Recent Acquisitions
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VENERONI, Giovanni.
The Complete Italian Master; containing the best and easiest Rules for attaining that Language … Newly...
London, J. Nourse, 1763.
First edition thus, revising an earlier translation of Le maitre italien of 1711, which was not only ‘out of print’ but ‘in many respects inaccurate’ (Preface). The translator’s preface acknowledges the work of foreign editors since the second edition of 1729 and describes some...
£750
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[BRUGES.]
‘Copie van de Cueren en Ordonnantien omme de Schoolmeesters, Schoolvrauwen, Librariers ende Prenters der Stede van...
Bruges, [c. 1656].
A remarkable manuscript containing the rules of the guild of ‘schoolmasters and mistresses, booksellers, and printers’ in the Belgian city of Bruges, providing a unique window onto the book trade and education there in the first half of the seventeenth century. The existence of a single guild...
£4250
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[PALACE THEATRE, SCUNTHORPE.]
‘Benefit to A. E. Dobney, Thursday, February 19th, 1914.’
[Scunthorpe, 1914.]
A rare broadside programme for a benefit performance at the Palace Theatre in Scunthorpe, printed on crepe paper with a charming block-printed floral border.
£185
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[EROTICA.]
La belle sans chemise.
‘A Londres’, 1797.
Very rare edition, with a false London imprint and an engraved frontispiece, of an erotic novel encompassing threesomes, dildos, cross-dressing, theft, extortion, betrayal, and revenge.
£750
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MARTIAL.
Epigrammaton libri XIII. Ex fide vetustissimorum exemplarium, quanta fieri potuit cura vigilantiaque emendati.
Paris, Jean Libert, 1612 [(colophon:) 1613].
An uncommon small-format edition of Martial’s Epigrams, with early annotations marking passages used by the humanist poet Marot.
£650
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SOPHOCLES.
Tragoediae Sophoclis quotquot extant carmine Latino redditae Georgio Ratallero … interprete.
Antwerp, Jean Bellère, 1584.
An early seventeenth-century sammelband collecting contrasting classical texts: the tragedies of Sophocles, the civil war horrors of Lucan, and the sharp satires of Juvenal and Persius.
£950
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[BOUTREUX D’ESTIAU, Jacques de.]
De la puissance roialle sur la police de l’Eglise.
Paris, Pierre Durand, 1625.
A pair of uncommon works defending the French king’s authority over the Church, in a binding for Jacques-Auguste II de Thou and later in the renowned Caumartin library.
£950
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ARIAS, Francisco.
Paleys der deughden begrypende de naervolghinghe der alder-heylichste ende weerdichste Maghet Maria. Eerst gemaeckt...
Antwerp, Gheleyn Janssens, 1609.
First Dutch edition of this work of Marian devotion by the Spanish Jesuit and ascetical writer Francisco Arias (1533–1605), first published in Spanish as De la imitacion de Nuestra Señora in 1588.
£375
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[PSALMS.]
Psalterium Davidis carmine redditum per Eobanum Hessum. Annotationes Viti Theodori Noribergensis, quae vice commentarii...
Paris, [(colophon:) Guillaume Morel for] Jacques Dupuys ‘sub insigni Samaritanae’, [August] 1550.
Seemingly unrecorded issue of the Psalms of David in Latin as edited by the Lutheran theologian Eoban of Hesse (1488–1540) with commentary by Luther’s housemate, associate, and sometime secretary Veit Dietrich (1506–1549).
£1250
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MOUSSON, Pierre.
Tragoediae seu diversarum gentium et imperiorum magni principes. Dati in theatrum collegii regii Henrici magni ...
La Flèche, George Griveau, 1621.
First edition, provincially-printed, of four Neo-Latin tragedies by the French Jesuit professor and playwright Pierre Mousson (c. 1560–1637) inspired by four great figures from the classical world.
£725
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[HOSPICE SAINT-NICOLAS, METZ.]
Deed granting land to the hospice.
Metz, 5 May 1464.
A significant document recording the grant of agricultural land in 1464 to the Hospice of Saint-Nicolas, the oldest hospital in Metz, in northeast France, issued during the reign of Louis XI and in the final year of the papacy of Pius II.
£450
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GOBINET, Charles.
Instruction sur la vérité du Saint Sacrement, contenant en abregé les principaux motifs de la créance Catholique...
Paris, François le Cointe, 1677.
Scarce first edition thus, containing an explanation of the Eucharist and a defence of transubstantiation by the French writer and teacher Charles Gobinet (1613–1690), a lovely copy bearing a stamp found on bindings executed for Louis de France, the Grand Dauphin (1661–1711), eldest son of Louis...
£650
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[ORDE, John Powlett.]
A collection of 111 original compositions in Latin (and occasionally Greek) verse and prose.
Eton, 1818–1820.
A delightful insight into classical education at Eton, where until the mid-nineteenth century Greek and Latin were the only official classroom subjects, and Latin composition was considered a key accomplishment. Subjects covered here include ‘The Pigeon’ (5 May 1818), ‘Instruction’ (21...
£1750
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[LOVE TOKEN.]
Portrait of a woman wearing photographic jewellery.
[1850s].
An ambrotype portrait of a young woman with a photographic brooch at her neck depicting a man, presumably her betrothed or spouse.
£375
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RIDOLFI, Luca Antonio.
Aretefila, dialogo, nel quale da una parte sono quelle ragioni allegate, le quali affermano, lo amore...
Lyons, Guillaume Rouillé, 1562.
The third edition (first 1557) of a remarkable Renaissance philosophical dialogue on the nature of love which marked the culmination of the divisive questione d’amore hotly debated in sixteenth-century literature, our copy extensively annotated by a seventeenth-century collector of musical...
£2800
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[NUPTIALIA.]
Bartolomeo MOLAJONI. Alla neogama donzella Marianna Molajoni negli Sforza, Bartolomeo Molajoni germano dirigge il...
Viterbo, brothers Poggiarelli, 1811.
Seemingly unrecorded sonnet addressed to the newlywed Marianna Molajoni by her brother Bartolomeo and dedicated to the sottoprefetto of Viterbo, Giulio Zelli Pazzaglia.
£275
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MOREL DE RUBEMPRÉ, Joseph.
Les secrets de la génération ou l’art de procréer à volonté des filles ou des garçons, de faire...
chez tous les libraires, [c. 1870].
Joseph Morel de Rubempré’s (1812–86) popular guide to the secrets of sex, (billed as the thirtieth edition of vol. I and the twelfth of vol. II).
£150
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[LE NOBLE, Pierre, and Eustache LE NOBLE (attributed).]
Les Amours d’Anne d’Austriche, Epouse de Louis 13. Avec le Cardinal...
‘A Cologne, Chez Pierre Marteau, 1696’ [France, early eighteenth century].
An early manuscript copy of a salacious – and treasonous – history arguing that Louis XIV was the illegitimate child of Anne of Austria and Cardinal Richelieu, bound with four engravings.
£850
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[LA ROCHE, Sophie von.]
Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim. Von einer Freundin derselben aus Original-Papieren und andern...
Leipzig, bey Weidmanns Erben und Reich, 1771.
First edition of Sophie von La Roche’s (1730–1807) bestselling epistolary novel, a bestseller featuring kidnapping, travels from Germany to Scotland, and a false wedding ceremony, a direct forerunner to Goethe’s Werther.
£750
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[KRÜDENER, Barbara Juliane de Vietinghoff, Freifrau von.]
Valérie, ou Lettres de Gustave de Linar à Ernest de G… Tome premier...
Paris, Henrichs, 1804.
Rare first edition of Valérie, the famous semi-autobiographical Romantic novel by the Riga-born mystic and novelist Madame de Krüdener (1766–1824), whose influence as Tsar Alexander I’s spiritual adviser contributed directly to the formation of the Holy Alliance of 1815.
£400