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17TH-CENTURY BOOKS
[
]
 The ELZEVIR FAMILY operated active presses in Leyden, The Hague, Utrecht, and Amsterdam from 1585 to 1712, with their greatest, most characteristic work being done across the heart of the 17th century — roughly 1630–65. The great WING BIBLIOGRAPHY of books printed in Great Britain and British America, and English-language books printed in other countries, covers the years 1641–1700.For
easy browsing by dedicated collectors,our ELZEVIR PRESS and WING books are offered separately, under  THEIR
OWN SECTIONS on the Topic/Interest table,as well as below. |
The “English Merlin” — His Foundational Text of Modern Astrology
(A 17th-Century Astrological Classic). Lilly, William. Christian astrology modestly treated of in three books. The first containing the use of an ephemeris, the erecting of a scheam of heaven; nature of the twelve signs of the zodiack, of the planets; with a most easie introduction to the whole art of astrology. The second, by a most methodicall way, instructeth the student how to judge or resolve all manner of questions contingent unto man, viz. of health, sicknesse, riches, marriage ... The third, containes an exact method, whereby to judge upon nativities; severall wayes how to rectifie them; how to judge the generall fate of the native by the twelve houses of Heaven, according to the naturall influence of the stars ... London: Pr. by Theo. Brudenell for John Partridge & Humph. Blunden, 1647. 4to (19.4 cm, 7.64"). [46], 25–832, [12 (cat.)], [8 (index)] pp. (frontis. lacking; last four [index] leaves in facsimile); illus.
Click the images for enlargements.
printed in English rather than Latin. Lilly (1602–81), whose prediction of the King's defeat at the Battle of Naseby made his name as a professional fortuneteller, became deeply involved in politics, only to see his influence wane after the Restoration; at one point, he was accused of involvement in setting the Great Fire of London, which he had predicted a number of years before. His writings — which included a series of almanacs issued under the banner of “the English Merlin” — lived on, and have in modern times regained much of their former authority in the field of horary astrology.
a full, detailed guide to Lilly's astrological practices and school of thought, the work at hand provides a “Catalogue of most Astrological Authors now extant, where Printed, and in what year”: an extensive
bibliography of astrology texts still of use to scholars today. The third book has a separate title-page (noting publication in 1658 by John Macok, but with pagination and signatures continuing uninterrupted from the first two books), and the text is illustrated with
numerous diagrams and sample star charts throughout.
Evidence of Readership: An early hand has corrected some of the errors in pagination, and one outer margin bears an 18th-century inscription.
Provenance: Title-page with early inked ownership inscription of Samuel Tennant.
• Wing (rev. ed.) L2215; ESTC R4033. Not in Coumont, not in Caillet. Recent period-style quarter speckled brown calf with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with green leather title and author labels, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped fleuron decorations in compartments; small binder's ticket on back pastedown. Frontispiece lacking and final four leaves (index) supplied in facsimile; title-age with inner margin and short tears to lower portion repaired, several other leaves with margins repaired, and two contents leaves with outer margins trimmed very closely; otherwise, general browning, old staining, and occasional short tears or small holes — this book was used. Title-page with inscription as above and with small inked annotation in lower margin. A landmark of astrological thought, in a copy priced to reflect its history of use and its mishaps more than its allure. (40587)
AZTEC KINGS Used as Exemplars for a
European Perfect PrinceSigned Authorial Comment
(An Eye-Opener)?? Sigüenza y Góngora, Carlos de. Theatro de virtudes politicas, que constituyen á un Principe: Advertidas en los monarchas antiguos del Mexicano Imperio, con cuyas esfigies se hermoseó el Aco triumphal ... Mexico: Por la viuda de Bernardo Calderon, 1680. 4to (20 cm, 7.75"). [4] ff., 88 pp.
Click the images for enlargements.
el mas singular de todos los libros de 'Arcos Triunfales' impresos durante el virreinato. Su originalidad radica en no usar las fabulas e historias mitologicas de la antiguedad grecolatina — en un clima de intenso humanismo — las cuales destacaban el fuerte acento cultural occidental en las mentalidades barrocas de Mexico en el siglo XVII; Siguenza se valio de la historia antigua para senalar las virtudes de un principe, contenidas en los emperadores aztecas.”
Provenance: The author's signature appears below the Latin epigraph on leaf pi1r and his Latin commentary on it above it. Undated (but late 17th- or early 18th-century) ownership signature of Francisco ***** de la Parra above the epigraph and partially into the author's Latin commentary. On the same page, in the lower area, the ownership inscription of Don Roque de Figueroa, dated Naples, 29 January 1688. Later in a convent library as evidenced by unidentified partial marcas de fuego in uppper and lower edges of the book. Virgin of Guadalupe bookplate and ownership stamp on front pastedown of the great 20th-century collector and book scholar Francisco Gonzalez de Cossio.
Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only three U.S. libraries reporting ownership (University of Texas at Austin, the DeGolyer Library at SMU, and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), with the copy at the DeGolyer lacking the epigraph leaf prior to the title-leaf. Those sources also find one Chilean and two Mexican libraries reporting ownership. The copy in the Mexican National Library lacks all of the preliminaries, including the title-leaf; the Tecnologico in Monterrey has both the Ugarte and Conway copies and both are complete. COPAC finds no copies, and CCPBE finds two Spanish libraries reporting ownership, those copies apparently lacking a preliminary leaf (the epigraph?). CCILA locates a copy at the National Library of Peru but we could not trace it via the library's OPAC.
• Medina, Mexico, 1216; Andrade 734; Tovar de Teresa, Bibliografia novohispana de arte, 72. 20th-century plain caramel-color sheep; leather abraded, top area of spine damaged and darkened, else very good. A clean, untrimmed, complete copy with extraordinary provenance. (38602)
Whena Judge Needs to Be REMOVED from a CaseAboim [Aboym], Diogo Guerrreiro Camacho de. Tractatus de recusationibus omnium judicum, officialiumque tam justitiae commutativae, quam distributivae utriusque fori tam saecularis, quam ecclesiastici, sive regularis, à nemine ut par erat, in lucem editus, nunc primùm in lucem datus. Conimbricae: Ex officina Joannis Antunes, 1699. Folio (30 cm; 12") [16] ff., 445, [1] pp.
Click the images for enlargements. 
Via WorldCat and NUC we locate only one copy of this edition and one of the 1759 reprint in U.S. libraries.
Provenance: Embossed stamp of Lic. Pedro Reyes Retana (Mexican, late 19th century).
• Machado, I, 659; Catálogo Santa Casa da Mesiricórdia de Lisboa, I, p. 29. Contemporary calf, plain style on covers, gilt spine; front joint starting and top of spine pulle., with board edges showing wear in places exposing paste boards. Some worming in margins. Private ownership embossed stamp. A good++ copy. (35065)
FABLES: Complete withthe Erotic Engraving PLUS “Cancel” Illustrations(Aesop). Phaedrus; Laurentius, Johannes, ed. Phaedri, Augusti Caesaris liberti, Fabularum Aesopiarum libri quinque; notis perpetuis illustrati, & cum integris aliorum observationibus in lucem editi. Amstelodami: Apud Johannem Janssonium à Waesberge & Viduam Elizaei Weyerstraet, 1667. 8vo (19 cm, 7.5"). Frontis., [60], 462, [204] pp.; illus.
Click the images for enlargements.the first illustrated edition printed in the Netherlands, Johannes Laurentius provides copious annotations in both Latin and Greek for each fable, as well as variant readings and indices of topics and morals.
two instances here of the correct illustration being mounted over the one actually printed on the page (pp. 133 and 205) — whilethe risqué engraving for fable XIII, on p. 276, sometimes found obscured or removed, appears in this copy in crisp and uncensored form. Schweiger called this vignette, a brothel scene, “sehr anstössige,” but Dibdin opined that fewer owners removed the offensive image than claimed to have done so.
The type of this edition is quite small; the engravings, on the other hand, are quite large, at half-a-page each!
Binding: 19th-century quarter green calf with later cream paper–covered sides, spine with older gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped compartment motifs; later endpapers with earlier pastedowns partially visible. All edges speckled blue and brown.
• Schweiger, II, 732; Landwehr, Emblem & Fable Books (Low Countries), p. 313; Dibdin, II, 280; Brunet, IV, 588. Bound as above; spine sunned, title-label worn, corners and edges with minor dust-soiling, text block starting to pull away from spine at head of front hinge. Last line of frontispiece caption shaved; otherwise one leaf with short tear from lower margin, not touching text; one leaf with small ink spot, not obscuring text; one index page with old repair to outer margin. One page with pencilled annotation in Latin. Pages slightly age-toned with light waterstaining to some lower and outer margins of first and last few leaves, otherwise clean and fresh. A very attractive copy. (40838)
Antwerp Literati Salute One of Their Own — Portrait after Peter Paul RubensAsterius, Episcopus Amasenus. S. Asteri Episcopi amaseae homiliae Graecè & Latinè nunc primùm editae Philippo Rubenio interprete. Antverpiae: Ex Officina Plantiniana, apud viduam & filios Ioannis Moreti, 1615. 4to (24.13 cm, 9.5"). [6] ff., 284, pp., [2] ff.
Click the images for enlargements. 
The volume was published at the request of Cardinal Ascanius Columnas in an edition of
only 750 copies, and was printed at Antwerp at the press of Moretus’ widow and sons with the famous Plantin device appearing in two versions (engraved, to the title, and woodcut, to the final recto).
A full-page engraved funeral portrait of Rubens engraved by Cornelius Galle
after Peter Paul Rubens signals the beginning of the third section, in which Jan Brant records the life of his son-in-law’s brother and transcribes his epitaph. Even Balthasar Moretus contributes an epigram in honor of the deceased.
In the fourth section, Rubens’ own orations and selected letters appear, i.a. his funeral oration to Philip II of Spain. Josse DeRycke contributed the final funerary tribute.
Done up in fully elegant Plantin–Moretus style, the volume has in addition to its careful typography and full-page plate and devices been lavished throughout with two-line block initials and four-line historiated woodcut initials; also, it offers several intricate woodcut tailpieces.
Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate only eight copies in U.S. institutions, one of which has been deaccessioned; most arenot in obvious places.
• Graesse, I, 241; Corpus Rubenianum, XXI (1977), 152. Period-style full brown calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label, raised bands with blind tooling extending onto covers. With a few odd spots to the text only, this is aremarkably fine, crisp copy. All edges green. (28878)
Signatures of theFamous & Obscure (Autographs in Abundance). Collection of signatures of notable and lesser Mexicans of the colonial era and first three quarters of the 19th century. Mexico: 1646 to ca. 1880. Various small sizes.
Click the images for enlargements. 
a signature gallery both representing and evoking a long era of Mexican history, this is a most useful archive of “sample” signatures. 
both sides of sheets of paper (approximately 25 x 21.5 cm; .75 x 8.5" h x w) with multiple clipped signatures per sheet, 21 sheets total. Glue stains, and some early colonial ones with sealing-wax stains. (34167)
Additions to aSpaniard's Take on Roman Law Ayllón Laynez, Juan de. Illustrationes sive additiones eruditissimae ad varias resolutiones Antonii Gomezii. Lugduni [Lyon]: Sumptibus Anisson & Posuel, 1692. Folio (32.7 cm, 12.9"). [4] ff., 380, [14] pp.
Click the images for enlargements. heredity, marriage, and torture, inter alia — were first printed at Utrera, Andalusia, in 1654.
The text is in Latin, decorated with woodcut initials, factotum initials, and intricate head- and tailpieces. The title-page, printed in red and black, features a large device of a fleur-de-lis in an elaborate cartouche.
Rare, WorldCat & NUC Pre-1956 locating
just two copies in the U.S.
• Palau 20846. Modern boards covered with 18th-century religious manuscript on vellum, with red speckled edges and ink title to spine; tight, with paper cockled and boards a bit sprung. Title-leaf with small marginal tear and three repairs; the next 88 pages repaired/reinforced in upper outer margin; minor worming variously, mostly marginal and often unnoticeable; small hole from natural paper flaw on one leaf. Foxing generally, other spotting occasionally. A used, occasionally abused, still strong copy of a scarce work. (30297)
BACON — Latinized for LongevityBacon, Francis. ...Opera omnia, cum novo eoque insigni augmento tractatuum hactenus ineditorum, & ex idiomate anglicano in latinum sermonem translatorum, opera Simonis Johannis Arnoldi, ecclesiae Sonnenburgensis inspectoris. Lipsiae:
Impensis Johannis Justi Erythropili, excudebat Christianus Goezius, 1694. Folio (33.5 cm, 13.25"). ):(6 A–Z6 Aa–Zz6 Aaa–Iii6 Kkk–Zzz4 Aaaa–Hhhh4 Iiii6 [-):(1]; [8] ff., 1584 columns, [49 (index)] pp. (half-title lacking). 
Click the images for enlargements. This offers evidence of early readership in form of underlining in ink and occasional marginal notations, confined to early portion of the tome.
• Gibson, Bacon, 243a. On Bacon, see: Oxford Companion to English Literature, 56–57. Contemporary vellum, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum showing minor scuffing and spots of discoloration. Front pastedown with a 19th-century bookplate; front free endpaper with edge nicks and short edge tears. Lacking half-title. Early inked marginalia and underlining, as above; leaves age-toned with intermittent light offsetting and foxing. One leaf with short tear from upper margin, not extending into text. (19001)
BACON onNATURE Bacon, Francis. Sylva sylvarum, sive historia naturalis, in decem centurias distributa. Lug. Batavor.: Apud Franciscum Hackium, 1648. 12mo (12.9 cm, 5.1"). Add. engr. t.-p., [34], 612, [48], 87, [1] pp.
Click the images for enlargements. Provenance: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of Alexander Oswald Brodie (not, please note, the American officer and governor of Arizona Territory); title-page with Brodie's inked inscription, dated 1839, Dresden.
• Brunet, I, 604; Gibson, Bacon, 185b; Willems 1058. On Bacon, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Contemporary vellum with yapp edges, spine with early inked title; spine lettering rubbed, back cover darkened. Both pastedowns lifted, front pastedown with bookplate beneath; free endpapers lacking. Title-page with inscription as above; pages with a very few small scattered spots, almost entirely clean. A handsome copy. (30360)
Barclay'sSatyriconBarclay, John. Euphormionis Lusinini sive Joannis Barclaii Satyricon partes quinque cum clavi. Accessit conspiratio anglicana. Lugd. Batavorum: Elzevirios, 1637. 12mo (12.5 cm, 4.9"). 717, [1] pp.
Click the images for enlargements. • Brunet, I, 652; Willems 452. Late 18th-century plain morocco, turn-ins with gilt roll, rebacked some time ago with lighter morocco; old leather rubbed and variably discolored, front cover with old patch repair. Front free endpaper with pencilled annotations and affixed cataloguing slip. A few pages with faint staining, most clean. One leaf with small paper flaw affecting about six letters. All edges gilt. (27391)
The First Jesuit Mission to theMughal EmpireBartoli, Daniello. Missione al Gran Mogor del P. Ridolfo Aqvaviva ... sua vita e morte, e d'altri quattro compagni uccisi in odio della fede in Salsete di Goa. Milano: Lodovico Monza, 1664. 12mo. [4] ff., 193, [1] p., [1] f.
Click the images for enlargements. As Prof. Emerita Frances W. Pritchett of Columbia University writes on her great website (http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/ikram/part2_12.html): “Of all the aspects of Akbar's life and reign, few have excited more interest than his attitude toward religion. . . . [H]e built the Ibadat Khana, the House of Worship, which he set apart for religious discussions. Every Friday after the congregational prayers, scholars, dervishes, theologians, and courtiers interested in religious affairs would assemble in the Ibadat Khana and discuss religious subjects in the royal presence.”
It was to these discussions/conversations/debates that Acquaviva was invited. The religions represented were many, the major participants including Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Hindus, Jains, and Zoroastrians. After several months Acquaviva felt his contributions to the debates insufficient to justify continuing as part of the mission and left the task to fellow Jesuits. On return to Goa his missionary work led him to the Hindu Kshatriyas of Salcette, south of Goa, which proved a fatal decision. Prior to his arrival, the Jesuits with the aid of Portuguese troops had destroyed some temples there; the Cuncolim Revolt of July, 1583, was partially a result of
those actions and it was in the revolt that Acquaviva and the four companions alluded to in the title of this work were murdered.
The author of this biography was a major Jesuit historian of the Society's activity in Asia. He was the author of the monumental Istoria della Compagnia di Gesu (1650–1673) in 6 folio volumes, Della vita e dell'istituto di S. Ignatio, fondatore della Compagnia di Gesu (1650), L'Asia (1653), Il Giappone, parte seconda dell'Asia (1660), La Cina, terza parte dell'Asia (1663), L'Inghilterra, parte dell'Europa (1667), L'Italia, prima parte dell'Europa (1673), and biographies of Jesuits Vincenzo Caraffa (1651), Robert Bellarmine (1678), Stanislas Kostka (1678), Francis Borgia (1681), and Niccolo Zucchi (1682). Also of interest are his works on science: Della tensione e della pressione (1677), Del suono, dei tremori armonici, dell'udito (1679), and Del ghiaccio e della coagulatione (1682).
This is the second edition of Bartoli's account of Acquaviva and his mission, following the first of the previous year. Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and COPAC locate just two copies of the 1663 edition, both in the U.S., and similarly only two copies of this 1664 (one in Germany, one at Oxford).
• DeBacker-Sommervogel, I, 975; Graesse, I, 303 (for first edition and other later editions but not knowing of this second). Late 18th-century quarter vellum over light boards covered with green paper. Undeciphered 17th-century ownership inscription on title-page. Waterstaining, at times significant, at others barely visible.
A sound copy with no worming or tears. (35200)
Pinax & Prodomos: Bauhin's History of PlantsBauhin, Caspar. Caspari Bauhini ... Pinax theatri botanici: sive Index in Theophrasti Dioscoridis, Plinii et botanicorvm qui à seculo scripserunt opera ... Basileae: Joannis Regis, 1671. 4to (26.5 cm, 10.45"). [12] ff., 518 pp., [13] ff. [with the same author's] Caspari Bauhini ... Prodomos theatri botanici ... Basileae: Impensis Joannis Regis, 1671. 4to (26.5 cm, 10.45"). 160 pp., [6] ff.; illus.
Click the images for enlargements. Bauhin's section on Zea mays is one of the earliest descriptions of New World maize, and was subsequently cited as such by Linnaeus.
140 woodcuts depicting a wide variety of plants. Both works are here in their second, enlarged editions, following the original publications of Pinax in 1623 and Prodomos in 1620. The first title-page is printed in red and black, and both titles bear the printer's “Per angusta ad augusta” vignette.
A copy clearly read and interacted with by a botanical-minded scholar. (34558)
History of the Propagation of the Christian Faith“Hater of False History”
Baxter, Richard. Church-history of the government of bishops and their councils abbreviated. Including the chief part of the government of Christian princes and popes, and a true account of the most troubling controversies and heresies till the Reformation. London: Printed by B[ennet] Griffin, for Thomas Simmons at the Princes Arms, 1680. 4to (22 cm, 8.12''). [44], 136, 177–296, 313–400, 409–488 pp.
Click the images for enlargements.“Hater of false History”; thus the present account opens with a discussion of how to assess the credibility of histories and reports. 
Provenance & Evidence of Readership: Front pastedown with bookplate of the Library of the Theological Seminary of the Diocese of Ohio (properly deaccessioned). Intermittent 17th-century inked marginalia cross-referencing pages, adding significant information, and correcting certain points.
• ESTC R10655; Wing (rev. ed.) B1224B. Contemporary calf, rebacked, covers framed in double gilt fillets, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt devices in compartments; rubbed and worn overall, spine with early paper shelving label. Pages age-toned; one leaf with upper outer corner torn away (not touching text). Annotations as above. A solid copy in contemporary binding, with interesting evidence of readership. (34379)
Anatomy & Therapeutics as Taught on the Continent,NOW for the English Medical AudienceBeckher, Daniel. Medicus microcosmus, seu, Spagyria microcosmi exhibens medicinam corpore hominis tùm vivo, tùm extincto doctè eruendam, scitè praeparandam, & dextrè propinandam. Londini: Prostant apud Jo. Martin, Ja. Allestry & Tho. Dicas, 1660. 12mo (13.5 cm, 5.25"). [16] ff., 304 pp., [12] ff.
Click the images for enlargements.
Provenance: 20th-century bookplate of A. Garrigues, D.M. Most recently in the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).
Searches of NUC, ESTC, and WorldCat surprisingly locate only seven U.S. libraries (DNLM, NN [incomplete copy], CU-M, WU, PCarlD, NNOD, MiU) reporting ownership. Notably absent from that list are Harvard, Yale, the Huntington, New York Academy of Medicine, the College of Physicians, University of Texas, and the Folger.
• ESTC R14791; Wing (rev. ed.) B1655. Mid-19th-century quarter leather with marbled paper sides; front board expertly reattached and leather refurbished. Age-toning, notably to first leaves including title; discoloration in gutter margins from transference from leather (?). A good copy of a scarce English medical imprint. (39767)
“You desire mine opinion . . . ” B[lake], T[homas]. A moderate ansvver to these two questions. 1. Whether ther [sic] be sufficient ground in Scripture to warrant the conscience of a Christian to present his infants to the sacrament of baptism. 2. Whether it be not sinfull for a Christian to receiv [sic] the sacrament in a mixt assembly. London: Printed by I.N. for Abel Roper, at the signe of the Sunne over against S. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street, 1645 [i.e., 1644]. 4to. [2], 32 pp.
Click the image for an enlargement. • ESTC R12103; Wing (rev. ed.) B3148. Removed from a nonce volume, edges speckled red; spine reinforced with archival tape. Ex-library with some pencillings and perforation- and rubber-stamps. Worming to last leaves, entirely within gutter margins; light waterstaining. (25705)
Lovely French Printing — GORGEOUS! French BindingBoileau Despréaux, Nicolas. Œuvres diverses du Sieur D*** avec le traité du sublime ou du merveilleux dans le discours, traduit du Grec de Longin. Paris: Claude Barbin (pr. by Denys Thierry), 1674. 4to (25.3 cm, 10"). π2A–R4S8T–Y4Z
Click the images for enlargements. 
Provenance: Front fly-leaf with armorial bookplate of New York attorney and book collector Frederic Robert Halsey, and with decorative medieval-inspired bookplate of “G.E.” Volume with laid-in handwritten note signed by Gruel, on Gruel-Engelmann letterhead, dated 1892. Later in the collection of
• Brunet, I, 1056; DeBacker, Auteurs du XVIIe siècle, 1020; Tchemerzine, II, 271. Binding as above, nearly perfect save for just a touch of rubbing to the spine extremities, in cloth-covered slipcase, worn, with cloth starting to split over edges. Frontispiece and title-page separating from binding; title with red-tinted signs, near edges, that the marbling process did not go entirely smoothly; upper margins of several other leaves with hints of very faint waterstaining. Otherwise, clean and quite lovely. (13767)
A Guide to HeavenBona, Giovanni. Manuductio ad coelum medullam continens sanctorum patrum, & veterum philosophorum. Parisiis: Apud Robertum Pepie, 1692. 12mo (14.6 cm, 5.75"). A–S8,4 T2; [3] ff., 214 pp. 
Click the image for an enlargement. • On Bona, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 655. Speckled paper over light boards, lightly soiled. Interior with some light soiling, especially on outer pages and upper edges, and a little faint waterstaining. (10658)
Plates by Leclerc, Sole Elzevir Edition, Olshki ProvenanceBonarelli della Rovere, Guidubaldo. Filli di Sciro, favola pastorale. Amsterdam: nella stamperia del D. Elsevier; et in Parigi si vende apresso Thomaso Jolly, 1678. 24mo (10.5 cm; 4.125"). Engr. title-page (included in pagination), 168 pp., 5 engr. plts.
Click the images for enlargements. Provenance: Bookseller label of Leo S. Olschki. Most recently in the collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Searches of NUC and WorldCat find fewer than a dozen North American libraries reporting ownership.
• Willems 1542. 19th-century maroon calf, plain but with raised bands beaded; rose-color endpapers. Fly-leaf with old, largely obliterated inscription; a few preliminary leaves with old faded waterstains along the outer and top margins. An attractive copy of a nice little Elzevir. (37778)
Explaining Mass to a New ConvertBossuet, Jacques Bénigne. Explication de quelques difficultez sur les prieres de la messe, à un nouveau Catholique. Paris [i.e., La Haye]: La veuve de Sebastien Mabre-Cramoisy; et se vend a la Haye, chez Adrian Moetjens, 1689. 12mo (13.8 cm, 5.4"). [10 (2 blank)] ff., 238 pp., [3 (2 blank)] ff.
Click the images for enlargements. This is the second edition, with the title-page imprint maintaining the same publisher and year as the first but really printed in the Netherlands, by Adrian Moetjens, although saying it is merely for sale there. This printing is even scarcer than the uncommon first: WorldCat locates no U.S. institutional holdings of this Moetjens-sold edition. Later editions were published under the title Explication des prières de la Messe.
• Brunet, I, 1136; STCN 191215252. On Bossuet, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 717–18. Original vellum over boards, title inked on spine in an early hand; vellum darkened and slightly sprung, spine title faded. Pastedowns pulling up, with short tears. Bottom outer corner of p. 217 lost (not affecting text); back free endpaper with closed tear from right margin. Pages gently age-toned throughout. A good, solid copy. (37264)
“Do Not Murmure Nor Repine . . . Do Not Fret Nor Vex”Burroughs, Jeremiah. The rare jewel of Christian contentment. London: Pr. by W.W. for H. Sawbridge, 1685. 4to (19.6 cm, 7.75"). [6] ff., 208 pp.
Click the images for enlargements. Originally published in 1648, two years after the author's death, this treatise continues to receive glowing recommendations as a study in achieving Christian peace even for modern readers.
• ESTC R23842; Wing (rev. ed.) B6110. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Pages age-toned and cockled, with waterstaining to first 16 leaves; two leaves each with small burn spot affecting but not obscuring a few letters, one leaf with short tear from outer edge not extending into text; one leaf holed with loss of about ten letters. A solid, very readable copy of this Christian classic in a good late 17th–century edition. (36724)
Hebrew FlowersBuxtorf, Johann. Florilegium Hebraicum: Continens elegantes sententias, proverbia, apophthegmata, similitudines.... Basileae: Impensis Haered. Ludovici König, 1648. 8vo (16.7 cm, 6.55"). )(8A–Z8Aa–Bb8; [16], 390, [8 (index)] pp.
Click the images for enlargements. • VD17 12:128413B. Contemporary vellum with yapp edges, spine with early inked title; some light discoloration, with cut to vellum across spine. Pastedowns loose from inside covers, with bits of old manuscript used in the binding structure, showing; 19th-century bookplate attached to exposed paste board and endpapers creased. Shadow of old shelf number on verso of title-page. One leaf with small stain and hole affecting about four letters. Foxing ranging from mild to moderate. (18943)
Standard Hebrew Dictionary
Buxtorf, Johann, the elder. Lexicon chaldaicum, talmudicum et rabbinicum, nunc primum in lucem editum a Johanne Buxtorfio Filio.... Basel: Sumptibus et typis Ludovici König, 1640. Very large folio (36 cm, 14.2"). Frontis., pl., [6] ff., 2680 cols., [32] ff.
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full-page engraved portrait of the author and an added engraved title-page dated 1639, in an allegorical frame flanked by figures of Daniel and Esra with an image of the Tower of Babel above and a king praying in a gothic cathedral below.
Provenance: Engraved title-page with minute owner's inscription dated 1723 ofErnst Wilh[elm] Christoph Christfels of Fürth, Germany, who published a treatise, “Concerning Ialtha, daughter of the prince, an example of the learned women of the Jewish race,” in 1725, citing Buxtorf's Institutio epistolaris hebraica of 1629 at least once (and using this dictionary for the Hebrew vocabulary?).
• VD17 12:128987E; Vancil, Cordell Collection, 40. 19th-century paper imitating tree calf over boards, paper spine label; rubbed and spine paper cracking. Ex-library: bookplate on front pastedown and old notes in ink to same. Engraved title-page and portrait chipped at edges and lightly wormed at margins, the former also repaired at one margin. Generally lightly browned with occasional foxing and staining; smudges from printer’s and annotators’ inks; a few very small tears and holes none causing loss to text. Early repairs (or paper twisted while still wet?) on two leaves. Occasional marginalia, interlinear writing, and underlining, in black and red ink, by an early owner. Old bookseller’s note in English inserted between two leaves. A remarkably strong volume, given its great size. (30596)
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