Cambridge: Ex officinâ Johan. Hayes, celeberrimæ Academiæ typographi. Impensis Richardi Green bibliopolæ Cantab., 1694
$1,500.00
Folio: 32 x 20.5 cm. [8], lvi, 330; [2], 529, [43 ] p. Collation: a-g4, h2, (A)2, B-Z4, Aa-Tt4, Vv2, a-z4, aa-zz4, aaa-zzz4, aaaa-bbbb4, cccc2. With two added engraved portraits of Barnes and Euripides.
“The merits of all preceding editions are eclipsed by this celebrated one of Joshua Barnes. Fabricius observes that ‘the text is accurately revised and printed, the metrical rules of Canter diligently corrected, and the entire ancient scholia on the first seven plays subjoined and enriched by excerpta from a manuscript in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The notes of various learned men, and those of Barnes accompany the scholia; the fragments of Euripides are carefully collected and displayed, with Greek and Latin notes as far as verse 2068; lastly, there are some epistles, attributed to Euripides.
Apparently the product of folklore, the Biddenden maids, Elisa and Mary Chulkhurst (1100-1134), were conjoined twins, named after their hometown of Biddenden, in Kent, England. They are said to have lived for 34 years joined at their hips and shoulders until they died, six hours apart.
First edition of this revision of sumptuary laws regulating dress, dowry and feasts promulgated by Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti in 1568 and revised several times until the end of the century.
The dress code of women attracts particular attention, skirts are meant to be neither too long, nor too short; jewelry is to be worn in moderation.
Universal STC, no. 865850; R. Campioni, op. cit., p.148; M.G. Muzzarelli, ed., Le legislazioni suntuarie secoli XIII-XVI. Emilia Romagna, Rom, 2002, pp. 42-43; Z. Zanardi, ed., Bononia manifesta. Bandi, editti, costituzioni e provvedimenti diversi stampati nel XVI secolo per Bologna e il suo territorio, (Firenze, 1996), p. 226, no. 1555; R. Campioni, Libri di merlette e disposizioni suntuarie nel secolo XVI: alcune indicazioni per l’Emilia Romagna, in: “Le trame della moda”, A.G. Cavagna & G. Butazzi, eds., Roma, 1995, pp. 125-149, and P. Goretti, La regolamentazione delle apparenze: vesti e orna- menti nella legislazione suntuaria Bolognese del XVI secolo, in: “Schede umanistiche”, 1996, no. 2, pp. 117-137.
Ariosto as Operatic Ballet - A Rare Account of a 17th c. Italian Festival - The Feltrinelli Copy
A fascinating and vivid description of ‘The fountains of the Ardennes’, an entertainment that included singing, a tournament on horseback, and dancing, performed by the Accademici Rugginosi in the Palazzo della Gherardesca (Casa Rinaldi), on 3 February 1622 (stile fiorentino). The librettist was Andrea Salvadori, from 1616 to 1628 the principal author of texts for theatrical entertainments at the Florentine court.
Quarto: 20.4 x 14.4 cm. [20] leaves. Signatures: A-E4.
This is a very rare first-hand account, commissioned by Francesco de’ Medici, of the elaborate ceremonies in Florence for the obsequies of Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1519-1584). It includes minute descriptions of the elaborate funeral apparatus built for the occasion. Among those who managed the artistic aspects of the spectacle was Don Vincenzo Borghini, "one of the guiding spirits of the Accademia del Disegno, an adept inventor of allegorical themes for the Medici court", who worked together with Vasari on Michelangelo's funeral.
Moreni, I, 321; Cat. Cavalieri, 148, nr. 721; Melzi, I, 285; Gamba, 2750; M. Schraven, Festive Funerals in Early Modern Italy: The Art and Culture of Conspicuous Commemoration. Visual Culture in Early Modernity, Farnham, 2014, p. 108 no. 42, and p. 279; M. Praz, Studies in Seventeenth-century Imagery, Roma, 1975, p. 551.
Octavo: 15 x 10 cm. [16], 385 (recte 389) [2] p. Collation: *8, A-Z8, Aa8, Bb4
Giacinto de Magistris, an Italian Jesuit, worked in India for twenty years before returning to Rome in 1660. From 1644 to 1659 he acted as secretary and companion to Archbishop Francisco Garcia of Cranganore. He returned to Europe as procurator of the Malabar mission. He later returned to India, where he died in 1668.
In 1661 Magistris published at Rome his ‘Relation’ as a call to his confreres to enlist for service in Madura, Tanjore, and other places in southern and eastern India.
London: Printed for the Company of Stationers, and sold by John Wilkie, at their Hall Ludgate-Street, 1782
$2,800.00
Duodecimo: 10.5 x 5.5 cm. 8 p. A-B12
A truly lovely copy of one of the miniature almanacs published by the Company of Stationers. Rare. ESTC records only 1 copy of this edition (at the British Library).
A collection of texts by prominent English Catholics, compiled and edited by John Gibbons and John Fenn (though often erroneously attributed to John Bridgewater.) Among the texts are Edmund Campion's "Rationes Decem", Cardinal William Allen's "Apologia pro sacerdotibus Societatis Iesu", Robert Parsons' "De Persecutione Anglicana", and the anonymous account of the capture, torture, trial, and execution of Edmund Campion and his companions Ralph Sherwin and Alexander Briant.
Allison & Rogers, English Counter-Reformation, Vol. 1, no. 524; De Backer-Sommervogel, Vol. III, col. 1403, no. 1; Adams G262 and E141; Shaaber G262 and A239; VD16 ZV 22415; Milward, Religious controversies of the Elizabethan age, 251; Haile, Elizabethan Cardinal, 1914, p. 376
Some of the Earliest Scientific Lectures given in England – With The First English Edition of Newton's Law of Cooling
Second edition of one of the earliest courses of scientific lectures to be given in England — John Keill had begun lecturing in Oxford about two years earlier. The author, Roger Cotes, the brilliant pupil and friend of Newton who died untimely at the age of thirty-four, composed these lectures jointly with William Whiston.
Bologna: Ex typ. Lælii a Vulpe Instituti scientiarum impressoris, 1774
$2,800.00
Quarto: 26.5 x 20 cm. VII, 384. With an engraved frontispiece, engraved title vignette, and 3 folding engraved plates.
In 1750 Zanotti produced a volume covering 1751-1762. In 1762 he published another volume for the years 1763-1774. This volume, for 1775-1786 was the last published in Zanotti’s lifetime. In 1786, his successor at the observatory, Petronio Mateucci, published a final volume for 1787-1798.
Like the astronomer Eustachio Manfredi, his godfather, Zanotti belonged to a prominent family distinguished in the arts, letters, and sciences.
Paris: Apud Simonem Benard, Ex Typographia Dionysii Thierry, 1682
$2,900.00
Quarto: 24.2 x 19 cm. [xxvi], 864, [clxxxviii] pp. Signatures: a4, e4, i4, õ1, A-5Q4, a-z4, [2d]a4 (lacking blank 2G4). With an added engraved frontispiece.
Quarto: 21 x 17.5 cm. [14], 1221 (recte 1107), [48] p. Collation: *4, **4, A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Zzz4, Aaaa-Zzzz4, Aaaaa-Zzzzz4, Aaaaaa-Zzzzzz4, Aaaaaaa-Fffffff4, Ggggggg2
The Jesuit jurist Martín del Rio’s “Disquisitionum Magicarum Libri Sex” (Six Books of Disquisitions on Witches) was written about 1596 and first published in 1599. The book had enormous impact and was consulted and cited for over a century. Much in the book is understandably frightening. Vague guidance is given for determining if a person has made a pact with the devil, and the methods recommended for extracting confessions from accused sorcerers and witches are horrifying.
Florence: nella Stamperia di S.A.R. Per li Tartini, e Franchi, 1725
$3,200.00
Quarto: 24 x 17.3 cm. [4], 23 pp. Collation: π2, A8, B6; ß8, ß ß 4. With an added engraved plate.
An account of the funeral ceremonies for Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 30 Oct. 1723). The ceremonies took place in the basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence on 16 May 1724.The volume offers us a comprehensive and minutely detailed description of the funeral honors and the decorations that had transformed the church of San Lorenzo. Chief among these was the catafalque built by the architect Alessandro Galilei.
London: printed by E[dward] M[ottershed], for Samuel Thomson at the Bishops head in Pauls Church-yard, 1658
$3,500.00
Quarto: 18 x 14 cm. [4], 36 pp. A2, B-E4, F2
“One of the surprisingly few sermons on Cromwell’s death to be published. [It] goes to a length in justifying the grand and stately funeral rites, suggesting nervousness that their propriety might be challenged.”(Holberton) The author is the clergyman George Lawrence, who probably served as an army chaplain during the Civil War and knew Cromwell. The sermon is dedicated to Cromwell’s son, Richard Cromwell.
Octavo: 16 x 11 cm. [14], 32, 80, 343, 136 p. Collation: *8, a-b8, a-e8, A-F8, G4, H-Y8, a-h8, i4
Based on the Aldine edition of 1565, with the observationes of Georg Fabricius (1516-1571), and the annotationes of Paulus Manutius. This copy is uncensored, with the Priapeia forming the final section (p. 104-136) of the text.
Rome: Stampe di Domenico de Rossi, erede di Gio. Giacomo [de Rossi], 1727
$3,500.00
Folio: 33 x 22.5 cm. 8 lvs. of letterpress (the last one blank), 114 engraved plates (2 of which are double-paged.) The plates are numbered 1-110 (with four other plates numbered 1, 4, 72, and 72.)
First published in 1697, this is a fascinating and beautifully executed work documenting the ancient sepulchral monuments of Roman and Etruscan Italy. In particular, it highlights tombs discovered from 1689 onwards in the grounds of the Villa Corsini at the Porta San Pancrazio in Rome. The images include renderings and cross-sections of tombs and columbaria, detailed depictions of tomb paintings, sarcophagi, funerary urns, free-standing and relief sculpture, and inscriptions.
This is the German-language edition, translated by Justus Jonas the Elder, of Melanchthon’s “Causae quare et amplexae sint, et retinendam ducant doctrinam, quam profitentur, ecclesiae, quae Confessionem Augustae exhibitam imperatori sequuntur & quare iniquis iudicibus, collectis in synodo Tridentina, ut vocant, non sit adsentiendum”(1546), a work in which he defends the Augsburg Confession and condemns the newly convened Council of Trent.
This is an extremely rare Vatican “Directorium”, the yearly calendar of the Church of Rome, published for the leap year 1684, during the reign of Pope Innocent XI (1611-1689), whose woodcut arms appear on the title page. It consists of a calendar for the year, in which there are printed against each day concise directions concerning the Office and Mass to be said on that day. There are also indications of fast days, special indulgences, days of devotion, etc.
Quarto: 25.8 x 16.7 cm. *4, a-z4, aa-zz4, aaa-kkk4, lll2; A-Z4, Aa-Gg4, Hh2 (includes blank ggg4; lacks blank Hh2).
“The great Estienne Sophocles, important for the scholia, which include those of Triclinius. The Greek text is followed by the commentary of Joachim Camerarius, and his Latin versions of Ajax and Electra. [Estienne] has again employed his peculiar system of diacritical annotations.” (Schreiber) With Estienne’s “Noli altum Sapere” printer’s device on the title page.
