Search Results: Authors starting with M from Bruce McKittrick Rare Books

Venice: G. Giolito, 1564. Contemporary limp vellum (soiled, small lacunae), contemporary manuscript spine title, remnants of four pigskin ties. Only Edition, first issue. The main work is a dialog on death with a dozen speakers - including Bernardo Tasso, Sperone Speroni and Dionigi Atanagi - who gather in Venetian noble Domenico Venier's palace. The opening essay, written when Marcellino was twenty, advocates the use of Italian over Latin and stresses the former's felicity and flexibility. In good condition (blank marginal worming to final two leaves), ink sketch on the rear pastedown. ¶Gamba, Serie dei testi di lingua 1508; Bongi, Annali di Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari II: 202-3; EDIT16 CNCE 26455.

Paris: É. Prevosteau, 1596. Contemporary gilt-ruled vellum over soft paper boards, gilt oval medallion of the Crucifixion on the front panel and of the Annunciation on the rear, gilt-ruled flat spine with lilies and an early manuscript title (faded), all edges gilt; text ruled in red. First Edition and apparently the second printed book on New Year's Day gift-giving. Is it a pagan ritual condemned by the Church or an innocent Christian practice sanctioned by Scripture? I have found two copies in the U.S. In excellent condition (two blank corners slightly defective); from the libraries of the Jesuit Collège de Clermont at Paris (inscription), Hippolyte Destailleur (Catalogue (1891) 2002 "Very beautiful copy", tr.) and Francis Kettaneh (1897-1976), bookticket of CL. ¶Peignot, "Petite bibliothèque xéniographique" in Opuscules ed. Milsand 97-181, esp. 98,IV "sought after" (tr.).

The Hague: J. Neaulme, 1750. Contemporary tan calf with six spine compartments - four with gilt flowers and foliage, the fifth with a gilt-lettered red morocco label and the bottom compartment with the gilt oval stamp EX LIBRIS ADR. JOS. HAVÉ (1740-1817), red edges, blue silk marker. First Edition of this free French adaptation by Bénigne Dujardin (called de Boispréaux) of Mazzuchelli's original, which the translator fails to mention by chance.... The final 45 pages are THE FIRST BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ARETINO, including the famous woodcut pornographic suite. In good condition. ¶Cioranescu 26371; Conlon, Le Siècle des Lumières 50:521.

[Paris: Jean Bonhomme or Guy Marchant], 1490. CONTEMPORARY REVERSED GREEN CALF over pressed paper boards (worn, minor defects), evidence of four leather ties, fragments of a 13th-century vellum Missal reinforcing the spine and the first two quires.             "One of the most important healthy life-style programs of Western civilization"(Lafaille & Hemstra), the Regiment was medieval Europe's most popular handbook of dietetics, hygiene, preventive healthcare, pathology and therapeutics. some twenty-six pages treat wine. Its three hundred sixty-four mnemonic verses contain guidance on foodstuffs and beverages, advice on nutrition and cooking, phlebotomy instructions and remedies for scrofula, lice, constipation, tapeworm, fever, hair loss, etc. Drawing on Galen and Avicenna, the extensive commentary has been traditionally (and falsely) attributed to Arnaldus de Villanova, the 13th-century Catalan mystic.            JEAN GUIBERT, A MEDICAL TEACHER AT THE PARISIAN COLLÈGE DE CORDELIERS,… Read More

Venice: G.A. Valvassori, 1564. Contemporary limp vellum wrappers. Bound with: MINTURNO, Antonio Sebastiano. Bp. of Crotone.        c. 1497-1574.      Poemata, Ad...M. Antonivm Colvmnam.  Venice, G.A. Valvassori 1564. 8vo. 38, [1], [1 blank] leaves. Bound with: MINTURNO, Antonio Sebastiano. Bp. of Crotone.        c. 1497-1574.      Epigrammata, Et Elegiae.  Venice, G.A. Valvassori 1564. 8vo. 15, [1 blank] leaves. Ad I-III: Only Editions, elegant Neo-Latin verse. Almost the whole of the first work celebrates Emperor Charles V and his rule in Italy. The second work has nine pieces, each on a theme and each with its own dedicatee - Paolo Giovio ("History"), Pope Clement VII ("Pallas"), Pope Paul III ("Rome"). The third volume mixes contemporary, classical and intimate subjects. Minturno's book on the art of Latin poetry was a staple. Original condition (minor worming in some upper inner corners). ¶Ad I-III: Oberlé, Amoenitates poeticae latinae modernae 159. Ad I: Ellinger,… Read More

Strassburg: J. Cammerlander, 1539. Early 20th-century pastepaper over stiff boards (rubbed, spine chipped).            ILLUSTRATED VERNACULAR MIRROR OF PRINCES, SATIRIZING A HOST OF TRADES AND STATIONS IN SOCIETY. The woodcuts show courtiers and criminals, artisans and aristocrats, cooks and chancellors.            Shaped by the author's long service to the Prince Elector of Pfalz, the poem recasts the fable of the wolf and the lamb to highlight the injustice of poverty. Court Life inspired Hans Sachs, Protestant interpretations of Reynard the Fox and the proverb collections of Franck, Lehmann, Schottel and Eyring             THIS IS THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF SEVENTY-EIGHT LINES OF NEW TEXT ON CROSSBOWMEN and the cruelties of war by an unknown poet. Only half of the eight printings to 1620 are held in U.S. libraries. In good condition, seven lower margins partly or wholly untrimmed. ¶Morsheim, Spiegel des Regiments ed. Goedeke 32,A.b; Kessler, Johann von Morsheims Spiegel des… Read More

France, 1750. This almost certainly contained a manuscript diary, apparently of a sensitive nature. Exquisite luxury book covers.

[Rouen or possibly Paris: Baptiste Bourguet], 1495. Blind-ruled brown morocco over heavy boards (Francisque Cuzin; short crack at the top of the front hinge), gilt-lettered title on the front panel, old blue edges. FIRST EDITION OF THE MYSTERY PLAY MOUNTED IN ROUEN AT CHRISTMASTIME 1474 ON THIRTY-ONE TIMBER STAGES IN THE MARKET SQUARE. The primary platforms - all bearing signs - represented Paradise, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Syria, Rome, Hell and Limbo. Over two days, seventy-eight amateur actors recited the 15,000 verses, livened by burlesque, violence, the sublime and some dozen musical interludes.                 "THIS PLAY...GIVES MORE DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR PERFORMANCE THAN ANY OTHER" (Brown). It dictates actors' movements and positions, the painted backdrops and the type, color and location of fixed furniture. The elaborate stage machinery included an immense dragon's head (Hell) whose jaws opened and closed for the damned, serpents and flames shooting from its nostrils,… Read More