Antique & Collectible Books

London: J. M. Dent, 1893. First edition. Wraps. Near fine. Aubrey Beardelsy. Twelve original parts in green wrappers. Parts 1-8 and 10-12 are the "Superior Issue" of 300 copies on Dutch handmade paper (this set unnumbered). Part 9 is from the "regular issue" and is slightly smaller in size. Full page and double page illustrations, rubricated initials, borders and in-text decorations by Aubrey Beardsley in his first major commission. This set is uncut and largely unopened. There is some offsetting from the illustrations to the facing pages. Part 9 lacks a tiny piece form the spine and has had a nearly invisible repair to the upper wrapper; the wrappers show light soil else this is a near fine set.

Very Good HC. Text in Dutch (blackletter); tekst in het Nederlands (gotisch). Full contemporary vellum; untitled; raised bands on spine; red edges; 50 numbered full page copperplate engravings of Christian eremite saints (25 male, 25 female) printed recto with text pages verso; full page frontispiece for work as well as full page frontispiece for female section. Vellum in very good condition with some handling discoloration, remains supple; ties at cover fore edges lacking; tightly bound; few pencil notes on front pastedown; without free end papers; lacking frontispiece for male section (leaf A!; facsimile laid in); few leaves with light damp stains or soiling, mostly in margins, otherwise light and clean interior; one leaf (B3) with large chip at top fore corner not affecting portrait but with some text missing from marginal notation on verso (see photo); all leaves remain supple. 25 x 18 cm; 51 text pages; 50 numbered plates + 2 frontispiece plates; in 4s. Ref, OCLC #901301549.

London: London: printed [by Henry Denham] in Aldersgate street at the signe of the Starre, 1587. 2nd Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. Second edition; large folio; 3 volumes bound into 2 physical volumes. Vol. 1: [10], 250; [4], 202, [2]pp. Vol. 2: 61, [13], 183, [1]; 421, 424-430, 436-438, 431-433, 439-445, 450-464, [56]pp. Vol. 3: [8], 1080, 1080-1327, [2], 1332-1371, 1371-1421, 1490-1491, 1536-1555, 1574-1592, [62]pp. Mismatching set. Volumes 1-2 bound in 17th century reversed calf (somewhat worn with a few old repairs, hinges cracked, corners and spine ends worn with minor loss), blind rolls to margins of boards, spine with five raised bands, gilt-lettered red leather spine label to second compartment and additional hand-written leather spine label to third compartment, housed in attractive custom-made clam-shell box in red half leather over marbled boards with five raised spine bands and gilt lettering direct to spine in second compartment. Unobtrusive creasing and wear to opening and… Read More

Three 21 x 28 1/8 inch (534 x 715 mm) untrimmed folio atlas volumes in four in original wraps. With frontis, 4 engraved titles & 461 plates, including 197 duplicates in outline. "Vol. 1: ossa et ligmenta, tabula I-LI.; Vol. 2: musculi et bursae mucosae, organa sensuum et viscera, tabula LII-CXXXIV.; Vol. 3, pt. 1, uterus gravadus, embriones humani, cor arteriae venae, tabula CXXXV-CCIV.; Vol. 3, pt. 2 vasa lymphatica, cerebrum nervi, tabula CCV-CCLXIV. Engraved portraits of authors on title page of v. 1 of plates./ V. 1 of plates published in 1801, v. 2 in 1804, v. 3, pt. 1 in 1810, and v. 3, pt. 2 in 1813; text v. published in 1802, 1804, 1805, 1808, 1814./ Many plates accompanied by an additional plate in outline./ Text vols. titled 'Iconum anatomicorum explicatio'" (OCLC: 58395230; 2018). Additional images and further information provided upon request.

London: Longmans, Green & Company, 1910. First Edition. Very Good. First edition. Andrew Lang's Color Fairy Books, complete in twelve volumes, all first impressions of the first edition: Blue (1889), Red (1890), Green (1892), Yellow (1894), Pink (1897), Grey (1900), Violet (1901), Crimson (1903), Brown (1904), Orange (1906), Olive (1907), Lilac (1910). The volumes average in Very Good, with fading to spines, foxing, light edge wear, soiling, or rubbing, bookplates or previous ownership markings, and toning to pages. Tear to cloth at base of spine of The Blue Fairy Book; Inner hinges tender or exposed in the Lilac, Orange and Grey; Corner clipped from front free endpaper in The Lilac Fairy Book. A lovely set Andrew Lang's Color Fairy Books, beautifully decorated in ornate gilt stamping.

Hammersmith: The Doves Press, 1905. original full limp vellum with title in gilt on spine, each enclosed in modern slipcase with cloth dust jacket. Doves Press. 8vo. original full limp vellum with title in gilt on spine, each enclosed in modern slipcase with cloth dust jacket. 386,(2); 343+(1) pages. Two volumes. Limited to 325 copies printed by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson (Marianne Tidcombe, The Doves Press, 37-42, Catalogue Raisonne p.20; Ransom no.5&7). Title and margin notes in red. Initials designed by Edward Johnston. The present work is one of Walker and Cobden-Sanderson's earlier productions, and certainty one of the highlights of the Doves Press. The title page and the first leaf of text of the first volume have some foxing along the outer edge. Founded by Sir Emery Walker and bookbinder T.J. Cobden-Sanderson in 1900, The Doves Press books with their beautifully cut typography and the spaciousness of the layouts, were a main inspiration for the revival of private-press printing in the 20th… Read More

"A concordance, that is to saie, a worke wherein by the ordre of the letters of the A.B.C. ye maie redely finde any words conteigned in the whole Bible, so often as it is there expressed or mencioned."
The first edition of the first complete Bible concordance in English. Engraved title page, engraved initials and printer's devices. Full page woodcut of Henry VIII on final leaf (frequently lacking).
Collation: A^6, A-Z^6, Aa-Zz^6, Aaa-Vvv^6, Xxx^1. Lacking Bb4.
Text in three column black letter font. Woodcut title page with portrait of King Henry VIII above title and printer's device below. Dedication to King Edward (3 pp.) with engraved woodcut initial. Introduction to the Reader (2 pp.) with engraved woodcut initial. A Table Expressing By Plaine Letters (1 pp.) and a full page woodcut of the printer's device (1 pp.). A blank leaf (A6). Text ends on colophon. A full page woodcut portrait of Henry VIII by his favorite artist Hans Holbein the younger, first published in 1548.
STC 17300, ESTC S114449… Read More

The rarest book from the first printing press in the Arab World
Annuaire de la République Française, calculé pour le méridien du Kaire, l'an VIII de l'ere Française.
Cairo, de l'Imprimerie Nationale, an VIII [1799/1800].
4⁰. 119 pp. With a woodcut printer's device on title.
Contemporary red painted paper wrappers.
One of the first books from the first printing press in the Arab World. The first issues from the Imprimerie Nationale are true incunabula of Arab printing and all are very rare. Most elusive amongst these is the present first almanac. We traced no copies in Arab or American libraries. The press lasted only until 1801.
The Imprimerie Nationale was set up when Napoleon traveled to Egypt in 1798: "an extraordinarily important turning point" (Glass & Roper). The French Republic aimed to bring progress wherever they arrived. In the case of Egypt this permanently changed the Arab World. Progress was predominantly expressed in administrative reform, of which the present almanac is typical… Read More

New York: Privately Printed by Order of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan (DeVinne Press &, 1911. First, Limited Edition. Near fine. 2 volumes; Royal 8vo; 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. (240 x 160 mm); Vol. 1: pp. xvii + 196pp.; Vol. 2: lxxiii + 145; + 158 chromolithographs with rice paper guards inscribed with legend, many double-tissued. In vol. 2 plate no. 147 is used as a frontispiece. Each volume includes an index of cases with schematic drawings and key numbers, as well as Chinese characters and diagrams of maker marks. Top edges gilt, rest uncut; Brown pebbled morocco, with gold fillets on boards, five raised spines, gilt titling and decorations in compartments. Fillets on wide turn-ins, moiré silk and morocco doublures, spine sunned and some very light shelfwear to volume 1. Volume 2 bound in slightly darker morocco, with similar detailing and moiré-silk doublures, front cover re-attached by the Baytun-Riviere bindery. Volume two bears the pictorial ex-libris of Earl Gifford Talbott. LIMITED EDITION of 250… Read More

Rare first printing of the Justinian Codex.
Justinian Codex in Three Volumes
The Code of Justinian (Codex Justinianus) is a part of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the codification of Roman law ordered early in the 6th century CE by Justinian I, the Byzantine emperor. During his reign two parts were compiled, the Digestum and the Institutes. Posthumously the works named Novellae Constitutiones were compiled and are also considered a part of the Corpus Juris Civilis.

Digestum Vetus : Pandectarum Iuris Civilis: Tomus Primus

Pp: [8] leaves; 1838, [1], [31] leaves

Dimensions: 42 x 28 cm

Lugduni (Lyon), 1562.


Digestum Novum: Pandectarum Iuris Civilis: Tomus Tertius, Sext Ae Partis Religiqvum

Pp: [8] leaves; 1742; [14] leaves;

Dimensions :42 x 28 cm

Lugduni (Lyon), 1562.


Infortiatum Sev Pandectarum Iuris Civilis: Tomus Secundus

Pp : [28] leaves; 2019;

Dimensions: 36 x 22 cm

Lugduni (Lyon), 1569.


Binding: Original Vellum binding. Wormholes, vellum on all panels damaged, sections missing with… Read More

A large crisp copy. This is the fourth edition.
Johann Zainer was the first printer to set up shop in Ulm in 1472, with the encouragement and financial support of Heinrich Steinhöwel, Johann was the brother of Günther Zainer, with whom he had worked in Augsbourg. It is likely that they had both worked for Mentelin in Strasburg.
A very fine printing by the first Ulm printer Johann Zainer, using his first typeface and the beautiful wooden initials of his so-called romanesque alphabet.
First published in 1470, it contains a collection of treatises on many issues of religious and secular life. The present edition was probably produced at the instigation of the Dominicans in Ulm.
The disputatio de quolibet was the most solemn form of disputatio in the medieval university. The sitting master regents announce, rarely every year, often every two or three years, that they will answer any question put to them by the audience gathered for the purpose. An opponent presents his or her objections to the master's… Read More

Kiøbenhaffn (Copenhague), Melchior Martzan og Salomon Sartor, 1632-1633Folio. (37 x 27 cm.). Bound in a spledid and richly gilt Cambridge-style full calf binding from ab. 1730-40. Two intact brass clasps to each board, with leather straps. Boards with broad borders made of numerous large gilt single stamps. Elegant gilt inner frame-border with large gilt corner stamps, inside which a polished calf centre in two tones of brown. The middle of the polished centre with yet another gilt oval frame made of elegang gilt stamps. Spine with six raised bands, richly gilt compartments, and with "Biblia" in gilt to second compartment from the top. Boards with inner gilt borders. All edges gilt. The binding is remarkably fresh and in splendid condition.
The first thirty leaves and the last partof the NewTestament has a dampstain, predominantly to the inner margin,mostly in the blank part, but touching a bit of the text. The first and the last leaves have been neatly re-hinged, far from affecting the text. All in… Read More

1482 Exposition BIBLE Psalms Spanish Torquemada Incunable COMPLETE Incunabula
Juan de Torquemada was a 15th-century Spanish Dominican and papal apologist at a time when Protestants were pressuring the authority of the pope. Proofs of his papal defenses were prevalent in his writings, including his 'Exposition of the Psalms'. This commentary was very popular throughout the 15th-century.
Dating on this work comes from the ISTC. While the exact date is unknown, the ISTC notes that it was published at or before 1482 – an extremely rare 15th-century bible commentary!
It is incredibly rare to find a complete incunabula, especially one as early as this! Note the original leather binding as well. A true masterpiece of 15th-century printing!

Item number: #18976
Price: $15,000
TORQUEMADA, Juan de
Expositio super toto psalterio
Basel : Johann Amerbach, not after 1482.

Details:

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Collation: Complete with all pages
o 124 leaves
· References: GW M48194; ISTC it00530000; Goff T 530; HC 15689;… Read More

By Gabriel Sagard Theodat. In the French language.
The First Edition of the main source on the first Recollet missionary mission in Canada in 1615- 29 is based on the experiences of frater Gabriel Sagrad Theodat.
This book is the documentation of the rare non-Jesuit missions in America since the Recollect branch was part of the Franciscan order. Detailed descriptions of the voyage, landscapes, wildlife, plants, as well as the costumes, traditions, rituals, medicine, and songs of the Wyandot (Huron) people.
The first French-Huron dictionary was also written by Gabriel Sagard between the years 1623-24 during his stay at the Georgian bay (at the time called Mer Douce).
Note:
Please note, there is no dictionary bound to this book, they are two separate issues (both printed first editions 1632.) The mission in which Gabriel Sagard took part was prior to the start of any Jesuit mission. The "Grande Voyage" and the "Relations des Jesuites de la Nouvelle-France" (considered one of the primary sources on the… Read More

Ahmedabad: Navajivan Press, 1933. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good +/Very good-. Large octavo. Volume I is the second printing, issued in 1933, and volume II is the first printing, issued in 1929. Issued separately, the set is rarely found together, almost never with both volumes retaining their original dust jackets. Volume I is near fine, with very gentle foxing to endpapers, but the contents crisp, clean, and bright. Gentle fading to some fo the canvas/burlap cloth. In the exceedingly rare dust jacket, which has a few small chips and tears, most notably on the spine, but with no large pieces missing; very good. Volume II is very good, with some fading to the spine, the inner hinges thinly cracked, but holding, and some gentle foxing to the fore-edge. Most pages unopened, and the contents quite clean. The jacket has a tidemark at the base, and some chips at the extremities, most notably the crown, which has a few letters missing from the word "Autobiography," printed at the top; overall about… Read More