XVIth Century Books

Paris: Rob. Stephani, 1544. Hardcover. See Description. First and only Estienne edition. 8vo. pp. 208, [32]. Title page with Estienne device [Renouard Typographiques #294]. Latin text printed in italic. The title page shows some mild spotting; a faint monogram is also written in an old hand on either side of the printer’s device. Interior pages are clean and crisp. Bound in early 19th century straight grained red morocco with spots of rubbing to the extremities. The outer joints are professionally strengthened. The upper corner tip to the front cover is neatly patched. All edges are gilt. The inside front cover contains the heraldic book plate and the monogrammed ticket of English book collector Sir John Hayford Thorold (1773-1831) [See De Ricci, "English Collectors…" plate VIII, also pp. 159-160]. An additional heraldic plate from another owner is located on the marbled fly-leaf. Contents include the extant historical works of the Roman statesman and author Caius Crispus… Read More

Basel: Johann Froben, 1521. Hardcover. See Description. Folio. ff. [444] plus 6 extra leaves in this copy as signature G is repeated. Colophon: Basileae per Ioannem Frobeniu, Mense Maio. Anno M.D.XXI. Title page contains decorative woodcut border with 10 figures including images symbolizing the four evangelists, Peter, Paul and four early Bishops. Printer’s device also on title page and on verso of final leaf. The introductions to both part I and part II contain woodcut initials. The title to the second part reads: "Concordantiae partium sive dictionum indeclinabilium totius Bibliae." The main text is in 3 columns per page. Bound in period blind tooled pigskin over wooden boards - attractively age-toned. Metal corner pieces are present; clasps are lacking. Title page contains three tiny and unobtrusive worm holes. There is also an area of abrasion next to the printed title proper which affects a tiny area on the inner edge of the woodcut border. Small holes present in upper inner… Read More

Rome (Romae), Apud Vincentium Luchinum, 1557. (Colophon at the end: Romae, Apud Antonium Bladium impressorem Cameralem, 1557) 8vo. (XXIV),211,(1 blank),(43 index),(1 blank),(99 index),(1 blank) p. Modern cloth 17 cm (Ref: EDIT16 CNCE 35852; Schweiger 2,1118; Brunet 5,1092; Graesse 6/2, 263; Ebert 23393) (Details: A vellum look-a-like cloth binding from ca. 1900. See for this date the provenance below) (Condition: Binding somewhat soiled. Both flyleaves browning. Title and last page dust-soiled. Small piece of the right upper corner of the first 2 leaves worn away. Blank right upper corner of 88 pages, somewhere in the middle of the book, cut off. Some foxing. A few allmost invisible pinpoint wormholes at the right edge of the first half. Some wormholes in the margin of 50 pages of the index, sometimes nibbling at a few letters) (Note: The Roman Encyclopaedist Marcus Terentius Varro, 116-27 B.C., was a landowner on a large scale, and member of the senatorial class. Though the bulk of his works are… Read More

De Vulgari Sacrae Scripturae Phrasi libri duo, Patricio Cocburno Scoto authore, quorum summa seuqens pagella indicabit Patricio Cocburno (Patrick Cockburn) (On Holy Scriptures in vulgar language) – In Latin language.
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Parisiis (Paris), Aqud Ioannem Caueiller, via Frementella, sub insigni Stellae aureae, 1558.
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Pp. /52/ + 154 + /67/ Size: 16 x 11 cm
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Binding: Original vellum binding. Signs of aging and wear, wormhole damage, top of the back panel missing (see scans), tear on the top of back cover, partially missing, spine exposed, foxing, stain on top of the front cover ink inscription on the back of the front panel. Condition: Ink inscriptions on the title page and troughout the text, some of which is affected by the inscription, wormholes throughout the text block, affecting legibility (wormhole damage is especially prominent from beginning trough to pp. 9).
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For condition and details see the scans.

Venetiis. : Apud Io. Baptistam Somascum & fratres: Bartolomaeum Rubinum. , 1569 1566 1568. Old blindstamped pigskin, raised bands, date on front cover, ink title on foredge.. Good plus, a little worming mostly marginal to a few pages, light dampstains to some pages, scattered marginalia.. 8vo., 16x11 cm. . Latin text. Three uncommon treatises on Roman law, bound together. weight: 1.3 lb.

This rare book from the year 1675 has been professionally rebound in tan leather with the title in gold on the cover, with gold decor on the spine, and with gilded corners. The marbled endsheets are also not original. There are a few very old margin notations.The entire text of the book is original and complete. and in Good Condition, while the binding is in Very Good Condition. On the leading page edges the words "Charles of London" are embossed, and this, too, appears to be original.This is a unique item and will make a fine addition to the library of the British historian.

Venice: Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari, 1550 In-12, 70, [2] ff, including last blank, bound before Doni, Anton Francesco. La seconda libraria del Doni. Venice: Francesco Marcolini, June 1551. 112, [7] ff, lacking the final blank. 19th-century calf-backed boards and marbled paper, spine gilt, paper label with number at the head of the spine, edges painted yellow (title of the first book stained, title of the second frayed at the bottom corner with some loss of paper but without loss of text, some foxing). The first edition of both parts. A list of Italian authors and their works, mostly contemporary, including the author himself. “The first bibliography in a vernacular and the first attempt to describe books in Italian, with the special section of printed music. In continuation, La seconda libraria, issued the following year, is somewhat marred by the inclusion of a few fictitious titles” (Breslauer & Folter). Both volumes printed using (mostly) beautiful but different Italic types by… Read More

Basle: Henricum Petri, 1563. Quarto, pp [22], 559, (21), the title page with an engraved woodut printer's device is slightly creased and is lightly marked and toned with two slight rust stains and the remains of two small labels - the one on the recto in red and partially removed, the second probably on the verso and completely removed but both have left the paper very thin at these points; otherwise the text is remarkably clean and without any major marks or stains. The date appears on the printer's colophon at the rear, and the verso has another version of the woodcut printer's device. Recently bound in full panelled speckled calf, with simple gilt decoration, the spine with plain raised bands and a morocco label, plain endpapers. RARE. [Lucius Caecilius Firmianus signo Lactantius (c. 250 - c. 325) was an early North African Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor, Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to… Read More

1582 ROMAN Property LAW Giovanni Balbo on Prescriptions Publius Celsus Titles
Giovanni Balbo's "Treatise on Prescriptions" is a rare, 16th-century manual on the Roman law of prescription. Prescription, not to be confused with medical prescriptions, deals with legal liabilities usually pertaining to property titles and ownership. Balbo was heavily influenced by the law writings of Publius Celsus, one of the most famous 1st-century Roman jurists.
Item number: #18643
Price: $750
BALBO, Giovanni Francesco
Tractatus de Praescriptionibus jo. Francisco Balbo auctore. Et ejusdem repetitio J. Celsus. ff. usucapionibus. profundam praescriptionum materiam continens
Venetiis : Apud Franciscum Zilettum, 1582.

Details:

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Collation: Complete with all pages
o
[64], 679, [1]
· References: USTC 812002
· Language: Latin
· Binding: Vellum; tight and secure
· Size: ~6.25in X 4.25in (16cm x 11cm)
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1585 1ed Privileges of Catholic Clerics Rodano Tractatus de Spoils Church LAW
Guglielmo Rodano's "Tractatus de spoliis ecclesiasticis" is a rare 16th-century jurisprudence and ecclesiastical law treatise. The book describes the types of goods and 'spoils' procured by Catholic prelates as well as the privileges and benefits of the clerics.
Item number: #18645
Price: $750
RODANO, Guglielmo
Tractatus de spoliis ecclesiasticis in quo ita copiose omnes species bonorum per praelatos occasione ecclesiae comparatorum, per mortem relictorum, spolia nuncupatorum tractantur..
Romae : Ex Officina Bartholomaei Grassi, 1585. First edition.

Details:
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Collation: complete with all pages
o [8], 457, [39]
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References: USTC 852190
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Language: Latin
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Binding: Vellum; tight and secure
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Size: ~8.75in X 6.5in (22.5cm x 16.5cm)
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Customer satisfaction is our priority! Notify us with 7 days of receiving, and we will offer a… Read More

Venice: al segno della speranza, 1547. Hardcover. Good. Quarto (150x110mm) original limp vellum covers with vellum ties. Cover loose, some wear on inside of cover page. Part of title-page missing. Some worming to endpages and back cover sligtly stained. Overall text in good condition, highly readable. Some minor folding to bottom corners, little impact on text. *First published in Florence during the supremacy of Savanarola in 1497.

Imprimée en la ville de Luce Nouvelle, par Brisaud Chasse-diables [Genève, François Perrin], 1567.
Large 8vo of (4) ll, 190 pp, (1) bl. l., few spotting, pale waterstain in the lower part of the last 7 ll.
Red morocco, triple gilt fillet around the covers, flat spine decorated with gilt fillets and lyres, decorated edges, gilt inner border, gilt edges. Bound by Derome le jeune with his label.
229 x 143 mm.
Very rare first edition of this violent satire against the court of Rome.
The work has long been attributed to Theodore de Bèze; in reality, under the Rabelaisian pun of the pseudonym Frangidelphe Escorche-messes is hidden the identity of Jean-Baptiste Trento, an Italian from Vicenza who converted to the Reformation in 1541 and took refuge in Geneva. He was received as a citizen of the city in 1559.
Copy from the second issue whose title bears the date of 1567 and not the one of 1566.
"Violent satire against the court of Rome. Copies are rare and sought after. The common opinion is that it is… Read More

Cologne, 1587.
Folio [277 x 185 mm] of (142) ll. A few tears formerly restored. Full light-brown roan, blind-stamped border around the covers, spine decorated with a gilt Greek pattern, restorations on the spine and on the back cover, mottled edges. Binding from the end of the 18th century.

First edition of this celebration book "of the utmost rarity".
(Vinet, Bibliographie Méthodique et raisonnée des Beaux-arts, n° 722).
"There were several editions of this volume of the utmost rarity, omitted by Brunet. The first issue, published without date in 1585, is composed of 10 etchings by Hogenberg, with engraved text, in German verses, by Th. Gramjn. The second issue is composed of 36 engraved leaves. The third is the present one, published as a volume, with a German text, printed in mobile characters, and double plates printed inside the text." Vinet.
Actually, both first issues are only booklets (10 plates for the first one, 36 leaves for the second one), only the third state offers a complete… Read More

Ribadeneyra, Padre Pedro de; Historia Ecclesiastica del Scisma del Reyno de Inglaterra. Recogida de diversos y graves Autores, por el Padre Pedro de Ribadeneyra, de la Compania de Jesus. Lo que se trata en esta Historia, se vera en la hoja siguiente. En Emberes [Antwerp], en casa de Christoual Plantino, Imprimidor del Rey. 1588.
8vo., ⴕ8, A-Z8 , a8, b7, a8-b7; 8 un-numbered leaves, pages numbered 1-386, 6 un-numbered leaves, Tabla de los capitulos desta historia, Aprobacion de el Doctor Pedro Lopez de Montoya, Approbation Siluester Pardo (Censor), Sumario del privilegio I. de Witte.
(OCLC nos. 780155501 / 270805429 ; only 5 copies worldwide).
Full calf sprinkled binding with 5 raised bands with gilt tooling to spine and boards. Unidentified coat of arms embossed on both boards. Binding rubbed and marked. Corners rounded with slight loss of leather. Fore-edges to front and rear end-papers strengthened with archival tape. Neat repair to lower fore-edge of title page, not effecting the printed matter,… Read More

The fourth edition of Chaucer's collected works, and the definitive edition edited by the great William Thynne, Henry VIII's custodian and hunter of Chaucerian manuscripts. According to Sydney Lazarus Lee, Victorian scholar of early modern English poetry, "Thynne was the first genuine editor of Chaucer, and deserves the gratitude and respect of every student of the poet. He was unable to distinguish between the genuine and spurious work of his author, but he printed a better text of the Canterbury Tales than had been given before, and he included for the first time Chaucer's Legende, Boece, Blanche, Pity, Astrolabe,and Stedfastness."
This undated (but c1550) edition was probably printed by Nicholas Hill, and publication was shared by four London publishers, William Bonham, Richard Kele, Robert Toye, and Thomas Petit. Each of these four variants bore a different colophon. The Petit variant (the present book) is the scarcest, with 12 known copies in institutional libraries (perESTC). Our copy is… Read More