Recent Acquisitions
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[LILY, William.]
A short introduction of grammar generally to be used; compiled and set forth for the bringing up of all those...
Oxford, Sheldonian Theatre, 1709.
Later editions (likely issued together) of two Latin grammars ascribed to the great grammarian and schoolmaster William Lily (1468?–1522/1523).
£350
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GIGLI, Mariano.
Esperimento del nobile giovinetto Francesco Piazzi d’anni dieci non compiuti sulle sette lingue italiana, francese,...
Milan, Società tipografica de’ classici italiani, 1818.
First and only edition, rare, of a series of 450 translation exercises in French, Spanish, English, German, Latin, Greek, and Italian, posed to the ten-year-old linguistic prodigy Francesco Piazzi by his tutor as the culmination of his highly experimental method of linguistic instruction.
£1250
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ARISTOTLE; THEOPHRASTUS; Theodorus GAZA and Pietro ALCIONIO, translators.
Historiae. Cum de natura Animalium, tum de Plantis &...
Lyons, [Nicolas Bacquenois for] Guillaume Gazeau, 1552.
A union of Aristotle on animals and Theophrastus on plants, the fundamental texts from Ancient Greece on zoology and botany, in the translations of Gaza and Alcionio.
£800
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LUCIAN of Samosata; Étienne MOQUOT, editor.
Luciani Samosatensis dialogi selecti. Cum nova versione et notis. Ab uno e patribus...
Lyons, Claude Obert, 1636.
Parallel Greek and Latin edition of selected dialogues by the second-century satirist Lucian, edited by the French Jesuit Étienne Moquot (1570–1625?) for use in Jesuit schools (first 1621).
£375
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GOELICKE, Andreas Ottomar.
Disputatio physica experimentalis exhibens aliquot naturae phaenomena, quae per attractionem vulgo fieri...
Halle, Johann Montag, [1704].
Scarce academic disputation on experimental physics led by the German physician and professor Andreas Ottomar Goelicke (1671–1744).
£275
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[BREWER, George.]
The Siamese Tales, being a Collection of Stories told to the Son of the Mandarin Sam-Sib, for the Purpose of...
London, Vernor & Hood and Champante & Whitrow, 1796.
First edition of an anonymously published collection of ‘Siamese tales’, written as fables to increase their appeal to children.
£950
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BOUTMY, C.
‘Exercitium quotidianum dedicatum perillustri domino domino vice comiti de Haro et d’Enghien &c a C. Boutmy 1760’.
[Belgium, 1760.]
An attractively bound unpublished devotional manual composed by one C. Boutmy (unidentified) for his patron Henri vicomte de Haro et d’Enghien.
£450
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DANETT, Thomas.
A Continuation of the Historie of France, from the Death of Charles the Eight where Comines endeth, till the Death...
London, Printed by Thomas East for Thomas Charde, 1600.
First edition, an original history composed in sequel to Danett’s translation of The Historie of Philip de Commines (1596), covering the history of France from 1498 to 1559.
£1800
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[ABC.]
Petite géographie amusante abécédaire nouveau offrant pour chaque lettre de l’alphabet une carte coloriée avec l’explication...
C. Lehuby, ‘Librairie de l’enfance et de la jeunesse’, [1851].
A charming and very rare ABC intended to teach children European geography, from A for Allemagne to Z for Zara in Dalmatia, published just a few years after the upheavals of the revolutions of 1848.
£3750
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MACDONALD, Alexander.
‘Instructions and regulations for the formations and movements of horse artillery by Captain A: Macdonald...
[England, 1827.]
Scarce manuscript of an unpublished work on the formations and movements of horse artillery by the distinguished soldier and Waterloo veteran Major-General Alexander Macdonald CB (1776–1840), illustrated with twenty-five coloured diagrams.
£1500
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LEE, Edwin.
The Principal Baths of Germany [– The Baths of Nassau Baden and the adjacent Districts; – The Baths of central...
London, Whittaker & Cp., Paris, Galignani & Cp., and Frankfurt & Wiesbaden, Charles Jugel 1840 [– 1841].
First edition, scarce, of Edwin Lee’s two-volume survey of palliative bathing spots in Germany, including an appendix on the ‘Cold Water Cure’, a combination of induced sweating and cold-water therapy ‘of late very much in vogue’ (appendix).
£350
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CAMPBELL, Thomas.
Gertrude of Wyoming; a Pennsylvanian Tale. And other Poems.
London, T. Bensley, for the Author ... 1809.
First edition of Campbell’s most re-printed poem, based on a massacre of American patriots by British forces and their Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) allies in 1778. Its portrayal of ‘pastoral innocence evoked only to be destroyed by the savagery of war (embodied in this case by Mohawk allies of...
£650
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OZEROV, Vladislav Aleksandrovich.
Sochineniia … Chast’ pervaia [–vtoraia] [Works … Part one [–two]].
St Petersburg, Imperial Theatre, 1817 [-1816].
One of two rival collected editions published after Ozerov’s death in 1816, rare, including the first appearance of the author’s poetry and his last tragedy Poliksena.
£1800
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VENERONI, Giovanni.
The Complete Italian Master; containing the best and easiest Rules for attaining that Language … Newly...
London, J. Nourse, 1763.
First edition thus, revising an earlier translation of Le maitre italien of 1711, which was not only ‘out of print’ but ‘in many respects inaccurate’ (Preface). The translator’s preface acknowledges the work of foreign editors since the second edition of 1729 and describes some...
£750
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[BRUGES.]
‘Copie van de Cueren en Ordonnantien omme de Schoolmeesters, Schoolvrauwen, Librariers ende Prenters der Stede van...
Bruges, [c. 1656].
A remarkable manuscript containing the rules of the guild of ‘schoolmasters and mistresses, booksellers, and printers’ in the Belgian city of Bruges, providing a unique window onto the book trade and education there in the first half of the seventeenth century. The existence of a single guild...
£4250
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[PALACE THEATRE, SCUNTHORPE.]
‘Benefit to A. E. Dobney, Thursday, February 19th, 1914.’
[Scunthorpe, 1914.]
A rare broadside programme for a benefit performance at the Palace Theatre in Scunthorpe, printed on crepe paper with a charming block-printed floral border.
£185
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[EROTICA.]
La belle sans chemise.
‘A Londres’, 1797.
Very rare edition, with a false London imprint and an engraved frontispiece, of an erotic novel encompassing threesomes, dildos, cross-dressing, theft, extortion, betrayal, and revenge.
£750
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MARTIAL.
Epigrammaton libri XIII. Ex fide vetustissimorum exemplarium, quanta fieri potuit cura vigilantiaque emendati.
Paris, Jean Libert, 1612 [(colophon:) 1613].
An uncommon small-format edition of Martial’s Epigrams, with early annotations marking passages used by the humanist poet Marot.
£650
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SOPHOCLES.
Tragoediae Sophoclis quotquot extant carmine Latino redditae Georgio Ratallero … interprete.
Antwerp, Jean Bellère, 1584.
An early seventeenth-century sammelband collecting contrasting classical texts: the tragedies of Sophocles, the civil war horrors of Lucan, and the sharp satires of Juvenal and Persius.
£950
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[BOUTREUX D’ESTIAU, Jacques de.]
De la puissance roialle sur la police de l’Eglise.
Paris, Pierre Durand, 1625.
A pair of uncommon works defending the French king’s authority over the Church, in a binding for Jacques-Auguste II de Thou and later in the renowned Caumartin library.
£950