| 474C |
Dieu, Lodewijk de.
(1590-1642) Animadversiones In D. Pauli Apostoli Epistolam Ad Romanos,
In Quibus, Collatis Syri, Arabis, Vulgati, Erasmi & Bezæ
versionibus, difficiliora quæque loca, & maximè præterita
aliis illustrantur. Accessit Spicilegium in reliquas ejusdem Apostoli,
ut & Catholicas Epistolas. Auctore Ludovico de Dieu.
Leiden: Ex Officinâ Elzeviriorum
[Bonaventure & Abraham], 1646
$500
Quarto, 7.5 x 6 in. First edition. *4, A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa4. This copy
is complete, and in good contemporary condition throughout internally.
The title is a bit chipped, but otherwise this is a very good copy.
It has been recently rebound in full modern calfskin.
“Louis de Dieu was a Dutch Protestant minister and Orientalist,
born at Flushing in 1590. In 1619 he became assistant professor in
the Walloon College, Leiden. He wrote a Grammar of the Hebrew, Syriac,
and Chaldaic Languages, (1628), Rudiments of the Persian Tongue, (1639),
and several commentaries on Scripture. His Persian Grammar was for
a long time the only one existing in Europe. De Dieu died in 1642.
His father, Daniel, was an eloquent minister of Brussels and Flushing,
and a good linguist.” (Thomas)
In the present work, de Dieu analyzes the apostle Paul’s letter
to the Romans, using the Syriac, Arabic, and Vulgate versions of the
new testament, in addition to the translations rendered by Erasmus
and Beza. The book is beautifully printed throughout, using nicely
executed Syriac and Arabic type. The attractive title page is printed
in red and black.
“The remarks on the Evangelists open a series of works that Louis
de Dieu consecrated to the interpreters of the writings of the saints,
and notably to the oriental versions. Reunited with his Animadveriones
in Acta Apostolorum, published in 1634, the Animadversiones in Epistolam
ad Romanos, published in 1646, and finally, the Animadversiones in
Vetus Testamentum, a posthumous publication, published in 1648 by
the son of the author, these form a complete commentary on the Bible,
a commentary which has been reprinted in a self-contained single volume
under the title: Critica Sacra, Amsterdam: G. Borstius, 1693, in folio.”
(Willems)
Rahir #601; Willems #602.
|
|
| 631C |
Dod, John. (1549-1645),
and Robert Cleaver. (1561- ca. 1625) A Plaine And Familiar Exposition
Of The Ninth and Tenth Chapters of the Prouerbs of Salomon. Matth.
13.35. I will open my mouth in Parables, and will utter the things
which haue been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
[bound with II.]
A Plaine And Familiar Exposition Of The Eleuenth and Twelfth Chapters
of the Prouerbs of Salomon. Proverbs I.5. A wise man shall heare and
increase in learning, and a man of understanding shall attaine unto
wise counsels.
[bound with III.]
A Plaine And Familiar Exposition Of The Thirteenth and Fourteenth
Chapter of the Prouerbs of Salomon. Proverbs. 2.10.11. When wisedome
entreth into thine hart, and knowledge delighteth thy soule, Then
shall counsell preserue thee, and understanding shall keepe thee
[bound with IV.]
A Plaine And Familiar Exposition Of The Fifteenth, sixteenth, and
seuenteenth Chapters of the Prouerbs of Salomon.
[bound with V.]
A Plaine And Familiar Exposition: Of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and
Twentieth chapters of the Prouerbs of Salomon. By Iohn Dod and Robert
Cleaver. Psalme 34. Ver. 8. ¶ Taste yee, and see how gracious
the Lord is, Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
I: London: Imprinted by Felix Kyngston, for Thomas
Man, 1612
II: London: Printed by William Hall, for Thomas Man, 1612
III: London: Imprinted by T.C. for Roger Iackson: and are to bee sold
at his shop in Fleet-street, neere the Conduit, 1615
IV: London: Printed by Felix Kingston for Thomas Man, 1611
V: London: Printed for Roger Iackson, and are to be sold at his Shop
in Fleetstreete neere the Conduit, 1611
$3,000
Quarto, 7.125 x 5.25 in. I: Fourth edition;
II: Fourth edition; III: Third edition; IV: Second edition; V: Second
edition. I: A-R4 (A1 original blank present); II: A-Z4, Aa-Bb4 (A1,
blank but for the signature mark, is present); III: A-V4 (V4 original
blank present); IV: A-X4 (X4 original blank present); V: ¶4 (¶1
original blank present), A2, B-Y4, Z2 (Z2 original blank present).
This copy is in lovely condition internally, with all of its original
blanks present throughout. The well-executed binding is modern quarter
calfskin and corners, with marbled paper boards.
“In an age in which God and Satan, heaven and hell, were radiant
or lurid realities, there was a sincere and insatiable demand for
devotional and hortatory works, and English Protestantism had to create
a new religious literature or recreate the old. The endless repetition
and application of the central truths of faith and practice corresponded
to the endless re-expression of the commonplaces of ancient ethics,
and in some authors the two roads ran together. The appetite for counsels
of piety and warnings against sin grew with the middle-class and Puritan
public, but churchwomen in castle and hall likewise meditated over
such handbooks in the intervals between good works, finding them a
support against the pangs of widowhood or of matrimony. […] Next
to the Bible the bestsellers of our period were such books as […]
John Dod’s Plain and Familiar Expositions. […] While the
sermon had the unique character of a divine message, and carried the
obligation of close scrutiny of the inspired text, it was also a highly
developed literary form, the product of an unbroken oratorical tradition
which went back to the ancients. Its own special traditions of rhetoric
and logic—the open and the closed hand, according to a common
phrase—had been revivified by the powerful influence of Ramus
and codified in such books as Keckermann’s Rhetoricae Ecclesiasticae.
It was natural that the preaching of men of all religious categories—except
ranters—should have a generic likeness, but there were tribal
and individual differences. Many great Puritan preachers from Perkins
to Baxter, such men as […] ‘Decalogue Dod’ (1555-1645),
were disposed, from choice, not ignorance, to favor the presentation
of truth in her naked purity, not bedizened with human and profane
learning (and some Anglicans share that view).” (Bush)
I: STC 6956; II: STC 6959; III: STC 6961; IV: STC 6964; V: STC 6966.
|
|
| 456C |
[du Moulin, Lewis].
(1606-1680) Rerum Nuper in Regno Scotiæ Gestarum Historia, Seu
verius Commentarius, Causas, occasiones, progressus, horum motuum
breviter & perspicue proponens, simul cum synopsi concordiæ,
quantum hactenus inita est. Excerptus ex scriptis utiusque partis
scitu dignissimis, quorum primaria in Latinum sermonem nunc primum
fideliter translata inseruntur. Addita est Ecclesiæ Scotiæ
ad Helveticas reformatas Epistola, quâ compendio res tota perspective
exhibetur. Per Irenævm Philalethen Eleutherium.
Danzig [i.e. Amsterdam?]: Anno Domini, 1641
$520
Octavo, 6 x 3.5 in. The first edition appeared in 1640; in this variant
of the first edition, the word “Regno” appears in all capital
letters. *4, A-Z8, Aa-Oo8. 590 leaves. This copy is in good condition
internally. It is bound in full contemporary limp parchment, somewhat
stained and worn.
Son of Pierre du Moulin (an eminent French Protestant theologian),
Lewis is described as “a nonconformist controversialist”
and, by Wood, as “a fiery, violent, and hotheaded independent,
a cross and ill-natured man.” Lewis studied at Leiden and became
a zealous partisan of Cromwell and the Independents, who assisted
him in being appointed Camden professor of history at Oxford. “On
his deathbed, in the presence of Bishop Burnet, he retracted his virulent
attacks on Anglican theologians. […]
“Moulin also wrote under the pseudonyms Christianus Alethocritus,
Colvinus Ludiomaeus, and Irenaeus Philadelphus.” (All citations
DNB)
Shaaber S-286.
|
|
| 656A |
Egnazio, Giovanni Battista.
(1475-1553) Ioannis Baptistae Egnatii Viri Doctissimi De exemplis
Illustrium Virorum Venetæ ciuitatis atque aliarum Gentium. Cum
Indice Rervm Notabilivm.
Venice: apud Nicolaum Tridentium, 1554
$450
Quarto, 8 x 6 in. *4, A-Z4, a-q4. This copy
is in good condition. It is bound in two layers of contemporary Italian
vellum over boards. The text block is sewn on three raised bands of
alum-tawed skin, and the two layers of vellum covering have been slit
open at the site of each sewing support, under each of which a little
slip of alum-tawed skin has been inserted, so that the naked sewing
supports do not show through where the covering material has been
slit. It has primary endbands worked with a bead on the spine in a
plain linen thread, and secondary double endbands worked over them,
in yellow and white silk, with a second thinner core on top. A little
bit of vellum is torn away at the head of the spine, revealing the
structure, and the endband at the tail is retreating into the space
between book and vellum, but is still intact. The binding is a bit
worn and loose, but it tells us so much about itself in its slightly
disheveled state, it’s hard to think of this as a defect.
“Giovanni Battista Egnazio is the assumed name of G.B. Cipelli,
an Italian orator and author, born at Venice about 1475. He was professor
of eloquence in Venice for about thirty years. His lectures were very
popular, and are said to have attracted a class of five hundred students.
He edited the poems of Ovid, and wrote, in Latin, several works, including
an Epitome of the Lives of the Roman Emperors, which has some merit.
Egnazio died in 1553.” (Thomas)
Adams E-81.
|
|
| 117C |
Erasmus, Desiderius
of Rotterdam. (1466-1536) Moriæ Encomium; or, the Praise of
Folly. Written Originally in Latine, By Des. Erasmus of Rotterdam.
And Translated into English, by John Wilson.
London: Printed for William Leak, and are to
be sold at the Crown in Fleetstreet, between the two Temple-Gates,
1668
$1,500
Octavo, 5.5 x 3.5 in. The first edition of John Wilson’s translation.
A4, B-L8. This copy is bound in modern calf, tooled in blind. A black
spine label bears the title, Praise of Folly, in gilt. Internally,
the book is in fine condition. Its pages twice bear the signature
of one Robert Sutton, as well as a marginal note highlighting a passage
on marriage. There is little to detract from this beautiful little
book.
“The Moriæ Encomium is most certainly Erasmus’ greatest
and most enduring work, a brilliant paradoxical declamation on two
subtly blended themes, ‘that of salutary folly, which is true
wisdom, and that of deluded wisdom, which is pure folly.’”
(Devereux) It was written in 1509 as Erasmus’ gift to his good
friend and fellow humanist, Sir Thomas More (see our holding 580C,
More), whose Latin name—Morus—was so aptly similar to the
Greek “moros,” folly. An edition was printed by Gilles de
Gourmont at Paris, probably in 1511, and numerous other editions followed,
spreading the book throughout Europe.
The first English translation was that of Sir Thomas Chaloner, printed
by Thomas Berthelet in 1549, with a preface in which the translator
warned the reader to look beneath the folly to the wisdom in the book.
It was twice reprinted, in the later 1550’s and in 1577. A second
translation, the work of the satirist John Wilson, was submitted to
William Leak on 11 October 1665 and printed in 1668. Presumbably,
this delay in printing was caused by the Fire of London.
Wing E-3208.
|
|
| 626C |
Erasmus, Desiderius
of Rotterdam. (1466-1536) Select Colloquies Out Of Erasmus Roterodamus;
Pleasantly Representing Several Superstitious Levities That were crept
into the Church of Rome In His Days. The second Impression Corrected
and Amended; with the Addition of two Colloquies to the Former. By
Sir Ro. L’Estrange, Knight. Utile Dulci.
London: Printed for R. Bentley in Russel Street in Covent-Garden,
and R. Sare at Grays-Inn-Gate in Holborn, 1689
$775
Octavo, 7.375 x 4.5 in. Second edition. A4,
B-R8, S4, T-V8 (lackingV8, the final blank leaf). The engraved portrait
frontispiece of Erasmus is bound opposite the title. This copy is
evenly and lightly browned internally. It is bound in later quarter
calf, and has been rebacked. The modern bookplate of Barnet Kottler
is pasted inside the front board.
“In 1518 someone who had a copy of exercises Erasmus had written
in Paris in the 1490’s published them in an unauthorized version.
Erasmus corrected the text (he had retained no copy of this material)
and published an authorized version in 1519. In 1522, shortly after
arriving in Basel, he transformed these exercises into dialogues and
published the first edition of his Colloquies, to which he was to
add material in editions of 1523, 1524, 1526, 1527, 1529, 1531, and
1533. They were intended to help students with conversational Latin
and so belong, broadly speaking, to Erasmus’ education work.
But the fusion of pietas and humanitas, which emerged by degrees up
to 1517, is fully displayed in them. He pours scorn on religious pilgrimages
more than once, blames the immorality of the clergy for the troubles
of his age, places Johann Reuchlin in heaven, describes a ‘godly
feast’ in which Socrates, Vergil, and Horace are treated with
the reverence given the apostles and fathers of the church (one guest
exclaims: ‘Saint Socrates, pray for us!’), and agrees with
Luther’s idea that love abrogates the law without sanctioning
the sedition that underlies it. These serious themes are mixed together
with others that are entirely playful, and all are written in a dialogue
form that engages the reader. Erasmus is more at home in this genre,
because it allows him to display the many sides of his personality
and, above all, to be himself in the sense of belonging to no party.
It should come as no surprise that the book was condemned by the theological
faculty of the Sorbonne in 1526. The age was no longer playful; it
had become deadly serious, with opposite versions of ‘the truth’
ready to sacrifice lives. The laughter that prevents us from taking
ourselves seriously was still possible but no longer worked its magic.”
(RH)
This English translation was prepared by Roger L’Estrange.
Devereux #4.6.4, p. 63; Wing E-3213; TC II 296.
|
|
| 662C |
Flatman, Thomas. (1637-1688)
Poems and Songs, By Thomas Flatman. The Fourth Edition With many Additions
and Amendments. Me quoque vatem Dicunt Pastores, sed non Ego credulus
illis. Virgil.
London: Printed for Benjamin Tooke, at the Ship in St. Paul’s
Church-Yard, 1686
$675
Octavo, 7 x 4.5 in. Fourth edition; with 35
new poems including translations from Horace. The engraved portrait
frontispiece of Flatman which appears for the first time in this edition
is present in this copy. It is bound in brown calfskin, which has
been rebacked. The contents are occasionally lightly browned and spotted,
with no extraordinary defects.
Thomas Flatman, poet and miniature-painter, was “a fellow of
New College in 1656, and in that year contributed to the collection
of Oxford verses on the death of Charles Capel. In 1657 he left Oxford,
without a degree, for the Inner Temple. He was created M.A. of Cambridge
by the King’s letters, dated 11 Dec. 1666.
“Having settled in London he devoted his talents to painting
and poetry. As a miniature-painter he was, and is, greatly esteemed;
but his poetry, which was received with applause by his contemporaries,
has been unduly depreciated by later critics. Granger declares that
‘one of his heads is worth a ream of his Pindarics.’ But
his other poems are better. ‘A Thought of Death’ (which
Pope imitated in ‘The Dying Christian to his Soul’) and
‘Death: A Song,’ are singularly impressive; the ‘Hymn
for the Morning’ and ‘Another for the Evening’ are
choice examples of devotional verse; and some of the lighter poems,
notably the paraphrases of select odes of Horace, are elegant. Flatman’s
Poems and Songs were first collected in 1674, and reached a fourth
edition in 1686. Prefixed are commendatory verses by Walter Pope (only
in the first edition), Charles Cotton, Richard Newcourt, and others.
In the third and fourth editions [one finds] a portrait of the author,
engraved by R. White, and a dedicatory epistle to the Duke of Ormonde,
who is said to have been so pleased with the ode on the death of his
son, (published in 1680), that he sent the poet a diamond ring. The
edition of 1686 is the most complete. Some of the poems were in the
first instance published separately, or had appeared in other collections.
[…] Among his Poems and Songs he included his commendatory verses
before Faithorne’s Art of Graveing, 1662; Poems by Mrs. Katherine
Philips, the Matchless Orinda, 1667; Creech’s translation of
Lucretius; and Izaak Walton’s edition of Chalkhill’s Thealma
and Clearchus, 1683; also some satirical verses contributed to Naps
upon Parnassus, 1658.” (DNB)
Wing F-1154; TC I, 466; Grolier, W-P 359 #1004.
|
|
| 594A |
Fleetwood, William.
(1656-1723) Inscriptionum Antiquarum sylloge In Duas Partes Distributa.
Quarum Prior Inscriptiones Ethnicas Singulares & Rariores penè
omnes continet, quæ hactenus innotuerunt omnia complectitur.
In Usum Juventutis Rerum Antiquarum studiosæ Edita, & notis
quibusdam Illustrata. A Guil. Fleetwood, Coll. regal. apud Cantab.
Socio.
London: Impensis Guil. Graves, Bibliopolæ
Cantabrigiensis, & Prostant apud Tim. Childe, ad Insigne Cervi
albi in Cœmeterio D. Pauli, 1691
$450
Octavo, 7.6 x 4.7 in. First edition. A-Y8,
Z2, [*]4, Z3-8, Aa-Mm8, Nn2. This copy is in good condition. The title
is printed in red and black. A few leaves were crumpled right at the
top and have minor paper repairs. The binding is contemporary Dutch
vellum over stiff boards, still in very good condition. This is an
ex-library copy, and the Earl of Sunderland’s copy, with his
shelf number (E9 23 716.9) on the pastedown.
“Fleetwood’s reading was wide and his learning accurate.
Browne Willis terms him a ‘general scholar,’ and one specially
‘versed in antiquities.’ His first work besides occasional
sermons was a collection of pagan and Christian inscriptions, illustrated
with notes, chiefly original, entitled, Inscriptionum Antiquarum Sylloge
(1691). […] In both of his dioceses [Windsor, and Ely, where
he was bishop] Fleetwood secured the love and esteem of his clergy,
in spite of opinions generally unpalatable to them. Few bishops have
left a more unspotted reputation behind them. He endeavored to dispense
his patronage to the most deserving without regard to personal influence.
He always refused to enter into personal controversy. When attacked
he would say: ‘I write my own sense as well as I can. If it be
right it will support itself; if it be not it is fit it should sink.’
He liberally assisted his clergy with money, books, and in the remission
of their fees. As a preacher his style is dignified, but simple, with
much calmness of expression and clearness of thought.” (DNB)
Wing F-1247; TC II 348.
|
|
| 616C |
Florio, John. (1553?-1625)
Qveen Anna’s New World Of Words, Or Dictionarie of the Italian
and English tongues, Collected, and newly much augmented by Iohn Florio,
Reader of the Italian vnto the Soueraigne Majestie of Anna, Crowned
Queene of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, &c. And one of
the Gentleman of hir Royall Priuie Chamber. Whereunto are added certaine
necessarie rules and short observations for the Italian tongue.
London: Printed by Melch. Bradwood [and W. Stansby],
for Edw. Blount and William Barret, 1611
$3,800
Folio, 10.3 x 7.25 in. Second edition, enlarged.
¶6, A-Z6, Aa-Zz6, Aaa-Eee6, Fff-Ppp4 (including blank Fff4),
Qqq3. This copy lacks the portrait by Hole. It is in good condition
internally. Two pages had minor tears (or perhaps paper flaws) that
have been repaired. A bit of confined worming occurs in the innermost
top corner of the blank margins, at its worst through pages 420 to
460 and again in pages 500 to 545. Even at its worst, this worming
touches no printed letter. The binding is nineteenth century full
polished calfskin, recently rebacked, with the bookplate of a John
Hutton, Esquire pasted inside the front board. The binding is contemporary
with the bookplate.
“John Florio was born in London, the son of an Italian Protestant
refugee, but his youth was spent abroad. He returned to England to
become a teacher of Italian and published his first lively text-book
in 1578. About 1580 he married [Samuel] Daniel’s sister; he married
again in 1617. In 1583 he began to work at the French embassy and
by 1594 he was in the ‘paie and patronage’ of the Earl of
Southampton. In 1604 he entered the service of Queen Anne. Florio
had numerous feuds and friendships. Among his literary acquaintances,
besides Daniel, were Hakluyt, Giordano Bruno, Jonson, Breton, John
Healey, and Matthew Gwinne, who helped him with Montaigne’s quotations.
Another helper was Theodore Diodati, the father of Milton’s friend.
Florio’s importance in the propagation of Italian culture and
in the enrichment of the English vocabulary was signalized by his
World of Words (1598; much enlarged, 1611). He came to poverty and
died of the plague. […]
“In 1580 Florio translated, from the Italian, Cartier’s
account of his first two voyages; the work had been commissioned by
Hakluyt, who reprinted it in the Voyages (1600). The Italian phrase-books
and readers, Florio His Firste Fruites and Florios Second Frutes’,
appeared in 1578 and 1591; the former has been elaborately edited
by A. del Re (Formosa, 1936). The Italian-English dictionary, A Worlde
of Words (1598), was much enlarged as Queen Anna’s New World
of Words (1611). Florio had a share in Sir William Vaughan’s
New-found Politicke (1626), taken from Boccalini’s Raggiomente
di Parnaso. The Essayes of Montaigne were licensed in 1600 and printed
in 1603.” (Bush)
STC 11099; Lowndes Vol. I, pp. 812-813.
|
|
| 261B |
Giustiniano, Pompeio.
(1569-1616) Delle Guerre Di Fiandra Di Pompeo Givstiniano Del Consiglio
di Guerra di S.M.C. & Maestro di Campo di Fanteria Italiana. Libri
VI. Posto in Lvce da Gioseppe Gamurini Gentil’huomo Aretino.
All’Illustrissimo, & Eccellentissimo S. Ambrosio Spinola
Marchese di Benafro, Caualier del Toson d’Oro, del Consiglio
di Stato, & Guerra di S.M.C. & Maestro di Campo Generale,
& Gouernatore de’suoi esserciti nei Paesi Bassi. Nuouamente
con Somma Diligenza Reuisto, & Ristampato, & aggiuntoui le
Postille in Margine. Con Privilegio.
Venice: Appreso Bernardo Ciunta, Gio. Battista Ciotti, & Compagni,
1612
$260
Octavo, 5.8 x 3.8 in. Third Italian edition. a-b8, A-X8. This copy
is bound in contemporary limp parchment. The lower half of the spine
is cracked. The faint remains of a handwritten title can still be
made out. A signature of ownership, “Abraham Berewyn, Verona,
1612,” appears inside the back cover. Internally, there are a
few pages that exhibit light browning and dampstaining on the upper
margin of the last quarter of the book. Despite these small detractions,
this is a very good copy.
Pompeio Giustiniano was an Italian general who was appointed governor
or commandant of Candia by the Venetians. This edition was prepared
by Gioseppe Gamurini, according to the dedication in Brussels. The
text is an account of Giustiniano’s campaigns in the Low Countries
from 1601 to 1607. The work is dedicated to Ambrose, Marquis of Spinola,
a celebrated military commander (1569-1630). He fought, along with
his brother, the Admiral of the Spanish fleet on the coast of Holland,
against the Flemish insurgents in the campaign of 1602. Spinola became
general-in-chief of the Spanish army in the Netherlands, and in 1604
took the city of Ostend, which had been besieged for more than three
years by the Spaniards. The Spanish fleet near Gibraltar was defeated
by Admiral Heemskerk in 1607, and a treaty was made with Maurice of
Orange.
Graesse Vol. 3, pp. 90-91.
|
|
| 206C |
Greco, Gioachino. (1600-1634)
The Royall Game of Chesse-Play. Sometimes The Recreation of the late
King, with many of the Nobility. Illustrated with almost an hundred
Gambetts. Being The study of Biochimo the famous Italian.
London: Printed for Henry Herringman, and are to be sold at his shop
at the sign of the Anchor, in the lower walk of the New Exchange,
1656
$3,000
Octavo, 3.5 x 5.5 in. The first and only English
edition in the seventeenth century. [p]2, a8, B-H8, I-K4. This copy,
bound in contemporary sheep over stiff boards, has recently been rebacked.
Internally the copy is in wonderful condition. Its pages were trimmed
a bit tight at the time of its original binding. There is in no way,
however, loss to the text. The book contains a woodcut diagram and
portrait of Charles I, as well as two nineteenth-century bookplates
and a stamp on the title.
Gioachino “the famous Italian” Greco was a masterful chess
analyst, head and shoulders above his seventeenth-century contemporaries.
His short discussion of the game’s origin however is less interesting
for its erudition or prescience than its omission of the now widely
accepted Hindu origin, which was posited by Dr. Thomas in 1694. In
a similar fashion to his exposition on the origin of chess, Greco’s
discussion concerning The Lawes of Chesse, including “If you
touch your man you must play it,” reveal the still inchoate state
of the game, which had metamorphosed from the Hindi game of Shatranj
into a recognizable form in France during the late fourteenth- and
early fifthteenth-century.
The book begins with a dedication to Montague, Earle of Lindsay who
appears to have extended his “protection” to the publisher
of the text. The editor/publisher proceeds by addressing “the
industrious chess player” wherein he compares chess, not uncustomarily,
with warfare. More interesting is his suggestion that chess play enlightens
mysteries covered by the “Arts and Sciences” and “in
the most grave and serious professsions.” Three poems by R. Lovelace,
E. Revet, and Dr. Budden, respectively, are nestled between the editor’s
note to the player and chapter one. Seven short chapters, totaling
thirteen pages, proceed Greco’s original treaties on ninety-four
chess gambits. The text ends with a short note by H. Herringman concerning
printing errors and corresponding errata. One thing that he appears
to have overlooked was the headline printed upside-down on page 65.
This translation was prepared by Francis Beale; the engraver was Peter
Stent (fl. 1640-1667).
Wing G-1810; ESTCR 23418.
|
|
| 264C |
Gregory I [the Great],
Pope. (540-604 A.D.) Pastorale beati Gregorii pape [Pastorale, sive
Regulae pastoralis].
Basel: [Michael Furter], 15 February 1496
$6,500
Quarto, 7.6 x 5.6 in. First Basel edition.
A8, B4, C8, D4, E8, F4, G5 [G5 present and blank; G6 missing and blank];
41 of 42 leaves. This work’s simple, elegant design is appropriate
to its subject matter. Two columns of gothic type (common in German
religious books of this period) are augmented by initial strokes and
underlines in red. Lombard initials, also in red (with one in green
on A3) appear on each page. This copy is bound in tasteful late nineteenth-century
green calf with title gold stamped on the front board. The book retains
handsome margins, and its pages are clean with only a slight yellowing.
Gregory, the true father of the Medieval papacy, is “certainly
one of the most notable figures in ecclesiastical history. He has
exercised in many respects a momentous influence on the doctrine,
the organization, and the discipline of the Catholic church. To him
we must look for an explanation of the religious situation of the
Middle Ages: indeed, if no account were taken of his work, the evolution
of the form of Medieval Christianity would be almost inexplicable.
And further, in so far as the modern Catholic system is a legitimate
development of Medieval Catholicism, of this too Gregory may not unreasonably
be termed the Father. Almost all the leading principles of the later
Catholicism are found, at any rate in germ, in Gregory the Great.”
(CE)
While many of the works attributed to Pope Gregory I have later been
cast as doubtful or spurious, the Regulae Pastoralis has been established
as genuine. This is one of ten known copies in the United States.
Goff G-441; BMC III:783; GW 1447; Hain 7988;
Pell 5392; Polain 1724; Proctor 7729; Harman 442. |
|
|
