, Stamped with a National Character, 91; Bennett, American Color Plate Books, p. 93. On the story of the production of the book and for a chart showing which pages of the second edition are restrikes from the first, see: Randolph G. Adams, “The Rosetta Stone,” in Bibliographical Essays, A Tribute to Wilberforce Eames, pp. 227–40. Publisher's dark green cloth, covers stamped in blind with a gilt center device of a sphynx; spine also stamped in blind but with two gilt-stamped vertical lozenges and the title in gilt. About six small areas of loss of cloth on spine or board, some probably silverfish damage. Bookseller's description of a different copy pasted to rear pastedown. A good++ copy well worth having. (35384)

A Lovingly
ILLUSTRATED Fables Collection
Verdizotti, Giovanni Mario. Cento favole morali de i piu illustri antichi, & moderni autori Greci, & Latini. In Venetia: Appresso Sebastian Combi, 1599. 12mo (14.1 cm, 5.5"). 253, [11] pp.; illus.
$1000.00
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Scarce, charmingly petite edition of Italian artist and writer Verdizotti's popular collection of illustrated fables taken from classical sources, here with
one hundred in-text woodcuts — one for each tale, with a few repeated images. These cuts are based on his earlier designs, sometimes said to have been inspired by his friend Titian. The text is printed in single columns using italic type for the fables, with morals printed in roman; decorative initials and endpieces complete the work.
While the work was popular enough to merit reprintings throughout the 16th and 17th centuries following the first edition of 1570, the present edition is now uncommon: Searches of Worldcat and NUC Pre-1956 reveal only one U.S. institution that reports holding this printing, with EDIT16 finding only one additional international institution with holdings.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
EDIT16 CNCE 60555; Mortimer, Italian 16th-Century Books, 523 (note); USTC 862550. This edition not in Adams. Contemporary limp vellum, title inked on spine with red painted shelfmark, title inked on fore- and bottom edges in an early hand; vellum stained and cockled, heavily chipped at spine head and very loosely attached, endpapers torn and soiled with evidence of worming and a few bibliographical notes in ink and pencil. Booklabel as above; light age-toning throughout, with waterstaining to lower and outer portions of the very faint to moderate level that reduces price but not pleasure. This was printed on inexpensive paper, as evidenced by one leaf with a small hole and a few examples of uneven edges; it has also been well read, with a few loosely attached quires, worn edges, occasionally a spot or a tear. A scarce edition that in this copy has had plenty of adventures and is ready for more; the illustrations are
wonderful. (39635)

“The French Virgil”
Does Virgil
Vergilius Maro, Publius. Les Géorgiques de Virgile,
traduction nouvelle en vers françois, enrichies de notes & de figures. Paris: Chez Bleuet, 1770.
8vo (21 cm, 8.25"). [2], 366 pp.; 5 plts.
$650.00
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Fourth edition, revised and corrected, of Jacques Delille's acclaimed verse
translation of the Georgics, first printed in the previous year. Delille was one of the great names
of late 18th-century French literature, famed for his translations of Latin classics; Brunet calls
him a “versificateur élégant et facile.”
The work is here illustrated with
a copper-engraved frontispiece and four plates,
generally bucolic, done by Joseph de Longueil after Francesco Giuseppe Casanova and Charles
Eisen. The text is additionally decorated with pictorial headpieces and fruit and floral tailpieces.
Brunet, V, 1303; Cohen & de Ricci 1022; Graesse, VII, 359; Schweiger, II,
1221/22. Contemporary mottled calf framed in gilt triple fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped floral
compartment decorations; joints and extremities rubbed, spine leather with small cracks, sides
with expectable moderate acid-pitting. All edges gilt. Front hinge (inside) tender; a few
scattered light spots, pages overall clean. An early, attractive edition of an excellent translation,
with
crisp, lovely, well-impressed plates. (30949)

Virgil — Elegant Italian Production
Vergilius Maro, Publius; Clemente Bondi, trans. L'Eneide tradotta in versi italiani. Parma: Dalla Stamperia Reale, 1790–93. 8vo (22.1 cm, 8.7"). 2 vols. in 1. [8], xxiii, [1], 273, [1], 295, [3 (1 errata)] pp.
[SOLD]
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First edition of Clemente Bondi's Italian verse translation of Virgil's Aeneid, much celebrated in its day. Bondi (1742–1821), a Jesuit scholar, dedicated the work to Maria Beatrice d'Este. After the papal dissolution of the Jesuit Order in 1773, Bondi left Italy for a while but returned later and became the librarian of the noble family Zanardi in Mantua. Later still, Archduke Ferdinand of Habsburg-Lorraine befriended him and charged the Italian with the education of his children and the role of librarian at the castle in Brünn (now Brno in the Czech Republic).
The printing was done by Bodoni, displaying his usual grace; each title-page bears a portrait medallion of Virgil captioned “Mantua me genuit,” engraved by Frey.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of Jan-Olof Grady.
Brooks 400; Brunet, V, 1309; De Lama, II, 57; DeBacker-Sommervogel, I, 1706; Schweiger, II, 1231. Modern half brown calf and Stormont marbled paper–covered boards, original 19th-century mottled calf spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped compartment devices laid down; original spine leather edges chipped, binding otherwise clean and unworn. All edges stained red. Some light foxing or other spotting, pages overall crisp and fresh. (40142)

Opera Juridica: Roman & Spanish Legal Analysis
Yañez Parladorio, Juan. Rerum quotidianarum libru duo ... Editio ultima caeteris longe elegantior, & emendatior. [and] Quotidianarum differentiarum sesqui-centuria. Amstelaedami: Janssonio-Waesbergios, 1688. 4to (20.2 cm, 8"). 2 vols. Vol. I: [26], 492 (i.e., 498), [54 (index)] pp. Vol. II: [2], 507, [45 (index)] pp.
$600.00
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17th-century gathering of these important writings by a distinguished 16th-century Spanish advocate. “De ratione juris discendi” follows the main work in the first volume, with the companion volume adding the title work, “Quaestiones selectae forenses duodeviginti,” and “De ratione in jure scribendi ad filios.” The title-page vignette of vol. I depicts Minerva and the olive tree, labelled “Oliva Minervae.”WorldCat, Copac, STCN, and NUC Pre-1956 do not find any locations of this Jansson-Waesberg edition; Palau does not list it.
Provenance: Front free endpapers each with early inked inscription mostly inked over, title-page verso with inked inscription “de los libros . . . D. Emanuel Lopez Forrecilla y dela Fuente.”
Not in STCN. See Palau 377674–377683 for other eds. Contemporary vellum over paste boards, spines with early hand-inked title; minor staining and back outer (yapp) edge of vol. I chipped, ties on both volumes still partially present. Pages age-toned with intermittent spotting; vol. I with light waterstaining to margins of some leaves and a few early inked corrections and marks of emphasis. Vol. II: Text block pulling away from spine, first few leaves separating, some leaves with worming in inner margins touching text without obscuring sense, one leaf with tear from outer margin extending into text without loss. All edges stained red, and both volumes with inscriptions as above. (29082)
&!
The
Great New Testament
Epic
[An
Appropriate “ANCIENT WORLD” Entry Here?]
Wallace,
Lewis.
Ben-Hur
a tale of the Christ. New York: Harper & Brothers,
(© 1880). 8vo (17.5 cm, 6.9"). 552, 12 (adv.) pp.
$200.00
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First edition, later issue of this best-selling novel, one of the classic works of historical fiction. This is the third state, with the “To the wife of my youth” dedication page, no date on the title-page, and advertisement list beginning “The Octavo Paper Novels in this list . . .”
BAL 20798; Grolier, American 100, 82; Russo & Sullivan, Bibliographical Studies of Seven Authors of Crawfordsville,Indiana, 315–17; Wright, III, 5720. Publisher's textured brown cloth with bevelled edges, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding slightly shaken, edges and extremities rubbed, sides with spots of discoloration. Hinges (inside) tender. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate on front pastedown, title-page pressure-stamped, dedication page with inked numeral, back free endpaper with slip. Front free endpaper with faint early inscription, front fly-leaf with inked ownership inscription. Pages age-toned; a few leaves with light staining, most clean. (26381)
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