Wood-engraved frontis. [3]-106, [1] pp. Small 8vo (150 x 94 mm.), orig. printed wrappers (a little worn), title on spine, leaves uncut. Paris: Giroux & Vialat, 1848.

First edition, in its original printed wrappers, of a scarce account of the 1848 Revolution, published several months after the uprising’s turbulent events. This staunchly Republican work commemorates the sacrifices of generals and troops who died during the worker revolt in Paris. There are accounts of the deaths of Generals Bréa, Négrier, Duvivier, Damesme, Bourgon, Regnault, and François. The final 30 pages concern the life and tragic death of Denys Auguste Affre, archbishop of Paris, who was killed... More

25, [1] pp. 8vo, 19th-cent. red sheep-backed marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt. London: Printed for the Author, 1799.

First edition of this scarce book. Rev. Bligh, who has signed and dated (25 August 1798) the final leaf, had the living at Romaldkirk, Yorkshire. This is his account of his lawsuit against his own parishioners regarding the payment of tithes. He gives many details of land and property held by the church and the rules of tithes set out in documents known as glebe terriers. This trial was rather famous in its time.

Title dusty but a nice copy. Stamp of the Lawes Agricultural Trust on front paste-down. More

Six vols. Small 4to (135 x 123 mm.), orig. boards, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers. [Japan]: mid-Edo.

A collection of six volumes, gathered by the Buddhist monk and shomyo master named Kenshin (d. 1683?), containing printed Japanese Buddhist ceremonial music notation for chanting, beautifully printed on mica paper. “The generic name for Japanese Buddhist chant is ‘shomyo,’ from a Chinese translation of Sanskrit sabdavidya, the science of words of sounds (i.e. grammar and phonology), which was one of the panca-vidya, the five subjects of traditional Brahmanic study…For a thousand years, shomyo has connoted above all Tendai and Shingon chant…Tendai and... More

147 woodcut diagrams in the text. 6 p.l., 196 leaves. Small folio (272 x 190 mm.), cont. Parisian binding of light brown calf (very skillful restorations to the binding), panelled in blind with gilt fleurons in the corners, gilt floral tool in the center of each cover of a hand holding flowers, small gilt stars in the six compartments of spine. Nuremberg: J. Petreius, 1543.

First edition, and a very fine and crisp copy, of “the earliest of the three books of science that most clarified the relationship of man and his universe (along with Newton’s Principia and Darwin’s Origin of Species).”–Dibner, Heralds of Science... 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

14 parts in 13 vols. Large 8vo, orig. patterned wrappers (rubbed), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers (rubbed), new stitching. [Japan: 1648-52].

An early and rare edition of this highly influential commentary on the Tsurezuregusa [Notes from Leisure Hours] of Kenko Yoshida (ca. 1282-1350). Yoshida’s greatest masterpiece, it is a nonfictional prose work — zuihitsu — containing miscellaneous reflections and observations that continues to be read and loved today. “It can be said that Kenko discovered a couple of centuries before Montaigne that prose was the natural medium for conveying the motions of an inquiring, particularly a self-inquiring, mind. It is... More

Ten columns per page, 20 characters per column. 52 folding leaves. Large 8vo (280 x 203 mm.), later wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: colophon dated “1564.”

The earliest surviving edition of one of the “two priceless records of the earlier stages of the Chinese language.”–Edwin G. Pulleyblank, “Qieyun and Yunjing: The Essential Foundation for Chinese Historical Linguistics“ in Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 118, No. 2 (April-June 1998), p. 213. The Yunjing, along with its predecessor, the Qieyun, were the standard pronunciation guides of the Early Middle Chinese and Middle Chinese periods.

This is a very rare book, with only three (or, perhaps, two) other known copies. More

Ten columns per page, 20 characters per column. The first leaf in Japanese, the remainder in Chinese. 1 p.l., 52 folding leaves. 8vo (275 x 173 mm.), orig. wrappers (wrappers quite rubbed & and somewhat worn), old stitching. From the colophon: “Kyoto: Tahara Ninzaemon, 1641.”

A very rare early edition — not in WorldCat or NIJL — of one of the “two priceless records of the earlier stages of the Chinese language.”–Edwin G. Pulleyblank, “Qieyun and Yunjing: The Essential Foundation for Chinese Historical Linguistics“ in Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 118, No. 2 (April-June 1998), p. 213. The Yunjing, along with its predecessor, the... More

42 folding leaves. 8vo (234 x 170 mm.), orig. wrappers (upper wrapper a little dampstained), orig. stitching. [Japan: from third to last page]: “19 April 1860.”

An engrossing manuscript account of the Japanese ship Koshiomaru and its crew, which, due to a violent storm, drifted far off course and ran aground on Catanduanes, a Philippine island. The crew was rescued and aided by an indigenous tribe. To our knowledge, this fascinating episode is unknown to Western scholarship. Due to Japan’s former strict isolationism, the experiences of the survivors of this incident as well as other examples of Japanese shipwrecked abroad are particularly poignant.

With its crew of 14 sailors, and captained by a “Tokusaburo” from Harima Ako fiefdom in Hyogo, Koshiomaru normally transported salt from central Japan to the capital, Edo. After depositing its latest shipment at Edo, it was re-routed to collect surplus rice to bring back to Hyogo. During its return trip, a storm destroyed the vessel’s rudder, causing the Koshiomaru to drift, at the mercy of the wind and currents, all the way to the Philippines. Native islanders nursed the crew back to health, and the Japanese stayed for ten months, until 1858, when a British ship, the transliteration of which we are unable to decipher, rescued all 15 crew members and returned them to Japan. More

N.p. [Japan]: n.d. [but 17th century].

These texts give an account of the life and times of Shingen Takeda (1521-73), and his son Katsuyori Takeda (1546-82), the greatest warriors of a prominent military house active from 1185 to about 1600, a period of considerable chaos in Japan. The Takeda clan had a profound influence on the development of the concept of bushido, the warrior class ethical system, which in turn can be said to permeate much of modern Japanese culture. Our manuscript includes “accounts of the Takeda clan’s rise and fall; their unique military tactics; the army’s constitution;... More

Title within ornate woodcut architectural border. Woodcut printer’s device on title. 26 unnumbered leaves. Small folio, cont. pigskin-backed wooden boards, spine & boards stamped in blind, orig. brass catches on upper cover, one (of two) orig. clasps. Paris: N. de La Barre for E. Le Fevre, 6 October 1515.

[bound with]:

—. Arithmetica Speculativa…duodecim libris demonstrata. Title within ornate woodcut architectural border which is printed in red & black. Woodcut printer’s device on title. Several woodcuts in the text. 100 unnumbered leaves. Small folio (some foxing). Paris: N. de La Barre for E. Le Fevre, 18 December 1515. 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