16th Century Literature

London. William Pickering. 1825. Sumptuously bound in period Full scarlet crushed levant morocco. Blind rules to front and rear covers with gilt tooled harp device. Ornate gilt tooled fleural and harp motifs to spines. Gilt titles. Elaborate gilt tooled inner-dentelles. Elaborate gilt-tooled edges. aeg. Octoavo. (182 x 111mm), The very rare and significant 'Wreath Edition', containing the attributed works and Samuel Johnson's classic preface. Illustrated with a Frontis engraving. Some mild soiling to various covers. A Fine, crisp very appealing set. Jaggard p. 516; Lowndes 3, 2266.

Full calf. Probable first issue of the Stowe Edition with Chaucer's arms dated 1560 and before woodcut additions. Relative to the precedence of issues of the 1561 Stowe edition David R. Carlson ("The Woodcut Illustrations in Early Printed Editions of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales," in Chaucer Illustrated: Five Hundred Years of The Canterbury Tales in Pictures [British Library, 2003]) states "the most plausible explanation seems to be that the printer and publisher of the [Stowe] edition, came into possession of the woodcuts belatedly after most of the press work for the edition had been done. After obtaining the blocks, they ran up a new issue of the beginning of the book, incorporating a "General Prologue" illustrated with woodcut. In all documented cases, the unillustrated [i.e. first]"General Prologue" occurs with a title page showing the Chaucer arms, dated 1560 at the top of the shield. A different title-page, dated 1561, is found in copies incorporating the [woodcut] illustrated… Read More

Richard Le Gallienne (1866–1947) produced a verse translation, subtitled "a paraphrase from several literal translations", in 1897. In his introductory note to the reader, Le Gallienne cites McCarthy's "charming prose" as the chief influence on his version.New York: John Lane The Bodley Head, MDCCCXCVII. This Edition consists of 1,250 copies of which this is number 601, signed by Richard De Gallienne.Publicatin; Done into types and printed for John Lane by Will Bradly at the Wayside Press, Springfield, Massachusetts, in November , MDCCCXCVII (1897) stated on last page. 107 pages all in tact, no writing, no tears, clear, bright text. Some yellowing on pacedowns and free end papers, text pages very clean. Cream Boards, one chip on front, spine is solid and intact, top and bottom corners bumped. A perfect copy for restoration.

Black Beauty is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid. The novel became an immediate best-seller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, but having lived long enough to see her only novel become a success. With fifty million copies sold, Black Beauty is one of the best-selling books of all time. While forthrightly teaching animal welfare, it also teaches how to treat people with kindness, sympathy, and respect. Throughout, Sewell rails - in a gentle, 19th-century way - against animal maltreatment. Young readers will follow Black Beauty's fortunes, good and bad, with gentle masters as well as cruel. Children can easily make the leap from horse-human relationships to human-human relationships, and begin to understand how their own consideration of others may be a benefit to all.
Green clot, embossed with horse and rider on front, horse is black, female rider in gold, gold… Read More

London: Printed by Will Bowyer, MDCCXXXI [1731]. Hard Cover. 8vo; xiv, [4], 240, 245-254 pages, 12 engraved plates, portrait front. (A-Q8, R5). Translated by Theodore Bathurst (d. 1651); published by John Ball. Added title-page in English: The Shepherd's Calendar. English and Latin texts on facing pages. ESTC T135116; Alston III.67; NUC 561: 495. Spenser's English work was first published in 1579 and dedicated to Sir Phillip Sidney; this Latin translation was first published in 1663. Bound in contemporary full calf; spine worn, hinges tender; interior VG. Stock#OB122.

Hardcover. Fine. 4to. Bound in 20th-century 1/4-vellum over marbled boards. Strasbourg: Matthias Schürer, July 1510. Second Strasbourg edition of Erasmus heavily annotated collection of Greek and Latin proverbs. Printed in Roman and Greek types. This is the original version, containing 818 adages, which is considerably shorter than the later expanded versions published under the title Adagiorum chiliades. (Adams E-420; Bezzel, Erasmusdrucke, 50; Van der Haeghen, Bibliotheca Erasmiana, p.25-6; Bibl. Belgica II, 276: no. E.61; Muller, Strasbourg II, p. 179, no. 45.) The Adagia could only have been possible in the new world of European education, in which careful attention to a broader range of classical texts produced a much fuller picture of the literature of antiquity. Its impact has been long lasting. Such popular expressions such as one step at a time, between a rock and a hard place, break the ice, an iron in the fire, looking a gift horse in the mouth, and many other sayings can trace their… Read More

London: London: printed [by Henry Denham] in Aldersgate street at the signe of the Starre, 1587. 2nd Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. Second edition; large folio; 3 volumes bound into 2 physical volumes. Vol. 1: [10], 250; [4], 202, [2]pp. Vol. 2: 61, [13], 183, [1]; 421, 424-430, 436-438, 431-433, 439-445, 450-464, [56]pp. Vol. 3: [8], 1080, 1080-1327, [2], 1332-1371, 1371-1421, 1490-1491, 1536-1555, 1574-1592, [62]pp. Mismatching set. Volumes 1-2 bound in 17th century reversed calf (somewhat worn with a few old repairs, hinges cracked, corners and spine ends worn with minor loss), blind rolls to margins of boards, spine with five raised bands, gilt-lettered red leather spine label to second compartment and additional hand-written leather spine label to third compartment, housed in attractive custom-made clam-shell box in red half leather over marbled boards with five raised spine bands and gilt lettering direct to spine in second compartment. Unobtrusive creasing and wear to opening and… Read More

1499 Mantuanus Poetry + 1507 Satires of Persius Post-Incunable Satyrae ROME Roce

Along with Juvenal, Persius was one of the greatest 1st century Roman satirists. His works consisted of elements of stoicism and were greatly influenced by Horace and Juvenal, in fact the satires of both Juvenal and Persius are often found published together. In his 'Satires', Persius sought a few major philosophical ideas:
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important questions to ask the gods
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the meaning of life
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the importance of gaining knowledge
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freedom through Stoicism
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the proper use of money

This 1507 post-incunable printing of Persius's 'Satyrae' was published in Paris by Jean Barbier and Denis Roce. This edition was edited by Giovanni Britannico, a 15th-century grammarian who is best known for his edition of Persius.

This book is bound with another early Roce printing of Baptista Mantuanus poetry. Mantuanus was a Carmelite poet whose 15th-century works were influential during the Protestant… Read More

1571 Fabricius Virorum Illustrium Famous Lives ROME Josephus Tacitus Strabo

"Death comes to all, But great achievements raise a monument, Which shall endure until the sun grows old."
– Georg Fabricius

Georg Fabricius was an important 16th-century Protestant German author who is responsible for some of the best editions of Greek and Roman classics such as Terence, Virgil, and Horace. And while his commentary on classical literature is without a doubt his best work, he is also known for a study on the history of Christian religion. He published a number of sacred poems as well in which he sought to completely avoid all traces of paganism.

This 1571 printing of 'Virorum Illustrium' includes many of his sacred poems, but is desirable for his biographical sketches of notable church fathers, historians, and Roman rulers including:
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Africanus
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Appian
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Florus
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Josephus
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Justin Martyr
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Thucydides
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Prudentius
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Xenophon
·… Read More

1565 Charles IX Great Ordinance of 1561 France French LAW & Government Chalard

In 1561, when Charles IX ascended the French throne, he led a series of 151 articles compromising the Great Ordinance of 1561. French scholar Joachim Chalard published his own commentary and perspective on the ordinances, notes that deal primarily with the corruption within the government. He also discusses the deplorable acts of Catholic clergy, unlawful taxation, trade regulations, the nobility, and the use of military.

This 1565 edition is considered exceptionally rare. According to Baudrier, the Clement Baudin editions were much scarcer than those published by Giochard or Rigaud.

Item number: #7521
Price: $795
CHALARD, Joachim du

Sommaire exposition des ordonnances du roy Charles IX. Sur les plaintes des trois Estats de son royaume, tenus à Orleans, l'an M.D.LX. Par Joachim Du Chalard, advocat au Grand Conseil, natif de La Souterraine, en Limousin.
A Lyon : Par Clement Baudin., 1565.

Details:
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Collation:… Read More

1553 Crescenzi Agriculture HERBAL Botany Hunting Italian Wine Ruralia Commoda

An exceedingly rare 16th-century edition of Petrus Crescentiis's history of agriculture. Crescentiis (or Crescenzi) was a 13th-century horticulturist known for his famous writings on agriculture. 'Ruralia Commoda' was written between 1304-09 and would become the first printed text on agriculture in 1471. It would see nearly 60 editions throughout the next century. (Anderson).
This work was an important aid to gardeners in the 16th-century century for providing information on care for plants, astronomers and their research on the skies, and even bizarre instances of 'man-plants'! Crescenzi also discussed husbandry, hunting and trapping, and wine making. Incredibly rare and important – only one copy of this book is found in institutional libraries in the United States!
Item number: #10042
Price: $1950
CRESCENTIIS, Petrus de
Opera di agricoltura: nellaqual si contiene à che modo si debbe coltiuar la terra: seminare,… Read More

1589 ENORMOUS LAW Corpus Juris Civilis Justinian Codex Digest Godefroy 6v SET

"Freedom is the natural ability of everyone to do what he likes, unless it is prohibited by law or by force."
― Justinian I
Justinian's 'Corpus Juris Civilis' is unquestionably the fundamental work on law and jurisprudence! Parts of this work were originally intended to be used by law students, but they were not solely used as a textbook – they carried legal weight …as law! It includes four distinct parts – Codex, Digest, Institutes, and Novellae – each written with a different purpose.
'Digest' or 'Pandectae' is a collection of juristic treatises taken from various legal writings of Ulpian and Paulus. 'Codex'
was the Justinian's attempt at organizing the laws in a systematic manner – each of these works is included in this enormous 16th-century six-volume edition.
The Godefroy editions of this iconic work were influential in the law field well into the 20th-century. While Godefroy was known as a jurist, his… Read More

1545 Saint Venerable BEDE Bible & Commentary English Monk Church Cosmology

Saint Venerable Bede was an English monk during the 7th- and 8th-centuries. He is most remembered for his ecclesiastical work on the history of English people, in which he discusses the establishment and growth of the church throughout the known world. He also wrote important commentaries on the books of the Bible. This work explains relevant Biblical passages, as well as describes the allegorical notes of Church Fathers. However, he did not write exclusively of church theology. He also wrote on the development of time and ideas of cosmology.
This 16th-century Latin edition was published in Paris by Roigny. An impressive, three-volume folio set!

Item number: #11735
Price: $3500
BEDE, Saint Venerable
Venerabilis Bedae presbyteri theologi doctissimi juxta ac sanctissimi, commentationum in Sacras Literas, tomus primus : in quo ea maximè quae Veteris Testamenti sunt, ita perspicuè ac dilucidè enarrantur, ut inter… Read More

8° (mm 153x104); cc. (46). Al frontespizio, bellissima silografia raffigurante un erudito nel suo studiolo. Testo in carattere romano, diposto su due colonne. Piccoli capilettera silografici. Marocchino nero giansenista: titolo al dorso, dentelles interne e taglî in oro. Copia molto bella.Extremely rare Italian version - probably based on the first Italian translation of the previous year (Venice, Zorzi di Rusconi, 1514) - of this famous novel, one of the masterpieces of early Spanish literature. Rarissimo volgarizzamento – verosimilmente coniato sulla prima traduzione italiana dell'anno precedente (Venezia, Zorzi di Rusconi, 1514) – "di questo celebre romanzo, tra i capolavori della letteratura spagnola; e pubblicato per la prima volta a Siviglia nel 1492. Esso apre l'interpretazione delle posteriori raffigurazioni letterarie in materia d'amore: influì sulla Celestina, sull'Amadigi di Gaula, sulla Diana, sulla Galatea e sugli episodi sentimentali del Don Chisciotte" (C.A. Chiesa, Libri… Read More

THE WORKS OF MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR IN SIX VOLUMES: ADORN'D WITH CUTS was published in 1709 by Jacob Tonson & edited by Nicholas Rowe. They are the 1st edition of Shakespeare's plays published after the four folios. These are the first illustrated edition of Shakespeare's plays, 1st edition to indicate acts, scenes & dramatis personae, 1st to provide stage directions, 1st to include a formal biography of Shakespeare. Also includes THE WORKS OF MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR. VOLUME THE SEVENTH. CONTAINING VENUS & ADONIS, TARQUIN & LUCRECE AND HIS MISCELLANY POEMS published in 1710 by Edmund Curll. "The significance of the 'volume the seventh' as has been generally understood, is in the fact that the book was intended as a supplementary volume to be sold to purchasers of the set of Rowe's Works of Shakespeare" (Alden, 1916). This octavo set is bound in full calf, with gilt & blind tooled covers, gilt tooled spines with five raised bands, gilt titles to spines. Frontispiece & plates present all volumes. The… Read More