[COLONNA, Francesco.] 

Poliphili hypnerotomachia, ubi humana omnia non nisi somnium esse ostendit, atque obiter plurima scitu...

Venice, [heirs of Aldus], 1545. 

Second edition, scarcer than the first (also an Aldine, published in 1499), of the most beautiful illustrated book printed in Italy in the fifteenth century.  Known for its fine woodcut illustrations, mysterious meanings, and the cryptic inclusion of Colonna’s name, the Hypnerotomachia...

£24000

ROUQUET, Jean-André. 

The present State of the Arts in England.  By M. Rouquet, member of the Royal Academy of Painting and...

London, for J. Nourse, 1755. 

First edition in English, published in the same year as the French original, from the library of the great Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith (1723–1790). 

£19500

FENTON, Roger.

Lichfield Cathedral, south transept portal and steps.

1858.

A fine print of one of Fenton's most striking architectural photographs, the details of the stonework given human scale, and a touch of mystery, with the figure posed half-in and half-out of the doorway. It was one of a number of images of Lichfield which 'from a restricted distance, move around the...

£12500

[FROBEN, Johannes].

Portrait, after Holbein the Younger, showing the scholar-printer half-length, to right, black fur-lined dress,...

The original of this celebrated portrait is lost, and it only survives in copies. There is one at Hampton Court, for example. See the account in Oliver Miller, Tudor, Stuart and early Georgian Paintings in the Royal Collection, 1963. There are two copies in the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung at Basel (357, 1910).

£12000

[LOO, Pieter van, (attributed).] 

156 watercolours of flowers, plants, and fruits. 

[Holland, c. 1760–80]. 

A truly stunning collection of over 150 original eighteenth-century botanical watercolours, attributed to the noted Dutch botanical artist Pieter van Loo (1731–1784). 

£110000

DASSIER, Jean and Jacques-Antoine.

‘An Explanation of Dassier’s Medals being a Representation of a Series of Events...

London, c. 1795-1800.

An exceptionally fine illustrated manuscript, with drawings after the series of sixty medals of Roman history from Romulus to the Age of Augustus produced by Jean Dassier and his son in 1740-1743. The drawings are executed with considerable finesse, adding detailed elements not clearly visible...

£8500

DICKENS, Charles.

The Nonesuch Dickens. The Complete Works of Charles Dickens.

London, The Nonesuch Press, 1937-38.

Limited edition of 877, of which 66 sets were destroyed when a bomb hit the bindery in September 1940, so at most 811 complete sets survive (Dreyfus, Nonesuch Press, 108). The steel plate included with this set is number 605, “Solemn reference is made to Mr. Bunsby” from Dombey and...

£6750

MARLIANI, Bartolomeo. 

Urbis Romae topographia. 

Rome, Valerio & Luigi Dorico, September 1544. 

First illustrated edition (third overall), showing the archaeology and antiquities of Rome as known in the sixteenth century.  First published in octavo by Antonio Blado in 1534 and reprinted at Lyons by Sébastien Gryphe later the same year, Marliani’s topography of Rome remained the foremost...

£5500

FALDA, Giovanni Battista.

Li giardini di Roma con le loro piante, alzate e vedute in prospettiva, disegnate ed intagliate da Gio....

Rome, Gio. Giacomo de Rossi, [early eighteenth century?].

A later impression of these magnificent plates of nine Roman gardens by the influential engraver Giovanni Battista Falda (1643–1678). The plates offer perspectives and bird’s-eye-views of the gardens of the Vatican and Quirinal, and of the villas Medici, Farnese, Ludovisi, Montalto Peretti,...

£5000

NORMAND, Alfred Nicolas.

L’architecture des nations étrangères. Etude sur les principales constructions du parc à l’Exposition...

Paris, A. Morel, 1870.

First edition. This is a presentation copy, inscribed on the half-title to the author’s friend Charles Garnier, architect of the Paris opera house that bears his name: ‘A son ami Ch. Garnier. Souvenir affectueux A. Normand’. The two men had known each other since they were both ‘pensionnaires’...

£4000

VITRUVIUS, and Daniel BARBARO.

De architectura libri decem, cum commentariis … multis aedificiorum, horologiorum, et machinarum...

Venice, Francesco Franceschi & Johann Criegher, 1567.

First Latin edition of Barbaro’s influential commentary, written in collaboration with and finely illustrated by Palladio; ‘the culmination of the Renaissance tradition of Vitruvian studies’ (Cellauri, p. 57 trans.) which ‘served as a foundational text into the next century, as...

£3750

OPPENORD, Gilles-Marie.

Album containing plates from the Grand Oppenord and several rare proof plates.

Paris, chez Huquier, [c. 1740].

An interesting album containing plates from the Grand Oppenord, Huquier’s important publication issuing the ornament designs of Oppenord in print. Oppenord (1672-1742) was an important contributor to the development of the rococo style in Europe, adapting Italian baroque ornament to suit French taste....

£2500

[FASCISM.]

Ordinamento Corporativo dello Stato Fascista.

Padua, Edizione di propaganda corporative, 1935.

Italian Fascism primarily followed the economic model of corporatism to organise capital and labour interest groups into trade unions and employer associations such as agriculture, industry, commercial trade, professionals and artists, as well as banks and credit associations. These trade associations...

£2500

DIODORUS Siculus. 

Bibliothecae historicae libri XV.  Hoc est, quotquot Graece extant de quadraginta quorum quinque nunc primum...

Basel, Heinrich Petri, August 1559. 

Important edition, the first to be overseen by Sébastien Castellion, of Diodorus’s influential ‘Historical library’.  Although Diodorus’s text, published in Greek for the first time by Estienne in the same year, offers a history of the world from its inception until Caesar, it came down...

£2500

[VILLAMENA, Francesco].

A street fight in Rome. A fan leaf drawing.

[Italy, late 18th century].

A fine fan leaf drawing, Italian school, late 18th century, copied from a print by Francesco Villamena of c. 1601. It depicts a street fight between Spanish and French factions in Rome with a view of the villa Mattei in the background. The original copper engraving by Villamena was dedicated to the patron...

£2200

LABORDE, Ernest.

Vieilles maisons boutiques & paysages de Paris. Eaux fortes originales de Ernest Laborde. Presentées par Gustave...

Paris, Jules Meynial, 1918 [1919].

First edition, very rare: two series of twenty etchings each on the most picturesque houses and shops in Paris, produced between 1911 and 1918 by Ernest Laborde (1870–1935).

£1950

PARKER, Thomas Netherton.

Leaves out of the Book of a Country Gentleman.

Oswestry, W. Price, London, Longman & co., and Shrewsbury, Eddowes & Leake, 1847.

First and only edition of this very rare compilation by Parker of his farm and estate experiments and inventions, one of one hundred copies privately published, and presented by the author to the Earl of Powis.

£1950

[CHINESE ARTS DEALER.] ISKANDRIAN-HUPEDEN, A.

[Cover title:] ‘My Treasure Box’ [Title-page:] ‘Some selected...

Shanghai, Spring 1938.

A charming and insightful trade catalogue compiled by a female Chinese arts dealer, covering porcelains, cast bronzes and irons, stone and wood sculpture, lacquered figures, furniture and screens, pottery and embroidery. The colours and dimensions are often described in the text, and the final...

£1600

LA ROQUE, Jean de.

Voyage de Syrie et du Mont-Liban. Contenant la description de tout le pays compris sous le nom de Liban et d’Anti-Liban,...

Amsterdam, Herman Uytwerf, 1723.

Second edition (first Paris 1722) of La Roque’s account of his first journey to the Arab world, undertaken in 1689 when he visited Syria and Lebanon. The son of a Marseille coffee merchant, La Roque (1661–1745) was a journalist, traveller, and one of the founders of the Académie de Marseille....

£1500

PERUCCI, Francesco.

Pompe funebri di tutte le nationi del mondo, raccolte dale storie sagre et profane.

Verona, Francesco Rossi, 1639.

First edition of Perucci’s extensively illustrated account of funeral practices, inscribed by a Scottish antiquary and documented book collector. A fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and later the Royal Society, Walter Bowman (1699–1782) travelled extensively over the course of five decades...

£1350