SHEPHERD, William James Affleck, CUMINGS, William
SHEPHERD, William James Affleck, CUMINGS, William. A Collection of 52 original ink drawings from Cuming's 'Wonders in Monsterland. The first children's book to popularize dinosaurs and prehistoric life. Original drawings for the book. Most with pencil and wash shading, all but one signed or initialed, captions and directions on verso inartists hand, a few stained or spotted, most chipped at edges, some with small loss to corners. William James Affleck Shepherd (1866-1946) was an English illustrator and cartoonist, primarily known for his anthropomorphic animal drawings. He rarely used his first forename and consequently most of his works are simply signed J.A.S. With a copy of Wonders in Monster land, first edition, plates and illustrations, original pictorial cloth 1901. Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871) are among the most enduring works in the English language. In the decades following their publication, writers on both sides of the Atlantic produced no fewer than two hundred imitations, revisions, and parodies of Carroll's fantasies for children. Around the turn of the twentieth century, when mounted and articulated dinosaur skeletons first started to populate museum galleries, popular writings paid attention to dinosaurs for dinosaurs' sake include John W. Dawson's The Story of the Earth and Man (1873), Henry N. Hutchinson's Extinct Monsters (1892) and Frederic A. Lucas's Animals of the Past (1901). This however is the first children's book to popularize the theme. The story involves two siblings, Walter and Jenny, who wander into the prehistoric past, moving backward through time from the age of mammals to the age of the dinosaurs.
NIGHTINGALE FLORENCE
VON MOHL COLLECTION: Mary Clarke Mohl (1793-1883), by direct descent, Mary Clarke's personal tooled leather-bound sketch and scrapbook. The album (300 x 245 mm). embossed 'M. C.' in gold leaf lettering, containing 26 extremely competent pencil studies and a few watercolours (two landscape, and four flowers). The most important drawing is a portrait of FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE at Embly park (220 x 160 m). attributed to Joanna Hilary Bonham Carter (1821-1865). In the same collection there is also a portrait of an unknown sitter [Monrau?] signed Hilary Carter. (Hilary Carter is known for two other portraits of Florence and a statue.) A drawing by Mary Bayley (1801-1878), born in England to Daniel Bayley of Manchester and Maria Barbara Fock of St. Petersburg, Russia. Other portraits by I. Roulin, r. Cazey and others. The additional box contains four childrens portraits in pencil, two men embracing (in ink), with the caption Wohl mir Treue Freund (18th century? Koningsberg), one albumin (van Mohl family?), and 8 pencil studies. One by Louise von Dörnberg, Mary Clarke Mohl (nicknamed Clarkey), lived an extraordinary life at the crossroads of French and British culture and society. Nearly all of it was spent in Paris, where MAPS, PHOTOGRAPHS, PRINTS & MISC. 162 she saw three revolutions and was on friendly terms with so many of the great names of the day. But she never lost her attachment to Britain and in the Rue du Bac she offered a home-from-home to William Thackeray and Elizabeth Gaskell, the Brownings and the Trollopes, as well as to many aristocrats, diplomats, politicians, intellectuals and writers like Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. She was also one of Florence Nightingale's closest friends , and provided vital encouragement to launch her career in nursing. Also she convinced her friend Hilary Bonham Carter, Florences cousin, that she had a duty not to please her family, but to work at her painting and become a proper professional painter. Mary Clarke Mohl saw herself as standing in a long line of great French women, starting with Madame de Rambouillet in the early 17th Century, who had wielded their intellect and charm in the service of culture, politics and reason. Mohl deplored that most women were educated to please men, and she pleaded for alternatives to marriage. Mohl believed in developing womens intellectual potential and supported Bedford College and other schemes for female education. She lamented how single women lacking career opportunities, were ground down by household duties. In a letter written in 1862 she laments how in England, "The men talk together; the lady of the house may be addressed once in a way as duty, but the men had all rather talk together and she is pretty mute They have no notion that a lady's conversation is better than a man's." Clarkey was one of a generation that laid the ground for the changes that followed in women's lives. From their letters, we know that she was a rock-like figure for Florence Nightingale, persuading her to stick with her vocation despite the horrified opposition of Florence's family. PROVENANCE: the vendor is directly descended from an historically important aristocratic Prussian family: Johann Jacob Moser (1701-1785) considered to have laid the legal foundations of the modern German state, whose daughter, Christine-Beate, married Karl Gottlob von Mohl; their descendants were statesmen, jurists, diplomats, botanists and intellectuals. The vendor is the great grand-daughter of Ottmar von Mohl, nephew of Mary
Fabretti
e Aquis et Aquaeductibus Veteris Romae .1680 First edition. 4to (245 x180 mm.). contemporary binding later re backed with panelled spine, Rome, 1680 Engraved emblematic title vignette, 3 folding engraved maps, engraved illustrations, some full page. Aqueduct hunting has been a favourite pastime for visitors to Rome since antiquity, although serious study of how the Eternal City obtained its water did not begin until the seventeenth century. It was Raffaele Fabretti (1619-1700), the well-known Italian antiquarian and epigrapher, who 17TH CENTURY 115 began the first systematic research of the Roman aqueduct system. Fabretti's treatise, De aquis et aquaeductibus veteris Romae dissertationes tres, is cited as a matter of course by all later scholars working in the area of Roman topography. Its findings--while updated and supplemented by more recent archaeological efforts--have never been fully superseded. Yet despite its enormous importance and impact on scholarly efforts. The delightful title vignette is a hedgehog. The Ancients believed they stole apples and grapes by rolling on them. Some say it is a porcupine but after a little Twitter storm the final verdict was a hedgehog. The prickly little animal was the emblem of the Fabretti family, whose motto, "philois charisasthai echthron amynasthai", means roughly be nice to your friends, guard yourself against your enemies
DAFFORNE, Richard.
The English merchants companion: or, An entertainment for the young merchants, their servants. : Digested into three parts. Wherein the perfect method of merchants bookkeeping . is compleatly demonstrated. Being the most exact work of this nature, extant. : To which is annexed, Directions for accomptants . shewing them how to begin, prosecute, and compleatly finish their several functions and offices . :London, : Printed for Tho. Horne ., 1700. Small 4to., ([4], 99, [123], 17, [2] p., 3 folding leaves of plates. Contemporary vellum, with spine handsomely lettered with Merchants Companion: text-block separating exposing a 17th century English manuscript used as binders waste for the entire binding, internally moderate toning and foxing throughout, some minor inner marginal worming An EXTREMELY RARE MANUAL OF BOOKKEEPING AND ACCOUNTING geared, as stated, towards young merchants and trading in the East-Indies. ESTS notes only 5 copies and no copies have appears in the auction records in RBH. No copies in Princeton, Harvard or Yale. While a stated fifth edition, it appears to be the first edition in this form with likely some content re-used from Dafforne's Merchants Mirrour, the first edition of which was published in 1636. The book is perhaps the most detailed and authoritative work on accounting in 17th century England and really the birth of modern financial statements. " Richard Dafforne, London accountant and arithmetic teacher, had lived many years in Amsterdam and wrote a bookkeeping text to introduce Dutch accounting methods into England. The Merchants' Mirrour (1636) adopted Simon Stevin's method of platonic dialogue, posing "250 rare Questions with their Answers," but omitted such Dutch practices as special journals, subsidiary ledgers, and co-pound entries. However, Dafforne's was the first English text to describe a complete double entry system and the first to go into multiple editions. Early financial statements were made either by copying the accounts as they appeared in the ledger or by organizing trial balance figures into columnar reports. Dafforne illustrated a six-column statement in which the left pair of columns showed a trial balance of totals, the middle pair a trial balance of balances, and the two right hand columns a balance sheet containing the remaining assets and equities." {ref; Vangermeersch, Richard. The History of Accounting 2014, p. 187]"The work is supplemented by the nsertion of a separately printed broadside (as one of the three folding plates), by Richard Handson, entitled Analysis or Resolution of Merchants Accompts. "This single printed sheet contains an orderly classification, neatly laid out, of a number of types of commercial transactions, giving their treatment in double entry by identifying the appropriate accounts to be debited and credited in each case. It must have been very helpful and convenient in the hands of a merchant or bookkeeper in the counting-house; the frequent use of the work and its insubstantial form no doubt account for its present rarity" [Ref: Yamey, B.S in Accounting Research, 1948-1958: Selected articles on accounting history, p. 299"
DORAT, Claude Joseph
DORAT, Claude Joseph. 199 separate proofs of engravings by various artists after C. P. Marillier for Dorat's Fables Nouvelles. The Hague & Paris: Delalain, 1773. [-75] 2 volumes. 8vo, 25 x17 mm. Binding: 19th century crimson levant morocco gilt by ChambolleDuru in very fine condition sides, gilt triple fillet border, gilt dentelle borders inside, gilt edges. This is no 8 of the ten sets recorded by CohenDe Ricci. The rococo engravings are by Arrivet, Baquoy, De Launay, Duflos, De Ghendt, Le Gouaz. There is some offsetting from engravings onto adjacent blanks throughout, scattered foxing on the engravings. Overall, this is a remarkable set and important in the history of the French rococo illustrated book. The work stands, in its masterful execution and restrained elegance, alongside works such as Boucher's illustrations (masterfully engraved by Laurent Cars) for the six-volume Moliere of 1734 and Fragonard's for Lafontaine, as a cornerstone pieces in any collection of the art of the book.
Blake William
The Ladies Charity Schoolhouse Roll of Highgate: or A Subscription of many Noble, well-disposed Ladies for the easie carrying of it on. First edition, a little worn and dulled, repairs to corners, 8vo, (150 mm x 95 mm) [1670]. Drop-head title, 4 engraved plates, lacking final blank leaf, some water-staining and soiling, short tear to P1, original black morocco, covers tooled with an all-over gilt pattern of pointille drawerhandles and stylised flower tools, decorative gilt panelled spine, probably by "The Charity School Binder" Appeals for donations, followed by "Silver drops, or, serious things" p. 79-292. With the 4 plates, entitled "Father Time", "Charity", "Front elevation of the School" and "Butterflies". Copies frequently lack one or more plates since they were used as receipts and "hung up in the School-house" Wing suggests a conjectural date of 1670. However, a later work For the promoting and advancing the great designed hospital and work-house London, [1692?] (ESTC R506776) refers on p.3 to this work as "written some twelve years since". Later annotations on the fly leaf. Elisabeth Mussred her Book, given her by the Reverend doctor Curling. 1740. A curious book with a beautiful, possibly important English binding, that deserves proper attention. The author set out a scheme for establishing a Charity School at Highgate for the education and maintenance of poor, or fatherless children, all born at or near Highgate, Hornsey, or Hampstead; The philanthropic projector of this school purchased a house at Highgate (depicted in the book), in the Parish of St. Pancras, which had been the residence of the Marquis of Dorchester, and during the first year the school was open, about forty poor and fatherless boys were admitted. He was however rather ambitious (for selfish reasons?), and included in his scheme the building of a hospital; for Kentish Town, Highgate,Hampstead were at that time, and for many years after, much visited by Londoners in the summer season. The first part contains copies of letters written by him on behalf of the boys, addressed to twenty-six noble and other ladies, it gives no names and has often a lamenting tone, which seems rather curious, if you want to get something done. Blake even threatens the ladies who he writes with the outrage of public opinion, if the public would see sordid, poor, ragged, halfstarved pupils. Then they would say: Were there not good Ladies enough in and about London, to maintain a little School? a Duce on their Pride, Charity, Close hand and Covetousness. Blake points out that it would even make the Christian religion look bad. He then exhorts these ladies to set the wheel a going by giving something this Easter, one Whitsuntide or two. The second part consists of Silver Drops which emphasises, through quotes of the scripture, that charity is a good thing. The binding is in the style of the Queen's binders. There are however no tools in common with the example illustrated by Mirjam Foot in The Book Collector, Spring 1983, nor with the example in Maggs cat. 1075 item 75. Probably the binding is by a Charity School Binder. Designed to stimulate donors generosity. The Folger Shakespeare Library, 1992 exhibited their copy. See: Fine and Historic Bookbindings (catalogue entry 6:2) Last auction record 3250 GBP, Forum, London.
Hortus Sanitatis
De Herbis et Plantis, de Animalibus et Reptilibus, HORTUS SANITATIS.0. [H]ORTUS SANITATIS. De Herbis et Plantis, de Animalibus et Reptilibus, de Avibus et Volatilibus, de Piscibus et Natatilibus, de Lapidibus et in terre venis nascentibus, de Urinis et earum speciebus. [Strassburg: Reinhard Beck] 1517. .Small folio (300 x 200 m). 19th century paste-paper of boards with leather spine. Missing for leaves, three from the Herbis, OII, VIII, EV, one from the Animalibus O6. Some leaves mis-bound. Margins a bit short, but no loss of text. Otherwise a good clean copy. We could supply the missing leaves in professional made facsimile at cost Title within woodcut border printed in red and black, and over 1600 woodcut illustrations in text of plants, animals, minerals. An encyclopaedia of medieval beliefs and the first natural history encyclopaedia. Since God had created the natural world to be of use to humanity, animals and plants were there to provide cures for diseases. So therefore, the book is entitled Hortus Sanitatis, The garden of health . The Ortus Sanitatis describes species in the natural world, from plants, to animals and minerals, along with their medicinal applications (the operationes). It was also a world filled with wonder and belief in extraordinary creatures. Mythical creatures are included, and the pages are filled with creatures such as the phoenix, dragon, mermaid and other monsters. The work includes tracts on medicinal plants, animals, birds, fish; mining and gemstones; and a work on the analysis of urine. This last tract is illustrated by a woodcut showing medical men examining phials of urine in a shop The book divided into several sections: De herbis et plantis dealing with plants and their medicinal properties, De animalibus et reptilibus animals and reptiles. De avibus addresses birds and flying animals, De piscibus et natatilibus aquatic animals, De lapidibus discusses stones. De urinis et earum generibus involves urine and its type.
DENISSE, Nicolas
ON THE FOUR LAST THINGS DEATH, JUDGMENT, HEAVEN, AND HELL Divinis humanisque dignum conspectibus preclarissimum opus super quattuo novissimis, cui Speculum mortalium titulus prefertur, a reverendo patre magistro Nicolao Denisse, editum. impensis honesti viri Francisci Regnault Parisius ad divi Claudii edes commorantis impressioni traditum, [Paris, Regnault, 1507]. 8vo (13,5 x 9 cm), [128] f. [sign. A-Q 8], text in two columns. Printers mark on the last leaf. Unremarkable 18th century binding (worn). Capitals coloured in yellow. Printed in Paris for François Regnault, probably printed with the typographical material of Jean Seurre. USTC 182762 lists four copies worldwide.
CASSINI, Jean-Dominique.
Paris, L'imprimerie royale, 1693. Contemporay full calf binding. Large folio (380 x 255 mm). With two maps. A ncollection of 9 works. Jean Dominique Cassini (1625-1712) discovered Saturn's moons Iapetus, RheaTethys, and Dione. In 1675, Cassini discovered that Saturn's rings are separated into two parts by a gap. The gap is now called the Cassini Divisionin his honor. The astronomical tracts by Cassini, largely based on observations made by Jean Richer at Cayenne, are augmented by Richer's Observations astronomiques et physiques faites en l'isles de Cayenne, dated 1679; and Jean Picart's Voyage d'Uraniborg ou Observations astronomiques faites en Dannemarck, issued with Philippe de la Hire's Observations sur les costes de France, dated 1680. Cassini had moved to Paris at the invitation of Louis XIV in 1669, becoming the first director of the Paris observatory which is shown in some vignettes, together with the observatory at Huen. This collection concludes with his celebrated tables of the satellites of Jupiter, more exact than the tables of 1668, and frequently relied upon by navigators. 1] De l'origine & du progrés de l'Astronomie, & de son usage dans la Geographie & dans la Navigation, par M. Cassini. 43 p. -- [2] Observations Astronomiques & Physiques faites en l'Isle de Cayenne, par M. Richer. 1679. 71 p. Half of the first page cut out. At cost we can replace in facsimile. [3] Voyage d'Uranibourg, par M. Picart. 1680. 92 p. With map [4] Astronomiques faites en divers endroits du Royaume, par M. Cassini. 20 p. [5] Les Elémens d'Astronomie verifiez par M. Cassini, par le rapport de ses Tables aux observations de M. Richer faites en l'Isle de Cayenne. 1684. 74 p. -- [6] Découverte de la lumiere celeste qui paroist dans le zodiaque, par M. Cassini. 1685. 68 p. [title page never bound in] [7] Regles d l'Astronomie Indienne pour calculer les mouvemens du Soleil & de la Lune, par M. Cassini. 1689. 64 p. [8-9] Les Hypotheses & les Tables des Satellites de Jupiter, par M. Cassini. 52, 106 p.
LANDSBERG, John of
Eenen spiegel der volcomenheyt: Hoe dat een mensche doer sijns selfs utyen/ verloochenen/ ende sterven/ hen tot God keeren/ ende sijnre herten reynicheyt/ ende vereeninge (.) Gemaect doer die Carthuyseren te Coelen. Antw., Simon Cock, n.d. (±1525), (1),XCIX leaves. Title printed in red and black w. woodcut borders, later roan, small 8vo (130 x 195 mm). Faint water stain throughout, margins cut short. Binding worn. World catalogue lists 6 copies, only in the Netherlands. A book of the utmost rarity. John of Landsberg (1489-1539), who was born in Bavaria, studied theology at Cologne, and then entered the St.Barbara Charterhouse in 1509. The Carthusian men in the charterhouse in Cologne contributed to a new kind of medieval mysticism that found a new home in the Low Countries, one in which the Carthusians at Cologne and the community of Augustinian canonesses at St. Agnes at Arnhem formed two important foci. The writings of Landsberg on the sacred heart that exhorts every believer to take the heart as an object of special love, veneration and imitation, laid down and explained so clearly the principles upon which that devotion is grounded, that it paved the way for Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and her mission. To him we also owe the first Latin edition (Cologne, 1536) of the "Revelations of Saint Gertrude". This book is a Dutch translation of Lanspergius Speculum christianae perfectionis, the text is divided into 33 chapters. It wants to teach the reader what virtues the Christian must need. The author claims to have written this tract because most Christians are too preoccupied with self-love and self-will. According to Lanspergius, man can form his existence in three ways: there is the homo bestialis, which only lives for the five senses, the homo rationalis, who can judge good and evil, and the homo deiformis, the soul that tends to the highest good. Men s capability of love takes centre stage not our free will.
A set of 12 French manuscript notebooks of military strategy and colleges dated from 1842 and 1847 that used to belong to Monsieur de Beurnonville, student officer under the July Monarchy. All illustrated with little sketches. Sometimes moist stained at the edges. 1. A notebook started on August 1, 1847 on artillery courses. 2 A notebook on military art started on January 8, 1847 and stopped in June. 3. notebook started on March 8, 1848. Geodesy, many diagrams, mathematics etc. Some traces of moisture. 4. A notebook entitled "Evolution des lignes". Many military schemes and tactics 5. A notebook started in 1862 with many topics and loose leaves. History of the horse, agricultural statistics, climatology, chemistry, animals of the globe etc. 6. A notebook about geography and considerations on the art of war by General Charles de Clausewitz. 7. A notebook on various topics. Chemistry, food, etc. 8. A notebook on military administration courses. Label on the front page showing the address of the papermaker in Paris. 9. notebook on descriptive geometry started on March 18, 1847. Many illustrations and sketches. 10. A notebook on military art started on June 11, 1847. Battles and military tactics. Loose leaves at the beginning of the notebook, traces of moisture. 11. An artillery lesson book. Many sketches. 12.-A notebooks on fortifications dated January 1848. Many sketches.
ENGLISH BOOKBINDING
BLAKE, (William). The Ladies Charity Schoolhouse Roll of Highgate: or A Subscription of many Noble, well-disposed Ladies for the easie carrying of it on. First edition, a little worn and dulled, repairs to corners, 8vo, (150 mm x 95 mm) [1670]. Drop-head title, 4 engraved plates, lacking final blank leaf, some water-staining and soiling, short tear to P1, original black morocco, covers tooled with an all-over gilt pattern of pointille drawer handles and stylised flower tools, decorative gilt panelled spine, probably by "The Charity School Binder".Appeals for donations, followed by "Silver drops, or, serious things" p. 79-292. With the 4 plates, entitled "Father Time", "Charity", "Front elevation of the School" and "Butterflies". Copies frequently lack one or more plates since they were used as receipts and "hung up in the School-house" Wing suggests a conjectural date of 1670. However, a later work For the promoting and advancing the great designed hospital and work-house London, [1692?] (ESTC R506776) refers on p.3 to this work as "written some twelve years since". Later annotations on the fly leaf. Elisabeth Mussred her Book, given her by the Reverend doctor Curling. 1740. A curious book with a beautiful, possibly important English binding, that deserves proper attention. The author set out a scheme for establishing a Charity School at Highgate for the education and maintenance of poor, or fatherless children, all born at or near Highgate, Hornsey, or Hampstead; The philanthropic projector of this school purchased a house at Highgate (depicted in the book), in the Parish of St. Pancras, which had been the residence of the Marquis of Dorchester, and during the first year the school was open, about forty poor and fatherless boys were admitted. He was however rather ambitious (for selfish reasons?), and included in his scheme the building of a hospital; for Kentish Town, Highgate, and Hampstead were at that time, and for many years after, much visited by Londoners in the summer season. The first part contains copies of letters written by him on behalf of the boys, addressed to twenty-six noble and other ladies, it gives no names and has often a lamenting tone, which seems rather curious, if you want to get something done. Blake even threatens the ladies who he writes with the outrage of public opinion, if the public would see sordid, poor, ragged, half starved pupils. Then they would say: Were there not good Ladies enough in and about London, to maintain a little School? a Duce on their Pride, Charity, Close hand and Covetousness. Blake points out that it would even make the Christian religion look bad. He then exhorts these ladies to set the wheel a going by giving something this Easter, one Whitsuntide or two. The second part consists of Silver Drops which emphasises, through quotes of the scripture, that charity is a good thing. The binding is in the style of the Queen's binders. There are however no tools in common with the example illustrated by Mirjam Foot in The Book Collector, Spring 1983, nor with the example in Maggs cat. 1075 item 75. Probably the binding is by a Charity School Binder. Designed to stimulate donors generosity. The Folger Shakespeare Library, 1992 exhibited their copy. See: Fine and Historic Bookbindings (catalogue entry 6:2) Last auction record 3250 GBP, Forum, London.
BARTOLI, Cosimo.
Del modo di misurare le distantie, le superficie, i corpi, le piante, le provincie, le prospettive, & tutte le altre cose terrene, che possono occorrere à gli huomini : secondo le vere regole d'Euclide, et de gli altri più lodati scrittorn. Venetia : presso Sebastiano Combi, 1614. 145 p. [2] leaves. 18th century calf. Rubbed. 8vo. Complete with the two tables.An important work on surveying, measuring, and drawing on perspective. Profusely illustrated with a great variety of measuring methods for civil and military purposes. This treatise explains how to measure great distances, heights or areas, using geometric methods. The author also addresses the problem of perspective and geometric projection. The fourth book is dedicated to the construction and use of the compass, while in the book V Bartoli deals with Euclidean geometry. Finally, in book VI, the author studies square roots.
ANONYMOUS. La duchesse de Medo. Nouvelle historique & galante. Duchesse de Medo. Gabriel Quinet. Paris 1692. 2 vol. 8vo, (160 x 100 mm). [4] 348 pp, 384 pp. Contemporary full calf bindings, somewhat worn, corners bumped. Dedicated to Marie Anne de Bourbon, Princess of Conty. With a contemporary ownership inscription on the flyleaf, Levet, 1699. The nouvelle Galante, was a new prolific genre that always involved passion and seduction among the highly born, with stereotyped character, plots and styles. These novels were as popular as romantic paperbacks nowadays. There is no climatein the world where love does not make itself felt, says the anonymous author to the reader and then recommends it to all ladies fine and delicate. The book must have aroused the reader s passions, with two editions in France (Paris & Lyon) and one edition in Dutch. No English translation is known. (Gay II, 48) (not in Barber). We located 12 copies of both editions.
JOHANNES CLIMACUS.
JOHANNES CLIMACUS. Scala spiritualis, Impressu[m] in regali ciuitate Toletana], 1505. [4], 150 leaves. 4to. Contemporary vellum, seminary stamp on title page, beautiful wide margined copy. The author of this Ladder of Paradise was a Greek Ascetic who became abbot of Mount Sinai about 600. This is the first Latin edition published in Spain, preceded by a Spanish translation of 1504. The fine woodcut on the title represents St. Ildefonso receiving the casula at the hands of the Virgin, surmounted by a cross and crowned with a cardinals hat. Of highest interest is the fact that this text was chosen to be the FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN AMERICA: Mexico, Juan Pablos, 1532, of which no copy or even fragment has survived. (See Garcia Icazbalceta, Bibliogr. Mex., p. 28). A FINE COPY of an extremely rare book, we located 10 copies worldwide through OCLC.
M. Tullii Ciceronis
CICERO, Marcus Tullius] M. Tullii Ciceronis Familiares epistolae. Expositores vero sunt. Hubertinus Cres. Martinus Phile. Ioan. Bapti. Egnatius. Ioan. Ba. Ascensius. Obseruatores autem. G. Merula Alex. A. Politianus.Venetiis : 1535, Venetiis : per Ioannem de Tridino alias Tacuinum, 1535 die XX Augusti.:[14], CCLXXIX, [1] c. : illustrated. Folio (30 cm), 16th century vellum. Some water staining, one margin with a hole. Repair to the last leaf, with some loss of text. With an engraved armorial bookplate Ignatius Zanardi, an Italian theologian. The top volvelle looked a bit suspect to us but might be genuine. Where to get a facsimile if the book is that rare? There are no digital copies. A beautiful printed edition with the commentary of renaissance scholars on the letters of Cicero. Bade, Josse Egnazio, Giovanni Battista Filetico, Martino Merula, Giorgio Poliziano, Angelo Ubertino : da Crescentino The first edition was printed in 1526. No copies of this edition in the US, only the Italian libraries seem to have a fair number of copies.
DANTE
DANTE ALIGHIERI. Opere del diuino poeta Danthe con suoi comenti : recorrecti et con ogne diligentia nouamente in littera cursiua impresse. In Bibliotheca S. B. Impressa in Venetia : Per Miser Bernardino stagnino da Trino de monferra., Del .M. CCCCC. XX. (1520) A. di XXVIII. Marzo. Title printed in red within ornamental borders in black. Printers device on last leaf. Text surrounded by commentary. Woodcut illustrations and initials throughout printed marginalia. 8vo (210 x 150 mm. 18th century full calf binding. [12] leaves (of introduction) and 441 pages of text. A famous and rare edition of Dantes Divine Comedy, divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Leaves 187190, replaced in a later handwriting (18th century) Some staining to lower corner, most notably 75-108, 180-210, generally clean. This edition features one full-page woodcut illustration and ninety-eight woodcut prints introducing each canto (the pages that are missing and replaced, dont contain an illustration). The full-page woodcut illustration is a simultaneous representation of events from the first canto: Dante in the woods; Dante beset by the three beasts, specifically, the leopard, symbol of worldly pleasure, the lion, symbol of pride, and the she-wolf, symbol of avarice; and Dante and Virgil.The volumes printer, Bernardino Stagnino (meaning tinsmith) da Trino, released three editions of the Divine Comedy in 1512, 1520, and 1536. Stagninos significant contribution was to print the text edited by Pietro Bembo together with Landinos commentary, the same commentary that enriches the renowned 1481 copy of the Divine Comedy illustrated by Filippo Brunelleschi. The printer Stagnino belonged to the distinguished Giolito de Ferrari da Trino family, who were influential professionals in Renaissance publishing and printing because of their extensive involvement in the industry. Indeed, they were in contact with the powerful Manutius family in Venice, which is where this item was published.
BRECHTEL, Franz Joachim.
BRECHTEL, Franz Joachim. Büchsenmeisterey. Das ist: Kurtze doch eigentliche erklerun deren ding, so einem Büchsenmeister fürnemlich zu wissen von nöten. Nuremberg: Katharina Gerlachin, 1591. Contemporary vellum (165 x 105 mm), Two works in one volume, 8° (157 x 100mm). Woodcut illustrations throughout, Brechtel with two folding engraved plates. In almost copies lacking. 88 leaves. [Bound with a separate work]; SCHMIDLAP, Johannes. Künstliche und rechtschaffene Feuerwerck zum schimpff, vormals im truck nie aussgangen. Nuremberg: Katharina Gerlachin, 1591. 76 leaves. Both works are profusely illustrated. Nearly perfect copy. Repair to lower margin of the first title page, not affecting text. A practical manual which special emphasizes dimensions and measurements of barrel, shots, etc. The author also describes how to wage war by poisoning the air. He describes cylinders or bombs filled with mineral poisons with poisonous plants and animals. Such materials as sublimate of mercury and arsenic, henbane, aconite , belladonna and hemlock were used, Johann Schmidlap of Schorndorf was a 16th-century Bavarian fireworks maker and rocket pioneer. With many diagrams of (multi-staged) rockets. Katharina Gerlachin (also Gerlach, b. c. 1520, d. 1592) was a German printer in Nuremberg. She acted as director of the printing house, founded c. 1542 by her husband Johann vom Berg and Ulrich Neuber, fromn1564 until her death
Bible
MINIATURE BIBLE] New Testament (The) of our Lord Jesus Christ, Faithfully translated out of Greeke. Imprinted at London : by the Deputies of Christopher Barker, printer to the Queens most excellent Maiestie, Anno 1591. 32⁰ in 8 s., 76mm. by 49mm. Early calf, tooled in blind. Silver corner bosses and center clasp with initials RT to back of clasp. Provenance: Woman's ownership with contemporary signature of Mary Nash to title page. 18th century ex-libris, likely Thurston of Hoxne Abbey, Suffolk with crest of a stork and motto: Esse quam videri. Internally, some toning, but generally a remarkable specimen, some passages with simple underscoring in a contemporary hand.This is the very first printing of the New Testament in miniature format in England. A remarkable feat with the type and spacing each only 1 mm to accommodate the text in such a small format. The book was reprinted the following year and again in 1593. ESTC records only 3 copies; British Library, University of Iowa and State Library of South Australia. The only copy in commerce appears to have been sold at Sotheby s in 1986 for GBP 9,900. The question of why this miniature bible was printed provides some fascinating avenues for scholarly research. Miniature bibles could have been conceived for private devotion or perhaps for travel or women, as the provenance on this copy suggests. However, this particular printing may also have been spurred on by the legal disputes between John Legate, printer to Cambridge University, and Christopher Barker, who had held an exclusive patent to print the Bible. Legate encroached on the patent in 1591 by printing the whole Geneva Bible in a compact octavo (STC 2155) as well as an undated 32 mo. edition (STC 2889) "Barker protested vigorously to the Privy Council. The letter of June 1591 from the Vice Chancellor and Heads of Cambridge University to Lord Burghley pleading Legate's case provides an entirely unique, precise reference to an Elizabethan printer's intended market: 'The suit . is so prejudicial to the poor man . it could not but tend to his utter undoing." Barker may have trying to undercut those arguments, by printing a poor man's bible that could evade the restrictions of the Stationers' Company, whereby the minimum allowable price for a book was set according to the size of the type (an octavo edition ran 3 shillings) (See : Taylor, Greg and Lavagnino, John. Thomas Middleton and Early Modern Textual Culture, 2007. p. 204
