Search Results: Titles starting with L from Comellas Rare Books

Parisiis, apud Claudium Fremy, 1569. 8vo. 12 unnumbered leaves. 170 numbered leaves. 2 leaves. 55 numbered leaves. Brown calf, one fleuron in the center of plates, four on the corners (contemporary binding, some marks of ancient restoration). First Collected Edition of this very rare collection of two important pieces on the history of Africa and of early Catholic evangelization of this continent. First published in 1549, Saint Optat's "De Schismate Donatistarum", in which the Donatist schism was denounced for the first time, had a considerable impact in Africa. The text is regarded a forerunner of Saint Augustine, who drew his inspiration from Saint-Optat in many occasions. The second text is a history of the African Church since the Vandals' conquest, written by Bishop Victor de Vite, who was forced to leave his seat because of the persecution he suffered. Its first publication dates back to 1537. This edition is to be credited to the famous historian François Baudouin (1520-1573), who enriched it… Read More

A Paris, chez Toussainct Quinet, 1644. 8vo. 4 leaves. 475 pages. 1 leaf. Contemporary limp vellum. First Edition (copy of third issue with a title page dated 1644) of one of the first novels of the Norman playwright Desfontaines (1610-1652). The plot of this story of involuntary incest is inspired by the popular legend set in Ecouis in Normandy, but which was also told by the Italian storyteller Bandello and which is also present in the Heptameron of Margaret of Navarre. It explains how a young gentleman, believing he is meeting a young lady in his mother's service, finds himself sleeping with his own mother. From this intercourse a daughter was born, whom he would later marry without knowing who her real parents were. Engraved frontispiece depicting a tomb with the following epitaph (in French): 'Here lies the child, here lies the father Here lies the sister, here lies the brother Here lies the wife and the husband And there are only two bodies here.' There appear to be three distinct versions of… Read More

A Paris, chez Jombert Père et Fils, s.d. (c.1770). Oblong 8vo. Engraved title page and 26 hand-coloured engraved maps. Full calfskin, smooth spine decorated (contemporary binding, restored). First Edition. Small portable atlas fully engraved, including the following twenty-six maps: "L"Univers", "La Terre", "l'Europe", "l'Asie", "L'Afrique", "l'Amérique", "La Russie", "L'Allemagne", "La Turquie Européenne", "La Pologne", "La Suède", "La France", "La France Militaire", "La France Ecclésiastique", "La Carte des Postes de Paris", "l'Espagne", "Le Dannemark et la Norvege", "La grande Bretagne", "la Hongrie", "Portugal", "Naples et Sicile", "La Royaume de Sardaigne", "La Prusse", "La Hollande et les Pays bas", "La Suisse", "I. Venise. II. Genes. III. Etat de l'Eglise". Charles-Antoine Jombert (1712-1784), while working as a bookseller (1736) and printer (1754), devoted himself to the study of mathematics, architecture, military art, drawing, painting, drawing, etc. He published many didactic works.… Read More

A Paris, chez Desaint et Saillant, et Durand, 1756. 8vo. Engraved portrait. VIII. 184 pages. 1 leaf. 10 out-of-text engraved plates. Full green morocco, ornate ribbed spine, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, edges painted red (contemporary binding). Original Edition of this famous epic poem composed of ten songs that tell the story of the discovery of "La Colombiade" by Christopher Columbus, the protagonist. It recounts his journey, his encounters with the inhabitants, the customs, the industries, the animals, the landscape and the battles that took place. It's the story of Christopher Columbus himself, in the form of a poem explaining the problems of financing, the adventures of the voyage, the discovery and part of the conquest. The publication of this work earned its author the praise of her most illustrious contemporaries: of Fontenelle, who called her his daughter; of Clairaut, who compared her to Madame du Châtelet; of La Condamine; of Voltaire who, receiving her in Ferney, went to meet… Read More

2 works in 1 volume, 8vo. 1). XVI. 47 pages. 2). 24 pages. 2 engravings were placed in frontispiece of the work by Demoustier, a portrait of the author and a spanking scene entitled "Discipline Patriotique". Later half-leather, ornated spine with nerves (late 19th century binding). Interesting collection of two anticlerical poetic pamphlets, to which has been attached a very rare revolutionary engraving representing a nun, bure curled up and buttocks in the air, whipped by sans-culottes with the legend inscribed at the bottom of the image: "Discipline Patriotique". The scene is observed from the background by a man leaving the "Caffé Richelieu".

Paris, Les Marges, s.d. (c.1933). Squared 8vo. Frontispiece. 15 pages. Paperback, printed cover. First Edition. Detailed account by Eugène Montfort (1877-1936), the extravagant and controversial editor of the literary magazine "Les Marges", of the secret collaboration with his friend Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), who published in his magazine several articles on women's literature in 1909 under the name of a mysterious Louise Lalanne. Photographic frontispiece depicting "Guillaume Apollinaire à l'époque de Louise Lalanne": lying on a sofa with his legs covered by a plaid, the floor strewn with books. One of twenty-five copies on Arches paper, numbered and initialed by the author. A fine copy, untrimmed. On Guillaume Apollinaire's deception of Louise Lalanne, cf. Fernand Chaffiol-Debillemont "Eugène Montfort et les Marges", in: Revue des Deux Mondes (1829-1971), (JANUARY 15 1967), pp. 201-213.

Collection of 6 works in volume, 12mo. 1). Engraved frontispiece. 4 leaves. 98 pages. (1 blank leaf). 2). 6 leaves. 71 pages. 3). 3 leaves. 112 pages. (interversion of sheets). 4). 2 leaves. 108 pages. 5). 4 leaves. 47 pages. 6). 2 leaves. 44 pages. Full speckled brown calf, ornate ribbed spine (contemporary binding). Valuable collection of four plays and two gatherings of poetry by Parisian playwright Gabriel Gilbert (1610-1680), contemporarily bound together in a single volume. They are all first editions, none of them having been published in a first edition in quarto format, as was often the case with theatrical works. The man who served as secretary to the Duchess of Rohan, and later to Queen Christine of Sweden, was also the author of a number of tragedies, some of which enjoyed some success. Although almost forgotten today, scholars such as Soleinne have noted that he exerted a notable influence on the authors of his time, including the most illustrious such as Racine and Corneille. A faithful… Read More

Paris, Dentu, 1854. 2 parts in 1 volume, 8vo. XI. 140 pages. 148 pages. 4 out-of-text lithographs. Quarter-percaline (period binding). First Edition, illustrated with four beautiful two-tone lithographed plates, of the first French bullfighting manual. Inspired by the growing success of Spanish bullfighting among the French public, particularly in Paris, the author wanted to write a work specially intended for French "aficionados", explaining the ceremonies and different passes of bullfighting, explaining the most common terms, the most essential in these fights. The plates depict the spade pass ("entrada del toro a la vara"), the spear jump ("salto de la garrocha"), the banderillas half-turn ("banderillas a media vuelta") and the sword thrust ("estocada"). The work was printed in Bayonne by Lamaigne, and two editions are known to have appeared simultaneously, one with a Bayonne address, the other with a Paris address, as in this case. Autograph signature of the author on verso of the title page. The… Read More

(Paris), La Hune, 1946. Folio. 6 leaves. 16 plates. In sheets, with printed folded cover. First Edition, printed in 70 copies. Painter and engraver of Polish ancestry living in Paris in the early 20th century, Louis Marcoussis (1878-1941) collaborated with Braque, Degas, Picasso, and Apollinaire mainly, among others. He was the first engraver to work with the Cubists. "Voici un homme qui a vu, qui a passé sa vie à voir, qui a voulu voir. De si longues méditations concentrées dans le plus analytique des regards ont donné à Louis Marcoussis le droit de graver le Voyant" (Bachelard). ["Here is a man who saw, who spent his life seeing, who wanted to see. Such long meditations concentrated in the most analytical of looks gave Louis Marcoussis the right to engrave the Seer"]

A Paris, chez Cardin Besongne, 1654. 8vo. (1 blank leaf). 7 leaves. 475 pages. 2 leaves. Full speckled calf, ornate ribbed spine (period binding). Original Edition, with the author's coat of arms engraved in intaglio on the title page. Vauban's teacher, the mathematician and astronomer Blaise François, Comte de Pagan (1604-1665), enjoyed a great reputation among the scientists of his time, and his Paris home was a meeting place for scholars and intellectuals. On plane geometry, conic sections, planetary theory, navigation, fortifications, etc. Numerous woodcut figures in the text. A fine copy, very well bound in contemporary style. Poggendorff, t. II, col. 343-344.

Genève, par Jean de Tournes, 1607. 16mo. 8 leaves. 336 pages. 7 leaves. (1 blank leaf). Full later vellum, ornate ribbed spine, all edges gilt, Josep Triadó's gilt bookplate in the center of the boards (early 20th century binding). A delightful bilingual edition of Aesop's fables, printed in Geneva in French and Latin by the famous printer Jean de Tournes. It is decorated with ninety-eight charming woodcut vignettes in the text, based on drawings by his favorite illustrator, Bernard Salomon (1506-1561). The text is printed in two columns: in ordinary type for the Latin and in civilité type for the French translation (prose). A painter and illustrator resident in Lyon, like his printing partner Jean de Tournes, who later exiled himself to Geneva to escape the Counter-Reformation, "Petit Bernard" - as he is also known - played a leading role in the emergence, from 1550 onwards, of the illustrated book with woodcut vignettes. This edition does not appear to be in any French institutional collection.… Read More

A Criticopolis, l'an des Muses 10101 (Belgique, 1783). 8vo. 187 pages. Contemporary half-calf, flat ornate spine. First edition. Extraordinary satirical "mise en abyme" on literary creation, especially theatrical creation, and on the theory of literature by the adventurer and political activist Pierre-Auguste Brahain Ducange, whose son Victor Ducange (1783-1833) was one of the most original playwrights of the French scene of his time. Born in Holland, Ducange Sr. was first the teacher of a French family residing in Amsterdam, then secretary of the French embassy in Holland. Dismissed from his post for leaking sensitive diplomatic information to Dutch newspapers, he devoted himself to journalism and then went to Spain where he is said to have survived through various scams. Returning to the Netherlands around 1790, he resumed his journalistic activities and directed the Leiden Gazette, written in French, before emigrating to Paris where he became close to Jacobin circles and published a new periodical… Read More

Together 7 pieces bound in 1 volume, 12mo. 1). 24 pages. 2). 14 pages. 3). 12 pages. (i.e. 11). 1 leaf. 4). 8 pages. 5). 8 leaves. 6). 12 leaves. 7). 11 pages. Half-calf, ornate spine (19th century binding). First Edition (?) of this important and extremely rare political pamphlet in which Jean Bodin, 'one of the greatest political philosophers of all time' (Encyclopedia Universalis), justifies his membership of the Catholic League. "The Letter of January 20, 1590, is clearly a masterpiece of political analysis once it is properly framed within its historical context. The work continues to be discussed and disparaged by historians and biographers of Bodin. Bodin explains why 'the inhabitants or most of them' of Laon, including himself, became members of the 'League'. (...) Examining the general situation of the warring factions, Bodin expresses himself frankly. He knew how to judge one of the most complex moments in French history clearly and without partisanship. By analyzing how he reaches his… Read More

Franckfurt und Leipzig, 1727. 4to. 12 leaves. 152 pages. Ancient boards. First Edition in German language of the "Russian Catechism" of the Kiev Metropolitan Petru Simeonovic Mogila (1597-1646). Mogila was the first to give a systematic survey of the doctrine and dogma of the Orthodox Church. The translator of this work is the German physician and scholar Johann Leonard Frisch (1666-1743), a friend of Leibnitz and member of the Science Academy of Berlin. A few waterstains, boards worn and a little bit stained.

Wittebergae, Typis Jobi Wilhelmi Finceli, Impensis Heraed. D. Tobiae Mevii, et Elardi Schumacher, 1655. 16mo. 9 leaves. 531 pages. (i.e. 533). Contemporary full calf, ornamented gilt spine (slightly restored). First Edition, very rare, of this work of great importance in the history of the physiology of smell's study. The discoverer of the pituitary mucosa (also called "Schneider's membrane") which covers the nasal cavity and contains the cells responsibles for the sense of smell, Konrad-Victor Schneider (1610-1680) redacted the present work after performing experiments on cows, dogs and geese, in order to locate the origin of the olfactory sense. He demonstrated in particular that nasal cavities are separated from the brain mass and that secretions are produced by their vascular tissue and not by the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. Paper uniformly browned, as always. A very good copy probably bound in France by a contemporary binder. Garrison-Morton, 1452: "'Schneider's membrane', the pituitary… Read More