[With splendid provenance] Casp. Barthi Commentariorum libri X

Quibus ex universa antiquitatis serie, omnis generis, ad vicies octies centum, auctorum (...). Frankfurt, Sumptibus Iohannes Presii Bibliopolae, 1648, (68),3031,(1),(48 index) p., with beautifully engr. frontispiece w. engr. portrait of the author on verso, engr. printer's mark on title, woodcut printer's device at the end, contemporary Russia w. remnants of ties, folio.

Contents good. Spine and back cover faded/ dry; spine lacks letterpiece and dam. at the top. A very desirable copy, because of its remarkable provenance: with owner's entry of the famous Frisian collector and historian Simon Abbes Gabbema (1628-1688), dated 1650 on title p., and also with his dedication (to Fletcher?) "Simon Abbes Gabbema MDCLII Leoard. Frisiorúm Inserviendo consumor" on inside front cover. With a short bibliography "Scripta Casp. Barthii" (Kaspar von Barth (1587-1658)) by Gabbema on the second free endpaper, and an intriguing annotation in comparable hand "Heinsii laus et mors 2804" on a blank at the end. Indeed, at p. 2804 in the book itself, a small annotation in pen is written in the blank fore-edge margin concerning Daniel Heinsius, who died in 1655 ("Ast. Obiit Ann. MDCLV"). His extensive library was sold in the same year. Our copy also with the owner's entry in pen of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun (1655-1716), Scottish bibliophile, globetrotter, author of political works and member of parliament, friend of the philosopher John Locke. The greater part of the huge library (6000 books across a wide range of subjects, often bought during his travels) was sold in the 1960s. See P.J.M. Willems, Bibliotheca Fletcheriana, the extraordinary library of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, Reconstructed and Systematically Arranged (1999). We have a number of books with this exact owner's entry in this auction.