Rare books from Bruce McKittrick Rare Books

Rome: J. Besicken, 1503. Contemporary Roman binding of blind-tooled and red-painted calf over beveled wooden boards decorated with two different ropework stamps, palm leaves, circles, flames, trefoils, daisies and a foliage-fan tool that is used in the corners and for the central medallion; four repoussé brass catches (clasps gone, late 17th-century repairs to the four outer corners, panels and spine slightly wormed). Only Edition: poems and prose representative of the brilliant cultural circle at the Aragonese court in Naples. Calenzio (1430-1502/3) was, first, King Federico's tutor, then his trusted diplomat and treasurer.  His son Lucio enlisted his father's friend, the humanist Colocci (1474-1549), to shepherd his father's works through the press, including his Croacus or Battle of the Frogs and Mice, his most frequently reprinted piece. As editor, Colocci often radically intervened, rewriting entire passages. He did not, however, suppress the author's obscene poems, licentious letters,… Read More

Paris: A. Lotrian, 1530. Late 19th-century Jansenist blue morocco (Capé, rubbed), gilt-lettered title and turn-ins, all edges gilt, silk marker. In this illustrated chapbook romance of chivalry "the heroine escapes the destiny imposed by tradition and authority" (Crécy & Brown-Grant, tr.). Characterization, not the marvelous, drives the narrative, which was an immediate success, particularly among women. This is THE ONLY COPY KNOWN OF THIS PRINTING.  Set in southeastern France and the Middle East in 1271, this tells of the knight Paris and the princess Vienne, whose attempt to marry across different social ranks forces her into prison and him into exile. In lieu of romances' customary magical devices, the protagonists' cunning and trickery shapes the tale. "One of the most natural and charming of the pre-Renaissance heroines" (Bennett), Vienne dodges suitors through dissimulation. Paris travels in disguise to Alexandria, Babylon, Jerusalem, the Sultan's court and the land of Prester John.  As… Read More

Venice: [Philippus Pincius for] Benedictus Fontana, 1496. CONTEMPORARY STRASSBURG BINDING of blind-decorated pigskin over wooden boards (Kyriss shop 147), outer borders of vines and flowers, central rectangle with two repetitions of a foliage roll flanking two repetitions of a roll of nude men and women, chased brass clasps and catches, 18th-century manuscript-lettered paper spine label, manuscript titles on the fore-edge. Bound with: Persius (Persius Flaccus, Aulus). 34-62.  [Opera] cum tribus comentariis [sic]. Venice, Giovanni Tacuino de Tridino 1499. Folio. LXIII, [1 blank] leaves. Roman types, shoulder notes.  FINE UNSHADED TITLE WOODCUT OF THE AUTHOR LECTURING as his commentators work at their desks, the printer's geometric white-line woodcut device on the penultimate verso. Bound with: Juvenal (Juvenalis, Decimus Junius). 55/65-after 127 B.C.  [Satyrae] cum commento. [Reggio Emilia, Francesco de Mazalibus] 1503. Folio. [vi], 137 leaves. Roman types, scattered Greek, shoulder notes,… Read More

Rome: F.M. Calvo, 1524. CONTEMPORARY BLIND- AND GILT-DECORATED ROMAN BINDING of brown morocco over paper boards, panels with straight and curved frames, branches, flames, daisies and a ropework central medallion (some gilding lost, corners and tips slightly defective), vellum pastedowns and their stubs (see below), evidence of eight green fabric ties, all edges gilt. First Edition of the color theorist, classical scholar and playwright's first book of verse. In late 1523, Telesio (1482-1534) was called from Milan to Rome, where he immediately praised the newly elected Pope Clement VII in print, joined the humanist circles of Giovio and the future Pope Paul IV and secured the patronage of Gian Matteo Giberti, this book's dedicatee.             The present collection includes two pieces that herald themes in Telesio's 1527 stage play. Other poems describe a bronze lamp given by a nobleman named Lampius (nomen omen), the 1521 explosion of a gunpowder depot in the Castello Sforzesco and the… Read More

Paris: [Le Petit Laurens for himself and Jean Petit, 1500. A FIGURED FOUR-BLOCK FRAME ENCLOSES THE BIPARTITE WOODCUT. Above, an old couple, Understanding and Memory, flank a Gothic pinnacle, while below, the author finishes the text in his study; Lombardic initials, xylographic title with a large grotesque initial L. Contemporary blind-ruled calf (restored, new endleaves), gilt fleurons in the corners and center. THE ORIGINAL OF AN IMPORTANT MONUMENT OF EARLY ENGLISH PROSE" (Goldschmidt). Andrew Chertsey translated it into English, and Wynkyn de Worde issued it twice.  Composed in the 1460s to be read silently alone or aloud with family and friends, these Christian tenets address simple folk. Examples from everyday life leaven the clear and patient prose, which, i.a., WARNS AGAINST READING ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY AND WORLDLY POETS.  Of the ?thirteen incunable printings, only three are held by U.S. libraries (each in a single example). In good condition (washed, upper margin of the first four leaves… Read More

[Barcelona: Pere Miquel], 1492. Retrospective blind-decorated brown morocco with repetitions of a solid foliage tool (Brugalla, 1950), gilt-lettered spine title and board edges, blind- and gilt-ruled turns-ins, all edges gilt. Second and ?Final Edition - FOUR COPIES KNOWN, ONLY ONE OTHER OUTSIDE SPAIN (Bologna Collegio di Spagna; one U.S. library holds the first printing).             Three works on inheritance by the Sicilian jurist. The first and longest text treats wills and final testaments. The second comments on Rinuccius' late 13th-century writings on the same topic. The third text concerns intestate succession.             Barbatia taught civil and canon law at Bologna and became rich assisting municipalities, individuals, corporations and rulers, including Pope Paul II and Ferdinand II of Aragon. The latter elevated Barbatia to Royal Counselor and made him part of the royal household.             THIS BEAUTIFUL FOLIO IS THE EXCEPTION to the BMC dictum: "The… Read More

[England], 1665. Contemporary blind-paneled English reversed calf (top and base of the front hinge cracked), narrow foliage roll decoration at the base of spine, edges sprinkled red and brown. A NEW THING IN THE WRITING OF NARRATIVE ENGLISH" - Bligh. "A SIGNIFICANT EXAMPLE OF ENGLISH PROSE IN A SEMINAL STAGE OF ITS DEVELOPMENT" - Gabrieli.           HITHERTO UNKNOWN TO SCHOLARS, THIS IS THE SECOND EXTANT COPY of the diplomat, scientist, sea captain and bibliophile's autobiographical romance.             Son of an executed regicide, suspect for his Catholic faith and secretly wed to a woman of sullied reputation, Digby sought to dramatically advance his career and fortune in 1627-28 through piracy in the eastern Mediterranean. He commanded two armed vessels and some three hundred crew. Disease reduced the latter by nearly half as they coasted North Africa, the Adriatic and Greece in search of prizes. His famous assault on the Ottoman port of Iskenderun yielded only booty seized… Read More

[Rouen or possibly Paris: Baptiste Bourguet], 1495. Blind-ruled brown morocco over heavy boards (Francisque Cuzin; short crack at the top of the front hinge), gilt-lettered title on the front panel, old blue edges. FIRST EDITION OF THE MYSTERY PLAY MOUNTED IN ROUEN AT CHRISTMASTIME 1474 ON THIRTY-ONE TIMBER STAGES IN THE MARKET SQUARE. The primary platforms - all bearing signs - represented Paradise, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Syria, Rome, Hell and Limbo. Over two days, seventy-eight amateur actors recited the 15,000 verses, livened by burlesque, violence, the sublime and some dozen musical interludes.                 "THIS PLAY...GIVES MORE DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR PERFORMANCE THAN ANY OTHER" (Brown). It dictates actors' movements and positions, the painted backdrops and the type, color and location of fixed furniture. The elaborate stage machinery included an immense dragon's head (Hell) whose jaws opened and closed for the damned, serpents and flames shooting from its nostrils,… Read More

[Paris]: [René Boyvin or his atelier], 1560. CONTEMPORARY BROWN MOROCCO WITH THE ARMS OF HENRI III AS KING OF FRANCE AND POLAND in a field of lilies, the corners with his crowned cipher braced by foliage, gilt lilies cover the flat spine, evidence of four ties, all edges gilt (Olivier-Hermal-Roton 2491,2 and 2491,8). "AMONG THE BEST-KNOWN ORNAMENT PRINTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SCHOOL OF FONTAINEBLEAU" (Acton).             Flesh has become artifact. The figure has become a work of art, a vehicle for ornament, the exotic and the mysterious - part ancient Rome, part Arabia, part carnival. Without horizon or background, eyeholes darkened, mouths frozen, parted lips immobile, the profiles disquiet the viewer.             The scale and overabundance make the images difficult to read. Grotesques, animals, shocks of feathers, straps and diadems crowd helmets, bows, blooms, crowns and plaits. Shimmering jewelry falls from head to chest. Cabochons are the size of lion pelts. Pearls are as… Read More

[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

[Tours or Paris], 1480. Mid-16th-century gilt-ruled vellum with overlapping edges over thin flexible paper boards (minor soiling), azured oval central ornament of interlacing strapwork and an open center, flat spine gilt with fleurons and foliage rolls, spine lined with a fragment of a 16th-century vellum document in French, two recent gilt-lettered black morocco labels, all edges gilt, evidence of four green silk ties, early manuscript title on the front cover. Manuscript on vellum. In a single Gothic hand (cursiva formata or bâtarde) in black ink, 23 lines per page, text block c. 160 x 105 mm., ruled in red ink, OPENING HALF-PAGE ILLUMINATION OF THE VERMANDOIS COAT OF ARMS SUPPORTED BY TWO LIONS RAMPANT on a field of vines, flowers and fruit on gold ground, enclosed in a FULL ILLUMINATED BORDER OF VINES, FLOWERS, FRUIT, BIRDS AND IMAGINARY CREATURES ON DIVIDED WHITE AND GOLD GROUND; one four-line and two five-line illuminated initials in blue ink on red ground with penwork decoration en camaïeu… Read More

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

Augsburg: Johann Froschauer, 1498. Gilt-ruled dark blue morocco (Zaehnsdorf), spine gilt and gilt-lettered.             "ONE OF THE EARLIEST BOOKS CONTAINING MUSIC PRINTED FROM WOODBLOCKS.... Keinspeck rejected the Guidonian hand as a teaching method...he favoured the use of the scala which combined the use of pitch names ('claves') and solmization syllables ('voces')" (Niemöller; emphasis mine).            This brief introduction to monophonic choral singing "is important in the transformation of music theory.... Keinspeck's work demonstrates the practical aspects of teaching chant for its own sake in the age of polyphony just prior to the reforms of sacred music brought about by Luther" (Damschroder & Williams).             THE WEALTH OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ENSURED THE POPULARITY OF THIS PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONAL BOOKLET, WHICH AIMED SOLELY TO IMPROVE THE AESTHETIC PERFORMANCE OF CHURCH CHOIRS, free from any specific tradition's constraints. Simple clear rules, definitions, examples… Read More

[France], 1720. Contemporary gilt brown morocco by the Boyet workshop, fillet-and-dot border around a rich frame of a large fan and volute roll and repetitions of partly pointillé sprays embellished with small stars and fleurs-de-lys, gilt spine with pointillé and foliage decoration, gilt board edges, gilt turn-ins (roulette E), pink silk pastedowns and marbled free endpapers, all edges gilt over marbling, red silk marker. In a dark blue morocco pull-off box (Riviere & Son). FORTY-SIX FULL-PAGE GRAY WASH DRAWINGS OF FINGERSPELLING AND BODY MOVEMENT SIGNS IN TWO SERIES REPRESENTING SPANISH AND FRENCH MANUAL ALPHABETS. Twenty-four illustrations show a single hand, twelve both hands, and ten letters in the French alphabet are demonstrated by men in contemporary dress (in half-, three-quarter- or full-figure). All drawings and the corresponding alphabet letters are enclosed in decorative gray wash cartouches, as are the main title, the half-title and the seventeen-line preface. Nine drawings are… Read More

Verona: Boninus de Boninis, de Ragusia, 1483. 16th-century limp vellum (minor defects), 18th-century manuscript spine title on the spine, evidence of four pigskin ties.             First Vernacular Edition: the first illustrated technology book, the first military dictionary in a modern European language and an extraordinary mirror of princes.             Valturio composed On Military Matters in Latin between 1455-60 at the request of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (1417-68), the wily nobleman, poet, arts patron and fiercely successful general-for-hire who ruled Rimini. The work originally appeared at Verona in 1472. Paolo Ramusio (c. 1443-1506) edited and translated the text for the present splendid edition, which he dedicated to the non-Latin-literate Roberto di Aragonia, a professional soldier then in the employ of Venice.            LEONARDO DA VINCI OWNED A COPY OF THIS EDITION, FROM WHICH HE SKETCHED WAR MACHINES, ENTERED PASSAGES INTO HIS COMMONPLACE BOOK, DREW ARTISTIC… Read More