
17TH-CENTURY BOOKS
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He Had One of Those
Breathtakingly Simple Insights . . .
Lancellotti, Giovanni Paolo. Institvtiones ivris canonici, qvibvs ivs pontificivm singulari methodo libris quattuor comprehenditur.... Lugduni: Apud haeredes Gulielmi Rouillii, 1614. 16mo (12.1 cm, 4.75"). AZ8AaNn8; 500 pp., [38] ff. [bound with] Naogeorg, Thomas. Rvbricæ, sive svmmæ capitvlorvm ivris canonici Thomæ Noageorgi [sic] Straubingensis opera in lucem editæ.... Lugduni: Apud haeredes Gulielmi Rouillii, 1614. 16mo. AS8; 286 pp., [1 (blank)] f.
$600.00
Lancellotti (152290) was a professor of law in Perugia. His teaching of canon law by arranging it into the same divisions (of persons, things, and actions) as Roman civil law made it much more accessible, and he was invited by Pope Paul IV to produce an Institutes of Canon Law on the model of the Institutes of Justinian, the standard work in Roman civil law. He published the present work, the result of his labors, in 1563; while it failed to attain the same legal status as the Institutes of Justinian, it received wide dissemination, and has had a major impact on the teaching of canon law to this day.
Bound with Lancellotti's work is a summary of titles of chapters of canon law compiled by Thomas Naogeorg (150863). Naogeorg's wanderings took him from being a Dominican to being a Lutheran to being a Calvinist. Along the way, during his Lutheran phase, he studied canon law for a year (1551) at Basel, during which time he compiled and published this work, likely as a student's guide. He is better known for his plays, in which he sharply attacks the Papacy.
The two works here were first published by the firm of Guillaume Rouillé, in 1587 and 1588 respectively, and may have been intended to be bound together, as witnessed by the Library of Congress copy. The title-page transcriptions of the earlier editions (except for the date and "hæredes"), and their signatures, pagination, and arrangement, match those of these present 1614 editions. There are italic shouldernotes, and woodcut headpieces and initials.
On Lancellotti, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, VIII, 356. Contemporary calf, covers framed in gilt double fillets, rebacked with calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; corners and edges rubbed, sides with small cracks and scuffs. All edges speckled brown. Bouquiniste's paper label on front pastedown and front free endpaper lacking. Two words inked long ago in two margins, and one page with old pencilled underlining. (3797)

At Least It's
NOT Eye of Newt
Langham, William. The garden of health: containing the sundry rare and hidden vertues and properties of all kindes of simples and plants. Together with the manner how they are to bee used and applyed in medicine for the health of mans body, against divers diseases and infirmities most common amongst men. London: Printed by Thomas Harper, 1633. 4to in 8s (19 cm; 7.5"). [4] ff., 702 pp., [33] ff.
$3400.00
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Preparing for a trip from England to Virginia or Massachusetts in the 1630s or 40s, one would have been well advised to make sure someone in the party was bringing a copy of Langham's work. Once in America, one would have made good use of the herbal remedies for some of the more common ailments the newly arrived would have suffered, and one would have had greater access to the “exotic” American sarsaparilla and guaiacum that Langham discusses.
This precursor to the “Physician's Desk Reference” is a practical compendium of medicinal and other plants arranged alphabetically from “acacia” to “wormwood” with a strong emphasis on plants that “can be gotten without any cost or labour, the most of them being such as grow in most places and are common among us” (folio [2]).
Langham's organization is this: “He devoted a chapter to each plant, describing its parts and their uses, the different processes such as distillation that could be applied to it, and how the resulting products could be used for particular diseases. To every item of information he added a number and at the end of the chapter there is an index or table of conditions with the numbers that were in the main text. The reader can thus see at a glance that one herb could be used in a wide variety of conditions, and whether a specific illness could be helped by a particular drug” (Wear, pp. 82–83).
This is the second edition, “corrected and amended,” the first having appeared in 1597. We are sure the reading public, which was sufficient to support a second edition, would have been helped rather more if the work had had illustrations, but that would have increased the cost of the work dramatically and a
wide audience was sought. The text is printed chiefly in gothic type while the end of chapter “indices” are in roman. This herbal was not printed during a period of good English typography, so the pages are dense with little white space or appreciation for making the text on the page easy on the eye rather than wearying.
ESTC S108241; STC (rev. ed.) 15196; Alden & Landis 633/67; Huth Library 817. On Langham, see Andrew Wear, Knowledge & Practice in English Medicine, 1550–1680. Contemporary English calf, boards modestly ruled in blind at edges; rebacked in high quality goat. Age-toning or old soiling, especially at the edges of margins and with offsetting from binding to title-page; some light marginal waterstaining especially at end in index; some tears (one shown here) with last leaves' edges chopped and final two with edges strengthened.
Overall, an unsophisticated copy that has been spared being washed, pressed, and gussied up. (34545)
For HERBALS, click here.

Whose Baptisms Count? Widow Printer
Launoy, Jean de. Remarques sur la dissertation, ou l'on montre en quel temps, & pour quelles raisons l'Eglise universelle consentit à recevoir le baptesme des heretiques; & par où l'on découvre ce qui a donné occasion aux auteurs, qui ont traité de cette matiere, de s'estre égarez dans la recherche qu'ils ont faite du Concile plenier, qui termina suivant S. Augustin cette contestation. Paris: L'imprimerie de la Veuve Edme Martin, 1671. 8vo (18.7 cm, 7.4"). [2], 77, [1] pp.
$500.00
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A widow's printing of this polemic on the controversy over baptizing repentant heretics, attacking the previously published remarks of M. David; this edition follows the first of 1653. The author, a French historian and famously skeptical hagiographer, was a staunch Gallicanist, and
an early hand has pencilled “Très Gallican” on the title-page here.
Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only two U.S. institutional holdings of this 1671 edition, one of which was deaccessioned and is in fact this copy.
Contemporary mottled sheep framed in blind double fillets, recently rebacked with complementary calf, spine with raised bands and blind-tooled compartment decorations; edges and extremities rubbed, sides with old scuffs. Title-page and first text page with institutional perforation-stamp, title-page also with pencilled annotation as above, first text page with rubber-stamped numerals in lower margin, no other markings. Pages clean. (31049)

False Imprint — Radical Theology
Leclerc, Jean. Liberii de Sancto Amore Epistolae theologicae,in quibus varii scholasticorum errores castigantur. Irenopoli [i.e., really, Saumur]: typis Philalethianis, 1679. 12mo (16 cm; 6.375"). [10] f.,, 320 p.
$800.00
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“Liberius de Sancto Amore” was the pseudonym of Jean Leclerc (1657–1736; a.k.a. Johannes Clericus), a radical Swiss theologian who broke with Calvinism. He is famous for his promotion of exegesis. The present work, published with a false imprint while he lived in Saumur, was an unorthodox study of the doctrine of the Trinity, the Hypostatic union of the two natures in Christ, original sin, and other matters. It was decidedly unconventional for its era.
The woodcut “printer's device” on the title-page is telling: “Ex trunco veteri novus ramus,” which pretty much epitomizes Leclerc's writings.
Uncommon. We locate fewer than 10 copies in the U.S.
Weller, I, p.278. Recent quarter leather with gilt spine; sides with German-style brown paper speckled with black. Shadow of old pencilled shelf number and another four-digit number on verso of title-page. A very good copy. (24769)
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Plenty of Provenance & a
Typographic Eyeful
Leigh, Edward. A treatise of the divine promises; in five books. London: pr. by A. Miller for Thomas Underhill, 1650. 12mo (14.3 cm; 5.625"). [18], 409, [39] pp., 1 fold-out diagram.
$750.00
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Leigh summarizes his study of God's promises this way: “a general description of their nature, kindes, excellency, right use, properties, and the persons to whom they belong,” and the “declaration of the covenant it self [sic], the bundle and body of all the promises, and the special promises likewise, which concern a mans [sic] self or others, both temporal, spiritual, and eternal.”
This third edition is typographically complex in ye good 17th-century style, with a title-page printed in red and black and liberal variation of type-ornament borders, multiple fonts, and decorative initials; the pages are ruled into multiple divisions for presentation of text and various sorts/levels of notes, with the printer occasionally breaking “form” to enhance compactness or clarity. Braces and brackets appear generously, with these tricky-to-set devices being most strikingly deployed in full-page diagrammatic “Tables” of contents, one at the start of each of the five books and the one of the third being actually a
large fold-out.
The first edition appeared in 1633 with two more in 1641. Those three and this 1650 are uncommon in commerce with only three of this apparently held in U.S. libraries (Boston Athenaeum, University of Illinois, and Princeton Theological).
Leigh (1602–71), a decided puritan, was described by one contemporary as “a man of fiery disposition” and by another as “a cunning man”; in addition to his religious duties he found time and inclination for politics and was elected to Parliament.
Provenance: Tim Hide(?), 18th century, has signed the top margin of the title-page; George B. Engle Junior notes on a fly leaf that he bought the book in Boston, MA, March 1881. Later at the Pacific School of Religion (properly released).
ESTC R34516; Wing (rev. ed.) L1015. 17th-century calf, rebacked early 19th century, covers reattached recently using Japanese long-fiber method; spine with gilt-lettered label and blind tooling, covers framed in double rules with gilt-rolled board edges, marbled endpapers, all edges red. Ex-library as above: rubber-stamp to fly-leaf, accession stamp and pencilled call number on title-page verso. Private provenance markings as above, and one entry to the “Table” at rear corrected in old ink. Title-page repaired at top where sometime trimmed; one leaf with very small interior hole not touching text, elsewhere a short marginal tear, a few small ink marks, and a bit of almost invisible marginal worm tracking; the occasional unevenly trimmed leaf, a few more with upper rules cut away, light age-toning. Old bookseller label at rear.
A very solid, very appealing, very “atmospheric” little volume. (36835)
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The Road to Heaven in
Nahuatl
León, Martín de. Camino del cielo en lengua mexicana, con todos los requisitos necessarios para conseguir este fin, co[n] todo lo que un Xp[r]iano deue creer, saber, y obrar, desde el punto que tiene uso de razon, hasta que muere. En Mexico: En la Emprenta de Diego Lopez Davalos, 1611. Small 4to (18.5 cm; 7.25"). Fols. 10–11, 13–69, 69[!]–73, [nothing missing] 76, 75, 77–108, 110–23.
$7250.00
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Sole colonial-era edition and one rare in commerce of Fr. Martín de León's famous work for priests ministering to Nahuatl-speaking Indians. Fray Martín is universally held to have been one of the great scholars of the language in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, admired for his fluency and ability to explain complex matters in elegant yet easy to understand expositions, as here in his confessionary, catechism, and calendar essay.
Tragedy struck this copy, which lacks the title-leaf, licences, dedication, preliminaries concerning use of the word “Teotlacatl,” prologue, the remarks on the Mexican language, the first nine leaves of the catechism in Nahuatl, and fols. 109 and 124–60. Surviving is most of the catechism, the section in Spanish on the syncretism of the Spanish and the Mexican religious calendars, and all but the last half page of the confessionary in Nahuatl, the missing paragraph supplied in early, neat manuscript — the book's sad owner redeeming its losses as best he could?
Sabin 40080; Palau 135423; Medina, Mexico, 160; García Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 37; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2252; Viñaza 127; H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 1543; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Nahuatl-136. Disbound but sewn; housed in a quarter red morocco clamshell case with marbled paper sides. Waterstaining throughout causing many pages to have an almost uniform tan appearance except in the foremargins; foremargins with shouldernotes shaved. Missing leaves as itemized above; fols. 30, 80–81, and 110–11 damaged with small loss, and repairs to some of these margins plus a few others; other usually minor scattered stains. The interesting woodcut on fol. 100 verso and text on recto, holed, still striking and readable respectively. Pencilled marks of emphasis and one faded note (or signature?) across a bottom margin in old ink.
Priced much, much less than a good, complete copy; and a relic with much more than its lowered price to recommend it. (25860)

Arguing
Baptism with the QUAKERS
Leslie, Charles. A discourse; shewing, who they are that are now qualify'd to administer baptism and the Lord's-Supper. Wherein the cause of Episcopacy is briefly treated. London: C. Brome, W. Keblewhite, & H. Hindmarsh, 1698. 4to (22 cm, 8.7"). [8], 62, [2 (adv.)] pp.
$725.00
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First edition of this attempt to convince Quakers of the validity of the orthodox Church of England practice of baptism, written by the nonjuring Church of Ireland clergyman who also published A Discourse Proving the Divine Institution of Water-Baptism. Supporting texts in English, Greek, and Latin are included.
ESTC R25145; Wing (rev. ed.) L1130; McAlpin, IV, 589. Recent marbled paper wrappers. Title-page darkened and institutionally pressure-stamped, with lower outer portion torn away, just touching final number in date with no loss of sense. First few pages with edge nicks. Final (adv.) leaf with short internal tear with loss of a few letters, not affecting sense. (25009)

“Stark Naked, & Carrying a Fiddle”
Leslie, Charles. The snake in the grass: or, Satan transform'd into an angel of light. Discovering the deep and unsuspected subtilty which is couched under the pretended simplicity of many of the principal leaders of those people call'd Quakers. London: printed for Charles Brome, 1696. 8vo (16.5 cm; 6.5"). [6], cccxlii [i.e. ccclii], 271, [1] pp.
$725.00
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First edition of the first of nine anti-Quaker books written by the author after living with a Quaker family while in hiding. Within this easily portable yet densely packed text, Leslie (1650–1722), a nonjuring Church of Ireland clergyman, claims “the Quakers are False Prophets and Conjurers,” “the Popish Emissaries first set up Quakerism in England,” and “No Quakers in the world do defend themselves with greater vehemence, and self-assurance than the Muggletonians do” — among other numerous, only occasionally factual criticisms.
However harsh the allegations, the Quakers were not Leslie's sole target; he also wrote works against deism, Judaism, Catholicism, Socinianism, and more, not to mention his numerous writings against various political parties.
Sabin's entry for this Americanum has this bizarre and amusing note: “It gives a long account of the 'Fourth or New Quakers who mostly reside in Long Island and East Jersey, in America,' one of whom was
Mary Ross, who went to meeting stark naked, and carrying a fiddle.”
The text here is in a rather striking mix of roman, italic, and large black letter.
Provenance: The Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released), with bookplate tucked into front cover.
Sabin 40195; ESTC R216663; Wing (rev. ed.) L1156; Smith, Anti-Quakeriana, 267; on Leslie, see: DNB (online). 17th-century speckled calf, Cambridge-style, spine gilt-lettered with two labels, bands accented and covers panelled in blind; rebacked with new endpapers; abraded, edges worn. Moderate age-toning and foxing, a handful of leaves with rounded corners or chipped edges. Ex-library with its rubber-stamp on title-page and one leaf of text, five-digit number on title-page verso; light pencilling on title-page. (36371)
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Historical Context of the
New Testament
Lightfoot, John. A commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles: Chronicall and criticall. The difficulties of the text explained, and the times of the story cast into annals. London: Pr. by R.C. for Andrew Crooke, 1645. 4to (18.2 cm, 7.2"). [20], 331, [1] pp. (pp. 145–48 bound out of sequence).
$750.00
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First edition of this important “Tripartite History” (as described by the dedication), a chronological arrangement of the events described in the New Testament along with accompanying historical happenings. The sections of “The Christian History, the Jewish and the Roman” for the years 34–44 each have separate title-pages.
Lightfoot (1602–75) was a noted Hebraist and Biblical scholar; Lowndes says of his works that “the writings of Dr. Lightfoot are an invaluable treasure to the biblical student.”
ESTC R21614; Wing (2nd ed.) L2052; Lowndes 1359. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped title and publication labels. Title-page institutionally rubber-stamped. Pp. 145–48 (the end of the “Christian History...XXXIIII” section) bound in between pp. 152 and 153, with annotations in an early inked hand noting the error. Pages trimmed closely, taking part of title-page border and in a few instances affecting the catchwords or final lines of text. Waterstaining, mostly to lower outer portions. (24853)

Be Contrite
Lindeborn, Johannes. In poenitentiae sacramentum notae catecheticae, quibus eruditur poenitens, quam oris confessionem, cordis contritionem, & operis satisfactionem sacerdotalis absolutio requirat. Coloniae: pro Arnoldo ab Eynden, 1677. 8vo (16 cm; 6.25"). [8] ff., 221 pp.
$400.00
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First edition of six published between 1677 and 1679. Lindeborn (1630–96) wrote extensively, principally in Latin but with a few works appearing in Dutch, on the Holy Sacraments, topics central to the catechism, and the passion of Christ.
The present work deals with the sacrament of penance and the need for the penitent to confess orally and from the heart, to be contrite, and to do penance in order to receive the necessary, priestly absolution.
Provenance: In the 19th century in the library of the Seminarii Veteris Catholici Amisfurtensis (deaccessioned); from 2000 till 2016 in a private collection.
Searches of NUC and WorldCat
fail to locate any copies in U.S. libraries.
VD17 23:713687B. Contemporary vellum over pasteboards. Bound without pastedowns or free endpapers, but with four blank leaves before and after the text block!
A clean copy in an interesting anomalous binding style. (36748)
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Letters to the Literati — Plantin–Moretus Press
Lipsius, Justus. Epistolarum selectarum centuria prima [–quinta] miscellanea. Antwerp: Ex officina Plantiana, apud Ioannem Moretum; viduam & filios
Ioannis Moreti, 1605–14. 4to (25.8 cm, 10.2"). 5 parts in one vol. [4] ff., 119, [1] pp.;
[121]–213, [3] pp.; [4] ff., 108, [4] pp.; [6] ff., 83, [5] pp.; [6] ff., 112, [8] pp.
$1250.00
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This is the collected correspondence of the Belgian humanist Lipsius (Joost Lips, 1547–1606) — “one of the most eminent representatives of classical philology between 1550 and 1650" (NCE) — containing nearly
500 letters to the most illustrious intellectuals of his day, with an index of correspondents at the beginning of each part, including: Carolus Clusius (Charles de l'Ecluse, 1526–1609), Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540–1609), Abraham Ortelius (Ortels, 1527–98), Philipp Nicodemus Frischlin (1547–90), Hugo Grotius (de Groot, 1583–1645), Jacob Pontanus (1542–1626), Jacques Auguste de Thou (Thuanus, 1553–1617), and the printer Balthasar Moretus (1574–1641), who would inherit the Plantin press from his father Jan . . .
Printed by Jan Moretus, with the last three parts produced by his widow and children, all five “centuries” feature the famous Plantin device engraved or woodcut on their sectional title-pages, and at the ends of the second and fifth (final) parts. The text is in Latin printed in roman and italic with sparse sidenotes and elaborate woodcut initials and tailpieces.
The correspondence was also issued in separate parts, and as part of the Opera omnia in seven volumes with a general title-page dated 1614.
Bibliotheca Belgica, L406 (Opera), L257 and L258. Contemporary vellum single-ruled in blind with an ornate central cartouche and four fleurons stamped in black on each cover, manuscript title on spine with raised bands accented by black ruling; red speckled edges, and evidence of four ties.
Front joint repaired and new endpapers, text with dust-soiling and a handful of small stains, mild
foxing on a few leaves and browning in some sections; faint curves of waterstaining along edges
in a few places, small marginal tear on one leaf.
A nice copy of a handsome
Plantin–Moretus printing. (30963)

Innate Notions, Ideas, Words, etc. — Locke on the Nature of Knowledge
Locke, John. An essay concerning humane understanding. In four books. London: Pr. for Awnsham & John Churchil and Samuel Manship, 1694. Folio (32.8 cm, 12.875"). [40], 407, [13 (12 index)] pp. (portrait lacking; some pagination erratic).
$2200.00
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Second edition, “with large additions,” of Locke’s great work — one of the formative influences on empiricism and philosophical thought in general, in which Locke “was the first to take up the challenge of Bacon and to attempt to estimate critically the certainty and the adequacy of human knowledge when confronted with God and the universe,” according to Printing and the Mind of Man.
Provenance: Front pastedown with inked inscription of J.H. Randall, Jr., dated 1957; back pastedown with small label of bookseller William Salloch, one formerly affixed Salloch label and one original Salloch invoice now laid in. Most recently in the library of Robert Sadoff, M.D., sans indicia.
Wing (rev. ed.) L2740; ESTC R21459; Printing & the Mind of Man 164 (for the first edition of 1690). Contemporary mottled calf, covers framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label; leather much rubbed overall, with small portion of back joint unsubtly refurbished some time ago. Front hinge (inside) cracked, with sewing holding; lacking the portrait (only). Pages cockled, and a few leaves with lower outer portions waterstained; two leaves each with small hole affecting a handful of letters. (39044)
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John Carter Brown's Copy, Acquired from Stevens
López de Cogolludo, Diego. Historia de Yucathan. Madrid: Juan Garcia Infanzon, 1688. Folio (29 cm; 11.5"). [1 of 15] ff., 760 pp., [16] ff.
$9250.00
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In this account of the conquest and Spanish settlement of the Yucatan, López de Cogolludo, a Franciscan missionary and administrator originally from Alcalá de Henares, presents a sought-after account. He had access to a manuscript version of Bishop Landa's work and consulted such important printed sources as Torquemada.
He also presents his personal eye-witness accounts of events during his 30 years among the Maya (1634–65).
Robert Patch says in the Encyclopedia of Latin American History & Culture (III, 458) that López de Cogolludo wrote this history in the 1650s and that it is “a major source not only for the history of Yucatán but also for the study of Maya culture.”
Provenance: Small booklabel: “Marchio Regaliae D.D. 1741.” John Carter Brown (1797–1874) purchased this from Henry Stevens in 1845/1846. On his death to his son John Nicholas Brown (1861–1900). On his death deeded to the John Carter Brown Library. Deaccessioned 2008.
Palau 141001; Sabin 14210. Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties, front joint (inside) starting to open. Scattered foxing, including on title-page; short tear, repaired, in title; some staining in early margins and into text; without the preliminaries or the added engraved title. Doodling in many margins; ink stains from a careless quill user on several pages. John Carter Brown's stamped signature on p. 1. A less than perfect copy that yet does not “feel” maimed; a copy with a distinguished provenance to match the distinction of the work. (27561)

Cheating the Church Out of the Tithe Tax
Lopez Torrija, Carlos. Broadside. Begins: El Dr. Maestro Don Carlos Lopez Torrija ... Hago saver a todos los fieles ... qu sean duenos de hazinas de labor, rancho, tierreas dezimales, vezinos y moradores, estantes, y havitantes en la iurisidccion de la Ciudad de los Angeles ... Puebla de los Angeles: [Diego Fernandez de Leon], 1687. Folio extra (43 x 31 cm, 17" x 12.125"). [1] p.
$1250.00
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Lopez Torrija is identified as an “Abogado de la Real Audiencia de Mexico . . . Cura en interin de la Parrochial de el Patriarcha San Ioseph de esta Ciudad, Iuez de Testamentos, Capellanias, obras pias, y diezmos en ella y todo su Obispado.” Here he seeks to rectify a quirk in the law concerning collection of the tithe (“diezmo”) tax. Indians and certain others who are exempt from paying the tithe tax have been raising corn and other crops on land that was lent, rented, or otherwise made available to them, thus allowing them to raise and sell more crops.
Reading between the lines, it is clear that the landowners are then splitting the “saved” sums with the Indian farmers — or, sometimes, simply demanding them in full — with those payments to be taken out of the sale proceeds. Now all such arrangements must be registered and approved by the Church.
Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only one copy worldwide — at the John Carter Brown Library.
Not in Medina, Puebla; Gavito, Adiciones a la Imprenta en la Puebla; not CCILA. Folded once longitudinally, otherwise, as printed. Crisp copy. (40408)
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LUCAN, for 17th-Century
ENGLISH Readers
Lucanus, Marcus Annaeus [Lucan]. Lvcans Pharsalia: Or the civill warres of Rome, betweene Pompey the great, and Ivlivs Cæsar. The whole tenne bookes, Englished by Thomas May...the second edition, corrected, and the annotations inlarged by the author. London: Thomas Iones (pr. by Aug. Mathews), 1631. 8vo (14.5 cm, 5.75"). π1a8A–S8T2; engr. frontis., [146] ff. [with] May, Thomas. A continvation of the subiect of Lucan’s historicall poem till the death of Ivlivs Cæser the 2d edition corrected and amended. London: James Boler, 1633. 8vo. A–K8(-K8); [79 of 80] ff.
$2000.00
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May’s esteemed English verse translation in its second edition, following Thomas Jones’s first printing of 1627. Lucan (A.D. 39–65), born in Cordoba, Spain, and raised in Rome, was the grandson of the elder Seneca, nephew of the younger Seneca, and the brother of the Gallio mentioned in Acts 18; he published the Pharsalia in A.D. 62 or 63, but it seems likely that his poetic talent aroused the jealously of the vain Nero, as he forbade him to write or even plead in the courts, and then later compelled him to commit suicide for alleged treason.
The editio princeps of the Pharsalia was printed in Rome by Sweynheym and Pannartz in 1469; Christopher Marlowe published the first English translation of any part of the Pharsalia, his rendition of the first book, in 1600, with a 1614 effort by Sir Arthur Gorges being the only other such to precede May’s standard-setting 1626 English version of books one through three.
In the present volume, this great epic poem in May’s translation is accompanied by its translator’s English rendition of his own sequel, originally written in Latin verse. This Continuation advances the action through Cleopatra’s seduction of Caesar (May depicts the Egyptian queen with “snowie necke” and “golden tresses”), the death of Cato, and various additional battles before arriving at Caesar’s death. At the time, May’s work was thought highly enough of that Charles I allowed the Continuation’s dedication to bear his name.
Pharsalia: STC 16888; Schweiger, II, 567; ESTC S108868. Continuation: STC 17712; ESTC S108892. 20th-century black morocco in imitation of early, severe style, with raised bands from which blind-tooling extends onto covers; spine with gilt-stamped title and date, and turn-ins elaborately tooled in blind. Moderately worn, spine faded not unattractively, and leather rubbed over joints. Front pastedown with bookplate, inked date of 1986; front free endpaper with inked gift inscription dated 1944. T1-2 trimmed differently and possibly surviving from another copy; A3 of the continuation also possibly supplied. Occasional instances of very minor staining; mostly clean.
Pleasant on shelf and in hand. (7101)
Lucanus, Marcus Annaeus [Lucan]. La Pharsale de Lvcain, ou les gverres civiles de Cesar et de Pompée. Paris: Jean Ribou, 1670. 12mo (15 cm, 5.9"). π1ã12A–Q12R4(-R4); frontis., [12] ff., 390 pp. (lacking final blank); illus.
$275.00
This Pharsalia is in the French verse translation done by Georges de Brébeuf, here in an uncommon and relatively early edition. Brébeuf’s version was originally published in 1654, with several editions (including one Elzevir) following over the next few years, and one additional Paris printing by Loyson appearing in the same year as this example, which is acknowledged in the statement of privilege. The
10 full-page engravings present in this nicely printed volume include a frontispiece displaying a bust of Lucan (a native of Cordoba, Spain) surrounded by Roman motifs, an additional engraved title-page bearing a martial scene, and—among other war images done by various hands—a striking rendition of Cato and the snakes.
Schweiger, II, 568 (citing the 1666 Pierre Ribou and the Loyson eds.). Contemporary mottled calf, board edges gilt-stamped, spine gilt extra, with raised bands and a gilt-stamped leather title label; moderately worn, leather cracking over joints, edges rubbed with corners bumped, spine with small chip to head exposing headband and with small paper label at foot. All page edges speckled in red and brown. Lacking final blank (only). Front pastedown with bookplate dated 1969. Pages clean; slight offsetting from a few illustrations. (7052)
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One of Luther's Favorite Texts, with His Commentary — English Black Letter, 1616
Luther, Martin. A commentarie of ... Martin Luther upon the epistle of S. Paul to the Galathians. London: Richard Field,, 1616. Small 4to (18 cm; 7"). [4], 296 ff.
$1225.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Fourth edition in English of Luther's In epistolam Sancti Pauli ad Galatas commentarius, which first appeared for the English monoglots in 1575, with second and third editions in 1577 and 1602.
The Epistle to the Galatians held a special place in Luther's heart and mind; he lectured on it in 1519 and also in 1523. It is widely reported that in his table talks he is recorded as saying: “The Epistle to the Galatians is my epistle. To it I am as it were in wedlock. It is my Katherine [i.e., the name of his wife].”
Provenance: Ownership inscription of Bryan Tompson, 1735 (fol. 166r); also on A2r, undated, family name spelled “Thompson” and with notation of cost of book as 5/3. Late 19th- or early 20-century ownership inscription on front free endpaper of G.P. Hesketh, of Beltrami Cty., MN; later given (1907) to Dr. Charles Schwartz.
ESTC S108962; STC (rev. ed.) 16973. 18th-century English speckled sheep, recently rebacked; late 19th- or early 20th-century endpapers. Title-page cut down close to text (supplied from a different copy?), mounted to restore page size and expose type on verso; leaf soiled. Top margins throughout closely cropped, costing the top line of text on five of the eight preliminary pages and the running heads and folio numbers on many (not all) text leaves; staining in portions in margins and sometimes into the text of the upper outer sixth of a leaf; longitudinal hole on fols. 259 to 262 costing three words total.
Not a perfect, but a decent copy of a Lutheran mainstay in an edition not often found on the market. (34166)
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