‎Printing‎

‎[Reisch, Gregor].‎

‎[Margarita philosophica.] Aepitoma omnis phylosophiae. Alias margarita phylosophica tractans de omni genere scibili. Cum additionibus: que in aliis non habentur. (Strasbourg, Johann [Reinhard, gen.] Grüninger, 23 February 1504).‎

‎4to. [287] ff. (B-C6, D-E8, F28 [!], G8, H6, J8, K4, L-N8, O6, P-Q8, R6, S-V8, X6, Y-Z8, a8, b4, c7 [6+1: includes "c medium" between c2 and c3], d-e8, f6, g-h8, i4, k-l8, m6, n-p8; published thus without a gathering A, agreeing with ÖNB copy). With title woodcut, 8 pp. of musical notes, and numerous (32 large, 12 almost full-page, and hundreds of small) woodcuts in the text (wanting the woodcut map and the folding plate on musical theory). Contemp. wooden boards with blindstamped pigskin spine and one central brass clasp. The first encyclopedic work in modern European history. The first Strasbourg edition, a revision of the Freiburg first edition published the previous year. In the manner of a dialogue between teacher and student, the book discusses the sciences and liberal arts, including music (with notes), medicine, geometry, surveying, etc. Grüninger modified several woodcuts from the first edition and added others; he also incorporated a brief Hebrew grammar by Conrad Pellicanus, making this the first Strasbourg-printed book to include Hebrew type (cf. Schmidt). - Among the illustrations are a map of the world on f. c6r and many charming miniature woodcuts in the margins. Occasionally, details of the initials (F11r) and woodcuts (e.g., F18v, c2v [salamander], and c3v [dragon]) have been coloured in red. Several contemporary underlinings and marginalia, including a lengthy note on earthquakes that supplements the printed text by additional sources, such as the Arabian astronomer Abu Ma'shar: "Erdbebung bedeute straff Gottes. Naturliche Ursachen nemlich die Hitz und würckung etlicher Planeten, mit der Sonnen, als Martis, Iovis, Saturni, und sönderlich sagt Albumasar vom Saturno. Bedeuten stets künfftig Unglück, wie auch Plinius danen saget, das kein Erdbidem zu Rom geschehen sey one Bedeutung künfftiger ding [...]" (c5v). Some browning and fingerstaining; quires S and e misbound; several small edge defects (larger in d5, k6); paper defects to D4 and (almost touching text) d6. Some worming near beginning and end of volume, also concerning the binding; some damage to spine-ends. VD 16, R 1034. BM-STC 731. Proctor 9891. Schmidt (Grüninger) 66. Ritter 1984. Muller 24, 26. Smith, Rara, 82. Sabin 69123. Ferguson (Reisch) 201f. Alden/L. 504/2. Zinner 849. Eitner VIII, 183. Not in Adams.‎

‎Lomazzo, Giovanni Paolo.‎

‎Trattato dell'arte de la pittura, di Gio. Paolo Lomazzo milanese pittore. Diviso in sette libri. Ne' quali si contiene tutta la theorica, & la prattica d'essa pittura. Milano, Paolo Gottardo Da Ponte, 1584.‎

‎4to. (40), 700 (but: 698), (2) pp. With armorial title woodcut and half-page woodcut portrait on fol. B1. Contemporary full vellum with marbled edges. Second edition, the earliest one obtainable and usually considered the first altogether (a single copy of an edition published by Da Ponte in 1582 has been discovered in the Biblioteca della Collegiata S. Pietro Apostolo in Broni near Pavia). The principal work of the Milan artist and theoretician of art, Giampaolo Lomazzo, has been called "the most complete treatise on the art theory, design, and iconography of the Mannerist period" (Arntzen/R.); indeed, "the true Bible of Mannerism" (cf. Schlosser). Purposefully divided into the mystical number of seven books, Lomazzo's treatise describes first proportions (with a discussion of Dürer, who was much-received in Italy), then the expression of feelings, colours, light and shade, linear perspective, and practical painting; the seventh and final book treats matter and substances, touching upon - and greatly expanding on - Armenini. "These last two chapters are of the greatest importance for understanding the essence of Mannerism, providing quite simply one of the most extensive accounts" (ibid.). - Some occasional browning and waterstaining near beginning; slight paper flaw to fol. E3 (not affecting legibility). Numerous errors in pagination; quire Y jumbled but complete. A small perforation to the spine; textblock curled. Old ownership on front flyleaf obliterated in ink. A single copy in German auction records. Edit 16, CNCE 24452 (Var. A). Adams L 1419. BM-STC Italian 391. Cicognara 159. Schlosser 352 Arntzen/Rainwater H 43. Kat. der Ornamentstichslg. Berlin 4612. Chamberlin 2015. Bibl. Trivulziana 261. Cf. Haym, Libri rari 265; Fowler 185 (1585 ed.).‎

‎[Biblia latina].‎

‎Biblia latina. Nuremberg, Anton Koberger, 14 June 1478.‎

‎Large folio (280 x 360 mm). Including Menardus monachus. (1), CCCCLXI, (6) ff., with two coloured historiated initials. 16th century blindstamped pigskin binding over wooden boards, wants clasps. Koberger's third Latin Bible, printed with the same types as the second: in the splendid Gothic typeface which Koberger used exclusively for his Bibles; at the same time, the earliest type he is known to have used (cf. Klemm, Bibliogr. Mus., 722). The initial on fol. i shows the evangelist Mark with the lion; the tendril decoration reaches from the upper edge (slightly trimmed) to the lower one, ending in a coat of arms bearing the monogram "S-A-B". The second historiated initial on fol. iiii shows the Fall from Grace (Adam and Eve in paradise, with the apple tree and the serpent in the centre); here, the tendrils reach as far as the lower third of the page and also end in a coat of arms. Very exactingly rubricated throughout; signed at the end: "91 Jo fec". Several handwritten ownerships to fol. A1r, some contemporary, others as late as 1876: the name and printed bookplate of "C. R. Earley, Ridgway, Pa." (1823-98). Several manuscript marginalia. Some slight browning to the gutter of the first few leaves, staining to upper edge of fol. i. Insignificant waterstaining to upper edge of several leaves; occasional foxing or tiny smudged inkstains. Handwritten marginalia trimmed in places, but altogether a crisp, wide-margined copy. Some staining to the hefty binding; edges as well as a crack to the upper cover have been unobtrusively repaired. Hain 3068. Goff B-556. GW 4232. BMC II, 415. Polain 648. Pellechet 2296. Oates 988. Hase 27.‎

‎[Ahmet Ibn Sirin].‎

‎[Kitab al-Jawami - Italian]. Espositione de gli insomnii secondo la interpretatione de gli Indi Persi et Egyptii. Tradutte e Greco in Latino per Leone Toschano, et al presente date in Luce. Per il Tricasso Mantuano ad Alessandro Bicharia patricio Pavese. Venice, Giovanni Padoano ad instantia de Marchio Sessa, 1551.‎

‎8vo. 62, (2) ff. With wodcut printer's device on title page. Contemporary limp vellum with later giltstamped orange spine label and ms. spine title. Very rare Italian edition of the "Kitab al-Jawami", an Arabic work on the interpretation of dreams by an "Achmet, son of Seirim" - almost certainly identical with the 8th century Muslim mystic Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Sirin. The work survived in a Greek translation ("Biblion oneirokritikon") prepared in the 12th century. "The author Ahmed served as interpreter of dreams to Caliph Al-Mamun around 820 [...] The mediaeval conflation of medicine with astrology originated with the Arabs. Through the Salernitanian school, which had many Arabic works translated, the notion reached Europe in the 11th century, where it remained predominant as late as the 17th and 18th century [...] In 1577 J. Loewenklau published a Latin translation of the Oneirokritiká of Ahmed, whom he calls Apomasar" (cf. Schöll). - Slight waterstaining and old ink ownerships and annotations to title page. BM-STC Italian 338. Edit 16, CNCE 40443 (title misspelt: "insonnii"). OCLC 1002786023. Not in Adams. Cf. GAL I, 66. Schöll, Geschichte der griechischen Literatur III, 487. Graesse, Bibl. mag. et pneum. 97.‎

‎Höniger von Königshoven, Nicolaus (ed.).‎

‎Hoffhaltung des Türckhischen Keysers und Othomannischen Reichs beschreibung [...]. Basel, Sebastian Henricpetri, 1578.‎

‎Folio (215 x 317 mm). Two parts in one volume, each with separate title page. (6 [instead of 8], CCCLIII, (1) pp. (8), CCLXXVIII (wanting final leaf with printer's device). Title page printed in red and black; with woodcut illustrations throughout. Contemporary half leather binding with roll-tools on five raised double bands; covers appealingly covered with the remains of a 15th-century musical manuscript on vellum. Second German edition of this widely received compilation. The main text derives from Antoine Geuffroy's "Estat de la court du grand Turc", first published in 1542; the other texts include the slavery account of Bartolomej Djurdjevic (Georgijevic), the exhortations of Bessarion and Pius II against the Turks, Breydenbach on the Armenians, and Aventinus's panegyric on Charles V. Also contains a discussion of the life of Mahomet, the Muslim religion and its rites. The second part deals almost exclusively with the reign of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. Includes the impressive plans and maps of Cairo, Constantinople, and Tunis. - Some worming near beginning; some edge flaws and paper damage (remargined). Rather browned throughout with some waterstaining; occasional contemporary ink marginalia. Old library stamps of the Graz Friars Minor on title page. VD 16, G 1911. BM-STC German 408. Adams G 561. Chauvin XII, p. 166, no. 638. Göllner 1692. Hammer 1044. Kertbeny 896. Cf. Atabey 492 (1573 ed.). Not in Blackmer or Cobham-Jeffrey.‎

‎Quercu, Simon de.‎

‎Opusculum musices perquam brevissimum. Vienna, Johann Winterburger, 1509.‎

‎4to. 48 unnumbered pages. With the Guidonian hand woodcut in red and black, 4 woodcut initials, woodcut device at end, several xylographic tables and music examples. Modern white boards with title lettered on spine. Rare first edition, of which just a few copies survive: the author's presentation copy, a partly erased inscription at the end reading "Munus Autoris [...] An 11, 7 martii [...]". Quercu was choirmaster to Duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan and accompanied his two sons as a tutor to the court of Vienna. The present treatise, a famous and highly original book on musical theory for young scholars, was probably used in the musical education of the duke's sons. "The first part, 'Musica plana', deals with the modes, intervals, note names, solmization and solmization syllables, and mutation. The second part, 'Musica mensuralis', deals with note lengths, rests, ligatures, mensuration signs, alteration, imperfection and mensural proportions. The third part, 'Contrapunctus', considers consonances, dissonances and polyphonic writing. His teaching is illustrated with many music examples" (New Grove). The finely printed book includes on p. (4) the Guidonian hand, named after Guido of Arezzo (992?-1050), who introduced into music theory this mnemonic device to help teach singers learn to sight-read. Each portion of the hand represents a specific note in the hexachord system; during instruction, a teacher would indicate the series of notes by pointing to them on their hand to have the students sing them. - Light washing traces. Inscription recording "A gift from the author, 7 March [15]11", on the final page. German dealer’s catalogue clipping bound in before title. A monogram stamp on the lower pastedown identifies the collection of Otto Schäfer in Schweinfurt (purchased in 1958). No auction record for this edition (and only one for the second edition; cf. ABPC/RBH). USTC lists 5 copies only held in libraries including this copy. VD 16, Q 39. Denis p. 22. Panzer IX, p. 3, no. 13. New Grove XV, 504. MGG X, 1811. USTC 679907.‎

‎Alphonsus de Spina.‎

‎Fortalitium fidei in universos christiane religionis hostes Judaeorum et saracenorum [...]. (Lyon, Jean Moylin for) Etienne Gueynard, (11 Oct. 1525).‎

‎Large 8vo. (8), CCCLXXI, (3) ff. Title printed in red and black with woodcut illustration and numerous woodcut initials and marginal illustrations repeated throughout the volume. Contemporary full calf over wooden boards with blind-tooled ornaments and remains of clasps, rebacked in the 19th century with new spine and marbled endpapers. This "Fortress of the Faith, against all the enemies of the Christian religion, restraining the rage of Jews and Muslims", written c. 1458, is the principal work of the baptized Spanish Jew de Spina. It is considered the "methodical and ideological foundation of the Inquisition. The book, divided into five chapters, targets chiefly Jews and Muslims" (cf. LMA I, 408f.). Of the five books, "the first [is] directed against those who deny the Divinity of Christ, the second against heretics, the third against the Jews, and the fourth against Islam and the Muslims, while the fifth book treats of the battle to be waged against the Gates of Hell. In this last book the author dwells at length upon the demons and their hatred of men; the powers they have over men and the diminution of these powers, owing to the victory of Christ on the Cross, the final condition of the demons, etc." (Catholic Encyclopaedia). "Ouvrage fort curieux de ce théologien espagnol [...] il était dit-on d'origine juive, c'est pour cela que son 'Fortalicium' pèut ètre classé dans une bibliothèque kabbalistique" (Caillet). Part 3, on the iniquities of the Jews, is a veritable encyclopaedia of mediaeval antisemitic libel, containing numbered lists of Jewish "cruelties" and refutations of the Jews' supposed anti-Christian arguments. The section on Islam lists the numerous Saracen wars, while the fifth book is devoted to the battle to be waged against the Gates of Hell and its resident demons, whose population the author calculates at over 133 million. - Block loosened in places. Clasps missing; binding rubbed but original blind-tooling of boards remains recognizable, even though partly obscured by the 19th century leather that replaced the spine. A fine post-incunabular edition, the final one to appear, embellished with numerous woodcut illustrations. Adams S 1593. BM-STC French 170. Coumont (Witchcraft) S84.7. IA 103.849. Caillet 10306 ("Incunable gothique rare").‎

‎Caggio, Paolo.‎

‎Iconomica [...] nella quale s'insegna breuemente per modo di dialogo il gouerno famigliare, come di se stesso, della moglie, de' figliuoli, de' serui, delle case, delle robbe, & d'ogn'altra cosa a quella appartenente. Venice, Pozzo, 1552.‎

‎Small 8vo. (8), 64 ff. With woodcut device to title-page, 1 woodcut initial and 1 full-page emblematic woodcut at the end. - (Bound with) II: Rosello, (Lucio) Paolo. Due dialoghi […]. Uno, in cui si tratta il modo di conoscere, et di far la scelta d’un servitore, & de l’ufficio suo. L’altro, de la vita de cortegiani, intitolato la patientia. Venice, (Comin da Trino di Monferrato, 1549). 24 ff. With publisher's device to title-page and full-page, different device to the reverse. Contemporary boards. First editions: two rare Italian Renaissance treatises about prudent household management, including the role and treatment of family and servants, directed at the paterfamilias and couched in the form of dialogues. "Though the first treatises of this type appeared in the 16th century, penned by humanists, their production intensified after 1550, when they also acquired a different and broader meaning [...] While in the first examples of the genre the household was perceived as a metaphor for the health of the polity, in the following century a well-regulated household became an indication of the noble quality of its master and an expression of civilized behaviour" (Cavallo/Storey, Healthy Living in Late Renaissance Italy [OUP, 2013], p. 42). Above all, books of the "oeconomica" genre aimed to "define the responsibilities of each member of the family and household - husband, wife, children, and different ranks of servants - and how they should behave towards one another. Special attention is also given to manners and attitudes appropriate to the social standing, age, and gender [...], but they also contain practical advice on how to make a house salubrious by orienting the building correctly as regards sun and wind, and through the layout and size of the rooms and windows" (ibid., p. 43). Caggio's treatise not only includes such architectural considerations (cf. fol. 57f.), but generally provides an uncommonly detailed window into the familial mores of his native Palermo during the mid-16th century, frequently betraying the pervasive misogyny of Sicilian society: the two-page table of contents promises answers to problems such as, "Why did nature make men robust and valorous and women weak and of little spirit", and further along gives advice on, "What damages are caused by wives who are pompous, proud, and domineering". - The 1549 treatise by Rosello, a Padovan cleric frequently at odds with the censorship of his church, contains two dialogues. The first develops the subject of the mutual education of master and servant, demonstrating that the latter will show all the more "prudentia, modestia, gentilezza, & costumi civili" (fol. 13r) if the master is indulgent and forbearing toward him. The second notoriously portrays life at court as an anarchic war of all against all in which the courtier, lacking a specific professional or classical education, must continually adapt to circumstances like a chameleon (cf. M. Hinz, Rhetorische Strategien des Hofmannes [1992], p. 239). - Binding rather severely rubbed, extremeties bumped; book's contents inscribed on upper cover. Interior shows occasional weak waterstains. Several old annotations to endpapers and title-page (some in Italian); a cipher alphabet is inscribed to the lower endpaper. Provenance: from the collection of the historian and director of the Viennese court library, Sebastian Tengnagel (1563-1636), who willed his large private library to the Emperor in 1633 (cf. Alphons Lhotsky, Die Wiener Palatina und die Geschichtsforschung unter Sebastian Tengnagel, in: Aufsätze und Vorträge III [1972], p. 242ff.). His autograph ownership is on the title-page: "Ex lib. Sebast. Tengnagel I.V.D. et Caes. Biblioth.", and it is possible that the cipher alphabet is also written by him. The pastedown shows the later bookplate of the library of Pfannberg castle in Styria, the collection of the Austrian industrialist Baron Franz Mayr von Melnhof (1810-89). I: Edit 16, CNCE 8270. BM-STC Italian 136. Not in Adams. - II: Edit 16, CNCE 53725. BM-STC Italian 587. Not in Adams. For the author cf. Jöcher III, 2224.‎

‎Brant, Sebastian.‎

‎Stultifera navis mortalium, in qua fatui affectus, mores [...] depinguntur [...] et per Iacobum Locher [...] Latinitati donatus [...]. Basel, (Sebastiani Henricpetri, March 1572).‎

‎8vo. (28) pp., 2 blank ff., 284, (2) pp., final blank leaf. With woodcut title vignette and 115 woodcuts in the text (6 of which in original hand colour, 1 partly coloured). - (Bound with) II: Lucanus, Marcus Annaeus. De bello civili apud Pharsaliam libri X. Cologne, Walther Fabritius, 1560. (336) pp. With woodcut title vignette. Contemporary blind-tooled calf over wooden boards with bevelled edges and two brass clasps, lozenge-shaped floral roll-tools enclosing plate-stamps of "Justitia" and "Lucrecia", upper cover bearing monogram "ALG" and date "1573". A fine, later Latin edition of the famous "Narrenschiff", originally published in German verse in 1494 and translated by the author's student Jacob Locher in 1497. This is the first edition to contain the outstanding narrative woodcuts by Tobias Stimmer (1539-84), showing the fools and their companions in Renaissance costume. The first six illustrations are coloured by a contemporary hand. - One of literature's most famous satires: before Goethe's "Werther" arrived on the scene, this work was the most successful book ever published in Germany. In his "Ship of Fools", Brant describes the voyage of a ship bearing one hundred fools, to the fools' paradise of Narragonia, thereby satirizing the follies of his time including representatives of every human and social type. "[T]he first original work by a German which passed into world literature [... it] helped to blaze the trail that leads from medieval allegory to modern satire, drama and novel of character" (PMM). Erwin Panofsky called the book "a remarkably complete mirror of human life", based upon the "universality of Brant's self-righteous surliness [...] and the picturesqueness of his metaphors" (Panofsky, p. 30). Incidentally, the book also contains the earliest literary reference to the discovery of America: "Hesperiae occiduae rex Ferdinandus, in alto Aequore nunc gentes repperit innumeras" ("Ferdinand, King of the West, recently discovered innumerable peoples across the high seas", p. 132). - Bound with this is an uncommon Cologne edition of Lucanus's epic "Pharsalia", esteemed throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages for its stylistic and historical merits. - Light brownstaining and occasional light waterstains throughout. A few underlinings in red ink to the "Pharsalia". Upper hinge starting, but binding generally in fine condition. Provenance: Handwritten ownership of Virgilius Fetius of Oettingen in Bavaria (gift from Johann Nortman in February 1577), dated 1578, on the flyleaf. Bookplate of the Bohemian industrialist and art collector Karl Adalbert Lanna (1805-66) to front pastedown; a shelfmark, dated 16 March 1888, written on lower flyleaf. Latterly in the library Werner Habel (his ownership stamp to verso of upper flyleaf). I: VD 16, B 7081. BNHCat B 874. BM-STC German 147. Adams B 2673. - II: VD 16, L 2905 (A 4393). Schweiger II.1, 562. Not in Adams or BM-STC German.‎

‎Cavalcanti, Bartolomeo.‎

‎Trattati overo discorsi [...] sopra gli ottimi reggimenti delle republiche antiche et moderne. Venice, (Jacopo Sansovino il Giovane, 1570)-1571.‎

‎4to. (4), 86, (1) ff. With small woodcut device on title, several woodcut initials and head-pieces and fine printer's device to verso of last leaf. Contemporary limp vellum. First edition. A treatise on political theory exposing liberal if not democratic principles for a republican city government, with much attention devoted to public administration, economic policy, the advancement of agricultural production, etc. Cavalcanti (1503-62), a Florentine scholar, historian and diplomat, is best known for his compendium of classical rhetoric (Retorica, 1559) in which he emphasized its practical rather than its literary meaning. After the assassination of Alessandro de' Medici in 1537 he left Florence and lived in Ferrara and Rome, serving as a diplomat for Pope Paul III, and died in Padua. This treatise was posthumously published by Sebastiano Erizo and reprinted several times, with at least three editions in the 19th century. - Handwritten ownership of Andrea da Verrazzano on flyleaf. Stitching slightly defective, wanting the final part (14 leaves). Small waterstain in upper and lower part of inner margin. A nice copy. Edit 16, CNCE 10438. Adams C 1178. BM-STC Italian 162.‎

‎Francolin, Hanns von.‎

‎Thurnier Buech warhafftiger ritterlicher Thaten, so in dem Monat Junii des vergangnen LX. Jars in und ausserhalb der Statt Wienn zu Rosz und zu Fueß, auff Waser und Lannd gehalten worden [...]. (Vienna, Raphael Skrzetusky gen. Hofhalter), [1561].‎

‎Small folio (202 x 279 mm). (6), LXXX (but: 84), (1) pp. (collation: A6; B-N4 [N4 blank], O-P4 Q2, R-X4, x2, Y-Z4). Title page printed in red and black surrounded by a border of 10 armorial woodcuts. With full-page woodcut portrait of Emperor Ferdinand I by Donat Hübschmann on verso, large emblematic etching by Johann Schlutpacher von Rauris (A6v), full-page woodcut by Hans Lautensack of the standard-bearer Heinrich the younger, Burgrave of Meissen (E1r), 45 woodcut coat-of-arms in quire x, on Z1r woodcut device incorporating the arms of the printer, a Polish nobleman. 7 large folded etched plates, including two by Hanns Lautensack (at G4 and N4), one attributed to Francesco Terzi (at H2), one by the monogrammist FA (at I3), one attributed to Giovanni Guerra (at Q2), one unsigned (at X3), and one attributed to Johann Thwenger. Early 19th century half calf. First German edition of the finest early printed book on tournaments. It describes in detail and spectacularly illustrates the tournaments, staged battles (including an elaborate naval scene), balls and banquets, held at Vienna to honour the visit of Albrecht V Duke of Bavaria (1528-79), son-in-law of Emperor Ferdinand I and brother-in-law of King Maximilian of Bohemia (Emperor Maximilian II from 1564 onwards). According to Graesse (II, 629), the Latin edition of the same year has different illustrations, which he describes as "moins bonnes", and the same is true for Feyerabend's Frankfurt edition appended to Rüxner's "Thurnier Buch" (1566). The author served as herald to John II Sigismund, King of Hungary. - In complete condition with the full complement of etched plates, the book is of the utmost rarity; both Ruggieri copies were imperfect, and Bartsch describes only three of the etchings. - Fine impressions throughout. Some light browning and marginal fingerstaining; a few tears or flaws to the plates reinforced or rebacked. Rebound in the early 18th century for the Austrian infantry captain and secretary to the military court Franz von Grössing (his handwritten ownership at the bottom of title-page and colophon), preserving the upper third of the original flyleaf with handwritten ownerships dating from the 1560s (Rosina and H. V. Bastrig[o] 1561; gifted to Bernhard Kulmer by his sister Barbara Poltus, but returned to Bastrig in 1563 "as he will not allow the gift, and has a better right to the book"). Latterly in the library of the Viennese collector Werner Habel (1939-2015) with his handwritten and stamped ownership to the new flyleaf. VD 16, F 2207. Ruggieri 827. Brunet Suppl. II, 767. BNHCat F 406. Mayer I, 88f. Watanabe 21.‎

‎Godefroy, Henri.‎

‎Traicte et remonstrance a tous chrestiens, et specialement au peuple de Paris, pour detester & delaisser l'usure: avec ample resolution des cas & difficultez d'icelle. Paris, Nicolas Chesneau, 1577.‎

‎8vo. (32), 382, (2) pp. Fine printer's mark on title and several decorated initials. Contemporary limp vellum, spine with traces of former calf reinforcement. First and only edition. A rare treatise against usury written "for all Christians and particularly for the people of Paris". The author launches a vehement attack on luxury in general and on the taking of interest as one of the greatest of all sins, forbidden by all laws, and against the law of nature. He discusses the prohibitions by Mosaic law, the Prophets, Jesus Christ, the Apostles, canon law and civil law and quotes from the proclamations against usury and usurers issued by the Paris parliament in 1565, by Charles IX in 1567 and by Henry III in 1577. The second part of the book provides more detailed information about the various types of usury, how to approach them, how to treat usurers, etc. As an example of God's hatred of luxury and usury, the author reminds the reader of the dreadful fate of the city of Antwerp, "one of the richest and most prosperous cities in all Christianity", which was sacked in the "Spanish Fury" only a year before the publication of this book, causing the end of Antwerp's prosperity. Godefroy calls himself "Parisien, profez en l'Abbaye S. Denis en France, & docteur en la faculté de Theologie à Paris". - Binding worn, both covers nearly detached. Upper margin of first and last leaves stained, some leaves spotted. Old ownership to title-page (dated 1681); additional early annotations to verso of final leaf. Very rare. OCLC 492381754. Not in Adams or BM-STC French. Not in Kress, Goldsmiths', Einaudi or Masui. WorldCat locates 4 copies only (Mazarine; Sainte-Genevieve; Lyon; LMU Munich).‎

‎Paradin, Guillaume.‎

‎Historiarum memorabilium ex Genesi descriptio. Lyon, Jean de Tournes, 1558.‎

‎8vo. (96) pp. With arabesque woodcut border to title and 94 woodcuts by Bernard Salomon in the text. - (Bound with) II: Borluyt, Guillaume. Historiarum memorabilium ex Exodo, sequentibusq[ue], libris descriptio. Ibid., 1558. (144) pp. With arabesque woodcut border to title and 136 woodcuts by Bernard Salomon in the text. 19th century full purple morocco on five raised bands, title gilt to spine, leading edges and inner dentelle gilt. Marbled endpapers. Top edge gilt. First Latin editions, previously published in French (as "Quadris historiques de la Bible") in 1555. Each page contains four verses describing a scene from the Old Testament, accompanied by a delicately executed illustration (94 from Genesis, 77 from Exodus, and 59 from other books: a total of 230 woodcuts). Brunet gives 134 (instead of 136) woodcuts for the second book, remarking: "cette suite est fort jolie et fort recherchée". The fine series of illustrations shows the influence of Holbein and Beham, and yet is stylistically independent; "c'est l'oeuvre capitale de Bernard Salomon" (Rondot). There is no preliminary matter to the first book, but the second contains a preface and verses by Borlyut. - Occasional browning; title of first book torn and rebacked; several large tears and paper flaws throughout have been professionally repaired with minimal loss to text. Pages were washed and (in some case excessively) pressed before rebinding. All woodcuts are in good impressions. Provenance: bookplate of the Swiss minister Gaspard Ernest Stroehlin (1844-1907), professor of church history at the University of Geneva; below this slightly later bookplate of G. Velmay. Latterly in a Russian private collection. Fairfax Murray II, 429. Brun, Livre illustr. en France XVIe siècle, 203 (counting only 229 woodcuts). BM-STC French 337 & 76. Adams P 306 & B 2501. Cat. Harvard 88f. Bibles Paris, 1284. Cartier 394.‎

‎Alessio Piemontese.‎

‎De secretis libri sex mira quadam rerum varietate referti ex italico in latinum sermone e nunc primum translati per Ioannem Iacobum Weckerum, medicum. Basel, [Peter Perna], 1559.‎

‎8vo. (16), 279, (23) pp., final blank f. Half vellum using a leaf from an antiphonary. First Latin edition of Alessio's "De secretis", still in six books. The author is commonly identified with the alchemist Girolamo Ruscelli (1520-66). "Das Werk gehört nach Caillet zur 'haute philosophie hermetique'. Es enthält außer alchemistischen auch viele kosmetische Rezepte, ferner solche gegen Pest, Schlangengift, Ungeziefer, wie auch Konfekt, Einmachen von Früchten, Druckerschwärze, Putzmittel, Schlafmittel usw., des weiteren sehr frühe Beispiele zur Syphilis-Therapie und Arsenikverbindungen zur Haarvertilgung" (Horn/Arndt). "Une des premières éditions de ces célébres secrets que l'on considère comme merveilleux. Quelques personnes qui ont fait l'essai de plusieurs affirment que les résultats sont prodigieux" (Caillet). Sections on making wine, ink, soap, toothpaste, etc. From 1569 onwards Perna also published a German translation. - Somewhat brownstained and waterstained throughout; a few contemporary marginalia; extensive notes by a contemporary hand on reverse of title-page and at the end. Very rare; no copy in auction records of the past decades. VD 16, R 3835. Durling 110. Wellcome 178. Ferchl 455. Ferguson I, 22 (note). Duveen 15 (note). Cf. Caillet I, 177ff. Rosenthal 754. Graesse (Bib. magica) 50. Simon 33.‎

‎Isocrates.‎

‎[De pace.] Isocratis Atheniensis oratoris ac philosophi gravissima oratio, de bello fugiendo, et pace servanda, ad populum Atheniensem, Petro Mosellano Protegense interprete. [Leipzig, Valentin Schumann], (1518).‎

‎4to. (40) pp. With large heraldic woodcut (Elector Frederick of Saxony) on t. p. and woodcut printer's device on last f. recto. Modern boards. First separate edition; Froben was to publish his own Latin edition in the following year. The Greek text was already contained in the Venetian 1493 incunable and in the 1513 Aldus edition; it was not to be printed again until Froben's 1522 Libanius edition; the first separate edition of the original text was to be printed by Wechel in Paris in 1529. - Isocrates (436-338), the most highly esteemed and successful teacher of rhetorics of his time, continued to exert a great influence on artistic prose for centuries. - Rare; no copy in BSB. VD 16, I 563. Hoffmann 486. BM-STC German 433. Not in Adams or Schweiger.‎

‎Sturm, Johannes.‎

‎De bello adversus turcas perpetuo administrando. Jena, [Tobias Steinmann], 1598.‎

‎8vo. (8), "219" (but: 217) pp. - (Includes, with separate title-page): De bello turcico perpetuo administrando. Ibid., 1598. (8), 59, (13) pp. - (And:) Epistolae de bello turcico perpetuo administrando. Ibid., 1598. (20) ff. With two woodcut printer's devices to first and second title. 18th century half calf over marbled boards with traces of a giltstamped spine label. Only edition of this discussion of the 16th century's endless skirmishes and wars on the Ottoman-Habsburg border, posthumously published by Nicolaus Reusner during the early years of the Long Turkish War that had broken out in 1593. The humanist Johannes Sturm (1507-89) had been a friend of Melanchthon, Erasmus and Vesalius. "He established a celebrated school at Strasbourg in 1538, raised to the rank of academy by Maximilian II in 1566, and which was run according to Sturm's principle that a school was a state in miniature" (Blackmer). The anonymous printer was formerly thought to have been Donat Richtzenhan (BM), but VD 16 now identifies him as Tobias Steinmann. The three parts appear to have been issued separately, and the copies in Cambridge and the British Library comprise only the first two parts. - Some browning throughout. Removed from the Imperial Russian Military Academy with their bookplate to front pastedown. VD 16, S 9913. BM-STC German 840. Adams S 1986. Blackmer 1619. Göllner II, 2343-2345. Schefer 2262. Boecler 219. Hammer 1344.‎

‎Brisson, Barnabé.‎

‎De ritu nuptiarum liber singularis. (With:) Eiusdem De iure conubiorum liber alter. Paris, Rouillius, 1564.‎

‎4to. (16), 56 (misnumbered "59"), 78 pp. Two parts with woodcut printer's device to title-page, bound separately in modern wrappers. First edition. - A treatise on wedding ceremonies and marriage law by the French jurist Brisson (1531-91), drawing on classical authors such as Aristotle, Cicero, Pliny, Ovid, Seneca, and Plutarch. Brisson was privy councillor to King Henry III, was promoted to Président a Mortier in 1580 and assigned First President of the Parliament by the Catholic League in 1589. - Some notes and underlinings in ink. Paper somewhat brownstained and waterstained at the margins, slightly wormed. BM-STC French 82. Adams B 2849. Cf. Jöcher I, 1385f ("De veteri ritu nuptiarum et iure connubiorum").‎

‎Marzari, Francesco.‎

‎In materiam fideicommissariam epitome. Parma, Seth Viotti, 1570.‎

‎4to. (12), 88 pp. Woodcut printer's device to title-page. Modern wrappers. A rare edition of this treatise on entailed estates by the Italian jurist Marzari, who practiced in Vicenza and Bologna, also issued by Balthasar Salvian in Venice in the same year. It was preceded by two Florence edtions by Torrentini & Pectinari in 1567 and 1569. - Some notes and underlinings. Paper evenly browned, a little waterstained; margins slightly wormed. Small flaws to the title-page, slight loss of text. Edit 16, CNCE 39107 (only 7 copies in Italy). Cf. Catalogus impressorum librorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae II, 681 (Venice ed.). For Marzari cf. Jöcher III, 251. Not in BM-STC or Adams.‎

‎Dubois (Sylvius), Jacques.‎

‎In Hippocratis et Galeni physiologiae partem anatomicam isagoge [...]. Paris, Aegidius Gorbin, 1561.‎

‎8vo. 76 ff. - (Bound with) II: The same. Commentarius in Claudii Galeni de ossibus ad tyrones libellum [...]. Ibid., 1561. 37, (3) ff. Contemporary limp vellum (wanting ties). Two medical textbooks by the Parisian anatomist Dubois, widely used by French medical students in the mid-16th century. The present volume is heavily annotated by a contemporary owner who signs his name as "Mirard" (?) on the first title-page. The annotations are particularly extensive in the sections on blood vessels, muscles, and nerves. - Dubois (1478-1555, Latinized as "Sylvius") was the first to describe venous valves, which he injected with coloured liquids (although their function was discovered only later by William Harvey), and is credited with first having given names to the various muscles, previously simply numbered. His blind reverence for the ancient physicians, especially Galen, involved him in a public controversy with his most famous student, Vesalius, who had dared to expose the errors of the Greeks. A former classicist, Dubois is also the author of the first French grammar to be published in France. - Some waterstaining near end, the final leaf showing severe paper flaws with some loss to the index. The first 50 ff. show noticeable worming to the gutter, stronger near the beginning, but mostly without loss to text. An additional handwritten ownership from Montpellier, another center of French medical learning (signed "G. B. Minet", dated 1709), at the bottom of the title page. Durling 1259 & 1236. Wellcome I, 6183 & 6184. Adams S 2181 & S 2170. OCLC 14317273 & 1025189760. Cf. BM-STC French 141. Hirsch II, 220f.‎

‎Peurbach, Georg.‎

‎Quadratum geometricum praeclarissimi mathematici. Nuremberg, Johann Stuchs, 1516.‎

‎Folio. 10 unnumbered ff. Title printed in red and black with full-page woodcut of the instrument in question (repeated on f. 2v) and numerous woodcut diagrams. Modern half morocco over red boards. First edition of one of the rarest works by the Austrian astronomer and instrument maker. The "Quadratum geometricum", a new geodetic measuring instrument, was invented by Peurbach himself, and its use is here described for the first time. - From the library of Werner Habel, with his ownership stamp, signature and acquisition date (1977) to front pastedown. Previously in the collections of Count Wladyslaw Hrabia Bielinski and Zygmunt Czarnecki, with their stamps to title. Rare, only a single copy recorded at auction within the last 60 years. VD 16, P 2054. Adams P 2270. BNHCat P 943.‎

‎Sibutus, Georg Daripinus.‎

‎Ars memorativa Gerogii [!] Sibuti daripini co[n]cionatorib[us] et iurisperitis multum utilis et fructuosa. Carmen eiusdem in vita[m] sanctae Annae Heroicu[m]. Sphico annexum. Saphicum Ioannis Murmellii. Saphicum Ioanuis [!] cesarii. Cologne, [heirs of Heinrich] Quentel, 7 Aug. 1506.‎

‎16 pp. With an ornamental woodcut initial on the title page. Papered spine. Second edition of Sibutus's first published work, previously printed by Quentel in March 1505: a treatise on the art of memory. The humanist Sibutus (c. 1480-1528), probably from Tannroda in Thuringia, was a student of Conrad Celtis. Crowned poet laureate by Emperor Maximilian, he practised as a physician and taught rhetorics in Wittenberg, Rostock, Cologne, and Vienna. "This frequently cited and rarely discussed instruction by Sibutus contains within the space of 7½ pages so many obscure precepts, counter-productively mingled with verses by Virgil, Ovid, and others, that it must be quite incomprehensible to anyone unaccustomed with mnemonics. It is apparent that Sibutus employed a very difficult and roundabout method. So as to have no more than 36 mnemonic devices, he used the verse 'arma virumque cano' etc.; for each letter he would imagine a person whose name began with that letter etc. He does not explain how to avoid confusing these persons in case a particular letter occurs more than once" (cf. Aretin, Systematische Anleitung zur Theorie und Praxis der Mnemonik, Sulzbach 1810, p. 194ff.). More of a practitioner than a theorist, Sibutus was proficient in mnemotechnics himself: for Frederick, Elector of Saxony, he recited from memory 600 verses of his "Silvula in Albiorim", a poem praise of Wittenberg. The present volume includes two introductory poems by Johannes Murmellius and Johannes Cesarius, a dedicatory poem to the Lübeck jurist Heinrich Bucholt, as well as Sibutus's own "Carmen in vitam S. Annae". - Slight brownstaining throughout; insignificant waterstain to upper gutter. A single copy in the U.S. according to OCLC (Harvard Med. School). VD 16, S 6262. BM-STC German 812. Panzer VI, p. 358, no. 104. Verfasserlex. II.3, col. 892. OCLC 230985978. Not in Adams.‎

‎Morienus (Romanus).‎

‎De transfiguratione metallorum, et occulta, summaque antiquorum philosophorum medicina, libellus. [Chrysorrhemon]: sive de arte chymica. Hanau, Wilhelm Antonius, 1593.‎

‎8vo. 79, (1) pp. - (Bound after) II: Mock, Jakob. De causis concretionis et dissolutionis rerum quarundam, tam extra quam intra corpus humanum. Tractatio historica, philosophica et medica, secundum veterum ac recentiorum placita descripta, & in tres partes distributa. Freiburg im Breisgau, Martin Böckler, 1596. (16), 288, (14) pp., final blank leaf. Contemporary full vellum; lacks ties. Final and best 16th century edition of this alchemical work originally written in Arabic, the first edition having appeared at Paris in 1559. The legendary Byzantine monk Morienus is said to have gone to Alexandria to study with the Arabian scholar Adfar, whose favourite student he became. Subsequently settling in Jerusalem as a hermit, he devoted his life to the hermetic arts before he learned that Khalid, the Sultan of Egypt, "was desirous to find some one who could interpret for him the writings of Hermes and of Adfar" (Ferguson II, 109). Morienus supposedly went to Egypt and instructed Khalid in the art of creating the elixir for the philosopher's stone. "The ultimate fate of Morienus is unknown, but his conversations with Kalid must have been committed to writing, and they may have come to the West about the time of the Crusades. They were in Arabic, but to make them available they were translated into Latin in February, 1182, by Robertus Castrensis, with a short preface" (Ferguson). No Arabic sources have been discovered, for which reason the attribution has been considered apocryphal, but the author does use chemical terminology with Arabic roots, such as "al-natron". The book marks the beginning of western preoccupation with alchemy, previously almost entirely unknown in mediaeval central Europe, and even Goethe quotes from it in his "Theory of Colours". - II: Bound first is a rare medical work by Jakob Mock, professor at Freiburg and a good friend of Fabricius Hildanus. This would seem to be part 1 only (caption title: "De aquarum quarundam affectionibus ratione coagulationis vel indurationis & dissolutinis, & alias"); no more published. - Unidentified 19th century library stamp to front pastedown. Covers slightly warped; long yapp edge of the vellum binding trimmed away along lower half of the book. Interior lightly browned, some light, mainly marginal spotting and brownstaining, a few darker spots occasionally affecting letters. Old handwritten ownership of "Claudius Cuppinius" on title-page of Mock's work, with an additional note in the same hand, dated 1691, on the flyleaf. I: VD 16, M 6354. Wellcome 4458. Neu 2849. Duveen 413f. Schmieder, Geschichte der Alchemie, p. 123. Brüning 646. Mellon Collection 50 (illustrated p. 160). Cf. Ferguson II, 108f. Not in Adams or BM-STC German. - II: VD 16, M 5707. BM-STC German 623. Adams M 1528. Durling 3199. Wellcome 4372. Jöcher III, 563.‎

‎Galenus (Galen), Claudius.‎

‎Deux livres des simples de Galien. Lyon, Etienne Dolet, 1542.‎

‎8vo. "162" [= 163], (1) pp. With a woodcut device on title-page and a larger version on the last page, both partly coloured by hand. Rubricated throughout. 19th-century vellum. First edition of a French translation from the Greek by the French physician Jean Canappe, of two chapters (5 and 9) from Galen's pharmaceutical work later translated into Latin as the De simplicium medicamentorum facultatibus. Canappe would publish a full translation a few years later as Le livre des simples (1545). - "There is no name more illustrious in the whole history of medicine than that of Galen [...] Written in Greek, this Galenic treasure reached the Latin Western World only through Arabic translations" (Hagelin). - With the bookplate of Etienne Récamier (1833-98), Bibliothèque Lyonnaise 1858-93, some partly removed owner's inscriptions on title-page and a few other inscriptions throughout. Some occasional smudges and stains, but otherwise in good condition. Durling, A chronological census of renaissance editions and translations of Galen 1542.11. Krivatsy, Suppl. 16th century, 86. USTC 24275. Not in Wellcome. Cf. DSB V, pp. 227-235; Hagelin, Rare and important medical books, pp. 12-15.‎

‎Innocentius IV, Pope (Andreas Hartmann, ed.).‎

‎Apparatus super libros decretalium. Strasbourg, [Heinrich Eggestein], 1478.‎

‎Folio (308 x 430 mm). (408) ff. (first and last leaf blank), bound without Baldus de Ubaldis's "Repertorium super Innocentio" and the following leaf containing table of contents. Gothic letter in double columns, large initials at the beginning of each book supplied in red and blue with penwork flourishing, smaller initials supplied alternately in red and blue, headline supplied in red and blue. Three coats of arms finely painted at foot of first page by a contemporary hand. Contemporary pigskin-backed wooden boards (clasps and catches missing), title in handsome gothic lettering along lower edge. First edition of the commentary of Innocent IV on the Decretals of Gregory IX (known as the Liber Extra), one of the most important collections of medieval canon law. A handsome copy in a contemporary binding. Innocent's commentary was completed ca. 1251 and was never superseded. Beautifully printed by Heinrich Eggestein of Strasbourg; "le plus beau livre que cet imprimeur ait produit" (fin-de-siècle catalogue note pasted to first blank). Like a handful of other copies, the present copy contains the Apparatus only and was bound without Baldus de Ubaldis's "Repertorium super Innocentio" (an index to Innocent's work) which, although a separate work, seems to have been intended to form part of the edition. - Several contemporary annotations, manicules and other markings; summary of contents supplied in upper outer corners of recto of each leaf in a contemporary hand. Binding insignificantly rubbed; professional remarginings to first blank leaf. Occasional light browning, some light dampstaining, a few small wormholes at beginning and end of volume, occasionally affecting a letter or two. Generally a very fresh, wide-margined and crisp copy (hailed in the catalogue note as "superbe exemplaire dans toutes ses marges, parfaitement propre et d'une fraîcheur étonnante, sans le moindre défaut"). - Provenance: 1) painted at the foot of the first page by an accomplished contemporary (German?) artist are the arms of Pope Innocent VIII (1484-92), flanked by two coats of arms, one resembling a printer's device, possibly signifying an intended gift by an unidentified German scholar to the Pope in the 1480s or early 1490s. 2) Late 16th century ownership of Konrad Fuchs von Ebenhofen zu Saldenburg, a Tyrolean nobleman who acquired the Bavarian demesne of Saldenburg in 1587 and died on 14 January 1614 (his inscription "Conradt Fuchs" under the arms and "Fuchs zu Saldenburg" on front pastedown). 3) Owned by the Marquis de Villoutreys in the later 19th century (bookplate of the Bibliothèque Du Plessis-Villoutreys on pastedown). The Villoutreys family occupied the castle of Bas-Plessis in Chaudron-en-Mauges (Maine-et-Loire) from 1666. The castle was largely destroyed by fire in 1794 during the French Revolution; the central neoclassical section was erected in 1845, and a wing added in 1875 to house the Marquis’s library. When restoration began in 1982, the castle’s library was transferred to the Université Catholique de l'Ouest, and then to the Bibliothéque des Archives Départementales du Maine-et-Loire. The present incunable left the Villoutreys' library for an unidentified private collection at some time prior to this transfer. 4) British private collection. HC *9191. Goff I-95. GW M12156. BMC I, 69 ("the contents of each leaf are shortly noted at the top"). Sheppard 205. Proctor 267. Bod-inc I-013. BSB I-176.‎

‎Rondelet, Guillaume.‎

‎De ponderibus sive de iusta quantitate & proportione medicamentorum, liber. Lyon, Matthias Bonhomme, 1560.‎

‎8vo. (24), 168, 26, (5), (1 blank) pp. With woodcut device on title-page and a woodcut portrait of Rondelet at the last page of the preliminaries. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. Very rare first edition of an early pharmalogical book by the famous French phycisian, naturalist and botanist Guillaume Rondelet (1507-66), professor at the university of Montpellier, best known for his work on fishes De piscibus marinis (1554), the standard work on ichtyology for over a century. He was a good friend of Rabelais, whose character Rondibilis is said to be based on Rondelet, and among his students appear prominent names such as Clusius, Lobel, Gesner and Belon. The present work primarily deals with weights and measures used in medicine, with at the end a 26-page index with about 35 entries per page, listing both herbs and medicines. A second edition was published a year later by Plantin, followed by other editions in 1563 and 1564. - With owner's inscription of Pierre Gauthier (late 19th century?) on flyleaf. Waterstain at the head and fore-edge margin and the binding slightly soiled and rubbed along the extremities, otherwise in good condition. USTC 113136 (5 copies). Cf. Durling 3925 (1563 ed.); Voet (1561 Plantin edition); Wellcome 551 (1561 and 1564 eds.); for Rondelet: DSB XI, 527f.; Hagelin, Old and rare books on materia medica, p. 102.‎