Gazophylacium linguae Persarum triplici linguarum clavi, Italice, Latine, Gallice by Ange de Saint-Joseph - 1684

First edition, limited issue of 100 numbered copies issued signed by Mandela on the title page. Copy #42. Published to benefit the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. Edited with a Preface by Penny Silva. Dark blue full morocco, gilt lettering, satin pagemarker, limitation page. Issued without dustjacket. Cloth-covered slipcase. Slipcase with one corner with slight bump; otherwise, an unread copy in Fine condition. The first dictionary of South African English, mapping the development and changes of "that variety of English which is particular to South Africa."

Paris: Michel Bobin & Nicolas Le Gras, 1673. Hardcover. See Description. Third French Edition, revised and corrected. 4to. pp. [38], 754. Decorative initials and ornamental head pieces at the beginning of each chapter. Contemporary calf boards (rubbed, corners neatly restored) re-backed including new hand sewn headbands. Original end papers are preserved but worn at the edges. Two names are written in a contemporary hand at the top of the title page (1 name is crossed out). Another name (also crossed out) is inscribed beneath the imprint; a small shelf number is written in the upper right corner. Pages are generally clean with occasional minor soiling and spotting. A narrow piece is missing from the upper margins of pp. 311-320 (4 cm. long x 5-7 mm. deep) - either from rough opening or from a manufacturing error; brown ink spot on fore-edge of text block; leaf T2 marked S2. Leaves remain untrimmed after last re-sewing. Descartes's "Meditations metaphysiques" was first published in… Read More

London: Printed by R. & W. Leybourn, for the Company of STATIONERS, 1658. Hardcover, size 7.5"x5.5". Full calf with four raised bands. [xxii], 148, [viii] pages, plus the 13 ephemerides which vary from approximately 28 to 36 pages each, plus a final leaf of errata. The ephemerides themselves were previously printed separately - seven are dtd 1656, five are dtd 1657, and one for the year 1669 is dtd 1669 (clearly a misprint). Condition of the casing is Good- (minus): considerable wear, abbreviated title inked on spine label. Condition of the text is Good: occasional light soiling/foxing or marginal chip/closed tear; text rippled from aging. Previous owner's stamp on endpapers, title page, and three places in text; armorial bookplate of John Earl of Loudoun w/double-headed eagle & motto "I Bide My Time" on front pastedown..

Cologne: De L'imprimerie Jacob Stoer, 1625. Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo (super). Two volumes in one. Place of publication stamped out, with "Geneue" stamped below printer. On second title page, no placeof publication, but "Geneue" stamped in place. Bound in full vellum with red leather spine label, slightly raised bands. Text in French. Vol. I: [56] 533 p.p., plus table [219 p.p., unpaginated]; Vol. II: [22] 624 p.p. plus table [142 p.p. unpaginated]. Early doodles to front and rear boards. Vellum chipped to bottom corners with bruising to corners and spine ends. Doodles also to f.f.e. and fly leaves, with early ownership signature on title page of Vol. I. Light sporadic stains and smudges to pages. Some pages trimmed, with sporadic tears to edges and margins throughout. Noticeably on p. 103 (partially affecting text), and bottom corner of p. 441 in Vol. I, and in Vol. II small tear to p. 83 (partially affecting text), head of 167 and p. 361. Otherwise in very good condition. These two books… Read More

[Teofilo Folengo] Opus Merlini Cocaii Poetae Mantuani Macaronicorum. Venetiis, apud Nicolaum Bevilacquam, 1613. In-12. 14.5 cm. Contemporary lap-edged polished vellum, titled on the spine by hand, possibly by Simon Abbes Gabbema. Woodcut printer's device with motto "sciencia immutabilis" on the title page. [iv (blanks); 1 – 541; viii; i (blank)] Verso of p. 541 blank; Twenty-seven woodcut illustrations at: A1b; A12b; C11; D7b; E4; E12b; F8b; G5b; H2b; H11; I6b; K3; K11; L6b; M3; M11; N8; O3; P2; P8b; Q4b; Q12b; S2b; T3b; T8; V3b; V10. Signed and dated in 1650 by noted Frisian historian, Simon Abbes Gabbema (1628 – 1688), the official historian of Frisland, promoter of the Frisian language and a sometime owner of the Codex Roorda. There is a second manuscript motto on the title page and another note on the front flyleaf.

First edition published 1517, Delepierre says this edition was printed in Germany not in Italy, as the paper and the wretched woodcuts (chétives figures) indicate, citing David… Read More

A Leyde: Chez Jean Sambix le jeune, 1669.. [6],7-218,[2]pp. 12mo. 13.5 x 8cm. Early unlettered mottled calf, bookplate of Wenman Coke, Esq., on front pastedown, with his shelf-marks on the free endsheet. Astrolabe device on title. Spine extremities a bit chipped at tips, with signs of expert consolidation, front free endsheet pulled at gutter, scattered foxing and tanning, clipped bookseller's description tipped to rear endsheet, but a good copy. Half morocco clamshell case. The second collective Elzevier printing of the first two parts of the CONTES ET NOUVELLES EN VERS, with the addition of the "Dissertation sur la Joconde, A Monsieur B***." Brunet describes the first printing of this edition, which appeared in 1668, as an "Édition plus jolie et plus compléte que la précédente en ce qui concerne La Fontaine." It was reprinted again in 1673. La Fontaine's CONTES ET NOUVELLES EN VERS were published in successive editions, with additions, from 1664 through 1674, and consist of "tales drawn… Read More

Paris: Mathurini Du Puis, 1634. First Edition. . Hardcover. See Description. 4to. pp. [14], 853, [19], 126. Title in red and black with small crown vignette. Text is in Greek with Latin translation on opposite page. Bound in full red morocco (perhaps later 17th century) with spine gilt in 6 compartments - rubbed, chipped. Hinges and spine caps restored; careful repair to corner tips of front cover. All edges gilt. Pages contain minor scattered foxing and age toning. Inscription written in an old hand on verso of front blank. First printed edition of the "Excerpta Peiresciana" manuscript or "De Virtutuibus et Vitiis," part of a large Byzantine anthology of excerpts which were gathered from earlier Greek historical works and compiled under the direction of the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (905-959 c.e.). The collection was arranged in 53 sections, 4 of which are extant - 1.) "De Legationibus" 2.) "De Virtutibus et Vitiis" 3.) "De Sententiis" 4.)… Read More

Frankfurt am Main]: Heirs of Andreas Wechel: Claude Marne & Joannes Aubri, 1600. Hardcover. Very Good. Woodcut printer's mark and a few woodcut head- and tail-pieces. . Folio fine English blindstamped Calf Binding attrib. to John Westall of Oxford c1606-1617 with 24 medallion heads between stylized foliage signed I.W. Restored by Trevor Hickman, bookbinding lecturer at Leicestershire College of Art, with his bookplate & binding details in pencil on new endpapers. All Edges Rouged Titlepage with Wechel printer's device but no place of imprint +[6]pp Prefaces + 986pp with page numbers 869-70 left out but 871-2 used twice in succession. Pages 1-95 un-numbered p96 has last two and a bit columns of AZE- to AZY and then start of BAA but all un-numbered previous pages are present signatures starting from A1. Printed in 4 columns per page. Faint marginal damp mark to upper margin soon fading out, some worming to margins usually just a few pin prick sized holes but in the V's some tracks again all marginal,… Read More

London: Longman and Rees, 1800. First Miniature Edition. Tooled leather with gilding. Very Good. Cook. 12mo, tooled and gilt-stamped leather with four hubs, engraved frontispiece of Dr. Johnson by Cook, frontis. & t.p. + [iii-iv] advert. + 284 pages. Very Rare! [Edited by Rev. Joseph Hamilton.] Handy edition of the redoubtable Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary with its marvellous definitions. Published in 1800 during the raging Napoleonic wars with France (see also the somewhat later inscription to a French ship's captain below). Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), or more commonly "Dr. Johnson" or "the Great Cham," was a brilliant English writer, devout Anglican and Tory, who made his reputation as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and most lastingly as a lexicographer. His Dictionary of the English Language is noteworthy for its extent, comprehensiveness, and use of pithy definitions. James Boswell, of course, memorialized the life and… Read More

Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. 4to (266.7mm x 317.5mm). A collection of mid 17th century surgical woodcuts that appear in an early edition of The Works of that Famous Chirurgion Ambrose Pare Translated out of Latine and Compared with the French by Th[omas] Johnson (ESTC lists 4 editions printed between 1634 and 1678). Rebacked with new paper label on spine. [82] p.p. Includes 105 surgical woodcuts that show a variety of tools for sealing the wounds, scraping and extracting teeth; drawing out bullets; knives and saws used for dismemberment and amputation; treatment for and methods of setting fractures and dislocated shoulders and elbows, as well as woodcuts of facial prosthetics for the eyes and nose, and artificial limbs for a hand made with iron. Light rubbing to boards, edges with some spotted stains on front cover. Pages lightly foxed. Early ink stains and scribbling to leaves and endpapers with some offsetting from woodcuts. Otherwise in very good condition with interesting medical woodcuts of… Read More