
17TH-CENTURY BOOKS
A-B Bibles C D-F G H-J
K-La Lb-Lz M-O P Q-S T-Z
The ELZEVIR FAMILY operated active presses in Leyden, The Hague, Utrecht, and Amsterdam from 1585 to 1712, with their greatest, most characteristic work being done across the heart of the 17th century roughly 163065. The great WING BIBLIOGRAPHY of books printed in Great Britain and British America, and English-language books printed in other countries, covers the years 16411700.
For
easy browsing by dedicated collectors, our ELZEVIR
PRESS and WING books are offered
separately,
under THEIR
OWN SECTIONS on the Topic/Interest table,
as well as below.
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Famous for Its
Maps of the Holy Land
& Based on Sources Now Lost
Adrichem (a.k.a. Adrichom), Christiaan van. Theatrum Terrae Sanctae et biblicarum historiarum cum tabulis geographicis aere expressis. [colophon: Coloniae Agrippinae: Officina Birckmannica, sumptibus Hermanni Mylij, 1628]. Folio (37 cm; 14.5"). [6] ff., 256 pp., [15] ff.; 12 fold. or double-page engr. maps.
$10,000.00
Next to the last edition, and fifth overall, of Adrichem's important and influential work on the Holy Land. Adrichem (1533–85) was a Delft-born priest (a.k.a. Christianus Crucius) who wrote several works on Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
Theatrum Terrae Sanctae is famous for its engraved maps, but the work is justly sought for its descriptions of Palestine and the antiquities of Jerusalem. Additionally the work contains a chronology from Adam to 1585, the year of the author's death.

First published in 1590, Theatrum Terrae Sanctae had subsequent editions in 1593, 1600, 1613, 1628, and 1682; and was translated in several languages, including English. Because Adrichem used contemporary sources that are now lost, the work is important for the history of Palestine and Israel during the last half of the 16th century.
The work begins with an engraved allegorical title-page, has woodcut initials and tailpieces, and bears
12 folding or double-page engraved maps. The text is printed in roman type in double-column format.
VD17 12:119393Z; Bibliographia Belgica A 131; Tobler 210; Röhricht 210–11. Recent full black morocco, tooled in coppery gilt old style. Some browning to maps, a few very old repairs to same; endpapers and some other leaves with instances of darkening at edges, the leaf “behind” the largest folding element showing this most strikingly (and showing it extended farthest into the margins). Foremargins brittle and some with short tears or with strengthening strips.
In all, a good+ copy and a very handsome volume. (24104)
Allix, Pierre. Dissertatio de Trisagii origine. Rothomagi: Apud Joannem Lucas, 1674. 8vo (18.2 cm, 7.125"). A–I4; 70 pp., [1 (blank)] f.
$1000.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Peter Allix (1641–1717) was a Huguenot pastor and theologian noted for his works on theology and Church history: In this work he investigates the origins of the well-known Greek hymn, the Trisagion, i.e., “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us” that also figures prominently in Western liturgies. Obliged to flee France following the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, he continued his academic writings (now in English) and—using the Anglican liturgy—founded a French church in London.
This
sole edition is ornamented with a woodcut printer’s device and a woodcut headpiece and initial; the text is referenced with sidenotes.
Rare: Only two copies traced in the U.S. via OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956.
Provenance: Bookplate of Virtue & Cahill Library (the library of Portsmouth’s Catholic Cathedral) no. 8783, with a large overlaid rubber-stamp thereon starkly, blackly noting the dispersal and eventual sale of the library “following enemy action”—the cathedral having been bombed by the Germans in 1941.
On Allix, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, I, 334–35. 19th- or early 20th-century half calf over marbled paper, spine with gilt title; edges of leather with a dog’s tooth roll in blind. Leather rubbed, especially on joints and edges. Some soiling and waterstaining, mostly light and most notable on early leaves, with some small wormholes in the margins; a little fine chipping and some shallow dog-ears. Old inked ownership inscription on title-page, crossed out but still legible.
17th-Century French Politics: “François, que faites-vous?”
Anonymous. [drop-title] Cassandre françoise. [Paris: 1615]. 8vo (17.1 cm, 6.75"). 22, [2 (blank)] pp.
$750.00

Anonymous political pamphlet warning of impending disaster for all of France as a result of the proposed marriage between Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, making use of classical analogies for various important figures and events. The title is taken from the header; Lindsay & Neu's main entry for the piece describes the work has having 16 pages, although at least three holdings describe 22 pages as seen here.WorldCat and Lindsay & Neu combine to locate eight copies in the U.S.
Click the images for enlargements.
Lindsay & Neu 3238 (note collation variation). Recent paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. A few pages institutionally pressure-stamped; inked numeral in upper outer corner of p. 2. Light foxing; pinhole worming in lower margins, not touching text. Two leaves with inner margins reinforced. A nice copy of an uncommon item. (27773)

“Les villages, les chemins, les rues . . . disent de Madame la Mareschalle
choses horribles, que elle est sorciere”
Anonymous. [drop-title] L'italien francois. [Paris?: ca. 1615]. 8vo (17.7 cm, 7"). 8 pp.
$850.00

Uncommon pamphlet examining the accusations against the much-hated Concino Concini, Mareschal d'Ancre, and his wife, including
Madame la Mareschalle's supposed practice of sorcery. The title here is taken from the header.
WorldCat and Lindsay & Neu combine to locate only three copies in the U.S.
Click the images for enlargements.
Lindsay & Neu 3437. Recent paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. All four leaves pressure-stamped. Clean. (27779)

“The
Foule Mist of
Anabaptisme”
Anonymous. A short history of the Anabaptists of High and Low Germany. London: Robert Austin, 1647. 4to (19.3 cm, 7.6"). [2], 56 pp.
$600.00
Third edition, following the first of 1642 and second of 1643, of this uncommon anti-Baptist diatribe, in which the unidentified author accuses Anabaptists of being false to the true
Reformed religion and likely to “bring us in time to community of wives, community of goods, and destruction of all” (p. 56).
Click the images for enlargements.
ESTC R30642; Wing (rev. ed.) S3598. Later plain paper wrappers with edge wear and chipping at spine. Title-page with very old institutional pressure-stamp and early inked numeral in upper margin. Outer corners stained, edges ragged; one leaf with upper outer corner torn away, with loss of a few words; title-page darkened and last page stained; still a good, usable copy. (25531)
REGICIDE Pilloried Sort Of
Anonymous. Invisible John made visible: or, A grand pimp of tyranny portrayed, in Barkstead’s arraignment at the barre, vvhere he stands impeached of high treason, and other gross misdemeanours, as the late tyrant’s bum-bayliff in his most arbitrary, oppressive and tyrannical invasions of the rights and liberties of Engli sh-men, within the late cantonized county of Middlesex, the City of London Tower, &c. Whereunto are added, five queries, to the Parliament, Council of State, and Army.... London: no publisher/printer, 1659. Small 4to. [1] ff., 6 pp.
$850.00

A satire on Sir John Barkstead, one of the “regicides” who tried and executed Charles I. Barkstead was one of the commissioners at trial and in his career was also a major-general, a favorite of Cromwell, and lieutenant of the Tower of London. In 1662 it was his turn to meet the executioner, professing his belief in the lawfulness of his actions.
Click the image for an enlargement.
There exist at least four different editions of this work. In this edition, line 9 of the title begins “VVhere” and line 19 has “Parliament, Council of State, and Army.”
Wing (rev. ed.) I289aA; ESTC R234704. Removed from a nonce volume and now in later
wrappers. (21001)
Dutch
Opinions on
the
Spanish
Inquisition
Avontroot, Johannes
Bartholomeus. Den grouwel der verwoestinghe, oft grondich bericht
ende ontdeckinghe, van de gronden der Spaensche inquisitie. In s'Graven-haghe:
Aert Meuris, 1621. 4to (19.7 cm, 7.75"). [28], 212 pp.
[SOLD]
Scarce first edition of this anti-Catholic Dutch treatise on the Inquisition, attributed to Avontroot (or Avontrot) by Universiteitsbibliotheek Amsterdam.
Avontroot was executed by the Inquisition at Toledo in 1632.
This copy lacks the work by González de Montes, a.k.a. Reginaldus Gonsalvius Montanus, which should follow p. 212. It is largely printed in black letter.
Uncommon. OCLC finds only two holdings in the U.S., one being this copy, now properly deaccessioned, and the other at the John Carter Brown Library. NUC Pre-1956 does not identify any additional copies.
Vekené, Bib. der Inquisition, 139-140; Boehmer, Bibliotheca Wiffeniana, 290 (identifying the volume as the second Dutch translation of the Montanus work not
present here). 19th-century half calf with marbled paper-covered sides; joints and corners rubbed. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate, title-page with early inked ownership inscription in upper margin. Pages age-toned with some mild waterstaining; one leaf with lower outer corner torn away, not affecting text. (19569)
Bacon,
Francis. ...Opera omnia, cum novo eoque insigni augmento tractatuum
hactenus ineditorum, & ex idiomate anglicano in latinum sermonem translatorum,
opera Simonis Johannis Arnoldi, ecclesiae Sonnenburgensis inspectoris. Lipsiae:
Impensis Johannis Justi Erythropili, excudebat Christianus Goezius, 1694. Folio
(33.5 cm, 13.25"). ):(6 A–Z6 Aa–Zz6 Aaa–Iii6
Kkk–Zzz4 Aaaa–Hhhh4 Iiii6 [-):(1];
[8] ff., 1584 columns, [49 (index)] pp. (half-title lacking).
$850.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.

Simon Johann Arnold’s edition of Bacon’s collected works, translated into Latin from the original English, published simultaneously at Leipzig and Copenhagen. Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626), in addition to rising to the office of Lord Chancellor, was a prolific and lively-minded writer, noted by the Oxford Companion to English Literature as “capable of varied and beautiful styles” and as exhibiting “a peculiar magnificence and picturesqueness in much of his writing.” This Opera is a more complete collection of Bacon’s literary, scientific, and philosophical productions than the first, which was published in 1665.
This offers evidence of early readership in form of underlining in ink and occasional marginal notations, confined to early portion of the tome.
Gibson, Bacon, 243a. On Bacon, see: Oxford Companion to English Literature, 56–57. Contemporary vellum, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum showing minor scuffing and spots of discoloration. Front pastedown with a 19th-century bookplate; front free endpaper with edge nicks and short edge tears. Lacking half-title. Early inked marginalia and underlining, as above; leaves age-toned with intermittent light offsetting and foxing. One leaf with short tear from upper margin, not extending into text.

“Fundamentall
to the Erecting
& Building of
a
True Philosophy”
Bacon in ENGLISH
— As (See
above) He So Often is NOT
Bacon, Francis. Sylva sylvarum or a naturall history in ten centuries. London: Pr. by J.H. for William Lee, 1627. 8vo (27.6 cm, 10.9"). Frontis., add. engr. t.-p., [10], 266, [16], 47, [3] pp. (lacking final blank f.).
$3000.00
Single-click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
First edition, second issue of this compendium of scientific (and also quaintly “traditional”) knowledge, with the frontispiece dated 1626 and the engraved title-page 1627. The DNB notes that “Bacon’s miscellaneous collection of observations and experiments in natural history was published by Dr. Rawley in 1627, the year after Bacon’s death, but the preface was written by Rawley during his lifetime and the first issue has a letterpress title dated 1626 (the engraved title is 1627 in both issues).”
Added (as issued) to the Sylva sylvarum is Bacon's utopian
New Atlantis, an unfinished allegorical fantasy begun shortly after his political downfall and not long before his death. Together, the two works exemplify Bacon's scientific and literary accomplishments.
The added engraved title-page, bearing the motto “Et vidit Deus lucem quod esset bona,” was done by Thomas Cecill; the frontispiece portrait of Bacon is unsigned. There are some very handsome headpieces and initials.
Provenance: Riggs family: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of philanthropist Elisha Francis Riggs, who funded the Riggs Library at Georgetown University; volume inherited by T. Lawrason Riggs, founding chaplain of St. Thomas More Chapel, Yale University; donated to St. Thomas More Chapel Library; deaccessioned 2008.
ESTC S106924; STC (2nd ed.), 1169; Gibson, Bacon, 171. On Bacon, see: Dictionary of National Biography. 18th-century calf framed in gilt single fillet, spine with recent gilt-stamped leather title and author labels, board edges with gilt roll; a little rubbed and covers with portions darkened. All edges stained yellow. Front pastedown with bookplate as above. Some pages gently age-toned, with occasional minor spotting. Small hole to added engraved title-page just beneath publication information, not affecting text. Final blank leaf (only) lacking. (24666)

“Sprinkling” Is Best
Bakewell, Thomas. A iustification of two points now in controversie with the Anabaptists concerning baptisme. London: Pr. for Henry Sheperd & William Ley, 1646. 4to (18.9 cm, 7.4"). [2], 30 pp.
$350.00
First edition of this rebuttal of Tombes's Two Treatises . . . Concerning Infant Baptisme and Hobson's Fallacy of Infant Baptisme Discovered, preceding the 1650 publication of the author's The Dippers Plunged in a Sea of Absurdity. The first point is that “Infants of Christians ought to be Baptized,” and the second that “the Sprinckling the Baptized more agreeth with the minde of Christ then Dipping or Plunging in or under the Water.”
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The printer bordered the title-page, used two nice initials, supplied one elegant headpiece, and added several other modest embellishments.
Uncommon: ESTC, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956 locate only seven U.S. holdings, two of which have been deaccessioned.
Wing (rev. ed.) B534; ESTC R5282. Later marbled paper wrappers. Title-page with author's name inked in an early hand; early inked shouldernotes throughout marking biblical citations. Trimmed closely, affecting one final line (without loss of sense) and marginalia. Pages age-toned. (25549)
Baldaeus, Philippus. Wahrhaftige ausführliche beschreibung der berühmten ostindischen kusten Malabar und Coromandel, als auch der insel Zeylon... Amsterdam: Brey Johannes Janssonius & Joannes von Someren, 1672. Folio (31.5 cm, 12.5"). *4 A–Z4 Aa–Zz4 Aaa–Zzz4 Aaaa–Fff4 Gggg6 2*4 **4 ***4; [3] ff., 610 pp., [13] ff., 16 fold. maps/plans, 18 fold. plts., and in-text illus.
$5000.00
Missionary and keen observer, Phillipus Baldaeus (1632–72), recounts his travels in and to, and the history of the east coast of Malabar and Roromandel, the island of Ceylon, and the adjacent kingdoms and principalities. He tells of the cities, harbors, buildings, temples, natural history and society. In doing so, he demonstrates a fascination with the Hindu religion, its gods, ceremonies, and beliefs.
Click any image for an enlargement.
The work is highly illustrated and the engravings, being
16 folding maps/plans, and 18 folding plates, are of battles, plans of fortresses, maps of areas, statutes, etc. Three double-page engraved tables are of scripts. The in-text illustrations, which are just as detailed and impactful, are numerous.
An important book on the rising Dutch presence in the East Indies and concomitant diminution of the Portuguese hegemony. This is the first edition in German; a Dutch-language edition also appeared in 1672.
Landwehr, VOC, 557. 18th-century calf, gilt spine extra. Binding shows wear, with abrasions and leather lost; joints starting. Once in a library and bearing the odd pencilling, but no stamps. Clean copy.
A PRB&M “FEATURED BOOK”
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17th-Century
Puebla Imprint
Barcia y Zambrana, José de. Epistola exhortatoria en orden a que los predicadores evangelicos no priven de la doctrina a las almas en los sermones de fiestas. Puebla: Impr. de D. Fernandez de Leon, 1693. Small 4to. [3] ff., 106 pp.
$1875.00
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First New World printing and the first separate printing of this work which had first appeared in 1692 in the author's Despertador eucharistico. The title is printed within a border of type ornaments and the text is rather handsomely printed in roman and italic types with a few large decorative woodcut initials. There are side- and shouldernotes. This edition was ordered to be printed by Antonio de Benavides y Bazan, the patriarch of the Indies.
Uncommon: We locate five copies in the U.S.
Medina, Puebla, 159. Contemporary limp vellum with ties. Front hinge (inside) partially open and old repair to top of spine; text block starting to separate from binding, but still strong. Large private ownership stamp on front free endpaper. Unidentified marca de fuego on top edge. In all, a decent copy. (25111)

Barclay's
Satyricon
Barclay, John. Euphormionis Lusinini sive Joannis Barclaii Satyricon partes quinque cum clavi. Accessit conspiratio anglicana. Lugd. Batavorum: Elzevirios, 1637. 12mo (12.5 cm, 4.9"). 717, [1] pp.
$450.00
First Elzevir printing of one of the earliest satirical romans à clef: An anti-Jesuit picaresque novel, written by a Scottish Catholic and here in the complete five parts. Elzevir produced two editions in the same year — this is the first, with pp. 207 and 209 numbered 107 and 109. The volume opens with an engraved title-page.
Click the images for enlargements.
Brunet, I, 652; Willems 452. Late 18th-century plain morocco, turn-ins with gilt roll, rebacked some time ago with lighter morocco; old leather rubbed and variably discolored, front cover with old patch repair. Front free endpaper with pencilled annotations and affixed cataloguing slip. A few pages with faint staining, most clean. One leaf with small paper flaw affecting about six letters. All edges gilt. (27391)

First
ENGLISH Appearance: Life of Ximenes
Baudier, Michel. The history of the administration of Cardinal Ximenes, great minister of state in Spain. London: John Wilkins, 1671. 8vo (16.7 cm, 6.6"). Frontis., [48], 150 pp. (final blank f. lacking).
$650.00
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First English edition: Biography of Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436–1517), the legendary archbishop of Toledo, confessor to Queen Isabella, regent of Spain, sponsor of the Complutensian Polyglot, and Grand Inquisitor from 1501 through 1517. Written by a French historian born in Languedoc, the work was here translated by Walter Vaughan; curiously, it seems not to have been translated into Spanish — unlike a slightly later history with a similar title, written by Esprit Fléchier. This edition bears woodcut decorative initials and
a striking copper-engraved frontispiece portrait of Cardinal Cisneros, done by Thomas Cross.
ESTC R6814; Wing (rev. ed.) B1164; Lowndes 3014; Allibone 2513. Not in Brunet. Recent quarter morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Lower edges (closed) institutionally rubber-stamped; frontispiece recto rubber-stamped and with inked ownership inscription; title-page and last text page pressure-stamped. Pages age-toned with occasional light spotting; edge speckling sometimes bleeding into margins. Lacking final blank (only); all edges speckled brown. (25935)
Baudius, Dominicus. Amores, edente Petro Scriverio, inscripti Th. Graswinckelio. Lugduni-Batavorum: Francisci Hegerus & Hackius, 1638. 12mo. [6] ff., 518 pp., [1] f.; illus.
$400.00
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Compilation of prose and poetry on the many facets of love: writings on the death of a wife, on the choice of a wife, on marriage, and on classical writers and their views of love. Writers include Pieter Schrijver (1576–1660), Lelio Capilupi (1497?–1560?), Jean Gaspard Gevaerts (1593–1666), Ausonius, Erasmus, Sir Thomas More, and Daniel Hiensius. The text is printed in roman and italic type and there is one full-page engraving — a portrait of Baudius.
This work is the first listed in all bibliographies under Louis Elzevir’s press at Amsterdam. In fact both the Elzevir edition of 1638 and this have the same colophon: “Lugduni-Batavorum: Typis Georgii Abrahami vander Marse, MDCXXXVIII.” And both collate the same, the only difference being the printer’s device and imprint information on the title-page.
Uncommon: Searches of OCLC, RLIN, & NUC locate fewer than ten copies in U.S. libraries.
Provenance: The Rev. Edward A. Dalrymple (Baltimore collector, mid–19th century); his collection given to the Maryland Diocesan Library; that library sold in 2006.
Rahir 1876; Willems 961 note. Contemporary vellum over light boards; spine delicately and lightly tooled in gilt. Ex–Maryland Episcopal Diocesan Library with stamp on front pastedown. One natural paper flaw; occasional early underlining.

Voice
of the
Huguenots
in EXILE
Benoist, Elie. Histoire et apologie de la retraite des
pasteurs, a cause de la persecution de France. Francfurt: Jean Corneille, 1687. 8vo (16.3 cm,
6.4"). [10], 286, [8] pp.
$850.00
First edition, attributed by Barbier to Benoist, famed historian of the Edict of
Nantes. The author here defends the emigration of the Huguenot pastors against anonymously
published accusations that the ministers had deserted their charges in favor of self-preservation.
Benoist himself had been pastor to the Protestant congregation at Alençon before taking refuge in
Delft, and responded earnestly to the imputation of cowardice with this careful, thorough
vindication of his fellow ministers' conduct in the face of Catholic oppression.
Click the images for enlargements.
This was most likely a false imprint, probably printed in the Netherlands; no other works
printed by “Jean Corneille” are recorded, and no other works by Benoist were printed in
Germany during the time of his exile.
Uncommon:
OCLC locates only six U.S. institutional holdings, one of which has since
been deaccessioned.
VD17 12:116486H; Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages
anonymes et pseudonymes, 800. Period-style speckled calf framed and
panelled in gilt with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-dotted raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; binding signed in blind on lower
rear turn-in by Grace Bindings. Title-page and last page institutionally pressure-stamped; title-page verso with rubber-stamp “Ex Biblioth. Regia Berolinensi,” with superimposed deaccession
stamp; first page of preface with inked numeral in lower margin; lower (closed) edges rubber-stamped. Front fly-leaf with annotations on Benoist and first portion of volume with inked
marginalia in an early hand. Pages age-toned with light spotting. (25851)

On the Legitimacy of
Divorce
Bèze, Théodore de. Tractatus de repudiis et divortiis, in quo pleraeque de causis matrimonialibus (quas vocant) incidentes controversiae ex Verbo Dei deciduntur. Additur Iuris Civilis Romanorum, & veterum his de rebus Canonum examen, ad ejusdem Verbi Dei, & aequitatis normam. Lugduni Batavorum: Ex officina Francisci Moyardi (colophon: Philippi de Croy), 1651. 12mo (12.3 cm, 4.9"). [8], 315, [13 (index)] pp.
$475.00
17th-century printing: Calvinist theologian Theodore Beza's treatise on Reformed Church doctrine regarding marriage and divorce, originally published in 1569. Beza here argues that a betrothal may be annulled and that adultery and desertion are scripturally sanctioned grounds for divorce, whereas other causes are inventions of civil law. Another edition appeared in the same year, adding Beza's treatise on polygamy, but that work is neither called for nor present here.
Click the images for enlargements.
This ed. not in Brunet. 19th-century plain paper–covered boards, spine with hand-inked paper label; bindingstained and rubbed, spine faded, paper chipped at joints and extremities. Front pastedown with traces of now-absent bookplate and with early inked numeral; front free endpaper with early inked inscription of G.G. Gumpelzhaimer. Light waterstaining to upper and outer portions of first few leaves, occasional light staining elsewhere, pages generally clean overall. All edges red. (26311)

“You desire mine opinion . . . ”
B[lake], T[homas]. A moderate ansvver to these two questions. 1. Whether ther [sic] be sufficient ground in Scripture to warrant the conscience of a Christian to present his infants to the sacrament of baptism. 2. Whether it be not sinfull for a Christian to receiv [sic] the sacrament in a mixt assembly. London: Printed by I.N. for Abel Roper, at the signe of the Sunne over against S. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street, 1645 [i.e., 1644]. 4to. [2], 32 pp.
$400.00
“Prepared for the resolution of a friend, and now presented to the publick view of all, for the satisfaction of them who desire to walk in the ancient and long-approved way of truth and holiness.”
Click the image for an enlargement.
ESTC R12103; Wing (rev. ed.) B3148. Removed from a nonce volume, edges speckled red; spine reinforced with archival tape. Ex-library with some pencillings and perforation- and rubber-stamps. Worming to last leaves, entirely within gutter margins; light waterstaining. (25705)
Boileau
Despréaux, Nicolas. Œuvres diverses du Sieur D***
avec le traité du sublime ou du merveilleux dans le discours, traduit du
Grec de Longin. Paris: Claude Barbin (pr. by Denys Thierry), 1674. 4to (25.3 cm,
10"). π2A–R4S8T–Y4Z2π1*4a2-4b–o4;
Frontis., [4], 178, [12], [3]–102, [10 (index & colophon)] pp., 1 plt.
$4000.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Early edition, following the first of 1670; this is the first edition to appear under the Œuvres title, and contains nine satires, the first four epistles, L’art poëtique, and a number of other shorter pieces, followed by the Traité du sublime ou du merveilleux dans le discours, translated from Longinus. The handsomely printed volume has much of its text set in italic type, decorated with woodcut tailpieces, typographic and woodcut headpieces, and ornamental capitals. Margins are generous, layout is attractive. P. Landry designed and engraved the classically themed frontispiece, with the plate preceding Le Lutrin having been done by F. Chausseau.
Binding: 19th-century signed binding by Léon Gruel: Oxblood morocco framed in gilt double fillets containing a background of gilt-stamped fleurs-de-lis around a central ornamented cartouche. Spine gilt extra, with elaborate gilt-stamped inner dentelles over silk endpapers. All edges gilt over marbling. Silk bookmarker woven with binder’s information!


Provenance: Front fly-leaf with armorial bookplate of New York attorney and book collector Frederic Robert Halsey, and with decorative medieval-inspired bookplate of “G.E.” Volume with laid-in handwritten note signed by Gruel, on Gruel-Engelmann letterhead, dated 1892.
Brunet, I, 1056; DeBacker, Auteurs du XVIIe siècle, 1020; Tchemerzine, II, 271. Binding as above, nearly perfect save for just a touch of rubbing to the spine extremities, in cloth-covered slipcase, worn, with cloth starting to split over edges. Frontispiece and title-page separating from binding; title with red-tinted signs, near edges, that the marbling process did not go entirely smoothly; upper margins of several other leaves with hints of very faint waterstaining. Otherwise, clean and quite lovely.
Bona, Giovanni. Manuductio ad coelum medullam continens sanctorum patrum, & veterum philosophorum. Parisiis: Apud Robertum Pepie, 1692. 12mo (14.6 cm, 5.75"). A–S8,4 T2; [3] ff., 214 pp.
$495.00

Relying on insights from the Church Fathers and some ancient philosophers, this popular spiritual work has been compared to the Imitation of Christ because of the simplicity of its style. First published in 1658, it saw 14 Latin editions in its first four decades; it was also translated into Armenian, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. The author, Giovanni Cardinal Bona (1609–74), was a Cistercian monk and abbot noted as much for his scholarship as for preserving the great simplicity of his lifestyle even after he had attained high rank in the Church.
On Bona, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 655. Speckled paper over light boards, lightly soiled. Interior with some light soiling, especially on outer pages and upper edges, and a little faint waterstaining.

A Jesuit Pioneer in
India & Japan
Bouhours, Dominique. La vie de Saint François Xavier, de la Compagnie de Jésus, apostre des Indes et du Japon. Nouvelle édition. Paris: Chez Guillot, 1787. 12mo (16 cm, 6.5"). 2 (of 2) vols. I: 24, 442, [2] pp. (lacks frontis.) II: [4], 418, [1] pp.
$900.00

Later edition of this French Jesuit's biography of Saint Francis Xavier, in two volumes; first pu blished in Paris, in 1682, it is here complete in six books, with a “Table des Matières” at end of second volume. Per Sommervogel, it is the “edition du P. Brolier, qui a mis on tête la lettre de Condé au P. Talon sur cette Vie et l'a fait suivre d'observations.”
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The New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia notes that Dominique Bouhours (1632–1702) was best known to English readers as the author of this much-reprinted work and an earlier life of Ignatius of Loyola; for a long time these were “the most widely circulated biographies” of the two saints. Bouhours also achieved prominence for his anti-Jansenist writings.
The pair of volumes were nicely printed, with some nicely engraved head- and tailpieces. The text offers sidenotes.
Rare. A search of OCLC records only two copies, of which this is one, now deaccessioned.
De Backer-Sommervogel, I, 1904–1905; Cordier, Bibliotheca Japonica, 146. Recent full calf, covers framed and panelled with single gilt fillets and with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spines gilt extra, with gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels, gilt publication date at foot, and elaborately gilt-tooled floral decorations in compartments; marbled endpapers. Tear in outer margin of pp. 269/270, just barely touching sidenotes; very occasional foxing; offsetting from leather of previous binding affecting first and last leaves at margins, including title-pages. Ex-library, with faint penciled notations on verso of title-page and at base of following page in each volume. Vol. I lacks the frontispiece portrait. Faults noted, still a good copy and in an attractive binding. (24526)

Work of an Important
DUTCH CALVINIST Historian
Boxhorn, Marcus Zuerius van. Nederlantsche historie. Eerste boeck, behelsende de eerste veranderingen in de Godsdienst ende leere, neffen de harde vervolgingen daer over ontstaen in de Nederlanden, voor ende tot de tijden toe van Keiser Karel de Viifde. Leyden: Cornelis Banheining, 1649. 4to (21.7 cm, 8.5"). [16], 214 (i.e., 216) pp.
$975.00
Sole edition of this Dutch history covering the years 1000 to 1497 a.d., written by Boxhorn (1612–53), a linguist, political scientist, and professor at the University of Leiden. Despite the title, no second volume appears to have been published.
OCLC fails to locate any U.S. institutional holdings.
Later quarter vellum and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with neatly inked title; vellum moderately soiled. Pages age-toned but otherwise clean, trimmed rather closely. (25990)
Buxtorf,
Johann. Florilegium Hebraicum: Continens elegantes sententias,
proverbia, apophthegmata, similitudines.... Basileae: Impensis Haered. Ludovici
König, 1648. 8vo (16.7 cm, 6.55"). )(8A–Z8Aa–Bb8;
[16], 390, [8 (index)] pp.
$600.00
Sole edition of this gathering of brief literary excerpts in Latin and Hebrew, alphabetically arranged by motif; the texts were collected and edited by Buxtorf the younger. The title-page bears a woodcut printer’s device.
VD17 12:128413B. Contemporary vellum with yapp edges, spine with early inked title; some light discoloration, with cut to vellum across spine. Pastedowns loose from inside covers, with bits of old manuscript used in the binding structure, showing; 19th-century bookplate attached to exposed paste board and endpapers creased. Shadow of old shelf number on verso of title-page. One leaf with small stain and hole affecting about four letters. Foxing ranging from mild to moderate.

One of Buxtorf's
TWO Great Lexicons
Buxtorf, Johann, the elder. Lexicon hebraicum et chaldaicum: Complectens omnes voces, tam primas quàm derivatas, quae in sacris Bibliis, Hebraeâ, & ex parte Chaldaeâ linguâ scriptis, extant ... Accessit lexicon breve rabbinico-philosophicum, communiora vocabula continens, quae in commentariis passim occurrunt ... editio sexta, de novo recognita, & innumeris in locis aucta & emendata. Basilae: Johannis König, 1655. 8vo (17.4 cm, 6.9"). [24], 976, [76 (index)] pp.
$500.00

Buxtorf's famous and standard Biblical Hebrew-to-Latin lexicon was first published in 1607; this is its sixth edition, revised. A leading Hebrew scholar of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the author was a friend and correspondent of Bezè and Grynaeus, and the compiler of two important Hebrew–Latin dictionaries: The one at hand should not be confused with the Lexicon chaldaicum, talmudicum et rabbinicum which he left incomplete at his death and which his son completed and published in 1639.
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VD17 12:131988L. 19th-century marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; paper rubbed with spine paper chipped, cracked, and shelving number inked at bottom. Pastedowns with institutional bookplates, free endpapers and lower (closed) edges institutionally rubber-stamped, title-page with early inked numeral in upper portion. First third of work with early inked annotations and underlining (some marginalia shaved), this tapering off in frequency with close of volume untouched. Two leaves with small portions of outer margins excised. Occasional small stains, pages mostly clean. (25818)
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