
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
Against Magic & Sorcery
Saint André, François de. Lettres de Mr. de St. André conseiller-medecin ordinaire du Roy; a quelques-uns de sees amis, au sujet de la magie, des malefices et des sorciers. Où il rend raison des effets les plus surprenans qu'on attribue ordinairement aux démons; & fait voir que ces intelligences n'y ont souvent aucune part; & que tout ce qu'on leur impute, qui ne se trouve ni dans l'ancien, ni dans le Nouveau-Testament, ni autorisé par l'eglise, est naturel ou supposé. Paris: Robert-Marc Despilly, 1725. 16mo (16.2 cm, 6.5"). [3], 446 pp.
$875.00
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First edition of a collection of six letters by François de Saint André (1675–1725),
consulting physician in ordinary to the king, debunking magic, sorcery, and demonic possession. These polemics are addressed “A Monsieur B.”, with two entitled “de la magie” and four entitled “des malefices.” With engraved initials, and head- and tailpieces.
Provenance: Ink signatures of “Mesange de St. Andre,” dated 1784, appear on front free endpaper and at top margin of title-page; gift inscription on front fly-leaf reads “Henri de Mesange St. Andre offr. au regt. de Barrois.” Later from the library of Helen de Guerry Simpson.
Pichon 2075; Coumont, Demonology and Witchcraft, S3.1. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt extra and with gilt-stamped label; spine chipped at head and foot, joints open. Marbled endpapers. Ribbon placemarker. Edges stained red. Faint waterstain at lower margin of some leaves. Chip at lower outer corner of pp. 145/146. Slight loss of paper at lower edge of pp. 289/290. Ownership
markings include a bookplate on the front pastedown and early ink inscriptions on the front free endpaper, front fly-leaf, and in the blank area of the top margin of the title-page. (24562)
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Artillery Illustrated
Saint-Remy, Pierre Surirey de. Memoires d'artillerie, où il est traité des mortiers, petards, arquebuses à croc, mousquets, fusils, & c. ... Amsterdam: Pierre Mortier, 1702. 4to (23 cm, 9"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., [18], 348 pp.; 106 (of 114) plts. II: [6], 386, [2] pp.; 64 (of 70) plts.
$1875.00
Uncommon Amsterdam issue following the Parisian first edition of 1697: One of the earliest treatises published on artillery, an important and often-cited guidebook to the weaponry of the time. The two volumes are illustrated with
171 (of 179) copper-engraved plates, many oversized and folding, depicting handguns, arsenals, and weapons manufacturing.
Brunet, V, 595 (listing 1745 ed. only). Recent period-style speckled calf (signed by Grace Bindings in blind at inner area of rear cover, lower turn-in), covers framed and panelled in gilt rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spines with gilt-stamped leather title labels, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Vol. I frontispiece separated (and trimmed within its plate mark) but present. Variable waterstaining to pages and plates; one oversized folding plate bound in upside-down and one with tears along folds. Imperfect for sure — and full of interest. (20680)

Important Biography of a
Scholar of the Tarascan
& Matlaltzinga Languages
Salguero, Pedro. Vida del venerable padre y exemplarissimo varon el maestro Fr. Diego Basalenque, Provincial que fue de la Provincia de San Nicolas de Mechoacan del Orden de N.P.S. Agustin. Roma: En la Imprenta de los Herederos de Barbielini, 1761. 8vo (21.5 cm; 8.5" ). xvi, 194 pp.
$1300.00
Second edition (first was Mexico, 1664) of the standard biography of Father Basalenque (1577–1651), the Provincial of the Augustinians in Michoacan and the author of Arte de la lengua tarasca, the best colonial-era grammar of the Tarascan (Purépecha) language, and of Historia de la Provincia de San Nicolás de Tolentino de Michoacán, del Orden de N.P.S. Agustín, the respected history of his order in Michoacan. He was also an accomplished student of the Matlatltzinga language, leaving unpublished (until the 20th century) several manuscripts.
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This work discusses his humility, obedience to the Agustinian rule and vows, and in part his work among the native population.
This second edition additionally contains Lucas Centeno's compilation of the documents relating to the reinterment of Fr. Basalenque's remains in the Convento de Santa María de Gracia in Valladolid (now Morelia), Mexico.
Sabin 75779; Palau 287455; Medina, BHA, 3996. Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties. Rodent damage to binding (bits devoured especially at back cover fore-edge) and some nibbling to lower edge of closed book (not anywhere near the text). Clean, solid, unwormed copy. (28616)
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El Convento de Santa Clara de la Parra — The Foundation of a Mystic
San Antonio Capilla, Fernando de. Vida singular de la madre Maria de Christo; venerable, por esclarecida virgen; por su rigurosa penitencia, por los favores que recibio de Dios; y por fundadora de los beaterios en las villas de la Parra, y Almendralejo. Madrid: Manuel Ruiz de Murga, 1716. 8vo (20.7 cm, 8.25"). [32], 338, [30 (index)] pp.
$350.00
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First edition: Biography of the Spanish mystic Maria de Christo (1654–1711), written by her confessor. Madre Maria founded and served as prioress of several beaterios, including the famously austere La Parra. The title-page is printed in red and black, and the text is preceded by a woodcut image of the Mater Dolorosa pierced by seven swords.
Searches of WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locare fewer than half a dozen copies in U.S. libraries. COPAC locates only the copy in the British Library and the Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico finds ten in Spain.
Palau 289972. Contemporary vellum, spine with early inked title, ties partially intact; text block mostly separated from spine, front free endpaper torn. Pages lightly age-toned (a few somewhat more so) with mild foxing; a few corners creased. (29102)
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The
FIRST Dominican-Born Writer to Publish a Book
& a Book about HISPANOLA at That!
Sánchez Valverde, Antonio. Idea del valor de la isla Española, utilidades que de ella puede sacar su monarquia. Madrid: Impr. de Pedro Marin, 1785. 4to. [4] ff., xx, 208 pp., [2] ff., table; without the map.
$1400.00
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Sánchez Valverde was the first writer born in Santo Domingo to publish a book. In fact he published several, but all agree his most important is his Idea del valor de la isla Española. In it he writes of the entire island of Hispaniola, both the Spanish portion and the French. He surveys the natural history, the crops, the people, the slaves, the climate, the topography, the hydrology, the ports, and the prospects.
Provenance: Ownership stamp of John Carter Brown on title-page; later in the John Carter Brown Library (bookplate); note at end “Collated with G.G. Church copy. July 31, 1912. dup.” Deaccessioned 2008.
Evidence of readership: Scattered marginalia in French through p. 50, almost invariably giving the French for obscure words and phrases in Spanish in the text. Perhaps owned by someone living in the Haitian area of the island?
Palau 296409; Medina, BHA, 5154; Sabin 76309. Contemporary vellum over paste boards, vellum split at fore-edge of front one exposing the substrate; vellum cockled and old, faint inked writing on it. Front hinge (inside) open; without the map; stamp as noted above. A good copy. (28324)
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The
TRYAL of the Seven Bishops
Sancroft, William. The proceedings and tryal in the case
of the Most Reverend Father in God William Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Right
Reverend Fathers in God, William Lord Bishop of St. Asaph, Francis Lord Bishop of Ely, John
Lord Bishop of Chichester, Thomas Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, Thomas Lord Bishop of
Peterborough, and Jonathan Lord Bishop of Bristol. London: Pr. for J. Nicholson, J. Walthoe, G.
Conyers, J. & D. Sprint, T. Ballard, W. Mears and J. Browne, 1716. 8vo (20 cm, 7.9"). Frontis.,
[6], 376 pp. (pagination 182–89 omitted).
$450.00
Uncommon second edition, following the first of 1689: Transcript
of the 1688 trial of seven bishops of the Church of England, charged with seditious
libel for having petitioned James II to repeal his second Declaration of Indulgence.
This
is one of the landmark cases of English constitutional history,
analyzing the extent of the king's legislative authority; the bishops' eventual
acquittal delivered a fatal blow to James's reign.
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the images for enlargement.
The volume opens with a copper-engraved portrait of the seven bishops: Sancroft,
Thomas Ken, John Lake, William Lloyd, Jonathan Trelawny, Francis Turner, and
Thomas White.
ESTC T103539. Contemporary speckled calf, framed and
panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons and contrasting panel
of plain calf, edges and corners rubbed; recently rebacked with complementary
speckled calf, spine with raised bands. Pages age-toned with some light spotting.
Some corners bumped in use and one leaf a bit crumpled in the press; complete
with the handsome frontispiece. (26524)
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Sappho for the Student Distinguished Provenance & a New Biography
Sappho. Poetriae lesbiae, fragmenta et elogia. Hamburg: Apud Abrahamum Vandenhoeck, 1733. 4to (25 cm, 9.84"). [5] ff., XXXII, 253, [27] pp., [1] plt.
$975.00
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First separate edition, first issue, of the extant verses by the greatest female lyric poet of ancient Greece. Prior to this edition, edited by Johann Christian Wolf (1689–1770) with extensive indices and a new 32-page biography, Sappho's poetry was often subsumed in editions of Anacreon or compilations of other poets. In his letter to the reader, Wolf explains that the printer Vandenhoeck asked him to produce an edition of Sappho that would be accessible to diligent youths, because Fulvio Orsini's Novem illustrium Feminarum (Plantin, 1598, although our author says 1568!) is just too pricey.
The title-page here is printed in red and black with an ornament signed “FH Inc[isit]”; the volume bears delicate head- and tailpieces and one elaborate initial embellished with ink by an early hand, while
the engraved frontispiece features a bust of Sappho surrounded by ancient coins carrying her image and others related to Mytilene. The text is in roman and italic, the Greek and Latin appearing on opposing pages with copious notes filling the lower half of most. (A reissue of the Hamburg sheets was printed at London with a new title-page the same year, and issued anew with Wolf's Poetriarum octo the following year.)
Provenance: Signature of Michael Wodhull (1740–1816), distinguished translator of Euripides and a dedicated book collector, dated 19 Nov. 1764; undated ink inscription to title-page of a Dr. Fernär(?); “Payne's sale” and other bookseller's notes in a 19th-century hand; late 19th-century bookplate of William E. Challinor.
Evidence of readership: “Nov: 7. 1766.” written in ink on p. 225 (the last of the text of the Carmina, before notes and fragments).
ESTC T47075 & Schweiger, I, 285 (the London reissue); Graesse, VI, 270 (“Londini” with note “d'autres ex. portent la rubrique Hamburgi”). 18th-century brown calf rebacked in mottled leather with gilt-lettered spine label and corners restored; board extremities rubbed and chipping, the old leather darkened where it meets the new. Paper variously age-toned; otherwise clean save for some minor foxing, some light upper-marginal and cross-corner old dampstaining, and the odd old spot or stain only. Small tear at the outer margin of one leaf and a nick in the top margin of another. (29827)
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Historyof the
Council of Trent in GERMAN
Sarpi, Paulo. Historie des tridentinischen concilii mit des D. Courayer Anmerkungen. Halle: in der Gebauer und Stettinschen Buchhandlung, 1761–64. 8vo (19.5 cm, 7.7"). 4 vols. only of 6, in 2. I: [107] ff., 440, [32] pp.; [2] ff., 684, [32] pp. II: [24] ff., 566, [18] pp.; [1] f., 598, [24] pp.
$300.00
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Later German edition of this unofficial, anti-papal history of the Council of Trent by Fra Paolo Sarpi (1552–1623), first published in 1619. The German text is printed in gothic with Latin footnotes in roman and italic type. Sidenotes, also in German, are found in the main sections of each part, and handsome woodcut initials, headpieces, and tailpieces decorate the text throughout. There is one set of letterpress diagrams in the second part, and the volumes offer
all three engraved frontispieces called for, being portraits of the author, Paul III, and Julius III, by “Bause” (Johann Friedrich Bause, 1738–1814) and “Schleven” (probably Johann Friedrich Schleuen, 1739–84), at the beginning of the first three parts. All four parts have separate title-pages.
Binding/Provenance: Contemporary full vellum with
gilt-stamped supralibros “Fridericus Rex Prussiae. A. 1764.” on front covers of both volumes, suggesting they were presented to the King of Prussia that year, just after the final part was printed. Bright red edges.
Bindings as above, both a little soiled, with noticeable but small spots on back cover of first vol. and front cover of second, spines rubbed erasing old ink titles and library markings. Four volumes only of six, bound in two; old-fashioned institutional rubber-stamps on title-pages and ink markings on front pastedowns. Light foxing, a few small holes from natural paper flaws, and one naturally occurring tear in part two. A single small hole resulting from chemicals in the paper in parts two and four; a few stray ink marks from the press.
In good shape, printed on nice, fibrous paper and remarkably clean. (30343)
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(Schism
Act, 1714). Broadside.
Begins: “Reasons humbly offer’d to the Right Honourable the peers
of Great Britain, in Parliament assembled, against the bill to prevent the growth
of schism.... [London, 1714?]. Folio (31.5 cm, 12.4"). [2] pp.
$950.00
Protest against the proposed Schism Act of 1714, which was directed
against dissenters; the act was supported by Queen Anne but repealed in 1718.
The verso of this broadside is printed with the title, “The Protestant
Dissenters reasons against the Bill to prevent the Growth of Schism, &c.”This
is an uncommon item, with
only one U.S. holding
reported by ESTC, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956.
ESTC N22343. Tipped onto a leaf of 19th-century paper;
now in a Mylar folder. In good untattered condition, with noticeable
(but not print-obscuring) stain in lower center portion.
Schreger, Odilo. Studiosus jovialis, seu auxilia ad jocosè, & honestè discurrendum, in gratiam & usum studiosorum juvenum, aliorúmque litteratorum virorum, honestae recreationis amantium ... editio quinta. Pedeponti: Joannis Gastl, 1757. 8vo (16.4 cm, 6.5"). [4] ff., 744, [4 (index)] pp.
[SOLD]
Early edition, following the scarce first of 1749, of an entertaining and educational miscellany including collections of proverbs, riddles, and comic anecdotes, as well as a section on symbols and emblems. The title-page is printed
in red and black, and the text in black-letter type for the German portions and roman for the Latin.
Uncommon. Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 locate only three copies in U.S. libraries.
Goedeke, Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung (for first ed.). 19th-century quarter morocco (refurbished) over paper-covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; edges of paper sides rubbed. Front pastedown with bookseller’s ticket from B. Westermann & Co. of New York, private collector’s 19th-century bookplate, and institutional stamp (no other markings). Small repaired hole to title-page, with four letters unobtrusively replaced. Foxed, with a few corners crumpled or dog-eared. One engraved plate from another work laid in.
A pleasant, we would say “atmospheric” little volume.

A Classic
GERMAN
View of America:
John Carter Brown's Copy
Schröter, Johann Friedrich. Algemeine Geschichte der Länder und Völker von America. Halle: Johann Justinus Gebauer, 1752–53. 4to (24.8 cm, 9.75"). 2 vols. I: [46], 688 pp.; 2 plts. II: [22], 905 (i.e., 907), [63 (index)] pp.; 2 maps, 2 fold. maps (out of 8 maps & 60 plts. total).
$1500.00
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First edition
of this descriptive overview of the New World, sponsored by German Protestant
theologian Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten and compiled by Johann Friedrich Schröter,
who translated and incorporated much of Lafitau's Moeurs des sauvages Américains,
among other sources. The black-letter text is ornamented with decorative capitals,
head- and tailpieces, and (in this copy) six copper-engraved plates (of the
original larger number, see collation); present here are maps of “Hayti,”
San Domingo, Mexico, and “die Mexicanische See,” and plates XII
(antiquities representing deities) and XIV (two ceremonial activities).
Along with its accounts of native religions and customs, and its discovery and exploration narratives, the work includes a section on chocolate (“ein Geschenk, das Mexico den Europäern gemacht,” p. 333), potatoes, cassava, and other New World food items, as well as beers and wines.
Provenance: Private bookplate
on pastedowns and ownership stamp of John Carter Brown on first leaf of preliminaries
and elsewhere. On his death to his son John Nicholas Brown (1861–1900).
On his death deeded to the John Carter Brown Library. Deaccessioned 2008.
Howes S200; Library Company, Afro-Americana, 9182; Sabin 77989. 19th-century half brown morocco and marbled paper–covered boards, spines with gilt-stamped titles and bands; moderately rubbed. Front pastedowns each with private bookplate of John Carter Brown as above, subsequently rubber-stamped by the library bearing his name (properly deaccessioned), title-pages each with faded early inked inscription (dated 1752 and 1753), sectional title-page of vol. I and first text page of vol. II each with Brown's red signature rubber-stamp. Lacking four maps and 58 plates. Scattered faint foxing and spotting, vol. II with lower portions of front endpapers and first few leaves waterstained, pages overall generally clean. Priced to reflect plate absences — but this is a worthwhile text, complete, solidly bound, and with an interesting association. (29149)
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Natural Law
Schwarz, Ignaz. Institutiones juris universalis, naturæ et gentium, ad normam moralistarum nostri temporis.... Augustae: Sumptibus Joannis Antonii Fesenmayr p.m. haeredum bibliopolarum, typis Antonii Maximiliani Heiss, 1743. Folio (32.2 cm, 12.75"). [5] ff., 195, [1], 204 pp.
$1850.00

Ignaz Schwarz (16901763) was a Jesuit and a professor of humanities, philosophy, and history. In this four-part work he discusses the philosophical foundation of natural law and its basic applications, in the process discussing matters as diverse as the nature of moral acts; the law of the family; slavery, employment and service; the nature of property; sovereignty; just war and the law of war; and treaties and other elements of what is now known as international law.
Schwarz critiques Protestant authors, such as Grotius, Puffendorf, Heineccius, and Thomasius, and other writers on these subjects, pointing out where they agree with and where they differ from Catholic teaching.
He first published his Institutiones juris in 1741, and, according to DeBacker-Sommervogel, this is the third of six editions. Present here are parts 1 and 2 of 4, in which, however, all the matters above listed are discussed. This edition is printed with the title-page in red and black, a woodcut headpiece and tailpieces, and a plethora of side- and footnotes.
Provenance: Inked inscription on title-page, "Rodriguez de Arellano."
DeBacker-Sommervogel, VII, 948. Limp vellum with remnants of ties; spine with inked title. Scattered spots of staining to spine and rear cover. Pp. 4142 of the first series of pagination has a large chip out of the upper outer corner with loss of page numbers but no text. Pp. 15556 has a tear in the outer margin, not touching text. Occasional worming in the outer margins, not touching text. Scattered age-spotting; a few occasions of light waterstaining in the outer margins. (3439)
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