Rare illustrated first edition (1510) of the Statua ordinis cartusiensis, “an exceptional case of a limited printing not available for public sale” (Elie, p. 38), here in an example with its fine woodcuts in excellent contemporary hand-color. These collected statutes and privileges of the Carthusian Order – part of the... More about Statua ordinis cartusiensis

Rare early edition of this famous work on sculpture, perspective and the aesthetic theory of the plastic arts, of particular importance for the diffusion of perspective theory to the north of Florence according to Kemp, who characterises the work’s technical innovations as “a curious mélange of the Albertian method, using..... More about De sculptura

Rare first edition of this Venetian ‘take’ on the painting of the middle of the Cinquecento, when according to the conventional periodizing view, Venetian painting hovered between High Renaissance and Mannerism: Titian was in the process of altering his style in the direction of emotionalism, the younger generation (Tintoretto, Paris..... More about Dialogo

Rare suite of prints depicting the twelve Apostles, designed by Ambrosius Francken (1544-1618) and engraved by Antonius Wierix, including two additional images of Christ and Paul by Maarten de Vos (nos. 1 and 14) which at one time occupied a single copper plate. The series gives an engraving to each... More about The Apostles (with Christ and Saint Paul

Rare first and only edition of this illustrated funeral book recording the ceremonies for Pope Paul V (1550-1621) held in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, with a fine suite of full-page engravings of ephemeral sculpture and architecture, including a series of 16 sculptures of Virtues by the great Gian Lorenzo... More about Breve racconto della trasportatione del corpo di Paolo V dalla Basilica di S. Pietro à quella di...

Rare first edition Olivier de Vrée’s (1596-1652) compendium of seals of the Counts of Flanders, a volume notable both for its antiquarian rigor – the work remains a standard reference on the subject – and for its some 300 copperplate engravings meticulously cataloguing the development of seals from the establishment..... More about Sigilla Comitum Flandriae et Inscriptiones Diplomatum ab iis editorum cum expositione historica

Scarce first edition of this 17th-century survey of Italian painting, and a valuable document for developing Baroque gusto by a cultivated amateur. Scannelli follows Mancini's tripartite division of Italian schools Roman, Venetian and Lombard, and in an age in which microcosms were everywhere, he compared the whole of Italian painting... More about Il Microcosmo delle pittura, overa trattato diviso in due libri

First edition and much scarcer than the second edition of 1683. "Troili, a pupil of the quadratura painter Michelangelo Colonna, became scene painter for the Farnese theatre at Parma. Ferdinando Bibiena saw his work there (probably after the artist's death) and absorbed its influence. This original edition of Troili's exceptionally... More about Paradossi per pratticare la prospettiva, senza saperla, fiori, per facilitare l'intelligenza,...

Two rare suites of engravings depicting Pietro da Cortona’s celebrated frescoes in the salone of Palazzo Barberini and the Pitti Palace, then the residence of the Duke of Etro. Cortona was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco to create the artistic centerpiece of the Barberini palace, a fresco which is now recognized..... More about Barberinæ Aulæ fornix Romæ Eq. Petri Berettini Cortonensis picturis admirandus cuius spirantes...

A fine pen-and-ink drawing and a very rare letterpress broadside, both relating to the baker’s trade in 18th-century Brussels. The drawing depicts St. Honoratus of Amiens (d. c. 600), a bishop saint who came to be especially venerated by bakers in France following the donation of land by the Parisian..... More about Alsoo Myne Heeren die Wethouderen deser Stadt Brussele op den 16. Februarii 1719, aen die van het...

Rare first and only edition of one of the first, if not the first Western monograph devoted to a Russian work of art, namely the icon of the 4th-century warrior saint Theodore Straelates housed in the Rieterkirche St. Marien und Christophorus in Kalbensteinberg, Bavaria, an important pilgrimage church located on... More about Slavonisch-Russisches Heiligthum mitten in Teutschland; Das ist: Der grosse Heilige und...

An unusually fresh example of the rare first edition of a Baroque German penmanship textbook self-published by this “Schul-, Schreib- und Rechnenmeister” from Frankfurt am Main, with 54 engraved plates. After assuring his readers that these methods have been honed throughout his tenure as a teacher of penmanship, Schirmer begins..... More about Geöfnete Schreib-Schule, oder, Deutsche, lateinische, und franzosische Vorschriften

Very rare example of a bespoke (and nearly) blank album amicorum from 18th-century Holland, preserved in entirely contemporary condition and complete with its original, elaborately decorated binding. The only entry in the book is its watercolor frontispiece of a putto as an emblem of painting: The cupid is posed as... More about Album Amicorum