Books from the John Rylands University Library of Manchester [ Sotheby's, auction catalogue, sale date: 14 April, 1988]

Sotheby's.

Published by Sotheby's, London, auction catalogue for the sale held on 14 April 1988, 1988

About this Item

Illustrated wrappers, 4to, 269 x 210 mm, 195 pp, numerous ills, many colour. 98 lots. From the introduction: "The books in this sale are, for the most part, first or early editions of major classical and Renaissance texts, from the magnificent collections of Earl Spencer and Richard Copley Christie. Approximately one half of the books offered for sale were printed by the great Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, mostly folios and including all but eleven of the entire Aldine output before 1500. The collection also contains many examples of early Greek printing of major importance: the Milan edition of Aesop (1480), Aristotle's complete works printed by Aldus (1495-1498), Callierges's editions of the Etymologicum magnum graecum and Simplicius Hypomnemata in Aristotelis categorias (both 1499), first Greek editions of Aristophanes, Demosthenes, Euripides, Lucian, Plato, Plutarch, Theocritus, Thucydides and Xenophon. Several early scientific books include the first Greek editions of Archimedes and Euclid; and a fine presentation copy of the first edition of Hevelius Selenographia (Danzig, 1647). There are also several major natural history items, among them a magnificent copy of Sander's Reichenbachia (one of 100 copies signed by the author); five works by John Gould; and Pennant's work The British Zoology. It is difficult to single out particular books from among so many bibliographical treasures, but special mention might perhaps be given to Earl Spencer's copies of the first Greek edition of the works of Aristotle (Venice, Aldus, 1495-1498), bound in six parts in splendid red morocco; one of only six known copies on vellum of Aldus's 1502 edition of Dante's Divina Commedia; a magnificent copy, on vellum and in fine eighteenth-century red morocco, of Apollonius's Argonautica (Florence, 1496); St. Augustine's De civitate dei (Venice, 1470), printed on vellum; and a copy of one of the finest illustrated books of the Italian Renaissance, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Venice, Aldus, 1499), from the library of the famous sixteenth-century French bibliophile Jean Grolier." Top edge slightly marked, otherwise Very Good.

Seller Inventory # ABE-64148

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Books from the John Rylands University Library of Manchester [ Sotheby's, auction catalogue, sale date: 14 April, 1988]
• Publisher: Sotheby's, London, auction catalogue for the sale held on 14 April 1988
• Publication Date: 1988
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Seller catalogs:
  • Rare Books