Scarce: No U.S. copies traced via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, or RLIN; and only two via the Italian union catalogue (SBN), the British Library, the OPAC of the Dutch Royal Library, and the Catalogue collectif de France, both in France. First of three editions.

Provenance: On blank back of Italian title-page, “Comprato da me Filipo Ricccardini in Ancona,” dated 1801; similar note on title-page in French.

•  Goldsmith’s-Kress 9910.20 (for later ed. only). Uncut copy. Publisher’s cartonné binding, with some staining; spine perished and renewed with marbled paper not affecting inked notation in Italian on front cover. Some light browning and occasional spots of staining; actually rather clean for such a working volume. A few pages adhered together at their gutters, obscuring individual letters without loss of sense. Inked notations on endpapers; ownership inscriptions as above.

•  Publisher's embossed cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; corners and spine extremities showing minor wear, with gilt oxidized. Front free endpaper with pencilled inscription; some page edges with small blotches. Binding very handsome in its subtle way. Impossible! to get a good image of! (12986)

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Binding: Publisher's crimson cloth, front cover and spine gilt- and black-stamped, back cover black-stamped. All edges gilt. Actually, breathtaking.

•  Binding as above, clean and bright with only very faint traces of wear to corners and joints. Pages clean; some lower outer corners slightly crumpled. It is hard to imagine a better copy.  (23709)

Provenance: Front free endpaper with ownership inscription by Henry Binkly, dated 1833; several laid-in slips of paper include a recipe for hair dye and a concoction involving sulphur, sugar of lead, and bay rum.

•  Shoemaker 8591; First Century of German Language Printing in the U.S., 2565. Contemporary sheep framed in blind, spine with blind-ruled raised bands, abraded but solid. One clasp lacking, one present and working. Moderate foxing; one sectional title with pencilled annotations. Clearly a volume that saw both use and reasonable care. Plain, and pleasing.

This offering contains original documents touching on many of these and other matters.

The editors involved in this multigenerational publication effort were Gumundur Magnusson (1741–98), Finnur Magnusson (1781–1847), and Gunnar Palsson (1714–91). The plates are facsimiles of actual text.

Provenance: From the collection of 19th-century scholar Dr. Johann August Neander (1789–1850), a convert from Judaism who became a leading scholar of Christianity.

•  Recent quarter dark brown calf over stone pattern boards, with gilt spine and new endpapers; well done. Pars II with a bit of marginal staining to tops of early leaves but not title-page, pars III title-page with fainter strip of old stain and a bit of chipping to top edge; other very early leaves of III with old staining to lower outer corners (only). Noted faults more distressing in the telling than to the eye — interiors generally clean, even fresh. A handsome, satisfactory set.

•  NSTC 2E4979.   Removed from a nonce volume.  (11085)

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for an enlargement.

The Selectae dissertationes mexicanae was planned as a three-volume work but only this volume was published, the other two having been left in manuscript. It was printed by the widow Hogal, who continued to maintain the high standards of printing that she established with her husband; more than one bibliographer has compared the Hogal output favorably with that of the best European contemporaries. The title-page is in black and red with the text in double-column format in roman and italic, and the whole has decent margins. The volume was intended as a university level text for the study of certain theological concepts.

Provenance:   Marca de fuego on top and bottom edges of the closed volume of the “Convento Grande de Nuestra Señora de la Merced” in Mexico City.

Very uncommon. We trace only one copy in the U.S., at the University of Texas.

•  Medina, Mexico, 3763 Palau 78637; Beristain, I, 216–21. Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of button and loop ties. Marca de fuego as noted previously. Some worming into text on pages 361–94, costing letters but not impairing sense.

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An important negative statement of civil liberties and religious freedom.

•  ESTC R21099; Wing (rev.) E862.   Removed from a nonce volume; dusty, in modern wrappers. Sidenotes closely trimmed with loss of letters and even a short words.  (20451)

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)

This volume’s oversized, folding frontispiece shows the front facade of the “new East India House now building in Leadenhall Street”; there is also one in-text engraving of Lethington House in East Lothian, residence of the Maitland family.

Provenance: Front pastedown with inked ownership inscription of Joshua Gilpin, a Quaker from Philadelphia who established the first paper mill in Delaware, in 1787.

•  Disbound with front cover, front free endpaper, and frontispiece separated; back cover lost, and signature sewing exposed/going, with many leaves loose. Now contained in a simple, acid-free phase box. Edges untrimmed. Minor offsetting and a few stray marks; mostly clean.

There were American versions of “Humphrey Bluster” letters; in 1818 two such items respecting the Boston election were printed. At this writing RLIN, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956list no holdings of the present, Anglo Bluster.

•  Not in NSTC. On Graham, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, XXII, 328–32. Creased, with corners bent, otherwise good. A few early, lightly inked marginalia.

An examination of the paper used suggests that some gatherings of the BCP are remaindered from the 1795 printing and that the bulk of the “edition” is a close 1805 reprinting on wove paper.

•  Evans 29363; Griffiths, Book of Common Prayer, 1795/12. Not in Shaw & Shoemaker.   Recent full calf, old style, by Grace Bindings (signed “G.B.” on lower turn-in of inside back cover), with gilt tooling on covers and spine, raised bands on spine, green title-label. Title-page browned around the edges. Scattered foxing and a few stray stains.  (20606)

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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.

•  Not in Adams; VD16 0839. On Julius II, see: Contemporaries of Erasmus, II, 250–52. Modern wrappers. Remnants of paper labels, attractive old German library rubber-stamp and inked "s.l. et a." on title-page. Small wormhole through all leaves, not touching letters. Traces of soiling around edges of title- and last, blank, page. (7430)

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Provenance: Inked ownership inscription of Michael Gundelsheimer (d. 1715), at base of title-page, partially cut off by binder’s trimming. Gundelsheimer was Archdeacon of Feuchtwangen in the Margravate of Nuremberg, and was noted for his travels in the Middle East.

•  Full 17th-century calf, covers ruled in blind and spine neatly gilt with green leather label in one compartment, impress from another label (now lacking) in a second compartment, and an elegant “flower encircled” device in others compartments. Cover leather lightly waterstained in two places and shallowly abraded with some small black stains; spine leather cracking with some tears and chipping at extremities, faint white markings in bottom compartment, and cracking along joints. Title-page with ownership inscription touched by trimming as above, and traces of shelf location once pencilled on. A few leaves shallowly extruded. Scattered light foxing and browning, occasional traces of soiling, and a little cockling. Slip from bookseller’s catalogue on front pastedown. Marbled endpapers. All edges red.

The title-page wood engraving is signed “Whitney” — possibly Elias James Whitney.

•  Publisher's brown cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped pictorial vignette in blind-stamped frame; cloth with spots of discoloration, corners and spine extremities a little rubbed. Light to moderate foxing/spotting. Charming.  (23911)

Binding:  Vellum over paste boards; covers ruled in deep blue and stamped with gilt coat of arms of the Earl of Aylesford (motto: “Aperto vivere voto”), spines with gracefully gilt-stamped blue leather title-labels. Marbled endpapers. Blue silk placemarkers.

•  Brunet, II, 1097; Dibdin, I, 532–33; Graesse, II, 519; Schweiger, I, 115.   Bindings as above, moderate soiling to vellum, joints unobtrusively strengthened with cloth from the inside. Signs of card pockets once present and shadows of pencilled numerals on title-pages; Aylesford bookplates as above; three volumes only, of four (see above), with Greek portion complete. An attractive, even luxurious example of “Clarendon Press Greek.”  (23262)

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•  Schweiger, II, 348.   Contemporary vellum with gilt center ornaments on spine and gilt corner devices on covers; old soiling to rear cover; holes for silk ties present and ties themselves lacking. Ex-library with bookplates; rubber-stamps on lower edges of closed book and front and rear pastedowns. Without the prize award certificate but, definitely, a handsome prize binding. (20380)

Helmuth's Kurze Andachten, a short collection of morning, evening, and other occasional prayers, was issued with this edition of the hymnal and is usually, as here, bound in at the end.

Provenance: Late-20th-century book label of Michael Zinman on front pastedown.

•  Hymnal: Shaw & Shoemaker 31426; Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 2032. Kurze Andachten: Shaw & Shoemaker 31686; Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 2034. Contemporary sheep over wooden boards with working brass clasps; spine with raised bands. Scattered abrasions with leather chipped away through to the board on front cover's outer edge. Some pages dog-eared, with spots of browning throughout as usual in German imprints of this period.

•  ESTC T22250; Foxon E519; NCBEL, II, 547. Recent marbled-paper wrappers, front wrapper with paper label. One page stamped by a now-defunct institution. Some early inked marginalia, one page with first few letters of each line hand-supplied where the printer erred. First and last pages with extremely light foxing.

•  Wing E3513 (first ed.) On Evelyn, see: Dictionary of National Biography, XVIII, 79–83. Contemporary speckled sheep with red gilt-stamped morocco spine label; some little chipping to edges, with joints and spine lightly abraded and cracking (not disastrously). Early inscription reads "Evelyns Sculptura compiled originally the elder Haithorne." Pages unspotted for the most part, and plates in good condition save for slight offsetting to frontispiece. A pleasing book!

Provenance:  Inscribed by the author: “To B.F. Pyle, Esq. [?] from his friend the author.”

•  Publisher's textured violet cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; faded, especially over spine, tear to cloth along front joint with corners and extremities a bit rubbed. Front fly-leaf with inked inscription as above. Endpapers, frontispiece (“The Rhine”), and title-page lightly foxed. In fact a clean, nice copy.  (23195)