Forum Rare Books

A popular collection of fictional lawsuits concerning love

[MARTIAL d'Auvergne]. LIII. arrests d'amours. Arresta amorum. Accuratissimis Benedicti Curtii Symphoriani commentariis ad utrusque iuris rationem, forensiumque actionum usum quàm acutissimè accommodata. Le tout diligemment reveu & corrigé en une infinité d'endroits outre les precedentes impressions.
Rouen, Thomas Mallard, 1587. 16mo. With title within an ornamental woodcut border. 19th-century gold-tooled red sheepskin. 899 [=897], [58], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Early Printing - 16th century French Literature Law & Politics

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

Emblems France French Literature

Satire disguising the French elite as Arabs

MELON, Jean-François. Mahmoud le Gasnevide, histoire orientale. Fragment traduit de l'Arabe, avec des notes.
Rotterdam, Jean Hofhoudt, 1730. 8vo. Contemporary marbled calf, gold-tooled spine, boards, board edges and turn-ins, both boards with the gold-tooled coat of arms of Louis Marie Alexandre, Duc d'Aumont, gilt edges. [2], VI, 162, [4] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Bindings Caricature & Satire French Literature Islamic Art, Culture & Science Law & Politics Literature

Very rare French edition of the popular Palmerin romance

[MORAES CABRAL, Francisco de and Jacques VINCENT (translator)]. Histoire du preux, vaillant et tres-victorieux chevallier Palmerin d'Angleterre, fils du roy Dom Edoard, contenant plusieurs faits d'armes & amours, & les estranges adventures par luy mises à fin.
Paris, chez Michel Sonnius (colophon part 2: Jean d'Ongois), 1574. 2 parts in 1 volume. Small 8vo. With a woodcut printer's device on the title page of the first part, a typographical woodcut vignette on the title page of the second part, numerous decorated woodcut initials, woodcut headpieces, and vignettes in the text. Contemporary gold and blind tooled brown calf. [8], 346; [6], 280 ll. Full description

€ 4,850

Early Printing - 16th century France French Literature

A burlesque literary trip around Paris during the time of the Enlightenment

[NÉEL, Louis-Balthazar]. Voyage de Paris a St. Cloud par mer, et retour de St. Cloud a Paros par terre. Quatrieme édition, revue, corrigée & augmentée, avec une carte très-exacte, dont le plan a éte levé sur les lieux.
Paris, Duchesne, 1762. 8vo. Woodcut headpieces and endpieces, initials [1,5 x 1,5 cm], bound with fold out map [16 x 25.5 cm]. Contemporary vellum binding. xxvj, 118, [2], 120 pp. Full description

€ 500

Caricature & Satire French Literature

Rare Dutch edition of a popular anti-Jesuit satire

[OLIVIER, Abbé Jean]. D'ongelukkige Napolitaan, of zeldzaam levensbedrijf van Rozelli. Behelzende een historisch verhaal van zijne geboorte, Turkze slaverny, klooster leven, zitten in de inquisitie, en wat figuren hy verder in Italien, Vrankrijk, en Holland gemaakt heeft. Uit het Frans vertaald.
Utrecht, Jakob van Poolsum, 1716. 3 parts in 1 volume. Small 8vo. With a full-page engraved frontispiece, a letterpress title in red and black, 16 full-page engraved plates, several woodcut head- and tailpieces, and woodcut initials. Contemporary gold-tooled calf, sewn on 5 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, a red morocco title label on the spine with the text "Leven van Rozelli" lettered in gold, red sprinkled edges. VI, 484, 36 pp. Full description

€ 2,750

Caricature & Satire Dutch Literature French Literature History / 17th Century Italian Literature Italy Slavery Travel & Voyages Middle East Turkey & Ottoman Empire

Mysterious biography of the mythical first king of Paraguay,
who had allegedly saved the locals from the oppression of the Jesuits

[PARAGUAY - KING NICOLAS I]. Histoire de Nicolas I. Roy du Paraguai, et Empereur des Mamelus.
Saint Paul [= São Paulo, but the work was likely printed somewhere in Western Europe], 1756. 8vo. With a typographical ornament on the title-page. Contemporary brown paste paper wrappers. 88 pp. Full description

€ 5,000

Bibliography & Biography Church History & Missions French Literature Jesuits Latin America South America Spain

Very rare Bernard Picart print album: Jean Furstenberg's copy

PICART, Bernard. Explication des vignettes de la seconde edition des oeuvres de Boileau ...
Amsterdam, Bernard Picart, 1729. Oblong 4to. With 25 engraved vignettes and 2 engraved initials on 25 leaves. Contemporary blind-tooled mottled calf, gold-tooled spine, gold-tooled turn-ins. 8 pp., [25] ll. Full description

€ 6,500

Art & Art History Book History, Printing & Typography French Literature Wine / Viticulture

The first and only Dutch translation of the works of Rabelais before 1931,
very important for the history and development of the Dutch language

RABELAIS, François. Alle de geestige werken ... vervattende in ses boeken de dappere daaden en deftige reedenen van dovergroote reusen Grandgousier, Gargantua, en Pantagruel ... uyt het Fransch vertaelt door Claudio Gallitalo.
Amsterdam, Jan Claesz. ten Hoorn, 1682. 2 volumes. 8vo. With an engraved allegorical title page and a letterpress title page to each volume, and several decorated woodcut initials. Contemporary vellum. [40], 717, [3 blank], [8]; [32], 456, [30], [2 blank], 136, [8] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Caricature & Satire Dutch Literature Erasmus France French Literature Law & Politics Philosophy & Humanism

Racine's famous play, for the first time in Portuguese

RACINE, Jean and Antonio José de Lima LEITÃO (translator). Iphigénia tragédia de João Racine. Traduzida em verso portuguez, e offerecida como uma prova da mais sincera gratidão.
Rio de Janeiro, Impressão règia, 1816. 8vo. With a woodcut printer's device on the title-page. Contemporary blue-grey wrappers. [8], 53, [3 blank] pp. Full description