XVIth Century Books

Venice: Comin da Trino di Monferrato, 1558. Hardcover. See Description. Third Edition. 4to in 8’s. ff. [8], 168. Including decorative initials and 84 woodcut illustrations with the text. Title within woodcut border depicting a variety of metallurgical and mining equipment. Final leaf (recto) contains a printer’s device and colophon - "In Vinegia per Comin da Trino di Monferrato MDLIX" [1559]. Attractive copy. Pages are generally clean and fresh with occasional mild spotting / staining. An old bookplate from the "Royal Military College" is located on the inside front cover. The bookplate is stamped "Sold by H.M Stationery Office." Bound in original limp vellum (minus thong fore-edge ties). Minus binder’s blank fly-leaf in the rear. Vannoccio Biringuccio (1480-1539?) was a Siennese nobleman, engineer and metallurgist. His "Pirotechnia" (first published in Venice, 1540) is considered the earliest detailed hand-book on metallurgy. The work contains… Read More

Colophon on G2r: [Venice: In Aedibus Aldi, Et Andreae Soceri, October 1518]., 1518. 8vo. ff. 233, [3]. complete with the 2 blanks, B8 & G3. Aldine woodcut device on title & verso of last leaf. 19th century paneled calf. armorial bookplate of Henry Richard Vassall Fox, Third Baron Holland [1773-1840]. First Aldine Edition of this collection of ancient geographical texts. Mela’s was "the first extant geographical work in Latin and the only Roman treatise of the classical period devoted exclusively to that subject." (DSB) His descriptive survey of the habitable world (Europe, Africa, and Asia) includes remarks on manners and customs, details on spectacular phenomena, and speculation on the causes of tides. "Despite his general inferiority as a geographer, Pomponius knew more than Strabo about the positions of Britain, Ireland, and the coasts of Gaul and north Germany; he was also the first to mention the Orkney Islands. Pomponius exerted a considerable influence on early… Read More

[Edinburgh: Robert Lekpreuik, 28 November, 1566., 1566. folio. ff. [14], ii-cxxii, cxxiiii-cxlv, [1], cxlvi-clviii, [2], clix-clxviii, [2], clxix-clxxxii. lacking initial blank & blank c4. woodcut title. woodcut initials. black letter. 19th century russia, gilt centre ornaments, gilt inside dentelles (joints repaired, head & foot of spine chipped, some of first few leaves apparently supplied from another copy, title cropped & repaired at corners with part of lower outer corner supplied in facsimile, marginal repairs to other prelims, occasional light soiling, light dampstaining in second part). a few old marginal notes. First Edition, variant issue, of the earliest collection of Scottish acts and statutes, compiled by James Balfour and others, and edited by Edward Henryson. The commission to compile and publish the laws, known as the ‘Black Acts’, was appointed by Queen Mary largely through the advice of John Leslie, Bishop of Ross. The work, covering the period from the… Read More

Franckfort am Mayn (ie Frankfurt): Sigmund Feyrabend Buchhandler, 1580. Hardcover. Very Good-. Large scene of knight in armour on titlepage + full-page allegorical plate of three graces and flying Mercury signed I A [Jost Amman] & MF +156 full-page woodcuts of men in armour with their shield coats of arms.. Folio in morocco spined boards (tips bit worn). Title in red & black + 2pp (preface and intro) + captioned full page plate as half title (numbered p3) +4-162pp +[2]pp (colophon with large printer's emblem and blank verso), but seems to lack a final blank leaf. At page 55 is a full-page half title with over 30 figures while at page 103 and 145 are divisional titles with large decorative tailpieces. This divides the men in armour into 4 parts and the last plate in each section has a monogram CW for Christoph Weiditz. Generally a very clean crisp copy, except for light browning of titlepage, final blank and a few other leaves, small brown marks on last page not affecting colophon, and light marks of… Read More

Venice: Giunta (colophon: in officina haeredum Lucaeantonii Iunctae), 1563. Leather. Very Good. Folio (38 cm); [2], 152, 12 leaves. Text in two columns, printed in red and black ink. Printer's device in red on title page (Camerini, I, 143, third variant). About 99 woodcut illustrations in text (some repeated), including full-page crucifixion, repeated seven times, and 10-panel historiated woodcut border to facing page, also repeated seven times. Rotunda, roman, and italic type. Music with notes in black on red staves. Bound in paneled calf, roughly contemporary, ruled in gilt with gilt fleurs-de-lis at corners. Binding worn with signs of old repairs. Text toned on some leaves, but remarkably fresh and free of blemishes overall. References: Mortimer, Italian, 304; Amiet, Repertorium, 2:101; Camerini, 673; RELICS, 2859. In the 1560s, the brothers Tommaso and Giovan Maria Giunta were trying to recover financially from the fire that destroyed their Venice workshop in 1557. Taking few… Read More

Hardcover. Fine. 4to. Bound in 20th-century 1/4-vellum over marbled boards. Strasbourg: Matthias Schürer, July 1510. Second Strasbourg edition of Erasmus heavily annotated collection of Greek and Latin proverbs. Printed in Roman and Greek types. This is the original version, containing 818 adages, which is considerably shorter than the later expanded versions published under the title Adagiorum chiliades. (Adams E-420; Bezzel, Erasmusdrucke, 50; Van der Haeghen, Bibliotheca Erasmiana, p.25-6; Bibl. Belgica II, 276: no. E.61; Muller, Strasbourg II, p. 179, no. 45.) The Adagia could only have been possible in the new world of European education, in which careful attention to a broader range of classical texts produced a much fuller picture of the literature of antiquity. Its impact has been long lasting. Such popular expressions such as one step at a time, between a rock and a hard place, break the ice, an iron in the fire, looking a gift horse in the mouth, and many other sayings can trace their… Read More

Venice: Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari, 1557. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/No Jacket. 8vo. Vellum. Title in gilt on green calf label on spine. [32] 740 p.p. Slightly bumped spine and edges. Some soiling to boards and extremities. Light foxing, some yellow staining to pages. Ex Libris Neathman Mill Library stamp on rear fly leaf. Tight boards, pages otherwise clean and crisp with decorated black and white initials. A near fine copy. A Dominican friar and writer, Remigio Nannini produced religious as well as secular works, and poetry. Nannini published "two collections of orations drawn by historians (the first, Military Orations collected by all the ancient and modern historians, Venice, 1557)" [Cantimori, Delio. Italian Encyclopedia, 1934]. Nannini also went on to publish the works of St. Thomas Aquinas (1570) at the request of Pope Pius the V.

1565. Frankfurt, 1565. 3rd ed with 6 plates by Amman. Frankfurt, 1565. 3rd ed with 6 plates by Amman. Well-Illustrated Digest of the Military Law and Practice of the Holy Roman Empire Fronsberger, Leonhardt. [Amman, Jost (1539-1591), Illustrations]. Von Kayserlichem Krieg rechten, Malefitz und Schuldhandlen, Ordnung und Regiment: Samt Derselbigen unnd Andern hoch oder Niderigen Beuelch, Bestallung, Staht und Empter, Zu Rossz und Fu , An Geschutz und Munition, In Zug und Schlachtordnung, Zu Feld, Berg, Thal, Wasser und Land, Vor oder in Besatzungen, Gegen oder von Feinden Furzunemen, Welcher Art Sitten Herkommen und Gebrauch, Under und bey Regierung de Allerdurchleuchtigstenm Gro machttigsten, Unuberwindlichsten, Und Krieg erfahrnen berumptisten Romischen Keysers Caroli de Funfften, Hochloblichster unseligster Gedechtni , Geubt Ungebraucht, In Zehen Bucher Abgetheilt, Vergleichen nie is Gesehen Worden, Von Neuwen Beschrieben und antag Geben durch Leonhardt Fronsperger. Mit Schonen Neuwen Figuren und… Read More

1551. Lyon: Hugues de La Porte, 1553-1556. 4 vols in 3. Lyon: Hugues de La Porte, 1553-1556. 4 vols in 3. A Collection of Texts from the Corpus Juris Civilis in Handsome Uniform Contemporary Paneled Pigskin Bindings Justinian I [483-565 CE], Emperor of the East. Accorso, Francisco (Accursius) [c.1182-c.1260], Glossator. Gaius [Active 130-180 CE]. Institutionum D. Iustiniani Sacratissimi Imperatoris Libri Quatuor: Ad Vetustissimorum Simul et Emendatissimorum Exemplarium Fidem Summa Diligentia Recogniti, Emendati. Cum Scholiis Accursii. Adiecimus Pluribus Locis Annotationes ex Doctissimorum Hominum Commentariis, Ex Quibus non Parum Lucis ac Dignitatis his Iuris Civilis Elementis Accedit. Accessit Corpus Legum, Antea non Impressum, Ac Caii Institutionum Libri Duo. Lyon: Apud Hugonem a Porta, 1553. [xxiv], 290, [2] pp. Large woodcut image of Justinian surrounded by his court. Main text in parallel columns with linear gloss. [Bound with] Justinian I, Emperor of the East. Accorso, Francisco (Accursius),… Read More

Strasbourg: Argentinae: Ex officina Martini Flach junioris, 1501. Half leather. Fine. Folio, printed in Strassburg by Martin Flach, 7 February 1501; 161 unnumbered leaves. BINDING: new Gothic hand-sewn oak binding by Arthur Green of Malvern; tawed quarter leather over quarter-sawn oak boards, quires hand-sewn on four double-cords creating four raised spine bands, board leather blind-tooled with period style rosettes and fleurs-de-lys within panel of diagonal blind triple fillets, hand-sewn Gothic double headbands of alternate hand-dyed indigo and undyed linen thread, hand-made brass hasps and clasps ornamented in period style; an exceptionally attractive recreation of a Gothic hand-sewn binding employing medieval techniques contemporaneous with the date the book was printed. COLLATION: [pi]6, a2-8, b-y6, z8, zeta6, antisigma8; leaf a1 excised and subsequent first few lines of a2[recto] redacted in black ink in the sixteenth century by the inquisitor for its heretical content (see below). TEXT: Double… Read More

8° (mm 153x104); cc. (46). Al frontespizio, bellissima silografia raffigurante un erudito nel suo studiolo. Testo in carattere romano, diposto su due colonne. Piccoli capilettera silografici. Marocchino nero giansenista: titolo al dorso, dentelles interne e taglî in oro. Copia molto bella.Extremely rare Italian version - probably based on the first Italian translation of the previous year (Venice, Zorzi di Rusconi, 1514) - of this famous novel, one of the masterpieces of early Spanish literature. Rarissimo volgarizzamento – verosimilmente coniato sulla prima traduzione italiana dell'anno precedente (Venezia, Zorzi di Rusconi, 1514) – "di questo celebre romanzo, tra i capolavori della letteratura spagnola; e pubblicato per la prima volta a Siviglia nel 1492. Esso apre l'interpretazione delle posteriori raffigurazioni letterarie in materia d'amore: influì sulla Celestina, sull'Amadigi di Gaula, sulla Diana, sulla Galatea e sugli episodi sentimentali del Don Chisciotte" (C.A. Chiesa, Libri… Read More

Due parti in un volume in-8°, cc. 71, [1]. Bell'esemplare, con legatura coeva in pergamena. L'opera del Lando è legata con Symeoni, Comentario alla Tetrarchia di Vinegia, 1548.
Provenienza: al frontespizio, antiche annotazioni manoscritte e nota di possesso; Collezione Maria Paola Moroni Salvatori.
Rarissima terza edizione (la princeps, priva di dati tipografici: Venezia 1548). Paleari Hensselr, 414. B.IN.G., 1080.
Il Commentario del Lando - tra i più geniali poligrafi rinascimentali, traduttore in italiano dell'Utopia di Tommaso Moro (1548) - è inoltre assai celebre in quanto alcune sue pagine "illustrano un ideale itinerario gastronomico per le città d'Italia, con riferimento a cibi e vini di cui l'autore mostra di aver acquisito conoscenze di prima mano" (L'arte della cucina in Italia, a cura di E. Faccioli, Torino 1992, p. 275).
"Questo testo costituisce un catalogo etnico-socio-gastronomico estremamente eterogeneo, inserito in un itinerario quasi iniziatico che si snoda attraverso la… Read More

4° (mm 200x135); cc. (8), segnate A-B4. Al frontespizio, silografia dell'Angelo al di sopra di un'altra silografia scenico-narrativa (mm 90x115); alla carta B1r, silografia a tre quarti di pagina (mm 73x102); al verso dell'ultima carta, la medesima silografia del frontespizio. Elegante legatura tardo-ottocentesca - verosimilmente inglese - in marocchino marrone con filettatura in oro ai piatti e titolo in oro lungo il dorso. Bell'esemplare.
Provenienza: Fairfax-Murray ? (cfr. Sander, 6220 [nota]); Libreria Il Polifilo, Milano (Cat. XIII [1947], n. 69).
Rarissima edizione fiorentina, splendidamente illustrata da tre silografie scenico-narrative. Cioni, 175-76; De Batines, 35-36; Sander, 6220 [nota]; Kristeller, 185.
Quella del frontespizio, reimpressa al verso dell'ultima carta, riprende il legno della prima edizione [Firenze, fine del sec. XV- inizi del sec. XVI, cfr. Sander, 6215, tav. 646, De Marinis, 166, tav. CXCVIII). Il secondo legno, che rappresenta un giovane uomo inginocchiato davanti a un… Read More

1576. contemporary female ownership: Jane Saunderson. contemporary female ownership: Jane Saunderson. Handsome Copy of the 1576 Tottel Edition of Magna Carta Owned by a Woman [Magna Carta]. Magna Charta, Cum Statutis, Tum Antiquis, Tum Recentibus, Maximopere, Animo Tenendis Nunc Demum ad Unum, Tipis Aedita, Per Richardum Tottell. Anno Domini 1576. [Imprinted at London in Fleetestrete Within Temple Barre at the Signe of the Hand and Starre, By Richard Tottell, The 8. Day of Marche, 1576]. [viii], 247 ff. Octavo (4-1/2" x 2-3/4"). Period-style calf, raised bands and gilt title and ornaments to spine, endpapers renewed. Some toning to text, margins trimmed close with loss of a few letters on outer margin of leaf A1 (fol. 1), minor dampstaining in a few places. Contemporary ownership signatures of Jane Saunderson to title page and rear endleaf, brief annotations in a tiny hand to a few pages. An appealing copy. $7,500. * Text in Latin, English and Law-French. With two tables of statutes, one… Read More

"To know the altitude of the Sun over the Horizon in whichever day and hour by the rays of the Sun"-- the function of the first volvelle instrument in this edition of Peter Apian's Cosmographia
APIAN, Peter. La Cosmographia de Pedro Apiano, corregida y añadida por Gemma Frisio, Medico y Mathematico. La manera de descrivir y situar los Lugares, con el uso del Anillo Astronomico, del mismo Auctor Gemma Frisio. El sitio y descripcion de las Indias y Mundo Nuevo, sacada de la Historia de Francisco Lopez de Gomara, y de la cosmographia de Ieronymo Girava Tarragonez. En Anvers. Por Juan Bellero al Aguila de Oro. Con privilegio de su M. D.LXXV. [1575].
Second Spanish edition. (235 x 170) ff [2], 68, [14] . Contemporary or near contemporary limp vellum binding with manuscript title and date on spine. Some ca. 17th c. binding waste from La vita di Maria Vergine imperatrice by Lucrezia Marinelli. Early owner's notation in front and back of binding. Two lead clasps and string fasteners original to binding.… Read More