{"title":"Women","description":"\u003cp\u003eWomen's lives, history, and experiences. \u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"marconville-jean-de","title":"MARCONVILLE, Jean de","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare second edition of this curious work on the pros and cons of marriage, first published in Paris in 1564, concurrently with another work examining the good and evil of Women; both are mentioned in the privilege given to Jean Dallier at the end of this book and were probably complementary. Marconville published many works which presented arguments, for and against, in a tradition derived from Erasmus, and prefiguring Montaigne s Essais. The present work addresses such things as adultery, marriage ceremonies both christian and pagan, degrees of consanguinity, how to punish a wife, jealousy and the unhappiness caused by being married to a  Mauvais Femme .    Some French Catholics who began cautiously endorsing marriage were Jean Bouchet, Jean de Marconville and Francois de Billon. Jean de Marconville was a Catholic who sought the unity of the Church, but objected to the use of force against the Protestants. He addressed the issue of marriage in his  De l'Heur et malheur de mariage  , published in 1564. The stated premise was that men and women were meant to be married. He advocated marriage as security    .. against the disordered affections of the flesh and against the vices of incontinence and sensuality.   Yvonne Petry.  Gender, Kabbalah, and the Reformation.  This was taken in part and reworked from a French translation of Mexia s   Diverses Lecons  by Claude Gruget.  Marconville conceals Mexia as a source, juggles the order of Mexia s three linked chapters on marriage and leaves his reader with a false impression of his source material. Marconville borrowed and compiled from Mexia s  Diverses Lecons , but more importantly he changed the meaning and context of the examples. Marconville transformed Mexia s writings on variety and diversity into an argument for monogamous Christian marriage. .. Marconville s work .. echoes Mexia and copies his phrases, but alters them slightly to emphasise the more formal requirements of the public ceremonies required for a legitimate marriage. For Mexia, the consent alone (seul consentment) of the couple suffices, helped along by ceremonies. For Marconville a more public (solonnel) arrangement is required to demonstrate this consent that he emphasises as  mutual . Lyndan Warner  The Ideas of Man and Woman in Renaissance France: Print, Rhetoric, and Law    Very little is known of Marconville's life.  A country gentleman born about 1540, he was a fairly prolific writer in the popular philosophical vein and a friend of a number of better known literary contemporaries such as Thevet and Belleforest.  Hofer (NBG) describes his works on women as \"recherch és pour leur singularit é\".\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MARCONVILLE, Jean de","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816113971535,"sku":"L1752","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_0097_2cf2a566-48c2-47ac-a784-17b87e7b96e5.jpg?v=1781795309"},{"product_id":"liebault-jean","title":"LIEBAULT, Jean","description":"First French edition (translated from the Latin De sanitate, faecunditatae et morbis mulierum of the same year) of this gynaecological handbook by Jean Li ébault (c.1535-1596), doctor and agronomist. It was one of the very first vernacular works, designed for the laywoman, about the female physical condition. Li ébault was born in Dijon but moved to Paris to study medicine, where he became a successful doctor, highly esteemed by both colleagues and patients. He married Nicole Estienne, daughter of the great Parisian printer Charles Estienne (1504-1564), who had himself studied medicine under Jacob Sylvius alongside the young Vesalius. Li ébault completed and translated his father-in-law's Praedium rusticum into French as La maison rustique (1564); a translation of Gesner's Quatres livres des secrets de m édecine followed in 1573. Trois livres de la sant é was the first of two works on feminine health and beauty he published in 1582: De l'ornement \u0026amp; beautez des Femmes is advertised in the present work. Madame Li ébault, a noted femme des lettres, was herself the author of Misères de la femme mari ée, mises en forme de stances, and the manuscript Apologie pour les femmes, contre ceux qui en m édisent. She predeceased her husband by some years; the contemporary diarist Pierre de L'Estoile records that Li ébault died suddenly, after sitting down to rest on a stone in the rue Gervais-Laurent.\r \r Li ébault's introduction to the present work laments the infinite number of maladies which accompany any person through his or her life, 'mais plus griefues en affliction tormentent le corps de la femme comme celuy de l'homme'. Woman, he takes care to emphasise, 'n'est animant mutile ny imparfaict, mais foible \u0026amp; maladif'. His work describes and suggests causes and remedies - often more than one - for a range of gynaecological complaints, in chronological order from childhood to motherhood; Li ébault does not advise on the maladies of women beyond child-bearing age. Young girls, he notes, may be subject to nervous illnesses, nausea, headache and neuralgia. He deals with menstruation, venereal disease and various renal and gastro-intestinal problems, before proceeding to the subject of conception and childbirth, which occupies the greatest portion of the book. Obesity, male and female, is listed among the causes of infertility; common birth defects are described, along with less common ones such as hermaphroditism. Alongside a discussion of family resemblance in young children (with a gentle reminder that even animals and plants have an urge to reproduce in their own image), Li ébault also addresses the question of when a child receives its soul. Of particular interest is the chapter devoted to the performance of caesarean section, which, given the high mortality rate, is advised only as a last resort: the first modern caesarean section which the mother is known to have survived had been performed as recently as 1500. Li ébault concludes with advice on the treatment of the newborn and the new mother. The work contains a detailed table of contents and index, and a brief list of errata.","brand":"LIEBAULT, Jean","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816117576015,"sku":"L603","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L603-5.jpg?v=1781795303"},{"product_id":"de-billon-francois","title":"DE BILLON, François","description":"\u003cp\u003eFIRST EDITION of the “most enthusiastic and passionate panegyric [on the rights and merits of women] to have been written between 1450 and 1550” (Albistur \u0026amp; Armogathe, Histoire du feminisme du Moyen-Age à nos jours), Billon’s strenuous early defence of the equality of the ‘second sex’. Another edition was apparently published with the same date and different title but without giving the printer’s name – either a shared or pirated issue. Little is known about his life, but Billon was born in Paris, the nephew of Artus Billon, Bishop of Senlis. He was an author ‘in the Italian style’, and accompanied Cardinal Bellay to Rome as his secretary in the mid-1550s, where he wrote the present treatise, dedicated to Catherine de Medici. Billon died around 1566, and was one of the principal theorists of feminism in the 16thC, and the work forms part of the literary canon of the ‘Women’s Quarrel’ (‘La Querelle des Femmes’), which was a Europe-wide literary battle that raged for over 300 years between various authors attacking, and defending women (hence the martial imagery), reflecting the sometimes serious and sometimes jocular nature of scholarly argument from 1500-1800; these texts were often reliant on theological sources. The work appeared again in 1564, with a slightly different title.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBuilt up as an ‘impregnable fort’ of separate ‘bastions’ (chapters), the work is a robust defence of the role of women, peppered with allegorical references, but arguing strenuously for improvements in female education, encouraging women to abandon home and convent for traditionally male-dominated professions, including politics and the military. Billon also advocates the dissolution of arranged marriages and the ending of a woman’s legal subjugation to her husband. He notes that in Europe, where he says women are held in the greatest subjugation, men are also more subjugated; and argues for the qualities (such as honesty, magnanimity, piety and devotion) and achievements (arguing, i.a., that women make better singers -the ‘angelic sweetness’ of the female voice) of women throughout the ages, even disputing with the Bible. The book also includes the first appearance of the word ‘atheism’ (in the context of a people’s lack of belief) and contains probably the first bio-bibliography of female writers and inventors.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DE BILLON, François","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816119279951,"sku":"L646","price":9500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_00492.jpg?v=1781795298"},{"product_id":"michaelis-sebastien","title":"MICHAËLIS, Sébastien","description":"\u003cp\u003eExtremely rare first edition of the major work on sorcery by the redoubtable Dominican witch-hunter and inquisitor Sebastien Michaelis. Michaelis was vice-inquisitor in Avignon during the 1580s and was involved in a number of witch trials: a series of cases in 1581 and 1582 led to eighteen women being convicted and burnt. In 1587 he published this work on demons. By 1610 he was prior of the Dominican community at Saint-Maxim near Aix-en-Provence where he was later involved in one of the most notorious witch trials, and case of demonic possession, in the History of France, that of the priest Louis Gaufridi, who was convicted of sorcery, tortured and burnt, on the evidence of a nun ‘possessed by the devil.’  The many publications and the notoriety surrounding the Gaufridi case lead to the translation of this work, the Pneumalogie, into English in 1613, where it was of great influence. Executions for witchcraft in France became rarer after 1610 as the Parlements of Paris and several provinces were de facto decriminalising witchcraft. However Michaelis was Grand Inquisitor in the papal territory of Avignon and so fell out of French jurisdiction. “Michaelis was something of an expert on witchcraft, since he had served as vice-inquisitor during a major out-break of witchhunting in the region of Avignon. In this series of trials in 1581 and 1582, at least fourteen witches were convicted and burnt. Jonathan L. Pearl. ‘The Crime of Crimes: Demonology and Politics in France, 1560-1620’\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMichaelis’ work on witches is particularly interesting for its focus on women and sexuality; this and the fact that the work was written in the ‘vulgar’ vernacular caused some disquiet among the clergy in France. In this work he gives an example of a sentence passed at Avignon in 1582 as comprising, in a little space, the most execrable and abominable of the crimes of witches and Sorcerers, which includes their use of broomsticks, the murder and dismemberment of new born babies, copulating with devils, “then adding sin to sin you the men did copulate with Succubi and you the women did fornicate with Incubi.” …“Sebastien Michaelis, the leading French Dominican, wrote in his ‘Pneumalogie, ou discours des esprits’ of ‘la simplicite naturelle qui est en ce sexe’ and of the Devil’s awareness ‘que c’est un organe propre a attirer l’homme a sa volonté.’ But he also said that women were addicted to extremes of behaviour, good as well as bad, and then devoted the rest of his discussion to the examples of the latter not the former.” Brian P. Levack. ‘Gender and Witchcraft’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eVery rare first edition of this most influential work on witches.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MICHAËLIS, Sébastien","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816138187087,"sku":"L2669","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_2913-e1504020643905.jpg?v=1781795194"},{"product_id":"rueff-jakob-1","title":"RUEFF, Jakob","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst and only edition of this anonymous translation into English of  De conceptu et generatione hominis  the celebrated manual of obstetrics. The text is an improved version of Rösslin s  Der Swangern Frauen  but its importance to the embryologist lies in Rueff s illustrations which show contemporary ideas about mammalian embryology, which corrected many of Rösslin s more fantastic images, and which are copied in this English edition from Jost Amman s fine woodcuts. The book is addressed not only to midwives, pregnant women and women in childbed but also physicians and scholars in general.  Little is known of Jacob Rueff s early life except that he was born in 1500. Although primarily known as a physician, surgeon, and lithotomist, he was also a poet and writer of folk songs  His medical writings include a little book on tumours, astronomical notes for an almanac, and charts for blood letting. But easily his most important contribution was the publication of a practical handbook on mid-wifery in 1554. Published simultaneously in Latin and German, De conceptu et generatione hominis   became the required reading for the midwives of Zurich, for whose instruction and examination Rueff was made responsible. In 1637 an English translation was published in London with the title The expert midwife. .. Rueff s book was for over a century a major source of information for midwives and doctors. As he wrote:  my labours I bequeath to all grave modest and discreet women, as also to such as by profession, practice either physicke or chirurgery. And whose helpe upon occasion of extreame necessity may be usefull and good both for mother, child and midwife.  Much of Rueff s advice stems from that of classical writers or is taken from Rösslin s Rosegarten. A great deal is also very primitive to modern eyes. But it made a start at a time when midwifery had previously been strictly a woman s afair.  Peter Dunn.  Jacob Rueff (1500 1558) of Zurich and The expert midwife. Archives of disease in childhood . \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  The following year [1637]a German work,  The Expert Midwife  by Jacob Rueff, was translated into English. Sadler s work [The Sicke Woman s Private Looking-Glasse] had drawn heavily on this text; Rueff, a Lutheran physician in Zürich, had published his book in both German and Latin back in 1554. The identity of its English translator remains a mystery, but its publication was clearly linked to Sadler s book, since Rueff was published by Edward Griffin, the husband of Anne Griffin, who had published Sadler. Rueff had been available for translation into English for decades, but his negative vision of the womb seems to have resonated in England only after the turn of the century. Both Rueff s and Sadler s books are important not just in their own right, but because parts of these books were incorporated into many subsequent popular medical works. Rueff and Sadler created a very different female body than that envisioned by Raynalde. Although traces of older ideas about wonder and mystery remain, the female body became a dangerous and unstable entity. In particular the womb, formerly wondrous, was now a threat. Both texts introduced themes into English popular medical manuels: the idea that the womb can threaten a woman s health and even her life, and a fascination with what happens when reproduction goes awry and monsters are produced  Mary Elizabeth Fissell.  Vernacular Bodies: The Politics of Reproduction in Early Modern England . \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A good copy of this rare and most influential edition of the English translation.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"RUEFF, Jakob","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816164237647,"sku":"L1634","price":4950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L1634-6.jpg?v=1781794879"},{"product_id":"castro-rodrigo","title":"CASTRO, Rodrigo.","description":"\u003cp\u003eHandsome collection of the 1604 reissue (Pars prima) and the 1603 first edition (Pars secunda) of this hugely important gynaecological treatise by Rodrigo de Castro (c. 1546-1627\/29). Part one discusses the anatomy of the uterus and breasts; semen and menses; coitus; conception and pregnancy; labour and breastfeeding, and part two discusses various female diseases, including those allegedly particular to widows and virgins, issues with pregnancy and child birth as well as the health of wet nurses. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Rodrigo de Castro Lusitano was a Jewish-Portuguese physician who moved to Hamburg in 1594 to escape anti-Semitic persecution. He studied at Salamanca and was then asked by Philip II of Spain to go to India and select medicinal plants to bring to Spain; though Castro refused on health grounds. De Castro s wife died in 1603, leaving him alone with young children. The same year the present work was published. This forms the first treatise on gynaecology written by a Portuguese author, combining acute medical and anatomical observations with contemporary opinions on women and superstitious beliefs in monstrous beings. De Castro provides a list of medicines to be administered for avoiding a pregnancy likely to result in birthing a monster. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The work makes extensive reference to ancient medical texts, classical and Arabic, including Hippocrates, Aristotle, Pliny, Soranus, Galen Averroes and Avicenna. De Castro combines this with considerable interaction with contemporary European authors like Mercado, Par é and Rousset. Pregnancy and child birth was predominantly attended to by midwives, not doctors, in this era, yet de Castro describes many ailments and treatments in detail, including a massage that should be given to encourage child birth, as well as recommending the presence of the husband, which was unheard of at the time. Semen and menstrual blood is discussed in detail. De Castro believed women had semen and that it was, to an extent, animate. He also believed menstrual blood nourished the child in the womb and that it was not, contrary to common opinion, hotter than man's blood. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CASTRO, Rodrigo.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859640656207,"sku":"L3709","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"dardani-alvise","title":"DARDANI, Alvise.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA good copy of the first edition of this fascinating defence of women in the Italian vernacular in the form of a trial. This is the only known work of the humanist and politician Alvise Dardani, published posthumously by the author s grandson, Ippolito. Challenging the male structured historical discourse through his forceful female speakers, Dardano wrote a  splendidly incisive rereading of history  (Panizza). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n In the 16th century, literature celebrating the moral and intellectual integrity of women   written mostly by men   flourished in Italy, particularly in Venice. In the introduction to this work, the author states:  Both my verse and my prose intend to demonstrate with pretty clear arguments that, even if women s virtues cannot be considered superior to that of men, at least they are not inferior. I consider this effort not only pleasant but also useful for readers, because nowadays the world is full of wicked men who,   would like to stain the name of the courageous women   They deserve not only repression but also harsh and severe punishment . \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The work, in seven books, opens with a long poem in which Dardani urges his female audience to disregard male criticism and follow the example of heroic ancient women. The central section of the volume is the most interesting and captivating, ingeniously arranged as a series of orations:  the literary scene is set as a fictional court where an allegorical figure, Giustitia, and thiee judges   Traiano Imperatore, Carondo Prencipe and Selenco Dominator di Locrensi   will judge the role of men and women in the course of history. The conflict between the sexes is represented in a verbal combat between Hortensia, a known woman of Ancient Rome, and Fulvio Stello.   In the fourth book Hortensia s superiority becomes unchallengeable. Fulvio remains completely silent whereas Hortensia draws from mythology and history to slander men s actions and praise women s achievements. In the fifth book, Hortensia continues praising female deeds and simultaneously mocks Fulvio s silence. In the sixth book, Hortensia uninterrupted comes to the conclusion that women have excelled in military arts, politics, religion, prophecy, inventions, arts and sciences   When Fulvio attempts to counterattack by citing women from the Bible or mythology who were traditionally seen as negative figures, such as Eve, Bathsheba, Delilah, and lole, the author offers these women the opportunity to defend themselves. They appear before the court, protest their innocence and give a different version of the events . (Dialeti). The final book contains a short treatise on the education of children, dealing also with conception and the astral influence on birth. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A prominent member of the Scuola di San Marco, Alvise Dardani (often referred to as Luigi Dardano, c. 1429-1511) had a very successful political career in the Republic of Venice. As provveditore of Mirano, in 1509 he played a fundamental role in securing the allegiance of the city of Padua to the Republic during the Italian wars. The following year, he was elected Grand Chancellor, the highest office a  cittadino  could achieve and one of the most prestigious.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DARDANI, Alvise.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859644555599,"sku":"L3883","price":3950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_4896-copy.jpg?v=1781793741"},{"product_id":"castro-rodrigo-de","title":"CASTRO, Rodrigo de.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A good copy of the first edition of this very successful treatise in two volumes on female anatomy and diseases, by the Jewish physician de Castro. Remarkably, this is the first treatise on this topic ever written by a Portuguese author and it is  generally regarded as having laid the foundations of gynaecology as we know it to-day  (Roth).\u003cbr\u003e\n \u003cbr\u003e\n .Rodrigo de Castro (c. 1546-1627), was born in Lisbon into a well-off family of  conversos , meaning that its members had Jewish origins but converted to Catholicism. Several of his relatives were physicians of some reputation, and de Castro was the most distinguished. After completing his studies at the university of Salamanca, he practiced in Lisbon and then spent time in the East indies researching medical herbs. Due to growing inquisitorial pressure, de Castro later moved to Antwerp and finally to Hamburg in 1594, a significant refuge for Portuguese Jews. Here, his medical reputation grew, and his clientele included the king of Denmark, the landgrave of Hesse, the count of Holstein, and the archbishop of Bremen. It appears that De Castro eventually reconverted, or avowed himself a Jew, as in 1612 his name was included in the list of Hamburg s Jewish community and was buried in the cemetery of the Jewish-Portuguese congregation at Altona.\u003cbr\u003e\n \u003cbr\u003e\n . De universa mulierum medicina  is de Castro s most famous and important work, possibly influenced by the premature loss of his first wife, who died in childbirth about 1602. De Castro  denounces the sixteenth century collections of medical texts on women  Gynaecea  as  an amalgam of excellent doctrine and wild speculation which could easily mislead students of medicine   (Maclean) and defines his new treatise as  useful to all scholars, but absolutely necessary to physicians . It is composed of two volumes, both containing four books. The first,  pars prima theorica , is theoretical in nature and deals the anatomy of the uterus and breasts, menses, conception and pregnancy, labour and breastfeeding. The second,  pars secunda, sive praxis , is more practical, and it is dedicated to women s diseases, starting from those common to all, moving on to those affecting widows and virgins in particular, those connected to pregnancy, and finally those wet nurses and women in childbirth may suffer from.  Evaluating the classical and Arabic heritage   Hippocrates, Aristotle, Pliny, Galen, Averroes, Avicenna   Castro established a complex dialogue between the traditional ideas of the past and the authors of his own time   such as Amato Lusitano, Luis de Mercado, Martin Akakia, Ambroise Par é, François Rousset and Girolamo Mercuriale  (Pinheiro)\u003cbr\u003e\n \u003cbr\u003e\n .The ownership inscription is that of Robert Tulloue ( Robertus Tulloue ), Doctor of Medicine and secretary to the king. He was the nephew of the prominent French poet Philippe Desportes and inherited his estate in 1606. Tulloue scattered Desportes' books and papers in 1631.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CASTRO, Rodrigo de.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859644850511,"sku":"L3848","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Screenshot-2024-08-06-at-10.55.20.webp?v=1781793738"},{"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":"raynalde-thomas","title":"RAYNALDE, Thomas.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.Very handsome copy of the first printed book in English on midwifery. The authorship is debated. The original work   an English translation of Eucharius Rosslin s famous  De partu hominis  (1532) - was produced, with additions, by the obscure Richard Jonas; the printer\/publisher Thomas Raynalde allegedly revised the text for the second ed., and was henceforward identified as the author of the book (Ballantyne, p.299ff). The 1560 ed. (the fourth) provided the basis for all later eds. The famous illustrations - of female reproductive organs, a birth chair and 16 presentations of the foetus within the womb, including 4 of twins   faultlessly reprise those in Rosslin s  De partu hominis . Rosslin s were  the earliest obstetrical illustrations printed from wood blocks , with  the four woodcuts of the egg membranes and the placenta being later taken from Vesalius   Fabrica  (Heirs of Hippocrates). As a vernacular work,  Birth of Man-kinde' would have been used by physicians and midwives alike, in Britain. Indeed, the prologue is addressed to  women Readers , as this book had been known to  frequent and haunt women in their labours, carrying with them this book in their hands,   to be read before the Midwife  - which suggests the book was also intended to be read aloud. Book I provides an overview of female anatomy, with reference to the anatomical woodcuts. Book II discusses types of birth (natural, unnatural, difficult, painful), remedies to make women s labour  tolerable , miscarriage,  untimely birth  and stillborn babies. Book III examines how to take care of a newborn, including breastfeeding and the most common illnesses, e.g., colic, cough, blisters, swelling of the eyes, the navel or the body more generally, worms, epilepsy and squint eyes. Book IV is devoted to conception, causes and remedies for sterility, as well as remedies to beautify men and women (e.g., conceal freckles, eliminate warts and bad breath, smooth the skin, keep one s teeth clean). A most important work for early modern medical practice in Britain, whilst renamed a vade-mecum on childbirth into the C18. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"RAYNALDE, Thomas.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868684099919,"sku":"L4332","price":12500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L4332-2.jpg?v=1781793472"},{"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":"pare-ambroise-1","title":"PARÉ, Ambroise","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A crisp copy of the first English version of 16.th. C barber-surgeon and innovator Ambroise Par é s complete works, including translator Thomas Johnson s rarely surviving address to the reader. Comprising a total of 29 books, Par é wrote on a range of medical subjects, including anatomy, treatment of wounds, diseases, poisons, tumours, fractures, and childbirth. He notably also writes about monsters and prodigies, the embalming of the dead and distillation.  Probably his best-known innovations were his discarding the use of boiling oil in gunshot wounds and the reintroduction of the simple ligature instead of red-hot cautery after amputation. He invented many surgical instruments and was especially adept at devising ingenious artificial limbs  (Heirs of Hippocrates, 163). As a result of his rising fame, he was named .chirurgien ordinaire .to King Henry II and continued to serve the French monarchy through the reigns of Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III, who appointed him .premier chirurgien .in 1562.. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..The volume s illustrations are of very high quality, illustrating a range of surgical instruments, some of which Par é designed himself, such as the  crow s beak , a tool used to tie ligatures on amputated limbs or open wounds, a precursor to the modern haemostat, and prosthetic limbs. Further included are vivid scenes of medical procedures, such as the removal of bladder stones and various dislocation procedures, and detailed anatomical illustrations due to Par é s frequent dissections. Images of mythological monsters are classed together with malformed and conjoined births, accompanied by recorded accounts of each example. While the collection is groundbreaking and very comprehensive, Par é s reliance on the popular theory of the four humours antiquates much of his work.. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..Book 24,  Concerning the Generation of Man  discusses early gynaecology and obstetrics, focussing on the female reproductive system, signs of conception and labour, birthing positions, and aftercare of the mother and child. His  revival of the podalic version repopularised the procedure, which bad been described by Soranus of Ephesus , whereby the fetus is turned in the womb so that it emerges feet first. Once a child is born, Par é recommends that it is bathed in warm water and wine, before being anointed with oil. He also comments on the menstrual cycle, abortion, premature births and causes of infertility. . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..This volume was owned by Le Roy Crummer, an expert on heart disease in the late 19.th. and earl 20.th. C, who was also a member of the Royal Society of Medicine and Professor of History of Medicine at the University of California. Subsequent owners have included the Californian reconstructive surgeon Howard L. Updegraff, who was based in Hollywood..\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PARÉ, Ambroise","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868697665871,"sku":"L4425","price":27500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_3321.webp?v=1781793451"},{"product_id":"vico-enea-1","title":"VICO, Enea","description":"\u003cp\u003e.The first edition of Natale Conti s (1520-1582) Latin translation of Vico s 1557 Le imagini delle donne avgvste, dedicated by the author (1523-67) to cardinal Otto Truchsess von Waldburg .(1543-73). .Vico was an Italian engraver from Parma, who specialised in grotesque engravings based on antique paintings.. .Here he breaks away to use coins as his source material, depicting the key female figures of the Roman imperial court, spanning the Julio-Claudian and Flavian dynasties, from the late 1.st. C BC until 96AD. Each portrait comprises a roundel, set in an elaborate classical architectural scene, bearing the side profile of each woman, accompanied by her title. Their hair is dressed in the contemporary fashion, following authentic Roman numismatic material, though the engravings are elevated to a higher degree of detail, as seen in the ornate plaits, thanks to the greater precision allowed by the medium as compared to coinage. A few roundels are blank, likely due to the lack of numismatic source material, including Cossutia, the first wife of Caesar, Servilia, the first wife of Augustus, and the daughters of Agrippa and Drusus, both named Julia. In addition to the portraits, there are also some engravings of other coins which were minted during their lifetime. Agrippina the Younger s apparition on the obverse of two coins, together with her son Nero, is particularly striking.. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..Each engraving is accompanied by a corresponding biography, both executed by Vico. The biographies differ largely in length, depending on the attention given to each individual in the ancient sources. At the beginning of the book, Vico lists his all his sources, looking to historians, poets, playwrights, satirists, and philosophers to retrieve biographical information. Livia, Messalina and both Agrippina the Elder and Younger are treated with particular attention. Furthermore, the women are categorised in various ways, for instance, Vico provides a list of those who achieved posthumous divine honours, equalling and sometimes surpassing the men who surrounded them.. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..The translator, Conti, was an Italian mythographer, poet, humanist and historian, whose interest in the classical world is evident in his major work, the .Mythologiae. .Though born in Milan, he described himself as Venetian as he spent his life working in the city. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VICO, Enea","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868699664719,"sku":"L4435","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/20250213_154027-copy.jpg?v=1781793448"},{"product_id":"pona-francesco","title":"PONA, Francesco","description":"\u003cp\u003eA popular work, scarce in all editions, comprising 12 short stories about as many famous women, four lascivious (Leda, Helena, Derceto, Semiramide), four chaste (Lucretia, Penelope, Artemisia, Ipsicratea), and four holy (La Maddalena, St Barbara, St Monica, St Elisabeth Queen of Hungary). The first four editions, all issued in 1633, survive in a handful of copies or less; this fifth also survives in a handful. Francesco Pona (1595-1655) was a physician from Verona, a poet inspired by Marinist theories, and a member of the controversial, anti-clerical Accademia degli Incogniti, in Venice. In 1892, his  Galeria  was described as  a forgotten jewel of Italian literature  (Kubas, pp.189-90). It follows the genre of female hagiography, inspired, among others, by Boccaccio, which was popular in the C17.  Pona [...] constructed his  Galeria  by absorbing the post-Tridentine culture of sanctity. His  Galeria  distinguishes very clearly among types of women, dividing them into three sequences. Each sequence is composed of four pitture ( pictures  or  portraits ), namely depictions of lascivious women, chaste women, and saints, with the first two sequences including only pre-Christian women. The Council of Trent [...] affirmed the idea of people being instructed in an understanding of God through  analogies  and  similitudes  thanks to the model of the saints, and Pona s examples are chosen to be unequivocally either condemnable or redeemable  (Kubas, p.193). Among the saints are Mary Magdalene, connecting pre-Christian antiquity with Christian times, Monica of Hippo, St Augustine s mother, and Elizabeth of Hungary, whose life was imbued with mysticism and reflects the genre of Counter-Reformation hagiographic accounts. A very interesting work, which  reveals something about the religious and scientific culture of the period and how this culture influenced the literary representation of women at that time  (Kubas, p.190).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PONA, Francesco","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868711035215,"sku":"L4719(b)","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/pona-L47122-1.png?v=1781793402"},{"product_id":"salvetti-acciaoli-maddalena","title":"SALVETTI ACCIAOLI, Maddalena","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this collection of sonnets in the Tuscan language, dedicated to Cristina, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, whom they celebrate as the harbinger of much-needed change in Florence. Appended is a shorter florilegium dedicated to her husband, Ferdinand de  Medici. Maddalena Salvetti Acciaioli (d.1610) was a Florentine noblewoman who wrote numerous poems published either separately or circulated within collections.  Rime toscane  is  richly intertextual, with echoes of the leading Petrarchists of the sixteenth century, most notably Bembo, Della Casa, and Tasso, along with Veronica Gambara and Laura Battiferri, scattered across its pages. [...] Salvetti s canzoniere to Christine refashions this genre for her project of praise, repurposing Neoplatonism and deploying its unmistakable lexicon to promote the grand duchess as a new political saviour for Florence, while also incorporating the Mannerist elements then in vogue and that keep her work fresh centuries later. [...] Salvetti s canzoniere to Christine is an alluring amalgam: at first glance a love canzoniere from one woman to another, it becomes upon closer observation an impressively Mannerist, Counter-Reformation paean to the Christian glory of crusade, which is embodied in the figure of Christine herself  (Wainwright, pp.133-5). The language borrows themes such as those of the angelic, immortal woman, metaphors involving the sun and the night, as well as classical deities, with Apollo, Lord of Delo, covering with a veil the light for some and bringing the day for others between  the scorching Cancer and the cold Capricorn . A scarce, interesting work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SALVETTI ACCIAOLI, Maddalena","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868711067983,"sku":"L4719","price":4750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Acciaoli-L4719-1.jpg?v=1781793402"},{"product_id":"bruni-da-pistoia-domenico","title":"BRUNI DA PISTOIA, Domenico","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this influential defence of women by the jurist and cleric Domenico Bruni da Pistoia. It was dedicated to Eleanor of Toledo, wife of Cosimo I de  Medici, a figure who had elicited great praise from numerous literati as well as criticism for her direct involvement in the management of the Duchy and its finances during her husband s absences. In  Difese , Bruni  upholds that the intellectual inferiority traditionally attributed to women does not derive from the principles of natural or divine law, but rather from the misogynistic structure of society itself, strengthened by centuries of use and social habits  (Stella, p.290). Part I gathers criticism against women by writers and scholars, whilst Part II defends women against broader criticism, presenting virtuous examples from the past, including Eve and women from Greek and Roman antiquity. The very interesting Part III examines the legal \u003cbr\u003e\n.aspects of the  questione femminile , summarising the canon laws (twenty-five) that limit women s agency in society, e.g., their exclusion from the management of estate assets and feudal inheritance. According to Bruni, these laws were put in place  so as to protect female fragility, rather than being rooted in social discredit of women. However, he also admits that these laws ended up generating a negative vision of women throughout the ages, even though their nature is noble, virtuous, and superior to that of men  (Stella, p.291). A very interesting work, bringing original insight into this important Renaissance debate.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BRUNI DA PISTOIA, Domenico","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868711100751,"sku":"L4709","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/da-Pistoia-L4709-1.jpg?v=1781793401"},{"product_id":"maggi-vincenzo","title":"MAGGI, Vincenzo","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe first edition of this very scarce  defence of women . The first part praises the excellence of women, whilst the second exhorts men not to let women overtake them. Vincenzo Maggi (1498-1564) was professor of philosophy at Ferrara and tutor to Ercole II s son. For the Duke s daughter Anna, Maggi penned  Mulierum praeconium  (1545), translated into Italian and first published in Brescia in the same year as  Breve Trattato . The humanist Ortensio .Lando (1510-58) has been identified as the author of the second treatise. In the first work, Maggi compares men and women from the point of view of their souls and bodily complexion; he proceeds to examine their virtues, concluding that women are superior in terms of inner strength (especially when faced with the  evil and tough habits of their husbands ), munificence (as widows can manage wealth more wisely and with greater generosity), prudence, continence, and love. That women cannot achieve as much as men is due to unequal opportunities, especially in education. The second part urges men to improve themselves, not by taking women as examples of virtue as Maggi suggests, but by recovering their social role. It mentions how women  have begun studying Greek and Latin letters, as well as sacred and profane , listing numerous examples of erudite women s circles in Venice, Ferrara, Lucca, Florence, etc. A solution to restore men s faltering honour would be  to take books off women s hands, and keep them busy instead with sewing and needlework , as more educated women will begin to despise men and consider them their inferiors. A scarce works that resonates to date.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MAGGI, Vincenzo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868711133519,"sku":"L4714","price":4750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Maggi-L4714-1.png?v=1781793401"},{"product_id":"baccusi-pompeo","title":"BACCUSI, Pompeo","description":"\u003cp\u003eScarce first and only edition of this speech: praise and defence of women, part of a broader academic debate on the subject which took place, by means of public orations, between members of the Accademia degli Invaghiti in Mantua. Nothing is known of Pompeo Baccusi, who signed himself here as  Humile Invaghito . According to Baccusi, women were not made solely to procreate, but to guide and govern men, leading them towards the right path. In their youth, women have a  wisdom beyond their years , which takes men years to achieve, instead. Their skills in the fields of philosophy, crafts, and engineering are nothing short of those of men, and Baccusi looks back at humanist educational theories, such as Huarte s, to suggest alternative ways to raise women, like men.  Women are born and raised, and as soon as they are just old enough, they are taught not the good and laudable arts, but mechanical tasks; instead of paper and ink, we give them needlework . And he adds:  Imagine if men were no longer in school or among learned people, or training to fight, but were instead forcedly locked in their limited bedrooms, for months, years, decades, living lazily with nothing to do until they die, and only kept busy by menial tasks . Tasks suitable for women would not include sailing, ploughing, or mercantile activities,  more suitable to servants than masters , but rather philosophy. The addressees are obviously gentlewomen, with the time and means for philosophy and culture; yet, despite the context of the oration being a rhetorical competition, Baccusi s observations are very interesting, in his attempt at making men step into women s shoes even for just a moment.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BACCUSI, Pompeo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868711559503,"sku":"L4706","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/baccusi-L4706-1.jpg?v=1781793400"},{"product_id":"dardani-alvise-1","title":"DARDANI, Alvise","description":"\u003cp\u003eA good copy of the first edition of this fascinating defence of women in the form of a trial. This is the only known work of the humanist and politician Alvise Dardani, published posthumously by the author‚Äôs grandson, Ippolito. Challenging the male structured historical discourse through his forceful female speakers, Dardani wrote a ‚Äòsplendidly incisive rereading of history‚Äô (Panizza). A prominent member of the Scuola di San Marco, Alvise Dardani (often referred to as Luigi Dardano, c. 1429-1511) had a very successful political career in the Republic of Venice. As provveditore of Mirano, in 1509 he played a fundamental role in securing the allegiance of the city of Padua to the Republic during the Italian wars. The following year, he was elected Grand Chancellor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the C16, literature celebrating the moral and intellectual integrity of women ‚Äì written mostly by men ‚Äì flourished in Italy, particularly in Venice. In the introduction, the author states: ‚ÄòBoth my verse and my prose intend to demonstrate with pretty clear arguments that, even if women‚Äôs virtues cannot be considered superior to those of men, at least they are not inferior. I consider this effort not only pleasant but also useful for readers, because nowadays the world is full of wicked men who, [‚Ķ] would like to stain the name of the courageous women [‚Ķ] They deserve not only repression but also harsh and severe punishment‚Äô.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n \u003cp\u003eThe work, in seven books, opens with a long poem in which Dardani urges his female audience to disregard male criticism and follow the example of heroic ancient women. The central section of the volume is the most interesting and captivating, ingeniously arranged as a series of orations: ‚Äòthe literary scene is set as a fictional court where an allegorical figure, Giustitia, and three judges ‚Äì Traiano Imperatore, Carondo Prencipe and Selenco Dominator di Locrensi ‚Äì will judge the role of men and women in the course of history. The conflict between the sexes is represented in a verbal combat between Hortensia, a known woman of Ancient Rome, and Fulvio Stello. [‚Ķ] In the fourth book Hortensia‚Äôs superiority becomes unchallengeable. Fulvio remains completely silent whereas Hortensia draws from mythology and history to slander men‚Äôs actions and praise women‚Äôs achievements. In the fifth book, Hortensia continues praising female deeds and simultaneously mocks Fulvio‚Äôs silence. In the sixth book, Hortensia uninterrupted comes to the conclusion that women have excelled in military arts, politics, religion, prophecy, inventions, arts and sciences [‚Ķ] When Fulvio attempts to counterattack by citing women from the Bible or mythology who were traditionally seen as negative figures, such as Eve, Bathsheba, Delilah, and lole, the author offers these women the opportunity to defend themselves. They appear before the court, protest their innocence and give a different version of the events‚Äô (Dialeti). The final book contains a short treatise on the education of children, dealing also with conception and the astral influence on birth.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DARDANI, Alvise","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868711657807,"sku":"L4711","price":2500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/dardani-L4711-1-copy.jpg?v=1781793400"},{"product_id":"celia-romana","title":"CELIA ROMANA","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe scarce first edition of this popular collection of love letters by an anonymous author, whose pen-name was Celia Romana, Gentlewoman. The writer has fallen madly in love with a man to whom she jots down intense love letters   this being a small selection from more than 1,000 in 12 years - torn between expressing all her feelings and trying to maintain self-restraint. This man lives elsewhere, and only occasionally comes to her city, being, on those sparse occasions, very busy with meetings and parties, causing a lag in the epistolary communication which throws the writer into a panic. Her language betrays some difficulty in the elegant construction of sentences, whether due to the author s own educational background or as a rhetorical technique to make the letters sound genuine and prey to passion (Matt, passim).  As the C16 progressed, early modern writers continued to capitalize on the converging trends of epistolary literature and widespread interest in describing the female experience, turning increasingly to manuals and repertoires for guidance. [...] Popular epistolary narratives such as  Lettere amorose  [...] began to codify representations of the woman writer as an epistolary character motivated by passion and lovesickness. Models for such fictionalized and generalized female narrators, who fell from grace as they abandoned the feminine ideals of chastity and silence to follow their hearts, abounded  (Ray, p.123). A most interesting, scarce literary work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CELIA ROMANA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868711690575,"sku":"L4710","price":4250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/20250614_181633-copy.jpg?v=1781793399"},{"product_id":"bronzini-cristofano","title":"BRONZINI, Cristofano.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition, second issue, of this controversial work on the dignity and nobility of women. Cristofano Bronzini (c.1580-1640) was advisor to Cardinal Carlo de' Medici, and renowned for his literary and social skills in Roman ecclesiastical circles. Begun in 1618,  Della Dignita   was his major literary work, never published in its entirety. It was meant to include 4 weeks of 6 days each, for a total of 24 parts. The first ed. of 1622   immediately entered into the Index of Prohibited Books   included the first three days of week 1; 5 other parts were issued until 1632. A second issue was printed in 1624, with the addition of a letter from the printer and one from the author reassuring the readers that Catholic orthodoxy was being respected. As part of the  Querelle des Femmes  debate, Bronzino s work presents, in dialogic form, numerous observations on the physical, spiritual, and intellectual characteristics of women, exchanged between gentlewomen and gentlemen in the Medici s Roman gardens. A major difference to previous such works is his use of sources written by women, e.g., Lucrezia Marinella, to strengthen their literary authority (pp.15-16). Examples are taken from antiquity to the early modern period, and include women of valour (e.g., Lucretia), writers (e.g., Sappho), and political women such as the dedicatee, the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, praised for her prudence, intelligence, and skills. Among the most interesting observations are those on the status of women, and wives, in relation to men, and husbands, with the help of Aristotle s  Politics . Bronzini decries the  tyrannical insolence  of men who desire to be served by their wives, sisters, and even their mothers, so much so that they behave like masters towards their servants, whilst criticising the theory stating that the essence of womanhood lies in serving one s husband.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BRONZINI, Cristofano.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868712083791,"sku":"L4708","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/bronzini-L4708-3.jpg?v=1781793397"},{"product_id":"firenzuola-agnolo-piccolomini-alessandro-with-dolce-lodovico","title":"FIRENZUOLA, Agnolo; PICCOLOMINI, Alessandro. [with] DOLCE, Lodovico.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.First edition of this scarce collection of two works on women, one in praise, the other offering advice. Agnolo Firenzuola (1493-1543) was a cleric and the author of numerous literary works based on Aesop and other classical authors. He wrote  Le Bellezze  in Prato, as he was recovering from malariaa and involved in the activities of a local scholarly accademia. Set in the form of a dialogue, the work focuses on women s physical attributes, painted in an idealised manner, while citing as examples also women from classical antiquity and more recent times (e.g., Honorata Pecci, filosofa), and the opinion of famous authorities (e.g., Aristotle). A final section examines women s clothes and accessories.  Female beauty and its platonic celebration was a fashionable subject in print at the time. Firenzuola toned down the theme of beauty qua harmony of the body where the pleasure of the senses turns into intellectual contemplation. Nonetheless, the veiled (but easily detectable) references to local ladies used as models for portraying ideal beauty elicited gossip and resentment, which caused Firenzuola to lose the patronage of local families  (Diz. Biog. It.). The second, ..'De gli Ammaestramenti , was first published in 1545, as  De la Institutione delle donne , a book of advice to women, based on Juan Luis Vives   De Institutione feminae christianae  (1523). Lodovico Dolce (1508-68) worked with the press of Gabriele Giolito de  Ferrari in Venice. He composed comedies, tragedies and verses on mythology, influenced by Virgil, Ovid and Catullus. He also had a keen interest in art criticism. His book contained advice addressed to young girls (e.g., what kind of games they should play, what books are good to read, their regimen sanitatis, that they should avoid make-up, and how they should speak), married women (e.g., the nature of a wife s love for her husband, marital harmony, jealousy, household management), and widows (e.g., chastity, and various virtues exemplified by the biblical Judith). Two scarce, interesting works. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"FIRENZUOLA, Agnolo; PICCOLOMINI, Alessandro. [with] DOLCE, Lodovico.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868712149327,"sku":"L4712","price":4250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/firenzuola-L4712-6-copy.jpg?v=1781793396"},{"product_id":"gualdo-galeazzo","title":"GUALDO, Galeazzo.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A very good copy of (probably) the first edition of this celebratory biography of Queen Christina of Sweden by the historian Galeazzo Gualdo (1606 78). It was first published two years after her conversion to Catholicism  and abdication; in 1657, Gualdo entered her service, after spending several years employed at major European courts, as a military officer and historian. Christina (1626-89) because Queen of Sweden in 1632, when still very young, after the death of her father, Gustavus Adolphus. Until 1654, when she abdicated after refusing to marry, converted to Catholicism, and moved to Rome, she contributed to the cultural splendor of the Swedish Court and corresponded with the likes of Pierre Gassendi, Blaise Pascal, and Descartes. She was considered one of the most erudite women of her time, having been educated to the standards of her male counterparts, and even in Arabic and Hebrew. Her arrival in Rome was the occasion for extravagant Baroque festivals, though by that time her overall behaviour, including her extreme masculinity, had begun to raise eyebrows. Gualdo s  Historia  celebrated her as a  sum of all virtues  and recounted her life from childhood. The various chapters provide accounts of her education, accession, and decision to convert, and the peregrination subsequent to her abdication: into Flanders, where she secretly made her profession of the Catholic faith, Germany, Innsbruck, with week-long festivities, then Trento, Romagna, Umbria, and finally Rome, where she arrived incognito, met Bernini (who also gave her a tour of the papal collections), was greeted by Pope Alexander VII, and later entertained at several colleges with musical and dramatic pieces. The work includes copies of Christina s letters to her brother and friends, and detailed descriptions of entertainments she attended. .. . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..Three eds were published in the same year in Venice, Modena, and Rome (likely the first, funded by the Pope)..\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GUALDO, Galeazzo.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868712182095,"sku":"L4538","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/gualdo-L4538-2.jpg?v=1781793396"},{"product_id":"andreini-isabella","title":"ANDREINI, Isabella","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare second Bordone edition of the collected Rime and Sonetti of Isabella Andreini (1562-1604), first published in 1601; a Parisian edition also appeared in 1603. The first edition to appear after Andreini s death while travelling from France to Italy, it contains numerous laudatory odes and elegies in Italian and Latin, appearing here for the first time. Andreini was a noted Italian actress of the commedia dell arte who performed with the Compagnia dei Comici Gelosi, one of the predominant troupes of the time; the stock character of the inamorata Isabella is supposedly named for her. In addition to the plays that she wrote for I Gelosi, Andreini s poetry earned her a reputation for eloquence, which gained her a place in the Accademia degli Intenti of Pavia (for which she took the name  Accessa , appearing here in the emblematic frontispiece), and which is attested here in the elegiac verses, all by men, many fellow academicians, at the start of the volume. Andreini was chiefly a writer of Petrarchan sonnets, of which there are well over two hundred in this volume. The index of titles further divides Andreini s poems into madrigali, canzoni, sestine, epithalami, centoni and capitoli, as well as funerary verses and eclogues, the latter describing the love affairs of various shepherds and nymphs.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ANDREINI, Isabella","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868713591119,"sku":"L4705","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Screenshot-2025-09-10-at-11.22.38-AM.png?v=1781793383"},{"product_id":"bursati-lucrezio","title":"BURSATI, Lucrezio","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare first edition of this work of six dialogues on  the greatness of women and the baseness of men  by Lucrezio Bursati (dates unknown), an Augustinian friar and member of the Accademia dei Sospinti in Crema. The early seventeenth-century dispute known as the  querelle des femmes  saw women authors aiming to defend their right to publish and participate in the male sphere, for which they earned the opprobrium of certain authors: the  long-simmering debate on women s status and moral character was revived at the end of the Cinquecento in Italy with a series of local debates in the Veneto before  going national  in 1599 following the publication in Venice of Giuseppe Passi s I donneschi difetti ( the defects of women )  (Virginia Cox,  The Prodigious Muse: Women s Writing in Counter-Reformation Italy , pp. 28-29), Bursati was one of a group of ecclesiastical writers who wrote in favour of women, including priests, a bishop, a canon and Bursati, a friar:  this represents a genuine novelty in the period, in that the authors of pro-feminist querelle texts had, to this point, been almost exclusively laymen  (Cox, p. 29). Bursati begins by drawing on a stock figure from the commedia dell arte, the modest and chaste Isabella, who is the innamorata of Gaudentio, one of the interlocutors (as his name suggests, he will be praising the virtues of women throughout the six dialogues). Bursati also draws on numerous ancient sources, of which a table is provided at the end..\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BURSATI, Lucrezio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868713623887,"sku":"L4707","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Screenshot-2025-09-09-at-6.12.12-PM.png?v=1781793382"},{"product_id":"gonzaga-di-gazzuolo-lucrezia","title":"GONZAGA DI GAZZUOLO, Lucrezia","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this collection of letters by the Italian noblewoman Lucrezia Gonzaga (1522-1576), who was noted for her learning, now  brought to light for the glory of the female sex.  Her only published work, it was edited by Ortensio Lando (c. 1510-1558), a mercurial writer whose entire oeuvre would be placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, and who frequently impersonated women authors by appropriating their names in his writings.  Gonzaga first appears as the author and recipient of a handful of letters in an anthology put together by Lando in 1548, the Lettere di molte valorose donne (Letters of Many Valorous Women), and again in his Consolatorie (Letters of Consolation) of 1550. She then assumes a much greater role as Lando s interlocutor and student in a religious dialogue published by him in 1552  The Lettere   cemented Gonzaga s public image as a woman both learned and virtuous, detailing her girlhood studies in Latin and Greek under the tutelage of the writer Matteo Bandello (c. 1480-1562), her early marriage to a notorious condottiere later arrested for trying to murder the Duke of Ferrara, and her dutiful efforts on her husband s behalf despite his crimes  (Meredith R Kay,  Textual Collaboration and Spiritual Partnership in Sixteenth-Century Italy: The case of Ortensio Lando and Lucrezia Gonzaga  in Renaissance Quarterly, 62.3 (2009), pp. 694-747). The contemporary reader of this volume was apparently more interested in the recipients than in the content of Gonzaga s letters.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GONZAGA DI GAZZUOLO, Lucrezia","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868713656655,"sku":"L4713","price":5250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"mizauld-antoine-with-diocles-carystus-and-mizauld","title":"MIZAULD, Antoine [with] DIOCLES CARYSTUS [and] MIZAULD","description":"\u003cp\u003eExceptional sammelband of medical and botanical works by the prolific French astronomer and physician Antoine Mizauld (1510-78), with charming evidence of French provincial provenance. The second, fifth and sixth works are first editions.  \u003cbr\u003e\n The first work, the  Nine Centuries,  is an entertaining and eccentric collection of nine hundred medical and natural-historical marvels, many taken from classical sources, with a useful index listing every entry. Women s medicine features strongly, including several sensational and harrowing stories of abnormal births. Other old wives  tales include a test for virginity, which makes a  corrupted  woman urinate uncontrollably, and advice on how to make a wife confess her infidelities to her husband while asleep, by placing the tongue of a frog, duck or owl on her heart. There is plentiful material on the powers of precious gems and stones, as well as healing waters, and herbal and botanical draughts.  \u003cbr\u003e\n Half of the second work is dedicated to wines made from a wide variety of plants, and describes their use as purgatives, with material derived from Cato the Elder, Dioscorides and the medieval author Arnoldus de Villa Nova. This treatise, otherwise dedicated to botanical cures as well as the medical effects of meat, is followed by the Alexikepus, another discursive work on gardening and the medical uses of botanical products. A third botanical work, the Hortorum Secreta, contains advice on growing plants, including giant gourds over nine feet long, as well as their medicinal qualities, with a great deal of information on the care of trees. There is a separate section at the end on grafting trees, including useful and instructive Latin verses.  \u003cbr\u003e\n Diocles of Carystus, born in the fourth century BC, was an ancient Greek physician. Mizauld translates his  Golden Letters  on diagnostic signs into Latin (these originally appeared in the 1565 ed. of the Alexikepus before being removed), appending them with a brief note of ancient origin on the usefulness of vomiting as a purgative. Also included are Arnaldo de Villa Nova s letters to the King of Aragon about the medical uses of botany. The final work is on Sena, a laxative herb, with information from Arabic and Greek sources, and including a section on the effects of wine mixed with this herb.  \u003cbr\u003e\n The notes to the pastedowns and bookplates concern the extremely cold weather between 1765 and 1767, apparently in Provence, noting that the unusually cold summer of 1765 affected orange trees. The autumn and winter of the following years damaged pear and quince trees and vines, the author noting that the harvest had to be abandoned, and that in January and February 1767 the cold was  rigorously felt,  with a recorded temperature of 11 degrees (presumably Fahrenheit). In 1768 the author notes that across France the late frost of April 18 destroyed the grape harvest, except in Provence and the Languedoc. However, in 1771 and 1772 the author describes abundant harvests across France, with wines of superior quality in the latter.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MIZAULD, Antoine [with] DIOCLES CARYSTUS [and] MIZAULD","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868717392207,"sku":"L4849","price":2950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L4849-Mizauld-2.jpg?v=1781793371"},{"product_id":"mirebelli-hieronymo-montuo","title":"MIREBELLI, Hieronymo Montuo.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this very rare practical collection of cures, literally ‚ÄòPreparations for Diseases.‚Äô It is dedicated to Francis II as King of France and Scotland, after his marriage to Mary Queen of Scots in 1558, with a prefatory letter on ancient medicine. The privilege at the rear, dated 1554, notes that Mirebelli, also known as Jér√¥me de Monteux (1495-1560), was surgeon in ordinary to the king.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEach disease treated here is divided clearly into cause, diagnosis, prognosis and remedy, the latter including recipes and instructions. The first chapter advocates touch as a diagnostic tool, while the second is a long chapter on pain, followed by sections on headaches; this guide is clearly designed for the average user to easily diagnose their own conditions by feeling. Mirebelli is interested in mental illnesses including mania, delirium, melancholy, amnesia, lethargy and insomnia, catatonia, etc. Sexual conditions described include gonorrhea, impotence, priapism and onerogmos, i.e. nocturnal excretions. Drawing on ancient Greek and Arabic sources, Mirebelli advises using amulets as both preventative measure and active cure, many sections having specific instructions on what stone or gem to use in combatting the disease or condition. To treat impotence, for example, Mirebelli advises the reader to wear an amulet of wolf testicles, or to tie the bladder of a bear around the right arm, or that of a lizard or badger around the left.\u003c\/p\u003e  \n\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition to the sexual material, there is a strong focus on women‚Äôs medicine, conception and childbirth (which cannot be entirely coincidental given the timing of the book‚Äôs dedication to the recently married king). Mirebelli discusses menstruation, natural, immoderate and insufficient, and abnormal discharges of menstrual blood. He provides sections on sterility and an Aristotelian theory of conception and fertility, how one might predict the number of children a mother will have, and why children are like their parents. He describes premature births and miscarriages, unsuccessful pregnancies, difficult labour, and post-partum cramps. There are two brief sections on virginity, one with various tests to determine virginity, the other giving advice on how to return the mother to a ‚Äòvirginal‚Äô state after birth. Other conditions include when the labia are excessively swollen, obstruction of the uterus, uterine ulcers and prolapse, and hysteria.\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eNo copies in North American libraries recorded by OCLC.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MIREBELLI, Hieronymo Montuo.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868719751503,"sku":"L4851","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L4851-Mirebelli-2.jpg?v=1781793358"},{"product_id":"pino-paolo","title":"PINO, Paolo.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.First edition of this attractively printed work on painting by the Venetian painter Paolo Pino (1534-65),  one of the first pieces of art theory in Venice  (Oxford Companion to Western Art). It takes the form of a dialogue between a Venetian and a Tuscan painter, in which the Venetian promotes the importance of colour ( colore ), while the Tuscan insists on the predominance of  disegno  or design.  The relationship between colore and disegno in the draughtsmanship of Venice   has a storied past. Undeniably most fundamental are the remarks made by Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) suggesting that Venetian artists neither possessed talents as draughtsmen nor placed due emphasis on preparatory drawing within their working practices   The counterpart to this denigrating perspective is the Dialogo di pittura of Paolo Pino, which praised the means by which Venetian artists harnessed colore to imbue their paintings with a striking immediacy  (Genevieve Verdigel,  Colore in Disegno  in Master Drawings, 58.2 (2020), p. 149). .. . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..More than this, Pino attempts to present an idealised unification of the two elements of painting. His interlocutors discuss the properties of natural beauty, especially that possessed by women, describing the idealised or  sensual  portrait of feminine beauty perfected by the great colourist and Venetian artist Titian during this period. Such proportionality could only be conveyed by an art that unites painting, which is artificial, with the divinely ordered mathematics, hence the need for disegno. However, one cannot hope to convey the natural and life-like beauty of human anatomy in a painting without colour, which is the third part of painting, after design and  inventione  or invention. Attempting to reach a compromise between the two competing schools, Pino invokes Michaelangelo   chief representative of Roman and Florentine mannerism and therefore of disegno   and Titian as the twin paragons of Italian art; if they could be joined in one person, one of the interlocutors says,  he would be called the god of painting, and anyone who believes otherwise is the worst sort of heretic. . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..Pino s work functions as a catalogue of contemporary taste, influenced, of course, by his polemical stance. The preface to the reader mentions contemporary tracts on art by Leon Battista Alberti, Albrecht D√ºrer and the sculptor Pomponio Gaurico. Besides Titian and Michaelangelo, Pino lists a large  second division  of painters, dead and alive: Perugino, Raphael, Giotto, Giorgione, Bellini, D√ºrer, Sebastiano del Piombo, Parmigiano, Andrea del Sarto, Bronzino, etc. etc. Amongst these, Pino identifies his own  maestro  or teacher as Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, a painter of the Venetian school.. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n. Quest  elegante Opuscoletto  (Cicognara).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PINO, Paolo.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868722340175,"sku":"L4452a","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L4552a-titlepage.png?v=1781793341"},{"product_id":"bridget-of-sweden-saint","title":"BRIDGET OF SWEDEN, Saint.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.Third Latin edition of the Revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden, first published 1492, and the second to be printed by Koberger, preceded by the edition of 1500. St. Bridget was a fourteenth-century Catholic mystic and founder of the Bridgettine order. She is the principal saint of Sweden. She experienced visions from a young age, including of Christ s Passion and Nativity, and Purgatory. Her vision of the Christ child emitting light had a profound effect on the depiction of the Nativity in Western art, and her revelation of the sufferings of Christ during the Passion led to the immensely popular set of prayers, the  Fifteen O s  of St. Bridget. . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..The Revelations contains letters from Cardinal Juan de Torquemada relating to the veracity of Bridget s revelations, and the bull of canonization passed by Boniface IX, as well as a prayer to Bridget. There follow eight books of revelations, which include the mystical visions and visionary dialogues between God, Christ, the Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, and angels and the devil, along with her prophecies and occasional criticism of the clergy. Bridget s graphic, bodily descriptions of the Passion occur in Books I-II. She then returned to the subject when recounting her pilgrimages to Rome and the Holy Land in Book VII, which also includes the single most influential description of Christ s Nativity, which emphasised the Virgin s role and depicted the Christ child emitting a supernatural light. The eighth book is a set of prophecies to kings, princes and rulers, functioning as a set of instructions for good rule and containing an admonition to protect but not dominate the church. Also included here are additional revelations, the rule of the Bridgettines, Bridget s sermon on the Virgin Mary, and a brief life... . \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..The first edition was illustrated with a number of cuts, sometime attributed to D√ºrer. These had obviously worn out by 1517, since only the two large woodcut arms re-appeared in this edition and were newly recut. Hans Springinklee (fl. 1512-27) was a pupil of Albrecht D√ºrer and occasionally his  slavish imitator.  He lived with D√ºrer and was involved in numerous of his commissions, including the Triumphal Arch of Maximilian, his contributions being often rejected in favour of his master s superior efforts.  Very little of his work is signed, but over 200 woodcuts of varying merit have been attributed to him. The majority are book illustrations published by Koberger in Nuremberg and Lyons  (BM). .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BRIDGET OF SWEDEN, Saint.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868722667855,"sku":"L4764","price":4950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/insidepage1-2.png?v=1781793339"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/collections\/IMG_8308.jpg?v=1781966914","url":"https:\/\/www.sokol.co.uk\/collections\/women.oembed","provider":"Sokol Books Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}