VITELLESCHI, Mutio, trans.
JESUIT LETTERS FROM ETHIOPIA AND AFRICA. FIRST EDITION. 8vo. pp. 133, [1], lacking last blank. Roman letter. Woodcut printer s device to title, decorated initials and ornaments. Some yellowing, intermittent small worm holes or trail to lower gutter, touching few words in places. A good copy in contemporary limp vellum, B. Juel-Jensen s bookplate in Ethiopian and early ms casemark I.C.T.h.O.43 to front pastedown. A good copy the scarce first edition of three most interesting accounts of Jesuit missions in Ethiopia, China and Vietnam with the first description in print of Tonkin, two further editions appeared in Milan and Parma the same year. These texts have survived only in their Italian translations (Backer-Sommervogel), made by Mutio Vitelleschi, (1563-1645), Sixth Superior General of the Society of Jesus, and professor of theology and philosophy at the Roman College. Dated Gongorà 1627, Pedro de Almeida s lettera annua discusses the state of the Catholic faith in 1626-7 in Ethiopia, a country ruled by a Christian emperor and the seat of several monasteries. Among the facts recounted are the Abissinians return to their Alexandrine Masses in Ethiopian despite Jesuit preaching; the building of a church in Gorgorà; how Father Fernandez, in Anfràs, translated the Catholic ritual and wrote a manual for confessors in Ethiopian; meetings with Ras Zelachristo (the emperor s brother); rituals of Abissinian monks invoking demons, and many other missionary encounters providing a priceless portrayal of early C17 Ethiopian culture in the main cities and provinces. Dated 1626, the letter of Emmanuel Diaz opens with the three new Chinese missions established that year, proceeding to a section on temporal authority in China (with a mention of the emperor s chief eunuch), and specific accounts concerning Beijing and other cities, including miracles such as the healing of a young Christian girl. Dated 1626, the last account was written by Father Baldinotti, the first missionary to visit Tonkin. It tells of his arrival aboard a Portuguese merchant ship, with the Japanese Jesuit Giulio Piani, so that Baldinotti could act as confessor and witness the state of the faith in that kingdom and whether it was ready to receive God s word . Welcomed by the king, they attended several of his feasts, with elephant tournaments and horse races; the mission was difficult to establish, because of a Moor , a spy, who showed the Christians in a bad light. The king asked Baldinotti to teach his eunuch the things of the sky , i.e., astronomy, because he was known to be a fine mathematician. A fine collection of ground-breaking accounts of early C17 Africa and Asia. Only Boston College copy recorded in the US. USTC 4002143; Cordier I, 318-9; Backer-Sommervogel I, 193:2.
LAING, David. [with] PLAW, John.
ILLUSTRATED COTTAGES, WITH COSTS FIRST EDITION of second. Royal 4to. 3 works in 1. I: pp. vii, [9]-15, [1] + 34 leaves of plates; II: pp. 18, [2, booksellers catalogue] + 42 leaves of plates; III: pp. [4], 13, [1], [4, booksellers advertisement] + 38 leaves of plates. I: 34 aquatints (with tissue guards) of plans and façades of cottages, farm-houses and villas. Occasional minor marginal foxing, small stain to inner blank margin of pl.14, affecting slightly blank portion of pl.15, ms 96 plates in pencil at head of title, ms casemarks in pencil and ink to verso. II: 42 aquatints (with tissue guards) of plans, façades and views of cottages. Plates just toned to blank margins, little spots to outer blank margin of pl.11, 24 and 25. III: 38 aquatints, each with tissue guard, of gates, paddocks, plans, dog kennels, pavilions and rural ornamental buildings. Light age yellowing, a dozen plates marginally foxed, repaired tear to blank of pl.21. Good copies in contemporary mottled half calf over marbled boards, corners worn, spine gilt, gilt-lettered morocco label, joints cracked but firm. Contemporary booksellers or binders ms account to front ep. A charmingly illustrated collection of popular works on country cottage and smaller country house architecture and landscaping, all published c.1800 with a total of 114 elegant aquatints. In the late C18 and early C19 the growing middle class became a ready market for books of picturesque designs for modest cottages and villas suitable for country retreats, resorts and suburbs. Many authors addressed their books directly to potential clients (Archer, p.21). David Laing (17741856), pupil of Soane, famously oversaw the building of the New Customs House in London, which, after only a couple of years, started showing cracks and eventually collapsed. Before this event, which ruined his career, he devoted himself to private houses, Hints of Dwellings being inspired by his practice. Here, he focuses on country cottages, farm-houses and villas, with the odd excursion into town houses, providing illustrations of façades with lawns and plans. He was aware many gentlemen reading his work would wonder about estimates and expenses, which he refused to put on paper (to avoid Error and false Conclusions), adding he would be happy to answer specific private enquiries. In this work, Laing suggested that the character of a dwelling should suit the needs of the inhabitants social situation, e.g., luxury and display in grand villas (Archer, pp.50-1). John Plaw (1745-1820) was active in the 1780s and 90s, as an architect exhibiting his drawings at the Royal Academy of Arts and author of illustrated books focused on rural buildings, with a preference for classical circular designs. He was the first British architect to employ aquatint as a means of book illustration, from 1785, a technique that greatly expanded the available range of tones and textures for illustrating buildings and scenery (Archer, pp.31, 107). Sketches for Country Houses, here in its first edition, is entirely devoted to country houses, villas and rural dwellings, calculated for persons of moderate income, and for comfortable retirement. It also includes designs for cottages which may be constructed of the simplest materials. Plaw listed the cost of building material from bricks to lime, sand, types of timber and labour at the end of his preface. I: BAL 1715; Archer 170.1. II: BAL 2581; Archer 261.1; ESTC t102011; Lowndes III, 1881. III: ESTC N9750; Archer, 259.2. Not in BAL.
LUCIAN. [with] CICERO.
RACY ANNOTATED SCHOOLBOOKS I: fragment, Paris, c.1535-40; II-V: Paris, M. Vascosan, 1536; 1537; 1539; 1536. 4to. 5 works in 1. I: pp.16, textually complete, extracted from larger ed.; II: pp. [8], 3-52, lacking A1 and A8 (text) and 4 of 8 ll. of first gathering (index); III: ff. 60; IV: ff. 26, [2]; V: ff. 24, lacking C1 (text). Greek letter to I, Roman letter with Italic to II-V. Badius Ascensiuss printing press device to 3 titles, decorated initials and ornaments. Extensive annotations in Latin, Greek or French throughout and on eps, in several C16 hands, one dated 1586, numerous early autographs, three ink sketches (two sexually explicit, partly censored). First two gatherings slightly wormed and repaired at gutter, light age yellowing, mainly marginal finger-soiling, scattered ink splash or smudge, clean tears towards lower edge of Gg2 (III), affecting two words on sidenote, light staining to last few ll. In C16 reversed sheep, spine largely exposed, worn, modern bookplate to inner front cover. A terrific early schoolbook comprising very scarce editions, two apparently otherwise lost. Covered with notes and doodles, they include two sexually explicit sketches an extremely rare survival. The sammelband comprises 5 early modern school texts for Greek studies and Latin rhetoric, i.e., Lucians satire on the follies of mankind, part of his most influential dialogues of the dead, and Ciceros paradoxes and orations. This copy was extensively used by several schoolboys in the second half of the C16. The most copious annotator, Jehan Chaudesaigues, was probably nephew to Guillaume Chaudesaigues, doctor of law, sieur de Longeval and Berc, in Auvergne. This book, marked as Ex Bibliotheca Calidana, came from the family library, and was perhaps also used by Guillaume. Jehan jotted down a few lines concerning his familys landed possessions, e.g., Saugues. He noted that his aunt, Marguerite Paulet, died in 1586, and that, in the same year, the local merchant Jehan de Bouges, based in nearby Saint-Flour, was indebted to Guillaume and Monsieur dApchier. He also wrote a lost and found message offering to reward anyone who would bring this book back with bread, cheese of St Thomas and wine of St Martin (i.e., new wine); the same was copied by another annotator, Pierre Fournier. Jehan enjoyed pen trials, playful sentences (le plus beau est un veau), and the copying of standard forms of address for letters, as they were taught to do in school. There is also a list with the quantity and cost of material for his tailor, e.g., silk, fustian, etc. The Ciceronian texts, some with commentary by Melanchthon and Latomus, reflect the typical curriculum of Jesuit middle and higher grammar classes (age 16-18), including Paradoxa, for rhetoric, and Pro lege Manilia, Pro Archia and Pro Marcello for moral philosophy. I: Most probably from a lost 4to edition of Lucians works; none in WorldCat or USTC is an exact match. II: USTC 185665 (lost book); Pettegree & Walsby 61308; Moreau V, 97. Only 3 recorded copies; none in the US. III: USTC 147299; Pettegree & Walsby 61340; Moreau V, 427. Only 2 recorded copies (Oxford); none in the US. IV: USTC 186173; Pettegree & Walsby 61420; Moreau V, 1241. Only 2 recorded copies (Italy); none in the US. V: Not in USTC. No copies recorded in WorldCat. P.F. Grendler, Jesuit Schools and Universities in Europe 1548-1773 (2019).
GIOVIO, Paolo; DOMENICHI, Ludovico.
CHARMING CONTEMPORARY BINDING 8vo. pp.231, [1]. Roman letter, little Italic. Decorated initials. Small tear at outer margin of B8 repaired, small hole at blank foot of last leaf. A very good, clean, wide-margined copy in contemporary Italian goatskin, lacking ties, double blind ruled, outer border gilt ruled to a design of gouges and arabesque, gilt stamped fleurons to corners, central panel with gilt-stamped fleurons, gilt curl tools to corners and gilt blank armorial centrepieces, raised bands, gilt rosettes to spine compartments, all edges gilt and gauffered, scattered tiny worm holes to upper cover, head and foot of spine, corners and upper and edges of lower cover repaired. The charming contemporary binding, produced in a skilled provincial workshop most probably in Tuscany, displays the influence of 1540s-early 1550s Roman bookbinding. The models for the curl tools and the geometrical knot on the inner border are found on bindings produced for the great bibliophiles Giovanni Battista Grimaldi (cf. de Marinis I, 739, 751) and Antonio Filareto (cf. de Marinis I, 857). In the second half of the C16, the pilgrim watermark, on the eps here, appears most frequently in north-western Italy, but also Pisa and Sicily (cf. Briquet). A very good copy of the second edition in Italian of Paolo Giovios famous biography of the Spanish general Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1453-1515), considered the first to make gunpowder weapons an integral part of warfare. Written in Latin c.1525 and published by the historian Giovio (1483-1552) in 1549, it was translated into Italian by Ludovico Domenichi in 1550. Known as El Gran Capitán, Fernández de Córdoba was a key figure in the Conquest of Granada (1481-91) and the Italian Wars (1494-1505). The ambassador of Charles V to Rome, Luis Fernández de Córdoba, duke of Sessa, commissioned Giovio to vindicate the reputation of his father-in-law, Gonzalo, the most brilliant general of the age. After winning the kingdom of Naples from the French, the great captain had been forced into retirement in Spain by the jealousy of Ferdinand of Aragon, who suspected him of wanting the crown of Naples for himself, and the duke of Sessa feared that the great soldiers reputation was being diminished by official annalists and foolish poets (Zimmerman, p.65). The work begins with Domenichini and Giovios dedications to the Captain, proceeding with the faction wars of the house of Córdoba, a detailed account of Gonzalos feats at the siege to reconquer Granada from Muslim dominion, and during the Italian Wars whereby Naples was brought under Spanish rule. Giovios work achieved great popularity, rescuing the reputation of the captain who first integrated the use of gunpowder weapons into the Spanish artillery, with the help of battlefield fortifications. NYPL, Penn and UCLA copies recorded in the US. USTC 833187; EDIT16 21185; Brunet, III, 583; Graesse, III, 490; Gamba, p.424. T. C. Price Zimmerman, Paolo Giovio (1995).
PINDAR.
THE FIRST OLYMPIC ANTHEM EDITIO PRINCEPS. 8vo, pp. (xvi) 373 (iii). Greek letter, woodcut printers device on t-p. Inoffensive browning to first gathering, small marginal hole to last couple of ll., early ms. marginalia in Greek and Latin mainly to first half. A very good copy in early 19th century calf, covers double gilt ruled and bordered with a blind stamp roll of lozenges, inner dentelles richly gilt, rebacked, spine remounted, gilt casemark at foot, a.e.g. Contemporary ms. Greek inscriptions to fly in three different hands: 2-line quotation from an epigram by Politianus (Exhaltation of Sophia), Sapien(tis) Musonii dictum with 3-line quotation from the Roman Stoic philosopher Gaius Musonius Rufus, 1514 mense feb(ruario) and ΦΚ monogram, 4-line quotation from Hesiods Works and days (Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι, vv. 289-292); later ms. ex libris Caroli Scarellae to verso. Contemporary ms. C.A.D. Bartholomei de Paduanis and C.A.D. Gregorii de Paduanis to t-p, brief ms. list of Greek expressions with Latin translation on verso of last, 8-line quotation from the fifth book of Clements of Alexandria Stromata, including 4 verses by the stoic philosopher Cleanthes to verso of rear fep. Bookplate of Ampleforth Abbey Library to front pastedown and stamp to fep. A fascinating copy of the important editio princeps of Pindars victory odes, with contemporary annotations in Greek. This is the basis for most subsequent editions, elegantly printed with a larger Greek type than that usually employed by Aldus. Pindar (c. 518-438 BC), a native of Thebes, was one of the greatest Greek lyric poets. Pindar composed forty-four victory songs to be performed by a choir during the formal celebrations at the four panhellenic athletic festivals. These are here published for the first time, grouped into four books named after the Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean Games held respectively at Olympia, Delphi, Corinth and Nemea. This edition, dedicated by Aldus to his friend and poet Andrea Navagero (1483-1529), also includes the 1dition princeps of Lycophrons poem Alexandra and the second editions of the hymns of Callimachus (first 1494) and of Dionysius geographical treatise De situ Orbis (first 1512). The earliest annotation is the monogram ΦΚ, composed of the two Greek letters F and K, which usually stands for the name Phocas. The cross between the two letters may indicate a connection with a church or a religious order, and it is possible the monogram belonged to a priest. In Venice, St. Phocas was venerated as patron saint of sailors and he is portrayed in a famous 13th century mosaic in the atrium of St. Marks Church. A priest and traveller Giovanni da San Foca, native of the town, is known for having written a journal of his journey from Udine to Venice in 1536. The volume was then owned by Bartholomeus and Gregorius de Paduanis, most likely two members of the De Padovani family of Brescia, a noble family of Venetian origins. Carolus Scarella may be the erudite Italian priest and poet Carlo Scarella, also native of Brescia (1705-1769). The ms. inscriptions on the flyleaves of the volume contain erudite quotations from different authors concerning Christian faith and the achievement of knowledge, wisdom and virtue. Noteworthy are the Greek verses by the Italian humanist Politianus (1454-1494) which read: For the powerful jaws of time devour all other things, but wisdom alone is, for us, withwithout decay. Hesiods famous verses concern the path to virtue, which is long and steep at the beginning, then easy to walk once one reaches its summit The marginalia to Pindars Greek text include erudite explanations of obscure poetic images and clarifications of difficult aspects of language, for example the poets use of Doric dialect. USTC 848778; Renouard 64:9: cette edition, qui est belle et rare; Adams P1218; BM STC It.16th ce
GIBBS, James.
AUTHORS COPY FIRST EDITION of first, FIRST AND ONLY EDITION of second. Large folio. 2 works in 1, separate titles, I: pp. [2], illustrated front., pp. [6], 42 + 64 leaves of plates; II: illustrated front., pp.12 + 21 leaves of plates. I: etched frontispiece with Gibbss portrait 1747 by W. Hogarth (moved from the second work), another 1750 loosely inserted, woodcut title vignette, 64 full-page etchings of columns, sections, windows, ceilings and other decorations, engraved head- and tailpieces. Occasional very minor marginal spotting. II: etched frontispiece with portrait of John Radcliffe by G. Kneller, Radcliffe Camera plan (from Sheltons Oxonia Antiqua Instaurata, 1818) pasted to blank verso of title, etching of the layout for a banquet at the Radcliffe Camera, on 14 June 1814, pasted to rear ep). Fine copies, crisp and clean, on thick paper, in C20 half vellum over marbled boards, gilt-lettered morocco label to spine, contemporary engraved bookplate of James Gibbs, with his portrait (1736), and C19 armorial bookplate of Bibliotheca Radcliviana mounted on front pastedown, booklabel REN 1920. Fine copies of the first editions and the sole published of the second of these two lavishly illustrated works on architectural drawings in general, and the Radcliffe Library at Oxford in particular. The authors own copy, present in his posthumous library inventory, and with his bookplate. He bequeathed all his books to the Radcliffe Library Trustees. Part of the bequest was dispersed in 1894 (Friedman, pp.15, 327-8). The English architect James Gibbs (1682-1754), who trained in Rome, designed major buildings marking the passage from English Baroque to Georgian architecture, with strong Palladian influences, such as St Martin-in-the-Fields, near Trafalgar Square. Rules for Drawing sought to provide a method for the applied use of the classical orders which will be acknowledged by proper judges to be the most exact, as well as the easiest that had yet been published. Indeed, not since Palladios own exposition on the orders had instructions on the drawing and application of the classical languages vocabulary and grammar been presented so clearly and in a system so easy to apply. [ ] The work became a standard reference [ ] for British architects and architectural students into the mid-C20 (Chitham, p.106). According to the traditional structure of manuals for architects, the work begins with the proportions of the five orders of columns (Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite), proceeding to illustrate the drawing of their cornices, pedestals, bases, caps, architraves, imposts, arches and so on, and their applications to gates and doors. The final part also discusses windows and doors, their proportions and ornaments, and also mantlepieces, sundry types of ceilings (e.g., cupola, flat), balconies and balusters. Each plate is succinctly explained in clear language. Here in its first and only edition, published in the year the building was completed, Bibliotheca Radcliviana is a handsome tribute to one of Gibbss most famous creations. Illustrated with 23 copperplates engraved by Fourdrinier, it shows plans, elevations, sections and ornaments of the Radcliffe Library (or Camera), one of the most iconic buildings in Oxford. Gibbs explains he only published his designs towards the end of the construction, because there happened unforeseen accidents, which occasioned a few Alterations to be made in it; so that the following Representation of it is taken from the Building as it now stands. The plates include close-ups of the iron gates, sections showing the inside of the library, a beautiful scene of the interior, complete with books and scholarly readers, and the decorations of floors and ceilings. An early C19 owner of this copy added two engraved elevations to his copy, one taken from Sheltons Oxonia Antiqua Instaurata (1818), the other dated 14 June 1814, advertising a banquet at the Radcliffe.
SOANE, John, Sir.
ILLUSTRATED GEORGIAN ARCHITECTURE FIRST EDITION. Large folio. pp. [8], 11, 16 printed ll. + 47 leaves of plates. 47 etchings of buildings located in Norfork, Suffolk, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Hertfordshire and others. Slightly browning, offsetting to blank versos, texts a little foxed or toned at margins, scattered ink spots to outer blank margin of last few ll. A good copy in 1/4 C20 crushed blue morocco over marbled boards. The first edition of this most interesting collection of designs for country houses designed by Sir John Soane (1753-1837) a master of the Neoclassical style. Soane trained at the Royal Academy of Arts and, in 1778, was granted a travelling scholarship to study in Italy by King George III, to whom this work is dedicated. Among his major designs are those of the former Bank of England, rebuilt in 1833, the Dulwich College Picture Gallery, and his own house in Lincolns Inn Fields, now the Sir John Soane Museum. The learned preface his first published text with a fairly lengthy introduction expressing the authors philosophy of architecture (BAL) was intended to showcase Soanes knowledge of classical and Italian architecture, with quotations from Vitruvius and Alberti. He states, in his designs, he was more anxious to produce utility in the plans than to display expensive architecture in the elevations, with the buildings to unite convenience and comfort in the interior distributions, and simplicity and uniformity in the exterior. Ornaments should be simple, regular in form and clear in outline, serving to emphasise the function and character of a building (Kruft, p.256). The 47 plates are purely architectural drawings, without scenery, and the featured buildings include Shottisham, near Norwich, Malvern Hall, Warwickshire, Chillington, in Staffordshire, Skelton Castle, in Yorkshire, Burn Hall, in Co. Durham, and the Parsonage at Saxlingham. The last plate shows the interior of a building proposed as a museum for the Dilettanti Society, which boasted Joshua Reynolds, David Garrick and Richard Payne Knight among its members. BAL 3098; Archer 319.1; Berlin Kat I (1977) 2341; ESTC t101996; Harris 842; Lowndes III, p.2437. Not in Fowler or Millard. H.-W. Kruft, A History of Architectural Theory (1994).
GANDY, John.
AQUATINTS OF COTTAGES FIRST EDITION. Royal 4to. pp. [2]. [i]-x, 28, [2, booksellers advertisement] + 43 leaves of plates. 43 aquatints of façades and plans, designed by John Gandy and engraved by John Harding or S. Alken. Edges untrimmed and a little dusty, occasionally a trifle frayed, fore-edge of pls 13-14 strengthened. A very good, clean copy in publishers paper boards, lithographed title within typographical border to upper board, paper label to spine, scattered water stains to boards, modern dry-stamped ex-libris to ffep. A very good copy, entirely untrimmed, of the first edition of this attractive work on country cottages, illustrated with 43 charming aquatints. Many depict strikingly modern, even avant-garde buildings. John Gandy ARA (1771-1843) was employed by Sir John Soane to produce watercolours and drawings of his projects; as an architect, he had a short and unsuccessful practice, ending up in debtors prison. However, his illustrated printed works and exhibitions were most popular. Building projects had been curtailed by the Napoleonic wars. But publishing these designs for small structures and cottages Gandy argues that cost efficiency can be accompanied by good design, so that residents may acquire an early habit of contemplating fine forms' and 'natural good taste. [ ] Like James Malton and William Atkinson Gandy valued variety of form. Here he combines simple geometric forms in an irregular manner - decorated only by pilasters and relieving arches (in the style of his teacher Sir John Soane). His circular buildings and groups echo compositions recently published by C.-N. Ledoux (cf. Royal Academy, 03/1745). Each of the 43 plates, illustrating cottages and related architecture such as labourers dwellings or structures to house poultry, is described in detail, including specific room measurements; buildings are portrayed within their natural surroundings. This copy includes a 2pp. booksellers catalogue on books on agriculture and rural affairs. BAL 1171; Archer 84.1. Not in Fowler.
NOSTRADAMUS, Michel de.
Troyes, Pierre Chevillot, not before 1610. 8vo. Two parts in one (foliation and collation continuous) ff. 132; A-O8. Roman letter, some Italic. Woodcut printers device on both titles, (the first with Louis XIIIs arms coloured in blue), woodcut initials and typographical headpieces, Pichot in early hand at head of title, Bidoni de Grivins, in later hand on fly, early shelf mark to f.e.p, some C19 pencil marks and annotations. Light age yellowing, tear to lower outer corner of L1, touching a few letters, blank upper outer corners of last four leaves with early restoration, affecting pagination on last, replaced in early mss. A good copy, crisp and clean, in c.1700 calf, spine gilt with a semé of small tools, rebacked with original spine laid down, corners and edges restored, all edges sprinkled blue. Charming popular edition of the prophecies of Nostradamus printed by Pierre Chevillot, in imitation of the earliest editions, here without date. This edition supposedly derives from a manuscript given by the authors nephew Michael Nostradamus to the editor Vincent Sève, bringing the text up to date from 1597. All other editions of Nostradumus centuries produced by Chevillot at Troyes were published between 1605 and 1629 and the first title bears the arms of Louis XIII who acceded to the throne in 1610. The first part contains the famous dedication to his son and the second to Henry II. The work was originally published in three parts, the first containing 353 verses. The second part was printed in 1557 and added 289 further prophecies; the third and final part of 300 new verses was printed in 1558, posthumously. These rhymed quatrains were grouped into nine sets of 100 and one of 42, called "Centuries". Nostradamus claimed each prediction was based upon his astrological reading of particular events, though it is evident that a great deal is copied from earlier Latin authors such as Livy, Plutarch and other classical historians and many taken from Richard Roussats Livre de lestat et mutations des temps (15491550). The Mirabilis Liber of 1522, which contained a wide range of prophecies by Pseudo-Methodius, the Tiburtine Sibyl, Joachim of Fiore, Savonarola and others was also a well used source. His considerable initial success was based on the fact that he was one of the first to re-paraphrase these prophecies in French. Further material was gleaned from the De honesta disciplina of 1504 by Petrus Crinitus, which included extracts from Michael Pselloss De daemonibus, and the De Mysteriis Aegyptiorum, a book on Chaldean and Assyrian magic by Iamblichus, a fourth-century Neo-Platonist. Most of the quatrains deal with disasters, such as plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions, murders, droughts, and battlesall undated and based on foreshadowings by the Mirabilis Liber. The work was remarkably popular and has been reprinted over two hundred times since its first appearance. Popular modern interpretations of the quatrains have shown them to predict the French Revolution, Napoleon, Hitler, the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and even the death of princess Diana and the events of 9/11. An important contemporary theme was fear of an impending invasion of Europe by Muslim forces, headed by the expected Antichrist, directly reflecting the Ottoman invasions of the Balkans. The work was published within the context of a general fear of an imminent apocalypse. A rare and charming popular edition. USTC No. 7716. Caillet 8068. Chomarat 177. Pettegree, French Vernacular Books, 39675. Not in Cantamessa.
ARGELLATA, Petrus de.
INCUNABULAR MEDICINE AND SURGERY Venice, Bonetus Locatellus, for Octavianus Scotus, 22 Feb. 1497/98. Folio. ff. 131, A-P8 Q-R6, lacking final blank. Gothic letter, double column. Decorated initials. Title, R1 and penultimate leaf strengthened at gutter, title slightly yellowed with ancient offsetting, tiny worm trail to upper blank margin of A5-8 (repaired to A7), couple of upper edges untrimmed, the odd marginal spot or mark, traces of blind impression to blank foot of last. A very good copy in modern vellum over boards, modern bookplate and Libreria Rappaport label to front pastedown, occasional C16 ms annotations. A very good copy of the third edition of this influential work on general surgery - one of the best surgical texts of the first half of the C15 (Luzón). Medical incunables are infrequent on the market. Petrus d Argellata (d.1423) trained with the great surgeon Guy de Chauliac and taught at Bologna. He was an excellent surgeon, specialised in hernia operations, kidney stones, skull and bone fractures (Crespi, Diz. Bib. It. ). First published in 1480, Chirurgia gathers his wide-ranging medical experience. Much reliant on Galen, Hippocrates, Dioscorides and Avicenna, six parts deal with the most common conditions and surgical procedures, with references to useful remedies to heal symptoms like fever or spasms, and to help scarring. Book I discusses swellings such as phlegmons, skin inflammations, blisters, carbuncles, those caused by the plague, scrofula, tumours, wounds to sundry body parts, surgery on nerves or skull fractures. Book II focuses on ailments of the head, including internal and external swellings, eye inflammation and gum ache, conditions of the breasts, the stomach, testicles, anus, varicose veins, gout, and many more. Book III discusses wounds of all kinds, head to foot, some due to specific causes (e.g., dog bite, weapons). Book IV is unexpectedly concerned with ways of preserving, cleaning and adorning one s hair, skin and face (e.g., painting it red, removing wrinkles. though not surgically!). Book V, on conditions of the eye, ear and teeth, as well as hernia and castration, and includes a most interesting account of Argellata s autopsy of Pope Alexander V, who died suddenly in Bologna in 1410. He describes in detail each passage of the operation, and how the body parts were either buried or embalmed. Book VI focuses on purges, vomit, fractures and cauteria . The C16 annotator was an Italian physician, who translated a Latin phrase as dislombato . He glossed a few passages, e.g., on the use of oils to treat wounds, ways of operating on skull fractures, head wounds and ringworm. Goff A953; BMC V 449; GW 2323; Durling 258 (1531 ed.); Osler 7413, 7414. Not in Wellcome or Heirs of Hippocrates. A. Luzón, La Universidad de Barcelona en el siglo XVI (2005).
CRISP, CLEAN AND VIRTUALLY UNPRESSED FIRST EDITION. Folio. ff. [4], LXXX, [2]. Roman letter. Woodcut printers device to title. Blind impressions from printing furniture to few blank margins, minimal age yellowing, two (editorial?) early ms revisions. A fine copy, crisp, clean, largely unpressed, in contemporary limp Italian vellum, lacking ties, couple of tiny leather flaws, early ms shelfmark at foot of spine, Albert A. Howard book label to rear ep. A fine, wide-margined copy, crisp and clean, of the first edition of Paulus Manutius laws of ancient Rome one of 10 legal works printed by his press. Some ll. bear most interesting and rare marginal blind impressions caused by the printing furniture. This is the first of two editions of the same year, the last page having 5 lines (cf. Renouard). In this dense work, Manutius (1512-74) provided a comprehensive examination of ancient Roman laws; it was the first of four works devoted to Roman antiquities, the remainder published posthumously. A painstaking work of scholarship, even more remarkable considering that its author was not a trained jurist, it examines hundreds of laws. Rather than a manual for easy consultation, it went for an overall diachronic narrative, which can be more easily navigated through the detailed table of contents. For instance, the section on adultery, which discusses several laws from different epochs, connects with another on false testimony and the use of false names, a frequent occurrence in cases of adultery. Also interesting is the section on veneficium, i.e., the use of poisons or the sale of medicines which turn out to be poisonous. Major subjects include last wills, marriage, adoption, war and property. However, the discussion of unusual topics like monstrous births, or the cult of fabulous deities and prodigies, made the work useful for scholars of ancient literature and history. A lovely copy. USTC 840468; Renouard 300:5 (fol.80 has 5 lines on verso); Ahmanson-Murphy 525; Adams M473.
LARGE COMPLETE COPY Folio. Separate titles to each part, continuous pagination, ff. [8], CCCLXXXXII. Black letter, double column. Titles within woodcut border with publishers initials, 20 1/3-page woodcuts (some repeated) portraying the pilgrims of the Canterbury Tales, decorated initials. Lightly washed, title slightly dusty, tear without loss at head of fol.56, outer margin of fols 342-345 (touching few words, without loss), lower edge of fol.17 and last three ll. strengthened, gutter of last 3 ll. repaired (supplied?). A very good, large copy in C19 crushed crimson morocco by C. Lewis, triple gilt ruled, spine gilt (sunned), gilt monogram WHM (W.H. Miller) to spine, inner edges gilt ruled, marbled eps, a.e.g. Armorial device of Sir James Ware (1594-1666), preserved from original binding, identified by Rosenbach with confirmatory letter from his company. A large copy of the second collected edition of Chaucers works, with handsome woodcuts of the The Canterbury Tales produced using the original blocks of Caxtons second edition (1483), and the first appearance in print of The Plowmans Tale. Rare on the market and the earliest edn. still found complete, though the present copy apart, not since 1943. With the possible exception of Langland, except Dante, there is no poet of the middle ages of superior faculty and distinction (DNB). Celebrated as the father of English Literature by the likes of Hoccleve and Dryden, he was the most influential writer to use the kind of English language, i.e., middle English, spoken at court, but not yet regularly employed in literature. This makes him the oldest English author still readable today. Chaucer (1340-1400) was employed as a courtier and civil servant, whilst also writing, foundational Middle English verse and a prose treatise on the astrolabe, under the patronage of the Duke of Lancaster. He was the first author to be buried in Poets Corner, at Westminster Abbey, as well as the first English poet to experiment with rhyme royal, and to use a decasyllabic verse much resembling the iambic pentameter which would later become the norm. The reception of his works changed the course of English Literature. Few authors took such productive advantage of Chaucerian permissiveness as William Shakespeare, whose narrative poems defer to Chaucers distinctively English authority with a regularity comparable to his uses of Homer, Ovid, Virgil and Plutarch (Hollifield). The collection opens with The Canterbury Tales. Unlike previous editions, the present includes The Plowmans Tale, which is a text of Wycliffite and anti-monarchical leanings, circulated among the Lollards. Excluded from the Chaucer canon in 1775, it was not universally considered his work. The charming woodcuts were produced by an English artist for Caxtons second edition. In 1542, nearly 60 years after their first appearance, blocks from Caxtons original series were used for the last time in an edition of the Canterbury Tales, in a reprint of the 1532 Thynne edition [ ] (Carlson, pp.26-7, 32-3). The remainder of the volume includes Chaucers translation of Jean de Meun and Guillaume de Lorris allegorical Roman de la Rose; Troylus and Criseyde, a poem elaborating on the Homeric Matter of Troy interpreted through the alleged eye-witness accounts of Dictys, Dares, Caxton and Lydgate, which were major sources for medieval chivalric romance; The Legend of Good Women, on virtuous women in history; his translation of Boethiuss Consolation of Philosophy; his treatise on the astrolabe; the Book of Fame; and numerous shorter poems. A handsome copy. STC (2nd ed.), 5070; ESTC S107200; Lowndes I, p.395. Not in Pforzheimer. D.R. Carlson, Woodcut Illustrations of the Canterbury Tales, 1483-1602, The Library, 19 (1997), pp.25-67; S.A. Hollifield, Shakespeare adapting Chaucer (unpublished PhD thesis, Univ. of Nevada, 2010); T. Prendergast, 30 Great Myths about Chaucer (2020).
Large 4to. ff. (iv + 1 added leaf of errata) 242. Roman letter, little Italic. Woodcut vignette to t-p, decorated initials and headpieces. Light waterstaining to first three gatherings, occasionally to margins throughout, outer margin of t-p dust-soiled and a bit frayed, intermittent mainly marginal foxing, slight browning in places, clean tear with no loss to blank lower margin of fol. 21, small worm trail to blank outer margin of few gatherings, another to text touching a few letters, scattered ink spots, little thumbing, part of one column of text repaired and partially supplied in a contemporary hand to p. 127, slight offsetting to p. 228, clean cuts with no loss along gutter to last leaf. A good copy in contemporary vellum, traces of ties, Períbañez inked to upper cover. Stamp of Rothamsted Research Centre to fep, inquisitorial inscription no ay que expurgar conforme al expurgatorio del anno 1640. Pamp[lona] a 22 de Julio 1642(?). Don Joseph de Aguerre , some early annotation. Very scarce edition of this extremely successful and ground-breaking manual of agriculture in Castilian. Gabriel Alonso de Herrera (1470-1539) was a Franciscan agronomist and brother to the humanist Hernando and the musician Diego Alonso de Herrera. He is most renowned for this Libro de agricultura , first printed in Spain in 1513, which underwent over 20 editions in just a few decades and was translated into Latin, Italian and French. It was a compilation based on a variety of agricultural and medical sources, including Greek (Galen and Hippocrates), Arabic (Avenzoar and Avicenna), and Latin De re rustica authors (Columella, Cato, Varro and Palladius). Following the classical tradition, Herrera presented a holistic view of the agronomist as knowledgeable in the cultivation of crops and trees, techniques for making soil and water suitable for agriculture and horticulture, the forecast of adverse weather conditions, farming and herbal medical remedies. He also injected into this solid tradition new ideas based on contemporary agricultural theories and his own experience concerning the identification of high-quality seed which should be grown separately from the rest to improve the quality of crops, as well as plant reproductive morphology, i.e., he believed that plants could be masculine or feminine. Juan de Valverde s Despertador and Gutiérrez Salinas s Discursos similarly deal with agricultural and horticultural techniques; the first also discusses farming and the use of beasts of burden as well as the remedies to preserve one s estate in times of famine and inclement weather. The printer, Matías Mares, intended this text to be bound with Juan de Valverde s Despertador , Diego Gutiérrez Salinas s Discursos del pan y del vino del Niño Jesús originally printed in Alcalá de Henares in 1600 and here summarised and Gregorio de los Rios s Agricultura de jardines printed in Zaragoza in 1604. This copy contains the 4 ll. of preliminaries (plus an additional leaf of errata) and 242 ll. of text which encompass the (complete) works by Herrera, Valverde and Salinas. The separately printed 6 ll. containing de los Rios s work were not bound in this copy, as Palau, see below. José de Aguirre SJ was an Inquisitor whose expurgatorio dating from the 1640s is recorded in other Spanish books. He authored the pamphlet Profecía de Santa Hildegardis . Only Columbia, WSU and LC copies recorded in the US.Brunet III, 131; Graesse III, 260; Wilkinson, Iberian Books 20625; Palau 114100; Pritzel, Thesaurus Literaturae Botanicae, 4411. Not in Oberlé or Bitting.
FIRST EDITION. Elephant folio. pp. 12 + 27 leaves of plates. 27 full-page etchings of plans, elevations, sections and chimney decorations for country and town houses, pls 5 and 14 hand-coloured. Pl.19 just toned, very faint water stain to inner and outer blank corner of last 4 pls. An excellent copy in half calf over marbled boards, C20 reback and corner repair, original morocco label preserved to spine, boards a bit worn. An excellent copy of the first edition of this large-format collection of designs for country and town houses, with 27 handsome etchings. William Thomas (d.1800) followed the Neoclassical style, which, as he said in the preface to this work, with the bright Sun of Science happily dispelled the Night of Gothic Ignorance. His first published work, Original Designs was issued in three parts between 1781 and 1783, when the letterpress was added for comprehensive publication. His designs have some charm and simplicity, and the book was undoubtedly a good advertisement for his business, which seems to have thrived until his early death (BAL). He employed engravers who worked on the Adams brothers Works in Architecture, and the list of subscribers features major architects of his time, such as James Wyatt. Thomas professed a [ ] respect for creativity. Stipulating that the orders [of architecture] are determined by the fixed Rules of Architecture, and that certain general Rules are necessary for the Perfection of architecture, he also contended that the Art of Designing is scarcely to be reduced to any fixed Precepts (Archer, p.45). The etchings include elevations, plans and decorations for a Noblemans villa, the plan for a banqueting house, a porters lodge, chapel and hunting seat. Pls 5 and 14, generaly hand-coloured, portray very handsome ceiling decoration for a music and eating room, with allegorical figures and rural activities. The picturesque influence surfaces in the design for a grotto, adorned with shell-work and fountains of water. BAL 3307; Archer 331.1; Berlin Kat. 2294; ESTC t101998; Harris 878; Millard II, 84; Weinreb 6:39, 51:75.
ROME FINELY ILLUSTRATED FIRST EDITION. Oblong folio. Engraved t-p with personification of Time and Fame, and caryatids + 50 engraved plates of antiquities and views of Rome and surrounding areas. Slight age browning, fore-edges occasionally a little softened, untrimmed, intermittent light water stain to outer blank margin, 23 pls reinforced at gutter, 12 somewhat browned. A good, large copy in fine contemporary limp vellum, traces of ties, double gilt ruled, gilt large fleurons to outer and inner corners, gilt lozenge-shaped centrepiece, spine gilt, bit creased and soiled, couple of small repairs to lower edges. C19 armorial bookplate de Urcher to front pastedown, C18 armorial bookplate of Baron von Wiesenhutten to ffep. In folding box. Attractively bound copy of the first edition of this series of fine engraved Roman viewsa scarce Prague imprint by a major master-engraver. Its author, the Flemish Aegidius II Sadeler (1570-1629), was court engraver to the Emperor Rudolf II; many of his fine engravings were faithful copies of works by Dürer, Titian, Raphael and Tintoretto. Vestigi stands halfway between a guide to Rome and a series of picturesque views. Mostly engraved by Marco Sadeler, 27 plates are reduced copies of views from Étienne Duperacs successful I vestigi dellantica Roma (1575); 4 more were adapted after drawings by Jan Breughel the Elder, 3 after drawings by Pieter Stevens, and a handful inspired by as yet unidentified sources, probably including drawings by Breughel which have not survived (BAL). The plates are masterful examples of European pittoresco or schilder-achtig, in which the Rome that is functions as background to the Rome that was as views juxtapose the ruined (often overcome by vegetation) and the late medieval. The Italian captions, mostly drawn from Duperac, provide narrative glosses to the scene: on pl. 2, the Capitol looks toward the Foro Romano which is now called campo vaccino where of many ancient buildings once there only a few ruins remain; letters mark the specific buildings under scrutiny, a Doric portico, part of the Temple of Concordia and a temple of very beautiful architecture, the author of which remains unknown due to the very few ruins that are left. Among the portrayed antiquities are the Arch of Septimius Severus, the Temple of Faustina, the Temple of Jove Statore, an architectural work of the rarest to be seen today in Rome, the remains of the Circo Massimo, the Pyramid of Cestius and the Baths of Constantine, as well as broader topographical views like those of the Isola Tiberina seen from the river, the Ponte Gianicolense and the Campi Flegrei. Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi reprinted Sadelers work in Rome in 1660. In the C18, this copy was in the library of the Barons von Wiesenhütten. It belonged to the banker Heinrich Carl Freiherr von Barkhaus (1725-93), called von Wiesenhütten, after 1789, or his son Carl Ludwig (1761-1823). After studying law at Göttingen and Tübingen, Carl Ludwig had an intense political career, at service of Duke Karl I von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, landgrave Ludwig IX. von Hessen-Darmstadt and his son, later Ludwig I Grand Duke of Hesse. Hollstein, Dutch & Flemish, XXI, 151-201; Cicognara 3871; Berlin Cat 1855. Not in BAL (1660 ed.) or Schudt, Guide di Roma.
THE BEST OF LATE GEORGIAN ARCHITECTURAL AQUATINTS FIRST EDITIONS. London, I: W. Bulmer, 1802; II: T. Bensley, 1808. Imperial folio. 2 vols. I: pp. [2], [iii]-iv, [i-ii], [2], 20 + 62 plates; II: pp. [2], 10 + 53 plates. Parallel text in English and French. A total of 115 full-page aquatints of plans and elevations of major British buildings. On extra-thick paper, entirely untrimmed, first title a bit finger-soiled at some margins, second title and couple of letterpress ll. browned or foxed, II: tiny clean tear to lower blank margin of pl.23, just touching plate mark, double-page pl.67-68 slightly browned in part (damp paper). Very good copies in contemporary English half calf over marbled boards, rebacked to match, gilt-lettered labels to spines, corners worn, boards rubbed. Very good, very large copies of the first editions of both volumes of this collection of plans and elevations of great English and Scottish buildings erected since the 1770s with 115 exquisite full-page aquatints. George Richardson (c.1737-c.1813) was a prolific author of works on architectural and interior design. These two vols. were published first in fascicles (10 parts for the first, 5 for the second) and eventually as a whole in 1802 and 1808 respectively. Albeit inspired by Campbell s Vitruvius Britannicus , by then nearly 100 years old, and Woolfe & Gandon s vols IV-V in 1765 and 1771, Richardson decided to depart from this tradition. The New elements [ ] were the houses depicted, the vast majority of which had been designed since the publication of vol.V [ ], and the use of aquatint, a method that had not been available to etchers in Britain before about 1775, and which enjoyed a particular vogue at the time (BAL). Richardson intended this work as a record of the superior taste and elegance in English architecture, and suggested that studying his illustrations would be rewarding to Englishmen and ingenious foreigners alike. [ ] Richardson thus suggested that his contemporaries had finally achieved a standard of architectural excellence worthy of study and imitation (Archer, pp.39, 728). Richardson himself was the main engraver of all the plates, based on designs by a dozen craftsmen, including Robert Adam, James Wyatt and John Soane. The illustrations cover both private residencies and public buildings in England and Scotland, generally in neoclassical style, with few excursions into the Gothic. Among the buildings shown are the coffee rooms and library of the Liverpool Athenaeum, the public assembly rooms in Glasgow, the Brighton Pavilion, Stoke Park House, the Session-House for the County of Middlesex, Longford House, Attingham and Donnington Park. BAL 2757; Abbey, Life, 60; Archer 285.2; Berlin Kat. 2342P; Lowndes III, p.2036; Millard II, 70; Upcott, pp.xxxii-xxxiii.
FIRST COMPLETE NOVEL IN ENGLISH London, Printed for Edward Blounte, 1620?, 1620. FIRST COMPLETE EDITION IN ENGLISH, FIRST EDITION of II. 2 vols. I: pp. [12], 572, [4]; II: [2], [16], 504, lacking final blank. Roman letter, little Italic. Engraved titles with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza on horseback, woodcut vignette to second title, decorated initials and ornaments. Textblock trimmed close at head, occasionally touching typographical ruling, or running title of vol.II, engraved titles and last versos dusty, upper outer corner of P7 (II) torn, affecting two letters, small light water stain to lower outer blank corner of last two ll. (II), the odd minor marginal spot or mark. Very good, fresh and clean copies in modern limp vellum antique by B. Middleton, silk ties, a.e.r., early shelfmark labels preserved at foot of spines, bookplates of Kenneth Rapoport and Michael Curtis Phillips. In folding box. The first complete edition in English, and the first English edition of Part II, of this ground-breaking literary work - the first modern European novel, rarely found complete, as a uniform set. Attributed to Renold Elstrack, the engraved frontispiece, which reprised the title vignette of the first 1618 French edition, was the illustration of Don Quixote and Sancho to appear in print. Don Quixote is one of those universal works which are read by all ages at all times, and there are very few who have not at one time or another felt themselves to be Don Quixote confronting the windmills or Sancho Panza at the inn (PMM 111). The epic novel tells the deeds of the minor aristocrat Alonso Quijano, so keen a reader of medieval chivalric romances that he loses his mind (or pretends to), and becomes absorbed in an imaginary world of knightly adventures. After assuming the name Don Quixote, as a knight-errant, he travels with his witty squire Sancho Panza (a local farmer), facing comic situations he interprets as heroic, including the famous, symbolic and now proverbial fight against windmills. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) led a picaresque life. Having written a handful of plays, he published Part I of Don Quixote in 1605, followed by Part II in 1615. It was first translated from Castilian into English the first translation into any language - by the Irish Catholic Thomas Shelton (fl.1604-20) in 1612, using the text of the 1607 edition, printed in Brussels, where Shelton taught Spanish. The c.1620 Part I is a reprint of Sheltons text. Previously attributed to Shelton and probably based on the 1615 edition, Part II is now considered to be the work of the Hispanist Leonard Digges (1588-1635). Digges was among the authors of dedicatory poems prefacing Shakespeares First Folio, also published by Edward Blount. The English translation of Quixote greatly influenced the language and ideas of English playwrights and poets, including Shakespeare and Jonson. Not merely once but on a variety of occasions the C17 English writers [influenced by Quixote] reflect and actually participate in the sheer fun of the work by playing with the protagonists name. They invent the adjectives Quixoticall (1642), Quixot-like (1664) [ ]; the past participle Don quixoted (1658) [ ]; and the nouns Don Quichoterie (1659), Quixotry (1665) [ ]. In short, both the nature and the contagious fun of the character [ ] were actually adapted, incorporated, and made manifest in fresh English words (Randall, pp.xxxvi-xxxvii). I: STC (2nd ed.), 4917; Pforzheimer, 140; ESTC S107641; PMM 111 (first Spanish ed.). II: STC (2nd ed.), 4917; Pforzheimer, 140; ESTC S107642; PMM 111 (first Spanish ed.). M. Cervantes de Saavedra, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, vol. III (1896); D. Randall, Cervantes in seventeenth-century England (2009).
16mo. pp. 507 [xxi]. a-z8, A-K8, (without K6-8 blank). Roman letter, some Italic. Small woodcut ornament on title, woodcut initials and headpieces, eighteenth century engraved armorial bookplate on pastedown (Le Camus according to pencil note on fly). Light age yellowing, first few leaves strengthened on verso at blank outer margin, small stain in lower margin of quire b, outer margins of last few leaves a little chipped. A very good copy in early calf, covers bordered with a double gilt rule, arms of Charles Le Bascle, Marquis dArgenteuil gilt stamped on covers, spine with gilt ruled raised bands, double gilt ruled in compartments with crowned Dauphin gilt at centres, all edges marbled, joints and headband neatly restored. Rare provincial edition of this romance of chivalry, charmingly bound with the royal emblem of the crowned Dauphin on the spine and the arms of Charles Le Bascle, Marquis dArgenteuil on the covers. Although the dolphin gilt stamp does not itself denote the provenance of the French heir apparent, the crowned dolphin carries a stronger inference of Royal ownership. The work is a continuation of the original Amadis story; Jacques Gohorry made this translation and adaption from the 12th book of Amadis written by Silves de la Selva first published in Spanish at Seville in 1549. The stories of Amadis were immensely popular in C16th France; Pettegree records seven editions for the year 1576 alone of the various books of Amadis. Amadís of Gaul, is a prose romance of chivalry, possibly Portuguese in origin. The first known version of this work, dating from 1508, was written in Spanish by Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo, who claimed to have corrected and emended corrupt originals. Internal evidence suggests that the Amadís had been in circulation since the early 14th century or even the late 13th. In Montalvos version, Amadís was the most handsome, upright, and valiant of knights. The story of his incredible feats of arms, in which he is never defeated, was interwoven with that of his love for Oriana, daughter of Lisuarte, king of England; she was his constant inspiration, and eventually he won her in marriage. Many characters in the Amadís were based on figures from Celtic romance, and the work was, indeed, Arthurian in spirit. It differed, however, from the Arthurian cycle in numerous important respects. There was no particular sense of place or time, only a vague unspecified field for the interplay of idealized human relationships. Whereas earlier romance had reflected a feudal society, the Amadís invested the monarchy with an authority that heralds the advent of absolutism. Amadís himself was more idealized and therefore less human than such earlier heroes as Lancelot and Tristan. He was also far more chaste: French romance had already put a courtly veneer over the disruptive eroticism of the Celtic tales, but, with the Amadís, medieval chivalry achieved complete respectability. The work and its exaltation of new standards of knightly conduct caught the imagination of polite society all over Europe. In France, especially, it became the textbook of chivalresque deportment and epistolary style. Throughout the 16th century, numerous sequels and feeble imitations appeared, the fashion being given its deathblow by parody early in the 17th century in Miguel de Cervantes novel Don Quixote (though Cervantes held the original in high esteem). Enc. Brit. A charming copy with excellent provenance. USTC 23437. Pettegree, French Vernacular Books 1001. Baudrier. I pp. 362-363. Index Aureliensis 104426.
Small folio. 3 vols, separate titles and imprint to each part. I: pp. [14], 1015, [1], lacking first blank; II: pp. [12], 88, [2], 93-170, 75, [1]; III: pp. 155, [1], 159, [5], 66, [2], 292. Roman letter, little Italic. I: frontispiece with engraved author s portrait, added engraved author s portrait (identical except for George Humble s engraved sale advertisement), title (first state) within engraved architectural scene by William Hole with personifications of Tragedy and Comedy, satyr, shepherd and ancient theatres, title of Every Man Out of His Humour within architectural woodcut border, decorated initials and ornaments. C19 autograph J. Sheepshanks Coll. Div. Joan. Cantab. Nup. Soc. to ffep, tiny stamped monogram (EWRM?) and later ms bookseller s code to blank recto of added portrait. Light age yellowing, frontispiece and title strengthened at gutter. II: woodcut printer s device to titles, decorated initials and ornaments. Light age yellowing, light water stain to gutter of first and last gathering, heavier on last leaf. III: decorated initials and ornaments. Contemporary ms pentrials Magnetick Lady to recto and ms note Mary Stuart her Book by the gift of her uncle and godfather Handbury April the 20th 1657 to verso of title, ms table of contents to A2 verso and ms poem On this Magneticke Lady to A4 verso. Few fore-edges untrimmed, first title dusty, scattered ink splashes to first gathering M. Very good copies, I and III in near contemporary English calf, blind ruled, raised bands, a.e.r., minor repair at headband of III, II in contemporary English sheep, blind ruled, flat spine, C18 gilt-lettered morocco label, boards scuffed, upper joint cracked. A very good set of the first collected editions, in 3 vols, of Ben Jonson s works. A bibliographically interesting copy, in C17 binding, with both the 1631 and 1641 imprints of The Divell is an Asse , contemporary female ownership and a contemporary ms copy (and the third recorded witness) of Alexander Gill s satirical poem against Jonson (1633). The 1616 folio [.] is [ ] the culmination of a history of typographical experiment [ ]. [T]he effect is to announce Jonson as an instant classic [ ] whose writings belong in the library (CEWBJ). The present vols comprise his complete works, including some unfinished. Jonson attended the press while the Folio was being printed and introduced many corrections and alterations (Pforz. II, p.573). Vol.I includes his satirical plays, verse and some of the masques he produced for the Stuart court, with Inigo Jones. In addition to the portrait from the plate owned by Peake in 1640, this copy is extra-illustrated with a previous version, published in Nine Modern Worthies (1622) (Ford, p.8). In 1631, a continuation of the 1616 edition was soon aborted, as Jonson was not satisfied with Allot s printing. In 1640, Meighen reissued (as here) the unsold copies of the 3 plays then printed as vol.II, with the original separate titles dated 1631, and a new general title dated 1640. Before his death, Jonson left his ms works to Sir Kenelm Digby, who gave them to the publisher T. Walkley (Pforz. II, p.577). Parts II-IV of vol.II (i.e., vol.III) include more masques, verse and plays, Jonson s Art of Poetrie and English Grammar . It is rare that (as here) parts II-IV [should occur] separately bound without a general title (Pforz. II, p.579); Ford only records two copies, and suggests they were probably produced in order to complete a 1616-31 set (Ford, p.17). Sets comprising both editions of Devill are rare (cf. Pforz., p.578). The present vols have remarkably survived in their 1640s-50s bindings. Vol.III bears a ms acquisition note, dated 1657, stating that the volume was a present to Mary Stuart from her uncle and godfather. Handbury may refer to Hanbury, Worcestershire. The ms poem On this Magneticke Lady , attributed to A. Gill and written in 1633, is only recorded in two mid-C17 ms commonplace books, shorter.
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. pp. [xiv], 110, [ii]: A-H⁸, without first leaf blank but for signature, and final blank. Roman and Italic letter. Title within double ruled border, woodcut initials, typographical ornaments, bookplate of Kenneth Garth Huston on pastedown. Age yellowing, browning to outer margins of first and last few leaves, title a little chipped at blank fore-edge, small worm trail in blank upper margin, just touching a couple letters on a few leaves. A good copy in contemporary sheep, covers bordered with a triple blind rule, rebacked to match, corners restored, a little worn. a.e.r. First edition of this fascinating work of applied Paracelsian medicine by the Scottish physician Christopher Irvine. The text contains 100 aphorisms on natural magic, XII conclusions supporting magical medicine with proofs and explanations; twenty chapters on the method of curing by sympathy; and an appendix with more practical clinical notes based on the teachings of Paracelsus. The book is effectively an early treatise on animal magnetism. The doctrines of Paracelsus and Cardan, which had, at that period, begun to be discredited before the demand for logical proof and practical experience, are here revived, and even extended. Thompson and Partliz relied on the tenets of chemical medicine for practical results. Christopher Irvine did so no less with his emphasis on curing by sympathy. Originally a royalist who had been ejected from Edinburgh University with the defeat of Charles I, Irvine turned to medical practise in Edinburgh. After renouncing his allegiance to the Crown, he became a surgeon to General Monck and after the Restoration continued in that post to the horse guards in London. Irvings only published work was his Medicina magnetica; or The rare and wonderful art of curing by sympathy, published in Edinburgh in 1656 with a dedication to Monck. Here he pictured a cosmos animated with a world soul in which natural things operated through a vital spirit. The seeds of all things contained this spirit and they germinated through fermentation. The universal vital spirit coming down from heaven, pure, clear, and uncontaminate, is the father of the particular vital spirit, which is in every thing: for, it procreates and multiplies in it the body; from whence bodies borrow the power of multiplying themselves he that knoweth how to infuse the propitious Heavens or Sun into things, or into the mixture of things, may perform wonders, and hereupon depends all magick operations. For Irvine this is a key to medicine since the true physician may apply the universal spirit to any particular substance, resulting in a fermentation that may miraculously increase things in vertue, and power to reduce, appease and settle Natures tumults. The desired result of this operation is the prolongation of life. Having established a theoretical basis for true medicine, Irvine next turned to practice. No one should be a slave to Galen, Avicenna, or Paracelsus he states. . Above all Irvine turned to transplantation as a painless cure. For him, Transplantation is, when by means of a Magnetick, we put the Disease into a plant As an example he chose an infant with a high fever. Cucumbers were placed next to him when he is asleep; the cucumbers will wither, and the child be cured. . but this is a magnetic medicine and various magnets might be employed. Of special strength is dried mans flesh, which should be taken from the body of a man that dies a violent death, and yet while it is warm. . The Paracelsian influence continues in an appendix in which he uses the Mumia of Paracelsus for transplantation. Allen G. Debus. Chemistry and Medical Debate: Van Helmont to Boerhaave. ESTC R202607. Wing, I1053. Thomason, E.1578[1]. Krivitsky 6159. Not in Wellcome or Ferguson.
HANDSOME CONTEMPORARY BINDING, CUTS BY DÜRER Small folio. ff. [12], 259, [3], [42], [24]. Black letter, with Roman. Woodcut title vignette and 116 ½-page woodcuts depicting Fools paradise, decorated initials and ornaments. A handful of ll. at end very slightly browned, minor water stain to lower blank margin, the odd little marginal spot or mark. A very good, clean, amazingly crisp, well-margined copy in contemporary English calf over wooden boards, rebacked to style, original spine onlaid, two clasps (repaired), double blind ruled to a panel design, outer border with blind roll of interlacing palmettes, inner border with blind roll of heads within circles alternating with geometrical decorations (Oldham, HM a (6) 775), feps renewed. Early ms casemark and Estelle Dohenys bookplate to front pastedown, contemporary autograph Wyllyam Clerke to title. In folding box by James Brockman. A fine, clean copy, virtually unpressed, in contemporary London binding, of the second English edition, including the Latin text, of this most influential and handsomely illustrated satire on human folly. A German humanist from Strasbourg, Sebastian Brant (1458-1521) completed his studies at Basel. There, he published his major works, the most renowned, Das Narrenschiff, in 1494. The humanist Jakob Locher translated it into Latin as Stultifera navis in 1497. Stultifera navis is a powerful satirical poem. In a ship laden with one hundred fools, steered by fools to the fools paradise of Narragonia, Brant satirizes all the weaknesses, follies and vices of his time. Composed in popular humorous verse and illustrated by a remarkable series of woodcutsof which 75 are now attributed to the young Dürerthe book was an immediate success (PMM 37). The nautical theme was probably strengthened under the influence of contemporary debates on voyages of exploration and the vanity of seeking knowledge of Gods creation. Most famous is the chapter on the inquisition of geographical regions, or the foolishness of those who want to measure the earth, illustrated by a fools-capped figure holding a compass. It also mentions Columbuss discoveries. The work opens with the Fool-Book Collector a most amusing satire of bibliophiles and unprofitable books. In Barclays translation, this bespeckled Fool is busy, books assembling, / For to have plentie it is a pleasant thing. Albeit he does not read or study them, yet he has them in great reverence, keeps them safe from filth and ordure / By often brushing and much diligence, and likes to have them bound in pleasaunt coverture, / Of Damas [damask], Sattin or els of Velvet pure. The English translation, first made for Pynsons 1509 edition, is by the Scottish poet and clergyman Alexander Barclay (1476-1552). The English Ship of Fools exercised an important direct influence upon our literature, [ ] helping to bury medieval allegory in the grave [ ], and to direct English authorship into the drama, essay, and novel of character (DNB). This second edition [ ] contains the cuts from the previous English edition of 1509; all but 7 derive from those in the first edition of the Narrenschiff (Basel, 1494). [ ] Added in the English editions are cuts 68, 76, 86, 101-104 (Luborsky & Ingram 3546). At the end are appended Barclays translation of Mancins The Mirrour of Good Manners, a poem on the cardinal virtues, and Barclays own English eclogues. The early owner, William Clerke (fl.1590s), may be the author of The Triall of Bastardie (1594) and Polimanteia (1595), one of the earliest known works mentioning Shakespeares name. Estelle Doheny (1875-1958) was a collector and philanthropist, wife of the oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny - a most discerning bibliophile. ESTC S107135; STC (2nd ed.), 3546; Pforzheimer, 41; Luborsky & Ingram, 3546. H. Morley, English Writers (1891).
8vo. 3 vols in one, separate t-p to each. 1) pp. 48; A-C8. 2) pp. [xvi] 44 [iv]; π8, A-C8, without first and last blank, one leaf in preface bound out of order. 3) pp. 58 [ii]; ã8,é8,í8,ó6. Roman letter, some Italic and Greek. Woodcut printers devices on each title, woodcut initials and grotesque headpieces, typographical ornaments. Light age yellowing, first title washed. Very good copies, crisp and clean in handsome C19th polished calf by the Petit succ. de Simier, covers bordered with a double gilt rule, spine with raised bands richly gilt in compartments, edges double gilt ruled, inner dentelles richly gilt, combed marbled end papers, a.e.g. Three extremely rare editions of the principal works of the doctor Raymond de Massac and his son Charles, a poet, who helped versify his work. Massac was a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences at Toulouse and was also a member of the Faculty of medicine at Orléans. The first work is Massacs detailed description of the properties of the waters of the fountains of Pougues in Latin, and the second the same, translated into alexandrine verse by his son Charles. Jean Pidoux, doctor to Louis de Gonzague, Duke of Nevers, was the first to write about the curative virtues of the waters of Pougues, 1584. Having become physician to the King, Pidoux advised Henri III, who suffered from renal colic to come and take the waters of Pougues. Henri III felt so well after his cure that he returned, accompanied by his mother, Catherine de Médicis, who also suffered from kidney pain. Massacs work is also dedicated to the wife of the Duke of Nevers. It discusses the relative properties of two fountains close to each other, one called Saint Léger, the other Saint Marcel in great depth. Henri IV had just also visited the fountains in 1603, to deal with his kidney problems, and a year later his gout, and Massac deals the properties of the water in helping both conditions. Charles and Raymond de Massac published the first part of their translation of the Metamorphoses in alexandrines in 1603, only completed in 1617 and would not be further printed. The third book here is the continuation, the translation of the 13th book. Their translation conforms to the protocol followed by the previous translators into French, Habert and Clement Marot in the use of verse, the absence of illustrations and allegorical comments; parsimonious use of subtitles and glosses in the margins. This choice could have been determined by the wish of the Massacs to register their translation, dedicated to Henri IV (in the first edition), in the continuity of those proposed in the past to the kings of France: (Marot (François Ier) and Habert (Henri II). However their timing was unfortunate in that Renouard published a prose translation at the same period, (1606) much altering the text, which was profusely illustrated with lots of commentary that proved hugely popular, and consigned the Massacs translation to oblivion. From the extensive library of rare medical works of Dr. Maurice-Villaret. USTC 6017223. USTC 6017141. USTC 6018350. (i) Wisconsin copy of second part only in US (ii) Harvard and possibly Yale in US (date not specified)
EXTENSIVE EARLY ANNOTATIONS Parma, Angelus Ugoletus, 16 Sept. 1494. FIRST EDITION. Folio. ff. [18], CCVI. Roman letter. Woodcut printers device to last. First recto (blank) dusty, lower outer blank corner of 10 early ll. repaired, occasional mainly marginal soiling or slight foxing, few scattered small ink splashes to gg5-6, intermittent light water stain to outer blank margin. A good copy in C17 vellum, rebacked, eps renewed, C18 library ink stamps of Lucchetti Cigarini and another with stamped device at foot of first 2 and last leaf, C18 autograph Lucchetti Cigarini da Mamiano to first and last ll., extensive early C17 ms marginalia throughout. Extensively annotated and carefully consulted copy of the first edition of the collected civic statutes of Parma. An official printed note on the first leaf states that the statutes were edited, clarified and integrated by a large body of jurists, whose names are listed. The text was then revised by the civic Council and approved by Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, before reaching the press. The work gathers all the medieval statutes, based on the civic laws approved over a century earlier by Filippo Maria Visconti (1392-1447), Duke of Milan. It encompasses all aspects of life, from imperial privileges granted to the city to the election, ceremonies and functions of its officers (e.g., podestà, ambassadors, trumpet players, treasurers, notaries, customs and salt officers, judges), regulations on the building and keeping of public buildings, the relationship between the city and the bishop, civic feasts, and regulations pertaining to people in prison, prostitutes, grammar schools and the university, guilds and arts, inheritance, succession, peasants, merchants and the trade, sodomy, forgery of coins and seals, apothecaries, butchers (with numerous regulations on the choice and preparation of meat), tailors, and much more. The early annotator was most likely a jurist from Parma. On the flyleaves, he noted references to statutes dating to 1562 and 1574, concerning alienation and transfer of property, with extensive cross-references. He added a note stating that the Statuta Parmae were written by Paolo de Castro, according to an ancient manuscript preserved in the city archive. The copious marginal glosses also include extensive cross-references (the latest to a statute dated 1610), but which do not appear to be following any particular source. These glosses which form a personal reference work were intended as updates to the original statutes, often beginning with adde (let it be added that) or vide (see). They focus on civil law trials, debts, bequests, etc., also with regards to non-citizens. The authorities most frequently cited are C15 and C16 jurists, i.e., the Florentine Giovanni Battista Asini (d.1585) and Giovanni Battista Caccialupi (d.1496). There is also a reference to a law passed by Paul III in 1535, concerning priests in Parma and the transfer of property, and to Milanese law. A handful of pages on daughters, dowry and inheritance, especially if a husband kills his wife, are so densely annotated that the annotator may have been involved in such a case. Other annotated sections include murder, theft, lawyers who forge documents (with glosses integrating regulations concerning false witnesses), blasphemy, and prostitutes (with a gloss on married ones). The same annotator appears to have returned several times to his commentary in the course of the years, adding to previous cross-references. The latest is dated 1627; one clarifies a section on the marking of day and night by the sound of the bell by adding that, in this year 1619, an execution was revoked and annulled because the person had been captured after the last chime. In the C18, this copy was still in Parma, in the house of Giacomo Lucchetti Cigarini of Mamiano. A unique, scholarly valuable copy a C17 lawyers practical reference work. Goff S721; BMC VII 946; GW M4373910; ISTC is00721000.
FINE ENGLISH ALCHEMICAL MS Folio, 310 x 260mm. ff. [2], bifolium. Secretary hand in black-brown ink, approx. 39 lines per full-page. Watermark: Strasbourg bend surmounted by crown. Untrimmed, slight age yellowing, traces of stitching holes at gutter. An excellent copy, stitched but unbound, contemporary ms note to upper blank margin of p.1. In modern folding box. A very fine, most interesting English alchemical ms, comprising 30 short observations which dont appear to correspond to any published text on the nature and making of the Philosophers Stone, engaging with Paracelsian, Hermetic, mystical and anti-alchemical theories. Alchemical English mss are infrequent on the market. The anonymous C17 author lived through the golden age of English alchemy, fostered by figures like Edward Kelley (d.1597/8), John Dee (d.1609) and Simon Forman (d.1611), which extended into the first half of the C17. Whilst introducing major continental theories, Kelley and Dee rekindled the English alchemical tradition going back to the medieval period, with George Ripley and Thomas Norton. By 1600, dozens of alchemical texts, in Latin and English, could be found in England. Scores more circulated in manuscript, passing from person to person, their contents shifting as they were copied, tested and corrected. [ ] alchemical texts by definition resisted the ideals of disclosure (Kassell, p.62). The Paracelsian mood of our alchemists theories, and a Latin quotation possibly from Sendivogiuss treatise on the Philosophers Stone (first ed. 1604), suggest a terminus post quem c.1600. The closest match to the Strasbourg bend watermark on this ms is Heawood 140, used in Rochester c.1625. This carefully written ms was most likely produced for circulation within a closed alchemical circle or for personal study. A direct source could not be traced. The 30 observations are imbued with alchemical ideas current in England c.1600, whilst offering fresh insight. The composition of alchemical texts as collections of statements or aphorisms, or in the form of questions and answers, was not uncommon, e.g., Ripleys work on the Philosophers Stone and treatises in Bod., MS. Rawlinson D. 1046 and MS. Ashmole 1459. Very similar statements on the errors of philosopher-alchemists, as well as the use of alchemical riddles to conceal procedures, can be found in Pontanuss Epistle on the Philosophers Stone, or the Mineral Fire, first printed in Latin in 1600. Our anonymous alchemist believed in a spiritual alchemy, the true outcome of which was the Philosophers Stone - a mythical substance capable of turning all metal into gold. He calls alchemists who allude principally to the metalline nature of the Philosophers Stone are covetous fools, that seek this Art more for gain, then true knowledge to serve God. The idea of knowledge by revelation granted to the worthy few was present in the work of Calvinist and Puritan alchemists (Schuler, p.294), especially in the C17 (e.g., A mystical treatise of occult Philosophy in Bod., MS. Ashmole 1392). Our alchemist keeps philosophers and chymists very separate. Our alchemist debunks the choreographic aspects of alchemy, as diverse false apparitions and colours coming from the continual igniating of Metalline amalgams are but accidental proceedings from their mispurities. He also criticises the calculation of times and seasons as not guided by the upper but lower Astronomy - a field in which Copernicus and his disciples have sowed soe many errors [.] through mistaking of Revolutions. A most interesting ms. L. Kassell, Secrets Revealed, His. Sci., 49 (2011); William R. Newman, Atoms and Alchemy (2006); R.M. Schuler, Some Spiritual Alchemies of Seventeenth-Century England, Journal of the History of Ideas, 41 (1980), pp. 293-318; R.M. Schuler, Alchemical Poetry, 1575-1700 (2012); The Alchemical Writings of Edward Kelly (1893); J. Rampling, The Experimental Fire (2020).
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