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 111
(ARMENIAN).

(ARMENIAN). ~ Compendiose notizie sulla congregazione de' monaci Armeni Mechitaristi di Venezia nell'isola di S. Lazzaro. [Title also in Armenian].

[Island of San Lazzaro, Venice: Tipografia di Sudetta Isola,  1819.
First edition of a lovely example of the Armenian typography of the Mekhitarist monks of the island of San Lazzaro in the Venetian lagoon. The island was granted to a small group of Armenian monks led by Mekhitar escaping Turkish persecution in 1717. The monastery (which came to occupy the entire island) became a centre of scholarly renown in the fields of oriental study and philology, welcoming scholars from all over the world. Byron notably spent part of 1816 on the island studying Armenian. This scarce history is in both Armenian and Italian, and includes several notices of the earlier productions of the Mekhitarist press.   view more...
£250.00
US$373.95*
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 436
[AUBIGNÉ, Théodore Agrippa d'.]

[AUBIGNÉ, Théodore Agrippa d'.] ~ Les aventures du Baron de Fæneste, comprise en quatres parties. Les trois premieres reveües, augmentees, & distinguees par chapitres. Ensemble, la quatriesme partie nouvellement mise en lumiere, le tout par le mesme auteur.

"Au Dezert" [Geneva]: imprimé au despens de l'autheur,  1640.
An early edition of Aubigné's controversial invective against the enemies of Protestantism in France, which takes the form of a prose dialogue between the Catholic courtier Baron de Fæneste, the satirical anti-hero and a Protestant gentleman named Enay. The pretentious affectations of the hero Fæneste (from the Greek phainesthai, to appear) are contrasted with the modesty of the country squire Enay (from einai, to be). The title was previously published in Maille in 1617, 1619 and 1620, and also in 1630 with the same false imprint as this edition. It was also published a number of times in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most notably the 1855 edition which was edited by Prosper Mérimée.   view more...
£375.00
US$560.92*
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 142
[BAKER, Thomas].

[BAKER, Thomas]. ~ Traité de l'incertitude des sciences. Traduit de l'anglois [translated by Nicolas Berger].

Paris: Pierre Miquelin and Jacques Piget,  1714.
First edition in French of Baker's Reflections upon Learning (1699), a work designed to display the inadequacies of human knowledge and reason and to emphasize the ultimate need for belief in revelation. It proved controversial (provoking an angry response from geologist and physician John Woodward) and was widely reprinted. Bacon and Descartes are closely considered.   view more...
£250.00
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 235
BARTH, Christian Gottlob.

BARTH, Christian Gottlob. ~ [Title in Hindi] Brief history of the Church of Christ... translated into Hindi by John Parsons, missionary, Monghir.

Calcutta: J. Thomas, Baptist Mission Press,  1849.
First edition in Hindi, probably translated from the English version of Barth's Christliche Kirchengeschichte, a fundamental text for the protestant mission in India. The work was also translated into Oriya and Singhalese. Barth was a major figure in the production of texts for the Lutheran missions outside Europe. John Parsons, the Hindi translator, lived for a long time at Monhir, dying there 1869. He is best remembered as a translator of the New Testament into Hindi.   view more...
£250.00
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 78
BAYLEE, John T.

BAYLEE, John T. ~ Statistics and facts in reference to the Lord's-day...

London: Seeleys and J.H. Jackson,  1852.
First edtion. Baylee was clerical secretary of the Society for promoting the due observance of the Lord's-day.    view more...
£200.00
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 59
(BIBLE, in French.)

(BIBLE, in French.) ~ La Sainte Bible, qui contient le Vieux et le Nouveau Testament. Imprimée sur l'édition de Paris, de l'année 1805. Edition stéréotype, revue et corrigée avec soin d'après les textes Hebreu et Grec.

London: R. Watts "au frais de la Société pour l'impression de la Bible en langue Angloise et en langues étrangères,"  1838-39.
One of numerous foreign-language editions published at this time by the British and Foreign Bible Society.This copy preserves the original British and Foreign Bible Society binding with elaborate panels stamped from a single plate.   view more...
£95.00
US$142.10*
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 847
 

(BOEHME, Jacob.) ~ A compendious view of the grounds of the Teutonick philosophy. With considerations by way of enquiry into the subject matter, and scope of the writings of Jacob Behmen, commonly called the Teutonick Philosopher. Also several extracts from his writings. And some words used by him explained. Published by a Gentleman retired from business.

London: by M. Lewis and sold by Bathurst, Baker, Whiston ,White, Richardson and Roberts, C. Dilly, Davis and Heard in London, Woodyer and Merril at Cambridge, Kendal at Colchester, Mills at Bath, Binns at Halifax, Binns, Ogle and Copperthwaite at Leeds, Megget and Stringer at Wakefield, Brook at Huthersfield, Mercer at Maidstone and Burden at Winchester,  1770.
First edition of this Behmenite collection, serving as an introduction to Boehme's theosophical system. It includes A treatise of eternal nature by the seventeenth-century English disciple John Pordage. It is a scarce edition, with an interesting provincial circulation, but is an example of one of many late eighteenth-century popular works on Boehme, reflecting a heightened interest (especially in artisan and radical context) in his visionary teachings. It is significant that many of Boehme's formulations prefigure the transcendent writings of William Blake, who was steeped in the Behmenist tradition.   view more...
£450.00
US$673.11*
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 117
BUCHANAN, George.

BUCHANAN, George. ~ Paraphrasis Psalmorum Davidis poetica multo quam antehac castigatior; auctore Georgio Buchanano, Scoto, po'tarum nostri saeculi facilè principe. Adnotata sunt argumenta, & carminum genera. Accesserunt duae eiusdem Buchanani tragoediae sacrae: Jephthes, & Baptistes sive Calumnia.

London: Richard Field,  1592.
A rare London pocket edition of Buchanan's Latin verse paraphrases of the Psalms: "The work which more than any other has secured to [Buchanan] his eminent place among modern Latin poets. Buchanan's translation of the Psalms may fairly be considered one of the representative books of the sixteenth century, expressing, as it does, in consummate form, the conjunction of piety and learning which was the ideal of the best type of humanist" (Cambridge History of English and American Literature).Buchanan, though a Scotsman, travelled widely on the continent. The two plays, Jephthe and Baptistes, which also appear in our edition were composed at Bordeaux during a spell of teaching at the newly founded Collège de Guyenne (where Montaigne was among Buchanan's pupils). The Paraphrasis was begun at Coimbra (Portugal) where Buchanan had been teaching at the time of the Inquisition. He had gone to teach there in 1547, only to find the university soon overrun with Jesuits who observed his every movement and confined him to a nearby monastery to reform his humanist tendency towards satire (and the eating of meat in Lent). The Paraphrasis was the product of his penance: an unmistakeable triumph of humanist piety and scholarship. The work was dedicated to Mary Queen of Scots (and the dedication is repeated in our Elizabethan edition) who appointed Buchanan tutor to her son, the future James VI. It was first printed by the Estiennes in 1566, but was also printed in England in 1580 and 1583.   view more...
£875.00
US$1308.82*
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 906
BUNYAN, John.

BUNYAN, John. ~ The Water of Life: or, a discourse shewing The Richness and Glory of the Grace and Spirit of the Gospel, as set forth in Scripture by this Term, The Water of Life...

London: for Nathanael Ponder,  1688.
First edition. The Water of Life, an exposition of Revelation 22:1 likening God's grace to a river, was one of Bunyan's final works, written and published in the year of his death.Copies retaining all the 16pp. adverts are rare and the copy reproduced by EEBO (Huntington) lacks the last 4 (none of the advert leaves appear in the EEBO version).   view more...
£4500.00
US$6731.08*
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 87
CHALMERS, Thomas.

CHALMERS, Thomas. ~ Sermons preached in the Tron church, Glasgow.

Glasgow: for John Smith and Son, William White and Co in Edinburgh and Longman et al in London,  1819.
First edition, very scarce, of a work reprinted twice in the following decade. Chalmers was a pioneer social reformer whose work was carried out in the context of his poor parish in the rapidly industrializing city of Glasgow. "Chalmers became convinced that the fundamental problem in Glasgow and other Scottish cities was the breakdown of communal spirit. The middle and upper social orders had lost their sense of personal responsibility for the poor and unchurched. Moreover, many of the poor had become degraded to the status of 'paupers', dependent on institutional poor relief and suffering a loss of self-respect. His reading of Malthus convinced him that the major cause of poverty was the growth of population beyond the capacity of the country's agricultural resources to sustain it in decent comfort" (Oxford DNB).   view more...
£350.00
US$523.53*
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 113
 

(CHURCH OF ENGLAND). SEABURY, Samuel, the Reverend. ~ The continuity of the Church of England in the sixteenth century: two discourses: with an appendix and notes...

New York: Pudney & Russell,  1853.
First edition of a work "designed to explain and defend the position of the Church of England, so far as it involves that of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States" (Preface). Seabury was of a dynasty of American protestant churchmen: his grandfather (also Samuel) had been the first American Episcopal bishop.   view more...
£120.00
US$179.50*
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 346
[D'URFEY, Thomas.]

[D'URFEY, Thomas.] ~ The Weesils. A satyrical fable: giving an account of some argumental passages happening in the Lion's Court about Weesilions taking the oaths.

London: [n.p.], printed in the year.  1691.
First edition of D'Urfey's anonymously published satire on William Sherlock, lampooning his notorious abandonment of nonjuror principles and satirising the reputed influence of his much-reviled wife. A Church of England clergyman and religious controversialist, Sherlock had allied himself with the nonjurors in 1689 by conspicuously refusing to take the oath to the newly crowned William and Mary. Onlookers were stunned Sherlock subsequently performed a complete about-face and very publicly prayed for the King and Queen as de facto sovereigns in 1690, a move which inevitably provoked much scorn from all sides. D'Urfey himself was a popular comic playwright whose career had flourished under the patronage of Charles II. Briefly left in the political wilderness during the more sober reign of James II, the coronation of William III in 1689 offered new opportunities which D'Urfey was quick to exploit. Having pledged himself to the whigs, he wrote birthday songs and odes for the king and queen and further curried favour by producing a series of anonymous poems in which he satirised those opposed to the new regime.   view more...
£200.00
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 868
(DEVOTION).

(DEVOTION). ~ The Devout Catholick Christian's Daily Companion, Being Compleat Manual of Devotions. Fitted for all the concerns of human Life, with particular offices for sick and Dying Person; selected from the writings og the most eminent Divines.

[n.p., n.d, but probably Western Pennsylvania, c.  1830.
An interesting and extensive American devotional manuscript: beginning with observances for every day of the week, morning, noon and evening and continuing with a large number of praers for specific life events or moment of spiritula advancement. The "Catholick" of the title does not denote a Roman Catholic manuscript, rather the Protestant notion of the "whole church". Indeed the manuscript is overtly protestant, with many of the prayers derived from those of Jeremy Taylor and other Protestant divines such as Patrick Tillotson.These sources are interesting in the light of the early ownership inscription: probably of Luke Babe Davison, a prominent Wilkinsburg Presbyterian, son of two Irish-Scots immigrants steeped in the Protestant culture of Northern Ireland.   view more...
£1200.00
US$1794.95*
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 624
(DEVOTION. MANUSCRIPT PRAYER BOOK).

(DEVOTION. MANUSCRIPT PRAYER BOOK). ~ Orationes variae quae tempores augustissimi scarifici missae recitari possunt...

[Germany, n.d., c.  1700.]
A very extensive pocket-size compilation of Devotions at Mass with special emphasis on the Cross and the Wounds of Christ. The writer mixes his own prayers with collects, canticles and hymns from the liturgy. The original contributions are very full and were designed so that the reader could select passages most appropriate to their personal prayers: he asks that the user select "illae quae te ad maximam devotionem excitabunt" (those parts which will most inspire you to devotion). The most striking portion, pp. 113-304, contains 54 points in the ceremonial, matched by incidents in the Passion and Resurrection, from the Garden of Gethsemene to the disciples going out into the world: "Sacerdos ad altare se confert; Christus tendit ad hortum Olivarum" - each scriptural referecne enhancing the meaning of the priest's action during the mass. Additionally, there is an exercise by the sixteenth-century mystic Louis of Blois and another (possibly by the compiler); the "15 O's" of St. Birgitta, Queen of Sweden on the Passion; and, to conclude, a powerful image takent from a vision of St Hedwig (c. 1174-1243, patron saint of Silesia) in which Christ frees his right hand from the nail to bless her with the sign of the cross.This is a remarkable work. At one level it functions as a readily portable and usable guide to the mass (with 12 silk markers at key points remaining in situ), and on another, it is an original, imaginative and occasionally dramatic commentary on the ceremony. The script suggests a German origin, c. 1700. A detailed list of contents is available on request.   view more...
£1200.00
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 626
(DEVOTION. MANUSCRIPT PRAYER BOOK.)

(DEVOTION. MANUSCRIPT PRAYER BOOK.) ~ Catholischer Seelen Wecker worinnen Morgen- Abends- Mess Beicht und Com[m]union Gebetter wie auch Kräftige Lytaneyen Zum Trost und heyl der seelen Begriffen seynd.

[Germany], c.  1791.
A very decorative personal prayer book containing morning and evening prayer and private prayers to be said as an accompaniment to the mass. All are in German, including versions of the Agnus Dei and Pater Noster and there are long litanies of saints.The series of baroque illustrations is especially striking, with the eleven images including several emblems. 1. Christ recumbent on cross and shroud in a flower garden; 2. an angel leading the Christ child; 3. the Trinity (Christ seated beside the Father with the Dove of the Holy Spirit above); 4. The Virgin enthroned; 5. The Lamb of God (depicted above souls in Hell); 6. Mary Magadalen in her grotto, holding a skull; 7. the Holy Sacrament (the host with chalice); 8. The Sacred Heart; 9. King David with a harp; 10. Joseph with the Christ child; 11. Saint Anne teaching the Virgin to read.    view more...
£1200.00
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 648
(DEVOTION.) [LE LORRAIN, Jean].

(DEVOTION.) [LE LORRAIN, Jean]. ~ De l'ancienne coutume de prier et d'adorer debout le jour du dimanche, & de fête, & durant le tems de Pâque. Ou abregé historique des ceremonies anciennes et modernes, tiré des SS. Peres, des auteurs, & des conciles de chaque siecle, de l'histoire ecclesiastique, des liturgies grecques & latines, & des ordinaires, rituels, ceremoniaux, actes, constitutions, & statuts de chaque eglise. Où l'on traite en passant ce qu'il y a de plus beau dans l'ancienne discipline.

Liège [i.e. Rouen]: chez Henry van Rhyn [i.e. Guillaume Behourt],  1700.
First edition of this valuable chronological history of religious rites and ceremonies, from the early Jews to the seventeenth-century. Le Lorrain was chaplain of the cathedral at Rouen and it is not clear why the work was printed with a fictitious imprint. Examples are known with Liège and Delft imprints (no primacy) but both were printed at Rouen by Guillaume Behourt.   view more...
£400.00
US$598.32*
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 308
(DICTIONARY, French-Latin).

(DICTIONARY, French-Latin). ~ Petit thresor des mots françois, selon l'ordre des lettres, ainsi qui'il les fuat escrire tournez en Latin. Revue et augmenté de plusieurs proverbes, dictions, & manieres de parler, Françoises & Latines...

Rouen: pour la Societé,  1666.
A French-Latin dictionary for Jesuit use. The earliest edition we have found being 1626 (Paris). The additions to this edition contain newer words and usages, together with place names.   view more...
£200.00
US$299.16*
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 467
 

DONNE, John. ~ Biathanatos. A declaration of that paradoxe or thesis, that self-homicide is not so naturally sin, that it may never be otherwise. Wherein the nature, and the extent of all those lawes, which seeme to be violated by the act, are diligently surveyed.

London: for Humphrey Moseley,  1648.
First edition, second issue, giving the date '1648'. Keynes suggests that the work was first published in 1647, since although it is undated, it first appears in the Stationers' Register in the autumn of 1646. The second issue uses the unsold sheets of that first issue with a cancel title.Donne frankly admits his fascination for the act of suicide in his Preface "...whensoever any affliction assailes me, mee thinks I have the keyes of my prison in mine owne hand, and no remedy presentes it selfe so soone to my heart, as mine own sword." He chose not to publish his meditations on the subject and only circulated the Biathanatos among friends in manuscript. He sent a copy to Sir Edward Herbert, and, in 1619, another to Sir Robert Karre, writing: "It was written by me many years since; and because it is upon a misinterpretable subject, I have always gone so near suppressing it, nor many eyes to read it: onely to some particular friends in both Universities, then when I writ it, I did communicate it: And I remember, I had this answer, That certainly, there was a false thread in it, but not easily found: Keep it, I pray, with the same jealousie; let any that your discretion admits to the sight of it, know the date of it; and that it is a Book written by Jack Donne, and not by D. Donne: Reserve it for me, if I live, and if I die, I only forbid it the Presse, and the Fire: publish it not, but burn it not; and between those, do what you will with it'"(cited by Keynes). It was published posthumously by John Donne the younger, and dedicated by Lord Herbert's sone Phillip.   view more...
£3000.00
US$4487.39*
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 20
[EACHARD, John.]

[EACHARD, John.] ~ The grounds and occasions of the contempt of the clergy and religion enquired into. In a letter written to R.L.

London: by W. Godbid for N. Brooke,  1670.
First edition. "This work, which brims over with wit and humour, had a rapid sale, and passed through many editions. The author represents the contempt with which the clergy were generally regarded as being in great measure due to a wrong method of education or the poverty of some of the inferior clergy" (DNB). The book, with its occasionally hilarious anecdotes of disasters in the pulpit, was widely discussed and criticised. It later formed the basis of Macaulay's account of the English clergy around the time of the accession of James II in his History of England. Eachard was Master of Catherine Hall, Cambridge and later Vice-Chancellor of the University. He was something of a learned wag and here forestalled the likely assumptions of the reader in a good-humoured preface: "I can very easily phansie, that many upon the very first sight of the Title, will presently imagin, that the Author does either want the great Tithes, lying under the pressure of some pitiful Vicaridge; or that he is much out of humour, and dissatisfied with the present condition of Affairs; or lastly, that he writes to no purpose at all, there having been an abundance of unprofitable Advisers in this kind."   view more...
£300.00
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 918
GREEN, John.

GREEN, John. ~ [Caption title:] The Royal seraphine. A new musical instrument, invented and manufactured only by J. Green, 33, Soho-Square.

[London: L. Harrison, n.d., c.  1833.
A rare prospectus for a new keyboard instrument, the immediate precursor of the harmonium: the instrument which was to revolutionise public music-making, especially church music, in Victorian England and abroad. Green was the first to patent the use of a vibrating metal bar acted upon by wind to reproduce the sound of a much larger organ, thereby allowing a practical and inexpensive keyboard intstrument to be installed in even the smallest meeting house.Green notes in his prospectus that "the sound is produced on a principle never before thus applied to musical purposes; the nearest approach to it, though at an immeasurable distance, being the Jew's Harp, the musical Snuff Box, and a small Chinese instrument [the shêng]." A major advantage of the free reed system he proposed was trueness of pitch in all climates: he mentions examples of the instrument succesfully shipped to India, the Cape of Good Hope, Australia and America and notes "he has heard of one being sold in India for 200 guineas; and in New York it has excited an extraordinary sensation, being regularly used as the organ in Grace Church..."   view more...
£300.00
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 13
[HOTMAN, François.]

[HOTMAN, François.] ~ La vie de Messire Gaspar de Colligny Seigneur de Chastillon, Admiral de France. A laquelle sont adiousté se Memoires sur ce qui se passa au Siege de S. Quentin.

Leyden: Bonaventure & Abraham Elzevir,  1643.
First Elzevir edition of this biography of the French protestant hero Gaspard de Coligny. Coligny had been appointed Admiral of France in 1552 and was captured at the siege of St Quentin in 1557. In the two years of his captivity he became a convinced Calvinist and went on to lead the French Huguenots in the religious wars against Catholic dominance in France. He was implicated in the murder of Francis, Duke of Guise in February 1563, an event which was to lead ultimately to the Massacre of St Bartholomew in 1572, in which Coligny himself was killed under the direct supervision of the Duke's son, Henry.Coligny's life became an inspiration to Protestants throughout Europe. It was first printed in Latin in 1575 and had previously appeared in French earlier the same year, in a quarto edtion.   view more...
£500.00
US$747.90*
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 617
 

INGELO, Nathanael. ~ Bentivolio and Urania, in six books. The fourth edition with large amendments. Wherein all the obscure words throughout the book are interpreted in the margin, which makes this much more delightful to read than the former editions.

London: A[nne].M[axwell]. and R[obert].R[oberts]. for Dorman Newman, at the Kings Arms in the Poultrey,  1682.
Fourth, amended edition. First published in two instalments in 1660 and 1664, Ingelo's best-selling work of moral and religious instruction was soon reprinted with a second edition in 1669 and the third in 1673. The fourth edition, 1682, included "large amendments. Wherein all the obscure words throughout the book are interpreted in the margin". Each of the two volumes was printed by a different printer and ESTC records indicate that they were not intended to be issued together.   view more...
£300.00
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 112
 

(JESUITS). OLIVER, George, the Reverend. ~ Collections towards illustrating the biography of the Scotch, English, and Irish members of the Society of Jesus.

London: Charles Dolman,  1845.
First edition, one of 250 copies of this valuable biographical dictionary.   view more...
£150.00
US$224.37*
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 853
 

(KABBALAH). ~ Sefer Raziel ha-mal'akh... [Book of Raziel, in Hebrew].

Amsterdam: Mosheh ben Avraham Mendes Koitinyo, "461" [   1701].
First edition. Sefer Raziel ha-mal'akh is a fundamental Kabbalistic text in which is expounded the spiritual laws of birth, life, death and the universe according to Jewish tradition. It contains many pictorial amulets and incantations together with Kabbalistic diagrams of the structure of the cosmos. By Kabbalistic tradition and according to the text, the works which form the book are considered to have been revealed to Adam when driven from Paradise, thus making it the very first "book" of written knowledge. It is further believed that the texts were engraved on sapphire and passed from generation to generation before coming into the possession of Solomon. In historical fact, the Sefer Raziel cannot have taken shape before the thirteenth-century AD, and it is probably to be associated with that strand of Jewish Kabbalistic mysticism known as the Chassidei Ashkenaz developed in Germany around Rabbi Judah the Pious (Rabbi Yehuda HeChassid) of Regensburg. Certainly though it may also contain elements dating back to late antiquity.Medieval manuscripts of the Sefer Raziel survive, but it was not printed until this edition of 1701, a fact not surprising considering the antipathy which existed between Kabbalistic attitudes to sacred texts and the notion of commercial reproduction. It appears to have been well-known in the Renaissance and developed associations with the magical arts. Ownership of the book was and is considered to be talismanic, notably protecting a house against fire.   view more...
£4000.00
US$5983.18*
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 322
LEE, Robert.

LEE, Robert. ~ The reform of the Church of Scotland in worship, government, & doctrine. Part I.-Worship. Pp. x, [2], 182, [2] (advert).

Edinburgh: Edmonstone and Douglas,  1866.
A collection of nineteenth century Scottish ecclesiastical pamphlets, principally by Robert Lee, the reforming Church of Scotland minister. Lee's contribution was primarily in the reform of worship rather than theological debate, believing that worship should comprise three elements: word, prayer and praise. His controversial stance on a variety of topics led him to frequent clashes with conservative clergy and in 1859 he was unsuccessfully charged with unlawful innovations in worship.   view more...
£50.00
US$74.79*
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 289
 

(LONDON). LEIGH, Samuel, publisher. ~ Leigh's new picture of London, or, A view of the political, religious, medical,literary, municipal, commercial and moral state of the British metropolis presenting a luminous guide to the stranger on all subjects connected with general information, business, or amusement to with are subjoined a description of the environs, and a plan for viewing London in eight days.

London: for Leigh and Son, and Baldwin and Craddock,  1834.
   view more...
£150.00
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 290
 

(LONDON). TIMBS, John. ~ Curiosities of London exhibiting the most rare and remarkable objects of interest in the metropolis with nearly sixty years' personal recollections... a new edition, corrected and enlarged.

London: Virtue & Co.,   1876.
First published in 1855 Timbs's Curiosities is a wonderful catalogye of London facts and eccentricities: alchemists, coffee houses, Chelsea buns, fogs, law courts, railway termini, prisons - they're all here.   view more...
£75.00
US$112.18*
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 23
 

M'CULLA, V.[igors], ~ The Bank Note, or, engraver carv'd; in answer to Onesimus, the ecclesiastical state tinker...

London: [R. Wilks] for the author, "And sold at Nethaneel Chapel, on Tuesday and Thursday Evenings; at the Rev. J. Carter's Meeting, Portsea; by I. Miller, Bookseller, 72, Chancery Lane; Mr. Biddle, No. 11, Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square; T. Ball, Whittlesea, Isle of Ely; and J. Fitzjohn, King's Cliff, Northamptonshire",  1806.
First and only edition of this virulent sectarian attack on the antinomian artist/engraver Garnet Terry ('Onesimus') by a dissenting 'Minister of the Gospel at Nethaneel chapel, Eden Street, Tottenham Court Road'. The 'minister of darkness', Terry, and his 'religious and political principles', promulgated from 'his haunt in Clare Court, Drury Lane' are roundly dismissed in seven letters. M'Culla refers repeatedly to a book by Onesimus put into his hands by a bookseller, which we have been unable to identify from library catalogues: Terry's earlier publications appear to have been on the subject of engraving or were simply short pamphlets. The work referred to by M'Culla ran to over 200 pages, if we can trust his references.The imprint and final advert provide a useful insight into the dissemination of non-conformist writings.   view more...
£120.00
US$179.50*
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 143
M'QUHAE, William.

M'QUHAE, William. ~ The difficulties which attend the practice of religion, no just argument against it. A discourse from James, chapter I, verse 12.

Edinburgh: by Balfour and Smellie,  1775.
First and only edition of M'Quhae's only published work, a sermon preached in the presence of Charles, Lord Cathcart. M'Quhae, though unprolific in published work, had been a major influence on the young James Boswell, who had written his early "Journal of My Jaunt, Harvest 1762" for M'Quhae and John Johnston. The 21-year-old Boswell had met M'Quhae in 1761 and found in him a firm and sympathetic friend. "Only three years Boswell's senior, he had come into Lord Auchinleck's household as domestic tutor... By that time Boswell himself had passed beyond the need of a tutor's ministrations, and was able to associate with the new governor on purely social and friendly terms, M'Quhae's manliness pleased him greatly. At the University of Glasgow he had been a favourite pupil of Adam Smith; he was well educated, loved polite literature, and, though he had decided to be a clergyman in the country, was not without a relish for the scenes of active life" (Pottle, Boswell, Earlier Years, p. 75-6). The friendship did not however survive Boswell's European tours and M'Quhae lived a relatively quiet life as minister of St Quivox from 1764. He became, however, a respected member of the "New Licht" faction within the Church of Scotland, a movement which reflected the liberal attitudes of the Enlightenment against the conservative and Calvinsist "Old Licht faction". Burns humorously referred to him in "The Twa Herds" as "That curs'd rascal ca'd M'Quhae", and mentioned also "M'Quhae's pathetic manly sense."   view more...
£1500.00
US$2243.69*
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 481
(MUGGLETONIANS.) FROST, Joseph and Isaac, editors.

(MUGGLETONIANS.) FROST, Joseph and Isaac, editors. ~ Divine Songs of the Muggletonians in grateful praise to the only true God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

London : R. Brown,  1829.
Issued during the revival of the Muggletonian sect during the 1820s, this copy is entirely unopened (and unused).   view more...
£500.00
US$747.90*
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 397
[OLIVIER, Abbé Jean.]

[OLIVIER, Abbé Jean.] ~ L'Infortuné Napolitain ou Les Aventures du Seigneur Rozelli, qui contiennent l'histoire de sa naissance de son esclavage, de son état monastique, de sa prison dans l'Inquisition, et ses différentes figures qu'il a faites, tant en Italie, qu'en France, & en Hollande. Nouvelle edition, revue, corrigée & augmentée d'un grand nombre de figures en taille-douce.

Amsterdam: Henri Desbordes,   1761.
A comic picaresque novel and an anti-Jesuit satire recounting the life and adventures of Rozelli in a series of fanciful catastrophes and disasters, in the course of which he becomes a Catholic clergyman and then converts to Judaism. The title was first published in 1708 and went on to be republished a number of times during the eighteenth century, with translations into English, German and Dutch. The illustrations appeared first in an edition of 1729.   view more...
£350.00
US$523.53*
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 339
 

PENN, William, Robert BARCLAY and Joseph PIKE. ~ Three treatises in which the fundamental principle, doctrines, worship, ministry and discipline of the people called Quakers, are plainly declared. The first, by William Penn, in England; the second by Robert Barclay, in Scotland; the third, by Joseph Pike, in Ireland. [PENN, William. A brief account of the rise and progress of the people called Quakers... The sixth edition;] [BARCLAY, Robert. The anarchy of the ranters, and other libertines; the hierarchy of the Romanists, and other pretended churches, equally refused and refuted, in a two-fold apology for the Church and people of God, called in derision, Quakers;] [PIKE, Joseph. An Epistle to the National Meeting of Friends, in Dublin, concerning good order and discipline in the Church.]

Philadelphia: re-printed by Joseph Crukshank,   1770.
First edition thus. A collection of treatises on the Quakers, each with separate title page and pagination; the first is signed separately, the second and third continuously. "The three treatises are sometimes found in separate issues. When collected, a list of books to be sold by Benjamin Ferriss, in Wilmington, pp. [4], is generally found added."(Evans). The publication of works defining and defending the Quaker faith, while distancing it from more extreme elements at its fringes, was central to seventeenth-century efforts to bring Quakerism into the mainstream of religious life. Penn and Barclay both played pivotal roles, publishing numerous important works, in addition to their notable diplomatic efforts. Barclay's The Anarchy of the Ranters was first published in 1676, Penn's Brief Account followed in 1694 and Pike's Epistle appeared in 1726. All three titles were republished a number of times over the following century, including an edition of Barclay's The Anarchy of the Ranters with Pike's Epistle, published in Philadelphia by B. Franklin and D. Hall in 1757.   view more...
£300.00
US$448.74*
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 53
PENN, William.

PENN, William. ~ Histoire abrégée de l'origine et de la formation de la société dite des Quakers, ou sont exposés clairement leur principe fondamental, leur doctrine, leur culte, leur ministere, et leur discipline, precedée d'une introduction ou il est traité en peu de mots des dispensations anterieures de dieu aux hommes... nouvellement traduite de l'Anglois par Ed. P. Bridel.

Londres [genuine]: J. Phillips,  1790.
First edition of Bridel's French translation of A brief account of the rise and progress of the people called Quakers. The British Library catalogue records two issues one with the date wrongly given as 1740 otherwise identical to ours and our issue with the date corrected.    view more...
£600.00
US$897.48*
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 129
(QUAKERS). CLARKSON, Thomas.

(QUAKERS). CLARKSON, Thomas. ~ Histoire des Quakers; traduite de l'anglais de Clarkson, et suivie de récit de la réforme opérée dans la prison de Newgate, a Londres, par le Comité des Dames.

Geneva and Paris: J.J. Paschoud,  1820.
First edition in French of Clarkson's very successful and influential A Portraiture of Quakerism (1806). It was widely reprinted and translated. Best known as a slavery abolitionist and author of Essay on the Impolicy of the African Slave Trade (1788) Clarkson was a lifelong Anglican who nonetheless confessed to being almost a Quaker or 'nine parts in ten of their way of thinking' (Oxford DNB). This French translation of the Portraiture includes a 17-page introduction by the editor, together with a 28-page assessment of the prison reforms led by the Quaker Elizabeth Fry and her Comité des Dames.   view more...
£300.00
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 120
 

(RIDLEY, Nicholas, Bishop.) ~ ... Some account of the life and martyrdom of the right reverend Dr. Nicholas Ridley, Lord Bishop of London.

Bristol: J. Chilcott, sold at the Depository, 6, Clare Street, Bristol; and by L.& G. Seeley, Fleet Street, London,  1839.
This is no VI in the series issued by the Church of England Tract Society "instituted in Bristol, 1811" (from the title). It was first published in 1815 but we can find no other record of this 1839 Bristol imprint.   view more...
£50.00
US$74.79*
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 340
 

ROBERTSON, Joseph. ~ On scholastic offices in the Scottish Church in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

[N.p., ?Edinburgh or Aberdeen]: printed for private circulation,  1853.
Scarce first edition of this work on the medieval Scottish church, inscribed by the author: "James T. Gibson Craig esqe with the author's compliments." Nineteenth-century author and historian, Joseph Robertson (1810-66) wrote widely on the history of Scotland; this pamphlet preceded by some years his seminal work on medieval ecclesiastical history, Concilia Scotiae (1866), a two-volume edition of the pre-Reformation Scottish church's canon law and constitutions.   view more...
£50.00
US$74.79*
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 257
ROSS, Alexander.

ROSS, Alexander. ~ Virgilii evangelisantis Christiados libri XIII. In quibus omnia quæ de Domino nostro Iesu Christo in utroque Testamento, vel dicta vel prædicta sunt, altisona divina Maronis tuba suavissime decantantur…

London: Richard Thrale,   1638.
A cento in Virgilian verse giving the principal Biblical events from the death of Abel to the ascension of Christ, mainly concerning the life of Christ and the prophecies of his Messiahship, the text extensively revised and enlarged from the author's Virgilius evangelisans, sive, Historia Domini & Salvatoris Nostri Jesu Christi (1633). Ross was born in Aberdeen but spent much of his later life in England, being vicar of Carisbrooke in the Isle of Wight from 1634 to his death twenty years later. He was a voluminous and well-regarded writer, and is best known for his translation of the Koran (from the French), the first version in English.This is an interesting copy, its binding bearing Tudor rose devices on the covers, a relatively late example of what was in any case a rare emblem among bookbinding tools. Our copy is without the printed title, like the copy (Universty of Minnesota) reproduced for Early English Books Online. It retains a neat stub, suggesting deliberate cancellation rather than loss. The book is known for the variances in its makeup, notably in the final leaves. In our copy there are stubs of 2 cancelled leaves before the final leaf (a cancel) the text ending correctly p. 312 and the imprimatur of William Bray dated 1637.   view more...
£825.00
US$1234.03*
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 38
 

SACHEVERELL, Henry. ~ A sermon preach'd before the honourable House of Commons, at St. Margaret's Westminster, on Friday, May 29. 1713.

London: for Henry Clements,  1713.
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£35.00
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 41
 

(SACHEVERELL, Henry.) ~ A list of the lords who protested against some proceedings, in relation to the case of Dr. Henry Sacheverell, in the House of peers; with their lordships reasons for entring their protestations.

London:  1710.
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£55.00
US$82.27*
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 40
 

(SACHEVERELL, Henry.) [BURNET, Gilbert.] ~ The Bishop of Oxford his speech in the House of Lords on the impeachment of Dr. Henry Sacheverell.

London: for Jonah Bowyer,  1710.
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£45.00
US$67.31*
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 37
 

(SACHEVERELL, Henry.) [BURNET, Gilbert.] ~ The Bishop of Salisbury his speech in the House of Lords, on the first article of the impeachment. of Dr. Henry Sacheverell.

London:  1710.
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£40.00
US$59.83*
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 39
 

(SACHEVERELL, Henry.) [KING, William.] ~ A vindication of the Reverend Dr. Henry Sacheverell, from the false, scandalous, and malicious aspersions cast upon him in a late infamous pamphlet, entitled, The Modern Fanatick. Intended chiefly to expose the iniquity of the faction in general, without taking any considerable notice of their poor mad tool B-t in particular. In a dialogue beteen a Tory and a Wh-g.

London: for H. Clements,  [1711.]
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£70.00
US$104.71*
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 896
SCOT, Reginald.

SCOT, Reginald. ~ The discoverie of witchcraft, wherein the lewde dealing of witches and witchmongers is notablie detected, the knaverie of conjurors, the impietie of inchantors, the follie of soothsaiers, the impudent falshood of cousenors, the infidelitie of atheists, the pestilent practises of pythonists, the curiositie of figurecasters, the vanitie of dreamers, the beggerlie art of alcumystrie, the abhomination of idolatrie, the horrible art of poisoning, the vertue and power of naturall magike, and all the conveiances of legierdemaine and juggling are deciphered: and many other things opened, which have long lien hidden, howbeit verie necessarie to be knowne. Heereunto is added a treatise upon the nature and substance of spirits and divels, &c...

[London : Henry Denham for William Brome],  1584.
First edition of the first systematic and rational account of the practice of witchcraft in England.   view more...
£24000.00
US$35899.08*
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 136
(SCOTISM). ASCARGORTA, Juan de.

(SCOTISM). ASCARGORTA, Juan de. ~ Manual de confessores, ad mentem Scoti, por el R.P. Fr. Juan de Ascargorta, de el Orden de N.S.P.S. Francisco, lector jubilado, custodio, y examinador synodal. Van anadidas las direcciones, practicas para los nuevos confessores, y al fin las definiciones.

Seville: for Antonio Espinosa de los Monteros,  [1743].
A confessor's manual arranged according to the Scotist system favoured by the Franciscans: a system named after the thirteenth-century Oxford theologian John Duns Scotus. It was first printed in 1713.   view more...
£325.00
US$486.13*
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 109
(SCOTLAND).

(SCOTLAND). ~ The beast is wounded. Or information from Scotland, concerning their reformation. Wherein is briefly declared, the true cause and ground of all the late troubles there; and the reasons why they have rejected the bishops, with their courts, canons, ceremonies and service books. Hereto is added some fruitfull observations, upon the former declaration by Jo. Bastwicks younger brother.

[Amsterdam: "Richt Right" press,] "printed in the yeare that the bishops had their downfall in Scotland,"  [1638].
First edition of this rare Puritan pamphlet on the downfall of the Scottish bishops, written from an apocalyptic perspective and printed in the Low Countries. Though the foot of the title give "The first part" no more parts were printed. ESTC notes that the "Confession of Faith was intended to be bound between quires B and C, but is frequently missing [as here] or misbound" and that the various editions of the Confession are catalogued separately by the STC.   view more...
£400.00
US$598.32*
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 229
SPELMAN, Sir Henry.

SPELMAN, Sir Henry. ~ Tithes too hot to be touched. Certain treatises, wherein is shewen that tithes are due. By the law of nature, scripture, nations, therefore neither Jewish, Popish, or inconvenient. Written by Sr. Henry Spelman Knight, and others. With an alphabeticall table.

London: for Philemon Stephens,  [1636].
First edition. Spelman was one of the most prolific of the early Stuart antiquaries. Profoundly concerned with the continuity of English institutions, he was a champion of the payment of tithes to the church and wrote several works in defence of the system. His De non temerandis ecclesiis: a Tract of the Rights and Respect due unto the Churches (1613), a criticism of the appropriation of church property for profane purposes, was influential enough to encourage the jurist John Selden to publish a response The Historie of Tithes (1618), which refuted the contention that tithes were justified by both history and constant usage. The present treatise, published posthumously from Spelman's papers by Jeremy Stephens, takes up the debate with Selden once more. It was reprinted in 1637 as The Larger Treatise on Tithes.   view more...
£575.00
US$860.08*
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 313
STILLINGFLEET, Edward.

STILLINGFLEET, Edward. ~ The unreasonableness of separation: or, An impartial account of the history, nature, and pleas of the present separation from the communion of the Church of England. To which, several late letters are annexed, of eminent Protestant divines abroad, concerning the nature of our differences, and the way to compose them. By Edward Stillingfleet, D.D. Dean of St. Pauls, and chaplain in ordinary to His Majesty.

London: printed by T[homas]. N[ewcomb]. for Henry Mortlock, at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-yard,  1681.
First edition of Stillingfleet's major work, urging unity in the Church of England in the face of emerging dissent at home and in the American colonies. It was developed from the author's controversial sermon The Mischief of Separation preached on 11 May 1680 before the whig lord mayor of London, Sir Robert Clayton, which caused a furore among Dissenters. Passionately committed to Protestant unity, Stillingfleet accused the Dissenters of an innate tendency to sectarianism which threatened the entire Protestant enterprise in the face of Catholic resurgency in England."Stillingfleet was clearly taken aback by the opposition to his sermon. In 1683 he produced a major work, The Unreasonableness of Separation, which enlarged upon the earlier sermon. Even if occasional conformity were accepted as the norm there would be no end to dissenters pressing for their various ideas of a perfect church, and so perpetuating schism. He admitted that various reforms were desirable in the Church of England, especially in the church courts to restore the puritan ideal of church discipline; but dissenters maintained their nonconformity only because of certain 'accidental appendices' and some 'circumstantials of worship' whereas the Church of England's schism with Rome rested on doctrinal issues—a very different matter" (Till in Oxford DNB).The work has considerable historical value, since Stillingfleet presents a very careful anatomy of the various phases of dissent, both in England and abroad. There are several interesting accounts of the early churches in North America and discussions of the debates between Roger Williams, John Cotton and Samuel Gorton.   view more...
£250.00
US$373.95*
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 874
(STUART, Charles, Baron Stuart de Rothesay).

(STUART, Charles, Baron Stuart de Rothesay). ~ [5 fine blue morocco bindings by Simier from the Rothesay collection.]

  1640-1650.
A handsome group, superbly bound in Paris by Simier for Charles Stuart, Baron Stuart de Rothesay, British ambassador to France 1815-24 and 1828-31. Charles Stuart was widely considered one of the most discriminating English connoisseurs and collectors in Paris: he bought extensively for himself and, on occasion, for George IV. After his return from Paris his purchases furnished Highcliffe Castle (Christchurch, Dorset) which he had built in romantic and picturesque style. His books are notable for their fine French bindings, like these by Simier in typical ornately gilt blue morocco. The contents of Stuart's exceptional library were sold by Sotheby and Wilkinson over 14 days in May 1855. Many seem to have returned to France, a French compliment to an Englishman's taste in binding. While books bearing the Rothesay arms occasionally appear in commerce it is rare to find them in groups such as this. The British Library contains several similar examples with identical decoration by Simier or red and blue morocco bindings.These quite probably formed part of a much larger (probably comprehensive) collection of works from the Elzevir and associated presses. Notable among them is the first appearance of Saumaise (Salmasius)'s edition of the erotic romance, Leucippe and Clitophon, the only suviving work of Achilles Tatius and Corvinus' edition of Clapmarius' De arcanis rerum publicarum, an important German work on the philosophy of state.   view more...
£3400.00
US$5085.70*
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 154
STUART, Gilbert.

STUART, Gilbert. ~ The history of the establishment of the Reformation of religion in Scotland...

London: for J. Murray and J. Bell,  1780.
First edition of Stuart's account of the Scottish Reformation from 1517 to 1561.   view more...
£275.00
US$411.34*
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 919
(TAHITI).

(TAHITI). ~ Ui Katorika o te vikario-rea apotoro i Tahiti. O te hapii mai i te mau mea Atoa e au ia faaroo hia e ia haapao hia e te taata Atoa i hinaaro i te tomo i te rai.

Saint-Cloud: Belin, n.d., c.  1840.
A rare Tahitian catechism prepared for the Vicariate Apostolic of Tahiti, with the text in Tahitian and French.   view more...
£250.00
US$373.95*
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 160
TAYLOR, Isaac.

TAYLOR, Isaac. ~ The Process of Historical Proof; exemplified and explained: with observations on the peculiar points of the Christian Evidence.

London: for B.J. Holdsworth,  1828.
First edition. Taylor, often referred to as Taylor of Stanford Rivers, was an earnest and prolific scholar of early Christian history. It is said that he coined the word "patristic" to refer to this field of study. "He argued in favour of the historical validity of the Bible in History of the Transmission of Ancient Books to Modern Times (1827) and The Process of Historical Proof (1828)" (Oxford DNB). A devout Anglican, he was bitterly opposed to the Tractarian Movement led by Newman and Pusey and he argued tirelessly against the movement's interpretations of scripture.   view more...
£125.00
US$186.97*
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 255
[VARILLAS, Antoine, attributed to.]

[VARILLAS, Antoine, attributed to.] ~ Histoire du Wiclefianisme. Ou de la doctrine de Wiclef, Jean Hus, et Jerome de Prague. Avec celle des guerres de Boheme, qui en ont esté les suites. Dernier edition.

Lyon "Suivant la copie imprimée A Lyon, Chez Jean Certe, ru' Merciere, à l'enseigne de la Trinité,"  1682.
First separate edition, attributed by some authors to Varillas; according to Michaud and Nouvelle biographie générale, it is an extract from his Histoire des revolutions arrivées dans Europe, though disavowed by him. The statements "Dernier edition" and "Suivant la copie imprimée a Lyon" on the title page would both appear to be false. This is a detailed account of the major medieval heresies especially those of John Wyclif and the Lollards in England and of Jan Hus in Bohemia.This copy contains some interesting later (probably eighteenth-century) notes in Italian at the rear concerning Wat Tyler (rather poetically rendered 'Gualtieri il pentolaio') and the Peasant's Revolt of 1381.   view more...
£400.00
US$598.32*
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 440
VERGIL, Polydore.

VERGIL, Polydore. ~ Les livres de Polydores Vergile d'Urbin, des inventeurs de choses, traduicts de Latin en Francois, et de nouveau reveuz & corrigez.

Lyon: Benoist Rigaud,  1576.
Scarce Lyon edition of Polydore Vergil's second and most famous book De inventoribus rerum ("History of Inventions") in French, with an interesting later Lyonnais provenance. In this ambitious work, Vergil addresses questions of origin, from the origin of the gods, man and languages to the origin of wine and liqueurs, marriage, magic, medicine, poetry, drama, geography and law. Drawing extensively on the Bible and original Greek and Latin texts, the title was one of the new encyclopaedias which attempted to disseminate the learning made available by the Renaisance humanists. The title was first published in Venice in 1499, with a revised and expanded edition appearing in 1521 (with the origins of the Christian Church); our edition was translated into French by Belleforest. An Italian by birth, Vergil spent much of his life in Britain, principally working as a Papal envoy under the direction of Adriano Castellesi da Corneto. Feted on his arrival as a cultured Italian, he enjoyed enduring royal favour of Henry VII and went on to write an important English history, the Anglica historia.The book contains the bookplate of Justin Godart, lawyer and Mayor of Lyon, who was a leading figure in the French Resistance (heading the Comité du Front National clandestin de libération de la France Zone Sud) during the Second World War.   view more...
£850.00
US$1271.43*
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 661
 

(VIRGINITY. Manuscript.) ~ Traité de la Ste. Virginité; [Instruction sur la Vie Religieuse.]

n.p. [France],  1775.
An anonymous and probably unpublished treatise on female virginity, in French, and clearly intended as a practical manual for the instruction of novice nuns. The larger part is an extensive treatment of the religious purpose of the celibate life with examples from scripture and the church fathers and advice and instruction on the conduct that life. It provides lengthy discourses on the mental and physical temptations to be conquered: with chapters on the demeanour of the chaste and the avoidance of sinful thought and action. There are especially interesting passages on the face and the expressions of the devout, advising the avoidance of particular forms of gaze which might encourage temptation.The language is contemporary and vernacular, again suggesting practice rather than theory, and it might almost be described as conversational with a distinct first person authorial voice. The gender of the author is not immediately apparent, but it would be an interesting exercise to speculate upon the question through close analysis of the text.We have been unable to identify any contemporary printed text with this title suggesting that the work was either unpublished or circulated only in manuscript.   view more...
£1800.00
US$2692.43*
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 618
WEIZMANN, Chaim.

WEIZMANN, Chaim. ~ Trial and error the autobiography.

New York: Harper and Brothers,  [1949].
Presentation first edition of the autobiography of the first President of Israel, with an excellent and well documented provenance: "To Admiral Sir John Edelsten with cordial regards Chaim Weizmann […] 27.VI.50".The dedicatee, Admiral Sir John Edelsten, added an additional note in his own hand: "This book was presented to me by President Weizmann of Israel on the occasion of my visit to Telaviv in 1950. I was the first naval officer of any nation to fire a 21 gun salute to the new State of Israel.This book is of great interest in that it was the only copy left of the original edition. When the President was revising the book he used this copy only, & one can see the thumbing outside, where in places the gold lettering has disappeared completely. His staff were loath to produce this book when he asked for a copy to present to me, but he insisted & here it is. J H Edelsten. 27.VI.50." John Edelsten rose rapidly through the ranks of the Royal Navy and following an exemplary war-time record, he became a full admiral in February 1949 and was appointed as commander-in-chief, Mediterranean, the following year. Possessing outstanding organisational and diplomatic skills, Edelsten played a key role in fostering British strategic relations in Israel. Following his visit to Haifa in July 1950, Edelsten reported that Israel's 'siege mentality' and severe economic problems made her more amenable to defence talks with the West. This assessment was one of the British government's key indicators of Israel's pro-Western disposition.   view more...
£2000.00
US$2991.59*
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 227
 

WOOD, Thomas. ~ The progress of Christianity, from its first promulgation at Jerusalem, to its legal establishment under Constantine. Also a sketch of the primitive Christain Church with notes geographical and critical.

[Huddersfield: T. Smart] for the author,   1805.
First edition. The folding map shows the countries and places mentioned in the New Testament.   view more...
£200.00
US$299.16*
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 329
WYCLIF [WYCLIFFE], John.

WYCLIF [WYCLIFFE], John.  ~ Dialogorum libri quatuor, quorum primus divinitatem et ideas tractat. Secundus universarum rerum creationem complectitur. Tertius de virtutibus vitiisque ipsis contrariis copiosissime loquitur. Quartus Romanae Ecclesiae sacramenta, eius pestiferam dotationem, antichristi regnum, fratrum fraudulentam originem atque forum hypocrysim, variaque nostro aevo scitu dignissima, graphice perstringit. Quae ut essent invenu facilia, singulorum librorum, tum caput, tum capitis summam indice praenotavimus. Auctus est denique liber, catalogo praecipuorum de Wiclefo nostro scriptorum, quem vita ex optimis fontibus, Germanico idiomate depicta, sequitur.

Frankfurt and Leipzig: Io. Gottl. Vierlingii,  1753.
A very uncommon printing of the four books of the Dialogus, Wycliffe's principal doctrinal work. It was first printed during the Reformation in 1525 and copies of this first edition are exceedingly rare following its suppression by the court of Rome. The work consists of four dialogues on church doctrine and attacks what Wycliffe saw as an imperialised papacy and also its supporters. Wycliffe (d. 1384) was responsible for the first complete translation of the Bible into English and as the founder of the Lollard movement, is considered a forefather of the Protestant Reformation. This copy includes a separately issued life of Wycliffe with a valuable bibliographical catalogue and fine engraved portrait.   view more...
£500.00
US$747.90*
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* Given as a guide only. Based on an exchange rate of £1 = US$1.495795 for the day 10 March 2010 but liable to fluctuate.

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10 March 2010