Search Results: Titles starting with T from Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Medieval Manuscripts

Paris: Imprimerie Clousier [vol. I] et Lamy [vol. II-V], 1780-86. FIRST EDITION. 540 x 360 mm. (21 1/4 x 14 3/16"). Five volumes.. Contemporary blue marbled paper boards. Allegorical frontispiece engraved by Née after Moreau the Younger in the first volume of plates, half titles and titles engraved, a large folding map of Switzerland, and 277 (of 278) PLATES CONTAINING 428 IMAGES (of 430) engraved by Née and Masquelier after designs by Perignon, Le Barbier, and others (missing plate no. 278, with two vignette portraits of the authors, intended to be the frontispiece to volume I). Brunet V, 1546; Cohen-de Ricci 1075-6. ◆Paper boards chipped at the edges and quite chafed, two spines with noticeable tears (though all paper still present), corners bumped, but the apparently original bindings remarkably solid and otherwise very well preserved, especially given their insubstantial materials. Occasional minor foxing or marginal smudges, isolated mild toning (a couple of plates a bit browned), otherwise… Read More

Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royal, 1679, 1676. Second Edition of the first work (but the first for sale to the public); FIRST EDITION of the second work. 482 x 340 mm. (19 x 13 1/2"). 1 p.l., 14 pp; 1 p.l., 11, [1] pp. Two works in one volume. . 19th century half calf over marbled boards, raised bands, red morocco label (older repairs to joints, hinges reinforced with linen). Title page with royal arms, elaborate headpieces and initials, and 44 VERY LARGE AND IMPRESSIVE ENGRAVED PLATES WITH BEAUTIFUL (modern) HAND COLORING, six of these double-page or folding, captioned in French and Latin. Front pastedown with 19th century engraved armorial bookplate of Rycroft and a rather feminine cipher ex-libris incorporating the letter R; front free endpaper inscribed "Lady Rycroft" in pencil; title page of Part II with tipped-on handwritten note in English about the Grotto. For the second work: Millard I, 69. ◆Paper boards somewhat chafed, joints and extremities a bit rubbed, but the binding solid. A touch of… Read More

Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1840. FIRST EDITION, from a printing of perhaps only 750 copies. With page 213 in the second volume numbered correctly, and page 219 with the "i" in "-ing" and the hyphen in "attributes" both misaligned. 200 x 117 mm. (8 x 4 1/2"). Two volumes.. Publisher's brown muslin, very expertly re-cased, preserving most of original backstrip and cloth covering, replica printed paper labels, new (well-chosen) endpapers. BAL 16133; Heartman & Canny, pp. 49-54; Day, "History of American Literature" I, p. 148. ◆Spines and heads of boards faintly sunned, extremities a little rubbed, with minor fraying in spots, but the expertly restored bindings very tight and generally pleasing. First volume with lower third of each leaf lightly dampstained (a bit darker at very front and back, otherwise faint), intermittent foxing and occasional minor stains elsewhere in both volumes. Not without significant internal condition issues, but still appealing when judged against competing copies of… Read More

London: George G. Harrap & Co, 1935. No. 36 OF 460 COPIES SIGNED BY THE ILLUSTRATOR, 450 of which were for sale. 272 x 197 mm. (10 5/8 x 7 3/4"). 317, [1] pp. Publisher's special binding of gilt-decorated vellum over boards, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed and about one-third UNOPENED. In the original (somewhat scuffed and worn) blue paperboard slipcase with paper title label to spine. Half title and title vignettes in gold, 11 illustrations in the text, and 29 plates (12 in color and mounted) by Arthur Rackham. Latimore & Haskell, pp. 72-73; Houfe, p. 424; Hudson, p. 172. ◆One corner rather bumped, otherwise A LOVELY COPY--clean, fresh, and bright internally, in a binding remarkably free of the soiling and splaying that usually affects vellum books like this one. While Rackham did illustrations for a great many books, Houfe observes that he concentrated "particularly [on] those of a mystical, magic, or legendary background," a fact that makes his work on Poe's "Tales of Mystery and… Read More

[London, 1931]. 307 x 215 mm. (12 x 8 1/2"). 40 pp., [1] leaf (colophon). DAZZLING CRIMSON CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT, INLAID, AND BEJEWELLED, BY SANGORSKI & SUTCLIFFE (stamp-signed on rear turn-in), covers with inlaid light blue morocco border, blue Celtic knot strapwork at middle of each side and at corners, those on upper cover with a ruby or sapphire at center, those on lower cover with a circle of red or blue morocco at center, cornerpieces connected by a graceful loop to the blue morocco strip framing the central oval panel, the spaces between the strapwork ornaments and the inner and outer frames filled with pointillé gilt compartments tooled with gilt vines bearing inlaid white morocco flowers (upper cover) or purple morocco thistles (lower cover), a recessed medallion of green morocco at center of upper cover set WITH BURNS' INITIALS IN METAL ENCRUSTED WITH 80 JEWELS (40 CABOCHON RUBIES AND 40 CABOCHON SAPPHIRES) of varying sizes, central oval panel on lower cover with gilt lyre at center… Read More

Paris: Devambez, 1918. No. 287 OF 475 COPIES, from a total issue of 500. 470 x 375 mm. (18 1/2 x 14 3/4"). 1 p.l. followed by plates. Loose as issued within original wrappers and housed in publisher's paper board folio (spine repaired with shipping tape), upper cover with hand-colored lithograph vignette, original (somewhat worn but intact) tri-color silk ribbon ties. With illustrated title page and 10 HAND-COLORED PLATES IN POCHOIR. Rear board with "can't dupl." in black marking pen. ◆Corners and edges somewhat worn, just a hint of soiling to boards, but a very desirable copy, the inelegantly repaired portfolio with obvious condition issues, but the richly colored plates--the important part of this item--especially clean, fresh, and well preserved in general. This is a copy of French caricaturist and illustrator Guy Arnoux's vivid homage to those musical instruments and musicians leading the French into battle from the Revolution through World War I. Arnoux (1886-1951) illustrated almost 80… Read More

London: G. G. Harrap & Co, 1911. No. 187 OF 525 COPIES SIGNED BY THE ARTIST. 287 x 193 mm. (11 1/4 x 7 1/2"). [204] pp.Translated in Poetic Narrative Form by T. W. Rolleston. Publisher's full gray leather, upper cover with blind-stamped lyre/staff/rose ornament and title, smooth spine with title in blind, background leather stippled, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. IN THE ORIGINAL (slightly soiled) PICTORIAL BOX. LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED BY WILLY POGÁNY, with illustrated title and half title printed in colors, frames and decorations on every page of text, numerous vignettes in the text, 44 full-page illustrations( these predominantly printed in black and orange, but some also with gray-green and blue ink, all on toned paper), small mounted color insert to frontispiece, and 16 MOUNTED COLOR PLATES. Inside cover of box with bookplate of "P. W." ◆A hint of rubbing to extremities and head and tail of spine, free endpapers with minor offsetting from turn-ins, but AN ESPECIALLY… Read More

London: Engraved by G. Terry and Sold by T. Longman, London and W. Wilson, Dublin, 1783. Second, Corrected Edition. 260 x 155 mm. (10 1/4 x 6"). XXVII, 289 pp., [4] leaves (index). Contemporary half calf over marbled boards, flat spine divided into panels by gilt rules, red morocco label (very neat repair to head of front joint and top of spine). Engraved title page (with vignette) and dedication leaf, large folding map of Ireland, and 289 engraved maps. Title page with early ink signature of Jos. Sabine[?]. Moreland & Bannister, p. 190; Tooley, "Maps and Mapmakers," p. 94. ◆Small signs of age and wear to the binding (including slight crackling and nicks to the spine), folding map with faint dampstain to tail margin, two negligible ink spots to blank area on the map of the Irish Sea, but A VERY APPEALING COPY, quite clean and remarkably fresh internally, and in an entirely solid period binding. This is the second, corrected edition of the first comprehensive road atlas of Ireland, offered here in… Read More

Augustae Vindelicorum [Augsburg]: Conradum Henricum Stage, 1764. Second Edition in Latin. 208 x 160 mm. (8 1/8 x 6 1/4"). 9 p.l., 262 pp.Translated from French into Latin by Joseph Claude Destouches. VERY ATTRACTIVE LATE 18TH CENTURY ETRUSCAN CALF IN THE STYLE OF EDWARDS OF HALIFAX, covers with gilt border, central panel framed by stencilled palmettes within double gilt rules, an Etruscan-style vase at center within a stencilled sunburst, raised bands, spine panels with blind-stamped Etruscan vase, black morocco label, gilt-rolled turn-ins, all edges gilt. With printer's elaborate engraved device on title page, engraved portrait of Elector Maximilian-Joseph of Bavaria at the head of the dedication to him, engraved allegorical headpiece at the opening of Book I, wood-engraved tailpieces at end of each section. ◆Small wormhole near head of front joint, two corners a bit bumped, minor foxing to title and final page, other trivial imperfections, but QUITE A FINE, WIDE-MARGINED COPY, clean, fresh, and… Read More

Hagenau: Heinrich Gran for Johann Rynmann of Augsburg, 1507. FIRST EDITION. 300 x 205 mm. (11 3/4 x 8 1/8"). [165] leaves (lacking final blank). Double column, 57 lines, gothic type. Contemporary German blind-stamped pigskin over bevelled wooden boards, front cover with frame and central diapered area with round floral and banner stamps, rear boards diapered with stag and acorn stamps, evidence of corner and central bosses, since removed, raised bands, ink titling on spine. Capitals struck with red, paragraph marks and three- to seven-line initials hand painted in red. Front pastedown with bookplate of the Abbey of Andechs; early ink ownership inscription of the Abbey on title page. VD16 P1160; USTC 696152. ◆Pigskin on front cover a uniform milky brown (corners and center of boards much lighter due to removed bosses), first and last leaves with minor marginal soiling, final quire with a couple of short cuts to head margin of leaves (well away from text), otherwise quite a fine copy--clean, fresh,… Read More

Abbey of St. Oyan at St.-Claude du Jura, France, ca. 1175. 245 x 158 mm. (9 3/4 x 6 1/4"). Single column of text with two columns of gloss, text column with 26 lines in a fine proto-gothic book hand. Verso with scant remnants of mounting tape in a couple of places along one edge. See Gwara, Handlist no. 77. ◆Upper margin of fore edge unevenly trimmed away (but no text lost), a dozen-and-a-half small, round wormholes (touching just a couple letters), light soiling to edges and other minor imperfections, but still IN FINE CONDITION, the vellum very clean, and the ink dark and legible. The most important innovation in biblical scholarship during the 12th century was the development of the "Glossa Ordinaria" to the Bible. Drawing on the whole earlier tradition of biblical exegesis, but especially that of Latin patristic writers like Augustine and Jerome, scholars working in the French cathedral schools of Laon and Paris systematized this material in an apparatus of marginal and interlinear glosses… Read More

Italy, 1429. 323 x 173 mm. (12 3/4 x 6 3/4"). Single column, 60 lines in a neat cursive script. Notarial signature at lower left; verso with a date and notations in contemporary hands. ◆Vellum trimmed a little close, four horizontal and three vertical fold creases, slight darkening to verso, five very small holes (no text obscured) and one larger (naturally-occurring) hole in the text, otherwise in excellent condition with a very clear hand. This is a notarized document recording an agreement made between the chapel and convent (i.e. the whole community) of the house of St. John, a group of female religious located in the parish of St. Peter, and the brothers of Bonsignioribus, another religious house in the parish of St. Laurence Major. The women of St. John agree to pay to the brothers of Bonsignioribus a sum of 11 libras, 8 soldas, and 9 denarios. The reason for this payment is unclear, pending further investigation into some of the more abbreviated portions of the text. The document is of… Read More

Northern France [probably Paris], ca. 1460s. 130 x 98 mm. (5 1/8 x 3 7/8"). Single column, recto with 18 lines of text in a very fine gothic book hand. Text in red, blue, and gold, "KL" in blue with white tracery and on a burnished gold ground and infilled with ivy leaves in blue, orange, and white, BOTH SIDES WITH A PANEL BORDER, EACH WITH A ROUNDEL DEPICTING THE ZODIAC SIGN AND LABOR OF THE MONTH, placed amidst a tangle of acanthus leaves in blue, red, and brushed gold. ◆Recto with a little general soiling, the roundel lightly abraided, and a noticeable smudge to the top of the panel border, but the verso quite clean with just a little discoloration to margins and the "KL" offset from facing page, the roundel on this side in excellent condition with just one or two very small scratches. This leaf comes from a large fragment of a beautifully executed little Book of Hours done by very sophisticated artists whose illumination in general--and zoomorphic inhabitation in particular--is extremely… Read More

Paris, ca. 1460. 195 x 143 mm. (7 3/4 x 5 1/2"). Single column, 16 lines in a gothic book hand. Minor feast days in red and blue, major feasts in gold, numerous gold and painted line fillers, the five "A" initials and the "KL" highly decorative and painted pink and blue against a gold background, gold and pink bar surrounding the text on three sides, BOTH SIDES OF THE LEAF WITH EXTRAVAGANTLY DECORATIVE BOTANICAL FULL BORDERS with two small birds hidden within, and INCORPORATING TWO MEDALLION MINIATURES DEPICTING THE LABOR OF THE MONTH (SOWING) AND THE SIGN OF THE ZODIAC (SCORPIO) FOR OCTOBER. ◆IN VERY FINE, FRESH CONDITION, with gold and paint extraordinarily bright. The extraordinarily lavish and animated full borders, coupled here with extensive use of brushed and burnished gold--for major feast days, for decorative border elements, and even for the hundreds of seeds being sown(!)--suggests that this calendar folio comes from a Book of Hours that was commissioned for a person or persons of high… Read More

Italy, ca. 1150. 406 x 273 mm. (16 x 10 3/4"). Double column, 42 lines in a fine rounded early proto-gothic hand. With rubrics in red, one three-line initial "I," and A PANELLED 13-LINE INITIAL "F" (all of these on the very faded recto and, consequently, indistinct). ◆Formerly used in a binding, with text on the recto unreadable, the verso with a narrow band of darkening along one edge (not obscuring text), edges very wormed (but 90 percent of the worming in the margin, with very little damage to the text); some obvious condition problems, but the large and beautiful script on one of the sides entirely legible and certainly very pleasing. This leaf comes from a very large copy of one of the major texts by one of the great popes of the early Middle Ages, and it is notable for the spaciousness and elegance of its script. The sermon here is based on the Gospel reading for Easter Sunday, John 20:1-9, which reports Mary Magdalene's discovery of the empty tomb and her running to tell the apostles what… Read More

Bruges, ca. 1465. 181 x 127 mm. (7 1/8 x 5"). Single column, 19 lines in a careful, pleasing gothic book hand. In a very attractive new gilt wooden frame. Rubrics in pink (or faded red), one two-line initial in blue, magenta, and burnished gold, two lines with undulating line fillers in blue and gold, both sides of the leaf with a three-quarter panel border incorporating foliage, blossoms, and ivy leaves on hairline stems, the vertical part of this frame with a bar border composed of colors and burnished gold terminating at top and bottom in colorful acanthus leaves, and WITH TWO SMALL BUT VERY PLEASING MINIATURE PAINTINGS, SAINT ELIZABETH ON THE RECTO AND SAINT GERTRUDE ON THE VERSO. ◆Tiny worm(?)hole in fore edge (where it has done negligible damage), small portions of the blue paint in the Elizabeth miniature eroded (gray paint slightly smeared as well, but apparently at the time of painting), otherwise in fine, clean, fresh condition. This leaf is characteristic work from the circle of Willem… Read More

Northern France [probably Paris], ca. 1460s. 130 x 98 mm. (5 1/8 x 3 7/8"). Single column, 14 lines in a fine gothic book hand. Attractively matted. The text similarly decorated as in the previous entry, but with the panel border on the verso inhabited by a leaping dog, the same side WITH A GOLD-FRAMED MINIATURE (measuring 35 x 33 mm.) OF SAINT CLAUDE OF BESANÇON attired in his bishop's regalia, standing in a hallway between two arch-topped doors, reading a book. ◆A fine, fresh leaf, with only the vaguest sense of soiling. Born in 603 and living well into his 90s, Saint Claude (or Claudius) became Archbishop of Besançon in 685 and after his death was so popular that his shrine became one of the major destinations for pilgrims in France, the town where he was buried actually changing its name from Condate to Saint Claude. Lore surrounding this saint strains credulity, and the historian Henry Wace has said that "on this saint the inventors of legends have compiled a vast farrago of… Read More

Northern France [probably Paris], ca. 1460s. 130 x 98 mm. (5 1/8 x 3 7/8"). Single column, 14 lines in a fine gothic book hand. Attractively matted. The text similarly decorated as in the previous entry, but with the panel border on the verso inhabited by a long-necked hybrid beast, the same side WITH A FINE, SMALL MINIATURE (measuring 35 x 33 mm.) OF SAINT ANTHONY THE GREAT, the Desert Father seated on a broad wooden bench beneath a red and gold canopy, one hand upraised in blessing, the other holding an open book, the saint flanked on either side by a fierce demon, one raising a stick with which to beat him, and in the foreground, a pig sniffing around the saint's feet. ◆Minor loss of paint in a small spot on the miniature, affecting the head of one demon, one initial faintly blurred, otherwise fresh, clean, and altogether pleasing. This is a memorably animated miniature showing the father of Christian monasticism serenely ignoring the demons sent to taunt and tempt him. The patron saint of… Read More

France, second half of the 13th century. Each leaf measures 330 x 240 mm. (13 x 9 3/8"). Double column, 38 lines of text in a proto-gothic hand. Rubrics in red, running title and numerous paragraph marks in red and blue, one leaf with one two-line initial in blue with red pen flourishes. Margins with several text corrections, one leaf with a catch-word. ◆Faint soiling and a few negligible stains touching text (not affecting legibility), but overall FINE SPECIMENS with very few flaws. Containing part of a popular treatise on the Vices, these well-preserved and attractive large format leaves come from a manuscript that may have been contemporary to the life of the author, William Perault (ca. 1190-1270). Although the so-called "Seven Deadly Sins" that we still recognize today remained a popular moral paradigm throughout the Middle Ages, it was by no means canonical. Authors were free to borrow, manipulate, and elaborate on the topic at will, resulting in a profusion of treatises and competing… Read More

Paris, ca. 1460. Leaf: 195 x 144 mm. (7 3/4 x 5 5/8"); frame: 420 x 345 mm. (16 1/2 x 13 1/2"). Single column, 13 lines in a fine gothic book hand. With gold frame and cream matting, both sides with glass. Rubrics in burnished gold, one inhabited initial with the image of a winged beast painted pink and white on a gold ground, a gold and pink bar surrounding the text on three sides, EACH SIDE WITH EXTRAVAGANTLY DECORATIVE FULL BORDERS of acanthus leaves, flowers, vegetation, vinestem work, and gold bezants, INCORPORATING TWO ROUNDEL MINIATURES DEPICTING THE LIFE OF ST. ALEXIUS. ◆Two of the faces in the roundels a little chipped, remains of mounting tape just visible on inner edge, otherwise A FINE LEAF, extremely clean, with sparkling gold. The extraordinarily lavish and animated full borders, coupled here with extensive use of brushed and burnished gold, suggest that this leaf comes from a Book of Hours that was commissioned for a person or persons of high rank, since it would have been very… Read More