{"title":"Italy","description":"\u003cp\u003eItalian history, literature, art, and culture.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"florus-lucius-annaeus","title":"FLORUS, Lucius Annaeus","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very beautifully bound copy of this exceptionally rare edition, finely bound in a style that is very close to or imitates bindings made for the Cardinal de Granvelle or Mahieu by the Fugger or Apple binder, though French. The binding, apparently made at the very end of the C16th, seems closer to those of the mid century, though freer in style. The scrolled corner pieces with a distinctive leaf in the outer corner look like a conscious imitation of the Fugger binders distinctive tool. It is exceptionally finely worked for such a small binding, totally unsophisticated, and very well preserved. An inlay has been added to the centre of the binding in red morocco probably to cover a monogram or cypher that the new owner wished to cover. Many armorial bindings had their arms removed during the revolution so as to disguise their noble or ecclesiastic provenance which could have been dangerous or embarrassing to the owner. Unfortunately we have not been able to identify the small princely armorial stamp on the title-page. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n This edition of Florus is exceptionally rare; we have located only one copy in libraries, at San Diego State University. There is apparently no copy held in French or any other European library. Neither is it recorded in either of the Lyon bibliographies, Baudrier or Gultlingen. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Lucius Annaeus Florus (74 AD   130 AD) was a Roman historian who lived in the time of Trajan and Hadrian. He compiled, chiefly from Livy, a brief sketch of the history of Rome from the foundation of the city to the closing of the temple of Janus by Augustus (25 BC). The work, is a panegyric of the greatness of Rome, the life of which is divided into the periods of infancy, youth and manhood. It is often wrong in geographical and chronological details. In spite of its faults, the book was much used as a handy epitome of Roman history in the Middle Ages, and survived as a textbook into the nineteenth century. In the manuscripts, the writer is variously named as Julius Florus, Lucius Anneus Florus, or simply Annaeus Florus. From certain similarities of style, he has been identified as Publius Annius Florus, poet, rhetorician and friend of Hadrian, author of a dialogue on the question of whether Virgil was an orator or poet, of which the introduction has been preserved. The Epitome of Livy is Florus' most famous work, offering a unique insight into the lost books of the famous History, only around a quarter of which survives. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A very beautiful and most intriguing binding.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"FLORUS, Lucius Annaeus","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816135565647,"sku":"L2584","price":4950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2584-1.jpg?v=1781795209"},{"product_id":"zurita-jeronimo-et-al","title":"ZURITA, Jeronimo, et al.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this compendium of chronicles of the medieval Aragonese kings and the rulers of the kingdom of Sicily, consisting of the Renaissance historian Zurita s Indices rerum ab Aragoniae regibus gestarum, issued in the second part with an account of Robert and Roger Guiscard or Viscardi, Norman Dukes of Sicily, by Gaufredo Malaterra, an eleventh-century monk resident in Sicily; the life of Roger II, King of Sicily by another monastic author, the twelfth-century Alessandro Telesino; and a genealogy of Robert Guiscard taken from the fourteenth-century historian Ptolemy of Lucca. \u003cbr\u003e\n \u003cbr\u003e\n  Zurita, sometimes considered to be the first  modern  Spanish historian, begins his account as early as the seventh century, setting the scene for the development of the historical scene over the next five hundred years: the simultaneous rise of the Visigothic kings in Spain, from whom the Aragonese were descended, and the appearance of the Saracens during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, spreading to control all of North Africa and eventually much of Spain. However, much of his account is dedicated to Aragonese exploits outside of Spain, including the Sicilian Vespers, in which Aragon took control of Sicily from the French, and the subsequent bloody wars for control of the island. Zurita s account ends in 1410 with the death of King Martin of the House of Barcelona, who was regent of Sicily. In order to confirm the authenticity of his account, Zurita personally sought out sources in Sicily, Naples and Rome.  \u003cbr\u003e\n \u003cbr\u003e\n  The second part consists of works devoted entirely to Sicilian history, all by early medieval chroniclers, describing the Norman conquest of the island. The first, by the monk Malaterra, is possibly a first-hand account of the adventures of the Viscardi or Guiscard brothers, Norman nobles who first settled in Apulia in southern Italy, operating effectively as bandits, before their conquest of Sicily from the Saracens. Roger was invested by his brother Robert as effectively the first King of Sicily, and the account may well have been finished before his death in 1101, since it is not mentioned in the text. The second work, by the abbot Alessandro Telesino, describes the reign of Roger s son, Roger II, and his attempt to expand Norman rule into Naples, etc., and ends with an alloquium or address praising him. The final work is a genealogy of Robert Guiscard describing his later medieval descendants as kings of Sicily, extracted from the chronology of Ptolemy of Lucca. It is preceded by the printer s apology for the corrupted state of the medieval texts, and followed by a brief account of the origin of the city of Aquila in Apulia.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ZURITA, Jeronimo, et al.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816136548687,"sku":"L2624","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_2440-e1504184387128.jpg?v=1781795206"},{"product_id":"minucci-minuccio","title":"MINUCCI, Minuccio","description":"\u003cp\u003eA rare miscellany including the early account on the history of the Uskoks, pirates of the Adriatic sea, by Minuccio Minucci (1551-1604), with Aggionta and Supplemento by Paolo Sarpi (1552-1623). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Minucci was an Italian priest from an aristocratic family. He read canon law in Padua where he met Antonio Possevino. In 1585 he was appointed prothonotary apostolic by Pope Sixtus V and in 1595 became archbishop of Zadar in Croatia. His numerous theologian and historical-political works show his wide knowledge. The addition by Paolo Sarpi, describing historical events until 1617, was first published anonymously. Important Venetian author, scholar and theologian, Sarpi was a learned monk of the Servite order living during Venice s conflict with Pope Paul V. After becoming the Provincial of Venice (1579) he spent time in Rome studying the decrees of the Council of Trent. Then, back to Venice, he became procurator General of the Venetian province of this order and served as a Vicar General. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n In the sixteenth century the Uskoks of Senj became the heroes of one of the cycles of the South Slav folk epic (M. Zoric, Gli scrittori italiani del  600 e gli slavi del Sud, 1983). Through their story it is possible to examine the power struggle between Venice, the Hapsburgs and the Ottoman Empire. They were a community who crossed the Balkan frontier during the Ottoman invasions to take refuge in the territories of neighbouring states. Some of them formed units of defence against the Turks in Klis fortress, near Split - before it fell in 1537   and then in the impregnable Senj, on the Mountains of Carnia (Friuli). However, after the Battle of Lepanto on 7 October 1571 and the peace treaty between Venice and the Turks, under Hapsburg control the Uskoks started scouring the Adriatic and the Dalmatian hinterland with their fast boats, pillaging Venetian possessions, and causing the Venetian-Habsburg war (1615-17). The war ended with the Treaty of Madrid, according to which the Austrians agreed to destroy the Uskoks  fleet and to move them to Oto ac or _umberak. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A witness of the events up to 1602, Minucci was especially interested in the peace of Christian states and in the fight against heresy, focusing on the origins and main aspects of the Uskok issue. The addition by Sarpi was instead an officially authorised defence of Venetian policy, aimed at investigating the reasons for the war. Both express negative opinions toward the Uskoks  exploits (piracy, profanation of churches, violence against Christians, etc.). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The book is divided into three parts. The first by Minucci starts with the geographical provenance of the Uskoks and the explanation of the etymology of their name. There follows the description of their defence of Klis and Senj and of their alliance with the Emperor Ferdinand I until the murder of Giuseppe Rabatta, Governor of Carniola in 1601. Although Minucci s account is mostly based on primary sources, the language is rhetorical and some legendary episodes might have been included to amaze the audience, in particular the fight between the Turkish soldier Bagora and the young Christian Milosh - who served the governor Crusich as a page   resembling the biblical contest of David against Goliath. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The second and third part by Sarpi contain a detailed historical account on the Uskok War. They recall speeches given by the religious Ippolito Chizzola from Brescia and emphasise Uskok atrocities, such as the beheading of the Venetian admiral Cristoforo Venier in Pago island on 12 May 1613.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MINUCCI, Minuccio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816145035599,"sku":"L2358","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Screenshot-2024-08-06-at-12.13.35.webp?v=1781794949"},{"product_id":"rossi-girolamo","title":"ROSSI, Girolamo","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this important and extensive work in ten books on the civil, religious and artistic history of Ravenna, from its origins until the C16th, by Girolamo Rossi (1539-1607), member of an illustrious family from Parma and a well known historian and physician at Pope Clement VIII s court.   The work is unique in the historiography on cities gathering a number of literary sources from the classical to the early modern age, as well as of documents from the archives of Rome and Ravenna. Several centuries of history are embraced. Starting from the pre-Roman age, the book describes Ravenna as the capital of the Western Empire (402-476), the reigns of Odoacre and Teodorico, the Byzantine Exarchate, until the time of the city-state and aristocratic government under the Traversari and Da Polenta families, and eventually, Venetian (1441-1509) and ecclesiastical dominion.   The work is complex but well structured, with a rich paratext including a dedication to the cardinal Giulio Feltrio della Rovere (23 February 1571), which celebrates Ravenna Church and its relationship with Rome; then poems in Latin by contemporary scholars, particularly Orazio Toscanella, Natalino Conti and Vincenzio Carrari, praising Rossi s work and Ravenna s eternal fame; a letter to Ravenna where the author expresses his gratitude to the civil authorities for supporting him and his family. Then follows a detailed index of names, the text of the ten books and genealogical trees of the Traversari and Da Polenta families.  Each book methodically focuses on a period of Ravenna s history and is divided into different sections providing also information on topography, Christian culture and architecture. For instance, the first book concerns the mythic foundation of the city by descendants of Noah and the etymology of the name; the sixth regards numerous events across a wide range of time (Frederick Barbarossa s stay, support for the Crusaders, Frederick II s reign, Dante and the crisis of the aristocratic government); the eighth is on the period 1500-1513 and includes many pages on Cesare Borgia, Margherita da Rossi and Pope Giulio II; books nine and ten describe events from 1513 to the 1568, with references to Papal politics, Guicciardini and the author s public life; the tenth is mainly dedicated to the age of the archbishop Giulio della Rovere (1563-66).  The work is written in an elegant Latin and shows Rossi s encyclopaedic culture which ranges from law to hagiography, from medicine to astronomy, with a keen interest in architecture and urban planning. Rossi minutely describes famous religious buildings, such as the churches Basilica of San Vitale and San Giovanni Evangelista, giving valuable evidence of a series of monuments since destroyed.  Countless inscriptions, letters, biographies and legal acts are quoted (Mario Pierpaoli,  Girolamo Rossi, medico e storico ravennate , Ravenna 1996), as are classical, medieval, and contemporary authorities.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ROSSI, Girolamo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816145494351,"sku":"L2374","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_2390.jpg?v=1781794947"},{"product_id":"maggi-giovanni-rossi-bartolomeo-with-cavalieri-giovanni-battista","title":"MAGGI, Giovanni, ROSSI, Bartolomeo. [with] CAVALIERI, Giovanni Battista","description":"\u003cp\u003eVery good copies of these superb illustrated works, in fine impression on high-quality paper, celebrating the antiquities of Rome. Commissioned by the printer Andrea della Vaccaria, this first edition of  Ornamenti di fabriche  is a collection of 24 plates some hand-coloured in this copy engraved by the artist Giovanni Maggi (1566-1618), with narrative captions composed by the scholar Bartolomeo Rossi. The illustrations guide the readers through the meanders of Rome towards the discovery of ancient and modern monuments including obelisks with hieroglyphs, the sculpted horses on the Quirinal, Trajan s column, and the more recent catafalques for the funerals of Sixtus V and Alessandro Farnese. Each monument provides the occasion for a snapshot of brief and juicy antiquarian narratives, basking in epigraphic material,  vedute , classicism and the charm of ruins. Despite its title,  Antiquarum statuarum urbis Romae  is not strictly a third edition of its namesake original, but a collection of plates from the previous ones (1561, 1562) commissioned by the publisher Lorenzo della Vaccheria, Andrea s father. Produced by Cherubino Alberti and Orazio Santis under the supervision of the engraver Giovanni Battista Cavalieri (c.1525-1601), it provides a magnificent gallery of the most renowned Roman statues such as the Laocoon and Marcus Aurelius on horseback as well as more general sculptures like satyrs, deities, river gods, shepherds, emperors and heroes. Both works are outstanding examples of the genre of Roman print collections so dear to Renaissance humanists and artists. They epitomize the art of  vedutismo  and perspective, the new science of epigraphy (including hieroglyphs), the achievements of Renaissance classicism, historiography and antiquarianism, and the seed of the  picturesque  movement of the C18. Whilst they gave the opportunity for  arm-chair travelling  to learned readers who did not wish to leave their homes, these collections also inspired the sketches and works of painters, engravers and architects and the study of humanists, who had visited seen them in Rome and purchased a memento for reference. A couple of copies are recorded in which I and II are bound together; they may have been sold in that fashion by Andrea della Vaccheria who probably had plates from Cavalieri s work left over from his father s time hence the inconsistent composition of recorded copies.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MAGGI, Giovanni, ROSSI, Bartolomeo. [with] CAVALIERI, Giovanni Battista","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816154505551,"sku":"L1986","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_8537.jpg?v=1781794922"},{"product_id":"doglioni-giovanni-nicolo-1","title":"DOGLIONI, Giovanni Nicol√≤","description":"\u003cp\u003eScarce copy of this important didactic almanac including the prediction of weather conditions, planetary influence and a perpetual calendar  one of the earliest if not the earliest almanack according to the Gregorian Calendar unknown to Poggendorff  ( Bibliotheca Chemico-Mathematica  1076). Giovanni Nicol√≤ Doglioni (1548-1629) was a Venetian notary appointed to several public offices in the city, and the author of works on chronology, cosmography and the calculation of time.  L anno  contextualised for a broader audience the reform of the Julian calendar introduced by Gregory XIII in 1582 a revision which led to major scholarly debates on  gnomonica  or the computation of the portions of the solar day. The first section of the work discusses the four elements that constitute the world, the subdivisions of the earth into continents, countries and provinces, the meteorological phenomena resulting from the mixture of the elements as well as a table tracing the movements of the planets. In the second section Doglioni explains the subdivisions of time according to conventional units. The fundamental unit the day can be natural (following the planetary course of the sun in relation to the earth as a whole) or artificial (according to the specific place in which the onlooker is situated). This distinction is used as the basis to explain the correct construction of sundials on buildings. There follows an examination of the subdivision of historical time the discipline of chronology so dear to the medieval and Renaissance periods and the meaning of  century ,  age ,  age of man  and  age of the world , with a perpetual calendar and a long table recording universal dates and events from the creation to the year 5545 [1586AD]. Later owners annotated the perpetual calendar counting the days for the years 1646, 1668 and 1709. The last section provides perpetual calendars to identify Feasts of the Saints and moveable liturgical feasts. It was reprinted as  L anno riformato  in 1599 and its tables accordingly updated. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Giovanni Battista Lambruschini S.J. (1755-1827) was professor at the Jesuit seminary in Genoa, a great opponent of the French Revolution and the centre of a Jesuit circle including the renowned philologist Cardinal Angelo Mai.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DOGLIONI, Giovanni Nicol√≤","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816156078415,"sku":"L2885","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/titlepage_e03e142e-f040-46f2-84c1-4d818e74ac66.png?v=1781794912"},{"product_id":"pius-iv-1","title":"[PIUS IV]","description":"\u003cp\u003eA fine copy of this very scarce edict by Pope Pius IV (1559-65)—a remarkable ephemeral survival—regulating Jewish bankers in Rome. Copies of this document were distributed to be attached to the ‘banchi’ or inside the bankers’ stores, so that all Christians could read them carefully. On the one hand, Pius IV relaxed regulations in Rome, revoking some of the harsher provisions and imposing controls on rents charged to the Jews in the ghetto; on the other hand, unlike his predecessor, he enforced tougher financial regulations for the Jewish ‘banchi’ (Poliakov, ‘Jewish Bankers’, 181, 190). This edict forbad money-lending at an interest greater than 24 per cent instead of the customary 30, demanding interest on interest, reckoning as one month any shorter span than 30 days or selling what was pawned by Christians before the passing of 18 months. Jewish bankers should also ensure that any Christian borrowing money or pawning belongings signed a paper written ‘in the Italian vernacular’—as required of all documents in bankers’ books—specifying his name, address, the amount borrowed or pawned, and the time span for restitution, according to the practice of the Monte di Pietà. First established in Italian cities in the 1460s, the Monti di Pietà were the result of Franciscan preaching against Jewish money-lending and were meant to ‘put an end to the “iniquitous usury” of the Jews by replacing them in the small loans sector’, without interest, in order to assist the poorer population (Toaff, ‘Jews’, 239). The Monti notwithstanding, Jewish bankers continued to operate their business unofficially or through new agreements with the authorities, as well as thanks to the support of wealthier borrowers. This edict also provided regulations on ‘house-keeping’ including the regular cleaning of clothes, to avoid the presence of moth, and the compulsory keeping of cats to chase away mice, so as to prevent pest damage to pawned objects. A very fine copy of this very scarce document for Jewish and economic history in Italy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"[PIUS IV]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816164335951,"sku":"L3199","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_6641-scaled.jpg?v=1781794878"},{"product_id":"aragon","title":"[ARAGON.]","description":"\u003cp\u003eA good copy of the anonymous Italian translation of the most important early modern collection of international maritime laws. First printed in Barcelona in 1482-84, on the basis of a much older legal tradition originating in Barcelona, Majorca and Valencia,  Il consolato del mare  contained all existing maritime regulations from Greek, Roman and medieval European statutes. Though based on the practice of the Aragon authorities, it was also gradually adapted to local needs when circulating outside the Iberic peninsula. The earliest translations, of unknown authorship, were Italian, first printed in Rome in 1519. The dedication of this edition is signed by Giovanni Battista Pederzano, a Venetian printer and the financer of previous editions of the  Consolato , the text of which was retained in the following (Tonelli,  Sotto il segno , 91-92). They also retained the original structure: an initial section on the appointment, function and workings of maritime authorities (e.g., the appointment of consuls and judges, sentences, appeals, litigation expense), followed by received  good customs of the sea  (e.g., mariners  wages, what to do if a mariner dies on board, how going to a dangerous place is not part of his duties), including the relationship between maritime businesses and private merchants (e.g., how to avoid or resolve damage of goods during transportation). A special case is that of armed ships, which have a dedicated section. In addition to shorter examinations of maritime regulations of Aragon, including customs, there is a most important one on maritime insurance on ships and cargo (e.g., goods purchased beyond Gibraltar and destined to Flanders or Sardinia and Sicily cannot be insured). This copy comes with the second edition of  Il portolano del mare , with a separate t-p but rarely found individually, discussing in detail the location and distance in relation to Venice and one another of all ports of the East and West. This legal corpus,  thanks to its efficient treatment of maritime questions and for its reliance on the enterprising Catalan navy, became eventually of common use in most of the Mediterranean ; in the C16, it was  the reference text on maritime regulations  (Tanzini,  Prime edizioni , 965-66). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Jacopo Virgilio (fl. mid-C19) was an economist very close to important Genoese shipping companies, and the author of several works on Italian history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"[ARAGON.]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816168431951,"sku":"L3241","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_8475.jpg?v=1781794861"},{"product_id":"manuzio-paolo-2","title":"MANUZIO, Paolo","description":"\u003cp\u003eAldine edition of an important Renaissance commentary on Cicero s most famous epistolary collection, first published in 1547. Paolo Manuzio (1512-1574) was one of the most prominent humanists of the late Italian Renaissance. The youngest son of Aldus, he was a very influential scholar and publisher in his own right, living up to the family tradition. A master of the epistolary genre with very successful collections both in Latin and vernacular, he was especially engaged as a scholar in Latin literature. His commentaries on the works of Cicero and his polished Latin prose won him long-lasting fame throughout Europe. Under his management, the Aldine press flourished once again, after the dark times of the early 1530s. He also acted as the official printer to the Academia Venetiana between 1558 and 1561, while in the following nine years he ran the first papal press in Rome. Cicero s letters to his friend Atticus, written from 68 to 44 BC and traditionally arranged in 16 books, provide an unparalleled insight not only into the author s daily life and always provoking thoughts, but also into the decades preceding the fall of the Roman Republic.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MANUZIO, Paolo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820305621327,"sku":"L2293b","price":1650.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/frontcover_6593e793-ca55-4c2b-abac-df61f8f48016.png?v=1781794849"},{"product_id":"marliani-bartolomeo","title":"MARLIANI, Bartolomeo","description":"\u003cp\u003eA fine copy of the first illustrated edition of this most important early guide to Rome  rare  (Brunet). Bartolomeo Marliani (1488-1566) was a humanist, archaeologist and antiquary. First published in 1534 as  Antiquae Romae topographia , this is his most famous work. This edition was dedicated to Francis I, and remained the standard reference for the topography of ancient Rome to the C18. Rabelais had planned to write a similar description of ancient Rome, a project eventually aborted; he contributed instead to Marliani s,  offering his knowledge, and checking classical quotations and inscriptions  (McGowan, 36). In peripatetic fashion, the work leads the reader around the remains of the ancient city, illustrating side by side its ruins and lost buildings. It discusses, in brief sections, temples, private and state buildings, arches, sepulchres, basilicae, baths, bridges, roads and aqueducts, but also statues and columns, often reproducing epigraphic inscriptions, and with the help of 23 woodcuts, here in strong, clean impression. The handsomely illustrated statues of the  Lupa Capitolina  and the Laoc√∂on are remarkable, this depiction being  one of the earliest known  (Fowler). Marliani s identification of the original location of the Foro Romano was harshly criticised by the architect Pirro Ligorio, whose (incorrect) theory eventually prevailed.  Topographia  epitomized a growing  confluence of interest among scholars and architects who were pursuing a common goal, the graphic preservation of Roman antiquity  a feat previously attempted, among others, by Serlio in  Terzo libro  and Raphael, in a short-lived project begun just before his death (Maier, 8). The large, important map of Rome is beautifully executed by the celebrated calligrapher Giovanni Battista Palatino (1515-75). Following the  ichnographic  technique defined by Vitruvius, current among architects but little known to the wider readership, it portrays jointly natural and human topography, rendering buildings as plans, specifying the thickness of walls and columns, and, through fine hatching, the relative height of the hills all to scale (Maier, 6). A fresh, clean copy of this important work for the early modern rediscovery of ancient Rome. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The Nordkirchen Library was located in the castle of the Dukes of Arenberg, built in the early C18 and known as the  Versailles of Wesphalia . One of the richest of its time, the library comprised very rare, sometimes unrecorded mss, incunabula and early books. The collection was sold in Brussels in 1951, when it was first revealed to the wider public, becoming a major event for bibliophiles worldwide.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MARLIANI, Bartolomeo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820352020815,"sku":"L3584","price":10500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/6-5_22c38f95-9679-425e-8800-117f9059689f.jpg?v=1781794792"},{"product_id":"cornazano-antonio","title":"CORNAZANO, Antonio","description":"\u003cp\u003eA distinctive, naif and unusual binding probably produced near Ortona, Abruzzo, around the time the book was printed. This is appears to be one of very few copies still in a contemporary binding. The binding tools are crude and the style simple when compared with the work of the great binding centres but it is rare to find such a charming, unsophisticated example of such provincial work. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n An excellent copy of the second Soncino edition of this important work on the art of war, quoted by Machiavelli.  Less common than the first Pesaro edition of 1507  (Manzoni). This is one of only six works produced by the Jewish printer Gershom Soncino (d. c.1537) in Ortona, then governed by the Spanish viceroys, and one of the few in the vernacular. The dedication to Count Luigi del Montorio requested protection to settle his press in Naples.  Jews were banned from the territories of the Kingdom of Naples   Most probably, Gershom was granted leave to settle in Ortona for his professional printing skill and given his acquaintance with important Roman personalities  (Campanini, 44). Antonio Cornazano (1430-c.1483) was a prolific author on subjects as varied as dance and proverbs. In blank verse c.1476,  De re militaria  was first published in 1493. Soncino s typographical layout reprised the cursive octavo of the Aldine  enchiridion ; rated as a sophisticated edition, it was also more expensive than its similar counterparts (Nuovo, 70). Cornazano was the first to adapt in print Vegetius s 4th-century  De re militari  the only ancient work on Roman warfare to have survived intact which he adjusted to the changing needs of early modern military practice. His work discussed the ideal soldier (literacy, endurance, virtue), the importance of good horses (where they breed in Italy, their features, how to shoe them, how to treat their ailments), ancient and modern armour, dos and don ts in war (never destroy churches, never start wrong wars), the virtues of the good captain (in battle, after victory), spies, and the circulation of fake news to scare the enemy. Fascinating is the section on cryptography, as Cornazano provides recipes for inks (soaked fireflies, salarmoniaco, milk-based only visible if sprinkled with coal), techniques to read letters underwater or against the fire, and the use of images following the ancient Egyptian tradition. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Rare. Only Newberry and UCLA copies recorded in the US.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CORNAZANO, Antonio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820352053583,"sku":"L3434","price":10500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-2-2_7095bed0-83d0-4d84-9e00-650af6d32990.jpg?v=1781793818"},{"product_id":"florence-1","title":"[FLORENCE]","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A remarkably scarce ephemeral survival of the first edition of this  Bando  preventing all Florentine artisans working with gold from emigrating, and thus reduce the number and quality of skilled workers in Florence. Updating a similar bando printed c.1575, it addressed a wide variety of artisans working with gold within and without the Duchy. These were goldsmiths, gold leaf makers, cutters, dyers, painters, weavers and washers of silk or linen woven with gold thread, and makers of instruments and scissors to use on gold leaf. They were ordered to report in person, within 3 (if in Italy) or 4 (if abroad) months, to the major guild of the Arte della Seta at Por Santa Maria. In case of no-show, they should immediately have their goods seized and permission would be granted to anyone to kill them without punishment. If the murderer was a bandit, he could be pardoned; if he wasn t, he could request pardon for a bandit. Those who showed up would not be asked to repay public or private debts for a year, or be prosecuted for their debts, but could not leave Florence again without a licence.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Giorgio Marescotti received an official ten-year privilege to print bandi in 1585, though he was never  stampatore ducale  (Biagiarelli, 318). For printers, the production of and trade in administrative  ordini  and  bandi  was  safe and abundant due to the high number of magistrates issuing ordnances, regulations, provisions, etc. which quickly expired and were quickly renewed  (Biagiarelli, 317-18).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"[FLORENCE]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859628400975,"sku":"L3501","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3501-1.jpg?v=1781793801"},{"product_id":"de-salazar-diego","title":"DE SALAZAR, Diego.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.Attractively bound second edition of this work taken from Machiavelli s Arte della Guerra by the Spanish solder and author Diego de Salazar. The early date of the first edition of this work (1536) makes it the first translation and adaptation into any language of a work by Machiavelli. De Salazar adds his own Spanish ideals and perspective as well as referencing Machiavelli s work. De Salazar analyses the essential characteristics of armies in the first half of the sixteenth century, as well as consistently referencing examples from antiquity. He addresses topics including combat, discipline, recruitment, and evaluates the characteristics of different weaponry. This is one of the first texts of its kind to be published by a Spanish author (Merino, Esther,  Los autores espa‚àö¬±oles de los tratados  De Re Military . Fuentes para su conocimiento: los Preliminares , 1994). Palau 341 states  De Re Militari hecho a manera de dialogo que passo entre los Illustressimos Se‚àö¬±ores Don Gonçalo Fernandez de Cordova y Don Pedro Manrique de Lara En el qual se contienen muchos exemplos de grades Principes, y Senores, y excellentes avisos, y figuras de Guerra muy provechoso para Cavalleros, Capitanes, y Soldados. .  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Machiavelli s Dell arte della Guerra, or the Art of War, takes the form of a Socratic dialogue. The essential purpose of the publication is to honour  virtus , and to describe the ideal order of a military system. Macchiavelli describes the role of the military as the roof of a palazzo protecting the contents inside. It was the only work printed during the Italian diplomat s lifetime, and is dedicated to Lorenzo di Filippo Strozzi. The treatise insists that war must be expressly defined. He developed the philosophy of  limited warfare    that is, when diplomacy fails, war is an extension of politics. The work also underlines the importance of a state militia and promotes the concept of armed citizenry. Macchiavelli believed that all society, religion, science, and art rested on the security provided by the military.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .This copy was owned by the distinguished Shirley family. George Shirley, 1.st. Baronet of Staunton Harold (1559-1622) studied at Oxford before presenting his service at Court whereupon he embarked on the voyage to Holland in 1585 with the Earl of Leicester at the outbreak of the Anglo-Spanish wars. This copy may have aided him in the fight against the Spaniards as a tool to study their battle tactics. He entered Gloucester Hall in 1587 and Grays Inn in 1602, and accompanied James I through Northamptonshire to his coronation which earned him his baronetcy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DE SALAZAR, Diego.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859631415631,"sku":"L3383\/2","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/1-5_3ccb6474-afba-435b-be21-e3b36a2eeb4c.jpg?v=1781793794"},{"product_id":"miniature-painting","title":"[MINIATURE PAINTING].","description":"\u003cp\u003e.An intriguing painting on vellum, fresh and in very good condition the souvenir of a northern amateur artist s visit to Venice and its notorious nightlife.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The scene is set at the famous Ridotto, a wing of Palazzo Dandolo which, from 1638 to 1774, was a gambling (and flirting) hall frequented by all ranks of Venetians, from prostitutes to aristocrats. (In the mid-C18 it would become one of Casanova s favourite hunting grounds.) The wooden ceiling, chandeliers, tall windows, alternating paintings and candelabra on the walls recall the Ridotto portrayed by Francesco Guardi c.1765. Given that the most famous illustrations of the Ridotto date from the C18, this is possibly the earliest obtainable.  In the last days of Carnival, after midnight, an orchestra in the main room played the most common dances; though everyone was allowed to dance, it was usually only those wearing masks who did  (Lundy, I, 201).  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The masks in the painting include the classic Commedia dell Arte or folkloric figures (Harlequin, Pulcinella, Pantalone), as well as fashionable Oriental costumes. There are typically Venetian accessories, which waned in popularity c.1700, immortalised in the Venetian section of Vecellio s  Habiti  (1590). The weathercock\/flag fan had been widespread in Venice since the late C15. The  sop√®i , tall wooden shoes originally associated with Venetian prostitutes, also became popular among women of the patriciate in the C17. The numerous women with the  moretta  (black mask), veil and muff are very similar to those in an early C18 engraving of Venetian costumes by J. van Grevenboek. Three women in the background, their head covered and lower neck dangerously exposed, recall the habit of Venetian courtesans described by Vecellio,  who make themselves known when they uncover their neck . Brawls, as that occurring on the upper left, were a common occurrence at masquerades. The miniature painting is pervaded by sexual innuendo, including cross-dressing (foreground) and a lady with her bottom exposed (background). Masked women wearing  sop√®i  could, as fashion went by then, pass off as much as prostitutes as wealthy ladies.  More than in the printed costume books,   brightly coloured miniatures depict courtesans in action,   as they display their individual tastes in colour and fabric.   Indeed, scenes of flirtation abound in travellers  illustrated albums  (Rosenthal, 66-7). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The present was most probably part of a northern traveller s album a student, a young amateur artist, or nobleman. Indeed, it reprises genre scenes popular in the  alba amicorum  (Stammb√ºcher) of northern students or tourists in Italy, in the oblong octavo format which became popular in the C17.  Paper or vellum notebooks with miniatures, landscapes, genre scenes or costumes (often purchased in Italy), were used as a basis for Stammb√ºcher or were added by their owners for prestige  (Spadafora, 18-19). The Veneto was indeed an obligatory stop for the  peregrinatio academia  (mostly at Padua) or the Kavaliertour, undertaken in order to improve knowledge and culture; Venice was however the capital of entertainment. Besides verse, autographs or dedications from new acquaintances made along the way,  alba amicorum  included miniature paintings illustrating local buildings, costumes and social scenes. Commedia dell Arte, carnival (in the streets) and mountebanks, depicted with irony and realism, were popular subjects. The present appears to be based on personal experience, given the faithful though vague remembrance of the room, but also the bawdy details. .  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Though the artist remains unknown, the style appears northern European possibly Netherlandish or German. It was probably the work of someone wishing to reproduce the memory of a glorious night out. (Scenes of student goliardic life are frequent as a personal  memento .) Or the northern artist may have been one of the  circle of Netherlandish drawers, engravers and miniaturists who had close exchanges with the Venetian region  (Zorzi, 172). Given the theme, it is most likely the work of a young man. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n [!] The list price is ¬¨¬£17,500 including VAT\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"[MINIATURE PAINTING].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859632693583,"sku":"XP1","price":17500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/1-14.jpg?v=1781793790"},{"product_id":"capestrano-johannes-de-et-al","title":"[CAPESTRANO, Johannes de, et al.]","description":"\u003cp\u003e.This manuscript comprises copies of some of the most important regulations relating to Franciscan Tertiaries. Its Umbrian origin is proved by the names of the four notaries, copied by a secretary, who had authenticated the original documents. Three, from Gubbio, were  imperial  notaries, i.e., of the Curia Vescovile.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The collection opens with the final part of a key text in the definition of their legal status:  Defensorium tertii Ordinis beati Francisci  by the reformer John of Capestrano (1386-1456), a Franciscan Minor, doctor  in utroque  and major contributor in debates on the legal status of Franciscan Orders in the early C15. Written c.1440,  Defensorium  comprises  consilia  by eminent jurists, defending the clerical status of regular Tertiaries. Although they did not take orders strictu sensu, and lived outside religious institutions, these nevertheless wore the habit and followed the Franciscan rule. As such, in case, of legal complications, they would be tried according to ecclesiastical, not civil, law. This manuscript features the last few paragraphs of Capestrano s  consilium , followed by those of Cato de Saccis, Luchinus de Curte, Bartholomeus de Barateriis, Lucae de Vernaciis and Franciscus de Folengus and Augustinus de Manzariis de Castro.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The remainder of the manuscript includes whole documents or excerpts relating to the Tertiaries, sometimes copied without interruption, dating from the C13 to the C15. For instance, the Bulla Supra Montem (1289), by which Nicholas IV approved the Third Order; a letter to Jordanus, Bishop of Albano, on the Third Order (1426); several apostolic privileges issued by Eugenius IV; the immunity of ecclesiastical persons; and excerpts from a bull by Alexander IV (1258).  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The complexity of the Tertiaries  legal status required that notaries had at hand all regulations on the subject, especially in case of inheritance, bequests, etc. In Umbria, members of the Third Order both secular (living in their own homes) and regular (living in organised communities) had increased substantially since the C14. Female communities were particularly common, organised around non-claustral convents or in small groups centred around the houses of secular members (generally unmarried women or widows). Among the vows undertaken by the regulars was not that of poverty, which was problematic, as Tertiaries generally continued to purchase or sell land, pay off debts, etc. (Casagrande, 386-90). In case of inheritance, for instance, it should be determined whether the testament was made before or after the signatory joined the Order, and whether their closest relatives or the Order had priority. All documents in this collection concern  fratres  and  sorores  alike.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .A remarkable survival of the practical and legal complexities of late medieval religious communities.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"[CAPESTRANO, Johannes de, et al.]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859632759119,"sku":"L3563","price":20000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/1_1366c61e-1756-4ba7-858a-902f6fc3509e.jpg?v=1781793789"},{"product_id":"padua-1","title":"PADUA.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.Extremely rare first edition of these early statutes of the city of Padua. It was printed by the Swiss Leonardus Achates (also known as Leonardus de Basilea, active 1472-1491), one of the first to introduce printing to Italy. Publishing the statutes was a task of great responsibility rarely entrusted to foreign printers. The introduction, remarking on the importance and necessity of the statutes for the city, terminates with an invocation to the Virgin Mary. At the end, below the colophon, approximately nine lines of printed text were cancelled: this appears to be a characteristic of all copies of this edition (see description of the copy held at Venezia, Biblioteca des Museo Correr, Inc. E 195, ISTC is00721600). A second edition came out in 1528 (Venice, Guglielmo de Fontaneto sumptibus Girolamo Giberti). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .'Statuta Padavina' contains the legislative corpus of the city of Padua, based on the Roman 'ius commune'. Like all other medieval and Renaissance civic statutes in Italy, it encompassed decrees on criminal, civil, tax, estate, agricultural and commercial law first codified in the early thirteenth century, when Padua gained solid political and civic status, and later revised during the rule of Ezzelini, the Carraresi and, after 1405, the Serenissima. The volume is divided into numerous chapters concerned with specific topics - e.g. types of cases and procedures in civil courts, obligations for debt and usury, the purchase of goods and estates in the district of Padua, inheritance, the ownership and management of livestock and marriage. Following the structure of juridical manuals, each section details regulations concerning specific circumstances within its area of interest: e.g., the non-validity in civil courts of legal documents styled on 'charta bombicina' (cotton or silk paper), situations in which contracts are considered fraudulent or novices entering monasteries may or may not purchase goods. As was customary in civic statutes, criminal law and punishment seeking to control social order played a crucial part, with long sections devoted to prisons, fugitives, 'those who wander during the night carrying arms', the office of the 'iudex maleficorum' and criminal procedures for offences like murder, manslaughter, verbal abuse of the wounded and religious, blasphemy, adultery, vagrancy, prostitution, incest, rape, theft, arson and false testimony. It is the laws of any society at any time which illustrate its priorities and fears.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PADUA.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859649012047,"sku":"L3656B","price":19500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9466.jpg?v=1781793726"},{"product_id":"bembo-pietro-with-sannazzaro","title":"BEMBO, Pietro. [with] SANNAZZARO.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A remarkable combination of two classics of Italian literature. This edition of  Gli Asolani  is the .second by Aldus, reprinted from the first of 1505 with the dedication to Bembo s lover Lucrezia .Borgia, which was suppressed from many copies of the first. Sannazzaro s  Arcadia  is also in its .second Aldine edition (first 1514) and it includes Aldus  dedication to the author. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .This copy of  Gli Asolani  bears the distinctive signature  Philippes Desportes  of the French .Baroque poet Philippe Desportes (1546-1606), abbot of Tiron (Eure-et-Loire). He is known as the .French Tibullus, for the sweetness and ease of his verses. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Born in Venice, Pietro Bembo (1470-1547) was a scholar, poet, critic and later cardinal. After his .studies at Messina and Padua, he travelled extensively in Italy. His love for the Tuscan vernacular, .which he considered the perfect language for Italian literature, developed during a stay in Florence. .In 1525, he published  Le prose della volgar lingua , a ground-breaking work of philology and .literary criticism celebrating the cultural value of the vernacular versus Latin and electing Dante, .Petrarch and Boccaccio masters of the Tuscan vernacular whose works he also edited as the .highest models for Italian poets. His codification of the Tuscan written dialect as a literary language .constitutes the basis for the development of the modern Italian language.  Gli Asolani  is Bembo s .first important work and a bestseller, comprising a series on dialogues on love set in Asolo (a city in .Veneto). In the first book, the unfortunate lover Perottino talks about the negative aspects of love; in .the second the fortunate Gismondo argues in favour of love s positivity; in the third, Lavinello refutes .both thesis and presents his theory of Platonic love. The Italian noblewoman and femme fatale .Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI, was among the first to read this work in manuscript .in 1503. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Jacopo Sannazaro (1457-1530) was a Neapolitan poet and humanist, a member of the intellectual .circles of Giovanni Pontano and Frederick of Aragon, King of Naples, whom he briefly followed in .exile to France in 1501. A few years later, he returned to Naples, where he spent the rest of his life. .Interestingly, in the 1520 s, he exchanged letters with Bembo. Sannazaro is most famous for . Arcadia , his masterpiece and an international success. A pastoral romance in verse and prose, . Arcadia  tells the story of the shepherd Sincero (Sannazaro s persona), who abandons the city of .Naples to live among the shepherd-poets in Arcadia. Sannazaro wrote in an elegant vernacular .inspired to the models of Petrarch and Boccaccio and he  was the first Renaissance poet to set his .action in Virgil s hallowed Arcadia ( ) he paid tribute to the continuing effect of Virgil s eclogues .upon the Renaissance imagination by transforming Latin Arcadia to suit the highly developed taste of .contemporary Italian verse  (Kalstone).  Arcadia  circulated in manuscript for a few years, and it .became so popular that unauthorised editions were printed in 1501-1502. Aldus then approached the .author to publish his book, but Sannazaro gave the rights to the Neapolitan Pietro Summonte instead, .who printed the first edition in 1504. All Aldus  following editions are based on Summonte s official .text approved by the author. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .From the library of the John Lea Nevinson (1904-1986), costume historian and British Museum .curator.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BEMBO, Pietro. [with] SANNAZZARO.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859649503567,"sku":"L3875","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_5667-copy.jpg?v=1781793726"},{"product_id":"giegher-mattia","title":"GIEGHER, Mattia","description":"\u003cp\u003eSecond edition of this very rare and beautifully illustrated collection of three culinary treatises on table service and food carving by Giegher, including the very first work on the art of folding table linen. Complete copies, remarkably including Giegher s portrait (often missing) are extremely rare.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Li tre trattati  was a popular book: this second (posthumous) edition contains a new letter to the reader by the printer Frambotto, warning of a plagiarised version. Giegher s plates have been reproduced and copied in many later cookbooks. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The Bavarian Mattia Giegher (born Mathias J‚àö¬ßger, c. 1589-1632) was a native of Moosburg who moved to Padua at the age of 22. Here, he worked as a  trinciante  (meat carver) and  scalco  (banquet manager), organising banquets and waiting tables for the prestigious German community of jurists at the University of Padua. At the time, aristocratic banquets were of enormous cultural importance, organised by courts and as a way of displaying wealth and power, consolidating friendships and forming political alliances.  Li tre trattati , first published in 1629, is a fascinating manual by Giegher containing all the information required for preparing and serving food to high-class clients. It comprises the expanded versions of two earlier treatises    Lo scalco  (1623) and  Il trinciante  (1621)   with the addition of a new and innovative work on napkin folding (never printed separately). At the time, fine dining was becoming more formal and elaborate in presentation: this work is an extraordinary witness of the unusual and extravagant dining practices of the rich and famous. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n In his  Trattato delle piegature  (Treatise on folding), Gieger for the first time describes in detail the art of napkin folding, using images for teaching and creative purposes. In addition to explaining how to fold napkins for wiping hands and mouth, he shows how to create complex artistic sculptures, called folded centrepieces. Renaissance table linens were expected to surprise and entertain: the plates in this treatise depict centrepieces shaped as birds, lions, fish, a crab, a tortoise, a dog, heraldic and mythological creatures, even a ship with four sails. These sculptures were not merely decorative, but objects with a symbolic meaning to be discussed by the participants. Interestingly, rather than providing models of certain shapes to be reproduced, Giegher teaches how to master the basic folding techniques (fan, curved and herringbone) so that the aspirant folder could invent his own designs. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\nThe second treatise is dedicated to the profession of the  scalco , sometimes translated as  head steward  or  banquet manager . The scalco was responsible for the organisation of every aspect of the banquet and for its success, from hiring the chefs and selecting what dishes to serve, to setting the tables. In this treatise, Giegher summarises the knowledge and skills that a scalco needs to possess: the first part explores the seasonality of foods indicating the best months of the year for eating certain meats, vegetables, fruits and mushrooms. Then, the author proposes long menus for meals that are perfect for different seasons or occasions: for example, the menu of a  breakfast of different fruits for noblewomen , interestingly including a  pizza , in this case being a particular type of cake. At the end, five plates show the proper placement of dishes on a table, and which foods they should contain. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\nFinally,  Il trinciante  (The meat carver) is a treatise on food carving and on the profession of the carver,  whose office is most honoured . After listing the moral qualities of the perfect trinciante, Giegher delineates the correct posture and movements for carving (in order to avoid making mistakes and being laughed at), and then describes all sorts of poultry, fish, red meats, as well as fruit, cakes and pies   showing in numerous plates where and how to cut them: for example, carving a turkey requires 21 separate steps. Two charming plates illustrate decorative fruit peeling. As customary in treatises about professions, Giegher discusses his tools and how to clean and sharp them: two large fold-out plates depict an impressive array of knives, slicers and two-pronged forks (used to hold the meat steady).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GIEGHER, Mattia","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859650224463,"sku":"L3570","price":12500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3570-3.jpg?v=1781793724"},{"product_id":"vanzi-sebastiano","title":"VANZI, Sebastiano.","description":"\u003cp\u003e8vo, ff. (viii) 273 (liii). Roman and Italic letter, woodcut historiated initials, Aldine device to t-p. Intermittent waterstains and light spotting to outer blank margins, mainly to a few initial and final gatherings, title page a little bit soiled with partly cancelled early ms. ex. libris  Ulpiani Constantini firmani , lower outer corner repaired. A good copy in contemporary limp vellum, corners repaired, later ties. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Second edition, first by the Aldine press, of this bestseller legal treatise on procedural nullity, that is the annulment of a legal act or a procedure. First published in 1552 in Lyon, this is Vanzi s only work: with twenty-four editions printed before 1625, the  Tractatus  earned the author international fame. Sebastiano Vanzi of Rimini (d. 1571) was an Italian jurist and lawyer who held the post of lieutenant of the auditor general of the Camera Apostolica in Rome under Pope Paul IV. In 1554, he was appointed bishop of Orvieto and attended the last session of the Council of Trent as one of the diffinitors. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n . Tractatus de nullitatibus , defined as  useful and extensive  by the author, is a brief but comprehensive discussion on the legal concepts of nullity and annullment. In Roman civil and criminal law, a sentence, judgement or legal act can be declared null in the absence of an element which is deemed essential to the effectiveness of the procedure   e.g. if the law was not fully followed, or infringed. In this treatise, Vanzi provides a general definition of the concept of nullity together with its etymology. The author explains how null procedures or sentences can be recognised (i.e. they are  missing  something), indicates who has the right to raise a claim of nullity during a trial or outside the court (i.e. all the actors involved) showcasing different situations. Vanzi also specifies in front of whom a plea of nullity has to be raised and who has the power to evaluate and annul (e.g. an appointed judge). The author describes in detail different types of nullity - e.g.  ex defectu iurisditionis ,  ex defectu citationis ,  ex defecto processus    and how they can be  repaired .  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The manuscript ex libris on the title page belongs to  Ulpianus Constantinus Firmanus , most likely Ulpiano Costantini of Fermo, a city in the Marche region (central Italy). Ulpiano (mid. XVII century) was a member of the ancient and noble Costantini family and a professor of jurisprudence at the University of Fermo (see  Enciclopedia storico-nobiliare italiana , Vol. II, 1981, p. 564).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VANZI, Sebastiano.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859653140815,"sku":"L3881","price":2950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3881-1.jpg?v=1781793718"},{"product_id":"bosio-giacomo","title":"BOSIO, Giacomo.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.First edition of this important work concerning the privileges and investiture ceremony of the Knights of Malta, written by the first historian of the Order. This copy is from the great Sunderland Library: formed by Charles Spencer, 3.rd. Earl of Sunderland (1675-1722), this was one of the finest private collections in Europe. The binding bears the arms of Charles  second son, the 3.rd. Duke of Marlborough, who inherited the library and moved it to Blenheim Palace in 1749. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John was founded in the 11.th. century at Jerusalem, with the task of providing care for the sick and poor pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the fall of Jerusalem to the Arabs, the knights settled in Rhodes and then in Malta, devoting themselves to protecting the Mediterranean shores from the Ottomans and to fighting piracy.  Li privilegii  contains the Latin text of a series of papal bulls and letters granting the Knights of the Order privileges and exemptions from all secular and religious authorities. The most important is  Circumspecta Romani Pontificis , promulgated by Pope Pius IV in 1560: this decree stated that the knights were free from any ecclesiastical jurisdiction, including the Holy See Government, and free from local and national taxes; the bull also granted the Grand Master plenary power over the members and possessions of the Order. The second part of the book, in Italian vernacular, is perhaps the most entertaining. Step by step, Bosio describes the investiture ceremony procedure in the flowing form of a dialogue between the aspirant knight and the person bestowing the title upon him. The ceremony involved tapping the flat side of a sword on the candidate s shoulder three times and giving him the knight s robes.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Giacomo Bosio (1544-1627) was born to a Milanese family, many of whose members were Knights Hospitallers. In 1587, he was appointed representative of the Order in Rome, and later was sent on an official mission to the court of France. Back to Rome, he was involved in a murder case - after his reputation was restored, he devoted himself to writing. Bosio is the author of an important history of the Order ( Dell'istoria della sacra religione , 1594). In 1589,  Li privilegii  was also published in conjunction with Bosio s  Gli statuti della sacra religione di S. Giovanni Gierosolimitano  (on the statutes of the Knights of Malta), and the two are sometimes found bound and catalogued together. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The Hulbert-Powells, a distinguished old Catholic family, are collateral descendants of Cardinal Pole, the last Archbishop of Canterbury, and also of Robin Hood.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOSIO, Giacomo.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859653468495,"sku":"L3957","price":2850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_3832.jpg?v=1781793719"},{"product_id":"gilbert-of-hoyland","title":"GILBERT of Hoyland.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A very good copy of the first edition of Gilbert of Hoyland s sermons on the Song of Songs. Beautifully printed in Florence by the German Nicolaus Laurentii (fl._1475 1486), this is a most fascinating witness of the great interest, among Italian Renaissance humanists, for this remarkable medieval commentary by an English author. Very few English authors were published in the 15.th. century and this is the only incunable edition of this author. The present copy has an early Italian provenance and interesting manuscript annotations. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Gilbert of Hoyland (d. c. 1172) was abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Swineshead in Lincolnshire. This area was known as  Holland  or  Hoyland . Gilbert is most famous for his  Sermonum super cantica canticorum  (here), a continuation of Bernard of Clairvaux s sermon commentary on the Song of Songs. When St. Bernard died in 1153, his commentary remained unfinished: Gilbert took on the task of writing 47 additional sermons, beginning from where St. Bernard had left off (the beginning of the third chapter), and reaching the fifth chapter before his death in 1172. Though written in the style of Bernard, these sermons are infused with Gilbert s personal spirit and contemplative insight, and reveal a profound knowledge of the Scripture and the classics. The Song of Songs is one of the most poetic texts in the Bible, describing the erotic encounters of two lovers    in his exegesis, Gilbert embraces and articulates the Church s allegorical interpretation of the Canticle as a celebration of the mutual love between God and mankind, containing teachings on doctrine and spiritual union. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .An early owner of this copy was Master Francesco Maria Ferragatta (17.th. century) of Carmagnola, a small village not far from Turin (Piemonte, Italy). Ferragatta was an Augustinian friar, teacher of theology, and Secretary General of the Augustininan Order under Father General Gerolamo Valvassori of Milan. Ferragatta was praised by his contemporaries as an excellent preacher, and he is the author of numerous sermons, orations and panegyrics. A quite extensive manuscript annotation and a few more brief notes scattered throughout the volume are in a different hand   likely belonging to another Augustinian friar of the monastery in Carmagnola. This second anonymous reader was particularly interested in Gilbert s discussion concerning the bride s  little bed , described in the Song: the author remarks that a little bed has to be preferred, as there is no space for adulterers. In his notes, the commentator points out that  the beds in the houses of the great [presumably the rich and noble] are very large, not made for resting but to give space to more than one (person) so large and so wide, that there is plenty of space for adulterers and concubines . \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .In the 19.th. century, this was in the hands of Italian doctors of Dogliani, another village in Piemonte not far from Carmagnola: Lorenzo Sciorelli (see his thesis,  De Gravidarum Regime , 1809) and Ferdinando Fracchia (see  Annuario d Italia, per l anno 1892 , 1892, p. 435).  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The present is one of some copies in which the first words of a2 verso read 'taturcui sic videt[ur]' (see BMC VI, p.630).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GILBERT of Hoyland.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859653632335,"sku":"L3865","price":8500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3865-2.jpg?v=1781793718"},{"product_id":"tolomei-claudio-2","title":"TOLOMEI, Claudio.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.Most attractive copy of Tolomei s influential collection of letters, in a handsome 17.th. century French gilt morocco binding. The two monograms of interlaced Bs and appear very similar on a binding realised for L éon de Bouthillier (1608-1652) and reproduced by Guigard (Vol I, p. 84). L éon de Bouthillier was Count of Chavigny, conseiller du Roi at the age of 19 and secretary of state for foreign affairs at 24. .In 1635, he signed a treaty of alliance with Holland and Sweden. Initially a friend of Mazarin, he conspired against him after the death of Louis XIII and was twice arrested during the Fronde. L éon was the owner of a rich library, part of which he inherited from his father Claude.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Claudio Tolomei (1492-1556) was an Italian bishop, writer, literary critic and diplomat. His letters (more than 300) are among the most interesting and finely written of the Renaissance, discussing the arts, philosophy, language and literature, architecture and political theory. First published in 1547, they went through 22 editions in the 16.th. century. Tolomei s correspondents comprise the most celebrated Italian humanists and politicians of the time: Annibal Caro, Paolo Manuzio, Francesco Guicciardini, Bernardo Tasso (father of Torquato), Cardinal Farnese, Henry II and Francis I of France. In a letter to Luigi Alamanni, Tolomei praises his recently published poem on agriculture; in another to Pietro Aretino he talks about their friendship. The most important letters are perhaps those addressed to the ambassador and politician Agostino Landi (d. 1555): in a long one, Tolomei discusses the punishments that princes can impose on their subjects, in another he explains how a perfect city could be built. The latter is here illustrated with a charming woodcut map depicting Monte Argentario (the same appearing in the first edition), a promontory of southern Tuscany, proposed as the site for the building of a new city. Remarkably, women are well represented in the collection: Veronica Gambara, Vittoria Colonna, and Giulia Gonzaga recur regularly.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"TOLOMEI, Claudio.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859654680911,"sku":"L3476","price":2850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3476-1.jpg?v=1781793713"},{"product_id":"alunno-francesco-1","title":"ALUNNO, Francesco.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.Attractive second edition, improved and enlarged, of Alunno s important concordance of Petrarch s vocabulary, handsomely bound for the English diplomat and bibliophile Sir William Pickering (1516   1575). Pickering was  Knight Marshal to Henry VIII ( ) He was educated at Cambridge. In 1539 he was a Gentleman in Waiting to Henry VIII and is said to have served in the war at Calais. He was knighted at the coronation of Edward VI, and sent on a special embassy to France in 1551. Later that year he returned to Paris as a permanent Ambassador, being recalled a month after Mary s accession in 1553. Involved in plots against the Spanish marriage, he found it prudent to travel in Italy and Germany, returning in 1555. Elizabeth employed him as her ambassador to the Netherlands and Germany in 1558 1559, and he was even mentioned as a possible husband for the Queen.  (BAB, Pickering, William, Sir). Pickering was a noted collector with a particular taste for Italian books   these constitute the majority of his surviving library   many of which he probably acquired during a trip to Venice in the 1550s.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Francesco Alunno (or De Bailo, 1485-1556) was an Italian grammarian and writer of Ferrara. While working as a teacher of arithmetic and calligraphy in Udine and then in Venice, Alunno composed and published a series of impressive lexicographic works, culminating in his  La fabbrica del mondo  a comprehensive vocabulary of Petrarch, Dante, Boccaccio and other Italian writers.  Le osservationi sopra il Petrarca , first published in 1539, is Alunno s first work. A vast glossary of Petrarchan words in alphabetical order,  Le osservationi  provides definitions for each word or difficult expression, a quotation from Petrarch showing its use in context, advice on when to use different spellings, and page reference numbers to the printed edition of Petrarch s works published by Gherardo the same year. This second edition was considerably enriched with more entries and corrected in many places by the author. Also added are a few of letters attesting to Alunno s relations with Venetian writers and printers (e.g. Girolamo Ruscelli), as well as an entertaining fictitious epistolary exchange between Petrarch and the author, with Petrarch s letter at the beginning and Alunno s response at the end of the work. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .The woodcut portrait of the author was employed for various works by Alunno and designed for the first edition of  Le osservationi ; for this edition, the cartouche title was recut. The beautiful full-page allegorical woodcut depicts Mercury, bent over a plow pulled by Pegasus by the light of an oil lamp suspended from the branch of a laurel tree. In the foreground, a dog and a crane stand at the sides of a dry trunk. This enigmatic image, which only appears in a handful of books, has been identified as the mark or emblem of the venetian printer Marcantonio Magno (c. 1480-1549), which was then adopted by Paolo Gherardo after Magno s death. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Remarkably, not all books from Pickering s library had armorial bindings, and  most of the surviving books have the armorial stamps in a strangely mutilated state, in which the hurts [roundels] have been scratched from the chevron and the resulting gaps have been filled with liquid gold  (BAB). The binding of this copy is beautifully preserved, with the original gilt stamp (BAB, Stamp 3) in clean and clear impression. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .Philip Dormer Stanhope (1694-1773) was a British statesman, diplomat and man of letters. He is  chiefly remembered as the author of Letters to His Son and Letters to His Godson   guides to manners, the art of pleasing, and the art of worldly success. ( ) Chesterfield s winning manners, urbanity, and wit were praised by many of his leading contemporaries, and he was on familiar terms with Alexander Pope, John Gay, and Voltaire. He was the patron of many struggling authors but had unfortunate relations with one of them, Samuel Johnson, who condemned him in a famous letter (1755) attacking patrons. Johnson further damaged Chesterfield s reputation when he described the Letters as teaching  the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing master.  Dickens later caricatured him as Sir John Chester in Barnaby Rudge (1841)  (Encyclopaedia Britannica).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ALUNNO, Francesco.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859655139663,"sku":"L3740","price":13500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_1923.jpg?v=1781793714"},{"product_id":"zeno-marcus","title":"ZENO, Marcus.","description":"\u003cp\u003eDecorated manuscript on paper. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Provenance: \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Written for the use of Jacobus Menutiis\/Minutiis, with his ownership inscriptions three times on the front endleaves and his arms and initials also, clearly produced for his practical use as a lawyer in Treviso and the vicinity. One of these ex libris gives his profession as a notary. Copies of this definitively local text seem to have always been few, and this manuscript was probably made directly from the original compendium held in the regional .palatio of Treviso (see below). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Text: \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n This text announces in its prologue that it was called the  Zena  in Venetian Italian, and contains a compendium of laws and statutes local to the town of Treviso, a small town to the north east of Venice was under the direct rule of the Venetian doges throughout the Renaissance. It was commanded to be assembled by Marcus Zeno \"de venetii\", lord of Treviso, in 1390 (the date given here mistakenly  1290 ), and the Venetian name of the text in fact was taken from the name given to the original manuscript of the compendium kept in the regional .palatio of Treviso. That original codex is now lost, but a copy survives in another compendium of the early fifteenth-century copy (probably of .c. 1411), now in the archives of the Museo Civico of nearby Asolo (see G. Farronato and G. Netto, .Gli Statuti del Comune di Treviso (1316-1390) secondo il codice di Asolo, 1988), and that has been claimed as the earliest recorded manuscript. We have located only two others, both of the sixteenth century: in the library of St. Mark s in Venice (Cod. 182 chart.: J. Valentinelli, .Bibliotheca manuscripta ad S. Marci venetiarum, 1870, p. 124), and the Bodleian (H.O. Coxe, .Catologi codicum manuscriptorum, 1854, III, pp. 606-07, his no. 227, dated 1574). The text was published by G. Bettinelli in 1768 (.Statuta provisionesque ducales civitis Tarvisii, p. 425-511). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n It opens with a short prologue, followed by a copy of a Venetian ducal document issued by Antonius Venerius, the doge of Venice in 1382-1400. The main text is a lengthy and notably thorough legal textbook (fols. 1r-76v), giving a thorough grounding in the civil law of the Venetian Republic, including sections on notaries (public and those of the chancellor), an array of types of wills, sample legal cases and pleas, sentencing, fugitives, petitions, pledges for debts and violent criminal cases such as injury resulting in bloodshed or murder, as well as many others. It opens with a list of all the chapters, in red ink, and then subdivides its material into ten books, covering: 1. The giving of evidence; 2. Civil pleas and cases; 3. Pledges and debts; 4. Appeals; 5. Legal agents; 6. Sales and contracts, as well as the officials of the chancellery; 7. Notaries and their functions; 8. Misleading documents; 9. Criminal cases; 10. Practical statutes for Treviso, describing themselves as diverse  acts . After a single blank gathering, the volume closes with an alphabetised index (in the main hand), here named the .Ordo solutionis.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ZENO, Marcus.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859657072975,"sku":"L3564","price":36000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_4845-copy.jpg?v=1781793709"},{"product_id":"marinelli-giovanni-2","title":"MARINELLI, Giovanni.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very good, clean copy of the enlarged and revised edition of this popular vernacular manual on women s illnesses, gynaecology and obstetrics - a unique witness to Renaissance marital habits and sexual  mores . Giovanni Marinelli (fl. mid-C16), from Modena, was a renowned physician and natural philosopher, and the author of several works, including a couple on women s beauty and health. His daughter, Lucrezia, wrote a famous treatise in defence of women. First published in 1563,  Le medicine  only ever appeared in the vernacular, for the use of physicians, midwives and laywomen. This encyclopaedia of women s (and their husbands ) well-being, spans a variety of conditions accompanied by long disquisitions on aetiology, treatments and remedies, from  illnesses which can untie the knot of marriage  (e.g., weakness caused by excessive intercourse, urinating during intercourse or in bed, expulsion of semen  not caused by sexual arousal , erectile disfunction, bad breath), addressing men s conditions too, with most interesting observations on the social conventions of C16 marital life; male and female sterility (caused by organ conditions, semen that does not generate, excessive body fat, weakness, irregular menstruation); the  regimen sanitatis  of pregnant women and the symptoms of pregnancy (e.g., desire for unnatural food like ash or moist soil); labour, delivery and how to deal with difficult situation, such as still births. An early annotator of this copy noted a short (unrelated) recipe:  spinocervino boiled in alum for painting paper yellow . A most interesting work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MARINELLI, Giovanni.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859663987023,"sku":"L4101","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L4101-3.jpg?v=1781793696"},{"product_id":"aleandro-hieronymus","title":"ALEANDRO, Hieronymus.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A very good, unsophisticated copy, in contemporary binding, of the first edition of this most interesting, beautifully illustrated work on the interpretation of the Tabula Heliaca and ancient solar cults. Nephew of his namesake the Vatican librarian under Leo X and secretary to Cardinal Barberini, the antiquarian Girolamo Aleandro the Younger (1574-1629) was inspired to write this commentary on the symbolism of the Tabula Heliaca after seeing the marble tablet, with a symbolic depiction of the sun god Mithras, at the Roman house of Asdrubale Mattei. His interest in Mithraic cults led him to correspond with Peiresc. Aleandro studied the tablet s  symbolic theology  in relation to  the original unity of god under the image of the sun  ( sol invictus ), which he linked to the four original elements and the origin of the world (Hafner, p.112). The sundry sections of the work discuss solar deities   the Sun with rays around his head, Apollo, Bacchus, Hercules, Mercurius, Encarpus and Lyra   using dozens of famous and obscure ancient Greek and Latin sources. Aleandro mentions that such tablets were found in stacks at ancient crossroads, compares the sun iconography of the Tabula to that of ancient coins and gemstone signets (illustrated), and connects its interpretation to the four Apollinean arts, the four elements, the four ages of the world and the four seasons. The handsome larger illustrations show the Tabula Heliaca, as well as a marble tablet preserved in Rome with Apollo, Mercurius and a young Bacchus astride a goat, and another (to which the appendix is dedicated) showing 5 ancient figures with zodiac signs, which Aleandro saw at the Padua house of Paolo Gualdo. A learned, elegantly printed work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ALEANDRO, Hieronymus.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859667886415,"sku":"L3837a","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3837a-1.jpg?v=1781793686"},{"product_id":"fumo-bartolomeo","title":"FUMO, Bartolomeo.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A very good copy of the second edition of this  pocket  compendium of canon law. Legal Aldines are uncommon. The Dominican theologian Bartolomeo Fumo (d.1545), was inquisitor in Piacenza, where the  Summa  was first published in 1549. Popular and much reprinted, it is a compendium of cases of conscience, i.e., a manual detailing, in 504 sections, with the ethical and moral conundrums priests and confessors were most likely to encounter, and which they had to address according to ecclesiastical law. The present copy was in the library of a Franciscan monastery near Rieti, in Italy. The work is prefaced by a copious index for easy consultation. In addition to topics such as the capital sins, sacraments, excommunication and the regulations of marriage (illustrated by an  arbor consanguinitatis  showing the degrees of kinship between spouses allowed by the Church), one also finds hundreds of situations of family law (e.g., adultery, bigamy, financial debt towards one s spouse, inheritance),  anti-social  behaviour (e.g., bestiality, sodomy, fornication, incest, murder, prostitution), or activities that contravene Christian doctrines. Among these are alchemy   an  art that is not itself illicit, if done without fraud, nor is it a sin to sell what is produced through alchemy, unless one is selling something which is actually not what it looks like    and necromancy, a mortal sin of  divination through demons who take the shape of dead people . Most interesting is the section, one of several which focus on specific professions or offices, about the proper conduct of physicians:  Physicians may sin in many ways.  Mortal sins for doctors include ignoring an ailment, requiring extortionate fees, refusing to research an illness they are unfamiliar with, or to visit or administer medicaments, distributing remedies that are  not prepared according to the art of medicine, but according to their stolid fantasy and experiments , and refusing to urge very sick patients to receive confession, depending also on whether the physician is wealthy or paid by the community. A remarkable glimpse into the everyday mid-C16 life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"FUMO, Bartolomeo.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859668705615,"sku":"L4078","price":4950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_0922-copy.jpg?v=1781793681"},{"product_id":"giovio-paolo-domenichi-ludovico","title":"GIOVIO, Paolo; DOMENICHI, Ludovico.","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe charming contemporary binding, produced in a skilled provincial workshop most probably in Tuscany, displays the influence of 1540s-early 1550s Roman bookbinding. The models for the curl tools and the geometrical knot on the inner border are found on bindings produced for the great bibliophiles Giovanni Battista Grimaldi (cf. de Marinis I, 739, 751) and Antonio Filareto (cf. de Marinis I, 857). In the second half of the C16, the ‘pilgrim’ watermark, on the eps here, appears most frequently in north-western Italy, but also Pisa and Sicily (cf. Briquet).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA very good copy of the second edition in Italian of Paolo Giovio’s famous biography of the Spanish general Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1453-1515), considered the first to make gunpowder weapons an integral part of warfare. Written in Latin c.1525 and published by the historian Giovio (1483-1552) in 1549, it was translated into Italian by Ludovico Domenichi in 1550. Known as ‘El Gran Capitán’, Fernández de Córdoba was a key figure in the Conquest of Granada (1481-91) and the Italian Wars (1494-1505). ‘The ambassador of Charles V to Rome, Luis Fernández de Córdoba, duke of Sessa, commissioned Giovio to vindicate the reputation of his father-in-law, Gonzalo, the most brilliant general of the age. After winning the kingdom of Naples from the French, the “great captain” had been forced into retirement in Spain by the jealousy of Ferdinand of Aragon, who suspected him of wanting the crown of Naples for himself, and the duke of Sessa feared that the great soldier’s reputation was being diminished by official annalists and “foolish poets”’ (Zimmerman, p.65). The work begins with Domenichini and Giovio’s dedications to the Captain, proceeding with the faction wars of the house of Córdoba, a detailed account of Gonzalo’s feats at the siege to reconquer Granada from Muslim dominion, and during the Italian Wars whereby Naples was brought under Spanish rule. Giovio’s work achieved great popularity, rescuing the reputation of the captain who first integrated the use of gunpowder weapons into the Spanish artillery, with the help of battlefield fortifications.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GIOVIO, Paolo; DOMENICHI, Ludovico.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868671320399,"sku":"L3752","price":4950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3752-1.jpg?v=1781793663"},{"product_id":"sadeler-aegidius-1","title":"SADELER, Aegidius.","description":"\u003cp\u003eAttractively bound copy of the first edition of this series of fine engraved Roman views a scarce Prague imprint by a major master-engraver. Its author, the Flemish Aegidius II Sadeler (1570-1629), was court engraver to the Emperor Rudolf II; many of his fine engravings were faithful copies of works by D√ºrer, Titian, Raphael and Tintoretto.  Vestigi  stands halfway between a guide to Rome and a series of picturesque views. Mostly engraved by Marco Sadeler, 27 plates are reduced copies of views from Étienne Duperac s successful  I vestigi dell antica Roma  (1575); 4 more were adapted after drawings by Jan Breughel the Elder, 3 after drawings by Pieter Stevens, and a handful inspired by as yet unidentified sources, probably including drawings by Breughel which have not survived (BAL). The plates are masterful examples of European  pittoresco  or  schilder-achtig , in which the  Rome that is  functions as background to  the Rome that was  as views juxtapose the ruined (often overcome by vegetation) and the late medieval. The Italian captions, mostly drawn from Duperac, provide narrative glosses to the scene: on pl. 2, the Capitol  looks toward the Foro Romano which is now called  campo vaccino‚Äö where of many ancient buildings once there only a few ruins remain ; letters mark the specific buildings under scrutiny, a Doric portico, part of the Temple of Concordia and  a temple of very beautiful architecture, the author of which remains unknown due to the very few ruins that are left . Among the portrayed antiquities are the Arch of Septimius Severus, the Temple of Faustina, the Temple of Jove Statore,  an architectural work of the rarest to be seen today in Rome , the remains of the Circo Massimo, the Pyramid of Cestius and the Baths of Constantine, as well as broader topographical views like those of the Isola Tiberina seen from the river, the Ponte Gianicolense and the Campi Flegrei. ..Giovanni Giacomo de  Rossi reprinted Sadeler s work in Rome in 1660.\u003cbr\u003e\n \u003cbr\u003e\nIn the C18, this copy was in the library of the Barons von Wiesenh√ºtten. It belonged to the banker Heinrich Carl Freiherr von Barkhaus (1725-93), called von Wiesenh√ºtten, after 1789, or his son Carl Ludwig (1761-1823). After studying law at G√∂ttingen and T√ºbingen, Carl Ludwig had an intense political career, at service of Duke Karl I von Braunschweig-Wolfenb√ºttel, landgrave Ludwig IX. von Hessen-Darmstadt and his son, later Ludwig I Grand Duke of Hesse.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SADELER, Aegidius.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868672860495,"sku":"L3323","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_8773.jpg?v=1781793659"},{"product_id":"bembo-pietro-1","title":"BEMBO, Pietro.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.The woodcut frame with the ms arms and initials of Cardinal Bembo is curious. We have not found any other example. A link between the Grillenzoni and Bembo is Lodovico Castelvetro, who was known to both, wrote a commentary to Bembo s  Prose , and lived in Modena until 1553. The woodcut frame is C16 in style, and was not infrequently used by prelates of the time. The bleeding from the edge paint shows it was there before the current binding. It is possible that these were added by the author to his own copy of the text, it is equally possible they were added by or for a friend or admirer, maybe the known early owner Grillenzoni which is consistent with the presentation quality of the copy. It is unlikely they are either accidental or a deliberate attempt at faking at such an early date.. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\nA clean, well-margined copy of the first edition of Pietro Bembo s  History of Venice  -  the culmination of Venice s official historiography  (Mazzocco) - with a chapter on the discovery of America and Portuguese eastern expeditions. Cardinal Bembo (1470-1547) was a major poet and scholar, whose  Prose della volgar lingua  greatly influenced the development of Tuscan as a literary language, rekindling interest in Petrarch and Dante. Bembo wrote  Historiae Venetae  - a history of Venice from 1487 to 1513 - as official historiographer of the Serenissima; he also made an Italian translation, both were published after his death. Bembo was granted permission to consult  material of the chancellery, the books of the secret affairs, and the records of the deliberations of the Council of Ten  (Mazzocco, pp.99-100). Book VI includes a 5-page narrative of Columbus s travels and discoveries till 1502, prefaced by a summary of cosmographical theories of the time and how Columbus s ideas differed. This is followed by a section on Portuguese discoveries including Magellan s travels, in Africa (Cape of Good Hope) and Asia. Book VII features what may be the first description of Eskimos (though not so called) -  short, of a darkish complexion, with clothes made of fish skin, who ate raw meat and drank blood  - found stranded on a wicket boat off the English coast. . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\nThe late C16 annotator   Giovanni Battista Grillenzoni   glossed  Columbus  and  Maglaianes  (Magellan) on the margin. He translated some of Bembo s Latin into Italian, in marginal glosses. Grillenzoni was a member of the major Modenese family; two more books from his library   Medina s  Arte del Navegar  (1554) and Magini s  Ephemerides  (1582)   are preserved at the Bib. Estense, in Modena.  .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BEMBO, Pietro.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868673679695,"sku":"L4208","price":6750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L4208-2.jpg?v=1781793657"},{"product_id":"valverde-de-hamusco-juan-de","title":"VALVERDE DE HAMUSCO, Juan de.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A very good well-margined copy of the first edition in Italian of this important study of human anatomy, with 42 fine, full-page engravings. Juan de Valverde de Hamusco (c.1525-?) studied medicine at Padua and Rome under Realdo Columbo and Bartolomeo Eustachi. Originally published in Castilian as  Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano  (Rome, 1556),  Anatomia  was translated into Italian by Anton Tabo, under Valverde s supervision. A Latin translation only followed much later, which suggests the original intended audience were mainly barber-surgeons, who generally did not possess a sound knowledge of Latin. Dedicated to King Philip II,  Anatomia  is divided into 7 books. The first part of each is a textual study, the second a collection of engraved plates with facing explanatory tables. Book I deals with bones, head to foot, and their structure, as well as of teeth, nails, cartilage of the nose and ears, and the throat. Book II focuses on muscles, the skin and ligaments; Book III on the digestive and reproductive system; Book IV on the  organs of life  (i.e., heart, lungs); Book V on the brain; Book VI on blood vessels, and Book VII on the nerves. . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..Based on the famous woodcuts in Vesalius   Humani corporis fabrica , the 42 engravings include 4 that are original to Valverde s work. In general,  we find several figures which do not occur in Vesalius  works, e.g., a muscle-manikin holding his skin in his right hand and a dagger in his left; several representations of the abdominal muscles, of the momentum and the intestines; a standing pregnant woman with her abdomen cut open, and representations of the principal veins and many others. Parts of the bodies are dressed in armor  (Choulant, p.205). The  muscle-manikin  holding his skin bears a striking resemblance to Michelangelo s St Bartholomew (both Beatrizet and Becerra were associated with him) depicted in the Sistine Chapel. A plate in Book IV shows the anatomist at work, as he delves into the open chest of a corpse; the anatomist himself is shown in anatomical layers, his lungs in full view. Valverde was accused of plagiarising Vesalius; he replied he had decided not to make new anatomical figures, replicating Vesalius  instead, so his readers would see more easily, from the occasional differences to the original, what Valverde disagreed on. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VALVERDE DE HAMUSCO, Juan de.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868674662735,"sku":"L3125","price":9750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L3125-2.jpg?v=1781793654"},{"product_id":"quintilian-2","title":"QUINTILIAN.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A very good, well-margined, clean copy of the second Aldine edition of Quintilian s most influential manual of rhetoric. Edited by Naugerius and G.B. Ramusio, it includes a new table of Greek words, absent in the first. The text is modelled on that of the 1515 Giunta edition. Quintilian s  Institutio Oratoria  was the main text for the study of classical rhetoric until way into the C18    the most complete and detailed collection of the historical development of theories and techniques of communication in Greece and Rome up to the first century  (Celentano, p.361). ..Written in the 1.st. century AD and rediscovered in 1416, it introduced students to the basic principles of rhetoric, e.g., orations, their elements, tropes and figures of speech. Issued without the editor s preface, it begins with Quintilian s own letter to his publisher, Trypho, who had allegedly been pressing him to finish his work   the result of 20 years of teaching   on the best education of the orator. The 12 books deal with preparatory material, the nature of rhetoric and its elements (inventio, dispositio, elocutio, memoria, actio), the character of the orator, and how he should study, prepare and argue his cases.  The Institutio has been described as four major works blended into one: a treatise on education, a manual of rhetoric, a reader s guide to the best authors, and a handbook on the moral duties of the perfect orator  (Murphy, p.59). Innocentio Doion was likely a member of the influential aristocratic Doglioni family, from Belluno. In 1625, he is recorded as one of the witnesses at the reading of the Bishop of Belluno s will. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"QUINTILIAN.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868675711311,"sku":"L2136","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_0538-copy.jpg?v=1781793651"},{"product_id":"justinus-marcus-junianus-and-florus-lucius-annaeus-with-lucian-of-samosata-and-diodorus-syculus","title":"JUSTINUS, Marcus Junianus. [and] FLORUS, Lucius Annaeus. [with] LUCIAN OF SAMOSATA. [and] DIODORUS SYCULUS.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.In the original C15 binding, two of the most important textbooks of the medieval period. The second work, largely untrimmed, opens with the second edition of Lucian of Samosata s  Verae Historiae  (2.nd. cent.), considered the earliest surviving work of science fiction. A famous satirist, Lucian begins by stating his account is, in fact, a big lie, and proceeds to narrate the most surreal and fantastic adventures, described as  historiae , which bring to exaggeration some of the classic commonplaces of ancient histories. The author and his fellow travellers go beyond the Pillars of Hercules. Flying through space, they reach the Moon   which Lucian describes   where they strive to avoid a war between the King of the Moon and the King of the Sun, and their armies made of alien creatures, for the colonization of the Morning Star. They are later swallowed by a whale so big its stomach is inhabited, they see gigantic insects, and meet the heroes of Troy on the Island of the Blessed, as well as speaking statues much resembling automata, and 'intelligent' lamps who have formed their own society.  With this celestial war, the wondrous and bizarre creatures, and Lucian s ability to venture into space, the notion of utopian and even modern science fiction has been raised in the context of  Verae Historiae   (Clay, p.38), including such commonplace tropes as gigantic creatures or societies formed by sentient objects, with implicit comparison to human society. The second text, Diodorus Siculus s (1.st. cent.)  Bibliotheca historica , is a history which encompasses the whole known world, from Mesopotamia to India, Egypt, Arabia, Africa and Europe, with great attention to the Empire of Alexander the Great. . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..First printed in 1470, the first work includes two  epitomae , i.e., compilations. The Roman historian Justinus (2.nd. cent. AD) compiled the most interesting and useful excerpts from Pompeius Trogus   Liber Historiarum Philippicarum  (1.st. cent. AD), here edited by the Bolognese humanist Philippus Beroaldus. It is a history of the Kings of Macedonia and an ethnographic and geographical account of the territories eventually conquered by Alexander the Great. It is followed by a compendium of Roman history by Lucius Annaeus Florus (c.1.st. cent AD), a major historian born in Africa under Emperor Hadrian. The  epitome  is based on Livy s  Ab Urbe Condita , and reaches down to 25BC, touching on the causes of Rome s expansion and decline. Untrimmed, original copies..\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"JUSTINUS, Marcus Junianus. [and] FLORUS, Lucius Annaeus. [with] LUCIAN OF SAMOSATA. [and] DIODORUS SYCULUS.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868676006223,"sku":"L4107","price":8950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9444.jpg?v=1781793650"},{"product_id":"petrarch-2","title":"PETRARCH.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.Later edition with Gesualdo s commentary, revised and illustrated, of Petrarch s complete works. Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca, 1304-74) has been called  the father of Humanism  and the initiator of the Renaissance due to his ground-breaking rediscovery of classical texts like Cicero s letters. A prolific author of verse, epistles and essays, Petrarch lived between Italy and France, where he allegedly fell in love with Laura, an inspirational muse of whom little is known, except the fact that she was probably married. This edition is devoted to his  cose vulgari  his texts in the vernacular as found in a holograph ms preserved by the humanist Pietro Bembo. The  Canzoniere  is a collection of over 300 poems written for Laura, whose name reprises the  laurel  of great poets. The author looks back to his unrequited love, his  sighs  and  first error of youth , for a lady who is physical, holy and ethereal at the same time. Inspired by the triumphal progresses of ancient Rome,  Trionfi  celebrates in verse the allegorical figures of Love, Chastity, Death, Fame, Time and Eternity, providing reflections on the fleetingness of human existence which also permeate Petrarch s entire production. Together with Dante and Boccaccio, Petrarch became one of the three models for the Italian literary language based on its Tuscan variant.. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.. ..Giovanni Andrea Gesualdo s commentary is likely the source of Thomas Wyatt s famous metaphor of the  amorous chase  in  Whoso List to Hunt, I Know Where Is An Hind , dedicated to Anne Boleyn. Gesualdo was also among the first to connect the  impudent prostitute  of the Avignonese church in Petrarch s  Babylonian sonnets  (i.e., n. 136-8)   here present and untouched, but often found censored or removed from copies or editions - to the apocalyptic Whore of Rome. Gesualdo s first edition did not include the map of Vaucluse, whilst the  Trionfi  were illustrated by different woodcuts. The illustrations in this edition reprise those of the famous commentary by Alessandro Vellutello.  Trionfi  are illustrated with six exquisite allegorical woodcuts. The full-page map of Vaucluse was based on that drawn by Vellutello, after two visits to Avignon.  This map   struck the phantasy of the Petrarchists of the Cinquecento. It reappears, in one form or another, in twenty of the hundred-odd editions of the  Canzoniere  published in the next hundred years  (Wilkins,  Vellutello s Map , 277). The map, together with a life of the poet and a short essay on the places he visited, were additions intended to assist the reader  hugely influential in satisfying the taste for both Petrarch s poetry   and details of his life and Laura s  (Trapp,  Petrarchan Places , 4)..\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PETRARCH.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868676202831,"sku":"L4124","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_0528.jpg?v=1781793649"},{"product_id":"colonna-francesco-1","title":"COLONNA, Francesco.","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe first and only incunable edition of this example of finest Renaissance book production, and a masterpiece of woodcut illustration. Rated as ‚Äòthe most beautiful book of the fifteenth century‚Äô (Mortimer, p.131), it is also one of Aldus‚Äôs only seven illustrated books (Gibbs, ‚ÄòAldus‚Äô, p.109). ‚ÄòUniversally revered as a landmark in C15 typography‚Äô (Harris). The absence of the errata leaf and the 4 preliminaries including an additional or substitutional titlepage, may indicate a first or early issue. Two woodblocks contain what are now considered the first Arabic words to appear in print, carved on a stone and over three doorways. ‚ÄòWhile the script of the first inscription recalls Islamic bookish hands, that of the second reprises the use of calligraphy in Arabic-Islamic culture, with the practise of inscribing monuments and artefacts‚Äô (Piemontese, p.207).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe woodcuts, in fresh, early impression in this copy, changed the history of Western book illustration and art, influencing the likes of Titian and the Carracci as well as the C16 French school after the work‚Äôs translation in 1546. Scholars have suggested that they were not designed in Aldus‚Äôs workshop, but were already present in the ms that reached him; their authorship has been linked to Mantegna, Alberti or Benedetto Bordon; certainly to a northern Italian artist. An anonymous cutter transferred them onto woodblocks in Venice. Scholars have suggested that, in order to portray classical monuments, ruins and epigraphic inscriptions so vividly and in detail, the illustrator had access to drawings of ancient monuments discovered in Rome; their appearance dates the illustrations to 1470-95 (Huelsen, ‚ÄòIllustrazioni‚Äô, 175-6).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis majestic work, both in conception and production, has been attributed to Francesco Colonna (1433-1527), an Italian Dominican. The plot‚ÄîPolifilo‚Äôs quest for his love, Polia, through a dreamlike world, narrated in the first person‚Äîis framed within a complex setting based on classical allegory, emblems and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The language is an unusual Latinate Italian. It begins with Polifilo‚Äôs walk into a Dantesque ‚Äòdark wood‚Äô infested by snakes and wolves, and it follows him through allegorical landscapes with enormous pyramids surmounted by statues, obelisks sitting on the back of elephants, pedestals with ancient inscriptions or sculpted scenes‚Äîall handsomely depicted in the accompanying woodcuts. What makes the ‚ÄòHypnerotomachia‚Äô unique is the ‚Äòoverall composition of text and image into a harmonious whole, which allows the eye to slip back and forth between textual description and corresponding visual representation [‚Ķ].  It is the first experimental montage of fragments of prose, typography, epigrams, and pictures [‚Ķ] an extraordinary visual-typographical-textual ‚Äúassemblage‚Äù of a type not repeated until the avant-garde books of the 1920s and 1930s‚Äô (Lefaivre, ‚Äò‚ÄúHypnerotomachia‚Äù‚Äô, 17). It was also the first published book where the illustrations consistently appeared on the same page as the text they illustrated.\u003c\/p\u003e  \n\n \u003cp\u003eThe gilt ducal shield probably belongs to the Salviati, a prominent Florentine family since c.1400. In the C18, their very fine library, which included dozens of important medieval mss, was part bequeathed to Giovan Vincenzo‚Äôs son, later 6th Duke, Averardo (1721-83), and part sold. A c.1700 armorial ink stamp very similar in design to ours appears on selected books and mss which had been in the Salviati library since the C15. The C18 binding and the ‚ÄòA‚Äô point to Averardo.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COLONNA, Francesco.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868676661583,"sku":"K172","price":125000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/2-copy.jpg?v=1781793647"},{"product_id":"falloppio-gabriele-2","title":"FALLOPPIO, Gabriele.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A very good copy of probably the first edition of these important early works on therapeutic waters and fossils. Gabriele Falloppio (1523-62) was a major physician and anatomist, professor at Ferrara (where he taught Fabricius ab Aquapendente), Pisa and Padua. Several anatomical formations, of which he provided ground-breaking descriptions and studies, are still named after him, e.g., Fallopian tubes,  aquaeductus Fallopii .  As with all of his publications except  Observationes anatomicae\", this work was published posthumously. It consists of two lectures given at Padua in 1556 and 1557 respectively, [...] edited from lecture notes by Andreas Marcolini (fl. 1560), one of Fallopius  friends  (Heirs of Hippocrates). . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.. De medicatis aquis  is devoted to mineral spring waters and their therapeutic qualities. It introduces the names and nature of various spa waters, and proceeds to discuss why they emerge from the ground at very high temperatures (with a section on the rare instances in which they emerge cold), their metallic and mineral composition and how to investigate it (e.g., through sight and colour, smell, touch and taste), the  lutus thermalis  (the therapeutic essence of spa waters), the application of mud, the medical characteristics of specific spa baths near Padua (e.g., Monte Ortone, San Pietro, Sant Elena and Montegrotto, this last still in use and very popular, in an area named  Terme Euganee ) and in Emilia and Tuscany, and the benefits of spa waters for all kinds of conditions, head to foot.  De medicatis aquis  is considered  the most influential work on solution analysis  of the C16, for its discussion of the chemical composition of water (Debus, p.46). . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.. De metallis seu fossilibus  is concerned with geology and mineralogy. By  fossils , like Agricola and Gesner, Falloppio meant  everything dug out of the ground or extracted from rocks that showed a distinct form [...]. It included therefore, besides fossils in the modern sense [...], also crystals, stones, minerals and artifacts  (Etter, p.131). Falloppio focuses on stones and minerals to identify their medical properties, defining the types of soil, the nature and properties of stones, and the essence of metals (including less common substances like  chrysocolla ). Two most interesting works by one of the medical authorities of the Renaissance.. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..Another ed. appeared the same year, published by Avanzi with Giordano Ziletti - priority not established..\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"FALLOPPIO, Gabriele.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868677120335,"sku":"L4205","price":4750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_3350-2-copy.jpg?v=1781793648"},{"product_id":"machiavelli-niccolo-5","title":"MACHIAVELLI, Niccol‚àö‚â§.","description":"\u003cp\u003eAttractive copy of the first English edition of Niccolò Machiavelli s  Florentine Historie , translated by Thomas Bedingfeld (d.1613), dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton. A most influential historiographic work, known and quoted by the likes of Thomas More, and a possible source for Shakespeare. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was an Italian historian, writer, diplomat and politician who served for many years as senior official for the Republic of Florence until 1512, when the Medici regained power and he was first imprisoned and then exiled. His most famous work, the  Principe , composed in 1513 and unpublished in Italy until 1532 (and in English not until as late as 1640), was so controversial for the alleged ruthlessness the author advocated in ambitious princes that  Machiavellian  became synonymous with realpolitik and reasons of state, especially in England.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough he was more acceptable [in England] earlier in the century, by [the end of the C16] Machiavelli was regarded as the worst kind of cynic, and Machiavellianism was associated in public discourse with atheism. He was nevertheless ever more widely read in the original by many Englishmen, including Sidney who praised him and Harvey who called him a  poisonous politician   (Hamilton). The  Historie Fiorentine  was not one of Machiavelli s more controversial works, and was thus published in English, like  The Arte of Warre , without the need for a false imprint.  First published in 1532, it was written at the request of Cardinal Giulio de  Medici. At that time, the relationship between Machiavelli and the Medici were only just beginning to improve after the crisis of 1513, when the author was put under house arrest upon the family s return from exile. This history of Florence was intended to celebrate and legitimize the new Medici government as a natural progression of events. Book 1 is devoted to a history of Europe to 1215, Book II examines the origins of the feud between Guelphs and Ghibellines, and Books III-IV analyse the history of Florence to the C15. Books V-VIII focus on the Medici rule until the death of Lorenzo in 1492, and the subsequent exile of his son and the family. It was greatly criticised by figures like Scipione Ammirato for several obvious distortions of historical facts, though it remains important for accounts such as the riot of the Ciompi.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MACHIAVELLI, Niccolò","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868682527055,"sku":"L4227","price":12500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L4227-2.jpg?v=1781793474"},{"product_id":"amphiareo-vespasiano-1","title":"AMPHIAREO, Vespasiano.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A remarkably well-preserved copy, in an early working binding, of the rare second edition of this successful Italian writing manual. Vespasiano Amphiareo (1501-63) was a Franciscan from Ferrara, who taught calligraphy for decades; a Mac OS font was named after him in 2002, a tribute to his importance in the history of typography. The preface states that the work provided easy lettering for the speedy handwriting of both chancery scribes and merchants, and that the first ed. was so popular it quickly sold out, requiring a second. The manual includes recipes and instructions to write using  acqua di gomma , azurite, ground gold and cinnabar, as well as how to sharpen pens and produce an ink that will not get mould or rot in the heat. Each plate features several lines from different texts, surrounded by their alphabet, some being documents, others messages from Amphiareo himself. After the cursive and Mercantesca comes the  Bastarda , a sloped form of  cancelleresca , this term also having been used by Tagliente (1530) and Palatino (1544). However,  as [Amphiareo] claims to have been teaching writing in Venice for 30 years before the publication of his work, it is just conceivable that he was the first to apply to this form of  cancelleresca  a term which had already been employed to denote an informal form of gothic  (Morison, p.48). A page is devoted to abbreviations in cancelleresca, and several more to astoundingly floriated Gothic scripts and decorated initials, e.g., shaped like tree trunks, and letters inscribed within squares. This copy was used and cherished by Gerardo, Bartolomeo and Teodosio Frascarolo. The second and third were Gerardo s sons, and all are recorded in the 1630s in Tortona, Piedmont. Among the pen trials are discernible copies of documents or personal correspondence, one dated 1573, concerning Giorgio Frascarolo, as well as family property such as capon and a mare..\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"AMPHIAREO, Vespasiano.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868682592591,"sku":"L4356","price":7250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_8916.jpg?v=1781793473"},{"product_id":"besta-giacomo-filippo","title":"BESTA, Giacomo Filippo.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A very good copy of the first edition of this detailed account of the plague that hit Milan in 1576   a wonderful early witness to disaster management - with, appended at rear, a collection of poems on the same subject. Giacomo Filippo Besta, of whom little is known, was a notary and gate guard during the plague of 1576. His account  attributed far more to the secular arm of the state than to Cardinal Borromeo s spiritual and secular initiatives, and examined in greater detail and with more documentation events within the city walls as well as showing greater concern for the plague s spread within Lombardy. [It] devoted attention to the communication between the various city-states and Milan and compared Milan s reactions and solutions with measures taken in Verona and Venice  (Cohn, p.106). The account begins with Besta s hypothesis on the contagion: the plague was supposedly brought from Trento in 1575, despite the use of city guards (whose names are listed) and  health passes  ( bollette ) in Milan. There follows an account of the early stages, with the identification of potential  patients zero  - i.e., people who were clearly ill but managed to escape isolation - as well as the decision to  lock down  inns and stop all commercial activities involving gatherings for over a year. Besta traces the spread of the plague within Milan, and provides incredibly detailed descriptions of processions and ceremonies made to protect the city, various strategies to manage the sick (e.g., the issuing of health passes to people who were somehow immune from or had overcome the plague), the expenses incurred by the community (e.g., for French doctors called to assist), the management of alms, medical remedies, burials, food and last wills for an extensive number of dying people. At the end, Besta marvels at the  many means and ways in which money was sought and obtained by city officials to assist the needy , with an eye-watering total expenditure of a million five hundred and seven thousand lire, which he hoped the King of Spain would partly refund. The appended poems, written by Giacomo Filippo Giardini and Lodovico Gandini, sing the tragedy of the plague, the mass death of people of all sexes and ages caused by this  invisible war , by the  cruel monster who infects human bodies with deadly poison , the miserable carts transporting bodies, and the dreaded symptoms. An immensely interesting book for the history of epidemic disaster management..\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BESTA, Giacomo Filippo.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868683968847,"sku":"L4115","price":2500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L4115-2.jpg?v=1781793473"},{"product_id":"sahula-isaac-ben-solomon-ibn","title":"SAHULA, Isaac ben Solomon, ibn.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.Third edition of the first illustrated Hebrew book, with 79 very fine woodcuts, the earlier eds are usually found with 75. Rarely found complete, this is also the earliest obtainable edition, the first (1491) and second (1497) have passed through the market, both in incomplete copies, only twice. This copy is also remarkably preserved in an early binding, with interesting early North Italian provenance.. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.. ..It is the only  medieval Hebrew work with a continuous tradition of illustration going back to the author himself who provided rhymed captions for illustrations (Stern). The printer of this lovely and elegant ed., Meir Parenzo, learnt his craft at the Venetian presses of Daniel Bomberg and Marco Antonio Giustiniani. The illustrations had been an integral part of the work since its composition and are present in medieval mss as well, the earliest surviving codex dating from c.1450 (Habermann, p.169). The woodcuts reprise  those in contemporary eds of Aesop s fables, depicting animals, and less often people, engaged in various activities, including their discussions.   They were prepared by three different hands  (Haller, p.333).  Although these woodcuts are frequently referred to as sensuous, or even pornographic, there is but one illustration (p.170). that of the faithless wife and her lover, that includes an explicit feature. In some copies [as in the present], this has been obscured by pen-work  (Loewe, p.cxxiv). . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..Isaac bin Sahula (b.1244) was a Hebrew poet, scholar, physician and kabbalist from Castile, who travelled widely in the Iberian peninsula and Egypt.  Sahula s  Meshal ha-kadmoni\", completed in 1281, is one of the most famous works of Jewish literature from medieval Castile. Divided into five sections respectively on wisdom, penitence, good counsel, humility and reverence, it comprises dozens of self-contained fables, mostly accompanied by an illustration, in rhyming Hebrew prose with occasional verse following the Arabic  maq_ma  tradition, featuring animals as protagonists. Indeed, Sahula became known as  the Jewish Aesop . The fables are inserted as examples within a broader dialogue on those virtues between a Cynic and a Moralist. Among the fables are passages on natural science, medicine, philosophy, astronomy, geography, perception, meteorology and astrology.. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.. ..The late C17 and early C18 provenance appears to be north-west Italian, like the binding. Giacomo Ottavio Giustiniani was a Genoese aristocrat and commissioner at Ovada, Piedmont, mentioned in numerous local records c.1660s-80s. The Giustiniani family was born as a  maona  (business aggregation) of kin Genoese aristocratic families, in charge of the Island of Chios, which they lost in 1566. Some of the Hebrew autographs mention members (Abraham and Isaac) of the Valabrega family, present in Piedmont since the C16, and the manager of several  banchi  in Turin, in the C17 and C18. The Foa, originally a Jewish family from France, had been in Piedmont since the C15. Francesco Lonperto's name is followed by the Italian nickname  Grattarogna  ( scab scratcher ), an anti-Semitic stereotype found in several European proverbs (e.g., Poland, in Skuza, p.55, Venice, in Fortis, p.281). The Babylonian Talmud also has a few lines on scratching one s own scab on the day of the Sabbath. Mayer Sulzberger (1843-1923) was a judge and book collector, owner of one of the finest private libraries in America, later donated to the Jewish Theological Seminary. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SAHULA, Isaac ben Solomon, ibn.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868686721359,"sku":"L4298","price":64500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_7436.jpg?v=1781793470"},{"product_id":"savonarola-giovanni-michele","title":"SAVONAROLA, Giovanni Michele.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A good copy of this important work on well-being and the preservation of health. Giovanni Michele Savonarola (1385-c.1461) was a physician in Ferrara, professor at Padua, and the author of popular medical books on pathology and obstetrics. First published in 1508, this is a little vernacular manual on the healthiest types and best methods of preparation and administration of food and drink. It is addressed to Savonarola s patron, Borso, Duke of Modena, and seeks to provide guidance on what should be served, and how, during his meals and banquets. It is thus a detailed snapshot of Italian diet, and eating and cooking habits, c.1400. For each food or drink Savonarola provides general information on recipes (e.g., asparagus with oil, vinegar and cinnamon) and therapeutic virtues (based on Avicenna and Galen), as well as the downsides (e.g., just the smell of garlic may make some people feel immediately sick). The treatise begins with maize, with observations on how it was ground to make flour, proceeding to bread (of which Savonarola lists three kinds, according to the amount of bran in it), barley, spelt, rice and other cereals. It continues with herbs, vegetables and fruit - e.g., mint (used boiled in water by women to treat breast inflammation), radicchio, asparagus (diuretic), figs (if eaten excessively, they could cause death), oranges, apples, pistachios and truffle (especially liked by Savonarola s patron). Meat, including fowls and quadrupeds, and fish are treated together, followed by eggs and dairy. After a section on wine and water, the penultimate part is devoted to dressings and spices, e.g., honey (from bees or sugar cane), sugar (also the fine white type called  taberzet ), black pepper ( expensive ), cinnamon, saffron (which makes people laugh without a reason, if served with wine), and salt (which makes all foods more pleasant). The last part is devoted to healthy habits, such as exercise and rest, and to common doubts such as whether one should drink before eating, whether lunch or supper should be the main meal, or what the best sleeping position is considered to be. An important and interesting work. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SAVONAROLA, Giovanni Michele.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868687835471,"sku":"L4103","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9240.jpg?v=1781793467"},{"product_id":"villamena-francesco","title":"[VILLAMENA, Francesco]","description":"\u003cp\u003eRarely complete copy of a beautiful series of Renaissance engravings depicting 51 episodes from the life of St Francis of Assisi (c.1181-1226) with descriptive engraved titles, in Latin and Italian. All other copies appear to have at least one missing plate or lack the frontispiece. Canonised in 1228 by Pope Gregory IX, Saint Francis is best-known as the founder of the Franciscan order, a significant religious group during the Renaissance. Scenes include his birth (pl.1), death (pl.50) and St Francis with Popes Nicolas IV (1288-1292), Alexander V (1409-1410), Sixtus IV (1471-1484), and Sixtus V (1585-1590) (pl.51), all members of the Franciscan Order. Other recognisable tableaux include his reception of the stigmata on Mount La Verna (pl.46), a popular motif in art of the time, the apparition of and conversation with Christ (pl.14), and his meeting with the Sultan of Turkey (pl.13). The plates are the work of Italian engraver Francesco Villamena (1564-1624), born in Assisi. Having trained in Rome under Cornelis Cort, he studied painting and engraving, choosing historical and religious subjects.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe very detached images reflect the artistic style of the time, creating a sense of space, using linear perspective, usually rendered through the incorporation of orthogonal lines into the surroundings, and by careful modelling of the characters’ clothing. Light and shade are `created effectively by varying the direction and thickness of lines, as well as cross-hatching. While the events recorded date from the 12th C, the figures are characteristically depicted in contemporary garments.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"[VILLAMENA, Francesco]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868690686287,"sku":"L4418","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9565.jpg?v=1781793465"},{"product_id":"piccolomini-alessandro-4","title":"PICCOLOMINI, Alessandro.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A good copy of this popular and interesting work on women, their youth, bearing, social life and adultery, which was considered quite scandalous in its day. First published in 1539, and also known as  La Raffaella , it is here in its fifth ed., all early eds being scarce. Alessandro Piccolomini (1508-78) was a member of the Accademia degli Intronati, and his  Dialogo  was intended as a playful literary entertainment creating a topsy-turvy world in which the widsom of old age is not spiritual, but very material. In the work, Raffaella, an older woman, gives advice to a younger woman, Margarita, on ways to enjoy herself while she still has time. The incipt sets the light tone, with Raffaella answering to Margarita asking after her health in typical Italian fashion:  Full of sins and fatigue, like all old women  and  Old, poor and with my head nearing the grave by the hour . Margarita s beauty reminds Raffaella of her own youth and the amusements she shunned at parties and feasts, till it was too late (i.e., age thirty). She explains that betraying one s husband is not sinful as marriages are combined with men who will never be their wife s true love. As clarified at the end,  Raffaella s aim is to give advice as to how a woman can accomplish this adultery with cleverness and prudence so as to preserve secrecy  (though the chosen man should not be married), as she becomes, at some point, the  anti-model of a confessor , giving advice on sinning (McClure, pp.36-7). Tthese observations concealed a wealth of small details on women s social life in the Renaissance: e.g., it is very bad when a woman keeps wearing the same dress too long, and even worse when others can see she turned that same dress into another by dyeing or turning it inside out; what clothes best suit specific complexions; recipes for roasted pigeons and aromatic waters; countenance when walking in the street (e.g., with one s mouth open or pouting); how to show off one s chest without seeming too forward, etc. A most interesting and entertaining work. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PICCOLOMINI, Alessandro.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868694094159,"sku":"L4320","price":2450.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/872F2633-042D-450C-B8CE-A76069460BA7.webp?v=1781793463"},{"product_id":"colonna-vittoria-1","title":"COLONNA, Vittoria.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A good copy of the third edition of this most popular poetic collection by the Italian poetess and noblewoman Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547), marchioness of Pescara. Based in Ischia, near Naples, and married to a military captain who died in 1525, Vittoria Colonna also travelled to Rome, Ferrara and Venice, for scholarly and philanthropic purposes. Among her literary acquaintances were Pietro Bembo, Luigi Alamanni, Ludovico Ariosto (who praised her in his  Orlando Furioso ), Baldassare Castiglione and Marguerite de Navarre, as well as Italian Reformers such as Ochino. First published in 1538, without her consent, her  Rime  were very successful throughout the C16. The poems, based on the Petrarchan model, comprise love lyrics in memory of her husband, Ferrante Francesco d Avalos,  who is transformed into a spiritual guide for the grieving lover in the manner of Petrarch s Laura  (Morrone, p.492). The first poem begins with an explanation of her literary efforts:  I write solely to give vent to my inner pain . Generally, her metaphors focus around the eyes, the sun, the heavens and light more generally, whether spiritual or more earthly. Her later rimes reflect the passing of time and the transformation of her love into a more spiritual and religious kind, imbued with Christian Neo-Platonism.  It seems clear that Colonna perceived some fundamental difference between the acceptable and decorous dissemination of works in manuscript and the wholly unwelcome shift into print production, no doubt for reasons of aristocratic status as well as the modesty of her sex , leading to  the author s distance from such printed works, and her refusal to collaborate on any level , even after Bembo s encouragement (Brundin, p.31). In the last years of her life, Vittoria Colonna became closely acquainted with Cardinal Reginald Pole, then based in Viterbo with a cricle of reformers; with him she entertained an extensive correspondence and to whom, she stated, she owed her own salvation. An important collection, by one of the major female authors of the C16. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COLONNA, Vittoria.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868694913359,"sku":"L4380","price":2350.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/80CDB60E-D4DD-488B-B916-C96ACC55022C.webp?v=1781793462"},{"product_id":"marinelli-lucrezia","title":"MARINELLI, Lucrezia.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A very good copy of the second, revised and augmented edition of this wonderful book in praise of women, by a major female author. The Venetian Lucrezia Marinella (or Marinelli, 1571-1653) was daughter of Giovanni Marinelli, a physician who wrote popular works on women s illnesses. She never married, and lived a secluded life devoted to the pursuit of knowledge and literature, whilst encouraging other talented female writers of her time. A key theme of her works was the defence of women. First published in 1600,  La Nobilit‚àö‚Ć [...] delle donne  rebutted a work on women s defects by Giuseppe Passi. Part I celebrates women, describing their resilience in a man s world, from the names they are called ( donna ,  donno ,  giovinetta ) to their nature and beauty, and the sayings and proverbs created by men about women, moving on to various categories of women, illustrated through examples from literature and popular 'wisdom . These include  women learned in the sciences and the arts  ( some who have not read much history think there were never women knowledgeable in the sciences and the arts ), and women who are meek, strong, fearless, prudent, courteous, and just. A chapter is devoted to the tolerance, resilience and suffering of women, and how they love the men in their lives, and a rebuttal of the  feeble  reasons men have contrived to feel superior to women, with a confutation of theories by Tasso and Boccaccio. Part II is a ruthless list of categories of men   avaricious, greedy, incontinent, arrogant, lazy, ambitious, cruel, unjust, evil, stubborn, ungrateful, rude, and then thieves, murderers, witches, charmers, liars, heretics, tearful, false, chatty, hypocrites,  holier-than thou , ignorant and flatterers. Interesting is a section on men who are  well-dressed, trimmed, and wear make-up and bleached hair , and generally vain. A most interesting, quite unusual work, as written by a woman.. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..The Mexican Joaquim Gomez de La Cortina, later marquess of Morante, was a major C19 bibliophile, with a library of over 100,000 books on the classics or unusual subjects. He died after a fall from the ladder in his library. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MARINELLI, Lucrezia.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868695273807,"sku":"L4240","price":2650.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/1C843C15-CB90-475E-A0CD-967A41F3D5A0.webp?v=1781793461"},{"product_id":"sarpi-paolo-6","title":"SARPI, Paolo.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this famous manual on how to deal with the Inquisition, commissioned by the Senate of the Republic of Venice. Paolo Sarpi (1552-1623) was a Venetian historian, lawyer, experimental scientist and polymath. His defence of the freedoms of the Serenissima‚Äôs institutions crowned him as anti-clerical and anti-Tridentine in Italy and abroad. His works were translated into English almost immediately and pressed into that state‚Äôs religious policies. D.E. Rhodes considers both the printing place and printer‚Äôs name as fictitious, and traces some initials and typographical ornaments to contemporary Chou√´t and Stoer eds printed in Geneva (pp.41-3), where other mid-C17 eds of this work were produced.\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003e‚ÄòHistoria‚Äô was aimed at ‚Äòcouncillors, theologians and politicians‚Äô, as a summary, requested by the Doge, ‚Äògathering together systematically all the information concerning the Office of the Holy Inquisition‚Äô, and based on archival material of the Venetian Councils. Its main task was to ringfence in detail the authority of the Inquisition so that it would not impinge onto that of the Venetian state. The 39 sections, accompanied by Sarpi‚Äôs commentary, address the resolutions and legislation pertaining to the Inquisition in Venice, describing how Inquisitors should interact and cooperate with Venetian officials. The first section clarifies the role of the Senator-Inquisitors for Heresy historically appointed by the Venetian authorities, in charge of monitoring the Inquisition friars, and states that they should be substituted by civic Rectors, or by their deputies, should they be unable to attend trial. Besides, Rectors had to report the activities of the Inquisitors in their cities, and were not allowed to let the Inquisitors enter the city without the Doge‚Äôs permission. Venetian authorities had to monitor every single trial, ecclesiastical or secular, in which the Inquisition was involved, with limitations on the Inquisition‚Äôs jurisdiction over imprisonment or the punishment of false witnesses. Sec.29 (pp.92-116) is like a short treatise on printing censorship. Sarpi writes: ‚ÄòThe subject of books may seem of little importance, as it just deals with words. But from those words come the opinions of the world, which cause partiality, seditions, and eventually wars. They are indeed just words, but they can bring with them armed legions.‚Äô There follows an examination of the history of censorship in Italy and Venice with a focus on the previous 100 years, discussing the ‚ÄòIndex expurgatorius‚Äô and the main reasons for printing censorship (e.g., for their lewd, offensive, defamatory content), highlighting what Inquisitors may or may not regulate and how these regulations may damage the book market and printing presses, through the necessity of an ‚Äòimprimatur‚Äô. An important, meaningful work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SARPI, Paolo.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868707397967,"sku":"L4458a","price":1750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"brunfels-otto-1","title":"BRUNFELS, Otto.","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis copy was part of the private library of Cardinal Michele Ghisleri (1504-72), who used the arms of the Ghisleri-Carafa between 1557 and 1566. In 1566, he was elected by the Conclave as Pius V, and famously excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I in 1570. His heroic efforts in Europe against the Turks were rewarded by the victory of Lepanto. The institutional stamp was that of the Convent of Santa Croce e Tutti i Santi established in 1566 by Pius V in Bosco Marengo, Piedmont, his hometown, which was closed in the C19. The opening page bears a ms ex-libris from that convent, and the arms include the shield of the Ghisleri and the Dominicans. Brunfels  name is censored throughout the volume; he was put on the Index of 1559. In the C19, this copy belonged to the bibliophile, patriot and minister Count Giacomo Manzoni (1816-89), whose library was sold in 1893. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.Very good copies of the first and second parts (a third was published in 1539), both in the second edition, of  this celebrated herbal which marks an epoch in the history of botanic illustration  (Becher).  It was the first herbal illustrated with drawings which are throughout both beautiful and true to nature. The plants are represented as they are and in the greatest possible artistic perfection by one of the best German illustrators [...] Johann Weiditz. [...] The title indicates the most distinctive feature of the book, namely that the artist went direct to nature, instead of regarding the plant world through the eyes of previous draughtsmen  (Becher). \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.Otto Brunfels (1488-1534) was a Reformed humanist and physician, trained at Basel. Whilst he also wrote in theology, linguistics and pedagogy, his herbals made him one of the  fathers of botany  for their accuracy and great attention to naturalistic representation. First published in 1530, with two subsequent parts printed in 1532 and posthumously,  Herbarum vivae eicones  illustrates, in the first vol., several dozen plants, each accompanied by their Latin, German and sometimes Greek names, and by quotations from ancient sources (e.g., Dioscorides, Aetius, Pliny, Razes, Avicenna) and later (e.g., Hermolaus Barbaro, Fuchs), as well as a description of the plant, its medical properties (e.g., limits menstruation, stops the shingles), with short recipes for the preparation of their roots, seed or juice, and its potential harmful effects. Plants include the narcissus, orchid, bugloss, verbena, germander, violet, sassafras, lily, scrophularia, and so on. On p.15, there are mentions of Guaiacum and Ulrich von Hutten (for his 1519 work on syphilis and Guaiacum) (Alden). Vol.2 includes fewer woodcuts but many more descriptions, including origanum persicum, herba syriaca, sanguinaria and helleborus. A final appendix provides German names for all the plants mentioned in the book, for easier consultation. Brunfels  herbals are  a treasury of select quotations. [...] He shows a preference for wild growths before those that have undergone domestication  (Green, Landmarks, pp.169ff). A very handsome copy, of illustrious provenance, of this important herbal. A similarly censured copy appears to be at the Bibliotheca Comunale Manfrediana.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BRUNFELS, Otto.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868707627343,"sku":"L4371","price":12500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L4371-4.jpg?v=1781793426"},{"product_id":"vitruvius-pollio-marcus-giocondo-giovanni-ed-with-frontinus-sextus-julius","title":"VITRUVIUS POLLIO, Marcus; GIOCONDO, Giovanni, ed. [with] FRONTINUS, Sextus Julius.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A beautifully illustrated pocket-edition of Vitruvius  classic  De Architectura , printed in pseudo-Aldine\/Giunti format in Lyon - a very useful compendium for practitioners. Vitruvius (80\/70-15BC) was a Roman architect and engineer; his  De Architectura  is the only architectural work that has survived from antiquity. Divided in ten books, it begins from the basics (what is architecture, the building of foundations, the qualities of woods and stones), and proceeds with the handsomely illustrated examination of building structures (the decoration and proportions of the five orders of columns) and the construction of specific buildings (e.g., temples, theatres or baths, private or communal residences), down to their painting and the effects of humidity. Most famously, in book III, Vitruvius related the proportions of temples to those of the human figure a theory which inspired Leonardo s immensely influential drawing of the  Vitruvian Man  inscribed within a circle. Books IX and X offer intricate illustrations of machinery to pump water, astronomical instruments for calculations, and even two charming celestial planispheres with figurative zodiac signs and constellations... . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.. The edition was created through a careful assembly of the elements of the most recent editions of Vitruvius, published in Italy in the previous decade or so. Textually speaking, any edition of this text had to rely on previous editions published in Venice and Florence. The starting point could only be not the first, but the best edition of Vitruvius, edited and illustrated by Giovanni Giocondo. [...] The italic types that he actually used in the Vitruvius edition are very similar to those of the Giunti, and it is very likely that they were made by the Giunti of Florence. [...] From the title page, the book praises the presence of new illustrations [...], putting together the best from the previous editions and investing money with the goal of producing the most attractive edition possible  (Nuovo, pp.24, 26, 31). Indeed, the illustrations of this edition  are copied from the Giunta Florentine editions, and from the Como 1521 edition, in reduced form and designated by an asterisk  (Fowler). . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..The 1523 ed. had previously been attributed to Guillaume Huyon by Berlin Cat, and to Lucimborgo di Gabiano by Baudrier, based on the woodcut title border. Fowler highlights differences in the spelling of  propter  in the title, which may suggest the existence of two issues. That it was a Gabiano imprint has been confirmed by Angela Nuovo on the basis of archival evidence. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VITRUVIUS POLLIO, Marcus; GIOCONDO, Giovanni, ed. [with] FRONTINUS, Sextus Julius.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868707758415,"sku":"L2350","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2350-1.jpg?v=1781793426"},{"product_id":"san-juan-juan-huarte-de-camilli-camillo-trans","title":"SAN JUAN, Juan Huarte de; CAMILLI, Camillo, trans.","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe second, expanded Aldine edition of the Italian translation of this intriguing work bringing together psychology and medicine. Juan Huarte de San Juan (1529-88) was a Spanish humanist and physician who trained at Alcal‚àö¬∞. First published in Spanish in 1575,  Examen de ingegnos  was his great masterpiece. The 'Essame  was included on the Index as a prohibited book   at least by 1605, the present copy has a ms  Libro proibito  on the titlepage. Nevertheless it was greatly successful, translated into several European languages (including German by the philosopher G.E. Lessing), and even English. Huarte used as a starting point the humanist pedagogical theories, to explore, with the help of Galenic medicine, the concept of talent,  its diversity and richness, and how it affects the development of an individual in the professional sphere  (Morilla, p.161). It begins with a discussion of  ingenium , various kinds of intelligence, and how the humours influence individual character and temperament. The first section demonstrates with an example how, if a child does not have the intelligence required for knowledge he has to acquire, not even good teachers, lots of books, and constant study will make him succeed. There follow sections on how and why some people are good at learning, and how this is helped by specific physical characteristics. Three chapters also explain how specific kinds of intelligence and memory may favour children for professions in the fields of theology, law, medicine, the military or royalty. These chapters examine physiology and diet in relation with  ingenium , seeking  to align each temperament with a kind of intelligence  (Morilla, p.164). A chapter is devoted to ways of having intelligent children who will benefit from education, with specific instructions on physical procreation, the most appropriate environment so that they may be born male, not female, and how their intelligence may be preserved as they grow up. A most interesting, most unusual work, in many ways ahead of its time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SAN JUAN, Juan Huarte de; CAMILLI, Camillo, trans.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868707823951,"sku":"L4333","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/20250123_123136-copy.jpg?v=1781793426"},{"product_id":"guidetti-giovanni","title":"GUIDETTI, Giovanni.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.The very rare fourth, enlarged edition, unrecorded in USTC, of the first complete plainsong chant manual published after the Council of Trent. Handsomely printed in red and black, it was first published in 1582, and here reprinted according to the revised Roman Breviary issued by Clement VIII. Giovanni Guidetti, of whom little is known, was chaplain to Pope Gregory XIII; he studied with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, one of the great Renaissance musicians, as mentioned in the preface to  Directorium , on which Palestrina also collaborated. The main goal of the work was 'to revive Gregorian singing in its pristine purity and free it from the arbitrary additions and alterations then in vogue  (Grove, p 639). Intended for clerics and all religious, Directorium  comprised the notation and words for the Divine Office, including specific chants for feasts throughout the year, with hymns, responsories, antiphons, and so on, as well as instructions on ritual gestures.  Guidetti s system of notation is famous for its unique note forms, devised to set both accentus and concentus in proportional durations  (Kim, p.152), which however never caught on in the world of printed music. They are absent in this edition, substituted by traditional plainchant notation. In the preface, the editor, J.F. Massano,  justified the changed notation by mentioning the absence of such marks in other ancient and learned precedents , on which Guidetti claimed to have relied; yet,  it may also be the case that the printer did not have access to Granjon s type , as used in previous editions. (Swanson, p.97). An important, handsomely printed source for the development of early modern plainchant... . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..Nicola Arbola was probably the choral chaplain of S. Maria Maggiore in Vercelli, Piedmont, recorded c.1780. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GUIDETTI, Giovanni.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868707987791,"sku":"L3571","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/20250212_173004-copy.jpg?v=1781793425"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/collections\/italymap2.jpg?v=1781798384","url":"https:\/\/www.sokol.co.uk\/collections\/italy.oembed","provider":"Sokol Books Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}