[History] Panciroli, Guido. The History of Many memorable Things lost, Which were in Use among the Ancients: And An Account of many excellent Things found, now in Use among the Moderns, both Natural and Artificial...

London: Printed for John Nicholson, and sold by John Morphew, 1715. Two volumes in one. First complete edition in English. 12mo. (xiv), 242; (vi), 265-452, (12), 16 pp. Illustrated with woodcut initials, and head-and tail-pieces. Full contemporary paneled calf, stamped in blind, boards rubbed and scuffed, joints worn and starting, spine dry with label perished; top edge stained dark, other edges speckled red; armorial book-plate of English poet and naturalist John Freeman Milward Dovaston, The Nursery Library, on front paste-down; book-plate of Naomi Wood on front free endpaper; ownership inscription of Dovaston on title-page, dated 1799; sheets toned.

First edition in English of this fascinating catalogue of ancient knowledge by Italian antiquarian Guido Panciroli (1523-99). Includes chapters on a variety of topics such as cinnamon, Roman highways, the Egyptian Pyramids, ancient music, wine and liquor, manners of eating, military customs, games, funeral rites, and more. The second book is "An Account of many excellent Things...in Use among the Moderns," and includes chapters on sugar, alchemy, clocks, the history of printing, paper, cyphers, spectacles, and more.

First written in Italian, it was first published in Latin in 1599, followed by another Latin edition in 1602, then appearing in Italian in 1612, French in 1617, and in a partial English translation in 1638, before this full English translation, in 1715.

From the Naomi Wood Collection at Woodford Mansion, Philadlephia

[History] Panciroli, Guido. The History of Many memorable Things lost, Which were in Use among the Ancients: And An Account of many excellent Things found, now in Use among the Moderns, both Natural and Artificial...