51 - (Mathematics) Guillaume-François-Antoine, Marquis de L’Hospital Traité analytique des sections coniques et de leur usage pour la résolution des equations dans les problêmes tant déterminés qu’indéterminés. A Paris, chez la veuve Boudot and Boudot fils, 1707.

€ 5000

The very rare first edition of the second book written by the Marquis de L’Hospital, appeared posthumously and reprinted in 1720 and 1740. This copy bears a distinguished provenance, having been in the library of Montesquieu and having been provided with some annotations possibly of his own hand. Guillaume-François-Antoine, Marquis de L’Hospital (Paris 1661 - 1704) was one of the most prominent mathematicians of his time and the writer of the first textbook of differential calculus, the “Analyse des infiniment petits”, appeared in 1695 and reprinted in 1715. When L’Hospital died he had completed the present book in manuscript. The fame which L’Hospital had enjoyed induced the bookseller Boudot to ask to issue the manuscript immediately, though without an editor and without foreword. Though the authorization was conceded immediately, the death of Boudot delayed the printing until 1707. Apparently some parts of the book derive from the teaching of Johann I Bernoulli, with whom L’Hospital was befriended, but the bulk of the text was written by L’Hospital himself. This book was considered the best treatise on conic sections written during the XVIII century. The treatment of the item “Sections coniques” in the Diderot-D’Alembert Encyclopédie was starkly influenced by L’Hospital. “... C’est ainsi qu’on pourrait parvenir à donner un traité vraiment analytique des sections coniques, c. à. d. où les propriétés de ces courbes seraient déduites immédiatement de leur équation générale et non pas comme dans l’ouvrage de M. le Marquis de L’Hospital, de leur description sur un plan ... M. le Marquis de L’Hospital, après avoir donné dans les trois premier livres de  son ouvrage les propriétés de chacune des sections coniques en particulier, a consacré le quatrième livre à exposer les propriétés qui leur sont communes à toutes: par exemple, que toutes les ordonnées à un même diamètre soient coupées en deux également par ce diamètre, que les tangentes aux deux extrémités d’une même ordonnée aboutissent au même point du diamètre etc ... Quelques auteurs, non contents de démontrer les propriétés des sections coniques sur le plan, ont encore cherché le moyen de démontrer ces propriétés, en considérant les sections coniques dans le cône même. Ainsi M. le Marquis de L’Hospital a consacré le sixième livre de son ouvrage à faire voir comment on retrouve dans le solide les mêmes propriétés des sections coniques démontrées sur le plan; il a rempli cet objet avec beaucoup de clarté et de simplicité.” (D’Alembert, in the Encyclopédie).

& D’Alembert (in the Encyclopédie); Poggendorff I, 1146-1147; compare DSB VIII, 304-305 (taking 1720 as the date of the first edition) and Honeyman 2009 (edition 1740); not in Norman.

52 - (Archaeology) (Pirro LIGORIO) Fragmento d'istoria dell'antichità della Nobilissima Città di Ferrara, Venetia, Per Gio: Francesco Valvasense, 1676.

€ 1200

First edition, published posthumously; a second one followed in 1722. Written by Pirro Ligorio, a previous attribution to Alfonso Cagnaccini is erroneous. It was based on a sentence reported on page 42 of this book as "Dentro la città di Ferrara sulla casa dell'Olbizzo comprata da me Alfonso Cagnaccino" (In the Town of Ferrara on the house of Olbizzi, bought by me, Alfonso Cagnaccino); in the original it is not written da me (by me) but da m.r., an abbreviation common in the time and meaning 'messere' (sir), thus by sir A. Cagnaccino. (freely translated from Melzi). Pirro Ligorio (Napoli 1512/13 - Ferrara 1583), "Italian architect, archaeologist, and painter, he settled in Rome in 1534 after which he explored and recorded antiquities and remains, and began to collect material for his huge encyclopaedias of Classical artefacts. ... his work is an invaluable source of information on what Antique remains were known at the time. ... (he created) Villa d'Este and its gardens, much influenced by the nearby Villa Adriana which Ligorio had recorded." (Curl). In this work the origin of Ferrara (Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy) are described; the nice woodcuts depict many Roman remains of the town.

& Melzi I, pp. 160-161; J. S. Curl (A dictionary of Architecture. Oxford Univ. Press, 1999) pp. 384-385.

53 - (Militaria) Sieur de LOSTELNEAU Le mareschal de bataille, contenant le maniment des armes, les évolutions, plusieurs bataillons, tant contre l’Infanterie que contre la Cavalerie,. Divers ordres de batailles. Avec un bref discours sur les considerations que doit avoir un souverain avant que de commencer la guerre. Et un abregé des functions de Generaux d’Armées, de Mareschaux de Camp, & autres principales charges d’icelles ... Inventé et recueilli par le. Paris, Estienne Migon, 1647.

€ 5000

Only edition of this book written by desire of King Louis XIII and appeared many years later because of several delays whose history is narrated in the preface. The book is composed of different sections; the first, concerning handling of weapons, is illustrated by 48 nice full-page illustrations, close copies of those present in the book written by De Gheyn on the same subject, appeared originally in 1608 in English and translated afterwards in several languages. The second section comprises more than 400 different battle-schemes printed in colours (red indicates musketeers, black lancers and yellow for cavalry), illustrating with efficaciousness the battle- and march-orders, campings, wading of rivers, to which a rather long chapter is dedicated, and the evolutions of the cavalry. The final part contains an essay on the considerations which a prince or a chief of state should bear in mind before declaring war. The sieur de Lostelneau, a nobleman born in Guyenne, has kept into account the teachings of the most famous book on military tactics appeared in the first half of the XVII century, i. .e. “Die Kriegskunst zu Fuß”, by J. J. von Wallhausen and appeared in 1615, but has added many advises and discussions of situations drawn from his own experience, which had led him on many European battlefields under some famous generals. This book is the first written manual really French in nature and suggesting lines of reorganization for the French army which had kept, until Richelieu, a truly feudal character and whose tactics was based on the “fureur Française”, neglecting any regular training of troops, without regular salaries and with a caste of non-professional officers. The reorganization of the French army was mainly the work of François Sublet de Noyers; the transformation of the French army according to the precepts taught in this manual transformed it into the strongest terrestrial army of Europe. Differently from other similar books the multicolour schemes, drawn by Migon, professor of mathematics and publisher of the book, have been printed with several plates of different colours, resulting in effects impossible to reach with an unique plate in copper or wood.

& Tchemerzine (Livres à figures XVII) pages 301-2 (with reproduction of 4 engravings); Lipperheide Qb43; Hiler 553; Jähns 1007, 1042 et 1293; NUC (3 exx.): “The diagrams of formations are printed from type in black, red and yellow, rather than being engraved”; Shepheard-Walwin (Cardinal Richelieu and the development of absolutism, 1972) chapter XIV, passim.

54 - (Engineering) Antonio LUPICINI Discorso … sopra i ripari del Po, et d'altri fiumi, che hanno gl'argini di terra posticcia. In Firenze, Appresso Giorgio Marescotti, 1587.

€ 1500

Only edition, second issue; the first is dated 1586 and is identical to the present one. Antonio Lupicini (Florence, about 1530 - 1598) participated as early as 1552 to the sieges of Montalcino and Monticchiello. In 1578 he entered the service of Rudolph II of Habsburg at the instigation of Francesco de’ Medici, but returned to Italy some years later and was involved from 1584 to 1589 in the drainage of the marshes near Venice. In 1594 he joined Giovanni De’Medici in an expedition against Turks, but could not push his ideas through during the siege of Giavarino, and came back to Italy a few months before dying. He invented an instrument (astronomical rod) to measure distances, supervised the rebuilding of the fortifications of Mantua and wrote two books on hydraulics, dealing with the control of Arno streams. This tract contains a concise sketch how to repair the embankments of different Italian rivers, which suffered from three different problems, i. e. the lack of reinforcements structures, the destroying action of the currents, and the weakening effect of mole cavities. Lupicini proposes to deal with the problem with little expense, reinforcing the embankments with wood grill-like structures, elevating them with the addition of supplementary levels made of compressed earth mixed with straw, and eliminating moles with poisons and mechanical means. Swampings were a general problem in the Po plain and, despite the experience of Lupicini as an engineer and architect, his suggestions do not seem to have solved it.

& EDIT 16, CNCE 55452; Cinelli Calvoli III, page 217; Gamba 1.499; Guarducci 250; Manzi 55 (note); Riccardi I/2, 59.

55 - (Medicine) (Paul-Augustin-Olivier MAHON) L'arte di conoscere i buoni da' cattivi medici e di ben regolarsi nelle malattie. [Torino, nella stamperia reale] 1791.

€ 300

Italian translation of a book published in 1772 in French with the title Avis aux Grands, & aux Riches sur la maniere dont ils doivent se conduire dans leurs maladies. Paul Augustin Olivier Mahon (Chartres 1752 - 1801), "commença ses études sous son père, médecin de mérite, et vint les achever à Paris. Il fut membre de la Société royale de médecine; collaborateur du Dictionnaire de médecine de l'Encyclopédie méthodique, où il remplaça Vicq d'Azyr comme rédacteur en chef; médecin en chef de l'hospice des vénériens de Paris; enfin professeur de médecine légale et d'histoire de la médecine à l'école de santé de Paris. Il mourut le 16 mars 1801, n'ayant pas encore atteint sa quarante-neuvième année. Mahon fut un homme laborieux et un écrivain judicieux. Il n'y a pas beaucoup d'érudition dans son esquisse de l'histoire de la médecine clinique, mais il y a des vues justes et quelques aperçus philosophiques." In this work the author warn his readers against the danger of bad doctors and charlatans which, taking advantage of the candour and trust of their patients, make they worse instead of heal them. He gives three rules to protect themselves against this danger, namely: to choose a good doctor, to be diligently examined by him and accurately follow his prescriptions. Afterward Mahon discusses at length how to recognize a good doctor: he has to possess Abile Ingegno (skil and talent), Scienza (scientific knowledge), Esperienza (experience) and probità (moral probity). Interestingly Mahon, discussing the habit to administer drugs known as useless, describes the placebo effect (page 32, footnote): “Non si ignora, che spesso la speranza di guarire contribuisce molto al ristabilimento degli ammalati. E siccome l’uso dei rimedi può far nascere, e mantenere questa speranza, la prudenza perciò vuole qualche volta, che si prescrivano. Questi aiuti allora appartengono tanto all’ordine morale, quanto all’ordine fisico.” (It is known that often the hope to recover helps the healing. Because the use of drugs can contribute to raise this hope, it is sometimes advisable to prescribe them. This kind of treatment belongs to the moral sphere as well as to the physical one). On the last leaf of the book are given the publisher’s (Francesco Prato Librajo in Torino) advertising and a short list of his publications. The advertising describes at length which reasons make necessary the reading of the life of the Saints. The readers are invited to subscribe for a work in seven volumes on this topic. A small list of other four works on different subjects (The Gospel, a book about the Italian language and the history of Piedmont, James Cook's travels etc.) is present. Even though this kind of advertising and small catalogue, bound at the end of books, were quite a common practice, they always are of interest, being first-hand reports of the publisher's work.

& P. Béchet (Dictionnaire historique de la médecine ancienne et moderne ou précis de l'histoire générale, technologique et littéraire de la médecine, suivi de la bibliographie médicale du dix-neuvième siècle et d'un répertoire bibliographique par ordre de matière, 1828-1839) pag 502 (online); Quérard (La France Littér) V. p. 434; Hoefer (Nouvelle biographie générale, Firmin-Didot Frères, 1860) 853; not in Garrison & Morton, Krivatsy. For the publisher Francesco Prato: Maurizio Marocco (Cenni sull'origine e sui progressi dell'arte tipografica in Torino dal 1474 al 1861, Torino, E. Botta 1861) pag 111 (online).

56 - (Fencing) Antonio MANCIOLINO Opera dove li sono tutti i documenti, e vantaggi che si ponno havere nel mestiere de l’armi d’ ogni sorte nuovamente corretta, e ristampata. 1531 (Colophon: Stampato in Vinegia per Nicolo d’Aristotele detto Zoppino 1531).

€ 10000

First and probably only edition, even though some authors hint to an edition appeared about 1509. However, the existence of this earlier edition cannot be determined with any certainty and is probably a ghost. This is the first Italian book dedicated specifically to fencing and one of the first, if not the absolute first, illustrated fencing books. A part dedicated to fencing was, however, present in the book of Pietro Monte on military art, appeared in Milan in 1509. The illustrations, widely considered as being unconnected to the text, are allegorical rather than didactic and as such exhibit a different order of connection to the script. We possess only scant news on Antonio Manciolino. We know that he was one of the foremost masters of the Bolognese school of fencing, founded by Lippo Bartolomeo Dardi from Lucca. Even though no manuscript by hand of Dardi survives, he laid the foundation for the work of Manciolino and Marozzo whose work will appear five years later in Modena and know a lasting fame. The Bolognese school was based on the use of a single-handed sword, which could both cut and thrust. The swordsman should defend himself with other weapons, such as a shield, a dagger, a gauntlet or a cape. The book of Manciolino is divided in six parts, dealing respectively with introductory matters (acknowledgments, introduction and exposition of the most important rules), to the defense with sword and shield, to the assault with sword and shield, to the middle-game techniques including leg movements, to the defense and assault using two swords, a sword and a dagger or a sword and a cape, and to the handling of different types of spears and knives. From that last it can be surmised that the book of Manciolino served also a scope of self-defense in the street of XVI century town, which were not very secure and where assaults of thieves were frequent.

& Gelli page 125: “Rare et extrêmement précieux” and Sale Catalogue 231; Sander 4168; Essling II, 658; Vigeant page 86; Thimm page 177; Garcia Donnell 556; unknown to Gaugler (The history of fencing).

57 - (Music) Vincenzo Manfredini Regole armoniche o sieno precetti ragionati per apprendere i principi della musica, il portamento della mano, e I'accompagnamento del basso sopra gli strumenti da tasto, come l'organo, il cembalo ecc. Venezia, G. Zerletti, 1775.

€ 2000

First edition of this introduction to the elements of music and to keyboard accompaniment such as organ and harpsichord. Manfredini's observations in this work on the proper method of teaching singing aroused vigorous opposition. Vicenzo Manfredini (Pistoia 1737 - St. Petersburg 1799) was the son of Francesco, maestro di Cappella in the Cathedral of San Filippo. He first studied with his father, and afterward in Bologna and Milano. In 1758 he went to St. Petersburg were became Maestro of the Court's Italian Opera Company of the Russian Tsar Peter III and Tsarina Catherine the Great. After Baldassarre Galuppi arrived in St. Petersburg, Manfredini had to compose dances to be performed with his rival’s opera and served as harpsichord teacher to Paul Petrovich, heir to the throne. Manfredini went back to Bologna in 1769. Almost thirty years later his former pupil, now Tsar Paul I, invited him to St. Petersburg. Manfredini died in St. Petersburg one year later. Vicenzo Manfredini was a theorist as well as a composer; he wrote numerous operas, ballets, symphonies, string quartets, cantata and sacred music. "… sa personalitè du théoricien a plus de relief; ses Regole Armoniche consituent un document precieux pour la pratique vocale comme pour la technique instrumentale du XVIII Siècle." (Honegger). See Mooser for an exhaustive biography of Manfredini. Two interesting papers about this work have been written by Monici. The nice portrait is signed by Antonio Baratti (Belluno1724 - Venezia 1787): "Italian printmaker. A highly prolific engraver and etcher, he frequented the Venetian workshop of the engraver and print publisher Josep Wagner (1708-1780), later succeeding Giuliano Giampiccoli as the head of the Remondini workshop at Bassano. Gifted with considerable technical ability, Baratti had a part in illustrating a great number of costly publications, mostly Venetian, and he engraved almost one thousand plates for the Livorno edition of the Encyclopedia (1771-1779)." (Grove).

& Grove 11 p. 615; RISM B VI, 533. Fetis V, 427. Eitner VI, 299. MGG VIII, 1579. Wolffheim I n. 800; Honegger (Dictionnaire de la Musique, Bordas, 1970) II, p. 676; R. A. Mooser (Annales de la musique et des musiciens en Russie, Geneva 1948-51) I, pp. 317-322; A. Monici (Delle regole più essenziali per imparare a cantare secondo un vecchio autore (Vincenzo Manfredini). In: Rivista Musicale Italiana, xviii (1911), 85-94); A. Monici (Di un nuovo metodo per apprendere l'accompagnamento del basso secondo un vecchio autore. In Rivista Musicale Italiana, xxiii (1916), 453-490). For A. Baratti: Morazzoni p. 241; Grove (The Dictionary of Art) III p. 199; G. A. Moschini (Dell'incisione in Venezia, Venice 1924) pp. 120-123; L. Alpago Novello Gli incisori bellunesi. In Atti Real Ist. Ven. Sci. Lett. & A., XIXC (1939-40), pp. 573-601).

58 - (Surveying) Lorenzo MASCHERONI Problemi per gli agrimensori con varie soluzioni dell'ab. Lorenzo Mascheroni, Pavia, Presso Baldassare Comino, 1793.

€ 600

First edition. Lorenzo Mascheroni (Castagneta - Bergamo 1750 - Parigi 1800) "taught rhetoric then, from 1778, he taught physics and mathematics at the seminary at Bergamo. In 1786 Mascheroni became professor of algebra and geometry at the University of Pavia, mainly on the strength of his excellent work on statics Nuove ricerche su l'equilibrio delle volte which he had published one year earlier. Later, in 1789, he became rector of the university, holding the appointment for four years. During the years 1788 to 1791 he was head of the Accademia degli Affidati. Mascheroni is also known as a poet and he dedicated one of his books Geometria del compasso (published in Pavia in 1797) to Napoleon Bonaparte in verse. In this work Mascheroni proved that all Euclidean constructions can be made with compasses alone, so a straight edge in not needed. ... For his excellent contributions Mascheroni received a number of honours such as election to the Academy of Padua, the Royal Academy of Mantua and to the Società Italiana delle Scienze." (O'Connor and Robertson) "É un libro che non si può raccomandare abbastanza agli agrimensori per la sua chiarezza e precisione. Esso à il grande vantaggio di riunire molte maniere di sciogliere i problemi appartenenti all'arte agrimensoria, le quali invano si cercherebbero in altri autori" (Re). "Pregiata raccolta di problemi di geometria pratica, elegantemente risoluti. É notevole l'invenzione del quadrante per determinare meccanicamente il seno e il coseno dell'angolo misurato" (Riccardi).

& J. J. O'Connor and E. F. Robertson In: http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Mascheroni.html; Bompiani (Dizionario Letterario Bompiani degli Autori di tutti i tempi e di tutte le letterature, Milano, Bompiani, 1956 - 1957) II, p. 669; Laterza (Dizionario enciclopedico della letteratura italiana, Bari - Roma, Laterza - Unedi, 1966 - 1970) III, p. 543; Poggendorff II, 72; Re III, p. 119; Riccardi II, 133.

59 - (Agriculture, Enology) MAUPIN Mes experiences a Seve, près de Paris, et en dernier lieu a Belleville, Banlieu de Paris, pour prover que l’on peut faire des Vins d’une très bonne qualité; I°, dans les environs de Paris; 2°, dans les Provinces & les Pays qui ont abandonn’la culture de la Vigne, il y a plusieurs siecles; contenant quelques nouveaux principes sur la Fermentation & le dècuvage des Vins. Paris, chez Musier, Gobreau, Libraires, Quai des Augustins, 1784. Bound with: The same Suite et grand succés de mon expérience a Belleville, Banlieu de Paris, Contenant mes adieu aux Pays de Vignoble, & en conséquence la réductio du pris de mes Ouvrages, sur la Vigne, les Vins & les Terres, de 13 livres 6 sols, à 8 livres pour Paris, & à 10 liv. 8 sols pour la Province, compris le port, à raison de 12 sols par Volume, à commencer du 1 Mars, jusqu’au 21 Juin de la présente année. Paris, chez l’auteur, 1785.

€ 1000

Both first edition. Maupin, a French agronomist of the second half of the eighteenth century, wrote several works on vineyard and wines. In the present works he describes the way to obtain good wines in areas generally considered as unfit. He demonstrates that the climate and the ground have little or no influence on the wine's quality if the grape variety is carefully chosen and appropriated techniques applied for the culture and the processing of the grapes. The second work is mainly an advertising for several books previously published by the same author.

& Not in Vicaire, Bitting, Paleari, Sormanni; Oberlè (Bibliothèque Bachique) n. 102 (9, 12); Quèrard 643; Hoefer XXXIII, columns 349-395.

60 - (Agriculture) Ludwig Mitterpacher Elementi di agricoltura ... tradotto in Italiano con note relative all'agricoltura milanese. Milano 1794, per Giuseppe Galeazzi.

€ 900

Second Italian edition, with many more illustrations and significant textual additions with respect to the first one. The translator was Carlo Amoretti. Ludwig (Ljudevit) Mitterpacher von Mitterburg (Belje in Eastern Croatia 1734 - Pest 1814) studied mathematics and theology at Vienna University and was appointed a teacher of religion in 1762. In 1777, Mitterpacher became the first professor of the newly-established agricultural faculty at the Pest University, a position he kept until his death. A very popular lecturer, Mitterpacher also wrote several schoolbooks and lecture notes on astronomy, mathematics and agricultural subjects. This work is his most significant one. It appeared in Pest in three volumes in 1777-1779 and became an immediate success, with translation in many languages and frequent reprints. The treated subjects included cultivation, plant-growing, horticulture, vine-growing, forestry, animal husbandry and food processing. His books, originally written in Latin, became important works of reference for contemporary agricultural practice and science teaching. Mitterpacher became a member of the Academy of Sciences in Bologna. " É abbastanza universalmente nota l'utilità ed insieme la reputazione di quest'opera ... il metodo di Mitterpacher è a mio giudizio il più esatto che possa impiegarsi nello scrivere libri elementari georgici". "Quest'opera é importante anche dal punto di vista enologico perché dedica alla viticoltura ben 148 pagine e, nelle annotazioni relative all'agricoltura milanese, enumera più di 31 qualità di vitigni coltivati nel Lombardo, sostituendo al catalogo austriaco non completo, come dice l'autore, un catalogo delle viti coltivate nell'Insubria. L'annotatore dà nozioni sul modo di come deve impiantarsi una vigna, quali vitigni devono preferirsi, come si deve potare, e come si devono fare i vini, l'aceto, e conservarli." (Pazzini).

& Bibl. Predari page 319; Niccoli, 73; Re, III/158-9; Cat. Accademia dei Georgofili page 176, n. 619; Pazzini (Bibliografia bacchica, Bologna 1995) page 489; not in the other gastronomical and wine bibliographies.

61 - (Medicine) Jérôme De MONTEUX (Hieronymus Montuus) De activa medicinae scientia commentarii duo ... Lyon, De Tournes and G. Gazeau, 1557. (Bound with:) The same Compendiolum curatricis scientiae longè utilissimum ... Lyon, De Tournes and G. Gazeau, 1556 (And with:) The same Opuscula iuvenilia ... Lyon, De Tournes and G. Gazeau, 1556.

€ 2400

Only edition of all three works. The author, Jérôme de Monteux (Dauphiné 1518 – Paris 1559), studied medicine in Montpellier. After having taken over the flourishing medical practice of his father in Lyon, he moved to Paris, where he treated Cathérine des Médicis during her first pregnancy, and later on became physician in charge of the Dauphin and advising physician of the King Henri II. Apparently he performed the first observations of the bone degenerations caused by syphilis, and was one of the first physicians to advise sport as a hygienic measure. The first book is a collection of observations extracted from Monteux’s experience, with interesting discussion on subject as the consumption of spirituous drinks, diets, cosmetics, and balneology. In this volume Monteux as the first suggests physical exercise for prevention of diseases and for fitness. These ideas will be developed further by Mercuriale in his famous book on gymnastics. The second volume is a compendium of medical art, with chapters on dietetics and a final section on laxatives. The influence of the Greek and Arab physicians is manifest throughout the volume. The third volume collects all what Monteux considers essential for the education of the medical students, beginning with the study of different aspects of nature, their concealed qualities, the matters whose knowledge which is necessary to physicians condensed in aphorisms, the manner to exert medicine and to treat patients and ends with theoretical medicine. Throughout the book references not only to classics, but also to appreciated contemporary physicians such as Symphorien Champier are interspersed. This convolute counts as a fine specimen of the De Tournes printing office. In particular the nice grotesque “Ostrich border” of the last volume “may be the first appearance of any borders from the extensive set generally identified with the 1557 Ovid” (Mortimer) and the first is one of the first appearances of the “Phallus border”.

& Ad 1) Cartier 374; STC French page 318; Wellcome 4437; Durling 3285; not in Adams. Ad 2) Cartier 339; Adams M-1732; Wellcome 6927; Durling 3284; not in STC French. Ad 3:) Cartier 340; Mortimer 381; STC French page 318; Adams M-1735; Wellcome 4436; Durling 3282. On Monteux see Hoefer XXXVI, page 207.

62 - (Archery) Walter Michael MOSELEY An Essay on Archery, describing The Practice of that Art, in all Ages and Nations, Worcester, Printed by J. & J. Holl, and sold by J. Robson, London, 1792.

€ 1000

First edition. After the Toxophilus only two other works were published in 1634 and 1682 respectively; Moseley describes them both as extremely rare and of great value, but still unsatisfactory for the history of Archery, being the first nothing more than an abridgement of Asham's work, and the second one mainly a description of a meeting of archers. Actually Moseley's is the first work ever written on the subject to be as exhaustive as possible. He gives not only the history of archery through the times, but also investigates the techniques used all over the world. He also describes methods of divination; biographical information about archers of the time are also given. Materials and methods employed in the design and production of the arrows are carefully described. The plates depict different kind of bows, arrows heads from the Stone Age until modern time, Arrows, and even some coins depicting archers. The poisoned Arrow and the whistling Arrow are also described. "When An Essay on Archery, by Walter Michael Moseley, was first published in 1792, it represented the first comprehensive work on the subject since the publication of Roger Ascham’s classic: Toxophilus, two hundred and forty-seven years earlier. Moseley felt strongly that the importance of the bow should not be underestimated within history, and set out to trace the development of the art of archery «in all ages and nations»" (Redmond).

& Gerald Redmond (Journal of Sport History, Volume 4 Number 1, Spring 1997) pp. 121-124.

63 - (Astronomy) Gabriel MOUTON Observationes diametrorum solis et lunae apparentium ... Huic adjecta brevis dissertatio de dierum naturalium inaequalitate & de tempori aequatione ... Lyon, Ex typographia Matthaei Liberal, 1670.

€ 9000

Only edition. Gabriel Mouton (Lyons 1618 - 1694) was a divine, who was appointed to vicaire perpétuel of Saint Paul’s Church in his native town after having taken a doctorate in theology. This is his magnum opus; his logarithmic tables remained in manuscript. “The book that made Mouton famous, ‘Observationes diametrorum solis et lunae apparentium’ (1670), was the fruit of his astronomical observations and certain computational procedures he had developed. Lalande later stated: "This volume contains interesting memoirs on interpolations and on the project of a universal standard of measurement based on the pendulum". Mouton was a pioneer in research on natural and practicable units of measurement. He had been struck by the difficulties and disagreements resulting from the great number of units of length, for example which varied from province to province and from country to country. First he studied how the length of a pendulum with a frequency of one beat per second varies with latitude. He then proposed to deduce from these variations the length of the terrestrial meridian, a fraction of which was to be taken as the universal unit of length. ... These ideas were espoused by Picard shortly after the book appeared and a little later, in 1673, by Huygens. They were also favorably received by members of the Royal Society.” (DSB). “Gabriel Mouton ... suggested (1670) a system of measures not unlike the metric system ... a system which should use the scale of 10, and which took for its basal length an arc I' long on a great circle of the earth. This unit he called a ‘Milliare’ or ‘mille’, 0.001 of a ‘mille’ being called a ‘virga’ and 0.1 of a ‘virga’ being called a ‘virgula’ ...“ (Smith). “In 1670 the Abbé Mouton of Lyon suggested that the length of an arc of 1 minute of the meridian should be chosen as a unit: he evolved a whole system of submultiples and suggested a method which would permit this length to be calculated by establishing its relationship to that of a pendulum ticking the seconds. Picard, and Huygens shortly afterwards, proposed independently of one another that this last should be accepted as a universal unit.” (Daumas). “... contains in the appendix the first suggestion of the idea of the metric system: decimal progression and universal standard.” (Honeyman). “The earliest books to advocate a universal system were Stevin's "De Thiende" (1585) and Mouton's "Observationes Diametrorum Solis et Lunae apparentium” ...” (PMM). “Mouton's treatise is also of mathematical and astronomical interest: it contains his method of addition of number series by their differences (a procedure discovered simultaneously by Leibnitz) and gives a remarkably accurate figure for the diameter of the sun at its apogee.” (Norman).

& DSB IX, pages 554–555 (Mouton) and VII, 162-163; Smith (History of mathematics) II, pages 512 and 649; Daumas (Scientific instruments) pp. 127-28: Honeyman 2259; Norman Collection 1560; Lalande, page 273-274; compare PMM 260* (in note).

64 - (Arithmetic's) René OUVRARD L’art et la science des nombres en françois et en latin ou l’arithmétique pratique et speculative … A Paris, chez Lambert Roulland  et Christophe Ballard, 1677.

€ 4500

Only edition. “René Ouvrard (Chinon 1624 – Tours 1694) (was) a French theorist, musician, ecclesiastic and man of letters. As a youth Ouvrard trained in theology and music in Tours. About 1657 he was maître de chapelle at Bordeaux cathedral, about 1660 chef de la maîtrise at the St. Just cathedral, Narbonne and from 1663 at the latest maître de musique at the Sainte-Chapelle until in 1679 he retired to Tours as canon at the church of St. Gatien. Ouvrard wrote widely on theology and on arts and science. He was active both in academic and musical circles, especially in Paris, and corresponded with leading church and lay figures. Although his compositions seem not to have survived, he is known to have favored the Italian style (especially motets and oratorios in the style of Carissimi), for which he developed a taste while visiting Italy in 1655. His writings contain significant contributions to a knowledge of music theory, through both his comprehensive presentation of it and his attempts to relate it to other intellectual pursuits of his day.” (Grove). “En 1679, alors qu’ il était maître de chapelle à la Sainte Chapelle de Paris, Ouvrard faisait publier chez La Caille un ouvrage intitulé Architecture harmonique … Ouvrard n’était pas à son premier essai sur les proportions puisque, deux ans auparavant, il avait présenté un ouvrage sur l’Art et la Science des nombres … où déjà il envisageait les connivances entre proportions harmoniques et speculations mathématiques. Il prévient d’ailleurs le lecteur ‘qu’il faut supposer la doctrine des proportions, établie dans le livre entitulé L’art et la science des nombres, principalement dans le sixième livre de l’Arithmétique harmonique, pour bien entendre sa demonstration … Ces quelques elements permettent de situer René Ouvrard dans le courant néo-platonicien qui animait une partie des théoriciens et penseurs francais de la fin du XVIIe siècle. En effet, il part du principe que, grâce aux mathématiques, on arrive à saisir les structures intimes de la réalité. N’avait-il pas écrit dans la preface de L’Art et la science des nombres que ‘l’arithmétique est comme la clef de toutes les autres sciences’ et que, dans cet ordre d’idées, Platon peut être pris comme modèle car, en insistant sur les arts et sur les sciences, il transformait ‘en Dieu les autres hommes’. Il s’agit d’un néoplatonisme dans la mesure où, bien que l’homme soit déjà en possession des vrais principes de la nature du monde physique, il n’en demeure pas moins que le seul raisonnement ne suffit pas. Ouvrard use donc une dialectique dont l’un des poles est la raison et l’autre la pratique expérimentale sous forme d’observations bien conçues.” (Vendrix).

& Cioranescu 51683; Wellcome II, page 275; The New Grove (1980) XIV, page 32; P. Vendrix (Proportions harmoniques et proportions architecturales dans la théorie française des XVII et XVIIIe siècle, International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 20(1), June 1989) pages 3-10.

65 - (Mythology, Archaeology, Bibliography) (Paolo Antonio PAOLI) Della religione de’ Gentili per riguardo ad alcuni animali e specialmente a’ topi, dissertazione indirizzata ad illustrare un’antica statua. Napoli, Simoni, 1771.

€ 1200

Paolo Antonio Paoli (Napoli 1720? - 1790?), wrote this book after a small bronze statue, depicting a priest with a rat on his hand, was found not far from Paestum (Southern Italy). He carefully describes myths and legends related to rats and mice, analysing the possibility of an original historical truth in some of them and discarding as invention most of the later additions. The position of the lizard in ancient mythology and religion is also discussed. An exhaustive bibliography of more than 270 titles is given at the end of the work. “Paoli's book was written after the discovery in Neapolitan territory of a small bronze image, hieratic in character, representing a man with a mouse on his hand. Paoli's engraving of this work of art, unluckily, does not enable us to determine its date or provenance. The book is a mine of mouse-lore.” (Lang). "La statua è rappresentata in tre vedute, oltre alcune altre incisioni relative alla materia, collocate come vignette nel corso dell'opera, la quale è divisa in tre parti. L'Apollo Saurotono è figurato nel frontespizio: e l'opuscolo è prezioso per le dottrine" (Cicognara).

& Brunet (Table méthodique) n. 22610; Andrew Lang (Custom and Myth), in: The Project Gutenberg eBook, Release Date: November 17, 2004 [eBook #14080] www.gutenberg.net; (Cicognara 1987: n. 4.736).

66 - (Aeronautics) A. De Parcieux Dissertation sur les globes aérostatiques. A Paris, chez l’auteur, 1783.

€ 1800

Only edition, privately printed. The exact date of appearance must be located some days after December 10, 1783 (imprimatur). Antoine De Parcieux (1753, Cessoux-le-Vieux near Nîmes - 1799 Paris) was a nephew of a famous astronomer of the same name. Possibly thanks to his uncle he obtained a position of teacher of mathematics at the Collège de Navarre. His scientific activity was limited to the years 1778-1783 and includes contributions in mathematics and mechanics and this isolated contribution to the nascent aerostatics. He appears to be more interested to the physics of flight than to its practical aspects. The main problem encountered by balloons is, in his opinion, the loss of hot air under pressure from the globe due to the higher pressure exerted by it in rarefied air. As a consequence of that he postulates that the loss of hot air from a globe cannot be estimated from experiments conducted on the ground. He then formulates mathematical rules to define the proportions of the sections constituting balloons, how to determine the optimal pressure and the height at which the balloon will find itself in equilibrium in the atmosphere. These rules are summarized in two tables contained in the last two pages.

& Liebmann-Wahl 976; Brockett 9507; Tissandier 31; Collection Brug 139.

67 - (Natural history) Cristoforo PILATI Saggio di storia naturale bresciana, Brescia, Per Giambattista Bossini, 1769.

€ 1300

First edition; first volume (all published). Cristoforo Pilati (Gaino, on the Garda Lake, 1721 - Brescia 1805) was a naturalist and secretary of the Accademia di Fisica Sperimentale e Storia Naturale. The present one is the only volume published of his ambitious project concerning the natural history of the area around Brescia (Lombardy, north Italy). The first part includes the thorough transcription of an unpublished manuscript by Father Francesco Terzi Lana (better known in the history of aeronautics for his flying boat) entitled Storia naturale del Bresciano (natural history of Brescia's surroundings). An exhaustive account of the history, regulation and aim of the Accademia is given. In the following chapters the geology and natural history of the region are described, together with some remarks of botanical interest, the description of some illness affecting different plants and suggestions useful in the agriculture. He also describes in detail a surveying instrument of his invention, depicted in the plate. According to some sources (see www.ccoptur.it) Pilati was the first one to localize the peat bog near the Iseo Lake and to experiment the quality of peat as power source in the spinning mill that he owned.

& http://www.cooptur.it/www/iseo_lagoiseo.php?territory=2&card=87&section=3; Agassiz IV, 111; Banks, p. 240; Vincenzo Peroni (Biblioteca bresciana, Brescia, 1818-1823, 3 vols. Reprint Forni, Bologna) III, 53-54;

68 - (Archaeology) Francesco PIRANESI Monumenti degli Scipioni pubblicati dal caualiere Francesco Piranesi architetto Romano nell'anno MDCCLXXXV. No place, date and publisher (Generoso Salomoni for Francesco Piranesi, Rome 1785).

€ 5500

First edition, reprinted in the first decades of the XIX century in Paris, though in a different form, comprising the plates only with some text added to the engravings. “Although he lacked the imaginative genius and technical brilliance of his father, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Francesco Piranesi (Rome 1758 – Paris 1810) fulfilled a crucial role in completing his father's late work and continuing the family business into the nineteenth century. He was born in Rome, the eldest son of six surviving children, and received his initial training from his father. He later studied at the French Academy in Rome. Francesco seems to have begun his main contributions to his father's printmaking from 1775, when he was seventeen years old ... After his father's death in 1778, Francesco finished several archaeological works including a six-plate map of Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (1781), and a double-plate illustrating aspects of the Emissarium of Lake Fucino (1791). ... Other new works included "Il Teatro di Ercolano" (1783), "Monumenti degli Scipioni" (1785), and a group of vedute from the Naples region etched from drawings by Desprez. ... The following year, (the King of Sweden) appointed Francesco royal agent for the fine arts in Italy, and in 1794, Francesco became Swedish consul in Naples. In the meantime, Francesco had become involved in revolutionary politics and while in Naples conducted counterespionage for the French. In 1798, he returned to Rome where he became … official in the short-lived Republic. However, with the arrival of British and Neapolitan forces there in 1800, they (he and his brother) fled with the rest of family to Paris where they set up business as to Calcographie des Piranesi Frères. Besides establishing in 1803 a manufactory of terra-cotta replicas of antiquities from his father's collection. Francesco issued the bulk of his father’s graphic works in a handsome new edition of twenty-seven volumes between 1800 and 1807. After Francesco’s death, the entire stock of Piranesi plates was acquired by the publishers Firmin Didot which continued to issue prints in Paris until 1839 when the plates were purchased for Pope Gregory XVI and returned to Rome to enhance the Calcografia Camerale.“ (John Wilton-Ely in Placzek). The mausoleum of the Scipio family had been discovered some five years before, and this is its first pictorial illustration. The monument was composed of two square floors, of which the second has not survived, dug in the rock. It was a huge local with semicolumn on the walls; in the spaces between the semicolumns there were the statues of the famous representatives of the Scipio family. Sarcophages and epigraphs lined the empty spaces. The text had been compiled by the renowned archaeologist Ennio Quirino Visconti (Rome 1751 -1818), who became from 1799 professor of archaeology in Paris. The discovery of the mausoleum originated a long novel of Alessandro Verri (Le notti romane al sepolcro degli Scipioni), one of the most original production of the literary neo-classicism in Italy. “Le dotte illustrazioni di questi monumenti vennero estese dal sig. Ennio Quirino Visconti. Le tavole illustrate sono 6“ (Cicognara).

& Berlin Katalog 1878 (Paris edition): Fabia Borroni 8188; Cicognara 3838; Books on art II, pag. 1612; Placzek (MacMillan Encyclopedia of Architects) III, pages 421-422; R. C. Lumetti (La cultura dei Lumi fra Italia e Svezia. Il ruolo di Francesco Piranesi, Roma, Bonacci, 1990) pages 59-62; RIBA (Early Printed Books) 2545; Kissner 357 (a much later Didot edition of 1836).

69 - (Alchemy) Abraham ben David PORTALEONE De auro dialogi tres. In quibus non solum de auri in re medica facultate, verum etiam de specifica eius, & caeterarum rerum forma, ac duplici potestate, qua mixtis in omnibus illa operatur, copiose disputantur. Venetiis, Apud Jo. Baptista a Porta, 1584.

€ 7000

Only edition. Abraham ben David Portaleone (Mantua 1542 –1612), from one of Italy’s oldest Jewish families, was the only one among the numerous physician issued from his family who can claim distinction. Beyond the present book he authored also an unpublished collection of Consilia medica. Returning to devotion in later age, after a stroke left him paralyzed, he wrote ‘Shiltei ha-gibborim’ (The shields of the brave, Mantua 1612). “At the suggestion of Duke Guglielmo (Gonzaga), Abraham Portaleone composed a medical work in Latin, in form of dialogue, on the medical use of gold.” (Roth). “The Latin dialogue … is astonishing on many respects … The question the author tries to answer is whether gold has curative virtues or not. Portaleone … gives almost immediately his point of view, which is totally negative: metals do have some power, but gold doesn't have more than the others. The false assumption of its special power is due to its beauty, its resistance, its social prestige. Many important medical authorities of the past have been misled by some features which have nothing to do with medicine: this grave misconception was caused by the absence of an experimental mentality. Experiments, experientia, is the leit-motiv of the dialogues. In a very lively scene, one of the two characters, actually the protagonist, Dynachrisus - who is a Jew as it is just suggested in a brief passage - is dressed like a follower of Paracelso in pannosa indumenta, diversis constricta vinculis, raggedy clothes, held tight by several pieces of string. He reacts to the ironical remarks of Achryvasmus - the second character - by denying any identification with the stultitia, the foolishness, of those people. Still, he appreciates one side of their activity: the continuous experimentation, which allows seeing with one's own eyes and achieving clear knowledge. There is something in this book which seems to foreshadow the experimental method of Francis Bacon, or of Galileo, particularly in the very precise and very biting criticism of the pseudo-knowledge, based on vague terms such as “specific forms”, “power”, “faculty” or “substance”. This kind of knowledge is the result of a sort of intellectual laziness: before the difficulty of solving the problems - namely the questions of cause and effect - Reason tries to find refuge in a sacra anchora, a sacred anchor, thus hiding the truth and preventing the ship of knowledge from finding a safe harbour. Even a classical authority such as Pline the Ancient doesn't deserve respect, if he doesn't prove what he says ; and actually multa quae erant probanda ipse supponit, he assumed many things that he should have proved … Along with the criticism of hyper-rationalistic and not experimental science, comes the praise of complexity. Acting powers and causes in Nature are so many, and so difficult to detect, that man has to give up the attempt of total understanding. In the realm of causes, the final word for human beings is: mystery. Only God has a complete science: Altissimus Deus mundi totius conditor, scit. I think that the praise of experience on the one hand, and the consciousness of complexity on the other hand, is typical of a consistent scientific mentality … Of course these are not the only interesting sections in the dialogue. I could quote the surprising lack of trust in the ancients, brilliantly described through the image of Dynachrisus vainly waiting for a word coming from the dead. The reader discovers that these dead are actually the ancient books, who have nothing to say to a modern man looking for answers … We have to recall that Portaleone draws himself in the character of Dynachrisus: he is a scientist, and a Jew. Via a platonic dialogue, the Jew shows that if you read carefully the so-called sophistic argumentations - which probably refer to Talmud in veiled terms - you will find deep moral and religious values. I hardly need to point out, besides, the allusion to the lack of interest for gold, coming from a Jew. This is the only hint at Judaism in the dialogue, which is the work of an open-minded person, “looking for truth wherever he can find it”. (Guetta). Of course, Portaleone was not absolutely free from the commonly held prejudices of his epoch. “Yet Abraham maintains the occult influence of the stars against Averroes and Pico Della Mirandola who held that they acted upon other objects only by their motion and light … Of the recent writers Abraham lists Fallopia, Brasavola and Chrisogonus as rejecting gold as a remedy, but Silvius, Levinus, Scaliger, Cardan and Amatus Lusitanus – as well as earlier Arabic and Latin authors – as favoring it …” (Thorndike).

& Roth (The Jews in the Renaissance, Philadelphia 1977) page 222; A. Guetta (Classical Scholarship and Kabbalistic Pietas in the Shiltei-ha-gibborim by A. Portaleone. Lecture held at the Conference ‘The Jewish and the classical tradition in the Renaissance’, The Warburg Institute, London, 6-7 march 1997); Thorndike V, pages 645-647; L. Finkelstein (The Jews. Their role in civilization, Schocken, New York, 1978), pages 207 (on C. Singer; interestingly C. Singer contributed an essay to Finkelstein’s volume, with the title “Science and Judaism”); A. Marx (Rare books in the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminar of America) page 20; Sh. Simonsohn (History of the Jews in the Duchy of Mantua) pages 645-646; Caillet 33; Adams A-32; Fürst III, page 115; Duveen 2: “The book contains much of interest to the historian of chemistry”; Durling 3736; Neu 3: Friedenwald (The Jews and Medicine) II, page 578; Koren (Jewish physicians) page 110.

70 - (Chemistry) Joseph PRIESTLEY Osservazioni sopra differenti specie d'aria. Tradotte dall'Inglese da Gio Francesco Fromond. Coll'aggiunta di varie Annotazioni consultate coll'autore, Milano, Appresso Giuseppe Galeazzi Regio Stampatore, 1774.

€ 1200

First Italian edition. First published in 1772 in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (for this paper the Royal Society awarded Priestley the Copley medal), was later included in Priestley’s largest chemical work (Experiments and Observations on Different kinds of Air), appeared in three volumes in 1774-1777 and three supplements in 1779-1786. “The paper here, ... announced the discovery of hydrochloric acid and nitric oxide and the use of the latter in measuring the purity of air, which led through the work of Cavendish, Fontana and others to exact eudiometry. Priestley also observed that plants consume carbon dioxide and gave out oxygen, thereby purifying air which has been vitiated by combustion, respiration and putrefaction, and that this action takes place only under daylight." (Printing and the Mind of Man). In this work the identification of Oxygen, finally achieved in 1774, is foreshadowed. Actually, oxygen had already been discovered in 1772 by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele, but his results remained unpublished until 1777, three years later the independent achievement, and prompt publication, of the same discovery by Priestley. In 1775 the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier also discovered oxygen, was the first to identify it as an element and to call it oxygen (from the Greek ‘acid-former’). As often in the history of science, all the knowledge necessary to a new discovery were available and three brilliant minds were almost contemporary ready to see the implications and to come to the same conclusions. A lively account of Priestley’s experiments is given by Aslet (even thought it can hardly be considered as a standard reference work, it is a true mine of interesting and curious information and certainly worth reading). Joseph Priestley (Birstal Fieldhead, Yorkshire 1733 – Northumberland, Pennsylvania 1804) was a parson and theologist as well as a chemist. For an exhaustive biography see DSB and Partington.

& Printing and the Mind of Man n. 217; Poggendorff volume II, 528-530; Ferguson (Bibliotheca Chemica) 2, 225-226; Scienziati e tecnologi dalle origini al 1875 (Milano, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1975; 3 vols.) II, pp. 559-560; Dibner (Heralds of Science, Cambridge, MIT Press, 1969) n. 40; none of the previous bibliographies mention the Italian edition, neither is it present in Honeyman and Macclesfield collections, the Barchas Collection, Blake, Duveen and Sotheran (Bibliotheca Chemica Mathematica, London, 1921); DSB 11, 139-147; Partington III, pp. 237-301; I.C.C.U: 3 copies in Italian libraries; OCLC 5418436; Clive Aslet (Landmarks of Britain – The five hundred places that made our history, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 2005) pp. 9-10.

71 - (Dyeing) QUEMISET L’art d’appreter et teindre toutes sortes de peaux. Contenant plusieurs découvertes & reflections, tant sur les opérations qui précedent, que sur celles qui concernent & suivent la teinture des Marrroquins, Vaches tannées, Peaux chamoisées, passées en mégie, &c. A Paris, chez Ch. Ant. Jombert Pere, Libraire du Roi pour l’artillerie & le Génie, rue Dauphine, 1775. Par M. Quemiset, Teinturier, sous le bon plaisir du Roi, Privilegié de M. Le Duc de Bourgogne, à la Manifacture Royale des Ouvrages de la couronne aux Gobelins.

€ 2000

The present work is a collection of recipes to dye skins (“An extensive 18^th century French handbook on the dyeing of leather” in Ron’s words); it includes many references to J-J Lalande’s L'Art de faire le maroquin. “The preface also connects this book to publications on dyeing cloth, suggesting that Quemiset will organize the subject of dyeing leathers and establish its rules as Hellot's, Macquer's, and Le Pileur d'Apligny's books had done for wool, silk, and cotton, respectively.” (Lowengard). Quemiset worked for the tapestry factory Gobelins from 1773 until his death in 1779. Nicolas Charles Homassel, who had been hired as an assistant about two years earlier, succeeded him. “Among Quemiset's assignments were the introduction of new dyeing techniques and the development of a palette of some 30,000 tones for wool dyeing. According to Lucien Reverd, the color palette for wool yarns at Gobelins in the 1660s was about 112 colors, including mixtures, based on the basic set of red-yellow-blue-fauve (his list does not mention black or undyed yarns). The projected expansion of the palette was ambitious in its numbers alone; how much that expectation depended on reorganized and improved technique is unclear.” (Lowengard).

& Ron. 0864 21526; Quèrard p. 389; Pichon, 2553; Sarah Lowengard, The Creation of Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe, e-book, Columbia University Press - American Historical Association, 2006 in: http://www.gutenberg-e.org/lowengard/C_Chap16.html; not in the Faber Birren Collection.

72 - (Volcanology) Juan de Quiñones El monte Vesuvio aora la montaña de Soma … En Madrid, por Juan Gonzalez, año 1632.

€ 4500

Only edition. Juan Quiñones is a cryptical figure. He may have been related to the writer Luis Quiñones de Benavente (Toledo 1589 – Madrid 1651), who reached fame as author in the typically Spanish genre of “entremeses” (short plays whose characters were drawn from popular life) and was befriended with Lope de Vega. Juan de Quiñones published several works, mostly on scientific subjects, from 1630 to 1643; this is probably his most famous production and was, together with the book of Fernando (Isaac) Cardoso, published in the same year, the first book on volcanoes published in the Spanish language. The present book is interesting as it contains different citations of older authors on different eruptions in the known world, including American volcanoes and Etna. Quiñones cites every time his source and so doing he provides a sort of useful bibliographic index on volcanic eruptions, possibly predating the book of Mormile which is considered the absolute first bibliography on volcanology, but in any case providing the first such work in Spanish. It should however be considered that the book of Mormile referred only to the eruptions of the Vesuvius, whereas the present book is as complete as it was within the reach of the author. The relation of the eruption is very detailed and induces to think that Quiñones might have been there or that he has obtained first-hand information from a Spanish official based in Naples or from another ocular witness. The explanation which Quiñones provides of the volcanic phenomena rests entirely on Aristoteles, differently from that of Cardoso. The book ends with poems of famous and less famous Spanish writers. Among them a long poem of Lope de Vega is predominant, and lends credibility to a family relationship of Quiñones with his namesake Quiñones de Benavente. Other names in evidence are those of Quevedo and of Juan Velez de Guevara. Interestingly a sonnet of Cardoso is also present, possibly indicating a priority of the present book. Another suggestive presence is that of a sonnet by the crypto-Jewish physician Miguel de Silveyra, the author of “El Macabeo”, the first poem on the subject appeared in Spanish and the earliest surviving one on Judas Maccabeus. The poem was printed in Naples where Silveyra lived for fear of the Inquisition (there was no Inquisition in Naples) in 1638. Even though we cannot substantiate it, the fact that Quiñones might have received his information on the eruption from the same Silveyra remains an intriguing possibility. This copy possesses a further reason of interest, i. e. it contains a beautiful plate depicting the Vesuvius in eruption. This plate has been engraved by Juan de Courbes especially for the present book but it seems to be mostly missing, cannot be found even in the copy of the Spanish National Library and remained unknown to Palau and Salvà. Possibly it appeared later than the book and was joined to a few copies only. To our knowledge this is the only copy in trade with the plate.

& Palau VI, 200; Furchheim page 150 (without plate) “Rarissimo”; Jonhston-Lavis page 237 (with plate); J. Croizat-Viallet (Un ejemplo de reescritura cientifica en el Siglo de Oro; los terremotos y los volcanes en los tratados de Historia Natural (1597-1721), Criticón 79 (2000)), pages 123-142) pages 127-129; not in Ward-Carozzi.

73 - (Agriculture, Gastronomy) Arnerio Laurisseo (Luigi RAINERI) La coltivazione dell’anice presentata ai virtuosissimi signori Accademici Georgofili della Città di Firenze. Cesena, Per Gregorio Biasini all'Insegna di Pallade, 1772.

€ 600

First edition. (Luigi Raineri) (Meldola 1744 - 1820) "poète et antiquaire italien ... il publia un élégant petit poème sur la Culture de l' Anis, qui lui valut d'être admis dans l'Académie des Géorgophiles de Florence et dans celle des Arcades de Rome, où il fut inscrit sous le nom d' Arnerio Laurisseo. ... a laissé: Sulla coltivazione dell'Anice Poème en deux chants et en vers libres, dont les Ephémérides littérarires de Rome, de 1773, parlèrent avec éloge. " (Michaud). The book, divided in two parts, deals in the first one with the cultivation of anise (Pimpinella anisum); in the second part the author describes the utilization and commerce of the plant, that is cultivated in some areas of Romagna (Re).

& Melzi p. 602; J. F. Michaud and L. G. Michaud, Supplement pp. 235-326; M. Lastri (Bibliotheca Georgica ossia catalogo ragionato degli scrittori di agicoltura, veterinaria, agrimensura, meterorologia, economia pubblica, caccia, pesca ec. spettanti all'Italia, Lodi, Gianpiero Zazzera, 1998) p. 10; Niccoli p. 231; Paleari Henssler p. 613; Re I, pp. 238-239; Westbury p. 129).

74 - (Dancing, Moral) Jacob RATZ Vom Tantzenn obs Gott verpotten hat obs sünd sei und von andern erlaupten Kurzweilen ... (Schwäbisch Hall, Peter Frentz), 1545.

€ 4200

Only edition. “In XVI and XVII century Europe dance frequently emerged as the subject of vigorous debates, in which its nature and moral values were often discussed. What kind of human activity was dance precisely? Was it suitable for everybody and particularly for a conscientious Christian? … In the age of the Reformation and Counter Reformation the issue acquired particular prominence ... The religious changes of the XVI century added new vigour to these old polemics. The impact of the Reformation in this field did not cause a simple realignment of moral writers on the basis of their fundamental theological choices. None of the main confessions which were established … during this era held a firmly orthodox line on the subject of dance, either by approving or rejecting it. A series of controversies exploded within the various churches … During the XVI century and early XVII century a significant amount of literature on the subject was published ... Over about a century the examples appear roughly at 25-year intervals. An early case is the one which occurred between two Lutheran preachers in south-west Germany, Melchior Ambach and Jacob Ratz. Ambach, whose ‘judgment of dance’ was published in its first edition in 1543, condemned dancing as a sin, and placed it on the same list as gambling, prostitution, drunkenness, and usury. Ratz replied shortly afterwards in a treatise where he discussed, as the title puts it ‘whether God has forbidden it, whether it is a sin’. From him the title question received negative answers. As well as furthering the debate Ratz outlined the earlier history of the dispute with his opponent. The two had actually met a few years before (in 1537). When Ratz was asked about the theological grounds for its tolerant attitude, he quoted the ‘time to dance’ verse from Scripture (Eccles. 4, 3). Ambach, not believing the quotation was genuine, challenged Ratz and, as the loser of the bet, had to provide wine as a penance, for it was easily proved that the sentence was both in the original Hebrew text and in Martin Luther’s authoritative German translation. Ratz’s published contribution, however, did not stop Ambach, who reprinted his treatise, adding an appendix in which his opponent’s arguments received explicit rebuttal.” (Arcangeli). Jacob Ratz, at that time parson at Neuenstadt am Kocher and later at Pforzheim, justifies with frequent citation of the Bible also other enjoyments such as banquets, hunting and popular feasts provided that they keep within the limits of the socially acceptable. One of the reasons why Ratz (and most representatives of the Lutheran confession with him) chose to favour dance and other widespread merriments was to contrast the spreading of chiliastic sects, who were against any form of socially acceptable amusement while proposing antinomian behaviour and especially sexual licence. Luther himself had approved the repression of such movements as the Thuringian peasant revolt, inspired by Thomas Müntzer in 1525 and the Anabaptist republic at Münster in 1537.

& VD 16 R-374; Adams R-179; Kuczynski 2213: “Selten”; A. Arcangeli (Dance under Trial: the moral debate 1200-1600, Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research 12(2), 1994) pp. 127-155; not in STC German.

75 - (Mathematics) Carlo RENALDINI Opus mathematicum in quo utraque algebra, vetus scilicet, & nova a se in opere. hac de re pridem editio, pertractata novis preceptis & novisq(ue) demonstrationibus illustratur. Bononiae, ex typographia H. H. Ducii, 1655.

€ 6000

First edition, reprinted in 1677. The section on resolution and composition of equations was separately printed in 1667. Carlo Renaldini (Ancona 1615 - 1698) descended from a noble family of Ancona. After a career as engineer in the papal army he was appointed to lecturer in philosophy at the University of Pisa in 1644. He was one of the most active members of the Accademia del Cimento. Renaldini was an ambiguous figure, tempted to adopt the innovative Galilean philosophical-scientific approach, yet still imbued with the attitudes and prejudices of Aristotelianism. During his academic spell in Pisa he often clashed with Giovanni Alfonso Borelli (1608-1679). He carried out astronomical observations with Toscanelli's gnomon in the basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. He tutored Prince Cosimo III (1642-1723). In 1667, he obtained the chair of philosophy at the University of Padua. He composed several works of mathematical and philosophical subject, such as Opis algebricum (Bologna 1648), Ars analytica mathematicum (Florence-Padua, 1665-1669), De resolutione et compositione mathematica (Padua, 1668) and Philosophia rationalis , naturalis atque moralis (Padua, 1681) and contributed to the famous volume containing the experiments carried out in the Accademia del Cimento (1666). "In this almost unknown work Renaldini ... relates the discoveries of Viète and Girard, and use new curious notations"(Libri, cited in Riccardi). "Includes, among other problems, an approximate rectification of the circle by trigonometrical means." (Sotheran). This is thus one of the first books to use the new algebric notations of Viète and Girard in Italy, which had already set firm foot in the rest of Europe. A complete edition of Viète's works had appeared by Elzevier in 1646, thus witnessing some delay in the Italian reception of the new symbolism. The book is divided in 19 chapters, dealing with different types of equations and proposing new method to solve them, and discussing the methods proposed by previous scientists, including Diophantus, which Renaldini must have read in the edition of 1621, Stevin and Coignet. The whole book is essentially intended for practical applications as stated in the introductory dedication to the Grand Duke of Florence.

& Riccardi I/2, 347: "Raro"; Sotheran 14028; Honeyman 2625. This copy appears to be the first appeared on the marked after the Honeyman copy.