‎Golf‎

‎[Bongars, Jacques].‎

‎[Orientalium expeditionum historia.] Gesta Dei per Francos, sive Orientalium expeditionum, et regni Francorum Hierosolimitani historia [...]. Hanau, typis Wechelianis, apud heredes Joan. Aubry, 1611.‎

‎Folio (240 x 352 mm). (56), 1203 (instead of 1207, properly 1205), (1) pp. (p. 623f. blank, wants pp. 231f. & 237f.). - (Includes, as part 2:) Sanudo, Marino. Liber secretorum fidelium crucis super Terrae Sanctae recuperatione et conservatione [...] Orientalis historiae tomus secundus. Ibid., 1611. (12), 361, (3) pp. (283f. printed as a double-page-sized folding table). Both parts with engraved printer's device to title-page. With 3 double-page-sized folding engraved maps and 2 engraved plans as well as a woodcut printer's device at the end. Slightly later full calf, spine elaborately gilt. Only edition of this early, important source book for the history of the crusades and the Kingdom of Jerusalem and its vassal states. The second parts contains the first printing of the much sought-after 14th century maps and plans by the Genoese cartographer Pietro Vesconte, previously available in manuscript copies only. "Four of the maps from Marino Sanudo's early fourteenth-century manuscript atlas were reprinted by Johann Bongars in 1611. Sanudo's planisphere [...] is one of the few examples of medieval maps based on portolano sources in printed form. It is a circular map centered on Jerusalem with the Mediterranean relatively well defined. The ocean surrounds the whole of the known world, the outer parts of which are represented by conjecture. The authorship of Marino Sanudo is not definitely established and the original manuscript has also been attributed to Pietro Vesconte" (Shirley). - One of two title variants differing only in slight changes in the typesetting (here: "Expeditionum" begins between the "O" and the "R" of "Orientalium"). Binding somewhat rubbed, hinges starting. Rather severely browned throughout due to paper stock, some waterstaining to margins, more pronounced near the end, sometimes reaching into the printed text. Stains to first title-page; the second title and its counter-leaf *6 are printed on different paper stock. Some light worming, mainly confined to margins but also touching the text near the end; occasional edge defects. A copy in modern half vellum (severely browned, with some worming, but otherwise complete) commanded 13,000 Euros at Reiss's spring 2009 auction. VD 17, 1:069728C. Atabey 127. Ioannou 49 (variant). Potthast I, 105. Tooley I, 162. Cf. Tobler 12. For the maps: Shirley 276 (with plate 217); Nordenskiöld 51 (with fig. 28); Laor 783 & 1145f. as well as Lex. Kart. 576 & 860f.‎

‎[Breviary in Arabic].‎

‎Al-Urulugiyun, ay al-sawa`i al-mustamil `ala salawat al-fard al-qanuniyya. Dayr al-Shuwayr, Kisrawan, Lebanon, St. John the Baptist Monastery, 1822.‎

‎8vo. (10), 736 pp. Printed in red and black throughout. Contemporary blindstamped black calf binding. The Arabic Horologion (following the Byzantine rite), containing the breviary, canonical prayers and hymns for the feast days of the Saints throughout the year. From the printing office of the Melkite monastery of St. John the Baptist at al-Shuwayr in the Lebanese Kisrawan mountains, operative between 1734 and 1899, during which time it produced in all 69 Arabic books, including re-editions (cf. Silvestre de Sacy I, pp. 412-414; Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution. A Cross-Cultural Encounter, Westhofen 2002, pp. 179-181). Occasional insignificant brownstaining; slight chipping to extremeties of the appealing original binding. Rare: OCLC lists two copies only (at the University of Leiden and the Veech Library, Catholic Institute of Sydney, Australia). OCLC 68525490, 224329156.‎

‎[British Royal Navy photo album].‎

‎[The British Royal Navy in the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean]. [Various places, 1931-1932].‎

‎Oblong folio (335 x 245 mm). 188 silver gelatin photographs, one hand-tinted, mostly 105 x 80 mm, mounted in photo corners with handwritten captions. Original green cloth binding with hand-drawn map of Africa, Europe, and Asia on the front pastedown labelled "England to Aden 4643 miles" and four small maps of Kuwait, Ceylon, Iraq, and India mounted on rear pastedown with hand-coloured borders in blue and orange. A previously unknown collection of unique photographs by an anonymous British serviceman, documenting an interwar deployment to Aden and featuring one of earliest known photographs of Sheikh Juma bin Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum (b. 1891) and Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum (1878-1958) of Dubai. Early photographs of Dubai or its rulers are quite uncommon, making this an exceptionally important piece. Here, the brothers are shown touring a British Royal Navy cruiser. Sheikh Juma (on the left) was the founder of the Al Maktoum branch of the Dubai royal family; his brother, Sheikh Saeed (on the right), was the longest-tenured ruler of Dubai, and presided over many of the huge economic changes of the first half of the 20th century. Both were deeply important to the formation of Dubai as it is today, but relics of their lives are extremely scarce. - Another rare photograph captures the Sultan of Oman Said bin Taimur (1910-72) as a young man touring a British light cruiser no more than a few months after the start of his reign in 1932. At only twenty-one, Said inherited both the sultanate and the difficulties faced by his predecessor. Though his reign was not easy, he was famously successful in uniting the warring factions within the sultanate. - The photographer behind this collection was likely a serviceman based on the H.M.S. Emerald, an Emerald-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy which would go on to provide support service during the D-Day landings at Gold Beach in WWII, but spent much of her career in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf. The serviceman has snapped a shot of a Fairey Flycatcher pontoon plane with the registration number N9670 - the Flycatcher known to have been assigned to the Emerald - photographed from the deck, and the Emerald appears repeatedly throughout the collection. Though the Emerald had a long tenure in the Gulf, photographs of the crash of the same ill-fated Fairey Flycatcher N9670 date the collection to circa December 1931, and the appearance of the young Sultan of Oman can only have been taken after the start of his reign on the 10th of February, 1932, covering a reasonable span of six months or more. Additionally, the Hawkins-class heavy cruiser H.M.S. Effingham appears in tow at the East Indies Station Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, which could only have occurred in early 1932, as later that same year she was sent back to Britain as part of the Reserve Fleet. - The photographs of ship life are full of action: men bathing over the side in the warm waters off Gibraltar, views of the Suez Canal, the use of a "smoke box" on the ship to generate a smokescreen, and torpedo drills, one capturing a launched torpedo in motion. However, no small part of the collection is dedicated to rare early views of Bahrein, Oman, and Iran. Bahrain is introduced by the Flycatcher plane crash; the British desired to impress their allies among the local dignitaries in Bahrain with a demonstration of military power, and sent Flight Lt. Peter Dabney Heinemann out in the Flycatcher to machine-gun targets which had been floated in the sea just off Bahrain. Heinemann reportedly lost control and spun out, and was killed when the plane crashed into the sea. Seven photographs show the British retrieving the wreckage, and the following photographs show a funeral procession in Manama, the bed of a military truck laid out in carpets acts as a hearse, and the burial in the Old Christian Cemetery. Two more photographs show a cityscape view of Manama and the clock tower of the Church of Christ in Bahrein. - Photographs of Old Muscat show the al-Jalali and al-Mirani forts, the former then still in use as a prison, and a view of the city "from hill top". Rounding out the tour of the Gulf, two photographs show the Abadan oil refinery in Iran. - The photographer spent some time in the Indian Ocean, and made port at Columbo, Trincomalee, Anuradhapura, Kandy, and Diyatalawa in Sri Lanka, as well as Karachi, Negapatam, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata (Calcutta), Sittwe (Akyab), and Port Blair. In Karachi, several photographs show the city's newly constructed airship mast and the cavernous airship shed, built as one of the main "terminals" of Britain's Imperial Airship Communications Scheme. The mast and shed were never used: a decade before the more famous Hindenburg disaster, the inaugural flight of the Scheme saw the R101 Airship leave London bound for Karachi, only to crash over France, killing all but six of the fifty-four crew and passengers and effectively ending the Scheme. Also of interest are several photographs of the large prison at Fort Blair, and include a photograph of an inmate strapped onto a "flogging board". - A touch of light wear; a few photographs are apparently missing as shown by their empty mounts; however, in excellent condition. Altogether a tour de force, featuring incredibly rare portraits of dignitaries and numerous photographs of cities of the Arabian Gulf.‎

‎[Bronze doré].‎

‎A matching pair of an Arabian stallion and English racehorse. Paris, ca. 1830.‎

‎French bronze reliefs gilt, both preserved in their original frame. Each 43 x 39 x 4.5 cm. Showing two horses facing each other. Both bronze reliefs are very intricately detailed and mounted on a base of red velvet in two strictly contemporary frames of the French Empire period.‎

‎[Buckingham, James Silk (ed.)].‎

‎The Oriental Herald, and Journal of General Literature. Vol XIII. April to June, 1827. London, for the editor, 1827.‎

‎8vo. (2), 210, (2), 211-422, (2), 423-664 pp. With a wood-engraved title vignette. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Brown marbled endpapers. A volume from James Buckingham's important journal which he founded in January 1824 under the significant title, "The Oriental Herald and Colonial Review", though the subtitle was renamed "Journal of General Literature" the following year. Several pieces are of direct relevance to the Arab world and the Gulf region: the transcript of a Debate at the East India House on the Bombay Marine (pp. 146ff.) variously discusses the "pirates in the Persian Gulph", the climate and various mishaps befalling ships there, while a review of the 1826 book "Sketches of Persia" (pp. 77ff.) gives an account of the "burning sandy plain which skirts the gulf". Johann Gottfried Eichhorn's "Historical Sketch of the Trade with India Before the Age of Mohamed" (pp. 437ff.) includes a discussion of Arabian and Gulf-region trade in the third century, and literature is represented in reviews of the Arabian tales "Abassah" (pp. 239ff.) and "Karmath" (pp. 557ff.). - "Except for 'The Asiatic Journal', the official publication of the East India Company, England had no paper devoted to colonial affairs. 'The duty of nations to enlighten and improve the condition of the people they subjugate,' he said in an introductory essay, 'can scarcely be required to be enforced by argument.' From this point of view he proposed to treat colonial problems in terms of colonial interests and at the same time to show the English people that conditions in the colonies were related to their own welfare" (R. E. Turner, James Silk Buckingham, 1786-1855: A Social Biography [1934], p. 226). - Binding rubbed; extremeties bumped; occasional wrinkles to pages. Armorial bookplate of Richard Archdall on pastedown. Stamps of the Caesarean Dramatic Literary Society of the Royal Hall, Jersey.‎

‎[Burgess, Thomas].‎

‎The Arabick Alphabet; or, an easy introduction to the reading of Arabick. For the use of Hebrew students. Newcastle, S. Hodgson, and sold by W. H. Lunn, London, 1809.‎

‎Large 12mo. V, (3), 20 pp. Modern half calf over marbled boards with black morocco label to spine, gilt. Padded at the end with 22 sturdy blank leaves with binder's ticket of "Period Binders, Bath". First edition of this rare introduction to Arabic. As the author writes in his dedication to the Rev. John Frederick Usko, "The object of the following pages is to put the Hebrew student in possession of just so much Arabick as may enable him to profit by the illustrations of Hebrew words in the Lexicons of Simonis and others." He proceeds to explain and justify his methods in the face of the many difficulties encountered by students. The text looks at the construction of the alphabet itself, compares Hebrew and Arabic letters, and similarly verbs and their tenses. - Attributed to Thomas Burgess (1756-1837), who served successively as Bishop of Salisbury and St. David's. He was educated at Winchester college and gained a scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he spent most of his time studying Greek. He was ordained in 1784 and at this time he became interested in Hebrew and theology. A prolific author, he published over a hundred works - the first while at Oxford. Early in his career, he came under the patronage of the Bishop of Salisbury. In his spare time, he helped increase the number of Sunday schools and contributed in writing primers for the students. The present work is an obvious fruit of these interests. - No copies listed in auction records of this unusual Newcastle imprint, which also names the London bookseller and dealer in continental books, W. H. Lunn. Some contemporary handwritten annotations in ink & ownership inscription to title-page "A Bertiz / August 5, 1829". - Rare. OCLC 55524381.‎

‎[CARTE ANCIENNE PERSE] [PERSIA, PERSIAN GULF BAHRAIN OLD MAP]‎

‎A New Map of the Empire of Persia from Monsieur d'Anville First Geographer to the most Christian King ; with several Additions and Emendations‎

‎1794 London, Laurie & Whittle, 1794 Carte gravée sur cuivre (50,5 x 57 cm hors marges, 54 x 73 cm toutes marges comprises). Tirage de l'époque. Quelques traces d'une autre carte en surimpression. Map on copperplate (50,5 x 57 cm without the margins, 54 x 73 cm with the margins). Contemporary printing. Several light printed marks of another map.‎

Riferimento per il libraio : 4619

‎[Camel Race].‎

‎"Minieh, Février 20, 1914". Photograph album of an important camel racing and horsemanship event. Minya, Upper Egypt, 1914.‎

‎Oblong folio (455 x 365 mm). 28 matte photographs (195 x 280 mm or the reverse), individually mounted on cards, recto only. Contemporary sewn red half morocco gilt, flat spine, upper cover titled in gilt and with the photographer's name in gilt. Marbled endpapers. Fine album of 28 black/white mounted photographs showing officials and dignitaries, horse and camel trainers, riders, and races at an unknown celebration or festival during the last days of the Khedivate and Ottoman rule in Egypt. A similar album, comprising merely 24 photographs, is kept at the UC Santa Barbara, Special Research Collections (Bernath Mss 185). - Several mounts loosened or detached. Binding worn at extremeties, some waterstaining to covers.‎

‎[Camels].‎

‎Grandmamma Easy's Pretty Stories About the Camel. [London], Dean & Co., [1854].‎

‎Large 8vo. (16) pp. (including original illustrated wrappers; 6 leaves printed on one side only). With 8 hand-coloured woodcut illustrations and a woodcut tailpiece. Sewn. Children's book about the various types of camels, their habits and uses, issued within the series of "Grandmamma Easy's new pictorial colored toy books". Includes pictures of a Bedouin camp, a desert caravan, the Holy Camel bearing the Qur'an on the pilgrimage to Mecca, a camel fight, and a two-humped camel exhibited on the streets of London. - Sewn with large stitches; tear to front cover mended by stiching; slight edge defects. Rare. OCLC 16800959.‎

‎[Canter, Frans].‎

‎Deductie gedaan maken en den Hogen Rade in Holland [...] uit den name ende van wegens Bewindhebberen van de Oostindische Compagnie ter Kamer Amsterdam, eerst requiranten van appointctement van anticipatie, en nu gedaagdens by mandament van revisie, ter eenre, op ende jegens aaltje Fransse, weduwe van Cornelis Canter, Jan Canter, en Hendrik van Greuningen, als in huwelijk hebbende Anna Canter, seggende te zyn moeder, broeder, en zwager respective, van Frans Canter, alle wonende te Amsterdam [...]. [Amsterdam, 1752].‎

‎Folio. 28 (misnumbered: 29) pp., 1 blank f., (2) pp. 19th century marbled wrappers. Amsterdam legal injunction against the mother, father, and brother-in-law (formerly defendants and now counterclaimants) of Frans Canter, manager of the VOC factory at Basrah from 1746 till 1750, who had infamously fled his post when he was to be replaced by Tido Baron Kniphausen. Fearing exposure for having embezzled Company funds, Canter had escaped to nearby Grain (Kuwait): "Sig van Bassoura door de vlugt heeft geretireert naar Green" (p. 4, no. 46). He continued his flight by caravan to Aleppo, then to Iskenderun, and finally by ship to Amsterdam, "where the East India Company was unable to get him prosecuted by the autonomous government of this town. - Canter's flight to Grain is a typical manifestation of a basic characteristic of Kuwait. Its essential function in the life of the Gulf at that time was that it was an area outside the sphere of influence of the Ottoman Government of Basra. In this way, it could serve as a refuge for both persons and trade when, for one reason or another, there was risk of trouble in Basra. This little desert trading town was born and continued to grow because of the simple fact of its being outside the troubled area of Ottoman Iraq" (Slot, The Origins of Kuwait, p. 117). Canter is also memorable for having composed, in the course of his escape, the first known letter written in Kuwait. While the original is lost, a contemporary copy made by an Amsterdam notary during these legal proceedings now rests in the General State Archives of the Netherlands (cf. Slot, p. 117-121). - Slight duststaining to the wide margins. A rare survival. Landwehr, VOC, 1020. OCLC 71711399. Not in Knuttel.‎

‎[Cassas, Louis François].‎

‎Historisch-mahlerische Reise durch Syrien, Phönicien und Nieder-Ägypten. Vienna, J. V. Degen, 1805.‎

‎12mo (96 x 138 mm). Engraved title-page, 1 letterpress leaf, 15 engraved plates (of which 3 are double-page-sized). In a pretty red leather wallet binding with fore-edge flap and tab. Marbled endpapers. Edges gilt. Pretty German issue of engravings showing views from Levantine journeys. The set was published by Degen between 1803 and 1809 in the "Wiener Taschenbuch". The plates were engraved after the monumental, never-completed "Voyage pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phénicie, de la Palestine et de la Basse Égypte" by L. F. Cassas (Paris 1799, 180 plates in-folio: cf. Cohen/Ricci 204; Tobler 134). The travels during which the illustrations were made largely took place in the years 1778-87; Cassas was one of the engravers whom Choiseul-Gouffier had hired for his "Voyage Pittoresque". The plates show cities, landscapes, ancient and modern buildings in the Near East. - Binding rubbed, interior somewhat brownstained, but an attractive volume.‎

‎[Catechism in Arabic].‎

‎Al-Ta`lim al-masihi. Jerusalem, Franciscan Order, 1853.‎

‎Small 8vo. 51, (1) pp. Contemporary yellow wrappers. Catholic catechism (Talim) published by the Fransciscans of Jerusalem, printed in Arabic throughout except for colophon "Reimprimatur + J. Patriarcha Hierosolymitanus". Rare; a single copy (with variant ending) recorded in library catalogues (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, shelfmark A. or. 1771 - "gift from Jerusalem"). OCLC 163278889.‎

‎[Century of Progress].‎

‎Photographs from the Chicago Century of Progress. Chicago, 1933.‎

‎A group of 71 photographs of A Century of Progress, held in Chicago in 1933-34. They are by Kaufmann-Fabry, Official Photographers of the fair, and are so marked. The "Century of Progress International Exposition", also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was held from 1933 to 1934. The fair buildings were multi-coloured and generally had a "Moderne" design to them in contrast to the neoclassical themes used at the 1893 fair. One of the more famous aspects of the fair were the performances of fan dancer Sally Rand. Other popular exhibits were the various auto manufacturers, the Midway (filled with nightclubs such as the Old Morocco, where future stars Judy Garland, The Cook Family Singers, and The Andrews Sisters performed), and a recreation of important scenes from Chicago's history. The fair also contained exhibits that would seem shocking to modern audiences, including now-offensive portrayals of African Americans, a "Midget City" complete with "sixty Liliputians", and an exhibition of incubators containing real babies.‎

‎[Charles de Valois-Bourgogne, le Téméraire (the Bold), Duke of Burgundy (1433-1477)].‎

‎Letter of safe conduct for an embassy to Persia. Mechelen, 11. II. 1474.‎

‎Latin ms. on vellum. 378 x 210 mm. Papered seal. Signed by Charles Soillot (1434-93?), secretary to Charles the Bold. Letter of "sauf conduit" (safe conduct) for the merchant and diplomat Anselm Adornes (1424-83) for a Burgundian embassy to Persia: "[...] Universis principibus baronibus militibus et plebeis quibus hec nostre littere fuerint ostense, benivolenciam nostram et salutem universitatem vestram et vestrum quemlibet. Rogamus quatenus dilectum et fidelem consiliarium, oratorem et cambellanum nostrum dominum Anselmum Adornes militem, dominum de Corthuy, harum latorem, quem ad nonnullas orientales partes impresentiarum mittimus cum penes vos venerit seu per terras et dominia vestra iter fecerit benevole recipere, amoreque nostri et contemplatione favorabiliter tractare et tractari mandare velitis eumdem unacum viginti personis et totidem equis seu aliis equitaturis aut inferius, permittendo transire sine pedagio, gabella, fundonavis, datia aut alia exactione quacunque [...]". - From March to June 1474, Adornes, Lord of Cortachy, led an embassy in the name of Charles the Bold to the Shah of Persia Uzun Hassan (1423-78), whom the Duke of Burgundy sought to persuade to engage in a new military expedition against the Ottomans, following a campaign in the previous year which had ended in Uzun Hassan's defeat by Mehmed II. Adornes was chosen for this mission due to his knowledge of Muslim territories; he had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 1470/71 (the account of his journey written by his son Jan is still preserved). - One of the most illustrious members of the Adornes-Adorno family, of Genoese origin, and a wealthy patron, Anselm was closely involved in international trade (mainly in alum and cloth from Tournai and England). He maintained commercial relations with Genoa as well as Spain and played an important role in Burgundian diplomacy. - Some wrinkling as common; traces of folds. Well preserved. Messager des sciences historiques ou Archives des arts et de la bibliographie de Belgique (1881), pp. 41-42. Cf. Nationaal biografisch woordenboek XII, 2/25. C. van Hoorebeeck, Livres et lectures des fonctionnaires bourguignons (Turnhout, 2014), passim.‎

‎[COLLECTIF] / MONGIN (Olivier), SFEIR (Antoine), sous la direction de.‎

‎Esprit n°172 - Juin 1991 - n°6 / Les Cahiers de l'Orient.‎

‎Paris, Esprit / Les Cahiers de l'Orient, 1991 1 volume 15 x 24cm Broché. 354p., 3 feuillets. Très bon état.‎

‎N° spécial, issu de l'exceptionnelle association des 2 revues, présentant un important dossier sur les "Paysages apres la bataille", celle de la Guerre du golfe Persique (1990-1991), pour "déminer autant que possible" le thème de "la guerre des cultures", s'interroger sur la politique arabe de la France, la politique étrangère des Etats-Unis, l'avenir politique du Proche-Orient, sur l'Islam, etc; introduit par "La Guerre", poème de Mohammed KHAÏR-EDDINE.‎

Riferimento per il libraio : 13475

‎[Collection of treaties relating to commercial transactions of subjects of the Austrian state in the Ottoman Empire].‎

‎Avusturya devleti tebaasinin Memalik-i Osmaniyede ticaretlerine ait mevadd-i ahdiyye mecmuasidir. Vienna, Dar tiba' al-imberaturiyy (k. k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei), 1846.‎

‎Large 8vo. 88 pp. Printed in black with red headings, within printed gilt rules. Illuminated head-piece and 'unwan printed in three colours and gilt, in imitation of manuscript illumination. Gilt tail-piece. Contemporary green morocco binding with fore-edge flap, covers giltstamped with an oriental design. All edges gilt. The full text of 19 trade treaties, in Ottoman Turkish throughout, closed between the Roman/Austrian and the Ottoman Empire between 1110/1699 (Peace of Karlovac) and 1259/1844. An Italian-language edition had appeared in 1844 ("Raccolta dei Trattati e delle principali convenzioni concernanti il commercio e la navigazione dei sudditi Austriaci negli Stati della Porta Ottomana"). - Occasional insignificant foxing; altogether very well preserved. A splendid copy bound for the Austrian Imperial printing office. Zenker, BO II, 805.‎

‎[Compagnie des Indes].‎

‎État actuel de l'Inde, et considérations sur les établissemens & le commerce de la France dans cette partie du monde, sur les ameliorations don't ils sont susceptibles, & sur la meillure manière d'y faire le commerce. London & Paris, chez Madame veuve Laurent Prault, 1787.‎

‎8vo. IV, 224 pp. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Very rare sole edition of this defense of the newly-reformed Compagnie des Indes and its commercial activities in the Far East, apparently written by a shareholder, with chapters ranging from West Africa to the Arabian Gulf, India, China, Japan, and even Australia (cf. Ferguson). Spectacularly unsuccessful compared to its European rivals, the French East India Company was suppressed in 1769 but a new charter was granted in 1785 to a "Nouvelle Compagnie des Indes". The avant-propos identifies the anonymous author as an "investor, not a speculator" in this newly-founded Compagnie, and aside from his observations on commercial trade with each nation, he also offers broad arguments supporting the monopoly of the Compagnie and even state-sponsored aid for its activities. The French Revolution brought a swift end to the Compagnie in 1790, and its liquidation in 1793 caused a scandal which involved many deputies of the revolutionary government. - In the author's chapter concerning the west coast of Africa, we find a typically pragmatic Enlightenment approach to the atrocities of slavery: "At the present moment, the slave trade on this coast is a very interesting object for our commerce, due to the abundance and the cheapness of these unfortunate victims of the barbarism of these climes, the need for them in our Ile de France [Mauritius] & Bourbon [Réunion] for the development of agriculture, and due to the ease of selling the excess slaves beyond the needs of those two islands to our colonies of America, & even to those of the Spanish. They [the Spanish] have been forced to depend on the English to provide them with blacks. We could enjoy a preferential treatment [...]". - Again on pp. 22f., in a discussion of Madagascar, he makes his position clear: "The slave trade requires a great deal of caution in its conduct, so as not to alienate the goodwill of the natives. If we buy the prisoners taken in wars from the small nations that share control of this island; and if the advantage of fetching a price from the sale of these unfortunate prisoners spares them the cruel death to which, without this resource, the barbarian victors would subject them, then the expectation of fetching a price from [their sale] need not ever be the cause of war between these small nations [...]". - Elsewhere the author discusses trade with Japan (p. 133), the Philippines (pp. 121f.); China (pp. 134-139); Macao (pp. 140f.), and even Australia ('Nouvelle Hollande", pp. 142-146: "dans nul pays de la terre les hommes ne sont moins avancés en civilization [...]"). - Spine extremely worn and rubbed, but holding perfectly; contents clean and fresh. Very rare: OCLC shows three US copies at Harvard, the Cleveland Public Library, and Minnesota. No copies are recorded at Anglo-American auctions. Goldsmiths'/Kress 13332.3. Ferguson IV, 466 ("pp.142-6 contains a description of New Holland, and of the sailing of the First Fleet").‎

‎[Confidential British Government Memoranda on the Trucial Coast].‎

‎Memorandum of information received during the month of January [-December] 1911, regarding affairs in Arabia, the North-East Frontier and Burma. [Calcutta], Foreign Office Press; Simla, G.M. Press, 1911.‎

‎Folio (216 x 342 mm). 12 parts in one volume. (4), 23; (2), II, 30; (4), 19, (1); (4), 23, (1); (4), 19, (1); (4), 12; (4), 12; (4), 20; (4), 22; (4), 15, (1); (4), 23, (1); (4), 10 pp. Printed in single columns with blank space left at inner margins for notes. Half sheep over red cloth boards, rebacked, gilt-lettered spine. A full year's worth of confidential memoranda issued by Edward Henry Scamander Clarke (1856-1947), Deputy Secretary to the Government of India, providing a detailed picture of British relations in Arabia and Asia throughout 1911. The memoranda encompass Arabia (including Aden, Baghdad, Kuwait, Muscat, Bahrain, the Gulf, and the Trucial Coast), Tibet, Bhutan, Assam, and Burma. The numerous and frequently extensive paragraphs dedicated to the "Arabian littoral of the Persian Gulf" not only discuss problems of charting and navigating the coastal waters, but also focus on defending British commercial interests in the region at a moment when the international trade was scrambling to access the Arabian pearl banks, while at the same time British authority was taking a dramatic plunge in the aftermath of the notorious "Dubai Incident" of 24 December 1910, a botched gun raid operation that led to rising tensions between Britain and the people of the Trucial Coast. Items include notes on the desire of the "Wahabi Amir of Nejd", Abdulaziz ibn Saud, to "come into closer relations with His Majesty's Government"; proposed hydrographical surveys of possible approaches to Kuwait and Bahrain; a proposed enquiry into the causes of the depletion of the pearl banks in the Gulf, and the possible attitude of the local Arab tribes as well as foreign agents in the area; an investigation into possible business residences of Rosenthal Frères in Dubai and Bahrain, and the question of British firms entering into the local pearling business; a proposal to secure written assurances from the Sheikhs of the Gulf not to extend pearl fishing concessions to foreigners; policy differences between Britain and the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Butti bin Suhail Al Maktoum; piracy committed on a Dubai boat; the proposed establishment of British banks at certain port town along the Gulf coast; a discussion of the need for a treaty with the Qatar Sheikhs; the "question of the sovereignty over Katar"; the cancellation by the Sheikh of Sharjah of an excavation concession granted on Abu Musa island; the replacement of lost light buoys off the Arabian Gulf coast; negotiations with Turkey over territorial differences; Kuwait and the Baghdad Railway; and the Ottoman occupation of Jazirat az Zakhnuniyah (off the Saudi Arabian coast, between Bahrain and Qatar). - Further sections discuss treaties and trade agreements; expeditions and scientific missions; irrigation, shipping and railways, telegraph and postal networks, trade; arms trafficking; disturbances and risings; and British relations with Turkey and China. Also covered are the murder of Noel Williamson, assistant political officer, Sadiya, and his party in the Panga Hills, Assam, and the subsequent Abor Expedition; the Chinese Revolution of 1911 (Xinhai Revolution) and its impact in Tibet and Burma; and the Italo-Turkish War. - A few marks to text. Binding rubbed and marked at extremeties, spine recently rebacked. Extremely rare: no copy traceable in library catalogues internationally.‎

‎[Conquest of Oran] - Monterroyo Mascarengas, Jose Freire de.‎

‎Oran conquistado ou relaçam historica, em que se dà noticia desta Praça, da sua conquista, e da sua perda, e restauraçao, colhida de varios avizos [...]. Lisbon, Pedro Ferreira, 1732.‎

‎4to. 20, (3) pp., final blank page. With a woodcut illustration. - (Bound with) II: The same. Oran conquistado, e defendido, relaçam historica [...] Parte II. Ibid., 1733. 16 pp. Later full vellum. First editions. Both separately published parts of this rare work on the Spanish expedition against Muslim Oran. After a survey of the history and geography of Oran (in modern Algeria), the author describes the preparations for the expedition to recapture the city, enumerates the Spanish leaders, and gives details of the Spanish naval and military attacks on sites in and around Oran in June and July 1732. The captain-general of the expedition was José Carrillo de Albornoz, first Duke of Montemar, who had fought in the War of the Spanish Succession and the War of the Quadruple Alliance; at this time he was viceroy of Sicily. Facing p. 20 is the plan of battle for the Spanish forces. The woodcut on the verso shows the harbour at Oran, the town, and the half-dozen fortresses surrounding it, as well as the position of the Spanish navy during the battle. The final leaf has the key to the map on its recto, with the verso blank. Freire de Monterroyo Mascarenhas explains in the dedication that he compiled this account from many shorter ones, because the public was eager to learn about the reconquest. Oran, which was in Spanish hands since 1509, had been captured by the Turks in 1708, while Spain was preoccupied with the War of the Spanish Succession. Spain then held the city from 1732 until 1792, when it suffered a massively destructive earthquake and King Charles IV handed the city back to the Ottoman Empire. - First part uncut. Second part slightly wormed near the gutter. Occasional light brownstaining. The two parts are very rarely encountered together. Inocêncio IV, 348. Barbosa Machado II, 856. BGUC Misc. 3, 80.‎

‎[Conquest of Oran].‎

‎Nova relaçam da famoza, e admiravel batalha, que tiverao os castelhanos com os mouros, em que triunfarao delles na praça de Orao [...]. Lisbon, Pedro Ferreira, 1754.‎

‎4to. 8 pp. With woodcut title vignette. Printed sheet folded into a pamphlet, unsewn and unbound. Rare Portuguese account of one of several unsuccessful 18th century attempts by Muslim forces to recapture Oran. This operation took place in March of 1754, more than two decades after the Spanish conquest of the city in 1732. Oran was repeatedly attacked by Algerian and Ottoman forces, but remained under Spanish rule until 1792. - Uncut and untrimmed. BGUC Misc. 24, 459. OCLC 27754498.‎

‎[Constantinople - Plague].‎

‎Della peste di Costantinopoli del MDCCLXXVIII. Osservazioni sulla medesima e riflessioni dell’autore. Yverdun, no publisher, 1779.‎

‎8vo. V, (1), 117, (1) pp. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Very rare study of Constantinople's plague epidemic of the year 1778, by an anonymous eyewitness. Though not himself a medical man (as he confesses in the preface), he feels that most of Europe's learned physicians lack a practical understanding of the illness, for which reason he here sets out his own experiences in writing. - Only six copies in libraries worldwide, mostly in specialized medical research institutions (Wellcome, Institut Pasteur, New York Academy of Medicine, National Library of Medicine etc.). - Binding rubbed and chipped in places, but a very good copy. Wellcome II, 446. Blake 114.‎

‎[Consuls - Secret reports].‎

‎Reports in Relation to Trade with Turkey in Asia, Persia, and Central Asia. [With:] (2) Reports on Trade with Turkey. (3) Turkish reforms: The Development of Asia Minor by the "Etappen" System. (4) [With a report from] Mr R. Thomson to the Marguis of Salisbury. (5) Memorandum by Lieutenant-Colonel Ross on Southern Traffic Routes [with Persia]. (6) Memorandum by Mr. W. J. Dickson on Commercial Relations between Persia and Great Britain and Communication with Persia. London, Foreign Office, 1880.‎

‎Six works bound in one volume. 8vo. 67, (1); IV, 226; 8; 3, (1); 3, (1); 3, (1) pp. Contemporary tan half calf over marbled boards, spine with gilt rules, gilt lettered red label, gilt initials to the foot of the spine. Folding map to the second work. A bound collection of confidential reports from consular officials primarily regarding trade with the countries of the near and Middle East. The first work contains reports from cities such as Baghdad, Aleppo, Trebizond and Beirut. The second includes numerous short reports from all across the region, including a one and a quarter page report from the Consul at Jeddah describing local trade along with brief descriptions of the state of transport and communications routes. - Repairs to the upper ends of both joints, very good.‎

‎[Costume drawings].‎

‎An album of eight fine watercolour drawings depicting the costumes of Constantinople and the Ottoman World. Constantinople, ca. 1575 / later 16th century.‎

‎4to (168 x 212 mm). 8 watercolour drawings, some heightened with white or gold, captioned in German in a late 16th-c. hand, on 8 leaves and a further 24 blank leaves (for the watermark cf. Briquet 917: Nuremberg 1554 or 1565-82). Contemporary limp vellum without ties. An album of eight splendid costume paintings, by a talented, unidentified artist who may have been a member of the entourage of a German ambassador to the Porte. The subjects in this collection are captioned: "Der Kriechen Patriarch" (the Greek Patriarch); "Der Türckisch Keiser" (the Turkish Sultan); "Der Türckisch Babst" (the Grand Mufti); "Türckische weiber wie sie pflegen auf der gaßen zu gehen" (Turkish women, as it is their wont to dress in the street); "Also sizen die Türckischen weiber" (Thus sit the Turkish women); "Ein Epirotische frau wie sie in Iren Heusern zu Galata pflegen zu gehen" (a woman of Epirus, as they walk about in their houses in Galata); "Ein Kriegische fraw" (a Greek woman); and "Ein Armenerin" (an Armenian woman). - Great attention to both accuracy and details is shown: indeed, the suite may be related to another set of similar drawings in the Gennadius Library (A896 B), dated to about 1573 (cf. Blackmer Cat.). There is also some resemblance in style and presentation to certain of the costume illustrations in Nicolas de Nicolay's Navigations (1568, and later editions). Although Nicolay travelled in the Levant in the 1550s and was long thought to have drawn his costume subjects from life, doubt has been cast on this view, and it is now generally considered that he drew his subjects from the work of other artists and illustrators. - A little light dust-soiling, binding with minor wear, soiling and wormholes. Provenance: from the collection of Ferdinand Sigismund Kress von Kressenstein (1641-1704), councilman of Nuremberg whose father signed the Peace of Westphalia treaty (his armorial bookplate on the front pastedown). Later in the library of Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein (1906-89), with his armorial bookplate on the flyleaf. Latterly in the collection of Henry Myron Blackmer II (1923-88), with his bookplate to the pastedown, sold at Sotheby's in 1989 (Blackmer sale, lot 80) and purchased by Herry W. Schaefer (1934-2016). Blackmer 1887 (with two illustrations: p. 42 and frontispiece facing p. 1). Cf. Haydn Williams, "Additional printed sources for Ligozzi's series of figures of the Ottoman Empire", in: Master Drawings, vol. 51, no. 2 [Summer 2013], pp. 195-220; Metin And, Istanbul in the 16th century: the city, the palace, daily life (Istanbul, 1994).‎

‎[Crnka, Fran / Alfonso de Ulloa?].‎

‎Historia di Zighet, ispugnata da Suliman, re de' turchi, l'anno MDLXVI. Nuovamente mandata in luce. Venice, Bolognino Zaltieri, 1570.‎

‎4to. 24, (2) pp. With woodcut printer's device to t. p. 18th century marbled wrappers. Rare second Italian edition (published a year after the almost unobtainable first Turin printing) of this historically important account of the events of the Battle of Szigetvár, fought between the Turkish and the Habsburgian forces. The final page treats the number of Turkish soldiers killed in the battle. - On 8 September 1566, after a month-long siege, the Ottoman army captured the fortress of Szigetvár and beheaded the defender, Miklós Zrínyi; more than 20,000 soldiers died. Shortly before the decisive battle, Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, who personally led the campaign, died of old age after a reign of 46 years - the longest in Ottoman history. In spite of the Turkish victory, the death of their leader, the heavy losses suffered during the siege, and an early winter caused the Ottoman army to withdraw to Istanbul. Only in 1689 did the Hungarians re-capture the city. - The first edition ("Historia Sigheti") was published in Latin by Caspar Stainhofer in Vienna in 1568. It was purportedly a translation from the Croat language, prepared by Samuel Budina (cf. Apponyi 422). The supposed author, Fran Crnka (Ferenc Czerno), was Zrínyi's surviving chamberlain. According to Göllner, the actual author (though more likely, the editor) may have been Alfonso de Ulloa (d. 1580), who also published "Commentari della Guerra" and "Historie di Europa", both appearing at Zaltieri's press in the same year as the present work. - Extremely rare; a single copy at auctions internationally since 1950. Edit 16, CNCE 13812. Apponyi 439. Göllner 1270. BM-STC Italian 652. Hammer 761. Szabó 603. Ballagi 718. Hubay 277. OCLC 64419121. Not in Adams.‎

‎[D'Arcy, William Knox].‎

‎Typescript draft of the D'Arcy Concession. Tehran, May 1901.‎

‎Folio (210 x 330 mm). 5 pp. on 5 ff. French draft of the historic business deal between Britain and Persia that would initiate the era of oil in the Middle East. - The chain of events leading to Persia entering the international oil scene began with Antoine Ketabci Khan, the Persian commissioner general at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. Ketabci Khan, of Armenian descent, had held several posts in the Persian government, including the directorship of the customs service. Although the ostensible reason for Ketabci’s visit was the opening of the Paris Exhibition, his main purpose was to find an investor in Europe willing to take up the petroleum concession in Persia. In Paris, Ketabci sought the aid of Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, formerly (1887-90) the British minister in Tehran, who suggested William Knox D’Arcy, an English entrepreneur and financier who had made a fortune in gold mining in Australia and was eager to examine the proposition. On 28 May 1901 the prodigal Mozaffar-al-Din Shah granted D’Arcy an oil concession valid for sixty years, with exclusive rights to oil exploration in the entire country apart from the five northern provinces of Azerbaijan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Astarabad, and Khorasan. These provinces were excluded to avoid offending Russia, which regarded the northern part of Persia as its own sphere of influence, in the same way that Britain saw southern Persia as falling in its own orbit. In return, D’Arcy agreed to pay the Persian government twenty thousand pounds in cash, with another twenty thousand pounds worth of shares, as well as an annual royalty which was defined somewhat vaguely as equal to 16 percent of “annual net profits”. - Small rust stains to first leaf; slightly creased.‎