Les Chansons de Bilitis.
Loüys, Pierre

Quarto. (xxiv), (178), (viii)pp. From an edition of 133 copies, this is one of 125 printed on paper. With forty-two illustrations by Barbier, engraved on wood and colored by Schmied. Signed by Barbier, and with Schmied's chop mark. Originally published in 1894, these prose-poems, which Loüys claimed to be the work of a neo-Sapphic ancient poet, were composed by Loüys himself. Work on this edition began in 1914 but was halted because of the death of the publisher, Corrand, then by the outbreak of World War I. The book was completed in 1922 by Corrand's widow. Barbier began his career as an illustrator in 1911; this book is considered his best early work. Indeed, with the exquisite pochoir coloring by Schmied, including several that have been heightened with metallic colors, this book is a visual feast and certainly ranks as an Art Deco high-spot. Loose, as issued, in publisher's printed wrappers. Apart from a light spot to upper cover, this is a remarkably fine copy of a book that has only appeared once at auction in the last twenty years.

Apophthegmatum ex Optimis Utriusque Linguae Scriptoribus.
Lycosthenes, Conrad (Konrad Wolffhart)

Octavo. (24), 1130, (22)pp. First Lyon edition of Wolffhart's encyclopedic collection of apothegms from Classical sources. This edition appears one year after the first edition, which was published by his brother-in-law in Basel, and it is one of a handful of editions that appeared within Wolffhart's lifetime. He died in 1561. The publisher Frellon is noted for printing the 1547 edition of Icones Historiarum Veteris Testamenti, with Holbein's woodcuts, as well as for introducing John Calvin to the Spanish ecclesiastical fugitive Michael Servetus in 1546. Rare: only four institutional holdings of this edition have been recorded worldwide, three of which are in the United States. Occasional underlining and sporadic marginalia. Light marginal wrinkling and few chips to extremities of title page, else a fine copy. In a later binding of full vellum over boards.

[Miniature] The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius

(30)ff. Beautiful calligraphic manuscript on vellum. Written in a very fine hand with illuminated initials in color and gold ornamentation. The primary colors used throughout the text are red, blue, and gold. Sumptuously bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe in red morocco with green onlays and elaborate gilt decoration on the covers and spine. The title is stamped in gilt and wraps around the cover as a border. On the back cover, in the same fashion, is a quote from the text: "Love your trade, however humble, & find in it refreshment." This sentiment is reflected in the time and care that have been taken in the creation of this miniature masterpiece. Endpapers are blue silk, and the book closes with two clasps. Housed in a red morocco box decorated with gilt borders. Blue velvet lining of the box shows some minor discoloration, and the box is rubbed on the edges of the spine and fore-edge. The manuscript is in extremely fine condition. An exquisite early 20th-century example of text, illumination, and fine binding. A.e.g. (1 1/2 by 1 3/16; 35x30mm).

[Miniature] Classical Mythology. The Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greece and Rome.
Miller, Susan

(52)pp. One of 100 copies, signed by the printer, Tim Sheppard. Illustrated throughout with full-page hand-colored plates of classical deities with their recognizable attributes, including a delightful frontispiece of Cupid and Psyche. Very fine full blue morocco stamped in gilt and blind. T.e.g. (1 5/16 by 1; 33x25mm).

Commentaria.
Philiponus, Joannes

Quarto. 75ff. Woodcut device on title page and last leaf, several geometrical text figures, two ten-line and two five-line initial capitals. A book of commentary by the sixth-century Greek philosopher Philiponus, who also went by the name John the Grammarian for his scholarship on language. This copy of Commentaria features a colorful binding of Italian decorated paper, likely from the eighteenth century, and an unusual pastepaper spine. Front and back covers each bear two repeated illustrations of architectural landmarks within oval frames, and these are surrounded by floral designs. One of the illustrations shows the famous bridge at Bassano designed by the great sixteenth-century Italian architect Palladio; the other is likely a depiction of La Rotonda in Vicenza, also designed by Palladio. Slight wear to lower extremity and upper corners, worm holes to bottom interior margins affecting about two-thirds of the leaves to varying degrees, else fine and bright. Bookplate.

Anakreontos Thioy Melh. The Odes of Anacreon translated into Italian verses by Eritisco Pilenejo.
Anacreon

Quarto. 97pp. Lyrical works by the ancient Greek poet whose name has become associated with bacchanalian and amorous affairs. Text in Ionian Greek and Italian. Bound in original boards with original paper spine label. Extremities and spine lightly frayed, spine professionally repaired, else a near fine and rare example from Bodoni's most fertile period.

Oratio Dominica CL Linguis Versa, et Propriis Cujusque Linguae Characteribus Plerumque Expressa.
Marcel, J. J

Quarto. (vii), 150ff. Correct first edition of this work, distinguished from a contemporary pirated edition by the presence of the coat-of-arms of the French Republic as the title page device. A typographic tour of the world's languages, this work was printed to honor the visit of Pope Pius VII to France for the coronation of Napoleon in 1804, using types that had been taken out of Italy after Napoleon's invasion in 1796. It contains the Lord's Prayer printed in 151 different languages and dialects, including Hebrew, Chinese, Arabic, Norwegian, Croatian, and Ethiopian. The book is divided by geographic continents, comprising Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The section on the Americas shows nineteen Native American languages. A variety of typefaces are used, and each page features a decorative border in red. A few preliminary signatures are loose at the top and extremities show some rubbing and wear overall, else a fine copy bound in the original paste-paper boards with the original spine label.

Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri Quinque.
Phaedrus

Octavo. (60)pp., 462pp., (90)pp., (110)pp. First and only edition. Engraved frontispiece and 103 illustrations. This is the first illustrated Phaedrus edition published in the Netherlands. Phaedrus is recognized as the first writer to retell entire books of Aesop's Greek prose fables in Latin iambic meter. Hobbes describes Phaedrus's fables as "succinct" and "polished," combining topical anecdotes with satire. The text is followed by an Index Vocabulorum and an Index Rerum & Verborum. In a handsome eighteenth-century green morocco binding, with raised bands, gilt panels and title on spine, gilt turn-ins, and marbled endpapers. Slight wear to extremities, spine shows some darkening, and slight toning to margins of first few pages, else fine, A.e.g.

A Wonder-book for Girls and Boys.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Octavo. vi, (7), 256pp. First edition. First issue, with "lifed" for "lifted" on page 21, line 3. Illustrated with a frontispiece and six plates after designs by Hammat Billings. Hawthorne's groundbreaking attempt to retell Greek myths in a style suitable for children met with enough success that it led to a sequel, Tanglewood Tales, published the following year. In his introduction, he wrote "Children possess an unestimated sensitivity to whatever is deep or high, in imagination or feeling, so long as it is simple, likewise. It is only the artificial and the complex that bewilders them." In the original blue publisher's cloth, stamped in gilt and blind, which is nearly as fresh and bright as the day it was issued. Rare in such fine condition, with only light foxing and slight rubbing to corners and top of spine. Neat presentation inscription dated before publication, Christmas, 1851. In a cloth chemise and handsome full-morocco slipcase.

C. Crispi Sallustii Catilinaria et Jugurthina Bella.
Sallust

Folio. (vii), 217pp. Printed with great clarity and precision, this is an impressive large-format edition of Sallust's "Catiline" and "Jugurtha," the earliest historical monographs. Includes extant fragments of his other works and an index. Firmin Didot was the younger son of Didot l'Ainé, who revolutionized type design in the eighteenth century. His international reputation was such that Benjamin Franklin sent his grandson to learn printing from Didot, and the boy engraved his first punch under the tutelage of the young Firmin. Firmin Didot himself, influenced by the strong contrast between thick and thin lines of his father's matrices, cut the famous types used by Didot in the early nineteenth century. He was also a Latin scholar and translator. Light foxing and occasional toning to pp. 200-217, else fine in early dark-blue paper boards, carefully re-backed in cloth, with original spine laid-down. Lower corners bumped. Gilt rolls and red leather lettering piece on spine, which show slight chipping.

Les Travaux et les Jours.
Hesiode

Folio. 63pp., unbound as issued. Limited to 200 copies signed by the artist. Illustrated with four color and nineteen black & white etchings by Villon, fifteen of which are double-page. Flocks, herds, and rustic groupings of men and women are shown in the craggy landscape of Greece, in Villon's Cubist style. Jacques Villon was a member of the Duchampian family of artists. In his youth he studied law, but soon abandoned it to join the Cubist movement. He is particularly noted for his mastery of the colored etching. Using a plate for each color, he referred to himself as the "Cubist Impressionist." This work is an apt description of his fusion of structure with color. Villon's finesse with etching is effectively demonstrated in this book, yet even his use of black and white gives a dramatic interpretation to the text. Very fine in printed wrappers and housed in a cloth-backed chemise and slipcase. A magnificent livre d'artiste and a masterpiece.

Carmina Sapphica.
Horace

(xviii), 46pp. Second edition. One of 150 copies. This famous miniature book of Horace's songs was first printed at the Ashendene Press in 1923 on a commission from Queen Mary for the library of her magnificent Doll's House. Of that first printing, only a handful of copies survive today, making it a book of the utmost rarity. This second edition was printed by Linnea Gentry with the original plates of the 1923 edition on the handpress used at Ashendene. With a new introduction by Michael Hornby, son of Ashendene founder Charles Henry St. John Hornby. Bound in full brown morocco with gilt-stamping by David Bourbeau, in the same style as the 1923 edition. Housed with the prospectus in a small octavo-sized, morocco-backed clamshell box. Considered one of the important miniature publications of the last century. Extremely fine. (Bradbury, p. 38). (Book size: 1 3/8 by 1; 36x26mm).