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Folio (240 x 354 mm). (18), 191 ff. (without final blank). Printer's device on title page and, in a different version, on the last page. Contemporary cardboard binding with marbled spine and ms. label. Stored in custom-made cloth-and-paper slipcase. First issue under this title, previously released as "Expositio in primam fen quarti canonis Avicennae" (1506). A commentary (with the text, in the version of Gerardus Cremonensis) of book four, part (fen) one of Avicenna's systematic "Canon of Medicine", written in Arabic but widely translated throughout the Middle Ages and the basis of medical training in the West as late as the mid-17th century. It continues in use to this day in parts of the Arab world. Through this encyclopedic work, the author exerted "perhaps a wider influence in the eastern and western hemispheres than any other Islamic thinker" (PMM). "The 'Qanun' [...] contains some of the most illuminating thoughts pertaining to distinction of mediastinitis from pleurisy; contagious nature of phthisis; distribution of diseases by water and soil; careful description of skin troubles; of sexual diseases and perversions; of nervous ailments" (Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science). The present part is dedicated to a discussion of feverish illnesses. - 18th century ownership "Manhem" on title page. Some brownstaining throughout, as common; some waterstains near end; occasional inkstains and marginal annotations. An untrimmed, comparatively wide-margined copy. Edit 16, CNCE 2345. Adams A 1541. Durling 245. Cf. Wellcome I, 387 (only the Venice reprint). PMM 11.
8vo. 256, (6) pp. With the title and imprint set in type in the cartouches of an elaborate woodcut architectural frame including atlantes, grotesque faces, garlands of fruit, etc., and Rouille's woodcut eagle and snake device in an oval window in a pendant hanging from the title-cartouche; 210 emblems (200 with woodcuts); nearly every page (with or without an emblem woodcut) in one of about 34 different richly decorated woodcut frames (generally in four pieces made for use together). There are 6 additional small woodcuts (plus many repeats), usually used as tailpieces, and 5 woodcut decorated initials (3 series of roman capitals in white on a pictorial background). Set in roman and italic types (some by Robert Granjon) including several of the earliest italics to use sloped capitals. Early 18th-century (Spanish?) sheepskin parchment, sewn on 2 supports, with a hollow back, with the title in manuscript across the head of the spine. Rouille issue of the first Spanish edition of the first emblem book, by the legal scholar Andrea Alciato (1492-1550) in Milan, first published in Latin at Augsburg in 1531 with only 104 emblems (97 with woodcuts), but greatly expanded up to the author's death. The present edition has more emblems and more woodcuts than any earlier edition, also more than the French and Italian editions by the same publishers in the same year and more than the competing editions by De Tournes. It brings the work nearly to its definitive form. The Macé issue of the present edition is identical except for the imprint and device on the title-page. Alciato not only produced a work that was to continue through hundreds of editions over the centuries, he invented a whole new genre, the emblem book, which combines allegorical images with a brief motto that aims to give the core of the idea and explanatory text (here in verse), the combination of text and image intended to give more meaning to both and to encourage contemplation by the reader. - The first authorized edition, published by Wechel at Paris in 1534, expanded the first edition and included 113 emblems. Aldo Manutio published a second volume at Venice in 1546, but it was in Lyon that the two volumes were first published together, by two competing firms: De Tournes produced an edition in 1547 with 113 + 86 = 199 emblems, but the 86 in the second volume have no woodcuts; Rouille (publisher) and Bonhomme (printer) produced an edition in 1548 with 201 emblems (128 with woodcuts). On 9 August 1548 they also received a privilege for translations into French, Italian and Spanish, and as these appeared they continued to expand the work. The present first Spanish edition of 1549 (one year before the author's death) therefore contains 210 emblems (200 with woodcuts). Ten emblems (all with woodcuts) therefore make their first appearance as emblems in the present edition, and it omits only 2 emblems published earlier: one that was considered obscene and another omitted for unclear reasons. These 212 emblems were to remain the definitive set for future editions. In most respects, the present Spanish edition follows the 1548 Latin edition but Bernardino Daza who translated it into Spanish claimed to have followed a printed copy with corrections in Alciato's hand, making the present Spanish text an essential source for the author's intentions, rather than just a translation. - Most of the emblems are based on episodes in classical literature, so that their woodcuts depict those scenes, but one shows a map and 14 show quite detailed botanical illustrations of different species of trees: these were cut for the great botanist Leonard Fuchs, De historia stirpum commentarii insignes, which also appeared in 1549. - Except for these trees, the emblem woodblocks are believed to have been cut by Pierre Eskrich. Many appeared in Bonhomme and Rouille's 1548 Latin edition and were based primarily on those cut by Bernard Salomon for Jean de Tournes's 1547 edition, but Eskrich made revisions and additions of his own and as the editions expanded he cut further blocks not based on Salomon. Of the 34 woodcut frames, at least 12 are signed, all with the initials "PV", identified as Pierre Vase, another name used by Eskrich. These present a tremendous wealth of grotesque faces, atlantes, caryatids, fantastic beasts, plants and various kinds of abstract ornament. Some show a single scene interrupted by the space left for the emblem and text (one shows a large ship, two show landscapes, etc.). - With several early owners' inscriptions, some struck through; a ca. 1815 bookseller's engraved label of Théophile Barrois, fils, libraire, Quai Voltaire, n°. 11, Paris, on salmon-coloured paper (35 x 54 mm); and an engraved armorial bookplate of the Dublin-born physician in Paris, Sir Robert Alexander Chermside MD (1787-1860). Lacking the final blank leaf R4. As in many copies, the descender of the 9 in the imprint date "1549" has not printed, so that the date looks like "1540" (this has lead to frequent references to a ghost edition of "1540"). A fraction of a millimetre has been shaved off the head of the woodcut frame on the title-page, there is a long tear along the gutter fold of bifolium O1.8, a couple corners of leaves torn off (not approaching the text or woodcuts), a tiny hole in the title-page, occasional and mostly marginal stains and a few marginal reinforcements. In spite of these defects, most leaves are in good or very good condition. Macé's presswork is somewhat inconsistent, but this has more effect on the woodcut frames than the emblem woodcuts (and since the frames repeat, one can generally find an example that has printed well). Adams, Rawles & Saunders F029. Baudrier IX, 167. Fairfax Murray (French) 9. Green, Andrea Alciati 36. Iberian books 63018. Landwehr, Romanic emblem books, 40. USTC 342602. Cf. Adams A614 (Bonhomme issue); Jammes, Emblèmes 5 (Bonhomme issue); Mortimer (French) 15 (1549 French ed.); Palau 6061 (Bonhomme issue); Praz, p. 250 (1548 & 1550 Latin eds.).
8vo. 272, (8) pp. With 6 full-page engravings of birds of prey (125 x 85 mm) plus 3 (of 5) repeats, all on integral leaves. Red goatskin morocco, gilt edges, signed in the foot of the front turn-in by M[arcel] Godillot (active as bookbinder 1938-1975), with wide gold-tooled turn-ins and gold fillets on board edge. Very rare second edition, one year after the equally rare first edition, of one of the earliest French treatises on falconry and hawking, by Charles d'Arcussia (1554-1628), falconer to King Henri IV (and later to Louis XIII), who dedicates it to the king. "The work is much esteemed on account of its originality and the amount of information it contains" (Harting), "the outcome of long practice and an astonishing amount of research work in every subject connected with [Arcussia's] favourite sport [hawking]" (Schwerdt). - Jean Tholosan published the first edition at Aix-en-Provence in 1598, but the USTC records only 3 copies of each, all in French libraries except for a copy of the present edition at the Wellcome Library in London. - The six birds of prey illustrated are described as: De l'espece du faucon premier de noz oyseaux, Du Lanier Nyais, Du sacre, Du Gerfaut, De l'Emerillon and De l'Autour Nyais. USTC oddly notes that D8 is cancelled, but it is certainly present here, with one of the 11 engravings. The book went through about a dozen editions before 1650. - With an 18th century endleaf, a monogram stamp (ca. 1800) on the title-page, and a modern armorial bookplate of the Verne d'Orcet family, whose great library on the subject of hunting was begun ca. 1900. Washed and lacking F8 (supplied in a lithographic [?] facsimile on 18th century [?] paper), but that leaf contains only repeats of 2 engravings plus their captions and a 4-line verse, with no other text. Three other plates are slightly shaved, affecting the tip of one bird's tail (present in the repeat plate), the beak of another and a small bit of foliage in a third plate, a corner torn off 1 leaf (affecting one shoulder note), a small hole in another, a worm hole in the foot margin of the last few leaves and a faint water stain in the fore-edge margin of a few leaves. Still generally in good condition, the binding fine. Very rare classic of falconry and hawking. Harting 153 (note). Nissen, IVB 35. Ronsil 3120. Schwerdt 41. Souhart 16. Thiébaud 28 & Suppl. col. 1050. Wellcome I, 388. French vernacular books 1653 (3 copies). USTC 20901 (same 3 copies). Cf. Lindner 11.0077.01 (1617 ed.); Sotheby's (Marcel Jeanson coll.) 28 Feb. to 1 March 1987, lot 31 (1598 ed.). Not in Adams. For the binder see Godillot: Fléty, p. 82.
Folio. (12), 157, (2), (1 blank) ff. With the title within a decorative metal-cut (?) panel. Set in roman types. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment; rebacked in calf, with new endpapers, but preserving the original paste-downs. First edition of Jean Ruel's translation into Latin of Dioscorides's standard work on pharmacology, "De materia medica" (books 1-5), the most important botanical book up on to the 16th century, followed by four books on poison "De venenis" and "De venenatis animalibus" (books 6-9). - Dioscorides (ca. 40-90 AD), a Greek in the service of the Roman Empire, assembled all that was then known concerning the medicinal uses of plants, animals and minerals, adding information from his own experience accompanying the Roman army to Spain, the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere, where he came to know many Persian, Indian and other exotic medicines. Though his work appeared in Latin from 1478 and in the original Greek from 1499, the present translation by Jean Ruel was first published here. "Often considered a herbal, [it] deals with all three natural kingdoms: plant, mineral and animal. It describes all the substances known to Dioscorides that were used as primary ingredients for medicines, and constitutes an encyclopedia on the topic. ... [It] contains just over one thousand chapters [each dealing with another medicine] and features 794 plants, 104 animals and 105 minerals. Most of the chapters contain the following information: the most common name of the drug and its possible synonyms; a description of the natural element producing the drug (for a vegetal drug, the whole plant); the part used as a drug, possibly with its preparation; the therapeutic properties of the drug; the diseases for which the drug was used, including the preparation and administration of the medicine; when appropriate, the falsifications and methods of authentication of the drug; and other uses of the drug, such as in cosmetics, veterinary medicine, of handicraft" (Glick). - "While Hippocratic and Galenic medical theory and practice were readily adopted by the physicians of the Islamic era-a system that has persisted down to our time in traditional and folk medicine throughout the Near and Middle East, it was the Ketâb al-haoaes (Book of the herbs), a translation of Dioscorides' famed treatise on materia medica by Estefan b. Basîl and his master the celebrated physician-translator Honayn b. Eshaq (b. 192/808 at Hira), that constituted the original source of knowledge and inspiration for medical and pharmacological writers … in the lands of Islam in the Middle Ages and afterwards. Dioscorides described approximately 600 plants, mainly of the Mediterranean area, providing for every item equivalent names in some other languages, its provenience, a short morphological description, and then a statement of its medicinal properties and uses. Dioscorides was held in great esteem by all the physicians and scholars in the Islamic period" (Encyclopaedia Iranica). - With embossed initials on leaf d5. Title-page slightly thumbed, a waterstain at the foot of the last few leaves, but otherwise internally in very good condition. Binding soiled. Durling 1139. USTC 144550. Wellcome I, 1782. Cf. T. Glick, Medieval science, technology and medicine: an encyclopedia, p. 152.
8vo. (28), 186, (10) pp. Woodcut initials. 19th century marbled boards. All edges red. The Norman copy of the first edition thus, very rare, containing "most of [Paracelsus's] innovations in chemical therapeutics" (Garrison/M.). Paracelsus (ca. 1493-1541) was a key member of the German Renaissance and a pioneer of the medical revolution. He was interested in chemistry, hermeticism, and toxicology alongside and in conjunction with his medical theories, and overturned much of the accepted wisdom of medicine in the West. In doing so, he "rebelled against ancient humoral pathology, which held that all disease resulted from an imbalance of bodily humors, by stating that each disease was a specific entity caused by an agent outside the body" (Norman). The "Septem libri de gradibus", first published in slightly different form in 1562, is one of his most essential works. - Covers lightly rubbed, otherwise in good condition. Provenance: from the Wellcome Library (withdrawn stamp on title verso) and the Norman collection with Haskell F. Norman's printed bookplate. VD 16, P 450. Sudhoff 98. Durling 3480. Wellcome I, 4765. Pagel, Paracelsus, pp. 134-146. Norman 1636 (this copy). Cf. Garrison/M. 1818.
8vo. 260 (instead of 268) pp. (lacking 4 leaves: J8, K1, 4-5), 2 blank ff. With woodcut device in contemporary colour on title-page. Illustrated throughout with woodcut diagrams and spheres, 2 with movable parts, nearly all in stark contemporary colour. - (Bound with) II: Beyer, Hartmann. Quaestiones novae in libellum de sphaera Ioannis de Sacro Bosco, in gratiam studiosae iuventutis collectae ab Ariele Bicardo [...]. Wittenberg, Peter Seitz, 1550. (4), 80 (instead of 84) ff. (lacking 4 leaves: 52-55). With two folding tables, woodcut device on titile-page, an initial and a diagram in the text, all woodcuts in contemp. colour. - (Bound with) III: Honter, Johannes. Rudimentorum cosmographicorum libri III cum tabellis geographicis elegantissimis. De variarum rerum nomenclaturis per classes, liber I. Zürich, Christoph Froschauer, 1552. (30) ff., 2 blank ff., (14) ff., 1 blank f. With woodcut device on title-page. Final 14 leaves comprise the atlas "Circuli sphaerae cum V zonis" with half-title woodcut, 2 smaller woodcuts in the text, and 13 woodcut maps (12 double-page, 1 full-page), all in stark contemporary colour. Contemporary blindstamped pigskin (wanting clasps). Fine sammelband of astronomical and geographical works, annotated and brilliantly coloured throughout by a contemporary owner. - I: Rare edition of the most important astronomical work of the Middle Ages: a reissue of the 1545 edition with only the colophon changed (the earlier year of publication is preserved on the separate title of part two, "De anni ratione" [J3r]). Includes Melanchthon's 1531 preface as well as his 1538 dedication, in the name of Rheticus, to Achilles Gasser. Among the woodcuts are not only two volvelles (the movable part of a third woodcut appears lost) but also a globe map of Europe, Africa, and part of Asia on leaf F5v (apparently an improved version of the "Globus Mundi" map mentioned by Shirley on p. 33). Occasional annotations in brown ink; rubricated throughout, with penwork decorations to initials in blue and red ink; nearly all woodcuts are hand-coloured in surprisingly vivid hues. The four missing leaves have been supplied in facsimile. - II: Early Wittenberg reissue of this popular instructional manual on astronomy, first published in Frankfurt the previous year. "Some new features from the standpoint of presentations and pedagogy, but its astronomy remains Ptolemaic and Sacroboscan" (Thorndike). Heavily annotated throughout in brown and bright red ink by a 16th-century hand. Lower corner of leaf L1 torn off (no loss to text). Missing 4 leaves of text, but includes the two frequently lacking folding tables. - III: Fourth Zurich edition of Honter's atlas with the maps reproduced from the first Froschauer edition published in 1546 (the work had originally appeared in Cracow in 1530 without illustrations). The fine maps, showing the widely used heart-shaped world map (cut by Heinrich Vogtherr the Elder, a specially commissioned reduced version of Waldseemüller's), Spain, France, Germany, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Greece, Italy, Palestine, Turkey, Asia, Africa, and Sicily (all but the latter printed as double-page spreads), are in good contemporary hand colour, as are the spherical globe, the diagram of the planetary orbits (with the earth at centre), and the globe surrounded by the four winds. - A well-preserved collection in its first binding. I: VD 16, 727. Zinner 1971. BNHCat J 140. NUC 513, p. 474. Cf. Adams H 725. Burmeister, Rhetikus II, p. 56f., nos 6. & 7 (1538 & 1550). - II: VD 16, ZV 1449. Zinner 1978. IA 118.456. Houzeau/Lancaster 2527. This edition not in Adams or BM-STC German. - III: VD 16, H 4781. Adams H 833. Shirley 86 (and fig. 73). Sabin 32796. Alden/L. 552/25. Borsa (Ausg. d. Cosmographia) 96. Cf. Nordenskiöld p. 111 & plate 44. Not in BM-STC German.
Folio (217 x 297 mm). 36 (instead of 40) ff. [a-d10], wanting the first and final blanks (as common) and leaves [a]5-6, missing text supplied in near-contemporary manuscript (but omitting initials). 38 lines, 2 columns, 3- and 4-line Lombardic initials supplied in red, red initial strokes and paraphs. 19th century unsophisticated boards. One of the earliest editions of Vegetius's famous military manual. The book gives an account of the Roman military institutions, organization and science, and includes a discussion of naval warfare. Writing under Emperor Theodosius the Great around 400 AD, Vegetius aimed to counter what he perceived as a progressive decay of the Roman military strength. "The printing of this edition is not clean and somewhat rough in general. Exceedingly rare" (cf. Schweiger). Ebert and Schweiger both date this to "between 1474 and 1478". - Annotated throughout in a contemporary hand. The two missing leaves of text have been supplied in different handwriting, no later than the early sixteenth century (watermark of inserted leaves: couronne à diadème, 138 mm high, not identified but similar to Briquet 4900ff., 4950ff., Piccard I.VI, 27-29: various locations, but mainly 1490s to 1520s). Blanks lacking (as from the Bodleian copy); the BSB copy wants the final two leaves (including [d]9, the last leaf of text). Only 19 copies listed in public collections; no sale records for this edition. Provenance: 1) William O'Brien (1832-99), Irish bibliophile and judge who presided over the 1882 "Phoenix Park Murders" (his handwritten pencil acquisition date "6 March 1868" on pastedown); 2) bequeathed as part of his enormous collection, which included 100 incunabula, to Milltown Park Jesuit Library (Dublin) in 1899 (their bookplates, with bequest plate). Hain 15911. Goff V-106. GW M49487. Proctor 1126. BSB-Ink V-61. Bod-inc V-050. Grosjean & O'Connell 117. Schweiger II.2, 1121. Ebert 23435.
(4), CXXV, (1) Bll. With two-part armorial woodcut on title-page and 27 woodcuts in the text (8 by H. Schäufelein, 15 (?) by H. Weiditz). Modern marbled boards. Folio (212 x 304 mm). First German edition of "the first systematic study to address explicitly and exclusively the universal education of women", at the same time a fine and rare woodcut book. Commissioned by the wife of Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon, who was at the time rearing her own daughter, Mary Tudor, Vives' treatise was translated and adapted by numerous followers (here by the Bavarian Humanist Christopher Bruno) and thus was read in almost every European vernacular, often by women themselves. The present translation is dedicated to Maria Jacobaea of Baden-Sponheim (1507-80), duchess consort of Bavaria, and to her daughter Mechthild of Bavaria (1532–65). - Vives' work consists of 3 books, one for each stage of woman's life: maidenhood, marriage, and widowhood. Although the author specifically adapted 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 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. - Even browning and brownstaining throughout due to paper stock; some light waterstains. A few leaves show repairs in the lower margin and occasionally beyond, and a single leaf has a larger part torn out from the outer margin (no loss to text). - A fundamental document for the role of women in Early Modern society; only two copies in the trade since 1935. VD 16, V 1867. BM-STC German 899. Hayn/G. VIII, 135. Muther 1126. Musper L 181. Oldenbourg L 215. Not in Adams. Cf. Kolsky, Making Examples of Women: Juan Luis Vives' The Education of a Christian Woman. Bromilow, "An Emerging Female Readership of Print in Sixteenth-Century France?", French Studies (2013) Vol. 67, pp. 155-169.
4to (158 x 198 mm). (106) ff. Title-page with large woodcut vignette of St. Francis receiving the stigmata, 57 woodcuts in total (including duplicates) by Wolf Traut, 5 of which full-page, all with fine contemporary hand-coloring. Contemporary full pigskin over wooden boards with bevelled edges, panelled and decorated in blind. Spine with raised bands in four compartments. Remains of clasps. Edges stained blue. The rare first German edition of Bonaventura's life of St Francis ("Legenda major beati Francisci"), printed by Höltzel on behalf and at the expense of the Tyrolean benefactor of the Franciscan church in Schwaz, Caspar Rosenthaler. - This volume, a remarkable copy in contemporary colour, is also the first to incorporate Wolf Traut's striking woodcuts, ranking among the artist's masterpieces (while some are dated, none are signed). The Nuremberg artist, a student of Albrecht Dürer's, completed 51 woodcuts for this work, which would prove to be his greatest contribution to illustrated books. Traut was in Dürer's workshop from 1505, or possibly earlier, when he produced woodcuts for Pinder's "Der beschlossen Gart des Rosenkrantz Marie". - Binding somewhat rubbed and bumped. F3 and V1 with marginal repairs, L1, O1, and T4 torn and restored with loss of text. Some minor spotting or staining, one or two instances of marginal worming. - Provenance: Paul Kramer (contemporary ink signature and motto, "Omnia cum deo", to front free endpaper). Virtue and Cahill Library of Portsmouth Cathedral (oversized bookplate to front pastedown, with number 8363), dispersed in 1941 after German bombing and subsequently preserved in the Presbytery at Winchester; deaccessioned by the Bishop and Cathedral Chapter "for better care and to the advantage of scholars" in 1967 (stamped over bookplate). - A masterpiece of German book illustration, rarely encountered complete even in an uncoloured state. VD 16, B 6559. BM-STC German 140. Dodgson I, 502f., 1. Not in Adams. Cf. Einhorn, "Die Holzschnitte des Wolf Traut zur 'Legend des heyligen vatters Francisci' nach Bonaventura, Nürnberg 1512", in: Franziskanische Studien 60 (1978), pp. 1-24.
4to (155 x 217 mm). (72) ff. With woodcut printer's device to title-page. Contemporary blindstamped full calf on 5 raised bands. All edges faded red. First edition of this Latin translation, from the original Arabic, of books II, VI, and VII of the collection of medical texts referred to under the title of "Colliget" (from its Arabic title "Kulliyyât"), written by the great Muslim physician Ibn Rushd (1126-98, Averroes in the Latin tradition). - This translation is important not only for being the first Averroes version given by a French translator, namely the physician and humanist Jean-Baptiste Bruyerin Champier, but also for containing one of the first defences of the part taken by Al-Andalus Arab intellectuals in the transmission of Greek philosophy in Europe. In his introduction, Champier writes: "When the great flourishing of learning collapsed in Athens, and Gothic barbarity invaded the Roman empire, some Greek books of both the philosophers and the physicians migrated to the Arabs, including the Moors and the Spanish ... especially the books of Aristotle and Galen ... Then it happened that the Arabs translated many volumes of both authors from Greek into their own language. For it is known that the Arabs were most zealous in the study of the humanities, with the result that Averroes, Alfarabi, Avicenna and innumerable others of the same period philosophized on the basis of these books ... and they wholly concentrated on this effort and poured all the force of their intellect into writing interpretations and explanations of both authors. But when Spain was ruled by Alfonso, who had a great thirst for texts, especially in mathematics, since the Moors still held Andalusia, it was easy ... for the books of Averroes and others ... to be brought to Northern Spain where they were put into Latin" (fol. A3v, transl. C. Burnett). - The first part contains the description of the human body's functions and organs (with chapters dedicated to the brain and the spinal cord). The second part deals with the rules of healthy life, while the third exposes the principles of curing diseases. - Some foxing and wrinkling. First leaves slightly loosened. A good, appealingly bound copy of a rarely seen book, last offered at auction in 1984. Adams A 2312. Durling 373. Wellcome I, 568 (lacking last leaf). Baudrier VIII, 101. Gültlingen, Bibliographie des livres imprimés à Lyon V, 74. Atkinson, Medical Bibliography (1834), p. 67. Not in Osler, Cushing, or Waller. For the role of Arabs in the transmission of Greek philosophy see Charles Burnett, "Mont Saint-Michel or Toledo: Greek or Arabic Sources for Medieval European Culture?" (2009).
Folio (215 x 310 mm). (2), XXXII, (2) ff. With a fine full-page title woodcut (210 x 185 mm) by Hans Burgkmair (repeated on verso), incorporating a xylographic title showing the 'Sancta Mater Ecclesia' enthroned with a complex allegory depicted below her, both woodcuts boldly and skilfully highlighted in red. Initials, underlining and rubrication throughout in red. 20th century binding using older vellum. First edition of Stamler's dramatic dialogue comparing the religions of the Tartars, Turks, Saracens and Jews, superbly illustrated by Hans Burgkmair. A prefatory letter contains a very early reference to Columbus and Vespucci. - Hans Burgkmair's magnificent woodcut is an ambitious attempt to reproduce the ideas of the author graphically: it shows a seated female figure representing the Church with the globe as a footstool; she sits before a tent, surrounded by the banners of the Papacy and the Empire. The Pope and Emperor kneel before her, and on a lower step sit four queens representing the four non-Christian religions, each bearing a banner with a broken staff. Below them are the figures of the disputants who take part in the dialogue: Dr. Oliverius, theologian; Balbus, historian; Rudolphus, a layman; Arnestes, an apostate; Samuel, a Jew; and Triphon, natural philosopher. - Burgkmair (1473-1531) was the foremost woodcut designer of the early 16th century in Augsburg and became the chief designer for most of Emperor Maximilian's print projects. "With the year 1508, which shows him at the full height of his power in separate woodcuts, Burgkmair's real period as an illustrator of books begins [...] The frontispiece of Stamler's 'Dialogus' shows an unusual delicacy of feeling in the rhythmical articulation and distribution of the masses and the way in which the difficult allegorical subject is controlled and visualized" (Rupe, "Hans Burgkmair as an Illustrator of Books", Print Quarterly 10.2 [1923], p. 177). - In a letter to Jacob Locher dated 1506 on fol. a3v, Stamler refers to the New World discoveries: "I do not make any mention of the newly discovered islands, but of Christopher Colom, their discoverer, and of Albericus Vespucius; on the discovery of the New World (to whom our age is chiefly indebted) behold what treatise I send you" (transl. from Latin). - Later 16th century ownership inscriptions on otherwise blank last verso. A scattering of small wormholes affecting one or two letters, else very well preserved. VD 16, S 8527. Alden/Landis 508/19. Sabin 90127. Harrisse 51. Church 26. JCB I, 47-48. Burgkmair: Hollstein V, 68.81. Dodgson II, 57.1; 70.7. Muther 858.
1951ref. 2091202133203574Published by Sonkeikaku Series Published by Maeda Ikutoku Zaien 1951. Soft Cover. Fine. Number of books: 3 volumes Published by Sonkeikaku Series Published by Maeda Ikutoku Zaien paperback
THE ONLY COPY PRINTED ON VELLUM OF ANY BOOK ISSUED BY POULET-MALASSIS. In this monograph, Langlois (1829-1869), a leading Orientalist of his time (despite his short life), ingeniously uses archeological, historical, and scriptural evidence to prove the true location of Jesus' tomb. 48 pp. PRINTED ENTIRELY ON FINE VELLUM BY JOUAUST, ONE OF THE GREAT PRINTERS OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY. to. Attractively bound in contemporary quarter morocco and decorated boards. Spine in five compartments with fleurons and raised bands. Tiny traces of wear to binding, else FINE AND BRIGHT. Launay 152; Contades, p. 39; OberlÈ 594 (this copy: "PrÈcieux exemplaire imprimÈ sur peau de vÈlin. Il est probablement unique. C'est le seul volume publiÈ par notre Èditeur qui ait ÈtÈ tirÈ sur peau de vÈlin.") Copies of this book on paper are very rare; this unique copy on vellum is A PIECE OF PUBLISHING HISTORY. Provenance: Jean-Jacques Launay, the comprehensive bibliographer of Poulet-Malassis, acquired this book after compiling his bibliography, and thus while he cites the book in his bibliography, he does not describe it (obviously because he was unable to locate any copy at all.) From him it passed to Gerard OberlÈ.
4to. 162 pp., fol. 163-164, (2) pp. (a-s4 t6 u6, without the 'Epigrammata' announced on the title). With woodcut title border and a border in the text by Hans Holbein the younger, 2 woodcuts in the text (1 full-page) by Ambrosius Holbein, and 6 woodcut initials; printer's device on final page. Modern giltstamped full calf. Rare third, revised edition (the first one printed in Basel) of the famous "ideal state" novel that gave its name to a whole literary genre. Edited by Erasmus of Rotterdam, whom More had sent the manuscript in 1516. The second part, about the ideal constitution for a state, was written first, while More was an envoy in Flanders in 1515, while part one was written only in 1516, after his return to England. The two woodcuts by Ambrosius Holbein, Hans's elder brother, include the famous bird's-eye view of the island of Utopia (a full-page illustration) and the charming scene showing the story's fictional traveller, Raphael Hythlodaeus, in discussion with More himself and his Antwerpian friend Peter Gilles (Aegidius), with More's young assistant John Clement (later to become a Royal Physician and More's son-in-law) approaching them. Like 'Gulliver's Travels', Utopia was written "as a tract for the times, to rub in the lesson of Erasmus; it inveighs against the new statesmanship of all-powerful autocracy and the new economics [...], just as it pleads for religious tolerance and universal education [...] More had all Swift's gift for utterly convincing romance: the beginning, when Rafael Hythlodaye recounts his voyages, has a vividness which draws the reader on into the political theory. [More] is a saint to the Catholic, and a predecessor of Marx to the Communist. His manifesto is and will be required reading for both, and for all shades of opinion between" (PMM). - Insignificant browning; endpapers somewhat fingerstained, but a beautiful, clean copy. Handwritten ownership of Gerard van Assendelft, dated 1603, at the top edge of the title-page. VD 16, M 6299. Adams M 1756. Panzer VI, 205, 222. Isaac 14177. Heckethorn 100, 90. Bezzel (Erasmusdrucke) 912. Hieronymus 260. Kat. Basel 1960, 343, 341, 120f. Gibson 3. Van der Haeghen III, 41. Cf. PMM 47.
ref. 5759Haguenau, Henri Gran, pour Jean Rynman, 1500. In-folio gothique à deux colonnes de (264) ff., le dernier blanc [Collation: cahier signé de chiffres 8, a-g8, h6, i-k8, l6, m-n8, o6, p-q8, r6, s8, t6, cahier signé de chiffres 6, v-x8, y6, z8, A-B8, C6, D-K8]. Relié à la suite : PELBARTUS DE THEMESWAR. Sermões quadragesimales pomerii fratris Pelbarti de Themeswar diui ordinis sancti Francisci incipiut feliciter. Haguenau, Henri Gran, pour Jean Rynman, 10 juillet 1500. In-folio gothique à deux colonnes de (110) ff. [Collation: a-b8, c6, d-e8, f6, g-h8, c6, k-l8, m6, n10, o6, p6]. 2 ouvrages en 1 fort vol. in-folio, aies de bois recouverts de peau de truie estampée à froid de motifs de Vierge à l'Enfant, de lion, d'oiseau et de fleur, dans de grands croisillons, dos à quatre nerfs, fermoirs de cuirs avec attaches en laiton (reliure de l'époque).
Folio. 136 leaves. 17th century calf (rebacked). Latin translation of an Arabic treatise on simple drugs, traditionally attributed to "Pseudo-Serapion" (or Serapion the Younger), but recently identified as the "Kitab al-adwiya almufrada" (Book on Simple Drugs) by Ibn Wafid (d. 1067), a pharmacologist and physician from Toledo. Ibn Al-Wafid was a man of immense knowledge in all medical matters and therapeutics, with the skills to treat grave and insidious diseases and affliction. He preferred dietetic measures; if drugs were needed, he gave precedence to the simplest ones over compound drugs, and among these, he recommended the least complex, to be used only sparingly and in the lowest dosage possible. While the original Arabic version of the book is considered lost, a manuscript written in Hebrew-Arabic as well as partial translations in Latin and Catalan are preserved. This translation was prepared around 1290 by Simon Januensis (Simon of Genoa) and Abraham ben Shem-Tob of Tortosa. Very rare: a single copy in postwar auction records (Sotheby's, 1977: £1500). HC 14692*. Goff S468. GW M41691. Proctor 4433. BMC V 255. BSB-Ink S-300. GAL S I, 887. P. Dilg, "The Liber aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus of Pseudo Serapion: An Influential Work of Medical Arabism", in: Islam and the Italian Renaissance, ed. by C. Burnett and A. Contadini, Warburg Institute Colloquia 5 (London, 1999), pp. 221-231. P. E. Pormann, "Yuhanna ibn Sarabiyun: Further Studies into the Transmission of his Works", in: Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 14 (2004), 233-262.
Folio (224 x 318 mm). 255 unnumbered ff. (last blank). Gothic type, 2 cols., 46 lines. Rubricated throughout. With title border painted in red and orange, large initial "S" in several colours with pretty flower and tenril designs, red colophone border and numerous red and blue initials. Contemp. blindstamped pigskin over wooden boards with 2 metal clasps (wants fittings). Ms. spine label. Probably the editio princeps of this collection of homiletic samples by Martin von Troppau (d. after 22 June 1278), rubricated and with pretty initials throughout. The alleged earlier edition cited by Hain, supposedly printed in Strasbourg in 1480 (H 10853), appears to be a ghost. - Martinus Polonus (also known as Martin von Troppau or Martinus Oppaviensis) is regarded as one of the most respected chroniclers of the Middle Ages. - Some 6 ff. remargined at bottom, 2 more leaves show loss to corners. Somewhat browned and brownstained; several contemporary marginalia. Worming to beginning and end (touching text in final third). Binding rubbed and bumped; defect to back cover and numerous wormholes. The pretty Gothic blindstamping shows hunting scenes, floral designs, and the Agnus Dei (not recorded in Schunke, Schwenke collection). Splendid hand-painted armorial bookplate of Wolfgang Crener von Sulzbach (fl. c. 1510), a scholar of canon law; several later ownership entries, stamps, bookplate. Hain 10854. Goff M-329. GW M 21433. ISTC im00329000. Pellechet 7628. IGI 6245. Proctor 591. BMC I, 132. Walsh 221. CIBN M-184. BSB M-238. Wierzbowski III, 2013. Estreicher XXII, 201.
ref. 42926Paris, Thielman Kerver, 1498. In-8 gothique sur peau de vélin (115 x 175 mm) de (112) ff. (sig. A-O8), 25 lignes à la page, veau brun sur ais à large décor estampé à froid, dos orné à nerfs, tranches dorées, fermoirs (reliure de l’époque).
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.
Folio. [10], 306 ff. With about 320 mostly botanical woodcuts in the text (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. 16th-century sheepskin parchment (extensively reworked), sewn on 5 supports. 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 (1530-1536). 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 a nice 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 & VD16 D2443): most catalogues do not distinguish the two. - Signed above the colophon by "Remigius Ruffius" (Rémy Roussel), a French humanist active 1517-40. He is said to have come from Loudun and been active in Paris; we suppose he is the canon of that name recorded at Tours, near Loudun, in 1539. With the title-page somewhat worn and with a small hole restored, a few small worm holes in the first few leaves (1 in the head margin continuing through the first third of the book), but still in very good condition. The binding has been extensively restored but is now structurally sound. 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.
4to (164 x 208 mm). XCVI ff. (fol. Z4 blank). With numerous woodcut initials, many hand-coloured. Gothic type. 19th century full armorial calf, rebacked, with giltstamped red morocco spine label. First collected Latin edition of the astrological works of Abraham Ibn Ezra. "A versatile genius with a charming Hebrew style, Ibn Ezra disseminated rationalistic and scientific Arabic learning in France, England and Italy [... He] wrote a number of astrological works (Steinschneider lists more than fifty) that were very popular and were translated into many languages. Two were printed in Latin in 1482 and 1485, respectively; and all of them appeared in Latin in 1507 [...] They are rich in original ideas and in the history of scientific subjects" (DSB). "Of an eclectic bent, he inclined towards Neoplatonism and does not entirely disavow astrology [...] Ezra had considerable knowledge of astronomy, and he produced numerous horoscopes and chronological calculations" (cf. Jüdisches Lexikon II, 526f.). - Born in Tudela, in Moorish Spain, Ibn Ezra traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, and had a great outpouring of written works after about 1140, comprising poetry, commentary on the Torah, works on Hebrew grammar, philosophy, and science. His scientific works on astrology were written when he lived in Beziers, France, between 1147 and 1148. - Extensive early ink marginalia, underlinings and manicules throughout. Light dampstaining to outside lower corners, light scattered browning and spotting. - Provenance: Bound in the later 19th century for Robert Loyd-Lindsay, 1st Baron Wantage (1832-1901), co-founder of the British Red Cross, with his arms stamped in gilt to both covers. Subsequently acquired by the Danish-born astronomer Johan Ludvig Emil Dreyer (1852-1926), long established as an historian of science in Ireland and later at Oxford (his bookplate to the front pastedown). Latterly in the library of the noted Russian-American photographer and biologist Roman Vishniac (1897-1990). Adams A 38. BM-STC Italian 2. Steinschneider I, col. 687f., no. 77. Fürst I, 256. DSB IV, 502. Isaac 12998. OCLC 233860948.
252, (12); 125, (1) ff. With a woodcut caduceus device on title-page and several woodcut initials. Set in roman types. With: (2) [Thorer, Alban]. [De re medica]. (Basel, Andreas Cratander, 1528). With the first leaf of the main text in a 4-piece woodcut border (3 initalled I.F.), Cratander's woodcut device on the last otherwise blank leaf, showing Occasio, the goddess of chance, and dozens of charming woodcut initials. Set in roman types. 2 works in 1 volume. Small folio (300 x 220 mm). 20th-century half parchment. (1): First edition of an ancient compendium of pharmacological preparations by the Gallo-Roman physician Marcellus Empiricus, originally composed ca. 410 AD. "An extraordinary mixture of traditional knowledge, popular (Celtic) medicine, and rank superstition. Interesting also for the historian of botany, because of the great number of plants mentioned" (Sarton). Marcellus was born in Bordeaux and magister officiorum under Theodosius I (379-395). - (2): First edition of a collection of four medical works, compiled by the Swiss physician Albanus Torinus (1489-1550). The main part of the work consists of "De re medica", also known as Medicina Pliniana, a very popular medical text during the Middle Ages. Compiled in the fourth century by an anonymous author, it is generally ascribed to Plinius Valerianus, also called pseudo-Plinius, since it mainly derived from Pliny the Elder's "Historia naturalis". Consisting of five books, it gives various medicines and treatments for different diseases, ailments, wounds, tumours etc. - The work also contains three other medical works from different authors. "The contents are all either spurious works or later compilations from genuine works of the authors to whom they are attributed" (Durling). It starts with an introduction to "the art of healing", ascribed to Soranus of Ephesus. The second text is by Oribasius, a Greek medical writer from the fourth century BC. According to Durling, the text is an extract from the first chapter of his Euporista ad Eunapium. The work closes with a botanical text, De virtutibus herbarum, ascribed to Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis, but written by an anonymous author from the fourth century, known as Pseudo-Apuleius. In one of the manuscripts Torinus used, the text was ascribed to the famous Italian physician Antonio Musa Brassavola (1500-55), an expert on the works of Galen and heavily influenced by his work. - The editor of the work, Torinus, was appointed professor of practical medicine at the University of Basel after receiving the degree of doctor in medicine in Montpellier. He translated many Greek texts into Latin, or Latin works into the vernacular, including Vesalius's De humani corporis fabrica. - With a bookseller's ticket on pastedown and many sentences marked in pencil in the fore-edge margins. The Marcellus Empiricus was originally published together with a work by Galen, here replaced by Thorer's De re medica, lacking the first 12 leaves (title-page and preliminaries). With a minor water stain at the head of the first 25 leaves and the title-page of (1) slightly browned. (1): Durling 2951. USTC 604332. Wellcome I, 4043. Cf. Sarton, Introduction to the hist. of science I, p. 391. - (2): Durling 4351. Parkinson 2410. USTC 605590. Not in Wellcome.
1515ref. 14800Imprimé à Paris, par la veufve feu Jehan Trepperel et Jehan Jehannot, [1515 ca]. In-4 gothique à deux colonnes (180 x 120 mm) de 101 ff. mal chiffrés CVII et (1) f. de table (sign. A8 B4 C8 D4 E4 F8 G4 H8 I4 K4 L8 M4 N8 O4 P8 Q4 R4 S6), maroquin janséniste olive, dos à nerfs orné à froid, coupes filetées, frise intérieure, tranches dorées sur marbrure (reliure du XIXe siècle).
4to. 3 parts in one vol. (8), 358, (2), (56) pp. (= 28 double-page maps of the ancient world); (56), (72) pp. (= 36 double-page maps of the modern world); 47, (49) pp. A total of 64 double-page engraved maps. Contemporary limp vellum with hand-lettered blue spine label; wants ties. First edition of Girolamo Ruscelli's Italian translation of Ptolemy's "Geography": "a new and important edition in Italian, with a new series of maps" (Stevens). Apart from the 27 traditional Ptolemaic maps, this edition boasts 37 new ones, including three maps of the world, showing the earth according to the description of Ptolemy ("tutta la terra conosciuta fin' à tempi di Tolomeo") and as it was viewed after the discovery of America ("Tavola universal nuova", in two hemispheres - "the first time that such a representation had been used in an atlas", Shirley 110), with a separate navigation map ("carta marina nuova tavola"). Among the "new" maps, the most remarkable ones are those of India, South-East Asia and of America, offering some of the earliest depictions of the newly-discovered continent; other maps include Arabia, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and North and South Africa. Ten of the old Ptolemaic series show Europe, four show Africa, and twelve Asia. Most of the maps are based on the Gastaldi maps from the 1548 Venice edition made by Giulio and Livio Sanuto, but maps not found there include Scandinavia (after Jacob Ziegler, 1532); Brasil (after Ramusio); the Arctic regions; South Africa; and the navigational chart of the World (Shirley 111). - Title-page a little stained and remargined in the lower corner. A few insignificant lower edge flaws to the first quires. Printed on strong paper, all maps in stark, excellent impressions. A fine copy in its first binding. Edit 16, CNCE 38126. BM-STC Italian 543. Adams P 2235. Shirley 110f. Alden/Landis 561/42. Burden 29-31. Norderskiöld Collection 2:216. Stevens p. 50. Phillips (Atlases) 371. Le Gear 5915. Sabin 66503.
4to. (24) pp. With armorial woodcut to title page and printer's device to verso of final leaf. Modern half vellum with handwritten spine title and marbled covers using old material. Exceptionally rare first publication of the libretto of the first opera in musical history, also the first opera libretto ever printed. The music by Jules Caccini and Jacopoto Peri, composed for the first performance on the occasion of a carnival soirée at the Palazzo Corsi in Florence in 1598, is lost. Ottavio Rinuccini (1562-1621), who also wrote the textbook for "Euridice", was not an occasional librettist, but a court poet among who also composed sonnets and verse drama (cf. Honolka, Geschichte des Librettos, p. 22). The present libretto was probably published for a later performance at the Corsis' in August 1600 (for the history of genesis and performance history cf. the extensive account in Sonneck I, p. 339-345). Rinuccini's "Dafne" was again performed, with new music by Marco da Gagliano (1582-1643), in 1608: this score is preserved to this day, and the opera has been performed repeatedly on European stages throughout the 20th century. - Marescotti's fine woodcut device on the final page shows a naval emblem with the motto "Et vult et potest". Very occasional slight browning. On leaf C2v the setting error "DEL" has been corrected by "AL" pasted over the erroneous word. A fine copy. Edit 16, CNCE 29328. BM-STC Italian 556. Sartori 7015. Sonneck 339. Wotquenne 47. Wolffheim II, 1083. Fuld 61.
