Forum Rare Books

The art of swimming

THEVENOT, Melchisedech. L'art de nager, demontré par figures, avec des avis pour se baigner utilement.
Paris, Thomas Moette, 1696. 12mo. With 35 engraved plates of people swimming by Charles Moette. Contemporary calf. [12], XII, 47, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 7,500

Games & Sports School & Textbooks

Definitive edition of the first substantial Dutch manual on the notary's practice

THUYS, Jacques. Ars notariatus. Dat is: Conste en[de] stijl van notarischap: begrepen in Theorijcke ende Practijcke... Desen derden druck, grootelijcken vermeerdert ende verbetert ...
Antwerp, Arnout s'Conincx, 1590. Small 8vo (15.5 x 10 cm). With woodcut publisher's device (with letterpress motto "Virtute et constantia") on title-page, a woodcut tail-piece and woodcut decorated initials (3 series). Set in textura types with incidental roman, with sample documents set in civilité with incidental italic. 17th-century parchment. [16], 231, [1] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Early Printing - 16th century Economic History & Trade Law & Politics School & Textbooks

Extremely rare unauthorized edition of a manual on field fortification for young officers

TIELKE, Johann Gottlieb. Unterricht für die Offiziers die sich zu Feldingenieurs bilden, oder doch den Feldzügen mit Nutzen beywohnen wollen, durch Beyspiele aus dem letzten Kriege erläutert, und mit nöthigen Plans versehen...
Vienna, Johann Thomas Edlen von Trattner, 1785. 8vo. With an engraved frontispiece, 32 folding engraved plates and some letterpress tables in text. 19th-century green half morocco, marbled paper sides. [48], 479, [9] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Fortification & Military Architecture Military History (18th Century) School & Textbooks

The first dictionary of classical mythology

TORRENTINUS, Hermannus. Elucidarius carminu[m] et historiaru[m] vel vocabularius poeticus co[n]tine[n]s fabulas: historias: provincias: urbes: insulas: fluvios: et montes illustres.
(Colophon:) Hagenau, Heinrich Gran for Johann Rynmann, 1510. 4to. 19th-century blind-tooled red morocco, with a gold-tooled centre-piece on both sides, title, date and location of printing lettered in gold on the spine, gold- and blind-tooled broad turn-ins, gilt edges, blue endpapers. [1 blank], [60], [1 blank] ll. Full description

€ 2,250

Bindings Classical Antiquity Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy

The art of persuasive speech

VALERIUS, Cornelius. In universam benedicendi rationem tabula, summam artis rhetoricae complectens: recognita & emendatius excusa.
Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1573. 8vo (16.1 x 10.2 cm). With Plantin's woodcut device on the title page, and 2 woodcut decorated initials. Modern binding using older printer's waste, with the author, title and year lettered in grey ink on the spine, red edges. 111, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 950

Early Printing - 16th century School & Textbooks

Dialectics made visible: gesture and method in a Renaissance textbook

VALERIUS, Cornelius. Tabulae, quibus totius dialecticae praecepta maxime ad usum disserendi necessaria breviter & summatim exponuntur, ordine perspicuo digestae.
Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1575. 8vo (16.1 x 10.1 cm). With a woodcut illustration on p. 79, some tables, Plantins woodcut device on the title page, and several woodcut initials throughout. Modern binding using older printer's waste. 104 pp. Full description

€ 950

Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy Language & Linguistics Philosophy & Humanism Plantin Press School & Textbooks

The first full-length autobiography written in Australia

VAUX, James Hardy. Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, a swindler and thief, now transported to New South Wales for the second time, and for life. Written by himself. Second edition.
London, Whittaker, Treacher, & Arnot, 1830. 12mo. Publisher's green cloth. [2], XXIV, 288 pp. Full description

€ 450

Australia Bibliography & Biography Education & Pedagogy

One of the earliest school dictionaries of Latin synonyms

WILDENBERG, Hieronymus (Hieronymus CINGULARIUS). Tersissima latini eloquij Synonymorum collectanea, non modo epistolas, verum etiam carmina cudere volentibus oppido idonea, ex multiiugis & quidem luculentissimis Oratorum tum Poetarum scriptis studiosa recognitione, veluti quaedam progymnasmata eruta, vernaculoque suo ut inventu sint faciliora accommodata, ac denuo secundum Alphabeti seriem deprompta atque concinnata. Annexus est Tractatulus utilissimus de vocum proprietatibus, seu terminorum differentijs.
Magdeburg, Michael Lotter, (ca. 1535). Sm.8vo. Old boards. [75] ll. Full description

€ 1,750

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy Language & Linguistics School & Textbooks

The first Chinese-English dictionary written by an American missionary

WILLIAMS, Samuel Wells. A tonic dictionary of the Chinese language in the Canton dialect.
Canton, Printed at the Office of the Chinese Repository, 1856. 8vo. With a lithographic Chinese title page, and a letterpress English title page. The text is printed in two columns. Contemporary half brown calf. XXXVI, 832 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

China Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Education & Pedagogy Language & Linguistics

A milestone of American sinology

WILLIAMS, Samuel Wells. A syllabic dictionary of the Chinese language, arranged according to the Wu-fang yuen yin, with the pronunciation of the characters as heard in Peking, Canton, Amoy and Shanghai.
Shanghai, American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1874. 4to. With a lithographic title page in Chinese, and a letterpress title page in English. The introduction is printed in 2 columns, and the dictionary in 3. Contemporary gold-tooled red morocco. LXXXIV-1252 pp. Full description