
RELIGION 
A B BIBLES C D-E F-G H-J
K-L M N-P Q-R S T-V W-Z
Kames,
Henry Home, Lord. Sketches
of the history of man. Edinburgh: W. Creech, W. Strahan, & T. Cadell,
1774. 4to (27.5 cm, 10.9"). 2 vols. I: xii, 519, [1 (blank)] pp. II: [4], 507,
[1 (blank)] pp.
$4250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of this eclectic examination of the history of civilization and humanity (including a chapter on the development of the “American Nations”), in which Lord Kames speculates on the origin of races, provides an account of the progress of morality, and offers arguments against the practicality of polygamy; the appendix focuses more specifically on Scottish legal and economic issues near and dear to the heart of the author, a prominent Scottish judge and gentleman farmer as well as an influential figure of the Scottish Enlightenment. Other topics addressed: Taxes, patriotism, Aristotelian logic, and women.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate “De la bibliotheque de F. Freudenreich.”
ESTC T48434; Alston, III, 308; Goldsmiths’-Kress 11089; Sabin 32702. Contemporary speckled calf, neatly rebacked preserving original gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels, spines with gilt-stamped thistle decorations; edges and corners rubbed, sides showing small scrapes and discolorations. Residue on pastedowns from sometime removal of bookplates. Pages age-toned, with occasional small spots, and offsetting from binding to in margins of first and last few leaves. All edges speckled.

From Palmyra to Nauvoo
Kennedy, James Harrison. Early days of Mormonism. Palmrya, Kirtland, Nauvoo. By J. H. Kennedy. Editor of the Magazine of Western History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1888. 8vo. Frontis., vii, [1], 275 pp.; 4 plts.
$150.00
First American edition, published the same year as the London edition, of this history of the Mormon Church from its birth up to but not including the exodus to the Salt Lake Valley. Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith, with accompanying tissue guard, and engravings of Kirtland, Ohio, two facsimile pages of the 1830 Palmyra edition of the Book of Mormon, and a facsimile of a Mormon 3 dollar note. Includes an appendix.
Click the images for enlargements.
Flake & Draper 4586. Publisher's green cloth, spine chipped at head and foot and with incision across center. Interior clean; pp. 41–54 detaching. Ex-library, with white-lettered call number on spine; pressure-stamps on title-page; bookplate, charge card, and pocket on pastedowns, rubber-stamp and librarian's penciled annotation in margin of p. [iii]; and two small crayon check-marks within text. Rear free endpaper chipped and with remnants of paper label (now removed). Faults not all as distressing as they sound; good +. (24430)
Distracting the Little Ones with
Cat
Tales
Kingston, May. Cat stories. Boston & Chicago: Congregational Sunday-School & Publishing Society, (copyright 1890). 16mo. Frontis., 46 pp.; 1 plt.
$48.50
No. 9 in the “Bertha Gordon Series” of (Congregational) Sunday School books: Two feline-themed tales for children. Uncommon.
Binding: Publisher's olive cloth, front cover pictorially printed in red and black.
Provenance: Front pastedown with note, “Robert Wood from the First Reform S.S.”
Bound as above, corners and spine extremities lightly rubbed. Front pastedown with inked ownership inscription as above. Good condition. (22197)
Lactantius. Lepida Lactantii Firmiani opera accurate graeco adiuncto castigata: Eiusde[m] Nephytomon: Carmina de Phoenice. & Christi resurrectione. Io. Chry. De eucharistia sermo. Lau. Vall. sermo. Phil. ad Theo. adhortatio. [colophon: Parisiis: Pro Ioha{n}ne Petit fidelissimo bibliopola in Bellouisu, Impressi anno Domini. M.cccccix {1509}]. 4to (19.5 cm; 7.5"). A6 B4 a–z8,4 2A4 2B8 C–N4,8 O6 P4; [10], ccxxxv, [1] ff.
$2500.00
Click either image above for enlargement.
Joining the works of Lactantius (ca. 240 – ca. 320) in this handsome Petit/Marchand production are De resurrectionis dominicae die (leaves cxc–cxci) by Venantius Fortunatus, Tertullian’s Apologeticus adversus gentes (leaves cxci [verso] – ccxv [verso]), Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus’s Salve festa dies, and other pieces by St. John Chrysostom and Lorenzo Valla. The whole is edited by Aegidius Maserius.
The volume is printed in a clear roman face with numerous ornamental woodcut initials and with side- and shoulder-notes. The Jean Petit publisher’s device is on the title-page and that of Guy Marchand on the verso of the last. Additionally, there is a full-page woodcut of a scholar in his study opposite the first numbered leaf.
A 16th-century reader has added a significant amount of marginal commentary on the text.
Moreau 1509:127; Panzer, VIII, 537, no. 324; Adams L13. Not in Schweiger. Recent calf old style, tooled in blind on spine and covers. Faint traces of water and resultant mild arrested mildew in lower outer corners of earliest few pages. Marginalia in some parts affected by a binder’s trimming; in other cases, not. All edges carmine.
A very good copy.

“The Anti-Christian Spirit, the Deleterious Nature, & the Demoralizing
& Destructive
Consequences of WAR”
Ladd, William. The essays of Philanthropos on peace & war ... revised and corrected by the author. Exeter, NH: John T. Burnham, 1827. 12mo (15.1 cm, 5.9"). 173, [3] pp.
[SOLD]
Second, revised edition of these essays, which originally appeared in the Christian Mirror of Portland, ME, and were first printed in book form in 1825. Opposed to the War of 1812, Ladd became an advocate for peace, a Congregational clergyman, and a founding member of the American Peace Society — one of the first such groups to achieve long-lasting, coherent effectiveness. Following Ladd's analysis of the causes and horrors of war, the potential influence of women, and the importance of re-educating the general public, the appendix
to this volume provides a template Constitution for those desiring to set up their own local Peace Society.
Click the images for enlargements.
Inscribed by the author. Title-page with inked inscription reading “Mrs. March with the respects of the Author.”
Sabin 38526; Shoemaker 29442. Contemporary green straight-grain roan, covers framed in gilt rolls, rebacked with green calf, spine gilt extra; sides and edges rubbed, with areas of light discoloration. Title-page and final leaf institutionally pressure-stamped, first preface page rubber-stamped. Title-page with inscription as above. Occasional light spotting, most pages clean. (24333)
Churchlady Cookery
Ladies' Aid Society of the First Reformed Church of Yonkers, NY. Tried ... and true cook book. Yonkers, NY: Gazette Press, 1896. Small 8vo. 143, [1] pp.
$90.00
Church group cookbook, with much illustrated local advertising matter. Among the recipes are cocoanut soup, planked shad, and reed bird dumplings, in addition to a number of more typical contemporary dishes.
Not in Brown, Culinary Americana. Publisher's quarter cloth with printed paper wrappers; wrappers showing only very minor wear, pages a bit age-toned but otherwise clean. (16647)
La grande danse macabre des hommes et des femmes, historiée & renouvellée de vieux Gaulois, en langage le plus poli de notre temps. Troyes: Jean-Antoine Garnier, 1728. 4to (22 cm, 8.6"). 76 pp.
$3750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Wonderfully “antique” style printing of the classic French Dance of Death, textually revised but still based solidly on Marchant’s
original work of 1486, and making use of its woodcut designs. Issued as a chapbook,”Marchant” was sold by peddlers and at fairs, and was one of the most popular educational picture books in Europe since the Middle Ages. It contains two sections: First the Dance of Death of men of all ranks and professions and after that the Dance of Death of women of various ranks and stations in life.
Over
60 large woodcuts illustrate the text, with some images appearing in both sections. The volume concludes with several poems on the themes of life, death, and the afterlife.
Though an 18th-century printing of a “reformed” version, this production respects its original and has the typographic look of early post-incunables.
Uncommon: We trace only nine copies in the U.S., all but one in libraries east of the Mississippi.
Binding: 19th-century calf by F. Bedford with that firm’s minute stamp on front free endpaper; covers framed in gilt triple fillets. Spine gilt extra, with gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels. Gilt inner dentelles, french-combed endpapers, and all edges red.
Fairfax-Murray, French, 108; Morin, Bibliothèque bleue de Troyes, 435; Nisard, Histoire des Livres Populaires, II, 303. Binding with minor scuffing at corners and old (good) repairs to head and foot of spine, with leather starting to crack over joints; hinges tender. Pages slightly age-toned, with signature marks shaved.
Lao-tzu. Lao Tseu tao te king. Le livre de la voie et de la vertu...traduit en français, et publié avec le texte chinois et un commentaire perpétuel par Stanislas Julien. Paris: L'Imprimerie Royale, 1842. Small 8vo (22 cm; 8.5"). [3] ff., xlv, [1 (blank)], 303, [1 (errata)] pp.
$2000.00
Click either of the two images above right, for enlargement.
First printing in the West of the complete Tao te ching and the first translation of it into a Western language. A partial translation appeared in 1838. The Tao, one of the most important literary works of Chinese philosophy and the basis of Taoism, is printed here in Chinese and French with notes in French. The editor and translator was Stanislas Julien (1797–1873). Uncommon: Of institutional copies, we only locate five in the U.S.
Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, 723. 19th-century quarter brown morocco with marbled paper sides. Joints just starting at top and bottom, with a bit of a “bite” taken at bottom of front one. Blank portion of half-title excised and replaced with later paper. Evidence of sometime water exposure, with some crinkling/cockling and faint outline of stain to upper outer page quadrants. Gift inscription on title-page partially blacked out. Overall a good copy of a scarce book.
Cutting-Edge Biblical Scholarship With Three Maps
Lamy, Bernard. Commentarius in harmoniam sive concordiam quatuor evangelistarum.... Parisiis: Excudebat
Joannis Anisson, 1699. 4to (12.6 cm, 10.25"). 2 vols. in 1. I: 2 a[n]4 e[n]4 AZ4 AaZz4
AAaZZz4 AAaa OOoo4; [2] ff., xvi, 661, [1] pp., [25] ff.; 3 plts. II: 2 ah4 AZ4
AaXx4 Yy2; [2] ff., lxiv, 326 pp., [15] ff.; 3 plts.
$800.00

Bernard Lamy (16401715) was an Oratorian priest, philosopher, and biblical scholar. After getting himself exiled to Grenoble for excessive
Cartesianism, he went on to do significant work in biblical studies, and this present work is especially notable: Lamy here contends that Jesus died on the cross on the eve of the Passover (thus at the same time as the Passover lamb was being killed), not during the first day of the Passover. This view, while considered radical at the time, is now generally held by biblical scholars.
This work was first published under the title Harmonia, sive concordia quatuor
evangelistarum in 1689. This second edition is printed in small roman types
with some italic, Greek, and Hebrew. Ornaments include an ornate woodcut fleur-de-lis
on the title-pages, plus initials and headpieces. Vol. II (bound in) consists
of the Apparatus chronologicus et geographicus, chronologies and geographical
descriptions with three fine fold-out plates: a map of Judea, a plan of Jerusalem,
and a plan of the temple.
Provenance:
Charles Spencer, Third Earl of Sunderland, lot 7230 in the Sunderland Library
sale (1882).

On Lamy, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, VIII, 35455.
18th-century vellum over boards with raised bands, lightly soiled; on the
covers an ornate mandorla inside a composite frame. Crack in the vellum along
front joint, joint itself sound. Ex-library with paper labels on spine; old
pressure-stamps, including one on title-page of vol. I. Upper outer corner
of title-leaf lost taking part of one letter of title; small tear into printed
border of first map in vol. II. All edges speckled blue and red. A stout,
substantial volume.
The
LAST section of our catalogue
of BIBLES & TESTAMENTS focuses on
BIBLE SCHOLARSHIP
click here.

Shorthand Made Easy
Lane, Samuel. The art of short writing made lineal and legible as the common long hand. London: Pr. for the Author, [1715]. 12mo (6", 15.2 cm). [4], 25, [1] pp.
[SOLD]
Click the interior images for enlargements.
First edition of a complete course for a system of shorthand, designed by Samuel Lane. The text is printed from engraved plates throughout, including the title-page.
Full text examples include the Lord's Prayer, The Creed, and First, Second, Third, and 15th Psalms.
Lane argues for the “great Benefit that ye Knowledge of this Art might be to the Clergy & all others” on the basis of speed (“as much may be written in one hour as by the Common Long Hand in six or more”) and easy acquisition (“[the rules are] laid down in such a plain and easie manner that any Person may learn it without a Teacher”).
Scarce: A search of ESTC locates seven copies, of which only two are in U.S. libraries. Not traced via OCLC and NUC-1956.
A nice example of a book not printed from moveable type; entirely printed from engraved plates.
ESTC T82591. Sewn in original marbled-paper wrappers. Paper of spine chipped away, taking some paper at inner edge; small chips and nicks at edges of wrappers. Small bite out of outer margin of final leaf of text and final blank leaf; shallow chipping at lower outer corners and bottom margin of one page. Faint waterstaining.
A good copy of a fragile little production. (23729)

He
Had a Dream
Langland,
William. The vision and creed of Piers Ploughman. London:
Reeves & Turner, 1883. 12mo. 2 vols. I: Frontis., xl, [2], 272 pp. II: [4],
[273]–621 pp.
$150.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Second, revised edition of this complete and pleasant little two-volume set. Edited by
Thomas Wright from a contemporary manuscript, with a historical introduction, notes, and a glossary,
it bears a folding frontispiece illustration hand-colored in red and protected with a tissue guard. There
are some attractive headpieces and initials as well. Later 19th-century half toffee-brown calf over salmon cloth boards; gilt-lettered red leather spine-labels (title,
volume, editor); gilt-accented raised bands, date in gilt at base. Slight rubbing to joints and
extremities, one label with a streak of discoloration, vol. II with small chip at head of spine and lower
corners rubbed. Pages toned. One leaf with edge nicks. Lower outer portion of pp. 211/212 chipped,
with loss of outermost letters of bottom four lines and detached piece laid in; aforesaid pages also
creased down the middle, brittle, and all but separated in two (still, present). Top edge gilt, others
deckle. A pleasing and attractive binding; a volume internally clean. (21256)

An
EASTER Sermon
Larrain Gandarillas, Joaquín. Sermon que predicó el presbítero...el viérnes 18 de abril de 1851, en presencia del... arzobispo de Santiago, del cabildo y clero de la iglesia metropolitana. Santiago, [Chile]: Imp. de la Sociedad, 1851. 12mo. 17, [1 (blank)] pp.
$75.00
Easter-tide sermon on Christ and the Cross. Larrain eventually rose to be archbishop.
Not in Palau. Modern light wrappers, lacking original wrappers. Very good condition.
Quaker
Meditations A Neat
Compendium
[Law, William].
An extract from a treatise on the spirit of prayer, or the soul rising out of
the vanity of time into the riches of eternity. With some thoughts on war. Remarks
on the nature and bad effects of the use of spirituous liquors. And considerations
on slavery. Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank, 1780. 12mo (16.3 cm, 6.45"). 84
pp. [bound with] Webb,
Elizabeth. A letter...to Anthony William Boehm, with his answer.
Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank, 1783. 44 pp. [with]
[Benezet, Anthony]. In the life
of the lady Elizabeth Hastings... [Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank, 1784]. 8
pp.
$1100.00

Law's mystically-inclined meditations sold vigorously in a number of English and American editions; they serve here as the introduction to an interesting selection of Christian inspirational readings from Philadelphia printer Joseph Crukshanksome writers named, and some not. The Considerations on Slavery are designated simply as those of a "number of different authors"; the Remarks on . . . Liquors, which aims to promote health and happiness rather than directly religious concerns, is attributed by ESTC to Anthony Benezet, as is the volume's last piece, the title of which is taken from its opening lines. Lady Elizabeth Hastings was the original for Aspasia in Steele's "Tatler" and a major donor to Oxford University Queen's College.
Elizabeth Webb, "an acknowledged minister among the people called Quakers," first encountered Prince George of Denmark's chaplain Boehm while on a visit to Great Britain; the missive with which she opened her subsequent correspondence with him, here, greatly inspired him and a number of his friends.
Provenance: With inscription reading "Miss Hannah Amelia Moore / Book a Present from her worthy / Friend Ruth Patton / 1789."
Law: ESTC W32233; Evans 16817; Hildeburn 3987. Webb: ESTC W13440; Evans 18295; Hildeburn 4409. Benezet: ESTC W6416; Evans 18355. Contemporary quarter sheep over paper-covered sides, the whole worn and abraded but the little volume quite sound. Light age-toning, occasional darker spots. Small chip in bottom margin of title-page; one leaf with paper flaw in lower corner, resulting in the loss of a very few letters.

The
Spirit of Prayer
Law, William. An extract from a treatise...called, the spirit of prayer; or, the soul rising out of the vanity of time, into the riches of eternity. With some thoughts on the nature of war, and its repugnancy to the Christian life, &c. &c. Philadelphia: Henry Miller, 1766. 8vo [signed in 4s] (17.3 cm, 6.8"). 48 pp.
$750.00


An English nonjuror with "mystical tendencies" (according to the
DNB), Law is best known for his Serious Call to a Devout and Holy
Life, the principles of which he put into practice in his own. Law chose
to conduct a retired and religious existence, giving away all income above what
was needed for bare necessities (and encouraging those under his spiritual guidance
to do the same). His popular work The Spirit of Prayer remained in print—almost
exclusively in extracted form—from halfway through the 18th century until late
in the 19th; the present copy represents the second Philadelphia printing, following
one by Franklin.
The present copy does not include the thirty pages, mentioned in the subtitle,
on the nature of war; the Extract and Some Thoughts were issued
as the first and second titles in a collection of religious tracts printed
by Henry Miller, and also issued separately (Evans 10352 and 10505). Sabin
calls for 48 pages, as found in this copy.
Evans 10352; Sabin 39325. On Law, see: Dictionary of National
Biography, XXXII, 236–40. Later neat plain cloth binding, spine with gilt-stamped
morocco title label; clean. Half-title lacking. Some foxing, mostly marginal.
Pencilled notes to top of title-page and final page; early inked ownership
inscription to title-page verso, including Philadelphia street address.
Leaves from a Large 18th-Century CHOIRBOOK
Leaves from a Graduale romanum. Venice:
Balleoniana, 1729. Folio extra (19.25" x 13.625"). 1 f.
With two large initials (example at left):
$65.00
With one large initial (example at right): $45.00

Offered are interesting, handsome leaves from large choirbook — a Gradual. The term choirbook refers to a particular format of a volume of liturgical music, intended to be placed on a lectern in the midst of the liturgical choir and to be large enough for those standing in the choir to sing from. The Gradual is the oldest and most important of the four chants that make up the choir's part of the Proper of the Mass. The Gradual fills the time while something significant is being done, and represents the singing of psalms alternating with readings from the Bible.
Click either image for an enlargement.
This particular choirbook was printed with 10 lines of text and music per page. Each leaf contains music and words, and is printed in black and red; text is in black, with an occasional small letter in red, and the music is provided for all the antiphons in black square notation on a four-line red staff. Antiphons begin with a tall decorative initial printed in red, as high as the text and music together. The initials vary from leaf to leaf.
Crisp, wide margined leaf with slightest bleed-through from one side to another. Printed on handmade paper of 100% rag.
A marvelous display, accent, or gift item.

Notebook of the
First Lawyer in Boston — The 19th-Century Reissue
Lechford, Thomas. Plain dealing or news from New England. Boston: J.K. Wiggin and Wm. Parsons Lunt, 1867. 4to (cm). xl, 160, [2], 203–11, [1 (blank)] pp. (text complete despite pagination).
$175.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
19th-century reissue of an important 17th-century journal covering politics, religion, and aspects of daily life both English and Indian in colonial New England, here with an introduction and notes by J. Hammond Trumbull, and a facsimile of the original London, 1642 title-page. Lechford emigrated to Boston in 1638 and became the first practicing lawyer in what is now the U.S.
285 copies were printed; this is no. 180. The publication was dedicated to collector (“and careful reader”) George Brinley, Esq.
Sabin 39642. Recent black moiré cloth, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Several pages (including title-page) with faint shadows of institutional rubber-stamps, mostly effaced. Many signatures unopened; two index leaves with tears in upper margins from clumsy opening. Pagination shifts between text and index. (23906)

FIRST Appearance in Print of Any Portion of
Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Le Clerc, Jean; Jean Cornand de Lacroze; Jacques Bernard, eds.
Bibliothèque universelle et historique. Amsterdam: Wolfgang, Waesberge, Boom & van Someren, 1686–93. 12mo. 20 of 28 vols.
[SOLD]
Rather long-lived French-language periodical of book reviews, learning and scholarship, culture, theology, philosophy, science, and so on, providing an interesting view of French intellectual life in the late 17th-century.
Click the interior images for enlargements.
But beyond that, the journal is of interest for the Anglo material it contains. For example, John Locke: Vol. II contains the first translation into French of his The New Method of Making Common-Place Book; and vol. VIII contains “Extrait d'un livre anglois intitulé essai philosophique concernant l'entendement” (pp. 49–142). “It is Locke’s own abridgement of his
Essay concerning Human Understanding, translated into French by Le Clerc. It is the world’s first appearance in print of the work in any form. Locke arranged to have additional private copies produced, which he then distributed to friends and acquaintances in England and the Netherlands, a full two years before publication of the English edition” (quoted with permission from a description written by Blackwell's Rare Books). Locke was living in Amsterdam when this translation was published.
One will also find pieces by Boyle, Lister, Halley, Brotherton, and David Clarkson, to mention just five.
There is much meat here!
Present are volumes 1–6, 8–16, 18, and 21–24.
Contemporary vellum over paste boards. Ex-diocesan library with bookplate on each front pastedown and rubber stamp on each front free endpaper, else clean. (20381)

Good
Advice Still
Leighton, Robert. On detraction, and curiosity about the affairs of others: Chiefly taken from the writings of Archbishop Leighton. Philadelphia: To be had of Benjamin & Thomas Kite, and for sale by Solomon W. Conrad, Kimber & Sharpless, & John Richardson (J.R.A. Skerrett), 1821. 12mo. 12 pp.
$30.00
Publication number 29 of the Tract Association of Friends.
Shoemaker 5812. Removed from a nonce volume, stapled, and respined with archival tissue.
Le Mire, Aubert Miraeus. De bello Bohemico Ferdinandi II. caesaris auspiciis feliciter gesto commentarius ex quo seditiosissimum Caluinianae sectae genium, & praesentem Europae statum licet agnoscere .... Bruxellis: Ioannem Pepermannum, [colophon: 1621]. 4to (18.5 cm, 7.25"). (∴)6A–G4; [12], 44, [12] pp.
$1200.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Scarce first edition: History of the Bohemian Revolt and the resulting Calvinist–Protestant strife during the earliest portion of the Thirty Years’ War. The author, bishop of Antwerp from 1604 to 1611, was “an
indefatigable historical writer” and “a reliable historian,” according to the Catholic Encyclopedia (online).
The printing privilege and the colophon of this edition both give the date 1621; a revised edition was printed in Cologne in 1622.
Very uncommon. Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 find no U.S. institutional holdings, and only one overseas location.
Not in Brunet; not in STCV. Contemporary vellum, spine with hand-inked title; ties now lacking, back cover showing minor abrasions. Title-page with early inked inscription mostly shaved away from lower margin. Pages of different signatures variously browned or age-toned; clean.

“A Short & Easy Method with the
Deists”
Leslie, Charles. A short and easy method with the deists:
wherein the certainty of the Christian religion is demonstrated, by infallible proof from four rules, which are incompatible to any imposture that ever yet has been, or that can possibly be. In a letter to a friend. Windsor, VT: Pr. by T.M. Pomroy, 1812. 12mo. 168 pp.
$150.00


The “friend” is Charles Leslie himself. This work also includes the author's Defense of Episcopacy, and parts of his trial in Boston, where he was found guilty of libel for his defense of episcopacy against presbyterianism and congregationalism.
Click the title page image for an enlargement.
Provenance: Property, in 1836, of Henry G. Hubbard of Detroit.
Shaw &
Shoemaker 25848. Contemporary sheep. Spine with compartments divided by gilt rules. Leather much rubbed with a little chipping. Browning from turn-ins onto endpapers and title-page. Top margins closely trimmed with loss of page numbers in some places. Inked ownership inscriptions on recto of front free endpaper and title-page. (5442)

Roman Law, Emperor
Theodosius, Desecration of Temples, & More
Libanius, Antiochenus. Libanii antiocheni Pro templis gentilium non exscindendis, ad Theodosium m. imp. Oratio: ante M. CCC. fermè annos conscripta: nunc primùm edita à Iacobo Gothofredo ic. notisq[ue] illustrata. [with another, as below]. Genevae: [Petri Chouët?], 1634. 4to (22.5 cm; 8.75"). [12], 63, [9] p. [also bound in] Godefroy, Jacques. De cenotaphio: deq[ue]z, diversis, super eius religione, Ulpiani & Marciani sententiis, diatriba. Genevae: [s.n.], 1634. 4to. 15, [1] pp.
$750.00
Libanius (ca. 314 – ca. 394), a Greek-speaking teacher of rhetoric of the late Roman Empire, left a decent-sized corpus of writing of which 64 orations, 51 declamationes, 57 hypotheses, and approximately 1544 letters are the principal survivors.
The present work is his famous “lamentation” on the desecration of pagan temples. Addressed to the Emperor Theodosius, the oration concerns the legality of the Emperor's order for the desecration; the text is in Greek and Latin in parallel columns.
The Greek font is notably light and elegant.
At the rear of this volume is Godefroy's opuscule on funeral rites and ceremonies. Several libraries report both works being bound together, as here, but not all.
19th-century quarter brown leather, spine sunned much lighter. Library-bound with call number inked on cover, bookplates on front pastedown, rubber-stamps on pastedowns. Title-page with old pressure-stamp; text itself without other markings save a six-digit number neatly stamped at base of next leaf. Actually, a clean, good copy. (22733)
Linn,
John Blair. Valerian, a narrative poem: Intended, in part, to describe
the early persecutions of Christians, and rapidly to illustrate the influence
of Christianity on the manners of nations...with a sketch of the life and character
of the author. Philadelphia: Thomas & George Palmer, 1805. 4to (24.5 cm, 9.6").
xxvi, [2], 97, [1 (blank)] pp.
$350.00
First edition: Tale of a young Christian from Rome, written by the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia (not to be confused with the John Blair Linn who served as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania). This piece was published one year after the Rev. Linn’s untimely death at the age of 27, and is preceded by an account of the author’s life written by his brother-in-law, Charles Brockden Brown.
Shaw & Shoemaker 8790; Wegelin 1038; BAL 1509 (for Brown’s “Sketch”). On Linn, see: Dictionary of American Biography, XI, 281–82. Period-style quarter tan cloth and light blue paper-covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Lacking portrait of author. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution; title-page also with pencilled inscription dated 1830. Pages age-toned and slightly cockled; some staining, with some spots accounted for by laid-in floral matter; occasional stray pencil marks and short edge tears or chips, with repairs to margins and longer tears of first few leaves.
Loskiel,
Georg Henrich. Geschichte der Mission der evangelischen Brüder unter
den Indianern in Nordamerika. Barby: Zu finden in den Brüdergemein, &
Leipzig: Paul Gotthelf Kummer, 1789. 8vo (19.3 cm, 7.6"). [8] ff., 783, [1] pp.
$1200.00


Important history of the early years of Moravian Church mission
work targeting Native Americans in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and surrounding
regions; Sabin refers to this account as the “best authority, both as
to tradition and facts” on the Moravian efforts in the region from 1735
through 1787. Before recounting the mission's history, the author describes
the customs, languages, and beliefs of various tribes, along with the flora
and fauna prevalent in their territories. A great deal of Loskiel's information
is taken from the accounts of Bishop Augustus Gottlieb Spangenberg and David
Zeisberger, the latter having served for over 40 years as a missionary in North
America.
This first edition does not include the map found in the later English translation;
the six lines of errata (rather than a full page) at the back mark the present
copy as an example of the first issue.
Howes, U.S.iana, L474; Pilling, Algonquian, 317;
Sabin 42109; Vail 795. Early 19th-century German paper-covered boards, much
worn and abraded, slightly cocked, spine with remnants of paper shelving label.
Some corners dog-eared; scattered small spots of foxing, otherwise internally
clean.
Lotichius, Joannes Petrus. Rerum Germanicarum, sub Matthia, Ferdinandis II & III Impp. gestarum. Francofurti ad Moenum: Typis exscripti Wolfgang Hoffmanni, impensa Matthaei Merianai, 1646. Folio (32.5 cm; 13"). ¶4 ¶¶4 ¶¶¶4 ¶¶¶¶4 A–Z6 Aa–Zz6 Aaa–Zzz6 Aaaa–Zzzz6 Aaaaa–Eeeee6 Fffff8; [16] ff., 1154 pp., [15] ff.; 1 port. (of 8), 22 (of 52 plates and maps).
[SOLD]
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Wonderful and wondrous events and people are found in this history of “things German” during the first half of the 17th century — essentially a “history of our times” with a focus on Germany widely defined. In addition to the expectable coverage of wars, marriages and deaths of kings and other royals, alliances, etc., Lotichius tells of whales appearing in unexpected places, meteors and other celestial “portents,” and events occurring “elsewhere.” The net he casts extends to Mexico and the famous riots there of 1624, and Dutch activity in the Indies.
Religion was such an important factor in so many aspects of daily life and polity that the author makes sure to cover it in depth: the Spanish Inquisition, the English Star Chamber, the Turks, Jesuits, the Catholic League, and so on are all well-essayed.
The text is in Latin, printed in double-column format, and begins with a handsome engraved title-page. While this text is complete here, the volume is famous for its illustrations, which, unfortunately, have been plundered: What remains are 22 of 52 double-page plates and maps and 1 of 8 portraits. Hence the price, which is half that of a complete copy.There are two variants from the same printer in the same year: we have not deciphered which this is, as the variants seem to merely be “stop-press” corrections.
VD17 23:231448K, or 23:233835L. Not in Alden & Landis . Recent ebony-brown calf in an old style by Grace Bindings (“GB” at inner area of lower rear turn-in): Round spine with raised bands, bands accented with gilt beading, one spine panel elaborately tooled in blind with fillets, beading, devices, and title lettered directly; and covers framed in blind fillets. Lacks plates and maps as described above. Ex-defunct library with stamps in some margins, occasionally intruding into text. All edges marbled. A much better than decent copy for those seeking the text and less concerned with the plates — the 23 present being certainly plenty to grace the reader’s experience.

Mosaic Writings in Support of
Christianity
Lowman, Moses. A rational of the ritual of the Hebrew worship; in which the wise designs and usefulness of that ritual are explain'd, and vindicated from objections. London: J. Noon, 1748. 8vo. [12], 403, [1] pp.
$250.00

First edition. The Rev. Lowman, a nonconformist minister, “was chiefly learned in Jewish antiquities” (DNB) and made his reputation with his Dissertation on the Civil Government of the Hebrews. In this treatise, he examines Jewish laws regarding ceremonial rites, and argues that they served as the foundation of Christian practice.
Provenance: Front cover gilt-stamped “Lending Library. T.C.D.”; front pastedown
with bookplate and title-page verso with rubber-stamp of Trinity College, Dublin (both marked properly deaccessioned).
ESTC T88610; Allibone 1139. On Lowman, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Contemporary mottled calf, spine with gilt-stamped title; front joint open, edges and extremities rubbed, spine extremities pulled, spine title greatly dimmed; front hinge reinforced with cloth tape. Some faint pencilled bracketing in margins, occasional light spots of foxing. (22710)
Lucie's pony. Boston:
Henry Hoyt, [ca. 1860]. 16mo. 64 pp.
$25.00
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Luther, Martin. Der kleine Catechismus des seligen D. Martin Luthers.... Harrisburg: Gedruckt und zu haben bey Jacob Baab, 1831. 12mo (14.5 cm, 5.625"). 125, [1] pp., [1 (blank)] f.
$150.00
In the period to 1830 Luther's Catechism was the German-language work most printed in America, surpassing even the New Testament in its number of editions. This 1831 edition is printed in fraktur and includes morning and evening prayers and grace at meals as well as an examination for children prior to their confirmation.
Quarter sheep over marbled paper: chipped and rubbed; remnants of a paper title label on spine. Lightly browned with foxing/spotting as in common; dog-eared with some shallowly chipped corners resulting in no loss of text. Inked ownership inscription on recto of front free endpaper and of front fly-leaf.

Proving that
Polygamy is Enjoined upon Christians
Lyserus, Johann Peter Theodore. Polygamia triumphatrix, id est discursus politicus de polygamia. Londini Scanorum: Sumtibus authoris, 1682. 4to (21 cm, 8.25"). [10], 565, [33] pp.
$1750.00
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Third and best edition of a treatise in defense of polygamy, originally titled Theophili Aletaei discursus politicus de Polygamia. This greatly expanded version was printed in Lund, Sweden; earlier editions were much briefer. Depending on which account you prefer, this scandalous work may have been written either to please the author's patron, who had grown tired of his wife, or to advance the author's dream of founding a polygamous sect. Lyserus, also known as Lyser or Leyser, was a Lutheran pastor before the infamy this book earned him sent him wandering in exile; he travelled through Germany, Denmark, and Sweden until his death in 1684.
According to the online cataloguing of this book at Brigham Young University, “Early editions [were] burnt by [the] hangman in Denmark (1676); in Sweden (1679) . . . the possession of a copy meant a 1000 ducat fine. This edition was added to the Index of forbidden books in 1687.” It is often held today in medical libraries.
Graesse, I, 68. 17th-century speckled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; leather acid-pitted, front joint (outside) cracked, edges rubbed. Front pastedown with Parisian bookseller's ticket; front free endpaper with pencilled annotation; back pastedown with rubber-stamped date in 1908. Slip of old printed cataloguing laid in. (23549)
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