Search Results: Titles starting with E from Edmund Brumfitt Rare Books Ltd

8vo, pp. 20, [35] tables, [1] blank; with one engraved folding plate; very occasional light spotting and dustsoiling but otherwise clean and crisp; in contemporary speckled wrappers; some loss to spine, and extremities slightly frayed, especially to head of lower cover, but still an attractive copy.
Attractive copy of this rare collection of astronomical ephemerides for the year 1794 by the Veronese astronomer and mathematician Pietro Cossali (1748-1815), printed with customary elegance by Bodoni.
Cossali taught physics at the University of Parma from 1787 to 1805, before moving to Padua to be professor of mathematics. He published Effemeride Astronomica annually throughout his time in Parma, with each issue containing, in addition to the usual tables of forthcoming astronomical events, an short essay on an aspect of astronomy, in this instance on the use of the planisphere. Ephemerides, which described the position of important astronomical objects (stars, planets, comets, and more) throughout the… Read More

8vo, pp. [ii], 34; woodcut vignette on title-page; foxing and browning throughout, especially to first and last few leaves; in contemporary patterned wrappers; small hole to upper cover.
Attractively bound in coloured, patterned wrappers, this rare work satirises the habits of Viennese high society in the second half of the eighteenth century. The anonymous author sketches the characters and activities of various wealthy Viennese (presumably not wholly imaginary), as they sit in their coffee houses, go to the theatre, beautify themselves, while musing on the uneasy relationship between wealth and happiness (while acknowledging that he has neither).
The contemporary review in the Weiner Wochenschrift was not enthusiastic: noting the rather bitter tone of the work, it observes that 'the characters presented are seldom drawn naturally or faithfully from people's daily and social lives, and Rabener's genius does not inspire the author in his work - there is also no lack of rambling, un-German passages… Read More

8vo, pp. cccciv, [31] indexes, [1] blank; woodcut headpiece- and tailpieces; paper uniformly lightly yellowed, but otherwise fresh; uncut in later drab stiff wrappers; somewhat browned, and chipped at head.
First edition, rare, of this study of the laws governing religious orders and the election of their superiors, with particular attention paid to the Franciscans, by the Neapolitan lawyer Michele Maria Vecchioni.
Vecchioni sketches the origins and history of the Franciscans, describing their internal governance, the arrangement of the various hierarchies, and the various peculiarities of Franciscan discipline, in order to argue that the superiors of the order do not have the right to dictate or interfere in the election of priors and other heads of individual monastic houses; and that this was in accordance with Pope Benedict XII's 1342 declaration on the Franciscan rule. He explains how the established form of elections conformed not only to good sense and natural reason, but also to the general… Read More

4to, pp. [vii], [i] blank, 426; with eleven folding leaves of plates; text within double border, woodcut printer's device on title-page; aside from very occasional spotting, clean and fresh throughout; in contemporary carta rustica, upper half of spine loose and chipped, and some wear to other extremities; book-label of the Prussian/Norwegian collector Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Brose on front paste-down.
Rare expanded and updated edition of this collection of the rules governing the conduct, organisation, and military exercises of the Venetian army, first published in 1724, updated in 1735, and here with a supplement dated December 28, 1752, continuously paginated but with its own title-page. All editions are very scarce.
The author, Johann Mathias von der Schulenberg (1661-1747) was a German aristocrat who spent the end of his military career in the Venetian army, serving during the siege of Corfu in 1716 before retiring to Venice in 1718 to establish a significant art collection, correspond with… Read More

8vo, pp. viii, 389, [1] blank; occasional spotting and marking, but never heavy; the odd tear to foot with slight paper loss, but never affecting text; final leaf stuck to wrapper, but verso blank so with no loss of text; uncut in interim wrappers; wrappers worn but sound, spine chipped at head and foot, with light dampstain to head and old manuscript paper label.
First Milan printing, uncommon, of Condorcet's monumental survey of the history of human endeavour, first published posthumously in 1795.
An 'ouvrage d'un utilité générale et durable', the Esquisse represents a summation of Concordet's thoughts on the notion of human progress, and thus can in some ways be seen as a definitive encapsulation of the enlightenment project, or at least of one view of it. Condorcet divides his work into ten époques, tracing human history from the initial formation of societies, through the development of agriculture, the invention of writing, the intellectual and scientific achievements of classical Greece,… Read More

24mo, pp. [viii], 4-8, 10-11, 13-14, 16-17, 19-46, 48-49, 51-52, 54-55, 57-58, 60-61, [8]; with twelve engraved plates; title-page entirely engraved; some light spotting in places but largely clean and fresh; in contemporary boards, elaborately decorated in gilt and gouache depicting a vase of flowers, preserved in the original slipcase; binding somewhat rubbed, and foot of case loose, but still a very attractive copy.
A lovely copy of this very rare almanac for the year 1783, comprising both a calendar and a collection of songs for each month, with each illustrated with a plate by the painter François-Marie-Isidor Queverdo (1748-1797), engraved by his frequent collaborator Jean Dambrun (1744-c. 1814).
Cohen/De Ricci, p. 47 (for the 1784 edition); OCLC records only one copy of this year, at Vassar College.
The texts range from drinking songs to erotic rounds, to songs extolling the delights of hunting and fishing, and finishes with a page detailing the various Almanac offerings of Boulanger, 'Doreur… Read More

8vo, containing 52 theses of between 8 and 15 pages each, divided into three sections; each thesis with an elaborate engraved headpiece and either a tailpiece or a full-page engraving, many signed 'Constantinus' (see below); manuscript list of contents at end; some foxing and browning in places; ownership signature of Constantin on first page and on front free endpaper; a few contemporary annotations to one thesis; in contemporary sheep, spine gilt in compartments, raised bands, skiver lettering-pieces (one with 'Tom I'); boards and extremities somewhat worn.

An interesting collection of dissertations on civil law presented by students at the law faculty of the University of Turin.

The volume contains three dissertationes, each of which is divided up into theses, all of which are separately paginated, and which discuss the nature and division of law, the role of statue, the ways of interpreting laws, and the responsibilities and position of the judiciary. A full listing of the theses, all of which… Read More

8vo, pp. 29, [1] blank; with four folding tables at end; printed on pale blue paper; occasional light spotting and very slight marginal dampstaining to last few leaves, not affecting text, but otherwise clean and fresh; in later patterned wrappers, spine almost entirely lacking, otherwise lightly worn.
First and seemingly only edition of this report on the relative merits of the axe and the saw in the cutting of firewood, presented by the inspector of waters and forests for the Colmar arrondissement.
Promptedby the scarcity and excessive cost of fuel, the inspector, a M. Picquet, seeks to demonstrate that the same amount of wood when cut with a saw would produce seven cords, against six when chopped with an axe, and requests permission to demonstrate this with the help of two or three members of the commission. In granting his approval, the prefect of the Haut-Rhin department notes that such a saving would be too considerable to be ignored, and proposes three local officials see with their own eyes… Read More