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A diminutive Geneva psalter in green vellum. The French text is Bèze and Marot’s rhymed version first published in 1562 in which the 150 psalms were set to 124 melodies. Worldcat locates the Geneva copy only of this edition.

A fine manuscript facsimile of the Ten Commandments (Exodus, 1-17), slightly reduced from the text of the Gutenberg (or 42-line, or ‘Mazarin’) Bible. It was made in 1926 by a Barrow-in-Furness engraver, antiquary and astronomer S.B. Gaythorpe. Formerly in the collections of James Dearden.

Leaf 60 from Koberger’s 1477 printing of the earliest theological encyclopaedia, first composed in the fourteenth century and printed several times in the fifteenth century. ISTC ir00008000.

An attractive illuminated leaf in gothic type. The text is a portion of the Office of the Dead from a Book of Hours and opens with the prayer or chant: ‘Ne recorderis peccata mea domine. Dum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem’ (Remember not my sins, oh Lord. When thou shall come to judge the world by fire).
Ex libris James Dearden. Folio Society Collector’s Corner. Catalogue 7 (1962), item 135, illustrated (£3.10).

This attractive fragment includes the opening of the prayer to the Virgin ‘O intemerata’ (O Immaculate), commonly included (with the ‘Oscecro te’) in a medieval Book of Hours. Folio Society, Collectors Corner (n.d, ?1960) £2.

Ex libris James Dearden. Folio Society, Collectors Corner, catalogue 2 (1961), item 66 (£2.10).

The verso includes the first part of Psalm 42, ‘Quem admodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum’ (Like as the hart desireth the water). Ex libris James Dearden. Folio Society Collector’s Corner, catalogue 11 (1962) item 190 (£4).

An attractive single leaf from a Book of Hours including, as an antiphon, the opening verses of Psalm 95, ‘Cantate Domino cantico novum; cantate Domino omnis terra’ (O sing unto the Lord a new song). Ex libris James Dearden. Folio Society Collector’s Corner, catalogue 9 (1962), item 173 (£3)

A particularly attractive and well-margined Italian decorated manuscript leaf. It is from a Benedictine Breviary sold at Sotheby's, 13 December 1965, lot 202, £180 to Folio Fine Art, described as 'northern Italian', but probably Naples.

A fine fragment from a typical median sized French thirteenth century Bible, with characteristic illumination in a good state of preservation. The text is from Saint Paul’s Epistles 1 Corinthians 15:44 to 2 Corinthians 3:4. Though in a typical Parisian style, the Bible’s origin may actually have been Avignon — it is mentioned in N. R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, I, 1969, p, xii, n.2, for its punctus flexus punctuation, distinctive of the Carthusians, and it belonged to the Carthusians of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. The Bible broken up by the dealer Louis Bondy, c.1961.

A handsome sixteenth-century Venetian manuscript of the statutes and foundation documents of the Constantinian Order of Saint George, a dynastic military order founded by in the sixteenth century for the defence of the Roman Catholic church. Founded by the Angeli, an Italian noble family of Albanian descent, the order claimed a largely fictitious lineage back to Constantine the Great and the Byzantine emperors. This manuscript bears the arms of the Angeli family and was probably made for them. It includes a brief pseudo-history of the order, an explanation and diagram of the gold cross adopted as their emblem, principles of descent, papal privileges and bulls (the earliest of 1293, the latest of 1578), together with 21 chapters of statutes and usages. The text had been printed by Bonelli of Venice in 1573.

According to a recent historian of the order: The Constantinian Order was established in Italy when Christian Europe was under assault in the east from the expansionist Ottoman sultanate and weakened in the north by the conflicts that followed the Protestant reformation. Its Angeli founders had fled their homeland on the Dalmatian coast at the end of the fifteenth century, following the collapse of the eastern empire and capture of Constantinople, to settle in the territories of the Venetian republic whose interests they had served during much of the previous century. The support the Angeli received from successive Popes was combined with a set of papal briefs and decrees of recognition that ultimately brought widespread acceptance of the Constantinian Order’s history. Its foundation commemorated the liberation of Christians from persecution across the Roman Empire from the north of Britain to the furthest reaches of Mesopotamia, marking the beginning of the decline of pagan beliefs across Europe. Although the Constantinian Order is an institution of the Roman church it nonetheless provides a traditional historic link to both the eastern and western ecclesiastical traditions’ (Guy Stair Sainty, The Constantinian Order of Saint George, 2018).

A diminutive compendium of personal devotions in the spirit of Thomas à Kempis comprising:

1-51: Esercizio sopra la passione di Gesû Cristo.
53-63: Meditazione sopra l’Amor di Dio.
65-77: Meditazione seconda...
79-89: Meditazione sopra amor proprio.
91-131: Breve instruzione per far con frutto l’Oratione mentale.
133-83: Meditatione sopra la Mansuetudine.
184-200: S[op]re Viaggi del’Anima Religiosa...
[1-38]: Essercizi Spirituali per Religiose professe..

At the time of publication these were ‘the smallest books in the world’. An edition was first published at Mainz in 1952 to raise money for the reconstruction of the Gutenberg museum, while the firm of Waldmann & Pfitzner in Munique continued to print these novelty volumes into the 1960s. Bromer and Edison, p.117.

First editions of two very rare Swedenborgian sermons preached in the New Jerusalem Temple in Cripplegate. Separately issued, they were the first two in a series of 12 published in the same year listed on the advert leaf with details of subscription. On completion, all twelve could also be bought bound up with a general title as Twelve Sermons (also 1796). They are rare both alone and collectively — ESTC lists copies of these first 2 sermons at BL only and copies of the collected Twelve Sermons at: BL, Glasgow, Rylands, Academy of the New Church and Louisiana State University. The printer, Robert Hindmarsh was one of the founders of the Swedenborgian movement and the Church of the New Jerusalem in England. The publication dates of both titles is given as 1796=40, reflecting the Swedenborgian belief that the Last Judgement had occurred in 1757, with 1796 representing the 40th year of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ through divine revelation.

‘Sibly... (1757–1840), Swedenborgian minister and banker, was born at Bristol on 20 August 1757. He was the brother of Ebenezer Sibly (1751–c. 1799), a notable publisher of esoteric lore, and was himself an autodidact and nonconformist, self-taught in the classical and biblical languages, part of the self-taught artisan culture. He specialized in alchemy and astrology, and became for a period a bookseller in Goswell Street, London, specializing in books on the occult, some of which his brother was then publishing. He himself translated two astrological works by Palcidus de Titis... He also served as a shorthand writer... (ODNB).

They are here bound together with three other East London non-conformist sermons:

Joseph Priestley, The present State of Europe compared with antient Prophecies; a Sermon, preached at the Gravel Pit Meeting in Hackney, February 28, 1794, being the day appointed for a general fast. By Joseph Priestley, LL.D. F. R. S. &c. with a preface, containing the reasons for the author’s leaving England. London: for J. Johnson, pp. xx, 44, [8] (advert/catalogue for Priestley’s books). First edition.

William Cooper. The Promised Seed. A Sermon, preached to God’s ancient Israel the Jews, at Sion-Chapel, Whitechapel, on Sunday afternoon, August 28, 1796. By William Cooper.... London: Printed for the author; and sold by T. Chapman and J. Matthews, [1796], pp. 38. One of several editions of 1796 and probably the first.

William Cooper. Daniel’s Seventy Weeks. A Sermon, preached at Sion-Chapel, on Sunday Afternoon, September 18, 1796, to the Jews. By William Cooper. Being his second Address to that People. London: Printed and sold by T. Chapman, 1796, pp. 32. One of several editions of 1796 and probably the first.

First edition of a striking chromolithograph book, with all the pages and illustrations orientated to be read and viewed along the long edge of the book.

First edition. ‘Illuminated by W. & G. Audsley, architects, Liverpool... Illustrated by Charles Rolt. Chromolithographed by W.R. Tymms.’ William and George Audsley were to become highly influential in the Victorian gothic revival, designing significant buildings both in Britain and the United States. They created a number of lavishly illustrated books on ornament and Japanese art, notably The Keramic Art of Japan of 1875. ‘The size of this book alone is enough to make it one of the outstanding monuments to the Victorian passion for illumination’ (McLean). McLean, Victorian Book Design and Colour Printing (2nd ed.), p. 133.

First edition of the first of Joseph Cundall’s illuminated gift books, with superb decoration by John Brandard printed in chromolithography. ‘The borders in the book were copied from Harleian MS 2936 and MS 3469, Royal MS.19.C.3 and 19.C.8, the DeCroy MS, and Henry VIII’s Missal, all in the British Library; also used was a Book of Hours in the possession of the publisher. The miniature paintings are from Harleian MS. 2877’ (Claire McKendrick). Cundall (printer, publisher and photographer) is also known as the publisher of the first commercially printed Christmas card (in an edition of 1000 copies) in December 1843 (the same month as Dickens’s A Christmas Carol). He later produced some of the most handsome illustrated books of the 1850s and 1860s, including the ‘Home Treasury’ series of children’s books. McLean, Victorian Book Design and Colour Printing (2nd ed.) pp. 90-1.

First edition. The frontispiece included a mounted oval collotype print reproducing an engraved portrait of John Milton McLean, Victorian Book Design and Colour Printing (2nd ed.), p. 137.

An interesting collection of 54 rare hand coloured plates by Augsburg publishers Johann Michael Motz and Albrecht Schmidt, very much in the style of the recreational and educational prints of the slightly earlier Augsburg engraver-publisher Martin Engelbrecht. Like Engelbrecht’s these prints were intended for popular consumption and were often cut up for albums or other decoupage projects. All are very rare, notably the fine 4-plate suite of the continents here (Europe, Asia, Africa and America) and a very substantial part of the biblical sequence by Schmidt. There are also plates for the four, two hunting plates and another after Boucher. The album was evidently put together c. 1800 from two or more constituent parts, perhaps already quite well used to judge by the variation in condition across the collection and by the various patterns of previous stab holes. An early owner/user has added some amusing pencil drawings to the rear endpapers.

Comprising:

1. Les Amans Surpris (after Boucher, c, 1750), Motz.
2. Les Plaisirs au jardin & La musique, 2 plates, Motz.
3. Europa, Asia, Africa, America, 4 plates, lower lines of verses and imprint cropped, but Motz after I. Waxmuth.
4. Der Frühling, Der Sommer, Der Herbst, Der Winter, 4 plates, Motz.
5. Das Feuer, Das Wasser, Die Lufft, Die Erde, 4 plates, Motz.
6. Der Morgen, Der Mittag, Der Abend, Die Nacht, 4 plates, Motz after Stockhman[n].
7. [Hunting], 2 untitled prints, Motz after Stockhman[n].
8. [Old Testament. Genesis] 14 plates, numbered 5-12, 37, 40, 45-48 each with gold borders, Albrecht Schmidt. [of 56?]
9. [Old Testament, Genesis, the story of Joseph]. 13 plates, numbered 1-5, 7-14. Motz.
10. [The Prodigal Son]. 6 plates, numbered 1-2, 5-8, Motz after C. Vogt (stubs of plates 3 & 4, evidently cut out).

First edition of Artus’s satire on Henri III of France (assassinated in 1589) who was reputedly fond of cross-dressing and whose court was widely criticised for decadence and immorality.

Les Hermaphrodites describes a realm populated by men who dress as women, not strictly hermaphrodite but preoccupied by dress, hairstyle, makeup, extravagant gesture and speech. Also concerned with the laws and customs of the hermaphrodite kingdom, the satire operates by presenting Henri’s court as both dissolute and against nature. In so doing it reflects in great detail contemporary attitudes (both positive and negative) to gender-blurring of any sort, whether social or sexual. At one point, for example, Artus writes ironically that cross-dressing was perfectly permissible: ‘Chacun pourra s’abiller à sa fantasie, pourveu que ce soit bravement, superbement, & sans aucune distinction ny consideration de sa qualité ou faculté’, thus combining his disapproval with a suggestion of the negation of natural order or rank.
The engraved title depicts a figure of ambiguous gender (perhaps Henri himself) in male breeches, but full-hipped, with a suggestion of female breasts and a floral coiffe, with the legend ‘A tous accords’. Below it is the text:

‘Je ne suis masle ny femelle
Et sy je suis bien en ceruelle
Le quell des deux je doibs choisir
Mais qu’importe à qui on ressamble
Il vault mieux les avoir ensemble
On en reçoit double Plaisir.’

Henri’s sexuality was the subject of numerous contemporary satires. His taste for cross-dressing was well-known and his sexual orientation a matter of speculation, since he enjoyed close relationships with his male mignons (providing plenty of ammunition for moralistic detractors) but also well-publicised affairs with a succession of mistresses.

The second part of the book is Discours de Jacophile a Limne. Les Hermaphrodites was republished in 1724 with the title Description de l’isle des Hermaphrodites. This reprint is comparatively common, while the first edition is notably rare.

The arms of the contemporary binding are of the Clausse de Marchaumont family, probably those of courtier Henri (d. 1613), the eldest son of Henry II’s secreatary of state Cosme Clausse, who served as Henry III’s ambassador to the Swiss states.