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July 19, 2011

DATED 1676: IMPORTANT 17th CENTURY AMERICAN DEED

WITH THE EXCEEDINGLY RARE SURVIVING SEAL OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY

Indian holding an arrow pointed down in a gesture of peace, with the words “Come over and help us”

[Americana] [Manuscript]  Massachusetts Bay Colony Deed on paper, dated 28 year of the reign of Lord King Charles Second the 8th of November 1676.  In Frame approx. 85 x 70 cm., out of frame 59 x 45.  Will only be shipped in frame (i.e. not rolled). Retaining the extremely rare Indian seal intact of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and SIGNED by John Leverett as governor. Provenance: Full Provenance back to the Heath and Williams  families  (who came to America in the early 1600s) provided to purchaser incl. Maj General William Heath, the famous major general in the Continental Army.  Condition as depicted.  [SOLD]

Regarding the value of this deed, I can locate no records in  30 years of the ABPC auction records,  30 + years of the records in Americana Exchange, or Heritage Auctions complete archives for a Mass. Bay Colony document that has retained the famous seal.

John Leverett was an English colonial magistrate, merchant, soldier and governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  See his full biography on Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Leverett

The Seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony:

In 1629, King Charles I granted a charter to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which included the authority to use a seal. It featured an Indian holding an arrow pointed down in a gesture of peace, with the words “Come over and help us,” emphasizing the missionary and commercial intentions of the original colonists. This seal was used until 1686, shortly after the charter was annulled, and again from 1689-1692. “[Ref: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/presea/sealhis.htm]

“The Indian’s inferiority is demonstrated by his lack of clothing: He is wearing nothing but a loincloth made of leaves, not unlike the wardrobe Adam and Eve were supposed to have put together after eating the apple, a biblical reference that would not have been lost on a Puritan viewer. He is shown as living in a state of almost unadulterated nature, with no housing or society depicted. There are only a couple of trees, a bow, and an arrow, implying that whatever society the eastern Indians had developed revolved around warfare. The irony of the seal is that, in fact, the English settlers generally had no interest in helping the Indians and the Indians did not want English “help.” Of course, the Indians were not in a position to impede the English settlers from achieving their vision of settling America and, as a result, the English helped themselves to the land, usually at the expense of the native tribes.  ” [Ref: http://www.irwinator.com/126/wdoc36.htm]

July 19, 2011

PRINTED 1522-1524: EXTREMELY RARE EDITIONS OF THE GREAT LATIN REFERENCE WORKS OF Johannes Despauterius

A MAGNIFICENT ZOOMORPHIC GOTHIC BINDING WITH MONKEYS AND DRAGONS

WORLDCAT CITES NO COPIES OF THE FIRST BOOK AND ONLY THE HARVARD COPY OF THE SECOND

[Johannes de Spauter; Josse Badius] Prima pars grammaticae Joannis Despauterij Niniuite diligentius ab Ascensio recognita et impressa …[Paris] : Aera merent Badiotersa, aucta, impressa per ipsum, 1524.  124, [2] lvs. small 4to., 20 cm.  COMPLETE… Bound with..   Syntaxis Joannis Despauterii niniuitae tertio edita: in qua per quaestiones & rationes citra sophistarũ nugas distinctissime & facillime omnia digeruntur. [Parisiis] Aera meret Badio nomenq[ue] decusq[ue] parenti. Anno. 1522.  Colophon: Lutetiae ad eid. octob. anni MDXXII, typis & accuratione Iod. Badij Ascensij. Printer’s mark on t..p. 144 lvs. COMPLETE. Occasional light browning, foxing, or staining, primarily prelim. and last leaves as usual, sympathetic re-backing as depicted and later endpapers.  Generally, a VERY GOOD COPY.   EXCEEDINGLY RARE. Worldcat cites NO COPIES of the first 1524 work in Institutional collections; only an undated (presumed 1524 ed) of Jean Petit at Cambridge. Similarly Worldcat only cites Harvard as having a copy of the 1522 edition here, although there are other known Petit editions and Badius Ascensius and Jean  Petit were collaborators and often joint publishers.

“Jan de Spauter (Ninove, c. 1480 – Komen, 1520) was a prominent Flemish humanist. His name was Latinized to Johannes Despauterius as was common in the Middle Ages. At the age of 18 Despauterius went to the humanistic college De Lelie in Leuven where he studied for three years. In Leuven he became a Master in the Arts, which meant he had studied and mastered Latin grammar, rhetorica, dialectica, musica, arithmica, geometrica and astronomica. After his studies he starts teaching. After several years teaching, Despauterius published books with regards to Latin grammar (Syntaxis, Ars versificatoria, Grammatica pars prima and Ortographia), which became the standard works of reference for the study of Latin for the next centuries in Western Europe. ” [Wikipedia]

April 28, 2011

PRINTED 1723: THE MOST IMPORTANT AND ACCLAIMED 18th CENTURY TREATISE ON THE MYSTERY OF CHINESE LAQUER AND VARNISH

AN IMPORTANT TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTION, ESPECIALLY IN ITS FRENCH EDITION, TO CHINOISERIE

The Book:

Bonanni, Filippo. Traitè des vernis : où l’on donne la maniere d’en composer un, qui reffemble parfaitment à celui de la Chine, & plufieurs autres qui concernent la painture, la dorure, la gravure à l’eau forte, & c … Publisher: Paris : D’Houry, 1723. small 8vo., 16 x 9.5 cm., 18th century calf and gilt, raised bands, some binding wear including wear to l.r. corner of front board, and head and tail of spine, ex-libris pen to flyleaf and stamp to t.p., some light browning and spotting. COMPLETE and RARE. [SOLD]

This is the first French translation of Filippo Bonanni’s highly important treatise on Chinese lacquer, providing an historical overview of its introduction to Europe and early Chinese trading with the West, as well as a technical guide to some of its “mysteries”. Various recipes are presented as affordable alternatives as well as suggestions for their best use and application. There existed great commercial interests in improving European lacquerware based on Chinese models. In France, imitation lacquerware had been produced at the Gobelins factory since 1672. The suggestions in this treatise were employed in the decoration of the petits appartmements at Versailles but also for a vast range of domestic articles based on decorative designs by Boucher and other well known artists of the period.

April 28, 2011

PRINTED c. 1488-1490 : ONE OF THE EARLIEST PRINTED BOOKS OF ENGLISH LAW

THE EARLIEST PRINTED ABRIDGMENT OF CASE LAW

HIGHLY IMPORTANT ENGLISH PRINTER

Printed in a specially designed “lettre bâtarde”, the semi-cursive that resembled handwritten script

The Incunable:

[Statham, Nicholas ] [Abridgement of law cases, Edward I-Henry VI, in Norman-French] “Accompte.” [Rouen]: Guillaume Le Talleur, for Richard Pynson, [c.1488- 1490] FOLIO. 24 cm., 187 of 190 lvs., lacking a1 and two prelims (more than 1 and 1/2 pages of the missing prelims through the letter “H” have been copied in contemporary manuscript on a single prelim leaf); q1, r4, and v1 partially cut and defective. The old 1956 auction catalog description that accompanies the book, states that it is missing a title page. This is, in fact, not correct for the work was printed without a title page and before they came into general use. Signatures a-y8, z6, preceded by two unsigned leaves (index), the second of which contains the words (at the end of the index): Printed without a date or author’s name; but presumed to have been printed printed at Rouen by Guillaume Le Talleur, for Richard Pynson “Contains and abridgement of cases decided in the courts between the reign Edward I and the end of that of Henry VI.”–British Museum catalog. Per me R. Pynson Printer’s device on verso of last leaf . Circa 17th century calf with expert rebacking and later endpapers, some marginal worming, occasional thumbing and loss to margins, occasional staining. Overall, a very acceptable copy and certainly one of the most complete to appear at auction. Dated about 1488-90 in CIBN, 1490 by Goff. BMC VIII, 390; STC 23238; Goff S-689. [SOLD]

The Work:

“The earliest printed abridgment of the law is that of Statham (Nicholas), who was appointed a baron of the exchequer in the eighth year of the reign of Edward the Fourth (1468). It is a very curious book, printed, as it would seem, before title-pages were in use, for it is without any title-page, or imprint, or date; and the only notice we have of the printer is the following brief and modest remark, at the end of a short table of contents: “Per me, R. Pynson.” It has been conjectured from the type, that it was printed at Rouen, by William Le Tailleur, who printed Littleton’s Tenures, for Pynson. The latter was bred in the service of Caxton, the first printer with metal types in England, and he succeeded his master in the business. Statham’s Abridgment was published between the years 1470 and 1490, and is a remarkable specimen of the typography of the age.” [Story, Joseph The miscellaneous writings: literary, critical, juridical, and political …J. Munroe and company, 1835]

The Printer:

“Richard Pynson (1448 in Normandy – 1529) was one of the first printers of English books. The 500 books he printed were influential in the standardisation of the English language. Pynson, whose books make him technically and typographically the outstanding English printer of his generation, is credited with introducing Roman type to English printing.” [Wikipedia] This was “the first book commissioned by Richard Pynson as he made the transition from glover and bookbinder to publisher and printer” [Bonhams- see below]

April 28, 2011

PRINTED 1601. THE MILTON FRIEDMAN OF SALAMANCA

The 5 Volume COMPLETE Collected works in FOLIO of Martín de Azpilcueta, the Canonist and economist, credited as the FIRST to develop monetarist theory

With the Wonderful Cat and Mouse Printer Device of the Sessa Printing House

The Set:

Martin de Azpilcueta D. Martini ab Azpilcueta Navarri… Opera omnia, quae quidem adhuc fideliter habita sunt, atque edita, ipsius manu extrema donata, & auctoritate roborata,in quinque tomos divisa, commentarios, enchiridia, tractatus, relationesque, ac denique consilia omnia complectens. Venetiis apud Sessas (apud Dominicum Nicolinum) 1601. D. Martini Azpilcuetae Navarri… Commentarii et tractatus ad sacras confessiones, orationesque ac indulgentias omnino pertinentes, D. Martini Azpilcuetae Navarri… Commentarii et tractatus, relectionesve in capita quaedam iuris canonici multa doctrina affluentes… cum indice rerum, ac verborum insignium locupletissimo, D. Martini Azpiculetae Navarri… Consiliorum seu responsorum quinque libris, iuxta titulos… FOLIO, 5 vol. ([24], 381 p.; 381; 139, [67] c.; [104], 267; 194 p.) CONTEMPORARY LIMP VELLUM with Spanish Calligraphic lettering, some browning, textblock separation, toning, foxing; ex-Seminary marking (white lettering can be removed with light acetone rubbing). Overall, A COMPLETE, RARE SET appearing only once in 30 years of the American auction records and CONTAINING THE FAMOUS AND HIGHLY IMPORTANT ECONOMIC WORK ON USURY (114-132 in Tomus Alter of the Consiliorum, Seu Responsorum)