Forum Rare Books

Early lives of saints, with a stunning full-page woodcut by Urs Graf

PETRUS DE NATALIBUS. Catalogus sanctorum & gestorum eorum ex diversis voluminibus collectus: ...
(Colophon: Strasbourg, printed by Martin Flach, 1513). Folio (22.2 x 32 cm). Title-page with a woodcut decorated initial and a 4-piece woodcut border by Hans Wechtlin, 1 full-page woodcut by Urs Graf, hundreds of woodcut decorated uncial initials. Set mostly in rotunda gothic types. Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards, in a panel design, with 2 brass clasps on leather straps with brass catchplates and anchorplates. [4], 253 ll. Full description

€ 7,500

Catholicism & Eastern Orthodox Church Early Printing - 16th century Religion (16th Century)

King Philip II mortgages then sells his lands of Voorburg and Voorschoten
near The Hague to help fund his wars

[MANUSCRIPT]. PHILIP (FELIPE) II, King of Spain. [Mortgage agreement, granting Jan Hanneman, Steward General of North Holland, the rights to the tithes of the King's lands of Voorburg and Voorschoten].
The Hague and Brussels, 1557 (with additions to 1565). Folio (36 x 25.5 cm). Manuscript mortgage agreement, signed by King Philip's representatives, written in brown ink on parchment in a nearly upright cursive gothic hand. With a typescript transcription of the main text and an interlinear translation in Spanish. [2 blank], 9, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Economic History & Trade Law & Politics Manuscripts & Documents Netherlands Spain

16th-century royal decree on marine insurance, printed by Plantin

[PHILIP II, King of Spain]. Ordinancie, statuyt ende policie gemaect byden coninck onsen aldernadichsten Heere, op tfeyt vande contracten vande asseurancien ende versekeringen in dese Nederlanden.
Antwerp, Christoffel Plantin, 1571. 4to. With armorial woodcut on title-page. Modern vellum. 15, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 7,500

Belgium Broadsides & Pamphlets Early Printing - 16th century Law & Politics Naval History Plantin Press

One of the earliest sources on the Congo and central Africa, complete with all plates and maps

PIGAFETTA, Filippo and Duarte LOPEZ. Relatione del reame di Congo et delle circonvicine contrade tratta dalli scritti & ragionamenti di Odoardo Lopez.
Rome, Bartolomeo Grassi, [1591]. 4to. With an integral engraved architectural title-page (with the coat of arms of the dedicatee Antonio Migliore, Bishop of San Marco), large folding engraved general map of Africa (64×44 cm), large folding engraved map of the Congo (43.5×51.5 cm) and 8 numbered folding engraved plates of plants, animals and inhabitants of the country, by Natalis Bonifazio. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [8], 82, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 60,000

Anthropology & Ethnography Central Africa Charts & Maps City Plans, Topography & Views Early Printing - 16th century Fishes Travel & Voyages Africa

“German” Europe in the early 16th century, and Hispaniola in America

PIRCKHEIMER, Willibald. Germaniae ex variis scriptoribus perbrevis explicatio.
Augsburg, Heinrich Steiner, 1530. Small 8vo (15.5 x 10.5 cm). Title in a wide woodcut ornamented border, 2 woodcut historiated initials. Set in an Aldine-style italic with a word of Greek. Modern brown shell-marbled boards. [69], [3 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,750

Austria Central Europe Early Printing - 16th century Geography Germany Middle America Netherlands Switzerland

Papal bull elevating Cosimo I de’ Medici to become first Grand Duke of Tuscany

PIUS V, Pope. Freiheit und Bulla des allerheiligsten in Gott vatters und Herren, Herren Pii, des namens fünfften Bapsts, uber die Erhoehung und Schoepffung des durchleüchtigsten Fürsten und Herren, Herren Cosmi Medices, Hertzogen zu Florentz, &c. Zu einem Groszhertzoge und koenigmässigem, der provintz Ethrurien, ime underworffen. Geschehen zu Rom, den 27. Augusti. Anno M.D. LXIX.
[Germany], 1570. Small 4to (20 x 15 cm). With a woodcut figure of the Pope on the title-page. Set in Schwabacher gothic type with fraktur headings and incidental roman. Half maroon goatskin morocco (1930s?), gold-tooled spine. [12] pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Catholicism & Eastern Orthodox Church Early Printing - 16th century Italy Law & Politics Religion (16th Century)

First edition of the history of the dioceses Tongres, Maastricht and Liège

PLACENTIUS, Johannes Leo. Catalogus omnium antistitum Tungarorum, Traiectensium, ac Leodiorum, & rerum domi, bellique gestarum compendium.
Antwerp, Willem Vorsterman, [1530?; preface dated 14 September 1529]. Small 8vo (13.5 x 10 cm). Title with woodcut coat-of-arms of Cardinal Everard van de Marck in a 4-piece woodcut border, a large woodcut coat of arms on the last page, 2 woodcut illustrations, one showing Mary and Jesus with Saint Anne (63 x 42 mm), and the other a bishop in his study (45 x 43 mm), each in the same 4-piece woodcut border (different from that on the title-page). Capitals rubricated throughout, some woodcuts also rubricated and some headings and other words underlined in red. Vellum (ca. 1700?). [16], [216] pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Belgium Early Printing - 16th century Netherlands Religion (16th Century)

Praised edition of Pliny's "Natural history", with sections on pearl fishery in the Middle East

PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius (PLINY the Elder). Historiarum naturae libri XXXVII, post omnes omnium editiones, ...
Paris, Jean Parvum (index: Jean Petit), 1532. Folio. 18th-century cat's paw calf, richly gold-tooled spine. [36], 671, [188] pp. Full description

€ 4,500

Earth Sciences Expeditions & General Natural History Geology Iran / Persia Mineralogy & Gems

Pliny's Natural history, annotated by the Italian scholar Hermolaus Barberus

PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius. Opus divinum, cui titulus historiae naturalis, multoqua[m] antehac unqua[m] prodiit in luce[m] castigatius, una cu[m] annotationibus Hermanolai Barbari ...
Paris, Jean Petit (colophon: Nicolaus Sauetier), 1526. 2 parts in 1 volume (bound in reverse order). Folio. With title-page to the main work (bound second) printed in red and black and title-page to the index (bound first), each in a four-piece woodcut border. Contemporary or near contemporary calf, with the boards richly blind-tooled in a panel design; rebacked with part of the original backstrip laid down. [188], [34], "CCCCCXXXVI" [= CCCCCXXXVIII] pp. Full description

€ 18,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Astronomy & Cosmography Early Printing - 16th century Faunas & General Zoology Geology Greek & Roman Classics Herbals & Medical Botany Iran / Persia Mineralogy & Gems

In a 17th-century richly gold-tooled Jesuit prize-binding

PLUTARCHUS. Moralia, quae usurpantur. sunt autem omnis elegantis doctrinae penus: id est, varij libri: morales, historici, physici, mathematici, deniq; ad politiorem litteraturam pertinentes & humanitatem: omnes de Graeca in Latinam linguam transscripti.
Basel, Thomas Guarini, 1570. Folio. With woodcut printer's device on title-page and repeated on last page, some mathematical woodcuts in text and numerous historiated woodcut initials. Early 17th-century Jesuit prize binding in richly gold-tooled light brown calf, sides with arabesques in the style of Gascon, richly gold-tooled double borders and inner panel with small bands in a geometrical pattern. [12], 857, [91] pp. Full description

€ 4,250

Bindings Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Education & Pedagogy Jesuits Philosophy & Esotericism Religion (16th Century)

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