
17TH-CENTURY BOOKS
A-B Bibles C D-F G H-J
K-La Lb-Lz M-O P Q-S T-Z
Manifiesto del serenissimo Infante Cardenal, publicado en Mons en el pais de Henao a los cinco de julio de mil y seiscientos y treinta y seis: con la entrada que hizieron las armas catolicas en Francia, y presa de la Capela. Madrid: Por Maria de Quiñones, 1636. Folio (28.2 cm, 11.1"). [4] ff.
$600.00
Uncommon: Report on Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand’s ongoing military expansion into French territories.
Click the image for an enlargement.
Palau 148579; Almirante, Bibliografía militar de España, 471. Removed from a nonce volume. Shadow of pencilled numeral in upper outer corner of title-page. Pages browned, with waterstaining to inner corners.
Mansell, Roderick. An exact and true narrative of the late Popish intrigue.... London: Tho. Cockerill & Benj. Alsop, 1680. Folio (30.5 cm, 12"). [A]2 b–c2 B–V2 (-O2, blank); [6] ff., 105 (i.e., 73), [1 (blank)] pp.
$250.00
Little is known about Col. Roderick Mansell, except that he was one of the Whig managers of “retribution” for the Popish Plot—i.e., of the “last large-scale persecution of Catholics in England” (NCE), founded upon the supposed attempt by Catholic nobles and clergy to murder Charles II, as reported by Titus Oates (1649–1705). Before Oates’s perjury was publicly discovered, 25 Catholics were judicially murdered, hundreds were
incarcerated, and many of the latter died in prison. Like many others, Mansell attempted to cash in on the hysteria generated by the Plot by publishing his version of events, here present in its sole edition. (Much of the rest of this consists of various speakers’ depositions as to the “intrigue”—interesting reading.)
ESTC R20941; Wing (rev.) M514. On the Popish Plot, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, X, 590–94; and the article on Titus Oates in The Dictionary of National
Biography, XLI, 296–303. Removed from a nonce volume with remnants of previous binding at “spine” and two fly-leaves from the volume remaining attached also, on the second of which is a list of contents in ink. The leaves of this piece are numbered in ink consecutively on the upper outer corners of the versos. Some staining, foxing, or soiling, and a few shallow tears, with no loss of print. All edges speckled red.
The Grand Inquisitor of
MANTUA
Medicis, Girolamo de. Summae theologiae S. Thomae Aquinatis doctoris angelici, explicatio formalis, qua redactis ad formam syllogisticam argumentis & rationibus, textuq[ue] diligenter enucleato, mens sancti doctoris apertissime traditur & explanatur auctore R.P.F. Hieronymo de Medices. Coloniae: Sumptibus Conradi Butgenii, 1622. 8vo. [16] ff.,
1352 pp.
$500.00


As one would expect of a 17th-century scholar writing an extended commentary on St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologica, Fra Girolamo (ca. 1569–1622) was a Dominican; he was also the Grand Inquisitor of Mantua. This hefty tome comments on “Pars prima” only of the saints magnum opus and is here “Nunc primum correctior et ornatior in Germania edita.”
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
According to the colophon: “Finit explicatio formalis totius primae partis Summae theologiae Sancti Thomae Aquinatis . . . Die 21. Decembris anni 1611 . . . Mantuae in aedibus Sanctissimae Inquisitionis.” The earliest edition in any U.S. library is the Venice, 1614 edition. This 1622 printing is reported as owned by only one U.S. institution, this copy having been deaccessioned by the other
library of record.
VD17 12:643261D. Contemporary vellum over light boards, small area of discoloration on spine; lacks the silk ties, bookplate removed, old library pressure-stamp on title (properly deaccessioned), NO rubber stamps. All edges stained blue. A very nice copy. (20728)
Medina, Pedro de. Arte del navigare. Venetia: Appresso Tomaso Baglioni, 1609. 4to (20.5 cm, 8"). A4 b4 2A8 B–Q8 R10; [7], [1 (blank)], 137, [1 (blank)] ff.; illus.
$8000.00


Pedro de Medina’s (1493–1567) Arte de navegar (originally published in Spanish in 1545) was a ground-breaking work on compass navigation, and became a standard manual translated into many languages. Medina was famous as a mathematician and cosmographer, and the king of Spain placed him in charge of examining pilots and masters for the West Indies. This second Italian edition (the first was printed in 1554) was translated by Vincenzo Palentino; it has a title-page in red and black with a woodcut printer’s device, and woodcut initials, tables, and illustrations, many showing how to make celestial observations.
Also included is a woodcut map showing Europe, the Atlantic, and the New World.

Palau 159680; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 609/77; Medina, BHA, 123. Old vellum; red leather, gilt-lettered spine label; some staining, and chipping to edges and label. Old, careful repairs to interior worming occasionally cost individual letters (but never sense) or a little loss to an illustration. Old rubber-stamps and red and black ownership label on title-page; inked notations on title-page and front pastedown. All edges speckled red.

Spinoza's
Friend & “Pupil”
Meijer, Lodewijk. Philosophia S. Scripturae interpres; exercitatio paradoxa. Eleutheropoli [Amsterdam?: no printer/no publisher, 1666. 4to (20 cm,;7.9"). [12], 105, [11] pp. (lacking 2 final blank ff.). .
$1000.00
Uncommon first edition: Important hermeneutical treatise, arguing that the Bible should be interpreted through Cartesian rationality. Originally published anonymously, the work was for some time attributed to Benedictus de Spinoza, who was both a personal friend and mentor to Meijer (also sometimes called Ludwig or Louis Meyer); it rapidly gained a fair amount of notoriety, inspired a number of rebuttals and defenses, and went through several editions in both Latin and Dutch.
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
VD17 14:019976Q; Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes, 1343. Period-style morocco signed G[race] B[indings] on back turn-in, framed and panelled in gilt rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt decorations. Lacking two final blank leaves. Title-page with inner margin repaired and with early inked ownership inscription and annotations (partially shaved); some early underlining in red and scattered instances of early inked marginalia. A few signatures browned; first and last few leaves with waterstaining to inner margins. One leaf with short tear from outer margin, not touching text; last two text leaves with upper outer corners torn away and repaired, with loss of several words. (19319)
Private Press, The Index Expurgatorius
Resurrection, & After the Fall
Menasseh ben Israel.
De resurrectione mortuorum libri III. Quibus animae immortalitas
& corporis resurrectio contra Zaducaeos comprobatur: caussae item miraculosae
resurrectionis exponuntur: deque judicio extremo, & mundi instauratione agitur:
ex sacris literis, & veteribus Rabbinis. Amstelodami: Typis & sumptibus auctoris,
1636. 8vo. [24], 133, [11], 137–241, [11], 245–346, [6] pp. [bound
with his] ... Dissertatio de fragilitate humana ex lapsu Adami deque divino
in bono opere auxilio, exrsacris scripturis, et veterum Hebraeorum libris ...
Amstelodami: Sumptibus auctoris, 1642. 8vo. 16, 141, [1] pp.
$6000.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Two important works by the great rabbi, scholar, and printer. The
first, here in its first edition in Latin (translated by the author from the
original Spanish), treats of resurrection and found great displeasure in Rome,
as indicated by its being placed on the Index Expurgatorius in 1656.
The second work deals with life after the Fall, the quality of that life, the
life cycle, and the role of good deeds. It is a translation of Menasseh's De
la fragilidad humana e inclinación del hombre al pecado.
Both
are from the author's own press, one of the first Hebrew-language presses in
the Netherlands.
I: Roth, Menasseh Ben Israel, p. 93-44; Silva Rosa 25;
Abbot 1954; Steinschneider 6205:9. II: Steinschneider 6205:11. Contemporary
stiff vellum, a bit sprung. Ex-library with call number on spine, bookplate,
and no other markings. Title-page of second work backed and fore-edge (only)
of title missing some of the original paper. (13371)
A
PRB&M “FEATURED BOOK”
for others, click here.
Merck, Jacob. Chronick dess Bistthumbs Costantz, das ist, ein kurtze Beschreibung aller Costantzischen Bischöffen wie und wann jeder Bischoff regiert .... Costantz am Bodensee: L. Straub, 1627. 8vo (15.7 cm, 6.2"). A–Z8Aa–Bb8; [8] ff., 384, [4 (2 blank)] pp.
$450.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Uncommon sole edition: History of the Bishopric of Constance, a now-defunct diocese in the Grand Duchy of Baden. Merck drew on the accounts of Hermannus Augiensis, Wilhelm Warner von Zimmern, Jakob Mennel, and Kaspar Brusch in compiling this work.
Scarce.
Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 find only one reported U.S. holding, and that copy has since been deaccessioned.
VD17 12:103685V. Contemporary speckled sheep, front cover with gilt-stamped ecclesiastical coat of arms, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; gilt rubbed and dimmed (spine gilt almost entirely so), leather moderately rubbed. Front free endpaper excised; front pastedown and first three leaves with worming along inner margins, touching a few letters. Title-page with old institutional pressure-stamp and with early inked ownership inscription; title-page reverse with armorial bookplate; back pastedown with sequence of early inked names dated from 1627 through 1704, the first four all inscribed in the same hand. Pages age-toned, with scattered instances of early underlining; a nice little book.
“NONSENCE,”
or as We Would Say,
“Nonsense”
Meredith, Edward. Some remarques upon a late popular piece of nonsence called Julian the Apostate, &c. together, with a particular Vindication of His Royal Highness the Duke of York. By some bold truths in answer to a great many impudent calumnies raised against him, by the foolish arguments, false reasonings, and suppositions, imposed upon the publick from several scandalous and seditious pamphlets; especially from one more notorious and generally virulent than the rest, sometime since published under the title of A Tory plot, &c. London: Pr. for T. Davies, 1682. Folio. [2] ff., 35, [1 (blank)], 23, [1 (blank)] pp. .
$875.00

Lexicographical Landmark Seriously Polyglot!
Minsheu, John. Minshaei emendatio, vel à mendis expurgatio, seu augmentatio sui ductoris in linguas, the guide into tongues. London: John Haviland, 1627. Folio (37.6 cm, 14.9"). [4] pp., 760 columns (numbering very erratic in last few leaves).
$3000.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Second revised edition (following the first revised edition of 1625, and the original first edition of 1617) of Minsheu's Guide into the Tongues, an important polyglot lexicon in English and eight other languages (“Low Dutch,” “High Dutch,” French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ). The work incorporates etymology in all nine languages; it is typographically
quaint, using a variety of fonts including black-letter.
The DNB claims that the 1617 edition of this was “in all probability the first English book printed by subscription, or at all events the first which contains a list of the subscribers.” This revised edition does not include that list, and so, almost certainly was not printed by subscription. Allibone says that this 1627 edition is “Preferred to the other edit., being more correct.”
STC (rev.) 17947; ESTC S121879; Allibone 1325; Vancil 165. On Minsheu, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Period-style morocco framed and panelled in gilt rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with original gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments (signed by Grace Bindings in blind at inner area of rear cover, lower turn-in). Title-page institutionally rubber-stamped. Some age-toning and light to moderate spotting; one leaf with tear from outer margin into several lines of text, without loss; last leaf with small hole affecting a few words. (21047)
Morgues, Matthieu de. Diverses pieces pour la defence de la reyne mere du roy tres-Chrestien Louis XIII ... [Paris?], 1643. 8vo (16.8 cm, 6.6"). Vol. I only (of 2). ã8é8A–Z8Aa–Ee8 (-Ee8 [final blank]); [26], 446 [i.e., 456] pp.
$275.00
Vol. I of the scarce second edition, following the first of 1637: Polemics regarding Marie de Médicis, Cardinal Richelieu, and Louis XIII, written by the Sieur de Saint-Germain, one of the most prolific pamphleteers of the period. The volume contains “Remonstrance au Roy,” “Vrais et bons advis de François Fidèle,” “Charitable remonstrance de Caton Chrestien a monseigneur l’eminentissime Cardinal de Richelieu,” and “Advertissement de Nicocleon à Cleonville, sur son advertissement aux provinces.” The second volume, Pieces curieuses pour la deffence de la royne mere du roy Louys XIII, is not present here.
Single-click the interior image for an enlargement.
Uncommon. Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 find only three U.S. holdings of this edition.
Contemporary vellum, spine with early inked title; vellum darkened, front cover with faded early inked inscription. Back free endpaper and final blank leaf lacking; front free endpaper with early inked inscription, title-page
with contemporary inked ownership inscription in lower margin. Some light foxing; one early inked marginal annotation. Vol. I only; the set rare enough to make offering the “odd” volume reasonable!

Ancient Days
FORWARD
Moulin, Gabriel, du. Histoire generale de Normandie. Contenant les choses memorables aduenuës depuis les premieres courses des Normands payens, tant en France qu'aux autres pays, de ceus qui s'emperent du pays de Neustrie sous Charles le Simple. Avec l'histoire de leurs ducs, leur genealogie, & leurs conquestes, tant en France, Italie, Angleterre, qu'en Orient, iusques a la reünion de la Normandie à la couronne de France. A Rouen: Iean Osmont, 1631. Folio. [6] ff., 56 pp., [1] f., 564, 52 pp., [22] ff.
$1750.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
First edition of this sought-after history of Normandy. Preliminary leaves include a dedication; publication statement; a sonnet, epigrams, and an ode to the history of Normandy; “Discours de la Normandie” (35 pp.); “De l'ancienne Normandie” (35–56 pp.); and a genealogy of the Dukes of Normandy. Rear matter includes an index (22 ff.) and a list (52 pp.) of the Lords of Normandy and other French provinces who took part in the conquest of Jerusalem under Robert Courte-heuze, Duke of Normandy, and Godefroy du Buillon, Duke of Lorraine.
An early owner has mounted on the title-page an armorial plate bearing an image of the two leopards of Normandy on a shield superimposed by a crown, the whole flanked by attendants holding long branches (palms? laurels?) in one hand and the shield in the other.
Handsomely decorated with engraved initials and tailpieces.
Brunet 24296. Recent deep walnut full calf old style, by Grace Bindings (signed in blind at inner area of rear cover, lower turn-in); round spine with raised bands accented in gilt and with blind-tooled devices in compartments, oxblood leather gilt-lettered title-label, blind fillets extending onto covers from each band to terminate in trefoils and covers framed in double blind fillets. Ex–Mercantile Library of Philadelphia with stamps, mostly faint, including to title-page; title-page re-margined along top and inner edge with an interior hole filled also (no words affected). Title-page with early inked ownership initials; a few other instances of early inked notations within text. Some leaves chipped, others mildly to moderately waterstained; we have chosen to show pages bearing more waterstains rather than fewer.
Armorial device mounted to title-page, as noted; we cannot be sure what this covers, but it is elegant! (21215)

Newsletter from the Early Days of
the Bohemian Phase of the Thirty Years' War
Newe Zeittung oder Eigendlicher Bericht der Bluttigen Schlacht so zwischen Herrn Graf Ernsten von Manssfeld ... und dem Conde di Bucquoi bey Bisseckh so zwischen Budweiss und Crumaw gelegen den 28. May. alten und 8. Junij Newe Calenders diess 1619 Jahrs vorgangen und beschehen was beiderseits sich verloffen und zugetragen wird unbständlich berichtet. Gedruckt erstlich zu Prag: bey Lorentz Emmerich, no date [1619]. 4to (19.5 cm; 7.75"). [4] ff.
[SOLD]
Click the interior images for enlargements.
A very scarce newsletter from the heady early days of the Thirty Years' War: The Bohemian army under Mansfeldt entered Austria in November of 1618; in December of same year the Moravian Estates assembled to consider joining the Bohemian rebellion; in March, 1619, Holy Roman Emperor Matthias died of natural causes at Vienna; and early in June, Vienna came under siege and pro-rebel nobles menaced Ferdinand in his own throne room.
This and more is is recounted here. The title-page has a small woodcut of a city under siege.
Uncommon. VD17 records what appear to be five variants of this title, all from the same press, but not this particular one. All of the variants are rare with only one or perhaps two institutions reporting ownership. None of the institutions are in the U.S.
Not in VD17, but a variant of or related to 23:286673Q, 12:631632B, 12:190736S, 23:264664A, and 14:006772G. Recent calf, spine with blind rules above and below each gilt-ruled band that extend onto the covers, forming a V terminating in a trefoil; spine otherwise entirely plain, without label. Covers ruled in blind in period style. Paper browned but not brittle; very good. (24119)
Novarius, Joannes Maria [Novario, Giovanni Maria]. Praxis novissima et amplissimus, absolutissimusque tractatus de electione, et variatione fori, sive dilucida commentaria .... Venetiis: Bertanorum, 1656. Folio (32.5 cm, 12.7"). †6A–Y6; [6] ff., 240, [24 (index)] pp. [with, as issued, the same author’s] Decisiones et resolutiones in materia electionis, & variationis fori diversorum totius orbis supremorum tribunalium, de quibus in opere passim fait facta mentio, a variis antiquis, recentioribusque authoribus .... Venetis: Bertanorum, 1656. Folio. *4a–c6d8; [4] ff., 51, [1 (blank)] pp.
$500.00
Single-click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Scarce and attractively printed early edition: the third, following the first of 1621, of these treatises on law and civil procedure in the Two Sicilies.
Uncommon. Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 locate only three holdings, all in the U.S.
Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Title information inked in an early hand on lower page edges; title-page with early inked ownership inscriptions. A few leaves browned; one leaf with short tear from outer margin, repaired some time ago and not touching text.
Opstraet, Jan. Pastor bonus seu idea officium spiritus et praxis pastorum. Leodij: Henrici Hoyoux, [1689]. 8vo (16.3 cm, 6.45"). *6A–Z8Aa–Ii8Kk2; [12], 495, [21] pp.
[SOLD]
First edition of this theological treatise listed in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum; Opstraet was denied a doctoral degree and dismissed from at least one teaching position because of his Jansenist tendencies.Scarce: Not traced via STCV and only one copy of this edition located via RLIN and OCLC (at Harvard).
Not in STCV. Early 18th-century mottled calf, spine gilt extra, with gilt-stamped leather title-label; leather markedly acid-pitted over sides and chipped over spine extremities, spine with gilt dimmed. Title-page with early inked inscription from a seminary. Pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean.

Benserade's Ovid — Every Recto a Picture
Ovidius Naso, Publius. Metamorphoses d'Ovide en rondeaux. Paris: De l'imprimerie royale, 1697. 4to. 2 vols. in 1: I: [6] ff., 243, [1 (blank)] pp. II: pp. [5]--220, [2] ff.
$1500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Isaac de Benserade (1613–91) saw his highly illustrated translation of Ovid published for the first time in 1676, with subsequent editions prior to this one in 1677, 1678, and 1689. Most editions are uncommon if OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 are to be believed. This one is especially so. The illustrations are very good engravings, measuring 6.5 cm x 8 cm, with one on each odd-numbered page of text, unsigned — the engraved title-page being signed, “Chris v. Hagen, Sculp.”
Provenance: Early inscription on a blank, “Ex libris A. T. vanden Bogaerde.”
Not in Schweiger. Not in Brunet, but see Supplement, 118, for first edition. Not in Rahir, but see 658 for first edition. Contemporary mottled calf, round spine, raised bands, gilt spine extra. Front joint (outside) open, cover holding strongly; top and bottom of spine pulled with leather lost to those compartments. Inside, occasional very light foxing only; a nice clean copy now housed in a recent quarter sprinkled leather clamshell box with round spine, raised bands, and gilt lettering on spine. (15635)

PLACE
AN ORDER |
E-MAIL US |
PRB&M HOME