Recent Acquisitions
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[POPULAR DEVOTION].
L’heureuse benediction des maisons.
Vannes, N. De Lamarzelle, [c.1840].
A wonderful devotional broadside printed in the Breton town of Vannes, comprising a crude woodcut depiction of the scene at Calvary, signed ‘Desloge’ at the base, with two cantiques spirituels. The image is identical to one that appeared in a similar publication, also undated, that appeared in Mourtain...
£250
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[LAFONT, Joseph de.]
Hypermnestre, tragedie, mise au theatre de l’Academie Royale de Musique de Lyon, pour la prémière fois...
Lyon, de l’imprimerie d’Aymé Delaroche ... aux dépens de l’Académie Royale de Musique, 1742.
Very scarce Lyon edition of the libretto for the tragedy Hypermnestre by the French playwright Joseph de Lafont (1686-1725). First performed in 1716, with music by Charles-Hubert Gervais, the play was initially criticised for its fifth act, but after rewriting by abbé Simon-Joseph Pellegrin enjoyed...
£275
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KOCH, Mansuetus.
Philosophia transnaturalis, sive metaphysica, centum assertionibus comprehensa, et publicae disputationi in celeberrimo...
Augsburg, Maria Magdalena Utzschneiderin, 1697.
Only edition (complete despite the pagination) of this dissertation defended at the Augustinian college in Rottenbuch, attempting to provide a survey of metaphysics in one hundred paragraphs. The work explains, among other matters, the scope and purpose of metaphysics, the basis of Aristotelian metaphysics,...
£225
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KOCH, Manfred (pr.), Primo SCHLECHTEN and Feliciano SCHARRER (resp.).
Philosophia rationalis sive logica, centum assertiones comprehensa...
Augsburg, Sturmin, 1695.
A good copy of this rare dissertation from the Augustinian college at Rottenbuch in Bavaria, attempting to reduce logic (the science of reasoning) to one hundred numbered paragraphs. Describing the function and limits of logic, the authors, both Austin canons at Rottenbuch, explain the use of syllogisms,...
£285
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HOPE, Sir Thomas, of Craighall.
Contemporary manuscript of ‘Ane Breiff Treatise upon severall substantiall heads of ye Scotts...
[Scotland? Mid-seventeenth century?]
Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall (1573-1646) was called to the Scottish Bar in 1605 and soon rose to prominence. Following the accession of Charles I he became Lord Advocate and was in high favour with the King. He compiled an extensive collection of notes on statutes and cases in about 1633 (published by...
£3250
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ALMEIDA, Theodoro de.
Lisboa destruida poema, author o P. Theodoro de Almeida, da Congregaçaõ do Oratorio de Lisboa.
Lisbon, Antonio Rodrigues Galhardo, 1803.
First edition of this poem in six cantos, with extensive notes, on the disastrous 1755 Lisbon earthquake, by the Oratorian priest and philosopher Almeida (1722-1804). One of the deadliest in history, the earthquake almost totally destroyed the Portuguese capital and accentuated political tensions within...
£400
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[HERISSANT, Louis Théodore].
Le fablier françois, ou élite des meilleurs fables depuis La Fontaine.
Paris, Lottin le jeune, 1771.
First edition, rare, of what has a claim to be the first comprehensive collection of French fables from the period after La Fontaine, assembled by the diplomat, lawyer, and historian Louis-Théodore Herissant (1743–1811). Collecting together fables from writers both famous (Voltaire, J.B. Rousseau,...
£650
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[CANONS REGULAR OF THE LATERAN.]
Regula et constitutiones Canonicorum Regularium congregationis S. Salvatoris, Ordinis Sancti Augustini....
Rome, apud Paulum Bladum, 1592.
The most complete edition, rare, of the Rule and Constitutions of the Order of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine of the Congregation of the Most Holy Saviour, printed on vellum, with two seemingly unrecorded cancels, from the library of a former Abbot General of the Order.
£25000
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[ZATTA, Antonio].
Il filosofo del nord, ovvero Corso di morale filosofia.
Londra [i.e. Venice, Zatta], 1788.
First edition under this title of this course of moral philosophy, broadly construed, where the author attempts to invoke the authority of the “philosophers of the North” (inter alia Hobbes, Bacon, Clark, Addison on one side of the English Channel, Bayle, Pascal, La Mettrie, Grotius and Formey...
£725
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FLORENT DE SALES [pseudonym].
Vrai systême du monde physique et moral. [s.n., s.l., but Switzerland], 1797.
[s.l., but Switzerland], 1797.
Only edition, rare, of this utopia, the identity of whose author, and even of whose printer, remains unknown.
£1750
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[DEATH OF REASON].
Oracion funebre dicha en las Exêquias del Ente de Razon.
Barc[elona], Pedro Gomita. c.1787.
Barcelona printing, in the same year as the first, of this speech given in competition at the Provincial Chapter of the Franciscans in Malaga, offering a funereal eulogy for Reason.
£215
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CHEVRET, Jean.
Épitre a l’humanité et a la patrie en particulier, sur le bon ordre & l’idée de la véritable liberté. Suivie...
[Paris?], au temple de la vérité, 1789.
A good copy of this rare essay on the workings of society and the conditions required for human flourishing, by the controversialist and librarian Jean Chevret (1747-1820). After a brief letter addressed to humanity in general and France (even, perhaps, Chevret’s own home town of Meulan) in particular,...
£285
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[CAVALLERI, Paolo Agostino].
Lettera dall’Adriatico del signor Antonio Bianchi sopra l’opera del sig. Abate D. Nicola Spedalieri.
Rome, Giovanni Zempel, 1792.
First edition, uncommon, of this counter-revolutionary polemic written in response to Spedalieri’s I diritti dell’uomo of the previous year and attributed to the Barnabite Paolo Agostino Cavalleri (1742-1803). Spedalieri had attempted a Catholic response to the revolutionary ideas of the rights of...
£485
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CARON, Jean-Charles-Félix.
Compendium institutionum philosophiae, in quo de rhetorica et philosophia, tractatur. Ad usum candidatorum...
Paris, N. M. Tilliard, 1770.
Very uncommon guide, by the Parisian surgeon Jean-Charles-Félix Caron, to the philosophy student in the University of Paris needs to know in order to graduate first as bachelor and then as master of arts in the university. The work is essentially a kind of bluffer’s guide: “there are people who,...
£875
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CARAVADOSSI, Enrico.
La moderna filosofia convinta d’inganno nelle sue promesse di felicità libertà ed uguaglianza ragionamenti...
Turin, Giammichele Brioio, 1793.
First and seemingly only edition of this attack on the false promises of the philosophes, by the Torinese Dominican friar Enrico Caravadossi.
£395
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WEIDNER, Paul.
Sententiae Hebraicae ad vitae institutionem perutiles breviter explicatae, et praeclarissimis dictis tam sacrarum...
Vienna, Michael Zimmermann, 1563.
First edition; very rare. A collection of Hebrew proverbs ‘very useful for the regulation of life’, with accompanying translation and commentary in Latin and German.
£2600
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STAPLETON, Thomas.
Promptuarium Catholicum ad instructionem concionatorum contra haereticos nostri temporis, super omnia evangelia...
Antwerp, Pierre Beller, 1592.
Rare third edition, expanded, of Stapleton’s handbook or ‘storehouse’ of scriptural devotions for Sundays and feast days, first published in 1589. An independent companion volume for the weekdays in Lent was first published in 1594.
£700
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[SAINTE-HILAIRE, Émile Marco de.]
Réclamation addressée à S. Ece. Mgr. Delavau, préfet de police, par Modeste Agnès, patentée...
Paris, chez les marchands de nouveautés, 1821.
Rare first edition of this work on Parisian prostitution, attributed to the writer and journalist Émile Marco de Sainte-Hilaire (1796-1887). The Réclamation is presented as a letter from the prostitute Modeste Agnès to the newly-appointed Paris chief of police, Guy Delavau (1787-1874),...
£850
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[GUARNIERI, Paolo Emilio].
Dell’impiegar la gente dissertazione.
Verona, per gli eredi di Marco Moreni, 1784.
Only edition, rare, of this work by the architect and philosopher Paolo Emilio Guarnieri, on the useful employment of the Italian population.
£685
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GRIFFITHS, William, and Henry BUNBURY (illustrator).
A practical Treatise on Farriery, deduced from the Experience...
Wrexham, R. Marsh, [1784].
First edition of this informative treatise by the groom to the Williams Wynn family, from the library of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn’s political ally, William Mostyn Owen. A farrier to the Williams Wynns of Wynnstay since at least the 1740s, Griffiths dedicates the work to his second master from...
£1100