Recent Acquisitions
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PRIESTLEY, J. B.
Angel Pavement …
London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1930.
First edition, the deluxe issue, no. 308 of 1025 copies signed by the author.
£150
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YARRELL, William.
A History of British Fishes … illustrated by nearly 400 Woodcuts.
London, Samuel Bentley for John van Voorst, 1836.
First collected editions, with an autograph letter on the Hebridal smelt from the species’ discoverer. Published serially from 1835 to 1836, Yarrell’s History of British Fishes was reprinted within a year, and followed soon after by Thomas Bell’s British Reptiles in 1839 and...
£750
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COSTER, François.
Piarum et Christ. institutionum libri tres, in usum sodalitatis B. Mariae Virginis primum conscripti, nunc...
Douai, Jean Bogard, 1582.
Very rare Douai edition of this devotional work by the Belgian Jesuit François Coster (1532–1619), first published at Cologne in 1578, illustrated with woodcuts of the Crucifixion and Our Lady of Sorrows.
£675
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JUVENAL.
The Satires … translated: with explanatory and classical Notes, relating to the Laws and Customs of the Greeks and Romans …
London: Printed for J. Nicholson, in Cambridge; and sold by S. Crowder … and J. and F. Rivington … 1777.
Third edition of this parallel-text translation edited by Thomas Sheridan, first published 1739.
£1250
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ARISTOTLE; Ermolao BARBARO, translator.
De arte dicendi libri III.
Paris, [Michel de] Vascosan, 1549.
Rare first Vascosan edition of Aristotle’s Rhetoric in Latin, edited by the Venetian humanist Ermolao Barbaro (1454–1493), in a binding with the arms of the Kingdom of Portugal.
£650
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CONTI, Natale.
Mythologiæ, sive explicationis fabularum, libri decem. In quibus omnia propè naturalis & moralis philosophiæ...
Frankfurt, the heirs of André Wechel, 1584.
Scarce Frankfurt edition of the Mythologiae of Natale Conti (Natalis Comes), first published Venice 1567. It was a standard reference work for classical mythology in the later Renaissance, treating the corpus as allegories that syncretized ancient philosophy and could thus be decoded by...
£950
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THICKNESSE, Philip.
A Year’s Journey through the Paix Bâs and Austrian Netherlands … Vol.
I [all published]. London: Printed in the Year 1784.
First edition, rare, and possibly suppressed, of a typically idiosyncratic account of a ‘quarrel-ridden tour’ of the Netherlands and Belgium by ‘the most irascible individual within the arena of late eighteenth-century print culture’ (ODNB), with a graphic depiction of the 1762...
£1850
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[PSALMS.]
Les Pseaumes de David, mis en Vers François, revus et approuvez par le Synode Walon des Provinces-Unies. Nouvelle Edition.
Amsterdam, ‘aux dépens de l’Eglise Françoise de Londres’, 1729’.
New edition of the metrical Psalms of the Pléiade poet Clément Marot and the theologian Théodore de Bèze, extensively revised, with a new version of 149 Psalms, printed for the use of Huguenot émigrés.
£950
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[MASS.]
Cerimonie piu’ notabili della messa privata; Cavate dalle rubriche del Missale, ed altri autori da un Sacerdote D.C.D.M....
Turin, Gianfranco Mairesse, 1739.
An apparently unrecorded edition of this uncommon treatise on the celebration of the mass and its associated rituals.
£300
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GUILLON, Pierre.
Danti voci suae vocem virtutis. Quaestio theologica … Has theses … ac praeside, S.M.N.D.D. Ludovico Bellayer,...
Poitiers, Jean-Felix Faulcon, [1770].
An apparently unrecorded broadside giving the text of theological theses defended by Pierre Guillon of Poitiers for entry into minor orders. A bachelor of theology from the city’s university, Guillon’s gruelling five-hour examination took place on 22 November 1770 between one and six o’clock,...
£275
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DARRÉ, G.G.
‘Conferences diaconales données par Mr l’abbé Darré, Vicaire Général au GrandSéminaire d’Auch. Année...
Auch, 1864.
An attractively written manuscript of Abbé Darré’s practical manual for the use of young priests entering pastoral ministry, the text remaining unprinted, according to OCLC, until 1872.
£200
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[CAPUCHINS.]
Diploma conferring ‘privilegium maximum’.
‘Bojonii’, 22 October 1779.
An attractive diploma issued by Erhard von Radkersburg (1714–1798) in his capacity as Minister General of the Capuchins to one Nicolas Homont and his family, granting them the spiritual benefits of the devotions and good works undertaken by the order.
£450
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[WALSH, William.]
A Funeral Elegy upon the Death of the Queen. Addrest to the Marquess of Normanby.
London, Printed for Jacob Tonson … 1695.
First edition of Walsh’s elegy on the death of Queen Mary II, the very rare first issue without the author’s name on the title-page. The second issue replaces a thick rule on the title-page with Walsh’s name, and adds two thick rules to the final page – this latter setting is also used...
£350
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ROSINI, Giovanni.
Alla memoria di Maria Antinori vedova del Marchese Consalvi di Macerata morta improvvisamente la sera del XIV...
Pisa, Niccolò Capurro, 1852.
Scarce first and only edition of this poem in memory of Maria Antinori, widow of the Marchese Consalvi, on her death at the age of thirty-five, penned by the poet, playwright, historical novelist, art historian, and art collector Giovanni Rosini (1776–1855), this copy presented by the author to...
£275
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STANYHURST, William.
Veteris hominis per expensa quatuor novissima metamorphosis, et novi genesis.
Antwerp, Cornelius Woons, 1661.
First edition, rare, of this work on death, the Last Judgement, Hell, and Heaven, by the Irish Jesuit William Stanyhurst (1601–1663), illustrated with five striking full-page emblematic engravings.
£875
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PASSI, Marco Celio.
Memorie sulla vita di Donna Giuseppina Passi nata Marchesa Lomellini di Genova.
Bergamo, Stamperia Mazzoleni, 1832.
Scarce first edition of a touching memorial to Giuseppina Passi (1809–1831), born Marchioness Lomellini of Genoa, who died at the age of twenty-one following complications in childbirth.
£300
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MANCINI, Celso.
Il padrino Christiano … per formare i cavallieri di Christo nel duello della morte. Diviso in tre parti …
Ferrara, Vittorio Baldini, 1592.
Rare first edition of a meditational work on this world and the next by Celso Mancini (1542–1612), canon regular of the Lateran, philosopher, and bishop of Alessano.
£950
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[GREY, Jane, Lady.]
‘The last days of Lady Jane Grey’.
[c. 1870?].
A manuscript extract, unfinished or incomplete, on the trial of Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England from 10 to 19 July 1553.
£175
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DRYDEN, John.
Eleonora: a Panegyrical Poem: dedicated to the Memory of the late Countess of Abingdon …
London, Printed for Jacob Tonson … 1692.
First edition of Dryden’s eulogy for Eleanora, late Countess of Abingdon, commissioned by her husband, the first Earl of Abingdon.
£275
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DONNE, John.
Poems … with Elegies on the authors Death …
London, Printed by M.F. for John Marriot, and are to be sold at his Shop … 1635.
Second edition, adding seventeen new poems by Donne (and eleven false attributions), and three more elegies on his death.
£4500