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DONI, Giovanni Battista. , De praestantia musicae veteris libri tres totidem dialogis comprehensi...

Florence, A. Massa, 1647.

First edition of an important treatise on musical theory, the last comprehensive work by the Italian music theorist Giovanni Battista Doni to be published during his lifetime.

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1414 Number 23: 

WITH REFERENCES TO MONTEVERDI’S MUSIC
AND A MUSICAL LEXICOGRAPHY SECTION

DONI, Giovanni Battista.  De praestantia musicae veteris libri tres totidem dialogis comprehensi.  In quibus vetus ac recens musica, cum singulis earum partibus, accurate inter se conferuntur.  Florence, A. Massa, 1647.

4to, pp. [viii], 166 (misnumbered 266); title within typographical border, woodcut floral initials, Roman, italic and occasional Greek types; small marginal paper flaw to I2, a little light browning in the lower outer corner of a few quires, very mild, inconsequential damp-staining in N, but a very good copy, finely bound in very well-preserved contemporary gilt vellum, double-fillet gilt borders, large gilt centrepieces and corner-pieces to sides, flat spine filleted and decorated in gilt, all edges gilt.   

First edition of an important treatise on musical theory, the last comprehensive work by the Italian music theorist Giovanni Battista Doni to be published during his lifetime.

‘From about 1630 he dedicated himself almost totally to the rediscovery of Greek music and to the revival in modern practice of the ancient tonoi and genera.  As an offshoot of this investigation he reviewed the history of modern music drama and wrote several revealing critiques of the earliest styles of musical pastoral’ (Grove).  A correspondent of Mersenne, Galilei and Kircher among others, and in particular the recipient of some of Monteverdi’s most illuminating theoretical letters (Monteverdi is here cited at pp. 57 and 67), Doni contributed much to the development of music theory.  Parallels between the tonal theory and findings laid out in Doni’s works (several published posthumously) and Monteverdi’s prefaces and correspondence have been the object of much scholarship.

‘Doni was not a musician, but he persuaded several composers – Frescobaldi, Domenico Mazzocchi, Pietro Eredia, G.A. Capponi, Ottaviano Castelli, Luigi Rossi and Pietro Della Valle – to experiment both with his instruments and with the ancient modes. […] He deplored the simplicity of the accompaniments in contemporary opera and urged composers to apply the contrapuntal art of the polyphonic madrigal to the lyrical monodies and unison choruses.  He had little respect for the operatic composers of his day and detected only slight advances in dramatic music after Peri, Caccini and Monteverdi (who at the time that Doni was writing had still to compose his last three operas)’ (ibid.).

The 16-page appendix, entitled Synopsis musicarum, Graecarum atque obscuriorum vocum, stands as an early example of musical lexicography.

Rism B. VI, 273; Eitner III, 232; Fetis III, 39; Hirsch I, 150; Lichtental III p. 125.

EXERCICIO QUOTIDIANO, , adicionado con diferentes oraciones.

Madrid, Ibarra, impressor de camara de S.M., 1825.

In very fresh condition: a charming Spanish romantic binding made for Queen Maria Christina of Bourbon (1806-1878), fourth wife of Ferdinand VII, and Regent of Spain during the minority of Queen Isabella.

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1414 Number 28: 

SPANISH BINDING FOR QUEEN MARIA CHRISTINA

EXERCICIO QUOTIDIANO, adicionado con diferentes oraciones.  Madrid, Ibarra, impressor de camara de S.M., 1825.

8vo,  pp. [viii], 590; in a contemporary Spanish binding for Maria Christina of Bourbon, Queen of Spain, faintly diced burgundy-red morocco with olive inlays round the sides; broad gilt border of neo-classical floral ornament, the emblems of the Passion at the four corners; central panel with a crowned flourished initial M on upper cover, a similarly crowned initial C on lower cover, flat spine closely gilt with intersecting ovals, broad band of floral and foliate ornament at foot, olive lettering piece; gilt edges; preserved in its original pull-off case of Spanish sheep with gilt border and the same crowned initials M  and C on front and back cover respectively; red leather label, foot of spine lettered Aranjuez (i.e. the Royal Palace). 

In very fresh condition: a charming Spanish romantic binding made for Queen Maria Christina of Bourbon (1806-1878), fourth wife of Ferdinand VII, and Regent of Spain during the minority of Queen Isabella.  The lettering at the foot of the spine of the accompanying case indicates that the volume comes from the library of the Royal Palace at Aranjuez.

This edition not in Palau.

[MELANCHTHON, Philipp]. LAGUS, Konrad., Oratio de Platone.

Wittenberg, [J. Klug], 1538.

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1414 Number 42: 

MELANCHTHON’S VIEWS ON PLATO: A VERY RARE PRINTING

[MELANCHTHON, Philipp].  LAGUS, Konrad.  Oratio de Platone.  Wittenberg, [J. Klug], 1538.

8vo, ff. [16]; with large white-on-black engraved historiated initials; upper margin of last leaf repaired, but a very good copy, with some contemporary ink underlining and marginalia, bound with two other texts in contemporary blind-tooled panelled pigskin over wooden boards, acorn centrepieces surrounded by a roll with busts of the Muses and Apollo on both sides, panelled spine with geometrical blind-tooled motives, brass catches (clasps missing, a crack along the upper joint, but holding well); a fine Sammelband, with a small contemporary ownership inscription on the first title.   

Only edition, exceedingly rare (one copy only in the US), of the main extant source for Melanchthon’s views on Plato.  ‘Melanchthon’s view of Plato is known primarily from a Latin speech, which he asked Conrad Lagus to deliver’ (Hartfelder).

The oration was composed by Melanchthon and delivered by the Dean Conrad Lagus as the inauguration address to the University of Wittenberg students on the conferment of their master’s degrees.  Although the speech was published without Melanchthon’s name, his authorship has been universally acknowledged.

Plato’s life and work are here hailed as a mirror of the perfect philosopher, marked by true love of knowledge, rectitude of conduct, unsurpassed eloquence and richness of style.  It is in fact to Plato’s ‘vague’ definition of God as ‘mens aeterna, causa boni in natura’ that Melanchthon turns in successive works (with qualified approbation in view of Plato’s obvious distance from Christianity), in his criticism of the Scholastics’ insistence on a philosophical, ‘distinct’ knowledge of God, and in his rejection of moralism and speculation.

Keen, p. 164, 74; VD 16 M 3805; one copy only in the US (Harvard). 

Bound with the Melanchthon:

OMPHALIUS, Jakob.  Nomologia, qua eloquendi ac disserendi ratio ad usum forensem civiliumque causarum procurationem, pergrata studiorum omnium utilitate accomodatur, aucta et recognita.  Cologne, E. Cervicornus for G. Hittorp, August 1538.

8vo, pp. [xvi], 302, [2, blank]; some Greek type; with a diagram outlining Cicero’s ideal orator’s qualities, printer’s device, historiated initials.

Rare second revised and greatly enlarged edition (the first, printed by Simon de Colines, amounted to only 128 pages) of a manual of eloquence and style for the legal professions.  The theory of rhetoric and exposition, based primarily on Cicero and Quintilian and furnished with graphic aids, is exemplified in the appendix by a dialogue between Hymenaeus (the god of marriage) and Lachesis (one of the Fates) on glory and eternal memory as the only worthwhile pursuits during earthly life.

Green and Murphy, Renaissance rhetoric short title catalogue, 1460-1700 (2006), p. 326; VD 16 O 758. 

ERASMUS, Desiderius.  De duplici copia verborum ac rerum commentarii duo multa accessione, novisque formulis locupletati.  Una cum commentariis M. Veltkirchii.  Cologne, J. Gymnicus, 1536.

8vo, pp. [xvi], 398, [2, blank]; with woodcut initials.

First published in Paris by Badius Ascensius in 1512, Erasmus’ ‘Twofold supply of words and subjects’ underwent modifications and additions in the following two decades and enjoyed vast popularity (at least 80 printings during Erasmus’s lifetime, with our edition possibly being the last printed before his death).  Veltkirchius’ comments were first added in 1534 in an edition arranged by Melanchthon, who here also provides an introduction with a praise of the commentary.  Erasmus’s own preface to the first edition, dated 1512, is also reprinted.

Bezzel 764; Vander Haeghen I, 67; VD 16 E 2676.

THOMAS AQUINAS, Saint., Summa theologica...

[Venice, Theodorus de Rogazonib[us], 31 March 1490 (colophon)].

An unsophisticated, fresh copy in a strictly contemporary binding of a rare edition of Aquinas’s greatly influential Prima Secundae section of the Summa theologica, the part of his philosophical magnum opus which addresses man, his ultimate end, and the motors, nature and implications of human actions.

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1414 Number 59: 

‘THE GREATEST OF MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHERS’ (PMM)

WHOLLY UNSOPHISTICATED IN ORIGINAL BINDING

WITH VELLUM MANUSCRIPT BIFOLIA FROM A MISSAL OF C. 1100

THOMAS AQUINAS, Saint.  Summa theologica.  Prima pars secunde partis summe theologie eximij doctoris sancti Thome de aquino ordinis predicatorum.  [Venice, Theodorus de Rogazonib[us], 31 March 1490 (colophon)].

Folio, ff. 200, the first and last blank, 59 lines, double column; two- to seven-line initial spaces plus a larger one at incipit, running titles, index; upper portion of gutter in the initial two quires with some dampstaining,  the odd light spot, but an exceptionally fresh copy with sharp type impressions, beautifully preserved in a contemporary Italian blind-tooled binding of calf over wooden boards, the covers panelled with double blind fillets and an interlaced dotted frame, the inner panel with a central large Jerusalem cross design of small lozenge-shaped tools, the background filled with small rosettes, four leaf-shaped brass catches and one (of four) brass clasp; ink ownership inscription on the first page, of the Benedictine Monastery of San Vitale, Ravenna, followed by a later (17th century?) inscription, ‘Franciscus Cavalli’; vellum endleaves consisting of two bifolia from a Missal circa 1100 (see below).   

An unsophisticated, fresh copy in a strictly contemporary binding of a rare edition of Aquinas’s greatly influential Prima Secundae section of the Summa theologica, the part of his philosophical magnum opus which addresses man, his ultimate end, and the motors, nature and implications of human actions.

A tripartite monumental work, the Summa treated God in the Pars Prima and Christ and eschatology in the Pars Tertia; the Pars Secunda, itself subdivided into two sections, was devoted to the examination of man, human actions (first part) and ethics (second part).  The usefulness of each part as guides to autonomous aspects of ontology, metaphysics and ethics meant that the Summa, in manuscript form, was often copied separately, a practice which was reflected in the early printed tradition.  Our text, the Prima Secundae, had first appeared in 1471 in Mainz, while the first complete edition of the Summa appeared in Basel in 1485.

The endleaves in this copy are from a beautifully written and decorated Italian noted Missal of circa 1100 and comprise two bifolia (one at the beginning and one at the end of the book).  There are thirty-one lines of a good late Carolingian script in brown ink in double columns, ruled with a hard point, the music in Northern Italian neumes without lines.  The decoration includes eight large vinework initials in red ink and with infill in blue, green and yellow.  One of these initials (‘F’, verso of second leaf of first bifolium), incorporates a crouching hare: ‘lepus’, perhaps the scribe’s direction to the artist, is written in tiny script in red ink just within the top bar of the F (it has to be said however that the animal depicted bears only slight resemblance to a hare).  Smaller initials are in red with infill or partial outlining in yellow and green.  Capitals are touched in red.  The first bifolium is trimmed at the head (with no loss of text but with loss of a line of neumes in one column), and there is some staining from the turn-ins of the binding, but the leaves are generally in excellent condition.

In the parent manuscript these bifolia formed part of the same quire: the bifolium at the end was originally inserted inside that at the beginning, the first two and the last two leaves of each bifolium being originally consecutive.  The liturgy includes readings and music for the first, second, third and fourth Sundays after Pentecost.

Goff T206; HC 1450*; Pell 1043; Polain (B) 3751; Pr 5261; ISTC it00206000; BMC V 477; GW M46470; ISTC lists a single copy of this incunable in the British Isles (British Library) and five in the US.

ZAMBELLI, Leone., Globo celeste, e politico della vita del prencipe in tempo di pace, e di guerra.

Venice, Marco Ginammi, 1642.

First edition of a very rare speculum principis of Machiavellian inspiration dedicated to Philip IV; in effect, as the liminary texts reveal, an eloquently political work aimed at promoting Spain’s world-wide imperialistic ambitions.

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1414 Number 69: 

SPAIN’S UNIVERSAL DOMINION IN A MIRROR OF PRINCES

ZAMBELLI, Leone.  Globo celeste, e politico della vita del prencipe in tempo di pace, e di guerra.  Venice, Marco Ginammi, 1642.

Two parts, 8vo, pp. [xxiv], 190, [2, blank]; [xxxii], 180, [26, index and errata]; separate title for each part, large allegorical vignette on each title (imperial eagle holding a flash of lightning and an olive branch), second part with woodcut vignette of a palm tree with motto ‘Iustus ut palma florebit’, woodcut headpieces with putti and grotesques, woodcut initials, large and small, the large ones inhabited and all decorated with grotesques; text mainly printed in italics; a very good, fresh copy in contemporary limp vellum, flat spine with a gilt lettering-piece (partly worn off) and a small paper label at foot; large engraved armorial bookplate to the verso of the title, with motto ‘sic laeta quiesco’ and a cartouche showing an owl surrounded by a wreath. 

First edition of a very rare speculum principis of Machiavellian inspiration dedicated to Philip IV; in effect, as the liminary texts reveal, an eloquently political work aimed at promoting Spain’s world-wide imperialistic ambitions.  The book is in two parts, addressing respectively the prince’s duties and prerogatives in times of peace and in times of war.

Peace and prosperity are the natural aspirations of every State, but no State, says Zambelli, can be maintained without war and force, at the borders and even within. The swift use of arms to quench unrest and protect boundaries is the necessary complement to the virtues of generosity, prudence, guile and shrewdness, which a prince must exercise in time of peace.  But, while rebellion and dissent call for a ruler’s decisive intervention, the people’s inclination towards luxury and laxity must not be countered with laws: the enforcement of moral rules would prove ineffectual and unpopular.

Remarkably, in his prefatory address to the King Zambelli hints at the danger and unseemliness of accepting peace proposals when they are ‘thrown to the ground like that which Jesus Christ received from Judas’: an implicit reference to Olivares’ new inclination towards peace after years of imperialistic pursuit.  This point is somewhat taken up again in the body of the work, where it is suggested that it is not prudent for a prince to privilege a single favourite courtier unreservedly.  Two years seem to have elapsed between the approbation and the publication of this work: perhaps a calculated delay, by which Zambelli’s simultaneous attack on Olivares and profession of support to Philip IV would not have appeared incongruous.

No copies in UK institutions; two US locations (Harvard and Newberry).

BERGK, Johann Adam., Die Kunst, Bücher zu lesen...

Jena, In der Hempelschen Buchhandlung, 1799.

First edition.

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2011/17 Number 7: 

A GUIDE TO READING: FROM A CONTEMPORARY GERMAN CIRCULATING LIBRARY

BERGK, Johann Adam.  Die Kunst, Bücher zu lesen.  Nebst Bemerkungen über Schriften und Schriftsteller.  Jena, In der Hempelschen Buchhandlung, 1799.

8vo, pp. XVI, 416; small stamp on title; in contemporary drab paper boards, paper label on spine; lightly stained, spine rubbed; from a German circulating library, with contemporary manuscript annotations on front cover. 

First edition.  Johann Adam Bergk's survey of the German cultural landscape at the end of the eighteenth century is also a compendium of literature and reading at the time - a particularly fertile time in the history of German literature with both Goethe and Schiller at the height of their powers.  A facsimile edition was published in 1967.

Our copy is from a German circulating library: the contemporary manuscript annotations on the front cover give details and dates of the book being lent to various subscribers over the year or so immediately following publication.

Goedeke IV/2, 276, 35.

[CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, Miguel de.] , Don Quixote Von Mancha, Abentheurliche Geschichte. Erster [-Anderer] Theil.

Basel & Frankfurt, ‘Johann Ludwig du Four, von Genff’, 1682.

First edition, first issue, of the first complete translation of Don Quixote into German.

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2011/17 Number 22: 

THE GERMAN DON QUIXOTE COMPLETE

[CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, Miguel de.]  Don Quixote Von Mancha, Abentheurliche Geschichte.  Erster [-Anderer] Theil.  Basel & Frankfurt, ‘Johann Ludwig du Four, von Genff’, 1682.

2 parts in one vol., 8vo, with printed and engraved titles to both parts, and 30 (of 32) engraved plates; upper half of one leaf of text in part 1 torn away (leaf and the 2 missing plates supplied in facsimile), possibly missing the list of plates from part 2, a few minor stains here and there, but generally in very good condition in the original vellum, spine lettered in contemporary MS. 

First edition, first issue, of the first complete translation of Don Quixote into German.  An earlier translation under the title ‘Juncker Harnisch aus Fleckenland’ (Frankfurt 1648, reprinted 1669 (the Cöthen 1621 edition is a ghost)) comprised only the first twenty two chapters of Part I.  The translator here signs himself ‘J.R.B.’ under a dedication to Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Duchess of Orleans.  The engravings are cut by Diodati from those prepared by Bouttats for the 1662 Brussels edition.

This issue has the printed and engraved titles in both volumes dated 1682; in the second issue they are dated 1683.  OCLC cites only the Harvard (vol. 2 only, lacking one of the titles) and Biblioteca Nacional Madrid copies of the 1682 issue.  Copies of the 1683 issue are cited at Berkeley, Yale (lacking all plates), Regensburg, Stuttgart, and Madrid.  No copy of either issue in the British Library catalogue.

Palau 53030; Rio y Rico 577; unknown to Rius who cites only the 1683 issue. 

GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von, et al., Pflanzen und Gebirgsarten von Marienbad, gesammelt und beschrieben von Seiner königlichen Hoheit dem Prinzen Friedrich...

Prague, Kronberger & Weber, 1837.

Rare first edition, containing the first appearance in print of Goethe’s catalogue of minerals collected at Marienbad.

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2011/17 Number 33: 

GOETHE AS MINERAL COLLECTOR

GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von, et al.  Pflanzen und Gebirgsarten von Marienbad, gesammelt und beschrieben von Seiner königlichen Hoheit dem Prinzen Friedrich, Mitregenten von Sachsen, (1834 und 1835) und von Sr. Excellenz J. W. von Göthe, grossherzoglich- sächsisch- weimar’schem wirklichen geheimen Rathe und Staatsminister, (1821, 1822, 1823) [continued on title verso:] ergänzt, und mit einem Anhange über die andern naturhistorischen Verhältnisse des Curortes herausgegeben von Dr. C. J. Heidler …  Prague, Kronberger & Weber, 1837.

8vo, pp. x, 203, [1]; with a lithographed frontispiece, folding table, coloured folding lithographed petrographic plan of Marienbad, and 3 lithographed plates (one coloured); occasional light foxing only; a very good copy in contemporary German full roan, spine gilt, gilt border to sides, gilt edges, a few marks to upper board, spine slightly faded; Schloss Dittfurt bookplate.   

Rare first edition, containing the first appearance in print of Goethe’s catalogue of minerals collected at Marienbad. 

When Goethe went to Marienbad (Mariánské Lázně) in 1821, he was entering virgin territory, geologically speaking, as the area had only really been accessible since it officially became a spa town in 1818.  Aided by Karl Joseph Heidler, a young doctor at the spa, Goethe, now in his seventies, went about amassing a considerable collection of geological specimens.  Heidler here prints Goethe’s manuscript catalogue of the collection now left in Heidler’s care (other specimens had been sent back to Weimar), and appends Goethe’s notes on the local geology.

The other parts of the book contain Prince (later King) Friedrich of Saxony’s catalogue of Marienbad flora, and Heidler’s own lengthy description (c. 100 pages) of the spa itself, in which he discusses the therapeutic properties of the waters, sulphurous vapours, and even the soil (Heilerde) of the area.

Goedeke IV/3, 593, 32; Pritzel 3058.

KUNZE, Reiner., Vögel über dem Tau. Liebesgedichte und Lieder.

Halle, Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1959.

First edition of Kunze’s first independent publication, a collection of love poetry, with a long signed presentation inscription covering the half-title.

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2011/17 Number 66: 

PRESENTATION COPY

KUNZE, Reiner.  Vögel über dem Tau.  Liebesgedichte und Lieder.  Halle, Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1959.

8vo, pp. 67; a very good copy in original cloth-backed printed paper boards designed by Georg Hülsse, original dust-jacket (minor wear to jacket at head and tail of spine). 

First edition of Kunze’s first independent publication, a collection of love poetry, with a long signed presentation inscription covering the half-title: ‘Liebe Edith, Lieber Johann, Und alles ist Anfang bei mir! Für die Kraft die ich aus unserer Freundschaft schöpfe, für die Kraft die diesen Anfang mit ermöglichte, danke ich Euch von Herzen!  Euer Reiner, Leipzig den 2. 11. 1959’.

Kunze was forced to give up his university post in 1959, after being accused of politicising his students.

OCLC locates 2 copies outside Germany, at Stanford and Yale.

OTTWALT, Ernst. , Denn sie wissen was sie tun. Ein deutscher Justiz-Roman.

Berlin, Malik-Verlag, [1931].

First edition; complete with the rare original bookmark designed by Georg Grosz, depicting a man grappling with a section sign (§), a character which is also used on the spine of Heartfield’s dust-jacket.

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2011/17 Number 76: 

WITH ORIGINAL BOOKMARK BY GEORG GROSZ

OTTWALT, Ernst.  Denn sie wissen was sie tun.  Ein deutscher Justiz-Roman.  Berlin, Malik-Verlag, [1931].

8vo, pp. 404 + 2 ll. advertisements; light off-setting from dust-jacket to half-title and last leaf, faint stain to margins of last 4 ll., one small marginal tear repaired; in the original wrappers with illustrated dust-jacket by John Heartfield, some minor wear to jacket but overall in very good condition. 

First edition; complete with the rare original bookmark designed by Georg Grosz, depicting a man grappling with a section sign (§), a character which is also used on the spine of Heartfield’s dust-jacket.  This famous reportage novel by Brecht’s friend and collaborator Ernst Ottwalt satirises the injustices of the bureaucracy and legal system of the Weimar Republic.

Der Malik-Verlag 1916-1947, pp. 159-161; Melzwig 544.1.