XVIth Century Books

Antwerp, Belgium: Jan Baptiste Vrients, 1603. 14 3/4 inches by 19 3/8 inches on a 16 5/8" by 21 3/4" sheet of laid paper. Latin text on the verso. van den Broecke 193. Abraham Ortelius was a Flemish scholar who moved to Antwerp to become a bookseller and cartographer. This map of ancient Spain is from his PARERGON, published as an appendix to the THEATRUM ORBIS TERRARUM, the world's first true atlas as well as the most authoritative and commercially successful atlas of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Although it is dated 1586 in one cartouche, this map actually is a second state (printed between 1601 and 1612) as indicated by the stipple engraving in the ocean & seas and by the line through the word "Cinniana" in line 8 of the descriptive text within the cartouche in the lower right corner. The map is in very good condition: generally clean and bright, with barely a hint of toning and minor soiling limited to the blank margins. Madrid bookseller's stamp… Read More

1745
The Spirit Of Saint Francois De Sales; Bishop And Prince Of Geneva La Veuve Estienne Et Fils M. P. C Docteurvde SorbonneThe Widow Estienne and her sons, and by Mr. P. C., Doctor of The Sorbonne.Printed By Appropriation and by the Privilege Of the King.
Beautiful, full leather binding with gold gilt titling to the spine and decorative detailing with 5 raised bands along the spine.
Discolored pages with stains, ink marks and spots, age appropriate wear to the leather with cracked hinges, binding etc.Inscribed by its previous owners.
More on this printing House: https://estiennes.edwardworthlibrary.ie/estienne-family/women-printers/

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

1576. contemporary female ownership: Jane Saunderson. contemporary female ownership: Jane Saunderson. Handsome Copy of the 1576 Tottel Edition of Magna Carta Owned by a Woman [Magna Carta]. Magna Charta, Cum Statutis, Tum Antiquis, Tum Recentibus, Maximopere, Animo Tenendis Nunc Demum ad Unum, Tipis Aedita, Per Richardum Tottell. Anno Domini 1576. [Imprinted at London in Fleetestrete Within Temple Barre at the Signe of the Hand and Starre, By Richard Tottell, The 8. Day of Marche, 1576]. [viii], 247 ff. Octavo (4-1/2" x 2-3/4"). Period-style calf, raised bands and gilt title and ornaments to spine, endpapers renewed. Some toning to text, margins trimmed close with loss of a few letters on outer margin of leaf A1 (fol. 1), minor dampstaining in a few places. Contemporary ownership signatures of Jane Saunderson to title page and rear endleaf, brief annotations in a tiny hand to a few pages. An appealing copy. $7,500. * Text in Latin, English and Law-French. With two tables of statutes, one… Read More

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

"To know the altitude of the Sun over the Horizon in whichever day and hour by the rays of the Sun"-- the function of the first volvelle instrument in this edition of Peter Apian's Cosmographia
APIAN, Peter. La Cosmographia de Pedro Apiano, corregida y añadida por Gemma Frisio, Medico y Mathematico. La manera de descrivir y situar los Lugares, con el uso del Anillo Astronomico, del mismo Auctor Gemma Frisio. El sitio y descripcion de las Indias y Mundo Nuevo, sacada de la Historia de Francisco Lopez de Gomara, y de la cosmographia de Ieronymo Girava Tarragonez. En Anvers. Por Juan Bellero al Aguila de Oro. Con privilegio de su M. D.LXXV. [1575].
Second Spanish edition. (235 x 170) ff [2], 68, [14] . Contemporary or near contemporary limp vellum binding with manuscript title and date on spine. Some ca. 17th c. binding waste from La vita di Maria Vergine imperatrice by Lucrezia Marinelli. Early owner's notation in front and back of binding. Two lead clasps and string fasteners original to binding.… Read More

Antwerp, Christopher Plantin, 1569.. SECOND REVISED EDITION 1569, first printed in1568, Latin text. 8vo, aproximately 162 x 102 mm, 6½ x 4 inches, woodcut printer's device on title, 109 woodcut botanical illustrations, the first 32 illustrations are hand coloured and 14 more throughout the text, pages: [1]-311, [8], last 2 pages misnumbered 308 and 309 should be, 310 and 311, bound in full calf, rebacked, gilt lettered label to spine, marbled endpapers. Small repair to title page, just affecting printer's device and with loss of 3 words on verso, vertical ink note (reading library) next to printer's device, small pale ink splashes to pages 11-12 and first illustration, many early ink manuscript names of plants and numbers to plates plus a little ink marginalia, some pale soiling to outer margins due to handling, occasional spots and small stains to text, otherwise a good copy. Dodoens's Florum, et Coronarium was devoted to flowers, ranging from herbaceous annuals and perennials to rare bulbous… Read More

London, printed for John Wright, 1578.. TITLE CONTINUED: with the antiquitie, and commendations thereof. Newely English, and increased, by Barnabe Googe, Esquire. SECOND ENGLISH EDITION 1578, translated by Barnabe Googe, first published in 1577. 8vo, approximately 190 x 130 mm, 7½ x 5 inches. LACKS ALL 11 leaves of PRELIMS, TEXT STARTS ON PAGE 1, TITLE PAGE AND FINAL 2 LEAVES IN FACSIMILE, GATHERING F (8 LEAVES i.e. pages 41-48) INSERTED FROM A SMALLER BLACK LETTER COPY. Full page woodcut armorial coat of arms on verso title page, small text illustration on verso page 130, and a few pictorial initials, mostly printed in black letter. Leaves: 1-193 [1], some mispagination, collation and all catchwords correct, printed side notes, the last 2 leaves in facsimile: 1 on bees, the other on Olde English Rules for Purchasing Land, Colophon on verso, rebound in pale brown buckram at sometime, gilt title and date to spine, new cream endpapers, edges stained red. First leaf damaged at head and repaired with… Read More

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