The Bible As It Was

Clark, Bill. The Paper Ark an Extraordinary Illustrated Journey to the Wildlife World of the Holy Land. New York Everest House 1979
This book is an extraordinary marriage of natural history, scriptural scholarship, and impeccable art. Here is a most unusual interpretation of the wildlife of the holy land as it existed and was described in the books of the Bible. Wide 8vo, 146 pp.

1st (stated) Hardbound Eric Mache. VG/VG, brown

[KW: nat hist. N. History]

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Pius II, Pope: EPISTOLAE FAMILIARES, (Cologne Johann Koelhoff 1478)
(Catalogue of Books Printed in the XVth Century now in the British Museum, Part One, p.222; Hain, 150). It appears that only one other copy of this edition exists in America in a publicly catalogued collection, and only seventeen other copies of this edition were found in catalogue searches in libraries worldwide. No editions by this printer, Johann Koelhoff, appear in auction records after 1978. Auction records show that three editions of 1478 were sold, but these are printed by Michael Greyff in Reutlingen. This volume contains the correspondence of the great Italian humanist Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini (1405-1464). Aeneas was known as something of a rake in his youth; his penchant for adventure and mischief is evidenced by his illegitimate children. He put off taking holy orders until after he was 40 years old. Though his behavior was modified in his early years as a priest, he did not seriously renounce his frivolous lifestyle until much later in his life when he was elected pope (1458). He adopted Pius II as his name, effectively conveying his change of attitude. In fact, he stated his desire to be remembered as the devout Pius, not the dandy Aeneas. He acted as an Imperial secretary to the Austrian emperor Frederick III of the Holy Roman Empire, apostolic secretary to two popes and the anti-pope Felix V. His loyalties shifted often through his career--initially opposed to Pope Eugene IV, he later became a great supporter and a defender of the church. As pope, Pius was more interested in continuing the crusading efforts of his predecessor, Calixtus III, than reviving the arts he enjoyed in his youth. He sought to unite Europe against the threat of Turkish invasion. His ambitions, life experiences and observations survive in a number of writings from throughout his lifetime. He was crowned Poet Laureate by Frederick, though critical appreciation of his poetry has diminished over time. He wrote about the events of his day, including works on general history and geography. Since scandal survives above all else, one of his best remembered works is his youthful romance De Duobus Amantibus, the Tale of Two Lovers, which went through many editions and was, in its time, a best seller in its own right. Late in his life he unsuccessfully tried to suppress the distribution of this popular work. The Epistolae Familiares was printed by Johann Koelhoff the Edler in Cologne just a couple of decades after the first printed book came off the presses of Johann Gutenberg. Koelhoff was a contemporary of William Caxton, who printed the first book in English. Caxton learned the craft of printing in Cologne but left for England soon after the heralded arrival of Koelhoff, the financially well-backed newcomer, in 1472. Other prominent printers moved out of Cologne around this time; though it is tempting to suggest that the new competition drove them away, the numbers are suggestive but not conclusive. Koelhoff trained in Venice, which was an important center for commercial book production through the century. Printed in blackletter. Initials, underlining, paragraph marks and initial strokes in red. First initial letter elaborated in blue and red with a decorative vegetal design scrolling down the entire margin. One other letter in blue. Index tab affixed to one page. The date of publication in the colophon is erroneously printed as 1458 and has been corrected in pen. Three plates affixed to the front pastedown: a library plate, a bookplate of Georgius Kloss, Frankfurt im Maine and an inscription stating, "372 [the '2' scratched out and 374 written above] years old: only 23 years later than the Mazarin Bible celebrated as the First Printed Volume." A handwritten note in the margin of one page, a few passages bracketed with ink. Some pages slightly soiled. A few smudges of the red ink used to highlight initial and capital letters forcefully reminds the reader of the hands that decorated these pages five hundred and fifty years ago. The pages have been rebound, probably sometime in the past twenty years, in the style popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Blind tooled and gilt single-line frames with small gilt dentils. The austere style displays the beauty of the fine leather. Some internal repairs as well.

small 4to., full modern goat with five raised bands, stained top edge with cloth-covered clamshell box, snap closure and a leather title label on spine with gilt lettering. (251) leaves (first blank missing as also occurred in the BM copy).

[KW: Printing History GERMANY INCUNABULA KOELHOFF, JOHANN]

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Wade, John, Editor: The Extraordinary Black Book: An Exposition of Abuses Church State... 2004

Wade, John, [Compiler and Editor]. The Extraordinary Black Book: An Exposition of Abuses in Church and State, Courts of Law, Representation, Municipal and Corporate Bodies; With a Precis of the House of Commons, Past, Present, and to Come. A New Edition, Greatly Enlarged and Corrected to the Present Time, by the Original Editor. London: Published by Effingham Wilson, 1832. xxxii, 683 pp. Reprinted 2004 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. LCCN 2003052768. ISBN 1-58477-362-6. Cloth. * Reprint of the final revised and expanded edition. Especially significant because it had a direct influence on legislation, this "Bible of the Reformers" is a model of investigatory pamphleteering in the cause of representative democracy. The long struggle to transform Great Britain into a modern state was effected primarily through the gradual expansion of the electorate, which was accomplished though the Reform Acts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the earlier era, as the growth of industry shook the traditional agrarian economy dominated by the landholding aristocracy, the accompanying campaign to transform government by weaning power from traditional loci was conducted through a mass of books, pamphlets and other printed matter. The Extraordinary Black Book, which went through several editions between 1820 and 1832, was the most important of these. As the editor explained: "government has been a corporation, and had the same interests and the same principles of action as monopolists. It has been supported by other corporations; the Church has been one, the Agriculturists another, the Boroughs a third, the East-India Company a fourth, and the Bank of England a fifth: all these, and interests like these, constituted the citadel and out-works of its strength, and the first object of each has been to shun investigation. We have, however, rent the vail..." (Advertisement to the New Edition, iv-v). Printing and the Mind of Man calls this "a massive compendium of all the abuses, electoral, ecclesiastical, legal which they sought to abolish" 1967:180.

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Leslie, Charles. (1650-1722). CASSANDRA (But I Hope Not) Telling What Will Come of It. - (A Series of 10 Letters from 1588-1704 Regarding Church Government) Note Below Title: "In Answer to the Occasional Letter. Num. I. Wherein the New-Associa tions, & C. Are Considered", Refers to Two Pamphlets by Leslie Which Attack the Scottish Presbyterian Church (Cf. DNB).. 1704.
London [England] : printed and sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, 1704. - CONTENTS. : I. ) Several Authors Reflected upon.1. One not Named,2. The Abridgement of Eufebhis.3. The Preface to it. II. ) Of Charging Books upon Parties, Wherein of the Obfervations. III. ) Of the Secret History. Wherein of the Murther of the Arch- Bishop of St. Andrews. IV. ) The Charader of an Enthufiaft. V. ) Conclufion. Upon the Bill of Occafional Conformity APPENDIX. : I. ) A Declaration of K. Char. II. In Scotland, 1650. With the Ad of the Weft-Kirk. And General Lefty's Letter to OliverCromwell. Some Obfervations upon this Declaration. II. ) A Letter concerning the prefent Treatment the Epifcopal Cler-gy in Scotland meet with from the Presbyterians there. With force Remarks upon a Book lately Printed, Entitul'd, An Ac-count of the Proceedings of the Parliament of Scotland, which met at Edinburgh. May 6. 1703. And the late Addrefs of the Kirk to Her Majefty. III. ) The Lord Chancellor Puckering's Speech in the Houfe of Lords, Anno 1588.IV. ) A late Letter from Geneva, of their nearer Approaches to theChurch of England. V. ) The Horrid Proceffion of the Presbyterians at Edinburgh, March 15.1704. For Burning the Holy Bible, &c. By the Handsof the Common-Hangman. POST-SCRIPT. : Sheaving how the Honourable Houfe of Commons in England isTreated by the Presbyterians in Scotland. With a Specimen of the Gravity and Abilities (if their Mini-sters and Kirk-Judicatories. - Charles Leslie was the principal post-Revolution exponent of patriarchalist political philosophy. His political theory, which derives from Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarcha and the Anglican Royalist ideology of jure divino monarchy and passive obedience, is expounded in The Rehearsal and in such works as The Case of the Regale and of the Pontificat Stated (1700) , The New Association, Part II (1703) , Cassandra (1704) , The Best Answer (1709) , Best of All (1709) , The Constitution, Laws and Government, of England, Vindicated (1709) and The Finishing Stroke (1711). An extreme proponent of patriarchal monarchy, Leslie nevertheless made clear that the purpose of kingly government was to secure the Church. - Original Stitched binding as issued on thick laid papers. ; 4to (9.5" x 7.75"); 98, [2] pages; Reference ESTCP2833.

First Edition,

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