2554 - 3406 OLD and RARE BOOKS
- Hinges broken but holding strong. Vellum sl. soiled.
= The Roman grammarian Censorinus lived in the first half of the third century A.D. Of him survives De die natali, dedicated to his patronus Q. Caerellius on his birthday in A.D. 238. The first part deals with the genetic and astrologic aspects of the date of birth, and furthermore numerical mysticism. The second with time and divisions. Its sources are Varro, Suetonius (De anno Romanorum), and several Greek authorities on procreation, embryology, botany and music. Schweiger p.101.
- Upper and lower compartment of backstrip taken from another binding; letterpiece dam.; frontcover stained; corners showing.
- Lacks free endpapers; blank margin of one index leaf cut off; one leaf stained from painted edges. Paint on backstrip flaking off.
= Cf. Schweiger I, p.323.
- Upper hinge widening; contemp. annot. on upper pastedown and last free endpaper. Lacks ties; top of spine chipped; frontcover stained.
- Large bookplate on upper pastedown; final ±15 lvs. waterstained in outer lower (blank) corner, just touching text. Paper dam. at joints.
Idem. De contemptu mundi. Leyden, Ex Officina Ioannis Maire, 1641, 105p., woodcut printer's mark, contemp. wr., 12mo.
- Sl. browned; owner's entry on first blank.
= Rare edition. Willems 1357; Rahir 1409; Schweiger I, p.379.
- Extensive old annots. on endpapers and final blanks; some old underlining and annots. in text (partly turned green); sl. yellowed. Vellum sl. darkened; traces of letterpiece/ ticket on spine.
= Willems 1215; Rahir 1243; "L'édition de 1657 mérite donc la préférence sur celle de Leyde (...)." (Willems). The first Elzevier ed. was published in 1642.
- Calf oosening at turn-ins; mor. letterpiece lacks portion; calf waterstained.
= Graesse III, p.255; Schweiger p.139: "Neue Recens. nach Mscr. mit d. brauchbarsten Noten der frühern Erklärer. Die gelehrten Commentare von Valck. u. Wesseling werden s. geschätzt".
- Old owner's entry on title-p.; partly trifle yellowed. Spine sl. darkened. = Schweiger p.513.
- First work lacks 1 plate; lvs. (sl.) browned; one plate w. tear on fold; a few quires w. sm. waterstain in outer margin; last part waterstain in lower outer corner; second work lacks last 2 lvs; w. extensive manuscript owner's entry by "M Bondet" (dated 1624).
= Ad 1 The 2nd Plantin edition (first 1582) of this treatise on gladiators. Voet 1557; Labore et Constantia 292; Bibl. Belgica III, I, 502; Thimm p.167 (ed. 1604); Pardoel 1536; Lipperheide Be 8; Ad 2: Voet 1532B. One of the plates (the ruinous amphitheatre at Doue?) in De Amphiteatro signed "Laevinus F. An.1584"; Ad 3: Voet 1535A bis.
- Occas. sl. foxed; some lvs. w. sm. waterstain in lower blank margin. Covers trifle rubbed.
= Cf. Gelli p.527; Pardoel 1536; Thimm 167; Simoni L-168; cf. Voet 1557B; Labore et Constantia 292. The third Plantin edition (first 1582) of this treatise on gladiators.
- Old bookplate and owner's entry on upper pastedown/ first free endpaper; occas. sl. yellowed. Binding chafed and rubbed; frontcover loose; upper corners showing.
= Schweiger p.575 ("Erste u. seltne Ausg. von Creech").
- Binding sl. rubbed; spine-ends chipped.
- Engr. title doubled and w. old owner's entries; a few lvs. portion in upper margin restored (just affecting text); sl. yellowed and fingersoiled. Rebound(?) w. use of contemp. vellum binding.
= Schweiger p.598f.
- Spine and outer corners (sl.) worn.
= Scarce. From the library of William Markham (1719-1807), in later life archbishop of York, with his bookplate on upper pastedown. Combined works: De regno Laconico; Piraeeus. Sive, De Piraeeo, Atheniensium portu celeberrima, & ejusdem antiquitatibus (1686); (A. SCHOTTE), Helladii Besantinoi Chrestomathiae cum notis J. Meursius (1686). Cf. for the last part De Backer/ Sommervogel VII,875.7.
- Lacks one plate (no. 3) (plates 21-22 and 83-84 each printed on 1 leaf, 2 plates numb. "40"); preliminary leaves and first few textpages sl. foxed. Corners sl. worn; covers sl. rubbed.
- Bookblock split; a few scattered library stamps; sl. wormholed in upper corner at the beginning; occas. sl. foxed/ yellowed. Binding sl. worn; letterpiece partly worn off; corners showing/ sl. dam.
= Cohen/ De Ricci p.768: "Magnifique ouvrage"; Geerebaert CXXII, 39; cat. Ovidius Herschapen 41.
- Fine copy. Occas. sl. yellowed/ soiled and w. a few foxed spots; old owner's entry in brown pen on title-page lower blank margin; extensive early 20th cent.(?) ms. annot. in pen and ink on prelim. leaf.
= Mortimer 403; Fairfax Murray 420 (both the 1st ed. of 1557). "The de Tournes Ovids, combining the Salomon illustrations and borders with French, Italian, or Flemish texts, are among the most attractive volumes produced at Lyons" (Mortimer). "Every page with delicately executed woodcuts attributed to Le Petit Bernard (178 in all), and with borders of beautiful design, consisting of interlacing arabesques, some white on black, figures of satyrs, tritons, &c., and including three extraordinary ones (repeated at intervals) composed of Rabelaisian monsters and other grotesque creatures" (Murray). Endpapers made from nice col. woodcut leaf w. floral motif. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE CXXIX.
- Joints and corners trifle worn. Fine copy. = Schweiger p.738f; cf. Bodemann 127.2.
- Lacks first free endpaper; occas. cut short, affecting ills. in lower margin. Corners rubbed; backstrip whitish.
= Provenance: Stephanus Johannis Stephanius (1599-1650), Danish historian and philologist. With manuscript signed dedication by Stephanius to the secretary/ chancellor Axelius Juel on title-p.: "Virtute juxta ac prosapia Nobilissimo Viro, Domino Axelio Juel, Maecenati et fautori gratiosissimo hunc librum observantiae testandae ergo dono dedi. Stephanus Johannis Stephanius." The rare first edition of this important work on slavery in antiquity. Also deals with music and musical instruments of classical antiquity. Krivatsy 8979; RISM B VI2 654; Cicognara 1759; Fetis VII, p.57. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE CXXIX.