Search Results: early bible

Nuremberg: Johannes Petreius, 1543. FIRST EDITION, and a very fine and crisp copy. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in attractive, contemporary Parisian calf with some discreet repairs. The boards are blind-ruled and adorned with gold-tooled ornaments. This is one of very few to have appeared on the market in a contemporary binding. The text is in excellent condition, with just minor blemishes (small early erasure of an ownership inscription on the title just slightly touching the "D." in the date. Light damp-staining to first six leaves.) Collation as in Horblit; this copy without the errata leaf -printed separately and later- that is found in a minority of copies (about 20 percent). Preserved in a morocco-backed box. Provenance: At the foot of the title-page, an early signature has been thoroughly lined through. 17th- or 18th-century inscription on title of the Jesuit College of Paris. Bookplate of Gustavus Wynne Cook (1867-1940, amateur astronomer, collector, and benefactor of the Franklin Institute). … Read More

Gothic type, double column, 66 lines (33 line-pairs). [373] leaves. Decoration by a contemporary Dutch or Westphalian artist (see below). Eight pinholes to the sheet preserved. Royal folio (385 x 270 mm.), mid-18th cent. French red morocco over heavy boards, by Louis Douceur, triple gilt fillets round sides, spine nicely gilt, a.e.g. Mainz: [Peter Schoeffer], 1460 [but ca. 1469]. Second impression (of three) of the original edition, first printed in 1460, in which Gutenberg first used the revolutionary method of two-line printing slugs, thereby finding "a solution to the challenge of permanently fixing typographical compositions" (Needham, p. 432). The Catholicon was not printed with movable type, Gutenberg's first great invention, but with units of paired lines or "slugs." It is an early form of stereotyping or linotype setting. The method was as follows: as composition in type of the Catholicon progressed, a secondary casting was made in units of paired lines or "slugs" in order to allow future… Read More

Venice: Erhard Ratdolt, 1482. First edition. PMM 25 - the oldest textbook in the history of science. First edition of the "oldest mathematical textbook still in common use today" (PMM), This book "has exercised an influence upon the human mind greater than that of any other work except the Bible" (DSB). Euclid's Elements is the only work of classical antiquity to have remained continuously in print, and to be used continuously as a textbook from the pre-Christian era to the 20th century. It is the foundation work not only for geometry but also for number theory. Euclid's Elements of Geometry is a compilation of early Greek mathematical knowledge, synthesized and systematically presented by Euclid in ca. 300 BC. Books I-IV are devoted to plane geometry, Book V deals with the theory of proportions, and Book VI with the similarity of plane figures. Books VII-IX are on number theory, Book X on commensurability and incommensurability, Books XI-XII explore three dimensional geometric objects, and Book XIII… Read More

Paris, 1400. BOOK OF HOURS. Use of Paris)  In French and Latin, illuminated manuscript, on parchment France, Paris, c. 1400-1410 15 large miniatures by the Master of the Bible Historiale MS fr. 159 (as described by Les Enluminures) This beautifully executed and unusual Parisian Book of Hours was painted at the time of the Duke of Berry. The "realism" seen in the illuminations represents a special moment in Parisian art, one exemplifying its northern origins.  The miniatures are attributed to one of the artists responsible for the Bible Historiale also referred to as the Master of the Bible Historiale fr. 159 (Paris, BnF MS fr. 159).  The female patron who ordered the book appears twice in the miniatures. 224 folios, mostly in gatherings of 8 (i12), complete, pastedowns and two flyleaves at front and back, some catchwords, written in a dark brown ink  in a gothic liturgical script, on 14 long lines, by different hands, ff. 82-82v and ff. 219v-223v written by a slightly posterior  hand, ruled… Read More

[8], 206 pp.; [4], 181, [1 blank]; [1], [1 blank], “86” [= 80], [2 blank] pp.A hand-coloured copy of the third French edition of Linschoten's classic illustrated guide for travellers to the East and West Indies, termed by Lach ''the most important of the first-hand accounts published independently of the great travel collections'' (I.198). No other book contained so much useful intelligence on the East and West Indies. Unhindered by the censorship that constrained writers from the Iberian peninsula (details of seas and coasts in Asia and the Americas were military secrets), he included such information as sailing directions, physical descriptions of countries, and statistics on commerce and trade. The work was held in such high regard that for nearly a century, every Dutch ship sailing to Africa and Asia carried a copy of a Dutch edition of Linschoten. The 42 plates (11 large folding) are especially noteworthy, including 6 maps and several bird's-eye views, many with coats of arms of the regions… Read More

Venetiis (Venice): in aedibus Aldi Manutii (Aldus Manutius) for Leonardus Crassus, 1499. early limp vellum, yap edges, paper spine label with title and date. Aldine Press. folio (308 x 212 mm). early limp vellum, yap edges, paper spine label with title and date. a-y8, z10, A-E8, F3. First edition of one of the most celebrated incunables, considered by many to be the most beautiful of all printed Venetian books of the Renaissance. The presumed author, Francesco Colonna, was a Dominican monk of the Zattere at Venice (the author's identity did not become evident until the 18th century when it was noticed that the 38 initials of the individual sections form the famous acrostic: "Poliam Frater Franciscus Columna Peramavit" - Brother Franciscus Columna loved Polia very much). The Hypnertomachia Poliphili was printed in Venice by Aldus Manutius in his re-cut Bembo type, which was cast by Francesco Griffo of Bologna. The book has become extremely rare in recent years and is a highly desired "masterpiece of… Read More

The Great "She" Bible, the "authorized version" or King James Bible, one of the greatest monuments of English literature. This edition is known as the "She" Bible for the reading "She went into the citie" in Ruth 3:15. In this copy he error "Judas" for "Jesus" in Matthew 26:36 is corrected with a pasted-on slip. Fry styles this the "first edition, second issue," though it is more properly the second edition. "The general title is usually dated 1613, though the NT title bears the date 1611. Probably the greater part of the book was printed in 1611, but the publication, for some reason or other, was delayed till 1613. . . . Smith suggests [the delay resulted from] an accident in the printing-office which destroyed a large number of sheets" (Herbert).
One of the masterpieces of the English language, the King James Bible is surely the greatest literary work ever created by committee. In the preface, Miles Smith, one of the dozens of translators, commented on the importance of the work: "Translation it is… Read More

Logroño, Arnão Guillen de Brocar, 1517.. First Edition. Folio (36 x 24.5 cm.), contemporary blind-tooled calf, boards nicely refurbished (but with some recent damage to corners and rubbing to spine); very skillfully rebacked, and with new clasps. Large woodcut on title-page, 2 full-page woodcuts, printer's device below colophon. Gothic letter (Norton types 8:117G, 10:99G, 18:68G), printed in red and black throughout. Minor soiling and stains (including some marginal dampstaining on first few leaves), 4 tiny wormholes touching a few letters per page through quire q. Crisp. In very good to fine condition. Early manuscript record of sale at foot of title, in ink. (2 blank), (26), 254 [i.e., 255], (2 blank) leaves, signed 10, A-B8, a9, b-z8, aa-hh8, ii6. *** FIRST EDITION. This magnificent classic was produced, according to the colophon, at the command of Charles V by his printer Arnão Guillen de Brocar; this is the first intimation we have that Brocar had been appointed royal printer. Later… Read More

ONE OF JUST TWO EARLY MAINZ DONATI RECORDED IN PRIVATE HANDS ¶ PROBABLY THE EARLIEST OFFERED IN ALMOST A CENTURY ¶ POSSIBLY PUBLISHED BEFORE THE GUTENBERG BIBLE --- CCCXX, [8] leaves | 8vo | a-z^8 [us]^8 [con]^8 [rum]^8 A-P^8 | 175 x 113 mm --- A fantastically rare example of the Ars Minor of Aelius Donatus from the earliest years of Mainz printing, being fragments of the ninth leaf of a 33-line edition printed on parchment with the type of the Gutenberg Bible. Sewn as a guard into the middle of the first gathering, between a4 and a5, is a single strip roughly two lines in height; and a second guard sewn in between P4 and P5—the first and last gatherings were commonly so guarded, as they bore the most stress during operation—this one bearing perhaps a little more than a single line of Donatus. Visible between sewing stations at the edges of the spine are eight trapezoidal pieces, representing two discrete halves of the spine's comb lining—one running up the left side, another… Read More

1639. First edition. EXTRAORDINARY SAMMELBAND OF SIX RARE WORKS BY KEPLER - INCLUDING SOMNIUM, HIS 'VOYAGE TO THE MOON'. An extraordinary sammelband, with a remarkable provenance, containing six rare works by Kepler, including the first edition of Somnium, Kepler's imaginary voyage to the moon, in which he utilizes the motions of the planets as they would be seen from the moon to argue for the Copernican system, and gives a remarkable description of the appearance of the earth as seen from the moon - this is Kepler's rarest major work. "At Sagan, Kepler finally began to print a short book whose beginnings went back to his school days at Tübingen: his Somnium, seu astronomia lunari. The 'Dream' is a curiously interesting tract for two reasons. First, its fantasy framework of a voyage to the moon made it a pioneering and remarkably prescient piece of science fiction. Second, its perceptive description of celestial motions as seen from the moon produced an ingenious polemic on behalf of the Copernican… Read More

Leiden: Jan Maire, 1637. First edition. PMM 129 - THE INVENTION OF ANALYTIC GEOMETRY. First edition, a fine, large copy, of Descartes' first and most famous work. Following the Discours, now celebrated as one of the canonical texts of Western philosophy, are three 'Essais', the last of which, La Géométrie, contains the birth of analytical or co-ordinate geometry, "of epoch-making importance" (Cajori, History of Mathematics, p. 174), designated by John Stuart Mill as "the greatest single step ever made in the progress of the exact sciences". It "rendered possible the later achievements of seventeenth-century mathematical physics" (Hall, Nature and nature's laws (1970), p. 91). The first of the Essais, La Dioptrique, contains Descartes' discovery of 'Snell's law' of refraction of light (earlier than Snell); the second, Les Météores, contains Descartes' explanation of the rainbow, based on the optical theories developed in the first Essai. "It is no exaggeration to say that Descartes was the first… Read More

Nuremberg, Anton Koberger, 1483. *** Splendide édition de la Bible, illustrée de 109 gravures sur bois, toutes coloriées à l'époque. L'exemplaire est d'un très beau coloris. Les couleurs utilisées, bleu, jaune, vert, parme, marron sont d'une teinte profonde. La majorité de ces gravures sont apparues dans une édition de la bible, en bas allemand, donnée par Bartholomaeus de Unkel et Heinrich Quentell, à Cologne vers 1478-79. Anton Koberger, plus connu pour son "best seller", de l'époque, la "Chronique de Nuremberg" a fait un usage remarquable de ces illustrations. Elles ont été imitées dans les illustrations des bibles parues par la suite. On y trouve même son influence dans la série de gravures de l'Apocalypse de Dürer parues en 1498. Anton Koberger était du reste le parrain d'Albrecht Dürer, dont la famille habitait la même rue. Tout d'abord orfèvre, Koberger s'installa imprimeur en 1471. Il devint vite le premier imprimeur d'Europe, employant jusqu'à une centaine d'ouvriers,… Read More

Basle: Joannes Hervagius, 1544. First edition. PMM 72 - 'GIVE ME A PLACE TO STAND, AND I WILL MOVE THE EARTH'. First edition of one of the key scientific books of the Renaissance, representing a decisive step forward in the history of mathematics, containing the first printings of the majority of the surviving works of the greatest mathematician, physicist and engineer of antiquity. This book constitutes "the first printing of the original Greek text of seven Archimedean mathematical texts, accompanied by Jacopo de Cremona's Latin translation from a manuscript corrected by Regiomontanus, and the commentaries (in both Greek and Latin) of the sixth-century mathematician Eutocius of Ascalon" (Norman). "Archimedes - together with Newton and Gauss - is generally regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians the world has ever known, and if his influence had not been overshadowed at first by Aristotle, Euclid and Plato, the progress of modern mathematics might have been much faster. As it was, his… Read More

London: [Henry Denham for] William Brome, 1584. First edition. Early calf. Very Good. Extremely rare first edition of this far-reaching exposé that provoked King James, inspired Shakespeare and was the first significant work to document the secrets of illusion and the occult. A magnificent copy from the Biblioteca Lindesiana. The Discoverie of Witchcraft, written by Reginald Scot in 1584, upended many sixteenth-century beliefs in Britain about witches, superstition, spirits and magic. Scot proves that what was believed to be witchcraft was little more than illusion and delusion. Infuriated by a "ridiculous" 1581 witchcraft trial, Scot in The Discoverie challenges popular beliefs about dark magic, providing diagrams documenting the performance of staged illusions previously ascribed to witchcraft (Reid, "The Discoverie of Witchcraft"). The evidence presented in this pivotal work angered political and religious leaders, gave inspiration to literary masters of his era and contributed a blueprint to… Read More

Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 30 July, 1477. Very Early Printing of the Bible and only the second Latin Bible printed by Koberger, 51 lines and headline, double column, canon marginalia in the Gospels. With manuscript headlines in red, a beautiful opening initial of 10 lines with elaborate flourishes that flow from the very top to very bottom of the page in red, blue and green, numerous 6 line initials in red and blue, some with much longer extensions or flourishes, a profusion of 3 line initials in red or blue, red paragraph marks and additional rubricating throughout primarily in red. Royal folio (375 x 265mm approx), in contemporary German blind-stamped pigskin over thick wood boards, (probably a Nuremberg binding), the boards center-paneled and decorated in blind with a central tool within multiple borders, remnants of brass catches on the fore-edge. Manuscript lettering to the spine with wide tall bands. 468 leaves, complete. An unusually fine copy, especially well preserved and very handsome… Read More

Bracciano: Andreas Phaeus, 1630. First edition. EXTREMELY RARE LARGE AND THICK PAPER COPY. First edition, extremely rare large and thick paper copy, of the most lavishly illustrated astronomical work published in the first half of the seventeenth century, with many full-page illustrations of Scheiner's observations of the sun and of the optical instruments he had designed for the purpose. "For his masterpiece, Scheiner produced the first monograph on a heavenly body, the Sun. Even today it is still an impressive volume, with scores of engravings of sunspots and the various instruments needed for solar observations" (Jesuit Science in the Age of Galileo). "Scheiner's drawings in the Rosa Ursina are of almost modern quality, and there was little improvement in solar imaging until 1905" (Britannica). In this work "Scheiner agreed with Galileo that sunspots are on the Sun's surface or in its atmosphere, that they are often generated and perish there, and that the Sun is therefore not perfect. Scheiner… Read More

Italy [Florence], colophon dated 1456-57. 268 x 187 mm. (10 1/2 x 7 3/8"). 176 leaves, COMPLETE, single column, 31 lines alternating red ink for Latin and dark brown ink for Italian translation, in a very fine humanist hand. Contemporary Italian panelled calf over wooden boards, cover with mitered frame of blind rules, inner arabesque roll frame, and central panel diapered in ogival compartments formed by interlacing semi-circular rope tools, raised bands, original clasps replaced with modern hardware, edges gilt and gauffered with chevrons and flowers, expertly rebacked to style. Paragraph marks in red or blue, initial letters of each sentence in contrasting color to main text, running titles in red, 10 ORNATE WHITE VINE INITIALS, the first two very large and extending quite far down the page, the letters burnished gold and skillfully linked with white vines against a pink and green background outlined with blue and further decorated with clusters of white dots (the drawing of a crowned female head… Read More

MEDIEVAL SERMON MANUSCRIPT IN A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY CHAINED BINDING, CHAIN INTACT, decorated manuscript on parchment, in Latin, Austria (Vienna?) or Southern Germany, c. 1275-1300. 182 x 127 mm. 190 folios, complete, written in a rapid Gothic hand with cursive influence in two columns of thirty-two to thirty-seven lines (justification, 141-143 x 96-100 mm.), parchment ruled in brown ink, quire signatures, guide notes for rubrication, red rubrics, capitals and names of cited authorities stroked in red, rhymed phrases underlined in red, red paraphs, two- to three-line plain red initials, two-line red initial with pen flourishing in red (f. 131v), occasional scribal corrections and marginalia. BINDING: Fifteenth-century blind-tooled and -stamped red calf with eight engraved and bossed cornerpieces, intact fore-edge clasp, and chain hasp with intact chain, with two manuscript fragments serving as front flyleaf and lower pastedown. Chained libraries were a late medieval solution to the problem of providing… Read More

Augsburg: Silvan Otmar, 11 June, 1523. SECOND APPEARANCE OF HANS BURGKMAIR'S COMPLETE APOCALYPSE WOODCUT CYCLE. Hardcover. Fine. A very early edition of Luther's December Testament, appearing within six months of the first (Wittenberg, December 1522). With a large title woodcut by Hans Schäufelein, 25 large historiated woodcut initials (numerous repeats) with scenes of the Evangelists writing the Gospels, Paul writing the Epistles, and John writing the Book of Revelations. The Apocalypse is illustrated with 21 large woodcuts by Hans Burgkmair the Elder. The complete cycle first appeared less than three months earlier, in Otmar's edition of 21 March. With a large title woodcut by Hans Schäufelein, 25 large historiated woodcut initials (numerous repeats) with scenes of the Evangelists writing the Gospels, Paul writing the Epistles, and John writing the Book of Revelations. The Apocalypse is illustrated with 21 large woodcuts by Hans Burgkmair the Elder. Bound in contemporary alum-tawed pigskin over… Read More

1537. Augsburg, Alexander Weissenhorn, 1537. Folio. Bound in a late medieval liturgical manuscript-leaf of vellum with handpainted capitals in blue and red, over cardboard-binding, and housed in a vellum-box. Title-page with a small paper-restoration to the blank, outer margin, far from affecting printing or illustration. Light brownspotting throughout, but overall a truly excellent copy with no significant flaws. The woodcuts are all clear bright. (6), CII ff. Large woodcut title-illustration and 18 large woodcut illustrations in the text (measuring 10,8x14,3 cm.). Extremely scarce first edition, first printing (with the 1537-title-page), of the very first translation of the Odyssey into any vernacular language. This monumental work represents a milestone in the history of classical literature and marks the beginning of the dissemination of the Homeric works to a wider Renaissance-audience. Not only is this the first German translation, in the exceedingly scarce first printing, and the first… Read More