Rare books from George Robert Minkoff, Inc.

THE GREATEST BOOK OF RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTUREIllustrated with 205 large woodcuts, including 74 full-page and 7 double-page blocks; magnificent allegorical woodcut title border; large woodcut head-pieces and large floriated and grotesque woodcut initials; leaf I4 slightly taller than the rest of the text block, to accommodate a tall column woodcut, with about 2 cm section at top folded in. Royal Folio. 19th-century ¼-vellum over marbled boards; spine decorated and lettered in gilt; edges gilt. Paris: Fédéric Morel, 1567. First Edition. First Issue. The most influential and most lavishly illustrated handbook of French Renaissance architecture. The first and only published volume. A second volume was planned by the author but never completed.Mortimer, Harvard College Library Cat.: French 16th-Century Books, no.355; Brunet, Supple. I, 888-9; Fowler Architect. coll. 99; Clouzot, Philibert de l'Orme, pp. 90-107; Berliner Ornamentstichkatalog 2362; Pettegree, French Vernacular Books 15434; cf. Adams L… Read More

Hardcover. Fine. 4to. Bound in 20th-century 1/4-vellum over marbled boards. Strasbourg: Matthias Schürer, July 1510. Second Strasbourg edition of Erasmus heavily annotated collection of Greek and Latin proverbs. Printed in Roman and Greek types. This is the original version, containing 818 adages, which is considerably shorter than the later expanded versions published under the title Adagiorum chiliades. (Adams E-420; Bezzel, Erasmusdrucke, 50; Van der Haeghen, Bibliotheca Erasmiana, p.25-6; Bibl. Belgica II, 276: no. E.61; Muller, Strasbourg II, p. 179, no. 45.) The Adagia could only have been possible in the new world of European education, in which careful attention to a broader range of classical texts produced a much fuller picture of the literature of antiquity. Its impact has been long lasting. Such popular expressions such as one step at a time, between a rock and a hard place, break the ice, an iron in the fire, looking a gift horse in the mouth, and many other sayings can trace their… Read More

Hardcover. Fine. Tractat[us] de meditatio[n]e cordis Joh[ann]is Gerson. Illustrated with 4 xylographic foliated initials, the first colored. 8vo. Bound in 19th century vellum. Impressum Venetijs arte [et] impensis Bernardini de benalijs, 1488. Early Edition. Hain, 9095; Goff, I-17; Bodleian Lib. 15th cent., T-105; BM 15th cent., V, p. 372 (IA.22318). The Imitatio Christi, or Imitation of Christ is often considered the greatest of all Christian manuals of devotion. In the late 15th century there was some dispute as to the authorship of this work. The present edition mistakenly ascribes it to Johannis Gerson, a French scholar, educator, reformer, poet and chancellor of the University of Paris. It has, however, been proven that this work really was written by the German monk Thomas à Kempis. Attributed variously but now definitely ascribed to Thomas à Kempis. (Goff). The first edition of Kempis work, published in 1473, did not include the Imitatio Christi, as it was believed then that Kempis was not… Read More

Hardcover. Fine. 4to. ¼-vellum-backed decorated white linen, gilt letters on spine. Frederick Etchells & Hugh Macdonald, London, 1928. First Edition. Limited to 55 numbered copies printed on Millbourn hand-made paper, signed by Eliot. In a deluxe binding. This is copy #31. (Gallup B7a). Linen slightly soiled, o/w a fine copy with clean, crisp pages. Unopened.

1791. 1st Edition, Limited Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. Complete in 2 volumes. Illustrated with frontispiece portrait of Johnson by J. Heath after Sir Joshua Reynolds, and 2 additional engraved plates. All 3 plates with imprints dated April 10, 1791. Frontispiece with the original tissue-guard intact. 4to. Bound in contemporary (circa 1800) speckled calf with gilt armorial supralibros on all 4 covers, spines with raised bands; red morocco gilt-lettered labels; small black morocco circular volume-number labels. Printed by Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, London, 1791. First Edition. Limited to 1750 copies. Printed on light blue paper. Vol. I has the correct give reading on page 135, line 10, generally considered the second state (although, as Pottle notes, booksellers have given this rather uninteresting point more attention than it deserves.) The copies printed on light blue paper were presumably reserved for members of the nobility: When Boswell published his The Life of Samuel Johnson, the King… Read More

Hardcover. Fine. Illustrated. 4to. Original green cloth, paper label on cover, rebacked. 126 William Street, New York (1898). First Edition. Limited to 125 numbered copies. This is copy # 52. Signed by Stephen Crane after his story, The Wise Men. Also signed by 5 of the 6 other contributors: John Langdon Heaton, Irving Bacheller, Post Wheeler, Charles Gaines and Charles Lewis. Cranes story is the first of 7 pieces and it occupies more than half the volume. It was once believed that he signed only 10 to 15 copies, but that number now seems low. It is safe to say he did not signed all copies and the number he did sign is in question. Crane died at age 28, and his signature is exceedingly rare. Scuffing to the front and back covers; paper label soiled; front endpaper slightly wrinkled; some foxing to a few of the preliminary pages; o/w very nice. Uncut; partially unopened. Scarce

Hardcover. Fine. Folio. Bound in original boards. Parma 1791. First Edition. One of 25 copies on papier verge of an edition of 128. Paper worn on spine; interior clean and bright. A Fine Copy. Scarce.

1st Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. Illustrated with a frontispiece engraving of a comet by F. H. Fritsch; 4 folding diagrams at rear; plus Ornamental vignettes with fantasy motifs. 4to. Contemporary leather binding, spine with 5 raised bands; gilt-lettered red morocco label and gilt designs. Berolini Sumtibus Ambrosii Haude . . . (Berlini 1744). First Edition. (Brunet: II, col. 1092; Graesse: II, p. 518; Houzeau & Lancaster: Nº 11948; Dic. Biographique et Bibliographique: p. 308.) Leonardo Euler, the noted Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and philosopher, was for many years a professor in Berlin at the Court of Frederick the Great. In 1766, at the request of the Empress of Russia, Catherine II, he left Germany and went to Russia, where lived until his death in 1783. His work in astronomy was recognized by a number of Paris Academy Prizes over the course of his career. In this work Euler gives the solutions of the main problems of theoretical astronomy dealing with the structure, nature,… Read More

Illustrated with 12 folding engraved plates of optical/geometrical diagrams and a few woodcut diagrams and tables in text; large woodcut decorative tail-pieces, head-pieces and initials. 8vo. Contemporary full speckled calf; boards with double-fillet gilt-ruled borders; spine with five raised bands and gilt-lettered (faded) morocco label; edges speckled red. London: Printed for W. and J. Innys, printers to the Royal Society, 1718. Second English Edition revised and enlarged by Newton. First Octavo Edition. Second issue, with the title-page dated 1718 (the very rare first issue is dated 1717). The first edition appeared in 1704 in quarto. For this second edition the plates were newly engraved to fit the new octavo format. The most important feature of this second edition is that the number of Queries at the end was increased from 16 to 31, including the celebrated Query 28 on the nature of light. The Queries in the initial set were rather brief, but the later ones became more substantial, written as… Read More

8vo. 19th- century ½-vellum. Venice: (Damianus de Mediolano, de Gorgonzola) 16 Nov. 1493. (ISTC No.: ig00602500; H 8207; GW 11804). Guido de Monte Rochen's Manipulus curatorum is considered the most important of the medieval pastoral manuals. (It was not made obsolete until the Council of Trent in 1566.) It is especially important as a key example of the intersection of religious doctrine and practice. The author attempts to make centuries of theology and canon law comprehensible for the priest of little learning and, in turn, for his parishioners. No other work did this as successfully. Binding slightly bent; title page a bit dusty; a few leaves misnumbered in manuscript; o/w a fine copy with large margins of this rare incunable. No known copies in the United States.

ILLUSTRATED WITH 66 POCHOIR WOODCUTSThe Fables of Aesop. Printed from the Veronese Edition of MCCCCLXXIX in Latin Verses and Italian Version by Accio Zucco, with the Woodcuts Newly Engraved and Coloured After a Copy in The British Museum. (With) The First Three Books of Caxton's Aesop containing the Fables Illustrated in the Verona Aesopus of MCCCCLXXIX.Epilogue by Giovanni Mardersteig. Illustrated with 66 full-page woodcuts by Anna Bramanti. Woodcuts are pochoir colored by Daniel Jacomet to recreate the illuminated miniature effect of the British Library copy of the Veronese Aesop of 1479 (upon which the present edition is based). The fleurons, first adopted in 1479, were engraved by Charles Malin. 8vo. Publisher's ¼-green morocco; decorated boards; top edges gilt; acetate dust wrappers; enclosed in morocco-tipped slipcase.Officina Bodoni, Verona, 1973. Limited to 160 numbered copies set in Centaur types, printed on Magnani mould made paper with goose watermark. 2 volumes. Volume I contains the… Read More

CHURCHILL "BUYS" BALFOUR A CAR!CHURCHILL, WINSTON S. "Confidential" typed letter signed by "Winston S. Churchill" as Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the name of the recipient "Bran" and part of the date "13" handwritten by Churchill.One page with the blind-stamped stationery "Treasury Chambers, Whitehall, S.W.," dated August 13, 1928. 4to.The letter concerns funds that Churchill raised to purchase a car and cover living expenses for former Prime Minister Arthur Balfour: "The subscription list is the Balfour Testimonial Fund being now closed. I feel that you, who so kindly subscribed to that fund, will like to know how much was subscribed and to what purpose it has been put. The total amount received from members of both Houses of Parliament was £4,918.6.6. [~$450,000 in 2021] The car has been paid for and the balance has been handed to Lord Balfour to be used for his personal benefit in any way he may think fit. I may add that I have received from him a letter expressing his grateful thanks to the… Read More

With an original holograph double-sided, fold-out manuscript leaf written in ink by Emerson bound into Volume I. The leaf, measuring approximately 8 by 10 inches on blue paper, is from Emerson's 1856 essay "English Traits." It begins "French have no . . . romances have no comedy since Moliere because they have no manners which only free peoples can have." Emerson has drawn a line through three lines of manuscript, and placed a vertical line down the center of each page, possible because he transcribed it onto a fair copy.Frontispieces. Illustrated with 56 engravings and photogravures. Large 8vo. ¾-green leather; spines with gilt letters and gilt decoration, 5 raised bands; gilt tooling to the front and rear panels; top edge gilt; marbled end papers and boards. Cambridge, Printed at the Riverside Press, 1903-4. First Edition. 12 volumes. Limited to 600 numbered sets, signed in Volume I by "Houghton Mifflin Co." This is set #197. This edition includes all of Emerson's poems, lectures, biographical… Read More

One of the finest works of illustration ever published, marking the transition from Rococo to the Neo-Classical Era of European art.Illustrated with 139 full-page plates by Boucher, Eisen, Gravelot, Monnet, Moreau, and others. Plus engraved title, 3 pages of dedications, 4 fleurons on title pages, 30 engraved vignettes and 1 full-page cul-de-lampe by Choffard and Monnet closing Volume 4. Engraved by Le Mire and Basan. Large 4to. Full 18th century French marbled calf; spine with 5 raised bands; red and green morocco labels; gilt spines, gilt borders and edges; original hand-marbled endpapers. A Paris, Chez Leclerc. 1767 to 1771. 4 volumes. Ovid's Metamorphoses are of course, are some of the most famous stories to survive from antiquity; they tell, essentially, a history of the world in dactylic hexameter, the meter of the epics. Ovid's stories are as foundational to Western literature as any other book written; they include the story of Io and Jupiter, the stories of Cadmus, Pyramus and Thisbe (of… Read More

Illustrated with engraved title border incorporating a bell, symbolizing Campanella's name; plus a few woodcut headpieces and initials. 4to. 19th- early 20th-century sheep, with blind ruled calf covers (presumably from the original binding) laid down on both boards; spine with raised bands and gilt-lettered black morocco label. Frankfurt: Egenolph Emmel for Gottfried Tampach, 1620. First Edition. Written when Campanella was imprisoned by the Inquisition. (Krivatsy 2088; Wellcome 1236; Graesse, Trésor, VII, pp.150-151; Thorndike, VII, 291; Caillet, I, 1984; cf. Ferguson I, 138, citing 1636 edition only.)In this work Campanella, a prominent Italian Renaissance philosopher, theologian, astrologer, poet, and political thinker, expounds his vision of the natural world as a sentient organism whose individual parts are invested with life and sensitivity. On this basis he discusses natural divination, natural magic, and occult marvels. He discusses the senses, the intellect, the soul, immortality,… Read More