•  Narratio: Adams C436; Brunet, II, 1009; VD16 C480 / VD16 C408. Libellus: Brunet, II, 1009; VD 16 C409; not in Adams. Tertius libellus: Brunet, II, 1009; VD16 C410. Binding as above, spine with later hand-inked paper label; binding much darkened and somewhat rubbed, one clasp intact and the other lacking. First title-page with ownership inscription dated 1559 inked in lower margin; Libellus alter lacking last leaf of preface (with errata on reverse) and Tertius libellus epistolar lacking title-page. Some corners dog-eared; two leaves with outer corners torn away, without loss to text. Early inked underlining and lining through of text, with a few marginalia, mostly in Narratio and occasionally in other two works. Last few leaves of final work with light waterstaining to lower outer corners.

Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 locate only two U.S. holdings of this edition, one since deaccessioned.

Rare.  OCLC lists only four U.S. holdings and one deaccessioned copy (the present example).

•  Brunet 22420; Graesse, II, 154. Not in Adams.   19th-century quarter olive morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped author/title; edges and extremities rubbed. Top edge gilt. Front pastedown with bookplate as above; title-page and first text page each with early inked ownership inscription. Four leaves with small repaired tears from outer margins and three likewise from upper margins, not touching text in any case. Extensive early inked marginalia in first document, scattered examples elsewhere.  (23536)

Chytraeus (1530–1600) was a German Lutheran theologian and historian and one of the authors of the Formula of Concord (1577), an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith. All of the first three editions of his Regulae Vitae (1555, 1556, 1557) are rare in U.S. libraries; only three copies of the 1555 are reported, two of the second, and one of the third, with a second copy of that last having been deaccessioned in 2006.

•  VD16 C2736; Index Aurel. 136.817.   Recent ebony-brown calf old style; round spine with raised bands accented in gilt and blind-tooled devices in compartments; single blind rules extending onto covers from each band to terminate in trefoils, and covers framed in blind double fillets and with a blind-tooled dentelle roll. Title, place of publication, and date in gilt on spine. Old repair to lower corner of title-page and that leaf reinforced at gutter; internally very good.  (25096)

The second work is Peter Martyr's commentaries on Corinthians, here in the second edition. It has a full-page woodcut portrait of him on the recto of leaf aa6. The printer's woodcut device is on the title-page and there are numerous woodcut initials. The sidenotes are printed in italic while the text proper is in roman.

Peter Martyr (8 September 1499 – 12 November 1562), was an Italian theologian who began his religious life as an Augustinian friar, converted to the Protestant cause, was closely associated on the continent with Ochino, Bucer, and some prominent Lutherans, and, while in England where he held the Regius Chair of Divinity at Oxford, was an intimate of Thomas Cranmer and Bishop Jewel.

Both works are uncommon in these editions in the U.S.: We locate four copies of the first title and two of the Vermigli, but one copy of each title has been deaccessioned, meaning current holdings are three and one only.

Binding:  Contemporary alum-tawed pig over wooden boards with bevelled edges and metal and leather clasps; one clasp perished. Leather tooled elaborately in blind using a variety of rolls and fillets, including one roll incorporating the date 1546, a medallion of David and his harp, and another medallion depicting John the Baptist with the words below the image, “Ecce Agnus Dei.”

•  Clement: VD16 C4070; Index Aurel. 104.903; Adams C2106. Vermigli: VD16 B5054; Adams M788.   Bound as above. Ex-library with bookplate on front pastedown, small blind pressure- (not perf-.) stamp on title-page and remnant of charge pocket at rear; six-digit number stamped in lower margin of one leaf. Early inked ownership indicia on title-page and old private ownership stamp on front free endpaper; a little old marginalia and underlining. A very little foxing and the odd spot only. Excellent copies of both works in a handsome contemporary binding.  (24827)

The Latin and Greek are printed in roman and italic, with side- and shouldernotes; the Wechel printer's device appears on the title-page and f. Oo8v (before the final quire).

There areno copies of this edition in the U.S., according to WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956.

Evidence of readership: Sparse annotations and marks in early ink.

•  Index Aurel. 141.560; this edition not in VD16 online, and not in Adams, but see nos. C-2140–2157 for others.   Modern half vellum over brown marbled paper-covered boards, with ink title to spine and faded blue edges nearly flush with boards. Faintly to moderately waterstained across most leaves, with occasional other spots; one lower corner torn away, the upper corner of another folded down with a number of others lightly creased, one leaf with a short marginal tear, and just one wormhole, at the outer margin of the final nine leaves (pp. 583 to end). Two stubs visible at the gutter of pp. 578–9 and 590–[91], but nothing lacking.  (29944)

This copy bears the full-page woodcut portrait of Pope Clement VII on the verso of the fourth preliminary leaf, which is not found with all copies. Additionally, the title-page bears an interesting 14-piece composite woodcut border and the verso of that page has a stunning full-page woodcut of the coat of arms of Charles V, the Holy Roman emperor, to whom the letter is addressed. The coat of arms is surrounded by the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The text is printed in roman with side- and shouldernotes; the lay-out is elegant and there is one large, handsome woodcut initial.

As usual, the letter is here bound with Peter Martyr's De Rebus, et insulis noviter repertis, which provides an account of the recently discovered islands of the West Indies and their inhabitants. It is often considered a substitute for the lost Cortés letter.

One of the most important early descriptions of Mexico and of the first encounter of the West with the Aztec civilization, this is a work of bedrock importance to the New World. No complete copy has appeared for sale since 1985.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 524/5; Sabin 16947; Harrisse, BAV, 125. Sanz 933–34; Medina, BHA, 70; Church 53; Burden 5; JCB, German Americana, 524/4; Streeter Sale 190.   18th-century half vellum and sprinkled paper over boards, gilt red leather label. Map supplied in expert facsimile; blank leaf H8 lacking. Bookplate of John Carter Brown (Library) on front pastedown, with deaccession stamp. Occasional very minor soiling in the text, else very good — a copy clean and even crisp.  (26808)

Written in Law French with some Latin, and with extended passages entirely in English in the section on “forrest” law; printed in black letter.

Provenance: Contemporary inked signatures to fly-leaf of Henry Wynn/Wine (Middle Temple?).

•  ESTC S109077; STC (2nd ed.) 6050; Lowndes, I, 558.   Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties. Pinhole or small worming throughout to top margins, touching a few letters in headings; light waterstaining to margins/corners of first/last leaves; one preliminary with just a very little bug-spotting. Paper flaws in margins of ff. 45, 164, and 172; last leaf a little tattered. Overall, very good. (21344)

While one copy of Diodorus bound with Petit's Justinus was found at Harvard, no record of the apparently extremely scarce de Marnef variant could be located.

Provenance: Charles Spencer, Third Earl of Sunderland, lot 3934 in the Sunderland Library sale (1882).

•  Diodorus: Moreau 1508:64; not in Schweiger. Justinus: not in Moreau, not in Schweiger. On Diodorus, see: Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, 146. 17th-century English calf, panelled, with gilt fleurons and elaborate front and back gilt floral center motifs, each worked with a minuteWE.  (You need a magnifying glass, but this is THERE.) Overall, showing wear with some leather chipped from spine, covers abraded, and joints starting. Pages mostly clean, with slight staining to inner margins from binding supports. Gilt cover lozenges still bright and the whole safe to be worked with.

The work was edited by Jacques Goupyl, and is laid out with the Latin translation by Jean Ruel in side-by-side columns with the Greek text.

Provenance: Early title-page inscription, “F.M. ex dono Eduardi Davenant,” possibly the scholar who was older cousin and college tutor of Thomas Fuller, author of the History of the Worthies of England.

•  Adams D656; Durling 1135; Index aureliensis 154.341; Pritzel 2295.   18th-century speckled calf (front cover) and sheep (back cover) rebacked with lighter-colored sheep preserving original gilt-stamped leather title-label; boards scuffed and worn. Title-page with inked inscription as above (and in same hand, “Illuminat mentem Lectio.” First two leaves creased; first and last few leaves with light to moderate waterstaining. A very few marginalia in a tiny, neat, early inked hand. (20639)

The text is printed in italic, with instances of roman for names and speakers (who are identified by their initials only in the dialogues), decorated with elaborate woodcut initials and small ornaments at the beginning of each major section. Two different Giolito devices appear on the title-page and the final leaf.

•  Gamba 1361n; Bongi pp. 327 & 246–49; Erdmann 29; Gay, III, 386. Not in Adams (1551 corrected ed. only). On Domenichi, see: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani online, and D. Poggiali, Memorie per la storia letteraria di Piacenza (1789), pp. 221-93.   19th-century vellum, covers ruled in ink, spine gilt extra with two black spine labels; gilt board edges, gilt page edges, marbled endpapers. Boards darkened and rubbed, headband loose, spine labels chipped with one popped off and laid in. Light foxing and scattered stains; offsetting from marginal ink annotation to leaf opposite; sparse underlining, one such dated Leeds 1890 (f. 112v).  (30109)

The present two works of preachings are scarce in the U.S., with only two institutions reporting ownership of Sechsz Christlicher Leichpredigen (one copy now deaccessioned) and only one reporting ownership of Ein Christliche predig (that copy also deaccessioned). The Sechsz Christlicher Leichpredigen ends with a two and a half pagepoem by the Dutch humanist and poet Hannard Gamerius, Eisengrein’s colleague at Ingolstadt, where Gamerius taught Greek.

Each work has its title-page printed in red and black; the printing throughout is neat and typical.

•  Sechsz: VD16 E817; Index Aurel. 159.363. Ein: VD16 E789; Index Aurel. 159.362.   Full dark modern calf old style, with simple blind double fillets bordering covers and a chain rule as vertical accent towards spine; spine without labels and with gilt-touched raised bands accented by blind rules extending onto covers to terminate in trefoils. Text unmarked; light overall age-toning.  (26143)

Schreiber calls this uncommon work “a volume of major importance to the history of Western thought, which rightly belongs on the same shelf with the first editions of Plato and Aristotle.”

Provenance:  Title-page with early inked inscription in upper margin, “Sum Joannis Forestij,” and additional early inked inscription mostly inked over; first fly-leaf with two early words inked, one also “Forestii.”

•  Adams P1682; Brunet, II, 1080; Renouard 140.8; Schreiber, Estiennes, 187; Schweiger, I, 104.   Contemporary vellum over paste boards, spine with remnants of early paper shelving label; minor dust-soiling. No pastedowns, and front fly-leaves with outer edges slightly ragged, scraped by turn-ins; front turn-in at top with affixed printed numeral (early) on small slip of paper. Title-page with old rubber-stamp; a few leaves with mild waterstaining to lower outer portions, pages otherwise quite clean. All edges sprinkled red. A nice copy of a desirable work.  (29094)

In the Agonisticon, Faber compares the minutia of athletic contests — exercise regimens, rules, ritualistic elements — to sacred ceremonies, using the athletic competitions of antiquity to illustrate and reconfirm Catholic dogma, specifically the orthodox doctrines established by the Council of Trent. Faber's analysis of classical sport — from myriad ancient sources that he cites thoroughly throughout — leads him to conclusions about imperial jurisprudence and modern government, which is like a patristic palaestra (Zerbini, p. 44).

The text is printed in Latin and Greek, roman and italic, with elaborate floriated initials, ornaments, and head- and tailpieces including a wonderful ox head among those last. The margins are packed densely with extensive sidenotes that extend on some leaves into the bottom margin like footnotes.

•  VD16 F 2908. See Brunet, II, 1401 for 1585 and 1596 eds. On Fenton, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Contemporary vellum, covers framed in blind, spine with early hand-inked title; vellum moderately dust-soiled, joints repaired, upper corners and edges rubbed. Early pages with inked underlining; a few subsequent instances of pencilled bracketing. Scattered light staining, pages mostly clean.  (27755)

Curio's printer's device (Heitz, Basel, 108) appears on the title-page with another version (Heitz: Basel, 111) on both leaf 2D8v and last leaf verso.

Provenance:  17th-century shelfmark in gilt at base of spine ( “V” over “IX”); 18th-century ownership inscription (name only) of José de Giunta Lobo and late-19th-century inscription of James J. Woolsey on title-page. Woolsey's signature again at head of col. 2 of text. 19th-century stamp of defunct library on title-page.

Via WorldCat we locate only three copies in the U.S.

•  VD16 G1757.   Mid-17th-century plain sheep with early (!!) repairs to head and foot of spine and to fore-edges of covers. Lacking 12 leaves of the preliminaries, we believe by someone's intention. Minor worming (mostly pinhole type) touching some letters; early and late leaves dust-soiled; short tears in some margins of early leaves. An interesting copy of a scarce edition.  (27258)

In any case, this work is a standard early European work on the history of China and of the European travellers and missionaries to it. The details are gleaned from previously published works but were augmented by some unpublished or oral sources.

For Americanists, pp. 301–79 are the most important, being Father Martin Ignacio's account of his voyage from Spain to China by way of the Spanish Main, Mexico, and the Philippines. The pages on his time in Mexico include an important account of the Espejo Expedition to and discovery of New Mexico.

Provenance:  Ex–John Carter Brown Library, with its bookplate.

•  Palau 105504; Adams G868; Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, 10; Lowendahl 30; Sabin 27778 ; Leclerc 261; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 586/34; Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 7j.   19th-century half calf with sprinkled edges; interior with the usual browning and stains that characterize 1580s editions printed at Rome, these varying by section with the paper. Short closed tear to title-page and one leaf with lower corner lost, taking a bit of lowest shouldernote; lacking pp. 263–66 (Franciscans in China — an interesting omission/excision!). Library bookplate on front pastedown with its small release stamps. Rather a nice copy with distinguished provenance for the busted bibliophile.  (28311)

Hephastio's Greek is elegantly printed here in at least two sizes — with accents and scansion marks (but without breath-marks) and with letterpress diagrams — by Adrien Turnèbe (1512–65), Greek professor at the Royal College andthe King's Printer in Greek from September 1551 until July 1555. The title-page bears his printer's mark, one of three official devices used by the Imprimeur du roi pour le grec (see P. Renouard, Marques, p. 471).

The beautiful “grecs du roi” types were commissioned by François I in 1542 for use by the first Royal Printer in Greek, Robert Estienne. Claude Garamond cut the new font after the script of Angelo Vergecio of Crete, to print unpublished manuscripts from the library at Fontainebleau; his matching floriated initials and elaborate headpieces were said by Updike to be “among the best of the printed decorations used in the sixteenth century”and scattered examples of them appear here.

Evidence of readership: One faded ink annotation on p. 3.

•  Adams H287; Schweiger, I, p. 133 (“Verbess. Ausg.”); D.B. Updike, Printing Types (quoted in Schreiber, Estiennes, 77).   Modern quarter brown calf over marbled boards, spine modestly gilt and with a green morocco label (paper lightly rubbed at board extremities). Trimmed a little close in the upper margin well removed from running headlines and age-toned with scattered light inkspots; a few leaves reinforced at gutter and the majority well repaired at the very lowest gutter to cover a small bit of worming, still visible at pp. 95–[98].  (29673)