Biblia Sacra quid in hac editione a theologis Lovaniensibus. Antwerp: Plantin, 1583. 

Called by Voet one of the most beautiful books to come from the Plantin Press, this monumental Bible employed copper-plate illustrations extensively at a time when wood-cut illustrations were still frequently used as a result of their easier handling. The large folio format, combined with the large margins and high-quality paper, shows that the Plantin Press spared no expense in the production of this work, which was financed in part by the King of Spain. Some of the engravings were reused from earlier works, including the large double-page map of the world. 36 of the illustration were specially cut for this edition. Artists involved in the work include Jan Wiericx, Jan de Sadeler, and A. de Bruyn after Crispin van den Broeck and Peter van der Borcht. The translation into Latin was the work of Louvain School, which in the 16th century was one of the most prestigious Catholic institutions of higher learning. The 16th century saw a rise in interest for accurate and scholarly translations, and this work certainly strove to appeal to serious scholars, both in terms of its revised translation as well as its copious notes at the end (117 pages of them!). The text is not divided into verses (except in the poetical books), but the verse numbers are given in the central margin. Marginal references also include notes of variant readings and cross-references. This particular copy has been rubricated throughout; a previous owner seeming to treat it like a medieval manuscript. He also added short introductions in Latin and red letters in the margins, presumably for study purposes or perhaps for ease of public reading in a church or monastery. The result is a very unique and beautiful presentation of the text. The two illustrations of Adam & Eve seem to have fallen under a censor's hand with vestments painted on them. This copy does not include the short dedication to Cardinal Albert, often absent due to religious controversies in the city of Antwerp at the time. Aside from that, the book is complete with 7 full-page plates, 3 double-page maps, and 2 double-page diagrams, together with 81 engravings in the text. One engraving in text was smeared in printing process. The double-map map of the world is backed with cloth. A few paper repairs, but overall this important work is in excellent condition and is still rare in institutions. Rebound in 19th or 20th-century full morocco with blind-ruling. All edges gilt. Large Folio (42 x 30pp), [1200], 117pp. [Voet, L. Plantin press (1555-1589), 690]

$12,500.00

[ITALIAN STATUTES] Statuta communitatis S. Columbani et sue iurisdictionis. Lodi: Apud Vincentium Taietum, 1586. An extraordinarily rare book printed in the Lombard town of Lodi regarding the statutes and governance of the little munciplaity of San Colombano al Lambro near Milan. The Duke of Milan held an estate in this district, and the statutes were initially issued by his order in 1432. They were later adopted by the municipal authorities of Pavia, for the control of the sale of bread, wine, meat and fish. There were very severe penalities enacted for publicans guilty of giving short measure or adding water to wine. A printing press was first established in Lodi in 1583 by Francesco Bonati; in 1584 he was replaced by Vincenzo Taieti, who published the work offered here. The beautiful wood-cut on the title-page is of the Celtic Saint, St. Columba, who travelled to the region in the early Middle Ages and for whom the municipality is named after. I have been able to locate only one copy outside of Italy. Folio (28.6 x 20cm), [6], 35 [i.e.41], [1] leaves. Stain and repair to upper corner of title-page, a few light spots in text. Bound in modern limp vellum with ties, housed in clam-shell box. [BBII, 624; BG 1137] 

$3,500.00



PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS [EDITED BY: JACQUES LEFEVRE D'ETAPLES (1450-1536)]. Theologia vivificans. Cibus solidus. Dionysii Celestis hierarchia. Ecclesiastica hierarchia. Divina nomina. Mystica theologia. Undecim epistole. Ignatii. Undecim epistole. Polycarpi Epistola una. In alma Parhisiorum schola [Paris]: Per Ioannem Higmanu[m] et Volfgangu[m] Hopylium [Johannes Higman and Wolfgang Hopyl], 6 Februrary 1498. 

The Editio Princeps of French humanist and scholar Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples's edition of Pseudo-Dionysius with his extensive commentary and diagrams. This incunable also includes the editio princeps of the Latin version of the letters of the early Church Father St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35 - 108 A.D.). D'Etaples decision to prepare and publish the works of Pseudo-Dionysius was no doubt inspired by his encounter with Italian Renaissance philosophers Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, whom he met during his trip to Italy in 1491-2. Both were part of a wide Platonist revival that fit in very nicely with an increased focus on the mysterious 6th century Neo-Platonist theologian. The fact that the author of the Pseudo-Dionysian corpus was confused with the Dionysius who met St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles only lent more authority to the author of these works. During the period of this publication, D'Etaples was teaching at the College of Cardinal Lemoine and used the best manuscripts available to compare and revise the text. The Latin translation used was that of Ambrogio Traversari, completed in 1436. D'Etaples substitutes Traversari's brief notes with his own extensive commentary. The printers, John Higman and Wolfgang Hopyl formed a partnership in 1496, after having worked separately in Paris for several years prior. Higman was a German from Meissen who graduated from the University of Paris in 1478 and went to work at the press of Ulrich Gering. Hopyl was from the Netherlands and focused on academic and liturgical works. Although each kept their own shop in Paris, their collaboration produced the early works of D'Etaples, among other projects. Henri Estienne, the famous 16th-century printer of Paris, married Higman's widow, Guyone Viart, and likely learned the printing craft under the mentorship of Higman, or Hopyl, or both. The fine woodcut border on the title-page is uniquely theirs. Rubricated initials throughout. A beautifully printed work using Gothic rotunda type; sixteen wood-cut diagrams in text, including an astronomical figure on leaf 87, and a very attractive title-page depicting two eagles. Bound in new limp vellum with ties. Lacking last blank, but otherwise complete. Extensively restored and repaired. Title-page with paper repairs, some words at bottom of recto and verso affected. The first five leaves with smaller paper repairs at bottom margins with loss of a few words. Occasional staining, heaviest on lower margin of the first ten or so leaves. Last five leaves with small paper repairs and loss of a few words including colophon. Occasional bleeding of colored initials. A bit of marginalia in an antique hand, contemporary ownership inscription on title-page.  4to (28 x 22cm), [iv], 117 leaves. Small portion of final blank present. [Hain-Copinger, 6233 - Goff, D-240 - Pr., 8140 - BMC, VIII, 140 - GW, 8409 - Pellechet, 4297 - Polain, 1302 - Pettegree, 65111 - Brunet, II, 724 - Graesse, II, 399 - Dionysiaca, p. xxiii, n ° 6 - Charles-Henri Graf, Essay on the life and the writings of Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples, Strasbourg, 1842, pp. 18-19 - Eugene R. Rice, The Prefatory Epistles of Jacques Lefevre of Etaples and related texts, New York, 1972, pp. 65-66 and pp. 549-550, nr. CLV.]

$5,000.00

MANFREDIS, HIERONYMUS DE (d.c. 1493). De medicis et infirmis collectanae in ordinem centiloquii congesta. Insuper in vigintiocto mansiones Lunae, deq(ue) impedimentis eiusdem generalibus, Ioannis Schoneri. Nurnberg: Georgii Vuachter, 1530. 

Published March, 1530. First edition of this collection of medical aphorisms by Jeronimo de Manfredi (died 1493), the author of the "De Homine" which was first published in 1474. These aphorisms on medical practice, here edited for the first time by the great astronomer and cosmographer Johann Schöner, seem to have been chosen by him for their astrological interest, and Schoner has added a few pages of his own observations on the moon. Thorndike adds that though Schoner lacked a medical degree, he was busy at this time publishing medical works for the German public that were highly influenced by astrological based medicine. 8vo (15 x 10.5cm), 23 leaves + blank. Title-page shaved at edge with slight loss of wood-cut border, pages a bit unevenly trimmed but without loss; some instances of staining throughout. Bound in modern boards. Rare. [VD 16, M 565; Zinner 4010; Durling 2924; Wellcome I, 4010; Hirsch-H. IV, 55; Waller 6211; not in Adams.]]

$500.00

CAMILLO, GIULIO (1480-1544). L'Idea del Theatro. Florence: Lorenzo Torrentino, 1550. 

The first edition of a book that has continued to amaze, perplex, and inspire for centuries since its publication, and of which interest in it shows no signs of abating. L'Idea del Theatro was dictated by the Italian philosopher Giulio Camillo during a seven day period shortly before his death in 1544, and his secretary published the manuscript in 1550 at the press of Lorenzo Torrentio in Florence. The idea behind the work was a lifelong project of Camillo, who at one point attracted the admiration of the French King Francis I and was able to secure financing to undertake his project of building his "Theater" which would encompass and categorize all the knowledge that could be known by man. Recently a letter was discovered in Milan which proves at at least part of Camillo's Theater was actually built, although there are no remains of it today. The Theater has been visualized by artists in several variations, but the key points are the same. The spectator, instead of taking a seat in the audience, is actually standing on the stage, and looking at the rows of seats which are divided into seven tiers and seven sections. Each section is dedicated to a different planet, which exerts its own force on that section, and each tier is concerned with some aspect of creation or the cosmos, beginning with elemental matter and ascending to the arts and works of human beings. The interplay between the tiers and the sections includes a very wide assortment of visual and textual cues which are suppose to work on the spectators intelligence and imagination in order to bring him or her to kind of recollection, eloquence, and enlightenment. Although Kabbalistic and Astrological concepts are strong in Camillo's description, the Theater is by no means only, and even primarily, an occult or magical experience, but is a real attempt to scientifically appeal to man's psyche in a way to both improve his skills as well as order and categorize knowledge in a very physical way. For this reason, Camillo's Theater has found admirers both in the area of mnemonics (Frances Yates famously wrote about Camillo in her book 'The Art of Memory' published in 1966), as well as in modern day computing, with some writers seeing in Camillo's system a precursor to computers and the internet, especially in its growing use of graphic interfaces. It is probably because of this link with the digital age that interest in Camillo's work is continuing to grow, although his work was never entirely forgotten. However one may approach the work, there is no doubt that its sheer ingeniousness, originally, and enigmatic nature makes it one of the most fascinating works of the 16th century. 4to (22 x 15c,), 86pp. + colophon. Pagination erratic but continuous. A few leaves with scattered foxing, ownership inscription effaced on title-page, antique marginalia in Italian on some leaves. Bound in contemporary limp vellum, loosely held by ties, spine with a few chips. This first Florentine edition is uncommon on the market, with only three copies that have gone up for auction in the last forty years.

$6,000.00

CHRISTOPHE DE LONGUEIL (1488-1522). Christophori Longolii civis Romani perduellionis rei defensiones duae. Paris: Venundantur in officina Badiana, 1520. A very rare work from the brief but stormy career of French Renaissance humanist Christophe de Longueil. Longueil spent considerable time in Rome in the early 16th century, but his formerly strongly pro-French writings, with a tinge of anti-Romanism, created problems for him in the Eternal City. The work published here is a personal defense that Longueil felt compelled to make on his own behalf in front of the Roman authorities in order to prove his allegiance to Rome, and includes praise for Roman culture and history. I could locate only one copy of this 1520 Paris edition in U.S. institutions. A 1519 edition was published in Rome and is held by at least the Newberry Library, but it certainly lacks the new preface included here and perhaps the second oration. Small 8vo (17 x 11cm), 59 leaves. Lovely wood-cut on title-page. Library stamp on title-page and in margin of one other leaf. Some occasional damp-staining in margins. Bound in modern quarter vellum over boards. [ref. Moreau II:2402. - Renouard (Impr.) 453. - Not in Adams, Machiels, BL, NUC. Prov. Libr. stamps.]

$750.00



ERASMUS. Modus orandi Deum. Nuremberg: Johann Petreius, 1525. 

An early edition of Erasmus' treatise on prayer, first published in 1524 by Froben in Basel. Over the next couple years editions appeared in Cologne, Strasbourg, Mainz, and Nuremberg. The work is important in terms of Erasmus' reforming efforts - he tries to emphasize prayer free from a mechanistic or supersititious attitudes and done in a language that the faithful can understand. 8vo (16 x 10cm), 43 leaves. Lacking last blank. Rebound in 19th century calf with spine rebacked; a bit too tight on the inner margin, but full text can be read. Book-plates to front endpapers. Pencil notation that states this is book is from the library of the great French philosopher Auguste Comte, but there are no other indications to substantiate this notation. Quite a rare edition of Erasmus. [Vander Haeghen I, 121; Bezzel, 1289]

$1,750.00

NONNUS OF PANOPOLIS (c. 400 A.D.). Nonnou poietou Panopolitou metabole tou kata Ioannen hagiou evangeliou. Paris: Apud Martinum Iuvenem, 1556. A paraphrase in poetic form of the Gospel of St. John by Hellenized Egyptian poet Nonnus of Panopolis. Little is known about Nonnus aside from the fact that he is the author of two important works, an epic tale of the god Dionysius and the Paraphase offered here. Scholars have argued that the Paraphase must have been a later work, perhaps following Nonnus' conversion to the Christian faith. It appears that from the Paraphrase that Nonnus was familiar with St. Cyril of Alexandria's commentary on St. John. This copy, which was previously held by the Ashmolean Library, formerly belogned to Sir John Davidson Beazley (1885-1970), the renowned classical archaeologist. Notes in ink cover the first fly-leaf, but it is unknown whether they are Beazley's or an earlier owner's. There is also a marginal note in an antique hand at chapter eight which mentions the absence of the Woman Caught in Adultery episode in Nonnus' work. Chapter numbers of the Gospel are penned in very neat small numbers at the head of each page. Leaves occasionally toned throughout. Ex-libris plates on front endpaper, three very small library stamps to interior. 8vo (16.5 x 11cm), 168pp. Bound in calf, rebacked with morocco label. A bit of wear to corners.

$1,750.00