16th Century Literature

London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1892. 2 volume set, 11 1/2 inches tall. A magnificent set in a beautiful half morocco in the Art Nouveau style with gilt raised bands, dense gilt tooling to the panels with red calf floral onlays. From the Library of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey. Some marks to the cloth boards, otherwise pristine. With a portrait and 16 illustrations by Louis Chalon, and an extra 160 expertly inlaid illustrations in colour by Jules Garnier. Translated into English by Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty and Peter Anthony Motteux. This set is from a Deluxe limited edition of 210 copies printed on Japanese vellum. A superb set of the greatest work of the first great French prose author, François Rabelais, in a splendid binding, uniquely illustrated.

London Sold in Livorno: 1778; 1779; 1780 & 1780. 4 volumes, 6 inches tall. 4 uniformly bound volumes of 16th and early 17th century Italian poetry, in the original Italian. Stunning full cat's paw calf with raised bands, gilt pallets and red labels. Speckled pink edges. As was the fashion at the time, the marbled endpapers are just on the paste down and not free, they vary in colour and style and have a wonderful look. Engraved frontispieces and many further full page engravings. Stain to the corner of the fist few leaves of 'Mondo Creato'. A delightful collection.

London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1892. 2 volume set, 11.25 inches tall. Magnificent full red morocco with bold and very unusual gilt tooling to the spine and upper boards and gilt top edge. Blind tooled pigskin endpapers. Number 153 of a Deluxe limited edition of 210 examples on japanese vellum. Embellished with portrait and 16 fine plates by Louis Chalon.

London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co, 1824. 2 volume set, 10 inches tall. A glorious full morocco binding with wide gilt raised bands, multiple gilt pallets framing the panels, multiple gilt fillets and floral corner tools framing the boards, dentelles and all edges. Armorial bookplate. Translated into English by J.H. Wiffen. Only 250 copies were printed in royal octavo. Engraved vignettes. The list of subscribers includes many Royal and Noble figures as well as Sir Walter Scott, David Wilkie, John Flaxman and many other literary characters of the period. A superb set of this epic poem relating the tale of the First Crusade.

London: William Pickering, 1829-39. 3 volume set, 7 3/4 inches tall. A stunning full crushed morocco binding by 'The French Bindery Garden City N.Y.', in pristine condition. With raised bands, fine extra gilt tooling to the panels and a splendid gilt 'Cambridge panel' to each board. Gilt dentelles and top edge. With the bookplates of 'E.V.C.H'. and Beeleigh Abbey. George Peele was a 16th century English translator, poet, and dramatist, who is most noted for his supposed but not universally accepted collaboration with William Shakespeare on the play Titus Andronicus. He was renowned for his dissipated life style and little is actually known about his short life other than his remarkably influential output.

London: The Society of English Bibliophilists, 1894. 5 volume set, 9 inches tall. A very neat half morocco of generous proportions with gilt raised bands, tooling and top edge. One of 312 copies on hand made paper. The 73 full page plates by Freudenberg printed on Japanese paper and mounted. 150 head and tail pieces by Dunker. Bookplates. A pristine set of this splendid edition.

London: Johnson, Cuthell et al., 1804. 2 volume set, 11 1/4 inches tall. A simple but elegant later half morocco by Ramage with gilt raised bands, ornate centre tools and top edges gilt. Decorated with portrait frontispiece and 14 very fine full page engravings. Bookplate. This hugely successful epic poem, written by Tasso in the middle of the 16th century, tells the story of the First Crusade in which Godfrey of Bouillon leads the Christian Knights into battle, and eventual victory, against the Muslims, to take Jerusalem in 1099. The Poem is a heady mixture of violence and romance set in a romantic and exotic setting that proved particularly popular before the French Revolution and during the Romantic period. A splendid copy in pristine condition.

London: William Pickering, 1825. 5 volume set, 7 3/4 inches tall. A very unusual Victorian full orange straight grain morocco for Sotheran of Piccadilly with gilt raised bands and gilt pallets framing the panels and rolls the boards. Gilt dentelles and top edges. Armorial bookplates. A beautiful set of the Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, most famous for 'The Faerie Queene', one of the greatest of all English poets.

Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1874. 4 volume set, 8 inches tall. A superb full crushed morocco by the great Edinburgh firm of bookbinders Andrew Grieve. With gilt bands, splendid gilt tooling to the panels and a green label on a smooth back. Triple gilt fillets and corner tools frame the boards. Gilt dentelles and top edges. Illustrated. Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld was a Scottish poet of the late 15h and early 16th centuries whose major literary achievement is the Eneados, a translation of Virgil's Aeneid into Scottish, completed in 1513, it is the first full translation of a major poem from classical antiquity into any modern Germanic language. His translation is faithful throughout. A fine and beautiful set.

Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1879. 3 volume set, 8 inches tall. A superb crushed morocco by Andrew Grieve of Edinburgh with gilt bands and delightful gilt floral tooling to the panels on a smooth back. Gilt top edges. From a limited to 485 copies. Sir David Lyndsay was a 16th century knight and herald whose poetry is still celebrated today.

London: Privately printed for the Navarre Society, 1922. 5 volume set, 9 inches tall. A very handsome half morocco with gilt raised bands, finely gilt and inked tooling to the panels and gilt top edges. A strictly limited edition printed on laid paper. A splendid and profusely illustrated edition of these sixteenth century tales.

Delft et Leiden: Beman et Samuel Luchtmans, 1729. Full morocco, 8.5 inches tall. A glorious binding by Clarke & Bedford with gilt raised bands, superb gilt tooling around a pomegranate centre tool, dentelles quadruple gilt fillet framing the boards. All edges gilt over marble. Engraved frontispiece and title page. A superb copy of these dialogues on many and various subjects, hugely influential on Christian Humanists, by the greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance. In the original Latin.

London: H.G. Bohn, 1849. 2 volume set, 7.25 inches tall. One of a special series of 'Bohn's Extra Volumes' Beautifully bound in full morocco by the celebrated London binder Jeremiah Larkins. With gilt raised bands, extra gilt panels, dentelles and all edges gilt. Bookplates and the neat stamp of Bostonian collector Charles S. Dixwell on the reverse of the front free endpapers. Portraits.

London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1892. 2 volume set, 11 inches tall. A very smart full morocco binding with gilt raised bands, gilt fillets to the panels and rolls to the boards. Gilt top edges. Limited to 1000 copies of which this is number 73. Portrait and 14 full page plates by Louis Chalon. Translated into English by Sir Thomas Urquart of Cromarty and Peter Anthony Motteux. A handsome set of this great 16th century fantasy.

London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1894. 2 volume set, 11 1/4 inches tall. An elegant set in half crushed morocco bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe with gilt raised bands and neat gilt framed panels and gilt top edges. A slight blotchiness to the spines. Limited to 1000 copies, of which this is no. 57. With 20 plates by E.R. Hughes. A collector and writer of short stories, Straparola published this collection of stories sometimes called 'The Facetious Nights' or 'The Pleasant Nights'. This collection includes some of the first known printed versions of fairy tales in Europe. Charles Perrault and the brothers Grimm both developed some of his tales.

Paris: Isidore Liseux, 1879. 2 volume set, 6 3/4 inches tall. A superb half morocco by Bumpus with gilt raised bands and fine extra gilt panels and gilt top edge. The title pages are printed on vellum. Very slight wear to the joints but very solid and in a beautiful binding. From the Library of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey. Poggio Bracciolini, writing in the 16th century is celebrated for rediscovering many classical Latin manuscripts, many otherwise unknown, from monastic libraries. He made important finds in St. Gallen, Cluny Abbey, Langres, Monte Cassino and Hersfeld Abbey, amongst many others. The texts here are in English with the original Latin in a smaller type below.

Paris: Gibert Jeune Librairie d'Amateurs, 1938. 4to (10½" tall). Full blue crushed morocco. Splendid 1930's French binding with a series of wide bands each bearing a letter of the title. Coloured calf inlay and gilt tooling on the upper board. Top edge gilt.