Forum Rare Books

Early humanist edition, printed by Plantin

AESCHYLOS and Gulielmus CANTERUS (editor). Tragoediae VII. In quibus praeter infinita menda sublata, carminum omnium, ratio hactenus ignorata, nunc primum proditur; opera Gulielmi Canteri.
Antwerp, Christoffel Plantin, 1580. 16mo. With a small woodcut printer's device on the title page, 9 decorated woodcut initials, 7 woodcut headpieces, and 8 woodcut tailpieces, further with printed manicules in the margins throughout. Contemporary gold-tooled calf. [2 blank], 355, [1 blank], [7], [3 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Non-Western Types Greek & Roman Classics Music, Theatre & Dance Plantin Press School & Textbooks

Remarkable study of Rome's famous triumphal monument

[ALBUM - ITALY - TRAJAN'S COLUMN]. [Album with 72 illustrations of scenes depicted on Trajan's Column].
[Italy, late 16th- to 18th-century]. Oblong folio (ca. 54 x 39 cm). With 72 drawings on paper, in pen, ink, and ink wash. Probably early 18th-century gold-tooled red morocco with the elaborate coat of arms of King Philip V of Spain as a centre piece on both boards, within a double frame with floral corner pieces in the inside corners of the inner frame; gold-tooled board edges, marbled endpapers. [74] ll. Full description

€ 45,000

Art & Art History Classical Antiquity Drawings & Watercolours History / 17th Century Italy

Rare edition of a popular classical rhetoric handbook

APHTHONIUS of Antioch; Rodolphus AGRICOLA and Giovanni Maria CATANEO (translators). Aphthonii sophistae progymnasmata. Partim à Rodolpho Agricola, partim à Ioanne Maria Catanaeo latinitate donata. Cum luculentis & vtilibus in eadem Scholiis Reinhardi Lorichii Hadamarii. Nunc verò omnia multò quàm antea & emendatiora & meliori artificio disposita.
Paris, Gilles Gourbin, 1580. 16mo in 8s. With a woodcut printer's device on the title-page, 3 woodcut headpieces in the beginning of the work, and 9 decorated woodcut initials throughout. 17th-century limp vellum. [12], 259, [3 blank] ll. Full description

€ 3,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy Language & Linguistics Literature

First printed world-corpus of classical inscriptions

APIANUS, Petrus. Inscriptiones sacrosanctae vetustatis non illae quidem Romanae, sed totius fere orbis summo studio ac maximis impensis Terra Marique conquistae feliciter incipiunt.
Ingolstadt, Petrus Apianus, 1534. Folio (21 x 29.5 cm). With title-page printed in red and black, large emblematic woodcut after Albrecht Dürer (hand-coloured and highlighted with gold ca. 1730), woodcut coat of arms of Raimund Fugger (hand-coloured and highlighted with gold), 184 woodcut illustrations and 7 large woodcut initials. Nearly every page framed by 4 woodcut decorative border strips (several varieties). Contemporary vellum. [40], CCCCCXII, [8] pp. Full description

€ 9,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century

The hexameter acts of the apostles by Arator

ARATOR. Acta apostolica, carmine heroico descripta.
(Colophon: Antwerp, Joannes Grapheus), 1534 (impressum: 1535). 8vo (15.2 x 9.7 cm). With the title on the verso of leaf 24 underlined in red ink and the accompanying initial also coloured in red. Modern half brown calf. [48] ll. Full description

€ 1,250

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics Religion (16th Century)

First Aldine edition of Pedanius's commentaries on Cicero's orations

ASCONIUS PEDANIUS, Quintus. Expositio in IIII orationes M.T. Cic. contra C. Verrem [&c.]
(colophon:) Venice, heirs of Aldo I Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, December 1522. 8vo. With Aldos woodcut anchor and dolphin device on the title-page, repeated on the verso of the last otherwise blank leaf (each with letterpress "AL ... DVS" flanking the device), with spaces (with guide letters) left for manuscript initials, not filled in. Set in Aldos famous italic (with upright capitals), the worlds first italic printing type, first used in 1501 (showing the alphabet a-z and A-N in the register of quires above the colophon). Dark purple sheepskin (ca. 1880?). [12], 283, [1] ll. Full description

€ 4,500

Aldine Press Book History, Printing & Typography Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics

Complete print series by Van Audenaerde of the triumphal military parade celebrating
Caesar's victory in the Gallic Wars, after Mantegna's famous paintings

AUDENAERDE, Robert van, after Andrea MANTEGNA. C. Julii Caesaris Dictatoris triumphi de Gallia, Aegypto, Ponto, Africa, Hispania, quinquies eodem mense triumphantis; omnium, qui unquam fuere, Ducum, Regum Bellica virtute praestantissimi.
Rome, Domenico de Rossi, 1692. With an engraved allegorical title-print showing Minerva on a throne pointing towards a medallion with Caesar's profile, and 9 engraved prints by Robert van Audenaerde after Andrea Mantegna's paintings, showing the triumphal military parade celebrating Caesar's victory in the Gallic Wars. Each is numbered at the lower right and captioned below with an engraved description. The 10 prints are preserved in a paperboard folder covered with half green cloth and green marbled sides (ca. 57 x 47 cm). [1], 9 engraved ll. Full description

€ 4,950

Ceremonial Festivities & Fireworks Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century Prints & Print Series

First edition of the first Italian translation of Augustine's "De civitate Dei"

AUGUSTINE of Hippo (Saint AUGUSTINE). De la cita d'Dio.
[Venice?, Antonio di Bartolommeo Miscomini, ca. 1477? (not after 1483)]. Folio. Printed in two columns, each 47 lines, with spaces for 3-6 line initials left blank. Early 19th-century gold-tooled calf. [1 blank], [322], [1 blank] ll. Full description

€ 19,000

Church History & Missions Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 15th century

The first three part of the first ever series of children's books

BAÏF, Lazare de and [Charles ESTIENNE (editor)]. De re vestiaria libellus, ex Bayfio decerptus: addita vulgaris linguae interpretatione, in adolescentulorum gratiam atq[ue] utilitatem.
Lyon, Sebastian Gryphius, 1539. 4 works in 1 volume. 8vo. With a woodcut printer's device on the title-page and final page of the first 3 works, each work with a decorated woodcut initial. With: (2) IDEM. De vasculis libellus.
Idem.
(3) ESTIENNE, Charles. De re hortensi libellus.
Idem.
(4) SENALUS [= CENEAU], Robert. De vera mensurarum ponderumque ratione.
Paris, Ioannes Roigny, 1535.

Later vellum, with a brown morocco label on the spine with the author and title lettered in gold, red sprinkled edges. 65, [11], [3 blank], [1]; 54, [7], [2 blank], [1]; 97, [15] pp.; [18], 119, [1 blank] ll. Full description

€ 4,500

Children's Books Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy Floras & General Botany

Early edition of the first real children's book

BAÏF, Lazare de and [Charles ESTIENNE (editor)]. De re vestiaria libellus, ex Bayfio excerptus: addita vulgaris linguae interpretatione, in adolescentulorum gratiam atque utilitatem.
Paris, Roberti Stephani [Robert Estienne], (colophon: 13 April) 1541. Small 8vo (ca. 16.5 x 10.5 cm). With a woodcut printer's device on the title-page. Modern blueish-grey paper over boards with the title printed in black on the spine, red sprinkled edges. 68, [11], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Children's Books Classical Antiquity Costumes, Fashion & Uniforms Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy French Literature

Second part of the first ever series of children's books

BAÏF, Lazare de and [Charles ESTIENNE (editor)]. De vasculis libellus, adulescentulorum causa ex Bayfio decerptus, addita vulgari Latinarum vocum interpretatione.
Paris, Roberti Stephani [Robert Estienne], (colophon: 13 October) 1543. 8vo. With a woodcut printer's device on the title-page. Later blueish-grey paper over boards with the title printed in black on the spine. 52, [3], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,750

Children's Books Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy France French Literature

Two dissertations on the Venus of Eryx

BALBI, Ambrogio. Dissertazioni risguardanti il culto di Venere Ericina.
Comprising:
-Il culto di Venere Ericina rivendicato ad erice re di Sicilia suo vero institutore.
-Dissertazione sopra una lapide inscritta da silla a Venere Ericina.
Turin, widow Pomba and sons, 1824. 8vo. Green half morocco, gold-tooled spine, with the arms of Joaquín Gómez de la Cortina (1808-1868) in gold on each board. 90 pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Classical Antiquity Italy

The definitive edition of an anthology of classical and Humanist anecdotes

BARLANDUS, Adrianus. Jocorum veterum ac recentium libris tres ... Primae aeditioni nunc adjecti sunt libri duo.
Antwerp, Michiel Hillen van Hoochstraten for (colophon:) Gregorius de Bonte, 1529. 8vo. With a woodcut decorated frame on the title page, and several woodcut initials throughout. 18th-century mottled calf. [64] ll. Full description

€ 2,750

Caricature & Satire Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Erasmus Greek & Roman Classics Humanism & Reformation Philosophy & Humanism

The pedagogical essentials of the Renaissance collected, together with Greek epistles

[BECH, Philipp (editor)]. De disciplina puerorum, recteque formandis eorum & studiis & moribus ...
Basel, Joannes Oporinus (colophon:) Bern, Samuel Apiarius, March 1556.
With: (2) [MOREL, Guillaume (editor)]. Graecorum veterum selectae brevesque epistolae.
Paris, Guillaume Morel, King's printer for Greek, 1562. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. With several woodcut decorated initials, and a woodcut device on the title page. The Greek text set in Claude Garamont's famous Grec du Roi and the Latin translation set in his Aldine-style italic. Richly gold-tooled tanned sheepskin (ca. 1700), each board with a border made from double fillets and a floral roll, diapered with fleurs-de-lis, the spine with a double-fillet border in each of the 6 compartments, the title in the 2nd and the others diapered with smaller fleurs-de-lis, gilt edges. 31, [21]; [16], "840" [= 804] pp. Full description

€ 12,500

Aldine Press Bindings Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy Greek & Roman Classics

First Italian translation of De consolatione philosophiae, with the coat of arms of the Gaetani family on both covers

BOETHIUS, Anicius Manlius. Di consolatione philosophica volgare, nuovamente revisto & di molti errori porgato opera al tutto dignissima eccellente & bella.
(Colophon:) Venice, Melchior Sessa, December 1531. 8vo. With the title and leaf 1 printed within a border made up of typographical ornament, and 6 decorated woodcut initials, of which one historiated. 17th-century gold tooled green morocco. [8], 104 ll. Full description

€ 3,750

Armorial Bindings Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Italy Philosophy & Humanism

Well-illustrated study of the coins of ancient France, large paper copy

BOUTEROUE D'AUBIGNY, Claude. Recherches curieuses des monoyes de France depuis le commencement de la monarchie.
Paris, Edme Martin, 1666. Large folio (42 x 27.5 cm). With title-page with engraved allegorical illustration by N. Bonnart (including a minting press), and numerous engravings in text incl. 7 full-page (on pp. 336, 342, 349, 354, 359, 364 and 370). Contemporary mottled calf (ca. 1693), richly gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, gilt edges; and each board with the (later) gold-tooled British Royal arms in the form used in Scotland 1801-1816, encircled by the inscription, "The Society of Writers to the Signet" (that is the Signet Library in Edinburgh; stamp 3, ca. 1815). [16], 398, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Classical Antiquity Economic History & Trade France History / 17th Century Numismatics

Expertly engraved illustrations of (funeral) monuments of renowned men from Classical Antiquity until the 15th- and 16th centuries

BOXHORN, Marcus Zuerius [and Tobias FENDT (engraver)]. Monumenta illustrium virorum et elogia. Editio nova. Aucta antiquis monumentis in agro trajectina repertis.
Utrecht, Gijsbert van Zijll, 1671. Small folio (30 x 19.5 cm). With engraved allegorical frontispiece, 125 full-page numbered engraved plates (including 88 with text on opposite page), and 2 full-page unnumbered engraved plates, all showing grave-stones and tombs of famous men. Contemporary blind-tooled overlapping vellum. [1], [1 blank], [2], 176 pp., [37] engraved ll., 8, [3], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], [4] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Archaeology Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century Italy Prints & Print Series

Standard work on Roman law by a famous French jurist and philologist

BRISSON, Barnabé. De formulis et sollemnibus populi Romani verbis, Libri VIII...
Frankfurt, Joannes Wechel and Petrus Fischer and consorts, 1592. 4to. With title-page printed in red and black, woodcut printer's device, woodcut head- & tail pieces and initials. Contemporary gold-tooled calf. [8], 750 [= 760], [84] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Law & Politics Literature

Collection of 8 orations by the famous professor Petrus Burmannus the Elder and others

BURMAN the Elder, Pieter. Oratio funebris in obitum viri clarissimi Joannis Georgii Graevii, Magnae Brittanniae Regis historici, politices, historiarum & eloquentiae professoris ordinarii. Dicta XI. Kal. Martias MDCCIII.
Utrecht, Willem van de Water, 1703. Woodcut coat-of-arms of Utrecht on title-page.
(2) BURMAN the elder, Pieter. Oratio pro pigritia, publice habita. Ad diem XX Febr. M.DCCII.
[No place], 1702. Woodcut title-vignette.
(3) BURMAN the elder, Pieter. Somnium, sive iter in arcadiam novam, publice narratum in majori Academiae Ultrajectinae Acroaterio. Ad diem IX. Septembris MDCCX.
[No place], [1710].
(4) BURMAN the elder, Pieter. Oratio pro comoedia, publice in auspiciis Academicarum recitationum, quibus Terentii fabulae explicantur, habita, a.d. XIV Septembris MDCCXI.
Utrecht, Willem van de Water, 1711. Woodcut publisher's device.
(5) BURMAN the elder, Pieter. Oratio in humanitatis studia. Habita a.d. VIII. Februarii MDCCXX. Cum magistratu Academico abiret.
Leiden, Samuel Luchtmans, 1720. Woodcut publisher's device.
(6) BURMAN the elder, Pieter.. Pro literatoribus et grammaticis oratio, habita a.d. VIII Februarii MDCXXXII. Cum magistratu academico abiret.
Leiden, Conrad Wishoff & Daniel Goedval, [1732]. Woodcut title-vignette, headpiece and tailpiece.
(7) RÜCKER, Joannes Conradus. Oratio de honoribus academicis, magno doctrinae praemio. Habita cum virum eruditissimum Danielem ... van Alphen, Lugduno Batavum, juris utriusque doctorem, more majorum renuntiaret. A.d. XIII. Dec. MDCCXXXV.
Leiden, Samuel Luchtmans, 1735. Woodcut publisher's device and tailpiece.
(8) VITRIARIUS, Johannes Jacobus. Oratio funebris, in obitum eruditissimi ac celeberrimi viri, Antonii Schultingii, Joh. fil. ... Dicta Publice a.d. XII. April A. MDCCXXXIV.
Leiden, Samuel Luchtmans, [1734]. Woodcut publisher's device and tailpiece.
8 works in 1 volume. 4to. Slightly later half calf (ca. 1765), gold-tooled spine, title lettered in gold, marbled sides with central gold vignette of the "Society of Writers to the Signet" on both boards. 57, [26]; 23; [39]; [4], 36; 61; [2], 75, [1]; 28, 37, [3] pp. Full description

€ 1,750

Classical Antiquity

One of the most important textbooks on logic, highly praised by Melanchthon

CAESARIUS, Johannes. Dialectica ... nunc recens Hermani Raiani Welsdalii fructuosis scholiis illustrata, & in multis locis emendata. Accessit huic Ioanni Murmelii Isagoge in decem Aristotelis Praedicamentas.
Venice, Giovanni Maria Leni, 1579. 8vo. With Lenis woodcut device on the title-page (a figure holding a set square up to the sun, in a scrollwork cartouche with motto, "In eo qui fecit me omnia possum") which has the letterpress title "Dialectica" in a woodcut factotum with scrollwork and putti at the head, and woodcut decorated initials. Set in roman and italic type with occasional Greek. Contemporary vellum. "189" [= 179], [1 blank] ll. Full description

€ 2,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy Germany Literature Religion (16th Century) School & Textbooks

Beautifully illustrated expeditions searching for ancient Egyptian antiquities

CAILLIAUD, Frédéric and Bernardino DROVETTI. Voyage a l'Oasis de Thèbes et dans les déserts situés a l'orient et a l'occident de la Thébaïde, fait pendant les années 1815, 1816, 1817 et 1818.
Paris, Royal press, 1821.
With: (2) IDEM. Voyage a l'Oasis de Syouah ... pendant leurs voyages dans cette oasis, en 1819 et en 1820.
Paris, Rignoux, 1823. 2 works in 1 volume. Folio. Ad 1: with 24 numbered engraved plates, including 2 engraved maps (1 folding), 1 plate coloured by hand and 1 double-page. Ad 2: with 20 numbered plates (1 engraved map and 19 lithographed plates). Contemporary green goatskin morocco, richly gold-tooled spine, chemical-marbled sides, marbled edges. [2 blank], XVII, [1], 120; [12], 28 pp. Full description

€ 19,500

Archaeology Architecture Charts & Maps Classical Antiquity Egypt North Africa Travel & Voyages Africa

One of the most influential works of mythological commentary of the 16th and 17th centuries

CARTARI, Vincenzo [& Antoine du VERDIER]. Imagines deorum, qui ab antiquis colebantur: in quibus simulacra, ritus, caerimoniae, magnaque, ex parte veterum religio explicatur: olim a Vincentio Chartario Rhegiensi ex variis auctoribus in unum collectae, atque in Italica lingua expositae: nunc vero ad communem omnium utilitatem Latino sermone ab Ant. Verderio domino Vallisprivatae, &c. expressae, atque in meliorem ordinem digestae. Quibus acc. duo indices: prior, imaginum: posterior, rerum atque verborum, quae toto libro continentur.
Lyons, Etienne Michel (colophon: printed by Guichard Julliéron), 1581 (colophon: August). 4to. With Michel's woodcut publishers device on the title-page (an Ottoman man and a fruit tree with motto "virtutes sibi invicem adhaerent"), a full-page woodcut portrait of Antoine du Verdier, a small woodcut illustration and 89 beautiful large woodcuts (13 x 9.5 cm) of classical mythological gods and heroes in the text. Modern sheepskin parchmen. [8], 359, [57] pp. Full description

€ 2,950

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century

Splendid large watercolour view of ruins in Sicily

[CASSAS, Louis Francois]. [View of the Taormina theatre ruins (Sicily) with Mount Etna in the distance].
[Sicily or Paris], [ca. 1781 or somewhat later?]. 46 x 81 cm (frame 85 x 128 cm). Watercolour with pencil outlines and highlighted with white, laid in on paper pasted on wood.With a later blue and gold passe-partout in a contemporary gilt frame. Full description

€ 25,000

Archaeology City Plans, Topography & Views Classical Antiquity Drawings & Watercolours Italy

Classic erotic poems, with the first edition of the commentaries by a renowned homosexual scholar

CATULLUS, Gaius Valerius and Marc-Antoine MURET. [Carmina]. Catullus, et in eum commentarius M. Antonii Mureti.
Venice, Paulus Manutius, 1554. 8vo. With Aldus's woodcut device on the title-page, repeated on the verso of the otherwise blank final leaf, and spaces with guide letters left for 2 5-line and about 60 3-line manuscript initials (not filled in). Set in an Aldine italic (with upright capitals) with occasional words (mostly names) in roman and frequent passages in Greek. Gold-tooled mottled calf (ca. 1700). [4], "134" [= 136], [2] ll. Full description

€ 3,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Erotica Greek & Roman Classics

First Aldine edition of a highly popular collection of elegiac poems
by three of the most important classical poets set in the first italic printing type, introduced in 1501

CATULLUS, Gaius Valerius; Albius TIBULLUS; Sextus PROPERTIUS (Hieronymus AVANTIUS, ed.). [Opera]. Catullus. Tibullus. Propertius.
[colophon:] Venice, Aldo I Manuzio, January 1502. 8vo. With more than 100 spaces (2 8-line, 6 6-line and the rest 2-line) with guide letters left for manuscript initials, none filled in. Set in Alduss italic type (with upright capitals) throughout, the first italic printing type, first used in 1501, with titles, headings, running heads, etc. set in the capitals of the same type, with an occasional word of Greek in the text. Gold-tooled, green long-grained sheepskin (vertical grain) (ca. 1800). [152] ll. Full description

€ 4,500

Aldine Press Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics

Influential 2nd Aldine edition of a popular collection of elegiac poems
by 3 of the most important classical poets, finely bound in early 20th-century morocco by G. Vignal in Paris

CATULLUS, Gaius Valerius; Albius TIBULLUS; Sextus PROPERTIUS (Hieronymus AVANTIUS, ed.). [Opera]. Catullus. Tibullus. Propertius.
[colophon:] Venice, the heirs of Aldo I Manuzio & Andrea I Torresano, March 1515. 8vo. With Aldos woodcut anker and dolphin device on the title-page and on the verso of the last leaf, each flanked by "AL ... DVS" in letterpress capitals. Set in Aldos italic type (with upright capitals), the first italic printing type. Blind-tooled brown goatskin morocco (early 20th-century) by the Paris bookbinder G. Vignal (active ca. 1890-ca. 1930), signed with a blind stamp in the foot of the front turn-in ("G. VIGNAL REL. DOR.". 148, [2] ll. Full description

€ 2,950

Aldine Press Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century

From the library of Eugène Paillet, one of the great French bibliophiles of the 19th century

CATULLUS, TIBULLUS & PROPERTIUS. Catullus, Tibullus et Propertius, pristino nitori restituti, & ad optima exemplaria emendati, cum fragmentis C. Gallo inscriptis.
Paris, J. Barbou, 1754. 3 parts. 12mo. Each part with its own title-page and engraved frontispiece. 19th-century brown morocco, double fillets in gold on the board edges, richly gold-tooled turn-ins, gilt edges. XVI, 96, [2], 97-168, [2], 169-344 pp. Full description

€ 500

Classical Antiquity Greek & Roman Classics

Rare early edition of a classic and profusely illustrated work on Roman military practice
and establishment of encampments, and Roman baths

CHOUL, Guillaume du. Discorso ... Sopra la castrametatione & bagni antiche i Greci & Romani. Nivamente revisto & ricorretto dallistesso Auttore. Con laggiunta della figura del campo Romano.
[Padua], Marc Antonio Olmo, 1558. 8vo. The word "Discorso" printed in woodcut border at the top of the title-page, with woodcut printers device: an elm with the words: "Ulmus amica viti" (the elm is friendly for vines). With 43 full-page woodcuts (ca. 11 x 7.5 cm), a large folding woodcut plate in two leaves (as issued, in total ca. 40.5 x 36 cm) of a plan of a Roman camp: "Figura del Campo de Romani", and 2 large historiated woodcut initials of 10 lines and 3 capital spaces with guide letters for initials of 5 lines. Modern vellum. 80, [4] ll. Full description

€ 1,250

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Fortification & Military Architecture History / 16th Century

Extremely rare Dutch translation of a devotional work by the Church father Johannes Chrysostomus
in an attractive contemporary Antwerp panel binding

CHRYSOSTOMUS, Johannes (Antonius VAN HEMERT, translator). Van die beweechnisse des herten, tot berouwe der sonde[n]. ...
(Colophon:) Antwerp, Symon Cock, 18 August 1546. 8vo. With the title-page in red and black in a framework of thin rules, 6 woodcut decorated initials and 2 vine-leaf ornaments. Set in 3 sizes of textura gothic types. A very interesting Antwerp binding of contemporary panel-stamped calf, each board with the same panel, showing 2 medallion portraits in, the whole surrounded by a floral decorative border, interesting fastenings with cord loops that fasten to bone buttons on leather straps. [131], [1 blank] ll. Full description

€ 12,500

Bibles, Liturgy & Devotional Works Bindings Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Religion (16th Century)

A finely produced Aldine classic - Claudians works,
crisply edited and beautifully printed in the iconic Aldine italic

CLAUDIANUS, Claudius and Francisco TORRESANO (editor). Opera quam diligentissime castigata, quorum indicem in sequenti pagina reperies.
Venice, heirs of Aldus I Manutius, and Andrea I Torresano, 1523. 8vo. With the Aldus anchor woodcut vignette on the title page and the verso of the last leaf, both hand-coloured and highlighted in gold. 17th-century gold-tooled quarter calf, with the author lettered in gold on the spine, 18th-century gold-tooled polished and sprinkled calf sides, red sprinkled edges. 176 ll. Full description

€ 5,500

Aldine Press Book History, Printing & Typography Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics

First and only Aldine edition of the liveliest most extensive extant Roman history of Alexander the Great

CURTIUS RUFUS, Quintus. Quintus Curtius. [De rebus Alexandri Regis Macedonum libri III-X.]
Venice, heirs of Aldo I Manuzio & Andrea I Torresano, July 1520. 8vo. With Aldos woodcut anchor and dolphin device on the title-page, repeated on the verso of the otherwise blank last leaf (each with letterpress "AL ... DUS" flanking the device). Set in Aldos famous italic (with upright capitals), the worlds first italic printing type, first used in 1501. Richly blind-tooled brown goatskin morocco (early 20th-century with the older bookplate moved to the new paste-down?). [8], 170, [2] ll. Full description

€ 2,250

Aldine Press Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century

First French edition of a Dutch work on the rise and fall of the ancient Greeks

DEMETRIUS, Andreas and Johannes POLYANDER (translator). Les actes memorables des Grecs. Contenant leurs haults & vaillans exploits...
Dordrecht, [published by Isaac Jansz. Canin and printed by Guillaume Guillemot] for Andreas Demetrius, 1602. 8vo. With a large woodcut printer's device on the title-page and with folding engraved map of ancient Greece, signed Ioan: Doetechomius Jr, inserted before p. 1, woodcut decorated initials and woodcut manicules in the margins. Contemporary gold-tooled overlapping vellum, sewn on 4 vellum tapes laced through the joints, with the manuscript title on the spine and the gold-tooled armorial supralibros of the Signet Library as a centre-piece on both boards. [1], [1 blank], [14], 749, [1 blank] [25], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,600

Balkan & Greece Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century School & Textbooks

Incunable edition of an influential second century description of the antique world,
including early mentions of China and Arabia

DIONYSIUS Periegetes. [Incipit :] ... de situ orbis habitabilis ...
[Colophon:] Venice, Franz Renner, 1478. Small 4to (19 x 14 cm). With the first four lines printed in red and 9 white on black decorated woodcut initials (1 series), plus 1 repeat. Set in roman type, 26 lines to a page, with two words in Greek. Modern blind-tooled calf. [36] ll. Full description

€ 35,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States China Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 15th century Geography

First edition of Ruel's translation of a foundational work on pharmacology

DIOSCORIDES, Pedanius. De medicinali materia libri quinque. De virulentis animalibus, et venenis canerabioso, et eorum noti, ac remedijs libri quattuor.
(Colophon: Paris, Henri Estienne, 1516). Folio. With the title within a decorative metalcut(?) panel. Set in roman types. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment; rebacked in calf, with new endpapers, but preserving the original pastedowns. [12], 157, [2], [1 blank] ll. Full description

€ 18,000

Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Medicine Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Herbals & Medical Botany Medicine & Pharmacy (16th Century) Pharmacy / Pharmacopaea

Italian translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses in an interesting binding

OVIDIUS NASO, Publius (Lodovico DOLCE, translator). Le trasformationi, ... . In questa quarta impressione da lui in molti luoghi ricorrette.
Venice, Gabriele Giolito de Ferrari, 1557. 4to. With title in a richly designed architectural woodcut frame, a half-page woodcut hemispherical map of the Americas, Europe and Africa and 82 large woodcut illustrations (plus 2 repeats) with fine ornamental and grotesque borders at either side. Contemporary(?) Polish(?) blind-tooled calf. 17th- or 18th-century endpapers. [16], 309, [3] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Bindings Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Fable Books

History of seafaring

ELWES, Alfred and A.A. DEENIK (translator). De zee en hare beheerschers, of beknopte geschiedenis der voornaamste zeemogendheden uit vroegeren en lateren tijd.
Sneek, Van Druten and Bleeker, 1861. 8vo. Contemporary red half sheepskin. XXV, 368 pp. Full description

€ 500

Classical Antiquity Naval History

Original edition of the first general survey and description of Greece
by the first rector magnificus of Groningen University

EMMIUS, Ubbo. Vetus Graecia, illustrata studio & operâ Ubbonis Ebbii. Opus distinctum in tomos tres: quorum I. Descriptionum habet regionum à Graecis habitatum ... II. Complectitur Res gestas Graecorum. III. Representat Statum ...praecipuarum ejus gentis rerumpublicarum ...
Leiden, Bonaventura & Abraham Elzevier, 1626. 3 parts in 2 volumes. Large 8vo. With the printer's device of the Elzeviers on all three title-pages, woodcut initials. Uniformly bound in contemporary vellum. [24] 194, [22]; [4], 536, [32]; [4], 519, 25 pp. Full description

€ 475

Balkan & Greece Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century

Lives of the Roman emperors, an 1533 edition of the Historia Augusta

ERASMUS, Desiderius. Omnia quam antehac emendatiora. Annotationes Des. Erasmi & Egnatij cognitu dignae: C. Suetonius Tranquillus, Dion Cassius, Aelius Spartianus, Iulius Capitolinus, Aelius Lam-pridus, Vulcatius Gallicanus, Trebellius Pollio, Flauius Vopiscus, Herodianus Politiano interprete, sex Aurelius Victor, Pomponius Laetus, Io. Baptista Egnatius Ammianus Marcellinus quatuor libris auctus. cum indicibus copiosis...
Basel, (colophon) Hieronymus Froben & Nicolaus Episcopius, July 1533. 2 parts in 1 volume, Small folio (21.5 x 31.8cm). With Frobens large woodcut device on the title page, repeated on the final page and several large woodcut initials after Holbein. 17th-century gold-tooled mottled calf, sewn on 4 supports with corresponding raised bands on the spine. Both boards show two triple fillet frames, the smaller frame with four fleurs-de-lis cornerpieces on each outer corner, and within the smaller frame a centrepiece containing the monogram of the Collège (Royal) de Navarre in Paris. [44], 786, [2 blank], [84] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Erasmus Greek & Roman Classics

German translation of Euclid's "Elements"

EUCLID and Lucas BRUNN (translator). Elementa practica. Oder Ausszug aller Problematum und Handarbeiten auss den 15. Büchern Euclidis. Allen und jeden, des uhralten geometrischen nutzlichen Gebrauch, dess Cirkels Liebhabern ...
Nürnberg, Simon Halbmayer, [1625]. 4to. With the title set in an engraved border, and numerous woodcut mathematical figures in text. Contemporary limp vellum. [8], 92 pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century Mathematics

The first bilingual edition of Erasmus' Euripides translation

EURIPIDES and Desiderius ERASMUS (editor and translator). Euripidis tragoediae duae hecuba & iphigenia in aulide, Latinae factae...
Basel, Froben Office [heirs of Johann Froben], April 1530. 8vo (10.4 x 15.4 cm). With a woodcut printer's device on the title page and final page, and 7 decorated woodcut initials. 19th-century half brown calf and grey paper sides. 293, [1], [1 blank], [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

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

First Dutch translation of the Historia ecclesiastica

EUSEBIUS PAMPHILUS. Die Historie diemen heet ecclesiastica ... (&c.). nu ... ouerghesedt in onser duytscher spraken.
Antwerp, Govert van der Haghen, May 1534. Small folio. With the title printed in red and black, set within an elaborate woodcut title border, 12 decorated woodcut initials, and 2 woodcut tailpieces. 17th-century vellum. [6], CLIII, [1 blank] ll. Full description

€ 9,500

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

One of the earliest woodcuts depicting the "Jeu de Paume" (tennis)

FENESTELLA, Lucius (pseudonym of Andrea Domenico FIOCCO). Il Fenestella d'i sacerdotii, e d'i magistrati romani.
Venice, apresso Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari, 1544.
With (bound before ad 1): ASCONIUS PEDIANUS, Quintus. Expositio in IIII. orationes M. Tullii Ciceronis contra C. Verrem.
Venice, apud Paulus Manutius, 1553. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. With 42 woodcut decorated initials of professions, sports and past times in ad 1, and a woodcut printer's device on the title page of each work. Contemporary limp vellum with overlapping for edges. 43, [1]; [8], 96 ll. Full description

€ 3,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy Games & Sports Greek & Roman Classics Italy

Three editions of humanist works, two from Antwerp known only from 1 other copy each, in contemporary Flemish panel-stamped calf with 6 animals in foliage plus an unusually detailed peacock

[FIOCCO, Andrea Domenico] under the name of Lucius FENESTELLA. De magistratibus, sacerdotiisq[ue] Romanorum libellus, iam primum nitori restitutus. Pomponii Laeti itidem de magistratibus & sacerdotiis, & praeterea de diversis legibus Rom[anorum]. Item Valerii Probi grammatici de literis antiquis opusculum.
Including: POMPONIO LETO, Giulio. De Ro[manorum]. magistratibus, ...
Basel, (colophon: Valentino Curio, May 1523). With the general title in a woodcut border, Curio's large architectural woodcut device on the otherwise blank final page.
With:
(2) LUCIANUS OF SAMOSATA. Complures ... dialogi à Desiderio Erasmo Roterodamo ... in Latinum conversi, & à Nicolao Buscoducensi illustrati, additis Fabularum & difficilium vocabulorum explanationibus.
(Colophon: Antwerp, Michael Hillen van Hoochstraten, 1524).
(3) MOSELLANUS, Petrus (Peter SCHADE). Paedologia ..., in puerorum usum conscripta & aucta. Dialogi XXXVII. Dialogi pueriles Christophori Hegendorphini. XII. ...
Including: HEGENDORF, Christoph. Dialogi pueriles ... XII. ...
(Colophon: Antwerp, Michael Hillen van Hoochstraten, 1523).
3 editions in 1 volume. 8vo (16 x 10.5 cm). Contemporary panel-stamped calf, each board with the same 3 panel stamps: 2 virtually identical panels with 6 animals in 2 grape vines (the animals from head to foot in the left vine: a monkey, dog and wyvern; and in the right vine: a squirrel, hare and lion) in a border of a diaper of quatrefoils in lozenges, the two separated by a small panel stamp sith a peacock, paste-downs made from a leaf from an Aristotle manuscript on vellum. 91, [1]; 26, [2]; [40] ll. Full description

€ 12,000

Bindings Catholicism & Eastern Orthodox Church Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy Greek & Roman Classics Religion (16th Century)

Notorious forged binding, gold-tooled with Ottoman imagery painted red, white and green on dark brown

FLORUS, Lucius Annaeus. [Epitome rerum Romanarum].
Leiden, Adriaen Wijngaerden (colophon: printed by Philippe de Croy), 1648. 8vo (18 x 12 x 3 cm). With an engraved allegorical title-page by Cornelius van Dalen. Contemporary or near-contemporary calf. The decoration on the binding is believed to have been executed in Bologna ca. 1880/1900 by a group of forgers: each board with the same scene, showing 2 women in Ottoman costume, one kneeling to play a qanun (Turkish zither) at left and the other perhaps dancing at right, framed by drapery as though on a stage, with a crescent moon and 5-pointed star in each corner and the name "IBRAHIM" at upper left, the whole in a frame of double fillets. The figures' skin is painted white and the clothes and drapery red and green. The crescent moon and star repeat in spine compartments 1 and 3-5. [32], “595” [= 535], [69], [4 blank] pp. including the integral engraved title-page. Full description

€ 28,500

Bindings Classical Antiquity Greek & Roman Classics History / 17th Century

Rare second Latin edition of Galen's De sanitate tuenda, his first work translated directly from the original Greek

GALENUS (GALEN), Claudius and Thomas LINACRE (translator). Libri sex prefulge[n]tissimi ac medicine principis Galeni de sanitate tue[n]da: Thoma Linacro medico Anglico interprete: summa cum diligentia impressi omnibusq[ue] erroribus purgati.
[colophon:] Venice, heirs of Alessandro Bindoni for Giovanni Battista Pederzano, 6 July 1523. 4to. With the title page printed in red and black with a nearly full-page woodcut, woodcut initials in the text. The title page is set in two sizes of gothic rotunda type, marginalia set in a smaller size of gothic rotunda type. Text set in roman type with occasionally passages in Greek. Contemporary vellum over flexible boards, sewn on 3 alum-tawed leather thongs laced through the joints, alum-tawed leather ties, a manuscript title and a later paper label with "1522" on the spine and a manuscript title at the foot edge. [4], XCIX, [1] ll. Full description

€ 7,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Medicine & Pharmacy (16th Century)

200 Etruscan antiquities collected in Gori's conceptual museum

GORI, Antonio Francesco. Museum Etruscum exhibens insignia veterum Etruscorum monumenta aereis tabulis CC. nunc privum edita et illustratum.
Florence, Gaetano Albizzini, 1737. 2 volumes. Folio (27.5 x 37.5 cm). With 200 engraved plates (12 folding), and 1 folding plate with Etruscan script. Contemporary vellum. LXVIII; [2], XLII, 471, [1] pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Archaeology Art & Art History Classical Antiquity Italy Peru

Second, much enlarged edition of the first extensive repertory
of Greco-Roman rings with carved intaglio gems

GORLAEUS, Abraham. Dactyliotheca, seu annulorum sigillarium quorum apud Priscos tam Graecos quam Romanos usus, ex ferro, aere, argento & auro promptuarii ... collectis aliunde & ineditis & editis annulorum figuris auctior; cum explicationibus Jacobi Gronovii.
Leiden, Petrus van de Aa, 1695. 2 volumes. 4to. With 2 different engraved allegorical title-pages (reflecting the themes of rings and intaglio-carved gems), 2 letterpress title-pages in red and black with one of Van der Aas engraved allegorical devices (Minerva/Athena, books, a cock and Hercules/Heracles, with motto "studio et vigilantia"), a portrait of the author by Jacques de Gheyn with a calligraphic verse by Hugo de Groot below, 138 engraved plates: 196 numbered illustrations of ancient rings with carved gems shown at actual size on 101 engraved plates, and 148 numbered illustrations of carved gems alone on 37 engraved plates). Contemporary limp vellum, manuscript title on spine. [22], 28, [16], 16 pp. plus 109 plates; 64, 32 pp. plus 173 plates. Full description

€ 2,950

Classical Antiquity Earth Sciences History / 17th Century Mineralogy & Gems Museums & Wunderkammer Numismatics

Biography and (fake) letters of Marcus Aurelius

GUEVARA, Antonio de. T'gulden boeck, van het leven ende seynd brieven van den welsprekenden orateur ende keyser Marcus Aurelius.
Franeker, Rombertus Doyema, 1615. 8vo. With woodcut imperial coat of arms on title-page. Contemporary sheepskin parchment. 223, [2] ll. Full description

€ 1,250

Bibliography & Biography Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century Law & Politics

Collection of four works on Roman history

HERODIAN. In hoc volumine haec continentur. Herodiani Historiae. Libri VIII. Sexti Aurelii Victoris a d. Caesare Augusto usque ad Theodosium excerpta. Eutropii Historiae. Libri X. Pauli Diaconi libri VIII. Ad Eutropii historiam additi.
(Colophon:) Florence, Filippo Giunta, 1517. 4 works in 1 volume. Small 8vo. With Giuntas woodcut device on the verso of the otherwise blank final leaf.
Including:
(2) AURELIUS VICTOR, Sextus. A D. Caesare Augusto usque ad Theodosium excerpta.
(3) EUTROPIUS. Historiae libri X.
(4) PAUL THE DEACON (PAULUS DIACONUS). Libri VIII. ad Eutropii historiam additi.
Later gold tooled quarter calf, with a red morocco title label on the spine lettered in gold, brown decorative paper sides, marbled edges. [4], 90; 127, [1 blank] ll. Full description

€ 4,000

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century

"Father of History" in elegant & famous first Greek edition by Aldus Manutius, from the Arenberg library

HERODOTUS. [Historiarum] libri novem. Quibus musarum indita sunt nomina.
(Colophon: Venice), Aldus Manutius, (colophon: September 1502). Folio (29.5 x 20 cm). With Aldus's anchor and dolphin device on the title page and the verso of the last leaf. Late 19th-century blind-tooled, polished tan calf, the central panel with the arms of the Dukes of Arenberg. [140] ll. Full description

€ 45,000

Aldine Press Bindings Book History, Printing & Typography Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Egypt Greek & Non-Western Types North Africa West Asia

Rare Latin treatise on the Greek Bacchanals

HERRENSCHMID, Jacob. Peripatheticus orgiorum ethnico-pontificius. Justè castigatus, justius profligatus, justissimè condemnatus. Hoc est, brevis dissertatiuncula De Bachanaliorum nomine, origine, progressu, placentis, larvis, excusationibus, exemplis, poenis, ludis, choreis, symposiis, ludibriis, &c.
Nuremberg, Simon Halbmayer, [1626]. 12mo.19th-century red half morocco, marbled paper sides. 132 pp. Full description

€ 550

Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century School & Textbooks

The second ever work to be printed in Didot's microscopic Polyamatype

HORATIUS FLACCUS, Quintus and Auguste FILON (editor) Opera Omnia, recensuit Filon.
Paris, A. Sautelet, 1828. 32mo. With a woodcut vignette on the title page. Contemporary gold-tooled dark blue morocco, with the author lettered in gold on the spine, a floral border in the centre of both boards, surrounded by a single fillet frame, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, gilt edges, white watered silk end papers. VIII, 229, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Bindings Book History, Printing & Typography Classical Antiquity Miniature Books

Ancient Hebrew & other Middle Eastern, Greek, Roman and Arabic numbers, coins, weights and measures

HOST, Matthäus (Matthaeus HOSTUS). Historiae rei nummariae veteris scriptores aliquot insigniores ...
Including:
HOST, Matthäus. Tres libros de veteribus mensuris ...
HOST, Matthäus. Quaedam opuscula variae ...
[SARDI, Alessandro] (misattributed to John SELDEN). Liber de nummis ...
LABBE, Philippe. Bibliotheca nummaria ...
BUDÉ, Guillaume. De asse et partibus ejus libri quinque.
Leiden, Pieter van der Aa, 1695 (colophon at the end of Hosts works: Jena, Johann Zacharias Nisius, 1692). 15 works in 5 volumes, paginated as 3 and bound as 2. 4to. With 2 engraved portraits (vol. I) and 3 folding tables. Contemporary or near contemporary vellum. [36], 372, [8]; [26], “637” [= 535], [7], [2 blank], [lacking 1-2], 3-716, [86] pp. Full description

€ 4,500

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century Numismatics

Plantin edition of an early Christian classic

IGNATIUS of ANTIOCH. [In Greek:] Toi en agiois ieromartiros ignatioi archiepiskopioi antiocheias, epistolai. (In Greek).- Antiochiae, & martyris epistolae, prosus apostolicae. (In Latin).
Antwerp, Christophe Plantin (colophon:) 8 August, 1566.
With: IDEM. Antiochiae, & martyris epistolae, prorsus apostolicae.
Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1566. Small 8vo. With Plantins woodcut compasses device on each title page and a couple decorated woodcut initials. Set in italic and Greek type. Contemporary calf. 69, [1 blank]; 78 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Non-Western Types Plantin Press Religion (16th Century)

First Dutch edition of Flavius Joseph's works and of Basnage's continuation, with 300 illustrations, some by Jan Luyken

JOSEPHUS, Flavius. Alle de werken.
Amsterdam, Pieter Mortier, 1704.
With: (2) BASNAGE DE BEAUVAL, Jacques. Vervolg op Flavius Josephus.
Amsterdam, Gerard Onder de Linden; Delft, Reinier Boitet, 1726-1727.
2 works in 3 volumes, bound as 2. Folio. Ad 1 with a richly engraved frontispiece, a title-page in red and black with engraved oval portrait of Flavius Josephus, divisional title, 2 folding maps, 12 double-page plates, 3 plans, and 209 illustrations in text, all engraved. Ad 2 with a richly engraved frontispiece, 2 title-pages, the first in red and black with Onder de Linden's device, the second with Boitet's device, engraved portrait of the dedicatee, dedication plate and portrait of Basnage; 4 folding letterpress genealogical and other tables, 1 engraved illustration plate, and 90 engraved illustrations in text. Uniform contemporary blind-tooled vellum, each board with a large scrollwork centrepiece and 4 cornerpieces in a double frame of fillets, hand-lettered spine titles. [40], 782, [30], 113, [11]; [44], 658, [14], 659-1940 pp. Full description

€ 3,900

Classical Antiquity Judaica

One of the foundational texts of the Western legal tradition, printed by a woman for the first time

JUSTINIANUS I, Emperor and Jean CHAPPUIS (editor). Codex. Codicis d[omi]ni Justiani sacratissimi principis libri novem...
Paris, Yolande Bonhomme for Jean Petit, 1538. 4to. With the woodcut printer's device of Thielman Kerver on the title-page, one full-page woodcut illustration, a near full-page woodcut illustration of emperor Justinian I, and numerous woodcut initials throughout. The title-page and text are printed in red and black. Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin, with the manuscript title on the spine and the front board. [40], CCCCCCCIIII, ll. Full description

€ 6,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century France Greek & Roman Classics Law & Politics Women History

First collected edition of three classical writers, set in an Aldine-style italic

JUSTINUS, Marcus Junianus. Trogi Pompei externae historiae in compendium ab Justino redactae.
Including:
PROBUS, Aemylius [recté NEPOS, Cornelius]. De vita excellentium imperatorum liber.
VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, Caius. Historiae Romanae duo volumina, ...
(Colophon: Florence, Philippo Giunta, 1525). 3 works published as 1. 8vo. With Giunta's woodcut device on the title-page and a nearly identical one on the verso of the otherwise blank last leaf. Set in an Aldine-style italic, with numerous spaces with guide letters where manuscript initials could be filled in (left blank in the present copy). Dark green gold-tooled morocco (ca. 1833?), the with AAR-monogram of Antoine Augustin Renouard, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, pink watered-silk endleaves, matching ribbon marker, gilt edges. Attributed to the Bradel family in Paris, probably Antoine Louis François Bradel. 15, [1], “103” [= 203], [1 blank]; [8], “105” [= 205]-267, [1] ll. Full description

€ 5,000

Bindings Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century

Funeral rites and ceremonies in ancient Rome, with 5 engraved plates by Romeyn de Hooghe

KIRCHMANN, Johann. De funeribus Romanorum libri quatuor.Including: RIGAULT, Nicolas. Funus parasiticum sive L. Biberii curculionis parasiti, mortualia. Ad ritum prisci funeris.
Leiden, Hackius, 1672. With an engraved frontispiece and 4 folding engraved plates.
With: (2) KIRCHMANN, Johann. In funere V. Cl. Pauli G.F.P.N. Merulae. Historiarum Professoris in academia Batavorum, & foederatarum provinciarum historiographi, oratio, in qua de vita scriptisque ejus disseritur.Leiden, Hackius, 1672. 2 works in 1 volume (the first in two parts). 12mo. Contemporary vellum. [48], 649, [45], [2 blank], 24; [8], 64 pp. Full description

€ 950

Archaeology Ceremonial Festivities & Fireworks Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century Italy

Early humanist edition of Lactantius' most important works, printed in Venice

LACTANTIUS, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus and Giovanni Andrea BUSSI) (editor) [and others]. Opera [and additional works].
Comprising:
(1) LACTANTIUS, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus. De divinis institutionibus
(2) LACTANTIUS, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus. De ira Dei.
(3) LACTANTIUS, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus. De opificio Dei.
(4) LACTANTIUS, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus. De phoenice carmina.
(5) LACTANTIUS, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus. [Epitome divinarum institutionem]. Nephytomon.
Additional works:
(6) RAUDENSIS, Antonius. [Lactantii Firmiani errata].
(7) GENUENSIS, Adam. His carminibus frater Adam Genuensis increpat fratrem Antonium. [Incipit:] Hic male corripuit stolidis Antonius aussis.
(8) BUSSI, Giovanni Andrea. Ioannis Andreae episcopi Aleriensis ad Paulum secundum Venetum pontificem maximum epistola.
(9) OVIDIUS, Publius Naso. Metamorphoses (extract).
(10) ALIGHIERI, Dante. Comedia, inferno XXV (extract).
(11) FORTUNATUS, Venantius. [De christi resurrectione]. [Incipit:] Lactantii fir. de resurrectio[n]is dominicae die/ [S]alve festa dies toto venerabilis aevo.
(Colophon:) Venice, Theodorus de Ragazonibus, 1390 [=1490]. 5 works and 6 additional texts in 1 volume. Folio. The text is set in Roman type with some incidental Greek.20th-century goatskin parchment, with the author and title stamped on the spine with black foil, the name of the author added in manuscript on the bottom edge of the book block. [1 blank], [147] ll. Full description

€ 6,000

Bibles, Liturgy & Devotional Works Catholicism & Eastern Orthodox Church Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 15th century Greek & Non-Western Types Greek & Roman Classics Italy Philosophy & Humanism

Fine collection of 16th-century Italian cartography from the school of Antonio Lafreri

[LAFRERI - DUCHETTI - FLORINI - MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS - ITALY]. [Large album with 16th-century maps and engravings of Italy].
[Italy, late 16th and early 17th century]. Large oblong folio (ca. 59 x 42.3 cm). With 76 full-page engravings, and 12 full-page etchings. 17th-century gold-tooled brown calf, sewn on 6 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, a red morocco title label on the spine with the title "Novissim[a] urbis Romae descript[io]" lettered in gold, gold-tooled board edges. Full description

€ 150,000

Architecture Art & Art History Charts & Maps City Plans, Topography & Views Classical Antiquity Italy Prints & Print Series

First edition of “the first actual dispensatory”, with 271 numbered medicines

LARGUS, Scribonius and Jean RUEL (editor). De compositionibus medicamentorum liber unus, ...
(Colophon:) Paris, Simon Du Bois, October 1528. Folio (29 x 20 cm). With Du Bois woodcut tree and 2 birds device at the end with motto, about 40 woodcut decorated initials (7 series?) plus about 100 repeats, and a vine-leaf ornament (Vervliet 44). Set in roman types with some preliminaries in an Aldine-style italic (with upright capitals) and occasional words in Greek. Recent parchment. [9], [1 blank], 31, [5] ll. Full description

€ 12,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Medicine & Pharmacy (16th Century) Pharmacy / Pharmacopaea

One of the first complete editions, richly illustrated with nearly 300 woodcuts

LIVIUS, Titus. Titi Livii deß aller redtsprechsten unnd hochberümptsten geschicht schreibers: Römische Historien ...
Mainz, Ivo Schöffer, 1533. 5 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With 4 elaborate woodcut borders, 279 woodcut illustrations, a decorated woodcut initial, and a woodcut printer's device on the final leaf. Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over boards, with remnants of brass fittings. [14], CCCCCXLV, [1] ll. Full description

€ 6,000

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics Italy

The rare first Livius translation into Dutch printed in the Northern Netherlands

LIVIUS, Titus. De Roomsche historie oft gesten, door den alder welsprekensten ende vernaemsten histori-schrijver Titum Livium beschreven. Waer uut niet alleen alle wereltlijcke staten tot vromicheyt ende ridderlijcke manlijcke feyten beweecht ende ghedronghen, maer oock alle ander staten tot grooter recreatien ende gheneuchten des herten ghetrocken sullen worden.
Leiden, Jan Paedts Jacobszoon & Jan Bouwensz., 1585. 4 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With a general title-page and three divisional titles. Contemporary blind-tooled calf over thick bevelled wooden boards with modern leather ties and straps. [12], 301 ll. Full description

€ 3,750

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century

Collected works of Macrobius in contemporary richly gold-tooled morocco

MACROBIUS, Theodosius Ambrosius. Quae exstant omnia, diligentissime emendata, et cum optimis editionibus collata, ut ex praefatione manifestum.
Padua, Giuseppe Comino, 1736. 8vo. With engraved device on title-page, 5 woodcuts in text and woodcut arms above the colophon. Contemporary richly gold-tooled morocco (goatskin), each board with a large centre-piece in a panel design, gilt and gauffered edges, traces of clasps. XXXIX, [1], 640, 85, [2], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Classical Antiquity

Five ancient pharmacological, medical and botanical texts, well produced

MARCELLUS EMPIRICUS. De medicamentis Empiricis physicis ac rationalibus liber.
Basel, Froben, 1536. With a woodcut caduceus device on title-page and several woodcut initials. Set in roman types.
With: (2) [THORER, Alban]. [De re medica].
(Colophon: Basel, Andreas Cratander, 1528). With the first leaf of the main text in a 4-piece woodcut border (3 initalled I.F.), Cratander's woodcut device on the last otherwise blank leaf, showing Occasio, the goddess of chance, and dozens of charming woodcut initials. Set in roman types. 2 works in 1 volume. Small folio (30 x 22 cm). 20th-century half parchment. 252, [12]; 125, [1] ll. Full description

€ 25,000

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Medicine & Pharmacy (16th Century) Pharmacy / Pharmacopaea

First Aldine edition of Martial: one of the first books set in the world’s first italic type

MARTIALIS, Marcus Valerius. [Epigrammata].
(Colophon: Venice, Aldus Manutius, December 1501). 8vo (16 x 10 cm). With 15 (mostly 6-line) spaces with printed guide letters left for manuscript initials. Except for an occasional word in Greek, the book is set entirely in the world's first italic printing type (with small upright capitals, which are also used, usually letterspaced, for running heads, headings, the opening line of each liber, etc.). Francesco Griffo cut it for Aldus, who uses it here 8 months after he introduced it in his Virgil. Tanned sheepskin (ca. 1700?), gold-tooled spine and board edges. [381], [3 blank] pp. Full description

€ 4,750

Aldine Press Book History, Printing & Typography Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics Literature

Stunning collotypes and chromolithographs of Pompeii wall paintings in situ soon after their excavation

MAU, August. Geschichte der decorativen Wandmalerei in Pompeji ... Mit 20 Tafeln in einer Mappe.
Berlin, G. Reimer, 1882. 1 text volume & 1 portfolio with plates. 8vo (text volume) and 1mo (plates portfolio 53 x 43 cm). With 20 large numbered plates showing Pompeii wall paintings in situ, mounted on card stock, loose in a separate portfolio with letterpress title-leaf and contents leaf: 9 sepia collotypes (21 x 16 to 26.5 x 24.5 cm) and 11 chromolithographs (21.5 x 19 to 37 x 36 cm), no. 18 actually comprising 7 small chromolithographs on 1 card, each plate with a letterpress label on the back; and 7 black and white floor plans in the text. Contemporary half sheepskin parchment (text); contemporary blue half cloth portfolio (plates). XII, 462 pp. Full description

€ 7,500

Architecture Art & Art History Classical Antiquity Italy

Detailed illustrated account of archaeological discoveries in and around Pozzuolo,
including the rare folding map

MAZZELLA, Scipione. Sito, et antichita della citta di Pozzuolo, e del suo amenissimo distretto ...
Naples, Tarquinio Longo for Giorgio Varisco (part 1) and Bartholomeo Carampello (part 2), 1606. 2 parts in 1 volume. Small 8vo (15 x 10 cm). With 3 title-pages, a large folding woodcut map with letterpress title and text (the woodcut itself 17 x 24.5 cm) showing Pozzolo and the surrounding area (omitted in some copies), 15 woodcut illustrations (plus 4 repeats) in text. 17th-century limp sheepskin parchment. [16], 284, [4], 103, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 5,000

Archaeology Architecture Charts & Maps Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century Italy

The rise and fall of the Greeks as a mirror for the Dutch Republic

MEESTER, Andries de (Andreas DEMETRIUS). Der Griecken opganck ende onderganck.
Dordrecht, Isaac Jansz. Canin, 1599. 4to. With the opening words of the title printed from a woodblock, a fine engraved biblical scene with a Latin motto apparently intended as Ecclesiastes 10:8 (a warning of the consequences of injustice) on title-page, and a folding engraved map of Ancient Greece by Joannes van Doetecum (not included in all copies). Contemporary gold-tooled calf. [10], 288, [19] ll. Full description

€ 2,750

Balkan & Greece Belgium Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Iran / Persia

The first Roman geography of the world, including the Arabian peninsula and the Gulf,
in the rare 1502 edition of its first accurate printed text

MELA, Pomponius. De situ orbis Hermolai Barbari fideliter emendatus.
[Venice], (colophon: printed by Albertino da Vercelli, 14 May 1502). Small 4to (20.5 x 15.5 cm). With printed guide letters left for manuscript initials (not filled in). Gold-tooled red half sheepskin (ca. 1820?). XXIIII ll. Full description

€ 6,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Geography

Enormous panoramic Middle Eastern view with ruins, nearly 6 metres long

[VIEW - MIDDLE EAST]. [Mountainous landscape with Middle Eastern and classical Roman ruins, 6 shepherds with their flocks, several figures riding dromedaries and one riding a donkey, (date?) palms, lakes, etc.].
[Palestine?, ca. 1910?]. An enormous panoramic view drawn in coloured gouaches on a single, continuous roll of paper (70 x 583 cm), the drawing running to the edges of the paper. Full description

€ 35,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States City Plans, Topography & Views Classical Antiquity Eastern Mediterranean & Cyprus UAE - United Arab Emirates

First complete edition of Cosmas's Christiana topographia describing his travels
in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf

MONTFAUCON, Bernard de (editor). Collectio nova patrum et scriptorum Graecorum, Eusebii Caesariensis, Athanasii, & Cosmae Aegyptii.
Paris, Claudius Rigaud, 1707. 2 volumes. Folio. With 4 engraved plates, and 3 woodcut illustrations in the text. Each volume with an engraved headpiece, the first incorporating the coat of arms of Pope Clement XI, and the second that of Jean-Paul Bignon. Contemporary calf, richly gold-tooled spine and binding edges. [14], XL, [1], [1 blank], 732, [26], [2 blank]; [16], LXVIII, 112, [2], I-XXIV, 113-593, [26], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 25,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Church History & Missions Classical Antiquity Egypt India & Sri Lanka Iran / Persia North Africa Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Middle East Travel & Voyages Southern Asia

Close reprint of the work of Cornelius Nepos by Pieter and Joan Blaeu after the 1675 Keuchelius edition,
published by the Officina Hackiana at Leiden

NEPOS, Cornelius. Vitae excellentium imperatorum, observationibus ac notis commentatorum ... illustratae. Accesserunt huic edition praecipuorumn Graeci Imperatorum icons ... ut & Index rerum & verborum praecidenti multo auctior & emendatior.
Amsterdam, Pieter and Joan Blaeu, prostant apud Abr. Wolfgang, Gillis & Joh. II Janssonio-Waesbergios, Widow Dirk & Henrik Boom, Widow Joh. à Someren, & Rembertus Goethals, 1687. 8vo. With an engraved frontispiece by Jan Visscher (Hollstein Dutch, 175-1(4)), 14 small engravings (mainly used as tailpieces), 11 depicting Greek and Carthaginian commanders in a medallion. Contemporary vellum, author's name written on the spine. [32], 439, [40] pp. Full description

€ 750

Classical Antiquity Greek & Roman Classics History / 17th Century

Two Hellenistic hexametric poems on antidotes to poisons

NICANDER of Colophon. In Nicander Theriaca scholia auctoris incerti, et vetusta et utilia.
Including: In eiusdem Alexipharmaca diversorum auctorum scholia.
Paris, Morelius, 1557. 3 parts in 1 volume. 4to. Each part with its own title page, with a woodcut caduceus device on all three. Set in roman and Greek types. 17th-century(?) richly gold-tooled red morocco, gilt edges; subtly rebacked, with the original backstrip laid down. [8], “225” [= 215], [1 blank]; “80” [= 72] pp. Full description

€ 5,000

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Non-Western Types Greek & Roman Classics Medicine & Pharmacy (16th Century)

Interesting early work on Latin abbreviations: an early 'Capelli'

NICOLAI, Johannes. Tractatus de siglis veterum omnibus elegantioris literaturae amatoribus utilissimus, in quo continentur, quae ad interpretationem numismatum, inscriptionum, juris et fere omnium artium requiruntur, cujus subsidio facile literae explicari possunt.
Leiden, Abraham de Swart, 1703. 4to. With title-page printed in red and black with engraved vignette, 8 engravings in text (1 full-page). Contemporary vellum. [22], 314 pp. Full description

€ 400

Classical Antiquity Literature

Account of the first scientific expedition to the Middle East, Egypt, Persia and India

NIEBUHR, Carsten. Reize naar Arabië en andere omliggende landen.
Amsterdam, S.J. Baalde; Utrecht, J. van Schoonhoven and company (vol. 1) and Bartholomeus Wild (vol. 2) (colophons: Utrecht, printed by J.J. Besseling), 1776-1780. 2 volumes. 4to. With 2 engraved title-pages, each with a vignette, 31 engraved maps and plans and 94 other engraved plates. 19th-century half calf. Untrimmed. VIII, [6], 484, [2]; [16], 455, [1] pp. Full description

€ 6,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Archaeology Architecture Charts & Maps City Plans, Topography & Views Classical Antiquity Egypt India & Sri Lanka Iran / Persia North Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Middle East Travel & Voyages Southern Asia

Two Greek classics on hunting and fishing printed by Raphelengius in Leiden

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

€ 2,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Falconry, Fishing & Hunting Greek & Non-Western Types Greek & Roman Classics

A travel guide to Ancient Greece

PAUSANIAS. Pausaniou tes hellados periegesis [= in Greek]. Hoc est, pausaniae accurata Graeciae descriptio, qua lector ceu manu per eam regionem circumducitur ...
Frankfurt am Main, Heirs of Andreas Wechel [Claude de Marne, Johann Aubry], 1583. 2 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With a woodcut printer's device on the divisional title page of each part and the final leaf, 30 decorated woodcut initials, 7 woodcut headpieces, and 3 woodcut tailpieces. With: PAUSANIAS and Romolo AMASEO (translator). Pausaniae de veteris graeciae regionibus commentarii luculentissimi.
Frankfurt am Main, heirs of Andreas Wechel [Claude de Marne, Johann Aubry], 1583.
17th-century overlapping vellum over recycled blind tooled calf panels (from an older binding, unclear if original binding of present work or just general recycling), sewn on 5 vellum tapes previously laced through the joints, the manuscript author on the spine, remnants of closing ties. [12], 357, [1 blank] pp., 359-374 cols., 375-377 pp., 378-507 cols., [1 (=p. 508)], [1 blank], [76]; [12], 302, pp., 303-352 cols., [1] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Archaeology Balkan & Greece Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Geography Greek & Non-Western Types Greek & Roman Classics Travel & Voyages Europe

Extensive work on the statues in Rome, with a hundred large plates

PERRIER, François. Kunstkabinet, besluitende hondert der allerberoemste antique stantbeelden staende binnen Rome. Op eene uitvoerige wyze, naer de origineele afgeteekend, denende tot een vervolgh op de beschryving van het oude en nieuwe Rome van den heer François Desseine, en, om hunne uitmuntentheit, in het koper gebraght door de twee Cornelissen van Daelen. Een werk zeer nuttigh voor alle beeldhouwers, schilders, graveerders en teekenaers. Hier by komt eene uitvoerige beschryving van yder stantbeeld, aentoonende de plaetsen alwaer de zelve vertoond werden, de naemen der werkmeesters en de historie der zelve. Alles uit de oudheit der schryvers opgedolven.
The Hague, Bernardus van der Cloesen, 1737. Large folio. With a large engraved printer's device on the title page, the title printed in red and black, a richly engraved allegorical title page heading the print-series, and 100 full-page plates of Roman classical statues, engraved by Cornelis van Dalen, both the Elder and the Younger, after designs by François Perrier. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum. [2], 54, [2] pp. + 100 plates. Full description

€ 7,500

Art & Art History Classical Antiquity Drawings & Watercolours Italy Prints & Print Series

The art of explaining Persius' satires

PERSIUS FLACCUS, Aulus; Johannes BRITANNICUS, and Bartholomaeus FONTIUS (commentators). Satyrae.
(Colophon:) Venice, Bernardinus Benalius & Matteo Capcasa, 3 August 1491. Folio. 19th-century gold- and blind-tooled half brown morocco and marbled paper sides, with the author, title, and impressum lettered in gold. [48] ll. Full description

€ 6,500

Caricature & Satire Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 15th century Greek & Roman Classics Philosophy & Humanism

“the historic cornerstone of the study [of mummification] in English”

PETTIGREW, Thomas Joseph. A history of Egyptian mummies, and an account of the worship and embalming of the sacred animals by the Egyptians; with remarks on the funeral ceremonies of different nations, and observations on the mummies of the Canary Islands, of the ancient Peruvians, Burman priests, &c.
London, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman (back of title-page and colophon: printed by P.P. Thoms), 1834. 4to. With 13 numbered lithographed plates (the first used as frontispiece), including 3 fully and 1 partly coloured by a contemporary hand, of which 2 highlighted in gold. Contemporary half calf, restored and rebacked with parts of the original backstrip laid down, with new tooling and title-label on spine, cloth sides, later endpapers. XXI, [1 blank], 264, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,000

Archaeology Classical Antiquity Egypt North Africa Peru South America

Among Le Pautre’s earliest work

PHILIPPON, Adam. Curieuses recherches de plusieurs beaus morceaus d'ornemens antiques, et modernes, tant dans la ville de Rome, ques autres villes et lieux d'Italie.
Croissant, Adam Philippon, 1645. Wholly engraved print series consisting of a title-page, dedication, privilege, and 50 plates. The leaves are numbered 1-42, followed by 10 plates with their numbers changed by hand, and the privilege.
With: (2) LE PAUTRE, Jean. Frizes feuillages ou Tritons marins antiques et modernes.Paris, P. Mariette, [ca. 1664]. Series of 6 numbered engraved plates, each with two friezes. 2 series in 1 volume. Small folio (26.5 x 18.5 cm). Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [59] ll. Full description

€ 7,000

Architecture Art & Art History Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century Italy Prints & Print Series

Illustrious lives and imperial praise: Pliny’s collected works in the first Venice edition

PLINIUS CAECILIUS SECUNDUS, Caius and Antonius MORETUS (editor). Epistolae; Panegyricus Traiani; De viris illustribus.
[Venice, Joannes Rubeus Vercellensis, ca. 1492]. 4to. 18th-century limp vellum. 108 ll. Full description

€ 5,000

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 15th century Greek & Roman Classics

Early Antwerp edition of Pliny's letters in an exceptionally well-preserved contemporary pigskin binding

PLINIUS CAECILIUS SECUNDUS, Caius. Epistolarum libri X. ad exemplar manuscriptum Rodol. Agricolae diligentiss. recogniti ...
Including: (2) SUETONIUS TRANQUILLIUS. De viris illustribus liber.
(3) OBSEQUENS, Julius. Ab anno urbis conditae quingentesimoquinto, prodigiorum liber imperfectus.
(4) CATANAEUS, Johannes Maria. C. Plinii Caecilii secundi Vita.
Antwerp, Antonius Dumaeus [= Anthonis van der Haeghen], 1542.
8vo. With several decorated woodcut initials. Contemporary blind tooled pigskin, sewn on 3 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, both boards tooled in a panel design with floral motives in the 2 central panels, surrounded by a border with portraits on the front, and passion scenes and saints on the back, the manuscript initials "E.K" on the front, remnants of white leather closing ties. "494" [=496], [39], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Bindings Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics Law & Politics

The second edition in English, by the greatest translator of the Elizabethan age

PLINIUS Secundus, Gaius (Pliny the Elder) The Historie of the World, commonly called the Naturall Historie.
London, Adam Islip, 1634. 2 parts in one volume. Folio (23.5 x 32 cm). Elaborate woodcut device on title-page; woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Contemporary calf, spine in six compartments, tooled and lettered in gilt. (58), 614, (42) pp. (12), 632, (86) pp. Full description

€ 15,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Classical Antiquity Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Faunas & General Zoology Geology Iran / Persia

Beautiful 1483 Venice edition of Pliny's celebrated encyclopaedic work

PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius (PLINY the elder) [and Philippus BEROALDUS (editor)]. Historia naturalis.
Venice, Reynaldus de Noviomago, 1483. Small folio. With the initials and book numbers alternatingly painted in red and blue. 17th-century blind-tooled sheepskin. [355] ll. Full description

€ 65,000

Anthropology & Ethnography Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 15th century Faunas & General Zoology Geography Greek & Roman Classics Herbals & Medical Botany Mineralogy & Gems

Plutarch's famous schoolbook in four languages

PLUTARCH. Aureus libellus, Peri paidoon a'googès, id est, de educatione liberorum, tum interpretatione Latinam, ad verbum ferè applicatam, & paraphrasi Gallico-Germanicam... Petit livret de Plutarche,... Das güldene Büchlein Plutarchi, von der Kinderzucht.
Frankfurt, Erasmus Kempffer, 1612. 8vo. Set in 2 columns. Contemporary green vellum. 175, [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,850

Classical Antiquity Greek & Roman Classics History / 17th Century Language & Linguistics Literature School & Textbooks

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)

Practical and theoretical manual of Euclidean geometry with visual instructions in 51 plates

POMODORO, Giovanni & Giovanni SCALA. La geometria prattica. Cavata da gl'elementi d'Euclide e d'altri famosi autori, con l'esposizione di Giovanni Scala famoso matematico ridotta in cinquanta tavole scolpite in rame dalle quali con facilita si possono apprendere tutte le cose, che al buon geometra appartengono.
Rome, (colophon: printed by Andrea Fei, 1623, for) Gio. Angelo Ruffinelli, 1624. Folio. With title within engraved architectural border and 51 full-page engraved illustrations, the first 44 (number 1-44) after designs by Pomodoro and the last 7 plates (numbered 1-7) by Scala, colophon with large woodcut printer's device of Andrea Fei. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [57], [1 blank] ll. Full description

€ 4,000

Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century Mathematics

The De bello Persico for the first time in print

PROCOPIUS OF CAESAREA. De bello Persico. Liber primus-secundus.
Including: De bello Vandilico. Liber tertius-quartus.
Rome, Eugarius Silber alias Franck, 1509. Folio. With numerous decorative woodcut initials of 4 to 8 lines. 18th-century paper boards. [90] ll. Full description

€ 15,000

Classical Antiquity History / 16th Century Iran / Persia Military History (16th Century) North Africa West Asia

Prophecies concerning the fall of the Ottoman Empire by two Byzantine Emperors,
in a 19th-century armorial binding

[PROPHECIES - OTTOMAN EMPIRE]. Prophetien, of voorseggingen der beyde Keyseren Severi en Leonis, die beyde in Orienten gheregeert hebben. In de welcke het hem laet aensien als of het Turcksche Rijck onder desen teghenwoordigen Sultan wel een eynde mocht nemen. Hier sijn byghevoeght eenighe andere Vooorseggingen ... ende met veele copere figuyren verciert.
Amsterdam, Broer Jansz., 1627. 4to. With large woodcut on the title page showing the Ottomans reaching Constantinople, and 16 engravings in the text with emblematic scenes featuring sultans, including Mehmet II and Sulaiman I, animals such as unicorns, nursing bears, eagles, ravens, wolves, snakes, mythological figures, rulers, etc. Each plate is followed by an epigram and explanation. 19th-century gold-tooled brown morocco, with the gold-tooled coat of arms of Victor Masséna, 5th Prince dEssling and 3rd Duke of Rivoli (1836-1910) on both boards, the title, impressum and (repeatedly) the monogram "VM" lettered in gold on the spine, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, gilt edges, marbled endpapers. Bound by the 19th-century French bookbinders Allô-Wampflug (signed in the lower turn-ins at the front and back). [1], [1 blank], [2], 41, [2], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,950

Bindings Classical Antiquity Turkey & Ottoman Empire

One of the first small-format editions of a classic textbook on rhetoric, with a message for today

QUINTILIANUS, Marcus Fabius. [De institutione oratoria].
(Colophon: Florence, Filippo I Giunta, October 1515). Small 8vo (14.5 x 10 cm). With a title-page containing only the author's name, but with the title in the heading to liber I, and Giunti's woodcut device on the verso of the otherwise blank final leaf. Set entirely in an Aldine-style italic (with upright capitals). Vellum (ca. 1850?). [4], "269" [= 367], [1] ll. Full description

€ 3,950

Aldine Press Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics

Important first Aldine edition of the Roman world's greatest work on rhetoric

QUINTILIANUS, Marcus Fabius. [Institutiones oratoriae].
(Colophon: Venice, "aedibus Aldi et Andreae soceri" [= Aldus Manutius & Andre Torresani d'Asola], August 1514). 4to. With Aldus's famous woodcut anchor device on the title-page, repeated on the back of the last text page. Gold-tooled red morocco (ca. 1700), rebacked and given a black morocco spine label in the 19th century. [4], 230 ll. Full description

€ 5,000

Aldine Press Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics School & Textbooks

Second Aldine edition of the most important Roman work on rhetoric, from the library of Joseph Romilly

QUINTILIANUS, Marcus Fabius. Institutionum oratorium libri XII diligentius recogniti M D XXII. Index capitum totius operis. Conversio dictionum Graecarum, quas ipse author in latinum non transtulit.
(Colophon: Venice "In Aedibus Aldi, et Andreae soceri" [= André d'Asola & sons], January 1521 [= 1522]). Narrow 4to in 8s (21 x 13 cm). With Aldus's anchor and dolphin publisher's device on the first and last pages. Set entirely in a single size of Aldine italic, with some headings, running heads, etc., set in its (upright) capitals. Gold-tooled red morocco (ca. 1700), each board with delicate centre-piece a petit fers, rebacked in gold-tooled red morocco. [4], 230 ll. Full description

€ 4,500

Aldine Press Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics Literature

A monumental description of the archaeological expedition to Lebanon and Syria

RENAN, Joseph Ernest. Mission de Phénicie.
Paris, Imprimerie Impériale/Nationale, 1864-1874. 14 volumes bound as 13 (7 of text and 7 of plates, the latter bound as 6). Folio (27,5 x 36,5 and 37 x 55,5 cm). With 70 engraved and lithographed numbered plates (including 1 folding), 1 folding map, and 8 plans(including 3 folding), a few in contemporary hand colouring, and several illustrations in the text.Contemporary wrappers. Plates stored in two half cloth portfolios. [4], 884, [4] pp. Full description

€ 25,000

Art & Art History Classical Antiquity Mediterranean Regions

Lecture on the ancient history of Arabia Petrea (now in Jordan and vicinity) during the Roman conquest by one of the founders of modern geography

RITTER, Carl. Zur Geschichte des Petraïschen Arabiens und seiner Bewohner.
[Berlin, Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences], 8 July 1824. 4to. Never bound. 189-223, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Classical Antiquity West Asia

The history of women in Europe

ROLLAND D'ERCEVILLE, Barthélemy-Gabriel. Recherches sur les prerogatives des dames chez les Gaulaois, sur les cours d'amour.
Paris, chez Nyon I'ainé, Libraire, 1787. 12mo. With a woodcut vignette on the title page, and a woodcut headpiece. 19th-century gold-tooled dark blue morocco. [4], xii, 212, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Bindings Classical Antiquity Women History

Lovely set of a tremendously popular history of ancient Greece

ROLLIN, Charles. Histoire ancienne des Egyptiens, des Carthaginois, des Assyriens, des Babyloniens, des Medes et des Perses, de Macedoniens, des Grecs. ... Nouvelle edition.
Paris, printed for the widow of Estienne & her children and the Estienne brothers; by (the widow of) F.A. Quillau and the widow of Simon, 1748-1769. 13 volumes bound as 14. 12mo. With 3 engraved maps, 2 engraved folding plates and 1 engraved folding plan. Contemporary mottled calf, richly gold-tooled spines and binding edges; only volume 11 (bound as 2 volumes) in a different but closely matching binding. ca. 600 pp. per volume Full description

€ 1,500

Balkan & Greece Classical Antiquity

Newly edited works on rhetoric, in Aire-sur-la-Lys prize binding

RUTILIUS LUPUS, Publius and 15 others (François PITHOU, ed.). [Antiqui rhetores Latini.] ... Omnia ex codd. manusc. emendatiora vel auctiora.
Paris, Adrien Périer (ex officina Plantiniana), 1599. Large 4to. Set in roman types with incidental italic, Greek and Hebrew. Contemporary gold-tooled calf with 18th-century restorations, with the arms of Aire-sur-la-Lys (an eagle) flanked by "S.P.Q. ... Arien[sis]". Rebacked with the original backstrip laid down. [4], 382, [15], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,950

Bindings Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics School & Textbooks

The antiquities of Persia and on the history of the Arabs before Muhammad

SILVESTRE DE SACY, [Antoine Isaac]. Mémoires sur les antiquités de la Perse et sur lhistoire des Arabes avant Mahomet.
Paris, Eugène Duverger & Jean-Joseph Marcel, Imprimerie Impériale, [1808-1809]. Large 4to (22 x 27.5 cm). With 4 tables. Later red half morocco. [6], 47-58, 483-782 pp. Full description

€ 1,800

Art & Art History Central Asia Classical Antiquity Iran / Persia West Asia

Richly gold-tooled French morocco in the style of "Le Gascon": includes Elichman's Greek, Latin and Arabic Tabula Cebetis and Aurea carmina Pythagoræ

SIMPLICIUS of Cilicia. Commentarius in Enchiridion Epicteti, ex libris veteribus emendatus. Cum versione Hieronymi Wolfii, et Cl. Salmasii animadversionibus, et notis quibus Philosophia Stoica passim explicatur & illustratur.
Leiden, Johannes Maire, 1640. 4 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With three title-pages. Set in roman, Greek and Arabic types. Contemporary French pointillé binding in the style of "Le Gascon", richly gold-tooled in concentric panels on both covers, and in the six compartments of the spine, the second with the title. [20], 332, [12]; [1], [1 blank], 329, [23]; [34], 88, 15 pp. Full description

€ 9,750

Arabic Printing & Calligraphy Bindings Classical Antiquity Greek & Non-Western Types Greek & Roman Classics History / 17th Century Literature Philosophy & Humanism

Rare history of the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire

STRADA À ROSBERG, Octavius de. Newe Keijser Chronick: das ist, warhaffte und vollkommene Beschreibung aller Römischen Keyser, so wol deren gegen Nider- als gegen Auffgang, von C. Julio Caesare, dem ersten Römischen Monarchen, biss auff jetztregierende Keyserl. May. Ferdinandum II. und das Jahr 1628 ...
Frankfurt am Main, Eberhard Kieser, 1629.
With:
(2) IDEM. Continuation der Keyser Chronick, oder eigentliche, und wahrhaftige, historische Beschreibung der Leben unnd Thaten, beyder grossmächtigen Römischen Keyser, Matthiae I. und der jetznoch regierenden Keys. May. Ferdinandi II. Königen in Böhmen, &c. ...
Frankfurt am Main, Caspar Röteln for Eberhardt Kieser, 1628.
(3) IDEM. Genealogia, das ist, Geschlecht Register, oder Stammbaum, und Verzeichnusz aller Potentaten, Keyser, Königen, Ertzhertzogen und Fürsten ...
Frankfurt am Main, for Eberhard Kieser, 1629.
3 works in 1 volume. Folio. Ad 1: with the title set in a richly engraved border, a half page engraving of the coat of arms of the dedicatee Don Guillermo Verdugo on f. (2)r, and numerous engravings of coins with the portraits of the emperors in the text. Ad 2: with 10 engravings of both sides of coins in the text. Ad 3: with a large folding engraving (92 x 46.5 cm.) of the genealogical tree of the Dukes and Archidukes of Austria. With numerous woodcut decorated initials and woodcut head- and tail-pieces throughout.
(Near?) Contemporary mottled calf with a large gold-tooled armorial centre piece on both arms (with the letters "R. M. F." inside the coat of arms), a red morocco title-label lettered in gold on the gold-tooled spine, red and light blue sprinkled edges, marbled endpapers. [4], 596, [10], [2 blank]; 87, [1 blank]; 37, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 7,500

Bindings Classical Antiquity Germany History / 17th Century Numismatics

16th-century Antwerp edition of "The Twelve Caesars"

SUETONIUS Tranquillus, Gaius. Caesarum XII libri, iam denuo bonorum exemplarium & commentariorum ope emendati, cum M. Antonii Coccii Sabellici commentariis, nihil annotatu dignum dissimulantibus. Jo. Baptistae Egnatii Veneti, annot. in Suetonium. Annotata in eundem, & loca aliquot restitutae per D. Erasmum Roterodamum.
Antwerp, Jan van der Loe, 1548. 8vo. With woodcut device on title-page and numerous woodcut initials in text. Later marbled boards. [24], 661, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,750

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century

The first French translation of Suetonius' main work, bound by Chambolle-Duru

SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS, Gaius [and Guillaume Michel de TOURS (translator)]. Des faictz et gestes des douze Caesars, nouvellement imprime.
Paris, Arnoul l'Angelier, 1540. 8vo. With a half-page woodcut illustration on the title page, and 11 half-page woodcuts in the text (repeats with different names in the cartouche), a smaller woodcut illustration at the start of the work by Denis Janot, numerous woodcut decorated initials throughout, and l'Angelier's woodcut device on the final page. Mid- to late-19th-century red morocco (not before 1861), signed by Chambolle-Duru. [8], 276 ll. Full description

€ 4,000

Bindings Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics

Suetonius on the emperors of Rome, with the prize stamp of Gorinchem

[PRIZE BINDING - GORINCHEM]. SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS, Gaius. Ex recensione Joannis Georgii Graevii cum ejusdem animadversionibus, ut et commentario integro Laevini Torrentii, Isaaci Casauboni, Theodori Marcilii, et cum notis ac numismatibus quibus illustratus est a Carolo Patino accedunt notae selectiores aliorum.
Utrecht, Anthonius Schouten, 1703. 3 parts in 1 volume. Large 4to. With an engraved allegorical frontispiece, a title vignette, numerous illustrations of roman coins in the text, and 2 folding textual cenotaphs. Contemporary gold-tooled vellum, sewn on 6 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, a floral ornament in each compartment of the spine, the arms of Gorinchem in the centre of both boards surrounded by two ornamental borders, red and blue sprinkled edges. [14], 829, [2], 110, [152] pp. Full description

€ 750

Armorial Bindings Bindings Classical Antiquity Italy

Reintroducing Roman law to the Renaissance

THEOPHILUS ANTECESSOR and Jacobus CURTIUS (translator). Institutionum juris civilis libri quatuor ... è Graeco in Latinum per D. Iac. Curtium Brugensem Iurisconsultum conversi, ac iterum excusi.
Antwerp, (colophon: Joannes Grapheus for) Joannes Steelsius, 1539. 8vo (15.4 x 10.4 cm). With a large woodcut folding table at the end, a woodcut device of Steelsius on the recto of the otherwise blank last leaf, and some woodcut decorated initials throughout. Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin. [8], 221, [3] ll. Full description

€ 2,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Law & Politics

First edition of an important and one of the earliest works on colour, formerly attributed to Aristotle

[THEOPHRASTUS? (pseudo ARISTOTLE)] and Simone PORZIO. De coloribus libellus, à Simone Portio Neapolitano latinate donatus, & cometariis illustratus: una cum euisdem praefatione, qua coloris naturam declarat.
Florence, Lorenzo Torrentino, 1548. 4to. With 2 large woodcut historiated initials. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment, manuscript spine-title, with 4 fragments of a Latin manuscript in an upright humanistic hand on vellum used as spine lining. 197, [3] pp. Full description

€ 12,500

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics Physics & Chemistry Science

Miniature edition of an important classical work on human behaviour

THEOPHRASTUS. Characteres ethici, sive Morum descriptiones. Graecè et Latinè. Cum notis & monitis Ioannis à Werdenhagen.
Leiden, Joannes Maire, 1653. 24mo. With a vignette on the title page built up from typographical ornaments, the work is partly printed in Greek type. Contemporary vellum. 359, [1] pp. Full description

€ 450

Classical Antiquity Greek & Non-Western Types Greek & Roman Classics Miniature Books Philosophy & Humanism

Hospitality in Roman antiquity

TOMASINI, Jacopo Filippo. De Tesseris Hospitalitatis. Liber singularis.
Amsterdam, Andreas Frisius, 1670. With a frontispiece by Abraham Bloteling depicting travellers, 2 folding engraved plates and engravings in text, some of which are full-page.
[Including:]
TOMASINI, Jacopo Filippo. Titus Livius Patavinus.
Amsterdam, Andreas Frisius, 1670. With a printer's device on title-page,engraving on title, 2 folding
engraved plates including a portrait, 1 engraving in text. 2 works in 1 volume. 12mo. Contemporary vellum, manuscript title in ink on spine. [12], 227, [25]; 125, [17] pp. Full description

€ 400

Classical Antiquity History / 17th Century Medicine & Pharmacy (17th Century) Numismatics

Medical work based on Pliny the Elder, Galen and Dioscorides, together with three other texts, from the library of the Russian tsars

[TORINUS, Albanus (editor)]. De re medica huic volumini insunt...
[Colophon: Basel, Andreas Cratander, 1528]. Folio. With woodcut printer's device on title-page, repeated on final page, 2 pages with 4-piece decorative woodcut borders and numerous woodcut decorated initials. 18th-century half calf, with marbled paper in a tree pattern on sides, gold-tooled spine with the coat of arms of the Russian Tsars. [12], 125, [1] ll. Full description

€ 25,000

Bindings Classical Antiquity Herbals & Medical Botany Medicine & Pharmacy (16th Century)

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

Rare 1527 edition of classical dictionary, owned by the neo-Latin poet Renier Tengnagel (d. 1565)

TORRENTINUS, Hermannus (Herman van der BEKE). Elucidarius poeticus co[n]tinens historias poeticas, fabulas, insulas regiones, urbes, fluvios, mo[n]tesq[ue] insigniores, atq[ue] huiusmodi alia, ...
Antwerp, Michiel Hillen van Hoogstraten, 1527. With the title in an elaborate woodcut border.
With: (2) [FIOCCHI, Andrea Dominico (Andras Dominicus FLOCCUS)] under the name of Lucius FENESTELLA. De magistratibus, sacerdotiisq[ue] Romanorum libellus, iamprimum nitori restitutus.
[Cologne, Hero Fuchs, 1527]. With the title in a finely cut 4-piece woodcut border. 2 editions in 1 volume. 8vo. 16th-century(?) limp vellum (formerly used for a slightly thinner book). The binding is an interesting example of a spine reinforced with a horizontal metal rod at the central sewing support to give more support and prevent the bookblock from becoming concaved or developing sharp kinks; probably bound in Flanders. [88]; [88] ll. Full description

€ 9,500

Aldine Press Bindings Church History & Missions Classical Antiquity Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics Religion (16th Century)

The most important classical dictionary of its time, bound with the rare first and only edition
of a polemic against medical malpractice

TORRENTINUS, Hermannus. Elucidarius poeticus continens historias poeticas, fabulas, insulas, regiones, urbes, fluvios, montesq[ue] insigniores, atq[ue] huiusmodi alia, omnib[us] adolescentibus in poesi versantibus oppidoquam necessarius, ...
Cologne, Eucharius Cervicornus (colophon: Godefried Hittorp), July 1529.
With: (2) FREUDENBERG, Aethon Johann von. De abusu & impostura medicantiu[m] libellus perquam utilis jucundusq[ue] omnibus, quibus cum medicis erit negocium.
Marburg, Eucharius Cervicornus, 1538. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Ad 1: with the title in an elaborate woodcut architectural border with the Cologne coat of arms in the head, the death of Cleopatra in the foot (flanked by roundel profile heads of a king and queen), further figures in the right and left sides (one labelled "Dionisius") and 3 putti, one holding a shield with a monogram or mark, perhaps of the artist or woodblock cutter. Set in roman types with 8 and 14 mm roman capitals used as initials. Ad 2: with 1 woodcut decorated initial (white on black with floral decoration) and a vine-leaf ornament (Vervliet 7). Set in roman type with the dedication in an Aldine-style italic and with occasional words in Greek. Sheepskin parchment (ca. 1700?), sewn on 4 supports, red edges, first title lettered in ink in the second spine compartment. [85], [1 blank]; [23] ll. Full description

€ 10,000

Aldine Press Classical Antiquity Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Early Printing - 16th century Medicine & Pharmacy (16th Century)

Commentaries and scholia on Demostheness orations, & Harpocrations dictionary:
second edition, in the original Greek, by Aldus's successors, based on his own first edition

ULPIANUS of Emesa and Valerius HARPOCRATION. Commentarioli in olynthiacas, philippicasque Demosthenis orationes. Enarrationes saneque necessariae in tredecim orationes Demosthenis. ...Dictionarium decem Rhetorum. [preceded by the titles in Greek].
(Colophon: Venice, heirs of Aldus Manutius, and his father-in-law Andrea Torresano dAsola [& sons], June) 1527. Folio (31 x 21 cm). With Aldus's famous woodcut dolphin device on the title-page and an older but very similar version on the verso of the otherwise blank last leaf. Set in Greek type (the Upianus in 1 column; the Harpokation in 2 columns) with incidental roman. Recased in 18th-century vellum over flexible boards. 119, [1] ll. Full description

€ 12,000

Aldine Press Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Non-Western Types Greek & Roman Classics

Egypt in 309 beautiful illustrations, many in colour

VALERIANI, Domenico and Girolamo SEGATO. Nuova illustrazione istorico-monumentale del basso e dell'alto Egitto.
Including: Atlante monumentale del basso e dell'alto Egitto.
Florence, Paolo Fumagalli, 1836-1837 (text) & 1837-1841 (plates). 2 text volumes (8vo) and 2 plates volumes (large folio). With an engraved portrait of Segato as frontispiece in the first text volume and the plate volumes with 160 engraved and aquatint plates (7 double-page), including 51 tinted and/or coloured by a contemporary hand; many plates contain multiple illustrations, making 309 illustrations in total. Contemporary green (text vols.) and brown (plates vols.) half morocco. [2], 491, [1 blank], [4]; 788, [6] pp. text. Full description

€ 18,000

Archaeology Architecture Classical Antiquity Egypt North Africa

Memorable deeds and sayings of Imperial Rome

VALERIUS MAXIMUS. Dictorum factorumq[ue] memorabilium exempla. adjecto indice propriorum nominum rerumq[ue] memoria dignarum locupletissimo
Antwerp, Joannes Grapheus for Joannes Steelsius, 1535. 8vo (14.6 x 9.1 cm). With a woodcut title frame, and a woodcut illustration incorporating Steelsius' device at the end. Old half vellum. 237, [11] ll. Full description

€ 950

Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics Philosophy & Humanism

The first "typographic facsimile" ever: the reproduction
of one of the three late antique manuscripts containing the main works of Virgil

VIRGILIUS MARO, Publius. Codex antiquissimus a Rufio Turcio Aproniano V.C. distinctus et emendatus qui nunc Florentiae in Bibliotheca Mediceo-Laurentiana adservatur bono publico typis descriptus anno MDCCXLI.
Florence, Typis Mannianis (the printer Joseph and his son Domenico Maria Manni), [1741]. 4to (25.5 x 18 cm). With an engraved dedication by the editor Pietro Francesco Fogginio to the members of the prestigious Académie Royale des inscriptions et beaux-arts as a frontispiece, an engraved vignette on the title page (a portrait of Virgil holding a mask) engraved by "Sarder ex Mus. Medic.". An engraved illustration of Virgil as a headpiece at the start of the text, engraved after the portrait in one of the two other late antique Virgil manuscripts: the Virgilius Romanus in the Vatican library (Cod. Vat. 3867). Further with a beautiful engraved historiated initial on the same page; engraved specimen of three lines of the manuscript (13 x 3 cm) on p. XV; and two tailpieces (on pp. XVI and 459). The text is printed in red and black (the title page, the first lines and corrections in the text). Contemporary gold-tooled red morocco. [4], XXXVI, 459 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Book History, Printing & Typography Classical Antiquity Greek & Roman Classics

Quintessential eighteenth-century Virgil edition, bound in a magnificent binding

VIRGILIUS MARO, Publius. Opera. Vol. I.
London, John Pine, 1755 [= actually some years later]. 8vo. With 2 different vignettes on the otherwise identical engraved title pages, an engraved frontispiece with a figure of the muse Euterpe, 2 engraved dedication leaves with vignettes, 1 folding and 49 full-page engraved plates on 39 leaves (11 of the leaves with a plate on each side), 31 engraved half-page plates and historiated head- and tailpieces, engraved historiated and decorated initials. Some of the images are derived from the illustrations in the Codex Vaticanus, a 5th-century codex containing the works of Virgil. Late-19th-century gold-tooled crushed red morocco, bound by the famous partnership of René Chambolle (1834-1898) and Hippolyte Duru (1803-1898) (with their names gold-stamped in the bottom front turn-in). The boards show a double fillet frame with detailed, ornate flowers and vines along the inside of the frame, with the author, title, and imprint lettered in gold on the gold-tooled spine, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, gilt top edge, marbled endpapers. The binding can be dated between 1861 and ca. 1870, the heyday of the Chambolle-Duru partnership representing the high level of the Golden Age of French bibliophile binding. [8], XV, [2], 144, [6] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Bindings Classical Antiquity Greek & Roman Classics

118 books books found / Show pages


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History, Law & Philosophy / Classical Antiquity