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Early Printed Books
Athenaeus; Isaac Casaubon; Jacques Dalechamps. [Deipnosophistae, Greek
and Latin.] Athenaiou Deipnosophiston biblia pentekaideka. Athenæi Deipnosophistarvm
libri qvindecim. Bound with,
Isaaci Casauboni animadversionum in Athenaei
Dipnosophistas. Lyon: J. A. Huguetan & M. A. Ravaud, 1657,
1664. $1,400

Folio (36cm); two volumes in one; I: [48], 812, [48] pages; II: [8] pages, 998
columns (i.e., 499 pages), [39] pages (without last blank leaf). Title pages printed in
red and black. Engraved and woodcut title page vignettes. Woodcut initials and ornaments.
Greek text and Latin translation in parallel columns. Bound in speckled calf, ruled in
blind, with blind-tooled turn-ins. Leather label on spine hand-tooled in gilt with floral
border. Worn, joints cracked but holding, spine worn at crown and tail with some loss,
lower board scuffed with some leather lost at corner. Annotations in early hand on blanks.
Light scattered foxing at first and last leaves. One bifolium loose (apparently left
unsewn in manufacture).
References: Hoffmann I, 396 & 398; Schweiger, Greek, 70;
Simon, Bibl. Gastronomica, 145.
This compendious, encyclopedic work by the Greek-speaking Egyptian Athenaeus (fl. 200)
portrays a Roman dinner party attended by the brightest, deepest and most learned thinkers
of the early Third Century. The banquet lasts several days in order to allow conversation
to take its course. Topics range lightly over law, medicine and literature, but the real
subject at hand is food in all its aspects. In a sense, it is the oldest extant text on
cooking. The Deipnosophistae ("Scholars at Dinner") is an important source of
information on the gastronomic customs of the ancient world. It also quotes fragments of
ancient literature which have otherwise been lost. The eminent Huguenot humanist Isaac
Casaubon (1559-1614) established the definitive text of Deipnosophistae in 1597, when it
was first printed alongside the Latin translation of Jacques Dalechamps. Casaubon's
commentary on the work appeared several years later, and was frequently bound together
with the bilingual text. The copy offered here is the third and last edition of Casaubon's
text and commentary before it was absorbed into Johann Schweighauser's edition of 1801.
Bible. [Guéroult, Guillaume].
Figures de la Bible, illustrees de
huictains francoys pour l'interpretation et intelligence d'icelles. Lyon:
Guillaume Rouillé, 1564. $3,000

First edition. 8vo (17cm); 147 (of 148) leaves,
lacks final blank leaf. Woodcut printers device, and 269 woodcut vignettes
of Old Testament subjects by Pierre Eskrich, of which 18 are full-page cuts.
Bound in unremarkable 19th-century marbled paper over boards. Two
centimeters of title page excised at bottom edge, not affecting text. Pages
lightly toned with occasional blemishes or stains; light dampmark pervades
upper margin.
References: Baudrier, 9, 296 ("Les exemplaires de ce premier tirage sont beaucoup plus
rares que celui du second"); Mortimer, French, 92 ("this edition is
extremely rare"); Brunet, II 1255; Gültlingen 10, 147, #594.
Extremely rare first edition of the bible illustrations by Pierre Eskrich,
with verses by Guillaume Guéroult. A second edition
appeared in 1565, identical except for the year on the title page; the
companion New Testament appeared in 1570. Merging the separate traditions of
the "Biblia Pauperum" (bibles in pictures for unlettered readers) and the
emblem book (wisdom conveyed in pictures with explanatory verses), this
volume presents the Hebrew Bible in a series of woodcuts, glossed in French
octaves. The full-page images are copied out of Estienne's 1540 illustrated
Bible (Schreiber, 59), and the smaller cuts were designed for Rouillé's 1562
Bible, and here employed in more popular form, as emblems. Guéroult's name
heads the dedication to Catherine de Médicis.
Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313-1375).
Genealogiae
Deorum Libri XV. Vicenza: Simon De Gabis Bevilaqua (Colophon: per Symonem de
gabis Papiesem), 20 December 1487. $15,000

Folio (32 cm); [8], 200 leaves. Roman type 1, 53 lines per page.
7-line initial spaces with guide letters (initials occasionally supplied in pen by
contemporary or later reader). Text in 2 columns. Bound in 18th-century (?) 1/2 mottled
calf over patterned paper boards. Spine with raised bands, gilt tooling and gilt title
label. Titled in ink on fore edge. Occasional notation in early hand; occasional spots and
occasional light foxing. Few leaves browned in latter part of text. Free endleaves consist
of original manuscript on vellum, 9th or 10th century, in a remarkably clear and readable
Carolingian miniscule hand. The text on the endleaves is from the Homilies of Bishop Haymo
of Halberstadt (d. 853).
References: HC 3316; GW 4476; Goff B-752.
First book printed by Simon Bevilaqua, and the only book in which he
allowed his family name, De Gabis, to appear. Simone Gabi (1450-1518) deliberately kept
his origins in shadow. We know nothing of him before the publication of this edition of
Boccaccio's Genealogiae deorum. In all subsequent work (in Vicenza, Venice, Torino, and
ultimately Lyon) he signed his name "Bevilaqua," a nickname he wore ironically
because of the copious amounts of wine he consumed. In addition to Boccaccio's
encyclopedia of classical mythology, the text also includes his gazetteer of classical
geography, "De Montibus, Sylvis, Fontibus, Lacubus, Fluminibus, Stagnis, seu
Paludibus, De Nominibus Maris."
Bochart, Samuel (1599-1667).
Hierozoicon, sive
Bipertitum opus de animalibus sacrae scripturae. London: Thomas Roycroft,
1663. $2,000

First edition. Two volumes in one;
folio (40cm); [96] pages, 1094 columns, [137] pages, 888 columns, [112]
pages, and engraved portrait. Woodcut initials and ornaments. Title page
printed in red and black. Text in Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, and
other Semitic languages. Bound in contemporary vellum, embossed iwth
"oriental" losenge and with the gilt stamp of the Society of
Writers to the Signet on both boards. Occasional light foxing; lower joint beginning to
crack, with some vellum flaked away. Vellum scuffed and discolored.
Early ownership inscription on title page.
References: Wing B3386; Wood 245; Osleriana 2062
(later ed.).
In an age distinguished by great intellectuals,
Samuel Bochart stood out as one of the most learned. A master of Middle
Eastern languages, he was invited to Stockholm by Queen Christina (in
1652) to study the important collection of Arabic scientific manuscripts
there. The Queen gave Bochart an Arabic manuscript on animals as a gift
upon his departure. That gift apparently engendered the Hierozoicon, an
encyclopedic work on the zoology of the ancient Middle East, as recorded
in the Bible. Bochart considers each animal mentioned in scripture and
explores its treatment by ancient Greek, Roman, Arabic, and Hebrew
naturalists. Some of the Arabic sources, liberally quoted and
translated, appear in print here for the first time.
Casaubon, Isaac (1559-1614). De
satyrica Graecorum poesi et Romanorum satira libri duo. In quibus etiam
poetae recensentur, qui in utraque poesi floruerunt. [In appendix:]
Euripides; Florent Chrestien (1541 - 1596). Cyclops
Euripidae latinitate donata. Paris: Ambroise & Jérôme Drouart, 1605.
$1,600

First edition. Octavo (18cm); two parts in one
volume: [16] 356 [4] (last two pages blank); 38 [2 blank] pages. Roman,
italic and Greek types. Engraved illustration in text of Bacchus and
Silenus among satyrs. Woodcut initials, woodcut and typographic
ornaments. Bound in contemporary (?) vellum with yapp fore-edges. Early
owner's inscription on title page (Henrik ter Borch); presentation
inscription dated at Cambridge, 13 March 1930, on front free endpaper
from "HFS" to Gilbert S. Inglefield, (later Lord Mayor of London).
Engraved advertisement on front pastedown for Ward & Chandler,
Booksellers, circa 1740. Some dampstaining, particularly at the end of
the volume. A small red stain on the lower board.
References: Brunet I 1613-1614; Hoffmann II, 84;
Tchermerzine III, 398 (Florent).
Casaubon's innovative work on classical satire,
demonstrating that Greek satyr plays and Roman satire were two entirely
distinct literary genres (thereby ending a confusion that had prevailed
since the 4th century). The first specialized monograph on satire, the
work grew out of Casaubon's commentary on Persius published earlier the
same year. In appendix to De Satyrica, Casaubon published a translation
by Florent Chrestien of Euripides's satyr play Cyclops, the only
preserved specimen of the Greek satyric genre. Chrestien was a student
of Henri Estienne and librarian to Henry IV. Online scans of the Yale
copy of De Satyrica failed to include the Euripides.
Catullus; Sextus Propertius; Maximianus; Tibullus.
Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Cor. Galli fragmenta
... Antwerp: Christoher Plantin, 1560;
[bound with] Boethius. ...Boethii De consolatione
philosophiae... Antwerp: Christopher Plantin, 1580. $950

Two titles in one binding, the Boethius preceding the
Elegiac poets. 16mo (12 cm); 190 (of 192) pages, [2] 144 leaves. Lacks
final blank leaf of Boethius. Title of elegies within elaborate woodcut
vine scroll border, with printer's "constantia et labore" vignette;
Boethius with printer's compass device on title page. Woodcut initials.
Bound in contemporary calf, ruled and tooled in gilt, old shelfmark
inked on spine. Title pages somewhat foxed; text generally clean
although lightly toned. Small foramen in S1; T1 starting. Contemporary
notes on blank verso of final leaf. References: Adams C-1148; Brunet
I,1679; Voet, Plantin, 933 (elegies); Voet 738 (Boethius).
The collection of elegiac poets was the first title
to appear in Plantin's series of pocket editions of classical authors.
The elegies attributed to Gallus are in fact by Maximianus, and "Lydia
bella puella candida," here attributed to Gallus, is an anonymous
medieval poem. The Boethius, edited by Theodor Poelmann, was first
published in 1562.
Technopaegnia
Crespin, Jean (d. 1572), ed.; Hesiod; Theocritus; Simmias of
Rhodes; Moschus; Bion, and others. Τα σωζομενα των
παλαιοτατων ποιητων Γεωργικα, Βουκολικα, και γνωμικα; Vetustissimorum authorum
georgica, bucolica, et gnomica poemata quae supersunt ... [Geneva]: Jean Crespin, 1569-70.
$1,750

16mo (12cm); four parts in one volume, [32], 159; [8],
280; 47; 267, [5] pages. Greek and Latin on facing pages. Four title pages
with ornamental woodcut borders. Woodcut initials and ornaments. Bound in
contemporary vellum titled in ink on spine. Small tear at lower joint near
crown. Well-read copy in good condition, with some faint dampstains; few
signatures starting to spring, few discrete repairs. Early ownership
inscription on title, canceled in ink.
References: Adams P-1688; Brunet V,
1164-1165 ("On trouve rarement des exemplaires de ce recueil bien conservés").
Perhaps to siphon the market from Henri Estienne's magnificent
Poetae Graeci
(1566), rival printer Jean Crespin issued this pocket volume of poets
represented in Estienne's folio. Crespin amplified the text with an
apparatus of humanist and older medieval commentary, and he innovatively
classified the contents into generic types: georgics (Hesiod); bucolics
(Theocritus, Bion, Moschus, Simmias, and bizarre translations into Greek of
the 4th-century Latin pastoral poet, Ausonius); and wisdom poetry
(Pythagoras, Solon, Callimachus, Theognis, Phocylides, etc). The text
includes several pattern poems (The Egg, The Axe, Wings, Syrinx) in which
the type is disposed on the page in the shape of the object described. Not
only is the
Egg, by Simmias of Rhodes, typographically ovoid on the page, but it requires the
reader to peel the egg, reading the first line, then the last, then the
second, then the second to last, and so on to the poem's yolk in the
center of the page.
Humanism in Poland and Lithuania

Demetrius of Phaleron; Stanislaus Ilovius; Dionysius of
Halicarnassus.
Demetrii Phalerei de elocutione liber à Stanislao Ilovio
Polono latinitate donatus, & annotationibus illustratus. Item, Dionysii
Halicarnassei quaedam opuscula, eodem interprete: quae uersa pagina
recensentur. Basel: Joannes Oporinus, 1557. $700
8vo
(17cm); 262 pages. Text in Greek and Latin. 12 woodcut initials, many with
animal figures. Bound in contemporary limp vellum, soiled but sound and
entire. Light waterstaining on top margins and gutters throughout. Old
repair at top edge of title page. Small hole in lower margin of one leaf
without loss of text. Notations in ink on title and front pastedown;
occasional marginalia. Private blind stamp in margin of title.
Reference:
Adams D-252.
First Ilowski edition.
The Polish humanist Stanislaus Ilowski (d. 1589) edited and translated this
treatise on rhetoric by Aristotle's student, Demetrius of Phaleron (ca.
350-280 BC). Ilowski dedicates the work to Mikolai "the Black" Radziwill
(1515-1565), the Lithuanian duke who established humanist and Renaissance
trends in Vilnius. The text also reprints Ilowski's versions
historiographical writings of Dionysius Halicarnassus, first published 1546
by the Estienne press in Paris.
Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius.
De bello
Troiano et ... De excidio Troiae. [Paris]: Robert Stephanus (i.e., Estienne), 1618.
$250
14cm; [4], 207, [1] pages. Bound in contemporary vellum over pasteboard, worn
and soiled, with slight loss at crown and along top edges; yet binding is strong and
flexible. Scattered stains in text, with a pervasive light dampstain in the upper right
quadrant. Several owners' inscriptions, and old bookplate. In all, a shelf-worn copy but
sound and entire.
The late-antique and medieval world assigned Dictys of Crete and Dares of Phrygia the
coveted roles of eyewitness chroniclers of the Trojan War. Dictys was reckoned companion
at arms to Idomeneus, and Dares was the priest of Hephaestus who advised Hector not to
kill Patroclus. Their supposed war journals became the chief source for medieval writers
on the Troy cycle.
Ennius, Quintus; Girolamo
Colonna, ed. Q. Ennii poetae vetustissimi quae
supersunt fragmenta. Naples: Orazio Salviani,
1590. $2,800
First separate edition. Quarto (23 cm); [8] xvi 505 [44] pages,
including errata. Woodcut device on title page, woodcut initials and
tailpieces. Bound in old limp vellum, reamins of old ties on lower flap.
Spine darkened, scattered foxing. Reference: Adams E-184; Brunet II, 986
("Première édition, assez rare.")
First Colonna edition and first separate printing of the surviving writings
of Ennius, whom Romans considered the first great Latin epic poet, and the
forerunner of Virgil and Lucretius. Some of the contents had appeared in the
anthology edited by the Robert and Henri Estienne in 1564, Fragmenta
poetarum veterum Latinorum (see below). Homer appeared to Ennius in a dream
revealing he was his
reincarnation. Ennius wrote his own epitaph: "Don't bestow tears on me or
attend my funeral with weeping. Why? I fly, still living, through
people's mouths."
Estienne, Robert (1503-1559),
and Henri Estienne II (1531-1598), eds.
Fragmenta poetarum veterum latinorum.
[Geneva]: Henri Estienne, 1564. $1,600

First edition. Octavo (18 cm); 432
(numbered 433) pages. Printer's olive tree device (Schreiber # 9) on title
page. Bound in 18th-century polished calf, gilt ruled and tooled in gilt on
spine. Gilt turn-ins, marbled endleaves. Silk signet. Spine ends a bit
chipped, joints cracked but firm. Very minor blemishes. Early owner's
inscription on title page. References: Adams P-1705; Schreiber 152 ("This
first edition was not adequately supplanted until the 19th century, and is
consequently quite rare") .
First appearance in print of several early Latin authors, including Ennius,
Lucilius, Caecilius, Naevius, Accius and others who preceded classical Latin
poetry. Robert Estienne began collecting the surviving fragments of Old
Latin text for this edition, and upon his death in 1559 the work was
completed by his son, Henri II. Henri included some of the original
Greek sources which the Latin poets used as models.
Grazzini, Anton Francesco ("Il Lasca").
La prima e la seconda cena, novelle di Antonfrancesco Grazzini
detto Il Lasca, alle quali si aggiunge una novella della terza cena, che unitamente colla
prima ora per la prima volta si dà alla luce. London [i.e., Paris]: G. Nourse
[i.e. Jean-Claude Molini], 1756. $600
8vo (18 cm); xxxii, 412, [10] pages.
Typographic ornaments. Bound in full contemporary vellum with leather label on spine.
Edges dyed red. Mildly soiled, with scattered light foxing. Sound and entire.
Reference: Gamba, 538.
First
printing of most of the contents of this 16th-century Florentine frame tale (part 2
appeared separately some 12 years earlier). Anton Francesco Grazzini (1503-84), known in
the Florentine academies as "Il Lasca," was a founder of the Accademia della
Crusca and the guiding spirit of "serious" comedy and satire in 16th-century
Florence. He edited a famous collection of Italian comic verse, "Canti
carnascialeschi," and acquired fame in his lifetime for his own contributions to the
genre. Meanwhile, he composed an extended set of prose "novelle," set in a
Boccaccio-esque framework of ten youths telling stories on three dinner occasions during
Carnevale in the 1540s. Publication was suppressed, probably not because of the racy
contents so much as the populist, anti-authoritarian strain evident throughout. A
counterfeit edition appeared almost immediately after this one, but our copy bears all the
points of the original edition.
A Map of the World

Macrobius.
In somnium Scipionis libri II ; Saturnaliorum libri
VII. Nunc denuo recogniti & multis in locis aucti. Lyon: Sebastian
Gryphius, 1538. $1800
17 cm; [80], 586, [6 blank] pages. Last leaf (originally with printer's device)
replaced with blank. Woodcut world map, 80 x 80 mm, inset within text. Publisher's woodcut
device on title page, woodcut initials. 7 diagrams in text. Title and endpapers slightly
browned and spotted. Later gilt-and blind-embossed calf, corners worn, upper board
gilt-lettered "Newby Hall." Rebacked in 19th century. Spine darkened, joints
beginning to crack but holding. Very light dampstain in lower right corner of first
quires.
References: Adams M-65; Baudrier, VIII, 116.
This volume contains the two principle works of the fifth-century Roman writer and
philosopher Macrobius. It opens with his Neoplatonist commentary on a fable tucked into
Cicero's Republic. The commentary, which is many times longer than the text, examines the
enigma of the soul in light of the astronomical and mathematical sciences of the day.
Digressions lead to treatments of the music of spheres, and eventually to terrestrial
geography and climatology. This edition illustrates the discussion with several diagrams,
including a fine global map showing Britain, Spain, Europe, Italy, Armenia, Parthia,
Ethiopia, and the Antipodes "unknown to us." The second work is the Saturnalia,
a dialogue representing a banquet where several leading Roman intellectuals are present.
The discussion ranges from religion and the origin of mythology to criticism of Virgil's
works. Edited by the German humanist Arnoldus Vesaliensis (1484-1534). Gryphius published
a folio edition in 1526 and an octavo in 1532 with a different, shorter index. Our copy,
like the copy in the Library of Congress, is imperfect: the final leaf was replaced
(probably in the 18th century) with a blank.
Maimonides, Moses.
Ex Rabbi Mosis
Majemonidae opere, quod Secunda Lex, sive, Manus fortis inscribitur, Tractatus De
consecratione calendarum, & De ratione intercalandi. Paris: Petrus Promé, 1669.
$1,200
12mo (16cm); [32], 251, [1] pages. Woodcut and typographic headpieces.
Bound in contemporary mottled calf, with later leather label. (Upper joint repaired, lower
joint slightly cracked but sound and entire. A clean, crisp copy.)
First edition in Latin of this treatise on the Jewish calendar,
chronology and astronomy by Maimonides. The philosopher discusses the calculations for
determining Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the month), and deliberates on the interface
between science and biblical authority. Recent scholarship has shown that Newton (in his
studies on chronology) consulted this edition. Translated from Hebrew into Latin by
Louis de Compiègne de Veil, with his comments.
Petrarca, Francesco. Il Petrarca, con
l'espositione d'Allessandro Vellutello, di novo ristampato con le figure a i
triomphi, con le apostille, et con piu cose utili aggiunte. Venice:
Gabriel Giolito, 1544. $1,000

Octavo (22 cm); [8], 197, [7] leaves. Title within elaborate
architectural title border with device, device on final verso. Full page
woodcut map of Vaucluse; double portrait of the poet and Laura
surmounted by the Giolito device; six woodcut illustrations to the
Trionfi; numerous initials and ornaments. Eighteenth-century vellum,
with leather label on spine. Binding tanned and rubbed at extremities.
Moderate but pervasive foxing, mostly marginal, and pervasive damp
marks, mostly light. Sporadic underlining and marginal notes in text in
early hand, especially in the Trionfi. Early inscription on preliminary
blank, together with later ownership inscriptions. Canceled inscriptions
on A3 and Z6. Later owner's stamped initials in lower margin of final
two leaves. Earlier and later owner's initials on title vignette. Small
rupture in upper margin of title leaf, and in lower margin of final
leaf. Small worm trail at fore-edge of quires E and F. References:
Mortimer, Italian, 375; Bongi, Giolito, I, 80; Essling, I, 1, 105.
First Giolito edition, and the first appearance of the remarkable
woodcut title border and the cuts illustrating the Trionfi. (The title
illustration was repeated on many later Giolito editions of Petrarch.)
This copy complete including the "sonnets against Rome," frequently
removed or scratched out of early editions of Petrarch. Although scathed
by time and love, this is still a proud copy of a desirable and
important book.
Petrarca, Francesco.
... Epistolarum familiarium libri XIV....
[Lyon]: Apud Samuelem Crispinum, 1601. $950
8vo (17cm); [32], 683 (i.e. 703), [1 blank] pages. Woodcut printer's device on title
page; woodcut initials and head pieces. Bound in contemporary or slightly later full limp
vellum with recent leather label. (Dampstain through first quire; pages variously toned,
with scattered light spots; early owner's autograph on front free endpaper, later owner's
heraldic stamp on title page.)
References: Graesse, V, 236 ("C'est l'édition la plus
complète des Epitres de Petrarca. .; il y a 65 lettres de plus que dans la prem.
édition.")
This edition was based on a manuscript discovered in the library of one Joannes
Chalasius of Nimes, and it includes sixty five letters that appear in print here for the
first time. There are several issues of the same edition, differing only in imprint. Some
copies bear a Geneva imprint "apud Petrum Rouerianum," and others the Lyon
imprint of Samuel Crispin. In this copy, the place of publication is not stated, which
puts in the minority of surviving examples. Rare and desirable.
First Pindar in England

Pindar; Nicolas Le Sueur; Richard West; Robert Welsted. [Odes;
Title in Greek] Pindari Olympia, Nemea, Pythia,
Isthmia, una cum Latina omnium versione carmine lyrico. Oxford:
Sheldonian Theatre, 1697. $1,500
Folio (35 cm); [36], 497, [91], 77, [3] pages, including engraved
monumental portrait by Michael Burghers. Half-page engraved allegorical
printer's device on title page also by Burghers. Errata leaf present.
Greek and Latin in parallel columns. Bound in 18th-century red
straight-grain morocco with gilt cornices, by Hering, with his ticket.
All edges gilt. Green silk signet. Binding rubbed at joints and
extremities and scuffed on lower board. Minor foxing. Reference: Wing
P2245.
The first edition of the first Pindar printed in England. The text
was edited by West and Welsted, and translated into Latin by Le Sueur.
Record, Robert. The Urinal of Physick
[bound with] Sixteenth-century English Manuscript of physician's recipes and
notes. $7,500

Manuscript on paper. 12mo (9 x 14 cm); [23] pages, including two blank
pages, inscribed in two distinct hands. (Few lines in a third hand at end,
dated 1784.) Nineteen of the pages double-ruled in red. Additional leaf
bound in front, bearing Latin proverb. The entire manuscript bound together
with an imperfect copy of Robert Record, The Urinal of Physic
(London: Reynold Wolfe, 1548). [8] 72 [4] leaves, this copy lacking nine
leaves: A1/A8 (blank?), D1/D8, G1, J1/J8, K1/K8. Colophon (L4) bound in
place of title page before A2. Bound naively in recent flexible vellum with
leather blindstamped title label on upper cover.
Manuscript collection of recipes and notes in English, inscribed in
16th-century handwriting. The text includes recipes for ointments, remedies,
and even comestibles, such as "Byskyt breade ... ffor wyndynes & watry
humors" (i.e., biscuits for flatulance) or "a perficte remidie for a styche
in any place of all the bodye."
The notes include observations on medical texts (the first pages cite
Mattioli's Dioscorides, and Actuarius). The matter also embraces treatment
of uterine prolapse (entitled in anglicized Latin "pro discensio or lapsus
matricis or uteri.") The notes were apparently made on blank leaves bound in
after the text of Robert Record's early manual of urology, The Urinal of
Physick. The handwritten text begins on the verso of the colophon of the
printed text. A naive collector in the last half-century, however, had the
volume rebound with the manuscript preceding the printed text. We suspect
leaves of the printed work were lost in the process of rebinding. In all, a
rich and rare record of Elizabethan leechcraft, and a valuable source for
the study of 16th-century medical lore and vocabulary.
Redi, Francesco. Osservazioni intorno alle vipere ...
Firenze: All'insegna della stella, 1664. $2,000

First edition. 4to (21 cm); 91, [5] pages (last page blank). Title
page in red and black. Engraved device of the Accademia della Crusca on
title page; woodcut of variant form of the device on verso of p. 91.
Large historiated woodcut initial, typographic headpiece. Bound in
contemporary stiff vellum, titled in ink on spine. An outstanding copy
with very few blemishes. An early reader scrupled to correct
typographical errors in pen, and two leaves exhibit scattered stains. A
bright copy with good margins.
References: NLM/Krivatsky 9460; Gamba, 818; Vinciana 1742; BM Italian
17th-century 727; Garrison-Morton 2102; Prandi 2.
The opening lines of this seminal essay state the credo of the
Scientific Revolution: "Every day I am more secure in my conviction to
want no belief in natural things except the evidence I see with my own
eyes, and see confirmed and reconfirmed." (These words are addressed to
Magalotti, author of "Saggi di Naturali Esperienze.") The study of
snakes and venom examines myth and lore as well as behavior and
pharmacology. According to Haskell Norman, it "marks the beginning of
experimental toxicology." Garrison and Morton concur that this text was
"the first methodical work on snake poison, and the first to demonstrate
that venom must be injected into the skin in order to produce its
effects." Of the two known variants, this is the one with the engraved
title page device (not woodcut), and with the words "Gentiluomo della
camera" following Magalotti's name (described by Gamba as rarer).
Synesius of Cyrene, Bishop of Ptolemais; Gregory of Nazianus; Saint John of
Damascus. [In Greek:] Synesiou Kyrenes Episkopou Hymnoi deka. Gregoriou tou
Nazianzeou odai tessares. Proetethe ho tou Ioannou Damaskeou hymnos eis ten Theogonian. Paris:
Jean Bienné, 1570. $1,800

8vo (18cm); [8], 155, [1] pages. Woodcut device on title page; woodcut
headpieces and initials. Greek and italic type. Bound in modern 1/4 mottled calf over
paper-covered boards. Edges gilt. Joints expertly reinforced. Interlinear and marginal
notes on first two pages of text. Ownership autograph of Jean Gaultier, dated 1593.
Bookplate of Adrian Sherwood, Oxford. A bright copy.
Early Christian lyric poetry in Greek by the 4th-century neoplatonist Synesius, his
contemporary Saint Gregory Nazianzus, and by Saint John of Damascus. The Parisian printer
Jean Bienné was a specialist in Greek (he inherited Guillaume Morel's presses), and the
type is remarkably handsome. Latin translations of the poems (unattributed, but by
Francesco Porto) are tucked in at the end. References: Adams, 2211; Renouard, Imprimeurs
et libraires Parisiens, III, #644; Brunet V:613 ("très-belle édition").
Tasso, Torquato. Discorsi
dell'Arte Poetica; et in particolare del Poema Heroico
. Venice:
Giulio Vassalini, 1587. $800.

4to (21 cm); [4], 108 leaves. Woodcut printer's device on title page, woodcut
head pieces, initials and ornaments. Roman and italic types. Bound in 19th-century marbled
paper-covered boards with polished calf backstrip, tooled and gilded. Joints a little weak
and splitting near crown. Scattered light stains. Nice wide margins, occasionally
inscribed with an early reader's comments. Adams T228; Gamba 971 note; UCLA
Ahmanson-Murphy 789.
Torquato Tasso's statement of the critical principles behind epic poetry. The 16th
century was deeply concerned with the problem of fitting episodic narrative (like
Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and Tasso's own Gerusalemme Liberata) into categories described
in Aristotle's Poetics. Tasso's contribution was this profound and detailed taxonomy of
the epic mode. The 19th-century bibliographer B. Gamba revealed that the book was printed
with Aldine types, and indeed it is included in modern Aldine collections at UCLA and
Brigham Young University.
Tasso, Torquato, 1544-1595 ; Angelo Grillo, 1557-1629.
Le prose
del Signor Torquato Tasso, divise in cinque parti. Nuouamente poste in luce separate dalle
rime. Venice: Evangelista Deuchino, 1612. $600

12mo 914cm); 5 volumes in one. Title within decorative border; Woodcut initials,
head- and tailpieces. Complete collation available upon request. Bound in contemporary
limp vellum. Titled in manuscript on spine, with shelf mark on old paper label. Shelf
wear. Upper joint starting. Hinges a little tender. Extensive worm trails on rear
endleaves, with minimal effect on text. Occasional light stains. References: Raccolta
Tassiana, 45; BL 17th-century Italian, 891; Bruni and Evans, 5240.
First separate edition of Tasso's collected prose. Gathers into one volume Tasso's
great studies, dialogues and meditations. Includes his disputes about poetics, his agonies
over defining epic form, and his thoughts on love, virtue and nobility. .
Tesauro, Emanuele (1592-1675); Valeriano Castiglione.
Del
regno d'Italia sotto i barbari epitome. Venice: Giacomo Hertz, 1680. $750

17cm; [24], 732, [72] pages (including 58 full-page woodcut
portraits and four allegorical scenes); extra woodcut title page and [3] folded maps.
Engraved device on printed title page. Woodcut ornaments. Bound in contemporary calf,
rebacked in period style, corners rebuilt. Speckled edges. Stain on last 50 pages, else
fairly clean and bright, with occasional toning. First published in folio in 1663, and
several times in 12mo thereafter. References (to 1663 edition): Brunet V, 730; Olschki, Choix,
15778.
Illustrated history of Italian rulers from the fall of the Roman Empire to the end of
the first millenium. Each monarch is represented in a full-page monumental portrait by
François Lefevre or Antonio Bosio. Commentary by Valerio Castiglione, who incidentally
turns up as an expert on the Lombard kings in Manzoni's I Promessi Sposi.
Thomas Aquinas, Saint. Opuscula omnia, quibus adiunximus Opusculum
de Eruditione Principis, antehac nunquam impressum. Venice: Girolamo Scoto, 1587.
$650

Folio (33cm); 779 pages. Printer's woodcut device (the three graces) on title
page. Woodcut initials. Disbound. Preserved in custom-made solander case. Several early
ownership inscriptions on title page. Stain on fore edge. Occasional light stains in text.
The title page of this Venetian edition of the shorter works of Saint Thomas claims
that the essay on the Machiavellian theme of the education of princes is printed here for
the first time.
A Companion to Classical Reading
Torrentino, Hermano; Girolamo Brusoni.
Elucidario poetico. Venice:
Iseppo Prodocimo, 1677. $300
12mo (14cm); 2 volumes in one, [8], 214, [2 blank], 360 pages. Printer's woodcut
device on title page. Woodcut initials and head-pieces. Bound in contemporary quarter calf
over mottled boards. Cloth signet. Edges worn. Some stains, pages generally toned.
This pocket-size Italian encyclopedia of classical literature began life in 1503, in
the fullness of the Renaissance, in Latin. It went through many editions and translations,
growing in both scope and concision with each incarnation. The entries gloss classical
mythology, literature, geography, and historical events with admirable efficiency.
Valier, Agostino, Cardinal, Bishop of Verona (1531-1606).
De
rhetorica ecclesiastica libri tres. Cum synopsi et praelectionibus ; Ejusdem
de Acolytorum disciplina. Verona: Girolamo Stringario, 1583.
$700
4to (21cm); [24],336, [52], 78, [2] pages. Woodcut
device on title page. Woodcut initials and ornaments. Bound in
contemporary limp vellum, titled in manuscript on spine for horizontal
storage, with remains of later paper label titled in manuscript for
vertical storage. Binding wrinkled and worn. Text block construction
renewed with fresh thread and new endleaves. Edges toned, corners bumped
at extremities. Scattered light foxing and toning.
Reference: Adams
V-145
Last printing of the bishop of Verona's study of the arts of speech,
directed at the working clergy (first published 1574, and one of the
first post-Tridentine handbooks of sacred rhetoric). Perhaps this
edition was intended to reinforce the author's pursuit of promotion,
since he was made Cardinal later the same year. It is the first printing
of it to include the 50-page diagrammatic synopsis of the work in the
same volume, along with a shorter work on the education of priests. The
text, based on classical models, provides priests with the elements of
public speaking, including instruction on how to construct one's talks;
how to excite joy, fear, pity, and anger; when and how to use memorable
slogans and other ornaments of speech.
Vasari, Giorgio (1511-1574).
Ragionamenti del Sig. cavaliere Giorgio Vasari, pittore et architetto
aretino, sopra le inventioni da lui dipinte in Firenze nel palazzo di Loro
Altezze Serenissime. Florence: Filippo Giunti, 1588.
$6,000

First edition. Quarto (21 cm); [8], 186, [18] pages, including
woodcut portrait. Woodcut devices on title page and on colophon ("Nil
Candidius.") Woodcut initials. Bound in later vellum over boards, titled
in gilt-stamped letters on spine. Marbled edges. Scattered foxing,
generally light, although a bit heavier on colophon, portrait page and
title page. A desirable copy. Reference: Gamba, 1729; not in Camerini or
Adams; see also Seznec, The Survival of the Pagan Gods, 288 ff.
Although there are no illustrations (except for the remarkable
self-portrait of the author), this essay may be seen as a sort of emblem
book. Typically, emblem books consist of cryptic images with explanatory
text. In this case, the cryptic images are the author's great frescoes
in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and the explanatory text is a series
of imaginary conversations interpreting the mythic circumstances and
allegories depicted in the paintings. Jean Seznec wrote, "His aim is
certainly to make known to the wider public the meaning of a work which
he himself knows to be unintelligible." The text is full of detail,
identifying individual portraits as well as grand schemes, and offering
unique insight into the creative process. In addition to the account of
the pictures in the Palazzo Vecchio, there is a key to Vasari's frescoes
in the cupola of the Duomo of Florence appended to the text. The
manuscript, completed in 1558, was edited by the author's nephew and
published posthumously. (4798) $6,000.00
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