Libri Duo Maccabaeorum. by Martin Luther - 1565: D. Marti. Luthe. in Novum Testamentum

Basel: Adam Petri de Langendorff. Second Latin edition, 1517. Hardcover. Good. Fine border of cherubs riding dragons, nudes, men in armour, foliage, columns etc. signed Urs Graf (U.G.) and with date 1516.. Folio bevelled wooden covers with wide rolled pigskin spine handsomely blind stamped with rampant lions in lozenges between parallel strands of vines & flowers. TP is printed in red & black. Spines with three raised bands and diamond shaped alternating with stylized flower tools (lacks clasps/some worm holes to wood and vellum) Fore-edge lettered Simon de Cassea (14)+469 leaves + colophon with large printer's mark for Alantsee of 2 griffons suporting a shield with cipher ALT and supporting an oak tree above (total fatness of book just under 11cm) TP with three ownerships (2 on top margin one with a single line through it the 3rd to side of text) Fore-edge of TP slightly rough & tanned. Some large foliated initial capitals and fine double column typography of this near incunabulum. Some worm holes… Read More

Lyon: Iohnnes Clein, 1515. Hardcover. See Description. [c.1515]. 4to. pp. [280]. p.[280 blank]. Colophon dated "nono kale[n]das Octobris" (23 Sept.). Title page printed in red and black inside woodcut architectural border. Woodcut printer's device (Sylvestre 132). Printed in Roman font with the surrounding commentaries printed in Gothic. Text contains decorative initials. Bound in contemporary blind stamped paneled calf boards; re-backed preserving original spine. Later antique endpapers with inscription on front-free endpaper dated "1925"; front and rear blank fly-leaves worn. Pages are generally clean with occasional marginalia in an old hand (i.e. several small inscriptions written on the title page); minor spotting; lower corner of leaf c7 clipped in margin; The hinges and inner margins to the first gathering are neatly strengthened / repaired. The outer edges to this same gathering show some wear - i.e. a few marginal tears (sealed), and light soiling. The bottom margins… Read More

Venice: Comin da Trino di Monferrato, 1558. Hardcover. See Description. Third Edition. 4to in 8’s. ff. [8], 168. Including decorative initials and 84 woodcut illustrations with the text. Title within woodcut border depicting a variety of metallurgical and mining equipment. Final leaf (recto) contains a printer’s device and colophon - "In Vinegia per Comin da Trino di Monferrato MDLIX" [1559]. Attractive copy. Pages are generally clean and fresh with occasional mild spotting / staining. An old bookplate from the "Royal Military College" is located on the inside front cover. The bookplate is stamped "Sold by H.M Stationery Office." Bound in original limp vellum (minus thong fore-edge ties). Minus binder’s blank fly-leaf in the rear. Vannoccio Biringuccio (1480-1539?) was a Siennese nobleman, engineer and metallurgist. His "Pirotechnia" (first published in Venice, 1540) is considered the earliest detailed hand-book on metallurgy. The work contains… Read More

Venetiis: Apud Aldum. [Figurato Aldina] (cm.15,8) ottima solida piena pergamena XVIII secolo, tassello in pelle con titolo e fregio in oro.-- cc. 124 nn.(di cui l' ultima bianca), pp. 676, cc. 136. Con 20 xilografie n.t. di cui 7 a piena pagina + 2 tavv. f.t. ripiegate con la Spagna e la Francia. Ritratto di Aldo Manuzio al frontis con al verso grande stemma di Massimiliano II, il tutto in xilografia. Importante edizione basata sulla celeberrima del 1513. Il pregio di questa nostra stà nel fatto che i rami sono stati incisi nuovamente e pertanto si tratta di incisioni nuove: illustrano fauna, fortificazioni, sbarramenti, sistemi di difesa terrestri e fluviali, muraglie, costruzione di ponti nonchè le due carte geografiche della Gallia e della Spagna. In una lettera al Muretus, Aldo Manuzio scrive: " Faccio anche fare le figure di nuovo, per essere le vecchie troppo vergognose ". A queste incisioni si è anche ispirato il Palladio nell' edizione del 1575 tradotta… Read More

Venice: Giunta (colophon: in officina haeredum Lucaeantonii Iunctae), 1563. Leather. Very Good. Folio (38 cm); [2], 152, 12 leaves. Text in two columns, printed in red and black ink. Printer's device in red on title page (Camerini, I, 143, third variant). About 99 woodcut illustrations in text (some repeated), including full-page crucifixion, repeated seven times, and 10-panel historiated woodcut border to facing page, also repeated seven times. Rotunda, roman, and italic type. Music with notes in black on red staves. Bound in paneled calf, roughly contemporary, ruled in gilt with gilt fleurs-de-lis at corners. Binding worn with signs of old repairs. Text toned on some leaves, but remarkably fresh and free of blemishes overall. References: Mortimer, Italian, 304; Amiet, Repertorium, 2:101; Camerini, 673; RELICS, 2859. In the 1560s, the brothers Tommaso and Giovan Maria Giunta were trying to recover financially from the fire that destroyed their Venice workshop in 1557. Taking few… Read More

Colophon on G2r: [Venice: In Aedibus Aldi, Et Andreae Soceri, October 1518]., 1518. 8vo. ff. 233, [3]. complete with the 2 blanks, B8 & G3. Aldine woodcut device on title & verso of last leaf. 19th century paneled calf. armorial bookplate of Henry Richard Vassall Fox, Third Baron Holland [1773-1840]. First Aldine Edition of this collection of ancient geographical texts. Mela’s was "the first extant geographical work in Latin and the only Roman treatise of the classical period devoted exclusively to that subject." (DSB) His descriptive survey of the habitable world (Europe, Africa, and Asia) includes remarks on manners and customs, details on spectacular phenomena, and speculation on the causes of tides. "Despite his general inferiority as a geographer, Pomponius knew more than Strabo about the positions of Britain, Ireland, and the coasts of Gaul and north Germany; he was also the first to mention the Orkney Islands. Pomponius exerted a considerable influence on early… Read More

London: Henry Denham, 1571., 1571. 4to. ff. [12], 83. title within typographical border. woodcut ornaments & initials. 19th century blind-stamped old-style calf by Rivière, gilt edges (rubbed, short split in upper front joint, few minor stains, small repair to C1 - no loss). First Edition of the Latin Translation by Nicholas Carr [1524-1568], the second edition of Demosthenes to be published in England. The first English translation, by Thomas Wilson, was published by Denham in London the previous year. Appended are a life of Carr by Bartholomew Dodington, one of Carr's successors as regius professor of Greek at Trinity College, Cambridge, and eulogies and funeral orations by Henry Howard, Thomas Bing, Thomas Hatcher, and others. STC 6577. Bruggemann I p. 160.. 1st Edition. Hardcover.

[Geneva]: Conrad Badius, 1559., 1559. 2 Volumes in 1. 16mo. ff. 458, [14]index; 50, [6]index. woodcut printer's device on titles. woodcut initials. ruled in red throughout. early red morocco, all edges gilt (joints rubbed, neat repair to first title, dampstain just visible at lower edge of some leaves, spotting to last gatherings of second title). bookplates of P.J.B.Despaux & William Stirling Maxwell. An appealing copy of this early edition of "the most important single source of the Reformation era" (Thompson), written by the great German humanist diplomat. Sleidan, whose real name was Johann Philippson, was appointed historian of the Reformation by the Schmalkaldic League in 1542. His monumental chronicle was first printed at Strassburg in 1555, one year before his death. Despite his Protestant convictions, Sleidan strove to achieve the utmost impartiality in his history. "It was [in fact] so impartial that it pleased no one, not even Melanchthon." (Encyc. Brit., 11th… Read More

Vinetia: Appresso Gratioso Percaccino, 1569. Hardcover. [24], 283, [1]p. Old quarter calf over marbled boards, spine lettered in gold, all edges blue. Copper engraved title, portrait frontispiece, one foldout plate with the coats of arms of the Colleoni family, initials, head-pieces, tail-pieces and printer's device. The fascinating life and times of one of the most famous Italian soldiers of fortune. Small labels on the front panel and the front free endpaper, short tear and wear to the spine. There are some old annotations on the margins and on the last page and some very sporadic underlining. Overall, a nice, well-preserved copy. In the Italian language. Cicogna 2845. Gamba 1658. Graesse VI.469. ; Quarto.

179 pages. Rebound in full vellum; binding tight, all pages clean, no tears, no repairs, some pencil marks. Very slight foxing here and there and delicate age-tinting. Five raised bands, title stamped in gold on red leather label.Scholar, poet, musician, literary figure and Cardinal Pietro Bembo's (1470-1547) vernacular translation of his famous history of Venice (originally in Latin).