TREVOR, ROBERT HAMPDEN"
"Folio (445 x 288 mm.), a very fine copy (with the rare errata in 4to) bound at end in contemporary red morocco gilt on boards, gilt spine with raised bands, golden dentelles at edges of boards, and golden edges. Engraved portrait medallion of John Trevor on title, ff. prel. 10 (including 2 of the 3 orig. blanks), pp. 231, 1 blank, with the final 4to leaf of errata tipped in at the end, as described by Giani and Brooks. First edition of this very elegant book, which contains three Latin poems by the diplomatist Robert Hampden-Trevor, first Viscount Hampden (1706-1783). His second son John Hampden-Trevor, third Viscount Hampden (1748-1824) arrived in Turin in October 1783 as British envoy extraordinary, remaining there until 1797. A friend of Horace Walpole, he commissioned from Bodoni this edition of his fathers poems, "intended for the gratification of a few friends." This edition was printed in 130 copies only. Brooks 470."
"Folio (340x35 mm.), early 20th stiff vellum in the style of an early binding, spine with raised bands, title on label, generally a clean and well-preserved copy (slight marginal foxing to first leaves, almost invisible repairs to title-page, margins a bit short). Title and text in Latin and Italian printed in double column, woodcut printer's device to title and larger version to verso of final leaf, half-page woodcut coat-of-arms to dedication and ornaments, many foliated woodcut initials, illustrated throughout with full-page woodcut illustrations, almost the whole book is conceived with a text page facing a full-page woodcut. Pp. [12], 243, [1 for device]. First edition of this scarce work published posthumously, the rarest among the single books by Serlio; the only separate printing of Book VII in folio format, and the last by Serlio to be printed. It was published (as said in the title-page) at the expenses of Jacopo Strada (Mantova 1507-Prague 1588) who was an Italian painter, architect, numismatist, goldsmith, writer and antiquarian dealer. As known (also recorded by Julius Schlosser in his Kunstliterature), he had bought the original manuscript of the seventh book in Lyon from Serlio himself, when he was already old and poor. From 1557 Strada was court antiquarian, artist and official architect in the service of the three emperors of the house of Habsburg: Ferdinand I, Maximilian II and Rudolf II. He also lent his work to Duke Albert V of Bavaria, for whom he conceived an Antiquarium (a gallery of antiquities, a kind of Wunderkammer) at the ducal residence in Munich, whose collection of ancient statues is still usable today. Around 1567 Titian painted a famous Portrait of Jacopo Strada, now kept in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The VII book is dealing with domestic architecture, with designs for villas and palaces, chimneypieces, doors, windows etc., so delle habitationi di tutti li gradi di homini. Fowler 326, Berlin Katalog 2568; EDIT16 CNCE 38099."
"Folio (338 x 225 mm.), attractive contemporary brown calf, finely blind tooled on boards with fillets and a roll-border, corner tools, central plaque, spine with raised bands, the binding all in very genuine condition, internally a very clean, bright copy with wide margins. Text entirely printed in Greek, in two fonts (text within comment), woodcut initials and headpieces (one headpiece dated 1545), woodcut printer's device on final leaf, at verso. Pp. (12 nn.), 571, 1 blank, (24 nn. for index). Ownership inscription of Matthias Floderus (1766-1821) dated Uppsala 1789, another earlier annotation on the first flyleaf, and a small recent stamp of a private collector. First Greek edition by Froben with extensive comment, edited by the Bohemian scholar Sigismundus Gelenius, and based on the Aldine editio princeps (even including the original preface by Marcus Musurus from the Aldine edition, possibly because Gelenius had been a pupil of Musurus). VD16 A-3268; IA 107.659; Adams A-1715; Ebert 1086; Schweiger I, 46."
"4to (222 x 157 mm.), 4 works bound together in a good 19th cent. vellum binding, with manuscript title at lower edge, a clean copy, with wide margins; a very light touch of color at printers devices. Each work with title-page and printers device, leaves 95, (1 orig. blank); 14 [i.e. 13], [1 orig. blank]; leaves 7, [1 orig. blank]; leaves 12, [2]. A fine Sammelband with four works by Telesio, the first is the scarce second edition of his major work De rerum natura, which had been already appeared in Rome, printed by Blado in 1565, whereas the three other works by Telesio are first editions, incl. his scarce work on atmosphere and earthquakes. T. was, unwittingly, helping to contribute to the breakdown of the barrier that Aristotle had set up between celestial and sublunary physics, the breakdown triumphantly announced by Galileo in his 'Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems'. T. also introduced concepts of space and time that anticipated the absolute space and time of Newtonian physics (DSB). Bernardino Telesio (15091588) belongs to a group of independent philosophers of the late Renaissance who left the universities in order to develop philosophical and scientific ideas beyond the restrictions of the Aristotelian-scholastic tradition. Authors in the early modern period referred to these philosophers as novateurs and modern. In contrast to his successors Patrizi and Campanella, Telesio was a fervent critic of metaphysics and insisted on a purely empiricist approach in natural philosophyhe thus became a forerunner of early modern empiricism. He had a remarkable influence on Tommaso Campanella, Giordano Bruno, Pierre Gassendi, Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes and on free thinkers like Guillaume Lamy and Giulio Cesare Vanini [.] He was perhaps the most strident critic of metaphysics in late Renaissance times. It was obviously due to his excellent relationships with popes and clerics that he was not persecuted and was able during his own lifetime to publish his rather heterodox writings, which went on the index shortly after his death. His principal work is the aforementioned De rerum natura iuxta propria principia (On the Nature of Things according to their Own Principles), which in the last augmented edition of the author's hand appeared in Naples in 1586. The De rerum natura is a huge treatise in nine books which deals with cosmology, biology, sense perception, reason and ethics. (These) Smaller treatises deal with a variety of themes such as colours, dreams, geology and meteorology, (De iis quae in aere fiunt et de terremotibus; De colorum generatione; De mari).», Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. I. Adams T 292; Houzeau-L. 2641; Riccardi I/2, 512, 4. II. Adams T-290, Poggendorff II, 1077; Riccardi I/2, 512, 1; III : Adams T-289; Riccardi I/2, 512, 2; IV. Adams T-291; Riccardi I/2, 512, 3."
"Folio (402 x 237 mm.), 2 parts bound together in an attractive, contemporary dutch vellum with manuscript title on spine (lower corner of upper board carefully restored), a beautiful, clean and very wide copy, unusually printed on almost white paper, and not browned as usual (tiny marginal loss of paper at edge of 2 leaves at beginning). Engraved frontispieces at both parts; a printed title to Vol. I with an engraved vignette; engraved portraits of Kircher & Pope Alexander VII; many woodcuts and several engraved plates, of which 12 folding or double-page) at vol. I, volvelles in vol. I at pp. 132, 154, & 156. In vol. II, a woodcut slip at p. 30, an engraved slip at p. 385; many engravings & woodcuts in the text, of which 6 are full-page and one double-page; and altogether 7 printed tables. First edition. Caillet 5783; De Backer/S. IV, 1060; Dunnhaupt. II, 1006; Ferguson I, 467; Honeyman 1823; Hoover 483; Kopp I, 230; Merrill 17; Nissen, ZBI 2196; Sabin 37967; Wellcome III, 395. (Content and collation like the colored copy sold by Christies in 2016 at £. 146.500) 'Le plus curieux des ouvrages de [Kircher]. Ce monde souterrain est . un monde kabbalistique en raison des etres fantastiques dont il peuple l'interieur du globe' (Caillet). 'Including his spectacular descent into Vesuvius . His observations of these volcanoes led him to conclude that the center of the earth is a massive internal fire for which the volcanoes are mere safety walves' (Merrill). 'Several articles relate to America' (Sabin)."
"4to (232 x 162 mm.), good 18th cent. speckled brown calf binding, gilt spine with raised bands, golden fillets, title on orange label (hinges, head and foot of spine carefully repaired), nice colored paper of the time at flyleaves and pastedowns, colored edges, generally a clean copy with wide margins (small marginal spots to first leaves). Engraved allegorical frontispiece, pp. (24, incl. the front.), numb. 237 (i.e. 229, misnumb.), and 3 nn. at the end, of which 2 original blanks. Dedicated to Cesare d'Este, duke of Modena and Reggio. e Modena, this work is finely illustrated with 11 folding engraved plates, of which 8 (engraved by Giovanni Luigi Valesio, 1583-1650, a pupil of Ludovico Carracci) depicting the beautiful triumphal chariots of the local religious brotherhoods for the feast of the translation of the image of the Madonna, and 3 plates illustrating the façade, the interior and the plan of the new church built and devoted to the Madonna of Reggio. This church was built thanks to the offerings of the faithful following a miracle linked to an image of the Virgin that once stood in the area and replaced a simpler construction erected by the friars to whom the place had belonged since 1313. In early times there was an image of the Madonna, painted on the wall of the garden of the friars, which was copied on paper by the painter Lelio Orsi (1569) and repainted by another called il Bertone (in 1573) and eventually in 1596 moved to a small chapel. The chronicles of the time report the story of a deaf-mute, who would have regained the use of speech and hearing following a miracle of the Virgin. Six days later, on 5 May 1596, another miracle would take place, being the sudden recovery of a woman, Margherita, who had been ill for eighteen years, so in a short time the place became a pilgrimage destination and, thanks to the offerings of the people, it was decided to build a new temple that could contain the painting linked to the miracle. The first stone of the building was placed on 6 June 1597 - when the first edition of this work was edited - in the presence of the Duke and Duchess Margherita Gonzaga, demolishing part of the previous convent. In 1619 the church was already well finished and on 12 May it was consecrated, and the present book edited to celebrate such event. The author describes the history of the cult paid to the Madonna, the feasts and records as many as 175 alleged miracles. Cat. Ruggieri 776; Vinet 810; Lipperheide 2790; Berlin Kat. 3199; Cat. Vinciana 218; Lozzi 4000."
"Folio (438 x 295 mm.), a fine copy with wide margins in contemporary red morocco gilt on boards, spine with raised bands, tooled in blind and with gold fillets, title in gold decorated in gilt, internally very clean. This issue without the small oval portrait on frontispiece, with engraved head-piece by Lucatelli, pp. XXXV, 1b. 117, 3 blanks. Brooks 514. Provenance: Il Polifilo, Milan (bookseller's label)."
"Folio (320 x 220 mm.), contemporary vellum with manuscript title on spine, in bright and clean condition, a copy with distinguished provenance, with the early black stamp of Biblioteca Albani (pope Clemens XI), mostly dispersed, a 19th cent. bookplate of a Parisian architect, and this of the Piranesi scholar Henri Focillon (1881-1973) and of his friend and pupil Jurgis Baltrusaitis (1903-1988), an art historian too. An attractive, complete copy with wide margins (small spots at lower margin of first 2 leaves, the plan of the Arena lightly bound at the end, one small neat tear along a folding line). Large woodcut portrait of the author on verso of title-page, ff. num. 66, (4), with 29 large woodcuts (mostly folded), showing monuments and architectonical details, and the very large folding view of the roman amphitheater (3 joint sheets), which is usually missing in most of copies. First edition of this relevant historical account of the town of Verona (It.), with a very innovative and modern layout of illustrations, much unusual for a print of the early 16ths cent; it is important for art historians as it shows many antiquities which are nowadays lost and destroyed. The woodcuts are the work of the Veronese painter Giovanni Caroto (1488-1562). Sander 6738; Fowler n. 289; Adams S-393; Berlin Katalog 1834 and Mortimer Harvard n. 462 quote imperfect copies."
"Folio (307 x 210 mm.), early venetian carta rustica pasteboard, a very clean, bright copy (the outer border of last 5 leaves lightly repaired). Verso of first leaf comprising woodcut vignettes of the six days of Creation enclosed within woodcut border, same border used on first text page, 46 woodcuts from 39 blocks, woodcut initial on a2r, printer's device at the end, initial spaces with guide-letter. Third illustrated edition, with additional entries bringing the chronicle up to 1490. In reporting the invention of printing, Jacobus dates it to 1458 and attributes it to either Gutenberg or Fust. Many of the woodcuts were taken from the first illustrated edition of 1486, but Rizus for his 1490 previous edition improved several of the city views, notably Rome, Venice, Genoa and Verona, and added building the Tower of Babel. In this, his next edition, Rizus also added the woodcut borders which had appeared earlier that same year in the Italian Legenda Aurea printed by Bonellis, and the frontispiece of Creation and a small woodcut of Noah's ark, both from the Malermi Bible of 1490. HC *2809; BMC V, 404; BSB I-125; IGI 5079; Essling 343; Sander 919; ISTC ij00212000; Goff J-212."
"4to (205x140 mm.), 3 works bound together in one volume in contemporary brown morocco with border of thin fillets on boards, small central fleuron tooled in gold, as well as fleur-de-lys corner tools, gilt spine with raised bands, tooled with golden rosettes in compartments, bleu edges, generally a good, well-margined copy (light marginal foxing, careful repairs to corners and head/foot of spine). Ist work: Aldine device on title, text printed in roman type, leaves nn. (52). II. Printed in roman type, pp. 114, 2 blank. III. Half-page woodcut device, and a different one at the end, printed in roman type, leaves (24) nn., sign. A4-G4, last original blank preserved. Nice sammelband of 3 works, all of them rare on the market, the first one an uncommon edition of the latin translation by Paulus Manutius, of the four Philippics of Demosthenes (384-322 BC), orations made to rally the Athenians against Philip of Macedon who was beginning his conquest of Greece. Renouard 146.6, BMC STC It. p. 213, Adams D-288. The 2nd work is a rare translation of three orations on the same topic, by Jacopo Grifoli, who had published 2 years before with Paulus Manutius in the aldine printery a collection of orations. Rare, not in Adams, BMC STC it. suppl. p. 33; Moreni Ann. Torrentino n. XVII, p. 67. 3rd work, first edition of this translation, not in Adams and in BMC STC It, Edit16 CNCE 21743."
"Folio (290x196 mm.), contemporary vellum with manuscript title on spine, a good genuine copy. Two parts in one volume, each with title-page, and printers device/vignette, 1st part has: pp. [12], 232 pp., with 2 folding tables, the woodcut plate at pp. 112/113 has been mounted (as part of) in the volvelle at p. 113; 2nd part has pp. 24, [2], with 1 double-page woodcut table and [3] leaves of plates, containing 18 engraved illustrations. Text illustrated throughout with almost 120 woodcut illustrations and diagrams. Collation: (*6), A-S6, T8; A-B6 [*1]. The unnumbered text leaf in the 2nd part, bound after p. 16, contains the Apparatus ad calculandas altit. singularum horarum ab occasu in utroque Tropico ad latit. 44. Third, last and according to Cinti (Bibl. Galileiana) best edition of this influential astronomical work (first published in 1620), which showed a slight movement of the church towards the acceptation of recent astronomical discoveries by Galileo, Kepler and Brahe, although authors expressed support for Galileo's ideas never managed to pass the censorship of the inquisition. Biancani was perhaps the first to suggest, in this book, that comets may return (Thorndike VII, p. 51). Riccardi I, 127; Biancani's Sphaera includes three appendices on various topics only loosely related to cosmology. The first, on geography, contains a discussion on the origin of mountains that influenced Bernhardus Varenius' Geographia generalis (1650). The second appendix, Apparatus ad mathematicarum studium, is an introduction to mathematical disciplines addressed to students. The third appendix to the book, Echometria, is devoted to acoustics. Carli-Favaro 83; Cinti 95 (third ed.)."
"4to (210 x 150 mm.), nice 19th cent. stiff vellum with titles on double label at spine, a good copy (light browning to some leaves at the end, for own quality of the paper, the upper corner of a few leaves stained). Title within full-page woodcut border, with a small woodcut illustration, text in roman type, on 2 columns, in ottava rima, illustrated with 77 woodcuts illustrations, with final blank leaf. Fifth edition, the third in the 16th cent. It was first printed in around 1490 and regularly reprinted through the sixteenth century. Luca Pulci (1431-1470) began writing this chivalric poem in ottava rima towards the end of his life, and only the first book had been completed at the time of his death, so it was then completed by Bernardo Giambullari and Luca's younger brother Luigi; Luca died at the age of only 49 in prison in Rome in the Stinche prison, where he had been locked up following a bankruptcy (from 1458 he practiced the art of the money changer). Edit16 CNCE 32741; Sander 5997."
"Folio (335x204 mm.), attractive contemporary blindstamped pigskin tooled on boards with multiple roll-borders, with small figures depicting the seven virtues and a central medallion showing the allegory of the Justice, red edges (lower corners of boards a bit work, edge of upper board ink spotted at top), for else in genuine condition, with a bookplate and stamps of a priv. collection on pastedowns, ms. ownership entries on flyleaf (one dated 1647). Large woodcut device on title and at the end, half-page woodcut portrait of Paré on leaf (:)4v, pp. [12], 851, [28 nn, of which last 3 are blanks], extensively illustrated with 317 text woodcuts of anatomical subjects, surgical instruments and procedures, monsters and freaks of nature, etc. Second collected edition in Latin of Paré's writings. Guillemeau's translation first appeared in 1582. Doe 48; Durling 3532."
"Folio (300 x 200 mm.), two parts in one volume, nicely bound in late 19th cent. half morocco with large corners, golden fillets and title on spine, marbled paper on boards, cailloutè paper at endleaves, internally a very good, clean copy. Engraved allegorical frontispiece, printed title-leaf, many large woodcut floral initials and typographical ornaments throughout the text. Pp. (16 nn. incl. front. And title), pp. numb. 488, widely illustrated with more than 200 engravings and woodcuts in the text, mostly half-page. Second edition, partly original, much increased by a second part (which almost doubled the work), dedicated to his new acquisitions (these last mostly illustrated by woodcuts). The original edition was published in Padua, by Paolo Frambotto, in 1656. The illustrations, engraved by the Veronese artist Alberto Pasi, consists of remarkable mix between fauna, natural curiosities, minerals, precious stones, archaeological objects, votive figures, early marbles with ancient inscriptions, etc. A Veronese collector, Count Lodovico Moscardo (1611-1681), acquired a large part of the collection of Francesco Calzolari which considerably enriched his own. He passionately collected medals, various natural oddities and artifacts, many ancient objects (especially Egyptian), amulets, etc. The reputation of this museum was such that it aroused the curiosity of many visitors during the second half of the 17th century. Nissen, ZBI, 2898; Grinke, From Wunderkammer to Museum (this edition), n. 23; Cicognara, 3412 (quoting the 1656 1st edition); Graesse IV, 613 (quoting this 1672 edition): Lib. Vinciana, n. 1733; Olschki, Choix, 19651."
"4to (215x165 mm.), 2 parts in 1 vol. in attractive contemporary red morocco gilt on covers with central golden fleuron and corner tools, raised bands on spine, gilt in compartments, internally some browned for the quality of the paper, but a genuine copy. Engraved allegorical frontispiece at part I, pp. 8 (incl. front.), (4 nn. of index), then 151 numbered engraved plates; part II has pp. (2, half-title), 17 engr. plates (numb. A-R); text with own title-page and printers device, pp. (8), 88, (6) with woodcut printers device on last leaf. Second, enlarged edition (the first in 1598, but without commentary) of this very interesting collection of 168 engraved portraits of historic characters and authors from classical Antiquity, after sculptures, coins and gems (mostly) held in the Roman collection of Fulvio Orsini. The Flemish engraver Theodore Galle (1571-1633) had been introduced, during his stay in Rome, in 1596, to the famous antiquarian Fulvio Orsini (1529-1660). He returned to Antwerp with an album of nearly 250 drawings of the objects forming this extraordinary collection, a kind of wunderkammer. In 1598, he engraved a series of 151, which he had printed at his own expense, at Plantin's, without commentary. This second edition published eight years later, at the request and at the expense of Orsini, joined to these 17 additional engravings, gathered in the appendix, and a commentary by Giovanni Faber, forming the second part.BL Low Countries, 1601-1621, p. 218; Imhof, G-14; Brunet, V, 1019; Funck 403; Ebert 23217."
SCAMOZZI, VINCENZO"
"Folio (350 x 220 mm.), 2 parts in one volume in its contemporary limp vellum with manuscript title (faded) on spine, lower edge of first leaves carefully repaired, occasional marginal foxing and/or signs of use or minimal staining, generally a good, clean copy (flyleaves renewed). Each part with beautiful architectonical engraved title-page, woodcut printer's device on letterpress title-pages, woodcut initials and tailpieces, the work completely illustrated with full- or double-page woodcuts or engravings (all of them by Scamozzi, except one which is thought to be by Titian or his grandson Tizianello), without the blank leaf after p. 90 (which has a rough, old repair in the margin, affecting one word), but with the blank leaf at the end of vol. I; this copy is complete with the rare leaf (often missing) containing the register which is a singleton leaf, not belonging to any gathering, and therefore printed separately (here placed between the two parts). First edition of Scamozzi's detailed architectural treatise (which concluded the theorization of the orders and of architectural rules after Palladio) which contains books 1-3 and 6-8 of his projected ten books; the remaining books were not completed before Scamozzi's death in 1616. It was published at the author's expense and each book was dedicated to a different potential patron in the hope of financial support, which does indeed seem to have been successful with Cosimo II de' Medici, the dedicatee of book 6. Fowler 292. Berlin Kat 2605; Cicognara 651; BAL RIBA 2917."
PALLADIO, ANDREA"
"Folio (305 x 208 mm.), contemporary vellum from a manuscript fragment in Hebraic, with original ties at boards, light signs of use, a few insignificant spots, but generally a very genuine copy, in very good condition. An attractive copy with distinguished provenance, from the collection of the famous bibliophile and collector Jacopo (or Giacomo) Manzoni (1816-1889, son of a nephew of the poet Vincenzo Monti), who during his lifetime amassed a library worth of 30.000 books, which included the personal archive of the bibliophile and thief Guglielmo Libri. In addition to being a collector he was editor and editor of the typographical annals of the Jewish printers Soncino and author of essays on bibliographic sciences. After his death, his library was dispersed in various auctions between 1892 and 1894. His classic small bookplate at the upper corner of the internal side of upper board. Four parts, each title within a full-page woodcut architectural border, pp. 67, 1b, 78, 2 original blanks, 46, (2, of which one is blank), 133, (1 for colophon, with the rare last original blank leaf), all the text completely illustrated with half-page and full-page woodcuts. Second edition, nearly typographically identical to the first ed. (1570), of this cornerstone in the history of the architecture in the Renaissance. Schlosser pp. 414/422; Fowler 213; Berlin Katal. 2592."
GROOTE, ALEXANDRE de, Baron"
"(At colophon: Stampata in Monaco di Baviera: in casa della vedova Anna Berghin, 1617). Folio (325 x 220 mm.), good contemporary vellum gilt with golden fillets and central fleuron, golden edges, some worming in binding and flyleaves, but not going internally, which is in very fresh and bright condition. Provenance: Marcantonio Borghese (1814-1886), Prince of Sulmona, armorial bookplate (some of the library sold by auction in Paris in the 1890s). Engraved frontispiece-title-page, engraved illustrations, 39 inserted double-page plates containing engravings and letterpress text (not included in pagination), woodcut initials and tailpieces; Pp. [10], 128, ff. 129-144; pp. 145-285, [3 of which last 2 orig. blanks]. First and sole edition of this rare work on fortification, whose author was Captain General of Artillery to Maximillian Duke of Bavaria and Master of Munitions. Cockle 808; VD17 23:295381P; ITICCURMLE31657. Marini, Bibl. Fortificazione, pp. 64-65."
ROVIDA, CESARE"
"4to (302 x 212 mm.), 2 volumes bound in green morocco with golden roll-borders on covers, and gilt spine, a fine fresh copy with full margins and deckle edges, endleaves in marbled paper, almost in mint condition, in a dedication binding for Maria Luigia duchess of Parma, with proper gold tooling on upper cover of vol. I: "Cesare Rovida a S. M. I. Arciduchessa dAustria Maria Luigia Duchessa di Parma Ec. Ec. Ec. umilmente consacra il primo lavoro dellanno 1817"; a binding much likely executed by Lodigiani of Milan. Pp. [8], 232; [4], 164, [4], with 4 folding engraved plates. First and sole edition of this work, containing 130 algebra problems in vol. I and 80 problems of analytical geometry in vol. II. The author was a Barnabite friar, who taught physics and mathematics in Milan, member of the Patavina Academy in Padova, of the Universities of Brescia and Treviso, and of the Georgofili Academy of Florence. SBN ITICCUMODE18350."
GRASSI, ORAZIO"
"4to (200 x 145 mm.) early vellum à lantique lately rebacked, with fitting manuscript title on spine, generally clean and well-preserved, but with narrow margins (light browning for the quality of the paper, title shaved at bottom margin, with light damage of the privilege note, below the date, small repair in the blank margin of last leaf). Engraved arms of Cardinal Boncompagni on title, and engraved plate at verso of 4th leaf, pp. (4), 201, (3 blanks, being last leaf an original blank). First edition, rare, of this work that forms part of a published debate between Grassi (under the pseudonym of Lothario Sarsio Sigensano), Galileo, Guiducci and Stelluti regarding the comets of 1618. Grassi in fact previously published a pamphlet, the De Tribus Cometis Anni MDCXVIII. disputatio Astronomica, where he asserted that the comets thoroughly discredited the Copernican theory and therefore indirectly attacked the teachings of Galileo, to whom the latter replied (through his former pupil mario Guiducci) with the Discorso delle Comete; Grassi then wrote a most bitter book, the Libra Astronomica Ac Philosophica and Galilei answered with Il Saggiatore in 1623. Grassi was the first to make theology defend the peripatetic physics and attack the Copernican System and its advocate Galileo, thereby compelling him either to ignominious silence or dangerous demonstrations. To answer Grassi and defend the Copernican System was very dangerous, and Galileo hesitated to publish the reply before 1623, when his former friend, Cardinal Barberini, became Pope Urban VIII. In the present work Grassi replies once again pointing out that Galileo is not capable of speaking Latin and doesn't know the good manners; he even asks himself if it was really Galileo who invented the telescope. A second edition of the work was published the following year in Naples. The collation in the Italian OPAC catalogue is wrongly stating p , A-2C4 instead of a (p), A-Z4, Aa4, Bb , Cc4. Carli and Favaro 104; Cinti 80 (first Italian edition); Riccardi I/1, col. 628; see Drake, Stillman & C.D. O'Malley, The Controversy on the comets of 1618 (Philadelphia, 1960). Apparently only 2 copies offered at auction in last 50 years."
CRESCENZI, BARTOLOMEO"
"4to (230 x 169 mm.), 2 parts in one volume, in contemporary vellum, manuscript title on spine (ms. shelfmark at foot), in a modern slipcase (title re-margined at bottom, gutter of Aa1 repaired, Mm4 with long but clean closed tear, light browning, but a good copy. Engraved title, 3 engraved folding plates, one engraved volvelle on p. 201 and another at p. 414, plus a small engraved plate to be cut and mounted as part of a volvelle; 2 woodcut small plates at p. 344/345 to be cut and mounted as volvelles, numerous engraved and woodcut illustrations and diagrams, of which 7 are full-page and many half-page, woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces, with the blank 4B4. (Lacking as always the map of the Mediterranean). Second edition. A comprehensive work on maritime matters, including ship-building, navigation, mapping and warfare. The treatise is based on the observations of the hydrographer Bartolomeo Crescenzi during his many voyages around the Mediterranean with the papal fleet. The work was first printed in 1602 and reissued in the present edition only with the date on the title-page altered as the colophon still retains the date of the 1st edition. Without the portolan map, missing from most copies of the work. Some copies call for 4 plates because one of the volvelles hasn't been cut out and is therefore counted as a plate. Nordenskiöld, Periplus, pp. 68 and 73; Heinrich Winter, 'A later portolan chart at Madrid and late portolan charts in general', Imago Mundi 7 (1950), 37-46."
MORELLI, COSIMO"
"Folio (428x280 mm.), 19th cent. boards, internally a clean copy (some light browning/foxing in places). Large engraved vignette at title, ff. (6 of text, with 3 engravings in the text), and 6 engraved plates (2 printed at recto/verso in the same leaf), of which 3 concerning the theatre in Imola, and one folding, very long (up to 2.80 metres) depicting the plans and sections of 11 Italian theatres, notably in Bologna (arch. Bibiena), Venice, Turin (arch. Alfieri), Naples (arch. Vaccari), the Vitruvius theatre, then Imola, Vicenza (by Palladio), Milan (by Piermarini), the Argentina theatre in Roma (Teodoli), Genova e Fano (by Torelli). An Extra copy with some material added, bound in: 1) 3 engraved plates showing 3 plans of Morellis project for the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, published in 1789. 2) a transcription of a 5-pages letter by Morelli, dated 1809, to a friend, about his project for the theatre of Forli, with a drawing of the plan; 3) a manuscript leaf containing the description of the plan of the theatre in Cesena, with 2 drawings, one full-page (on different paper) and one small. First edition. Morelli (1732-1812) has a successful career mainly thanks to the protection of Pope Pius VI, who appointed him architetto pontificio, but with the arrival of Napoleon and the death of the pope he went in bankruptcy, and died in poverty. The most known buildings executed after his projects are Palazzo Braschi in Rome, in Piazza Navona, and theatres in Imola (then burnt), Forli, Fermo, Macerata and Jesi "Questo ingegnoso architetto studiò grandemente la linea visuale sui teatri, e vi riuscì meglio dognuno. In questopera pone in confronto con altrettante tavole, undici teatri diversi (a Forlì, Macerata, Venezia, Bologna, Torino, Napoli, Milano, Vicenza, Roma, Genova e Fano), e bello ed utile è il fare questa comparazione. In altre 3 tavole produce il proprio teatro." (Cicognara 768). Berlin Kat. 2811; UCBA II, 1410."
MONTE, GUIDOBALDO DEL"
"Folio (305 x 205 mm.), 18ths cent style binding in half vellum with marbled paper on covers, title in gold on label at spine, a clean copy in excellent condition, with some contemporary scattered manuscript marginalia, see i.e. the long manuscript note at p. 101 (a few light marginal foxing). Woodcut diagram on title, woodcut initials, pp. [4], 310, [2], illustrated throughout with numerous diagrams in text (leaf *2 misbound between ff. A4 and B1). - The best renaissance study of perspective - First Edition of this important landmark in the history of perspective science, which provided a definitive analysis of the mathematics of perspectival projection, and established the s.c. vanishing point, discussed at length by Vagnetti, who gives a resume of the text, and Martin Kemp in The science of art (1990), p. 89 ff. "The best renaissance study of perspective" (DSB IX, 488). Berlin Katalog 4703; Cicognara 837; Adams U-8; Riccardi I/2, col.179; Vagnetti EIIb41; Poudra, Histoire de la perspective, Paris, 1864, p. 185, not in Fowler."
LIBURNIO, NICCOLÒ"
"4to (206x142 mm.), solid 18th cent. stiff vellum, with a floral tool in gold, sprinkled edges, a good copy with capital letters supplied by an almost contemporary hand in red and blue, some rubrication in red, two illuminated initials faded with marginal extension with gold dots preserved (the first leaves possibly delicately washed at an early date). Printed in roman type, ff. 6 nn., 100 numb., 2 nn. (last orig. blank present, with a repair to lower corner). First edition, very rare, dedicated to Isabella dEste (1474-1539), Marquess of Mantova and wife of Federico II Gonzaga, one of the most authoritative women of the Renaissance and of the Italian cultural world of her time, a patron of the arts portrayed by Leonardo and Titian - as well as a leader in fashion, whose innovative style of dress was copied by numerous noblewomen. The Selvette, a prose work with poetic interludes by the Venetian scholar Niccolò Liburnio (1474-1557), canon of the Basilica of San Marco, are placed in the context of the classic opposition between the old and the new vernacular literature, in front of which Liburnio, still recognizing the importance of the ancient 'fathers' of the language (Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio) leans towards a decisive affirmation of the authority of the moderns (Antonio Tebaldeo, Iacopo Sannazzaro, Pietro Bembo). Parenti, p. 312; BMC STC It. p. 377; not in Adams; Brunet III, 1068; Graesse IV, 202. Apparently, no copy listed at auction on RBH in last 30 years."
