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

Paris: Jeanne de Marnef (widow of Denis Janot), 1546. Gilt-ruled dark blue morocco (Trautz-Bauzonnet), spine gilt and gilt-lettered, marbled endleaves, all edges gilt.             FIRST EDITION. THIS PICTURE BOOK OF PASSION, CURIOSITY, PUNISHMENT AND REDEMPTION "CONTAINS VERY MANY OF THE INGREDIENTS OF A FAIRY-TALE" (Meunier, tr.).             The woodcuts have their genesis in Raphaël's frescoes of Cupid and Psyche in the Villa Farnesina (completed 1518). In the early 1530s, the Flemish artist Michel Coxie added twenty earthly scenes creating a suite of thirty-two drawings. Shortly after, the Master of the Die cut these in copper above anonymous image-specific Italian verses. The print suite inspired forty-four stained-glass panels at Château d'Écouen (1542-44) captioned by French versions of the Italian text. This pocket book, in turn, provided patterns to artists of the next generation.            With not a word of Apuleius in them, the parallel poems in Italian and French… Read More

Paris: [Le Petit Laurens for himself and Jean Petit, 1500. A FIGURED FOUR-BLOCK FRAME ENCLOSES THE BIPARTITE WOODCUT. Above, an old couple, Understanding and Memory, flank a Gothic pinnacle, while below, the author finishes the text in his study; Lombardic initials, xylographic title with a large grotesque initial L. Contemporary blind-ruled calf (restored, new endleaves), gilt fleurons in the corners and center. THE ORIGINAL OF AN IMPORTANT MONUMENT OF EARLY ENGLISH PROSE" (Goldschmidt). Andrew Chertsey translated it into English, and Wynkyn de Worde issued it twice.  Composed in the 1460s to be read silently alone or aloud with family and friends, these Christian tenets address simple folk. Examples from everyday life leaven the clear and patient prose, which, i.a., WARNS AGAINST READING ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY AND WORLDLY POETS.  Of the ?thirteen incunable printings, only three are held by U.S. libraries (each in a single example). In good condition (washed, upper margin of the first four leaves… Read More

Paris: Gabriel Martin, 1731. Contemporary speckled calf (rubbed), spine and red morocco label gilt, edges sprinkled red and brown. Bibliographer and librarian to the Abp. of Canterbury, Colomiès recommends one hundred 16th- and 17th-century books across all fields (hunting, bibliography, coins...). He discusses their contents, arguments and errors. This is the first edition to be updated by Pierre Bonnet-Bourdelot (1655-1709) and Bernard de La Monnoye (1641-1728) with additional printings, citations and references to controversial literature. Martin (?1679-1761) revolutionized the auctioning of rare books in France. In good condition (a few scattered spots). ¶Besterman, World Bibliography of Bibliographies 812; Cioranescu 20103.

Paris: s.n., 1660. Recent stiff vellum. Fugitive festival book in dialect. On 25 August 1660, three locals discuss the preparations for the new queen's entry into her capitol the next day. Two other versions are known. No example identified in the U.S. In good condition, not in Dufour or Destailleur. ¶Ruggieri, Catalogue des livres rares (1873) 490; Bossuet, Catalogue des livres relatifs à...Paris (1888) 1939 (?this ed.) & 1953 (another 1660 ed.) and see Collins' Catalogue of the Library of...L.-L. Bonaparte 3772 (another 1660 ed.).

Paris: P. Du Pré, 1598. Mid-19th-century blind-tooled calf (Hatton, rubbed), spine label and date gilt, red edges. Only Edition. This treats the general concepts of time and its units of measure, the armillary sphere and the heavens, while reconciling astronomical and historical data. It catalogs zodiacal bodies, fixed stars and the planets and records lunar and solar cycles (mentioning Copernicus). With these it demonstrates the Septuagint is more astronomically and historically accurate than the then more widely accepted Hebrew original. Lauret did his own math to establish the dates of specific events based on celestial information. P. Cayet's dedication to Pope Clement bears a few early manuscript annotations by a Protestant. I have found two complete copies in North America. In good condition (a few ink stains, two natural paper flaws affecting four words), Macclesfield stamp and bookplate. Not in Tardy's Bibliographie générale de la mesure du temps (1980). ¶Houzeau & Lancaster,… Read More

Paris: J. Gesselin, 1644. Jansenist crushed red morocco (Trautz-Bauzonnet), gilt-lettered spine, all edges gilt over marbling, blue silk marker.             Only Edition, early issue of this assortment of surprises. Excoriator and Satirist in Chief of the Gods, Momus tells us that long before the present GRAB-BAG OF OVER FIVE HUNDRED ANECDOTES, JOKES, PARODIES AND WITTICISMS was published, Boccaccio had dipped into this same satchel for his tales. In our stories, which range from two lines to two pages, no one is spared - nobles, doctors, lawyers, tradesmen, sex workers, philosophers, priests, booksellers, nuns, kings and popes. No topic is off limits - religion, sex, gender, class, art, butts, nationalities, usury, penis and breast size, adultery, vanity, drunkenness, crime, gluttony, cuckoldry.... The comedy sometimes turns on subverting power dynamics with, for example, wives humiliating their controlling husbands. Often, however, simply holding a mirror to human absurdity gets a chuckle.… Read More

?Arles: ?François Mesnier, 1657. Contemporary gilt-ruled sheep (scuffed), spine and label gilt, edges sprinkled red. Bound with: L'Hermite, Jean-Baptiste, seigneur de Soliers.  La Toscane Françoise. ?Arles, ?F. Mesnier 1657. Small folio. [ii blank], [ii], [147]p. TWENTY-TWO NEARLY FULL-PAGE ETCHED AND ENGRAVED ARMS of Tuscan noble families, etched and engraved title. Ad I-II: Presentation copies, privately printed, early issues. L'Hermite (fl. 1639-70) composed regional biographies of Italian families closely tied to the French crown, trusting their assets equaled their vanity as he sought their patronage. For the present volume the target was the politically powerful branch of the Florentine Peruzzi family that had settled in Provence. The front flyleaf bears their bookplate and the pastedown L'Hermite's manuscript presentation dated 1657.  Both volumes appear to be the earliest issues - Liguria with an achevée date of 30 June 1657 and Tuscany with the title dated 1657. In good condition… Read More

Paris: G. I Jollain, 1661. Contemporary mottled vellum over boards (bowed, minor defects), edges sprinkled red and blue. Only Edition of this perspective manual, written expressly to claim the one thousand franc prize offered in July 1657 by Girard Desargues (1591-1661), the great projective geometer, who dramatically advanced the study and practice of perspective. To meet the challenge, Bourgoing, an Augustinian friar, composed this work. His lengthy preface lays out his ideas and methods, concisely compares them point by point to Desargues', which prove inferior in every case. "The most important innovations in fact consisted in the new terminology...and in the...effort to eliminate the use of the geometric plane, which was achieved only many decades later by Taylor and Lambert" (Vagnetti, tr.).             The main text deals with figures and shadow. Introductory schematic synopses frame the arguments of most sections, and the illustrations demonstrate the subject matter. Poudra praises… Read More

Venice: G.A. Nicolini da Sabbio, 1536. CONTEMPORARY PURPLE-DYED VELLUM OVER THIN FLEXIBLE BOARDS with overlapping foreedges, flat spine with later manuscript title and remnants of a paper label (color faded), all edges gilt and gauffered, double headbands in red and gray silk, evidence of four green linen ties. With: Partenio, Bernardino.                    Della Imitatione Poetica.  Venice, G. Giolito de' Ferrari 1560. 4to. [xvi], 248, [3]p. Scattered Greek, fine historiated woodcut initials.                                    Ad I-II: First Editions of two significant contributions to the 16th-century questione della lingua, the debate over the codification of the Italian literary language. Their tenets influenced all subsequent Italian poetry. Both volumes are in good condition (light stains on a dozen leaves, second title soiled); 1578 ownership inscription of Galeotto Bernardini - perhaps the protonotary apostolic who died in 1591.            Ad I:… Read More

The Hague: J. Neaulme, 1750. Contemporary tan calf with six spine compartments - four with gilt flowers and foliage, the fifth with a gilt-lettered red morocco label and the bottom compartment with the gilt oval stamp EX LIBRIS ADR. JOS. HAVÉ (1740-1817), red edges, blue silk marker. First Edition of this free French adaptation by Bénigne Dujardin (called de Boispréaux) of Mazzuchelli's original, which the translator fails to mention by chance.... The final 45 pages are THE FIRST BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ARETINO, including the famous woodcut pornographic suite. In good condition. ¶Cioranescu 26371; Conlon, Le Siècle des Lumières 50:521.

Lyon: F. Juste, 1539. Jansenist crushed red morocco (Cuzin), gilt-lettered spine, all edges gilt, blue silk marker. Three nationalist texts illustrated with popular woodcuts. The first - by poet, historian and bookseller Gilles Corrozet - recounts the legendary foundation of the cities and towns of France. The second, by the physician and bibliographer Symphorien Champier (c. 1471-1539), describes the topography of southern France, its main political centers, MEDICINAL SPAS AND ROUTES OF COMMERCIAL NAVIGATION. The third, Champier's son Claude's account of pilgrimage sites in France, binds the spiritual to the historical (I) and the physical (II). François Juste specialized in small format vernacular illustrated books. Fine, from the library of the great bibliophile, Fr.-Gust.-Ad. Guyot de Villeneuve (1825-1898; Catalogue (1901) II: 113). ¶Brun, Le Livre illustré en France au XVIe siècle 176; Bechtel, Catalogue des gothiques C-650; Buisson, Répertoire des ouvrages pédagogiques du XVIe siècle 179.

Paris: C.-A. Jombert, 1754. Contemporary mottled calf (worn), flat spine and red morocco label gilt, red edges, green silk marker. First Edition in French, the most popular 18th-century introduction to the field. A Jesuit, the translator Esprit Pezenas (1692-1776) was director of the Marseille observatory, wrote on eclipses, gauging, optics, navigation and navigational astronomy and promoted English contributions to science. Pasted in facing the title is L.-A. Jombert's printed change of address announcement. In good condition. ¶Nissen, Die zoologische Buchillustration I: 202; Sommervogel-deBacker, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus VI: 648-9,10; see Clay & Court's The History of the Microscope.

Munich: E.A. Fleischmann for the Author, 1829. Original lithographed boards (rubbed), front panel with an ornamental border, title and a vignette of Zeus throwing lightning bolts, rear panel with the same border and a vignette of two stargazers in a boat at night, spine title.             Fun with science! Second Edition: more than four times the size of the first. Professor of mathematics and physics, Egger privately collected scientific instruments and apparatuses and regularly held demonstrations for school children and for learned societies. In his introductory guide to experiments with colors, magnetism, acoustics, gravity and optics, he shows a variety of electrical devices, including his luminous rainbow, comet, and clock, as well as a "magical electric question and answer" machine (Fig. 276). At the end he discusses astronomy, meteorology, and notable meteor strikes. Both copies in the U.S. are in D.C. (Smithsonian and Houdini-LC). In good condition (first few leaves foxed). ¶Sotheran,… Read More

Lyon: for C. Baudrand in Vienne, 1659. Gilt-ruled polished tan calf (Simier), gilt spine and labels, all edges gilt, purple silk marker. First Edition, second issue. This examines the history of Vienne, just south of Lyon on the Rhône, from the 1st century BCE to the mid-17th century. Chorier describes its Roman amphitheater, statuary, aqueducts, leper colony, prison, churches, monasteries, fortifications, fountains, cemeteries, gardens, hospitals, palaces, libraries, festivals, games.... In good condition (title repair affects the imprint), some uncut edges, Yemeniz copy (Catalogue (1867) 3498). ¶Universal Catalogue of Books on Art I: 287; Répertoire...des livres imprimés en France au XVIIe siècle VIII: 162,77; Cioranescu 19462.

Grenoble: J. Nicolas, 1676. Calf-backed marbled boards, gilt-lettered flat spine. Only Edition (second issue). Beaumont and Dupuy were cruel 16th-century Huguenot military captains. Calignon was President of the Dauphiné parlement at Grenoble. This is the only published volume of Allard's grand project - Biographie Dauphinoise - that was to cover the 12th to the mid-17th century.      Contentious, disbarred and disgraced, he published some sixty works, slim pamphlets to fat bibliography. Copies of this edition are variously dated 1675 or 1676 (here 1671; the "V" having dropped out). In good condition, a couple of dozen lower margins uncut and two leaves still conjugate at the outer margin. ¶Haag, La France protestante II: 115; Maignien, L'imprimerie à Grenoble 630; Cioranescu 6893.

Venice: Antonio Zatta, 1761. Flush-cut in contemporary floral wrappers over stiff paper boards (repaired, front board nearly off). Only Edition. In defending his 1760 Dimostrazione dell' ossequio, the Venetian publisher Zatta provides an annotated bibliography of sixty-two recent books attacking the jesuits, many on the Order's 1759 suppression in Portugal and the New World. I have located two copies in the U.S. Internally fresh, some lower edges uncut. ¶Vigni Pecchioli, Bibliografia delle edizioni giuridiche antiche in lingua italiana II(2): 607.

[Venice: Jacobus de Fivizano (or Fivizzano)], 1477. 18th-century marbled calf (rubbed, joints slightly cracked), gilt spine and morocco label, blue and yellow endleaves. First Edition, containing "THE FIRST ORIGINAL MEDIEVAL CONTRIBUTION TO PHYSIOGNOMY" (Glick et al.). Composed between 1209 and 1226 at the court of Frederick II, the first of the two primary texts explores human generation - anatomy, physiology, astrology, sexual behavior, conception and the health of the fetus. This influenced Hill's Contemplation of Mankinde (1571, etc.) and Aristotle's Masterpiece. The second work, the Physiognomy, goes head to toe interpreting a person's character, vices and virtues from their features. It was translated into Spanish, Italian, French, German and Polish. The three short tracts that follow treat urology, dreams and the differences between animal genera and species, a subject Michael mastered while translating zoological works by Averroës, Aristotle and ibn Sina. A good copy, four pages with… Read More

Augsburg: Johann Froschauer, 1498. Gilt-ruled dark blue morocco (Zaehnsdorf), spine gilt and gilt-lettered.             "ONE OF THE EARLIEST BOOKS CONTAINING MUSIC PRINTED FROM WOODBLOCKS.... Keinspeck rejected the Guidonian hand as a teaching method...he favoured the use of the scala which combined the use of pitch names ('claves') and solmization syllables ('voces')" (Niemöller; emphasis mine).            This brief introduction to monophonic choral singing "is important in the transformation of music theory.... Keinspeck's work demonstrates the practical aspects of teaching chant for its own sake in the age of polyphony just prior to the reforms of sacred music brought about by Luther" (Damschroder & Williams).             THE WEALTH OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ENSURED THE POPULARITY OF THIS PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONAL BOOKLET, WHICH AIMED SOLELY TO IMPROVE THE AESTHETIC PERFORMANCE OF CHURCH CHOIRS, free from any specific tradition's constraints. Simple clear rules, definitions, examples… Read More

[Rouen or possibly Paris: Baptiste Bourguet], 1495. Blind-ruled brown morocco over heavy boards (Francisque Cuzin; short crack at the top of the front hinge), gilt-lettered title on the front panel, old blue edges. FIRST EDITION OF THE MYSTERY PLAY MOUNTED IN ROUEN AT CHRISTMASTIME 1474 ON THIRTY-ONE TIMBER STAGES IN THE MARKET SQUARE. The primary platforms - all bearing signs - represented Paradise, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Syria, Rome, Hell and Limbo. Over two days, seventy-eight amateur actors recited the 15,000 verses, livened by burlesque, violence, the sublime and some dozen musical interludes.                 "THIS PLAY...GIVES MORE DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR PERFORMANCE THAN ANY OTHER" (Brown). It dictates actors' movements and positions, the painted backdrops and the type, color and location of fixed furniture. The elaborate stage machinery included an immense dragon's head (Hell) whose jaws opened and closed for the damned, serpents and flames shooting from its nostrils,… Read More

[England], 1665. Contemporary blind-paneled English reversed calf (top and base of the front hinge cracked), narrow foliage roll decoration at the base of spine, edges sprinkled red and brown. A NEW THING IN THE WRITING OF NARRATIVE ENGLISH" - Bligh. "A SIGNIFICANT EXAMPLE OF ENGLISH PROSE IN A SEMINAL STAGE OF ITS DEVELOPMENT" - Gabrieli.           HITHERTO UNKNOWN TO SCHOLARS, THIS IS THE SECOND EXTANT COPY of the diplomat, scientist, sea captain and bibliophile's autobiographical romance.             Son of an executed regicide, suspect for his Catholic faith and secretly wed to a woman of sullied reputation, Digby sought to dramatically advance his career and fortune in 1627-28 through piracy in the eastern Mediterranean. He commanded two armed vessels and some three hundred crew. Disease reduced the latter by nearly half as they coasted North Africa, the Adriatic and Greece in search of prizes. His famous assault on the Ottoman port of Iskenderun yielded only booty seized… Read More