MUSIC & DANCE
MUSIC & DANCE
Moretus Pontificale — Handsome Folio 
(A
Rich Pontificale — Much Music). Catholic
Church. Liturgy and ritual. Pontifical. Pontificale
Romanum Clementis VIII. Pont. Max. iussu restitutum atque editum. Nunc primùm
Typis Plantinianis emendatiùs recusum. Antverpiae: Ex officina Plantiniana,
apud Balthasarem Moretum, & viduam Ioannis Moreti, & Io. Meursium, 1627.
Folio (34 cm, 13.4"). [4] ff., 512 pp., [2] ff.
Click any interior image for enlargement. 
52 Women (Only!) at Each Concert
Keep! Quiet! during the MusicApollo Society. Standing orders of the Apollo-Society made at the general meeting of the members on Wednesday the 4th day of April 1733. And confirmed at the subsequent general meeting on Wednesday the 11th day of April 1733. London: Printed [for the Society] in the year, 1733. 8vo. 14 pp. (lacking final blank leaf). 
only known copy of the rules of Apollo Society, a major music association in London during the second quarter of the 18th century. Maurice Green (1696–1755), a gifted English contemporary of Handel, established the Apollo Society after resigning from the Academy of Vocal Music in protest of the expulsion of Giovanni Bononcini (1670–1747), the composer of operas, who had been charged with plagiarism. The Apollo Society met in the Devil Tavern near Temple Bar in a great room named “The Apollo Room,” whence the name of the group.
The rules, among other things, specify fines for misconduct, establish prices for tickets, allow 52 tickets per concert for ladies, and lay down norms for election of officers.
A rare glimpse into the organization and workings of a very influential social and musical society.
• Not in ESTC. On Greene and the Apollo Society, see the on-line DNB. Recent full sprinkled calf, round spine, raised bands each accented above and below with gilt double rules and with gilt beading. Covers tooled in gilt in the Cambridge style. Lacks final blank leaf (only); some spots of foxing/soiling and one short closed tear to upper margin of last leaf not touching text. 
An amazing survival. (21466)
“Fundamentall to the Erecting & Building ofa True Philosophy”Bacon, Francis. Sylva sylvarum or a naturall history in ten centuries. London: Pr. by J.H. for William Lee, 1627. 8vo (27.6 cm, 10.9"). Frontis., add. engr. t.-p., [10], 266, [16], 47, [3] pp. (lacking final blank f.).
Single-click any image where the hand appears onNew Atlantis, an unfinished allegorical fantasy begun shortly after his political downfall and not long before his death. Together, the two works exemplify Bacon's scientific and literary accomplishments.
Provenance: Riggs family: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of philanthropist Elisha Francis Riggs, who funded the Riggs Library at Georgetown University; volume inherited by T. Lawrason Riggs, founding chaplain of St. Thomas More Chapel, Yale University; donated to St. Thomas More Chapel Library; deaccessioned 2008.
• ESTC S106924; STC (2nd ed.), 1169; Gibson, Bacon, 171. On Bacon, see: Dictionary of National Biography. 18th-century calf framed in gilt single fillet, spine with recent gilt-stamped leather title and author labels, board edges with gilt roll; a little rubbed and covers with portions darkened. All edges stained yellow. Front pastedown with bookplate as above. Some pages gently age-toned, with occasional minor spotting. Small hole to added engraved title-page just beneath publication information, not affecting text. Final blank leaf (only) lacking. (24666)
The
Arias
for PianoBellini, Vincenzo. La
Sonnambula. As represented at the Royal Italian Opera, London, and the
Academy of Music, New York. New York: Wynkoop & Hallenbeck, [1876?]. 8vo. 19, [5]
pp. • Good in original printed paper wrappers, some upper edges uncut, a few short edge tears and slight crumpling to upper outer corners. (2466)
Atheist Hymnal Bennett, De Robigne Mortimer. The Truth Seeker collection of forms, hymns, and recitations. Original and selected. For the use of liberals. New York: D. M. Bennett, Liberal and Scientific Publishing House, [1877]. 12mo. vi, 7–585, [1], [6 (adv)] pp.
Click the interior images for enlargements.
printed music), as well as doxologies and recitations, to express and illustrate the non-theist worldview. In several chapters he provides suggestions and guidelines for such an approach to marriage and funeral services, invocations, sentiments and toasts, epitaphs, obituaries, wills, benedictions, and baby names. Includes an index (pp. 579–85).
De Robigne Mortimer Bennett (1818–82), originally a Shaker, later became an important proponent of Freethought in the United States, founding the periodical Truth Seeker on 1 September 1873 to promote the cause of reason. He was one of Anthony Comstock's targets and was convicted after a trial in the U.S. Circuit Court for violating the Comstock Act by selling (at a Freethinker's convention) a copy of an “obscene” book (Cupid's Yokes). He served 13 months in the Albany penitentiary after a petition to President Rutherford Hayes for his release came to naught.
Publisher's advertisements in the back.
• Publisher's very dark puce cloth, gilt-stamped on the spine. Covers rubbed, with some staining and “bubbling” to cloth of front cover. Slight tear to cloth at top edge of back cover, and at head and foot of spine. Gilt on spine still mostly bright, with letters nearest front joint darkened. Mild internal foxing. A good sound copy. (24483)
Early American Mennonite Hymnal Bible. O.T. Psalms. German. 1820. Die kleine geistliche Harfe der kinder Zions, oder auserlesene geistreiche Gesänge ... Germantaun: Gedruckt bey Michael Billmeyer, 1820. 12mo (17cm, 6.75"). Frontis., [4], 40, [2], 412, [20 (index)], 21, [1] pp.
It's an engaging fact that psalms are given in multiple versions; there are four of the 23d.
Click the interior image for an enlargement. Arndt and Eck cite Bender, who says “This first American Mennonite Hymnbook is not to be confused with one of similar title printed by Saur at Germantown in 1753, called erroneously by Seidensticker and Flory a Mennonite hymnbook.” Each portion of this item has a separate title-page, with the second section's title-page reading Sammlung altre und neuer Geistreichen Gesänge.
• Arndt & Eck 2419; Shoemaker 2239. Contemporary sheep, clasps; later spine labels; leather dry and abraded with significant patch missing from top of spine; cracked along joints and down the spine (this is not quite “about to break” but one can see that as possible “out there,” so it is “priced accordingly.”) Pages clean, with just the usual foxing on early and later leaves including title-page. (21769)
CARMENBizet, Georges. Carmen.
Academy of Music Grand Opera libretto and parlor pianist. New York:
Wynkoop & Hallenbeck, [1876?]. 8vo. 29, [3] pp. • Good in original printed paper wrappers, a few short edge tears, very minor soiling to front and back wrappers. (2460)
WITH
the Music . . .Blackall, C.R. Gems for the little ones. Philadelphia:
B. Griffith, Copyright 1879. 8vo. 64 pp.; illus. 
• Good in printed paper wrappers, sewing all but gone and signatures separated. (521)
Every
Hymnal List Should Have a“GOLDEN
CHAIN”Bradbury, William B. The new golden chain
of sabbath school melodies. Containing every piece, (music and words), of the
golden chain, with about one-third additional. New York: William B. Bradbury & Ivison,
Phinney, Blakeman & Co., (1866). Oblong 16mo. 128 pp. (pp. 3–4 torn). 
For a full "shelf" of AMERICAN HYMNALS,
Mr. Brecht! Bring Down This“Fourth Wall” Brecht, Bertolt. The Threepenny opera. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1982. 4to. Frontis., [10 (5 blank)], 11–155, [5 (1 blank)] pp.; 12 plts. (incl. frontis.).
Binding: Full black linen, stamped in gold on the front cover from a design by Levine. The slipcase is covered with black paper and bears a gilt title on the spine.
The colophon is signed by both the designer and the illustrator. This offering includes the monthly newsletter.
Binding, slipcase, and illustrations all properly evoke the grittiness of the London underworld.
• Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 529. Bound as above, in original glassine wrapper and slipcase; wrapper with tiny nicks and chips in a couple of places. A fine copy, in a fine slipcase. (22080)
By a Man of
Wide-Ranging — Catholic — InterestsButler, Charles. Reminiscences of Charles Butler, Esq. of Lincoln’s Inn, with a letter to a lady on ancient and modern music. New York: E. Bliss & E. White, and Collins & Hannay (pr. by H.C. Sleight), 1825. 12mo (20 cm, 7.9"). Frontis., viii, 350 pp.
Click the image for an enlargement.
music,
religion, law, politics, education, and other topics. In addition to being a
prolific author, Butler (1750–1832) was a lawyer and religious rights
activist who — following the Catholic Relief Act of 1791 — became
the “first Catholic barrister since the revolution of 1688” (DNB).
• NSTC 2B62711; Shoemaker 19905. On Butler, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Contemporary paper-covered boards, spine with printed paper label; sides with spots of light discoloration, paper split and cracked along joints and spine, paper shelving label on spine. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate; front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1828; front free endpaper, title-page, and dedication rubber-stamped. Back free endpaper affixed to back pastedown. Sewing loosening. Pages untrimmed.
School Songs & Hints on Singing Them Butterfield, James A. The star of the west: or, progressive music reader. A new and complete music book for schools.... Indianapolis, Ind.: Parsons, Adams & Co., (copyright 1863). Oblong 16mo. 125, [1] pp.
• Publisher's quarter cloth with printed paper sides. Covers a little soiled and rubbed. A very good copy of a scarce children's book. (4191)
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II . . . |