Auction 27: Books

MANUSCRIPTS, ATLASES, PRINTED BOOKS
2-3 October 2019

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Manuscripts   ~ lots 1067-1202
The Manuscripts section includes 136 lots, among which we would like to highlight a beautiful Book of Hours, use of Paris, of the first half of the XV century: Horae Beatae Mariae Virginis ad usum Parisiensem (lot 1070); an Iniziale 'S', Annuncio della Resurrezione, a splendid Lombard illuminated initial from the last quarter or the XV century (lot 1074); La vita del Serafico San Francesco... by suor Fiammetta Frescobaldi, probably one of the few still existing texts of its enormous manuscript production (lot 1086); the Ristretto de gli Annali ecclesiastici e seculari... by Alessandro Tassoni dated Modena, 1704-1706, an exceptional bibliographic rarity because this antiquarian monument survives only in very few manuscript codes, often incomplete (lot 1137); finally we highlight the Cabreo delle proprietà di Monsig.r Francesco Maria d'Este, Vescovo e Principe di Reggio, nel Messanzatico. Reggio, 1788, splendid cabreo executed by order of the Bishop Francesco Maria d'Este to define the consistency of his property in the Messanzatico (lot 1162).

Atlases   ~ lots 1203-1238
The rich section of Atlases consists of 36 precious works, including 5 editions of the Geography by Tolomeo, from 1561 to 1597: Claudius Ptolemaeus, La Geografia [...] Nuovamente tradotta di Greco in Italiano da Girolamo Ruscelli... Venezia: Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1561, first edition of the Ruscelli's translation, with new maps (lot 1206); Claudius Ptolemaeus, Geographia [...] olim a Bilibaldo Pirckheimherio translata, at nunc multis codicibus graecis collata, pluribusque in locis ad pristinam veritatem redacta a Iosepho Moletio mathematico... Venezia: Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1562, first Moleto edition, based on the translation by Pirckheimer (lot 1207); Claudius Ptolemaeus, La Geografia [...] Già tradotta di Greco in Italiano da Giero. Ruscelli: & hora in questa nuova editione da Gio. Malombra ricorretta, & purgata... Venezia: Giordano Ziletti, 1574, third edition of the Ruscelli's translation, the first corrected by Giovanni Malombra (lot 1209); Claudius Ptolemaeus, Geographiae universae [...] commentarijs uberrimis illustratus est à Io. Antonio Magino... Venezia: heirs of Simone Galignani, 1596, first edition  edited and corrected by Giovanni Antonio Magini with new engraved maps by Girolamo Porro (lot 1212); Claudius Ptolemaeus, Geografia [...], nuovamente con singolare studio rincontrati, & corretti da Gio. Ant. Magini... Venezia: Galignani brothers, 1597-1598, first italian version of Magini's edition, translated by Leonardo Cernoti (lot 1213). 3 atlases by Johann Baptist Homann, the most important: Homann, Grosser Atlas uber die Gantze Welt... Nürnberg: Johann Ernst Adelbulner, 1731. BOUND WITH: Id., Atlas methodicus explorandis juvenum profectibus in studio geographico ad methodum Hübnerianam accomodatus. Nürnberg: Johann Baptist Homann, 1719, exceptional hand-coloured atlas, with 144 maps (lot 1220). We also highlight the extremely rare Circuli sphaerae cum V zonis by Johannes Honter [Zurich: Froschauer, 1546], with the celebrated cordiform world map (lot 1204); the Isolario [...] Nel qual si ragiona di tutte l'isole del mondo... by Benedetto Bordone, Venezia: Federico Torresano, 1547, third edition of one of the most beautiful and important works on the islands and peninsulas of the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and Far East (lot 1205); L'isole piu famose del mondo [...] intagliate da Girolamo Porro... by Tommaso Porcacchi, Venezia: Giorgio Angelieri for Simon Galignani, 1575, second edition, with 17 new maps, of this splendid isolario with the copper-plates by Porro (lot 1210); Theatri geographiae veteris... by Petrus Bertius, Amsterdam: Isaac Elzevier for Hondius, 1618-1619, an important and valid atlas with 47 maps (lot 1214); finally we recommend the Atlas novus coelestis... by Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr, Nürnberg: heirs of Homann, 1742, the only edition of this superb celestial atlas splendidly coloured by a contemporary hand (lot 1224).  

Printed books from XV to XX century  ~ lots 1239-1655
The catalog also includes 453 Books from XV to XX century.

We offer more than 20 Aldine editions among which: Tragodiai ex. Prometheys desmotes. Epta epi Thebais. Persai. Agamemnon. Eymenides. Iketides. Aeschyli tragoediae sex di Aeschylus, Venezia: Andrea Torresano and heirs of Aldo Manuzio, 1518, splendid exemplar of the Aeschylus's editio princeps, edited by Francesco Torresani (lot 1283); the Dictionarium by Hesychius Alexandrinus, Venezia: Aldo Manuzio and Andrea Torresano, 1514, editio princeps of the largest Greek lexikon of antichity, edited by Musurus (lot 1438); the second and third part of the precious collection of the main Greek orators Isocrates, Orationes. Alcidamantis contra dicendi magistros. Gorgiae de laudibus Helenae. Aristidis de laudibus Athenarum. Eiusdem de laudibus urbis Romae, Venezia: Aldo Manuzio and Andrea Torresano, 1513, one of the finest products of Aldus and the editio princeps of the main Attic orators (lot 1447); moreover: Pausanias, Pausanias, Venezia: Andrea Torresano and heirs of Aldo Manuzio, 1516, extremely rare first edition of this important historical and topographical description of Greece, particularly appreciated for the descriptions of artistic monuments (lot 1528).

Among the bindings we signal the work Vita et historia beatae Mariae Virginis Matris Dei from Jacques Callot, with a nice XVIII century silver and red silk binding, embossed and chiselled with floral motifs, cornucopias and dragons (lot 1353); the Canon Missae et praefationes aliaq; in eius celebratione ritè agenda, Roma, 1679, splendid binding from the Andreoli brothers' workshop realized for a cardinal order by Pope Alessandro VII Chigi (lot 1247); the Vita, virtù, grandezze, e portenti dell'invitto, e gloriosissimo B. Giovanni di Capistrano... by Giovanni Battista Barberio, Roma, 1690 with a nice contemporary full morocco binding with Rospigliosi Pallavicini's Coat of Arms (lot 1317); the Commentariolum de Ioanne Baptista Graserio... di Clementino Vannetti, Modena, 1790 with full leather binding with Pope Pio X's arms (lot 1637).

Superb illustrated books: Aya Sofia, Constantinople, as recently restored by order of H. M. the Sultan Abdul Medjid... by Gaspard Fossati, London: Colnaghi, 1852, beautiful collection of tinted lithographed plates represented the interior and the exterior of Hagia Sophia in Costantinople after drawings by the Author, the first modern iconographic representation of the monument (lot 1406); the Raccolta di 40 proverbi toscani espressi in figure da Giuseppe Piattoli fiorentino. P.1 by Carlo Lasinio, Firenze: Niccolò Pagni and Giuseppe Bardi, 1786, the first famous vertical series, complete and homogeneous (lot 1453); The Voyage aux Indes orientales et à la Chine… by Pierre Sonnerat, Paris, 1782, original edition of this renowned account on the Indian and Chinese regions, followed by osservations on the Cape of Good Hope, Maldives, Ceylon, Malacca, the Philippines and the Moluccas, illustrated by 140 hand-coloured plates (lot 1599); the Venationes ferarum, avium, piscium. Pugnae Bestiariorum & mutuae bestiarum depictae... with the Vermis siricus by Jan Van der Straet (detto Stradano), [England, after 1818], splendid copy finely colored by a contemporary hand of an extremely rare edition from the early XIX century (lot 1636).

Among the lots are reports also an interesting group of works on Architecture as L'Architettura by Leon Battista Alberti, Venezia: Francesco Franceschi, 1565, second edition of the italian version edited by Cosimo Bartoli, more complete than the first printed in Florence in 1550 (lot 1285); the Dichiarazione dei disegni del Reale Palazzo di Caserta... by Luigi Vanvitelli, Napoli: Regia Stamperia, 1756 (lot 1638); De architectura by Marcus Pollio Vitruvius, Firenze: heirs of Filippo Giunti, 1522, good giunta edition with the blocks from the 1513 edition (lot 1644); L'idea della architettura universale by Vincenzo Scamozzi, Venezia: Giorgio Valentino, 1615, the first edition of the most influential XVII century book of architecture, written by the pupil of Palladio (lot 1585); furthermore, 4 editions by Sebastiano Serlio: the first edition of the Terzo libro of the Architettura printed in Venice by Francesco Marcolino in 1540 (lot 1587); the fourth italian edition of the Quarto libro printed in Venice by Melchiorre Sessa for Pietro Nicolini da Sabbio in 1551 (lot 1588); the first italian edition of the Quinto libro printed in Venice by Sessa for Nicolini da Sabbio in 1551 (lot 1589) and the first quarto edition of the complete work printed in Venice by Francesco Franceschi and Johann Criegher in 1566 (lot 1590). 

Multiple lots  ~ lots 1656-1691
The catalogue ends with 36 large lots each composed of several works.