{"title":"France","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrench history, literature, culture, and philosophy.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"de-lorme-philibert","title":"DE L'ORME, Philibert","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe third edition, using all the woodcuts of the first (1561), of this important and beautifully printed and illustrated treatise. De L Orme (c.1510-1570),was one of the great Renaissance architects of the 16th century, the first French architect to possess the universal outlook of the Italian masters without merely imitating them. Mindful that French architectural requirements differed from the Italian, and respectful of native materials, he founded his designs on sound engineering principles, fusing the orders with a delicacy of invention, restraint, and harmony characteristic of purest French classicism. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  the simple woodcuts are excellent examples of perfectly understood and clearly presented structural details and show De Lorme s system of built up timber roofs, requiring no ties or heavy timbers, which was successfully used as late as the end of the eighteenth century in the Halle-aux-Bles in Paris. Indeed, De Lorme is unique among the early writers on architecture for the emphasis he placed upon construction. ..A copy of the 1576 edition was in the library of Thomas Jefferson (Sowerby, No. 4183).  Fowler (on the first edition). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  Of the leading early French architectural writers, De Lorme is the most interesting and original, but is less distinguished an artist than Jean Bullant and is less versatile as a draughtsman than Du Cerceau. De Lorme has been called the first modern architect because of his original contributions to construction and his skill as an organizer, but Blomfield says that  It was by his strong individuality rather than by his art that De Lorme won, and has maintained, his place among the great Frenchmen of the sixteenth century  (Blomfeld French Arch. I Vol. I p. 92)  Fowler. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  First published in 1561 the  Nouvelles inventions (the treatise on roofs) describes ingenious techniques which replace the use of large rectilinear pieces of square section, with small flat and curved elements assembled like keystones. This new invention appears to comply with a rational approach in industrial terms, in that it keeps costs down, standardises construction and means that a relatively unqualified workforce can be employed. These innovative ideas, which were too revolutionary to achieve much success despite the persuasive force of the author, were not put into practice properly until after 1750, the date when the modern science of building properly emerged.  Vaughan Hart  Paper Palaces   The treatise  Le nouvelles inventions  .... is a milestone in the history of wood inventions as it contains different conceptions of how wood can be used. Anyone who wishes to study wooden roofing has to consider the theories of this French architect.  Maria Rita Campa.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DE L'ORME, Philibert","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816117543247,"sku":"L1511","price":6500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/titlepage_fd11f9cf-817b-46f8-b4ec-4ea1f92e5ab8.png?v=1781795304"},{"product_id":"de-billon-francois","title":"DE BILLON, François","description":"\u003cp\u003eFIRST EDITION of the “most enthusiastic and passionate panegyric [on the rights and merits of women] to have been written between 1450 and 1550” (Albistur \u0026amp; Armogathe, Histoire du feminisme du Moyen-Age à nos jours), Billon’s strenuous early defence of the equality of the ‘second sex’. Another edition was apparently published with the same date and different title but without giving the printer’s name – either a shared or pirated issue. Little is known about his life, but Billon was born in Paris, the nephew of Artus Billon, Bishop of Senlis. He was an author ‘in the Italian style’, and accompanied Cardinal Bellay to Rome as his secretary in the mid-1550s, where he wrote the present treatise, dedicated to Catherine de Medici. Billon died around 1566, and was one of the principal theorists of feminism in the 16thC, and the work forms part of the literary canon of the ‘Women’s Quarrel’ (‘La Querelle des Femmes’), which was a Europe-wide literary battle that raged for over 300 years between various authors attacking, and defending women (hence the martial imagery), reflecting the sometimes serious and sometimes jocular nature of scholarly argument from 1500-1800; these texts were often reliant on theological sources. The work appeared again in 1564, with a slightly different title.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBuilt up as an ‘impregnable fort’ of separate ‘bastions’ (chapters), the work is a robust defence of the role of women, peppered with allegorical references, but arguing strenuously for improvements in female education, encouraging women to abandon home and convent for traditionally male-dominated professions, including politics and the military. Billon also advocates the dissolution of arranged marriages and the ending of a woman’s legal subjugation to her husband. He notes that in Europe, where he says women are held in the greatest subjugation, men are also more subjugated; and argues for the qualities (such as honesty, magnanimity, piety and devotion) and achievements (arguing, i.a., that women make better singers -the ‘angelic sweetness’ of the female voice) of women throughout the ages, even disputing with the Bible. The book also includes the first appearance of the word ‘atheism’ (in the context of a people’s lack of belief) and contains probably the first bio-bibliography of female writers and inventors.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DE BILLON, François","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816119279951,"sku":"L646","price":9500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_00492.jpg?v=1781795298"},{"product_id":"coutumes-de-provence","title":"COUTUMES DE PROVENCE","description":"\u003cp\u003eA rare and early collection of five Provencal arrests, a searing condemnation of corruption in Aix. The first two are indictments of the financial and moral corruption of the clergy of Aix, and its convents, which, instead of administering ‘le service divin…se livre a des actes de paillardise non convenables a la devotion chretienne’. The next denounces the corruption of the merchants of Aix, whose monopolies led to the exploitation of the populace (‘les grands officiers et majeurs mangent de la bonne chair et la populaire est mal servi’), with particular emphasis on the town’s butcher (who sold dirty and diseased meat), and goes on to attack the general corruption and bribery in the region and the bureaucratic indifference which has allowed the corruption to continue (‘le lieutenant general qui a la superintendence n’en tient compte et faict l’endormy’). The arret concludes ‘il faut tout changer’ and threatens heavy fines for future malefactors. The last two attack corruption among notaries and the resale of mortgages in the town. Unlike most legal works the engaging text is of a Rabelasian humour and directness, e.g. “l’avocat et procureur du Roy au siege sont esturdis d’une teste de veau”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhile a complete work in itself, this arrest may well originally have been bound up with other related works of coutumes, or legal customs of the various towns and regions of France, and indeed Fairfax Murray’s copy was in just such a sammelband. Fairfax-Murray tentatively ascribes the work to Jean de Channey in Lyon, on the basis that in his copy, the present work was bound with that printer’s 1536-1540 ‘Ordonnances’. This however, seems inadequate. De Channey was a printer of long standing in Avignon, but Baudrier, puts his date of death between 1536-8. It is therefore possible that his son, Bernard, who is known to have printed the title pages for the ‘Ordonnances’ in 1540 in order to sell them (cf. Betz, Répertoire bibliographique des livres imprimés en France, vol. 6), may have printed the present ‘Arrest’, often bound with the previous work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COUTUMES DE PROVENCE","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816120230223,"sku":"L467","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_00474.jpg?v=1781795296"},{"product_id":"sens","title":"[SENS]","description":"Rare first edition of the reformed  Coutumes  of the ancient town of Sens and its region, edited by Christophe de Thou, Christophe Harlay and Barthelemy Faye by order of the King; the third book printed in Sens and the first by this printer. It is particularly rare  The Repertoire bibliographique des livres imprimes en France au Seizieme Siecle  locates two complete copies only, one printed on vellum at the British library and the other at the Bibliotheque Municipal of Sens. (another is now at Berkeley). The work is of great interest for the modernizing and systematizing of the medieval feudal  Coustumes  of Sens. It is divided into three parts; the first the final revision of the  Coutumes  created by the three magistrates. The second is the  Proces Verbal  a detailed, authenticated account of the proceedings in the exercise of the revision of the Coutumes, including a list of all the  Prelats, Abbes, Chapitres, Colleges \u0026amp;Persones Ecclesiastiques, Ducs, Comtes, Barons, Chastelains \u0026amp; Seigneurs Iusticers, Les Officiers du Roy, Advocats, Procureurs, Bourgeois  whom the work would concern, providing a form of census. The third is a printing of the ancient unrevised Coustumes. It is most interesting not only in revealing the changes it makes to the quasi feudal  Coustumes , but for providing a detailed account of why and how those changes were made. Christophe de Thou (1508 1582) was an eminent French advocate, and the First President of the Parliament of Paris in 1554. He served as chancellor to the Duke of Anjou and was an advisor successively to Henry II, Charles IX, and Henry III. His son, Jacques Auguste de Thou was the noted French historian and book collector. An entirely original copy of this rare and attractively printed work.","brand":"[SENS]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816125079887,"sku":"L1573","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Coustumes-L1573-2.jpg?v=1781795281"},{"product_id":"lurbe-gabriel-de","title":"LURBE, Gabriel de","description":"\u003cp\u003eVery rare, excellent second edition in French, finely printed by Simon Millanges (Montaigne s printer), of this important description of the history of the statutes of the town of Bordeaux by the historian Gabriel de Lurbe, a native of Bordeaux who published several works on the subject. The first edition was published in Latin in 1589 and then translated and expanded by the author and published in 1594. The work offers a fascinating insight into the every day life of the town as the statutes concern the regulation of its every aspect from the duties of the police and the Judiciary to fishmongers selling fresh fish or fishmongers selling salted fish (as a port town the trade in salt fish for the fleet was important). Naturally many of these statutes concern wine and give a very vivid description of the business with eleven chapters devoted to every aspect of the wine trade from the manufacture of barrels to the prohibition of the purchase of wines from areas outside Bordeaux, such as Armagnac. There is a specific regulation concerning the (very lucrative) trade with the English in wine which prohibits anyone taking an Englishman to buy wine from anyone other than the  bourgeois  of the town, and forbids English merchants from seeking to buy wine directly  sur les champs  unless with express permission from the relevant authorities. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n There are specific statutes concerning the labelling of wine, wine to be drunk in taverns, wines that are forbidden to be brought into the town, at what times wine from specific regions inland (such as the Gaillac) can be brought in town, the use of barrels, regulation of wine merchants, the growing of vines etc. These statutes are especially interesting as they clearly show the protection given to local merchants in their quasi monopoly on the wine trade and demonstrate the particular importance of this trade with the English market. Many also concern food such as butchers, the regulation of the trade in flour, fishmongers etc. Amusingly, the first line of the statute regulating  des tondeurs  or hair cutters states that it is strictly forbidden to cut the hair or wash the sheets of an Englishman if his ship was berthed within twenty leagues of the town. There are also particularly interesting statutes concerning the book trade and paper and parchment makers. A rare work, that gives fascinating insight into a town that was intimately linked, through its trade in wine, with the English.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LURBE, Gabriel de","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816129601871,"sku":"L2053","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2053-Lurbe-1-e1439396196472.jpg?v=1781795267"},{"product_id":"gaultier-jacques","title":"[GAULTIER, Jacques]","description":"\u003cp\u003eA beautiful copy of this extraordinary, most rare and curious piece of popular literature, published during the wars of the Ligue in France, and with Spain. The title Rodomantade, (and subsequently the adjective in French), derives from the Italian Rodomantada, itself derived from the name of Rodomont the heroic and most boastful knight in the medieval Orlando epics, widely known from Ariosto s  Orlando Furioso . The name became associated, comically, with the wide discrepancy between the characters excessive and exaggerated boasting and the reality of his actions. The work was probably first published in this form in 1607, though without the  Figures representants les M≈ìurs des Espagnols  and is attributed to the Jesuit Jacques Gaultier. Various editions quickly appeared in the early C17th century. It consists of 52 chapters, 47 in Spanish with their French translation opposite, the rest just in French, each of which contains the most extravagant and hilariously exaggerated boast, mostly professing extraordinary martial ability. One such boast states that in battle with the  Grand Turc  he struck  Abenhamet  such a blow that his head rolled all the way to Constantinople, whose people remained cowed in fear for over five years at the sight of such a feat. Other boasts include extraordinary prowess with women. One boast states that whilst playing football (jouant au ballon) he struck the ball with such force that it rose into the third heaven where the gods were left speechless before such a feat. The second part of the work,  Les Emblesmes et Moeurs des Espagnols  is a description of the habits of the Spanish Gentleman in sixteen parts each illustrated with a woodcut. They are all satirical and describe the Spaniard as   An angel at church, a devil at home, a wolf at the table, a pig in his room, a peacock in the street, a fox with women, a lion in the garrison but a hare once sieged etc each accompanied by an amusing poem on the subject. The text has been attributed to N. Baudouin by Losada Goya who refutes the attribution often given to the Jesuit Jacques Gaultier (1562-1636). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n From the library of William Beckford (Hamilton Palace sale, 7 July 1883, lot 1423:  title mended, red morocco ) William Thomas Beckford, 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. \u003cbr\u003e\n A rare work, beautifully preserved in fine red morocco.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"[GAULTIER, Jacques]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816134353231,"sku":"L1879","price":6500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/thumb_IMG_1369_1024-2.jpg?v=1781795214"},{"product_id":"corneille-pierre","title":"CORNEILLE Pierre","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very charming copy of the rare second edition, published very shortly after the first, of this wonderful play by Pierre Corneille, his comic chez-d oeuvre and certainly one of the most influential on the next generation of playwrights in France, particularly Molière. It has been described as the first great work of comedy in French theatre. It is Corneille s last Baroque comedy, which was performed for the first time in the Theatre du Marais in 1644, and was one of his major successes. Corneille reworked the play from the Spanish work  la Verdad sospechosa  (the Supposed Truth) by Alarcon [1625], which he wrongly attributes, in his preface, to de Vega. He often successfully adapted Spanish works by Lope de Vega, or later, the great Spanish playwright Calderon de la Barca. The work has many autobiographic elements; just as Corneille left the law in provincial Rouen for the romantic life of an artist in Paris, so the young liar\/lawyer Dorante leaves his legal studies in Poitiers for romance in the big city. Several verses from the play have become well known proverbs French such as  Le façon de donner vaut mieux que ce qu'on donne.  or  Si quelqu'un l'entend mieux, je l'irai dire √† Rome.  His influence on the course of French play-writing can not be ignored. The same year Corneille wrote The Liar, a 21-year-old Parisian named Jean-Baptiste Poquelin founded his first theatre. When he later wrote his own plays (under the name Molière), he absorbed many of Corneille s techniques to craft his hilarious and cutting satires on French society. Corneille s comic subjects and style influenced not only Molière, but also his great successors Marivaux and Beaumarchais. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n This second edition seems to be considerably rarer than the first, perhaps due to it pocket size; we can locate only one location in US libraries, at Harvard.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CORNEILLE Pierre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816135827791,"sku":"L2401","price":3950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Photo-10-02-2017-17-15-15-e1486829044450.jpg?v=1781795209"},{"product_id":"lactantius-firmanus","title":"LACTANTIUS, Firmanus","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare early edition of this popular and important first French translation of the Divine Institutes by the French humanist and prolific translator Ren é Fame, secretary to François Ist, first published in 1542. This edition was printed by Prevost and shared by at least three publishers including Cavellat. Lactantius was a rhetorician and early Christian apologist who lived in Roman North Africa. He was a pupil of the early Christian scholar Arnobius of Sicca (d. c. 330), travelled widely teaching in the cities of the Eastern Empire, and was appointed to a professorship in Nicomedia by the Emperor Diocletian, entering the imperial circle. There he presumably met the future Emperor Constantine, and himself became a convert to Christianity. He destroyed his earlier pagan writings, resigned his post and fled, fearing Diocletian s purge of Christians and the first imperial edict against the religion in 303. Jerome records that he then lived in poverty, until Constantine came to power and recalled him to the imperial court in 311\/13, appointing him tutor to his son Crispus. He must have died in the 320s. His works were rediscovered during the Renaissance, and his elaborate rhetorical Latin style proved immensely popular, earning him the title the  Christian Cicero  from humanists such as Pico della Mirandola.   The Divine Institutes is his magnum opus, written during his period of court exile. It contains seven lengthy treatises which set out a comprehensive survey of Christian theology, and build an argument intended to show the reasonableness and truth of Christianity and the futility of pagan beliefs. More importantly for the Renaissance and modern readers, Lactantius frequently quotes Classical sources in this work, and in fact this was the principal vehicle through which Renaissance readers came into contact with the Latin Classics. Lactantius includes substantial quotations from two lost works by Cicero, the Hortensius and Consolatio, and all of our modern reconstructions of those texts are based on his excerpts. In addition, he knew a complete copy of Cicero s De Legibus, a text which now survives only in a fragmentary state, and his quotations add substantially to our knowledge of it. His frequent citation of sources also has importance for early Biblical scholarship, in that his fourth book includes some seventy-three quotations from the Old Latin Bible, the Latin version of the first few centuries of Christian history, which was replaced by Jerome s Vulgate in the late fourth century, and does not survive anywhere as a complete text. This edition, as all early translations of his works, is rare.  Martin du Riviage is probably the Magistrate and minister general of the Treasury at Lille, a lawyer and brother in law of the City s mayor who was in office between 1591 and 1625.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LACTANTIUS, Firmanus","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816135958863,"sku":"L2329","price":3500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_5470-e1506787533861.jpg?v=1781795208"},{"product_id":"caus-salomon-de","title":"CAUS, Salomon de","description":"\u003cp\u003eSecond edition, enlarged with extra plates, of this beautiful and extravagantly illustrated volume of ingenious hydraulic solutions to engineering problems produced by the Huguenot architect, inventor, garden designer and engineer, Salomon de Caus. The work deals with the physics of movement, with a range of technical applications, encompassing fields as diverse as energy, gardening and music. Book I describes the first machines to be operated by solar power, powered by sunlight striking closed air reservoirs, and one of the earliest uses of steam power. Scholars have proposed that De Caus as an early re-discoverer, or post-Classical inventor, of the principle of steam being used as a propelling force. He was deeply interested in garden design, mechanical fountains and speaking statues, and worked in the service of several great Renaissance princes. His masterpiece was the spectacular garden known as the  Hortus Palatinus  at Frederick s palace at Heidelberg.  He applied himself at an early age to the study of the mathematical sciences, his favourite writers being Archimedes, Euclid, and Vitruvius. After a visit to Italy he came to England as mathematical tutor to Henry, prince of Wales, and in 1612 published a work entitled  La Perspective avec la raison des ombres et Miroirs ; in the dedication of this work to that prince, dated at Richmond, 1 Oct. 1611, he states that he has been two or three years in the service of his royal highness. He seems also to have been employed as drawing-master to the Princess Elizabeth. After the death of the young Prince of Wales, De Caus was, in 1613, employed by the elector palatine, Frederick V, then recently married to the Princess Elizabeth, to lay out the gardens at the castle of Heidelberg . While at Heidelberg De Caus published in 1615  Institution Harmonique, ..  In the dedication of this work to Anne, queen of Great Britain, dated 15 Sept. 1614, he says that his experiments in the mechanical powers of water were commenced while in the service of the late Prince of Wales. In the same year, 1615, he published his most important work,  Les Raisons des Forces Mouvantes avec diverses Machines.  This work is divided into three parts, all copiously illustrated: I.  Les Th éorèmes et Problèmes des Forces Mouvantes;  II.  Des Grotes et Fontaines pour l ornement des Maisons de Plaisance et Jardins;  III.  De la Fabrique des Orgues.  The second part contains, as he himself says in the dedication to Princess Elizabeth, many designs formerly made at Richmond for the adornment of the palace, or the entertainment of his master, the Prince of Wales. In the first part occur his enunciations of the theorems of the expansion and condensation of steam, and of the elevation of water by the application of heat, which have gained for him in some quarters the honour of being the first inventor of the steam engine, though De Caus seems only to have utilised them for fountains and other waterworks and claims no originality. It is almost certain that Edward Somerset, second marquis of Worcester, to whom this honour has also been ascribed, and later engineers, knew and developed the principles enunciated by De Caus.  DNB. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A very good copy in a handsome and well preserved contemporary English binding from the famous Hopetoun library, sold in 1889 by the 7th Earl of Hopetoun (see De Ricci, English Collectors, p. 164).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CAUS, Salomon de","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816137236815,"sku":"K108","price":15000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/titlepage_0c16b018-e0db-4ee3-8d7a-2c85b7fb1d51.png?v=1781795202"},{"product_id":"vairo-leonardo","title":"VAIRO, Leonardo","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition in French translation of this important work on diabolic possession, one of the major works on the subject of the the sixteenth century; it was published simultaneously by Chesneau in 1583 in Latin as  De fascino libri tres  and again in 1589 in Latin by the Aldine press. Vairo, born in Spain, became a Benedictine, and later Bishop of Pozzuoli near Naples. The work deals with the question of diabolic possession and fascination by witches, which the author attributes to the influence of devils. Vairo defines \"fascinum\" as \"a pernicious quality induced by art of demons because of tacit or express pact of men with the same demons\". He denies fascination by power of imagination, by strength or morbidity of vision, by touch and contact, and observation of stars. In his last chapter Vairo treats of safeguards and amulets against the impostures and illusions of demons. \u003cbr\u003e\n  Further early studies that associate fascination with witchcraft include   Leonardo Vairo s De fascino libris tres. In these accounts, fascination is used almost as a synonym fro malignant influences brought about by a silent pact with the devil and black magic and is closely connected to visual enchantment. The belief in the evil or bewitching eye (the oculus fascinus), which could enthral, immobilise and even kill simply by a glance.  Sibylle Baumbach  Literature and Fascination .The work is also of particular interest for its focus on the link between demonic corruption and  melancholy .  The delusory powers of melancholy so useful to demons, the demonologists were also often wont to point out, could also be extended to the deceptive demonic practise of aping divine miracles. Among the miracles especially notable for being aped by demons, as illustrated by the Neopolitan Benedictine Leonardo Vairo is the miraculous power to prophesy the future. For it was Vairo s aim, under the heading De Fascino, to reconcile extraordinary powers of prophetic insight in melancholics with their corresponding vulnerability to demonic corruption.  This attribution of demonic power extended for Vairo to such things as Poisons.  Poison was one of the great fears of the age. Its threat lay in the fact that its mode of operation was considered similar to that of magical spells and sorcery. For Leonardo Vairo.. veneficia were the same as Maleficia: not poisons so much as bewitchments, the horrible effects of which could be ascribed to demons.  David Gentilcore.  Healers and Healing in Early Modern Italy . \u003cbr\u003e\n A very good copy of this important demonological wrk.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VAIRO, Leonardo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816138481999,"sku":"L2673","price":4950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_2840-e1501840948895.jpg?v=1781795193"},{"product_id":"crespet-pierre","title":"CRESPET, Pierre","description":"\u003cp\u003eExceptionally rare first edition of one of the most important and influential treatises on the devil, demons, witchcraft, spells and counter spells of the sixteenth century. The first book is composed of twenty discourses in which the author denounces with great precision (and not without a certain glee) the malefic spells of the devil, various copulations in the form of incubus and succubus, transformations, frightful prodigies, and false miracles – all the misfortunes of this world due to Satan. The second book, composed of six discourses, describes remedies for the devils malefic powers with the help of God and finally the victory of man. Other contemporary authors, like Jean Bodin, insisted on demonstrating the existence of the devil and witches while legitimising the hunting of the latter; others, like John Wier, seemingly more enlightened, tried to fight against this type of superstition. In this context, the work of Pierre Crespet, a Celestin monk, demonstrates a certain originality. His treatise “Two Books of the Hatred of Satan” remains orthodox in the way he perceives witches – his vision is close to that of Jean Bodin – but it is distinguished by the way in which he explains the causes of their appearance, and how their activities are determined on earth. In order to explain how witches have the power they have, such as the ability to cause hailstones and storms, the healing of sick men, to “prophetizer et predire choses à venir” he puts forward the argument that the weakness of man, inherent in his nature, is “une chose toute certaine, que les hommes n’ont pas moyen de leur propre vertu de faire telles choses, mais ils sont aydez par l’art et finesse des demons, qui entretiennent cette vertu de race en race”. He goes further and states that, in these terrestrial acts, the devil is not moved by the ambition of power, but by hatred that he transmits to witches which becomes the the driving force behind all their injurious acts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCrespet was undoubted heavily influenced by the bitter civil and religious wars that had been raging in France, and was an ardent supporter of the Catholic League. “Crespet was well known in his day as a league writer and Preacher in Paris. He was a fervent advocate of the league, from its first formation in 1576, and was prior of the Celestine abbey in Paris when he published his “Deux livres de la Hayne de Sathan.” For Crespet, all the troubles of his time were to be attributed to the Devil and his supporters, the Protestant heretics” Jonathan L. Pearl. “The Crime of Crimes: Demonology and Politics in France, 1560-1620.” “Also influential beyond the borders of France was .. Pierre Crespet’s tract (two books on the Hatred of Satan and Evil Spirits Against Mankind 1590). Crespet vigorously inveighed against Protestantism – which he considered a satanic heresy – much as Pierre de Lancre would do a few years later.” P. Levack. “The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnother aspect of particular interest to Crespet’s work was his detailed discussion of the witches sabbath and its origins. “the demonologist Pierre Crespet located the witches’ dance in a tradition including the bacchanalian revel, early Christian transvestism and the masquerades of the Maschecroutte of contemporary Lyon. The inferior clergy of late medieval France celebrated Christmas and the New Year with burlesques which were readily attributable to God’s ape – singing in dissonances, braying like asses, making indecent grimaces and contortions, repeating prayers in gibberish, censing with puddings or smelly shoes and, above all, mocking the sermon and the mass with fatuous imitations.” Stuart Clark ‘Inversion, Misrule and the Meaning of Witchcraft.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn exceptionally rare and most interesting work on Witchcraft and demonology.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CRESPET, Pierre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816138514767,"sku":"L2659","price":9500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2659-Crespet-1.jpg?v=1781795192"},{"product_id":"d-ossat-arnaud","title":"D OSSAT, Arnaud","description":"First edition of this important collection of letters written by Arnaud D Ossat to Henry the IV of France of great historical significance.  These letters formerly served as models for diplomats, owing not only to the importance of the questions which they treat, but especially to the talent for exposition which d Ossat displays in them. The French Academy inscribed Ossat among the  dead authors who have written our French language most purely . Wiquefort in his  M émoires sur les ambassadeurs  finds in them  the clearest and most enlightened judgment ever displayed by any minister , and Lord Chesterfield wrote to his son that the  simplicity and clearness of Cardinal d Ossat s letters show how business letters should be written.  Catholic Encyclopaedia\r \r D Ossat was a French diplomat and writer, and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, whose personal tact and diplomatic skill steered the perilous course of French diplomacy with the Papacy in the reign of Henry IV. He supported the cause of Henry IV at Rome, whose conversion to Catholicism he prepared Pope Clement VIII to accept. In 1593, Henri IV wrote directly to d  Ossat in Rome that he was sending the Duc de Nevers to negotiate with the Pope, and he instructed d Ossat to share all of his knowledge of and influence in the Roman Court, as well as his wise counsel, to advance the affairs of France. His letters to the King are filled with detailed information concerning negotiations not only with France but covering most of the major events in Europe.\r \r  Still more informative are the editions of the letters of a near French contemporary of Walsingham s, Arnaud D Ossat. Cardinal D Ossat was Henri IV s representative at Rome, and from a Roman Catholic point of view, a hero in the attempt to reunite Christendom and reconcile Henri with Spain and the Papacy.   the letters are gathered as a coherent historical narrative in a book  du tout utile \u0026amp; du tout public.  a book which offers a course of instruction in civil prudence. They exemplify D Ossat s moral and political thought:  candeur \u0026amp;libert é ,  la parfaicte sagesse ,  la dexterit é admirable qu il avoit au maniment des affaires . The reader will not find pages of  compliments  and  flatteries , but  un parfait modelle sur lequel tous les ministres des Princes de toute qualit é se devront former, soit pour la facon de traitter les affaires de vive voix, ou de les faire entendre par escrit tels qu ils sont . They are also, then,literary or rhetorical models. Furthermore, the letters of men such as D Ossat, men treating the affairs of great Princes, represent the most serious and noteworthy of their actions. They have more  naifvet é than  harangues . .. These kinds of writing, in short, give  l ame √† l histoire .  Jan Papy.  Self-presentation and Social Identification: The rhetoric and pragmatics of letter writing in early modern times. \r \r The shield on the binding is recoded in many examples by the Toronto database of British Amorial Bindings, many on continental books dating from the 1620s. However they have not been able to identify the owner. Henry Osborn maybe the distinguished admiral of that name (1698?   1771).","brand":"D OSSAT, Arnaud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816152703311,"sku":"L2864","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_0820-rotated.jpg?v=1781794936"},{"product_id":"bordeaux","title":"[BORDEAUX]","description":"\u003cp\u003eVery rare edition in French, finely printed by Simon Millanges (Montaigne s printer), of the ancient customary laws of Guyenne and Bordeaux.  Under Francois I the  Anciennes Coutumes de Guyenne  (Ancient Customary laws of Guyenne) were reformed to take into account the local bourgeoisie s demands. The three estates of the s én échauss ée of Guyenne assembled in February 1520 to modify the old Coutumier. Several articles were suppressed or changed and new ones were added. The work lasted five months and the reformed Coutumier went into effect towards the end of 1527. Its territory was extended to include the former s én échauss ée of Bordeaux. The new customary law of Guyenne, which heavily favored the bourgeoisie, consisted of 117 articles written in a rather disorderly fashion and without much equity. Questions of inheritance and testamentary succession strongly recentered customary law around the transmission of property, and the goal of the great majority of the articles was to provide better protection for private property and to favor bourgeois property owners over the feudal territorial rights of noble landlords. The first article sets the tone of this rewriting of the customary law. It stipulates that every son of a merchant family engaged in commerce of other business (banking, brokerage, purchasing)  can make commitments wothout his father s consent, in matters concerning merchandise or business  For example, children had the right to do business under their own names without depending on the authority of their fathers. In the spirit of liberalizing mercantile law, Article V reorganised the law governing the legacy of goods to descendants by specifying that lineal transmission henceforth always had priority over feudal law. Inheritances, successions, transmissions, and donations of buildings, as well as the regulation of rents and mortgages, were subjected to new interpretations favorable to the rising bourgeoisie and represented more than sixty articles in the  coustumes generales de la ville de Bourdeaus, Seneschauss ée de Guyenne,  between 1520 and 1527. the revision of customary law at the beginning of the sixteenth century was the end result of a long process of political redistribution in Bordeaux and in Guyenne .. The oldest text of this Coutume was printed in Bordeaux in 1528 by Jean Guyart. The Coutume was reprinted by Simon Millanges in 1611 and 1617, and again by Jaques Mongiron Millanges in 1661 and 1666.  Philippe Desan  Montaigne: A Life.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The work has many interesting details concerning the wine trade; for instance a chapter on the correct use of containers and barrels for holding wine, or on the theft of grapes. A rare work, that gives fascinating insight into a town that was intimately linked, through its trade in wine, with England, and with the transition from a feudal to a Bourgeois society.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"[BORDEAUX]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816156373327,"sku":"L2944b","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_6097.jpg?v=1781794910"},{"product_id":"perier-charles","title":"PÉRIER, Charles.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this extremely rare pamphlet, the Hugenot s petition to the King that the local authorities in the town of Bordeaux recognise their rights, particularly in light of the Edict he had made in an attempt to reconcile the two religions, with the Kings response to the petition given in the text. The Edict of Saint-Germain, also known as the Edict of January, was a decree of tolerance promulgated by the regent of France, Catherine de  Medici, in January 1562. It provided limited tolerance to the Protestant Huguenots in the Roman Catholic realm. Consistent with Catherine s manoeuvring, it attempted to steer a middle course between Protestants and Catholics in order to strengthen royal dominion. Without threatening the privileged position of the Catholic Church in France, the Edict recognised the existence of the Protestants and guaranteed freedom of conscience and private worship. It forbade Huguenot worship within towns (where conflicts flared up too easily) but permitted Protestant synods and consistories. This pamphlet states that, despite the edict, many of those in power in Bordeaux were refusing to cooperate and were using the troubles to illegally imprison, fine and confiscate the property of Protestants and to cause them as much trouble as possible, despite the fact that the majority of people in Bordeaux were  dict reform é . Protestants under the edict were given the permission to worship but only in certain towns and in Bordeaux they were given the town of St. Macaire.  The protestants petitioned for another town in place of St. Macaire, which had been assigned them for their religious worship   the most inconveniently situated in the entire  Sen échauss ée . They desired a city in which they could go to and return from in the same day. They stated that  la plus grande partie des plus notable familles de Bourdeaux est de la religion r éform ée.  This part of their request the king referred to the judgment of the governor.  Henry Martyn Baird  History of the Rise of the Huguenots.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  The edict provided for a place for preaching in each prefecture, to be selected by the king. In some cases no place had yet been designated. In others, the most inconvenient places had been assigned. Sometimes the Huguenots of a district would be compelled to go _twenty or twenty-five leagues_ in order to attend divine worship. .. But it was the prejudice and ill-will, of which the Huguenots were the habitual victims at the hands of royal governors and other officers, which moved them most deeply. The evident desire was to find some ground of accusation against them. The ears of the judges were stopped against their appeals for justice. It was enough that they were accused. Decrees of confiscation, of the razing of their houses, of death, were promptly given before any examination was made into the truth of their culpability.   The king, or his ministers, fearful of a commotion during his absence from Paris,   even made a pretence of desiring to secure justice to his Protestant subjects; but the attempt really effected very little. Thus, for instance, while sojourning in the city of Valence (on the fifth of September, 1564), Charles received a petition of the Huguenots of Bordeaux, setting forth some of the grievances under which they were groaning, and gave a favourable answer. He permitted them, by this patent, to sing their psalms in their own houses. He declared them free from any obligation to furnish the  pain benit,  and to contribute to the support of Roman Catholic fraternities. The Protestants were not to be molested for possessing or selling copies of the Bible. They must not be compelled to deck out their houses in honor of religious processions, nor to swear on St. Anthony s arm. They might work at their trades with closed doors, except on Sundays and solemn feasts. Magistrates were forbidden to take away the children of Huguenots, in order to have them baptized according to Romish rites. Protestants could be elected to municipal offices equally with the adherents of the other faith.  Henry Martyn Baird  History of the Rise of the Huguenots.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Charles Perier, the son in law of the bookseller printer Chr étien Wechel, was himself a printer authorised by the University of Paris. He was imprisoned several times in Paris (November 1565, November 1567, Februrary to May 1569) for importing Calvinist works from Geneva for distribution in there. He was persecuted during the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, during which his son Charles was killed. He fled Paris but died shortly afterwards.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PÉRIER, Charles.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816156406095,"sku":"L2944a","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_0985_d158c155-5549-4354-9aa3-23b39c9caec3.jpg?v=1781794909"},{"product_id":"jean-alexandre","title":"JEAN, Alexandre","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare and charmingly executed didactic manual of commercial arithmetic in three parts; in this second edition Jean added a printed explanation of the working of the tables. The engraved title of the second part still bears the date of 1636 as it was probably made using sheets left over from the first edition, or the plates were reprinted from the original, without changing the dates. Alexandre Jean was a master writer and master of French arithmetic, born in about 1580, he was accepted, in 1609, in the  Communaut é des ma√Ætres  écrivains jur és  or the Company of master writers or calligraphers. He was renowned for making use of the the feather pen, with which he used to execute ornaments with thick lines in his calligraphy. He was a very good the example of those master writers who were also active in teaching and accounting, and he published several methods of arithmetic. He died in 1670 at Paris. This work is very finely executed, in the manner of a calligraphic work by a master writer.  In this second edition of the ready reckoner, a letterpress title page and introduction have been added to the engraved tables. The original engraved title page remains bound in after the introductory material. The work is a ready reckoner for the price of goods in multiples (from 1 to 20,000), and the second is a similar table for fractional amounts (if one unit costs 8 francs, then a half will cost 4 francs, etc.). Part 1 has an engraved title page bearing the date 1636, with the colophon dated 1637. There are also a few small tables of other items (squares etc.). All the tables are beautifully engraved, and many show the figures in what appear to be apothecary jars, palm leaves, etc. It is possible that the tables in part 2 actually represent the value of various measures of cloth as their heading (Fractions de Laune) can be interpreted as La une (one) or L aune (ells of cloth).  A rare work. USTC locates four copies of this enlarged edition. A very good copy from the exceptional mathematical library of Erwin Tomash.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"JEAN, Alexandre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816156471631,"sku":"L3016\/2","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/20190406_155950.jpg?v=1781794909"},{"product_id":"jean-alexandre-1","title":"JEAN, Alexandre","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare and charmingly executed didactic manual of commercial arithmetic in two parts all finely engraved. In this first edition the engraved title bears the date of 1636 but has the date 1637 on the colophon of the first part. Alexandre Jean was a master writer and master of French arithmetic, born in about 1580, he was accepted, in 1609, in the  Communaut é des ma√Ætres  écrivains jur és  or the Company of master writers or calligraphers. He was renowned for making use of the the feather pen, with which he used to execute ornaments with thick lines in his calligraphy. He was a very good the example of those master writers who were also active in teaching and accounting, and he published several methods of arithmetic, and a writing book. He died in 1670 at Paris. This work is very finely executed, in the manner of a calligraphic work  by a master writer.  This completely engraved work is in two parts. The first part is a ready reckoner for the price of goods in multiples (from 1 to 20,000), and the second is a similar table for fractional amounts (if one unit costs 8 francs, then a half will cost 4 francs, etc.). Part 1 has an engraved title page bearing the date 1636, with the colophon dated 1637. There are also a few small tables of other items (squares etc.). All the tables are beautifully engraved, and many show the figures in what appear to be apothecary jars, palm leaves, etc. It is possible that the tables in part 2 actually represent the value of various measures of cloth as their heading (Fractions de Laune) can be interpreted as La une (one) or L aune (ells of cloth).  An extremely rare work. USTC locates only one copy of this first edition at the BNF. A very good copy from the exceptional mathematical library of Erwin Tomash.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"JEAN, Alexandre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816156569935,"sku":"L3016\/1","price":2000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/20190406_160523.jpg?v=1781794909"},{"product_id":"gheyn-jacob-de","title":"GHEYN, Jacob de","description":"\u003cp\u003eVery rare  compact edition, in three parts of [Jacob de Gheyn s] Wapen-handelinghe van roers, musquetten, en spiessen  ESTC. In this edition the engravings have been very finely reworked from the original as woodcuts, and the text is in French, Dutch, German and English. The work has a complex publishing history, with various Dutch, German, English, French and Danish editions appearing in Amsterdam and The Hague from 1607. Jacob de Gheyn s  Exercise of Armes  was an immense success. It is a fascinating seventeenth-century military manual, designed to instruct contemporary soldiers how to handle arms effectively, and correctly, and it makes for a unique glimpse into warfare as waged in the Thirty Years and the English Civil Wars. The manual uses illustrations to clearly demonstrate drills for soldiers employing calivers and muskets. It shows how to load and fire, or merely carry, a matchlock piece. In addition detailed illustrations show the various movements and postures to be adopted during use of the pike. There are 117 very fine woodcut illustrations. Gheyn s famous illustrated work was designed specifically for practical use on the muster ground. As well as profoundly changing military practice in Europe, the book also provided motifs for several kinds of decorative art. The Delft factories produced a series of tiles based on the engravings and at Clifton Hall in Nottinghamshire the designs were used for paintings on the panelling. Johann II, Count of Nassau-Siegen is often seen as the moving spirit behind the work. Resident in the Netherlands between 1592 and 1597 he took part in the military campaign against Spain and recorded his observations in his so-called  Kriegsbuch . In this, he concluded that arms drill as well as field drill were necessary for cavalry and infantry in the Dutch army, and conceived the idea of publishing an exercise manual for soldiers. An illustrated manuscript version of this work can be found in the Royal Library at The Hague, and it seems likely that this formed the basis for Gheyn s work. De Gheyn was an engraver by trade, having studied under Hendrik Goltzius whose engravings of Dutch officers in the 1580s probably influenced this work.  This edition in quarto is a much rarer book than the large folio published at the Hague in 1608, with copper-plate engravings. The reason is, no doubt, that this was intended for the use of the common soldiers  (Huth catalogue) who would have found the larger folio editions beyond their economic means as well as too bulky to carry. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n This edition is extremely rare: ESTC records three copies only (British Library, Ministry of Defence, and Bodleian).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GHEYN, Jacob de","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820343107919,"sku":"L3262","price":12500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_6998-scaled.jpg?v=1781794834"},{"product_id":"pallet-jean","title":"PALLET, Jean.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA good, clean copy of the second edition of the first French-Spanish bilingual dictionary, originally published in Paris in 1604. The French Jean Pallet (or Palet, fl. late C16\/early C17) was physician to Henry IV of France and translator from the Italian of  Discours de la beaut é des Dames (1568). An influential lexicographer, he published his bilingual dictionary only a few years after Hornkens s French-Spanish-Latin of 1599. Even more than Hornkens, Pallet was catering to the  Belgian  aristocracy, generals and officers who, upon the Infanta s marriage with Archduke Albert in 1596 and the greater administrative autonomy over the Low Countries granted to them by her father Philip II, found themselves having to deal with a Spanish-speaking court ( W√∂rterb√ºcher , 2977). The printer Velpius was granted a privilege by the Archduke. Whilst the French-Spanish part was mostly based on Hornkens, the Spanish-French section drew on Antonio de Nebrija s Spanish-Latin dictionary (1492-5) and Crist‚àö‚â•val de Las Casas s popular Tuscan-Castilian dictionary of 1570. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n In 1607, this copy was in the library of the Flemish physician Sebastianus Egbertus, professor of anatomy at Amsterdam and author of a commentary on Dodoens s  Herbal  (1640); he was deemed  a man of great learning  by the anatomist Nicolaes Tulp, famously portrayed by Rembrandt. In 1638, it was in the possession of the lawyer Johannes Carlier (c.1612-48), owner of a substantial library of which the inventory unusually specifies the colour of the shelves and their arrangement in the room (de Jong, p.151); in 1649, the copy was inherited by Johannes Spillieurs, probably the same registered as a student at Leiden.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PALLET, Jean.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820349071695,"sku":"L3519","price":1650.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-1-3_55d260c7-f77d-44ec-86c4-6dd8afbc07a3.jpg?v=1781794801"},{"product_id":"mellema-edouard-leon","title":"MELLEMA, Edouard Leon.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very good copy of the scarce first edition in Dutch of this popular Dutch-French dictionary. It was edited by the Frisian Edouard Leon Mellema (c.1552-22), schoolmaster in Haarlem and author of  Arithmetica  (1586). This edition (with Dutch being here interchangeable with Flemish) is in fact a posthumous reissue, with Dutch t-p and preliminaries, of the first 1587 French edition printed by Jan van Waesberghe s father in Antwerp as  Dictionnaire ou Promptuaire Flamand-Français . The French-Flemish (or French-Dutch) volumes were published separately. The work comprises French translations spanning basic adjectives, verbs and pronouns, and phrases, Netherlandish and French place names, kinds of oxen, measurements, and thousands of words useful for everyday life.  His dictionary became a reference work and went through 11 editions in the C17.   here, the word  woordn-boec  [dictionary] appeared in a dictionary for the first time  (Sterkenburg, 38). It provided the basis of Hexham s Dutch-English dictionary of 1648.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MELLEMA, Edouard Leon.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820349104463,"sku":"L3473","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-1_193471b1-7564-4220-9828-426121a1acda.jpg?v=1781794801"},{"product_id":"ferrier-auger","title":"FERRIER, Auger.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA lovely copy of this beautifully printed and rare astrological work, the first edition was printed in 1550, and frequently there after for over a hundred years; the work was translated to English in 1593. Ferrier was born in 1513 near Toulouse and studied medicine at Montpellier, perhaps overlapping with Francois Rabelais, before returning to practise in Toulouse in 1540.  This work is a short and very practical work of pure astrology, in which, in clear and easily understandable terms, all aspects of the art of making and interpreting horoscopes are dealt with, mainly on the basis of the work of Arab astrologers. The work was particularly useful to those who wanted to learn the first rudiments of astrology without religious or philosophical interpretation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Another popular Renaissance work on natal astrology was Auger Ferrier’s  ‘jugemens astronomiques sur les nativitez’ … Ferrier was a well-known physician and astrologer of Toulouse and wrote a number of books including a treatise on critical days ‘according to Pythagorean doctrine and astronomical observation’  (Thorndike  VI  p. 479) as well as a work on dream interpretation. Ferrier was personal physician and astrologer to Queen Catherine the Medici of France and a colleague of the famous Nostradamus. Catherine the Medici was fascinated with astrology and magic and ‘jugemens astronomiques sur les nativitez’ was dedicated to her… Ferrier’s (work) provides an excellent example of Renaissance natal technique which is still capable of accurate natal prediction and has the virtue of being much easier to learn than Bonatti’s mediaeval natal methods.” Christopher Warnock. ‘Ferrier’s Judgment of Nativities’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Now, Ferrier is without doubt one of those secondary figures of the intellectual world of Renaissance France, who is slowly attracting the attention of critics, not just for his medical treatises on syphilis, the plague, and general practice, but also (and perhaps even more so) for his astrological work, the ‘liber de diebus decretoriis’, and above all the ‘jugemens astronomiques sur les nativitez’ by which in the autumn of 1549 he apparently gained the favour of Catherine de Médicis, well before Nostradamus rose to fame. In effect, the influence of Ferrier’s astrological work not only spread to England and Spain, but stretched well into the 18th century, even though by that time the sun had moved, as it were, from its terrestrial orbit to the centre of the solar system. His medical writings were similarly translated, reprinted and anthologised, suggesting a longer lasting renown than Ferrier is usually given credit for, even if it is true that by the early 19th century, the medical establishment had become dismissive of his accomplishments.” Ingrid de Smet. ‘Of Doctors Dramers and Soothsayers; the interlinking world of Joseph Scaliger and Auger Ferrier.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA very charming copy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"FERRIER, Auger.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859627221327,"sku":"L3460","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-10_93537bdf-ff4e-4070-aa2a-d9c400c7e6d9.jpg?v=1781793806"},{"product_id":"trippault-leon","title":"TRIPPAULT, L éon.","description":"\u003cp\u003eExceptionally rare first edition, and a fine copy, beautifully bound by Hardy, of this French Greek dictionary published in Orleans, relating to the etymology of French words derived from the Greek. Léon Trippault, sieur de Bardis, was a lawyer in Orléans and one of the first authors to contemplate the origin of the French language; he was convinced of the Greek origin of French and tried to prove it through a series of works including this dictionary in which he traces French words back to Greek. His thesis had its basis in the myth that France’s first kings came from Greece, or that France was named for Francion, a son of Hector, who escaped the sack of Troy. Henri Estienne similarly looked for Greek origins for the French language, assimilating the glory of Classical Athens with sixteenth-century France.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“In the 16th century, the history of the French language served as primary evidence in the history of French institutions. The history of those institutions was itself crucial to the debate on the role of the monarchy, which in turn related to the Wars of Religion. French clearly had close affinity to Latin, and thus to Italian and Spanish. However, humanist admiration for Greek, Reform interest in Hebrew, and concurrent bursts of celtomania and xenophobia led to theories about the origin of the French language that resolutely pursued the implausible. The thesis that French had Greek origins was supported by a number of Classical and biblical sources (Léon Trippault provided a summary in an appendix to his Celt hellenisme, ou etymologic des mots francois tirez du graec. Plus. Preuves en general de la descente de nostre langue, 1580). Many historians of French claimed that the Gauls spoke Greek or some closely related language. In this way, native gallican interests could be allied with the most prestigious of the ancient languages (and opposed to Italian\/Latin). This linkage took on political significance in works, such as François Hotman’s Franco–gallia (1573), in which evidence from diachronic linguistics was adduced to provide an historical basis for elected, constitutional monarchy and customary law, as opposed to divine-right absolute monarchy and Roman law. At the same time, other scholars sought to establish links between Hebrew and French. Guillaume Postel .. provided a basis for this work, which received occasional mention in the works of Joachim Perion (Dialogorum de linguae Gallicœ origine, eiusque cum Grœca cognatione, libri quatuor, 1555) and Trippault, and culminated in Estienne Guichard’s L’harmonie étymologique … Such historical evidence was necessarily impressionistic, generally based on word-lists of fewer than 500 entries (Joachim Perion, Léon Trippault). The dangers of basing such conclusions on small lists of words led the more linguistically sophisticated Henri Estienne to argue not for a Greek origin of French, but rather closer affinity between constructions of modern French with ancient Greek (Traicté de la conformité du langage françois avec le grec, 1565).”  D.A. Kibbee. ‘Renaissance Linguistics: French Tradition.’\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA fine copy of this beautifully printed, and very rare little dictionary.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"TRIPPAULT, L éon.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859627319631,"sku":"L3399","price":8750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-17_7a7d4ac9-adf8-40c7-9bc3-6e92139a624f.jpg?v=1781793804"},{"product_id":"francois-i-2","title":"FRAN√áOIS I","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare second edition of this most important ordinance by Francois I,  first published in 1540, known as the ‚Äòl‚ÄôOrdonnance d‚ÄôAbbeville‚Äô which is in effect the Dauphinoise version of the famous ‚ÄòOrdonnance Villers-Cotter√™ts‚Äô, one of the foundational sets of laws written on behalf of Francois I in 1539, and the oldest legislative text still in force in France today; its articles concerning the French language never having been repealed. The ‚ÄòOrdonnance Villers-Cotter√™ts‚Äô, with 192 articles, is now best known for being the founding act of the primacy and exclusivity of the French language, over Latin or regional dialects, in documents relating to public life in France. It was made to facilitate the proper understanding of administrative and judicial acts, but also to strengthen monarchical power, and required that all official documents be written ‚Äúin the French mother tongue and not otherwise‚Äù. French thus became the official language of law and administration in place of Latin. In addition this ordinance reformed ecclesiastical jurisdiction, reduced certain prerogatives of regions and towns and made compulsory the keeping of registers of baptisms and burials by parish priests. This most important ordinance, entitled ‚ÄúOrdonnance du Roy sur le fait de justice‚Äù was written by the Chancellor, Guillaume Poyet, the celebrated lawyer and member of the King‚Äôs Privy Council. It has often been referred to as the ‚ÄòGuillemine‚Äô or ‚ÄòGuilelmine‚Äô in reference to its author and was of huge importance in the making of the French state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Villers-Cotter√™ts Ordonnance was not applied immediately in the Dauphiné as the parliament of Dauphiné initially refused to accept it on the grounds that they were not officially part of the Kingdom of France. Francis I then issued a new ordinance, adapted to the Dauphiné, called the ‚ÄòOrdonnance d‚Äô Abbeville‚Äô, the present volume. It was in fact much more comprehensive than the Villers-Cotter√™ts ordinance, which had only 192 articles; it reviews, in 439 articles, all aspects of the courts and judiciary in the Dauphiné. The obligation to write acts in French remained (article 95), but not the article on baptismal registers. The ordinance was made in February, 1540, and was registered by the Dauphiné  Parliament on April 9, 1540. It marks the first step in the full integration of the Dauphiné into French institutions. It was in effect a standardisation of the laws in France which disguised a power grab by the king in asserting his power over the regions. The ordinance is a major step in the construction of the modern French state by defining new rules and a new organisation of the justice system which strengthened royal power to the detriment of ecclesiastical and regional power.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe work is also most interesting for the coordinated way in which it was published. The ordinances of Villers-Cotter√™ts and d‚ÄôAbbeville were the first royal acts to have been the subject of a massive and organised distribution throughout France. In a few months, nearly twenty thousand copies were printed in Paris and in the provinces under the direction of the wealthy Parisian bookseller Galliot Du Pré who enjoyed a monopoly thanks to a royal privilege, the first of its kind granted for an administrative act. This privilege was issued by order of the Chancellor Guillaume Poyet who was undoubtedly at the origin of this publishing campaign, made on an unprecedented scale, which reveals his desire for rapid implementation of the ordinance throughout France.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"FRAN√áOIS I","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859627974991,"sku":"L3382","price":2950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9147.jpg?v=1781793801"},{"product_id":"hulsius-levinus-2","title":"HULSIUS, Levinus.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.This copy belonged to the young Johannetta Elisabeth (1593-1654) von Nassau-Dillenburg, aged ten in 1603, the date of the ex-libris. That her father s arms were stamped on the upper board suggests it was a gift for her French lessons. Her ex-libris casts her as  fr‚àö¬ßulein zu Nassau Catzenelnbogen . Her father from whom the later House of Orange-Nassau, including William III of England, descends was Johann VI, Graf (Count) of Nassau-Dillenburg (and Katzenelnbogen-Diez), and brother of William the Silent, first Prince of Orange.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n . .A very good, unsophisticated copy of the scarce second edition of this French-German dictionary, with a four-verse prefatory poem by Pierre de Ronsard. .Born in Belgium, the polymath Levinus Hulsius (1546-1606) settled in Nuremberg in the late 1580s, became a notary, one of the earliest traders in mathematical-astronomical instruments, and, from 1596, a writer and publisher of scientific books, dictionaries and geographical works such as a Latin and German edition of Sir Walter Raleigh s  Description of Guiana . The scant copies that survive, especially of the early editions, suggest Hulsius s dictionary was extremely popular, and copies were quickly worn out by use. Whilst the 1596 edition of this French-German dictionary was in quarto, with a German preface, this second was a pocket version, with a French preface. The French material is based on Mellema s French-Dutch dictionary (1592); Hulsius s became, in turn, the main source for subsequent trilingual and quadrilingual dictionaries. The interesting first section comprises a study of French and German pronunciation, which sheds light on their phonetic changes over time, and the history of their teaching for practical use. It is followed by a brief survey of French and German grammar and syntax, and the two lexical parts. Among the everyday words included are  Alchymie, autrement dite Chymie  translated as  die kunst Golt zumachen  (the art of making gold),  Alcoran des Turcs  as  das Gesezbuch der Turcken  (the law book of the Turks), and colours among the most difficult concepts in translation (e.g.,  Himmelblaw  rendered as  Asur Celestin  or, more literally,  couleur du Ciel ). The young owner highlighted only one word:  espouantable  (dreadful).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HULSIUS, Levinus.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859629285711,"sku":"L3539","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/1-14_2888c0ac-2a2c-4cba-8a35-f7e14aa9fb1c.jpg?v=1781793798"},{"product_id":"veer-gerrit-de","title":"VEER, Gerrit de.","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe rare second edition of the French translation of De Veer‚Äôs account of three most important polar voyages in search of the Northeast Passage to China and the East Indies, commanded by Willem Barents, with exceptional provenance; from the library of the celebrated astronomer Joseph Jér√¥me de Lalande including his notes and side notes. The three expeditions recounted here took place in 1594, 1595, 1596-1597. The commander of the three voyages was the pilot Willem Barents of Amsterdam. Gerrit De Veer himself only took part in the last two expeditions and described the first expedition from Barents notes. The account of the third voyage, during which the Dutch sailors had to winter at Novaya Zemlya, occupies more than half of the work. The three accounts include de Veer‚Äôs eyewitness journal, as a crew-member, of Barents‚Äô disastrous final voyage in 1596-97: a tale of extreme hardship and danger and it describes in the form of a daily diary the crew‚Äôs winter in a hut built from ship‚Äôs timbers on the coast of Novaya Zemlya, after their ship had been crushed by ice. It is the earliest recorded wintering this far north.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‚ÄúThese voyages proved Barents one of history‚Äôs greatest arctic navigators. The first foray began in 1594, when Barents directed his ships down the length of Nova Zembla. Blocked by seasonal ice from further passage, the Dutch retraced their course to Vaigatz and passed through the Kara Sea as far as the latitude of Ob. The relative success of this effort prompted another attempt the following year. This time, however, an unusually severe winter kept the straits between Vaigatz and the mainland packed with ice all summer, and the voyagers returned to Holland after little success. Accompanying Barents as supercargo on both of these expeditions was the famed Dutch traveler Jan Huyghen van Linschoten. It was the third voyage in 1596 that ranks among the ‚Äúhardiest achievements of all Polar exploration‚Äù. Barents began by attempting to sail directly across the Pole. Though he was blocked by pack ice, along the way he became the first European to make contact with the Spitsbergen Islands. Steering back for Nova Zembla, the Dutch passed the farthest point they had reached on their first voyage in 1594, and pressed on around the northern tip of the island. Here their ship was crushed in the ice, and the crew was forced to wait out the winter. It was a winter of great misery, during which a number of the crew froze to death and several were eaten by polar bears. When the summer ice failed to release his ship, Barents directed the remaining members of this crew in a difficult voyage in an open boat; he died before they safely reached Russian territory‚Äù K Hill. ‚ÄúThe Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages.‚Äù\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJoseph Jér√¥me Lefrançois de Lalande‚Äôs copy; his autograph on pastedown, with his notes concerning astronomical instruments and degrees of latitude and longitude taken from the  voyages on pastedown and ffep. It is not individually listed in the catalogue of the sale of his books in 1808 that took place a year after his death at the College de France. Lalande was a celebrated astronomer and at the centre of French intellectual circles during les Lumi√®res. He was close to Voltaire, Helvetius, and many others. He held the chair of astronomy in the Coll√®ge de France for forty-six years. His publications in connection with the transit of Venus of 1769 won him great fame. He was also a Freemason and founded the Lodge of ‚ÄúLes Trois Soeurs‚Äù in Paris, influential in the American war of independence: In 1778 Lalande arranged for Benjamin Franklin and John Paul Jones to join; Franklin became Master of the Lodge in 1779, and was re-elected in 1780. When Franklin, returned to America to participate in the writing of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson, a non-Mason, took over as American Envoy. Lalande was a renowned atheist but still harboured priests fleeing the revolution at the College de France. It is possible that Lalande obtained this copy from his friend, another famous astronomer of the same period, Pierre Charles Lemonnier, from his note on rear pastedown ‚Äònotes de m. Lemonnier‚Äô.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA very rare edition of these important voyages with remarkable provenance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VEER, Gerrit de.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859632398671,"sku":"L3549","price":10500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-1-1.jpg?v=1781793791"},{"product_id":"contarini-gasparo-1","title":"CONTARINI, Gasparo.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of the first French translation by Jean Charrier of Contarini‚Äôs important treatise on political theory, government and the philosophy of statecraft. The first edition was published in Latin in 1543 shortly followed by a translation into Italian. A most influential translation was made into English in 1599. Jean Charrier also published a translation of Machiavelli‚Äôs ‚ÄòArt of War‚Äô the same year. A Venetian patrician educated at Padua, Gasparo Contarini (1483-1542) was ambassador for Charles V and later appointed Cardinal by Pope Paul III. Among the numerous personalities he met whilst accompanying the Emperor around Europe was Thomas More. It is More‚Äôs ‚ÄòUtopia‚Äô, first published in 1516, which may have inspired ‚ÄòDella Repubblica et magistrati di Venetia‚Äô, composed in the 1520s-1530s. Contarini‚Äôs influential work is a thorough description of the government of Venice celebrating the perfection of its Republican institutions (the Doge, Senate, tribunals and magistracies) in the age of absolute monarchies, but also suggesting changes to improve them. Its readers should ‚Äòmarvel‚Äô at the location, origins and functioning of Venice, ‚Äòthe common market of the world‚Äô, where political ideal and reality meet to create an exemplary State run by the patriciate\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‚ÄúContarini is best remembered for his reflections on the government of Venice that he penned, and circulated among his friends, between 1522 and 1525 and then again between 1533 and 1534. These reflections were posthumously published .. in Paris in 1543. .. In drafting De Magistratibus et Republica Venetorum, Contarini drew on both the history of Venice and his own experience to provide a host of normative, historic, and contemporary details that would educate Venetians and foreigners alike about the machinery of Venice‚Äôs government. The volume was not concerned with the political behaviour of Venetians, but with a formal institutions by which political aims were realised. The reflections are thus as much of a description of the institutions of governance as they are a prescription for how those institutions ought to work to meet expectations. In this way, De magistratibus contributed to a particular view in the 16th century that has come to be known by modern historians as the ‚Äòmyth of Venice‚Äô, celebrating the Republic‚Äôs well-being and accomplishments and presenting his aspirations and self image as reality.‚Äù Filippo Sabetti. ‚ÄòGasparo Contarini‚Äô\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‚ÄúThe Commonwealth and Government of Venice played a pivotal role in conveying the myth of 16th-century Venice to an English audience. First written in Latin by Cardinal Gasparo Contarini, it was translated into English in 1599 by Lewis Lewkenor.‚Äù BL. Shakespeare is most likely to have read this work and its influence is felt in two of his major works ‚ÄòThe Merchant of Venice and ‚ÄòOthello‚Äô\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CONTARINI, Gasparo.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859632464207,"sku":"L3370","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-16_e1aae237-ae02-4746-ae01-f0363a65dd04.jpg?v=1781793792"},{"product_id":"nostradamus-michel","title":"NOSTRADAMUS, Michel.","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn extremely rare, popular edition of the prophecies of Nostradamus by Pierre Rigaud, a deliberate copy of the earliest editions, printed at Lyon by the same family, here without date (some later editions by Rigaud were printed with false earlier dates). We have not been able to locate another copy of this edition; it seems closest to Chomart 201 ‚ÄúMichel Chomarat and Jean-Paul Laroche. Bibliographie Nostradamus; XVIe, XVIIe, XVIIIe si√®cles. 1989‚Äù). The first part contains the authors famous dedication to his son and the second to Henry II. The work was originally published in three parts, the first containing 353 poems. A second part was printed in 1557 and added 289 further prophecies; the third and final part of 300 new poems was printed in 1558, posthumously, by Pierre Rigaud Sr. These poems or rhymed quatrains were grouped into nine sets of 100 and one of 42, called ‚ÄúCenturies‚Äù. In this edition there are 44 in the last section though an annotator has crossed out the final two additional centuries stating that they were not to be found in early editions. A final quire has been added containing 71 further centuries by Vincent Seve de Beaucaire, originally made in 1605 and often added.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNostradamus claimed each prediction was based upon his astrological reading of particular events, though it is evident that a great deal of the work is copied from earlier Latin authors such as Livy, Plutarch, and other classical historians, and many are taken directly from Richard Roussat‚Äôs Livre de l‚Äôestat et mutations des temps (1549 1550). The Mirabilis Liber of 1522, which contained a wide range of prophecies by such authors as Pseudo-Methodius, the Tiburtine Sibyl, Joachim of Fiore, Savonarola and others was also a well used source. His considerable initial success was based on the fact that he was one of the first to re-paraphrase these prophecies in French. Further material was gleaned from the De honesta disciplina of 1504 by Petrus Crinitus, which included extracts from Michael Psellos‚Äô De daemonibus, and the De Mysteriis Aegyptiorum, a book on Chaldean and Assyrian magic by Iamblichus, a fourth-century Neo-Platonist. Most of the quatrains deal with disasters, such as plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions, murders, droughts, and battles all undated and based on foreshadowings by the Mirabilis Liber. The work was remarkably and instantaneously popular. This later seventeenth century edition deliberately imitates the first editions, playing on the mystique these editions had already acquired. Modern interpretations of the quatrains have shown them to predict the French Revolution, Napoleon, Hitler, the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and even the death of princess Diana and the events of 9\/11. An important contemporary theme was fear of an impending invasion of Europe by Muslim forces, headed by the expected Antichrist, directly reflecting the Ottoman invasions of the Balkans. The work was published within the context of a general fear of an imminent apocalypse. A rare and charming popular edition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NOSTRADAMUS, Michel.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859632562511,"sku":"L3496","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-25.jpg?v=1781793790"},{"product_id":"liebault-jean-1","title":"LIÉBAULT, Jean.","description":"\u003cp\u003eImportant work that marks the beginning of Paracelsian chemical medicine in France by the renowned doctor and agronomist, Jean Li ébault (1535-1596), husband of Renaissance feminist poet Nicole Estienne (c. 1542-1588) and son in law of revered medical writer Charles Estienne (1504-1564). This work builds on the tradition laid out by Hieronymus Brunschwig, Philipp Ulstad and Conrad Gesner, discussing techniques of distillation using a variety of substances including oil, brandy, mercury and gold. It derives heavily from Gesner s  Theasaurus De remediis secretis  and involves a great deal of reference to Galenic medical practices. Li ébault recommends the distillation and consumption of mercury, vitriol and antimony, claiming that distilling them reduces their toxicity and increases their many health benefits. This text was published shortly after the Paris Faculty of Medicine condemned such practices. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Li ébault begins by defining distillation and reviewing its accepted and varied techniques, e.g. by bain-marie or under the sun. He then discusses a number of distillates, for example tormentil (a herbaceous plant), and claims it is beneficial for ulcers, fistulas, internal wounds, dropsy and fevers. He goes on to mention other  distillates  like eggs, turtles, partridges, snakes, blood and even human excrement. Gesner was the first to define essential oils as the oily substances that emerges from some organic materials following distillation. Li ébault continues extolling the virtues of distilling aromatic plants like rosemary flowers and states administration of the oil can strengthen the heart and improve the memory. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Prior to its employment as a recreational beverage, brandy and other alcohols were used purely by apothecaries and surgeons in their procedures, otherwise known as  fiery water . Li ébault claims that brandy can break internal abscesses if drunk, can help with redness of the eyes and restrict tears. His next section is probably the most notorious. Metallic substances are recommended to be distilled and consumed. Mercury is said to aid the lesions incurred by syphilis, and potable gold, a liquid solution containing gold, is declared to bring joy to the heart, delay old age, cure leprosy and prevent hair loss. He does take time to discuss the many sceptics of this method, but concludes by stating they are all liars.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LIÉBAULT, Jean.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859638362447,"sku":"L3576","price":4950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-11.jpg?v=1781793777"},{"product_id":"rabelais-francois-6","title":"RABELAIS, François.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrançois Rabelais (1483-1553) is known for his off-piste, satirical and bawdy humour as well as his controversial anticlerical opinions. He is playful and contradictory by nature, and produced a rich and wide ranging body of writing including but not limited to comedic novels, mocking poetry and parodic songs. Underlining these is a deeply critical view of the tumultuous political environment stirred up by the Reformation, as well as a message which asks for peace and a return to the glory of antiquity. This volume is demonstrative of his remarkable range and contains hugely popular works like Gargantua and Pantagruel and Th él√®me. He is the origin of the adjective  Rabelasian , something  marked by gross robust humor, extravagance of caricature, or bold naturalism.  Unusually large format edition containing an attractive woodcut portrait of Rabelais consistent with the digitized version at the Lyon municipal library. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The stories exploit popular legends, farces and romances as well as classical and Italian material and are intended for a learned, aristocratic audience. Scatological humour is employed as well as religious satire. Rabelais s own views can be called  Christian humanism , though orthodox religious figures often condemned his works. His first novel was published in 1532 under the pseudonym Alcofribas Nasier, and was a mock-heroic chivalrous romance entitled Pantagruel. Rabelais also produced parodies of the yearly almanacs, mocking the alleged astrological predictions for the coming year. Gargantua is another satire of a medieval romance, featuring the son of Pantagurel, a giant named Gargantua, and features a number of concealed references to Charles V, scholastic pedagogy and a critique of heraldry. He was a controversial figure until his death, and was able to publish such works due to protection from figures like Charles of Lorraine and Cardinal de Guise. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  With an immense erudition, representing almost the whole knowledge of his time, with an untiring faculty of invention, with the judgement of a philosopher and the common sense of a man of the world, with an observation which let no characteristic of the time pass unobserved and with a ten-fold portion of the special Gallic gift of good-humoured satire, Rabelais united a height of speculation and depth of insight and vein of poetical imagination rarely found in any writer  his work is the mirror of the C16th. in France, reflecting at once its comeliness and its uncomeliness, its high aspirations, its voluptuous tastes, its political and religious dimensions, its keen criticism, its eager appetite and hasty digestions of learning, its gleans of poetry and its ferocity of manners .   Enc. Brit. 13th. ed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"RABELAIS, François.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859638821199,"sku":"L3708","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3708-3.jpg?v=1781793774"},{"product_id":"galen-3","title":"GALEN.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst separate edition of this French translation by Pierre Tolet of Galen‚Äôs major work on bloodletting, the imprint was shared and published simultaneously by Etienne Dolet. Pierre Tolet or Petrus Toletus (1502-1586) was a French doctor who pioneered, with Jean Canappe, the transmission of medical and surgical knowledge in the French language. He studied medicine in Montpellier (where he was a fellow student of Rabelais), before practicing at the H√¥tel-Dieu in Lyon eventually becoming Dean of the faculty. He set up a teaching program in French, with daily visits by students to the hospital with patients and created a single training course for doctors, barbers and apothecaries. A friend of Rabelais, he was also a leading figure in Lyon‚Äôs cultural life and a member of an influential circle of scholars (Barthélémy Aneau, Maurice Sc√®ve, etc.) He was one of the great popularisers of medical knowledge of his time, and was also a pioneer of the precedence of invention and discovery over received authority. ‚ÄúPierre Tolet is known to us mainly as one of the actors performing the ‚ÄòMorale comoedie de cellui qui avoit espousé une femme mute‚Äô (by Rabelais) at Montpellier. His importance goes however beyond the fact that he is mentioned by Rabelais. He was in fact one of the first men to demand the use of the French language in medicine.‚Äù C. A. Mayer. ‚ÄòPierre Tolet and the Paradoxe du Vinaigre‚Äô.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEtienne Dolet played a major role in the publishing of these texts, encouraging both Tolet and Canappe in their translations, as he understood the significance of such a project, which was still radical in France at this period. Tolet leveraged the prestige of his training at he University of Montpellier to introduce the practise of teaching and writing in French at Lyon. It seems Tolet chose this classic text by Galen on bloodletting for translation as he felt it was an indispensable text in the practise of medicine. The history of bloodletting derives from Hippocrates who believed that existence was represented by the four basic elements‚Äîearth, air, fire, and water‚Äîwhich in humans were related to the four basic humors: blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile. Being ill meant having an imbalance of the four humors. Therefore treatment consisted of removing an amount of the excessive humor by various means such as bloodletting, purging, catharsis, diuresis, etc.. Galen in his treatise on the subject declared blood as the most dominant humor and under his huge influence the practice of venesection gained even greater importance in the history of medicine.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GALEN.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859639378255,"sku":"L3384","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3384-1.jpg?v=1781793773"},{"product_id":"loyseau-charles-1","title":"LOYSEAU, Charles.","description":"\u003cp\u003eImportant collection of three texts on public law by the French jurist Charles Loyseau (1564-1627), a lawyer in the Parlement of Paris and renowned social and legal commentator. Loyseau was born into a family of lawyers, his father being a favourite of Henri II and a lawyer at the Parlement of Paris. The editor of Loyseau s Oevures states in the introduction  il a surpass é la plupart de nos jurisconsultes dans la science du droit romain, et aucun d'eux ne l'a surpass é dans la connaissance de cette partie de la jurisprudence française qui regarde le droit public . The three works included in the present volume are considered his most significant and valuable, notable for their clear and informed approach to the science of law and laws. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Cinq Livres Du Droict Des Offices discusses the different offices of the French crown and what the roles entailed. Loyseau discusses offices in general, and then goes on to describe hereditary offices,  venal  offices,  non-venal  offices (the former became the office holders  property, the latter did not) and finally offices of the Seigneurs. He approaches the discussions from a moralistic standpoint, stating:  Ce go‚àö¬™t des offices est une esp√®ce de manie qui nous agite, car le mot ambition est d ésormais trop doux, bien qu invent é par les Romains pour signifier le d ésir immod ér é des offices; il en faut forger un autre pour nous et l appeler archomanie: la fureur d offices.  In this phrase Loyseau first coined the term  archomania , describing the unstable nature of offices in pre-revolutionary France. Loyseau is called  the greatest authority on French venality in the 17th century , (Esteves, Rui. Archomania: Venality and Private Finances on the Eve of the French Revolution). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Traict é Des Seigneuries discusses the seignories of France prior to the revolution. It heavily relates to land tenure and ownership, and Loyseau s knowledge was from his extensive experiences in seigneurial courts. Seigneurs could be individual figures or a collective entity such as a monastery or parish. Following the repeal of the feudal system in 1789 this practice of land ownership collapsed, making this an important record of pre-revolutionary France. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Traict é Des Ordres et Simples Dignite was translated into English. On this and Loyseau s works in general Jacket states,  This is the first English edition of a treatise which influenced French thinkers from its publication in 1610 until the end of the ancien regime. Charles Loyseau's Treatise of Orders and Plain Dignities is the third of three major works in which he set out to harmonise with law his fellow citizens' values and behaviour in the crucial sphere of possession and exercise of public power. In attempting this he developed a thesis, calculated to justify the monarch's overriding role, which illuminates contemporary perceptions of the nature of the state  This edition thus not only makes available an important text, but also casts light upon the intellectual milieu of those who administered early-modern France.  The work is now a crucial source for understanding the complex French social structure of the seventeenth century.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LOYSEAU, Charles.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859643900239,"sku":"L3748","price":1250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3748-1.jpg?v=1781793742"},{"product_id":"boyer-jean","title":"BOYER, Jean.","description":"\u003cp\u003eExceptionally rare copies of the first and only editions of these “songs for drinking and dancing” by Jean Boyer. These two collections of drinking and dancing songs belong to an authentically French genre, a light-hearted derivative of the ‘Air de cour’ a secular court song, which became one of the most important vocal genres in the first third of the 17th century. Among the remaining collections of drinking and dancing songs of the period, Boyer’s are probably the most interesting both rhythmically and harmonically, and the texts he chooses to set to music are generally more refined than those of many of his contemporaries. They do, however, remain secular, often bawdy and amusing, lighthearted songs, clearly meant for a popular audience even though they were printed by the King’s printer of music.\u003cbr\u003e\n“Set either in polyphony for four or five unaccompanied voices—mostly during the late sixteenth century, but also still in Boyer’s ‘1er livre d’Airs à quatre parties’ [1619]—or for one single voice with lute accompaniment, such songs were usually performed and heard at court for the private entertainment of the king (Louis XIII) and his entourage. Composers were among the most eminent musicians of the court, including Pierre Guédron, Antoine and Jean-Baptiste Boësset, François Richard, Étienne Moulinié, Jean Boyer, etc., who were all excellent singers, if not also lutenists. Given the courtly destination of these airs, printing privileges were given primarily to the royal publishers Le Roy \u0026amp; Ballard, though Ballard continued to publish airs by himself later on. The success of these songs was such that they became the main genre to be inserted in court ballets and, from 1608 some printed collections of ‘airs de cour’, conversely, mainly consisted of songs directly taken from the most sensational recent ballets de cour. Whether written by anonymous verse-writers, or by some of the most eminent French poets (e.g., Ronsard, Sillac, Pasquier, Desportes, and du Baïf) or derived from Italian pastorals by Tasso or Guarini and translated by d’Urfé, the texts were usually quite simple, in a binary form, and in regular meter. Always strophic, the poems were symmetrical, they typically had rhyming lines of 6–13 syllables organized in strophes of 4–8 lines and were set in a syllabic manner. … Although airs de cour were popular even beyond Paris and France, the fascination with the genre began to decline in the 1630s, and it was the chanson pour boire (humorous songs about drinking) and the chanson pour danser (dancing songs) that succeeded the more courtly genre until the early 1670s. …. Boyer’s 1636 ‘Recueil d’Airs à boire et danser’ consists of 51 songs, 26 “à boire” for a treble and bass voice, and 25 “à danser” for a solo singer, whereas the second collection (IIeme Livre des Chansons à danser et à boire), was published in 1642 and contains 31 chansons “pour danser”, four courantes and two sarabandes (all for a solo voice), and only seven chansons “pour boire” set for two voices (treble and bass)” Marc Vanscheeuwijck. ‘Chansons à boire et à danser. Airs de cour.’\u003cbr\u003e\nExcellent copies of these rare works, finely bound.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOYER, Jean.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859644653903,"sku":"L3768","price":3950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-8.jpg?v=1781793740"},{"product_id":"commynes-philippe-de","title":"COMMYNES, Philippe de.","description":"\u003cp\u003eBeautifully printed early edition of these important memoirs by Philippe de Commynes finely bound for the great English bibliophile, George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland (1758 - 1833). Philippe de Commynes has been described as\"the first critical and philosophical historian since classical times\" Oxford Companion to English Literature. Commynes initially served Charles the Bold at the Burgundian court but was persuaded to defect to the court of Louis XI of France in 1472. He rapidly became one of Louis  closest advisors. Following Louis  death Commynes was involved in a rebellion against the crown and was imprisoned for two years. After his release, exiled to his estate at Dreux, he began to write his Memoirs which he finished in 1498, fifteen years after the death of Louis XI, though they were not printed until 1524. The memoirs are considered a historical record of immense importance, largely because of its author's cynical and forthright attitude to the events and machinations he witnessed. His writings reveal many of the less savoury aspects of the reign of Louis XI, and Commynes recounts them without apology, insisting that the late king's virtues outweighed his vices. He is regarded as a major primary source for 15th century European history. The  M émoires  are divided into \"books\", the first six of which were written between 1488 and 1494, and relate the course of events from the beginning of Commynes' career (1464) up to the death of King Louis. The remaining two books were written between 1497 and 1501, and deal with the Italian wars, ending in the death of King Charles VIII of France. Commynes' scepticism is summed up in his own words:  Car ceux qui gagnent en ont toujours l honneur\"  The honours always go to the victors\". Some have disputed whether his candid phrases disguise a deeper dishonesty. Yet at no time does he attempt to present himself as a hero, even when recounting his military career. His attitude to politics is one of pragmatism, and his ideas are practical and progressive. His reflections on the events he has witnessed are profound by comparison with those of Froissart, who lived a century earlier. His psychological insights into the behaviour of kings are ahead of their time, reminiscent in some ways of the contemporaneous writings of Niccol‚àö‚⧠Machiavelli. Like Machiavelli, Commynes aims to instruct the reader in statecraft, though from a slightly different viewpoint. In particular, he notes how Louis repeatedly got the better of the English, not by military might, but by political machination. \u003cbr\u003e\n A fine copy with tremendous provenance; Bound with the arms the 1st Duke of Sutherland (1758-1833), described by Charles Greville as a \"leviathan of wealth\" and \"...the richest individual who ever died .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COMMYNES, Philippe de.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859646357839,"sku":"L3795","price":2950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_2779.jpg?v=1781793735"},{"product_id":"deshayes-de-courmenin-louis","title":"DESHAYES de Courmenin, Louis.","description":"\u003cp\u003eSecond edition of this important and early voyage to the Levant made by the French diplomat Louis Deshayes, his first mission on behalf of the French Crown. Louis Deshayes de Courmenin must have possessed exceptional gifts of intelligence and know-how for the royal government to entrust him, at the age of 21, with such an important and particularly delicate mission. The mission entrusted to him in 1621, was to obtain from the Grand-Turk the maintenance of the Catholic Churches in the Holy Land, then in the possession of the French Cordeliers, against the attempted usurpations of the Greeks and Armenians, as well as the establishment of a French consulate in Jerusalem. He was also to present votive offerings in the name of the king at the Holy Sepulchre. He was completely successful in these tasks and published the account of his travels in this work, the first edition of which appeared in 1624.  Louis Deshayes .. undertook various diplomatic missions to the East, Russia and Denmark, on behalf of Louis XIII. In 1621 he travelled to Jerusalem, in order to found a French consulate. The chronicle of the journey was written by a secretary in his entourage. The first chapter relates the journey from Paris to Constantinople, across Southeast Europe by the land route (Vienna   Belgrade   Sofia   Adrianople   Constantinople) otherwise known as \"via militaris\". At the same time, the text records the other possible routes to the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Deshayes stayed in Constantinople for six weeks, and described the city and its environs. The following chapters concern the organisation of the palace, Ottoman administration and religion. As the journey continues towards the Holy Land by sea, the text describes the visits to Troy, Smyrna, Chios, Patmos, Symi, Rhodes, Megisti and Cyprus, among other places. Deshayes returned to France after travels that had lasted eleven months and nineteen days. Of special interest in this edition are the engravings of Constantinople, the Bosporus, the Hellespont, Rhodes, Jerusalem and the coast of Asia Minor.  Ioli Vingopoulou. He provided us not only with a description of his journey, but  a clear account of the structure of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the most complete description yet recorded of the Seraglio  Blackmer. His account of Cyprus includes a unique plan of Famagusta, which shows a planned extension of the walls on the west side of the town. The splendid folding map of Jerusalem is of particular importance as it is the first map to show Jerusalem from a vertical birds eye view and provides precious detail for the location of important sites. Deshayes was accused of conspiring against Cardinal Richelieu and was beheaded in 1632. A good copy of this important and finely illustrated work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DESHAYES de Courmenin, Louis.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859646423375,"sku":"L3823","price":3950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/deshayes.jpg?v=1781793734"},{"product_id":"marcos-de-lisboa","title":"MARCOS de Lisboa.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of the first translation into French, by Diego Navarro, of this important work on the history of the Franciscan Order. Marcos de Lisboa  Friar minor, historian, and Bishop of Oporto in Portugal, b. at Lisbon d. in 1591. While visiting the principal convents of the Franciscan Order in Spain, Italy, and France, at the instance of the minister general, Fr. Andrea Alvarez, he succeeded in collecting a number of original documents bearing upon the history of the order. Previous to this in 1532 the minister general, Father Paul Pisotti, had instructed all the provincials of the order to collect all documents they could find pertaining to the fifteenth century, for the purpose of continuing the \"Conformities\" of Bartholomew of Pisa. A great part of the material thus brought together was given to Mark of Lisbon; with the aid of which, and of the Chronicle of Marianus of Florence and what he had himself collected, he compiled in Portuguese his well-known \"Chronicle of the Friars Minor\", published at Lisbon in 1556-68. This work has gone through several editions; and has been translated into Italian, French, and Spanish, and partly into English.   The work is taken up almost completely with biographies of illustrious men of the order, the title being thus somewhat misleading. It is of great historical value, especially since the original sources to which the author had access, have entirely disappeared. It is worth recording that to Mark of Lisbon we are indebted for the first edition of a grammar of the Bicol language in the Philippine Islands.\" Catholic encyclopaedia. \u003cbr\u003e\n The work is of particular interest now in recording the early missions of the Franciscans in Asia.  But the Jesuits had not been the first missionaries to arrive in East Asia. The Friars Minor had worked in the region since the time of the Mongols. Moreover, the friars had accompanied the first Portuguese voyages along the sea route to India. Erasing them from their rightful place in the first chapters of the story of the spread of Christianity in Asia was justly felt as an affront to Franciscan honour. It is therefore no surprise that early modern Franciscan chroniclers sought to reclaim the memory of their pioneering efforts. .. Those adventures were considered among the many accomplishments of the early friars and thus repeated in institutional histories that circulated among Franciscans. Perhaps the most influential of the chronicles where the story of the early friars in Asia was recounted is the Cr‚àö‚â•nica da Ordem dos Frades Menores (3 vols., 1557-1570), written by Frei Marcos de Lisboa (1511-1591) in Portuguese and widely translated. This massive book included several chapters on the story of the Franciscans who followed the Silk Road to the lands of the Great Khan  understood to be Central Asian territories ruled over by descendants of Genghis Khan (1206-1227), although these places were not precisely situated in medieval or early modern texts. Frei Marcos recounted how Pope Innocent IV (r.1243-1254) sent priests to the  most ferocious and cruel Tartar people, who seemed intent on destroying the whole world.  Summoning friars to act as ambassadors, Innocent sent them on two routes into Asia with news of the gospel,  so that at least the fear of God might curb their many cruelties.  The southern route took one Dominican-led expedition to Persia. The northern expedition, a Franciscan group led by Giovanni da Pian del Carpine (1180-1252), made it to Tartaria in 1245 after suffering great hardships along their route. Having passed through  many labors, dangers, and weakness from hunger, since they ate nothing but wheat boiled in water, and to drink they had to melt water that was frozen over a fire,  they were rewarded with dramatic results. In the succinct r ésum é of Frei Marcos:  They made great conversions to the faith among the Tartars, and had a custody or vicariate of many convents among the Tartars .. Frei Marcos s later chapters mention another set of Franciscan emissaries, one sent by Benedict XII (r.1334-1342) into Tartaria nearly a century later, in 1341. Soon after they arrived at their destination, this group led by Giovanni de  Marignolli (called Jo‚àö¬£o de Florença here) was expelled to lands further east by a Muslim usurper of the Tartar throne  who had, however, first delivered some of the friars to a Muslim crowd that  very cruelly cut them to pieces with swords . In those more distant Eastern lands, referred to as the  most vast empire of the Great Khan , Marignolli was received cordially and given a  general license to preach throughout his empire . Carrying a great cross in his hand, Lisboa reported,  preaching with his friars in all places, he converted many pagans to the faith of Christ, and built many churches, always preaching the name of Christ, without fear . .. Frei Marcos de Lisboa was able to examine archives of various Franciscan houses in Spain and Portugal, sifting through medieval documents in order to craft his narrative. He learned of the thirteenth and fourteenth century missions out along the Silk Road since reports about them circulated as far as Iberia. Records of the papal pronouncements that spurred these voyages and conceded Franciscans privileges to organize and administer new churches in distant lands were also mentioned in Lisboa s chronicle.  Liam Matthew Brockey.  Conquests of Memory: Franciscan Chronicles of the East Asian Church in the Early Modern Period . \u003cbr\u003e\n A good copy of this important work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MARCOS de Lisboa.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859646619983,"sku":"L3716","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3716-2.jpg?v=1781793734"},{"product_id":"rondelet-guillaume-2","title":"RONDELET, Guillaume.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.Rare first edition of this medical work on urine by Rondelet. An esteemed and successful physician, Guillaume Rondelet (1507-1566) was Regius professor of Medicine at the University of Montpellier, where he also served at chancellor towards the end of his life. He wrote various treatises on therapeutics and pharmacology, which are considered original contributions as he rarely cites other authors. Rondelet is also well-known as a naturalist for his  De piscis marinibus , a leading treatise on marine animals and fish. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n . Tractatus de urinis  is a concise but detailed treatise focusing on the examination of urine for diagnostic purposes. In the first chapter, Rondelet argues that the study of urine is  certainly useful and necessary to understand illnesses, but also health, as well as to make diagnoses . After explaining the etymology of the word, Rondelet describes what urine is (a product of digestion, primarily produced in the stomach) and what kinds of illnesses can be detected through uroscopy: e.g. diseases of the liver and fevers, but not diseases affecting the heart. Many chapters are concerned with the different types of urine (e.g.  tenuis ,  crassa ,  alba ), their colours and appearance (e.g.  clear  or  cloudy ), the presence of sediments (e.g.  arena  = sand, or calculi) and other substances (e.g. blood), and how they can be linked to different diseases. At the end is a curious addition, titled  The story of Didymus Obrecht , in which Obrecht himself, a physician of Strasbourg, confirms that one day he expelled worms through urine. An interesting note by the editor reveals that Rondelet did not want to publish this treatise as he could not revise it, and asks the reader to be indulgent towards this edition. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The manuscript autograph is probably that of Pierre Gauthier (1746-1820), French bookseller and publisher active at Bourg-en-Bresse about 1772 and later at Lyon (see Jean-Marc Barf éty,  Libraires hauts-alpins dans la France des Lumi√®res , 2019).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"RONDELET, Guillaume.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859653665103,"sku":"L3968","price":2350.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3968-3-1.jpg?v=1781793717"},{"product_id":"josephus-flavius-4","title":"JOSEPHUS, Flavius.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A good copy of Flavius Josephus  collected works, edited and revised by the eminent German scholar Sigismundus Gelenius (1497-1554). This edition is a French reproduction of the original, published the previous year by Froben in Basle, featuring a charming new woodcut title page. Other Parisian printers (Jean Petit, Ambroise Girault and Jacques Kerver) republished it in 1535: Froben could not take action against them as his privilege was only valid within the Holy Roman Empire   he did, however, immediately sue two printers of Cologne who pirated this work in 1534.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Josephus Flavius (c. 37-100) was a Romano-Jewish writer and military leader, author of a number of historical, apologetical and autobiographical works which together comprise a major part of Hellenistic Jewish literature. This edition comprises his major works. The Latin text (mostly attributed to Rufinus of Aquileia) was heavily revised   on the basis of two Greek manuscripts   by Gelenius, who introduced many new readings translating Greek expression into humanistic Latin.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n . Antiquitates Judaicae  (The Antiquities of the Jews) recounts the history of the Jews from creation up until the revolt of AD 66-70 and contains contemporary references to Jesus, James (the  brother  of Jesus), John the Baptist, Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, Agrippa I and Agrippa II, as well as the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the Zealots.  Bellum Judaicum  (History of the Jewish War) gives a detailed account of the revolt of AD 66-70 and includes Josephus  famous description of the siege of Jerusalem.  The Jewish War not only is the principal source for the Jewish revolt but is especially valuable for its description of Roman military tactics and strategy  (Britannica).  Contra Apionem  (Against Apion) is a defence of Judaism against the Greek Alexandrine grammarian Apion, in which Josephus demonstrates the antiquity of Jewish religion and the authenticity of the Jewish Bible. The last treatise, traditionally ascribed to Josephus but now acknowledged to be spurious,  De imperio rationis sive de Machabaeis , is an account of the martyrdom of the seven Maccabees and their mothers.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n . .French impressions of Froben s edition are rare, we were able to locate only two copies bearing Mac√® s imprints in libraries (Ohio State University Library, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"JOSEPHUS, Flavius.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859653828943,"sku":"L3827","price":1750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3827-3.jpg?v=1781793716"},{"product_id":"andres-juan","title":"ANDRÉS, Juan.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.First and only French translation of this rare and influential anti-Islamic polemic by the converted Spanish scholar Juan Andr és, first published in Spanish in 1515. This translation, by the French poet and Orientalist Guy Lef√®vre de la Boderie (1541-1598), was based on the Italian version of 1537.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Juan Andr és (active 1487 1515), was born in X‚àö‚Ćtiva, a small village in the Kingdom of Valencia. Raised as a Muslim and trained as an alfaqui (religious jurist) by his father, Andr és converted to Catholicism in 1487 and became a priest. He was sent by the monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella to preach Christianity and convert Muslims in Granada and Aragon. Andr és composed the  Confusion of the Muhammadan sect  as part of his mission: he explains his aims in the introduction:  I determined to compose the present treatise ( ) and herein briefly to collect the fabulous fictions, ridiculous discourses, impostures, bestialities, fooleries, villainies, inconveniencies, impossibilities, and contradictions, which that wicked Muhamed dispersed in the books of his Sect ( ) and my intent in publishing it, was that even the weakest judgements may perceive that in Muhamed s Law there is not any ground or reason how it can be true  (tr. adapted from the English version of 1652). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The  Confusion  is a critique of Islam based on Islamic sources, in 12 chapters. The author begins sketching the life of Muhammad, then presents the contents of the Quran and Sunnah, and lists a series of arguments which can be brought against these texts in order to demonstrate that they are  false and do not contain the word of God  and  ridiculous things fit for men of little knowledge . Andr és talks about the Moors who rebelled against Muhammad, Muhammad s  wives and slaves , his ascension to Heaven and the numerous Heavens of the Moors. The last chapters are dedicated to the contradictions contained in the Quran, showing how the Quran itself approves Christian faith and presents Christ as  the most excellent Prophet that ever came into the world . Interestingly, due to containing extensive passages from the Quran and Sunnah   these are in transliterated Arabic and printed in italic   this work was banned by the Inquisition in Spain. For this reason, only two copies of the Spanish original are preserved today (British Library and Library of Congress).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ANDRÉS, Juan.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859653960015,"sku":"L3952","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3952-2.jpg?v=1781793716"},{"product_id":"vulson-de-la-colombiere","title":"VULSON DE LA COLOMBIÈRE.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA deluxe, beautifully illustrated ms heraldic manual, produced in France c.1660, based on the  Science hero√Øque  (1644) of Marcus Vulson de La Colombi√®re (d.1658). To him is attributed the invention of the hatching system of tinctures, as well as the rediscovery and adaptation of the image of chivalry which would greatly influence C19 medievalism. Selections from  Science hero‚àö√òque  - with slight variations probably dictated by the patron s taste - were crafted into this delightful reference book. Heraldry is the genre whereby the attraction and  fetish  of the manuscript medium, and of hand-colouring, persisted longest into the age of print. The manual tackles the traditional heraldic matter, from the origins to the shields, the use of colours, quartering, impalement, patterns, emblems, charges, crests, crowns, and the rich vocabulary used to describe them. These are accompanied, mostly on facing pages, by hundreds of numbered shields illustrating specific examples. The sophistication and liveliness of the naturalistic devices (e.g., lions, goats, cockerels, wheels, fish bones, cats, dogs, devils, eagles, owls, bats, spiders, etc.) on numerous shields suggest the work of a skilled draftsman able to reproduce hundreds of printed illustrations faultlessly. Towards the end are the best drawings. These include 4 full-figure likenesses found on ancient monuments, explaining funeral heraldic symbolism (for princes, those who died in battle on the winning or the losing side, and those who died in prison), and two large equestrian portraits of Aymon de Salvaing (in 1505) and the Duc de Bourbon illustrating the medieval use of the  lambrequin , a piece of cloth hanging from knights  helmets, rendered in heraldic terms as  mantling . The last few pages are devoted to French royal arms, and their sundry variations, with a dozen coats of arms sketched in pencil and left blank, as in the printed manual. A very attractive ms.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VULSON DE LA COLOMBIÈRE.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859663298895,"sku":"L3982","price":16500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3982.jpg?v=1781793700"},{"product_id":"azo-of-bologna-with-blanosco-johannes-de","title":"AZO OF BOLOGNA [with] BLANOSCO, Johannes de.","description":"\u003cp\u003eDecorated manuscript on vellum.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA notably large and handsome legal sammelband, from the dawn of the gothic age, containing two important legal treatises – the second of great rarity and never appearing on the market before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eProvenance:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMost probably written and decorated for use in a southern French monastic community. The later provenance strongly suggests that this was the Benedictine Abbey of St. Mary of Lagrasse, in the Languedoc at the foot of the Pyrenees in south-western France. The house was founded in the seventh century, raised to abbey status in 779 by Charlemagne, and closed during the Secularisation of French monasteries following the Revolution, with its goods seized by the State in 1789 and sold.\u003cbr\u003e\nMonsieur Chapuy(?), priest (curé) of Lagrasse: his ex libris marks in pencil on front endleaf in a hand of c. 1800. Extensive antiquarian notes on second author in later pen on verso of same leaf, signed ‘Giray’. Then sold at auction, presumably by one of his heirs, in Lyon in the early twentieth century: a sale ticket of this date issued by Monsieur Guillot of the Hôtel des Ventes, 19 Rue Confort-Rue de l’Hopital 6 in that town, loose in front of volume.\u003cbr\u003e\nReemerged in sale in Nîmes 2022, the subject of several news reports and blogs.\u003cbr\u003e\nText:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA fine, large law codex with two important ms texts, produced in France between the mid-C13 and early C14. No other copy of the second work, ‘Libellus super titulo de actionibus’ – a fundamental text in feudal law – appears to have ever come to the market before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMedieval lawyers had a sizeable corpus of local\/customary, Roman and Ecclesiastical law at their fingertips by the middle of the C12, but experienced enormous problems with its practical application and interpretation. The C12 and C13 saw various grand attempts, including the works in this sammelband, at producing a workable legal system, to navigate the myriad of often conflicting legislations and interpretations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‘Libellus super titulo de actionibus’ – the second text, copied in the early C14 – is a commentary on Book IV of Justinian’s Institutiones, completed in the 1250s. It survives in perhaps ten mss, none recorded outside institutional collections and none appears to have come to the market before. ‘Libellus’ is a milestone of feudal law, and, for the first time in a systematic way, it ‘raised the question of the place occupied by the French king and his officials, […] the barons, their vassals and other elements of the feudal hierarchy, within the Roman legal framework’ (Jones, p.215), with particular attention to the ‘actio’ of homage. Johannes de Blanosco (also Jean de Blanot or de Blanosque; c. 1203-81) was doctor of Canon and Civil Law at Bologna and later legal advisor to the Duke Hugh IV of Burgundy. ‘Attempts to situate Roman legal thought within the pre-existent northern French legal structure and efforts to apply Roman legal principles to contemporary circumstances brought Roman jurists in France to confront a fundamental problem: whether or not the French king could be equated with the “princeps” of Roman law’ (Jones, pp.215-16). By stating that ‘Rex Francie in regno suo princeps est, nam in temporalibus superiorem non recognoscit’ (The King of France is emperor in his own kingdom, and does not acknowledge anyone superior to him in temporal matters – here on fol.154v), Blanot discussed the independence and ‘freedom’ of the Kings of France within their kingdom and, though never explicitly, in relation to the Holy Roman Emperor. ‘Kings who held a de facto sovereign authority, even if not de iure sovereignty, over their realms were generally designated independent, or “free,” kings. What made a king “free” or “unfree” depended entirely on whether or not they complied with an antecedent rule of recognition: does the king, as a matter of fact, recognize the superior authority of another in temporal matters?’ (Lee, p.59). This remarkably important text – the basis of the concept of national sovereignty, much debated today – survives in perhaps ten mss, none recorded outside institutional repositories and none appear to have come to the market before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‘Summa Codicis’ – the first, copied in the mid-C13 – was one of the favourite texts used by glossators to augment medieval law codices. Azo of Bologna (also Azzo or Azolenus; c. 1150-c. 1230) was professor of law at Bologna – the epicentre of medieval legal studies. The text itself was most probably composed between 1208 and 1210. It is an attempt to analyse and interpret the entire Corpus iuris civilis, the compilation of Roman law made by the sixth-century Roman emperor, Justinian. The work was incorporated into that of his pupil Franciscus Accursius, and forms the basis of the standard glosses found encircling and framing the text of the ‘Decretals’ in most medieval manuscripts and early printings of that text. The motto ‘Chi non ha Azzo, non vada a Palazzo’ (‘Don’t go to court, if you don’t know your Azo’) was common among late medieval Italian lawyers, foreseeing the failure of jurists who were not sufficiently prepared. Despite its fundamental importance to medieval law, the text remains unedited apart from some C16 printings and their reissues and modern facsimiles.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"AZO OF BOLOGNA [with] BLANOSCO, Johannes de.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859665690959,"sku":"L3988","price":275000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3988-7.jpg?v=1781793695"},{"product_id":"gerard-of-cremona","title":"GERARD of Cremona.","description":"\u003cp\u003eVery curious French ms on astrology and numerology – a late C17 astrologer’s compendium of several works, medieval and modern. The ms ‘1699’ within a few horoscopes may suggests a date for composition. The first half is a selection from the influential ‘Geomancie astronomique’ by the Italian astrologer and physician Gherardo da Sabbioneta’s (fl. early C13). He was often mistaken for the great translator from the Arabic, Gerard of Cremona (fl. C12); in 1662, when it was first published in French, ‘Geomancie’ was attributed to the latter. Geomancy is the art of divination through the interpretation of random patterns or markings obtained by tossing soil or other materials randomly; numerology, or arithmancy, assigns numerical values to words or letters for divination purposes. This ‘fine work’ shows how the Geomantic characters – the 16 figures of geomancy, each representing a different state of the world – can be treated astrologically’ (Gardner, ‘Bib. Astr.’, 502). There are minor variations here from the first printed edition (1662), in phrasing and content; the section excluded, e.g., referring to kings, bishops, etc., were probably irrelevant to the writer. The detailed workings and aspects of the 12 Houses and the 7 Planets are first explained, then applied to everyday problems such as how to tell whether a woman is pregnant, an illness will turn for the better or worse, a war will last long, or whether a traveller will make a safe return. Halfway through the source of the ms changes to Peruchio’s ‘La chiromance, la physionomie et la geomance’ (1657). Thence the scribe copied a charming engraving showing correspondences between astrological and geomantic symbols, and their effects, as well as, with slight variations, a diagram applying the geomantic figures to the days of the weeks and the planets. There follows a section on ‘judgements by figures’, matching the 16 geomantic symbols with interpretations, e.g., ‘la figure du chemin’ denotes travel, the prison figure denotes external ailments, etc. A large table summarises the text with judgements applied to family members, health, voyages, etc. The final part returns to Gerard’s ‘Geomancie’, with rules for divination using the alphabet with various strings of numbers, for specific questions, e.g., which of two men shall win a contest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe early owner was doubtless an astrologer. Whilst we have not traced the abandoned castle where this ms was allegedly found, Plouvorn suggests a Breton provenance. Considering that both Gerard’s and Peruchio’s are now scarce, they probably had a low print-run and were hard to get hold of outside Paris. This copy was also in the library of the C20 Breton illusionist and historian of magic Fanch Guillemin.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GERARD of Cremona.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859666084175,"sku":"L4020","price":2950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_8852.jpg?v=1781793690"},{"product_id":"sicile-jean-courtois-1","title":"SICILE, Jean Courtois.","description":"\u003cp\u003eExtremely rare and beautifully printed early edition of this famous heraldic text by Sicile, one of the earliest treatises on heraldry in French, with additional material probably by Gilles Corrozet whose acrostic ‘Carroset’ is found in the last paragraph, beautifully illustrated with contemporary hand colouring. The text is divided into two parts, the first on the emblazoning of arms, or the use of colour in heraldry, in which Sicile describes the conditions that must be met for entrance to knighthood (including an emotional plea that the traditional dubbing ceremony be reinstituted.). The second part details the appropriateness of the colouring of different articles of clothing for men and women and the meaning of these colours. “The date of the composition of the first part probably lies between 1435-58; that of the second part about 1530. The first portion of Part II … has been copied and adapted from Corbichon’s translation of Galnville.. The woodcut of the Arms of France on the title is repeated on A6 (here B2): that and the 48 labels and roundels on other pages being coloured by stencilling as originally issued and marked. On D1 (here G1) is the ‘Blason sur les sept aage de l’homme’. In the second part “Des inventions des couleurs: Habit moral de l’homme selon les couleurs’ enumerating the different articles of clothing of men and women, with appropriateness of their colours. … the author makes an interesting reference to distinguished painters: “Les oeuvres de maistre Jehan fouquet: de maistre Jehan de Paris…” Fouquet the famous miniaturist, …died about 1485, Jean Perreal, also known as Jean de Paris, flourished about 1472-1528” Fairfax-Murray.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJean Courtois, called Sicily Herald, was in the service of Pierre de Luxembourg, the count of Saint-Pol before later joining the service of the king of the two Sicilies, Alfonso V of Aragon, though he lived for a long time in Mons in the Netherlands. His work was most influential and reprinted often in the C16th. Rabelais’ character Gargantua gives a violent tirade against the author of the “Blason des couleurs”, especially for his use of colours to create social distinctions. A fresh copy of this uncommon and important work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SICILE, Jean Courtois.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859668509007,"sku":"L3863","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3863-2.jpg?v=1781793683"},{"product_id":"boillot-joseph","title":"BOILLOT, Joseph.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very good clean copy of the first edition of this most remarkable vernacular work on military machines and defence architecture, illustrated with 90 handsome copperplates by the author himself, here in strong and fine impression. ‚ÄòThe first book printed at Chaumont‚Äô (Cockle). Joseph Boillot (1546-1605), a French artist, architect and military engineer, was the officer in charge of gunpowder and saltpetre in his native Langres. His most important work, ‚ÄòModelles artifices‚Äô includes both those that had by then become common weapons of artillery as well as some of his own invention. It begins by highlighting the importance of the human senses when at war. There follow illustrated accounts of the use of military machinery, from levers (with an interesting engraving illustrating Archimedes‚Äôs statement ‚ÄòIf you give me a lever and a place to stand, I can move the world‚Äô), to augers, instruments to calculate distances and triangulation, sundry kinds of modular ladders, improvised bridges, reinforced gates (‚Äòagainst the monsters who are the rage of today‚Äôs France‚Äô), gunpowder, sulphur, cannons, the structure of carts and horse harness strong enough to carry or draw heavy machinery, tools for the cleaning of cannons and adjusting the aim. The last 60 ll. consist of descriptions of extraordinady pyrotechnical artifices, all handsomely illustrated at work. Most handsome is the engraving of the German alchemist Berthold Schwarz (fl. C14), the legendary inventor of gunpowder, being counselled by the Devil, surrounded by alchemical instruments and a finely bound book. A scarce, most interesting and exquisitely printed work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOILLOT, Joseph.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859668574543,"sku":"L4024","price":12500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L4024-1.jpg?v=1781793682"},{"product_id":"nancel-nicolas-de","title":"NANCEL, Nicolas de.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this important and complete work on the Plague which contains much of medical and social interest as it was written from the authors first hand experience of the Plague that was still taking place in the city of Tours. Nicholas de Nancel (1539-1610), while still very young, studied under Petrus Ramus, the celebrated mathematician in Paris in 1548, and is perhaps best know today for his ‘Life of Ramus’ (Paris 1599). He occupied a chair at the college des Presles from around 1554 when Ramus was principal. The civil wars caused him to leave Paris and he accepted the chair of Greek at the University of Douai in 1562, but returned two years later. He practised medicine briefly in Soissons, before moving to Tours in 1569 where he married a wealthy widow. At Tours he observed first hand the effects of the plague from which he wrote this most interesting treatise. The work is divided into three parts; the first defines what the plague is, its various forms, origins and causes (including theological and astrological), and the various signs of the plague. The second work concerns all the various precautions one can take to prevent from catching the plague, medical, food and diet (natural wines were considered acceptable but fortified wines too ‘chauds’), sleep, mental health (passions de l’esprit), exercise, various cordials, topical medicines and finally amulets and precious stones. The third books concerns cures for the Plague, including specific cures for various symptoms such as high fevers, and again diet during the illness, remedies, with a discussion of the cures recommended by Galen and Avicenna. He ends with a most interesting ‘Avertissment .. touchant laPolice \u0026amp; reglement qu’on doit garder \u0026amp; tenir en temps de peste’, which is effectively a treatise of public health and guide to collective behaviour in order to prevent the spread of contagion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe work is most interesting for its social context as during the bloody wars of religion in France; the cause of plague was often considered a moral one: “This type of accusation, suggesting that impiety, atheism, and the dissolution of morals were both causes and signs of the plague, was recurrent. In his ‘discourse  tresample de la peste’ (Very ample discourse on the plague), Nicholas de Nancel, the physician from the city of Tours in France, described for his readers the signs of imminent epidemics as follows. “[It looms] whenever you see that all divine and human justice is despised or abolished, service to gods neglected, charity diminished, men swamped with all kinds of vices, fallen in atheism, impiety; blaspheming, swearing.” Furthermore, libertinism and atheism constituted in themselves contagion with a diabolic origin and thus it was the will of God to punish them: ‘the later plague and poison poured by him [the devil] upon human species can never seize the heart of man unless there is God’s supreme and just rage and judgement’. In a more reasoned manner, atheism was perceived as a contagious malady whose diffusion would inevitably provoke the dissolution of society” Beatrice Delaurenti,, Cultures of Contagion.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NANCEL, Nicolas de.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859669262671,"sku":"L3970","price":2850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_0875-copy.jpg?v=1781793680"},{"product_id":"commines-philippe-de-8","title":"COMMINES, Philippe de.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA fine copy of the first Elzevir edition, beautifully printed, of these important memoirs by Philippe de Commynes, finely bound for Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay (1779-1845), British ambassador to France and Russia, by Simier the King’s binder in France. Philippe de Commynes has been described as”the first critical and philosophical historian since classical times” Oxford Companion to English Literature. Commynes initially served Charles the Bold at the Burgundian court but was persuaded to defect to the court of Louis XI of France in 1472. He rapidly became one of Louis’ closest advisors. Following Louis’ death Commynes was involved in a rebellion against the crown and was imprisoned for two years. After his release, exiled to his estate at Dreux, he began to write his Memoirs which he finished in 1498, fifteen years after the death of Louis XI, though they were not printed until 1524. The memoirs are considered a historical record of immense importance, largely because of its author’s cynical and forthright attitude to the events and machinations he witnessed. His writings reveal many of the less savoury aspects of the reign of Louis XI, and Commynes recounts them without apology, insisting that the late king’s virtues outweighed his vices. He is regarded as a major primary source for 15th century European history. The ‘Mémoires’ are divided into “books”, the first six of which were written between 1488 and 1494, and relate the course of events from the beginning of Commynes’ career (1464) up to the death of King Louis. The remaining two books were written between 1497 and 1501, and deal with the Italian wars, ending in the death of King Charles VIII of France. Commynes’ scepticism is summed up in his own words: “Car ceux qui gagnent en ont toujours l’honneur” “The honours always go to the victors”. Some have disputed whether his candid phrases disguise a deeper dishonesty. Yet at no time does he attempt to present himself as a hero, even when recounting his military career. His attitude to politics is one of pragmatism, and his ideas are practical and progressive. His reflections on the events he has witnessed are profound by comparison with those of Froissart, who lived a century earlier. His psychological insights into the behaviour of kings are ahead of their time, reminiscent in some ways of the contemporaneous writings of Niccolò Machiavelli. Like Machiavelli, Commynes aims to instruct the reader in statecraft, though from a slightly different viewpoint. In particular, he notes how Louis repeatedly got the better of the English, not by military might, but by political machination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA fine copy with excellent provenance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COMMINES, Philippe de.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868668895567,"sku":"L3624","price":2950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_1164-copy.jpg?v=1781793678"},{"product_id":"nostradamus-michel-de-1","title":"NOSTRADAMUS, Michel de.","description":"\u003cp\u003eCharming popular edition of the prophecies of Nostradamus printed by Pierre Chevillot, in imitation of the earliest editions, here without date. This edition supposedly derives from a manuscript given by the author’s nephew Michael Nostradamus to the editor Vincent Sève, bringing the text up to date from 1597. All other editions of Nostradumus’ centuries produced by Chevillot at Troyes were published between 1605 and 1629 and the first title bears the arms of Louis XIII who acceded to the throne in 1610. The first part contains the famous dedication to his son and the second to Henry II. The work was originally published in three parts, the first containing 353 verses. The second part was printed in 1557 and added 289 further prophecies; the third and final part of 300 new verses was printed in 1558, posthumously. These rhymed quatrains were grouped into nine sets of 100 and one of 42, called “Centuries”. Nostradamus claimed each prediction was based upon his astrological reading of particular events, though it is evident that a great deal is copied from earlier Latin authors such as Livy, Plutarch and other classical historians and many taken from Richard Roussat’s Livre de l’estat et mutations des temps (1549–1550). The Mirabilis Liber of 1522, which contained a wide range of prophecies by Pseudo-Methodius, the Tiburtine Sibyl, Joachim of Fiore, Savonarola and others was also a well used source. His considerable initial success was based on the fact that he was one of the first to re-paraphrase these prophecies in French. Further material was gleaned from the De honesta disciplina of 1504 by Petrus Crinitus, which included extracts from Michael Psellos’s De daemonibus, and the De Mysteriis Aegyptiorum, a book on Chaldean and Assyrian magic by Iamblichus, a fourth-century Neo-Platonist. Most of the quatrains deal with disasters, such as plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions, murders, droughts, and battles—all undated and based on foreshadowings by the Mirabilis Liber.  The work was remarkably popular and has been reprinted over two hundred times since its first appearance. Popular modern interpretations of the quatrains have shown them to predict the French Revolution, Napoleon, Hitler, the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and even the death of princess Diana and the events of 9\/11. An important contemporary theme was fear of an impending invasion of Europe by Muslim forces, headed by the expected Antichrist, directly reflecting the Ottoman invasions of the Balkans. The work was published within the context of a general fear of an imminent apocalypse. A rare and charming popular edition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NOSTRADAMUS, Michel de.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868670632271,"sku":"L3789","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_1191-copy.jpg?v=1781793664"},{"product_id":"de-pluvinel-antoine","title":"DE PLUVINEL, ANTOINE.","description":"\u003cp\u003eImpressive, well-margined copy of this important and influential guide to dressage by the French riding master Antoine de Pluvinel (1552-1620), one of the greatest classics of the genre. This is the third edition with French and German text in double columns, in accordance with Pluvinel s original manuscript. A magnificent full page engraved portrait of Pluvinel s student, Louis XIII, follows the double page frontispiece, showing the king surrounded by a dynamic scene of allegorical figures and medallion portraits. Following this are three portraits and 58 exquisite plates demonstrating various equine training methods and accomplishments signed by the famed Dutch engraver Crispijn de Passe the Elder (1564-1637). An excellent copy of this important influence on modern dressage... .\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eAntoine de Pluvinel worked as premier ecuyer to the Duc d Anjou, later Henri III, and was later appointed as tutor to the young Louis XIII, forming a close relationship with the future King. In 1594 Pluvinel founded the Academie d Equitation, where generations of French nobility were trained in horsemanship, as well as dancing, etiquette, and fashionable dress. The work was published posthumously by Crispijn de Passe and was edited by Menou de Charnizay. It was an instant success and was reprinted several times and translated into a number of languages. .\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eThe contents combine extensive textual description with richly illustrative engravings. It is written in the form of a dialogue between the king and the author. Pluvinel was known for his humane training methods, using positive reinforcement rather than punishment to make horses obedient and to encourage mutual trust, predicating modern training practices. He popularised the rise of single and double pillars in training of collection and levade, always insisting that the horse should be taking pleasure in the work; the secret is in  making the horse enjoy whatever it is doing till it does it of its own free will.  Thanks to Pluvinel s work, the harsh Italian training methods of Giovanni Pignatelli became obsolete, and the life span and well-being of his horses increased dramatically. .\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eSauf ces l ég√®res differences, c'est la meme  édon. Dans certains exemplaires, le titre grav é porte 1629 (Mennessier de la Lance).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DE PLUVINEL, ANTOINE.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868671222095,"sku":"L3729","price":9750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3729-2.jpg?v=1781793664"},{"product_id":"silves-de-la-selva-gohory-jacques","title":"[Silves de la Selva   Gohory, Jacques].","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare provincial edition of this romance of chivalry, charmingly bound with the royal emblem of the crowned ‘Dauphin’ on the spine and the arms of Charles Le Bascle, Marquis d’Argenteuil on the covers. Although the dolphin gilt stamp does not itself denote the provenance of the French heir apparent, the crowned dolphin carries a stronger inference of Royal ownership.\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eThe work is a continuation of the original Amadis story; Jacques Gohorry made this translation and adaption from the 12th book of Amadis written by Silves de la Selva first published in Spanish at Seville in 1549. The stories of Amadis were immensely popular in C16th France; Pettegree records seven editions for the year 1576 alone of the various books of Amadis. “Amadís of Gaul, is a prose romance of chivalry, possibly Portuguese in origin. The first known version of this work, dating from 1508, was written in Spanish by Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo, who claimed to have “corrected and emended” corrupt originals. Internal evidence suggests that the Amadís had been in circulation since the early 14th century or even the late 13th. In Montalvo’s version, Amadís was the most handsome, upright, and valiant of knights. The story of his incredible feats of arms, in which he is never defeated, was interwoven with that of his love for Oriana, daughter of Lisuarte, king of England; she was his constant inspiration, and eventually he won her in marriage. Many characters in the Amadís were based on figures from Celtic romance, and the work was, indeed, Arthurian in spirit. It differed, however, from the Arthurian cycle in numerous important respects. There was no particular sense of place or time, only a vague unspecified field for the interplay of idealized human relationships. Whereas earlier romance had reflected a feudal society, the Amadís invested the monarchy with an authority that heralds the advent of absolutism. Amadís himself was more idealized and therefore less human than such earlier heroes as Lancelot and Tristan. He was also far more chaste: French romance had already put a courtly veneer over the disruptive eroticism of the Celtic tales, but, with the Amadís, medieval chivalry achieved complete respectability. The work and its exaltation of new standards of knightly conduct caught the imagination of polite society all over Europe. In France, especially, it became the textbook of chivalresque deportment and epistolary style. Throughout the 16th century, numerous sequels and feeble imitations appeared, the fashion being given its deathblow by parody early in the 17th century in Miguel de Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote (though Cervantes held the original in high esteem).” Enc. Brit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA charming copy with excellent provenance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"[Silves de la Selva - Gohory, Jacques].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868673024335,"sku":"L3950","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3950-1.jpg?v=1781793659"},{"product_id":"massac-raymond-and-charles-de-and-ovid-naso-publius-massac-raymond-trans","title":"MASSAC, Raymond and Charles de. (and) OVID, Naso, Publius. [MASSAC, Raymond. trans.]","description":"\u003cp\u003eThree extremely rare editions of the principal works of the doctor Raymond de Massac and his son Charles, a poet, who helped versify his work. Massac was a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences at Toulouse and was also a member of the Faculty of medicine at Orléans. The first work is Massac s detailed description of the properties of the waters of the fountains of Pougues in Latin, and the second the same, translated into alexandrine verse by his son Charles. Jean Pidoux, doctor to Louis de Gonzague, Duke of Nevers, was the first to write about the curative virtues of the waters of Pougues, 1584. Having become physician to the King, Pidoux advised Henri III, who suffered from renal colic to come and take the  waters of Pougues. Henri III felt so well after his  cure‚Äö that he returned, accompanied by his mother, Catherine de M édicis, who also suffered from kidney pain. Massac s work is also dedicated to the wife of the Duke of Nevers. It discusses the relative properties of two fountains close to each other, one called Saint L éger, the other Saint Marcel in great depth. Henri IV had just also visited the fountains in 1603, to deal with his kidney problems, and a year later his gout, and Massac deals the properties of the water in helping both conditions.\u003cbr\u003e\nCharles and Raymond de Massac published the first part of their translation of the Metamorphoses in alexandrines in 1603, only completed in 1617 and would not be further printed. The third book here is the continuation, the translation of the 13th book. Their translation conforms to the protocol followed by the previous translators into French, Habert and Clement Marot in the use of verse, the absence of illustrations and allegorical comments; parsimonious use of subtitles and glosses in the margins. This choice could have been determined by the wish of the Massac s to register their translation, dedicated to Henri IV (in the first edition), in the continuity of those proposed in the past to the kings of France: (Marot (François Ier) and Habert (Henri II). However their timing was unfortunate in that Renouard published a prose translation at the same period, (1606) much altering the text, which was profusely illustrated with lots of commentary that proved hugely popular, and consigned the Massacs  translation to oblivion.\u003cbr\u003e\nFrom the extensive library of rare medical works of Dr. Maurice-Villaret.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MASSAC, Raymond and Charles de. (and) OVID, Naso, Publius. [MASSAC, Raymond. trans.]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868673155407,"sku":"L3971","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3971-2.jpg?v=1781793659"},{"product_id":"rustichello-da-pisa","title":"[RUSTICHELLO DA PISA].","description":"\u003cp\u003e.Splendid copy of the scarce and rarely complete second edition, in luxury folio format, of this influential French chivalric romance   formerly in the fine libraries of the Duke of Roxburghe and Charles Fairfax Murray. The  roman  of the knight-errand Meliadus, Tristan s father, originates in the Arthurian prose  Tristan . Written by H élie de Borron c.1235-40 as an answer to the Lancelot-Graal romances, it became a milestone of the genre. It covers the period between Meliadus s son Tristan s birth and his remarriage to King Hoel s daughter. Denis Janot specialised in printing romance and fiction, often in expensively produced editions.  This level of investment suggests a strong confidence in the market for romance  (Rawles, 2018, p.43). . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..The text is based on the French translation and adaptation of the influential Arthurian compilation of Rustichello da Pisa (fl.C13)   who assisted Marco Polo in writing his travelogue   made at the request of Edward I of England. The name of the French translator remains unknown (cf. Rawles, 2018, n.17).  The printed  Meliadus  is set, fictionally, at the very end of the reign of Uther Pendragon, and it provides an immediate prehistory of the world of Arthur and of the prose  Tristan ,   Lancelot s father,   Gauvain s father, Lac father of Erec, and King Pharamond of Gaul . It is also the  retroactive  continuation of the roman  Guiron le Courtois , printed c.1501, the narrative of which overlaps with the second part of  Meliadus  (Taylor, p.92). The sundry adventures of Meliadus include witnessing King Arthur s coronation, becoming the Queen of Scotland s lover, plotting with King Pharamond (the first Merovingian king) and King Marc of Cornwall, and fighting against the fathers of future knights of the Round Table. It ends with Meliadus  murder whilst hunting at Leonnoys. The charming title woodcut, produced by an anonymous artist, reprises the style of Geoffrey Tory, and is only found in three other works c.1533-4. . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..Formerly in the library of the major bibliophile and collector, John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe, whose remarkable library was sold in 1812 (lot 6160).  The sale   was a most sensational affair and the total of ¬¨¬£23,342 was an extraordinary one at the time   The Roxburghe Club was inaugurated in commemoration    (de Ricci). Roxburghe also owned several medieval mss of vernacular romances, including Meliadus. Thomas Jolley (fl. early C19) probably acquired this copy at the Roxburghe sale; de Ricci calls him a  forgotten collector whose seven sales lasted from 1843 to 1853  (p.107). . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.. ..This copy matches the first of three issues, with Janot s imprint alone..\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"[RUSTICHELLO DA PISA].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868674302287,"sku":"L4033","price":12500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L4033-3.jpg?v=1781793656"},{"product_id":"du-verdier-antoine","title":"DU VERDIER, Antoine.","description":"\u003cp\u003eElegantly bound set of a scarce edition of this early encyclopaedia of famous historical, literary, political, religious and cultural figures, from antiquity to the C16. Antoine du Verdier (1544-1600) was ‘conseiller du roi’ in Lyon, but mostly known as a biographer. ‘Prosopographie’ – i.e., a collection of biographies – first appeared in Lyon in 1573; it went through at least 4 further editions, the present by du Verdier’s son, Claude. In the humanistic tradition of ‘de viris illustribus’, the work gathers thousands of eminently educational anecdotes. Biblical figures include Adam, Eve, the Devil (with a wonderful woodcut portrait), the patriarchs, the Evangelists (with a lavishly illustrated biography of St Peter), and popes. Related religious figures are Zoroaster and Mohammed. Extensive sections are devoted to classical antiquity and mythology, with deities, heroes, emperors, philosophers and historians. Most valuable are the sections concerning Du Verdier’s contemporaries. In addition to kings, emperors and political figures, these include Pietro Aretino, Sir Thomas More (with an account of his death), Paracelsus, Ignatius of Loyola, the seditions of the Anabaptists in Westphalia, F. Rabelais (with a clear chronology), Francis Xavier, Sultan Suleyman, the occultist Guillaume Postel, Estienne Battori Prince of Transylvania, Mary Queen of Scots, the mathematician and cryptographer Blaise de Vigenère (with a bibliography), and Elizabeth I of England. The absence of portraits for several figures shows the impossibility of retrieving the actual likeness of hundreds of real and legendary figures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the library of Maurice (1572-1632), Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, lover of culture and the performing arts. Among the travelling theatre troupes he hosted in Kassel were some from England. Subsequently in possession of his son Herman IV (1607-58), Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg. Due to a crippled foot, he eschewed the military life, becoming a respected scholar of astronomy, geography and mathematics. Then to Ernest (1623-93), Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels, Herman’s step-brother, known for his religious tolerance and the liturgical book he patronized, containing Catholic, Calvinist and Lutheran hymns. In the C19, this copy was in the renowned library of the Dukes of Arenberg at Nordkirchen Castle.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DU VERDIER, Antoine.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868675449167,"sku":"L4129","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_8759.jpg?v=1781793652"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/collections\/Screenshot_2026-06-13_at_6.39.40_PM.png?v=1781372405","url":"https:\/\/www.sokol.co.uk\/collections\/france.oembed","provider":"Sokol Books Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}