Zinos Books Archives - Rare Book Insider

Zinos Books

  • Showing all 25 results

Le Premier [second / tiers] livre des Illustrations de Gaule et singularités de Troye. [BOUND WITH] : Le traictie de la difference des scismes & des Co[n]cilles de leglise. [BOUND WITH] : L'Epistre du roy à Hector de Troye. Et aucunes autres oeuvres assez

Le Premier [second / tiers] livre des Illustrations de Gaule et singularités de Troye. [BOUND WITH] : Le traictie de la difference des scismes & des Co[n]cilles de leglise. [BOUND WITH] : L’Epistre du roy à Hector de Troye. Et aucunes autres oeuvres assez

LEMAIRE DE BELGES, JEAN (c. 1473 - c. 1525) 6 works bound in 1 volume, but each work lacking several leaves and with an 18th century handwritten substitution. Included are: Le Premier livre des Illustrations de Gaule et singularités de Troye published in Paris by Enguilbert [de Marneffe] and Pierre Viart in 1523. Printed in Gothic characters, 1 beautiful full-page figure showing the coats of arms of France and Brittany, beautiful typographic mark of Pierre Viart on the back of the last leaf, (6) leaves (of 10), 70 leaves, (8) leaves. Lacking title-page and A4, B3, B4. The second work is the second part of the 'Livres des Illustrations' published in Paris by Geoffroy de Marnef in August 1512. Title adorned with a large wood-engraved heraldic vignette, a full-page figure representing the coats of arms of France and Brittany with the emblems of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany; (4) leaves, 52 leaves. Lacking leaf G2, H5 and H6, with handwritten leaves in substitution. The third work is: 'Le Tiers livre des Illustrations de Gaule' published in Paris by Enguilbert de Marnef and Pierre Viart, in April 1524; (6) leaves (of 8), 57 leaves, (1) leaf bearing the typographic mark of Marnef on the front. Lacking title-page, A8, and D5. The fourth work is: 'Le Traictie de la Difference des scismes' published in Paris by Enguilbert and Jehan de Marnef in August 1519; (35) leaves (of 38), typographic mark of Marnef engraved on the back of the last leaf. Lacking A4, B1, and B4. The fifth work is: 'L'Epistre du roy à Hector de Troye' published probably in Paris in 1513. Title adorned with a large wood-engraved heraldic figure, large wood-engraved figure on the back, (26) leaves (out of 30). Lacking E1, E2, E7 and E8. Finally, the sixth work is entirely handwritten and is entitled: La Légende des Vénitiens, 127 pages. An interesting and attractive collection by the French poet Jean Lemaire de Belges, which though lacking numerous leaves, is of typographical and literary interest. Priced accordingly.
  • $750
Historia del venerable padre Fr. Iuan de la Cruz primer descalzo carmelita.

Historia del venerable padre Fr. Iuan de la Cruz primer descalzo carmelita.

First edition thus of this very rare biography of 16th century Carmelite mystic and poet St. John of the Cross (1542-1591). The author, Jeronimo de San Jose, was himself a member of the Carmelite order in Spain and began work on St. John's life with an initial small publication in 1629 in Madrid bearing the title: "Dibujo del venerable varon F. Joan de la Cruz". That edition numbered only 69 pages and included an engraved plate that was later reproduced in the 1641 edition (although it is missing in our copy). The edition offered here is San Jose's much expanded edition and runs to over one-thousand pages and reproduces several of the saint's epistles, perhaps for the first time. The first biography written of the saint, however, appears to be from the pen of Joseph de Jesus Maria, who published his biography in Brussels in 1628 with the title: "Historia de la vida y virtudes del.Iuan de la Cruz". What is to explain the late appearance of biographies despite the fact that St. John died over thirty years earlier? The controversy that surrounded him during his life and the cloud of suspicion over his works was enough to keep him out of print until the first Alcala edition of his works in 1618. Biographies of the saint were therefore slow in coming, and were apparently published in small quantities, as they all remain extremely rare. I could locate no copies of the 1628, 1629, or 1641 editions mentioned above in U.S. libraries, and only a handful in institutions abroad. Large 8vo (20 x 14cm), [32], 906pp., [112]. Lacking the engraved plate. A bit of scattered light foxing, a few instances of antique marginalia, title-page a bit soiled with faded ownership inscription, fine ex-libris plate on front endpaper. Rebound in 19th century specked calf. A lovely copy.
Vita

Vita, Costumi, e Morte di Michele Calvo, appellato de Castro, Estratta dall’Originale Processo formato nella Regia Curia di Pavia

First edition of this scarce account of the life and death of Michele Calvo (1720-1762) drawn from the trial in which he was condemned to death in Pavia, Italy. Calvo was a student of theology who turned to a life of crime, executed for practicing as a priest using falsified documents as well as theft and multiple escapes from prison. The original extracts from his final court hearing in Pavia (pp 75-76) and a detailed engraving of Calvo in chains, combined with an impassioned introduction in which he is accused of lacking 'even an ounce of contrition in his heart' (p. 16 trans.), render this a riveting story in which nearly every page is indeed filled with 'fraud, sacrilege, and other detestable abominations' (p.3, trans.). The son of a doctor, the Mallorca-born Calvo studied theology and continued his religious training in Peru, which was abruptly terminated by his falling out with the bishop of Cuzco. Unable to obtain a letter of dismissal enabling him to be ordained in another diocese, he forged his own documents. When he was discovered to be conducting Mass and hearing confession as a layman under falsified papers, he fled to Spain and subsequently Italy, continuing to operate in various dioceses for decades and evading arrest under a false name. He was eventually captured and brought to Pavia in a procession accompanied by the city council and executed for heresy, hypocrisy, and theft. 8vo (18.5 x 12cm), 83pp., with large copper-engraved folding frontispiece showing Calvo in chains (32 x 21cm); wormholes to frontispiece with old repairs on verso, minor worming to first three leaves, light foxing throughout. Bound in later vellum. Armorial book-plate of Thomas Gaisford to upper pastedown. Thomas Gaisford (1779-1855) was a renowned Oxford classicist and curator of the Bodleian library. The only other copies that I could find are located at Harvard and Illinois.
Consiliarius Academicus et Scholasticus: Id est

Consiliarius Academicus et Scholasticus: Id est, methodus formandorum studiorum. Continens commonfactiones, consilia, regulas, typos, calendaria, diaria, de ratione bene discendi & ordine studiorum recte instituendo: perpetuis Tabulis adornata.

Among the earliest publications of the "father of the Encyclopedia", Johann Heinrich Alsted had this comprehensive and systematic program of learning all knowledge and science published in Strasbourg at the age of only 22, shortly after he took up a teaching position in Herborg. Situated within the long tradition of scholars who sought to capture everything that can be known into an interconnected system, Alsted is firmly within the intellectual pedigree of the medieval scholar Ramon Llull, whom he greatly admired, and who was the subject of a book a year earlier. Alsted's lifelong fascination with the Llullian method bore fruit in the first work to bear the word "Encyclopedia" on its title, published in 1608, and greatly expanded in 1630. Alsted was also a fervent follower of the educational theorist, Peter Ramus (1515-1572), and incorporated ideas of Ramus in his curriculum program. This work in some ways echoes the systemization of studies of the famous Jesuit educational handbook, the Ratio Studiorum, published in the late 16th century. Alsted's program includes, first, the reasons for study and acquiring knowledge, then divides the various branches of knowledge into many segments and subgroups. He offers not only topics that the student ought to study, but also a schedule (setting aside time for games too!), a proposed calendar, authors of importance, and sometimes even specific editions of books. The curriculum is particularly interesting in that it goes beyond the usual classical authors commonly found in suggested study-guides of the day, to include much more "modern" thinkers and writers. For example, in his Latin curriculum, Alsted includes not only Cicero, but also the great Italian Renaissance writers such as Petrarch, Marsilio Ficino, and Pico della Mirandola. In medicine, Galen is mentioned, but so is the much more contemporary Paracelsus. There is even a reference to Giordano Bruno, the famous Italian cosmologist, who was executed only ten years prior in Rome. Alsted's many-faceted approach to knowledge is a fascinating subject in itself, and his love for mnemonics, symbolism, and a kind of Kircherian desire to capture all science into a system was the running red thread through his life. Diagrams, tables, and other visual aides are used abundantly in the work. There are a few copies of this work in Europe, mostly in Germany; I could locate no copies of the work in the United States. Bound in prior to the Alsted work is the second edition of Camden's Remaines of Britain. Both are bound in contemporary vellum, with new endpapers, a few leaves bound in tightly losing some inner margin. Alsted's work is a bit toned, with occasional antique underlining, etc. 4to (18 x 15cm), 386pp. & 165pp.