Antique Books

I don't consider myself anything like an experienced or wizened collector of antique books;  I tend to buy what I'm interested in.  Usually, this means works of ancient and early modern literature (because I enjoy those the most, at least as far as collecting goes), but sometimes works of history or science.  I generally do not buy antique books later than 1850 or so.  As I get them made, I'll be posting more pics of them here.

(1) Biblia Graeca et Latina.  1550.  By Nicholas Brülinger, in Basel.   Not a complete Bible; as issued, this volume contains only the books of Genesis through Ruth.  Below are the title page; the editor's note to the reader and the first chapter of Genesis with a beautiful engraving of the creation of Eve; and the (partially illegible) signature of Claudius de Bauer, who is presumably one of the book's early owners. Given that Basel had been already swept up in the Reformation in 1529, it is curious that the Bible here is in Latin and Greek rather than German, as was the wont of Protestant sects.  Perhaps it was a scholarly edition -- certainly knowledge of Greek was not yet commonplace at the time.  Interestingly, this book is almost coeval with the first print of Andreas Vesalius' De Humanis Corporis Fabrica, printed just 7 years earlier also in Basel.  At the same workshop? One can more than speculate: Brülinger was a known publisher of scientific and literary works in the time (see citation here), so the answer is probably yes.

(2) Quinti Horatii Flacci Opera, vol. 1, 2. 1733, 1737:  John Pine, London.   Got this one at a library sale for two bucks (they clearly didn't know what they had here).  One of several hundred originally printed. Horace's Carmina have been one of the standard texts for Latin students for many centuries, so this would have been a relatively common book in the early 18th century.  My copy is, alas, in poor condition -- the binding has partially fallen off the second volume and has been subsequently lost -- but I am loathe to have it repaired for fear it will reduce its value.  (Book collectors desire most highly books in their original condition.)  In this case, repair may be unavoidable, but I can afford to wait. 

(3) Histoire des Révolutions arrivées dans le gouvernment de la République romaine.  1786.   Got this one for 12 Euros at one of those little booths along the Seine in Paris, just across from the Île de la Cité.  Quite a steal!  It details the period in the early first century B.C. when the institutions of the Roman Republic were in severe decay, and the first military coups attempted (as with Marius, mentioned here).   Given that the page facing this one says it was given with the privilege du Roi, there is some delightful irony in knowing France's own experiences of revolutionary turmoil were a mere two years away!

(4) The Jefferson Bible. No date of publication, but probably late 19th century based on dates mentioned in the introduction.  A facsimile of Jefferson's own quadrilingual Bible, in Greek, Latin, French and English from the 1819 edition.  Basically, he just cut out all those passages that he thought couldn't have happened (whimsically, it seems sometimes). The title page is in his own handwriting.

(5) South America and Mexico, with a Complete View of Texas. 1837. Interesting to me entirely because of the Texas connection -- the Texas Revolution, of course, having come to completion only the year before.  It has some not very realistic portraits of Sam Houston and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and entirely fanciful depictions of the Siege of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto at the latter of which the Texians (as they called themselves) won their independence from Mexico.  Houston's signature, while probably forged, is actually quite similar to the real thing. Because the author was a Senator of the United States, it's entirely conceivable he had access to letters with Houston's signature on them.