This volume is also of interest typographically; some of the Greek, Syriac, and Arabic types subsequently used in productions by Hendrik Wetstein and others make their first appearances here. The text is predominantly in Latin, with quotations in Hebrew and the above languages. The title-page is printed in black and red.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with inked inscriptions of the Rev. A.W. Miller of Charlotte, N.C., dated 1871, and of H. Ader of Assumption Hills, dated [18]92; front free endpaper with early inked inscription of Henry Joseph Thomas Drury. Drury was a master at Harrow School (where he taught Byron), and an original member of the Roxburghe Club. His inscription notes the book's passage from the Bibliotheca Heathiana “thro' Dr. Raine's hands, and Cuthell's to mine”; Drury's mother was Louisa Heath, daughter of the great collector Benjamin Heath, but most of Heath's library had originally gone either to his two sons or to auction following the death of his wife.

•  Rosenthal, Bibliotheca magica et pneumatica, 1614. Not in Caillet, Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques ou occultes; not in Coumont, Demonology & Witchcraft.   Contemporary speckled calf framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons, inner edges of covers ruled in gilt double fillets, neatly rebacked; spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt-stamped raised bands, and blind-tooled compartment decorations; original leather with edges abraded, corners repaired. Hinges (inside) reinforced some time ago. Lower (closed) edges institutionally blind-stamped. Front pastedown and free endpaper with inscriptions as above, title-page with small ownership inscription in upper portion. Pages age-toned with small amounts of light foxing. Nice margins, all edges (once) saffron.  (25848)

The famous Elzevir print shop published this volume edited by Philippus van Limborch (1633–1712), Courcelles' student and successor. The eulogy following Limborch's preface was written by Arnold Poelenberg (1628–66), another professor at the Seminary whose remarks are still considered themost important source of information on Courcelles' life (1586–1659).

The Latin text is printed in roman and italic with occasional Greek and decorated with handsome woodcut initials and tailpieces. The title-page, printed in red and black, features the printer's device of Daniel Elzevir, the Minerva.

Provenance:  Swirly red stamp (not a rubber-stamp) blazoning owner's initials in a complicated monogram within a wreath, title-page verso.

•  Willems 1506 (“Belle édition”); Goldsmid, I, 123.   Contemporary full vellum with early ink title to spine, red speckled edges; leather scuffed and lightly soiled, upper joint starting. Ex-library: bookplate and old penciling on front pastedown. Waterstaining in outer margin of first eight leaves then intermittently, minor foxing on a few leaves only, occasional small ink blotches; tiniest touches of worming in bottom margin of 250 pages or so in middle of text and starting again at end, most noticeable on rear pastedown. Provenance mark as above.  (30405)

•  VD17 1:620459Z.   Contemporary stiff vellum. Ex-library with call number on spine and bookplate, but no other markings. A very good copy.  (14709)

Rare. Searches via OCLC, RLIN, and NUC locate only five copies worldwide: Two in the U.S. (both at same university!) and three in France.

•  Duveen D494. Recent calf with covers framed in single gilt fillets, spine with gilt-stamped title label and gilt-ruled raised bands. Leaves with some dust-soiling and dampstaining; now heavily sized, many with margins repaired and a few with stray pencil marks. Lacks final blank leaf (only). In fact, a rather nice copy of a very uncommon item.

•  Brunet, II, 856; Graesse 440. Period-style calf framed in blind, spine with raised bands and otherwise very plain– no label. Title-page with faint early inked inscriptions. Colophon with margins repaired, one repair at inner margin just touching a letter of text. Waterstaining to inner portions and lower outer corners of much of volume (not affecting title-page or preface, and generally faint); some pages browned. Numerous instances of early inked marginalia and underlining. (20816)

Duranti (Durantus, 1534–89) was appointed first president of the Toulouse parliament by Henri III in 1581. A royalist supporter, he was shot and savagely stabbed by a mob of Catholic partisans in 1589. His De ritibus, sometimes erroneously attributed to Peter Danés, bishop of Lavaur, was posthumously printed by order of Pope Sixtus V at Rome in 1591.

The text is printed in Latin with a few citations in Greek and Hebrew, enhanced with one historiated initial at the beginning, many smaller initials in the text, and at least two decorative ornaments, the headpiece on the dedication page featuring an “L.” Moreau's device on the title-page shows a crowned dragon engulfed in flames, with the printer's initials and the motto “Deum ni deest timentibus.”

Evidence of use: Extensive early ink notes in French on front pastedown and both sides of the front fly-leaf repeat biographical notes and call this a “bon ouvrage.”

Provenance:  Ambrose Swasey Library (stamp).

Scarce, NUC Pre-1956 (supplement) finding only this copy, deaccessioned from Colgate Rochester in 2005; WorldCat locates just one other U.S. copy.

•  Contemporary vellum, red-stained gilt spine label; spine's top layer of vellum chipped exposing the layer beneath (repaired so as not to flake). Ex–seminary library with shelf mark to spine, a bit of pencilling, rubber-stamp as above to bottom edge of closed book and inside front cover, pressure-stamp to title-page; title-page with narrow strip excised apparently to remove an old inscription, this crudely “repaired” with missing text line supplied via computer print-out, affecting text on verso. Generally, moderate foxing and age-toning or browning due to nature of paper, a few insignificant tears, some truly teeny wormholes.  (30149)

Bibliographically interesting. Wing records four different issues of this ordinance, the telling points being on the title-page: the spelling of “classical” or “classicall” and the form of the date, whether “12 Novemb., 1645,” or just “1645" and combinations thereof. ESTC fails to distinguish them.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) E1894A; ESTC R176130.   Removed from a nonce volume and dusty; in modern wrappers. All edges a bit chipped and lower margins of leaves A2 and A3 with loss of blank paper. All leaves age-toned.  (20454)

The Explicationes was a serious attack on the Trinity and all its editions, beginning with the first of 1598, were surreptitiously printed and circulated. It was on various lists of banned books.

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The imprint of this edition is from Johann Fabricius' Historia Bibliothecae Fabricianae, V, 51; the title-page device is particularly lovely.

Evidence of readership: A lengthy note in an 18th-century hand on the front fly-leaf, apparently citing Johann Vogt's 1738 Catalogus historico-criticus librorum rariorum, labels this work “Liber perniciosus” and has much to say about it and its early editions. An earlier hand has recorded a list of books/citations inside the front cover.

•  Szabó, Régi magyar könyvtár, III, 4237.   18th-century English calf in the Cambridge style, leather at joints (but not sewing) starting; call number neatly in white in one lower spine panel. Private library bookplate; 18th-century ownership inscription partially erased from verso of title; handwritten notes as above. Title-page with a bit of dust-soiling and off-setting from binding at edges; otherwise, spotting never dark and mostly marginal.  (27172)

The text is printed in roman and italic, double-column with sidenotes, and decorated with refined woodcut historiated initials and head- and tailpieces. Sectional title-pages introduce the second and third volumes, with pagination and signatures continuous throughout; the general title-page is printed in red and black, with a large woodcut device for printer Joannes van Keerberghen (1586–1624). Two pages contain text printed in Greek, representing inscriptions on antique monuments to Ephraem, translated into Latin below.

Scarce: Searches of WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 findjust two copies in North America, both in Canada!

•  NCE online (Ephrem, Ephraim).   Contemporary speckled calf, spine gilt extra with author and title gilt to label; joints starting, boards scuffed, leather chipped at spine extremities (significantly lost across top compartment) and worn away at cover corners (bumped). Ex-library with bookplate on front pastedown and with remains of earlier, private inked ownership inscriptions; on front pastedown, “Ex libris Ioannis [ . . . ]” is left after heavy rubbing-out and on the front free endpaper, the same hand's bold “Ex libris” is neighbored only by a sizable hole. Foxing on endpapers and in some margins, milder; small hole from natural flaw in two leaves. A scarce text in overall good condition.  (30641)

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This work appeared with three different title-pages and there are even internal differences. In this copy the setting of quire B has line B3v with “Deliberations” spelled with the capital letter “D.”

• STC (rev ed.) 22058; ESTC S116980.   Removed from a nonce volume and in modern wrappers. First and last pages dust-soiled; tea (?) stain to last leaf. Ex-library with the not unattractive stamp of the Union Theological Seminary on the verso of the title and in the bottom margin of the last text page. Blank area of foremargin of B4 torn with loss. In modern wrappers. (21000)

The book begins with Lingua ("On Language"), wherein Erasmus complains that humans abuse their gift of language and twist it to make a mockery of God's world and word. This is followed by the Principis Christiani Institvtio ("The Christian Education of a Prince"), directed primarily at the young Emperor Charles V Hapsburg, instructing him in, among other things, the benefits of passivism. This is considered to be one of the greatest contributions to the genre of the education of a Christian prince. The Querela Pacis ("Complaint of Peace"), next, was written in 1517 when the "Congress of Kings" met, hoping to preserve peace throughout Europe during a period of religious and social strife. Here Erasmus pleads for toleration, in some ways (but definitely not others) foreshadowing modern concepts of multiculturalism and diversity.

The volume's final work is the famous "Praise of Folly," which Erasmus claims he wrote on a journey from Italy to England while thinking about his friend Thomas More (hence the pun More -> moriæ). Here Folly, personified as a woman (of course), speaks in her own defence, pointing out the merits of the un-Christian practices of the day. That is followed by two of Erasmus's letters: "De Ratione Studii," intended for Petrus Viterius, and "De Instituendi," intended for Erasmus's students.

All works are given in the original Latin, annotated, and followed by full indices. The resulting thick little volume is a pleasing one—Maire printed it nicely—and this copy is an exceptionally crisp and clean exemplar.

•  On Erasmus, see: Hutchinson Encyclopedia of the Renaissance, 145–47. Full vellum with yapp edges. Round spine with author and title handwritten at top in sepia ink; yellow head- and tailbands well preserved. Tiny initials ink on front fly-leaf. Very little foxing. Overall, excellent.

•  Palau 81595. Removed from a nonce volume. Small inked numeral in upper margin. Some light waterstaining; two leaves with outer edges untrimmed and ragged.

The text is Latin with a few instances of Greek, printed in roman and italic.

•  On Faber, see: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani online.   Early brown calf, rebacked and refurbished incorporating the original leather on the boards, board extremities rubbed; spine with raised bands and red morocco spine label; red speckled edges, dust-soiled. Light fraying and some soiling to edges of engraved title-page; elsewhere light dust-soiling, instances of spotting or soiling, a few pages with one edge bumped, one corner torn away just at tip. Overall, in very attractive shape.  (30019)

•  Palau 69406. Old wrappers; some dust-soiling and age-toning.

The volume opens with a copper-engraved frontispiece portrait of the subject, and includes an additional portrait, engraved by Hendrik Bary after Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt, as well asthree oversized, folding plates: one of van Oldenbarnevelt being led to his execution, one of the beheading itself, and one of van Oldenbarnevelt's monument. Other plates include a portrait of Gillis van Ledenberg, secretary of the States of Utrecht, and a depiction of his suspended coffin (van Ledenberg was sentenced to be hanged after his death), along with portraits of Rombout Hogerbeets and Grotius. (In several of these productions the full-figures are interestingly, oddly proportioned and somewhat enigmatic, emblematic elements are present.)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of Solomon Alofsen (1808–76), a Dutch-born historian who for a number of years resided in the United States, where he was active in the railroad industry and a contributing member of several historical societies. Front free endpaper with bookplate of Elizabeth and Charles Pond Kimball, members of a prominent Rochester, NY, family; front pastedown with small ticket of Amsterdam bookseller Frederik Muller, who founded his business in 1843.

•  Graesse 308.   Contemporary vellum, spine with early, neatly hand-inked title; lower corners bumped, vellum very lightly dust-soiled. Front pastedown with bookplate as above and with Amsterdam bookseller's ticket; front free endpaper with bookplate of Elizabeth and Carol Pond Kimball. One preliminary leaf with early pencilled annotation regarding addition at p. 584. One leaf with short internal tear affecting about eight letters without loss of sense; plate depicting monument with short tear at inner margin from fold, extending slightly into image. Pages gently cockled, with a very few instances of faint spotting, otherwise pleasingly clean. In fact anexcellent copy.  (28091)

•  ESTC S121254; STC (2nd ed.) 11465; Allibone 643; Wither to Prior 387 (for the first edition, 1639).   Period-style dark calf, covers framed and panelled in gilt and blind rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Title inked on outer (closed) edges in an early hand. “Declaration of the Frontispiece” mounted; added engraved title-page with upper margin repaired, lower area trimmed into the imprint line (taking most) and with one pinhole. Otherwise browning, mild spotting and light waterstaining variously, last leaves dust-soiled; light cockling and volume a tad sprung; a few leaves with short edge tears, not extending into text; map with ragged portion of lower inner edge, tear along one fold, and small hole at intersection of two folds. One blank page with early pencilled doodles.  (27562)

The Corollarium is only found bound with the Adlocutiones, as here; however the latter was also published separately the same year. Both were printed by Pietro Nesti at Florence using roman and italic type with woodcut initials, ornaments, head- and tailpieces. This volume concludes with the original final blank, lacking in many copies, although the Corollarium seems to lack a preliminary signature of two leaves (probably a blank and a sectional title leaf).

Provenance:  Front fly-leaf and title-page with early owner's inscription of Oliver Pagn[...]; fly-leaf verso with owner's inscription dated 1650 of Jo[h]annes Baptista Adimari (related, perhaps, to Alessandro Adimari, a member of Gaddi's Accademia who died in 1649?); and front fly-leaf with later owner's inscription of Philadelphian Henry John Gibbons (“Rittenhouse Square West”).

•  Contemporary flexible vellum with title inked to spine, pierced at the edges for four ties, now wanting; repairs with tissue to headcap, spine, and front cover edge. Title-page and following leaf repaired in two places, and following 30 pp. repaired in outer margin; first two leaves of second book wanting, as above. Foxing and occasional other staining throughout, the occasional tear, one leaf holed touching text but not spoiling reading, rear free endpaper torn away. Doodlings on front pastedown and fly-leaf; brief index to the first part written by an early hand on final recto and rear pastedown; later pencil markings. A proud witness to the interests of (Italian) academia.  (30505)

Also contained here is the famous Oracula Magica Zoroastris cum Scolliis Plethonis et Pselli as edited by Johannis Opsopoeus.

•  STCN 168904; Brunet, II, 1465; Caillet 10165; Hoffmann III, 396; Landwehr, Hooghe, 72; Schweiger, I, 287 .   Contemporary half brown calf with mottled paper sides; spine with gilt-accented raised bands, red leather gilt label, and gilt devices in compartments; all edges interestingly marbled. Binding worn and top of spine pulled. Without the added engraved title-page, and a small, early paper repair on title-page; not a perfect copy, but certainly a decent one and priced accordingly.  (26691)

The subject of this work is the rivalry between Spain and France for political and religious supremacy in the Catholic realm of Europe, but the author also discusses national traits, as he sees them, such as manner of dressing, walking, eating, and talking.

•  Palau 97802.   Recent boards covered with marbled paper; leather spine label gilt with title. Some lower margins irregular due to natural paper flaws. All edges speckled red. A very good copy.  (25812)

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Not widely held:  ESTC, OCLC, Wing, and NUC Pre-1956 find only 10 U.S. institutional locations, one of which has now been deaccessioned.

In its way, a handsome little production, being very much in “the character of an old English” imprint of its era — complete with sidenotes, busy type ornamentation, and exuberant font variation.

•  ESTC R227244; Wing (rev. ed.) G589. On Geree, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent marbled paper wrappers. Pages clean and notably wide-margined.  (25007)

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•  ESTC R200633; Wing (rev. ed.) G603.   Recent marbled paper wrappers. Pages very slightly age-toned with one early inked marginal annotation, else clean and crisp.  (25024)

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Uncommon: OCLC, ESTC, Wing, and NUC Pre-1956 report only eight U.S. holdings, one of which has been deaccessioned.

•  ESTC R201234; McAlpin, II, 487; Wing (rev. ed.) G604.   Recent marbled paper wrappers. Title-page slightly darkened, last page with offsetting to margins, pages otherwise clean. Stubs of previous binding leaves visible at back.  (25017)

Handsomely printed, the volume begins with a fine engraved frontispiece opposite the title in black and red. Engraved head- and tailpieces appear in expected places; each page is heavily laden with printed notes.

•  Brunet 759; Schweiger, II, 328. Contemporary vellum over paste boards with blind-embossed center device on covers; that on front cover slightly loose due to a vandal’s attempt to excise it! Top of spine pulled (uncommon on a vellum-bound book); vellum soiled and binding a little sprung. Bookplate removed and glue residue visible on pastedown. The odd spot or small stain only; some light foxing and dust-soiling.

•  This ed. not in Brunet.   Contemporary vellum, spine with early inked title; vellum showing minor spots of discoloration and spine with call number. Front pastedown and bottom page edges with institutional rubber-stamp; back pastedown with stamp of a 19th-century Dutch bookseller; front fly-leaf with early inked annotation. First dedication leaf with inked numeral in lower margin; some instances of early inked underlining and marginalia, confined to early part of volume. First few leaves with light waterstaining to outer portions. First part skips pp. 1/2 (between preface and first text page), with this collation matching that reported online. (19564)

The text is printed in Latin, double-column, with a handful of large woodcut initials, a few tail ornaments, and one letterpress diagram. The title-page, printed in red and black, features Blaeu's large device of an astrolabe flanked by Time and Hercules. An index on the final two pages lists Grotius's correspondents and the corresponding letters, which are arranged chronologically in the text.

•  Meulen, Grotius, 1210; Brunet, II, 1766; Graesse, III, 163.   Contemporary northern-European style vellum over boards ruled in blind, panels with blind-stamped central cartouches, spine with seven raised bands and remnants of later paper labels, red speckled edges; vellum soiled and lightly rubbed at extremities with corners bumped. Ex-library with bookplate on front pastedown and later library marking in pen on second leaf; light foxing, a light waterstain across the lower outer corner of perhaps a dozen leaves, and scattered darker stains, with a few leaves browned; small tear in outer margin of title-leaf and another margin, small hole from natural flaw in outer margin of one leaf and small bit of paper torn away from lower corner of another. Very mild worming in middle of two leaves and final leaf, the latter repaired; additional very minor, “slim” worming mostly to margins at rear.A solid, handsome important book.  (30293)