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Literature & Linguistics

One of the earliest editions of Erasmuss entertaining and extremely popular collection
of more than 2000 aphorisms and anecdotes, in richly blind-tooled 16th-century calf

ERASMUS, Desiderius. Apophthegmatum libri octo cum primis frugiferi, denuò vigilanter ab ipos recogniti autore, non sine lucro novae accessionis.
Cologne, Johann Gymnich I, 1538. 8vo (16 x 11 x 4.5 cm). With Gymnich's woodcut device, 9 woodcut initials (2 series) plus 1 repeat, and a vine-leaf ornament. Set in an Aldine-style italic with incidental roman and Greek. Near contemporary blind-tooled calf (the owner's stamp ca. 1564?, added later than the rest of the tooling) over wooden boards, each board in a panel design, the front board with the large oval armorial panel-stamp (72 x 55 mm) of Simon Cluver of Gedansk (ca. 1540-1598); the back board with 2 rolls showing Christian imagery. With 1 of 2 brass catchplates but further with only remnants of the fastenings. [16], 712, [38], [2 blank] pp. Full description
€ 3,950
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Confessions of a libertine: an extremely rare Dutch erotic novel, with 4 engraved plates

[EROTICA]. De belydenis van een lichtmis. Bevattende een aantal voorvallen in de galante wereld zo in Nederland als elders; wonderlyke ontmoetingen met vrouwen van allerlei soort; veele potsen meest voorgevallen in de nacht, en achter de gordynen; zeldzaame karakters van beiderlei sexe, enz. enz. enz. Alles beschreeven ten vermaake van de kinderen dezer wereld door den belyder zelve.
[The Netherlands, ca. 1770]. 8vo. With 4 engraved plates. Contemporary red half roan, gold-tooled spine. [2], 184 pp. Full description
€ 6,500
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Greatly enlarged edition of Erpenius's groundbreaking introduction to the Arabic language

ERPENIUS (VAN ERPE), Thomas. Rudimenta linguae arabicae. Florilegium sententiarum arabicarum ut et clavim dialectorum ac praesertim arabicae adjecit Alb. Schultens. Editio altera, aucta indicibus.
Leiden, S. & J. Luchtmans & Jean le Mair, 1770. 4to. With engraved publisher's device on title-page. Contemporary half calf. [6], 374, [174] pp. Full description
€ 850
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First edition of nearly all Euripides plays, in Aldus's best and last Greek, type:
Thomas More's fictional hero gave a copy to the Utopians in 1516!

EURIPIDES. [Title in Greek then Latin:] Tragoediae septendecim [recté octodecim], ex quib[us]. quaedam habent commentaria. & sunt hae. Hecuba[,] Orestes[,] Phoenissae[,] Medea[,] Hippolytus[,] Alcestis[,] Andromache[,] Supplices[,] Iphigenia in Aulide[,] Iphigenia in Tauris[,] Rhesus[,] Troades[,] Bacchae[,] Cyclops[,] Heraclide[,] Helena[,] Ion[, Hercules furens].
(Colophon to each volume: Venice, Aldus Manutius, February 1503). 2 volumes. 8vo. With Aldus's anchor device on the last page of each volume, printed in Aldus's beautiful Greek type.Matching limp vellum (made from 2 leaves from a ca. 1560/70? Spanish legal manuscript), constructed or reconstructed ca. 1900. [268]; [190] ll. Full description
€ 40,000
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An important and remarkably thorough collection of humanistic and 16th-century compilations of fables

[FABULAE]. Fabulae variorum auctorum nempè Aesopi Fabulae Graeco-Latinae CCXCVII. Phthonii Soph. Fabulae Gr. Lat. XL. Gabriae Fab. Gr. Lat. XLIII. Babriae Fab. Gr. Lat. XI. accedunt anonymi veteris Fabulae, Latino carmine reditae LX. ex exsoletis editionibus & codices ms. luci redditae. Haec omnia ex Bibliotheca Palatina. Adjiciuntur insuper Phaedri Fabulae XC. Avieni Fabulae XLII. Abstemii Fabulae CXCVIIII. Opera & studio Isaaci Nicolai Neveleti cum notis ... Cum figuris ligneis.
Frankfurt, Christian Gerlach & Simon Beckenstein, 1660. 8vo. With 237 woodcuts (ca. 5 x 7 cm), mostly after the series by Virgil Solis and Bernard Salomon, some signed VC (many repeats; some a bit worn), woodcut initials and tailpieces, and headpieces built up from typographic ornaments. With the Greek and Latin texts mostly in parallel columns. Contemporary(?) blind-tooled calf, each board with a frame of double fillets and a vertical double fillet 3.5 cm from the hinge dividing it into 2 fields, with a small floral ornament in the corners of each field (so 8 on each board). Rebacked in the 19th century on 3 recessed cords, with "AESOPI|FABULAE" in gold on the flat spine. [16], 678 pp. Full description
€ 1,250
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Rare collection of 17 popular farcical texts

[FACETIAE]. Facetiae facetiarum, hoc est, jocoseriorum fasciculus novus, exhibens varia variorum autorum scripta, non tàm lectu jucunda & jocosa, amoena & amanda, quàm lectu verè digna & utilia, multisve moralibus ad mores seculi nostri accomodata, illustrata & adornata.
[Rostock, Augustin Ferber], 1627. 17 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With general title-page and 17 part-titles, some with woodcut ornaments or illustrations. Contemporary vellum. Full description
€ 4,500
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Important and luxurious edition of Faerno’s 100 fables, with frontispiece and 99 illustrations

FAERNO, Gabriello. Cent fables en Latin et en François, choisies des anciens auteurs, mises en vers Latins ..., et traduites par Mr. Perrault, ...
London, C. Marsh & T. Payne, H. Slater, S. Baker, F. Noble, W. Bathoe, J. Palairet, 1744. 4to. With richly designed, engraved frontispiece, and 99 (of 100) fine engraved illustrations to the fables on integral leaves. Early 19th-century half calf, for the Signet Library in Edinburgh, each board with the gold-tooled British Royal arms. [1], [1 blank], II, [1], [1 blank], [18], 238, [2], 45, [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 2,950
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