Search Results: Titles starting with I from Bruce McKittrick Rare Books

Venice: G. Piuti, 1626. Brown calf-backed marbled boards (c. 1820), gilt-lettered spine title (spine chipped, hinges cracked), edges sprinkled red and brown. First Edition of this illustrated poem on a cause célèbre, the fierce loyalty and extraordinary friendship of two Venetian nobles, the wealthy Nicolò Barbarigo and the poor Marco Trevisano, who, in 1625, pledged their fortunes to each other in defiance of social mores. In good condition, a couple of uncut lower margins (half-title dusty, narrow pale stain to four margins, scattered light foxing, offsetting from the richly inked cuts), stamp of Laurent Pichat. ¶Westwater, Sarra Copia Sulam: A Jewish Salonnière and the Press in Counter-Reformation Venice (2020) 144; Cicogna, Saggio di bibliografia veneziana I: 2675.

Venice: G. Giolito, 1564. Contemporary limp vellum (soiled, small lacunae), contemporary manuscript spine title, remnants of four pigskin ties. Only Edition, first issue. The main work is a dialog on death with a dozen speakers - including Bernardo Tasso, Sperone Speroni and Dionigi Atanagi - who gather in Venetian noble Domenico Venier's palace. The opening essay, written when Marcellino was twenty, advocates the use of Italian over Latin and stresses the former's felicity and flexibility. In good condition (blank marginal worming to final two leaves), ink sketch on the rear pastedown. ¶Gamba, Serie dei testi di lingua 1508; Bongi, Annali di Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari II: 202-3; EDIT16 CNCE 26455.

[Barcelona: Pere Miquel], 1492. Retrospective blind-decorated brown morocco with repetitions of a solid foliage tool (Brugalla, 1950), gilt-lettered spine title and board edges, blind- and gilt-ruled turns-ins, all edges gilt. Second and ?Final Edition - FOUR COPIES KNOWN, ONLY ONE OTHER OUTSIDE SPAIN (Bologna Collegio di Spagna; one U.S. library holds the first printing).             Three works on inheritance by the Sicilian jurist. The first and longest text treats wills and final testaments. The second comments on Rinuccius' late 13th-century writings on the same topic. The third text concerns intestate succession.             Barbatia taught civil and canon law at Bologna and became rich assisting municipalities, individuals, corporations and rulers, including Pope Paul II and Ferdinand II of Aragon. The latter elevated Barbatia to Royal Counselor and made him part of the royal household.             THIS BEAUTIFUL FOLIO IS THE EXCEPTION to the BMC dictum: "The… Read More

[Tours or Paris], 1480. Mid-16th-century gilt-ruled vellum with overlapping edges over thin flexible paper boards (minor soiling), azured oval central ornament of interlacing strapwork and an open center, flat spine gilt with fleurons and foliage rolls, spine lined with a fragment of a 16th-century vellum document in French, two recent gilt-lettered black morocco labels, all edges gilt, evidence of four green silk ties, early manuscript title on the front cover. Manuscript on vellum. In a single Gothic hand (cursiva formata or bâtarde) in black ink, 23 lines per page, text block c. 160 x 105 mm., ruled in red ink, OPENING HALF-PAGE ILLUMINATION OF THE VERMANDOIS COAT OF ARMS SUPPORTED BY TWO LIONS RAMPANT on a field of vines, flowers and fruit on gold ground, enclosed in a FULL ILLUMINATED BORDER OF VINES, FLOWERS, FRUIT, BIRDS AND IMAGINARY CREATURES ON DIVIDED WHITE AND GOLD GROUND; one four-line and two five-line illuminated initials in blue ink on red ground with penwork decoration en camaïeu… Read More

Verona: Boninus de Boninis, de Ragusia, 1483. 16th-century limp vellum (minor defects), 18th-century manuscript spine title on the spine, evidence of four pigskin ties.             First Vernacular Edition: the first illustrated technology book, the first military dictionary in a modern European language and an extraordinary mirror of princes.             Valturio composed On Military Matters in Latin between 1455-60 at the request of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (1417-68), the wily nobleman, poet, arts patron and fiercely successful general-for-hire who ruled Rimini. The work originally appeared at Verona in 1472. Paolo Ramusio (c. 1443-1506) edited and translated the text for the present splendid edition, which he dedicated to the non-Latin-literate Roberto di Aragonia, a professional soldier then in the employ of Venice.            LEONARDO DA VINCI OWNED A COPY OF THIS EDITION, FROM WHICH HE SKETCHED WAR MACHINES, ENTERED PASSAGES INTO HIS COMMONPLACE BOOK, DREW ARTISTIC… Read More

Antwerp: G. Smits for J. I Bellerus, 1573. 18th-century marbled calf (repaired), spine and red morocco label gilt, red edges. Only Edition of his treatise aimed at instructors: his schoolbooks had over two hundred printings. The first part enunciates the general principles, goal and utility of teaching. The second and third parts lay out detailed templates for secular and religious education, including remarks on games, recreation, punishments, which Greek and Latin authors to read and how to explain them, which manuals to use, exercises in translation, imitation and recitation, how to draft and administer exams, competitions and learned disputes and how to mount dramatic performances. It discourages discussion of current events (the Turks, the French, beggars), ball playing, dice, archery, gambling, fighting, lying, swearing and drinking (the teachers...). It schematically frames the year's syllabus for each of the seven grades. I have located one copy in the U.S. In good condition (slightly… Read More

[Hanover, 1803. Contemporary gilt paper over pasteboards (slightly rubbed, corners chipped), large paper label lettered in manuscript on the front cover, edges sprinkled red.             UNPUBLISHED INVENTORY OF THE HANOVER COLLECTION OF NEARLY TWELVE HUNDRED PAINTINGS HOUSED AT THE LEINESCHLOSS. Built in Hanover between 1636 and 1641 as the main residence of the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Leineschloss included a church, a theater and over one hundred rooms. In the 1660s, Duke Johann Friedrich began amassing large collections of paintings and books, and the palace grew in size and splendor under his successor, Elector Ernest Augustus, whose son became King of England as George I (r. 1714-27).            This inventory was prepared at the command of George III of England (r. 1760-1820) on the eve of the French invasion of June 1803. It lists masterpieces by, among others, Rubens, Cranach, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Kneller and Holbein (a portrait of Henry VIII), as well as "amateur" efforts,… Read More

Paris: Henri I Estienne, 1512. Richly gilt red morocco (Simier; rubbed), dots, fronds, foliage and lettering on the spine, gilt turn-ins, BLUE SILK DOUBLURES - one gilt-lettered C.A. WALCKENAER, blue silk free endleaves, all edges gilt. EDITIO PRINCEPS, "REMARKABLE FOR THE BEAUTY OF ITS EXECUTION" (BERNARD). The ancient Antonine Itinerary lists over two hundred fifty land and sea routes of the Roman Empire in c. 300 C.E. - some 53,000 miles - from Samsat to Mauritania and Hadrian's Wall to Aswan.             Contemporary soldiers, diplomats, pilgrims, traders, scoundrels and refugees consulted it for travel, medieval cartographers for maps and modern scholars to study networks.             GEOFFROY TORY EDITED THE TEXT from a manuscript of Christophe de Longueil (1480-1522). The book is "undoubtedly the tiniest production of Henri Estienne's press" (Schreiber).             A fine copy, canceled early signatures of Angelus Maria ?Bonati (with a few annotations),… Read More

Ingolstadt: A. II and S. Weissenhorn, 1560. Contemporary blind-decorated pigskin over pressed paper boards (soiled). THE PIGSKIN FIRST COVERED ONE PANEL OF A FOLIO. At that time, it was decorated with three roll-frames and a central rectangle. FOR ITS SECOND LIFE it was turned ninety degrees and decorated as a quarto with a four-rule outer frame, then repeatedly diapered to obscure the earlier tooling. With: Ziegler, Hieronymus.             Illvstrivm Germaniæ Virorvm Historiæ.  Ingolstadt, A. II and S. Weissenhorn 1562. 4to. [xii], 96 leaves. Full-page woodcut arms of the dedicatees, the Counts of Ortenburg.             Ad I: Only Edition of this extended dramatization of the Flight into Egypt - Jesus, Mary, and Joseph's escape just before Herod's Massacre of the Innocents. The Bible skimps on the details, so Agricola's imagination fills in the gaps. The trio travels to Heliopolis only to be sabotaged by Herod's allies, saved but separated, then reunited in Memphis under the… Read More