Woodcut printer’s device on title & another on verso of last leaf. Many woodcut diagrams throughout and numerous fine & large woodcut initials. 4 p.l., 587, [1] pp. Folio, cont. blind-stamped panelled pigskin over beveled wooden boards (minor worming at beginning, touching some letters), orig. clasps (one defective) and catches, 19th-cent. morocco lettering pieces on spine. Basel: J. Herwagen, 1537.

First Basel edition; this is the first complete assemblage of the Euclidean texts, with printings of both Campanus of Navara’s and Bartolomeo Zamberti’s versions. It also contains the new Preface by Philipp Melanchthon which in many copies, according to Thomas-Stanford, was removed by the... More

16 pp. Small 8vo, self-bound. Altdorf: F.X. Z’graggen, 1831.

A very rare pamphlet on political freedom by Geiger (1755-1843), a Catholic priest and professor of theology in Lucerne. In 1788, he conspired with the Marquis de Vérac to restore Louis XVI to the throne. After being released from his professorship, Geiger became a journalist and wrote numerous polemical pieces on church history, Catholicism, and contemporary political issues including free speech. He founded the Schweizerische Kirchenzeitung, a Catholic theological periodical, which began publication in 1832 and is still issued.

In the present work, he offers a concise history of liberty from the time of the ancient Greeks to its contemporary manifestations in France and Germany. More

2 p.l., 44 pp. Small 4to, cont. limp vellum, arms in gilt of Cardinal Francesco Barberini on covers, panelled in gilt with round gilt flower devices in each corner, silk ties gone, a.e.g. [Heidelberg]: G. Vögelin, 1622.

First edition, a gift from Cardinal Francesco Barberini to Galileo’s assistant and co-author Mario Guiducci, inscribed on the title-page “Ex dono Illustrissime Cardinalis Barberini — Marij Guiduccij liber est.” This is a very rare book; I can locate only six other copies (see below).

This copy represents the intersection of some of the most important dynamics of Baroque Rome. Written by Giulio... More

36 pp. Small 8vo, modern boards. Berlin: “Im Verlag der Kōnigl. Preuss. akadem. Kunst- und Buchhandlung,” 1789.

First separate edition, originally published in the same year in the Berlinischen Journal für Aufklärung. This work was written in response to the newly enacted censorship edict, in which King Friedrich Wilhelm II ordered that all publications and other forms of printed material — including illustrations — be submitted to Prussian state censors for approval. Any critical statements of a political or religious nature were officially discouraged. These restrictions remained in force until the 1840s, with the accession of Friedrich Wilhelm IV to the... More