
18TH-CENTURY BOOKS
Aa-Al Am-Az Ba-Beq Ber-Bo Bibles Bp-Bz
Ca-Cb Cc-Coq Cor-Cz Da-Di Dj-Dz
Ea-England English-Ez F Ga-Gp Gr-Gz Ha-Hb
Hc-Hz I-K La-Lel Lem-Log Loh-Lz Maa-Mar
Mas-Mz N-O Pa-Pi Pj-Pz Q-R Sa-Sch
Sci-Se Sf-Sol Som-Sz Ta-Th Ti-U Va-Wil Wim-Z
63 comedias sueltas — Spanish Theater of the Golden Age
Calderón de la Barca, Pedro. Three-volume sammelband of comedias sueltas. Barcelona, Salamanca, Sevilla, & Valencia: various publishers/printers, ca. 1760–82. Small 4to (19.6–21 cm, 7.75"–8.25"). 3 vols.
$9500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Priest and Golden Age playwright Don Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600–81) was born in Madrid, where he received religious training before turning to dramatic writing in his early twenties. His first dramas for the stage (“Amor, honor y poder” and “Selvas de amor”) were performed in 1623. This collection of 61 plays (plus two by Agustín Moreto, in the third vol.) comprises half of Don Pedro's total comedias, the largest part of his oeuvre, which also includes some poetry, 20 minor plays, and 80 autos sacramentales.
These comedias combine elements of contemporary politics (for example, “Amor, honor y poder” and “La cisma del Ingalterra” both concern English royalty and are, incidentally, Don Pedro's only two plays set in England), family dynamics (e.g., “Andromeda y Perseo,” “La hija del ayre”), and personal biography:
In 1629 an actor stabbed Don Pedro's brother and sought refuge in a local convent. Don Pedro, pursuing the villain, insulted the resident nuns and drew attention from the Trinitarian preacher Fray Hortensio Paravicino, who attacked the playwright in a public sermon. Although Don Pedro's play “El principe costante” had already been approved for the stage, he (illegally) added lines mocking the royal priest. For this blasphemy, defamation, and lèse-majesté, not to mention subverting the censor, the playwright was sentenced to brief house arrest — mild punishment for an amusing crime.
Some titles include information about when and where plays were originally performed.
Provenance & Evidence of Readership: In each volume, the ink presentation inscription “W.A. Sanford to E.C.A. Sanford” on the front fly-leaf is followed by an index in the same 19th-century hand. Vol. II also has a typed index.
A full list of the plays is available upon request.
See Bergman & Szmuk, Comedias Sueltas; McKnight & Jones, Catalogue of Comedias Sueltas; and Sullivan & Bershas, Comedias Sueltas; Don W. Cruickshank, Don Pedro Calderón. Early 19th-century vellum over boards with binder's sticker on front pastedown and ink title to spines; spine vellum of vol. I significantly torn. Nearly all of the comedias are trimmed close at the margins, many with loss to signature marks and occasionally a bottom line of text; some age-toning, stains, occasional water damage, and foxing. Where colophons are affected, dates have been supplied using the aforementioned references. (29317)
For more LITERATURE, click here.
For THEATER/THEATRE, click here.
For a collection of COLLECTIONS, click here.
This book also appears in the HISPANIC
MISCELLANY click here.
& it's in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.
Campailla, Tommaso. L'Adamo ovvero il mondo creato poema filosofico.... Siracusa: Nelle stampe di D. Francesco Maria Pulejo, 1783. Folio (32.4 cm, 12.75"). Frontis., LII, 272 (i.e., 294), XX, 16 pp; 1 plt.
[SOLD]

L'Adamo by Sicilian poet and philosopher Tommaso Campailla (1668–1740) is a didactic poem that puts into memorable verse the principles of Cartesian philosophy. The engraved frontispiece is a portrait of the author, and the engraved plate is a portrait of the dedicatee, Michele Grimaldi. This work was first published in 1709 and regularly reprinted throughout the century.
Single-click image at left
for an enlargement.
Rare: Only one copy of this edition traced via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, and RLIN (at the Bancroft Library).
Quarter vellum with vellum turn-ins. Covers originally covered with gilt or marbled paper, now lost, exposing underlying paste boards—a rather interesting effect. Spine divided into compartments by gilt rolls; a tan leather label, gilt-lettered. Somewhat cockled. Pages untrimmed. Upper outer corner of title-leaf repaired with paper. Two wormholes through frontispiece, plate, and first three printed leaves, with a little loss to illustrations (which yet remain effective) and to parts of individual letters; some additional worming in the margins, not affecting text.
For more BOOKS IN ITALIAN, click here.
This book also appears in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.

Foreigners Aren't Wanted & Drunks Are Better Dead than Alive
Campbell, John. The Naturalization Bill confuted, as most pernicious to these United Kingdoms. To which are annexed, some remarks upon the Geneva Act, and a new scheme proposed.... London: Pr. for the author, sold by G. Woodfall & M. Cooper, 1751. 8vo (20.3 cm, 8"). 24 pp.
$500.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
First edition: A Scottish-born author attacks two bills, one for naturalizing foreigners and one for suppressing liquor abuse; the pamphlet concludes with “Some Observations upon the many miserable Objects that frequent our Streets, And the many Whores that infest the Town all Hours of the Night: And a Remedy advanced, whereby to render all of them serviceable to the Publick, &c.” (from the title-page). One of Campbell's suggestions here is that distillers should be at full liberty to sell as much liquor in their shops as they like, so that “human Brutes” could conveniently drink themselves to death onsite without being forced to take their criminal mischiefs and evils throughout the city (pp. 20–21). Prostitutes, particularly wronged women unable to find work due to lack of good references, are to be dealt with by establishing a “British Nunnery,” in which they should be industriously employed.
Scarce: A search of WorldCat and ESTC locates only two U.S. institutional holdings, and only one U.K.
ESTC T206417. Removed from a nonce volume; upper outer corners creased, some leaves with small edge chips and/or dust-soiling, half-title with spots of staining.
A very uncommon example of a particular, enduring mindset. (29928)
For more ENGLISH POLITICS, click here.
For more COMMERCE / TRADE /
FINANCE / ECONOMICS, click here.
For more TEMPERANCE, click here.
For more of WOMEN's interest, click here.
This book is in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.

From the Library of the Capuchin Nuns of Mexico City
Capuchin Nuns. Regla de la gloriosa santa Clara, con las constituciones de las monjas Capuchinas del santissimo crucifixo de Roma, reconocidas, y reformadas por el Padre General de los Capuchinos y con las adiciones a los estatutos de dicha regla.... Mexico: Reimpressa en la Imprenta del Lic. Don Joseph de Jauregui, n.d. [ca. 1760–75]. 16mo (15 cm; 6'). [4] ff., 234 pp.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A later Mexican printing of the Rule and Constitution of the Poor Clares (a.k.a, Capuchin Nuns) in Mexico, earlier New World editions having appeared in 1646 and 1720 (with others to follow this undated one in 1773 and 1817). The Poor Clares, officially “The Order of Saint Clare,” are a contemplative branch of the Franciscan order that St. Clare of Assisi founded in 1212. The order's mission is to pray for the needs of the church, the world, and all people who are in need. As part of the last, they pray for intervention in medical and mental matters for those suffering from maladies.
This edition is graced with four charming historiated woodcut initials: “I,” “C,” “R,” and “L.”
Provenance: On verso of the front free endpaper in an 18th-century hand is a note that the the book belonged to the Capuchin Convent of Mexico City in 1787.
Medina, Mexico, 9208. Publisher's limp vellum with ties, fore-edge of rear cover rodent-gnawed with a corner lost and both covers with part of lower edge likewise gnawed but in limited way; the hungry rodent also nibbled along the fore-edges of pp. 213 to 234, minimally and with remarkable neatness. Ownership notation as indicated. A good, clean volume. (29589)
MEXICO is one of our great specialties.
For our MEXICANA, click here.
For CATHOLICA, click here.
For more of WOMEN's interest, click here.
For MEDICINE, click here.
For more Books with SPECIAL
PROVENANCE, click here.
This book appears in the HISPANIC
MISCELLANY click here.

Understanding the Old Testament
Carpzov, Johann Gottlob. D. Ioh. Gottlob Carpzovii ... critica sacra veteris Testamenti. Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Sumtibus [sic] Ioh. Christiani Martini, 1748. 4to (20.5 cm, 8.1"). Frontis., [7] ff., 987, [97] pp.
$250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Second edition of Carpzov's introduction to the Old Testament, first published in 1728. Johann Gottlob Carpzov (1679–1767) was born into a family of Lutheran Biblical theologians, all of whom he surpassed in erudition and fame, becoming a professor of Oriental languages at Leipzig and later the superintendent at Lübeck. An orthodox Old Testament scholar, Carpzov adhered to a literal reading of Hebrew Scripture and opposed the looser interpretations of Spinoza and others. The Critica Sacra, his
most famous work, is divided into three parts: original text; versions; and Carpzov's intense critique of William Whiston (1667–1752), whose Essay Towards Restoring the True Text of the Old Testament (1722) had sparked great controversy.
In Latin printed in roman and italic, the text also has passages in
Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, and German, with sidenotes and footnotes to aid the reader. The text is sparsely but elegantly decorated with floriated woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, and one letterpress diagram. The title-page is printed in red and black with a small engraved emblematic vignette, and there are separate section titles to each part and to the extensive indices that follow at the end, compiled by Heinrich Engelbert Schwarz. (His letter to the reader is found in the middle of the final quire.)
Contemporary sheepskin, spine with raised bands and gilt stamp in compartments, gilt lettering piece, covers ruled in blind, red edges; boards very rubbed, leather chipped at spine revealing bands, offsetting from leather onto endpapers. Evidence of paper labels sometime to spine; 19th-century seminary bookplate on front pastedown, faded old stamps to title-page and, almost imperceptibly, the facing portrait. Scattered spots from foxing and chemical reactions in the paper, but sturdy and clean. (30333)
For more RELIGION, click here.
For JUDAICA and/or HEBRAICA, click here.
For more TRANSLATIONS, click here.
For BIBLES, TESTAMENTS, *&*
BIBLE SCHOLARSHIP,
click here.

Second U.S. Edition: An Influential Classic
Carter, Susannah. The frugal housewife: Or, complete
woman cook. Philadelphia: James Carey, 1796. 12mo (17.2 cm, 6.75"). 132 pp.; 2 plts.
$4500.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Second American edition (following the first of 1792, and the true London first of 1765) of this landmark work of early British cookery. Not much is known about Carter herself, but her emphasis on a variety of tasty, accessible gravies and sauces has stood the test of time. Although in its initial U.S. appearances, the Frugal Housewife was strictly oriented towards British cuisine and ingredients, it was later adapted and expanded for American housewives, and portions of the original publication directly formed the basis for the first American-authored cookbook: Amelia Simmons's American Cookery.
Click the interior images for enlargements.
ESTC W12281; Bitting 78–79; Evans 30168; Lowenstein, American Cookery, 15. Contemporary treed sheep, moderately rubbed and with some chipping; spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label (also chipped), boards slightly warped, and joints well repaired. Paper somewhat browned and foxed but quite strong, with pp. 41–44 long ago supplied from another copy; some edges ragged and corners bumped. Back free endpaper and last few leaves lightly waterstained. Inscriptions as above. Now housed in a maroon cloth clamshell case with gilt-stamped spine label of matching leather. (24689)
For more PRE-1820 AMERICANA, click here.
For more COOKERY, click here.
Or for more relating to WINE, click here.
For more of PHILADELPHIA
interest, click here.
For more of WOMEN's interest, click here.
This book also appears in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.

Comic Entremeses by
un Famoso Comediante
Castro, Francisco de. Libro nuevo, de entremeses, intitulado: Comico festejo. [Madrid: Impr. de Gabriel del Barrio, 1742]. Small 8vo (15 cm; 6"). Vol. II only of 2. [8] ff., 144 pp.
$1800.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Sole edition of a work little represented in libraries in the U.S. or Spain. Castro is identified on the title-page as “representante (que fuè) de una de las compañias de este corte,” while the man responsible for seeing the work through the press, Joseph de Ribas, is “sucessor en su parte, en una de las compañias.” Castro was the better noted of the two comic actors involved in this publication.
The entremeses in vol. I (which volume is not present) were previously published in Castro's 1702 Primera parte de Alegria comica, but those in this volume are by other (unidentified) comics and ard
here for the first time. The entremeses in this volume are: “El Gallego silletero,” “La Rueda y los Cobielos, 2a parte,” “Los locos,” “El Enmendador,” “Pedro Grullo y Anton Pintado,” “La Lámina,” “Las Brujas, 2a parte,” “El duelo del vejete,” “La casa de los linajes,” “La Burla del Herrero,” “El Sacristan niño,” and “El Hombre muger.”
Searches of WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only one U.S. library reporting ownership of this work and it has both volumes. Searches of the Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico and the OPAC of the BNE find only three libraries in Spain owning both volumes and only three other libraries owning either volume alone. Palau says “Los dos tomos completos y en buen estado son raros.”
An important and clearly rare compilation of post–Golden Age theater.
Palau 48691; Aguilar 2362. On Castro, see: Archivo biográfico de España, Portugal, e Iberoamérica, fiche 198, frames 417–24. Modern medium brown morocco, gilt double-rule border on both covers, gilt spine extra, single gilt rule on board edges. Gilt inner dentelles, gilt pattern endpapers, top edge gilt, blue silk place marker. Light age-toning in some sections, by nature of paper; a few pages with small natural paper flaws; some leaves lightened across their lower outer corners; and otherwise the stray stain only. This is a very nice copy. (29144)
For more LITERATURE, click here.
For THEATER/THEATRE, click here.
This appears in the HISPANIC
MISCELLANY click here.
& it ppears in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.

The Year in
Four Vols. & Beautiful Bindings
Catholic Church. Liturgy & ritual. Breviaries. Breviarium romanum ex decreto sacrosancti Concilii tridentini restitutum S. Pii V. pontificis maximi iussu editum, Clementis VIII. ac Urbani VIII. auctoritate recognitum, cum officiis sanctorum novissimis usque ad SS. D.N. Pium VI, pro recitantium commoditate diligenter dispositis. [Romae]: A. Galler , 1781. 8vo (18 cm, 7.1"). 4 vols. I: [20], 632, cclxxxviii, 19, [1] pp.; illus. II: [18], 646, ccliv, 21, [1] pp.; 1 plt. III: [54], 566, cclxxvi, 26 pp.; 1 plt. IV: [20], 608, cclxx, 15, [1] pp.; illus.
$2750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Beautifully printed and handsomely bound set of the Roman Breviary. The text is printed in double-column format, in black and red, with a vignette on each title-page and an engraving
in each volume.
Binding: Contemporary's black goat sides with simple roll gilt border and gilt corner devices, spines gilt extra. The top panel of each volume indicates contents with abbreviation: P. V. (“Pars Vernalis”), P. AE. (“Pars Aestivalis”), etc. Block-printed decorated endpapers; all edges gilt. Silk place markers.
Not in Weale & Bohatta. Bindings as above, edges and extremities rubbed, spine leather with tiny cracks, one spine head chipped, one joint starting. Ex-library with bookplates, rubber-stamp on lower edges of pages of the closed volumes. One volume with text block separating from spine and sewing loosening; this with the most leather rubbed away and the darkest instances of the usually-light waterstaining and spots of foxing seen occasionally throughout. Endpapers bear early inked ownership inscriptions and annotations.
An elegant quartet. (12406)
For more SETS, click here.
For more CATHOLICA, click here.
For FINE, ATTRACTIVE, & INTERESTING
BINDINGS, click here .
For more ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, click here.
This also appears in the GENERAL
MISCELLANY click here.
YES:
Your Majesty May Tax the Clergy
Catholic Church. Pope, 172430 (Benedictus XIII).
[drop title] A tergo. Charissimo in Christo filio nostro Philippo, Hispaniarum
Regi Catholico. Intus. Benedictus Papa XIII. [Matritii, 1728]. Folio (28.3 cm,
11.375"). 4 ff.
$800.00
Benedict XIII in this Apostolic letter to Philip V of Spain authorizes
the king to include the clergy and religious along with the laity under the
new tax for the defense of his realms. Attractively produced by its anonymous
printer, it bears a fine woodcut initial on p. 1.
This copy is notarized, i.e., authenticated, sealed, and signed, "In Madrid,
a true copy, Manuel St. Martin, Apostolic notary." No copies were found on
OCLC or RLIN, or in NUC Pre-1956.
Not in Palau. On Benedict XIII, see New Catholic Encyclopedia,
II, 276-77. Removed from a nonce volume. Paper generally clean and crisp with
but a few spots of soiling; closed tear from bottom margin into the last two
lines of text, without loss of letters. Inked paraph on lower inner corners,
and inked notation on upper outer corner of first page.
A
Gracious
Papal Concession
Nicely Printed
Catholic Church.
Pope, 174058 (Benedictus XIV). [drop-title] Carissimo
in Christo filio nostro Ferdinando, Hispaniarum Regi Catholico. Benedictus PP.
XIV. [Matritii?, 1753]. Folio (28.4 cm, 11.375"). [4] ff.
$850.00

In this apostolic letter sent to Ferdinand VI, King of Spain, Benedict
XIV notes that the papal nuncio in Madrid has been misinforming the clergy via
various communications about the terms of the Concordat of 11 Jan. 1753. The
Pope reaffirms each and every agreement in that document, granting greater powers
to the Spanish crown in the matter of clerical appointments. Benedict has been
much criticized for this concessionthough it must be admitted in his favor
that a break between Spain and the Holy See would have been disastrous for the
Church.
This
bilingual
edition is printed in two columns, the original Latin text of the Apostolic
letter is on the left and a Spanish translation is on the right. This important
item in Spanish and Vatican diplomatic history is rare.
No
copies were found on OCLC or RLIN, or in
NUC Pre-1956.
Not in Palau. On Benedict XIV, see New Catholic Encyclopedia,
II, 278. Removed from a nonce volume. Paper generally clean and crisp with
a few spots of soiling.

Sowing Good Seeds
Catholic Church. Province of Mexico City (Mexico). Concilio Provincial (4th, 1771). Catecismo para uso de los párrocos. Hecho por el IV. Concilio provincial mexicano, celebrado año de M.DCC.LXXI. Mexico: En la Imprenta de el Lic. D. Josef de Jaúregui, 1772. 4to (19.5 cm; 7.5"). [4] ff., 504 pp., plt.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
The first Spanish-language catechism
planned, written, and authorized in Mexico. Archbishop Lorenzana (S.J., 1722–1804) of Mexico was a reformer, innovator, and patron of the printing arts. In 1771 he presided over the Fourth Mexican Concilium, the first such grand conclave since the 16th century. One of the products of the meetings was a new catechism for the Mexican secular clergy, based solidly on the catechism created by the Council of Trent but also incorporating changes suggested by later synods such as that of Plasencia. Not a piece of light reading, it is designed for the well-educated priest who has questions of his own about accepted doctrine or who is faced with nonstandard questions posed by parishioners.
Following the title-page is a full-page copper-engraved plate by Navarro interpreting Matthew 13:27 concerning the sowing of good seeds.
Medina, Mexico, 5472. Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties. Worming in lower and inner margins of first portion of volume, not touching text; clean. (29480)
MEXICO is one of our great specialties.
For our MEXICANA, click here.
For more RELIGION, click here . . .
For more CATHOLICA, click here . . .
For more JESUITANA, click here!
This appears in the HISPANIC
MISCELLANY click here
PLACE
AN ORDER |
E-MAIL US |
PRB&M HOME
SEARCH OUR DATABASE