76/1618 [Books of secrets]. Alessio Piemontese (= G. Ruscelli). Les Secrets. Rouen, T. Mallard, 1588, 911,(80)p., woodcut printer's mark, 6 text ills., contemp. vellum, 12mo.

- Rather worn copy; fngersoiled and partly waterst./ yellowed; a few scattered owner's stamps and old annots.; lacks lower pastedown; bookblock sl. warped. Vellum stained and soiled.

= Rare edition. Not in Ferguson. "(...) his knowledge of the subjects which are treated of in his "Secreti" is not at all better than that of many old women in our country villages. His secrets are of the most various kinds: medicines, colours, dyes, varnishes, cosmetics, soaps, perfumes etc., are all described with the minustest detail, and he declares that he had published none but those whose admirable virtues had been repeatedly tested and proved." (The Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, vol. I/2, p. 827f.). First published in Venice, 1555.