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A Powerhouse Trio on Celibacy & Virginity — From the Aldine Press at Rome
Ambrose, Saint; Saint Jerome; & Saint Augustine. De virginitate[,] opuscula sanctorum doctorum, Ambrosii, Hieronymi, et Augustini. Quae sint ex antiquis exemplaribus emendata, & quae varie legantur, in extremo libro ostendimus. Romae: Apud Paulum Manutium, Aldi F., 1562. 4to (21.8 cm, 8.5"). 109, [7] ff.
$2250.00
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Brought together here are St. Ambrose's De virginitate, St. Jerome's Epistola ad Demetriadem de virginitate servandra, and St. Augustine's De sancta virginitate, three important works by three Church Fathers on celibacy and virginity, concerns of the early church that greatly affected the life of early clergy and nuns and had significant ramifications for laity as well. The Roman Aldine press essentially served as an extension of the papacy, which capitalized on its fame to disseminate — with great cachet — Vatican-approved texts in the publication war that was such an integral part of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, this work being no exception.
This neatly printed text has single columns with unaccomplished guide letters and shouldernotes using roman font; the iconic Aldine device appears on the title-page and an errata list appears in double-column format at the end.
Provenance: The printer's mark of Jan Baptiste Verdussen II depicting a stork feeding a snake to another stork with the Latin motto “Virtus pietas homini tutissima,” which can be dated between 1659 and 1759, has been excised from another source and affixed to the front pastedown (possibly as a bookplate, as speculated by the Provenance Online Project); this title is later listed in the auction catalogue of Jean-Baptiste Verdussen III's book collection, suggesting this copy may have belonged to the Verdussen family. Two early inked signatures of G.J. Enoch and I.F. Vanderelie also appear on the front endpapers. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Searches of WorldCat and NUC located only four U.S. libraries reporting ownership (CLU, LNT, MnCS, UPB).
Adams A950; EDIT16 CNCE 16242; Index Aurel. 104.682; Renouard, Alde, p. 186, no. 7; UCLA, Aldine Press: Catalogue of the Ahmanson-Murphy Collection (2001), 678. Not in Kallendorf & Wells, Aldine Press Books. On the Aldine press at Rome, see: Curt Buhler, “Manutius and His First Roman Printings,” Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, 46, pp. 209–14. 19th-century polished calf, spine stamped in gilt with two gilt-stamped leather title-labels, covers framed with a dog-tooth roll, two gilt fillets, and small fleurons at corners; gilt floral rolls to board edges and turn-ins, all edges stained red, with marbled endpapers. Binding rubbed and refurbished, one leather spine label chipped and the other removed; spotting on endpapers, evidence of a removed bookplate at back. Mostly light offsetting of text throughout, intermittent mild to moderate unobtrusive waterstaining (including to title-page) and other spotting; title-page and eight more leaves of text with marginal repairs, one gutter showing narrow band of discoloration (possibly glue action). Provenance indicia as above, two pencilled endpaper notes.
An important collection from an interesting era of the Aldine Press; and a strong, in fact quite handsome copy. (37366)
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With a Woman's Illustrations
Anacreon. Anacreontis Odaria, ad textus Barnesiani fidem emendata. Londini: Gul. Bulmer & Soc., 1802. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.4"). [2], 130 pp.; illus.
$750.00
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First Forster edition and first Bulmer printing thereof: a handsome example of the ever-popular songs of Anacreon, edited and prepared by Edward Forster (1769–1828) based largely on Barnes' influential text. This production made excellent use of the Greek font cut for printer William Bulmer by William Martin, who had trained under Baskerville; Martin's distinctive sans serif type was designed without ligatures. Lavinia Banks Forster, the editor's wife, supplied the illustrations — the elegantly printed text is ornamented with
20 copper-engraved vignettes. The Annual Review & History of Literature for 1803 described the resulting volume as an “exquisite specimen of typographical skill,” while Dibdin called it an “elegant work” that “confers great credit on the printer.”
Binding: Contemporary red straight-grained morocco, modestly tooled using a single binder's tool for all decoration — a single rule. It is used to frame the boards, create the spine compartments, decorate the board edges, and enliven the turn-ins. Very interesting green marbled endpapers, perhaps “arsenic green”? All edges gilt.
Provenance: Early 19th-century ownership signature on front fly-leaf of Robert Harry Hughes, Jesus College, Oxford; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Dibdin, I, 266–67; NSTC A1179; Schweiger, I, 25–26. Bound as above; darkening to spine and small adjoining area on boards and along top area of boards; joints and edges rubbed. Pages age-toned with instances of mild to moderate foxing.
A handsomely printed and pleasingly bound volume. (39276)
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Forster's IMPROVED Anacreon
Anacreon; Edward Forster, ed.; Lavinia Banks Forster, illus. Anacreontis Odaria, ad textus Barnesiani fidem emendata. Accedunt variae lectiones cura Edvardi Forster ... Londini: Ex officina B.R. Howlett, veneunt apud J. Murray, 1813. 8vo (18.7 cm, 7.36"). [2], 130 pp.; illus.
$350.00
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Handsome example of the ever-popular songs of Anacreon, edited and prepared by Edward Forster (1769–1828) based largely on Barnes' influential text. Lavinia Banks Forster, the editor's wife, supplied the illustrations — the elegantly printed text is ornamented with
20 copper-engraved vignettes. This is the second, revised edition, following the first of 1802.
Binding: Contemporary black calf, covers framed and panelled in blind fillets with blind-tooled corner fleurons, gilt arabesque motifs in outer panel, rich blind roll in inner panel; spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped motifs echoing covers; board edges and turn-ins with gilt Greek key roll. All edges gilt.Provenance: Front fly-leaf with inked inscription of J.[F.?] Mackarness, dated 1839.
Dibdin, I, 266–67 (for first ed.); NSTC A1179; Schweiger, I, 26. Binding as above, joints and extremities with variable rubbing. Pages gently age-toned with occasional offsetting from engravings or faint spotting, otherwise clean.
A desirable copy of this extremely attractive production. (40741)
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Whittingham Printing, Hayday Binding
[Anderdon, John Lavicount]. The life of Thomas Ken bishop of Bath and Wells. By a layman. London: William Pickering (pr. by C. Whittingham), 1851. 8vo (22.5 cm, 8.85"). Frontis., viii, 528 pp.
$500.00
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Uncommon first edition of this biography of the esteemed bishop, non-juror, and hymnodist (1637–1711), written by the author of The River Dove (although the work was anonymously published, this attribution was later confirmed by Plumptre). The frontispiece portrait of the subject was engraved by W. Humphreys “from a contemporary print by Loggan.” The volume overall is a
handsome example of Whittingham's printing, set in a large type with ornamental initials and tailpieces; at the back are three pages of sheet music for hymns written by Ken, and the errata slip is tipped in.
Binding: Contemporary full violet-brown morocco, framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons, done by James Hayday (with binder's stamp on front free endpaper). All edges gilt.Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1851.10; Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.), p. 75; NSTC 2A11311. Binding as above, recased, spine slightly darkened with mild cracking to leather, light wear to extremities, small scuffs to back cover, hinges expertly refurbished. Previous cataloguing slip laid in. Pages clean and crisp.
A lovely copy of the infrequently seen first edition. (40597)
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The Fun & Philosophy of Fishing
[Anderdon, John Lavicount]. The river dove, with some quiet thoughts on the happy practice of angling. London: William Pickering, 1847. 12mo (17 cm, 7"). iv, 296 pp., [1 (adv.)] f.
$250.00
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First Pickering edition, reprinted from the 1845 privately printed edition that consisted of only 25 copies. The text is a conversation on angling in the style of Izaac Walton and Charles Cotton.
Keynes p. 49. Not in Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering. Publisher's green cloth, spine sunned to olive and pulled with a little loss at head. Text block split at center, though firm in binding; text clean.
Withall a good copy. (40242)
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Advice on All Sorts of Things
Andrelini, Publio Fausto. P. Fausti Andrelini foroliuiensis Hecatodistichon. [Paris]: V[a]enundatur a M. Nicolao De Barra, [1519]. 4to (19.7 cm, 7.75"). [30] pp. (final blank lacking).
$2500.00
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Posthumous — but still early — edition of Andrelini's collection of epigrams addressing a variety of groups and topics, including readers, sleep, and faith; here in
the first edition edited by Jean Vatel and with his commentary. Andrelini (ca. 1462–1518) was an Italian humanist, friend of Erasmus (until a dramatic break in 1511), and poet royal to both Charles VIII and Queen Anne of Brittany. Vatel was a similarly intriguing Renaissance man — the “data” page of the website of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France designates him, “Clerc, humaniste, professeur de grec, traducteur et commentateur, éditeur, dessinateur de caractères typographiques et imprimeur-libraire.” Andrew Pettegree and Malcolm Walsby's bibliography of pre-1601 French books shows that Vatel was greatly interested in Andrelini and edited at least a dozen of his works; his commentary for this text was subsequently reprinted numerous times in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The text is neatly printed in two different sizes of roman font with one decorative and one historiated initial (a Virgin and Child); a sizable printer's device appears on the title-page. Searches of the NUC, WorldCat, and COPAC reveal only one U.S. institution (Yale) reporting owning this edition.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Moreau, Éditions parisiennes du XVI siècle, II, 1972; Brunet, I, 271–2; Graesse, Trésor de livres rares, I, 121; not in Adams. On Andrelini, see: Contemporaries of Erasmus, I; Pettegree & Walsby, French Vernacular Books: Books Published in France before 1601, 53120. Modern red foliate patterned paper–covered boards with gilt orange leather spine label, final blank lacking. Short interior tear without loss to title-page (perhaps a paper flaw?); light waterstaining and/or offsetting from old binding to upper outer corners and a little dust-soiling or creasing (the latter perhaps in the press). Light pencilling on one endpaper and one pencilled word on final page.
In fact withal a very pleasing little book. (38015)
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Expanded, Updated Irish Edition — With List of Subscribers
Andrews, George. Reports of cases argued and adjudged in the court of King's Bench, in the eleventh and twelfth years of the reign of King George the Second. Dublin: Henry Watts, 1791. 8vo (20.7 cm, 8.2"). xxviii pp., [243] ff., xiv pp., [22] ff.
$675.00
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Andrews' collection of reports was much esteemed in its day for particular accuracy and judiciousness. This is the second edition, following the first of 1754, and it is the first Irish printing; George William Vernon added notes and references “down to Michaelmas Term, 31. Geo. 3,” as well as an appendix with previously unpublished additional cases.
Like most Reports, this is dry and
quite juicy by turns.
ESTC T176096; Sweet & Maxwell 292. Recent quarter tan calf and black cloth–covered sides, preserved original gilt-stamped leather title-label on spine. Fly-leaves with offsetting; title-page with small area of very faint spotting, pages otherwise notably clean. (34792)
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Murder by Poison
Unidentified
Angus, Charles (defendant). The trial of Charles Angus, Esq. on an indictment for the wilful murder of Margaret Burns, at the Assizes held at Lancaster, on Friday, 2d Sept. 1808, before the Hon. Sir Alan Chambre. Liverpool: Printed by William Jones, [1808]. 8vo (21 cm, 8.25"). [2] ff., 288 pp.
$850.00
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Murder by poison seems to be a perpetually fascinating topic for the lay, the medical professional, and Agatha Christie — and this trial of Angus for using that method of doing in Miss Burns is no exception. Its record was taken in shorthand by William Jones, Jun., and contains
important material relating to medical jurisprudence and forensic medicine.
The trial was a sensation: Angus, a Scots merchant and slave-trader in Liverpool, was charged with the murder of his children's governess, Margaret Burns, who was also his wife's half-sister. The case presented more than a few bizarre features: a corpse with a hole in its stomach, a baby who disappeared, a ghastly surgical instrument with a catalogue of deadly purposes, conflicting medical evidence, and a poison never identified.
Binding: Circa-1865 half-black calf with green marbled paper sides, spine with gilt-stamped red leather label, gilt rules to form compartments, and blind-stamped center device in five compartments.
Provenance: Contemporary signature on title-page of James Kendrick; embossed ownership stamp of J.H. Williams, rector of Llangadwaladr; bookseller's label of Wildy & Sons, London; late 19th- or early 20th-century armorial leather bookplate of Alexander MacGregor; most recently in the collection of Robert Sadoff, M.D.
Binding as above, edges rubbed, small scuffs. The endpapers, curiously, appear to have been marbled over typeprint.
Very good. (39633)
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“Good Ladies,
UNCENSUR'D Bath's Pleasures Pursue . . . ”
Anstey, Christopher. The new Bath guide: Or, memoirs of the B-n-r-d family. In a series of poetical epistles. London: J. Dodsley, and Fletcher & Hodson, 1767. 8vo (17.5 cm, 6.875"). Frontis., [6], iv, 173, [1] pp.
$175.00
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Christopher Anstey's popular, good-humored epistolary poem about the Blunderhead family's comic misadventures while taking the waters in Bath, originally published in 1766 and still in print today. Hypochondriacs, poets, dandies, society ladies, cooks, lecherous priests, and quack doctors — among other characters — all come in for gentle ribbing. This is the fifth edition, following closely on the heels of the previous year's first; it opens with an amusing copper-engraved frontispiece of
Folly leading a small parade of well-dressed Blunderheads by their noses, done by Charles Grignion after Samuel Wale (this frontispiece having appeared for the first time in the fourth edition).
Provenance: The front free endpaper is stamped “Charles Helyar, East Coker 1772.”
ESTC T82490. Contemporary marbled paper–covered boards with brown calf shelfback, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; binding much rubbed overall, front joint cracked (but holding) and back joint starting, spine head chipped. Back pastedown with small ticket of a Connecticut bookseller. Offsetting to title-page from frontispiece; upper half of back fly-leaf excised. Pages gently age-toned with occasional light foxing.
A respectable, readable copy of this nice early printing. (39848)
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Lots of Laughs & Illustrated TOO
Anstey, Christopher. The new Bath guide: or, memoirs of the B-n-r-d family. London: C. Whittingham ... for the Associated Booksellers, 1800. 16mo (16.4 cm; 6.5"). viii, 155, [5 (adv.)] pp., [5] plts.
$200.00
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“New edition” of Christopher Anstey's popular, good-humored “New Bath Guide,” an epistolary poem about the Blunderhead family's adventures in Bath originally published in 1766 and still in print today.
This edition bears five humorous engraved plates by Tayler after Baynes dated 1 September 1797. Advertisements for books by Vernor and Hood follow the poem; the volume is printed on wove paper with watermark date of 1798.
Provenance: Inked inscription “H.H.L.C.—“ on title-page; later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
ESTC T83541. Late 19th-century half red morocco and marbled paper covered boards, modest gilt stamping, ruling, and lettering; marbled endpapers matching cover paper, all edges marbled. Very light rubbing. Plates variably with foxing and a narrow border of old waterstaining, offsetting from this and from the engravings themselves (again “variably”) to nearby leaves; text otherwise clean save in last section where faded evidence shows old water exposure more generally. Ownership note as above, a few small pencil marks on endpapers and a flourish highlighting one quatrain. (37823)
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The Dangers of Bishops The Distractions of Literature?
Antiepiscopalian, An. A letter, concerning an American bishop, &c. to Dr. Bradbury Chandler, ruler of St. John's Church, in Elizabeth-Town. In answer to the appendix of his appeal to the public, &c. [Philadelphia: William and Thomas Bradford?], 1768. 8vo (19.5 cm, 7.6"). 19, [1 (blank)] pp. (17/18 lacking).
$500.00
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First edition of this argument against the validity of the ordination of the English bishops, and against the dangers of an encroachment on American colonial liberties by English-appointed American bishops liable to be individual tyrants or political and economic agents of the Crown entered by a religious door; a strongly worded diatribe responding to Thomas Bradbury Chandler's writings on the controversial subject of an American Episcopate, and commenting on Thomas Ward's Demonstration of the Uninterrupted Succession....
The anonymously published work is signed “An Antiepiscopalian”; the title-page here bears a hand-inked attribution to Matthew Wilson.
An important entry in the literature of the “American Bishops” controversy in the lead-up to the American Revolution.
Evidence of Readership: Title-page with early inked ownership inscription and annotations, later lined through, with authorial attribution in the later hand; one leaf with early inked annotation along outer margin. Verso of last leaf presents calculations and
someone's reading list; later X'ed out; among the titles read, intended for reading, or just imaginably noted as not for reading are The Rival Mothers, Pamela or Virtue Rewarded, and Love in a Village.
ESTC W13420; Evans 10947; Felcone 126; Hildeburn 2370; Sabin 11876. Recent binding: boards appealingly covered in paper printed with 18th-century music, front cover with printed paper label. Two pages (not including title) institutionally rubber-stamped. Lacking pp. 17/18, with final leaf tattered and text on p. 19 lined-through-by-show-through of X'es “deleting” manuscript notes on the verso (still, readable); annotations as above. Pages age-toned and lightly spotted, with edges untrimmed. (28100)
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It Looks Like
What an Incunable is SUPPOSED to Look Like
Antoninus, Saint, Archbishop of Florence. Summa theologica. [colophon: Argentina {i.e., [Strassburg}: Johannem {Reinhard} Grüninger, 1496]. Folio (32.5 cm; 12.5"). Vols. I & II (in one volume) of V. I: [173 of 174] ff. (lacking first leaf of vol. 1); [225 of 226] ff. (without the final blank].
$8000.00
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“The Summa Theologica (1477), more properly the Summa Moralis, is the work upon which [St. Antoninus's] theological fame chiefly rests . . . [it] is probably the first — certainly the most comprehensive — treatment from a practical point of view of Christian ethics, asceticism, and sociology in the Middle Ages” (NCE, I, 647).
After his ordination in 1413 (at Cortona, where he was sent for the Dominican novitiate along with artists Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolommeo!), Antoninus (1389–1459) swiftly attained prominence in the Church; returning to his native Florence, he consecrated the Convent of San Marco in 1443 and was appointed Archbishop of that city just a few years later. A great yet humble reformer whose writings were widely published even in the incunable period, Antoninus was
hailed as a Doctor of the Church in the bull for his canonization.
The Summa, completed shortly before his death, is divided into four parts: the first is concerned with the soul and its faculties, passions, sin, and law; the second addresses different types of sin and redress; the third considers various states and professions in life, with treatises on ecclesiastical offices and censures; and the fourth contemplates the cardinal virtues, religious morals, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Although the text draws heavily on earlier theological works by St. Thomas Aquinas, among others, it is regarded as
“a new and very considerable development in moral theology” (NCE online), and it contains
a wealth of matter for the student of 15th-century history.
Printed in Gothic type, double-column format, with most capitals supplied in red or blue manuscript in plain style, the text here has red markings to aid in reading and navigation. Topics addressed in these volumes include sin, penance, canon law, will, original sin, privilege, lying, pride, avarice, anger, and infidelity, among several others.
Goff and ISTC find only one complete set of all volumes in American libraries — at the Countway in Boston. All other U.S. libraries, save the Newberry, report owning one or two of the volumes. The Newberry has volumes I–IV.
Provenance: Old illegible European library stamp in lower margin of first leaf of vol. I; in 20th and early 21st century in the library of the Pacific School of Religion (properly deaccessioned).
ISTC ia00878000; Goff A878; BMC, I, 109; GKW 2192. Contemporary calf over bevelled wood boards, recently rebacked and new endpapers supplied; lacks a blank and a title leaf. Leather of boards elaborately and richly tooled in blind using rolls, rules, and individual stamps of a rose, a fleur de lis, and a saint; small area of leather on front board missing and substitute leather inserted. Evidence of bass and leather clasps, remnants of vellum guide tabs. Text and boards of binding wormed, mostly with many pinhole wormholes, and text with some meandering; no great losses. Some small tears in a few margins and one lower margin with an old repair; stamp as above; browning to many margins. A good, solid volume, one with some condition issues but at the same time a good example of these productions and the era's printing. (33734)
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A Spy Accuses an Archbishop of Heresy
Antraigues, Emmanuel Henri Louis Alexandre de Launai, comte d'. Henri-Alexandre Audainel, (comte d'Antraigues) a Etienne-Charles de Lomenie, archevêque de Sens. Orléans: 1791. 8vo (21.2 cm, 8.4"). 34, [2 (blank)] pp.
$125.00
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First edition, uncut copy: A counter-revolutionary pamphleteer and secret agent
offers sharply worded thoughts on France's relationship to the Roman Catholic Church,
addressed to Etienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne, Archbishop of Sens and minister of finance
to Louis XVI — with the Count attacking Brienne as impious and incompetent. A preliminary
notice to the reader notes that the work would have appeared much earlier if two shipments made
in Paris had not been
“unconstitutionally seized” by Jacobite agents.Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only six U.S. institutional holdings.
Martin & Walter 396. Never bound, sewn as issued, with
edges untrimmed. Title-page with affixed paper shelving label in lower inner corner and
pencilled monogram in upper outer portion. One leaf with closed split running through several
lines, without loss of text. (30813)
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Printing for “the Other Side”?
Apostolic canons. [first four words in Greek, transliterated as] Kanones ton agion apostolon. Canones sanctoru[m] apostolorum. Unà cum
latina interpretatione. Parisiis: Apud Andream Wechelum sub Pegaso, in vico Bellouaco, 1556. 4to (23 cm, 9"). 27, [1] pp.
$850.00
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The Apostolic Canons or Ecclesiastical Canons of the Holy Apostles is an important collection of
85 ancient ecclesiastical decrees concerning the government and discipline of the Early Christian Church, here printed by a Reformation supporter. Andreas Wechel also printed the works of French humanists Petrus Ramus and Nicholas Durand de Villegagnon before narrowly avoiding the St. Batholomew’s Day massacre thanks to Hubert Languet. He later moved to Frankfort, and died in 1581.
This offering is printed in single columns, with Greek text and Latin commentary surrounded by mostly Greek shouldernotes; Wechel’s printer’s device appears on the title- and final pages.
Searches of WorldCat, NUC, and COPAC reveal
no copies of this edition in a U.S. institution, and only one internationally in Rome.
Evidence of Readership: An early reader has added eight notes, one of which has been slightly trimmed through rebinding, that reference the Bible or other rule-sources.
Provenance: Early inked note on title-page reads “Ex. Bibl. S. Bern, Fulient. Paris”; institutional rubber-stamps (including a release stamp) of the Bibliothèque Impériale of Paris on title-page and three leaves of text. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
On Wechelus, see: Renouard, Imprimeurs parisiens, p. 435. Modern paste paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-lettered brown leather spine label. Moderate age-toning with spotting on first and last few leaves; faint waterstaining darkening to more noticeable towards the end, covering perhaps a third of the page; provenance and readership markings as above, with one rubber-stamp lightly offsetting onto facing leaf. (37909)
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Lane's
ILLUSTRATED Arabian Nights
(Arabian Nights). Lane, Edward William. The thousand and one nights, commonly called, in England, the Arabian nights’ entertainments. London: Charles Knight & Co. (I & III pr. by William Clowes & Sons, II by Whitehead & Co.), 1840–1841. 8vo (26 cm, 10.25). 3 vols. I: xxxii, 618, [2] pp.; illus. II: xii, 643, [1] pp.; illus. III: xii, 763, [1] pp.; illus.
$750.00
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Edward William Lane’s translation of this classic work — the most accurate English version to that date — illustrated with
“many hundred” delightful in-text wood engravings from designs by William Harvey. An Egyptologist and noted scholar of Arabic language and literature, Lane made use of the Egyptian manuscripts, becoming
the first English translator to work from a primary source. He chose to bowdlerize portions of the tales he found “objectionable,” but added extensive anthropological and cultural annotations as well as explanations of many of his choices in translation and transliteration.
The work was originally published in monthly serialized form from 1830 to 1840, printed for Charles Knight by Whitehead & Co., who also printed the first volume of the book-form edition in 1839; that run of the first volume having sold out by the time the third was ready, the publisher found a new printer to reprint it, and the present set comprises the Clowes (second) printing of vols. I and III with the Whitehead (first) of vol. II, all in the publisher's matching red cloth.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabels (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC 2L3671 (for first ed.). Publisher's red cloth, spines with gilt-stamped title and vignette, covers with blind-stamped vignette; cocked yet solid, with hinges/extremities rubbed and cloth (especially of spines) having uneven discolorations from sunning or other exposures. Endpapers and next adjacent leaves with variably light discoloration to gutter areas from binding process; text blocks otherwise gently age-toned but with very little foxing, this mostly confined to first and last few leaves of vol. I. Two facing pages in vol. III with traces of small spot of adhesion from organic matter; occasionally, elsewhere, another sort of spot.
A well-used set of this landmark work described and priced accordingly, yet a respectable set; here in an early (partial-first!) appearance in the original bindings. (41416)
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Medical Climatology
Arbuthnot, John; Pierre Boyer de Prébandier, trans. Essai des effets de l'air, sur le corps-humain. Paris: Jacques Barois, fils, 1742. 8vo (horizontal chain lines; 17 cm, 6.75"). xxiv, 320 pp.
$400.00
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Medical climatology and the causes of diseases are at the heart of Arbuthnot's work offered here in the second printing of Pierre Boyer de Prébandier's French translation. Arbuthnot (1667–1735), a Scottish medical doctor, political satirist, and friend and collaborator with Swift on several publications, was rather successful in all he turned his hand to.Boyer de Prébandier's translation is of An Essay Concerning the Effects of Air on Human Bodies, first published in London in 1733.
Provenance: From the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
Of special note, at least as far as this cataloguer (DMS) is concerned, are the references on pp. 108–12 to
chocolate, coffee, and tea.
Wellcome Catalogue, II, 52. Contemporary polished tan calf, round spine, raised bands, gilt spine extra; plain sides, marbled endpapers, all edges red, blue silk ribbon placemarker. Both joints (outside) open along top compartment; binding solid, however, with volume internally clean. A nice copy. (39841)
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Illuminated, with Full-Page Miniature, on Vellum, Great Binding
Archconfraternity of the Stigmata of St. Francis. Illuminated manuscript on vellum, in Latin. “Franciscus Tituli S. Petri & Marcellini S.R.E. Cardinalis Pignattellus ... Dilectis nobis in Christo Confratribus Confraternibus Sacror. Stigmatum & S. Antonii de Padua in Ecclia. Parrochili S. Conini Loci Cicognoli Cremonen. ... Rome: 1706. 8vo (22.7 cm, 9.5'), [10] ff.
$3500.00
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The parish church in the municipality of Cicognolo in the province of Cremona in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about 90 kilometres (56 mi.) southeast of Milan and about 14 kilometres (9 mi.) northeast of Cremona, has
petitioned to establish a chapter of the archconfraternity of the Stigmata of St. Francis.
Approval has been granted and this is the official document establishing the archconfraternity there. It is written in roman hand in brownish-black ink with
extensive variously sized headings indited in gold, and has a full-page portrait of St. Francis, a medallion vignette of his hands receiving the stigmata, and a large triple-bordered decorated initial “D,” all accomplished
in colors and gold and incorporating or surrounded by generous flourishes of flowers painted variously in shades of rose, yellow, and blue. All leaves have borders in black and gold (and sometimes green) except one initial blank.
On the verso of the last leaf are the signatures of “custodians” of the archconfraternity in Rome below which are two paper and wax seals (one lacking the paper) with the seals' owners' names below, attesting to the completion of the application process and the grant ing of the petition.
Binding: Contemporary crimson morocco, covers lavishly gilt-tooled. The center panel is richly filled with floral motifs and small stars surrounding a center emblem of the hands of St. Francis within a circular border of flames. Surrounding the center panel are four outer frames created by variety of large and small rolls. Marbled paper pastedowns in an unusual “patchwork” style.
Binding as above, manuscript recased, without the original ties. Some text rubbed and illegible, clean cracks in fourth leaf, crudely repaired hole in last leaf causing text loss. Curious green tarnishing of the gold. A most attractive binding, a beautifully painted manuscript, an interesting artifact of Catholic social history, and
a great tool for teaching about conservation concerns. (39295)
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The Best of 16th-Century Italian Satire
Ariosto, Ludovico, & others; Francesco Sansovino, ed.
Sette libri di satire di Ludovico Ariosto, Hercole Bentivogli, Luigi Alemanni, Pietro Nelli,
Antonino Vinciguerra, Francesco Sansovino, ed altri scrittori. Venice: Appresso Fabio, &
Agostin Zopini fratelli, 1583. 8vo (14.6 cm, 5.75"). [8], 206, [1] ff. (lacking original final
blank).
$500.00
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Later edition of collected satires by famous Italian authors, edited by one of them, Francesco Sansovino (1521–86).
Sansovino dedicates this collection to the historian Camillo Portio (Porzio, 1526 – ca.
1580), and introduces it with an essay on the material of satire, which he breaks down as “pure
simplicity, with severe acerbity, sometimes mixed with a bit of salt, or with some feature [that is]
tasty, and acute.” Prior to this, Sansovino also worked on the satires of Ariosto (1474–1533),
separately published.
The text is divided into sections by author, each of whom the editor introduces with a
brief biography. A short abstract printed in roman precedes each poem, printed in italic. Fine
woodcut head- and tailpieces, and a variety of initials in historiated, patterned, and factotum
designs, decorate the text; and the title-page features the woodcut printers' device of Truth
personified, flanked by an eagle, a lion, a bull, and an angel, representing the Four Evangelists.
Provenance: Ownership inscription on front fly-leaf of Luigi Pagani Cesa, possibly the
Italian jurist born at Belluno in 1855, who served as a member of Parliament for 1904–13; and
the words “penso che” (“I think that . . .”) written above, in an earlier hand?
Adams A1691; CNCE 2806. Later glazed cream-colored boards, title and date
inked on upper spine, small paper label on lower spine, marbled red edges; boards soiled and
front joint opening. One spot of worming on front pastedown and on colophon leaf; traces of
former mounting on colophon leaf verso. Title-page with one letter added in manuscript (o, in
Bentivoglio). Trimmed close at margins almost grazing headline on a few leaves. Very minor
stains on a few leaves, generally bright and crisp.
(30836)
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Erotic Letters Classic Greek PLANTIN PRESS
Aristaenetus. [title-page in Greek, transliterated as] Aristainetou epistolai erotikai. tinà ton palaion heroon epitaphia. E bibliotheca C.V. Ioan. Sambuci. Antuerpiae: Ex officina Christophori Plantini, 1566. 4to (20.5 cm; 8"). 95, [1 (blank)] pp.
$2750.00
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Editio princeps of this late fifth / early sixth century collection of love/erotic letters. Both Voet and Brunet attribute them to Aristaenetus because the first is addressed by him to Philokalos; it is entirely possible, however, that the array are from different authors. Brunet says, “Ce lettres sur les aventures amoureuses racontees quelquefois d'une maniere assez libre.”
The text was edited from a manuscript in his personal collection by János Zsámboki (a.k.a., Johannes Sambucus), the Hungarian humanist scholar (1531–84) whose library formed the basis for the manuscript collection of the Austrian National Library.
Printed at the Plantin Press entirely in Greek (except for the imprint information), using Greek type commissioned from Robert Granjon, this bears one of the variant Plantin printer's devices on the title-page. It was printed with guide letters, although none have been supplied in manuscript by a scribe.
Evidence of readership: Scattered marginalia in Greek and Latin, sometimes correcting a word in text or expanding on same; other times citing a page in a different book.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Voet 593; Graesse, Trésor de Livres Rares, I, 204; Brunet, I, 448; Schweiger, I, 44; Index Aurel. 107.600; Adams A1692. Surprisingly not in Legrand, Bibliographie Hellenique. Disbound; now in modern wrappers. A very nice, clean copy with occasional light age-toning. (37768)
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Armenian Perpetual Calendar
Recognizing Leap Year — MS. on Vellum
Armenian Apostolic Church. Manuscript in Armenian, on parchment. Armenian Perpetual Calendar, i.e., “Parzatowmar.” No place [Constantinople?]: 1648 [as per colophon]. 12mo (11 x 8.5 cm, 4.375" x 3.25"). [83 of 84] ff.
[SOLD]
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The palm-size format of this 1648 manuscript suggests it was intended for intimate use by a single individual. It is a
personal, perpetual calendar that serves as a simple and concise manual for navigating the holidays and feasts to be celebrated in the Armenian Apostolic Church; and, most unusually, it is
constructed so that it can be used for a leap year, which 1648 in fact was. The first quire also contains a series of charts listing the 12 signs of the zodiac in tabular form (ff. 3v–11r).
The opening shared by f. 13v and f. 14r opens the text of the calendar and displays the most traditional elements of Armenian manuscript painting. On fol. 13v, a single figure fills the gold-lined frame. Although badly damaged — likely signs of rubbing and kissing, rather than intentional damage — it is possible to tell that the figure, whose head is topped with a golden halo, wears a mantle of red and blue and stands in a field of flowers. Facing the full-page miniature is an ornate headpiece outlined in gold and painted in deeply saturated blues and greens, characterized by interlaced ornamentation and topped with floral elements. The text opens under the arch of the headpiece in red, identifying the text as a parzatowmar. The first letter is a decorated initial — an Armenian bird letter, or t‛rrch‛nagir. In the margins, a vine of multicolored flowers springs from a vase.
While the colophon gives no indication of the location of the volume's production, its distinct floral marginalia give some insight: A number of luxurious devotional manuscripts painted in workshops in Constantinople in the 16th and 17th centuries bear similar floral arrangements in their margins, situating this manuscript within a larger, regional tradition within the Ottoman capital.
Although small, the presence of gold across this illustrated opening bears witness to sumptuous tastes and the production of luxury manuscripts of personal devotion.
Principal divisions of this parzatowmar are marked by red lettering, and the first letter of each month begins with a red incipit; written generally in red, incipits are occasionally in blue ink. The text is written in a single column measuring 8 cm x 5 ¾ cm in 17 lines each, in uniform bolorgir.
Binding: Contemporary calf over pasteboards; front and back covers decorated all over with a border of stamped floriate and geometric motifs within a blind-ruled border and a blind-ruled diamond-shaped central area. Spine plain, textblock untrimmed.
Provenance: “Rec'd from my friend J.H. Mikassian, 1926" on fol. 84v. Later owned by John Howell, Bookseller, San Francisco, as per his bookseller's label on the rear pastedown. In the Howell Bible Collection of the Pacific School of Religion. Collection sold in 2013.
We gladly acknowledge the help in cataloguing this manuscript that Erin Piñon, a doctoral candidate at Princeton University, gave us. Bound as above, recased and resewn with new endbands; leaf [68] lacking. Rubbing, sometimes severe, occasional yellowing of parchment, etc., as described above. Overall, good. (41407)
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“One Power of Physic, Melody, & Song”
An Ode to Hygeia
Armstrong, John. The art of preserving health: A poem. London: Pr. for A. Millar, 1744. 4to (24.6 cm, 9.68"). [2], 134 pp.
$750.00
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First edition of this popular poem on food, exercise, and general well-being, written by a practicing physician — and certainly
the most successful example ever of 18th-century medical didactic blank verse! This is the first issue, with the fleur-de-lis watermark and the price (“Four Shillings sewed”) given beneath the date line on the title-page.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of Virginia doctor and book collector Joseph Lyon Miller (1875–1957); front fly-leaf with inked inscription of John Hampton Miller, M.D.; title-page with early inked initials “C.F.” in upper margin. Later in the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
ESTC T187239; Foxon A296; NCBEL, II, 535; Wellcome, II, 57. Contemporary red calf with covers framed in two decorative gilt rolls, spine with gilt-stamped publication information; rebacked and hinges (inside) reinforced, slightly sprung with edges, extremities, and joints rubbed. Bookplate and inscriptions as above. Pages mildly age-toned; title-page with areas of staining.
A good solid copy of this medico-literary classic, and one that has graced at least two generations of doctors' libraries. (40419)
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An “ENGLISH STORY” in FRENCH
(Printed in Germany)
Arnaud, François-Thomas-Marie de Baculard d'. Sidnei et Silli. Ou la bienfaisance & la reconnaissance [.] Histoire anglaise, suivie d'odes Anacréontiques. Francfort: Jean Georg Eslinger, 1767. 8vo (16.4 cm, 6.45"). [2], 112 pp. (i.e., 110, pp. 33 & 34 not used in pagination and the leaf on which they should appear is cancelled).
$275.00
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A popular French short story — quickly translated into German, and the basis for a Viennese play — here in an attractive edition, with the author's accompanying Anacreontic poetry nicely printed with typographical head- and tailpieces. This appears to be the first Frankfurt printing, following the first edition of 1765 (which had appeared under a false London imprint), and it is now uncommon; a search of WorldCat finds
no U.S. institutional holdings.
Binding: Contemporary mottled sheep, spine gilt extra with a well-handled dianthus motif and gilt-stamped red leather title-label; covers plain and board edges with a gilt roll, all edges red. Remnant of green paper placemarking tab to fore-edge at division between sections.
Despite pagination indicating a skipped or missing pp. 33/34, the content here is uninterrupted and the volume is complete.
Not in Brunet. Bound as above, pp. 33/34 lacking; small portion of one cover slightly sunned and both a little rubbed scuffed, spine bright and nice. Offsetting to margins of title-page and final text page; pages overall clean. An early reader has affixed a small green paper tab to the fore-edge marking the start of the Odes.
An appealing copy in an elegant contemporary binding. (41378)
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“A God-Hero of the Golden Age of Myth” —
The First Original English-Language Poem on the Buddha
Arnold, Edwin. The light of Asia. Being the life and teaching of Gautama prince of India and founder of Buddhism. Avon, CT: Printed for the members of the Limited Editions Club, 1976. Folio (30 cm, 11.8"). xxiv, 193, [3] pp.; 8 col. plts.
[SOLD]
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Limited Editions Club edition of Sir Edwin's epic verse retelling of
the life of the Buddha, with an introduction by Melford E. Spiro. Ayres Houghtelling painted eight brightly colored, “highly unconventional” plates, as to which he said that he “allegorically painted by design and symbolism what [he hoped] Sir Edwin Arnold would have liked” (according to the newsletter); he also provided a number of black-and-white and two-color line drawings. The volume was designed by Frank J. Lieberman, and the green, yellow, cream, and tan paisley and floral cotton cloth binding was done by the Tapley-Rutter Co.
This is
numbered copy 733 of 2000 printed, signed at the colophon by the illustrator. Both the appropriate Club newsletter (in its original envelope) and the prospectus are laid in.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 497. Publisher's fabric-covered binding as above, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, in original brown paper–covered slipcase with printed paper label; spine cloth very slightly (and unobtrusively) sunned, slipcase showing only minimal traces of shelfwear.
A nice copy of this handsome piece of LEC exotica. (36838)
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A “Gift Copy” — Textured Olive Green Calf by
Bayntun-Riviere
Arnold, Matthew. The poems of Matthew Arnold, 1840–1867. London: Oxford University Press, Humphrey Milford, 1937. 12mo (18.4 cm; 7.25"). xxvii, 460 pp.
$250.00
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A later printing from the Oxford University Press of a collection of poems by Matthew Arnold, the poet and cultural critic; A.T. Quiller-Couch, a novelist and literary critic who often published using the pseudonym “Q,” here provides an introduction.
A gift inscription tipped to the front fly-leaf reads, “From the Wardroom Officers of the Joint A/S [i.e., Anti-Submarine] School & Barracks, Londonderry — with their congratulations and best wishes for a long & happy married life,” signed E. Hart Dyke, Commander, and dated 31 August 1946.
Binding: Full olive green textured calf, spine gilt extra, boards with simple gilt double-rule borders and zig-zag gilt decoration along their edges; gilt floral roll to generous turn-ins and marbled paper pastedowns. All edges gilt. A tiny stamp on a front endpaper indicates this copy was bound by Bayntun-Riviere of Bath, England.
Bound as above, mild rubbing to rear board only and light soiling along edge of tipped-in inscription (perhaps from the glue). Binding and interior very clean.
A lovely copy with a pleasing provenance. (37324)
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Literati of Antwerp Salute One of Their Own — Portrait after Peter Paul Rubens
Woodcut *&* Engraved Versions of the Plantin Device
Asterius, Episcopus Amasenus. S. Asteri Episcopi amaseae homiliae Graecè & Latinè nunc primùm editae Philippo Rubenio interprete. Antverpiae: Ex Officina Plantiniana, apud viduam & filios Ioannis Moreti, 1615. 4to (24.13 cm, 9.5"). [6] ff., 284, pp., [2] ff.
$2000.00
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First edition. A multi-part memorial volume from the Plantin–Moretus press in honor of Philippe Rubens (1574–1611), brother of the famed artist, whose Greek and Latin rendition of the Homilies by Asterius, Bishop of Amasia (ca. 375–405), occupies the first section of the text, here in Greek and Latin printed in double columns. Little is known about Asterius, Bishop of Amasea, and there has been much scholarly debate regarding exactly which homilies should be attributed to his authorship and which to other early Christians, including Asterius the Sophist; the Catholic Encyclopedia online says his works provide “valuable material to the Christian archaeologist.”
The second section here includes verses Rubens composed in the later years prior to his death in 1611 and dedicated to illustrious members of his circle including the humanist Justus Lipsius, Janus Woverius, and Peter Paul Rubens and Isabelle Brant, who married in 1609. Brant’s father, Jan, composed the introductory letter to the reader.
The volume was published at the request of Cardinal Ascanius Columnas in an edition of
only 750 copies, and was printed at Antwerp at the press of Moretus’ widow and sons with the famous Plantin device appearing in two versions (engraved, to the title, and woodcut, to the final recto).
A full-page engraved funeral portrait of Rubens engraved by Cornelius Galle
after Peter Paul Rubens signals the beginning of the third section, in which Jan Brant records the life of his son-in-law’s brother and transcribes his epitaph. Even Balthasar Moretus contributes an epigram in honor of the deceased.
In the fourth section, Rubens’ own orations and selected letters appear, i.a. his funeral oration to Philip II of Spain. Josse DeRycke contributed the final funerary tribute.
Done up in fully elegant Plantin–Moretus style, the volume has in addition to its careful typography and full-page plate and devices been lavished throughout with two-line block initials and four-line historiated woodcut initials; also, it offers several intricate woodcut tailpieces.
Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate only eight copies in U.S. institutions, one of which has been deaccessioned; most are
not in obvious places.
Graesse, I, 241; Corpus Rubenianum, XXI (1977), 152. Period-style full brown calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label, raised bands with blind tooling extending onto covers. With a few odd spots to the text only, this is a
remarkably fine, crisp copy. All edges green. (28878)
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Two Church Fathers Two Scholar Printers
An Apparatus by Erasmus
Athanasius, Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria. Athanasii Episcopi Alexandrini sanctissima, eloquentissma que opera ... que omnia olimia[m] latina facta Christophoro Porsena, Ambrosio Monacho, Angelo Politiano, interpretibus, una cum doctissima Erasmi Roterodani ad pium lectorem paraclesi. [bound with another work as below]. Parisiis: Joanne Paruo [i.e., Jean Petit] , [1519]. Folio extra. [6], 255, [66] ff. [bound with] Basil, Saint, Bishop of Caesarea. Basilii Magni Caesariensium in Cappadocia Antistitis sanctissimi opera plane diuina, variis e locis sedulo collecta: & accuratio[n]e ac impe[n]sis Iodici Badii Asce´sii recognita & coimpressa, quorum index proxima pandetur charta. [Paris: Venundantur eidem Ascensio [i.e., Badius Ascensius, 1520]. Folio extra. [10], 178 ff.
$3850.00
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mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Two editions of Church Fathers from two scholar/printer presses. St. Athanasius's text was translated into Latin by three noted Renaissance scholars, edited by Nicholas Beraldus, and has the added prestige of apparatus by Erasmus. The title-page is printed within a four-piece woodcut border, with the title in red and black, and the page bears the famous Petit printer's device.
The text enjoys handsome typography, side- and shouldernotes, and large woodcut initials.
The St. Basil is from Badius Ascensius's press and he acted as the editor, the translators having been Johannes Argyropoulos, Georgius Trapezuntius, and others. The title-page uses the same four-part woodcut title-page border as found on the St. Athanasius, bound in at the front, which makes much sense given the familial relationship between Ascensius and Petit.
Athanasius: Index Aurel. 109.388; Moreau, II, 1982. Basil: Index Aurel. 114.440; Renouard, Ascensius, II, 145/146; Moreau, II, 2246. Alum-tawed pigskin, elaborately tooled in blind over wooden boards with metal and leather clasps; one clasp perished. Binding with one corner tip broken off; small hole in leather on rear board; dust-soiled. Inside, some early marginalia and underlining in red; narrow arc of old, light waterstaining to fore-edges of one part. Pages generally very clean. (19915)

The “BIRDS in Miniature” with their
Better “Habitats”
Audubon, John James, & William MacGillivray. The birds of America, from drawings made in the United States and their territories. New York: V.G. Audubon, Roe Lockwood & Son, 1859. 8vo (27.5 cm; 10.875"). 7 vols. I: [iii]–viii, [1], 12–246 pp., 70 plts. II: [iii]–vii, [2], 12–199 pp., 71–140 plts. III: [iii]–viii, [1], 10–233 pp., 141–210 plts. IV: [iii]–viii, [1], 10–321 pp., 211–280 plts. V: [iii]–viii, [1], 10–346 pp., 281–350 plts. VI: [iii]–viii, [1], 10–456 pp., 351–420 plts. VII: vii, [2], 10–372 pp., 421–500 plts.
$27,500.00
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After Audubon (1785–1851) completed his landmark work The Birds of America and collaborated with Scottish naturalist William MacGillivray (1796–1852) to write the accompanying text Ornithological Biography, he elected to produce a “popular” edition by combining the images and text in an elegant and portable format — the octavo.
For this essentially new work Audubon increased the number of colored plates from 435 to 500, reordered the text, and edited the content to include more ornithological information and less travel narration. Plates were produced through the camera lucida process, using a prism to trace reverse images from the elephant folio prints onto lithographic stones.
“The octavo edition of Audubon's Birds was probably the greatest commercial success of any color plate book issued in 19th-century America.” While it was not inexpensive, the price was such that the octavo “achieved widespread circulation and brought the work into the homes of many well-to-do Americans” (Reese, p. 58).
Present here is the third octavo edition, all title-pages bearing the date of 1859, and containing
500 fine hand-colored lithographed plates by Philadelphian J.T. Bowen after J.J. and J.W. Audubon. Ayer notes that where backgrounds were plain in the first octavo they were tinted in later ones and that some already tinted backgrounds were attractively altered, with plates
more closely approximating those of the elephant folio through the addition of more detailed scenery.
Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library, pp. 22–23; Reese, Stamped with a National Character, pp. 57–58. Brown publisher's leather, spine lettered in gilt and compartments with a blind device; covers triple-ruled and with an ornate arabesque frame containing the title, all in blind; binding lightly rubbed and refurbished. All edges gilt. One leaf with a curious internal closed tear, possibly created in the press, with no loss of text. Two pairs of plates transposed; five plates trimmed closely, in one case just touching type, in three cases with loss of publication information, and in one case with the line identifying the bird's perch partially lost in addition to partial loss of publication line.
An excellent set of a splendid edition of one of the most influential color plate books of the 19th century. (36084)
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“My Style of Drawing Birds”
Audubon, John James. My style of drawing birds. Ardsley, New York: The Overland Press for The Haydn Foundation, 1979. Tall 8vo (29.2 cm; 11.5"). 26 pp., [2] ff., illus., facsims.
$45.00
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Consists of two essays: “My style of drawing birds,” published in M. Audubon's Audubon and his journals, 1897; and “Method of drawing birds,” published in the Edinburgh Journal of Science, v. 8, 1828. The original manuscript is presented in fine facsimile showing several authorial corrections and emendations of the first draft, and with a transcription and an introduction.
Limited to 400 copies.
Publisher's green cloth stamped and lettered in gilt, spine lightly sunned with slim discolorations to cloth around board edges. Smallest touches of a dark discoloration to base of half-title and front blank. With the limitation card. (40830)
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His Treatise Chrysopoeia — On Transmutation of Metals into Gold — Is Anticipated Here
Augurelli, Giovanni Aurelio. I. Aurelius Augurellus [poemata]. Venetiis: In aedibus Aldi, 1505. 8vo (16.3 cm; 6.375"). [256] pp.
$8250.00
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First edition of the Italian humanist and alchemist Giovanni Aurelio Augurelli's collected poetry, containing Ioannis Aurelii Augurelii iambicus liber primus, secundus; Sermonum liber primus, secundus; Carminum liber primus, secundus; and Libellus iambicus super additus. As Renouard notes, the first book of Carmina was previously printed by the Aldus firm in 1491.
Of special note is the poem “Chrysopoeia” (k1r–k3v) on
the philosopher's stone, foreshadowing Augurello's major 1515 work of the same title on the transmutation of metals into gold.
The classic Aldine printer's device appears on the final page of this text.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Adams A2152; Goldsmid, Aldine Press at Venice, 73; Renouard, Alde, 49.2; Index Aurel. *110.036; EDIT16 CNCE 3381; UCLA, Aldine Press: Catalogue of the Ahmanson-Murphy Collection (2001), 89. Period style medium brown calf, spine lettered in gilt, raised bands accented with blind fillets extending onto covers to terminate in trefoils; covers framed in blind with trefoils at forecorners, green silk ribbon bookmark present and all edges gilt. Light pencilling on endpapers; offsetting from previous binding to first and last few leaves.
A clean, lovely copy. (37603)
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Much Marginalia & Interlinear Notes — A PMM Incunable Title
Augustinus Aurelius (St. Augustine, of Hippo). Augustinus De ciuitate Dei cum commento. [Freiburg im Breisgau : Kilianus Piscator (Fischer), 1494]. Folio in 6s (30.5 cm, 12"). [256] ff.
$18,750.00
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The City of God is St. Augustine's fifth-century response to assertions that Christianity had caused the decline of Rome: In defending Christianity, this Church Father delves deeply into many profound questions of theology, including the suffering of the righteous, the existence of evil, the conflict between free will and divine omniscience, and the doctrine of original sin. It is considered one of the saint's most important works, a cornerstone of Western thought, and a long-established work in the traditional canon of the “great books.”
The text of this
Freiburg, Fischer incunable is printed in double-column format in gothic type, surrounded by the commentary of Thomas Wallensis (1287? –1350?) and Nicholas Trivet (1258?–1328). Its capital spaces have guide letters and a few of those spaces have been completed. The imprint is from the colophon (leaf T25) and the printer is as given by Goff.
Evidence of readership: Chiefly one, but clearly at least three, early readers have added
marginalia on more than 125 leaves of the text, chiefly in books 1 through 9 (i.e., those dealing with the polytheism of Rome [books 1–5] and Greek philosophy [books 6–10]); and one reader with a micro-mini script has added red-inked interlinear comments, additions, and/or corrections to the saint's text in those same books. Opposite the title-page is an information tree (illustration available). And on the title-page, one of the above-mentioned annotators, most likely an Augustinian friar, has added a lengthy quotation from Cassiodorus (<https://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost06/Cassiodorus/cas_i133.html>), but at the end attributed it to the saint (“Explicit oratio Dni Augustini”). We thank Sara Trevisan for help in identifying the quoted text.
Provenance: 16th-century ownership indicia on title-page of the Augustinian Abbey of Neustift bei Brixen (Novacella). Pasted to the front pastedown, a partially removed Spanish dealer's description; a German bookseller's description of this copy, probably pre-1928 as it doesn't cite GKV; below that a post-1964 Anglo-American dealer's description (citing Goff); the bookplate of Walter Goldwater (and sold at his sale, Swann Galleries, 1 December 1983). Acquired by Dr. Wolfgang Scholz at the Goldwater sale, and sold by his widow via an agent to PRB&M in 2019.
Goff A1246; Hain-Copinger 2068*; GKW 2890; BMC, III, p. 695 (IB. 14206); ISTC ia01246000; Printing & the Mind of Man 3 (for the first edition, 1467). Late 19th- or early 20th-century half brown leather with tan paper paper sides and endpapers; binding lightly worn and covers with a bit of loss to paper. Fore- and part of upper margins of the first eight leaves damaged with loss and repaired many years ago. Some soiling to the text, chiefly in the margins; old waterstaining; pin-hole worming. Not a rare edition of this text but a nice copy of it with
considerable added scholarly importance . (40533)
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Eye-Filling
BRIGHT CHROMO Illustration
“Aunt Fanny”; Weir, Harrison, et alii, illus. Aunt Fanny's pretty picture book with beautiful coloured illustrations, containing the following favourite stories for children: A large-letter alphabet. Tales of animals. Story of Cock Robin. Old Mother Hubbard. The naughty chicken. Punch and Judy. London: Ward, Lock & Tyler, [ca. 1875?]. 8vo (24.8 cm, 9.76"). [2] pp., [48 (col. illus.)] ff.
$450.00
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Uncommon illustrated children's book: Stories in verse, depicted in
48 striking, vividly colored chromolithographed leaves combining images and text, printed on one side each. Many of the animal illustrations were signed by Harrison Weir; W.T. Green, Walter Gorway, William Measom, and H. White (among others) have signed others, but many plates are unattributed. The texts likewise are unassigned; several different women wrote under the Aunt Fanny pseudonym, and this publisher's five-shilling picture book “Aunt Fanny” series may or may not have been connected to any of them.
Binding: Publisher's brown cloth, front cover gilt-stamped with elegant Victorian decorative title within frame, back cover with same design in blind.
Provenance: Front free endpaper with inked inscription to James Curfew from Mr. Pilkington, dated 1869.
Not in Gumuchian; not in Opie; not in Osborne Collection. Binding as above, spine sunned, sides with a few small scuffs, light rubbing overall more noticeable to spine and extremities. Title-page with offsetting and faint shadowed image of inscription on endpaper; pages age-toned, variable foxing, light soil and the occasional stain including an old, light one to a leaf's lower corner just touching edge of image.
A scarce item with bright, vivid illustrations — this copy clearly read and loved, but not “to death.” (41164)
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Jane Austen's Works — A Handsome, Limited Edition
Illustrated by the Brock Brothers
Austen, Jane. The novels and letters of Jane Austen. New York & Philadelphia: Frank S. Holby, 1906. 8vo. 12 (of 12) vols. I: Frontis., [6], vii–lix, [6], 255 pp.; 5 plts. II: Frontis., [8], 302 pp.; 6 plts. III: Frontis., [4], v–vii, 3–283 pp.; 5 plts. IV: Frontis., [8], [3]–299 pp.; 5 plts. V: Frontis., [4], v–vii, [5], 338 pp.; 5 plts. VI: Frontis., [8], 347 pp.; 5 plts. VII: Frontis., [6], vii–viii, [4]–339 pp.; 5 plts. VIII: Frontis., [8], 359 pp.; 5 plts. IX: Frontis., [4], v–viii, [4]–338 pp.; 5 plts. X: Frontis., [4], vii–viii, [4]–362 pp.; 5 plts. XI: [10], 3–392 pp.; 3 plts. XII: Frontis., [8], 3–393 pp.; 3 plts. (1 fold.).
$3575.00
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PRB&M offers a small prize to anyone who can, without looking anything up,
identify all the scenes shown . . .
The complete set in 12 volumes of the Chawton edition, limited to 1,250 numbered and registered copies — this is copy no. 1,029. An elegant, limited reissue of the same publisher's 10-volume Old Manor House edition, published the same year, this like that was edited by R. Brimley Johnson and introduced by William Lyon Phelps, the Lampson Professor of English Literature at Yale and an early champion of Austen's works. The introduction is itself a good read and gives insight into the life and character of the author, as well as a critical appraisal of the “qualities that place the novels of Jane Austen so far above all her contemporaries except Scott.”
The first 10 volumes consist of the novels — Sense and Sensibility (vols. I & II), Pride and Prejudice (vols. III & IV), Mansfield Park (vols. V & VI), Emma (vols. VII & VIII), Northanger Abbey (vol. IX), Persuasion (vol. X). Volumes XI and XII contain the minor works and letters. A bibliography of Austen's writings is included in vol. I.
Illustrated with
69 plates, including a wonderful series of color drawings to accompany the text, done by the brothers Charles Edmond and Henry Matthew Brock, this is
additionally embellished with portraits of the author, pictures of her residences in Bath and Winchester, a view of her burial place inside Winchester Cathedral, a facsimile autograph letter, and a facsimile title-page of the first edition of Sense and Sensibility. Each plate is accompanied by a protective tissue guard, printed with a descriptive caption in red ink. Title-pages are printed in red and black, and each has its own unique engraved vignette.
The delights in this production abound. On the whole, very satisfying!
Publisher's brown cloth, spines with brown paper label; several labels with ssmall brown spots, cracks, and edge chips, not too conspicuous and not affecting printing. Two leaves (pp. 343–346 of vol. X) detached from binding; long tear down center of pp. 283/284 (vol. IV), without loss of text; except for two leaves with some offsetting from laid-in scrap of paper, interiors clean. Outer and lower edges deckle, with a few signatures opened unevenly and some unopened. A very good set. (24537)
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Signatures of the
Famous & Obscure
(Autographs in Abundance). Collection of signatures of notable and lesser Mexicans of the colonial era and first three quarters of the 19th century. Mexico: 1646 to ca. 1880. Various small sizes.
$2250.00
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The collection contains approximately 400 clipped signatures of historical, political, and literary figures, including: José María Fagoaga (signer of the Act of Independence), Manuel Sotarriva (signer of the Act of Independence), Miguel Cervantes (i.e., Marques de Salvatierra. signer of the Act of Independence), Juan de Solorzano Pereira (jurist and major writer on the law of the Indies), Juan Cervantes y Padilla (signer of the Act of Independence), Jose Maria Heredia (poet), Jose Fernandez de Jauregui (printer), Jose Maria Guridi y Alcocer (signer of the Act of Independence), Valentín Canalizo (general, supporter and confidante of Santa Anna), Marques de San Juan de Rayas (signer of the Act of Independence), Santiago de Irissarri ((Independence-era military figure), Jose Bustamante (signer of the Act of Independence), Enrique White (governor of East Florida), Ignacio Barbachano (leader of the 1841 Yucatecan-break-away protonation), Vicente de la Concha (Queretaro politician), Juan Hierro Maldonado (Minister of Fomento, Colonización é Industria, and great politician), El Marques de Selva Nevada, Jacobo Ugarte y Loyola (governor of province of Coahuila y Tejas in the 1790s), El Conde de Alcazar, Ignacio de Bustamante (many times governor of Sonora), José Ignacio de Berasueta (intendent of Puebla in 1811), José Mariano de Arce (chief of revenue for pulque and alcabala), Francisco Javier Miranda (one of the delegation that offered Mexico to Maximilian!), Urbano Tovar (conservative politician, governor of Jalisco), Ramon Gutierrez del Mayo, Francisco Robledo, Francisco Jose de Urrutia, Victoriano Lopez Gonzalo (bishop of Puebla), Esteban Lorenzo de Tristán y Esmenota (bishop of Durango), Manuel José Rubio y Salinas (archbishop of Mexico), Mariano Riva Palacio (politician), Rafael Mangino (politician who crowned Emperor Agustin I), José Agustín Domínguez y Díaz (bishop of Oaxaca), Ignacio Alas (railroad entrepreneur), Juan Faustino Mazihcatzin (Indian leader of Tlaxcala), Pedro Saenz de la Guardia (naval commander of the San Blas region), Vicente Filisola (general, second in command to Santa Anna in the Texas Campaign), Esteban Moctezuma (general defeated by Bustamante at Gallinero), Jose Mariano Beristain (the great bibliographer), Manuel Payno (novelist and playwright), and many more.
Beyond its simple charm as
a signature gallery both representing and evoking a long era of Mexican history, this is a most useful archive of “sample” signatures.
All items glued to
both sides of sheets of paper (approximately 25 x 21.5 cm; .75 x 8.5" h x w) with multiple clipped signatures per sheet, 21 sheets total. Glue stains, and some early colonial ones with sealing-wax stains. (34167)
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UNexpurgated by the Mexican Inquisition
MS Notes in NAHUATL/AZTEC in Addition
Avila, Francisco de. Arte de la lengua mexicana, breves platicas de los mysterios de n. santa fee catholica, y otras para exortacion de su obligacion a los indios. Mexico: Por los herederos de la Viuda de Miguel de Ribera Calderon, 1717. 12mo. [13], 36, [1] ff.
[SOLD]
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Mexico saw a major rebirth of scholarly interest in Nahuatl during the first half of the 18th century, and Fr. Avila was a contributor to it. In his introduction here (“Al pio lector”), he explains why, despite the existence of the works of Molina, Carochi, Ribera, and Manuel Perez (whose enthusiastic endorsement [“Sentir”] is part of the preliminaries), he has decided to write and publish this grammar: “solo quitar algunas dificultades, que he reconosido [sic] en los que aprenden por el discurso de veinte anos.” The work achieves this aim well. Moreover, Fr. Avila's extremely notable introduction has much to say about the physical and spiritual condition of the Indians at the beginning of 18th century and about the economic and social debt of the Spanish population to them. Sra. Leon-Portilla points out that among the “chats” (i.e, “platicas”) that form the appendix, “las destinadas a lograr una buena confesion” are of
“gran importancia.”
This copy
escaped the Inquisition censors who after its publication insisted that the section on folio 34r-v, “Instruccion para ensenar lo que se resive [sic] en la Hostia” be lined through.
Evidence of Readership? Or, frugal management of paper? Or, something else entirely?? A singular quality of this among all the copies that we have ever seen is the presence of
two additional leaves (four pages) at the end containing
18th-century manuscript notes in Nahuatl for a sermon on the theme of “they who acquired divine happiness” and on conducting a confession.
Provenance: Sold by the Linga Library of Hamburg as a duplicate. Pencil notes of a Spanish bookseller.
Medina, Mexico, 2478; Garcia Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 9; Vinaza 271; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Nahuatl 18 (incomplete, lacking title-leaf); H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 240. Recased in modern vellum with button and loop ties, some few leaves strengthened at inner margins. Last leaf of text torn in lower margin and expertly repaired, costing small portion of two letters; a bit of staining at some edges, particularly in early part of volume. Small round old stamp “BS” to front free endpaper, leaves filled with manuscript annotation at end as above.
Very good, and very interesting. (34576)
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