Forum Rare Books

Early lives of saints, with a stunning full-page woodcut by Urs Graf

PETRUS DE NATALIBUS. Catalogus sanctorum & gestorum eorum ex diversis voluminibus collectus: ...
(Colophon: Strasbourg, printed by Martin Flach, 1513). Folio (22.2 x 32 cm). Title-page with a woodcut decorated initial and a 4-piece woodcut border by Hans Wechtlin, 1 full-page woodcut by Urs Graf, hundreds of woodcut decorated uncial initials. Set mostly in rotunda gothic types. Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards, in a panel design, with 2 brass clasps on leather straps with brass catchplates and anchorplates. [4], 253 ll. Full description

€ 7,500

Catholicism & Eastern Orthodox Church Church History & Missions Early Printing - 16th century Religion (16th Century)

Unrecorded issue of Albert Pios attack on Erasmus, here together with Erasmus response

PIO, Alberto. Alberti pii carporum comitis illustrissimi ad Erasmi Roterodami expostulationem resposio accurata & parenetica, Martini Lutheri & asseclarumeius he resim uesana magnis argumetis & iustis rationibus consutans.
[Paris? Pierre Vidoué?, 1526].
With: (2) ERASMUS, Desiderus. Responsio ad epistolam paraneticam Albert Pii Carporum principis.
[Paris, Pierre Vidoué], April 1529. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Ad 1 with a woodcut armorial frame on the title page and 2 woodcut decorated initials. Ad 2 with a woodcut architectural frame on the title page and 2 woodcut decorated initials. Later (18th-century?) gold-tooled calf with a red morocco title lable lettered in gold on the spine, gold-tooled board edges, red edges, marbled endpapers. [152]; [56] ll. Full description

€ 4,500

Church History & Missions Early Printing - 16th century Erasmus Humanism & Reformation Philosophy & Humanism Religion (16th Century)

The first German handbook of Catholic doctrine

PIRSTINGER, Berthold. Tewtsche Theologey.
(Colophon:) München, Hans Schobser, 31 August 1528. Small folio (19.6 x 28.5 cm). With the title printed in red and set inside a woodcut frame, depicting God the Father, the Virgin and Child, SS. Peter and Paul, and the four evangelists. Near-contemporary (ca. 1586?) panel-stamped calf, sewn on 4 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, and with remnants of 2 pairs of closing ties. [251], [1 blank] ll. Full description

€ 7,500

Catholicism & Eastern Orthodox Church Early Printing - 16th century Humanism & Reformation Religion (16th Century)

Papal bull elevating Cosimo I de’ Medici to become first Grand Duke of Tuscany

PIUS V, Pope. Freiheit und Bulla des allerheiligsten in Gott vatters und Herren, Herren Pii, des namens fünfften Bapsts, uber die Erhoehung und Schoepffung des durchleüchtigsten Fürsten und Herren, Herren Cosmi Medices, Hertzogen zu Florentz, &c. Zu einem Groszhertzoge und koenigmässigem, der provintz Ethrurien, ime underworffen. Geschehen zu Rom, den 27. Augusti. Anno M.D. LXIX.
[Germany], 1570. Small 4to (20 x 15 cm). With a woodcut figure of the Pope on the title-page. Set in Schwabacher gothic type with fraktur headings and incidental roman. Half maroon goatskin morocco (1930s?), gold-tooled spine. [12] pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Catholicism & Eastern Orthodox Church Early Printing - 16th century Italy Law & Politics Religion (16th Century)

First edition of the history of the dioceses Tongres, Maastricht and Liège

PLACENTIUS, Johannes Leo. Catalogus omnium antistitum Tungarorum, Traiectensium, ac Leodiorum, & rerum domi, bellique gestarum compendium.
Antwerp, Willem Vorsterman, [1530?; preface dated 14 September 1529]. Small 8vo (13.5 x 10 cm). Title with woodcut coat-of-arms of Cardinal Everard van de Marck in a 4-piece woodcut border, a large woodcut coat of arms on the last page, 2 woodcut illustrations, one showing Mary and Jesus with Saint Anne (63 x 42 mm), and the other a bishop in his study (45 x 43 mm), each in the same 4-piece woodcut border (different from that on the title-page). Capitals rubricated throughout, some woodcuts also rubricated and some headings and other words underlined in red. Vellum (ca. 1700?). [16], [216] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Belgium Early Printing - 16th century Netherlands Religion (16th Century)

A cornerstone of Low Countries ecclesiastical history

PLACENTIUS, Johannes Leo. Catalogus omnium antistitum Tungarorum, Traiectensium, ac Leodiorum, & rerum domi, bellique gestarum compendium.
(Colophon:) Antwerp, Willem Vorsterman, [1530?; preface dated 14 September 1529]. 8vo (14.4 x 6.6 cm). With a woodcut coat of arms of Cardinal Everard van de Marck within a 4-piece woodcut frame on the title page, 2 woodcut illustrations, each enclosed in the same four-piece woodcut border (distinct from that on the title page), a large woodcut incorporating Vorstermans printers device on the last page, and 7 decorated woodcut initials. 18th-century half calf. [116] ll. Full description

€ 3,950

Belgium Bibliography & Biography Church History & Missions Early Printing - 16th century Religion (16th Century)

Moral philosophy and counsel to kings: Erasmus’ translations of Plutarch

PLUTARCH and Desiderius ERASMUS (translator and editor). Ex Plutarcho versa per Des. Erasmum Roterodamum. Recognita per eundem, ex collatio[n]e Graecoru[m] voluminu[m] ut seque[n]s ha bet pagella ...
Basel, Johann Froben, (colophon:) September 1520. 4to. With the title set within an elaborate woodcut frame, a smaller woodcut frame on the verso of the title page and the first page of the first text. Further with 9 woodcut decorated initials, woodcut headpieces, and a small woodcut illustration incorporating Frobens device on the last page. Modern gold-tooled half calf. 167, [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Church History & Missions Early Printing - 16th century Erasmus Greek & Roman Classics Humanism & Reformation Medicine & Pharmacy (16th Century) Philosophy & Humanism Religion (16th Century)

In a 17th-century richly gold-tooled Jesuit prize-binding

PLUTARCHUS. Moralia, quae usurpantur. sunt autem omnis elegantis doctrinae penus: id est, varij libri: morales, historici, physici, mathematici, deniq; ad politiorem litteraturam pertinentes & humanitatem: omnes de Graeca in Latinam linguam transscripti.
Basel, Thomas Guarini, 1570. Folio. With woodcut printer's device on title-page and repeated on last page, some mathematical woodcuts in text and numerous historiated woodcut initials. Early 17th-century Jesuit prize binding in richly gold-tooled light brown calf, sides with arabesques in the style of Gascon, richly gold-tooled double borders and inner panel with small bands in a geometrical pattern. [12], 857, [91] pp. Full description

€ 4,250

Bindings Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy Jesuits Philosophy & Humanism Religion (16th Century)

First edition of a highly controversial work, seeking natural explanations for miraculous events

POMPONAZZI, Pietro. De naturalium effectuum causis, sive de incantationibus ... ante annos XXXV compositum, nunc primùm verò in lucem fideliter editum. Adiecta brevibus scholiis à Gulielmo Gratorolo Physico Bergomate.
Basel, (colophon:) Heinrich Petri, August 1556. Small 8vo. With 3 decorated woodcut initials, and a woodcut printer's device at the end of the work. 17th-century vellum. [16], 349, [3] pp. Full description

€ 15,000

Astrology & Occult Church History & Missions Early Printing - 16th century Philosophy & Humanism Religion (16th Century)

Two incendiary pamphlets against French Huguenots, 3 years after the revocation of Edict of Nantes

[REBOUL, Guillaume]. La cabale des Reformez, tiree nouvellement du puits de Democrite.
Montpellier [= Lyon?], "chez Le Libertin, imprimeur juré de la saincte Reformation" [= Jacques Roussin?], 1597.
With: (2) REBOUL, Guillaume. Apologie ... sur La cabale des Reformez.
[Lyon?, Jacques Roussin?], 1598. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. 17th-century gold-tooled calf; rebacked, preserving most of the backstrip. 224; 141, [1 blank] pp. Full description