Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Adams A1362; Brunet, I, 362; EDIT 16 CNCE 2231; Index Aurel., 106.611; Renouard, Alde, 91.8; UCLA, Aldine Press: Catalogue of the Ahmanson-Murphy Collection (2001), 202.   Bound as above, spine evenly sunned to brown. Upper margins trimmed closely, in some cases shaving headers and foliation; small areas of waterstaining to outer portions of a few leaves. A very few early inked pointers and corrections, including lining-through of some headers. A solid and attractive copy of an important edition.  (37828)

Provenance:  Signature of journalist and author William Agnew Paton dated 1896 on upper margin of title-page in ink and on front endpaper dated 1898 in blue crayon; Paton also added a presentation inscription in 1911 to Lewis Buckley Stillwell, a president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and long a trustee of Princeton University. Stillwell wrote an inscription to his son Richard in 1831, a year before Richard became the director of the Princeton-associated American School of Classical Studies in Athens. Later in the collection of Classicist Pierre A. MacKay (1933–2015), a Classicist also with Princeton associations.

•  ESTC S119225; STC 13624.5.   19th-century mottled calf with gilt-lettered leather label and gilt-stamped compartments on spine, covers delicately framed in gilt double-rules around simple gilt triple-ruled rectangle with crown stamps at corners, all edges gilt; endpapers chipping, binding worn and abraded, text resewn and reattached to binding, rebacked with 19th-century spine laid on. Marked and lacking title-page and five blanks as above, light pencilling on endpapers, a few very short tears at margins, one leaf with ink spotting; light to moderate age-toning with the occasional spot.  (36544)

The volume begins with a most handsome emblematic engraved title-page signed C. De Mallery involving a ship at sea against a sky labeled “Lutetia” (for Paris) surmounting an elaborate architectural frame containing the title and incorporating elegant symbolic ladies and more, followed on the next leaves by a dedication to the esteemed French collector Jacques-Auguste de Thou (Thuanus, 1553–1617). Beautiful floriated woodcut initials, factotum initials, head- and tailpieces decorate the text, which is anexquisite example of printing.

It seems that there were related texts printed at the same time that are sometimes found bound with this in a variety of combinations, but this not universally.

•  Adams S1061; Schweiger, I, 287.   Period-style full dark brown mottled calf tooled in blind, gilt title and tools to spine, red edges. Small hole from natural flaw in upper corner of title-page and one other leaf; oval-shaped spot in lower margin of title-page from an erasure (?), offset onto the front fly-leaf; light age-toning and occasional foxing in some margins, with a few stray ink marks from printing and maybe two or three dots from oxidization of the paper. Accounting for these minor expectable flaws, the present volume isreally very, very nice and the portraits areterrific.  (30177)

Binding:  Publisher's textured green cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped vignettes. All edges gilt.

•  NSTC 2A1051.   Binding as above, moderate rubbing to edges and extremities with top of spine pulled, gilt vignettes showing slight rubbing. Early pencilled ownership inscription in upper portion of first text page; some plate leaves a bit more age-toned than others or than text leaves. Overall both attractive and entertaining.  (37284)

•  Publisher's cream paper–covered boards, spines with stamped titles and heraldic rampant lion decorations; spines darkened (uniformly so), some spines chipped or scuffed. Preface and last text page of each volume with pencilled ownership inscription of J.C.B., dated 1923, except vol XV, marked as read in 1959 by J.D. Bowman. Vol. VI with newspaper clippings affixed to free endpapers, offset onto pastedowns. Vol. VIII with frontispiece separated and laid in, first few lower outer corners bumped, small pencilled marks of emphasis. Vol. IX with small scuff to front cover, small pencilled marks of emphasis, newspaper clipping affixed to back pastedown. Vol. XI with lower portion of one leaf torn away, with loss of portions of eight lines. Vol. XIII with front joint cracked and spine paper partially detached, reinforced some time ago with cellophane tape. Vols. XIV and XIX with back endpapers bearing inked and pencilled annotations. An enjoyably readable tour of famous lives in a “period” edition.  (33428)

The third volume includes two plates and one oversized, folding plate reproducing two inscriptions and a frieze, engraved by E. Malpas.

Uncommon outside of Great Britain.

•  ESTC T113913; Brunet, I, 26; Lowndes, I, 5. Contemporary treed calf, spines gilt extra, with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels; leather worn at edges and moderately rubbed with joints cracking. Front pastedowns with private bookplates and signs that a plate was removed on front free endpaper (one vol. endpaper holed); impressions of old pencilled shelf numbers on title-pages (and one lightly inked old date). First two leaves of vol. III with upper margins stained and final leaf browned; some pages with a few spots of faint foxing, most clean and crisp.  (13107)

This isnumbered copy 459 of a total of 503 printed (394 for sale in Great Britain, 104 for sale in America, and 5 special copies on vellum), signed B.G.G. on the limitation.

•  Publisher's quarter tan cloth and brown paper–covered sides, front cover and spine each with printed paper label; corners bumped, spine darkened, spine label chipped. Pages clean; edges deckle with a very few signatures uncut.  (33816)

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear of both book and housing.

•  Adams A263; Mortimer, French 16th-Century Books, 3; Brunet, I, 77; Schreiber, Catalogue 37, no. 2; Dibdin, Greek and Latin Classics, p. 237; Hoffmann, Bibliographisches Lexicon der gesammten Literatur der Griechen, I, p. 32; Gruys Early Printed Editions (1518-1664) of Aeschylus, no. II-3 (p. 31-46). On Turnèbe, see: Renouard, Imprimeurs parisiens.   19th-century speckled calf, board edges with gilt zigzag rolls, all edges speckled red; recently rebacked, top edge darkened, boards worn with loss of most gilt, new endpapers with some discoloration and one pencilled phrase. Housed in a navy blue cloth clamshell case with two gilt red leather spine labels. Title-page and first few leaves affected by two unsuccessful leaf repairs leading to chipping, glue action, and a few tears; remainder of text with several pagination errors, a handful of spots, one edge tear from paper manufacture, and one waterstained bottom corner. Ownership label as above, a few leaves with light marks in pencil, one underline in ink.  (38365)

WorldCat and Lindsay & Neu combine to locate eight copies in the U.S.

•  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)

Printed at the Plantin Press entirely in Greek (except for the imprint information), using Greek type commissioned from Robert Granjon, this bears one of the variant Plantin printer's devices on the title-page. It was printed with guide letters, although none have been supplied in manuscript by a scribe.

Evidence of readership: Scattered marginalia in Greek and Latin, sometimes correcting a word in text or expanding on same; other times citing a page in a different book.

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Voet 593; Graesse, Trésor de Livres Rares, I, 204; Brunet, I, 448; Schweiger, I, 44; Index Aurel. 107.600; Adams A1692. Surprisingly not in Legrand, Bibliographie Hellenique.   Disbound; now in modern wrappers. A very nice, clean copy with occasional light age-toning.  (37768)

The volume was published at the request of Cardinal Ascanius Columnas in an edition ofonly 750 copies, and was printed at Antwerp at the press of Moretus’ widow and sons with the famous Plantin device appearing in two versions (engraved, to the title, and woodcut, to the final recto).

A full-page engraved funeral portrait of Rubens engraved by Cornelius Galleafter Peter Paul Rubens signals the beginning of the third section, in which Jan Brant records the life of his son-in-law’s brother and transcribes his epitaph. Even Balthasar Moretus contributes an epigram in honor of the deceased.

In the fourth section, Rubens’ own orations and selected letters appear, i.a. his funeral oration to Philip II of Spain. Josse DeRycke contributed the final funerary tribute.

Done up in fully elegant Plantin–Moretus style, the volume has in addition to its careful typography and full-page plate and devices been lavished throughout with two-line block initials and four-line historiated woodcut initials; also, it offers several intricate woodcut tailpieces.

Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate only eight copies in U.S. institutions, one of which has been deaccessioned; most arenot in obvious places.

•  Graesse, I, 241; Corpus Rubenianum, XXI (1977), 152.   Period-style full brown calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label, raised bands with blind tooling extending onto covers. With a few odd spots to the text only, this is aremarkably fine, crisp copy. All edges green.  (28878)

•  Adams B47; Renouard, Estienne, 106:19; Schreiber, Estiennes, 132 (see also 50).   19th-century deep blue calf framed in single gilt fillet, spine gilt-stamped title (etc.), gilt beading to raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment fleurons; blue marbled endpapers. All edges red. In a blue buckram-covered, open-back slipcase; slipcase showing shelf wear with closed crack to portion of spine, volume with spine evenly sunned to olive green, corners very slightly rubbed. Ticket and bookplate as above; endpapers with modern pencilled annotations. Minor instances of worming, often minute pinhole-type, in upper outer portion of approximately two thirds of volume, sometimes touching letters without obscuring sense. Four leaves with lower outer corners lightly liquid-stained, not affecting text. A handsome copy of this significant publication.  (37503)

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 5809. Recently rebound in period-style tan cloth over light blue paper sides, spines with paper labels. Contemporary ownership inscription to front fly-leaf in each volume. Map with light offsetting and short tear just starting along one fold. First 20 leaves of vol. II waterstained and last 10 foxed; otherwise only scattered incidences of spotting in all volumes, pages generally clean. A nice-looking set, and still — as it always was! — a work offering a pleasant way to absorb ancient history.  (2736)

•  ESTC T53381. On Bentley's response to Collins, see: Dictionary of National Biography.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Faint crease lines occasionally visible, pages otherwise clean. (20751)

The title-page of vol. II reads: Cornelii van Bynkershoek, icti et senatoris, Observationum iuris romani quatuor, quatuor prioribus additi, nempre V. VI. VII. et VIII in quibus plurima iuris civilis aliorumque auctorum loca explicantur et emendantur.

•  McCrank 0390.   Publisher's vellum over paste boards; one board broken across one corner under the vellum and held by it, another board with vellum of cover patched; cover attachments strengthened at top long ago by use of a strip of old vellum manuscript. Text browned, margins surrounding it not so much!  (30876)

Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 find only eight U.S. holdings.

•  Goldsmiths'-Kress 19346.100.   Publisher's rose paper wrappers, rebacked in paper wrapper edges chipped and hinges (inside) reinforced. Half-title and title-page institutionally rubber-stamped, front pastedown with institutional bookplate and early inked numeral, half-title with small inked ownership inscriptions. Signatures unopened, edges untrimmed; pages age-toned throughout, some with a little foxing; a nice copy. Now housed in a neat rose-maroon cloth clamshell case with gilt-stamped leather title-label.  (25268)

Vol. I is illustrated with one wood-engraved plate depicting a Saxon almanac, and seven in-text engravings depicting Odin, Frigga, Thor, and the other deities with days named in their honor.

Provenance: Signature on title-pages of George Buckton, vol. I dated 1812 and vol. II dated 1813.

•  Allibone 237 (listing 1813 & 1814 eds. only); NSTC B4120.   Contemporary treed calf, rebacked preserving original spines with gilt-stamped titles, gilt-ruled and -dotted compartment bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; original spine leather chipped, cracked, and darkened as by fire. Covers with corners and edges unobtrusively rubbed; portions nearest spines showing evidence of heat exposure; hinges (inside) reinforced. Front pastedowns each with institutional bookplate, vol. I front pastedown with bookseller's ticket and affixed early cataloguing slip, vol. I back pastedown and vol. II front pastedown with inked library inscription. Title-pages with inked ownership inscriptions as above. Offsetting from plate and to endpapers from binding, pages otherwise clean though with all edges (i.e., of closed book) darkened. A particularly handsome exemplar of popular scholarship of the day.  (25436)

The title-page contains an early example of bookseller salesmanship: Below the title is printed “Lector eme, lege, et probabis — “Reader, buy [it], read [it], and you'll approve [of it].”

As is to be expected of Renaissance children's books, this is scarce.  NUC and WorldCat locate only two copies of this edition in U.S. libraries (Columbia, Folger) and none of the 1511.

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Adams H806; Schmidt, Schurer, 91; VD16 C221; Index aurel. 129.351; Benzing, Strasbourg, 313; Graesse, II, 15.   Recent full dark tan calf, plain antique style; front cover showing pressure marks of writing done on paper resting on the volume (these last being so unobtrusive as not to show in our photograph). Title-page a little dusty; very faint soiling or staining on a few leaves. Nice margins.  (38027)

Provenance:  Pressure-stamp of private collector Colossio Solari of Cremona.

Brunet labels this “une des plus belle editions de cet ouvrage.”

•  Graesse, II, 56; Brunet, I, 1601.   Mid-19th-century quarter cloth with marbled paper sides. Some staining; some gatherings probably supplied or damaged and now tipped to stubs. Light waterstaining here and there. A less than perfect copy priced very much according to its faults and still a worthy copy for an impoverished collector or a person who just doesn't need “perfect”!  (34647)

Binding:  Black morocco, spine lettered and tooled in gilt using six different rolls and a single and a triple rule; two compartments stamped in blind. Covers single-ruled in gilt around a frame of blind-stamped flowers with a blind-embossed “chipped” diamond design at center that incorporates two different texturings and a central circle-and-swirls motif; board edges and turn-ins gilt in zig-zag patterns. Marbled endpapers and all edges marbled in an identical design. Green ribbon place marker still attached.

Provenance:  Presentation label noting “To Angelo C. Hayter, from his affectionate father, Sir George Hayter. 1864" on front pastedown; title-pages with barely legible rubber-stamp from St. Michele's in Bologna. George Hayter (1792–1871) was a noted English painter who served as Queen Victoria's Principal Painter in Ordinary. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Bound as above, gently rubbed, tailband partially detached; provenance evidence as above, four examples of a chipped margin, trimmed corner, or tremoin. Light to moderate age-toning with a handful of spots. A clean and handsome copy.  (37740)

Binding: Contemporary vellumprize binding paneled in gilt on each cover with fleurons at corners, this surrounding thecoat of arms of Rotterdam, i.e., two gilt lions supporting a shield of four lions passant above a pale charge, crowned by a ducal coronet with a fleur-de-lis at the helm. Spine blind-ruled with a single floral ornament blind-stamped in each compartment, title written in early ink (now faded).

Provenance:  Two different bookplates of Lebanese lawyer, writer, and translator Camille Aboussouan (b. 1919), former UNESCO ambassador to Lebanon who founded the cultural review Les Cahiers de l'Est. Pressure-stamp of Jean-François Jolibois (1794–1879), a priest at Trévoux, France, who was a member of the légion d'honneur and various literary societies. Ink inscription in French dated 25 February 1863 at Lyon, shelf number in same hand on front pastedown, and price in ink on front free endpaper.

•  Schweiger, II, 81; Dibdin, I, 377; Graesse, II, 87 (“fort rare”).   Binding as above, with four green ribbon ties; prize assignment lacking and engraved title-page reattached; lightly soiled, gilt rubbed in places, some staining to edges of text block. Mild to moderate foxing, occasionally; a few inkstains or smudges and small dampstains; two small holes from natural paper flaws not affecting text and one sectional title-page with same taking “A” from CATULLUS; two short marginal tears. Overall, indeed, clean and crisp and pleasing.  (31362)

Provenance:  Early 17th-century ownership inscription on title “Ex bibliotheca Magister Joannes Makgill” (a Johannes Makgill graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1602); 18th- or early 19th- century signature of George Blair on front fly-leaf; 18th-century signature of Daniel MacKinnon on title-page. (Our thanks to Eric White of Princeton for deciphering the Makgill's last name and his university affiliation.)

•  Index Aurel. 139.245; Adams C1769; Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, II, 200–01; VD16 C3211. On Wolf see: Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, II, p. 268.   Recent blue-grey paper–covered boards; spine with printed paper labels, new endpapers, all edges speckled red. Age-toning, some spotting, and light to moderately heavy waterstaining throughout; perhaps a dozen leaves with corners bumped and perhaps another dozen with minor, very unobtrusive touches of worming, a few light markings in pencil and ink. Title-page and three index leaves artfully repaired with Japanese tissue, the first with no loss of text and the latter with some loss; an internal blank and three index leaves lacking, otherwise complete. A well-used and imperfect but solid and still useful compilation of extensively analyzed classical texts, and from an important press.  (36087)

Additionally, the colophon informs us: “Literæ quibus impressus est hicce libellus, a P.S. Fournier junior incisae sunt.”

In this copy, preliminary pages [2–6, 8, 11–14] are blank except for the printed frame.

Binding:  Contemporary red straight-grained morocco, covers framed with gilt roll, spine with gilt-stamped title and floral decorations, board edges with gilt fillet and turn-ins with gilt roll. All edges gilt.

•  Brunet, II, 26; Schweiger, II, 177; Bondy, Miniature Books, p. 24; Spielmann, Miniature Books, no. 95; Ducourtieux, no. 197, p. 314.   Binding as above; joints and extremities lightly rubbed, all gilt bright. Four leaves with small spot of stain to lower margin at edge, and a few tiny spots elsewhere; overall, clean and lovely. A remarkably appealing little volume.  (35535)

This is numbered copy 1048 of 1500 printed.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 452.   Binding as above, spine with gilt-stamped title, in original glassine dust jacket and original slipcase; volume very clean and fresh, glassine wrapper intact, slipcase all but unworn. A very nice copy.  (34057)

Provenance:  Title-page with inked inscription “J.D. Michaeli,” presumably Orientalist, biblical scholar, and Göttingen professor Johann David Michaelis (1717–91). Later manuscript notes as below in the hand of the early 19th-century scholar August Neander; his library sold to the Colgate (Rochester Crozer) Divinity School, properly deaccessioned.

Evidence of readership: Three pages completely covered in Neander's hand with annotations in Greek and Latin, tipped in at the front; pencilled marks of emphasis, inked underlining, and inked marginal annotations in what appear to be two different early hands.

•  Brunet, II, 93.   Period-style quarter speckled calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label, all edges red; final three index leaves (only) lacking. Trimmed closely, in some instances touching headers and often the marginalia; approximately 30 leaves with a finger's-breadth portion of upper edge chewed, affecting headers but never text; several leaves with repaired tears or reinforced margins; one leaf with flaw in outer margin touching three letters. Markings as above; occasional small areas of light staining or inkblots, one small burn hole, and two pages with dripped red wax. A solid and very readable copy in an attractive recent binding, with provenance worthy of note. (35424)

Provenance:  Calligraphic bookplate of Norman J. Sondheim, American collector of fine press books.

•  McKitterick/Rendall/Dreyfus 12.   Quarter vellum with gold paper sides; edges rubbed, wrapper lacking. Top edge gilt on the rough. Minor offsetting to endpapers, otherwise clean.  (32037)

Binding:  Full crushed brown morocco by Lortic (signed on front lower turn-in). Boards and spine plain, five raised bands, all edges gilt. Single gilt rule on board edges; gilt inner dentelles and marbled endpapers. Green silk place marker.

Provenance:  Bookplate of R. Percy Alden (late 19th- and early 20th-century collector). Later manuscript ownership note of Antatole Delornow.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only seven copies in U.S. libraries.

•  Renouard, Colines, 382– 83; Schreiber, Colines, 203; Schwieger 317–18; Vander Haeghen, II, 23.   Binding as above; front board reattached using Japanese tissue method and rear joint (outside) strengthened using same method. A very clean, very nice copy.  (37017)