‎Printing‎

‎Münster, Sebastian.‎

‎['Arukh] Dictionarium chaldaicum non ta[m] ad Chaldaicos interpretes q[uam] Rabbinoru[m] intelligenda co[m]mentaria necessarium [...]. Basel, Johann Froben, 1527.‎

‎4to. (8), 434, (2) pp. With woodcut title border by Hans Holbein. - (Bound with) II: The same. [Dikduk de-lishan arami. In hakhasda'ah] Chaldaica grammatica [...]. Ibid., 1527. (8), 212, (4) pp. Both works have woodcut printer's devices at the end. Contemporary blindstamped browns calf with 2 clasps. Sammelband containing two rare works by Münster: the first grammar of Aramaic written in Germany, a principal work, and the first German-produced Aramaic dictionary. "His dictionary [was] adapted from Pagninus's excerpt of Nathan Ben Yehiel's Arukh [...] Münster's most important work [...] was his Aramaic grammar, the first of its kind. The 'Chaldean' element in the Bible has of course long since been recognised, and people like Aurogallus and Fagius had treated the subject earlier in connection with their Hebrew studies. But just as Sanctes Pagninus was the first to exclude deliberately the Aramaic vocabulary from his Hebrew dictionary (1529), so Münster was the first to publish both a grammar and a dictionary devoted solely to Aramaic [...] A special feature of this grammar is the lexicographical introduction to the rabbinical Bible commentaries, with various Latin-Hebrew wordlists of technical terms. Münster also gives examples of the Sephardi and Ashkenazi rabbinical script in woodcut [...] The author compares the Aramaic with Arabic (called by him Saracenica lingua) which he quotes in transcription" (Smitskamp). - Binding restored; endpapers replaced. Obliterated contemp. ownership to t. p.; a few contemp. marginalia near the beginning of the grammar. I: VD 16, M 6657. Burmeister 23. BM-STC German 633. Adams M 1920. Steinschneider 2014, 6. Hieronymus 236 (note). Smitskamp 8d (note). BNHCat M 841. OCLC 13588558. - II: VD 16, M 6648. Burmeister 3 (& p. 11). BM-STC German 632. Adams M 1903. Steinschneider 6591, 6. Smitskamp 8. Leslau 398. BNHCat M 827. OCLC 20468455.‎

‎Münster, Sebastian.‎

‎Dictionarium hebraicum. Basel, Johann Froben, November 1525.‎

‎(366 [statt 368]) Bll. (fehlen die Bll. Z1, Z8 der letzten Lage). Mit Holzschnittdruckermarke am Titel. Neuerer blindgepr. brauner Lederband. 8vo. In maßgefertigter Leinenkassette. Zweite, ergänzte Ausgabe von Münsters erstmals 1523 herausgebrachtem hebräischen Wörterbuch. "Münster begann die Reihe seiner Heidelberger hebräischen Schriften, die übrigens fast ausnahmslos bei Johann Froben in Basel gedruckt wurden, mit dem später oft überarbeiteten und neu aufgelegten Dictionarium hebraicum (1523). Drei Handschriften von 1510, 1511 und 1521 gingen voraus; eine vierte Handschrift, die dem Druck zugrunde lag, ist verlorengegangen" (Burmeister, S. 11). "Bereits 1525 erschien eine weitere Auflage, die von Münster auf den neuesten Stand der Forschung gebracht worden war, indem er das Wörterbuch aus verschiedenen perûshim und vor allem aus der 1523 in Venedig erschienenen qônqôrdansijâ des Rabbi Isaak Nathan erweiterte. Darnach erlebte es noch zahlreiche Auflagen und Erweiterungen und ist über 40 Jahre lang das bedeutendste hebräische Wörterbuch in Deutschland geblieben. Zu seiner Beliebtheit hat beigetragen, dass das Buch kurzgefasst war, handlich und mit seinem Preis von 15 Schillingen einigermaßen erschwinglich war, sich also für den täglichen Gebrauch durch Studenten und Theologen vorzüglich eignete" (Burmeister, Biogr. Gesamtbild, S. 41). - Zahlreiche Marginalien der Zeit von verschiedenen Händen; am alten fliegenden Vorsatz theolog. Notiz des 17. Jhs. ("Theòs phthánei toùs taxeîs [...] Deus antevertit celeres [...]"). Durchgehend etwas wasserrandig bzw. wurmspurig; fachmännisch restauriert und angerändert. Es fehlen 2 Bll.: 2 SS. Text sowie das Schlussblatt mit der Druckermarke verso. Selten; nur 3 Nachweise über VD 16 (UB München, Trier, Wolfenbüttel). VD 16, M 6659. Burmeister 18. Panzer VI, 250, 583. Steinschneider (Hdb.) 1384.2. Hantzsch 228.3. Fürst II, 407. Graesse IV, 622. Adams M 1922. BM-STC German 633.‎

‎Münster, Sebastian / Eliyahu Bahur.‎

‎Pirke Eliyahu [...]. Capitula cantici, specierum, proprietatum, & officiorum. Basel, (Johann Froben), 1527.‎

‎8vo. (196) pp. (a-l8, m10). With 2 different woodcut devices. Modern vellum using old material; ties. In custom-made cloth slipcase. Grammatical treatise by Elia Levita, edited with a Latin translation by Sebastian Münster. - Slightly brownstained throughout; trimmed somewhat closely. Slight worming near end in the blank margins, repaired. VD 16, E 999. Burmeister 155. Panzer VI, 259, no. 658. Fürst II, 240 & 407. Steinschneider (Bodl.) 940.37; (Handb.) 1378. Hantzsch 259.I. OCLC 15146666.‎

‎Petrus de Natalibus.‎

‎Catalogus sanctorum et gestorum eorum ex diversis voluminibus collectis [...]. Strasbourg, Martin Flach, 1513.‎

‎Folio (222 x 320 mm). (4), 253 ff. Title page printed in red and black. With woodcut title border (birds and grapes) by Hans Wechtlin and page-sized woodcut by Urs Graf at the end of preliminary matter. Contemp. blindstamped pigskin. Two clasps. Early edition of this influential collection of Lives of the Saints, first published in Vicenza in 1493. "A very valuable work with a wide circulation. In his arrangement of the various lives he follows the calendar of the Church. The collection [...] went through many editions, the last of which (the eighth) appeared in Venice, 1616" (Cath. Encyclopedia, s.v.). Fine Strasbourg print; Urs Graf's splendid woodcut shows the Ascension of the Christ. - Binding rather severely rubbed. Some worming to beginning and end; occasional brown- and waterstaining. Late 16th-c. ms. ownership and large engr. bookplate to front pastedown. VD 16, P 1881. BM-STC German 644. Adams N 45. Ritter 1856.‎

‎Theodoret of Cyrus.‎

‎Theodoritu episkopu Kyru dialogoi treis kata tinon haireseon. Theod. lib. 3 contra haereses [...]. Leipzig, (Ernst Vögelin), 1568.‎

‎8vo. (6), 351, (1) pp. With woodcut printer's device on title-page (repeated on verso of final leaf). 16th century brown ruled calf with later handwritten spine title. All edges red. First issue of the Leipzig edition, the second printing ever. Greek text throughout; Victorinus Strigel issued a Latin translation (not present here) to accompany it. - Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus (ca. 393-458) was an influential theologian of the School of Antioch. He played a pivotal role in several 5th century Byzantine Church controversies that led to various ecumenical acts and schisms and is considered "one of the principal Greek writers of the 5th century" (Tusc. Lex. Lit., p. 254). - Light browning and staining (more pronounced in first and last leaf). A few contemporary annotations. VD 16, T 768. Hoffmann I, 495. Graesse VI.2, 118. OCLC 54244694.‎

‎Varignana, Guglielmo.‎

‎Secreta sublimia ad varios curandos morbos verissimis auctoritatibus illustrata additionibus nonnullis, flosculis item in margine decorata diligentissime castigata nusquam impressa feliciter incipiunt. Venice, Alessandro Bindoni, 20 Nov. 1520.‎

‎8vo. (8), 127 ff. (wanting final blank f.). Half vellum using a leaf from an antiphonary. Second edition; the first was published the previous year by Garaldi in Pavia. "Early in the 14th century Varignana wrote a remarkable treatise which he entitled 'Secreta medicinae' [...] The plan on which the book is constructed is simple and convenient for rapid consultation. The author begins at the head, and goes through all the diseases in detail right down to the feet" (Ferguson II, Suppl. 2, S. 18). The physician and philosopher Guglielmo da Varignana (1270-1339) was the brother of the municipal physician of Bologna, Bartolomeo da Varignana, known for having performed the first forensic dissection there. - Slight waterstaining throughout; trimmed rather closely. Several marginalia by a contemporary hand. Edit 16, CNCE 34074. Wellcome 6495. Durling 2198. Hirsch/Hübotter V, 708. Ferguson (Bibliogr. Notes, Index) 317. Not in BM-STC Italian, Adams or Waller.‎

‎Arnoldus de Villanova, [Pseudo-] (ed.).‎

‎[Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum.] Regimen Sanitatis cu[m] expositione magistri Arnaldi de Villa nova Cathellano Noviter Impressus. Venice, Bernardinus Venetus de Vitalibus, [after 1500/1505].‎

‎4to. (82) ff. (A-T4, V6). 29 lines, text partly surrounded by commentary. Later half vellum. Latin edition of this famous medical manual, arranged at Salerno in the 12th century and published in various incunabular editions. This instructional poem and the commentary that accompanies it, often attributed to the 13th-century Montpellier alchemist Arnoldus de Villanova (cf. E. Wickersheimer, in: Comptes rendus du XIIIe Congrès international d'histoire de la médecine, 1954, p. 226-234 [Aquilon 570]), preserved its exceptional influence in Western Europe well into the 19th century. - Quire Q misbound but complete; some browning and fingerstaining; margins show some wrinkling. Several old marginalia and underlinings; later ms. note to title page: "Arnoldinus in Scholam Salernitanam". Very rare; a single record in ABPC (Swann, 24 Jan. 1980, lot 1792). CR 5053. Goff R-77. GW M37397. BSB-Ink R-50. Klebs 830.12. Sander 6391. Pellechet 1289. BMC V, 598. Edit 16, CNCE 60481. Cf. Essling 609f.‎

‎Institoris, Heinrich (Heinrich Kramer).‎

‎Sancte Roma[n]e eccl[esi]e fidei defe[n]sio[n]is p[ro]pungnaculu[m] [!] Adversus walde[n]sium seu Pickardorum heresim Certas germanie Bohemieq[ue] naciones in odium cleri ac enervacione[m] ecclesiastice potestatis virnlenta [!] co[n]tagio[n]e sparsi[m] inficientis [...]. Olmütz, Conrad Baumgarten, 20 April 1501.‎

‎Folio (220 x 315 mm). 128 ff. (a-b8, c-d6, e4, f6, g4, h-p6, q4, r-x6, y4; page count: [t.p.], iii, v, iiii, v-ix, v, xiii, xii, [2 ff.], xiiii, xvi-xliii, xlvii, xlv-cvii, cix-cxxviii), complete thus. With half-page title woodcut, full-page woodcut on verso, large woodcut initial, and printer's device at the end (all with contemporary touches of red ink), as well as numerous fleuronee and lombardic initials in red and green, including five figurated initials. Rubricated throughout. Contemp. blindstamped gothic binding: dark brown calf over wooden boards, remains of engraved brass clasps. First edition of this polemic against the Bohemian Brethren, written by the author of the notorious "Malleus Maleficarum": a "Bulwark of Faith of the Holy Roman Church Against the Heresy of the Waldensians and Picards". Extremely rare: the present copy represents the hitherto unknown first impression of the first edition, still bearing a slightly different title; all other known copies printed that same year (three via OCLC, one in the Scientific Library of Olomouc, one in the Bavarian State Library), as well as the 1502 second edition, are entitled "Sancte Romane ecclesie fidei defensionis clippeum adversus waldensium seu pickardorum heresim, certas Germanie Bohemieque nationes in odium cleri ac enervatioe ecclesiatice potestatis virulenta contagione sparsim inficientes" (changing the - misspelled - "bulwark" into a "shield"). Quire signatures and pagination depart from those stated by OCLC in several details. In particular, the head-over-heels "u" in "virulenta" (here printed as "virnlenta", corrected in other editions), identifies the present variant as the earliest one. - In the year 1500, 15 years after he first published his "Malleus Maleficarum", Institoris had been installed by Pope Alexander VI as inquisitor to Bohemia and Moravia, where he was to take action agains heretics, sorcerers, and witches (cf. Tschacher). In the present work, his last to see publication, "he once more invokes his 'Malleus' and his earlier sermons against witchery and its doubters. The Bohemian Waldenses, he argues, had not only perpetrated numerous heresies, but also questioned the legitimacy of the witch trials. It is telling that Kramer, in his final polemic, would interpret the heresies of the Waldenses and witches as conjoined harbingers of the approaching apocalypse" (ibid.). The inquisitor who prided himself on having sent no fewer than 200 witches to the stake discusses other heresies as well: fol. 86ff. contains an entire chapter "De origine legis machometice". - One of the most extensive and technically ambitious works to leave the press of the itinerant German printer Konrad Baumgarten, active in Danzig, Olomouc, Breslau, and Frankfurt/Oder between 1498 and 1509. The page count is exceedingly confused, as in all copies. Indeed, only a single leaf in the entire "a" gathering bears a signature: the second, counted as "a iii" in error; thus agreeing with all copies available for comparison. The count of the first four leaves in our copy has therefore been corrected to "a i-iv" in red ink by a contemporary hand. - From the library of the disputatious Bohemian Franciscan friar John Aquensis, who in 1502 was to publish his own polemic against the "Picards", with his marginalia and his autograph ownership on the title page. "Although Johannes Aquensis, Jan Vodnansky in Czech, was one of the most active Catholic writers at the turn of the Middle Ages to the Age of Reformation, he has been largely ignored by scholarship so far. Born in Vodhany (some 30 kilometers to the north-west of Budweis and considered Utraquist) around 1460, he attended the school of St. Henry's in Prague since 1473, later studying Divinity at the University there. After obtaining his Bachelor's degree in 1480, he joined the Observant Franciscans and soon became one of the most vocal antagonists of the Utraquists, Begards, Waldensians, Bohemian Brethren, and other heretics. He disappears after 1534 [...] Most of his works, almost entirely ignored by scholarship but apparently marked by a curious mixture of erudition, bellicose dialectics, vivid imagination, and credulity, are known in manuscripts only; a very few were printed, and some must be presumed lost or awaiting discovery" (cf. Dietrich Kurze, Märkische Waldenser und Böhmische Brüder. Zur brandenburgischen Ketzergeschichte und ihrer Nachwirkung im 15. und 16. Jh., in: H. Beumann [ed.], Festschrift für Walter Schlesinger II [Cologne 1974], p. 456-502, at: 480). Some staining to first and last leaf; occasional insignificant waterstaining, otherwise very clean, showing very little browning. Altogether an excellent copy in its contemporary, original binding. The individual blindstamps could not be traced in the Kyriss or Schunke collections; the clasp hitches are engraved with an invocation of the Virgin ("MARIA AVE"). Text carefully rubricated throughout; the inhabited initials depict dragons and other mythical creatures, as well as the bearded head of an old man. - Of the utmost rarity: this present first edition is not listed in German or international auction records. The last copy of any edition in the trade was that formerly in the Broxbourne collection (1502 second ed.: Sotheby's, 8 May 1978, lot 408, to Breslauer). Not in VD 16 or ISTC. Cf. Panzer VII, 486, 1. Cf. OCLC 22369397. Zibrt III, 5181. Isaac 14475. Werner Tschacher, "Kramer, Heinrich (Henricus Institoris)", in: Lex. zur Geschichte der Hexenverfolgung, ed. G. Gersmann, K. Moeller & J.-M. Schmidt, s.v.‎

‎Locher, Johann Georg.‎

‎Libro philomusi, Panegyrici ad Rege[m] Tragedia[m] de Thurcis et Suldano Dyalog[us] de heresiarchis. Strasbourg, Johann (Reinhard) Grüninger, [not before 15 May] 1497.‎

‎4to. 62 ff. 30-33 lines and heading line (Roman type 17:145G, 22:89G); several woodcut Greek interspersions (K6v & I3r). With full-page woodcut on reverse of title page, additional full-page woodcut on f. Jiv, and 17 half-page woodcuts in the text (with some repeats). Mid-18th-century boards using an 18th-century antiphonary. First edition of the author's first important work, an exhortation to fight the Turks, couched as a Latin tragedy. Jakob Locher (1471-1528) had been created poet laureate but months before. The volume is concluded by a "Dyalogus" against all forms of heresy (and including encomia and dedicatory addresses to the Emperor and the nobles of court and clergy). - Contains fine woodcuts, some of which were used previously in the Strasbourg editions of Terence and the Ship of Fools; at least six blocks were cut originally for this book. "The opening woodcut depicts the author and newly crowned poet laureate" (cf. von Arnim). This is the earlier impression without the armorial woodcut on fol. B6r (as in Schramm); the final line of fol. J3r still reads "tekos" (for "telos"). Typographical errors "Jacboi" on fol. L2r; "Daum" (for "Datum") in final line of fol. L3r; colophone reads "anno christo". A pinhead-sized wormhole throughout the blank margin (not touching text). Top edge trimmed rather closely in places; a few underlinings by a contemporary hand. Altogether a fine, very clean copy. Extremely rare; last seen in the trade more than a decade ago (Shipperdson-Field-Nakles copy, Christie's New York, 17 April 2000, lot 22: $15,275). HC 10153*. Goff L-264. GW M18631. BMC I, 112. BSB-Ink L-206. Schreiber 4513. Grüninger 32. Schramm XX, 23. Slg. Schäfer 212. Goedeke I, 427, 9.‎

‎Martinus Polonus.‎

‎Sermones de tempore et de sanctis cum promptuario exemplorum. Strasbourg, [Georg Husner], 1484.‎

‎Folio (224 x 318 mm). 255 unnumbered ff. (last blank). Gothic type, 2 cols., 46 lines. Rubricated throughout. With title border painted in red and orange, large initial "S" in several colours with pretty flower and tenril designs, red colophone border and numerous red and blue initials. Contemp. blindstamped pigskin over wooden boards with 2 metal clasps (wants fittings). Ms. spine label. Probably the editio princeps of this collection of homiletic samples by Martin von Troppau (d. after 22 June 1278), rubricated and with pretty initials throughout. The alleged earlier edition cited by Hain, supposedly printed in Strasbourg in 1480 (H 10853), appears to be a ghost. - Martinus Polonus (also known as Martin von Troppau or Martinus Oppaviensis) is regarded as one of the most respected chroniclers of the Middle Ages. - Some 6 ff. remargined at bottom, 2 more leaves show loss to corners. Somewhat browned and brownstained; several contemporary marginalia. Worming to beginning and end (touching text in final third). Binding rubbed and bumped; defect to back cover and numerous wormholes. The pretty Gothic blindstamping shows hunting scenes, floral designs, and the Agnus Dei (not recorded in Schunke, Schwenke collection). Splendid hand-painted armorial bookplate of Wolfgang Crener von Sulzbach (fl. c. 1510), a scholar of canon law; several later ownership entries, stamps, bookplate. Hain 10854. Goff M-329. GW M 21433. ISTC im00329000. Pellechet 7628. IGI 6245. Proctor 591. BMC I, 132. Walsh 221. CIBN M-184. BSB M-238. Wierzbowski III, 2013. Estreicher XXII, 201.‎

‎Rudolf II., Kaiser.‎

‎[Aufruf, das vom Papst gesandte italienische Heer zu verpflegen]. Gedrucktes Mandat. Wien, 18. VI. 1597.‎

‎Einblattdruck. 1 S. Qu.-Folio (404:307 mm). Mit papiergedecktem Siegel über rotem Wachs. Gefaltet. Aufruf an alle Untertanen, "sonderlich aber allen an der Thonaw, so wol andern nechst geseßnen Flecken", für die Verproviantierung der "anzall Italianisch Kriegßvolck" zu sorgen, welche "die Babstlich Heiligkeit [...] herauß verordnet" habe: "Also haben wir hierinn nachfolgende maaß, ordnung und Tax, Euch [...] setzen unnd benennen wöllen, Alß neblich, daß man gedachtem herab ziehenden Kriegßvolck in ihren nachtleger die notturfft, Profiant, von Brot, Wein, Bier, alt und jungem Fleisch, Käß, Ayr, Schmaltz, Habern und dergleichen, umb bezalung und volgende Tax zufüern [...], und volgender gestalt, alß drey Brott weissen gebäch, deren jedes neün Lot wigt, per ein Kreutzer, ein Maß Wein per vier Kreutzer, ein Pfunt Behaimbischen Käß, per drey Kreutzer, den besseren Käß, so man in Osterreich macht, werden unsere Commissarien nach der güet Taxiern [...]". Mit der Schlacht bei Sissek am 22. Juni 1593 war der Lange Türkenkrieg ausgebrochen, der bis 1606 währen sollte. - Dorsalvermerke des 17. Jhs. zum Inhalt sowie zeitgenöss. Vermerk "Asentirt den 30. Juni Ao. 97". Unter dem Urkundentext rechts: "Commissio domini electi imperatoris in consilio". Links mit eigenh. Zeichnung des niederösterreichischen Statthalters Wolfgang v. Hofkirchen und des Kanzlers Christoph Pirckheimer, rechts des Hans Wilhelm Frhr. von Schönkirchen ("Hanns Wilhelmb Herr von Schennkhirchen d. Ä.") und des Dr. Paul Kraus. Nicht bei Starzer.‎

‎Rudolf II, Emperor.‎

‎Printed mandate about the currency. Vienna, 20 Sept. 1584.‎

‎Broadsheet. 1 p. Oblong folio (515 x 386 mm). With papered red wax seal. Folded. An ordinance outlawing Hungarian "Dreyer" coins (denars) in Lower Austria: within three months, all such coins had to be changed into Austrian currency at a rate of one "Dreier" to 2½ Viennese pfennigs. - Signed in their own hand by the Lower Austrian Deputy Governor Oswald Baron Eytzing, by the chancellor Dr. Gregor von Ödt, by Eustach von Althan, and by Dr. Elias Corning. Starzer, Regesten aus dem k. k. Archiv für Niederösterreich (1906), Nr. 5564.‎

‎Telesio, Antonio.‎

‎Libellus de coloribus. Ubi multa leguntur praeter aliorum opinionem. (Venice, Bernardino Vitali, June 1528).‎

‎Small 4to. 15 unnumbered ff. (lacking final blank). With several woodcut initials (including one depicting a pelican). Attractive 19th century red calf with giltstamped cover title and border. Rare first edition of this most copious 16th century Italian treatise on the theory of colours. Divided into 13 chapters, the work lists no less than 115 different names of colours. "Questo raro e singolare opusculo indica sul suo principio Toggetto con cui tu scritto, ed e forse l'opera più erudita che abbiasi, presa sotto l'aspetto seguente" (Cicognara). Cicognara described a 14-leaf edition without place or printer - very likely an incomplete copy of this present edition, which ends on f. 13 and is concluded by two leaves of poems. - Telesio (1482-1533), a native of Cosenza in Calabria, taught at Rome. Escapting the "Sacco di Roma", he fled to Venice, where he gained the chair of Latin at the Consiglio dei Dieci bekam. It was during these years that he composed his treatise on colours, the earliest of its kind ever to see print. Goethe quotes it in full in his own treatise on colours (Weimarana, pt. IV, pp. 174-193), following the 1545 Latin Basel edition; this is the longest quote in all of Goethe's works. - Telesio's nephew Bernardino, who had followed his uncle from Cosenza to Rome and Venice, would go on to publish his own treatise on colours in 1570. - Unappealing traces of moisture to the first five leaves. Spine somewhat sunned and rubbed. Edit 16, CNCE 37986. Cicognara 216. Adams and BM-STC Italian list later eds. only.‎

‎Caviceus, Jacobus.‎

‎Sex urbium dicta ad Maximilianum Romanorum regem. [Venedig, Bernardinus Benalius?, nach dem 16. März 1491].‎

‎(6) Bll. (d. l. w.). Antiqua (Type 10:80R), 37-38 Zln. Mit einer schwarzgrundigen Initiale in Holzschnitt. Spätere Broschur. Dreiseitiger Rotschnitt. 4to. Erste Ausgabe dieser fingierten Huldigung König Maximilians durch sechs antike Städte. Vermutlich in Pordenone verfaßt, wo Caviceo mehrere Jahre lebte und 1489 vom dort anwesenden Kaiser Friedrich III. zum iuris utriusque doctor promoviert wurde. Das Werk beginnt mit einer Erwähnung der Vertreibung der Ungarn aus Österreich bis Stuhlweißenburg/Székesfehérvár: "Die 6 Städte sind Babylon, Troya, Byzanz, Athen, Carthago und Jerusalem. Sie alle huldigen Maximilian und flehen um seinen Schutz [...] Eingestreut zahlreiche Hinweise auf zeitge[nö]ssische Begebenheiten" (Apponyi). Der Theologe J. Caviceus (1443-1511) studierte zu Bologna und trat in die Dienste des Piermaria Rossi, Herrn von Berceto, und seines Sohnes Guido, des Capitano der Republik Venedig. Seit 1492 wirkte er nacheinander als Generalvikar der Diözesen Rimini, Ferrara, Florenz und Siena. - Druckerzuschreibung nach GW (von BMC und Indice generale VI bestritten). Das erste Blatt recto alt mit Einfassungslinie umrahmt; bei der Neubindung im Bug verstärkt; am vorderen Vorsatz eine englische Notiz zum Verfasser aufgezogen (um 1880). - Sehr selten, auf deutschen Auktionen der letzten Jahrzehnte nur die zweite Ausgabe nachweisbar (Hartung & Hartung, 98 [2000], Nr. 103, EUR 4346). HC 4805. Goff C-355. GW 6433. BSB-Ink C-204. Pellechet 3455. Proctor 7374. BMC VII, 1146. IGI 2655. Sajó-Soltész 955. Apponyi 1551.‎

‎(Maior, Georg).‎

‎Scriptum publice propositum in academia Witebergensi, quo scholastici convocati sunt ad deducendum funus domini Philippi Melanchthonis viri pietate eruditione & virtute praestantis. XXI Aprilis. Wittenberg, Veit Kreutzer, 1560.‎

‎(10) Bll. Mit Medaillonportrait Melanchthons am Titel sowie Schlussvignette in Holzschnitt. Papierner Heftstreifenrücken. 4to. Erste Ausgabe der "Klag- und Trostschrift von dem christlichen Abschied und Begräbnis des Ehrwürdigen und Hochgelehrten Herrn Philippi Melanthonis" (wie der Titel der im selben Jahr erschienenen deutschen Ausgabe lautete). - Leichter Wasserrand; im Rand etwas lappig bzw. mit Wurmspuren. Sehr selten; seit 1950 kein Exemplar im Handel nachweisbar. VD 16, M 2167. Hartfelder S. 640, Nr. 337. Knaake II, 899.‎

‎Lactantius.‎

‎Lepida [...] opera accurate graeco adiuncto castigata: Eiusde[m] Nephytomon: Carmina de Phoenice. & Christi resurrectione. Io. Chry. De eucharistia sermo. Lau. Vall. sermo. Phil. ad Theo. adhortatio. (Paris), [Guy Marchant für] Jean Petit, (12. IX. 1509).‎

‎(10), CCXXV [225], (1) Bll. Mit 2 versch. Holzschnitt-Druckermarken (Petit am Titel, Marchant am letzten Bl. verso) sowie einem ganzseitigen Textholzschnitt. Französischer Lederband um 1680 mit goldgepr. Rückenschildchen und -vergoldung. Dreiseitiger gesprenkelter Rotschnitt. 4to. Schön gedruckte Laktanz-Werkausgabe (herausgegeben von Aegidius Maserius), der noch Tertullians "Apologeticus adversus gentes" sowie einige kleine Stücke von Johannes Chrysostomos und Laurentius Valla beigegeben sind. Gedruckt in klarer Antiqua mit zahlreichen floralen Holzschnittinitialen; einige Stellen in ansprechender griechischer Type. Der Textholzschnitt am letzten Bl. der Vorstücke verso zeigt einen Gelehrten in seiner Stube mit Büchern und Schreibzeug. - Zahlreiche hs. Marginalien der Zeit unleserlich verblasst; einige Notizzettel (um 1759) mit hs. bibliographisch-editorischen Bemerkungen in den Innenrand montiert. Kl. Papierdefekt auf Bl. 24f. alt hinterlegt und Text handschriftlich ergänzt. Oberes Kapital fachmännisch restauriert. Am vorderen Innendeckel Exlibris des Brügger Mediziners Adolphe Stordeur (datiert 1910). Adams L 13. BM-STC French 249. Panzer VIII, 537, 324. Moreau 1509, 127. Nicht bei Schweiger.‎

‎Portis, Leonardo de.‎

‎De sestertio, talentis, pecuniis, ponderibus, me[n]suris, stipendiis militaribus antiquis [...]. [Basel], Johann Froben, [ca 1520].‎

‎4to. (4), 62, (6) pp. With woodcut printer's device on title page (repeated on final page) and 3 woodcut initials. Sewn. Early edition of a frequently reissued manual on classical coins, measurements, and weights, edited and introducted by Giovanni Battista Egnazio. Page 58 gives the diagram of an ancient measurement. - Slightly browned throughout. Apparently removed from an old sammelband; contemporary marginalia on p. 13 trimmed by binder's knife. Old ownership and notes on the preserved lower wrapper cover or interleaf. VD 16, P 4394. BM-STC German 713. Cf. Heckethorn (The Printers of Basle) 114, 6 (1530 Hieronymus Froben edition). Not in Adams.‎

‎[Euclid]. - Proclus Diadochus.‎

‎In primum Euclidis elementorum librum commentariorum ad universam mathematicam disciplinam principium eruditionis tradentium libri IV. Padua, Grazioso Percacino, 1560.‎

‎Folio (215 x 300 mm). (16), 272, (24) pp. With woodcut device on t. p. (Minerva and Mercury holding the wing tips of a rising phoenix), woodcut portrait on reverse, and printer's device on final leaf, as well as numerous mathematical diagrams in the text. Contemporary Italian limp vellum with ms. spine title. First Latin edition of one of the major works by Proclus Lycaeus (412-485), founder and head of the neo-Platonic school of Athens: a commentary on the first book of Euclid's "Elements of Geometry", the "oldest mathematical textbook in the world still in common use today" (PMM). Includes the text of the theorems, set within ornamental woodcut framings, and the geometrical diagrams. The editor and translator Francesco Barozzi (1537-1604) taught at the University of Padua. He was later charged with sorcery (in particular, he was said to have caused a torrential rainstorm over his native Crete) and condemned by the Inquisition in 1587. "Barocius' edition of Proclus' commentary on the first book of Euclid's 'Elements' was the first important translation of this work, for it was based on better manuscripts than previous efforts had been. The translation, published in 1560, was completed by Barocius at the age of twenty-two" (DSB). His portrait on the reverse of the title page is cut within a magnificent border. - Old ms. ownership on flyleaf obliterated (probably in the early 19th century); old ownership stamp over title woodcut erased, replaced by a different coat of arms in ink, very likely that of the Italian comital family Antico (insignificant bleeding to reverse). Occasional slight waterstaining, still an exceptionally appealing, clean copy. Edit 16, CNCE 33726. Adams P 2138. BM-STC Italian 540. Mortimer 403. Honeyman 2543. DSB I, 468. Brunet IV, 895. Riccardi I/1, 82, 1 ("Bella e rara edizione"). Cf. PMM 25.‎

‎Porzio, Simone.‎

‎De coloribus oculorum. Florence, Lorenzo Torrentino, 1550.‎

‎4to. 57, (1) pp., final bl. f. With 2 large figurated initials. Half vellum (c. 1900). First edition; rare. "One of the earliest monographs on ophthalmology in which the author attempts to explain the cause of the variety of colors of eyes. The positions of the eyes and the opinions of Aristotle and Galen on the structure of the eye are also discussed. The author lectured on medicine at Pisa from 1546 to 1552 and was also known as a scientist and philosopher" (Becker). - Strong, wide-margined paper; slightly browned and waterstained near beginning, otherwise clean. 17th-c. ownership to t. p. ("Josephus Simonellius Carfaminius [?] emit"; i. e. possibly the Neapolitan painter Giuseppe Simonelli [1648-1710?; cf. Nagler XVI, 438). Adams P 1959. BM-STC Italian 537. Edit 16, CNCE 34577. Becker 303. Bird 1989. Durling 3742. Graesse V, 419. Hirsch/Hübotter IV, 660 (misdated: "1551"). Osler 3725. Not in Brunet, Ebert, Hirschberg or Waller.‎

‎Porzio (Portius), Simone.‎

‎De dolore. Florence, Lorenzo Torrentino, 1551.‎

‎4to. 66 pp., final blank leaf. With two figural woodcut initials. Marbled wrappers. Only edition of this treatise on pain, with a discussion of its philosophical interpretations as provided by the physicians and philosophers Galenus, Aristotle, and (in chapters 5 and 6) the great Arabs Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and Averroes (Ibn Rushd). The author describes pain as an essentially mental rather than physical phenomenon. Porzio (1497-1554), a student of Pietro Pompanazzi and variously a writer on medical subjects, taught philosophy in Pisa and Naples. - A finely printed work, showing some slight brownstaining throughout. From the library of the historian of medicine Walter Pagel (1898-1983). Edit 16, CNCE 34587. BM-STC Italian 537. Adams P 1961. Durling 3744. Wellcome I, 5221. Hirsch/H. IV, 660.‎

‎[Ibn Sina (Avicenna)]. Arcolani, Giovanni.‎

‎De febribus [...] in Avic[ennae] quarti canonis fen primam. Dilucida atque optima expositio [...]. Venice, heirs of Lucantonio Giunta, 1560.‎

‎Folio (240 x 354 mm). (18), 191 ff. (without final blank). Printer's device on title page and, in a different version, on the last page. Contemporary cardboard binding with marbled spine and ms. label. Stored in custom-made cloth-and-paper slipcase. First issue under this title, previously released as "Expositio in primam fen quarti canonis Avicennae" (1506). A commentary (with the text, in the version of Gerardus Cremonensis) of book four, part (fen) one of Avicenna's systematic "Canon of Medicine", written in Arabic but widely translated throughout the Middle Ages and the basis of medical training in the West as late as the mid-17th century. It continues in use to this day in parts of the Arab world. Through this encyclopedic work, the author exerted "perhaps a wider influence in the eastern and western hemispheres than any other Islamic thinker" (PMM). "The 'Qanun' [...] contains some of the most illuminating thoughts pertaining to distinction of mediastinitis from pleurisy; contagious nature of phthisis; distribution of diseases by water and soil; careful description of skin troubles; of sexual diseases and perversions; of nervous ailments" (Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science). The present part is dedicated to a discussion of feverish illnesses. - 18th century ownership "Manhem" on title page. Some brownstaining throughout, as common; some waterstains near end; occasional inkstains and marginal annotations. An untrimmed, comparatively wide-margined copy. Edit 16, CNCE 2345. Adams A 1541. Durling 245. Cf. Wellcome I, 387 (only the Venice reprint). PMM 11.‎

‎[China].‎

‎Kuang paper-money from the early Ming Dynasty. China, Ming dynasty, Hongwu era (1375-1398).‎

‎Ming dynasty 1 Kwan note of the Hung-wu era (1368-98), produced from 1375. Printed on grey mulberry bark paper, size ca. 335 x 222 mm. Framed and glazed. Extremely early example of a banknote, and a specimen of the largest paper money ever issued. The Chinese writing along the top of this Ming note reads "Da ming tong xing bao chao" (from right to left, in regular K'ai Shu style), which translates as "Great Ming Circulating Treasure Note". Below this, the denomination is written in two characters "yi guan" ("one string", then the equivalent of 1000 copper cash or one tael of purse silver or one-fourth tael of gold). Beneath the denomination is a picture of a string of 1000 coins, arranged in ten groups of one hundred coins. Beneath this are the instructions for use and a threat to punish forgers. - Paper very thin and fragile, with some very old repairs, partly faded and with some soiling, some folds. Traces of two faded red (vermilion) seal handstamps, one at each side. As these stamps typically tend to fade with time, they are not easily perceptible. These seals had the function of signatures on modern banknotes. The red imperial seal is applied on the reverse. The outer frame surrounding the text is ornamented with dragon patterns. On both sides of the centre are eight Chinese characters "Ta Ming Pao Ch'ao, Tien Hsia T'ung Hsing" (The Great Ming note, circulates everywhere) in Chuan Shu style. - The 1 Kuan note is the largest paper money ever issued. China was the first country in the world to use paper money (credit currency). The very earliest paper money notes date from the 11th and 12th centuries, but as only fragments of these are extant, they can only be described in very general terms. This kind of note was observed by Marco Polo in the 12th century, and he referred to it as "flying money". The oldest paper money of which a complete specimen survives is that from early Ming dynasty, dated 1375. These notes are the earliest numismatic prints, also the earliest obtainable commercial printing on paper, indeed very nearly the earliest obtainable printing of anything - a full lifetime before Gutenberg. Very few examples survive.‎

‎Indagine (Rosenbach), Johannes ab.‎

‎Introductiones apotelesmaticae elegantes, in chyromantiam, physiognomiam, astrologiam naturalem, complexiones hominum, naturas planetarum [...]. Strasbourg, Johann Schott for the author, 1522.‎

‎Small folio (190 x 258 mm). "30" (but: 32), "48" (but: 40), (1) ff., final blank f. With large woodcut portrait of Indagine by Hans Baldung Grien on title page, full-page armorial woodcut on final page, and 111 woodcuts throughout the text. Also, two large woodcut initials: 9-line G and 8-line S, the latter designed by Hans Weiditz (cf. A. F. Johnson, Decorative initial letters, XLI). Early 20th century quarter leather over grey boards, spine titled in gilt. Extremely rare first edition of this important, profusely illustrated Renaissance work on the three occult sciences: astrology, physiognomy and chiromancy. Also called palmistry, chiromancy is the art of reading character and divination of the future by interpretation of the lines and undulations on the palm of the hand. Mediaeval palmistry was pressed into service by the witch-hunters; after a period of disrepute, it flourished again in the Renaissance, and a block-book on the subject was published as early as ca. 1480. Johannes Indagine (ca. 1467-1537, also known as Johannes Rosenbach, or von Hagen), a Carthusian Prior, was perhaps the most highly regarded German chiromancer of the sixteenth century and "an extremely learned man in many fields" (Gettings, An Illustrated History of Palmistry, p. 177). It is unknown where he gained his considerable knowledge of the natural sciences, namely of astronomy (to which he contributed the invention of two instruments) and chiromancy. He advised the Elector Albrecht von Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz, and it might have been Indagine's horoscopes which in 1519 caused the adjournment of the election of Charles V. - The present work was banned by the Inquisition, having been placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum under the decree of Pope Paul IV in 1559 (cf. Thorndike). "Possevin holds that this was on account of the author's astrology, but the other astrologers are all in Class 2. Indagine was placed in Class 1 for his letter to O. Brunfels, published at the end of the volume (which had undoubtedly come to attention in Rome): for this, the author was considered a Lutheran" (Reusch). Illustrated throughout with woodcuts by several artists, including the splendid portrait of the author and his coat of arms, both by Hans Baldung Grien, 11 pairs of physiognomic heads (the pair on fol. 5r also by Grien) and 26 (some repeated) mythological designs representing the signs of the Zodiac attributed to Hans Wechtlin, as well as 37 chiromantic hands (one of fingers only) and 27 numerous astrological diagrams. The work had a great effect on the study of chiromancy and is quoted down to our own day, marking the first beginnings of the fully-fledged astrological chiromancy which was to develop steadily over the next century and a half. - A good, clean copy with remains of six thumb indexes which mark the various parts. Includes the frequently missing two-leaf dedication to Archbishop Albrecht after the title, as well as the final blank; leaf 6 of the first part misbound before the text as usual. Rebound around 1900, trimmed rather closely, with an old catalogue description of this copy (erroneously describing it as incomplete) mounted on the front pastedown: in fact, no index or "blank 4th leaf" are missing (cf. the digitized BSB copy). Of great rarity. VD 16, R 3108. Adams I 88. BM-STC German 429. Ritter 1264. Schmidt 68. Muller II, p. 82, no. 103. Chrisman, Strasbourg Imprints, S15.2.3. Sabattini 282. BNHCat I 23. Zinner 1180. Osler 3049. Oldenbourg (Baldung Grien) L 203. Mende (Baldung Grien) 458-460. Reusch I, 280, note 6. Cf. Caillet 5388-9 (only editions of 1556 and later); Thorndike V, 65-66,175-176; Hollstein, Baldun Grien, n. 263; Zinner 157, 414 f., 433. H. Röttinger, Jahrb. der Kunstslgg. des Ah. Kaiserhauses Wien 27, 1907-1909 (attribution of the illustrations to Hans Wechtlin); Durling, 2531ff. (only editions of 1531 and later).‎

‎More, Sir Thomas.‎

‎De optimo reip. statu deque nova insula Utopia libellus vere aureus [...]. Basel, (Johann Froben, 1518).‎

‎4to. 162 pp., fol. 163-164, (2) pp. (a-s4 t6 u6, without the 'Epigrammata' announced on the title). With woodcut title border and a border in the text by Hans Holbein the younger, 2 woodcuts in the text (1 full-page) by Ambrosius Holbein, and 6 woodcut initials; printer's device on final page. Modern giltstamped full calf. Rare third, revised edition (the first one printed in Basel) of the famous "ideal state" novel that gave its name to a whole literary genre. Edited by Erasmus of Rotterdam, whom More had sent the manuscript in 1516. The second part, about the ideal constitution for a state, was written first, while More was an envoy in Flanders in 1515, while part one was written only in 1516, after his return to England. The two woodcuts by Ambrosius Holbein, Hans's elder brother, include the famous bird's-eye view of the island of Utopia (a full-page illustration) and the charming scene showing the story's fictional traveller, Raphael Hythlodaeus, in discussion with More himself and his Antwerpian friend Peter Gilles (Aegidius), with More's young assistant John Clement (later to become a Royal Physician and More's son-in-law) approaching them. Like 'Gulliver's Travels', Utopia was written "as a tract for the times, to rub in the lesson of Erasmus; it inveighs against the new statesmanship of all-powerful autocracy and the new economics [...], just as it pleads for religious tolerance and universal education [...] More had all Swift's gift for utterly convincing romance: the beginning, when Rafael Hythlodaye recounts his voyages, has a vividness which draws the reader on into the political theory. [More] is a saint to the Catholic, and a predecessor of Marx to the Communist. His manifesto is and will be required reading for both, and for all shades of opinion between" (PMM). - Insignificant browning; endpapers somewhat fingerstained, but a beautiful, clean copy. Handwritten ownership of Gerard van Assendelft, dated 1603, at the top edge of the title-page. VD 16, M 6299. Adams M 1756. Panzer VI, 205, 222. Isaac 14177. Heckethorn 100, 90. Bezzel (Erasmusdrucke) 912. Hieronymus 260. Kat. Basel 1960, 343, 341, 120f. Gibson 3. Van der Haeghen III, 41. Cf. PMM 47.‎

‎Porzio (Portius), Simone.‎

‎An homo bonus vel malus volens fiat, disputatio. Ad Laelium Taurellum iurisconsultiss. Duci Florentinorum a Secretis. Florence, Lorenzo Torrentino, 1551.‎

‎4to. 67, (1) pp. With a figural woodcut initial. Marbled wrappers. First edition of this rare treatise on human action and the voluntariness of man's ethical dispositions: "an investigation of whether the formation of a virtuous or vicious habit is due to our freedom of choice. The treatise is divided into fourteen chapters and begins with a doxographical survey in which the Aristotelian position is opposed to the doctrines of the Stoics and the Platonists. What these latter positions have in common, according to Porzio, is that they both deny the complex nature of the human being, which he forcefully depicts as inescapably composed of both rationality and materiality. His analysis of the limits of human freedom touches upon Renaissance concepts of man and his place in the universe, as well as combines a distinctive approach to Aristotle’s teaching with an heterodox attitude towards divine grace" (L. Casini, "En renässansaristoteliker om den mänskliga frihetens gränser", in: Lychnos [2009], pp. 49-67, at p. 61). Porzio (1497-1554), a student of Pietro Pompanazzi and variously a writer on medical subjects, taught philosophy in Pisa and Naples. He held that the soul is the individual and corruptible form of the human body. - A finely printed work, showing some slight brownstaining throughout. From the library of the historian of medicine Walter Pagel (1898-1983). Edit 16, CNCE 34585. BM-STC Italian 537. Adams P 1957. Durling 3741.‎