Search Results: Titles starting with L from Liber Antiquus

Troyes: Jacques Oudot, no date, ca, 1700. Hardcover. Fine. Illustrated with a half-page title-woodcut and 59 large woodcuts in the text, Bound in fine 20th cent. green morocco. A fine, fresh copy, with the margins cut very close, occasional shaving a headline, page number, or the text (without loss of sense.) This copy conforms with that in la bibliothèque de Troyes, which dates this edition to ca. 1700. The Dyson-Perrins (1864-1958) copy. One of the earliest examples of the pictorial cycle and poem known as the Danse Macabre was painted between August 1424 and Lent 1425 in the arcades of the Cimetière des Saints-Innocents (Cemetery of the Holy Innocents) in Paris. These arcades, constructed as charniers to house bones from earlier mass burials, were demolished in 1669, along with their frescoes. Woodcuts of the Danse copied from the Paris fresco, along with the 67 verses that accompanied the images, were first printed by Guy Marchant at Paris in 1485, with woodcuts designed by Pierre le Rouge.… Read More

Turin: Gio. Battista Chais, 1737. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in contemporary marbled boards, worn and soiled, rebacked in later sheep. An unusually nice copy internally, with just the slightest toning to some plates, a few spots, clean tear to center of one plate at fold (no loss), and light finger-soiling in the margins. Magnificent engraved ornamental frontispiece by Prenner with the arms of the house of Savoy. Fourteen etched and engraved plates, including the folding fireworks plate. Title page in red and black. Text in Italian and French. One of the most beautiful 18th c. Italian festival books and of the Piemontese Baroque. Both the festival and the book commemorating it occupied the combined efforts of some of the most important artists and architects of the period. The decorations of the buildings, the apparatus, the fireworks, and the machines were invented by the architects Borra, Massone, Piovani, Bernardi, Agliaudi, and Bernardo Vittone. The plates were etched and engraved by… Read More

Venice: Nicolò Bascarini, 1548. SECOND EDITIONS OF BOTH WORKS (1st eds. 1540). Hardcover. Fine. A fine, attractive, and unsophisticated copy, bound in contemporary limp vellum (binding a bit rumpled, with small defects to the spine and nibbling to the upper edge -charming evidence of a hungry mouse.) The text is in excellent condition, very fresh, with trivial blemishes as follows: Leaf i1 with a clean tear in the text (no loss), lvs. k1-2 with contemporary marginal notes; small stain in lower margin of gathering O, a damp-stain in the lower margin of gathering P; leaf P2 with a small paper flaw affecting a few letters, trivial light foxing to the upper margin of a few gatherings, very light stain in lower margin of final 2 lvs. The book is illustrated with woodcut diagrams, illustrations of instruments, and 47 full-page woodcut star maps. Alessandro Piccolomini was professor of philosophy at the University of Padua from 1539 to 1543. In 1541, in a famous letter written to Pietro Aretino, he… Read More

Bassano: Si vende in Bassano al Negozio Remondini, ca, 1680. ?FIRST EDITION (conforming to the Getty copy, see below.). Hardcover. Fine. Modern binding using 18th-century patterned paper over thin boards. Title and first leaves soiled, title and second leaf with small restoration to blank upper corner; a few minor repairs to the corners of the next two plates. Plate two with 3 tiny holes repaired. Light creases to final plate. Plate 3 with evidence of a crack in the printing plate. Six copies located in North America: Columbia, Getty, Art Institute of Chicago, Newberry, Harvard, LC. A very rare set of writing models prepared for the use of young students ("utile à giovani"). Each plate is signed by Agostino Tensini, master calligrapher and author of the 1668 "Le meraviglie della penna". "Rarissimo, bellissimo libro di calligrafia con qualche decina di graziose vignette e caricature in calligrafia" (Bonacini). Baroque taste is evident in this book, both in the type of writing and in the creative… Read More

Naples: per maestro Ioanne Sulsbach [Giovanni Sultzbach] Alemano, 1532. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in contemporary vellum (a bit wrinkled, small defects to spine) with a contemporary Sicilian gift inscription occupying the full length of the lower cover: "Al mio padre Gia[como] Batt[ist]a Serabone [?] della Compagnia del Giesu. Messina." Inscription on title (scored through) "Collegii Messiniensis Soc. Jesu."; 16th or 17th c. ownership inscription on title: "Custodia Caraffa" and associated ownership inscription on leaf B1 verso, "Questo libro è dela S[uor] Custodia et S[uor] Ginobia Carrafe" with the subscription "Vittoria Caraffa". 19thc. book ticket on front pastedown: "Jacob Manzoni" (1816-1889), whose library was dispersed in various auctions between 1892 and 1894; 20th c. book ticket "Libreria Rappaport"(Rome). Contents in overall good condition but with several gatherings browned and other minor faults: title page foxed and lightly soiled, with small marginal chips and a couple of… Read More

Rome: presso l'autore, 1819-, 1823. FIRST EDITION, first issue. Hardcover. Fine. A fine, complete set with all 101 engraved plates. Bound in 19th c. diced calf in two volumes (corners bumped, light wear to hinges and head and foot of spines). The boards are framed by multiple gold rules with additional blind-ruling and roll-tooling. Attractive floral roll-tooling to turn-ins. Spine with gold-ruled compartments, diced in blind, with title, author, date and volume numbers tooled in gold. Contents in fine condition, the plates on sturdy guards, with two added manuscript title pages (19th c.) in pen and wash. First plate in Vol. I foxed, occ. marginal foxing and light soiling, rarely affecting the images. Tiny spots of red wax to fold of one plate. These magnificently large and stunning views of the Eternal City, created by the Ravenna architect Luigi Rossini, are by far the most spectacular of those issued in the nineteenth century. The subjects include temples, public baths, basilicas and other… Read More

Venice: Aldus Manutius, August, 1502. FIRST ALDINE EDITION of Dante's "Commedia. Hardcover. Fine. A fine copy, ruled in red throughout, bound in early 19th-c. English burgundy morocco. The boards are tooled in blind and ruled with a single gilt filet. The spine is tooled in compartments in gilt and blind and lettered directly in gilt. With doublures and end-leaves of brown silk with gilt borders and corner-pieces. Edges of the text-block gilt; spine very lightly sunned, some minimal rubbing at extremities and minor marks to boards; engraved armorial bookplate of William Ewart Gladstone to front pastedown (see provenance note below). Recto of first and final leaf lightly soiled. First leaf lightly foxed and with a light stain, small light stain to margin of lvs. a5 and a6; a few other trivial blemishes. Very nice. This is the state with the Aldine anchor and dolphin device on the final leaf. Quires a-c were also completely re-set, the present copy having the headline 'INFERNO' on a2r, and 'INF' in… Read More

Bologna: Presso gli heredi di Euangelista Dozza, 1647. THIRD EDITION (1st ed. 1550) and the SECOND ILLUSTRATED EDITION (1st 1568) of Vasari's "Lives". Hardcover. Fine. Bound in three uniform bindings of contemporary stiff vellum, somewhat soiled. The text is in overall fine condition, with some light browning, occasional foxing, and a few marginal damp-stains. The three volumes are illustrated throughout with the well-known woodcut portraits of the artists set within ornate frames. For this edition the editor, Carlo Monalessi, acquired the original woodblocks used for the 1568 edition, and had several new portraits added. All three volumes feature an added engraved frontispiece by Bloemaert after a drawing by the celebrated Roman painter and engraver, Giovanni Angelo Canini (1617-1666). "Giorgio Vasari invented Renaissance art. In 1550, he published a collection of one hundred and forty-two biographies, his 'Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Architects, Painters, and Sculptors from Cimabue to our… Read More

Paris: Chrestien Wechel, 1540. FOURTH EDITION IN FRENCH (1st and 2nd eds 1536; 3rd 1539). Hardcover. Fine. Bound in 19th c. citron Morocco, gilt. A nice copy, lightly washed, with 16th c. annotations (faded and in some cases irretrievable due to the washing). The washing of the annotations has resulted in some light staining, with occasional shine-through to the image on the verso of the sheet. Very small hole in one leaf. Provenance: Isidoro Fernandez (1878-1963), bookplate. Text in French and Latin, woodcut device on title, another version on final leaf. Illustrated with 113 woodcuts. 33 text leaves have annotations, almost all in the blank margin of the lvs., with bleed-through on about five leaves onto the image on the verso of the sheet. The woodcuts, attributed to Jean "Mercure" Jollat (1490-1550), were first used in Wechel's first Paris edition of 1534. The French translation is the work of Jean Le Fevre (1493-1563), first published by Wechel in 1536. An attractive bilingual French-Latin… Read More

Rome: Chez Bouchard et Gravier Libraires françois rüe du Cours près l'Eglise de S. Marcel, de l'imprimerie de Komarek, 1763. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. Fine. This is a very fine, broad-margined copy bound in 19th c. half vellum (worn, small splits at head and foot of spine and another along the spine. The text and plates are in excellent condition with only a few instances of light marginal foxing or the occasional light blemish. One plate loose. Magnificently illustrated with 44 double-page etched and engraved plates of Renaissance and Baroque Roman architecture, with captions in Italian and French. All plates are signed by Barbault as draftsman ("Barbault del[ineavit") and most signed by Domenico Montagù ("D. Montegu Sculp[sit]"), Freicenet, or Giraud as engraver. With an etched and engraved title vignette; 21 small etched and engraved plates as tailpieces. The plates are on guards so that they lie flat when opened, rather than running into the gutter. The French artist Jean Barbault arrived in… Read More

Rome: Chez Bouchard et Gravier Libraires François rüe du Cours près de Saint Marcel, de l'imprimerie de Komarek, 1761. FIRST EDITION. A fine copy in contemporary calf. Hardcover. Fine. Magnificently illustrated with 73 etched and engraved plates comprising 88 half-page and 29 full-page images of ancient Roman architecture and sculpture. These were designed by Barbault (83 engravings), Carlo Nolli (1), and L. Bufalino (1) and engraved by Barbault (56), Domenico Montagù (52), Giuseppe? Bouchard (6), and Freicenet (4). The title page bears an etched and engraved vignette, the text is further illustrated with an engraved head-piece for the dedication and 9 engraved illustrations of ancient bas-reliefs and sculptures as tail-pieces. The French artist Jean Barbault arrived in Rome in 1747 and quickly became involved with the circle of Piranesi, with whom he worked on the "Varie Vedute di Roma Antica e Moderna" and for whose "Antichità Romane" he contributed figures for 14 plates "thus becoming one of… Read More

London: St. James's Palace, 7th June, 1556. Hardcover. Fine. Blind-stamped paper seal and address panel on verso "To our right trustie wellbeloved Counsillor Lord Paget de Beaudesert...", docketed on verso: "for thabsentes... Quene marie to my Lorde for process xvi" A remarkable letter, signed by Mary Tudor as Queen, instructing Lord Paget as Keeper of the Privy Seal to send messages to ten Tudor exiles: Sir Thomas Wroth, an unidentified individual whose name has been obliterated, Sir William Stafford, Sir Henry Neville, William Fiennes "Fyenenes", Roger Whetnall, John Hales, Anthony Meres, Jane Wilkinson, and Edward Isaac. The exiles are to commanded to return "wth all celeritie to repaire into this our Realme of England; But also to make "yor p[er]sonall apparance the laste of October next coming before us and our privie counsaill attendant on our p[er]sone... And then to answer to all such matters as shall at yor coming... nat failing hereof uppon the faith and allegiance ye owe and beare unto… Read More

Venice: Presso Gio. Battista Combi, 1638. TWELFTH EDITION of the LETTERS, EIGHTH EDITION of the "FRAGMENTI". Hardcover. Fine. Bound in contemporary vellum, stained red, some wear and soiling, remains of green silk ties. A nice copy with a little minor damp-staining, and some worming in three signatures, affecting one to two lines of text but not the sense. The first edition of Isabella Andreini's collection of letters appeared in 1607, four years after the author's death, edited by her husband, Francesco. In 1617, with the assistance of Flaminio Scala, Francesco published the "Fragmenti". For a discussion of both works, see below. "Born in Padua to Venetian parents in 1562, Isabella Andreini (née Canali) would become the most celebrated commedia dell'arte actress of her century by the time of her death in 1604. Praised by contemporaries such as Tasso, Marino, and Chiabrera and famed in France as well as Italy, Andreini was renowned both for the prima donna innamorata role she played on the stage… Read More

London: Printed by J. Flesher, for Richard Marriot, and are to be sold at his shop in St Dunstans Church-yard under the Dyall, 1651. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, PRINTED ON LARGE PAPER. Hardcover. Fine. With the fine engraved portrait of Donne by Pieter Lombart bound opposite the title page. This copy is bound in contemporary tanned sheep, rebacked and recornered, with gold ruling to the boards and spine. The text is on wonderfully fresh condition. The leaves are clean and bright with broad margins. A very special copy, one of only five known on this large and heavy paper. Provenance: Thomas Hutchinson (signature, 1721, on initial blank) - Henry Buxton-Forman (bookplate, penciled initials and note) - Edward Hubert Litchfield (bookplate; Parke-Bernet, 3 December 1951, lot 328), acquired by Seven Gables, 1962. Published posthumously by the poet's son, John Donne (1604-1662), this collection contains 129 letters, written between December 1600 (a year before Donne's marriage to Anne More) and March 1631… Read More

London: Printed by J. Flesher, for Richard Marriot, and are to be sold at his shop in St Dunstans Church-yard under the Dyall, 1651. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE. Hardcover. Fine. With the fine engraved portrait of Donne by Pieter Lombart bound opposite the title page. This copy is bound in contemporary English calf, rebacked so discreetly that it is impossible to see where the leather has been joined. The original gilded red morocco spine label is preserved and a double blind-ruled fillet frames the boards. The engraved portrait and text are in excellent, crisp condition. A truly fine copy. Provenance: This copy was once the property of the author and essayist Sir Thomas Pope Blount (1649-1697) and bears his familiar ms. note "Tittenhanger library" on the free endpaper. Blount inherited the Tittenhanger estate in Hertfordshire in 1678. In his "Essays on Several Subjects" (1692), Blount wrote: "If learning happens to be in the possession of a Fool, 'tis then but a Bawble, and like Dr. Donne's Sun Dial… Read More

Venice: Stephano da Sabbio, March, 1535. FIRST ITALIAN EDITION (The first ed., in Spanish, appeared in 1534). Hardcover. Fine. Bound in fine 20th-century dark green long grained morocco, boards framed by an ornamental roll, gilt. Gilt spine and turn-ins. A very good copy, edges sprinkled blue. Small, discreet repair to blank upper margin of t.p. and lower blank corner of 2nd leaf; small stain at upper corner of 4th leaf; gathering 'e' possibly supplied. Title with large woodcut of the imperial arms of Charles V; woodcut cartouches with the arms of Andrew Gritti (leaf 3r) and of the translator, Domingo de Gaztelu (leaf 2v). First Italian edition of Francisco de Xerez' eyewitness account of Francisco Pizarro's expedition to conquer the Inca Empire, one of the most important accounts of the conquest of Peru. "Xerez's work had a profound and lasting influence on all subsequent histories of Peru, and the 'Verdadera relacion' is widely regarded as the foundation of all texts dealing with the region and… Read More

Leipzig: [Heirs of Valentin Bapst] in Officina Haeredum Valentini Papae elaborata atque edita, 1559. MELANCHTHON'S FINAL REVISION, published in the last year of his life, of the founding doctrinal text of the Lutheran faith. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in contemporary blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards (one clasp preserved, light wear and soiling). The text is in excellent condition, with just 2 lvs. (d7-8) lightly spotted, and a small natural paper flaw to the blank upper margin of leaf p6 (just touching the page number). There are a few contemporary annotations in gathering f. Provenance: André Hachette (cat. 1953, no. 85).- Charles von der Elst.- Pierre Berès (catalogue Livres rares. Six siècles de reliures, 2004, no. 46). A superb contemporary blind-stamped pigskin binding, dated 1564 and signed M.O.C., by Thomas Krüger of Wittenberg, with full-length portrait panel stamps of Martin Luther (157 x 89 mm.) and Philip Melanchthon (156 x 90 mm.) based on portraits by Lucas Cranach the Younger… Read More

Basel: Episcopium F.[ratres], 1563. FIRST COLLECTED EDITION. Hardcover. Fine. With the woodcut illustration of the island of Utopia. A fine copy in 16th c. English calf (re-cased, small repairs, later gold lettering on spine, endpapers renewed. One of the original pastedowns- the leaf from an early English almanac -is visible on the inner rear board.) An excellent copy, the vast majority of the text very fresh, with just some very minor faults: inner margin of title page repaired (far from the text), light stain along top blank edge of first 4 lvs, slight marginal fraying to first 3 lvs., small stain on leaf p8, very light dampstain to the final three gatherings, very small marginal tears to final 3 lvs. The woodcut illustration of the Island of Utopia is on leaf d3. Printer's device on final leaf, verso. Bookplate: "William Salkeld, Esq.", possibly the Serjeant-at-law and law reporter of that name (1671-1715). First edition of the collected Latin works of Sir Thomas More, including the "Utopia"… Read More

London: By Wynkyn de Worde, 27 August, 1527. NINTH ENGLISH EDITION (1st 1483). Title and imprint from colophon. Hardcover. Fine. An excellent, complete copy bound in late 18th c. russia, gilt, hinges neatly repaired, corners bumped. Illustrated with a full page woodcut on leaf A1 showing an assembly of saints and martyrs, and 85 woodcuts in the text. Wynkyn de Worde's woodcut printer's device (incorporating Caxton's initials) on verso of final leaf. Text printed in Black Letter, in 2 cols of 46 lines. Title and imprint from colophon. Provenance: George Henry Arnold of Ashby Lodge (1791-1844), bookplate on front paste-down. The text is in very fine condition with minor blemishes as follows: scattered light spotting, discreet marginal repairs on leaves Q6, Q8, and Oo4. Tiny single wormhole in the opening leaves, short worm-trail and small wormholes in blank margins of closing gatherings. Other tiny wormholes in the text of the last few gatherings. A few minor marginal repairs. Full-page woodcut, first… Read More