Engraved frontis. [72] (incl. frontis.), 1048, [285] pp. Thick 8vo, cont. grey paste-paper boards (one corner a little jammed). Leipzig: Widow of B.C. Fritsch, [Preface dated 1747].

The very rare sale catalogue of the large and important library formed by one of the great collectors of 18th-century Germany. Rink (1670-1746), professor of law and history at the University of Altdorf, was one of the leading international lawyers of his time and an active writer in the areas of his specialties. He formed several outstanding collections, including one of medals (a catalogue of which was published in 1766), a natural history cabinet, and an... More

Numerous fine woodcut initials, diagrams, tables, & maps in the text. Woodcut printer’s device at end. 14 p.l., 18 leaves, [6] leaves, 30, xxxi-cxxvi leaves, 4 leaves. Folio, cont. Flemish blindstamped calf binding over wooden boards (rather well rebacked, a few unimportant stains), rolls of medallion heads & foliage forming a double panel, orig. clasps and catches, metal corner guards. Cologne: J. Prael for P. Quentel, 1537.

[bound after]:

ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. In Omnes Pauli Apostili Epistolas enarrationes. Title within fine woodcut border by Anton Woensam of Worms. Some fine large woodcut initials. 8 p.l., 531 pp. Folio. Cologne: E. Cervicornus for G. Hittorp, 1533. More

Woodcut vignette on title. Title printed in red & black. 2 p.l., xii, [2], 122 pp., one leaf. 8vo, green morocco, signed “Emile Rousselle,” triple gilt fillet round sides, arms in gilt of Isidoro Fernández in center of each cover, spine richly gilt. Paris: A. Aubry, 1873.

One of six copies printed on vellum (of a total edition of 606 copies) of this valuable history of the early art and book collectors of France. Bonnaffé (1825-1903), French scholar and man of letters, wrote many books on art history and the art market as well as catalogues of collections of art.

A very fine copy. With the leather bookplate of Isidoro Fernández (1878-1963). More

Large woodcut printer’s device on each title & numerous woodcuts & illus. and printed tables in the text. 470, [7] pp., one blank leaf; 217, [1] pp., two leaves of dedication. Two parts in one vol. Large 4to, cont. binding from the south of France of red morocco (rather browned throughout as always with this book due to the quality of the paper, some minor worming towards end touching a few letters & carefully repaired), arms in gilt on covers of François de Rignac (1580-1663; see below), roulette border in gilt round sides, spine gilt. Frankfurt: J.G. Schönwetter, 1648.

First edition of this collection of writings on the famous new star of 1572-74 (first part) and the equally famous comet of 1577 (second part); this edition, containing two of Tycho’s most important works, is rare on the market. It was his observations of these two astronomical phenomena — here printed — that compelled Tycho to abandon the Aristotelian theory of the universe and replace it with his own geoheliocentric system. This was an enormously important step in the acceptance of the Copernican doctrine. More

Woodcut device on title & some woodcut diagrams in the text. 4 p.l., 88, [300] pp. Small folio, cont. reversed calf (upper cover partly stained, lower margin of final leaf cropped & renewed with loss of the catchword), triple ruled border in blind round sides. London: G. Jones, 1624.

First edition; this is the fine and unpressed John Evelyn copy with his pressmark — “Vulcanus 14” — in his hand at the foot of the title-page. The logarithms in this book, “together with those of Adriaan Vlacq, form the basis from which almost all other logarithm tables were produced…In the preface to this work…Briggs coined... More

10 leaves, one column, 35 lines, Gothic type, printed guide letters. Small 4to, 19th-cent. red morocco-backed marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt, t.e.g. [Rome: Bartholomaeus Guldinbeck, about 1485].

Second edition (1st ed.: Rome, 1472), of this rare anonymous commentary by Julius Pomponius Laetus on the tenth book — entirely devoted to gardening — of Columella’s De Re Rustica. Columella (1st c. A.D.), “Roman landowner, was the author of De Re Rustica ca. AD 60-5), a treatise in 12 books which is the longest and most comprehensive and lucid of the Roman agricultural manuals. Book 10 deals with gardening and is written... More

[Japan: 17th or 18th century].

In the seventh and eighth centuries, when trade flourished with the rest of Asia, especially Korea and China, Japanese nobility melded foreign dance and music traditions with native Shinto songs. This amalgam was eventually incorporated into official court functions and became so important that it even merited the establishment of a ministry of dance in 701. Trained court nobles and professionals were the only ones permitted to execute these complex choreographies. Bugaku (now known as gagaku) was a type of dance performed at the imperial court during the Edo period.

At the beginning of the scroll, which takes place in the emperor’s palace, one sees large drums, called dadaiko, framed by flames and dragons. On top of one of the larger drums there is a motif of the sun. These drums are accompanied by musicians playing a mouth organ (sho), a bamboo flute (ryuteki), and smaller drums in the gakuya (the musicians’ section). They sit under an elaborately decorated banner and provide a steady rhythm for the dancers on stage before them. The elevated stage (takabutai), where two dancers are performing enbu, is adorned with a highly ornate brocade drape. More

Cum Commentariis C.G. Bacheti…& observationibus D.P. de Fermat…Accessit Doctrinae Analyticae inventum novum, collectum ex variis eiusdem D. de Fermat Epistolis. Large engraved vignette on title, several finely engraved headpieces & initials, & a few woodcut diagrams in the text. 6 p.l., 64, 341, 48 pp., one leaf of errata. Folio, cont. speckled calf (carefully rebacked with the orig. spine laid-down, light browning as usual, two corners discretely repaired), spine richly gilt. Toulouse: B. Bosc, 1670.

First edition, and a very fine and fresh copy. This edition is the first to contain Fermat’s observations on the Arithmetica of Diophantus, the first systematic treatise on... More

Title within woodcut border & woodcut on verso of final leaf. 54, [2] pp. Small 4to, modern binding reusing an early MS. leaf over boards (verso of final leaf a little soiled). [Basel: J. Froben, 1518].

First separate edition of these two famous texts, “In Praise of Marriage” and “In Praise of Medicine.” The first work created a cause célèbre; written many years earlier in honor of the marriage of his friend Lord Mountjoy, when finally published it was seen by the Louvain and Paris theologians as an implicit condemnation of clerical celibacy.

The second work is Erasmus’s expression of his views of the medical arts. It “presents a view of medical ethics that identifies competence, beneficence and diligence as the physician’s primary moral obligations. The activity of the physician, when directed toward the patient in accordance with these obligations, gives rise to reciprocal obligations on the part of the patient: gratitude and reward. The activity of the patient in accordance with these obligations returns honour and payment to the physician.”–Albury & Weisz, “The Medical Ethics of Erasmus and the Physician-Patient Relationship” (online resource). It is dedicated to the distinguished physician Henricus Afinius, the chief physician of Antwerp. More

Fifteen engraved plates (on 8 sheets). 16 p.l., 520 pp. 4to, cont. sheep-backed paste-paper boards (head of spine a bit chipped), spine gilt, contrasting leather lettering piece on spine. Rostock & Greifswald: A.F. Röse, 1765.

First edition. "The Theoria motus corporum solidorum...is related to the Mechanica. In the introduction to this work, Euler gave a new exposition of punctual mechanics and followed Maclaurin's example (1742) in projecting the forces onto the axes of a fixed orthogonal rectilinear system. Establishing that the instantaneous motion of a solid body might be regarded as composed of rectilinear translation and instant rotation, Euler devoted special attention... More

About 60 bound notebooks and about a dozen unbound sheets, many finely illustrated with brush and ink, with colors. [Japan: ca. 1839-ca. 1912].

A fascinating and important manuscript archive of notebooks and sheets, many with illustrations, describing the rules of gastronomic etiquette as prescribed by the Ogasawara School of etiquette, developed in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) and still practiced today. The instructions mostly pertain to the ritualistic preparation and serving of the food on a series of trays known as honzen ryori (“main tray cuisine”) which was the dominant style of banqueting for the elite from the Muromachi period through the Edo... More

Two handsome albums with 21 finely-drawn technical illustrations employing black ink and wash water colors. Almost all of the illustrations are signed “Karl Hübler” and dated by him from 1890-93. Some are also signed by “Engessen” and “Sayer,” who were perhaps the design engineers.

Laid-in are ten further fine folding original pen-&-ink drawings with wash water coloring concerning different water and bridge engineering projects in Bavaria as well as a printed contract for engineering projects for the state from about 1900. More