Litterae Societas Iesu e Regno Sinarum annorum MDCX. & XI. by [Jesuit] Trigault, Nicolas - 1615

Classical Authors: Genevæ- Geneva/ Lugduni- Lyon Euststhium Vignon / Bartholemæum Vincentium. 1577. [4] map[8] pp109 [12.]Blank; &: [8][10] pp109 [2][6]. First separate edition of works attributed to Arrian of Nicodemia which appeared simultaneously at Geneva and Lyons in 1577 with the translation and commentary of Johann Wilhem Stucki. This example has the Geneva imprint of the Ponti Euxini and the Lyons imprint of the Maris Erythræi. The texts of both works were first published by Froben in 1533 in the anthology Arriani & Hannonis periplus. Plutarchus de fluminibus & montibus. Strabonis epitome. The woodcut map of the Black Sea is the first printed map of the sea, it is decorated with ships, monsters and mermen. The Peripilus Ponti Euxini takes the form of a letter, from Arrian to the Emperor Hadrian in Rome, who was particularly attached to geographical research and had visited in person a large portion of his extensive dominions. It contains an accurate topographical survey of the… Read More

Bruxellis: Typis Francisci Foppens, 1662. FIRST EDITION. 152 x 90 mm. (6 x 3 1/2"). 4 p.l., 60 pp., [1] leaf (approbation). Pleasing 18th century marbled calf, raised bands, spine gilt in compartments with acorn tool at center, pomegranate cornerpieces, red morocco label, marbled endpapers. Woodcut initials and tailpieces, and 30 engravings on title and in text of female faces and animal faces, to which some of them are compared. Dorbon 5014; Wellcome V, 322; Brunet V, 1026 ("orné de jolies gravures au trait"). ◆Extremities a little rubbed, small black smudge to upper board, the binding otherwise lustrous and well preserved, and A FINE COPY INTERNALLY, quite clean, fresh, and bright. This is the sole printing of an obscure but fascinating physiological treatise on pulchritude. The text is divided up into 14 sections, each of which begins with a quotation from the "Song of Songs," followed by an explanation of how the quoted "mystic" words show that Solomon indeed knew what perfect female beauty… Read More

London: B. Alsop & T. Fawcet, 1639. Calfskin. Good. Full original calf, with both fixed endpapers freed from the boards but still attached to the page block; the front hinge is now covered by the large bookplate of Hugh Cecil Lowther, Fifth Earl of Lonsdale, accompanied but not obscured by a small, penned note and the plate of Dallas oil giant John W. McReynolds; the binding is relaxed enough to show cords, but secure. Pages bear mild age-toning around the margins and light foxing at preliminaries and terminals, with only ghosts of decoration at block edges; chestnut leather bears an open pull sign at the spine head, only residue of the title plate, long scuffs at both shoulders and a shorter one at upper spine with some cracking and a tiny bore stopped along the spine, wear down to the follicles around the front board (less so on the rear) approaching exposure at free corners, mere score lines around board edges and across spine where once was gold, and a few stray, small ink spots and droplet… Read More

[5 of 6]+132 leaves with several armorial engravings. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5 1/2") bound in half leather with four raised spine bands with black label to spine in gilt lettering over marbled boards. (Medina, Mexico 594; Palau 44870 ("actualmente rarísima"); Sabin 10953) First edition. Horacio Carochi (1586-1666) was a Jesuit priest and grammarian who was born in Florence and died in Mexico. He is known for his grammar of the Classical Nahuatl language. He went to Rome where he entered the Society of Jesus. From Rome he went to the New World, arriving in New Spain (now Mexico). There he dedicated himself to the study of the indigenous languages and became proficient in Otomi and then in Nahuatl. He was a friend of the Bishop and later Viceroy of New Spain, Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, as is documented by surviving letters written by Carochi to the bishop. Carochi had an acute understanding of the Nahuatl language and was the first grammarian to understand and propose a consistent transcription of two… Read More

Small 8vo. Bound in contemporary vellum. Printed by Jean Antoine Huguetan, Lyons 1638. (Colophon at end dated 1627; printing privilege dated 1626.) Second Edition of this comprehensive treatise on geomancy.Illustrated with numerous diagrams, schematic woodcuts and tables in text, as well as 10 plates, 1 of which is an engraved single-page plate, while the other 9 are fold-out woodcut diagrams or letterpress tables, some bound to face each other; plus large engraved printer's device with an armillary sphere on title-page; a few decorative woodcut head-pieces and initials.The Opus Geomantiae Completum "is divided into three parts devoted respectively to the theory, practice and questions taken from previous authors. The theory is largely astrological. Instead of jotting down four rows of dots at random, a wheel with sixteen projections is spun or whirled in order to obtain one of the sixteen geomantic figures. Fludd is cited more than once, also Arabic authors like Geber and Aomar, medieval Latins like… Read More

Bruxellis: Typis Francisci Foppens, 1662. FIRST EDITION. 152 x 90 mm. (6 x 3 1/2"). 4 p.l., 60 pp., [1] leaf (approbation). Pleasing 18th century marbled calf, raised bands, spine gilt in compartments with acorn tool at center, pomegranate cornerpieces, red morocco label, marbled endpapers. Woodcut initials and tailpieces, and 30 engravings on title and in text of female faces and animal faces, to which some of them are compared. Dorbon 5014; Wellcome V, 322; Brunet V, 1026 ("orné de jolies gravures au trait"). ◆Extremities a little rubbed, small black smudge to upper board, the binding otherwise lustrous and well preserved, and A FINE COPY INTERNALLY, quite clean, fresh, and bright. This is the sole printing of an obscure but fascinating physiological treatise on pulchritude. The text is divided up into 14 sections, each of which begins with a quotation from the "Song of Songs," followed by an explanation of how the quoted "mystic" words show that Solomon indeed knew what perfect female beauty… Read More

London: B. Alsop & T. Fawcet, 1639. Calfskin. Good. Full original calf, with both fixed endpapers freed from the boards but still attached to the page block; the front hinge is now covered by the large bookplate of Hugh Cecil Lowther, Fifth Earl of Lonsdale, accompanied but not obscured by a small, penned note and the plate of Dallas oil giant John W. McReynolds; the binding is relaxed enough to show cords, but secure. Pages bear mild age-toning around the margins and light foxing at preliminaries and terminals, with only ghosts of decoration at block edges; chestnut leather bears an open pull sign at the spine head, only residue of the title plate, long scuffs at both shoulders and a shorter one at upper spine with some cracking and a tiny bore stopped along the spine, wear down to the follicles around the front board (less so on the rear) approaching exposure at free corners, mere score lines around board edges and across spine where once was gold, and a few stray, small ink spots and droplet… Read More

[5 of 6]+132 leaves with several armorial engravings. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5 1/2") bound in half leather with four raised spine bands with black label to spine in gilt lettering over marbled boards. (Medina, Mexico 594; Palau 44870 ("actualmente rarísima"); Sabin 10953) First edition. Horacio Carochi (1586-1666) was a Jesuit priest and grammarian who was born in Florence and died in Mexico. He is known for his grammar of the Classical Nahuatl language. He went to Rome where he entered the Society of Jesus. From Rome he went to the New World, arriving in New Spain (now Mexico). There he dedicated himself to the study of the indigenous languages and became proficient in Otomi and then in Nahuatl. He was a friend of the Bishop and later Viceroy of New Spain, Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, as is documented by surviving letters written by Carochi to the bishop. Carochi had an acute understanding of the Nahuatl language and was the first grammarian to understand and propose a consistent transcription of two… Read More

Small 8vo. Bound in contemporary vellum. Printed by Jean Antoine Huguetan, Lyons 1638. (Colophon at end dated 1627; printing privilege dated 1626.) Second Edition of this comprehensive treatise on geomancy.Illustrated with numerous diagrams, schematic woodcuts and tables in text, as well as 10 plates, 1 of which is an engraved single-page plate, while the other 9 are fold-out woodcut diagrams or letterpress tables, some bound to face each other; plus large engraved printer's device with an armillary sphere on title-page; a few decorative woodcut head-pieces and initials.The Opus Geomantiae Completum "is divided into three parts devoted respectively to the theory, practice and questions taken from previous authors. The theory is largely astrological. Instead of jotting down four rows of dots at random, a wheel with sixteen projections is spun or whirled in order to obtain one of the sixteen geomantic figures. Fludd is cited more than once, also Arabic authors like Geber and Aomar, medieval Latins like… Read More

Franckfurt am Mayn [Frankfurt, Germany]: Nicolao Hoffman, in Verlegung Jacob Fischers, 1611. Hardcover. Good -. [10], 460, [27] leaves: many in-text emgraved illustrations; 39 cm. (folio). Contemporary pigskin? binding with seven spine compartments between raised bands. Elaborate blind-rolled and -tooled decoration around central medallion on both boards. Front board includes initials "CBC" in upper portion and date of binding "1620" in lower portion. Handwritten note on back pastedown by binder, dated 1620. Part of the decoration includes human figures and the words "cari," "spes," "fides," and possibly "fort." Printer and publisher from colophon. Includes "Von Distillier und Brennöfen" on leaves 456-460. A German translation by Georg Handsch of the botanical portion of Mattioli's Commentaries, without the text of Dioscorides, but having the Epistola Nuncupatoria in Latin, prefixed. Illustrations by Joachim Camerarius. References: Krivatsy, NLM 17th century, 7575; Nissen, Botanische… Read More