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Venetia [Venice], apresso gli heredi di S. Gagliani, 1590. [Colophon: In Vintia, appresso Giorgio Angelieri, a instantia de gli heredi di Simon Gagliani de Karera, 1590]. Small folio. 18th century (ab. 1780-90) half vellum with gilt leather title label to spine. Corners a bit bumped and title label a bit worn, otherwise nice and tight. A very nice copy, on thick, crisp paper. A few quires browned and brownspotted, and some occasional lighter browning. Four leaves with a marginal worm-tract, far from affecting text. Beautiful engraved title-page, consisting of a wide architectural border illustrated with large figures, putti, globes, and various symbols. Beautiful large woodcut initials and head- and tail-pieces. 47 half-page engraved maps in the text (by Porro, of islands and continents), excellent, crisp impressions. Large woodcut device to colophon. (12) ff., 201, (1) pp. Third, much enlarged edition (with 47 maps as opposed to the mere 30 of the first edition) of Porcacchi's great book of islands, arguably the most famous of all "isolario"s, with the 47 finely engraved maps by the famous map-maker Girolamo Porro, which also include maps of non-insular places, e.g North America and Mexico City, the famous city plan of Venice and that of Constantinople. Porcachhi's great "isolario" represents the culmination of the "book of islands"-genre, both in regards to artistic quality and the information provided. It furthermore constitutes a main work in the history of the published knowledge of farther parts of the world and an important link in the development from what we call the "book of islands" to the modern atlas. As such it is of great value in several respects, both historically, culturally, and cartographically. "The "book of islands," or isolario, a novel form of cartographic book combining maps and narrative-historical chorography, was invented and initially developed in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. According to R.A. Skelton, "like the portolano, or pilot-book, to which it was related, it had its origins in the Mediterranean, as an illustrated guide for travelers in the Aegean Archipelago and the Levant.". The first "book of islands" was authored by a Florentine ecclesiastic [around 1420] named Cristoforo Buondelmonti [...].The "book of islands" was eventually superseded as a cartographic genre, as was the "Geographia" of Ptolemy, by the modern atlas; it persists even after Abraham Ortelius's 1570 "Theatrum orbis terrarium", but at the margins rather than at the center of the history of cartography. While the "isolario", Ptolemy's "Geographia", and the "modern" atlas coexist for some time, the gradual eclipse of the "book of islands" at one level reflected a progressive decentering of the Mediterranean that occurred within the broader context of early modern history, following the Atlantic discoveries. But well before that happened, in conjunction with the culminating moment of the discoveries and exploration period and at the height of the high Renaissance, the second printed "book of islands" appeared in 1528 in Venice published by Zoppino: the "Libro di Benedetto Bordone nel qual si ragiona de tutte l'isole del mondo" [Book of Benedetto Bordone in which are discussed all the islands of the world]. As the title suggests, this "isolario" provided even broader coverage than the Martellus recensions of Buondelmonti and gave special prominence to the islands of the New World [...].Da li Sonetti's translation of Buondelmonti's "book of islands" into a cycle of sonnets in Venice represented in its way an expression of the same desire to reconcile contemporary geographical knowledge to Italian vernacular traditions of geographical poetry that Berlinghieri's poetic Ptolemy expressed. But while the tradition of Tuscan geographical poetry would not survive the Quattrocento, the prose book of islands did, thanks especially to the Venetian print culture that was responsible for da li Sonetti and that produced Bordone's High Renaissance print "isolario". As mentioned, the print genre "book of islands" would endure in fact, albeit at the margins of modern cartography and literature, in multiple editions of Bordone, which were followed by the no less successful Tommaso Porcacchi's "L'isole più famose del mondo" (1572; with copper-plate engravings), a line that continued through the seventeenth century [...] But just as with other major literary fields of endeavor including the political (Machiavelli), the pastoral (Sannazzaro), the courtly-bureaucratic (Castiglione), and the epic-novellistic (Ariosto), the "isolario" produced its masterpieces in the discoveries and travel writing field(alongside Columbus, Vespucci, and Verrazzano) during the High Renaissance." (Cachey, "From the Mediterranean to the World: A Note on the Italian "Book of Islands" ("isolario")", pp. 1-10). Shirley T.POR-1d; Phillips: 50.

Argentinae (i.e Strassburg], Lazarus Zetzner, 1598. 8vo. Very nice 19th century half calf with richly gilt spine. Some browning and spotting, but overall a nice copy. Many woodcut diagrams in the text. Woodcut printer's device to title-page. (24), 992, (32) pp. Scarce first edition of this seminal publication, which is practically solely responsible for the spreading of both Lullism and Bruno's mnemonic theories in the 17th century. This publication constitutes the standard work on Lull for more than a century and it directly influenced the most significant thinkers of the following century, e.g. Leibnitz, whose dream of a universal algebra was stimulated by the reading of Lull (and Bruno) in the present publication."In 1598, while the philosopher from Nola (i.e. Bruno) was in prison in Rome, Johann Heinrich Alsted together with the printer Lazarus Zetzner in Strasburg, published a great collection of the works by Raymond Lull and the most significant commentaries on Lullism, among them also some treatises by Bruno. Since then, Bruno's mnemonics was a basic component of all attempts made in the seventeenth century to set up a universal science on the basis of a theory of combinations interpreted in terms of Neo-Platonism... It was also Leibniz who was one of the first to assume similarities between Bruno's theory of the infinite and the Cartesian theory of vortices in an undetermined and infinite universe; Leibniz had had the opportunity to read these treatises in his capacity as librarian of the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel". (Blum, p. 110). "From another of Pierce's Lists we know that he possessed an important collection of Lullian and Lullist texts, namely the Renaissance edition by the famous Strasbourg editor Lazarus Zetzner: "Raymundi Lulli Opera ea quae ad adinventam ab ipso Artem universalem... pertinent" (printed first in 1598, then 1609, 1617 and, by his heirs, in 1651). This edition, which was very influential - the young Leibniz, for instance, acquainted himself with Llull through this anthology-, contains several works by Llull himself as well as those Renaissance commentaries on his works by Agrippa of Netteshein, Giordano Bruno..." (Fidora, p. 181).This highly influential publication of Lull's "Opera" through which Leibniz and many of his contemporaries got acquainted with Lull and Bruno, contains seven genuine works by Lull (including the two most important works of the last period of the Art, the "Ars brevis" and the "Ars magna"), four works falsely attributed to Lull, Agrippa's "In Artem Brevem" - and Bruno's four highly important commentaries on Lull, being the "De Lulliano specierum scrutinio" (pp. 685-97), "De Lampade combinatoria Lulliana" (pp. 698-755), "De Progressu Logicae venationis" (pp. 756-62) and "De Lampade venatoria logicurum" (pp. 763-806), which constitute Bruno's most important logical treatises and his seminal writings on mnemonics. The four treatises originally appeared separately in 1587 and 1588 respectively, and all appear here for the second time (apart from the "De progressu", which also appeared together with the first printing of the "De Lampade venatoria logicorum" the following year and here thus appears for the third time). The first printings of these works are of impossible scarcity and hardly obtainable. These four groundbreaking works appear together for the first time in the present publication and it is through this second printing of them that 17th century thinkers such as Leibniz got acquainted with them. Raymond Lull (ca. 1232-1315) was one of the most important and influential philosophers and logicians of his time. He is considered a pioneer of several fields of science, now most notably computation theory. His works sparked Leibniz' interest in the field and drove him to his seminal invention. Lull invented an "art of finding truth" (often in Lullism referred to as "The Art"), which centuries later, when read in the present publication, stimulated Leibnitz' dream of a universal algebra. Lull applied this art to basically all subjects studied at the Medieval Universities. "Lull's metaphysics worked a revolution in the history of philosophy" (The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy, p. 548). Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) is one of the most significant thinkers of modern times. He prepared the way for the rise of modern philosophy and became a forerunner of modern philosophy and science. His logical commentaries and mnemonic treatises were of special importance to the emerging logic of the 17th century and it is his version of Lullism that comes to dominate this significant strand of thought for more than a century. Having been arrested in 1592 due to alleged heresy, Bruno was subjected to a 6 year long trial that finally condemned him to hanging in 1600, two years after the publication of the four works that came to secure his influence over the following century. "Bruno burned for philosophy; he was killed for moral, physical, and metaphysical views that terrified and angered authorities." (Copenhaver & Schmitt, p. 315)."By far the greatest figure of this generation was Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), whose interest in Llull dates almost exclusively from his sojurns in France and Germany. His activities in this field, which he combined with his other aspects of Reniassance philosophy, are too complex to be treated in any detail here. Suffice it to say with Frances Yates that "the three strands of the Hermetism, the mnemonics, the Lullism are all interwoven in Bruno's complex personality, mind and mission"..."Perhaps the most important event of Lulliasm of this period was not the appearance of any new figure or work but the publication of an anthology by Lazarus Zetzner of Strasburg, entitled "Raymundi Lullii, opera ea quae ad adinventam ab ipso Artem universalem", which, for the next century or so, was to become the standard work on Llull. It is therefore instructive in understanding seventeenth-century Lullism... The first edition of this anthology appeared in Strasburg in 1598. It was reprinted in 1609... reprinted in 1617 and again in 1651... This mixture of Llull, pseudo-Llull, and Renaissance commentaries, emphasizing a general art of discourse, constituted the "package" in which Llull was presented to seventeenth-century readers, including Leibniz (note 33: it was apparently the first edition of 1598 that Leibniz read), and it must be kept in mind when discussing their version of Llull." (Bonner, pp. 67-68). Bruno's works, the first editions of which are all of the utmost scarcity, were generally not reprinted in Bruno's lifetime and new editions of them did not begin appearing until the 19th century. For three centuries his works had been hidden away in libraries, where only few people had access to them. One very significant exception is the four treatises that we find in the present publication. They are among the only of Bruno's treatises to be published again before the 19th century, and as they don't appear again on their own, but here, in THE most important publication of Lull's writings for more than a century, it is through this second printing of these four works that Bruno comes to have his primary influence upon 17th century philosophy and science. His separate publications were simply not accessible to thinkers like Leibniz and could thus not be studied. Also therefore, Zetzners' 1598 publication of Lull and Bruno together proved to be of seminal importance, not only to the spreading of Lullism, but just as much to the spreading of Bruno's even more important theories. "Raymond Lull (ab. 1232 - 1315), Majorcan writer, philosopher, memorycian (he was later to become a great source of inspiration for Giordano Bruno), logician, and a Franciscan tertiary. He wrote the first major work of Catalan literature. Recently-surfaced manuscripts show him to have anticipated by several centuries prominent work on elections theory. He is sometimes considered a pioneer of computation theory, especially given his influence on Gottfried Leibniz. He is also well known also as a glossator of Roman Law. Lull taught himself Arabic with the help from a slave. As a result, he wrote his "Ars Magna", which was intended to show the necessary reasons for the Christian faith. To promote his theory and test its effectiveness, he went to Algiers and Tunis. At the age of 82, in 1314, Lull traveled again to North Africa, where an angry crowd of Muslims stoned him in the city of Bougie. Genoese merchants took him back to Mallorca, where he died at home in Palma the following year.". (Thorndyke)Giordano Bruno was born in Nola in Southern Italy in 1548, and entered the Dominican order in Naples at the age of 18. While pursuing theological studies, he also thoroughly studied the ancient philosophers and began doubting some of the teachings of the Catholic Church. When he was in Rome in 1576, these doubts became known to the authorities of his order, and an indictment for heresy was prepared against him. Before he could be arrested, he escaped and began a long journey which took him to many European countries, among these England, where his most important works are published, until in 1592 he was denounced to the Inquisition and arrested. In 1593 he was taken to Rome, imprisoned, and subjected to a 6 year long trial. He firmly refused to recant his philosophical opinions, and in 1600 he was condemned for heresy, sentenced to death, and burned alive.SALVESTRINI NR. 1.See:Anthony Bonner: Doctor Illuminatus. A Ramon Llull Reader, 1993.Paul Richard Blum: Giordano Bruno. An Introduction, 2012.The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy.Alexander Fidora: Peirce's Account of the Categories and Ramon Llull.

Lugduni Batavorum (Leiden), Ex Officina Elzeviriorum, 1655. Folio. 18th century full calf with gilt spine. Gilding worn and some overall wear to boards, but fine and tight. Capitals restored. Internally very nice and clean, with just a bit of light brownspotting to the first and last leaves (dedication and index). Generally unusally nice, clean, and crisp. A small discreet stamp (Doublette der L.U. Bibl. Erl.) to title-page and a neat contemporary owner's inscription. Good margins. Bound without the portrait, which is often the case. Otherwise complete, with the magnificent double-page engaved plate showing the interior of the museum by Wingendorp, 11 beautiful engraved illustrations (one of which consisting in two illustrations), two of which are full-page (one being the famous one of the horn), and numerous lovely, and elaborate woodcut illustrations in the text. Woodcut title-vignette, woodcut vignettes and initials. Title-page, (4) pp. of dedication, (6) pp. of preface and index, double-page plate, 389, 3 (index) pp. A lovely copy, rarely seen in such nice condition. The scarce first edition of this monumental work in early modern museum literature, constituting the catalogue of the first Danish museum and one of the most important cabinets of curiosities in Europe. The magnificent double-page engraved plate depicting the interior and outlay of the museum is one of the most well known and famous illustrations from any "Wunderkammer"-book, iconographically summizing what we understand by the genre.The Museum Wormianum was filled with preserved animals, horns, tusks, skeletons, minerals, as well as various man-made objects that Worm found equally fascinating and interesting, either due to their age, their beauty, the wonder of their execution, their being exotic, etc., many of them depicted here in the finest manner. The text of the "Museum Wormianum" is divided into four books, the first three dealing with minerals, plants, and animals respectively. The fourth comprises man-made objects, e.g. archeological and ethnographical items, coins and some original works of art. This, Worm's magnum opus, is not merely a catalogue of the numerous wondrous items in the collection, however, it is a scientifically based scholarly work that also contains references to, and quotations from, other writers. The famous Danish doctor, Ole Worm (1588-1654), who was professor of medicine throughout the last thirty years of his life, had become professor of physics in 1621. Already the year before, in 1620, had he begun the famous collection that would become one of the greatest cabinets of curiosites in Europe (and one of the first museums) and which would earn him the position as the first great systematic collector (within natural history) in Scandinavia. It was his then newly begun collection that enabled him, as professor of physics, to introduce demonstrative subject teaching at the university, as something completely new. He continued building and adding to his magnificent collection, now known as "Museum Wormianum", throughout the rest of his life. Worm used his collection, not only in his teaching (for which he was famous), but also as a starting point for his speculations on philosophy, science, natural history, etc. He is responsible for many great discoveries, e.g. for identifying the narwhal's tusk as coming from a whale rather than a unicorn, as was generally believed at the time. As was also the case with other great cabinets of curiosities, the "Museum Wormianum" greatly served scientific advancement, not least when the images of its content were printed, as they were here, in 1655.As Worm visited other famous cabinets of curiosities, so many foreign visitors came to see his, which was famous throughout Europe. After his death, the collection was bought by the Danish King, Frederik III, and was thus included in Det Kongelige Kunstkammer (The Royal Art Chamber). The collection is now in Statens Naturhistoriske Museum (Natural History Museum), which in November 2011 famously reprodced the "Museum Wormianum", from what they could see it looked like on the great double-page plate in the fabulous catalogue, as a permanent exhibition. The magnificent folio catalogue of the collection was edited and seen through press by Worm's son Willum and was published by the Elzeviers. Willems 772; Paul Grinke: From Wunderkammer to Museum: no. 75.

(København, 1835-42). Folio. (32 x 24 cm.). Samtidigt hldrbd. med rig tidstypisk rygforgyldning. False fint restaurerede. (58) pp. med dansk-tysk paralelltekst samt 180 kobberstukne blomstertavler i pragtfuld original håndkolorering. Værket udkom med ialt 306 plancher samt tekst. De foreliggende tavler er numm. 91-270 med tekstblade til alle. Enkelte tavler med ganske lette brugsspor. Sidste tekstblad brunet. Originaltrykket af dette, vel nok det smukkest kolorerede danske blomsterværk. Værket er af største sjældenhed og blev kun trykt i et ganske begrænset oplag. Det ses derfor næsten aldrig i komplet stand. (Heller ikke i Oscar Davidsen's specialsamling, indeholdende illuminerede danske værker). Således anfører Carl Christensen i "Den Danske Botaniks Historie", Bd. 1, p. 212, at "de fleste Eksemplarer har færre tavler (færre end 306), f.Eks. det i K (Det kgl. Bibliotek) kun 204." - Walter var født i Ratzeburg 1799, var maler og kobberstikker, kom til København i 1817 og var en årrække opsynsmand ved den Kgl. Malerisamling. - "Medens Walters akademiske løbebane nærmest må kaldes mislykket, placerede han sig særdeles smukt som naturhistorisk tegner of stikker."(Weilbach).Nissen 2101. - Not in Pritzel. - Not in British Museum (NH). - De Belder, 379: "Of exceptional rarity, this edition is unrecorded in the catalogue of the British Museum (Natural History), Linean Society, Lindley Library, Kew and Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The attractive plates... are conservative in style and reminiscent in both design and colouring of the late eighteenth century."

[On the final colophon:] Venice, Bartholomeus de de Zanis for Octavianus Scotus, 1499. [at the end of first leaf and of each section: Vale. Venetiis. 1480, except for the second last (de Insoniis, which says: Vale. Venetiis. 1478). Small folio. Nice, elegant late 18th century half calf. Binding with a few traces of wear. A very nice, clean, and fresh copy with just a bit of light dampstaining to upper margin of about 20 leaves. Numerous pretty, woodcut initials throughout. Woodcut printer's devise to colophon. Last leaves with tiny, barely noticeable wormhole. Contemporary handwritten inscription to title-page: "Ex libris advocati Dunis = 1480". (1), 115 ff. (pagination erroneous at end: 113, 116, 114). Without final blank. The very rare second printing of Ermolao Barbaro's seminal Latin translation of Themistios' paraphrases of Aristotle's "Posterior Analytics", "Physics", "De Anima", "On Memory", and "On Dreams", a groundbreaking key text of the Renaissance, "which opened a new period in the interpretation of the Greek philosopher [i.e. Aristotle]" (Lohr, p. 25). The work was partly responsible for the development of Renaissance Aristotelianism and thus Renaissance thought in general. The combination of the fact that we here have the paraphrases by one of the greatest ancient Greek commentators of the key texts of the most significant philosopher of all times, rendered into Latin by perhaps the most significant translator of the period and printed at the most crucial time for the development of early modern thought, makes this one of the most significant philosophical publications of the Renaissance. There can be no doubt as to the influence that the present publication came to have on the development Renaissance philosophy. "The publication of Barbaro's translation of Themistius inaugurated a new period in the study of Aristotelian philosophy. In his version of Themistius' "Paraphrases" we encounter not simply a translation occasioned by contemporary controversies, as was often the case in the Middle Ages. Rather, Barbaro's version brings together a corpus of the commentaries of Themistius on Aristotelian philosophy: the "Posterior Analytis", "Physics", "De anima" and "Parva naturalia". (Lohr, p. 26).The first printing of the work appeared in 1480 (the same year stated at the end of each section in the present edition), and in 1499 this second printing appeared. Both printings are of the utmost scarcity and almost impossible to find. After these two incunable-editions, at least 9 new printings appeared before 1560, bearing witness to the great impact of the text, and in 1570 Hieronymus Scotos printed a new edition. "With reference to those works of Aristotle which were and remained the center of instruction in logic and natural philosophy [i.e. The Posterior Analytics, Physics, etc.], the most important changes derived from the fact that the works of the ancient Greek commentators became completely available in Latin between the late fifteenth and the end of the sixteenth centuries and were more and more used to balance the interpretations of the medieval Arabic and Latin commentators. The Middle ages had known their works only in a very limited selection or through quotations in Averroes. Ermolao Barbaro's complete translation of Themistius and Girolamo Donato's version of Alexander's "De Anima" were among the most important ones in a long line of others. When modern historians speak of Alexandrism as a current within Renaissance Aristotelianism that was opposed to Averroism, they are justified in part by the fact that the Greek commentators, that is, Alexander and also Themistius, Simplicius, and many others, were increasingly drawn upon for the exposition of Aristotle." (Kristeller, p. 45)."Equally important [as the recovery of Aristotle's "Mechanics" and "Poetics"] for the continued growth of the Peripatetic synthesis was the recovery and diffusion of the Greek commentaries on Aristotle... The most important of the two dozen commentators were Alexander of Aphrodisias, Ammonius, Simplicius, Themistius, and John Philoponus. Of these five, only Alexander and Themistius were Aristotelians..." (Copenhaver & Schmitt, p.68).Already in the Middle Ages, scholars had been aware of and used commentaries on and paraphrases of the key texts of Aristotle, but their knowledge of this was primarily based on some Latin translations and allusions, fragments, and summaries in the writings of the Muslim philosophers, e.g. Averroes. But with the emergence and translations into Latin of the ancient Greek commentators [Alexander and Themistios being the primary ones] and their paraphrases of Aristotle's texts, the Renaissance came to discover an Aristotle that would influence almost all thought of the period. The ancient Greek commentators not only had a much more thorough knowledge of classical Greek thought than would have been possible for a medieval writer, but they also had access to works that were later lost and through these ancient commentators rediscovered in the Renaissance. By the middle of the 16th century, almost all of these texts had been printed in both Greek and Latin, and these publications were of the utmost importance to the development of almost all Renaissance thought. "Their recovery, publication, and translation took some time, but almost all circulated in Greek and Latin by the 1530'ies. They do not cover all of Aristotle, but several treat such key texts as the "Organon", the "Physics", and "De anima", thus making them useful ammunition in such controversies as the immortality dispute provoked by Pietro Pomponazzi and his colleagues." (Copenhaver & Schmitt, p. 69).Among the most important texts in this tradition that influenced all thought of the era, were Themistios' paraphrases of Aristotle's seminal texts, in particular "De Anima", "Posterior Analytics", and Book Lambda (XII) of the "Metaphysics". "We possess part of his [Themistios'] early work, his "Paraphrases of Aristotle", the portion still extant being a somewhat prolix exposition of the "Later Analytics", the "Physics", the "De Anima", and some minor treatises." His paraphrase of the "Metaphysics", Book "lambda" [i.e. XII], was translated into Arabic (in century IX), and hence into Hebrew (1255), and Latin (1576)." (Sandys, I:352).There can be no doubt about the groundbreaking character of Hermolao Barbaro's translation into Latin of almost all of Themistios' paraphrases of Aristotelian texts. Not only was Themistios considered one of the most important renderers of Aristotle's text, but Barbaro was perhaps the most influential translator of the time. His translation of Themistios' paraphrases came to dominate, directly or indirectly, almost all Aristotelian thought of the high Renaissance (from late 15th century) and he was responsible for many of the most important and influential positions on the seminal question of the immortality of the soul that dominated philosophical thought at the time. "Through the first two-thirds of the fifteenth century, Pomponazzi's predecessors at Padua seem not to have used the ancient commentators, but philosophers of the next generation - most notably Nicoletto Vernia and Agosto Nifo - began to consult them in new translations by Ermolao Barbaro and others. Barbaro's charge that Averroes had lifted his doctrines of the soul from the commentators surely helped excite interest in them." (Copenhaver & Schmitt p. 69). See: Kristeller, Renaissance Thought and its Sources, 1979; Copenhaver & Schmitt, Renaissance Philosophy, 1992; Charles C. Lohr, "Latin Translations of the Greek Commentaries on Aristotle", in: Humanism and Early Modern Philosophy, Edt. byKraye and Stone, 2000.Graesse VII:112 (erroneously stating 1491 in stead of 1499); Brunet V:778; Hain-Copinger: 15464.

Nürnberg, Christoph Riegels, 1697. Folio (355 x 250 mm). In a contemporary full calf binding with six raised bands and gilt lettering and ornamentation to spine, edges of boards gilt. Light wear to extremeties, corner's bumped and some of gilting worn of. Small paper-label to upper compartment of spine (catalogue-number in an estate-library). The large plate depicting the funeral procession with a few repairs and tears as usual. Plates with light occassional marginal brownspotting but overall a very good copy. Engraved titlepage (Boulanger Sculp.). 4 leaves (incl. printed title), 734, (66), 24 pp. 10 engraved portraits and 114 fine double-page engraved plates (1 triple-page), including the 4,5 m. long funeral procession of King Carl X Gustaf, folded 14 times and composed of 7 plates. Scarce first German edition, second overall (the first being in Latin published in 1696), of this profusely illustrated work on the Swedish Wars.The writing of this official history of the Swedish Wars with Poland and Denmark from 1655 to 1660 was entrusted by the King Charles XI to Samuel Pufendorf, the famous and important German jurist, political philosopher, economist, statesman and historian, who was made a baron in 1694, shortly before he died. He has played a great role in the development of the philosophy of law and political history. His famous work on the Swedish Wars is also famed for its impressive and excellent illustrations, -not least the 450 cm. long procession-plate. To illustrate the history, use was made of the original drawings by Erik Dahlberg, the Quarter-Master general of the Swedish Army, who was an eye-witness. The drawings were engraved by the same artists that Dahlbergh employed in Paris and later in Sweden for his "Suecia Antiqua", e.g. Boulanger, Cochin, Jean le Pautre, Perelle etc. etc. It includes views from Poland, Denmark, Germany and Norway. It is easy to trace the influence of Callot, as well as of Rubens in these splendid Cavalry scenes. Swedish Books No 38 Warmholtz: 4840Graesse V, 504

Lahde, (1806 - ca. 1814) + (ca. 1818-20 for the final three plates). Small folio (binding: 31,7 x 20,6 cm). Bound in an elegant pastiche half calf by Anker Kyster, with lovely gilt spine, old marbled paper boards and beautiful hand-made patterned end-papers. Bound with four of the exceedingly scarce title-pages/front wrappers for issues one, one/two three, and five, stating which plates were in the issue in question. Complete with all 34 magnificent engraved plates of costumes, all on large, good paper and in exquisite, precise original handcolouring. Most of the leaves measure 31 x 20,2 cm, one (En Brand Officer) measures 28x19,5. At the end are withbound the three final plates that were issued a bit later, with the complete ediiton of 1820. Thus making the final plate count 37. The three final plates all measure 28x20 cm. The two first plates have been neatly restored at upper right corner, far from affecting image. Otherwise, the copy is in magnificent condition. With the ex-libris of Oskar Davidsen to verso of front free end-paper. The exceedingly scarce first edition of Senn and Lahde’s (with the possible collaboration of Eckersberg) magnificent ”Klædedragter i Kjøbenhavn” (Costumes in Copenhagen), which is the first work devoted to costumes of the Danish capital and thus of seminal historical importance to the understanding of Copenhagen folklore at the brink of the golden age. The magnificent plates are of unusually high quality and differ from those of other works of this kind in being more artistically ambitious. The plates show attempts at depicting action and movement and portraying a certain situation. They are much less stiff than other costume plates of the period, and the features of the persons in the pictures show an intentional individualization. In short, they are much more closely related to the genre painting than would be expected. This highly important and extensive collection of Copenhagen costumes was made in Denmark, by foreigners and with an international aim. The Swiss painter and engraver Johannes Senn (1780-1861) spent 15 years in Denmark, from 1804 till 1819, and the German-born Gerhard Ludvig Lahde (1765-1833) came to Copenhagen in 1787 in order to attend the Art Academy and later became a Danish citizen. The two artists find themselves at the beginning of a period, in which national feeling, the strengthened sense of nationality, and a romantic view of nature are rapidly growing; a period in which the interest in “common” man and the people of a nation are becoming the centre of attention. Out of this grows the need to represent the people, the “real” population, to the rest of the world and to claim a specific sense of what it is to be, in this case, a Copenhagener. “Klædedragter i Kjøbenhavn” began appearing in 1806, and we know that by 1810, three issues with six plates in each (i.e. 18 plates) had appeared. The following three issues appeared shortly after, though not all containing six plates (the fifth issue, as is evident from the exceedingly scarce title/wrapper bound in the present copy, only contained four plates), amounting to 34 plates in all. These plates later appeared in Lahde’s “Elementarværk I Tegnekunsten (1817-18), and a selection of 12 plates were issued separately under the title “Karakteristiske Figurer eller Det daglige Liv i Hovedstaden” (1812). A further three plates were issued later (these three plates have been added to the present copy), and in 1820, all 37 plates appeared together. In 1830, the work appeared again, this time with 35 plates, under the title “Kjøbenhavns Klædedragter eller Det Daglige Liv i Hovedstaden”. Provenance: Oskar Davidsen, one of the most significant Danish book collectors, whose collection included virtually all illuminated and coloured Danish books. (Colas: 1721 for the later edition, not having the original)

Skalhollt, Hendrik Kruse, 1688. 4to. Bound in a nice newer, simple full limp vellum binding. Very light brownspotting. An excellent, clean, and fresh copy. Title-page with wide woodcut ornamental border, verso with full-page woodcut portrait of Olav Tryggvason. (4), 25, (2) pp. The rare editio princeps of 'Christendoms Saga' or 'Kristni saga', constituting one of the very first sagas printed on Iceland. The printing of 'Christendoms Saga' in 1688 was a significant event in the history of Icelandic literature and culture. The saga is a historical narrative of the introduction of Christianity to Iceland in the 10th century and had been orally transmitted for centuries. The printing of the saga in 1688 allowed for wider dissemination of the story and cemented the saga's place in Icelandic literary tradition. Iceland's first - and, until 1773, only active - printing press was established around 1530 in Holar, the island's northern episcopal, where it operated until the late seventeenth century. The press came into the private possession of Bishop Gudbrandur Thorlaksson (ca. 1542-1627) and his descendants, several of whom became bishops as well.The printing in Holar was solely centered on religious texts and are of the utmost scarcity and are never found in the trade. In 1648, Brynjolfur Sveinsson (1605-1675), bishop of Iceland's southern diocese Skalholt asked the Danish authorities for permission to establish another printing press to print historical texts and sagas alongside religious books. Not wanting the competition, his northern colleague in Holar intervened to halt this initiative, and nothing came of the plan for a second press nor of the printing of historical subject-matter for the time being. After Thordur Torlaksson (1637-1697), great-grandson of Bishop Gudbrandur Thorlaksson, became bishop in 1674, a monopoly from the King was granted, on April 7th, 1688, to print historical books on Iceland. Shortly after, namely the same year that the grant was given, the present work as well as "Landnamabok" and "Islendingabok" was printed - all three works being of the utmost scarcity. The printing press remained the sole press in Iceland until 1773. The "Christendoms Saga" is a significant piece of literature that provides valuable insights into the social, cultural, and religious transformation of Iceland during that period. The saga begins with the arrival of two Christian missionaries, Thorvald Konradsson and Thangbrandur, who are sent to Iceland by the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason. The missionaries face stiff resistance from the pagan chieftains who see Christianity as a threat to their traditional way of life "Whereas many accounts of Iceland's conversion to Christianity occur within the context of longer works, lives of Olaf Tryggvason or Sagas of Icelanders, Kristni saga (i.e. "Christendoms Saga") sets out to tell the history of Icelandic Christianity independently, as its opening sentence explicitly states: Nú hefr þat, hversu kristni kom á Ísland 'Now this is the beginning of how Christianity came to Iceland". (Duke, kristni saga and its sources: some revaluations)"Kristni saga is the only work in which the missions to Iceland form the main subject of the narrative and the organisational principle of the whole; it shares with Bede’s Ecclesiastical History the distinction of being one of the few works in the Middle Ages which can justly be described as ‘missionary’ history"." (Grønlie, Introduction to "Kristni saga, the book of the icelanders"). The present work is based on Jón Erlendsson's copy (AM 105) of Hauksbók (AM 371), a manuscript from the first decade of the 14th century, which is the only version of it preserved, whose main theme is kristnitaka, that is, the beginnings of Christianity in Iceland and the activity of Ísleifur Gissurarson and Gissur Ísleifsson, who were bishops of Skálholt, between 1056-1080 and 1082-1111.Pre-Eighteenth-Century Icelandic prints are in general very rare and are almost never found in the trade. The Skalhollt-prints are of special interest since they were the first in Iceland to print secular and historical works including the sagas thereby making a seminal contribution to preserving the Icelandic cultural heritage. Klose 5485Fiske p. 331, IcF64AA112

London, Taylor and Co., 1804. - Atlas: (Paris, Didot, 1802). 4to (30x24 cm.) and folio (54x42 cm.). Two contemporary half calf. Gilt spines and titlelabels with gilt lettering. Spines a bit rubbed. XVI,198,(2);(2),131,(8) pp. Wide-margined. A few scattered brownspots. Atlas-volume, bound in contemporary half calf with wear to spine and spine-end as well as corners, is complete and contains 143 engraved plates (numb. 1-141 + 20bis a. 54bis), some large and folded. The plates with views, antiquities, architecture, maps etc. etc. A few scattered brownspots, some plates with faint marginal dampstaining. Scarce first complete work in English of Denon's magnificent travel to Egypt, accompanied by the original French atlas of 1802 - not to be confused with the English translation of 1802, which reduced the plates to 60 instead of 140. "The object, therefore, of the present translation is to amend this defect (i.e. the reduction of the plates), and supply the reader with these celebrated Travels as they were published by M. Denon himself, consisting of one hundred and forty Copper-plate Prints (the fac-similes of his own original designs), with the different notes and illustrations, - and corrected from the last French edition, in which many improvements have been made." (The translator's advertisement). "Dominique-Vivant Denon was a lover of the Empress Josephine, a compulsive collector, the first director of the Louvre museum and Bonaparte's adviser on artistic matters. Indeed, Denon was known as 'Napoleon's eye'. But the man who impressed the emperor with his courteous manners and his talent for pornographic drawing was also the primary force behind revealing Egypt's civilisation to an astonished Europe. Invited to accompany Bonaparte during the French Expedition to Egypt - a staging post in Napoleon's campaign to wrest India from the British - Denon was forcibly struck by Egypt's architecture. With often only a few minutes to record the scene before him, he would sketch under fire. On one occasion he worked for sixteen hours, while the windblown sand caused his eyelids to bleed. Upon his return to France, Denon published "Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt". His insightful and deeply humane volume became an instant bestseller. Hitherto no one had suspected that Egypt's rich and mature civilisation existed... Denon was the first to present to Europe a true and honest image of ancient Egypt and the first European traveller to spend months exploring the desert and recording the monuments he found there." (Terence M. Russel, Discovery of Egypt). Denon had been invited by Napoleon to join the expedition to Egypt as part of the arts and literature section of the Institut d'Égypte and thus found the opportunity of gathering the materials for this, his most important literary and artistic work. He accompanied General Desaix to Upper Egypt, and made numerous sketches of the monuments of ancient art, sometimes under the very fire of the enemy. Denon was thus the first artist to discover and draw the temples and ruins at Thebes, Esna, Edfu, and Philae. Up until that time, most of the known Egyptian antiquities were pyramids and scattered pieces of sculptures and stelae. The results of Denon's efforts were published in this truly splendid work "Journey in Lower and Upper Egypt", originally appearing in French in 1802. The work crowned his reputation both as an archaeologist and as an artist, and sparked the Egyptian Revival in architecture and decorative arts.

(Argentorati (Strassbourg) apud Balthassarum Beck), 1541. Small 8vo. Contemporary full calf binding with brass clasps. Professionally and neatly re-backed. Title-page a bit soiled and three very small holes to first leaf of text, otherwise internally very nice, clean and fresh. Early 20th century book-plate to front free end-paper (depicting Aristotle and Plato and with Greek writing). One full-page and 7 half-page woodcut illustrations in the text. (4), 183, (4 - Index) ff. The very rare first edition edition thus, being the first edition edited by the celebrated Strasbourg physician Walter Hermann Ryff (reprinted in Venice in 1542). The book contains two works: Lull's "De secretis naturae" and Albert the Great's "De mineralibus & rebus metallicus", which is among the authentic writings of the author; both works are of the utmost importance and greatly influenced Renaissance philosophy and science: Lull invented an "art of finding truth" (often in Lullism referred to as "The Art"), which centuries later stimulated Leibnitz' dream of a universal algebra. Lull applied this to basically all subjects studied at the Medieval Universities. "Lull's metaphysics worked a revolution in the history of philosophy" (The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy, p. 548). "The production of pseudo-Lullian alchemical texts culminated at the end of the fourteenth century with an important work, the "Liber de secretis naturæ sive de quinta essential". At that time the formation of this corpus of texts entered a second stage. In the "Liber de secretis naturæ" the alchemical practice of the Testamentum becomes linked to the fifth essence of wine, a distillation technique popularized in by Jean de Roquetaillade in 1350. Moreover, its author said on several occasions that he relied on the Testamentum and other alchemical texts, thus recognizing Lull as an alchemist. If the "Liber de secretis naturæ sive de quinta essential" seems to be a medical book guided by the thought and the style of Lull, it is also notable for its author's interest in turning matter into gold, unlike John Roquetaillade who for religious reasons was not mainly interested in such transmutation. It begins with a prologue consisting of a conversation between Lull and a monk, then come the two books paraphrasing Roquetaillade's De quinta essentia. It ends with a Tertia distinctio devoted to an alchemical application of the Lullian method (alphabets and trees). Even if the "Liber de secretis naturæ sive de quinta essential" suffered, like a number of alchemical works, from a very unreliable textual tradition in both manuscript and printed form, it enjoyed great success in the sixteenth century."His works on occult philosophy were essential to Renaissance magic. "As the inventor of a method which was to have an immense influence throughout Europe for centuries, Lull is an extremely important figure. Lullism is a precursor of scientific method. Lullian astral medicine developed into Pseudo-Lullian alchemy. The great figures of Renaissance Neoplatonism include Lulliiam in their interests, and naturally so since Lullism was the precursor of their ways of thinking. And from the point of history of religion and of religious toleration, surely we admire Lull's vision in taking advantage of the unique concentration of Christian, Moslem, and Jewish traditions." (Yates, The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age).The present work also contributed greatly to what later was to become known as Christian Kabbalah. Living in a region where the Catholic Church was dominant, where a large part of the land was still under heavy influence from Moslem Arabs, and where the Jews made important contributions to the culture, Lull sought to unify all three religions by developing a (natural) philosophy incorporating elements common to all. These rather unorthodox, and to some extent heretical, thoughts were later taken up by the Italian Renaissance philosopher Pico della Mirandola (1463-94). He and many of his contemporaries believed to have discovered in Kabbalah a lost divine revelation that could give the key to understanding both the teachings of Pythagoras, Plato, and the Orphics, as well as the inner secrets of Catholic Christianity. Pico della Mirandola had a considerable amount of Kabbalistic literature translated into Latin by the convert Samuel ben Nissim Abulfaraj.Raymond Lull (ab. 1232 - 1315), Majorcan writer, philosopher, memorycian (he was later to become a great source of inspiration for Giordano Bruno), logician, and a Franciscan tertiary. He wrote the first major work of Catalan literature. Recently-surfaced manuscripts show him to have anticipated by several centuries prominent work on elections theory. He is sometimes considered a pioneer of computation theory, especially given his influence on Gottfried Leibniz. He is also well known also as a glossator of Roman Law. Lull taught himself Arabic with the help from a slave. As a result, he wrote his "Ars Magna", which was intended to show the necessary reasons for the Christian faith. To promote his theory and test its effectiveness, he went to Algiers and Tunis. At the age of 82, in 1314, Lull traveled again to North Africa, where an angry crowd of Muslims stoned him in the city of Bougie. Genoese merchants took him back to Mallorca, where he died at home in Palma the following year.Despite the fact that a large corpus of the printed works by Lull are erroneously ascribed to him:" On the whole, we get the impression that the "Testament", "De secretis naturae seu de quinta essential", and "Lapidarius" are probably the oldest members of the Lullian alchemical collections" (Thorndyke)The present Ryff-edition became very popular and later appeared numerous times. It was reprinted already the following year in Venice, 1542, and editions followed in Nürnberg, 1546, Basel, 1561, Köln, 1567, etc. etc.Freilich: 372Adams: L, 1703Honeyman: v, 2064AWellcome: 3897

Londini Scanorum (Lund), Adami Junghaus - Vitus Haberegger, 1672. 4to. Contemporary or slightly later full mottled calf five raised bands to richly gilt spine. Edges of boards gilt. Very neat restorations to corners and hinges, barely noticeable. Blank front free end-paper with a few restorations. A mostly faint damp stain inner margin of first section of leaves. Some brownspotting. Title-page printed in red/black. (20), 1227,(9) pp. Scarce first edition of Pufendorf's magnum opus, one of the fundamental works of natural law. In this milestone work of political and legal thought, Pufendorf presents his system of universal law, which profoundly revised the natural law theories of Hobbes and Grotius. In his teaching, that the will of the state is but the sum of the individual wills that constitute it, he shows himself a precursor of Rousseau and of the "Social Contract"."It is a complete system of public, private and international law. Against Hobbes's view he contended that the state of nature was one of peace, not war, and heurged the view that international law... existed between all nations... [a work] of great importance" (David Walker, The Oxford Companion to Law)."In the 'De jure naturae et gentium' Pufendorf took up in great measure the theories of Grotius and sought to complete them by means of the doctrines of Hobbes and of his own ideas. His first important point was that natural law does not extend beyond the limits of this life and that it confines itself to regulating external acts. He disputed Hobbes's conception of the state of nature and concluded that the state of nature is not one of war but of peace. But this peace is feeble and insecure, and if something else does not come to its aid it can do very little for the preservation of mankind.As regards public law Pufendorf, while recognizing in the state (civitas) a moral person (persona moralis), teaches that the will of the state is but the sum of the individual wills that constitute it, and that this association explains the state. In this a priori conception, in which he scarcely gives proof of historical insight, he shows himself as one of the precursors of Rousseau and of the Contrat social. Pufendorf powerfully defends the idea that international law is not restricted to Christendom, but constitutes a common bond between all nations because all nations form part of humanity." (Encyclopedia Brit.).Collijn: p. 744.

Paris, 1807 (atlas) - 1808 (text). 2 large 4to + 1 folio. All three volumes bound in contemporary half calf with gilding to spines - text volumes uniform. TEXT: Volume 1 with a split front hinge, but block still tight. A patch of paper missing from back board. Both volumes with some edge wear and bumped corners. Old paper labels to inside of front boards, and a stamp to half-titles and title-pages. A bit of brownspotting, but mostly marginal. Overall, most text-leaves are clean and bright. The plates in vol. 1 have some, mostly marginal, brownspotting. Both volumes with wide margins. Some of the text is printed on blue-ish paper. (4), LVI, 704 pp. & 32 folded engraved plates + (4), VIII, 691 pp. & 1 folded plate. Many tables with astronomical observations. In all 33 folded plates. ATLAS: Wear to extremities and bumped corners. Inner front hinge re-enforced. Top right blank corner of title-page repaired, far from affecting text. A stamp to title-page. A bit of brownspotting, mostly marginal. The last ab. 10 maps with a damp stain in the middle. The reast are very nice and bright. 4 (title-page + contents-leaf) pp. & 39 maps and charts, 29 of which are double-page. Fully complete with all 33 folded plates in the text-volumes and all 39 maps and charts in the atlas-volume. A contemporary handwritten note to the title-page of the atlas stating that THE COPY WAS GIVEN TO ADMIRAL VAN DOCKUM AT THE ORDER OF NAPOLEON I. ("à Mr. le Conte-Admiral Joost Van Dockum,/ par ordre de Sm l'Empereur Napoléon 1e.") A gift-copy, ordered by Napoleon I - for the Danish admiral that had earned himself great personal admiration from Napoleon - of the first edition of this magnificent travel account, which is famous for its exploration of the Australian coast while searching for the lost Pérouse expedition that had vanished in Oceania.The excellent maps and charts of this foundational publication are made by the expedition's first hydrographical engineer, C.F Beautemps-Beaupré, who is now regarded as the father of modern French hydrography, due to his work on the present expedition. The charts published here, in the atlas volume under the title "Atlas du Voyage de Bruny-Dentrecasteaux", in 1807 were very detailed and remained the source of the English charts of the area for many years. Those of Van Diemen's Land were the exceptionally detailed and have contributed greatly to our knowledge of the area. In September 1791, the French Assembly decided to send an expedition in search of Jean-François de La Pérouse, who had not been heard of since leaving Botany Bay in March 1788. Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was selected to command this expedition and was given a frigate, Recherche with Lieutenant Jean-Louis d'Hesmity-d'Auribeau as his second-in-command, Rossel among the other officers, and Beautemps-Beaupré as hydrographer of the expedition.On September 28, the expedition left Brest. The plan of the voyage was to proceed to New Holland in Australia, to sight Cape Leeuwin, then to hug the shore closely all the way to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), inspecting every possible harbour in a rowing boat, and then to sail for the Friendly Islands (Tonga) via the northern cape of New Zealand (allowing gardener Félix Delahaye to collect live breadfruit plants for transport to the French West Indies). After that, D'Entrecasteaux was to follow Pérouse's intended route in the Pacific. However, when Bruni d'Entrecasteaux reached Table Bay, Cape Town on 17 January 1792, he heard a report that Captain John Hunter (later to be Governor of New South Wales) had recently seen - off the Admiralty Islands - canoes manned by natives wearing French uniforms and belts. Although Hunter denied this report, and although the Frenchmen heard of the denial, Bruni d'Entrecasteaux determined to make directly to the Admiralty Islands, nowadays part of Papua New Guinea, taking water and refreshing his crew at Van Diemen's Land. On 20 April 1792, that land was in sight, and three days later the ships anchored in a harbour, which he named Recherche Bay. For the next five weeks, until 28 May 1792, the Frenchmen carried out careful boat explorations which revealed in detail the beautiful waterways and estuaries in the area.Beautemps-Beaupré, while surveying the coasts with Lieutenant Crétin, discovered that Adventure Bay was on an island, separated from the mainland by a fine navigable channel. On May 16, d'Entrecasteaux commenced to sail the ships through the channel and succeeded in 12 days. Port Esperance, the Huon River, and other features were discovered, named, and charted, the admiral's names being given to the channel (D'Entrecasteaux Channel) and the large island (Bruny Island) separated by it from the mainland.On May 28, 1792 the ships sailed into the Pacific to search for La Pérouse. On June 17, they arrived off the Isle of Pines, south of New Caledonia. From there, d'Entrecasteaux sailed northward along the western coast of New Caledonia. (The Bruni d'Entrecasteaux reefs at the northwestern end of the New Caledonia Barrier Reef are named for him.) He then passed the Solomon Islands along their southern or western coasts, sailed through Saint George's Channel between New Ireland and New Britain, and on July 28 sighted the south-east coast of the Admiralty Islands. After that he set sail for Ambon (in modern-day Indonesia), where his ships replenished their stores.Leaving Amboina on October 14, Bruni d'Entrecasteaux made for Cape Leeuwin, the south-western extremity of Australia, to carry out his original instructions of searching southern New Holland for La Pérouse. On December 6, land was sighted near Cape Leeuwin, and named "D'Entrecasteaux Point". They ended up sailing further east and penetrated numerous islands and dangerous shoals, to which they gave the name "D'Entrecasteaux Islands" (later changed to the Recherche Archipelago).After a violent storm in December, the ships continued eastward to the head of the Great Australian Bight, and on January 4, 1793, Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was forced to leave the coast at a position near Bruni d'Entrecasteaux Reef and sail direct to Van Diemen's Land (this decision was unfortunate, for if he had continued his examination of the southern coast of New Holland, he would have made all the geographical discoveries that fell to the lot of Bass and Flinders a few years later. If that had been the case, a French "Terre Napoléon" might well have been a fact).The ships anchored in Recherche Bay on 22 January, and the expedition spent five weeks in that area, watering the ships, refreshing the crews, and carrying out explorations into both natural history and geography. Beautemps-Beaupré, in company with other officers, surveyed the northern extensions to Storm Bay - the western extension was found to be a mouth of a river which received the name Rivière du Nord (it was renamed the Derwent River a few months later by the next visitor to this area).On February 28, d'Entrecasteaux sailed from Van Diemen's Land towards the Friendly Islands, sighting New Zealand and the Kermadec Islands en route. At the Friendly Islands, he found that the natives remembered Cook and Bligh well enough, but knew nothing of La Pérouse. He then sailed back to New Caledonia, where he anchored at Balade. The vain search for La Pérouse then resumed with Santa Cruz, then along the southern coasts of the Solomon Islands, the northern parts of the Louisiade Archipelago, through the Dampier Strait, along the northern coast of New Britain and the southern coast of the Admiralty Islands, and thence north of New Guinea to the Moluccas.By this time, the affairs of the expedition had become almost desperate, largely because the officers were ardent royalists and the crews equally ardent revolutionaries. Kermadec had died of phthisis in Balade harbour, and on 21 July 1793, d'Entrecasteaux himself died of scurvy, off the Hermits.Commands were re-arranged, with Auribeau taking charge of the expedition, with Rossel in Kermadec's place. The new chief took the ships to Surabaya. Here it was learned that a republic had been proclaimed in France, and on February 18, 1794, Auribeau handed his vessels to the Dutch authorities so that the new French Government could not profit by them. Auribeau died a month later, and Rossel sailed from Java in January 1795 on board a Dutch ship, arriving at Table Bay in April 1795. There his ship sailed unexpectedly with the expedition's papers, leaving him behind, but this vessel was captured by the British. Rossel then took passage on a brig-of-war, but this too was captured by the British. After the Peace of Amiens in 1802, all the papers of the expedition were returned to Rossel, who was thus able to publish the present narrative of the whole enterprise. JOST VAN DOCKUM (1753 -1834) was a famous Danish naval officer. He started out as a naval cadet and midshipman in 1765, advanced to second lieutenant 1773, premier lieutenant in 1781, captain lieutenant in 1784 and captain in 1796. In 1798 Dockum became chief of a frigate used as a watch ship in Helsinore and here got caught up in a conflict with an English chief of a convoy, about the extradition of another Danish ship. Due to his steadfast and tactful handling of the situation, the case was resolved and battle was avoided, earning him great respect and a flattering letter from Crown Prince Frederik. In 1799, Dockum was sent out as chief commander of the frigate "The Mermaid" to join the Commander Captain Steen Bille's force in the Mediterranean, whose task it was to ensure the uninterrupted travel of Danish merchant ships. Even though Denmark was neutral and thus sought after for shipping goods, these Danish ships still faced problems from both privateers, who didn't necessarily respect the neutral flag, and from English war ships, which demanded the right to search Danish ships - something that the Danish chiefs had explicit orders to prevent. Van Dockum turned out to be exactly the right man at the right place, at the right time. In December 1799, in Gibraltar, he was forced to order firing against English vessels that attempted to search his convoy. For a short while, it even looked as if a heavy battle was forced to follow, but with his calm and assured conduct, Van Dockum made the English reconsider, and the case was handled with diplomacy in stead. Later the same year, a similar situation occurred, which Van Docum handled in the same admirable manner. His impressive conduct was clearly noticed high up in the hierarchy. Denmark, however, could not remain neutral, and in the beginning of 1801, the Danish forces were called back from the Mediterranean. When the English navy arrived in Øresund in 1807 and afterwards bombarded Copenhagen, Van Docken was given command of the battery of ships, Preøvesten. In 1809, he was sent to Schelden to serve in the French navy; upon his arrival, he took command over the line ship Pultusk, under Vice Admiral Édouard Jacques Burgues de Missiessy.Napoleon's plan was to form a naval port of the first rank, a goal that he pursued zealously. The English, of course, tried to conquer the station. It was here that Van Docken gained international fame. At the failed attacks by the English and with his obviously skilled maneuvers and his amazing abilities as an organizer, he gained the special attention of Emperor Napoleon I and earned special recognition for the Danish marine as such. He stayed at his post for more than three years, was appointed French Admiral, Knight of Dannebrog and an officer of the Legion of Honour. He was invited to Napoleon's feasts was showered with attention, when he visited Napoleon in Paris. He stayed in French service until 1812, and Napoleon has presumably given him the present work, when it appeared.

Venice, Trino di Monferrato, 1544. Small 8vo (15x 10 cm.). Bound in a late 17th century manuscript leaf of vellum, with neat decorative handwriting. Title-page with a closed tear, affecting the "R" in the title, but with no loss. Small, restored marginal wormhole to outer blank margin of all leaves, far from affecting text. Title-page a little dusty, otherwise very nice throughout. A well preserved and charming copy. Old owner's signature ("Giovanni de Brignoli") to verso of title-page. Large woodcut device to title-page. 23 ff. + 1 blank leaf at end. Exceedingly scarce first edition of the very first translation of any part of the Odyssey or the Iliad to appear in Italian translation. This slim volume constitutes a milestone in the history of the Homer-reception and is the earliest known version of any part of the Homeric corpus (naturally not counting the Batracomiomachia) to appear in Italian. The Italians had to wait another 20 years for another part of the Homeric corpus to see the light of day in their own language. "There is no doubt that Italy played a central role in the diffusion of the Homeric text among Italian humanists and the rest of Europe. It seems, however, that at the end of the sixteenth century, French scholars and publishers were the ones to take over Italy's leadership and advance Homeric studies in Europe. The first translation of Homer into Italian is the version of book 1 of the Iliad by Francesco Gussano, published in Venice in 1544. The first edition of Lodovico Dolce's translation in octaves of both the Iliad and the Aeneid was published posthumously in 1570. " (Translating Homer", Curated by Pablo Alvarez, Special Collections Library). "In Italy, Homer's entry into the vernacular was far slower: partial translations of the "Iliad" dribbled out in 1544 (Gussano), 1564 ("Iliad" 1-5, Paolo la Badessa), 1570 ("Iliad" I, Luigi Groto Cieco)... But a complete Italian Iliad did not appear until ... 1620." (Jessica Wolfe in: Cambridge Guide to Homer, pp. 496-97). The work is of the utmost scarcity, and we have not been able to trace a single copy at auction anywhere in the world within the last 50 years at least.According to OCLC, only six libraries worldwide own a copy, four being in the US, and two in the UK. Moss: I, 534 ("A very rare edition").

London, 1813 (-1816). (Part I:) Cadell and Davies by Richard Taylor and Co., 1813; (Part II:) for Cadell and Davies, and Murray by Richard and Arthur Taylor, 1813; (Parts III & IV:) (Printed by Richard and Arthur Taylor), (1816). 8vo. Lovely contemporary full calf boards with blindstamped frames made of single lines and ornamental corner-pieces. Double gilt line-border to boards. Gilding on front board very vague. Ornamental blindstamped inner dentelles. Neatly rebacked in style of the boards, with gilt ornamentation ond gilt red morocco title-label. End-papers renewed. 24; (VI),39 pp.; 1 f. (blank), 124 pp. Both half-titles to part III & IV included in the pagination. Some leaves evenly browned, but overall a very nice and clean copy (possibly washed). Very scarce edition of Owen’s seminal four-part work, which constitutes “The Birth of Socialism”, parts I & II being the first printings, and II & IV presumably the second editions (after the privately printed 1814-edition of both parts, which were for private circulation), later used for the 1816 overall second edition of all four parts together (which is continuously paginated, 184 pp. in all). The copy corresponds to Kress B6194, where it is listed first, and Goldsmiths' 20855. Goldsmiths' notes “The first and second essays have separate title-pages and pagination. The third and fourth essays each have a half-title, but their pagination is continuous. There are a number of textual alterations in this edition of the third and fourth essays, most of which were adopted for the 1816 edition.” Parts I & II have separate title-pages and are separately paginated. The title-page of part I does not mention Owen, but the dedication to Wilberforce is signed Robert Owen in print on p. IV. The title-page of part II reads: A new View of Society, or, Essays on the Principle of the Formation of the Human Character, and the Application of the Principle to Practice. Essay Second. By Robert Owen of New Lanark. Parts III & IV each have a half-title, both included in the pagination, which is continuous. The half-title of Part III reads: Essay Third. The Principles of the Former Essays Applied to a Particular Situation, and states on verso: Printed by Richard and Arthur Taylor. The half-title of Part IV reads: Essay Fourth. The Principles of the Former Essays Applied to Government. "The theory of socialism has a long and distinguished history [...] the first practical statement of socialist doctrine came not from a theorist but from one who based it on practical experiment. Robert Owen became the manager of a cotton mill at the age of nineteen. He was brilliantly successful, not merely as a manager, but as an innovator, introducing the first imported cotton from America and improving the quality of the yarn. Before he was thirty he already had the experience, and the confidence born of it, to undertake his great experiment." (PMM). Having bought a factory with some of the poorest and workers’ quarters in the country and worst working conditions, Owen began improving conditions in all ways possible, including housing, working hours, education for the children (he founded infant schools in Great Britain), limitation of drinking, and he opened a store, where they could buy goods close to cost price. "'The Lanard Experiment' was a great success, and the mill ran a profit; nevertheless, Owen’s partners were dissatisfied at the cost of his social schemes and he was forced to dissolve the partnership and form a new company, in which Jeremy Bentham and William Allen, the Quaker philanthropist, were partners. It was at this juncture that A New View of Society came out. In it Owen laid down the principles which had determined his experiment. Having no belief in any kind of religion, he had thought out a new system of beliefs for himself. The chief points were that man's character is made not by but for him and that it has been formed by circumstances over which he has no control. The prime necessity in the right formation of character is therefore to place him under proper physical, moral and social influences from the very beginning. These principles - the fundamental irresponsibility of man and the effect of good early influence - lie at the root of Owen's theories and his practice. New Lanark continued to show their efficacy, and it became a model community, much visited by the statesmen of Europe… [T]he vitality of the word “socialism”, first coined by Owen about 1835, is testimony to the enduring value of his work" (PMM). PMM 271; Kress B6194; Goldsmiths' 20855

Lugduni Batavorum (Leyden), Apud Petrum Leffen & Franciscum Moyardum, 1662. 4to. Contemporary full calf with gilt title-laebl to spine. (36), 121, (1) pp. + 10 plates. Complete with all 56 woodcut and engraved text-illustrations (many of which are full-page) and the 10 full-page engraved plates (several folded), one of which is the heart-plate with the 6 moveable parts, the Cardiac-flaps (of which only the smallest is missing). One folded plate cropped at fore-margin. First edition of Descartes' seminal treatise on man, the first European textbook of physiology, constituting an epochal work of modern thought, defining the mechanism of man as it does. "In the Treatise of man, Descartes did not describe man, but a kind of conceptual models of man, namely creatures, created by God, which consist of two ingredients, a body and a soul. "These men will be composed, as we are, of a soul and a body. First I must describe the body on its own; then the soul, again on its own; and finally I must show how these two natures would have to be joined and united in order to constitute men who resemble us"." (SEP). This highly influential work was the first to present a coherent description of bodily responses in neurophysiological terms that are still, to a wide extent, accepted today. In his attempt to solve the central question around which almost all philosophical thought had revolved since the time of Aristotle, what the relation between the soul and the body actually is, Descartes came to create a milestone work of physiology which changed the entire trajectory of modern physiological conceptions. "Without Descartes, the seventeenth-century mechanization of physiological conceptions would have been inconceivable." (DSB). He believed that the relationship between the soul and the body was mediated by the brain and the nervous system, and his seminal attempts to explain neural mechanisms drew a great deal on the engineering developments of his time (eg. the hydraulic automata that had been installed at the Versailles). He developed a hydro-mechanical theory of how the soul controlled the contraction of muscle through the intermediary of the pineal and the cerebral ventricles, and he produced an explanation of how it received, through the nerves from the periphery, signals that gave rise to sensation. Descartes' theories quickly spread throughout Europe, and the work in which he had developed them, his "De Homine" became extremely influential. This posthumously published work was actually written in the 1630's, but after the condemnation of Galilei in 1633, Descartes did not dare publish it; "although it thus had to await posthumous publication in the 1660's, his writing of the Traité de l'homme proved extremely important in the further maturation of Descartes's physiological conceptions." (D.S.B. p.62). "Some time after Descartes's death in 1650, his French manuscript, copies of which had circulated among his friends and correspondents, was edited and published. The first version was a Latin translation (De homine) by Florentius Schuyl in 1662, the second the now better known 'original' French version (Traité de l'homme) edited by Descartes's self-appointed literary executor Claude Clerselier in 1664. In the seventeenth century the 1662 Latin version was probably much more widely read than the French text. There were problems for the editors of both versions. Firstly, there were differences between the manuscripts: Clerselier in Paris claimed that his version was Descartes's own, that the others were 'corrupt' and that Schuyl had been 'misled' by them. However, a more important difficulty was raised because it was clear that the text was intended to be illustrated - Descartes refers to figures and to features within these labelled by letters. But no set of figures accompanied the manuscripts. Both editors have left quite detailed accounts in their long prefaces - little treatises in themselves. Here I consider only Schuyl, the editor of the Latin De homine. Schuyl (1619-69) was a professor of philosophy in the town of 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, the country in which Descartes was living during the writing of Le monde. Two of the author's friends had copies of the manuscript that they supplied to Schuyl, and with one of these were included two sketches of illustrations apparently in Descartes's own hand. These Schuyl included. One of them represents the medial and lateral rectus muscles in the orbit, which deflect the eye nasally and temporally. The other figures Schuyl had to have made and, since he mentions no one else, one supposes that he designed them himself." (IML Donaldson, J R Coll Physicians Edinb 2009; 39:375-6).Wellcome II:453; Osler 931; Garrison and Morton 574. Waller only has a later edition.

Amsterdam, Labore & Sumptibus - Johannis Blaeu, 1662. Large folio (350 x 545 mm). In publisher’s full vellum binding with central gilt arabesque and armillary sphere. All edges gilt. Boards with stains and marks. Outer margin on back board with waterstain. Small stamp on front free end-paper, lower part of title-page and lower part of frontiespiece (The Royal Danish Geographical Society). Occassional light brownpostting throughout. Approximately 50 leaves with waterstain in outer margin, primarily affecting last part. (4), 256, (2), 78, (2) + 70 engraved maps. Complete, corresponds to Koemann Bl 56, 220. First edition of volume seven, containing France and Switzerland, of Blaeu’s monumental Atlas Major, one of the most significant works of the 17th century widely considered to be one of the greatest atlases ever produced. It was the most expensive book that could be acquired in the mid-17th century. The Atlas Major was a significant achievement in the history of cartography and it represented a major step forward in the development of the modern atlas. Most of the present maps were issued in previous editions of Blaeu’s atlases from the 1630s onwards, and derive variously from Maurice Bouguereau’s Le Théatre Francoys (1594), Jean le Clerc’s Le Théatre géographique du Royaume de France (1619), as well as from other maps by Hondius and Janssonius. "There are a small number of newer maps of France, some of which derived from the Geographer to the King of France, Pierre Du Val. The six maps of Switzerland in the atlas had been in print for several decades: four of them were copied from Mercator’s 1585 Galliae Tabulae geographicae." (National Library of Scotland). The Atlas Major was notable for its high level of accuracy and detail. The maps were based on the latest geographical knowledge and featured state-of-the-art cartographic techniques, such as the use of latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, and a sophisticated system of map projection. The maps were also notable for their beautiful engravings and illustrations, which were produced by some of the most talented artists of the time. The Atlas Maior was a major commercial success and it was widely used by scholars, navigators, and government officials. It was translated into several languages, and it became the standard reference work for cartography and geography during the 17th century. Atlas Major was subsequently published with French, Dutch, German, and Spanish texts. Koemann Bl 56, 220.

Amsterdam, Heinric Laurentius, 1644. Folio. Contemporary full vellum with neat later (19th century) rebacking. Six raised bands and gilt title to spine. Some wear to extremities. Internally a fresh and clean copy with only a bit of occasional brownspotting. Endpapers with a bit of soiling. 2 bookplates to inside of front board: Gilbert Redgrave, London (dated 1894) & Gorden M. Jones, Virginia. Text in Greek and Latin. Woodcut title-page, numerous woodcut intials throughout, and more than 600 woodcut illustrations in the text. (20), 1187, (1), (88 - Index) pp. First edition thus, being the most important and influential edition of Theophrastus' seminal work "Enquiry into Plants" - the first systematization of the botanical world and the most important contribution to botanical science up until the Renaissance. Bodaeus von Stapel's groundbreaking edition constitutes the first illustrated edition of Theophrastus' masterpiece as well as the first with both Greek and Latin text. Furthermore, von Stapel has not only collected all relevant commentaries and knowledge, he has also added corrections and much foundational information, turning the work into one of the most influential botanical works of the 17th century, profoundly influencing the likes of Linnaeus and contributing significantly to the development of modern scientific botany. "This edition displays great care and research; the notes are numerous and learned, and all botanical information to be gleaned from Aristotle, Pliny, Dioscorides, and other ancient writers, seems to be embodied in this work. The Greek text is Heinsius's; the Latin version is that of the editor, who has placed Gaza's in the margin, with frequent corrections. The conjectures of Scaliger, Constantine, and Salmasius, are also incorporated... it has collected into one body the opinions of the old writers on the subject of the PLANTS. It contains some wood-cuts of the rarer species, which are much better uncoloured than coloured." Dibdin II:498). The numerous woodcut plant illustrations were partly copied from other sources and partly made especially for this edition. Thus, apart from being "one of the best and most thoughtfully prepared of all the editions of Theophrastos" (Hunt), our editor has also made original contributions that are of great importance. "It is interesting not only because of the brilliance of the editing, but, curiously enough, to the American botanist as well, for involving in the discussion certain species from Virginia, other parts of the New World, and Asia. The illustrations of these plants have been largely overlooked in botanical history, because of their incidental presence in a work which might not be expected to contain anything of the sort. Some were merely borrowed from l'Ecluse or de Lobel, but others seem original in this work" (H.H. Bartlett: Fifty-five Rare Books - quoted by Hunt).At the height of the Renaissance, with the expansion of the known world and the spreading of the book due to the invention of the printing press, many new publications on plants appeared. Most of these publications, however, were primarily concerned with the medicinal qualities of individual plants and only few authors or editors took an interest in the general nature of the plants and how they could systematically be classified. One of the few exceptions was Bodaeus von Stapel. With his seminal 1644 edition of "Historia Plantarum", he focused on the overarching classification system of plants and took Theophrastus' work a step further, adding essential commentaries and illustrations - illustrations that were to be copied for centuries after. These illustrations remain the standard illustrations of Theophrastus' foundational work. This edition of Theophrastus' "Historia Plantarum" became the standard edition of that earliest work on systematic botany and the edition that all serious scientific botanists of the 17th and 18th centuries will have studied. "Linnaeus, in the practice of his favourite art of systematizing, classified not only plants but the writers about them. The writers he distinguishes primarily as Botanists, and Plant Lovers, recognizing as Botanists only such as treat of plants from some philosophic or scientific point of view. Choosing his illustrations from annals of remote antiquity, he names among the earliest of the Greeks who wrote of plants Hippocrates; but because he wrote of plants only in the interests of medicine Linnaeus styles him Father of Medicine... Similarly Aristotle... is down in the Linnaean list of ancient celebrities as Prince of Philosophers. To Theophrastus, however, he accords the title Father of Botany. From this opinion, far from having been newly promulgated in Linnaeus's time, there has been no dissenting voice. On the contrary, Albert Haller, one of the most learned men in Europe in his day, and a botanist of such renown that Linnaeus held him in reverence, and also in some fear, denominates Theophrastus "the first of real botanists in point of time." Kurt Sprengel in the nineteenth century, having rehearsed the names of a long line of ancient authors who had written more or less concerning plants, says: "But the most illustrious of them all, and the true father of botany, was Theophrastus Eresius…." (Greene, Landmarks of Botanical History, I:128).It is no wonder that Linnaeus should find in Theophrastus the Father of his own field - The "Historia Plantarum" was not only the earliest work on systematic botany, it also contained Theophrastus' description of the formation of the plant seed, the earliest account known and the best that was made for 2000 years.Hunt: 240; Pritzel: 9197; BM: V:2091; Dibdin: II:498.

Lugduni [Leiden], Jacobum Chouët, 1662. 12mo. Partly uncut in a nice later full calf binding (19th century?) with five raised bands and gilt lettering to spine. Hinges with a bit of wear and small piece of leather lacking on top of spine. Vague previous owner's name in contemporary hand to lower part of title-page. Ex-libris pasted on to pasted down front end-paper. Vague traces after stamp on p. 108. A fine copy. (12), 108 pp. + 3 folded plates. The rare first edition of Steno's early and first major discovery, being the findings of the 3 main Ducts and glands of the eye, the mouth and the nose, among these the first account of the excretory duct of the parotid gland now named "Stensen's Duct". He correctly stated that the true purpose of the glands was to secrete fluid and "with [the present work] Nicolaus Steno had established the study of glands as a science". (Snorrason). His careful dissections of animal, and later human, brains were revolutionary. He demonstrated that tears are secrated by specific glands, thus striking a deadly blow to the ancient notion of cerebral excretion, even disproving the speculations of scholars such as Descartes, who believed that the corpus pineale (a brain gland) was the connecting point between soul and body.Steno arrived in Holland in March 1660 and was given lodging by the city's physician Gerad Blaes (Latin: Blasius) who himself had studied in Copenhagen and was a friend of Thomas Bartholin. A year later Steno wrote in a letter to Bartholin: "After I had been given leave by Blasius to dissect on my own in the museum, I bought a sheep's-head in order to examine the brain. I happened to decide to investigate first the course of the veins and arteries at the mouth by introducing a probe into the vessels. I suddenly discovered that the point of the probe was moving freely in a spacious cavity and struck with a ringing sound against the teeth. Surprised at this, I called my host to hear his opinion. Blasius first said that it was due to force, then that it was one of nature's frequent freaks, and finally he looked up Wharton's book, but found no explanation there". Shortly thereafter, Steno repeated the investigation on a dog and confirmed, "there was a duct leading from the gland by the ear to the oral cavity, of a similar kind to the duct from the submaxillary gland found by the English man Thomas Wharton (1610-1673) a few years previously and described in his book Adenographia 1656. Steno was now certain that the gland was a salivary gland and not, as Wharton said in his book and as had been believed for some 1500 year, a kind of sponge intended to absorb surplus materials from the hard rami of the fifth pair of nerves, carry these back to the veins, warm up the outer and inner ear, and fill up the hollow around them." (Snorrason). "This discovery led Stensen to consider every fluid in the body as a glandular secretion. He then found a series of glands furnishing fluid to each of the body cavities. He likewise sought the afferent and efferent ducts of secretion. Stensen still used the name "lymph" for all watery glandular secretions, because he was not yet able to differentiate between them and to specify them chemically and physiologically. In the course of this basic research Stensen presented in his Leiden dissertation new discoveries of glands in the cheeks; beneath the tongue; and in the palate, whose structure of veins, arteries, nerves, and lymph vessels he also described. In his Observationes anatomicae (1662), dealing with his new discoveries concerning the glands, he described the lachrymal apparatus in great detail." DSB 13, 33. "Niels Stensen remains one of the most notable scientists in the history of anatomy. His method based on dissection and experiment enabled him to make significant contribution to the understanding of structure and function of human body. Like many successful scientists he was able to make the most of the rather serendipitous discovery of the parotid duct early in his career, soon expanding his research focus into new areas." (Strkalj, Niels Stensen and the Discovery of the Parotid Duct)."In the physiology his researches into the anatomy of the glands led to his discovery of the [duct of] parotid gland, one of the three salivary glands near the ear, into the mouth, is still named "Steno's duct."" (PMM 151)Osler 4018Garrison & Morton 973Waller 9226Heirs of Hippocrates 393Norman 2010Snorrason 1662(PMM 151)

Hamburg,von Wiering, 1712. 8vo. In contemporary full calf with four raised bands. Embossed ornamentation to spine. Lower part of back hindge and back board with worm hole. Last three works with small wormtract to lower part of leaves (not affecting Lawson's work, other wise a good copy. [Lawson:] (14), 365, (3) pp. + frontispiece and 1 folded map; (4), 239, (5); (2), 94; (2), 134 pp. The exceedingly rare first German translation of "the first history of Carolina, with a very observant report of the life, customs, and natural history of the colony" (Streeter). John Lawson’s work offers a largescale portrayal of the customs and traditions of the Native American tribes during that era, while also serving as a meticulous record of the Carolinas' geography, climate, flora, fauna, and aquatic life, it constitute one of the most valuable contributions to the early history of Carolina and is considered to be one of the first travel account of the early 18th-century colonies. Lawson’s book provided a meticulous account of his 550-mile, 57-day journey through the backcountry of what would eventually become the states of both South Carolina and North Carolina. Beginning in the port city of Charles Town in December 1700, Lawson and nine other adventurers traveled northwestward toward present-day Charlotte, North Carolina. From there he explored the Piedmont basins of the Catawba and Yadkin Rivers before turning eastward toward present-day Bath, arriving there late in February 1701. John Lawson (1674 - 1711) was an English explorer, adventurer and writer. From 1700 onwards, Lawson was instrumental in the exploration and development of the northern part of what was then the British colony of Carolina, today's US state of North Carolina. Little is known about Lawson's life before his arrival in Carolina. In 1700 he traveled to America and arrived in Charleston where Lawson began a two-month expedition by canoe up the Santee River with five other British and various Indian guides to explore the then unknown land north of Charleston. The expedition ended about 1,000 kilometers further north at the mouth of the Pamlico River (now in Beaufort County). During the expedition, Lawson took extensive notes, which eventually was published in the present work. After the expedition ended, Lawson acquired land in the area where the expedition had ended and worked there, first privately and then on behalf of the colonial administration as a surveyor. At this point, a few scattered Europeans had already settled in the area. Lawson's holdings grew into North Carolina's first permanent settlement, Bath, which soon prospered and became North Carolina's most important port of entry. Lawson was involved with the Swiss Christoph von Graffenried and Franz Ludwig Michel in the founding of North Carolina's second oldest city, New Bern, by Swiss and German immigrants in 1710. Lawson was kidnapped and subsequently killed by the Tuscarora in 1711 after they noticed that Lawson had tried to take advantage of them in a trade. This event led to a deterioration in the climate between the Europeans and the Tuscarora and thus contributed to the outbreak of the Tuscarora War, which, after the initial successes of the Tuscarora, ended with their expulsion. Sabin 39453

Stockholm, Literis Wankiwianis, 1697. Folio. 2 contemporary, uniform full vellum bindings with coloured, gilt title- and tome- compartments to spines. Cords showing at inner hinges, but bindings solid and tight. Volume 1 with worn capitals and corners, and gilt compartments quite rubbed. general wear to boards and a stain to back board. Engraved book plate to inside of front board. Two old owner's names to title-page. Ttile-page dusty and with a bit of brownspotting. Otherwise internally in splendid condition, very nice, clean, and fresh. Front board of volume 2 a bit warped and back board with some staining. First two leaves loosening, but still attached, and with some damp staining. Otherwise internally very nice and clean, with just occasional light damp staining. (24), 830; (2), 486, (128) pp. With the engraved device to the title-page of volume 1. The magnificent editio princeps of Snorre's seminal "Heimskringla", his collection of the original sagas of the old Norse kings - beginning with the mythological prehistory going back to Odin and Asgard - printed for the first time in the original Icelandic, accompanied by translations into Swedish and Latin, also being the first translations into these languages. The "Heimskringla" constitutes one of the most famous and influential works of medieval Icelandic literature and a cornerstone of Norse mythology. These seminal sagas are of foundational importance not only to Norse mythology and Scandinavian history, however, but also to the medieval history of the Western world in general, famously narrating expeditions to many other European countries, most obviously England (e.g. the famous sacking of Southwark and the Battle of Hastings), but also many other parts of the world, ranging as far as Palestine (the saga of Sigurd the Crusader, where the Norwegian fleet is attacked by Arab Muslim pirates), Constantinople, Syria, and Sicily (the Saga of Harald Hadrada, which narrates his expedition to the East), etc. "In addition to this, there are early accounts of the western voyages of Erik the Red and Leif the Lucky and the early settlements on "Vinland", as the Norsemen called the north-eastern coast of American continent; and the equally daring eastern voyage of Sigurd the Crusader." (PMM) "Although the expeditions of the Norsemen to America were not mentioned in the manuscript copies of Sturluson's sagas, Peringskiöld introduces references to these expeditions in vol. I, pp. 325-348." (Sabin) "Snorri's contribution to the literature of Iceland is of inestimable importance. It was he who collected and preserved the great prose "Edda" (first published in 1665), which contains, with some tracts on composition and metre of considerable importance, the "Gylfaginning". Part mythology and part history, it is this which gives us the earliest version of the story of Aesir and their leader Odin, whose invasion of the North became the religion of Scandinavia. From this were spun the "Niebelungenlied" and "Beowulf"; ... Even more important than this is Snorri's own contribution, the great collections of the Sagas of the Norse Kings, called the "Heims Kringla", first published in full in 1697 in the original Icelandic, with translations into Latin and Swedish, edited by Johan Peringskiöld." (PMM) A few extracts of the work had been translated into Danish during the 16th and 17th centuries, with a Danish translation appearing in 1633, but the original Icelandic text had not been printed before and appeared for the first time - under the title "Heimskringla", which is the first known use of the name - with this magnificent publication, which also contains the first edition of the Latin translation and the first edition of the Swedish translation. The work is sought-after and difficult to come by. Sabin 85484 ("The New York Public Library has a copy of vol. I, but lacks vol. 2. The collation of vol. 2 is supplied from the "...Catalogue of the Icelandic Collection" in the Cornell University Library")Fiske 535PMM 168

S.-Petersburg, A Benke, 1893. 8vo. Bound with the original printed green front wrapper in a beautiful green half calf with gilt lettering to spine. Front wrapper brownspotted. Bottom 3 cm. of p.1-2 cut off, shaving a few lines off. A few underlinings to the first leaves. XVI, 353, (1) pp. + 29 tables, numbered I-XVI (with a,b,c's: IIIa-b, IVa-h, Va-c, VIa-b, VIIa-b, Xa-bXIIIa-b), on 16 leaves, 12 of which folded, most of them large + 2 leaves of explanation in between. The exceedingly scarce first edition of Danielson's groundbreaking work on the Russian economic development, which is widely considered the bible of Russian liberal economic thought. Danielson here proposed a way for the Russian economy to consolidate itself without foreign money by - highly controversially - claiming that capitalist industrialization was possible without any change in the political system and emphasizing and defending the peasant class, which so many socialists of the time readily proclaimed doomed. Danielson's economic philosophy was not only pioneering in contemporary Russian economics, it also anticipated many solutions to problems that still face some of the Third World countries today.Danielson famously stated: "The problem facing us could have been summed up in the following terms: What should we do to bring our industry up to the level of Western industry, in order to prevent Russia from becoming a vassal of more advanced countries, and at the same time raise the living standards of the people as a whole? What we did, instead, was to identify large-scale modern industry with its capitalist form, thus reducing the problem to the following dilemma: To what should we sacrifice our cottage industries - to our own capitalist industry or to English industry? When the issue was presented in this way - and this is how it was presented - our cottage industries were doomed and we began to propagate our own capitalist industry". [The present work, pp. 390-91]."[Danielson] reasserted that Russia allegedly lacked foreign markets and reaffirmed that furthering large-scale industry - that it, capitalist development - was prejudicial to Russia's interests. He further condemned the policy of industrialization based on "outrageous protectionism" and suggested that it was still possible for Russia to go back to reliance on agrarian communes and artisanal production. In sum, he believed that Russia could avoid becoming "a tributary of more advanced countries" and that it could foster a non-capitalist, state-controlled industrialization that would increase both productivity and welfare" (Spulber, "Russia's Economic Transitions", p. 43)."[The present work] was written at the suggestion of Marx himself. Danielson made every effort to emphasize the differences between himself and the economic publicists who "defended the people's cause from a narrow peasant point of view". [He] lost no opportunity to refer to the authority of Marx and Engels, even quoting from his private correspondences with them. Nevertheless, there can be no possible doubt that Danielson belonged to the legal Populists". (Walicki, A History of Russian Thought, P. 432).Danielson is often compared to Vasily Vorontsov and the two are considered the major exponents of narodnik economics. Danielson, however, should be distinguished from Vorontsov in regard to the factors that cause underconsumption: contraction in the purchasing power of the popular masses (and not the inability of capitalists to consume the surplus value). Danielson's analysis therefore falls into the school of underconsumption theory, initiated during the classical era of Political Economy by Sismonde de Sismondi. "According to Danielson, capitalist development reduces the number of workers (formerly self-employed craftsmen, small manufacturers, farmers or even laborers) through rapid increase in productivity. This leads to an ever smaller number of workers handling an ever larger mass of means of production, and accordingly also the number of mass consumers, since it marginalizes all those who are being pushed into the industrial reserve army, depriving society of their purchasing power. Crises therefore emerge as a result of contraction of the internal market and of popular consumption." (MILIOS, "Tugan-Baranowsky and effective Demand", p 4.). Danielson's analysis of the contraction of popular consumption linked his theory of crises with the Theory of Relative Pauperisation, thereby adopting a version of the "absolute immiseration" thesis.Danielson - initially a self-proclaimed Marxist - translated Marx's "Das Kapital" into Russian just two years after the first German edition appeared (thus being responsible for the first translation of the work into any language) and corresponded heavily with Marx and Engels up until the end of their lives. He was their primary source of information on the economic situation and development in Russia. While Danielson's research progressed and his own economic philosophy developed, he moved away from the popular Marxist economic doctrine, however, and eventually the famed Marx-translator became the influential critic of Marxism.The theory of Danielson's "Studies of Our Post-Reform Economy" represents "the first attempt to pose and find solutions to problems that still face some of the Third World countries today". Danielson was "the first to realize that economic backwardness creates its own specific problems, and that underdeveloped countries not only should not but cannot model their development on that of the advanced countries of Western Europe. (Walicki, "A History of Russian Thought", p. 434).

Strassburg, Knobloch, 1506-7 + 1511 4to. Bound in one very nice full mottled calf binding from ab. 1800, with five raised bands to richly gilt spine. A bit of wear to extremities. Occasional browning, but all in all very nice and clean. 289 ff (without the white blanks) + (4), xcvi, (7), (4, -index & errata). Scarce first edition of Giovanni Francesco Pico's seminal "Opera", issued by Pico himself, in which some of his most important works appear for the first time, e.g. "De Rerum Praenotatione", "De fide ordine" and the "Staurostichon" as well as his translation of Justin the Martyr's "Admonitio", here bound with the highly important second edition of the "Hymni heroici tres". The present publication occupies a central place in the development of Renaissance thought. Through the "Opera" of Pico, skepticism came to play a dominant role in the development of early modern thought. "Telesio, Bruno, Galileo, and others also employed the same arguments which Pico had brought to the consciousness of Renaissance Europe. Gianfrancesco Pico's skeptical techniques did not die with him, but lived on to produce a tangible, recognizable influence on the intellectual ambience of early modern Europe." (Schmitt, p. 7). This seminal "Opera", published 13 years before the publication of Pico's magnum opus ("Examen Vanitatis") and 26 years before his death, is of the utmost importance to the development of Pico's thought and to the development of Renaissance thought in general - "a study on the philosophy of Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola would furnish an important addition to our knowledge of the philosophy of the Italian Renaissance" (Schmitt, p. (VII)). The many important works in the present publication are known under the joint title "Opera aurea & bracteata" or "Liber imaginationis". The publication is made up of 9 parts, all of which were also intended for separate sale (and which all have separate paginations). The works included are: "De rerum praenotatione etc.", "De fide et ordine credenda", "De morte Christi & propria cogitanda libri tres", "De studio divinae & humanae philosophiae, libri duo", "De imaginatione", "Vita Io. Pici patrui. Eiusdem de uno & ente/ defensio & alia quaepiam", "Epistolarum libri quattuor ", the translation of Justini's " Admonitio " - together with "Saurostichon/de mysterijs Germaniae Heroico carmine" and "Expositio tex. decreti de con. dis.ii. Hilarii", and then follows " Ad lectorum " - 6 of the works here are FIRST PRINTINGS. The second edition of the "Hymni heroici" is of the utmost scarcity. It originally appeared in 1507, but only the second edition also contains Pico's famous poem "Staurosticon".This magnificent collection of works by "the first modern sceptic" and "the only serious student of Sextus before the middle of the sixteenth century" (Copenhaver & Schmitt) constitutes a milestone in Renaissance thought. The seminal work "De rerum praenotatione", which appears here for the first time, is among the most important that Pico wrote. It constitutes a fierce attack upon superstition, and a defense of the true religious truths - theories that underpin ALL of his later thought and are of fundamental importance to his later works, including the "Examen". "This is a lengthy work (second in length only to the "Examen Vanitatis" among Pico's works) against pretended modes of prophesy. It is of the same genre as Giovanni Pico's work against astrology and is dedicated to the author's cousin and protector, Alberto Pio. It was first printed in the "opera" of 1506-07… There is no substantial portion of the work extant in manuscript." (Schmitt, p. 192). The "de fide et ordine", which also appears here for the first time, is likewise one of Pico's significant works, although not as philosophical as the previous work. "This is a work of medium length, principally theological, but of some philosophical importance. It was dedicated to Pope Julius II in the first printed edition of 1506-07" (Schmitt, pp. 193-94).The "Staurostichon" is Pico's most famous poem, dedicated to Emperor Maximilian. In spite of the few pages it takes up, it has been the subject of much debate and interpretation throughout the centuries. Apparently "[t]he extant manuscript seems to have been made after the first printed edition [i.e. the present]." (Schmitt, p. 196).Pico's translation of the "Admonitio" (which is no longer attributed to Justin the Martyr) is of great importance. "The first printing of the translation, which is dedicated to Zanobi Acciaiuoli, was in the "opera" of 1506-07. It was often reprinted, remaining a standard translation for most of the sixteenth century." (Schmitt, p. 200). The four books of Pico's letters are also printed here for the first time. "In the three editions of the "Opera" are printed four books of letters. These were prepared for the edition of 1506-07 and were reprinted with few additions in the later editions. Consequently, it seems that the bulk of Pico's personal letters written after 1505 have not come down to us." (Schmitt, p. 200). Giovanni Francesco [Gianfranceso] Pico della Mirandola (1470-1533), not to be confused with his uncle Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) was a highly important Renaissance thinker and philosopher, who was strongly influenced by the Neoplatonic tradition, but even more so by the preaching of Girolamo Savonarola, whose thought he defended throughout his life. Just like his uncle, Gianfrancesco Pico devoted his life to philosophy, but being a follower of Savonarola and having a Christian mission, he made it subject to the Bible. He even depreciated the authority of the philosophers, above all of Aristotle. "At the very beginning of the 16th century, Gian Francesco Pico, the nephew of Pico della Mirandola, had predicted the final failure of all attempts at reconciliation of the different philosophical movements. Gian Francesco Pico was a thinker of very considerable stature and a follower of Savonarola. There was a touch of tragedy about his personality. For his life was suspended, as it were, between the scaffold of Savonarola and incessant family feuds - in the course of one of which he was finally killed. No wonder that he borrowed from the scepticism of Sextus Empiricus in order to destroy philosophy to make more room for religion." (Garin, p. 133). Gianfr. Pico, a learned scholar and apt reader of classical texts, was the first Renaissance thinker that we know to have seriously studied and used the works of Sextus Empiricus, which were not printed until the 1560'ies, causing a revolution in Renaissance thinking. "The printing of Sextus in the 1560s opened a new era in the history of scepticism, which had begun in the late fourth century BCE with the teachings of Pyrrho of Elis. [...] Before the Estienne and Hervet editions, Sextus seems to have had only two serious students, Gianfrancesco Pico at the turn of the century and Francesco Robortello about fifty years later." (Copenhaver & Schmitt, pp. 240-41). "No significant use of Pyrrhonian ideas prior to the printing of Sextus' "Hypotyposes" has turned up, except for that of Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola [...] His writings may seem isolated from the main development of modern skepticism that began with the publication of the Latin translations and modernized formulation of ancient scepticism offered by Michel de Montaigne. However, they represent a most curious use of skepticism that reappears in the early seventeenth century with Joseph Mede and John Dury and the followers of Jacob Boehme and in the early eighteenth century in the writings of the Chevalier Ramsay, the first patron of David Hume, to fortify or justify prophetic knowledge." (Popkin, p. 20). Gianfr. Pico develops his sceptical arguments to their fullest extent in his "Examen" (1520), which is considered his main work. However, the foundation of all these ideas are laid in his earlier works, all the significant of which are present here, in his seminal "Opera"-collection. Together, they constitute the earliest printed testimonies to the use of scepticism and a premonition of the role that scepticism came to play in Renaissance thought, primarily after the first printings of Sextus in the 1560'ies. "The revival of ancient philosophy was particularly dramatic in the case of scepticism. This critical and anti-dogmatic way of thinking was quite important in Antiquity, but in the Middle Ages its influence faded [...] when the works of Sextus and Diogenes were recovered and read alongside texts as familiar as Cicero's "Academia", a new energy stirred in philosophy; by Montaigne's time, scepticism was powerful enough to become a major force in the Renaissance heritage prepared for Descartes and his successors." (Copenhaver & Schmitt, pp. 17-18)."Throughout the early modern period, from Ficino and Pico to Newton and Leibniz, such convictions supported a pattern of historiography that could never have emerged without the humanists, even though it did not preserve their fame for modern times. Other myths of classicism and Christianity outlived the fable of ancient theology because they conflicted less flagrantly with the findings of historyThe purpose of the ancient theology was to sanctify learning by connecting it with a still more ancient source of gentile wisdom that reinforces sacred revelation. Rather than baptize the heathens as Ficino or the older Pico wished, some early modern critics damned them, and one of the most aggressive thinkers of this school was the younger Pico. He saw an impassable gulf between Christian and pagan belief where his uncle had tried to build bridges." (Copenhaver & Schmitt, p. 337). Schmitt Appendix Section I: nrs. 4, 13, 14, 26, 50; 51; Section II: nr.11See:Charles B. Schmitt: Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola (1469-1533) and his critique of Aristotle. 1967.Copenhaver & Schmitt: Renaissance Philosophy. 1992.Eugenio Garin: Italian Humanism. Philosophy and Civic Life in the Renaissance. Translated by Peter Munz. 1965.Richard H. Popkin: The History of Scepticism. From Savonarola to Bayle. 2003.

Armenia, Etchmiadzin, June 7th, 1816. Folio (405 x 245 mm). All edges gilt. Manuscript-leaf in Armenian (Bologir), ink on paper, single column, 35 lines. Double lined margins in fine gold on the left and one on the right. Text in black and red ink, with two finely painted ecclesiastical emblems in colour: Above a seal of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin; A circular seal surrounded by radiant colored lines and a blue border with white stars. In the centre, an image of the Holy Trinity, used in official documents issued by the Catholicos of All Armenians. Above the All-Seeing Eye in a Triangle, an eye within a triangle, radiating light (stylized with golden rays and dots). This is a widespread Christian and Masonic symbol often called the Eye of Providence or All-Seeing Eye. In Armenian religious iconography, it symbolizes God the Father watching over creation Holy Trinity (the triangle suggests the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). This symbol is frequently seen in Armenian Church manuscripts, seals and ecclesiastical documents, particularly from the 18th–19th centuries, often influenced by Enlightenment-era Christian art. Folded. Minor wear at edges, a few tiny holes, overall very well preserved. An exceedingly rare illuminated Armenian ecclesiastical manuscript letter, issued under the authority of Catholicos Yeprem I Der Movsessian (Ephrem I ) (served 1809–1830), head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Written at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the document formally records the ordination and blessing of a certain cleric named Haroutioun, commending him for his exemplary service to the Church. Documents of this kind - formally issued and stamped, personally signed and illuminated - were reserved for major ecclesiastical acts and now very rarely appear on the market. We have not been able to establish exactly who Haroutioun is. The letter describes him as "the confessing person named Haroutioun, for distinguished service to the Church", which strongly implies ordination or elevation within the clerical ranks - possibly to the priesthood (kahana) or to the rank of vardapet (doctor of theology). He may have been from a regional prelacy or rural diocese since the The Catholicos often issued such documents for clergy being appointed to distant parishes in Persia, the Ottoman Empire or newly annexed Russian territories (Georgia, Karabakh, etc.).Catholicos Yeprem I served during a pivotal period in modern Armenian history, as the Caucasus was being reshaped by imperial conflict. His tenure coincided with a profound geopolitical transformation in the South Caucasus, marked by the decline of Persian control over Eastern Armenia and the steady expansion of the Russian Empire into traditionally Armenian lands. As head of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Yeprem I’s leadership was crucial in navigating the Church through this period of realignment. What made Yeprem I particularly significant was not a legacy of bold theological innovation or political confrontation, but rather his quiet, deliberate, and pragmatic diplomacy. He inherited a Church fractured by external pressures and internal disputes, still recovering from centuries of divided jurisdiction under Ottoman and Persian rule. In this climate, Yeprem I became a stabilizing figure, reinforcing the authority of Etchmiadzin as the unifying center of the Armenian spiritual world. During his reign, Yeprem I worked to preserve ecclesiastical independence while cautiously cooperating with the Russian state. This was no small feat, as the Russian imperial government sought increasing control over religious institutions in its territories. Rather than provoke conflict Yeprem negotiated space for the Church to function - and even expand - within the framework of Russian imperial protection. His ability to balance loyalty to the Armenian tradition with the practicalities of Russian rule allowed the Church to maintain its institutions, liturgy, and internal governance. One of his most consequential acts was his handling of internal disputes, notably his anathema of Sargis II Hasan-Jalalyan, the rival Catholicos of Aghvank (Caucasian Albania). This decision, issued in 1815, demonstrated his unquestioned canonical authority and his determination to prevent fragmentation of ecclesiastical power. Through such actions, Yeprem I affirmed the exclusive legitimacy of Etchmiadzin and consolidated its role as the supreme authority in Armenian ecclesiastical matters. Though not a prolific writer himself, Yeprem I oversaw the continued copying and preservation of manuscripts at Etchmiadzin and supported the education of clergy. His era saw the groundwork laid for the modest revitalization of Armenian religious learning and a gradual increase in the Church’s influence in civil society - a process that would bear fuller fruit under his successors. Catholicos Yeprem I’s reign was not defined by major reforms or doctrinal controversy, but by his measured guardianship of Armenian ecclesiastical sovereignty during a period of imperial transition. His ability to preserve the independence and integrity of the Armenian Apostolic Church under the looming presence of the Russian Empire makes him one of the more subtle yet significant leaders in the Church’s modern history. His letters and official acts - such as the present - are fine testaments to his pastoral authority and institutional presistene. Regarding institutional holdings: The Matenadaran and the Archives of the Saint Apostolic Synod of Etchmiadzin hold letters and encyclicals from Catholicos Yeprem I. Outside Armenia, we are aware of only one comparable item: an encyclical from Yeprem I dated 3 August 1813, now held in the British Library (MS 15,957), catalogued by Vrej Nersessian.

(København, ca. 1805-08). 4to. Near contemporary (ca. 1850) full brown calf with richly gilt spine and blindstamped border to boards. Spine worn and capitals lacking a bit of leather. Front hinge cracked, strengthened from verso. Internally very nice and fresh with only occasional brownspotting. With the book-plate of John Arden to inside of front board. Bound with the original wrappers for the fourth and ninth series. The front wrapper for the ninth has the title written in English in contemporary hand to the top right (slightly cropped), in ink that seems identical to the "9" denoting the series number. 57 (out of in all 72 published) engraved an excellently hand-coloured plates of costumes, one present in two copies (plate nr. 67). All plates with Danish and German text in the plate. Apart from two leaves that are slightly smaller, the leaves measure 25,5x19 cm. The print surface on all measures 20,5 x 14 cm. An unusually large collection of 57 of the rare plates that constitute the first Danish work on national costumes. The work is of the utmost scarcity, with only one known complete copy in public institutions (Danish University Library - the copy in the Royal Library is also incomplete). The title is known solely from the wrappers that each series of six plates was issued with. These wrappers are also exceedingly scarce and almost never present. Our copy contains two of them. As always, the issue number has been added in hand. Rieter and Senn were both born and educated in Switzerland and both arrived in Copenhagen in 1804. They studied costumes on Sealand, the West Sea Islands, and Holsten. The series of costumes is divided into two sections, the first depicting those of Copenhagen (along with Amager) and Sealand, the other that of Southern Jutland, including Holsten and the North Friesian Islands. Rieter left Copenhagen already in 1805, and Senn was left to complete the publication. It is assumed that Senn did most of the drawings. Only very few complete copies of the work are known to exist, only one in public collections. Colas states that “I do not know the exact number of plates to have been published in this collection, which is very rare. The copy of Lipperheide contains 56 plates, and that of the University of Copenhagen has 72.” (Own translation from French). Lipperheide 1045 (56 plates); Bibl. Danica II: 1080 (incomplete); Colas: 2557; Krohn: 873-944.

Milano, Genio, 1804. Lex 8vo. Large-paper copy, completely uncut, on extra-thick paper, in the original wrappers of hand-blocked patterned paper. With a few contemporary hand-written annotations/corrections and marginal markings. An extraordinarily fine copy with minimal wear. 78 pp. + 1 f. errata. Frontispiece portrait and two engraved plates (one - with the famous sheep - folded). A magnificent copy, in completely original condition, of the rare first edition (printed in a small number only) of this milestone in the history of plastic surgery, Baronio's immensely significant masterpiece, which constitutes the first example of purely scientific research in the history of plastic surgery. Furthermore, it is in this work that the possibility of skin transfer (grafting) is demonstrated for the first time, marking the beginning of a new era for plastic surgery. "The basic principle of free transplantation . . . constituted, when fully understood and applied, the greatest single advance [in plastic surgery] of the nineteenth century." (Gnudi & Webster, p 328)."Degli Innesti Animali, has to be considered an epoch-marking work for several reasons. It is the only treatise on plastic surgery written two centuries after Tagliacozzi's De Curtorum Chirurgia (1597). It is the first experimental account on a successful autologous skin graft in an animal with a detailed report. It is the first example of purely scientific research in the history of plastic surgery." (ISAPS - International Society of aesthetic plastic surgery)."It is a landmark in the development of plastic surgery procedure after two centuries of neglect." (Hagströmer).Describing his experiments with skin grafting on animals (most famously on the sheep, which is depicted in the book), Baronio laid the foundation for human skin grafting, which was only successfully done for the first time 13 years later, in 1817. "Baronio carried out trials on a total of 27 animals (rams, goats, dogs, and even a mare and a cow), always with the same positive results. These studies were of immense significance, serving first and foremost to demonstrate that grafts could be transferred and survive, a fact up to then had not been scientifically proven. Indeed, this possibility was dismissed by leading surgeons including Alfred Armand Velpeau who… asserted that "this strange operation will never be practiced" Furthermore, by comparing the results of grafts carried out under different conditions and different time intervals, Baronio succeeded in clarifying many of the biological aspects of the grafting and healing processes." (Santoni-Rugiu & Sykes: A History of Plastic Surgery, p. 123)."The publication of "Degli Innesti Animali" (On grafting in Animals) by Giuseppe Baronio (1759-1811) in 1804, the first account of experimental autologous skin transplantation in a ram, marks the beginning of a new era for plastic surgery - the demonstration that skin transfer in the same individual is possible and successful. Degli Innesti Animali, the most important work of Baronio, is a 78-page book, printed on thick paper, issued in 1804 in Milan by Tipografia del Genio. The book is rare and seldom appears on the market. It is divided into seven parts and includes three engraved illustrations. The first one shows the portrait of the Count Carlo Anguissola, to whom the work is dedicated, who sponsored the publication, although this is not mentioned, and provided animals and stables for making Baronio's experiments possible.In parts one and two, Baronio traces the origin of nasal reconstruction by quoting the Brancas of Sicily, Tagliacozzi, and the Maratha surgeons from India. The Tagliacozzi's arm flap technique is extensively described, whereas the Indian forehead flap procedure is also illustrated by an engraved plate. Part three is devoted to transplantation of teeth in human beings, a procedure first reported by John Hunter; whereas part four explains the grafting of spur and "other animal parts into the cock's comb." In part five, Baronio reports the method of healing severed skin parts by using certain balms, as proposed by some charlatans. Part six, the most important section of the book, deals with the original Baronio studies on skin graft in a ram. He carried out three types of experiments on the farm of the estate of the Count Anguissola at Albignano, in the surroundings of Milan. In doing this, Baronio was supported by two Milanese surgeons G.B. Monteggia (1762-1815) and G.B. Palletta (1748-1832).In the first experiment, he excised a piece of skin from the dorsum of a ram and grafted it immediately on the opposite side without suturing it, but attaching it with an adhesive. After eight days the graft took perfectly. In the second experiment, on the same ram, the time lapse was 18 minutes. Baronio noticed that the graft had some difficulties in taking (Author's note: probably superficial necrosis at it occurs in full thickness skin grafts). In the third experiment, always on the same ram, the time lapse was longer and the graft did not take. He concluded that the shorter the time for transplantation the better in terms of survival rate. A beautiful engraved illustration of a ram with skin grafts positioned along its dorsum accompanies the text. Regrettably, Baronio was not aware that the thickness of the skin was the most important factor for skin graft survival. Very possibly in the third experiment he harvested the skin with the underlying adipose tissue, thus jeopardizing the graft take.In the last part of the book, part seven, he created wounds on different animals (goat, dog, sheep) and covered them with aluminum paste to isolate wounds from the air to avoid potential contamination. He noticed that this method facilitated wound healing.Degli Innesti Animali, has to be considered an epoch-marking work for several reasons. It is the only treatise on plastic surgery written two centuries after Tagliacozzi's De Curtorum Chirurgia (1597). It is the first experimental account on a successful autologous skin graft in an animal with a detailed report. It is the first example of purely scientific research in the history of plastic surgery. For this reason, the founding members of the Plastic Surgery Research Council established the image of the Baronio ram with skin graft over its dorsum as the emblem of the organization. (ISAPS).Garrison-Morton 5736; Gnudi & Webster, The Life and Times of Gaspare Tagliacozzi, p 328; Zeis Index 301 & 422; Maltz, Evolution of Plastic Surgery, p 221; Bankoff, The Story of Plastic Surgery, p. 42; Belloni, 'Dalle "Riproduzioni animali" di L. Spallanzani agli "Innesti animali" di G. Baronio' in Physis, III, 1961, pp 37-48; Hirsch, I, 243. Waller 686.