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[Buddhist manuscript].
Sutra. Tibet, 18th/19th century.
340 x 100 mm. Manuscript on ca. 240 palm leaves between two wooden boards. In the original wrapping cloth. Signs of age.
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[Buddhist manuscript].
Sutra. Tibet, 19th century.
355 x 90 mm. 38 ff. Printed from woodblocks, all edges red.
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[Tibet].
Tibetan manuscript. Tibet, 19th century.
380 x 145 mm. 34 pp. Stitched. Manuscript on iconocraphy and proportions. - Signs of age, browned.
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Balogh de Galantha, László, kgl. ungar. Archivar (fl. 2. Hälfte 18. Jh.).
Abschrift einer Rechtsurkunde zu Prozessangelegenheiten des Nikolaus Ladislaus Nagy de Csöppöny im Komitat Nitra mit eigenh. U. "Comes Ladislaus Balogh de Galantha" (als "Tabulae Judiciariae Octavalis Archi-Episcopalis Praeses"). Pozsony (Pressburg, Bratislava), 1778.
46 SS. Geheftet. Papierumschlag der Zeit. Reste eines roten Lacksiegels am letzten Blatt verso. Folio (ca. 245 x 360 mm). Am vorderen Umschlag bezeichnet: "Nikolaus Ladislaus Nagy de Csöppöny contra Franciscum Vörös". Ladislaus (László) Balogh de Galántha (1773 geadelt) wirkte als königlich ungarischer Schatzmeister (altárnok) und ab 1760 als Reichsarchivar (országos levéltárnok). - Bindung etwas gelockert; durchgehend leicht braunfleckig und angestaubt. Ausriss am unteren Umschlagrand (kein Textverlust).
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[Militärgeschichte].
Exercitium welches fürohin in Brigaden, Flügeln oder in Treffen exerciret werden solle. Nebst beygefügten nach dem Reglement eingerichteten dreyen Exercity Theilen. O. O., Ende 18. Jahrhundert.
Deutsche Handschrift auf Papier. 94 num. SS. Mit 12 aquarellierten Faltplänen und einigen aquarellierten Federzeichnungen im Text., Lederband der Zeit mit Rückenschildchen und -vergoldung. 8vo. "Wie ein Regiment in 4 Battaillons, und 16 Compagn[ien] eingetheilet, wird der nachfolgende Plan zeigen; und formiret ein Regiment 16 ganze = 32 halbe Divisions, und 64 Züge oder Pelotons; jeder Hauptmann hat seinen Unter Lieutnant hinter sich, ausgenohmen der 9te, 10te, 11te, und 12te Hauptmann nicht, wovon die ober Lieutnants bey denen fahren, mithin die Unter-Lieut[nants] an deren Stelle kommen; die Ober Lieutn[ants] stehen mitten vor der Compag[nie], ausgenohmen der von der Leib und Obristen Compag[nie] nicht. Wann die Staabs Off[iziere] eintretten, woselbe aufwärts hinter ihre Hauptleuthe, neben denen unter-Lieutenants stehen [...]". Ähnlich präzise sind dann die illustrierten Ausführungen, "wann man drey Mann hoch außrücket", "wann man mit 4 Mann hoch ausrücket" und welche Figur etwa bei der Anweisung "Grenadier macht euch fertig, schlagt an, Feur" erwartet wird, nämlich "das Feuer fangt an, und wird hir orths auch alles befolget, wie schon bey 3 Mann hoch angewendet worden, und die Grenadier bleiben alleinig in Reserve". - Innen sehr sauber, der Einband gering berieben.
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[Militärgeschichte].
Regimentsunterricht in 6 Abteilungen. Pesth. Geschrieben von Vinzenz Sokoll Canonier des 5. Feld Artillerie Regiment 1825. Pest, 1825.
Deutsche Handschrift auf Papier. Ca. 150 SS., mehrere Tabellen, 11 Bll. Federzeichnungen. Pappband der Zeit mit zarter Goldbordüre. 8vo. Die sehr ordentliche und sauber ausgeführte Handschrift behandelt in sechs Hauptkapiteln die Themen: 1) Von der Kenntnis des Geschützes und der Munition. 2) Von dem Gebrauch des Geschützes. 3) Von der Haubitze und dem Cavallerie Geschütz. 4) Von dem Batteriebau. 5) Von den Lagen der Batterien [...]. 6) Von dem Canoniers Bestöck und dessen Gebrauch. - In einem zehnseitigen Anhang findet sich abschließend die "Anwendung der Proportionen auf die Berechnung der Kugeldurchmesser und auf die Bestimmung der Verhältnisse der Kugeldurchmesser zu jenen der Bohrungen bei unsern Geschützen". In einer Tabelle werden die "Durchmesser der eisernen und steinernen Kug[e]l" nach dem Nürnberger Gewicht angeführt, "einige Formeln" illustrieren die "Berechnung der Kugelpyramiden". Die Zeichnungen zeigen u. a. die positionsbedingte Schusslinie einer Kugel ("der horizontale Kernschuß", "ein Schuß mit Aufsatz aus der Tiefe in die Höhe" und umgekehrt). - Innen durchgehend leicht fleckig, der Einband etwas beschabt und bestoßen.
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[Militärgeschichte].
Richt-Schnur und Observations Puncta, sowohl in Militar, Ceremoniel als Oeconomicis deß löblichen General Feld Marschall Graf Daunischen Regiments zu Fuß, deren man sich in Feld, Guarnison, Stand-Quartieren und zu allen vorfallenden Begebenheiten zu gebrauchen und genauest nachzukommen hat. O. O., letztes Drittel 18. Jh.
369 num. SS. und 4 SS. Register. Mit einigen Tabellen im Text und 2 Faltplänen mit aquarellierten Federzeichnungen. Lederband der Zeit. Rückenvergoldung mit Titelschildchen. 8vo. Feldmarschall Leopold Joseph Graf von Daun hatte nach dem Frieden von Aachen (1748), der den Österreichischen Erbfolgekrieg beendete, eine Reform der österreichischen Streitkräfte eingeleitet, wofür er schon auf sein eigenes, 1739 von ihm für sein Regiment eingeführtes Reglement zurückgreifen konnte. Das äußerst umfangreiche Manual seines eigenen Infanterie-Regiments "Graf Leopold Daun" behandelt in (lt. Register) 80 Kapiteln umfassend die Gepflogenheiten, Abläufe und Vorschriften im militärischen Alltag der Musketiere, Zimmermänner, Krankenwärter, Trommler, Pfeifer, Fouriere, Korporale, Fähnriche, Hauptmänner, Proviantmeister u. dgl. m. "Vor allen Dingen", so heißt es über den Musketier, "solle er Gottes-Förchtig sein, zu aller Andacht fleißig, willig und ohne allen Murren gehen, damit Er in allen seinen Thuen und lassen des Jenigen Seegen, und Heyls Sich theilhaftig mache, den Gott der Allmächtige denen Jenigen versprochen, so ihn förchten und anrufen, da er in Gegentheil alls Unglück, und Unstern zu besorgen, und zu gewarten hat, Er solle sich nach diesen eines ehrlichen und redlichen, auch aufrichtigen Lebens Wandel befleißen; nicht Gotts-lästern, fluchen, schnorren, und alle liederliche Gesellschaft [...] meyde; darbey solle er frisch, freudig, munter, behertzt, unverdroßen, geduldig, willig gehorsam, friedlig, und einig sein, sich nicht allein miteinand wohl vertragen, sondern sich auch unter einander brüderlich lieben, und Einer dem andern keine Spitz-Nahmen oder Stichreden geben, noch von etwas (so vormals vorbey gegangen wäre) einig Vorwurf thuen [...]" (S. 51). - Die eine Falttafel zeigt die "völlige Chargierung" des Regiments, die andere die "würcklich auffgeschlagenen Laager" des Regiments. - Stellenweise gering fleckig, der Einband beschabt.
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Vericci, Marco.
"Inmaginationi Millitari." Manuscript on paper, in Italian. Venice, 20. IX. 1595.
Oblong folio album (245 x 380 mm). 57 ff. 50 full-page pen and ink drawings of imaginary cities and their armies; 50 emblematic cartouches each containing an octave describing the opposite city, some with Latin mottos; dedication in ornamental border; allegorical cartouche with octave praising Venice on the verso. Contemporary red morocco with gilt triple fillets enclosing large oval centerpiece composed of double fllets in arabesque patterns with armorial shield, edges gilt. Stored in custom-made half morocco case. Unique album with splendid manuscript designs for imaginary fortified cities, created for and dedicated to Marino Grimani in the year of his appointment as Doge of the City and Republic of Venice, which he would reign over until his death. Grimani served as Superintendent of Fortresses before becoming Doge and worked for many years on the design and construction of the Palmanova fortress, the greatest of the Renaissance star forts and constantly embattled by the Ottomans as well as by other forces for centuries to come. Vericci's album constitutes a paragon of Renaissance idealism: a utopian vision which champions the might derived from pushing human genius to the limits of the imagination, combining mathematics, philosophy, and military prowess with art, poetry, and design. Little is known about the author-artist Marco Vericci, some of whose other ingenious military designs survive in the Biblioteca Bertoliana in Vicenza, but he may have worked with Grimani on the designs for Palmanova. Italian art historian Lionello Puppi has cautiously suggested that "Vericcius" may be a pseudonym of Fillipo Pigafetta, a Venetian soldier and mathematician who wrote extensively on military fortifications. In this album, Vericci illustrates and whimsically describes fifty imaginary cities whose designs are based on the utopian mathematical ideals of the Renaissance star fort. The cities, with names like "Mirabella", "Grimanopoli", and "Durissima", are situated in elaborate landscapes (almost all are island fortresses, like their model) and are rendered in exquisite detail. The octave opposite each illustration describes the strengths and virtues of each fantastical fortress in the vein of Italo Calvino's novel "Invisible Cities" - which also featured a litany of imaginary towns all reflective of La Serenissima herself. The last illustration but one depicts the 1571 Battle of Lepanto, a major naval victory by the Holy League over the Ottomans. The Palmanova fortress was dedicated exactly 22 years, to the day, after the battle - thus its inclusion here links the glory of Lepanto explicitly to the achievements of Doge Grimani, in addition to re-situating this imaginative work in its real-life context of simmering conflict not just between Europe and the Turks, but also between Venice and Austria - her enemy to the North. - Some light soiling and spotting; some early marginal repairs where ink has corroded the paper; traces of paste on first two leaves with loss to a few letters. Otherwise in excellent state of preservation and still in its richly gilt morocco binding commissioned for the Doge of Venice (his arms in the centre of the back cover rubbed). Manfredo Tafuri, Venice and the Renaissance (Boston: MIT Press, 1995). Lionello Puppi, Scrittori vicentini d'architettura del secolo XVI (Venice: Accademia Olimpica, 1973).
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Bonsignorius, Joannes.
Il libr[o] [...] dela nobil[e] s[c]ienza. Probably Northern Italy (or Switzerland?), 1579.
Small folio (185 x 275 mm). Italian manuscript on paper. 154 leaves (including 19 blank leaves, 268 written pages), with one full-page drawing of an armillary sphere in red and black (signed "Jo[annes] Bap[tis]ta Bonsignorius"), 9 subject diagrams and 77 astronomical tables. Italian semi-cursive script in black ink, rubrics and astronomical symbols supplied in red, 24 lines to each page. Bound in 16th century limp vellum with manuscript title to spine ("Manoscritti di Astronomia"). Remains of ties. An intriguing, elegantly written and well illustrated handwritten manual about the "noble science of the movements of the planets", forming a detailed display of 16th century astronomical knowledge and all related information available, compiled by an otherwise unrecorded author. Joannes Bonsignorius, likely a member of the Sienese noble Bonsignori family noted for their important role in the history of banking, brings together all the information which a contemporary might need to read the planets and the stars. He begins with explanations of the Metonic cycle, leap years, and ascendants, proceeds to the calculation of new moons and moveable feasts, then expands on the qualities and characteristics of the signs of the zodiac, the influence of the ascendants on each, planetary aspects and their influence on 'air' and climate, lunar and solar eclipses, the planetary houses, triplicity rulers, friend and enemy planets, elaborates on the effects of the planets on the human body (perceived as pain in various body parts) and on the movement of the ascending lunar mode before finally enumerating which countries and cities of the world are ruled by which zodiacal sign (while England, for example, comes under the influence of Aries, Damascus is listed under Leo; Egypt, Babylon and Constantinople are under the sign of Cancer, and Alexandria is said to be ruled by Gemini). - Condition: written on paper assembled from various stocks, showing five different watermarks. While none of them can be positively identified with the specimens illustrated by Briquet, it is interesting to note that they all largely conform to types common among Swiss and Southern German papermills: three show the "Crosse de Bâle" (types: Briquet I, 1313, 1339 & 1357), one shows the griffin-head of Freiburg im Breisgau (type: Briquet I, 2216), and another shows an eagle with an F (type: Briquet I, 154), originating in Frankfurt am Main but used throughout the Rhine Valley and even in the Habsburg provinces. One leaf stained at foot; some light browning; the final leaves of index a bit brown-stained in the outer margins; overall in excellent condition, and in its original first binding. - Provenance: as stated on the first page in the author's own hand, the present manuscript was written in 1579 and dedicated by Bonsignorius to a member of his family named Nicolo. Later in an unidentified European collection (shelfmark "XXII" on front pastedown). Recently acquired from a U.S. private collection.
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Winter, Franz Adam von, Bavarian physician (fl. 1740s).
Opusculum, de Examine Obstetricum, Easque informandi Methodo, Quomodo nimirum, tam in naturali, quam non naturali partu, ac Foetu mortuo existentese gerere debeant: Una cum Exigua Sectionis Caesareae Explanatione: Item de Gravidarum, & Pueperarum nec non Infantum Recens Natorum Regimine, & Affectibus [...]. Landsberg am Lech, 1744.
8vo. Latin manuscript (brown ink) on paper. Title-page, (3), (1 blank), 115 (not 111), (1 blank) pp., (4 blank leaves), (6) pp. of index. With 8 hand-drawn pen-and-ink, grey wash plates (some folding). Contemporary full calf chipped at extremeties with remains of a giltstamped spine label "...me Pueper". All edges red. Unpublished obstetrics manual, handwritten and fully illustrated by a German physician of the 1740s. The meticulous calligraphy of the headlines, the justified margins and precise paragraph indentations imitate a book printed in a classical Roman typeface, while the text is written in an easily legible, educated and appealingly regular round Latin hand. - The book is arranged in two separate sections, or "treatises": the first, longer one includes all of the illustrations and is more overtly didactic, following a question-answer pattern, while the second one (entitled "De regimine gravidarum, puerperarum, nec non infantum, recens natorum; item, de morbis et affectibus illorum"), provides a more scholarly discussion of specific ailments and treatments of the mother and baby, including medical prescriptions. The various chapters are concerned with signs of pregnancy, how to turn breech babies, caesarean sections, stillbirth, teratology, but also morning sickness, piles, sciatica, and lactation; the fine illustrations include cross-sections of the womb showing the fetus in various positions, the placenta, and the female genital organs as well as a grown-up hermaphrodite displaying ambiguous genitalia, conjoined twins and other freaks of nature. - Franz Adam Wolfgang von Winter was born in Dingolfing, Southern Bavaria, likely some time before 1720. Already equipped with a degree in philosophy, he apparently practised as a physician at Landsberg, some 20 miles distant, before deciding to take the degree of Medical Doctor at the University of Altdorf near Nuremberg. Without previously having studied there, he matriculated on 10 December 1744 as a doctoral candidate and passed his viva five days later (cf. Die Matrikel der Universität Altdorf [Würzburg 1912], p. 582, no. 17465). His inaugural dissertation "De Cautione in Observationibus Physico-Medicis Adhibenda", an investigation of the caution that must apply in medical observations, was printed that same year by J. G. Meyer in Altdorf, with a congratulatory poem by professor Johann Jacob Kirsten. The examination would appear to have been little more than a formality; at least it does not seem to have overly preoccupied the medical student who almost simultaneously found the time to prepare the present manuscript: a long, lovingly illustrated manual abounding with a sort of practical detail quite absent from the same author's very generally worded 17-page dissertation. In the manuscript, Winter calls himself "Phil. & Med. Doct. Phys. t. t. & Practic. in Landsperg, Anno MDCCXLIV", which would date at least the completion of this text within the last two weeks of 1744 following his graduation from Altdorf. Winter's further career must remain the subject of further research: he is not recorded in the biographical dictionaries of noteworthy physicians such as Hirsch & Hübotter and may have died before the middle of the century. - Spine-ends chipped; corners bumped; hinges weak. First gathering loosened; insignificant brownstains to a few leaves, but very well preserved. A charming survival.
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[Shooters guild regulations].
Schützenordnung von [!] Jahre 1725. Eggenburg, 1832.
Folio (246 x 398 mm). (8) pp. 19th century black boards covered with blue, pink, orange, yellow and green striped cloth and giltstamped title label. Marbled pastedowns. A 19th century manuscript copy of the 1725 statutes of the shooters guild of Eggenburg in Lower Austria, in 18 articles. Transcribed from a certified copy from 1725, the year when the statutes were originally drawn up, as witnessed by Johann Georg Philipp Fleischmann of the city chancellery. The articles mostly concern the so-called "Kränzlschießen", regular shooting events in which participants alternately would provide the prizes. Two postcards by Rudolf Branböck from 1897-98, one addressed to the "k. k. priv. Bürgerl. Schützen-Corps Commando" regarding the 1897 Easter shooting match, the other addressed to his friend Johann Schally, requesting tickets for a ball, are loosely inserted. - The fine binding is slightly rubbed, extremities bumped. Paper a little duststained with a small brownstain to the margins. Ink on first pages slightly faded. From the library of the Viennese collector Werner Habel.
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[Walther, Bernhard.
Private-law treatises, the code of civil procedure of Lower Austria and other legal texts]. No place, (1551-1583).
Folio (ca. 212 x 310 mm). German and Latin manuscript on paper. 258 ff., including 6 blank leaves. Contemporary full vellum with spine title and leather straps. A unique compilation of 16th century Austrian legal texts, most of them by the lawyer and chancellor Bernhard Walther (1516-84), the "father of Austrian jurisprudence" (cf. Luschin-Ebengreuth 1896). Includes his code of procedure of Lower Austria (ordinaria and extraordinaria), of the lex familiae, an instruction for law students, the fees of the Lower Austrian chancellery, a copy of imperial privileges confirmed or newly issued by Emperor Charles V in 1522, an order by the Landmarschall of Lower Austria, Georg von Puchheim (died 1531), the rules for court hearings, including the hearing of witnesses, and regulations for procurators. Followed by 14 of Walther's famous 15 private-law treatises, omitting the one on familial trees. The treatises were edited and published by Max Rintelen in 1937, who, however, fails to note this manuscript source in his index of extant codices. - Folios 252-258 contain copies of imperial charters from 1528, 1568 and 1583, belonging to the treatise on fiefdom; folios 255-257 written by another hand. 1650 ownership by Hans Sauer v. Sauerburg, the town scribe of St. Pölten (1635-52), to flyleaf. - Binding somewhat brownstained, a little scratched. Cover warped, upper hinge starting. Paper evenly browned and brownstained throughout. Small tears to a few pages, mostly affecting the lower margins. Tear in f. 76 repaired with sealing wax. Flaws at the margins of the first page, rebacked with paper. Signs of use: some passages crossed out, old marginal annotations by another hand. Last in the library of the Viennese collector Werner Habel, with his signed and stamped ownership to front pastedown, dated 1978. Not in M. Rintelen, Bernhard Walthers privatrechtliche Traktate aus dem 16. Jahrhundert (1937).
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Carolus Franciscanus.
XXV Jahre. (1864-1889). Ein silbernes Hochzeitscarmen. No place, (1889).
4to. (20) pp. on 5 bifolia. German (and English) manuscript on paper, with ink and watercolour title vignette and 8 drawings, as well as ink and watercolour initials and 3 tailpieces. Contemporary calf portfolio with giltstamped title. Blue silk pastedowns. A lovingly illustrated poem composed for the silver wedding anniversary of Eveline, née Gassenheimer (1843-1914) and Gyula Juhos (ca. 1837-1917), a landowner and member of an administrative commission in Krassó-Szörény county (now Romania). Written in attractive calligraphy; the talented ink and watercolour drawings mostly show scenes from the life of the married couple. Loosely enclosed is a folded family tree. As stated in the second stanza, the author was a friend of the groom's. - Margins slightly fingerstained, otherwise well preserved. From the library of the Viennese collector Werner Habel.
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Lepsius, Karl Richard, German linguist and Egyptologist (1810-1884).
(De armatura). Arma Graecorum, Romanorum, gentiumque Barbarorum. Recensuit et ordine digessit Ric. Lepsius juvenis admodum dum Parisiis studia archeologica prosequeretur suadente ac opibus adjuvante H. de Albertis de Luynes. Paris, ca. 1833-1835.
Greek, Latin and French autograph manuscript on paper. 3 vols.: 4to (214 x 228 mm), large 4to (224 x 273 mm), and 8vo (132 x 180 mm). Regular cursive script in dark brown ink. (1), 538 ff. 25 pp. 85 ff. Bound in uniform green half mororcco over marbled boards with giltstamped red label to gilt spine. An encompassing study of the weapons of classical antiquity, commissioned by the Duc de Luynes and prepared by the great classical scholar Lepsius, who was to head the Prussian expedition to Egypt in 1842-45. The antiquary and numismatist Honoré d'Albert de Luynes (1802-67) was an important patron of scholarship and the arts. During his sojourn in Paris in the years 1833-35 Lepsius compiled this survey from the Greek and Latin sources to form the basis for an archaeological and philological work of the Duke's that did not materialize. - The hefty first volume, entitled "Arma Graecorum, Romanorum, gentiumque Barbarorum", contains a Greek repertorium with notes in French (f. 128r: "C'est donc une couverture de tous le bras, non pas seulement de la main ce qu'on serait porté à croire d'après l'explication de Pollux [...]"; f. 165r: "sur la fabrication des glaives"; ff. 262-264: extensive discussion of bows and archers), with an alphabetical index beginning on f. 515. A larger, slimmer volume is dedicated to Homer exclusively: Greek text and French notes in two columns with several illustrations, treating shields, helmets, armour, swords etc., also discussing the Durand collection ("Parmi les vases de Monsieur Durand il y a une amphore à fig., représentant le combat d'Hercule contre les Amazones [...]"), the armour of Agamemnon and of Alexander, the skin of the Nemean Lion, as worn by Hercules ("n'est devenue un vêtement de ce héros que depuis Pindare") etc. The octavo volume contains quotations from Greek writings (again with French notes) on helmets, armour, etc. ("Et en effet je crois qu'Homère lui même par ces différents noms d'armures [...] a voulu désigner différentes espèces qu'il semble aujourd'hui [...] je n'hésite nullement de croire que ces noms désignaient autrefois des espèces de casques"). - Bindings insignificantly rubbed; very occasional slight browning or edge flaws. A splendid, unique, unpublished manuscript by the great scholar, bound for the sponsor.
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Hebenstreit, Modestus, österr. Seelsorger (gest. 1789).
Compendiosus tractatus asceticus de perfectione religiosa, motivis ac mediis tendendi ad eam. Tyronibus religiosis quintofori dictatus per Rev. Pat. Antonium Stricz O. M. S. P. Francisci Conventualium 1768. Wohl Österreich, 1768.
154, (6) SS. Lateinische Handschrift auf Papier. Mit 4 Tuschillustrationen, 2 Tuschvignetten und 2 eingeklebten Holzschnittvignetten. Zeitgenössischer marmorierter Halblederband. Dreiseitiger Farbschnitt. 8vo. Gut lesbare, komplette Handschrift dieses unpublizierten asketischen Manuals, angelegt von Frater Modestus Hebenstreit, der am 21. Jänner 1789 als Regimentskaplan des k. k. Dragonerregiments Nr. 11 starb. Die hübschen Tuschillustrationen zur Unterstützung der Meditation zeigen u. a. eine menschliche Hand mit Glaubenssätzen und Bibelsprüchen auf den einzelnen Fingergliedern, bezeichnet als "Manus religiosa", oder eine Tugendenpflanze. Enthält außerdem ein "Alphabetum religiosum" des Heiligen Bonaventura. - Einband leicht berieben. Hübsches Dokument der monastischen Frömmigkeit im Nachbarock.
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[Chemie].
Chemische Charactere. O. O., 1823.
Deutsche Handschrift auf Papier. 8 Bll. (inkl. Umschlag). Lateinische u. deutsche Kursive in brauner Tinte. Geheftet. 8vo (102 x 163 mm). Enthält chemische Symbole und ihre Bedeutung in lateinischer und deutscher Sprache. - Auf bläulichem Papier. Meist stockfleckig oder gebräunt.
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[Adametz, Teresa, Chilean educator (1846-1917)].
Lira Chilena. El 3er Curso de la Escuela Normal de Preceptoras. Dedica este pequeño trabajo a su noble i abnegada Directtora Sta. Teresa Adametz. Santiago de Chile, 15. X. 1888.
4to. Spanish manuscript on paper. 189 written pages on 97 ff. within black ink rules. Contemporary full leather binding over bevelled wooden boards, title and lyre design giltstamped to upper cover, Chilean arms to lower cover, floral ornamentation and title "Poesias" to spine. Gilt dentelle along bevelled outer as well as inner edges. All edges goffered and gilt. Dedication manuscript for Miss Teresa (Therese) Adametz, director of Santiago's pioneering teacher training college "Escuela Normal de Preceptoras" between 1885 and 1890. In 1910, the writer, educator and later Nobel laureate Gabriela Mistrál would receive her long-sought degree from this institution. - The volume constitutes an anthology of Chilean poetry, each section introduced by a brief outline of the life of the respective writer, including such poets as Eusebio Lillo, Isidoro Errázuriz, or Luis Rodriguez Velasco. Penned in fine and regular cursive calligraphy, with blackletter headlines decorated with ornamental penwork flourishes, this sumptuously bound volume was produced by the college's third class as a gift for the Silesian-born educator Adametz, formerly in charge of an Austrian girls' boarding school for the daughters of military officers (cf. Actividades femeninas en Chile [Santiago 1928], pp. 145f.). The dedicatory poem is signed "Rita Gomez Oviedo", while the final entry ("[L]a escuela qué goces") is signed "Pilar Montecinos C.". - An old stamped shelfmark "5.164" to the lower edge of the title-page. Beautifully preserved.
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[Commonplace book].
Anecdoten, Auszüge. Northern Germany, ca. 1770-1867.
4to (172 x 202 mm). German manuscript on paper by various hands. 298 written pp. on 180 ff. (including flyleaves). Contemporary half calf over marbled boards. An extensive German commonplace book, continuously expanded for nearly a century by a family of merchants, farmers, and mariners, one of whom sailed to Virginia on the HMS Lion to join the fleet of Admiral Cornwallis, probably in 1779 during the American Revolutionary War. - The first part (comprising some 40 ff.) offers an anthology of maxims, aphorisms, and anecdotes about the Vienna Court Theatre, about Garrick and Hogarth, King George III and Voltaire, etc., apparently mainly compiled in the 18th century, with a few later additions by other hands. The second part, begun by the same writer and considerably expanded by several later owners of the book, contains a vast miscellany of historical and historico-cultural themes. Items include a piece about verbal responses to sneezing, another about wigs and elaborate hairstyles throughout history, about the history of playing cards; and tables for housewives with which to calculate their annual expenses. Later entries focus more strongly on household remedies against illnesses (such as cholera and dropsy) and agricultural advice (how to get rid of weevils, how to increase the fertility of fruit trees). - Occasionally, the notes will provide a more immediate glimpse of the life of the writer: underneath a discussion of how to calculate the deadweight tonnage of a ship of 100 cannons with a crew of 1000 men, an early 19th century owner who signs his name "Bindseil" states that he himself "sailed on an English ship of the 2nd line, blue flag, of 64 cannons, named Lion, under Captain Fox, which was taking us to the English general Cornwallis in Virginia. On this ship were 1375 souls, 4 live oxen, 12 large pigs, the same number of rams, and 4 horses, which are not taken into account by the above calculation, as little as the minimum two anchors are, each of which weighs some 600 pounds and yet is quite indispensable [...]" (transl.). Not infrequently, an entry will cite the source from which it is drawn: newspapers and journals mentioned include the "Hamburgischer Correspondent", "Holzmindisches Wochenblatt", "Hannoverscher Anzeiger" and "Braunschweigische Zeitung", pointing to a Northern German origin. - Occasional light brownstaining; binding somewhat rubbed. A fine survival worthy of detailed study.
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[Artillery].
"Instrucione a Scollari Bombardieri". 17th century Italian illustrated manuscript treatise about artillery and cannons. [Italy], 1673.
Folio (ca. 210 x 305 mm). Ink manuscript on paper (watermark: eagle and coat-of-arms). 129 written pp. on 72 ff., paginated 5-98 (with lacunae) and 105-147. Numerous inserted leaves and illustrations. Contemporary carta rustica with title inscribed to front cover. An extensive, illustrated manuscript treatise for the instruction of artillerists, couched as a dialogue between an apprentice bombardier and his master, entitled "Discorso fatto in dialogo trà il maestro e lo scollaro bombard[ie]re nel quale si comprende tutto quello che è necessario per saper ben maneggiare l'artiglieria". Written in brown ink in a single large gathering, including 15 pages of ink drawings laid into the manuscript, and a second section beginning on page 105 titled "Prattica del Can[on]e", in three smaller gatherings. Separate indices for the two sections at the end. The omitted pages 99-104 would appear to have been blank (as are pp. 43-47 at the end of the second section), and while the page numbering in the first section is not entirely consecutive, the text appears entirely complete, with no references in the index to unrecorded page numbers. - Browning to the laid-down drawings; some worming and several small holes and dampstains. From the collection of Thomas Fremantle, 3rd Baron Cottesloe (1862-1956), commander of the Territorial Army and president of the Society for Army History Research.
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[China - logbook].
Journal geführt an Bord des Bark Schiffes Anna / Capitain C. Eisenmenger / auf der Reise von Hamburg / nach Shanghay. (Printed form: Hamburg, C. Plath, D. Filby Nachfolger), 1869-1872.
Small oblong folio (ca. 276 x 210 mm). German manuscript on paper (letterpress form). 188 ff. Contemporary brown half cloth over marbled boards with giltstamped red cover label reading "Journal. 12 Monate". Diligently kept naval log of a long China voyage on a Hamburg-based ship undertaken soon after the Second Opium War, at the time of the Tianjin Massacre, during the early years of the rule of the Tongzhi Emperor. The Chinese ports of call range from Hong Kong on the South China Sea and Shanghai on the East China Sea to Tianjin (near Beijing) on the Yellow Sea. - The journal entries begin with the schooner barque Anna weighing anchor in Hamburg on 17 January 1870; they cross the Sunda Strait on 23 April and reach Shanghai on 1 June. After a layover, the course is set for Tamsui, then for Chifoo (Yantai) and Tientsin (Tianjin), and onwards to Hong Kong, Amoy (Xiamen), and Taku, bringing the ship to the island of Penang (George Town) on the Straits of Malacca on 12 March 1872. 14 pages prefixed to the printed form describe how the Anna is taken over at Geestemünde (Bremerhaven) on 20 November 1869, as well as the travel preparations, but also events in the port of Yantai. Apart from precise position readings, weather notes, and other navigational records, the book also contains information in brief regarding disciplinary measures, damage suffered from ice jams, celebrations on board, etc. Until 21 June 1870 the logbook is maintained by the chief helmsman Thomas Brügeman, after which date a different writer takes over. - The Anna (ex Malvina), built and launched in 1859, was a barquentine of 227 register tonnes, sailed by a crew of ten men under captain Carl Eisenmenger, who was also the owner of the ship. - Binding slightly rubbed; paper occasionally browned, but well-preserved altogether.
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[Eben, Christian Adolph Friedrich Frh. von, military officer (1773-1825)].
Observations on the Utility of good Riflemen both in Infantry & Cavalry, with Instructions for Acquiring the Art of Taking a Good Aim, and Description of Targets [...] To which is added A Short Manual Exercise for Mounted Chasseurs as well as for Dragoons or Hussars, who are Armed with Rifle Pieces [...]. Translated from the Original German Manuscript Under the Inspection of the Author. No place, ca. 1802.
Large 4to (211 x 260 mm). English manuscript on paper (watermarked 1797). (2), 86 pp., 1 blank leaf. Text within woodcut margins. With an additional 20 hand-coloured engraved plates (some signed "Merkl", one bound as a frontispiece), many with manuscript captions, and one hand-drawn and uncoloured diagram (numbered "Plate XIV). Contemporary half green morocco over marbled boards. A manuscript from the royal library of the Duke of Clarence; a fair copy in a single hand. "Very interesting qua rifle details, targets etc. (including moving target of a man or deer)" (inserted old collector's note). Neither the author's German manuscript nor the present translation saw publication, but another copy of this manuscript, with the plates, is kept in the Royal Armories Collection (EBEN 1). - Christian Adolph Friedrich Frh. von Eben (1773-1825) was a Silesian nobleman who trained in the Prussian military. He entered the English service in 1800 (where he was styled Frederic, Baron Eben) and composed this manual in 1802, upon receiving a commission in the 10th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Light Dragoons. He went on to fight in the Peninsular War in the Portuguese service and became involved in a conspiracy against the government in 1817. Exiled from Portugal, he served in South America under Bolivar in the 1820s. - Binding rubbed at extremeties. Nicks to some plates, some light discolouring. Provenance: 1) William, Duke of Clarence (later King William IV), bookplate (WH within Garter, coronet above); 2) his natural son George FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster (1794-1842), book label ("Col. Fitz Clarence"), armorial bookplate, and gilt stamp on spine; 3) Sidney Young, armorial bookplate; acquired in 1930 by 4) Thomas Fremantle, 3rd Baron Cottesloe (1862-1956), commander of the Territorial Army and president of the Society for Army History Research.
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Kirchring, Johannes, the Younger, German calligrapher (fl. 1630-1645).
German Psalter in the translation of Martin Luther. Oldenburg, 1634.
Small 8vo (100 x 148 mm). Calligraphic manuscript on vellum and paper. 112 ff. with various blackletter scripts in black, silver and gold, all with a full borders of knotwork, interlaced and geometric designs. Prefatory calligraphic and micrographic leaves, incorporating hymns, prayers and Biblical texts, with 5 pages of intricate micrographic text. 2 blank but bordered leaves at the front and 5 at the end, monogrammed "IKR" at end of index. Contemporary green velvet over wooden boards with silver clasps. A splendid calligraphic manuscript on vellum and paper created for the 28-year-old Juliana of Hesse-Darmstadt (1606-59), countess of East Frisia, later in the collection of Victoria, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Albert of Saxe-Coburg. The micrographic text includes the liturgical calendar for 1634, the Psalms in mirror writing, verses in a maze-like composition, and an orb-shaped device. - Johannes Kirchring, one of the greatest 17th-century calligraphers, had settled in Oldenburg as early as 1592; he is last recorded in 1630 living with his son and successor, the painter and calligrapher Johannes Kirchring the Younger. The Kirchrings were superb exponents of the calligraphic skills developed in Germany during the 16th century, stimulated rather than extinguished by the demands of type design for printed books. Their micrography probably drew on the rich Jewish tradition of Bible decoration that was especially strong in Germany. Although Lutherans were not forbidden religious images, they shared with Judaism a great concern about the dangers of idolatry as well as great scholarly respect for the written word. Elaborate calligraphy and intricate micrography in elegant combinations of gold, silver and black were a splendid yet appropriate way of honouring the Word of God. - Another Lutheran Psalter, handwritten by Johannes Kirchring the Elder, was sold at Sotheby’s in 1994 and subsequently commanded £151,250 at Christie's in 2010 (The Arcana Collection Sale II, lot 18) - the only example ever to have been offered at auction. Apart from this, only four specimens of Kirchring's craft are known to exist, all in public collections (Stockholm Royal Library; Oldenburg State Museum; Halle University Library; Lübeck Municipal Library). A hymnal likely penned by Kirchring the younger in 1637 is known to have been owned by the brothers Grimm. - Provenance: dedicated by the artist to Princess Juliana of Hesse-Darmstadt, wife of Count Ulrich II of East Frisia. The 19th century front flyleaf bears the ink signature of Princess Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa (1840-1901). Victoria, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and created Princess Royal in 1841, was German Empress and Queen of Prussia by marriage to German Emperor Frederick III and mother of German Emperor Wilhelm II. - In perfect condition.
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[Venice - Foscari, Francesco, Doge of Venice (1373-1457)].
Comissio egregii et nobilis viri domini Jeronimi Lambardo honor provisoris Alesii. Venice, 2 Sept. 1433.
4to (ca. 175 x 248 mm). Latin manuscript on vellum. 8½ pp. on 6 leaves (the first four numbered, the last blank). 33 lines, per extensum. Contemporary vellum binding with two later handwritten spine labels. Stored in custom-made half morocco case. The doge Foscari appoints the Venetian nobiluòmo Girolamo Lambardo for two years as provveditore (administrator) of Castrum Alesii (Alessio) in Albania. The modern-day town of Lezha or Lezhë, then an important base for the salt trade with Serbia, had been a Venetian possession since 1393 (in 1468, Skanderbeg would die and be laid to rest here). Lambardo's appointment includes a detailed list of his duties, some of which are based on instructions going back to the years 1404-27. - A wide-margined, clean manuscript. The lower corner of the lined but otherwise blank final leaf is clipped. - Provenance: front pastedown bears engraved armorial bookplate (Gelli 390, 2 or 3, fig. 646) of Amedeo Svajer (1727-91), Venetian merchant and bibliophile of German descent. After his death, parts of his library were acquired by the last doge, Lodovico Giovanni Manin (1726-1802), whose typographic bookplate is likewise present. While most of Manin's collection appears to have been transferred to the Bibliotheca civica "Vincenzo Joppi" in Udine in 1949, the present document was kept in an Austrian private collection as early as the turn of the century.
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[Letter-writing manual - Gellert, Christian Fürchtegott].
Briefe, und Abhandlung vom guten Geschmacke in Briefen. Probably Germany, ca. 1810.
8vo (125 x 187 mm). German manuscript in brown ink on paper. (1 blank leaf), title-leaf (lower two-thirds repaired), 210 (but: 208) numbered pp. (omitting pp. 124-125), 3 final blank pp. Very attractive contemporary half calf with red and green spine label. Coloured paper pastedowns. Silk ribbon. Very pretty and meticulously penned, privately compiled guide to the art of letter writing, partly based on C. F. Gellert's classic "Briefe, nebst einer praktischen Abhandlung von dem guten Geschmacke in Briefen" (first published in 1751), excerpted and paraphrased by the scribe and supplied with his extensive additional examples and discussions. - The manuscript begins with a restatement of Gellert's famous definition of a letter: "The first thing we think of regarding a letter is this, that it takes the place of a conversation. Yet it is not a conversation proper". The text tends to follow the printed book, paraphrasing, abridging, expanding, or quoting verbatim; but on p. 86 begins a chapter "On the external arrangement of letters" not found in Gellert, treating the formal constitution of a letter: the various types of paper, the positioning of salutation and closing on the page, improper salutations, use of envelopes, seals and sealing wax, etc. The examples provided here are not found in Gellert, either, and would appear to be the compiler's own invention: "To a Lady Friend" (signed "Forget-Me-Not"), "A Son's Letter to his Father", "A Brother's Answer to his Sister who has Written that They Have Won the Lottery Together" ("Me and you, winners in the lottery? And ten ducats at that? Well shiver my timbers! What lovely medicine for a foot-sore student"), "A Lady's Congratulations on the Birth of a Child", "Letter of Rejection" ("I still love freedom too dearly, am yet too young"), "To the priest L. (from Carlsbad)": "I have enjoyed the honour of speaking with our German Voltaire, the privy counsellor Goethe. He much favours the French nation, and especially Napoleon. How else could it be, as Napoleon himself invited him to sup with him in Weimar [...] To my pleasure, a travelling musician played several songs by Schiller on his guitar" (p. 136f.), "Thanks for Kind Sentiments", "Thanks for the Offer of Friendship", "To a Noble Friend for his Confidence", "A Young Lady Thanking her Aunt for a Gift", etc. - Later, the writer again draws from Gellert's printed work, inserting the final letter from the book: "To Baron Gr., From the Country", before adding a letter of congratulation, an account of travel adventures, a reminder "To a Late Payer", a letter demanding reimbursement for a loan to a nobleman, as well as an "Appendix" discussing the importance of legible handwriting and providing recipes for "good and well-flowing ink", how to cut quills, and how to make a leather writing case. - Prettily bound, with insignificant staining to covers. The green spine label bears the initials "A.B.", possibly denoting the unidentified compiler. Later autograph ownership of the Czech painter Josef Ferdinand Hettes (1864-1927) to flyleaf. Lower two-thirds of the title-page removed and rebacked, otherwise a clean, well-preserved and often amusing document of German epistolary culture in the late 18th and early 19th century.
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[Militärgeschichte].
Erinnerung beym Exerciren. O. O. u. D., ca. 1780.
Deutsche Handschrift auf Papier. 220 beschriebene SS., 1 Bl. mit kl. Federzeichnungen. Lederband der Zeit mit Rückenvergoldung. Kl.-8vo. Im Schuber. Enthält u. a. Moritz Graf von Lacy's "Beobachtungen welche bei denen im Jahr 1769 abgehaltenen Exercir Tagen deren in Böheim und Mähren verlegten k. k. Infanterie Regimentern [...] befunden wurden" sowie ausführliche Auflistungen der Kommandowörter. "Es würde ein sehr falsches Vorurtheil sein, wenn man in dem Wahn stünde, daß die hinter der Fronte stehende[n] Ober- und Unter Officiers nur deßentwegen ihren Posten daselbst hielten, weilen sie nicht alle in die Fronte eingeteilet werden können, ihre Hauptsachliche Sorgfalt bestehet darinnen: nemlich in der Verhütung einer Haupt Unordnung zu ihren Abtheilungen, und fallß sich wieder Verhoffen ergeben sol[l]te, die Ordnung darinnen auf daß schleunigste wieder herzustellen, daß Zurückweichen ihrer Abteilung, und die [E]ntweichung eines Mannes zu verhindern, der seine Schuldigkeit vor dem Feind nicht thun will, zu untersuchen, ob diejenige[n] welche sich wegen Blessuren aus ihren Abteilungen ziehen würden, nicht außer Stand sind zu fechten, oder ob es nur kleine, und nichts zu bedeuten habende Convulsiones seynd, und unter dem Vorwand, daß der Mann sich aus der Action, und der fernern Gefahr entziehen wil[l] [...]" (aus Punkt 17 der "Anmerkungen welche a[nn]o 1768 im Lager gemacht worden". - Bindung stellenweise etwas locker, Einband etwas beschabt und bestoßen.
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[Schubarth, Ernst Ludwig].
Physik nach Schubart. Berlin, 1839.
4to (273 x 90 mm). (810) pp. Manuscript in black ink, in a neat and legible Kurrent hand. With 178 precisely executed pencil and ink diagrams and sketches in the margins, together with one full-page and two tipped-in folding drawings. Contemporary drab blue linen with gilt red cloth spine label. All edges red. A meticulously maintained record of one of Schubarth's lecture series, kept by a student, "W. Mück," and a fascinating look at 19th century physics. Unpublished. - Schubarth (1797-1868) was a medical doctor, surgeon, and technological chemist. He gave lectures on chemistry and physics at the Königliches Gewerbeinstitut in Berlin from 1821 to 1848 and at the Bauakademie Berlin from 1831 to 1862. Both universities merged in 1879 and thus were forerunners of Berlin's highly regarded Technische Universität. Schubarth wrote numerous books, including "Tabellen für den Unterricht in der Physik" (1831), "Elemente der technischen Chemie" (1833), and "Lehrbuch der theoretischen Chemie" (1822). He was one of only four academics who lectured at the Gewerbeinstitut during the inaugural year of 1821. It is not known whether these lectures were given at the Gewerbeinstitut or at the Bauakademie. They have never been published. - Schubarth was known to Alexander von Humboldt, who recommended him to Michael Faraday in a letter of 9 August 1846, describing him as "a savant whose work has been most useful for the progress of the industry of this country" (Faraday, p. 537) His image can be seen on the statue of the Prussian statesman Peter Beuth, the prime mover in 19th century Prussia's industrial renewal, where Schubarth is shown addressing a group of fellow scientists. - In his book "Aesthetics, Industry and Science: Hermann von Helmholtz and the Berlin Physical Society", M. Norton Wise notes: "From the perspective of technological modernism at the Bauschule, it is noteworthy that students learned their chemistry and physics entirely from a practical and industrial perspective. Ernst Ludwig Schubarth taught the basic courses, although he had no student laboratory and surely taught experimentation by demonstration alone. After habilitating at the Medical Faculty in Berlin, Schubarth became associate professor for materia medica and chemistry at the University and one of Beuth's most stalwart contributors at the Gewerbeinstitut and Gewerbeverein, serving for years as editor of its journal" (pp. 53f.). - Binding rather rubbed, front joint cracked but sound, back hinge cracking, spine cocked. Text somewhat toned, with some light soiling, but generally in very good condition. Cf. The Correspondence of Michael Faraday, Vol. 3 (2013). M. N. Wise, Aesthetics, Industry and Science: Hermann von Helmholtz and the Berlin Physical Society (University of Chicago Press, 2018).
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[Guignard, comte de Saint-Priest, François-Emmanuel, French diplomat (1735-1821)].
Mémoires sur l'ambassade de France en Turquie et sur le commerce des Français dans le Levant. No place, mid-19th century.
Small folio (243 x 301 mm). Ink scribal manuscript on paper. 373 (but: 376) pp. Sumptuous red half morocco with giltstamped spine title: "Mémoires (sur l’ambassade de France en Turquie et sur le commerce des Français dans le Levant) du Cte Emmanuel de St. Priest Ambassadeur et Pair de France 1735-1821. Revues et corrigées par le comte Alexis de Saint-Priest de l’Académie Française". Marbled endpapers. Highly interesting autobiographical account of Guignard de Saint-Priest, a French politician and diplomat during the Ancien Régime and French Revolution, and of his diplomatic career. Appointed ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in 1768, he remained in Constantinople until 1785, with a single brief interruption in 1776/78, and there married Wilhelmina von Ludolf. Roughly half of the manuscript covers these decisive years spent at the Ottoman court of Mustafa III and Abdul Hamid I, offering a history of French relations with the Porte, biographies of previous French ambassadors and envoys to Turkey, and a history of French commerce and navigation in the Levant. In spite of his long mission, Guignard clearly was not happy with his posting, complaining of the "faibles et ignorance da la Porte Ottomane", yet he shows a keen eye for detail as well as for the Ottoman Empire's manoeuverings within the broader context of European power politics. His famous portrait of Marie-Antoinette is found in chapter XIX of the manuscript (p. 271-291). His account continues as far as the year 1802, also including his time at the Russian court of Paul I and the last years of Catherine the Great, as well as his stay in Denmark and Norway. - Born in Grenoble, Guignard joined the army at the age of 15. After his mission to Constantinople he became secretary to the Royal household of Louis XVI and Minister of the Interior in Necker’s second cabinet in 1789. Later, he apparently served Russia as a spy at the Swedish court before accompanying the exiled court of Louis XVIII to Blankenburg and Mittau. - The manuscript's editor, Comte Alexis de Saint-Priest (1805-51), was the grandson of François-Emmanuel. His father was François-Emmanuel’s second son Armand-Emmanuel-Charles de Saint-Priest (1782-1863), also a diplomat who later became Governor of Poldolia and Odessa in Russia. After his return to Paris, Alexis moved in literary circles, became a member of the Académie Française, and is mentioned in the preface of the original edition of the "Mémoires" (Calmann-Lévy, 1929) by the baron de Barante. Alexis de Saint-Priest entrusted the manuscript to Prosper de Barante as the basis of a biography published in 1845. - At the beginning of the 19th century this manuscript was still in the hands of a descendant of Barante's, who was responsible for the publication. The present mid-19th century manuscript was probably copied from the original fair copy, as it contains pencil corrections in a different hand throughout and corresponds with important variants in the printed edition. - A single page repaired with tape, a small tear to another page not affecting the text, otherwise a fine and clean copy, splendidly bound. Cf. Hellwald, p. 282. Saint-Priest, Mémoires ... annotée par Nicolas Mietton (2006).
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[Naval tactics].
Evolutiones navales. No place, ca. 1770.
4to (190 x 248 mm). French manuscript, ink on paper. (2), IV, 190 (but: 189), (7) pp. (first leaf blank save for the ink borders, pp. 33-34 transposed before 27, p. 146 skipped, last text and last index page blank). With numerous ink drawings throughout, many full-page. Contemporary full calf with remains of a spine label ("Ev... Na..."). All edges red. An encompassing, finely executed manuscript on naval tactics, composed by an officer of the French navy, where this subject had long enjoyed special emphasis. The present manual contains 91 "evolutions", or techniques of seamanship and combat manoeuvres. It is unpublished in this form, but it draws heavily on and assimilates the classic works of Tourville (1693), Hoste (1697), Morogues (1763), and Bourdé de Villehuet (1765), often providing the section's source in the margin. As the anonymous author states in the preface ("Avertissement sur le suject de ce recueil"), he has compiled in this volume, at the suggestion of many younger navy officers and sailors, the sum of knowledge he acquired during his 36 years of service. The painstakingly prepared pen-and-ink illustrations show show fleet and battle formations as well as manoeuvres on the high seas and in coastal areas. With a detailed table of contents ("Table des evolutions co[n]tenues dans ce recueil") at the end. - Spine professionally repaired. A few light stains throughout, otherwise well preserved.
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[Silk production in Granada - presentation manuscript]. Baños y Molina, Pedro Paschio de.
Manifiesto del origen, progreso, y estado de la real hacienda y renta de poblacion en la ciudad, y reyno de Granada, que ha estado enagenada de la corona desde primero de enero de 1726 hasta fin de agosto del de 760. [Granada?], 22 March 1762.
4to (the tables measuring ca. 515 x 740 mm). - (Bound with) II: Copia de la carta remitida a s.e. en 16 de septiembre de 760, que acompaño al manifiesto, plan y demas documentos sobre renta. - (Bound with) III: Manifiesto de la renta de seda del reyno de Granada, executado de orden del Exmo. Sr. Marques de Esquilace del Consejo de S.M. su secretario de el de Hacienda y Superintendente general de todas Rentas Reales. 17 ff., 11 ff., plus 2 large folding tables ("Estado de los morales y moredas existentes en la Ciudad de Granada, ciudades, villas y lugares de su thesoreria" and "Plan general de los valores que produce la Real Hacienda de población del reyno de Granada"). Stored loosely in a modern folder. Impressive calligraphic presentation manuscript with an account of the history and 18th century state of the renowned silk production in Granada. Having belonged to the Marqués de Esquilache, Minister of Charles III, and signed in Granada by Pedro Paschio de Baños y Molina (1762), this beautiful copy was executed by a skilled calligrapher for the personal collection of the Marqués, probably by a calligrapher in Granada, where resided a number of professional scribes who produced elaborately decorated Cartas Ejecutorias (patents of nobility) for the Cancilleria. - Granada was known for centuries throughout the Mediterranean and beyond for the high quality of its silk: according to the German traveller Hieronymus Münzer in 1492, theirs was the best in the world. Its fame lasted to the end of the 19th century, when the German Imperial family still bought Granada silk. The cultivation of silk in Granada had been the main source of revenue for the Muslim Nasrid Kingdom of Granada; after its fall to the Catholic kings in 1492, it filled the coffers of the Spanish crown. Until the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609 the production of silk remained mainly in their hands. Historians have argued that the steep hike of silk taxes ordered by Philip II led to the Morisco rebellion of 1568-71. The silk was traded from three exchanges (alcacerías), the main one situated in Granada, where since the period of Nazari rule Genovese traders were active and exported the silk throughout the Mediterranean and even to America. - This document testifies to the great interest that the Spanish kings took in the promotion, cultivation, and trade of silk in the second part of the 18th century. It is a beautiful document remarkable for the wealth of information it contains. In the best spirit of the Enlightenment, it meticulously records the number of mulberry trees in all localities of Granada, from the smallest to the largest, the number of additional trees that could be planted, the yearly expenses for juros (loans that the King had vouched to pay to certain individuals and religious institutions), and other items. - The document is addressed to the Marqués de Esquilache, minister of King Charles III, by Pedro Paschaio de Baños y Molina, director of the King's revenue in Granada. Paschaio, a member of a family of accountants, became very wealthy at the service of the crown. In 1752 he owned nine houses in the Macarena in Granada, six taverns, and lands. Born in 1691, he bought the post of mayor of the city of Granada in 1724. From this position he initiated his social ascent by organizing the visit of King Philip V to the city in 1730. By 1760 he was director of finances of Granada, an office which undoubtedly augmented his wealth. He financed several important religious buildings in Granada in the late Baroque style. - Professionally restored tears, almost invisible, to large folding tables; some minor oxidation to ink as expected, but overall in excellent condition. A. M. Gómez Román, "Moral aristocrática, filantropía y promoción en la figura de Pedro Pascasio de Baños", Cuadernos de Arte de la Universidad de Granada 36 (2005), pp. 139-149. J. Highet, "Silks from Islamic Lands", Asian Art, 6 March 2014. J. R. McNeill, The Mountains of the Mediterranean. An Environmental History (Cambridge, 1992), p. 226. Girón Pascual Rafael María, Las Indias de Génova. Mercaderes genoveses en el reino de Granada durante la edad moderna (Editorial de la Universidad de Granada, 2013).
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Barb, Heinrich Alfred, Austrian orientalist (1826-1883).
La transcription de l'alphabet arabe [...]. Vienna, 1860.
4to. French and Arabic manuscript on paper by two or three hands. (12), 19 pp., 4 blank pp., (1), 46, 13 pp., blank verso. In original wrapper with handwritten title. French translation of an essay on the Latin transcription of the Arabic alphabet by the renowned oriental scholar H. A. Barb, the first translator of the "Sharaf-nama". The slim work was published in German in 1860 as "Die Transcription des arabischen Alphabetes". Although no French translation of this work is known to have appeared in print, the corrections and annotations scattered throughout the manuscript suggest that it was either an effort by Barb himself - although at least two hands can be identified for the main text - or drawn up by his students and merely revised by Barb. Apart from the preface and chapters 1 and 2 as well as parts of chapters 3 and 4 of the "Transcription", it includes a 41-page section in Arabic script that does not appear in the German publication. While the corrections in the preface and the first two chapters are done in pencil, those found in chapters 3 and 4 are executed in red crayon, mainly numbering the examples in the German publication, here merely referenced by the scribe. The Arabic section (possibly in a third hand) shows several corrections in pencil as well as annotations in blue crayon, including several question marks. - Barb, a native of Galicia, served as the director of Vienna's Oriental Academy (now the Diplomatic Academy). He converted to Catholicism in 1884 while in his first year of law at the University of Vienna and rose in the Austrian civil service to the rank of Hofrat, a distinction rarely accorded to those of Jewish ancestry. As a scholar he received recognition both at home and abroad for his contributions towards the study of Persian and oriental languages. - Large tear to lower cover, small tears to spine. Interior somewhat browned and brownstained throughout, otherwise very well preserved. A unique survival.
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Chaussonet, Pierre-François.
Noms Surnoms, Qualités, Conditions et Armoiries blasonnées de Messieurs les Prevost des Marchands et Echevins de la Ville de Lyon [...] Présenté à Noble David Flachat Ecuyer. Par son trés humble et trés obeissant serviteur P. F. Chaussonet Armorialiste de la Ville. [Lyon, 1749-1755].
4to (270 x 220 mm). French manuscript, ink and watercolour on paper. (125) ff. with 10 written pages and (82) pp. with pasted, hand-coloured printed coats of arms. Contemporary full calf. All edges red. Armorial with the coats of arms of 270 Lyonnais city officials from 1595 to 1750, with later additions to 1755. The title-page with the dedication is followed by a 9-page alphabetical index of family names and the years of service of 258 officials, many serving several terms, until 1750. A full-page coat of arms of the dedicatee David Flachat (1708-54), "Écuyer" (Steward) of Lyon in 1749/50, heads the arms section. On all but five of the 81 pages, the coats of arms are organized in tree diagrams with the "prévôt des marchands" (dean of the city guilds, the de facto mayor) on top and his four deputies or "échevins" (jurymen) in a single row below. The five other pages record only two "échevins". The coats of arms include the names, titles, and tenure of office in letterpress printing (with two handwritten exceptions). All coats of arms and captions or empty cartouches, for the few handwritten records, were printed, hand-coloured, cut out, and pasted into the manuscript. Starting with the title-page, all pages are framed within hand-drawn brown and yellow borders. - The offices of the "prévôt des marchands" and "échevin" of Lyon were established by King Henry IV of France in 1595, as stated in the full title of the manuscript, and the men elected for the two-year terms were automatically ennobled. The city-government of Lyon was organized as decreed by Henry IV until 1790, following the example of Paris. - In his office as official chronicler and herald of Lyon, Pierre-François Chaussonet produced a very limited number of almost identical copies of this armorial, dedicated to members of the city government such as Flachat. One copy is in the municipal archive of Lyon (shelfmark 17Fi 129), another was sold in 2011 at Kapandji Morhange in Paris (lot 155, €2600). - Binding rubbed and chafed, edges and spine scuffed. Pages foxed with some staining, several pages wavy from the glue, some minor tears.
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[Medical manual and recipe book].
Examen: Vor ein Neuer angehender Chirurgus, der sich will examiniren lassen, daß er in seinem examen bestehet, und wohl erfunden wird, so muß er dieses alles auswendig lernen, daß er antworten kann, über dasjenige was ihm gefragt wird. Anno 1806. Franconia and Alsace (Augsburg, Nuremberg, Strasbourg), 1800-1826.
4to (170 x 230 mm). German (and Latin) manuscript by various hands. (47), 285 (misnumbered: 286), (47) pp. Contemporary boards with vellum corners and modern cloth spine. Interesting medical manual beginning with an "examen" on the unnumbered 45 preliminary pages, arranged as questions and answers in the manner of a catechism. The body of the work consists in a copious collection of medical recipes: the first 193 pages contain a "description of my approved recipes, some by myself, as well as by other medical men well versed in practical matters". The next section (up to p. 223), in a different hand, contains additional "recipes by Mr. Clausing surgeon in Strasbourg" (i.e. the Baden-born surgeon and obstetrician Johann Peter Clausing, 1762-1835); the following section (to p. 242) contains "recipes by Dr. Hessert" (another Strasbourg physician of the early 19th century). Pages 243-286 offer "formularies" (such as Hippocrates, de Arte &c.), but also recipies for ointments, preserves, pills, pastes, rotulae, dicocta, clismata, pulpae, cataplasmata, etc. - The final part, again without page numbers contains extensive private notes on domestic economy concerning expenditures and earnings for the years from 1817 to 1826. - Written in dark brown ink by several hands in mostly well-legible German script. A few quires slightly loosened; occasional slight dust-soiling and fingerstaining (title-page and final leaves more so). A well-preserved manuscript on uncommonly strong paper.
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Zuallart, Jean, Belgian traveller (1541-1634).
[Genealogies]. Autograph manuscript signed with motto, "facessat invidia Zuallart". No place, 1590.
Folio (210 x 320 mm). 202 ff., about 30 of which are blank. Contemporary vellum, joints using a 15th century vellum manuscript. A hitherto unpublished genealogical work by the Belgian historian Jean Zuallart (1541-1634), best known for his great travelogue of a journey to Jerusalem. Written in his diminutive hand, the present manuscript gives the family trees of important historical personalities, rulers and noble families, including those of Adam and Eve, the Virgin Mary and Noah, Assyrian rulers and kings, the Babylonians, Egyptians and Romans, the dynasties and noble families of Italy, France, Austria, Tyrol, Bavaria, the Palatinate, Saxony, Brandenburg, Nassau, Swabia, Franconia, Spain, Portugal, Flanders, Antwerp, Brabant, and Lorraine, as well as the Goths and Vandals. - Zuallart's account of the Holy Land, which he visited in 1586 as companion and educator of a young nobleman, was first published in Rome in 1587 in Italian; it saw several reissues and translations and was often drawn upon by later writers. A selection of his work can be found in the Bibliotheca Belgica (V, 893-900), which also notes several manuscript works left behind by Zuallart at his death. One of them, kept at the Belgian Royal Library (MS. II 1001), was used to confirm Zuallart's handwriting. - Binding with minor traces of use, rear inner joint loosened. Otherwise well preserved. Provenance: 17th century handwritten ownership by Joannes Masius to lower flyleaf; later armorial bookplate to front pastedown.
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Giovio, Paolo.
Coronica de las cosas de los turcos desde su principio y origen hasta el año del nascim[iento] de N[uest]ro Señor Jesu [Christ]o de mill e quin[ientos] e treinta e un años. Ordenada en lengua toscana por Paulo Jovio Ob[is]po de Nocera a Don Carlos quinto emperador Augusto traduzida en lengua castellana. No place, [soon after 1531].
Folio (225 x 302 mm). Spanish ink manuscript on paper. 92 pp. Bound in 18th century half calf over marbled boards; giltstamped morocco label to spine. A near-contemporary manuscript translation into Spanish of Paolo Giovio's famous "Commentario de le cose de' Turchi" (Rome, 1531). A Spanish edition was printed in Barcelona in 1543 as "Commentario de las cosas de los Turcos", but the textual variations in this manuscript confirm that this is an entirely different translation based on the Italian first edition, most likely predating the Spanish one, as it does not include later additions to the Italian text. - The historian and physician Paolo Giovio (1483-1552), Bishop of Nocera, wrote and dedicated this commentary to Emperor Charles V, with the aim of supporting a crusade against the Ottoman Turks and assisting the Emperor in understanding the nature and strength of his adversary. The annihilation of the French and Hungarian forces at the Battle of Mohács by the army of Suleiman the Magnificent on 29 August 1526 and the near success of the Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1529 as well as the constant and aggressive privateering activities of the Barbary states in the Mediterranean had highlighted the danger posed to Christendom by the Ottoman Empire and set in motion a Christian counterattack with Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor and the most powerful monarch in Europe as its figurehead. - "Of the various treatises written for Charles V on the Turkish menace, Giovio's was probably the most realistic, the least moralizing, and the most informative. Recalling the emperor's difficulties with Latin, he made his offering in simple Italian. The text was economical. As the Ferrarese envoy remarked, by reading it, 'Your Excellency will learn in a short time what he would not perhaps learn even in a very long time without the book.' Despite his love for the paladins of romance, Giovio regarded this crusade as a practical matter. He understood the Ottoman expansionist drive better than most, and he had a new appreciation of the impact of oriental events on Western history. His objectivity as an historian and his openness to divergent human values enabled him to discern the real strengths of the Turkish state and to present them in full relief. He even took a kind of ironic satisfaction in holding up instances of honorable behavior on the part of 'barbarians' as a reproach to Christian commanders and princes. An enemy who was steady, honorable, magnanimous, disciplined, and valiant was much more to be feared than the degenerate barbarians of popular imagination. So unprejudiced was Giovio in assessing the strengths of the Turks that he often had to defend himself against the accusations of contemporaries such as Jiminez de Quesada that he was 'aficionado a la nación turquesa'" (Zimmerman, Paolo Giovio: The historian and the crisis of 16th century Italy [1995], pp. 121f.). - The Commentario was "short, lively and readable" (Meserve, "Commentario de le Cose de' Turchi by Paolo Giovio", Renaissance Quarterly 60.1 [Spring 2007], pp. 158-160). It was first published in 1531 and again in 1532 (by Antonio Blado); subsequent editions in 1533, 1535, 1538, 1540, 1541 and 1560 as well as translations into Latin, German, French and Spanish attest to its popularity. - Provenance: from the extensive manuscript library of Augustus Frederick, the Duke of Sussex (1773-1843), the 6th son of George III, with his bookplate on the front pastedown and shelfmark on a paper label at foot of spine. The ms. is not included, however, in the sales catalogue of his library, "Bibliotheca Sussexiana: The extensive and valuable library of His Royal Highness the Late Duke of Sussex" (3 vols., London, 1827-39). - This manuscript copy, perhaps illustrating the continuing value of Giovio's writing, includes a passport, loosely inserted, issued by Diego Dávila Mesía y Guzmán, marqués de Leganés, for Carlos Ruzzini to travel through the Duchy of Savoy en route to Madrid as Venetian ambassador to Spain in 1691. Thereafter, Ruzzini was, from August 1705 to September 1706, ambassador to the Turkish Court for the celebrations of the accession to the throne of Sultan Ahmed III. He represented Venice in the negotiations that led to the 1718 Treaty of Passarowitz between the Sultan, the Holy Roman Empire, and Venice, and he was sent to Istanbul once more from May 1719 to October 1720 for the ratification of the treaty before later being elected Doge of Venice for the last three years of his life. His account, the "Relatione del Congresso di Carloviz e dell'Ambasciata di Vienna di Sr. Carlo Ruzzini Cavr." published in the Fontes Rerum Austriacarum (Vol. 27, pp. 345-444), is one of the most valuable sources for Venetian-Ottoman relations at the beginning of the 18th century. The inclusion of the passport with this manuscript suggests that the manuscript might have been owned or used by Ruzzini to inform himself on Ottoman affairs in anticipation of his dealings with the Ottoman Court before the manuscript subsequently joined the collection of the Duke of Sussex. - Joints and edges slightly rubbed, otherwise in fine state of preservation.
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Soyter, Magnus, art collector (1806-1884).
Collection of watercolour drawings with manuscript captions. [Augsburg], 1849-1853.
(15) ff. 14 loose wove paper folio sheets and 1 loose wove paper bifolium. Large folio (55 x 35 cm). With 64 watercolours and manuscript captions on 15 leaves (each leaf drawn on one side only). Collection of impressive watercolour drawings after medieval art objects by Magnus Soyter, an Augsburg-based collector of German medieval art who prepared watercolours of the objects in his collection, adding captions in ink with information about the items depicted. Soyter was a highly skilled watercolourist, and his large reproduction drawings are exquisite. He is today best known for his collection of medieval knights' helmets that ended up in museum collections worldwide. - In 1871 there was an exhibition held in Augsburg of highlights from his collection. A catalogue was made of these objects by Albert Fidelis Butsch, entitled "Waffenstücke, Rüstungen, Kunstwerke & Geräthschaften des Mittelalters und der Renaissance. In einer Auswahl der schönsten Stücke aus der in den Räumlichkeiten des Historischen Vereins für Schwaben und Neuburg aufgestelten Sammlung des Particuliers J. M. Soyter". In 1874 a supplement was published at Augsburg that included 50 photographs of the objects. After Soyter's death his collection was auctioned off and a 51-page catalogue was published under the title "Auctions-Katalog der Antiqutäten-, Gemälde- und Geweih-Sammlung aus dem Nachlass von Magnus Soyter" (Augsburg, Butsch, 1884). - The objects displayed in these drawings are from Soyter's private collection, as the manuscript captions indicate. Many of these artifacts are now lost, making this the only record of some of these superb medieval German pieces. - Wholly untrimmed. In very good condition.
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Caciotti, Ugo.
Delle voci, termini ed altre notizie militari. (Florence, 1632/1639).
4to (160 x 220 mm). Illustrated manuscript in Italian (black ink on paper). (74) pp., single column of 16 lines in a fine bookhand, every page bordered with double rules. First text leaf with a silver-edged frame and one large initial decorated with silver penwork. Title page with a fine penwork portrait of the dedicatee in ornamental armour (after the portrait by Sustermans), in rust-coloured ink, all within a wreath edged in gold and silver. Bound in contemporary full black calfskin, elaborately gilt-tooled. A dictionary of Florentine military terms, from "Abbattimento" ("l'abbater per battaglia") to "Zagaglia" ("spezie d'arme in asta"), followed by lists of punishable offences, general military guidelines, and commendable actions. A handsome manuscript of the finest quality, produced as a presentation copy for the "Duca di Guisa", Charles de Lorraine, the 4th Duke of Guise (1571-1640). Charles, who had fallen into disfavor with Cardinal Richelieu for siding with Marie de' Medici, had withdrawn to Italy in 1631. His wife and younger children joined him in Florence, where the family was protected by the House of Medici. After Charles's death at Cuna, in 1640, his widow and children (among them Marie, "Mademoiselle de Guise") were permitted to return to France in 1643. Caciotti, the author, served as secretary to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Christina of Lorraine, one of the duke's allies. In the dedication he dates the work's completion to 28 April 1632, and this presentation copy was given to the duke in 1639 (inscription at the foot of the title). - Beneath the dedicatee's realistic portrait, the illustrated title page shows a central banner with the title and presentation inscription, within full borders of humbled and kneeling soldiers, Calvin on the left and Muhammad on the right (representing the armies of the Protestants and Turks). The figures are prostrated beneath their armour and weaponry on either side of the arms of Guise, which are shown beneath a gold and bejewelled crown. - Once water damaged with discolouration to leaves at each end; some areas of the arms on the title page have fallen away due to ink corrosion (the rest is adhered to the next blank leaf so as to stabilise the paper). Ink corrosion has also damaged the frames of the text leaves, frequently loosening the text area on one or more sides. Spine wormed and chipped, a small section lost from top of rear board, otherwise an appealing and presentable dedication manuscript.
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[Book of Hours].
[Liber horarum - Use of Rouen]. Rouen, Maître de l'échevinage (workshop), ca. 1480 (last quarter of the 15th c.).
8vo (190 x 133 mm). Latin manuscript (lettre batarde) on vellum. 2 columns, 25 lines. 70 (instead of 74) ff., with 2 ff. of flyleaves at beginning and end each. Floral borders in colours and gilt; ornamental initials; 10 (instead of 14?) illuminated pages. 16th century calf with gilt double cover rules and central oval stamps (upper cover: crucifixion; lower cover: annunciation). Splendidly illuminated Northern French Book of Hours on vellum. The nearly full-page miniatures (ca. 110 x 80 mm) show extended landscapes as well as interiors, comprising: fol. 14r, Annunciation (at the beginning of the matin of the Office of Mary); fol. 20r, Visitation (Lauds); fol. 26r, Crucifixion (Hours of the Cross); fol. 27r, Pentecost (Hours of the Holy Spirit); fol. 31r, Adoration (Sext), fol. 33r, Presentation at the Temple (None); fol. 35r, Flight into Egypt (Vespers); fol. 38, Coronation of Mary (Compline); fol. 41v, King David in prayer (Penitential Psalms); fol. 50v, Job (Office of the Dead). Wants 4 leaves: before fol. 7 (Gospel lections), before fols. 28 & 30 (Prime and Terce in the Office of Mary), and before fol. 65 (beginning of a prayer to the Blessed Virgin). The finely gilt accents on the figures' clothing are typical of the French book illumination of the period. The borders (on all sides of the first calendar page and surrounding the miniatures, otherwise only to the outside of the text) show characteristically elongated, light brown and blue tendril leaves as well as blossoms and fruits (mainly strawberries and oblong red blossoms) within light brown compartments. The various prayers and lections have small coloured initials; final paragraph lines are completed with red and blue bars bearing gilt decoration. - The localisation of this Book of Hours is conclusively demonstrated by the original note on fol. 13r: "Hore beate Marie virginis secundum usum Rothomagansem" (i.e., Rouen in Normandy). Liturgically of high importance is the calendar (fols. 1r-6v), written in French: the entries are alternately in red and blue, feasts are emphasized in gilt. Names include St Martialis, bishop of Limoges, celebrated in Rouen on 3 July and also prominently mentioned in the litany; St Romanus, bishop of Rouen (23 October); and other bishops of Rouen, such as Ansbertus (9 February), Hugo (9 April), Mellonus (22 October), and numerous saints typical for the region, some of which reappear in the litany (fols. 47v-50r). - The localisation is supported by the art-historical evidence: the tendril forms were developed in Rouen around 1460 by the "maître de l’échevinage", and his highly productive workshop continued the tradition until the 16th century. The compositions and their arched top borders further support this attribution. The date is suggested by the lack of bars in the borders, such as are typical of workshop's ornamentation as late as in the third quarter of the 15th century, and on the other hand by the unadulterated Gothic character of the illumination, which in Rouen tends to give way to Renaissance motifs even in the late 15th century. - Provenance: 16th century old French entries on fol. 70v, concerning the birth of several children of the book's owner. The first entry mentions a fourth son, Pierre, born on 13 May 1563; by 1570 he is followed by four more children who were apparently entered immediately after their birth. While the family's name is not stated, it might be identified from the names of the godparents. An added prayer entered on fol. 13v appears nearly contemporary with these notes. - Occasional very insignificant paint smudges and offsetting to opposite pages with a few very minor stains. Altogether in fine state of preservation.
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Zeuthen, Hieronymus Georg, Mathematiker (1839-1920).
Eigenh. Manuskript mit U. O. O., [1875].
Französische Handschrift auf Papier. 22 SS. 4to. Manuskript zu Zeuthens 1876 in Band IX der von dem Mathematiker Carl Neumann in Leipzig herausgegebenen "Mathematischen Annalen" publiziertem Aufsatz über singuläre Flächenpunkte, betitelt "Sur une classe de points singuliers de surfaces". Mit einigen Korrekturen und Streichungen. - Der dänische Mathematiker Zeuthen war Professor in Kopenhagen und fast vierzig Jahre lang Sekretär der Königlich Dänischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Neben der abzählenden Geometrie beschäftigte er sich mit mathematischer Wissenschaftsgeschichte, insbesondere mit der antiken griechischen Mathematik und der Mathematik des Mittelalters. - Stellenweise leicht braunfleckig.
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[Grumbach, Wilhelm von, Franconian adventurer and knight (1503-1567)].
Wilhelm von Grumbachs fernere Handlungen wider die drey vereinte fränkische Stände [...]. Apparently Southern Germany or Austria, end of the 16th century (ca. 1600).
Folio (ca. 224 x 360 mm). German manuscript on paper. (44), 448 (but: 449), (1) pp., per extensum. Early 19th century marbled boards. Extensive, near-contemporary collection of sources on the so-called "Grumbach Feud", a conflict between Wilhelm von Grumbach and the Prince Bishop of Würzburg which came to a head with the 1558 murder of bishop Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt and then blended into a scheme of Duke John Frederick II of Saxony to transfer the Saxon electorship to his own family's line with Grumbach's help. The extremely brutal quarrel ended with Grumbach's being drawn and quartered in the Gotha marketplace, while the Duke was imprisoned in Austria for the rest of his life. - The present manuscript treats the years 1563 to 1567, from Grumbach's capture of Würzburg to the capture of Gotha by Duke Augustus of Saxony and the subsequent execution of Grumbach and imprisonment in Wiener Neustadt of Duke John Frederick. The well-organized manuscript contains an extensive index at the beginning and boasts a wealth of document and correspondence copies. An important source collection for the history of a 16th century conflict with wide repercussions throughout the Empire. - Spine, edges and corners professionally repaired. Front flyleaf has a handwritten acquisition note by the Austrian nobleman Maximilian Baron Pilati-Thassul (1819-72), recording that he paid 24 guilders and 36 kreuzers for the book.
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[Qur'anic studies].
Two Southern Arabian essays about the magical virtues of the Qur'an. Yemen, [28 Dec. 1832 CE] = 5 Shaban 1248 H.
8vo (115 x 162 mm). 100 ff. Arabic manuscript on paper. 21 lines, per extensum. Brown ink (as well as light red for rubricated terms) in an essentially drawn, compact, non-serifed Yemeni naskh calligraphy. 19th century Arabic manuscript copy of two much earlier mystical works concerning the virtues and benefits related to the knowledge and recitation of the Holy Qur'an, namely: - 1) Kitab al-Barq al-Lami wa’l-Gayt al-Hami ("The Book of the Shining Flashes and Showering Rain"), epitomizing the work of the early Islamic judge Abu Bakr al-Gassani, probably an abridged version of the "Kitab ad-Durr an-Nazim fi Fada'il al-Qur'an al-Azim" by the Yemeni mystic Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Hassab (fl. 1250s AD). - 2) Kitab Hawass Ayat min-al-Qur’an wa Fawatih al-Suwar ("The Book of Peculiarities of the Qur'anic verses and the Surahs’ overtures"), a late work by the famous Persian mystic and thinker Abu Hamid al-Gazali (d. 1111 AD), here referred to by his traditional honorific "Huggatu’l-Islam" ("Proof of Islam"). - The book contains an anthological commentary on specific Qur'anic verses (ayat) and their supposed virtues and talismanic properties. The first work’s initial chapter, e.g., deals with the virtues of those verses in the Holy Qur'an that name the Prophet (an-Nabi) Muhammad. Immediately afterwards, the Ayat al-Shifa’ (i.e., “Healing Verses”) are included. Here, they are nine Qur'anic verses deemed effective against illness if recited by a believer with pure heart. The second part of this codex quotes several Qur'anic verses suitable for specific occasions, listed after each Surah. - Dated in the first colophon, where Amr bin Abi Hurayra is mentioned, the son of a famously prolific Yemeni traditionist and hadith collector (Sunni scholars ascribed to Abu Hurayra more than 5000 hadiths). The scribe is named as Ahmad ibn al-Hagi Muhammad. Cf. F. Sobieroj, Variance in Arabic Manuscripts - Arabic Didactic Poems from the 11th to the 17th Centuries (Berlin 2016), pp. 90f. & note 128.
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Jaghmini al-Khwarizmi, Mahmud bin Muhammad bin Omar al- / Qadizade al-Rumi, Musa ibn Muhammad.
Sharh al-mulakhas al-Jaghmini fi al-hay'a [Commentary on Al-Jaghmini's Summary of Astronomy]. Persia, 16th century [ca. 1590].
8vo (ca. 120 x 240 mm). Arabic manuscript on beige paper. 82 leaves, 21 lines. Black ink in Nasta'liq script by two hands, important words underlined in red ink; numerous diagrams in red ink. Bound in brown morocco. Illustrated commentary by Qadizade al-Rumi on Al-Jaghmini's famous astronomical treatise "Mulakhas" ("Summary on the Science of the Authority"), completed in 808 AH. Al-Rumi (1364-1436), known under the name of Salah al-Din Musa Pasha, was one of the principal astronomers at the famous Samarkand observatory. The present treatise is dedicated to his ruler and patron Ulugh Beg. - Signs of wear; dampstaining and some edge tears throughout. Cf. GAL I, 473.
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Prosper de Rodes, Père.
Histoire genealogique des quelques C. L. Maisons de France avec le blason de leurs armoiries, le tout mis par ordre alphabétique. Sant Pere de Rodes monastery (Spain), 1704.
Folio. 2 volumes. 409, (1); 539, (2) pp. French manuscript in ink with 236 (80+156) full-page hand-painted watercolour coats-of-arms. With a loose leaf with letterpress text reading "Société des lettres, sciences et arts de l'Aveyron" and with manuscript genealogical notes in French. Contemporary calf, not uniform. Thoroughly illustrated heraldic manuscript by the French Capuchin monk Père Prosper de Rodés of the Capuchin monastery in the Bishopric of Rodez in Aveyron, southern France. It provides genealogical information and usually also coats of arms, rendered in watercolour, for 279 French aristocratic families, including Amboise, Armagnac, Du Bellay, Champagne, Coligny, Estaing, Du Guesclin, Matignon, Polignac, Pompadour, Sully; Bassompierre, Bourbon, Colbert, Foix, Grimaldi, Molé, Montmorency, Monferrand, Montaigu, Montauban, Noailles, Rohan, Savoye, Sevigné, Le Tellier. - Père Prosper de Rodes wrote and compiled several manuscript genealogical works. Le Long records two in the library of the Capuchins in Toulouse in 1771, items 40578 (Histoire de toutes les maisons principales de France, folio, 2 vols.) and 40579 (Histoire généalogique de tous les Ducs & Pairs de France, folio, 1 vol.). Waroquier de Méricourt records the former still at that library in 1787, and Haenel records the latter at the Stiftsbibliothek in St. Gallen, Switzerland in 1830. Only one of the two present volumes has a title-page, calling it volume V, with additions to the previous four volumes, and its reference to 150 families with their coats of arms agrees fairly well with the 156 coats of arms in that volume. The volume without a title-page is labelled "Tom. III" on the spine. Perhaps these two volumes were separated from the three recorded by Le Long before 1771, making five volumes in total. The Bibliothèque d'Etude et du Patrimoine de Toulouse now holds four genealogical manuscripts by Prosper de Rodés (Bibliothèque Municipale mss. 455-458), but the titles agree with neither those given by Le Long nor with ours. - Tears repaired in the title-page of vol. 5. Lacking the title-page and three preliminary leaves, as well as ten other leaves: vol. 3, pp. 105-108, 159-160, 249-250; vol. 5, pp. 6-7, 62-63, 146-149, 386-387, 410-411. Several repaired defects in the pages, part of pp. 400f. torn off and missing, a hole in pp. 380f., thumbing in the margins. - Provenance: bookplate of the historian and genealogist Hippolyte Justin de Barrau (1794-1863), founder of the Société des lettres, sciences et arts de l'Aveyron, on the front pastedown of volume 3. Lelong, Biblioth. hist. de la France III, 716 and V, 680. Louis-Charles de Waroquier de Méricourt de La Mothe de Combles, Tableau genealogique, historique, chronologique, heraldique et geographique de la noblesse, enrichi de gravures [...] (Nyon, 1787), 379. Cf. Haenel, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum, col. 480. For the author cf. Apollinaire de Valence, Histoire des capucins I, 429.
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[East Asia - Lagrené mission].
Ship's log of the "Archimède". At sea between Macao and Calcutta, 1846.
Folio (ca. 217 x 321 mm). 2 vols. French manuscript on paper (a few passages in English). 65 pp.; 76-106, (3) pp. Includes a total of 75 blank ff.; several pages blank except for pagination. Contemporary blue full cloth. Marbled endpapers. Anonymous journal of the voyage of the steamer "Archimède" to the Far East between 1844 and 1846 as part of a diplomatic mission to Qing-China led by Théodose de Lagrené (1800-62), aiming to reach a contract similar to the 1842 Treaty of Nankin with the British. The mission was a success: the Treaty of Whampoa, which resulted in the opening of five Chinese ports for trade with the West, was signed aboard the "Archimède" on 24 October 1844. The commercial delegation aboard the ship under the command of admiral François-Edmond Pâris were charged with studying local industries and the potential of selling French goods to the East Asian market, a mission that led them to explore much of Indonesia as well as Calcutta in 1846. - The first volume covers the voyage from Macao to Singapore and Penang, then on to Calcutta in January and February 1846. It opens with several specifications of the ship, including loading and machinery, before going on to describe its voyage in Indonesia, mentioning a bay in the Anambas archipelago named after Pâris, who mapped part of the archipelago as an ensign aboard the corvet "Favorite" in 1830: "Dans la matinée du 19 depuis 5h 30' jusqu'à midi on fait des routes diverses pour entrer et sortir de l'archipel des Anambas que le commandant a la complaisance de nous faire visiter. En 1830 enseigne de Vaisseau sur la corvette La Favorite il a dressé la carte d'une partie de cet archipel en il nous mène jusqu'au fond de la bai nommé d'après lui Pâris" (p. 4). The account of Calcutta evinces a great fascination with the place, as the writer clearly admires its transformation from a small village to a centre of commerce and the capital of an Empire: "Quant à la ville de Calcutta elle même, la ville des Palais, City of Palaces, il me serait difficile d'exprimer convenablement l'antipathie, l'aversion qu'elle m'a inspiré. Certes il est difficile de ne pas admirer l'étonnante fortune de cette place qui n'était pas plus qu'un pauvre village il y a un siècle et qu'est aujourd'hui l'une des grandes places de commerce du monde & et la capitale d'un grand Empire" (p. 55f.). The description of Calcutta includes a bird's-eye pencil sketch of the Raj Bhavan, today the residence of the governor of West Bengal, deeming it "completely lacking in style" (p. 58f., transl.). - The second volume comprises notes on Hindu-Chinese countries, Cochinchina and Siam drawn from local periodicals, namely the "Singapore Chronicle" and the "Calcutta Journal". A separate list gives the composition of the population of Bangkok in 1828, indicating that the 800 Christians living there were mostly descendants from the Portuguese. - Bindings slightly rubbed and a little cockled in places; lightly bumped at extremities. In contrast to Pâris's journals of the Archimède campaign in 1844 and 1845, held at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris, the present set reflects the later, lesser-known part of the expedition in early 1846. Barron, "La corvette à vapeur l'Archimède au bout du monde, allegro ma non troppo", in: Chronique d'histoire maritime (Commission française d'histoire maritime; Société française d'histoire maritime, 2016), pp. 67-83.
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[British Army].
Establishments of His Majesty's Land Forces 1765. No place, [ca. 1765].
8vo. English manuscript on paper. (2), 34 (switching between foliation and pagination on the last 10 leaves), (1) ff. With a slip of paper attached to folio 11. Contemporary full red morocco with giltstamped border and spine. All edges gilt. Precisely drawn tables filled out in meticulous handwriting, listing forces in Britain and overseas including infantry, cavalry, general staff, garrisons in Gibraltar, Minorca, North America, and the West Indies, noting daily and annual salaries and other expenses. - After folio 22 the scribe occasionally switched to pagination, resulting in page numbers 23-24, 26-27, 29-30, and 32-33. - Spine slightly rubbed; interior crisp and clean. Contemporary ownership to flyleaf: "H. Leece | War Office | 1 Dec[embe]r 1777". Later in the collection of Thomas Fremantle, 3rd Baron Cottesloe (1862-1956), commander of the Territorial Army and president of the Society for Army History Research.
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Wurzbach, Constant v., Rt. von Tannenberg, Schriftsteller und Lexikograph (1818-1893).
3 teils eigenh. Manuskripte. O. O. u. D.
1) 13 SS. auf 7 Bll. (num. 75-88). 8vo. 2) Titel und 14 SS. auf 10 Bll. 4to. 3) 2 SS. auf Doppelblatt. 4to. Mit zwei Beilagen (s. u.). 1) "Ein Fastnachtmärchen". Lyrische Dichtung in Versen. - 2) "Das Drama der Pohlen. Ein geschichtlicher Abriß seines Ursprungs sowie fernere Ausbildung seines Verfalls & seines Aufschwungs in die Gegenwart". Fragment auf 4 num. Doppelbll. (3,4,6,7). - 3) Gedicht in polnischer Sprache mit Auszeichnung des Versmaßes. - Beilagen: 1) "Das Jahr 1478, in V Abtheilungen. I. Fremde Fürsten. I --- XXV". 27 teils beidseitig beschriebene Bll. 4to und kl.-8vo. Urkundenabschriften von u. a. Schreiben des Herzogs von Venedig an Kaiser Friedrich IV., von Friedrich IV. an Kg. Christian von Dänemark, einer Erklärung von Kg. Matthias Corvinus von Ungarn, einer Erklärung von Friedrich IV. bzgl. einer an Kg. Matthias zu entrichtenden Geldsumme etc. - 2) "II. Deutsche Reichsstände. XXVI --- LXXXI". 67 teils beidseitig beschriebene Bll. 4to und kl.-8vo. Urkundenabschriften von u. a. einem Gunstbrief Friedrichs IV. für das Dominikanerkloster zu Gent, einem Schreiben Friedrichs an den Erzbischof von Salzburg, an den Kurfürsten von Brandenburg, an Erzherzog Sigmund von Österreich etc.
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[British Army].
Returns of His Majesty's Forces at 1 August 1807. No place, [ca. 1807].
4to. English manuscript on paper. (2), 43, (1) ff. Contemporary full red morocco with giltstamped border and spine. Endpapers marbled. All edges gilt. Pre-printed table filled in by hand, detailing British military forces stationed in Britain and around the world, including the Caribbean, India, Africa, and Australia. Includes the names of regiments as well as the numbers of commissioned and non-commissioned officers, and the enlisted rank troops ("Rank & File"), distinguishing those fit for duty from those on the sick list, with a total of 238,978 regular forces and 91,586 militia. - Binding insignificantly rubbed at the hinges; interior crisp and clean. Heraldic bookplate incorporating a ducal coronet and Bentinck family crest to pastedown, a pencil note on the flyleaf ascribing it to the Duke of Portland's library. Later in the collection of Thomas Fremantle, 3rd Baron Cottesloe (1862-1956), commander of the Territorial Army and president of the Society for Army History Research.
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[Görner, Karl August, Schauspieler und Dramatiker (1806-1884)].
Ein glücklicher Familienvater, Lustspiel in 3 Acten v. Görner. Parthie: Clara. O. O., [um 1860].
Deutsche Handschrift auf Papier. 81 SS. auf 42 Bll. Blaue Interimsbroschur der Zeit. 4to. Die ausgezogene Rollenpartie der "Clara" (dazu in Bleistift vermerkt: "Gfn. Buttler") aus Görners 1854 in Berlin erschienenem Lustspiel "Ein glücklicher Familienvater" (als Bühnenmanuskript in der HAAB Weimar erhalten, Bm 1026) für eine nicht ermittelte Aufführung der Zeit. - Sauber und wohlerhalten.
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Hondschoote, Walter (Gauthier) de.
Vellum document. "Fundatio capellanie etc. an[no] 1209". Hondschoote, September 1209.
Folio (ca. 310 x 205 cm with 2 cm plica). Latin manuscript on vellum. First two words written in red ink, remainder in brown ink. Lacks seal. Very early, exceedingly rare archival document relating to the foundation of the "capella sancte marie" (St. Mary’s Chapel) in the parish of Hondschoote, on the duties and rights of the "capellanus", the link with the local parish church, etc. Incipit: "Ego Walterus de hondescote notum esse volo tam presentibus quam futuris presentera paginam inspecturis [...]". Witnesses include "Marcus abbas sancti Winnoci de bergis" [= St. Winoc, Bergues], "Walterus ... decanus sancte Walburgis" (St. Walburga, Veurne/Furnes), and "Henricus abbas sancti Nicholai de furnis [= St. Nicholas, Veurne/Furnes]". - Written only three years after Walter de Hondschoote, together with Herbert de Wulfenghem, had led the insurgent Blavotins ("Blue-feet") against Mathilde de Portugal, countess of Flanders, and the nobility. The rebels even besieged Bergues but were defeated in a battle remembered as the "lundi rouge" ("Bloody Monday") of 1206. It appears that Walter was not severely punished for his role but soon returned to grace. - Hondschoote in the département Nord lies 20 kilometres south-east of Dunkirk, on the Flanders border. It remains known for the battle of Hondschoote in 1793, when the French army defeated the Anglo-Hanoverian troops of the Duke of York. - Legibly written in a scribal hand. A central fold, minor soiling, but generally in good condition.
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Skopinski, Adolf, prospector and adventurer (fl. 1900-1920s).
Autograph manuscript: "Auf der Suche nach dem verlorenen Glück. Abendteuern in den Amerikas. Buch 6. III. Theil". No place, ca. 1920.
4to. German manuscript, ink on paper. 103 pages on single leaves, numbered 1-93. An extensive manuscript, and the only known surviving fragment, of the memoirs of Adolf Skopinski, a German native who in 1900 emigrated from Hamburg's waterfront district of St. Pauli to seek his fortune in America. He was naturalized a U.S. citizen in 1901. As a prospector in Alaska he witnessed the Fairbanks Gold Rush from 1902 to 1911, staying at Iditarod, then one of the country's most populous places and an important river port and transport hub (today a ghost town). In 1910 Skopinski was even granted a patent for a "means for automatically dumping excavating-scrapers" (US960590A). After the First World War, Skopinski returned to Germany and tried without success to have his memoirs published by the journalist Alfred E. Johann. - The present part of his manuscript focuses on Skopinski's arrival in New York, where he meets Horn, a Rhenish wrestler who performs as a strongman and "tooth athlete" (p. 9), and his friend Babette, "a good-looking, strapping, robustly built Bavarian girl with sparkling eyes, formerly a cook", with whom he trains as a wrestler to perform as the main act. Through the intermediation of another German emigré, a former estate manager who had left the country after "running into difficulties" (p. 18), he soon finds another position as bouncer for a cabaret in 14th Street - "New York's main thoroughfare, where all the better cabarets, ballets, cafés and restaurants are located, where the demi-monde and underworld meet [...] The ladies who sell their love for gold; the waiters who are in fact lapsed barons or dishonourably discharged officers" (p. 14). Skopinski sours on the job after he is mixed up in a knife-fight with a drunk Italian (p. 19) and assumes a new position as bartender in Staten Island (p. 20), then another as boat-keeper and domestic servant at a Hoboken hotel (pp. 21 ff.), before ending up back at his old New York lodgings, where is is advised to "go into ironworks and build skyscrapers, which were then rising everywhere" (p. 31): "And something would happen every day: a finger, hand, arm or leg squashed; twice a week someone would take the tumble - mostly Irishmen who had imbibed liquid courage and so fell from above" (p. 32). - Skopinski witnesses at first hand the founding of the Ironworkers Union, and also the savage wars waged between the construction companies' hired thugs and the union members (pp. 35 ff.); he barely escapes an attempt on his own life ("I suspected an Irishman", p. 38). After this experience Skopinski plans to escape to Honduras or Venezuela, but after stops in Philadelphia and Baltimore he decides to hobo his way across the country. Via Charleston, West Virginia, he reaches Richmond, Virginia (p. [52]), where he finds work at a brewery (pp. 67 ff.), escapes the lewd advances of a priest (pp. 81 f.), and has an affair with a married woman. When she threatens to leave her husband and children for him, Skopinski bolts: via Raleigh, North Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, he flees to La Guaira in Venezuela, which ends the present chapter of the manuscript. - A few dampstains to the upper quarter of the first few leaves, otherwise fine. Includes a postcard hand-drawn on tree bark, showing Skopinski as a prospector, as well as a portrait photograph of him in his later years. A fascinating survival.
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[Commonplace book].
Collection of excerpts. No place, ca. 1810.
4to. French manuscript on paper. 68, 37 (but: 38) pp. Contemporary full cloth with blank spine-label. Extracts from the works of great philosophers, writers and historical personalities, jointly composed by several hands, probably bound together soon after completion. Includes passages from Seneca quoted by C. A. Demoustier in his "Cours de Morale" (1804), Esprit Flechier's "Oraison funèbre de Monsieur de Turenne" (1676), and Chateaubriand's "Martyrs" (1809), as well as an extract from the Gazette de France from 9 April 1808 about the writer Germaine de Stael (1766-1817). Other sources include Voltaire, Jean-Baptiste Massillon, Fréderic César de La Harpe, Marie Jeanne Riccoboni, Jacques Necker, François de Neufchâteau, Jean-François Marmontel, and the Marquis de Bonnay. With the transcript of a description of Prince Potemkin given by Catherine the Great in one of her letters edited by Madame de Stael, as well as a "Recette de faire une Tragédie moderne" by Monsieur Hayley. - Some corrections and deletions. Binding a little soiled. Paper occasionally browned and brownstained; a few marginal tears rebacked with paper. An uncommon survival reflecting the reading habits of what appears to have been a group of students.
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