Mythology

1581. CONTI, Natale. MYTHOLOGIAE, sive Explicationum Fabularum Libri X. In quibus omnia prope Naturalis & Moralis Philosophia dogmata contenta fuisse demonstantur. Nuper ab ipso autore pluribus sexcentis locis aucti & locupletati... Quibus accedunt libri quattuor venationum carmine ab eodem conscripti. Venice [Comin da Tradino] 1581. 8vo. [xvi]730[44]pp. Second edition, enlarged and enriched by the author. First published in 1551, Conti's collection of myths and fables, gathered from hundreds of Classical texts, was extremely popular throughout Europe. Thematically arranged, the ten books were titled "why Lucina was the Goddess of childbirth," "The origin of the Olympic Games and other competitions," "How outstanding men sought fame," etc. An attractively printed book, with woodcut fountain of Cupid on title, ornamental initials, and final pages of sections printed in chalice or arrowhead shapes. General index, and indexes of places, plants, and animals appearing in the text. Conti's long poem on… Read More

San Francisco:: Art Hazelwood,, 2003.. Edition of 20. 24 x 19" closed, 24 x 90" extended; 7 pages. Accordion fold .A continuous image print assembled from five mixed linocut and woodcut prints bound together. Each of the five images was made with four separate plates measuring 24" x 18" printed on Rives BFK paper. Bound in red and cream paper covered boards. Signed and numbered by the artist on the title page. Edition of 20: copies 1 -10 bound as accordion fold book format; 11 - 20 unbound. Hazelwood and his work stand proudly and boldly in the tradition of artist as social critic. Requiem for Dionysus addresses the US's early response to 9/11. Taking inspiration from Euripides' The Bacchae, this accordion of large vibrant images comments on the folly of US policy. Art Hazelwood: "Requiem for Dionysos is inspired by Euripides' play The Bacchae and uses it as a launching point for a treatment of the current US war on terrorism. In the play the king of Thebes… Read More

Joannes Oporinis, Basil. Good. 1555. First Edition: First Printing. Hard Cover. 333 pages: 4 x 6 in.: 1: Ex-Libris: KB#011166: Boards now protected by a new Brodart Archival Mylar Cover. Text is in Greek and Latin Languages on facing pages, with woodcut initials on beginning pages. Boards are lightly age-darkened white vellum. Copy has ex-library stamp of "The Library of the Xavier Union" at bottom of title page, a square stamp "Case 13 Shelf" on inside front board and title page, and a small group of inked numbers at top of back flyleaf. (Addl. Title Page Content - in Latin): "Sibyllinorum oraculorum libri VIII. Addita Sebastiani Castalionis interpretatione Latina, quae Graeco erigionè respondeat. Cum annotationibus Xysti Betuleij in Graeca Sibyllina oracula, & Sebastiani Castalionis in translationem suam: quae annotationes numeris marginalibus signantur. Quae praeterea huic editioni ultra priorem accesserint, diligens lector ex praefationibus &… Read More

Rouen: Jean Osmont, Manassez de Preaulx & Iacques Besongne, 1611. Hardcover. Very Good. Fine copperplate engraved title by M. Asinus.. Quarto handsome contemporary stamped and ruled binding (paper label with catalogue number 2581 at foot of spine, again on pastedown). Engraved titlepage +[6]pp dedications by translator Montlyard dated 1599 & 1604 +890pp +[26]pp index. Wormholes at top corner of last few leaves, else remarkably clean & crisp throughout. *Originally published in Latin, as Mythologiae, sive explicationum fabularum libri decem, Venice 1567.

Hardcover. Fine. 4to. Bound in 20th-century 1/4-vellum over marbled boards. Strasbourg: Matthias Schürer, July 1510. Second Strasbourg edition of Erasmus heavily annotated collection of Greek and Latin proverbs. Printed in Roman and Greek types. This is the original version, containing 818 adages, which is considerably shorter than the later expanded versions published under the title Adagiorum chiliades. (Adams E-420; Bezzel, Erasmusdrucke, 50; Van der Haeghen, Bibliotheca Erasmiana, p.25-6; Bibl. Belgica II, 276: no. E.61; Muller, Strasbourg II, p. 179, no. 45.) The Adagia could only have been possible in the new world of European education, in which careful attention to a broader range of classical texts produced a much fuller picture of the literature of antiquity. Its impact has been long lasting. Such popular expressions such as one step at a time, between a rock and a hard place, break the ice, an iron in the fire, looking a gift horse in the mouth, and many other sayings can trace their… Read More

Ingolstadt: Gregorium Haenlin, Sumtu Ioannis Wagneri, 1647. Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo. Bound in full vellum with yapp edges. Two paper labels hand lettered, plus faded early hand lettering on spine. Remnants of ties on front and rear covers. [16], 636, [52] p.p. Vignette engraving of a creature by T. Kilian on title-page. Some soiling to boards and edges. Head of title page covered with small strip of paper [7mm] not affecting text. Closed tear to foot of title page, previously repaired with paper. Slight damp stain to lower corner of first 4 leaves. Early ownership inscription of Franz Siegfried Hoffmann von Thunau, a bailiff at Immenstadt, is dated 1702. Otherwise in very good condition. Georg Stengel [1584-1651] was a Jesuit Theologian and scholar who was a professor of theology at the University of Ingolstadt from 1618-1629, where he taught dogmatics and controversial theology. This work is a discussion of monsters and monstrosities, both physical and moral, and discusses mythical… Read More

London: T Payne; P Elmsly; B White; and J Walter, 1775 A very good 3 volume set with 29 plates (some text engravings) and 3 maps as called for in contemporary full calf bindings. Jacob Bryant (1715-1804) is chiefly known for this work which attempts to link the mythologies of the world to stories and events in the book of Genesis. It was seen as an important publication and is credited with influencing the work of William Blake. Blake was apprenticed to the engraver James Basire whose name appears at the bottom of most of the plates, and is believed to have worked on them. The bindings are in very good clean condition and have been rebacked at some point, retaining the original spines with gilt decorative compartments and red title labels. The boards are in very good condition with some corner wear. The marbled endpapers look to be contemporary with repair at the joints. There is the armorial bookplate of William Orme Foster (1814-1899) to the front pastedowns. He was an iron and coal-master, owning… Read More

One of the finest works of illustration ever published, marking the transition from Rococo to the Neo-Classical Era of European art.Illustrated with 139 full-page plates by Boucher, Eisen, Gravelot, Monnet, Moreau, and others. Plus engraved title, 3 pages of dedications, 4 fleurons on title pages, 30 engraved vignettes and 1 full-page cul-de-lampe by Choffard and Monnet closing Volume 4. Engraved by Le Mire and Basan. Large 4to. Full 18th century French marbled calf; spine with 5 raised bands; red and green morocco labels; gilt spines, gilt borders and edges; original hand-marbled endpapers. A Paris, Chez Leclerc. 1767 to 1771. 4 volumes. Ovid's Metamorphoses are of course, are some of the most famous stories to survive from antiquity; they tell, essentially, a history of the world in dactylic hexameter, the meter of the epics. Ovid's stories are as foundational to Western literature as any other book written; they include the story of Io and Jupiter, the stories of Cadmus, Pyramus and Thisbe (of… Read More

Suite of 12 etchings (each, 190x141 mm, margins excluded), later applied onto the papers of a nineteenth-century album.The Scola d'Amore exhibits a small poem through images, or rather a 'ricercare' that exploits the development of an iconographic theme - the Education of Love - in all its most inventive implications.La Scola d'Amore squaderna un piccolo poema per immagini, o piuttosto un 'ricercare' che sfrutta lo svolgimento di un tema iconografico – l'Educazione di Amore – in tutte le sue implicazioni più inventive. Nella lussuosa profusione di episodî, è come se l'artista avesse voluto lasciare libero campo a una storia esemplare di pigmalionismo, al progress affettuoso e al contempo 'scolastico' di un Cupido che viene istruito da perfetto cortegiano, o se si vuole gentleman, o uomo di mondo. In fondali paesaggistici l'uno differente dall'altro, ma tutti nella tradizione delle 'italianate', l'iter educativo, che si concluderà con l'abbandono di una disperata Venere, consta delle seguenti… Read More

First Edition, Macmillan, seventh printing.NF with NF Original DJIllustrated by Willy Pogany
RARE DJ!Pictoral map end pages depicting Greece and the surrounding nations of the Mediterranean Sea.Greek Mythology cycling around Jason and the Argonauts and the quest for the Golden Fleece. The Golden Fleece is the fleece of the golden haired winged ram procured in Colchins. Also included is tales of the creation of Heaven and Earth, the labors of Hercules, Thesus,the Minotaur and more rousing adventures!

J.A. MacCulloch - The Religion of the Ancient Celts - Edinburgh, T&T Clark, 1911 - First Edition - Hardcover - 399pp - 23x15 cmCondition Very Good - The cover is looking great for such an old book. Name inside, some occasional spotting and a few notes/underlining (especially the first chapters) but most of the book is clean with a solid binding.In this book J.A. MacCulloch presents a different view of the ancient Celts as he dives into their mysterious world. The book touches on the sagas, worships, festivals, influencers, magic, and the transition of eras from Pagan to Christianity, and ideals. Providing a cultural investigation into why they once worshipped mountains, knolls, rivers, lakes, forests, and how the druids who were the ritual providers of the time were seen as shaman, priest, and magician who officiated over sacred rites and spaces for the dead.One of the most complete and referred books about this subject and impossible to find as First Edition, it seems this books hasn't been available… Read More

Paris, de l'Imprimerie de Monsieur, 1787.
Small folio [319 x 240 mm] of (1) bl. l., viii pp., (1) l., 175 pp., 29 numbered plates out of text in color, protected by silky papers. Red morocco, gilt fillet and garland around the covers, flat spine finely decorated, lettering piece in green morocco, inner gilt roll-stamp, gilt edges. Case. Contemporary binding.
Very beautiful edition of the most famous French illustrated book of the 18th century, printed on the Comte de Provence's private press, Louis XVI's brother and future Louis XVIII, illustrated with 29 line duplicates of the original figures of the Regent, engraved by martini.
One of the very rare deluxe copies containing the 29 gouaches printed on vellum.
The paintings are of an exceptional freshness.
"Publisher Lamy had suites of these engravings, printed on vellum, gouached and inserted them in deluxe copies." (Cohen, 655).
Monsieur's press was directed by Pierre-François Didot (called "Didot jeune") since 1779.
In this Greek novel by Longus… Read More

Very good copy of the best edition of Famin's catalogue of erotic art in the secret cabinet at Naples.With 60 hand-coloured plates engraved by A. Delvaux and protected by tissue guards.The plates show phallic sculptures and graffiti, Priapic bronze figures and gods, excited votive amulets, extraordinary winged phalli, as well as frescos depicting fauns and bacchantes, satyrs and nymphs, hermaphrodites, bed scenes with slaves in attendance, Apollo and a nymph, Venus and Cupid, and the famous acrobatic "rope dancers."When King Francis I of Naples visited the Pompeii exhibition at the Naples National Archaeological Museum with his wife and daughter in 1819, he was embarrassed by the erotic artwork and ordered it to be locked away in a "secret cabinet." For most of the 19th century, the specimens could only be viewed by gentlemen scholars by appointment. Famin was granted access to the museum when he was posted to Naples as part of the French consulate, and wrote this catalog of some of the exhibits. When… Read More

4° (mm 204x138) ; cc. (8), cxxiiii, (4) [Errata e Registro]. Capilettera silografici. XVIII century brown half calf, gilt spine with raised bands, boards covered with coloured paper, title in gold on label, red edges. Light waterstains on the first leaves, light repair to the lower margin of the title-page, generally a very good, clean copy.
Provenance: XVIII century engraved armorial bookplate of the Martelli family of Florence, with motto "Sola virtus vera nobilitas", mounted on the front flyleaf facing the title; XX century ex libris on the verso of the front cover.
First edition.
Also in light of Mircea Eliade and Jack Zipes' studies about the "extraordinary symbiotic connection" between myth and fairy tale, Mariconda's Favole - featuring magic, enchantments, metamorphoses, fanciful beings, etc. - seems related more to the written history of the fairy tale than to the novella tradition (M. Eliade, Myth and Reality, New York 1963; J. Zipes, Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale, University Press… Read More

1914 EXQUISITE Myths Legends ROME Greek Japan Celtic PERU Hindu Mythology 9v SET

An exquisite 1916 printing of famous books of world mythology!

This nine-volume set features the following works:
· "Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists", Margaret E Noble
· "Myths of Mexico & Peru", Lewis Spence
· "Myths & Legends of Ancient Egypt", Spence
· "Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria", Spence
· "The Myths of Greece & Rome", H.A. Guerber
· "Myths & Legends of the Middle Ages", Guerber
· "Myths & Legends of Japan", F. Hadland Davis
· "Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race", M.I. Ebbutt
· "Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race", T.W. Rolleston

Each of these impressive volumes feature full-page engravings illustrating iconic scenes and characters from the myths. The stories from Guerber's "Greece & Rome" depict some of the most famous characters of all mythology including Zeus, Aphrodite, Hades, Hercules, and more!

Item number: #23816… Read More