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Medicinal Plants, Being Descriptions with Original Figures of the Principal Plants Employed in Medicine
Bentley, Robert & Henry Trimen. London, J. & A. Churchill, 1880.

4 volumes. 306 hand-colored lithograph plates, including several double page. (8vo) 23.2x16.5 cm. (9¼x6½”), newly bound in full black morocco, black and red labels on spines.
Bentley (1821-1896) and Trimen (1821-1893) produced a comprehensive account of the major plants used in the medicine of the day. Each plant entry (306 in all) consists of several sections, including: a physical description of the plant and its parts, its habitats, botanical classification, commerce and medicinal uses, varieties, chemical composition, and an explanation of the plates. Nissen 137.

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New Vollkommen Distillierbüch wolgegründter künstlicher Distillation, sampt Underweisung und Bericht, künstlich Abzuziehen oder Separieren, die fürnembste distillierte Wasser, …
BRUNSCHWIG, Hieronymus. Frankfurt am Main, heirs of Christian Egenolff, 1597.

Folio. 17th-century vellum. With title-page in red and black, woodcut publisher’s device above colophon at end, well over 300 woodcuts in the text, fraktur type, and 10 woodcut decorated fraktur initial letters. [6], 217 [= 216] ll.

Rare 16th-century edition of Brunschwig’s classic account of distillation, which in fact ranges quite broadly over botany and pharmacy and is very extensively illustrated. About three-fourths of the woodcuts provide botanical illustrations, while most of the rest show distilling equipment. It remained the authoritative manual for distillation through most of the sixteenth century.

Hieronymus Brunschwig (c. 1450-c. 1512), a Strasbourg surgeon, studied the earlier medical writers critically, making good use of his own experience. While his works on surgery made valuable contributions, the present work was his most original and important. It first appeared in 1500 under the title Liber de Arte Distillandi de Simplicibus, and was quickly translated into many languages. This version became known as the Kleines Distillierbüch, while the 1512 Liber de Arte Distillandi de Compositis became known as the Gross Distillierbüch. Johan Grüninger at Strasbourg published the first and many later editions. In 1545, Christian Egenolff published a new edition at Frankfurt, the Gross Distillierbüch, and his heirs published the present edition, edited by the distinguished Strasbourg physician Walther Hermann Ryff (d. 1548).

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Herbarum imagines vivae
EGENOLPH, Christian. Der kreuter lebliche Contrafaytung. Frankfurt: Christian Egenolph, [1535].

4° (197 x 144 mm). 42 leaves (of 44; lacking conjugate index leaves L1 and L4). 226 fine woodcuts of plants and a few fruits, one to six per page, with accompanying captions in Latin and German, the woodcuts fully colored by a contemporary hand.

RARE FIRST EDITION of one of the earliest field herbals. A second part containing an additional 65 woodcuts was published in 1536. Most of the woodcuts are reduced copies of Hans Weiditz’s important illustrations for Brunfels’ Herbarum vivae eicones (1530-1532), the first realistic and accurate published illustrations of plants. One of the first herbals designed for easy consultation in the field, Egenolph’s little book clearly filled a great need, selling out so quickly that he was obliged to print a new edition to accompany Part II in September 1536. Later editions of both parts appeared under variant titles in 1546 and 1552. This very rare first edition was unknown to Pritzel; ABPC records only one copy at auction in the past 50 years.

B-A Note: Wikipedia trivia: “In October 1533 Egenolff was sued by Johann Schott, a noted Strasbourg publisher, for infringement of copyright on Herbarium Vivae Icones, illustrated by Hans Weiditz and compiled and annotated by Otto Brunfels. Egenolff in his defense, argued that nature could not be copyrighted and that plants stood as communal models for any artist.”

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Perfume
Ogier (Maurice Ferrande) Le Parfumeur Royal…, manuscript in French, title and 167pp., small hole in title, browned throughout, boards covered in old vellum, soiled, sm. 4to, 1737.

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Perfume & Beauty.- The Art of Beauty, Or, A Companion for the Toilet, engraved portrait frontispiece, offsetting onto title, some light browning, a few spots, modern morocco-backed marbled boards, large 12mo, for J. Williams, 1760. *** Rare. ESTC list only 2 copies (BL and Yale). Includes a number of recipes for toothpastes, hair products, perfumes and bath oils.

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Album of Perfume bottle labels

27 stipple engraved labels printed in colours and 3 wood-engraved hand-coloured labels, the largest each c.70 x 60mm, the smallest c.55 x 35mm, all but 2 mounted, generally in good condition, a few small stains, contemporary boards with various ephemeral onlays, [France], [c.1840] *** a pencil note at the start of the volume reads ‘perfume bottle labels bought from…Gumichian’s [sic.] shop in Paris before the war. He had found them in a very old Apothecary shop in Paris.’.

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Notandissimi Secreti de l’Arte Profumatoria: A Fare Ogli, acque paste, balle, moscardini, uccelletti, paternostri, e tutta l’arte intiera…,
Roseto (Giovanni Ventura)

Title with woodcut printer’s device and a few illustrations, lacking sig. K (supplied in facsimile from the BL copy], small red ink spot to outer margin of C6, a few spots, contemporary limp vellum, soiled, [Durling 3945; Not in Adams or Censimento 16], Venice, [Francesco Rampazetto for Marchio Sessa], [1555]; and 2 others, defective 17th century English and Continental, the later on Magic, v.s (3) *** The mentioned work is rare in any condition. We have been able to trace only one other copy at auction in the last 25 years. It is considered to be one of the first widely circulated books on perfumery.

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The Book of Perfumes
Eugene Rimmel. Paris, London, Brussels, [1870]

Half-title, frontispiece, 12 plates, 1 chromolithographed, occasional foxing or spotting, original pictorial gilt, joints splitting, corners worn, 1865; Le Livre des Parfums, half-title, additional tinted lithographed pictorial title, 12 lithographed plates, 11 chromolithographed, occasional spotting, a few small stains to lower margins, original pictorial cloth, gilt, plastic protective wrapper adhered to cloth, Paris, London, Brussels, [1870]; and another copy of the first mentioned in a modern purple crushed morocco binding, 8vo (3)

B-A Note: I discovered several old perfume-related books yesterday, so there will be a theme today and tomorrow.

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Health & Hygiene for the German Woman, Illustrated
Fischer-Dückelmann, Anna. Die Frau als Hausärztin. Stuttgart: Süddeutsches Verlags-Institut, [1907?].

“Early edition of this pioneering German medical reference work by a woman for women: A complete and thorough illustrated guide, enabling women to maintain good health for both themselves and the children in their care. This work was significantly progressive for its time, covering potentially fraught topics such as homosexuality, masturbation, contraception, etc., frankly and openly; it was so popular that it went through multiple editions and was in print (in revised form) as late as 1979.”

“The author was an advocate of vegetarianism, abstinence from alcohol, and women physicians to treat women; she here provides encyclopedic information on an array of ailments and how to manage them, as well as detailed descriptions of pregnancy, birth, nursing (with the recommendation to maintain a vegetarian diet while doing so), and how to handle infants. “

(all text from prbm)

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Botanologia. The English Herbal: or, History of Plants
William Salmon. I.Dawks for H.Rhodes and J.Taylor, 1710.

First Edition. Additional engraved title by Michael van der Gucht after Eloas Knight, title in red and black, over 1500 woodcuts in text.

B-A Note: I thought this looked familiar. This is the second copy that I’ve seen come up at auction at Bloomsbury. This is a better image, although the previous copy didn’t have the scribbles at the top of the right page.

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Dutch Recipe Book, 1611.
Abraham de Bous.

Netherlands, 1611. 4to. Contemporary limp vellum (re-use of half of another binding). Ms. of which ca. 80 pp. animated with naive floral border ornaments and marginal illustrations including fruits, birds, insects, snakes, flowers, a fish, etc., coloured with washes, 3 pp. with small explanatory pen-drawings. Very nice and interesting early seventeenth-century cookery book, containing also recipes for medical care and painters.

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Dordrecht, A. Blussé en zoon, 1791.
Orig. wrappers. With 2 folding engr. plates, showing the apparatus needed for the making of soap.

Minute description of the making of soap, published in the series: Volledige beschrijving van alle konsten, ambachten, handwerken, fabrieken, trafieken, derzelver werkhuizen, gereedschappen, enz. ten deele overgenomen uit de beroemdste buitenlandsche werken; en vermeerderd met de Theorie en Praktijk der beste Inlandsche Konstenaaren en Handwerkslieden. 7e stuk (Complete description of all arts, handicrafts, trades and professions, partly based on the best foreign manuals and enlarged with theory and practice of the best Dutch artisans, no. 7).

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The Garden of Health: Containing the sundry rare and hidden vertues and properties of all kindes of Simples and Plants
Wiliam Langham. Thomas Harper, 1633.

Second edition, title with small tear at head, browned throughout, ink signatures of Thomas Barker and Joseph Churchill on title, other ink inscriptions at beginning and end including price paid “4d” and signatures and inscriptions of the Berry family: “Tho: Berry his Booke of Chipping Norton 1691” and “directions to send to Cosin Berry of London for my Brother Robert”.

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Botanologia.The English Herbal: or, History of Plants
William Salmon. I.Dawks for H.Rhodes and J.Taylor, 1710.

First Edition.