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

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

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

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

1584 Medicine & Surgery Augenio Curandi Renaissance Plague Bloodletting Galen

An important, 16th-century medical treatise by Orazio Augenio! 'De Ratione Curandi' includes a wide variety of medical topics but most famously covers the use and benefits of bloodletting. Known as one of the best Italian physicians of the Renaissance, Augenio incorporated his fondness of Galen into his philosophy-based practice – practices that regularly treated the plague and neuropathology.

Item number: #7490
Price: $1950
AUGENIO, Orazio
De ratione curandi per sanguinis missionem, libri decem: in quibus extirpatis erroneis opinionibus passim hodie apud nonnullos vigentibus, omnia ad hoc argumentum pertinentia, secundum Galeni doctrinam explanantur

Taurini [Turin]: Apud Io. Baptistam Ratterium, 1584.

Details:
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Collation: Complete with all text pages
o [52], 473, [3]
o Signatures: a-d4 2d4 e4 f2 A-Z4 2A-2Z4 3A-3N4 3O2
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References: USTC 811410; Edit16 3374; not in Adams or BMC;
·… 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

London, printed by Adam Islip, at the charges of Thomas Wight, 1598.. In this Impression you shall find these Additions: 1, His Portraiture and Progenie shewed. 2, His Life collected. 3, Arguments to every Booke gathered. 4, Old and obscure Words explaned. 5, Authors by him cited, declared. 6, Difficulties opened. 7, Two Bookes of his never before printed. SIXTH EDITION, THE FIRST EDITION OF CHAUCER to be edited by Thomas Speght 1598. Folio bound in sixes, approximately 305 x 200mm, 12 x 8 inches, engraved portrait frontispiece of Chaucer surrounded by a genealogical chart of his "Progenie" title page within architectural border, 3 highly decorated divisional title pages, full page arms on verso of A6, woodcut illustration of the Knight at the head of the Knight's Tale, decorative initials, small coat of arms on the second leaf of the Life of Chaucer, text in double columns and black letter. Pages: [54], 1-394, [1], [26]. A Catalogue of Translations by John Lidgate, of The Old and… Read More

1639 GREEK Philosophy Demophilus Philostratus Democrates Latin Lucas Holstenius

Lucas Holstenius was a 17th-century historian whose principal works were biographical sketches of ancient philosophers and humanists. One of his works contains commentary and notes on the lives and work of ancient Greek figures Demophilus, Philostratus, and Democrates.
Item number: #17789
Price: $599
Lucas Holstenius

Demophili, Democratis Et Secundi, Veterum Philosophorum Sententia Morales
Lugduni Batavorum : Maire, 1639.

Details:
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Collation: Complete with all pages
o 120
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Language: Latin / Greek
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Binding: Vellum; tight and secure
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Size: ~5in X 3in (12.5cm x 7.5cm)
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17789Photos available upon request.

4° (mm 185x135); cc. LXXIIII. Caratteri gotici; titolo e anno impressi in rosso, entro cornice silografica a quattro scomparti e con bellissimo legno centrale; al verso dell'ultima carta, marca tipografica silografica. Legatura ottocentesca in mezza pelle. Bell'esemplare, nonostante i margini non amplissimi.
Very rare edition of the earlier Spanish sentimental romance, originally published in Valencia in 1513.
About the authorship of Qüestión de amor, one of the most intriguing among the Spanish sentimental romances:
"In a series of articles on the authorship of the earlier sentimental romance Qüestión de amor, I suggested first that the anonymous author was a member of the aristocratic Cardona family (1994a) basing this attribution on a series of clues deeply imbedded within the text itself – in other words, evidence interior to the work. Furthermore, I suggested that the author was the poet Alonso de Cardona whose work was found in the Cancionero General of 1511 (1994b and 2006). Finally,… Read More

London: Jacob Tonson & Edmund Curl, 1709. Hardcover. Very Good+/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. 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… Read More

1562 BIBLE Art Woodcuts Postil & Sermons German Catholic Schopper Catechism 3in1
Jacob Schopper was a 16th-century German Catholic preacher from Dortmund who, along with numerous other theologians, sought be part of the desire for enormous Postils across Central Europe. Interestingly, according to Frymire,
"was a preacher who stood uneasily between 'Catholic Reform' and 'Counter-Reformation' at this time. He was trained in the latest humanist philological methods, had studied law and theology."
It was, however, his enormous Postil that became his lasting work. This landmark piece would serve as the transition in printing methods of sermons. Per Frymire, Schopper's
"Postil betrays the influence of printed sermon collections up to 1557 and, at the same time, point towards those that would later emerge. Like their Lutheran counterparts, however, very few of the Catholic postils of the first generation would survive much beyond the late 1560s."
Schopper published his Postil
along with the 'Catechism' but… Read More