Rare books from George Robert Minkoff, Inc.

THE GREATEST BOOK OF RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTUREIllustrated with 205 large woodcuts, including 74 full-page and 7 double-page blocks; magnificent allegorical woodcut title border; large woodcut head-pieces and large floriated and grotesque woodcut initials; leaf I4 slightly taller than the rest of the text block, to accommodate a tall column woodcut, with about 2 cm section at top folded in. Royal Folio. 19th-century ¼-vellum over marbled boards; spine decorated and lettered in gilt; edges gilt. Paris: Fédéric Morel, 1567. First Edition. First Issue. The most influential and most lavishly illustrated handbook of French Renaissance architecture. The first and only published volume. A second volume was planned by the author but never completed.Mortimer, Harvard College Library Cat.: French 16th-Century Books, no.355; Brunet, Supple. I, 888-9; Fowler Architect. coll. 99; Clouzot, Philibert de l'Orme, pp. 90-107; Berliner Ornamentstichkatalog 2362; Pettegree, French Vernacular Books 15434; cf. Adams L… Read More

1776. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 2 volumes. Very Good. 8vo. Modern ½-leather-backed marbled boards, gilt lettering on spine. London: Printed for J. Almon. Rare untrimmed set of John Almons record of the events of the American Revolution as they occurred, including the first printing in Britain of the Declaration of Independence. (Church 1115, Sabin 955, and Howes A-182). There is no better contemporary source for the events of the American Revolution. Church describes the importance of The Remembrancer as follows: One of the chief and most reliable sources of information regarding the revolution. It is a veritable mine of information, containing every authentic paper relative to the American Revolution, whether published in England or America, by the British Ministry or the American Congress, and is even today the original authority from which much of our information is obtained. The collection has a sympathetic leaning towards the cause of the colonists, or at least against the course pursued by the… Read More

1728. 2nd Edition . Hardcover. Fine. With A Table of 69 Songs; Overture Compos'd by Dr. Pepusch; typographic music throughout the text; plus woodcut head- and tailpieces. 8vo. Full speckled calf, gilt ruled, spine with 2 gilt lettering-pieces; aeg; by Rivière & Sons. London: John Watts, 1728. Second Edition. The first expanded edition to include the music printed in the text. Gays highly successful ballad opera, satirizing popular Italian opera was an immediate triumph, and ran for a record 62 consecutive performances at the Theatre Royal where it premiered in January 1728. The first edition, printed earlier the same year, had 16 pages of engraved music at the end. Here, the music is printed in the text in woodcut. It features such memorable low-life characters as Polly Peachum, Jemmy Twitcher, Filch and Sukey Tawdry. For some lyrics, Gay borrowed from Allan Ramsays Gentle Shepherd. The music was composed by the German born Johann Christoph Pepusch, a contemporary of George Frederick Handel. It… Read More

1861. 1st Edition . Soft cover. Very Good. 8vo. Original yellow printed wrappers, stitched. 93 pages. Washington: M Gill & Witherow, Printers, 1861. First Edition. Sabin 15433. This was the Unions last gasp before War. Ex-President John Tyler of Virginia chaired the Convention. His career would close with his election as a representative in the Confederate Congress. All the proceedings, proposed solutions, and votes are set forth, including suggested constitutional amendments and other adjustments. Copyright slip tipped in after title leaf. Wrappers with some wear, o/w very nice

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

Hardcover. Fine. Tractat[us] de meditatio[n]e cordis Joh[ann]is Gerson. Illustrated with 4 xylographic foliated initials, the first colored. 8vo. Bound in 19th century vellum. Impressum Venetijs arte [et] impensis Bernardini de benalijs, 1488. Early Edition. Hain, 9095; Goff, I-17; Bodleian Lib. 15th cent., T-105; BM 15th cent., V, p. 372 (IA.22318). The Imitatio Christi, or Imitation of Christ is often considered the greatest of all Christian manuals of devotion. In the late 15th century there was some dispute as to the authorship of this work. The present edition mistakenly ascribes it to Johannis Gerson, a French scholar, educator, reformer, poet and chancellor of the University of Paris. It has, however, been proven that this work really was written by the German monk Thomas à Kempis. Attributed variously but now definitely ascribed to Thomas à Kempis. (Goff). The first edition of Kempis work, published in 1473, did not include the Imitatio Christi, as it was believed then that Kempis was not… Read More

Soft cover. Near Fine. 8vo. Original self cover, stitched. Printed for James Ridgway, London 1814. First Edition. William, Lord Grenville was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1806-07. During his ministry the two most influential Acts in the history of slavery abolition were passed: the Foreign Slave Trade Act (1806), which prohibited the importation of slaves into British colonies by British subjects, and the Slave Trade Abolition Act (1807). Describing slavery as contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy, Grenville remained concerned with any apparent resurgence of the slave trade during his years in the House or Lords. Lord Darnleys copy, signed by him on the front cover. It was Darnley who called for an inquiry into the actions of Grenville and his cabinet following the collapse of his Ministry in the wake of the royal rejection of Catholic emancipation. Some slight wear, o/w Fine.

Illustrated with 12 folding engraved plates of optical/geometrical diagrams and a few woodcut diagrams and tables in text; large woodcut decorative tail-pieces, head-pieces and initials. 8vo. Contemporary full speckled calf; boards with double-fillet gilt-ruled borders; spine with five raised bands and gilt-lettered (faded) morocco label; edges speckled red. London: Printed for W. and J. Innys, printers to the Royal Society, 1718. Second English Edition revised and enlarged by Newton. First Octavo Edition. Second issue, with the title-page dated 1718 (the very rare first issue is dated 1717). The first edition appeared in 1704 in quarto. For this second edition the plates were newly engraved to fit the new octavo format. The most important feature of this second edition is that the number of Queries at the end was increased from 16 to 31, including the celebrated Query 28 on the nature of light. The Queries in the initial set were rather brief, but the later ones became more substantial, written as… Read More

8vo. 19th- century ½-vellum. Venice: (Damianus de Mediolano, de Gorgonzola) 16 Nov. 1493. (ISTC No.: ig00602500; H 8207; GW 11804). Guido de Monte Rochen's Manipulus curatorum is considered the most important of the medieval pastoral manuals. (It was not made obsolete until the Council of Trent in 1566.) It is especially important as a key example of the intersection of religious doctrine and practice. The author attempts to make centuries of theology and canon law comprehensible for the priest of little learning and, in turn, for his parishioners. No other work did this as successfully. Binding slightly bent; title page a bit dusty; a few leaves misnumbered in manuscript; o/w a fine copy with large margins of this rare incunable. No known copies in the United States.

ILLUSTRATED WITH 66 POCHOIR WOODCUTSThe Fables of Aesop. Printed from the Veronese Edition of MCCCCLXXIX in Latin Verses and Italian Version by Accio Zucco, with the Woodcuts Newly Engraved and Coloured After a Copy in The British Museum. (With) The First Three Books of Caxton's Aesop containing the Fables Illustrated in the Verona Aesopus of MCCCCLXXIX.Epilogue by Giovanni Mardersteig. Illustrated with 66 full-page woodcuts by Anna Bramanti. Woodcuts are pochoir colored by Daniel Jacomet to recreate the illuminated miniature effect of the British Library copy of the Veronese Aesop of 1479 (upon which the present edition is based). The fleurons, first adopted in 1479, were engraved by Charles Malin. 8vo. Publisher's ¼-green morocco; decorated boards; top edges gilt; acetate dust wrappers; enclosed in morocco-tipped slipcase.Officina Bodoni, Verona, 1973. Limited to 160 numbered copies set in Centaur types, printed on Magnani mould made paper with goose watermark. 2 volumes. Volume I contains the… Read More

CHURCHILL "BUYS" BALFOUR A CAR!CHURCHILL, WINSTON S. "Confidential" typed letter signed by "Winston S. Churchill" as Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the name of the recipient "Bran" and part of the date "13" handwritten by Churchill.One page with the blind-stamped stationery "Treasury Chambers, Whitehall, S.W.," dated August 13, 1928. 4to.The letter concerns funds that Churchill raised to purchase a car and cover living expenses for former Prime Minister Arthur Balfour: "The subscription list is the Balfour Testimonial Fund being now closed. I feel that you, who so kindly subscribed to that fund, will like to know how much was subscribed and to what purpose it has been put. The total amount received from members of both Houses of Parliament was £4,918.6.6. [~$450,000 in 2021] The car has been paid for and the balance has been handed to Lord Balfour to be used for his personal benefit in any way he may think fit. I may add that I have received from him a letter expressing his grateful thanks to the… Read More

Early English treatise on maritime laws, namely navigation, shipping, tonnage, customs, and trade, printed in both Roman and black letter fonts.With an early engraved bookplate of Marques of Tweeddale. Also with the signature of Nathaniel Westland, dated 1675. Westland, a prominent merchant from Burlington, New Jersey, was appointed agent for the sale of land by the West New Jersey Society, a great land company organized in London in 1691. Being a merchant, Westland would have had much use of this book to check shipping rates on cargo from England. Small 8vo. Leather binding, rebacked, leather label on spine. In the Savoy: Printed by the Assigns of J. Bill and Chr. Barker, 1675. First Edition. Fine.

First Edition.Holmes' Ramble contains valuable comparisons of Mozart and Beethoven which date from only a very short period after Beethoven's death, as well as an engraved facsimile of an invitation to Beethoven's funeral.8vo. Half-leather-backed decorated boards, gold stamped on the front and back covers with the crest of The Society of Writers to the Signet. London: Published by Hunt and Clarke. 1828. Hinges cracked but holding firmly by the cords; minor wear to boards and corners; o/w fine.

WITH THE LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS, INCLUDING JANE AUSTENIn Five Volumes. 12mo. ¾- calf and marbled boards by Zaehnsdorf, spines with gilt-tooled decorations and gilt-lettered morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers; aeg. London: Printed for T. Payne; and T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies 1796. First Edition. 5 volumes. With the list of subscribers and leaf of publisher's adverts at the end of Vol. I.Burney's third novel and her greatest commercial success. It had been 14 years since the appearance of her last novel, Cecilia, and anticipation was keen, as evidenced by the 38-page list of subscribers, a veritable Who's Who of late-Georgian England, containing the names of such notables as Edmund Burke, Sir Joseph Banks, the Duchess of Devonshire, Warren Hastings, Humphrey Repton, Elizabeth Montagu, Hester Thrale, Anne Radcliffe, Hannah More, Maria Edgeworth, and a young fan from Steventon, Hampshire, "Miss J. Austen." This is believed to be the first appearance of Jane Austen's name in print.Fine in signed… Read More

1 ALS, 2 pages, dated March 5, 1878, New York, to [former] Ohio Gov. William Dennison, Jr., on "Studio Building" letterhead. Docketed and signed on the verso of the second page Dennison: "Respectfully forwarded to the President. W. Dennison . . ."William H. Beard was a New York City artist noted for his satirical animal. William Dennison was Lincoln's Postmaster General and Civil War Governor of Ohio. Beard addresses his letter to Dennison seeking a government position for a friend, and Dennison in turn refers the letter to President Hayes. The letter reads in part: "My dear Sir… Although I have never had the pleasure of meeting you, I almost feel like an old acquaintance, your name has become so familiar through my brother James and his family… [Dennison was a relative of James Beard's wife, Caroline Carter Beard]. I write to solicit the kindly exercise of your influence in behalf of a friend in whom I feel a great interest, Mr. Alonzo Church, whom I believe you know, and perhaps know the… Read More