California Book Fair, 2012

mazing books

Full and detailed descriptions on request.

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The Font of all Science 1. [Il Libro di Sidrach]. Manuscript on paper. [Verona, half of the 15th century].

Manuscript on paper mm 340x220. Written in a bâtarde hand in brown ink. [196] ll. (lacking l. 173, otherwise Complete). Text on a column of 26 lines. Two six-lines initials in red with purple penwork decoration, numerous two-line initials, titles and highlights in red. Unidentified coat of arms painted in blue, red and yellow with initials ‘Mco’ and ‘Cno’ on lower margin of l. [1] recto and verso. Watermarks similar to Briquet, 11736-11740 (Verona, 1444, 1463) and 12135 (Verona, 1491). Contemporary brown morocco with both covers richly tooled in blind with a double frame of triple fillets and 2 lozenge-shaped compartments, all filled with knotwork tools (worn, rbacked in brown morocco); 6 brass bosses on the upper cover and 5 on the lower one. Two clasps. Perfectly preserved.

A fine example of the form that popular science took in the later Middle Ages, the Book of Sidrach or the Font of all Science is an encyclopedia of religious, philosophical, and astrological lore presented in the form of a dialogue between the King Boctus and his astronomer Sidrach, and set in a time 840 years after the death of Noah. The origins of the work are obscure and intentionally so as the authors of such romances were fond of enhancing the veracity of their work by emphasizing its antiquity. No versions exists in any ancient language; all extant versions are in vernaculars: French, Provencal, Italian, English, Flemish and German. The present version is in Italian and was copied probably at Verona, because the language has some forms of Northern vernacular.

Provenance: Richard Heber (his sale, Evans, 10 Feb. 1836, lot 1520); sir Thomas Phillips; H. P. Kraus (Catalogue 1991, n. 146); Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Ritman Collection. $ 92.000

A Treasure of unrecorded texts 2. [Zibaldone: Rime e Prose Diversi]. [Italy, Florence, c. 1450].

Illustrated miscellaneous manuscript on vellum, in Latin and Italian, (mm 230x110). 166 ll. (Complete).

Partially palimpsest (texts 5, 50-51, underlying texts in chancery cursive and rounded Gothic bookhand).

39-46 lines in Italian cursive with some side notes and capitals in red; 2 world maps, one in T-form, the other with outlines of the old world, 14 drawings in colours including the celestial spheres, the zodiac, the eclipses, the climate and wind directions. Bound in English 19th-century calf decorated in gilt.

This is a Renaissance zibaldone or miscellaneous compilation of treatises, poems, letters, orations, written in the middle of the fifteenth century, including some texts that date as early as 1327. Contains 52 different texts among which: the hitherto lost original and unique Latin text of the Florentine Inquisition’s decree against the astrologer-heretic Cecco d’Ascoli (1269-1327), known only in Italian versions from much later manuscripts; a widely illustrated copy of the Gregorio Dati’s Sfera; an exceptionally early witness of Reformation history, purporting to be written by the Devil, dating from the period of the Great Schism, c. 1408; a document of major importance for the history of the Albizzi conspiracy and overthrow of Cosimo de’ Medici in Florence in September 1433, written by Nicholo Tinucci (1390-1440), an influential notary and poet, under torture on the rack, forced to sign the present text against Cosimo I de’ Medici, who after one year’s exile in Padua, returned to begin the uninterrupted 300 years domination of Florence by the Medici family; a poem against sodomy by Giovanni da Prato, the Acquattino, which is the nickname of the most famous man mentioned (as a sodomite): Giovanni Gherardi da Prato, a major character in Florence early Renaissance literature.

Provenance: Richard Heber; Sir Thomas Phillipps, his manuscript 8334; Martin Schøyen, The Schøyen Collection, Spikkestad, Norway, his MS 900, purchased from H.P. Kraus in 1979. $ 320.000

List of contents 1. Ave Marie, che se del cielo zarna, piena de gratia tante, Poem.

2. Domenico di Giovanni Burchiello, Poem in terza rima.

3. Buonaccorso Pitti, Canzone. 4. Gregorio Dati, La Sfera, a cosmological poem. 5. Cecco d’Ascoli, Sententia data per lo inquisitore contro a ciecho d’ascholi, decree by the Florentine inquisition. 6. Ludovici Ghetti, Inventiva d’una in positione di nuova gravezza, a report on raising taxes to provide for the defence of state security. 7. Chronicle of Florence, beginning in 1440, including bits of poetry. 8. Lettara mandata per gran turcho al papa, 14 September 1454. 9. Dominico da Prato, Invettiva fatta per ser Dominicho da Prato e suoi aderenti contro all’acquattino, a poem in terza rima in 835 lines. 10. Theodoric of Niem, Lettera mandata per lo diavolo al papa. 11. Domine ne in furore tuo arguas me, poem. 12. Giovanni Villani, Historie fiorentine, Book xii: La vita et el governo feci messer Gualtieri ducha d’Atena quando fu chiamato signore di Firenze, 1342-1346. 13. Tractatus de Pistolentia, Plague tract, a compilation of signs and causes of the Plague culled from various authors including Avicenna. 14.

Francesco Filelfo, Oratione delle laude di Dante Alleghieri poeta Fiorentino, 29 June 1432; 15. Giovanni Villani, Historie Fiorentine, part of Book xii. 16. Stefano Porcari, Risposta facta […] a uno prestesto fatto per la signoria a rettori di Firenze et altri ufici, oratione. 17. Stefano Porcari, Risposta fatta […] a uno pretesto come di sopra exortatorio ad vitia, oratione; 18. Chome etuoni si cucano et le saette, a treatise on the effects of the sun and the weather on behavior and health. 19. Lamento della chasa de Gambacorti di Bangno, poem. 20. Buccio di Ranallo, Canzona morale d’uno prete et d’una Tomma di Monache, poem. 21. Nobilissimo et glorioso giovane all cui monarchia la mia liberta o sottopesta, a very flattering letter to a patron. 22. Prayer, apparently an obituary, dated 13 April, 1466. 23. Che sita alucha al podesta e in prigione, cha egli facto eglia toccho denari, poem. 24. Antonio Pucci, poem in quarta rima on the infirmities and delights of old age. 25. Bene se nuovo in tale cosa dimandi, an anonymous book in 18 sections of astrological interrogations. 26. Madre mia dammi marito figlia mia dimmi el perche, ribald poetry in the form of a dialogue between mother and daughter on husbands. 27. Persentendo

e fiorentini 1347, about the deeds of the king of Hungary among the Florentines, from an unidentified larger historical work. 28. La inbastiata è questa recitata per magistro Tommaso, about the deeds of the king of Hungary among the Florentines, from an unidentified larger historical work. 29. Giovanni Cherico, Risposta fatta in presenza della maiesta reale, about the deeds of the king of Hungary among the Florentines, from an unidentified historical work. 30. The deeds of the King of Hungary among the Florentines, part of an unidentified historical work. 31. Articoli et oppinioni et fede degli heretici, a compilation from, now lost, inquisitorial records in Florence of 22 doctrines of the Fraticelli. 32. Giovanni Villani, Historie Fiorentine, Book xii, Ch. 108-112, on the exploits of Louis I, King of Hungary; 33. Qui Dappie vederai la leggie di Machometto et suo miracoli, poem. 34. Giovanni d’Arriguccio Pegholotti, Lettera mandata […] a frate Giovani Domenici. 35. Lettera mandata per lo maestro di sancto Giovanni di Rodi significante della nativita di antichristo. 36. Nicholo Tinucci, Examinatione. 37. Bartolomeo della Capra, Commissione fatta a Mess. Francescho Spinola amiraglo della Armata de Genovesi contro a vinitiani et fiorentini nel anno 1431.

38. Excelsa patria mia pero che amore, poem; 39. Lamento della citta di Roma, poem. 40. Di certe tempeste et fuochi che furono in Firenze in questi tempi, 20 & 22 April, 1347, 1 June 1337, 1 July 1338.

41. D’una grande mortalita et carestia che fu in Firenze et di intorno d’una cometa che apparvue, 31 March 1340. 42. O guidicie maggiore vieni alla bancha, poem. 43. Nicholo Ciecho, Della ingratitudine, poem. 44. Bene felicie questa nostra etate, poem. 45. Risposta che mano la contessa di Miriglano di Bologna a messere Carlo Cavalcha bo signore di Cremona. 46. Francesco Petrarcha, O sacre sante muse che nel monte di Pernaso conterze dimorate, poem. 47. [?]; 48. Admonitione da el padre all figluola quando nella manda a marito. 49. List of contents. 50. Pino Strozzi, Epistola a Mess. Giovanni Bonham Porta Fiorentino. 51. Historical Text, mentioning Antonius and Phillipus. 52. Statutes of an Italian town, including a legal document dated 1349.

At least texts 1, 2, 7, 13, 31 are unique and unpublished.

«One of the rarest and most enigmatic groups of prints in the history of Western art» (Schmelcher) 3. The so-called ‘Mantegna Tarocchi’ (E-Series). Set of 50 engravings by an anonymous master.

[Northern Italy, c. 1465].

198x132 mm, two plates respectively printed on 25 bifolios measuring 255x198 mm and bound in a single gathering of 25 leaves, in the original sequence of the numbers. Two plates from the S-series printed on the same bi-folio and one inserted from another copy and laid on 15th century paper. Re-cased in a simple, attractive ancient boards. Wonderful proofs still in book-form.

An extremely rare and important complete set of one of the few works of art – not only in the field of the engraving – that fully expresses not only the life and the costumes, but the entire Weltanschauung, of the Italian courtly and learned class in the fifteenth century. $ 1.000.000

«The first book printed with illustrations of a technical or scientific character depicting the progressive engineering ideas» (PMM) 4. Valturio, Roberto. De re militari. [Verona], Giovanni di Niccolò da Verona, 1472.

Folio (mm 310x215). 262 ll. (with fifth and sixth blank ll. and also l. 197 blank not part of the collation and suppressed in the majority of the copies). 92 woodcut illustrations, with handwritten captions in red ink; one of the illustrations is impressed in brown ink. Manuscript dedicatory verses to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta on 11 lines handwritten in capital letters alternately in yellow and blue ink. On recto of first and seventh leaves, 8-line initials in gold with white-vine decoration on varicolor ground, 2- to 9-line chapter capital letters handwritten in red ink. At the beginning of each chapter manuscript titles in italic in red ink. French 16th-century calf binding, boards with a central wreath in gold, spine with five double raised-bands and title printed in gold; gilt edges.

This book is an editio princeps in many aspects: the treatise is regarded as the first book printed with technical illustrations, the first printed at Verona, the second Italian printed book with illustrations, the first containing woodcuts by an Italian artist, the first example of collaboration between a printer and an author. The present copy contains also an unrecorded full-page woodcut printed in brown ink instead that in black ink, which may be the first example of a woodcut impressed ‘in bistro’, and it has manuscript captions in red ink and titles in yellow and blue ink as the dedication copies and the original manuscript. $ 900.000

The first vernacular edition of the «encyclopaedia of all the knowledge of the ancient world» (PMM) 5. Plinius Secundus, Gaius. Historia naturale [...] tradocta di lingua latina in fiorentina per Christophoro Landino fiorentino. Venice, Nicolaus Jenson, 1476.

Royal folio (mm 426x273). 413 ll. (of 415, first and last blanks replaced with ancient paper). Contemporary richly blind-tooled calf on pasteboards. Wide margined copy in very good condition.

First Italian edition, and the first in any modern language, of Pliny’s encyclopaedic work, translated by the Florentine humanist Cristoforo Landino (1424-1492). It was the first translation into the vernacular commissioned for the specific purpose of publication in print, having been commissioned from Landino and Jenson by the Strozzi banking firm in Florence. $ 115.000

The key classical text in the history of geography 6. Ptolemaeus, Claudius. Cosmographia. Vicenza, Hermann Liechtenstein, 13 September 1475.

Folio (mm 304x205). 142 ll., lacking the first blank. Three woodcut diagrams on bb5 verso, bb6 verso and bb7 verso. Capital letters alternatively coloured in red and blue. Contemporary half-calf on wooden boards, preserving one (of two) original tie with oyster clasp, three raised bands on spine. An amazing unsophisticated copy with wide margins.

First edition of the most celebrated geographical text of antiquity and of western geographical knowledge. The translation is by Jacopo Angeli da Scarperia, and was made between 1406 and 1409; its circulation in the fifteenth century did much both directly and indirectly to create the modern world. The Geographia (or Cosmographia) of Ptolemy is by the same celebrated mathematician of antiquity who gave us the mathematical picture of the universe which held sway until Copernicus. It is partly based on the work of one Marinus of Tyre (c. 100 AD), who is known only from Ptolemy’s mention of him, which itself is founded on many localised accounts of itineraries and voyages recorded in what the Greeks called periploi. Details of places and where they stand in relation to each other is, for example, a feature of much of Herodotus’s Histories, but the location details are incidental. Ptolemy’s work is much more accurate; he also seems to have been the first to locate places in terms of their longitude and latitude. His text is in eight books, book I giving details for drawing a world map with two different projections (one with linear and the other with curved meridians), books II-VII being a list of some 8000 locations with longitude and latitude (with at the end of book VII instructions for a perspective representation of a globe), and book VIII breaking down the world map into twenty-six smaller areas and providing descriptions which might serve for cartographers. However, manuscripts of the work do not seem to have circulated with maps.

A shadowy figure, an engineer of Alexandria and possibly a contemporary of Cosmas Indicopleustes and John Philoponus, one Agathodaimon, is said to have sketched the map of the oikoumene, or entire inhabited world, but we have no reason to believe that this map (or any others) formed part of the manuscript tradition, which is reflected in the unillustrated first edition. $ 780.000

The first classical text printed with Greek type 7. Aesopus. Vita et fabulae. [Milan], Bono Accursio, [c. 1478].

Three parts in one volume, 4° (mm 210x150). 168 ll. 1840’s London brown coarse-grained morocco binding by Charles Stanley Bevan, over bevelled wooden boards, richly blind-tooled, in the center of the upper side the gilt crest of William Stuart of Tempsford Hall surmounted by his motto ‘Nobilis Ira’.

Very good copy, light browned stains and a cancelled manuscript note on recto of l. a1.

Editio princeps of Aesop in Greek, and the first appearance of any classical text in Greek type.

Provenance: William Stuart; Richard Copley Christie’s; John Rylands; Manchester University Library; Martin Breslauer. $ 680.000

The biggest incunable Bible 8. Biblia cum glossa ordinaria. [Strassburg, Adolf Rusch for Anton Koberger, not after 1480].

4 parts in 3 volumes, folio (mm 472x332). 1210 ll. of 1211 (lacking the last blank leaf). The beginning of the Genesis surrounded by a rich illuminated border in violet ink decorated in gold. 68 big illuminated initials, a great numbers of initials painted in red or blue throughout the text. Uniformly bound in contemporary North-Italian calf on wooden boards (Alto Adige or Veneto). A dream set.

Stunning copy of the first edition of the Latin Bible with the Glossa ordinaria, the standard Bible commentary of the later eleventh and early twelfth century, composed by Anselm of Laon, Ralph of Laon and Gilbert of Auxerre. The layout preserves the traditional manuscript format, distinguishing the Biblical text from the Glossa ordinaria surrounding it, and from the interlinear gloss, which usually consists of definitions or paraphrases of specific words. Glossed manuscript Bibles of the twelfth century were usually divided into multiple volumes, a fact that may be reflected in the many compositional units of the present edition. This feature also permitted considerable variation in the binding of copies of the printed edition.

In addition to copies bound in four volumes, others are found in five volumes or in three, and the order in which the sections of text are bound also varies from copy to copy. The unusual method of quire signing found in this edition, in which the signatures consist of the first 7 letters of the alphabet repeated nonsequentially, does not indicate the order of the quires. Rather, these letters appear to be a form of press figure, each letter referring to one of the seven presses used to print the work. Three of the four type fonts used in the edition were also used by Johann Amerbach of Basel, from whom Rusch is known to have borrowed types and with whom he corresponded regularly. Albert Hartmann, editor of Amerbach’s correspondence, attributed the edition to him, an opinion reflected for a time in the literature of incunable studies. The letters, however, make reference to the loan of types and speak of the Bible in terms which imply that it was Rusch’s. They also indicate that Rusch was under contract to Anton Koberger of Nuremberg for the marketing of the edition, but that he kept about one hundred copies at Strassburg to sell on his own account. The edition is dated from inscriptions in the Cambridge University Library and Sion College copies which imply that those copies were purchased in 1480. Rubrication inscriptions in Munich and Budapest copies are dated 1481. $ 285.000

From Franchino Gaffurio’s Library 9. Perottus, Nicolaus. Cornucopiae linguae latinae. Venice, Baptista de Tortis, 19 October 1490.

Folio (mm 307x212). [16], 291 ll., the last blank present. On the lower margin of l. a3r coat of arms in full color, with extensions of acanthus leaves in maroon, green, red and blue, with initials ‘F G’ added later. Original half vellum binding, boards covered with a 15th-century manuscript leaf, paper title-label on upper cover. Very good copy, some mostly marginal dampstains in first half and near end, rebacked in the 18th century.

A splendid volume from the library of the renowned Renaissance music theorist and musician Franchino Gaffurio (1451-1522), his books were occasionally borrowed by his friend Leonardo da Vinci, who often returned them annotated (for the friendship between the two artists see also no. 21). Gaffurio acquired this book in 1494, possibly to aid in the preparation of his Practica musicae, and it was still in his collection when it was given to the church of the Incoronata at Lodi inventoried in 1518 (see E. Motta, I libri della chiesa dell’Incoronata di Lodi nel 1518, in Il libro e la Stampa, i (1970), pp. 105-112).

Provenance: from the Library of Franchino Gaffurio, with his manuscript inscriptions on l. B8v and l.

O5v dated xvi January 1494. $ 54.000

«The greatest piece of illustration in the classic style in 15th-century Venetian books» (Hind) 10. Ketham, Johannes de. Fasciculo di medicina. Venice, Giovanni and Gregorio de Gregori da Forlì, 5 February 1493-1494.

Folio (mm 310x210). 52 ll., 10 full-page woodcuts. The illustrations at ll. a1r, a2r and f2v are handcoloured, the one at l. f2v is coloured, apparently by stencil-process, in red, olive, yellow, and black. 18thcentury paper-boards ‘alla rustica’; 18th-century decorated paper on spine; sparkled edges. Good copy, repairs to the external margin of ll. a1, a2, a6. Manuscript notes in brown ink on the upper margin of some leaves.

First edition in Italian. For this vernacular edition, the second after the 1491 Latin one, five of the original blocks were recut and four new woodcuts depicting a surgeon’s activities were added. These latter cuts, which have been associated with Gentile Bellini, are recognized as the first realistic figures to appear in a medical book. $ 300.000

The lost Musurus’ Theocritus 11. Theocritus. Idyls. Haesiod. Works and Days [and other works]. Venice, Aldo Manuzio, February 1495-96.

Folio (mm 298x202). 140 ll., 19 ll. inserted containing additional text in manuscript. Woodcut initials and headpieces, many of which hatched with brown ink. Various items with interlinear latin glosses in early hand. Forming a two-volume set with the first edition of Gaza Grammar, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, 1495.

Uniformly bound in early 18th-century English sprinkled calf, gilt and painted edges including fore-edge painting of the Sebright arms. A beautiful set.

Extraordinary copy of the Aldine Theocritus’ Idylls 1-18 and Hesiod’s Works and Days, to which are added 19 manuscript leaves in the hand of the Greek leading scholar and humanist Marcus Musurus containing additional texts of Theocritus: the Heraklistos, Herakles Leoponthos, Lenai, Epigrammata (1-15), and Oaristys.

All of this Theocritean texts are omitted from the 1496 Aldine imprint, edited by Musurus himself, they will first appear in part in the Florence edition of 1516 printed by the Giunta, and totally in the 1516 later

edition by Kallierges. Probably a superior manuscript of the Theocritus came to the Aldine Press too late to be included in the printed text and Musurus wrote out the missing poems.

The copy made by Musurus is of outstanding importance because it is taken from a famous manuscript, different from all others, which belonged to the nobleman from Padua Paolo Capodivacca and which has been destroyed during the fire of his estate. The Giunta’s imprint was edited by Eufrosyno Bonini and in the preliminary epistle addressed to him by Filippo Pandolfini, who had been a pupil of Musuro in Venice, we know that the Florentine edition is based on a manuscript amended by Musuro by using the Paduan manuscript, which is told to be a ‘codice antiquissimo’ in the work Emendationes in nonnulla loca Theocriti depravata by Núñez de Guzmán. The Spanish scholar probably had access too to the codex when he was in Bologna (from 1490 to 1498).

An accurate collation both of the printed texts and our Aldine copy with Musurus’ manuscript addition is still to be made. A comparative study of this materials should reveal new important informations both about the manuscript tradition of Theocritus and his reception during the humanistic period. The first confirmation about the authenticity of this Musurus’ manuscript was made by the famous scholar Nicolas Barker $ 1.200.000

Actually a painting in a book 12. Lucianus Samosatensis. Opera (Dialogoi, graece). Florence, Lorenzo di Francesco de Alopa, 1496.

Folio (mm 330 x 235). 262 ll. (of 264, lacking the first and last blank leaves). An amazing Italian coeval illuminated frame on the recto of the first page: the top margin is occupied by a further decoration of two symmetrical cornucopiae, two peacocks and flowers and fruit, the lower margin contains a large cartouche inside which there is an heraldic LĂŠopard lionĂŠ as an unidentified coat of arms (smudged). The right margin very finely painted represents almost the entire height of a scholar with long curly hair, sitting in a chair and reading a book open on a lectern, quite surely Lucianus himself. On the same page a large initial A from an height of ten lines in gold on black with interlaced branches as part of a portico supported by a cherub. Nice 17th-century binding in limp vellum, gilt-tooled title on red label and decorations on spine.

A good copy, with wide margins.

Very rare original edition of Lucian of Samosata’s Dialogues, one of the most complex and refined Greek authors.

A typographical masterpiece, one of the most important books printed in Florence in 15-century. $ 125.000

The most beautiful Greek book of the fifteenth century 13. Etymologicum Magnum. Venice, Zacharias Kallierges for Nikolaos Vlastos and Anna Notaras, 8 July 1499.

Folio (mm 393x273). [224] ll. 23 large frames decorated with arabesques, a usual topos of Byzantine manuscripts, printed in red using three blocks. 24 ten-lines woodcut capital letters. Amazing copy, bound in 16th-century brown calf, possibly Swiss, roll-stamped in blind with roses, sprays and foliage, wyverns and griffins. Rebacked.

First edition of the ‘Great Greek Etymologic’, the first book from the first press of Zacharias Kallierges and Nikolaus Vlastos, the earliest one founded by Greeks in the history of printing. Ten years in the making, this first production was also his masterpiece, and the Greek type alone, designed and cut by Kallierges himself using his own calligraphic hand as a model, took five years to produce. The result is almost universally acknowledged as the most beautiful Greek book of the fifteenth century.

Provenance: Agostino Giustiniani - the orientalist who edited the 1516 Genoa’s Polyglot Psalter (see no.

19) - his manuscript ex-libris on first leaf. Leather bookplate of Estelle Doheny. $ 125.000

Discover your Fortune 14. Spirito, Lorenzo. Libro De la Ventura. Bologna, [Caligola Bazalieri, 1496-1500].

Folio (mm 315x200). 44 ll. numbered ii-xxxxiiii. On l. 2r a full-page woodcut representing the Whell of Fortune; 5 pages decorated with a central woodcut surrounded by several images showing the combinations on a three-dice throw; 20 pages illustrated with a full-page circular diagram and 20 small woodcuts of prophets and biblical characters. Early 19th-century half-calf binding.

The only known copy of this Bolognese incunable edition of the first Fortune-telling book, profusely illustrated probably by the enigmatic artist Piero da Ciza who signed the architectural frames engraved on leaves 2v-4v. His name occurs in only three other editions: a Bolognese calendar [IGI 9373], the Viazo da Venesia al sancto Jherusalem (see the next description) and in the 1508 reprint of this edition (only one copy recorded in the Marciana Library).

Provenienza: Tammaro de Marinis, according to a signed typescript letter addressed to Dyson Perrins pasted on the second inner-board; bookplate ‘Johnathan Peckover’ and ‘Algerina Peckover’. $ 130.000

The first Italian pilgrim’s guide 15. Niccolò da Poggibonsi. Viazo da Venesia al Sancto Iherusalem et al monte sinai sepulcro de sancta chaterina piu copiosamente et verissimamente descrito. Bologna, Giustiniano Rubiera, 6 March 1500.

Folio (mm 313x209). 68 ll. Woodcut on title, beginning of text with full woodcut border, 144 woodcuts in text, printer’s device at end. Wide margins, preserving many deckle edges. Slightly browned, a few tears restored. Contemporary half leather over wooden boards, remains of two clasps. Upper cover with ink title: “el viagio di hervsalem”, a crowned coat of arms below.

First edition of the first printed Italian pilgrims’s guide. The woodcuts show town views of Venice, Pola, Zara, Famagusta, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum, Jericho, Damascus, Beirut, Alexandria, Cairo and many others; a lot of churches and chapels, tombs and holy places, for example the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Chapel of St. John the Baptist, Castle of David, Site of the Last Supper, Garden of Gethsemane, Church with tomb of the Virgin, Tower of Babel, Church of St. Catherine and her tomb, etc.; furthermore, there are some animals, among them an elephant and a giraffe.

The woodcut border on l. a2r consists of several Renaissance motifs as columns, vases and dolphins, printed on a black ground, in imitation of Venetian work. It is signed: “PIERO CIZA FE. QUESTO IN. TAIGIO”.

The only recorded copy of this edition in private hands, just 10 copies in public libraries recorded by istc.

Provenance: Marino Sale, Rome 1903? (entry in pencil on pastedown); front pastedown with bookplate of Charles William Dyson Perrins and his shelfmark lable no. 141; Benjamin Hansford. $ 450.000

The most beautiful set in the world 16. Homerus. [Opera in Greek]. Venice, Aldo Manuzio, [after 31 October 1504]. (With:) Quintus Smyrnaeus. Derelictorum ab Homero libri quatuordecim [Greek]. Venice, Aldo Manuzio, [about 1505].

Three parts in two volumes, 8° (mm 163x100). 334; 250; 172 ll. Uniformly bound in amazing contemporary Venetian brown morocco bindings ‘alla greca’ on wooden boards. Richly blind-tooled boards; manuscript title on spine and on the lower edge, the other edges painted in blue. Traces of clasps.

Handsome copy, some light dampstaining, and some minor wormholes; corners of the bindings restaured.

Excedeengly rare copy of the Aldine edition of the complete Works of Homer in an amazing contemporary ‘alla greca’ binding. First Aldine edition of Homer, second absolute one; first edition of the 16th-century and first pocket edition of this milestone of western literature. This set is of great rarity also because it contains - bound with Homer’s Works - also the first edition of the so-called Post-homerica: Quintus Smyrnaeus’s epic poem in 14 cantos, which covers the period between the Iliad and the Odyssey, followed by Coluthus’ De raptu Helenae and Tryphiodorus’ De Troiae excidio. Although undated, it was probably issued to accompany Aldus’ 1504 Homer.

Provenance: manuscript inscription by Antonio Covi with the mention of his purchase of the book ‘1513…liber venetiis emptus libris octo’; owner’s inscriprion by Covi repeated six times in the two volumes ‘Antonii Covi comedentis unum caponem in prandio liber graecus Homerus – Antonio de Casterno 1516’; ex-libris of Leo S. Olschki on the Iliad; Christie’s London May 3, 1995; Pierre Bergé, Genève, November 19, 2004, lot 58. $ 800.000

In an extraordinary 16th century painted binding 17. Pinder, Ulrich. Speculum passionis domini nostri Ihesu Christi. Nuremberg, F. Peypus, 30 August 1507.

Folio (mm 285x196). [1], 90 ll., last blank present. Illustrated by 76 woodcuts, 39 of which on full-page,

by Hans Schäeufelein, Hans Baldung Grien and Hans von Kulmbach. Amazing red morocco binding of the last quarter of the 16th-century decorated on boards by frames of large leaves and flower tools, in the centre of the upper cover a painted representation of the flagellation before Pilate, in the lower part a medallion with the painted arms of Alessandro de’ Medici as a Cardinal (Pope as Leone xi since 1605), above the arms of Gregorio xiii (Buoncompagni, by whom he was created Cardinal in 1583), a painted garland of flowers in a cartouche below, the centre of the lower cover filled with leaf and flower decoration similar to the borders, title with gilt decorations and two labels, one in paper and one in vellum, both with manuscript title inside; two clasps; edges gilt and gauffered. Handsome copy.

First edition of one of the greatest illustrated books of the Renaissance Germany, in an extraordinary near contemporary painted binding. The edition of the Speculum contains a large number of woodcuts by Hans Baldung Grien, the great painter and engraver who had been a pupil of Dürer, and Hans Leonhard Schäeufelein. The woodcuts were originally cut for this edition, probably in Dürer’s atelier during the period 1505–07, while Dürer was in Italy. $ 220.000

Plato, the groundstone of the Aldine Academy 18. Plato. Omnia Platonis Opera. Venice, Aldo Manuzio, September 1513.

Two parts in one volume folio (mm 282x190), [30], 502 pp.; 439 pp. (lacking l.ii4 blank). Approximately 50 leaves with neat restoration to lower outer blank corners. Original limp vellum, titled in ink on spine.

First edition in Greek of Plato’s Works, edited by Marcus Musurus. One of the most representative and influential Aldine publications, dedicated to Pope Leo x. The Plato’s writings had been translated into Latin for Lorenzo de' Medici and was first published in Florence in 1484.

One of only few copies with the not printed signature 2/2 supplied by hand, probably by Aldo himself.

Provenance: Welsh bookplate “Fy nuw fy ngwlad a i gwyrthiau”. $ 90.000

An early quotation of Columbus’ discoveries 19. Psalterium, Hebraeum, Graecum, Arabicum, & Chaldaeum, cum tribus latinis interpretationibus & glossis. Genoa, Pietro Paolo Porro and Nicola Giustiniani, 1516.

Imperial 4° (mm 330x237). [200] ll. Beautiful woodcut interlace title-page border, title and Psalter openinig (a4v-5r) printed in black and red. Woodcut initials, printer’s device. Text on 8 columns in Roman, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic types. Wide margined copy in contemporary blind-tooled calf, rebacked, fly-leaves replaced.

First polyglot edition of the Psalter, the first edition in Aramaic (called Chaldean), and the second book printed in Arabic. The editor, the Dominican Agostino Giustiniani, Bishop of Nebbio, summoned the printer Porrus from Turin to produce the book, which he hoped would be the first part of a full polyglot Bible. The edition is especially famous for Giustiniani's gloss to Psalm 19.4: "Their line is gone out to through all the earth. And their words to the end of the world". With native Genoese pride, he wrote a lengthy narrative of Christopher Columbus's voyages to America. About Giustiniani see also no. 13. $ 28.000

From the Library of Robert and Henry Estienne 20. Aeschylus. Tragoediae sex. Venice, heirs of Aldo Manuzio and Andrea Torresano, February 1518.

(Bound with:) Musaeus. Musaei opusculum de Herone & Leandro. Orphei argonautica. Eiusdem hymni. Orpheus de lapidibus. Venice, heirs of Aldo Manuzio and Andrea Torresano, November 1517.

Two works in a volume, 8° (mm 162x93). 113, [1]; 80 ll. Two woodcut illustrations in the Musaeus. Contemporary French binding, blind tooled with border frame with knots, and a central flower tool.

First edition of Aeschylus’ Tragedies, second Aldine edition of the popular epyllion Hero et Leander by the grammarian Musaeus, and first Aldine edition of Orpheus.

Extraordinary copy owned, read, studied and annotated by the two most celebrated scholar printers: Robert and Henri Estienne. The marginal notes are present throughout the Musaeus and the Orpheus’ works, and it’s not a case. In fact, at the Estienne time, the Aldine’s Aeschylus was considered a ‘philological disaster’ not deserving the Estienne’s attention. On the contrary the famous and well-known Aldine’s edition of Musaeus and Orpheus has been the basis for the Estienne’s editions of Poetae Graeci Principes (1566), as remembered by Henry himself.

Provenance: On title page manuscript ownership in Greek by Robert Estienne. On recto of the first flyleaf ‘Henricus Stephanus’, written in a small rectangular frame. $ 165.000

The book that Leonardo didn’t have the chance of reading 21. Gaffurio, Franchino. De harmonia musicorum instrumentorum opus. Milan, Gottardo da Ponte, 27 November 1518.

Folio (mm ). [4], C, [2] ll. Two woodcut portraits of the author on the title (instructing scholars) and at the end (playing an organ); many woodcut diagrams (15 full-page), smaller figures, diagrams and two musical examples. Beautiful copy, bound in contemporary limp vellum.

First edition of one of the most famous humanist musical treatises, dedicated to Jean Grolier. This important and beautifully illustrated volume is the last and most sophisticated of Gafurius’ music treatises.

Provenance: Autograph dedication, on title-page, by the author Franchinus Gaffurius to a friend in Amboise, which must be identified with Leonardo da Vinci: «franchinus Gafurius laudensis Regius musicus corteq(ue) mediolanefis phonastus mo Excell. Amico Ambatiae, viro honorandissimo» On the fly-leaf a partially crossed-out signature “Batta de Vilano” and “Pertinet ad Monasterium Sancti Iuliani Turinensis”.

In fact at the time of the publication of the volume Leonardo was in Amboise (Ambacia) with his pupil Francesco Melzi and his loyal servant, Batista de Vilanis, who was mentioned in the artist’s will (23 April 1519). Being the book printed at the end of 1518, it is possible that Leonardo, who died at the beginning of 1519, never saw it even if his friend had sent it to him. Thus the butler, Batista de Vilanis, would have taken possession of the volume, signing it with his name “Batta de Vilano”; later it arrived to the nearby Abbey of Saint-Julien de Tours. Among the intelligentsia of the Sforza Court the figure of Gafurio, chief ecclesiastic musician, stands in sharp relief so near Leonardo, that it’s very likely that he used to attend Gafurio’s rich personal library in Milan and that the two men together bent over the pages of the Plutarch acquired by him in 1494. This copy of the Harmonia musicorum could be the keystone to confirm the hypothesis that Gaffurio was the man in the Portrait of a Musician. $ 650.000

«I swear by Apollo the Physician and Asclepius…»

22. Hippocrates. Omnia opera [in Greek]. Venice, Aldo Manuzio, May 1526.

Folio (mm 298x200). [6], 233 ll. Bound in 17th-century ‘moucheté’ brown calf; spine richly decorated by gilt tools and with gilt title within brown morocco label. Edges gilt and gauffered, manuscript title in a contemporary hand on the lower edge: ‘Hipp. Opera. Greco’. Handsome copy.

Excedeengly rare editio princeps of the Hippocratic corpus. The Aldine text marked a considerable advance over the manuscript from which Marco Fabio Calvo had done his Latin translation (Rome, 1525). The works cover surgery, epidemiology, pharmacology, embryology and anatomy, including treatises on prognosis and general health care. The Hippocratic Oath, expressing since Antiquity the fundamental ethical and moral standards of the medical profession, is here published as part of the preliminaries, separate from the main body of texts. $ 80.000

The prototype of the courtesy book 23. Castiglione, Baldassare. Il libro del Cortegiano. Venice, heirs of Aldo Manuzio and Andrea Torresano d'Asola, April 1528.

Folio (mm 302 x 205). 122 ll. Modern vellum over pasteboards, gilt edges. Very good copy.

First edition of The Courtier, literary masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance and prototype of the courtesy book. Written in the form of a dialogue at the court of Urbino, it treats the virtues and qualities which the courtier should cultivate. The Courtier embodies the highest social and moral ideas of the Italian Renaissance, and was immensely influential, being translated into most European languages. Its influence can be seen in the work of Cervantes, Corneille and Shakespeare, and ÂŤits conversational form had a great impact on the development of English drama and comedyÂť (PMM). $ 45.000

From the Library of Thomas Cranmer, in an astonishing contemporary Tudor binding by John Reynes 24. Herodian. Herodiani Historici graeci libri octo ab Angelo Politiano latinitate donate. Paris, Simon Colines, 1529.

8° (mm 173x109). [32], 102 pp. Contemporary English blind-stamped calf binding by John Reynes, upper cover decorated by an outer border enclosing a large coat of arms and emblems of the Passion, the arms are supported by two unicorns above a scroll reading the motto: ‘redemptoris mundi arma’ (Saviour of the World), with two small escutcheons above incorporating the letters ‘I.R’ (the cipher and trademark of Reynes); the lower-cover is divided into two panels: at the upper half is blind-stamped a panel showing the Royal Arms supported by a dragon and hound, at the upper corner there are the sun, the moon and two small escutcheons bearing the cross of St. George and the arms of the City of London, the lower panel contains a Tudor rose with Henry viii’s cockerel below, flanked by angels and encircled by the motto: ‘haec rosa virtutis de coelo missa sereno eternum fulgens regia sceptra feret’, at its corners are repeated of the sun, the moon, and the cipher and trademark of Reynes. Spine with three raised-bands.

Provenance: from the Library of Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry viii and Edward vi and leader of the English Reformation. $ 52.000

Greek arithmetical legacy to the Renaissance 25. Psellus, Michael. Opus dilucidum in quatuor mathematicas disciplinas, arithmeticam, musicam, geometriam & astronomiam [in Greek]. Venice, Stefano Nicolini da Sabbio & brothers, 1532.

8° (mm 142x91). [56] ll. Decorated woodcut headings and many woodcut diagrams printed in the margins; woodcut initials throughout. Bound in ancient cartonnage. Handsome copy.

First very rare edition of this important treatise about arithmetic by the byzantine writer and statesman Michael Psellus (1018-c. 1078). The author «was one of the last of the Greek writers on arithmetic. This part of his work is devoted solely to the theory of numbers, and it represents the arithmetical inheritance derived from the older Hellenic civilization. The treatise covers the mediaeval Quadrivium – arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy – and is the only late Greek work on arithmetic that attracted attention in the Renaissance period» (Smith). $ 24.000

Extremely important manuscript Americanum, an unpublished and complete copy of Diego Columbus’ second and final last will and testament, the only known copy drafted in the New World 26. Columbus (Colón Muñíz), Diego. Testamento. [Manuscript on paper], Santo Domingo, between 1 and 15 July, 1545.

Small folio (mm 315x230). [38] ll. Complete. Copy made between 1 and 15 July, 1545 after his second and final testament (drafted September 8, 1523). Notarial seal of Santo Domingo stitched on verso of final leaf, where the signatures of the witnesses appear. Tipped into an early vellum folder and housed in a modern book box.

Extremely important manuscript Americanum, an unpublished and complete copy of Diego Columbus’ second and final last will and testament, the only known copy drafted in the New World, containing the seal of the city of Santo Domingo on its final leaf. An iconic document containing a direct link to the Admiral himself and to his most outstanding exploit, the discovery of the New World. The will forms one of the lynchpins in the Pleitos Colombinos, the centuries’ long lawsuit waged between Columbus and his heirs and the Spanish Crown to collect revenues, privileges and benefices allegedly owed him in perpetuity in recompense for his discoveries.

From the Testimony by Dr. Consuela Varelo, Seville: The manuscript examined is an authentic document. It is a genuine copy of the testament of Diego Columbus. It is the only copy known to date with the original signatures of the witnesses who were present, together with the seal of the notary who authenticated it in 1545.

There are no textual differences between this and the other known copies of the testament proper as is to be expected. Its value and uniqueness can be summed up as follows: 1. It is the only surviving copy written in Santo Domingo and the only copy to contain a notary’s seal from that city.

2. The fact that it is a copy made from the original in Santo Domingo, unlike all other known copies which were derived from the first copy sent to Spain which has itself disappeared.

3. It is the only surviving copy which contains the text of the will as a self-sufficient, integral document. All other known copies are contained in larger documents relating to the suit.

4. The copy is unique in containing information concerning the historical circumstances of its creation and contains heretofore unknown information concerning Diego Columbus’ business affairs.

Provenance: Francisco del Alcázar, veinticuatro of Seville, 1545, who went to the considerable expense and effort of commissioning an agent to go to Santo Domingo and have the will copied, and his heirs until: Juan Ignacio del Alcázar y Castañeda, 1892, the owner who presented the document to the exhibition in 1892. $ 750.000

Galateo: treatise on politness and delicacy of manners, addressed to a young nobleman 27. Della Casa, Giovanni. [Il Galateo, in:] Rime et Prose di M. Giovanni della Casa. Venice, Nicolò Bevilacqua, October 1558.

4° (mm 230x170). [8], 170, [4] pp. Contemporary limp vellum binding, spine with manuscript title in brown ink; traces of laces. A very good copy, with wide margins.

First important edition of this collection which contains also the first edition of Della Casa’s masterpiece, the Galateo, one of the most famous courtesy books. Galateo was named after Galeazzo Florimonte, Bishop of Sessa, who first proposed the idea to Della Casa. It is written in the form of advice given by an unlettered old gentleman to a young student, and covers social behaviour ranging from table manners, to personal demeanor, to the behaviour of different social classes.

Provenance: at the title-page and on verso of the last leaf stamp of the count W. Ashburner’s prestigious Library. $ 11.000

Reinassance armorial fore-edge painting 28. Plutarchus. La prima (e Seconda) parte delle vite di Plutarco. Tradotte da M. Lodovico Domenichi. Florence, Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, 1560.

Two volumes, 4° (mm 225x161). [8], 937, [3]; [3], 335, [105] pp. Amazing uniform contemporary ‘speaking’ goatskin binding, richly blind and gilt-tooled boards with at the corners the Cesi’s ‘seven hills’. Wonderful gauffered and painted edges, with the fore one showing the Cesi’s coat of arms: a tree above seven hills.

First Italian edition in second issue, translated by Ludovico Domenichi.

Provenance: Cesi family.

$ 120.000

A publication one hundred sixty two years long 29 (a). Eustachi, Bartolomeo. Opuscula anatomica. Libellus de dentibus. Venice, Luchino, 1564-63.

29 (b). Lancisi, Giovanni Maria. Tabulae Anatomicae B. Eustachii [...] quas e tenebris tandem vindicatas. Rome, Gonzaga, 1714. (a): 4° (mm 191x143). [12], 32, [8], 95, [198] pp. With 8 full-page etchings by Giulio de Musi after drawings by Eustachi and Pier Matteo Pini. Contemporary limp vellum binding, manuscript title on spine.

Very good copy. (b): Folio (mm 394x264). XLIV, 115, [12] pp. With 47 full-page etchings including the smaller 8 ones already printed in 1564; the other 39, issued by Lancisi, are here printed for the first time. Contemporary brown calf with gilt-tooled Clement xi’s coat of arms on boards.

First editions, extremely important dedication and association copies: (a) the Opuscula presented by Eustachi to his scholar Pietro Matteo Pini, who composed the Annotationes at the end of the volume: Bartolomeo Eustachi’s manuscript inscription on recto of A1 leaf (Annotationes title-page): ‘Petro Mattharo Urbinati discipulo optimo Bartholomaeus praeceptor donavit’. On verso of the general title-page a paper label with Pini’s manuscript inscription: ‘Addenda Annotationes meae’ and some Pini’s manuscript underscorings and marginalia throughout the volume. The fine etchings illustrating the edition «were the first eight in an intended series of forty-seven anatomical plates engraved by Giulio de’ Musi after drawings by Eustachi and his relative, the artist Pier Matteo Pini. These were prepared in 1552 to illustrate a projected book entitled De dissensionibus ac controversiis anatomicis, the text of which was lost after Eustachi’s death. Had the full series of plates been published at the time of their completion, Eustachi would have ranked with Vesalius as a founder of modern anatomy». (b) The Tabulae bound for Clemente xi contains the previous printed 8 smaller plates and the other 39, rediscovered large plates. This amazing copy was given by the Pope to the Pini’s heirs to thank them for the provision of the plates for the edition. $ 85.000

In blue paper 30. Canones, et decreta sacrosancti oecumenici et generalis Concilii Tridentini. Rome, Paolo Manuzio, 1564.

8° (mm 160x102). 335 [i.e. 337], [55] pp. Early 20th century honey-brown calf binding, tooled in gold and in blind. Spine with gilt-tooled title on brown marocco label, marbled endpapers. A fine copy, printed on blue paper.

Third roman octavo edition – in a variant form and printed on blue paper - of the collected canons and decrees of the Council of Trent, with the text, in the last quire, of the Bulla super confirmatione Concilii Tridentini, issued on 30th June 1564 by Pope Pius v to confirm officially all decisions of the ecumenical assembly. «Les éditions originales du Concile de Trente seront […] tousjours précieuses, e ce qu’elles sont les copies authentiques des décrets d’une assemblée célèbre, dont les décisions ont eu une puissante et aussi durable influence sur le sort de l’Europe entière, et d’une partie del’Amérique» (Renouard).

Provenance: Chandon de Brailles, his ex-libris on verso of the first fly-leaf. $ 28.000

In blue paper 31. Euclides. De gli elementi di Euclide libri quindici. Urbino, Domenico Frisolino, 1575.

Folio (mm 306x211). [8], 278 ll.. Printed on blue paper. Contemporary limp vellum, boards decorated by an arabesque tooled in gold into a gilt frame, spine with manuscript title and decorated by gilt tools, gilt edges.

Extraordinary copy printed on blue paper of the first very rare edition of the Italian translation of Euclides Elements by the humanist mathematician Federico Commandino, who introduced still topical remarks to render Euclides’ work more understandable to the scholars. Commandino was born in Urbino in 1509, and died in 1575: he is justly accounted one of the first geometers of his age.

Provenance: contemporary inscriptions on inner board and at the bottom of the title page: “Di Casa Doni”. $ 100.000

A luxury copy, in contemporary Persian-manner plaquette binding 32. Ariosto, Ludovico. Orlando Furioso [....] tutto ricorretto et di nuove figure adornato [...] di nuovo aggiuntovi Li cinque canti. Venice, Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1568.

4° (mm 259x187). [16], 654, [34] pp.. 51 full-page woodcuts within borders. Contemporary Venetian honey-brown morocco over thin pasteboard with extended (yapp) edges on all three sides, gilt-tooled with a knotwork stamp, an arabesque interlace roll on the flap edges, and a fine gilt-ground arabesque cartouche in the Persian manner, smooth spine richly gilt; edges gilt and gauffered; traces of 4 pairs of green silk ties. The present very elegant example is curiously archaic in its tooling; both the knotwork and the Persian-manner plaquette are of types that can be found even in fifteenth-century Venetian gilt bindings.

Provenance: Robert Hoe (red morocco label and gilt monogram stamp; W. R. H. Jeudwine; Pierre Berès, Livres à figures, cat. 77, n. 4. $ 320.000

«A methodical and precisely documented description of the geography of Africa» (Skelton) 33. Sanuto, Livio. Geografia, distinta in XII libri [...] Con XII tavole di essa Africa in dissegno di rame. Aggiuntevi de più tre Indici da Giovan Carlo Saraceni. Venice, Damiano Zenaro, 1588.

Folio (mm 425x280). [24], 146 ll. 12 double-page engraved maps. The beautiful engraved title-page is by Giacomo Franco. Contemporary vellum on pasteboards, manuscript title on five raised-bands spine.

First edition of the first printed atlas of Africa. «As it is impossible for the thorough student of mediaeval geography to budge an inch without having read the works of Marino Sanuto, so no thorough student of historical geography, especially African and American of the last half of the sixteenth century, can touch bottom in his subject till he has digested this work of Livio Sanuto» (Skelton).

Provenance: Girolamo Venier, his huge ex libris (mm 202x156) engraved in 1722 by Zucchi on the titlepage verso. $ 42.000

The earliest librettos for modern Opera 34. Rinuccini, Ottavio. L’Euridice. Florence, Cosimo Giunta, 1600. (Bound with:) Id. La Dafne. Florence, Cristofano Marescotti, 1604. (Bound with:) Id. L’Arianna. Florence, Giunti, 1608.

Three works in one volume, 4° (mm 202x145). i: [4], 16 ll. ii: [12] ll. iii: [2], 44 pp. numbered 8-52 (lacking as usual ll. A2 and A3 with the dedication of the author). Contemporary limp vellum binding. Very nice copy. i: First edition of

the libretto of the second Opera, and the first for which the music survives. The first – the Dafne – was written by the same authors in 1597 and was printed the same year of the present edition, but its musical score has been lost. The Euridice was composed by Jacopo Peri and the libretto, written by Ottavio Rinuccini, was based on Books X and XI of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which recount the story of the legendary musician Orpheus and of his wife Euridice. The opera was first performed – with Peri himself singing in the title role - at Florence on 6th October 1600 at the Palazzo Pitti for the marriage of king Henry IV of France and Maria de’ Medici

ii: The present edition is a re-issue of

the first edition - printed at Florence by Giorgio Marescotti in 1600 - with the replacement of the first quire. The Dafne, composed by Jacopo Peri in 1597 with a libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini is the earliest known work that, by modern standards, could be considered an Opera.

iii:

First edition of this libretto written by Rinuccini. Claudio Monteverdi composed the music for the performance of L’Arianna at Mantua on 28 May 1608. While the libretto was reprinted twice the same year, at Mantua and at Venice, Monteverdi’s score has not survived except for the Lamento. $ 28.000

«One of the most beautiful books ever done on dancing» (Fletcher) 35. Negri, Cesare. Nuove Inventioni di Balli, opera vaghissima di Cesare Negri Milanese detto Il Trombone. Milano, Girolamo Bordone, 1604.

Folio (mm 322x220). [8], 296, [4] pp. With portrait of the author, and 58 full-page engravings by Leo Pallavicino after Mauro Rovero. With musical example and lute tablature. Contemporary vellum on pasteboards. Wonderful wide margined copy.

First edition, second issue. One of the most beautiful books ever done on dancing. Its fine engravings have a luminous and animated grace, outshining a certain rigidity of Caroso’s Il Ballerino (1581). Philip Hofer notes that Rovere’s «delicate illustrations combine elements typical to both the Renaissance and Baroque style». $ 42.000

The first moveable scene in the history of theatre 36. Bonarelli, Prospero. Il Solimano, tragedia. Florence, Pietro Cecconcelli, 1620.

4° (mm 227x160). [12], 162, [2] pp. Engraved frontispiece and 5 folding plates by Jacques Callot. Contemporary limp vellum, manuscript title on spine.

First rare edition of this well-known poetical tragedy in five acts illustrated by five impressive etchings showing the characters playing on elaborated baroque scenographies. «The dramatic finale shows the city of the tyrant Soliman in flames. The moveable scenes – the first in the history of theatre - picture contemporary Florence. The whole of its effective contrasts of dark and light, seems fantastic, yet it is the rational and realistic portrait of a fantastic, imaginary subject» (Benesch). $ 9.000

Magnificent etchings for the “Wedding of the Gods” 37. Coppola, Giovanni Carlo - Rondinelli, Francesco di Raffaello. Le Nozze degli Dei. Florence, Amadore Masi and Lorenzo Landi, 1637.

Two parts in one volume, 4° (mm 239x173). [8] (including the engraved title-page), 104; 50, [2] pp. Illustrated by an etched title-page and 7 engraved folding plates out of text by Stefano della Bella, after the set designs of Alfonso Parigi. Contemporary limp vellum with manuscript title on spine. Very good copy, some foxing and some dampstains throughout.

First and only edition of this festival book, written by Giovanni Carlo Coppola, the Bishop of Muro, to commemorate the marriage of Grand Duke Ferdinando II de’ Medici to Princess Vittoria della Rovere of Urbino on the 8 July 1637. The masque celebrates the wedding of Vulcan and Venus and is illustrated by Della Bella’s magnificent etchings (including a view of Florence, scenes in forests, gardens, by the sea, and an extraordinary conflagration scene) are his first major undertaking for the Medici court, and are the only surviving record of Parigi’s staging of this remarkable production and Agniolo Ricci’s choreography. $ 16.500

«Although Galileo may have cloaked his ideas under the veil of anonymity, he knew he was playing with fire» (D. Freedberg) 38. [Galilei, Galileo]. Dialogo de Cecco di Ronchitti da Bruzene. In perpuosito de la stella nuova. Padua, Pietro Paolo Tozzi, 1605.

4° (mm 199x142). 18 ll. Title-page within border, with a small woodcut, 3 headpieces. Bound in contemporary limp vellum, entirely gilt “à l’eventail”, with a Medici coat-of arms in the center, partially painted in red. Handsome copy.

Excedeengly rare first edition of the first printed book by Galileo Galilei, written in Paduan dialect and satyrical in tone, this small book is an account on the new star appeared during 1604. Immediately after the printing, rumors quoted that Galileo was the author. The name Cecco is a common literature device of that time, used when somebody wanted to attack the academic and church orthodoxy. Cecco represents the rebellion to bigotry, to censorship, to Aristotle’s philosophy and to the Church.

Only 5 copies known all over the world. No copies in American Libraries.

$ 600.000

First edition of Galileo’s collected works 39. Galilei, Galileo. Opere. Bologna, Evangelista Dozza’s heirs, 1655-1656.

Two volumes 4° (mm 251x179). Complete. Half titles, engraved frontispiece in the first volume, portrait of the author by Villamena, one folding plate, numerous woodcut illustrations and diagrams, woodcut initials and headpieces. 19th-century half-leather, marbled pasteboard, spine with gilt-tooled title on label.

Wide margined copy, with many deckle-edges, in very good condition.

First and rare edition of Galileo’s collected works edited by Carlo Manolessi and dedicated to Grand Duke Ferdinand ii. According to Riccardi, it contains a number of pieces here published for the first time.

Most of these are letters to various friends and opponents, discussing questions raised by his published works the Dialogo and the Letter to Christina, both of which were added on the index librorum prohibitorum. $ 18.000

First edition of this early Galileian work 40. Galilei, Galileo. Trattato della sfera di Galileo, con alcune prattiche intorno a quella, e modo di fare la figura celeste, e suoi direttioni, secondo la via rationale. Rome, Nicolo Angelo Tinassi, for Domenico Grialdi, 1656.

12° (mm 139x75). [16], 296, [4] pp. With engraved frontispiece, woodcut initials and headpieces, tables in text, 4 folding engraved plates, half-title for Prattiche astronomiche. Bound in limp vellum, manuscript title on spine. Some manuscripts corrections and note by ancient hand.

First extremely rare edition of this early Galileo’s work, written in the 1590s, but published posthumously.

The text originates in lectures given by Galileo at Padua in the same years. The subject of these lectures was probably Sacrobosco’s De Sphaera, the most common teaching tool on astronomy at that time; it is unsurprising, therefore, that in this text Galileo adhered to the conventional Ptolemaic model, as described by Sacrobosco, in which a static earth is orbited by the sun and other planets.

Provenance: Manuscript owner’s inscription on recto of the first fly-leaf. $ 24.000

«Early foundation work in geology» (Horblit) 41. Steno, Nicolaus. De solido. Florence, sub Signo Stellae, 1669.

4° (mm 225x169). [2], 78, [2] pp. (lacking the first blank leaf). One folding plate out of text with engraved diagram and explanatory letterpress. Bound in ancient limp vellum with manuscript title on spine; blue edges. Good copy, some minor foxing.

First edition of Steno’s «great work [...] which outlines the principles of modern geology» (DSB). Although brief in form - the work was only intended to be an introduction to a larger work that was never written - the impact of De solido was far greater than its modest size suggests. The research on which the present work is based was prompted by his dissection of the head of a large Carcharodon rondeletii caught near Leghorn. Investigating the teeth, Steno became aware of similarities with glossopetra (or tonguestones) which were fossilised teeth generally considered to be types of stones, but were recognised by Steno as fossils. These researches, coupled with a geological analysis of the earth’s crust in Tuscany, were published as De solido, in which he concluded that fossils had an animate origin (as Leonardo da Vinci and Fracastoro had believed). $ 55.000

The culmination of Kircher’s research on Egypt 42. Kircher, Athanasius. Oedipus aegyptiacus, hoc est universalis hieroglyphicae veterum doctrinae temporum iniuria.

Rome, Vitale Mascardi, 1652-1654.

One work in 4 volumes, folio. (mm 352x238). [100], 424, [40]; [2], 440 pp., [30] pp., one blank leaf; 546, [26] pp., 3 blank leaves; [2], 590, [18] pp. Complete. Illustrated by an engraved frontispiece, the engraved portrait of the emperor Ferdinand iii and 16 engraved plates out of text, many of which folding. Many woodcut and engraving illustrations, woodcut initials, headings and tailpieces throughout the text of all volumes.

Uniformly bound in 18th-century marbled calf; gilt title and number of the volume on spine within red morocco label; edges sparkled red. Very nice copy, some light foxing throughout volume one.

First edition of Oedipus Aegyptiacus, culmination of Kircher’s years of research in Egyptology. The work is an exhaustive treatise on every aspect of ancient Egypt, from history and geography to religion and science. «Dedicated to a multiplicity of patrons and overflowing with poems and epigrams by scholars who celebrated Kircher’s virtuosity in enough languages to make one think that the entire world is knew to him, it was a book so complex in its production that it required special fonts to print the sections in many of the Eastern languages» (Findlen). $ 42.000

Three works by «the last man who knew everything» (Findlen) 43. Kircher, Athanasius. Latium. Amsterdam, Jean Jansson le jeune, 1671. (Bound with:) Id. Musaeum.

Amsterdam, Jean Jansson le jeune, 1678. (Bound with:) Id. Sphinx mystagoga. Amsterdam, Jean Jansson le jeune, 1676.

Three works in one volume, folio (mm 375x245). i. [24], 263, [10] pp. Illustrated by an engraved allegorical title-page, a portrait of the dedicatee, the pope Clemente x, and by 25 engraved plates out of text (13 on double-page and one folding), depicting the most beautiful baroque villas near Rome. Woodcut head-, tail-pieces and 19 engraved vignettes throughout the text. ii. [10], 66, [6] pp. Illustrated by 17 engraved plates out of text (9 of which folding) depicting obelisks, Egyptian and Roman antiquities and inscriptions as well as scientifical instruments. Many woodcut and engraved vignettes throughout. iii. [16], 72, [6] pp. Illustrated by 5 engraved plates (two folding and one on double-page) showing mummies and landscapes. Contemporary white vellum with in the center of the upper board, the gilt armorial coat of Carl Welser. Stunning copy.

Amazing copy in original white vellum with the arms of Welser, containing three first editions of Athanasius Kircher: the Latium, his work on Lazio and Rome also including the results of his archeological and historical studies and wonderfully illustrated; the Romani Collegi Societatus Jesu Musaeum, the first catalogue of the Jesuit collection that will become the Musaeum Kircheriano and the Sphinx, a complete work on egyptology.

Provenance: arms of Carolus Welser (binding) and his bookplate: ‘Ex Bibliotheca Velseriana’. $ 36.000

The most widely read France poet of the 17th Century 44. La Fontaine, Jean de. Fables choisies mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry, 1668.

4° (mm 230x170). [56], 284, [2] pp. On title-page engraved vignette with the armorial coat of the Dauphin Louis xiv. Elegantly illustrated with 118 engraved vignettes by François Chaveau. Woodcut and typographic head- and tail-pieces, floriated initials. Beautiful English honey-brown morocco binding of the 19th-century; boards decorated by a gilt border with arabesque tools on corners. Spine richly decorated by gilt tools with gilt title on two different morocco labels, one black and one red; gilt edges, decorated paper fly-leaves and inner boards. Handsome copy.

First edition of La Fontaine’s first six books of fables, written and illustrated for the entertainment and instruction of the seven year-old heir to the French throne. La Fontaine’s «Fables [...] have been read, learned, and recited by French children and adults for three centuries [...] La Fontaine is one of France’s great poets and a dedicated artist» (Oxford Companion to French Literature).

Provenance: Ex libris A. de Claye and ‘Ex Musaeo Double’. $ 95.000

An amazing complete set, 216 plates printed in several colour shades 45. Fossati, Giorgio. Raccolta di varie Favole, delineate ed incise in rame da Giorgio Fossati architetto. Recueil de diverses Fables. Venice, Carlo Pecora, 1744.

6 parts in 3 volumes, folio (mm 293x208). Complete, including the often missing double engraved titlepage in vol. I. With 3 engraved head-pieces and 216 engraved plates, printed in red, green, blue, brown and black using different shades, from dark to light, for the same colour. Contemporary binding in original white vellum, spine with gilt titles; sparkly edges, inner boards in Remondini paper. Handsome copy.

First edition of Fossati's illustrated collection of fables, published with the text in Italian and French. The plates found here are in reds, oranges, greens, blues, browns and only 30 in black. The colour-technique here employed involved no overprinting or mixing, just pure colour printed on heavy white Italian paper giving to this edition a sumptuous Venetian character. All six volumes are rarely found on the market and some volumes are found printed only in black or brown.

Provenance: Biblioteca Banzi. $ 72.000

The quipu alphabet: the first use of binary system 46. Di Sangro, Raimondo. Lettera Apologetica dell’Esercitato accademico della Crusca. Naples, [Gennaro Morelli], 1750 [1751].

Folio (mm 264x187). [14], 320 (i.e. 326, following p. 116 there are 4 leaves numbered: 117, *117, 118, *118; pagination continues with p. 119), [14] pp. 3 folding plates mounted sur onglettes. Title-page printed in four colors, decorated with copper-plate vignette printed in red; one engraved head-piece and animated and decorated capital letters. Two little woodcuts in text. Contemporary vellum on pasteboards binding, gilt title on spine. Very good copy, lightly spotted.

First and only edition of the most famous work, printed using a new method which allowed the simoultaneous printing of four colours on the same page, and written by the Prince himself in defense of Madame de Grafigny’s Letters from a Peruvian Princess, published in Paris in 1747. The book can be considered the first extensive treatise about the quipu knots, used by Peruvians as a communication system.

The volume is adorned by three beautiful folding plates, showing the quipu alphabet, with engravings coloured and letterpress in green and red. $ 23.000

«An outstanding achievement of eighteenth-century reasoning» (Pibram) 47. Galiani, Ferdinando. Della moneta. Naples, Giuseppe Raimondi, 1750 [1751].

4° (mm 233x170). [16], 370, [6] pp. Bound in contemporary pattern-paper covered boards, spine with manuscript title. The leaf 2B3 cancel, the leaf D4 uncancel in accordance with Goldsmiths. Very good uncut copy.

First rare edition of this outstanding Italian contribution to the theory of money. Galiani’s Della Moneta, published anonymously in 1751 (pre-dated to 1750) when the author was barely twenty years old, made him an instant celebrity. «Galiani published his remarkable treatise on money […] in order to convince his compatriots, the citizens of Naples, that the rise in prices which had resulted from monetary reform was accompanied by unquestionable symptoms of prosperity and was, therefore, advantageous to the community. Both the originality of Galiani’s fundamental conceptions and the method which he used in elaborating them made his treatise an outstanding achievement of eighteenth-century reasoning» (Pibram).

Provenance: on title-page Massimo Calvi’s contemporary manuscript ownership and his small stamp. $ 17.500

«Unire l’utile al bello» An amazing collection 48. Vanvitelli, Luigi. Book, drawings, letters and documents. 1756-1840. (a). Dichiarazione dei Disegni del Reale Palazzo di Caserta. Naples: Nella Regia Stamperia, 1756.

Atlas folio (mm 667x495). [6], xix, [1] pp. With 2 large head-pieces, 1 cul-de-lampe and XIV double-page plates. An amazing contemporary coloured copy, bound in contemporary speckled calf. (b). A preparatory drawing (mm 530x798) for the copperplate engraving issued as pl. V of the volume: “Facciata Principale del Reale Palazzo di Caserta”. (c). A preparatory brown ink sketch (mm 307x216) for a wider composition now in the Museo della Reggia di Caserta (Inv. 854), depicting the construction of the Acquedotto Carolino. (d). A preparatory grey ink and watercolour sketch (mm 498x390). A study for the Sale Reali’s façade. (e). A.l.s. (15 October 1755, Caserta), a bifolio (mm 306x213). An important historical document concerning the restauration of the S.Agostino’s church in Caserta. “La Chiesa antica era in cadenza in pericolo prossimo, e la cagione era, perchè tutti li muri erano senza fondamento, male fabbricati, anzi un aggregato di fracidume...”. (f). Autograph document, a bifolio and a single leaf (mm 309x216). With 2 technical drawings. Notes regarding some hydraulic techniques relate, probably, to the construction of the Acquedotto Carolino and Caserta’s Palace “Giardino delle Delizie”. “La figura proposta del quadrello per condurre l’acqua non si deve ammettere nella nostra circostanza perchè unendo i tubi farà della forza...”. (g). A.l.s. (15 September 1770, Napoli) addressed to Marchese Fogliani. A single leaf (mm 301x207), written only on recto. Vanvitelli thanks Fogliani for the contract work concerning the new Monreale’s Giardino. “Le riconosco nell’avermi conceduto la grazia di comandarmi la riparazione del giardino presso il Casino di campagna nella via di Monreale...”. (h). A.l.s. (11 December 1770, Napoli). A bifolio (mm 262x193) written 3 pages. A draft with many corrections regarding the structure, the trees and the flowers of the Monreale’s Giardino. “Seminare a piccolo lavoro di terreno le ghiande di quercia ò licini, come ò pratticato in Caserta, le quali in due anni si sono sollevati...”. (i). Autograph document, a single leaf (mm 302x205) written only on recto. Concerning the same garden in (g). “Se si puole anche acqua per fare delle fonti, ed avendola, se in ogni luogo del giardino si può condurre zampillante”. (j). A.l.s. ( 13 January 1773, Napoli) addressed to Marchese Fogliani. A bifolio (mm 262x193) written 2 pages. Interesting document concerning the new works on the Caserta’s Palace and on the topography of the neighbourhood. “à risoluto finalmente che si facciano li quartieri avanti il Palazzo Reale di Caserta”. A sort of architectural last will about his masterpiece. (k). A large collection of 25 drawings, many coloured, some signed by the architects Giuseppe and Gaetano De Lillo, relating to the Palazzo Reale and datable between c. 1800-1840, during the ampliament and restauration of the Palace. $ 100.000

The Prince of Wales copy 49. Hamilton, William. Campi Phlegraei. Observations sur les volcans des deux Siciles. Telles qu'elles ont été communiquées à la Société Royale de Londres. Auxquelles pour donner une idée plus précise de chaque observation, on a ajouté une carte nouvelle et très exacte avec 54 planches enluminées d'après les desseins faits, & coloriés d'après nature sous l'inspection de l'auteur par l'éditeur le Sieur Pierre Fabris. Naples, 1776-1779.

Three parts in one volume, folio (mm 446x317). [3] ll. comprising title, colored frontispiece plate and “References to Plate 1”, 1 folding map, 3-90 pp., [1] l. imprimatur, [1] l. title, 53 ll. of coloured plates enumerated #2-54, alternating with 53 ll. of corresponding text leaves; Supplement: [3] ll. comprising title, engraved frontispiece and “References to Plate 1” 29 pp., [1] p. imprimatur, 4 ll. of coloured plates enumerated #2-5, alternating with 4 ll. of corresponding text leaves, [1] l. dedication. Complete.

Contemporary neoclassic dark blue-green morocco binding, spine richly decorated with big gilt-tools, comprising the Prince of Wales’ coat of arms.

Rare first edition of this monumental illustrated work by Sir William Hamilton, British ambassador to the court of Naples, amateur vulcanologist, and antiquarian. Hamilton’s splendid volume, representing the culmination of years of geological observation in Naples and Sicily, contains 59 sumptuous handcoloured engravings of Neapolitan landscapes, coastal scenes, city-views, and views of volcanic activity from Vesuvius, Etna, and the Aeolian islands. «This was, without question, one of the most lavish books of the eighteenth century» (Thackray).

Provenance: Prince of Wales (binding); James Forbes Esq. (ex libris); Le Comte de Montalembert, Pair de France (ex libris). $ 270.000

«One of the most brilliant of polemics» (PMM) Presentation copy 50. Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. London, J. Dodsley, 1790. (Bound with:) Price, Richard. Discourse on the Love of Our Country. London, George Stafford for T. Cadell, 1790.

2 works in one volume, 8° (mm 205x130). I: IV, 356 pp. Complete. II: III-XII, 51, 44 pp. (lacking halftitle). Contemporary half calf with red morocco lettering-piece (slight split to upper joint), calf slipcase

by Rivière and Son. First edition, issue A according to R.E. Gathorne-Hardy. A magnificent presentation copy of Burke’s rhetorical masterpiece, addressed by the author to his friend Michael Kearney, met at the Trinity College in Dublin.

Provenance: Michael Kearney, his armorial bookplate, first work with Burke’s presentation inscription ‘To The Revd. Dr. Kearney From the Author’ on blank leaf preceding the title; front free endpaper with Kearney’s extensive note on Burke’s Reflections; numerous marginal markings and occasional marginalia. $ 29.000

«Probably the most elaborate specimen that the world has ever seen, an imposing tour de force» (Updike) 51. Bodoni, Giambattista. Manuale tipografico. Parma, Presso la Vedova [Bodoni’s widow and Luigi Orsi], 1818.

Two volumes, 4° (mm 320x220). [14], lxxii, [2] pp., 265 ll. printed only on the recto, one leaf printed on the recto and on the verso (numbered 266-267), with the Index; [2], 275 ll. printed only on the recto (the ll.

273-275 are folding and contain music), the last two ll. with the Index printed both on recto and verso and numbered 276-279. Complete. At the beginning of the first volume portrait of Bodoni engraved by Rosaspina and designed by Appiani. Separate title-page for the two volumes. Original orange paper boards with printed spine labels. Handsome copy, small repairs to both spines.

A magnificent copy, entirely uncut, of Bodoni’s masterpiece. The Manuale was finished after his death for his widow by Luigi Orsi, director of the printing house at Parma. This work, printed in about 290 copies, contains examples of more than two hundred typefaces. It shows the impressive and unrivalled range of Bodoni’s types, presenting roman, greek, cyrillic and exotic alphabets, together with their versions in italics, capitals, etc., ending with type-ornaments. $ 42.000

«Possibly the most beautiful book on fishes ever published» (Dance) 52. Bloch, Marcus Elieser. Ichtyologie, ou histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des poissons. Berlin, the Author and François de la Garde, 1785-1788.

Parts 1-6 (of 12) in 3 volumes, folio (mm 460 x 270). [16], 206, [2]; [4], 170, [2]; [4], 160, [2]; [4], 134, [2]; [4], 130, [2]; [4], VIII, 150, 2 pp. With 216 hand-colored engraved plates by F.G. Berger, G. Bodenehr, C. Darchow, P. Haas, J.F. Henning, C. Ludwig Schmidt, J.G. Schmidt and others after J.F. Henning, Kruger, and others, all printed in colours and finished by hand, a few heightened in silver. Contemporary red morocco, covers gilt-ruled and with decorative corner-pieces, spines gilt in compartments with floral devices and green morocco spine labels, gilt edges.

«Possibly the most beautiful book on fishes ever published» (Dance). This French edition of the first six parts was published more or less contemporaneously with the German; the second six parts were printed only in 1795. Drawings were based on Bloch’s collection of 1,500 fish which he put together from purchases made at home and from travellers returning from overseas. Many of the extremely accomplished plates are heightened in silver or gum arabic, the more accurately to represent the glistening sheen of wet fish scales. $ 72.000

The finest Italian work on fruits 53. Gallesio, Giorgio. Pomona Italiana, ossia trattato degli alberi fruttiferi. Pisa, Niccoló Capurro, 1817-1839.

Two parts bound in three volumes, folio (mm 480x320). Illustrated by 160 plates, printed in colour and finished by hand. Tableau Synoptique du Genre Citrus at beginning of vol. I. Contemporary patterned cloth, backed in green morocco, spines gilt, vellum corner tips. Very good copy, light spotting and occasional browning to plates.

The finest Italian work on fruits, remarkable for colouring which is at once delicate and intense. The plates appeared in 41 parts, and Domenico del Pino, Antonio Serantoni and Isabella Bozzolini were among as many as twenty artists responsible for the designs. An almost equal number of engravers were involved, Giuseppe Pera, Giuseppe Carocci, Tommaso Nasi and Francesco Corsi being well represented.

Sandra Raphael notes that «before Gallesio began this enormous work ... he had already published his Traité du Citrus, which explains the reason for the lack of oranges and lemons in a catalogue of Italian fruit». There was, nevertheless, a change of emphasis in this southerly pomona. It contains only eight apples, a dozen cherries, six apricots and a handful of more exotic fruits. But there are twenty-two figs, the same number of pears, twenty-six grapes and thirty-three peaches. A lawyer and a civil servant as well as a botanist, Gallesio conducted experiments in his fruit garden in Savona later quoted by Charles Darwin to illustrate the development of varieties. Although he died before completion of this work, he had left pre-eminent contributions to the study of Italian fruit. $ 160.000

From the Library of Eugène of Beauharnais 54. Swebach Jacques François - Lami, Eugène. Recueils de voitures françaises et de voitures russes. [1821].

Oblong 4° (mm 248x322). 18 lithographic plates (6 by Swebach, showing Russian carriages, 12 by Lami, his complete serie of French carriages). Contemporary half-morocco binding, percalline boards, green morocco oval on the upper cover with gilt title; at the center of both boards the gilt crowned monogram of Eugène and Augusta Amalia of Beauharnais (Lodigiani).

Precious prints collection from the Library of Eugène of Beauharnais, with the rare printed loose sheet attesting his notable provenance. According with Bénézit the Lami’s lithographies: «constituent de précieux documents sur la societé parisienne de la Restauration et du règne de Louis-Philippe». $ 9.000

First edition, first issue 55. Boole, George. An investigation of the Laws of Thought, on Which Are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities. London, and Cambridge, Walton and Maberly; Macmillan & Co., 1854.

8° (mm 224x145). [2], V, [2], 424, [2] (containing the errata on recto) pp. Original dark-brown cloth, blindtooled boards. Very good copy, some manuscript marginalia in pencil.

First edition, first issue. «Boole invented the first practical system of logic in algebraic form, which enabled more advances in logic to be made in the decades of the 19th-Century than in the 22th-Century’s preceding. Boole’s work led to the creation of set theory and probability theory in mathematics, to the philosophical work of Peirce Russell, Whitehead, and Wittgenstein, and to computer technology via the master’s thesis of Claude Shannon, who recognized that the true/false values in Boole’s two valued logic were analogous to the open and closed states of electric circuits» (Hook & Norman). $ 22.000

Bound in de-luxe original green cloth 56. Collodi, Carlo [pseud. for Lorenzini, Carlo]. Le avventure di Pinocchio. Storia di un burattino. Florence, Felice Paggi, 1883.

8° (mm 183x120). 236, IV pp. At the frontispiece portrait of Pinocchio by Enrico Mazzantini, author also of the 61 engraved vignettes in the text. Original green cloth, at the first board title printed in gold between two gilt stripes with name of the author and printer embossed in green, second board decorated with two flower pattern rollers printed in black; spine with gilt title. Good copy, usual browned stains, binding lightly rubbed.

The very rare first edition in book form - only five copies have come up for auction in nearly twenty-five years - of this popular classic, presented in the very desirable original luxury cloth binding.

Pinocchio is one of the half dozen best known and best loved juveniles in the world and, as in most similar cases, the first edition has almost disappeared. Its first appearance in the USA dates from 1898 (Pinocchio’s Adventures in Wonderland. Boston, Jordan Marsh & Co), but it was not until 1904 that the first United States edition genuinely translated and illustrated by Americans was published, thanks to the work of Walter S. Cramp and Charles Copeland (Pinocchio: the Adventures of a Marionette. Boston, Ginn & Co.). Ever since then - since long before the huge international success of Walt Disney’s Pinocchio - the puppet’s adventures have represented one of America’s best-loved children’s stories, and also one that has always been a landmark achievement for many illustrators. $ 90.000

The “Parisienne Joie de vivre” 57. Les Maîtres de l’Affiche. Publication mensuelle contenant la reproduction des plus belles Affiches Illustrées des grands artistes, français et étrangers. Préface de Roger-Marx. Paris, Imprimerie Chaix, 1896-1900.

5 volumes, folio (mm 390x300). 256 lithographies including the 16 special plates issued only for subscribers (often lacking). All the plates are preserved by original tissue papers. Uniform original pictorial cloth by Paul Berthon. Very nice copy.

Complete series of this monumental collection of original lithographies by the most celebrated and famous artists of the period: Cheret, Rassenfosse, Steinlen, Rhead, Toulouse-Lautrec, Mucha, Grasset, Ibels. $ 68.000

A Dante’s quotation addressed to the Eliot’s Beatrice 58. Eliot, Thomas. Ara Vus [Sic] Prec. London, John Rodker, for the Ovid Press, [1920].

4° (mm 282x223). 54, [2] pp. Tissue guard, initials and colophon designed by Edward Wadsworth. No. 37 of 220 copies (out of a total edition of 264). Black-coated paper boards, yellow cloth spine, black endpapers, unopened.

First edition, first issue. A fascinating presentation copy inscribed by the author to Emily Hale, his secret love, and mysterious muse: “For Emily Hale with the author’s humble compliments. T.S. Eliot. 5.ix.23”; Eliot’s autograph quotation in Italian from Dante (Inf. XV) beneath: “Sieti Racommendato il mio tesoro nello qual vivo ancor e non piu chieggio poi sie volse” Trasl.: “Let me entrust to you my Treasury, wherein I still survive; I ask no more of you. Then he turned and left”. $ 100.000

The ultimate collection 59. D.N.A.: offprints, magazines, manuscripts, newspaper articles and photographs. April 25, 1953January 10, 2004. a) Watson, James-Crick, Francis. Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids. (Reprinted from Nature, vol. 161, p.

737, April 25, 1953). Signed by J. Watson and F. Crick. Addressed in May 11, 1987 by M. Wilkins to Meyer Friedman. First edition, first issue of the important first announcement of the discovery of D.N.A. Preserved in half morocco folding case including three original photographs of F. Crick, M. Wilkins, A. Stokes described on back by Wilkins. b) Nature. Vol. 171 (January 3, 1953 to June 27, 1953). The complete volume enriched by Crick’s signatures at p. 738 (Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids) and at p. 964 (J. Watson-F. Crick, Genetical implications of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, May 30, 1953). c) Franklin, Rosalind-Gosling, Raymond. Evidence for 2-chain helix in crystalline structure of sodium deoxyribonucleate. (Reprinted from Nature, vol. 172, p. 156, July 25, 1953). First edition, first issue of the first separated contribution on D.N.A. of Franklin and Gosling. This offprint together with the next three (d; e; f) represent 4 of the 5 publications of these scientists, the fifth being their paper that appeared in the same issue of Nature, April 25, 1953 (a). Signed by Raymond Gosling. d) Franklin, Rosalind-Gosling, Raymond. The Structure of Sodium Thymonucleate Fibres. I. The Influence of Water Content. (Reprinted from Acta Crystallographica, vol. 6, Part 8-9, September 1953, pp. 673-677). Signed

by Raymond Gosling. e) Franklin, Rosalind-Gosling, Raymond. The Structure of Sodium Thymonucleate Fibres. II. The Cylindrically Symmetrical Patterson Function. (Reprinted from Acta Crystallographica, vol. 6, Part 8-9, September 1953, pp.

678-685). f) Franklin, Rosalind-Gosling, Raymond. The Structure of Sodium Thymonucleate Fibres. III. The Three-Dimensional Patterson Function. (Reprinted from Acta Crystallographica, vol. 8, Part 3, March 1955, pp. 151-156).

Signed by Raymond Gosling. g) Nature. Vol. 172 (July 4, 1953 to December 26, 1953). The complete volume containing the Franklin and Gosling article on pages 156-157 (c). h) Nature. Vol. 192 (November 25, 1961 to December 30, 1961). The complete volume including the Crick’s article General nature of the genetic code for proteins (December 30, 1961, p. 1227). Signed by F. Crick. i) A collection of 16 American and Swedish newspaper articles, relating to James Watson presentation of the Nobel Price for Medicine in 1962. All signed by J. Watson. j) Watson, James. Autograph and signed manuscript, dated January 10, 2004, regarding the Nobel Price adventure. $ 100.000

«Manuscripts do not burn» (Bulgakov) 60. Nabokov, Vladimir. [The Original of Laura (Dying is Fun)]. [Montreux, 1975-1977].

Autograph manuscript of The Original of Laura written in pencil on the rectos of 138 lined index cards (mm 110x150), three on uniformly sized graph paper (cards 1, 65 and 134), numerous authorial corrections, deletions and emendations throughout, altogether 138 cards, 45 with pencil Xs on verso, mounted in a custom-made album, large 4to, black cloth.

Vladimir Nabokov’s unfinished last novel: The Original of Laura.

Falling on a hillside in Davos in 1975 while pursuing his beloved pastime of entomology seemed to set off, in the words of his son Dmitri, Vladimir Nabokov’s final period of illness. Despite this, a new work was burgeoning in the author’s mind, and during the last two years of his life, Nabokov worked steadfastly on its composition: «an embryonic masterpiece whose pockets of genius were beginning to pupate here and there on his ever-present index cards» (D. Nabokov). As his illnesses progressed, the author instructed his wife Véra and his son to destroy the manuscript of The Original of Laura if he were to die without completing it. As with the chance intervention of Véra in the fate of Lolita, snatching a draft of the novel before her husband could burn it in an incinerator, The Original of Laura was likewise preserved: the final work of one the 20th Century’s greatest literary stylists. More than an autobiographical shadow of the author’s last years, the work is the final flowering of Vladimir Nabokov’s mature art, the quintessence of his creative spirit.

Provenance: Dmitri Nabokov. $ 240.000

Notes