Search Results: Authors starting with M from The Manhattan Rare Book Company

Rome: Apud Ioannem Mariam de Viottis Parmensem, in aedibus Birgitttae, 1555. First edition. Early vellum. Very Good. FIRST EDITION (1555) of Magnus's great work - the first large geographical-ethnographical description of Scandinavia and one of the most important sources on the customs of the Northern peoples and daily life in the 16th century. Magnficently illustrated with 472 fine woodcuts. "Olaus Magnus (1490-1557) was the last Catholic archbishop of Sweden, which he left in 1524. This book is still one of the most important sources on Northern customs and daily life of the time. The artist of the wood-cuts is unknown but most of them are made after drawings by the author. 13 editions were published in 16th century and several in the following, comprising translations into Dutch, French, German, Italian and lastly into Swedish. The history was intended to expand the information in the large map, 'Carta marina', which Olaus Magnus published in Venice in 1539, and of which only one copy was known,… Read More

Paris: A.C. Mazo et Cie, 1968. First edition. Original portfolio box. Fine. VERY RARE LIMITED EDITION OF SURREALIST MASTER RENÉ MAGRITTE'S LES ENFANTS TROUVÉS, COMPLETE WITH TWELVE BREATHTAKING LITHOGRAPHS. ONE OF ONLY 350 COPIES. "The art of René Magritte has had an influence far exceeding the confines of the art world. Imagery adapted from his paintings has been widely disseminated for more than half a century through advertising, cartoons, film, book jackets, and popular music... His work has continued to appeal to modern audiences hungry for the puzzling conjunctions of the everyday and the fantastic... The inscrutable nature of Magritte's work--coded, self-referential, and incongruous--has [moreover] intrigued several generations of artists," (Stephanie Barron). The first four illustrations (numbered recto) are magnificently unique, conceived by Magritte specifically for this production. While certainly distinctive, these images--as well as the final eight--represent a summary of his… Read More

Brussels: n.p., 1921. First edition. Custom box. Fine. EARLY CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MAGRITTE AND HIS GOOD FRIEND, PAINTER AND POET PIERRE-LOUIS FLOUQUET, WITH PERSONAL COMMENTS ON LIFE AND ART. WITH ORIGINAL PENCIL DRAWING BY MAGRITTE. Having met at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, René Magritte (1898-1967) and Pierre-Louis Flouquet (1900-1967) shared a studio on the Rue de Alexiens and later exhibited together at the short-lived Centre d'Art founded in December 1919. In 1920, Flouquet undertook his military service in France, and Magritte would write regularly to keep up his friend's morale. In 1927- having worked so closely as to render many of their works form this period indistinguishable-the two men grew somewhat apart, with Magritte turning sharply towards Surrealism while Flouquet moved towards figurative art. The present letters thus fill a gap in the important period of correspondence before his rift with Flouquet and his pivotal development of a Surrealist aesthetic. Included… Read More

Berlin: S. Fischer Verlag, 1912. First edition. Original wrappers. Very Good. FIRST PRINTING IN EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of arguably Thomas Mann's most celebrated work. "At the beginning of 1911, Mann's health was poor and his development sluggish. Nothing he had published since Buddenbrooks had been received with such universal acclaim. He had planned but abandoned several long works, and had published chiefly short stories. Convinced that he needed to make a mark with a new piece that would appeal to current tastes, he poured all his mastery into Death in Venice ... The story was written between July 1911 and July 1912 ... Mann had intended it for S. Fischer's magazine, by that time merely called Die Neue Rundschau, but was uncharacteristically hesitant about submitting it once it was done-it was too innovative and personal. His wife convinced him to send it in. It was first published in the October and November 1912 issues" (S. Appelbaum). The publication in the October and November… Read More

France: np. 1st Edition. No Binding. Very Good. Illuminated manuscript leaf (c1475) from a French Book of Hours with a colorful, vivid miniature of Mary and God on vellum. The miniature, colored with bright blues, gold, brown, and gray, depicts Mary with crown kneeling before God the Father. God is wearing the characteristic beehive-shaped crown as he holds the sovereign's orb in his left hand; with his right hand, God is in the act of blessing Mary and anointing her Queen of Heaven. Surrounding the miniature is a wide acanthus-leaf border with greens, blues, reds, and gold. Beneath the miniature is five lines of text ("Converte nos, Deus salutaris noster, et averte iram tuam a nobis... / Convert us, O God our saviour: and turn off thy anger from us. ..) with a large floral initial and two gold single-line initials. The verso, which contains most of Psalm 12, is highlighted by six red, blue, and gold initials. Size: 163 x 112 mm (approx. 6.5 x 4.5 inches) Miniature: 85 x 60… Read More

France, 1500. First edition. Custom presentation folder. Very Good. MANUSCRIPT LEAF (FRANCE, C.1500) DEPICTING BOTH ST JOHN THE BAPTIST AND ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST. From the Suffrages to Saints section of a circa fifteenth-century French Book of Hours, these consecutive appeals to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist capture a moment of personal devotion to two foremost figures in Western European medieval artistry. The two miniatures depict their respective saints in natural settings with halos, and both figures are edged in gold. John the Baptist, bearded, is seen in his cilice and draped in a burgundy robe-holding his traditional attribute of a lamb and flag. On the reverse, John the Evangelist stands with a chalice from which emerges winged dragon. A substantial three-quarter border of liquid gold on each side of the folio contains multitudes of foliage among acanthus leaves; with the recto displaying a winged drollery sticking out its tongue. Both miniatures are framed by realistic… Read More

c.s.xv(ex)/s.xvi(in). Very Good. VIVID DEPICTION OF ICONIC SCENE FROM THE LIFE OF GREGORY THE GREAT. This richly-illustrated manuscript leaf from a late medieval book of hours depicts the miraculous Mass of St Gregory, during which Christ appeared to the congregation during a Mass of which Gregory the Great was the celebrant. The folio begins with the conclusion of the Collect for St. Nicholas, with the bottom of the page announcing the following section "De sancto gregorio" [On Saint Gregory]. The petition to Gregory that follows on the verso is accompanied by a magnificent miniature of one of the most esteemed subjects in late medieval art: the Mass of St Gregory. Manifested in a number of varying accounts, the legend maintains that, upon a congregant doubting the presence of Christ during the preparing of Communion (sometimes identified as an elderly parishioner and sometimes as the "doubting deacon" to Gregory's side), Christ appeared at the altar in the form of the Man of Sorrows - thus… Read More

Spain: np. 1st Edition. No Binding. Very Good. Brightly painted initial "E" cut from a Spanish antiphonal (c. 1500) on parchment. . Initial painted in gold & red on a beautifully decorated violet background framed in gold. A little flecking at border, otherwise fine. Initial is framed in a lovely gold frame with custom matting and UV protected glass.     
Frame Size: 10x12 inches (255x305 mm) 
Cutting:  3.75x4.5 inches (113x93 mm).

Paris: np. 1st Edition. No Binding. Fine. Striking vellum leaf with large, colorful miniature of the classic scene of Job on the dunghill. On recto: Two-part miniature featuring Job. In the center of the top image is Job, wearing only a loincloth, on a dunghill, with three men dressed in lavish robes on his left. In the background is a castle surrounded by greenery; in the distance, there are buildings on a hill, painted in shades of blue. The bottom image features the Devil pursuing Job. Golden ornate pillars border the two scenes. Top image measures 95 x 60 mm (approx. 3.7 x 2.4 inches); bottom image measures 20 x 60 mm (approx. 0.8 x 2.4 inches). Miniature (including border) measures 135 x 95 mm (approx. 5.3 x 2.4 inches) in its entirety. One illuminated three-line foliate initial (the letter "D") in burnished gold, blue, and green. The text is from Psalm 114. On verso: 22 lines of text written in Latin gothic script with brown ink on vellum. 9 single-line illuminated initials… Read More

Spain: np. 1st Edition. No Binding. Very Good. Large initial "C" cut from a Spanish antiphonal (c. 1500) richly painted on parchment. Initial painted in shades of brown and tan on a decorated purple background. Initial is framed in a lovely gold frame with custom matting and UV protected glass. A few spots of flaking around the border edge, otherwise fine. Frame Size: 10x12 inches (255x305mm); Cutting: 3x4.5 inches (75x115mm).

Spain: np. 1st Edition. No Binding. Very Good. Large initial "D" cut from a Spanish antiphonal (c. 1500) richly painted on parchment. Initial painted in shades of brown on a decorated purple background. Framed in a lovely gold frame with custom matting and UV protected glass. A few spots of flaking and a hint of rippling; colors strong and dark. Frame Size: 10x12 inches (255x305mm); Cutting: 3.5x5 inches (90x130mm).

France: np, 1480. First edition. Framed. Very Good. STUNNING FULL-PAGE MINIATURE OF SAINT BARNABAS FROM A 15TH-CENTURY BOOK OF HOURS. The full-page miniature on vellum, with fine detail and rich color, depicts the prophet dressed in a blue robe with a gold cape, (presumably) in the act of preaching with (as he is usually shown) a book cradled in his left hand. He stands before columns and arches revealing a mountainous landscape and blue sky in the distance. The image is framed by gold pillars and with “Sancte Barnaba” written in gold on a blue background in the base. Saint Barnabas, “son of consolation... stands first on the list of prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch” (Easton’s Bible Dictionary). The reverse, with one large two-line decorated initial, contains the end of the text dedicated to Saint Matthias, with the heading for Saint Barnabas. Judging from the style, the leaf appears to be from a French Book of Hours,… Read More

Tours, France: np, 1500. first edition. nb. Very Good. EXTRAORDINARY ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT LEAF FEATURING A MINIATURE OF THE ENTOMBMENT BY A FOLLOWER OF JEAN BOURDICHON AND JEAN POYER. C.1500. A stunning leaf from a Book of Hours by an illuminator working in Tours, France, c.1500, in the style of master illuminators Jean Poyer (fl. 1483-1503) and Jean Bourdichon (c.1459-1521) of the celebrated "School of Tours". The Entombment, shown in a periscopic view, features figures rendered with a remarkable level of detail and superb artistic quality. The scene is shown at night, with a dark background providing a striking contrast highlighting the colorful fabrics and gold highlights of the subjects. The magnificent border features instruments of the Passion - cross, crown of thorns, dice, etc. - painted in gold on a rich burgundy background. The text is that of the opening compline of the Long Hours of the Cross (Hours of the Passion). Introduced with a highly decorated "C", it begins with "Converte… Read More

np: France. 1st Edition. No Binding. Very Good. Large illuminated manuscript leaf (c1480) with a miniature of God. Large leaf from a Northern French Book of Hours (c. 1480) containing the "Oraison à Dieu Le Pere TresDevote" from a Northern French Book of Hours (c. 1480) . 24 lines of text written in French in a gothic script in brown ink with red rubrics. Prominent miniature features God, the Father, in a red robe and golden crown. He stands before a bright gold background. Beautiful borders recto and verso with red & blue flowers, and blue & gold acanthus leaves. A large double line initial "M" painted in gold on a red background opens the prayer. Size: 212 x 136 mm (approx. 8.3 x 5.4 inches) Miniature: 51 x 46 mm The text in French: Oraison a dieu le pere tresdevote. Mon benoist Dieu, je croy de cueur et confesse de bouche tout ce que saincte Eglise croit et tient de vous et que ung bon catholique doibt de vous sentry et croire. Et proteste… Read More

Germany: np, 1491. First edition. Framed. Very Good. LARGE HISTORIATED INITIAL DEPICTING A POPE, FINELY ILLUMINATED IN GOLD AND RICH COLOUR. Reading from a lectern, the Pope is depicted in full regalia, wearing the distinctive triple crown, or triregnum, and holding the crucifix-topped crosier. His robe is a deep blue and likely pigmented by lapis lazuli-a mineral so valuable in Medieval Europe that is typically reserved for the Virgin Mary and occasionally referred to as blue gold. A vista of green hillsides and blue mountains is seen from a window within the miniature. Noteworthy are the multiple textiles displayed in the room, including mauve drapery as well as the lectern cloth whose embroidered design is emulated here in gold filagree. Highly intricate, monochromatic green acanthine detail adorns the body of the initial. If such handiwork does not alone merit admiration, the gilding of the initial's field as well as that of the Pope's halo showcase excellent tooling-the use of metal stamps to… Read More

Very Good. Mars and the Imagination: A monumental and carefully curated collection of over 900 works of both fiction and non-fiction tracing the history of our understanding and obsession with the Red Planet. To begin exploring the collection, please see our description available on this page under "View the Collection". Background Mars and the Imagination was conceived and assembled by the experienced collector David Wenner - whose comprehensive collection on the history of physics now resides at the Niels Bohr Library of the American Institute of Physics - and represents much more than a "collection" of works. Through his years of research and study, Wenner was able to unearth important and previously unrecognized literary and historical texts, making new connections among them. Contextualized in such a way, the items in Mars and the Imagination collectively tell an illuminating story through primary sources that to our knowledge has not been previously attempted. It is the story of our… Read More

London: Taylor & Francis, 1867. First edition. Original wrappers. Very Good. FIRST PRINTING IN RARE ORIGINAL WRAPPERS OF ONE OF MAXWELL'S MAJOR PAPERS: THE MOST DEVELOPED AND COMPLETE EXPLORATION OF HIS THEORY OF GASES. "Ever since his brilliant but flawed paper of 1860 on gas theory, Maxwell had been mulling over new ideas on the topic. In 1866 he brought them to fruition in a paper, On the Dynamical Theory of Gases. His earlier paper had given the world its first statistical law of physics-the Maxwell distribution of molecular velocities-and had predicted that the viscosity of a gas was independent of its pressure," but significant problems remained. Although Maxwell's earlier theory of gases predicted that the viscosity of a gas varied with the square root of absolute temperature, his own experimental evidence contradicted his theory. "The fault seemed to lie in Maxwell's original assumption that when molecules collided they behaved like billiard balls, int other words that they were perfectly… Read More

Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1879. First edition offpring. modern wrappers. Fine. FIRST EDITION, SCARCE OFFPRINT, ONE OF MAXWELL'S MAJOR PAPERS ON GAS THEORY AND STATISTICAL MECHANICS. "Maxwell's enthusiastic follower Ludwig Boltzmann had published two superb papers on gas theory in 1868 and 1872. Taking Maxwell's idea of the velocity distribution of molecules in a gas, he had derived a more general law for their energy distribution-now known as the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. He had also generalised Maxwell's principle for the equipartition of energy, showing that it should be divided equally not only between modes of linear and rotational movement but among all the independent components of motion in a system. "Maxwell had inspired Boltzmann; now he was inspired in turn. The new results were wonderful... Maxwell responded with a masterful paper, On Boltzmann's Theorem on the Average Distribution of Energy in a System of Material Points. This work, more… Read More

London: Taylor & Francis, 1868. First edition offprint. Original wrappers. Very Good. FIRST EDITION, THE EXTREMELY RARE OFFPRINT, OF THE LAST OF MAXWELL'S FIVE IMPORTANT PAPERS ON THE FOUNDATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY PUBLISHED BETWEEN 1855 AND 1868. WITH AN EXTRAORDINARY PROVENANCE: THIS COPY FROM THE ESTEEMED CAVENDISH LABORATORY, FOUNDED IN 1874 WITH MAXWELL AS ITS FIRST DIRECTOR. In "On a Method of Making a Direct Comparison of Electrostatic with Electromagnetic Force", Maxwell finally gives experimental proof that light consists of electromagnetic waves, which he had postulated in his fourth paper, the epoch-making "A dynamical theory of the electromagnetic field" (1865). "[Michael] Faraday (1791-1867) had abandoned the notion of 'action at a distance' for the concept of the 'fields of force' surrounding bodies by which they act upon one another electromagnetically ... Clerk Maxwell (1831-79), who may well be judged the greatest theoretical physicist of the nineteenth century, was happy… Read More

Leipzig: Hirzel, 1865. First edition. Original wrappers. FIRST EDITIONS (JOURNAL ISSUES IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS) OF TWO LANDMARK PAPERS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF TOPOLOGY, IN WHICH IN WHICH, AMONG OTHER THINGS, MÖBIUS DESCRIBED THE MÖBIUS STRIP, DEFINED THE TOPOLOGICAL CONCEPTS NOW KNOWN AS GENUS AND ORIENTABILITY, AND SHOWED THAT ALL CLOSED ORIENTABLE SURFACES OF A PARTICULAR GENUS ARE TOPOLOGICALLY EQUIVALENT TO EACH OTHER. The two papers offered here contain three key discoveries that pioneered the branch of mathematics known as topology. 1. The Möbius Strip. "Möbius first described the 'Möbius band' in a paper presented to the Paris Academy in 1861 as an entry to a competition on the theme 'Improve in some important point the geometric theory of polyhedra.' Möbius's paper, written in bad French and containing many new ideas, was not understood by the jury, and like the other papers submitted to the competition, was not awarded the prize. The content of this paper was later published by… Read More