Month: November 2015

August 8, 2010

His Protestant Magnum Opus: the Catholica Panstratia

THE HEAD OF THE FRENCH PROTESTANTS WHO DREW UP THE FAMOUS EDICT OF NANTES

“One of the most important published collections of controversies between the Protestant and Papists”

The SET:

Chamierus, Daniel . Danielis Chamieri Delphinatis Panstratiae Catholicae, siue Controversiarvm de Religione aduersus Pontificios corpvs, tomis quatuor distributum. Genevae : typis Roverianis, 1626 [Tomus primus: De canone fidei]. – Tomus secundus: De deo et dei cultu. – Tomus tertius: De homine corrupto. – Tomus quartus: De sacramentis. 4 vols. FOLIO, 34.5 cm x 23cm., Worn deerskin, peeling to spine and hinges, corners bumped, ex-libris bookplates pasted to inner boards, theological seminary stamps to title pages, some browning and staining as usual. COMPLETE. RARE.    [$4500]

Daniel Chamier headed the French Protestants in the reign of Henri IV and, according to Antoine Varillas (1626–1696) the French historian, drew up the Edict of Nantes.

“The Edict of Nantes, issued on April 13, 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France (also known as Huguenots) substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic.” [Wikipedia]

“Daniel Chamier (1564-1621) was an eminent French Protestant, born in Dauphiny, and killed by a cannon ball, at the siege of Montaubon.”… “By the time of his death he had established himself as one of the most prominent theologians of his generation, the author of numerous theological works, particularly polemical disputations with Roman Catholic theologians. His magnum opus, the Catholica Panstratia, or the wars of the Lord, is one of the most important published collections of controversies between the Protestant and Papists” [Ref: sacradoctrina.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_archive.html]
cam1

posted in: Rare Books

August 1, 2010

PRINTED 1684: ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS ENGLISH EMBLEM BOOKS

VERY RARE: A 17th century Interactive Book with a Spinning Lottery Wheel

EXTREMELY RARE. NO COPIES SOLD IN THE AMERICAN AUCTION RECORDS FOR 30 YEARS

[Burton, Robert’ Crouch, Nathaniel] Delights for the ingenious, : in above fifty select and choice emblems, divine and moral, ancient and modern. Curiously ingraven upon copper plates· With fifty delightful poems and lots for the more lively illustration of each emblem, whereby instruction and good counsel may be promoted and furthered by an honest and pleasant recreation. To which is prefixed an incomparable poem, entituled Majesty in misery, or an imploration to the King of Kings. London : Printed for Nath. Crouch, at his shop at the sign of the Bell in the Poultry, 1684. Written by His late Majesty K. Charles the First, with his own hand, during his captivity in Carisbrook Castle, in the Isle of Wight, 1648. With an emblem. Collected by R.B. author of the History of the wars of England, Remarks of London, and Admirable curiosities, &c. [24], 207, [9] p. : ill. (metal cuts, woodcut) ; 14 cm, 12mo. With “A “Lottery Wheel” pointer lacking, as always, on 207. 19th century fine mottled calf and gilt, raised bands, browned throughout as usual, some slight unobstrusive burn marks to some upper margins.  Overall, a COMPLETE and VERY GOOD copy. R.B. = Robert or Richard Burton, the pseudonym of Nathaniel Crouch. Running title reads: Choice emblems, divine and moral. “Majesty in misery”, not in fact by Charles I, is sometimes erroneously attributed to George Wither. Provenance: Ex-libris Printer’s mark bookplate, likely from the personal collection of Leo S. Olschki, the great Italian antiquarian bookseller and publisher. The B.M. catalog cites this as ” the rarest of all Burton’s tracts” Ref: See: Art—A User’s Guide: Interactive and Sculptural Printmaking in the Renaissance, http://interactive-prints.com/B.pdf ; 199.  [$2400]

Cotton Mather, the great defender of the Protestant tradition, famously lashed out against the lottery wheel of Crouch’s Delights which taught “fortune telling”

posted in: Rare Books

August 1, 2010

VERY RARE 1868 ROYAL OCTAVO EDITION OF MCKENNEY’S HISTORY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES

One of the most famous and magnificent colored plates books issued in the United States up to its publication.

McKenney,Thomas L. History of the Indian tribes of North America : with biographical sketches and anecdotes of the principal chiefs. Philadelphia : Rice, Rutter & Co., no. 525 Minor Street, 1868. THREE (3) VOLUMES. Royal Octavo. approx, 26 x 18 cm., Publisher’s original brown blind-stamped morocco bindings, edges gilt, some light rubbing as depicted, plates with some occasional minor staining, light spotting and soiling. Overall, a VERY GOOD, HANDSOME AND COMPLETE COPY with 16 more plates than called for by the title page. See: Howes M-129; Sabin 43411   [Sold]

McKenney’s History of the Indian Tribes stands as one of the most famous and magnificent colored plates books issued in the United States up to its publication.

Thomas Loraine McKenney (1785–1859) was a United States official who served as Superintendent of Indian Trade from 1816–1822, under Presidents Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Jackson, until Jackson dismissed him for maintaining a belief that “the Indian was, in his intellectual and moral structure, our equal.” The hand-colored prints are almost entirely portraits painted from life after Charles Bird Kig, who painted Native American delegates coming to Washington D.C. as commissioned by government’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. Rice & Hart published the first royal octavo edition in 1848–1850, and the firm, after the subsequent addition of Rutter, continued to produce lavish Royal octavo editions, some very slightly redacted, to satiate the demand of wealthier American customers in the economic boom following the Mexican War and the the California Gold Rush.

This particular edition of 1868 appears to be among the rarest of all the Royal Octavo editions with WorldCat citing only 1 Institutional copy (OCLC 85518)

posted in: Rare Books

August 1, 2010

Printed in 1648/9: The famous Eikon Basilike in an extremely early rare issue.

The Most Influential Tract if the English Revolution

Charles, King of England; John Gauden . Eikōn basilikē The Povrtraictvre of His Sacred Maiestie in his solitudes and svfferings. Rom. 8. More then [sic] conquerour, &c. Bona agere, & mali pati, Regium est. [London, Richard Royston?, possibly H. Seile: London,] 1648 [i.e. 1649]. 8vo., 269 pgs. COMPLETE, contemporary calf, front hinge largely split, some 17th century annotations. Some browning and staining as usual, A2 with old margin repair. A VERY RARE and early issue of the famous Eikōn basilikē with only one variant copy listed by Worldcat of this edition. [$1800]

“Eikon Basilike, purportedly the meditations of King Charles before his beheading, has been something of a cause celebre since its first issuance by the renegade Royalist publisher Richard Roylston at the time of the King’s execution… Milton was the first of many to cast doubts on Charles’ authorship. Opinion swung back and forth , seeming to settle on the authorship of Dr. John Gauden, until the publucation in 1950 of Francis M. Madan’s A New Bibliography of the Eikon Basilike, which demonstrated that Gauden had worked closely from Charles’ own papers.” [ref: Christies]

posted in: Uncategorized

August 1, 2010

PRINTED 1675: A FINE FOLIO EDITION OF THE FIRST AND BEST ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF DON QUIXOTE

“THE FIRST MODERN NOVEL” (PMM)

The Book:

CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, Miguel de, [The History of the Valorous and Witty-Knight-Errant, Don-Quixote, of the Mancha. Translated out of the Spanish; now newly corrected and amended.]. R. Scot, etc.: London, 1675. Prefixed to pt. II is a title page bearing the imprint: Printed by Richard Hodgkinson, An. Dom. 1672. 2 VOLS in 1. FOLIO, 28 cm. 273 pgs; [8], 137; [5], 138-214, 216-244, 244-273 lvs., small marginal tear to leaf 6 not affecting text, some very occasional spotting, otherwise a VERY GOOD AND COMPLETE COPY. Blind-ruled full period style calf, armorial bookplate. Provenance: Charles Beilby Stuart-Wortley, 1st Baron Stuart of Wortley PC (15 September 1851 – 24 April 1926), the British Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 until 1916. Lord Stuart of Wortley married Beatrice, daughter of Thomas Adolphus Trollope and niece of the author Anthony Trollope, in 1880. She died in July 1881 and Stuart married as his second wife Alice Sophia Caroline Millais (1862-1936), daughter of the artist John Everett Millais.  [SOLD]

Thomas Shelton (fl. 1612-1620) was the English translator of Don Quixote. Shelton’s was the first translation of the novel into any language. This 1675 edition, the third appearance, is one of the earliest obtainable translations.

“In the dedication of The delightfull history of the wittie knight, Don Quishote vjd (1612) he explains to his patron, Lord Howard de Walden, afterwards 2nd Earl of Suffolk”, that he “Translated some five or six yeares agoe, The Historie of Don-Quixote, out of the Spanish tongue, into the English … in the space of forty daies: being therunto more than half enforced, through the importunitie of a very deere friend, that was desirous to understand the subject.”[2] Shelton did not use the original edition of the First Part of Cervantes’ masterpiece, but a version published in the original Spanish in Brussels in 1607.[3] Shelton’s translation of the First Part of the novel was published while Cervantes was still alive. On the appearance of the Brussels imprint of the Second Part of Don Quixote in 1616, the year of Cervantes’s death, Shelton translated that also into English, completing his task in 1620, and printing at the same time a revised edition of the First Part. His performance has become a classic among English translations for its racy, spirited rendering of the original… ” [Ref: Wikipedia]

posted in: Rare Books