Catalogus 37 London 2015
P. 1







Antiquariaat De Slegte



Catalogue 37


London International Antiquarian Book Fair

Old & rare – Fine printing - Avant garde & literature


Wapper 5 – B 2000 Antwerpen 0032/3/231.66.27 www.deslegte.be antwerpen.wapper@deslegte.be

Prices on inserted leaflet


* Occas. sl. foxed; first four lvs. (starting from title-p.) marginal 
A pre-Braille printing in embossed type
repairs (1x repaired tear in middle); a few old annotations / 
owner's entries/ stamp (on title-page and verso); bibliographical 

1. Zangwijzen der Psalmen, bij de Hervormde Kerk in clipping mounted on first free endpaper. # Author (Milano, ca. 
gebruik, ten dienste van blinden. [Amsterdam, Instituut 1510 – Napoli, ca. 1558) of many works and translations. Many 
voor Blinden], 1817. 113 leaves. 4to. Half parchment, were published anonymous or pseudonymous. He is known as 

contemp. Boards, 4 ribbons. Vignet on inner sleeve translator of Cicero and made the first Italian translation of 
„Archief-exemplaar No 9370A J. Brandt & Zoon‟.
Utopia by Thomas More, published in Venice in 1548. Brunet 
* Melodies of the psalms, III, p.813: "Ces melanges historiques sont curieux, et difficiles a 
trouver."; STC British Museum p.377; G. Melzi, Dizionario di 
rendered in capital letters, 
printed in embossed type opere anonime e pseudonime di scrittori Italiani (Milan, 1859), 
for the use of pupils of the p.62 ("bizzarro scrittore"). Provenance: Library of Gerrit 
Institute for the Blind at Komrij. Very rare.

Amsterdam being trained 
as organist.
3. AGRICOLA, Georgius - Vom Berghwerck xii. B̈cher 
Very early example of a darĩ alle Empter / Instrument / Bezeuge unnd alles z̈ 
disem handel geḧrig [...].
book printed for the blind. 
I.e. the first to be printed Basel, Jeronymus 
in the Netherlands after Froben & Niclausen 
Bischoff, 1557. Folio in- 
the idea of printing with 
embossed type was 6 / [viii], 491, [xiii] pp. 
developed up from 1886 In 19th century half 
on by Valentin Häy calf with marbled 

(1745-1822), founder of boards, a leather title 
the world‟s first school for
ticket and gilt 
the blind in Paris. He devised a printing system that could be decoration to the spine. 

read with the fingertips. Häy used ordinary printing type, cast * Illustrated with 273 
in reverse, pressing it against the back of the paper to create woodcuts in the text and 
embossed Roman letters. The system was improved in 1816 by 2 woodcut plates, further 
Häy‟s successor at the Paris school, Sebastien Guillí, who 
decorated with a printer‟s 
designed a more open design of the round-hand type. While mark to the title page and 
Häy had used a copperplate press, Guillí used a common the final page, and 
printing press with two people pulling on the bar to create the decorated initials. This 

additional pressure needed to emboss paper. In 1824 Louis copy with cropped 
Braille developed his braille system, using dots instead of raised margins, and scattered 
letter types, in 1824. He published a book outlining his dot marginal annotations in 
system in 1829. The first raised-print books in the United States 
ink. Pages lxxviii & lxxix 
appeared no sooner than in 1832. It makes „Zangwijzen der were stuck together (now 
Psalmen’ one of the first examples of a book printed for the blind loose, damaging the page
worldwide. Very firm and clean copy. Very rare.
and illustration a little), a stain to the illustrations on page 

xxxvi-xxxvii. A quite crisp and clean copy in very good 
condition. The later spine faded.
OLD & RARE
# First German edition of Agricolás famous work on metallurgy 

(original title: De re metallica libri xii [12 books on the nature of 
2. [LANDO, Ortensio] - Sette libri de cathaloghi a varie metals], 1556). Georgius Agricola (=Georg Pawer, 1494-1555) 
cose appartenenti, non solo antiche, ma anche moderne: was born in Glauchau. His interest in mining began during his 

opera utile molto alla historia, et da cui prender si pù studies of medicine, physics and chemistry, but became poignant 
materia di favellare d'ogni proposito che ci occorra. during his appointment as physician in Joachimsthal, a centre of 
Venice, Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari e fratelli, 1552 [1553]. In- mining and smelting works. Here, he decided to test theories on 
metallurgy and mineralogy. Later he moved from Joachimsthal 
16, 567, (1)p. Woodcut printer's vignette on title-page and 
on last page, woodcut initials, later vellum with gilt letter to Chemnitz, the epicentre of the German mining industry, 
piece, nice marbled edges.
where he could intensify and freely pursue his studies into the


Boekhandel-Antiquariaat De Slegte Wapper 5, 2000 Antwerpen – antwerpen.wapper @ deslegte.com – 0031 (0) 3.231.66.27 – BTW. BE 0455 023 038





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