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  • Christ as the Man of Sorrows supported by two angels standing in a chalice or grail. by [THE TRIUMPH OF THE EUCHARIST, [THE TRIUMPH OF THE EUCHARIST, ~ Christ as the Man of Sorrows supported by two angels standing in a chalice or grail. Italian, in the style of Remondini family, ?Bassano, later seventeenth century].
    The holy grail — the crucified Christ standing within a chalice, his wound from the soldier’s spear bleeding freely into it, his arms supported by… (more)

    The holy grail — the crucified Christ standing within a chalice, his wound from the soldier’s spear bleeding freely into it, his arms supported by angels. A host of kneeling figures with candles, one swinging a censer kneel on either side. The lower panel depicts the Last Supper (complete with a small dog) with the text: ‘Sia laudato il santissimo sacramento’ (’Let the most holy sacrament be praised’). Early Christian tradition held that Christ’s blood was collected by Mary Magdalen at the time of the crucifixion in a vessel, though in images like this the symbolism is developed to depict blood flowing directly into the chalice in which Christ stands, emphasising the traditional connection between this vessel and the cup used at the Last Supper, and expressing the essence of transubstantiation at the Eucharist.

    The image may be comprised of two woodblocks, though the borders are continuous around the whole print. Though probably dating from the seventeenth century, the block was clearly old when this impression was made, it shows some degradation, cracking and several circular wormholes. The area around Christ’s face is notably rubbed and soiled, possibly from kissing or touching as a mark of pious veneration.

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  • BOURNAZEL, Diane de. ~ Les Yeux au ciel. [Marliac and Paris, 2024].
    Unique artist’s book in manuscript. Les Yeux au ciel contains one of the densest concentrations of De Bournazel’s unique symbolism to date, its sixteen pages… (more)

    Unique artist’s book in manuscript. Les Yeux au ciel contains one of the densest concentrations of De Bournazel’s unique symbolism to date, its sixteen pages bearing a plethora of human, animal and hybrid figures (some prominent, others slyly hidden) and a vortex-like mise en page. Like several other works by this artist, it explores the boundary between the conscious and unconscious, and expresses an elastic sense of time and space. Using the unique quality of the successively-turned book page as her primary medium, De Bournazel encourages her ‘readers’ to look forwards, backwards and inwards with cut windows opening unexpected sightlines and pathways through the codex.

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  • Arrêt suprême des dieux de l’Olympe en faveur de Mme. la Duchesse de Berry et de son fils. L’Ombre du Prince de Bourbon Condé (Louis-Henri-Joseph), à son filleul le duc d’Aumale d’Orléans (Henri Eugène-Philippe-Louis). Révélations, etc. by LE NORMAND, Marie-Anne Adélaïde. LE NORMAND, Marie-Anne Adélaïde. ~ Arrêt suprême des dieux de l’Olympe en faveur de Mme. la Duchesse de Berry et de son fils. L’Ombre du Prince de Bourbon Condé (Louis-Henri-Joseph), à son filleul le duc d’Aumale d’Orléans (Henri Eugène-Philippe-Louis). Révélations, etc. Paris: [Dondey-Dupré for] Mlle Le Normand, 28 February, 1833.
    First edition of the last book by a prolific French clairvoyant — in the form of a decree from the gods of Mount Olympus, this… (more)

    First edition of the last book by a prolific French clairvoyant — in the form of a decree from the gods of Mount Olympus, this is a spirited plea in favour of the Duchesse de Berry then imprisoned for leading a rebellion against Charles X after the July Revolution. Like Le Normand’s other works it is couched in terms of dreams, predictions and angelic interventions. It bears her signature on the back of the half-title as a measure against piracy and the frontispiece shows her taking the Duchesse’s hand in prison, as an angel swoops down to crown her.

    Marie-Anne Le Normand (1772–1843) was a celebrated (or notorious) clairvoyant, publisher, booskeller and self-publicist Famed throughout Europe for her exclusive clientele, she popularised cartomancy and spawned an enormous wave of imitators. At the height of her career she claimed to have advised the likes of Robespierre, Talleyrand, Metternich, the Empress Josephine and Emperor Alexander himself; others argued that the whole thing was a sham, and she was frequently arrested, spending several weeks in prison.

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  • Oracula Magica Zoraoastris cum scholis Plethonis et Pselli nunc primum editi. E bibliotheca regia. Studio Johannis Opsopoei. by ZOROASTER. ZOROASTER. ~ Oracula Magica Zoraoastris cum scholis Plethonis et Pselli nunc primum editi. E bibliotheca regia. Studio Johannis Opsopoei. Paris: [Compagnie du Grand Navire], 1599.
    A Greek edition of the magical oracles of Zoroaster, which includes commentaries of Pletho and Psellus in Latin, together with a separate collection of metrical… (more)

    A Greek edition of the magical oracles of Zoroaster, which includes commentaries of Pletho and Psellus in Latin, together with a separate collection of metrical oracles, both edited by Johannes Opsopaeus (1556-1596, physician and philologist, professor of medicine at Heidelberg, whose principal literary activity related mainly to the Sibylline Oracles and Hippocrates). The two volumes, though separately bound together here, were also issued as the second and third parts of a three-volume collection, the first being of the Sybylline oracles. Both titles bear the fine woodcut Lutetian ship device of the so-called ‘Compagnie de la Grand-Navire’, which in 1599 comprised the printers Abel l’Angelier, Barthélmy Macé, Ambroise Drouart, Michel II and Laurent and Jean Sonnius (Répertoire d’imprimeurs 1265). Their individual devices can be seen on the ship’s pennants. Adams lists each volume both separately and as part of the three volume collection. Brunet V, 370. Caillet 8135. Ebert 21171. Adams O 208-209.

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  • Introductiones apotelesmaticae elegantes, in chyromantiam, physiognomiam, astrologiam naturalem, complexiones hominum, naturas planetarum, cum periaxiomatibus de faciebus signorum, & canonibus de aegritudinibus, nusquam ferè simili tractata compendio. by INDAGINE, Johannes ab. [or Johannes ROSENBACH]. INDAGINE, Johannes ab. [or Johannes ROSENBACH]. ~ Introductiones apotelesmaticae elegantes, in chyromantiam, physiognomiam, astrologiam naturalem, complexiones hominum, naturas planetarum, cum periaxiomatibus de faciebus signorum, & canonibus de aegritudinibus, nusquam ferè simili tractata compendio. [Strasbourg: Johannes Scott for the author], 1522.
    First edition of this copiously illustrated treatise on chiromancy, physiognomy and astrology, which includes three fine woodcuts by Hans Baldung, former apprentice to Albrecht Dürer.… (more)

    First edition of this copiously illustrated treatise on chiromancy, physiognomy and astrology, which includes three fine woodcuts by Hans Baldung, former apprentice to Albrecht Dürer. They are: the large title portrait of the author, the final full-page decorative arms and one physiognomical diagram of a man and a woman (p. 5 in the second part) — all three show clear echoes of Dürer’s style. The book was printed for the author, who was an adviser to Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, the dedicatee (it was to Cardinal Albert that Martin Luther had addressed his 95 Theses in 1517).
    Indagine (1467-1537) was a Carthusian prior and humanist theologian who saw no conflict between orthodox faith and the occult sciences. The book was widely read across Europe and frequently reprinted, with a small format octavo edition from Frankfurt in the same year, a vernacular German edition appearing the following year, and an English translation in 1558 (with at least 12 more editions in English before 1700). It was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1559.
    Though we have been unable to identify the early owner of this copy, whose monogram appears on each cover, the early inscription is from Rainold, Marquis of Canhilac (Languedoc). Adams I 88; VD16 R 3108; Mende, Hans Baldung Grien, 458-460. Worldcat: Cambridge, Leeds, Folger (portrait mostly lacking), Duke, Princeton (2 copies, one lacking a leaf), Philadelphia College of Physicians, UCLA outside continental Europe.

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  • L’Ombre immortelle de Catherine II au tombeau d’Alexandre Ier. by LE NORMAND, Marie-Anne Adélaïde. LE NORMAND, Marie-Anne Adélaïde. ~ L’Ombre immortelle de Catherine II au tombeau d’Alexandre Ier. Paris: Mlle Le Normand, auteur-éditeur,... Dondey-Dupré père et fils,... et chez les principaux libraires de la France et de l’étranger, 1 Février 1826
    First edition of Le Normand’s panegyric for Alexander I and her prophecies for the state of Russia following the Emperor’s death in 1825. Marie-Anne Lenormand… (more)

    First edition of Le Normand’s panegyric for Alexander I and her prophecies for the state of Russia following the Emperor’s death in 1825. Marie-Anne Lenormand (1772–1843) was a celebrated (or notorious) clairvoyant, publisher, and self-publicist Famed throughout Europe for her exclusive clientele, she popularised cartomancy and spawned an enormous wave of imitators. At the height of her career she claimed to have advised the likes of Robespierre, Talleyrand, Metternich, the Empress Josephine and Emperor Alexander himself; others argued that the whole thing was a sham, and she was frequently arrested, spending several weeks in prison.

    The title verso here gives a list of Le Normand’s other prophesies, both published and forthcoming. Though the half-title verso bears an author’s statement, requiring authorised copies to be signed by her, this copy is unsigned (though genuine).

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  • Jurons !!! pas de diminutions...... by LES VAMPIRES. LES VAMPIRES. ~ Jurons !!! pas de diminutions...... Paris: H. Platel. Cheyère, [n.d. 1826].
    A very rare satirical print depicting two blood-sucking landlords expelling a bewildered tenant. In the hand of one of the ‘vampires’ a note reads ‘eviction’… (more)

    A very rare satirical print depicting two blood-sucking landlords expelling a bewildered tenant. In the hand of one of the ‘vampires’ a note reads ‘eviction’ [congé], ‘end of lease’ [fin de bail] and ‘increase’ [augmentation] and all the notes scattered on the ground make reference to the real estate business. The caption reads ‘We promise, no reduction’. Paris (like London) was in the throes of a vampire craze in the 1820s, following the publication of Polidori’s The Vampyre in 1819. Charles Nodier’s melodrama Le Vampire was performed in Paris in June 1820, and spawned a host of spinoffs in popular culture and the press.�

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  • [De inventoribus rerum. In English]. An Abridgeme[n]t of the notable Worke of Polidore Vergile conteygnyng the Deuisers and first Finders out aswell of Artes, Ministeries, Feactes & ciuill Ordinaunces, as of Rites, & Ceremonies, commonly vsed in the Churche: and the originall Beginnyng of the Same. Compe[n]diousely gathered by Thomas Langley. by VERGIL, Polydore. VERGIL, Polydore. ~ [De inventoribus rerum. In English]. An Abridgeme[n]t of the notable Worke of Polidore Vergile conteygnyng the Deuisers and first Finders out aswell of Artes, Ministeries, Feactes & ciuill Ordinaunces, as of Rites, & Ceremonies, commonly vsed in the Churche: and the originall Beginnyng of the Same. Compe[n]diousely gathered by Thomas Langley. ‘Imprinted at London within the precincte of the late dissolved house of the grey Friers, by Richarde Grafton printer to the Princis grace, the.xxv. daie of Ianuarie, the yere of our Lorde, M.D.XLVI’. [ 1546].
    A rare Tudor edition in English of this celebrated treatise on inventions and origins, which includes some of the earliest accounts in English of the… (more)

    A rare Tudor edition in English of this celebrated treatise on inventions and origins, which includes some of the earliest accounts in English of the invention of printing, theatre, mathematics, medicine, magic, religion, law, government (as well as wine, prostitution and warm baths). First published in Latin in 1499 (Venice) and augmented in 1521, De inventoribus rerum digested a huge mass of classical, biblical and contemporary learning and became a Renaissance bestseller. As many as 30 Latin editions alone appeared before the author’s death in 1555. The English translation, an abridgement by Thomas Langley, did not appear until 1546, by which time the Urbino-born Polydore had been resident in England for several decades. A diplomat, scholar, historian an humanist, Vergil counted Desiderius Erasmus, Thomas More, Cuthbert Tunstall, Thomas Linacre and Baldessare Castiglione among his acquaintances and correspondents.

    Printed three times in 1546, the first English editions are remarkably rare. Though ours is dated 25 January 1546 and is listed first by STC, it was perhaps preceded by the edition dated 16 April 1546, given that a new year began on Lady Day (25 March) in old style dating. The work is divided into eight books, from which Langley makes succinct abridgements, of which a selection of chapter headings gives a flavour:

    I. 9. ‘The begynnyng of Tragedies, Comedies, Satyres, and newe Comedies; 11. ‘Who founde Musyke’; 12. ‘Who found Musicall instruments’; 14. ‘Astrologie’; 15. ‘Who founde Geometrie, Artihmetike’; 16. ‘Physike’; 17. ‘The inventours of herbes medicinable’; 18. ‘The beginnyng of Magike’; 19. ‘Two kyndes of divination’. II. 1. ‘The originall of lawes’; 2. ‘Who ordeyned the first gouvernaunces’; 6. ‘Who set furth books fyrst, or made a library, Printyng, paper, parchement, arte of memory’ (which includes the observation: ’Truely the com[m]odite of liberaries is right profitable & necessary, but in co[m]parison of the crafte of printyng it is nothyng, both because one ma[n] may printe more in one day, then many men in many years could wryte: And also it preserveth both Greke & Latine auctours fro the dau[n]ger of corruption. It was found in Germany at Mogunce [Mainz] by one J. Guthenbergus a knight, he found moreover the Inke by his devise that printers used...)’

    Among other entries we find treatments of: war, Olympiades, plays, metals, coins, painting, ‘wyne, oyle, honye, chese, and strange trees broughte into Italy’, labyrinths, theatres, prostitution and brothels, and Christian and Moslem origins and customs.

    Provenance: Sotheby’s, June 14th, 1965, lot 231 (Traylen, £55); Blackwell, Centenary Catalogue, 1979, item 27, £450; private collection. STC 24654. STC lists two other printings of 1546: 24655 (also Grafton, dated 16 April) and 24656 (another issue of the same, portions reset, with both title and colophon dated 16 April). In an article of 1888, John Ferguson suggested that these 16 April editions/issues preceded the 25 January edition (though this was not adopted by the editors of STC); John Ferguson, ‘Bibliographical Notes on the English Translation of Polydore Vergil’s work, De Inventoribus Rerum’, 1888, pp. 17 et seq.

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  • Free masonry the high-way to hell. A sermon: wherein is clearly proved, both from reason and scripture, that all who profess these mysteries are in a state of eternal damnation. by (FREEMASONRY). (FREEMASONRY). ~ Free masonry the high-way to hell. A sermon: wherein is clearly proved, both from reason and scripture, that all who profess these mysteries are in a state of eternal damnation. London: [no printer’s name given], 1768.
    An apparently unrecorded issue of this anonymous anti-freemasonry sermon, probably a piracy of the incendiary pamphlet printed in the same year as Masonry the Way… (more)

    An apparently unrecorded issue of this anonymous anti-freemasonry sermon, probably a piracy of the incendiary pamphlet printed in the same year as Masonry the Way to Hell. The Sermon provoked a response from John Thompson, freemason, entitled Remarks on a sermon lately published; entitled, Masonry the way to hell. Being a defence of that antient and honourable order, against the Jesuitical sophistry and false calumny of the author.
    The sermon takes as its text Revelation XVII, 5 ‘And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and Abominations of the Earth’ and gives a detailed consideration of the supposed ceremonies of the masons. Four other editions/issues dated 1768 under the slightly different titles with different paginations, but all four are recorded by ESTC in single copies only.
    Not found in ESTC or Worldcat.

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  • ‘A land of apparitions’ (Young)
    Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland: to which are added, Translations from the Gaelic; and Letters connected with those formerly published. In two Volumes... by [GRANT, Anne]. [GRANT, Anne]. ~ Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland: to which are added, Translations from the Gaelic; and Letters connected with those formerly published. In two Volumes... London: [J. Hay & Co. Edinburgh] for Longman, Hurst [and others] and John Anderson in Edinburgh, 1811.
    First edition. Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders found favour among readers with a taste for the poetry of Burns and Scot, as well… (more)

    First edition. Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders found favour among readers with a taste for the poetry of Burns and Scot, as well as among Romantics who looked to the Scottish Highlands for evidence of a society uncorrupted by the vices of modern society. Anne Grant was born in Glasgow, but spent her childhood in America and is best known for her Memoirs of an American Lady (1808).

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