|
|
“HE MADE THE FATHER OF ALL POETRY LIVE…”
HOMER. The Iliad of Homer. WITH: Odyssey of Homer. London, 1715-26. Eleven volumes bound as five. Rare first editions, folio issues, of Pope’s famous illustrated translations, esteemed by Samuel Johnson as “certainly the noblest version of poetry which the world has ever seen,” with frontispiece bust portraits of Homer by Vertue and five plates (incluidng a double-page map of Phyrgia and the often absent “Shield of Achilles”), handsomely bound. $32,000.
|
|
|
|
“FOUNDATION STONES OF SCIENTIFIC ARCHAEOLOGY”
MONTFAUCON, Bernard de. L'Antiquite Expliquee, et Representee en Figures. Paris, 1722, 1724. Five volumes in ten, and five volume supplement. Fifteen volumes in all. Second edition, revised and corrected from the 1719 first, with the five-volume 1724 supplement. Magnificent set of Montfaucon’s landmark work on classical archaeology, with nearly 1400 engraved plates (including approximately 250 double-page and folding plates). A splendid copy in beautiful full contemporary calf-gilt. $25,000.
|
|
|
|
“THE WORKS OF PLATO MAY BE PROPERLY CONSIDERED THE SCRIPTURES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
PLATO. Works. London, 1804. Five volumes. First edition of the first complete English translation of Plato’s works, prepared by the leading Platonist of his day, still considered unequaled. From the library and with the bookplates of Francis Currer, “England’s earliest female bibliophile” and close friend of Charlotte Brontë, who reportedly adopted the pseudonym of Currer Bell in honor of her. Handsomely bound. $22,000.
|
|
|
|
SIGNED BY HAYDN
HAYDN, Franz Joseph. Canzonettas. London, 1794. First edition, fully engraved, signed on the title page by Haydn, his signature fine and bold with a fine flourish. $16,500.
|
|
|
|
“AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALL THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD”
PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Caius. Historie of the World. London:, 1601. Two volumes bound in one. First edition in English, translated by Philemon Holland, of Pliny’s Natural History—“of exceptional importance in the tradition and diffusion of Western culture”—beautifully printed with engraved emblems on title pages, and engraved initials and borders throughout. $15,000.
|
|
|
|
“THE MOST WIDESPREAD LATIN VERSION OF THE STORY”
(PSEUDO-CALLISTHENES). Historia Alexandri magni regis macedonie. Strassburg, 14 October, 1486. First Strassburg edition of the most widespread version of the Alexander the Great romance—“the most widespread Latin version”—edited by Leo, Archpresbyter of Constantinople. A wide-margined copy, very handsomely bound. Rare and important in spreading the romance of Alexander through the western world. $15,000.
|
|
|
|
“FATE KNOCKING AT THE DOOR”
BEETHOVEN, Ludwig van. Fifth Symphony. Leipzig, 1826. First edition of the full score of Beethoven’s magnificent Fifth Symphony—“the best known, and therefore the most generally enjoyed, of Beethoven’s nine Symphonies… a more universal favorite than any other work of the same class” (Grove, Beethoven, 137)—fully engraved and handsomely bound, with boards preserving much of the original paper wrappers. $13,500.
|
|
|
|
“THE GREATEST RELIGIOUS MUSICAL WORK SINCE BACH”
BEETHOVEN, Ludwig van. Missa Solemnis. Mayence et Paris, 1827. First edition, fully engraved, of the piano-vocal score of Beethoven’s choral masterwork, the Missa Solemnis, published in the year of his death, the same year as the publication of the full score. $12,500.
|
|
|
|
“IT WAS ONLY IN THE PIANO CONCERTO FORM THAT MOZART ACHIEVED HIS IDEAL”
MOZART, W.A. Grand Concert pour le Clavecin (K413). Amsterdam, circa 1790. Early edition in parts of one of Mozart’s three early Viennese Piano Concertos, most likely published during Mozart’s lifetime, fully engraved. “It breathes pure joy from beginning to end.” $12,500.
|
|
|
|
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF HOMER EVER PRINTED
HOMER. Homer His Iliads Translated. WITH: Homer His Odysses Translated<009>. London, 1660; 1669. Two volumes bound in one. 1660 first edition and 1669 second edition of Ogilby’s magnificently illustrated translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. The Iliad with engraved portrait of Ogilby and frontispiece engraving, both by Lombart, and 49 full-page copper-engraved plates (including a portrait of Homer); the Odyssey with portrait of Ogilby by Faithorne, frontispiece by White and 24 copper-engraved plates, one for each book of the epic, some engraved by Hollar. $12,500.
|
|