Our previous Catalogue (n. 5) is still available (n. 1 - 73 books XVI - XVIII century; 74 - 107 textiles)
Our next catalogue is expected in March 2003
A selection from Catalogue n. 6 (you can ask a printed copy (free) by fax, e-mail or telephone).
1 -
(Agriculture, Horticulture) G.
A. Agricola L’agriculture parfaite ou nouvelle découverte,
touchant la culture & la multiplication des arbres, des arbustes et des
fleurs; ouvrage fort curieux, qui renferme les plus beaux secrets de la Nature
... A Amsterdam, chez Pierre De Coup, 1720.
§
8vo. 2 tomes in 1 volume. 4 unn. ll., 262 pages, 1 blank; 2 unn. ll., 146
pages, 5 unn. ll. (last blank). With 34 folding engraved plates (17 in each
volume). Contemporary French calf, back gilt (faded). Ex-libris Emanuel
Freiherr v. Stillfrid (possibly Bohemian). Insignificant toning on a few
pages, otherwise a fine copy.
€
2000
First
French edition. The book had appeared originally in German in 1716-17; this
French edition was preceded by a Dutch edition appeared in 1719 and followed by
an English one appeared in 1721. Georg Andreas Agricola (Bauer, 1672-1738) was a
physician and naturalist who spent most of his life in his native town of
Regensburg. The appearance of this book made some clamor, as it seemed that
Agricola claimed to be able to cause growth of vegetables at fantastic speed and
must not have refrained from tricks for alluring the public and from alchemic
experiments, as demonstrated by a figure where a homunculus within a flask is
depicted beside a miniature fir and a cricket. In the caption of the plate he
warns, with tongue in cheek, that these figures “paraissent être quelque
chose mais sont néanmoins rien”. However Agricola was a sound experimentalist
and this book is considered to be “the first book on cutting and grafting” (Hunt).
He provided many useful indication how to reproduce plants from sections of
their roots or their branches, how to graft different species of fruit plants on
each other, therefore producing different fruits from only one tree. A chapter
is dedicated to vineyards, with the suggestion how to increase their number and
their product by cutting the branches destined to reproduction at the level of
their knots. Another chapter pays a tribute to the Japanese fashion then raging,
by teaching how to obtain bonsai which can survive long time.
&
Musset-Pathay 27; Hunt 452 (English edition); Plesch page 123 (German edition);
not in Nissen and Pritzel.
2 - (Botany)
Tobia AldinI (i. e. P.
CASTELLI) Exactissima descriptio rariorum quarundam plantarum, quae
continentur Romae in Horto Farnesiano ... Romae typis Jacobi Mascardi 1625.
§
Folio. 6 unn. ll. (including engraved title), 100 pages, 4 unn. ll. With 22
page-size engravings and 6 smaller woodcuts in the text. Modern calf-backed
boards (fine). Engraved title invisibly mounted and with a couple of small
spots, second and third preliminary leaves with restored wormhole in blank
margin, unimportant light browning in correspondence of these repairs, on the
last preliminary leaf and on the last final leaf, small tear on page 49
without loss, otherwise a fine copy with contrast-rich engravings in strong
impressions.
€
4400
Only
edition. The authorship of this work remained undecided until recently, when
became apparent that the real author was the Sicilian physician Pietro Castelli
(about 1590-1661). This attribution, already made by Pritzel on the basis of the
final part of the foreword, is confirmed also in the gratulatory ode of the
Belgian priest Jacobus Cornelius Lummenaeus on the third preliminary leaf. The
authorship of Castelli and its concealment were apparently a public secret, to
be probably explained by some rivality between himself and Aldini for the post
of Director of the Farnesian Botanical Garden, then owned by Aldini. The first
botanical garden of Europe had been opened in Padua in 1591 and was followed by
many others throughout the continent; that of the Cardinal Edoardo Farnese
(1573-1626) was one of the most splendid of his time. Because of his high-placed
relations Farnese, a son of Alessandro Farnese, who was a nephew of Charles V of
Spain, could acquire most uncommon specimens of exotic plants, among which the
then exotic mimosa, whose first description is present in this book. Among the
depicted plants the American species as yucca, passion fruit, American aloes
etc. Other are from the old world, as e. g. cinnamon (with a long note
concerning Garcia de Orta). At the end of the text a table is found correlating
various diseases with the therapeutic action of the plants described in the
volume. The splendid unsigned illustrations are copper-engravings instead of the
usual woodcuts. This was a technique only exceptionally used in the beginning of
the XVII century for the representation of plants. In fact the only books of the
period illustrated with copper-engravings of plants were those of Fabio Colonna
(Phytobasanos and Ekphrasis), the last of which also printed by Mascardi. It is
interesting to note that Colonna dedicated his Ekphrasis to Edoardo Farnese and
that Castelli seemed to have some enmity for him, as the many references to
Colonna in the text of the present work are mostly in the negative.
& Alden/Landis 625/49; Pritzel 1590; Nissen 13; Hunt 208; Plesch 125;
Krivatsy 2247; Cobres 581: “Selten und sauber”.
3
- (Drawings, Architecture) ANON Album.
§ Album
containing 20 drawings in washed ink and sepia, depicting various town
landscapes and interiors. No name. The size of the album is 8vo, the dimension
of the drawings ranging from 14x8.5 cm to 5x6 cm. First half of the XIX
century. Contemporary Italian calf, sides framed with a décor of flowers and
leaves. Fine.
€
1300
The
pictures were probably designed by an unidentifiable designer as theater
sceneries. In fact they have some “air de famille” with known models
designed e. g. by Sanquirico. The hand of the artist is surely educated and
appropriate models have been chosen, as e. g. Piranesi (Carceri d’Invenzione)
for plates 5 and 9 and Bibbiena for most of the remaining plates. The treatment
of shadows is masterly and suggests that the scenes have not been drawn in a
studio but rather “en plein air”. The views of towns remind with certainty
some towns of Northern Italy, the first being probably Verona.
4 - (Metrology)
(Anon) Esposizione
copiosissima di tutte le misure e pesi comuni in Europa, in Affrica, in Asia e
in America etc. Si aggiungono CLXX nuove tavole numeriche che espongono, ed
eseguiscono la celebre scoperta e il famoso metodo del sig. de Traytorens. Pisa,
Pizzorno, 1766.
§
2 vols, 4to. XI (including
title), 100 pages; 195 pages, 3 (on 2 leaves) folding tables. Original boards.
1st volume marginally waterstained throughout, 2nd volume some pages
waterstained at the upper corner; nevertheless a fine uncut copy from the
library of the mathematician and bibliographer Pietro Riccardi, with his
ex-libris.
€
750
First
edition, reprinted in 1776. Before the unification of weight and measures
brought about by French revolution and Italian unity Italy had several systems
to determine weighs and measures. This manual is based on the measure system
used in Genoa. A manual explaining the Genoese system had been printed in Nice
in 1742, but this is the first edition including the numerical tables worked out
according to the notation of Traytorens, a Swiss scientist, in 1717. The first
volume contains the explanation of the Genoese measure units and their
equivalence with those used in other Italian states, the Mediterranean coasts of
France and the Levant. Several interesting observations are interspersed in the
text, including subjects as saffron production and wine and corn trade. The
second volume contains the tables with the numbers until 10000 expressed as the
product of all their factors expressed in the simplified way devised by
Traytorens.
& Riccardi I, 431-2; Hist.
de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, 1717, p 42 ff (on Traytorens); not in
Kress.
5 -
(Astronomy) Aristarchus De
magnitudinis et distantiis Solis et Lunae liber. Cum Pappi Alexandrini
explicationis quibusdam. A Federico Commandino Urbinate in Latinum conversus, ac
commentariis illustratus. Pisauri, apud Camillum Francischinum, 1572.
§
Small 4to. 4 unn. ll. (last blank), 38 ll. With large woodcut printer’s mark
on title, one large and one smaller initials and several diagrams in the text
(11 full-page). Bound in a leaf of XVIII century brocade paper, probably
Augustan. Probably washed during the XIX century. Despite a few spots a crisp
copy.
€
10000
First
independent edition and only edition of the translation of Commandino. An
incunable edition had already appeared in 1498 as appendix of the treatise upon
logic by Nikephoros Blemmides. The original Greek text appeared only in 1688.
“Aristarchos of Samos (310-230 b.C.) is celebrated as the first man to have
propounded a heliocentric theory, eighteen centuries before Copernicus ... The
sole surviving work of A. is the treatise On the sizes and distances of the Sun
and the Moon. To his contemporaries A. was known as “the mathematician”...
On sizes and distances is indeed the work of a highly competent mathematician
... On sizes and distances marks the first attempt to determine astronomical
distances and dimensions by mathematical deductions based upon a set of
assumptions. His last assumption assigns a grossly excessive estimate to the
apparent angular diameter of the moon ... A. discovered the sun’s apparent
angular diameter to be 1/720 part of the zodiac circle, a close and respectable
estimate. A. uses a geocentric orientation in On sizes and distances and
concludes that the sun’s volume is over 300 times greater than the earth’s
volume. For these reasons it is generally assumed that the treatise was an early
work, antedating his heliocentric hypothesis ... A’s treatise begins with six
assumptions: 1) That the moon receives its light from the sun; 2) That the earth
has the relation of a point and center to the sphere of the moon; 3) That when
the moon appears to us to be exactly at the half the great circle dividing the
light and dark portions of the moon is in line with the observers’ eye; 4)
That when the moon appears to us to be at the half its distance from the sun is
less than a quadrant by 1/30 part of a quadrant; 5) That the breadth of the
earth’s shadow (during eclipses) is that of two moons; 6) That the moon
subtends 1/15 part of a sign of the zodiac. He then states that he is in a
position to prove three propositions: 1) The distance of the sun from the earth
is more than eighteen but less than twenty times the moon’s distance from the
earth ...; 2) The diameter of the sun has the same ratio to the diameter of the
moon ...; 3) The diameter of the sun has to the diameter of the earth a ratio
greater than 19:3, but less than 43:6 ... Then follow eighteen propositions
containing the demonstrations ... Anticipating trigonometric methods that were
to come, A. was the first to develop geometric procedures for approximating the
size of small angles ...” (DSB).
&
DSB I, pages 246-250. Riccardi I, 362
(not seen); Houzeau-Lancaster 820; Adams A-1696.
6 - (Perspective)
Silvio Belli L’arte
di misurare con la vista ... nella quale si insegna, senza travagliar con i
numeri, a misurar facilissimamente le distanze, l'altezze e le profondità con
il Quadrato Geometrico e con altri strumenti, de'quali in ogni luogo quasi in un
subito si può procedere. Si mostra ancora una bellissima via di ritrovare la
profondità di qualsivoglia mare; & un metodo industrioso di misurar il
circuito di tutta la terra. Con privilegio. Venezia, appresso Giordano Ziletti,
1570 (on colophon: 1569).
§
Small 4to. 4 unn. ll (Title, dedicatory epistle and register), 132, (2) pages,
1 blank leaf. Title framed in a woodcut architectural border, 54 half-page
woodcuts in the text and a full-page figure depicting an astronomer (Ptolemy?)
on last leaf. Recent Italian pasta rustica boards. Re-sewn, title possibly
lightly washed, small marginal ink stains on a few pages, last blank upper
corner remargined, but a very good copy.
€
1300
Second
issue of the second edition, appeared previously with the dates of 1565 and
1566; the previous issue bears the date of 1569. One of the most popular manuals
on surveying and measurement of distances during the XVI century. Silvio Belli
(?-1575), born in Vicenza, was active as an architect in Venise and in Rome. The
book concerns the use of simple optical methods to measure any type of distance,
the elevation of a building, the depth of any depression etc. The nice,
homogeneously strongly impressed woodcuts provide detailed practical examples
how to carry out the operations described in the text. It is interesting to note
that Belli tries to keep the treatment of the matter as accessible to the layman
as possible and in the meantime he keeps his subject on a high scientific
standard. Much of the book rests on older geometrical knowledge, as shown in
Smith; for instance an example from this book concerns the use of the second
congruence theorem of Thales to determine the width of a river. The use of the
drumhead trigonometry for measuring angles of elevation or heights of buildings
for essentially military purposes is also discussed.
&
Smith (History of Mathematics) II,
pages 285-286 and 355 (with two illustrations); Riccardi, I, 107: "Pregiato
libretto”; Cicognara 427 (collected works): "Le tavole sono intagliate in
legno e benissimo disegnate"; Kat. Berl. 1702; STC Italian 79; Adams B-520;
Boffitto (Gli strumenti della scienza)
100.
7 -
(Sundials) Giovanni Battista Benedetti
De Gnomonum umbrarumq(ue) solarium usu liber. Augustae Taurinorum (Turin), apud
haeredes Nicolai Bevilacquae, 1578.
§
Folio. 6 unn. ll., 123 leaves (without last blank leaf). With many woodcuts
diagrams and representations of instruments in the text. Full calf in style,
author and title written in gold on the front side; an impeccable binding,
distinguishable from a 16th century only because of the state of preservation,
due to Gianfranco Apparuti (Modena). Insignificantly toned throughout, an old
woodcut of an astrolabe pasted by a previous owner on verso title, resulting
in two glue spots, but a fine copy. From the library of Andreas Dudith with
his signature in red on title (Andr. Dudith Caes. Consiliarii) and some
underlinings and commentaries from the same pen in the text.
€
13000
Only
edition. The Venetian patrician Giovan Battista Benedetti (1530-1590) began his
scientific career in his native town, publishing his “Resolutio omnium
Euclidis problematum” when he was only 22. In 1558 he went to Parma to serve
as an astronomer for Ottavio Farnese with some success; in 1567 he became court
mathematician of the Duke of Savoy Emanuele Filiberto and remained there until
his death, publishing there his most important books, of which this is the first.
He can be considered “the most immediate forerunner of Galileo ... This book
is the most comprehensive treatise on the subject to that time … The original
editions are very scarce.” (Stillman Drake in DSB). Beside dealing with the
construction of sundials at various inclinations and also with dials on
cylindrical and conical surfaces, Benedetti describes a conoidal sundial of his
own invention. An interesting feature of the book is that Benedetti comments on
a theorem of Copernicus, mentioning his name in the heading of the chapter. Even
though Copernicus had not been excommunicated, his work had been put on the
Index and therefore it was dangerous to mention it in Italy during the
Counter-Reformation. Evidently the protection of Emanuele Filiberto, the Duke of
Savoy, was sufficient to permit the study of forbidden authors in Turin. This
copy comes from the library of Andreas Dudith or Dudic (1533-1589), former
bishop of Knin and Pecs, one of the fathers of the Tridentine Council, and later
advisor to the Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. After his marriage he was
excommunicated and retired to Breslau, then to Cracow and in the end to his
domain in Moravia, where he dedicated himself to scientific pursuits. Though he
manifested some sympathy for the Reformation (see at length D. Cantimori), he
remained advisor to the Habsburg Emperors. He was no mere amateur of science, as
he was in contact with Georg Rheticus, a famous disciple of Copernicus, and
authored a book on comets appeared in 1579. His large library was dispersed
after his death and ended in the castle of Prince Dietrichstein in Nikolsburg,
where much of it was plundered by Swedish troops during the 30-year war. Another
large section of it was brought to Dresden, and what remained was transported to
Hungary. The signature on title and the notes on the margins of the preface are
in red ink, as in the last book in trade from his library (Cat. K. Meuschel).
Significantly that book was also a scientific one, the nonpareil edition of
Plinius edited by Milich.
& DSB
I, 604-609; D. Cantimori (Eretici Italiani
del Cinquecento, Einaudi, Torino); Antiquariat Konrad Meuschel, Cat. 59, Buch
und Autograph, Bad Honnef, about 1988; STC Italian page 82; Adams B-653;
Houzeau-Lancaster 11377: “Rare”; Riccardi 1/I, 111: “Raro e molto
apprezzato”; Mortimer Italian 53. We are indebted to Ing. Ivan Dubravcic,
Delft, for the information on the library of Andreas Dudith.
8 -
(Engineering, Hydraulics) Jean-Jacques Béraud Mémoire sur la manière de resserrer les lits des
torrens et des rivières. A Aix, des imprimeries de Gibelin-David et
Emeric-David, 1791.
§
8vo. 2 unn. ll, 116 pages. With three folding engraved plates. Contemporary
French calf, spine and edges gilt (foot of spine damaged). Dedication of the
author written on a slip of paper pasted on the verso of front free endpaper
“A Monsieur Martin fils d’André, Président du Département des Bouches
du Rhône, comme ami du bien public et en reconnaissance de l’intérêt
qu’il a pris pour ce mémoire. L’auteur”. A very good copy.
€
750
Only
edition. Jean-Jacques Béraud (1754-1794) was a secular priest, who taught
mathematics in Marseilles and was obliged to flee to Spain by the Revolution. He
authored previously a book on wine adulteration and several memoirs on different
subjects of natural history. The book concerns methods devised by Béraud on the
restriction of river beds, which was of foremost importance in Provence, where
impetuous torrents cause swamping. The method proposed by Béraud was to change
the form of dams from a L-shaped construction to a T-shaped one, and to
reinforce their structure by covering them with ground and planting horizontally
trees, which would have strengthened them. The solution was possibly an
ingenious one, as trees can grow horizontally if their growth direction is
forced, but apparently the difficulty of practicing this method of construction
made that it was never followed and placed Béraud more in the category of
literary fools than in that of the serious scientists.
&
Poggendorff I, 146; not in Roberts/Trent and in the Catalogue Giraud-Badin Presses
provinciales.
9 -
(Watches) Ferdinand Berthoud
L’art de conduire et de régler les pendules et les montres; à l’usage de
ceux qui n’ont aucune connoissance d’horlogerie. A Paris, chez l’auteur et
M. Lambert, 1759.
§
Small 8vo. XVI, 80 pages and 4 folding plates. Slightly later calf (± 1790),
spine divided in sectors (small damage on foot). A plate badly folded with
resulting little soiling and fraying (no damage to engraved surface),
otherwise a nice copy.
€
1200
First
edition of the first work by Berthoud; the extraordinary success obtained by
this book can be measured by 5 following editions (last in 1836) and
translations into Dutch, Spanish, German and Italian. Ferdinand Berthoud, a
Swiss horologist (Neuchatel 1725 - Groslay 1807), was the most prominent author
on horological matters during the second half of the XVIII century. Four years
later he published his “Essai sur l’horlogerie” which made his name famous
throughout Europe. Following his invention of a marine clock he was appointed Mécanicien
de la Marine. This book, written for those with no previous knowledge of the
functioning and mechanism of watches and clocks, contains very little theory,
but instead a wealth of practical knowledge on how to buy, regulate and preserve
watches and clocks. The last part of the book contains tables for the correction
of time. The nice plates are signed Choffard and depict parts of watches and
clocks.
&
Baillie page 250; Kat. Berl. 1757.
10 -
(Splendid ceremonies) (Ch.
J. Bévy) Histoire des inaugurations des rois, empereurs, et autres
souverains de l’univers; depuis leur origine jusqu’à présent. Suivie
d’un précis de l’état des arts et des sciences sous chaque regne; des
principales faits, moeurs, coutumes & usages les plus remarquables des François,
depuis Pepin jusqu’à Louis XVI. Paris, chez Moutard, 1776.
§
8vo. XVI, 559 (recte 563), 2 unn. ll. and 14 engravings signed M. Rieg.
Contemporary mottled calf (little rubbed). A fine copy from the library of
Count Nicolas Esterhazy, with his ex-libris.
€
1000
Only
edition; a later issue appeared with the names of the author. Charles-Joseph Bévy
(St. Joseph near Orléans, 1738 - Paris 1830) was a Benedictine friar who wrote
exclusively books on heraldic matters. The book is a history of the
enthronements of different kings, starting from antiquity and following until
the crowning of Louis XVI. In the first part Bévy describes the ceremonies of
enthronement in the different countries of Europe, among which Turkey, Hungary,
Spain etc. are represented. The consecration of the Kings of France take the
longest part of the book; the cultural history of the different reigns is kept
into account. The plates, somewhat stiff but pleasant, depict costumes of
different periods and are the work of Michel Rieg. This unknown painter seems to
have designed the plates for this only book.
&
Colas 320;
Lipperheide Sa15; Cohen-De Ricci 144-145; Lewine 57.
11 - (Volta)
(Tommaso BIANCHI) Della vita del conte Alessandro Volta patrizio
comasco. In Como coi tipi di C. Pietro Ostinelli, 1829.
§
8vo. XXII, 138, (4) pages. With lithographic portrait of Volta and one
lithographic plate depicting medals. Original printed boards (minimal damage
to the spine). A stamp on verso title, an insignificant worm track on the
inner blank margins of two pages, otherwise an impeccable copy, completely
uncut and partly unopened.
€
600
Only
edition of the first biography of Volta, appeared two years after his death and
compiled by Tommaso Bianchi, a secular priest from Blerio, a village near Como.
Bianchi was not personally acquainted with Volta, but could meet many of the
persons who surrounded him during his last years and therefore obtain close
witnesses on his subject. The biography of Volta is followed in detail, paying
attention both to his scientific achievements and to the personal details as his
marriage. The controversy with Galvani is recapitulated and there are several
chapters on Volta’s invention, the electric pile. This biography has also a
bibliographic value as most of Volta’s works are mentioned and some details on
their appearances are provided. Bianchi has inserted in the last sections some
poetical compositions of his making in the honor of Volta.
&
Melzi III, 222; not in
Honeyman.
12 -
(Calligraphy) George Bickham The
universal penman: or the art of writing. Made useful to the gentleman and
scholar, as well as to the man of business. London, printed for Robert Sayer,
(1741).
§
Folio. Engraved frontispice (signed by Gravelot) depicting a penman in his
studio, and 212 engraved plates. Recent calf to style: a handsome binding,
distinguishable from a XVIII century binding only for its state of
preservation, due to Gianfranco Apparuti (Modena). With announcement of H.
Overton, 1756, pasted on the first free endpaper, and two extra portraits of
distinguished penmen of the period (Charles Snell and Joseph Champion)
bound-in. Unobtrusive fingermarking on first leaves and some very light
offsetting throughout, little foxing on a couple of plates, but a fine and
complete copy. As most books destined to a practical use this work is seldom
found complete and in good state; most copies miss pages and are affected by
relevant fingermarking and stains of every conceivable liquid. Moreover the
appearance of the book, spread on eight years, makes it difficult to find
complete copies.
€
4100
First
edition, republished in 1743 under the address of the publisher Overton. Modern
reprints have also been issued, one of which with a long scholarly preface of
Philip Hofer. Judging from the prospectus of Overton (dated 1756), the book,
which had been published in installments, was then for sale for 1 pound 5
shillings unbound, and was also available in separate parts. Overton had bought
the rights and the plates from Sayer. This is to be considered not only “one
of the most important English writing books” (Whalley and Kaden), but one of
the best writing books of the XVIII century. The author, George Bickham (Richmond
1684 - London 1769) was renowned as an engraver whose extraordinary talent
permitted him to cut the plate directly through the wax without the help of a
drawing made on the wax itself, and as a gifted portraitist. The first leaves of
this book were issued from about 1733 throughout 1741. The complete series of
212 engravings required 8 years to be completed, despite the claims of the
publisher to be able to deliver an issue of 4 leaves for every week in one year.
From the graphic point of view this book is an extraordinary example of
typographic virtuosity, comprising not only samples of every type of writing in
use in England at that time but also some 120 vignettes and several engraved
tail-pieces depicting genre-scenes, and ornamental borders. Especially striking
are the numerous trompe-l-oeils disseminated throughout the calligraphic
examples. The book is addressed not only to the rich amateur and to the studious
youth, but to the practical businessman, in the entrepreneurial spirit of the
time, which can be summarized with the words “useful and beautiful”. The
whole second part (plates 113-212) contains example of commercial letters, where
a innumerable products are described, as i. a. different types of tissues, wood,
drugs, wine, Oriental craftsmanship products etc. are mentioned. Several types
of business are concerned, as e. g. bills of exchange, receipts, purchases at
auction, bankers’ scripts and even samples of Oriental characters. The
addresses to or from which these letters are sent include Bordeaux,
Constantinople, Amsterdam and other European and extra-European places of trade.
The calligraphic examples of the book are not only due to Bickham himself, but
to more than twenty contemporary penmen, including N. Dove, J. Champion, and C.
Snell. The portraits of the last two were joined to the book by a previous owner.
Bickham himself was the engraver of most of the plates.
&
Kat. Berl. 5062 (a copy of the Overton edition of 1743, without one plate);
Bonacini 208; Ekstrom pages 78-81; Heal pages 71-72; P. Meggs (A history of graphic design) page 112 and figures 8-9; Wiles page
288; J. I. Whalley and V. C. Kaden (The
universal penman, London 1980) nos 118 and 250.
13 - (Architecture,
Carpentry) Edme Blanchard
Traité de la coupe des bois pour le revêtement des voûtes, arrière-voussures,
trompes, rampes et tours rondes, utile aux arts de charpente, menuiserie et
marbrerie. A Paris, chez J. Josse & C. Jombert, 1729.
§
4to. XII, 80 (recte 82) pages, one large coat-of-arms on leaf aII, 46 (37
folding) engraved plates. Modern half-calf (signed Loutrel). Title with
effaced signatures and rather soiled and fingermarked, some plates with some
moderate fingermarking, re-sewn. Despite these defects a good copy.
€
1300
Only
edition. Edme Blanchard, whose dates are not available to us, was a master
carpenter. His works treats “of the use of wood for architectural decoration,
paneling, woodcarving etc., in which the French were particularly skillful as
well as a short section on marble cutting.”(Fowler). The book is dedicated to
Monsieur De Cotte, superintendent of the Royal building works; in the preface
Blanchard complains that no work had appeared thus far in French on carpentry
applied to architecture. The treatment of the matter begins from the geometrical
bases and continues with subjects as the use of curvilinear elements for use in
ceilings, staircases and vaults. The choice of his models reveals Blanchard as
an artist working especially for the Church, as many of them are altars.
&
Brunet I, 963: “Ouvrage recherché et qui se trouve difficilement”;
Cicognara 885: “Opera ben fatta per le pratiche con 46 tavole in rame”; Kat.
Berl. 1253; Guilmard page 165 (only two engravings from the present book);
Fowler 45; not in Millard.
14 -
(Engraving) Abraham Bosse Traité
des manières de graver en taille douce sur l’airin (!). Par le moyen des
eaux-fortes & des vernis doux et mols ... A Paris, chez ledit Bosse, 1645.
§
8vo. 3 unn. ll., 75 pages. With engraved frontispice, engraved dedication leaf,
engraved sectorial title and 16 engraved plates (plate 5 and 6 repeated).
Bound at the end are several leaves of blank paper. XIX century half-calf,
rebacked recently. With the entry of the painter Philibert Rouvière (Nîmes
1805 - Paris 1865) on first free endpaper and a journal of one of his days on
one of the blank sheets. Some foxing and browning, never very grave and little
affecting the plates, but a good copy.
€
3000
First
edition. The second edition, with some addition by Sébastien Leclerc, in 1701.
A third was to follow in 1745, with the substantial additions of Cochin, and a
fourth followed in 1758, with the addition of two plates by Louis-Marin Bonnet,
the inventor of the crayon manner of color printing. This original text had been
translated in English, German and Dutch and even into Portuguese in 1803.
Abraham Bosse (1602-1676) was one of the most productive engravers of the XVII
century, beyond being the author of several architectural treatises where he
developed the ideas of Désargues. “His treatise on the intaglio techniques,
dedicated to “Messieurs les Amateurs”, of the art of engraving and etching,
contains a lengthy and detailed series of instructions touching every aspect of
engraving with a burin and etching on both hard- and soft-grounds. Several
chapters are dedicated to preparation of the plates and the varnishes, others
cover the actual techniques of engraving and etching, and the final section is
devoted to printing. Each process is illustrated with finely engraved plates by
Bosse. The frequently reprinted and widely translated work was “not only the
first on its subject but for more than a century it remained the standard” (Ivins,
as cited in Norman Sale Catalogue). “Cet ouvrage est un manuel très complet
à destination non pas des simples amateurs d’estampes mais des praticiens de
cet art. Bosse donne des détails techniques sur la composition des vernis et
acides, sur les instruments et la manière de les utiliser. Il explique également
comment imprimer les estampes et fournit tous les éléments permettant de
construire la nécessaire presse à taille douce. Bien que ce soit surtout
l’historien de l’estampe qui tire profit de ce petit livre, un graveur
d’aujourd’hui peut encore y trouver des utiles informations. Le Traité de
Bosse a connu un succès fort honorable ...” (En français dans le texte).
“This is the first edition of a work which was notable for its completeness
for the time of its production, and its plates, which have been reproduced by
most subsequent writers on art ...” (Bigmore-Wyman page). “La più antica di
queste edizioni di Abraham Bosse é molto rara ... essendo un libro
meritatamente apprezzato e adoperato dagli artisti” (Cicognara).
&
Ivins (Print
and visual communication, Cambridge 1969) page 75; Norman Sale Catalogue
317; Norman
279; En
français dans le texte
92; Bigmore-Wyman page 72; Cicognara 251; Kat. Berl. 4652; Blum (L’oeuvre gravée de Abraham Bosse) pages 403-421.
15 -
(Crystallography) L. Bourguet Lettres
philosophiques sur la formation des sels et des cristaux et sur la génération
& la mécanique organique des plantes et des animaux ... Avec un mémoire
sur la théorie de la Terre. A Amsterdam, chez François L’Honoré, 1729.
§
12mo. XLIV, 220, (12) pages. With engraved vignette on title and one large
folding engraved plate. Contemporary calf (rubbed), edges stained in red.
Shelf label of the library Schönborn-Buchheim and ex-libris of J. A. Freilich.
Title little browned, otherwise a fine copy.
€
1100
First
edition, reprinted in 1762 by Rey in Amsterdam. Louis Bourguet (Nîmes 1678 -
Neuchâtel 1742) led a very hectic life; born in France from Protestant parents
he had to flee with them to Switzerland at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
and was obliged to enter the family firm and to work in it before becoming free
of leading the studious life he intended. He traveled frequently to Italy where
he got acquainted with many prominent naturalists, among whom Vallisneri, Monti
and Zendrini, to whom this book is dedicated. This is the first book by Bourguet,
the second was the more famous “Traité des petrifications” appeared in
1742. It has the form of four letters directed to Scheuchzer, where Bourguet
“compares the elementary process of the mineral world (crystallization) and of
the living world (generation, assimilation, growth). Crystal growth is a product
of the mineral mechanism, whereas the growth of plants and animals is an effect
of the organic mechanism ... Bourguet studied stalactites and described their
internal radial structure ... Bourguet’s attempt to explain crystallization
was innovative. He asserted that a crystal is created not from water, but in
water which carries a multitude of extremely small particles, the fusion of
which creates a crystal or concretion. To each crystalline substance there
correspond particles of specific, determinate shape where particular laws of
growth govern the external form ... In speaking about a “theory of Earth”
Bourguet intended a rational reconstruction of its history and dynamic causality,
which he claimed to deduce solely from his observations. He declared that all
parts of Earth as it is presently constituted are more or less coeval, dating
from the time of the Flood. This deluge was not a supernatural miracle, but the
amplification of normal processes ... Bourguet elaborated a genuine theory of
orogeny ... Mountains were formed near the end of the “grand changement” (or
renovation of the Earth by the Flood) when the flat-lying, concentric new strata,
rebuilt from the dissolution of the ancient word, began to harden. The
acceleration of the earth’s rotation then induced an upward thrust, or dynamic
“direction d’élévation”. He explained the differing local arrangement of
the strata by the variable degree of consolidation at the start. Furthermore, he
attributed their “more or less regular conformity” to the earth’s motion
and to the general and particular orientation of the chain being formed. Such
considerations point directly to the ideas of H. B. De Saussure.” (DSB).
&
DSB XV, pages 52-59; Linda Hall Library (Theories
of the Earth 1644-1830) page 19; Needham (History of Embryology) pages 61, 207 and 223; Hoover 159; Ward &
Carozzi 281.
16 -
(Mechanics) Benjamin
Bramer Kurze Meynung de vacuo, oder lährem Orte, neben andern
wunderbaren und subtilen Quaestionen. Desgleichen
Nicolai Cusani Dialogus von Wag und Gewicht / auß dem Lateinischen verteutscht/
unnd den Liebhabern zu gefallen an Tag gegeben. Gedruckt zu Marpurg, durch Paul
Egenolff / im Jahr 1617.
§
Small 4to. 43 pages. With printer’s mark on title-page. Title within
xylographic border. XIX century full cloth, title printed in gold on front
side. Somewhat homogeneously browned due to the nature of paper, corner of the
leaf Dii torn without affecting text, but a rather good copy.
€
5000
Only
edition. This is the fourth book published by Benjamin Bramer (Felsberg 1588 -
Ziegenhain 1652), the prominent mathematician and instrument-maker. He was a
pupil of his foster father Jobst Bürgi, court clockmaker in Kassel. After
having followed Bürgi to Prague he returned to Kassel and was nominated master
builder at the court of Hesse-Kassel. In this book one can see “his
wide-ranging interests” (DSB II) as he discusses several subjects as the
nature of vacuum, reaching the conclusion that it does not really exist as what
is known as vacuum is rather air which escapes from the different bodies or
recipients in which it is enclosed by virtue of water or other substance
penetrating in them or by fire. This position was identical to that of
Campanella. Several problems are dealt with and solved experimentally, and many
interesting conclusions upon transmission of heat, density and pressure are
reached. Bramer observes something close to the Guericke experiment in Magdeburg,
suggesting to eliminate air from the space between two superposed dishes and
noticing then that also a very strong man has difficulty in separating them.
Bramer did not however push further this line. The second part contains the
first German translation of the fourth “Idiota” dialogue by Nicolaus Cusanus
(Bernkastel-Kues 1401- Todi 1464). The “Idiota” (i. e. ignorant) dialogues,
four in number, are entitled respectively “De sapientia” (I-II), “De mente”
and “De staticis experimentis”. This last “has a more practical bias, and
contains numerous methods for determining physical parameters through the use of
such apparatus as scales and a water clock - for example the work tells in
detail how to determine the humidity of air by measuring the weight of wool” (DSB
III). The practical slant of this fourth part of the “Idiota” must have been
congenial to Bramer; he did not translate it himself as he recognizes to be
unable to speak Latin and Greek, but states that a friend of his has translated
it for him. In recognizing the importance of this text Bramer has anticipated
the modern historians of science, who have given Cusanus an eminent place in the
development of mathematical physics. “(Cusanus) was one of the pioneers in
modern mathematical physics, and his studies on measurement and specific gravity
are of the first importance ... In “Statica Experimenta” he records the
famous experiment, antedating Hales 200 years, of weighing earth and seeds, then
the resulting plants, their ashes, and the earth in which they had grown.” (Osler).
This volume is also important because it contains the first appearance of
Cusanus in the German language.
&
DSB
II, page 419 and III, pages 512-516; W.
Osler (Bibliotheca Osleriana) 7465;
Poggendorff I, 274; Honeyman 495.
17 -
(Ornithology) (P. Bulliard)
Aviceptologie françoise, ou traité général des de toutes les ruses dont on
peut servir pour prendre les oiseaux qui se trouvent en France. A Paris, chez P.
Fr. Didot, 1778.
§
8vo. XXIV, 190, (2), XLIII, (4) pages. With engraved frontispice and 34
engraved plates. Contemporary calf (one hinge repaired). Some pages with
marginal halo, otherwise a good copy.
€
850
First
edition, often reprinted until the half of the following century. Pierre
Bulliard (1742-1793), who was later to acquire fame as the author of the
gigantic “Herbier de la France”, had published only his Flora Parisiensis
before the present book. Bulliard states in the preface to be acquainted with
bird catching since his youth and that this book is the result of his
experiences. The book is divided in two sections, the first of which deals with
the instruments necessary to bird catching, among which whistles imitating the
songs of birds, while the second concerns the construction of the different
machineries useful for the purpose, among which false animals which camouflage a
hunter, ambulant haystacks and different types of traps, set in action by gears
or movable weights. The last section contains a dictionary of the terms of most
common use in bird catching.
&
Souhart 524; Thiébaud 139; Schwerdt I, 89: “A good book on the subject with
apparently original plates”; Harting 279: “Contains some useful suggestions
for capturing hawks.”.
18 - (Politics)
Gerolamo CARDANO Arcana politica sive de prudentia civili liber
singularis. Lugduni Batavorum (Leiden) ex Officina Elzeviriana, 1635.
§
12mo. (VIII) (including
engraved title), 608 pages. Contemporary vellum (slightly soiled). Except for
some occasional spots, a good copy.
€
450
Second
edition, the first with this title, the first issue. A second issue of this
edition appeared in 1656. This book had appeared in 1627 by the same publisher
under the title of "Proxeneta sive de prudentia civili liber", with
the annotation "recens in luce protractus: vel e tenebris erutus" (i.
e. recently reappeared to the light or ejected from the darkness). Gerolamo
Cardano (1501-1576) was one of the most remarkable figures of the Italian
Renaissance, a real polymath, whose interests ranged from philosophy to
mechanics, geometry and medicine. This book, in which Cardano exposes his
considerations on the theme of politics and relations among human beings,
appeared lately with respect to the other work of C., published in general
during his life. The text is unchanged with respect to the first edition, but
the title is different and another dedication (to A. Vorstius resp. D. Carolus
Fayus) has replaced the original one.
&
Willems 421.
19 - (Fortification)
Girolamo CATTANEO Novarese Libro nuovo di fortificare, offendere, et
difendere. Con il modo di fare gli alloggiamenti campali. In Brescia, presso
Thomaso Bozzola, 1567.
§
Small 4to. Woodcut printer's device (4), 78 ll. 22 double-page (2 fold.)
woodcut ills. and several geometrical diagrams in the text. Recent half-vellum.
Washed copy; some pages strengthened in the fold (unimportant loss in two
places). Some contemporary marginalia. Good copy.
€
1400
Second
corrected edition, the first appeared in 1564. Girolamo Cat(t)aneo (fl. second
half of the XVI century) was one of the most important military architects in
Europe. He published a series of works on the different aspects of military art,
which were collected later in one volume and translated in French and partly in
English. This work, appeared for the first time in 1564, is Cattaneo's foremost
contribution to the theory and practice of fortification. In it both the ways of
defending as well of attacking a fortress are discussed, together with the
various systems to build ramparts, to dispose soldiers both in defense and in
attack. Some attention is dedicated to artillery and its use. Cattaneo relies
both on his experience, mentioned on the first pages (e. g. the fortification of
Porto Ercole, Bologna etc.) and from the military experience made in other
countries. The nice, very detailed woodcuts depict fortresses and disposition of
armed forces; they are unsigned. The complete treatment concerning the
construction of military constructions begins from the simplest geometrical
concepts and is extremely accurate.
&
Cockle 771; Riccardi I, 312. 2. 2: "Raro"; Marini pages 22-23; Brunet
knows only the editions of 1571ff. This edition not in STC Italian and Adams.
20 -
(Militaria) Girolamo CATTANEO Novarese Tavole Brevissime per sapere con
prestezza quante file vanno a formare una giustissima battaglia. Con li suoi
armati di corsaletti, da cento fino a ventimila huomini. Et appresso un
facilissimo, et approvato modo di armarla di archibugieri, & di ale di
cavalleria secondo l'uso moderno. In Brescia, appresso Thomaso Bozola, 1567.
§
Small 4to. Printer's device and engraved woodcut vignette on verso of the
title-page. (3), 29 leaves. 27 tables and 19 diagrams in the text. Tables
printed in black and red. Modern half vellum, small marginal wormholes. Fine
copy.
€
500
First
edition, later appeared in the complete works of Cataneo in 1571 ."The
first few pages of text explain the table, which is arranged in sixteen columns
(seventeen in the Italian edition), showing at a glance the number of men in
each rank, and the number of ranks, and parts requisite for any given formation
etc., for a force numbering from 100 to 20, 000 men, C. observes, however, that
it is almost impossible that so many men should be engaged all at once; the
usual number would be from 10, 000 to 12, 000." (Cockle).
&
Cockle 529 and 19 (for the English translations of 1584 and 1588). Riccardi I,
315. 4. 2; this edition not in STC Italian and Adams.
21 -
(Ornaments) F. Chauveau Divers
masques. Jeremias Wolff excudit Augusta Vind. (without date but late XVII-early
XVIII century).
§
Oblong 4to. Title and six engraved leaves, each with three grotesques. Later
half-vellum. Stamp of Chateau Monfleury on the blank margin of title. A fine
copy with broad margins and strong impressions of the engravings.
€
1200
First
edition of the reversed impressions of this cycle of grotesques. The first
edition had appeared in Paris, with two masks each, occupying nine leaves beside
title. François Chauveau (Paris 1613-1676) was, in the opinion of Mariette,
“an engraver with a fertile imagination”. He engraved many pieces, some of
which provided the basis for frescoes in the Tuileries and the Louvre. The
engraver Jeremias Wolff (+1724) was the first to publish collections of ornament
prints with regularity. He numbered the suites he published; the present one
bears the number 226.
&
Kat. Berl. 315 (mentioning both the Paris edition and the present one).
22 -
(Astronomy) J. P. Loys De
Cheseaux Traité de la comète qui a paru en Décembre 1743 & en
Janvier, Février et Mars 1744, contenant outre les observations de l’auteur,
celles qui ont été faites à Paris par Mr. Cassini et à Genève par M.
Calandrini. On y ajoint diverses observations et dissertations astronomiques ...
A Lausanne et Genève, chez Marc-Michel Bosquet, 1744.
§
8vo. 2 unn. ll. (first blank), 308 pages. With a large woodcut head-piece, 2
tables (1 folding) bound between pages 266-267, and 6 folding engraved plates.
Original limp boards. Despite a slight browning on some quires a splendid copy,
completely uncut.
€
2200
Only
edition. Jean-Philippe Loys De Cheseaux (Lausanne 1718 - Paris 1751) was a rich
amateur scientist who lived in his domain at Cheseaux near Lausanne, where he
had an astronomical observatory erected. During his short life he became a
corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Paris and of the Royal
Society in London. A keen astronomer, he discovered a new comet in 1746 and
several new stars. The list of these newly discovered stars was read by Réaumur
during a session of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, but subsequently lost and
found again only in 1884 by Bigourdan. The comet which passed through the
European skies from December 1743 through March 1744 was one of the most
extraordinary celestial phenomena ever seen; during March 1744 it took a red
color and exhibited a tail with several large rays. This extraordinary comet had
been discovered by Dirk Klingenberg at Haarlem contemporarily to Cheseaux, and
has been baptized after both discoverers. The present book is interesting for
several different reasons. In the first place Cheseaux was the first scientist
to calculate the orbit of a comet using Newtonian mechanics. In the second place
Cheseaux was the first, in one of the appendixes to the main work, to formulate
the so-called paradox of Olbers or Olbers-Cheseaux. This paradox, named by the
first astronomer who has formulated clearly some 70 years after the death of
Cheseaux, is the following: supposing that the Universe is infinite and
homogeneously populated by stars, how is it possible to explain that nocturnal
sky is black? The answer of Cheseaux consists in the hypothesis that in the
interstellar spaces some matter exists, which is capable to absorb the light.
This answer is clearly unacceptable, but several of the positions of Cheseaux
have been vindicated by following research, among which his postulate that the
Universe is infinite. In this book he discloses also an ingenious and accurate
method to calculate the distance of the stars nearer to our planet, and various
observations on the lunar phases, on meteorology and on the best use of the
astronomical instruments. His observatory was endowed with a rather simple
instrumentation, consisting of a 14- feet full-length refractor, a 2-feet
full-length Gregorian reflector and a quadrant which could measure to an
accuracy of 15 minutes of arc.
&
Lalande page 423; Brüning 1668 (not seen, citing Struve no. 38); not in
Houzeau-Lancaster.
23 -
(Astronomy) Cristophorus Clavius
Responsio ad convicia, et calumnias Iosephi Scaligeri, in calendarium
Gregorianum. Item refutatio cyclometriae ejusdem. Moguntiae, excudebat Johannes
Albinus, 1609.
§
4to. 4 unn. ll., 35 pages; 84 pages. With repeated printer’s mark on the
main title and the sectorial title and several woodcut diagrams in the text in
the second part. Contemporary vellum (rubbed, somewhat loosening, a corner
with loss of covering). Uniformly browned due to the nature of the paper, a
wormhole affecting two letters on the title-page but a good copy.
€
1250
First
edition, republished later in the complete works of Clavius in 1612. It appears
that both parts of this work had been written earlier, about 1595, but were
published only in 1609. The editor was Johann Reinhard Ziegler (1569-1636),
another Jesuit mathematician and later also editor of the complete works of
Clavius, who dedicated the book to Johann Reichard Brömser from Rüdesheim, a
Moguntian nobleman, the vice-president of the Moguntian Academy and an amateur
mathematician. Christophorus Clavius (Bamberg 1537 -Rome 1612), the first
prominent Jesuit mathematician, was opposed to Copernican ideas, even though he
stayed all his life a friend of Galileo, and was instrumental in devising the
Gregorian calendar. The scope of both part is essentially polemic, as they
contain the rejoinders of Clavius to some personal attacks and wrong assertions
made in some of the mathematical works of Scaliger (De emendatione temporum and
Cyclometrica). The tone used by Clavius is starkly aggressive and reflects also
the acrimony of the Jesuit Clavius against the Protestant Scaliger. The
arguments used by Clavius are instead only scientific ones, as the demonstration
of the better possibilities of date calculation offered by the Gregorian
calendar and of the insufficient approximation of the values found by Scaliger
for p,
i. e. the square roots of 9.72 or 10. The inexactitudes contained in the
Cyclometrica had already been attacked by a number of mathematician, including
Viète, and “the whole affair was to remain a touchy one” (The Scaliger
collection), with Scaliger issuing satirical poems against his detractors and
those responding again.
&
The Scaliger collection 153; DSB III, pages 311-312; De Backer-Sommervogel page 1221
no. 20; Zinner 4220; Bibl. Wolfenbüttel
I, page 349; Houzeau-Lancaster 1383 (with a date of 1606).
24 -
(Microscopy, Cell biology) Bonaventura Corti Osservazioni microscopiche sulla tremella, e sulla
circolazione del fluido in una pianta acquaiola. Lucca 1774, appresso Giuseppe
Rocchi.
§
Large 8vo. 207, (1) pages. With 3 folding engraved plates. Original boards.
Imperceptible toning on a few pages, otherwise an excellent copy, completely
uncut.
€
2300
Only
edition. Bonaventura Corti (Scandiano 1729 - Reggio Emilia 1813), born in the
same town as Spallanzani, took the religious orders and was later appointed to
professor of physics and mathematics in the same school which he had attended.
At the age of 75 he retired to occupy a professorship at the University of
Modena. He authored i. a. a two-volume treatise on physics (Institutiones
physicae) which predates the discoveries of Galvani and Volta, and which
received the compliments of Giuseppe Toaldo, the editor of the best edition of
Galileo. He is best remembered for his microscopic observation, which he
performed with the aid of two instruments of the English manufacturer Dollond.
The use of Tremella, a basidiomycete, was then widespread for anatomic and
physiologic observations, as witnessed by works by Spallanzani and Fontana.
“From the point of view of the originality Corti’s Osservazioni
microscopiche sulla Tremella ... (1774), issued in one volume and illustrated by
beautiful copperplates, is important. Chapter 21 of part I deserves special
mention. On the basis of microscopic findings Corti affirms “that Tremella are
endowed with movements said to be spontaneous in animals and considered
characteristic of animals. And here we have plants that by now are confused with
true animals” ... Further on, he defines the protoplasmic movements: “A
certain small dark spot passes from right to left, is lost, and reappears: this
is that series of rather dark spots which elsewhere I have said is caused by the
elliptical figure of small rings.”... This is a clear anticipation of later
descriptions of the movements of the protoplasm in the cell.” (DSB). “The
continuous streaming motion which we now term cyclosis was discovered as far
back as 1774 by the Abbé Corti in the cells of water plants such as Chara and
Nitella. His observations were overlooked and the phenomenon was rediscovered by
L. C. Treviranus in the early years of the 19th century” (Hughes).
&
DSB III, pages 425-426; Hughes (History of
cytology) page 41; Pritzel 1895; Roller and Goodman I-254; Mieli (Gli
scienziati italiani) I, 70-73; Sachs (History
of Botany) page 545.
25 - (Splendid
ceremonies, Numismatics) Ernest Salomon
CYPRIANUS Consecratio Ernesti Pii Saxoniae Ducis a Celsissimo principe ac
Domino Friderico II Gothano Saxonum Duce A.O.R. 1729 Die 26 Martii Pia
caeremonia et honorariae statuae exstructione celebritateque sermonis panegyrici
Gothae in D. Margarethae templo peracta. Gothae, Excudit Io. Andr. Reyherus,
Aulic. Typogr.
§
Folio. (4), 48 pages. With a nice engraved head-piece and an engraved
frontispice depicting a series of medals coined for the ancestors of the Duke
of Saxony. Bound in a leaf of later marbled paper. A fine copy.
€
400
Only
edition. Ernest Salomon Cyprianus (Ostheim vor der Rhön 1673-Gotha 1745) was
director and professor of theology at the Collegium Casimirianum in Coburg and
vice-president of the consistory at Gotha. He was a fecund writer on historical
and theological subjects. The text is a discourse in praise of the Grand Duke
Ernest, who was recently dead, and to whom an equestrian monument had been
raised. The late Grand Duke is praised not as a brilliant soldier, but as a
benevolent sovereign supporting arts and studies and funding generously Gotha
university. Interestingly some of the books on which Ernest was educated are
mentioned in the text; they include, beside the usual religious books, works of
authors as the Polish astronomer Lubieniecki and the architect Böckler. The
text of the epigraph of the statue, dictated by the same Cyprianus, and a song
of mourning composed by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690-1749), one of the most
important composers of late German Baroque, in that time Kapellmeister in Gotha,
conclude the book.
&
Jöcher I, 2277-2278.
26 -
(Horticulture) J. P. Rome d’ARDENE
L’année champêtre qui traite de ce qu’il convient de faire chaque mois
dans le potager. A Florence, & se vend à Paris, chez Vincent, et à
Marseille, chez Moussy, 1769.
§
3 volumes. 12mo. 2 unn. ll., XXIV, 424 pages; 1 unn. l., 575 pages; 1 unn. l.,
548 pages. With engraved vignette on title and 7 folding engraved plates in
the first volume. Contemporary French calf, spine richly gilt, edges stained
in red. An excellent copy.
€
1300
First
edition (the second appeared in Lausanne one year later) of the last book of J.
P. Rome d’Ardene (1698-1769), a French priest and botanist who “... retired,
about 1750, from his duties as Supérieur at the college of Marseille to the Château
d’Ardene ... where he created a botanical garden and gave himself to the study
of flowers” (Hunt). D’Ardene was in some sense an Einzelgänger, developing
techniques of cultivation and race differentiation which followed independent
pathways with respect to the techniques then in common use, mostly of Dutch
origin. Contrary to his previous books, dealing mostly with individual races and
varieties of flowers, the present book concerns mostly the kitchen-garden. The
contents of the book are a complete survey of horticulture as practiced in the
second part of the XVIII century, with references to the techniques of
cultivation of species as peas, lettuce, beets and so on, the enumeration of the
parasites afflicting them and the manner to get rid of them, the composition of
composts and the manner to cut and graft them. Despite its gastronomic interest
(asparaguses, melons etc. and several recipes) this book has escaped the
attention of all gastronomy bibliographers. Several chapters deal with potatoes,
well in advance to the books of Parmentier which firmly established its
alimentary repute. Musset-Pathay: ”Ouvrage estimé qui renferme un extrait
bien fait de ce qui se trouve de plus certain et de plus adopté dans les
auteurs qui ont traité de ces matières”.
&
Musset-Pathay 75; compare Hunt 526 (note, without having seen a copy).
27 - (Floriculture)
(J.
P. Rome D’ardene) Traité
des oeillets ... A Avignon, chez Louis Chambeau, et se vend à Paris, chez la
veuve David, 1762.
§
Small 8vo. I-LXII, 63-403, (3) pages. With three folding engraved plates
(signed Aveline). Contemporary brown boards (possibly German). Marginal
repairs on a few pages of text (affecting the running title without loss), two
XX century ex-libris, first T of title printed upside down, a stamp on title,
but a very good copy.
€
950
Only
edition. The author is Jean Paul Rome D’Ardene (1698-1769), a French priest
and botanist who “... retired, about 1750, from his duties as Supérieur at
the college of Marseille to the Château d’Ardene ... where he created a
botanical garden and gave himself to the study of flowers” (Hunt). D’Ardene
was in some sense an Einzelgänger, developing techniques of cultivation and
race differentiation which followed independent pathways with respect to the
techniques then in common use, mostly of Dutch origin. This book contains some
material already disclosed in his book on ranuncles and other species appeared
in 1754 and much new material. The book begins with a dedication to an unknown
gentleman, where the principles followed by the author are stated; then a
bibliography containing about 80 titles follows. In the style of many books of
D’Ardene the historical of carnations is made, followed by i. a. their
description, the enumeration of the qualities which make carnations desirable,
the type of earth most convenient to them, how to assure their reproduction and
multiplication and to defend them from diseases which can prejudice their
beauty. The three plates at end are signed “J. Aveline” (probably
Jean-Alexandre), one of the scions of a family of famous engravers. They depict
flowers of various species, an urn to set them for ornament, some instruments
necessary to their culture and how to perform a graft.
&
Nissen 45b; Hunt 570; not in Pritzel and Plesch.
28 -
(Architecture) A. C. DAVILER Cours d’Architecture qui comprend les ordres de
Vignole. Avec des Commentaires, les Figures & Descriptions de ses plus beaux
Bâtimens, & de ceux de Michel-Ange, plusieurs nouveaux desseins, ... &
tout ce qui regarde l’art de Bâtir; avec une ample explication par ordre
Alphabétique de tous les Termes. Première partie (-Suite du cours
d’Architecture). A Paris, chez Nicolas Langlois, 1691.
§
2 parts in 2 vols, small 4to. Title-page, (78), xij, 355 pages; title-page,
pp.355-880, (4) pp. 2 engraved frontispices. First text-page completey
engraved (head-piece by Daniel Marot and text), 84 full-page and 2 smaller
engravings in text, 31 double-page (some folding) engraved plates. Page
361-362 (sectorial half-title, verso blank) missing. Brown morocco, covers
gilt-framed, gilt coat-of-arms (Gloss) on both covers, spine gilt (binding
made presumably at the end of the XIX century by a good atelier). Edges gilt,
gilt dentelles inside covers. Few pages of first volume upper corner little
waterstained. Fine copy.
€
2700
First
edition of a manual which met with a widespread success, being reprinted not
less than 15 times until the end of the following century and constantly
improved by later architects; the first improved version was printed in 1710 by
Mariette, keeping into account the improvements proposed by the same D’Aviler
before his death as well as by Le Blond and Mariette. The plates of this edition
are due mostly to Pierre Le Pautre, a few were engraved by Dolivar.
“Augustin-Charles D’Aviler (1653-1700) was one of the first students to
enter the Académie Royale d’Architecture, under the direction of François
Blondel. In 1674 he left Paris to be a pensionnaire of the French Academy in
Rome ... He returned to Paris in 1681 to enter the office of Jules Hardouin
Mansart. He stayed from 1684 to 1689. Mansart’s office, with his fashionable
point of view, was not a good environment for D’Aviler, with his rigorous,
rationalistic and academic background ... Believing that he had no future in
Paris D’Aviler went to Montpellier to supervise the erection of a triumphal
arch to Louis XIV, designed by D’Orbay. His success with this project led to
his appointment as architect of the province of Languedoc. D’Aviler’s
interests were always focused on contemporary design and practice. His first
project, in 1685, was a translation of Scamozzi’s Book 6 on the orders, in
which he produced an interpretation of the complexities of architectural
proportions comprehensible to modern builders. At the same time he began a
commentary on Vignola and read a preface from his work-in-progress to the
Academy in 1683. The work would develop into his Cours d’Architecture, first
printed in 1691. In the original form the Cours consisted of several parts: a
life of Vignola; a small section on simple geometric figures: a main section on
Vignola’s order of architecture, with D’Aviler’s commentary at the foot of
each page; sections on the application of the proportions of the orders and
ornament to architecture; and a discussion of materials of construction
A second volume, an encyclopedic dictionary of over five thousands
architectural terms, was included ... D’Aviler’s point is pragmatic and
catholic. More than any other cours d’Architecture, his is designed for the
layman and the artisan, and contains all that would aid the client, builder, and
student. In this work D. chose Vignola’s interpretation for his main section
on the orders, because he felt it to be in the most agreement with other
sources, and the least confusing of any of the treatises on the orders. For the
French architect in general Vignola’s book was the manual and one which
workers constantly consulted. D. was aware of the practical significance of his
work and was concerned that it be thoroughly current and accurate ... Because of
his purpose to serve the amateur and the builder, D. introduced plans and
elevations for a typical house, along with designs of all the architectural
details, including the garden. The material on domestic architecture is a new
and important introduction in the comprehensive architectural treatise ...
Beside four major French editions, it had 13 French printings and a German
edition with four printings ...” (Millard Collection); this collection
possesses, however, only a copy of the 1738 edition).
&
Millard Collection I, 14; Cicognara 406 (edition 1756): “La migliore opera che
in questa materia uscisse in Francia a quel tempo”; Fowler 32: “... it was
the best work of its kind yet issued and soon superseded F. Blondel’s Cours
d’architecture”; Kat. Berl. 2388.
29 -
(Emblemata, Ornaments) Gerard
De Jode Octo sapientiae dona. Intelligentia,
Castitas, Memoria, Magnanimitas, Concordia, Perseverantia, Sobrietas, Patientia.
No date, place and publisher (probably Antwerpen, last years of the XVI
century).
§
4to. 10 leaves, containing an engraved title, 8 representations of the virtues
mentioned in the title and one blank. Bound in a leaf of XIX century decorated
paper. Probably extracted from a collection, as shown by an old numbering in
pen on the upper outer corner of the prints. Homogeneously toned because of
the nature of the paper, a couple of plates with some smudging outside the
platemark, otherwise excellent, the engravings in strong impressions.
€
2500
A
suite of engraved plates depicting the virtues which are donated by wisdom, i.
e. understanding, chastity, memory, magnanimity, concord, perseverance,
sobriety, patience. The engraver (and possibly the designer) was Gerard De Jode
(Nimwegen or Antwerpen 1509- Antwerpen 1591), the founder of a famous dynasty of
painters and engravers. He authored many suites of different subjects and
illustrated several books. Every plate of this suite is made with the use of two
clichés, one external for the ornament framing the picture and the other for
the representation itself. The virtues are represented as young woman dressed in
classicistic attire. Every virtue is accompanied by an instrument and by an
animal associated to her (e. g. understanding is depicted with an armillary
sphere and a snake) on the background of a niche, sometimes with vegetal motifs.
&
Untraceable for us, not in Hollstein, Thieme-Becker and Wurzbach.
30 -
(Fencing) Nicolas Demeuse
Nouveau traité de l’art des armes, dans lequel on établit les principles
certains de cet art, et où l’on enseigne les moyens les plus simples de les
mettre en pratique ... A Liège, chez F. J. Desoer et l’auteur, 1778.
§ 8vo. 181,
(1) pages. With engraved
coat-of-arms of the family De Graillet and 14 folding engraved plates
(unsigned). Contemporary boards, title written in ink on the front side. An
occasional light stain, slightly loosening, otherwise a fine copy.
€
1300
First
edition, reprinted in 1786 at Liège with slight modifications, and about 1800
in Lille with different plates. A Spanish translation remained manuscript.
Nicolas Demeuse was fencing master and member of the Guard of the Prince-Elector
of Liège. “Le mérite de ce traité lui a valu trois éditions: on y
reconnait le savoir d’un maître qui a étudié les anciens auteurs et qui
possède toutes les ressources de l’art moderne. Demeuse est un des démonstrateurs,
rares jusqu’alors, qui réclament, de la part dee l’élève déjà formé,
une exécution déduite des sensations ressenties dans le contact de l’épée
adverse” (Vigeant). “Demeuse doit à la netteté de sa diction et à ses
heureuses demonstrations la conquête d’une des places les plus brillantes
parmi les ecrivains d’escrime de la France et de l’etranger” (Gelli).
&
Vigeant page 50; Gelli 345; Thimm page 76 (with an obvious mistake in the
collation); Lipperheide Td51.
31 -
(Gastronomy, Folklore) Jean Deslyons
Discours ecclesiastiques contre le Paganisme des Roys de la Fève et du
Roy-Boyt, pratiqués par les Chrétiens charnels en la Veille et au jour de
l’Epiphanie de N. S. Jesus-Christ. A Paris, chez Guillaume Desprez, 1664.
§
12mo. 32 unn. ll., 64 pages, 60 pages. Contemporary vellum (soiled, some signs
of gnawing on the back side). Internally fine.
€
900
“Edition
originale très rare. C’est le premier des deux ouvrages de l’auteur consacrés
à ce sujet. Jean Deslyons (Pontoise 1615 - Senlis 1700) fait partie des théologiens
bizarres. C’est un homme savant mais dominé par une humeur chagrine. Dans ce
volume fameux il s’élève contre les coutumes païennes qui subsistent dans
le monde chrétien ... Ce livre provoqua une véritable guerre à Senlis; Barthélemy,
avocat dans cette cité répondit par une Apologie du Banquet ...” (Oberlé).
“... L’auteur étudie le moyen de reformer les réjouissances de cette fête
et de supprimer les repas auxquels elle donnait lieu, ces repas n’étant,
selon lui, que des véritables orgies, rappelant les saturnales des anciens”
(Vicaire). This book is thus very interesting as a document of the gastronomic
habits of France at the half of the XVII century. The feasts of “Les Roys de
la Fève” and “Le Roy boit” were accompanied by excesses in drinking,
which could degenerate in acts of disrespect to the clergy and the notables. The
high clergy had always tolerated these popular merriments and the rebuttal of
Barthélemy was probably approved by the Church much more than the tract of
Deslyons. In any case both feasts have been celebrated until a much later period
and a witness of the first is to be found in the ceramic or plastic bean (fève)
found by French children in a cake specially baked on the Twelfth Night.
&
Oberlé (Une
bibliothèque bacchique) 483; Vicaire 272 (with wrong collation); Brunet
III, 1255; Bitting 122.
32 - (Conchology) DEZALLIER d'ARGENVILLE. Conchyliologie oder Abhandlung von den Schnecken, Muscheln
und anderen Schaaltieren, welche in der See, in süßen Wassern und auf dem
Lande gefunden werden, nebst der Zoomorphose oder Abbildung und Beschreibung der
Thiere welche die Gehäuse bewohnen. Aus dem Französischen übersetzt und mit
Anmerkungen Vermehret. Mit ein und vierzig Kupfertafeln. Auf den Kosten der
Kraussischen Buchhandlung in Wien, 1772.
§ 3 volumes
in folio. Original boards
(spine invisibly restored). Frontispice, printed title, XII, 302 pages; 82,
LVIII. (14) pages; 40 planches. Name on the first free endpaper of the first
volume, very few text-pages with minimal browning (due to the nature of the
paper), endpapers little browned, otherwise copy in pristine state, the
splendid plates in strong and contrasted impressions.
€
2500
First
German edition. Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville (1680-1765), a town
administrator in Paris, was an amateur in many subject, of which natural history
took a prominent place. This is the first German edition of his most famous
book, appeared originally in 1755 as a part of his mineralogical treatise and
reprinted in 1757 as an independent work and (very much enlarged) in 1780. The
present German edition has been translated from the 1757 edition, however with a
completely different set of illustrations. The drawings on which the
illustrations are based were provided by J. S. Leitner, an artist from Nuremberg
(see on him Thieme-Becker). The subject is divided in families according to
Linnaean classification; attention is also paid to the principal collections of
Europe. Attention is also given (chapter IX) how to form a collection and how to
treat the mollusks which should be included in it.
&
Thieme-Becker XXIII, pages 3ff; Nissen 147; Fromm 7157; Cobres I, 415. 8:
"Ein classiches Werk".
33 - (Paleontology,
Mineralogy) (DEZALLIER d’ARGENVILLE) L’Histoire
naturelle éclaircie dans une de ses parties principales, l’Oryctologie, qui
traite des terres, des pierres, des métaux, des minéraux et autres fossiles. A
Paris, chez de Bure l’Aîné, 1755.
§
Large 4to. 4 unn. ll., XVI, 560 pages, 1 unn. l. With 26 engraved plates. Full
contemporary mottled calf (a joint splitting, otherwise fine). Isolated foxing
in places otherwise fine copy.
€
1800
Original
edition of a book providing a general survey on the state of mineralogical and
palaeontological knowledge in the second half of the XVIIIth century. A part of
the contents had been already published in 1742, together with a part on
conchology, which was also published separately. The author explains in the
preface the relations which exist between oryctology (an old term for
paleontology) and conchyliology. A widespread bibliography follows, containing a
very thorough analysis of the cited works, including i. a. Kircher, Colonna,
Lister, Bonanni etc. The classification of the minerals and fossils with a
dictionary of the terms most commonly used in natural sciences and the
descriptions of the specimens found by the author is the subject of the two
first parts of the volume. The third one concerns the distribution of the
different minerals and fossils of the different provinces of France. Dezallier
discusses i. a. the fossil origin of petrol. Many passages refer to precious
stones. The plates, nice and very detailed at the same time, were engraved by
the esteemed Chedel; each engravings was etched at the expense of an individual
contributor who had subscribed for the book. The appendix contains the
descriptions of certain new species of birds and fishes recently discovered and
is illustrated with two plates. The contents of this appendix have been ignored
by Nissen ZBI; their essentially American origin has escaped Sabin. Of
remarkable gemological interest, as witnessed by the long note dedicated to it
by Sinkankas 1680.
& Cobres
II, 686: “Für prüfende Kenner, und nicht gemein”; Cohen-De Ricci I, 92;
Duveen Coll. 16; Honeyman 874.
34 -
(Linguistics) J. DOMBROVSKY
Literarische Nachrichten von einer auf Veranlassung der böhm. Gesellschaft der
Wissenschaften im Jahre 1792 unternommenen Reise in Schweden und Rußland. Nebst
einer Vergleichung der Russischen und böhmischer Sprache nach dem Petersburger
Vergleichungs-Wörterbüche aller Sprachen. Prag,
1796, bey J. G. Calve.
§
8vo. Engraved
frontispice, title, pages 1-120 and 121-172 (false 272). Old boards. Some
browning depending on the nature of the paper and unimportant foxing in
places.
€
600
Only edition. The erudite abbot Josef Dombro