Het Gezantschap Der Neerlandtsche Oost-Indische Campagnie, aan den Grooten Tartarischen Cham, Den tegenwoordigen Keizer van China

Het Gezantschap Der Neerlandtsche Oost-Indische Campagnie, aan den Grooten Tartarischen Cham, Den tegenwoordigen Keizer van China

Amsterdam: Jacob Van Meurs, 1665

FIRST EDITION.

Lacking portrait and 2 folding views although that of Paolinxi was apparently never issued.

Folio. Jan Nieuhoff (1618-1672) travelled in Brazil, the East Indies and China, and lost his life while on an expedition between Mozambique and Madagascar. His account of China is a famous book and was of enormous value in the dissemination of the knowledge of China throughout late 17th-century Europe. On the expedition Nieuhoff was accompanied by a number of scientists, whose studies of flora and fauna are illustrated in a series of delightful plates, alongside fine views of ports and towns.

$6,000

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A General Dictionary Historical and Critical

"Bayle's Dictionary is a very useful work for those to consult who love the biographical part of literature, which is what I love most" – Samuel Johnson "He sets forth things with such an odious accuraqcy, and puts the arguments for both sides before us with such shocking impartiality and is so intolerably intelligible that he puts even thoise of the most meagre understanding in a position to judge and even to doubt what is told them." –Voltaire The second Edition. 10 volumes. Folio. Later 1/4 morocco over cloth. Bookplates. Library blind stamps to titles.

$1,500

Pompeiana. Topography, Edifices and Ornaments of Pompeii, the results of excavations since 1819

First expanded edition. The one volume edition of 1817-19 was written by John P. Gandy and illustrated by Gell. Excavations continued throughout the 1820s. The 1832 edition was written by Gell himself and covers the recent excavations. “Pompeiana, published in 1817-19 brought the first comprehensive account of the excavations to English-speaking readers... Numerous editions issued over the next six decades influenced popular culture through a skillful illumination of fact with lively pictorial images. The first edition is a topographical tour covering major public and domestic structures... while the revised sequel of 1832.. presents the results of recent exploration, in the course of which a number of spectacular residences and baths were uncovered. Bringing to light noteworthy examples of mythological paintings, excavations carried out during the 1820s opened a window into the living quarters of Romans whose libraries and walls were replete with the texts and images of classical mythology.” –Claire L. Lyons and Marica Reed, Antiquity Recovered: The Legacy of Pompeii and Herculaneum Imperial octavo. Two volumes. (17x26.5cm) Contemporary silken green cloth with gilt labels to spine. Complete with 87 full page plates. With an additional 30 vignettes tipped on india. Untrimmed. Minor foxing to preliminaries; an excellent set in an attractive early binding.

$950

Outlines from the Figures and Compositions upon the Greek, Roman and Etruscan Vases

1804 edition of Hamilton's celebrated Outlines from the Figures and Compositions upon the Greek, Roman and Etruscan Vases, illustrated with 62 engraved plates. Quarto. Half-title, 62 engraved plates by Kirk (uncoloured). Handsomely bound in quarter calf over vellum boards. Text and plates clean, small split at half-title (holding). Nice copy.

$950

Discours de la religion des anciens Romains

FIRST EDITION of Du Choul's superbly illustrated work on the religious customs, ceremonies and observances of the ancient Romans. Du Choul was one of the first antiquaries to give an interpretation of the images of medals, inscriptions, and bas-reliefs drawing on classical literary sources. “Du Choul ... literally [owned] his evidence, in the form of the coins that his book so lovingly reproduced. These bits of metal, whose exploitation for antiquarian purposes Du Choul was hereby pioneering, revealed to his proprietary gaze a rich religious life that he inevitably came to think of as his own... Du Choul’s interest in pagan survivals, then, reveals him as a true son of the Renaissance in his eagerness to reach across the centuries that separated him from his beloved Romans and to experience an intense feeling of cultural and even spiritual kinship with the classical age.”–David A. Lupher, Romans in a New World: Classical Models in Sixteenth-century Spanish America“It was Guillaume Du Choul... who would open in earnest the era of the study of Roman religion itself, in his Discours de la religion des anciens Romains... Du Choul’s work, which soon achieved notoriety ... made us of figurative sources. In particular, Du Choul analyzed coins, many of which had been brought to him by peasants working on his estates.” –Guy G. Strousma, A new science: the discovery of religion in the Age of Reason Lyon: Guillaume Rouille, 1556. Quarto. Half vellum over paper boards. Roman letter with Italic marginalia, illustrated with woodcut medallions by P. Eskrich in text. Very good overall, occasional light toning, a lovely copy.

$3,750

Antiquarum statuarum urbis Romae, primus et secundus liber

FIRST EDITION. An immensely important work in establishing the provenance of antique sculpture and an indispensable companion to the Grand Tour of Renaissance art lovers. Reprinted in many later editions. 100 copper engravings. True first edition. Quarto. (Printed before 1585: date was added to engraved title in 1585.) 17th Century mottled-calf binding, spine in 6 compartments with raised bands, gilt, morocco label. Engraved title and 100 plates detailing antique statues in 16th-century Roman collections. Binding scuffed at extremities; spine ends worn with some loss; evidence of stamp removal (title); generally clean throughout. An attractive copy.

$3,750

Histoire De l'Art Chez Les Anciens

FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH of this most important work in art history and criticism.“Winckelmann’s History had a remarkable impact for a scholarly antiquarian publication. It presented a comprehensive synthesis of available knowledge about the visual artefacts of the ancient world... Four main sculptural traditions were discussed in detail – the ancient Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek and Roman. What particularly caught the imagination of Winckelmann’s contemporaries, however, and still assures the book a place among the classics of art history, is what Winckelmann himself envisaged as its core, the eloquent and hugely ambitious attempt to redefine the history and aesthetics of the ancient Greek tradition.” –Alex Potts, Flesh and the Ideal: Winckelmann and the Origins of the History“[Winckelmann’s] magnum opus is in a class apart, for it completely revolutionized the study of art by treating it organically (Winckelmann was the first to do so) as part of the growth of the human race” –E.M. ButlerOctavo.Two volumes bound as one. Recent crushed morocco, rebacked with the original spine laid down, marbled endpaper. Illustrated throughout. A handsome copy.

$1,000

Roma Sotterranea or some Account of the Roman Catacomb especially of the Cemetery of San Callisto

First Edition. This work is based on De Rossi's celebrated Roma Sotterranea (1864-77). Octavo. Original blind stamped purple cloth with gilt decoration to front board and spine. Spine quite faded with minor wear at head and heal; Bookplate to front pastedown. Text clean and complete with folding atlas inserted in pocket at rear; 20 chromolithographs and numerous woodcut text illustrations. An attractive, solid copy.

$650

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Essai sur L'Étude de la Littérature

FIRST EDITION of Gibbon’s first published work (preceding the English edition by 3 years).“I was delighted by the copious extracts, the warm commendations, and the flattering predictions of the Journals of France and Holland: and the next year (1762) a new edition (I believe at Geneva) extended the fame, or at least the circulation, of the work. In England it was received with cold indifference, little read, and speedily forgotten...” –The Autobiography and Correspondence of Edward Gibbon Small octavo (11x17cm). Full contemporary calf skillfully rebacked. Some minor rubbing to extremities, front hinge repaired. Occasional foxing; a clean and very attractive copy of this scarce title.

$2,000

Inscriptiones sacrosanctae vetustatis: non illae quidem Romanae, sed totius fere orbis summo studio... conquistae

FIRST EDITION of the first comprehensive collection of Latin inscriptions from the press of Apianus. Inscriptiones Sacrosanctae was commissioned by the German banker Raimund Fugger whose own collection of antiquities, together with the collection of Peutinger, provide the basis of the majority of Apianus's study. This work gathered inscrptions from all over Europe and, for the first time, arranged them geographically. Folio. Contemporary full vellum. Title printed in red & black, with large woodcut after Durer. Woodcut arms of Raimund Fugger (dedicatee), approx. 180 woodcuts in the text, most pages with ornamental woodcut borders, printer's device at back. Elegant early owner inscription on title. A lovely copy with only very minor occasional spotting. Rare.

$7,500

Poema aureum eiusdemque epistole

SECOND (FIRST DATED) EDITION OF SIDONIUS, AN EXCELLENT COPY FROM ULRICH SCINZENELER'S MILAN PRESS. Sidonius, a diplomat, poet and bishop, is one of the key sources from 5th-century Gaul. Sidonius married the daughter of the Roman Emperor Avitus. The Golden Poems in this volume were written in honor of the Avitus. He was rewarded with a bronze statue in Tranjan's library. Chancery folio (283 x 194mm.), 144 leaves, 57 lines commentary surrounding text, Roman and Greek letter, woodcut initials. 18th century full-leather binding, expertly rebacked preserving original spine (except for lower spine panel which is done to style), gilt ornaments to boards, spine gilt, marbled endpapers. Bookplates at front pastedown. (Gerald P. Mander, Walter Goldwater). A clean copy with wide margins; light dampstains at lower margin of first 30 leaves, occasional dampstains throughout; repair at lower portion of title page (not affecting text). This is the first edition with a commentary by Joannes Baptista Pius and the second printed edition, preceded by the exceedingly scarce 1474 edition. Hain Copinger 1287; Goff S 494.

$12,000

An Examination of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of Mr. Gibbon's History, BOUND WITH: Gibbon's A Vindication Bound w/Davis' "Reply"

FIRST EDITION. With 'Advertisement' after the title page. BOUND WITH: Davis, Henry Edwards. A Reply to Mr. Gibbon's Vindication of Some Passages in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." London: J.Dodsley, 1779. First edition. Octavo, bound in recent 3/4 calf over marbled boards preserving early spine. Internally clean and sound throughout; a very attractive volume of this rare edition. In 1778 three people, including Henry Edwards Davis, a tutor of Balliol College, Oxford, wrote treatises publicly attacking Gibbon in hysterical terms for the anti-Christian remarks in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of his 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire', which contain remarks condemning the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire. The philosopher David Hume had warned Gibbon that this might happen. It gave Gibbon the opportunity to overmatch Davis with a public reply (here included) which was quite devastating in its superior learning, and its contrasting coolness. Gibbon had it printed in octavo so that it could not be bound with his (quarto) 'History'. Davis' further reply is also included here.

$3,500

NIEUHOFF, JAN