Fine, 15th-century Florentine vernacular manuscript – illuminated on its opening page with the ‘white-vine’ motif made famous by Tuscan illuminators of the Quattrocento – of Giovanni Boccaccio’s (1313-75) renowned treatise De mulieribus claris (Famous Women), “the first collection of biographies in Western literature devoted exclusively to women” and a work..... More

Rare first edition of the earliest monograph devoted to a specific work of art (Schlosser, p. 391), an enthusiastic appraisal of Donatello’s statue of St. George commissioned for Orsan Michele and now in the Bargello: “The treatise on Donatello’s sculpture is an important document on the theory of art in..... More

Stunning copy of this "important and influential history of the Ottoman Empire, based on an important collection of source material, which includes Leonard of Chios letter on the fall of Constantinople, Spandugino's account of Ottoman life and manners, and the accounts of Giovio, Menavino, Barletius and others" (Atabey 1088). The..... More

Extremely rare first edition of this luxuriously illustrated anthology of extracts from papal sermons delivered between 1703-09, in Latin prose and facing Italian verse: an unusual example of Baroque ecclesiastical culture from the pontificate of Clement XI. On the basis of extreme rarity and contents, the volume numbers among those..... More

Rare 18th-century Venetian engraving of a kitchen scene after a genre painting by Francesco Maggiotto (1738-1805), son and pupil of the painter Domenico Fedeli (1713-94), himself a student of Giambattista Piazzetta (1682-1754). The print depicts a peasant family preparing their repast, a humble meal of polenta and grated cheese. Intent..... More