Titles starting with L from B & L Rootenberg Rare Books & Manuscripts

Encircled portrait of Lactantius to title, printer's device to colophon, decorated initials. Early calf, worn, hinges cracked, head and foot of spine chipped. Fly-leaf detached, English note to fly-leaf, two leaves of binder's waste from Greek-Latin dictionary. Includes excerpt from Hieronymus' (ie, Jerome's) De viris illustribus, Lactantius' works and translations into Latin of Lactantius' Greek works, plus Tornaesius' letter to the reader. ... more information

Elaborate engraved title; decorated initials. Contemporary paneled calf, rebacked; end fly-leaf and paste-down heavily annotated in a contemporary hand. An excellent copy from the library of the Ashburnham family, with their armorial bookplate. Gronovius' edition of Seneca's tragedies is considered a classic that marked an epoch in the field of classical studies. He is well known for his discovery and use of the significant Florentine manuscript of Seneca's tragedies, still highly regarded today... more information

With 28 plates (2 double, 3 folding), beautiful woodcut chapter vignettes and headpieces. Later vellum-backed marbled boards; other than a tear to K1 of the second work, a fabulous copy. First editions. The first book treats preparation of acids for etchings, as well as the distillation, formulation and manufacture of solid products such as magnesia alba, Glauber's salt, fixed alkali, and borax. The second book focuses on distillation of liqueurs and related products; Demachy describes different methods... more information

Original printed wrappers, bound in half-morocco and marbled boards. Second edition. In the previous edition (1909), Witkowski’s name appeared first on the title page, with the slightly different title Gayetez d’Esculape. The present work includes chapters on the wit of famous sick people, the wit of medical celebrities, and wit in literature and history. Cabanès (1862-1928) was a doctor, historian and author of numerous works of fiction and history. Witkowski (1844-1923), a surg... more information

Complete with all blanks and the engraved portrait of Eustachio Divini. Woodcut on title-page of a telescope, woodcut illustrations and diagrams in the text, and decorative ornaments. Contemporary vellum; repairs to bottom margin of title leaf and dedication, 2 small marginal holes (none of which affects the text), some foxing, but generally a very good copy with the ownership inscription of a Carmelite Order and a library stamp on the title-page. With a few manuscript corrections and additions in the text... more information

Original printed wrappers. Some soiling on wrappers, interior with an occasional stain. An excellent copy with a few unopened leaves. In a cloth clamshell box. First edition of the first Italian book that makes mention of Daguerre and of his discovery. Apparently Daguerre’s work was announced in the Italian press (L’Album) on March 23, 1839. Within a year, numerous articles mentioning Daguerre and his invention had been published in Italy, including verses by Giacoletti, the first of which was pri... more information

Contemporary calf-backed marbled boards; a fine, clean copy. Eighth edition.... more information

Contemporary calf-backed marbled boards; a fine copy, unopened. Later edition. Considered one of the best of Alamanni's later works, these didactic poems on cultivation, agriculture and bees contain more original material then previously printed. Alamanni (1495-1556) was an Italian poet and statesman. He was regarded as a prolific and versatile poet, and is credited with introducing the epigram into Italian poetry. La Coltivazione, written in imitation of Virgil's Georgics, is distinguished by the ... more information

Colines' device on title, 64 full-page woodcuts, the first signed SR (Rivière, who is said to have prepared many of the inserted cuts), 9 signed Jean Jollat, dated 1530-32, and 100 smaller text woodcuts. Contemporary calf ruled in blind, centre compartment impressed with gilt arabesque ornaments, corner fleurons in gilt; title-page and a few tears repaired and a couple of edges remargined, interior washed at an early date, still an excellent copy with a contemporary signature crossed out on tit... more information

Sewn printed wrapper. Speakers included Samuel Gompers, John B. Colpoys, Matthew Woll, John J. Kearney, John J. Fitzgerald, M.C., Adolph J. Sabah, M.C., John W. Rainey, M.C., and B. W. Payne, Chairman. "Whereas all the foregoing is principally intended to deprive the workers of America of the means to secure legally a glass of beer after their days labour..."... more information

Title and text engraved. With 26 full-page engraved anatomical plates, each with leaf of explanation. Contemporary parchment-backed boards, covers worn; interior lightly stained. This shortened version only contains Du Laurent's most important anatomical illustrations along with the reference notes. It was used for teaching students of medicine, surgery and midwifery, as well as for artists and sculptors.... more information

Original publisher’s cloth; a fine copy in the original dust-jacket. First edition. A novel about Lancelot Andrewes Lamar, Rhodes Scholar, famous college football player, accomplished lawyer, and head of a distinguished Southern family, whose life begins to fall apart after learning of his wife’s infidelities... more information

Woodcut headpieces. Contemporary calf, front hinge cracked, spine gilt. Small book label of Universit. Cath. Hibern. An excellent copy. Scarce edition of Tertullian's work on early church history and apologetics by de Gourcy (1719-1805). ... more information

With 2 title pages, 1 engraved allegorical, and the other letterpress. With 33 engraved plates. Contemporary morocco-backed marbled boards; light offsetting, but an excellent copy from the library of A. Kuhnholtz with his signed bookplate by J. Dupont. Later edition. Cousin's treatise on anatomy contains many wonderful plates illustrating the proportions of different aspects of the body. It includes the head, face, limbs, torso and full figures of males, females and children. All muscles are noted and ... more information

Both blanks present. With 35 full-page plates. Tree skin calf binding, gilt spine, edges stained red; corners slightly rubbed. An excellent copy. First edition of this extremely scarce treatise on swimming, considered one of the earliest books on the subject. In the introduction, the author notes only two earlier works known to him, Digby's De arte natandi (1587) and Nicholas Wynman's dialogue, Colymbetes (1538). Translated into English in 1699, Thévenot's manual became the standard eighteenth-century refe... more information

With engraved frontispiece. Full calf, gold-tooled fleur-de-lis on spine, leather spine label; edges sprinkled, leaves browned, otherwise a very nice copy. First and only edition. Very little is known about this extremely rare work by an anonymous author, a dramatic tale of love, death and infidelity which claims to have been taken from the real-life events of a woman whose identity is disguised. Lords and Ladies are part of the cast searching for the lost ticket, while facing the prospects of cheating spo... more information

T Title in red and black, head- and tailpieces, text woodcuts and tables. Full calf in a contemporary style; interior washed, wormholes not affecting letters. Second French edition translated by Claude Dariot. Sudhoff notes that the two treatises added to his Great surgery, one on gout, the other on preparations of medications, are of fundamental importance in the history of Paracelsus, particularly the latter.... more information

With one-page index in contemporary manuscript on blank endleaf. A magnificent woodcut title designed by Guiseppe Porta [Salviati] depicting classical figures consulting Marcolini’s book. Full-page engraved frontispiece portrait of Marcolini framed by a pediment and caryatids on the verso of the title page (a composition sometimes attributed to Titian), and hundreds of beautiful text illustrations and tables. Elaborate colophon with printer’s device and mark (“Veritas Filia Tempris”) on verso of las... more information

With 48 tipped in hand-coloured plates by Russell Flint. Number 273 of 500 copies printed on handmade Riccardi paper. The lettering of the title pages engraved after the design by M. Engall. Finely bound in full blue levant morocco by Bayntum Riviere, Bath, gilt spine in 6 compartments, all edges gilt and elaborate inner dentelles; some fading to the colour on spines, but an immaculate set in superb condition, preserved in a slipcase. Number 273 of 500 copies printed. From the text of William Caxton, edited... more information

With a large folding engraved plate of the sector and numerous woodcut text diagrams. Early soft boards; a superb copy from the library of Felix and Frieda Pollak, with their bookplate. Preserved in a folding cloth box. Third edition of Galileo’s valuable first published book. He here describes and explains the use of his invention, the geometric and military compass, or circle of proportion. The instrument, the first important device to perform arithmetical calculations by mechanical means, made it p... more information