{"title":"Early printed books","description":"\u003cp\u003eEarly English and Continental books, prints, and manuscripts, from the fifteenth century to the end of the seventeenth.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"besler-basilius-aristolochia-rotunda","title":"BESLER, Basilius. Aristolochia Rotunda, plate 194.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBESLER, Basilius.\u003c\/strong\u003e Aristolochia Rotunda, \u003ci\u003eplate\u003ci\u003e 194.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginal copper engraving with later hand-colouring,  480 × 395 mm, from \u003ci\u003eHortus Eystettensis\u003c\/i\u003e, 2nd edition, Nuremberg (?), 1640.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree editions of Besler’s \u003ci\u003eHortus Eystettensis\u003c\/i\u003e (Garden of Eichstätt) were produced: the first, issued in his lifetime in 1613; the second, posthumous, in 1640; and the third and final edition in 1713. These may be distinguished by the watermarks in the paper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBasilius Besler (1561–1629) was curator of the garden at Eichstätt, created by Johann Konrad von Gemmingen (1561–1612), Prince-Bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2081141\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":28748127731746,"sku":"2081141","price":575.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2081141_eecceea8-1867-46f7-96bc-58a056236d08.jpg?v=1787057288"},{"product_id":"cimarelli-vicenzo-maria-istorie-dello-stato-dvrbino-da-senoni-detta-vmbria-senonia-e-de-lor-gran-fatti-in-italia-d","title":"CIMARELLI, Vicenzo Maria. 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Near-contemporary full vellum with two gilt-stamped red morocco lettering-pieces to spine; pp. 16, [24], 184, 184, engraved allegorical title (in pagination); lettering-pieces a little chipped; occasional browning and spotting, but generally very good; 'N. W. Peach' to front free endpaper; armorial bookplate of Sir John P. Boileau to front pastedown (see below).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition, very rare, with the colophon dated 1643.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVincenzo Maria Cimarelli (1585-1662) was a Dominican friar, naturalist, local historian, and inquisitor of the Holy Office from Corinaldo, near Ancona. His \u003ci\u003eIstorie dello Stato d'Urbino\u003c\/i\u003e constitutes a later yet important source on one of the foremost patrons of early Renaissance art and architecture in Italy, Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. 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Published for the satisfaction of all other Counties of England and Wales, who groane under the same, o…","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003ethe King: the Lesser of Two Evils\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[CIVIL WAR IN WALES.]\u003c\/strong\u003e The Heads of the present Greevances of the County of Glamorgan, Declaring the Cause of their late rising and taking up of Armes. Published for the satisfaction of all other Counties of England and Wales, who groane under the same, or like burthens of Oppression and Tyrannie. Now exercised by that Arbitrarie Power and Authoritie, pretended to be derived from the two Houses of Parliament, throughout all His Majesties dominions (by those who stile themselves Committees) contrary to Justice, and the known Lawes of the Land. [\u003ci\u003eLondon?: n.p.\u003c\/i\u003e] 1647.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSmall 4to. Disbound, pp. [2], 6; a little toned, a few stains to title, light dampstaining to outer margin of A1-2, but overall a very good and crisp copy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst and only edition, very rare, of this denunciation of the abuses of the Parliamentarian County Committees in Wales, issued at the height of the Civil War.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the summer of 1647 (one surviving copy is dated in manuscript “1 July”), the war had dragged on for nearly five years. Parliament was steadily gaining the advantage, largely through the network of County Committees manned with loyal supporters. These officials collected the taxes that sustained the war effort, requisitioned horses and supplies for the army, and carried out Parliament’s decrees. Their growing power – together with the ever-heavier burden of taxation to maintain the army – provoked widespread resentment and, in turn, revived support for the Royalist cause.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis pamphlet sets out the grievances against the Parliamentarian committees in Glamorgan, South Wales, and denounces their exactions and abuses. The rising it encourages was less an expression of loyalty to Charles I than a reaction to Parliament’s oppressive rule. Indeed, it contains no Royalist propaganda and no expressions of loyalty to Charles. 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West front of Sherborne.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDaniel King.\u003c\/strong\u003e West front of Sherborne. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOriginal etching for Dugdale's 'Monasticon Anglicanum', 1655-73\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003csmall\u003e#2015466\u003c\/small\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55389073637753,"sku":"2015466","price":65.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2015466.jpg?v=1787058455"},{"product_id":"ferretti-marco-antonio-mirinda-favola-pastorale-del-c-marcantonio-ferretti-nellaccademia-de-ssri-innominati-di-pa","title":"FERRETTI, Marco Antonio. Mirinda favola pastorale.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFERRETTI, Marco Antonio.\u003c\/strong\u003e Mirinda favola pastorale. \u003ci\u003eVenice: Domenico Venturati\u003c\/i\u003e. 1613.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e4to. Contemporary vellum, spine lettered and ruled in gilt; pp. viii, 152, [8], pagination including engraved title-page and 5 full-page engraved illustrations by Giacomo Lauro after P. Gaia, woodcut initials and tailpieces; binding minimally spotted; occasional light foxing but generally a very good copy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition, very rare, of this late Renaissance Italian pastoral drama, set in Greek antiquity on the island of Crete, and illustrated with five full-page engravings by Giacomo Lauro (1561-after 1635).\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMirinda\u003c\/i\u003e was first performed in Parma in 1612. Its author, Count Marco Antonio Ferretti (1589-1629) of Ancona, was a member of the Parma Accademia degli Innominati, where he was known by the name Rugginoso (“the Rusty One”). Ferretti also published a collection of madrigals, the play \u003ci\u003eNenia\u003c\/i\u003e, and the long poem \u003ci\u003eGli horti del sole\u003c\/i\u003e (1621), dedicated to Federico, Prince of Urbino.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe volume is dedicated to Giulia Orsini, second wife of Lotario Conti, Duke of Poli (d. 1635), whose engraved coat of arms appears on the title-page.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn some copies, the engraved title is undated and lacks the imprint year “1613”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eVery rare outside Italy: Library Hub shows Trinity College, Cambridge only.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2101438\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56002910880121,"sku":"2101438","price":800.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2101438.jpg?v=1774300068"},{"product_id":"guillet-de-saint-george-george-pen-name-sieur-de-la-guilletiere-athenes-ancienne-et-nouvelle-et-lestat-present-de","title":"“GUILLETIERE, Sieur de la” [ pseudonym of Georges GUILLET]. Athenes ancienne et nouvelle, et l'estat present de l'empire des Turcs, contenant va vie du sultan Mahomet IV … Troisième edition, augmentée en plusieurs endroits sur les Memoires de l'Autheur.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eOttoman Athens\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“GUILLETIERE, Sieur de la” [\u003ci\u003epseudonym of\u003ci\u003e Georges GUILLET].\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e Athenes ancienne et nouvelle, et l'estat present de l'empire des Turcs, contenant va vie du sultan Mahomet IV … Troisième edition, augmentée en plusieurs endroits sur les Memoires de l'Autheur. \u003ci\u003eParis: Estienne Michallet\u003c\/i\u003e. 1676.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSmall 8vo. Contemporary full vellum, title in ink to spine; pp. [xxiv], 456, [34], with folding engraved plate of a Greek theatre and the frequently missing folding engraved plan of Athens (repairs with conservation tape); covers a little soiled with abrasion to lower one; variable light spotting and even toning, occasional damp stain, final leaf with marginal paperflaw touching the last line of the privilege.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThird, expanded edition of Guillet’s rare work on Athens under Ottoman rule.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGeorges Guillet (1624-1705), “Guillet de Saint- George”, was a French writer and historiographer, perhaps best known for \u003ci\u003eLes arts de l’homme d’épée, ou dictionnaire du gentilhomme\u003c\/i\u003e (1678). This rare account of Athens is presented as a series of letters purportedly sent by the author’s brother from the city, a literary fiction that conceals Guillet’s role as a careful compiler of first-hand information. Much of the material was supplied by Jean Giraud, the French consul in Athens, while the plan of the city was provided by the resident Capuchin monks. As a result, “Guillet’s account did contain information on the contemporary state of the city and he very much emphasized the need to compare the ancient and modern cultures” (Blackmer).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeventeenth-century Athens was a minor provincial town of the Ottoman Empire and rarely visited by Western travellers. 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Standfast and verso with inscription \"This book belongs to the library in the Charity School Chamber in Nottingham given by Dr. William Standfast\". \u003cstrong\u003eWilliam Standfast (1683-1754) was Rector of Clifton near Nottingham and the library he founded was notable for its holding of scientific and medical books\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2110358\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55777165738361,"sku":"2110358","price":600.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/products\/2110358.jpg?v=1619689856"},{"product_id":"miege-guy-a-relation-of-three-embassies-from-his-sacred-majestie-charles-ii-to-the-great-duke-of-muscovie-the-king","title":"[MIEGE, Guy]. A Relation Of Three Embassies From His Sacred Majestie Charles II To The Great Duke Of Muscovie, The King Of Sweden, And The King Of Denmark. 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April 4. 1894\u003c\/i\u003e in ink, engraved armorial bookplate Francis North, Baron of Gilford, dated 1703 in the plate, inside front cover, ownership inscription \u003ci\u003eGeorge Howard\u003c\/i\u003e, dated 1876 on opposite fly-leaf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition\u003c\/strong\u003e of the eyewitness account of the official English embassy to Russia, written by Lausanne-born Guy Miege, under-secretary to the English ambassador Charles Howard, the first Earl of Carlisle, ambassador-extraordinary to Russia, Sweden, and Denmark from 1663 to 1664. 'In 1668 he was sent as ambassador-extraordinary with the Garter to Charles XI of Sweden. With the earl's approval, Guy Miege, one of Carlisle's attendants, wrote an account of these embassies, which was published in English and French in 1669' (ODNB). 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Mayerberg unravelles the complex geoplitics of Eastern Europe after the 1648 uprising of the Zaporozhian Cossacks under Bohdan Khmelnytsky against Polish rule, the beginning of the slow demise of the Polish Commonwealth\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2120984\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54689222132089,"sku":"2120984","price":450.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2120984.jpg?v=1731593737"},{"product_id":"product-4","title":"DANTE Alighieri. Dante col sito, et forma dell’Inferno tratta dalla istessa descrittione del poeta.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003e‘You Read Dante, My Lord’ – The Earl of Aberdeen’s Copy\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDANTE Alighieri.\u003c\/strong\u003e Dante col sito, et forma dell’Inferno tratta dalla istessa descrittione del poeta. [(Colophon:) \u003ci\u003eVenice, in the house of Aldo Manuzio and Andrea Torresano\u003c\/i\u003e. August 1515.]\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Early nineteenth-century red straight-grained morocco, supralibros of George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen blocked to boards in gilt, borders filleted in gilt, flat spine ruled and lettered directly in gilt, gilt edges, marbled endpapers, green silk place-marker; ff. [ii], 244, [2 (diagrams)], [1], italic type, woodcut Aldine devices to title-page, a1r, and final verso (supplied from another copy), three-line capital spaces with guide letters at the beginning of each canticle, three woodcut plates by Trifone Gabriele at end (two double-pages), one depicting the layout of Hell (ff. H4v-H5r), and other two with schematic diagrams of the sins in Hell (ff. H5v-H6r) and Purgatory (f. H6v); extremities and spine slightly rubbed; internally very good, lacking blank H7, upper margin of plates trimmed with loss of upper border, not affecting image but touching a few letters of Purgatory diagram; early ownership inscription ‘Di Thomaso C…’ to f. a1r (washed); nineteenth-century shelflabels to front pastedown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe first illustrated Aldine edition of Dante’s Commedia, and the second overall, from the library of George Hamilton-Gordon (1784–1860), 4th Earl of Aberdeen, the last British Prime Minister to have undertaken the Grand Tour.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrompted by the Bembo family, Aldus Manutius drew upon manuscripts from the collection of Bernardo Bembo (1433–1519) to produce his authoritative edition of Dante. Bernardo’s son, scholar and future cardinal Pietro Bembo (1470–1547), collaborated with Aldus to refine the texts of the \u003ci\u003eCommedia\u003c\/i\u003e, which he published in 1502 as \u003ci\u003eLe terze rime\u003c\/i\u003e. This 1515 second edition, featuring Bembo’s diagrams of sins, was the first illustrated Aldine Commedia. It was published six months after Aldus’s death on 6 February 1515 and dedicated by Andrea Torresano, Aldo’s father-in-law, to the poet Vittoria Colonna (1492–1547).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eProvenance\u003c\/i\u003e: From the library of George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, sometime Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister from 1852 until 1855. Educated at Harrow and St John’s College, Cambridge, Aberdeen embarked on the Grand Tour in 1802 during the peace of Amiens. His travels took him from Paris – where his connection to William Pitt the Younger secured a meeting with Napoleon Bonaparte – to Rome, Naples, Sicily, Malta, Constantinople, and Athens. In Athens, he sought to purchase friezes from the Parthenon (for which he was publicly critiqued by his cousin, Lord Byron) but found Lord Elgin had preceded him. He returned to England via Venice, Vienna, and Berlin in 1804. He was also a fellow of the Royal Society, president of the Society of Antiquaries from 1811–46, and a member of the Society of Dilettanti.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReputedly fluent in six languages, including Italian, Aberdeen was seemingly well-versed in Dante. In an August 1851 letter to Aberdeen addressing the Italian revolutions of 1848, Scottish writer Charles Macfarlane (1799-1858) invoked Purgatorio to describe the turbulence, writing, ‘Yet, even in the combustion of 1848, the passing from Turkey to Naples was like going from hell to purgatory. You read Dante, my Lord – Per correr miglior acqua, Alza la vela [sic] …’ (Macfarlane, p. 40). In the same letter, MacFarlane mentions Dante’s first canticle in relation to the assassination of a parliamentary deputy for Salerno by a priest called Peluso: ‘But, my Lord Aberdeen, send Peluso to the worst \u003ci\u003ebolgia\u003c\/i\u003e in the \u003ci\u003eInferno\u003c\/i\u003e of Dante, and still you will not criminate (for his act) either the King of the Two Sicilies or his Majesty’s Government’ (\u003ci\u003eibid\u003c\/i\u003e., p. 34). This Aldine edition, with Aberdeen’s crest and motto blocked to both boards in gilt, is most likely the copy he studied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAhmanson-Murphy 136; BM STC Italian, p. 209; EDIT 16 CNCE 1150; Adams D-88; Index Aureliensis XI, pp. 261–62; Renouard, Alde 73, 8. See Macfarlane, A Letter to the Earl of Aberdeen (1851).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2120511\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55023985721721,"sku":"2120511","price":8000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2120511_211bdee6-1980-4828-8bed-c1f5438d1d46.jpg?v=1787056189"},{"product_id":"product-5","title":"ARIOSTO, Ludovico. Il Negromante, comedia … tratta dallo esemplare di man propria dell’Autore.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eARIOSTO, Ludovico.\u003c\/strong\u003e Il Negromante, comedia … tratta dallo esemplare di man propria dell’Autore. \u003ci\u003eVenice: Gabriele Giolito de’ Ferrari\u003c\/i\u003e. 1551.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e12mo. Early 19th-century English half calf, roll-tooled in blind, spine with raised bands, tooled in blind and lettered directly in gilt; ff. 43, [1]; woodcut printer’s device to recto of first and final leaf, woodcut initials and ornaments; extremities a little worn, hinges cracked but hold firm, head of spine chipped; a few small stains but otherwise a very good, crisp copy; armorial bookplate of Samuel R. Block to front pastedown, his ownership signature in ink to title page.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition, the final and definitive “Ferrara” version, of Ariosto’s first comedy in verse and his “most problematic work for the stage” (Portner).\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLudovico Ariosto (1474-1533), best known today for his epic poem \u003ci\u003eOrlando furioso\u003c\/i\u003e, was also the author of five comedies. Following the successful staging of his comedy \u003ci\u003eI Suppositi\u003c\/i\u003e in the Vatican during the 1519 Carnival, he was commissioned by Pope Leo X to write a new play. \u003ci\u003eIl Negromante\u003c\/i\u003e (The Necromancer) was sent to Rome on 16 January 1520, however its planned Roman premiere never took place; the pope, instead, chose to stage Niccolò Machiavelli’s \u003ci\u003eLa Mandragola\u003c\/i\u003e. The most likely reason for the play’s cancellation was its veiled yet pointed critique of Leo X and the Vatican, particularly regarding the sale of indulgences and clerical corruption. While Ariosto’s wit was tolerated in other settings, a performance of \u003ci\u003eIl Negromante\u003c\/i\u003e in the heart of the papal court – just three years after Martin Luther’s \u003ci\u003eNinety-five Theses\u003c\/i\u003e – may have been considered too unsettling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the play, the charlatan Mastro Iachelino, the so-called “Necromancer”, is summoned to cure the supposed impotence of Clintio through his claimed magic arts. Clintio, a newlywed, is in fact secretly married to another woman, Lavinia. Seeking to escape the marriage imposed on him by his foster father, Massimo, he later turns to Iachelino himself, hoping to maintain the illusion of impotence. Meanwhile, another young man, Camillo, also seeks the Necromancer’s help, hoping to win the favour of Emilia, the bride involved in the unconsummated marriage with Clintio.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo versions of the comedy exist: one “for Rome” and one “for Ferrara”. The first, sent to the papal court in 1520, was published posthumously in Venice in 1535. The second, revised for the Ferrarese court around 1528, was also published posthumously in this edition, printed by Gabriele Giolito de’ Ferrari in 1551 and dedicated by the editor Lodovico Dolce (\u003ci\u003ec.\u003c\/i\u003e 1508-1568) to Giovan Vincenzo Vigliona. Dolce based his edition on the original manuscript, which he had acquired from Ariosto’s heirs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAdams A-1655; Edit16 CNCE 2665; Agnelli-Ravegnani,\u003c\/i\u003e Annali delle Edizioni Ariostee\u003ci\u003e, II, p. 123 (“of considerable rarity, like all Giolito editions, and of undeniable importance regarding the text of\u003c\/i\u003e Il Negromante\u003ci\u003e, inasmuch as it provides us with a version of the comedy not merely corrected but entirely rewritten by the poet”, trans.). See Portner, “A Non-Performance of \u003c\/i\u003eIl Negromante\u003ci\u003e”,\u003c\/i\u003e Italica\u003ci\u003e, 59\/4, Renaissance (Winter, 1982), pp. 316-329.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2121709\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55089730126201,"sku":"2121709","price":950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2121709.jpg?v=1773572522"},{"product_id":"ortelius-abraham-cambriae-typus-auctore-humfredo-lhuydo-map-of-wales","title":"ORTELIUS, Abraham. Cambriae Typus Auctore Humfredo Lhuydo... (Map of Wales).","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eORTELIUS, Abraham.\u003c\/strong\u003e Cambriae Typus Auctore Humfredo Lhuydo... (Map of Wales). Original copper engraved map with later hand colouring as published in Ortelius's \"Theatrum Orbis Terrarum,\" being the first modern atlas of the World. 1572. 490 x 615 mm.\n\nThis print is a later version of the map without text to verso and believed to be early 19th Century.\n\nWith ornate cartouche, sailing ship and sea monster.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2086976\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55035637432697,"sku":"2086976","price":750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2086976.jpg?v=1774304990"},{"product_id":"pallavicino-ferrante-opere-permesse-dedicate-all-illustrissimo-et-eccellentissimo-sign-gio-battista-cornaro-proc","title":"PALLAVICINO, Ferrante. Opere permesse … dedicate all’illustrissimo et eccellentissimo sign. Gio. Battista Cornaro, procuratore di San Marco [ Half-title: Tutte le opere permesse … Ripartite in quattro tomi. Aggiontaui la sua Vita non mai stampata].","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePALLAVICINO, Ferrante.\u003c\/strong\u003e Opere permesse … dedicate all’illustrissimo et eccellentissimo sign. Gio. Battista Cornaro, procuratore di San Marco [\u003ci\u003eHalf-title:\u003ci\u003e Tutte le opere permesse … Ripartite in quattro tomi. Aggiontaui la sua Vita non mai stampata]. \u003ci\u003eVenice: Stamperia del Turrini\u003c\/i\u003e. 1655.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFour vols, 12mo. Contemporary full calf, spines richly gilt in compartments, titles lettered directly in gilt to one, edges sprinkled red and green; pp. vol. I: [36, collective half-title and engraved title, engraved frontispiece to \u003ci\u003eVita\u003c\/i\u003e], 192, 192, 166, bound without final blank; II: 432, 48, 96, lacking half-title and engraved title; III: [4, half-title and engraved title] 288, 216, 87, [1]; IV: 336, 118, [2 (blank)], 104, lacking half-title and engraved title; each individual work with title-page, woodcut printer device to titles, woodcut initials; extremities a little worn, boards a little rubbed, spine ends of vols I \u0026amp; IV with small chips, front hinge of vol. I cracked but holding firm, small, old restoration to foot of spine of vol. I; internally very good and clean; some contemporary marginal marks and erasures in ink to first 40 pp. of vol. II; 18th-century ownership signature “Fingerlin”, and ownership inscription of “J v. Prieser”, dated “Augsburg … 17 März, 1788”, in ink to front free endpaper of vol. I; early inscription in ink (washed) and 19th-century signature in pencil to half-title of vol. I; armorial bookplate of Edward and Marianna Heron-Allen, dated “July MDCCCXCI”, to front pastedowns of each vol. (see below).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst collective edition of the \u003ci\u003epermitted\u003c\/i\u003e works of Ferrante Pallavicino, including the first edition of his biography by Girolamo Brusoni, with a distinguished provenance.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFerrante Pallavicino (1615-1644), a writer from Piacenza, was notorious for his biting satirical attacks on the Church of Rome. “Pallavicino was the only Italian author of his epoch capable of a coherent vision that integrated satire, scepticism, and naturalistic morality” (Muir, p. 90). His scurrilous and often obscene works, including attacks on Pope Urban VIII and the Jesuits, led to his arrest in Venice in 1641, though he was released after six months. Following the publication of \u003ci\u003eLa retorica delle puttane\u003c\/i\u003e (“The Whore’s Rhetoric”, 1642), an anti-Jesuit work and masterpiece of seventeenth-century pornography, he fled to Bergamo. In 1644 he was lured to France by the promise of a post under Cardinal Richelieu, but was betrayed in Avignon, arrested by Vatican agents, and beheaded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis four-volume edition collects only Pallavicino’s works that had escaped censorship by the Roman Inquisition. Each is separately titled and paginated, suggesting they were also sold individually. Among them are \u003ci\u003eIl prencipe hermafrodito\u003c\/i\u003e (“The Hermaphrodite Prince”, inspired by an unidentified Spanish source), \u003ci\u003eLa Susanna\u003c\/i\u003e (on the corruption of judges), and \u003ci\u003eLa Bersabee\u003c\/i\u003e (on King David’s passion for Bathsheba). The set also includes the first edition of Girolamo Brusoni’s biography of Pallavicino, listing both his banned and permitted works. \u003cstrong\u003eA close friend and associate of Pallavicino, Brusoni provides one of the principal contemporary accounts of the writer’s life and literary output.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eProvenance\u003c\/i\u003e: From the library of \u003cstrong\u003eJohann Heinrich von Prieser (1749-1801)\u003c\/strong\u003e, Augsburg Council consul and book collector, with his ownership inscription dated 1788. The volumes later entered the library of polymath \u003cstrong\u003eEdward Heron-Allen (1861-1943) and his wife Marianna (née Lehmann, d. 1902)\u003c\/strong\u003e. A translator, scientist, and scholar of Persian literature, Heron-Allen is best known for his translation of \u003ci\u003eThe Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam\u003c\/i\u003e (1899). He and Marianna collaborated on literary translations until her premature death.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSee Edward Muir, The Culture Wars of the Late Renaissance: Skeptics, Libertines and Opera (2007).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2121030\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55290763805049,"sku":"2121030","price":575.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2121030.jpg?v=1769611016"},{"product_id":"curione-celio-secondo-pasquillorum-tomi-duo-quorum-primo-versibus-ac-rhythmis-altero-soluta-oratione-conscripta-qua","title":"CURIONE, Celio Secondo. Pasquillorum tomi duo. Quorum primo versibus ac rhythmis, altero soluta oratione conscripta quamplurima continentur, ad exhilarandum, confirmandumque hos perturbatissimo rerum statu pij lectoris animum, apprime conducentia. Eorum…","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003ePublic Poetic Polemics\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCURIONE, Celio Secondo.\u003c\/strong\u003e Pasquillorum tomi duo. Quorum primo versibus ac rhythmis, altero soluta oratione conscripta quamplurima continentur, ad exhilarandum, confirmandumque hos perturbatissimo rerum statu pij lectoris animum, apprime conducentia. Eorum catalogum proxima à praefatione pagella reperies. \u003ci\u003eEleutheropoli [i.e. Basel]: s.n.\u003c\/i\u003e 1544.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSmall 8vo. Eighteenth-century calf, spine richly gilt in compartments, raised bands, gilt red morocco lettering-piece to spine, edges stained red; pp. [16], 537 [\u003ci\u003ei.e.\u003c\/i\u003e 637], [1 (blank)]; bound without final blank R8; woodcut initials, pp. 271–278 printed in gothic letter; slight wear to corners, endcaps chipped, front free endpaper renewed; title somewhat soiled with old repairs to verso (touching two characters), occasional light marginal dampstaining, closed paperflaw to f. h6, pinhole wormhole to upper margin of ff. C1–D6, small wormtrack to lower margin of quires K–O, tiny hole to last two ff. (touching a single character); overall a very good, crisp copy; seventeenth-century marginal annotation to p. 31.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition of this collection of ‘pasquinades’, anonymous lampoons originally posted in public places in Rome, and other anti-papal texts in Latin, Italian and German: a key source for the history of political satire during the Reformation.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCelio Secondo Curione (1503–1569) was a humanist scholar from Cirié in Piedmont. While serving as professor of humanist letters at the University of Pavia, he converted to Protestantism. In 1542, he fled to Switzerland to escape religious persecution and settled in Basel, where he became a leading figure among the Italian religious refugees and a vocal advocate of religious tolerance. His notable works include \u003ci\u003ePasquillus extaticus\u003c\/i\u003e (1542), a satirical critique of corruption within the Roman Church, and \u003ci\u003eDe amplitudine beati regni Dei\u003c\/i\u003e (1554), written in opposition to John Calvin’s doctrine of predestination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe term ‘pasquinade’ derives from Pasquino (Latin: \u003ci\u003ePasquillus\u003c\/i\u003e), the nickname of an ancient statue in Rome’s Parione district. Since its rediscovery in 1501, Romans have affixed anonymous satirical verses to it, mocking the Papal government and denouncing social injustices, thus making Pasquino the first of the city’s famed ‘talking statues’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn his \u003ci\u003ePasquillorum tomi duo\u003c\/i\u003e, Curione compiled and partially translated into Latin a wide selection of these texts – prose, verse, and dialogues – that had appeared on the bases of the talking statues during the first half of the sixteenth century. To this material he added texts from the Northern European anti-curial tradition, as well as his own compositions, including \u003ci\u003ePasquillus extaticus et Marphorius\u003c\/i\u003e, a poetic dialogue between Pasquino and another of Rome’s talking statues, Marforio (pp. 427–529).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe volume includes eulogies of Martin Luther (notably pp. 282–295), Ulrich von Hutten’s satirical \u003ci\u003eTrias Romana\u003c\/i\u003e in both Latin and German (pp. 192 ff.), and the \u003ci\u003eJulius exclusus e coelis\u003c\/i\u003e, a pointed satire traditionally attributed to Erasmus (pp. 317–324).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAdams P-390; BM STC German, p. 676; USTC 682981; VD16 C 6433; Brunet IV, col. 410 (‘peu commun’).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2122132\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Henry Sotheran Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55994190561657,"sku":"2122132","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2122132_bdde82e1-fb0a-4427-954e-c522d7d442fd.jpg?v=1787055701"},{"product_id":"slezer-john-theatrum-scotiae-containing-the-prospects-of-their-majesties-castles-and-palaces-together-with-those-of","title":"SLEZER, John. Theatrum Scotiae. Containing the prospects of Their Majesties castles and palaces: together with those of the most considerable towns and colleges; the ruins of many ancient abbeys, churches, monasteries and convents, within the said kingdo…","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSLEZER, John.\u003c\/strong\u003e Theatrum Scotiae. Containing the prospects of Their Majesties castles and palaces: together with those of the most considerable towns and colleges; the ruins of many ancient abbeys, churches, monasteries and convents, within the said kingdom… \u003ci\u003eLondon: Abell Swalle.\u003c\/i\u003e 1693.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFolio. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, lettered directly in one, gilt edges; pp. [10], 65, [1], bound without “Prospects” and “End of Prospects” leaves, title page printed in red and black with engraved Royal arms of Scotland, 57 copper engraved double page plates (on guards), engraved in-text coat of arms, woodcut initials; skilfully rebacked retaining the original spine, spine and boards a little rubbed; light scattered foxing throughout mainly affecting text leaves, occasional light offsetting, small paper flaw to margin of plate 52 (far from printed area), tiny worm hole to inner margin of S1 (not touching text), but generally a very good, clean copy; near contemporary armorial bookplate of John Anstruther to verso of title (see below); bookplate of Wolfgang Metzner (1909-1992), publisher, to front pastedown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition of the first pictorial survey of Scotland, with a remarkable Scottish provenance.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn Slezer (1650-1717), a German military engineer who became a Scottish army officer and surveyor for William and Mary, produced this book for the new monarchs partly as a census and partly as a celebration of the great buildings of their northern kingdom. Drawing on the talents of artists such as Johannes van den Aveele, Jan Wyck and Robert White he created a collection of plates that were to become the standard views of Scotland for decades to come as the work ran into several editions deep into the eighteenth century. It was as much a piece of propaganda designed to promote pride and unity during a delicate political time, with judicious credit given to each of the noblemen who occupied these great buildings, as an architectural guide. As Slezer wrote in his preface: “It’s a matter worthy of ones enquiry, how a Nation, as SCOTLAND, so much addicted to Military Arts, and so constantly ingaged in both Foreign and Domestick Wars, should have been in a Capacity to erect such superb Edifices as that Kingdom abounds with”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur copy of the \u003ci\u003eTheatrum\u003c\/i\u003e was bound without the “Prospect” and “End of Prospects” leaves, which in some copies serve to introduce and conclude the suite of plates when these are bound together at the end. Unlike other copies, however, this copy retains the privilege leaf, bound here among the preliminaries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eProvenance\u003c\/i\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003eFrom the library of Sir John Anstruther, 1st Baronet (1678-1753)\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Scottish politician and bibliophile who sat in the Parliament of Scotland from 1702 to 1707 and then the British House of Commons from 1708 to 1741. He was generally opposed to the Act of Union but ultimately fell in line and in 1727 was appointed by George II as Master of Works to the Crown of Scotland, with responsibility for the maintenance of all royal buildings north of the border. In this role, he would have found this book as practically useful as it was symbolically appropriate to his position.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eESTC R187144 (7 copies).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2122488\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56099937747321,"sku":"2122488","price":6000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2122488.jpg?v=1754490077"},{"product_id":"ramelli-agostino-le-diverse-et-artificiose-machine-nelle-qualsi-si-contengono-varij-et-industriosi-movimenti-degni","title":"RAMELLI, Agostino. Le diverse et artificiose machine … Nelle qualsi si contengono varii et industriosi Movimenti, degni digrandissima Speculatione, per cavarne beneficio infinito in ogni sorte d’operatione. Composte in lingua italiana et francese.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eThe Earliest Depiction of a Bookwheel\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRAMELLI, Agostino.\u003c\/strong\u003e Le diverse et artificiose machine … Nelle qualsi si contengono varii et industriosi Movimenti, degni digrandissima Speculatione, per cavarne beneficio infinito in ogni sorte d’operatione. Composte in lingua italiana et francese. \u003ci\u003eParis: ‘In casa del’autore’\u003c\/i\u003e. 1588.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFolio. Twentieth-century vellum over boards, modern gilt lettering to spine, edges stained red; ff. [16], 338, engraved architectural title page by Léonard Gaultier, engraved portrait of Ramelli by Gaultier to title-page verso, 195 engraved plates numbered I–CXCV (20 of which double-page), text within typographic frames, woodcut initials and tailpieces; recased, extremities lightly rubbed, small marks to boards, small inkstains to lower corner of textblock; 85-mm loss to title with with old paper repair, affecting 4 words of text (supplied in ink facsimile), occasional marginal staining and light offsetting, occasional tiny wormhole to inner margin (touching only double-page plates), but generally a very good, bright copy; ink annotations in a contemporary hand to final verso (\u003ci\u003esee below\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition, printed for the author, of one of the most celebrated illustrated books of the sixteenth century, and ‘one of the most elegantly produced of all technological treatises’ (Norman), written in Italian and French and featuring the earliest known depiction of a bookwheel, our copy including a contemporary, seemingly unpublished French vernacular love poem in manuscript.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBorn near the Swiss-Italian border, Agostino Ramelli (1531–c. 1610) trained in military architecture before joining the army of the renowned \u003ci\u003econdottiero\u003c\/i\u003e and Spanish general Gian Giacomo Medici (1498–1555). After Medici’s death, he entered the employ of the Duke of Savoy and by 1565 had relocated to France, where he entered the service of the future Henry III. In 1572, during the siege of La Rochelle, Ramelli was gravely wounded and taken prisoner by the Huguenots. Upon his release, he remained in the French king’s service and, in 1587, was entrusted by Catherine de’ Medici with overseeing the fortification of Paris.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLe diverse et artificiose machine\u003c\/i\u003e, Ramelli’s magnum opus, is renowned for its blend of technical innovation and artistic refinement. The treatise explores the vast potential of mechanical invention and had a profound impact on the development of mechanical and military engineering in early modern Europe, including the work of Grollier de Servière and Jacob Leupold. The work was developed over several years in collaboration with fellow military engineer Ambroise Bachot, and was likely printed in a press installed in Ramelli’s own Paris residence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDedicated to Henry III, the volume opens with Léonard Gaultier’s striking portrait of the author: richly attired, seated at a table, helmet in one hand and compass in the other, measuring the plan of a fortress. The book presents an extraordinary array of mechanical inventions: ‘One hundred and ten water-lifting machines, twenty-one grain mills, four alternative mill designs, ten cranes, seven transport mechanisms for heavy loads, two earth-lifting devices, two cisterns, four fountains, fifteen military bridges, fourteen screw jacks and other wall-demolishing tools, one artillery mechanism, and more’ (\u003ci\u003eDBI, trans.\u003c\/i\u003e). Many of these are supported by enlarged schematics showing the intricate gear systems that animate them, testament to Ramelli’s meticulous concern for mechanical precision.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAmong the 195 plates is the earliest known European depiction of a bookwheel (plate CLXXXVIII), a rotating reading desk modelled after a water wheel, designed to allow simultaneous consultation of multiple large volumes.\u003c\/strong\u003e It is often cited as one of the earliest ‘information retrieval’ machines, and was especially recommended by Ramelli for readers ‘troubled by gout or otherwise incapacitated’, an early nod to accessibility in design. Also featured is an automaton inspired by Hero of Alexandria, comprising a group of birds perched on the branches of a large vase which move and sing when activated by air pressure (plate CLXXXVII).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlates CXLVIII and CXLIX appear as a single engraving; three others are signed with the cipher ‘JG’, possibly referring to Jean de Gourmont. A German translation, titled \u003ci\u003eSchatzkammer, Mechanischer Künste\u003c\/i\u003e, appeared in Leipzig in 1620.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eProvenance:\u003c\/i\u003e An early owner of this copy has inscribed an apparently unpublished love poem on the verso of the final leaf, beginning: ‘La fontaine qui long voudra croissir en quelque lieu que long…’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBM STC French, p. 372; USTC 851947\/56614\/130057; Adams R-52; Brunet, IV, col. 1095 (‘rare et recherché’); Dibner, Heralds 173 (‘The engravings are among the best in technological illustration’); Graesse VI.1, p. 20; Norman 1777 (‘The plates in Ramelli’s treatise are artistically as well as technologically superb, the bilingual text beautifully printed’); Wellcome I 5323.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2122408\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56099938075001,"sku":"2122408","price":24000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2122408.jpg?v=1753869023"},{"product_id":"cleveland-john-attributed-author-monumentum-regale-or-a-tombe-erected-for-that-incomparable-and-glorious-monarch","title":"[CLEVELAND, John ( attributed author ).] Monumentum Regale or a tombe, erected for that incomparable and glorious monarch, Charles the First, King of Great Britane, France and Ireland, \u0026c. In select elegies, epitaphs, and poems.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[CLEVELAND, John (\u003ci\u003eattributed author\u003ci\u003e).]\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e Monumentum Regale or a tombe, erected for that incomparable and glorious monarch, Charles the First, King of Great Britane, France and Ireland, \u0026amp;c. In select elegies, epitaphs, and poems. [\u003ci\u003eLondon: William Bentley\u003c\/i\u003e.] 1649.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e[bound with:]\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eB[IRKENHEAD], J[ohn].\u003c\/strong\u003e Loyalties tears flowing after the bloud of the royall sufferer Charles I. \u0026amp;c. Englands glory and shame. [\u003ci\u003eLondon?: n.p.\u003c\/i\u003e]. “1649”. [\u003ci\u003ei.e.\u003c\/i\u003e 1650].\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo works in one vol. 8vo. Contemporary calf, rebacked, blind double rule border to boards, spine blind-ruled in compartments, lettered directly in gilt to one, edges sprinkled red, endpapers renewed; Monumentum: pp. [2], 46, title and pp. 2 and 3 printed in black and red, woodcut skull and crown to title, typographic headpieces; Loyalties: [2 (blank)], [2], 11, [1 (blank)], bound without 8-page advertisement; boards and extremities a little worn; light, uniform toning throughout, occasional very light dampstaining to lower margin, trimmed close at head and foot in places, occasionally touching page numbering and shaving last line of p. 41 of 1st work; ink scribbling to final blank verso of 2nd work; bookplate of the Fox Pointe Collection to front free endpaper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition of Cleveland’s collection of royalist verse and second edition of Birkenhead’s poem: two rare clandestine publications commemorating Charles I, composed in the immediate aftermath of his execution.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished anonymously, \u003ci\u003eMonumentum Regale\u003c\/i\u003e is a collection of eight poetical works of varying length traditionally attributed to the poet and satirist John Cleveland (c. 1613-1658). Modern scholarship, however, has reassigned all but one of the texts – the sixth elegy – to other authors, including Josh Ashburnham, Payne Fisher, Thomas Pierce, and Henry King. A fervent royalist, Cleveland accompanied Charles during the Civil War until the king’s surrender to the Scots at Newark, and wrote one of the most biting caricatures of Oliver Cromwell (\u003ci\u003eThe Character of a London-Diurnall\u003c\/i\u003e, 1645). Little is known of his life after the war, though “there has been a reasonable assumption that, in Berdan’s words, ‘[l]ike the great majority of the unfortunate cavaliers, he wandered about in complete dependence upon his more fortunate friends’” (\u003ci\u003eODNB\u003c\/i\u003e). The collection comprises: 1. “Epitaph” beginning “Behold the Mirror”, 2. “Chronostichon decollationis Caroli Regis”, 3. “An Elegie on the Meekest of Men, the most glorious of Princes, the most Constant of Martyrs, Charles the I”, 4. “Caroli Τοῦ Μακαρίτου Παλιγγενεσία”, 5. “A Deep Groan, fetch’d at the Funerall of that incomparable and Glorious Monarch, Charles the First”, 6. “An Elegie” beginning “Were not my Faith”, 7. “An Elegie” beginning “Does not the Sun”, 8. “An Epitaph” beginning “Whitin the Sacred Vault”. The \u003ci\u003eMonumentum\u003c\/i\u003e, sometimes found bound in copies of the \u003ci\u003eEikon Basilike\u003c\/i\u003e, was issued twice in 1649; this is the version with “yeare” in the imprint and without the ninth poem “Upon the Death of King Charles”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second work, \u003ci\u003eLoyalties Tears Flowing\u003c\/i\u003e, is a 240-line monody – an extended poem of grieving – on Charles’s execution by the poet, journalist and satirist Sir John Birkenhead (\u003ci\u003ec.\u003c\/i\u003e 1617-1679). Best remembered for his newsbooks, including \u003ci\u003eMercurius Britannicus\u003c\/i\u003e, Birkenhead’s poetic talent “has perhaps been unfairly minimised” (\u003ci\u003eODNB\u003c\/i\u003e). Author of the longest known commendatory poem in existence (240 lines dedicated to William Cartwright), several of his lyrics were set to music by Henry Lawes (1596-1662). First published in 1649, \u003ci\u003eLoyalties Tears Flowing\u003c\/i\u003e “exhibits less of the satirical stridency that characterises much of Birkenhead’s writing and more a sense of controlled indignation and genuine sorrow” (ibid.). At the Restoration, his loyalty was rewarded: he regained his Oxford fellowship, received a doctorate of civil law at the king’s recommendation, and from 1660 to 1663 held the office of Licenser of the Press.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMonumentum: ESTC R208852 (version with “yeare” imprint); Madan 107. Loyalties: ESTC R209196 (only six locations recorded).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2122558\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56082767085945,"sku":"2122558","price":2000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2122558.jpg?v=1774275610"},{"product_id":"guicciardini-francesco-l-historia-d-italia","title":"GUICCIARDINI, Francesco. L’historia d’Italia.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGUICCIARDINI, Francesco.\u003c\/strong\u003e L’historia d’Italia. \u003ci\u003eFlorence: Lorenzo Torrentino\u003c\/i\u003e. 1561.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo vols, 8vo. Contemporary French brown calf, gilt-fillet border to covers, gilt fleuron to centres, spines blind-ruled in compartments between raised bands, gilt fleurons to centres and 18th-century paper label with titles in ink, shelf-labels at foot, \u003cstrong\u003eedges gilt and gauffered in floral design\u003c\/strong\u003e, vellum waste guards from two fifteenth-century manuscripts; pp. I: [16], 480; II: 481-1295, [1]; title within architectural woodcut border, woodcut portrait of the author, woodcut initials; spine ends repaired, extremities a little worn, wanting ties; occasional light staining and ink marks, but overall a very good, crisp copy; manuscript index in a neat, early hand to front free endpapers of vol. I; “whose hors” in a 16th-century hand to rear free endpaper of vol. II; ownership signatures “Afletcher” and “Jos: Arrowsmith” to titles (\u003ci\u003esee below\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst octavo edition, published the same year as the first folio edition, of Guicciardini’s historiographical milestone, preserved in an attractive contemporary French binding, and with an interesting English and Scottish provenance.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArguably the high point of Italian humanist historiography, the \u003ci\u003eHistoria d’Italia\u003c\/i\u003e (History of Italy) is celebrated for both its analytical rigour and breadth of research, being the first history to demonstrate “the synchronistic interdependence of political events all over the [European] continent” (\u003ci\u003ePMM\u003c\/i\u003e 85). Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540), the scion of a distinguished Florentine family and a friend of Niccolò Machiavelli, composed the work between 1537 and 1540, drawing on his long experience as a statesman and as ambassador to Spain. Covering the years 1492 to 1534, the \u003ci\u003eHistoria\u003c\/i\u003e offers a vivid narrative of the first four decades of the Italian Wars (1494-1559), a long series of conflicts centred on the Italian Peninsula involving the French kings, on one side, and the Holy Roman Empire and Spain on the other, as well as various Italian states at different stages. Guicciardini depicted this period as one of decline following the splendour of the Renaissance courts, and traced the collapse of Italy’s “tranquillity” – that time of “happiness” culminating around 1490 – \u003cstrong\u003enot to the aggression of foreign powers, but to the failures of the Italian states themselves and to the inherent fragility of the peninsula’s political structure\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEdited by Guicciardini’s nephew Agnolo, the \u003ci\u003eHistoria\u003c\/i\u003e first appeared in 1561 in a folio edition printed by Lorenzo Torrentino, twenty-one years after the historian’s death; later that same year Torrentino also issued the present octavo edition. A complete edition was published in Venice in 1567, and several re-issues followed: within the sixteenth century alone it saw at least ten editions in Italian, three each in Latin, French, and Spanish, and single editions in English, German, and Dutch. Its impact was immediate and far-reaching: Jean Bodin and Michel de Montaigne were among its early fervent admirers, and David Hume cited Guicciardini extensively in his \u003ci\u003eHistory of the House of Tudor\u003c\/i\u003e (1759). By the nineteenth century, however, Guicciardini’s reputation began to wane. Though Leopold von Ranke, the German founder of modern source-based history, described the \u003ci\u003eHistoria d’Italia\u003c\/i\u003e as “the basis of all later works on the beginnings of modern history”, he also faulted the author for his lack of systematic engagement with first-hand sources, remarking that “the establishment of facts did not matter greatly to him”. Such criticisms, compounded by factual inaccuracies, gradually dimmed the aura of Guicciardini as the great historian of Renaissance Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eProvenance:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1.   Late seventeenth-century ownership inscription of Joseph Arrowsmith, possibly the author of the Restoration satire \u003ci\u003eThe Reformation\u003c\/i\u003e (1673).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2.   Andrew Fletcher (\u003ci\u003ec.\u003c\/i\u003e 1653-1716) of Saltoun, author, politician, and ardent opponent of the 1707 Act of Union (Willems, p. 102); “an extremely passionate and knowledgeable book-collector” (ibid., p. xi), he amassed a library of some six thousand books, considered to be the largest private collection in Scotland at the time. By descent to:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3.   John Theodore Talbot Fletcher (1903-1995); his sale, Sotheby’s, 21-23 November 1966, lot 316, to Maggs Bros.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAdams G-1507; EDIT16 CNCE 22305 and 835390. See Willems, Bibliotheca Fletcheriana (1999). \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2122738\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56082767380857,"sku":"2122738","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2122738.jpg?v=1758708338"},{"product_id":"escobar-bartolome-de-conciones-de-festis-domini-nunc-primum-in-lucem-editae-and-duplici-indice-illustratae","title":"ESCOBAR, Bartolomé de. Conciones de festis Domini. Nunc primùm in lucem editae, \u0026 duplici indice illustratae.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eSemée\u003ci\u003e of Barberini Bees\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eESCOBAR, Bartolomé de.\u003c\/strong\u003e Conciones de festis Domini. Nunc primùm in lucem editae, \u0026amp; duplici indice illustratae. \u003ci\u003ePont-à-Mousson: Typis Sebastiani Cramoisy\u003c\/i\u003e. 1625.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e4to. Contemporary Roman red morocco, boards ruled in gilt to a panel design with floral corner pieces, spine similarly gilt-tooled and directly lettered in gilt, all over \u003ci\u003esemée\u003c\/i\u003e of gilt bees, edges gilt; pp. [16], 743 [\u003ci\u003ei.e.\u003c\/i\u003e 699], [1 (blank)], [116]; title page printed black and red, engraved vignette to title, woodcut initials, woodcut and typographic head- and tailpieces, ruled in red throughout; spine ends and corners expertly repaired, hinges cracked but holding firm, extremities a little worn; light uniform toning, light variable offsetting but generally very good; late 17th-century ownership inscription “Conventus S. Caroli ad 4 fontes de Urbe”, and 2 19th-century ink library stamps “BIBLIOTH. S. CAROLI AD QUAT. FONT” to title, modern armorial bookplate to pastedown (see below).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition, the splendidly bound dedication copy to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, of this collection of sermons by the Peruvian Jesuit Bartolomé de Escobar (1560-1624).\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBorn into a wealthy Sevillian family, Escobar moved with his parents to Peru at a young age. He studied law at the Royal College of San Martín in Lima before entering the Jesuit novitiate at the College of San Pablo in 1580. Ordained a priest, he devoted himself to preaching and the conversion of the natives, becoming one of only two Jesuit Quechua speakers at San Pablo. Escobar authored several liturgical works and sermon collections, published in Lyon, Paris, and Lisbon, and also edited the diaries of Pedro Mariño de Lobera (1528-1594), participant in the conquest of Chile, first printed in 1865.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished posthumously, his \u003ci\u003eConciones de festis Domini\u003c\/i\u003e is a dense collection of forty-one sermons in Latin, arranged according to the liturgical calendar – including the Transfiguration, Epiphany, Ascension, and the Invention of the True Cross – and accompanied by a detailed 116-page index. Of particular interest is the second sermon for the Feast of the Holy Trinity, in which Escobar reflects on the climates of the Americas in relation to classical scholarship: “We, who have come to these American lands from Europe, mock each other in our unbelief – for we see with our own eyes that in which the reasoning of the wisest has erred”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dedicatee of the book, Cardinal Francesco Barberini (1597-1679) was the nephew of Pope Urban VIII and a major bibliophile. His cultural pursuits flourished within his princely court and the academies under his patronage, and found lasting expression in the Biblioteca Barberini, which he greatly expanded from Pope Urban’s private collection. At his request, his librarian Lucas Holstenius (1596-1661) travelled across Europe to acquire rare books and manuscripts and to engage scholars such as Naudé, Vossius, Morin, Heinsius, Milton, and Ughelli, whom Barberini generously supported in Rome. His chief passions were literature and religious history; among his writings is an Italian translation of Marcus Aurelius’s \u003ci\u003eMeditations\u003c\/i\u003e, published anonymously in Rome in 1675.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eProvenance:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1. \u003cstrong\u003eDedication copy to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, in a presentation binding decorated with a semée of Barberini bees (the family’s heraldic device)\u003c\/strong\u003e; most likely the copy listed in the \u003ci\u003eIndex Bibliothecae qua Franciscus Barberinus … ad Quirinalem aedes magnificentiores reddidit\u003c\/i\u003e (1681, II, p. 367).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. Library of the Trinitarian convent of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane in Rome, commissioned by Barberini from Francesco Borromini, along with the adjoining church (late 17th-century ownership inscription and two 19th-century ink stamps on the title page).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. Giancarlo Veronesi Pesciolini, with his armorial bookplate on the front pastedown and ink stamp on the front free endpaper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Barberini Library, described by Mabillon as \u003cstrong\u003esecond only to the Vatican Library\u003c\/strong\u003e, was acquired by the Vatican in 1902.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2122416\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56086922854777,"sku":"2122416","price":8000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2122416.jpg?v=1761644911"},{"product_id":"gueroult-guillaume-palaephatus-le-premier-livre-des-narrations-fabuleuses-avec-les-discours-et-la-verite-et-histo","title":"GUÉROULT, Guillaume. [PALAEPHATUS.] Le Premier livre des Narrations Fabuleuses, avec les discours et la Vérité et histoires d’icelles ... Auquel avons adjousté aucunes œuvres poetiques du mesme Traducteur.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGUÉROULT, Guillaume. [PALAEPHATUS.]\u003c\/strong\u003e Le Premier livre des Narrations Fabuleuses, avec les discours et la Vérité et histoires d’icelles ... Auquel avons adjousté aucunes œuvres poetiques du mesme Traducteur. \u003ci\u003eLyon: Robert Granjon\u003c\/i\u003e. 1558.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSmall 4to. Late 19th-century dark blue Jansenist morocco by Chambolle-Duru, spine lettered directly in gilt, gilt turn-ins, gilt edges, marbled endpapers; ff. [4], “lix” (\u003ci\u003ei.e.\u003c\/i\u003e lx), woodcut printer’s device to title, woodcut head- and tailpieces; very light rubbing to spine and corners; very subtle, small restoration to lower outer margins of ff. *1-e4, h1-3, p1-4 (not affecting text), otherwise in excellent condition, small bookplate “Ex Libris Jean Bourdel” loosely inserted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition, very rare, of the first French translation of Palaephatus by the Protestant writer Guillaume Guéroult, one of the earliest books printed entirely in Civilité type, this copy handsomely bound by Chambolle-Duru.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePalaephatus (Ancient Greek: Παλαίφατος) is thought to be the pseudonym of a late fourth-century BC Greek author, known solely for the treatise \u003ci\u003eOn Incredible Things\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eΠερὶ ἀπίστων\u003c\/i\u003e). Surviving only in part, the work offers rationalised explanations of Greek myths. Each of the fifty-two brief sections follows a consistent structure: first, the myth or legend (“the fable”) is presented and then rejected as implausible; finally, a rational explanation (“the history”) is proposed, often interpreting the tale as a distorted recollection of historical events. Subjects include Pandora, Bellerophon, Cerberus, Medea, the Amazons, and Daedalus and Icarus. Highly influential during the Byzantine period, the text was first printed by Aldus Manutius in 1505, in the original Greek with a parallel Latin translation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGuillaume Guéroult (\u003ci\u003ec.\u003c\/i\u003e 1507-1569), a native of Rouen, studied medicine and botany before entering the printing trade under his uncle, the printer Simon Du Bosc. A convert to Protestantism, Guéroult became known for his religious poetry and his work as a proofreader in Paris. Around 1545, he fled to Geneva with his uncle to escape religious persecution. There, however, he clashed with John Calvin’s moral regime, siding with the so-called \u003ci\u003elibertines\u003c\/i\u003e, a group of dissenters known for their convivial lifestyle and opposition to Calvinist austerity. Through his brother-in-law, the printer Balthazar Arnoullet, he was also involved in the publication of Michael Servetus’s \u003ci\u003eChristianismi Restitutio\u003c\/i\u003e (1553), a work condemned by Calvin. Servetus was burned at the stake for heresy, while Guéroult, already expelled from Geneva for immorality, escaped a similar fate. He settled in Lyon around 1550, where he pursued a prolific output of emblem books (which inspired La Fontaine), poetry, translations (including works by Cicero and the Lutheran botanist Leonhard Fuchs), and songs – some of which were set to music by Didier Lupi Second (\u003ci\u003ec.\u003c\/i\u003e 1520-after 1559).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1557, Guéroult partnered with the renowned Lyon printer and punchcutter Robert Granjon (\u003ci\u003ec.\u003c\/i\u003e 1513-1590), and in 1558 they published the first French translation of \u003ci\u003eOn Incredible Things\u003c\/i\u003e. Guéroult’s translation, in prose, is followed by ten original poetic pieces, including sonnets and odes addressed to contemporary figures such as the poets Joachim Du Bellay (\u003ci\u003ec.\u003c\/i\u003e 1522-1560) and Étienne Jodelle (1532-1573). \u003cstrong\u003eThe volume is printed entirely in Civilité type, a cursive gothic script invented by Granjon and licensed in 1557, making it one of the first ten books issued in this typeface.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Civilité type was designed to imitate contemporary French handwriting and originally intended for use in books for children. Its name derives from \u003ci\u003eLa civilité puérile\u003c\/i\u003e (Granjon, 1558), a children’s courtesy book based on Erasmus’s \u003ci\u003eDe civilitate morum puerorum\u003c\/i\u003e. Between 1557 and 1562, Granjon published around twenty editions in Civilité. The typeface, which was imitated and adapted as early as the late 1550s, enjoyed popularity across Europe well into the nineteenth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eVery rare: Library Hub lists just one copy in the UK (Glasgow); OCLC adds four copies in the US (Harvard, Newberry, Virginia, and Yale).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBaudrier II, 59-60; Brunet IV, col. 312. See Vervliet, Robert Granjon, Letter-cutter; 1513-1590: An Oeuvre Catalogue.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2121800\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56086924067193,"sku":"2121800","price":12000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2121800a.jpg?v=1761818834"},{"product_id":"manwood-john-a-treatise-of-the-lavves-of-the-forest-vvherein-is-declared-not-onely-those-lawes-as-they-are-now-in-force-but-also-the-originall-and-beginning-of-forests-and-what-a-forest-is-in-his-owne-proper-nature-and-wherein-the-same-doth-differ","title":"MANWOOD, John. A treatise of the lavves of the forest: vvherein is declared not onely those lawes, as they are now in force, but also the originall and beginning of forests: and what a forest is in his owne proper nature, and wherein the same doth differ…","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMANWOOD, John.\u003c\/strong\u003e A treatise of the lavves of the forest: vvherein is declared not onely those lawes, as they are now in force, but also the originall and beginning of forests: and what a forest is in his owne proper nature, and wherein the same doth differ from a chase, a parke, or a warren … Also a treatise of the pourallee … neuer heretofore printed for the publique. \u003ci\u003eLondon: Printed [by Adam Islip?] for the Societie of Stationers.\u003c\/i\u003e 1615.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e4to. Contemporary full brown calf, triple blind fillet to sides, sometime rebacked, spine with raised bands and red morocco gilt lettering piece, edges stained red, endpaper renewed; ff. [1 (blank)], [15], 258 [\u003ci\u003ei.e.\u003c\/i\u003e 259], [1 (blank)], text printed in black letter, woodcut head-piece and initials; corners bumped, repaired tear without loss to p. 227, slight age-toning to margins, contemporary signature to title page with occasional manuscript notes in two hands throughout, very good.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSecond edition, the most notable, containing material from his privately circulated \u003ci\u003eA Brefe Collection of the Lawes of the Forrest\u003c\/i\u003e (1592) that was not included in the first edition of 1598.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCited by Blackstone, this book  was considered to be the most authoritative secondary source on forest law well into the twentieth century. Certainly it is a great work of scholarship as Manwood collated sources as disparate as Cnut's Civil Dooms and Henry III's Charter of the Forest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe law as described by Manwood is very much on the side of the landowner, primarily the Crown but also the gentry. For example, the section on the \u003ci\u003ePourallee\u003c\/i\u003e (or \u003ci\u003epurlieu\u003c\/i\u003e) covers the rights of those who own land on the border of a royal forest and who are legally qualified to hunt within the forest. This is to be expected as Manwood (who died in 1610) was the chief magistrate of the New Forest on behalf of Elizabeth I.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe very neat and erudite marginal notes suggest that this copy has been used for reference by at least two legal scholars.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eESTC S111855\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2123693\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56711699726713,"sku":"2123693","price":850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2123693.jpg?v=1771757928"},{"product_id":"mercator-g-hondius-j-slavonia-croatia-bosnia-dalmat","title":"MERCATOR, G. \/ HONDIUS, J. Slavonia, Croatia Bosnia, Dalmat.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMERCATOR, G. \/ HONDIUS, J.\u003c\/strong\u003e Slavonia, Croatia Bosnia, Dalmat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginal framed engraved map with hand colouring, printed in Amsterdam, c.1608. 155 x 185 mm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124388\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56809147629945,"sku":"2124388","price":50.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124388.jpg?v=1772890546"},{"product_id":"bertius-petrus-1565-1629-livoniae-descrip-map-of-estonia-latvia","title":"BERTIUS, Petrus (1565-1629). Livoniae Descrip (Map of Estonia \u0026 Latvia).","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBERTIUS, Petrus (1565-1629).\u003c\/strong\u003e Livoniae Descrip (Map of Estonia \u0026amp; Latvia).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginal engraved map with hand colour by Jodocus Hondius, from \"Tabulae Geographicae,\" with Latin text to verso, published by Cornelis Claesz, Amsterdam, c.1629. 105 x 145 mm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124384\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56809148383609,"sku":"2124384","price":70.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124384.jpg?v=1772890555"},{"product_id":"dante-alighieri-pietro-bembo-editor-le-terze-rime-title-verso-lo-nferno-e-l-purgatorio-e-l-paradiso-di-dante-alaghieri-sic","title":"DANTE Alighieri; [Pietro BEMBO ( editor )]. Le terze rime. [ Title verso :] Lo’nferno e’l Purgatorio e’l Paradiso di Dante Alaghieri [ sic ].","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eThe First Aldine Dante – With a Portrait of the Poet\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDANTE Alighieri; [Pietro BEMBO (\u003ci\u003eeditor\u003ci\u003e)].\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e Le terze rime. [\u003ci\u003eTitle verso\u003ci\u003e:] Lo’nferno e’l Purgatorio e’l Paradiso di Dante Alaghieri [\u003ci\u003esic\u003ci\u003e]. \u003ci\u003eVenice: Aldus Manutius\u003c\/i\u003e. 1502.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Eighteenth-century speckled calf, arms of William Bagot, first Bagot Bromley blocked in blind to boards, spine gilt in compartments with gilt crowned fleurs-de-lys; ff. [243] of [244]; a7 b–z8 A–G8 H4; lacking f. a8 (Inferno III, lines 79–136), f. l2 blank, quires a and b and f. s8 supplied (during the eighteenth century or earlier); italic letter, capital spaces with guide letters, woodcut Aldine device to final verso; joints repaired, front free endpaper previously laid down, obscuring bookplate of Charles Ford (recently renewed with bookplate and label relaid); slight marginal dampstaining to head of Inferno VI–XV and to inner margin of Inferno XXXIII–Purgatorio IV, some browning and light soiling to first and final leaves, the odd mark; else a very good copy; sixteenth-century underlining and reading marks to annotation to c. 50 pp., early inscription to final leaf ‘?andai in Farnesina … al sinodo’; title-page with sixteenth-century ink portrait of Dante in profile within border enclosing printed text (see below), inscribed ‘Φρὰνκισχῶς Αλφάνῶς Νεοπολιτσίν εποιει Εποῦ κυρὶακου’, eighteenth-century armorial bookplate of Charles Ford to front pastedown with motto ‘Noli irritare leones’ (Franks 10949), ?nineteenth-century ownership inscription ‘R. Washbourne’ to head of title, twentieth-century booklabel of D.S. Robertson to front free endpaper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe first Aldine edition of Dante, our copy with a magnificent ink portrait of Dante in profile executed in 1555 and with the bookplate of Charles Ford, Jonathan Swift’s confidant, close correspondent, and most trusted friend, who played an instrumental role in bringing \u003ci\u003eGulliver’s Travels\u003c\/i\u003e to print, clandestinely delivering the manuscript to the publisher and, for the second edition, providing the final corrected copy of \u003ci\u003eGulliver’s Travels\u003c\/i\u003e on Swift’s behalf to rectify the unauthorised changes made to the first edition.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis edition – the only appearance of Dante’s \u003ci\u003eCommedia\u003c\/i\u003e under the title of \u003ci\u003eLe Terze rime\u003c\/i\u003e – appeared as part of Aldus’s pocket-format octavo series of works, beginning with his Virgil in 1501 and followed by the series’ first vernacular work, Petrarch’s \u003ci\u003eLe cose volgari\u003c\/i\u003e, in July 1501, edited by the Venetian humanist Pietro Bembo (1470–1547) as here; it was one of the earliest Aldines to employ Aldus’s iconic dolphin-and-anchor device. Bembo’s recension of the \u003ci\u003eCommedia\u003c\/i\u003e, instrumental in cementing Dante’s importance as a vernacular poet, eliminates abbreviations introduced by Landino and draws largely upon the text of the fourteenth-century manuscript sent by Boccaccio to Petrarch in the 1350s as opposed to early, textually flawed printed editions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Aldine Dante formed ‘“il presupposto concreto” (“the concrete prerequisite”) for Bembo’s programme to found a new literary language upon the works of illustrious writers. Fundamental to the humanistic principles of Bembo and Aldus was the idea that language is to be learned not from rules, but from examples. To create illustrious vernacular models in these editions, Bembo applied the esteemed methods of philology that he learned from Poliziano and Barbaro to historical, vernacular texts. The result was editions that both validated the vernacular as a serious field of study and made the authors’ texts available in such a way that they could stabilize the language and hold in check the forces of linguistic change’ (Brammall).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOur copy bears a magnificent ink profile portrait of Dante wearing his traditional \u003ci\u003ecappuccio\u003c\/i\u003e, the outline of his white coif present more faintly under his hood. For a work dated 1555 (if Robertson’s dating is to be trusted, see below), it is notable that the depiction of Dante should bear more resemblance to representations of the \u003ci\u003esommo poeta\u003c\/i\u003e from the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century manuscript tradition – or in early woodcut illustrations of scenes from the \u003ci\u003eCommedia\u003c\/i\u003e, generally shown in continuous narrative – than to sixteenth-century depictions in painting, or from woodcut frontispiece in printed books.  \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy this time, Dante’s image had become highly stylised, with increased emphasis on his poetic auctoritas, conveyed by the inclusion of a laurel wreath, and his aquiline nose, severe countenance, and strong jaw, as well as the increased rigidity and gradual shortening of his hood. Holbrook (1911) complains of the diversity of Dantes before the consolidation of his iconography, finding in manuscript sources ‘Dantes with pudgy expressionless faces, Dantes with a feeble jaw and receding chin, Dantes in feminine form with feminine faces, Protean Dantes ever assuming new yet never Dantesque shapes […]’ in which Dante is identified through clothing and gesture rather than what Holbrook also refers to disparagingly as ‘the profile of an old hag’.  The departure from later developments in Dante’s iconography largely positions him as pilgrim or Everyman rather than imposing auctor. There are particularly interesting parallels between our portrait and Dante’s dress in Priamo della Quercia’s illustrations to MS Yates Thompson 36, and Guarneriana MS 200, for example, as well as the engravings attributed to Baccio Baldini after designs by Botticelli for the first illustrated edition of the \u003ci\u003eCommedia\u003c\/i\u003e, printed in 1481 by Niccolò di Lorenzo. ‘Through his active role in the visual narrative the artists represent Dante the pilgrim as an “Everyman”, showing his allegorical role, his role representing mankind itself as “the personification of Christian endeavor, after whom the reader should mold himself in mind and heart” […] While Dante’s actions are painted as his own, the lack of a specific portrait in the early illuminations allows those actions to represent a wider experience, the experience of Everyman rather than those of a particular individual fixed in a specific historical moment. It may be that the illustrators resisted realistic portraits in the \u003ci\u003eCommedia\u003c\/i\u003e for so long (long after they had emerged elsewhere) because the Everyman concerned them more than an image of the illustrious poet. Such a portrait would confine those actions to the “io” “che è solo io” and limit the breadth of the poet’s experience for the reader\/viewer’ (Owen).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe portrait was executed by one Francesco Alfani. The inscription in Greek (‘Φρὰνκισχῶς Αλφάνῶς Νεοπολιτσίν εποιει Εποῦ κυρὶακου’, i.e. ‘?Francesco Alfano the Neapolitan made [this] here for the Lord’) to either side of the portrait is dated by D.S. Robertson to 1555 by means of isopsephy, using the first letter of each word of the inscription (where A=1, Φ=500, N=50, and E=5). This is likely the Francesco Alfani who was doctor of medicine and philosophy and professor of medicine at the University of Salerno, ‘in those days reputed to be the greatest medical school in the world’ and prior of the collegio medico from 1578 (Eager, \u003ci\u003eEarly History of Quarantine\u003c\/i\u003e (1903), p. 15; his 1577 Naples-printed \u003ci\u003eOpus, de peste, febre pestilentiali, \u0026amp; febre maligna\u003c\/i\u003e, reprinted in Hamburg in 1589 and 1618 according to Crescimbeni. The work was particularly notable for its claim that corrupt air can carry plague over long distances by land or sea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was also a translator and vernacular poet of the same name about whom little is known, although he is thought to have been a Florentine descendant of the \u003ci\u003edolce stil novo\u003c\/i\u003e poet Gianni Alfani and active during the second half of the fifteenth century, although the Florentine branch of the Alfani family (as opposed to the Neapolitan or Perugian branches) was all but extinct at the time, and traditional attributions to the late fifteenth century, following Crescimbeni, are ‘based on the somewhat generic dating of a manuscript (which Quadrio and Mazzucchelli then followed)’ (Lodone, p. 149, \u003ci\u003etrans\u003c\/i\u003e.). Although Alfani’s verse remained unpublished, several of his poems are preserved, for example, in MS Riccardiano 1118 (sixteenth century, containing twelve sonnets by Alfani) alongside extracts from Dante’s \u003ci\u003eVita nuova\u003c\/i\u003e and works by Boccaccio, Guinizelli, Cino da Pistoia, and others, and he was the interlocutor, with Girolamo Benivieni (1453–1542), of a notable \u003ci\u003etenzone\u003c\/i\u003e, or poetic exchange. The Laurenziana’s MS Plut. XLI.33 contains works by Alfani alongside those of Bembo, Ariosto, and Machiavelli, and his sonnets also appear in Chig. M. VII.142 in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, composed during the first half of the sixteenth century for Giovanni Girolamo de’ Rossi (Bishop of Pavia between 1530 and 1564).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe front free endpaper bears the bookplate of Charles Ford of Woodpark (Wood Park), some ten miles from Dublin. \u003c\/strong\u003eBorn to an Irish father and an English mother, Ford was educated at Eton and admitted as a fellow-commoner at Trinity College Dublin, graduating B.A. in 1699. His enduring friendship with Jonathan Swift likely began while Swift (then aged forty-one) was vicar at Laracor, and Ford was twenty-six. In 1712 Swift appointed Ford editor of the \u003ci\u003eLondon Gazette\u003c\/i\u003e, and Swift’s close friend and muse Esther Johnson (better known as ‘Stella’) spent six months at Ford’s home at Woodpark; Swift’s poem ‘Stella at Wood Park’ was written to thank Ford, affectionately referred to as ‘Don Carlos’, for his hospitality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFord had acted as Swift’s intermediary in bringing the final corrected copy of \u003ci\u003eGulliver’s Travels\u003c\/i\u003e to the publisher Benjamin Motte, making sure that Motte’s insertions, deletions, and alterations to the first edition  – made without Swift’s consent – were rectified. In the twentieth century, it was revealed through Ford’s letters that \u003ci\u003eGulliver’s Travels\u003c\/i\u003e had been composed almost a decade later than previously thought, proving that Swift authored Part I in 1721–2, Part 2 in 1722–3, Part IV in 1723, and Part III (written after Part IV) in 1724–5. Two copies of Swift’s novel survive with significant corrections to the text in Ford’s hand, one at the Morgan and the other at the Forster Collection. Ford named Swift as executor of his will, a role Swift was unable to carry out due to his own declining health. Ford likely obtained this copy of the \u003ci\u003eCommedia\u003c\/i\u003e during his two-year Grand Tour to Italy in 1717 and 1718; he had previously travelled to the Continent with Bolingbroke. In a poem written for Ford’s birthday in 1722, Swift refers both to his friend’s Italophilia and to his desire to leave Ireland. ‘When to your Friends you would enhance | The Praise of Italy or France | For Grandeur, Elegance, and Wit, | We gladly hear you, and submit: | But then, to come and keep a Clutter | For this, or that Side of a Gutter, | To live in this or t’other Isle, | We cannot think it worth your while’. Ford served as an important source of information for Swift during the satirist’s years in Ireland.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eProvenance\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e1.  Early ownership inscription to final leaf perhaps indicating Roman clerical provenance (’?andai in Farnesina … al sinodo’), with underlining, manicules, and reading marks (‘comp.’) to \u003ci\u003ec\u003c\/i\u003e. 50 pp., largely evenly spaced but slightly more concentrated within the Purgatorio. There are also occasional manuscript corrections to the text as edited by Bembo, \u003ci\u003ee.g.\u003c\/i\u003e in Paradiso XIV, in which our reader adds ‘non’ after ‘Si pia l’ombra d’Anchise si porse’, indicating familiarity with an uncommon variant of the terzina, called by Alessandro Piccolomini ‘incorrect, although it appears in some printed editions’ (Piena, et larga parafrase (1572), p. 167, \u003ci\u003etrans\u003c\/i\u003e.).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2.  Sixteenth-century portrait of Dante in brown ink to title, with Greek ownership inscription of Francesco Alfani in the same hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3.  Bookplate of Charles Ford (c. 1681\/2–1743) of Woodpark, near Dublin. Six of Ford’s other Aldines, including the five-volume set of Aldus’s incunable Aristotle (1495-98), are now at Eton, having been given to the school by Lord Berkeley of Stratton, a mutual connection of Swift’s, in 1743.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e4.  William Bagot, 1st Baron Bagot of Bagot’s Bromley (1728-1798); seemingly not in the sale of books removed from the Bagot estate at Blithfield Hall (Sotheby’s, 26 November 1945), although the sale included his copy of the 1481 Niccolò di Lorenzo edition (lot 74).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e5. ?Nineteenth-century ownership inscription of R. Washburn, perhaps the bookseller of the same name on Paternoster Row specialising in Catholic literature and theology.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e6. Booklabel of Donald Struan Robertson, scholar of Apuleius, Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge, and friend and correspondent of A. E. Housman. He was educated at Westminster and Trinity College, Cambridge. ‘It is not remembered for which birthday he asked for a guinea-pig and a pocket Homer, but a love for literature and the possession of books was his from early days. He would often make the long walk back to Hampstead bearing a volume that he had, by saving his bus-fare, been able to secure in the Charing Cross Road … in Italian he had read all Ariosto and Dante, to whom he constantly returned. He had a series of small notebooks, in which he had copied out favourite passages from these … each day one was carried, in a silk case, in a pocket of his coat, to be read in trains or when the business of a meeting grew tedious’ (F. H. Sandbach, obituary). Not in the Hodgson \u0026amp; Co. sale of his library (22-23 March 1962).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBM STC Italian, p. 209; EDIT16 CNCE 1144; USTC 808768; Index Aureliensis XI, p. 260. See Brammall, ‘Fixity and Fluidity in Bembo’s Prose della volgar lingua’, in Multilingual Texts and Practices in Early Modern Europe (2023); Holloway, The Pilgrim and the Book (1992). On Alfani the physician, and Alfani the poet, see Crescimbeni, p. 469; De Renzi, Storia documentata della scuola medica di Salerno (1857) 233; Lodone, ‘Per un profilo di Francesco Alfani volgarizzatore e poeta’, in Medioevo e rinascimento XXXII (2018). On Ford, see Smith ed., The Letters of Jonathan Swift to Charles Ford (1935). On the iconography of Dante, see Holbrook, Portraits of Dante from Giotto to Raffael (1911); Landner, Depicting Dante in Anglo-Italian Literary and Visual Arts (2017); Owen, ‘The Image of Dante, Poet and Pilgrim’, in Dante on View (2016).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124915\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57267122372985,"sku":"2124915","price":11000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124915.jpg?v=1778693929"},{"product_id":"bruno-of-cologne-saint-zaccaria-ferreri-opera-vita-post-indicem-serie-literaria-indicanda","title":"BRUNO of Cologne, Saint ; [Zaccaria FERRERI]. Opera \u0026 Vita post indicem serie literaria indicanda.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eBruno's Bruno\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBRUNO of Cologne, \u003ci\u003eSaint\u003ci\u003e; [Zaccaria FERRERI].\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e Opera \u0026amp; Vita post indicem serie literaria indicanda. [\u003ci\u003eParis\u003c\/i\u003e] : \u003ci\u003eJodocus Badius Ascensius\u003c\/i\u003e. [27 March 1524.]\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFolio. Bound in pigskin over boards in 1939 by W. H. Smith and Son (rear turn-in signed in blind) for Sotheran’s (twentieth-century ink stamp to front free endpaper), preserving a few deckle edges; ff. [8 (contents)], DXX; †8 a–z8 A–H8 2A–2Z8 3a–3g8 3h10 2A8 2B6 2C8, f. DVIII misfoliated, f. CCCXCVIII blank; roman letter, gothic running-titles, text in two columns, 6 large in-text woodcut illustrations, 2-, 6-, and 10-line woodcut criblé initials, title printed in red and black within an elaborate woodcut architectural border depicting a printer at work; a few scratches to rear board; slight worming at inner upper margin of first 4 ff. subtly repaired, last 4 ff. reinforced at gutter; light soiling to f. CCLXXXIXr, small marginal oilstain to quire 2Z; pinhole wormhole to first 3 quires touching a single character per page, light marginal spotting to quire D, pale marginal dampstaining to Vita; twentieth-century bookplate and ownership inscription of Bruno Scott James to front pastedown (\u003ci\u003esee below\u003c\/i\u003e); a handsome copy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition of the collected works of St Bruno of Cologne (c. 1030–1101), founder of the Carthusian Order, with an illustrated life of the saint and a lengthy poem on the foundation of the Order by the Benedictine-turned-Carthusian Zaccaria Ferreri, our copy from the library of the Benedictine-turned-Carthusian Bruno Scott James.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnder Pope Leo X, the liturgical feast of Bruno of Cologne was authorised on 19 July 1514, and he was made a saint through the process of equivalent canonisation, renewing broader interest in his life and work. The printing of this work was explicitly authorised by the Order: ‘It might be expected that religious orders would authorise a particular edition or publisher when printing liturgical or other books for the use of the order, and discourage the circulation of others. In practice it seems that this was rarely done, at least explicitly. An exception must however be recognised in the case of the Carthusians. ‘For many years the order had laboured to produce an edition of the works of its founder, St Bruno, and by 1524 this project was completed … [Badius Ascensius] received the manuscript, sent to him by the Prior of the order, Gulielmus Bibaucius or Bibaut, from the Grande Chartreuse, and printed in a handsome folio volume in 1523’ (Armstrong, p. 60). Bade’s magnificent woodcut title-page, incorporating his device of a printer at work, is Renouard’s Marque II, in the fourth state, used from April 1522 to September 1529.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing Bruno’s works is a detailed biography of the saint with six striking woodcut illustrations illustrating episodes from his life, as well as laudatory epigrams, choriambic and hendecasyllabic verse by several poets, and a thirteen-page poem on the life of Bruno in heroic verse by Zaccaria Ferreri of Vicenza (1479–1524). Ferreri had entered the Benedictine monastery of Santa Giustina in Padua at the age of fifteen, and in April 1508 entered the Charterhouse of Venice; the following year, however, he was forced to return to his original Order under a new Carthusian decree preventing the transfer of monks. His preface to the poem is dated five days before the kalends of May 1508, almost immediately after his turn to the Carthusian Order, and he died in 1524 as Bishop of Guardalfiera in Molise only a few months after the publication of the present work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProvenance: the somewhat eccentric Catholic priest Bruno Scott James (1906–1984) had entered the Anglican Benedictine Monastery at Pershore as a young man and studied the works of the Church Fathers extensively before taking instruction from the Carthusians at Parkminster; following stints at Downside Abbey and the Certosa of Florence, he was appointed canon of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere with the title of Monsignor. His health issues caused him to return to England later in life; a member of the Travellers Club, he is perhaps best known for his translation of the \u003ci\u003eLetters of St Bernard of Clairvaux\u003c\/i\u003e, aided by Thomas Merton, and his biographical work \u003ci\u003eSaint Bernard of Clairvaux\u003c\/i\u003e, of which C. S. Lewis owned a copy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAdams B-2936; Basler Buchillustration 62; BP16 104798; BM STC French, p. 84; Brunet I, col. 1296; CLC B2494; Moreau III 624; Pettegree and Walsby, French Books 59297; Renouard, ICP III 624; Renouard, Badius Ascensius II, pp. 227–8; Renouard, Imprimeurs et libraires parisiens II 535; USTC 145663. See Armstrong, Before Copyright: The French Book-Privilege System 1498–1526 (2002).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2123942\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57267124011385,"sku":"2123942","price":1850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2123942.jpg?v=1778693975"},{"product_id":"university-of-bologna-privilegia-domini-bernardini-maggii-luganensis-diploma-in-arts-and-medicine-issued-to-bernardino-maggi-of-lugano-9-february-1607","title":"[UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA.] Privilegia Domini Bernardini Maggii Luganensis [Diploma in Arts and Medicine Issued to Bernardino Maggi of Lugano, 9 February 1607].","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eCountersigned by Galileo's Interlocutor in Medicean Debate\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA.]\u003c\/strong\u003e Privilegia Domini Bernardini Maggii Luganensis [Diploma in Arts and Medicine Issued to Bernardino Maggi of Lugano, 9 February 1607]. \u003ci\u003eBologna\u003c\/i\u003e. 1608.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eManuscript on vellum, 4to. Contemporary Bolognese brown morocco, boards richly gilt to a panel design, floral roll-tooled border within single and double fillets, large foliate cornerpieces, central tool of crucified Christ to upper board, and of Virgin and Child to lower, each surrounded by vase of flowers and marguerite tools, spine gilt in compartments, gilt edges, spine lined with manuscript waste on vellum; ff. [20], calligraphed in a fine Italianate humanist hand in brown and gold ink, up to 14 lines to a page, all leaves excluding title-page surrounded by elaborate border in gold and brown (\u003ci\u003esee contents below\u003c\/i\u003e); light wear to spine and corners, spine slightly worn with chip at head, hole through lower inner corners and text block where tassel and university seal formerly affixed, traces of 4 pairs of red silk ties; first quire largely detached, light variable marginal staining; signature of Petrus Sementius Procancellarius of the University in ink to f. 10v; ink notarial sign ‘IBR’ of Iohannes Baptista Rusticelli to f. 11r; signatures of Antonius Gandulphus and Flaminius Papazzonius in ink (\u003ci\u003esee below\u003c\/i\u003e), and ink notarial sign ‘BA’ of Bartholomeus Albertinus to f. 19v; contemporary ink inscription ‘1607. die 9. Februarij Laurea Doctoralis Equestri Dignitatis Collatio’ to front free endpaper; early twentieth-century bookseller’s ticket ‘C. E. Rappaport … Rome’ to front pastedown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA sumptuous Arts and Medicine diploma from the University of Bologna, handsomely illustrated and calligraphed throughout, and preserved in a contemporary richly gilt Bolognese binding.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the medieval and early modern periods, university degree ceremonies followed a precise ritual: rigorous examination, collective approval, and finally the symbolic bestowal of books, a doctoral cap, and a gold ring – tokens binding the graduate to their discipline. The title carried real authority, granting the right to teach and practise across wide territories. As legal instruments countersigned by notaries, early diplomas took the form of large, handwritten sheets on parchment; later they evolved into more compact, bound booklets, often richly decorated with coats of arms, religious imagery, and gold illumination (cf. Maggiulli). This diploma confers a degree in Liberal Arts, Sacred Philosophy, and Medicine on Bernardino Maggi (Bernardinus Maggius or Madius in Latin), a citizen of Lugano. Granted on 9 February 1607, the manuscript was completed the following year, as recorded on the title-page. The Latin text comprises a description of the duties attached to his new status, testimonials by academic members of the university, and notarial attestations with stamps and signatures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA surname common in Lombardy, the Maggi family is also recorded in Ticino, with a branch attaining some notability in Mendrisio (Oldelli, p. 105). In 1593, a Fabrizio Maggi of Lugano is documented among the contractors for the fortifications of Casal Monferrato on behalf of the Duke of Mantua (\u003ci\u003eBollettino storico della Svizzera Italiana\u003c\/i\u003e 20–25 (1898), p. 181). As a native of Ticino, the southernmost canton of Switzerland, Bernardino belonged to the natio of the Citramontani (non-Bolognese Italians) rather than to the Ultramontani, the foreign students (French, English, Spanish, German, Polish, and Hungarian). His diploma, however, includes a portrait of Arnoldus, a fashionably dressed gentleman with a large white ruff, identified as the commander of the Swiss troops stationed in Bologna. Together with the depiction of the Swiss Confederacy’s Wappenbaum (cantonal tree), the portrait underscores Bernardino’s connection to the Confederacy. This fluidity between Italy and the Swiss Confederacy is further stressed by the arms of the Odescalchi family on the title-page likely alluding to the Italian family’s ties with Lugano: prominent bankers from Como, the Odescalchi maintained in fact close links with the region, much of which then fell under the diocese of Como. The presence of the arms of Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma, Piacenza, and Castro (r. 1592–1622) may reflect his connection with the Collegio Ancarano of Bologna, where he studied and of which he later became ‘dominus ac patronus’ (see Lines, p. 111).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Bolognese Aristotelian Flaminio Papazzoni (d. 1614), Prior of Philosophy at Bologna and one of the signatories of the diploma, later obtained a chair at the University of Pisa on the recommendation of Galileo Galilei. In 1612 he was required by the Medici to engage in a debate with Galileo on the question of floating bodies. Apparently reluctant to oppose his benefactor, Papazzoni lost the dispute and, after it attracted considerable attention, was required to repeat it at the Medici court in the presence of the Grand Duke and Duchess, and the cardinals Maffeo Barberini (who supported Galileo) and Ferdinando Gonzaga (who sided with Papazzoni).\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eContents\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003cbr\u003eTitle-page ‘Privilegia Domini Bernardini Maggii Luganensis. M.D.CIIX’, within an elegant gold cartouche surrounded by coats of arms, including the civic arms of Lugano, the arms of the Maggi family of Lugano (?) and those of the Odescalchi family of Como, flanked by four allegorical emblems, the whole within a magenta drape (f. 1r); portrait of Arnoldus (‘Duci Arnoldi Helvetiae stationis imago’) with Latin verses (f. 1v); Swiss \u003ci\u003eWappenbaum\u003c\/i\u003e (displaying, from the top, the arms of Zürich, Bern, Luzern, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, Glarus, Basel-Stadt, Fribourg, Solothurn, and Schaffhausen), superimposed on a double-headed eagle and surmounted by a crown and \u003ci\u003etreue Hände\u003c\/i\u003e (loyal hands); blank aside the decorative frame (f. 2v); coat of arms of Ranuccio I Farnese, within an exuberant gold cartouche decorated with cornucopiae and encircled by the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece (f. 3r); ‘In Christi Nomine Amen’ with a large and finely historiated initial ‘G’ incorporating grotesque human and animal heads (f. 3v; cf. similar initial ‘C’ on f. 5v); f. 20 blank aside the decorative frame.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eProvenance\u003c\/i\u003e: From the Bibliotheca Altempsiana, formed by the Austrian cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps (Mark Sittich von Hohenems Altemps, 1533–1595), nephew of Pope Pius IV, and housed in Palazzo Altemps. In 1740, a substantial portion of the manuscripts entered the Vatican Library; the remainder, largely dispersed, was sold at auction in London in 1907 (Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge) and in Rome in 1908 (Rossi, Catalogue des livres et des manuscrits composant la bibliothèque des ducs d’Altemps; this manuscript lot 2838).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSee Lines, The Dynamics of Learning in Early Modern Italy Arts and Medicine at the University of Bologna (2023); Maggiulli, ‘I diploma di laurea: una fonte per la storia dell’università’, DigItalia (2021); Montalbani, Notitia doctorum: sive catalogus doctorum qui in collegiis philosophiae et medicinae bononiae laureati fuerunt ab anno 1480 usque ad annum 1800 (1962), p. 112 [9 February 1607: D. Bernardinus Madius Luganensis in U.C. Acta 1605–1607, c. 32v]; Oldelli, Dizionario storico ragionato degli uomini illustri del Canton Ticino (1807). \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2123668\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57267126927737,"sku":"2123668","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2123668a.jpg?v=1778694013"},{"product_id":"fugger-wolfgang-ein-nutzlich-und-wolgegrundt-formular-manncherley-schoner-schriefften-als-teutscher-lateinischer-griechischer-unnd-hebrayscher-buchstaben","title":"[FUGGER, Wolfgang.] [Ein nutzlich und wolgegrundt Formular manncherley schöner Schriefften. Als teutscher, lateinischer, griechischer, unnd hebraÿscher Buchstaben …]","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eBad Handwriting ‘Ugly to All Men’\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[FUGGER, Wolfgang.]\u003c\/strong\u003e [Ein nutzlich und wolgegrundt Formular manncherley schöner Schriefften. Als teutscher, lateinischer, griechischer, unnd hebraÿscher Buchstaben …] [\u003ci\u003eNuremberg: Katharina Dieterichin for Wolffgang Starck\u003c\/i\u003e. Not before 1576.]\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSmall oblong 4to. Recased in its original eighteenth-century binding reusing a ?fourteenth-century German manuscript fragment on vellum (see below); ff. [97] of [104]; wanting ff. A1 (title), A2–B1 (dedication, note to reader), L2 (italic minuscule) and 2C4 (colophon); rear hinge cracked, final quire loose, quire B reinforced at inner margin; numerous woodcut illustrations and diagrams in the text; light marginal dampstaining at head (heavier to quire B), light spotting and toning; else a good copy; small booklabel removed from front pastedown at an earlier date, eighteenth-century German bibliographical note to front free endpaper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRare second edition – the contents unchanged save for the colophon – of the Nuremberg printer Wolfgang Fugger’s (1519–1568) extremely important calligraphic manual (first 1553), printed by Katharina Dieterichin (d. 1605), widow of Dietrich Gerlach.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFugger’s manual is ‘supreme as an example of engraving. The specimens are cut in relief, apparently on soft metal, with extreme accomplishment, and in this respect it surpassed earlier writing-books in beauty and clearness […] the book was intended, secondarily, as an aid to cutters of printers’ types, and it has a place in the history of typography as the earliest to deal in any way with the design of types’ (Carter, preface to 1955 reprint). In his dedication to Joachim Tetzel, Fugger writes, ‘How could art and knowledge exist if there were no art of writing? […] Any language which is not well written (being ugly or illegible) is a disadvantage; for a clumsy hand appears ugly to all men’ (ibid., trans. Plaat).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe present writing manual describes how to properly cut a quill and the appropriate position of the hand and the arm for writing (showing examples of ‘clumsy’ and proper techniques) before detailing a variety of German (Kurrent, Kantzlei, Fraktur), blackletter (Textura and Rotunda, the description of the latter making reference to the Schwabacher and Wittenberger types), Roman (italic, antiqua, Roman capitals), Greek, and Hebrew scripts. \u003cstrong\u003eA significant portion of the text is dedicated to Hebrew, including passages from the Book of Esther, an explanation of the theory of gematria, and three pages of sheet music; Fugger also makes reference to the work of Hebraist Sebastian Münster.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe eighteenth-century German bibliographical note mentions the earlier calligraphic work of Johann Neudörffer the Elder – Fugger’s teacher (to whom he refers in the present text) and the author of the first notable German calligraphy manual in 1519, who in turn had collaborated with Durer – adding a reference to Doppelmayr’s 1730 \u003ci\u003eHistorische Nachricht von den nürnbergischen Mathematicis und Künstlern\u003c\/i\u003e. Fugger also owes much to Dürer, his geometric Roman capitals in the final portion reminiscent of Dürer’s 1525 \u003ci\u003eUnterweysung der Messung\u003c\/i\u003e. The second edition reuses the plates of the first and the content of the text is unchanged, the date of 1553 from the first edition appearing as a part-title to both editions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGerlach (also known as Dieterichin) likely acquired the plates from the heirs of the printer of the 1553 edition, Valentin Gessler (d. 1576). In this edition, however, Gerlach employs a variety of sizes of text and distinctly more elaborate woodcut initials than Gessler, replacing his fleurons with elaborate woodcut tailpieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe binding reuses a fragment of German manuscript waste (?first half fourteenth century), comprising c. 11 lines of visible text in three columns, from verses 34 and 35 (front board: ‘qualitate factor[um]. iudex ver[us e]t iustus […] non putam[us] ite[randa]’; rear board: ‘[complec]tatur velut quib[usdam] fid[e]i sue brachiis […] Prophetavit itaq[ue] Simeon’) from St Ambrose of Milan’s commentary on the Gospel of Luke, this portion, on the Nunc Dimittis, cited by Aquinas in his \u003ci\u003eCatena aurea\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoth the first and second editions are rare both institutionally and in commerce, and are often found incomplete. Collectively, OCLC finds ten copies in the US (Columbia, Harvard, Huntington, Illinois, LoC, Morgan, Newberry, SMU, Stanford, Yale) and only two in the UK (BL, NAL).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBecker 56; BM STC German, p. 327 (imperfect); Brunet II, col. 419 (1553 edition but not mentioning printer); Graesse II, p. 645 (‘Nürnb. 1553’); Jessen 2269; VD16 3336\/3338. Not in Adams.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124967\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Henry Sotheran Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57312180863353,"sku":"2124967","price":5000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124967b.jpg?v=1779361150"},{"product_id":"eusebius-caesariensis-rufinus-aquileiensis-translator-historia-ecclesiastica","title":"EUSEBIUS CAESARIENSIS; RUFINUS AQUILEIENSIS ( translator ). Historia ecclesiastica.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eChurch History as Mirror for Princes\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUSEBIUS CAESARIENSIS; RUFINUS AQUILEIENSIS (\u003ci\u003etranslator\u003ci\u003e).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e Historia ecclesiastica. \u003ci\u003eMantua: Johannes Schallus\u003c\/i\u003e. [Not before 15 July 1479.]\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFolio. Eighteenth-century vellum over boards, gilt red morocco lettering-piece to spine; ff. [171], [1 (blank)]; roman letter, 2- to 6-line capital spaces with guide letters, initials and paraphs supplied in red and blue, running-titles in brown ink; lettering-piece chipped, slight wear to corners, a few small marks; washed (initials in blue faded to light grey, running-titles and annotation faded), occasional light marginal thumb-marks, slight soiling to blank first and final pages and to corners of first few leaves, old repair to f. 6~sup~v~sup~, a few pinhole wormholes to contents and dedication; overall a very good, wide-margined copy; near-contemporary annotation to f. 22~sup~r~sup~, eighteenth-century engraved armorial bookplate of Amadeo Svajer and eighteenth-century ink shelfmarks to front pastedown, later manuscript quiring in pencil.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFourth edition of Eusebius’ (\u003ci\u003ec\u003c\/i\u003e. 260–339) important history of the church, the last book printed by the German physician and printer Johannes Schallus at Mantua, our copy from the library of the influential eighteenth-century Venetian merchant and bibliophile Amadeo Svajer, who funded the 1757–8 production of Zatta’s important edition of Dante’s Commedia, the first since 1544 to feature new illustrations.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dedication by Schallus – who worked primarily as a physician and printed seven books in Mantua between 1475 and 1479 – to Federico I Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua (1441–1484), praises Eusebius as ‘shining like a moon amongst small fires’ and hopes that the work will benefit ‘modest and pious minds’ (\u003ci\u003etrans\u003c\/i\u003e.). Schallus may have worked with an assistant of Mentelin; Dibdin writes that ‘the volumes which issued from his press are of equal beauty and rarity; and it is seldom that we behold a more elegant specimen of ancient typography than that which is now before us’ (Dibdin, \u003ci\u003eBibliotheca Spenceriana\u003c\/i\u003e, on the present edition of Eusebius).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSchallus presents Eusebius’ work not only as a valuable historical resource, but also as a \u003ci\u003especulum principis\u003c\/i\u003e of sorts, in which Federico could ‘read of the excellent deeds of Christian princes’ and ‘marvel at their virtues and emulate their wisdom and piety’, especially as Gonzaga was at this time ‘fighting bravely and courageously for the Tuscans, and through frequent victories acquiring an immortal name for [himself] and [his] nation’: shortly before publication, Gonzaga had been involved in the war that emerged in the aftermath of the Pazzi Conspiracy of April 1478, Mantua having allied itself with the Florentine Republic against Pope Sixtus IV.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eProvenance\u003c\/i\u003e: From the library of Amadeo Svajer (also Schweyer, 1727–1791), who financed Zatta’s publishing endeavours and influenced the material he published, including ‘Dante, the Church Fathers, and Petrarch’s \u003ci\u003eRime\u003c\/i\u003e, which appear to be amongst Svajer’s interests at the time … Zatta had attempted to move, in 1752, to Rovereto, [Svajer’s] place of residence’ (Mangani, pp. 81-2). Svajer was a renowned bibliophile, and his collection of three thousand books in Latin, five thousand in Italian, twelve hundred in French, and fourteen hundred manuscripts (including the will of Marco Polo) was sold by Jacopo Morelli in 1794, significant portions being purchased by the Manins, the Biblioteca Marciana, the Museo Correr, the Republic of Venice, and the Paduan bookseller Scapin. Svajer’s only known work, a biography of Frederick II of Prussia, was printed by Zatta in 1759. Morelli’s catalogue indicates that Svajer also owned a copy of the 1476 third edition of Eusebius’ \u003ci\u003eHistoria ecclesiastica\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHain 6711; Proctor 6908; GW 9437; Goff E-127; BMC VII 933; BSB-Ink E-112; ISTC ie00127000; USTC 995892; AGAPE 322. For this copy, see Morelli, Catalogo di libreria posta in vendita in Venezia nell’anno MDCCXCIV, (1794), p. 10 (‘exemplar nitidissimum’). See Mangani, ‘Antonio Zatta editore veneziano di libri geografici’, in Gerardo Mercatore (1996).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124412\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57312185713017,"sku":"2124412","price":8000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124412.jpg?v=1779361273"},{"product_id":"drelincourt-laurent-sonnets-chretiens-sur-divers-sujets-divisez-en-quatre-livres","title":"[DRELINCOURT, Laurent.] Sonnets chretiens. Sur divers sujets. Divisez en quatre livres.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eProtestant Poetry and a Persecuted Printer\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[DRELINCOURT, Laurent.]\u003c\/strong\u003e Sonnets chretiens. Sur divers sujets. Divisez en quatre livres. \u003ci\u003eNiort: Widow of Philippe Bureau\u003c\/i\u003e. 1677.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Near-contemporary sheep, spine gilt in compartments, title lettered directly in gilt, raised bands, speckled edges; pp. [xii], 171, [1 (blank)]; woodcut armillary sphere to title, typographic head- and tailpieces, woodcut factotum initials; corners and joints subtly restored, small abrasion to lower board, headcap and small portion of lower board chipped, small wormhole at foot of spine; small marginal paperflaw to title, closed paperflaw to f. I7 touching four words but not affecting legibility, pale dampstain at inner margin of quires H-L (heavier to quires K and L); else a very good copy; early ownership inscription ‘Jane Parker her book’ to front free endpaper, eighteenth-century ownership inscription ‘John Morton Junior’ to title.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition, very rare, of these devotional sonnets by the Protestant poet, pastor, and theologian Drelincourt, printed in Niort by the Huguenot printer Anne Bureau, and dedicated to Princess Émilie von Hesse-Kassel, our copy with early English female provenance, likely brought to England by Bureau’s sons who had fled France in the aftermath of the Edict of Fontainebleau.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLaurent Drelincourt (1625–1680), son of the noted Protestant divine Charles Drelincourt, studied theology and philosophy at Saumur before settling in Niort in 1663. His \u003ci\u003eSonnets\u003c\/i\u003e, written during a period of sleepless nights, are divided into four parts: on nature and its creator; the Old Testament; the New Testament; and miscellaneous themes (including, vice, virtue, the Sacraments, Hell, and the death of an only daughter). \u003cstrong\u003eParticularly notable is the extent of his Marian veneration within a Protestant context, most visibly in his ode to the Virgin Mary (book III, sonnet II, p. 88), renowned for the ‘richness of its language and the clarity of its theology … The method of the poet-theologian touches on classical tradition; so does his understanding of images’\u003c\/strong\u003e (\u003ci\u003eMarienlexikon\u003c\/i\u003e, ‘Reformierte Theologie’, p. 427).  The footnotes to his sonnet to the Virgin approve of the First Council of Ephesus’s anathematisation of those who would deny Mary the title of Mother of God (\u003ci\u003eTheotokos\u003c\/i\u003e), and quote Bernard of Clairvaux: ‘Mary is the mythical paradise that produced the tree of life’ (\u003ci\u003etrans\u003c\/i\u003e.).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnne Bureau (\u003ci\u003enée\u003c\/i\u003e Le Morme) married the Niort printer Philippe Bureau in 1652 and succeeded him after his death in 1674. Persecuted for her Huguenot faith, she unsuccessfully attempted to sell her home and workshop to the Catholic printer and bookseller Girard Reverchon; both properties were later ransacked by royal dragoons, and in 1685 converted to Catholicism. She sent several books to Holland for distribution and went into exile \u003ci\u003ec\u003c\/i\u003e. 1686–7. \u003cstrong\u003eBoth of her sons, also printers, immigrated to England, François (who would later move to New York) in 1683–4 and Thomas in 1687, and it is likely that this copy – with the early English ownership inscription of one Jane Parkland – arrived in England at an early date through her children.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Calvinist Princess Émilie von Hesse-Kassel (1626–1693) became estranged from her French husband after his reconversion to Catholicism; she ‘remained faithful to the Reformed faith … [after his death in 1672] Emilie lived for a time in Paris with her niece. With the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the onset of the persecution of Protestants, she finally returned to Germany’ (\u003ci\u003eHessische Biographie, trans\u003c\/i\u003e.). A second edition was published in 1678, and the work remained popular throughout the eighteenth century, later editions frequently issuing Drelincourt’s \u003ci\u003eSonnets \u003c\/i\u003ealongside his \u003ci\u003ePsaumes pénitentiaux\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eOCLC finds a single copy in the US, at Harvard; no copies traced in the UK\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCioranescu II, 26285; USTC 6089081; not in BM STC French (cf. D-837 for the 1680 edition). See Clouzot, L’imprimerie à Niort (1891), p. 57\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2123576\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57312185745785,"sku":"2123576","price":1500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2123576.jpg?v=1779361288"},{"product_id":"lipsius-justus-de-cruce-libri-tres-ad-sacram-profanamque-historiam-utiles-una-cum-notis","title":"LIPSIUS, Justus. De cruce libri tres. Ad sacram profanamque historiam utiles. Unà cum notis. Secunda edition corrector.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003e‘By Far the Most Wicked Book Lipsius Ever Wrote’\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLIPSIUS, Justus.\u003c\/strong\u003e De cruce libri tres. Ad sacram profanamque historiam utiles. Unà cum notis. Secunda edition corrector. \u003ci\u003eAntwerp: ‘Ex Officina Plantiniana’, Widow of Christophe Plantin and Johannes Moretus\u003c\/i\u003e. 1595.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e[\u003ci\u003ebound with\u003c\/i\u003e:]\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLIPSIUS, Justus.\u003c\/strong\u003e Adversus dialogistam liber de una religione. In quo tria capita libri quarti politicorum explicantur. \u003ci\u003eFrankfurt: Johann Wechel and Peter Fischer\u003c\/i\u003e. 1591.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e[\u003ci\u003eand\u003c\/i\u003e:]\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCOORNHERT, Dirck Volckertszoon.\u003c\/strong\u003e Defensio processus de non occidendis haereticis, contra tria capita libri IIII Politicorum I. Lipsi. Eiusque libri adversus dialogistam confutatio. \u003ci\u003eHanau: Wilhelm Antonius\u003c\/i\u003e. 1593.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree works in one vol., 8vo. Contemporary vellum, borders ruled in blind, title lettered in ink to spine, final work untrimmed at foot; I: pp. 137, [7], with engraved printer’s devices to title, one full-page engraved illustration, 20 engraved illustrations and one woodcut illustration within text; II: pp. 77, [3], with woodcut printer’s device to title; III: pp. 99, [1]; all works with woodcut initials and tailpieces; wanting ties, binding slightly stained and cockled, a few tiny wormholes to back cover, lacking free front endpaper, other endpapers wormed, traces of adhesive to front pastedown; light dust-soling throughout, the occasional spot, occasional tiny wormhole (not affecting text), the last 4 ff. with wormtrack at head touching headlines and the odd letter of text (without loss of sense); overall a very good copy; seventeenth-century Latin motto ‘Veritas premitur, sed non opprimitur’ in ink and erased inscription to first title, eighteenth-century inscription ‘C’est bien le plus méchant Livre, quil ait jamais fait Lipse, voy: Bay[le] Dict[ionnaire] hist[orique] et Crit[ique] pag. 1722 in m. E.’ in ink to second title; early underlining to a few pages.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSecond editions of Lipsius’ illustrated treatise on crucifixion and his defence of his own Politicorum, bound with Coornhert’s refutation of the Politicorum’s arguments in favour of religious persecution.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published by the Plantin Press in 1594, Justus Lipsius’s (1547–1606) \u003ci\u003eDe Cruce\u003c\/i\u003e offers a detailed study of crucifixion in the ancient world, especially Rome, examining forms of the cross, instruments of punishment, and methods of execution. The work contains twenty-two engravings (including one full-page plate), generally attributed to the Flemish draughtman Peeter van der Borcht (\u003ci\u003ec\u003c\/i\u003e. 1530–1608), a frequent collaborator of the Plantin Press. In this treatise Lipsius develops a terminology for the cross, distinguishing the \u003ci\u003ecrux simplex\u003c\/i\u003e (a single upright stake used for tying or impalement) from the \u003ci\u003ecrux compacta\u003c\/i\u003e, a structure composed of two beams. The latter is further subdivided into the \u003ci\u003ecrux decussata\u003c\/i\u003e (X-shaped), \u003ci\u003ecrux commissa\u003c\/i\u003e (T-shaped), and \u003ci\u003ecrux immissa\u003c\/i\u003e (†-shaped).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published in Leiden in 1590, \u003ci\u003eAdversus dialogistam liber de una religione\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eBook about the One Religion, against the Debater\u003c\/i\u003e) is Lipsius’ defence of his own \u003ci\u003ePoliticorum libri sex\u003c\/i\u003e (1589) against a ‘debater’, the Dutch polymath Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert (1522–1590), a staunch critic of religious uniformity and one of the leading opponents of capital punishment for heresy in the Low Countries. The third book in this volume is Coornhert’s \u003ci\u003eDefensio processus de non occidendis haereticis\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eTrial of the Killing of Heretics and Constraint of Conscience\u003c\/i\u003e), the very work to which Lipsius responded with his \u003ci\u003eLiber\u003c\/i\u003e. First printed in Dutch at Gouda in 1590, and in Latin the following year, the \u003ci\u003eDefensio\u003c\/i\u003e directly attacks Lipsius’ justification of repression in the \u003ci\u003ePoliticorum\u003c\/i\u003e, where he had argued that it was ‘better that one member be cast away, than that the whole body runne to ruyne’ (Lipisus, \u003ci\u003eSixe Bookes of Politickes\u003c\/i\u003e (1594), p. 64).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat had begun as a private exchange of letters between Lipsius and Coornhert developed into one of the central intellectual disputes of the period, touching on the role of religion in the state and the legitimacy of punishing religious dissent. Although Coornhert’s \u003ci\u003eDefensio\u003c\/i\u003e was suppressed by the Leiden magistrates within a year of publication, the controversy appears to have damaged Lipsius’ reputation and was ‘one of the main reasons behind his permanent departure from Leiden in 1591’ (Constantinidou, p. 150). An eighteenth-century marginal note on the title page of our copy of the \u003ci\u003eAdversus Dialogistam\u003c\/i\u003e cites Pierre Bayle’s \u003ci\u003eDictionnaire historique et critique\u003c\/i\u003e, describing it as ‘by far the most wicked book Lipsius ever wrote’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eI: STCV 12928296; USTC 406972; Adams L-778. II: USTC 668593; VD16 L 1985. III: USTC 632159; VD16 C 4993; Adams C-2597. See Constantinidou, Responses to Religious Division, c. 1580–1620: Public and Private, Divine and Temporal (2017).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124476\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57313375256953,"sku":"2124476","price":1850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124476.jpg?v=1779379327"},{"product_id":"milton-john-pro-populo-anglicano-defensio-contra-claudii-anonymi-alias-salmasii-defensionem-regiam","title":"MILTON, John. Pro populo anglicano defensio contra Claudii Anonymi, aliàs Salmasii, Defensionem regiam.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eCharles I Risen from the Dead – With Contemporary Royalist Anagrams\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMILTON, John.\u003c\/strong\u003e Pro populo anglicano defensio contra Claudii Anonymi, aliàs Salmasii, Defensionem regiam. \u003ci\u003eLondon [i.e. Amsterdam]: Du Gardianis [i.e. Jansson]\u003c\/i\u003e. 1651.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e12mo. Contemporary limp vellum, yapp fore-edges, manuscript lettering in ink to spine; pp. [2 (blank)], [2], [38], 330; woodcut Commonwealth arms device to title; binding a little marked; light toning and small rust hole to title; loosely inserted note with contemporary inscription in ink (see below); very good.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e[offered with:]\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[SAUMAISE, Claude.]\u003c\/strong\u003e Defensio Regia. Pro Carolo I. Ad Serenissimum Magna Britanniæ Regem Carolum II. Filium natu majorem, Heredem \u0026amp; Successorem legitimum. \u003ci\u003e[Leiden?]: Sumptibus regiis\u003c\/i\u003e. 1652.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e12mo. Polished sheep in panel design, covers ruled and tooled in blind to panel design with small fleurons, rebacked; pp. 444; woodcut device to title, woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces; a little scuffed and worn with some light offsetting to endapers but a good sound copy; bookplate of Lord Calthorpe and shelf-mark to upper pastedown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEarly Continental edition of Milton’s celebrated defence of the English Commonwealth, issued with a false London imprint the same year as the first printing.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA pivotal work in the polemics of the Interregnum, Milton’s \u003ci\u003eDefensio\u003c\/i\u003e is a searing rebuttal of Claude Saumaise’s \u003ci\u003eDefensio regia\u003c\/i\u003e, the Royalist tract defending Charles I, published the previous year. The work is significant as the official reply commissioned by the English Parliament, written in Milton’s capacity as Latin Secretary to the Council of the Commonwealth. Prompted by the serious effect Salmasius’s arguments were having on public opinion across the Continent, the treatise offers an eloquent defence of the regicide and the legitimacy of the Commonwealth. Milton considered it his finest work in prose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eDefensio\u003c\/i\u003e appeared in more editions and was more widely circulated during Milton’s lifetime than any other of his works. The speed with which the work travelled across Europe is reflected in this Amsterdam edition, produced by Jansson’s press at a moment when the book was fiercely sought after. Contemporaries recognised Milton’s 1651 reply to Saumaise as an extraordinary demonstration of talent by a previously little-known writer, decisively dismantling the arguments of one of the most eminent scholars of the age. The result is a work that played a key role in shaping Milton’s Continental reputation and cemented his position as one of the most formidable polemical prose stylists of the seventeenth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe annotation in this copy appears to be the work of a contemporary Royalist reader who has inscribed a series of Latin anagrams to a loosely inserted slip\u003c\/strong\u003e, derived from “Carolus Stuartus Angliae, scotiae et Hiberniae Rex Aula, Statu, Regno exucris ac hostili arte necaberis” (Charles Stuart, King of England, Scotland and Ireland: you will be slain by cruel and hostile art, stripped of court, state, and kingdom.) Assuming the voice of the dead king addressing Parliament, the annotator continues, “Exercitas atque Parliamentum Anglicanum novum. Canes! ut rex nil aut parum mali umquam egi, nec muto” (You stir up an army and a new English Parliament. You dogs! As king, I have done little or no evil ever, and I do not change). This provocative response to Milton’s text presents a striking example of Royalist polemical engagement in the mid-seventeenth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur copy is offered here with \u003cstrong\u003ean early edition of Saumaise’s influential defence of Charles I\u003c\/strong\u003e.  Claude Saumaise (1588-1653), the distinguished French humanist and philologist, completed the treatise at the request of Charles II, who is widely believed to have underwritten its publication. The work’s appearance caused a sensation. Suppressed in England, with Milton himself among the official censors, the \u003ci\u003eDefensio Regia\u003c\/i\u003e circulated freely on the Continent and quickly provoked the famous reply commissioned by the Commonwealth, Milton’s \u003ci\u003ePro Populo Anglicano Defensio\u003c\/i\u003e (1651). The exchange between Saumaise and Milton stands as one of the defining political controversies of the Interregnum.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePro populo anglicano defensio: ESTC R234384; Wing M2168D; Madan 9; Coleridge 51. Defensio Regia: USTC 1844345; Madan 12.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2124182\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57313378402681,"sku":"2124182","price":750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2124182.jpg?v=1779379372"},{"product_id":"prayerbook-illuminated-manuscript-prayerbook-in-latin-and-italian-nineteenth-century-manuscript-title-to-flyleaf-missa-beatae-virg-aliae-orationes","title":"[PRAYERBOOK.] Illuminated manuscript prayerbook in Latin and Italian. [Nineteenth-century manuscript title to flyleaf:] ‘Missa Beatae Virg. \u0026 aliae Orationes’.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003e10,000 Years' Indulgence\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[PRAYERBOOK.]\u003c\/strong\u003e Illuminated manuscript prayerbook in Latin and Italian. [Nineteenth-century manuscript title to flyleaf:] ‘Missa Beatae Virg. \u0026amp; aliae Orationes’. [\u003ci\u003eBologna. c.\u003c\/i\u003e 1490–1500.]\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eManuscript on vellum (95 x 70 mm). Nineteenth-century dark brown morocco, borders tooled in blind to a rope design, unidentified Italian arms blocked in blind to boards, blue silk endleaves, housed in a modern custom-made black cloth box; ff. ii, 144, ii; 1–28, 3–810 (f. 31 in 4, apparently in original condition on a stub and with outer edge made-up), 9 8, 10–15 10, complete; written in a round gothic bookhand in brown ink for 11 lines to a page, ruled in light brown, early manuscript foliation to upper corners (ff. 98 and 138 numbered twice), written space \u003ci\u003ec\u003c\/i\u003e. 60 x 45 mm; rubrics in red, 1-line initials alternately in red and blue, 2-line initials of liquid gold on blue, red, or green grounds with fine penwork, large illuminated 7-line initial ‘S’ (f. 31v) enclosing Virgin and Child against a black ground, initial entwined by elaborate foliage, painted in green and blue, heightened in gold, and set against a magenta ground, with accompanying panel border including jewels and pearls, and large 5-line historiated initial ‘D’ (f. 86r) painted magenta and green including jewels and pearls, against blue and gold grounds, with matching full-page partial border; extremities of binding very lightly rubbed; a little smudging to page with historiated initial, occasional small stain, but generally very well preserved; title to second front flyleaf and ownership inscription to lifted rear pastedown in an early nineteenth-century hand in black ink, late nineteenth- century bookplate after sixteenth-century design with initials ‘T.N.D.L.’, twentieth-century bookplates to front free endpaper (\u003ci\u003esee below\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn elegant manuscript prayerbook on vellum, produced in Bologna in the 1490s, apparently the result of collaboration between the calligrapher Pierantonio Sallando and an illuminator from the circle of the great painter and jeweller Francesco Marmitta, featuring numerous devotional indulgences with guidance in the vernacular.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIllumination\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003cbr\u003eThe Mass of the Virgin (‘Missa Beatae Mariae Virginis’, f. 31v) opens with a large illuminated initial ‘S’ depicting a half-length Virgin adoring the Christ Child, and an elaborate full-page border. The colour palette (dark red, blue, green, black and gold) and the use of attenuated architectural forms, jewels and foliage place this manuscript alongside a group of Books of Hours produced for aristocratic patrons in Bologna around 1500 (cf. Medica). Many of these manuscripts resulted from the partnership between illuminators in Bologna – the most influential among them Francesco Marmitta (\u003ci\u003ec\u003c\/i\u003e. 1460-1505) – and the prolific calligrapher Pierantonio Sallando (\u003ci\u003ec\u003c\/i\u003e. 1460-1540). Together Marmitta and Sallando developed the sophisticated architectural borders, such as those of the present prayerbook, that became a hallmark of Bologna’s finest High Renaissance manuscripts. Their most celebrated and luxurious joint effort is the Offiziolo Durazzo (Genoa, Bib. Civ. Berio, m.r.cf.Arm.I).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur prayerbook was apparently also written by Sallando. The illumination may be ascribed to the same painter who collaborated with Marmitta on the Rangoni-Bentivoglio Hours (Baltimore, WAG, ms W.469) and contributed to other Hours written by Sallando in Oxford (Bodleian Library, ms Canon. Liturg. 260), Bassano del Grappa (Bib. Civ., Esp. 4 ms 1564), and the Hours of Giovanni II Bentivoglio (Morgan Lib. Ms M.53). In the present manuscript, the two large initials and borders on f. 31v and f. 86 share similar forms and colour palette. Stylistically closely related borders are found in one of Sallando’s most famous commissions, the Hours of Bonaparte Ghisilieri illuminated by Amico Aspertini, Perugino and Matteo da Milano (BL, Yates Thompson 29).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eContents\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003cbr\u003eCalendar (ff. 2r–19v); Confessio generalis (ff. 20r–21r); Gospel Extracts (ff. 21r–31r); Missa Beatae Mariae Virginis (ff. 31v–49r); Prayer of St Augustine opening ‘Deus propicius esto mihi peccatori’ (ff. 49v–51v); Fifteen prayers on the Passion as said daily by St Bridget and indulgenced by Boniface VIII, opening ‘O domine iesu christe eterna dulcedo’ (ff. 51v–80r); Apostles Creed (ff. 80r–81r); Sequence of prayers (ff. 81v–85r), to be said daily while kneeling before an image of Christ to keep from the pain of Hell, to gain divine assistance, counsel and favour, and when body or soul are in danger; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany (ff. 86r–116v); Prayers and devotions addressed to God, opening with Psalm 68 \u003cstrong\u003eand including two prayers naming the owner, ‘famulo tuo Jacobo’\u003c\/strong\u003e (ff. 125v, 126v, and 133r), and ending with a prayer to protect when travelling and a prayer to the Guardian Angel (ff. 117–134); Prayers attributed to St Bernard and other indulgenced prayers (ff. 135–143v).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom f. 79v (the heading opening the sequence of devotional prayers to be recited before an image of Christ), the subject headings for individual orations appear in the vernacular to more clearly remind our Jacobus of the function of each prayer, even though the prayers themselves are to be recited in Latin.\u003c\/strong\u003e ‘In formal books of hours, manuscript or printed, the prayers are almost always in Latin – even if the pardon or promise is in [the vernacular]. This again raises questions about whether the prayers were actually understood, or merely recited as a mechanistic device to procure the pardon’ (Swanson, p. 222). The final prayers deal with indulgences, \u003ci\u003ee.g.\u003c\/i\u003e ‘the following verses are those which we read that the devil appeared to St Bernard. And they bring great virtue and merit to he who reads them every day; he will not die without confession, nor experience the punishments of Hell; and he will know the day of his death’ (f. 136, \u003ci\u003etrans\u003c\/i\u003e.); another offers 6666 days’ indulgence for each time a given prayer is recited after the elevation of the Body of Christ (ff. 139v–140r).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe final indulgence accompanies the elevation prayer \u003ci\u003eDomine Iesu Christi qui hanc\u003c\/i\u003e, written by Pope Boniface VIII ‘for King Philip IV, and for its recitation after true confession 2,000 years’ indulgence were granted. It was so effective a prayer that it was sometimes copied apart from other eucharistic prayers,’ (Rubin, p. 157). The version contained within this prayerbook grants a whopping 10,000 years of purgatorial pardon, ‘as conceded by Pope Boniface VI at the behest of King Philip of France’ (\u003ci\u003etrans\u003c\/i\u003e.). ‘Pardons and promises tied to prayers were part of a highly fluid culture […] Even with print, the pardons were essentially unstable, and in either print or manuscript the same prayer may appear […] with pardons which appear very different […] Papal numbers were confused; days of pardon became years (or vice versa)’ (Swanson, p. 222). The corresponding pardon in Cambridge University Library Dd.6.1, f. 82v, conversely, refers to an unspecified Pope Boniface. ‘A papal numeral is not always given. Where it is, the pardon is often ascribed to Boniface VI, or to Boniface VII. In the printed tradition of Paris-produced primers, the pardon became 10,000 years, the pope Boniface VI’ (\u003ci\u003eibid\u003c\/i\u003e., p. 223), as in this manuscript prayerbook.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eProvenance\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1.  The Calendar includes the feast of St Petronius, the patron saint of Bologna, in red, indicating that the manuscript was made in or for use in that city. It was written for a man who is named as ‘Jacobus’ in prayers on ff. 125v, 126v, and 133. His coat of arms was presumably painted to the border of f. 31v but has since been overpainted with a golden eagle on a light blue ground and the initials ‘N. M.’ (arms unidentified).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2.  Nineteenth-century manuscript title ‘Missa Beatae Virg. \u0026amp; aliae Orationes’ on the second front flyleaf and ownership inscription, ‘Di Me Gracia Maria Isabella Sofia Comercati’, on the lifted rear pastedown, likely contemporary with the present armorial binding (arms unidentified). She is likely related to Giuseppe Carlo Commercati of Bologna, correspondent of Cardinal Gualterio (BL Add MS 20548-20550, 1719) and the priest and scholar Lodovico Antonio Muratori (1707) – discoverer of the Muratorian Fragment – or to the Prospero Comercati who was involved in the construction of the Tempio della Beata Vergine della Ghiara in Reggio Emilia in the 1620s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3.  Sir Thomas North Dick-Lauder of Fountainhall, 9th Baronet (1846–1919), with his undated bookplate (Hamilton, p. 186, attributed to 1890) bearing the initials T.N.D.L., designed in imitation of the sixteenth-century bookplate of Johannes Clein. Likely sold at his 1891 sale to:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e4.  Michael Tomkinson of Franche Hall, near Kidderminster (1841–1921), collector of books and Japanese art, with his bookplate to front free endpaper. At least two other Italian works from Lauder’s library – an eighteenth-century Missal in a velvet binding and the 1476 edition of Bracciolini’s history of Florence – later came into Tomkinson’s possession. Not traced in Tomkinson’s sales, Sotheby’s, April and July 1922.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e5.  Pamela and Raymond Lister, with their booklabel to front free endpaper; sold Sotheby’s, 10 July 1967, lot 68, to Maggs. Christie’s London, Valuable Manuscripts and Printed Books (4 June 2008), lot 55.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSee Medica, ‘La miniatura a Bologna al tempo di Giovanni II Bentivoglio’, in Il Libro d’Ore di Bonaparte Ghislieri (2008), pp. 44–104; Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture (1991); Swanson, ‘Praying for Pardon’, in Promissory Notes on the Treasury of Merits: Indulgences in Late Medieval Europe (2018).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2123427\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Henry Sotheran Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57313428865401,"sku":"2123427","price":20000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2123427.jpg?v=1779379652"},{"product_id":"cardano-girolamo-de-subtilitate-libri-xxi-nunc-demum-recogniti-atque-perfecti","title":"CARDANO, Girolamo. De subtilitate libri XXI. Nunc demum recogniti atq[ue] perfecti.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eDemonology, Cryptography, and Leonardo’s Flying Machines\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCARDANO, Girolamo.\u003c\/strong\u003e De subtilitate libri XXI. Nunc demum recogniti atq[ue] perfecti. \u003ci\u003eBasel: Ludovicus Lucius\u003c\/i\u003e. 1554.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFolio. Recased in eighteenth-century vellum over boards, later red morocco lettering-piece, edges sprinkled blue; pp. [xiv], 561, [1], bound without final 2 blank ff.; woodcut printer’s device to title-page, woodcut portrait of Cardano to title verso, numerous in-text woodcut illustrations and diagrams, 5- and 8-line historiated woodcut initials; extremities very lightly rubbed; light, variable spotting, very light dampstaining to outer lower corner of first two books; early interlinear notes and reading marks to contents and to p. 489, occasional early underlining.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSecond edition, expanded and corrected, of Cardano’s encyclopaedia of sciences, with over one hundred woodcut diagrams and illustrations in the text.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGirolamo Cardano (1501–1576) was a mathematician, physicist, and astrologer from Pavia in northern Italy. A friend of Leonardo da Vinci and an early follower of Paracelsus, he gained fame for his algebraic studies and numerous inventions, including the universal joint, the combination lock, and Cardano’s rings. Arguably his magnum opus, \u003ci\u003eDe subtilitate\u003c\/i\u003e is a vast and audacious encyclopaedia of the ‘subtle’: those things that elude the senses and pose a challenge to the intellect. A veritable ‘mine of facts, both real and imaginary’ (DSB), the work ranges across an astonishing array of subjects: from cosmology and mechanics to cryptology and demonology. Its twenty-one books cover: 1) matter and its natural motion; 2) the elements; 3) the heavens; 4) light; 5) mixtures and compounds; 6) metals; 7) stones; 8) plants; 9–10) animals; 11–12) humans, their form and temperament; 13) the senses; 14) soul and intellect; 15) ‘miscellaneous or useless subtleties’; 16) sciences; 17) arts; 18) miracles; 19) demons; 20) angels; and 21) God and the universe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published in Nuremberg in 1550, \u003ci\u003eDe subtilitate\u003c\/i\u003e was an immediate and controversial success, with further editions issued in Paris and Lyon within the same year. \u003cstrong\u003eThe present second edition – corrected and expanded, and widely regarded as the most complete\u003c\/strong\u003e – followed in 1554; a third edition appeared in 1560, preceded by a French translation by Richard Le Blanc in 1556. The book includes groundbreaking sections on the hydrodynamics of river water, the ‘new’ stars observed by Amerigo Vespucci during his voyages to the Americas (p. 104), and Leonardo’s failed attempts to build a working flying machine (p. 452). He also provides a description of the his important invention for writing secret messages, the Cardan grille, a sheet of parchment, metal, or paper with cut-out holes placed over a blank page; the secret text is written within the cut-outs, and once the grille has been removed, the rest of the page can be filled with ordinary text (p. 456).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDe subtilitate\u003c\/i\u003e also addresses theological questions, such as the nature of God: ‘You ask, then, what He is? If I knew, I would be God, for no one knows God … except God alone’ (p. 560, trans.). Such passages fuelled accusations of heresy and the suspicion of atheism. In 1570, Cardano was arrested by the Inquisition in connection to this and other works (including a horoscope of Christ) deemed irreverent toward the Church, and was compelled to recant. He was later rehabilitated by Pope Gregory XIII. \u003ci\u003eDe subtilitate\u003c\/i\u003e was the subject of Scaliger’s 1557 \u003ci\u003eExotericarum exercitationum liber XV de subtilitate ad Hieronymum Cardanum\u003c\/i\u003e, a point-by-point critique of Cardano’s work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBM STC German, p. 182; USTC 601653; VD16 C-932; Adams C-670; Brunet I, cols 1572–3; Graesse II, p. 45; Wellcome I 1291; this edition not in Durling (cf. nos 847-50); see Thorndike V, pp. 71, 148, and 419.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2122407\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57313437876601,"sku":"2122407","price":8000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2122407.jpg?v=1779379734"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/collections\/2123413c.jpg?v=1784643333","url":"https:\/\/sotherans.co.uk\/collections\/early-printed-books.oembed?page=2","provider":"Sotheran's","version":"1.0","type":"link"}