Search Results: Titles starting with R from Bruce McKittrick Rare Books

Paris: Jean-Baptiste Oudry, 1716. CONTEMPORARY GILT BROWN MOROCCO, a wide frame of partly pointillé drawer handles and foliage, in the center THE ARMS OF THE DEDICATEE, MARIE-LOUISE-ÉLISABETH D'ORLÉANS, DUCHESSE DE BERRY joined with those of her deceased husband Charles, spine richly gilt and gilt-lettered.             In January 1716, while in seclusion for the birth - then tragic death - of her second natural child, the twenty-year-old widowed dedicatee, Marie-Louise-Élisabeth d'Orléans, Duchess of Berry (1696-1719), received from the talented and fashionable painter J.-B. Oudry this ingenious suite of picture riddles of love, seduction and morality(!). He created and designed the forty playful prints based on prose and verse solutions of his own composition to amuse and distract the young duchess and her intimates at so difficult a time.             Then much in vogue at the French royal court headed by Philippe II Duke d'Orléans, Regent of France and Marie-Louise-Élisabeth's… Read More

Arbois: [A. Javel] for the Author, 1802. Contemporary calf-backed pink boards (worn, defective), flat spine and label gilt, gilt arms of the Counts of Roussillon at the base (O-H-R 1494), edges sprinkled red. Only Edition of the author's only book, which includes CHRISTMAS CAROLS IN THE LOCAL DIALECT and a guide to its pronunciation. Helpfully, Billot (1736-1811) explains local traditions and word-play opaque to contemporary readers. His other songs lament the Revolution and celebrate Napoleon's return from Egypt. Printing began in Arbois in 1797. In good condition, later flyleaf inscription of Bruno Donnier. ¶Collins, Catalogue of the Library of...L.-L. Bonaparte 3619; Bousson de Mairet, Annales historiques...de la ville d'Arbois 65-6; Deschamps, Dictionnaire de géographie 1410.

Paris: for the Author, 1777. Gilt red morocco (David; hinges rubbed), large corner fleurons, spine and all edges gilt, silk marker. SUPERB COPY OF THIS SPLENDID CLASSICAL REVIVAL PATTERN BOOK, informed by recent archaeological discoveries in Italy. Created for the king's brother, these extravagant designs "demonstrate [Cauvet's] tremendous range and understanding of classical ornament" (Vasemania). The number and content of leaves differ between copies. That offered here is among the most complete recorded. In fine condition. ¶Guilmard, Les Maîtres ornemanistes 226,28 (59 pl.); Quérard, La France littéraire II: 89 (64 pl.); Lewine, Bibliography of 18th Century Art 98 & reprod. (73 pl.); Cohen-de Ricci, Guide de l'amateur de livres à gravures 208 (76 pl.).

[Paris: Jean Bonhomme or Guy Marchant], 1490. CONTEMPORARY REVERSED GREEN CALF over pressed paper boards (worn, minor defects), evidence of four leather ties, fragments of a 13th-century vellum Missal reinforcing the spine and the first two quires.             "One of the most important healthy life-style programs of Western civilization"(Lafaille & Hemstra), the Regiment was medieval Europe's most popular handbook of dietetics, hygiene, preventive healthcare, pathology and therapeutics. some twenty-six pages treat wine. Its three hundred sixty-four mnemonic verses contain guidance on foodstuffs and beverages, advice on nutrition and cooking, phlebotomy instructions and remedies for scrofula, lice, constipation, tapeworm, fever, hair loss, etc. Drawing on Galen and Avicenna, the extensive commentary has been traditionally (and falsely) attributed to Arnaldus de Villanova, the 13th-century Catalan mystic.            JEAN GUIBERT, A MEDICAL TEACHER AT THE PARISIAN COLLÈGE DE CORDELIERS,… Read More

Paris: J. Bade van Assche (Badius Ascensius) for Jean Petit, 1514. Half brown morocco and cloth (Sangorski & Sutcliffe), flat spine, vertically gilt-lettered title.             EDITIONES PRINCIPES. Liutprandus is "THE MOST INTERNATIONAL AUTHOR...OF THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES" (Chiesa). Both memoir and chronicle, his idiosyncratic Antapodosis incorporates scurrilous verse and reveals his familiarity with Greek. The Historia Ottonis adopts a more traditional approach. Together the two works remain fundamental sources for the history of Europe and the Middle East in the 10th century.            Born in Pavia into a wealthy family of merchants and diplomats, Liutprandus served two kings and an emperor, led embassies to Byzantium and witnessed first-hand the dissolution of the Carolingian dynasty. In the 950s, he began writing the Antapodosis as an act of retaliation against his political archenemy, King Berengar II of Italy (c. 900-966). Liutprandus has no shame. He tells of Berengar's… Read More

Montbrillant: [Jean-Vincent Caperonier de Gauffécourt], 1743. Contemporary gilt-ruled red morocco, corner fleurons, richly gilt spine, gilt-lettered red morocco label, blue pastepaper endleaves, all edges gilt. A moral and philosophical essay, originally conceived as a letter to the author's friend Lord Bolingbroke, the Reflections first appeared in 1736 with similar works by other writers. This is the first independent edition.      IT WAS PRIVATELY PRINTED ON THICK PAPER AT THE PRESS OF GAUFFÉCOURT (1692-1766). It is the first of only four works the wealthy dilettante and amateur clockmaker set in type and printed for his own amusement over twenty years at Montbrillant, his country house outside Geneva. I have identified a half-dozen examples - all in Europe. In fine condition, early signature of physician A.J. Dalliez, bookplate of Joaquín Gómez de la Cortina, marqués de Morante (1805-68). ¶Nodier, Mélanges tirés d'une petite bibliothèque XXXIX; Brunet, Recherches sur les imprimeries… Read More