Search Results: Titles starting with V from Bernard Quaritch Ltd

2 vols., 12mo, pp. viii, 261; 208 + errata leaf; one gathering misbound, half-title to volume 2 only (as always); a very good copy in French contemporary quarter mottled sheep over pink marbled paper boards, spines gilt, red morocco lettering-pieces, green vellum corner-pieces; slightly rubbed and minor chipping to heads of spines.Rare first edition of Valérie, the most famous novel by the Russian mystic and novelist Madame de Krüdener (1766–1824), who for a time exerted an influence over Tsar Alexander I. The novel created a literary sensation, and became one of the classic novels of the pre-Romantic movement in France, receiving translations into a number of languages (although not apparently into Russian until 2000). Written partly as a roman à clef, it is largely inspired by the author's romantic liaison with Alexandre de Skatieff.Carteret I, 459; Vicaire IV, 723.

Very rare first edition of this highly interesting work on plague, viewed from medical, religious and political standpoints, by a lawyer from Utrera in southern Spain, written in the wake of the devastating epidemic that struck the city and province of Seville in 1649 as part of the Great Plague of Seville (1647-52) that claimed an estimated 600-700,000 lives.
After defining plague and contagion, and considering divine and human remedies against them, Salado gives a brief life of St Roch, who gained renown for healing plague victims, and of St Sebastian. He then examines the 1581 outbreak in Utrera, discusses plague in relation to sin, and details historic plagues from Biblical times onwards. Turning to the events of 1649, Salado gives an account of the plague in Seville and Utrera, discussing effective governance during times of pestilence, in particular relating to hospitals, and care of the sick by priests, doctors and surgeons. Following a brief digressionary account of the history of medicine,… Read More

8vo, pp. [ii], 51, [1] blank; title within engraved border, engraved illustration of balloon on p. 8, and headpiece on p. 9; aside from occasional very minor spotting, clean and crisp throughout; in recent vellum-backed green marbled boards, title gilt on spine; a good copy.
First edition, with a parallel Italian translation, of these Latin verses commemorating the first Montgolfier experiments with balloon flight by the Milanese diplomat and cardinal Angelo Maria Durini (1725-1796).
A contemporary reviewer in the Journal des scavans
notes that 'The enthusiasm which the Montgolfiers' discovery has excited in Italy could not be better demonstrated than by this suite of pieces in Italian and Latin'. In his dedication, to the first Italian balloonist Paolo Andreani, the translator Francesco Mainoni, argues that the best use the rich can put their riches to is the advancement of the sciences and the arts, and that experimentation with… Read More

Single sheet, 42 x 53 cm, large woodcut initial, 13 lines of text; a few small chips to edges, creases from folding; overall very good.
An apparently unrecorded announcement of the funeral and burial of Marie-Thérèse Mimerel at Amiens, in northern France, on 17 January 1779. Born at Amiens in 1723, the daughter of a master jeweller, Marie married the local merchant and city official Antoine-Isidore de Bonne. This notice invites its readers to attend Marie's funeral 'at five o'clock in the church of St Martin' and burial 'in the cemetery of St Denis', as well as to a Mass at eleven o'clock the following morning.

The text opens with a remarkable macabre woodcut initial depicting an elaborate tomb within which appear Father Time (with hourglass and a long beard stretching to his feet), a female figure staring directly at the viewer, a spade, and a scythe. Teardrops rain down from above, and the mournful black border is filled with skulls, crossbones, and further tears.

Given its size, this notice… Read More

8vo, pp. [iv], [vi], 5-351, [1] blank; table des matières of six pages bound after first two leaves; some foxing in places, but largely clean and crisp throughout; in contemporary Swiss marbled boards, paper label lettered in ink at head of spine; very light wear to corners, but a good copy. Only edition, rare, of this utopia, the identity of whose author, and even of whose printer, remains unknown.
Subtitled 'Voyage de Laspidi écrit par lui-même. Traduit de l'Indien', little of the book is as it seems. To start with, it is divided into six books, but starts with book three. The book deals with physics and natural philosophy, psychology and moral philosophy, political theory, legislation and the constitution of the ideal state, and the nature of happiness, and it is largely composed of a dialogue between Laspidi, a native of Surat, but well versed in European science and philosophy, and a Bonze from Formosa, who agree that the job of the philosopher is to identify what is true and to go no… Read More

First edition, 'one of the most important works in the history of Antarctic exploration' (Hill).In the course of his expedition Ross discovered Victoria Land and the twin volcanoes, Erebus and Terror (named after his two ships). The Ross Sea, which leads towards the heart of the Antarctic continent and was the natural point of entry for the great expeditions of the 20th century, was so-named by Scott in memory of Ross's achievements in the region. 'Ross returned to England in 1843 with a large accumulation of observations on magnetism and other branches of natural sciences, including geology and marine life at great depths. He had carried out in his survey the greatest work of its kind yet performed - and, remarkably, with the loss of only one man through illness. This was due in no small measure to the great attention given to the selection of supplies for a mixed diet' (DSB). The expedition's naturalist was J.D. Hooker, whose botanical summaries incorporated in Ross's text struck Charles Darwin… Read More