
THE OCCULT
[Embracing Alchemy, Astrology, Apparitions; Prophecy & Palmistry;
Mysticism, Mesmerism, Somnambulism . . . “Wonders”]
[
]
His Treatise Chrysopoeia — On Transmutation of Metals into Gold — Is Anticipated Here
Augurelli, Giovanni Aurelio. I. Aurelius Augurellus [poemata]. Venetiis: In aedibus Aldi, 1505. 8vo (16.3 cm; 6.375"). [256] pp.
$8250.00
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First edition of the Italian humanist and alchemist Giovanni Aurelio Augurelli's collected poetry, containing Ioannis Aurelii Augurelii iambicus liber primus, secundus; Sermonum liber primus, secundus; Carminum liber primus, secundus; and Libellus iambicus super additus. As Renouard notes, the first book of Carmina was previously printed by the Aldus firm in 1491.
Of special note is the poem “Chrysopoeia” (k1r–k3v) on
the philosopher's stone, foreshadowing Augurello's major 1515 work of the same title on the transmutation of metals into gold.
The classic Aldine printer's device appears on the final page of this text.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Adams A2152; Goldsmid, Aldine Press at Venice, 73; Renouard, Alde, 49.2; Index Aurel. *110.036; EDIT16 CNCE 3381; UCLA, Aldine Press: Catalogue of the Ahmanson-Murphy Collection (2001), 89. Period style medium brown calf, spine lettered in gilt, raised bands accented with blind fillets extending onto covers to terminate in trefoils; covers framed in blind with trefoils at forecorners, green silk ribbon bookmark present and all edges gilt. Light pencilling on endpapers; offsetting from previous binding to first and last few leaves.
A clean, lovely copy. (37603)

On Spirits & the Supernatural
Burthogge, Richard. An essay upon reason, and the nature of spirits. London: Printed for J[ohn] Dunton, 1694. 8vo (17.3 cm,6.8"). [4] ff., 280 pp., in-text diagram (6 leaves [i.e., pp. 83–94] in expert facsimile).
$1500.00
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The first and only edition of this interesting work on philosophy and the supernatural. Richard Burthogge (1637/8–1705) was a physician and philosopher; after studying at Oxford and Leiden, he settled in his native Devon where he was a local magistrate and physician. His writings include theological and philosophical works.
Dedicated to John Locke, “one of the Greatest Masters of Reason,” this Essay sought “to reconcile the Experimental, or Mechanical, with the Scholastical Method.” It comprises discussion of the nature of Reason and its Acts (apprehension and the use and meaning of words), the nature of Falsity and Enthusiasm (with mentions of Fludd and the Rosicrucians), the nature of questions, human knowledge, and the mind and senses. The second half of the book focuses on the nature of animals and spirits and on the nature of spirits, specters, and apparitions in relation to the human mind and senses, with examples including the conversion of an Indian Raja and a strange omen narrated by Sir Walter Raleigh.
ESTC R1885; Wing B6150. Modern dark brown quarter calf over marbled boards, spine with raised bands gilt-ruled above and below, burgundy leather author and title labels, and gilt devices in compartments; leaves in facsimile as noted above and lower outer corner of B7 torn away taking a few words on each side. First and last leaves with offsetting to edges from previous binding, severest at rear; title and first two gatherings a bit soiled, with other instances of that variably elsewhere, and first few leaves with old marginal waterstaining; edges dusty and a bit darkened throughout, with general age-toning. A copy that clearly had been through a good deal and has been priced accordingly, now cased neatly and safely, ready for good use. (39427)

Cicero on Divination — Isocrates on Virtue
Cicero; Abbé de Regnier Desmarais, trans. Traité de la divination. Traduit du Latin de Ciceron. Amsterdam: Chez Isaac Trojel, 1711. 8vo (15 cm, 6’’). [24], 283, [5 pp.
$450.00
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The first French translation of Cicero’s famous work on divination, here in its scarce second edition and appearing with Isocrates’ Discourse translated from the Greek. F.-S. Régnier-Desmarais (1632–1713) was a French religious, poet, and translator of several classical works; in the preface here, he explains his choice of Ciceronian effort by noting that this was, of Cicero’s works, “the least known to the wider public.”
The Traité is a history of divination (i.e., the prediction of the future) in ancient Western and Middle Eastern cultures. Discussing its origins and its main kinds (artificial and natural), it considers divination through dreams, prodigies and presages, and the function of the Aruspices.
Isocrates’s Discourse addresses “the behavior of honest men in the course of life,” with didactic advice.
Trojet's title-page is in red and black with an emblematic engraved vignette; his last four pages give a “Catalogue des livres francois qui se trouve à Amsterdam, chez Isaac Trojel,”
with an interesting selection promised.
Binding: Contemporary calf, covers gilt ruled and spine gilt extra with gilt-lettered morocco label. Gilt inner denteles, blue endpapers, edges speckled red. Red silk ribbon book mark present.
Provenance: 18th-century French inscription on the fly-leaf.
WorldCat locates no copies in the U.S.
Dorbon, Bibliotheca Esoterica, 746; Quérard, II, 203. Not in Caillet; not in Coumont.. Bound as above, a little scuffed; evidence of mismanaged binding acid, especially at one corner, and front endpapers abraded. A handful of leaves slightly browned (poorly dried) or with the odd, small, light dampstain; text generally clean, with a couple of blank margins unobtrusively strengthened. (41303)

“In Xanadu Did Kulba Khan” & Two Coleridge Heroines — First & Second Editions
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Christabel, &c. London: Pr. for John Murray by William Bulmer & Co., 1816. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.4"). [2], [v]–vii, [1], 64 pp. (2 prelim. ff. lacking). [with] Zapolya: A Christmas tale, in two parts. London: Pr. for Rest Fenner by S. Curtis, 1817. 8vo. [6], 128 pp.
$1500.00
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This is the second edition of “Christabel,” Coleridge's unfinished fantasy about innocent Christabel and her encounter with the ominously mysterious shape-shifting Geraldine, and the
first edition of Zapolya, Coleridge's last dramatic endeavor, which was originally intended for production at Covent Garden. Also present here, following the title piece, are “Kubla Khan” and “The Pains of Sleep.”
NCBEL, III, 217 & 218; NSTC 2C30234 & 2C30269. 19th-century calf framed in single gilt fillet, rebacked with darkening to cover edges especially along spine; new spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Both works lacking half-titles (only). Pages slightly age-toned with occasional instances of faint spotting, otherwise quite clean.
An unusual DOUBLE highlight of Coleridgiana. (33141)
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Christian Consolations
Spiritually Endorsed
Defoe, Daniel; Charles Drelincourt. [The Christian’s defence against the fears of death. With seasonable directions how to prepare ourselves to die well. Written originally in French ... Translated into English, by Marius D’Assigny] A true relation of
the apparition of one Mrs. Veal ... the eighteenth edition. [London: Pr. for R. Ware, W. Innys & J. Richardson, W. & D. Baker, et al., 1756]. 8vo (20.3 cm, 8"). [2], xi/xii, 12, 502 pp. (lacking frontis., main t.-p., 3 ff. preface, & final f.).
$300.00
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English translation of Charles Drelincourt's Consolations de l’âme fidèle, with the intriguing “True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal.” First published in 1705, Daniel Defoe's convincingly matter-of-fact account of Margaret Veal's ghostly visit to an old friend went through numerous editions; it appears here as the stated eighteenth, serving (as did most later printings) as a preface to the Christian’s Defence against the Fears of Death. Legend has it that Defoe's retelling of a ghost story then in circulation was meant as a boost for flagging sales of an edition of the Defence, although current scholarship is skeptical of that tale. Drelincourt's pious work sold quite well both before and after Defoe's addition, at any rate, and was often recommended as a gift for mourners.
This example particularly showcases the “True Relation,” as the separate title-page for that item is the first leaf present here; the title-page and preface for the Defence are absent.
ESTC T189434; Lowndes 616–17; Allibone 490. Recent quarter mottled calf and marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges blind-tooled, spine with gilt-stamped leather labels, gilt-dotted raised bands, and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. First three pages institutionally pressure-stamped, lower (closed) edges rubber-stamped; title-page with inked and rubber-stamped numerals in lower margin. Frontispiece, main title-page, preface to Christian's Defence, and final leaf lacking (the last interrupting the text of a brief account of Drelincourt's life). Title-page stained with inner margin reinforced and tear repaired some time ago. Pages browned, foxed, and stained, first and last few with edges tattered; some corners dog-eared. Two leaves torn, without loss of text; one leaf with outer margin chipped, affecting four words without loss of sense. A book often “read to death” . . . (25807)

MAGICAL SECRETS of Philosophy & Nature; READ by an ESOTERICIST?
Eckartshausen, Karl von. Aufschlüsse zur Magie aus geprüften Erfahrungen über verborgene philosophische Wissenschaften und verdeckte Geheimnisse der Natur. München: Joseph Lentner, 1791. 8vo (20.4 cm, 8.03"). Frontis., [20], 488 pp.
$275.00
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The writings of German mystic Eckartshausen influenced occultists, spiritualists, and alchemists. Here is his introduction to metaphysical study in
a copy showing extensive reader engagement — both internally and externally, with underlining and marks of emphasis in red and grey pencil throughout the text, and a fancifully decorated spine.
A self-contained text in and of itself, this is the first volume only (of four) of the stated second edition, following the first of 1788; it opens with a symbolic frontispiece copper-engraved by Weissenhahn, followed by an even more mystically allusive title-page vignette.
Provenance: Title-page with old and decorative but partially obscured rubber-stamp and with early inked inscription (“Kopp”); front free endpaper with rubber-stamp of R. Weiss (“Fairmount Ave”). Later in the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
Personalizations: Spine with hand-inked English title embellished with a small key drawing, and with place/date at bottom; affixed coat of arms taken from chocolate packaging; and an affixed gilt “knowledge” label (possibly a cigar band in a previous life). Front endpapers with affixed slip of old cataloguing, a printed clipping about
glow-in-the-dark ink, pencilled annotations, and an early inked inscription in German.
19th-century quarter cloth with speckled paper–covered sides, spine with German title-label, rubbed overall, edges reinforced some time ago; additions as described above; vol. I only, of four, with front hinge (inside) cracked, front free endpaper and frontispiece separated. Paper foxed, in parts browned, with pencilled marks of emphasis as above; two leaves each with a closed tear just touching text, without loss, and one leaf with lower outer corner torn away.
Early printings of this work are uncommon, and this copy is particularly engaging as an object. (41258)

Treating Patients with Hypnosis & Mesmerism
Ennemoser, Joseph. Der Magnetismus im Verhältnisse zur Natur und Religion. Stuttgart & Lübingen: J.G. Cotta, 1842. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.45"). xxii, [2], 546 pp.
$250.00
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First edition of this treatise on animal magnetism and its possibilities for elevating the human intellect — along with healing the physical self, by way of the mind–body connection — written by a Tyrolean physician and professor (1787–1854) who was an ardent supporter of Mesmer's theories, as well as the author of a popular history of magic. The Cambridge University Press, which reprinted the text, notes that “Ennemoser analyses the relationship between 'animal magnetism', nature and religion, focusing on phenomena including visions, their physiological and psychological explanations, and the application and effects of 'magnetic' treatments.”
Evidence of Readership: An early reader has pencilled marks of emphasis in some margins — most frequently single short lines, with one series of one, two, and three short lines plus a zero or O lined through and another of arrows and hashmarks; several faint annotations adding to or questioning content; and a few instances of expressive punctuation such as “?!” or “!?.” Unfortunately, what looks to be the accompanying ownership inscription on the back pastedown is difficult to decipher.
Provenance: From the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
Contemporary quarter dark green sheep and dark green marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt- and blind-tooled decorative bands, and gilt-stamped foliate decorations in compartments; rubbed overall, especially corners and joints with the latter starting/cracking. Gentle age-toning, spots of mild foxing, pencilled annotations as above. Excellent example of contemporary engagement with this influential text. (40101)
One Could Collect CHAPBOOKS
Featuring GHOSTS . . .
Four favourite songs. Glasgow: Pr. for the booksellers, [ca. 1830?]. 12mo. 8 pp.
$85.00
Scarce. The title-page gives, in addition to the main piece, "William and Margaret. / Go, Yarrow Flower. / Robin and Anna. / Could a Man Be Secure"; it also bears a woodcut vignette of a girl in a bonnet carrying two pails slung from a hoop round her knees, with "[No.] 10" printed below. In "William and Margaret" [3 pages], Margaret's ghost appears to the young man who betrayed her. He throws himelf on her grave and never speaks again.
NSTC 2S31074. Removed from a nonce volume. Clean save for some smudging to outer margin of one page. (16760)
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“Man is a Creature of Boundless Ambition” — Naturally, “Magic” is Appealing
Godwin, William. Lives of the necromancers. Or, an account of the most eminent persons in successive ages, who have claimed for themselves, or to whom has been imputed by others, the exercise of magical power. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1835. 12mo (19.5 cm, 7.67"). xii, [25]–307, [1] pp.
[SOLD]
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First American edition of the final book by Godwin, husband of Mary Wollstonecraft and father of Mary Shelley: a description of different types of magic, followed by tales of luminaries including Circe, Simon Magus, Nostradamus, Doctor Dee, and the Lancashire witches, among many others. Godwin's intent was to make clear the folly and superstition of those who believed in witchcraft, saying “the work I have written is not a treatise of natural magic [but] rather proposes to display the immense wealth of the faculty of imagination, and to show the extravagances of which the man may be guilty who surrenders himself to its guidance” (p. vii). However, much of the volume's subsequent impact came from the number of readers who considered it
a primer in occult studies! The book clearly resonated for Edgar Allan Poe, who in his review for the Southern Literary Messenger noted the “great pleasure” he took in reading the Lives, and described it as “an invaluable work, evincing much labor and research, and full of absorbing interest” (SLM, Dec. 1835).
American Imprints 31862; Coumont, Demonology and Witchcraft, G44.2; Sabin 27675. Contemporary ribbon-embossed cloth, spine with printed paper label; cloth unevenly sunned to brown and showing signs of onetime exposure to dampness, spine and label darkened and chipped, binding overall rubbed with front hinge (inside) tender and free endpapers lacking. Title-page with tear from upper margin, not touching text; otherwise, waterstaining across lower outer corners and mild to moderate foxing throughout.
Back pastedown and verso of final text page with pencilled doodles.
A well-used copy that perhaps survived by “magic”; still eminently readable in all senses. (41238)

Wondrous Happenings in
Sixth Century Italy
(INCUNABLE REPORTS)
Gregorius I, Pont. Max. (Gregory I, pope). Dialogorum libri quattuor. [colophon: Venetiis: per Hieronymus de Paganinis,
1492]. Small 4to (19.5 cm; 7.625"). [79 of 80] ff., lacks final blank leaf.
$3500.00
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Miracles, signs, wonders, and healings performed in Italy in the sixth century A.D., mostly by monks, fill three of the four books of this incunable printing of one of Gregory the Great's understandably most popular writings. The book not devoted to such wondrous things is book two, a life of Saint Benedict. There were 20 editions printed between 1473 and the end of the 15th century, in Latin, German, Italian, and Spanish, in formats ranging from folio to octavo.
This Venetian printing from the press of Girolamo de Paganini (active 1492– 97), is done in gothic type in double-column format, and the first four lines on the first text leaf are printed in red; there is one large woodcut (on the first page), of St . Peter, which cut is used in other of his books (e.g., his 1492 Biblia latina). Below the cut is this praise of Gregory: “Sicut Petrus apostolo[rum] princeps in ecclesia dei prefuit: sic postmodu[m] Gregorius: Qui quidem pro mercede glorie celestis imarcessibilem coronam reportantes: nobis scripta bene viuedi exepla reliquerunt: vt infra Gregorij sermo dyalogus probat.”
Gregory (ca.?540–12 March 604), pope from 3 September 590 to 12 March 604, is the
patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers, and is famous for instigating the first known large-scale mission from Rome — the Gregorian Mission, to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons in England to Christianity.
Provenance: Cut-down Blumhaven Library bookplate (i.e., private library of Herman Blum, 1885–1973, of the Frankford section of Philadelphia, PA); given by Mr. Blum on his 89th birthday to his grandson Robert Martin Blum, as per light blue ballpoint pen inscription on front pastedown.
ISTC ig00405000; Goff G405; HC 7963*; Pell 5357; IGI 4422; BMC V 457; GKW 11401. Half vellum and cream paper covered boards of the first half of the 20th century, soiled; without the final blank leaf (only). Bookseller's description glued to front pastedown above provenance information as above; additional tape or glue stains on same and tape stains on rear pastedown. Title- leaf seriously browned, torn with blank lower area lost, and mounted, with image of St. Peter and all but one letter of type preserved; repairs to upper margin and fore-edge of the first text leaf; waterstaining in first half, diminishing after first signatures. (39630)

POEMS
by the Influential
“Monk” of GOTHIC Literature
Lewis, Matthew Gregory (“Monk Lewis”). Tales of wonder...the second edition. London: Pr. by W. Bulmer & Co. for J. Bell, 1801. 8vo (18 cm, 7.1"). [4], 251 (pp. 138–39 numbered 134–35), [1 (adv.)] pp.
$150.00
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Poems by the influential “Monk” of Gothic literature. Second edition of these poems of the fey and supernatural, some written by Lewis and some reworked by him (sources including Sir Walter Scott, George Colman, and John Leyden); most works are supplied with morals (“. . . vain are now her prayers and cries, / Who cared not for her father's tears, / Who felt not for her father's sighs!” [p. 8]).
This author enjoyed great success among feminine (and young) audiences with his gothic tales of horror and woe, most notably with his one novel, The Monk, a youthful production that earned him his nickname. Shelley was especially fond of Lewis's work, although Byron mocked the author's “gibb'ring spectres” and “infernal brain” in the poem “English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.”
NCBEL, III, 743 (first ed.). Later 19th-century half sheep in imitation of morocco over marbled paper sides, worn and abraded; leather chipping over head of spine, covers pressure-stamped by a now-defunct institution, spine with paper shelving label. Title-page and several others stamped; endpaper and final blank separated but present (former with date slip); many pages, not unexpectedly, show light to moderate spots of foxing, and there is some staining. Last leaf torn across outer corner taking top author's name in ads on verso (it was John Beckmann) and most of three words of the last poem's last verse (“herte should breke”). (5414)
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Early New World Treatise on the Zodiac
from a Modern Fine Hand Press
with VOLVELLE
Martínez, Enrico. Los signos del zodiaco: Trece grabados de Artemio Rodríguez y uno, del mismo autor. [Tacámbaro de Codallos, Mexico]: Taller Martín Pescador, 2019. Small 4to (25.5 cm, 10"). 40 pp.
$145.00
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Master printer Juan Pascoe of the Taller Martin Pescador explains (p. 1) that the text of this short treatise on astrology comes from pages 25 through 38 of the Repertorio de los tiempos, y historia natural desta Nueva España that the cosmographer and printer Enrico Martinez wrote and published in 1606 in Mexico City.
To that text he has added wonderfully striking woodcuts by the T.M.P.'s long-time artist Artemio Rodríguez and a working replica volvelle.
In his introduction Pascoe tells us about the press that Enrico Martinez used, the later printings of the Repertorio, and the special characters that were recast for this edition “en homenaje a los 480 años de imprenta en México-Tenochtitlán.”
Limited to 150 copies: “Florencia Ramírez compuso las letras de caja Poliphilus Blado, Castellar, con la cruz fourchée tallada por Antionio de Espinosa en 1554 y el punto alargado de Enrico Martínez, 1600. Juan Pascoe y Martín Urbina imprimieron . . . [el libro] sobre papel de hilo De Ponte” (colophon).
Laced-in binding of wrappers with paper label on front wrapper.
As issued, new, beautiful. (40676)

NEWTON for
IRELAND
Newton, Isaac. Observations upon the prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John. In two parts. Dublin: Pr. by S. Powell, for Goerge Risch, George Ewing, and William Smith, 1733. 8vo (20 cm; 7.75"). iv, [4], 320 pp.
[SOLD]
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First edition printed in Ireland. In addition to being a physicist, mathematician, and natural philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton was something of a Biblical scholar as well, as shown by the present exegesis on apocalyptic texts. His analysis generally reads as being practical in nature — as the New Catholic Encyclopedia (X, 428) says, “Newton's writings on
apocalyptical prophecies were not mystical or millenarian in any sense, but more exercises in deciphering cryptograms.” They comport with our sense of him as someone who believed in the scientific method!
Printed with a two-page, small-type list of the subscribers to this Irish edition, some entries noting a profession or a locality.
Wallis, Newton, 328.2; ESTC T18642. Recent full brown calf, Cambridge style binding: Round spine, raised bands accented with single gilt rules above and below each, gilt center device in five spine compartments; black spine label, gilt. Covers tooled in blind with center compartment with corner devices; new endpapers. Old rubber-stamp along inner margin of title, with another to lower margin of dedication page and an inked line of presentation to its gutter; age-toning and stray stains. A good+ copy of the uncommon Dublin edition. (33120)
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This book appears in the GENERAL
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The
Scientist as
Scholar
of
Prophecy
& Apocalypse
Sir
Isaac &
His (actually, not so) Mystical
Side
Newton,
Isaac. Observations upon the prophecies of Daniel. London:
James Nisbet, & T. Stevenson, Cambridge, 1831. 8vo (23.5 cm; 9"). [1] f.,
xii, 250 pp.
$550.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Third edition; a new edition, with the citations translated, and notes by P. Borthwick
. . . of Downing College, Cambridge.”
Publisher's quarter green cloth with paper-covered boards. Rebacked
in sympathetic cloth and new paper label (antique style) applied. Boards show
age-stains and wear but are solid. Old library pressure-stamp on title-page.
In an open back slipcase of green library cloth; spine of box with author,
title, and call number in gilt. A nice copy, sound for reading. (21773)

A Rather EXTENDED Chapbook!
[A Ghost Here, Too]
Ogilvie, William. The Laird of Cool's ghost: being several conferences and meetings betwixt the Reverend Mr. Ogilvie, late minister of the gospel at Innerwick; and the ghost of Mr. Maxwell, late Laird of Cool; as it was found in Mr. Ogilvie's closet after his death -- written with his own hand. Glasgow: Pr. for the booksellers, [ca. 1840?]. 12mo. 8 pp.
$85.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Religious conversation with a ghost, whose requests for reparation to those he wronged in life are declined by Mr. Ogilvie. The title-page woodcut vignette shows Mercury with winged staff, helmet and sandals, with “[No.] 48” printed at the foot of the title. A chapbook.
This ed. not in NSTC. Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with upper margin trimmed a bit closely, costing “The” of title. Pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean. (37151)

Mesmerism for German Doctors
Sallis, Johann G. Der tierische Magnetismus (Hypnotismus) und seine Genese. Ein Beitrag zur Aufklärung und eine Mahnung an die Sanitätsbehörden. Leipzig: Ernst Günthers Verlag, 1887. 8vo (20.9 cm, 8.24"). [4], 108 pp.
$150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: An examination of the history and development of hypnotism, with an account of Mesmer's work and an emphasis on making rational use of hypnotism as therapeutic tool rather than moneymaking scam. The work is
not common in U.S. institutions: A search of WorldCat found only five reporting ownership.
Provenance: Title-page with rubber-stamp reading “Bibl. Societ. Psychol. Monac.” and with inked inscription noting ownership of Dr. Franz Carl Gerster, a physician and practitioner of hypnotism; most recently from the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
Contemporary marbled paper–covered boards with pebbled black cloth shelfback, spine with gilt-stamped title; front cover with small early hand-inked paper shelving label, edges and extremities rubbed. Paper of the front hinge (inside) cracked. Pages age-toned, otherwise clean; title-page with stamp and inscription as above. Final text leaf with old repair, partially shading text without loss of legibility. (40033)

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]
Click the images for enlargements.
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)
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Silesian Historical Anthology
Stenzel, Gustav Adolf Harald. Scriptores rerum Silesiacarum oder Sammlung schlesischer Geschichtschreiber, namens der schlesischen gesellschaft für vaterländische cultur. Breslau: Josef Max & Komp., 1835–47. 4to (25.7 cm, 9.9"). 3 vols. I: xx, (iii)–xvi, 538 pp. II: xv, [1], 505, [1] pp. III: xii, 435, [1] pp.
$1000.00
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Uncommon first edition: The first three volumes of this important collection of documents pertaining to the history of Silesia. Stenzel (1792–1854), a German historian, was for some years the archivist of the Silesian provincial archives and made excellent use of his position; this work offers a great deal of seldom-seen and valuable primary source material, including accounts of St. Hedwig, Duchess of Silesia, and
Dorothea Beier, the 15th-century mystic, along with the Chronica Polonorum and Samuel Benjamin Klose's Darstellung der inneren Verhältnisse der Stadt Breslau vom Jahre 1458 bis zum Jahre 1526.
Additional volumes continued to be published for many years, under the stewardship of other editors; Stenzel was responsible for I through V.
Recent black-flecked paper–covered boards, spines with printed paper title and volume labels. Some upper edges in vol. I and lower corners in vol. II bumped; all edges stained red except for vol. III, which has speckled edges. Vol. III (only) with light offsetting/show-through from print; in fact a clean, nice set. (25346)
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“Storys” — Spellbindings
Storys of Prince Lupin, Yellow dwarf, and The Three wishes. Glasgow [Scotland]: Printed for the Booksellers, [18--]. 12mo (15.1 cm, 6"). 24 pp.
$175.00
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In the title story, “Prince Lupin and the White Cat” [11-1/2 pages], a king promises his throne to whichever of his three sons can bring him, first, the most beautiful dog, then a silk cloth that can be threaded through the eye of a needle, then the most beautiful lady in the kingdom. Prince Lupin, the youngest son, finds his way to an enchanted castle where a beautiful white cat, attended by a retinue of cats, rats and mice, gives him an acorn containing an exquisite little dog, and then a millet seed containing a 400-foot long silk cloth that threads easily through the eye of a needle.
Finally, she persuades him to cut off her head and feet, whereupon she turns into a beautiful woman, thus assuring the prince of his inheritance — and possibly a rather interesting life.
The second story [9 pages] concerns the trials and eventual death of a princess who becomes betrothed against her will to a yellow dwarf, and the futile struggles of her lover, the King of the Golden Mines, with the Dwarf and the witch-like Desert Fairy to rescue her.
“[No.] 7” printed at foot of title. The title woodcut vignette is of two men pushing out a boat from the shore of a lake with an anchor and basket in the foreground and a castle in the background. Also illustrated with a decorative woodcut border on title & two tailpieces, one depicting the head & shoulders of king with a crown and halberd, the other showing two lovers sitting under a tree and a group of women dancing around a maypole.
Very good. Original self wrappers (unbound; removed). (38498)
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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)
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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)
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PROPHECIES
[Walker, Patrick (1666?–1745?)]. Life and prophecies, of Alexander Peden. Glasgow: Pr. for the booksellers, [ca. 1840]. 12mo. 24 pp.
$90.00
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Alexander Peden [1626?–86] was a Presbyterian minister at New Glenluce in Galloway, Scotland. This chapbook offers a synopsis of his life and details his prophecies. #115 in the chapbook series.
Removed from a bound volume. Top margin of title-page closely trimmed. Very good condition. (37140)
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Early Versions of
Classic Tales of MAGIC
Wright, Thomas, ed. The tale of the basyn and the frere and the boy. London: William Pickering [C. Whittingham], 1836. 24mo (14.2 cm, 5.625"). xvi, [58] pp.; illus.
$135.00
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Chiswick Press production of “two early tales of magic printed from manuscripts preserved in the Public library of the University of Cambridge,” here with an introduction and scholarly notes by antiquarian Thomas Wright. Only
150 copies of this edition were produced, and the text is printed in roman and Caslon's blackletter with a gorgeous historiated initial and two in-text illustrations. Pickering & Chatto note in their catalogue that the offering is one of four Early English poetry volumes produced in a similar style.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1836.18; Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.), p. 96; NSTC 2W34141; Pickering & Chatto, William Pickering (catalogue 708), 277. Quarter dark brown roan in imitation of morocco and rose-pink paper–covered boards, spine lettered in gilt; paper gently rubbed and faded, front hinge (inside) just starting at top, two small pencilled notes on endpapers. Booklabel as above. Light age-toning, some light staining on endpapers. Signatures mostly unopened.
Early English poetry presented within a historical context and in “antiquarian” style. (39487)

Trans-Oceanic Tragedy, 1789
One LAST Ghost . . .
Young Grigor's GHOST, An Old Scotch song. Glasgow [Scotland]: Printed for the Booksellers, [1840s]. 12mo. 8 pp.
$40.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Young Sergeant Grigor is killed and scalped by Indians at Fort Niagara in America on 30 July 1759. Back home in Scotland his lover mourned; and “As she was a-weeping under the green oak, / He quickly past by her and not a word spoke, / Yet, shaking his left hand, where the ring he did wear, / It wanted a finger, and blood dropped there.” Soon after, the young lady died of grief.
No. “13” at foot of title.
Unbound; removed. Very Good (slightly darkened). (37144)
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