Book History, Education, Learning & Printing

ASCONIUS PEDANIUS, Quintus. Expositio in IIII orationes M.T. Cic. contra C. Verrem [&c.]
(colophon:) Venice, heirs of Aldo I Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, December 1522. 8vo. With Aldos woodcut anchor and dolphin device on the title-page, repeated on the verso of the last otherwise blank leaf (each with letterpress "AL ... DVS" flanking the device), with spaces (with guide letters) left for manuscript initials, not filled in. Set in Aldos famous italic (with upright capitals), the worlds first italic printing type, first used in 1501 (showing the alphabet a-z and A-N in the register of quires above the colophon). Dark purple sheepskin (ca. 1880?). [12], 283, [1] ll. Full description

[ASSAROTTI, Ottavio Giovanno Battista]. Dottrina Christiana. [Manuscript in Italian].
[Genoa, ca. 1815/20]. 8vo. With 117 (of 118) full-page hand-coloured drawings, each in a frame of double rules (20.5 x 14 cm), with lively illustrations of the Christian doctrine, and text in Italian. Contemporary half calf, gold-tooled spine. 117 (of 118), [3 blank] ll., including the last 3 blanks. Full description

AUBARET, Louis Gabriel Galdéric. Vocabulaire Français-Annamite et Annamite-Français, précédé d'un traité des particules annamites, rédigé par les sions de M. Aubaret lieutenant de Vaisseau, chevalier de la Legion d'honneur.
Bangkok, Thailand, Imprimerie de la mission catholique, 1861. 2 parts in 1 volume. 8vo. Contemporary half-sheepskin, smooth back. [4], XCVI, 157 pp. Full description

AUGUSTINUS, Aurelius. Confessio Augustiniana in libros quattor distributa, et certis capitibus locorum theologicorum, qui sunt hodie scitu dignissimi, comprehensa: nunc primum ex omnibus B. Aurelii Augustini libris in unum opus bona fide ac studio singulari redacta per D. Hieronymum Torrensem ...
Dillingen, Sebald Mayer, 1567. 4to. With Mayers full-page woodcut device (a pelican feeding her young with her own blood, with motto "sic his qui diligunt", copied in mirror image from that of Frans Behem in Mainz) on the last otherwise blank leaf, and some fine decorated woodcut initials. 18th century mottled calf, gold-tooled spine, red sprinkled edges. [32], 330, [24] lvs. Full description

AUGUSTINE of Hippo (Saint AUGUSTINE). Explanatio Psalmorum. [Incipit:] Annotatio principaliu[m] sententiariu[m]/ principaliu[m] sente[n]tiariu[m] in expla-natione psamo[rum]...
(Colophon:) Basel, Johann Amerbach, 1489. 3 parts in 1 volume. Folio (ca. 31 x 21.5 cm).
Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards, with 1 brass clasp and remnants of a 2nd. [1 blank], [14], [1 blank]; [146]; [192]; [192], [5 blank] ll. Full description

[AURELIUS, Cornelius]. Die cronycke van Hollandt, Zeelandt en[de] Vrieslant beghinnende va[n] Adams tiden tot die geboerte ons heren Jh[es]u[m] voertgaende tot de[n] jare M.CCCCC. ende Xvij.
Leiden, Jan Seversz., 18 August 1517. Folio. With the title-page printed in red and black with a large woodcut between different woodcut borders, and 239 woodcuts in text, including 121 woodcut portraits. Black blind-tooled goatskin (1637), with gold-tooled title and binding date on side. [2], 436 ll. Full description

BAILLY, Jean-Sylvain. Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne, depuis son origine jusqu'a l'établissement de l'École d'Alexandrie.
Paris, Debure brothers, 1775. 4to. With 3 numbered folding engraved plates. Beautifully bound in contemporary gold-tooled red morocco, each board with coat of arms of Simon-Pierre Merard de Saint-Just in the centre, marbled endpapers. In modern slipcase covered with marbled paper. [2], XXII, 526 pp. Full description

[BALIGOT DE BEYNE, Arthur]. Constantinople et le Bosphore.
Paris, A. François et Ce, Décembre 1845. 8vo. Original green printed wrappers. 64 pp. Full description

BANESS, Joshua Frederick. Manual of Hindustání or the stranger's Indian interpreter; A practical and easy guide to Hindustání conversation.
Calcutta, W. Newman & Co., 1890. 14 x 8,5 cm. With a woodcut tailpiece at the end of the work. Contemporary red pebble-grain cloth, with the title lettered in gold on the front board. 145, [1 blank] pp. Full description

BARLETI, Marin. Historia de vita et gestis Scanderbegi Epirotarum principis.
[Colophon:] Rome, B[ernardino] V[eneta de' Vitali], [ca. 1520/22?]. Folio. With a full-page woodcut portrait of Skanderbeg (25.5 x 16.5 cm), a 4-piece woodcut frame on the title-page and 11 woodcut decorated initials from 5 series, many pictorial and the largest with a portrait. 17th-century Italian? sheepskin parchment. [4], CLIX, [1] ll. Full description