{"title":"Biography","description":"\u003cp\u003eRecounting the lives, achievements, and experiences of notable individuals from all periods and fields. \u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"godwin-francis","title":"GODWIN, Francis","description":"A handsome copy of the FIRST EDITION of these detailed collected biographies of the English bishops and a valuable source book of English history. It is the best known work of Francis Godwin (1562-1633), which so pleased Queen Elizabeth that she made Godwin bishop of Llandaff with immediate effect. The text is important as an Anglican attempt to establish a continuous history of an independent English church from the first arrival of Christianity to the end of the 16th C. Although partisan in purpose it is reasonably even-handed in its treatment of its subjects and is significant in the development of English historical scholarship; it is also eminently readable. Diocese by diocese, a broad survey of the incumbents of the ancient bishoprics and archbishoprics is conducted, covering Canterbury, London, Winchester, Ely, Lincoln, Coventry \u0026amp; Lichfield, Salisbury, Bath \u0026amp; Wells, Exeter, Norwich, Worcester, Hereford, Chichester, Rochester, Oxford, Gloucester, Peterborough, St. Davids, Llandaff, York, Durham, Carlisle and Chester. Proceeding chronologically, where possible the history of appointments are given, along with any highlights of episcopal incumbency and accounts of particular bishops - e.g. of St Cuthbert of Durham: \"He was a very personable man, well-spoken, and so mighty in perswading, as none that ever he delt withall was able to withstand the force of his words,\" - with a few final words about the length of his office and eventual death. In instances where nothing but a name survives, it is duly noted. The work comprises a very valuable history of the sees and bishops of England throughout the middle ages, though prudently 16th C figures are dealt with much more briefly than earlier appointments. Fisher's career is noted in five laconic lines and Rioleg's in only two. Each section concludes with the value of the See, first in the books of the Crown and second of the Papacy.","brand":"GODWIN, Francis","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816067178831,"sku":"L705","price":2850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_0238.jpg?v=1781795327"},{"product_id":"bochius-joannes","title":"BOCHIUS, Joannes","description":"\u003cp\u003eFIRST AND ONLY EDITION of this magnificent festival book celebrating the entry of Archduke Ernst of Austria into Antwerp on 14 June 1594. The condition and detailing of the engravings indicates this must have been one of the earliest copies off the press. They were executed by Pieter van Der Borcht after drawings by Cornelius Floris II and Joos de Momper from the designs of Martin de Vos. The first double-page engraving depicts Ernst's parade approaching the city, images of the city entrance, the columns, stages, and arches erected in the town in honour of the occasion, the city theatre, and a two-page musical score for 6 voices of the song performed to welcome the Archduke. The pageantry continues with an engraving of the 27-foot statue erected in the marketplace of the giant Antigonus who once controlled Antwerp and was known for cutting off the right hands of mariners who did not pay him tribute. The city was liberated by another giant, Brabo, who cut off Antigonus' own hand - the legendary origin of the hands on the city's heraldic arms. The festivities end with nautical displays, fireworks and jousting, each frozen in time by their own splendid double-page engravings. Each is accompanied by descriptions of the festivities, and a commentary on their allegorical significance, by Joannes Bochius (1555-1609), a prominent lawyer and poet from Brussels who was an active official in the local government. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The work provides a vivid depiction of the pageantry of the age and, the exuberant showmanship of a hopeful city: Antwerp had suffered sack, siege and plunder at the hands of Spaniards and Italians throughout the 1570s and 80s, its population halved to 55,000 by 1589. \"What is unmistakable, once the real plight of the city is realized, is the extent to which the various spectacles prepared for 1594 convey the city's desire to put a brave front on its position, asserting, particularly, through the allegories on the arches of the foreign merchant communities, that the golden age which the city had enjoyed under Charles V was not lost beyond recall...\" Whether or not Ernst, a minor member of the Hapsburg family could deliver the town remains to be seen: \"His relative unimportance is emphasized by the fact that Ernst was never invested with the titles of Margrave of Antwerp or Duke of Brabant\" and thus was not entitled to the full ceremonial welcome. (Davidson and Van der Weel, cit. infr.). To add to the misfortune, Ernst died in Brussels 8 months later in February 1595, so the work ends with a funeral oration, a memorial as well as a tribute.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOCHIUS, Joannes","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816076124495,"sku":"L1502","price":11500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_6829.jpg?v=1781795324"},{"product_id":"hayward-sir-john","title":"HAYWARD, Sir John","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of Sir John Hayward s posthumous  Life and Raigne of King Edward VI,  the earliest biography of the last Tudor king, reprinted in 1636, and again in White Kennett s Complete History of England in 1706. Considering the environment in which Hayward wrote, the influence this pioneering work has had on attitudes toward the mid-Tudor period is marked. Although few contemporary scholars would accept Hayward s interpretation of the reign at face value, his work influenced historical thinking for over three centuries. Hayward was imprisoned by Elizabeth I for his controversial book on Henry IV and his involvement in the conspiracy of the Earl of Essex in 1600. Edward VI (1537-53), the only son of Henry VIII, ruled in a period, not only of dramatic religious change, but also of warfare, political intrigue, and popular rebellion. Hayward wrote his biography of Edward at the end of the Jacobean period when major challenges were facing the monarchy. He proclaimed that his narrative was intended to be a  monument  to the  un-perishable fame  of the king and focused his efforts on court politics, foreign policy, and military affairs.  Sir John Hayward s full-scale  Life and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, .. first circulated in manuscript in the 1620 s before its publication in 1630. As Lisa Richardson has demonstrated in her recent study of Hayward, he was soaked in the writings of Tacitus... Hayward also knew well Foxe s work in  Acts and Monuments , and used him much elsewhere in his historical work, yet here, in account of a reign dominated by violent religious change, his only substantial debt to Foxe is his admiring description of the King himself. ...What interests him most is Foxes anecdote about the king s supposed efforts at clemency for Joan Bocher and George van Parris, contrasting with the more bloodthirsty attitudes of Edward s advisers. ... One of the contemporary sources which Hayward was particularly ready to use was Edward VI s personal chronicle. .. the Chronicle minimizes his preoccupation with religion and gives the impression of a boy-king with primarily secular concerns. Overall, Hayward s distaste for what happened in the Edwardian reformation is clear.  Diarmaid MacCulloch.  The Boy King: Edward VI and the Protestant Reformation . An entirely unsophisticated and untrimmed copy of this important history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HAYWARD, Sir John","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816081498447,"sku":"L1488","price":1650.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9087.jpg?v=1781795320"},{"product_id":"francquart-jacques","title":"FRANCQUART, Jacques","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this superb suite of beautiful and very finely engraved plates commemorating, in extraordinary detail, the funeral of Albert VII, engraved after the designs of Jaques Francquart by Cornelis Galle, with a description of the occasion by Puteanus; one of the most eminent works of the golden age of Flemish copperplate engraving. Jacques Francquart (1582\/3 1651) was a Flemish painter, court architect, and an outstanding copper plate engraver, born at Antwerp. He traveled to study in Italy and was apprenticed to Rubens on his return. In 1613 he obtained the position of court painter to the Archduke Albert. He designed the Temple des Augustins which stood on Place de Broukere in Brussels. The Archduke Albert s highly cosmopolitan court became a flourishing centre of the arts, a showcase for other courts throughout Europe. The archduke, with his support of artists such as Rubens, did much to contribute towards the creation and spread of the style later known as 'Flemish Baroque'. The Twelve Year Truce (1609-1621), in the civil war in the Netherlands, brought the necessary peace for a political, economic and in particular cultural revival. Albert surrounded himself with artists, such as Peter Paul Rubens, Jan Brueghel, Wenzel Coebergher, Jacques Franckaert, the composer Peter Philips and the South-Netherlandish humanist Justus Lipsius. Francquart designed the funeral chariot and its engraving in this work is nearly a meter long. The plates depicts of more than 700 members of the funeral cortege. It is also innovative in that he created a table of  hatching  to represent heraldic colours, which is the earliest hatching system in heraldry. The work is particularly interesting in giving a detailed snapshot of the composition of the court of Albert at his death.  When Albert set out for the Netherlands in 1595, his court was almost entirely Spanish. The two mayordomos, all the gentlemen of the bedchamber and every chaplain but one were from the peninsula. .. The transformation was almost complete by the time of his death. None of the mayordomos who marched in the funeral procession was Spanish. One was a Burgundian; the other five were titled noblemen from the Netherlands. There was only one Spaniard among the eight gentlemen of the bedchamber who bore the coffin with Albert s remains. .. On all these levels, the local nobility had taken over.  Luc Duerloo.  Dynasty and Piety: Archduke Albert (1598-1621)  A very good copy of this monumental work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"FRANCQUART, Jacques","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816117477711,"sku":"L1619","price":4750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_0032.jpg?v=1781795304"},{"product_id":"liebault-jean","title":"LIEBAULT, Jean","description":"First French edition (translated from the Latin De sanitate, faecunditatae et morbis mulierum of the same year) of this gynaecological handbook by Jean Li ébault (c.1535-1596), doctor and agronomist. It was one of the very first vernacular works, designed for the laywoman, about the female physical condition. Li ébault was born in Dijon but moved to Paris to study medicine, where he became a successful doctor, highly esteemed by both colleagues and patients. He married Nicole Estienne, daughter of the great Parisian printer Charles Estienne (1504-1564), who had himself studied medicine under Jacob Sylvius alongside the young Vesalius. Li ébault completed and translated his father-in-law's Praedium rusticum into French as La maison rustique (1564); a translation of Gesner's Quatres livres des secrets de m édecine followed in 1573. Trois livres de la sant é was the first of two works on feminine health and beauty he published in 1582: De l'ornement \u0026amp; beautez des Femmes is advertised in the present work. Madame Li ébault, a noted femme des lettres, was herself the author of Misères de la femme mari ée, mises en forme de stances, and the manuscript Apologie pour les femmes, contre ceux qui en m édisent. She predeceased her husband by some years; the contemporary diarist Pierre de L'Estoile records that Li ébault died suddenly, after sitting down to rest on a stone in the rue Gervais-Laurent.\r \r Li ébault's introduction to the present work laments the infinite number of maladies which accompany any person through his or her life, 'mais plus griefues en affliction tormentent le corps de la femme comme celuy de l'homme'. Woman, he takes care to emphasise, 'n'est animant mutile ny imparfaict, mais foible \u0026amp; maladif'. His work describes and suggests causes and remedies - often more than one - for a range of gynaecological complaints, in chronological order from childhood to motherhood; Li ébault does not advise on the maladies of women beyond child-bearing age. Young girls, he notes, may be subject to nervous illnesses, nausea, headache and neuralgia. He deals with menstruation, venereal disease and various renal and gastro-intestinal problems, before proceeding to the subject of conception and childbirth, which occupies the greatest portion of the book. Obesity, male and female, is listed among the causes of infertility; common birth defects are described, along with less common ones such as hermaphroditism. Alongside a discussion of family resemblance in young children (with a gentle reminder that even animals and plants have an urge to reproduce in their own image), Li ébault also addresses the question of when a child receives its soul. Of particular interest is the chapter devoted to the performance of caesarean section, which, given the high mortality rate, is advised only as a last resort: the first modern caesarean section which the mother is known to have survived had been performed as recently as 1500. Li ébault concludes with advice on the treatment of the newborn and the new mother. The work contains a detailed table of contents and index, and a brief list of errata.","brand":"LIEBAULT, Jean","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816117576015,"sku":"L603","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L603-5.jpg?v=1781795303"},{"product_id":"nostredame-jean","title":"NOSTREDAME, Jean","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition in Italian. The original French version was published in the same year; it was translated into Italian for this edition by Giovanni Giudici, with many additions and corrections. The second Italian edition was not published until 1722. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Nostredame or Notredame, was the younger brother of the celebrated astrologer Nostradamus, and a 'procureur' to the Parlement of Aix. He was very early drawn to poetry and wrote a large number of songs. He was also a great connoisseur of Provencal poetry and amassed a large collection of books on the subject, from which the present text was compiled. Nostredame gives a short biography (typically a few pages long) of 76 early Provencal poets, with selected examples of their work. The Troubadours had most influence in Italy, and Nostredame mentions a number of them referred to by Dante in the Divine Comedy - Bertran de Born, Arnaut Daniel, Folquet de Marseille and Sordello. The work starts with the 12th-century poets Jaufre Rudel and Marcabru, and goes on to the golden age of the Troubadours, with such figures as Bernart de Ventadorn and Raimbaut d'Orange; making the work a 'who's who of Troubadours' - for whose often ephemeral careers this is both the earliest and the pre-eminent source.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NOSTREDAME, Jean","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816118755663,"sku":"L605","price":1750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Nostreadame-L605-2.jpg?v=1781795300"},{"product_id":"campanus-johannes-antonius","title":"CAMPANUS, Johannes Antonius","description":"\u003cp\u003eSecond edition of the collected works of Johannes Antonius Campanus (Giovanni Antonio Campano; c. 1429-1477). Campanus, churchman, humanist and orator, led a varied career which took him to appointments in Naples and Perugia (as a teacher of rhetoric), before his election as Bishop of Crotone in 1463. From 1472-74 he was Papal Governor of Todi. A prominent figure of the day, Campanus was the subject of a Latin epitaph by Poliziano. The present edition reproduces the introduction by Michael Fernus from the first, Roman edition of 1495.  The essays in the present volume demonstrate Campanus' rhetorical and theological expertise to the full, and are comprehensively indexed. They include orations on the Holy Spirit and St. Stephan; we are not told the occasions on which these were delivered - if, indeed, they were anything more than exercises in composition. Other instructive essays include 'De dignitate martrimonii' and 'Contra Turchos ad principes germanos'; biographies of Thomas Aquinas, Pope Pius and Archbishop John of Benevento also appear. The present volume is, however, dominated by a lengthier biographic work, Campanus' six book life of the famous condottiere Andrea Braccio Fortebracci, conte di Montone (1368-1424), who was fatally wounded by his fellow soldier of fortune Francesco Sforza near L'Aquila, northeast of Rome. The work concludes with eight book of Latin epigrams, on religious and secular subjects.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CAMPANUS, Johannes Antonius","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816119017807,"sku":"L649","price":3950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_00161.jpg?v=1781795300"},{"product_id":"catullus-tibullus-propertius","title":"CATULLUS, TIBULLUS, PROPERTIUS","description":"\u003cp\u003eSecond, improved Colines edition, derived from the Aldine by Aldus the elder and Jer. Avancio. Each beginning with biographical extracts from the Florentine Petro Crinito's guide to the Latin poets, the work is divided into three sections, respectively comprising Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius. The first comprises the complete works of Catullus, (c.84-54 BC), 117 poems ranging in scope from the famous two-lined 'odi et amo' to the vigorous obscenities of poem 16, when Catullus wrathfully proclaims: \"Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo, Aureli pathice et cinaede Furi\". The second presents four books which are attributed to Tibullus (c. 54-19 BC), (probably only the first two are genuine), including elegies to his first love Delia, his patron Messala, the god Priapus, and to his last love, the courtesan 'Nemesis'. Book three is attributable by internal evidence to the otherwise obscure Lygdamus, while book 4, thought to have been completed only in the 16th C, begins with a discourse on Messala's achievements, followed by poems telling of the love of his sister Sulpicia and Cerinthus. The section concludes with a passage about the death of Tibullus, drawn from Ovid. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Section three presents the four books of Propertius (c.50-14BC); the first is a passionate love elegy to 'Cynthia', a unique work that documents the affair as it progresses, and which gained Propertius immediate fame as an innovative poet. Further poems to Cynthia with more general musings on love follow, while the third book - marking the end of the affair - diversifies into avarice, death and new friends. Book four explains the origin of various Roman rites and landmarks, and discusses the great seabattle of Actium.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CATULLUS, TIBULLUS, PROPERTIUS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816122458447,"sku":"L854","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L854.jpg?v=1781795287"},{"product_id":"johnston-john","title":"JOHNSTON, John","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this rare work by Johnston (?1570-1611) Scottish poet, who styled himself  Aberdonensis  and whose family hailed from Crimond near Aberdeen - where Johnston studied at Kings College, before spending eight years at various continental universities. He became a friend of Justus Lipsius and doubtless of the other scholars whose epigrams preface the present work - among them Joseph Scaliger, Jan Dousa and Daniel Heinsius. He was also closely attached to Andrew Melville, who probably helped him to obtain the professorship of divinity at St. Andrews c1593, when he was  Maister of the new college . The present work is a series of epigrammatic addresses to the Scottish Kings from Fergus I to James VI (to whom it is dedicated) highlighting their characteristics, exhibiting their virtues and referring to the principal events of their reigns. The verses are more interesting for their historical perspective than their poetry. The anonymous portraits - of Robert II, Robert III, James II, James III, James IV, James V, Mary, James VI and Anne are very finely executed and in excellent strong impression. Neither their source nor maker has been identified. In mid C19 hand on inserted fly  A very rare book. The Roxburghe copy sold for ¬£13.13. In addition to the 10 portraits this copy has a plate of the arms of James VI ... which has not been mentioned by Lowndes, + 1 leaf of preliminary matters (beginning with the verses of J.C. Scaliger) seldom found. At a sale in 1854 or 5 (I think at W. Duncan Gardiner s) a copy was sold for ¬£10 to Lord Breadalbane .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"JOHNSTON, John","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816122655055,"sku":"L119","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_0001_2fe970be-4bc6-4ee3-841b-5567342b9cf6.jpg?v=1781795285"},{"product_id":"burgos-pedro-alfonso-de","title":"BURGOS, Pedro Alfonso de","description":"\u003cp\u003eA good copy of the first edition of this rare commentary on the life of the Virgin Mary. The author, Friar Pedro Alonso de Burgos (1500-1572), is considered the most outstanding hermit writer of Montserrat (Spain). He was born in one of the islands of Zeeland (Netherlands), but his parents were originally from the diocese of Burgos. After completing his studies of theology at the University of Louvain, de Burgos spent some time at the service of emperor Charles V, until the Duke of Bejar   one of the courtiers of the emperor   brought him to Spain to be the tutor of his children. Later, after visiting the Montserrat monastery in Catalonia, he decided to stay and became a monk. Described by his contemporaries as penitent and assiduous, devoted in prayer and in all spiritual exercises, he abandoned the monastery in order to lead an eremitic life in one of the mountain hermitages. Here, he was often visited by important personalities, including King Philip II, Emperor Maximilian II of Austria and his wife, as well as the Marquis of Cortes, Juan de Benavides, to whom this work is dedicated. He exercised his spiritual influence outside of the hermitage through his writings, which consist in a series of ascetic treatises on the topics of solitary life, theological virtues, devotion to God and to the Virgin Mary. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n During the Council of Trent (1545 1563), the veneration of Mary was strongly reaffirmed in opposition to protestant reformers, who, although honouring the Virgin, were questioning the validity of her cult. As a consequence, Marian devotion blossomed in the XVI century, and this short biography is a fascinating witness of this renewal and strength. It contains forty-eight chapters dealing with her life, attributes and divine qualities, followed by a four-leaf section at the end featuring a series of additional short texts regarding her. In particular, there is a letter from Dionysus Areopagitae to the apostle Paul, two letters exchanged by St. Ignatius and Mary, one from St. Ignatius to the apostle John, and a poem in praise of the Virgin by Petrus Comestor. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Only a small number of books were printed in Barcelona in the 16th century, and Claudio Bornat (fl. Barcelona 1556-75) produced only a few of these. An editor, printer, bookseller and writer of French origin, Bornat obtained great recognition from his editions in Latin, Spanish and Catalan.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BURGOS, Pedro Alfonso de","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816125145423,"sku":"SN2591","price":2950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_2837.jpg?v=1781795281"},{"product_id":"egnatius-giovanni-battista","title":"EGNATIUS, Giovanni Battista","description":"\u003cp\u003eSecond edition of this curious collection of exemplary episodes, issued in Paris some months after the princeps of Venice the same year. Giovanni Battista Cipelli (1478-1553), better known by his humanist nickname Egnatius, was a prominent scholar in Renaissance Venice and a trusted collaborator of Aldus Manutius. Very knowledgeable in Latin and Greek, he taught in the School of St Marcus and was appointed official orator of the Venetian Republic. On account of his philological, editorial and teaching skills, he was held in high esteem by Pietro Bembo, Marco Musuro, Marco Antonio Sabellico and even Wilibald Pirckheimer and Erasmus. His most successful work was De Caesaribus, a learned overview of the lives of the Roman, Byzantine, Frankish and German emperors, up to Maximilian I of Augsburg. An extract of the second book circulated independently as an essay on the origins of the Turks. Following the model of Valerius Maximus, Egnatius assembled a vast number of edifying stories from the lives of Venetians and other illustrious personalities of the past and present. It is divided into nine books and each of the numerous chapters is devoted to a topic (either virtue or vice). Book 8 includes a note on the invention of printing (f. 300rv) and a praise of Columbus (f. 301v). Muslims and Ottomans are also frequently mentioned, with several examples drawn especially from the life of Saladin (ff. 172r, 237rv, 242v, 265v, 326r). ). The work was published posthumously by Marco Molin, the son of Egnatius s heir and friend. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n This is a copy of the first of the eighteen books published in Paris by Bernardo Torresano on behalf of the Aldine Press over the 1550s and 1560s. Bernardo was the grandson of Andrea Torresano, father-in-law and business partner of Aldus Manutius. The Aldine enterprise tried several times to set up a branch or at least have a trusted dealer in Paris, but the attempts were all quite short-lasting and little fruitful.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"EGNATIUS, Giovanni Battista","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816128553295,"sku":"L2015","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2015-Egnatius-1.jpg?v=1781795268"},{"product_id":"wishart-george","title":"WISHART, George","description":"\u003cp\u003eA fine, large paper copy of this most interesting contemporary biography of the feats of the great Scottish General, James Montrose, in a stunning contemporary morocco binding attributable or very close to the great French binder Le Gascon, from the exceptional library of Bolongaro-Crevenna.  Dr. George Wishart was born in 1599  In 1626 he moved to St. Andrews as second charge, and it has been conjectured that is was there that he first met the Earl of Montrose, who matriculated at the University of St. Andrews in 1627  When the Presbyterians obtained the ascendancy, Dr. Wishart fled to England with Archbishop Spottiswood. On 19th October 1639, he was appointed to a lectureship of All Saints Church, Newcastle, and in 1640 he was presented at St. Nicholas Church, Newcastle. When Leslie and the Scots army took Newcastle on 19th October 1644, Wishart was taken prisoner, and, on the charge of corresponding with royalists, was imprisoned in the Thieves  Hole, Edinburgh. After 7 months in prison, Wishart was liberated when the Marquis of Montrose arrived in Edinburgh after his victory at Kilsyth on 15th August 1645. Wishart joined the royal army at Bothwell, and was appointed private chaplain to the Marquis of Montrose. In this capacity he accompanied the Marquis in his campaign both at home and abroad, and his narrative of Montrose s campaign is that of an eye-witness and biographer. It was first published in Amsterdam   1647. When the Scottish Parliament tried Montrose in abstentia in 1649, Wishart s book was brought as evidence against him. A bounty was pledged by Parliament and the Church of Scotland for his capture, and he was sentenced in abstentia to be hanged with Wishart s book around his neck. The sentence was carried out in the following year after Montrose was captured and brought to Edinburgh.  The Wishart Society. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  Les reliures de Le Gascon sont de veritables objets d art.  Edouard Rouveyre.  Connaissances n écessaires √† un bibliophile.  This binding is very similar in style and the tools are nearly identical to a binding attributed to Le Gascon in a Sotheby s sale at Paris, 2011, sale PF1113, lot 51, the 1595 edition of the works of Montaigne. It shares the same oval centre surrounded by near identical scrolled tools and pointill é work.  The style of Le Gascon, so-called, was in vogue between the years 1640, and 1665  Herbert P. Horne  An Essay in the History of Gold-Tooled Bindings . \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The binding is also very similar in design and tools to another binding attributed to Le Gascon in the Tenschert Catalogue  Biblia Sacra  2004, no. 59, a Greek New Testament. Many of the best binders of the period imitated the work of Le Gascon, who was then at the height of fashion, and if this binding is not by Le Gascon or his atelier, it is by someone who was imitating him as closely as possible. The gilding and use of pointill é tools is particularly fine, the morocco is of the highest quality. As this is a large paper copy in a very rich binding, it was almost certainly made for presentation, though there is no indication of to whom. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A wonderful copy from the extraordinary library of Bolongaro-Crevenna, the francophile Italian merchant from Amsterdam, whose magnificent collection was sold in Paris between 1775 and 1793. This work was in his sale of History books in 1789 lot 6506; see  Catalogue des livres de la bibliothèque de M. Pierre Antoine Bologaro-Crevenna   Volume 4  Amsterdam, chez Changuion 1789.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WISHART, George","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816133042511,"sku":"L2211","price":4250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2211-Wishart-1.jpg?v=1781795254"},{"product_id":"giovio-paolo","title":"GIOVIO, Paolo","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of an early biographical work by a distinguished historian of the Italian Renaissance. Paolo Giovio (1483-1552) was a talented humanist, prelate and art collector; educated in Padua, he taught moral and natural philosophy at the University of Rome, acted as personal physician to pope Clement VII and was later appointed bishop of Nocera. His numerous writings enjoyed great success throughout Europe, embracing a vast range of subjects, from ancient and contemporary history to science, travel and emblems. This biography is devoted to the founder of the Sforza dynasty, Muzio Attendolo (1369-1424), whose powerful portrait appears in the book. A skilled condottiero, he served many Italian rulers, including pope Martin V, in the turbulent period marked by the wars against the expansion of the Milanese Duchy and the succession to the throne of Naples. His son Francesco (1401-1466) married Bianca Maria Visconti and managed to take over the Duchy of Milan from her family. The volume is dedicated to Cardinal Guido Ascanio Sforza, grandson of Paul III and illustrious member of the branch of the Sforza family stemming from another of Muzio Attendolo s sons, Bosio (1410-1476), who settled in southern Tuscany to rule over the small independent county of Santa Fiora. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The coat of arms painted on f. 1r (red shield with gilt chevrons and three half moons) may well be that of a contemporary Italian family, like the Leonardi from Florence, who used silver-gilt chevrons and half moons.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GIOVIO, Paolo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816134287695,"sku":"L2783c","price":5250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Screenshot-2024-08-06-at-11.05.51.webp?v=1781795216"},{"product_id":"bale-john-bade-conrad","title":"BALE, John [BADE, Conrad]","description":"\u003cp\u003eA beautiful copy of this rare and most influential translation into French, by the celebrated protestant publisher and author Conrad Bade, in a most elegant French binding. The binding, exceptionally well worked in gilt using fine crushed red morocco, is very much in the style of Derome the younger (see British Library Shelfmark c42c9 with his ticket). However it is almost certainly the work of the highly skilled if little known Jean-Baptiste Gosselin (whose niece married Michel Derome) and who, it is claimed, executed special bindings for Louis XVI. According to Erick Aguirre, who himself supplied this information, Gosselin bound several copies of the Bale for the bookseller Guillaume-Luc Bailly in about 1785. M. Bailly's price codes are in very small letters at the foot of the final end-paper. Mr. Aguirre has also identified this copy as lot 3913 in the 1803 M éon sale (little red numbers on foot of t-p) where it was purchased by Morel de Vind é. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Bale (1495-1563), a former Carmelite monk who converted to protestantism, later bishop of Ossory, was one of the most outspoken English Protestants of the first half of the C16. After the fall of his patron, Thomas Cromwell in 1540, he fled to Germany, where he busied himself in composing the bitter diatribes which earned him the nickname \"Bilious Bale\". On the accession of Edward VI he returned to England to share in the triumph of the reformers and publish in London the works composed in exile. Bale initially wrote this work in Latin and it was first published in Basel in 1558. It was translated into English, with additions by John Studley, as  The Pageant of Popes  in 1574. The French is the first translation into the vernacular. Conrad Bade is justly recognised as a hugely important publisher just for the publication of his friend Calvin s works but was also a satirical author in his own right. He published his most famous satirical work the  Alcoran des Cordeliers  in 1556 and followed this with another attack on the abuses of the Church with his  Satyres Chrestienes de la Cuisine Papale .  The third polemical work which Badius printed was a translation from Bishop John Bales history of the Popes, Acta Pontifcum Romanorum. Its most interesting feature to us is Bale s preface in praise of Geneva as it appeared to him in 1558. In this work, which was produced in 1561, Badius reveals himself as a poet, by his versification of the various rhymes in the original,  Like so many who tried their hand at verse in this period, he was never a great poet, yet he was at least spirited and readable which is more than could be said of most of his contemporaries.  Lewis Lupton  Conrad Badius . \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A very fine copy of this extremely rare work from William Beckford s library. William Thomas Beckford (1760   1844) extraordinarily wealthy English novelist, art critic, travel writer and politician, now chiefly remembered as the author of the Gothic novel Vathek and builder of the remarkable Fonthill Abbey, the enormous gothic revival country house, largely destroyed. Beckford's fame rests as much upon his eccentric extravagances as a builder and collector as upon his literary efforts. The opportunity to purchase the complete library of Edward Gibbon gave Beckford the basis for his own library, which was extensive, and dispersed over two years in 1883-4.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BALE, John [BADE, Conrad]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816134385999,"sku":"K42","price":13500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/K42-Bale-Bade-1-e1466263738521.jpg?v=1781795215"},{"product_id":"andre-valere","title":"ANDRÉ, Valère","description":"\u003cp\u003eVery good copy of the second and much augmented edition of Valère Andr é s  Bibliotheca Belgica , first published in 1623. Andr é (or Valerius Andreas or Walter Driessens, 1588-1650) was a scholar of antiquities, Hebrew studies and law, and professor at Leuven. His  Bibliotheca Belgica  is a monumental bio-bibliography of Dutch and Belgian authors in the arts, sciences and letters and their works in Latin, French and Flemish (these last often listed with Latinised titles). Prefaced by a topographical delineation of Belgium and an index of names absent in the first edition, it is a fundamental source for the bibliographic history of the early modern Low Countries, and the basis for Jean-François Foppens s  Bibliotheca Belgica  (1739).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ANDRÉ, Valère","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816143331663,"sku":"L2826","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2826-2.jpg?v=1781795169"},{"product_id":"jimenez-de-rada-rodrigo","title":"JIMÉNEZ DE RADA, Rodrigo","description":"\u003cp\u003eVery uncommon, good copy of the second edition of the Chronicle of the  noble and eminent deeds  of King Ferdinand III (c.1199-1252), son of Alphonso IX of L éon and Berenguela de Castile. First published in 1516 upon the accession of Charles I, the first Habsburg on the Spanish throne the work celebrated the consolidation and territorial expansion of the united crowns of Castile and L éon by the hand of the pious Ferdinand III, who joined the Order of St Francis and was canonised in 1671. The narrative begins in the C12, with the reign of Alfonso IX, and concludes with Ferdinand III s death. Central to the  Chronica  is Ferdinand s conquest of Andalusia, with gory narratives of his battles against the Moors and the sieges of C√≥rdoba and Seville. Written by Don Rodrigo Jim énez de Rada (1170-1247), Archbishop of Toledo, and terminated by Jofre de Loaysa, it was modernised in spelling and edited by Diego L√≥pez de Cartagena, who also translated numerous Latin works into Castilian. It is one of the many successful medieval vernacular chronicles printed in Europe in the sixteenth century. These patriotic texts, addressed to the wider public, narrated the history of nations through the deeds of their kings, whilst functioning as dynastic  mirrors for princes  for the ruling monarchs. As shown by the arms on the t-p, this edition was dedicated to Charles I s son, Philip II. USTC records no surviving copies of the first edition of 1547.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"JIMÉNEZ DE RADA, Rodrigo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816143593807,"sku":"L2778","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/20191120_144639-scaled.jpg?v=1781795170"},{"product_id":"lucangeli-niccolo","title":"LUCANGELI, Niccol√≤","description":"\u003cp\u003eScarce first edition of this fascinating pamphlet describing the journey of Henry III of France from Cracow to Turin, and the celebrations prepared for his progress. Henry of Valois (1551-89), king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1573-75, was elected after the late Sigismund II Vasa in exchange for concessions to the Polish nobility. Soon after the death of his brother Charles IX, and to the chagrin of the Polish Senate, Henry returned to France becoming king in 1574 the last French ruler of the House of Valois. Dedicated to Cardinal Ferdinando, fifth son of Cosimo I de  Medici, the pamphlet begins with Henry s departure from Poland at night time and focuses on the numerous entertainments organized for his stay in Venice. Lucangeli superbly portrays the protracted Venetian celebrations, with cannons echoing through the city at Henry s passage on the Bucintoro decorated with fine gold. He also describes the architectural pageants erected throughout the city, with Latin mottos, political emblems like a dragon treading over human heads, ancient deities and heroes. Regattas organised in his honour through the canals were followed by lavish banquets adorned with sugar statues representing classical and biblical figures. Like other similar contemporary pamphlets faithfully reporting celebrations for royal progresses,  Successi  fed the appetite of the Renaissance elites for wondrous entertainments, intricate political emblems and the  mirabilia  of luxury.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LUCANGELI, Niccol√≤","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816153915727,"sku":"L2809","price":2500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_3250.jpg?v=1781794924"},{"product_id":"imperiali-giovanni","title":"IMPERIALI, Giovanni","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn excellent, clean copy of the FIRST EDITION of this celebration of European Renaissance culture. Giovanni Imperiali (1596?-1670) was a physician from Vicenza, much appreciated by Pope Urban VIII and close to the circle of Cesare Cremonini, a controversial philosopher who had been his teacher. The work was inspired by the classic  de viris illustribus  genre recounting the exemplary deeds of great historical or literary figures. The title  musaeum  originally a  temple of the Muses  devoted to the study of the arts looked back to the Hellenistic Musaeum at Alexandria which, like a university, gathered together the best intellectual worthies. At the same time, Imperiale interpreted  musaeum  in its modern meaning, as a place of material commemoration: since Roman times it had been traditional to celebrate the glory of famous men through images, paintings and marble sculptures as exempla of glory and virtue. The first part presents the  imagines ad vivum expressae  drawn, that is,  to the life , realistically of major figures of the C16, especially of the intellectual world. The engraved oval portraits of  vires illustres  e.g., Paolo Giovio, Vesalius, Guicciardini, Justus Lipsius, Llull, Tasso, Faber, Aldrovandi and Paulus Manutius ( arbiter of the Muses and of elegance ) within an architectural cartouche reproduced the epigraphic nature of monuments, followed by a short text celebrating their achievements. Among the Englishmen and Scotsmen represented are John Barclay, James Crichton ( The Admirable Crichton ) and Reginald Pole. It is one of the best sources for discovering what the great figures of the arts and sciences of the C16 really looked like. The second part is devoted to the  images of the soul  ( animorum imagines ) explaining the excellence of human  ingenium , with references to the worthies of the first part, and the particular  gifts  of creativity that individuals have from birth. Most interestingly, Imperiali relied on traditional Platonic, Aristotelian, Pythagoric and Galenic theories to discuss  the special importance of fantasy for the artistic ingenium along with various forms of talent Thus it became clear for the first time why great painters or sculptors or musicians are not at the same time necessarily great thinkers or scientists or inventors and vice versa ; he also mentioned the melancholia which often plagues artists ( Humankinds: The Renaissance and Its Anthropologies , 236-37). An utterly innovative, finely illustrated fruit of the late Renaissance.  The library of the Dukes of Arenberg to which the bookplate refers was situated in the castle of Nordkirchen, which Engelbert-Marie (1872-1949) purchased in 1903.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"IMPERIALI, Giovanni","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816155488591,"sku":"L2983","price":2450.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_5021.jpg?v=1781794915"},{"product_id":"hall-joseph-3","title":"HALL, Joseph","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of some of the works of the celebrated theologian and author Joseph Hall, published four years after his death containing many as yet unpublished including two important pieces of autobiography, many of his unpublished sermons on a multitude of subjects, and several controversial writings. The two autobiographical works are  Observations of some Specialities of Divine Providence In the Life of Jos. Hall, Bishop of Norwich  and his tract  Hard Measure  which details the severe treatment to which himself and other prelates were subjected under Parliament during Charles  reign.  Hall is responsible for initiating several literary genres. In his own day, he was acknowledged as a  leader of literary fashion . Tom Fleming Kinloch describes him as a pioneer in more than one branch of literature. Hall has been regarded by scholars mainly as a master of satire. John Milton criticised Hall s writings [but] despite Milton s criticism there have been many voices praising Hall s contributions to English literature. Arnold Davenport quotes Pope, who found Hall s satirical works to be amongst the best poetry and authentic satire in the English language.  Damrau  The Reception of English Puritan Literature in Germany.   Several folio editions of his works were published by the bishop in his lifetime, in 1621, 1625, and 1634. The preface of the first folio has an extravagant laudation of King James, reprinted in the folio of 1634. A small quarto, with a collection of posthumous pieces called  The Shaking of the Olive Tree,  was published in 1660; in 1662 a more complete collection of the bishop s works.  DNB.  Joseph Hall (1574-1656), Bishop of Norwich, poet, moralist, satirist, controversialist (against Milton, i.a.), devotional writer, theological commentator, autobiographer and practical essayist, was one of the leading hommes de lettres of the Jacobean age. He was at the centre of public life under James I representing him at the Synod of Dort in 1618, assisting in his negotiations with the Scots and in Lord Doncaster s French embassy and was foremost among the defenders of the temporal and spiritual powers of the Bishops in the Puritan Parliament of 1640-41. However, it is as a writer that Hall is now remembered. Fuller called him  the English Seneca for his pure, plain, and full style . While Hall may not have been the first English satirist, as he claimed, he certainly introduced the Juvenalian satire into English.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HALL, Joseph","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816157618511,"sku":"L2223","price":2950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/20190403_183312.jpg?v=1781794902"},{"product_id":"mexia-pedro","title":"MEXIA, Pedro","description":"\u003cp\u003eA stunning copy of this work, the second edition of the English translation by Traheron of Mexia s  Historia imperial y ces√°rea , enlarged by the historian Edward Grimstone, in a remarkable Royal binding for Charles I. This work was printed the same year as Charles  trip to Spain for the  Spanish match .  The other English-Spanish translation published in this annus mirabilis was an edition of Pedro de Mexia s The Imperiall Historie, first published in 1604, with additional material written by the Sergeant at arms Edward Grimestone and dedicated to Lionel Cranfield the Lord High Treasurer.  Alexander Samson  The Spanish Match: Prince Charles s Journey to Madrid, 1623 . The superb binding is similar in style and structure to one in the BL shelfmark c18c4, also with a dentelle border with an all over semi of small tools around the arms of Charles I. It is the work of the highest quality using the finest materials. It was most probably made for Charles  library, and not just for one of the Royal chapels. It is hardly a coincidence that this work was published the year of Charles I s trip to Spain for the  Spanish Match , and the combination of this work in this binding would suggest a presentation copy to Charles, probably from Grimestone. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  One of the later royal historians appointed in the age of Charles V, Mexia shared with his predecessor the distinction of writing a text that was popular both in Spain and abroad. Eight Castilian editions of his Historia Imperial y Cesarea were printed between 1545 and 1665 in Seville, Madrid, Basel and Antwerp. The Italian translation by Ludovico Dolce was even more successful. Between 1558 and 1688 at least seventeen Italian editions were printed in Venice, some of which included the lives of Charles V, Maximilian II, and Ferdinand. A German translation was printed in Basel in 1564, and two English translations by William Traheron and Edward Grimestone were published in London in 1604 and 1623, respectively. In total, at least twenty-eight editions were printed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, making it the most successful of the Spanish Imperial histories after that of Guevara. It surpassed Guevara, however, in the influence and reputation that it enjoyed in Spain, where it was considered a fundamental work by the educated class in the later half of the sixteenth century. Viewed as free of lies and exagerations of chivalric literature, the Historia Imperial was considered by some contemporaries to be the first general work of humanist history written in Castilian.  Thomas James Dandelet.  The Renaissance of Empire in Early Modern Europe.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  Grimeston wrote a number of  continuations  to large scholarly works including two editions of the Historie of France .. and his translation of Pedro Mexia s The Imperiall Historie (1623) whose continuation had some topical overlap with Grimeston s continuation for the third edition of the History (1621) . Anders Ingram.  English Literature on the Ottoman Turks in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries . \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A stunning Royal binding.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MEXIA, Pedro","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816165941583,"sku":"L3056","price":13500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3056-7.jpg?v=1781794873"},{"product_id":"erasmus-with-plutarch","title":"ERASMUS. [with] PLUTARCH.","description":"\u003cp\u003eInteresting, annotated, very scarce Parisian editions of Erasmus s and Plutarch s collections of maxims the second unrecorded in major bibliographies. Erasmus (1466-1536), the greatest humanist and philologist of the northern Renaissance, wrote some of the most important  mirrors for princes  ( Institutio principis Christianis , 1516) and educational works for the elites ( Adagia , 1500). Like the latter,  Apophthegmata  was a collection of sayings gathered from Greek and Latin lives of great personalities including Plutarch, Suetonius and Xenophon, grouped according to the virtue they epitomise. First published in 1531, it is here in a new, revised and enlarged edition. This copy was also marked by a near contemporary censor, as shown by his note on the t-p, stating that  Erasmus s works should be read with caution  and expunged due to his  corruption . Several passages (e.g., one called  Deus insepultus ) were highlighted by the censor, and one was erased with the gloss  vox Erasmi  ( the voice of Erasmus ). From the Index of 1564, Erasmus was included as an author permitted but in need of expurgation; however, this work and the similar  Adagia  were never mentioned specifically or especially targeted (Pabel, 146). The C16 annotator of this copy glossed extensively the dedicatory epistle and the first sections on Agasicles and Agesilaus, kings of Sparta. He was especially interested in material derived from Plutarch s  Apophthegmata Regum et Imperatorum  (of kings and emperors) and  Apophthegmata Laconica  (of Spartans), a very scarce Parisian edition of which, printed in 1507 by Jehan Petit, was bound together with Erasmus s work by an early owner. Plutarch (46-120AD) was a Roman magistrate and ambassador, and one of the most influential authors in the Renaissance for his biographies of the lives of the emperors and great ancient personalities, and wise maxims derived from them. Each is contextualised within a short anecdote from the lives of personalities including Silla, Diogenes, Lycurgus and Periander.  Apophthegmata regum , in the Latin translations by Francesco Filelfo and Raffaele Regio, and  Apophthegmata Laconica , together with  Moralia  in Greek, were Erasmus s models.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ERASMUS. [with] PLUTARCH.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820346581327,"sku":"L3415","price":3350.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9396.jpg?v=1781794810"},{"product_id":"plutarch-1","title":"PLUTARCH.","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the C16, this copy was in the private libraries of families near the Piedmontese town of Cuneo. With roots in the hamlet of Quaranta, Joannis Jacobus and Ludovicus Carante respectively were a lawyer  in utroque  and a prefect. Rabia and Luperia were local surnames, the latter aristocratic. The handsome contemporary binding was most likely produced in the Cuneo territory. Given the IHS stamps, a good candidate may be the Cistercian Abbey of Santa Maria di Staffarda, a large and influential institution, with a scriptorium until the end of the C15. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A very good copy of this handsome Parisian edition of Plutarch s  Lives , produced at the famous press  Prelum Ascensianum . Established in 1503 by the classicist Jodocus Badius Ascensius (or Josse Badius, 1462-1535), formerly editor for the Lyonnaise printers Jean Trechsel and de Vingle. Badius specialised in classical editions; the present edited by G érard de Verceil, with a detailed index.  Vitae , by the Greek philosopher Plutarch (46-119AD), greatly influenced Renaissance  mirrors for princes  and was used for moral instruction. The work provided parallel biographies highlighting the virtues, vices and deeds of renowned Romans and Greeks, including Pericles, Theseus, Cicero, Demosthenes, Romulus and Scipio Africanus (who elicited the interest of the early owner of this copy). First used in 1507, Badius s  marque typographique , after his own design, is the second, and first detailed, illustration of a printing press. In this edition, a new version appeared, recut by a German artist, with important differences.  In the second, the composing-stick used by the figure in the act of setting type is changed from the right to the left hand; the press shows improved mechanical construction, indicating greater solidity and strength.   the figure sitting at the case on the right side of the engraving is intended to represent a woman, instead of a man as in the earlier illustration  (Roberts,  Printer s Marks , 116-17). The four tools hanging from the machine are scissors to cut the paper or frisket, a brush for pressing down the cloth or paper tympan, dividers, and a mysterious Y-shaped tool.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PLUTARCH.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820347629903,"sku":"L3405","price":12500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/2021-09-29-14.41.21.jpg?v=1781794809"},{"product_id":"rantzovius-henricus","title":"RANTZOVIUS, Henricus.","description":"\u003cp\u003eScarce first edition of this fascinating astrological work. Heinrich Rantzau (1526-98) was a German astrologer acquainted with Brahe, and Governor of Schleswig-Holstein.  Catalogus  is  a handbook of contemporary knowledge concerning the astrological aspects of politics  ( History , 153). The first section lists princes, kings, emperors and great men ancient, biblical, medieval and contemporary who favoured and used the art of astrology, e.g., Berosus, Democritus, Caesar, Charlemagne, the Turkish emperor Mehmed II, Frederick II, King of Naples (for promoting the translation of astrological texts from Arabic into Latin), and Pope Paul III. This is followed by a list of  mirabiles praedictiones  by astrologers, which allegedly came true: e.g., the death of Aeschylus, Hippocrates s prediction of the plague, the prophecy to Agrippina that her son Nero would kill her, and the prophecy Gauricus made to Henry of Navarre, with the inclusion of lesser known figures, like the physician-astrologer Moibanus, who predicted his wife s death. The following section is a disquisition of climacteric years, hebdomatic (7 years) or enneatic (9 years) periods into which human life can be subdivided. They mark turning points, beginning from year 7; the most dangerous being the 63rd year, i.e., the conjuncture of the hebdomatic and enneatic.   Rantzovius interprets through the climacteric theory the death years of biblical, ancient and more recent figures, including kings (e.g., Henry VIII), aristocrats, popes and great personalities like Erasmus, Agricola, Copernicus, Petrarch, Savonarola, the painter Lucas Cranach, Saxo-Ferrato, Durer, Johann Hess, Thomas Linacre, Sebastian Munster, Luther, Philippe de Comines, and Hieronymus Frobenius  typographus Basiliensis . An illustration, after a horoscope by Conrad Dasypodius, foresees Rantzovius s sudden death after the age of 50.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"RANTZOVIUS, Henricus.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820349792591,"sku":"L3525","price":1850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-10_f441e651-da12-469b-8114-5636c937eaa4.jpg?v=1781794799"},{"product_id":"pico-ranuccio","title":"PICO, Ranuccio.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this concise and extremely fascinating biography of Godfrey of Bouillon, written in Italian vernacular by Ranuccio Pico (1568-1645). A doctor of law and historian, Pico was the secretary of the Dukes of Parma, Ranuccio I and Odoardo Farnese. He is mostly known for his biographical works and for gathering a library of more than one thousand rare and important books.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Godfrey of Bouillon (1060-1100) was a French knight and one of the leaders of the first Crusade. After playing a key role during the siege of Jerusalem in 1099, he was elected the first ruler of the new Crusader State. Celebrated by many authors almost as a legendary figure, he is the protagonist of  La Gerusalemme Liberata  (The freed Jerusalem, 1581), a long epic poem by the famous poet Torquato Tasso and one of the masterpieces of the Italian literature. In the preface to this biography, Pico praises the work written by Tasso at length, but he also points out that   due to the entertaining nature of poetry   many facts are historically incorrect or completely missing. Therefore, as all the other accounts of Godfrey s life were in Latin and thus difficult to comprehend for the majority of readers, the author is confident that his  Vita di Gottifredo  ( Life of Godfrey ) will be useful and appreciated. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Remarkably, at the beginning of his work, Pico quotes a few verses written by the poets Francesco Petrarca and Giambattista Marino concerning Godfrey of Bouillon s military achievements. After a list of the most important contents, the author presents the life s story of the knight from his birth to the moment when he joined the Crusade with his brother Balduin, the siege of Nicea, the conquests of Antioch and Jerusalem, his election as King of Jerusalem and his death by illness the following year. Interestingly, although Pico tells us that Godfrey refused the title of  King    which he considered to be only appropriate for Christ   the author still refers to him as  Re  ( king ) in the title of his biography. In the end, Pico summarises the man s best qualities, such as strength, humility and devotion, using various examples. The book includes nine final remarks ( annotazioni ): in these short paragraphs, the author adds more information about Godfrey s name and family, and discusses key historical facts that are reported in a different way by other historians or that he could not verify. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n An example of Renaissance historical and literary erudition, this work is a very enjoyable read even today because of Pico s simple and engaging style.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PICO, Ranuccio.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859635708239,"sku":"L3547","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-9.jpg?v=1781793778"},{"product_id":"suetonius-2","title":"SUETONIUS.","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn excellent and beautifully bound copy of this important edition of Suetonius   Lives of the twelve Caesars , printed by Robert Estienne and considered one of the principal Renaissance editions of this Latin classic. The text was edited and corrected by Estienne himself on the basis of a  vetustum exemplar , an old manuscript which has been identified as the famous Codex Memmianus. Copied in Tours in the IX century, the Codex Memmianus is the oldest and best manuscript of Suetonius that survived, which  may be said to form the basis of the present general text of Suetonius  (Ernesti). The fine 18th century binding resembles in style the bindings made by Pierre-Paul Dubuisson (1746-1762, for the rich design of the gilt decoration in the compartments on the spine and of the endpapers) and of Luc-Antoine Boyet (active 1684-1733, for very similar fleuron on a Boyet s binding see  Biblioth√®que Rapha‚àö¬¥l Esmerian 1972  No 59, groupe 7). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (AD 69-122) was a Roman historian and biographer.  The twelve Caesars  is his most important and longest work, containing the biography of Caesar, followed by the biographies of the eleven Roman emperors from Augustus to Domitian. Popular and praised in antiquity, this work remains a primary source on Roman history. Each biography begins with the ancestry, followed by early life, political career, physical appearance and private life, a pattern that influenced mediaeval biographers. As Suetonius was secretary at the imperial palace under Trajan, he was able to consult the imperial archives, although he often followed second-hand sources that make his narrative rich in anecdote and rather gossipy.  There is an account of Caesar s crossing the Rubicon, and a detailed narrative of his assassination; mention of his dark piercing eyes and his attempts to conceal his baldness. Augustus is said to have been short but well-proportioned, with and aquiline nose and eye-brows that met, careless in dress, frugal, and sparing in diet   There is a vivid picture of the grotesque appearance of Caligula, of his waywardness and insane cruelties; of the awkward walk, loud guffaw, and stammer of Claudius   The life of Nero reveals much about his stage displays and his passion for horses   and that of Domitian records his restoration of the libraries which had been burnt down and his efforts to collect manuscripts.  (Oxford Companion to Classical Literature). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n At the end, this edition also includes: a series of brief comments on each biography by the Italian philologist Giovanni Battista Cipelli, known as Egnazio (1478-1553), a note to the reader reproduced from Erasmus  edition of this text printed in 1518 and Egnazio s translations of a few brief passages in Greek.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SUETONIUS.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859639705935,"sku":"L3169","price":1750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9267.jpg?v=1781793771"},{"product_id":"estienne-charles-7","title":"ESTIENNE, Charles.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very good copy of this beautifully illustrated biographical history of the dukes and viscounts of Renaissance Milan. By the erudite printer Charles Estienne, it comprises, for the most part, a summary of Giovio s biography of the Visconti family, first published by his brother Robert Estienne in 1549. Paolo Giovio (1483-1552) was an Italian physician, historian and catholic bishop. In the dedication of this edition, Charles praises Giovio s historical work and explains that he realised an abbreviated version for the readers who want to learn and enjoy  great things , but do not have much time to dedicate to reading. Moreover, he adds that although Latin would have been more elegant, he translated the text into French because this is the language that the majority of people understand and that it is  nowadays even more spread across the entire world, than Latin was at the time of the Romans . \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n However, this is not a just a simple summary of Giovio, as Charles specifies that he  included those [useful] pieces of information that the author might have omitted . In fact, following a chronological order, Charles integrated Giovio s biographies of twelve Visconti with those of other members of the family who are not mentioned by the first author (such as Eriprando, founder of the dynasty). Moreover, he included the history of The Della Torre family, which ruled in Milan before being ousted by the Visconti in 1277, and of the Sforza, which acquired the Dutchy following the extinction of the Visconti at the half of the 15th century. Charles also records the two periods of French occupation under Louis XII (1499 1512) and Francis I (1515-1521), concluding the work with the biography of Francesco II Sforza (1495-1535), the last of his dynasty. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n This edition is embellished with ten nearly full-page woodcut portraits of the Visconti, reproduced here by Charles Estienne from the 1549 edition of Giovio. Charles states that these pictures make reading even more enjoyable and interesting, because  le visage est le mirouer du cueur  ( the face is the mirror of the heart ). These splendid woodcuts were delicately engraved by the great Geoffroy Tory (1480-1533), French engraver, humanist and official printer of King Francis I of France. They are copies of the illuminated portraits that appear in the original manuscript of Giovio (preserved in the Biblioth√®que Nationale de France).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ESTIENNE, Charles.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859639738703,"sku":"L3385","price":1750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3385-3.jpg?v=1781793771"},{"product_id":"powell-robert","title":"POWELL, Robert.","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare first and only edition of this interesting work by Robert Powell, one of the first biographies of Alfred the Great in English, in which he ingeniously finds a comparison between the life of Alfred and that of Charles I. The work is divided into two parts, the first the life of Alfred and the second the comparison with Charles I entitled “The Parallel”. “Powell describes himself in 1634 as ‘of Wells, one of the Society of New Inn,’ and as having enjoyed for twenty-five years a good practice as a solicitor in Gloucestershire (Life of Alfred, ded.). As late as 1652 he was bailiff and deputy-sheriff of the county (State Papers, Dom. Jac. I. cliii. 17). .. Powell wrote. ‘The Life of Alfred, or Alured’ dedicated to Walter Curle, bishop of Winchester. He says ‘I was first set on to this work by reading’ the ‘Regia Majestas,’ (1613), by Sir John Skene.” DNB. Powell starts the work with an interesting discussion of the nature of History in his preface.\u003cbr\u003e\nAlfreds reign has been regarded as pivotal in the eventual unification of England, after he famously defended Wessex and southern England against the overwhelming Vikings invasions. Powell points out that apart from his military success, he was also noted for his translations of Latin texts, education reforms including advocacy of education in the English language rather than in Latin, improving his kingdoms legal system and civic defense. Alfreds positive image may have been accentuated by Bishop Asser’s contemporary account of the King, who was commissioned by Alfred to write his biography. Asser presented Alfred as the embodiment of the ideal, but practical, Christian ruler. Later medieval historians William of Malmesbury, Gaimar Matthew Paris and Geoffrey of Monmouth further reinforced Alfreds favourable image. However, in the sixteenth century he became a symbolic champion for the emerging English Protestant church during the English Reformation. Powell builds on this tradition with his life of Alfred but particularly in his using the work in support of Charles I.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"POWELL, Robert.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859641704783,"sku":"L3724","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/1-5.jpg?v=1781793750"},{"product_id":"starowolski-szymon","title":"STAROWOLSKI, Szymon.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very good copy of the first edition of Starowolski s most acclaimed  Sarmatian Warriors , containing 130 biographies of Polish knights, rulers and magnates. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Szymon Starowolski (1588   1656; Simon Starovolscius) was a scholar, historian and priest in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After completing his studies at the Krak‚àö‚â•w Academy, he became secretary to the famous military commander Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, and later worked as a preceptor to many young nobles. He travelled to Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and France. Exceptionally prolific, he wrote about 70 works in Latin and Polish on many different subjects, including law, politics, theology, the military arts, philosophy, customs, literature and history. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  Sarmatiae Bellatores  is one of Starowolski s most famous works, comprising biographical accounts of Polish warriors from the Mieszko I (c. 922\/45-992) to Stefan Chmielecki (1580-1630). Intended for a foreign public, its purpose was to counter international views that questioned the military prowess of the Poles.  The mythical common descent of all nations of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the ancient Sarmatian warrior-heroes, who successfully resisted Roman attempts to conquer them, was fashioned into a statement of the Commonwealth s constitutional and political superiority over West European societies oppressed by absolute royal power. Szymon Starowolski founded his reputation as a patriotic historian early on by collecting a pantheon of Sarmatian heroes, of bellatores et scriptores, who included representatives of all nations of the Commonwealth   References to great historical rulers and nations pointed at the imitation of past virtue  (Friedrick).  Medieval heroes in Starowolski s Sarmatiae Bellatores of 1631 fight, plunder, demolish, and destroy with fire and sword (the favourite phrase of this historian), and only rarely do they build something in their domains.  (Barbara Arciszewska) Starowolski s work is  an interesting attempt to represent the Ruthenian [i.e. East Slavic] and Lithuanian nobility as part of the Polish-Sarmatian noble nation, as well as to include Ukranian Cossackdom in that national model.  (Plokhy) \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The Nordkirchen bookplate combines the blazons of M‚àö¬∞ria von Plettenberg-Wittem (1809-1861) and of her husband Mikl‚àö‚â•s Ferenc Esterh‚àö¬∞zy de Gal‚àö¬∞ntha (1804-1885), to whom she brought the Nordkirchen castle as part of her dowry. In 1903, the castle and its library passed to Herzog Engelbert-Maria von Arenberg (1872-1949). His son Engelbert-Karl (1899-1974), the 10th duke of Arenberg, began selling off the ducal library in 1951.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"STAROWOLSKI, Szymon.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859642458447,"sku":"L3754","price":4250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_8889.jpg?v=1781793748"},{"product_id":"kilian-lukas-kilian-wolfgang-with-von-lipowsky-felix-joseph","title":"KILIAN, Lukas \u0026 KILIAN, Wolfgang [with] VON LIPOWSKY, Felix Joseph.","description":"\u003cp\u003eUnique and exceptional collection of exquisite engravings of the famed Fugger family originally by Dominicus Custos, expanded and updated posthumously by his sons-in-law Lukas and Wolfgang Kilian, bound with extensive and meticulous handwritten biographies of the family by the Bavarian lawyer, historian and archivist Felix Joseph von Lipowsky (1764-1842). The German edition is rare.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCelebrated portrait engraver Dominicus Custos (1560-1612) was first commissioned to produce an ambitious collection of likenesses of the enormously wealthy Fugger family in 1593. Following his death, his sons-in-law expanded and updated the first edition, adding new family members and redoing the original Fugger portraits in older age. This was published in Latin in 1618, expanded to include two more members in this 1620 vernacular edition. The Kilian additions are signed. Along with the wonderfully executed images are brief corresponding biographies in Gothic letter, giving their birth and death dates, offspring and spouse, and sometimes a longer account of their life. The engravings are exquisitely detailed and in excellent impression. The sheer wealth of the family is evoked through the stunning costume, meticulously wrought fur and silk, and carefully depicted beadwork and jewellery. It commences with Jacobus Fugger Senex and follows with male and female family members from the late fifteenth century up to the early seventeenth century, concluding with Juliana Fugger, daughter of Trajan Fugger (1604-).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis copy has been delightfully augmented by the thoroughly researched and handwritten addenda of Felix Joseph von Lipowsky, which contains detailed accounts of family members; a treasure of biographical and geneological study. An example is Carl Graf von Fugger, where Lipowsky provides notes on dates, close family members and references to where information can be found on him in ancestral archives. Lipowsky was born in Wiesensteig from Bohemian nobility and studied law in Munich before the Napoleonic Wars when he was temporarily entrusted as city commander. Following the Wars, Lipowsky began to research Bavarian art and cultural history, publishing biographical encyclopaedias like the Baierische Musik- Lexikon and Baierische Ku_nstler-Lexikon. He was appointed in 1819 as Archivar der bayerischen Ständeversammlung where he worked on an extensive publication cataloguing traditional Bavarian costume. His Geschichte der Jesuiten in Schwaben, Vol I, contains mention of the Fugger family, as do a number of his other publications. This volume provides a charming insight into the exceptional work of a dedicated archivist and Bavarian enthusiast.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Fugger family rose to prominence in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as merchants and bankers, becoming one of the wealthiest families in Europe, replacing the Medicis in both assets and influence. They were intimately connected with and financed the House of Hapsburg and had a nigh monopoly over the European copper market. Jakob Fugger “the Rich” (1459- 1525) is today considered to be onye of the wealthiest people ever to have lived. He joined the ranks of nobility of the Holy Roman Empire, solidifying the already extreme wealth and influence of the Fugger clan. At the time of the present portrait engravings the family was headed by Johann Jakob Fugger, under whom the family generated an incredible 50,000,000 ducats between 1563 and 1641 from ventures including mercury and silver mines, the slave trade and the spice trade. During Lipowsky’s time the Fuggers were still prominent, Anselm Maria Fugger con Barbenhausen (1766-1821) having been created Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1803. Several members of the Fugger family were notable as great patrons of art and literature, bibliophiles and book collectors.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"KILIAN, Lukas \u0026 KILIAN, Wolfgang [with] VON LIPOWSKY, Felix Joseph.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859643113807,"sku":"L3620","price":5950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/1-8.jpg?v=1781793746"},{"product_id":"einhard","title":"EINHARD.","description":"\u003cp\u003eImportant first edition of Einhard s classic biography of Charlemagne, remarkably in a luxury contemporary   probably Rhenish   binding. The editor, Count Hermann von Neuenahr (c. 1492-1530) was an influential German theologian and statesman, friend of Erasmus. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Einhard (c. 775-840) was an outstanding Frankish historian and writer. Educated at the monastery of Fulda, a major learning centre in the Frank lands, he lived for many years at the court of Charlemagne. Here, he worked as an architect and became a close friend and adviser to the emperor. After Charlemagne s death, Einhard was appointed secretary to his son and successor Louis the Pious, but soon left the court and retired to the abbey of Seligenstadt, where he died. He founded   with the English theologian Alcuinus and the Lombard monk Paul the Deacon   the prestigious Schola Palatina, Charlemagne s court school. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  Vita et gesta Karoli Magni  (Life of Charles the Great) is a masterpiece of Medieval literature, considered the first biography ever written of a European ruler. Based on official accounts held in the royal archives and on the author s own memories, this is one of the most important and reliable sources of information concerning Charlemagne and his reign. The work is modelled on Suetonius  Lives of the Cesars: the first section is concerned with Charlemagne s life as king, his career and public life; the second outlines his physical appearance and character, his private life, including details of his health, his favourite dishes and pastimes.  His body was large and strong; his stature tall but not ungainly ( ) His nose was rather larger than is usual; he had beautiful white hair; and his expression was brisk and cheerful; so that, whether sitting or standing, his appearance was dignified and impressive. ( ) He constantly took exercise both by riding and hunting. ( ) He took delight in the vapour of naturally hot waters, and constantly practised swimming, in which he was so proficient that no one could be fairly regarded as his superior.  (Grant) \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The fine woodcut title-page illustration was realised by the German Anton Woensam von Worms (c 1493 1541) and it particularly fascinating.  A very strange image of Charlemagne appears in the frontispiece ( ) He is not dressed in attire appropriate either to his office or to a dignified genealogy of the German peoples. Here Charlemagne appears in anachronistic garments, his leggings gathered loosely about his waist and ankles, and on his head a reed-like crown so unlike the jewel-encrusted ones he was rumoured to have worn. With his long hair, beard and loose tunic draping his outsized frame, Charlemagne represents an inventory of barbaric attributes  (Leitch). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n This edition also includes a text titled  Annales Regum Francorum , a series of annals recording year by year the main events occurred during the reigns of Pepin the Short, Charlemagne and Louis de Pious, from 741 to 808. The authorship of this text   of which several versions exist   is unknown, but they have been often attributed to Einhard in the past and thus frequently paired to his Vita Karoli. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The ms. inscription on the t-p indicates that this volume was gifted by  V.P. de Francqueville  to the Carthusian monastery of Douai (Northern France). The de Francqueville (or Franqueville) family was a French noble family with a prominent branch settled in Douai, where notable members held high positions in the Parlement de Flandres during the 18th century.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"EINHARD.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859647275343,"sku":"L3742","price":6750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_4397-copy.jpg?v=1781793731"},{"product_id":"villamena-francesco","title":"[VILLAMENA, Francesco]","description":"\u003cp\u003eRarely complete copy of a beautiful series of Renaissance engravings depicting 51 episodes from the life of St Francis of Assisi (c.1181-1226) with descriptive engraved titles, in Latin and Italian. All other copies appear to have at least one missing plate or lack the frontispiece. Canonised in 1228 by Pope Gregory IX, Saint Francis is best-known as the founder of the Franciscan order, a significant religious group during the Renaissance. Scenes include his birth (pl.1), death (pl.50) and St Francis with Popes Nicolas IV (1288-1292), Alexander V (1409-1410), Sixtus IV (1471-1484), and Sixtus V (1585-1590) (pl.51), all members of the Franciscan Order. Other recognisable tableaux include his reception of the stigmata on Mount La Verna (pl.46), a popular motif in art of the time, the apparition of and conversation with Christ (pl.14), and his meeting with the Sultan of Turkey (pl.13). The plates are the work of Italian engraver Francesco Villamena (1564-1624), born in Assisi. Having trained in Rome under Cornelis Cort, he studied painting and engraving, choosing historical and religious subjects.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe very detached images reflect the artistic style of the time, creating a sense of space, using linear perspective, usually rendered through the incorporation of orthogonal lines into the surroundings, and by careful modelling of the characters’ clothing. Light and shade are `created effectively by varying the direction and thickness of lines, as well as cross-hatching. While the events recorded date from the 12th C, the figures are characteristically depicted in contemporary garments.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"[VILLAMENA, Francesco]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868690686287,"sku":"L4418","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9565.jpg?v=1781793465"},{"product_id":"luck-johann-jacob-1","title":"LUCK, Johann Jacob.","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn excellent copy of the first edition of this beautifully illustrated work on numismatics, with the arms of Nicolas Joseph Foucault (1643-1721), one of his age's most celebrated antiquarians. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.Johann Jacob Luck (1574-1653) was a native of Strasbourg who, after completing his legal studies, served as historiographer and genealogist for the Rappoltstein noble family between 1608 and 1623. A passionate numismatist, he owned a collection of several thousand medals and coins. The present treatise is groundbreaking in its use of coins, medals and emblems to illustrate historical events. Beginning in 1500 with Louis XII of France and ending in 1599 with Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Luck's historical treatise uses the portraits and scenes depicted on the coins and medals that it reproduces (in chronological order) as starting-points for biographical discussions of the century's most important rulers and for historical treatments of its most memorable battles and political events. This fascinating work constitutes a history of sixteenth-century Europe told through coins. \"In Luck s text, coins are the driving evidentiary force for a history of Europe in the years 1500 to 1600, serving not as mere material footnotes but as a narrative itinerary for epochal events.\" (Stielau) \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.While many of the coins reproduced in this work were in Luck's collection, others are reproduced from the earlier work .Symbola divina et humana pontificium, imperatorum, regum. by Jacob Typot (1540-1601). The present copy is in the first state (USTC 2137262) without the added poems in praise of the author, and with the preface in its original setting. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.Nicolas-Joseph Foucault (1643-1721) was a royal administrator in the reign of Louis XIV and a renowned antiquarian and bibliophile. He was educated at a Jesuit college and graduated in canon and civil law at Orl éans in 1665. From 1674 to 1706, he held administrative posts successively in Montauban, Pau, Poitiers and Caen; most notably he was appointed master of requests (Ma‚àö√Ütre des requ‚àö‚Ñ¢tes) by the king in 1674 and held this position for twenty years. Throughout this time, Foucault displayed an interest in art and archeology and assembled a fine collection of rare books and manuscripts, antique figures, medals and coins, most of which had been discovered in France. \"Sa collection de manuscrits   comprenait, entre autres, cent vingt-trois livres d heures, dont celles de Ren é d Anjou, des bibles, des cartulaires et un riche ensemble de pi√®ces sur l histoire, le droit public et l administration de la France, r éunies en 180 volumes in-folio. Ses s éries numismatiques n  étaient pas moins c él√®bres. Lorsqu il d écida de s en s éparer, en 1708, sa collection comptait autour de quinze mille monnaies, toutes antiques, soit autant, par exemple, que celle de Christine de Su√®de.\" (Avisseau-Broustet) In his old age, however, Foucault was forced to sell off his collections and his library was in part dispersed before his death (it appeared on the market from 1715 onwards).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LUCK, Johann Jacob.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868706120015,"sku":"L4436","price":9500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_5359.jpg?v=1781793433"},{"product_id":"john-of-tynemouth-based-on","title":"[JOHN OF TYNEMOUTH, based on]","description":"\u003cp\u003eOne of the most elegant specimens of W. de Worde s press  (Lowndes). Fine, complete copy of the first edition of this 'collection of national saints , with 168 Saint s lives, including the life of Thomas ‚àö‚Ć Beckett, often suppressed. It based on the  Sanctilogium Angliae, Walliae, Scotiae, et Hiberniae  attributed to the C14 chronicler John of Tynemouth, probably based at St Albans Abbey. Derived from the  Sanctilogium  of Guy de Saint-Denis, the latter survives in only one copy (BL Cotton MS Tiberius E.i). The material was rearranged alphabetically   thus turning a devotional into a reference work - by the historian John Capgrave (1393 1464)   an attribution now rejected   with the elimination of some saints, e.g., St Ursula, included in John of Tynemouth s work and de Worde s revision. De Worde s is  a second revision of the  Sanctilogium , which involves the addition of a prologue and a number of saints  Lives, including a new Life of Ursula  (Cartwright, ed., p.154). The work includes saints who lived in late antiquity, down to Anglo-Saxon and medieval times, from the most famous St Alban, the Venerable Bede, St Brendan, St Ursula, St Thomas ‚àö‚Ć Beckett, and St Columba, to lesser known (at least today) figures, including numerous women, such as St Keyna (a 5thC hermitess famous in the South West), Sts Kyneswida, Kyneburga and Tibba (7thC saints from the Mercian royal family), St Ondoceus (a 6thC bishop), and St Modwena (a 7thC nun and Irish noblewoman). Each contains the life, death, miracles, and information about their relics. An important, finely printed work in a handsome copy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"[JOHN OF TYNEMOUTH, based on]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868711788879,"sku":"L4362a","price":29500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"de-la-croix-francois-petis","title":"DE LA CROIX, François P étis.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this French history of the rise, conquests, and succession of the great medieval Mongol emperor Genghis Kahn, conqueror of China, Central Asia and much of Europe, and creator of the Mongol Empire, in which the French orientalist and Arabist De la Croix (1653-1713) describes Mongol and Tartar costume, customs and laws, as well as the geography of Central Asia. De la Croix translated and compiled his history from Arabic accounts mostly by Turkish authors and from European authors, both medieval and modern, whose travel accounts and works are said to prove and verify the facts in De la Croix s history. In several cases De la Croix provides the shelfmarks of manuscripts in the French Royal Library or gives the dates of the printed edition that he was using. A bibliography of De la Croix s sources, with biographies, concludes the volume. \u003cbr\u003e\n De La Croix was one of a group of young linguists, les Jeunes de Langues, who were sent by the Minister for Finances Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-83) into the Ottoman Empire to learn its principal languages and act as interpreters for the French government. At age seventeen De la Croix travelled to Turkey, Persia and Syria, spending time in Aleppo and Isfahan in modern-day Iran. Later he worked as secretary to the French ambassador in Morocco and successfully negotiated a peace treaty with Algeria, thereby fulfilling Colbert s designs. \u003cbr\u003e\n De la Croix argued that religious freedom was one of the mainstays of Genghis s empire, his  First  or  Great Law  (pp. 99-100), which supposedly made this book popular with two of the founding fathers of the United States, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Jefferson bought numerous copies from a Parisian bookseller, giving one copy to his granddaughter Cornelia and exhorting her to read it, also donating copies to the Library of Congress and the University of Virginia, both of which he founded. Franklin meanwhile printed advertisements for the book and offered it for sale with delivery available throughout the American colonies (Jack Weatherford, Genghis Kahn and the quest for God (London: 2017), p. xxi).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DE LA CROIX, François Pétis.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868720767311,"sku":"L4811\/3","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/frontcover-1_62391e72-28a8-44e9-a19e-a3d86aefcf6b.png?v=1781793354"},{"product_id":"schickard-wilhelm","title":"SCHICKARD, Wilhelm.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this ‚ÄòTarikh‚Äô or History of the Persian kings by the German Hebraist and Arabist Wilhelm Schickard (1592-1635), also known as an astronomer and horologist, and designer of an early calculating machine. This genealogical chronicle, beginning with the C3rd AD Ardashir I and ending with the C7th Yazdigerd III, the last Sasanian emperor, is a valuable source for early Islamic history, culture and geography. It was translated from a Turkish manuscript in Ottoman Arabic with a colourful history: found in the library of Filakovo Castle in modern-day Slovenia, which was recaptured from the Ottomans by the Holy Roman Empire in 1593, and brought to Germany by the traveller Veit Marchthaler of Ulm (1564-1641), where it was left unstudied for almost thirty years. The reappearance of the manuscript, a copy of the Tavarich Beni Adam by Yusuf ibn ‚ÄòAbd al-Latif, caused Schickard ‚Äòboth excitement and despair,‚Äô because of his lack of proficiency in the Ottoman script and language (Stefan Hanss, ‚ÄòOttoman Language Learning in Early Modern Germany‚Äô in Central European History, 54.1 (2021), p. 25). Unable to gain help from any scholars in Europe, Schickard muddled through the manuscript by finding useful cognates between German, Hebrew, Arabic and Ottoman, producing his edition and commentary in less than three months (Hanss, p. 26).\u003c\/p\u003e  \n\n\u003cp\u003eSchickard saw Persian history as an overlooked and significant branch of human culture, the study of which could illuminate the Hebrew and Arabic languages, early Islamic history, and the geography of the medieval Islamic world. He also believed he could subordinate the Persian genealogy to the biblical genealogy of Christ, in opposition to what he called the ‚Äòlies‚Äô of the Muhammadans. The work contains two extensive indexes, one of people and one of places mentioned in the text, noting references to Egypt, Ethiopia, Baghdad, Mecca, the Ganges, and even Nova Zembla in Russia. The index of persons refers to Timur or Tamerlane, Schickard noting that the city of Nishapur in modern-day Iran was made infamous by the cruelty of Tamerlane (Tamerlanis crudelitate postmodum nobilitata), clearly confusing him with Genghis Kahn, whose army sacked the city in 1221, notoriously destroying almost the entire population in reprisal for the death during the siege of Genghis‚Äôs son-in-law Taghachar. Elsewhere Schickard refers to the vast size of Genghis‚Äôs empire and his patrimony of many descendants.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SCHICKARD, Wilhelm.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868720963919,"sku":"L4760","price":3950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Schickard-L4760-2.jpg?v=1781793351"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/collections\/Screenshot_2026-06-13_at_3.44.30_PM.png?v=1781361889","url":"https:\/\/www.sokol.co.uk\/collections\/biography.oembed","provider":"Sokol Books Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}