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History, Law & Philosophy / Archaeology & Classical Antiquity

Venice school edition of Aesop with numerous fables by other authors, the 3rd edition of this collection

AESOP. Fabellae Graece et Latine, cum aliis opusculis, quorum index proxima refertur pagella.
Venice, (colophon: Giovanni Farri and brothers), 1542. Small 8vo (16 x 11 cm). With 1 woodcut decorated initial but further with spaces left for manuscript Greek and Latin initials (with printed guide letters). Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment, with fragments of a vellum manuscript used to reinforce the spine. 364, [4] pp. Full description
€ 2,500
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The roads of the Roman Empire and a late antique “Michelin guide” for Rome

[ANTONINUS PIUS], Vibius SEQUESTER, Publius VICTOR & DIONYSIUS Periegetes. Itinerarium provinciarum Antonini Augusti. Vibius Sequester De fluminum, & aliarum rerum nominibus in ordinem elementorum digestis. P. Victor De regionibus urbis Romae. Dionysius Afer De situ orbis Prisciano interprete.
Lyon, heirs of Simon Vincent (colophon: printed by Nathias [recté Mathias] Bonhomme, [ca. 1540]. Small 8vo. With Vincents woodcut device on the title-page. Nineteenth-century vellum, gold-tooled spine with brown title label lettered in gold, marbled endpapers. 206, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 2,750
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First printed world-corpus of classical inscriptions

APIANUS, Petrus. Inscriptiones sacrosanctae vetustatis non illae quidem Romanae, sed totius fere orbis summo studio ac maximis impensis Terra Marique conquistae feliciter incipiunt.
Ingolstadt, Petrus Apianus, 1534. Folio (21 x 29.5 cm). With title-page printed in red and black, large emblematic woodcut after Albrecht Dürer (hand-coloured and highlighted with gold ca. 1730), woodcut coat of arms of Raimund Fugger (hand-coloured and highlighted with gold), 184 woodcut illustrations and 7 large woodcut initials. Nearly every page framed by 4 woodcut decorative border strips (several varieties). Contemporary vellum. [40], CCCCCXII, [8] pp. Full description
€ 9,500
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First printed world-corpus of classical inscriptions, with numerous woodcuts including one after Albrecht Dürer

APIANUS, Petrus and Bartholomeus AMANTIUS. Inscriptiones sacrosanctae vetustatis non illae quidem Romanae, sed totius fere orbis . . .
Ingolstadt, Petrus Apianus, 1534. Folio (31×22 cm). Title-page with a large woodcut (15×16 cm) by H. Brosamer after Albrecht Dürer, Apianus's woodcut device above the colophon, woodcut coat of arms of Raimund Fugger (who helped finance the publication), and numerous woodcut illustrations by Brosamer, M. Ostendorfer, G.A. Benewitz and others, most showing sculptural elements from tombs, most pages in woodcut borders, usually assembled from 4 blocks each. 19th-century red half calf, gold- and blind-tooled spine. [40], CCCCXII, [8] pp. Full description
€ 4,950
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The establishment of archaeology and philology as fields of study, bound for a Bourbon(?) count, including a work on the famous Rosetta Stone

[ARCHAEOLOGY - PHILOLOGY] BARTHÉLEMY, Jean-Jacques and others. [Collection of texts on early archaeology and philology].
[Various places], [various publishers], 1760-1827.
Containing:
(1) [CHRISTIE'S - LONDON]. A list of the very rare and valuable Aethiopic and other oriental manuscripts, collected by the celebrated traveller, James Bruce, esq. of Kinnaird, taken from the catalogue of them made by the late Alexander Murray, editor of the travels by Mr. Bruce in Abyssinia.
[London, 1827].
(2) WEBER, Georg Friedrich. Observationes sacrae circa funera populorum orientis. ...
Strasbourg, Johann Heinrich Heitz, [1767].
With a woodcut headpiece, tailpieces (2) and open-sided factotum.
(3) SEYFFARTH, Gustav [and Friedrich August Wilhelm SPOHN]. Brevis defensio hieroglyphices.
Leipzig, Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1827.
(4) SCHLICHTEGROLL, Friedrich von. Ueber die bey Rosette in Aegypten gefundene dreyfache Inschrift...
München, printed by Ignaz Joseph Lentner, [1818?].
(5) BARTHÉLEMY, Jean-Jacques. Explication de la mosaïque de Palestrine. Paris, H.L. Guerin & L.F. Delatour, 1760.
With 1 large folding engraved plate of the mosaic, 1 plate showing the names of animals written in the mosaic. Bound with it is an unrelated engraved plate on a 4to leaf, showing Samaritan medals (drawn and engraved by Poisson in 1790) that accompanied another one of Barthélemys publications.
(6) BARTHÉLEMY, Jean-Jacques. Lettre de m. l'abbé Barthelemy ...
[Paris, 1760].
With 2 plates of the Phoenician medals and Phoenician inscriptions found on Malta, with an elaborate woodcut headpiece and a woodcut tailpiece.
(7) BARTHÉLEMY, Jean-Jacques. Seconde lettre de m. l'abbé Barthelemy, ... sur quelques médailles Phéniciennes. [Paris, 1763].
With one plate of the Phoenician medals and the same elaborate woodcut headpiece as ad 6.
(8) [PARQUOY (assistant to labbé François BEJOT at the Bibliothèque du Roi). Lettre à messieurs les auteurs du Journal des Savans, sur un projet d'edition du Syncelle.
[Paris, 1778].
(9) BARTHÉLEMY, Jean-Jacques. Lettre a monsieur le Marquis Olivieri, au sujet de quelques monuments Phéniciens ... Paris, L.F. Delatour (printer), 1766.
With 4 plates (numbered I-IV, nos. I & III folding), the first 3 signed by P.L Charpentier, of Phoenician inscriptions, alphabet and medals. With a woodcut (oak branches with a ribbon) on the title-page and a woodcut headpiece.
(10) [D'ANSSE DE VILLOISON, Jean-Baptiste-Gaspard (draughtsman) and DROÜET (engraver)]. Alphabetum codicis bibliothecae coislininae, nunc sangermanensis, ineunte decimo saeculo manu exarati, ex quo Apollonii lexicon descriptum est. Paris, 1771.
10 works in 1 volume. 4to. A wholly engraved monograph, in Greek and Latin with a few words of Syriac.
Mid-19th-century half red goatskin morocco, sewn on 4 supports, gold-tooled spine (blind-tooled fillets) with the cypher monogram of a French count in compartments 1, 3 & 5 and "labbé|Barthelemy" and "Dissertations|1760-1792" in mid-19th-century roman capitals across compartments 2 & 4, "agathe" chemical-marbled sides, Spanish-marbled endpapers, red sprinkled edges, green ribbon marker. 16; 43, [1 blank]; 24; 28, XIV; [2], 44; 12; 8; 12; [1], [1 blank], 45, [1 blank]; 9, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 12,500
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First Aldine edition of Pedanius's commentaries on Cicero's orations

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
€ 4,500
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Complete print series by Van Audenaerde of the triumphal military parade celebrating
Caesar's victory in the Gallic Wars, after Mantegna's famous paintings

AUDENAERDE, Robert van, after Andrea MANTEGNA. C. Julii Caesaris Dictatoris triumphi de Gallia, Aegypto, Ponto, Africa, Hispania, quinquies eodem mense triumphantis; omnium, qui unquam fuere, Ducum, Regum Bellica virtute praestantissimi.
Rome, Domenico de Rossi, 1692. With an engraved allegorical title-print showing Minerva on a throne pointing towards a medallion with Caesar's profile, and 9 engraved prints by Robert van Audenaerde after Andrea Mantegna's paintings, showing the triumphal military parade celebrating Caesar's victory in the Gallic Wars. Each is numbered at the lower right and captioned below with an engraved description. The 10 prints are preserved in a paperboard folder covered with half green cloth and green marbled sides (ca. 57 x 47 cm). [1], 9 engraved ll. Full description
€ 4,950
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Two dissertations on the Venus of Eryx

BALBI, Ambrogio. Dissertazioni risguardanti il culto di Venere Ericina.
Comprising:
-Il culto di Venere Ericina rivendicato ad erice re di Sicilia suo vero institutore.
-Dissertazione sopra una lapide inscritta da silla a Venere Ericina.
Turin, widow Pomba and sons, 1824. 8vo. Green half morocco, gold-tooled spine, with the arms of Joaquín Gómez de la Cortina (1808-1868) in gold on each board. 90 pp. Full description
€ 1,250
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The ancient world in 345 plates

[BARDON, Michel Francois Dandré]. Gewoonten der aloude volken; behelzende de godsdienstige, burgelyke en krygsgebruiken der Grieken, Romeinen, Israëliten en Hebreeuwen, Egyptenaaren, Persiaanen, Scythiërs, Amazonen, Parthiërs, Daciërs, Sarmatiërs, en andere zo oostersche als westersche volken.
Amsterdam, Johannes Allart and Willem Holtrop, 1786. 4 volumes bound as 2. Large 4to (31 x 25 cm). With 345 engraved plates by the famous engraver Charles Nicolas Cochin le Jeune after Bardon. Contemporary half calf. VIII, 32; [2], 40; IV, 41, [1 blank]; [2], 22 pp. Full description
€ 3,950
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The pedagogical essentials of the Renaissance collected, together with Greek epistles

[BECH, Philipp, ed.]. De disciplina puerorum, recteque formandis eorum & studiis & moribus, ...
Basel, Joannes Oporinus (colophon: Bern, Samuel Apiarius, March 1556).
With: (2) [MOREL, Guillaume, ed.]. Graecorum veterum selectae brevesque epistolae.
Paris, Guillaume Morel, King's printer for Greek, 1562. With a remarkable woodcut device on the title-page. With the Greek text set in Claude Garamont's famous Grec du Roi and the Latin translation set in his Aldine-style italic. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo (15 x 10 x 4.5 cm). Richly gold-tooled tanned sheepskin (ca. 1700), gilt edges. 31, [21]; [16], "840" [= 804] pp. Full description
€ 12,500
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Important travelogue on Persia, with 15 plates and 2 maps

BODE, Clement Augustus de. Travels in Luristan and Arabistan.
Including: BODE, Clement Augustus de. Observations on the march of Timur ... and on the probable course pursued by Alexander the Great, on his expedition from Susa to Persepolis.
London, J. Madden and Co., 1845. 2 volumes. 8vo. With a wood-engraved illustration on the title-page to each volume, 15 plates, 2 folding engraved maps and 3 wood-engraved illustrations in text. The 15 plates (4 tinted lithographs and 11 wood engravings) consists of 2 frontispieces, a folding plate, a double-page plate and 11 single-page plates. Modern half calf, marbled (Period Binders, Bath, England). XX, 404; XII, 398, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 8,500
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Well-illustrated study of the coins of ancient France, large paper copy

BOUTEROUE D'AUBIGNY, Claude. Recherches curieuses des monoyes de France depuis le commencement de la monarchie.
Paris, Edme Martin, 1666. Large folio (42 x 27.5 cm). With title-page with engraved allegorical illustration by N. Bonnart (including a minting press), and numerous engravings in text incl. 7 full-page (on pp. 336, 342, 349, 354, 359, 364 and 370). Contemporary mottled calf (ca. 1693), richly gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, gilt edges; and each board with the (later) gold-tooled British Royal arms in the form used in Scotland 1801-1816, encircled by the inscription, "The Society of Writers to the Signet" (that is the Signet Library in Edinburgh; stamp 3, ca. 1815). [16], 398, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 3,500
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Sicily in history and myth: first edition with engraved author's portrait

BUONFIGLIO COSTANZO, Giuseppe. Prima[-seconda] parte dell'historia Siciliana, nellequale si contiene la descrittione antica, & moderna di Sicilia, le guerre, & altri fatti notabili dalla sua origine per sino alla morte del Catolico Rè Don Filippo II. Divisa in XX libri et due parti.
Venice, Bonifacio Ciera, 1604. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With engraved device on the title-page, full-page engraved author's portrait, and numerous woodcut headpieces, tailpieces and decorated initials. Contemporary limp vellum. [48], 692 pp. Full description
€ 1,500
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Collection of 8 orations by the famous professor Petrus Burmannus the Elder and others

BURMAN the Elder, Pieter. Oratio funebris in obitum viri clarissimi Joannis Georgii Graevii, Magnae Brittanniae Regis historici, politices, historiarum & eloquentiae professoris ordinarii. Dicta XI. Kal. Martias MDCCIII.
Utrecht, Willem van de Water, 1703. Woodcut coat-of-arms of Utrecht on title-page.
(2) BURMAN the elder, Pieter. Oratio pro pigritia, publice habita. Ad diem XX Febr. M.DCCII.
[No place], 1702. Woodcut title-vignette.
(3) BURMAN the elder, Pieter. Somnium, sive iter in arcadiam novam, publice narratum in majori Academiae Ultrajectinae Acroaterio. Ad diem IX. Septembris MDCCX.
[No place], [1710].
(4) BURMAN the elder, Pieter. Oratio pro comoedia, publice in auspiciis Academicarum recitationum, quibus Terentii fabulae explicantur, habita, a.d. XIV Septembris MDCCXI.
Utrecht, Willem van de Water, 1711. Woodcut publisher's device.
(5) BURMAN the elder, Pieter. Oratio in humanitatis studia. Habita a.d. VIII. Februarii MDCCXX. Cum magistratu Academico abiret.
Leiden, Samuel Luchtmans, 1720. Woodcut publisher's device.
(6) BURMAN the elder, Pieter.. Pro literatoribus et grammaticis oratio, habita a.d. VIII Februarii MDCXXXII. Cum magistratu academico abiret.
Leiden, Conrad Wishoff & Daniel Goedval, [1732]. Woodcut title-vignette, headpiece and tailpiece.
(7) RÜCKER, Joannes Conradus. Oratio de honoribus academicis, magno doctrinae praemio. Habita cum virum eruditissimum Danielem ... van Alphen, Lugduno Batavum, juris utriusque doctorem, more majorum renuntiaret. A.d. XIII. Dec. MDCCXXXV.
Leiden, Samuel Luchtmans, 1735. Woodcut publisher's device and tailpiece.
(8) VITRIARIUS, Johannes Jacobus. Oratio funebris, in obitum eruditissimi ac celeberrimi viri, Antonii Schultingii, Joh. fil. ... Dicta Publice a.d. XII. April A. MDCCXXXIV.
Leiden, Samuel Luchtmans, [1734]. Woodcut publisher's device and tailpiece.
8 works in 1 volume. 4to. Slightly later half calf (ca. 1765), gold-tooled spine, title lettered in gold, marbled sides with central gold vignette of the "Society of Writers to the Signet" on both boards. 57, [26]; 23; [39]; [4], 36; 61; [2], 75, [1]; 28, 37, [3] pp. Full description
€ 1,750
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"The finest of all the Elzevier productions" (Willems)

CAESAR, Gaius Julius. Quae extant ex emendatione Jos. Scaligeri.
Leiden, Bonaventura & Abraham Elzevier, 1635. 12mo. With an engraved title-page, 3 folding maps of the Roman Empire, Gallia and the Iberian peninsula, a portrait of Caesar in a roundel and 5 full-page woodcuts of the buildings of bridges, fortifications, castles and other defensive works. Contemporary overlapping vellum. [24], 561, [71] pp. Full description
€ 400
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Beautifully illustrated expeditions searching for ancient Egyptian antiquities

CAILLIAUD, Frédéric and Bernardino DROVETTI. Voyage a l'Oasis de Thèbes et dans les déserts situés a l'orient et a l'occident de la Thébaïde, fait pendant les années 1815, 1816, 1817 et 1818.
Paris, Royal press, 1821. With 24 numbered engraved plates, including 2 engraved maps (1 folding), 1 plate coloured by hand and 1 double-page.
With: (2) CAILLIAUD, Frédéric and Bernardino DROVETTI. Voyage a l'Oasis de Syouah ... pendant leurs voyages dans cette oasis, en 1819 et en 1820.
Paris, Rignoux, 1823. With 20 numbered plates (1 engraved map and 19 lithographed plates). 2 works in 1 volume. Folio. Contemporary green goatskin morocco, richly gold-tooled spine. [2 blank], XVII, [1], 120; [12], 28 pp. Full description
€ 19,500
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One of the most influential works of mythological commentary of the 16th and 17th centuries

CARTARI, Vincenzo [& Antoine du VERDIER]. Imagines deorum, qui ab antiquis colebantur: in quibus simulacra, ritus, caerimoniae, magnaque, ex parte veterum religio explicatur: olim a Vincentio Chartario Rhegiensi ex variis auctoribus in unum collectae, atque in Italica lingua expositae: nunc vero ad communem omnium utilitatem Latino sermone ab Ant. Verderio domino Vallisprivatae, &c. expressae, atque in meliorem ordinem digestae. Quibus acc. duo indices: prior, imaginum: posterior, rerum atque verborum, quae toto libro continentur.
Lyons, Etienne Michel (colophon: printed by Guichard Julliéron), 1581 (colophon: August). 4to. With Michel's woodcut publishers device on the title-page (an Ottoman man and a fruit tree with motto "virtutes sibi invicem adhaerent"), a full-page woodcut portrait of Antoine du Verdier, a small woodcut illustration and 89 beautiful large woodcuts (13 x 9.5 cm) of classical mythological gods and heroes in the text. Modern sheepskin parchmen. [8], 359, [57] pp. Full description
€ 2,950
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Classic erotic poems, with the first edition of the commentaries by a renowned homosexual scholar

CATULLUS, Gaius Valerius and Marc-Antoine MURET. [Carmina]. Catullus, et in eum commentarius M. Antonii Mureti.
Venice, Paulus Manutius, 1554. 8vo. With Aldus's woodcut device on the title-page, repeated on the verso of the otherwise blank final leaf, and spaces with guide letters left for 2 5-line and about 60 3-line manuscript initials (not filled in). Set in an Aldine italic (with upright capitals) with occasional words (mostly names) in roman and frequent passages in Greek. Gold-tooled mottled calf (ca. 1700). [4], "134" [= 136], [2] ll. Full description
€ 3,500
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First Aldine edition of a highly popular collection of elegiac poems
by three of the most important classical poets set in the first italic printing type, introduced in 1501

CATULLUS, Gaius Valerius; Albius TIBULLUS; Sextus PROPERTIUS (Hieronymus AVANTIUS, ed.). [Opera]. Catullus. Tibullus. Propertius.
[colophon:] Venice, Aldo I Manuzio, January 1502. 8vo. With more than 100 spaces (2 8-line, 6 6-line and the rest 2-line) with guide letters left for manuscript initials, none filled in. Set in Alduss italic type (with upright capitals) throughout, the first italic printing type, first used in 1501, with titles, headings, running heads, etc. set in the capitals of the same type, with an occasional word of Greek in the text. Gold-tooled, green long-grained sheepskin (vertical grain) (ca. 1800). [152] ll. Full description
€ 4,500
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Influential 2nd Aldine edition of a popular collection of elegiac poems
by 3 of the most important classical poets, finely bound in early 20th-century morocco by G. Vignal in Paris

CATULLUS, Gaius Valerius; Albius TIBULLUS; Sextus PROPERTIUS (Hieronymus AVANTIUS, ed.). [Opera]. Catullus. Tibullus. Propertius.
[colophon:] Venice, the heirs of Aldo I Manuzio & Andrea I Torresano, March 1515. 8vo. With Aldos woodcut anker and dolphin device on the title-page and on the verso of the last leaf, each flanked by "AL ... DVS" in letterpress capitals. Set in Aldos italic type (with upright capitals), the first italic printing type. Blind-tooled brown goatskin morocco (early 20th-century) by the Paris bookbinder G. Vignal (active ca. 1890-ca. 1930), signed with a blind stamp in the foot of the front turn-in ("G. VIGNAL REL. DOR.". 148, [2] ll. Full description
€ 2,950
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From the library of Eugène Paillet, one of the great French bibliophiles of the 19th century

CATULLUS, TIBULLUS & PROPERTIUS. Catullus, Tibullus et Propertius, pristino nitori restituti, & ad optima exemplaria emendati, cum fragmentis C. Gallo inscriptis.
Paris, J. Barbou, 1754. 3 parts. 12mo. Each part with its own title-page and engraved frontispiece. 19th-century brown morocco, double fillets in gold on the board edges, richly gold-tooled turn-ins, gilt edges. XVI, 96, [2], 97-168, [2], 169-344 pp. Full description
€ 500
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First and only Aldine edition of the liveliest most extensive extant Roman history of Alexander the Great

CURTIUS RUFUS, Quintus. Quintus Curtius. [De rebus Alexandri Regis Macedonum libri III-X.]
Venice, heirs of Aldo I Manuzio & Andrea I Torresano, July 1520. 8vo. With Aldos woodcut anchor and dolphin device on the title-page, repeated on the verso of the otherwise blank last leaf (each with letterpress "AL ... DUS" flanking the device). Set in Aldos famous italic (with upright capitals), the worlds first italic printing type, first used in 1501. Richly blind-tooled brown goatskin morocco (early 20th-century with the older bookplate moved to the new paste-down?). [8], 170, [2] ll. Full description
€ 2,250
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Incunable edition of an influential second century description of the antique world,
including early mentions of China and Arabia

DIONYSIUS Periegetes. [incipit :] ... de situ orbis habitabilis ...
[Colophon:] Venice, Franz Renner, 1478. Small 4to (19 x 14 cm). With the first four lines printed in red and 9 white on black decorated woodcut initials (1 series), plus 1 repeat. Set in roman type, 26 lines to a page, with two words in Greek. Modern blind-tooled calf. [36] ll. Full description
€ 35,000
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First edition of Ruel's translation of a foundational work on pharmacology

DIOSCORIDES, Pedanius. De medicinali materia libri quinque. De virulentis animalibus, et venenis canerabioso, et eorum noti, ac remedijs libri quattuor.
(Colophon: Paris, Henri Estienne, 1516). Folio. With the title within a decorative metalcut( ?) panel. Set in roman types. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment; rebacked in calf, with new endpapers, but preserving the original paste-downs. [12], 157, [2], [1 blank] ll. Full description
€ 18,000
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Archaeological sites in the Middle East, with 143 reproductions of photographs

DJEMAL PASCHA, Ahmed and Theodore WIEGAND. Alte Denkmaler aus Syrien, Palastina und Westarabien. 100 Tafeln mit beschreibendem Text.
Berlin, Georg Reimer, 1918. Folio (34.5 x 24 cm). WIth 100 plates with 143 reproductions of photographs. Original red publisher's cloth, with the title in Arabic and German on the front board. 10 pp., 100 ll. Full description
€ 4,500
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Italian translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses in an interesting binding

OVIDIUS NASO, Publius (Lodovico DOLCE, translator). Le trasformationi, ... . In questa quarta impressione da lui in molti luoghi ricorrette.
Venice, Gabriele Giolito de Ferrari, 1557. 4to. With title in a richly designed architectural woodcut frame, a half-page woodcut hemispherical map of the Americas, Europe and Africa and 82 large woodcut illustrations (plus 2 repeats) with fine ornamental and grotesque borders at either side. Contemporary(?) Polish(?) blind-tooled calf. 17th- or 18th-century endpapers. [16], 309, [3] pp. Full description
€ 3,500
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History of seafaring

ELWES, Alfred and A.A. DEENIK (translator). De zee en hare beheerschers, of beknopte geschiedenis der voornaamste zeemogendheden uit vroegeren en lateren tijd.
Sneek, Van Druten and Bleeker, 1861. 8vo. Contemporary red half sheepskin. XXV, 368 pp. Full description
€ 500
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Original edition of the first general survey and description of Greece
by the first rector magnificus of Groningen University

EMMIUS, Ubbo. Vetus Graecia, illustrata studio & operâ Ubbonis Ebbii. Opus distinctum in tomos tres: quorum I. Descriptionum habet regionum à Graecis habitatum ... II. Complectitur Res gestas Graecorum. III. Representat Statum ...praecipuarum ejus gentis rerumpublicarum ...
Leiden, Bonaventura & Abraham Elzevier, 1626. 3 parts in 2 volumes. Large 8vo. With the printer's device of the Elzeviers on all three title-pages, woodcut initials. Uniformly bound in contemporary vellum. [24] 194, [22]; [4], 536, [32]; [4], 519, 25 pp. Full description
€ 475
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German translation of Euclid's "Elements"

EUCLID and Lucas BRUNN (translator). Elementa practica. Oder Ausszug aller Problematum und Handarbeiten auss den 15. Büchern Euclidis. Allen und jeden, des uhralten geometrischen nutzlichen Gebrauch, dess Cirkels Liebhabern ...
Nürnberg, Simon Halbmayer, [1625]. 4to. With the title set in an engraved border, and numerous woodcut mathematical figures in text. Contemporary limp vellum. [8], 92 pp. Full description
€ 3,500
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Erotic artefacts from the secret cabinet of the King of Naples, with 60 coloured plates

[FAMIN, Cesar]. Musée Royal de Naples, peintures, bronzes et statues érotiques du Cabinet Secret.
Paris, Abel Ledoux (back of half-title: printed by Everat), 1836. 4to. With engraved frontispiece and 60 numbered engraved plates by A. Delvaux, all coloured by a contemporary hand and some printed in colour a la poupée. Contemporary green half sheepskin. [4], XXX, [2], 159, [1 blank], [3], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 2,500
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Collected literary works of the most famous professor of the 17th-century University of Padua

FERRARI, Ottavio. Prolusiones vigintisex. Epistolae. Et formulae ad capienda doctoris insignia. Item variae inscriptiones. Editio altera auctior & emendatior.
Padua, heirs of Paolo Frambotti, 1668. 2 volumes bound as 1. 4to. With a general title-page and a volume 2 title-page, the former printed in red and black, each with the woodcut device of the printer-publisher Frambotti (Pallas Athena standing next to a tree with a scroll reading "Pacis opus"); some interesting woodcut head- and tailpieces. 19th-century gold-tooled green morocco, each board with the coat of arms of Gomez de la Cortina in a frame of double fillets. [12], 579; [8], 144 pp. Full description
€ 4,500
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The 10th-century Cambodian temple Banteay Srei, with 72 (mostly photographic) plates

FINOT, Louis, Henri PARMENTIER and Victor GOLOUBEW. Le temple d'Içvarapura (Bantãy Srei, Cambodge). Mémoires archéologiques, publiés par l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient Tome I.
Paris, G. van Oest, 1926. Large 4to (36.5 x 28 cm). With 72 plates, mostly heliotype photographs by Léon Marotte (each plate has one or two photos). One of 800 copies printed on heavy paper. Original publisher's printed paper wrappers. X, 138, [2] pp. + plates Full description
€ 475
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Three editions of humanist works, two from Antwerp known only from 1 other copy each, in contemporary Flemish panel-stamped calf with 6 animals in foliage plus an unusually detailed peacock

[FIOCCO, Andrea Domenico] under the name of Lucius FENESTELLA. De magistratibus, sacerdotiisq[ue] Romanorum libellus, iam primum nitori restitutus. Pomponii Laeti itidem de magistratibus & sacerdotiis, & praeterea de diversis legibus Rom[anorum]. Item Valerii Probi grammatici de literis antiquis opusculum.
Including: POMPONIO LETO, Giulio. De Ro[manorum]. magistratibus, ...
Basel, (colophon: Valentino Curio, May 1523). With the general title in a woodcut border, Curio's large architectural woodcut device on the otherwise blank final page.
With:
(2) LUCIANUS OF SAMOSATA. Complures ... dialogi à Desiderio Erasmo Roterodamo ... in Latinum conversi, & à Nicolao Buscoducensi illustrati, additis Fabularum & difficilium vocabulorum explanationibus.
(Colophon: Antwerp, Michael Hillen van Hoochstraten, 1524).
(3) MOSELLANUS, Petrus (Peter SCHADE). Paedologia ..., in puerorum usum conscripta & aucta. Dialogi XXXVII. Dialogi pueriles Christophori Hegendorphini. XII. ...
Including: HEGENDORF, Christoph. Dialogi pueriles ... XII. ...
(Colophon: Antwerp, Michael Hillen van Hoochstraten, 1523).
3 editions in 1 volume. 8vo (16 x 10.5 cm). Contemporary panel-stamped calf, each board with the same 3 panel stamps: 2 virtually identical panels with 6 animals in 2 grape vines (the animals from head to foot in the left vine: a monkey, dog and wyvern; and in the right vine: a squirrel, hare and lion) in a border of a diaper of quatrefoils in lozenges, the two separated by a small panel stamp sith a peacock, paste-downs made from a leaf from an Aristotle manuscript on vellum. 91, [1]; 26, [2]; [40] ll. Full description
€ 12,000
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Notorious forged binding, gold-tooled with Ottoman imagery painted red, white and green on dark brown

FLORUS, Lucius Annaeus. [Epitome rerum Romanarum].
Leiden, Adriaen Wijngaerden (colophon: printed by Philippe de Croy), 1648. 8vo (18 x 12 x 3 cm). With an engraved allegorical title-page by Cornelius van Dalen. Contemporary or near-contemporary calf. The decoration on the binding is believed to have been executed in Bologna ca. 1880/1900 by a group of forgers: each board with the same scene, showing 2 women in Ottoman costume, one kneeling to play a qanun (Turkish zither) at left and the other perhaps dancing at right, framed by drapery as though on a stage, with a crescent moon and 5-pointed star in each corner and the name "IBRAHIM" at upper left, the whole in a frame of double fillets. The figures' skin is painted white and the clothes and drapery red and green. The crescent moon and star repeat in spine compartments 1 and 3-5. [32], “595” [= 535], [69], [4 blank] pp. including the integral engraved title-page. Full description
€ 39,500
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Rare second Latin edition of Galen's De sanitate tuenda,
his first work translated directly from the original Greek

GALENUS (GALEN), Claudius (Thomas LINACRE, translator). Libri sex prefulge[n]tissimi ac medicine principis Galeni de sanitate tue[n]da: Thoma Linacro medico Anglico interprete: summa cum diligentia impressi omnibusq[ue] erroribus purgati.
[colophon:] Venice, heirs of Alessandro Bindoni for Giovanni Battista Pederzano, 6 July 1523. 4to. Title-page with a nearly full-page woodcut, woodcut initials in the text. Contemporary vellum over flexible boards, a manuscript title and a later paper label with "1522" on the spine and a manuscript title at the foot edge. [4], XCIX, [1] ll. Full description
€ 7,500
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Collection of four works on Roman history

HERODIAN. Historiae libri VIII.
With:
(2) AURELIUS VICTOR, Sextus. A D. Caesare Augusto usque ad Theodosium excerpta.
(3) EUTROPIUS. Historiae libri X.
(4) PAUL THE DEACON (PAULUS DIACONUS). Libri VIII. ad Eutropii historiam additi.
Florence, Filippo Giunta, 1517. 4 works in 1 volume. Small 8vo. With Giuntas woodcut device on the verso of the otherwise blank final leaf. Later half calf. [4], 90; 127, [1 blank] ll. Full description
€ 4,000
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Rare Latin treatise on the Greek Bacchanals

HERRENSCHMID, Jacob. Peripatheticus orgiorum ethnico-pontificius. Justè castigatus, justius profligatus, justissimè condemnatus. Hoc est, brevis dissertatiuncula De Bachanaliorum nomine, origine, progressu, placentis, larvis, excusationibus, exemplis, poenis, ludis, choreis, symposiis, ludibriis, &c.
Nuremberg, Simon Halbmayer, [1626]. 12mo.19th-century red half morocco, marbled paper sides. 132 pp. Full description
€ 550
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A key for the Western knowledge of Arabia at the beginning of the 20th century,
by the man who inspired Lawrence of Arabia

HOGARTH, David George. The penetration of Arabia.
London, Lawrence and Bullen, Ltd., 1904. Large 8vo. With 50 photographs of Medina, Mecca (incl. the Kabah, pilgrims camping outside the city praying in the Great Mosque-Precinct and at the Tomb, mostly after the photographs of Snouck Hurgronje), Maskat, Sana, Jidda; portraits of explorers such as Carsten Niebuhr, J.L. Burckhardt, G.A. Wallin, Richard Burton, J. Snouck Hurgronje, Jos. Halévy, W.G. Palgrave, W.S. and Lady Anne Blunt and others, maps of their routes through Arabia and several maps and plans of Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Mecca, Medina, Sana, Riad, etc.; the Teima stone, the first published Himyaritic inscriptions, etc. At the end are bound two folding coloured maps on one large leaf (345 x 675 mm) containing (1) the orthographical, and (2) the land surface features of Arabia. Original green publisher's cloth, title in gold on the front board with a gold-tooled section of a compass with the signs of the zodiac, title in gold on the spine. XV, 359 pp. Full description
€ 450
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Ancient Hebrew & other Middle Eastern, Greek, Roman and Arabic numbers, coins, weights and measures

HOST, Matthäus (Matthaeus HOSTUS). Historiae rei nummariae veteris scriptores aliquot insigniores ...
Including:
HOST, Matthäus. Tres libros de veteribus mensuris ...
HOST, Matthäus. Quaedam opuscula variae ...
[SARDI, Alessandro] (misattributed to John SELDEN). Liber de nummis ...
LABBE, Philippe. Bibliotheca nummaria ...
BUDÉ, Guillaume. De asse et partibus ejus libri quinque.
Leiden, Pieter van der Aa, 1695 (colophon at the end of Hosts works: Jena, Johann Zacharias Nisius, 1692). 15 works in 5 volumes, paginated as 3 and bound as 2. 4to. With 2 engraved portraits (vol. I) and 3 folding tables. Contemporary or near contemporary vellum. [36], 372, [8]; [26], “637” [= 535], [7], [2 blank], [lacking 1-2], 3-716, [86] pp. Full description
€ 4,500
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Second enlarged edition of a numismatic-biographical work

HULSIUS, Levinus. Romanorum numismatum series. à C. Iulio Caesaro ad Rudolphum II. Add. est breviter ipsorum vita, aversa pars numismorum & eorundem explicatio.
Frankfurt, for the author, 1603. 8vo. With large allegorical engraving with portrait of Romulus on title-page, full-page allegorical armorial engraved plate on verso of title-page and 150 engravings of both sides of ancient coins in text. Contemporary red morocco, richly gold-tooled spine. [16], 305, [6], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 1,500
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Plantin edition of an early Christian classic

IGNATIUS of ANTIOCHIA. [In Greek:] Toi en agiois ieromartiros ignatioi archiepiskopioi antiocheias, epistolai. (In Greek).- Antiochiae, & martyris epistolae, prosus apostolicae. (In Latin).
Antwerp, Christoffel Plantin (ad 1 colophon: 8 August), 1566. Small 8vo. With Plantins woodcut compasses device on each title-page and a couple decorated woodcut initials. Set in italic and Greek type.
With: IDEM. Antiochiae, & martyris epistolae, prorsus apostolicae.
Antwerp, Christoffel Plantin, 1566. Contemporary calf. 69, [1 blank]; 78 pp. Full description
€ 2,500
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Well-illustrated report of an archaeological expedition
to the 7th & 8th-century "desert castles" of the Umayyad Caliphate

JAUSSEN, Antonin & Raphael SVAIGNAC Mission archeologique en Arabie III. Les chateaux arabes Qeseir 'Amra, Harâneh et Tûba.
Paris, Paul Geuthner, 1922. 2 volumes (text and atlas). Small folio (21 x 29.5 cm). Text volume with 21 illustrations in the text (mostly photographs). Atlas volume with 58 loose plates (mostly plans and photographic views) as issued. Text volume in modern half cloth, kept with the plates in a modern half cloth portfolio. [6], 134, [2] pp. Full description
€ 1,500
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One of the foundational texts of the Western legal tradition, printed by a woman for the first time

JUSTINIANUS I, Emperor and Jean CHAPPUIS (editor). Codex. Codicis d[omi]ni Justiani sacratissimi principis libri novem...
Paris, Yolande Bonhomme for Jean Petit, 1538. 4to. With the woodcut printer's device of Thielman Kerver on the title-page, one full-page woodcut illustration, a near full-page woodcut illustration of emperor Justinian I, and numerous woodcut initials throughout. The title-page and text are printed in red and black. Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin, with the manuscript title on the spine and the front board. [40], CCCCCCCIIII, ll. Full description
€ 6,500
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First collected edition of three classical writers, set in an Aldine-style italic

JUSTINUS, Marcus Junianus. Trogi Pompei externae historiae in compendium ab Justino redactae.
Including:
PROBUS, Aemylius [recté NEPOS, Cornelius]. De vita excellentium imperatorum liber.
VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, Caius. Historiae Romanae duo volumina, ...
(Colophon: Florence, Philippo Giunta, 1525). 3 works published as 1. 8vo. With Giunta's woodcut device on the title-page and a nearly identical one on the verso of the otherwise blank last leaf. Set in an Aldine-style italic, with numerous spaces with guide letters where manuscript initials could be filled in (left blank in the present copy). Dark green gold-tooled morocco (ca. 1833?), the with AAR-monogram of Antoine Augustin Renouard, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, pink watered-silk endleaves, matching ribbon marker, gilt edges. Attributed to the Bradel family in Paris, probably Antoine Louis François Bradel. 15, [1], “103” [= 203], [1 blank]; [8], “105” [= 205]-267, [1] ll. Full description
€ 5,000
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Funeral rites and ceremonies in ancient Rome, with 5 engraved plates by Romeyn de Hooghe

KIRCHMANN, Johann. De funeribus Romanorum libri quatuor.Including: RIGAULT, Nicolas. Funus parasiticum sive L. Biberii curculionis parasiti, mortualia. Ad ritum prisci funeris.
Leiden, Hackius, 1672. With an engraved frontispiece and 4 folding engraved plates.
With: (2) KIRCHMANN, Johann. In funere V. Cl. Pauli G.F.P.N. Merulae. Historiarum Professoris in academia Batavorum, & foederatarum provinciarum historiographi, oratio, in qua de vita scriptisque ejus disseritur.Leiden, Hackius, 1672. 2 works in 1 volume (the first in two parts). 12mo. Contemporary vellum. [48], 649, [45], [2 blank], 24; [8], 64 pp. Full description
€ 950
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Archaeological account and artefacts from the Turfan area, China, with numerous plates

LE COQ, Albert von. Die buddhistische Spätantike in Mittelasien. Ergebnisse der Kgl. Preussischen Turfan-Expeditionen.
Berlin, Dietrich Reimer, 1922-1933 [facsimile: Graz, Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1973-1975]. 6 text volumes and 1 atlas. 35,5 x 26 cm; atlas 54 x 36,5 cm. With a total of 185 plates in the text volumes, 22 plates in the atlas volume, mostly in black and white, some in colour, and numerous illustrations in text. Uniform decorated brown cloth. 29; 62; 53; 29; 32; 89; 80 pp. Full description
€ 2,500
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The rare first Livius translation into Dutch printed in the Northern Netherlands

LIVIUS, Titus. De Roomsche historie oft gesten, door den alder welsprekensten ende vernaemsten histori-schrijver Titum Livium beschreven. Waer uut niet alleen alle wereltlijcke staten tot vromicheyt ende ridderlijcke manlijcke feyten beweecht ende ghedronghen, maer oock alle ander staten tot grooter recreatien ende gheneuchten des herten ghetrocken sullen worden.
Leiden, Jan Paedts Jacobszoon & Jan Bouwensz., 1585. 4 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With a general title-page and three divisional titles. Contemporary blind-tooled calf over thick bevelled wooden boards with modern leather ties and straps. [12], 301 ll. Full description
€ 3,750
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Famous work on the Middle East, illustrated with very early photogravures of the Holy Land

LUYNES, Honoré d'Albert de. Voyage d'exploration à la mer Morte, à Petra et sur la rive gauche du Jourdain. ... Oeuvre posthume publiée par ses petit-fils sous la direction de M. le Comte de Vogüé.
Paris, Arthus Bertrand (on back of half-title: printed by E. Martinet (vols. 1-2) and Arnous de Rivière (vol. 3)), [1874]. 3 volumes of text and 1 atlas of plates. Imperial 4to (35.2 x 26.5 cm). With 14 numbered lithographed plates in volume 3 (4 double-page chromolithographed maps, views and geological sections; 2 further geological plates and 8 plates showing archaeological specimens), 85 plates in the atlas volume (including 65 photogravures and double-page chromolithographed maps) and numerous wood-engravings in the text. Set in roman and italic types with occasional passages in Greek and especially Arabic. Text volumes in original publisher's letterpress-printed light blue wrappers, atlas in half cloth portfolio with the original publisher's letterpress-printed paper sides, matching the text volumes; the 4 volumes preserved in 2 modern black half calf clamshell boxes. [8], 388; [6], 226; [4], VI, 326; [4] pp. Full description
€ 35,000
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Collected works of Macrobius in contemporary richly gold-tooled morocco

MACROBIUS, Theodosius Ambrosius. Quae exstant omnia, diligentissime emendata, et cum optimis editionibus collata, ut ex praefatione manifestum.
Padua, Giuseppe Comino, 1736. 8vo. With engraved device on title-page, 5 woodcuts in text and woodcut arms above the colophon. Contemporary richly gold-tooled morocco (goatskin), each board with a large centre-piece in a panel design, gilt and gauffered edges, traces of clasps. XXXIX, [1], 640, 85, [2], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 1,250
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Five ancient pharmacological, medical and botanical texts, well produced

MARCELLUS EMPIRICUS. De medicamentis Empiricis physicis ac rationalibus liber.
Basel, Froben, 1536. With a woodcut caduceus device on title-page and several woodcut initials. Set in roman types.
With: (2) [THORER, Alban]. [De re medica].
(Colophon: Basel, Andreas Cratander, 1528). With the first leaf of the main text in a 4-piece woodcut border (3 initalled I.F.), Cratander's woodcut device on the last otherwise blank leaf, showing Occasio, the goddess of chance, and dozens of charming woodcut initials. Set in roman types. 2 works in 1 volume. Small folio (30 x 22 cm). 20th-century half parchment. 252, [12]; 125, [1] ll. Full description
€ 25,000
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The Hague illustrated edition of the ‘ad usum Delphini edition’ of Virgil by Charles de la Rue

MARO, Publius Virgilius. Opera. Interpretatione et notis illustravit Carolus Ruaeus, Soc. Jesu, ad usum Serenissimi Delphini. Editio nova, auctior et emendatior ... Iuxta editionem noovissimam Parisiensem A. 1722.
The Hague, brothers Vaillant & N. Prevost, 1723. 8vo. With a woodcut printer's device on the title, woodcut initials, an engraved folding map of the eastern part of the Mediterranean showing the route of Aeneas on his way home and 8 full-page engravings. XXIV, 637, 223 pp. Full description
€ 375
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Stunning collotypes and chromolithographs of Pompeii wall paintings in situ soon after their excavation

MAU, August. Geschichte der decorativen Wandmalerei in Pompeji ... Mit 20 Tafeln in einer Mappe.
Berlin, G. Reimer, 1882. 1 text volume & 1 portfolio with plates. 8vo (text volume) and 1mo (plates portfolio 53 x 43 cm). With 20 large numbered plates showing Pompeii wall paintings in situ, mounted on card stock, loose in a separate portfolio with letterpress title-leaf and contents leaf: 9 sepia collotypes (21 x 16 to 26.5 x 24.5 cm) and 11 chromolithographs (21.5 x 19 to 37 x 36 cm), no. 18 actually comprising 7 small chromolithographs on 1 card, each plate with a letterpress label on the back; and 7 black and white floor plans in the text. Contemporary half sheepskin parchment (text); contemporary blue half cloth portfolio (plates). XII, 462 pp. Full description
€ 7,500
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The rise and fall of the Greeks as a mirror for the Dutch Republic

MEESTER, Andries de (Andreas DEMETRIUS). Der Griecken opganck ende onderganck.
Dordrecht, Isaac Jansz. Canin, 1599. 4to. With the opening words of the title printed from a woodblock, a fine engraved biblical scene with a Latin motto apparently intended as Ecclesiastes 10:8 (a warning of the consequences of injustice) on title-page, and a folding engraved map of Ancient Greece by Joannes van Doetecum (not included in all copies). Contemporary gold-tooled calf. [10], 288, [19] ll. Full description
€ 2,750
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The first Roman geography of the world, including the Arabian peninsula and the Gulf,
in the rare 1502 edition of its first accurate printed text

MELA, Pomponius. De situ orbis Hermolai Barbari fideliter emendatus.
[Venice], (colophon: printed by Albertino da Vercelli, 14 May 1502). Small 4to (20.5 x 15.5 cm). With printed guide letters left for manuscript initials (not filled in). Gold-tooled red half sheepskin (ca. 1820?). XXIIII ll. Full description
€ 6,500
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Enormous panoramic Middle Eastern view with ruins, nearly 6 metres long

[VIEW - MIDDLE EAST]. [Mountainous landscape with Middle Eastern and classical Roman ruins, 6 shepherds with their flocks, several figures riding dromedaries and one riding a donkey, (date?) palms, lakes, etc.].
[Palestine?, ca. 1910?]. An enormous panoramic view drawn in coloured gouaches on a single, continuous roll of paper (70 x 583 cm), the drawing running to the edges of the paper. Full description
€ 35,000
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Account of a scientific expedition through Central America

MORELET, Arthur. Voyage dans l'Amérique centrale, l'île de Cuba et le Yucatan.
Paris, Gide & J. Baudry, 1857. 2 volumes. 8vo. With 2 pages of letterpress music, a folding lithographed map of Yucatan, Guatemala and Cuba, and 22 wood-engraved illustrations, after drawings by the author, heading each chapter. Original publisher's printed paper wrappers, preserved in modern chemises and slipcase. [4], 337, [3]; [4], 323, [3] pp. Full description
€ 4,500
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Close reprint of the work of Cornelius Nepos by Pieter and Joan Blaeu after the 1675 Keuchelius edition,
published by the Officina Hackiana at Leiden

NEPOS, Cornelius. Vitae excellentium imperatorum, observationibus ac notis commentatorum ... illustratae. Accesserunt huic edition praecipuorumn Graeci Imperatorum icons ... ut & Index rerum & verborum praecidenti multo auctior & emendatior.
Amsterdam, Pieter and Joan Blaeu, prostant apud Abr. Wolfgang, Gillis & Joh. II Janssonio-Waesbergios, Widow Dirk & Henrik Boom, Widow Joh. à Someren, & Rembertus Goethals, 1687. 8vo. With an engraved frontispiece by Jan Visscher (Hollstein Dutch, 175-1(4)), 14 small engravings (mainly used as tailpieces), 11 depicting Greek and Carthaginian commanders in a medallion. Contemporary vellum, author's name written on the spine. [32], 439, [40] pp. Full description
€ 750
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Two Hellenistic hexametric poems on antidotes to poisons

NICANDER of Colophon. Theriaca.
Including:
NICANDER of Colophon. Alexipharmaca.
-In Nicander Theriaca scholia auctoris incerti, et vetusta et utilia. In eiusdem Alexipharmaca diversorum auctorum scholia.
Paris, Morelius, 1557. 3 parts in 1 volume. 4to. Each part with its own title-page, with a woodcut caduceus device on all three. Set in roman and Greek types. 17th-century(?) richly gold-tooled red morocco, gilt edges; subtly rebacked, with the original backstrip laid down. [8], “225”[=215], [1 blank]; “80”[=72] pp. Full description
€ 5,000
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Interesting early work on Latin abbreviations: an early 'Capelli'

NICOLAI, Johannes. Tractatus de siglis veterum omnibus elegantioris literaturae amatoribus utilissimus, in quo continentur, quae ad interpretationem numismatum, inscriptionum, juris et fere omnium artium requiruntur, cujus subsidio facile literae explicari possunt.
Leiden, Abraham de Swart, 1703. 4to. With title-page printed in red and black with engraved vignette, 8 engravings in text (1 full-page). Contemporary vellum. [22], 314 pp. Full description
€ 400
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Catalogue of a collection of antiquities bought for the Berlin Museum

PASSALACQUA, Giuseppe. Catalogue raisonné et historique des antiquités découvertes en Égypte ... contenant: 1. Le catalogue ... 2. Des notes et observations ... 3. Des notices et dissertationes scientifiques ...
Paris, Galerie dAntiquites Égyptiennes, 1826. 8vo. With 2 folding lithographic plates. Later paper-covered boards, rebacked in cloth. XV, [1], 303, [1] pp. Full description
€ 1,500
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1484 edition of a great Roman satirist, with the extensive commentaries by Bartolomeo Fonzio

PERSIUS FLACCUS. Satirarum opus [= Satyrae/Saturae].
(Colophon: Venice, Dionysius de Bertochus & Pelegrinus de Paschalibus Bononienses, 10 September 1484). Small folio (29.5 x 21 cm). With the verse text surrounded on three sides by Fonzio's prose commentary, Bertochus and Pelegrinus's woodcut device next to the colophon on the last printed page, with spaces left for manuscript initials without guide letters (not filled in). Set in 2 sizes of Venetian-style roman type (110 and 83 mm/20 lines) with an occasional Greek letter. 19th-century(?) sheepskin parchment. [1 blank], [54], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 14,500
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“the historic cornerstone of the study [of mummification] in English”

PETTIGREW, Thomas Joseph. A history of Egyptian mummies, and an account of the worship and embalming of the sacred animals by the Egyptians; with remarks on the funeral ceremonies of different nations, and observations on the mummies of the Canary Islands, of the ancient Peruvians, Burman priests, &c.
London, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman (back of title-page and colophon: printed by P.P. Thoms), 1834. 4to. With 13 numbered lithographed plates (the first used as frontispiece), including 3 fully and 1 partly coloured by a contemporary hand, of which 2 highlighted in gold. Contemporary half calf, restored and rebacked with parts of the original backstrip laid down, with new tooling and title-label on spine, cloth sides, later endpapers. XXI, [1 blank], 264, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 3,000
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Among Le Pautre’s earliest work

PHILIPPON, Adam. Curieuses recherches de plusieurs beaus morceaus d'ornemens antiques, et modernes, tant dans la ville de Rome, ques autres villes et lieux d'Italie.
Croissant, Adam Philippon, 1645. Wholly engraved print series consisting of a title-page, dedication, privilege, and 50 plates. The leaves are numbered 1-42, followed by 10 plates with their numbers changed by hand, and the privilege.
With: (2) LE PAUTRE, Jean. Frizes feuillages ou Tritons marins antiques et modernes.Paris, P. Mariette, [ca. 1664]. Series of 6 numbered engraved plates, each with two friezes . 2 series in 1 volume. Small folio (26.5 x 18.5 cm). Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [59] ll. Full description
€ 7,000
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The second edition in English, by the greatest translator of the Elizabethan age

PLINIUS Secundus, Gaius (Pliny the Elder) The Historie of the World, commonly called the Naturall Historie.
London, Adam Islip, 1634. 2 parts in one volume. Folio (23.5 x 32 cm). Elaborate woodcut device on title-page; woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Contemporary calf, spine in six compartments, tooled and lettered in gilt. (58), 614, (42) pp. (12), 632, (86) pp. Full description
€ 15,000
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Important survey of ancient Egyptian and Nubian sites now submerged, with a very large and detailed map: a fine copy, partly unopened

PROKESCH, Anton, Ritter von Osten. Das Land zwischen den Katarakten des Nil. Mit einer Karte, ...
Vienna, Carl Gerold, 1831. 12mo (the book) and 17.5 x 25 cm (the folder with the folded map). With a separate large folding lithographed map (98 x 69 cm; image area 93 x 64 cm) assembled from 2 sheets, with the cultivated areas along the river hand-coloured in green as published, also showing 17 floor plans of temples and a plan of a Roman wall. The book in the publishers original light green paper wrappers and the map in a matching green paper folder. [8], 181, [3 blank] pp. plus folding table and separate map. Full description
€ 3,750
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One of the first small-format editions of a classic textbook on rhetoric, with a message for today

QUINTILIANUS, Marcus Fabius. [De institutione oratoria].
(Colophon: Florence, Filippo I Giunta, October 1515). Small 8vo (14.5 x 10 cm). With a title-page containing only the author's name, but with the title in the heading to liber I, and Giunti's woodcut device on the verso of the otherwise blank final leaf. Set entirely in an Aldine-style italic (with upright capitals). Vellum (ca. 1850?). [4], "269" [= 367], [1] ll. Full description
€ 3,950
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A monumental description of the archaeological expedition to Lebanon and Syria

RENAN, Joseph Ernest. Mission de Phénicie.
Paris, Imprimerie Impériale/Nationale, 1864-1874. 14 volumes bound as 13 (7 of text and 7 of plates, the latter bound as 6). Folio (27,5 x 36,5 and 37 x 55,5 cm). With 70 engraved and lithographed numbered plates (including 1 folding), 1 folding map, and 8 plans(including 3 folding), a few in contemporary hand colouring, and several illustrations in the text.Contemporary wrappers. Plates stored in two half cloth portfolios. [4], 884, [4] pp. Full description
€ 25,000
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Lovely set of a tremendously popular history of ancient Greece

ROLLIN, Charles. Histoire ancienne des Egyptiens, des Carthaginois, des Assyriens, des Babyloniens, des Medes et des Perses, de Macedoniens, des Grecs. ... Nouvelle edition.
Paris, printed for the widow of Estienne & her children and the Estienne brothers; by (the widow of) F.A. Quillau and the widow of Simon, 1748-1769. 13 volumes bound as 14. 12mo. With 3 engraved maps, 2 engraved folding plates and 1 engraved folding plan. Contemporary mottled calf, richly gold-tooled spines and binding edges; only volume 11 (bound as 2 volumes) in a different but closely matching binding. ca. 600 pp. per volume Full description
€ 1,500
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Complete set of articles from the first ten years of the Royal Asiatic Society

[ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY]. Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
London, 1824-1834. 3 volumes in 8 parts. 4to. With 80 lithographed plates, including several folding plates and 2 chromolithographed plates, and some smaller illustrations in text. Contemporary blue and grey paper wrappers, kept in two modern half morocco boxes. Full description
€ 18,000
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First edition of “the first actual dispensatory”, with 271 numbered medicines

SCRIBONIUS LARGUS ( Jean RUEL ed.). De compositionibus medicamentorum liber unus, ...
(Colophon: Paris, Simon Du Bois, October 1528). Folio (29 x 20 cm). With Du Bois's woodcut tree and 2 birds device at the end with motto, about 40 woodcut decorated initials (7 series?) plus about 100 repeats. Set in roman types with some preliminaries in an Aldine-style italic (with upright capitals) and occasional words in Greek. Recent parchment. [9], [1 blank], 31, [5] ll. Full description
€ 12,500
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Chinese archaeology in the early 20th century, with 144 collotype plates

SEGALEN, Victor, Gilbert de VOISINS and Jean LARTIGUE. Mission archéologique en Chine (1914). L'art funéraire a l'époque des Han.
Paris, Paul Geuthner, 1923-1935. 1 text volume (4to) and 2 atlas volumes (38.5 x 28 cm). With 121 illustrations in text and 144 collotype plates in the atlas. Text volume in original printed paper wrappers. Atlas in original half cloth, printed paper sides. [3] ll., 304 pp.; XI, [1 blank], [3], [1 blank] pp.; 4 ll. Full description
€ 6,500
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Richly gold-tooled French morocco in the style of "Le Gascon": includes Elichman's Greek, Latin and Arabic Tabula Cebetis and Aurea carmina Pythagoræ

SIMPLICIUS of Cilicia. Commentarius in Enchiridion Epicteti, ex libris veteribus emendatus. Cum versione Hieronymi Wolfii, et Cl. Salmasii animadversionibus, et notis quibus Philosophia Stoica passim explicatur & illustratur.
Leiden, Johannes Maire, 1640. 4 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With three title-pages. Set in roman, Greek and Arabic types. Contemporary French pointillé binding in the style of "Le Gascon", richly gold-tooled in concentric panels on both covers, and in the six compartments of the spine, the second with the title. [20], 332, [12]; [1], [1 blank], 329, [23]; [34], 88, 15 pp. Full description
€ 9,750
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16th-century Antwerp edition of "The Twelve Caesars"

SUETONIUS Tranquillus, Gaius. Caesarum XII libri, iam denuo bonorum exemplarium & commentariorum ope emendati, cum M. Antonii Coccii Sabellici commentariis, nihil annotatu dignum dissimulantibus. Jo. Baptistae Egnatii Veneti, annot. in Suetonium. Annotata in eundem, & loca aliquot restitutae per D. Erasmum Roterodamum.
Antwerp, Jan van der Loe, 1548. 8vo. With woodcut device on title-page and numerous woodcut initials in text. Later marbled boards. [24], 661, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 1,750
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First issue of one of the first and most important books printed by Aldus Manutius,
with first editions of Greek texts by Theocritus, Hesiod and others

THEOCRITUS, HESIOD, and others. [Indication of contents in Greek followed by Latin:] Haec insunt in hoc libro. Theocriti Eclogae triginta. Genus Theocriti & De inventione bucolicorum. Catonis Romani sententiae paraeneticae Distichi. Sententiae septem sapientum. De invidia. Theognidis megarensis siculi sententiae Elegiacae. Sententiae monostichi per capita ex variis poetis. Aurea carmina Pythagorae. Phocylidae Poema admonitorium. Carmina Sibyllae erythraeae De Christo Jesu domino n[ost]ro. Differentia vocis. Hesiodi Theogonia. Eiusdem Scutum Herculis. Eiusdem Georgicon libri duo.
Venice, Aldus Manutius, February "1495" [=1496]. Folio. With 8 fine woodcut headpieces (2 by the famous Poliphilus master) plus 29 repeats, and 23 woodcut outline interlaced initials (3 series: 3-line, 5-line and 7-line) plus 16 repeats. Modern red morocco, gold- and blind-blocked. [140] ll. Full description
€ 39,500
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First edition in the original Greek of the oldest treatise on spherical geometry

THEODOSIUS. Sphaericorum libri tres, nunquam antehac graece excusi.
Paris, André Wechel, 1558. Small 4to (21 x 14 cm). With woodcut publisher's Pegasus device on title-page (repeated on last page), numerous woodcut mathematical diagrams in text, woodcut headpieces and decorated initials. 18th-century tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine and board edges. [8], 54, [2], 70, [2] pp. Full description
€ 9,500
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Hospitality in Roman antiquity

TOMASINI, Jacopo Filippo. De Tesseris Hospitalitatis. Liber singularis.
Amsterdam, Andreas Frisius, 1670. With a frontispiece by Abraham Bloteling depicting travellers, 2 folding engraved plates and engravings in text, some of which are full-page.
[Including:]
TOMASINI, Jacopo Filippo. Titus Livius Patavinus.
Amsterdam, Andreas Frisius, 1670. With a printer's device on title-page,engraving on title, 2 folding
engraved plates including a portrait, 1 engraving in text. 2 works in 1 volume. 12mo. Contemporary vellum, manuscript title in ink on spine. [12], 227, [25]; 125, [17] pp. Full description
€ 400
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Medical work based on Pliny the Elder, Galen and Dioscorides, together with three other texts, from the library of the Russian tsars

[TORINUS (THORER), Albanus (ed).]. De re medica huic volumini insunt...
[Colophon: Basel, Andreas Cratander, 1528]. Folio. With woodcut printer's device on title-page, repeated on final page, 2 pages with 4-piece decorative woodcut borders and numerous woodcut decorated initials. 18th-century half calf, with marbled paper in a tree pattern on sides, gold-tooled spine with the coat of arms of the Russian Tsars. [12], 125, [1] ll. Full description
€ 25,000
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The first dictionary of classical mythology

TORRENTINUS, Hermannus. Elucidarius carminu[m] et historiaru[m] vel vocabularius poeticus co[n]tine[n]s fabulas: historias: provincias: urbes: insulas: fluvios: et montes illustres.
(Colophon:) Hagenau, Heinrich Gran for Johann Rynmann, 1510. 4to. 19th-century blind-tooled red morocco, with a gold-tooled centre-piece on both sides, title, date and location of printing lettered in gold on the spine, gold- and blind-tooled broad turn-ins, gilt edges, blue endpapers. [1 blank], [60], [1 blank] ll. Full description
€ 2,250
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Rare 1527 edition of classical dictionary, owned by the neo-Latin poet Renier Tengnagel (d. 1565)

TORRENTINUS, Hermannus (Herman van der BEKE). Elucidarius poeticus co[n]tinens historias poeticas, fabulas, insulas regiones, urbes, fluvios, mo[n]tesq[ue] insigniores, atq[ue] huiusmodi alia, ...
Antwerp, Michiel Hillen van Hoogstraten, 1527. With the title in an elaborate woodcut border.
With: (2) [FIOCCHI, Andrea Dominico (Andras Dominicus FLOCCUS)] under the name of Lucius FENESTELLA. De magistratibus, sacerdotiisq[ue] Romanorum libellus, iamprimum nitori restitutus.
[Cologne, Hero Fuchs, 1527]. With the title in a finely cut 4-piece woodcut border. 2 editions in 1 volume. 8vo. 16th-century(?) limp vellum (formerly used for a slightly thinner book). The binding is an interesting example of a spine reinforced with a horizontal metal rod at the central sewing support to give more support and prevent the bookblock from becoming concaved or developing sharp kinks; probably bound in Flanders. [88]; [88] ll. Full description
€ 9,500
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The most important classical dictionary of its time, bound with the rare first and only edition
of a polemic against medical malpractice

TORRENTINUS, Hermannus (Herman van der BEKE). Elucidarius poeticus continens historias poeticas, fabulas, insulas, regiones, urbes, fluvios, montesq[ue] insigniores, atq[ue] huiusmodi alia, omnib[us] adolescentibus in poesi versantibus oppidoquam necessarius, ...
Cologne, Eucharius Cervicornus (colophon: Godefried Hittorp), July 1529. With the title in an elaborate woodcut architectural border with the Cologne coat of arms in the head, the death of Cleopatra in the foot, further figures in the right and left sides and 3 putti, one holding a shield with a monogram or mark, perhaps of the artist or woodblock cutter. Set in roman types with 8 and 14 mm roman capitals used as initials.
With: (2) FREUDENBERG, Aethon Johann von. De abusu & impostura medicantiu[m] libellus perquam utilis jucundusq[ue] omnibus, quibus cum medicis erit negocium.
Marburg, Eucharius Cervicornus, 1538. With 1 woodcut decorated initial (white on black with floral decoration) and a vine-leaf ornament (Vervliet 7). Set in roman type with the dedication in an Aldine-style italic and with occasional words in Greek.
2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Sheepskin parchment (ca. 1700?), sewn on 4 supports, red edges, first title lettered in ink in the second spine compartment. [85], [1 blank]; [23] ll. Full description
€ 10,000
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Commentaries and scholia on Demostheness orations, & Harpocrations dictionary:
second edition, in the original Greek, by Aldus's successors, based on his own first edition

ULPIANUS of Emesa and Valerius HARPOCRATION. Commentarioli in olynthiacas, philippicasque Demosthenis orationes. Enarrationes saneque necessariae in tredecim orationes Demosthenis. ...Dictionarium decem Rhetorum. [preceded by the titles in Greek].
(Colophon: Venice, heirs of Aldus Manutius, and his father-in-law Andrea Torresano dAsola [& sons], June) 1527. Folio (31 x 21 cm). With Aldus's famous woodcut dolphin device on the title-page and an older but very similar version on the verso of the otherwise blank last leaf. Set in Greek type (the Upianus in 1 column; the Harpokation in 2 columns) with incidental roman. Recased in 18th-century vellum over flexible boards. 119, [1] ll. Full description
€ 12,000
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Egypt in 309 beautiful illustrations, many in colour

VALERIANI, Domenico and Girolamo SEGATO. Nuova illustrazione istorico-monumentale del basso e dell'alto Egitto.
Including: Atlante monumentale del basso e dell'alto Egitto.
Florence, Paolo Fumagalli, 1836-1837 (text) & 1837-1841 (plates). 2 text volumes (8vo) and 2 plates volumes (large folio). With engraved portrait of Segato as frontispiece in the first text volume and the plate volumes with 160 engraved and aquatint plates (7 double-page), including 51 tinted and/or coloured by a contemporary hand; many plates contain multiple illustrations, making 309 illustrations in total. Contemporary green (text vols.) and brown (plates vols.) half morocco. [2], 491, [1 blank], [4]; 788, [6] pp. text Full description
€ 18,000
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The sculptures of the "Museum Wildianum" in 60 engraved plates, with an attractive double-page view of the library during a visit of Peter the Great - with notable provenance

WILDE, Jacob and Maria de. Signa antiqua e museo Jacobi De Wilde veterum poetarum carminibus illustrata et per Marian filiam aeri inscripta.
Amsterdam, Maria de Wilde, 1700. 4to. With an engraved title-page, an engraved vignette depicting "virtute", 1 large folding plate showing the interior of "Museum Wildianum", a full-page engraved portrait of Maria de Wilde, decorated initials in the text and 60 numbered engraved plates by Maria de Wilde. Contemporary blind-stamped vellum, sewn on 4 supports and laced through the joints, with the manuscript title and author at the head of the spine, red and blue sprinkled edges. [1], [1 blank], [11], [1 blank] pp. and 60 numbered engraved plates. Full description
€ 17,500
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