[Klein-Schwechat: 1881].

An elaborate album of photographs of drawings of the celebrated brewery at Klein-Schwechat, founded in 1632, and today one of the leading breweries of Austria, producing a lager, a light smooth premium beer called Hopfenperle, and a super-premium called Steffl. The album was prepared for the renowned Viennese brewer August Deiglmayer (1827-83), who was at that time, managing director of the brewery and one of the great innovators of 19th century brewing. Deiglmayer spent much of his professional career at the Klein-Schwechat brewery.

The drawings were executed at the request of Georg Wieninger (1832-87), scion of the Schärding family of... More

Woodcut royal arms on title. 1 p.l., 34 pp. Small folio, cont. French red morocco, panelled in gilt in the style of the “cabinet du Roi,” gilt arms & ciphers [Olivier 2495 fer 2] on covers, with ciphers on spine, a.e.g. Paris: de l’Imprimerie Royale, 1743.

First edition and very uncommon. This catalogue, the splendid Han Fürstenberg — Otto Schäfer — Jacques Bemberg copy, lists the plates made of the collections of the king, including paintings, medals, royal chateaux, fountains, grottoes, statues, busts, tapestries, and jewels, along with records of festivals, entrances, battles, etc., etc.

“Colbert, understanding that engraving was the best means to disseminate and preserve knowledge of the undertakings of Louis XlV, began to assemble a group of outstanding engravers. By 1660 they had achieved the stature of independent artists and by 1670 had become a special group under the protection of the king, joined together at the Gobelins around Charles Le Brun and Sebastien Le Clerc. From 1660 André Félibien was charged with providing descriptions of maisons royales and Adam Van der Meulen and Israel Silvestre were sent to the newly conquered territories to make views of the principal chateaus and fortresses. Other commissions for the Cabinet du Roi included engravings by Chauveau of the king’s paintings at the Tuileries; copies of paintings and sculpture by Claude Mellan, Rousselet, and Audran in the galleries of the king; copies by Ronelet of the king’s collection of medals; and other works of art and architecture by Rousselet, Silvestre, Chauveau, and Le Clerc. At the same time the Académie des Sciences began scholarly works commissioned by Colbert…Illustrators for these works were Abraham Bosse, Sebastien Le Clerc (who often made engravings for Claude Perrault), Nicolas Bailly, and L. de Châtillon… More

Engraved vignettes on titles & numerous engraved head- & tail-pieces throughout. Six vols. bound in one thick vol. Large 4to, cont. red pigskin-backed blue boards (some rubbing), vellum corners, spine lettered in gilt, entirely uncut. [Amsterdam]: 1776.

A fine uncut set, remarkably bound in one thick volume, of this rare and famous catalogue, privately printed in three hundred copies; it is one of the most highly appreciated 18th-century catalogues of a private library. Crevenna (d. 1792), a passionate and scholarly Italian bibliophile from Milan, spent most of his life in Amsterdam where he assembled his collections, rich in rare and excellent editions of... More

Five thick vols, each printed on heavy laid paper. 8vo (230 by 150 mm), uniformly bound ca. 1847 by the atelier of the Imprimerie Royale for the Prince Royal, Louis-Charles-Philippe-Raphaël d’Orléans, Duc de Nemours (1814-1896) in crimson straight-grained morocco (minor & skillful repairs to several joints), sides and smooth spines richly gilt in the style of the “Rocaille Louis-Philippe,” the solid tools on covers connected with curved triple fillets, in centers the initials “LO” surrounded by a laurel wreath and surmounted by the royal crown (OHDR fer 2), inside gilt roll borders, light-blue watered-silk liners and endleaves, a.e.g. Paris: Imprimerie... More

Seven vols. 8vo (218 x 160 mm.), orig. wrappers, each with an individual title label on upper cover, new stitching. [Japan: all late Edo].

A fascinating collection of texts on equine medicine, all bound in a similar fashion:

Vol. 1: Manuscript label on upper cover, entitled “Basho hijutsu den” [“Horse Book Secret Methods Passed On”]. Nine brush & ink illus. in the text. 31 folding leaves. This text is concerned with exercising horses in each season, and includes “32 Rules of Exercise.” At the end, we find a date of 1825, the name of the person who provided this information, Seizaimon Sekiguchi... More

Finely engraved added title & numerous woodcut diagrams & printed tables in the text. Printed title in red & black. 9 p.l. (incl. engraved title), 323, 184 pp. Two parts in one vol. Large 4to, cont. vellum over boards, covers nicely decorated with coats-of-arms in gilt & silver (now oxidized) on each cover, a.e.g., ties gone. Hamburg: Frobenius, 1634.

First edition of this handsome and rare work on trigonometry by a student of Tycho Brahe. Frobenius (1566-1645), after studying in Tübingen and Wittenberg, went in 1591 to the island of Hven where he intended to live and study with Tycho Brahe. Upon leaving, he wrote... More

4 p.l., 281, [15] pp. 8vo, cont. vellum over boards (spine attractively rebacked with leather), trace of ties, spine gilt. Basel: R. Wynter, 1541.

First edition of Gesner’s very rare first book (he had two earlier appearances in books, one as editor and the other as contributor). Gesner published this work at the age of 25, and it reflects his lifelong interest in botany and classification.

This is an alphabetical list of plants’ names compiled from the works of authors on medical topics in antiquity and in the early Middle Ages. The alphabetical arrangement of plants both by their tradition Latin names and... More

26 (of 30?) albumen photographs (all ca. 215 x 160 mm.), mounted on boards within frames printed in red, all images with printed titles on the boards (410 x 320 mm.). Numbered 501 to 530 but lacking (?) nos. 506, 507, 511, & 525, signed: “Photographie des H. Gruson’schen Ateliers.“ Oblong folio, orig. green leather portfolio, panelled in gilt with leather wreath, with metal crest in center of upper cover. Buckau, near Magdeburg: n.d. [but 1872-76].

From the collection of Otto von Bismarck, the German statesman and unifier of Germany. This deluxe portfolio of original photographs was presented by the Grusonwerk, a leading member of Germany’s defense industry, to Bismarck and comes... More

Ten vertical lines per page, 19 characters per line. 44; 60; 53 folding leaves & 57; 62; 64 folding leaves. Three vols. of Hogen Monogatari & three vols. of Heiji Monogatari, issued together. Large 8vo (283 x 208), orig. dark wrappers dyed with persimmon juice (shibubiki), new stitching. [Japan: privately printed with movable type, mid-Keicho, ca. 1607-08].

There are several movable type editions of these famous war tales; ours is of the earliest printing but is an apparently unknown variant. Kawase states that there are two variants of the mid-Keicho “ten line” edition of these two tales. The first listed — but with no priority — has 18 characters per line... More

Colored frontis. and over 150 tipped-in illus., facsimiles of paper specimens and ream wrappers, & photographic illus. Large folio, orig. cloth-backed decorated paper boards, printed paper label on spine. Chillicothe: Mountain House Press, 1950.

Limited to 210 (?, see below) numbered copies, signed by Hunter who, for this book, made his own paper, type, and ink, and set all the type himself. “The most authoritative history of early American papermaking is Dard Hunter’s sumptuous, large folio Papermaking by Hand in America, a tour de force on one-man bookmaking, set by the author in a handcut type and hand-printed on handmade paper manufactured at... More

3 p.l., 382 pp. (pp. 377-78 misbound), one leaf. 8vo, cont. polished green calf, signed at foot of spine “Relié par l’Auteur,” double gilt fillet frame round sides, floral devices in each corner, spine richly gilt, rose colored endpapers, a.e.g. Paris: chez l’Auteur, J. Renouard, 1827.

Second edition, one of 125 copies printed on “vélin grand-raisin” (this copy numbered in gold “39”), of an extraordinary bookbinding craft manual in the form of a long poem in heroic couplets, with extensive historical and technical notes in prose. Several additional texts appear in this edition, including Lettre d’un Relieur français... More

Woodcut port. of the author on verso of title & several woodcuts in the text. Title within typographical border. 12 p.l. (last leaf a blank), 348, [4] pp. Small thick 8vo, cont. vellum over boards, stamped in blind on upper cover “M N H L” & “1613.” Wittenberg: W. Meisner at the expense of C. Berger, [date of Foreword “1612“].

[bound with]:

MATENESIUS, Johann Friedrich. Critices Christianae Libri Duo de Ritu Bibendi super Sanitate, Pontificum, Caesarum, Principum, Ducum, Magnatum Amicorum, Amicarum, &c.… Woodcut printer’s vignette on title. 8 p.l., 189 pp., one blank leaf. Small 8vo (tear to first leaf of text in blank portion of... More