Litterae Societas Iesu e Regno Sinarum annorum MDCX. & XI. by [Jesuit] Trigault, Nicolas - 1615

Classical Authors: Genevæ- Geneva/ Lugduni- Lyon Euststhium Vignon / Bartholemæum Vincentium. 1577. [4] map[8] pp109 [12.]Blank; &: [8][10] pp109 [2][6]. First separate edition of works attributed to Arrian of Nicodemia which appeared simultaneously at Geneva and Lyons in 1577 with the translation and commentary of Johann Wilhem Stucki. This example has the Geneva imprint of the Ponti Euxini and the Lyons imprint of the Maris Erythræi. The texts of both works were first published by Froben in 1533 in the anthology Arriani & Hannonis periplus. Plutarchus de fluminibus & montibus. Strabonis epitome. The woodcut map of the Black Sea is the first printed map of the sea, it is decorated with ships, monsters and mermen. The Peripilus Ponti Euxini takes the form of a letter, from Arrian to the Emperor Hadrian in Rome, who was particularly attached to geographical research and had visited in person a large portion of his extensive dominions. It contains an accurate topographical survey of the… Read More

London: B. Alsop & T. Fawcet, 1639. Calfskin. Good. Full original calf, with both fixed endpapers freed from the boards but still attached to the page block; the front hinge is now covered by the large bookplate of Hugh Cecil Lowther, Fifth Earl of Lonsdale, accompanied but not obscured by a small, penned note and the plate of Dallas oil giant John W. McReynolds; the binding is relaxed enough to show cords, but secure. Pages bear mild age-toning around the margins and light foxing at preliminaries and terminals, with only ghosts of decoration at block edges; chestnut leather bears an open pull sign at the spine head, only residue of the title plate, long scuffs at both shoulders and a shorter one at upper spine with some cracking and a tiny bore stopped along the spine, wear down to the follicles around the front board (less so on the rear) approaching exposure at free corners, mere score lines around board edges and across spine where once was gold, and a few stray, small ink spots and droplet… Read More

[5 of 6]+132 leaves with several armorial engravings. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5 1/2") bound in half leather with four raised spine bands with black label to spine in gilt lettering over marbled boards. (Medina, Mexico 594; Palau 44870 ("actualmente rarísima"); Sabin 10953) First edition. Horacio Carochi (1586-1666) was a Jesuit priest and grammarian who was born in Florence and died in Mexico. He is known for his grammar of the Classical Nahuatl language. He went to Rome where he entered the Society of Jesus. From Rome he went to the New World, arriving in New Spain (now Mexico). There he dedicated himself to the study of the indigenous languages and became proficient in Otomi and then in Nahuatl. He was a friend of the Bishop and later Viceroy of New Spain, Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, as is documented by surviving letters written by Carochi to the bishop. Carochi had an acute understanding of the Nahuatl language and was the first grammarian to understand and propose a consistent transcription of two… Read More

Small 8vo. Bound in contemporary vellum. Printed by Jean Antoine Huguetan, Lyons 1638. (Colophon at end dated 1627; printing privilege dated 1626.) Second Edition of this comprehensive treatise on geomancy.Illustrated with numerous diagrams, schematic woodcuts and tables in text, as well as 10 plates, 1 of which is an engraved single-page plate, while the other 9 are fold-out woodcut diagrams or letterpress tables, some bound to face each other; plus large engraved printer's device with an armillary sphere on title-page; a few decorative woodcut head-pieces and initials.The Opus Geomantiae Completum "is divided into three parts devoted respectively to the theory, practice and questions taken from previous authors. The theory is largely astrological. Instead of jotting down four rows of dots at random, a wheel with sixteen projections is spun or whirled in order to obtain one of the sixteen geomantic figures. Fludd is cited more than once, also Arabic authors like Geber and Aomar, medieval Latins like… Read More

Franckfurt am Mayn [Frankfurt, Germany]: Nicolao Hoffman, in Verlegung Jacob Fischers, 1611. Hardcover. Good -. [10], 460, [27] leaves: many in-text emgraved illustrations; 39 cm. (folio). Contemporary pigskin? binding with seven spine compartments between raised bands. Elaborate blind-rolled and -tooled decoration around central medallion on both boards. Front board includes initials "CBC" in upper portion and date of binding "1620" in lower portion. Handwritten note on back pastedown by binder, dated 1620. Part of the decoration includes human figures and the words "cari," "spes," "fides," and possibly "fort." Printer and publisher from colophon. Includes "Von Distillier und Brennöfen" on leaves 456-460. A German translation by Georg Handsch of the botanical portion of Mattioli's Commentaries, without the text of Dioscorides, but having the Epistola Nuncupatoria in Latin, prefixed. Illustrations by Joachim Camerarius. References: Krivatsy, NLM 17th century, 7575; Nissen, Botanische… Read More

Paris: Thierry, Barbin et Trabouillet, 1697. Very Good. 4 x 6.5 inches (10 x 16.5 cm). Complete eight volume set. Full speckled calf leather bindings. Spines have five raised bands, red morocco title labels, compartments ornately decorated in gilt. Some marking and slight worming to boards. Spines rubbed with slight wear to head and foot. A couple of volumes have slight cracking to joints but all boards are firmly attached. Gilt decorated board edges and turn-ins. All page edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Very tight bindings in excellent overall condition. Clean pages throughout. French language. All 30 plates are present and in first class condition (one plate in Vol. V has been bound in upside down.) A rare and important early edition of Molière's works, reproducing the 1682 first collected edition. An excellent example, complete with all plates and in attractive contemporary bindings. Overall condition is Very Good. Size: 4 x 6.5 inches (10 x 16.5 cm). Hardback. Printed pages: [24] 309… Read More

Paris (Lutetiae), Typis Regiis excudebat C. Morellus, 1612. 4to. 3 parts in 1 volume: (XVI),278,(16 index),(2 blank); (XII),211,(1 blank);120 pages. 18th century mottled calf 23.5 cm. 'Editio princeps' of some Byzantine treatises on the art of falconry and hunting with dogs, together with similar texts on hunting. (Ref: J.E. Harting, 'Bibliotheca Accipitraria', London 1891, no.s 316 & 327 & 223; Schweiger 1,358; Hoffmann 1,500; Brunet 5,244/45: 'Recueil recherché et dont les exemplaires sont rares'; Graesse 6/1,331; Ebert 5916) (Details: Back gilt and with 5 raised bands; a gilt ducal (?) crown with 5 strawberry leaves in 5 compartments, and a brown morocco title label in the second compartment. Boards with gilt double fillets, gilt sides and gilt inside dentelles. Marbled endpapers. Edges dyed red. Woodcut printer's mark on the title, a serpent climbing in a plant. Of this edition there are also copies with the imprint: 'Sumptibus Sebastiani… Read More

Original quarter vellum over paper-covered boards. Woodcut initials and tail-piece; engravings throughout including fine full page images. The two works are paged separately but signed continuously (the first ending at Ii3,verso). Same collation as Getty copy but for Index Rerum which is placed at the end in this copy. Inscription of Abbot Dominic Fontanini (in Italian) to front fly describing the author's Monarchia Occidentalis series; two nicks in spine, else a fine copy.

Amsterdam: Daniel van den Dalen, 1691-1693. Four books and one pamphlet in two volumes. Quarto. [4],[4],[16],138,[2];[8],262,[2];11; [8],32,188,[2];[6],277,[3] pp., including portrait frontipiece and facing description leaf in first volume and in-text illustration of the Oldenburg Horn on p. 141 of fourth book. Contemporary parchment, manuscript spine titles. Autograph signature of the author on half-title verso of first book, title-page verso of second book, and following the introductions of third and fourth books. Matching contemporary ownership inscriptions of C. V. D. Hell on title pages of first and third books; early ownership inscription of "[?]. [?]. v. d. Bosch" on front free endpaper of both volumes; 1961 gift inscription on front free title page of first volume; occasional contemporary underlining and marginalia throughout; booksellers' pencil notations in front and rear endpapers of both volumes. Boards bowed, parchment moderately soiled and, in first volume, turn-ins separating from… Read More

London: Matthew Gillyflower & James Partridge, 1693. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Good/No Jacket. Folio - over 12 - 15" tall. THE COMPLEAT GARD'NER, OR, DIRECTIONS FOR CULTIVATING AND RIGHT ORDERING OF FRUIT-GARDENS AND KITCHEN-GARDENS: WITH DIVERS REFLECTIONS ON SEVERAL PARTS OF HUSBANDRY, IN SIX BOOKS. By Jean de La Quintinie, translated by John Evelyn, printed for Matthew Gillyflower and James Partridge, published in London in 1693. This folio edition (31.5 cm x 19 cm) is the first English edition, bound in full leather with five raised bands to the spine. Copper engraved frontispiece of Jean de La Quintinie, with title page printed in red and black. Jean de La Quintinie (1626-1688) was a lawyer, gardener and agronomist who served France's King Louis XIV. On a trip to Italy he was impressed by the gardens he saw, and became fascinated by horticulture. There are 12 leaves of plates, two of which are fold-out. The first fold-out, opposite page 1 of volume I, is a map entitled… Read More