| 308C
|
Aldrovandi, Ulisse. (1522-1605)
Vlyssis Aldrovandi Patricii Bononiensis.
De Qvadrvpedibvs Solidipedibvs Volvmen Integrvm Ioannes Cornelivs
Vterverivs in Gymnasio Bononiensi Simplicium medicamento professor
collegit, & recensuit. Hieronymvs Tambvrinvs in lucem edidit.
Ad Illvstrissimvm, et Reverendissimvm D.D. Carolvm Madrvccivm S. R.
E. Cardinalem Amplissimvm Tridentiq[ue] Episcopvm, et Principem. Cum
Indice copiosissimo. Svperiorvm permissv. Cvm priuilegio S. Cæs.
Maiestatis.
Bologna: Apud Victorium Benatium, 1616
$7,000
Folio, 9.25 x 14 in. First edition. [¶]4, A-Z6 (there is a 2
inch paper flaw on N2 beginning on the margin), Aa-Rr6, Ss4, ††4,
Tt-Yy4.
The title page has an engraved architectural border with an elephant,
a horse, a unicorn, two donkeys and a zebra. The text contains twelve
woodcut illustrations of hoofed quadrupeds, monstrous hoofed quadrupeds,
and items relating to both sorts, including unicorn horns and the
"catarrh" of an elephant. This copy is bound in handsome
modern quarter sheepskin and paste paper. There is light dampstaining
throughout and some browning. The two inch paper flaw on N2 affects
the text but not its readability. There are other paper flaws, none
affecting the text. The top outside blank corner of the final leaf
was torn away but has been most unobtrusively repaired, and affects
no text. Despite these small imperfections, this is a very nice example.
"Aldrovandi [assumed] that he was extending, if not completing,
the scientific work of Aristotle. Texts such as Aristotle's "History
of Animals," "Generation of Animals,"and "On the
Parts of Animals" were his guides. Aldrovandi strove to reproduce
the entire Aristotelian corpus through his own publications. He reveled
in the particulars of nature. Aldrovandi's own search for 'reason'
led him to privilege observation and experience in understanding nature.
He too criticized Aristotle for not checking all of his facts personally.
Thus, the museum of nature became a logical extension of the empirical
program laid out in Aristotle's biological writings and in the natural
histories of his followers.
"Central to Aldrovandi's fame was his museum of natural curiosities,
housed in several rooms in his family palace and open to the learned
and the curious of Europe. After his death in 1605, it was maintained
as a civic museum by the Senate of Bologna. During Aldrovandi's own
lifetime, contemporaries expressed their awe at his ability to amass
natural objects. Learned naturalists such as Pier Andrea Mattioli
proclaimed Aldrovandi's museum to be the most extensive microcosm
of nature of its time. 'Thus I remain always with heart aflutter and
with baited breath until I see all the simples you have collected,'
confessed Mattioli in 1553, 'and really I would like to come to Bologna
only for this end, when I can.' While many nobles and scholars visited
the museum simply to see its curiosities, others like Mattioli had
more specific goals; they wished to examine specimens to complete
the research that they too were doing in preparation for the writing
of new and improved natural histories. Their presence in the museum
only added to its luster. As a tribute to the fame and importance
of his collection, Aldrovandi proudly described his museum as the
eighth wonder of the world." (Paula Findlen, "Possessing
Nature")
Aldrovandi's thoughts, in his own words, firstly on the illustrations
prepared to accompany all of his works, and secondly on the value
of firsthand observation, reveal the seriousness with which he undertook
this endeavor. "By the means of these pictures, together with
the histories, scholars gain full knowledge of what [the plants and
animals] were according to the ancients. And one cannot imagine anything
more useful; if the ancients had drawn and painted all of the things
which they described, one would not find so many doubts and endless
errors among writers."
"[I have described only those things] that I have seen with my
own eyes, touched with my hands, dissected, and likewise conserved
one by one in my little world of nature, so that everyone may see
and contemplate them daily." (Discorso)
Graesse V. 1:65; Nissen 72 (ZBI); cf.
Wood p. 185.
|
|
| 547C |
Antoninus Florentinus, Saint.
(1389-1459)
De Censuris. De Sponsalibus et Matrimonio.
Venice: Johann von Köln and Johann Manthen,
10 May, 1480
$9,500
Quarto, 8.5 x 6.25 in. Third edition. a-b10, c-k8, l6, m-q8, r6. 135
of 136 leaves; lacking the initial blank. This copy is partly rubricated.
The opening 9-line initial is supplied in red and blue with fancy
scroll-work; similarly, the opening 9-line initial to the second part
on l6 is also supplied in red and blue. Other initial and paragraph
marks are supplied in red and blue, with some red underlines, as well
as initial strokes in the first three gatherings and in part of the
fourth gathering. The binding, later parchment over boards, is soiled,
and becoming detached from the text block. The leaves contain some
light foxing and marginal dampstaining. Antoninus Florentinus entered
the Dominican order at the age of sixteen. Uninterested in achieving
an important administrative position, he was nevertheless forced by
Eugene IV to accept the Archbishopric of Florence in 1446.
"The literary productions of Saint Antoninus, while giving evidence
of the eminently practical turn of his mind, show that he was a profound
student of history and theology." (CE)
These two works on Dominican and ecclesiastical discipline and canon
law deal with the circumstances under which excommunication might
be imposed and all legal and theological aspects of marriage.
Goff A-777; BMC V, 236; GW 2071; Hain 1270; Pell
898; Polain (B) 277; Proctor 4342; IGI 607. |
|
| 793c |
a Kempis, Thomas. (1380-1471)
The Christian Pattern Paraphras'd: or, the Book
of The Imitation of Christ, Commonly ascrib'd to Thomas A Kempis,
Made English by Luke Milbourne, A Presbyter of the Church of England.
London; Printed for Abel Roper at the Black Boy,
and Roger Clavel at the Peacock in Fleet street, 1697.
$900
Octavo, 4.3x7 in. A-X8, Y4 This book is bound in full contemporary
sheepskin. The rear joint is cracked about an inch from the top. This
is a very nice, clean copy except that the last ten leaves are effected
by a wormhole which from time to time hits a letter but never impairs
legibility. This is the first English edition by Luke Milbourne. Rather
than translating Thomas a Kempis' text word for word, however, Milbourne
admits to taking a more creative approach. He states in the preface
that "this work is paraphras'd, sometimes close to the text,
sometimes more libertine, as the matter would allow. Sometimes I have
only kept my author in view at a distance, making his Religious my
Christian Priest, expurging his whole 17th Chap. of Book I. for I
perswade my self, that nothing but Persecution should drive Christians
into a continued Solitude; and that Monasteries and Convents, those
Academies of Superstition and refin'd Lewdness, were none of the Institutions
of the Gospel." In other words, Milbourne's translates this text
because he can gain, through paraphrase, authorial power over what
is transmitted to the reader. A Kempis' Imitatio Christi is, therefore,
a tool allowing Milbourne to convey his own beliefs, rather than those
of the originl author.
Thomas a Kempis was an Augustinian canon and writer. "Thomas
was born in Kempen, Germany, and he joined the Canons-Regular at Agnietenberg
in 1399. He was a well-known preacher and a prolific writer. He is
remembered for his Imitatio Christi. In this, he instructs his readers
how to seek perfection by following the example of Jesus Christ. It
was circulated anonymously and various other suggestions have been
made have been made as to its author- such as St. Bonaventure and
Pope Innocent III. However, most authorities accept that it owes its
origin to Thomas and it remains one of the most popular spiritual
classics of all time." (Cohn-Sherbrook, 292)
Wing T945 |
|
| 361C
|
Aquilano, Giovanni
(d. 1510); Seripando, Girolamo (1493-1563); Stradella, Alessia. (?)
Prediche Per Tutta Quaresima et Per Alcune
Principali Feste Dell'anno. Con Alcuni Sermoni, Fatti Parte a Religiosi,
Parte a Seccolari. Con un Breve Compendio Di Confessione. Et Con Alcune
Lettere Spirituali a Diversi Amici, et in Diversi Soggetti, di Molto
Profitto, a Coloro che Diserdano Darsi al Culto Divino. Composte et
Date in Luce dal R.P. Fra Giovanni Aquilano da S. Demetrio, dell'Osservanza
Minoritana. Nuovamente stampate, et con molta diligenza viviste, et
corrette, dall'Eccl. M. Borgaruccio Borgarucci. Con la Tavola a de'Sommary,
che nell'Opera si contengono.
[bound with]
Delle Prediche del Reverndiss[i]mo Mons[or] Girolamo Seripando, Archivescovo
di Salerno, sopra il Simbolo de gli Apostoli, dichiarato cosimbilo
Niceno, et di Santo Athanasio. Predica Prima. Modo di ricevere Iesu
Christo, sopra la prima parola del simbolo de gli apostoli, Cero in
Deum.
[bound with]
Prediche del Revendo Padre Maestro Alessio Stradella da Fivizano,
Frate & Professo del Monastero di Santo Agostino di Genova, Reggente
dello Studio di San Giacobo di Bologna.
Venice: Appresso Egidio Regazzola, et Domenico Cavalcalupo Compagni,
1569
Venice: Al segno della Salamandra, 1567
Bologna: Apresso Alessandro Benaci, 1567
$1,000
Quarto, 5.5 x 8 in. *8, A-Z8, AA-RR8,
SS4, A-B4, a6, CZ4, Aa-Uu4 (Nn2 mis-signed Oo2), *6, A-Z4, Aa-Xx4,
Yy2. There are numerous woodcut initials printed throughout these
three works. This book is bound in contemporary alum-tawed pig-skin,
with bi-colored head- and tail-bands still present. Both boards are
elaborately blind-stamped with religious vignettes and floral motifs.
The binding is worn and there are subtle repairs to all four corners.
The faint handwritten titles of the three works contained are still
visible on the spine. The book's brass clasps and catches are still
present. A bookspate on the inside board reads: "Ad bibliothecam
P.P. Capucinorum. Oeniponte." Internally, the work is in very
good condition. The present book is a collection of sermons. The first
work was written by the Franciscan Giovanni Aquilano. The work is
a translation into Italian of his Sermones Quadragesimales, comprising
sixty-four quadragesimale sermons as well as an additional dozen sermons
that encompass topics such as Carnival and the human and divine science.
The second work, a collection of fifteen sermons by noted Italian
theologian Cardinal Girolamo Seripando, concerns the "symbols"
associated with the Apostles. Seripando was a legate at the Council
of Trent in 1546, and became council president upon the death of Cardinal
Gonzaga. He was a prolific writer who was also known for his eloquent
style. This work is considered one of the finest examples of his writing,
as well as his most influential. The third work is a collection of
nine sermons written by Alessio Stradella da Fivizano ("the hermit"),
who dedicates the work to the Empress of Austria, Donna Maria.
Not in Adams; not in BM STC Italian.
|
|
| 429C |
Albumasar, (a.k.a.
Abu Mashar Al Balkhi, Jafar Ibn Muhammad). (787-886)
Flores Astrologiæ.
Venice: Jo. Baptistam Sessa, [ca. 1500]
$7,500
Quarto, 7.4 x 5.6 in. Third edition.
a-e4. 19 leaves; lacking the title page a1 and final blank e4. The
title page, missing in this copy, contains a woodcut device. Lombardic
woodcut initials, capitals, and 79 woodcuts are printed throughout
the text. One leaf was torn at the top and clumsily repaired long
ago, without loss. This copy is bound in full later vellum. Abu Mashar,
under the influence of Abu Yusuf (ca. 796-873), became convinced that
it was necessary to study mathematics, i.e., arithmetic, geometry,
music, astronomy, and astrology, in order to understand philosophical
arguments. He was said to have "devoted his energies to expounding
the philosophical and historical justifications of astrology, and
to discoursing on and exemplifying the practial efficacy of this science.
In this effort he drew upon elements of all the diverse intellectual
traditions to which he was almost uniquely heir [... His] renown as
an astrologer was immense, both among his contemporaries and in later
times." (DSB)
The translation of the "Flores Astrologiae" in the twelfth-century
and its subsequent printing history is illustrative of a longtime
interest on the part of European men-of-letters in Islamic works regarding
astronomy and astrology. Abu Mashar's work was held in particular
esteem, and his work was widely circulated among Renaissance intellectuals,
both for its astrological insights and for its Neoplatonic implications.
"Abu Mashar was a member of the third generation of [the] Pahlavi-oriented
intellectual elite. He retained a strong commitment to the concept
of Iranian intellectual superiority [...] but he himself relied entirely
on translations for his knowledge of Sassanaian science. He mingled
his already complex cultural inheritance with various intellectual
trends current in Baghdad in his time, and became a leading exponent
of the theory that all different national systems of thought are ultimately
derived from a single revelation (thus, in a sense, paralleling in
intellectual history the Neoplatonic doctrine of emanation, which
he accepted philosophically in its Harranian guise). This theory could
be used to justify the most astonishing and inconsistent eclecticism;
it also permitted an advocate to adopt wildly heretical views while
maintaining strict adherence to the tenets of Islam. Abu Mashar's
great reputation and usefulness as the leading astrologer of the Muslim
world also helped to preserve him from persecution." (DSB)
Goff A-358; BMC V, 482 (IA 24575); GW 839; Hain 608*; Pell 413; Proctor
5598; Gardner #32 (dating this edition 1488); Klebs 37.3; Sander 213;
Essling 437; IGI 263; Bibliotheca Astrologica p. 4; H.E. Lowood. 1985.
The Barchas Collection.
|
|
| 785c |
Azpilcueta, Martino
ab. (1492?-1586)
Enchiridion, Sive Manvale Confessariorvm,
et Paenitentivm, Complectens pene resolutionem omnium dubiorum, quae
communiter in sacris confessionibus occurrere solent circa peccata,
absolutiones, restitutiones, censuras, & irregularitates.
Venice: Franciscum Zilettum, De consensu Auctoris, Georgii Ferrari,
1584.
$750
Octavo, 6x8.5 in. Third Edition +8, A-Z8, Aa-Zz8, Aaa-Xxx8, þ2 This
book is solidly bound in blind-stamped pigskin illustrating scenes
from the life of Jesus over wooden boards. The clasps are missing
but the catches are still there The leaves are in excellent condition
with virtually no browning. The 'Enchiridion, Sive Manvale Confessariorvm,
et Paenitentivm,' "originally written in Spanish, was long a
classical texts in the schools and in ecclesiastical practice.
Azpilcueta, "generally known as Navarrus, or Doctor Navarrus,
[was] a famous Spanish canonist and moral theologian.... He was a
relative of St. Francis Xavier, studied at Alcala and in France, and
became professor of canon law at Toulouse and Cahors. Later, he returned
to Spain and occupied the same chair for fourteen years at Salamanca,
and for seven years at Coimbra in Portugal. At the age of eighty he
went to Rome to defend his fried Bartolomeo Carranza, Archbishop of
Toledo, accused before the Tribunal of the Inquisition. Though he
failed to exculpate the Archbishop, Azpilcueta was highly honored
at Rome by several popes, and was looked on as an oracle of learning
and prudence. He reached the patriarchal age at ninety-five, and is
buried at Rome in the national Church of San' Antonio de' Portoghesi.
Among other lives of Azpilcueta there is one by his nephew."
(Catholic Encyclopedia vol. I)
Adams A-2381
|
|
| 849c |
Bernard of Clairvaux,
Saint. (1090-1153)
Livre de la Maniere de bien vivre, contenant
le Sommaire de toutes vertus necessaires a la Religion Chrestienne.
Ecrit par Sainct Bernard Abbe de Clervaux, a sa Soeur. Auquel sont
adioustez le Formulaire de la vie honneste, & le Miroir des Religieux,
faicts par le mesme Autheur. Traduits par Reverend Pere en Dieu Messire
Claude du Bellay, Abbe de Sauigny, Conseiller du Roy, en ses Conseils
d'Estat & Priue.
Paris: chez Mathurin Mauperlier, rue S. Iacques a l'Escu de Bretagne,
1621.
$500
Octavo, 4x6 in. a8, e4, A-X8, Y4 Frontisportrait of Claude du Bellay
This book is bound in lace stitched vellum over limp boards. The pages
are overall in good condition with some spotting but nothing that
impairs legibility. "
"Saint, Theologian, Mystic, and Order Founder, Bernard was born
at Dijon in France. As a young man he joined the Cistercian Order
and was soon invited to found a new community at Clairvaux. This was
to become one of the most important monastic houses in Europe. In
1128 he was responsible for the rule for the new Order of Knights
Templar, which was to be accepted at the Synod of Troyes... He was
also entrusted with the peaching of the Second Cursade. His personality
was as important as his activities. His ascetic temperament and deep
religiosity impressed his contemporaries, but even in his lifetime,
his unbending principles were the source of controversy." (who's
who)
"Bernard is most deeply permeated by the feeling of owing everything
to the grace of God, that on the working of God rests the beginning
and end of the state of salvation, and that we are to trust only in
his grace, not in our works and merits. From the forgiveness of sin
proceeds the Christian life. Faith is the means by which we lay hold
of the grace of God. Man can never be sure of salvation by resting
his hope upon his own righteousness, for all our works always remain
imperfect. On the other hand, Bernard does not deny that man can and
should have merits, but they are only possible through the preceding
and continually working grace of God; they are gifts of God, which
again have rewards in the world to come as their fruit, but without
becoming a cause of self-glory. Before God there is no legal claim,
but an acquisition for eternity through the work of the pious, made
possible and directed by God's grace. […] Bernard has always
been regarded as a main representative of Christian mysticism, and
his writings have been much used by later mystics and were the main
source for the 'Imitatio Christi.'" (Shaff-Herzog)
See Graesse vol. 1, 344.
|
|
| 795c |
Boethius, Anicius
Manlius Torquatus Severinus. (480-525)
Boece Console par La Philosophie, Traduction
Nouvelle.
Paris: chez Estienne Loyson, au Palais a l'entree de la Gallerie de
Prisonniers, au nom de Jesus, 1676.
$600
Quarto, 3.25x5.8 in. First French Edition by Regnier þ, a7, e4, i6,
o2, A-X alternate 8 and 4, Y2 Engraved frontispiece This book is bound
in full contemporary sheepskin with a gilted spine. The leaf edges
are speckled and the leaves themselves are somewhat browned but in
overall good condtion. There are some contemporary notes in the top
margin of the frontispiece. This book is a new translation from Latin
into French by F. Nicholas Regnier. Regnier was the brother of Francois
Regnier-Desmarais who was a principal author or editior of the Dictionary
of the French Academy. (Thomas)
"Boethius, a celebrated Roman philosopher and statesman, was
born about 475 A.D. He was liberally educated, and well instructed
in Greek philosophy. When about thirty-three, he was elected consul.
His administration was beneficent and favorable to the oppressed.
He translated the works of Plato and other Greek writers into Latin,
wrote commentaries on Aristotle, and acquired a great reputation as
an author. He held several high offices under Theodoric the Goth,
but, having been accused by some envious courtiers of conspiring against
the government, he was unjustly condemned by that king and executed
about 525 A.D. His principal work is 'De Consolatione Philosophiae,'
which was written in prison, where he was confined just before his
death. It is composed of alternate portions of verse and prose. 'Few
books,' says Hallam, 'are more striking from the circumstances of
their production. Last of the classic writers, in style not impure,
[...] in elevation of sentiment equal to any of the philosophers,
and mingling a Christian sanctity with their lessons, he speaks from
his prison in the swanlike tones of dying eloquence. Quenched in his
blood, the lamp he had trimmed with a skillful hand, gave no more
light; the language of Tully and Virgil soon ceased to be spoken.'
(Introduction to the Literature of Europe) His great work was very
popular in the middle ages, and was translated into various languages."
(Thomas' Pronouncing Dictionary)
"Besides his logical writings, Boethius is known as author of
the Consolation of Philosophy and of several theological treatises.
From them no theory of knowledge emerges clearly, for the concern
is not primarily there with knowing, although distinctions and differentiations
relevant to it are frequent. In conjunction with the logical treatises,
indeed, their doctrines give a sense of eclecticism. The Consolation
of Philosophy is committed (by way of Proclus' commentary on the Timaeus,
it has been suggested) to a platonic doctrine of ideas and of reminiscence:
the soul is of divine elements on which its knowledge depends; it
is in need only of the quickening power of sense perception to arouse
it to a knowledge of ideas at rest within it. The developments of
that notion bring echoes, one after the other, of pythagoreanism,
neoplatonism, stoicism, and augustinism. Yet, as if these came too
near to a dereliction from Aristotelian principles, Boethius expounds
the Trinity, in the work which shows most clearly the augustinian
influence, by applying the ten categories to the persons and their
relations. At the bottom of these diversified philosophic affiliations
is the conviction, often explicit, that there was a single philosophy
of the Greeks, to be grasped best in the reconciliation of Plato and
Aristotle. That, however, was a lesson Boethius had learned from pagan
Roman philosophers; even before the coming of christianity a change
in the attitude toward philosophy had instituted a metaphysical conservatism.
The distinctions by which the Greeks thought to have divided themselves
into opposed schools are needless subtleties when abstract thought
is to be invoked (as it is in the very title of four works of Seneca
and one work of Boethius) for refuge, or salvation, or relief, or
consolation." (quoted from Selections from Medieval Philosophers
I, by Richard McKeon, page 68-69)
Graesse vol. 1, 466.
|
|
| 743c |
Brown, William. (17th
-18th century)
Modus Intrandi Placita Generalia: The Entring
Clerk's Introduction. Being A Collection of such Precedents of Declarations,
and other Pleadings, with Process as well Mesn as Judicial, as are
generally used in every days Practice. With Notes and Observations
thereupon Composed For the benefit of the Students of the Common Law
of England; as also of the Attorneys, Entring Clerks, and Sollicitors
of the Courts of Common Pleas and Kings Bench, acquainting them with
the Rudiments of Clerkship, and such general Pleadings and Process
as are used at this day in the Courts of Record at Westminster. The
Second Edition Altered and Augmented, with Addition of the True Directions
of Writs, according to the Style of the latest Grants to each Corporation
in England. By William Brown, Gent. Author of Formula bene Placitandi.
London: Printed by the Assigns of R. and
Edw. Atkins Esquires. For Thomas Basset at the Sign of the George
near Cliffords Inn in Fleetstreet, 1687
$500
Octavo, 7.25 x 4.25 in. Second edition. A8, a8, B-Z8, Aa-Ee8. This
copy is bound in full contemporary sheepskin, the pages are crisp
and there are many deckle edges throughout. The first few leaves are
water stained. "For here you have in one volume (and that portable
in your Pocket) the first Process, then Declarations upon those Process;
after that, the Pleas, Replications, Rejoinders, Issues, Verdicts,
Writs of Inquiry and Inquisitions thereupon, Judgments after Verdict
and upon Writs of Inquiry, and most kinds of Executions, with variety
of other matters, as well in the Kings Bench as the Court of Common
Pleas. Secondly, you have divers Forms of Declarations, and other
Pleadings in several Actions, as they are now used in the Office of
Pleas in the Exchequer; of which kind I do not remember to have seen
any hitherto in our Printed Books of Precedents. And lastly, that
no person may have cause to disesteem this Book, because it is called,
The Entring Clerks Introduction, and is said to contain the Rudiments
of Clerkship, I do assure him (though he be a very good Clerk) that
he may find some Precedents as choice and full of variety in this
Collection, as any in his Study: Though it be chiefly intended for
the Instruction of the younger sort of Students, Entring Clerks, &c.
but will be found of great use to the Attornies that live remote from
the Courts at Westminster, Sollicitors, and most Clerks, to carry
about them as a constant help to their Memories upon all occasions."
(Quoted from the preface of this work.)
Not in Wing, see Wing B-5091a for a variant
imprint in the same year; ESTC R30862 (with the same imprint, and
citing the same Wing number as above).
|
|
| 712c |
Busenbaum, Herman
. (1600-1668)
Medulla theologicæ Moralis, Facili
ac Perspiccua methodo resoluens Casus conscientiæ exvariis probatisque
authoribus: concinnata a R.P. Hermanno Busbenum e Societate Iesu,
SS Theologiæ Licentiato.
Lugduni, Ioannis Girin & Franc. Comba 1663
$225
Duodecimo, 3 x 5.75 in . First printed in 1645, this is about the
12th edition, " editio vigesimaprima & ultima, ab auctore
recognitia & plurimum acta." [ ]12, A-Z12, Aa-Dd12. Bound
in the original sheep, spine is gilt the joints are both cracked but
the cords are holding. "This book went through more than fifty
editions: but it was condemed to be burnt by the parliaments of Paris
and Toulouse for countenancing regicide."!
Sommervogel II, 445 #3.
|
|
| 587C |
Browne, Sir Thomas.
(1605-1682)
The Works Of the Learned Sr Thomas Brown,
Kt. Doctor of Physick, late of Norwich. Containing I. Enquiries into
Vulgar and Common Errors. II. Religio Medici: With Annotations and
Observations upon it. III. Hydriotaphia; or, Urn-Burial: Together
with The Garden of Cyrus. IV. Certain Miscellany Tracts. with Alphabetical
Tables.
London: Tho. Basset, Ric. Chiswell, Tho. Sawbridge, Charles Mearn,
and Charles Brome, 1686
$2,500
Folio, 12.4 x 7.6 in. First edition. A6, (a)4, B-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Iii4,
Kkk6, Lll-Qqq4, Rrr6, Sss-Zzz4, Aaaa-Dddd4, Eeee2. This copy has the
rare portrait of Browne by R. White; the engraving of the urns is
bound before the Hydriotaphia, and the engraving of the quinqunx is
bound opposite the title for the Garden of Cyrus. This copy is in
very good condition. It has been recently rebound in full calf, period
style. "[Thomas Browne's] affluence and established residence
(the transport of a collection containing many folio volumes is not
lightly to be undertaken) enabled him to build up in ten years or
so the substantial scholarly library which provided the materials
for his longest work, Pseudodoxia Epidemica. First published in 1646,
it was revised and expanded in successive editions up to the sixth
in 1672. In it Browne took up a suggestion by Bacon in his Advancement
of Learning that there should be compiled a list of erroneous beliefs
held at that time in the fields of the natural sciences and general
knowledge. Browne went further, and, by combining in his disquisition
on each topic the testimonies of authority, reason, and experiment,
endeavored to dispose once for all of some hundreds of fallacies.
The work, executed with wide learning, wit, and characteristic style,
immediately established his reputation as a savant, remaining popular
at home and abroad for at least a century." (Robbins)
"Browne is more scientific than Bacon when he discusses some
notions already touched in Sylva Sylvarum: for instance, that coral
is soft under water and hardens in the air; that a salamander can
live in and extinguish fire (if ancient tradition is true, says Bacon,
the creature has a very close skin and some very cold 'virtue'); that
the chameleon lives on air (Bacon makes air its 'principall Sustenance'
but admits flies as well). In the examination of these and other arresting
items in his encyclopedia, Browne appeals to critical authority, reason,
and experience; of these criteria only the last is strictly Baconian.
But Browne was in fact a tireless observer and experimenter. And when
a whale was thrown upon the coast of Norfolk he verified his notion
of spermaceti; in later years he was able, through his son, to test
the belief that 'the Ostridge digesteth Iron'-after swallowing a nugget
the bird died 'of a soden.' But in the settling of a more commonplace
problem, the reputed inequality of the badger's legs, the mere report
of the senses appears, happily for readers, to count less than abstract
and almost metaphysical logic. Many exotic and 'occult' traditions
were less readily verifiable by experience, and in this un-Baconian
realm Browne of necessity relied upon reason and the weighing of authorities.
" (Bush)
Browne's works are as delightful and as varied as the man himself.
"A man of enormous learning and prodigious memory, Browne was
also whimsical, eccentric, and superstitious-a paradoxical mixture
of medieval lore, Baconian science, and great intellectual curiosity.
[…] Browne's religious position in Religio Medici and his other
works is that of a cultivated, tolerant Roman stoic thoroughly knowledgeable
of Bacon's foolish idols but emotionally aligned to the ceremonial
and ritualistic Anglican religion of John Donne, George Herbert, and
Lancelot Andrewes. His Religio Medici covers much the same ground
as Richard Hooker's Of The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, but does
so with the brilliant speculations of Montaigne, coupled with his
own characteristic tone of 'love and wonder.' For Browne there is
no tension between faith and reason, and doubt is not agony but occasion
for paradoxical joy." (Ruoff, Elizabethan and Stuart)
In the present work, the following subjects are treated: "I.
Enquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors. II. Religio Medici: With
Annotations and Observations upon it. III. Hydriotaphia; or, Urn-Burial:
Together with The Garden of Cyrus. IV. and the Certain Miscellany
Tracts," which further contains "I. Observations upon several
Plants mentioned in Scripture; II. Of Garlands, and Coronary or Garland-plants;
III. Of the Fishes eaten by our Saviour with his Disciples after the
Resurrection from the dead; IV. An Answer to certain Queries relating
to Fishes, Birds, Insects; V. Of Hawks and Falconry, ancient and modern;
VI. Of Cymbals, &c.; VII. Of Ropalic or Gradual Verses, &c.;
VIII. Of Languages, and particularly of the Saxon-Tongue; IX. Of Artificial
Hills, Mounts or Boroughs in many parts of England: what they are,
and to what end raised, and by what Nations; X. Of Troas, what place
is meant by that Name. Also of the situations of Sodom, Gomorrah,
Zeboim, in the Dead Sea; XI. Of the Answers of the Oracle of Apollo
at Delphos to Croesus King of Lydia; XII. A Prophecy concerning the
future state of several Nations; in a Letter written upon occasion
of an old Prophecy sent to the Author from a Friend, with a request
that he would consider it; XIII. Musaeum Clausum, or Bibliotheca Abscondita:
containing some remarkable Books, Antiquities, Pictures and Rarities
of several kinds, scarce or never seen by any man now living."
"Hydriotaphia is the leisurely excursion of a scholarly mind
into the burial customs of past nations, and The Garden of Cyrus a
pursuit of a number and form through art, nature, and philosophy.
[…] Hydriotaphia has been considered by George Williamson as
a dissertation on human identity and the quest for its immortal retention.
Its sections develop from the initial ease of identifying the purpose
of the relics discussed, through a consideration of their failure
to achieve this purpose-in that it is difficult to date such relics,
let alone put a name to them-to the orthodox Christian consolation
of expected resurrection, and the vanity by contrast of all earthly
monuments. […] Likewise, The Garden of Cyrus is no horticultural
handbook: rather, its pentatonic groves and thickets are a musical
score transposed into verbal imagery, a reading of 'that universal
and public manuscript' of the great Platonic Idea, of 'that harmony
which intellectually sounds in the ears of God.'" (Robbins)
Wing B-5150.
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Cowley, Abraham. (1618-1667)
The Works of Mr. Abraham Cowley. Consisting
of Those which were formerly Printed: And Those which he Design'd
for the Press. Now Published out of the Author's Original Copies.
To this Edition are added, Cutter of Coleman-Street: And Several Commendatory
Copies of Verses on the Author, by Persons of Honour. As Also, A Table
to the whole Works, never before Printed. The Eighth Edition.
London: Printed for Henry Herringman; and are to be Sold by R. Bentley,
J. Tonson, F. Saunders, and T. Bennet, 1693
$400
Folio, 11.4 x 7.5 in. Eleventh edition. (After the eighth edition,
the title page was never updated.) A2, a-e2, B-C4, C*4, D-Z4 (E2 is
misquired after E4), Aa-Za4, Aaa-Ccc4, Ddd2, Eee-Xxx4, Yyy2, A-D4,
E4 (lacking E4, probably blank), *4. The engraved frontispiece portrait
of Cowley is bound opposite the title. This copy is bound in seventeenth-century
calf boards, rebacked with title label printed in gold. The edges
are rubbed, and the corners are bumped. It has light browning and
slight foxing throughout. The title and portrait pages are quite stained.
"[Abraham Cowley was a] poet, born in London of a wealthy middle-class
family; Cowley attended Westminster School and in 1636 matriculated
at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a close friend of Richard
Crashaw and William Harvey, the great medical genius and personal
physician of Francis Bacon. The last of the metaphysical poets, Cowley
was also the most precocious. While still at Cambridge and only fifteen,
he published 'Poetical Blossoms,' a collection of competent verses
reflecting his childhood enchantment with Spenser's 'The Shepherd's
Calendar' and 'The Faerie Queene,' which he again recalled in his
autobiography. At Cambridge he also wrote a pastoral drama, a Latin
comedy, and a realistic comedy of manners called 'The Guardian' (1642),
later revised as 'Cutter of Coleman Street.' Cowley's 'The Mistress'
(1647) is an imitation of Donne's 'Songs and Sonnets.' Thus Cowley
is the only metaphysical poet to imitate all three of the principal
English Renaissance poets-Donne, Spenser, and Jonson." (Ruoff)
"[Cowley] entered Westminster School about 1628; here he showed
a remarkable precocity. In his twelfth year he composed his little
epical romance of 'Constantia and Philetus'; in his fifteenth year
he published his first collection of poems, 'Poetical Blossoms.' He
was much observed at school, as a boy certain to 'increase the noble
genius peculiar to that place.' "
"The breaking out of the Civil War proved a crisis in the brilliant
scholastic and literary career of Cowley. Not greatly interested in
political questions, he had yet to choose a part, and he threw in
his lot with the king's party. In his satire of 'The Puritan and the
Papist,' printed in 1643, he had burned his ships [… and] after
the battle of Marston Moor, he fled to Paris with, or after, the queen.
The next twelve years were wholly spent either in bearing a share
in the distresses of the royal family, or in labouring in their affairs."
[…] In 1656, he could endure exile no longer, and came over to
London; he was arrested and for some time closely imprisoned. On being
released, Cowley returned to the practice of literature. In 1647 had
been published, in his absence, his famous and long-admired miscellany
of lyrics, 'The Mistress;' he found himself, ten years later, the
most popular living English poet. […] If his life had not been
broken into and ravaged by political events which destroyed all his
leisure through the best years of his youth, Cowley would probably
have made significant contributions to literature." (Garnett)
Included in his 'Works,' Cowley describes a "Proposition for
the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy." This proposition,
the first of its kind, details the selection and obligations of twenty
professors as well as a plan for the layout of the college. The professors,
when they were not traveling to "Europe, Asia, Africa, and America,
there to reside three years at least" were expected to teach
as "many men's children as shall think fit to make use of the
[college]" and discover new and lost sciences. Oddly enough,
they were meant to identify counterfeit currency as well.
Wing C-6659.
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| 830c |
Colletet, Guillaume.
(1598-1659)
Traite dv Sonnet. Par le Sieur Colletet. Paris:
Chez Antoine de Sommaville, an Palais, sur le second Perron de la
Sainte Chapelle, a l'Escu de France. Et Lovis Chamhovdry, au Palais,
vis a vis la Sainte Chapelle, a l'image Saint Lovis, 1658.
$700
Duodecimo, 3.15x5.5 in. First Edition a4, A-E12, F4, A-B12, C4, a4,
A-I12, a4, A-B12, C4, K8 This book is bound in full contemporary sheepskin
with a gilted spine. The leaf edges are marbled. The pages are clean
with some minor browning. This book contains several short works by
Colletet bound together. First is the 'Treatise on the Sonnet' in
which he deatils the form and function of a sonnet. Bound in next
is the "Discourse on the Bucolic Poem," then the "Treatise
on Moral Poetry," a brief "Discourse against Translation,"
"Discourse on Eloquence," and concluding with a short "Novvelle
Morale."
Colletet was one of the first members of the French Academy. He was
born in Paris, and "Richelieu, having persuaded him to write
for theater, he produced 'Cyminde' a tragi-comedy. He composed some
admired epigraphs, an able 'Essay on the Epigram,' a 'Treatise on
Pastoral Poetry,' and other works. He was a royal advocate."
(Thomas)
Graesse vol. 2, 222.
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| 844c |
Charleton, Walter.
(1619-1707)
Gualteri Charletoni Exercitationes de Differentiis
& Nominibus Animalium. Quibus accedunt Mantissa Anatomica, Et
quaedam De variis Fossilium generibus, Deque differentiis & nominibus
Colorum. Editio secunda, duplo fere auctior priori novisque iconibus
ornata.
Oxford: e theatre Sheldoniano, 1677.
$2,700
Folio, 7.5x11.5 in. Second Edition a-e2, A-Z2, Aa-Gg2, a*-z*2, aa*3,
bb*-dd*2, Aa-Zz2, Aaa2. There is a fronticeplate, six full page plates
and eleven in-text plates. This book is bound in worn sheepskin that
has flaked at the corners. The leaves are clean and in pristine condition.
This text is printed in Latin, Greek and English. It contains Sir
George Ebt's first zootomical treatise, Mantissa anatomica. Also included
are"observations on the anatomy of the 'Fishing Frog' (Lophius
piscatorius), the Dog-fish, and the true Frog, with illustrations
in the text. This early and famous treatise is an enlarged (second)
edition ..." The first edition under this title; a much shorter
version was issued as 'Onomasticon Zoicon' in 1668, in quarto. "To
Charleton belongs the credit of being the first English writer to
append illustrations to a list of birds. He included foreign as well
British birds, giving however, the English names wherever he could
..." (Mullens & Swann, p. 125). The number of plates of birds
in this edition is extended from 6 to 8. The appendix 'Colorum differentiis
et nominibus ...' appeared only in the present edition and is a most
remarkable work. Classifying for example 11 shades of white (with
their Latin and English names), 18 of yellow and 16 of red. The first
part deals with quadrupeds, insects, and mostly birds (with fine illustrations
of British song birds, the Pin-tailed Landgrouse, the Ibis, the Crossbill,
the Hoopoe, etc.). A chapter on anatomy has detailed plated of a frog
dissection.
Charleton was a physician who "at the early age of twenty-four
he received the degree of M.D. and in the same year was appointed
physician to the king who was then at Oxford.... In 1650 Charleton
settled in London, and was on 8 April admitted a candidate of the
College of Physicians. He was appointed physician to the exiled king,
an office certainly without emolument and without duty, for Charleton's
works show him to have remained in London. He published two books
in 1650, was prevented from writing by an attack of dysentary in 1651,
and between 1652 and the Restoration brought out eight more books....
After his last year of presidency at the College of Physicians, Charleton
left London for a time. He had been physician to many of the old royalists,
and as his patients disappeared had no modern views to attract new
ones, nor enough purely medical repute to retain his practice. He
retired to Nantwich, but soon returned to London, and was senior censor
in the in the College of Physicians from 1698 to 1706, and delivered
Harveian orations in 1702 and 1706, and in the latter year was appointed
Harveian librarian."
He had learned " 'that sapere domi, to endeavor the acquistition
of science in private, ought to be the principal of the wise man,'
and his voluminous works prove that he was consistent in this opinion
throughout life; and though enough of personal vanity is to be found
in his writings to show that he must have sometimes thought he deserved
more success than he obtained, he nowhere complains, and seems to
have found permanent pleasure in the exercise and increase of his
accumulations of learning. In religion he was a high churchman, in
philosophy an epicurean, and in politics one of the last of the old
royalists." (DNB)
Wing C3672; See Eimas 526.
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