Religion & Spirituality

A book for eternity

Unique prayer book manuscript on vellum, containing sixteen full-page illuminated engravings after Marten de Vos: a highly expressive devotional work of the waning 16th century. One of only eight known manuscripts by Hieronymus Oertl, it provides a “unique example of the art of book arts around 1600” (Baeyer, p. 6), highlighting the transitory period between the Middle Ages and the Baroque, between manuscript and printed book.

The Dyson Perrins-Hermann Marx copy of the Ars Moriendi.

Fascinating illustrated incunable Ars Moriendi, or Art of Dying, with a wonderful and rarely seen striking set of woodcuts, a medieval best seller, and one of the great themes of medieval life, inspired in the woodblock books. As with all early editions, this edition is rare. This is a very fine, nearly uncut copy of the Ars Moriendi, which comes from two of the greatest English libraries of the 20th century.

First edition of St. Augustine’s Letters.

Editio princeps of Saint Augustin’s influential collection of Letters, of significant historical and theological importance, instrumental in shaping the relationship between church and state and in arguing for a universal church against local particularism; his Letters are, along with the Civitate Dei and the Confessions (of which it later becomes a part of), the most important writings of Saint Augustine.

Probably the smallest medieval miniature manuscript recorded

Exceptional medieval minuscule manuscript, one of the smallest known of the Middle Ages, and perhaps the smallest known today compared to the other minuscule manuscripts that have been catalogued so far; this kind of minuscule manuscripts, which were often held in reliquiaries, have been largely destroyed and are thus of extreme rarity today. This survival offers a unique chance to examine an extraordinarily rare side of manuscript production of the Middle Ages.

Pre-Gutenberg Chinese printing and silk weaving: a consecutive set of five volumes of the Garland Sutra in original brocade bindings

An extremely early Chinese block-printed suite of the Garland Sutra, beautifully preserved in the original, museum-quality medieval brocade bindings: an outstanding and near-unique example of Buddhist culture and the Chinese art of silk weaving as well as printing in the earliest decades of the 15th century.

The legend of the Swiss Saint Meinrad and the foundation of Einsiedeln Abbey.

First Latin edition, this small incunable contains the account of the life and martyrdom of St. Meinrad of Einsiedeln, illustrated with 21 fine, large woodcuts. Sebastian Brant's rare Latin edition is based on a 12th century manuscript.

Early printing from Colombo on the education of children in the native language

Exceptionally rare early imprint from the Wesleyan Mission Press. The British Methodist Mission to Ceylon was initiated by Dr. Thomas Coke. Together with seven other missionaries he left Portsmouth in December 1813. Coke himself died on board the ship but in June 1814 the other missionaries arriving at Galle (at the southern tip of Ceylon). The Wesleyans acquired the presses and equipment of the Colombo Auxiliary Bible Society in 1816 and started to print publications under William Martin Harvard’s supervision. (Ref. Nigel Seeley).

Fine copy of this intriguing work on the dance of death by Holbein, with a remarkable chain of provenance

One of two 1547 Latin editions, with woodcuts by Hans Lützelburger after Holbein, depicting Death in numerous entertaining scenes of contemporary life. Of the 53 woodcuts included in this edition, 41 are from the previous 1538 edition; one, the beggar, was added for the 1545 edition, and eleven are new subjects: Soldier, Gamblers, Drunkards, Fool, Robber, Blind man, Carter, and four woodcuts of children. The King, who is taken by death as he banquets, is here depicted as François I.

Eighteenth century decorated manuscript from Macao

Exceptional decorated manuscript written in Macao in the first half of the 18th century on local paper, still under Portuguese colonial control, containing the constitutions for a charitable institution aimed at looking over the sick and the orphans.

A new year’s gift from father-in-law to daughter-in-law, with bookplate colored by Georg Mack

First and only Leipzig edition, exceptionally rare, of Luther’s commentary on Psalm 90, beautifully bound for presentation as a New Year’s gift from Andreas II Imhof of Nuremberg – great-grandson of the printer Anton Koberger – to his daughter-in-law Regina, with a splendidly illuminated bookplate and calligraphic inscription by the colourist Georg Mack the Elder.

Certified copy of the Stabilimenta, printed in Salamanca, from the libraries of Baron Amherst, and Lyell

First Spanish edition of the Stabilimenta, and perhaps the first edition of Pope Clement VII’s Bull, which confirmed the gift of the Island of Malta to the Order, made by Emperor Charles V and his mother Juana de Castilla as monarchs of Sicily, prior to this, the Order remained without a territory of its own. This text reproduces the Papal Bull, and is here in a certified copy, completed in manuscript signed and sealed at the end by the apostolic notary. It is also a very rare Spanish illustrated printing from Salamanca, in which the first page of the Bull is enclosed by a fine woodcut border.

First edition of the Desatir, containing large portions printed in a secret language – a fraudulent text of Zoroastrianism

First edition, the Desatir is a 16th century work claiming to date from the Sasanian period, one of several works originating from an Indian milieu of mystic Zoroastrianism which attempted to show that a mystical form of Zoroastrianism preceded the ‘historical’ form.