Only the second copy that we have had in our 35 years of dealing in Latin Americana.

First edition.

•  Medina, BHA, 5842; Palau 122212; DeBacker-Sommervogel, IV, 688–89.   Modern gray paper over boards with caramel-color leather author and title label on front cover. Title-page with some areas of loss, not approaching lettering; mounted. Small wormholes in margins, seldom touching text and taking at most a letter or two; pages roughened at tops by the very minor nibblings of a very small rodent. Lower margins of pp. 39–40, 77–80 irregular with loss of some of the bottom notes. Else a nice copy.  (28414)

•  Willems 490; Copinger 5255; Palau 376807–8; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VIII, 1339.   Contemporary vellum, covers framed in blind with blind-tooled central medallion, spine with early hand-inked title; vellum lightly soiled overall, upper outer front corner bumped, splits in spine vellum repaired with Japanese paper and minor (expert) repair to joints. Upper outer corner of title-page with early inked ownership inscription in both Persian and English, possibly by orientalist Henry Pitts Forster (1766–1815); title-page with shadows of other annotations. Pages age-toned, with upper portions darkened; scattered light spotting towards back of volume. Eleven leaves with small spots of worming, affecting a few letters without loss of sense; light to moderate waterstaining to portions of leaves towards back of volume. Last leaf with small tear without loss. One page with pencilled annotations.  (25957)

The present work, published after Du Vergier’s death in 1643, defends him against attacks by Jesuit writers. This is the second edition, published the same year as the first. This edition in 8vo format, the first having been in 4to.

Evidence of readership: Early underlining, a few marginal notes, and other notes on blank pages.

Searches of WorldCat and COPAC locate two copies in the U.S. and three in Britain. All located copies are in 4to format.

•  Contemporary vellum over paste boards, a significant piece of vellum missing from spine (i.e., missing for a long, long time). 19th-century bookplate, light staining here and there, some age-toning; some soot-soiling to top edge and occasionally into upper margin. Minor worming in lower and inner margins of pp. 133 to end. A decent copy with some faults, scarce, and priced accordingly.  (26200)

The final 264 pages offer a life of St. Igantius Loyola.

Neither WorldCat nor NUC Pre-1956 locates any copies in U.S. libraries, but we know of an unreported copy at the John Carter Brown Library; WorldCat finds one copy in Chile and one in Mexico. The Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico and the OPAC of the BNE find no copies.

•  Medina, Mexico, 3905 (incorrect collation, not noting the first 268 pp.); DeBacker-Sommervogel, IV, 1950.   Contemporary vellum, inked “label” with title to upper spine in brown/black and a charming red-inked shelfmark at bottom. Light waterstaining/soil to lower outer corners at rear, with a bit of other foxing/soiling elsewhere; headers touched by binder's knife in one small section. A very good copy.  (29539)

The plate is an etching of St. Francis Xavier.  The title-page is printed in black and red with a handsome border of printer's ornaments.

•  Palau 155512; Beristain, IV, 107; Alden & Landis 699/145; DeBacker-Sommerogel, V, 636.   Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties, light wear and typical stains to binding; rextblock separating slightly at the title-page. Light scattered dust-soiling, light age-toning; foxing in some margins and occasionally into text, with scattered round stains on several leaves as from a glass, cup, or other cylinder. Minor worming with tasteful early repairs. Really, a darned good copy of a rare book.  (29667)

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Brunet, III, 1811; DeBacker-Sommervogel, V, 1165; Graesse, IV, 568; Leclerc, Bibliotheca Americana, 1958; Palau 174558; Sabin 49888.   Contemporary quarter mottled sheep and speckled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-tooled compartment bands; spine leather chipped/cracked with spots of insect damage, corners abraded, and sides/edges otherwise lightly rubbed. Some leaves browned; scattered light stains. Lacking the map, text complete.  (26248)

Rare.  No copies traced via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC or RLIN.

•  On Muretus, see: Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, II, 148–52. Contemporary half vellum over stencilled paper, spine with inked title; stained and paper torn with much chipping, especially on edges of covers. Ex-library with white-lettered call number on spines and, on title-pages, two different Catholic institutions’ rubber-stamps, plus the old inked ownership inscription of a Jesuit novitiate (Maryland). Ink scratches to frontispiece portrait (intentional?), and some inkstains in margins elsewhere. Lightly foxed. All edges speckled red.