‎SPORI, Pierre (1923-1989):‎
‎Le Roi.‎

‎Le Roi David. Drame en 2 parties tiré de la Bible. Bois d'Henry Bischoff. (Second title: Le Roi David. Musique d'Arthur Honegger...).‎

‎Lausanne, Édition de la Licorne, 1921. Bound in exquisite full morocco, composed of 3 different colours of morocco, green, light brown and red. Inner joints in morocco. In matching slip-case. With a long dedication (8 lines) from the author ""á Mademoiselle Agnete With"", signed and dated by the author ""René Morax/ Morges... 1921"". The book is bound by the recipient, the respected Danish bookbinder Agnete With (1899-1972) and signed in blind on inside backcover. 168,(2) pp.‎

‎First edition. Arthur Honegger composed the music to Morax's play and the music became his break-through as a composer.""Arthur Honegger was commissioned to write incidental music to accompany René Morax’s play Le Roi David in 1921. Honegger was given the nearly impossible deadline of 2 months to complete the work and was rewarded with much acclaim at the premiere. In 1923 he combined Morax’s narrative with his music and created a ""symphonic psalm,"" the form that is familiar today, and titled his work Le Roi David.""(Wikipedia)‎

‎MEMOIRE pour justifier La Conduite du Roi contre les Fousses imputations de la Cour de Saxe.‎

‎Bln., 1756. + Memoire Raisonné sur la Conduite des Cours de Vienne et de Saxe,et sur leurs Desseins dangereux contre Sa Majesté le Roi de Prusse,avec les Pie ces Originales ... No Place,1756. + Refutation de la Response... Bln., 1756. + Repose du Ministre du Roi...Bln., 1756. 4to. Cont.boards. 15,44,36,(10),31 pp.‎

‎Ekklesiastikes Istorias (Greek)... Ecclesiasticae Hisoriae. Eusebii Pamphilii Eiusdem de vita ConstantiniSocratisThedoriti episcopi CurensisCollectaneorum ex historia eccles. Thodori LectorisHermii SozomeniEuagrii - [THE ""GRECS DU ROI""-TYPES]‎

‎Paris, Stephanus (Estienne), 1544. Folio. Contemporary full vellum with some wear. Six raised bands to spine and large blindstamped centrepieces to boards. Capitals and upper part of back board worn and torn"" but binding still fine and solid. Some dampstaining, especially to beginning and end, though mostly marginal. Back end-paprs quite dampstained. A worn, but still nice copy with mostly bright and clean pages. Bookplate to inside of front board and old owner's inscriptions and a pasted-in catalogue-description to front free end-paper. Numerous large foliated and grotesque initials and headpieces and large woodcut printer's device on title-page (basilisk) and verso of final leaf (the so-called device 10) . (4), 361 (misnumbered as 353, and including blank P5), 181, (5) ff.‎

‎The rare editio princeps of one of the most beautiful and elegant of all renaissance printings, namely Estienne's magnificent volume of ""Church History"", which constitutes the first major Greek text produced by Estienne as the King's Printer in Greek and the work which marks the first appearance of a full text in the fist font of the Royal Greek types (the so-called ""grecs du roi"") - ""These cursive Greek types are universally acknowledged as the finest ever cut."" (Schreiber). This is also the first book in which appear the splendid matching initials and headpieces, which are considered ""among the best of the printed decorations used in the sixteenth century"" (Updike). In 1542, Francois I appointed Estienne his new printer in Greek, and at the same time he commissioned Claude Garamond to cut a new Greek font intended specifically to be used to print Greek books from then unpublished manuscripts in the Royal Library at Fontainebleu. The first text selected for printing by Estienne was the great ""Ecclesistical History"", which marks a new era of book printing. Garamont's new Royal Greek types, the later so famous ""grecs du Roi"", used for it, were based on the handwriting of the Cretan Angelo Vergezio's (a well-known calligrapher), with its many ligatures" the capitals were influenced by roman letters that Garamont had already cut. One of the particularities of these fonts was the introduction of accents and breathing marks, made with the use of kerned letters. Garamont's skill can clearly be seen in the ligatures and the treatment of the abbreviations.The work is very difficult to find complete. Schreiber: 77.‎

‎Voyage fait par Ordre du Roi en 1768 et 1769, à différentes Parties du Monde, Pour éprouver en mer les Horloges Marines inventées par M. Ferdinand Berthoud. Première partie, Contenant 1. Le Journal des Horloges Marines, ou la suite de quatorze vérifi... - [TESTING BERTHOUD'S CHRONOMETER.]‎

‎Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1773. 4to. 2 nice contemp. full mottled calf. 5 raised bands. Richly gilt spines, tome-and titlelabels with gilt lettering. Neat repairs to top of spines. Stamps on title-pages. Corners a bit bumped. (4),LXXIX,803"(4),622 pp., 5 folded engraved maps, 1 engraved plate and 5 folded tables. Light browning to a few quires. Lower right corners on the last 3 leaves in volume 1 with a mild foxing.‎

‎First edition of this splendid work, in which the observations from the testing of Berthaud's marine chronometer were presented for the first time. Fleurieu took part in a one-year sea campaign to test Berthoud's first marine chronometer, in an attempt to beat Britain in the race to find a reliable way to calculate longitude. The chronometers he thus refined with Ferdinand Berthoud for their later experiments, were the object of major struggles with the king's horologer, Pierre Le Roy. Finally, Claret de Fleurieu and Berthoud were entrusted with the task, setting out on the testing expedition from autumn 1768 to 11 October 1769 on the frigate Isis under Fleurieu's command. The chronometers almost invariably indicated the hour as accurately after the ship had left port, as if they were still on land. Knowing the actual local time at each present location by astronomy, they could easily determine the ship's exact position and longitude on a chart. The results of their observations were published in 1773 under the title Voyage fait par ordre du roi, pour éprouver les horloges marines (""Voyage made by order of the king, to test marine chronometers"").Sabin, 24750.‎

‎Histoire de la ligue faite à Cambray entre Jules II Pape, Maximilien I Empereur, Louis XII Roi de France, Ferdinand V Roi d'Arragon, & tous les princes d'Italie. Contre la République de Venise. 2 vols. ‎

‎Paris, Florentin Delaulne, 1709. 8vo. Bound in one contemporary full calf binding with four raised bands and richly gilt spine. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spine. Previous owner's name to front free end-paper in contemporary hand. Light wear to extremities, but overall a nice and clean copy. XXI, (3), 454, (2), 563 pp. ‎

‎Rare first edition of Dubos’ history on The War of the League of Cambrai also known as the War of the Holy League, fought from February 1508 to December 1516 as part of the Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war were France, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice, they were joined at various times by nearly every significant power in Western Europe. “(The present work) was a clear and engaging history of the alliance, including France, assembled by Pope Julius II to wage war against the Venetian Republic between 1508 and 1516. The book was praised by, among others, Voltaire.” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Jean-Baptiste Du Bos (b. 1670, d. 1742) was a French antiquarian, historian, diplomat, polymath, and aesthetician. He participated in the Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns, wrote on numismatics, delved into a variety of historical questions, and had an enduring love of the fine arts. Barbier II, 700.‎