Quarto: 20.4 x 14.3 cm. [23] lvs., lacking final blank.
An invaluable record of the Ethiopian embassy to Europe in 1527. Printed here for the first time are four letters from the Ethiopian Negus (Emperor) Lebna Dengal, who reigned as Dawit II (reg. 1508-1540). Two of the letters are addressed to the Portuguese kings Manuel I (reg. 1495-1521) and João III (reg. 1521-1557). The other two are addressed to Pope Clement VII (1478-1534). There is an additional letter, from King João to the pope.
EDIT16 CNCE 64221; Gay 2603; Not in Göllner and Atabey; Paulitschke, Die Afrika-Literatur in der Zeit von 1500 bis 1750, 1022; Ofosu-Appiah 96. North American holdings: I. Latin Edition: Newberry, Minnesota, Cleveland Public, Harvard (2), NYPL; II. German language edition “Bot(t)schafft des großmechtigsten Konigs Dauid”: Brown; III. Italian language edition “L'Ambasciaria di David, re dell' Etiopia”: NYPL
A Complete Set of Aldrovandi’s Natural History Works – With Noble Provenance and all Volumes in First Edition
Over the course of the second half of the sixteenth-century, the brilliant Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi’s sought to carry out an encyclopedic description of the natural world. Given the limits of the science of his day and the difficulty of obtaining accurate descriptions and specimens of animals, plants, and minerals from the four corners of the world, it is staggering how close he came to achieving this objective.
Aldrovandi’s Natural History of Monsters - The First Treatise on Teratology
Aldrovandi, Ulisse (1522-1605); Ambrosini, Bartolomeo (1588-1657) Monstrorum historia
Bologna: Typis Nicolai Tebaldini, 1642
$18,000.00
Large Folio: 35 x 23.5 cm. Two volumes in one: I. †4 (including engraved t.p.), A-Z6, Aa-Zz6, Aaa-Ppp6, Qqq8, Rrr6, Sss8; II. A-O6 (final signature O has 5 leaves, as in all copies examined. See note at end of description.)
Aldrovandi’s “Monstrorum historia” was the first treatise on teratology, the study of deformities, monstrosities, and prodigies. The subjects are drawn from across the spectrum of the natural world, from animals and plants to minerals and monstra (portents such as comets and atmospheric phenomena). Some of the specimens were physically kept in Aldrovandi’s renowned museum and gardens in Bologna, others were represented in his collections by paintings, engravings, and written accounts.
Garrison-Morton 534.53; Krivatsy 187; Wellcome I, 172; Goldschmid 43; Alden and Landis 642/2; Nissen, ZBI 74.R. As regards the 5-leaf final signature O in the “Paralipomena”, I have left the quire as “O6” in my collation since it is unclear if there was a cancelland leaf O5, or if final O6 was a blank. Either way, the final quire is consistent with all copies examined.
“A collection of the flowers of antiquities and histories” for the Elizabethan Reader
Octavo: 12.4 x 7.8 cm. [iv], 269, [7] lvs. Collation: A4, B-2M8, 2N4
“Wits Theater” was produced as part of a publishing project conceived by John Bodenham. The “series” began with Nicholas Ling’s “Politeuphuia: Wits Commonwealth” in 1597, and also included the poetic miscellany “Englands Parnassus” of 1600.
“Wits Theater”
Like the later “Englands Parnassus”, “Wits Theater” was compiled by Robert Allott and may be regarded as the prose equivalent of the poetical “Parnassus”.
London: Printed for the Company of Stationers, and sold by John Wilkie, at their Hall Ludgate-Street, 1782
$2,800.00
Duodecimo: 10.5 x 5.5 cm. 8 p. A-B12
A truly lovely copy of one of the miniature almanacs published by the Company of Stationers. Rare. ESTC records only 1 copy of this edition (at the British Library).
Quarto: 21.5 x 15.5 cm. [4], 8 pp., 9-10 ll., 11-127, [1] pp. Collation: π2 A4 B4 (±B1.2) C-Q4
FIRST EDITION of one of the most important eyewitness accounts of 17th-century Canada devoted primarily to the Huron Indians, but also with accounts of other groups, including the Jesuit author’s captivity and mutilation under the Iroquois. He also devotes 25 pages to a 1643 letter written by his Jesuit colleague Isaac Jogues (1607-1646), who was killed by the Mohawks.
Bressani (1612-1672), an Italian Jesuit, travelled to Canada as a missionary in 1642.
Alden & Landis 653/15; De Backer & Sommervogel II, col. 133; Walter, Jesuit relations, 43; Church 524; James Ford Bell Lib. B-407; JCB II, p. 428; Lande, Canadiana 57; McCoy, Jesuit relations 82; Sabin 7734; not in Eberstadt; Streeter.
South American Voyages – A Fundamental Work on Brazil - With the Map
Frankfurt: Apud Ioannem Wechelum, impensis Theodori de Bry, 1592 but ? 1597
$38,000.00
Folio: 33.7 x 23.3 cm. [16], 134, [2], 137-296, [15] pp. The 2 engraved titles and the plate of arms are integral to the collation. With a large folding map. Collation: a-b4, A-Z4, Aa-Qq4 (leaf a2 mis-signed as a, leaf Ll2 as L2; leaf Qq4, a blank, absent).
“The collection of voyages, named after the De Bry publishing family coordinating the project, was one of the most monumental geographical publications of the early modern period, ranking alongside treatises like Sebastian Münster’s ‘Cosmographia’, Abraham Ortelius’ ‘Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’, and Joan Blaeu’s ‘Atlas Maior’. The collection encompassed twenty-five folio volumes containing nearly fifty travel accounts of European expeditions to the overseas world.
Church 149; Borba de Moraes I, p. 249 (vol. 3) “contains the greatest number of accounts of voyages to Brazil.” Brunet vol. 1, col. 1323-1324; Huth catalogue, vol. 2, p. 409-410; JCB, pre-1675, I: p. 390-391; Sabin 8784, p. 33-37; Muller 1862
The Black Legend - Witnessing Atrocities in the New World
Francofurti ad Moenum: Typis Ioannis Feyrabend, impensis Theodori de Bry., Anno M. D. LXXXXIIII. 1594
$38,000.00
Folio: 35 x 23 cm. [8], 145, [3] p.(-[2] blank lvs.), XXIIII lvs (minus final blank.) With an added double-page map. Collation: ):():(⁴, ):():(⁴, A-Q4, R6, Aa-Ee4, Ff6 (lacking blanks R6 and Ff6). Complete.
This book constitutes the fourth part of the first Latin edition of Theodor de Bry's “Grand Voyages” (“America”), the most famous collection of travel narratives from the Americas, printed in fourteen parts from 1590 to 1634.
This volume contains book one of Girolamo Benzoni’s influential “Historia del Mondo Nuovo”, in which the Milanese merchant-adventurer narrates his experiences in the Caribbean and the Yucatan.
Octavo: 14.2 x 9.5 cm. Two parts in one: [24], 455, [3] pp. Collation: †8, †4, A-Z8, Aa-Ee8, Ff4. (In signature †4 the first leaf is signed “†5” and the 4th leaf has the orphaned catchword “histria”, an error of the compositor, explained by the re-setting of the type from Combi’s 1627 edition to correct omissions in his 1634 edition.)
The first edition of Isabella Andreini's collection of letters appeared in 1607, four years after the author's death, edited by her husband, Francesco. In 1617, with the assistance of Flaminio Scala, Francesco published the "Fragmenti". For a discussion of both works, see below.
"Born in Padua to Venetian parents in 1562, Isabella Andreini (née Canali) would become the most celebrated commedia dell'arte actress of her century by the time of her death in 1604.
Octavo: 19 x 13.2 cm. [6] lvs. With a large title-page illustration showing Jews attacking the Eucharist with knives.
A disturbing, illustrated antisemitic incunabulum in Low German, of great rarity. It relates contemporary events that took place in Sternberg. An impoverished priest, Pieter Dehn, was said to have sold consecrated hosts to a Jewish family, who wanted to use them for entertainment at their daughter’s wedding.
Folio: 39.5 x 30 cm. 5 folding lvs. (1 letterpress leaf, 4 engraved lvs. (title, dedication, frontis., and portrait), 50 engraved plates divided into 5 series of 10 plates each.
First edition of this important architectural work, richly illustrated, by Giuseppe Galli da Bibiena. First edition of this richly illustrated work on architecture and perspective. The finely engraved plates show brilliant baroque compositions for catafalques, theatrical scenes, a series for the Passion of Christ in elaborate architectural settings, and the decoration of the Riding School at Vienna for the marriage of the Archduchess Mariana with Prince Charles of Lorraine.
Antwerp, Nuremberg, and elsewhere: Various printers, 1557-1604
$45,000.00
1. Vredeman de Vries, Jan (1527- ca. 1607)
Architectura [Ou art de bastir des Antiques, tiré de Vitruve: qui sont cincq ordres de colonnes, don’t l’on peut tirer toutes sortes de bastimens, selon l’usance et coustume de chascun pays: utile à tous Architects, Massons, Tailleurs de pierre, Menuisiers, et à tous amateurs de l’Architecture.
Quarto: 20.3 x 14.7 cm. 93 pp. A-M4 (H1 is a cancel, -L4), π1. With an added portrait-frontispiece of the author, 1 folding table, and 5 folding plates.
Very rare first edition of this treatise on perspective by Guglielmo Gargiolli, the renowned mathematician of the Medici courts of Siena and Florence, and a correspondent of Galileo. The work is dedicated to Ferdinand II, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Riccardi, VII, p. 40, «è de noverarsi fra i primi tentativi di distanziometria», Riccardi mistakenly records an earlier edition of 1619 relying on Targioni, Atti, I, p. 334, but the date is obviously incorrect in respect of Gargiolli’s rather obscure biography. See ‘Le opere dei discepoli di G. Galilei, Carteggio (1642–48)’, vol. I, a cura di P. Galluzzi e M. Torrini, Firenze 1975, no. 11
"The Dance of Shadows" - An Important Treatise on Painting & Dutch Art by Rembrandt's Pupil
Quarto: 20.5 x 16 cm. (14), 361, (8)p., Etched title, engraved portrait by J. Oudann, 14 folding plates and 4 illustrations. Collation: π1, *4, **3, A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, 2π1. With an engraved title, 2 copies (different states) of the portrait, 9 engraved chapter titles, 5 engraved anatomical plates, and an added pen and ink illustration (not called for.)
In addition to the added plates there are 4 remarkable text illustrations showing the way light falls and shadows are cast. The most famous of these illustrates the "Dance of Shadows", Van Hoogstraten's innovative theater concept. Each book is prefaced by an allegorical engraving by Van Hoogstraten.
Arntzen/ Rainwater H63; Hollstein IX, p. 142, 31: J. de Mann, Kunst op schrift, Kunst op Schrift: Een inventarisatie van Nederlandstalige publikaties op het gebied van kunsttheorie en esthetica 1670-1820, 23
Two of the most important literary works of the English Renaissance, Together with Ascham’s Essay on Historiography - With Manuscript waste from a 15th c. Breviary with several lines in Middle English
London: Printed by Iohn Daye, dwelling ouer Aldersgate, [1571], London: In Fletestreate neare to Saint Dunstones Churche by Thomas Marshe, 1571, London, Printed by Iohn Daye, dwelling ouer Aldersgate, ca. 1570
$45,000.00
Quarto: Three volumes bound as one: 19.5 x 14.2 cm. I. [manicule]2, B-T4. II. *4, A-H8, III. A-I4
I. “The Schoolmaster”:
“The indispensable link between the earlier Tudor writers and the great Elizabethan and Jacobean writers of English prose”(Ryan, 292)
The Cambridge-educated Ascham, one of the best known of the English humanists, produced two works that had a great influence on the use of English as a literary language as well as on the education of children and the conduct of English gentlemen.
Jena: bey Samuel Krebsen, in Verlegung Thomas Matthias Götzen, 1661
$5,800.00
Quarto: 19.8 x 16 cm. [128] p. π1, ):(4, A-M4, a-c4
A rare astronomical work by the astronomer Erhard Weigel, a teacher of Gottfried W. Leibniz. The engraved frontispiece shows a man holding a telescope, standing before the University of Jena, with other astronomical instruments (quadrants, sextants, a globe, etc.
Zinner p. 582; Poggendorff II, 1283; Kenney 20; Brüning 1061; Pogg. II, 1283; Struve 17; Bircher A1193; FdF 1506-07; not in Hou-zeau-L.; Lit.: Klaus-Dieter Herbst (ed.). Erhard Weigel (1625–1699) und die Wissenschaften. Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang 2013
The Controversy over the use of Telescopic Sights. Hevelius observes the Skies with Edmond Halley Two Months Before his Observatory is Lost to Fire
Folio: 34.8 x 22.5 cm. [6] lvs. 24, 196 pp. Collation: )( 6, )(4, )()(4, )()()(4, A-Z4, AA6. With engraved title page vignette and 7 (1 double-page) engraved plates.
“Annus Climactericus” was the last of Hevelius’ works published in the author’s lifetime. The book comprises observations of the planets, sun, moon, and fixed stars, many of which were made alongside the English astronomer Edmond Halley. The observations were made from 8 January until 25 September 1679, subsequent to the publication of the second volume of Hevelius’ “Machina Coelestis”, almost the entire press run of which was lost in the fire that destroyed Hevelius’ observatory on 26 September 1679.
VD17 39:125045B; DSB 6, 363; Honeyman 1675. For a thorough discussion of the Hevelius-Hooke controversy, see Saridakis, “Converging Elements in the Development of Late Seventeenth-Century Disciplinary Astronomy: Instrumentation, Education, and the Hevelius-Hooke Controversy”, p. 129 ff.; For an assessment of the relative accuracy of Halley’s and Hevelius’ computations at Danzig, see Cook, “Edmond Halley: Charting the Heavens and the Seas”, p. 93 ff.; For Hevelius’ work on the binary star Mira Ceti, see Hatch, “Hevelius- History and Identity”, in “Change and Continuity in Early Modern Cosmology”, p 158 ff.; For D. Capellus’ contemporary account of the fire and a detailed inventory of Hevelius’ losses, see MacPike, “Hevelius, Flamsteed, Halley”, Appendix I. (London, 1937)
Octavo: 15 x 10 cm. I. a-h8; A-Z8, Aa4 (lacking blank Aa4). II. A-L8 (with blank L8)
Bound in contemporary alum-tawed pigskin over wooden boards, one clasp defective, binding soiled and mildly worn and with small defects. The boards are ruled and tooled in blind, signed and dated “IPN 1556”. The contents are in excellent, crisp condition (one leaf working loose, marginal tear in margin of leaf E5, no loss). With a historiated woodcut title border to the “Apologia”.
Folio: 32.3 x 21.5 cm. ¶4, A-Z6, Aa-Zz6, Aaa-Zzz6, Aaaa-Dddd6 (lacks blank ¶1).
This second edition was revised by William Crashaw (1572-1626), father of the poet Richard Crashaw, and includes the commentary of Juan Luis Vives (first published in Basle, 1522), which Vives wrote at the suggestion of Erasmus.
"Fifteen years after Augustine wrote the Confessions, at a time when he was bringing to a close (and invoking government power to do so) his long struggle with the Donatists but before he had worked himself up to action against the Pelagians, the Roman world was shaken by news of a military action in Italy.
Oxford: Printed by Leon: Lichfield, Printer to the University, for Rob: Young, & Ed: Forrest, 1640
$15,500.00
Folio: 28.2 x 19 cm. [32], 38, [14], 322, [22] p. Collation: [*]2, ¶4, ¶¶2, ¶¶¶1, A2, B-C4, aa-gg4, hh2, †4, ††2, †1, A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Qqq4, Rrr2. The first bifolium comprises the engraved portrait and engraved title page.
This is the important English translation, by Isaac Watts, of Bacon’s “De augmentis scientiarum” (“Partitions of the Sciences”), a greatly expanded version of Bacon’s “Of Proficience and Advancement of Learning Divine and Human”(1605). The work forms part one of Bacon’s “Instauratio Magna”, a foundational work of Early Modern science.
