Rare books from Sibilla Rare Books

The fourth edition of Chaucer's collected works, and the definitive edition edited by the great William Thynne, Henry VIII's custodian and hunter of Chaucerian manuscripts. According to Sydney Lazarus Lee, Victorian scholar of early modern English poetry, "Thynne was the first genuine editor of Chaucer, and deserves the gratitude and respect of every student of the poet. He was unable to distinguish between the genuine and spurious work of his author, but he printed a better text of the Canterbury Tales than had been given before, and he included for the first time Chaucer's Legende, Boece, Blanche, Pity, Astrolabe,and Stedfastness."
This undated (but c1550) edition was probably printed by Nicholas Hill, and publication was shared by four London publishers, William Bonham, Richard Kele, Robert Toye, and Thomas Petit. Each of these four variants bore a different colophon. The Petit variant (the present book) is the scarcest, with 12 known copies in institutional libraries (perESTC). Our copy is… Read More

The third English/John Florio translated edition of Michel de Montaigne's Essays, and the first to contain the engraved architectural frontispiece (often lacking) by Martin Droeshout, the engraver who famously engraved Shakespeare's portrait frontispiece in the First Folio published in 1623; the table of contents listing all essays/headings by book; and the Index of "principal matters and personages in this book."
Collated complete. Folio (27.5 x 18cm), [xii], 631, [1], [12] pp., including 'To the Beholder of This Title' poem bound before B1, Montaigne, Michel de London: M[iles] Flesher, for Richard Royston, 1632. Contemporary sprinkled calf, later skillfully rebacked to preserve contemporary binding, but with later, possibly 18th century label, wearing. Rebinding possibly done by Henry Southeran's, one of the oldest operating bookdealers and binders founded in 1761. Small stamp on renewed end paper (and full page printed sale invoice on laid paper tipped in, undated) bearing the address of Sackville… Read More

Confessionale seu libellus peroptimus beati Thome de aquino de modo confitendi et de puritate conscientie cui libet confessori et consiteri volenti perutilis et necessari'
A very rare, incunable/post-incunable copy of a confessional providing guidance for confessors and the sins to be heard, but also discussing the nature of sins, such as on the "flow of lust", vanity, speaking falsehoods, and other categories. Although the title attributes the work to Thomas Aquinas, the manual is generally accepted to be the work of Matthew of Krakow, a German-Polish priest and scholar who lived in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and who wrote other theological works such as on the celebration of the mass and the body of Christ.
A very rare edition: Paris: [Jean Barbier] for Denis Roce, (undated but believed to be between 1497 and 1505; [27] leaves, 14x10cm, wanting final blank leaf else complete. Bound in modern 1/4 calf and marbled paper boards. Early ownership or collection mark of "GL" of Koln/Cologne,… Read More

ERASMUS, Desiderius, London: Printed, and Sold by J. Woodward, 1709. Collated complete. [24], xvi, viii, [12], 171 pages. 8vo. 20.5cm x 13cm x 2.5cm. Contemporary, full paneled calf with blind tooling, label to spine faded, raised bands, boards split but holding. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Erasmus and 46 numbered woodcut engravings. Contains "A Prefatory Epistle from Erasmus to Sir Tho. More," "A Catalogue of the Paintings of Hans Holbein," and other introductory writings.**Also contains a manuscript note bound in detailing the sale of a painting listed in the catalogue of Holbein's paintings dated 1808 (see photo). Text and all plates in fine condition with very minimal, sporadic foxing.
A increasingly rare 1709 English edition of "In Praise of Folly" by Erasmus, and the first English edition to be illustrated with woodcuts designed by Hans Holbein, with woodcut engraved frontispiece and 46 woodcut engravings (many full page). While some other earlier Latin and French copies contained… Read More