The title-pages offer three instances of the same handsome woodcut vignette.

Binding:  19th-century straight-grained citron morocco, raised bands, spine gilt-extra with flowers and flourishes; inner dentelles gilt, puce endpapers, all edges gilt over marbling. Red silk bookmark present and attached.

Provenance:  William Beckford, with 19th-century note “Beckford sale 1883 lot 174" on front free endpaper verso and cutting from sale catalogue on front pastedown; red leather Durdans (Rosebery) booklabel to front pastedown and that library's small blind-stamp to first title-page and elsewhere. Later bookplate of Lawrence Strangman to front free endpaper; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, with his small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  I: Wing (rev.ed.) N1462;ESTC R219402. II: Brunet II, 759 (1638 ed.).   Bound as above, with significant rubbing to joints and spine especially and with discoloration especially affecting raised bands; gilt ornamentation still impressive. Short closed tear to B4 not quite reaching print, another with loss to margin just touching text on L4; age-toning, with a few leaves slightly browned. Desirable texts in a desirable copy, with very desirable provenance. (41315)

Both 1666 editions are rare (a term we shy from using) in U.S. institutions. Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and ESTC locate only two U.S. libraries (New York Academy of Medicine, National Library of Medicine) reporting ownership of the London printing, and only four (National Library of Medicine, Yale, The Institute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins, and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia) of this Amsterdam edition.

•  Heirs of Hippocrates 352; Garrison & Morton 2198; Biblotheca Osleriana 994 (all three bibliography citations are for the 1676 edition).   Contemporary brown calf with minor scuffing, gilt spine with center devices but no title or author lettering, board edges with a gilt dog-tooth roll. Bookplate as above; text clean with the very occasional dot or small blot of old ink only. A very nice copy.  (39913)

•  VD17 23:288787R; Landwehr, French, Italian, Spanish, & Portuguese Books of Devices & Emblems, 287; Henkel & Schöne, Emblemata: Handbuch Zur Sinnbildkunst des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, 300; Adams, Bibliography of French Emblem Books of the 16th & 17th Centuries, F.247; Faber du Faur 1846.   Contemporary vellum with later silk ties; vellum lightly worn and spotted, spine head with traces of early, hand-inked shelfmark. Light waterstaining to upper outer portions of roughly the first third of the volume; minor spots of staining scattered throughout. Some inner margins unobtrusively repaired or reinforced; two small spots of pinhole worming running through most of volume with six instances (touching some images) repaired; engraved “Devises” title-page with short closed tear. Lacking two plates from the Autumn section (XXVI & XXVII): Despite this, and the minor faults described, a copydeserving of admiration.  (40766)

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)

•  ESTC R4982; Wing (rev. ed.) A1142; Madan, Oxford Books, 2963. On Allestree, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Contemporary polished calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments; binding sometime varnished with leather much worn and abraded, front joint cracked and back joint starting, spine extremities and label chipped, corners rubbed. Title-page with early inscription cut away and leaf later repaired, with partial loss of impression line; lacking frontispiece. Pages age-toned with light waterstaining to early lower margins; about 24 leaves (non-consecutive) with vertical smears of blue ink affecting but not obscuring text; a few leaves towards back with minor worming in lower outer corners. Unprepossessing physically, still a very readable copy still in a contemporary binding.  (40981)

Principal divisions of this parzatowmar are marked by red lettering, and the first letter of each month begins with a red incipit; written generally in red, incipits are occasionally in blue ink. The text is written in a single column measuring 8 cm x 5 ¾ cm in 17 lines each, in uniform bolorgir.

Binding:  Contemporary calf over pasteboards; front and back covers decorated all over with a border of stamped floriate and geometric motifs within a blind-ruled border and a blind-ruled diamond-shaped central area. Spine plain, textblock untrimmed.

Provenance:  “Rec'd from my friend J.H. Mikassian, 1926" on fol. 84v. Later owned by John Howell, Bookseller, San Francisco, as per his bookseller's label on the rear pastedown. In the Howell Bible Collection of the Pacific School of Religion. Collection sold in 2013.

•  We gladly acknowledge the help in cataloguing this manuscript that Erin Piñon, a doctoral candidate at Princeton University, gave us.   Bound as above, recased and resewn with new endbands; leaf [68] lacking. Rubbing, sometimes severe, occasional yellowing of parchment, etc., as described above. Overall, good.  (41407)

The volume was published at the request of Cardinal Ascanius Columnas in an edition ofonly 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 Galleafter 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)

heredity, marriage, and torture

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 locatingjust 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)

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)

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)

•  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)

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)

In this copy opposite the title-page is an added facsimile map of the province taken from an edition of Augustin Lubin's Orbis Augustinianus, sive, Conventuum ordinis eremitarum Augustini chorographica et topographica descriptio; no map was issued with the book originally.

•  Medina, Mexico,1084; Pinelo-Barcia, Epitome, II, Col. 755; Beristain, I, p. 143; Ternaux 902; Andrade 632.   Recased in contemporary limp vellum with slightly yapp edges showing evidence of now-lost ties; rear free endpaper lacking and all edges mottled. Case marks on front pastedown; last leaf torn cleanly and expertly repaired, one leaf with an old limited ink smear that does not impede reading.A clean, very nice copy of a history offering much first-hand reporting, from a significant press and sometime enhanced, by a former owner, by addition of that helpful map! (41363)

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)

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)

This illustrated broadside was written and published in Madrid in the flush of that victory. Above a prose description of the history of the fort and the successful Spanish assault on it isa large two-part engraving of it (20 x 22 cm, 7.75" x 8.625"). The topmost part presents a view of the fort from the far bank of the Rhine and, below that and above the prose, is a birds-eye view. At the very bottom of the sheet is a key to the fort’s principal buildings and the locations important in its taking.

The attribution of this engraving to Beer is based on the line in it that reads “Vendese en casa de Cornelio de Beer pintor. Enfrente de las Casas del Duque de Lerma.” Beer (1585–1651) was a North Netherlandish painter, engraver (printmaker), publisher, and art dealer.

The joy of the Spanish surprise success that is embodied here did not last long: Beginning on 30 July and continuing until 30 April of 1636, the occupying Spanish defenders were unable to be reprovisioned by their army and were under continual, merciless bombardment from combined Dutch and French forces. The original 1500-man Spanish garrison of 29 July 1635 had been reduced to 600 when the siege ended and surrender was effected on 30 April of the next year.

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, and CCPBE locate only the copy in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

•  Los Austrias: grabados de la Biblioteca Nacional, 301; Almirante, Biblioteca militar de España, 689; Pohler, Bibliotheca historico-militaris, 248.   Tattered and creased in the left margin, old folds; overall, very good condition.  (41070)

•  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)