On the bottom half is a signed receipt, in Spanish, dated Granada 8 May 1501, wherein Germán de Paris and Jacques acknowledge receiving the above mentioned payment.

•  The usual slash of cancellation (faintly visible above), indicating that this has been entered into the account books. Remnant of stiff paper at top of verso indicating it was once mounted in an album.

The texts of the orations and "letters" of the great Athenian orator (436–338 B.C.) are printed in double-column format, with the Greek presented in exquisite Greek type in the inner columns and the Latin translation in roman type in the outer ones. A version of the famous Estienne printer's device graces the title-page.

•  Adams O219; Renouard (2nd ed.), Annales de l'imprimerie des Estienne, 155.1; Schreiber, Estienne, 225; Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, I:181; Dibdin (4th ed.), An Introduction to . . . Greek and Latin Classics, II:126. 18th-century plain calf, recently rebacked; round spine, raised bands accented with gilt ruling. Gilt-tooled center devices in spine compartments. Two gilt-lettered spine labels. Title-page dust-soiled; a library's blind pressure-stamps; properly deaccessioned with no additional stamps. A covetable exemplar. (2129)

Binding: Contemporary calf over heavy boards, panelled and framed in blind with floral, geometric, and armorial blind-tooling within panels; a pencilled note on the front free endpaper says, “Richardson binding.” There once were clasps, now lost.

Provenance:  Title-page with small inked inscription, dated 1836, of Charles Nice Davies (1794–1842), a Welsh linguist, librarian at the Congregational Library, and divinity tutor at Brecon College.

•  STC (2nd ed.) 14600.5; ESTC S112182.   Bound as above, rebacked preserving original spine; leather cracked, edges and extremities rubbed, clasps now lost, hinges (inside) reinforced some time ago. Institutionally rubber-stamped on lower closed page edges, front pastedown, and first contents page. Title-page provided in early pen and ink facsimile, with inscription as above; last text page with commentary on the book's age, dated 1724 and 1913. Early inked underlining and marks of emphasis throughout; occasional marginalia, two pages dealing with women and the Church having extensive annotations. Pp. 675/76 lacking. One leaf with tear from upper margin extending into three lines of text, without loss; one leaf with large chip from lower margin, not affecting text. Scattered spots of staining only — a clean, strong volume.  (24511)

This copy has interesting, early, but now somewhat faded marginalia in a red or sepia ink. The marginalia is scattered and is at times heavy, other times light; in some sections, it is non-existent.

A rare edition: No copy traced via OCLC; VD16 locates only three copies in Europe.

•  VD16 T2056.   Full rich brown calf old style: Round spine with raised bands, accented in gilt rule; author and title lettered on cream-colored spine label; fillets in blind extending onto covers from each band to terminate in trefoils with blind double fillets beyond. Small rent in upper inner area of title-page with a very old and good repair on verso. Library name stamped on lower edge of closed book.  (24808)

The double-page illustration is in color; it is of Münster and its churches and is dated April, 1748. The style is archaic and reminiscent of that used in the Nuremberg Chronicle.

Following Kerssenbroch's treatise are a number of leaves containing transcription of Latin documents from the 15th century and earlier.

The bulk of the text is written on paper with a fool's cap watermark and the counter mark “IV.” The hand is large and legible; the margins are generous.

Binding: Contemporary German half vellum with mottled paper sides (in shades of white, blue-green, and red); neat gilt leather title-label on spine, and all edges carmine.

Provenance:  Ex–Crozer Theological Library; then to Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School; deaccessioned.

•  On Kerssenbroch, see Catholic Encyclopedia (online). Volume bound as above; old bookplate and marks as per provenance. Text clean, ink good, and paper excellent.  (26020)

•  Moreau 1509:127; Panzer, VIII, 537, no. 324; Adams L13. Not in Schweiger. Recent calf old style, tooled in blind on spine and covers. Faint traces of water and resultant mild arrested mildew in lower outer corners of earliest few pages. Marginalia in some parts affected by a binder’s trimming; in other cases, not. All edges carmine. A very good copy.

Rare in the U.S., withWorldCat locating only one copy in America (this at Notre Dame).

•  Adams 728.   19th-century half-calf with marbled paper sides; leather (only) cracked at hinges, with volume holding quite sound. Library bookplate but no other markings.  (19937)

The Historia general de las Indias (first published in 1552) is divided into two parts which stand on their own although clearly written as two parts of a whole. Part I is a history of events concerning the discovery and conquests of the New World exclusive of those involving Cortés. Part II is entirely dedicated to the telling of Cortés's role in the conquest of Mexico and subsequent discoveries.

Click the images for enlargements.

In this Italian translation from the pen of Agostino di Cravaliz, López's “all-Cortés” volume stands as part III of the three-volume Historia, delle nuove Indie Occidentali, with parts I and II being translations of Cieza de Leon's Historia, over Cronica del gran regno del Peru and the previously mentioned part I of Gómara's Historia general de las Indias.

The text here is printed in italic type except the capitals, which are roman. The title-page is printed in roman and italic and has the woodcut printer's device.

•  Alden & Landis 564/25; Sabin 27741; Medina, BHA, 159n; Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 2v.   18th-century vellum over paste boards, soiled and a bit rubbed; red leather spine label, with a chip, and an old circular paper shelf-label. Title-page dust-soiled, mounted; small, narrow, oblong portion of blank area of title-page excised and filled in at an early time. Lacks folio 1 and final blank. Top margins closely trimmed, sometimes costing the running heads and folio numbers.  (25767)

The text here is printed in italic type except the capitals, which are roman. Leaves 292–96 containa brief study of Nahuatl and include lists of numbers, months, days, and years in that language.

Binding:  American signed binding by Coombs of Providence, R.I., for John Carter Brown (ca. 1865), with his binder's ticket. Full red morocco, round spine, raised bands; author, title, place and date of publication in gilt on spine; gilt roll on board edges; gilt inner dentelles. All edges gilt. Gilt supra-libros of John Carter Brown on front cover.

Provenance:  Ownership stamp of John Carter Brown on first leaf of preliminaries, supra-libros as above. On his death to his son John Nicholas Brown (1861–1900). On his death deeded to the John Carter Brown Library. Deaccessioned 2008.

•  Alden & Landis 560/28; Sabin 27739; Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 2t; Medina, BHA, 159n. This edition not in H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, but see 1692.   Binding as above. Lacks the title-leaf; (therefore) first leaf of preliminaries with a John Carter Brown's personal ownership stamp and his bookplate on front pastedown. Waterstaining, barely visible in many margins and lightly across text in last half. Four leaves with very old scribbling (pen trials?) in margins. A treasure with a distinguished provenance, presenting itself in the classic fashion of a 19th-century “collector's copy.”  (28914)

Born in Córdoba, Spain, Lucan (A.D. 39–65) was the grandson of the elder Seneca, nephew of the younger Seneca, and the brother of the Gallio mentioned in Acts 18. He published the Pharsalia in A.D. 62 or 63, but it seems likely that his poetic talent aroused the jealously of the vain Nero, as after its publication the emperor forbade him to write or even plead in the courts, and then later compelled him to commit suicide for alleged treason.

The editio princeps of Lucan was printed in Rome by Sweynheym and Pannartz in 1469. This edition is based on the text of the Venice 1493 edition and improved upon by Aldus after an old manuscript given to him by Marco Antonio Mauroceno, who contributed the prefatory note. The short life of Lucan appended at the end is drawn from Tacitus.

This is anice and early Aldine with spacious margins, printed in the famous Aldine italic with guide letters and space left for initials (unaccomplished). The famous anchor and dolphin device is not found here for it did not make its first appearance until late in 1502, when one issue of Dante's Terze rime introduced the image to the world presses — this dates to the earlier part of that year. A second Aldine edition was issued in 1515.

Evidence of readership: One underlining and one inked correction of a typo.

•  Schweiger, II, 560; Renouard 33, 3; Goldsmid 40; Brunet, III, 1198; Adams L1557; Isaac 12775.   20th-century vellum over boards, spine very faintly blind-stamped just with author, printer, and date inked or black-stamped; early inked “Lucanus” on top edge. A couple ink spots on the fore-edge. Title-page with old Inkstain (covering an ownership inscription?) seeping through to next leaf and old round ownership stamp mostly erased; small pink water (or wine) stain in upper outer corner terminating at f. [33]; traces in some margins of old inactive mildew and mild foxing; a couple of old ink. A good copy for one's “Bibliotheca Aldina Vetustior.”  (30101)

Text entirely in elegant Greek and with but one woodcut initial. The printer's device of a Pegasus is on the title-page.

Rare: We find no copy in WorldCat or COPAC. Moreau locates one copy in the Anglo world, at the Morgan Library.

•  Moreau, V, 228.   Full dark modern calf old style, absolutely plain without labels; spine with raised bands accented with blind rules extending onto covers to terminate in trefoils, and simple blind double fillets to covers. One old numeral inked to title-page; text unmarked with paper clean and even bright, throughout.  (25728)

Thewoodcut border on the four present title-pages feature emblems of the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John floating amidst clouds and cherubs, with a vignette below of Luther and Frederick the Wise, his most important patron, in contemporary dress kneeling before the crucifix. Text is in Latin, printed in roman and occasionally gothic type with a few instances of Greek, decorated with fine woodcut initials of varying sizes, many historiated; the margins are filled with side- and shouldernotes (very densely on some leaves). In one margin of vol. I, there is a narrow woodcut with the abbreviation “Pet Ant Ber” for Petrus Antonius Berrus, named in the adjacent passage.

Vol. II offerstwo full-page woodcuts of the monsters “pope-ass” and “monk-calf” — the subjects of the anti-Catholic pamphlet by Luther and Melancthon first published in 1523 with woodcuts by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Bindings: All very handsome 16th-century alum-tawed pigskin over bevelled wooden boards, elaborately worked in blind with rules and concentric rectangular panels with a variety of stamps and rolls including acorns, flowers, leaves, and historiated compartments accompanied by captions in Latin: “Ecce ancilla domini fiat” (Luke 1:38); “Mors ero mors tua” (Hosea 13:14); and “Ecce agnus dei qui tol[lit peccata mundi]” (John 1:29). The binding appears to besigned NM in small round stamps surrounding the innermost panel. Spines have raised bands and a manuscript title in the upper compartment, blue edges, and title inked on the top edge. Embossed metal and leather clasps intact on all volumes.

Provenance:  Theophilus Natingus (contemporary owner's inscription in ink on each title-page.

•  Benzing 2 (vols. IV & V); Adams L-1741, L-1746, L-1749, L-1752 (vol. I not in Adams). These edd. not in VD16.   Bindings as above, first five vols. only of a seven-volume set; covers soiled and abraded to varying degrees, extremities rubbed with a few minor chips. Ex-library: attractive 19th-century bookplate on front pastedowns; old pencillings. Light marginal worming on the first and last few leaves of vols. II–IV and final six leaves of vol. V All volumes with some deckled leaves and natural paper flaws, resulting in a handful of small holes and occasionally minor marginal tears; with mild foxing and age-toning on a small portion of leaves; with a reader's distinctive pencil marks in some margins. A few other spots and smudges, but overall a monumental set in contemporary clothes and good condition.  (30356)

Provenance: Charles Spencer, Third Earl of Sunderland, lot 6554 in the Sunderland Library sale (1882).

•  Adams M866. 17th-century sprinkled calf, plain sides, round spine, raised bands, gilt spine extra. Leather worn. Old dust-stain on title-page. A library's blind pressure-stamps; properly deaccessioned with no additional stamps. Speckled edges. A very good copy.

The French humanist Muret (1526–85) has long been recognized as the best Latin prose stylist of the Renaissance, and his works were used as a model for students. Greatly admired for his excellent understanding and interpretation of classical texts, he was dubbed “le meilleur orateur du temps” in Italy and France by Montaigne, whom he tutored; and Scaliger mused that Muret “satirised the Ciceronians and at the same time expressed himself in a thoroughly Ciceronian style.” LIke most of Muret's published work, these Variae are based on his academic lectures; however the scholar Lambinus accused Muret of plagiarism, and indeed it seems Muret “borrowed” bits from his work without permission. (In retaliation, Lambinus published their personal correspondence.)

Muret's personal life was fraught with tribulation stemming from multiple accusations of homosexuality in various cities where he resided. From 1559 till his death, however, he lived in Rome under the protection of at least one cardinal and a pope.

The text is in Latin and Greek, printed in roman and italic, with decorative headpieces and floriated initials. A letterpress diagram on p. 547 shows the Greek alphabet corresponding to numerals.

Provenance:  John Saltar (19th-century adolescent's signature, front pastedown); Henry Johns Gibbons, Rittenhouse (Philadelphia), 1923 (signature, front fly-leaf verso).

•  Adams M1971. On Muret, see: Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, II, pp. 148–52.   Contemporary vellum with evidence of four ties and trace of oval stamp to front cover center, ink title to spine and bottom edge; soiled, with worm to spine/ pastedowns, hinges (inside) cracked, textblock starting to loosen. Paper age-toned and foxed, with small holes from natural flaws on two leaves (and two others partially uncut); Hymni dampstained in lower inner portions (not horribly). A few early ink annotations present.  (30146)

Click the interior image for enlargement.

•  Not in Adams.   Contemporary vellum with yapp edges and remnants of ties, spine with inked title: spots of staining, light soiling, and (on spine) traces of a paper label. Lightly age-toned with occasional light soiling. Early inked notations on front pastedown and title-page. Inked call number on title-page.  (11869)

The text is complete but it is clear that the final blank and the next to the last leaf are missing; the latter would contain the “Tabula” and the colophon.

Nicolaus's text is printed in double-column format in gothic, black-letter type, with guide letters but the initials unaccomplished.

Evidence of readership:  Marginalia throughout; a small area at the beginning of four lines on A6v with early reader's inking over of the lightly printed letters (in a near perfect approximation of the gothic type).

Provenance:  Ownership signature of “G. Lunndro, Woodmansey, 1852”; bookplate of Madison University; later bookplate of Colgate University (i.e., Madison changed names in 1890); later transferred to Colgate Rochester Divinity School. Deaccessioned.

•  Not in VD16; not in Adams.   19th-century plain boards. Ex-library with bookplates of two different institutions; pressure-stamp on title- and other leaves; five-digit acquisition number stamped in lower margin of first leaf of the prologue; residue of a charge pocket on rear pastedown and ink transfer to rear free endpaper.  Final blank and the next to last leaf missing as above and marginalia as above. (26026)

The volume begins with a most handsome emblematic engraved title-page signed C. De Mallery involving a ship at sea against a sky labeled “Lutetia” (for Paris) surmounting an elaborate architectural frame containing the title and incorporating elegant symbolic ladies and more, followed on the next leaves by a dedication to the esteemed French collector Jacques-Auguste de Thou (Thuanus, 1553–1617). Beautiful floriated woodcut initials, factotum initials, head- and tailpieces decorate the text, which is anexquisite example of printing.

It seems that there were related texts printed at the same time that are sometimes found bound with this in a variety of combinations, but this not universally.

•  Adams S1061; Schweiger, I, 287.   Period-style full dark brown mottled calf tooled in blind, gilt title and tools to spine, red edges. Small hole from natural flaw in upper corner of title-page and one other leaf; oval-shaped spot in lower margin of title-page from an erasure (?), offset onto the front fly-leaf; light age-toning and occasional foxing in some margins, with a few stray ink marks from printing and maybe two or three dots from oxidization of the paper. Accounting for these minor expectable flaws, the present volume isreally very, very nice and the portraits areterrific.  (30177)

•  Not in Adams. VD16 O1015; Soltész, Catalogus librorum sedecimo saeculo . . . in Bibliotheca Nationali Hungariae . . . , O176; Seebass, Bibliographia Oseandrica, 5.2. On Osiander, see: Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 1014–15. Modern speckled paper wrappers. 19th-century elegant private library stamp, paper label with inked short title and remnants of another on title-page, small leather tab on the outer edge of leaf. A little tattering to title-page and top edge of F1 bumped; internally generally clean. Inked marginalia in an early hand: in German on the title- and last (blank) page and elsewhere in Latin, some letters shaved by the binder in a few places.

•  Adams P238, P239, P246 (1560 ed. only), P243; Brunet, IV, 356. Contemporary vellum-covered boards, spine with inked title; vellum slightly soiled, with spine title faded. All edges stained blue. First title-page mounted and several leaves with outer margins or upper outer corners reinforced, two pages with loss of a few letters at upper outer corners. Second play lacking two preliminary leaves and final register leaf. Two leaves with annotations in an early inked hand, now faded; pages with intermittent mild waterstaining.

Save just one instance of Latin, the “Impressi” printed in roman on the title-page, the entire volume is in Greek elegantly printed in black with some red, including on one leaf several capitals floating in the margin just outside the justified text. A few large floriated initials — two red, introducing the Olympia and the Pythia — and a handful of interesting small ornaments decorate the headings of major sections. The copious scholia, also printed in Greek, engulf the text, typically filling at least seventy-five percent of each page with notes on the subject, syntax, and even scansion of Pindar's poetry.

Chigi's good friend the Pope granted the right to print this work exclusively to Kallierges for five years.

Provenance:  Willm. Markham (his bookplate, front pastedown, covering another); Ed. Jameson (inscription above title).

Marks of readership: A partially legible early ink scrawl in Italian below the title and a one-line note faded to illegibility on another leaf; one missigned leaf corrected in manuscript; sparse underlining and annotations in brown and red ink; and, on eight leaves ruled for notes bound in at end, entries (one or several) in an early hand to most columns.

•  Adams P1221; Brunet, IV, 658; Dibdin, II, 286 (“scarcer and dearer than the preceding [edition]”); Graesse, V, 293–94; Sandys, II, 80 & [107]; Schweiger, I, 234; S. Fogelmark, “The 1515 Kallierges Pindar: A First Report” in [Greek title]. Studies in Honour of Jan Fredrik Kindstrand. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Graeca Upsaliensia 21, VIII, pp. 37–48, and his forthcoming monograph.   18th-century brown calf, covers bordered with gilt triple fillets and an interior roll alternating a flower and a dotted arch; marbled endpapers and all edges red. Board extremities bumped/scuffed and volume rebacked with gilt morocco spine labels (original leather discolored where laid over the new material); hinges (inside) subtly repaired with similar marbled paper. Intermittent foxing and generally light old waterstaining, the latter chiefly to lower margins or across corners but occasionally ranging upwards or across text; fore-edges of ff. 231 affected, with final leaf significantly stained and extensively repaired/reinforced without loss to text or to printer's device on the verso. A masterpiece of Renaissance printing, on thick paper.  (29671)

Available AT THIS WRITING, subject to prior sale: D (man kneeling in prayer, before a radiance), I (Sts. Peter and Paul), M (woman giving alms), and S (the Savior[?] with an orb).

•  Each leaf is offered unmatted, in a museum-recommended and -approved clear Mylar sleeve that will allow it to be enjoyed without worry of soiling it with hand oils or dust.

The text is in Latin printed in roman and italic, divided into sections for each pope and the additional treatises: De falso & vero bono, dialogi; Contra amores; De vera nobilitate; De optimo cive; Panegyricus in bessarionem doctissimum patriarcham Constantinopolitanum; and Oratio ad Paulum II . . . de bello Turcis inferendo. Woodcut initials in criblé, historiated, and floriated styles decorate the text, which is enhanced by side- and shouldernotes. Two large sections list the popes in chronological order, charting relevant dates with notes. The printer's device, incorporating Psalm 64:12 (Vulgate numbering), adorns the title- and final page.

•  VD16 P 3263; Adams P-1420; Graesse, V, 313. On Platina, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, XI, 430.   20th-century glossy black paper over boards, gilt title to red leather spine label, all edges green. Ex-library: neat 19th-century bookplate and early ink marking, front pastedown, and label to lower spine but no stamps. Light waterstaining on first 20 or so leaves and in top margin of later ones, crossing text over corner in index; hole from re-sewing in lower gutter of about 11 leaves and final quire reinforced at gutter; pin-type wormholes in upper right corner of final two leaves; negligible tear in lower corner of one leaf. Foxing, generally light, and a few stains. Minute manuscript note in ink on title-page; three instances of marginalia (two a bit cropped) on three pages including the last (dated 1677).  (30348)

The text is ornamented with woodcut initials and occasional head- and tailpieces. Panvinio's De ritu sepeliendi mortuos, De stationibus urbis Romae, and Chronicon ecclesiasticum are appended at the back (as issued), and have separate title-pages and pagination.

•  On Platina, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, XI, 430. Platina: Adams P1422; VD16 P 3264. Panvinio (Chronicon ecclesiasticum): VD16 P 250; not in Adams.   Period-style calf, covers framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-stamped compartment decorations, and raised bands ruled in blind with ornaments extending onto covers. A few small early inked marks of emphasis, one pencilled annotation; back fly-leaf with early inked numeral in upper margin now smeared and offset onto opposing page. Pages gently age-toned with occasional light spots or offsetting; waterstaining to margins of first and last few leaves; appearance overall clean and pleasing.  (27568)

Provenance:  Stamp of the Bibliothek der Fürsten- und Landesschule zu Grimma.

Evidence of readership: Sparse underlining in light early ink (pp. 137–51) and stray pencil marks.

•  De Bure 6079; Dibdin, II, 336 (“the most portable and convenient [edition]”); Hoffmann, III, 171; Moeckli 77; Renouard, 134, 2 (“supérieure aux [éditions] précédentes”); Schreiber, Estiennes, 179; Schweiger, I, 258 (“Erste u. schöne”); and Sandys, p. [105], who with Dibdin gives Paris as the printing place. On cameo bindings and for a similar example, see: C.J.H. Davenport, Cameo book-stamps, pp. 18–21.   Pigskin of rear board with natural flaw patched at time of binding, foliate roll pattern not interrupted across this, extremities rubbed, spine worn, scattered stains. Clasps fully intact. Top edge of some leaves at beginning and especially at end waterstained and lightly deteriorated; small marginal inkblots to a handful of leaves and one narrow, light in-text smear. Old institutional stamp as above and a neat shelf mark to title-page. Clean, interesting copy.  (29514)

Périon has added scholia and the publisher an index.

•  Index Aurel. 153.994; Baudrier, IX, 394; not in Adams.   Early vellum over boards, evidence of cloth ties and all edges red; author and title in an 18th-century calligraphy hand on spine and spine label of a library removed. A used copy, with front hinge open between front free endpaper and title-page; title-page soiled, old (cancelled) German library stamps on verso of same; lacks final two blank leaves (only). Some light cockling of pages, the odd spot, a very occasional note.  (28870)

Binding:  Later (but not recent) vellum over flexible boards, gilt-ruled round spine with two gilt labels (red and black); blue speckled edges and a green silk marker.

Provenance:  Bookplate of John B. Doukas, front pastedown; undeciphered ownership inscriptions in early ink on the title-page, one dated 1567.

•  Renouard, Alde, 87, 7; Adams P2215 & P1860 (Opera); Isaac 12895; Graesse, V, 498; UCLA, Aldine Press, 183. Not in Schweiger.   Bound as above, somewhat soiled and spotted and lightly rubbed at extremities; vellum pierced at spine corners in association with sewing. Title-page and final three leaves reinforced at gutter to cover wormholes; some other almost-piercings visible in index. A bit of foxing only, some leaves lightly browned, and a faint waterstain to outer margin of perhaps 20 leaves at mid-section. Temoine folded in at f. 22.  (30104)