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
Rare early edition of this Jesuit letter containing news of missions and activity in Japan from the year 1582, the only edition (of 5 printed that year) to contain a title-page advertising the famous Japanese embassy of 1584-86. Significantly, the work also discusses the embassy, naming the participants and their..... More
Rare, separately issued etching depicting the architect-engineer Domenico Fontana’s (1543-1607) technical plan for the 30 April 1586 lowering of the Vatican Obelisk from its ancient placement on the south flank of Saint Peter’s, whence it soon would be moved to its current location as the centerpiece of the Piazza di..... More
First edition of this potted version of Venetian history as seen through the portraits and other paintings hanging in or decorating some of the public rooms of the Palazzo Ducale after the fire of 1577, of art historical interest for the disposition of numerous famous Venetian paintings during the 16th..... More
An excellent example of the second plate (see below) of this important map. It was the "first map of the Americas to appear in a modern atlas," (Schwartz) and one that “had a great influence on the future cartography of the New World” (Burden). When this map was issued, the..... More
First and sole edition of this profusely illustrated landmark on early technology, and along with Agricola’s De Re Metallica (1556), the most influential and copied of all the early illustrated manuals of inventions and machines. Its influence was felt in such later works as Böckler’s Theatrum machinarum (1662), Grollier de..... More
Very attractive and genuine copy of the scarce first edition. This is the complete extant text of the Alexandrian geometer Pappus (4th century AD) in the Latin translation of Federico Commandino, a crucial source for the history of ancient geometry (not infrequently the only extant witness) and a work which..... More
First edition of an Archimedean work by Galileo’s friend and early patron Guidobaldo del Monte. Guidobaldo’s Liber mechanicorum (1577), regarded as the greatest work on statics since the Greeks, employed the mathematically rigorous proofs of Archimedean models in investigating static and mechanical questions; the present work develops many of those..... More
The first complete edition of Michel de Montaigne’s (1533-92) Essais, one of the most influential and profound works of world literature. This is the last edition printed during the author’s lifetime and the definitive text on which all later editions are based. The volume, the so-called ‘cinquièsme edition’, is in..... More
Rare first French edition – here in a magnificent, contemporary Parisian binding – of the Spanish Augustinian Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza’s (1545-1618) groundbreaking treatise on China, a work considered “the most comprehensive and popular book on Ming China to appear in Europe” (Lach, I.ii, p. 330). Though substantially based on..... More
First edition of New Theories of the Celestial Orbs Agreeing with the Observations of Copernicus, Magini's principal astronomical treatise. The work is of interest for the 16th century reception of Copernicus, whom Magini admired; and although he endorsed the unprecedented accuracy of Copernicus’ calculation of celestial movements he nevertheless publically..... More
Excellent enlarged edition of one of the most beautifully engraved Italian island books of the sixteenth century. L'isole piu famose was the first with maps engraved on copper; and with the Gastaldi edition of Ptolemy’s Geografia, 1548, it was among the few geographical works of any kind illustrated with engravings..... More
A fine example of one of the first regional maps of a part of what is now the United States in the second state (Burden 76, state 2). Not only was this the first map to emerge directly from England’s first attempt to colonize North America—the failed Roanoke settlement—but it was also..... More
![Item #5552 Orlando Furioso in English Heroical Verse, by John Haringto[n]. Ludovico / HARINGTON...](https://martayanlan.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/5552.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1651695519)
Rare first edition of Orlando Furioso translated by the Elizabethan courtier and poet Sir John Harington (1560-1612) – the first English version of Ludovico Ariosto’s (1454-1553) famous epic poem – here with its 47 full-page engravings enriched with exceptionally fine contemporary hand-coloring, complete with extensive silver and gold accents, and..... More
Fine example of this cornerstone map of Florida and the Southeast, with a bold impression and good margins. According to Baxter, this is “the most remarkable and important map, which has been preserved from sixteenth century maps, of that part of the East Coast which lies between Cape Hatteras and..... More
Scarce edition, most likely third (see below), of an epic narrative romance of El Cid, i.e. Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (c. 1040-1099), the legendary Castilian general who captured the Moorish stronghold of Zarazoga, was exiled from Castile in 1080, and later returned to conquer Valencia with a loyal army of..... More
A superb example of an early map of eastern Asia that includes all of India, most of China, Indochina, the Philippines, and the Malay Peninsula including Singapore, which is here called “Cingatola.” Characteristic of the earliest European maps of the area, the coast of China is a relatively straight, diagonal..... More
Rare first edition of one of the earliest works on the subject of scurvy by the well-known anatomist, undertaken to survey the incidence of the disease in the ducal territories around Wittenberg, and consequently qualifying as an example of public health medicine. According to O’Malley, its positive result was the..... More
One of the masterworks of early modern map engraving and among the earliest focused depictions of the West Indies within the context of the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Yucatan, Panama, and the northern coast of South America. A principal aim of the map is to show the discoveries of..... More
In vibrant original color, this is a spectacular example of Ortelius' second map (though third plate) of the Americas, improving upon its predecessor in many important ways (see below), most apparently in the removal of the large bulge on the west coast of South America. This updated revision of the..... More
Rare first edition of this commentary on Cesalpino's Peripeteticarum Quaestionum (1571) by Nicolai Taurelius, Professor of Medicine and Philosophy in Altdorf, of interest for the contemporary reception of Cesalpino as well as the spread of his doctrines outside of Italy. The work takes the form of a classical commentary, with..... More
Scarce first French edition of this classic on the natural history of Latin America. Streeter noted, “[Acosta] provided great detail in his descriptions of sailing directions, mineral wealth, trading commodities, Indian history, etc. Consequently his work operated more strongly than any other in opening the eyes of the rest of..... More
Important 16th century manuscript of colonial ordinances governing the daily life of the Indian population, written in Paraguay, signed and dated 1598 by the colonial governor. Hernandarias (1561-1634). Hernandarias was the first person born in the Americas to become governor of a European colony in the New World.The manuscript is..... More
Extraordinary manuscript of a 16th-century relación written in Chile that provides an account of a 1540 shipwreck in the Straits of Magellan and describes the travails faced by the survivors during their long sojourn in the South American wilderness. Itself a remarkable record of an early Spanish voyage to the..... More
Rare first and only edition, only state, of a suite of 14 full-page, 16th-century engravings which ingeniously refigure the traditional subjects of Christ’s Passion in a manner at once timely/fashionable and archaizing/antique: The Passio verbigenae, published by Jan Sadeler I (1550-1600) after the designs of Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder (c..... More