
18TH-CENTURY BOOKS
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Bibles
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Scholarly Highlights of Southern Germany, Plus
Great Universities of Medieval Europe
Mabillon, Jean; & Jean de Launoy. ... Iter Germanicum et Io. Launoii De scholis celebribus a Carolo M. et post Carolum M. in Occidente instauratis liber.... Hamburgi: Christiani Liebezeit, 1717. 8vo (17.5 cm, 6.9"). Frontis., [22], 103, [1], 507, [5] pp.
$900.00
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Attractive edition of this literary and antiquarian tour of the Swabia, Helvetia, and Bavaria regions of Germany, written by a well-travelled Benedictine monk acclaimed for his scholarship. Originally published in 1683, the Iter Germanicum is here introduced by Joannes Albertus Fabricius and accompanied by an important treatise on European universities since the time of Charlemagne, by French historian Jean de Launoy (Joannes Launoius).
An engraved frontispiece of Ptolemy done by Menzel opens the volume; the main title-page is printed in red and black, with an engraved allegorical vignette.
Provenance: Title-page verso with intaglio-printed armorial ex libris, printed directly on the leaf (not a bookplate that was glued on): “Ex Bibliotheca Friederici Roth-Scholtzii.” Friedrich Roth-Scholtz (1687–1736) was a prominent Nuremberg printer and publisher, as well as the author of Icones bibliopolarum et typographorum de republica litteraria and the Bibliotheca chemica; there are several reported examples of such bookplates in his books.
Recent quarter calf and speckled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped author, title, place, date and gilt-ruled raised bands. Volume a little cocked. Endpapers soiled; some pages with mild offsetting, and text otherwise clean. (25490)
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Maffei, Francesco Scipione. Teatro del Sig. Marchese Scipione Maffei cioè la tragedia la comedia e il drama non più stampato.... Verona: Gio. Alberto Tumermani, 1730. 8vo (19.7 cm, 7.75"). xli, [3], 281, [1] pp.; 1 fold. plt., illus.
$675.00
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First edition. Francesco and Andrea Zucchi were responsible for the copperplate engraving for this work: The title-page bears a copperplate vignette, with four other copperplate vignettes and one decorated capital present as well as the oversized, folding plate. Giulio Cesare Becelli edited and introduced this collection of Maffei’s plays, providing what Gamba calls “tre erudite prefazioni.” The author was an archeologist and man of letters whose tragedy Merope (present here) achieved enormous popularity in not only his native Italy but also almost every country where translations appeared, including France, England, Germany, and Holland.
Gamba 2323; not in Brunet. Contemporary vellum over paste boards, outer edges yapp, spine with hand-inked title; vellum torn and partially lost over lower edge of front cover, with signs of wear and small spots of staining elsewhere. Ex-library, front pastedown with Italian institutional bookplate; yet volume otherwise free of markings. Title-page verso with affixed scrap of paper. Intermittently occurring light dampstaining in upper margins; otherwise clean. (17693)

A Printer's Copy
Magnani, Antonio. Orazione recitata nell'Istituto delle Scienze di Bologna per la distribuzione de' premj solita farsi agli studiosi delle arti del disegno. Parma: Co' Tipi Bodoniani, 1794. Large 4to (31 cm, 12.2"). [6], LXVIII (i.e., LXX) pp.
$450.00
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Bodoni printing of this speech on the state of the fine arts in Italy, delivered at an award ceremony at the Accademia delle scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna and dedicated to Cardinal Archetti. Bodoni produced the only two editions of the speech ever printed, one in folio and one in quarto, the present copy being an example of the latter. The main body of the text is set in italics and the annotations in roman.
Provenance: Front pastedown with very attractive red and black bookplate of the printer-publisher Henry Tschudy; earlier 20th-century cataloguing (H.P. Kraus) laid in.
Brooks 534; De Lama, II, 92-93. 19th century plain paper–covered boards evoking vellum, spine with printed paper label; small spot of light discoloration to lower inner portion of front cover, extremities rubbed. Page edges untrimmed; one outer margin with paper flaw.
A clean, wide-margined copy with an appealing provenance. (40164)
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MAIMONIDES IN LATIN
Maimonides, Moses, & Isaac Abravanel; Louis de Compiègne de Veil, trans. R. Mosis Majemonidae De sacrificiis liber. Accesserunt Abarbanelis Exordium, seu prooemium commentariorum in Leviticum: Et Majemonidae Tractatus de consecratione calendarum, et de ratione intercalandi. Quae ex Hebraeo convertit in sermonem Latinum, & notis illustravit Ludovicus de Compiegne de Veil. Londini: Milonis Flesher (pr. for the author, sold by Pitt & Aylmer), 1683. 4to (23 cm, 9.1"). [16], 450, [2 (blank)] pp. (Pp. 223/24 (Ff3) lacking).
$1000.00
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First edition: erudite translations of eight treatises. Born Jewish, the French scholar Louis de Compiègne de Veil studied theology at the Sorbonne after converting to Christianity, and set out to translate the whole of Maimonides' Yad ha-Chazakah from Hebrew into Latin. The present work encompasses the Sefer ha-Korbanot — the section on sacrifices — along with the portion on consecration of new moons and intercalations, and Isaac Abravanel's preface to his commentary on Leviticus; the latter gives the
Hebrew and Latin texts on facing pages. Each section has a divisional title-page, with continuous pagination.
ESTC R25499; Wing (rev. ed.) M2854. Contemporary mottled calf, framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons; refurbished and nicely rebacked with speckled calf, spine with blind-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label, original leather pitted and worn. All page edges speckled red. Front fly-leaf, title-page, and one other institutionally rubber-stamped; Ff3 (either a sectional title or a blank leaf) lacking. Pages gently age-toned and cockled, with a few corners bumped; small ink smudge in upper outer portions of two facing pages. “Exordium” with intermittent pencilled underlining and two marginal annotations pencilled in English.
Interesting 17th-century Judaica in a strong and decent copy. (38984)
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A RELIC of
18th-Century AMERICAN Reading
Mallet Du Pan, Jacques. The history of the destruction of the Helvetic Union and liberty. Boston: Manning & Loring, 1799. 12mo. Frontis., 260 pp., [2] ff.
$100.00
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History of French intervention in Switzerland during the first phase of the Napoleonic wars.
Evans 35765. Good. Contemporary sheep: rubbed, joints open but sewing holding. Piece of the bottom margin missing from frontispiece. Tear in title-page with loss of part of epigraph. Occasional foxing or staining. Ex-library copy, book label on front pastedown, ownership inscription on recto of frontispiece and on rear pastedown. Another inscription on title-page, crossed out and illegible. (2030)
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Constitution vs. Ceremony
Manuel, Louis-Pierre. [drop-title] Lettre du procureur de la Commune au curé de. S.-Severin, & réponses du curé de S.-Severin au procureur de la Commune. Paris: Cl. Simon, 1792. 8vo (19.4 cm, 7.6"). 16 pp.
$75.00
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First edition. An exchange of letters between Manuel and Jean-Claude LeBlanc de Beaulieu regarding the legalities of religious processions and church functions.
Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only six U.S. institutional holdings.
Martin & Walter 22837. Removed from a nonce volume; first page with paper shelving label in lower inner corner, pencilled monogram in upper outer corner, and early inked date annotation (in French) between header and beginning of text. Pages gently age-toned, first and last lightly foxed. (30907)

Marmontel's Political-Philosophical Novel with
Gravelot's Illustrations
Marmontel, Jean François. Bélisaire. Paris: Chez Merlin, 1767. 8vo (19.9 cm, 7.8"). [4], x, 340, [6] pp.; 4 plts.
$900.00
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First edition, early state, featuring the frontispiece and three copper-engraved plates designed by Gravelot. Quickly translated into numerous languages following its initial publication, Marmontel's controversial philosophical novel was written in great part in the hope that its retelling of the story of Gen. Flavius Beisarius of the Byzantine Empire would convince Louis XV to become, himself, the longed-for Philosopher-King. Chapter 15, however, in which Marmontel advocates freedom of opinion and religious tolerance, inspired extensive commentary by Voltaire and others and brought on condemnation by both the Sorbonne and the Archbishop of Paris — though it may ultimately have helped the Huguenot cause.
Merlin also printed a duodecimo edition in 1767; in the present edition, “Fragmens de philosophie morale” is found on pp. 273–340, followed by the Addition and Approbation.
Provenance: Front pastedown with large, round, gilt-stamped armorial leather bookplate of notable 19th-century bookseller and book collector James Toovey; smaller, round, gilt-stamped “I.T.” bookplate with motto “Inter folia fructus” (also Toovey's and of cream-colored leather); and bookplate of Sir Montague Shearman.
Binding: Contemporary crimson morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather labels, board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls. This volume (complete in itself) seems at one time to have been part of a set of Marmontel's works, and bears an (unnumbered) spine label reading “Oeuvres de Marmontel.”
Brunet, III, 1440; Cohen de Ricci, Guide de l’amateur de livres à gravures du XVIIIe siècle, 688; Graesse 406; Tchermezine 455. Binding as above, with edges, extremities, and joints showing minor rubbing. Front pastedown with bookplates as above; front free endpaper with affixed slip of early cataloguing; rear pastedown with small chip out of paper. Light spots of foxing, slightly heavier around plates. All edges gilt. (25776)
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EDIFYING STORIES for French Youths
[Marmontel, Jean-François]. L'école des peres, suivie de la mauvaise mere, contes nouveaux. Caen: P. Chalopin, 1788. 12mo (14.6 cm, 5.75"). 40 pp.
$250.00
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Scarce chapbook presentation of two moral tales, printed without attribution but taken from Marmontel's Contes moraux, a multivolume production originally published from 1755 through 1759. While the titles of both stories imply a focus on parenting (and both pieces emphasize the dangers of bad mothering), the major lessons here are that sons should avoid gambling, partying, and expensive mistresses — while taking care to fall in love with women who are virtuous and wealthy.A woodcut headpiece opens each story in this printing, which is now uncommon: WorldCat finds
only one U.S. institution reporting a copy (Princeton) and just a handful of other locations, all in France.
Provenance: From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.
Gumuchian 2337. Appropriate plain lilac paper wrappers not original to the chapbook, these a little worn and chipped; old stitching holes in gutter margins and one signature separated.
A clean, pleasing copy of a seldom-seen item. (40712)
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Part of the Series of Texts Printed by
DIDOT for the
Education of the Dauphin
Massillon, Jean-Baptiste. Petit careme. Paris: de l'Imprimerie de Didot l'aine, 1789. Large 4to (31 cm, 12. 25"). [4] ff., 312 pp.
$1000.00
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Massillon (1663–1742) was a noted, much admired, and greatly in demand Oratorian preacher remembered for his gentle persuasiveness. One of his most famous works is this Petit Carême, the compiled Lenten sermons which he delivered before the young King Louis XV of France in 1718. It is here in an edition of
200 copies, a part of the series of texts printed for the education of the Dauphin.

WorldCat locates only two U.S. libraries reporting ownership (Cornell, Cleveland Public).
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)
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American Ecclesiastical Polity — Boston, 1738
Mather, Samuel. An apology for the liberties of the churches in New England: to which is prefix'd, a discourse concerning the Congregational churches. Boston: Printed by T. Fleet for Daniel Henchman, 1738. 8vo (20 cm; 8"). [4] ff., ix, [3], 116 [i.e., 216] pp.
$900.00
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Sole edition of Mather's classic work of ecclesiastical polity. The peculiar practices (i.e., “liberties”) of the American Congregational churches that he discusses and defends include the right to ordain their ministers, the right of the congregation to select its ministers, the right to send Elders as emissaries and representatives, the right to remove Elders and pastors, the right to withhold communion from “disqualified” individuals, the right to deal with transgressors in private, the right of holding synods, and the right to increase the number of members and churches.
At the time of this publication, Mather (1706–85), the son of Cotton Mather, was pastor of Second Church in Boston. This is his second substantial publication, the first having been the biography of his father.
This was attractively printed with some care, incorporating some attractive head- and tailpieces.
Sabin 4679; Evans 4275.; Holmes, Minor Mathers; 60; Sabin 46791; ESTC W37808. Later 18th-century full calf with gilt double-rule border to each cover, same double rule above and below each spine band, and a neat gilt-tooled spine label; board edges blind-tooled with a roll. Binding solid but a bit scuffed; interior clean and tight. (34648)
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[Maynwaring,
Arthur]. Remarks upon the present negotiations of peace begun between
Britain and France. London, 1711. 8vo (20.5 cm; 8"). [2] ff., 35, [1] pp.
$1000.00
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Uncut copy of the first (or possibly second) edition of
what the Henry Stevens Company described in its 1927 Catalogue of Rare Americana
(#671) as a “secretly printed” pamphlet in which the anonymous writer
(Arthur Maynwaring) studies what he sees as the problem of the growing power
and influence of France in Europe and the New World (Canada, the West Indies,
and potentially much of the Spanish empire). Such concern sprang from the Peace
of Utrecht ending the War of the Spanish Succession, by which the French House
of Bourbon assumed the Spanish throne following the death of the last of the
Hapsburgs and a decade-long war.
There were two editions printed: This, with the pagination as above and with the title-page sporting a double-rule around the text area, and another with only 32 pp. and no border on the title-page. Precedence apparently not established.
Alden & Landis, European Americana, 711/177; Goldsmiths’ 4837; Kress 2743; ESTC 46891. Not in Sabin. Uncut, some chipping of edges. Recent, slate-grey light boards. Some cockling and staining. Six-digit number stamped on half-title. A good+ copy. (6289)

The Plague / Public Medicine Prefigured
Mead, Richard. A short discourse concerning pestilential contagion, and the methods to be used to prevent it. London: Printed for Sam. Buckley & Ralph Smith, 1720. 8vo in 4s (18.7 cm, 7.25"). [4] ff., 59, [1(blank)] pp.
$400.00
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Plague is fascinating and horrifying to the modern mind, but is not generally seen as a likely personal threat, being as it is now rare in first world nations and treatable. In early modern times, though, it was a likely personal threat and so its fascination and horror were far more intense and immediate.
Mead was one of England's leading physicians at the beginning of the 18th century and “in 1719, in response to the public alarm over the outbreak of plague in Marseilles, the British government asked [him] to prepare a statement concerning the prevention of the disease. Mead's Short discourse anticipated the development of the English public health system in concluding that isolation of the sick in proper places is more effectual in checking the spread of contagion than either general quarantine or fumigation. Mead's book enjoyed a great popularity, going through seven editions within a year of its publication” (Norman). Garrison and Morton similarly say of the work that it was
“a prophecy of what was to develop as the English public health system.”
Provenance: Huntington Library duplicate (small stamp in lower margin of final blank leaf); most recently from the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
ESTC T55657; Blake p. 295; Cushing M250; Garrison & Morton 5123; Heirs of Hippocrates 769 (3rd ed.); Norman 1476; Osler 3364 (9th ed.); Waller 6394. Apparently originally in marbled wrappers, with the paper of the spine only here surviving, old creases. Two brown stains and a bit of foxing to title-page; traces of old dust- or soot-soiling to upper margins of late leaves especially. Else very nice and
handsomely printed. (39686)
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TWO First Editions, One Bodoni-Printed
Melesigenio, Euforbo (pseud. of Tommaso Valperga di Caluso). Omaggio poetico di Euforbo Melesigenio P. A. alla serenissima altezza di Giuseppina Teresa di Lorena. Parma: Nel Regal Palazzo Co' Tipi Bodoniani, 1792. 8vo (19.2 cm, 7.55"). [4], 84, [12] pp. [bound with] Melesigenio, Euforbo (pseud. of Tommaso Valperga di Caluso). Libellus carminum. Taurini: Ex Typographia Regia, 1795. 8vo. 31, [1] pp.
$550.00
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Valperga di Caluso (1737–1815) studied physics, mathematics, theology, and philosophy as well as serving as a naval officer, mastering multiple languages (and writing First Lessons of Hebrew Grammar), teaching at the University of Turin, and publishing a number of both scientific and literary works. The present volume contains two first editions of his, the first of which is
a Bodoni printing of six pieces in poetic tribute to Marie Joséphine Thérèse de Lorraine, Princess of Carignano (1753–97), herself a writer, prominent salonnière, and member of the Italian literary circle that included Valperga di Caluso and Vittorio Alfieri; the final item of the six offers the
Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Italian inscriptions from the funerary monument of the princess's beloved pet dog. Brooks describes this Bodoni production as “libro molto grazioso con fleuron sul titolo” — referring to the refined typography and to the engraved vignette with a garland of roses enclosing the motto “Deh sia, se 'l canto men, l'ossequio accetto.”
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 locate
any 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)
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Bodoni Printing with
Portrait of the Author
Melloni, Giovanni Battista. Saggio di discorsi familiari. Parma: Co' Tipi Bodoniani, 1796. 8vo (16.8 cm, 6.61"). [8], 261, [3 (index)] pp.
$250.00
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Uncommon sole edition: Theological discourses from a Bolognese priest (1713–81) known for his hagiographical and biographical works. This handsome Bodoni printing, edited and introduced by the author's nephew Giuseppe Michele Melloni, bears a stipple-engraved portrait of the author on its title-page.
Binding: Signed modern diced red morocco, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-decorated compartments, covers framed in floral roll (matching roll on turn-ins), elegant stiff marbled endpapers. Top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. Binding with Volkert's gilt stamp on back turn-in; volume in custom coordinated slipcase.
Brooks 630; De Lama, II, 114; Giani 78 (p. 56). Not in Brunet. Bound as above, slipcase with minor shelfwear; joints of volume with lightest traces of rubbing. A few pages with light waterstaining to upper outer corners (only)and other, darker but limited staining to a few others; occasional spots of mild foxing. A handsome copy. (40173)
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Predicting an Enlightened Future: Pre-Revolutionary French Science Fiction
Mercier, Louis-Sébastien. L'an deux mille quatre cent quarante. Rêve s'il fút jamais; suivi de L'homme de fer, songe. Nouvelle édition avec figures. [Amsterdam: Changuion?], 1787. 8vo (19.7 cm, 7.75"). [4], 251, [5], 240, [6], 203, [3] pp.; 3 plts.
$700.00
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Mercier's utopian novel, originally published in 1771 and set in the far-off future of 2440, prophesies an advanced, progressive Paris (and indeed an entire world) in which slavery has been abolished and education, medicine, religion, politics, and the justice system have all been reimagined and reformed, while women have been cured of coquetry (along with the pains of childbirth and the desire to marry for love!). The “brave” Americans are particularly cited for having advanced the causes of liberty and republicanism, with
Philadelphia being praised among their “cités les plus belles, les plus florissantes" (III, 31).
An extremely popular work (it went through 25 editions after its first appearance in 1771), the work describes the adventures of an unnamed man, who, after engaging in a heated discussion with a philosopher friend about the injustices of Paris, falls asleep and finds himself in a Paris of the future.
Though condemned by French and Spanish authorities and
forbidden by the Inquisition, the work was nonetheless a roaring success in Europe, going through numerous editions in multiple languages — and serving as a groundbreaking, genre-defining example of a futuristic paradise set in a real-world location. The present example is an unidentified imprint of the greatly expanded three-volume text of 1786, followed by Mercier's allegorical L'homme de fer. Wilkie suggests that this “nouvelle édition avec figures" was printed by Changuion in Amsterdam; each of the three books of the main work opens with its own tipped-in engraved plate, making this
one of the earliest illustrated editions.
Wilkie, Mercier's L'An 2440, 1787. Not in Brunet, not in Graesse. Contemporary mottled sheep, spine with raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title-label, and gilt-tooled compartment decorations; spine and edges much rubbed, with spine extremities chipped. Front and back pastedowns with traces of red wax adhesions; endpapers with offsetting from turn-ins. Minor age-toning throughout; one page with early inked annotation. Though battered, a solid, early, nicely illustrated example of this landmark work. (38525)
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Dealing with the Plague in Russia — A State-Sponsored Monastic Press
Mertens, Charles de. Observationes medicae de febribus putridis, de peste, nonnullisque aliis morbis. Ticini [i.e., Pavia]: Sumptibus Typographiae Monasterii S. Salvatoris et Balthassaris Comini Bibliopolae, 1791. 8vo (20.3 cm, 7.99"). 2 vols. in 1. 234, 158, 4 (adv.) pp.
$250.00
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Mertens (1737–88), a Belgian physician who served for several years as supervisor of medical services at the Moscow orphanage, provided one of the earliest professional assessments of the Russian plague of 1770–72 as part of his present observations on febrile and pestilential diseases. This is the second printing of the first volume, following the first of 1778, and
the first printing to include both volumes; the work was translated into French, German, and English, with the portion specifically dedicated to the Moscow outbreak being pulled out and published separately in English as An Account of the Plague Which Raged at Moscow, in 1771. De Mertens, although an adherent of miasmatic theory, nevertheless made excellent suggestions regarding hygiene and quarantine — the latter earning him a great deal of resentment among both bureaucrats and the populace.
The press that issued this work is an interesting one. The Austrian government created the Press of the Royal Imperial Monastery of S. Salvatore within that monastery in Pavia between 1777 and 1779, and entrusted its operation to the monks, but equipped it with modern equipment and fully financed it. In 1782 the monastery was suppressed, but from 1787 through 1792 the press continued under the supervision of Balthassare Comini, publishing many medical works. Late in in 1792 Comini took full control of the press, dropped “Typographiae Monasterii S. Salvatoris” from the imprint, and continued printing until 1821. From the beginning, the main patron of the press was the University of Pavia.
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 is
notably 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)
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Too Much Was NOT Enough — THIS Copy with Quasi-Relics of St. Macarius
Meyer, Jean. Description du jubilé de sept cens ans de S. Macaire, patron particulier contre la peste, qui sera célébré dans la ville de Gand ... a commencer le 30. de mai jusqu'au 15. juin 1767, avec le détail ultérieur des cérémonies, solemnités, cavalcade, ornemens, & des feux d'artifice ... Gand: Chez Jean Meyer, imprimeur de la ville, 1767. 4to (26.5 cm, 10.5"). [4] ff., xii, 84 pp.; 15 plts. (some fold.), illus.
$4975.00
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Ghent honored its patron saint S. Macaire [i.e., St. Macarius] in 1767 with
a splendid procession featuring 46 floats/tableaux including such exotica as elephants, crocodiles, and American Indians. Each plate has text explaining the content and emblematic and rare nature of the display. Emmanuel Petrus van Reyschot designed the rococo plates and F. Heybrouck, P. Wauters, and J.L. Wauters etched them. The work ends with a “Liste des personnes qui accompagnent la cavalcade” (pp. 75–82) and the “Detail des rejoissances publique, qui auront lieu en cette Ville depuis la 30 Mai jusqu'au 15 Juin 1767" (pp. 83–84).
All in all, it was clearly a splendid ceremony and spectacular spectacle.
Bound into this copy is a printed broadside (27 x 21.5 cm, 10.75" x 8.5"; imprint: Gandavi: typis Viduae Michaelis de Goesin, e regione curiae, [1767]), by which Govaert Geeraard van Eersel (1713–78), the 16th bishop of Ghent (1772–78), certifies that
the piece of vellum attached to the broadside, with a hand-colored and illuminated engraving of St. Macarius, actually touched the bones of the saint. The image, engraved by Alexander Goetiers (1637–86) and so signed, shows the saint in a field with the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove above his right shoulder; the vellum measures 9 x 7 cm (3.75" x 2.75"). The broadside further states that
the included bit of cloth is a fragment of the covering of the afore-mentioned remains (“insuper adjunctum frustrum esse tegumentis, in quibus praedictae Reliquiae fuerunt involutae”).
Additionally, laid in is a 19th-century sketch-like tracing of what is described at top as a lithograph of the procession winding its way through the town. The various carriages and “floats” of the “cavalcade” are identified in ink along the edges of the page, which is large and folded, measuring 22.5 x 52 cm, 8.875" x 20.5". It is accomplished on good quality, but thin almost tracing paper thin laid, watermarked paper.
Correspondence with American libraries owning copies of the book confirms that the broadside and the vellum image were added post-printing and are not found in other copies.
Provenance: Bookplate of Baron Surmont [de Volsberghe].
Rosenwald Collection (1977) 1734; Cicognara 1524; Ruggieri 1111; Vinet 817. Not in Landwehr because this ceremony was not for a state entry. 19th-century half vellum with marbled paper sides; vellum darkened, sides scuffed. Some age-toning; a few short tears in lower margins. Very satisfactory condition.
A fantastic book in a remarkable copy. (39787)
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Comely Shelf of Poetry Published by the
“Elzevirs of Britain”
THE FOULIS PRESS
Milton, John; Alexander Pope; & Others. Collection of English poets published by the Foulis Press. Glasgow: Robert & Andrew Foulis, 1769–74. Sm. 12mo (12.5 cm, 4.875"). 34 vols. [pagination below].
$6300.00
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In Western culture, the production of small, easily portable printed books of important or popular texts dates from the late 15th century and saw its first important and influential printer willing to dedicate his press to such productions with Aldus Manutius' issuing his series of standard texts in the early 16th century. In the 17th century the Elzevir family came to dominate that market. While the Foulis brothers and their press did not dominate the same way, in the 18th century, they did devote a goodly portion of their time to producing small, scholarly, handsome pocket editions of mostly British poets and essayists.
As a center of 18th-century learning, Glasgow was a happy fit for a printing house dedicated to quality productions made with exceptional type. Robert (1707–76) and Andrew (1712–75) Foulis, two leaders in the renaissance of British printing, are often referred to as the “Elzevirs of Britain.” They created hundreds of texts on a variety of topics and in several languages. Among their notable “firsts” were the first Greek text published in Glasgow and the first work of the English Divines published in Gaelic.
These uniformly bound poetry imprints date from the later years of the brothers' press before Robert's son took over the family business, which lasted until 1800. Their small format meant they could travel easily in the owner's pocket for enjoyment away from his library: while in a coffee house, tavern, or travelling. The collection in hand offers 14 authors represented in 21 different texts, 6 of which are the first or only appearance of the work from the Foulis Press, and includes the following:
*Dryden, John, translator. The works of Virgil. 1769. 3 vols. Variant according to Gaskell. *Thomson, James. The seasons. 1769. Variant according to Gaskell. *Addison, Joseph. Poems on several occasions. 1770. *Shenstone, William. The select works in verse and prose. 1770. *Gay, John. Poems on several occasions. 1770. 2 vols. Variant according to Gaskell. *Pope, Alexander, translator. The Iliad of Homer. 1771. 4 vols. *Prior, Matthew. Poems on several occasions. 1771. 2 vols. *Young, Edward. The complaint: or, night-thoughts on life, death, and immortality. 1771. 2 vols. *Young, Edward. Poems on several occasions. 1771. *Dryden, John, translator. Fables antient and modern. 1771. 2 vols. *Denham, John. Poems and translations. 1771. *Collins, William. The poetical works of Mr. William Collins. To which are added Mr. Hammond's Elegies. 1771. *Garth, Samuel. The poetical works of Sir Samuel Garth, M. D. 1771. *Akenside, Mark. The pleasures of imagination. 1771. *Gay, John. The beggar's opera. 1772. *Milton, John. Paradise lost, a poem in twelve books. 1771. 2 vols. *Milton, John. Paradise regain'd. 1772. 2 vols. *Pope, Alexander, translator. The odyssey of Homer. 1772. 3 vols. Variant according to Gaskell. *Parnell, Thomas. Poems on several occasions. 1773. *Thomson, James. Poems. 1774. *Thomson, James. Liberty, a poem. 1774.
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)
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Minot Long Dedicated
“His Leisure Time & Means of Information
to Some Object of General Utility”
Minot, George Richards. Continuation of the history of the province of Massachusetts Bay, from the year 1748. With an introductory sketch of events from its original settlement. Boston: Printed by Manning & Loring; Printed for James White & Co. proprietors, by Manning & Loring, Feb. 1798; June 1803. 8vo (21.8 cm; 8.625"). 2 vols. I: viii, [1], 10–304 pp. II: vii, [2], 10–222 pp.
$750.00
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Minot (1758–1802), a respected Boston judge, meant this work to be a continuation of Thomas Hutchinson's history of Massachusetts-Bay, which was published in 1764. While he originally intended his account to reach the start of the Revolutionary War, he only made it to 1765 before he passed away; the second volume, which covers 1748–65, was posthumously published in 1803.
Evidence of Readership: Numerous pencilled marginal notes, usually one word or a date “tagging” the contents of a paragraph.
Provenance: Ink signature of Enoch Ponder dated 1841; later in the Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released).
ESTC W30543; Evans 34118; Howes M-650; Sabin 49321; on vol. 2, see: Shaw & Shoemaker 4659. 18th-century acid-stained calf with attractive gilt black and red leather labels and gilt triple ruling on spine, board edges stamped in blind, all edges speckled blue; moderate rubbing, one volume's hinges and joints cracked, the usual glue action on endpapers, two torn, one partially detached. Marked and ex-library as above; call number labels on spines, bookplates, pencilled call numbers on title-page versos. Moderate age-toning with offsetting from binding, some foxing, and the occasional spot; one leaf repaired of old, a few with creased corners. (36430)
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Colonial Brazilian Medical Work
Miranda, João Cardoso de. Relaçaõ cirurgica, e médica, na qual se trata, e declara especialmente hum novo methodo para curar a infecçaõ escorbutica, ou mal de Loanda, e todos os seus productos, fazendo para isso manifestos dous especificos, e muy particulares remedios. Lisboa: Na officina de Miguel Rodrigues, impressor, 1747. Folio (30 cm, 11.75"). [26] ff., 235, [1] pp.
[SOLD]
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The true first edition: The copies with 1741 on the title-page were actually printed in 1752, as the dates of the licences clearly demonstrate. Also, those copies are, as expected with a second edition, in smaller format, i.e., quarto.
Cardoso de Miranda was a “cirurgiam approvado, natural da Freguezia de S. Martinho de Cambres junto á cidade de Lamego, e de presente assistente nesta da Bahia de todos os Santos” as proclaimed on the title-page. He also practiced medicine in Minas Geraes, and owned a galleon engaged in commerce with Africa. His work covers the treatment of tropical diseases, fevers, gonorrhea, scurvy, etc. The text includes letters addressed to the author from various Brazilian physicians, along with a tribute in verse addressed to the book itself.
Borba de Moraes writes of the Relaçaõ cirurgica: “a famous book of Brazilian medicine. The text is seldom studied because of the rarity of both editions.” Searches of NUC and WorldCat find only three U.S. libraries (RPJCB, DNLM, NNNAM) reporting ownership of the first edition.
Binding: Modern calf excellently executed in the18th-century style, gilt extra spine with red leather gilt label; boards with modestly elegant gilt roll at perimeter of boards, plain endpapers.
Alden & Landis 747/30; Borba de Moraes, Bibliographia brasiliana (1983 ed.), p. 572; Silva, Diccionário bibliografico portuguez, III, p. 338 (J582); Blake, NLM 18th Century, p. 78. Binding as above, in excellent condition. Complex stain in inner margins beginning at half-title and extending to folio [21] of the preliminaries, ever diminishing, else very nice throughout and handsomely printed. (39971)
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Condensed MONROE . . .
Monroe, James. A view of the conduct of the executive in the foreign affairs of the United States, as connected with the mission to the French Republic, during the years 1794, 5, and 6.... London (repr. from Philadelphia): James Ridgway, 1798. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.5"). viii, 117, [1 (blank)] pp.
$450.00
First British printing, following the first American edition of the previous year. Monroe's defense of his actions as minister to France was "republished for the purpose of counteracting the pernicious representations of Mr. Harper, in his Observations on the Dispute between the United States and France," as Sabin notes. While the original Philadelphia printing was an octavo of over 400 pages, this edited reprint omits some of the less directly relevant supplemental material and is a much svelter volume, an octavo weighing in at 126 pages.
ESTC N45792; Sabin 50020; Howes M-727. Quarter blue morocco and blue cloth period-style, spine with gilt-stamped title within gilt-ruled raised bands and with gilt-stamped fleurons at head and foot. Title-page and several others stamped by a now-defunct institution; lacking final blank. Light waterstaining to lower outer margins of pages in latter half of book. A few pages with pencilled marginalia, in some instances offset onto opposing pages. (4810)
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Gascon Tales & Anecdotes
Montfort, François Salvat, sieur de. Vasconiana, ou recueil des bons mots, des pensées les plus plaisantes, et des rencontres les plus vives des Gascons. Lyon: Antoine Boudet, 1708. 8vo (15.8 cm, 6.25"). [8], 482, [2] pp.
$400.00
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Compilation of wit and humor from the southwest of France, a region universally acclaimed for its douceur de vivre. This is one of two editions
of 1708 (the first year of the work's appearance), the other issued in Paris;
the collection was also issued under the title Gasconiana.
Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes,
915. Contemporary speckled sheep, spine gilt extra; overall rubbed,
front cover with small nick to upper edge and short tear from joint now repaired,
spine leather cracked with gilt rubbed yet still
very nice to look at. Front pastedown
with printed paper label (owner's name in blackletter) affixed, front free
endpaper excised. Intermittent light spotting and staining, some pages browned.
(26907)
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A Popular Tragedy, from the Bodoni Press
(A Discrepancy in States, the AUTHOR's Fault??)
Monti, Vincenzo. Aristodemo, tragedea. Parma: Dalla Stamperia Reale, 1786. 4to (27.3 cm, 10.74"). Frontis., [10], 130, [2 (blank)] pp.
$950.00
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First edition: Striking Bodoni printing of a classically inspired tragedy, limited to 160 copies and presented
very handsomely in large type with wide margins. Written in 1784, the play premiered at the Ducal Theater of Parma in the same year of this first publication. Although Giani suggests that there was one printing of 136 pages and another of 132 (not affecting the text, and without any plausible reason as far as he could tell), neither Brooks nor de Lama makes such a distinction — the discrepancy may be related to the author's having made numerous textual corrections right up until the last minute, perhaps reflected in the two cancel leaves in this copy.
The dramatic copper-engraved frontispiece was done by Barbazza after Mazzoneschi.
Binding: 19th-century dark blue and tan floral pastepaper–covered boards, gilt-stamped red leather title-label on spine; all edges gilt.Provenance: Pastedown and front free endpaper with bookplates of Brian Douglas Stilwell and Robert Wayne Stilwell.
Brooks 312; De Lama, II, 40; Giani 31 (p. 92); Graesse, III, 592. Bound as above, corners and spine extremities rubbed not reducing handsome effect. Title-page with light offsetting from frontispiece and light smudges in outer margin; otherwise, scattered spots of light foxing and a few small stains, some leaves with faint creasing.
A clean and attractive copy. (40131)
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Conspiracy!
Montjoie, Christophe Félix Louis Ventre de la Touloubre, called Galart de. Histoire de la conjuration de Louis-Philippe-Joseph d’Orléans.... Paris, 1796. 3 vols. 8vo (25 cm, 8"). I: Frontis., [4], xvi, 304 pp. II: [2], 392 pp. III: [4], 304, 8 (index), 4 (contents) pp.
$650.00
First edition of this Royalist history, in which Montjoie attributes most of the responsibility for the French Revolution to the Duc d’Orléans, that “wicked prince,” who was allegedly aided by a group of Masonic conspirators.
Binding: Contemporary treed calf; spines with gilt-stamped decorative bands and compartment devices, and with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels. Edges gilt-rolled. All page edges stained yellow.
Bindings a little rubbed over joints and extremities, with a few instances of pinhole-type worming to back cover of vol. I; upper and outer edges dust-soiled. Some instances of light foxing.
An attractive set. (11404)

Contrition, Confession, Satisfaction
Moral y Castillo de Altra, Juan Anselmo del. Platicas doctrinales de contricion, confesion, y satisfaccion, y dos sermones de penitencia. Puebla: Impresas en la Imprenta de D. Pedro de la Rosa, 1792. Small 4to. [13] ff., 154, 29 pp.
$750.00
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Sole edition of Moral y Castillo's treatise on penance, repentance, and confession. Added to the main treatise are two sermons, the second of which has its own title-page, distinct pagination, and signing by signatures but is integral to the work as a whole. That sermon was for the dedication of a new church: “Sermón que con motivo de la dedicación y estrenas de la iglesia del Convento de Carmelitas Descalzos de la ciudad de Tehuacán en el día . . . 19 de enero de 1783.”
Tipped into this copy is an ad hoc frontispiece
engraving of Christ Crucified by M. Schedl of Rome after “Hannibal Carracius,” i.e., Annibale Carracci, 1560–1609.
Medina, Puebla, 1242; Beristain, Ii, 297; Sutro pp. 34, 35. Contemporary limp vellum over light boards with evidence of button and loop ties; edges rodent-gnawed in places. Front free endpaper tattered and title-leaf also a bit tattered in the foremargln; a little foxing and scattered brown inkspotting, including to recto of “frontispiece” with a bit of show-through.
A nice old book with an interesting individual addition. (38350)
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“No Plan, No Pattern Can We Trace” — Illustrated
(The Persuasive Power of Metaphor?)
[More, Hannah]. Turn the carpet; or, the two weavers: A new song, in a dialogue between Dick and John. London: Sold by J. Marshall, R. White, & S. Hazard, [1796]. 12mo (17.7 cm, 6.97"). [8] pp.; illus.
$200.00
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From the “Cheap Repository” series: Early, uncommon printing of this cheerful religious consolation in iambic tetrameter, signed “Z” (i.e., Hannah More). When one weaver grumbles about his hardships, the other turns the seemingly disordered threads of the unfinished carpet in their workshop into a metaphor for man's inability to comprehend the workings of the divine plan.
The ballad is here
illustrated with two handsome woodcuts: the title-page features a large vignette of Dick and John at their loom, and the final text page displays the patterned carpet itself.
Provenance: From the chapbook collection of American collector Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.
ESTC T052020. Disbound from a nonce volume, with early inked numeral in upper outer corner of title-page. Title-page foot with faint shadow of pencilled annotation; pages with very minor foxing. (41145)
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Epic French Legends — Inscribed by the Author — Printed by Firmin Didot
Morice, Emile; Joseph Adolphe Ferdinand Langlé. L’historial du jongleur. Chroniques et légendes françaises. Paris: A la Librairie de Firmin Didot, 1829. 8vo (23 cm, 9"). [8], cxxxvii (i.e., ccxxxvii), [3], 64 pp.; illus.
$250.00
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Gothic-decorated collection of French legends, including the tales “Le Droit de Nopçage,” “Le Jugement de Dieu,” “La Cour de Jussienne,” “Le Voeu du Faisan,” and “Le Dict des Crieries et Encombrements de Paris.” Didot printed the title-page in red and black and embellished the text itself with “ornées d’initiales, vignettes, et fleurons imités des manuscrits originaux,” several of which are colored in blue, green, red, pink, silver, or
gold, or combinations thereof. Two of the stories open with illustrated borders, and another one has a full-page illustration preceding the text; notes follow the stories to help readers better understand the “antique” text.
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)

Court of Chancery Reports for
Dublin
Moseley, William. Reports of cases argued and determined in the High Court of Chancery, during the time of the late Lord Chancellor King. Dublin: Pr. by Oli. Nelson for the administratrix of the author, 1744. Folio (32.2 cm, 12.7"). [10], 442 pp.
$750.00
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First edition, with a list of subscribers headed by the Right Honorable Robert, Lord Baron Newport, Lord Chancellor of Ireland; as with most Reports, the reading illuminates human as well as legal history.
Provenance: Title-page and several others stamped by the Birmingham Law Society; title-page with inked ownership inscription of Hamilton Stuart, dated 1755.
Evidence of readership: Several instances of corrections and marginalia in Stuart's hand, including two substantive annotations; occasional underlining.
ESTC T95792; Sweet & Maxwell 347. Period-style quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, raised bands, and blind-tooled compartment decorations. First leaf of contents with closed tear at center; one leaf with tear from outer margin, not touching text. Scattered spots of faint foxing, with varying degrees of age-toning; a clean copy.
A solid and distinguished-looking copy, with additional interest in its evidence of readership. (35368)
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Managing the WAR against the PLAGUE
Muratori, Lodovico Antonio. Del governo della peste, e delle maniere di guardarsene ... Diviso in politico, medico, & ecclesiastico. Da conservarsi, & aversi pronto per le occasioni, che Dio tenga sempre lontane; ed in questa seconda edizione accresciuto dall' autore con nuove aggiunte poste in fine del libro. Torino: Pietro Giuseppe Zappata, 1721. 4to (22.4 cm, 8.82"). xxviii, 383, [3] pp.
$450.00
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Marking an evolution in 18th-century thought on public health, this treatise — written by a non-physician — covers approaches to physical, spiritual, and civic well-being in times of
bubonic plague. A priest active in parish ministry, librarian to the Duke of Modena, and eminent scholar in many fields, the author (1672–1750) here addresses Italian law and politics regarding the handling of the disease, as well as the medical and religious procedures to be followed.
This is the uncommon
expanded third edition, following the first of 1710 and the second of 1714. While the printing is workmanlike, the text is ornamented with several large woodcut tailpieces and decorative capitals, and the title-page bears
the phoenix printer's vignette of Baptista Zappata.
Provenance: Front and back pastedowns with 19th-century inked name-doodling by Ruffane (“Ruffa”) Louis Michele, one inscription dated 1813; blank page at end of dedication with early inked inscription noting presence at the library of the Cappuccini di Ceva convent, lower margins of two text pages with “De Capuccini di Ceva” inked in early hand; lower margin of one page with early inked inscription “Camillo da Andoino.” Later from the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
Blake, NLM 18th Century, p. 316. Contemporary mottled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather label reading “MVR” and gilt-stamped decorations between raised bands; leather scuffed, front joint starting from head, spine with areas of insect damage, front board bent some time ago and now slightly sprung. Front free endpaper lacking; inscriptions as above, title-page with inked-over inscriptions. A few leaves with spots of light waterstaining to upper outer corners or outer margins.
A solid, very readable copy of this often-referenced work on public disease control, with interesting provenance. (40682)
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School Text 1791 — “Muretus” a
MODEL for Students
Muret, Marc Antoine. Orationes, et epistolae...ad usum scolarum selectae.... Venetiis: Apud Josephum Orlandelli, 1791. 8vo (19 cm, 7.5"). 2 vols. I: xv, 359, [1] pp. II: 328 pp.
$600.00
Marc Antoine Muret (1526–85), better known by the Latin form of his name, Muretus, started his literary career in Paris as a member of the circle of young poets that also included Dorat and Ronsard, and in 1553 he published a French commentary on Ronsard’s Amours. He later moved to Italy, where he became one of the leading classicists of his day. He has long been recognized as the best Latin prose stylist of the Renaissance, and his works were used, as this textbook exemplifies, as a model for students. Vol. I of this work contains selections from his speeches, while vol. II contains letters. This particular collection of Muretus for students was apparently first published in 1739 and regularly republished during the 18th century. An engraved portrait of Muretus serves as the frontispiece for vol. I.
Rare. No U.S. copies traced via NUC Pre-1956 or WorldCat.
On Muretus, see: Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, II, 148–52. Contemporary half vellum over stencilled paper, spine with inked title; stained and paper torn with much chipping, especially on edges of covers. Ex-library with white-lettered call number on spines and, on title-pages, two different Catholic institutions’ rubber-stamps, plus the old inked ownership inscription of a Jesuit novitiate (Maryland). Ink scratches to frontispiece portrait (intentional?), and some inkstains in margins elsewhere. Lightly foxed. All edges speckled red. (11574)

Coptic Texts, Special Fonts
Nani, Giacomo; Giovanni Luigi Mingarelli, ed. Aegyptiorum codicum reliquiae Venetiis in Bibliotheca Naniana asservate. Bononiae [Venice]: Typis Laelii a Vulpe, 1785. 4to (28 cm, 11.5"). 2 parts in 1. I: 7, [1], CCXIX, [1] pp. II: [2], CCXXI–CCCLXIII, [1] pp.; 2 facsims. (engravings).
$2500.00
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The Coptic language texts that are transcribed and edited here by G.L. Mingarelli (1722–93), a professor of Greek and Hebrew at the University of Bologna, were the property of Giacomo Nani (1728–97), a collector of Egyptian antiquities, and housed in the Bibliotheca Naniana in Venice.
Among the fragments of Coptic texts presented here, to mention just a few, are portions of the Bible, including parts of Jeremiah, and the Gospels of Matthew and John; homilies, the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, the life of St. Theodore, and the “Travels of John the son of Zebedee.” It must be repeated that
all are fragments.
In this
sole edition, the Coptic texts are reproduced as best was typographically possible in the 1780s, with special fonts, in double-column format. The apparatus is in roman, Greek, and Coptic characters.
Binding: Contemporary Venetian red goat, boards nicely and somewhat richly tooled in gilt with rolls, fillets, and sizable corner devices, board edges with a simple gilt roll, and each spine compartment with a gilt center device and defined by gilt fillets and a gilt roll. Stone pattern–marbled endpapers. All edges gilt and gauffered.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Brunet, I, 60. Binding as above; a dozen small pin-type wormholes in spine not extending into text, sides with small spots of discoloration. Lower board edges a little scuffed. Lacks the free endpapers. Foxing, sometimes heavy, in text; still, a desirable copy. (38967)
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A Classic Dictionary
Nebrija, Elio Antonio de. Dictionarium emendatum, auctum, locuplectatum.... Matriti [i.e., Madrid]: apud Josephum de Urrutia, MDCCLXL [i.e., 1790]. Folio (31.5 cm; 12.25"). I: [3] ff., 851, [1 (blank)] pp. II: 672 pp.
$725.00
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Handsome and updated edition, edited by Alfonso López de Rubiños, of Nebrija's classic Latin/Spanish, Spanish/Latin dictionary: “Editione . . . per . . . Ildephonsum López de Rubiños . . . recognita, illustrata ac locupletata, demum mendis expurgata et in meliorem statum restituta á D. Enrico de la Cruz Herrera.”Vol. I “continens dictionarium latinum cum hispanicis interpretationibus Cui ad jecti sunt, praeter ca quae olim fuerunt addita á Xantho Nebrissensi Antonii filio, insignes loquendi modi, phrases, adagía quae ibi deside rabantur; ac pené innumerae dictiones cum carum explanation ibus, originibus, etymologia latinis, quam graecis; expurgatis al quamplurinis, quaepro veris in prioribus editionibus intrusas fuerant: quae omnia latius in praefatione ad lectoruem exponuntur” and vol. II “complectens dictionarium hispanum ejusdem auctoris latine interpretatumin hac nova editione emendatum, quamplirimis vocabulis, pharasibus, adagiis, ac variis locundi formulis adornatum, auctum, locupletatum: deinde alterum propriorum nominum oppidorum, civitatum, montium, fontium, flviorum, lacuum, promontoriorum, portunm, sinum, insularum, & locorum memorabilium, ab eodem autore compositum: nunc denuó quibuasdam interpretationibus vernaculis, quae ibi deerant, adjectis.”
Provenance: 18th- or early 19th-century bookseller's label of the Libreria de Lozano of Cadiz.
Palau 189216 (erroneously giving date as 1761, having read the final roman numeral as I instead of L) & 189222 (without giving publisher). Contemporary acid-stained Spanish sheep, round spine, raised bands, modest gilt tooling on spine, one red and one green spine label on each volume. Labels abraded with some loss; binding with abrasions and rubbed in places to the underlying boards, but binding mostly very nice. Marbled endpapers. Occasional light age-toning and three or four gatherings browned from impurities in water during paper manufacture.
A sound, decent set. (28907)
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Saving the Souls of the Rich via
CHARITY
Nelson, Robert. An address to persons of quality and estate ... To which is added, an appendix of some original and valuable papers. [with another related title, as below]. London: A. & G. Way, prs., 1715. 8vo (21.9 cm, 8.6"). Frontis., xxxi, [1], 267, [1], 55, [7] pp. [with] A poem in memory of Robert Nelson Esquire. London: Pr. by Geo. James for Richard Smith, at Bishop Beveridge’s-Head, 1715. 8vo. 21, [3] pp.
$675.00
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First edition: Nelson, a philanthropist and popular religious writer, reminds the wealthy and well bred of their charitable obligations as Christians. After exhorting the rich to consider their salvation, Nelson solicits their support for such endeavors as building churches, funding the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, maintaining poor clergy and their families, founding seminaries and schools, relieving prisoners, and establishing houses for the improvement of ladies (both proper and fallen). The appendix provides texts of various proposals as well as statistics on
numbers of residents in hospitals and schools.
The frontispiece portrait of Nelson was engraved by George Vertue after a painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller. The volume also includes all publisher's advertisements as well as the rather uncommon Poem in Memory of Robert Nelson Esquire.
This was produced to be a handsome work, printed in large type on good paper with wide margins — the better to appeal to a “quality” audience?
ESTC T85360; Goldsmiths’-Kress 5249. Poem: ESTC T25431; Foxon P538. Contemporary speckled calf, framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons; rebacked with speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, raised bands, and blind-tooled foliate compartment decorations. Original leather abraded, front cover with small chip to outer edge and area of faint discoloration from a now-absent label; title-page institutionally rubber-stamped (no other markings). Some signatures browned and foxed, most pages clean. (25999)
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“Muy Rara” — Otomí by a
Native-Speaker — with the FRONTISPIECE!
Neve y Molina, Luis de. Reglas de orthographia, diccionario, y arte del idioma othomi. Mexico: Bibliotheca Mexicana, 1767. Small 8vo (14.5 cm, 5.75". Frontis., [2] ff., 160 pp., engr. leaf of errata.
$5500.00
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Otomí is one of the principal languages spoken in Central Mexico, and this work, more than any other, standardized its orthography; it is also the classic Otomí grammar and dictionary, and is by a man some authorities believe to have been himself an Otomí Indian, or at least of Otomí heritage. It was written during the mid-18th-century renaissance of linguistic study of the languages of Mexico, and Palau considers it “muy rara.” (It is much rarer on the market, in our experience, than similarly important works in Nahuatl.)
Both the engraved frontispiece and the engraved errata leaf are signed by the engraver Jose Francisco Gomez; the former, often, is not present but it is
here in very good state.

Provenance: Red leather bookplate stamped in gold of Estelle Doheny on front pastedown.
Medina, Mexico, 5174; García Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 55; Viñaza 356; Maggs, Bibl. Amer., II, 2154; Sabin 52413; Palau 190159; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2738. Contemporary vellum, now shrunk to smaller than the size of the text block, with newer endpapers, ties lacking, light to moderate staining and wear to interior; housed in a custom slipcase of quarter vellum and cranberry-colored cloth with a cloth chemise.
A good copy of an important and scarce book, complete and with a good provenance. (31417)
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is one of our great specialties.
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Making NOTARIES Help with
Sales Tax Collection
New Spain. Viceroy (1789–94, Revillagigedo). Broadside, begins: “Don Juan Vicente de Guemez ... virrey, gobernador y capitan general de Nueva España ... Conforme a la ley 19. tit. 8. lib. 8 de la Recopilacion de Indias deben los escribanos.... [colophon: Mexico: No publisher/printer, 28 May 1791]. Folio extra (42 cm; 16.5"). [1] p.
$825.00
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Viceroy Revillagigedo is put out that the notaries are not obeying the law and respecting the various quasi-legal reminders of their duty and obligation to notify the sales tax authorities of all sales and transfers of property that they record and certify. The viceroy now requires that all notarial documents involving sales or transfers of property or auctions must include a certification by a sales tax official in order to be valid.
WorldCat finds only the copy at the National Library of Chile.
Medina, Mexico, 8090. Folded and a little dog-eared; four instances of worming, two meander-type holes repaired. With manuscript certifications on verso that the document has been recorded in the official acts of three different towns. (26044)
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Investigating His Predecessor / Learning the Tricks of
Corruption
New Spain. Viceroy (1794–98, Branciforte). Broadside. Begins: Miguel la Grua Talamanca y Branciforte ... marqués de Branciforte ... Con fecha de 19 de marzo ultimo me ha comunicado el ... Senor D. Eugenio de Llaguno, la real orden del tenor siguiente ... [in text, Mexico: 30 December 1794. Folio (43 cm; 17"). [1] p.
$400.00
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The viceroy publishes this announcement that the king has appointed him to carry out the residencia hearing into the administration of his predecessor, the Count Revillagigedo. Copy initialed by Branciforte and countersigned by José Ignacio Negreyros y Soria.
Apparently held by only one U.S. library.
This copy was sent to the town of Tulancingo; it has docketing information on the blank verso stating that it was received there and that
Juan de la Cruz, a bilingual Indian, read the decree to a large crowd on market day, 15 January 1795.
Not in Medina, Mexico. Very good condition. Small longitudinal fold tears in the very middle of the leaf. (33683)
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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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Hebrew Aramaic Latin
Nold, Christian. ... Concordantiae particularum Ebraeo-Chaldaicarum in quibus partium indeclinabilium quae occurrunt in fontibus ... ostenditur ... Accommodantur huc etiam particulae graecae conferuntur versiones et multa scripturae loca ita explicantur ut ubi tenebrae uel dissensiones sunt adiungantur annotationes et vindiciae. Joh. Bottfr. Tympius ... summa cura recensuit ... Nunc primum congestas a M. Sim. Bened. Tympio ... denique appendicis loco subiunxit Lexica particularum Ebraicarum Joh. Michaelis et Christ. Koerberi. Jenae: sumtibus Jo. Felicis Bielckii, 1734. Large 4to. 984, 22, 37, [3] pp.
$500.00
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A reworking of Christian Koerber's Lexicon particularum Ebraicarum, but really rather more: A work that combines the characteristics of an Old Testament Hebrew concordance, an O.T. Aramaic concordance, a particle dictionary of Hebrew, and a Latin dictionary of Hebrew. Here in a later edition.
Contemporary vellum over paste boards. Ex-library: Call number label removed from spine with noticeable result, bookplate, library name rubber-stamped on bottom edges of closed book, pressure-stamp on title-page. Librarian's pencil markings. Withal, a very nice copy. (21305)
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