Search Results: Authors starting with A from Liber Antiquus

Kempten: Per Rudolphum Dreherr, 1673. SOLE EDITION. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in contemporary stiff vellum (small repairs to foot of the spine, re-cased, endpapers renewed.) Internally, this copy is in fine condition with only minor faults as follows: half-title soiled, small wormholes in first four lvs., a peppering of small wormholes to final four index lvs. and final blank leaf. Marginal hole (not affecting text) to leaf B3, margins of portrait leaf foxed and with light stain at foot. The volume was re-cased, probably to remove a second, slim work (judging by the size of the overlapping vellum fore-edges of the binding.) Provenance: Engraved armorial bookplate of Augustin Erath (1648-1719), German Augustinian Canon, theologian, translator. The "Phonurgia" is illustrated with an added engraved allegorical title by Georg Andreas Wolfgang (1631-1716) after Felix Cheurier, an engraved title vignette, an engraved portrait of Emperor Leopold I by Wolfgang after Franz Herman, two engraved plates, seventeen… Read More

Paris: Chrestien Wechel, 1540. FOURTH EDITION IN FRENCH (1st and 2nd eds 1536; 3rd 1539). Hardcover. Fine. Bound in 19th c. citron Morocco, gilt. A nice copy, lightly washed, with 16th c. annotations (faded and in some cases irretrievable due to the washing). The washing of the annotations has resulted in some light staining, with occasional shine-through to the image on the verso of the sheet. Very small hole in one leaf. Provenance: Isidoro Fernandez (1878-1963), bookplate. Text in French and Latin, woodcut device on title, another version on final leaf. Illustrated with 113 woodcuts. 33 text leaves have annotations, almost all in the blank margin of the lvs., with bleed-through on about five leaves onto the image on the verso of the sheet. The woodcuts, attributed to Jean "Mercure" Jollat (1490-1550), were first used in Wechel's first Paris edition of 1534. The French translation is the work of Jean Le Fevre (1493-1563), first published by Wechel in 1536. An attractive bilingual French-Latin… Read More

Venice: In Aedibus Aldi, Mense Novembri, 1503. FIRST ALDINE EDITION (the first ed. of the text was published in 1494). Also includes the EDITIO PRINCEPS of the 6th-century Byzantine poem "In Thermas Pythias et aquarum miracula"(on the warm baths of Pythia in Bithynia) attributed to Paulos Silentiarius. Hardcover. Fine. Text in Greek type 4:79, (first part of title, register, and colophon in roman 10:82.) Bound in a contemporary Greek-style binding (see below). A tall copy, contents in very good condition with scattered ink stains (mostly light) and minor marks, dampstain at head of some gatherings and in a few gutters; half of leaf L2 supplied from another copy, text-block slightly rounded at corners, minor marginal worm in a few gatherings, not affecting the text. Woodcut Aldine device on title and final leaf. With scattered contemporary annotations, additions, and corrections, longer ones on C6, E6v, E8r, I8v, GG4r, and HH3r (those on C6 with added verses of Theocritus(?) concerning Aphrodite ("he… Read More

Venice: Aldus Manutius, August, 1502. FIRST ALDINE EDITION of Dante's "Commedia. Hardcover. Fine. A fine copy, ruled in red throughout, bound in early 19th-c. English burgundy morocco. The boards are tooled in blind and ruled with a single gilt filet. The spine is tooled in compartments in gilt and blind and lettered directly in gilt. With doublures and end-leaves of brown silk with gilt borders and corner-pieces. Edges of the text-block gilt; spine very lightly sunned, some minimal rubbing at extremities and minor marks to boards; engraved armorial bookplate of William Ewart Gladstone to front pastedown (see provenance note below). Recto of first and final leaf lightly soiled. First leaf lightly foxed and with a light stain, small light stain to margin of lvs. a5 and a6; a few other trivial blemishes. Very nice. This is the state with the Aldine anchor and dolphin device on the final leaf. Quires a-c were also completely re-set, the present copy having the headline 'INFERNO' on a2r, and 'INF' in… Read More

Mexico: por la Viuda de D. Joseph Bernardo de Hogal, 1745. THIRD EDITION (1st ed. Madrid 1689; 2nd Mexico 1690.). Hardcover. Fine. Bound in 18th c. vellum, possibly re-cased at an early date. A fine copy with light wear to corners and a few margins, and a few trivial blemishes. With a woodcut title border and decorative borders to the text leaves throughout; a few of the borders very lightly shaved. Type-set acrostic poem on penultimate leaf. With a 19th c. private ownership stamp (dated 1881) Pedro Escobar y Cano, possibly the Durango jurist of that name. A marvelous and highly unusual first person verse travelogue by a Mexican Franciscan priest, who relates his journey from Zacatecas to Rome in the year 1687. De Castro was commissioned to represent the province of Zacatecas in the General Chapter of the Franciscan Order that was to take place on June 5, 1688 in Rome. De Castro recounts his journey overland through Mexico, by ship through the Caribbean, across the Atlantic to Spain, overland… Read More

Venice: Presso Gio. Battista Combi, 1638. TWELFTH EDITION of the LETTERS, EIGHTH EDITION of the "FRAGMENTI". Hardcover. Fine. Bound in contemporary vellum, stained red, some wear and soiling, remains of green silk ties. A nice copy with a little minor damp-staining, and some worming in three signatures, affecting one to two lines of text but not the sense. The first edition of Isabella Andreini's collection of letters appeared in 1607, four years after the author's death, edited by her husband, Francesco. In 1617, with the assistance of Flaminio Scala, Francesco published the "Fragmenti". For a discussion of both works, see below. "Born in Padua to Venetian parents in 1562, Isabella Andreini (née Canali) would become the most celebrated commedia dell'arte actress of her century by the time of her death in 1604. Praised by contemporaries such as Tasso, Marino, and Chiabrera and famed in France as well as Italy, Andreini was renowned both for the prima donna innamorata role she played on the stage… Read More

Venice: Simon Bevilaqua, 3 Aug, 1497. THIRD EDITION OF VITRUVIUS' "DE ARCHITECTURA", with additional texts, including Sextus Julius Frontinus' "De aquis urbis Romae. Hardcover. Fine. A fresh copy in late 18th c. stiff vellum, later red morocco spine label, gilt (re-cased, text re-sewn), binding lightly soiled, small chips to edge of label, later endpapers and flyleaves). Minor, very discreet repairs to the inner margin of the first leaf and quire E, some skilful restoration to the final leaf (no loss); a few extremely slight marginal worm-trails, again without any loss. The title leaf and opening leaves of the individual texts with rubrication. Illustrated with several woodcut diagrams and ornamental woodcut initials. Complete with all four parts. "De Architectura" is the only text of Greco-Roman architecture that has survived from antiquity. It's importance in the history of Western architecture from the Renaissance to the nineteenth-century is immeasurable, and it remains, to this day, fundamental… Read More

Palermo: nella stamperia di Francesco Valenza, 1774.
Price: $2,600.00
Quarto: 25.7 x 19.5 cm. Engraved portrait, [2] lvs, III-XLIII p., 2 folding plates.
SOLE EDITION.
Bound in attractive contemporary patterned pasteboards (corners bumped, minor wear.) The text is in excellent condition. The two folding engravings show the funeral monument and the catafalque. Clean tear (mended, no loss) to first plate. Marginal tear, not affecting image to second plate. The portrait was etched by Giuseppe Garofalo after a drawing by Pietro Giaconia. The 2 foldings plates (see below) were also etched by Garofalo.
An unusual funeral book of the late Sicilian Baroque, commemorating funeral rites for the prosperous Sicilian lawyer Giuseppe Maria Jurato (d. 10 October 1712), judge of the Grand Civil Court of Palermo and Prosecutor of the Royal Court. Jurato's funeral was held in the Baroque-Mannerist Chiesa di Santa Ninfa dei Crociferi, where he was also entombed.Jurato's desire to have a funeral monument erected to… Read More

First and third works: Augsburg: Durch Johann Schultes, 1640 and 1641. Second work: Ulm: Durch Jonam Saurn, 1628. FIRST EDITIONS OF ALL THREE WORKS. Hardcover. Fine. A sammelband of three of Furttenbach's major architectural treatises. With 3 engraved frontispieces, printed titles in red and black, and a total of 89 folding plates of various sizes (the largest of them 370 x 300 mm.) showing residences, civic structures, palaces, churches, elaborate gardens and grottoes, pavilions, and theaters. All works with elaborate decorative woodcut head- and tail-pieces and decorative initials, German text in Gothic type throughout. The plates by various engravers, largely after Furttenbach himself. Exceptional copies, complete with all plates, the text and plates on the whole bright and crisp. Bound in contemporary full vellum (lightly soiled, minor wear to extremities) with a decorative title label (gilt-tooled with citron wash.) All plates are folding, having been tipped in on guards at the time of binding… Read More

Turin: Gio. Battista Chais, 1737. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in contemporary marbled boards, worn and soiled, rebacked in later sheep. An unusually nice copy internally, with just the slightest toning to some plates, a few spots, clean tear to center of one plate at fold (no loss), and light finger-soiling in the margins. Magnificent engraved ornamental frontispiece by Prenner with the arms of the house of Savoy. Fourteen etched and engraved plates, including the folding fireworks plate. Title page in red and black. Text in Italian and French. One of the most beautiful 18th c. Italian festival books and of the Piemontese Baroque. Both the festival and the book commemorating it occupied the combined efforts of some of the most important artists and architects of the period. The decorations of the buildings, the apparatus, the fireworks, and the machines were invented by the architects Borra, Massone, Piovani, Bernardi, Agliaudi, and Bernardo Vittone. The plates were etched and engraved by… Read More

Paris: No printer stated, 1652. Hardcover. Fine. A superb album OF NINETY-ONE PLATES IN RICH EARLY IMPRESSIONS presents the work of three French and one Dutch artists, including the Parisian architect Antoine Le Pautre's ideal and realized designs for exteriors and interiors at the height of the French Baroque. All eight suites are in excellent condition. Bound in contemporary vellum over stiff boards, four green ties. The first two suites (fifty-eight plates) are essentially the complete works of Le Pautre. All in first state, these impressions appeared prior to his 1652 privilege and title leaf. The plates are notable for their dramatic handling of space and their sculptural approach to mass. "Le Pautre, son of a master woodworker, was trained as an engraver by his brother Jean. He chose architecture as his profession, and advanced rapidly. By the age of twenty-two he was titled 'mason and architect,' and in the following year received the title of 'architect of the king's buildings.' He is… Read More

Venice: Nicolò Bascarini, 1548. SECOND EDITIONS OF BOTH WORKS (1st eds. 1540). Hardcover. Fine. A fine, attractive, and unsophisticated copy, bound in contemporary limp vellum (binding a bit rumpled, with small defects to the spine and nibbling to the upper edge -charming evidence of a hungry mouse.) The text is in excellent condition, very fresh, with trivial blemishes as follows: Leaf i1 with a clean tear in the text (no loss), lvs. k1-2 with contemporary marginal notes; small stain in lower margin of gathering O, a damp-stain in the lower margin of gathering P; leaf P2 with a small paper flaw affecting a few letters, trivial light foxing to the upper margin of a few gatherings, very light stain in lower margin of final 2 lvs. The book is illustrated with woodcut diagrams, illustrations of instruments, and 47 full-page woodcut star maps. Alessandro Piccolomini was professor of philosophy at the University of Padua from 1539 to 1543. In 1541, in a famous letter written to Pietro Aretino, he… Read More

Wittenberg: Georg Rhau, 1542, 1556. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in contemporary alum-tawed pigskin over wooden boards, one clasp defective, binding soiled and mildly worn and with small defects. The boards are ruled and tooled in blind, signed and dated "IPN 1556". The contents are in excellent, crisp condition (one leaf working loose, marginal tear in margin of leaf E5, no loss). With a historiated woodcut title border to the "Apologia". Woodcut coat-of-arms to verso of final leaf of the "Confessio", and fine woodcut initials in the Saxon Confession. Text of second work in Latin and German. With 16th c. notes on the f.f.e.p. This is the authorized text of the Augsburg Confession (1st ed. 1531), approved by Luther, edited by and with the "Apologia" of Philip Melanchthon. It was printed by Georg Rhau, who also printed the first editions (both in Latin and German) of the "Confessio" and "Apologia". The "Apologia" of this 1556 edition is dated 1542 (see VD 16, ZV 31340). This edition was printed in the wake… Read More

London: Printed by G. Eld and M. Flesher, 1620. SECOND EDITION (1st 1610) of John Healy's translation of Augustine's "City of God". Hardcover. Fine. Bound in contemporary English calf, rebacked with wear to hinges; boards scuffed, corners bumped. Internally a very good copy with intermittent light marginal damp-stains, a bit darker in a few signatures. Very fine woodcut initials and headpieces. Leaves of sig. O bound out of sequence, N3 with tiny rust hole, natural paper flaw in blank margin of 2 leaves (not affecting text), small marginal paper repair to leaf Zz4. This second edition was revised by William Crashaw (1572-1626) and includes the commentary of Juan Luis Vives (first published in Basle, 1522), which Vives wrote at the suggestion of Erasmus. "Fifteen years after Augustine wrote the Confessions, at a time when he was bringing to a close (and invoking government power to do so) his long struggle with the Donatists but before he had worked himself up to action against the Pelagians, the… Read More