Early Printing & Manuscripts / Natural History & Science

LICHTENBERGER, Johannes. Pronosticatio in latino rare & prius non audita: quae exponit & declarat nonnullos coeli ifluxus: & i[n]clinatione[m] certaru[m] constellationu[m] magne videlicet co[n]iunctionis & eclipsis: quae suera[n]t istis annis: quid boi maliue hoc tempore & in futuru[m] huic mu[n]do porte[n]dant: durabitq[uam] pluribus annis.
[colophon:] Venice, [Niccolò & Domenico dal Gesù = Nicolo & Domenico Sandri dal Jesus], 23 August [1511?]. 4to. With the large Dal Jesus white-on-black woodcut device, 45 half-page or nearly full-page woodcuts in the text, most with letterpress captions above or below, the first showing Ptolemy, Aristotle, the Sibyl, Birgitta of Sweden and Brother Reinhart receiving divine inspiration, with an explanation on the facing page in a 4-piece ornamental floral woodcut frame. Modern half red morocco. 39, [1 blank] ll. Full description

LOBEL [also L'OBEL or LOBELIUS], Matthias de. Kruydtboeck oft beschrijvinghe van allerleye ghewassen, kruyderen, hesteren, ende gheboomten.
Antwerp, Christoffel Plantin, 1581. 2 volumes bound as 1, the second in 3 parts. Large folio. With an engraved title-page, the author's large "candore et spe" woodcut device on leaf *6r, approximately 2185 botanical woodcuts in the text. The medieval manuscript parchment pastedowns are rubricated in red and ink. The Latin legal text is written in a littera bononiensis (variant of the littera textualis) in brown ink. With three loosely inserted contemporary or near contemporary slips with manuscript notes, in Dutch regarding a recipe and other notes. Tanned sheepskin over thick wooden boards (perhaps partly contemporary but refurbished in the early 19th-century) with brass fastenings. Sewn on 5 double cords supports with corresponding raised bands on the spine creating 6 compartments, with a black morocco title label lettered in gold in the second compartment, and with medieval manuscript binding waste parchment pastedowns. [10], 994, [2 blank], "312"[=314, p. 294 + 2 blank], [2 blank], 15, [1 blank], [67], [1 blank] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - MEDIEVAL TIMEKEEPING]. Calculus temporum ecclesiasticus.
[Possibly England, ca. 1360]. Small 4to (15.5 x 22.5 cm). Latin manuscript on paper. Brown ink in an early bastarda hand, the final three leaves in a slightly later (still quite contemporary) hand. 19th-century paper wrappers, with the manuscript title on the front wrapper. 30 ll. Full description

MARBODE (MARBODIUS) of Rennes. De gemmarum lapidumq[ue] pretiosorum formis, naturis, atq[ue] viribus eruditu[m] cu[m] primis opusculu[m], ... scholiis q[uo]q[ue] illustratu[m] p[er] Alardu[m] Aemstelredamu[m].
Cologne, Hero Alopecius [Fuchs], 1539. 8vo. With a woodcut illustration on the title-page, representing a Jewish priest behind a board with the names of 12 stones which represent the 12 tribes of Israel. 17th-century gold-tooled red morocco, richly gold-tooled spinel, gold-tooled fillets and small cornerpieces on both boards, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins. 124, [2] ll. Full description

MEXIA, Pedro. Coloquios o dialogos compuestos por el magnifico cavallero Pero Mexia, vezino de Sevilla, en los quales se disputan y tratan varias y diversas cosas de mucha erudicion y doctrina. Al illustrissimo senor don Perasan de Ribera Marques de Tarisa &c.
Antwerp, widow of Martinus Nutius, 1561. Small agenda 12mo (14 x 6.5 cm). With Nutius's woodcut device on the title-page. 17th-century(?) blind-tooled overlapping vellum, each board with the coat of arms of the Landgrave of Hesse, gilt edges. 165, [3 blank] ll. Full description

MIZAULD, Antoine. Memorabilium, utiliu[m], ac jucundorum centuriae novem, in aphorismos arcanorum omnis generis locupletes, perpulchrè digestae.
Paris, Fédéric Morel, 1566. 8vo. With Morel's woodcut tree device on the title-page, 2 woodcut headpieces and 7 woodcut decorated initials (plus 3 repeats), the headpieces and initials in an unusually delicate design, finely executed. Set in italic types with the preliminaries in roman, and incidental Greek. 17th-century limp sheepskin parchment. [16], 136 pp. Full description

MÜNSTER, Sebastian. Compositio horologiorum, in plano, muro, truncis, anulo, con concavo, cylindro & variis quadrantibus, cum signorum zodiaci & diversarum horarum inscriptionibus: ...
Basel, Henricus Petrus, 1531 (changed in manuscript to 1535). With woodcut on title-page showing sundials of various kinds, Petri's woodcut device on last page, large folding woodcut plate (31.5 x 40.5 cm) of a wall sundial, and 56 woodcut illustrations in the text (many full-page).
With: (2) GLAREAN(US), Heinrich. De geographia liber unus, ab ipso authore iam tertio recognitus.
Freiburg im Breisgau, (colophon: Joannis Faber), 1533. With Faber's device on title-page with a larger version on last page, and 21 woodcut illustrations in the text (several full-page). 2 works in 1 volume. 4to. Contemporary sheepskin parchment. [8], 198, [2] pp.; 35, [1] ll. Full description

NUNES, Pedro. De crepusculis liber unus, nu[n]c rece[n]s & natus et editus.Including: [Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn MU'ADH] (mis-attributed to Ibn AL-HAYTHAM). De causis crepusculorum liber unus, à Gerardo Cremonensi iam olim Latinita te donatus, nunc vero omniu[m] primum in lucem editus.
(Colophon: Lisbon, Ludovicus Rodericus, January 1542). 4to. With woodcut architectural title-page with an arch containing putti and mythological figures (including 2 winged female fauns holding drapery, with the Royal Portuguese coat of arms at the foot and an armillary sphere at the head, 40 woodcut diagrams concerning astronomy, spherical geometry, optics and geodessy in the text, Rodericus's spectacular full-page emblematic woodcut device (a dragon with the motto "salus vitae" on a banderole), numerous woodcut initials (several series), and a vine-leaf ornament (a variant of Vervliet 94?). Set mostly in the first successful italic type to have sloped capitals, cut by Peter Schoeffer the younger, but with extensive passages in roman. Bound in a period-style Italian calf binding, gold-tooled spine, each board with a blind-tooled frame and a gold-tooled centrepiece, with "Petri Nonii" on the front and "MDXLII" on the back. [73], [1 blank] ll. Full description

NUÑEZ DE AVENDAÑO, Pedro. Aviso de Cazadores y Caça.
Madrid, Pedro Madrigal, 1593.
With: (2) [bound before ad 1] NUÑEZ DE AVENDAÑO, Pedro. De exequendis mandatis regnum Hispaniae, quae rectoribus civitatum dantur, & hodie continentur in titulo.
Madris, Pedro Madrigal, 1593.
2 works in 1 volume. Folio (27 x 18.5 cm). With the woodcut printer's device on the title page of ad 1, and two decorated woodcut initials. Further with the woodcut coat of arms of Habsburg Spain on the title page of ad 2, numerous decorated woodcut initials, a woodcut headpiece at the start of the work, and headpieces made up of typographical ornaments in the first few chapters. Later limp vellum, sewn on 2 vellum tapes laces through the joints, with the manuscript title on the spine, remnants of ties. [8], "555" [= 553], [1], [2 blank], [40]; 34 pp. Full description

OPPIAN of Anazarbus and OPPIAN of Syria (C. RITTERSHUSIUS, translator). Oppiani poetae Cilicis de venatione libri IV. De piscatu libri V.
Leiden, Franciscus Raphelengius, 1597. 2 parts in 1 volume. 8vo. With Raphelengius' (Plantin's) printer's device on the title-page, decorated woodcut initials, and the text is partially set in Greek script. Late 18th-century gold-tooled red morocco. [1], [1 blank], [86], 376, [32]; [8], 344, 164, [3], [1 blank] pp. Full description