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| Auden, W.H.,. Poems, 1928. Reproduced in facsimile.. Privately printed for sale at the Ilkley Literature Festival by the Janus Press April 23-28, 1973. 12mo., pp. 37 facsimile, with scarce erratum slip, of the original edition partly printed by Stephen Spender at his home in Frognal, Hampstead and after page 23, when his patience ran out, finished by the Holywell Press, Oxford and bound in red wrapper. In the original green folder on which the date of the festival is different: April 24, 1973 and with the Janus Press device to the rear. Exact facsimile of the Durham University Library copy of 'Poems,' Auden's earliest book. The printing of the original edition, thought to number only some 30 copies, was undertaken in the summer of 1928 by Stephen Spender, whom Auden had met during his second year at Oxford. Auden excluded most of these poems from his " Collected Shorter Poems, 1927-1957. Auden's holograph corrections to the text are clearly evident throughout. Loosely inserted is B.C. Bloomfield's separate five-page Foreword to this facsimile edition, briefly outlining the history of the original edition and providing a census of the 15 copies known to be extant. Very good condition, £65.00 |
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| Quinctiliani, M. Fabii (Quintilian)
DE INSTITUTIONE ORATORIA
Liber septimus; liber octavus; liber nonus; liber decimus; liber undecimus; liber duodecimus pp. 578 - 1114; [2] followed by Henrici Dodwelli: Annales quintilianei seu vita M. Fabii Quimtiliani per Annales disposita. Pp 1117 - 1171;[ Lugduni Batavorum. 1720) ]followed by annalium Quintilianeorum synopsus chronologica. Pp. 1172 -1178; followed by Addenda [25 lvs] Listed in the HBZ Verbundkatalog as : M. Fabii Quinctiliani de institutione oratoria / libri duodecim ; cum notis et animadversionibus virorum doctorum . summa cura redogniti ac emendati per Petrum Burmannum .Lugduni Batavorum (Leiden) de Vivie , 1720 , 1178pp., ill. ; 4-o [Quinctilianus ex edit[ione] P. Burmanni] ; [1] Iriginal full calf with gilt decorations and red title label on the spine. Wormholed throughout binding and text, spine, hinges, boards worh, scuffed, pages browned/damp stained esp. at beginning and end, no impressum of publisher , half of f.e.p. missing, previous owner's handwritten names on prelims one of which is Man. Calderon de la Barca. £75 order via e-mail |
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| MANN, Thomas
Der Kleine Herr Friedemann. Novellen. [4], 198, [2] pp. sm8vo., Berlin: S. Fischer, 1898. First Edition of Thomas Mann's first published book, limited to 2000 copies; published when he was only twenty-three years old.. A collection of six short stories . Published in the series Collection Fischer of which this is volume 6. this copy bound in quarter vellum by Johannes Gerberg of Hamburg with gilt title and decorative lines on the spine. the boards are covered in paper with a yellow design. (contemporary binding) The original wrappers, the illustrated front cover in black and orange, are bound in. Text sl. browned, the boards re a slightly soiled, Potempa B 1. - Bürgin I,1. - Wilpert/Gühring , 1. £950 |
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Volume 2: Leonard W. KING: A History of Babylon from the Foundation of the Monarchy to the Persian Conquest. London: Chatto & Windus 1915. First edition. With map, plans, and illustr. XXI , 340 pp. With frontispiece, 31 plates, 1 fold. map and numerous text-illustrations. Some occasional very light brown spots in the text , leaf between f.e.p. and half title and half title with heavier foxing/browning as is the page preceding l.e.p. Volume 3: Sidney SMITH: Early History of Assyria: To 1000 B.C.. London: Chatto & Windus,1928.8`+ XV, 418pp. folding map. [ Smith completed this work since King died ] text very good. The volumes 1 and 2 have ex-library Heythrop college library stamps on top right corners of 2nd lves and small stamp top corner of title page, volume 2 has an additional library stamp in the centre of the title. In a very attractive new brown cloth binding, with original gilt embossed designs taken from the original bindings on the 3 front boards, title labels. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. A rare complete set. £250 order via e-mail |
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| Kaulen, Fr[anz] Assyrien und Babylonien
nach den neuesten Entdeckungen.
3. abermals erweiterte Aufl. ( =
3rd revised edition ) Freiburg, Herder, 1885. X, 266pp., with 84 illustrations
in the text and on plates and 2 maps.( Illustrierte Bibliothek der Länder-
u. Völkerkunde).In a cloth binding finely embossed in
gilt and black on front board and spine. Text sl. yellowed head and tail
of spine very sl. bent. a very good copy £25
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Mazzolini, Sylvestro, (1456-1523
)
Summae Sylvestrinae, quae summa summarum merito nuncupatur pars prima [-pars secunda] ab R. P. Sylvestro Prierate,... edita, nunc recens diligentissime correcta. Additionibus autem, ex sacro Concilio Trident. et catechismo, Pii V,... jussu edito, hac in editione in fine appositio Petro Vendramaeus... authore, locupletata et illustrata. Lugduni: Sumptibus Petri Landry, 1594. 4to. 2 vols. in 1. [4] 515[3] one blank sheet; 541 pp followed by Additiones ad primam et secundam partem Summae Sylvestrine….Petro Vendramaeno 27 unnumbered pp., followed by Index omnium dictionum, seu titulorum..5 unnumbered pp., ¶ Sylvester Mazzolini, in Italian Silvestro Mazzolini da Prierio, in Latin Sylvester Prierias. (1456/57-1523) was a theologian born at Priero, Piedmont; he died at Rome. At the age of fifteen he entered the Dominican Order. Passing brilliantly through a course of studies he taught theology at Bologna, Pavia (by invitation of the senate of Venice), and in Rome, whither he was called by Julius II in 1511. In 1515 he was appointed Master of the Sacred Palace, filling that office until his death. His writings cover a vast range, including treatises on the planets, the power of the demons, history, homiletics, the works of St. Thomas Aquinas and the primacy of the popes. He is credited with being the first theologian who by his writings attacked publicly the doctrines of Martin Luther. Johann Tetzel's productions against the arch-reformer are called by Jacques Echard scattered pages (folia volitantia), and Mazzolini stands forth as the first champion of Roman Pontiffs against Luther. Luther replied to Mazzolini's arguments and the latter published rejoinders, and there was a regular controversy between them. The necessity of promptness in attack and defence will account for defects of style in some of his writings. Students of the Lutheran Reformation remember him for his charge that Martin Luther had a brain of brass and nose of iron. The Summa summarum is an alphabetical encyclopedia of theological questions, written largely to affirm Catholic theology at a time when that theology was under attack. First printed in Rome, 1516, it was reprinted 40 times throughout the 16th century. His other principal works are: De juridica et irrefragabili veritate Romanæ Ecclesiæ Romanique Pontificis (Rome, 1520); Epitoma responsionis ad Lutherum (Perugia, 1519); Errata et argumenta M. Lutheri (Rome, 1520); Rosa aurea (Bologna, 1510) an exposition of the Gospels of the year; In theoricas planetarum (Venice, 1513). The first title page is rather worn and bottom corner and edges have been repaired/re-inforced Previous owner's writing ibn ink on this title, first 12 pages and further scattered pages throughout the book have sl. frayed edges, some like the pages 409-412 probably as they came off the press, small bottom corner torn off one bottom page in the unnumbered section; several sections of the book have sustained damp staining. the 2nd title page is very good. Recently re-bound in half calf with leather corners and gilt title on red leather title label. We have only traced holdings in the Swedish library catalogue; Bibliotheque nationale; Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München. £950 order via e-mail |
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| VEGETIUS RENATUS, FLAVIUS, -
De re militari libri quatuor post omnes omnium editiones, ope veterum librorum
correcti, a Godescalco Stewechio Heusdano ; accesserunt Sex. IulI Frontini
Strategematôn libri quatuor: Aelianus De instruendis aciebus:
Modestus de vocabulis rei militaris: castramentatio romanorum ex historiis
Polybii. Accessit seorsum eiusdem G. Stewechi in Fl. Vegetium commentarius.
Adiuncta ejusdem G; Stewechi et Francisci Modi in Iulium Frontinum conjectanea
& notae
Lugduni Batavorum [Leiden]: Ex officina Plantiniana, apud Franciscum Raphelengium , 1592. Second Plantin edition edited by Stewech. (first was 1585). 8vo. Printer's device on title- page, 51 woodcuts in the text (machinery, battlements, weapons, etc.).The folded leaf is lacking. [16], 320; [16], 480, [31] pp. the classic by Vegetius, the fourth-century Roman military writer of whose personal life little is known, but whose book DE RE MILITARI has been constantly reprinted and translated into every modern language, has proved to be a primary source of our knowledge of Roman warfare. It contains 5 books: the first is on Recruits and Recruitment; the second, on the organization of the Legions (the Roman infantry); the third, treats of the operations of an army in the middle of a campaign; the fourth, on attacking and defending fortifications; and the fifth, on naval tactics. This edition, printed by the Plantin press, with their printer's device on the title-page, was edited by the scholar Godescalcus Stewechius and is one of the earliest editions to contain a commentary on Vegetius, along with a discussion of the editor's sources. Equally important to the edition, however, are the illustrations, which have contributed greatly to a general picture of the Roman army. These show uniforms, battle ships, siege equipment , shields etc. Stewechius dedicated the book to Charles de Lorraine Adams V 337; BM STC, Dutch Books 204; Voet
2419 A, Anm. 8; Ebert 23444 ("Stewechius used 6 manuscripts and 4 older
editions )
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Venette, Nicholas. (1633-1698 ).
De la Génération de l'Homme ou Tableau de L'Amour. Claude
Joly, Conjugal, Divisé en quatre Parties. 7. édition,
reveuë, corrigée, augmentée & enrichie de figures
par l'Auteur. A Cologne : Chez Claude Joly, 1696. (xii), (xl), (vi), 672,
(xxx) pages. Original leather sewn binding rebound in new full calf. Early
notations on f.e.p. Frontispiece, 9 plates (5 folding). but some of these
appear twice in this volume. Engraved portrait of the author precedes text
Includes index at end. Title page printed in red and black 3.5" X 6.5".
small marginal tear in pp. 191/192, text sl. browned, some repairs made
to plates, a few pp. soiled, SEE: Book-ends: The role of the eunuch and
the hermaphrodite in Nicolas Venette's Tableau de l'amour considéré
dans l'estat du mariage By Jane Rush ( Sage Publications, 2004 ) of which
we add a resume: In his Tableau de l'amour considéré dans
l'estat du mariage Nicolas Venette devotes the last section of his medical
text to questions of sexual dysfunction or sexual malformation and the
socio-legal implications that ensued for the afflicted. Like book-ends,
the bodies of the eunuch and the hermaphrodite display the visible signs
of sexual deformity yet, in Venette's view, these deformities, based largely
on external and arbitrary signs, can be deceptive and should not prevent
those who wish to marry or to take holy orders to do so. Rather than exclude
from social discourse the sexually deficient, the non-productive couple
and the impotent in general, Venette, through the spectacular plight of
the eunuch and the hermaphrodite, makes a valiant attempt to moderate the
powerful voices of church and state and bring into the social fold not
only the severely deformed but all who suffer from sexual dysfunction and
impotence. The contents take a position somewhere between sexual
education and pornography. In the first edition of this work author was
referred to as 'Mons. Salocini Venetien', which is a conversion of the
real name of the author: Nicolas Venette. The book provides a very interesting
glimpse of seventeenth century sexual behaviour £350
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| WOLFENSTEIN, Alfred, Die gefährlichen
Engel
Mährisch-Osterau und Leipzig, Verlag Julius Kittls Nachfolger, 1936, 154pp., [1] Original cloth binding with damaged dust jacket. First edition. With an autograph signed dedication in ink on the half title, dated Spring 1936 and a 2-page autograph letter written from Prague to a lady who he asks to promote this book amongst her friends. In this letter he also asks for the address of Lady Van der Elst, the opponent of the death penalty and one time eccentric owner of Harlaxton Manor. The letter is dated 7th June 1936. Alfred Wolfenstein ( Halle / Saale, 28 December
1888 - 22. January 1945 in Paris) was an expressionist poet, play
write and translator. He married Henriette Hardenberg in 1916. He is famous
for the publication of Die Erhebung (2 volumes, 1919/1920) the most important
theoretical collection of the expressionist movement . In 1930 he received
the first German prize for translations. In 1933, the year of the burning
of the books Wolfenstein left the former Weimar Republic and settled in
Prague. In 1938 he moved to Paris. He hid under a false name when
the nazis conquered France and committed suicide in Paris on 22nd January
1945.
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Australia -. Visitors Book Government
House Sydney and Government House Canberra. Canberra with the signatures
and often addresses of visitors from March 1935 to January 1949,
In the original full leather binding, embossed lettering on front board,
boards and corners worn, spine re-backed . Amongst the many signatures
are those of The Japanese Ambassador (In Japanese) 1935 together with Yasuto
Sindo (??) Foreign office Tokyo / Ruth Draper, monologist, (1884-1956),
/ Duff Cooper - ( Alfred Duff Cooper 1890-1954 ) English politician and
Diana Cooper (Singapore) / Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt / and numerous others,
many of which many officials of Government houses of Sydney, Adelaide,
Wellington, Darwin, even Fiji. Other signatures (all dated) include: Rear
Admiral Muirhead-Gould Naval Officer in Charge of Sydney, (See "Japanese
Midget Submarines Attack Sydney Harbour on the night of May 31/June 1,
1942") / 1936 Sir George BROADBRIDGE , Lord Mayor of London / Lindsay,
Kenneth Martin , Educated at St Olave's and Worcester College, Oxford,
Lindsay (1897-1991) was the first Labour president of the Oxford Union
(1922-23). He was Barnett research fellow at Toynbee Hall (1923-26), director
of Voluntary Migration Societies, Dominions Office (1929-31) and first
general secretary of Political and Economic Planning (1931-35). He was
Member of Parliament for National Labour (1933-43), as Independent National
(1943-45) and as an Independent for the Combined English Universities (1945-50).
He was civil lord of the Admiralty (1935-37) and parliamentary secretary
of the Board of Education (1937-40). / BOOTH, Evangeline Cory , General,
Salvation Army (1934 - 1939) born: 25 December 1865 . retired: October
1939 / promoted to Glory: 17 July 1950 Fourth daughter of the Founder,
at 21 years of age she commanded Marylebone Corps, its Great Western Hall
being the centre of spectacular evangelistic work despite riotous opposition.
As Field Commissioner this experience was used to advantage throughout
Great Britain (1888 - 1891). Her father appointed her to train cadets in
London (1891- 1896), then as Territorial Commander Canada (1896 - 1904),
and then Commander of the Army in the United States of America (1904 -
1934). Awarded Order of the Founder in 1930. Author of: Toward a Better
World, Songs of the Evangel, etc . / Sir Malcolm Sargent (Conductor) 1895
- Ashford, Kent, Ocober 3, 1967 - London. / William Morris (Lord Nuffield)
(1877 - 1963) and many more.
£750[092604] order via e-mail |
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| [011801]
ASHMOLE, Elias, .. The Institution, Laws & Ceremonies of the most noble Order of the Garter.. Trowbridge & London 1971, facsimile of the 1672 edition; folio; 773pp; engravings, diagrams of insignia & heraldic devices; bound (symbol of the Order impressed on the front bd); boards bright but slightly marked with minimum wear to extremities; v small, neat inscription; two pages unopened, o/w in very good condition. *Limited edition, numbered 86 of 100 copies. £150 order via e-mail |
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| Wallace, A.R .. The Malay Archipelago.
The Land of the Orang-Utan and the Bird of Paradise. Macmillan &
Co. 1872 As indicated on the title page this copy is the 3rd edition. On
the spine however it reads fifth edition. We have not been able to find
out if this was a binder's error at the time of publication. binding strong,
boards straight, The binding is spotted all over and the end papers are
split at the inner hinges, boards still firmly attached, gilt decorated
cover a little faded and corners sl. rubbed, but contents complete &
beautiful with only very sl. foxing. A Narrative of Travel With Studies
of Man and Nature. "A great landowner may legally convert his whole property
into a forest or a hunting-ground, and expel every human being who has
hitherto lived upon it. In a thickly populated countrey like England, where
every acre has its owner and its occupier, this is a power of legally destroying
his fellow-creatures; and that such a power should exist, and be exercised
by individuals, in however small a degree, indicates that, as regards true
social science, we are still in a state of barbarism."A magnificent combination
of interesting sketches of travel and vivid pictures of natural history,
together with a discussion of the great generalizations of evolutionary
biology", as well as being a fascinating and grippingly-written work in
its own right. The author spent eight years away from England, "but as
I travelled about fourteen thousand miles within the Archipelago, and made
sixty or seventy separate journeys, each involving some preparation and
loss of time, I do not think that more than six years were really occupied
in collecting." (Preface). The author goes on to say that his collections
comprised 125,660 speciments of natural history. "On the basis of artistic
format, literary style, and scientific merit, it is clearly one of the
finest scientific travel books ever written." (Dictionary of Scientific
Biography). cf. Norman 2176. [ our ref. 017111]
£275 order via e-mail |
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| Yeats, W.B.,. Plays for an Irish
Theatre. with Designs by Gordon Craig.. Deirdre, The Green Helmut,
On Baile's Strand, The King's Threshold, The Shadowy Waters, The Hour-Glass,
Cathleen Ni Houlihan Contains seven of William Butler Yeats' best known
plays at the time: London: A. H. Bullen, the Shakespeare Head Press, 1911
Original white quarter cloth with title label, brown paper covered boards.
. Very Good+. 8vo - over 73/4" - 93/4" tall. spine slightly soiled. Edges
untrimmed. Text fine, four b&w full-page plates by Gordon Craig with
tissue guards, the frontispiece shows impression of "The Heroic Age - Morning".
[091701]
£135.00 order via e-mail |
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| White, J[oseph] (Translator) [1745-
1814]. Aegyptiaca: or, Observations on certain antiquities of Egypt : In
two parts.
Part 1.. The history of Pompey's pillar elucidated. Part II. Abdollatif's account of the antiquities of Egypt, written in Arabic A.D. 1203. Translated into English, and with notes / By J. White, D.D. Professor of Arabic in the University of Oxford; editor of Timour's Institutes in the Persian; of the Philoxenian version of the New Testament in the Syriac; of Abdollatif's History of Egypt in the Arabic; Bampton Lecturer for the year 1784; and late publisher of a critical edition of the Gospels in Greek; and of a diatessaron in the same language, for the use of academical students. Part 1 only (part 2 was never published ) Oxford : At the University Press, for the author: sold by Messrs. Cadell and Davies, Strand, London; and by the booksellers in Oxford., 1801. First Edition,. [4], xiii, [3], 227 [i.e. 127], [1] p., [mispaginated '227'], 7 engraved plates (1 folding plan of Alexandria ). Lrge. 4to., 240 x 311 mm. Full tree calf, with new spine. Ex-library Windsor Castle with the library's ex-libris on inner front board and stamped aauthorisation to sell this copy in January 1948. Also some slight remnants of glue on this inside front board. Corners and edges bumped/ a bit worn. , edges Gilt titling , Includes bibliographical footnotes. No more published, Pp. 126-7 misnumbered 226-7. Signatures: pi2 a-b4 B-R4; Text in English with quotations and examples in Arabic and Greek *** First edition of White's detailed examination of Pompey's Pillar in Egypt. White consulted 18th century accounts of French and English travellers, displaying a marked anti-French sentiment. More importantly White researched among ancient sources in Greek, Latin and Arabic, which he quotes selectively in the original languages. In 1777 Joseph White had been appointed Laudian Professor or Arabic, a position he held until his death in 1814. Overall good copy with crisp text [092561] £650.00 order via e-mail |
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| MOLIERE ( = Jean Baptiste
Poquelin ). Oeuvres avec des remarques grammaticales, des avertissements
et des observations sur chaque pièce par M. Bret. 6 Volumes..
, Paris, La Compagnie des libraires associés, An 13 [1804]
portrait, 6 title vignettes, and 33 copper Engraved frontispiece portrait
by L.J. Cathelin after P. Mignard in Volume I and thirty-three engraved
plates by J.B. Simonet, A.J. Duclos, D. Née, N. de Launay, L.J.
Masquelier, E. de Ghendt, J.J. Leveau, C. Baquoy, L. Legrand, J.P. le Bas
after J.M. Moreau le jeune. A later printing of the celebrated 1773 edtiion
. Cohen-de-Ricci said of the 1773 edition: "Edition plus remarquable par
sa beauté qu par sa bonté. La suite des figures de Moreau
est une de plus estimées de d'une rareté extrême avant
la lettre" (Cohen-de Ricci)."De toutes les édtions des oeuvres de
Molière avec les notes de Bret, celle-ci est la plus belle et la
plus recherchée" (Brunet).Brunet III, col. 1798. Cohen-de Ricci,
cols. 716-719. Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book, 50. Tchemerzine
VIII, p. 360 Bret's disparagemeny of later printings on the grounds that
the plates are worn seems ungrounded and puzzling as these are [still]
excellent. Prelims/first and last few pages sl. foxed, spotted, small stamp
on f.e.p. vols. 2, 3, 5; sign. on f.e.p. vol. 4; stamped initials partly
coverd in ink on f.e.p. of vol.4; small stamp reverse f.e.p. vol. 1, name
on f.e.p. vol. 6; A beautifully printed ediition in new half leather binding
with red and green title/volume number labels. 5 raised bands. the boards
are covered in marbled paper matching the original marbling of the text
edges. Silk page markers. [008169]
£750 |
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SJÖGREN,A.. Ueber die Wohnsitze
und die Verhältnisse der Jatwägen.. Ein Beitrag zur
Geschichte Osteuropas um die Mitte des XIII. Jahrhunderts (Aus den > Tom
IX. besonders abgedruckt.) St.Petersburg, Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften,
1858, 195 (164-355)pp., folio, large margin edition {Yatvingians Jatvjazi
} [090955]
£150 |
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| BIBLE - Luther. Dr Martin Luthers Deutsche Bibel. Seven volumes. "Mit vier Nachbildungen Lutherischer Handschriften". Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, Weimar, 1906 to 1931; qto; Band 1, xxiv +640pp, Band 2, xxviii + 728pp, Band 3, lxii +580pp, Band 4, lviii + 592pp, Band 5, xxxix + 804pp, Band 6, xcvi + 639pp, & Band 7, xliv + 690pp; all with wood-engr. t.p.s & occas. head-pieces, Band 3 also illustrated with four plates of facsimilies (Zerbster Handschrift), Band 4 with a portrait & 2 facs., Band 6 with 8 facs. (incl. portrait t.p.), & Band 7 with 21 full-page woodcuts; Bands 1 & 3 bound in publisher's quarter morocco with gilt and blind decorations, and marbled edges; Bands 2, 4, 5, 6, & 7 in publ. half morocco (different style) with raised bands, lettering pieces, & richly gilt compartments; three head-bands torn (one deeply), other extremities sl.rubbed, 2 lettering pieces lost (one torn), occas. traces of light foxing within, otherwise the interiors are well-preserved. [031081] £95.00 | order via e-mail | ||
| BIBLE,. Facsimile edition of
the Low German Cologne Bible of 1478/79., Hamburg, Friedrich
Wittig Verlag, 1979; large fol.; 1088pp., with 123 illus. & borders,
initials in blue & red; with vol. of commentary. * This important bible
was the work of a consortium, incl. Nurnberg's Anton Koberger, who aimed
to serve the needs of the whole low-German-speaking region from the Rhine
to the Baltic. It uses two dialects - of the Lower Rhine and of Lower Saxony
- while the illustrations, in large format, designed to complement the
whole text, contribute to making Scripture even more accessible to people
for whom it had hitherto been filtered through scholarly interpretation.
The illustrations have been related to ink drawings for a manuscript bible
of 1460. Volume I of this edition is a complete facsimile in original format;
Volume II contains analyses of the work & its background, a ink drawings.
Folio, Cloth with gilt title on spine. [008454]
£750.00 order via e-mail |
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Auden has dedicated this copy in ink in his usual manner by crossing out his printed name and replacing it by To David [ = Dr. David Luke, the late eminent Oxford German scholar ] with love from Wystan. He then adds: Bad and nasty poems £500 |
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| Dante Alighieri,. Il trattato
De vulgari eloquentia. Per cura di Pio Rajna. (
Società Dantesca Italiana opere minori di Dante Alighieri - edizione
critica ) Firenze, Le Monnier, 1896, CCXV, + 3 plates with facsimiles of
the original manuscripts - Codice Trivulziano and Codice Vaticano - + 206pp.,
De vulgari eloquentia, written probably in 1303-04, by Dante in the early
years of the fourteenth century, is the only known work of medieval literary
theory to have been produced by a practising poet, and the first to assert
the intrinsic superiority of living, vernacular languages over Latin. Dante
wrote this to highlight the dignity of vulgar (or the "language of the
people"), to uphold the dialect, which he found mature enough to substitute
Latin and to become what is now known as the Italian language. His literary
work at this epoch centres round his rime, or lyrical poems, more particularly
round a series of fourteen canzoni or odes, amatory in form, but partly
allegorical and didactic in meaning, a splendid group of poems which connect
the "Vita Nuova" with the "Divina Commedia". Early in 1304 he seems to
have gone to Bologna. Here he began, but left unfinished, this Latin treatise,
in which he attempts to discover the ideal Italian language, the noblest
form of the vernacular, and then to show how it should be employed in the
composition of lyrical poetry. Even in its unfinished state it is a most
illuminating book to all who wish to understand the metrical form of the
Italian canzone. The digression on the vernacular in the first treatise
of the Convivio was developed into this thoroughly original work and planned
to include at least four books and to deal with the origins and history
of language and the complete range of styles and forms used in vernacular
literature. To convince even the most conservative among the literati of
the worth of the vernacular and, at the same time, to pay it the ultimate
accolade, the analysis is conducted in Latin. The treatise remained unfinished
and unpublished, probably overshadowed, like the Convivio, by the dawning
of the Commedia. Nevertheless, it is of fundamental importance both for
the history of the 'questione della lingua' and for what it reveals of
Dante's perspectives on language and style. The first book begins, astonishingly,
by asserting the superiority of the vernacular over Latin (known also as
gramatica). To justify his radically unconventional view - the opposite
of what he had stated in the Convivio - Dante traces a brief history of
human language from the first word ever spoken by Adam (rather than by
Eve, as the Bible states) to the building of the Tower of Babel and the
ensuing gradual division, subdivision, and, finally, atomisation of idioms
which characterise present usage. Dante shows an unprecedented grasp of
the historical character of language as a living organism in continuous
evolution through time and space. Of the three closely related, Latin-derived
languages in Southern Europe (the languages of oc, ool and s"), Italian
(the language of s") presents the greatest variety. However, none of its
many (at least fourteen) dialects is in itself dignified enough to become
the literary language of Italy. Such a language already exists, not as
an immanent presence but as a transcendent paradigm to which the best Italian
poets strive to conform. It is the 'illustrious vernacular', a literary
language free from, and superior to, all municipalisms, and already as
fixed as Latin within the ever changing flux of local idioms: effectively,
a new gramatica. The second book is Dante's ars poetica. The illustrious
vernacular, he writes, is no mere form but the only language capable of
reflecting the writer's moral and intellectual personality. Therefore,
it is suitable only for the most excellent poets seeking to express the
noblest subjects: arms, love, and rectitude. As to metrical forms, the
highest and most convenient for such lofty subjects, and especially for
rectitude, is the canzone. The illustrious vernacular and the canzone are
essential components of the superior 'tragic' style. lge8vo. sized volume
in a recent half leather binding marbled paper covered boards and with
2 title labels, 5 raised bands. some marginal annot. in pencil. £95.00
[092788] order via e-mail |
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