Renaissance

Louisville: Prentice & Weissinger, 1840. Soft Cover. 29 p.; 22 cm. The first text of Machiavelli published in the United States and a very rare book.Early Kentucky printing.   Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469-1527. Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio. Stock#OB959. Good+, some foxing, original blue paper wrappers, early manuscript annotations on title-page.

1556. Basel, [Per Henrichum Petri, 1556 - on colophon]. An absolutely lovely copy of the exceedingly scarce first edition, first printing, of one of the most influential and important works in the history of modern thought. A work that has for a long time been overlooked due to the gross neglect of the history of Renaissance philosophy, but which has nonetheless been seminal to the development of scientific and philosophical thought from the 16th century and onwards. With a purely naturalistic and immanent view of the natural process, Pomponazzi here frees man's thought from the bounds of religion and provides modern thinkers and scientists with pure empiricism and naturalism. "Er will das "Wissen" and die Stelle des "Glaubens" stellen" - "die "dämonische" Kausalität des Glaubens weicht der Kausalität der Wissenschaft" (Cassirer, p. 110 + 111). 8vo. Contemporary full limp vellum, with vellum cords to hinges. Remains of vellum ties to boards. A bit of brownspotting, but all in all a lovely,… Read More

1559. Venetiis, In Officina Valgrisiana, 1559. Folio. (31,5x22,5 cm) Contemporary full Italian vellum. (100),776 pp. + Apologia (having its own title page) 46,(1) pp. Printers woodcut-device at both titles and on last leaf verso. With more than 700 fine wood-cuts in the text (of animals and plants). Light browning to title page, 2 corners repaired, no loss of text, 6 last leaves strengthened in outer margins, no loss of text. A few scattered brown spots and a few marginal notes. In general fine and clean, printed on good paper. Old name on title, Wolffgangus Hendl, 1564 P.V.Q. Scarce third Latin edition of this, the most famous commentary on the Materia Medica of Dioscorides, having here also the text of Dioscorides, who was the originator of the Materia Medica of antiquity. The first edition was printed 1554 and it had fewer and smaller illustrations in the text. "The use of illustrations to aid in describing and identifying plants was taken up enthusiastically by the Italian botanists. Ghini… Read More

THE GREATEST BOOK OF RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTUREIllustrated with 205 large woodcuts, including 74 full-page and 7 double-page blocks; magnificent allegorical woodcut title border; large woodcut head-pieces and large floriated and grotesque woodcut initials; leaf I4 slightly taller than the rest of the text block, to accommodate a tall column woodcut, with about 2 cm section at top folded in. Royal Folio. 19th-century ¼-vellum over marbled boards; spine decorated and lettered in gilt; edges gilt. Paris: Fédéric Morel, 1567. First Edition. First Issue. The most influential and most lavishly illustrated handbook of French Renaissance architecture. The first and only published volume. A second volume was planned by the author but never completed.Mortimer, Harvard College Library Cat.: French 16th-Century Books, no.355; Brunet, Supple. I, 888-9; Fowler Architect. coll. 99; Clouzot, Philibert de l'Orme, pp. 90-107; Berliner Ornamentstichkatalog 2362; Pettegree, French Vernacular Books 15434; cf. Adams L… Read More

1558. Nürmberg, Gabriel Heyn, 1558. Folio. Bound in a nice later (around 1840) hcalf. Raised double bands. Gilt spine. Gilt lettering. Marbled endpapers. Stamps on foot of title-page. A sort of frontispiece (full-page) is printed on the verso of the title-page, depicting the Putto as the spirit of architecture.Title-page printed in red and black. Dedication and content (4 unnumb.lvs.) - Geometry & Perspective (Ff I-C ) - Geometrischen Büchsenmeisterei (Ff I-XLVIII.) - Befestigung (Ff I-XLIIII ) - Geometrischen Messung (Ff (4),I-XLVI,(3)) - Wag und Gewicht (Ff I-XVII) - Schnelwagen (Ff I-X) ending with colophon and woodcut printer's device. Having more than 300 (many full- and half page) fine wood-engravings executed by V. Solis, G. Pencz, H. Brosamer and Peter Floetner. Internally in extraordinary fine clean condition with only a few minor scattered brownspots. 3 leaves with a minor repair to upper right corner. Scarce second edition (the first 1547) of this profusely illustrated encyclopedia of… Read More

London: London: printed [by Henry Denham] in Aldersgate street at the signe of the Starre, 1587. 2nd Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. Second edition; large folio; 3 volumes bound into 2 physical volumes. Vol. 1: [10], 250; [4], 202, [2]pp. Vol. 2: 61, [13], 183, [1]; 421, 424-430, 436-438, 431-433, 439-445, 450-464, [56]pp. Vol. 3: [8], 1080, 1080-1327, [2], 1332-1371, 1371-1421, 1490-1491, 1536-1555, 1574-1592, [62]pp. Mismatching set. Volumes 1-2 bound in 17th century reversed calf (somewhat worn with a few old repairs, hinges cracked, corners and spine ends worn with minor loss), blind rolls to margins of boards, spine with five raised bands, gilt-lettered red leather spine label to second compartment and additional hand-written leather spine label to third compartment, housed in attractive custom-made clam-shell box in red half leather over marbled boards with five raised spine bands and gilt lettering direct to spine in second compartment. Unobtrusive creasing and wear to opening and… Read More

1584 Medicine & Surgery Augenio Curandi Renaissance Plague Bloodletting Galen

An important, 16th-century medical treatise by Orazio Augenio! 'De Ratione Curandi' includes a wide variety of medical topics but most famously covers the use and benefits of bloodletting. Known as one of the best Italian physicians of the Renaissance, Augenio incorporated his fondness of Galen into his philosophy-based practice – practices that regularly treated the plague and neuropathology.

Item number: #7490
Price: $1950
AUGENIO, Orazio
De ratione curandi per sanguinis missionem, libri decem: in quibus extirpatis erroneis opinionibus passim hodie apud nonnullos vigentibus, omnia ad hoc argumentum pertinentia, secundum Galeni doctrinam explanantur

Taurini [Turin]: Apud Io. Baptistam Ratterium, 1584.

Details:
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Collation: Complete with all text pages
o [52], 473, [3]
o Signatures: a-d4 2d4 e4 f2 A-Z4 2A-2Z4 3A-3N4 3O2
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References: USTC 811410; Edit16 3374; not in Adams or BMC;
·… 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

4° (mm 192x140); ll. (6). Title with large woodcut vignette; another large woodcut vignette to title and head of de' Crescenzi section. Binding of 20th century - signed "Wheeler" - in olive green morocco, gilt. A nice, unsophisticated copy.Extremely rare edition, exquisitely popular, which combines poetic entertainment with the purpose of a peasant almanac, describing when to sow and when to transpose, and from month to month how to do the recollections. It includes a list of tasks for each month taken from Pietro de' Crescenzi (Bologna, 1233 – 1320).After the octaves of the Operetta - Incipit: "Chi si diletta nuove cose udire / sempre levato tien l'occhio e la mente" -the booklet hosts:c. A2v: Operetta piaceuole di tre panieri di frutte - with grapes "lugliola […], moscadella, pisana e la vernaccia, zibibbo, razzese e corso, greco, trebbiano e malvagìa fine, […] canaiuola, galletta e passerine, sancolombane e zappolino et martinacce e lonze e le caprine", figs, pears, apples, etc. - per… Read More

Paris, Jean Richer et François Gueffier, 1618.
Large 8vo [174 x 107 mm] of (24) ll., 970 pp. wrongly numbered 968, (15) ll. Bound in full contemporary red morocco, gilt border on the covers, gilt stamped coat of arms on the center, flat spine decorated with the same border, gilt title on the spine, gilt edges. Contemporary binding.
Superb and rare illustrated edition of Alciato's Emblems illustrated with 211 beautiful woodcuts (55 x 55 mm) placed within gracious frames.

This edition is enlarged with new comments given by Fédéric Morel that are published here for the first time.
"Andrea Alciato was born in Milan on May 8th, 1492. He went to study law in Pavia and Bologna.
In 1521, he is appointed professor of law at the university of Avignon; he got in this city such great successes, that up to eight hundred people were counted in his audience; but the lack of accuracy put into paying his fees convinced him to go back to Milan. Alciato was one of the first to feel that studying history is… Read More

Paris, Jacques Kerver, 1561.
Folio of (6) ll., 157 ll. illustrated with 181 woodcuts including 13 full-page, (1) leaf with Kerver's mark. Tiny tear in the corner of l. 49, marginal waterstain on few ll. more visible on the last 5 ll. Full marbled sheepskin, triple blind-stamped fillet around the covers, ribbed spine decorated, red edges. Binding from the 18th century.

333 x 220 mm.
"The most important of the three editions given by Kerver of the first translation by Jean Martin, of the most beautiful and most famous Italian book of the Renaissance, published in Venice in 1499 by Aldus." (Pierre Berès).
Brunet, IV, 779 ; Harvard, French, n°147 ; Jean Martin, Un traducteur au temps de François Ier et de Henri II (Cahiers V.-L, Saulnier, 16), Paris, 1999 ; D. Cordellier, Luca Penni, un disciple de Raphael à Fontainebleau, Paris, 2012, pp. 111-113.
It is illustrated with 181 woodcuts including 13 full-page.

The illustration of the beautiful engraved title was recently attributed by Dominique… Read More

Paris, Denis du Pré, 1572.
4to [235 x 157 mm] of 53 ll., (1), 9 full-page engravings in the text and one folding engraving out of pagination ; 10 ll., 26, (2) ll. including 1 bl., 9, (2) bl.ll., 6 full-page engravings in the text. Handwritten manuscript on the title.
Bound in full granite-like calf, blind-stamped fillet on the covers, spine ribbed and decorated, mottled edges. Old restorations on the spine. Early 18th century binding.
First edition of one of the most beautiful entries of the French Renaissance containing several plays by Ronsard, Antoine de Baïf, Amadis Jamyn, Jean Dorat, Du Faur de Pibrac, Pasquier,... in first edition.
Mortimer, French, 205-206; Rahir, Dutuit, 676; Picot, Rothschild, 3117; Brunet, II, 1001; Pichon, 4897; Fairfax Murray, French, 152.
One of the beautiful French celebration books of the 16th century recounting the coronation of Queen Elisabeth of Austria, wife of Charles ix and daughter of the Emperor Maximilian ii, which took place in the Abbey of Saint Denis, as… Read More

4° (mm 204x138) ; cc. (8), cxxiiii, (4) [Errata e Registro]. Capilettera silografici. XVIII century brown half calf, gilt spine with raised bands, boards covered with coloured paper, title in gold on label, red edges. Light waterstains on the first leaves, light repair to the lower margin of the title-page, generally a very good, clean copy.
Provenance: XVIII century engraved armorial bookplate of the Martelli family of Florence, with motto "Sola virtus vera nobilitas", mounted on the front flyleaf facing the title; XX century ex libris on the verso of the front cover.
First edition.
Also in light of Mircea Eliade and Jack Zipes' studies about the "extraordinary symbiotic connection" between myth and fairy tale, Mariconda's Favole - featuring magic, enchantments, metamorphoses, fanciful beings, etc. - seems related more to the written history of the fairy tale than to the novella tradition (M. Eliade, Myth and Reality, New York 1963; J. Zipes, Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale, University Press… Read More

4°; cc. (4), 180 [recte: 170], (2) [numerosi errori nella numerazione delle carte]; segnatura: †⁴,A-X⁸,Y⁴. Caratteri gotico e romanico. Al frontespizio, grande silografia a piena pagina raffigurante l'autore inginocchiato nell'atto di offrire la sua opera a Cristo in Croce; capilettera silografici. Splendido colophon calligrammatico in forme di Croce. Legatura del sec. XIX - firmata "M. Lortic" in marocchino rosso, armi al centro dei piatti, dorso a cinque nervi con titolo impresso in oro e monogramma 'MV', taglî dorati. Accurati, piccoli restauri marginali - verosimilmente ottocenteschi - alla prima e ultima carta; alcuni fascicoli leggermente bruniti. Nel complesso, copia molto bella, discretamente lavata come imponeva il canone collezionistico francese del secondo Ottocento.
Provenienza: legatura alle armi di Victor Masséna, Prince d'Essling (1836-1910); su un foglio di guardia, etichetta "Antiquariato Librario [Francesco] Radaeli", Milano; Christie's 16 Jun 2005, Libri e autografi, n.… Read More

Basel: Basel: Michael Isingrin, 1555. 1st Edition . Full leather. Very Good. First edition thus (the first to include coverage of the reign of Henry VIII to 1538); folio; [2], 691, [39]pp. In mid-sixteenth century blind-panelled calf with blind arabesque to centre of each board (professionally respined and with corners repaired). Title with woodcut printer's device and early manuscript annotations and markings (title repaired, re-attached at gutter, with light creasing and soiling), decorative woodcut initials and borders to leaves a2 and a3, woodcut printer's device to reverse of final leaf, early marginal annotations and underlinings throughout volume, first few leaves lightly frayed to margins, small closed tear at foot of leaf H6, occasional unobtrusive damp stains to margins of a few leaves. First published in 1534, Polydore Vergil's history was a source for chroniclers Edward Hall and Raphael Holinshed, consequently influencing Shakespeare's history plays, and according to… Read More