Forum Rare Books

Augmented illustrated Rouen edition of Aesop in the French prose translation,
together with the quatrains by Isaac Benserade (1804)

AESOP. Les Fables dEsope, mises en François, Avec le Sens moral en quatre Vers, & des Figures à chaque Fable. Nouvelle édition revue, corrigée & augmentée de la Vie dEsope, avec Figures, & les Quatrains de Benserade, dédiée à la Jeunesse.
Rouen, chez A. Delalain, An XII [1804]. 12mo. With a full-page woodcut portrait (97 x 72 mm.) of Aesop., and 192 woodcuts of ca 56 x 72 mm., illustrating the Vie dÉsope (28) and 164 out of a total of 225 Fables; woodcut head- and tailpieces. Mottled calf over boards.. [8], C, 314, [2] (out of 10) pp. Full description

€ 285

Extended collection of no less than 400 Aesop Fables in Italian,
including fables of others, collected and edited by Giulio Landi who also added a Life of Aesop

AESOP. Vita di Esopo Frigio, prudente, e faceto favolatore, Tradotta dal Sig. Conte Giulio Landi in grazia della studiosa Gioventu ... Al quale di nuovo sono aggiunte Favole del medesimo Esopo, con multe alter dalcuni elevati Ingegni, ascendenti alla somma di 400 ...
Florence, Giovanni Gaetano Tartini, 1718. 12mo. With 90 (incl. repeats) woodcuts (ca. 4.5 x 6 cm). Plain vellum. 384, [12] pp. Full description

€ 500

Based on first illustrated humanistic edition, illustrated with woodcuts after Bernard Salomon

AESOP. Aesopi Phrygis Fabulae, elegantissimis iconibus veras animalium species ad ivum adumbrantibus. Gabriae Graeci fabellae XLIII. [Greek: Batrachomyomachia] Homeri, hoc est, ranarum & murium pugna. [Greek: Galeomyomachia], hoc est, felium & murium pugna, fabla Graeca. Haec omnia cum Latina interpretation. Accesserunt Avieni antique auctoris fabulae. Editio postrema, ceteris castigatior.
[Genève or Lyon], Jean de Tournes, 1619. 2 volumes bound as 1. 16mo. With the woodcut portrait of Aesop in a roundel on the title-page and 61 woodcuts (ca. 3.5 x 4.5 cm) in the text, illustrating the fables of Aesop, most after Bernard Salomon, but 22 from another series. Woodcut initials and ornaments. Text in two columns: Greek (left) and Latin (right).
[With:] 2) THEOGNIS and others. [Greek text] Theognidis, Phocylidis, Pythagorae, Solonis & aliorum Poemata gnomica ... Opera Friderici Sylbrgii. Utrecht, Johannes I Janssonius van Waesberge, 1651. 12mo. With printers device on title-page and some woodcut initials. Contemporary overlapping vellum. 410, [6]; [8], 168 pp. Full description

€ 1,750

One of the many Italian Dorpius editions, illustrated with 76 nice woodcuts

AESOP. Aesopi Phrygis, et aliorum Fabulae, quorum nomina seqens pagella indicabit. Elegantissimis iconibus ... illustratae. Pluribusque auctae, & diligentius quam antehac emendatae. Cum Indice locupletissimo.
Venice & Bassano, Jo. Antonius Remondinus, [ca.1730; before 1734]. 12mo. Title-page framed in double lines with woodcut printers device; some woodcut initials, typographical head- and tail pieces, and typographical borders, also the 76 woodcuts (ca. 42 x 55 mm.) are all framed in a typographical border and are partly after Bernard Salomon, partly after Nicolaus and Gerardus Jansen van Kampen. Full calf. 279, [280], [8] pp. Full description

€ 400

One of the many Italian Dorpius editions, illustrated with 76 nice woodcuts

AESOP. Aesopi Phrygis, et aliorum fabulae, quorum nomina sequens pagella indicabit, elegantissimis iconibus in gratiam juventutis illustratae, Pluribusque auctae, & diligentius, quam antehac emandatae. Cum indice locupletisimo.
Bassano, Jo. Antonius Remondinus, 1734. 12mo. With woodcut printers vignette on title-page and some woodcut initials and 76 woodcuts (ca. 42 x 55 mm.), partly after Bernard Salomon, partly after Nicolaus and Gerardus Jansen van Kampen. Sheepskin over boards. 279, [280], [8] pp. Full description

€ 450

Nineteenth-century illustrated edition of the Dorpius recension

AESOP. Aesopi Phrygis, et aliorum Fabulae .... Elegantissimis iconibus in gratiam studiose juventutis illustratae. Pluribusque auctae & diligentius quam antehac emendatae. Cum indice locupletissimo.
Madrid, for Petrus Lopez and his brother, 1815. 12mo. With woodcut of the writing Aesop on title and 86 woodcuts (ca. 43 x 56 mm.). Marbled calf over boards. 324, [12] pp. Full description

€ 450

Later edition of the Italian translation by Giulio Landi

AESOP. Favole di Esopo Frigio con la Vita del medesimo, tradotta ed ornata dal Signor Co. Giulio Landi. Nuova editione illustrata, e ridotta a più colta lezione, con aggiunta di multe altre Favole di vari accreditati Scrittori.
Venice, Francesco Andreola, 1806. 12mo. With 40 woodcuts (ca 43 x 56 mm.). Half vellum, marbled paper over boards. 258, [6] pp. Full description

€ 425

Nice augmented and fully illustrated edition of Aesop in the French prose translation,
together with the quatrains by Isaac Benserade (1805)

AESOP. Les Fables dEsope, mises en Français, Avec le sens moral en quatre vers, & des figures à chaque Fable. Nouvelle edition, revue, corrigée et augmentée de la Vie dEsope, avec les quatrains de Benserade, dédiée à la Jeunesse. Premiere Partie.
Lyon, J. Ayné, An XIII (1805). 2 parts (in 1 volume). 12mo. With a full-page woodcut portrait (100 x 68 mm.) of Aesop, woodcut vignette (a fisherman) on the titles, and 225 woodcuts (ca. 38 x 66 )illustrating the 225 fables; woodcut head- and tailpieces. Half vellum over boards, 196, [4]; 192, [4] pp. Full description

€ 400

Phaedrus's Latin verse versions of 94 Aesop fables

AESOP. Phaedri Augusti liberti fabularum Aesopiarum libri V. Et novarum fabularum appendix. Cura et studio Petri Burmanni. Editio septima.
Berlin, Gottlieb August Langius, 1767. 12mo. With woodcut vignette on title-page and some woodcut head- and tailpieces.Contemporary vellum, manuscript title on spine. XVI, 98, [112] pp. Full description

€ 395

Greatly expanded edition of Aesop's fables by the classical scholar Joachim Camerarius

AESOP. Fabulae Aesopicae plures quingentis et aliae quaedam narrationes, cum historia vitae fortunaeque Aesopi, compositae studio & diligentia Joachimi Camerarii Pabe[bergensis]. Quibus additae sunt et Livianae & Gellianae ac aliorum quaedam ...
Leipzig, [colophon: Ernest Vögelin, 1570]. 8vo. With Vögelins woodcut device on title-page and 4 woodcut initials with pictorial decoration. Blind-tooled red vellum, sewn on 3 supports, with a hollow back, each board with a double frame of double fillets, the inner and outer connected with diagonal double fillets, the front board with the owners initials and the date in the central field: "M E B S | 1598". [25], [1 blank], 342, 349-513, [32], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

One of the early illustrated Italian editions of the "Aesopus Dorpii"

AESOP. Aesopi Phrygis, et aliorum fabulae. Quorum nomina sequens pagella indicabit. Elegantissimis iconibus in gratiam studiosae iuventutis illustratae ... Cum indice locupletissimo.
Venice, Niccolò Polo, 1592. 12mo. With printers device with ornamental frame on title-page and 187 small woodcut illustrations. Contemporary limp vellum, rebound with modern endpapers. 282, [6] pp. Full description

€ 2,250

Greek and Latin texts of fables of Aesop, Gabrius and others, together with a collection of texts on fables

AESOP. Aesopi Phrygis Fabulae Graee & Latine, Cum aliis opusculis, quorum Index proxima refertur pagella. Denuo, & quam correctissime in lucem editae.
Venice, Jo. Baptistam Combus, 1619. 12mo. Woodcut printers device on title-page and 92 woodcuts in text. Contemporary vellum. 450, [4] pp., lacking the last blank. Full description

€ 1,250

Prose and verse fables, and some of the earliest European combed marbled paper,
in an armorial binding for William the Silents son-in-law

AESOP & BABRIUS. Aesopi Phrygis fabulae elegantissimis eiconibus veras animalium species ad vivum adumbrantes. Gabriae Graeci fabellae lxiv [recté lxiii]. Haec omnia cum Latina interpretatione. Nunc postremùm excusa & accuratè recognita.
Paris, Jean Libert, 1623. 16mo. Contemporary French gold-tooled calf, each board with the coat-of-arms of Henri de La Tour (1555-1623), Duc de Bouillon and Prince of Sedan, who married the daughter of William the Silent, founding father of the Dutch Republic (with a French Ducal crown, the whole in a wreath of 2 laurel branches with berries). [2], 236, [1] pp. Full description

€ 2,750

Aesop edited by Heinsius and illustrated by Van Sichem, in a prize-binding with the Amersfoort arms

AESOP. Fabulae ... Graecè & Latinè, nunc denuo selectae: eae item quas Avienus carmine expressit. Accedit Ranarum & murium pugna, Homero olim asscripta. Cum elegantissimis in utroque libello figuris, & utriusque interpretatione plurimis in locis emendata.
Leiden, Joannes Maire, 1632. 8vo. With 47 woodcut illustrations (5 x 6.5 cm) by Christoffel van Sichem II in the text. Contemporary vellum, each board with a panel stamp (59 x 50 mm) of the Amersfoort coat of arms. Most endpapers later. 158, [2] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Rare edition of Landi's Italian translation of Aesop's fables and life

AESOP. (Giulio LANDI, translator). Vita di Esopo Frigio ... Alquale di nuovo sono aggiunti le favole del medesimo Esopo, con molte altre d'alcuni elevati ingegni, ascendentia all somma di 400.
Trevigi, Girolamo Righettini, 1643. 2 parts in 1 volume. 12mo. With 137 small woodcuts in text illustrating the fables, including some repeats. Contemporary sheepskin parchment. 413, [19], [5 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Daniel Heinsius's famous Aesop schoolbook, illustrated by Christoffel van Sichem

AESOP. Fabulae Graecè & Latinè, nunc denuo selectae: eae item, quas Avienus carmine expressit. Accedit Ranarum & murium pugna, Homero olim asscripta: cum elegantissimis in utroque libello figuris, & utriusque interpretatione, plurimis in locis emendatâ. Ex decreto DD. Hollandiae ordinum, in usum scholarum.
Utrecht, Jurriaen van Poolsum, 1685. Small 8vo. With small woodcut of a fox sitting under a tree on the title-page, a woodcut depicting Aesop with animals dancing around him, and children wearing crowns looking in at the door (illustrating the account Aesop's life), and 48 further woodcuts in the text, 40 illustrating Aesop's fables, and 6 illustrating the "Battle of the frogs and the mice", all by Christoffel van Sichem. Contemporary vellum. 134, [2] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Later edition of Daniel Heinsius’ famous school edition (1626) in Greek and Latin with 47 woodcuts

AESOP. Fabulae Aesopi Graecè & Latinè, nunc denuo selectae: ea item, quas Avienus carmine expressit.
Utrecht, widow of Jurriaen Poolsom, 1699. Small 8vo. With a woodcut of a wolf sitting next to a tree on the title-page and 47 woodcuts in the text (ca. 5 x 6 cm). Marbled wrappers. 136 pp. Full description

€ 1,750

Second edition of the German translation of the French edition of the Aesop fables by De Bellegarde

AESOP. Aesopus des Phrygiers Leben und Fabeln, nebst den Fabeln des Philelphus. Mit des Herrn von Bellegarde moralischen und historischen Anmerkungen welchen die Fabeln des Gabrias und Avianus und die Mährchen des Aesopus beygefüget worden. Neue sehr verbesserte Uebersetzung aus dem Französischen.
Copenhagen, [widow of Gabr. Christ. Rothen] & Leipzig, Christian Gottlob Prost, 1781. 8vo. With a woodcut title-vignette, woodcut head- and tailpieces and 117 etchings with captions "Fab. I-CXVII" illustrating the 117 Aesop fables, each pasted on separate leaves, except the last one (Fab. CXVII). Contemporary half calf, brown paper sides, brown morocco spine label with the title in (oxidized) gold. XXIV, 576 pp. Full description

€ 350

First complete illustrated edition of 532 Aesop fables

AESOP. (Francois Joseph DESBILLONS, comp.). Fabulae Aesopiae, curis posterioribus, omnes fere, emandatae, accesserunt plus quam CLXX nova; tum etiam observations, grammaticae praesertim, complures, et Index copiosus, nec desunt ... Hominum et pecudum figurae elegantes.
Mannheim, Typis Academicis, 1768 [colophon: 1767]. 2 parts in 1 volume. 8vo. With a frontispiece and 15 engraved plates by Egid Verhelst (1733-1804). Contemporary vellum with spine label, red edges. [2], 58, 290, [2], 291-615 pp. Full description

€ 950

Original edition of the English and French translations in verses of the famous 100 Fables,
translated ca, 1560 by Gabriel Faerno in elegant Latin verses

AESOP/FAERNO. Fables in English and French Verse. Translated from the original Latin of Gabriele Faerno. With hundred Copper-plates.
London, for Claude du Bosci, and sold by C. Davis, 1741. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece by Claude Du Bosc (Aesop communicating with the animals), 100 engraved illustrating the 100 Fables (ca. 96 x 110), inspired by the fable illustrations by Marcus Gheeraerts, numerous head- and tailpieces by Henry Woodfall. Full calf over boards. [2], XVI, 190, [2], VI, 3-191 pp. Full description

€ 600

188 fables, 117 with beautiful illustrations engraved by Georg Paul Busch in Berlin

AESOP, and Francesco FILELFO. (Jean Baptiste MORVAN DE BELLEGARDE, trans.). Les fables d'Esope Phrygien, avec celles de Philelphe. Traduction nouvelle, enrichie de discours moraux & historiques, & de quatrains à la fin de chaque discours. On a joint à cette nouvelle traduction les fables diverses de gabrias, d'aviénus, & les contes d'Esope.
Amsterdam, Johann Peter Schmidt [possibly printed in Leipzig], 1736. 8vo. With an engraved frontispiece, engraved plate illustrating Aesop's life in 6 small scenes, and 59 numbered engraved plates with 117 half-page illustrations for the 117 numbered Aesop fables, all plates probably engraved by Georg Paul Busch in Berlin (the frontispiece and scenes of Aesops life signed). Contemporary calf, sewn on 4 cords, gold-tooled spine, red sprinkled edges. 477, [9], [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

First Spanish edition of the first emblem book, expanding the earlier editions to the nearly definitive form,
with 200 woodcut emblems

ALCIATO, Andrea. Los emblemas ... traducidos en rhimas Españolas. ...
Lyon, Guillaume Rouille [printed by Macé Bonhomme], 1549. 8vo (18.5 x 12.5 cm). With an elaborate woodcut architectural frame; 210 emblems (200 with woodcuts); nearly every page in one of about 34 different richly decorated woodcut frames. Early 18th-century (Spanish?) sheepskin parchment. 256, [6] pp. Full description

€ 18,000

Attractively bound set of the Arabian nights in the first accurate English translation

[ARABIAN NIGHTS]. LANE, Edward William (translator). The thousand and one nights, commonly called, in England, the Arabian nights entertainments.
London, Charles Knight and Co. (back of title-page volume 1 & 3: William Clowes and sons; volume 2: Whitehead & Co.), 1840 (vol. 2) - 1841 (vols. 1 & 3). 3 volumes. 8vo in 4s. With a different lithographed title-page for each volume and hundreds of wood-engraved illustrations in text.19th-century red morocco (signed on flyleaf: "Jefferies & Sons, Bristol" - the sons joined the firm in 1863), richly gold-tooled spines, boards, board edges and turn-ins, gilt edges. XXXII, 618; XII, 643, [1]; XII, 763, [1] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Including a manuscript leaf by Burton

[ARABIAN NIGHTS]. BURTON, Richard F. The book of the thousand nights and a night[:] a plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments.
With:
(2) BURTON, Richard F. Supplemental nights.
(3) BURTON, Richard F. [Autograph manuscript book review of an 1881 Panchatantra edition].
(Colophons: U.S.A. [Boston, MA?]), The Burton Club, [ca. 1940]. 16 volumes (incl. 6 supplements). 8vo. With an original manuscript leaf written by Burton (with the manuscript heading: "Proof to Sir R.F.B. Hotel des Bains, Aigle, Canton Vaud, Switzerland" and a note "Long Primer Pressig.") and each volume with a different frontispiece in two states (coloured and uncoloured). Contemporary richly gold-blocked green morocco, boards with Arabic script in gold, gold-tooled turn-ins. Full description

€ 25,000

First 4to edition of the Monumenta by Arias Montanus, from the collection of Robert de Ligne (1564-1614)

ARIAS MONTANO (MONTANUS), Benito (Benedictus). Humanae salutis monumenta.
Antwerp, Christoffel Plantin, "1571" [= 1582/83]. 4to (22 x 14.5 cm). With an engraved, illustrated title-page bearing the initials of the engraver Pieter Huys and the date 1571, an unsigned circular portrait of Jesus in profile and 70 full-page engravings (16.5 x 11.5 cm) by several artists. 17th-century gold-tooled black goatskin, the front board with a centrepiece comprising coat-of-arms (with a name below it) in an oval (the arms and name mutilated, but probably Robert de Ligne or an heir), gilt edges, later endpapers. [172] pp. Full description

€ 19,500

Fables for the education of princes, dedicated to the Prince of Asturias, the ill-fated future King Louis I of Spain

AUDIN, Gabriel. (Antoine Augustin BRUZEN de LA MARTINIERE, ed. Fables heroïques, renfermant les plus saines maximes de la politique et de la morale. Avec des discours historiques. ... A l'usage du Prince des Asturies.
Amsterdam & Berlin, Jean Neaulme, 1754. 2 volumes bound as 1. 8vo. With 2 engraved frontispieces, an engraved 1720 portrait of the Prince of Asturias by Bernard Picart after a painting by (Louis) René Vialy, and 60 finely engraved plates. Contemporary half calf. [18], 232; [12], 228 pp. Full description

€ 1,250

First scholarly edition of Avianus by Hendrik Cannegieter

AVIANUS. Flavii Aviani fabulae, cum commentariis selecties Albini scholiastae veteris, notisque integris Isaaci Nicolai Neveleti et Casparis Barthii: quibus animaversiones suas adjecit Henricus Cannegieter. Accedit ejusdem dissertatio de Aetate et stilo Flavii Aviani.
Amsterdam, Martinus Schagen, 1731. 8vo. With an engraved printers device (Dum spargit sperat) on title-page (which is printed in red and black), and some woodcut initials and tailpieces. Contemporary paper over boards, manuscript title on spine. [24], 324, [72] pp. Full description

€ 750

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

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

€ 3,500

Emblem book engraved by some of the best Antwerp artists of its time

BIVERUS, Pierre. Sacrum oratorium piarum imaginum immaculatae Mariae et animae creatae, ac baptismo, poenitentia, et eucharistia innovatae: ars nova bene vivendi et moriendi.
Antwerp, Officina Plantiniana/Balthasar Moretus, 1634. 4to. With engraved title-page, 42 engraved plates by Charles de Mallery after Adam van Noort and Adriaan Collaert, 2 engravings in text, and 15 heart-shaped engraved emblems in text by Theodoor Galle. 19th-century gold-tooled brown morocco, gilt edges; bound by Émile Bosquet. [20], 769, [9] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Beautiful contemporary hand-coloured copy of the very rare first edition of the first Spanish emblem book

BORJA, Juan de. Empresas morales ...
Prague, Georg Nigrin, 1581. 4to (17.8 x 13.6 cm). With a hand-coloured engraved title-page, incorporating the coat of arms of the dedicatee King Philip II of Spain, 100 hand-coloured engraved emblems, 2 hand-coloured woodcut decorated initials, and numerous woodcut ornamental tail-pieces throughout, all text and illustrations are set within a frame of double red lines. Contemporary overlapping limp vellum with the manuscript title on the spine and remnants of ties. [2], 101, [3] ll. Full description

€ 49,500

First Latin edition of a Spanish moralistic emblem book, with 100 engraved emblems

BORJA (BORIA), Juan de. Emblemata moralia.
Berlin, Johann Michael Rudiger, Ulrich Liebpert, 1697. Small 4to. With large engraved device on title-page, 100 finely engraved circular emblems by J.C. Schott. 18th-century blind-tooled mottled sheepskin. [6], 201, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 5,500

Influential iconographical dictionary of allegorical emblems, based on Ripa

BOUDARD, Jean-Baptiste. Iconologie tirée de divers auteurs. Ouvrage utile aux gens de lettres, aux pöetes, aux artistes, & généralement à tous les amateurs des beaux-arts.
Vienna, Johan Thomas von Trattner, 1766.
3 volumes. 8vo. With Trattners engraved device on the 3 title-pages. Contemporary half calf. [16], 203, [8]; [2], 219, [8]; [2], 208, [12] pp. Full description

€ 1,750

Dutch revision of the first Russian emblem book

BURG, Hermanus van den. Verzámeling van uitgekórene zin-spreuken, en zinnebeeldige print-vercieringen, eertyds, op bevel van den aller doorlugtigsten Keizer der Russen, Peter Alexis, of the Gróte, getékent en gesnéden ...
Haarlem, Johannes Marshoorn, 1743. 4to. With engraved frontispiece by J. Mulder and 840 numbered circular emblems on 140 full-page engravings in text, the facing pages to the left with captions in Dutch, short proverbial phrases in Latin, French and German, and two-line verses in Dutch by Van den Burg. 19th-century half sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. [8], 281, [1 blank], [10] pp. Full description

€ 4,500

Series of 118 love emblems, a rare later issue

CAPUCIN, Père. Les emblèmes d'amour divin et humain ensemble. Expliquez par des vers François. Par un pere Capucin.
[Paris, ca. 1745]. 8vo. With an engraved title-page and 118 numbered full-page engraved emblems. Contemporary gold-tooled mottled calf, sewn on 4 recessed cords, the spine divided into 6 fields by fillets, the 2nd with a red morocco label and each of the others with a flower (closed thistle?) and several small stamps, each board with a frame of triple fillets with a second flower inside each corner and a star at each corner intersection, gold fillets on board edges, gilt edges, marbled endpapers (red, yellow, green, blue and white, curled). 119 ll. Full description

€ 4,500

Emblems based on nature as the teacher of men

CASTRO, Joannes à (Jean van der BORCHT). Zedighe sinne-belden ghetrocken uit den on-gheschreven boeck van den aerdt der schepselen, met korte aen-merckinghen, op de deughden ende de sonden oft dat tot de selve verweckt, verdeelt in twee deelen.
Antwerp, Joannes van Soest, 1694. 8vo. With richly engraved allegorical frontispiece and 100 finely engraved half-page emblems, all by Gaspar Bouttats. Further with 3 woodcut tailpieces, three woodcur decorated initials (1 series) and an occasional decoration built up from typographic ornaments Contemporary mottled tanned sheepskin. [24], 316, [10], [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

First edition of Jacob Cats's complete works, in richly gold-tooled morocco by the star bindery, The Hague

CATS, Jacob. Alle de wercken, so ouden als nieuwe.
Amsterdam, Jan Jacobsz. Schipper, 1655. Folio. With an engraved frontispiece incorporating a portrait of the author, a full-page engraved portrait of the author, 2 double-page engraved plates, hundreds of engravings in text (including 1 full-page and 1 integral double-page) by J. Swelinck, W.H. Hondius, C. van Dalen and others. Gold-tooled grey-black morocco (ca. 1758), richly gold-tooled spine, boards and board edges, gilt edges; by the so-called "star bindery" in The Hague. [18], 151, [1 blank]; [20], 26, [2], 27-30; [4], 1-15, [5]; 195, [7]; [2], 32; [8], 184; [16], 266, [6]; [12], 184; 84; 60; 24 ; [8], 36; 159, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 4,850

Naval poems and songs from the Franco-Dutch War

COOPMAN, Ocke Jeyes. Zee-clio, of gedichten in 's lants vloot gemaeckt in de jaren 1672, en 1673.
Amsterdam, Carel Allard, [ca. 1673]. 4to. With the woodcut device of the Amsterdam admiralty on title-page (Dutch garden guarded by a lion holding two anchors), 3 woodcut decorated initials (1 series). Modern half calf, marbled sides. 62, [2] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Educational fables with political undertones

[COURT, PIETER de la]. Sinryke fabulen, verklaart en toegepast tot alderley zeede-lessen, dienstig om waargenoomen te werden in het menschelijke en burgerlijke leeven.
Amsterdam, Hieronymus Sweerts, 1685. 4to. With a richly engraved allegorical frontispiece and 100 engraved illustrations in the text by J. Gole.Contemporary vellum. [20], 727 pp. Full description

€ 1,500

First edition of a history of the Ottoman Empire and Egypt with a collection of Turkish and Egyptian tales

DIGEON, J.M. Nouveau contes Turcs et Arabes. Précédés d'un abrégé chronologique de l'histoire de la maison Ottomane & du gouvernement de l'Egypte, & suivis de plusieurs morceaux de poésie & de prose, traduits de l'Arabe & du Turc.
Paris, Dupuis, 1781. 2 volumes. 12mo. Contemporary calf, richly gold-tooled spines, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins. VIII, 347 [1 blank]; [2], 278, [4] pp. Full description

€ 2,750

Two religious emblem books: A mixture of humor, intelligence, and protestant severity

DILHERR, Johann Michael. Heilig-Epistolischer Bericht, Licht, Geleit und Freud. Das ist: emblematische Fürstellung, der heiligen sonn- und festtäglichen Episteln.
Nuremberg, Johann Andreas Endter and the heirs of Wolffgang der Jüngere, 1663. With engraved frontispiece and 85 large engraved emblems by M. Küsell after G. Strauch.
With: (2) DILHERR, Johann Michael. Augen- und Hertzens-Lust. Das ist emblematische Fürstellung der Sonn- und festtäglichen Evangelien.
Nuremberg, Johann Andreas Endter and the heirs of Wolffgang der Jüngere, 1661. With engraved frontispiece and 91 large engraved emblems by M. Küsell after G. Strauch. 2 works in 1 volume. Folio. Contemporary calf with the coat of arms of the Nuremberg patrician family Holzschuher Von und Zu Haszlach in gold in the centre of each board, gold-tooled spine, gilt edges. [8 blank], [30], 631, [33]; [8], 234, [4], 235-365, [31], [8 blank] pp. Full description

€ 11,500

An important and remarkably thorough collection of humanistic and 16th-century compilations of fables

[FABULAE]. Fabulae variorum auctorum nempè Aesopi Fabulae Graeco-Latinae CCXCVII. Phthonii Soph. Fabulae Gr. Lat. XL. Gabriae Fab. Gr. Lat. XLIII. Babriae Fab. Gr. Lat. XI. accedunt anonymi veteris Fabulae, Latino carmine reditae LX. ex exsoletis editionibus & codices ms. luci redditae. Haec omnia ex Bibliotheca Palatina. Adjiciuntur insuper Phaedri Fabulae XC. Avieni Fabulae XLII. Abstemii Fabulae CXCVIIII. Opera & studio Isaaci Nicolai Neveleti cum notis ... Cum figuris ligneis.
Frankfurt, Christian Gerlach & Simon Beckenstein, 1660. 8vo. With 237 woodcuts (ca. 5 x 7 cm), mostly after the series by Virgil Solis and Bernard Salomon, some signed VC (many repeats; some a bit worn), woodcut initials and tailpieces, and headpieces built up from typographic ornaments. With the Greek and Latin texts mostly in parallel columns. Contemporary(?) blind-tooled calf, each board with a frame of double fillets and a vertical double fillet 3.5 cm from the hinge dividing it into 2 fields, with a small floral ornament in the corners of each field (so 8 on each board). Rebacked in the 19th century on 3 recessed cords, with "AESOPI|FABULAE" in gold on the flat spine. [16], 678 pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Important and luxurious edition of Faerno’s 100 fables, with frontispiece and 99 illustrations

FAERNO, Gabriello. Cent fables en Latin et en François, choisies des anciens auteurs, mises en vers Latins ..., et traduites par Mr. Perrault, ...
London, C. Marsh & T. Payne, H. Slater, S. Baker, F. Noble, W. Bathoe, J. Palairet, 1744. 4to. With richly designed, engraved frontispiece, and 99 (of 100) fine engraved illustrations to the fables on integral leaves. Early 19th-century half calf, for the Signet Library in Edinburgh, each board with the gold-tooled British Royal arms. [1], [1 blank], II, [1], [1 blank], [18], 238, [2], 45, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,950

New edition by Pierre Coste of the famous fables of Jean de la Fontaine,
illustrated by Jacques Anthony Chovin

FONTAINE, Jean de la. Fables choisies, mises en vers par monsieur De La Fontaine...
Genève, J. Samuel Cailler, 1772. 2 volumes. 8vo. With titles printed in red and black, a portrait of De la Fontaine as frontispiece for vol. 1, and Aesop teaching the animals as frontispiece for vol. 2, 241 engraved illustrations to the 239 fables. Many woodcut and typographical endpieces. Marbled paper over boards, manuscript title on spine. [4], XLVIII, 256; [4], 352 pp. Full description

€ 650

From the library of Buijnsters-Smets, with an original watercolour by Jacob Buijs

GELLERT, Christian Fürchtegott. Fabelen en vertelsels, in Nederduitsche vaerzen gevolgd.
Amsterdam, Pieter Meijer, 1781-1784. With large allegorical engraving on title and 148 (of 149) full-page engraved plates by N. van der Meer after J. Buys and one ORIGINAL WATERCOLOUR by J. Buijs illustrating the poem "Het Proces".(2) IDEM. Bijdrage tot de gemeenzame brieven van C.F. Gellert uitgegeven door J.P. Bamberger. Utrecht, A. van Paddenburg & J.M. van Vloten, 1781. 2 works (the 1st in 3 volumes, the 2nd bound with volume 3). 8vo.
Contemporary "run marbled" calf (more root-like than tree-like), gold-tooled spine, gold fillets on boards, black morocco spine labels. [4], 166, [2]; [2], 168, [4]; [4], 155, [5]; [2], VI, 103, [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,350

Very rare Dutch songbook

GODDAEUS, Conrad. Nieuwe gedichten. Sonder rym, naa de Griexe en Latynse dicht-maten, op allerhande soorten van verssen, ingestelt. Noit voor desen in Neder-duits gesien, noch gebruiklik.
Harderwijk, Joannes Toll, 1656. Oblong 4to. With woodcut of King David playing his harp on the title-page, a fine engraved frontispiece with an open music book below the title in centre, which is flanked by King David playing his harp and Horace playing his lyre, each on a pedestal, with a white swan above and publisher's address below. Contemporary mottled calf. [4], 184, [2] pp. Full description

€ 2,950

Aesop in Greek and Latin as part of a famous German schoolbook: the Greek Grammar
by Theophilus Golius, first printed in Strasbourg in 1552

GOLIUS, Theophilus. Educationis puerilis linguae Graecae.Including: AESOP. Fabellae quaedam Aesopi Graecae, ad puerilem educationem selectae.
Frankfurt, [printed by Erasmus Kempfer?] for Nikolaus Stein, 1618-1619.
With: (2) [GOLIUS, Theophilus]. [Grammaticae, sive educationis puerilis linguae Graecae. ... Pars altera].
3 parts in 1 volume. 8vo. With 2 title-pages, the first with woodcut printers device. Contemporary vellum (made from one leaf from a 14th or 15th century moral manuscript, rubricated in red and blue), red edges. [50], [38]; 512, [32] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

French adaptation of a famous emblem book, with engravings by Gerard de Jode

HAECHT GOIDTSENHOVEN, Laurens van. Le microcosme contenant divers tableaux de la vie humaine representez en figures avec une brieve exposition en vers francois.
Amsterdam, Theodore Pierre (= Dirck Pietersz.), [not before 1613]. 4to. With the engraved title-page of Joost van den Vondel's Der Gulden Winckel der konstlievende Nederlanders... (1613), with an engraved slip with the present title Le Microcosme contenant ... formerly mounted on it, now removed and kept separately; also with 74 engraved emblems in text (ca. 8.5 x 12 cm) by Gerard de Jode. 19th-century half calf, gold-tooled spine. [4], 74, [2] ll. Full description

€ 6,500

First edition of a devotional emblem book with an engraved title-page drawn by Rubens,
splendidly bound for the Abbot of Kremsmünster Abbey

HAEFTEN, Benedictus van. Regia via crucis.
Antwerp, Balthasar Moretus (Officina Plantiniana), 1635. 8vo (18 x 11.5 x 4 cm). With engraved title-page showing Christ, Saint Teresa of Avila and 2 unidentified men and 38 full-page emblematic engravings. Richly gold-tooled calf (ca. 1665), each board with the arms of (apparently) Abbot Placidus Buechauer (1611-1669) of Kremsmünster, gilt and elaborately gauffered edges. XL, 404, [26], [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,950

One of the most attractive Dutch songbooks of the early seventeenth century

HEEMSKERK, Jan van. Minne-kunst. Minne-baet. Minne-dichten. Mengel-dichten.
Amsterdam, Hessel Gerritsz, 1626-1627. 4 parts in 1 volume. Oblong small 8vo. With 4 separate titles, and 20 fine engraved plates, including frontispiece, by Pieter Serwouters.Modern vellum. [8], 446, [2] pp. Full description

€ 9,500

Scriverius's 1650 edition of the collected poems of Daniel Heinsius, with emblematic engravings by Crispijn de Passe

HEINSIUS, Daniel. Lof-sanck van Jesus Christus den eenigen ende eeuwigen sone Godes: ende zyne andere Nederduytse poemata. Nieuwelijcks oversien, vermeerdert, ende verbetert. Met de uytlegginghen.
Amsterdam, Jan Jacobsz. Schipper, 1650. 8vo. With a woodcut interlaced decoration on the title-page, a small engraved nativity scene (for the Lof-sanck), a full-page engraving of the memorial monument for Jacob van Heemskerk (for the Neder-Duytsche poemata) and 72 emblematic engravings (4.5×6.5 cm), mostly by Crispijn de Passe. 17th-century vellum. 301, [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

First edition of a landmark in Dutch literature: Hooft's emblems of love, with 30 expertly engraved plates

[HOOFT, Pieter Cornelisz.]. Emblemata amatoria. Afbeeldinghen van minne. Emblemes d'amour.
Amsterdam, Wilem Jansz. Blaeu, 1611. Oblong 4to (15 x 19 cm). With an engraved title-page, with the title in Latin, Dutch and French. With 30 engraved emblems (ca. 10.5 x 13.5 cm), each with tri-lingual mottos in the engraving and distichs in Dutch with Latin and French translations on the opposite page. The Dutch text is mainly set in gothic letters, while the Latin and French texts are set in roman and italic letters respectively. The Dutch songs and sonnets in the second half of the work are set in roman and gothic letters, sometimes in two columns. 19th-century gold-tooled red sheepskin, with two triple-fillet frames and 4 ornamental corner pieces between the two frames. With an elaborately gold-tooled spine, including the French title and the year of publication, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, gilt edges, marbled endpapers and a yellow, red and green reading ribbon. 144 pp. Full description

€ 50,000

Celebrating Gustav Adolf II, 'The Lion of the North' and champion of Protestantism,
magnificently illustrated by Crispijn vande Passe II

HULSIUS, Bartholomaeus. Den onderganck des Roomschen Arents, door den Noordschen Leeuw. Af-ghebeeldt in verscheyden konstige figuren, met sin-rijcke verklaringhen der selver, beydes in en buyten rijm, vertoonende, in 't kort, de gedenckwaerdighste saken, die van den beginne, tot noch toe, in dese oorlogen zyn omgegaen. Met een verhael van den doodt des Koninghs. Hier zyn noch by ghevoeght de victorien der Croon Sweden, sedert de doodt des auteurs vercreghen.
Amsterdam, Crispijn vande Passe, 1642. 4to. Engraved allegorical title-page with engraved title in a central panel below Fame sitting on a swan. Beautifully bound in 19thcentury light brown gold-tooled calf (1850s or 1860s?), each board with triple along the edges, decorated spine with red and green labels lettered in gold, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins , marbled endpapers, signed "PETIT SUCCr DE SIMIER": Charles Petit operated a Paris bindery from 1848 to 1873 as successor to René Simier (1772-1843), relieur du roi from 1815, and his son. [12], 91, [1 blank] pp. plus engraved title-page. Full description

€ 15,000

First edition of the best-known poetic work of one of Spains leading 18th-century literary figures
owned by the Princess of Courland, close friend of Metternich

IRIARTE (YRIARTE) y Oropesa, Tomas de. Fábulas literarias.
Madrid, Imprenta Real, 1782. 4to. With rococo decorated capitals. Mottled calf, richly gold-tooled spine with red morocco label lettered in gold, double blind fillets on boards. [4], 157, [16] pp. Full description

€ 1,800

Two famous books each presenting a mother's legacy, here emblematically illustrated by Jan Luyken and with additional verses by the Mennonites Geesje Brit and Adriaan Spinneker

[JOCELIN, Elizabeth Brook]. Uyterste wille van een moeder aan haar toekomende kind, toegeeigent aan de volmaaktste huysmoeder. Den Tweden Druk. [With extensive verses and other additions by Adriaan SPINNEKER].
Together in a single edition with:
HOUTE, Soetgen van den. Uyterste wille, dewelk sy hare kinderen David, Betgen en Tanneken, tot een memorie en voor het alderbeste goet heeft nagelaten, en heeft dat met haren dood bevestigt, tot Gent in Vlaenderen. [With several educational verses by Gezine BRIT].
SPINNEKER, Adriaan. Morgen- en avondgezangen, gebedswijze berijmt.
Amsterdam, Jacobus van Nieuweveen, 1699. 3 works plus additional verses in 1 volume. Small 8vo. A single edition, containing three main works, each with its own title-page with Van Nieuweveens imprint (the first undated, the others 1699) and with all engravings on integral leaves (frontispiece and 16 nearly full-page emblematic engravings by Jan Luyken and 6 smaller emblematic engravings plus 2 small engravings of Hope and Faith, some possibly by Jan Luyken). The first work with a richly engraved allegorical frontispiece, an engraved figure of Faith (with cross and book) on the title-page, and 7 nearly full-page engraved emblems; the second with an engraved figure of Hope (with anchor and bird) on the title-page, a nearly full-page engraved portrait of the author writing in her prison cell, 2 nearly full-page engraved emblems and 4 smaller emblematic engravings in the main text, and 6 nearly full-page engraved emblems and 2 smaller ones accompanying the added verses; and a woodcut vase of flowers on title-page of the third work. Further with several woodcut tailpieces and decorated initials. Contemporary vellum. [8], "259" [= 267], [1, 4 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Very rare Swedish edition of French versions of German fables

JONCHÈRE, Charles Chrétien de la. Fables imitées de Lessing, Gellert, Lichtwer, Pfeffel, Dodley, et autres fabulistes étrangers suivies de fables originales.
Stockholm, Johan Imnelius, 1819. 8vo. Contemporary gold-tooled red morocco, gilt edges. [2], 144, [2] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Variant of the rare editio princeps of a famous emblem book printed by Plantin

JUNIUS, Hadrianus. [title-page *1:] Eiusdem Aenigmatum libellus, ad ... Arnoldum Rosenbergum jurisconsultum. [title-page A1:] Emblemata, ad D. Arnoldum Cobeliu. Eiusdem Aenigmatum libellus, ad ... Arnoldum Rosenbergum.
Antwerp, Christoffel Plantin, 1565 (colophon: 15 May 1565). 2 works in 1 volume. Small 8vo (17 x 11.5 cm). With 57 woodcut emblems, mainly by Gerard Janssen van Kampen with a few by Arnold Nicolai, all after Geoffroy Ballain and Pierre Huys. Red goatskin morocco (ca. 1850/60?) by Charles-François Capé in Paris, signed "CAPÉ" in the foot of the front turn-in. [15], [1 blank]; 149, [3] pp. Full description

€ 9,500

Very rare enlarged Dutch edition of a beautifully illustrated fable book

KRAFFT, Joannes Laurentius. Den schat der fabelen.
Brussels, widow of G. Jacobs, 1739-1740. 3 volumes. 8vo. With 3 different engraved frontispieces and 115 engraved illustrations, all designed and engraved by the author. Contemporary polished calf, gold-tooled spines. [24], 384, [8]; [40], 395, [7]; [24], 432, [8] pp. Full description

€ 3,250

Poetry in praise of education

LAFARGUE, Étienne de. Poëme sur l'éducation, dédié à M. Le Comte Charles, fils de M. Le Duc de Luynes.
Paris, Guillot, Librairie de Monsieur, 1788. Small 8vo. With full-page engraved plate showing a young boy studying at home with his private tutor and his father watching, 4 finely engraved headings for each stanza of the educational poem, and several charming woodcut tail-pieces to the added fables and miscellaneous poetry. Contemporary gold-tooled green morocco. [4], XVIII, 135, [9] pp. Full description

€ 1,950

More than 550 emblems explained

LA FEUILLE, Daniel de. Essay d'un dictionnaire contenant la connoissance du monde, des sciences universelles, et particulierement celle des medailles, des passions, des moeurs, des vertus et des vices, &c. Representé par des figures hyerogliphiques, expliquées en prose & en vers.
Wesel, Jacobus van Wesel, 1700. 4to. With engraved frontispiece and 48 engraved plates (incl. 2 double-page). Contemporary half calf, gold-tooled spine. [8], 144, [8] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Illustrated edition of Jean de la Fontaine's fables, intended for a young public

[LA FONTAINE, Jean de]. La Fontaine en estampes, ou nouvelle édition des fables, plus complète que les précédentes; précédée de la vie de l'auteur, extraite du nouvel ouvrage de M. Walckenaer.
Paris, Auguste Nepveu, 1821. 4to. With an engraving on the title-page (Aesop talking with the animals before a bust of La Fontaine) and 110 half-page engravings illustrating the fables. Contemporary half brown sheepskin. "XXIV" [= XXVIII, pp. XXV-XXVI and XXVII-XXVIII are misbound), 462 pp. Full description

€ 3,500

a few rarer than the "uncovered"">A masterpiece of rococo book illustration, with all images in the "covered" state,
a few rarer than the "uncovered"

LA FONTAINE, Jean de. Contes et nouvelles en vers.
Amsterdam [= Paris], [Joseph-Gérard Barbou], 1762. 2 volumes. 8vo. With engraved portraits of La Fontaine and Eisen and 80 engraved plates after drawings by Eisen and engraved by Aliamet, Baquoy, Choffard, Delafosse, Flipart, Lemire, Leveau, De Longueil and Ouvrier, and 4 vignettes and 53 head- and tailpieces by Pierre-Philip Choffard. An engraving of Le calendrier des vieillards in its découvert state is loosely inserted in volume 1. Contemporary gold-tooled red morocco, gilt edges. XIV, [2], 268, [2], 16; VIII, [2], 306, [8], [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 15,000

Colour-printed emblematic polemics for and against war with the Ottoman Empire

[LA HAYE, Jean de]. Peristromata Turcica, sive dissertatio emblematica, praesentem Europae statum ingeniosis coloribus repraesentans.
With:
(2) [HARSDÖRFFER, Georg Philipp]. Germania deplorata, sive relatio, qua pragmatica momenta belli pacisque expenduntur.
(3) [MILAG, Martin]. Aulaea Romana, contra Peristromata Turcica expansa: sive dissertatio emblematica, concordiae Christianae omen repraesentans.
(4) [Anonymous French critic of Cardinal RICHELIEU]. Gallia deplorata, sive relatio, de luctuoso bello, quod rex Christianissimus contra vicinos populos molitur.
[Nürnberg, Wolfgang Endter] (ad 1 with a false colophon: Paris, Toussaint du Bray), [each title-page with a chronogram:] 1641 (ads 1-2, 4) & 1642 (ad 3). 4 editions published together in 1 volume. 4to. With 4 letterpress title-pages in red and black, each with the date in a chronogram, 2 engraved title-plates plus 12 full-page engraved emblematic illustrations, all on integral leaves, each with a small plate nested in a larger plate (7 in the Peristromata with a varying rectangular central plate in dark blue or black and the same outer plate of a Persian carpet in orange; 7 in the Gallia with a varying oval central plate and the same outer plate representing peace with the palm tree in a landscape device of the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft and a border representing war with military attributes). Further with 5 woodcut head- and tailpieces (plus 8 repeats), 21 "woodcut" decorated initials (5 series, at least some actually metal castings made from woodcuts) plus 8 repeats, and cast vine-leaf ornaments, acorns and other fleurons. Set in roman and italic types with incidental Greek and Hebrew. Light brown calf (ca. 1820?) by Charles Murton (ca. 1795?-ca. 1860?) in London, with his stamp on the front paste-down, sewn on 5 cords, gold-tooled spine with black morocco label, gold thick-thin fillets on boards, gold-tooled board edges, blind-tooled turn-ins, curl-marbled endpapers (white, red, blue, yellow and blue-green in that order), and an orange silk ribbon marker. 46, [1], [1 blank]; [3], [1 blank], 34; 64; 51, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 25,000

Famous French fable book: a milestone in French book illustration

LA MOTTE, Antoine Houdar de. Fables nouvelles, dédiées au Roy. Avec un discours sur la fable.
Paris, Gregoire Dupuis, 1719. 4to. With engraved allegorical frontispiece by N. Tardieu after Charles Coypel, engraved vignette on title-page by C. Simeneau after N. Vleughels and 100 engraved illustrations to the fables by and after Claude Gillot, Charles Antoine Coypel, Jean Ranc, Bernard Picart, Jean Baptiste Massé, etc. Contemporary mottled calf, gold-tooled spine. XLII, [4], 358, [2] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Revived Mediaeval prophesies supposedly predicting the fall of the Ottoman Empire

LEO VI (the Wise) of Byzantium and Antonius SEVERUS of Rome (attributed). Vaticinium Severi, et Leonis Imperatorum, in quo videtur finis Turcarum in praesenti eorum imperatore, una cum aliis nonnullis in hac re Vaticiniis ...
Brescia, Pietro Maria Marchetti, 1596. Small 8vo (14.5 x 10 cm). With 16 numbered engraved emblematic illustrations. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. 106, [6 blank] pp. Full description

€ 4,500

Arabic fables by “the greatest figure in the whole corpus of pre-Islamic myth and legend”, second edition, incorporating Erpenius’s manuscript revisions to his first edition

LUQMAN al-Hakim (notes by Thomas ERPENIUS). Fabulae et selecta quaedam Arabum adagia. Cum interpretatione latina & notis Thomae Erpenii.
Leiden, Joannes Maire (colophon: "excudebat" Willem Christiaens van der Boxe, "typis" Johannes Janssonius), 1636. 4to. With Maire's woodcut device on the title-page and Van der Boxe's woodcut device above the colophon. Early 19th-century boards covered with blue brocade paper. 60, [2] pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Early spiritual emblem book with poems and engravings by Jan Luyken

[LUYKEN, Jan]. Jezus en de ziel. Een geestelycke spiegel voor 't gemoed. Bestaande uyt veertig aangename en stichtelycke sinne-beelden.
Amsterdam, Pieter Arentsz., 1687. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece and 39 engraved emblems in text, all engraved by Jan Luyken. Contemporary vellum, sprinkled edges. 191, [5] pp. Full description

€ 1,100

Attractive set containing most of the emblematic works of Jan Luyken, with a total of 700 engravings

LUYKEN, Jan (and Caspar). [Set of 11 works by Jan Luyken].
Amsterdam, widow of P. Arentz, and Kornelis vander Sys, 1708 - 1718 (10 vols.); Haarlem, C.H. Bohn, 1767 (1 vol.). 11 volumes. 8vo. Contemporary uniform half calf, richly gold-tooled spines (10 vols.), the 1767 in slightly different half calf, apparently made to match the earlier ones. Full description

€ 12,000

Emblem book devoted to the Sun-King Louis XIV of France

MARTINET, Jean. Emblesmes royales a Louis le Grand.
Paris, Claude Barbin, 1673. 8vo. With 60 numbered half-page engraved emblems and one unnumbered emblem on extra inserted leaf. Modern marbled boards. [10 (of 12)], 219, [3] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Education in Voltaire's France

MARTIN, Grégoire. Lettres instructives et curieuses sur l'éducation de la jeunesse. ...
[Grenoble, for the author], 1760. 12mo. Contemporary gold-tooled red morocco richly gold-tooled spine, ornamental borders on sides, gold-tooled turn-ins, gilt edges. XXIII, [1 blank], 253, [5] pp. Full description

€ 1,600

Rare Dutch Ovid, with 179 charming woodcuts

OVIDIUS NASO, Publius (OVID). Den metamorphosis ofte herscheppinghe ... In onse Nederduytsche tale overgeset ende met figuren verciert elck tot sijnder historien dienende. Seer nut voor alle schilders, beeltsnijders, goutsmeden, ende liefhebbers der historien.
Rotterdam, Pieter van Waesberge, [1635]. 8vo. With engraved title-page, a full-page woodcut depicting the Creation in 6 small scenes, and 178 nearly half-page woodcuts in text after Virgil Solis. Contemporary vellum. Engr. t.-p. plus 425, [3 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

First Swedish translation of Ovid

OVID. (Jacob REENSTIERNA, translator). Nägre fabler af Ovidii Metamorphoses, förswanskade (af Jacob Reenstierna).
Stockholm, Julius G. Matthiae, 1708. 8vo in 4s. With woodcut device on the title-page, engraved armorial headpiece to the dedication, 19 small engraved illustrations in the text by N. Guerard (ca. 5 x 6 cm), and woodcut headpieces, tailpieces and initials. Contemporary half calf, gold-tooled spine with title in gold. [xvi], [138] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

First and only edition of an interesting emblem book with 144 small circular emblems

PALLAVICINO, Ferrante. Devises & emblemes d'amour, ancienes & modernes moralisees en vers Francois, & expliquées, en sept langues.
Amsterdam, Daniel de la Feuille, [1696]. 4to. With an engraved frontispiece by G. van Gouwen after Frans de Kaarsgiter, 2 title-pages in red and black, each with De la Feuilles woodcut DLF cypher-monogram, and 24 full-page engravings on integral leaves, each containing six circular emblems by Jan van Vianen, with a woodcut tailpiece at the end. Including: PALLAVICINO, Ferrante. Devises & emblemes d'amour, anciens & modernes moralisez & expliquez en sept sortes de langues.
Amsterdam, Daniel de la Feuille, 1696.
Half red goatskin morocco (ca. 1870?) by the Brussels bookbinder Émile Bosquet (signed "BOSQUET" in gold italic capitals with swash letters B and T on the front turn-in, at the foot, near the hinge). [8], 24, [2] pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Third Plantin edition of a popular emblem book

PARADIN, Claude and Gabriel SYMEON. Symbola heroica. M. Claudii Paradini, beliiocensis canonici et D. Gabrielis Symeonis. Multo, quàm antea, fideliùs de Gallica lingua in Latinam conversa.
Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1583. 12mo. With 216 woodcut illustrations in text, namely 179 for Paradin and 37 for Simeon. 19th-century gold-tooled red morocco, gilt edges; bound by Thompson. 319, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

First Johannes Laurentius edition of Phaedrus’s fables, with beautiful engravings

PHAEDRUS. Fabularum Aesopiarum libri quinque; notis perpetuis illustrati, & cum integris aliorum observationibus. In lucem editi à Johanne Laurentio JCto.
Amsterdam, Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge, & the widow of Elizeus Weyerstraet, 1667. 8vo. With a frontispiece and 103 half-page engravings (ca. 7 x 9 cm), illustrating the prologues and the 92 fables. Full calf, ribbed spine gilt in compartments, marbled endpapers, red painted edges. [64], 462, [206] pp. (last two blanks missing). Full description

€ 950

Rare third edition of an annotated Phaedrus in Latin verse (this edition also with a French prose translation) with notes by the Swedish professor Johannes Scheffer and by Franciscus Guyet

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri Fabularum Aesopiarum libri quinque cum annotationibus Joannis Schefferi ... et Francisci Guyeti notis. Editio tertia ... In qua jungitur, interpretatio Gallica cum notis, & index Latinus uberrimus.
Hamburg, Gottfried Schultze; Amsterdam, Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge, 1673. 8vo. With woodcut title vignette. Contemporary gold-tooled vellum, each board with the coat-of-arms of Gouda (prize binding made for the city of Gouda) and double fillets, gold-tooled spine with red label lettered in gold. [36], 272, [57], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Nice copy of the rare first edition of Phaedruss fables 'In usum delphini', edited and annotated by Pierre Danet

PHAEDRUS. Liberti fabularum Aesopiarum libi quinque. Interpretatione et notis illustravit Petrus Danet ... In usum serenissimi Delphini.
Paris, Fredericus Leonard, 1675. 4to. With a beautiful frontispiece, a woodcut printers device on the title-page and some woodcut head- and tailpieces. Contemporary calf, gold-tooled spine and board edges, sprinkled edges, marbled endpapers. [32], 100, [64] pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Original editions of a very extensively annotated Phaedrus edition, together with a translation in German by Daniel Hartnack

PHAEDRUS. Fabularum libri quinque, cum notis Danielis Hartnacci, Pomerani, historicis, ritualibus, moralibus, & philologicis.
Lübeck, Johann Wiedemeyer (printed by Heinrich Urban in Rudolfstadt), 1697.
With: (2) PHAEDRUS. Fünff Bücher seiner Fabeln, oder Gedichte und Geschichte...
Frankfurt & Leipzig, for Johann Wiedermayer in Lübeck, 1696.
2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. With an engraved plate and an engraved frontispiece, title-page in red and black. Marbled paper over boards with vellum spine label. [12], 752, [48]; [4], 356 pp. Full description

€ 1,200

One of the most important and scholarly Phaedrus editions of the 17th and 18th centuries: the first Petrus Burman edition

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri, Aug[usti]. Liberti fabularum Aesopiarum libri V...
Amsterdam, Henricus Wetstein, 1698. 8vo. With an engraved frontispiece, title-page in red and black, woodcut title vignette and woodcut decorated initials. Mottled calf, gold double fillets on sides, gold-tooled spine with title in gold, gold-tooled board edges. [56], 312, [56], 201-462, [58] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

First Hoogstraten edition: "The most luxurious among the Dutch Phaedrus editions" (Landwehr)

AESOP (PHAEDRUS, trans.). Phaedri, aug[usti]. liberti fabulorum Aesopiarum libri V. Notis illustravit in usum serenissimi principis Nassauii David Hoogstratanus, accedunt ejusdem opera duo indices ...
Amsterdam, François Halma, 1701. 4to. With an engraved frontispiece, an engraved printer's device on the title-page, a folding portrait of the dedicatee and 18 engraved plates with 6 roundels on each plate illustrating the 99 fables and 5 prologues, 3 portraits of Aesop and tailpieces and historiated initials. Contemporary half calf, brown sprinkled paper sides, brown spine label with title in gold, red sprinkled edges. [32], 160, [84] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Phaedrus fables by the Dutch scholar Nicolaus Dispontinus

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri Aug. liberti fabularum Aesopiarum libri V. Cum notis perpetuis Jo. Fred. Gronovii, P. & emendationibus Jacobi Gronovii, F. Accedunt Nicolai Dispontini in Phaedrum collectaneea.
Amsterdam, Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge, 1703. 8vo. With an engraved frontispiece showing Phaedrus and Aesop on the stage of a theatre filled with men with animal-heads, title in red and black, some woodcut tailpieces and initials. Contemporary vellum, manuscript title on spine. [24], 156, [2], 157-218, 157-298, [2] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

The beautiful first edition of David van Hoogstraten’s translation in Dutch of the Phaedrus fables

PHAEDRUS; HOOGSTRATEN, David van (transl.). Ezopische Fabelen van Fedrus, gevryden slaef des Keizers Augustus. In Nederduitsch dicht vertaelt en met aenmerkingen verrykt door D. van Hoogstraten.
Amsterdam, François Halma, 1704. 4to. With an engraved frontispiece, 106 engraved illustrations in a roundel, a large armorial headpiece for the dedication and 5 large and 4 smaller head- and tailpieces, 9 engraved initials and many woodcut initials. Contemporary vellum, manuscript title on spine. [36], 198, [12] pp. Full description

€ 950

Second edition of Phaedrus in Latin verse in the Burman redaction, for use at Eton College

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri Augusti Caesaris Liberti Fablarum Aesopiarum Libri quinque. Notis doctorum selectioribs, novisque passim & conjecturis & explicationibus illstrati. Opera Tho. Johnson, A.M. In usum Scholae Etonensis. Ed. secunda.
London and Eton, for B. Walford, M. Atkins, and J. Slater, 1708. 8vo. With a separately inserted leaf with the printed coat-of-arms of Eton College in between the title-page and the preface "To the reader", title printed in red and black. Mottled calf over boards, ribbed spine gilt in compartments with red title label lettered in gold. [4], XXXV, 88, [32] pp. Full description

€ 500

The Hague edition of the Burman redaction of the Phaedrus fables in Latin verses

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri, Aug. Liberti, Fablarum Aesopiarum Libri V. Cum integris Commentariis Marq. Gudii, Conr. Rittershusii, Nic. Rigaltii, Is. Neveleti, Nic. Heinsii, Joan. Schefferi, Jo. Lud. Praschii & excerpis aliorum. Curante Petro Burmanno.
The Hague, Henricus Scheurleer, 1718. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece by Joseph Mulder after Tiedeman: Phaedrus is writing in the foreground, inspired by his Muse, on the stage (background) is Aesop communicating with the animals (100 x 166 mm.); Title-page printed in red and black, with woodcut printers device; some woodcut headpieces and in initials. Contemporary overlapping vellum, brown morocco spine label with the title in gold. [62], 398, [2], 258, [70] pp. Full description

€ 275

One of the early editions of the Phaedrus fables

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri Aug. liberti fabularum Aesopiarum libri V. et novarum fabularum appendix. Cura et studio Petri Burmanni.
The Hague, Henricus Scheurleer, 1719. 12mo. With an engraved frontispiece by D. Coster and a woodcut printer's device n the title-page. Contemporary vellum, red sprinkled edges. [14], 98, [82]. Full description

€ 350

Sixth edition of the Phaedrus Fables in verse with a French translation, together with the Sententiae by Publilius Syrus, published by Tanaquillus Faber

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri Fabulae, et P. Syri Mimi Sentantiae. Hac sexta editione auctiores, cum notis & emendationibus Tanaquilli Fabri. ...
The Hague, Petrus Gosse, 1725 8vo. With a frontispiece in two compartments, title-page printed in red and black with printers device, some small woodcut initials and tailpieces. Calf over boards, ribbed spine gilt in compartments with red morocco title label lettered in gold, marbled endpapers. XXIV, 274, [6] pp. Full description

€ 450

Amsterdam (second) edition of the Phaedrus Fables by the famous classical scholar Richard Bentley, disputed by Petrus Burman

PHAEDRUS. P. Terentii Afri Comoediae. Recensuit, notasque suas et Gabrielis Faerni addidit Richardus Bentleius. Editio Altera.
Amsterdam, R. & J. Wetstein, G. Smith, 1727. 4to. With a frontispiece of Aesop, including the portrait of William August (1721-1765) Duke of Cumberland. Vellum over thick boards, ruled in gold with gold corner pieces and a gilt stamp of Minerva with the coat-of-arms of The Hague in the center, ribbed spine gilt in compartments (price-binding of the Latin School in The Hague (Spoelder, The Hague, 3). [10], 88, [96] pp. Full description

€ 750

The prestigious Burman edition for the first time together with his new commentaries against the edition by Richard Bentley (1726) and his large portrait by Jacob Houbraken

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri, Augusti Liberti, Fablarum Aesopiarum Libri Quinque. Cum novo commentario Petri Burmanni.
Leiden, for Samuel Luchtmans, 1727. 4to. With the well-known engraved frontispiece by Jacob Folkema (1692-1767) after the original by Joseph Mulder and Tiedeman, folding engraved portrait of Petrus Burmannus by J. Houbraken after H. van de My (painted 1727) and I. Luchtmans. Title-page printed in red and black, with woodcut printers device; some woodcut headpieces and initials. Full calf over boards, spine in compartments and lettered in gold, gilt binding edges, edges painted red, marbled endpapers; on the front cover: P. E. D. L. D. C. and date: 1731 in gold. [54], 94, 264, [48] pp. Full description

€ 350

Charming pocket edition of the Phaedrus fables, meant as a gift by King Louis XV

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri fabulae, et publii Syri Sententiae.
Paris, ex Typographia Regia, 1729. 24mo. With an engraved frontispiece by Ph. Simonneau. Late 18th-century calf, gold-tooled spine, black morocco spine label with title in gold, gilt-stamped ornamental border on both sides, gilt edges, marbled paste-downs and endpapers. [6], 86 pp. Full description

€ 450

Elegant edition printed in the style of Elzevier, of the Latin Fables of Phaedrus and Aesop, together with the Sententiae by Syrus

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri Augusti Liberti Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri quinque, Ad optimas quasque editions emendati.
Paris, G. Franciscus Quillau for Coustelier, 1742. 12mo. With frontispiece by Etienne Fessard after C.A. Coypel, the woodcut Elzevier "non-solus" printers device on both title-pages, some woodcut initials and border, 1 engraved headpiece of Aesop and the animals. Mottled calf over boards with triple gilt ruling along the edges of both covers, spine gilt in compartments with red title label lettered in gold, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. [24], 68-106, [2], 111-132 pp. Full description

€ 400

Third edition of the Phaedrus fables in the famous Burman redaction

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri, Aug. Liberti, Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri V. Cum integris commentaribus Marq. Gudii, Conr. Ritterhusii, Nic. Rigaltii, Is. Neveleti, Nic. Heinsii, Joan. Schefferi, Jo. Lud. Praschii & excerptis aliorum. Curante Petro Burmanno. Ed. tertia emendatior, & majoris in quarto Ed. Indice aucta.
Leiden, Samuel Luchtmans & and son, 1745. 8vo. With the well-known engraved frontispiece after the original by Joseph Mulder and Tiedeman; Title-page printed in red and black, with woodcut printers device; some woodcut headpieces and initials. Mottled calf over boards, ribbed spine gilt in compartments with red and green title labels lettered in gold, edges painted red. [64], 398, 258, [72] pp. Full description

€ 275

The Latin Phaedrus Fables with extended German notes to be used at Schools

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri Augusto Liberti Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri V. Recte tandem captui puerorum accomodati. Oder: deutliche und nach dem Begriff der Jugend endlich recht eingerichtete Erklärung der Aesopischen Fablen welche Phaedrus ... in fünf Büchern hinterlassen: ... durch Emanuelem Sincerum.
Frankfurt and Leipzig, [Heinrich Ludwig Brönner?], 1762. 8vo. Title-page in red and black, with 2 typographical head- and tailpieces. 19th-century light blue paper over boards. [10], 247, [248], [34] pp. Full description

€ 350

Third edition of Van Hoogstraten's Dutch translation of the fables of Phaedrus

PHAEDRUS. (David van HOOGSTRATEN, trans.). Ezopische fabelen van Fedrus, gevryden slaef des Keizers Augustus. In Nederduitsch dicht vertaelt en met aenmerkingen verrykt door D. van Hoogstraten. Met nieuwe konst-platen.
Amsterdam, Steven van Esveldt, 1769. 8vo. Title-page in red and black, with an engraved frontispiece by Simon Fokke and a vignette on title-page, and 16 engraved plates with 6 fable illustrations each, also by Fokke, mostly after the illustrations for the first Latin Hoogstraten edition (1701) by Jan van Vianen. Contemporary boards covered with sprinkled paper, manuscript spine label. [50], 259, [1 blank], [28] pp. Full description

€ 850

One of the schoolbook editions of the Phaedrus Fables in Latin verses by David van Hoogstraten

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri, Aug. Liberti Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri V. In gratiam studiosae Juventutis notis illustrati. Cura Davidis Hoogstratani. Editio Septima, prioribus multo accuratior.
Amsterdam, for D. Onder de Linden and son, 1772. Small 8vo. Title printed in red and black, with frontispiece (139 x 78 mm.) after Muller/Tiedeman, with the imprint: Amsterdam, D. Onder de Linden; engraved printers device. Modern vellum over boards. [32], 151, [32] pp. Full description

€ 500

A later edition of the Burman recension, printed in Latvia

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri Augusti Liberti Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri quinque cum novo commentario Petri Burmanni.
Mitau (now: Jelgava, Letland), Jacobus Fridericus Hinzius, 1773. 8vo. Some woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Sprinkled black 18th-century paper over boards with paper label on spine lettered in ink. L, [2], 328, [60] pp. Full description

€ 475

Enlarged fourth edition of the Burman redaction of the Phaedrus fables

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri, Aug. liberti, fabularum Aesopiarum, libri V. cum integris commentariis Marq. Gudii, Conr. Ritterhusii, Nic. Rigaltii, Is. Neveleti, Nic. Heinsii, Joan. Schefferi, Jo. Lud. Praschii, & excerptis aliorum. Curante Petro Burmanno. Editio quarta emendatior.
Leiden, Samuel and Johannes Luchtmans, 1778. Large 8vo. With an engraved frontispiece, a woodcut printer's device on the title-page and some woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. Later half black morocco, blue marbled sides, title in gold on spine, marbled endpapers, marbled edges. [60], 398, 258, [40] pp. Full description

€ 495

Interesting and rare first edition of Phaedrus by the German classical scholar Johann Gottlob Samuel Schwabe

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri Augusti Liberti Fabulorum Aesopiarum Libri V. Ex recensione Petri Burmanni. Cum selectis variorum notis et suis observationibus edidit Io. Gottl. Sam. Schwabe.
Halle, for Joannes Jacobus Gebauer, 1779-1781. 3 parts in 1 volume. 8vo. With some woodcut headpieces. Three-quarter calf over boards, ribbed spine tooled and lettered in gold, marbled endpapers, edge painted red. LXXX, 208; XXII, 312; XX, 254, [6] pp. Full description

€ 200

Later edition of the 94 Phaedrus Fables, together with the 34 additional Fables without any commentaries or notes ex recensione Burmanni

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri Augusti Liberti Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri V. Et Novarum Fabularum Appendix. E recensione Petri Burmanni. Ed. tertia.
Nuremberg, ex off. Libraria Riegeliana, 1783. 16mo. With frontispiece: a reduced version of the frontispieces for the great Burman editions after Joseph Muller/Tydeman (98 x 60 mm.). Half calf, marbled paper over boards, red painted edges. 119 pp. Full description

€ 295

Nice first edition by Gabriel Brotier who added 51 fables of La Fontaine to the editions by S.A. Philippe of 1748 and 1754

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri Augusti Liberti Fabularum libri V. Cum notis et supplementis Gabrielis Brotier. Accesserunt parallelae Joannis de la Fontaine Fabulae.
Paris, Joseph Barbou, 1783. 12mo. With frontispiece (12 x 7 cm.) of Mercure addressing Aesop, engraved by Etienne Fessard (1714-1777) after Louis Durand. Fessard also engraved the 5 fable illustrations (ca. 4 x 6.5 cm., all dated 1747) at the beginning of each of the five fable books, woodcut vignette on title-page, woodcut head- and tailpieces. Mottled calf over boards with triple gilt ruling along the edges of both covers, spine gilt in compartments with label lettered in gold, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, gild edges. [2], XXIV, 315, [9] pp. Full description

€ 340

Beautifully printed Italian edition of Phaedrus based on the Burman recension

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri Aug. Liberti Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri V. Ex recensione Petri Burmanni Cum notis selectioribuus.
Venice, Thomas Bettinelli, 1787. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece of Mercure addressing Aesop by P. Scataglia after Etienne Fessard and Louis Durand, title in an ornamental engraved frame with the illustration for the first fable (the wolf and the lamb) by the same artist, some woodcut typographical head- and tailpieces. Half calf, ribbed spine gilt in compartments, lettered in gold, stamped ornamental paper over boards, red painted edges. [4], XXXII, 151 pp. Full description

€ 250

One of the earliest editions using the revolutionary technique of stereotype printing, invented by Firmin Didot: his Phaedrus edition of 1799.

PHAEDRUS. Phaedri, Augusti Liberti, Fabularum Aesopicarum Libri Quinque. Nova edition, cui accesserunt Publii Syri et aliorum Veterum Sententiae. Editio stereotypa.
Paris, ex officina stereotype Pierre lainé & Firmin Didot, Anno VI [=1799]. 12mo. With the Didot printers device (initials P, F. D.) on the title. Half calf, gilt spine with green title label lettered in gold, boards covered with marbled paper. [4], 99 pp. Full description

€ 300

Second edition of a rare schoolbook by Herman Bosscha, containing a selection with 24 shortened Phaedrus fables

PHAEDRUS (Herman BOSSCHA, ed.). Initia lectionis scholasticae of eerste leesoefeningen voor de Latijnsche scholen. Edente Hermanno Bosscha. Twede, en verbeterde druk.
Deventer, L. Leemhorst and son, 1803. 8vo. Contemporary brown decorated paper on cardboards. XVI, 200, [2] pp. Full description

€ 295

Collection of 30 at that moment unknown fables, possibly written by Phaedrus

[PHAEDRUS?]. Noviter detectae Phaedri Fabulae Triginta. E manuscipto Bibiothecae Regiae Neapolitanae Codice nuperrime editae; ad commodiorem lectitantium usum hanc in formam recusae.
Stuttgart & Tübingen, apud J.C. Cotta, 1812. 8vo. Later marbled wrappers. 46 pp. Full description

€ 600

A choice collection of fables, purified by a champion of chastity

PHAEDRUS (Jean Etienne Judith Forestier BOINVILLIERS, ed.). Julii Phaedri, Caesaris Augusti Romanorum Imperatoris, Liberti, Fabulae, in quinque libros ex aequo divisae, ab omni genere obscenitatis expurgatae ... Cui operi accesserunt et novellae quaedam fabulae Phaedro attributae, et singulae quas Fontanius versibuus polivit, et Mythologia gallica latine convertenda, Editione et auctore J.S.J.F Boinvilliers ... Sexta edition, ad usum quintanorum.
Paris, August Delalain, 1825. 12mo. Half vellum and blue paper over boards. XVI, 208, 58 pp. Full description

€ 250

The famous and scholarly Biponti edition of Phaedrus in it’s original edition

PHAEDRUS - AESOP. Phaedri Augusti Liverti Fabulae Aesopiae novissime recognitae et emendatae. Accedunt Publii Syri Sententiae Aviani et Anonymi Vereris Fabulae denuo castigatae. Editio accurate.
Zweibrücken, 1784. 8vo. With a fantastical engraving on the title-page. Sprinkled paper over boards, red sprinkled edges. [2], LII, 232 pp. Full description

€ 695

Early 18th-century edition of the Aesop fables, based on the David van Hoogstraten redaction

PHAEDRUS - AVIANUS. Phaedri Augusti Liberti, et Avieni Fabulae cum adnotationibs Davidis Hoogstratani. Accedunt Fabulae Graecae Latinis respondentes, et Homeri Batrachomyomachia cum Latina versione recens addita ad exemplar Patavinae editionis.
Naples, Felix Musca for Josephi Ponzelli, 1729. 8vo. With an engraved frontispiece, a woodcut title-vignette and some woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. Later vellum over boards, red morocco spine label with title in gold, new paste-downs and endpapers. [14], 242, [2] pp. Full description

€ 400

One of the many early Naples editions based on the David van Hoogstraten redaction

PHAEDRUS - AVIANUS. Phaedri Augusti Liberti, et Avieni Fabulae Cum adnotationibs Davidis Hoogstratani. Accedunt Fabulae Graecae Latinis respondents, et Homeri Batrachomyomachia cum expositione singulorum verborum accratissima.
Naples, Angeli Carfora, 1742. 8vo. With frontispiece by Filippo da Grado, Title printed in red and black with woodcut ornament, some woodcut initials and tailpieces. Vellum over boards. [6], 256, [4] pp. Full description

€ 250

The Phaedrus and La Fontaine fables to learn Latin

PHAEDRUS - LA FONTAINE. Fables de Phèdre Affranchi dAuguste, en Latin et en François, Avec les Fables de La Fontaine qui y sont relatives; Linterlinaire des deux premiers livres suivi ds Regles de Syntaxe ... Le dictionnaire des termes dont lAuteur a fait usage, &c.
Amsterdam, Marc Michel Rey, 1769. 8vo. With an ornamental vignette on title. Mottled calf over boards, ribbed spine with red title label lettered in gold, marbled endpapers, blue painted edges [8], 84, 308 pp. Full description

€ 450

Nice edition of the Phaedrus Fables in verse with a French translation, together with the Sententiae by Publilius Syrus published by Tanaquillus Faber

PHAEDRUS - SYRUS. Phaedri Fabulae, et P. Syri Mimi Sententiae, Hac quinta editione auctiores, cum notis & emendationibus Tanaquilli Fabri. Accedit & Gallica versio ferè de novo reficta.
Amsterdam, widow of Paul Marret, 1712. 8vo. With a frontispiece in two compartments, title-page printed in red and black with printers device ("Eadem Ubique"), some small woodcut initials and tailpieces. Contemporary calf, ribbed spine gilt in compartments with title lettered in gold, red painted edges. XXXII, 274, [6] pp. Full description

€ 450

School edition of Phaedrus, with commentaries in French, together with the Sententiae by Syrus and the ‘100 Fables’ translated by Gabiel Faerno, to be used at schools

PHAEDRUS - SYRUS (Gabriel FAERNO transl.). Phaedri Fabulae. P. Syri Sententiae. Faerni Fabularum Libri quinque. Nova edition, cui accesserunt notae Gallicae ad usum scholarum accomodatae.
Paris, J. Barbou, 1765. 12mo. With small woodcut vignette on title-page. Mottled calf over boards, ribbed spine. [2], 1-120, 123-127, [128], 62, [4] pp. Full description

€ 375

Very rare first editions of the neo-latin poetry and emblems of Cornelis Plemp, the friend of Vondel and Hooft

PLEMP, Cornelis Gijsbertsz. Amsterodamum monogrammon.
Including:
-Quisquiliae seu elegiarum liber unus.
-Emblemata quinquaginta.
Amsterdam, Joannes Walschart, 1616. With woodcut coat of arms on title-page, woodcut on individual title-pages and 51 woodcut emblems with a diameter of ca 73 mm.
With: (2) PLEMP, Cornelis Gijsbertsz. Musius, sive rhythmi cum poematiis.
Amsterdam, Joannes Walschart, 1618. With woodcut device on title-page, a woodcut illustration in text (same in ad 1), and some woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces.
2 works in 1 volume. 4to. 19th-century boards. 113, [2], 119-191, [1 blank]; 47, [1] pp. Full description

€ 4,250

Very rare edition of an emblem book on vanities and vices

POIRTERS, Adriaan. Het masker vande wereldt afgetrokken.
Antwerp, widow and heirs of Jan Cnobbaerts, [1646]. 4to. With engraved title-page by Antony van der Does and 13 engraved emblems and 8 engravings in text by Frederic Bouttats. 18th-century half calf. [24], 320 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Including the first edition of the life of Reynard's son Reynardine

[REYNARD THE FOX]. The most delectable history of Reynard the Fox. Newly corrected and purged...
London, Thomas Ilive for Edward Brewster,1701.
With:
(2) [REYNARD THE FOX]. The most pleasant and delightful history of Reynard the Fox. The second part. ...
London, Anne Maxwell and Robert Roberts for Edward Brewster, 1681.
(3) [REYNARD THE FOX, ADDITIONS]. The shifts of Reynardine the son of Reynard the Fox, ...
London, Thomas James for Edward Brewster and Thomas Passenger, 1684. 3 parts in 1 volume. 4to.
With woodcut of King Lion's court on title-page, 61 woodcuts in text of part 1 (including 23 repeats), 15 woodcuts in part 2, all repeated from part 1. Late 18th-century calf. [160]; [112]; [4], 160 pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Indispensable guide to Dutch iconology in Rembrandt's day, with 196 woodcuts

RIPA, Cesare. Iconologia, of uytbeeldingen des verstands: ... Om uyt te drucken, en te vinden, 't begrip van alle sinnebeelden, invallen, devijsen of sinteykenen. ...
Amsterdam, Dirck Pietsz. Pers, 1644. 4to. With engraved allegorical frontispiece and 196 emblematic woodcut illustrations (ca. 8.5 x 6 cm) in the text by Jan Christoffel Jegher. Parchment (ca. 1725?). [14], 636, [8] pp. Full description

€ 2,750

One of the few illustrated books printed by Bodoni, splendidly bound

[ROSSI, Giovanni Gherardo de]. Scherzi poetici e pittorici.
(Colophon: Parma, Giambattista Bodoni, 1795). 8vo (22 x 14 cm). With engraved title-page and 40 engraved plates (plate size: ca. 7 x 11 cm). Richly gold-tooled red morocco by Rémy Petit (active 1855-1900), spine with 5 raised bands resulting in 6 compartments, one with black title-label and the other five gold-tooled with black oval inlays; the sides with gilt triple fillet borders, corner ornaments with same oval inlays and a central oval ornament (gold on green); further with gilt fillets on board edges and richly gold-tooled turn-ins with a floral motive, gilt edges. [52] ll. Full description

€ 7,200

A highlight of fable illustration

ROUSSET, A. Fables. Esope - La Fontaine.
Lyon, Impr. Fonville-Brunet et Bonnaviat, (1848-1855). 4 vols. Large 8vo. With 4 nicely illustrated lithographed titles by Genod, 20 wood-engraved half-titles, lithographed portrait of the author, numerous wood-engraved vignettes in text, and 152 full-page lithographed, wood-engraved and etched plates, illustrating the fables, by A. Chaine, Fonville, Bonirote, C. Farine, Louis Guy, Regnier, R. Laurasse, M. d'Auvigny, A. Thieriat, Pinet, etc. Contemporary half brown morocco, spines ribbed and gilt, red mottled edges. 288; 288; 288; 288, XXI, (3 blank) pp. Full description

€ 1,500

First translation into English of stories from Sa'di's famous Gulistan

SA'DI SHIRAZI and Stephen SULIVAN (translator). Select fables from Gulistan, or the bed of roses. Translated from the original Persian of Sadi.
London, J. Ridley, 1774. 8vo. Modern half calf (period style), gold-tooled spine. V, [1 blank], 139, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,950

Virtues and vices in 100 engraved emblems after Casper and Jan Luyken

SANCTA CLARA, Abraham à. Huy! und Pfuy! der Welt. Huy, oder Anfrischung zu allen schönen Tugenden. Pfuy oder Abschreckung von allen schändlichen Lastern. Durch unterschiedliche sittliche Concept, Historien, und Fabeln vorgestellt. Worinnen der Poet, Prediger, und waserley Standes-Personen für ihren Kram etwas finden können.
Nuremberg, Christoph Weigel; Würzburg, Martin Frantz Hertzen, 1707. Folio. With engraved allegorical title-page and 100 engraved emblems in text (measuring 10.5 x 12 cm). Contemporary vellum. [10], 200, [4] pp. & 100 ll. Full description

€ 8,500

With 42 emblems revolving around the human body and body parts

SCARLATINI, Ottavio. Homo et eius partes figuratus & symbolicus, anatomicus, rationalis, moralis, mysticus, politicus, & legalis, collectus et explicatus cum figuris.
Augsburg & Dillingen, Johann Caspar Bencard, 1695. 2 volumes bound as 1. Large folio (37 x 23 cm). With a finely engraved emblematic frontispiece by the Augsburg engraver Leonhard Heckenauer (1655-1704), 2 title-pages with the same large engraved brooding chicken emblem and 42 engraved emblems in decorative cartouches in the text (plate size mostly 14 x 13 cm, but that on p. 232 of vol. 1 3.5 x 8.5 cm) perhaps also by Heckenauer. Contemporary vellum. [52], 342, [44]; [28], 249, [29] pp. including the frontispiece. Full description

€ 7,500

Rare religious emblem book with emblems engraved after Hugo's famous "Pia Desideria"

[SERRARIUS, Petrus]. Goddelycke aandachten ofte vlammende begeerten eens boetvaerdige geheijligd en lief-rijcke ziele.
Amsterdam, Salomon Savrij, [1653]. 16mo. With engraved title-page, 46 engraved emblems and a full-page woodcut endpiece. Contemporary vellum. [16], 96 pp. Full description

€ 5,000

One of the most important and rarest Dutch songbooks, with early poems by Hooft and Vondel

[SONGBOOK - DUTCH]. Den nieuwen verbeterden lust-hof, gheplant vol uytgelesene, eerlijcke, amoreuse ende vrolijcke ghesanghen, als mey, bruylofts, tafel, ende nieu jaers liedekens, met noch verscheyden tsamen-spreeckinghen tusschen vryer en vryster...
Including: [VLACQ, Michiel]. Bruylofts bancket. Verciert met veerthien liedekens, dienende tot vermakelijckheyt ende stichtinghe, so wel in bruyloften als in andere eerlijcke vergaderinghen van oude ofte jonghe lieden...
Amsterdam, Dirck Pietersz Pers, [ca. 1610]. 2 parts in 1 volume. Oblong 8vo. Each title-page with the same large engraving of a company making music after David Vinckboons. Later vellum, manuscript title on spine. [8], 96; 24 pp. Full description

€ 15,000

Marvelously illustrated emblematic work on moral education

SPINNIKER, Adriaan. Leerzaame zinnebeelden, ... Tweede druk.
Haarlem, Jan Bosch, 1757. With engraved frontispiece and 50 beautifully engraved emblems in text.
With: (2) SPINNIKER, Adriaan. Vervolg der Leerzaame zinnenbeelden, Spiegel der boetvaardigheid en genade en eenige stichtelyke gezangen.
Haarlem, Jan Bosch, 1758. With same engraved frontispiece (with revisions), 30 engraved emblems in text and 4 engraved emblems on plates with letterpress text. 2 volumes bound as 1. 4to. Contemporary gold-tooled, tanned sheepskin. [16], 220, [3, 1 blank]; [8], XII, 144, 90, [2] pp. Full description

€ 4,500

Emblem book with engravings by Vander Vinne and Philips

SPINNIKER, Adriaan. Vervolg der leerzaame zinnebeelden, spiegel der boetvaardigheid en genade en eenige stichtelyke gezangen.
Haarlem, Jan Bosch, 1758. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With engraved frontispiece, engraving on title-page, 30 engraved emblems in text (ca. 10 x 12.5 cm) by Vincent vander Vinne in the first part, and 4 engraved emblems in text (10 x 12.5 cm) by Jan Caspar Philips in the second part. Contemporary marbled wrappers. [8], XII, 144, [2], 90 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

116 emblems by a German philosopher, together with funeral songs for friends and colleagues

TAURELLUS, Nicolaeus. Emblemata physico-ethica, hoc est naturae morum moderatricis picta pracepta.
Nürnberg, Simon Halbmayer, 1617. With Halbmayers woodcut globe, bird and book device on the title-page, 116 emblematic woodcuts, in most cases incorporating a coat of arms, woodcut decorated initials.
With: (2) IDEM. Carmina funebria, quae magnorum aliquot, clarorum que virorum felici memoriae dicavit. Nürnberg, Christophor Lochner the elder, 1602. With the title in a frame built up from arabesque typographic ornaments. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Contemporary vellum. [23], [120] ll; 38, [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 5,000

With 103 engraved emblems

VAENIUS, Otto (Otto van VEEN). Le theatre moral de la vie humaine, representée en plus de cent tableaux divers, tirez du poëte Horace ... et expliquez en autant de discours moraux par le sieur de Gomberville. Avec la table du philosophe cebes.
Brussels, François Foppens, 1672. Folio. With engraved illustration on title-page, engraved authors portrait, 103 engraved emblems by Pierre Daret after Otto Vaenius, and an engraved folding plate. 18th-century gold-tooled tree calf. XI, [5], 211, [1] pp. Full description

€ 3,750

One of the most popular emblem books of the Dutch Golden Age

VISSCHER, Roemer. Zinne-poppen; alle verciert met rijmen, en sommighe met proze: door zijn dochter Anna Roemers.
Amsterdam, Johannes van Ravesteyn, 1669. 12mo. With engraved emblematic title-page, an emblem on the back of A5, and 193 engraved emblems by Claes Jansz. Visscher, in text. With 2 engraved emblems pasted on first blanks (including a repeat of the emblem on A5). Contemporary vellum, green ties. [10], 196, [4] leaves. Full description

€ 6,500

Roemer Visscher's popular emblem book together with his early poetry

VISSCHER, Roemer. Zinne-poppen; alle verciert met rijmen, en sommighe met proze: door zijn dochter Anne Roemers.
Amsterdam, Sander Wybrantz. and Andries Vink, 1678. With engraved title-page, an engraved emblem on the back of A5, and 193 engraved emblems by Claes Jansz. Visscher.
With: (2) VISSCHER, Roemer. Brabbelingh... By hem selven oversien, en meer als de helft vermeerdert.Amsterdam, Johannes van Ravesteyn, 1669. 2 works in 1 volume. 12mo. Contemporary vellum. [10], 196, [4] ll.; 212, [4 blank] pp. Full description

€ 7,500

17th-century love songs and poems

YSERMANS, Joan. Triumphus Cupidinis. In-houdende veel schoon stichtighe, en[de] seer vermaeckelijcke liedekens, en[de] andere ghedichten, verciert met veel loffelijcke sententien, als oock sommighe epitalamien, bruyloft-liedekens en andere poëmata.
Including:
-Ecomium matrimonii. In-houdende een bruy-loft spel, epithalamien ende sommighe liedekens.
-Nederlantsche poëmata. In-houdende sommighe sonetten, liedekens, graf-dichten ende andere.
Antwerp, widow of Jacob Mesens, 1628. 3 parts in 1 volume. Small oblong 8vo (8.5 x 12.5). With richly engraved allegorical frontispiece by Anthoni Spirincx and many songs accompanied by music scores. Contemporary sheepskin parchment. 374, [2] pp. Full description

€ 5,750

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Literature & Linguistics / Emblem, Fable & Songbooks