Early Printing & Manuscripts / Manuscripts & Documents

[THOMAS À BECKET]. [Diego Afonso de MIRANDA, translator]. Historea da vida e martyrio do glorioso Sancto Thomas Arcebispo, Senhor de Cantuaria, Primas de Inglaterra, legado perpetuo da sancta see apostolica, trelada da novamente de Latim em lingoagé Portugues.
(Colophon: Coimbra, João Alvarez, printer to the University, 12 November) 1554. 4to. With several woodcut decorated initials. With the 4 preliminary leaves in facsimile. 20th-century Portuguese tree calf, gold-tooled spine, red spine label, brown sprinkled edges, marbled endpapers. [8], “CCCI” [= 303], [1 blank], [20] pp. Full description

[BIBLE - MANUSCRIPT LEAF]. [Latin manuscript leaf on parchment with (parts of) Leviticus 5-8].
[The Netherlands?], [late 14th century or early 15th century?]. Folio (26.5 x 40 cm). Written in a neat littera textualis in 2 columns of 50 lines. With 3 lombardic initials executed in blue or light pink with white filigree work on a gold ground, with bars in the same colours with white filigree ornamental patterns originating from the initials, with some small twigs springing from them, ending at the head and bottom of those bars in a larger twig with small "flowers" or "buds" in blue, pink or gold. Also with the numbers of the chapters and running heads "LEVI" written in red and blue. [1] leaf. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - GERMAN & LATIN - HERALDRY - LITURGY]. MAYER, Lieven. (Drop-title on f. 5r:) Der hochen Deutschen Ritterordens Buech ...
[Germany], [17th century, at least after 1606 and likely before 1618]. 4to. Manuscript in German and Latin on paper, written in a 17th-century hand. With 3 heraldic crosses showing the coats of arms of the Teutonic Order (a black cross) and 4 drawings showing costumes of several members of the order, all executed in watercolour with some highlights in eggwhite. 20th-century calf, blind-ruled double fillet frame on the boards, blind-ruled spine lettered in green. [5], 129 ll. Full description

MAURITS, Prince of Orange. [Declaration for Jan de Roo].
[The Hague], 4 December 1589. 1mo (41 x 31.5). Document written in brown ink on one side of a whole sheet of paper in an upright gothic cursive hand, with the autograph signature "Maurice de Nassau" and with his armorial seal (3 x 2.5 cm) stamped on a slip of paper over red sealing wax. With (separately added) Maurits's signature clipped out of another document and mounted on a paper slip. [1] leaf, written on one side. Full description

[AUTOGRAPH]. MELANCHTHON, Philipp. [Autograph letter, signed, from Philipp Melanchthon to Sebastian Boetius].
[Wittenberg], Easter [14 April 1555]. Folio (19.5 x 32 cm). In Latin. [2] pp. Full description

[MINIATURE - GERMAN]. [The Arrest of Christ].
[Flanders (Bruges?), or Nürnberg, ca. 1520]. Miniature painted on vellum (7.8 x 5.6 cm) in numerous colours, highlighted with gold and in a gold border, probably from a book of hours, but with no text. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - FRENCH]. MOYSSON, P[ierre]. Odes sainctes traitant despuis la nativité de n[ost]re sauv[eur] Iesus Christ fins à son Asse[n]tion.
[France; probably in Tournon-sur-Rhône or Valence], 1613. 12mo (ca. 11 x 7 cm). French manuscript, written in a red double fillet frame in a neat cursive hand in dark brown/black and red ink on vellum. With an open-work title page with the title in gold in the centre of the leaf and 28 detailed copper engravings on paper (ca. 7 x 5.5 cm) mounted on the vellum leaves throughout the work showing the life of Christ, all illustrations are beautifully hand coloured and highlighted in gold and captioned in brown or red ink. With intricate manuscript decorated initials in dark brown/black, red or blue ink, some also highlighted in gold and numerous delicate manuscript tailpieces in brown ink. Early 18th-century dark green morocco, elaborately gold-tooled on both boards, spine, board edges and turn-ins, sewn on 5 supports with 5 raised bands creating 6 compartments with the title in gold in the second compartment. With gilt edges, blue silk covered endpapers and a green and a reddish-brown silk ribbon marker [1], [1 blank], XII, 188, [2 blank] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT]. PHILIP (FELIPE) II, King of Spain. [Mortgage agreement, granting Jan Hanneman, Steward General of North Holland, the rights to the tithes of the King's lands of Voorburg and Voorschoten].
The Hague and Brussels, 1557 (with additions to 1565). Folio (36 x 25.5 cm). Manuscript mortgage agreement, signed by King Philip's representatives, written in brown ink on parchment in a nearly upright cursive gothic hand. With a typescript transcription of the main text and an interlinear translation in Spanish. [2 blank], 9, [1 blank] pp. Full description

[TIBET - MANUSCRIPT]. [The perfection of wisdom in eight thousand lines].
Tibet, 13th century CE. 20 x 65 cm. Manuscript written in gold ink on both sides of 314 sheets of heavy, multi-layered paper stained blue over the surface, varnished on the writing space, surrounded by a frame, each page containing 8 lines of approximately 80 characters in Tibetan uchen (dbu-can) script. Front cover from another manuscript, in black ink; under a flap are 2 lines of very large script with the words "in the language of India". The first leaves of the manuscript contain 4, 5, 6 and 7 lines of script. Text is complete. Stored in a large custom-made red cloth case (71 x 24 x 15.5 cm) with a gold-tooled red morocco title label. 314 ll. Full description