Antique Books

Marcus Terentius VARRON, CATON L'ANCIEN
Libri de re rustica M. Catonis, M. Terentii Varronis, M. Iunii Moderati Columelle, Palladii Rutilii : quorum summam pagina sequens indicabit [avec] Macrobii Aurelii Theodosii Viri consularis, in Somnium Scipionis M. Tulii Ciceronis Libri duo, Et Saturnaliorum Lib. VII. Cum scholiis & indicibus Ascensianis [avec] De die Natali. Censorini opusculum, de die natali, ad Q. Cerellium
Venundantur Iodoco Badio Ascensio • [ Josse Bade]|s. l. • [Paris] 1529 et 1524 pour les deux textes suivants|20.50 x 31.50 cm|relié
Libri de re rustica M. Catonis, M. Terentii Varronis, M. Iunii Moderati Columelle, Palladii Rutilii : quorum summam pagina sequens indicabit [with] Macrobii Aurelii Theodosii Viri consularis, in Somnium Scipionis M. Tulii Ciceronis Libri duo, Et Saturnaliorum Lib. VII. Cum scholiis & indicibus Ascensianis [with] De die Natali. Censorini opusculum, de die natali, ad Q. Cerellium
Venundantur Iodoco Badio Ascensio [Josse Bade] | [Paris] 1529 et 1524 pour les deux textes suivants | in-folio (20.5 x 31.5 cm) | A6 A8 a-t8 v6 x8 et Aa6 †4 A-O8 et Aa10 | contemporary stiff vellum
First Parisian edition of the Libri de re rustica with a frontispiece-title showing a scene in a...
€3,500
Jean-Baptiste de Boyer ARGENS
Lettres chinoises , ou correspondance philosophique , historique & critique , entre un Chinois Voyageur & ses correspondants à la Chine , en Perse & au Japon . Nouvelle édition augmentée de nouvelles lettres & de quantité de remarques. [Ensemble] Songes philosophiques, par l'auteur des lettres juives
Chez Pierre Paupie|à La Haye; [The Hague] • à Berlin 1755 - 1746|8 x 14.50 cm|6 volumes reliés
New edition (third?) and first in 6 volumes. The first edition dates from 1746. Les Songes philosophiques are in first edition.
Contemporary full speckled brown calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated. Red morocco title and volume labels. Triple gilt fillet and star cornerpieces on boards. All edges red. Three head caps and three tail caps worn. A few corners very slightly bumped.
The Lettres chinoises, inaugurated by the same author as the Lettres juives have this typical Enlightenment design of comparing the customs and habits of several civilizations; the work takes up the scheme, always humorous, of the first work of this type: L'espion de la...
€900
Jean SLEIDAN
Commentariorum de statu religionis & Reipublicae, Carolo Quinto Caesar, Libri XXVI
Chez Theodore Rihellius (Rihel)|Argentorati [Strasbourg] • (Strasbourg) s. d. [1559]|12 x 19.50 cm|relié
New edition.
A folio edition was published simultaneously in Strasbourg by Jean Rihel, reprinted from the 1558 edition. This 1558 edition is the earliest we have found, but according to some sources the first edition would date from 1555. Printer's device on title page.

Contemporary binding in full pigskin over wooden boards. Spine with three raised bands. Covers stamped with several friezes and floral frames, as well as a garland of medallion portraits of Emperor Charles V. Traces of clasps. Discreet restorations to joints, one repaired tear at the level of a raised band, second cover with some stains. Missing one endpaper before the title.
Numerous...
€3,000
Théodore de BÈZE
Epistolarum Theologicarum. Liber unus
Chez Eustache Vignon|Genève [Geneva] 1575|11 x 18 cm|relié
New edition, reproducing that originally published by the same publisher in 1573.
84 letters, text on 36 lines.
Contemporary full vellum binding with overlapping edges. Smooth spine. Lower compartment clumsily restored, as well as an angular lack to the lower corner of the second board. Light worming to the first endpaper and the first three leaves not touching the text. A pale dampstain to the lower margin of half the volume. Manuscript annotation on title page "ExLB MMagdal Rochesse 1713".
Theodore de Bèze alone embodies and personifies Christian humanism; above all a churchman, he was the undisputed leader of Protestantism from 1575 and directed the Church of Geneva for...
€1,500
Charles EISEN, Roland LE VAYER DE BOUTIGNY
Tarsis et Zélie
Chez Musier fils|à Paris 1774|14.50 x 21.50 cm|relié
New illustrated edition in first printing. The illustration comprises three frontispieces by Cochin, Moreau and Eisen, engraved by Gaucher, Ponce and Née; and 20 headpieces by Eisen, engraved by Helman, De Longueil, Masquelier and Massard. Elegant illustration with careful page layout.
Full blonde tortoiseshell calf bindings. Spines with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and fleurons, as well as red and green sheep title and volume labels. Covers framed with triple gilt fillets. Gilt dentelles framing the pastedowns. All edges gilt. Head and foot of first volume with small lacks, those of the other two volumes rubbed. Five corners bumped. Numerous and scattered foxing...
€800
First illustrated edition of Ziméo, a pioneering anti-slavery tale of the Enlightenment
First illustrated edition of Ziméo, a pioneering anti-slavery tale of the Enlightenment
Jean-François de SAINT-LAMBERT
Les Saisons, poëme. [The Seasons. Followed by Abenaki, Sara Th..., Ziméo, Fugitive Pieces, and Oriental Fables]
S. n.|à Amsterdam 1775|14 x 23 cm|relié
Seventh edition, first issue of Moreau le Jeune's illustrations, adorned with 7 plates: a frontispiece and 4 plates for Les Saisons, engraved by Delaunay, Duclos, Lebas and Prévost, and 2 plates for the Contes, Poésies fugitives and Fables orientales, together with headpiece vignettes by Choffard, reprinted from the first edition of 1769.
Contemporary full calf binding. Richly decorated smooth spine. Red morocco lettering-piece. Boards in mottled calf (with Greek-key border) added at a later date during restoration. Worn corners. A split to the upper joint extending 5 cm. A very good copy overall.
€450
Esprit FLÉCHIER
Histoire du cardinal Ximenès
Chez Jean Anisson|à Paris 1693|18 x 26 cm|relié
First edition, rare, decorated with a frontispiece portrait by Delinck and illustrated with 6 title headpieces and 6 tailpieces by Sébastien Le Clerc. Printer's device on title page, with the fleur-de-lys of Florence.
Contemporary brown sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Head and tail caps and joints restored at head and foot. Corners worn.
The work appeared barely a few days after the Histoire de Ximenez by Marsolier and whose comparison sparked controversy until the 19th century. While Fléchier's work tends to illustrate the Cardinal's saintliness, that of Marsolier, more critical, addresses "libertines, to that party of philosophers who...
€800
[Madame de LA FAYETTE] [ou Gatien COURTILZ DE SANDRAS]
Memoires de Hollande
Chez Estienne Michallet|à Paris 1678|10 x 15.50 cm|relié
The rare first edition, long attributed to Madame de La Fayette, and published the same year as La Princesse de Clèves, then to Courtilz de Sandras and even to Pierre Daniel Huet.
Late nineteenth-century full morocco binding signed Bellevallée glazed old red. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Wide gilt inner border. Date at foot. Very fine copy, perfectly established, with wide margins, and unwashed.
Unlike La Princesse de Clèves, or La Princesse de Montpensier, the Mémoires de Hollande is not a historical novella, but presents itself as a novel of manners that uses modern first names. The work describes, through the love affair between a Jewish woman and a Lusignan, life in the...
€1,800
John GAY
Fables
Printed for J. and R. Tonson|London 1737 - 1742|12 x 19.50 cm|2 tomes reliés en un volume
Fifth edition statement for the first volume, and second edition for the second. The first volume was first published in 1727, with a sequel added in 1738. It is illustrated with a frontispiece by Scottin (placed at the head of the second volume and dated 1738), two title vignettes, 51 headpieces by Kent and Wooton in the first volume and 16 large figures by Gravelot for volume II.
Later full calf binding. Spine ca. 1800, decorated with cold-stamped fillets and roulettes. The flamed calf boards have been added. Rubbing. One corner trimmed. One corner restored. 2 small lacks to headcaps.
€500
ANONYME
Le nouveau Testament de N. S. Jesus-Christ
Chez Desaint & Saillant|à Paris 1752|10 x 17 cm|2 volumes reliés
First impression by this publisher. Volume II is in two parts and has two title pages, the first completing the Acts of the Apostles begun in the first volume.
Contemporary full brown morocco binding. Decorated Jansenist spine with raised bands (blind fillets). Red morocco title and volume labels (with rolls and fillets). Double fillet on leading edges. Interior roll. Beautiful and rare gilt dominotier paper (scattered stars and dots). Edges gilt. Slight lack at head of volume I. Lacks at foot of volume I. One corner bumped. Lacks at head of volume II; slight lack at foot; 3 corners bumped. Despite the noted defects, a handsome and well-preserved copy in contemporary morocco.
This...
€400
[DULAURENS] Abbé Joseph DU LAURENS
L'arretin
Aux dépens de la Congrégation de l'Index|à Rome [Rome] • [Paris] 1768|10 x 15.50 cm|deux parties en un volume relié
The first edition appeared in 1763 at the same address under the title: L'arretin, ou la débauche de l'esprit en fait de bon sens.
Contemporary full citron morocco binding. Smooth spine decorated. Green morocco title-label. Triple fillet frame on covers. Edges gilt. Handsome copy. Upper joint lightly rubbed.
L'arretin consists of 25 essays and tales on subjects as diverse as Les nègres, L'agriculture, La chasteté ou le célibat, Histoire de maître Pierre, etc. These are all violent critiques, sometimes direct, sometimes satirical or allegorical, of Biblical teaching, the church, and its history. Abbé Du Laurens (1719-1793) was a polemical and anti-religious writer whose...
€1,200
[JANSENISME] Lettre a une personne de très-haute considération, au sujet de la cessation du service ordinaire, résolue par le parlement, le 5 mai 1753. pour vaquer sans discontinuation aux affaires du schisme. [Ensemble] Lettre apologétique, critique et politique, écrite par un seigneur de la cour, a Monsieur le Marechal de *** sur l'affaire du parlement. [Ensemble] Tres-humbles et tres respectueuses representations des officiers du bailliage et siege presidial de Langres a Monseigneur le Chancelier [...] [Ensemble] Supplément à la tradition ds faits, qui prouve l'indépendance des rois de France, vis-à-vis di Pape, des Archevêques & Evêques de son royaume. [Ensemble] Memoire sur le refus des sacremens a la mort qu'on fait a ceux qui n'acceptent pas la constitution, et un addition concernant les billets de confession
S. n.|A Amsterdam; • Turin; • s. l. 1750 - 1754|10 x 16.50 cm|5 parties reliées en un volume
First editions of these 5 texts concerning Jansenism and Parliament. The collection forms a rare ensemble.
Contemporary full blonde calf binding. Decorated raised spine. Red morocco title label. Corners slightly bumped. Good copy.
To understand the significance of these editions, it is necessary to go back a little in history: The papal bull Unigenitus (1713) takes up and perfects the various bulls against "Jansenist heresy" by particularly condemning the theses of Quesnel and Arnauld, it would give rise to a religious dispute in France that would gradually worsen into a major political crisis over confession tickets and refusal of sacraments to those who opposed the bull. Not only...
€700
Very handsome antique morocco binding
Very handsome antique morocco binding
SÉNÈQUE
Senecae tragediae cum notis Th. Farnabii
Daniel Elzevier|Amstelodami [Amsterdam] • (Amsterdam) 1678|6.50 x 12 cm|relié
Elzevier edition of these tragedies by Seneca with the highly esteemed notes by the English grammarian Thomas Farnaby (or Farnabie). The first edition with Farnaby's notes is that of London, 1613. Brunet V, 286. Illustrated with an engraved title-frontispiece.

Contemporary full navy blue morocco binding, raised spine decorated in grotesque style (rolls composed of lozenges within circles), sawtooth fillet border and wave roll border on covers, gilt edges, interior fillet.

Very handsome antique morocco binding.
€600
Thomas ARTUS
Description de l'isle des hermaphrodites. Nouvellement decouverte, concernant les moeurs, les coutumes & les ordonnances des habitans de cette isle, Comme aussi le Discours de Jacophile à Limne, avec quelques autres pièces curieuses
chez les héritiers de Herman Demen • [ François Foppens]|Cologne • [Bruxelles] [Brussels] 1724|10.6 x 17 cm|relié
Second edition, the First edition of 1605 is extremely rare. Illustrated with a frontispiece depicting a hermaphrodite, with the inscription 'Je ne suis ni male ni femelle...' ["I am neither male nor female..."].

Contemporary sheep binding, worn. Decorated spine with raised bands. Lacking the title label. Light dampstaining to margins at end of work.

Considered the first French anti-utopia, this journey of a Frenchman weary of his country's ills to an island inhabited by effeminate characters, made-up and devoted to festivities and pleasures, is a satire of the disorders of Henri III's court, himself represented by king Hermaphroditus, woman king or man queen. The work...
€700
Jean de LA FONTAINE
Les oeuvres posthumes de monsieur de La Fontaine
Guillaume de Luyne|Paris 1696|9.50 x 15 cm|relié
A counterfeit of the first edition published the same year in Holland.
Full sheep binding with raised spine, spine in four compartments decorated with double panels and gilt fleurons, brown calf title-label, date at foot, elegant pastiche binding signed Desnaux. Engraved headpieces, initials and tailpieces.
One manuscript endpaper concerning the work at rear.
€600
Salvatore ROSA
Figurine. Varia et concinna delineamenta
S. n.|Ca 1656|petit in 4|relié

ROSA Salvatore
Figurine. Varia et concinna delineamenta
N. n., n. p. n. d. [circa 1656], small in-4 (15,5 x 22 cm), one frontispice et 60 plates, restoration-period binding
62 etchings on thick paper. Very rare.
Salvatore Rosa made these etchings around 1656 in a collection originally entitled Figurine. This collection has a different title in the cartouche on the frontispiece, just as another copy in the Soares dos reis Portuguese National Museum bears the title: Has ludentis oty Carolo Rubeo singularis amititiae pignantes. D. D. D. The copy in the Portuguese museum is cataloged as a posthumous edition from the 18th...
€3,800