Search Results: Titles starting with L from Bernard Quaritch Ltd

Only edition, exceedingly rare (one copy only in the US), of the main extant source for Melanchthon's views on Plato. 'Melanchthon's view of Plato is known primarily from a Latin speech, which he asked Conrad Lagus to deliver' (Hartfelder). The oration was composed by Melanchthon and delivered by the Dean Conrad Lagus as the inauguration address to the University of Wittenberg students on the conferment of their master's degrees. Although the speech was published without Melanchthon's name, his authorship has been universally acknowledged. Plato's life and work are here hailed as a mirror of the perfect philosopher, marked by true love of knowledge, rectitude of conduct, unsurpassed eloquence and richness of style. It is in fact to Plato's 'vague' definition of God as 'mens aeterna, causa boni in natura' that Melanchthon turns in successive works (with qualified approbation in view of Plato's obvious distance from Christianity), in his criticism of the Scholastics' insistence on a philosophical,… Read More

First edition of this Renaissance tragedy in five acts accompanied by the author's essay on the theory on the tragic genre. Zinano, or Zinani, did not produce drama only: three of his best-known works are in fact political essays detailing the prerogatives of various components of a Republic. The Almerigo puts into practice what the theoretical essay outlines as a new aesthetic for playwright: the two principal elements of dramatic success, Zinano states, are the plot (the inventiveness and originality of which must strive to move the audience by taking the action away from simple 'truth') and the diction of the actors, whose rendition has to emphasize the 'pathetic' and moving elements.Provenance: Henry Ward Poole (1825–1890) was an American surveyor, educator and writer on and inventor of systems of musical tuning. He was brother of William Frederick Poole, librarian of the Boston Athenaeum.Allacci 34; Biblioteca Modenese V 427; Clubb 886; Regenstein 640.2 works in 1 vol., 8vo, pp. [x], 191,… Read More

[bound with:] BOUDIER DE VILLEMERT, Pierre-Joseph. Le Monde joué, ou memoires pour servir a l'histoire du genre humain. 'A Berlin' [Paris, Bernard Brunet], 1753. First editions of two scarce works by the philosopher, moralist and Parisian avocat Boudier de Villemert (1716-1801), best known as the author of L'Ami des Femmes. Of Rousseauian inspiration, L'Andrometrie provides a most interesting 'philosophical examination of mankind'. Boudier de Villemert's portrait is far from pretty: man is driven by self interest and worthless passion, is blind to his faults, arrogant, vain and lazy, is more prone to dreaming than reasoning, is forever seeking happiness in the wrong places (in riches, greatness or pleasure), and his enormous published output only proves his mediocrity and ignorance. 'Science, talent, riches, honours - grand words which signify little', the author writes, 'and by little I mean everything that by its nature makes man neither better nor happier' (pp. 57-58, trans). There is an… Read More

12mo, pp. 1-142, [22], 143-146, [168]; small typographical ornament to title; a little uniform browning and some light waterstaining to the lower portion of sheets; contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco lettering-pieces; joints cracked but holding, spine end a little chipped, corners worn, some rubbing and abrasions to the surface; purchase note of Francesco Saverio Esperti dated 1813 to rear end-paper and Esperti's ownership inscription on title.
Rare first edition of the manifesto of Italian Baroque poetry, appearing in the bitterly satirical 'literary feud' between the leading Italian baroque poet Giambattista Marino and his adversary, Gasparo Murtola. Marino, who thrived in his notoriously misbehaving public persona, had been banned from several courts, while his opponent Murtola had enjoyed a formal position with the Savoy… Read More

12mo (136 x 72 mm), pp. [ii], 138, [4, blank]; faint dampstain in foot of last few leaves, upper margins occasionally trimmed a little close, a few light stains, but a good, crisp copy in eighteenth-century Italian mottled sheep, spine gilt; slightly rubbed, joints cracked but holding, some minor restoration. Extremely rare first edition, fourth variant (variant 'V'), of a classic of seventeenth-century erotic literature, the masterpiece of the celebrated satirist Ferrante Pallavicino (1615–1644). Published anonymously in Venice with a fictitious Cambrai imprint, The rhetoric of whores is a ferocious anti-Jesuit work in which the 15 lessons of the standard Jesuit rhetoric textbook, Cipriano Suarez's De arte rhetorica, are turned into lessons given by an experienced old prostitute to her young disciple.
'More than any of his other books, The rhetoric of whores demonstrates why Pallavicino was the only Italian author of his epoch capable of a coherent vision that integrated satire, scepticism, and… Read More

An attractive illustrated edition of twenty-seven of Plutarch's lives, extensively annotated by a Papal tax-collector, in a striking contemporary binding.
The contemporary binding, titled in gilt on the upper board and decorated both in blind and gilt, employs a striking central tool of a vase of flames. Hobson identifies this emblem in renaissance tooling as a symbol of love, whether carnal or spiritual, or of devotion to a patron. Though a frequently used motif, we have not been able to locate any other use of the same tool, other instances showing small handles on the 'hips' of the vase rather than the more elaborate handles found here. The floral roll and the unusual repeated strapwork tool used for the borders are likewise unidentified. For two uses of the same (or very similar) fleur-de-lys and ray, however, see De Marinis 470 and 1207 ter.
Zoppino's Seconda et ultima parte completes for the first time Giorgio Rusconi's Prima parte of 1518; copies are also sometimes found with the later… Read More

First edition, a copy of notable provenance, of perhaps the most successful early Spanish translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, by Pedro Sánchez de Viana (1545–1616), published along with his substantial commentary. In the age of Cervantes (another master of literary transformations), Ovid exerted wide and lasting influence on Spanish literature, uniquely able, among the Latin poets, to echo and clothe in myth and beauty the ambitions and anxieties of a generation of poets caught in a world of deep change. The re-elaboration of themes such as madness, desire, doubt, and self-knowledge in Cervantes and his contemporaries rely on Ovid's imagery and language, and de Viana's translation proved an important cultural transposition. Set out in hendecasyllables in alternate rhyme, the text itself is vivid and memorable. It is the commentary, however, which especially commands attention: sources for interpretation range from classical writers to Medieval scholastics, to more recent philologists including… Read More

Folio, ff. 216; printed in bâtarde type in two columns, title in red and black with a large woodcut in four compartments, the scrolls printed in red, signed with the Lorraine cross, in all 293 text woodcuts from 92 blocks, some larger cuts with woodcut borders on one side, medallion heads of kings and popes, half-length figures, woodcut capitals of varying design, white on black; outer and lower margin of c1 cut shorter, two closed tears in the upper margin of the same leaf, some scattered pinholes, one small wormtrack in the text developing horizontally to a maximum of 20 mm length and 2 mm width then receding, over four quires, occasional very light staining; slight soiling on margins of title, but a very appealing copy in clear dark impression; mid nineteenth-century red morocco, three fleurs-de-lys stamped in gilt on covers, fleur-de-lys stamped in three compartments of spine, the fourth and uppermost lettered in gilt; minor wear, two corners slightly bumped.… Read More

8vo, pp. viii, 229, [1 errata], 1 folding table at end; woodcut head-piece; very occasional light foxing; very good in contemporary calf, gilt fillet border to covers, spine gilt in compartments with lettering-piece, gilt edges, blue paste paper endpapers; some rubbing to extremities; contemporary marginal annotation to p. 193; a nice copy. The apparently unrecorded first issue of this work on Tipu Sultan (1750-1799), ruler of the kingdom of Mysore and implacable enemy of the British East India Company. The only copies recorded institutionally (on ESTC, COPAC, and OCLC) have the title Les indiens, ou Tipou-Sultan, fils D'Ayder-Aly and a 'note indispensable' explaining that the Sultan's true name is 'Tipou-Sultan' and not 'Tippoo-Saïb' and that of his father 'Ayder-Aly' rather than 'Hyder-Ally', but that the work was printed before these corrections could be made. The title-page was clearly updated on most copies, except this one.
After an introduction discussing how the English and French came to… Read More

An attractively bound copy of Ramus's uncommon treatise on Caesar's military tactics, with unusual edge decoration. The humanist Petrus Ramus (1515–1572) published widely on classical history and grammar while teaching at the Collège de France. He was briefly forced from his post after converting to Calvinism in 1562, and was killed during the St Bartholomew's Day massacres. His De militia Caesaris was reprinted several times after its first appearance in 1559 and posthumously promoted, as here, by Ramus's follower Johann Thomas Freige (or Frei, 1543–1583). VD16 L526.8vo, pp. 222, [2]; woodcut printer's devices to title and final page, woodcut initials and head-piece; trimmed close at head in places, occasionally touching running titles, very subtle repair to inner blank margin of title, the odd spot, but an attractive copy; in eighteenth-century German or Austrian red morocco gilt, gilt green paper lettering-piece to spine, edges paste-decorated in blue, marbled endpapers, green ribbon… Read More

10 vols, 16mo, comprising: Geography and Astronomy familiarized (pp. 64, hand-coloured frontispiece of two hemispheres, engraved plate of the solar system); Short and easy Rules for attaining a Knowledge of English Grammar (pp. 64, engraved frontispiece); A Compendium of Simple Arithmetic (pp. 64, with half-title and frontispiece);
Mythology, or fabulous Histories (pp. 63, [1 (ads)]); The History of England from the Conquest to the Death of George II (pp. 64, engraved frontispiece, 30 hand-coloured woodcut portraits in roundels); Scripture History (pp. 32, 32, engraved frontispiece); A Natural History of Birds and Beasts (pp. 32, frontispiece and 15 other leaves of engraved plates, numbered 8, 8); A Familiar Introduction to Botany (pp. 63, [1, blank], half-title, frontispiece and four other engraved plates, all hand-coloured); British Heroism, or biographical Memoirs (pp. 64, frontpiece); Rewards for attentive Studies (pp. 62, [2], half-title, engraved frontispiece, final leaf of ads); fine copies, in… Read More

First edition of this poem in six cantos, with extensive notes, on the disastrous 1755 Lisbon earthquake, by the Oratorian priest and philosopher Almeida (1722-1804). One of the deadliest in history, the earthquake almost totally destroyed the Portuguese capital and accentuated political tensions within the kingdom. It was widely discussed by European Enlightenment philosophers, including Voltaire and Rousseau, and led to important debates around theodicy and philosophical optimism.Almeida was one of the most important figures of the iluminismo in Portugal and spent time in exile in France following the persecution of his congregation by the Marquis of Pombal. He wrote Lisboa destruida soon after the earthquake but it remained in manuscript until 1803, its publication perhaps motivated by the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, which threatened to bring fresh disaster to his country. In his prologue, Almeida refers to Voltaire's Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne as 'obra dictada, naõ pelas Musas… Read More

8vo, pp. [xvi], 234, [10]; author's name stated at end of preface; occasional very light browning or spotting, some very discrete modern pencil annotations and corrections in Italian and English; contemporary mottled calf, gilt panelled spine decorated in compartments, gilt lettering-piece, all edges sprinkled in blue; joints cracked but holding, slight loss to spine ends and to gilt lettering-piece, spine somewhat worn, a few worm-holes affecting only the margins of marbled end-papers; a good copy of a scarce book. 8vo, pp. [xvi], 234, [10]; author's name stated at end of preface; occasional very light browning or spotting, some very discrete modern pencil annotations and corrections in Italian and English; contemporary mottled calf, gilt panelled spine decorated in compartments, gilt lettering-piece, all edges sprinkled in blue; joints cracked but holding, slight loss to spine ends and to gilt lettering-piece, spine somewhat worn, a few worm-holes affecting only the margins of marbled end-papers; a… Read More