Forum Rare Books

“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