This is the second edition of this commentary on the rubrics of the Mass by Paulo Maria Quarti (fl. ca. 1663), a clerk regular; it was first published in 1674, but here carries added commentaries on processions, including the Litany of the Saints, and on blessings. The title-page is handsomely printed in red and black with a woodcut vignette, and the text is simply ornamented with a few remarkable woodcut initials and headpieces. Scarce.

•  Quarter treed paper over vellum; quaint paper title label in red and black. Some abrasion to spine and edges; endpapers wormed; hinges (inside) open, with sewing holding to visible flat “cords.” Foxing, variously. Vellum page tab at the beginning of De Processionibus.

There is at least one other variant of the first piece, also printed in 1700, “For A.H.” according to its colophon. It seems likely that the two speeches were in the present case issued together — the paper and type match, and the second speech is paginated “(2)” — although these examples were later separated and existing cataloguing records are inconsistent regarding the number of leaves that should be present. Sets of the two pieces together are scarce.

•  ESTC R182313 / R33479; Goldsmiths’-Kress 03732; Wing Q160. Removed from a nonce volume, now in a Mylar folder. Leaves darkened and creased, both lower margins irregularly torn with loss of approximately 20 words. First speech with nick affecting two letters of the title.

•  Contemporary vellum over paste boards; spine with inked author and paper shelf labels: soiled with a few spots. Front hinge (inside) partially open, but sewing holding. Pages generally clean, with a few small dog ears. Inked ownership inscriptions on front endpapers and title-page; a few instances of underlining.

Provenance: Front pastedown with elegant gilt-stamped green morocco bookplate of an unusual shape, dated 15 November 1859, bearing the names of J.W. (John Wesley) and M.E. (Mary Elizabeth Smalley) Sarles. The Rev. Sarles was pastor first of the Central Baptist Church of Brooklyn and then of the Piscataway Baptist Church of Stelton, New Jersey.

Binding: Contemporary green calf, front cover with central gilt-stamped village church vignette surrounded by flowers and vines; this further framed with an elegant frame of beading, trefoiled arabesques, and foliate decorations. Back cover with identical framing surrounding a gilt-stamped lyre vignette. Spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. (Our exterior image, above, shows the spine and both covers.)  Board edges with gilt roll, turn-ins blind-tooled with a different roll, all edges marbled. The style of the covers, their sensibility, and one tool used can be associated with the Philadelphia firm whose work is illustrated by Willman Spawn as #46 in his catalogue of the Maser Collection at Bryn Mawr.

•  NSTC 2R4901.   Binding as above; see: Spawn, Bookbinding in America 1680–1910. Spine head pulled and bottom compartment scuffed, corners slightly rubbed, back cover with a few small scuffs and two small spots of faint discoloration, back joint just starting from top; all this much less distressing than it may sound. Hinges (inside) tender. Front free endpaper with early inked numeral; title-page and last index page institutionally pressure-stamped; first preface page with small inked annotation in inner margin. Back pastedown with abrasions. Pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean. Beautiful.  (23930)

•  VD17 39:118489Q. Recent speckled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Pages faintly age-toned, clean.

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Almirante, Bibliografia militar de Espana, 688; this ed. not in Palau. Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with institutional pressure-stamp and with small chip out of lower margin; leaves with lower inner portions waterstained.

Single-click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

We have not determined whether the sequence of Bible verses quoted conforms to any church’s readings for the year, or whether the expositions reflect particular theological /denominational concerns or biases. These challenges and pleasures will belong to the purchaser!

•  Contemporary half morocco over marbled paper sides, leather edges tooled in gilt; binding moderately rubbed, most notably over extremities. Pages with a very few small spots, otherwise clean.

Uncommon: No U.S. copy of this issue located via OCLC and ESTC locates only the Harvard copy. There were other, less complete editions of 40 pp., 58 pp., and 78 pp.

•  ESTC N15187.   Recent full calf, period style; spine with raised bands accented in gilt, oxblood leather gilt-lettered title, publication date and place in gilt at base; covers framed and paneled in gilt rules with gilt-stamped corner fleurons. Shallow chip to top outer corners of final two leaves. One word on p. 32 is blotted out in ink by an early owner with the correction supplied above it. Penned signature (partly cropped) at top edge of p. 79. Pp. 79–92 duplicated, nothing missing.  (23766)

•  Publisher's blind-stamped blue cloth, rebacked preserving original gilt-stamped spine; edges rubbed, spine darkened. Pages clean. (20711)

The book is illustrated with 100 engraved plates and numerous in-text engravings, as well as a frontispiece map of the Holy Land in each volume. The plates are mostly figural illustrations taken from paintings in catacombs and on sarcophagi, illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, ivory figurines, murals, etc. The title-pages are printed in black and red ink, and decorated with an engraved vignette.

•  Publisher's red cloth, stamped in gilt on the spines and front covers. Spines sunned and front cover of vol. II slightly sunned along fore-edge also; cloth of spines frayed at extremities and chipped in other places. Hinges (inside) of vol. I a little weak, stitching exposed; corners bumped with cloth damage; pages very shallowly bumped. Ex-library, with shelf labels on spines, institutional bookplates on front pastedowns, pressure-stamp to title-pages and one other page in each volume. Paper very good; pages clean and bright.  (24688)

•  Sewn; in original printed wrappers. Front cover illustrated with scenes of children playing. Publisher's advertisement on back cover. Foxed. Numerous chips and short tears, limited to margins; one long tear (1.5") to pp.15 and 16, intruding upon text and engraving. One corner of back cover chipped. A child has colored most of the engravings. A somewhat worn copy. (4845)

A very handsomely printed book in Arabic and Latin.

•  Lambrecht 1129. 19th-century German boards covered with black mottled paper, boards and spine abraded; paper spine-label with hand-lettering. Institutional bookplate on front pastedown. Four-digit number in ink at base of first p. V. Housed in a modern quarter brown morocco tray case with raised bands on spine, each accented above and below with gilt beading (our last image shows the volume lying in its box). One spine compartment with title, another with publication place and dates, all others with gilt center device. A very acceptable copy of a scarce and important work for Arabic studies.

Click the images for enlargements.

•  ESTC T33309.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Half-title with “Tracts” inked in an early hand in the upper margin; first text page with neatly inked provenance annotation (dated [19]40) in inner margin and stamped numeral in lower margin. Pages lightly age-toned, with offsetting to margins of first three leaves and a very few scattered spots of light staining. Early inked marginalia (shaved in two instances) — this of a skeptical nature — and underlining. (21075)

Provenance: On a rear blank, “Amos Clarke his book”; another signature with a plea to borrowers below that. Opposite, “Southington September 7th 179[?]” and the note, “Read your Book Every opportunity.”

•  ESTC W37924; Evans 38424. On Rowe, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Quarter sheep over paste boards, covers much abraded and chipped; spine leather torn at base and lacking at head. Dog-ears, shallow chipping, and brownstaining—with loss of individual words in a few places. Early inked notations on endpapers.