A BOOKE OF SECRETS Shewing divers waies to make and prepare all sorts of Inke, and Colours: as Blacke, White, Blew, Greene, Red, Yellow, and other Colours. Also to write with Gold and Silver, or any kind of Mettall out of the Pen: with many other profitable secrets, as to colour Quils and Parchment of any colour: and to grave with strong Water in Steele and Iron. Necessarie to be knowne of al Scriveners, Painters, and others that delight in such Arts.
Translated out of Dutch into English, By W.P. Hereunto is annexed a little Treatise, intituled, Instructions for ordering of Wines: Shewing how to make Wine, That it many continue good and faint not, Neither become sower, nor loose colour. And how you may remedie faint Wine, take away the hoarinesse, with other instructions for the preservations of the same. Written first in Italian, and now newly translated into English, By W.P. Ornament on title. [19] (of 20) unnumbered leaves. Small 4to, fine modern red morocco (date on title cropped), dentelles gilt. London: A. Islip for E. White, 1596. First edition in English of two notable tracts, including the second earliest description in the English language on the art of engraving. The translator is very probably William Phillip (fl. 1600), who made a number of translations from the Dutch. The first book in English with a passage on engraving is Leonard Mascall's A Profitable Boke (1583; pp. 76-78). The first tract (the 10 leaves following the title) is a partial translation of Ettliche Künste, auff mancherley Weisz Dinten und allerhand Farben zu bereyten (1563) which in turn derives from the Artliche Kunste (1531). These are texts in the tradition of "books of secrets" which were incorporated into the Kuenstbuechlein. It contains a series of recipes and instructions for craftsmen and artisans especially on the making of inks of various tints, manufacturing different colors for artists, recipes for early glazing compounds which include lead, etching in metal, and coloring quill pens. The second work (the final 8 leaves) is a translation of an otherwise unknown medieval Italian treatise on the making of and rectifying wine. It is difficult to ascertain the original context of this work. It is not mentioned in any of the bibliographies of André Simon. This is a fine copy and is extremely rare, the ESTC locates only six other copies. Lacking the first leaf which has an arabesque pattern on the recto but no text (the BL copy also lacks this leaf). Ferguson, Bibliographical Notes on Histories of Inventions and Books of Secrets, Part III, pp. 30-31. Ferguson, Some Early Treatises on Technological Chemistry, Supplement III, pp. 1-14 & Supplement IV, pp. 1-43. Gabler, Wine into Words, G9760. N.S.T.C. 3355. Thompson, Jack C., Manuscript Inks (1996). Phillip: D.N.B., XV, pp. 1077-78.
$US22500
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