Books of the Month - Sold on Commission: Brian Walton's "London" 17th Century Polyglot Bible

We have been honored to be contacted by some new friends of the store who have entrusted us to sell their rare and significant Bibles from the 16th and 17th centuries.  We thank this wonderful couple for entrusting us with their treasured possessions and for agreeing to allow us to sell their books on commission.  We are normally reluctant to take books on commission because it can be a vexing process for both buyer and seller, however in this case it's been a wonderful opportunity for us to deal in some of the finest printed matter in the world.

That being said, we recently sold an incredible set of Brian Walton's Biblia Sacra Polyglotta dating from 1654-1657.  These six volumes comprise one of the most significant polyglot (multi-language) Bibles of the Early Modern Period/Era because they were the first to include Ethiopic and Persian.  These volumes contain the translation of the Bible in 9! languages commonly used in the 17th century.  The set we sold was in need of re-binding but contained all all 2,938 leaves originally printed.  The first volume also contained the most beautiful plates I have seen in the seven years I have been directly dealing with books.  Some photos are attached below.  Again, these books were an incredible glimpse into a different era of human history and we were fortunate and honored to have been entrusted in the task of selling them for their rightful owners.  We are happy to say that they have been sold to a very serious Bible collector and scholar and we thank all of the parties involved in the transaction.

If you have any questions about the books or would like to discuss the sale of books you own please feel free to contact us directly at longfellowspdx@comcast.net  Thanks again for visiting and Happy Holidays!

Beautiful old versions of Dante's Inferno acquired (and sold)

*****UPDATE: BOTH OF THESE COPIES HAVE SOLD, AND WERE SOLD QUICKLY AFTER THEY WERE ACQUIRED.  We have had almost a dozen inquiries about these books in the last two weeks, after not having any for over a year.  This must mean that we've been listed somewhere new and are getting more traffic; thank you very much for looking at our website and blog but unfortunately we haven't seen any similar copies at all since we sold these two, and to be honest it appears as though the price has increased since then, to between $300-400.  Again, thanks very much for looking****

We've recently come into possession of two very old and very beautiful versions of Dante Alighieri, both of which date to the latter half of the 19th century. One was published by Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. There is no date stated anywhere on the book, however it is the New edition, as stated. It is 13" x 10", bound in full leather with gilt accents. It's truly a beautiful copy of a very rare book, extremely difficult to find in this condition. It is also filled with black and white plates which were drawn by Gustave Dore. I'm including pictures of the book's cover and some of the plates.

The second book is an Italian version of the same book, dating from approximately the same era. The book is in a little worse condition, with some general rubbing and so forth, although I would hazard to guess that the book is in better condition than most of the copies you'll find at this point. It dates from approximately the same era, is the same size and also contains many plates by Dore.

We think that these are both very special books to be in possession of, and are sure that there are people out there who would be interested in them. The English version is priced at $275, and the Italian is priced over $200 as well. Please ask us any questions you might have about either book at longfellowspdx@comcast.net