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The Rare Great Seal of Ferdinand and Isabella, On an Illuminated, Unique Document of Flemish and Spanish Art, Establishing a Commercial Center as a Reward to the Family of King John II's Bodyguard

The Rare Great Seal of Ferdinand and Isabella, On an Illuminated, Unique Document of Flemish and Spanish Art, Establishing a Commercial Center as a Reward to the Family of King John II's Bodyguard by Ferdinand & Isabella

3 to 5 days for delivery
Standard Shipping: $25.00
Details
$26,000.00
( US$)
Seller: The Raab Collection
Title
The Rare Great Seal of Ferdinand and Isabella, On an Illuminated, Unique Document of Flemish and Spanish Art, Establishing a Commercial Center as a Reward to the Family of King John II's Bodyguard
Author
Ferdinand & Isabella
Seller
The Raab Collection (United States)
Description
12/09/1497. We found no record for a great seal of the Catholic Monarchs having reached the market, nor any record of a document from the Court of the Great Monarchs of this ornate, illuminated nature from this early having come up for sale The large lead seal, attached with multicolored thread, shows Ferdinand on horseback; Isabella on the throne In 711, Muslim Moors crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and began their conquest of Southern Spain. So began Islamic rule in Spain that would last 300 years in much of the Iberian Peninsula and nearly 800 years in Granada and the South in a group of Muslim states called Al-Andalus. John II of Castile, Isabella's father, was King of Castile and León from 1406 to 1454. He succeeded his older sister, Maria of Castile, Queen of Aragon, as Prince of Asturias in 1405. John was the son of King Henry III and his wife, Catherine of Lancaster, a granddaughter of King Peter.On October 19, 1469, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille married, bringing together the two crowns and uniting Christian parts of Spain as they had not been previously. At the time of their marriage, Muslim control over Spain had weakened. The heart of its remaining power was in the Emirate of Granada, iconicized in the oft-visited Al-Hambra, an Emirate which centered on the city and expanded into a great portion of Southern Spain. Among those towns outside Granada was Montefrio, then called Munt Farid. This town was taken by the Spanish in 1486 and only populated by military personnel and others taking part in the “Guerra de los Moros”, or war against the Moors. It was a gateway city to the stronghold of Granada and part of the effort of the Catholic Monarchs to chip away at Muslim control. It is approximately 35 miles from Granada itself.It was only by virtue of loans from Castile’s great benefactors that Ferdinand and Isabella waged the war to expel the Muslims from Spanish territory. Foremost among these was Alonso de Aguilar, who had been involved in this decades-long Holy Warm, fought in many battles, and was considered a hero. He was also a close friend and companion of explorer Ponce de Leon, who would discover Florida. Washington Irving, in his “Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada,” extolled the virtues of Aguilar. Ponce de Leon, he explained, had a faithful friend, “among the most distinguished of the Christian cavalry. This was Don Alonso de Cordova…. He was one of the most hardy, valiant, and enterprising Spanish knights, and foremost in all service of a perilous and adventurous nature.”In April of 1491, the Catholic Monarchs brought their forces into camp on the road to Granada, near Castro del Rio. From there they would proceed to Granada, and besiege the city. Castile’s bravest nobles formed the vanguard of the army of approximately 50,000 men. Ferdinand and Isabella traveled with the army, with Ferdinand in an advanced position. With victory at Granada, the Catholic Monarchs sought to extend their control and solidify their power, expel the Moors, and begin to repopulate the occupied lands.The reign of the Catholic Monarchs corresponded with a flourishing in art and culture in Spain. Castile was a major exporter of wool for Flemish looms; in return, Castilians bought finished goods from Flanders, including tapestries, sculpture and paintings. But this fascination with Flemish art was developing even before. In the 15th century both Juan II of Castile (1405-54) and Alfonso V (1396-1458), King of Aragón and Naples, collected works by Roger van der Weyden, one of best-known Flemish painters of the time. Alfonso V also entertained as early as 1428 Jan van Eyck – arguably the most influential Flemish painter of the 15th century. And in 1431, Alfonso’s court painter, Luis Dalmau, travelled to Flanders possibly on a mission for the king but also to acquaint himself with the works of the Flemish masters. Ferdinand and Isabella had several paintings by Flemish and German artists in her collection, many of which can be seen in the sacristy of the Royal Chapel in Granada (where she and Ferdinand are buried). Furthermore, she invited two northern painters to serve as court painters. This extended to manuscript art.Separate from art, Ferdinand and Isabella worked to develop the commercial centers of their empire. The granting of a right to have this commercial center, or market, was a major event in the development of a region. This tied the monarchs to the town and the town to the monarchs and was a special right given conservatively.Sancho Sánchez De Avila (5th Lord of Avila, Villanueva de Gomez) was the bodyguard of King John II, Isabella's father, and died in the mid 15th century. He married twice. From first wife he had Gómez Dávila Fajardo (6th Lord of Avila). Gomez married Juana de Rivera and had Sancho Sánchez Dávila de Rivera (7th Lord of Avila, Villanueva).Document Signed, September 12, 1497, Fernand Alvarez (the Secretary to the Monarchs), Gonzalo de Baeca (Royal accountant), Rodericus Doctor, Antonius Doctor, the same men who signed the privileges for Columbus's orders that same year for his 3rd expedition, granting the rights for the town of Villanueva to have their own commercial center, issues to Sancho Sanchez of Avila, the 7th, 330 x 240 mm. 4 vellum leaves. 41-45 long lines, faintly ruled in lead (written area: 215 x 150 mm). Copied in a round Spanish script. The first page is beautifully decorated with a Flemish-style border at top and inner margin, consisting of flowers, fruits, birds and acanthus scrolls on an ochre ground, one 11-line decorated initial on a golden metallic ground, one 4-line metallic initial on blue and mauve ground, first line of text consists of similar golden initials on blue and mauve grounds. Stitched into a parchment wrapper using a twisted silk cord made of strands of blue, yellow, green, red, and pink. The same cord attaches a lead seal (ca. 80 mm in diameter) depicting Ferdinand on horseback on one side and Isabella enthroned holding a scepter on the other.The art on the document displays a beautiful combination of Spanish and Flemish art, a unique development at this era in Spain.The document begins by noting that the Monarchs ""have seen a sealed charter of privilege from the lord King Don Juan, our lord and father, may he rest in holy glory, written on parchment and sealed with his lead seal, hanging by threads of colored silk, and issued by some officials of his household, made in this manner:"" John's order, dated, December 7, 1420, reads in small part: ""I, the King, in order to do good and grant favor to the council, mayors, constable, officials, and good men of Villanueva, a place belonging to Sancho Sánchez de Ávila, my vassal and my bodyguard, so that you may be better settled, and because the said Sancho Sánchez requested it of me as a favor, I am pleased and it is my will that from now on and forevermore there be held in the said place, each week on Thursday, a market and public square for the buying and selling of all goods that may arrive or take place there; and that the persons and goods coming to said square and market and present there on the said day each week shall have and enjoy all the protections, liberties, and exemptions that are had and enjoyed by those living and present in other places of my kingdoms where, in a similar manner, they have by my grace—and by the grace of the kings from whom I descend—the said market and square.""There follows another section, copied from a document in 1421, in which John confirms this right, noting, in part, that ""no one nor any persons shall dare now or henceforth to wound, nor kill, nor maim, nor dishonor, nor do any harm, damage, or injury whatsoever to such persons nor to any one of them, nor to use force against them, nor rob them, nor do them any other wrong, nor to take from them the said merchandise and goods nor any part thereof that they thus bring to the said market at the said place or have there or carry from there to any other parts against their will, under the penalties that are established in such cases against those who do and commit the contrary... And I strictly forbid that anyone or any persons dare to act or proceed against these said favors, exemptions, liberties, and graces that I grant them, nor against any part of them, in order to break or diminish them at any time or in any way; and whoever does so shall incur my wrath, and moreover shall pay me a penalty of one thousand maravedís of the current coin for each offense, and to the said council and good men of said place, or to whoever holds or shall hold their rights, double all the costs, damages, and losses that they may thereby suffer... And I, the aforementioned King Don Juan, reigning together with Queen Doña María, my wife, and with the Infanta Doña Catalina, my sister, in Castile, León, Toledo, Galicia, Seville, Córdoba, Murcia, Jaén, Baeza, Badajoz, El Algarve, Algeciras, Vizcaya, Molina, grant and confirm this privilege."" There follows a copied long list of those who have confirmed this.The final portion is the portion dedicated to the Spanish markets. ""We, the aforesaid King Don Ferdinand and Queen Doña Isabella, wishing to do good and show favor to you, the said Sancho Sánchez, have deemed it well, and by the present letter we confirm and approve for you the said charter of privilege incorporated above and the grant contained therein, and we command that it shall be valid and be kept in every respect according as it is contained and declared therein, in the same way as it was better and more fully valid and kept in the time of the said Lord King Don Juan, our father, and of the Lord King Don Enrique, our brother, of blessed memory, and in our time up to now....And of this we commanded to be given, and we did give, this our charter of privilege and confirmation, written on parchment of leather, sealed with our lead seal hanging by threads of colored silk, and sealed by our record keepers and chief scribes of our privileges and confirmations, and by other officials of our household.""Alvarez has written: ""I, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, secretary of the King and Queen, our lords, and Gonzalo de Baeza, auditor of the relations of their highnesses and regents, the chief scribe of their privileges and confirmations, caused it to be written by their command.""A full transcription and translation is available.We found no record for a great seal of the Catholic Monarchs having reached the market. While illuminated manuscripts in Spain are found from later in the 16th century, we also found no record of a document of this ornate, illuminated nature from this early having come up for sale.Our gratitude to the noted scholar David Arbesu of the University of South Florida for his expertise.
Typed letter signed

Typed letter signed by HEMINGWAY Ernest

7 to 14 days for delivery
Standard Shipping: $15.00
Details
$25,000.00
( US$)
Seller: Bauman Rare Books
Title
Typed letter signed
Author
HEMINGWAY Ernest
Seller
Bauman Rare Books (United States)
Description
1949. HEMINGWAY, Ernest. Typed letter twice signed ""Papa"" to Peter Viertel. Finca Vigia, Cuba, 29 September 1949. Quarto, two sheets of Hemingway's ""Finca Vigia, San Francisco de Paula, Cuba"" stationery, each leaf measuring 8-1/2 inches by 11 inches, typed in black ink, single-spaced, on one side of each leaf for two full pages of typed text, heavily annotated in pen by Hemingway. $25,000.Extraordinary typed and heavily annotated letter from Hemingway in Cuba to friend and fellow author and screenwriter Peter Viertel in Malibu, California, a long, lively letter discussing his writing progress, a proposed trip, hunting and shooting pigeons, drinking, baseball and a new whore in town, with over 150 words of additional notes written in the margins and on the verso of the second page in blue ink by Hemingway. Twice signed as 'Papa.'.The letter, on Hemingway's Finca Vigia stationery, addressed to Peter Viertel in Malibu, CA, reads in full [with Hemingway's manuscript annotations in brackets and italics]:[Poor John, the ex-light weight champion, with his bag of feathers. I'll be god-damned. Papa.]Dear Peter: Am awfully sorry to be answering your letter of 31 August now. I thought I had done it but have been working so very hard that it got mixed in with other stuff that I put away in the ""Must Be Answered at Once"". [That is no damn excuse. Have been jamming like in a six day bike race.]It would be wonderful if you and Jige could go across at the same time as we do. We will be leaving on the ILE DE FRANCE from New York on 1 November. Please don't tell this to anyone as I want to get in and out o town quiet. Will be pooped from working on book and I want to see the town anyway without all that crap. Have done over 15,000 words snice I got your letter. Been going like I was possessed by the devil and figure, with luck, to finish this book now in three weeks. Then we don't have to worry about nothing. Please keep security on this, too.Don't worry about the Finca being empty. It would have been wonderful to have you guys out here as I think it is a good place to live and to work. But a Hell of a nice girl who works in the Embassy will stay out here while we are gone and that we will not have to worry. I only hate to have it empty when you keep on the big staff of servants who you cannot let go without giving them three months' pay. We plan to be in Europe for some six weeks to two months. Will be in Paris for a little while and then go down to Venice. This is going to be the last year of the great shoot there as the duck marshes are going to be drained for some agrarian reform project. If you wanted to come down there for a little while we could get in a couple of damned good shoots. Fifty to sixty high flying ducks in a day is about what you'd get in a season in the states. They have mallards, pintail, widgeon, teal, redheads and lots of unknown ducks; all coming down from behind the Iron Curtain and plenty fat. I think they must fly over the Iron Curtain at night.Everything goes good down here. Mary is up in Chicago checking on her folks who are quite old and she should pay them a visit. Haven't heard from her yet about how they are because she figures that we are at sea. [(they are ok but her mother too bored with death coming on and too fragile to travel.)] But we had to put back in after six days out because there are about five tropical disturbances forming and kicking around. In the bad weather we stayed at Puerto Escondido, you remember the place where I shot that iguana, and I wrote 5,000 some words while we were holed up. Have been having awfully good luck with it and it goes as fast as when I wrote THE SUN ALSO RISES in six weeks and the day I wrote THE KILLERS in Madrid one morning when it snowed and a story called TEN INDIANS in the afternoon and then couldn't cool out and wrote TODAY IS FRIDAY in the evening. After that got drunk. The only trouble writing alone here is like pitching with nobody in the stands or making a Hell of a fight to absolutely empty seats. [I wonder why this girl capitalizes Hell. Must be early training.] Have been pitching one hit and no hit ball and am pitching double headers like Ed Walsh. He was the only man they said who could ever strut while sitting down but he won 40 ball games in one year for a team that never gave him more than one or two runs. I'm going awfully good. Wish the Hell you and Jige were here to read it and tell me whether it's as good as it feels. When you're half a hundred years old you ought to be able to tell pretty well, though, unless you've gone into your second childhood. Hope this hasn't happened. Would like to live to be a smart and mean old man. Removed. And just lay back and let the bastards lead. Have scrapped about 100,000 words. After all, the test of whether a book is any good is how much good stuff you can remove from it. This also confidential.John's evening life with his hound sounds very interesting. What happens here is that I wake up around 3 or 4 in the morning and go to work and Blackie wakes up very reluctantly because he certainly loves his sleep, and then lies down beside where I am working and keeps his eyes open all the time. He had a terrible nervous crisis when we made him retrieve a couple of pigeons at the club. He doesn't believe in hurting anything nor in anything hurting him. [Have got him threw [sic] it and he retrieved 17 then 22 and yest 40. I killed 23 x 25 from 30 meters.] All cats are fine and so are all the dogs. Please give my best to Eddie Rolfe and tell him I am writing him. Have been terribly remiss on letters on account of working so hard. When you finish working you try to get some exercise so as to be able to sleep a little so you can work the next day. I can always work but I know you have to feed the horse and let him rest sometimes.I am shooting good and have been practicing shooting pigeons from 30 meters so as to be able to go up to the big shoot in Kansas City next March if my form justifies it. So far it does but working tires your eyes and your eyes are what you shoot with along with a couple of other things. The entry fee on that shoot is $1,000. I have beaten several of the guys who have won it but you have to be in really good form to shoot it as it's 100 birds and that more or less eliminates the luck and separates the characters pretty well. If you guys need any dough for trip or anything let me know because as soon as book is finished I will stink with it. [or stench with it. But not for long.]I read the bull book that you wrote about but it didn't mean anything to me. Know 30 or more better stories than that about bull fighting that will never write. That may sound conceited and it probably is but who the Hell isn't sometimes? Will tell you three stories when we get together that I know, as samples.Please give my best love to Jige and the two of you accept Mary's which I know she would send if she were here. There is a big wind today so we are going down and shoot some pigeons. They ought to fly very well. Wish you were here. It is very lonesome. We have a fine new whore in town who has just come in and who really loves the profession. She was cut out for it. But have turned her over to a friend of mine and am sticking it out, that's probably not the phrase, til Mary gets back. don't know when that will be yet. Had hoped to stay at sea so as to be a good boy. But this weather has bitched that. It is hard being a good boy alone in this town when you are a lonesome character.[I had to give in and play the whore and we drank 7 bottles of Roederers Brut '42 and fucked all night until it was daylight, both got battle fatigue I guess. Anyway I wrote only 708 words. I speak to whore very slow in English since she wants to learn English like all whores have some project and then translate soft and good in Spanish. There are going to be a lot of complications in Venice and we will have to cover it like Tinker and Johnny Evers. What we need is a third baseman and Hal Clease at 1st. Papa. Maybe we can recall Willie Walton from the American Association to play 3rd. He can't hit. But he can field (womens)]. Fine condition. An extraordinary Hemingway letter.
Happō danō kō 發泡打膿考 [Study of Drainage from Western Medicine]

Happō danō kō 發泡打膿考 [Study of Drainage from Western Medicine] by TAKEBE, Yū 武部游

7 to 14 days for delivery
Standard Shipping: $20.00
Details
$3,500.00
( US$)
Seller: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc.
Title
Happō danō kō 發泡打膿考 [Study of Drainage from Western Medicine]
Author
TAKEBE, Yū 武部游
Seller
Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc. (United States)
Description
1818. Seven full-page woodcuts & a few smaller text illus. 49 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. semi-stiff wrappers, orig. block-printed title label on upper cover, modern stitching. Wakayama 若山: Kasedaya Hiemon 綛田屋丕右衞門 et al., 1818. First edition of Takebe’s translation of and commentary on Lorenz Heister’s important writings on infections and their treatment. Heister (1683-1758), wrote one of the best and most complete works on surgery of the 18th century. Translated into Japanese, it was enormously successful, introducing Western methods to many Japanese surgeons. Takebe (1782-1842), a samurai, has included here all of Heister’s writings on infections and has provided a number of his own case histories. Many pharmaceutical recipes are described, some including aloe (the plant is illustrated on two pages). Methods of lancing are illustrated along with Western surgical instruments. Very nice copy, preserved in a chitsu. Minor worming, carefully repaired.
The Art of Aubrey Beardsley

The Art of Aubrey Beardsley by SYMONS, Arthur. (James Ross)

7 to 14 days for delivery
Standard Shipping: $5.50
Details
$950.00
( US$)
Seller: Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA
Title
The Art of Aubrey Beardsley
Author
SYMONS, Arthur. (James Ross)
Seller
Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA (United States)
Condition
Very Good
Description
New York: The Modern Library, 1925. Hardcover. Very Good. First Modern Library edition. Introduction by Arthur Symons. Spine sunned and a little rolled, very good lacking the dustwrapper. Ownership Signature of novelist James Ross on the front fly (this book eventually ended up in the library of Ross's sister and brother-in-law, the National Book Award-nominated poet Eleanor Ross Taylor and her husband, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Peter Taylor). Ross is best known for his 1940 noir classic novel *They Don't Dance Much*. Although Ross lived another 50 years, he never published another book. His signature is very uncommon.
Model Shop (Original photograph of Jacques Demy and Gary Lockwood on the set of the 1969 film)

Model Shop (Original photograph of Jacques Demy and Gary Lockwood on the set of the 1969 film) by Jacques Demy (director, screenwriter); Anouk Aimee, Gary Lockwood, Alexandra Hay (starring)

7 to 14 days for delivery
Standard Shipping: $10.00
Details
$375.00
( US$)
Seller: Royal Books
Title
Model Shop (Original photograph of Jacques Demy and Gary Lockwood on the set of the 1969 film)
Author
Jacques Demy (director, screenwriter); Anouk Aimee, Gary Lockwood, Alexandra Hay (starring)
Seller
Royal Books (United States)
Description
N.p.: N.p., 1969. Vintage borderless reference photograph of director Jacques Demy with actors Gary Lockwood and Anouk Aimee on the set of the 1969 film. Demy's first English language film, recently a subject of renewed interest in two different documentaries about the Laurel Canyon music scene of the late 1960s. A young, discontented man in a dead-end relationship learns his draft notice has arrived and he is due to report for Army duty the following week. While out trying to raise money to keep his car from being repossessed, he sees, and becomes obsessed with, the beautiful Lola, an older French model who works in a "model shop" posing for photographers. Set and shot on location in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles. 10 x 8.25 inches. Near Fine. Twilight Time 327.

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