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Early Printing & Manuscripts (15th & 16th Century)

A subtle mixture of Christian and Pagan wisdom

OTTO VON PASSAU. Boec des gulden throe[n]s of der xxiiij. ouden en[de] hoemen elke[n] vinden mach en[de] va[n] hoerre leringhen die si leren om te comen totten ewighen leven.
(colophon: Haarlem, [Jacob Bellaert], 25 October 1484). Folio (29 x 21.5 cm). With large woodcut printer's device (142 x 82 mm) on verso of last leaf (with the arms of the city of Haarlem above an eagle holding a larger blank shield, here filled in by a contemporary owner); 4 woodcut illustrations and 20 repeats, representing the 24 elders, each showing one of the male elders, standing, teaching a female novice kneeling before him. Further with spaces left for initials, all filled in with uncials by hand, about 25 with penwork decoration in 1 or 2 additional colours: 1 blue 6-line initial with decorations in red and violate extending far into the margin, about 24 red 3 to 9-line (mostly 7-line) initials with lavendar penwork (1 with 2 green dots), some extending into the margin, and more than 70 2-line red initials without penwork decoration; a few spaces left for ¶-marks, also filled in in red; capitals rubricated throughout. Set entirely in Baellart's textura (99 or 100 mm/20 lines or about 14.5 point). Lacking leaf 137 (the second to last text leaf) and the final blank. Modern sheepskin. [1 blank, 3], "136" [= 135 (of 136)], [1] ll. Full description
€ 75,000
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Horblit-copy of an important early description of the "horoscopio", with the extremely rare woodcut-printed dials etc. to construct the nocturnal & sundial-lunar dial

PADOVANI, Giovanni. Opera nuova ... tradotta di Latino in volgare, laqual dichiara luso del maraviglio so istrumento astronomico da lui intitulato horoscopio. ...
Verona, Paolo Ravagnano, 1560. 4to. With Ravagnanos woodcut emblematic device on the title-page (a hand emerging from a cloud and holding a stalk with three lilies, the whole in an oval in a rectangular scrollwork cartouche, with the motto, "candidio animus"), a folding plate (oblong long folio: 15.5 x 41.5 cm) containing 2 woodcuts (12.5 x 22 cm & 12 cm diameter with the 4.5 cm gnomen making it 14 x 13 cm) designed to be cut up to make the authors "horoscopio" in the form of a volvelle and the sundial-lunar dial, 3 decorated woodcut initials (pictorial), planetary and zodiac signs, and numerous tables of numerical data. 19th-century(?) boards, covered with block-printed decorated paper (black on white). [46], [2 blank] pp. Full description
€ 12,500
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Freedom of religion in times of Reformation

[PAMPHLET - REFORMATION] Supplicatie aen sijn hoocheyt ende heeren des Raets van State, overgegeven door de inwoonders deser Nederlanden welcke protesteren dat sy begeren te leven nae de Reformatie des Evangeliums. Den xxii dach junii, 1578.
[Antwerp, Christopher Plantin?, 1578]. 4to. With a vignette built up from typographical ornaments on the title page, and a decorated woodcut initial. 18th-century gold- and blind-tooled mottled and polished calf, sewn on 5 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, a red morocco title label lettered in gold in the second compartment, the date of publication lettered in gold in the third compartment, fleurons in the other compartments, a blind-tooled border on both boards, gold-tooled board edges, red edges, marbled end papers. [2], XXII pp. Full description
€ 2,500
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Rare 16th-century German edition of the ancient Sanskrit Bidpai fables

[PANCHATANTRA/BIDPAI - CAPUA, Johannes de, and Anton von PFORR (translators)]. Der alten Weisenn exempel sprüch, mit vil schönen Beyspilen und Figuren erleüchtet.
(Colophon:) Strasbourg, printed by Jacob Frölich, 1539. Folio. With half-page woodcut illustration on title-page, further 1 full-page and 112 smaller (ca. 9 x 14 cm) woodcut illustrations in the text (including a small number of repeats), a woodcut royal procession above and woodcut device of a swan playing a viol below the colophon, numerous woodcut pictorial and decorative strips. Modern blind-tooled calf in 16th-century style. [4], CVII ll. Full description
€ 35,000
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Pills, cheese and medical ethics in the 15th-century

PANTALEONE DI CONFIENZA (CONFLUENTIA). Pillularium omnibus medicis quam necessarium ... Summa lacticiniorum completa omnibus idonea.
Including: ZERBI, Gabriele. Cautele medicorum no[n] inutiles.
(Colophon: Lyon, Antoine Blanchard [and Laurent Hyllaire], 7 January 1525 [= 1526]). Small 4to (20 x 14 cm). Title page with a 4-piece woodcut border (using material from Laurent Hylaire). Modern limp sheepskin parchment. XXXVIII, [2] ll. Full description
€ 8,500
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A landmark of Renaissance heraldry, finely coloured by a contemporary hand,
from the collection of Hendrik van den Bergh, Marquis of Bergen op Zoom

PARADIN, Claude. Alliances genealogiques des rois et princes de gaule.
Lyon, Jean de Tournes, 1561. Folio. With 1068 contemporary hand-coloured woodcut armorial devices, a woodcut title frame, the woodcut device of De Tournes, a woodcut headpiece, and two woodcut decorated initials. 17th-century gold-tooled mottled calf, with the title lettered in gold on the spine. With a separate paper bearing the number 1311 at the head of the spine, and with brown sprinkled edges. [12], “1201” [= 1021], [3] pp. Full description
€ 8,500
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Third Plantin edition of a popular emblem book

PARADIN, Claude and Gabriel SYMEON. Symbola heroica. M. Claudii Paradini, beliiocensis canonici et D. Gabrielis Symeonis. Multo, quàm antea, fideliùs de Gallica lingua in Latinam conversa.
Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1583. 12mo. With 216 woodcut illustrations in text, namely 179 for Paradin and 37 for Simeon. 19th-century gold-tooled red morocco, gilt edges; bound by Thompson. 319, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 3,500
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Two famous series of Bible illustrations by Bernard Salomon: “Un pur chef d’oeuvre de l’école lyonnaise”

[PARADIN, Claude & Bernard SALOMON]. Quadrins Historiques de la bible. Reveus, & augmentés dun grand nombre de figures.
Lyon, Jean de Tournes, 1583.
With:
(2) [FONTAINE, Charles & Bernard SALOMON]. Figures du nouveau testament.
Lyon, Jean de Tournes, 1579. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Ad 1: with the title in an ornamental woodcut border with the printers device including two vipers, 233 half-page woodcut illustrations, and 2 woodcut vignettes. Ad 2: with the title in a historiated woodcut border (Cartier "Nains") with the same woodcut printers device (Cartier, Vipères I,1) and 96 half-page woodcut illustrations, including one repetition, arabesque headpieces, and a large woodcut on the last page (Cartier, "Lac damour). 18th- or 19th-century elaborately gold-tooled pebble-grained dark greenish-blue sheepskin, with the titles and place and year of publication for both titles lettered in gold on the spine, gold-tooled board edges and turn ins, gilt edges, marbled endpapers. [131]; [52] ll. Full description
€ 2,750
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A travel guide to Ancient Greece

PAUSANIAS. Pausaniou tes hellados periegesis [= in Greek]. Hoc est, pausaniae accurata Graeciae descriptio, qua lector ceu manu per eam regionem circumducitur ...
Frankfurt am Main, Heirs of Andreas Wechel [Claude de Marne, Johann Aubry], 1583. 2 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With a woodcut printer's device on the divisional title page of each part and the final leaf, 30 decorated woodcut initials, 7 woodcut headpieces, and 3 woodcut tailpieces. With: PAUSANIAS and Romolo AMASEO (translator). Pausaniae de veteris graeciae regionibus commentarii luculentissimi.
Frankfurt am Main, heirs of Andreas Wechel [Claude de Marne, Johann Aubry], 1583.
17th-century overlapping vellum over recycled blind tooled calf panels (from an older binding, unclear if original binding of present work or just general recycling), sewn on 5 vellum tapes previously laced through the joints, the manuscript author on the spine, remnants of closing ties. [12], 357, [1 blank] pp., 359-374 cols., 375-377 pp., 378-507 cols., [1 (=p. 508)], [1 blank], [76]; [12], 302, pp., 303-352 cols., [1] pp. Full description
€ 3,500
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German edition of one of the earliest works on perspective and optics, with 44 new geometric and perspective woodcuts

PECKHAM, John and Georg HARTMANN. Perspectiva communis. Ideo sic dicta, quod contineat elementa tès optigès, omnibus philosophiae studiosis necessaria.
Nürnberg, Johan Petreius, 1542. Small 4to (18 x 15 cm). With 44 woodcut diagrams in text. Modern boards. [55] ll. Full description
€ 9,000
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