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[North (The Hon. Roger)] A Discourse of Fish and Fish-Ponds, first edition, 1 p. advertisements at end, occasional browning,

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Lot 422

[North (The Hon. Roger)] A Discourse of Fish and Fish-Ponds, first edition, 1 p. advertisements at end, occasional browning, ink inscription to front free endpaper, bookplate, contemporary calf, joints splitting at head, spine chipped at head, [W&S p.157; Kress 2864], 8vo, Printed for E. Curll at the Dial and Bible, 1713. ⁂ A good copy of the first edition of an important early work on fish culture.Provenance: Earl of Minto (bookplate with title and shelfmark).

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Horses.- S. (A.) The Gentleman's Compleat Jockey: with the Perfect Horseman and Experienc'd Farrier, engraved folding frontis

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Lot 428

Horses.- S. (A.) The Gentleman's Compleat Jockey: with the Perfect Horseman and Experienc'd Farrier, engraved folding frontispiece, browning, nineteenth century half calf, rubbed, 12mo, by T.Norris, [?1715].⁂ Rare, as with all issues of this charming pocketbook; ESTC lists 3 copies only in the UK (not in BL) and 2 in the US. Includes a section on 'the Art of Vermine-Killing'.

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Editor's copy.- Virgilius Maro (Publius) Virgil's Husbandry, or an Essay on the Georgics: being the First Book [ - Second Bo

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Lot 453

Editor's copy.- Virgilius Maro (Publius) Virgil's Husbandry, or an Essay on the Georgics: being the First Book [ - Second Book], 2 works in 1 vol., 4 engraved plates, editor's copy with ink inscription 'Robert Whatley, ex dono Editoris of avunculi fui S. Whatley" and "Printed for Stephen Whatley" to title, lacking half-titles, blindstamp of Francis Henry Cripps-Day, contemporary calf, rebacked, upper cover detached, [Foxon B195 & B196], by William and John Innys, 1725-24 § Spenser (Edmund) The Shepherd's Calendar ... Calendarium Pastorale, engraved portrait by Vertue and 12 plates by Fourdrinier, contemporary calf, rubbed, W.Bowyer, 1732; and 11 others, similar, 8vo & 4to (13)

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[North (The Hon. Roger)] The Gentleman Farmer: Or, Certain Observations made by an English Gentleman, upon the Husbandry of F

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Lot 459

[North (The Hon. Roger)] The Gentleman Farmer: Or, Certain Observations made by an English Gentleman, upon the Husbandry of Flanders ... also a certain Method of Improving Meadow Grounds... by Fish-Ponds, 2 parts in 1 vol., woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces, 1 initial and 2 final advertisement ff., ink ownership inscriptions, contemporary calf, upper cover becoming detached, lower joint split at head, spine ends chipped, [Fussell p.115; Goldsmiths' 6434; Kress 3659 & 2967; W&S p.105 & 157], 12mo, for E.Curll, 1726.⁂ Including Roger North's A Discourse of Fish and Fishponds as the second part. Provenance: Tho. Thurston; ?Bery Westwood (ink ownership inscriptions).

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Fens Drainage.- S. (R.) Proposals and Inducements for a considerable number of People, to joyn in the Purchas of several thou

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Lot 461

Fens Drainage.- S. (R.) Proposals and Inducements for a considerable number of People, to joyn in the Purchas of several thousand Acres, of Drein'd and Derelict Lands...which will redound to the vast Advantage of the Purchasors, half-title, light spotting and soiling, contemporary calf-backed marbled boards, [Goldsmiths' 6438], 1726 § [Trafford (Sigismund)] An Essay on Draining: more particularly with Regard to the North Division of the Great Level of the Fenns, call'd Bedford Level, folding engraved map mounted on stub (stained and worn with some loss at folds), ink signature "Mylne" at head of title, text heavily stained, contemporary half calf, for J.Roberts, 1729, first editions, rubbed, 8vo (2)⁂ Scarce: ESTC lists 6 UK locations of the first, and 2 American; and 5 UK locations of the second, and one American, both including Rothamsted.?Robert Mylne (1733-1811), architect, surveyor to the New River Company and engineer involved in the development of the Eau Brink Cut, a new channel for the Great Ouse river in the Fens; or his son and assistant William Chadwell Mylne (1781- 1863).

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Wine.- [J. (S.)] The Vineyard: being a Treatise shewing I. The Nature and Method of Planting, Manuring, Cultivating, and Dres

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Lot 464

Wine.- [J. (S.)] The Vineyard: being a Treatise shewing I. The Nature and Method of Planting, Manuring, Cultivating, and Dressing of Vines in Foreign-Parts. II. Proper Directions for Drawing, Pressing, Making, Keeping, Fining, and Curing all Defects in the Wine, first edition, engraved frontispiece by Fletcher after Cooper, woodcut illustration in text, initials and head-pieces, ink ownership inscription to title, bookplate of William Gilstrap, contemporary panelled calf, corners a little worn, [Henrey 870; Simon BG 1580], 8vo, printed for W. Mears at the Lamb without Temple-Bar, 1727. ⁂ Includes the first detailed description in English of wine making in Champagne.

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[Rye (George)] Considerations on Agriculture. Treating of the Several Methods Practised in Different Parts of the Kingdom of

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Lot 480

[Rye (George)] Considerations on Agriculture. Treating of the Several Methods Practised in Different Parts of the Kingdom of Ireland... to which is added, Mr Pierson's two Tracts of the Present State of the Tillage in Ireland, 3 parts in 1 vol., first edition, woodcut device to title, woodcut head-pieces and initials, engraved folding plate, contemporary calf, gilt, upper cover detached, [Kress S.3862], 8vo, Dublin, George Grierson, 1730.⁂ Rare at auction, we can trace only one copy in the last 70 years.

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Cato (Marcus Porcius), Varro, Columella & Palladius. Scriptores rei rusticae, 4 parts in 1, editio princeps, collation: [*14]

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Lot 5

Cato (Marcus Porcius), Varro, Columella & Palladius. Scriptores rei rusticae, 4 parts in 1, editio princeps, collation: [*14] a-b10 c8 d-f10 g8 h6 i-k10 l-z8 A-C8 D12 E-F8 G-K10], 282 leaves (of 302 leaves, lacking the four blank leaves a1, h6, i1, D8, the quire *14, with Enarrationes vocum priscarum in libris De rustica and letter addressed to Petrus Priolus both by Georgius Merula, and leaves D6-D7 Merula's letter addressed to Dominicus Georgius), this copy with Cato's De re rustica bound at end, text in single column, 40 lines, type: 115R, 115Gk, blank spaces for capitals with guide letters, a few initials supplied in red and grey, several leaves in middle with signs of damp removed by washing, with some light smudging, but generally clean and free of foxing and soiling, red straight-grain morocco by Roger Paine, covers within two frames of gilt fillets, smooth spine decorated by gilt fillets, title and imprint lettered in gilt, marbled pastedowns and flyleaves, vellum flyleaves, inner gilt dentelles, pale grey silk bookmark, gilt edges, recto of front vellum flyleaf with some notes in Michael Wodhull's hand referring to the presence of this edition in other celebrated 18th-century private libraries such as those owned by Louis Gaignat (lot 1526) and Louis César de La Baume Le Blanc, duc La Vallière (lot 1509), folio (315 x 217 mm.), Venice, Nicolaus Jenson, 1472.⁂ The celebrated editio princeps of "the most important classical first edition that Jenson produced" (Lowry, Jenson, p. 68). This Venetian edition includes the first editions of the four Roman agricultural writers Cato, Varro, Columella, and Palladius. Only the tenth Book of Columella's Re rustica, entirely devoted to gardening, had a separate circulation in the 15th century and was possibly previously printed in Rome in 1471. The texts of the agricultural treatises by Cato, Varro, and Columella were edited by the renowned humanist Giorgio Merula (1430-1494), on the basis of a codex at that time in the St. Marco Library and now lost, in which Varro's Re Rustica breaks off, as here, after chapter 17.4 of the third Book. Franciscus Colucia, apparently active at Jenson's printing house as a proof reader, was given Palladius' Opus agriculturae to edit. This copy once belonged to the well-known collector Michael Wodhull. On the front flyleaf he annotated the acquisition date of the volume "April 28th 1791", and the price paid of 10 guineas. He purchased the volume from the celebrated Bibliotheca Parisiana, which was sold in London by James Edwards at the end of March 1791. In fact, a marked up copy of the sale catalogue shows that the volume, bound in red morocco, was indeed sold for £10.10s, and purchased, on Wodhull's behalf, by the London bookseller Payne. This copy lacks only paratextual or additional sections like Merula's Enarrationes vocum priscarum in libris De rustica, often wanting in recorded copies. The last complete copy was sold at Christie's New York in 1997. Literature: ISTC is00346000; H 14564*; GW M41065; BMC V 173; Bod-inc S-122; IGI 8853; Goff S-346; Lowry Jenson, 26; Klebs 902.1; Flodr Scriptores rei rusticae 1; Stillwell 695; B.IN.G 1797; Simon Bibliotheca Bacchica 1.41. Provenance: Bibliotheca exquisitissima Parisiana. Catalogue of a Collection of Books Formed by a Gentleman in France, London 1791, p. 20, lot l86; purchased by the London bookseller Payne for Michael Wodhull (1740-1816; Wodhull's purchase note on the front flyleaf, dated 28 April 1791); by descent to his his sister-in-law, Mary Ingram; Samuel Amy Severne; J. E. Severne, M.P. (see Catalogue of the Extensive and Valuable Library, Collected at the End of the Last and Beginning of the Present Century by Michael Wodhull, Esq., the Property of J. E. Severne, Esq. M. P., of Thenford House, Banbury, Northamptonshire, London: Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 11 January 1886, lot 2270 £7.10s "very fine copy in red morocco, gilt edges, by Roger Payne"). Rothamsted acquisition date not noted.

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Vanière (Jacques) Della Possessione di Campagna quattro libri, first Italian edition, engraved frontispiece, title vignette a

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Lot 509

Vanière (Jacques) Della Possessione di Campagna quattro libri, first Italian edition, engraved frontispiece, title vignette and head-pieces, text in Latin and Italian, contemporary limp boards, uncut, a little soiled, Venice, Pietro Bassaglia, 1750 Pontano (Giangiovano) Gli Orti delle Esperidi, half-title, engraved title-vignette, text in Latin and Italian, leaf of manuscript notes bound in at beginning, library cloth, uncut, Venice, Gianbatista Grandi, 1761 § Trinci (Cosimo) L'Agricoltore Sperimentato, lacking initial leaf (?half-title), a little browned, some water-staining, contemporary vellum, rubbed and stained, Lucca, S. & G. Marescandoli, 1726, 8vo (3)

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Pamphlets.- [Homer (Henry Sacheverell)] An Essay on the Nature and Method of ascertaining the Specifick Shares of Proprietors

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Lot 561

Pamphlets.- [Homer (Henry Sacheverell)] An Essay on the Nature and Method of ascertaining the Specifick Shares of Proprietors, upon the inclosure of common fields.... Particularly as far as they relate to the publick and the poor, first edition, ink ownership inscription to head of title, Oxford, Printed for S. Parker, 1766 bound with Bateman (Thomas) A Treatise on Agistment Tithe, ink ownership inscription to head of title, S.Crowder, [?1775] and [Smith (Charles)] Three Tracts on the Corn-Trade and Corn-Laws, second edition, ink ownership inscription to title, for the Author, 1766 and Bohun (William) A Tithing Table, Shewing (by way of Analysis) of What Things Tithes are or are not due, either by Common Law, Custom, or Prescription, second edition, [Goldsmiths 7292], printed by E. and R. Nutt and R. Gosling, 1735 and The Great Improvement of Commons that are Enclosed, for the Advantage of the Lords of Manors, the Poor, and the Publick, woodcut illustrations, title soiled, [Goldsmiths 6949], for J.Roberts, 1732, together 5 works in 1 vol., occasional spotting, contemporary calf-backed boards, rubbed, 8vo.⁂ Provenance: Thomas Broadley (ink ownership inscriptions).

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Complete Farmer (The): or a General Dictionary of Husbandry, first edition, double column, engraved frontispiece and 27 plate

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Lot 562

Complete Farmer (The): or a General Dictionary of Husbandry, first edition, double column, engraved frontispiece and 27 plates, a very good, clean copy, ownership inscription to pastedown, contemporary calf, corners bumped, some splitting to joint ends but holding firm, [Perkins 379; not in Goldsmiths' or Kress], folio, printed for the authors; and sold by S. Crowder, at the Looking-Glass; J. Coote, at the King's Arms, in Paternoster-Row; and F. Blythe, near the Royal Exchange, 1766.

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Enclosure.- [Homer (Henry Sacheverell)] An Essay on the Nature and Method of ascertaining the Specifick Shares of Proprietors

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Lot 565

Enclosure.- [Homer (Henry Sacheverell)] An Essay on the Nature and Method of ascertaining the Specifick Shares of Proprietors, upon the inclosure of common fields. With Observations upon the Inconveniences of Open Fields, and upon the objections to their inclosure, Particularly as far as they relate to the publick and the poor, first edition, library cloth, Oxford, Printed for S. Parker, in the High-Street; and sold by T. Payne, at the Mews Back-Gate; and J. Fletcher, in St.Paul's Church Yard, 1766; and 9 others, enclosure and farm size, 8vo (10)

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Victorius (Petrus) Explicationes suarum in Catonem, Varronem, Columellam castigationum, collation: a-i8, fine copy in early 2

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Lot 57

Victorius (Petrus) Explicationes suarum in Catonem, Varronem, Columellam castigationum, collation: a-i8, fine copy in early 20th century calf, gilt, g.e., 8vo (173 x 110mm.), Paris, Robert Estienne, 1543.⁂ Literature: Adams V676; Schreiber 70d. Provenance: Leo S. Olschki (bookplate)Rothamsted acquisition date 1929.

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Gardens.- [Weston (Richard)] Tracts on Practical Agriculture and Gardening...By a Country Gentleman, first edition, engraved

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Lot 581

Gardens.- [Weston (Richard)] Tracts on Practical Agriculture and Gardening...By a Country Gentleman, first edition, engraved plate, lightly offset, contemporary calf, spine ends worn, lacking label, upper cover detached, [Fussell II pp.85-88; Henrey 1435], for S. Hooper, 1769 § Rural Recreations; or the Gardeners Instructor...By a Society of Practical Gardeners, first edition, engraved frontispiece, 12 engraved plates, 4 folding, some browning, bookplate of William Balston, contemporary tree calf, spine gilt, 1802 § Nicol (Walter) The Scotch Forcing and Kitchen Gardener, second edition, 5 folding engraved plates, foxed, original boards, uncut, spine worn and defective, upper cover becoming loose, Edinburgh, for the Author, 1798, rubbed; and 3 others, gardening, 8vo (6)⁂ The first includes a catalogue of English authors on husbandry, gardening, bees and related subjects, the first such bibliography. The main body of the work has much on fruit, wines, ciders and the fattening of poultry.

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Gardens.- Kennedy (John) A Treatise upon Planting, Gardening, and the Management of the Hot-House, 2 vol. in 1, second editio

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Lot 616

Gardens.- Kennedy (John) A Treatise upon Planting, Gardening, and the Management of the Hot-House, 2 vol. in 1, second edition, contemporary calf, red morocco label, for S. Hooper, 1777 § Miller (Philip) The Gardeners Dictionary, 3 vol., engraved frontispiece, contemporary calf, joints split, for the Author, 1735-40 § Mawe (Thomas) Every man his own Gardener, fifth edition, engraved frontispiece, soiled, tear to title, contemporary calf, joints split, spine ends worn, William Griffin, 1771 § Johnson (George W.) A History of Gardening, foxed, original boards, rubbed, rebacked in cloth, 1829; and another, 8vo (7)

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Priestley (Joseph) Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air, 3 vol., vol.1 third edition, vol.2 second edition,

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Lot 634

Priestley (Joseph) Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air, 3 vol., vol.1 third edition, vol.2 second edition, vol.3 first edition, half-title to vol.2 only, vol.2 catalogue at end ?bound in at end of vol.3, J. Johnson, 1781-1776-1777 with Philosophical Empiricism: containing Remarks on a Charge of Plagiarism respecting Dr. H--s, interspersed with Various Observations relating to Different Kinds of Air, bound at end of vol.1, J.Johnson, 1775, together 2 works in 3 vol., 6 engraved plates, 3 folding, light offsetting, contemporary calf, spines gilt with red morocco labels, 8vo.⁂ An attractive set of this important work, Priestley's numerous experiments lead to the discovery of oxygen and some of its properties.

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Grasses.- Swayne (G.) Gramina Pascua: or, A Collection of Specimens of the Common Pasture Grasses, first edition, 19 actual s

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Lot 665

Grasses.- Swayne (G.) Gramina Pascua: or, A Collection of Specimens of the Common Pasture Grasses, first edition, 19 actual specimens of grasses each with printed titles in Latin and English, tissue guards, errata slip, uncut in original boards, covers worn and stained, folio, Bristol, Printed for the Author, by S. Bonner, 1790.⁂ One of apparently only 200 copies printed - the grass samples were picked and prepared by three of the author's daughters.

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Fruit trees.- New Treatise (A) on Tillage Land: with Observations Remarks and Experiments to Disclose & Abolish the Present P

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Lot 700

Fruit trees.- New Treatise (A) on Tillage Land: with Observations Remarks and Experiments to Disclose & Abolish the Present Prevailing Error in Agriculture: Likewise is Added a Method or New Invention Drawn from Nature to Preserve Orchards and Other Fruit Trees from the Fatal Effects of Blights, 2 parts in 1 vol., engraved titles, light offsetting, otherwise a very good wide-margined copy, handsome contemporary red morocco, gilt, spine faded, [not in Henrey], 8vo, Exeter, by S. Woolmer for the Author, 1796.⁂ Rare, no copies on ESTC and only 2 copies on COPAC (Reading and Southampton).

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Cattle.- Downing (J.) A Treatise on the Disorders incident to Horned Cattle, first edition, half-title, list of subscribers,

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Lot 705

Cattle.- Downing (J.) A Treatise on the Disorders incident to Horned Cattle, first edition, half-title, list of subscribers, errata leaf at end, subscriber John Pitt's copy, contemporary half calf, [ESTC T174013 locates only 5 copies of this issue, not in BL, 1 in USA], Stourbridge and London, T. Hurst, Longman and Rees, and Rivington, 1797 § Flemyng (Malcolm) A Proposal In order to diminish the Progress of the Distemper amongst the Horned Cattle, supported by Facts, second edition, modern half calf, Printed for S. Bladon, 1755 § Essay (An), occasioned by the Contagious Distemper Still raging among the Cattle...the supposed Efficacy of Jesuit's Bark...by Way of Cure and Prevention, half-title, modern cloth, Printed for...J. Rivington...C. Hitch, and M. Cooper, 1748 § Topham (Thomas) A New Compendious System on Several Diseases incident to Cattle, first edition, list of subscribers, some foxing and browning, contemporary sheep, covers detached, York, 1787 § Rowlin (Joshua) The Complete Cow-Doctor, light browning, uncut in original wrappers, spine worn, Glasgow, 1794; and 3 others on diseases and disorders in Cattle, 8vo (8)

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Science.- Adams (George) Essays on the Microscope, edited by Frederick Kanmacher, second edition, half-title, engraved alleg

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Lot 713

Science.- Adams (George) Essays on the Microscope, edited by Frederick Kanmacher, second edition, half-title, engraved allegorical frontispiece, 32 double-page engraved plates at end, 16pp. publishers' catalogue, foxing to plates, contemporary tree calf, rubbed and scuffed, splits to joints, spine ends and corners a little worn, for the Editor; and for W. and S. Jones, 1798; and 19 others, science including some Bridgewater Treatises, 4to & 8vo (20)

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Amos (William) Minutes in Agriculture and Planting...Illustrated with Specimens of Eight Sorts of the Best and Two Sorts of t

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Lot 738

Amos (William) Minutes in Agriculture and Planting...Illustrated with Specimens of Eight Sorts of the Best and Two Sorts of the Worst Natural Grasses, first edition, half-title, 10 specimens of dried grass on 3 ff., each with original printed label, 9 engraved plates (2 hand-coloured), occasional foxing, bookplate, contemporary half calf, spine label becoming loose, corners bumped, rubbed, 4to, Boston [Lincs.], Printed by J. Hellaby, 1804.Provenance: S. Hanbury (bookplate).

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St. Helena.- Abstract of the Laws and Ordinances relating to Lands and Tenures; and the Moral and Agricultural Improvement of

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Lot 763

St. Helena.- Abstract of the Laws and Ordinances relating to Lands and Tenures; and the Moral and Agricultural Improvement of the Island of St. Helena, From its Establishment in 1673 to 1810. Published by Authority of the Governor and Council, For the Use of the Island, 20th century antique-style calf, 8vo, St. Helena, Printed for S. Solomon by J.Coupland, [1810].⁂ Rare, only 2 copies listed on COPAC (BL and King's College London).

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St. Helena.- Papers relating to the Devastation Committed by Goats on the island of St. Helena, St. Helena, occasional light

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Lot 764

St. Helena.- Papers relating to the Devastation Committed by Goats on the island of St. Helena, St. Helena, occasional light foxing or browning, modern antique-style calf, 8vo, Printed for S. Solomon by J. Coupland, 1810.⁂ Rare, only 3 copies listed on COPAC (BL, National Library of Scotland and Natural History Museum). Goats were first introduced to St. Helena by the Portuguese to provide meat for passing ships. By the nineteenth century however they had wrought considerable ecological damage on the island; following a visit to the island in 1843, Joseph Hooker wrote: "Probably 100 St Helena plants have thus disappeared from the Systema Naturae since the first introduction of goats on the Island".

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Cato (Marcus Porcius) Varro, Columella & Palladius. Scriptores rei rusticae, second edition, edited by Franciscus Colucia and

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Lot 8

Cato (Marcus Porcius) Varro, Columella & Palladius. Scriptores rei rusticae, second edition, edited by Franciscus Colucia and Georgius Merula, collation: A6 a8 b-c10 d8 e-g10 h8 i6 K-l10 m-z8 &8 [con] 8 [rum] 8 aa8 bb12 cc-dd8 ee-hh10, 302 leaves (complete with all blank leaves b1, i6, k1, and bb), text in single column, 40 lines, type: 96(107)R, Gk, blank spaces for capitals, on first leaves without guide letters, some initials painted in red, a few leaves rubricated, ff. A1, A6, HH1 and HH10 loose, penultimate leaf with marginal repair, final leaf with fore-margin restored, some light marginal foxing and dust-soiling, very big margins, 18° century limp boards, spine with paper label lettered in manuscript, rubbed, upper joint tearing, extremities worn, folio (332 x 235mm.), Reggio Emilia, Bartholomaeus de Bruschis, Bottonus, 5 June 1482.⁂ Second edition of this collection devoted to Roman agricultural writers. One of only three books published by Bartholomaeus de Bruschis in Reggio Emilia, where he was active between 1480 and 1482, in parternship until 1481 with his brother Laurentius. This edition is a substantial reprint of Scriptores rei rusticae of 1472, and also includes, with a few slight changes, the dedicatory letters by Georgius Merula and Franciscus Colucia, appended to Jenson's editio princeps. The leaf added by Bruschis to the last quire signed HH, and bearing the register, is usually lacking in recorded copies. In this copy, like the one in the British Library described in BMC VII 1086, the last word on fol. c2r is printed 'sterc9' and the last on fol. c4r 'ordine'. Provenance: Marquis Giuseppe De Terzi (ex libris on front pastedown; see Catalogue des livres rares et précieux provenant de la bibliothèque de feu M. le marquis De Terzi de Bergame, Paris, 11-23 March 1861, lot 165, "Bel exemplaire de cette édition, extrêmement rare").Rothamsted acquisition date not noted.Literature: ISTC is00347000; HC 14565*; GW M41059; BMC VII 1086; Bod-inc S-123; IGI 8854; Goff S-347; Klebs 902.2.

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Crescentiis (Petrus de) Ruralia commoda, collation: a-n8 o6 aa-kk8 ll6, 195 leaves (of 196, lacking initial blank), text in 2

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Lot 9

Crescentiis (Petrus de) Ruralia commoda, collation: a-n8 o6 aa-kk8 ll6, 195 leaves (of 196, lacking initial blank), text in 2 columns, 41 lines, type 1B**:89/90G, blank spaces for capitals, copiously annotated by an English hand, giving accounts of monthly gardening operations, a few notes in a contemporary hand, some dust-soiling, mostly to first few leaves and elsewhere in margins, front free endpapers detached, 18th century calf, worn, spine with 5 raised bands, much of backstrip missing or peeling, corners repaired, folio (268 x 199mm), Louvain, Johannes de Westfalia, [c.1483].⁂ Rare second edition of Crescenzi's agricultural handbook to be printed in the Low Countries, the first having been issued by the printer and bookseller Johannes de Westfalia in December 1474.Both the 1474 and 1483 editions are set, as the colophon states, in a 'modern' type, the matrices or punches of which Johannes de Westfalia, then in parternship with Dirk Martens, had bought in Venice in 1473, the font very similar to that used by Nicolas Jenson in his Ruralia commoda of 1472. "When Johannes De Westfalia purchased this type [...] it gave him and his associate the opportunity to produce books that looked as if they were made in Venice [...] in fact entering into competition with the Venetian printers for the market in north-west Europe" (L. Hellinga, Incunabula in Transit, Leiden 2018, p. 44).Provenance: Anglican clergyman and biblical scholar Anthony Scattergood, editor of the Royal Bible of 1679 (ownership inscription on fol. a2r); on same leaf a monogram combining the letters T S N R and K. Rothamsted acquisition date 1922.Literature: ISTC ic00966500; BMC IX 145; Bod-inc C-479; GW 7822; IGI 3262; Klebs 310.4.

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Trees.- Here begynneth the Boke of the Arte or Crafte of Graffynge and Plantyng of Trees, first and only edition, collation:

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Lot 90

Trees.- Here begynneth the Boke of the Arte or Crafte of Graffynge and Plantyng of Trees, first and only edition, collation: A-B4, printed entirely in black letter, fine woodcut on title depicting two men hewing trees, all leaves with marginal restoration, soiled, some early ink annotations, modern calf, [STC 5954.2], small 4to, Imprinted at London in Lothbery over against S. Margarets church by me Wyllyam Copland, [?1565].⁂ The only recorded copy. From a bookseller's catalogue description it would appear this copy was purchased from Maggs in 1936 for £52.10s (subsequently rebound and repaired). "This little piece is of excessive rarity. One copy is recorded in Pollard's "Hand-Lists of English Printers" as in a Private Library, and there is a reference in a note in Dibdin's "Typographical Antiquities"...Outside these two references we have been unable to trace any record of this little work." (Maggs). ESTC 91551 locates this copy only; not in Worldcat. Rothamsted acquisition date 1936.

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Xenophon. Xenophons treatise of Householde, collation: A-H8, almost entirely printed in black letter, title within decorative

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Lot 110

Xenophon. Xenophons treatise of Householde, collation: A-H8, almost entirely printed in black letter, title within decorative woodcut border, some light water-staining, later cloth, [STC 26075], 8vo, Imprinted at London at the long Shop adjoyning onto S. Mildreds Church in the Pultne, by John Allde, 1573.⁂ Of this edition, ESTC locates only the BL, Bodleian and Huntington copies in addition to this one.Rothamsted acquisition date 1929.

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Copernicus.- Digges (Leonard) A Prognostication everlastinge of righte good effecte...to judge the weather by the Sunne, Moo

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Lot 119

Copernicus.- Digges (Leonard) A Prognostication everlastinge of righte good effecte...to judge the weather by the Sunne, Moone, Starres, Comets, Rainebow, Thunder, Cloudes..., first edition with the translation of Copernicus, collation: pi2, A-L4, M2, N-O4, P2, (lacking blank leaf G4 and the folding woodcut following leaf 42), partially printed in black letter, large woodcut illustration on title depicting the signs of the zodiac in relation to the human body (Luborsky-Morley Ingram, Type B.1), woodcut of ship at sea bearing the arms of the dedicatee (see Luborsky-Morley Ingram, Type 1, state 1) to title verso , numerous woodcut illustrations and diagrams illustrating measuring instruments, mariners' cards, the geocentric universe, constellation Orion etc., sig.L1 folded at edges, trimmed close, occasionally with loss of headlines/pagination, side-notes or signatures/catchwords and to edge of 2 woodcut diagrams, loss of most of the author's name at foot of dedication leaf, small stain to title and last couple of leaves, early 20th century full tan calf, gilt, by R. Wallis, small 4to (177 x 127mm.), Imprinted at London by Thomas Marsh, 1576.⁂ A book of legendary rarity: the 1576 enlarged edition of Leonard Digges' work, supplemented by his own son Thomas with the first translation into a vernacular language ever to appear of the groundbreaking cosmological section of Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. A milestone in the history of astronomy and history of scientific ideas in England.The Prognostication everlastinge was originally published by the mathematician Leonard Digges in 1555. The work belonged to the long tradition of popular almanacks, calendars, and ephemerides, and enjoyed a wide circulation, being often reprinted in subsequent years. In 1576 his son Thomas Digges, one of the most esteemed English mathematicians of the Elizabethian age, published a new edition of his father's work, adding an Appendix entitled A Perfit Description of the Caelestial Orbes according to the most aunciente doctrine of the Pythagoreans, latelye revived by Copernicus and by Geometricall Demostrations approved. The volume is introduced by Thomas Digges's new dedicatory letter to Sir Edward Fines, High Admiral of England, a feature which could explain the presence on the verso of the title-page of the woodcut showing a warship bearing Fines's arms, which only appeared in this 1576 edition.The Perfit Description of the Caelestial Orbes is a translation, or a paraphrase, into English of the three chapters from Book 1 of Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium, first published in 1543. Digges translates in particular chapters 7-8, in which Copernicus rejected Ptolemy's and Aristotle's arguments against the motion of Earth, and chapter 10, dealing with the order of the celestial spheres. Digges also adds to Copernicus's text some highly significant passages of his own, in which he affirms the infinity of the heliocentric universe, a question which was widely debated among contemporary theologians and philosophers.This edition is of the greatest rarity: only 3 copies are recorded in institutional libraries - BL, Huntington and Folger.Rothamsted acquisition date 1925. Literature: STC (2nd ed.) 435.47; Bosanquet clxxx; Brüning Kometenliteratur 317; F. R. Johnson - S. V. Larkey, "Thomas Digges, the Copernican System and the Idea of Infinity of the Universe in 1576", Huntington Library Bulletin 5 (1934), pp. 69-117; A.R. Hall, The Scientific Revolution, London 1954, p. 104; P. D. Omodeo, Copernicus in the Cultural Debates of the Renaissance. Reception, Legacy, Transformation, Leiden 2014, pp. 171-175.

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Crescentiis (Petrus de) Ruralia commoda, collation: a-r8 s6 A4, 146 leaves (complete with initial blank), text in 2 columns,

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Lot 12

Crescentiis (Petrus de) Ruralia commoda, collation: a-r8 s6 A4, 146 leaves (complete with initial blank), text in 2 columns, 52 lines, type 6:88R, fol. a2r with woodcut illustration (60x147 mm) showing the author writing to the left, and King Charles II of Sicily to the right, blank spaces for capitals, with guide letters, lower and upper outer margin of the first leaf largely restored, with loss of some lines of text and a small portion of vignette border, a few marginalia in Italian, monogram combining the letters S, R, and M on verso of front flyleaf, water-stained throughout, heavy at beginning and end, slight worming towards end, ocasionally in text, 18th century sheep-backed decorative boards, spine ends worn and wormed, corners rubbed, folio (307 x 205mm.), Vicenza, Leonardus Achates de Basilea, 17 February 1490.⁂ Scarce second edition in Italian, a substantial reprint of the Florentine edition of 1478. The volume was issued by the Swiss Leonardus Achates (Leonhard Agtstein), who was the first printer active in Vicenza from 1474 to 1491.The text is headed by a large woodcut vignette showing the author himself writing to the dedicatee of the Ruralia commoda, King Charles II of Anjou. The same block was re-used by Achates in his Herbarius latinus of 1491. This 1490 edition is rare at auction, and numerous institutional copies are defective. Provenance: Rothamsted acquisition date 1915Literature: ISTC ic00974000; HC(+Add) 5838; GW 7827; BMC VII 1033; Bod-inc C-484; IGI 3267; Goff C-974; Klebs 311.2; B.IN.G 582; Sander 2234.

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Tarello (Camillo) Ricordo d'agricoltura... al Serenissimo S. Gieronimo de' Priuli Principe di Venetia..., collation: A-I8, wo

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Lot 128

Tarello (Camillo) Ricordo d'agricoltura... al Serenissimo S. Gieronimo de' Priuli Principe di Venetia..., collation: A-I8, woodcut printer's device to title, woodcut decorative initials, water-stained, a gfew repairs, lightly browned throughout, modern brown morocco, spine gilt, Mantua, Giacomo Ruffinello, 1577; and 2 others, 16th & 17th century Italian agriculture, 8vo (mentioned 147 x 95mm.) (3)⁂ Provenance: Rothamsted acquisition dates 1929, 1926 & 1929.

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Crescentiis (Petrus de) Ruralia commoda, collation: A8 B-Q6 R8 S-Z6 a-b6 j4, 158 leaves (complete with blank b6), text in 2 c

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Lot 13

Crescentiis (Petrus de) Ruralia commoda, collation: A8 B-Q6 R8 S-Z6 a-b6 j4, 158 leaves (complete with blank b6), text in 2 columns, 53 lines, type: 13:80G, 19:155G, 313 woodcuts in text, a few coloured by a contemporary hand, German names for plants described in an early hand in margins and near woodcuts, woodcuts numbered also in an early hand, some foxing, stains and soiling, final leaf with a couple of minor repairs, modern limp vellum with green silk ties (1 lacking), spine lettered in black, folio (262 x 185mm.), Speyer, Peter Drach, [c.1490-95].⁂ The rare first illustrated edition of Crescenzi's popular work, enhanced with over 300 woodcuts. One of the most attractive illustrated 15th-century books on natural history, and "its text and numerous cuts are a wonderful storehouse of country lore" (A. M. Hind, An Introduction to a History of Woodcut, p. 347).The edition was issued anonymously, without indication of printer, place and date, but the printing is assigned to Peter Drach, and generally dated to between 1490 and 1495. The Speyer printer also published (1st October 1493) the first translation into German of the Ruralia commoda, illustrating the text with the same woodblocks. The fine vignettes are in different sizes and depict husbandry and hunting scenes, plants, animals, and rightly famous are the woodcuts depicting winemaking. A group of illustrations shows the re-use of the woodblocks executed by the so-called 'Hausbuchmeister' for one of the most famous illustrated German books of the incunable age, the Spiegel menschlicher Behaltnis (Speculum humanae salvationis), likewise printed by Drach in 1496. Provenance: Rothamsted acquisition date 1922Literature: ISTC ic00969000; HCR 5826; GW 7825; BMC II 499; Bod-inc C-482; IGI 3265; Goff C-969; Klebs 310.6; Nissen BBI, 421; Simon Bibliotheca Bacchica, 36; Great Flower Books, p. 83.

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Bread.- Here beginneth the Booke, named the Assise of Breade, what it ought to weygh, after the price of a Quarter of wheate.

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Lot 134

Bread.- Here beginneth the Booke, named the Assise of Breade, what it ought to weygh, after the price of a Quarter of wheate. And also the Assyse of Ale, with all maner of wood and Cole, Lath, Boord, and Tymber, and the weyght of Butter and Cheese, collation: A-D4, largely printed in black letter, four-part woodcut title-vignette, small woodcut illustrations at head of four columns of text to many leaves, other typographic decorations and woodcut initials, later russet morocco, gilt, by F. Bedford, g.e., inner gilt dentelles, [STC 869.5], small 4to, Imprinted at London in Fleetestreate, beneath the Conduit, at the signe of S. John Evangelist, by Hugh Jackson, [c.1580].⁂ The only recorded copy. The BL has a variant (STC 869) with different imprint and "ss" in "Assise" not the lower case beta s as this copy. No auction records, although 17th century works under a similar title do occasionally appear.Rothamsted acquisition date 1924.

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Prudent le Choyselat. A Discourse of Housebandrie. No lesse profitable then delectable, second English edition, collation: A-

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Lot 136

Prudent le Choyselat. A Discourse of Housebandrie. No lesse profitable then delectable, second English edition, collation: A-D4, largely printed in black letter, woodcut device on title, woodcut initials and decorations, upper edge trimmed with slight loss to first two words on title and some other leaves, mostly headlines, stains to first half dozen leaves, some light foxing, later calf, gilt, very slightly rubbed, [STC 20453; Fussell I, p.10], 4to, Imprinted at London by Jhon Kyngston, for Myles Jennynges dwellyng in S. Paules Church-yard, at the signe of the Bible, 1580.⁂ Excessively rare. Auction records show only one copy of the first edition (1970) and none of this, which appeared three years later. A note on the front free endpaper by Williamson of Quaritch, who was instrumental in providing many of the early printed rarities to the Lawes Library, states "Very scarce, the only copy I have known for sale, a very valuable book." ESTC locates copies in BL and Harvard only, in addition to this one.Provenance: William Forsyth (name on verso of title, dated 1810); Harrison Weir, animal painter and author (name and address, dated 1890, on front free endpaper).Rothamsted acquisition date 1915.

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Cato (Marcus Porcius) Varro, Columella & Palladius. Scriptores rei rusticae, collation: aa6 a6 b-i8 k4 l-y8 z4 &6 [con]8 [rum

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Lot 15

Cato (Marcus Porcius) Varro, Columella & Palladius. Scriptores rei rusticae, collation: aa6 a6 b-i8 k4 l-y8 z4 &6 [con]8 [rum]8 A-K6 L4 M6, 270 leaves (of 272, lacking fols. o1 and o8), text in single column, 52 lines, woodcut printer's device at end, woodcut decorated initials in different sizes, blank spaces for capitals, some water-staining, mostly marginal but quite heavy to corner of first few leaves and slightly encroaching on text block, first and last leaf soiled, fol. a6 with fore-margin torn away and another tear just touching a couple of letters of text, 18th century mottled sheep, spine gilt in compartments with 5 raised bands, extremities worn, covers scuffed and abraded, folio (295 x 190mm.), Reggio Emilia, Dionysius Bertochus, 18 September, 1496.⁂ Rare fourth edition and the first book issued by the skilled printer Dionigi Bertocchi alone. This 1496 edition is a reprint of the Scriptores rei rusticae edited by the humanist Filippo Beroaldo the Elder (1543-1504), which first appeared in Bologna in 1494 from the press of Benedetto Faelli. The text is introduced, as in the Bolognese edition, by Beroaldo's dedicatory letter, and the Enarrationes Philippi Beroaldi in XIII Columellae (De arboribus).Provenance: the Edinburgh Priory, belonging to the Dominican order, and destroyed in 1559 (contemporary ownership inscription on fol. b1r); the legal writer and judge Dodgson Hamilton Madden (1840-1928; ex libris on recto of front flyleaf). Bibliographical note by Wright on verso of front flyleaf, dated 27 November 1723.On first leaf ownership inscription dated 'ano 1589 die Junii 18. Lugduni in Bat'.Rothamsted acquisition date 1926Literature: ISTC is00349000; HC 14569*; GW M41055; BMC VII 1090; Bod-inc S-125; IGI 8856; Goff S-349; Klebs 902.4.

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Surveying.- Blagrave (John) Baculum Familliare, Catholicon sive Generale. A Booke of the making and use of a Staffe, newly in

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Lot 154

Surveying.- Blagrave (John) Baculum Familliare, Catholicon sive Generale. A Booke of the making and use of a Staffe, newly invented by the Author, called the Familiar Staffe, first edition, collation: A-K4 (lacking final blank K4), largely printed in black letter, woodcut illustrations to title and other woodcut illustrations and diagrams to text, woodcut initials and decorations, title soiled, a few marginal repairs, modern cloth, [STC 3118], small 4to, Printed by Heugh Jackson dwelling at Fleete Bridge, at the signe of S. John the Evangelist, 1590.⁂ Blagrave (1561-1611) was an English mathematician perhaps best known for his 1585 work The Mathematical Jewel.Provenance: Rothamsted acquisition date 1916.

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Alamanni (Luigi) La coltivazione... e le Api del S. Giovanni Rucellai... Con aggiunta delli Epigrammi del Medesimo Alamanni E

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Lot 156

Alamanni (Luigi) La coltivazione... e le Api del S. Giovanni Rucellai... Con aggiunta delli Epigrammi del Medesimo Alamanni Et di alcune brevi Annotazioni sopra le Api..., 2 parts in 1 vol., collation: *4, A-N8; O-T8, V4, woodcut printer's device to title and at end, woodcut initials, occasional foxing or browning, final f. chipped at foot, 18th century floral patterned boards, spine sunned, Florence, Filippo Giunta, 1590 § Gallo (Agostino) Le vinti Giornate dell'Agricoltura, et de' piaceri della villa, collation: *8, **4, A-Z8, Aa-Cc8, Dd6, Ee-Ff4, lacking final blank, woodcut coat of arms to title, woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces, 12 full-page woodcut illustrations, occasional light foxing, minor damp-staining, 18th century boards, minor wear to extremities, a little rubbed, Turin, Heirs of Niccolò Bevilacqua, 1579-1580; and 2 others, Crescentiis and Herrera in Italian, 8vo & 4to (4)⁂ A good group of four 'bestsellers' in Italian. Provenance: first mentioned Rothamsted acquisition date 1930.

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Cato (Marcus Porcius) Varro, Coulmella & Palladius. Scriptores rei rusticae ("Opera Agricolationum"), collation: aa10 a-s8 t-

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Lot 16

Cato (Marcus Porcius) Varro, Coulmella & Palladius. Scriptores rei rusticae ("Opera Agricolationum"), collation: aa10 a-s8 t-u6 x-z8 &8 [con] 8 [rum] 8 A-C8 D6, 244 leaves, text in single column, 44 lines, fol. a1r title and nine-line woodcut initial and 2 smaller initials printed in red, numerous decorated initials on black ground in different sizes, woodcut printer's device at end, first leaf possibly from another copy, early annotations on recto of front flyleaf, marginalia and reading marks in the same hand, a few slightly trimmed at time of rebinding, some marginal staining, final leaf with marginal repairs and restoration, modern calf, blind tooled in antique style, folio (304 x 195mm.), Reggio Emilia, Franciscus de Mazalibus, 20 November 1499.⁂ The last Italian edition of the Scriptores rei rusticae printed in the 15th century, after those which appeared in Venice in 1472 (see lot 5), in Reggio Emilia in 1482 (see lot 8), in Bologna in 1494, and again in Reggio Emilia in 1496 (see previous lot). "This is a good example of the rivalry between the prototypographers, five Italian incunabula of the Scriptores rei rusticae, by five different printers, in three cities; three editions by three different printers in one of them, Reggio Emilia [...] After that the tradition of the four Scriptores was common" (G. Sarton, Hellenistic Science and Culture in the Last Three Centuries B.C., Cambridge, MA, 1959, p.388).The 1499 edition was issued from the press of Francesco Mazzali, active as a printer in Reggio Emilia between 1494 and 1504, and closely follows the 1496 Bertocchi edition. Provenance: the Milanese lawyer, politician, and art collector Michele Cavaleri (1813-1890; his stamp 'Museo Cavaleri' on fol. aa2r). Rothamsted acquisition date 1930.Literature: ISTC is00350000; HC(+Add) 14570*; GW M41062; BMC VII 1089; Bod-inc S-126; Goff S-350; Klebs 902.5; B.IN.G 1798; Simon Bibliotheca Bacchica 1.45.

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Grapaldus (Franciscus Marius) De Partibus aedium libellus cum additamentis emendatissimus, collation: A-B6, a-p8, q-r6, woodc

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Lot 17

Grapaldus (Franciscus Marius) De Partibus aedium libellus cum additamentis emendatissimus, collation: A-B6, a-p8, q-r6, woodcut decorative initials on black ground, water-stained with some blackening, early 20th-century floral-patterned boards, Parma, Francesco Ugoleto, May, 1501; and another, Bonardo, 1586, small 4to (mentioned, 198 x 150mm.) (2)⁂ Second edition of this domestic manual, including the kitchen, gardens, nursery and library. Provenance: Biblioteca di S. Marco in Venice, sold as a duplicate (small stamps); Leo S. Olschki (bookplate on the front pastedown). Rothamsted acquisition dates 1928 & 1935.Literature: Adams G1006; Fowler 142.

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P[lat] (Sir H[ugh]) Sundrie new and Artificiall remedies against Famine, first edition, woodcut device on title, woodcut init

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Lot 170

P[lat] (Sir H[ugh]) Sundrie new and Artificiall remedies against Famine, first edition, woodcut device on title, woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces, final f. with large portion of loss to lower half, not affecting text, a few ff. with very minor worming, occasional damp-staining and light surface-soiling, 20th century half calf, a little rubbed, [STC 19996; not in Bitting, Cagle, Oxford, Simon or Vicaire], small 4to, Printed by P. S[hort] dwelling on Breadstreet hill, at the signe of the Starre, 1596.⁂ A rare work that provides a number of thrifty recipes to help survive in times of famine including methods of baking bread with a scarcity of flour, "Sweete and delicate cakes made without Spice, or Sugar" and the brewing of beer without hops. The author also mentions helping supply a recent expedition of Sir Francis Drake as well as ill-fated first English expedition to China in 1596.Provenance: Rothamsted acquisition date 1915.

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Surveying.- N[orden] (J[ohn]) The Surveyors Dialogue. Divided into five Bookes: Very profitable for all men to peruse, that h

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Lot 192

Surveying.- N[orden] (J[ohn]) The Surveyors Dialogue. Divided into five Bookes: Very profitable for all men to peruse, that have to do with the revenues of Land, or the manurance, use, or occupation thereof, both Lords and Tenants, first edition, a few woodcut diagrams, initials and decorations, initial leaf (blank except for signature "A") present but laid down, a few other marginal repairs, good margins, modern red morocco, spine faded, old vellum covers and spine bound in at end, [STC 18639; Kress 279], Printed [by Simon Stafford] for Hugh Astley, dwelling at S. Magnus corner, 1607.⁂ First edition of this work "important because of Norden's clear account of the operation of the court of survey and because of his efforts to reconcile the differences between surveyor and tenant." (A.W. Richeson, English land measuring to 1800, 1966).Rothamsted acquisition date not listed.

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Markham (Gervase) The English Husbandman. The First Part: Contayning the Knowledge of the true Nature of euery Soyle within t

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Lot 209

Markham (Gervase) The English Husbandman. The First Part: Contayning the Knowledge of the true Nature of euery Soyle within this Kingdome: how to Plow it; and the manner of the Plough, and other Instruments belonging thereto, first edition, woodcut illustrations, head-pieces and decorative initials, lacking G1 and G4 (blank), a few ff. with minor fraying, title browned,contemporary limp vellum, browned and soiled, [Fussell pp.31-32; Poynter 21.1; STC 17355], printed by T[homas]. S[nodham]. for Iohn Browne, and are to be sould at his shop in Saint Dunstanes Church-yard, 1613; and 5 others by the same (6)⁂ Provenance: first mentioned Rothamsted acquisition date 1928.

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Livestock.- Mascall (Leonard) The Government of Cattell. Divided into Three Books, The first entreating of Oxon, Kine and Cal

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Lot 218

Livestock.- Mascall (Leonard) The Government of Cattell. Divided into Three Books, The first entreating of Oxon, Kine and Calves ... the second discoursing the government of horses ... the third of sheep, goats, hogs and dogs, first edition, mostly black letter, occasional browning, ink ownership inscription, 2 19th century illustrations of cows laid down on pastedowns, contemporary calf, splitting to joints but holding firm, rubbed, [Fussell p.10; 17586], small 4to, Printed by T. S[nodham]. for Roger Iackson, and are to be sould at his shop, neere Fleet-street Conduit, 1620.⁂ A rare early edition, ESTC lists 5 copies only including this one.Provenance: Rothamsted acquisition date 1928.

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Markham (Gervase) Markhams Farewell to Husbandry Or, The inriching of all sorts of Barren and Sterrill Grounds in our Kingdo

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Lot 219

Markham (Gervase) Markhams Farewell to Husbandry Or, The inriching of all sorts of Barren and Sterrill Grounds in our Kingdome, to be as fruitfull in all manner of Graine, Pulse, and Grasse as the best Grounds whatsoever, first edition, occasional light damp-staining, light worming to lower margin, mostly repaired, 20th century tree calf, gilt by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, [Fussell pp.30-31; Poynter 24.1; STC 17372], I[ohn] B[eale and Augustine Mathewes] for Roger Iackson, and are to be sold at his shop neere Fleete-streete Conduit, 1620; Cheape and Good Husbandry, third edition, lacking initial blank, occasional browning, 20th century half calf, [Poynter 34.2; STC 17338], printed by T[homas]. S[nodham]. for Roger Iackson, and are to be sold at his shop neere the Conduit in Fleetstreet, 1623; Countrey Contentments, or The English Huswife, occasional minor damp-staining, 20th century calf, gilt, [Poynter 34.1; STC 17343], by I[ohn]. B[eale]., for R. Iackson, and are to be sold at his shop neere Fleet-streete Conduit, 1623; Country Contentments. Or, The Husbandmans Recreations, ninth edition, some paper adhering to title, occasional soiling or browning, ink ownership inscriptions, 20th century calf-backed boards, [Poynter 34.10; Wing M623], printed by William Wilson, for George Sawbridge, at the Bible on Ludgate-hill, neer Fleet-bridge, 1660, some woodcut illustrations, small 4to (4)⁂ Provenance: first mentioned Rothamsted acquisition date 1917.

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Grapaldus (Franciscus Marius) De Partibus Aedium, collation: ✠8 ✠✠8 ✠✠✠4 a-q8 r6 s-z8 &8 [cum] 8 [rum] 8 A-G8 H4, (lacking fi

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Lot 24

Grapaldus (Franciscus Marius) De Partibus Aedium, collation: ✠8 ✠✠8 ✠✠✠4 a-q8 r6 s-z8 &8 [cum] 8 [rum] 8 A-G8 H4, (lacking final blank), large woodcut portrait of the author on title, numerous woodcut decorated initials, on black or criblé ground, sunburst device on verso of final leaf, title browned, inner margin extended with minor loss to border of portrait, a few marginal water-stains, wormholes to last quire, inner margin of last leaf extended, small repair to penultimate leaf, occasional soiling, a few contemporary Latin marginalia, reading marks and maniculae, early 18th-century calf, spine with five raised bands, compartments in gilt, 4to (200 x 139mm.), Parma, Francesco Ugoleto and Ottaviano Saladi for Antonio Quinziano, 1516.⁂ The definitively revised edition of this important treatise, which first appeared in Parma in 1494, and relates to gardening, domestic arts, and gastronomy. This new edition was published a year after Grapaldi's death in 1515, and is the first to contain, as a possible homage to the author, the large portrait on the title-page. The text is significantly enlarged and corrected and supplemented with a table of contents and an index. All subsequent editions are based on this 1516 publication.Rothamsted acquisition date 1915.Literature: Adams G1009; Cicognara 520; Fowler 145; Mortimer Italian 220; Sander 3254; Simon BG 789.

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T[aylor] (S[ilvanus]) Common-Good: or, the Improvement of Commons, Forests, and Chases, last 2ff. damp-stained, bookplate, mo

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Lot 281

T[aylor] (S[ilvanus]) Common-Good: or, the Improvement of Commons, Forests, and Chases, last 2ff. damp-stained, bookplate, modern half calf, [Wing T552], small 4to, for Francis Tyton, 1652.⁂ Rare at auction; we can trace no other copy in the last 50 years. Provenance: Donald McDonald (bookplate).

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Hartlib (Samuel) Samuel Hartlib His Legacy of Husbandry, by J.M. for Richard Wodenothe, 1655 § [Weston (Sir Richard)] A Disco

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Lot 294

Hartlib (Samuel) Samuel Hartlib His Legacy of Husbandry, by J.M. for Richard Wodenothe, 1655 § [Weston (Sir Richard)] A Discours of Husbandrie used in Brabant and Flanders..., third edition, title soiled and stained, by William Du-Gard..., 1654 § [Dymock (Cressy] An Invention of Engines of Motion..., first edition, by I.C. for Richard Woodnoth, 1651 § [Hartlib] The Reformfd Husband-man, or a Brief Treatise of the Errors, Defects, and Inconveniences of our English Husbandry, with final blank, by J.C., 1651 § [Dymock] An Essay for Advancement of Husbandry-Learning, by Henry Hills, 1651 § [Hartlib] A Designe for Plentie, by an Universall Planting of Fruit-Trees, for Richard Wodenothe, [?1652]; A Discoverie for Division or Setting out of Land, as to the best Form, 2 folding woodcut plates, for Richard Wodenothe, 1653 § [Shaw (John)] Certaine plaine and easie Demonstrations of divers Easie wayes and meanes for the Improving of any manner of barren Land..., first leaf torn, by T.F., and are to be sold by William Ley, 1657 § St. Foine Improved: A Discourse shewing the Utility and Benefit which England hath and may receive by the Grasse called St. Foine, with the final blank, by S[arah] G[riffin] and B[ennet] G[riffin] for Nath. Brooke, 1674, together 9 works in 1 vol., some titles with typographic border, some soiling and staining, cropped with a few leaves shaved at foot, bookplate of Thomas, Earl of Kinnoull, contemporary sprinkled calf, rebacked preserving old gilt spine with red roan label, rubbed, some worming to spine, [Fussell pp.41-47; Wing H991, W1483A, D2971, H999, D2970A, H984, H985, S3021 & P1910], small 4to⁂ Interesting collection of works, most of which were originally attributed to Hartlib or have contributions by him. Many are scarce, with only a few copies located by ESTC. The third An Essay for Advancement of Husbandry-Learning is an important work in early agrarian reform, introducing a new engine system for the powering of mills.

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Palladius (Rutilius Taurus) Della Agricultura traducto vulgare, first edition in Italian, collation: ✠8 ✠✠4 A-K8 L4, large wo

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Lot 30

Palladius (Rutilius Taurus) Della Agricultura traducto vulgare, first edition in Italian, collation: ✠8 ✠✠4 A-K8 L4, large woodcut printer's device at end, woodcut decorated initials, that on fol. ✠2r over 13 lines, title rather spotted and browned and with old repair to blank inner corner, foxing, some water-stains, a few annotations in two different hands,18th-century vellum, red edges, covers slightly browned and corner of lower cover slightly abraded, 4to (201 x 136mm.), Siena, Simone Nardi, 1526.⁂ Very rare first Italian vernacular edition, issued by the bookseller Nardi in Siena in Tuscany, the Italian region which in the 14th century had produced three different volgarizzamenti of the celebrated Opus agriculturae. Pietro Marino from Foligno was responsible for the translation, which is different from those from the manuscript tradition, and shows his skills in farming and gardening. On the rear pastedown is a note written in Italian which reads 'Procuratomi da Roma nel 1806. Libro raro', i.e. 'Bought in Rome in 1806. A rare book'.Provenance: Leo S. Olschki (ex libris on front pastedown).Rothamsted acquisition date ?1926.Literature: M. Ambrosoli, "L'Opus Agriculturae di Palladio. Volgarizzamenti e identificazione dell'ambiente naturae tra Tre e Cinquecento", Quaderni Storici 18 (1983), pp. 227-254.

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Le Gendre (Antione) The Manner of Ordering Fruit-Trees..., Wherein is Treated of Nurseries, Wall-Fruits, Hedges of Fruit Tree

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Lot 306

Le Gendre (Antione) The Manner of Ordering Fruit-Trees..., Wherein is Treated of Nurseries, Wall-Fruits, Hedges of Fruit Trees, Dwarf-Trees, High Standers, &c., [translation attributed to John Evelyn], first English edition, engraved frontispiece, contemporary sheep, spine chipped at head, [Fussell p.50; Henrey 229; Janson pp.69-71; Wing L943A], 12mo, Printed for Humphrey Moseley, at the Prince's Armes in S. Paul's Church-yard, 1660.⁂ Rare. Only 3 copies at auction in the last 70 years, one of which lacked the frontispiece. Le Gendre was inspector of gardens and almoner to Louis XIII. In 1622 he became curate of Henouville, near Rouen, an area renowned for the quality of its fruit. He was visited here by his friend the writer Pierre Corneille.

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Saltpetre.- Clarke (William) The Natural History of Nitre: or, a Philosphical Discourse of the Nature, Generation, Place, and

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Lot 329

Saltpetre.- Clarke (William) The Natural History of Nitre: or, a Philosphical Discourse of the Nature, Generation, Place, and Artificial Extraction of Nitre, with its Vertues and Uses, first edition, title slightly stained, last 2ff. soiled and stained, some other ff. stained in margins or at head, slightly browned, modern calf, label on spine, [Wing C4564], E. Okes for Nathaniel Brook, 1670 § [Lund (Carl Fredrich)] Afhandling, om Salpeter-Sjuderierne och Jord-Bruket, upper hinge broken, original silk-covered boards, rather worn and defective, Norrköping, Joh. B. Blume, 1770, 8vo (2).⁂ Saltpetre used in gunpowder. WorldCat lists only 2 copies of the second (Stockholm & Ballerup, Denmark).

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[Pettus (Sir John, attrib.)] St. Foine Improved: A Discourse shewing the Utility and Benefit which England hath and may recei

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Lot 333

[Pettus (Sir John, attrib.)] St. Foine Improved: A Discourse shewing the Utility and Benefit which England hath and may receive by the Grasse called St. Foine, first edition, with final blank, light surface soiling to title, library cloth, [Fussell p.74; Henrey 335], small 4to, printed by S[arah]. G[riffin]. and B[ennet]. G[riffin]. for Nath. Brooke, at the Angel in Cornhill, 1671.⁂ "a most interesting little book... Whoever wrote it knew what he was talking about, and had evidently made himself thoroughly acquainted with the peculiarities and value of the plant as a farmer's crop." - McDonald.

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Grew (Nehemiah) The Anatomy of Vegetables, first edition, 3 folding engraved plates at end, lacking initial licence leaf and

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Lot 334

Grew (Nehemiah) The Anatomy of Vegetables, first edition, 3 folding engraved plates at end, lacking initial licence leaf and final blank, blank leaf N6 present, some light browning, title slightly chipped at edges, later mottled sheep-backed boards, [Wing G1946; Henrey I, 163; Norman 944; Pritzel 3554; Dibner 21], 8vo, Printed for Spencer Hickman, Printer to the R. Society, at the Rose in S. Pauls Church-Yard, 1672.⁂ First edition of Grew's first book. Grew (1641-1712) is considered one of the fathers of plant anatomy and this work includes detailed observations of wood, bark and roots.

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Swiss Blue Topaz Statement Ring, a large oval cut solitaire Swiss Blue topaz of 19cts, with the unusual radiant cut adding ex

Gerrards Auction Rooms

Lot 143

Swiss Blue Topaz Statement Ring, a large oval cut solitaire Swiss Blue topaz of 19cts, with the unusual radiant cut adding extra depth to the stone, set in platinum vermeil and silver with 14ct yellow gold vermeil accents, with openwork holding two small round cut Swiss Blue topaz to each shoulder; Swiss Blue is the acknowledged brightest of the shades of blue topaz, seated between Sky Blue and London Blue; size S

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Ruby Raised Solitaire Ring, an 8.5ct oval cut ruby raised above the shank, where the shoulders are each set with a further th

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Lot 212

Ruby Raised Solitaire Ring, an 8.5ct oval cut ruby raised above the shank, where the shoulders are each set with a further three graduated rubies, the whole in rhodium vermeil and silver; the rubies being deep red with a pinkish hue suggests they are Burmese; ruby is the Birthstone for July; size S

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Clarice Cliff Dripglaze Handpainted Conical Shaped Tall Vase 'My Garden' design, circa 1930's. Bizarre range. 10.75 inches ta

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Lot 556

Clarice Cliff Dripglaze Handpainted Conical Shaped Tall Vase 'My Garden' design, circa 1930's. Bizarre range. 10.75 inches tall, excellent condition

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ǂ Account of the flooding of the Nile and the geography of the region around Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a

Bloomsbury Auctions

Lot 3

ǂ Account of the flooding of the Nile and the geography of the region around Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript on papyrus [Egypt (perhaps western bank of the Nile Delta, near Alexandria), second century AD.] Two large pieces and two small fragments from a papyrus scroll (overall approximately 250 by 110mm.), with almost all of a single column and the edge of its neighbouring column on the right surviving, remains of 35 lines in a fine Greek uncial (column width: 65 mm.), one annotation of a small cross between columns, reverse blank, small losses to edges and holes, the whole set in heavy mid-twentieth-century glass (lateral crack to glass sheet at back) Provenance:1. Georges Anastase Michaelides (1900-1973), Greek-Egyptian collector, who built up a large collection of papyri and related items in the 1930s and 1940s while in Egypt, then exported these to Europe. That here with his collection label “K3011” on reverse, and published while in his possession by Drescher and then Crawford (see below). His collection was widely dispersed in the last decade of his life and the years immediately after his death, with other papyrus fragments and related artefacts now in the British Library (Pap 3084, 3100-3103, 3105-3115), the Brugsch collection of Berlin, Cambridge University Library (Michaelides 858-859, 1085 and 1263, as well as a vast collection of Arabic papyri, all bought from Michaelides’ heirs in 1977), the Los Angeles County Museum (M. 80.202.185 and 187) and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (item 61.102, acquired in 1961) among many others.2. Bruce Ferrini (1950-2010), obtained from a private collector in Frankfurt.3. The Schøyen Collection, Oslo and London, their MS. 2931.Text: In the seventy years since its discovery (known as P. Michael.4), the unique text of this papyrus has defied simple identification. It opens with a reference to a method of calculation involving “the seventh in the system of Egyptian hieroglyphs, which in the local method of calculation marks fourteen cubits” before going on to describe the promontory on which Canopus lies, between the sea and the Nile, and the life-giving properties of the flood, as this “weaves together [the area between Canopus and Thomis] with a piling up of black mud”, bringing nourishment to the dried out land, which produces tender shoots and a sweet odor, that in turn feeds milking cattle. Merkelbach in 1958 identified it as a previously unrecorded section of the geographies of Hecataeus of Miletus (c. 550-c. 476 BC.), the first recorded Greek geographer, but the style of the language and structural complexity suggested to Murray and West that it may be part of an otherwise unknown literary work. Santoni placed it in the allegorising tradition of Stoic philosophy, and the authorship of Chairemon of Alexandria, the Graeco-Roman tutor to Nero. The most recent publication, that of Stephens and Winkler, focusses on the address in the first person to create a narrator, and concludes it might be part of an Ancient Greek novel. They have assigned it the title ‘Inundation’.Published:J. Drescher, ‘Topographical Notes for Alexandria and District’, Bulletin de la Société Royale d’Archéologie d’ Alexandrie, 38 (1949), pp. 13-20 and illustrated (pls. 16-20).D.S. Crawford, Papyri Michaelidae, being a catalogue of the Greek and Latin papyri, tablets and ostraca in the library of Mr. G.A. Michaïlidis of Cairo, 1955, no 4.R. Merkelbach, ‘Geographisches Fragment’, Arkiv für Papyrusforschung, xvi (1958), pp. 112-114.O. Murray, ‘Hectaeus of Abdera and Pharaonic Kingship’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology lvi (1970), 148, n. 3.A. Bernand, Le Delta Égyptian d’après les textes grecs, 1970, pp. 225-28.S. West, ‘P. Michael.4: Fact of Fiction’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 10 (1973), pp. 75-77.A. Santoni, ‘Una decrizione di Canopoin P.Michael. 4’, Auctori Vari, Varia Papyrologica, 1991, pp. 101-120.A. Stramaglia, ‘Sul Frammento Di Romanzo () PMichael 4’, in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 97 (1993), pp. 7-15S.A. Stephens and J.A. Winkler, Ancient Greek Novels, 1995, pp. 453-460.M.P. Lopez Martinez, Fragmentos papiráceos de novela griega 25, 1998.J.R. Morgan, ‘On the Fringes of the Canon: Work on the Fragments of Ancient Greek Fiction 1936-1994’, Aufsteig und Niedergang der römischen Welt, 34.4, 1998, pp. 3378-80.As well as in the online Leuven Database of Ancient Books, as LDAB 4612. ǂ Lots marked with a double dagger (ǂ) (presently a reduced rate of 5%) have been imported from outside the European Union to be sold at auction and therefore the buyer must pay the import VAT at the appropriate rate on the hammer price.

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ƟFragment from the earliest known Malmesbury cartulary, with parts of charters claiming the Anglo-Saxon saint, Aldhelm, as th

Bloomsbury Auctions

Lot 39

ƟFragment from the earliest known Malmesbury cartulary, with parts of charters claiming the Anglo-Saxon saint, Aldhelm, as their recipient, in Latin, manuscript on parchment in situ in the binding of a printed book [England (doubtless Malmesbury), middle third of twelfth century] A small cutting, with remains of 16 lines in a good Romanesque English bookhand, with a single biting curve, all from the righthand side of a column, 2 lines of red rubric, one letter added interlineally to a word, an apparent folio no. ‘293’ in sixteenth-century hand at what would have been the head of the front of the original leaf, the whole darkened and discoloured in places with small amounts of paper adhering from reuse in binding of a printed book, but overall in good and legible condition, 153 by 40mm.; mounted upside down at the front of a sixteenth-century English binding on a copy of Cicero, Rhethoricorum ad C. Herennium & De Inventione (Lyon: Seb. Gryphium, 1556), between the endleaves and the front board, another similar sized but apparently blank piece of parchment (probably from border of same parent manuscript) between last endleaves and back board, the later binding covered with dark leather over pasteboards, the thongs and leather attaching the front board to the book block perished and detaching, endleaves of printed book woolly and water damaged, else in fair condition An important witness to the organisation and use of charters by Malmesbury Abbey in the Anglo-Norman period, and perhaps produced for or used by the Anglo-Norman historian William of Malmesbury Provenance:1. Doubtless written at Malmesbury Abbey (founded c. 676) in the southern Cotswolds in Wiltshire, in the twelfth century, and most probably reused locally as binding material after 15 December 1539 when the house was suppressed by order of Henry VIII. The abbey and all its goods, including the library, was sold to one of the royal commissioners responsible for its suppression, William Stumpe (who immediately reverted to his family business of cloth manufacture, and filled the abbey buildings with weaving looms), and thereafter dispersed.2. Numerous ex libri identify sixteenth-century English owners of the book, including “Henry Hall” (on frontispiece and last endleaf multiple times in red and black, the latter with “est meus herus”), “George Watsomn” (twice on first endleaf), “Oswoold Metcalfe” (first endleaf, with George Watson), “John Grudamore” (frontispiece).3. Ampleforth Abbey, their full-page oval inkstamp in purple; recently deaccessioned.Text:This small fragment is part of a cartulary, or very similar document, for the medieval abbey of Malmesbury, and contains a series of charters which purport to be Anglo-Saxon in date, one of which claims to be connected with St. Aldhelm, the founder of the community and a cousin of King Ine of Wessex (in fact, all apart from one twelfth-century forgeries). There is a distinct connection between the parent codex of this small cutting and the work of the celebrated Anglo-Norman historian, William of Malmesbury (c. 1095-c.1143) on the early history of the house, and it may have been produced under his auspices or by an associate as part of the preparatory material for that work.The writings of William of Malmesbury strongly suggest that a cartulary, or at the least a highly organised archive, did exist at Malmesbury in the early twelfth century. His account of the life of St. Aldhelm (c. 639-709; that work later becoming the fifth book of William’s Gesta Pontificum Anglorum), uses charters as the base of its narrative, frequently citing entire texts without their boundary clauses (as here). Surviving cartularies and related material for Malmesbury can be found in Oxford, Bodleian Library, Wood empt. 5, fols. 9-60 (mid-thirteenth century), PRO, E 164/24 (late thirteenth century) and British Library, Lansdowne 417 (c. 1400; this a copy of PRO, E 164/24 with some rearrangement), as well as fragmentary thirteenth-century materials in British Library Add. MSS. 38009 and 15667. However, each of these is different in content, format and organisation from each other, and bears no close relation to our fragment.It is noteworthy that one of the charters quoted here (that of a probably spurious charter purporting to be issued by Cenfrith, nobleman of Mercia to Aldhelm in 680: numbered S.1166 in academic literature following the listing by P. Sawyer, Anglo-Saxon Charters, 1968) is recorded nowhere outside of William of Malmesbury’s writings. It is a forgery manifestly based on charters of the reign of the tenth-century king, Athelstan, and modern scholarship has seen it as an invention of either William or one of his immediate predecessors at Malmesbury, and later set aside by the abbey’s archivists. All of the charters here occur in William’s life of Aldhelm, and it is tempting to speculate that the present fragment comes from a document produced under William’s direction in the early stages of his work, by an associate of his. The hand is distinct from those identified as William’s own and his main associates where they can be identified in the manuscript tradition of his works (see N.R. Ker, ‘The handwriting of William of Malmesbury’, English Historical Review lix, 1944, and R.M. Thomson, ‘The scriptorium of William of Malmesbury’, in Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries, essays presented to N.R. Ker, 1978), but the parent codex of this cutting contained documents used by him and was probably in Malmesbury at the same time as him, and thus is unlikely to fallen far outside his circle of influence.The texts cited here are: recto (i) the closing lines of a probably spurious charter, purporting to be a land grant from King Æthelwulf of Wessex to Malmesbury, of estates in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, made at Wilton on 22 April, 854 (S. 305): edited in S.E. Kelly, Charters of Malmesbury Abbey, 2004, no. 19; (ii) three lines of red rubric mentioning “Adelstanus” and thus preceding one of the charters of that king for the abbey (either S. 434, 435 or 436); verso (iii) the purported charter of Cenfrith to Aldhelm in 680 (S. 1166), with parts of “ad ima Cociti … felicitatis illectus” (and stopping just short of Cenfrith’s subscription, but followed by remnants of three further lines: the main charter edited by Kelly, no. 2). Ɵ Indicates that the lot is subject to buyer’s premium of 24% exclusive of VAT (0% VAT).

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Ɵ Two medieval account books in contemporary wallet-bindings, in Latin and Italian, manuscripts on paper [Italy (Modena), lat

Bloomsbury Auctions

Lot 74

Ɵ Two medieval account books in contemporary wallet-bindings, in Latin and Italian, manuscripts on paper [Italy (Modena), late fifteenth and early sixteenth century] Two codices: (i) 62 leaves (including 12 blanks), filled with accounts organised by the name of the debtor or the date (these struck through once account was settled), with other associated lists and notes, contemporary foliation 1-35, 50-63 (but without apparent loss of text so these papers probably assembled from two separate sets of accounts), and index at end, small stains and spots, thongs split in one place with a few leaves loose at that point, 300 by 205mm., contemporary limp parchment binding with thong stitches for button support on front board (button wanting) and fold-over flap, “1483 / 1484 / 1485 / De Sco: Di Povere.” in ink on front cover, some small flaws and tears, else good condition; (ii) 50 leaves (plus a number of smaller sheets of paper loosely inserted), with entries as previous, 313 by 208mm., contemporary limp parchment binding with leather button surviving on front board and flap, “Libro de s. Bernardino / manzolo massare del desco / deli pouveri. 1517. et .1513.” in ink on front board, remnant of thong attached to flap, large natural flaw on back with contemporary stitched repair, excellent condition Italy, and in particular the north, was the home of European banking, and enormous technological leaps forward were made by the banking families of the Medici, Bardi and Peruzzi in moving records of wealth rather than coins and gemstones. The money generated from this enterprise would in turn fuel the highest achievements of the Renaissance. Such record keeping produced a distinctive style of account book in Italy in the late Middle Ages, of which these are excellent examples. Ɵ Indicates that the lot is subject to buyer’s premium of 24% exclusive of VAT (0% VAT).

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Leo the Great, Tractatus LXXII, in Latin, single leaf from a vast Carolingian manuscript on parchment [Germany (probably west

Bloomsbury Auctions

Lot 8

Leo the Great, Tractatus LXXII, in Latin, single leaf from a vast Carolingian manuscript on parchment [Germany (probably western Germany), first or second third of tenth century] Single large leaf, with double column ruled in drypoint for 33/34 lines in a skilled Carolingian minuscule, using et-ligature integrally within words, tall wedged ascenders, an ‘e’ with a long thin tongue, and a characteristic capital ‘S’ whose entire lower compartment sits below the line, simple capitals in same ink, trimmed at top removing only blank border, and at outer edge removing a few letters from the edge of the outer column, some folds, cockling and small stains and scuffs from reuse in the binding of a large volume, but overall in good and legible condition, 389 by 237mm. This is most probably the last surviving relic of a breathtakingly large Carolingian codex, presumably prepared for monastic reading.

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ƟPresbyter Leo of Naples, Historia Alexandri Magni (Historia de preliis), in Latin, manuscript on paper [Italy (perhaps north

Bloomsbury Auctions

Lot 80

ƟPresbyter Leo of Naples, Historia Alexandri Magni (Historia de preliis), in Latin, manuscript on paper [Italy (perhaps northern border with Switzerland), second half of fourteenth century]52 leaves (plus an original endleaf at front and back), complete, collation i-ii16, iii19 (last probably a singleton), catchwords within penwork designs (two-headed monsters, and elaborate cabouchon with crosses picked out within its body), single column with 28 lines in a fine and precise late gothic hand showing influence of Italian university script, initials in similar pen with ornamental strokes, the frontispiece opening with a large initial ‘S’ infilled with hatching and crosses and with simple line-drawn acanthus leaves filling margins on two sides, watermarks not very distinct but certainly a simple crossbow (arbelete) of the form in Briquet 701-09 (mostly Italy, including Pisa, Bologna, Siena, from 1320-1397) and perhaps also 710 (Paris, 1407-11), of these closest to 705 (Geneva, 1345-97) , later title “Vita Alexandri Magnis” at head of frontispiece (probably added in sixteenth century), gatherings strengthened at stitch-points and ends with small cuttings from a fourteenth-century Italian manuscript, small stains, else in outstandingly fresh condition, 192 by 135mm.; late medieval limp parchment binding stitched at head and foot of spine through parchment cuttings recovered from a medieval manuscript (probably thirteenth century), these placed flat against outside of spine, remains of two ties on vertical board, small stains and scuffs, else good and solid condition An excellent copy of the fantastic and enthralling life of Alexander the Great in the form known to most of the readers of the Middle Ages and later; still in its original binding, and a century older than the only other recorded copy to appear on the open marketProvenance:1. Written in the second half of the fourteenth century, probably by a northern Italian scribe, perhaps on or just over the Swiss border towards Geneva.2. In ethnically Italian ownership for the first century or so of its life, most probably in an ecclesiastical centre: endleaves used for scribal practise by a number of scrawling Italian hands (alphabets and common Classical quotations, and a riddle in Latin attributed to Albertus Magnus), in one case adding the date “Die 18 Junij 1527”.3. Rediscovered in a Swiss aristocratic family library.Text:Accounts of the life and deeds of Alexander the Great (356-323 BC.) attracted fabulous stories even in the Ancient World, and by the Middle Ages such accounts had become a blend of history and wild myth, offering their readers both instruction and entertainment in equal measure. Here the imagination of the European medieval reader could run riot, creating a fantastic world of staggering opulence and strange cultures and creatures, which were both startlingly alien and fascinating at the same time.The story here opens with the Egyptian sorcerer Nectnaebo’s seduction of Olympias, the wife of King Philip of Macedonia, while disguised as the god Amon, thus fathering Alexander. This is followed by Alexander’s youth in Macedonia and accidental murder of Nectnaebo, before his taming of the horse Bucephalus, tutoring under Aristotle and Callisthenes and ascension to the throne. The next section opens with his meetings with Apollo and Hercules and his military campaigns in Italy, Africa and the destruction of the city of Tyre. The author then includes Alexander’s supposed correspondence with Darius, king of Medea, followed by accounts of their battles in Persia, Alexander’s conquest of Asia Minor, and travels to Cilicia, Byzantium and Mesopotamia. Darius is then murdered by his own generals, and Alexander finds him on his deathbed and agrees to marry his daughter, Roxana. The invasion of India follows, with descriptions of its fantastical vast interior, including King Porus’ elephant army, breathtakingly opulent palace and love of music. The next section opens with a letter from Alexander to Calistradis, queen of the Amazons, and then describes Alexander’s encounter with dangerous river-monsters called “ypocami” (hippopotamuses), before fighting lions, bears, tigers and leopards, and observing crocodiles, scorpions and dragons of all colours and sizes, as well as a beast with three horns that was as strong as an elephant. A description of the phoenix follows, then Alexander’s correspondence with Dindymus, king of the Indian Brahmins, his travels in Nubia and meeting with twenty-two kings of Tartary, visit to the ocean at the end of the world, flights through the air on a griffon-drawn carriage and descent to bottom of sea in a primitive diving bell. This is followed by the death of the horse Bucephalus and a description of his tomb, before Alexander’s own poisoning with wine and a feather, and his dying farewell to a pregnant Roxana before dividing his empire among his generals. The text ends with Alexander’s death and burial in Alexandria with Ptolomy’s public mourning, before a description of his golden tomb, appearance and the twelve cities founded by him.This is the version through which the majority of medieval readers knew of Alexander’s life, and from which almost all early printed copies come. However, its textual descent is far from simple, and at many times has hung by the slimmest of textual threads. Its fundamental base is a compilation of Alexandrian material of probably the third century AD., once attributed falsely to the historian Callisthenes. Five or six redactions exist of it in Greek, as well as the so-called δ* line of descent, which does not survive in Greek, but is known only from the Latin translation made by Leo, a presbyter of Naples. He was sent in the mid-tenth century by Dukes John III and Marinus II of Campania to the Byzantine court in Constantinople on a diplomatic mission, and while there sourced a Greek exemplar of the text which he determined to translate for the readers of Western Europe. That translation, however, does not survive in its original form, but exists in three close but separate versions, each of which has its own lines of descent producing a wealth of varying witnesses, which spread widely and quickly throughout Europe. The version here shows some common features with a manuscript dated 1433 now at Harvard (Houghton Library, MS. 121).From the Middle Ages to the last century the text has remained stalwartly popular, and many manuscripts survive, with a handful in the grand private collections of the last century (including Martin Bodmer and Philip Hofer). However, these were acquired privately, and we can find only one other to ever come to the open market: a fifteenth-century copy sold in Sotheby’s, 12 May 1914, lot 27, from the collection of J.E.H. Morton (once Guglielmo Libri, acquired by Morton at his sale, London, Sotheby’s, 28 Mar. 1859, lot 35; and purchased in 1914 by the Houghton Library). We might also add the late fifteenth-century Flemish copy of the abridged text that appeared in Sotheby’s, 11 December 1972, lot 41, and note that only a tiny handful of the other available accounts of this ruler, all to some degree spin-offs of the present text, have ever appeared on the open market, and the last in Sotheby’s, 5 December 1989, lot 96. Ɵ Indicates that the lot is subject to buyer’s premium of 24% exclusive of VAT (0% VAT).

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The Hours of Isabella d’Este, Use of Rome, in Latin, opulently illuminated manuscript on parchment [Italy (Florence), c. 1490

Bloomsbury Auctions

Lot 90

The Hours of Isabella d’Este, Use of Rome, in Latin, opulently illuminated manuscript on parchment [Italy (Florence), c. 1490] 240 leaves, text complete, wanting a single leaf before fol. 233 (probably with a miniature), collation: i12, ii11 (i a singleton with miniature), iii-xi10, xii11 (i a singleton with miniature), xiii-xvii10, xviii8, xix11 (i a singleton with miniature), xx-xxi10, xxii11(i a singleton with miniature), xxiii-xxiv8, catchwords, single column of 13 lines of a fine rounded gothic bookhand, headings in red and burnished gold, one-line initials in blue or burnished gold, 2-line initials in same with contrasting infill and penwork, each initial followed by ornate penwork capital, seven large illuminated initials formed of coloured leaves, with full borders of dense coloured foliage and bezants extending into three margins, five large historiated initials and borders by the Florentine brother-artists Gherardo and Monte di Giovanni del Fora (Gherardo producing the miniatures and Monte the decoration), each with full borders of foliage enclosing smaller miniatures within roundels, putti, birds and architectural features, and the first four of these facing four full-page miniatures also by the same artists, within full borders enclosing further miniatures within roundels, prayers added in italic hand at end, a few small holes (mostly repaired), edges trimmed affecting extremities of borders, slight scuffs and stains in places, else in excellent condition, 130mm. by 88mm.; binding of late nineteenth-century Parisian black morocco, with gilt inlaid with brown strapwork in entrelac style by Marius-Michel (either Jean Marius-Michel, 1821-1890, or his son and successor in the firm, Henri, 1846-1925), splitting along edges of spine, but solid in binding An exquisite Book of Hours, reflecting the very heights of Renaissance book production, and made for that period’s supreme female patron and art-collector; and almost certainly the last book connected with her or her court available on the market Provenance:1. Written and illuminated for Isabella d’Este (1474-1539), daughter of Ercole I d’Este, duke of Ferrara, and the wife of Francesco Gonzaga, marquis de Mantua: arms of Este and Gonzaga in the bas-de-page of the first illuminated double page opening, facing each other. She sat at the centre of a wide political network that encompassed almost all of Italy, with her father’s contacts in Rome, Naples and Venice, and her brother Alfonso’s marriages to Anna Sforza of Milan and then the infamous Lucrezia Borgia, the natural daughter of Pope Alexander VI. Her sister Beatrice married Ludovico ‘il Moro’ the Duke of Milan, and her sister-in-law became the Duchess of Urbino. She had a privileged and enlightened upbringing, and was encouraged from a young age to assert herself regardless of the male-centric world of Renaissance Italy. Ercole had all his children educated to the same high standard, and even as a youth she had her own substantial library rich in Classical texts and a complete presentation set of Aldines on parchment. Her husband lamented later in life “Havemo vergogna di avere per nostra sorte una mogliere che sempre vol fare di suo cervello” (‘we are chagrined at our fortune of having a wife who always wants to do things according to her own mind’), but seems to have secretly been pleased with a companion who would rule in his stead during his numerous absences from Mantua. She excelled in traditionally male arts, such as oratory and horse riding, and above all in art-collecting. She built a private museum in her apartments in the palace at Mantua, her studiolo, and pursued the greatest artists of the day to fill it with commissions from Mantegna, Raphael, Titian and Leonardo da Vinci (the last two both painting or sketching her portrait; Kenneth Clarke remarking of that by da Vinci, that the pose “must have influenced Venetian portraiture for the next ten years … in its ease and breadth [it] anticipates the Mona Lisa”), as well as a vast library and collection of sculpture and other valuable objects. She received literary tributes in works by Ariosto, Castiglione, Bandello, Bembo, Trissimo, and the diplomat and poet Niccolo da Correggio proclaimed her “la prima donna del mondo”. She has commanded the fascination of a modern audience and spawned a vast armada of modern writing on her and her collecting (see for example, E.P. Meyer, First Lady of the Renaissance: A Biography of Isabella d’Este, 1970, G.R. Marek, The Bed and the Throne: The Life of Isabella d’Este, 1976, D. Shemek, Ladies Errant: Wayward Women and Social Order in Early Modern Italy, 1998, and D. Looney and D. Shemek, Phaethon’s Children: The Este Court and its Culture in Early Modern Italy, 2005, and references there). This jewel of a book was produced at about the same time as her marriage to Francesco Gonzaga, when she was only 16 years old. The principal patron of the two artists here was the great Lorenzo de’ Medici (1449-92), who retained Gherardo di Giovanni in his intimate household. Isabella knew Lorenzo personally, and he is recorded incidentally as sending other costly gifts to her at the time of her marriage. This book was most probably a wedding gift. It does not appear in the inventories of books in the walnut cabinets in her Studiolo (S. Campbell, The Cabinet of Eros, 2006, appendix 1, pp.270-79), and was perhaps kept for private devotions in her bedroom or chapel.2. Most probably passing to the infamous Cardinal Richelieu in the seventeenth century. The political connections and power of the Mantua dukes collapsed in the seventeenth century, and under the ineffectual leadership of Ferdinando Gonzaga (1587-1626), and Carlo di Gonzaga (1609-31) agents for King Charles I of England and Cardinal Richelieu negotiated the sale of the artworks in the main palace (the former getting Raphael’s Madonna of the Pearls and Mantegna’s series of nine paintings, The Triumph of Caesar, for 68,000 great ducats; the latter Mantegna’s Parnassus and Minerva, transferred to the Louvre in 1801). Richelieu was also a book collector, and took possession of much of Isabella’s library, probably explaining the French binding on the present manuscript. His library of 900 volumes was mostly transferred to the Sorbonne c.1660, with a small number of books re-emerging on the market in the second half of the nineteenth century: William Bragge owned one (his sale in Sotheby’s, 7 June 1876, lot 374), as did Eugene Piot (his sale in Paris, 23 April 1862, lot 348), followed by others from Isabella’s library, and perhaps with a shared provenance: a Philostratus, Imagines, made in the early sixteenth century, once in the Sneyd collection, was sold at Sotheby’s, 16 December 1903, lot 615, and a copy of elegies, made c. 1500, also from the Cartier family, was sold in their sale with Lefèvre and Guérin, 1 March 1962, lot 1.3. Louis Cartier (1875-1942), jeweller, perhaps acquired on 14 June 1921: pencil note on last endleaf; by descent to his son, Claude Cartier (1925-1975): his sale in Sotheby’s, Monte Carlo, 25-27 November 1979, lot 1296.4. Re-emerging in Sotheby’s, 5 December 2012, lot 23, and sold for £217,250 to the current owner.Text:The text comprises: a Calendar (fol.1r); the Hours of the Virgin, with Matins (fol.14r), Lauds (fol.29r), Prime (fol.46r), Terce (fol.52r), Sext (fol.58r), None (fol.63v), Vespers (fol.69v), and Compline (fol.79v); the Office of the Dead (fol.115r); the Penitential Psalms (fol.184r) and Litany; the Fifteen Gradual Psalms (fol.215r); and the Hours of the Cross (fol.233r) The library of Isabella d'Este: Only a tiny handful of books from this crucial Renaissance library are now traceable.

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