46 résultats
1687289634Zug. : Muosischen Druckerey. 1687. Contemporary vellum. . Good covers soiled front hinge split old repair to preliminaries at gutter moderate foxing throughout old library marking to preliminaries a little light mostly marginal dampstaining. . 4to. 20.5x15.5 cm. . German text. Uncommon Zug edition of a popular work. Woodcut frontis with arcane illustration of demons dancing around a hanging Judas. Muosischen Druckerey. hardcover books
1700D5997Nurnberg: J. Chr. Weigel c. 1700. First and only Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Speckled calf gilt-stamped ornament on spine; 4to; with copper-engraved title-page and 67 copper-engraved plates 1 of them lightly colored. Very rare work illustrating various human follies and obsessions according to Bertsche not by Santa Clara although that's the general assumption. Title-page and 1 plate professionally restored; some plates neatly repaired with tape or reinforced with paper on the verso; occasional marginal chip or tear infringing upon the image itself in just 2 instances; 2 plates with marginal ink doodles. <br/><br/> J. Chr. Weigel hardcover books
167719726Paris: Frederic Leonard 1677. 16mo. Engr. t.-p. 6 1 pp. 7 6 ff. 211 3 pp. 1 f. 550 pp. 19 ff. 237 3 pp. <br><br>The main title-page is engraved with the title printed above the illustration.<br>Â Â Â Â There are special title-pages and paginations for "Examen de la liberté originaire de Venise. Traduit de l'Italien. Avec une Harangue de Louïs Hïlian . Traduite du Latin. Et des Remarques Historiques. Sur la copie a Ratisbonne Chez J. Aubri . 1677"; "Histoire du gouvernement de Venise avec le supplement; par le sieur Amelot de la Houssaie. Et l'examen de la Liberté originaire de Venise. Sur la copie a Paris; Chez Frederic Leonard . 1677"; and "Suplement a l'Histoire du gouvernement de Venise. Par le sieur Amelot de La Houssaie. Sur la copie a Paris chez Frederic Leonard . 1677."<br>Â Â Â Â "Examen de la liberté originaire de Venise" is a translation by Amelot de La "Houssaye of Squitinio della liberta veneta" which is attributed to Marcus Welser Alfonso de la Cueva and others. Contemporary calf modest gilt tooling on covers spine tooled in blind and with raised bands. Leather cracking and with thumbnail-sized chip on spine; some loss of leather on front cover and at head and foot of spine; and front joint starting. Bookplate on front pastedown and a couple of ink notations by an early owner at bottom of engraved title-page. Endpapers with heavy brown stains along edges but pages overall clean. Frederic Leonard hardcover books
16791669291679. BLOEMAERT Abraham and Frederik. Artis Apellae Liber Tekenboek van Abraham Bloemaart / The Drawing Book of Abraham Bloemaert. Complete set of 160 engravings in eight parts including the chiaroscuro woodcut title-page. Folio 326 x 238 mm bound in contemporary Dutch brown calf blind-tooled spine. Amsterdam: Nicholaes Visscher 1679-1702. First Edition of Abraham Bloemaert's Drawing Book Tekenboek illustrated with engravings by Frederik Bloemaert ca. 1610-1669 after his father's designs. Abraham Bloemaert's original life drawings which were executed mainly between 1625-1635 and 1645-1650 include multiple studies of hands feet arms legs male and female profiles nudes putti and costumed figures seen in various poses from varied angles and under various lighting conditions plus a number of domestic animals. Abraham Bloemaert intended his drawings later converted by his son into engravings to serve as a teaching collection of visual models for practicing artists. The publishing history is as follows: a variant edition containing between 100 and 120 engraved plates was issued by Bloemaert's son Frederik between 1650 and 1656 under the title: Artis Apellae Liber. The 1650-56 edition is so rare it is unobtainable today. It is recorded in only three copies: British Museum 120 plates Bibliothèque Nationale de France 100 plates and Los Angeles County Museum of Art 120 plates. The extreme rarity of all early editions of Bloemaert's Tekenboek reflects the fact that a very limited number were originally printed and that the early printings did not survive the heavy use received by artists and the assistants in the artist's studio. The present copy belongs to the true First Edition Roethlisberger 1a 393 Visscher edition complete with 160 engraved plates plus the chiaroscuro woodcut title all in very good impressions. It is significant that Roethlisberger in his massive catalogue raisonné of the work of Abraham Bloemaert and His Sons Doornspijk 1993 reproduces the entire set of engravings from the 1740 edition. Abraham Bloemaert 1564-1651 was successful as a teacher not only of his four sons but also of the leading Dutch Caravaggisti e.g. Terbrugghen and Honthorst and virtually every Utrecht master painter/artist. Besides Hendrik Goltzius Abraham Bloemaert and his son Frederik were among the earliest to combine the chiaroscuro woodblock technique with the engraved and etched line Hind. Unlike most drawing books "Bloemaert's drawing examples are not derived from other authors" Bolten. Very occasional browning or spotting overall a fine clean copy. PROVENANCE: Illegible signature Nuremberg on front flyleaf. Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow with ex-libris their sale Christie's NY #2800 Lot 402. Roethlisberger 1a 393 reproductions of every plate Roethlisberger II T1-T166. Bolten Method and Practice: Dutch and Flemish Drawing Books 1600-1750 pp. 48-67 and passim 24 reproductions. Hollstein Dutch and Flemish F. Bloemaert 36-155. Strauss Chiaroscuro 346. See: Caroline Fowler Between the Heart and the Mind: Ways of Drawing in the Seventeenth Century Internet Resource Princeton University for long discussion of Bloemaert's Tekenboek. unknown books
1648001623Paris: Pierre Des-Hayes 1648. Book. Very good- condition. Hardcover. First Edition. 16mo - over 5¾" - 6¾" tall. xviii 342 pages of text. Defective copy lacking five plates the frontis and a final engraved table. Attractive early-to-mid-18th century leather binding with moderate wear to the hinges spine extremities and corners. Raised bands gilt tooling and lettering on spine. Decorative marbled endpapers and blank endsheets supplied at time of binding. Present is the full-page engraved portrait of Michel Larcher engraved armorial dedication to Larcher and the engraved title page following page 58. A complete copy has the plate numbers 151 and 156 used twice totalling 158 plates showing plans and designs of perspective of which 153 only are present in this copy. Lacks plate numbers 110 151 both 154 and 155. However early hand-drawn facsimiles of plates 151 one of two and 155 are supplied and bound-in leaving three images unrepresented. The majority of the plates are double-sided. Plate 156 is in less than good condition with heavy staining and soiling. Engraved title page is repaired with early conservator's tape with no loss. Pages 168 through 193 are bound out of order. Several leaves are affected by damp staining and minor rippling; approximately 15 front and 30 rear. The title page and several adjacent leaves as well as a few at the rear of the text are heavily stained. Some of the staining appears to originate from washed-out markings -- notations to which an attempt at removal were made -- that are in blank areas mainly in the front and rear pages but also in the blank areas in the introduction. Includes Desargues New Theory at the end with demonstrations. Protected in a modern circa 1950 slipcase decorated with marbled endpaper the seams of which are detached at the top edge. Desargues 1593-1661 was a French mathemetician and a founder of modern Geometry. With Pascal he introduced the method of perspective; treated conic sections as projections of circles formulated the so-called Arguesian transformation; developed the theory of involution and of transversals; defined parallels as lines that intersect at infinity. Measures 6-5/8" tall by 4-1/2" wide; printed on thick paper with ample margins. 20th century bookplate of Paul and Verner Mac Alister on front pastedown and a neatly handwritten identification on the 2nd front endpaper. On the same leaf is a contemporary name or marking. French France Fortifications Conics Cartography Projective and Descriptive Geometry. Early editions of Desargues works are quite uncommon. Pierre Des-Hayes Hardcover books
16421661642. Etching and engraving. Duplessis 1386; Blum 204 only state. Image: 10 x 12 with small margins. Foxing traces of old fold in the legend. books
166035775London: Printed for Henry Herringman 1660. Hardcover. Very good/No dust jacket. London: Printed for Henry Herringman 1660. title page 19 pp. Hardcover. 4to. Bound in red cloth covered boards. "Ode Cowley" stamped in gilt on the front board. All edges dyed red. Signatures: A-B4 C-C3 A A3 A4 B2 B4 C3 unsigned. Light wear to boards with small patch of rubbing on spine. Corners slightly bumped. Pages have been trimmed leading to loss of text on title page top half of "Ode" page 9 most of the final line of text and the second set of page numbers near the top margin of each page. A small section at the lower margin of the final three leaves has chipped away not affecting text. Previous owner and bookseller notations on added ffep. Inked note on title page. With faults as noted quite good. Very good/No dust jacket. Cowley 1618-1667 a poet and sometime diplomat/secretary to Queen Henrietta Maria wife of Charles I may have worked as a spy for the royalists during the late Cromwell era. His collections "The Mistress" 1647 and "Poems" 1656 were immensely popular during the poet's lifetime. MacLean writes of this piece "Cowley's Ode is highly figurative blending biblical and classical allusions with motifs from astrology and medicine. Highly dynastic in argument the poem is structured as a royal entry in which the king other members of the royal family Monk and members of the two houses of parliament mingle with allegorical personifications of Liberty Plenty Riches Honour and Safety. Along the way Cowley notices the slightly embarrassing absence of Henrietta Maria who had stayed behind in France having become estranged from Charles as a result of her Catholicism." Samuel Johnson who made Cowley his first subject in "The Lives of the Poets" wrote that he had been "at one time too much praised and too much neglected at another." A lovely example of Restoration-era political verse. ESTCR202041; Wing 1994 C6677; Pforzheimer 229. Insurance required to ship this item. Printed for Henry Herringman hardcover books
1684247732London: Printed y J. Macock for Henry Herringman to be sold by Charles Harper 1684. The Eighth Edition. Frontis portraits. to each part. ii xl 1-41 1 1-80 4 1-70 1-154 1- 23 1 1-148 pp. Second Part; vi 1-161 1 pp. 1 vols. Folio. Bound in mottled calf neatly rebacked Portrait backed and inner hinge strengthened else Very Good. The Eighth Edition. Frontis portraits. to each part. ii xl 1-41 1 1-80 4 1-70 1-154 1- 23 1 1-148 pp. Second Part; vi 1-161 1 pp. 1 vols. Folio. ESTC: R176387 & R21164; Wing C6657 & C6664A; Perkin B12 & B13 Printed y J. M[acock] for Henry Herringman, to be sold by Charles Harper unknown books
168122467London: Printed by J.M. for Henry Herringman at the Sign of the Blue Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange 1681. Seventh edition. Frontis portraits. 1 vols. Folio. Bound in contemporary pannelled calf neatly rebacked one joint starting. Seventh edition. Frontis portraits. 1 vols. Folio. Ownership notation on title-page by Thomas Button his book 1712. Printed by J.M. for Henry Herringman, at the Sign of the Blue Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange unknown books
167426798London: Printed by J. M. for Henry Herringman 1674. The Fourth Edition NCBEL I 1219; Wing C-6652. Period full leather binding. Lacks title label to spine. Binding - Gd worn with rounded corners/old repair to front joint. Text - VG. 42 41 1 80 = 78 skipping pp 59/60 text continuous 4 70 154 23 1 148 pp. Divisional dated titlepages. Frontispiece of Cowley by Faithorne. Headpieces. Folio: 1 a - c4 B - 3C4 3D2 2A - S4 T2. 11-7/8" x 7-1/2" <br/><br/> Printed by J. M. for Henry Herringman hardcover books
16747716London: Henry Herringman pr. by J.M. 1674. Folio 30 cm 11.8". Frontis. 42 41 1 blank 80 4 70 59/60 skipped in pagination text uninterrupted 154 23 1 blank 148 pp. <br><br>Cowley's collected poems in their fourth edition beginning with a good impression of => the frontispiece portrait engraved by Faithorne "an account of the life and writings" of the poet signed by T. Spratt and two odes on Cowley's death by Thomas Higgons and Sir John Denham. Once considered the epitome of his era's wit the author of "The Mistress" verses in honor of love and various women included in this volume suffered a notable decline in popularity in subsequent years prompting Pope's musing "Who now reads Cowley . . . but still I love the language of his heart." And indeed despite the vagaries of reputation he has always had his worthy appreciators.<br>Â Â Â Â Cowley's Pindaric odes are present here as are the "Davideis" and "Davideidos"; also set forth are the "delightful little prose Essays with verse interwoven" for which The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature believes Cowley will most ultimately be remembered. Some sections have separate title-pages bearing the same publisher and date information as the main Provenance: Front pastedown with small armorial bookplate and with bookseller's ticket from Cambridge England. <br>Â Â Â Â <br>Â Â Â Â ESTC R29730; Wing rev. ed. C6652. On Cowley see: Concise Cambridge History of English Literature 35152. 17th-century mottled calf rebacked at some point in the 19th century and again more recently with hinges carefully reinforced inside; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title label covers showing the predictable acid-etching. Varying degrees of browning to pages; scattered incidents of worming in lower inner and outer margins almost never affecting text.<br>Â Â Â Â => A handsome book in a binding both sturdy and attractive. Henry Herringman (pr. by J.M.) hardcover books
168046842London: J.M. for Henry Herringman 1680. Sixth Edition. Quarto 30.5cm.; contemporary blind-tooled calf rebacked to style with period endpapers; mixed paginations 1 a-c4 B-3C4 3D2 3E-3Y4 3Z2; engraved portrait frontispiece by William Faithorne decorative head- and tail-pieces throughout. Boards show evidence of treatment mid-20th century ex libris of an Andrew Davis to front pastedown else a Very Good or better quite attractive copy retaining the contemporary boards. Printed by John Macock according to ESTC R14069; WING C6654. J.M. for Henry Herringman unknown books
1643178066Paris: Pierre Des-Hayes 1643. Hardcover. Good staining to boards and text block book plate inside front cover age toning throughout as expected with age. Text and illustrations are otherwise very clear!. Tan vellum boards with faded off-white title block on spine 8 28 pages 2 68 pages 34 unnumbered leaves of plates bw illustrations throughout. Text in French. The Universal Way of Mr. Desargues Lyonnois: To Lay The Axle & Place The Hours & Other Things on the Sun Dials. Added engraved illustrated title page special engraved title page with ornamental border following p. 28. The plates are mostly printed on both sides of the leaves and many appear multiple times final plate numbered '28'. Engravings by Abraham Bosse. Pierre Des-Hayes hardcover books
1619119435Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press 1916-1917. Rare complete first edition set of Fornander's foundational work on Hawaiian history and legend. Quarto 9 parts in 3 volumes bound in three quarters 20th century calf with red morocco spine labels lettered in gilt gilt ruling and stamping to the spine in six compartments within raised bands original wrappers bound in. In fine condition. A rare and desirable complete first edition set. In 1831 Swedish-born ethnologist Abraham Fornander emigrated to America where he soon joined the whaleship Ann Alexander which departed from New Bedford Massachusetts in 1841 a five-year campaign in the Pacific Ocean. In 1844 he deserted the ship in Honolulu and soon became a citizen of the Kingdom of Hawaii marrying a Hawaiian chiefess from Molokai named Pinao Alanakapu in 1847. After founding several publications in Hawaii Fornander was appointed to the circuit court a position that allowed him to do extensive travel within the islands and learn a great deal about Hawaiian mythology and language. Fornander paid special attention to legends and genealogies that he thought preserved the history of the Hawaiian islands after their settlement--their external and internal wars dynastic quarrels and eventually their contact by Captain James Cook and George Vancouver. On his death in 1887 his voluminous research passed to the Bishop Museum who eventually ensured their publication. Bishop Museum Press hardcover books
16556641Leyden: Apud Franciscum Hackium 1655. Full vellum. Very Good. 12mo. 860527pp. Index. Copper engraved title-page by Cornelis Cl. Dusand. Cont. vellum with yapped fore-edge a bit soiled. Repaired paper flaw on final text leaf and one leaf of index partially obscuring a few words. Ownership signature at top of front free endpaper dated 16 July 1703. See Willems 1185. Half of this edition was printed for Elzevir and has their imprint the other half was printed for Hackium. Apud Franciscum Hackium hardcover books
1631183832Lugduni Batav. Leiden. : Ex Officina Elzeviriana. 1631. 1st edition. Later early 19th century full red textured calf gilt title gilt ruled borders all edges gilt marbled endpapers ribbon marker. . Light shelfwear bookplates on endpapers otherwise a very good copy. 12mo. 12.7x7 cm. . Latin text. A travelogue through France in 1624-1626. Bookplate of Syston Park with the Thorold coat-of-arms on the pastedown. Small gilt and black label of Robert Hoe printing-press maker and book collector on the ffep. weight: 0.6 lb. Ex Officina Elzeviriana. unknown books
1630012646Lugd. Batavor; Leiden: Ex officina Elzeviriana 1630. Book. Very good- condition. Hardcover. First Edition. 32mo - over 4" - 5" tall. 343 i.e. 347 pages followed by xiii pages of index; Numbers 183-186 repeated in pagination. Original full vellum binding with minor to moderate soiling and rubbing. Meausures 10 cm 4 inches height. The entirety of the text is affected by damp-staining not visible on the binding. Engraved title page is printed in red and black with a small ink mark near the bottom edge. On pages 181-343 is contained the work: Abrahami Ortelii et Ioannis Viviani Itinerarivm per nonnulas Gallae belgiae partes. Ad clarissimum virum Gerardum Mercatorem Cosmographum. Editio altera castigatior Plantiniana anni MDLXXXIV. Protected in a custom clamshell box. Netherlands Belgium Description and Travel. Ex officina Elzeviriana Hardcover books
1667016836London: Printed by James Cotterel 1667. Book. Good condition. Hardcover. First Edition. Quarto 4to. Two works bound in one volume. "Poems" iii 68 pages of text. Heavily browned and irregularly discolored with some minor early marginalia with several corners or small chips repaired. "A Sermon." v 30 pages; Printed for Brabazon Aylmer London 1683. Title continues ".Chappel Octob. 29. 1682." Wing 2nd ed.; M685. There are a few small stains but the text reamains clean and in excellent condition. Bound in circa 1840 three quarter leather with marbled paper-covered boards; minor to moderate ubbing and shelfwear to the binding. Both of these are highly uncommon rarely offered on the market. Both are first editions. While these measure only 8 inches in height they are indeed quartos. Printed by James Cotterel Hardcover books
168643445Nuremberg: Johann Georg Endter 1686. <p>Linden Johannes Antonides van der 1609-64. Lindenius renovatus sive . . . de scriptis medicis libri duo . . . noviter praeter haec addita plurimorum authorum . . . a Georg. Abrah. Mercklino . . . 4to. 22 210 221-1101 55pp. Lacking Part II "Cynosura medica" approx. 170pp. containing Mercklin's subject index to Lindenius renovatus. Engraved frontispiece. Nuremberg: Endter 1686. 200 x 163 mm. Vellum ca. 1686 head of spine and hinges repaired. Occasional light foxing but fine. From the library of anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach 1752-1840 with booklabel bearing his autograph signature on the front pastedown and annotations and underlinings possibly his on at least 50 leaves. Modern bookplate of Gordon W. Jones M.D.</p> <p>First Edition of Georg Abraham Mercklin's considerably expanded version of van der Linden's bibliography of medicine. First published in 1637 Van der Linden's was the most complete medical bibliography of its time; it was also the most modern of early medical bibliographies both in its contents and format. Mercklin 1664-1702 supplied corrections biographical material on authors and additions that included the innovative listing of articles from the publications of learned societies.</p> <p>This copy is from the library of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach the founder of modern anthropology. He was the author of De generis humani varietate nativa 1775 in which he divided humanity into four races based on head shape skin color and hair type; he later added a fifth race and in the expanded third edition of De generis 1795 he introduced the famous terms "Caucasian Mongolian Ethiopian American and Malayan" to describe the "white yellow black red and brown" varieties of mankind. Brodman Development of Medical Bibliography pp. 29-33; no. 14. Fulton Great Medical Bibliographers pp. 35-36. </p> . Johann Georg Endter unknown books
1680LV2130Amsterdam: Abraham Wolfganck; La Haye:: Adriaen Moetjens 1680 1679. 1680. Six parts in four volumes. 12mo. xxviii 363 2 364-781 15; xx 771 21; xii 588 12; xvi 379 2 blank 2 379-750 16 pp. Includes letters and documents in French and in Latin German Spanish Dutch and Italian with French translations. Printer’s device on title armillary sphere 2 engraved folding plates showing scene of negotiation at a table surrounded by fine tapestries vol. I facing p.1 III facing p. 438 indexes; gutter stains in vol. 1. Original mottled calf with gilt-stamped spine and four raised bands red speckled edges; worn joints broken on second and third vols. while the first and last vols. are crudely re-backed in cloth and have new endpapers. Ownership blind embossed stamp on first and last few leaves including titles. As is. Second edition vols. 1-3-4; vol. 2 is a first edition of 1679 vastly expanded as the first two volumes were not a part of the 1679 issue. A rare compilation of 17th century diplomatic texts treatises negotiations and correspondence. This work is about the Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen. These series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Nijmegen between August 1678 and December 1679 ended various interconnected wars among France the Dutch Republic Spain Brandenburg Sweden Denmark the Prince-Bishop of Munster and the Holy Roman Empire. A third edition was issued in 1697 though it is essentially a reprinting of this 1680 issue. Locations: Cambridge Cathedral Libraries Edinburgh National Library of Scotland Oxford.See: Alphonse Willems Les Elzevier: histoire et annales typographiques 1880 p. 523-24 describes this work in 7 parts but six parts as above is correct; Kent McNeil Native Rights and Boundaries of Rupert’s Land and the . . . University of Saskatchewan. Native Law Centre 1982 p. 16. Adriaen Moetjens, 1680, 1679. hardcover books
1696211439Leyden and Utrecht: Pieter Vander Aa 1696. unbound. very good. Botanical. Copper plate engraving with hand coloring. Image measures 12.75" x 8.25".<br/><br/> Beautiful print of an aloe plant. Abraham Munting 1626-1683 taught medicine and botany at the Academy of Groningem in the Netherlands. He had a particular interest in the uses of plants especially medicinally. This engraving is from "Naauwkeurige Beschryving Der Aardgewassen". Aging around edges small chip to lower right corner. Please visit our gallery for more Munting prints.<br/><br/> Pieter Vander Aa unknown books
1696211445Leyden and Utrecht: Pieter Vander Aa 1696. unbound. very good. Botanical. Copper plate engraving with hand coloring. Image measures 12.5" x 8.25".<br/><br/> Abraham Munting 1626-1683 taught medicine and botany at the Academy of Groningem in the Netherlands. He had a particular interest in the uses of plants especially medicinally. This engraving is from "Naauwkeurige Beschryving Der Aardgewassen". Scattered foxing to margins small chips to right edge. Hinges on back. Please visit our gallery for more Munting prints.<br/><br/> Pieter Vander Aa unknown books
1696211441Leyden and Utrecht: Pieter Vander Aa 1696. unbound. very good. Botanical. Copper plate engraving with hand coloring. Image measures 12.5" x 8.25".<br/><br/> Abraham Munting 1626-1683 taught medicine and botany at the Academy of Groningem in the Netherlands. He had a particular interest in the uses of plants especially medicinally. This engraving is from "Naauwkeurige Beschryving Der Aardgewassen". Aging around edges. Please visit our gallery for more Munting prints.<br/><br/> Pieter Vander Aa unknown books
1696211505Leyden and Utrecht: Pieter Vander Aa 1696. unbound. very good. Botanical. Copper plate engraving with hand coloring. Image measures 12.5" x 8.25".<br/><br/> Beautiful early print of the Clematis plant. Abraham Munting 1626-1683 taught medicine and botany at the Academy of Groningem in the Netherlands. He had a particular interest in the uses of plants especially medicinally. This engraving is from "Naauwkeurige Beschryving Der Aardgewassen". Aging around edges small stain to left margin. Please visit our gallery for more Munting prints.<br/><br/> Pieter Vander Aa unknown books
1696211446Leyden and Utrecht: Pieter Vander Aa 1696. unbound. very good. Botanical. Copper plate engraving with hand coloring. Image measures 12.5" x 8.25".<br/><br/> Abraham Munting 1626-1683 taught medicine and botany at the Academy of Groningem in the Netherlands. He had a particular interest in the uses of plants especially medicinally. This engraving is from "Naauwkeurige Beschryving Der Aardgewassen". Aging around edges small tear and a chip to right edge. Please visit our gallery for more Munting prints.<br/><br/> Pieter Vander Aa unknown books