
ARCHAEOLOGY
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16th-Century Tour of Italy — Venice Is an Island
Alberti, Leandro. Descrittione di tutta l'Italia & isole pertinenti ad essa. In Venetia: Appresso Gio. Maria Leni, 1577. 4to (21.7 cm, 8.5"). 2 vols. in 1. [303], 503, [1(blank)], 69 (i.e., 96), [4] ff.
$2500.00
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Early, expanded edition, following the first of 1550: An important
and widely read account of Italy, written by a Dominican monk and Bolognese
scholar who spoke at length about his home city in addition to the other major
regions of the country. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1917) online notes
that the work contains “many valuable topographical and
archaeological
observations.”
Nicely printed in italic type (without maps), the work has a good index. The separate title-page of vol. II gives Isole appartenenti alla Italia, dated 1576. Venice is treated here, as an island, not as part of “the mainland.”
Adams A475; Index Aurel. 102.349. Contemporary vellum, worn and darkened, lacking ties. Hinges (inside) with insect damage causing partial opening, text block starting to pull away from spine. Front free endpaper with two inked ownership inscriptions, one dated 1620 and one 1898. Small area of worming to upper inner margins of about 40 leaves, minor and not approaching text. Scattered instances of early inked underlining and a very few marginalia, pages otherwise pleasingly clean. Ready for many more years of use! (26501)

The Deluge Delineated & a Library Located
Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania. The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania. Series D, Researches and treatises. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1910. 8vo. Frontis., x, 65, [1] pp., 2 plts.
$65.00
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Edited by H.V. Hilprecht. Offered here is Volume V, fascicle I, printing “The earliest version of the Babylonian deluge story and the temple library of Nippur.” Illustrated with a frontispiece and two plates.
Uncut, unopened copy in original wrappers; wrappers discolored in certain areas, back one probably from a newspaper clipping, Interior clean, very good. (34322)

A QUITE
Luxurious & Useful Production
Jacquemart, Albert. Histoire de la céramique. Paris: Librairie Hachette, 1873. 4to (26.5 cm, 10.43"). [2] ff., 750, [2] pp. 12 pls.
$425.00
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Canvassing ancient Egypt to the Italian Renaissance and modern times, this monograph on ceramic art distinguishes classes and styles of pottery, is illustrated with
200 wood-engraved figures by Hercule Catenacci and Jules Jacquemart, bears
12 full-page engraved plates by the latter, and tells how to identify many works' makers, cataloguing
1,000 marks and monograms. Each full-page plate is protected by a guard sheet with a brief letterpress description.
Jules Jacquemart (1837–80) was but in his mid-twenties when he began drawing from the renowned art collection of his father, Albert, an art historian. The Jacquemarts' first book on the subject was the Histoire de la porcelaine, followed shortly by this, its companion, in 1873, when Jules was “at work again on his own best work of etching.” He also made the etchings for Techener's Histoire de la bibliophilie (1860–64) and, in 1864, received an important commission from the French crown for Gemmes et joyaux de la couronne (1865).
The monograph's original
color-painted beaux-arts wrappers are bound in at the front and back here, including the spine in front (rubbed and faded, hinting at original splendor). The title-page is printed in red and black. An extensive index appears at the end.
Binding: Three-quarter evergreen morocco bordered with gilt fillets over bubble gum and mint marbled paper boards; spine with raised bands, gilt-framed compartments containing author, title, date, and appropriate devices in gilt; endpapers matching marbled boards and top edge gilt.
For J. Jacquemart, see: The Nineteenth Century, Vol. IX, pp. 681–90. Leather lightly scuffed at extremities and sunned to a woody green on spine and upper front cover; offsetting from turn-ins onto endpapers. Mild to (occasionally) moderate foxing throughout and old water damage on a few leaves only. (30132)

Standing in a “New Light” — ARCHAEOLOGY'S Implications
Kerr, Thomas. Pick and shovel explorations. A series of Sunday evening lectures. Rockford, IL: Morning Star Printing, 1890. Small 8vo. 40 pp.
$100.00
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The WorldCat record has this excellent explanation of this pamphlet: “A series of four lectures delivered in March of 1890 in Rockford, Illinois, by Dr. Thomas Kerr, a Scottish immigrant, medical doctor and former Baptist minister expelled because of his liberal views. In 1870 he organized the Church of the Christian Union with 65 Rockford Unitarians who were without a minister. These lectures describe and discuss tablets and other archaeological finds discovered mid-nineteenth century in what was Babylon (present day Iraq). Dr. Kerr had recently returned from a trip to London and Paris where he had viewed these relics in the British Museum and the Louvre. He discusses the 'disclosures that have come from the study of archaeology' as they relate to the 'religious idea' and how they have 'placed the religious in a new light'.”
NUC and WorldCat locate
only the copy at the Rockford, IL, public library.
Evidence of Readership: Pencil notes on front wrapper, pencil notations in some margins and some underlining; “no” appears next to several assertions about “scientific discoveries” as to Akkadian; and a paragraph of 18 lines on p. 37 is completely, neatly excised (costing lines on verso also) — though whether the clipping was done for posting/sharing (or for “preservation” in a scrapbook), or as an act of censorship, is unknowable.
Original printed wrappers; “evidence of readership” as above. Very good. (34323)
Montelius, Oscar. ; Antiquités suédoises, arrangées et décrites .... Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt & Söner, 1873–75. 2 vols. in 1. 8vo (25.1 cm, 9.9"). [6], 80, [12], 182, [16] pp.; illus.
$300.00
First edition comprising both parts: French translation of Montelius’s Svenska fornsaker, an atlas of Swedish antiquities from the Stone Age through the Iron Age. The weapons, pots, jewelry, and other items are beautifully depicted in wood engravings by Karl Fredrik Lindberg, with accompanying descriptive text by Montelius, a prominent archeologist whose work on the chronological dating method known as seriation is reflected in the organization of the present volume.
Lipperheide, Katalog der Freiherrlich von Lipperheide’schen Kostumbibliothek, 285m. Contemporary quarter morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; joints and edges rubbed, joints cracked and leather chipped at spine extremities. Front free endpaper separated but present; front pastedown and free endpaper institutionally rubber-stamped. Pages clean.
Absorbing. (19549)

All About Bath — With Maps — Including Its
Plants, Birds, & Insects
Morris, J[oseph] W[illiam], ed. Handbook to Bath prepared on the occasion of the visit of the British Association, 1888. Bath: Isaac Pitman Sons, [1888]. 8vo (18.3 cm, 7.2"). vi, [3], 264, [4] pp.; 2 fold. maps (1 col.).
$125.00
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Sole edition: “Presenting concisely and readily . . . the continuous history of an ancient borough rich in monumental evidence of varying fortune in changing times, and illustrating in that history the revolutions of race, the changes of manners, the progress of society, in no ordinary degree” (p. iii). The work
opens with a tipped-in, black and white folding map of the country around Bath, and closes with a larger, color-printed geological map done by Horace B. Woodward (the latter map contained in a pocket on the back pastedown). One chapter covers the botanical attractions of the area, including a selection of interesting local plants (using scientific terminology and giving brief notes on the locations where they were observed), while another lists the rarer birds and insects to be found.
The “British Association” that visited Bath in 1888 was the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
Few U.S. institutions report holding physical copies of this work: WorldCat finds only eight American locations.
Publisher's pebbled blue cloth–covered limp boards, front cover with gilt-stamped title; spine cloth slightly darkened and bubbled, extremities rubbed. Pages and color map slightly age-toned, minor offsetting to upper and inner margins of first few leaves (around tipped-in map), overall internally clean.
A nice copy of an interesting work. (40375)

AMAZONS — Illustrated!
Petit, Pierre. De amazonibus dissertatio, quâ an verè extiterint, necne, variis ultro citroque conjecturis & argumentis disputatur. Amstelodami: apud Johannem Wolters & Yserandum Haring, 1687. 12mo (17 cm, 6.125"). [6] ff, 398 pp., [6] ff., illus. (without the map).
$450.00
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Using classical texts and images Petit explores the possibility that the Amazons were not merely figments of mythological fancy, but actual members of Scythian society. Using texts from Homer through Juvenal and beyond, Petit canvasses the full range of opinions and evidence from contemporary sources. His text is in Latin; the Greek texts, offered in Greek, are translated into Latin as well.
This is the “Editio secunda, auctior & correctior,” following the very rare edition of 1685.
The
53 in-text engravings offer iconographic evidence for the Amazons. The majority are numismatic, showing portrayals of Amazons on classical coins. Some others show works of art, especially sculpture, and representations of what Amazonian weapons might have looked like.
The work begins with a dedication to Baudelot de Dairval and a full table of contents. The body of the text is organized into chapters concerning various aspects of the lives and types of evidence relating to the Amazons. There is an “Addenda” on pp. 381–98 that includes
discussions of Christopher Columbus, cannibalism, and Amazons in the New World. The book ends with another index.
European Americana 587/106; Sabin 61256; Hayn, Amazonen-Litteratur, 53. Recent marbled paper over boards, leather spine label. Added engraved title-page cut down with loss of imprint data and mounted; without the map, often missing. Light staining to the preliminary and first few text pages. Otherwise, a rather nice copy. (40385)
Robiou de la Tréhonnais, Félix Marie Louis Jean. Observations critiques sur l’archéologie dite préhistorique, spécialement en ce qui concerne la race celtique. Paris: Didier, 1879. 8vo (23 cm, 9"). [4], 112, [2] pp.
$250.00
“Extrait des Mémoires de la Société Archéologique d’Ille-et-Vilaine”: Scholarly discussion of the antiquities of the ancient Celts and Gauls. Robiou, a professor of history at the University of Rennes, also published Monuments de la vie des anciens and Les institutions de l’ancienne Rome.
Scarce. OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 report only one U.S. holding of this item.
Contemporary quarter morocco with mottled paper-covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-ruled raised bands; spine slightly darkened, edges and corners showing traces of wear. Front pastedown with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings). Publisher’s printed paper wrappers bound in; front fly-leaf partially adhered to front inside wrapper. Pages lightly age-toned, else clean.
A good copy. (19365)

“It Was a Fascinating Discovery Which Invited Prolonged Exploration”
Stein, Marc Aurel. On ancient Central-Asian tracks: brief narrative of three expeditions in innermost Asia and north-western China. London: Macmillan & Co., 1933. 8vo (24 cm; 9.5"). xxiv, 342 pp.
$1750.00
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First edition. Based on lectures given at the Lowell Institute, this book reflects on the explorations made by (Marc) Aurel Stein in four expeditions to Central Asia that took him into Eastern Turkestan, westernmost China, and across the Hindu Kush and the Pamirs. His greatest triumph involved
discovery of the world's oldest printed text, Diamond Sutra, dating to A.D. 868, plus 40,000 other scrolls. He received a knighthood for his efforts, which extended over 30 years.
Stein's account is accompanied by many illustrations, in both black and white and color. These include a color frontispiece, several fold-out panoramas, and a folding color map at rear, with all color illustrations having intact tissue guards.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear. Rust-brown publisher's cloth with gilt spine lettering and gilt medallion to front board, in an edgeworn, lightly soiled dust jacket with significant portions torn away at spine, smaller losses at corners/edges and price-clip, and two small stains to rear panel. Binding clean, with extremities bumped. Purple monogram ownership stamp to front free endpaper, p. 83, and a leaf in the index; text otherwise clean with upper corners lightly creased across and a few leaves unopened.
Good, in a good- dust jacket that appears in most instances to be lacking entirely. (37601)

485
Stunning Views
of
England,
Scotland,
& Wales
EACH
IMAGE
Hand-Captioned
Storer, James
Sargant. Antiquarian and topographical cabinet, containing a series
of elegant views of the most interesting objects of curiosity in Great Britain.
London: W. Clarke, J. Carpenter, & H.D. Symonds, 1807–11. 8vo. 10
vols. I: [approx. 112] pp.; 56 plts. II: pp.; 49 plts. III: [approx. 110] pp.;
55 plts. IV: [approx. 92] pp.; 46 plts. V: [approx. 86] pp.; 43 plts. VI: [approx.
106] pp.; 53 plts. VII: [approx. 98] pp.; 49 plts. VIII: [approx. 86] pp.; 43
plts. IX: [approx. 110] pp.; 55 plts. X: [approx. 72], [16 (index)] pp.; 36
plts. (15 plts. lacking of 500).
$2250.00
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Deluxe printing of the first edition, here in an impressive large-paper set illustrated with 485 copper-engraved plates. The engraved images designed for the duodecimo regular edition are here, in this octavo printing, mounted within printed borders with
hand-inked calligraphic captions. Those images depict such scenic high spots as Dunstaple Priory in Bedfordshire, Roman remains in Brecknockshire, the “great oak” at Silton, a Crusader monument in Winchester Cathedral, Tintern Abbey (of course), and many, many churches and castles; they were engraved by J. Greig, W. Angus, W. & G. Cooke, and J. Storer after drawings by various hands.
Each plate is accompanied by a letterpress description, generally about two pages long.
Binding: Contemporary green morocco, darkened to black; covers framed in gilt with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spines with gilt-stamped title, board edges with gilt-stamped roll. All edges gilt.
NSTC S4069; Brunet, I, 319, Graesse 503. Bound as above with insignificant shelf wear only, now refurbished and a bit of scuffing; 15 plates lacking of 500. Most plates clean, some foxed (a few heavily); some pages with light offsetting from plates. One page with pencilled annotation detailing an 1823 update in a site's ownership.
A luxurious, in fact in its way spectacular, production. (22855)
Westropp, Hodder Michael; & Charles Staniland Wake. Ancient symbol worship. Influence of the phallic idea in the religions of antiquity. New York: J.W. Bouton & London: Trübner & Co., 1874. 8vo (24.7 cm, 9.75"). 98, [6 (adv.)] pp.
$200.00
First edition: Two papers read before the Anthropological Society of London on 5 April, 1870, discussing artifacts and religious practices connected to various literal and allegorical phallic representations. The illustrations found in the second edition were issued there for the first time.
The advertisement leaves are devoted specifically to books of phallic subject matter.
NSTC 0803266; Allibone, Critical Dictionary, 1505. Publisher’s green cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped medallion, spine with gilt-stamped title; cloth rubbed at corners and pulled at spine extremities, board edges lightly discolored. Pencilled owner’s name in upper margin of title-page. Title-page and two others pressure-stamped; preface with inked annotation and stamped numeral. Pages slightly age-toned, else clean. (20486)
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