[Munich]: the first not dated, but winter 1788/89; the second dated 1 February 1789.

Two versions of the important 1789 inventory of famous Nymphenburg Palace and gardens, the summer residence of the Electors of Bavaria, both prepared and signed by the electoral accountant and scribe Alexander Balistier (or Balistrier). The first version, with many corrections, is clearly a rough(ish) draft, whereas the second version is the corrected final version (although this also has contemporary additions and corrections). The 1789 inventory is an extremely important resource, as it provides detailed information on the state and the contents of the palace and its gardens in... More

Six unnumbered leaves. Folio (280 x 196 mm.), modern marbled boards. [From colophon]: S.l.: 1735.

An apparently unrecorded decree related to the wine trade in Zaragoza and its protection from foreign competition. It also allows Zaragozan wine growers to sell wine in jugs up to the price of four reales de plata without needing to report it to the local government.

Fine condition. A contemporary annotator has written at the top of the first leaf: “Sobre la ex adicion de Vino de Zarag[oza] y no poderlo entrar de pena.” More

8 pp. 8vo, 19th-cent. marbled boards (joints restored), spine gilt. Paris: Poultier & Constantin, 1807.

The rare sale catalogue, fully priced in a contemporary hand, of Louis François Prault (1734-1806), ancien Imprimeur du Roi and son of the great publisher and bookseller Laurent François (1712-80). Prault’s firm printed many auction catalogues in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Because of the Constantins relationship with the Prault family, who printed almost all of their sale catalogues, either Guillaume Jean Constantin or his son, Amédée, was the expert for this sale.

The present catalogue describes Prault’s choice collection of paintings (by Greuze, Lancret, Teniers, Wijnants, van Goyen, etc.), drawings (by Titian, Caravaggio, Panini, Le Sueur, Cochin, etc.), as well as sculpture and ceramics. There is a total of 63 lots, all priced. More

Eleven facsimiles & 49 tipped-in samples of early Japanese printing, some containing illus. Two vols. Large 8vo, orig. patterned silk wrappers, stitched as issued. Tokyo: Shomotsu Tenbosha, 1933.

First edition, limited to 50 numbered copies and printed on fine paper, of this extremely rare “leaf book” demonstrating the progress of Japanese printing from 1347 to 1888. Some of the tipped-in samples demonstrate woodblock printing in color. Saito (1887-1961), was a book collector and historian of Japanese bookplates and forbidden books.

These volumes are an excellent introduction to the progress of printing by moveable type, woodblock, and copper engraving. More

[Japan]: preface dated “1801” & first published in 1864.

A rare text woodblock that contains the complete preface of this famous book of waka poetry, which was published posthumously in 1864. Aruga (1662-1737), a student of Choga Hirama, member of the Nijo ha school of poetry, wrote seven important works of poetry. This woodblock contains three pages of text and one blank page. Both sides have marks indicating the pagination of the preface.

Fine condition. With wooden handles on each side to maintain the proper registration during the printing process. More

1 p.l., 7, [9], 6 pp. Small 4to, attractive antique calf, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. London: Printed by T.F., sold by W. Ley, 1657.

First edition and rather scarce. Following Shaw’s essay on the dung roller, which he invented, the remainder of the book consists of two texts, the first starting “How to Order any Land, so as it may reteyne all the moysture that falleth thereon: and to Improve it thereby,” and the second starting “An Easie and Profitable Order in Tilling of Ground to improve it and make it Fertile.”

“The main points of interest about this work are its mention of the use of a manuring ‘Rowler’ or ‘Barrow,’ which seems to anticipate the modern manuring drill, and the advice it contains to plough in wide lands so that the following season the spaces between may be ploughed into lands, thus resting some part of the field each year and getting continuous heavy crops, which sounds rather similar to, although not precisely the same, as Tull’s Horse-Houghing Husbandry. It is a pity the book contains no description or drawing of the manuring rowler or barrow. The system of cultivation of barren lands Shaw recommends is curious.”–Fussell, The Old English Farming Books from Fitzherbert to Tull 1523 to 1730, p. 53. More

1 p.l., 20 pp. Small 4to, attractive half-calf & marbled boards, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine, several lower edges uncut. London: S. & B. G[riffin] for N. Brooke, 1671.

First edition and a nice copy. This work has been attributed by many to Sir John Pettus (ca. 1613-85), natural philosopher and politician, but this is probably erroneous. Sainfoin is a highly nutritious plant, which served as an important forage for livestock.

“A most interesting little book…whoever wrote it knew what he was talking about, and had evidently made himself thoroughly acquainted with the peculiarities and value of the plant as... More

Seven folding engraved plates. xv, [1], 138, [3] pp. 8vo, cont. vellum over boards (head & foot of spine a little worn, vellum a little warped), spine lettered in gilt. Casale: G.A. Meardi, 1764.

[bound with]:

RATTI, Alfonso. Nuova Giunta…cioé Descrizione de’ cambiamenti fatti al Seminatore con i quali esso si è reso più semplice. One folding engraved plate, numbered “8.” 45, [1] pp. 8vo. Casale: G.A. Meardi, 1766. More

Engraved title-page & five engraved plates. xvi, 294 pp. 8vo, cont. vellum over boards, spine lettered in gilt. [Florence: G. Cambiagi], 1776.

First edition of this scarce treatise on the cultivation, processing and use of madder (rubia tinctorum), a herbaceous climbing plant with small yellow flowers, the root of which is used medically, and — more importantly — as the primary source of dye (usually crimson). Madder was the principal source of various brilliant red pigments until artificial production of alizirin, the pigment chemical in madder, by Graebe and Liebermann in 1868.

The finely engraved plates depict the plant and its processing for red dyes. More

4 p.l., 24 pp. Small 4to, attractive antique calf, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. London: Printed for R. Wodenothe, [1652 or 53?]

First edition of this notable book on fruit culture, part of the growing movement during the Commonwealth towards the improvement of orchards. “The preface is by Samuel Hartlib who here states that the writer of the work was not known to him and that moreover he was unable to discover his name. However, it was said that he was ‘an aged minister of the Gospel’ of Loving-land near Yarmouth, who spent his leisure over a period of many... More

Seven folding engraved plates. 1 p.l., iv, [2], 103 pp. 8vo, cont. mottled sheep (head & foot of spine a little defective), spine gilt. Paris: Saugrain le jeune, 1770.

First edition in French of the great economist’s Della Perfetta conservazione del Grano. Discorso (Naples: 1754). Like the first edition, ours was published under the name of Bartolommeo Intieri (1676-1757), economist, engineer, and mathematician, who had furnished his friend Galiani with the ideas on methods to prevent grain from being contaminated by insects. Intieri proposed that grain be dried in a heated kiln. This process would dissipate bad odors, eliminate humidity, kill most insects, and... More

Two folding woodcut plates, each with printed explanatory text. 3 p.l., 33 pp. Small 4to, attractive antique calf, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. London: R. Wodenothe, 1653.

First edition of Dymock’s work on the layout of the ideal farm, edited and published by Samuel Hartlib. This book “comments upon Plattes’s suggestion that the uninclosed lands are ‘not now yielding the one-fourth part of that profit either to private or publique.’ It contains two plans, one setting out 2,000 acres into sixteen farms of 100 acres and sixteen farms of 25 acres on a rectangular plan; the other showing the... More