Pennant, Thomas: The History of the Parishes of Whiteford and Holywell. [London:] printed for B. and J. White, 1796. 4to., pp. [viii], 172, [ii], 185-328 + 22 plates, as called for. Engraved title-page with vignette of a house titled 'Bychon'. Separate title-page for Holywell, with vignette. First leaf and title foxed, some further light foxing, occasional toning generally to leaves near plates. Recently rebound, speckled tan half calf, red morocco gilt label, brown cloth boards, endpapers renewed. A few marks to cloth, very good. 'Two of the three publications written towards the end of Pennant's life exemplify both his energy and the range of his writings. The History of the Parishes of Whiteford and Holywell (1796) offers a detailed local history and genealogical information on the Pennant family. [?] The title of the third, The Literary Life of the Late Thomas Pennant Esq., by himself (1793), hints at Pennant's sense of humour. It is signed only by dotted lines to indicate the death of the author: it is for that reason that his History of the Parishes is signed 'RESURGAM', with its implication of literary resurrection.' (Withers, ODNB) ESTC T113878 Ref: 54603show full image..
Petit, Pierre: De Amazonibus Dissertatio. Amstelodami [Amsterdam]: apud Johannem Wolters et Ysbrandum Haringa, 1687 12mo. pp. [12], 398, [12] + 1 folding map of the Mediterranean. Engraved titlepage with portrait of amazon, numerous small engravings of amazons or ancient coins and medals portraying amazons or their weapons. Engraved title a little dusty at margins, small hole (paper flaw) to outer blank margin of title, slight yellowing. Contermpoary Netherlandish vellum, yapp edges, title inked to spine. Modern bookplate of Robert J. Hayhurst to front pastedown. A very good, clean copy of the second edition of this curious treatise on the existence of Amazons, first published in 1685 by the French physician Pierre Petit (b. 1617). The first scholarly work entirely devoted to a subject which had elicited the interest of the likes of Th?vet and Mercuriale, it boasts a painstaking amount of information on all accessible evidence and observations from ancient and more recent sources. It discusses the nature of the Amazons' commonwealth, suggested identifications (e.g., with Scythian women), their territories and religion, the custom that Amazons should have their right-hand breast removed, and so on. The engraved statues, coins and medals provide a novel comparative stance of the iconography of Amazons - although some of the items portrayed were actually antique-style fakes. The work also features fascinating debates on the nature of men and women. Ref: 53650show full image..
Phaedrus, Gaius Julius: (Burmann, Pieter, ed.:) Fabularum Aesopiarum libri quinque. Cum novo commentario Petri Burmanni. Leidae [Leiden]: Apud Samuelem Luchtmans, 1727. Burman's 4th edition. 4to., pp. [lii], 263, xlix, 93, [i] + additional engraved title-page and folding portrait plate of the editor. Title-page in red and black with woodcut printer's device, head- and tail-pieces. Francis Hare's 93-page 'Epistola Critica' at rear, the presence of which indicates a large paper copy according to Lamb. Toned, with some leaves quite strongly affected. Light spotting. Small closed tear to middle of title-page (possibly a paper flaw), closed tear to lower margin leaf H3, final few sections with damp stain to lower fore-edge corner. Contemporary vellum, gilt spine with raised bands, gilt frame and borders, gilt centrepiece with the arms of Rotterdam to each board. Ties lost, boards a little splayed, top corner of upper board lightly bumped, few smudgy marks, good overall. Book label to front paste down, A. Roobol, and Cat '259' in blue ink. Plain endpaper with an inscription crossed through, illegible. 'To this day Burman's edition of 1727 is the only complete commentary on Phaedrus and has not been superceded. Unlike his variorum editions, the notes are Burman's own work. He uses conjecture sparingly and often discusses the emendations of other scholars at considerable length.' (Lamb, Annales Phaedriani, p.vi). Dibdin II (4th ed.) 281; Schweiger II 736; Lamb 167; Spoelder 661, Rotterdam 1. Ref: 54429show full image..
(Phaedrus:) 'Aesop': (Desbillons, Francois-Joseph, ed.:) Fabulae Aesopae, curis posterioribus omnes fere emendatae: quibus accesserunt plus quam clxx novae [...]. Parisiis [Paris]: typis J. Barbou, via Mathurinensium, 1778. Sixth edition. 12mo., pp. xxxvi, 504 + engraved frontispiece. Printer's device to title-page, woodcut ornaments, very wide lower margins, very clean. Later dark green straight-grain morocco, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. Spine and corners a bit rubbed but still very good indeed. Printed label 'From the collection of Charles Butler of Warren Wood, Hatfield' to front paste-down. Two invoices from Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodges dated May 29th and 30th 1911, one made out to W. Cairns and one to W. Strong, both from the sale of Captain Butler's library. Elegantly bound Latin edition of Aesop's "Fables" by the Jesuit poet Fran?ois-Joseph Desbillons (1711-89), author of several other collections of ancient and modern fables. Ref: 54210show full image..
Philostratus, Lucius Flavius: (Blount, Charles, trans.:) The two first books of Philostratus concerning the life of Apollonius Tyaneus: written originally in Greek, and now published in English: together with philological notes upon each chapter. London: printed for Nathaniel Thompson, 1680. First edition of this translation. Small folio, pp. [viii] 243 [i]. Title in red and black, woodcut initials, tree of the intellectual genealogy of philosophers on p. 145. Small hole to the centre of leaves Z3- Z4 affecting a few words, some tiny spots and scorch marks, occasional light toning. Contemporary speckled calf boards neatly rebacked with older label preserved, corners repaired, endpapers replaced, very good. First edition of the first English translation of Philostratus, by Charles Blount (1654-1693), an important associate and admirer of Thomas Hobbes. Blount, a deist or religious freethinker, added detailed notes to his rendering of this 3rd century AD work of pagan hagiography, which attack witchcraft (a code for the established church), and suggest that the teachings of the pagan philosopher Apollonius were more valuable than Christ's. The notes reveal the influence of Thomas Hobbes and were thought by the encyclopaedist Pierre Bayle to have been based on nunpublished notes by England's first metaphysical philosopher, and original deist, Baron Herbert of Cherbury (1654-1709). The book was subsequently banned in England and only reprinted on the continent. ESTC R4123; Wing P 2132. Ref: 54327show full image..
Pindar: Ta Tou Pindarou Sesosmena. Olympia, Pythia, Nemea, Isthmia. Ex editione Oxoniensi. Glasguae [Glasgow]: excudebant R. & A. Foulis, 1754, 1754, 1757, 1758. 4 vols. 32mo. (75 x 47mm), pp. [ii], 158; 186, [iv]; 128; 79, [I] + the rest of the text block made up with a roughly equal number of binder's blank leaves. Title-page to each volume, additional series title to volume I. Vol. I without its final blank, vol. II with both final blanks. First words of title transliterated from Greek. Occasional spotting and light toning, a few faint stains, very good. Early c.20th dark blue crushed Morocco, gilt titles to spines, top edges gilt, ornate gilt dentelles. Spines a little sunned, lightly rubbed, very good indeed. First words of title transliterated from Greek. Though he doesn't comment directly on this edition, Dibdin notes Harwood's observation on the first Foulis edition of 1744, that he has 'read this edition twice through and affirm it to be one of the most accurate of the Glasgow editions of the Greek classics.' He also notes that the later edition of 1770 is less accurate, according to Harles. ESTC T134377; Gaskell 274; Dibdin II. 4th Edn. 290; Bondy 23-4; Mikrobiblion 192; Spielmann 413-5. Ref: 54285show full image..
Plautus, Titus Maccius: (Gronovius, J.F., ed.:) Comoediae. Accedit commentarius [...] Lugd. Batavorum [Leiden]: Ex Officina Hackiana, 1669. First Edition. 2 vols. bound as 1. 8vo., pp. [xxiv], 624, [ii], 625-1220, [lii]. Engraved title-page to vol.I, title-page with printer's device to vol.II. Woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials. Some small annotations in an old hand to ffep (one dated 1729), occasional other pages (eg. p.528) and 2 small pages of notepaper loosely inserted. Very occasional light spotting towards fore-edge, a few tiny ink spots. Contemporary vellum, title inked to spine, fore-edges slightly overlapped, edges sprinkled red. Vertical split to vellum at spine neatly repaired, some marks and smudges, turn-in lifting at upper board, first few leaves a bit creased at fore-edge, very good. Ownership inscription of E. (Bersem?) in an old hand to title-page. The penultimate in a run of Gronovius' variorum edition of Plautus (the first in 1664, the final and optimal in 1684), with notes by him and others, and new readings from 6 MSS. Dibdin (4th edn.) II 312. Schweiger III 766. Graesse V 329. Ref: 54398show full image..
[Plautus] Plautus, Titus Maccius: (Pareus, Philippus, ed.:) Comoediae XX superstites et deperditarum fragmenta. Francof. [Frankfurt]: Philip Jacob Fisher, 1641. 8vo. 3 parts in 1, pp. [224], 826, [2], 31, [1], 85, [1], with engraved title. Title in red and black with engraved vignette, woodcut vignette to verso of last. Title dusty, some scattered foxing or dampstaining, small paper flaw and minor clean tear to outer blank margin of two leaves. Contemporary vellum over boards, yapp edges. 'The last edition of [Johannes Philippus] Par? in which were corrected several criticised passages of the previous editions' (Graesse V, 328-29). In addition to Plautus's twenty comedies, it features numerous fragments, 'Querolus' and 'Animadversionum ablegmina'. Graesse V, 328-29. Not in Dibdin. Ref: 53281show full image..
[Pliny the Elder:] Plinius Secundus, Gaius: (De Laet, J., ed.:) Historiae Naturalis Libri XXXVII. Lugduni Batavorum [Leiden]: ex officina Elzeviriana, 1635. First edition thus. 3 vols., 12mo, pp. [xxiv], 654, [xviii]; 631, [xvii]; 582, [xviii]. Engraved titlepage, small woodcut portrait of Pliny. With 'variae lectiones' and indexes at end of each vol. Slight toning, occasional minor spots, titles dusty, 1: one lower outer blank corner minimally torn, 2: small loss to lower blank margin of one leaf. Full blue morocco c.1800, signed by C. Hering (binder's ticket), blind-tooled, straight-grained calf doublures with gilt edges, raised bands, spines gilt-lettered, a.e.g. (boards and joints rubbed, free endpapers soiled). Later annotation to original rear endpaper. The first Elzevier edition of Pliny's 'Natural History', which became extremely popular with later collectors. De Laet was a Leiden historian and editor who wrote or produced a number of texts for the Elzevir press. In the dedication, to the lawyer and French royal counsellor Jerome Bignon (1589-1656), he states that he drew on the edition of Claude Saumaise. Willems 428; Dibdin (3rd edn.) II, 323. Ref: 53181show full image..
[Pliny the Younger] Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Gaius: (Boxhorn, Marcus Zuerius, ed.:) Epistol? et Panegyricus. Editio Nova. Lugd. Batav. [Leiden]: Joan. & Danielem Elsevier, 1653. 12mo., pp.[xxiv], 404, [xxviii]. Title-page in red and black with printer's woodcut device, woodcut initials and head- and tail-pieces. Includes index. Very slightly toned, but clean and bright. Contemporary vellum, title inked to spine, board edges slightly overlapped, edges sprinkled blue. Spine a little greyed, a few small stains, very good. To ffep, ownership inscription of J. Wijsman dated April 1936 and pencilled bookseller's notes. This edition is a line-by-line reprint of the 1640 edition. Willems 732. Ref: 55090show full image..
