Forum Rare Books

Fully engraved guide to the Holy Mass

[LANDRY, Pierre]. La Sainte Messe, ou sont representés par les actions du prêtre les misteres de la passion de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ avec les oraisons appliqué à chacun mistere. Ouvrage tres utile aux fideles pour assister devotement a ce Saint Sacrifice.
Paris, chez Pierre Landry, [ca. 1690]. 12mo. With an engraved title, 35 numbered full-page engraved plates, and 37 engraved text leaves. Early 20th-century richly gold-tooled red morocco, signed and dated (1918) by Charles de Samblanx. [73] ll. Full description

€ 2,500

Bibles, Liturgy & Devotional Works Bindings France Religion (17th Century)

Rare early edition of an occult-medical work, in contemporary decorated pigskin binding
with one signed and one dated panel (1570)

LEMNIUS, Levinus. De habitu et constitutione corporis, quam Graeci "krasin", triviales complexionem vocant, libri II.
Erfurt, Esaias Mechlerus, 1582. 8vo. With a woodcut portrait of the author on the title page, several decorated woodcut initials and tail pieces. Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards, sewn on 3 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, the first compartment of the spine has been painted red, a manuscript shelf mark ("E. 188") in red ink in the fourth compartment, the boards are richly blind-tooled with a central panel featuring Justicia (signed "HB") on the front, and Lucrecia (dated 1570) on the back, framed by a decorative border containing small portraits of classical authors, secured with two brass clasps and catches. [8], 167, [13] ll. Full description

€ 3,000

Astrology & Occult Bindings Early Printing - 16th century

60 designs for interior decorations (10 complete series) in the age of Louis XIV:
houses, palaces and chapels for the French nobility

LE PAUTRE, Jean. [Collection of 10 print series of 6 plates each with model designs for altars, church tabernacles, armorial trophies, chimney-pieces, monumental doorways, wainscoting, wall panels and ceilings].
Paris, Jean I Le Blond, Pierre II Mariette, [ca. 1655-ca. 1670]. 10 print series in 1 volume. Oblong small folio & oblong 4to (20 x 26.5 cm). With 60 engraved plates (plate size ca. 15 x 22 cm). 17th-century sprinkled, gold-tooled calf, each board with the same unidentified coat-of-arms in the centre. 3, [3]; [6]; [6]; 6; [6]; 6; 6; 6; [6]; 6 ll. (numbered in pencil: 4-63). Full description

€ 9,500

Architecture Armorial Bindings Bindings Castles, Gardens & Mansions France Prints & Print Series

Essential for the history of the Dutch War of Independence

LE PETIT, Jean François. La grande chronique ancienne et moderne, de Hollande, Zelande, West-Frise, Utrecht, Frise, Overyssel & Groeningen, jusques à la fin de l'An 1600. Receüillee tant des histoires desdites provinces, que de divers autres auteurs.
Dordrecht, Jacob Canin for the author (colophon volume 2:) printed in Dordrecht by Guillaume Guillemot, 1601. 2 volumes, Folio. With the title set within a richly engraved allegorical border, repeated for the title in volume 2, a full-page engraved portrait of the author, and 57 mostly full-page engraved portraits in the text, including one portrait in woodcut, and allegorical engraved plate of the States General of the Dutch United Provinces, by Christoph van Sichem. Further with several large woodcut decorated initials. Contemporary gold-tooled red morocco, with the small gold-tooled crest of Thomas Hutton and the title lettered in gold on the spine, gold-tooled board edges. [1], [1 blank], [38], "650" [= 656], [2], 240; [1], [1 blank], [14], "779" [= 788], [15], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 5,000

Armorial Bindings Bindings Drente. Friesland & Groningen Gelderland & Overijssel History / 17th Century Holland Netherlands Utrecht Zeeland

Beautiful prints of early Christian hermits living in the desert

LEU, Thomas de (or de LEEUW) [drawn by Marten de VOS]. [Engraved title:] Solitudo sive vitae patrum eremicolarum ...
[Paris], Thomas de Leu, 1606. Small oblong folio (19 x 25.5 cm). With an engraved allegorical title page, and 29 engraved prints. Gold-tooled blue goatskin morocco (ca. 1890?) bound by Bernard David (or his son Salvador David) in Paris. [1], 29 engraved ll. Full description

€ 2,500

Bindings Church History & Missions Early Printing - 16th century Prints & Print Series

14th-century tales of travels in Turkey, the Middle East, Near East, India and the East Indies,
illustrated with about 60 woodblocks

MANDEVILLE, John [= Jehan d'OUTREMEUSE]. The voyages & travels of Sir John Mandevile, Knight, ... to the Holy Land, and to Hierusalem: as also to the lands of the Great Caan, and of Prestor John: to Inde, and divers other countries: ...
London, Richard Chiswell, Benjamin Walford, Matthew Wotton, George Conyers, 1696. 4to. With a woodcut ship on the title-page and about 60 woodcut illustrations in the text (mostly about 5.5 x 8 cm) plus about 10 repeats. Gold-tooled, red goatskin morocco by Robert Riviere in London (ca. 1875/80), one of England's best binders. [4], “139” [= 135], [5] pp. Full description

€ 22,500

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Bindings Egypt Iran / Persia North Africa Southeast Asia Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Middle East Travel & Voyages Southeast Asia Turkey & Ottoman Empire West Asia

A notable narrative with detailed information on Northwest America, in splendid bindings

MARCHAND, Étienne and Charles Pierre Claret de FLEURIEU. Voyage autour du monde, pendant les anneés 1790, 1791 et 1792, par Étienne Marchand, précédé d'une introduction historique; auquel on a joint des recerches sur les terres Australes de Drake, et un examen critique du voyage de Roggeween.
Paris, De l'imprimerie de la République, [1798-1800]. 6 volumes: 5 text volumes and 1 atlas. Large 8vo (23 x 15 cm) and 4to atlas. With 3 folding tables with vocabulary in 3rd volume and 15 engraved maps and 1 engraved plate in atlas volume. Contemporary light brown calf, gold-tooled spine gilt with star and flower pattern and 2 red morocco title labels, gold-tooled ornamental borders on the boards, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, gilt edges (COURTEVAL). [4], VIII, CCI, [3], 294, [2]; VII, [1], 529, [1]; [2], VIII, 474, [2]; VIII, 494, [2]; XII, 559, [5]; [2], VIII, 158, [2] pp. Full description

€ 27,500

Alaska Anthropology & Ethnography Bindings Canada & Greenland Charts & Maps Hawaii Navigation North America Pacific Islands Travel & Voyages North America Travel & Voyages Pacific

Important early bio-bibliographical dictionary, bound for the Dutch minister Jacques Renaud Bouillier

MARCHAND, Prosper. Dictionaire historique, ou Memoires critiques et litteraires, concernant la vie et les ouvrages de divers personnages distingués, particulierement dans la republique des lettres.
The Hague, Pierre de Hondt, 1758-1759. 2 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With an engraved plate. Contemporary half calf, richly gold-tooled spine with floral ornaments. [10], 330, [6]; [2], 328, [28], [10] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Bibliography & Biography Bindings Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Highly detailed and brightly coloured botanical emblematic fore-edge painting
taken from Camerarius's Symbolorum et emblematum

MARCHESE, Duca Annibale. Tragedie Cristiane.
Naples, Felice Mosca, 1729. 2 volumes in 1. Large 8vo. With two title-pages in red and black, an engraved frontispiece by Jeremias Jakob Sedelmayr after Francesco Solimena, an engraved author's portrait by Antonio Baldi and 11 engraved plates by Sedelmayr and Baldi after Solimena, accompanying the 10 tragedies and the dedication. Also with some engraved initials, woodcut tailpieces and 40 pages of engraved polyphonic music for the choruses. Contemporary gold-tooled brown goatskin morocco, gilt and gauffered edges with an intricate fore-edge painting, incorporating both a closed and fanned design for the fore-edge. The head and foot edges are painted with floral and botanical designs. [4], [16], 502; [4], 504, [2]; pp. plus 40 pp. of engraved music. Full description

€ 8,500

Bindings Drawings & Watercolours Italian Literature Italy Literature

Key historical text on the Tonga Islands, from the library of the fallen Empress Marie-Louise

MARINER, William and John MARTIN (editor). Histoire des naturels des Iles Tonga ou des Amis, situées dans l'Océan Pacifique depuis leur découverte par le Capitaine Cook; rédigée par John Martin, sur les détails fournis par William Mariner, qui y a passé plusieurs années; ...
Paris, Gide and Nicolle (back of half-title: Imprimerie de J. Smith), 1817. 2 volumes. 8vo. Contemporary red half morocco, gold-tooled spine, paper sides with the crowned monogram of Empress Marie-Louise in gold on both sides of each volume. XXII, [23]-398, [2]; 398 pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Anthropology & Ethnography Bindings Pacific Islands Travel & Voyages Pacific

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