Susanne Schulz-Falster Catalogue Ten - Schulz-Falster Rare Books

The Whore’s Rhettorick
231 [PALLAVICINO, Ferrante.] La Rettorica delle Puttane,
Composta conforme li precetti di Cipriano. Dedicata all’Università
delle Cortegiane più Celebri. Villafranca, [Amsterdam, Louis Daniel
Elzevier], 1673. £1200
12mo, pp. 124; printer’s mark to title page, decorated initials; light
even browning; eighteenth-century full crushed red morocco; a.e.g.,
sides with double-gilt border, spine ruled and lettered in gilt;
extremities a little rubbed and foot of spine chipped; an attractive copy.
Second edition of Pallavicino’s famous erotic narrative, translated as The
Whore’s Rhettorick, a burlesque modelled on Aretino’s Ragionamenti. The
work consists of Wctional dialogues between a poor young woman who is
trying to better her station in life, and a woman of pleasure. They debate the
relative merits of virtue versus using one’s female powers for pleasure and
personal gain. It was Wrst published in 1642, and in 1673 also issued as part
of Pallavicino’s Opere Scelte. Pallavicino (1615–44), a free-thinking intellectual
and rebellious monk, wrote religious novels, satirical Wction and erotic
narratives that can barely be characterised as novels. In 1644 he was beheaded
at Avignon for anti-papal writings.
Brunet IV, 327; Gay-Lemmonier III, 1012; Graesse V, p. 110; Melzi I, 432; H. B.
Copinger, Elzevier 3472; Willems 1488.
The First Practical Treatise on the Woodcut
232 PAPILLON, Jean Michel. Traité historique de la gravure en
bois. Ouvrage enrichi des plus jolis morceaux de sa composition &
de sa gravure. Paris, Pierre Guillaume Simon, 1766. £4200
Three volumes, bound in two, 8vo, pp. xxxii including woodcut
frontispiece, 540, with one chiaroscuro woodcut plate bound in; xv, [i],
388; [iv], 124; part two with 5 plates illustrating progressive stages in
printing a chiaroscuro woodcut; in all seven plates, woodcut head and
tail pieces, title vignettes, and a large number of woodcuts printed in the
text; one initial printed in red (volume I, p. 369); some scattered foxing
and spotting, especially at beginning and end; a few signatures lightly
browned; contemporary full mottled sheep, spine gilt, gilt-lettered spine
labels; some surface scratches to sides, discreet repairs to head and tail of
spine; an attractive copy.
First edition of the Wrst practical treatise on the woodcut. It is famous for a
series of 5 progressive plates showing the successive stages of printing a
chiaroscuro woodcut. The Wrst volume of the treatise deals with the history
of printing and illustration, Volume two covers the methods of wood cutting
in detail with clear illustrations and tools and procedures. It also includes
information on design, perspective, and printing. Volume three, the
supplement, is autobiographical and also contains various testimonials, table
of contents and errata. Papillon (1698–1776), who came from a family
susanne schulz-falster rare books catalogue ten
of well-known wood engravers, was one of the best French designers and
engravers of woodcuts for book work, employed by both French and
Dutch publishers. The Traité can be seen as a showcase for his work with its
136 woodcut head and tail pieces and 257 other illustrations, large and
small, incorporated in the text – only the portrait is by another hand.
Bigmore & Wyman II, p. 116; Jackson Burke 1034; see John Jackson, A treatise on
Wood Engraving, Historical and Technical (London, 1839) pp. 542–554.
233 PASTA, Giuseppe. La Tolleranza WlosoWca delle Malattie.
Bergamo, Stamperia Locatelli, 1787. £550
8vo, pp. viii, 284, [1]; contemporary half mottled sheep over boards,
spine ruled and decorated in gilt, gilt-lettered spine label; insigniWcant
worming to upper joint; very clean and crisp; a Wne copy.