This is the first part's first edition, first issue, with five lines of text on the verso of leaf lxxx, a running title reading “De legibus romanis,” and the error in foliation of leaf lxii numbered lxiii. The text is printed in roman without side- or shouldernotes and with blank spaces holding guide letters (unaccomplished); the fourth leaf of preliminaries is a true blank. The title-page bears a large version of the Aldine printer's device.

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

•  Renouard, Alde, 1557, no. 18; UCLA, Aldine Press: Catalogue of the Ahmanson-Murphy Collection (2001), 525; Kallendorf & Wells, Aldine Press Books, 393 (not indicating which issue).   Full contemporary limp vellum, almost certainly the first binding; cockled and worn, with evidence of now-lost ties. A very nice copy.  (38113)

•  Sewn octavo French fold. Fine and unopened.  (24124)

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)

The Taller Martin Pescador edition consists of100 copies, the main text composed by Florencio Ramirez in Enrico Martinez type, the three-page colophon composed by Juan Pascoe in Blado type, and the whole hand printed on DePonte paper.

•  Stitched in light wrappers with a paper label on the front wrapper.  (40718)

Binding:  Contemporary red morocco, spine gilt extra with green leather gilt label and elegant tooling to top and bottom, bands, and compartments; covers with similarly elegant, well-composed gilt borders and with board edges and turn-ins gilt in complementary fashion. All edges gilt, silk bookmarker present.

Provenance:  Bookplate of Brian Stilwell.

•  Brunet, Supplement, 981; Graesse, IV, 439.   Bound as above in excellent condition with only the lightest shelfwear and a very short tear (not advancing) at head of spine; wide-margined leaves very clean with only the lightest sort of normal foxing. A treasurable copy.  (40323)

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

•  Quarter dark blue morocco and vividly color-printed paper–covered sides with gilt-stamped title on spine, portfolio in matching paper, both housed in publisher's plain slipcase; portfolio spine and corners showing minor wear, main volume bright and fresh. Top edge gilt. One portfolio sample leaf with two short tears from one edge, papers otherwise in beautiful, crisp condition, as are the text pages of the main volume. A special copy in lovely condition.  (39552)

Following the Omaggio poetico is the first appearance of Valperga di Caluso's Libellus carminum, 15 poems in Latin including one to his friend Alfieri, published (as was the former item) under the pseudonym the author preferred for his literary works.

According to Renouard's 1794 catalogue of Bodoni imprints, the edition of Omaggio poetico was limited to 210 copies; it is now relatively uncommon in the U.S., with the Turin-printed Libellus carminum even more so — a search of WorldCat fails to locateany American institutional holdings of the latter.

Binding:  Contemporary mottled calf; spine gilt-extra, with gilt-stamped red leather title-label, board edges with distinctive gilt roll. Stone pattern marbled paper endpapers; all edges carmine.

•  Brooks 458; De Lama, II, 74; Giani 28 (p. 44).   Bound as above: spine with spots of worming and head chipped, these affecting appearance remarkably little; otherwise light wear, small scuffs. Front and rear free endpapers with pencilled bibliographical annotations. One leaf with paper flaw in outer margin, not touching text. Of interest both for Bodoni's usual elegance in printing and for the contents' connections to some of the most eminent figures of Italian belles-lettres of the day. (40151)

The text is nicely printed in large, clear type with a woodcut headpiece at the start of each volume (the second volume having a separate title-page); at the back are four pages of advertisements from Parisian medical publisher-bookseller J.B. Baillière, dated 1822, suggesting that perhaps Baillière had purchased the sheets as remainders. This edition isnotably uncommon, with only three U.S. institutions reporting holdings to WorldCat (National Library of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Yale).

Provenance: Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription “H.S.S. Burman” dated 1848. Later from the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Blake, NLM 18th Century, p. 302.   Early 19th–century quarter sheep and blue paste paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped title and compartment decorations; binding rubbed and scuffed, spine sunned, joints starting (sewing holding). All edges speckled red. Inscription as above; small slip of paper with “Caroli de Mertens” inked in an early hand laid in. One leaf with paper flaw affecting lower outer corner, not touching text. Pages clean.  (40665)

•  Publisher's quarter teal morocco and cream cloth–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title, in original dust jacket (printed on both sides) and printed cork–covered slipcase; slipcase with corners a little rubbed, jacket with spine and extremities chipped, volume's spine a tiny bit rubbed and sunned at extremities; the volume itself in all, fresh and lovely. A nice copy of this remarkable first edition.  (35851)

A full list with pagination and illustration information as well as ESTC and Gaskell numbers is available on request.

•  All volumes uniformly bound in 18th-century polished calf, spines with raised bands, gilt ruling, and gilt lettering on leather labels;  a beautiful “long shelf of short books” with spines slightly faded, slightest rubbing, occasional instances of a bit of leather lost to old worm along a joint or an abrasion to a spine or cover; all edges speckled red. Offsetting from turn-ins onto endpapers, pencil annotations in one volume, touch of ink at foremargin of three leaves of another; signatures trimmed closely on third volume of Virgil, first volume of Milton's Paradise Lost “bookmarked” with two paper scraps bearing manuscript annotations, skeleton frontispiece of Young's “Night Thoughts” with an inch-long internal, closed tear to background with no loss, and the maps to Pope's Iliad and Dryden's Virgil in excellent condition. A handsomely bound, sturdy, and appealing representative collection of the Foulis Press.  (35997)

•  Publisher's printed paper wrappers; spine and edges gently sunned, edges with minor shelfwear. Half-title with pencilled (relevant) annotations; pages crisp and clean.  (29718)

None of the three formats are common, andthis impressive volume, intended for private distribution amongst the nobility, is the least frequently encountered.

Binding:  Contemporary vellum, spine with gilt-stamped black leather title-label and with gilt-tooled arabesque and foliate motifs in compartments defined by gilt rules; top edge gilt, other edges deckle.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with small bookplate of Brian Douglas Stilwell.

•  Brooks 997; De Lama, II, 171; Giani 176 (p. 71); Graesse, IV, 592.   Bound as above, sprung with vellum splitting along top and bottom edges of rear cover, otherwise showing mild wear and dust-soiling overall. Front pastedown with small 19th-century shelving label, over traces of larger now-removed bookplate, and Stilwell bookplate present as above; front free endpaper with neatly pencilled bibliographic annotations. Pages with a very few instances of faint spotting, otherwise clean. Attractive, impressive, and uncommon.  (40188)

In 1806, Bodoni printed the six existing cantos (the proposed second and third parts of the poem were never published) in three forms: folio, quarto, and octavo, with the present octavo examplenicely displaying the press's typical restraint and grace.   None of the three Bodoni editions are common; only two U.S. institutions report holding copies of this octavo format (UC-Berkeley, Southern Methodist).

•  Brooks 999; De Lama, II, 171; Giani 176 (p. 71); Graesse, IV, 592.   19th-century treed paper–covered sides with red morocco shelfback, spine with gilt-stamped title and decorative bands; small scuffs to sides, spine with small chip and extremities/edges rubbed with edges lightly sunned; front hinge (inside) opening across paper in part but volume strong. Front pastedown with traces of paper adhesions. An unusual Bodoni item, with pleasingly wide margins. (40190)

Provenance:  Author’s inked inscription “A mon bon ami, Amand Lemire [/] E. Morice” on front free endpaper. From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Printed paper over boards imitating 16th-century strap-work and panelling on covers, with gilt lettering on otherwise plain spine and four gold dots at the corners of the covers’ inner panels; rubbed with some paper chipped, front upper corner and hinge cracked, front free endpaper reattached with paste and chipped at bottom. Light to moderate age-toning and foxing throughout; colors and illumination remarkably bright. A pretty little thing with plenty of charm.  (37895)

•  Publisher's brown sheep, front cover with gilt-stamped printing press vignette, spine with gilt-stamped decorative title; corners bumped, joints and spine extremities rubbed. Pages and plates crisp and clean. A solid copy of the deluxe edition.  (33633)

This is copy 152.

•  Publisher's quarter cranberry-colored calf with decorated paper over the boards, in a cream-colored paper wrapper. A fine copy.  (30522)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of Brian Douglas Stilwell, front free endpaper with bookplate of Robert Wayne Stilwell.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only eight U.S. libraries reporting ownership (Providence Public, NYPL, UCLA, University of California-Irvine, HRC, Bridwell, Pierpont Morgan).

•  Brooks 805; De Lama, II, 142; Giani 135 (p. 65).   Later half green morocco and marbled paper–covered boards, spine lettered in gilt; minimal shelfwear to lower edges only. Front pastedown with pencilled reference annotations. A few small spots of staining; two pages with faint area of offsetting from now-absent laid-in item; pages crisp and clean overall. A marvelous polyglot, of much interest both textually and typographically, in a very attractive copy. (40184)

Provenance:  This is a presentation copy, with the inscription “The Lord Brougham [&] Vaux from the Author” in ink on a front endpaper, and with the Baron’s gilt monogram and coronet stamp appearing on the spine. The Edinburgh-born Henry Peter Brougham (1778–1868), described as “precociously talented” by the Oxford DNB, helped start the Edinburgh Review and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, served as Lord Chancellor, and was the first Baron Brougham and Vaux. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1843.12; Keynes, Pickering, p. 82; NSTC 2N8249; Pickering & Chatto, William Pickering (catalogue 708), 214. On Nicolas & Brougham, see: Oxford DNB (online).   Half 19th-century polished calf and marbled paper, spine ruled in gilt with a gilt-stamped brown leather title-label and rolls in blind; gently rubbed, some leather faded or darkened. All edges speckled red. Light age-toning; one leaf with chipped edges. Provenance indicia as above with also at top left corner of inside front cover a good-sized paper label over another paper label, this bearing a large “Q”; a shelf mark? a particularly cryptic “bookplate”?  (39060)

Binding:  19th-century half brown morocco and papier tourniquet paper–covered sides, gilt lettering on spine with ruling in blind, covers with blind beaded roll along leather edges; French curl marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, green ribbon placemarker.

Provenance:  20th-century bookplate of the Sondley Reference Library of Asheville, NC, on front pastedown and its embossed stamps on frontispiece, title-page, and two leaves of text; clipping of a bookseller's description on endpaper. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Bound as above, gently rubbed. Moderate age-toning with light spotting, a few unevenly trimmed leaves of text and one missing corner from paper manufacture, foxing to first and last few leaves of volume. A strong and attractive copy of a book that's still a “good read.”  (38427)

This volume for connoisseurs offers two distinct parts: first, the text printed and all the illustrations present as fully colored, delicately washed in shades of pink, blue, purple, grey, white, and earth tones; and second, a set of the illustrations in proofs uncolored and without text. Most of the illustrations in both suites areinitialed by Caruchet.

Jean Emmanuel Charles Nodier (1780–1844) was a French author and librarian, appointed to the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in 1824. His literary stylemuch influenced the Romantics, including Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset. This legend, first published in La Revue de Paris (1838), is representative of his fantastical oeuvre. It was later adapted into a French opera (Béatrice, 1914) and a film (1923).

Signed Binding: Crushed half milk chocolate morocco over marbled paper boards signed “V. Champs,” gilt author, title, and date to spine; patterned marbled endpapers (different from the covers). Original gilt and hand-colored stiff cream wrappers bound in, showing Béatrix full-figure on the front, her hands extended outward beneath the gilt title.

Provenance:  An initialed ink inscription beneath the Justification du tirage states this copy was “Offert à Madame Conquet” — who must have been related toM.L. Conquet, “the great Paris publisher of works of the romantic school,” whose publications were famous for being very limited editions and for the “high artistic quality of their illustrations” (“Books and Authors,” The New York Times, 26 March 1898).

•  Carteret, V, 141; Vicaire, VI, 179.   Binding as above. One small nick on the front leather near the spine, and board extremities (paper and leather) lightly rubbed. The publisher's authentication embossed stamp below the limitation statement. Text clean, unblemished. Simply, excellent.  (30135)

•  Ray, Illustrator and the Book in England, 55 & 56; NSTC 2N10328 & 2N10331.   Contemporary half green morocco with green pebbled cloth–covered sides, leather edges with gilt fillet, spines with gilt-stamped title and dates and blind-stamped compartments; spines slightly sunned and volumes showing light shelfwear. Bookplates as above. Pages gently age-toned, otherwise clean. A handsome set of a classic Aesop.  (40759)

The verso blank.

Use of capitals in text for words: Generalmente, Magestad, Senores, Presidente, Oydores, Reales, Alcaldes, Juezes, and Justicias.

The manuscript completions were sworn in Puebla de los Angeles on 14 September 1590, before the notary Marcos Reyes. Francisco Hernandez de Tinoco, a citizen of Puebla, gives power of attorney to Hernan Perez, a “procurador de causas,” who is not present.

Our attribution to printer is based on the type used and stylistics of composition.

•  Edwin A. Carpenter, A Sixteenth-Century Mexican Broadside (i.e., The Valtón Collection), possibly type 14, 15, or 16. Not in Szewczyk & Buffington, 39 Books and Broadsides Printed in America before the Bay Psalm Book.   Removed from a bound volume with worming in margins and into text, touching but not costing letters; age-toning. Light waterstain in upper margin. A good example of a Mexican incunable broadside.  (34744)

DePol also provided thenumerous wood engravings that enhance the text. This is copy 303.

Presentation copy from DePol: “For Morris Gelfand, old friend, with warm regards . . . John DePol December 3, 1991.” Gelfand was the proprietor of The Stone House Press.

•  Publisher's red cloth shelfback, boards covered with DePol's gray and white illustrated paper. A very nice copy.  (35832)

The present example isnumbered copy 49 of 107 printed, signed by the author at the end of the text.

•  Publisher's paper wrappers, front wrapper with applied collage elements, in glassine dust wrapper. A nice copy.  (30920)

Provenance:  This copy inscribed, in an angular, decorative hand (presumably Hamady's), to a contemporary bookseller and archivist, with the inscription dated 1976.

•  Two Decades of Hamady & the Perishable Press, 76.   Wrappers as above, with very faint traces of wear to extremities, otherwise clean and fresh. It should be noted that the hand-tinting is to small portions of the illustrations only, and very subtle in tone; inscription, as above, large and bold. A nice copy of this “first,” with an interesting inscription.  (37227)

This isone of 228 copies “manually printed in this farmhouse parlour on various shadwell papers hand-formed in the barn,” according to the colophon, which also mentions that “sultry august is when we finish” [sic].

•  Two Decades of Hamady and the Perishable Press Limited, 103.   Publisher's sparkly “flesh-glitter & sequin” paper wrappers, spine with “Joel” pressure-stamped in reverse. A beautiful copy.  (33821)

•  Publisher's paper wrappers as above, front wrapper with tiny lion device stamped in red. A fresh, unworn copy.  (30919)

•  Contemporary blind-stamped black cloth, covers with central gilt-stamped cross and Virgin-with-Infant vignettes, spine with gilt-stamped title; edges, extremities, and back cover rubbed; cloth wrinkled at spine and split at front joint with small bubbles on covers. Front covers lacking clasp hardware (straps present on back cover), spine with inked shelving number; hinges (inside) tender. Front pastedown with New York bookseller's small ticket. Half-title, title-page, and several others institutionally pressure-stamped. Some mild foxing, most pages clean. All edges speckled red.  (25894)

Provenance:  An armorial bookplate of 19th-century English book collector Edward Cheney with the motto “Fato Prudentia Major” appears on the front pastedown; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Bongi, Annali di Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, I, p. 147 (1547 ed.); EDIT16 CNCE 26527. This edition not in Adams, Brunet, or Graesse. On Parabosco, see: Treccani (online).   Vellum over boards, publication information inked on spine; evenly dust-soiled with ink faded. One tiny chip along edge of title-page; otherwise, light age-toning with a handful (only) of small light stains. Bookplate and label as above. A pretty, pocket-sized play from a great 16th-century press.  (39555)

•  Brooks 469; Blake, NLM 18th Century, p. 340; De Lama, II, 77.   Modern light blue paper–covered boards with dark blue morocco corner tips and shelfback, spine lettered in gilt; very slight fading to outer edges of boards, otherwise showing virtually no wear. Pages wide-margined, with speckling to first and last leaves and dust-soiling at untrimmed edges; first two leaves with limited light crescent of staining at gutter, those leaves and a few more with light speckles, a few leaves with paper flaws of various sorts.  (40153)

•  Fine copy.  (30791)

Provenance:  Bookplates of Wilfred Merton, Robert Wayne Stilwell, and Brian Douglas Stilwell.

•  Brooks 451; Brunet, IV, 783; De Lama, II, 71–72; Giani 23 (p. 43).   19th-century half brown mottled sheep and marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands; extremities rubbed. Front pastedown with bookplates as above and with pencilled reference notes; some foxing or other spotting/soiling intermittently; a volume overall clean and pleasing.  (40150)

•  Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 275.   Original red slipcase present, rubbed; the volume contained, well preserved. A very nice copy.  (33379)