A very rare account, illustrated with a folding plate of the catafalque, of the elaborate funeral arrangements of Philip V of Spain (1683-1746), which took place between July and November 1746. Philip died on July 9, 1746 and was succeeded by his son Ferdinand VI, to whom Tiernos suspiros is..... More

First edition of Charles Perrault’s Cabinet des beaux arts, a fully engraved work which illustrates the decorations of the ceiling of Perrault’s study in his residence in the Faubourg Saint-Jacques, Place de l’Estrapade, and not on the Rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs as has been suggested by some authorities. The ceiling of the..... More

Very rare first edition of the Royal Academician Grégoire Huret’s (1606-70) two-part treatise on the art of geometric perspective, illustrated with two engraved frontispieces and eight folding engravings designed and executed by the author himself. Part 1 is concerned with practical matters (la perspective pratique) and comprises 182 numbered sections..... More

Rare first edition, complete with its separately issued supplement, of this early treatise on lines of magnetism, including an attempt to explain the origin of these forces by a theory of vortices, and illustrated with 20 folding etchings. The problem of describing and calculating what would become known as magnetic..... More

1. Al suavissimo usignolo delle scene signora Maria Domenica Pini si scusa l’Autore d’aver così tardi decantata la di lei impareggiabil Virtù. In Siena, Bonetti, 1700. 2. Per il finto sdegno con l’amante della signora Maria Domenica Pini celebre cantatrice, e virtuosa della serenissima Gran Prencipessa di Toscana. Che nel..... More

The first and only edition of an illustrated manual for drawing and painting with a focus on composition and landscapes featuring archeological ruins, written by the neoclassical painter, writer, archeologist, and salonnière Marianna Candidi Dionigi.Marianna Candidi Dionigi (1756- 1826), born to an aristocratic and erudite Roman family, was educated by..... More

Very rare. No US copy. De luxe publication of two illustrated works, published privately by the author, 10 years apart. The 43 full page plates are engraved in different techniques; mezzotint, copper engraving, lithography and line designs all by different artists active in Lombardy at the time. The engravers who..... More

Very rare first edition of a treatise by the Dutch autodidact astronomer Martin Hortensius (or van den Hove) (1605-39) refuting Johannes Kepler’s (1571-30) criticism of his measurements concerning the angular diameter of the sun. The two men first disputed this observational problem following Hortensius’ publication of his findings in the..... More

Extremely rare first edition of this poem glorifying Maria Theresa, Infanta of Spain (1638-1683), whose hand in marriage would soon become part of the war bounty of Louis XIV during negotiations for the Treaty of the Pyrenees that ended the war between France and Spain in 1659. Colletet, who like..... More

A large paper copy of this scarce final published work of Viviani, representing the culmination of his efforts to reconstruct a lost manuscript by Aristaeus the Elder on the exposition of curves. Nearing the end of his life, Viviani also took the opportunity of the present work’s publication to offer..... More

The second posthumous edition of Tullia d’Aragona’s collection of poetry, published by Antoine Bulifon, who was “fundamentally important for the diffusion of women’s poetry” (Rabitti, p. 50). One of the most famous Italian sixteenth-century female poet-courtesans, Tullia d’Aragona (1501/1505-1556) has received considerable scholarly attention in the last decades, resulting in..... More

One of the earliest maps of China, depicting insular Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and the Great Wall in the north. The northwest coast of America can be found in the northeast corner of the map, separated from the Asian continent by the semi-mythical Strait of Anian. The map comes from..... More

A beautiful inky black and white example of the first English map of folio size of China, as well as arguably the most richly embellished, early map of the area by John Speed (1552-1629). The map also shows part of north-western America (upper right corner). “...Speed’s map visibly defines China..... More