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.
The Inquisition: Heretics, Witches, & Banned Books
London: printed for Joanna Brome [and H. Brome], at the Gun at the west end of St. Pauls Church-yard, 1681
$2,500.00
Octavo: 17.7 x 11.2 cm. [18], 250, [6] p. , engraved t.p. Collation: A-R8
A native of France, the Huguenot Luke Beaulieu was forced to flee to England to avoid religious persecution. While in exile, he was naturalized English and became a well-regarded cleric and anti-Catholic polemicist.
In his book on the Inquisition, Beaulieu begins with a number of chapters on Catholic rites, including the performance of exorcisms: “They assault the Devil with Holy Water, Incense, Sulphur, Rue, little Papers containing holy words, Relicks of Saints, and notable Railing….
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).
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.
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
Catullus & Martial - Two Books Printed by Henricus Petri
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.
Quarto: 18.2 x 13.5 cm. A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Hhh4 (lacking final blank Hhh4)
Camden originally collected this information for inclusion in an edition of his "Britannia" that never materialized.
The "Remaines" is full of curious riches that cover all manner of topic: descriptions of the climates, topography, and inhabitants of the British Isles; names (of both men and women) and their derivations; the development of the surname; various aspects of language and specific points of dialect; poetry; anagrams; acrostics; and proverbs (of which there are nearly 400 and these are quite delightful).
Quarto: 20 x 17 cm. 54 p. with text, and numerous blank leaves
There are 64 recipes (some attributed e.g. “Mrs. Dean Reading” “Lady Lawley’s Receipt”) on 42 pages written at one end. These include: “To make blamange”; “To Make Black puddings”; “To Candy Cowslips or orange flowers”; “To Make the Duke of Norfolk punch”, etc.
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.
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.
