‎Printing‎

‎Josephus, Flavius.‎

‎De antiquate Judaica (Fragment). Augsburg, Johann Schüssler, 28. VI. 1470.‎

‎1 Blatt (Bl. 34). 49 Zeilen, 2 Spalten, rot rubriziert. Folio (291 x 398 mm). Einzelblatt aus Schüsslers prächtigem Druck der "Jüdischen Altertümer" des Flavius Josephus: aus dem 4. Buch, Kapitel 6, Abschnitt 6 ("[...] Balach autem indignatus [...]") bis 13 ("[...] Et omnes ad libidinem mulierum contra leges proprias in surgebant [...]"; vgl. Buch Numeri 22-24). - Sparsam rubriziert, breitrandig und sauber; im oberen weißen Rand zeitgenöss. Foliierung "44" und winziger Papierschaden. Hain/Copinger 9451. Goff J-481. GW M15160. Proctor 1589. BMC II 327.‎

‎Gebwiler, Hieronymus.‎

‎Epitoma regii ac vetustissimi ortus sacrae cesaree atque catholice majestatis… Ferdinandi, Boemie regis, Hispaniarum infantis [...] omniumque austriacorum archiducum principumque habsburgensium. Strasbourg, Grüninger, 1527.‎

‎4to. LIX (but: 61) ff., final blank leaf. With 2 title woodcuts and 49 woodcuts in the text (including some repeats). 19th century unsophisticated boards. First edition of this popular genealogy of the Habsburg monarchy, published nearly simultaneously with the German translation. The Alsatian Catholic humanist and educator Gebwiler (ca. 1473-1545; cf. ADB VIII, 486f.) was a friend of Jacob Wimpfeling and counted Beatus Rhenanus among his students. The title woodcuts show the Imperial Eagle on the left, holding in its claws a many-headed hydra, and on the right the Habsburg peacock with a rooster and a lion in its claws. The other woodcuts include a half-page illustration of the Imperial Eagle and 48 small portraits of historical personages. - Spine end corner professionally repaired. Some slight duststaining; a faint dampstain to the upper margin of a few pages. A few minor edge flaws and traces of handling, but a fair copy. VD 16, G 594. BM-STC German 334. Muller II, 47, 254. Ritter 944. Ritter Cat. 1070. Schmidt 232. Cf. Lipperheide Ea 1 (1530 edition only).‎

‎Sorbin, Arnaud.‎

‎Oraison Funebre de Treshaulte et Vertueuse Princesse Marie Isabeau de France, Fille de Tres-hault & Treschrestien Roy Charles. ix. amateur de toute Vertu, & Protecteur de la Foy. Pronõ[n]cee en l’Eglise Nostre-dame en Paris, le 11 d’Avril 1578. Paris, Guillaume Chaudiere, 1578.‎

‎Small 4to (160 x 105 mm). 19 ff., plus 1 integral blank, signed A-E4. Woodcut printer’s device on title-page. Bound in late 19th century marbled boards with gilt title label on spine. Slightly foxed; a few traces of humidity to upper corners, otherwise good. Very rare first edition of this funerary oration and poetic tribute to Marie-Élisabeth, Princess of France, who died aged 5 of unknown causes on 2 April 1578. Although barred by Salic law from inheriting the throne in her own right, as the only child of Charles IX and Elisabeth of Austria, she embodied a formidable consanguinity among European noble houses. Her maternal grandparents were Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria of Spain, and her paternal grandparents were Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. Rounding off this Valois, Habsburg, and Medici parentage, her godmother was none other than the Protestant Elizabeth I of England. - When Marie-Élisabeth was just two years old, her father died; her mother returned to the Habsburg court in Vienna shortly thereafter, leaving her mainly in the care of her aunt, Marguerite de Valois, wife of the new king Henry IV. Sorbin thus dedicates the present work in four pages to Marguerite, before choosing as his Biblical starting point Lamentations II, 13. He naturally praises the princess’ illustrious ancestors and gives examples of historical parallels to her untimely death; following this is a 4 page poem ‘Tombeau de Madame Marie Isabeau de France…” which prays for the soul of the dead girl while simultaneously demanding an end to France’s civil strife. - OCLC shows just 1 US copy, at the Newberry; COPAC shows no copies in UK libraries. Pettegree, French Vernacular Books 48338 (erroneously suggesting an earlier edition of 1577 as 48333); on the preface to Marguerite de Valois, cf Vons, Jacqueline, “Dédicace de l’Oraison funèbre et Tombeau de Marie-Élisabeth de France (1572-1578)”.‎

‎Blyssem, Heinrich, SJ.‎

‎Defensio assertionum theologicarum de vera et sacrosancta Christi, quam habet in terris, ecclesia militante, quas Graetii, die 30 mensis Januarii anni MDLXXV, Henricus Blyssemius [...] defendit contra disputationem oppositam, quam Tubingensis quidam nuper adversus easdem edidit. Ingolstadt, David Sartorius, 1577.‎

‎(8), 139 Bll., l. w. Bl. Mit gr. Holzschnittvignette am Titel. Flexibler Pergamentband der Zeit auf 3 durchzogenen Doppelbünden mit Resten eines hs. Rückenschildchens. Bindebänder fehlen. Gr.-4to. Erste Ausgabe der Verteidigungsschrift gegen Jakob Heerbrands "De vera ecclesia Christi militante" (1575) und "Contra assertiones Jesuiticas de ecclesia Christi" (1577). Der Kölner Jesuit Heinrich Blissem (1526-86), ein Vertrauter des Ignatius v. Loyola, bezieht sich hier auf seinen 1575 veröffentlichten Vortrag vom 30. Jänner 1575 in Graz, in dem er sich um eine Rechtfertigung des Jesuitenordens, der sog. "Ecclesia militans" bemühte. - Kl. Fehlstelle am Hinterdeckel. Innen teils leicht braunfleckig bzw. schwach wasserrandig; vereinzelt im w. Rand auch etwas wurmspurig. Vorsätze und letztes w. Bl. von alter Hand beschrieben; am Titel hs. Besitzvermerk der Kapuziner in Celje. VD 16, B 5798. Adams B 2107. BM-STC German 129. De Backer/Sommervogel I, 1551, 3. Stalla 1342. Vgl. Jöcher I, 1132.‎

‎Belluzzi, Giovanni Battista.‎

‎Nuova inventione di fabricar fortezze, di varie forme. In qualunque sito di piano, di monte, in acqua, con diversi disegni [...] tanto in fortezze reali, quanto non reali. Venice, Tommaso Baglioni, 1598.‎

‎Folio (242 x 355 mm). (2), 116 pp. With woodcut printer's device on title-page, woodcut initials, 57 illustrations and maps (4 double-paged). Later binding reusing a leaf of Hebrew manuscript on vellum (containing prayers from the Yom Kippur liturgy, 14th or 15th century, Ashkenaz, probably German). First edition. - Belluzzi worked as a field engineer for the Medici in Florence. He died during an attack on a Sienese fortress in 1554. - First six leaves damaged at upper corner with some loss of text, stained at head. With autograph ownership of Philip III, Landgrave of Hesse-Butzbach (1581-1643), at foot of title-page ("Philippus Hassice Landgravius"). Philip was interested in science and astronomy (he corresponded with Galileo and Kepler) and had an observatory as well as a fine library. Later in the Darmstadt court library (crowned monogram stamp on title-page; inscription "Bibl. Aul. Darmst. Rep. 7 Loc. 2" to inside front cover). Last in the collection of Thomas Fremantle, 3rd Baron Cottesloe (1862-1956), commander of the Territorial Army and president of the Society for Army History Research, with his index card ("acquired 1930") loosely inserted. Edit 16, CNCE 4958. Cockle 794. Riccardi, p. 109f.‎

‎Coelestinus, Claudius / Bacon, Roger.‎

‎De his quae mundo mirabiliter eveniunt: ubi de sensuum erroribus, & potentiis animae, ac de influentiis caelorum [...] opusculum. De mirabili potestate artis et naturae, ubi de philosophorum lapide, F. Rogerii Bachonis Anglici libellus [...]. Paris, Simon Colinaeus, 1542.‎

‎4to (140 x 196 mm). (4), 52 ff. Modern half vellum over marbled boards. First edition, containing "the earliest of Bacon's authentic works to be printed" (DSB). Often referred to as one of Bacon's most important writings, it occupies leaves 37 to 52 of the volume. "A very rare book which [...] contains the editio princeps of Roger Bacon's 'De mirabili potestate artis et naturae' which is identical with his 'Epistola de secretis [...]'. This book, which has often been reprinted and translated, is, according to Hoefer, one of the most remarkable and at the same time one of the most authentic works by Roger Bacon. It contains almost prophetic gleams of the future course of science, dealing with automobiles, flying machines, diving-bells, telescopes, burning-mirrors, a sort of gun-powder, etc. As all the books edited by Oronce Finé it is beautifully printed and adorned with fine criblé initials" (Duveen). Bacon's enumeration of these "wonderful machines for flying, lifting weights, and driving carriages, ships, and submarines. and so on, which he believed had been made in antiquity and could be made again" (DSB I, 380), appears on leaf 42, while the oft-quoted allusion to the composition of power of gun-powder is on leaf 52r. Indeed, the ascription of the invention of gun-powder to Bacon is very doubtful, to say the least (cf. Sarton II, p. 958). - Edited by Oronce Finé, who prefixed Bacon's treatise with another by Claudius Coelestinus (ca. 1400), discussing miracles, secrets, the influence of planets and comets etc. Coelestinus may have been, like Bacon, a Franciscan friar: he is referred to by Finé in his preface as "Frater", and is so described in the heading to the work. - Light brownstaining throughout; several near-contemporary annotations and underlinings. Extremely rare: only three copies in postwar auction records (one offered by Lathrop Harper in 1976 for $3,500; two more sold at Sotheby's in 1989 and 2004, each commanding in excess of £5,000). Adams C 2307. BM-STC French 118. Renouard (Colines) 355. Duveen 36f. Rosenthal 190. Caillet 2416. Graesse, Bibl. mag. et pneum., p. 49. Thorndike II, ch. 61. DSB I, 384. Ferguson I, 64 (note). Hoefer I, 395. Sarton II, 963. Brüning I, 223. Wellcome 1178. Durling 979. Waller 12126. Hodgson, Hist. of Aeronautics, 68 f. Liebmann/Wahl, no. 927.‎

‎Morgenstern, Georg.‎

‎Sermones contra omnem mundi perversum statum [...] quem Deus gloriosus et equitas naturalis damnat, egregii et famosissimi domini. [Strasbourg], Wilhelm Schaffner, 15 March 1508.‎

‎4to (150 x 208 mm). XCIII, (6) ff. Late 19th century half vellum over papered boards with author's name and publication date stamped to spine in gilt. A fine post-incunable from the press of Wilhelm Schaffner from Rapperswyl, famous for having printed the first edition of the "Hortulus animae" in 1498. All of his productions are rare. The present collection of sermons had first appeared in 1501. - The eighteen essays, which form a single treatise, warn the various classes of human society to guard against sin in its many forms. "Much of this is the common, dry stuff of scholasticism, but several passages prove that the author cannot have been lacking in the gift of wit when he preached from the pulpit. Among these paragraphs is the fourth, directed against wives, widows, and virgins: some women (writes Morgenstern) will beautify themselves when they visit public houses or other places where they may meet strangers, and say they do so only to please their husband. Yet this is but a lie, for when they return home, they will remove their jewelry and sit by their husband like a hairy night owl, caring little about their adornment" (R. Cruel, Geschichte der deutschen Predigt im Mittelalter [1879], p. 569 ff., also citing several methods how women are said to contrive to obtain beautiful objects at their lovers' expense). - Spine a little duststained. Interior shows light worming, more pronounced near the end. Lower corner of fol. G5 torn away without loss to text; a more substantial edge defect to final leaf of index remargined (likewise without loss to printed text, but some loss to contemporary manuscript notes in Latin on blank verso). A final blank leaf has been appended, using old paper. A contemporary annotation to fol. a5v. In all a good copy. - Provenance: from the library of the noted economist Oskar Morgenstern (1902-77), whose purchase of the volume (probably prior to his emigration in 1938) may have been occasioned by the author's name. In collaboration with the mathematician John von Neumann, the German-born Morgenstern, who taught at Princeton University, founded the mathematical field of game theory and its application to economics. VD 16, M 6348. BM-STC German 628. Proctor 10163. Panzer IX, 357, 142b. Muller II, 53, 3. Ritter 1593. Schmidt IV, 11, 2. BNHCat M 799. Not in Adams.‎

‎[Pillone Library - Vecellio, Cesare]. Feyerabend, Sigmund (ed.).‎

‎Annales sive historiae rerum Belgicarum. Frankfurt am Main, (Georg Rab the Elder for) Sigmund Feyerabend, 1580.‎

‎Folio (265 x 388 mm). 2 parts in one volume. 427, (21); 187, (1) pp. Titles within elaborate allegorical woodcut border signed by Jost Amman. Woodcut headpieces, initials and Feyerabend publisher's mark signed by Tobias Stimmer at end part I. Contemporary full vellum, remnants of four alum-tawed leather ties, spine with four raised bands, headbands in grey, white, and yellow. Stored in custom-made half morocco box. First edition of this collection of the leading histories of the Low Countries, edited by Feyerabend. Fore-edge painting by Cesare Vecellio, depicting a scholar seated at a desk overlooking a landscape with the title "ANNA/LES" below; top and tail edges decorated with abstract line designs. - A rare item from the celebrated library of Dr. Odorico Pillone and his father. Late in the 16th century, Odorico invited Vecellio (first cousin once removed of the master painter Titian, under whom he trained) to decorate a number of books in his library with fore-edge paintings, thereby establishing the earliest known private collection of such paintings. As was Vecellio's preferred style, the painting here is of a scholar, brightly dressed in red and a black hat, centered on the fore-edge and additionally visible on the closed edge. - The histories contained are by Jacques Meyer (Part I, Flanders), Adrian Baarland (II, Brabant), G. Geldenhouwer (II, Holland), Jacques Marchand (II, Flanders), and L. Guicciardini (II, in Latin); also, shorter texts by Philip Galle and G. Candidus on the then-current situation. - Corners insignificantly bumped and rubbed, some worming to edges and spine, hinges and endpapers (with chipping to head of spine). Binding shows some dampstaining and soiling. A few tears to flyleaves. Internally generally clean with occasional insignificant foxing and some dampstaining, chiefly confined to margins, as well as minor text block edgewear. Overall a very good example with the fore-edge painting a little worn but still bright. - Provenance: Odorico Pillone (1503-93); Casteldardo estate (ca. 17th-19th centuries); Bayolle of Venice (early 19th century); Paolo Maresio Bazolle (1874); Sir Thomas Brooke (1830-1908; his bookplate to front pastedown); Humphrey Brooke (early 20th century); Pierre Berès (ca. 1947; his bookplate to front pastedown); Jeff Weber Rare Books; Randall J. Moskovitz, MD, Memphis, Tennessee (1990); acquired from the sale of his estate. VD 16, F 897. Berès, Bibliothèque Pillone, no. 133. Berès, Un groupe de livres Pillone, no. 1. Brooke, A Catalogue by Thomas Brooke, p. 666, no. 5. BNHCat A 394. Cf. Hobson, Pillone Library, The Book Collector (Spring 1958), pp. 28-37; Weber, Annotated Dictionary, pp. 221-227.‎

‎Vives, Juan Luis.‎

‎De institutione foeminae [...] libri tres, mira eruditione, elegantia, brevitate, facilitate, plane aurei, pietateq[ue] & sanctimonia, vere Christiani, Christianae in primis Virgini, deinde maritae, postremo viduae, novo instituendi argumento longe utilissimi. Quid autem singuli libri toto opere contineant, sequenti pagella, videre est. (Antwerp, Michiel Hillen van Hoochstraten for Franz Birckmann, 1524).‎

‎4to (140 x 195 mm). (96) ff., numbered in an early hand (omitting f. 77). Elaborate woodcut border on title-page, featuring elephant and cherubim, and with several large woodcut initials in text. Bound in early limp vellum with manuscript title on spine; edges stained red. 17th century portrait of Vives added to inner cover. Lengthy, exegetical early annotations to the first book 'De Instituenda Virgine' along with readership markings. A very good copy from the Harrach Library (Austria/Madrid), with 19th century stamp on title. Very rare first edition of "the first systematic study to address explicitly and exclusively the universal education of women", commissioned by Henry VIII's wife, Catherine of Aragon, who was at the time rearing her own daughter, Mary Tudor. Translated and adapted by numerous followers, Vives' treatise would go on to be read in almost every European vernacular, often by women themselves. The first edition, however, is rare in census and in commerce - and contains passages, particularly on chastity and intellectual capacity, which were entirely re-written in later incarnations. A fundamental document for the role of women in Early Modern society - and particularly in Early Modern England - this copy is especially remarkable for its state of preservation. An early reader of Vives has here added his own comments to the chapters on the seclusion of maidens and examples of feminine virtue. - "De Institutione Foeminae Christianae" consists of 3 books, one for each stage of woman's life: maidenhood, marriage, and widowhood. In his preface to Queen Catherine, Vives quotes Aristotle to the effect that states which do not provide for the education of women deprive themselves of a great source of their prosperity; yet as Charles Fantazzi points out, Vives is in fact here caught in a delicate double bind, "insistent on a subordinate, submissive role for women, the text must take care to expound its message not only without alienating the queen but rather, indeed, with the goal of winning her favour." Despite its dedication and although Vives specifically adapts his prose style for a female readership, the treatise is hardly pro-woman: "the 'Education' is determined to be both a reference book for men on how to control their women, as well as an edifying treatise for women to absorb as a source of proper behaviour" (Kolsky). Nevertheless, Vives' praise of women's intellectual capacity and his advocation of some form of universal learning for females are viewed as landmarks for modern historians of women and gender. - According to Fantazzi, "'De Institutione' enjoyed an enormous popularity and was generally regarded as the most authoritative statement on this subject throughout the sixteenth century, especially in England, where it found favor with Catholics and Protestants alike. There can be no denying that merely by attaching such importance to the education of women, Vives laid the groundwork for the Elizabethan age of the cultured woman." It was rapidly translated into English, enjoying some nine editions in that language during the 16th century alone (cf. Higginbotham, p. 69). According to Pollie Bromilow, the dozens of vernacular translations were partly aimed at women themselves, who had no knowledge of Latin; and thus a large segment of its readership during the 16th century was in fact female. Appearing in an undated edition as early as 1528 or 1529, the English translation is rather an adaptation of Vives' text begun by Thomas More but completed by his household tutor, William Hyrde, who must have used the present edition in its preparation. - In 1538 Vives brought out a revised Latin edition reflecting many changes to the original text. This is the edition most commonly cited by scholars, probably thanks to its greater availability. The sections on maidens and the preservation of maidenhood (in all its meanings), however, were substantially re-written - notably, treating many of the same subjects which interested the annotator of the present copy! Chapter 6, on virginity, for example, "was subjected to a complete revision, so that it bears little resemblance to the first published version. It is obvious that Vives struggled over the proper approach to this topic. In the original version, he suddenly abandons his more discursive style for a rather personal and, one might add, paternalistic tête-á-tête with a young woman" (Fantazzi, p. 18). Vives' views on women's intellectual capacities also develop between the two editions. - At the outbreak of the Reformation Vives was a close friend of Erasmus, who had commissioned him to write a commentary on Augustine's "City of God" in 1521. Perhaps seeking refuge from the political and religious turmoil of Europe, Vives turned his attention to England from this point onward. He dedicated his edition of "De Civitate Dei" to Henry VIII in 1522, and already in May of 1523 was able to present a manuscript of his "De Institutione Foeminae Christianae" to Queen Catherine in person. At Henry's court he grew close to the circle of Thomas More and produced a further educational treatise, "De Ratione Studii Puerilis". Thanks to his growing opposition to Henry VIII's divorce proceedings, however, Vives was placed under house arrest by Cardinal Wolsley from February to April 1528, and upon his release sensibly fled the country - only to return briefly later that year in the role of Catherine's legal adviser. - Provenance: later stamp of the Harrach Library on title-page. The collection originated as the personal library of Graf Ferdinand Bonaventura von Harrach, Austrian envoy to Spain (1637-1707), and explains the characteristically Spanish binding on the present example. Ferdinand's son Aloys followed in his father's footsteps; but after his death in 1742 the collection was transferred back to the remaining Harrach family in Vienna. Finally, the collection wound up in the family castle 'Schloss Bruck an der Leitha', in Lower Austria. We have handled numerous other Harrach copies, which seem to have formed a cohesive 'personal reference library' of 16th and 17th century works for this seventeenth century statesman. - A very good copy. OCLC shows just four copies in American institutions: Harvard, the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, Yale, and the Huntington. Nijhoff/Kronenberg 2167. Adams V 951. Brunet V, 1333. Estelrich 136. Cf. also Fantazzi's introduction to a modern translation, The Education of a Christian Woman: A Sixteenth-Century Manual (U Chicago, 2007). Kolsky, Making Examples of Women: Juan Luis Vives' The Education of a Christian Woman. Higginbotham, The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Sisters: Gender, Transgression, Adolescence (U Edinburgh, 2013). Bromilow, "An Emerging Female Readership of Print in Sixteenth-Century France?", French Studies (2013) Vol. 67, pp. 155-169.‎

‎Dorsten, Theodor.‎

‎Botanicon, continens herbarum, aliorumque simplicium, quorum usus in medicinis est, descriptiones, & iconas ad vivum effigiatas [...]. Frankfurt am Main, Christian Egenolff, (March 1540).‎

‎Folio (196 x 275 mm). (10), 306 ff. With about 320 mostly botanical woodcuts in the text, coloured throughout in green, yellow, blue, red and pink in a strictly contemporary hand (3 botanical illustrations repeated on the title-page and a few of the non-botanical illustrations including repeats in the text), about 70 woodcut-decorated initials plus a few repeats (4 series, the largest pictorial and the others white on black, often with multiple blocks for the same letter), many cut by Sebald Beham. Set in roman types with Greek and Schwabacher for the Greek and German names. Restored 18th century calf covers, modern spine rebacked with lighter leather in six compartments with gilt floral ornamentation and giltstamped red morocco label. Marbled endpapers (free endpapers renewed). All edges red. First edition of Theodor Dorsten's Latin adaptation of Eucharius Rösslin's extensive and beautifully illustrated German herbal, "Kreutterbuch", first published (also by Egenolff) in 1535. It includes about 284 botanical illustrations originally cut for the Rösslin edition, many based on the pioneering naturalistic illustrations cut by Hans Weiditz for Otto Brunfels's "Herbarium vivae eicones" (1530-36). Most show complete plants including roots, some show fruits or other parts of plants, and about 36 mostly smaller woodcuts (including a few repeats) show containers for the medicines or other relevant objects. - Egenolff clearly saw the importance of the new and more accurate style of illustration, and engaged the best woodblock cutters to produce his blocks. While Brunfels's "Herbarium" had no text beyond the names of the plants, Egenolff saw the importance of combining the images with detailed botanical medical texts, first in German by Rösslin and here in Latin by Theodor Dorsten (1492-1552), a physician and professor in Marburg, Germany. The book therefore played a considerable role in bringing botanical medical knowledge to a wider public, both in Germany and abroad. Dorsten's adaptation was also further developed in German for Adam Lonitzer's "Kreutterbuch" in 1557. The present first edition of Dorsten is an appealing piece of book production: the roman type (following the "Venetian" style of Nicolaus Jenson, but in the variant form prevalent north of the Alps) perfectly complements the woodcuts, and the presswork is excellent. The present edition appeared in two simultaneous issues, the present issue repeating three of the botanical illustrations on the title-page and the other instead showing Egenolff's woodcut burning heart device (USTC 616902 & VD 16, D2443): most catalogues do not distinguish the two. - Edges of title reinforced with old paper on verso. 17th century ownerships "Andreae Biscontis" and "Miguel Burilly" to lower edge of title-page. Some damp- and brownstaining throughout, several near-contemporary annotations, mostly trimmed at rebinding. First edition of one of the earliest herbals to provide scientifically accurate botanical images. VD 16, D 2442. Adams D 589. BM-STC German 253. Anderson, Herbals, p. 156. Durling 1203. Nissen, BBI 522. Pritzel 2378. Plesch, p. 206. USTC 616903. Wellcome I, 1861. Not in Hunt.‎

‎Macer Floridus [i.e. Odo de Meung].‎

‎De viribus herbarum. [Geneva, Jean Belot, printer of the 1495 'Fardelet du temps', ca. 1496].‎

‎4to (193 x 134 mm). (52) ff., with large woodcut on title-page of a physician in his study, surrounded by books and jars, repeated on verso, as well as 66 half-page woodcuts of plants. Gothic type, 33 lines per page. An exceptionally large, broad-margined copy, with frequent contemporary Latin annotations (often untrimmed). Bound in brown morocco ca. 1900, all edges gilt. Ex-libris Fairfax Murray (his numbered label on pastedown, this copy described as #669 in his Catalogue). Light spotting throughout; lower blank corner of title-page discreetly repaired. With a handwritten letter enclosed from a curator at the Cambridge University Library, addressed to "Dr. Fleming" and dated 7th March [19]49, discussing this copy. The Fairfax Murray copy of a landmark botanical incunable, being the first or second illustrated edition of "one of the earliest Western documents showing a revival of interest in botany" (Hunt I, p. 4). Following unillustrated Italian printings in 1477 and 1482, the Genevan Jean Belot (printer of the 1495 "Fasciculus temporum", the 'Fardelet du temps') issued two variants of the present work, each employing 66 woodcuts illustrating the herbs of medieval medicine followed by an appendix of 12 (unillustrated) chapters on the medical qualities of various spices. Fairfax Murray cites this as the earliest edition in his collection, based on the state of the woodcuts. - Belot's two printings were imitated in a series of four further editions by his fellow Genevan printer Louis Cruse, also undated but easily distinguishable from the present ones due to their use of fewer woodcuts. Lökkös attributes the first edition to ca. 1495 and the present edition to ca. 1496, and claims that they must have been printed in quick succession: "L'erreur de numérotation des chapitres (xxix pour xxvi) n'est pas corrigée dans la deuxième edition. Ce fait semble confirmer l'hypothèse d'une sortie très rapprochée de la première. L'erreur 'cognoscre' du colophon se retrouve également dans l'exemplaire de la British Library" (Lökkös, p. 163). - Describing the medicinal properties of 77 herbs and spices, the work is written in 2,269 verses of Latin hexametre, a poetic form probably employed as a mnemonic device for physicians or apothecaries. In the 15th century, these verses were confused with a lost poem "De herbis" by the Augustan poet Aemilius Macer ['Floridus'], hence the attribution on the title-page. - "The text titled 'De Viribus Herbarum' (On Properties of Plants) has been traditionally attributed to Odo de Meung (Odo Magdunensis), who is believed to have lived during the first half of the 11th century and was from Meung on the Loire [...] The text was further expanded, including new data from the translation of Arabic texts into Latin in Salerno from the end of the 11th century onward. If this is the case, this text is good evidence of the continuity of scientific activity in the Middle Ages: its most ancient parts come from a period when there was a revival of interest in botany and a recovery of the classical tradition, while the most recent additions integrate the contribution of the Arabic world" (Hunt Botanical Library, online exhibition "Order from Chaos: The Birth of Modern Botany", 2009). - Having belonged to the celebrated collector, art dealer, and Pre-Raphaelite painter Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), the present copy is in a magnificent state of preservation. Relative to the British Library copy, the present copy is much larger (193 x 134 mm vs 183 x 130 mm). It is unwashed, and most of the annotations by a contemporary pharmacist have been preserved almost in their entirety. The Fairfax Murray catalogue describes the binding as "brown morocco extra, gilt edges in rough"; the present copy is cited in most bibliographical studies of "De Viribus Herbarum" including that of Lökkös. Hain, Reichling, and the BMC fail to record the present variant with the error "cognoscre" on the penultimate line of the final leaf. Fairfax Murray #669 (this copy). On the chronology of the Genevan editions of Macer Floridus cf. Delarue in Genava 2 (1924), pp.177-86, and Lökkös, Catalogue des incunables imprimés à Genève, #86 (citing this copy); ISTC im00003000, showing 22 copies (of which 7 defective), including just 3 complete copies in US libraries; cf. also Hunt, I, p. 4; Goff M-3; Klebs 637.2; Hain/C. 10418; BMC VIII 371 (none of which notes the variant "cognoscre").‎

‎Terentius Afer, Publius.‎

‎Comico carmine. Strasbourg, J. Grüninger, 18. III. 1503.‎

‎Small folio (308 x 220 mm). (6),158 ff. With full-page woodcut title, 6 full-page woodcut illustrations, 142 smaller woodcuts, and numerous woodcut initials, all in attractive near-contemporary hand colour throughout. 17th c. blindstamped full vellum. The third Grüninger edition, the first to include the numerous specially made smaller woodcuts that adorn the text, hand-coloured throughout in this copy. The full-page illustrations are repeated from the 1496 and 1499 incunabular editions. The woodcuts showcase Grüninger's method of using a large number of separate blocks in ever-changing combinations to create new images: "En 1503, Grüninger publie une édition de Térence avec 745 gravures de l'édition de 1496, dont 86 différentes et 19 nouvelles" (Ritter, Histoire de l'imprimerie alsacienne, p. 92 and cf. 88). The anonymous artist, soon to become Grüninger's favoured illustrator, went on to be known as the "Terenz-Meister" for the lively and attractive illustrations he created for this book. With the commentary by Aelius Donatus and Calphurnius. - First and final quires show numerous small wormholes. Two text leaves with a tear in the blank margin; leaf Z2 with a few tears within the text (no loss). Upper margin trimmed fairly closely, occasionally just touching the headline. Covers slightly buckled; joints starting at spine-ends; upper cover shows a tiny hole in the vellum near the front edge. - Provenance: Two 17th c. manuscript ownerships "S. de Bucquoy" and "A. Avador (?)" on title-page. Later by tradition in the library of the Fraeylemaborg chateau at Slochteren, Netherlands. 19th century engraved armorial bookplate of the Six van Hillegom family of Amsterdam; sold from the estate of the art historian Jan Six (1857-1926). 20th century bookplates of the Amsterdam physician and bibliophile Bob Luza (1893-1980), whose library was sold by Van Gendt & Co. in 1981, and of the musician and Holocaust survivor Helge Loewenberg-Domp (1915-2021). Old catalogue clipping and typed description to front pastedown. No other hand-coloured copies of this edition traced in the trade. BM-STC German 852. Adams T 304. Ritter 2284. Muller II, p. 24, no. 22. Schmidt 61. Fairfax Murray, Early German Books 407. Proctor 9889. Schweiger II, 1054.‎

‎Ortolff von Baierland (Ortolf of Bavaria).‎

‎Arzneibuch. Nuremberg, Anton Koberger, 17. III. 1477.‎

‎Folio (210 x 315 mm). 87 (instead of 90) ff., including one (of two) blanks [#4-1, a10-1,b–e10, f8, g10, h8, i10-1]. Gothic type. 39 lines. Rubricated and with lombardic initials in red and blue throughout. Contemporary richly blind-stamped calf binding over wooden boards on three raised double bands; finely tooled brass fittings and brass remnants of two clasps. One of the earliest medical books in the vernacular and the first printed German pharmacopoeia. First dated edition: an undated edition was published at Augsburg in the same year, followed by four more printed editions before 1500. Of the utmost rarity, no copy of the present first edition traceable at auction or in the trade since 1950. Only Lathrop C. Harper offered a copy of the Augsburg edition in 1953, then described as "one of the earliest and rarest medical books of the fifteenth century". - Drawing strongly on the Arabic physicians who dominated the medieval medical school, Ortolff's work contains not only countless references to Avicenna, al-Razi, Mansur and Ibn Rushd (especially in the part on the preservation of health from fol. 44 onwards) but even some of the earliest complete renderings of their tracts into a modern language, here printed for the first time: "leaves 7 to 13 contain 'Meyster Isaacs Buch', which is nothing less than Isaac Judaeus' book on Uroscopy, by far the most elaborate medieval treatise on the subject" (Sarton). The final part of Ortolff's work is dedicated to the prescriptions for remedies used in professional medicine, making his Arzneibuch the "first German pharmacist handbook" (Schelenz) ever. - Modern spine professionally supplied, preserving the original covers with fine gothic blindstamps (not recorded in Schunke, Schwenke-Sammlung). Inner hinges and gutters of the first and last few leaves reinforced with Japanese paper; a few professional remarginings, but tightly sewn. First leaf of the registrum and text of last leaf (with one printed paragraph of 7 lines only) both supplied in 19th century manuscript. Textually complete with the dated imprint on the last leaf of the registrum present. Complete copies are nearly unobtainable: even the reference copy stored at the BSB in Munich lacks seven leaves. - Provenance: contemporary marginalia and foliation. 17th or early 18th century manuscript ownership of Ottobeuren Abbey ("monasterii ottenburani") in Bavaria at the head of the first text leaf; later in a Württembergian private collection. H 12112*. Goff O-110. GW M28462. Proctor 1977. Stillwell 466. Osler 123. Sudhoff 22. ISTC io00110000. Schelenz 336 ("Das erste deutsche Apothekerbuch"). - For the content cf. VL2 7, col. 80, and G. Keil, Ortolfs Arzneibuch, in: Sudhoffs Archiv 53 (1969), p. 124f. and Sarton III/2, pp. 1206/7.‎

‎[Bracesco, Giovanni]. Jabir ibn Hayyan / Lullus, Raimundus.‎

‎De alchemia dialogi duo. Quorum prior, genuinam librorum Gebri sententiam, de industria ab authore celatam, & figurato sermone inuolutam retegit, & certis argumentis probat. Lyon, Godefroy & Marcel Beringen, 1548.‎

‎8vo (12 x 17 cm). 147, (1) pp. With woodcut printer's device, 3 stipple-engraved initials, and a woodcut on the last page. Contemporary limp vellum. First Latin edition of this alchemical work, first published in Venice in 1544 as "La Espositione di Geber philosopho". Written in the form of a dialogue, the first part contains a conversation between a certain Demogorgon and Geber (whom Demogorgon addresses as "most learned nephew of Mahomet") about the latter's works. In the second part Demogorgon interviews Raymond Lull about his "Lignum vitae" and the discovery of a remedy to prolong human life. Kopp suspects that the anonymous author Bracesco was a 16th century physician and alchemist from Orzinuovi near Brescia. - Binding a little rubbed, lacking ties. Interior somewhat browned and stained throughout, the first leaves more so. Curiously, the first 26 pages in particular (but also a few later pages) have been mutilated by an early owner, who obscured and excised particular words from the text (apparently mainly concerning the word "vitriolum"); these lacunae have been rebacked with paper and the missing text supplied by the hand of a later owner. Some worming to lower gutter of the first 16 leaves, with slight loss. With contemporary ink marginalia in Latin throughout. Adams J 8. BM-STC French 238. Rosenthal 337. Brüning 247 (all s. v. Geber). Ferguson I, 123. CG XL, 1024. Baudrier III, 46. Palau 143878. Alchemy and the Occult 18.4. Bolton, Select Bibl. of Chemistry, p. 972. OCLC 18153918. For Jabir see GAL I 241; GAL S I 426ff.‎

‎[Bertholdus].‎

‎Horologiu[m] devotio[n]is. (Cologne, Johann Landen), [ca. 1503].‎

‎12mo. (58) ff. Gothic type. With lombards and rubrication throughout. With 36 woodcuts, of which 30 in original hand colour, 3 recurring woodcuts full-page sized (twice in colour). Modern full calf with giltstamped and blindstamped spine. Rare Latin edition of the illustrated devotional prepared by the Dominican friar Bertholdus around 1350. Intended for day-to-day worship, this popular prayer book is divided into 24 parts, each prayer corresponding to an hour of the day, and each concerned with an event in the Life of Christ, commencing with the Annunciation and concluding with the Last Judgement. - The work was first published in German under the title "Zeitglöcklein des Lebens und Leidens Christi"; the first Latin edition appeared in 1488. The present edition is not dated, but VD 16 considers it to be published ca. 1503, Grebe dates it ca. 1507. - 16th century notes in Latin to title-page and last page. - Top margin of fol. e8 reinforced. Last page narrowly cut with slight loss to the handwritten notes. An attractively coloured copy. HC 8930. Goff B-509. GW IV, Sp. 57a. Schramm VIII, 27. Proctor 1482. BMC I, 303. VD 16, B 2190. Grebe (Landen) 29. ISTC ib00509000.‎

‎Abulcasis (Albucasis, Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi).‎

‎Liber theoricae necnon practicae Alsaharavii [...]. Augsburg, Sigmund Grimm & Marx Wirsung, 1519.‎

‎Folio (ca. 225 x 322 mm). (6), 159 ff. Title-page printed in red and black; with woodcut title vignette. - (Bound after) II: Paulus of Aegina. Opus de re medica. Cologne, Johann Soter, 1534. (52), 507, (1) pp. With woodcut title-vignette and printer's device. - (And) III: The same. De chirurgia liber [...]. Basel, [Johann Bebel], 1533. (2), 29, (5) ff. With woodcut printer's device. Original blindstamped full pigskin (dated 1562) with 4 raised bands, 8 brass bosses, and 2 brass clasps. Giltstamped cover-title (oxydized) and handwritten spine title. First Latin edition of the first two books, namely the medical and therapeutic section, of "al-Tasrif", a 30-volume Arabic encyclopaedia on medicine and surgery written ca. 1000 CE by the Arab physician Abulcasis, edited by the physician Paul Ricius, and containing "what is probably the earliest description of haemophilia" (Garrison/M.). Abu al-Qasim, hailed as the "father of modern surgery", specialized in curing diseases by cauterization. He designed several devices used during surgery for purposes such as inspection of the interior of the urethra, applying and removing foreign bodies from the throat, inspection of the ear, etc. In his "Tasrif" he described how to ligature blood vessels almost 600 years before Ambroise Paré. Al-Qasim was also the first to describe a surgical procedure for ligating the temporal artery for migraine. His use of catgut for internal stitching is still practised in modern surgery. - II: Second Latin edition of the "Medical Compendium" by the 7th century Byzantine physician Paul of Aegina, translated by the humanist and physician Johann Winter from Andernach, first published in Paris in 1532. The "Medical Compendium" in seven books remained a standard text throughout the Arabic world for more than eight centuries. The most complete encyclopedia of medical knowledge of its time, it covers 1) hygiene and dietetics; 2) fevers; 3) topical illnesses from head to toe; 4) skin diseases and ailments of the intestines; 5) toxicology; 6) surgery; 7) the composition of medicines. The sixth book on surgery in particular was referenced in Europe and the Arab world throughout the Middle Ages, and is of special interest for surgical history. Indeed, Paul's reputation was particularly great in the Islamic world: the Arabic translation of his works by Hunayn ibn Ishaq was widely received, and it is said that he was especially consulted by midwives, whence he received the name of "al-Qawabeli", or "the Accoucheur". "Paulus Aegineta was the most important physician of his day and a skilful surgeon. He gave original descriptions of lithotomy, trephining, tonsillectomy, paracentesis and amputation of the breast; the first clear description of the effects of lead poisoning also comes from him" (Garrison/M., p. 7). - III: Rare first Latin edition of book six of Paul of Aegina's "Compendium", the celebrated book on surgery, edited by the physician Johannes Bernardus Felicianus. - Some near-contemporary handwritten marginalia in red and black ink. Bookplate of the French neurologist Maurice Villarett (1877-1946), remembered for his studies and experiments involving precision localization of vascular lesions of the brain, to front pastedown. Binding bears blindstamped initials "BF"; the ornaments include floral and tendril motifs as well as heads and vases. Covers somewhat wormed, slightly rubbed. Interior somewhat wormed throughout, wormholes in the first 21 ff. repaired with Japanese paper. Occasionally brownstained; paper slightly wavy. A good copy of two groundbreaking works in the history of medicine. I: VD 16, A 63. Durling 21. Waller 175. Proctor 10896. Wellcome 11. Garrison/M. 3048. Choulant 374, 1. Not in Schnurrer. - II: VD 16, P 1030. Adams II, 494. Wellcome 4866. Durling 3552. Choulant 142, II. Cf. Garrison/M. 36, note (1532 ed.). - III: VD 16, P 1029. Adams II, 492. Choulant 143, III, 3. BNHCat P 166. Cf. Durling 3550 (1532 ed.). Not in Wellcome.‎

‎Al-Razi, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya (Rhazes) / Alexander Trallianus.‎

‎[Kitab al-Gadari wa 'l-Hasbah - latine.] Libri duodecim. Razae de pestilentia libellus. Venice, heirs of Girolamo Scoto, 1573.‎

‎8vo. (8), 247, (1) ff. With woodcut printer's device on title-page, repeated on recto of final leaf. Contemporary limp vellum with traces of ties and remannts of a handwritten spine title. The twelve books on medicine by Alexander of Tralles, the first parasitologist in medical history (and the younger brother of Anthemius, architect of the Hagia Sophia), issued together with al-Razi's classic treatise on smallpox and measles ("Kitab fi al-Jadari wa al-Hasaba"): the first book ever published on smallpox, also known as "Peri loimikes" or "De pestilentia". - Indeed, Al-Razi was the first physician in the history of medicine to distinguish between smallpox and measles, and consider them as two different diseases. The influence of his diagnostic concepts on Muslim medicine was very clear, especially on Ibn Sina. This work gained great popularity in Europe and was also translated into French, English and German; Brockelmann states it saw some 40 Latin editions between 1498 and 1866. - Al-Razi (also known as Rhazes; 850-923 or 932) is considered the greatest mediaeval physician next to Avicenna; he also conducted alchemical experiments. According to his biographer al-Gildaki, he was blinded for refusing to share his secrets of chemistry. - Binding professionally repaired along the edges. Occasional browning and staining, some waterstaining near the end. 18th century ink ownership "A. Gonnella" to title-page. Rare; a single copy in auction records (Swann, 1 March 1979, Sale 1132: Distinguished Collection of Historic Medicine, lot 9). Edit 16, CNCE 1120. Wellcome I, 212. Durling 152. Cf. GAL S I, 419, no. 3. M. H. Fikri, Treasures from the Arab Scientific Legacy in Europe, No. 44 (Venice 1555 ed.). Not in Adams or BM-STC Italian.‎

‎[Ars moriendi - Capranica, Dominicus].‎

‎Speculum artis bene moriendi de temptationibus penis infernalibus interrogationibus agonisantium. et varijs orationibus pro illoque salute faciendis. [Cologne, Heinrich Quentell, ca. 1493].‎

‎4to. (32) pp. With woodcut illustration to title-page. 18th century half calf over cardboard. Marbled endpapers. The first of the two undated editions of the "Mirror of the Art of Dying Well" by the Italian theologian, canonist, statesman, and cardinal Domenico Capranica (1400-58), published by Quentell in the 1490s. Pellechet cites one edition dated around 1496, and another dated around 1498. Although slightly differing in text, both editions bear an "Accipies" woodcut, showing a teacher inspired by the Holy Ghost (in the form of a dove on his shoulder) lecturing two disciples, which was used by Quentell between 1490 and 1500. A 17th or 18th century Latin note in ink below the woodcut mentions its recurring appearance in Quentell publications: "N. Haec figura sequenti etiam operi, ab Henrico Quentell Coloniae impresso, praefixa est". - A popular genre of devotional literature of the Middle Ages, "ars moriendi" works were widely distributed both in manuscript and printed form. Capranica created his "Speculum" in 1452; it saw a German translation in 1473. - Binding somewhat rubbed. Paper evenly browned throughout. A few contemporary marginal notes and underlinings. Bookplates of the numismatist and bibliophile Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Beaulieu (1905-95) and of Jean Stefgen to front and back flyleaf. Another ownership, dated 20 July 1874, in pencil to front flyleaf. Several bibliographical notes in pencil to flyleaves. Hain 14912. Goff A-1097. GW 2608. BMC I, 282. Proctor 1415. Pellechet 1338. Polain 971. Voullieme 304. Graesse VI, I, 460. Schreiber-Heitz, Die deutschen "Accipies" und Magister cum discipulis-Holzschnitte als Hilfsmittel zur Inkunabel-Bestimmung, 18.‎

‎Brunfels, Otto.‎

‎Onomastikon medicinae. Strasbourg, Johann Schott, (14 April) 1534.‎

‎Folio (212 x 308 mm). (186) ff. With full-page woodcut on fol. 6v showing Saints Cosmas and Damian, the patron saints of physicians. Contemporary full vellum binding. First edition of this Renaissance dictionary of natural science compiled by Otto Brunfels, the "father of German botany", best known for pioneering the emancipation of that field from mediaeval herbalism. "Brunfels' passion for compiling and organizing reference material [...] was fully exhibited in his 'Onomastikón', a comprehensive dictionary containing a wealth of material related to medicine, botany, alchemy, and metrology" (DSB). Designed "for the use of physicians and apothecaries" (ibid.), the volume bears ample witness to the pre-eminence of Arabic medicine during the Middle Ages and early modern period, including a long discussion of Galenus, whose works were channeled into the West mainly through Arabic scholars, and entries on Ibn Sina (Avicenna), "natione Arabs, [...] a medicis Princeps vocatur", as well as Ibn Rushd (Averroes), "Avicennae coaevus, multae eruditionis philosophus et medicus, qui cum maxima laude et ipse Aristotelis libros est commentatus". - Insignificant browning with very slight brownstaining and worming near end (confined to margins); a few occasional humanist annotations with an 18th century handwritten note of acquisition (purchased from sale of the Wille library in St Petersburg) on the rear pastedown. A good, tight copy. VD 16, B 8525. Adams B 2928. BM-STC German 156. DSB II, 537. Ferchl 73. Wellcome I, 1106. Wightman 112.‎

‎Concoregio, Johannes de.‎

‎De aegritudinibus particularibus. De curis febrium. Pavia, Antonius de Carcano, 1485.‎

‎Chancery folio (205 x 285 mm). 2 parts in one volume. 122 ff. (A-O8, P10); 66 ff. (a-f8, g10, h8), complete with A1 and a1 blanks. 2 columns, 48 lines. Large illuminated initial and floral border on A2r, an illuminated coat of arms with additional floral border in the lower margin. Illuminated initials on leaves L2r and O8r, initials, paragraph marks and capital strokes in red and blue, borders ruled in pencil. Blind-tooled dark calf over heavy wooden boards with remains of clasps. Editio princeps and sole incunabular edition of this two-part medical treatise, drawing strongly on the Arabic physicians who dominated the medieval medical schools of France and Northern Italy. It includes the author's treatise on fevers, based on Avicenna, who is variously quoted and is also referenced in the handwritten annotations. Some of the surprisingly modern ailments discussed include tinnitus, diabetes, and manic depression. - "Concoreggio, born in Milan around 1380, was made professor in Bologna in 1404 before teaching at the Universities of Pavia, Florence and (in 1439) Milan. His works are composed after the model of the Arabs, without much personal observation, and were published as a collection after his death in Pavia around the year 1440" (cf. Hirsch). - A beautiful copy with a large illuminated initial and floral border, as well as an illuminated coat of arms with additional floral border in the lower margin on A2r. - A2 and final leaf show small marginal repairs, quires M and P faintly browned, otherwise mostly fresh, clean and wide-margined with just A2 trimmed at foot into illumination and marginalia trimmed on D6. Remboitage of blind-ruled calf over massive boards, formerly enclosing a Bible, rebacked, covers rubbed and scored, lacking brass fittings and clasps. - Provenance: ink marginalia in an early, probably contemporary, hand. Late 16th or early 17th century ink ownership inscription of Francesco Portidi, physician, on A1r. Evidence of a stamp removed from margin of A2. - Very rare on the market, with only one complete copy selling at auction in the past 50 years (this copy). HC *5615. Goff C-803. GW 7291. BMC VII, 997. BSB-Ink C-505. Bod-Inc C-415. ISTC ic00803000.‎

‎Dioscorides, Pedanius.‎

‎In hoc volumine haec continentu.r [!] Ioannis Baptistae Egnatii Veneti in Dioscoridem ab Hermolao Barbaro tralatum annotamenta. Quibus morborum et remediorum vocabula obscuriora in usum etiam mediocriter eruditorum explicantur [...]. (Venice, Luigi & Francesco Barbaro & Giovanni Bartolomeo Gabiano for Giovanni & Gregorio De Gregori, 1 Feb. 1516).‎

‎Folio (225 x 318 mm). 2 parts in one volume. (36), CXXXIII (but: 134), 106 ff. Later full vellum with old giltstamped red label to spine. The first authoritative work of antiquity on the 'materia medica', the branch of science treating remedial substances, based on the author's first-hand research throughout the Middle East. This is the rare first printing of this edition with the commentary by G. B. Egnatio: the third Latin (altogether the fourth) edition of Dioscorides, the first to contain the translation of Ermolao Barbaro. The appendix contains the first edition ever of "Corollarii", Barbaro's conclusions, sometimes considered a separate work by bibliographers. - "Dioscorides' work is the authoritative source on the materia medica of antiquity. He described over 600 plants and plant principles" (Garrison/M.). "Very little is known about its author [...], except that he was a Cilician Greek who lived in the time of Claudius and Nero, and that he travelled widely in the Middle East, probably as a physician in the Roman army [...] It is no exaggeration to say that from its publication until well into the 17th century [...] all botanical studies were based on this book, and the greater part of any new botanical matter published during the 16th and 17th centuries was in the form of commentary on Dioscorides [...] It is only with the rise of modern scientific botany in the 18th century that his influence began to wane" (PMM). - Occasional light browning with more noticeable brownstaining to final leaves; a few wormholes (some within the text). A small paper flaw to the lower edge of the last few pages. - Provenance: 1) 17th-century ink ownership of Sinobaldi di Verona to title-page; 2) French bookseller Lucien Scheler (1902-99) with his collation mark "Coll. complet / L.S." pencilled to pastedown. Edit 16, CNCE 17255. IA 154.303, 112.852. Bird 669. Panzer VIII, 429, 767. Proctor/Isaac 12338. Wellcome I, 1794. Choulant, Hdb. ält. Med. 80 (erroneously stating "s. l. e. a.") & 82. Durling 1140. Haeser II, 9. Johnston, The Cleveland Herbal, Botanical, and Horticultural Collections (Kent, 1992), no. 28. Not in Adams, Lesky, Osler or Waller. Cf. PMM 20.‎

‎[Houtman, Cornelis de].‎

‎Wahrhaffter, klarer, eigentlicher Bericht, von der weiten, wunderbarer und nie bevor getaner Reiß oder Schiffart, biß in India [...]. Aus Niderländischer Spraach in Hochteutsch bracht, durch Conrad Lew. Cologne, Bertram Buchholz, 1598.‎

‎Folio (275 x 175 mm). 2 ff., 12 ff. Recently bound using an old musical manuscript on vellum. Extremely rare account of Cornelis de Houtman's voyage to the East Indies, undertaken in 1595-97: a pioneering enterprise that initiated Dutch presence in the East Indies and set the standard for Dutch exploration, being organized by the "Company of Distant Lands", the immediate predecessor to the more famous Dutch East India Company (VOC), established in 1602. - This anonymous, first-hand journal, originally published in Dutch as "Verhael vande Reyse de Hollandtsche schepen ghedaen naer Oost Indien" (Middelburg, Barent Langenes, 1597), was the first printed account of the voyage. Two versions of the text appeared, of which the "Verhael" was the shorter, but also the earlier (cf. Rouffaer). Two editions of the German translation, by Conrad Löw, were printed in Cologne in 1598. No priority has been established, but both are now extremely rare: four copies of the edition published by Peter Reschedt are listed in USTC, while none of this Bertram Buchholtz imprint are recorded in USTC or elsewhere. - Houtman's voyage was motivated by the precariousness of Dutch access, as a result of the Dutch Revolt, to the largely Iberian-controlled spice and bullion markets. The Dutch therefore examined the possibility of sailing directly to the East in their own ships, and Houtman was first sent to Portugal in 1592 to investigate the spice trade. He returned two years later, urging direct voyages to the East, and in 1595 led the first such venture. - Houtman's fleet crossed the Atlantic to Brazil before rounding the Cape of Good Hope on 7 February 1595, then sailing across the Indian Ocean from Madagascar to the Sunda Straits. En route they touched on Sumatra, traded for a time in Bantam, a famously wealthy spice port, and made several other stops on the north coast of Java and on Bali. On the homeward journey, the fleet sailed along the south of Java. Houtman's brother Frederick, a talented astronomer who also participated in the voyage, greatly contributed (along with the Dutch navigator Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser) to mapping the southern skies, recording a great number of new constellations. "The voyage was not a financial success, and barely recovered its expenses. The nearly empty holds held only 245 bags of pepper, 45 tons of nutmeg, 30 bales of mace, and a selection of Chinese porcelain. The backers were aghast at the terrible loss of life [only 87 out of 249 men returned, and those who survived were too weakened even to bring their ships into anchorage]. But the voyage was, in another sense, a resounding success in that it showed to the Dutch that they might successfully reach the Indies. In the following year no fewer than 22 ships distributed over six expeditions ventured out, and the rush to the East had begun" (F. Swart, "Lambert Biesman (1573-1601) of the Company of Trader-Adventurers, the Dutch Route to the East Indies, and Olivier van Noort's Circumnavigation of the Globe", Journal of the Hakluyt Society, Dec. 2007). The Compagnie van Verre, which Houtman helped create, merged to form the Dutch East India Company. Houtman's voyage is now known for providing the initial impetus for the Dutch spice trade and colonization of Indonesia. - Lach notes that "firsthand reports of insular Southeast Asia arrived in the Netherlands with Cornelis de Houtman's fleet in August 1597. An anonymous 'Verhael vande reyse' was published [...] in 1597; it went through six editions in that year and the next, including translations into French, German, English and Latin". The published journals of the voyage "provided European readers with the most detailed descriptions of Java to date and with the first continuous description of Bali in any language. By sailing around Java, De Houtman's men were able to ascertain its true size and shape. They discovered that it was not nearly as wide from north to south as it appeared on Portuguese maps, and this was reported in the 'Verhael vande reyse'. This work also contains a detailed description of Bantam, its harbor, fortifications, buildings, people, and trade, the prices of products, and the foreigners who traded there" (Lach). The author of this account is an unidentified shipmate of Houtman's who describes in his own words what was the first incursion into the spice trade by the Dutch. - "The failure of the Barents expedition to open up a route to the East by way of the North East Passage led the Dutch to attempt reaching the East by way of the Cape Route. The Expedition consisting of 4 ships under the command of Cornelis Houtman arrived at Bantam in Java in 1596, where they tried to get a cargo of spices. But hostilities with the Portuguese arose and the fleet was compelled to sail on. The circumnavigation of Java was the first recorded attempt of this kind by any European vessel. Much knowledge of the regions later to become the exclusive territory of the Dutch resulted from the voyage" (Cox I, 262). - Rare institutionally, no copy of this edition is listed in any institution. Of the Reschedt edition, there are four copies, according to USTC (Staatsbibliothek Berlin; BSB Munich; Austrian National Library; New York Public Library). - A tall copy with light toning. In excellent condition. Tiele 122. G. P. Rouffaer, ed., De eerste schipvaart der Nederlanders naar Oost-Indië onder Cornelis de Houtman ('s-Gravenhage, 1915-29) II, pp. [xix-xx], 106-109. D. F. Lach, "Asia in the Making of Europe" (Chicago, 1993) II.1, p. 437f.‎

‎Ibn Sina (Avicenna) / Da Monte, Giovanni Battista.‎

‎In primi lib. canonis Avicenna primam fen, profundissima commentaria. Adiecto nuper secundo, quod numquam antea fuerat typis excusum; de membris capite. Venice, Vincenzo Valgrisi & Baldassarre Costantini, 1558.‎

‎8vo. (32), 651, (1) pp. Contemporary half vellum over pigskin with handwritten spine title and shelfmark. Second posthumous edition (by Giano Matteo Durastante) of the extensive commentary on book (kitab) 1, part (fen) 1 of Avicenna's systematic "Canon of Medicine" by one of the leading Renaissance humanist physicians of Italy, Giambattista da Monte (1498-1551), first published in 1557. A corrected and enlarged edition of the work previously edited by W. Lublin and published in Venice in 1554. "The newly added chapter De membris (p. 553-605) is followed by 2 others: De facultatibus and De virtutibus naturalibus ministrantibus" (Durling). - Avicenna's Arabic "Qanun" was widely translated throughout the Middle Ages and remained 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 offers a definition of medicine and is mainly dedicated to a discussion of the four humours and temperaments. - Binding slightly wormed; vellum somewhat creased. Paper occasionally wormed and waterstained. Edit 16, CNCE 15945. Wellcome I, 4428. OCLC 1157690416. Cf. Durling 3273, Adams M 1681 (1557 ed.), PMM 11. Not in BM-STC Italian, Osler, Waller, or Garrison/M.‎

‎Marmol Caravajal, Luis del.‎

‎Primera parte (Libro tercero y secundo volumen dela primera parte / Segunda parte y libro septimo) de la descripcion general de Affrica, con todos los successos de guerras que a avido entro los infieles, y el pueblo Christiano, y entre ellos mesmos desde que Mahoma inve[n]to su secta, hasta el año del señor mil y quinientos y setenta y uno. Granada & Malaga, Rene Rabut & Juan Rene, 1573-1599.‎

‎Small folio (278 x 185 mm). 3 vols. (8), 294, (16) ff. (1), 308 (but: 310), (8) ff. (2), CXVII ff. 19th century full calf with giltstamped spine (but spine of 3rd volume rebacked). Marbled endpapers. Extremely rare first edition of this important 16th century description of Muslim Africa, complete with the frequently missing third volume, printed at Malaga. "Ouvrage toujours fort recherché" (Brunet). A native of Granada, Luis Marmol Carvajal (1520-1600) took part in the 1535 Tunis campaign of King Charles V against the Ottoman Empire's Mediterranean forces. He was taken prisoner and spent more than 22 years in North Africa, including seven or eight years as a captive in Morocco, Fez and Tunis, where he learned Arabic. In his work, he gives an historical account of Christian-Muslim conflict, as well as of inter-Muslim strife, from the time of Muhammad until 1571, when Pope Pius V created the "Holy League" to drive Ottoman forces from the eastern Mediterranean. However, Marmol discusses not only military aspects, but also and more specifically Muslim North Africa, the Moorish militias, institutions, and customs, paying particular attention to Spanish commercial interests in these territories. He provides descriptions of many Maghreb cities as well of their various sieges and sacks by the Spanish, Portuguese, Genoese, and the Ottomans. - Corners slightly bumped; the first sheets of the third volume have been washed and pressed. A good copy splendidly rebound in the 19th century, with fine provenance: from the library of the great Spanish historian Emilio Lafuente y Alcántara (1825-68), with his signature in vols. 1 and 2. Later in the library of Feliciano Ramirez de Arellano, Marqués de la Fuensanta del Valle (1826-96), founder of the Society of Spanish Libraries, with his armorial bookplate to all pastedowns; additional bookplate of the bibliographer Antonio Moreno Martin of Almería (d. 1990) to the third volume. Auction records list only two appearances of the present work, both copies lacking the third volume (present here). Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 18. Brunet III, 1439f. Heredia 3294. Palau 152.431, 152.432 & 152.433. Salvá 3356. For Acuña cf. Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature I, 497; S. Cory, Reviving the Islamic Caliphate in Early Modern Morocco, p. 6; D. Thomas, Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History VI, 284.‎

‎Pomponius Mela.‎

‎De situ orbis. Hermolai Barbari fideliter emendatus. [Venice], Giovanni Battista Sessa, 27. X. 1501.‎

‎4to. 32 pp. With printer's woodcut device on the title-page and different device under the colophon; several woodcut initials. Followed by a 49-page manuscript index (beginning with instructions to the "amice lector" on the verso of the colophon) on 28 blank leaves bound after the printed text. 19th century boards with red morocco spine lettered and decorated in gilt. The first edition of the 16th century: a very rare reprint of the incunable published in 1494, the first separate edition to be based on the criticism of the Renaissance scholar Ermolao Barbaro. Dedicated to Pope Alexander VI. Mela's description of the ancient world, based on good sources and written during the reign of Emperor Claudius, is the oldest Roman geography to have survived. This edition was not equipped with an index, but a contemporary humanistic owner rectified the fault by crafting his own: the humanistic "cancelaresca" manuscript provides a list of all cities, places and even subjects mentioned, a total of some 1,000 references to 227 paragraph numbers (which the owner, too, provided in brown ink throughout the inner margins of the book). - Occasional slight foxing and waterstaining to margins near end, but a fine copy of this rare book. Edit 16, CNCE 58712. Schweiger II.2, 606. Ebert 13608. Graesse V, 401: "Reimpr. rare de l'edition ... de 1494". Not in Adams, BM-STC Italian, or Riccardi. Not in Brunet or Dibdin.‎