Armorial Binding, First Edition (6 results)

Full Calf. Condition: Fine-. First Edition. 12mo: [6],268,[12], with engraved initials and head and tail pieces, and 10 charming full-page plates by Laurent Cars after Dumesnil, one at the beginning of each book. In Latin. Full speckled calf, contemporary to publication, covers framed in blind with gilt-stamped coat-of-arms on both, spine in six compartments richly gilt, red leather lettering piece gilt, edges speckled red, marbled end papers. About Fine, joints skillfully reinforced; clean, well-margined leaves with occasional mild foxing and edge stains; most plates with faint tide mark to upper edge. Huzard II 944. Thiébaud 917-918. Schwerdt II, p. 278-79. First Edition (according to Schwerdt, but Thiébaud calls the Paris edition of 1696, which is "fort rare," the "Édition originale") of this didactic poem in ten books praising the pleasures of life in the countryside. Vanière instructs on the art of gardening while inspiring, in picturesque verse, a love of weather and landscape, the grape harvest, winemaking, hunting and fishing, orchards and vegetable gardens, and bees. His poems were highly esteemed, with editions of Praedium Rusticum issued for more than a hundred years, until 1829. The 1707 edition contains ten books, but the poem would ultimately comprise sixteen, in the second edition of 1730. The title refers to Charles Estienne's sixteenth-century treatise on gardening of the same name, but Vanière's poem is more than a reiteration, also providing a response to Rene Rapin (a French Jesuit, as was Vanière), emphasizing the value of herbs and vegetables over flowers and topiaries, which Rapin championed in his Hortorum (1665). Vanière's instructive content and practical perspective made his poem one of the most popular published in seventeenth century France. Gilt-stamped arms on both boards are those of Henry William Paget (1768-1854), 2nd Earl of Uxbridge and, later, 1st Marquis of Anglesey. A distinguished officer, Paget commanded the English cavalry at the battle of Waterloo, where he lost a leg. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed.

in-8 reliure de l'époque en plein maroquin rouge orné au centre des armes de l'Impératrice Eugénie, entourées d'un semé d'abeilles et d'un décor en encadrement filigrané; coupes ornée de pointillés, chasses décorées d'un triple filet doré, toutes tranches dorées, gardes en papier moiré blanc; signet, xiii,477p. Edition originale. Complet de sa carte dépliante du Texas. Mention manuscrite ancienne sur une garde blanche : Livre provenant de la bibliothèque de sa Majesté l'Impératrice. Bel état de la reliure. ROUSSEURS.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. First edition. Folio in fours: [asterisk in parens]6, A-8N4, 8O6 (= 708 leaves); [12]pp., 2680 columns (1391-1392 omitted; 1997-1998 repeated), [64 = index and emendanda]pp. Engraved portrait; extra engraved title page. Woodcut printer's device at letterpress title; woodcut head- and tail-pieces, initials; letterpress ornamentation. Contemporary tawed pigskin over wooden boards, elaborately tooled in blind with central cartouches at both covers (portrait of August I at front; Electors of Saxony arms at back), spine with raised bands. Pair of mounted leather straps and brass catches intact, along with a single brass clasp (second clasp replaced with a simple modern brass replica). Edges stained green. Two old cellotape repairs along top edge verso of the portrait (not affecting image). Bottom outer corner section (2 in. by 4 in.) of the main title margin excised and expertly replaced. Faintly toned text, crisp and fine throughout. A very attractive copy in a handsome armorial binding, complete with both the author's portrait and the engraved title. First edition of this lexicon of Aramaic and post-biblical Hebrew, comprising the vocabulary of the Aramaic paraphrases (targum) of the Old Testament, the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, as well as later midrashic and and rabbinic literature, all copiously illustrated with extracts and examples. This present issue is dated M.DC.XXXIX. (1639) at the engraved title, and M.DC. XXXX. (1640) at the main title, the latter likely in error, according to Prijs. The numeral "2" in the 1629 date of death on the portrait is reversed (in some copies it has been erroneously replaced with a "3"). The dedication (Basel, February 1639) is addressed to the Ordines of Groningen and Holland in recognition of the establishment in 1614 of the University of Groningen. Two faculty members, Franciscus Gomarus and Heinrich Alting had specifically requested that Buxtorf publish a dictionary for use in the study of Jewish rabbinic literature. (Prijs) Begun in 1610, the work would occupy the elder Buxtorf for the next twenty years, in the midst of his copious academic schedule and other scholarly projects. "By 1617 he had reached the letter Ayin. Between 1617 and 1619 he worked on the rabbinical Bible and probably had no time to devote to the lexicon. Finally in 1628 he completed the first draft. His manuscript work was in no shape to be published, however" (Burnett). "In the course of the work the material grew more and more, so that after completing the whole thing up to the letter Tav, he had to set about bringing the earlier letters up to date by using other sources" (Prijs). Buxtorf died in 1629 before completing the revisions of the letter Bet. His son, Johann, would complete the revisions and finally publish the lexicon after ten more years of labor. While the younger Buxtorf states in the preface "maneat parenti gloria authoris" (may the glory of the Author remain with the Parent), "in his hands it became almost a new work" (Smitskamp). Burnett notes that "Buxtorf's fame as a lexicographer. was not a result of his work in biblical Hebrew, but in post-biblical Hebrew and talmudic Aramaic." Two centuries later, bibliographers and scholars were still singing the praises of the Lexicon Chaldaicum: "All the Chaldaic, Talmudical, and Rabbincal words which occur in the paraphrases of the Old Testament, in the Babylonish and Jerusalem Targums, in the common or more private writings of the Hebrew commentarors, philosophers, theologians, cabbalists, and lawyers, are fully explained. Numerous extracts, and examples are given; proverbs, apophthegms, opinions, rites, and other things relating to sacred philology and antiquities, are illustrated. All subsequent writers have been greatly indebted to this Lexicon of Buxtorf.? (Orme). "The World is more beholden to him for his learned and judicious Labours, than to any other that lived in his time, and his name ought ever to be preserved with Honour in Acknowledgment of it? (Prideaux). Provenance and annotations: Binding embossed at the front cover with the portrait of Augustus I (1526-1586), Elector of Saxony; the Elector's arms appear at the rear cover. Occasional old underlinings and marginal annotations throughout. References: S. Burnett, From Christian Hebraism to Jewish Studies (Leiden, 1996), no. 75; pp. 128-133. Orme, Bibl. Biblica, p. 71. H. Prideaux, The Old and New Testament Connected (1725) 2:784-785. Prijs, no. 237. Smitskamp, Phil. Orientalis, no. 172. Steinschneider, BH, 329b. Wolf, Historia, 121. Full title and imprint: Johannis Buxtorfii P. Lexicon Chaldaicum, Talmudicum et Rabbinicum: in quo omnes voces Chaldaicae, Talmudicae et Rabbinicae, quotquot in universis Vet. Test. Paraphrasibus Chaldaicis; in utroq[ue]; Talmud, Babylonico & Hierosolymitano, in vulgaribus [et] secretioribus Hebraeorum Scriptoribus, Commentatoribus, Philosophis, Theologis, Cabalistis [et] Jureconsultis extant, fideliter explicantur, Et copia ac delectu exemplorum Targumicorum, Talmudicorum [et] Rabbinicorum, eleganter declarantur; passim etiam, suis locis, Hebraeorum [et] Chaldaeorum Proverbia, Apophthegmata, Sententiae, Ritus, aliaque ad Sacram hanc Philologiam pertinentia, ex propriis ipsorum libris produnctur, [et] explanantur; Quamplurima denique Vet. [et] Nov. Test, loca ex Antiquitate [et] Historia Hebraica nove exponuntur [et] illustrantur; Ut non solum vulgaris Lexici, sed amplissimi [et] instructissimi Thesauri Philologici loco esse possit ; opus XXX. annorum, nunc demum, post Patris obitum, ex ipsius Autographo fideliter descriptum, in ordinem aequabilem digestum [et] multis propriis observationibus passim locupletatum, Reipublicaeque Christanae bono in lucem editum à Johanne Buxtorfio filio. Cum indice vocum Latinarum, [et] locorum N.T. illustratorum. Cum privilegio. Basiliae, Sumptibus [et] typis Ludovici Konig, M.DC.XXXX.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. xxxii, 76 pp. Hardcover, bound in full vellum with the papal coat of arms in gilt on the front and rear boards. The binding edge-worn; boards splayed as usual with vellum. Modern bookplate on both sides of the first blank. Pope Benedict XIV here published his own ceremony for raising the church of St. Francis in Assisi to the dignity of patriarchal basilica and papal chapel.

Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Paris: N. Bonnart, [ca. 1690]. First Edition. 12mo (15.5cm.); armorial binding of Madame de Maintenon, full crimson morocco adorned with her coat-of-arms on both covers, triple-ruled in gilt with diminutive repeating rampant lions at each corner, elaborate gilt spine in six compartments, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers; 100pp.; illus. and calligraphic text printed entirely from copper-plates, this copy featuring the more often-found depiction of an empty cross within a crown of thorns printed on title page verso. Light rubbing to extremities, brief discoloration to upper cover from exposure to damp, inoffensive surface abrasion to front pastedown from previously-removed ex libris, slightly later ink note in Latin to front flyleaf, else a Very Good or better copy of an exquisite production in a desirable presentation binding. Though dedication signed in text "N.D.T.," a sermon of this title can be found in the complete works of Jacques Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704), tutor of the same children to whom Maintenon had served as governess. Small and beautifully-produced prayer book dedicated to Madame de Maintenon (1635-1719), by then the morganatic not-so-secret second wife of Louis XIV, published for the use of the Maison Royale de Saint-Louis, a boarding school Maintenon founded in St. Cyr for the education of the orphans and children of the poorer French nobility. The text, printed entirely from copper-plates, is interspersed with delicate vignettes of flowers, views of the French countryside, and soothing religious imagery (the lamb asleep on the cross), details presumably dotting the text to keep Maintenon's wards engaged while deep in prayer. Volumes bound in the Maintenon armorial bindings are relatively scarce, their owner having not organized any semblance of a personal library until quite late in life. Though married to the king of France for over thirty years, Madame de Maintenon (née Françoise d'Aubigné, later Madame Scarron) came from a modest background she never forsook. Raised in the Calvinist church, the young Aubigné was orphaned at an early age and subsequently educated in an Ursuline convent where she converted to Catholicism, her devotion to the Church one of her most notable qualities throughout her long and increasingly illustrious career. By the time she reached womanhood, her straitened circumstances led her to marry the significantly older and paralytic author Monsieur Scarron, noting that "I have entered a union in which the heart requires little and the body, in truth, nothing at all" (my translation). Widowed within less than a decade, the beautiful and pious Madame Scarron had by now seduced the French nobility at court and was quickly summoned by the Marquise de Montespan to be governess to the children she had borne Louis XIV out of wedlock. It was in this role that she caught the king's attention, who bestowed upon her the money which she used to purchase the Chateau de Maintenon as well as the title of Marquise de Maintenon. During the decade of the 1670s the king spent more and more of his time with his children's governess, causing a predictable rupture between her and the Marquise de Montespon, though Maintenon forever avowed that she never stooped to the level of mistress. In 1683 Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon were married in a secret ceremony, and while she never filled the role of Queen of France, she was the king's chief advisor until the end of his days. (See Ernest Quentin-Bauchart, "Les Femmes Bibliophiles de France" (1886), pp. [269]-272.) A note about the binding: The example of the Maintenon coat-of-arms depicted on this volume not listed in Olivier-Hermal-Roton, presumably having been produced specially for this, the dedication copy--the British Library notes a similar example of another unique cut, on their dedication copy of Cordemoy's "Divers Traitez de Controverse" (1701).

Rare original armorial binding in gold and silver thread bearing a coat of arms reminiscent of the Durazzo family of Venice. Small octavo, empty, white silk with pink silk pastedowns, the outer border decorated with floral repeating motives in silver and green foil leaves, and the escutcheon crowned by a pink hat with six tassels on either side designating the rank of Apostolic Prothonotary. This distinguishes the owner of the binding as member of the highest college of prelates in the Roman curia, and also marks him as honorary prelate to whom the pope conferred this specific title and its privileges. The escutcheon on the front panel is embroidered with a shield of three bands: the first depicting an aigle à ployà e couronnà e or a heraldic eagle shown with wings spread and surmounted by a crown, the second an argent lion passant accompagnà de trois coquillesÂor a heraldic lion with one paw raised on a silver background accompanied by three scallop shells, and the third a bantà dâargent et dâazureÂor the background of a shield with diagonal stripes of silver and blue. The escutcheon on the rear panel is embroidered with a shield with a silver background and the initials CR. In very good condition. Accompanied by clippings regarding the meaning to the armorial shield and the Durazzo family laid in. French coats of arms are a central component of heraldic tradition, combining symbolic imagery, codified colors, and precise terminology to represent lineage, authority, and identity. Typical elements include the escutcheon (shield), which bears charges such as lions, eagles, or scallop shells, and is described in formalized blazonry using French heraldic vocabularyâ"for example, argent lion passant or accompagnà de trois coquilles (âa gold lion passant on a silver field, accompanied by three scallop shellsâ) or bantà dâargent et dâazur (âa shield striped diagonally in silver and blueâ). These designs were not merely decorative but functioned as visual markers of nobility, kinship ties, and feudal allegiance, while also incorporating religious and cultural symbolism, such as the scallop shell for pilgrimage. Over centuries, French heraldry developed strict rules of color (tincture) and form, ensuring both clarity and continuity, and contributed significantly to the broader European heraldic system by codifying a language that combined artistry with social and political meaning.