PHYSICE SIVE POTIUS SYLLOGAE PHYSICAE RERUM ERUDITARUM, PARS PRIMA [and] PARS ALTERA

Leipzig: Georgius Desner, 1585. FIRST EDITION. 170 x 110 mm. (6 3/4 x 4 1/4"). 28 p.l., 494 pp., [1] leaf (blank); 3 p.l., 463 pp.
FINE CONTEMPORARY BLIND-STAMPED PIGSKIN over bevelled wooden boards, covers framed by decorative lattice roll, upper cover with central panel depicting Judith, a sword in her right hand, the head of Holofernes in her left, signed "M R" above the caption; lower cover with a panel showing Jael in the act of killing Sisera, her left hand holding a chisel to his temple, her right hand, holding a hammer, raised to strike a blow, the plate signed "M R" at the end of the caption, raised bands, ink titling at head of spine and on fore edge, edges stained red, two original brass clasps. Title page with 17th century(?) ownership inscription of Georg Laurence Seydenbecher; verso of title with round blue ink armorial stamp; occasional neat ink marginalia in an early hand. VD16 N 413; USTC 684027. For the binding: Haebler I, 381-82. ◆Text slightly and uniformly toned because of paper quality (half a dozen quires a bit more browned), isolated small ink stains or foxing, pigskin with minor soiling to edges, just a hint of wear to lower corners, but A FINE COPY, the contents thoroughly fresh, and the unsophisticated binding with beautifully distinct stamps.

This is a very rarely seen copy of an outline of the essentials elements for a humanist education, written by a noted German pedagogue, and offered here in a wonderful blind-stamped binding featuring two fierce biblical heroines. Symbols of courage embraced by the Reformation, Jael and Judith appeared on front and back covers of a number of 16th century bindings, and both are shown here in elegant Renaissance garb, clutching the weapons they used against enemies of Israel. Jael offered the Canaanite general Sisera refuge in her tent following a battle and, having lulled him to sleep with warm milk, is shown on the rear cover here in the act of striking a stake through his temple. Beneath the image is the text "Sic pereant omnes inimici tui, Domine" ("So perish all of your enemies, Lord" [Judges 5:31]). Judith pretended to seduce the Assyrian Holofernes, then got him drunk and cut his head off; here on our front cover, she triumphantly displays his head, brandishing his sword. Below her is a verse from Psalms: "Voluntatem timentium es faciet dominus" ("He will do the will of them that fear him" [Psalm 144]). We did not find these plates in EBDB or any of the usual reference works, but they are likely the work of bookbinder Matthias Radmann, who became a master binder in Leipzig in 1546 and who signed his work "M R," often at the end of a caption, as on the Jael plate. A student of Melanchthon, Michael Neander (1525-95) became director of the college of Ilefeld, where he developed an influential curriculum with a heavy emphasis on Latin and Greek classics, rhetoric, philosophy, history, theology, physical science, and geography; the school attracted students from all over Europe. In our volume, he collects excerpts of important authors on these and associated subjects, beginning with the Greek Fathers on theology and continuing through philosophy, mathematics, medicine, chemistry, history, natural sciences, geography, rhetoric, poetry, and grammar. Our 1585 edition seems to be the sole printing and is very rare. Bindings of this sort are almost never found now so clean and with their elaborate blind decoration so extraordinarily sharp..