•  VD17 23:288787R; Landwehr, French, Italian, Spanish, & Portuguese Books of Devices & Emblems, 287; Henkel & Schöne, Emblemata: Handbuch Zur Sinnbildkunst des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, 300; Adams, Bibliography of French Emblem Books of the 16th & 17th Centuries, F.247; Faber du Faur 1846.   Contemporary vellum with later silk ties; vellum lightly worn and spotted, spine head with traces of early, hand-inked shelfmark. Light waterstaining to upper outer portions of roughly the first third of the volume; minor spots of staining scattered throughout. Some inner margins unobtrusively repaired or reinforced; two small spots of pinhole worming running through most of volume with six instances (touching some images) repaired; engraved “Devises” title-page with short closed tear. Lacking two plates from the Autumn section (XXVI & XXVII): Despite this, and the minor faults described, a copydeserving of admiration.  (40766)

A volume of modest production values, this begins nicely with a handsome title-page bearing an engraved vignette by Johann Wilhelm Meil (1733–1805) that sets the tone for the contents: lyricism in an idyllic setting.

•  Leemann-van Elck, Salomon Gessner, 584.   Slightly later green paper–covered boards, rubbed and abraded but volume sound. Early leaves lightly soiled and with light foxing, all edges red.  (34204)

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, CICLA, and Metabase locate only two copies, both in the U.S. However, we do know of a third copy at Tulane.

•  Not in Valenzuela.   Folded and stitched as issued; minor chipping in lower margins. Scattered faint foxing. A very good copy.  (31053)

•  Publisher's quarter (wide) vellum and brown sueded cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped coat of arms, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; covers slightly bowed, suede rubbed down to cloth along edges and in small spots on sides, vellum showing minor soiling. Pages faintly age-toned. Inscriptions as above; small piece of paper with inked annotations re. two Guadagnini instruments, laid in at the Joannes Baptista Guadagnini page. A useful and authoritative work in and of itself, with remarkable connections to three different prominent musical families.  (39715)

Provenance:  From the collection of leaves assembled by the Grabhorn Press (1920–65), for their reference library.

•  ISTC No.ij00171000; Goff J171; GW M11405; Proctor 1262–63; Copinger 4626.   Disbound, inner margin slightly irregular and discolored from glue; dust-soiled. Else, very good — indeed, quite handsome.  (40785)

German-American Catholic fraktur prayer books are rare but not unknown; for example, the renowned collection of fraktur at the Free Library of Philadelphia contains a “Himmlischer Palm Zweig Worinen die Auserlesene Morgen Abend Auch Beicht und Kommunion Wie auch zum H. Sakrament In Christo und seinen Leiden, wie auch zur der H. Mutter Gottes, 1787" (item no: frkm064000; https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/41639). Still, early German-American Catholic religious manuscripts areobjectively rare, especially on the market.

Manuscript additions to the manuscript:  An early-19th-century owner of Kary's manuscript has added somberly appropriate matter opposite its title-page, i.e., on the inside of the front wrapper, that reads, in translation: “Forget not your father and your mother, for they have died. My most honored father died on 17th March in the year of the Lord [1]784. My beloved mother died on 6th December in the year of the Lord [1]801. The 14th November in the year of the Lord [1]803. M.S. in the sign of the fish.”

Provenance:  Simon Kary in 1799; by 1803 owned by M.S. (as per inside front wrapper). Later early-19th-century ownership signature of Anna Holzinger on title-page; later 19th-century pencil signature of “Theresa” in lower margin of same with similar inscription on the outside of the front wrapper.

• We thank Prof. Edward Quinter for his help in ranscribing and translating this manuscript's title-page and translating the family notes opposite it.  Recent light blue paper–covered boards with printed paper spine label, original block-printed wrappers preserved inside; early inked annotations in German on inside of original front wrapper and elsewhere, as detailed above. First two leaves and several others with areas of waterstaining, with tissue-paper repair to title-page partially obscuring several lines of text; last leaves with areas darkened as with some variety of oil. Pages age-toned, with scattered spots and occasional offsetting. A manuscript attractive, engaging, and worthy of study; an enduring testimony to piety among an important, early American religious minority. (41242)

Kleist's life was a troubled one financially, psychologically, and creatively. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.) characterizes him as “by far the most important North German dramatist of the Romantic movement, and no other of the Romanticists approaches him in the energy with which he expresses patriotic indignation.”

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only two copies in U.S. libraries, but we know of a third.

•  Later 19th-century blue-green marbled paper–covered boards; foxing and browning as typical of the paper with but a few odd spots additionally, and perhaps six leaves with a stain as from a spill, extending across text but not hampering reading. Very readable in both senses; a decent, solid copy of an important work of German literature.  (33011)

While the two are said to have remained cordial, the debate was so “bitter” that the Duke of Brunswick (Lessing's supporter) “intervened, silencing Lessing” (Oxford Companion to German Literature, 2nd ed., p. 554)!

Printed here are Lessing's portions of the eleven exchanges in that debate.

•  Goedeke, IV, 447; Holzmann 2383.   Recent boards covered in brown paper specked with black in the style of the era; age-toning and some dampstaining, not beyond “typical.” Overall, a good copy of a complete set of Lessing's eleven arguments.  (33323)

•  Publisher's half roan and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and arabesque decorations; mildly to moderately scuffed overall, spine sunned and with small tear in upper part of leather. Paper browned and slightly embrittled; one preliminary leaf with a tear from outer margin extending into text without loss. Front joint (outside cracked in top portion, hinge (inside) cracked and with an old repair, board holding nicely. Good condition with faults noted.  (35823)

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)

The work is printed in gothic type with sidenotes, a large woodcut of the Trinity on the title-page, and one large and three small reverse-printed initials (i.e., the initial is white on a black background).

Provenance:  20th-century bookplate of Franz Dryer on front pastedown; signature of Hildegard Dryer von Vater below bookplate. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only three U.S. libraries reporting ownership of this edition (Emory, Harvard, Valparaiso).

•  VD16 M2034; Bohatta, I, 366; Kuczynski 560.   20th-century black cloth shelf-back with flexible boards (traces of old paper label on front cover). Old waterstain, never very disturbing, on all pages. All edges red.  (38875)

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 4172; Goedeke, Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung aus den Quellen, 572; Arndt, First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 1337. Andachten: Shaw & Shoemaker 4360; Arndt 1338. Anhang: Shaw & Shoemaker 4171; Arndt 1334. Contemporary sheep, spine with later and sympathetic gilt-stamped title and author labels, binding with brass and leather clasps (intact); leather rubbed and some chipped away with joints open though holding, and spine leather showing some cracking. Front pastedown, free endpaper, and fly-leaf with early inked ownership inscriptions; back pastedown with later pencilled notation; front free endpaper separated and back free endpaper lacking. Pages age-toned and spotted (as usual in German imprints of this period); some corners dog-eared. One leaf with portion of outer margin torn away, with loss of a few words. Condition actually rather typical, for this sort of volume!  (18243)

Evidence of Readership: Scattered unobtrusive marks of emphasis, annotations, and corrections pencilled in an early hand.

Provenance:  From the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Contemporary marbled paper, spine with gilt-stamped paper label; binding rubbed and scuffed. All page edges stained blue. Occasional small, neat markings as above. A clean, pleasing copy of this uncommon medical work, in its contemporary binding.  (40663)

with the life of the great poet Ferdusi (i.e., f Abu-'l Kasim Mansur).

•  19th-century German boards covered with black mottled paper; abraded. Paper author/title label on spine, call number label on front cover. Ex-library with bookplate on front pastedown and call number in pencil on verso of title-page. No other markings.  (19137)

•  Publisher's half cream pigskin and light grey/tan cloth, rich eggplant endpapers, front cover with gilt-stamped vignette and spine with gilt-stamped title; bottom edge and corners rubbed or frayed with attendant soiling, front cover with area of faint staining. Interior clean and bright. (28154)

•  Arndt & Eck 762; ESTC W5504; Evans 22858 & 22493.   Contemporary mottled sheep with remnants of original clasp, rebacked quite some time ago with calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels; original leather edges rubbed, spine leather with cracks, spine extremities chipped, joints expertly strengthened and hinges (inside) reinforced. Pages age-toned; first and last few leaves waterstained, scattered staining elsewhere. One leaf with small hole, just barely touching one character without loss.  (27903)

Garrison and Morton say of the first edition in English: “Sir Frederick Still considered this work 'the most progressive which had yet been written;' it gave an impetus to research which influenced the future course of paediatrics.”

Translator Murray (1740–91) was a Swedish student of Linnaeus and later a professor of botany and medicine at Göttingen.

Provenance:  Bookplate of Adamus Elias Schmidt, dated 1784.  Early 19th-century signature of a Philadelphia doctor (erased) at top of title-page.

•  G&M 6323.   Contemporary half calf, well worn: leather dry and gone to red with joint leather lost, cords holding, paper of covers worn through to boards in some places. Text with age-toning. Not a pretty copy but complete, and solid for now. Housed in a red cloth clamshell case.  (22256)

Provenance:  Bookplate of Samuel X. Radbill (Philadelphia book collector, bookplate collector, and medical doctor).

•  VD18 11231777 for the first title; second title not in VD18; Blake, NLM 18th Century, p. 394.   Contemporary German pastepaper over boards; binding very worn. Interior very good.  (39953)