Forum Rare Books

Including the first printing of game boards and rules for a 10th-century dice game

BALDERIC, Bishop of Noyon and Tournai (ed. George COLVENEER). Chronicon Cameracense et Atrebatense, sive historia utrisque ecclesiae, III libris, ab hinc DC sere annis conscripta. Nunc primum in luce edita, & notis illustrata.
Douai, Jean Bogard, 1615. 8vo. With Bogard's engraved device on the title-page, 1 large folding engraved game board, and 2 large folding letterpress rectangular game boards, each with 4 small engravings in the centre and explanatory text on the backs, the same 4 engravings of dice in the text along with 3 small engravings of seals (plus 4 repeats). 17th-century vellum. [40], “607” [= 623], [1 blank], [16] pp. Full description

€ 4,000

France Games & Sports History / 17th Century

The first book about the game of (soccer) football, dedicated to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany

[BARDI, Giovanni de']. Discorso sopra'l giuoco del calcio Fiorentino. Del Puro Accademico Alterato. Di nuovo ristampato.
Florence, Cosimo Giunti, 1615. 4to. With the woodcut arms of the dedicateeon the title-page, 1 folding engraved plate, 2 woodcut decorated initials and decorations built up from arabesque typographic ornaments. Early limp sheepskin parchment (possibly taken from another book) with manuscript title on the spine. 48 pp. Full description

€ 18,000

Games & Sports Italy

Important illustrated study of emblems, with a lengthy treatment of women's emblems

BARGAGLI, Scipione. Dell' imprese die Scipion Bargagli ... Alla prima parte, la seconda, e la terza nucoamente aggiunte.
Venice, Francesco de Franceschi, 1594. Small 4to (20.5 x 15 cm). With oval engraved device on title-page, full-page engraved portrait of Rudolf II, full-page engraved dedicatory emblem, and 138 engraved oval emblems in text. 19th-century half sheepskin parchment. [24], “573” [=604], [15], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Art & Art History Early Printing - 16th century Emblems Italy Women History

Signed autograph letters of a leading French naval official at Toulon up to the Second Empire

[AUTOGRAPH]. BAUDIN, Charles. [Collection of 14 signed, mostly autograph letters].
Toulon, 1842-1849. 8vo and 4to. Letters in black and brown ink on paper (11 with the "prefecture maritime" letterhead), 1 with its original envelope and 3 originally folded, addressed and sealed for posting without an envelope. Full description

€ 11,500

Autographs & Letters France Naval History

One of the most important works on electricity of the 18th century

BECCARIA, Giambatista. Dell' elettricismo artificiale, e naturale libri due.
Torino, Filippo Antonio Campana, 1753. 4to. With a woodcut printer's device on the title-page, 6 decorated woodcut initials, 8 headpieces (3 woodcut, 5 made up of typographical ornaments), and 3 woodcut tailpieces. Contemporary gold-tooled mottled calf. [8], 245, [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,750

Italy Physics & Chemistry Science

Four rare political tracts

BEN SADDI, Nathan (= Robert DODSLEY). Chronique des rois d'Angleterre, ecrite en Anglois selon le stile des anciens historiens Juifs.
London [= Hanover?], Thomas Cooper [= Johann Wilhelm Schmidt?], 1743. Title in red & black with engraved vignette (a seascape with a sea creature in the foreground), headpieces and tailpieces. 144; [4], XXIV, 191, [1 blank], [2], 192-228; 108; 16 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

France Humanism & Reformation Law & Politics Military History (18th Century) Philosophy & Humanism UK - United Kingdom

Diplomatic and commercial relations between Venice and Persia

BERCHET, Guglielmo. La repubblica di Venezia e la Persia.
Torino, G.B. Paravia e comp., 1865. 8vo. With 5 photographic plates. Original publisher's printed brown paper wrappers. XVII, [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], 294, [2] pp. Full description

€ 750

Economic History & Trade Iran / Persia Italy Law & Politics

Mushrooms in and around La Rochelle, France, with 56 plates

BERNARD, Georges Eugène. Champignons observés à la Rochelle et dans les environs.
Paris, Mareschal and Martin (text); Germer Ballière et compagnie (atlas), 1882. 2 volumes (text & atlas). 8vo. Atlas volume with 56 lithographed plates (7 partly hand-coloured). Contemporary half cloth, with the original publisher's printed paper wrappers bound in. 434, [1], [1 blank]; IV pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Floras & General Botany France Lower Plants (incl. Mushrooms)

Wonderful and very rare nautical atlas for the Mediterranean

BERTHELOT, François. [Nautical atlas of the Mediterranean Sea].
Marseille, "se vend chez Benoît", 1720-1730. Large folio (40 x 55 cm). With 4 double-page engraved maps, with the first half of the first map as the front paste-down and the second half of the last map as the back pastedown. Contemporary vellum-backed boards, reinforced with light brown leather at the head and foot of the spine. 4 nautical maps on [8] pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Charts & Maps France Mediterranean Regions Navigation

Dried samples of 23 varieties of mushroom collected in France 1862-1912

[HERBARIUM - MUSHROOMS]. BERTILLON, [Louis-Adolphe] & F[rançois]. [Herbier de champignons].
[Paris and Maison-Laffitte], 1862-1912. 4to & folded folio leaves in a 4to portfolio (23 x 18 cm). A mushroom herbarium comprising samples of 23 varieties of mushroom, each mounted on paper, with manuscript notes and an occasional pencil drawing, the two earliest mounted and written on a pre-printed form. Loosely inserted in a contemporary half green cloth portfolio. [26] ll., the 2 folio ll. folded in half. Full description