Early Historical Manuscripts & Printed Ephemera

LOVELY ANONYMOUS SKETCHBOOK

[BAZZICALUVA, Ercole?]. Album. [c.1600].

£4,250.00

A lovely anonymous sketchbook, in a contemporary probably Lyonnaise binding, containing a small collection of pen and ink drawings. The rural subjects appearing in this album, as well as their distinctive style – clear and precise strokes, cross-hatching lines to render shadow effects – are typically found in the works of the artists who belonged to the Florentine school of Remigio Cantagallina (1582-1656).

SKU: L3657b

BAN ON WOMEN’S ‘VEILING’

PHILIP IV. Prematica en que su magestad manda, que ninguna muger ande tapada, sino descubierta el rostro…

Madrid, Pedro Tazo, 1639

£2,250.00

A most interesting, scarce piece of legal ephemera concerning a C16 and C17 fashion called ‘tapado’ or ‘veiling’, by which women walked around in public with their faces covered, except for the eyes. ‘El tapado’ was first prohibited in 1586, targeting especially Morisco women wearing the Muslim veil; by 1639, when the fashion had spread to Christian women, the law had been re-stated 4 times, with increasing fines.

SKU: L4437

BAWDY VENETIAN MASKED BALL – EARLY ILLUSTRATION OF THE RIDOTTO GAMBLING HOUSE

[MINIATURE PAINTING]. Masked ball at the Ridotto. Probably Venice, [late 17th century]

£17,500.00

An intriguing painting on vellum, fresh and in very good condition—the souvenir of a northern amateur artist’s visit to Venice and its notorious nightlife. The scene is set at the famous Ridotto, a wing of Palazzo Dandolo which, from 1638 to 1774, was a gambling (and flirting) hall frequented by all ranks of Venetians, from prostitutes to aristocrats. (In the mid-C18 it would become one of Casanova’s favourite hunting grounds.)

SKU: XP1

CAMBRIDGE STUDENTS’ MS NOTES AND CODED TEXT, c.1530

[CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY.] Coded text and verse by Cambridge students.

Manuscript on paper, [England, c.1526-35].

£4,950.00

A most interesting, serendipitous survival – a collections of verse, quotes, doodles and a coded text, produced most probably by university students in Cambridge c.1526-35. On fol.2v is the date 1526, in an early hand. The numerous ms invocations such as ‘In nomine dei’ etc., suggest these notes were written pre-1535, the year when Cambridge University subscribed to the new Reformed regulations.

SKU: L2740/1/2

UNRECORDED IN THE US – ON MUSCOVY

SCORZ, Geraldo. Relacion verdadera de la insigne vitoria que alcanço el rey de Polonia, contra el gran duque de Moscobia.

[Madrid, F. de Ocampo, 1634].

£1,250.00

Very good copy of this remarkable ephemeral survival—an important witnesses to Spain’s perception of Russia during the Siglo de Oro. First issued with a slightly different title in Seville by Juan Gomez de Blas, this work belongs to the popular European genre of ‘relaciones’, two-leaf folio news reports on major international events, here unusually concerned with Muscovy, a monarchy with which Spain still had little contact.

SKU: L2862

THE ART OF GOLD

[FLORENCE]. Bando per conto de tiralori, battilori, tessitori d’oro, e altri Artieri sottoposti all’Arte di Por Santa Maria.

Florence, nella Stamperia di Giorgio Marescotti, 1578.

£2,250.00

A remarkably scarce ephemeral survival of the first edition of this ‘Bando’ preventing all Florentine artisans working with gold from emigrating, and thus reduce the number and quality of skilled workers in Florence. Updating a similar bando printed c.1575, it addressed a wide variety of artisans working with gold within and without the Duchy.

SKU: L3501

WARRANT FOR MUSTERS AND DIRECTIONS FOR ARMS

HOWARD, Thomas. Warrant for Musters [and] Direccions for Armes and furniture.

Manuscript on paper, [1605-1626].

£950.00

Warrant of the 1^st Earl of Suffolk, Thomas Howard ordering a muster to be held at Wickham Market on the 14^th-15^th June. In listing format with charges for specific arms and equipment described, denoting ‘what was and was not deemed to be allowed’ as commanded by Thomas Howard himself. The former allowed for items including muskets.

SKU: L3385/2

STUNNING ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT

KRAKÓW. Grant of citizenship.

Manuscript on vellum, Kraków, 1630.

£9,500.00

Stunning illuminated manuscript granting the citizenship of Kraków to Ioannis Stephanus Pusterla Venetus, i.e. the Italian Giovanni Stefano Pusterla Veneto.

SKU: L3652

ONLY RECORDED COPY?

[MODENA]. Grida sopra il datio Della Carne, Pesce, & Oglio & dell’Estrattione de gl’Animali.

Modena, Per Giulian Cassiani Stampator Ducale, 1636.

£1,250.00

An exceptionally well-preserved (and probably the only surviving) copy of the first edition of this ‘grida’ concerning taxes imposed on meat, fish, oil and their export. The ‘gride’ were ordnances or edicts issued by the authorities, which were then ‘gridate’ (declaimed loudly) by criers in squares to inform citizens.

SKU: L3515

15TH-CENTURY TIERRA DEL VINO

[WINE]. [Cambio de Víñas en Morales.]

Zamora (Spain), Manuscript on paper, 1455.

£8,750.00

Remarkably well-preserved, ephemeral deed granting the use of a vineyard in Morales, near Zamora. This area, with the province of Salamanca, in north-western Spain, was part of the Tierra del Vino—later a controlled designation of origin. The document includes a ‘carta de troque, cambio y permutación’ (for exchange and permutation) and a ‘carta de juramento’ (oath).

SKU: L3507

BULLA DE CRUZADA

[PAUL III]. Bull. Don Garcia de Loaysa…contra el perfido turco y moros.

[n.p.], [n.pr.], [c. 1536].

£4,850.00

Extremely rare document—unrecorded in major bibliographies—reproducing a papal bull seeking to raise funds for the Ottoman wars, sent by Pope Paul III to Charles V on August 4, 1535 and probably printed by one of the authorised Spanish indulgence presses, Gumiel in Valladolid or Hagembachs’ successor in Toledo (Norton).

SKU: L3033